2038: Vincent

Recovery Mission

I felt my chest rising and falling under a blanket, so that's good I wasn't dead. I wiggled my fingers but something kept them pressured down. I was nervous they were amputated or something. Then my eyes opened to the darkness of my room. I was surprised I was not in a hospital. I moved my head to where my alarm clock was.

2:39 AM

I reached up the hand that didn't hurt as bad and rubbed my eyes. I felt a gauze on the other side of my forehead where I injured it again. I wasn't sure if I broke anything else, so I sat up slowly. The gravity on my head shot pain around again. My eyes filled with tears, but then they went back down again. I stood up and walked to the door fine, opening it, hoping Vincent was okay. He sat in the same stool, tying his shoes again.

"Lieutenant!" He finished pulling the laces together, and got up to hug me. This time, he didn't let go after a few seconds, and held me tight, but was careful not to hurt me any more.

"Are you okay, Vince?" My voice cracked from being drowsy still.

"I am okay. You got the worst impact." He took one of my hands and held it out in front of both of us. A wrap was around my whole hand, which explains why I couldn't move it at all. The other one had a wrap around my wrist, and I felt one on my elbow. I realized that I was also still in my mission uniform covered in both bloods.

"Look at you, all bloodied like you just killed someone..." Vincent teased, then directed me to the bathroom, and had me wait for him to get me some fresh clothes. He came back in with a lump of clothing; a t-shirt, sweatpants, and underwear.

"Thank you." I nodded, taking the clothes and setting them on the counter.

"I will wash those when you're done."

"You don't have to do everything for me, you know. Just because you're an android doesn't mean it's like the movies where they do everything for the human, and they're living a luxury knowing they don't need to do anything." Vincent looked at me relieved, almost. His posture relaxed well, then he smiled.

"Got it, lieutenant." He walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I started a hot shower, and shoved my murder scene clothes as far away as I could from the clean ones. All my casts came off, and I got new ones from out of the medicine cabinet. When I stepped in, all my problems washed away and down the drain.
_ _ _ _ _
When I got out, I felt a lot better. It was hard for me to reach to my scalp to scrub soap in it since my hands were still broken, but I made it work. I changed my bandages, and put on the fresh clothes Vincent gave me. Steam was released out the door when I opened it, and looked outside. It started to snow. Big flakes fluttered down from the sky gracefully, and settled on the grass and sidewalk. I walked to the sliding glass door and looked out, mesmerized by it. I could feel Vincent's presence staring at me while I admired the snow. Then footsteps approached next to me. He watched too, smiling.

"It's beautiful." I say. My breath fogged on the glass when I spoke.

"I love it too." Vincent replied. The flakes were huge and falling fast, covering the ground quickly. I decided it was deep enough to play in like a child. I threw on the same hoodie I wore on our first mission, and flopped outside on the ground. Vincent walked out shortly after me also with a hoodie on, and laid next to me. We both laid in the snow for a few minutes, taking in the peace of winter. Snowflakes covered our hair and soaked into our clothing, having us freeze ourselves, but it was worth the moment of beauty. Once we were cold enough, we came back inside. The heater clicked on, and soon enough we were hot again.

"Does it snow a lot here?" I say, taking my damp hoodie off and laying it by the heater.

"Oh, yes. It's actually helpful for homicide missions since we can track blood in the snow." Vincent smiled. I thought about the sports car trying to get away from us.

"If that deviant kills anyone else, it'll be a cakewalk when catching him." Vincent's light flickered yellow as he processed my idea.

"You are very smart," He nods in approval. "You know, it's slippery too, so if he were to... Crash, his blood would likely be spread around the accident." He put his fingers to his chin and traced around his jawline.

"Hold that thought," I perked up, and faced Vincent again. "Are you able to store that in your memory for later?"

Vincent nodded. "Yes, only up to a few days."

"That's okay. Tomorrow, we will use the snow to catch that deviant." Vincent and I smile at each other, and figure out a plan for tomorrow about the traces we could find from the snow.