Chapter Text
Connor slightly tilted his head, eyebrows pinching in confusion. “I must have misheard you, Detective, could you please repeat yourself?”
Detective Reed eyes darted to the left to avoid Connor’s stare. He muttered quietly in a slightly frenzied voice “Of course. Of fucking course, he’s going to make me repeat myself.” The detective’s eyes quickly skirted back and forth before tentatively looking at Connor.
“Look… I- I’m sorry for the shit that I did. I get that it was fucked up. Just…. Fuck,” Reed spoke the words like they were physically hurting him and by the time he got the last word out of his mouth, he had already left. He quickly vacated the breakroom, leaving Connor by himself to stare at the spot he once occupied.
Connor had come to the breakroom approximately two minutes and forty-three seconds ago where he was getting coffee for Hank. On the way, he could sense Detective Reed following but chose to allow him to confront him in the empty room, confident in his skill in incapacitating the detective. He was even more surprised when he did not try to attack or verbally assault Connor but apologized. When Reed was first attempting his apology, Connor was so focused on the data that he was analyzing from the detective that he didn’t even realize he was speaking to him. Flushed cheeks, elevated heart rate, averted eye contact, clenched fists, slight perspiration: these were all the classic signs of anxiety, but it baffled Connor that his usually cocky demeanor had so suddenly disappeared.
Connor had returned to the DPD a week ago, two months after becoming deviant and helping Marcus free their people. Marcus had claimed that they needed him, and his work could be greatly beneficial to their cause. Connor stayed for almost a month, helping other androids and trying to work with cyberlife to give deviants more human-like abilities. The market for Android products had exploded and now many androids could eat, drink, sleep, ‘grow’ hair and nails, experience pleasure or pain, and even get drunk. While Connor was slowly integrating these new things into his life, he realized he felt empty. He knew the work he was doing was important and beneficial to their people, but Connor also knew this was not where expertise lied. So, he decided to return to the DPD to do what he was meant to do.
Hank welcomed him back with open arms and an open home, allowing him to convert the garage of his home into his own space. A bed and desk were placed there, and minimal decoration was done. Connor preferred to spend time inside the home either with Hank or Sumo. He was also welcomed back to the DPD after a proper interview was conducted and all the paperwork was filed. Many agreed that Connor was good at what he did and would like to see him back, but Connor didn’t expect one of those people to be Detective Reed.
Quickly grabbing the coffee for the Lieutenant, Connor quickly made his way back to his desk across from Hank’s. Quietly placing the coffee other desk and then taking his seat, Connor’s head was still reeling from what happened in the breakroom. He quietly wondered if maybe there was a problem with his processing components and chose to do a quick diagnostic test.
NO ERRORS; All Components Fully Functional
At least now Connor knew that the words Detective Reed spoke were real. His eyes darted to see the man at his desk, head buried in the terminal, and furiously writing a report.
Connor was quickly pulled from his thoughts by a choking noise made by Hank. “What the fuck, Connor!? I know you said I need to cut back on the sugar, but there is no way I’m going to drink my coffee without it,” Hank was staring at Connor disapprovingly and proceeded to rummage around multiple desk drawers to produce five sugar packets. Connor felt his face flush, probably a cyan blue now.
“I am sorry, Lieutenant. I did not purposely forgo sugar. I was… Distracted,” Connor tried to sound as calm and put together as he could in front of Hank, not wanting to worry him.
Hanks' eyebrows shot up and he looked at Connor incredulously. “Distracted? Son, you have never been distracted before.” Hank refused to back down and interrogated him as any concerned parent would. Or at least that’s the interaction Connor compared it to.
Connor chose to remain nonchalant and steadily met Hank’s blue skeptical eyes. “Its nothing, Detective,” Connor calmly stated, “My thoughts were just preoccupied with our current case.” He hoped that by slightly turning his head to the left, he would not notice the blinking yellow of his LED, a telltale sign that he was lying.
Hank just scoffed, “You mean that stupid breaking and entering? That’s just fucking paperwork. And stop calling me Lieutenant, asshole.” Hank’s eyes narrowed and seemed to promise him that there would be a discussion about this later, but he grumbled and went back to work.
Mentally sighing in relief, Connor returned to looking at his computer blankly. He looked up suddenly to see if Detective Reed heard any of their conversation and caught him staring directly at Connor. Reed’s eye’s widened and his face turned bright red while moved his head behind his computer as fast as he could.
Connor would need to analyze this information tonight. There was certainly something odd going on with Detective Reed that he was going to figure out.