THE CHASE - Connor x OC (I Am Sequel)

Chapter 57

"Megan!" I called. It had been a year since I had taken my role in Jericho, and at this point, I was good at it. Megan strolled in, a lollipop hanging out the corner of her mouth.

"What do you think?" I asked, laying out a set of plans.

"Juvenile court system and adult court system. A majority of crimes don't result in jail time..." she read aloud, nodding along. "Seem fine."

"Fine? Or like a good idea."

"Fine."

"Fine? So not a good idea?" I asked.

"Fine as in..." Megan began. She often struggled to make a clear decision. I had chalked it up to her personality but overtime I began to believe it was related to her programming. In fact, I had recommend she speak to Christen about whether she was suffering from what I had been dealing with in terms of Amanda or something similar...but she never went. Christen bugs her about it sometimes.

"Fine as in a good idea," Megan nodded.

I looked over the plans for the court system. This had been the main issue before with Ethan. Things would never have gotten so bad with a clear plan, and after a year of work and negotiations I had finally worked out the justice system for Jericho. It was clear cut and simple while not having much room for error.

"Megan...I'm going to go meet with Markus today at noon. Schedule a press conference for 2pm," I nodded to her.

"I take it this will be a big one."

"I have a feeling."

Megan nodded turning out of the door. You can tell she's excited simply by how quickly she starts a project. She'll never smile, she'll just go straight to work. I admire her to some degree.

I looked at the clock. It was nearing 11:30, so I still had time. I picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Detroit Central Precinct. How may I direct your call?"

"Captain Nick Lance please," I spoke.

"Transferring you now..."

I looked over at my nearly empty travel mug of hot chocolate. Nick had finally gave me the recipe...after his mother died a few months ago. It has hit him hard, but for Christen it was nearly welcome news. I was the only person he could talk to about it, especially since Hank is still grieving his son.

"How's it going, Bolts? Got me on speed dial yet?"

"I wish," I chuckled. "Tune in at 2pm today for a very special message."

"Ah, just for me?"

"More for...the entire United States."

"Honestly, I love the woman in a high powered role thing. It's a good look on you," He admired. "You really thought you couldn't do it either."

"I mean, everyone's doing pretty well right now in terms of their jobs."

"You mean you and Connor are. I mean, we're all doing great, but..."

I nodded silently to myself. It was true. Things are very good for us, especially in terms of finance. We're both kind of stressed, but as to be expected when you're talking about what we do.

"We're doing better than others."

"Exactly. Speaking of which...usually when you're doing well...and have been married for a couple of years...you yknow...have kids."

"Speakingofkids...how are the boys?" I rushed.

"Nope! Not getting out of this one. You have no excuse now. Connor wants a kid, and Christen worked out a program where you guys can raise an android and it will age. You guys can teach them and it won't be like that weird thing where the kid grows up with a preset code or whatever. It's literally like having a kid."

"Don't come at me now saying I don't have an excuse. I have an excuse. It's called not wanting a kid. It's kind of sexist to expect me to want a kid, or expect me to change my mind out of some womanly instinct to want to care for things. All I want is my dog and a nice glass of red wine. Not a screaming baby in my guest room," I bit.

Nick fell quiet for a second. "Now you know what I meant Bolts."

"No, I really don't. Because you and everybody else just wants to bother me about kids."

"Okay, now fucking stop. I'm sorry for how it must've been phrased. It wasn't coming from you being a woman. I just want the best for you, and I love you. You can choose to have kids or not. It's not fucking like that. I just thought you might have some reservations, and I thought that you might not have thought about it from this perspective."

I took a deep breath. I know I snapped at him, but at the same time...he's still trying to convince me in a way. Either way, now isn't the time or place for this conversation, so I ought to just convince him to drop it instead of hanging on for dear life to the topic.

"I think we should just...move on...new perspective or not..."

"Or I should just go?" Nick mumbled. "Maybe I should just go! Oh, wouldn't you know...a murder file just conveniently drifted across my desk. I suppose I'll be going..."

"I get it. I'm sorry for freaking out on you, Nick," I unenthusiastically apologized. Since the twins had gotten older he had developed a thing for not departing angry from each other. He wanted clarity and things to get on well so everyone could calm down and move on. I can't really manage to stay mad at Nick anyway since he is usually well intentioned. I do have to admit that the only thing I'm kind of mad about is that this rule seems to apply to everyone but Gavin.

When Nick and Gavin fight, it's serious and it's long. There's no solving that before you go to bed. The fight goes on for a week? Maybe two if it's about money. The core of the issue is usually simple though - Gavin's poor attitude and Nick's unwillingness to call it out directly. Nick's sarcastic round abouts usually work to rebuke poor behavior, except with Gavin obviously. Let's just hope the kids grow up funny like Nick instead of angsty like Gavin.

"Well, I'll be off now. Thanks for the apology, Charlotte," Nick smiled through the phone. I chuckled and said my goodbyes. I dialed a different number, but one which still had the same familiarity.

"Office of the Chief of Police," Rhonda spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Rhonda. It's Char-"

"Charlotte, sweetie...I need to get you a new ringtone," she chuckled before immediately transferring me. Rhonda, as sweet and kind as she is, has never once seen me in person, and I had only seen her by Connor's connection.

"Oh, hello?" Connor spoke into the phone very quickly.

"2:00 sharp. Catch the news."

"Oh, that's great! I was looking forward to good news," Connor answered.

"That bad of a day, huh?" I asked.

"Unfortunately. It's just budgeting stuff. There's like a $150,000 surplus and every precinct is fighting to get crazy tech and upgrades...and I'm trying to put it in everybody's pension funds," Connor chuckled. "So bad. Never thought I'd have to explain to actual police captains why the Union would hate their idea."

Hank decided to retire from the force instead of become police chief, but on his way out, threw Connor's name into the ring. Eventually, the council chose him after interviews, which was a surprise to everyone from his little experience. In between Hank retiring and Connor taking the job of Chief, we had a pretty calm period of leave where Hank and Connor cowrote a book about the murder cases that led up to the revolution. I think that the crazy amounts of popularity that got throw Detroit PD's way from this helped Connor's shot too.

When the job was finally his, Connor was nervous to take it but Hank convinced him. I'm partially convinced Hank only convinced Connor to take the job so that he could say his next book was edited by the chief of police. To be honest, it really is a stellar marketing strategy.

"Funny you say that," I said, spring boarding off  of Connor's comment. "Nick and I just talked and he said we have it pretty easy right now."

Connor chuckled. "As if!"

There we go. That was all I needed to hear. A little too busy for a kid right now. Things just aren't that easy.