Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Right Place, Right Time

It was late into the night and Connor had volunteered to stay a few extra hours in order to help finish paperwork while Hank himself had already gone home for the evening, and despite suggesting that Connor do the same, he ended up leaving alone. It was a quiet night and the few officers still inside the relatively empty precinct hoped that it would remain as such well into the morning. As Connor completed his final report for the evening he turned off his terminal and proceeded to rise from his desk to head for home when he noticed Gavin, who had also stayed late for some overtime, stumbling slightly as he hastily walked out of the breakroom and failed to pull his leather jacket off the back of his chair as he passed by his now vacated desk.

Ever attentive Connor had noticed that Gavin had skipped his lunchbreak in an attempt to catch up on his work and had consumed an abundance of coffee in an attempt to make up for the lost meal. The only time the impatient Sergeant walked away from his desk throughout the day was to use the restroom, which was more frequent than the rest of the officers, thanks to the increased caffeine intake rampaging through his body.

Curious about Gavin's unusual behavior Connor approached the abrasive Sergeant who was trying to balance himself upright against the back of his chair with one hand while awkwardly pulling at his leather jacket at the back of the same chair at the same time. "Gavin? Are you all right?" The observant deviant asked with a sincere lilt to his voice. "You seem unwell."

"I'm fine... you... plaztic'... thing." Gavin sounded like he was slurring his words as he finally pulled his jacket from the chair and stumbled backward a few steps thanks to his own jerking momentum. "Don't touch me... Fuckin' f-freak."

Connor's brow furrowed and his L.E.D. flashed form blue to yellow as he ran a biometric scan over Gavin's body. The deviant's first instinct was that Gavin was either intoxicated or high, but there was no trace amount of alcohol on Gavin's breath and there were no signs of drug abuse on his person. Gavin's skin appeared abnormally dry and he was paler than usual, but Connor's scanner didn't detect any temperature fluctuation that would indicate an infection or any kind of common illness.

The obviously unwell Sergeant stumbled gracelessly out of the precinct with an awkward gait, knocking into desks and swearing at the handful of other officers who watched him gracelessly exit the precinct through the front doors. Pushing past the other officers who were also trying to figure out if Gavin was okay, and ignoring the receptionists calling out to him in alarm, Gavin practically kicked the doors open to get out of the building and head out to the neighboring parking garage to take his leave.

Rushing after Gavin who was still stumbling about through the parking garage next to the precinct, Connor caught up to the clearly ill Sergeant and put his strong right hand on the trembling human's right shoulder to stop him. "Please wa-"

"Back... off!" Gavin clumsily slurred as he turned around and failed to swing a fist at Connor's face. The abrasive Sergeant's right arm had been slipped through the right sleeve of his jacket, while the left arm failed to locate the second sleeve allowing the jacket hang haphazardly off his right shoulder. "I'll... kick your plastic-"

Connor let go of Gavin's shoulder but he didn't back away from the unbalanced man despite the threat. "Are you feeling well? You're experiencing-"

"I'm FINE." Gavin practically shouted as he turned around again to face his car and get away from Connor, only to have legs suddenly buckle causing him to fall forward against the hard concrete wall of the parking garage. "Shit..."

The sound of Gavin's skull colliding against concrete surface of the wall echoed like a gunshot through the garage and it sounded as painful as it looked.

"Gavin?!" Connor put his hands on Gavin's shoulders and guided the stunned Sergeant backward slowly to the ground as he knelt down, allowing the dazed human to rest up against his leg. A smear of dark red blood was running down the left side of Gavin's face from the fresh cut just above his eye as Gavin's pupils glazed over quickly. "You require medical aid. Please allow me to assist you."

"I 'zaid... I'm FINE!" Gavin nearly spat in one final display of protest just before he fell unconscious against Connor's leg heavily with a breathy swear at the deviant his final spoken words. "Piece of... shit."

Connor wrapped his fingers around Gavin's left wrist to keep track of his pulse and watched Gavin's somewhat labored breathing very carefully. It was then the deviant detected an odd, fruity aroma clinging to Gavin's breath which would require analysis. Without hesitation Connor lightly pressed his right forefinger tips against the blood on Gavin's face and pressed the blood to his tongue to run a quick sample of the blood itself.

"Damn it."

Gavin's blood sugar level was dangerously high; 260mg/dl and was undoubtedly the cause of his current symptoms.

"Ketoacidosis."

With his answer confirmed Connor cybernetically summoned 911 to the area to provide medical attention to the downed man. Relaying the very ill human's current vital signs, blood sugar, symptoms and noted behavior from earlier throughout the afternoon with great accuracy to emergency services, Connor supported Gavin's head and neck against his right arm to keep Gavin's airway unobstructed.

"Gavin, wake up please."

Gavin didn't respond to Connor's voice, not that Connor was expecting any form of cooperation from the unconscious human. Running another scan over the downed man's body Connor was relieved to find that Gavin didn't fracture his skull when he fell forward, but he was still unconscious and could've easily fallen into a diabetic coma from his dangerous blood sugar level.

"You'll be well taken care of."

Pulling off the right sleeve of the jacket from Gavin's arm Connor draped the warm garment over the sick Sergeant's body as a comforting gesture.

"Help is on the way. I'll stay with you until you're on the way to the hospital."

The ambulance arrived at the parking garage in an impressively timely manner. When Connor noted the address as the precinct and that the victim was an officer in distress the emergency response team decided to make record time. The paramedics swarmed around Connor and assessed Gavin's condition quickly to determine Gavin's cause of collapse. Following Connor's hunch the two medics immediately checked Gavin's blood sugar level, confirming Connor's suspicion in the process, and let the hospital know of the potential diabetic coma being brought in for treatment.

"You just saved his life." One of the paramedics told Connor as she helped her partner place Gavin on to their accompanying gurney and load him into the back of the ambulance. "If he had gotten behind the wheel of his car he could've passed out and been in accident, or he could've passed out beside his car here in the garage and no one would've found him for hours."

Connor just nodded with a mild pride welling up inside of himself as Gavin was placed in the back of the ambulance and the two paramedics shut the rear doors with a hearty 'thump'.

As the ambulance drove off with the emergency lights flashing and siren blaring Connor shook his head and returned to the precinct right next to the garage to file yet another report for the night. This report would be one regarding Sergeant Reed's illness, behavior and of the answered emergency call he had placed.

Gavin's angry remarks were still fresh in Connor's memory and he sighed openly in frustration at the obnoxious attitude.

"Hank was right, I should've left earlier when I still had the chance."

-next chapter-