Love is a Human Emotion (Complete)

Chloe arrived at Jericho 2.0 at 12:36 pm. She was surprised to see that the main room was pretty empty. North was sitting on a couch, typing at an almost impossible speed with Simon looking over her shoulder.

"No no, you can't write that. It's too offensive!" Simon said pointing at a spot on the screen.

"What I say is offensive, is offensive." North replied in a snarky manner.

After the protest a little over a month ago, North started writing articles on android rights and inequality to try and persuade more humans to support their cause. It was a huge success and the Detroit Newsletter published her articles every week. Although, sometimes North could be a little aggressive, so Simon usually edited her works and provided tips on how to be on the humans' good side while still providing their message.

Simon shook his head at her. North looked up from her screen and finally noticed Chloe. "Hey girl! Back so soon?"

She nodded. "I got the thirium packs Josh asked for."

"Did someone say my name?" Josh entered from a hallway. "Chloe! Thank rA9 you're here! We were low on these since I had to use a lot for our favorite android detective."

"Well, you're in luck." Chloe pulled out three big bags from her bag and handed it to him.

North eyed the bags suspiciously. "Why do you need so much?"

"It's for our patients, of course." Josh said. "And... for a project I'm conducting on the side." He added with a wink. He walked away to the infirmary.

Simon lowered his voice. "I don't know what project he's referring to, but I do not like it one bit."

North laughed. "Maybe we should report his behavior to Markus."

Chloe didn't join in on their joking banter. Her mind was still replaying her interaction with Connor. The more she thought about the RK800, the more her feelings hit her like a train of confusion. Yet, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Um, North?" Simon and North stopped their conversation and turned to look at her.

"Can we talk...alone?" Chloe added the last part with an apologetic look to Simon.

However, Simon didn't seem bothered at all. "Of course! I get it, you girls need your alone time. I'm gonna check on Markus in his room. You the man Chloe."

Chloe frowned. "I'm not a man."

North sighed. "Forget it. What did you want to talk to me about so badly?"

"As you know, I went to the Detroit Police Department to help Connor with his investigation. We talked for a while and...something happened." Chloe said in a lack of better words.

"Something happened. Could you get any vaguer?" North said.

"North."

"Sorry. I'm not the best at advice." North put her hands up in defeat. "Can you describe what happened?"

Chloe rubbed her arms uncomfortably. "I-I don't know exactly, but I liked talking with him. I liked being so close to him. And I felt something. Something warm."

North raised her eyebrows. To Chloe's surprise, she started laughing. Chloe's LED turned yellow as she was starting to get annoyed with the WR400. "Why are you laughing?"

North spoke between laughs. "I'm sorry. I can't say I didn't see this coming, but man!"

"See what coming?" Chloe pressed, her LED fully red. "Am I in danger? Is my software corrupted? Something's wrong with me, I know it!"

"No you're fine." North assured her. "You just have a crush."

Chloe froze. "W-what?!"

"You. Have. A Crush." North repeated slowly. "Do you understan-"

"I know what a crush is." Chloe interrupted. In all the time she'd spent with Connor, she'd never thought of it like that. But now, it was so obvious to her.

"I like Connor." Chloe said aloud. "Oh, what a relief!"

North smiled. "So, are you gonna tell him how you feel?"

"Are you crazy? I can't do that!" Chloe screeched, jumping out of her artificial skin.

"Why not?" North asked. "When I realized I liked Markus, I just told him and we kissed afterwards."

Chloe cringed at the thought. "But you two eventually broke up."

"And I'm totally glad we did cause now we're closer friends than ever." North said. "The point is, you'll never know how Connor feels about you if you don't tell him first."

"No, I can't." Chloe felt anxiety building up inside her. "It'll scare him off and we won't be friends anymore!"

"Listen, I haven't known Connor for very long, but I know he's too nice to do that. Besides, he would be such an idiot to deny an awesome, sweet chick like you."

Chloe laughed. "Thanks North, I feel a bit better now. I'm still not going to tell him though."

North groaned. "Oh come on! I even gave you a whole speech!"

"I just need some time to think about these new feelings." Chloe told her. "Maybe once I'm ready.... I'll tell him."

At least, that's what she wanted to happen. But when the time came, would she be ready? Would she ever be ready? What she did know was that she needed to take some time for herself, and not think about Connor.

"And then we high-fived!" Connor was rambling to Hank in the office about what had occurred the day before. "Why did I have to be designed with zero social skills?!"

Hank sipped coffee from his "#1 Android Dad" mug. Connor also had one with the words "#1 Android Son". Although right now, Hank wished he had a bottle of vodka.

"All relationships start off awkward at first." Hank told him. "You just gotta warm up to her more."

"I suppose you're right." Connor sighed.

Hank thought for a moment. A memory popped up in his brain. "When we were waiting in Kamski's house.... I commented about Chloe being a nice girl. Do you remember what you said?"

Connor did remember, but he didn't feel comfortable being that up. "I...don't recall."

"Really? Thought androids had infinite memory capacity or something?" Hank said slyly.

"...Fine." Connor gave up. "I said she was very pretty. But I don't see how that is relevant to this conversation."

Hank thought it was very relevant. "Ok Connor, whatever you say. Just try not to get distracted while we're dealing with a mass kidnapper."

For the rest of the day, Connor sat in front of his computer, looking through evidence files and piecing things together.

Once they arrived home, Connor took Sumo on a walk. Then he started cooking Hank's dinner. Suddenly, a chilling thought crawled into his brain. What if the kidnapper was after Chloe? What if after being foiled the first time, he would try to snatch her again? Maybe not accompanying her was a bad choice. Was she in trouble even now?

He was jerked back into reality by the smell of burning pasta. He quickly turned off the stove and dumped the boiling pot into the sink.

"Connor, what the f*ck?!" Hank's voice came from the distance.

"It's nothing Hank!" He shouted back. "I've got it under control!"

Unfortunately, His worries for Chloe didn't go away and now he had a burned dinner sitting in front of him. He knew she was fine; she had Markus and his friends around her almost all the time.

Still...he would feel better if he saw her again. Tomorrow was Saturday. He would go first thing in the morning to see her.

With the new mission in mind, Connor laid in his bed. He closed his eyes and imagined Chloe's blue sparkling eyes looking up at him and the warmth from her breath on his face. He smiled as he fell asleep.