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Red and blue lights lit up the street as patrol cars finally arrived on the scene to park in front of the suspect’s house. But there was no suspect in sight, thanks to you. The sun was setting when you and Richard had first arrived to apprehend and question the suspect, but now it was dark and the light rain from earlier pelted down and seeped through your clothes as you marched into the middle of the street and away from eavesdropping. Richard followed, expressionless despite the fact that you knew he was pissed off. He had every reason to be, but regardless, you were not in the mood to be lectured in front of your coworkers. You wrapped your arms around yourself when you finally stopped and shivered in the rain; your jacket was somewhere inside, but you abandoned it after the sleeve caught on something in the middle of chasing the suspect.
“I told you to stay put.” Snapped Richard, “If you had stayed at the entrance we would have him.” He seemed unbothered by the rain, too busy staring you down to notice perhaps.
Despite his reasoning, you huffed with annoyance. “I heard gunshots! What was I supposed to do? Hope that you weren’t hit?”
Richard’s jaw clenched, a habit he developed from hanging around you. “If I needed help, I would’ve called for you. The suspect was the priority either way.” Your jaw dropped at this. He would seriously rather be left for dead than let the suspect escape?
“You’re joking.” His unchanging expression told you all you needed to know. Your brows furrowed at this, and you hugged yourself tighter as the rain continued its unforgiving pace. Richard was deviant, this you knew, so why the hell did he still act like a machine? You considered telling him this to try and provoke a reaction from him but kept your temper in check, for now. “I was worried Richard. Sorry if I got jumpy, but that’s what humans do sometimes: we worry.” Hoping that would be the end of it, you turned in the direction of the house again to get a briefing on whatever they’ve found so far, but Richard quickly grabbed your arm.
“I understand that humans tend to overreact, but that is no excuse for your actions. You cost us this case.” His stare hardened, but his grip on your arm loosened when he sensed your body tense up.
“Richard,” You said, frustrated, “I did what I could. Can you just drop it? We’ll find the suspect and -”
“I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation.” He cut you off, LED spinning yellow. “We’ve spent three weeks gathering witnesses and collecting evidence in order to find this man. He has managed to stay off our radar for months and is likely to disappear for another year. And you let him get away on the account that you got jumpy? ” Yanking your arm free, you stared in disbelief.
“I’m sorry! Alright? What do you want from me?” You seethed, losing your temper quick. “The suspect is gone, I screwed up, and I suck at my job. Is that what you want to hear?” You didn’t give him the opportunity to answer, and his flickering LED only riled you up further. “I couldn’t stay put because I was scared, Richard, scared that you had gotten hurt. Nothing on this whole goddamn earth could ever come before your safety, not even our suspect.” This seemed to unsettle him because his brow only furrowed deeper. “So sorry for caring! Not that you would know what that feels like, right? You would have left me to die if it meant capturing that man.” The realization hit as the words left your mouth. Richard didn’t care about you. How could he? You were constantly messing up, getting on his nerves, and never following orders. If the positions had been reversed, Richard would’ve stayed right where you left him no matter how many gunshots he heard. A sudden pang of sadness overcame you, and everything in your mind screamed at you to walk away, walk it off. But your limbs grew heavy, and frustration boiled within your chest.
“I can never tell what you’re thinking.” You blurted before you could stop yourself, “But I don’t blame you for hating me, I’m just sorry that it’s taken me this long to realize it. I feel so stupid for thinking this could work out.” You ran a hand through your wet hair, exasperated, before giving him a hard look. There was confusion etched into that stupidly perfect face of his.
“What are you trying to say?” He finally asked.
You looked away and hugged yourself again, ashamed and angry. “I’m saying that you should find a different partner to work with. I’m resigning the case.” Richard said your name, maybe he was going to agree, but you never found out. An approaching officer interrupted to inform the two of you of their findings, but you had already turned away. Instead of listening to the briefing, you made your way to the empty bus stop one house over. It offered you protection from the rain away from everyone, at least.
It was there that you let out your tears of frustration. When Captain Fowler first assigned the two of you as partners, you were secretly excited to work with the RK900. You had to admit that your tiny crush on him had only gotten worse since then. You cared deeply for him despite his cold and distant personality. There was depth to him, sarcastic comebacks to rival your own, and passion for his job behind that front he put on. He took his investigations seriously, you knew this, but it still hurt to find out in the end his priorities would never align with you. Moving on was going to be hard, but knowing Richard, he’s likely already forming a list of possible replacements. Your damp clothes made you feel heavy, or maybe it was the dejection, and served as a vague reminder that you should probably retrieve your jacket from whatever it got stuck on.
Getting ready to remove your head out of your hands, you froze after feeling something drape around your shoulders. It was warm and dry but didn’t feel anything at all like your jacket. Slowly, you looked up to find Richard in only that ridiculous turtleneck you always thought really suited him. He was staring back at you, LED a bright yellow. “I want to apologize. I...I shouldn’t have blamed you for showing concern for me.” He slid into the seat next to you, and you hated yourself for not even trying to shift away. “I don’t hate you. I don’t think I could.” He watched you carefully, but you refused to meet his eyes; you weren’t sure if he was being sincere or not. “The truth is, I was worried too.” Your head turned at this, surprise finding its way to your features. “You put yourself in harm’s way for me, even though I know I can be hard to get along with. You didn’t hesitate.”
“No, of course not.” You muttered and unknowingly hugged his jacket tighter around you. But you didn’t say anything more, unsure if you really could trust yourself to speak rationally.
“Your unpredictability unsettles me.” Said Richard, quietly. “I’m equipped with the most advanced resources to reconstruct every single outcome of any situation, but around you, it’s useless. And that scares me.” He said your name, and you slowly met his soft gaze. Your heart did something funny; he’s never looked at you like that before. “Don’t resign the mission. As troublesome as you may be, I quite enjoy your companionship.” A pause. “Please forgive me.”
You were wrong, you supposed. And for once you were glad to be wrong; Richard really did care. Slowly, and with the weight sitting on your chest diminishing with every second Richard stared, you nodded. “Fine, but you’ll have to buy me coffee for a week.” You swore he almost smiled.
For weeks to come, your relationship with Richard improved significantly. Especially after finally catching the runaway suspect trying to skip town; you jokingly blew a kiss at your android partner ‘for luck’ before entering the interrogation room with enough evidence in the suspect’s file to ensure a confession. That day Richard focused on you from behind the two-way glass a little too much, Hank would later tell you, are you sure you two are okay?
You only nodded and smiled at the lieutenant, sparing Richard a glance from across the precinct. “We’re gonna be fine.”