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They were in the bullpen, Connor having caught her as she exited Fowler’s office with a slight pout on her face. He wasn’t expecting her there, but he wasn’t disappointed. She didn’t usually get a chance to see him at work.
He was a bit surprised, however, when she looked at him with a sly grin, offering him a ‘proposition.’
“I don’t understand,” Connor said with a furrowed brow. “I’m the most advanced android ever created and you want me to go ghost hunting?”
“Sounds like you understand perfectly.”
She said it so matter-of-factly that he was thrown for a loop. She had a bit of an unusual profession—an online personality—and he was used to the weird things she did. They actually met when she interviewed him after the revolution; he was a bit taken aback by her direct, yet kind way of speaking, but found that he enjoyed her company (even though that in general was a new concept to him).
“I think it’d been fun!” There was a bright smile on her face. She fixed his collar absently as she continued to speak. He smiled at the unconscious motion. “Besides you’ve got those sensors that pick up on stuff I can’t even see! You’ll get the ghostie-goos for sure.”
He blinked once, twice, thrice, taking in what she said. “My sensors are for gathering evidence and seeing blue blood. Not for ghosts.” He paused to take in her pleading look. “Besides, ghosts aren’t real.”
“Says who?”
“Science.”
“What does science know?”
“Quite a lot. It made me, after all.”
“Yeah, well, they can’t all be home runs.”
“Thanks.” He was getting better at sarcasm, she noted.
“Anyway,” she said. They were both grinning at one another, but she waved her hand to clear the air. He’d been much more open in the past few months, which warmed the cockles of her heart. “It’s a special I’ve been considering for a while and I would love for you to be a part of it.”
“I–”
He was cut off when someone called her name from across the room. She gave him a quick smile before turning to see Detective Reed waltzing toward them with pursed lips. Instantly, she gave Connor a wide-eyed look, her jaw dropping slightly at his less than pleased stare. At least she looked sheepish, he noted.
“Hey, I wanted to ask you about tonight.”
Her face dropped into an easy grin despite the fact that Connor had stiffened significantly next to her. Gavin didn’t seem to notice—or care—about the way the android was staring at him intensely.
“Um, filming is going to start at 8:00. I’m showing up around 7:00 to get mic’d and make sure everything’s ok. I guess you can show up at the same time?”
“Ok, so 7:00 at the Whitney.”
“Wait, Detective Reed is going?” Connor asked. He turned to her, blatantly ignoring the other man. If she didn’t know better, she would say Connor was pouting. Hank told her about some of the problems the two of them had had in the past, which only escalated after he deviated. She patted his arm gently.
“Apparently, it’s a not-so-nice part of town,” she said. “I came here to make sure all my permits were in order and Fowler said that I needed to have an officer there to ensure I don’t get killed—which kind of goes against my goal to one day be murdered on camera, but…” She trailed off with a shrug.
“I want to go.”
“You’ll kill ghosts with me?” she asked, her eyes on Connor. Gavin stood off to the side, but didn’t interrupt for once. He was getting paid by her—didn’t want to piss her off. Her eyes were hopeful, so he swallowed the comment he was about to make (One, the ghosts aren’t real. Two, if they were, he doubted you could kill them.)
“Sure.”
“Awesome!” she cheered. She turned to Gavin. “7:00 at the Whitney.” She gave him a smile before rummaging in her pockets and giving him a folded bill. “Also, I feel bad since this is an all night thing, so here’s $10. Buy yourself a coffee.”
“This is way too much for a coffee.” Gavin looked at the bill in his hand blandly before looking at her. Leave to the tin-can to get some weirdo.
“Depends on where you buy it,” she said, shooting finger guns at him as she walked away.
Connor didn’t leave right away, giving Gavin that patronising smile he always gave. “She does buy really expensive coffee.” And with that, he went back to his desk.
Her crew drove separately from her since she went to pick up Connor from his apartment. He had moved out of Hank’s house a few months after the revolution and couldn’t justify buying a whole house when he didn’t need half the amenities, so he settled on a small apartment closer to the station.
She pulled up in front of his building and sent him a quick message. She scrolled through her notes on what the Whitney while she waited—she barely even heard him approach until the door opened, startling her. He was wearing the same thing he always wore, and she dragged her sunglasses down her nose as she watched him get in.
“Didn’t I say to wear something casual?” she said with a quirked eyebrow. She wasn’t actually mad, the amusement evident in her voice.
“This is casual,” he said. He gave her a quick smile. “I can remove the tie if you wish.”
She rolled her eyes and sent the car on its way. She let out a defeated, “Keep it.”
She ignored his self-assured smirk as she went back to her notes. He leaned over to read what she had. When he was done, he kissed her on her forehead and shifted back to sit normally.
“I did some research on this place,” he said after a second of silence.
“Oh?” There was a smile on her face as she locked her phone to listen to him properly. He had noted a long time ago that she was not as good at multitasking as he was.
“Yes. Did you choose this place because of the supposed ‘inhuman entity?’” he asked.
“Maaaaybe.” Her lips were pursed as she tried to fight back a smile. “What better way to kick off the maybe series of ghost hunting than to be killed instantly by a demon?”
“I can think of many.”
“And none of them would be as fun.”
“Fun wouldn’t be the word I would use.”
“Let me have this.”
He slowly looked at her, his eyes narrowed before shaking his head. She gave him a pout. Lapsing back into silence, she reached out to grab his hand as they approached the building. His finger squeezed hers, and she smiled to herself.
The building itself was actually in pretty good condition for being way over one hundred years old, but it definitely looked like a place she was going to regret locking herself in a few hours (and sleeping there). But she was brave. She was courageous.
She was totally trying not to chicken out.
“Are you alright?” Connor asked, his fingers gripping hers more firmly after a second. “Your stress level has risen significantly.”
“It looks… like a nightmare.” She glanced at him with wide eyes.
He tried to calm her down with an easy smile and reassuring words, but it didn’t seem she was looking at him. “It is a very old building. They tend to look less appealing than newer ones. Due to it being a popular supernatural hotspot, it is also very likely it looks like this to freak people out and boost their reputation.”
“Noted,” she said blandly. “And it’s working.”
“Then someone did their job very well.”
She let out a loud sigh before getting out of the car and heading over to her crew. Lukas gave her a wave as she approached, sending a quick nod to Connor as he came up behind her. She could see Gavin a few feet off, talking to Meg, her security, about rounds. He didn’t look as pissy as usually did, which was encouraging—he even had a coffee in her hand.
They’d been there for an hour and she thought she was going to die. Connor was thoroughly nonplussed, but she swore to god she heard a voice. He told her it was the wind but the wind does fucking say words.
It’s worth it for the views, she told herself as she screamed once again when there was a loud bang.
“What the fuck was that?” she screamed. When she looked at Connor, she noted that even he looked slightly confused. He glanced at her and grabbed her hand to try to calm her down and turned to examine what they heard. “Why do you looked freaked out.”
“Follow me,” he said quietly, his LED turning yellow briefly.
“No, I think I wanna stay here. I don’t want to go towards the scary noise! You’re totally the white girls in horror movies.”
“So you want to stay alone?” he said with a raised eyebrow.
She pursed her lips as she stared at him. “Fair point. Let’s go.”
He chuckled as he took a step forward, staring into the distance with a look she knew meant that he was scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. They were still holding hands, which comforted her some as she tried to ignore the cameraman’s footsteps (they had scared her several times).
“Do you see anything?” she asked quietly.
“Yes,” Connor said quietly. “It looks like a… man?”
“WHAT?”
Was she screaming? She was pretty sure she was screaming. A man? Holy shit, a ghost.
“I’m kidding,” he said as he watched her start to hyperventilate. “It’s a coat rack.”
Too bad she was already crying, she thought. Connor’s eyes were wide, his arms going around her as he tried to calm her down. At that point she was laughing and crying at the same time, her tears dampening his shirt.
“Hey, it’s ok,” he said into her ear. The cameraman had stopped recording at this point. “You’re alright.”
“I hate you,” she mumbled quietly. She was pouting as Connor laughed quietly and kissed her.
Maybe she wasn’t cut out for ghost hunting.