Hickory

A Difficult Goodbye

Another week brought another smattering of simple cases. A second week brought a new set of vivid nightmares. More draining therapy sessions. More talking about his feelings. Dealing with his past. Dealing with his present. He'd avoided calling Elijah since sneaking out of his place at six in the morning two weeks ago. His brother had respected him enough to send only two messages and one email, leaving it in his hands to get in touch again. Gavin was at least functioning on a normal schedule, mainly because of Hank and Connor's meddling. They were still swiping the majority of his cases and shooing him out of the bullpen the minute his shift ended.

He'd spent so much time lounging around in his apartment that it was almost becoming more of a home to him than the precinct. At least he had Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak seemed pleased to have him around more. As pleased as a plastic cat can be, anyway. He couldn't count the times he'd fallen asleep on the sofa with the fluffy silver bundle curled up and purring on his stomach. He'd also been playing basketball a lot more, making up for lost time with the kids. Some of them were finishing up high school this year, always willing to listen to advice about where to go next. Reed was generally happy with whatever they chose, so long as it was off the streets.

It was a Wednesday morning after a day off, and Reed was tiredly dragging himself through the bullpen with a coffee from the break room. He was just passing Miller, vaguely wondering what case he'd get that day, when he stopped dead. The cup almost slipped when he saw it. Sitting there. Sitting where no one had sat in over two years. The phck? He was already scowling as he stormed across the room, heat coiling in his chest. Coffee sloshed over his hand and splashed the desk as he slammed the cup down. He didn't notice the burn on his skin, too intent on the thing sitting in Jack's chair.

"Get up! Get the phck up and get away from there! What the phck do you think you're doing?" he demanded in a blind rage as he gripped the android's black shirt at the throat and yanked him up. The face that was so much like Connor's looked mildly surprised as he allowed himself to be dragged from the chair. Reed continued pushing until his back hit the wall a few feet away, glaring up with molten rage in his emerald eyes, lips curled in a snarl. The android tilted his head as he scanned Reed's vitals, unsure what he'd done to deserve such treatment.

"I was directed to use that terminal in order to-"

"You don't phcking sit there! Don't touch that terminal! Don't phcking touch anything! You got that?" Reed growled, roughly shoving the RK900 against the wall again for good measure. It was a threatening gesture, one that likely would have intimidated a good many officers. The RK900 was not one of them, but he remained silent. Reed's stress levels were rising, his heart beating rapidly, hands trembling with adrenaline. The RK900 swept his silvery eyes around the large office space, noting that the majority of officers were keeping their heads down. No one wanted to tangle with Reed when he was in this sort of mood. The only ones who would intervene hadn't returned from the archives yet.

"Reed! My office," Fowler called from a glass door to their left, making no comment about the position he'd found them in. He didn't wait for him to respond, having already retreated inside the glass office. Reed looked after him bitterly, shoving the RK900 into the wall one last time with a frustrated huff. The RK900 allowed it, LED spinning yellow as his back hit the plastered wall. Looking up, he could see Hank and Connor returning, the latter speeding up a little as he noticed them by the wall.

"Don't you phcking move!" Reed prodded the android's shoulder for good measure before stalking up to the office, ignoring Hank as he asked what the fuck had crawled up his ass. The door slammed louder than it probably should. Reed tried taking a few breaths, stalking backwards and forwards before the cluttered desk. He didn't know what to say or how to calm down. He was so angry. That was Jack's desk! It had been his desk since they'd started working together. No one else had ever sat across from him. Coming in and seeing that android sitting there had been a nasty shock.