Survivor - Connor x OC

Guts Over Fear

Eminem – Guts Over Fear (feat. Sia)

"Well, the room service menu is better here anyway." Taylor closed the menu and placed it back on the bedside table. She had just ordered lunch, unwilling to venture out into the streets of D.C. in case people started to recognize her. The airport had been bad enough, and Connor had already started to seem paranoid.

Turning, she crossed the room to sit at the table across from the said android. He wasn't looking at her, his attention on the coin in his hands, rolling it across his knuckles. Tilting her head, she observed him for several moments in silence. His face was carefully blank, however, his LED its cool blue, and as usual she had no idea what he was thinking.

Secretary Headley had astutely noted that Connor had been quiet during their exchange, but more than that he had been quiet all morning. He had barely spoken to her since their exchange in the taxi on the way to the airport. Strumming her fingers against the table distractedly, she figured she deserved the bout of silence.

Her lips parted, his name just on the tip of her tongue. Then she closed them, worked the corner of mouth between her teeth. As much as she wanted to ask if he was angry with her for wanting to go home, to leave him, she was more afraid of knowing. She was compelled to explain that she didn't want to be apart from him, but the sentiment felt cheap when the end result would be the same.

The phone ringing in her pocket put the matter aside. She stood again, reaching in her pocket to answer while she headed for her bag to find her ear buds. Without looking at the caller ID, she said, "Hello?"

"Taylor?" The voice was familiar, but she couldn't place it right away. Sliding her ear buds in, she transferred the call over before responding.

"Yes, who's this?"

"It's Gavin." A hesitation, and then, "Er, Detective Reed."

"Right, Gavin, of course. Sorry, it's been a weird morning." Taylor tucked the phone back into her pocket and crossed back toward the window. "What can I do for you?"

"This crap your android friends sent over," he began, still sounding uncertain. A frown came to her face, subconsciously, as she peered down at the busy city streets. "There must have been an android somewhere in that building. This isn't a lot of evidence to go on."

"It's more than nothing, right?" She tried not to let her nerves creep into her tone. She didn't want to lie outright to Gavin. He was only trying to help.

"So you do have it." Gavin was more astute than he led on. He wasn't a detective for nothing. Still, her brain was stringing together every curse word she knew instead of coming up with a believable lie to distract him. "You realize you have to let me have it."

"I can't." The truth, instead. He cursed, verbalizing a few of the expletives she had just been reciting inside her mind. "Please try to understand."

"The judge decided to deny bail based on the nature of the charges." Gavin said after he was satisfied with the number of obscenities he'd discharged. She exhaled, releasing a breath she didn't even realize she had held. "Apparently he remembered your stepfather from their previous encounter fifteen years ago. Small judicial world in Detroit, it seems."

"That's crazy." She didn't know if she meant the judge, or the bail, or both. The unfamiliar ache in her chest had to be relief, or something like it. But she had never lived in a world where Anthony couldn't reach her somehow.

"You won't testify." The frustration rang clear in his voice. She was making this unduly difficult for him. He had every right to be angry, she figured. "You know that prick is going to have some hotshot, high dollar defense attorney. I need all I can get."