SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

twenty-nine ━ daring to dream

"I've been thinking...," Connor followed in breaking the silence after he had previously spared no more than a simple hum to respond to her observation on the storm. The blizzard truly seemed to be growing in strength, as predicted by the seller at the dealership in town, but since his processing unit's compiled route told them they should be reaching the aerodrome well before the storm reached its peak, he worried more about the thought which he's been rummaging upon rather than the weather conditions outside their car, hardly affecting them anyway.

Some clarity has been returned to him since he's come to terms with his emotions and their consequences, and frankly, committing fraud with ease to steal this car did nothing but drive home this secondary conclusion of his that needed to be spoken of before it drove him insane with the possibilities it proposed.

Once a glance ensured him Mia's attention had been hooked by his conversation starter chosen right from the array saved on the most efficient ways to take charge of a discussion and not sound boring to humans, Connor gripped the wheel a little tighter and gulped down whatever tightness has been building up in his jaw, denying himself any further nervousness on the matter.

"You were right about us leaving being the better option," he finally admitted.

Though he couldn't necessarily watch for any expression changes, not when his eyes had to remain trained on the road, Connor had at the very least expected some sort of vocal reaction from Mia following his statement.

No matter, he decided, bracing himself for the worst possible outcome to follow suit after her silence.

"If the opportunity is presented to us, we should leave and not come back," he remained on track with the speech he had thought through word by word since they drove out of town. "Not to this place and definitely never again in Detroit. Dropping off the grid will not fix our records, but it will definitely help us escape the unprecedented legal consequences for our actions, consequences of certain unpleasantness and that we frankly do not deserve in the grand scheme of things." After only a short pause, he added, "That is, of course, if you are still willing to spend the rest of your life with me. There's no hard feelings if you don't. Given all that has happened recently—"

"Connor," Mia interrupted, not hesitating in reaching her hand out and placing it on his thigh. He could only spare a single second glance at a time and just then, Connor chose to look down at her hand squeezing ever so slightly, rather than look to his right and thus find that she was smiling. To some extent though, he could feel her smile in her tone, especially once she continued, "Nothing that happened changed my mind about that, alright?" She removed her hand and conditioned herself to look forward. "Though you might want to think well before committing to this."

"I thought this through," Connor reassured her with a nod, having little success in stiffening his own smile, relaxing now on his lips along with the certainty which brought some distinguishable lightness to his chest. Being certain Mia was still willing to live with him was all the reassurance he could have ever wanted on the matter of his concerns of losing her thanks to his protective protocols and their cold brutality. "If we find Rory at the aerodrome, I'll transfer all case files collected to Officer Brady," he explained more of his plan as, he believed, that would suffice in proving to her he had indeed thought this option of their thoroughly, without however mentioning it was part of his dream to one day live with her. "He will make sure to pursue the cases to their end and see the guilty get charged."

"And if we don't find Rory there?"

From the start, they have had to consider the possibility that they were at the very least a week behind the deviant, so Connor had no issue with nodding, "We'll get ourselves a one way ticket to some place where no one knows us." Getting to use some of her own words managed to allow his faint smile to stay on his lips a little longer still.