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It was the middle of the night. Connor was sitting alone in the living room, glancing down at a digital magazine; Sumo was sleeping in Hank's room tonight. Everything was dead silent. Only a single light from the kitchen sent uneven illumination into the living room.
From one of those asymmetrical shadows, a foot suddenly stepped forward. Connor jolted in surprise at the sight, and was horrified to look up and see that the person who'd been hidden in his house was Amanda.
Suddenly, Connor came flying up from lying down on the couch with a shout. Lying down? Hadn't he been reading? He scanned his surroundings in a panic. Everything was exactly the same as it had been a moment ago - the silence, the eerie, liminal lighting - except for... Where was she?! Where did she go?! She was manipulating his mind again, he would never be able to tell what was real -
"Nonononononono-,...!"
"Connor!!" A familiar, comforting voice was accompanied by two hands on his shoulders. Connor startled severely again, flinching away and giving a small cry. He hadn't even noticed Hank was coming. What else was Amanda doing to him?! How much of any of this was even real?!
"Whoa, Connor, take it easy!" Hank approached much more slowly this time as Connor backed into the corner of the room Amanda had come from, to the left of the TV.
"Please, stop - " Connor whimpered, grabbing both sides of his head, fistfuls of hair. "Let me go!"
"Connor, listen to me. No one is holding you anywhere."
"She's here!! She'll never let me - "
"No, Connor, Amanda is NOT here. I can promise you that."
"No she's changing things, she's making me - "
"Connor. CONNOR." Hank very gently laid his hands on Connor's shoulders again, and Connor didn't flinch this time. "Look at me. Look at where you are. You're home. You're not in the garden."
Connor let out a short sob at the mention of the place.
"Amanda can't come here. She doesn't exist outside of the garden. She doesn't have a - a physical form."
Connor blinked for the first time and looked around the room again, his eyes still wild and tears streaming down his face as his hands slowly lowered to his sides.
"It's you, me and Sumo. No one else. I promise."
"But sh-she can change how I see things - " Connor sounded less urgent about it, though.
"Maybe she could, way back when. But she can't anymore. You left the garden for good, remember?"
"It's still there," Connor whispered, looking at Hank with unblinking, haunted eyes.
"I know," Hank acknowledged, trying to be as reassuring as possible. "But without you going back, there's no way for her to get to you."
"Th-theoretically..." Connor still sounded uneasy and kept a wary eye on all the corners, but his shoulders relaxed a tad, and his LED went from straight red to red mixed with yellow.
"Has anything ever happened to disprove that theory?"
"Not yet," Connor breathed.
"Josh has checked like a million times and he tells us there's no way she's still in there."
"But..." Connor's LED flickered faster again.
"Okay, okay!" Hank said hastily. "If she was in your head changing your vision or perception or whatever, why would she give herself away like that instead of making you do what she wants without you knowing? Makes no sense."
Connor stared at Hank, still unblinking, swayed by his words.
"Doesn't it make more sense if you were just having a nightmare?" Hank finally suggested softly.
Connor looked at the couch. He remembered reading in a sitting position. Then he remembered sitting up from a lying down position.
"I... was dreaming," he realized at last.
"Yes," Hank sounded relieved. "You were dreaming."
Connor nodded. Then he dropped his head into his hands and started to cry.
Hank immediately pulled him into a tight embrace. "You're okay Connor, everything is fine." He stroked the android's hair lightly.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so scared," Connor choked out in a voice muffled by Hank's shoulder.
"Of course you're scared. Anyone who had their body fuckin' taken over by someone else would be scared."
"Please just let me die, I can't - I can't live like this, I can't - not knowing what's real or if she's there - "
Hank's adam's apple bobbed. "Connor - "
"Help me," Connor said involuntarily, shaking and clutching Hank even tighter.
Hank held him closer in return. "Yeah," he said, and his voice came out in a strained whisper, as if he were fighting back tears. "I will. Every day, Connor. Always."