Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Loss

The morning was calm, warm and too inviting for anyone to sleep in. Moving about the house as quietly as possible to let Hank sleep in on his day off Connor left a perfectly written note on the kitchen table and then took the keys to the Oldsmobile from the bookshelf in the livingroom. Letting Sumo outside through the backdoor to ensure nothing and no one disturbed Hank's sleep throughout the early morning hours Connor made his way outside through the front door, entered the car, backed the car down the driveway and headed into the city to purchase a few new items to furnish his room just as Hank suggested he do the night before.

Connor had only been away from the house for three hours tat morning and returned long before Hank had even woken up. While keeping quiet with every step he took throughout the house Connor managed to finish his early morning task without ever waking Hank in the process. After replacing the car keys back to where they belonged and letting Sumo back inside the house Connor set about furnishing his new bedroom.

Deservedly so Hank had been sleeping peacefully throughout the morning until a sudden sharp 'gasp' from just down the hallway caught his ear. It sounded like someone was in pain, but there was no other sound to accompany it; no crashing sound, no voice calling out for help and no resonating panic. While most people would've dismissed the sound as a weird dream or their imagination and drifted back to sleep Hank decided to get up and investigate.

Opening his bedroom door Hank spotted Sumo with his tail wagging and sitting in the hallway watching someone moving about in the opened door of the neighboring bedroom. Standing beside the dog Hank pet the Saint Bernard's ears and looked inside the bedroom to see Connor setting up a large aquarium against the far wall between the closet and the window.

"Connor," Hank sounded entirely groggy as he spoke. "what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Hank. Did I wake you?" Connor sincerely asked as he turned away from the large glass tank that was already full of brightly colored fish. The array of little fish was quite impressive. "I was trying to be quiet."

"Something woke me up for damn sure, not sure if it was you or not." Curiously Hank peered at the aquarium and gave Connor an odd look. "Since when do you like fish?"

"I think it started the night of the hostage negotiation during my first mission." The kind deviant replied honestly as he wiped the dripping water from his hands off onto a towel, then wiped the towel over the aquarium's glass to clean it up. "Shortly after I entered the apartment on that night I spotted a small fish on the floor, it had apparently jumped out of the nearby tank just before I had arrived. I put it back in the tank and I've found the prospect of an aquarium intriguing ever since."

"So you bought a fish tank," Hank observed at he looked about the room curiously. "and... that's it?"

"No. I also purchased additional clothing to wear while I'm not at work. I know you dislike me wearing my work uniform off the clock."

"But you're always at work, that is unless you've been sidelined by an injury." It was then Hank saw a faint blue stain forming on the back of Connor's gray t-shirt. Pointing toward the stain Hank brought the deviant's attention to the fresh blood. "Speaking of being injured..."

Connor's brow furrowed but when he followed Hank's motion toward his own back Connor realized that he had accidentally pulled open the healing artificial skin covering the cut on his back that he had received the night before. "I have apparently re-opened my wound while carrying the heavy burden of the aquarium into the house."

Hank walked over to Connor and lifted up his shirt to look at it with his own eyes. "It's not bleeding too badly. I'll get one of those fancy android bandages for you out of the first aid kit."