Don't Get Attached

Chapter Twenty-One

"This is the place." You told Kara, Luther and Alice as you pulled into your father's usual parking spot. "My dad's not home yet, but maybe her met up with Connor. Let's get you guys inside." You ushered the family inside and weren't surprised that there was no police presence in your father's neighborhood.

"Make yourselves at home." You invited as you all entered the house. "I'm just going to call Connor quickly then I'll see about finding you guys some dry clothes." You dialed Connor's number and walked to your room. Connor didn't answer his phone and you were directed to his voicemail.

"Hey Connor, it's me. Just wanted to let you know we got to Dad's alright. We only got stopped once and it was by Reed of all people. Anyway stay safe, I promise not to leave the house. Oh and Connor? I love you too." You added before ending the phone call.

With your end of the bargain held up all you could do was hope that Connor completed his mission at Cyberlife successfully. Your next mission was to find new clothes for your guest. Kara would be easy enough since she was roughly your size. You just riffled through your drawers and tried to find some items that you didn't wear much anymore. A pair of yoga pants, a t-shirt and sweater would do just fine. For Alice, you were glad that your Dad was an aggressive hoarder who never got rid of anything. Including boxes of Cole's old clothes. They might not be a perfect fit, but it would be better than the soaking wet clothes she was already wearing. From one of the old boxes You found a pair of jeans and a long sleeve dinosaur T-shirt.

The real challenge would be finding something for Luthor. He was at least three inches taller than your dad which meant that nothing he had would really fit. You decided to grab an old pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, hoping they wouldn't be too short. With your arms loaded with on clean dry clothes, you headed back into the living room. The family was there with Alice and Kara sitting on the couch and Luther peering suspiciously out the window. They all looked to you when you entered the room.

"They're probably not going to be a perfect fit." You apologized.

"I'm sure they're fine." Kara smiled. "C'mon Alice, let's get you changed." You handed off a change of clothes for each of them and directed Kara to the bathroom.

"There's some things for you too." You told Luthor. "You can change in one of the bedrooms."

"Thank you, for everything." Luthor said, accepting the outfit from you. It wasn't long before the three of them rejoined you in the hallway. Alice and Kara's outfits fit them relatively well and only Luther's sweatshirt sleeves were too short.

"Okay." You nodded. "This is going better than expected. So, we have clean clothes, we have a safe place for you too be. How else can I help?"

"I think what we need now is just rest." Kara said. "Is there somewhere Alice can sleep?"

"Sure. You're welcome to use my room." You invited, pointing to your bedroom door. Kara escorted Alice off and that left you alone with Luthor again.

"Can I ask a question?" You whispered as quietly as possible, hoping that Alice and Kara couldn't her. Luthor sized you up. His LED swirled yellow for a minute as he thought. Finally, he nodded in response.

"You're an android and so is Kara, but Alice..." You paused not sure how to ask what you wanted to know. "Connor mentioned something to me about a YK500 model. Do they know?"

"Kara does. She found out on Jericho. I don't know about Alice." Luthor explained.

"Alright." You nodded. "Doesn't make a difference to me either way." You assured him. You wanted to continue getting to know Luthor and his family, but a new set of headlights had just pulled into the driveway. "That's my dad's car. I'm gonna give him a heads up. Be right back."

You slipped out the front door before securing it closed behind you. The headlights slowly faded off as your dad killed his car's engine. He stepped out of the vehicle looking less disgruntled than usual.

"What a fucking night." He growled stumbling towards the door. As he got closer you noticed his shoulder had a splatter of blue blood on it.

"What happened to you?" You gasped.

"What the hell happened to you?" He snapped back. You looked down at your torn pants and your filthy clothes, realizing what you must have looked like to him.

"You first." You ordered.

"Connor." He huffed. "Well not our Connor anyway." Your dad then explained that a different RK800 model, probably a spare from the warehouse, had lured him to Cyberlife and tried to kill him. Luckily the real Connor was there and managed to save him. "Then he said I should go home. Said you needed me here."

"I think he just wanted you here where it's safe." You went on to tell Hank everything that had happened since you hung up the phone with him. You told him about picking up Connor from the station, following him to Jericho and your very hallowing escape afterwards.

"And that's how you tore your pants." He assumed, squinting in the dim glow of the front porch light. "Let's get you inside so I can take a look at it."

"Not just yet." You shook your head. "There's one other thing I have to tell you about." So with a deep breath you explained meeting up with Marcus at the church and how he asked you to help Kara and the others get out of town.

"So you thought you'd bring them here?" He folded his arms over his chest. He wasn't yelling, but you could tell he wasn't too happy about it

"It was a good plan." You insisted. "No one's going to look for them here. Plus, the police and the FBI are focusing their efforts in the center of the city and androids trying to leave. They would have been killed if they tried to leave and they couldn't stay and fight with Marcus. Alice is just a kid or at least she's programed to think like a kid."

"You're just a kid!" Hank argued. "Connor shouldn't have let you put yourself in danger like this."

"He didn't let me, Dad." You disagreed. "I don't need Connor's permission to do anything. I don't really need yours either. I'm an adult. I made this decision on my own. But it is your house, you can turn us away if you want to. I just need you to tell me because if not I'll have to take them somewhere else. I can't turn my back on them."

Your father didn't say anything for a long time. He stared at you with his arms folded across his chest. You waited impatiently for his response. All the while trying to think of where the hell else you could go if he turned you away. There weren't really any safe places left in the city. At least none that you could thing of.

"Of course, they can stay." He huffed, uncrossing his arms at last. "What kind of person would I be to turn away a family in need?" There was even a hint of a smirk on his face before you threw yourself at him. You wrapped your arms tightly around his waist and buried your face in his shoulder. He loosely snaked his arms around you, hugging you back.

"Alright, alright." He pushed you off of him when he'd had enough. "Let's get you inside so I can have a look at that leg."

"I don't know if there's much to look at." You said, holding the door open for him. "Connor sewed it up for me back at the train station."

"You conveniently left that part of the story out." He groaned.