Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Run Away

Deciding to take it easy until he was feeling one-hundred percent again after his near-death experience, Connor had stayed home from work to nurse the lingering headache that was still plaguing him after awakening from his coma-like stasis. Hiding in his dark bedroom with Sumo at the foot of his bed and the fish in his aquarium as his only company, the deviant attempted to keep his body as still as possible as he found even the slightest movement to be painful to his still healing cranium. Every light and sound was enough to cause his sensors and processors to go on full alert with a painful rush of Thirium to his head resulting in a migraine.

Laying on his left side with his arm tucked under his pillow to prop his head slightly upright, Connor was beginning to fall into a much needed rest mode to sleep through the tremendous pain. It was then Sumo pressed his cold, wet nose against Connor's arm and whimpered needing some attention. The dog had been curled up next to Connor's legs all day and hadn't moved an inch until then.

"No..."

Connor's L.E.D. flashed from yellow to red briefly as the very idea of having to get up hurt his head.

"Can you please wait until Hank comes home?"

Sumo whimpered again and jumped down from the bed and headed through the opened bedroom door before plodding down the hallway out of sight.

With a heavy sigh Connor push himself upright on the bed very slowly with his left hand and pressed his right hand over his eyes to shield them from the harsh light as he opened his eyelids steadily only to immediately close them again as the pain intensified. Relying on his memory of the layout of the house to guide himself, Connor blindly ventured out of his bedroom, down the hallway and into the kitchen where Sumo was sitting by the backdoor eager to go outside.

"Okay, boy. I'll let you out."

Turning the the knob on the backdoor Connor pushed it open and listened to the sound of Sumo's paws and nails trotting over the linoleum floor and into the backyard before Connor let himself fall down to the kitchen floor very slowly to sit. Hugging his legs up to his chest Connor pressed his forehead down atop his knees as he tried to endure the relentless headache while waiting for Sumo to come back inside.

From the depths of an unknown length of time a gentle hand resting on his left shoulder pulled Connor's attention away from the agony of his head and to the face of Hank leaning down over him with a worried expression. "...Hank?"

"You okay?" Hank had evidently left work early to come home and check in on Connor while he slowly recovered. "You look like shit."

"...Yeah. I'm just waiting for Sumo to come back inside."

"I didn't see him in the backyard." A little confused Hank lifted his hand from Connor's shoulder and called for the massive dog through the still opened backdoor. "Sumo, come." There was no sign of the dog anywhere to be seen on the property and it didn't look like he was near enough to hear Hank's voice calling his name. "Damn it. He must've wandered out of the backyard again."

Getting worried Connor tried to get to get back to his feet but he was weak and swayed a little before he managed to gain his balance. As Hank grabbed onto his arm to help him hold steady Connor finally opened his pained eyes, his yellow L.E.D. flashing red again in response, and looked to Hank for some form of answer. "...He's done this before?"

"He used to do it all the time as a puppy, then only on a rare occasion before you showed up. I guess he got bored and decided to go find something to do since you were feeling like shit."

"It's my fault?"

"Hell no." The senior detective responded sharply and honestly. "Like I said, Sumo used to sneak out of the backyard all the time. I didn't think he still had it in him to jump that fence anymore since he's so old and big. I'll go take a look for him and you go lay down. I can tell you still feel horrible."