Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Mortality

Working late into the night at their respective terminals Hank let out a sleepy yawn and finished off his coffee while Connor proceeded to finish off his current case file at his usual impressive speed. There were few officers left in the bullpen as a majority of the night shift had gone out on patrol as scheduled and there were rarely ever complaints being filed so late at night by citizens anyway. The lack of immediate personnel had left the two detectives almost completely alone in the bullpen. As Hank yawned yet again with mounting fatigue he rubbed the heels of his palms against his red bloodshot eyes and stared at his now empty coffee mug.

"Fuck. I still need this shit if I'm going to get through these damn cases." Picking up the mug by the handle Hank rose to his feet to get his refill. "I don't want to hear any shit about the sugar tonight, kid. I need it."

As Hank rose from his desk with his mug in his hand Connor noticed that Hank had pressed his left hand to the small of his back and held it there as he walked.

"Is your back hurting you again?"

"Of course it's hurting me. It's always hurting me."

Watching as Hank made his way to the breakroom Connor ran a biometric scan over Hank's vital signs and a few red flags popped up in his visual processors. The warnings were stemming from within Hank's body near his lower back, specifically the warnings were in regard to Hank's artificial kidneys. Joining Hank in the breakroom Connor, without warning, grabbed onto Hank's right arm and pressed his fingers against the interior of Hank's wrist to check his pulse.

"What the hell are you doing?" Protesting the random medical exam Hank gave Connor an odd stare. "It's a backache not a heart attack."

"I need to check something."

"Why?" Hank placed his mug down on the counter beside the coffee pot and relented to Connor's impromptu exam. "What's wrong?"

"I fear one, if not both, of your artificial kidneys are malfunctioning."

"Ah, shit. If it's not one thing..." Ignoring the coffee for the moment Hank patiently decided to comply with Connor's urge to check on his well fare. "All right. What do you need to do?"

"I need to check your vitals and note your possible symptoms."

"All of this trouble because of a damn backache?"

"I had also noted that you had been more tired than usual, and despite all the additional coffee you've consumed throughout your shift you had failed to urinate as one should after consuming so much liquid."

The senior detective's brow arched inquisitively at the claim and eyed Connor curiously. "You count how many times I pee?"

"Not intentionally, it's merely an observation that I can't control." After counting Hank's pulse, finding it slightly elevated and his respiration count relatively normal, Connor noted a slight increase in his overall body temperature. "Do you have a headache?"

"No worse than usual."

"What about any nausea or numbness in your extremities?"

"Nope."

"Your limbs appear slightly swollen." The deviant stated as he examined Hank's right hand and arm. Hank wasn't wearing his coat which gave the deviant full view of his forearms and halfway up his biceps. Connor then compared the right arm to the left arm at Hank's side. "And I can see faint bruising on your hands and all along your arms. Is your skin itchy?"

"...Yeah, a little. But I have dry skin, it's still cold out, you know."

"Do you have any shortness of breath or pain in your chest? What about dizziness?"