The next morning at work, Connor was waiting patiently for Chloe to arrive. He had opened his connection with her and asked if she could come to the DPD to answer some questions about the attack. He played with his quarter as he waited, keeping his attention away from the door.
Around 11:21 am, he saw the girl walking towards his desk. She was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, but the cardigan was wrapped around her neck like a scarf.
"Wow, seeing you two days in a row! We're on a streak!" Chloe joked.
Connor was genuinely happy to see her. He smiled. "How are you settling into Jericho?"
"Oh, it's so much fun!" Chloe's eyes shined. "I have my own room, I have a new set of clothes, and I think North and I are becoming good friends!"
Seeing her this excited warmed Connor. He noticed that as she spoke, her left eyebrow raised slightly. It was an interesting feature. He filed that information in his memory banks.
"That's good." He wasn't sure why he was nervous all of a sudden.
"This place is nice." Chloe commented, looking around the room. "Where's Lieutenant Anderson?"
"He's talking to Fowler about our current case." Connor said. "I can bring you to him; I'm sure he'd like to say hi."
As they walked together to Fowler's office, Connor was vaguely aware of people watching them curiously. He could almost feel their eyes burning into the back of his neck.
Chloe leaned her head closer to him and said in a low voice, "Are your coworkers always so...inquisitive?"
"I'm the only android in the police force." Connor answered, tilting his head as well. "Seeing another one pop in out of nowhere probably caught them off guard."
"Who's this?" Connor groaned inwardly as they approached Gavin's desk. He eyed Chloe from top to bottom. "Your girlfriend?" He sneered.
Connor stopped and gave the detective a puzzled look. Chloe giggled next to him. Connor didn't get why that was funny. He did a quick search of the word.
Girlfriend: a female companion with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship. Synonyms: lover, partner.
Oh. He was about to defend himself, but Chloe had already walked ahead of him. He decided to ignore Gavin and caught up with her.
"I'm sorry about him." Connor said sheepishly. "He's a jerk."
"No worries. I've had my fair share of jerks in the past." Chloe winked.
It seemed that Hank had just finished his meeting when he stepped outside the office. He looked pleasantly surprised to see Chloe.
"Hey...Connor told me about yesterday. Glad to see you're okay." Hank said.
Chloe dipped her head respectfully. "That's very kind of you to say, Mr. Anderson."
"Don't bother with formalities. Call me Hank. So, what brings you to the belly of the beast?" Hank asked.
"Connor asked me to come in." Chloe answered.
"Ah. The interrogation." Hank said in realization. He looked back and forth between the two. "You kids should do it outside. I mean, not like that, but ya know what I mean."
Chloe looked confused. Connor gave him a sharp look that could be interpreted as What the hell are doing?
"Listen, I know you two would rather talk without these creeps watching your every move." He said gesturing around the room. Sure enough, their coworkers were watching them as they spoke. Hank glared at them and they all resumed back to their business.
He put his hand on Connor's shoulder. "Trust me son." He said knowingly. Then he walked away, leaving Connor with an exasperated look on his face.
"He's a good man." Chloe determined. She met Connor's eyes. "I can tell he really cares about you."
Connor's thoughts got jumbled as he looked into those deep blue eyes. "Yes...he's like a father to me."
Chloe didn't respond, but her LED flashed yellow for a moment. Was she scanning him?
"We should go." Chloe eventually said. Her lips curved into a slight smile. "Unless you'd rather stand here looking at me."
That definitely snapped Connor from his trance. "I-uh..of course."
They sat on a nearby bench underneath a large birch tree. Connor could appreciate the view. White fluffy snow surrounded them in every direction. The pale sky was splattered with gray clouds like freckles. They fit the aesthetic pretty well, with Chloe's white cardigan and Connor's light grey hoodie and beanie.
Chloe explained that she'd been walking down the street when suddenly, a man attacked her. She'd fought him off just fine on her own, androids were a lot stronger than humans after all, until she felt another body slam against her back.
"You're saying that there were two of them?" Connor asked, surprised.
"I'm not sure." She said. "He covered my face with his hand so I couldn't see. I bit his hand to get him to release me, and once I could see again, there was only one other person with me in the alleyway."
Now this was getting interesting. If the bandit was linked to the missing androids, this might prove that there was an accomplice involved. That would explain how the kidnapper was taking androids so quickly.
"So you were fighting a man with a knife all by yourself, when another man jumped you out of nowhere." Connor said. "And you bit him. That's...kind of badass."
Chloe laughed. "Don't let Hank hear you say that word."
When Connor saved Chloe from her attacker yesterday, he'd thought she was in desperate need. Now he knew she was capable of fighting not one, but two guys at once. "I'm just impressed, is all."
"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself, deviant hunter." Chloe poked him in the ribs. "You took a knife for me and shook it off like it was nothing!"
Connor smirked. "That just shows how badass I am."
They laughed, a hearty full laugh that could ease anyone's mind from stress. Once they stopped, he found himself looking into the RT600's eyes. It had started snowing a couple minutes ago and now there was a speck of it on the tip of her nose. He had a strange urge to wipe it off with his thumb. They stayed like that for a while, getting drawn into each other's presence like magnets.
After 5 minutes and 16 seconds had passed, Connor's systems were on the verge of overheating. He coughed to release some heat. Chloe took a shaky breath. The moment had ended.
"Um...do you have any other questions for me?" Chloe asked.
"No, that's all." Connor still needed time for his systems to recover and the awkwardness did not make it any better.
"I should, uh, head back to Jericho now." She sounded unenthusiastic. "North told me she'd show me her favorite bands."
"Oh. That sounds important." Connor tried for a smile. "You should get going then."
"Yeah."
They both stood up and attempted to say goodbye. Chloe extended her hand for a handshake and Connor went in for a hug. They went back and forth a couple of times before settling for an awkward wave.
As he watched her leave, a new prompt popped up on his interface:
[Accompany Chloe]
[Leave her alone]
He considered the options before choosing the second. He watched her walk all the way to the end of the street and until she disappeared around a corner. Their relationship status changed to <Chloe: Uncertain>
Even as he arrived home that night, he worried if he'd made the right choice.