A Devious Humanity

A Toxic Confrontation

Despite Hank's insistence that he didn't need all the help he was getting during his recovery, he was unable to stop Connor and Lucas from all but carrying him into the house through the front door, and then up the staircase to his bedroom to rest. The senior detective was under strict orders to remain as sedentary as possible for a full week until his abdomen healed from the minor, but still invasive surgery to stop the internal hemorrhaging due to the car accident, before he'd be permitted to use his crutches to walk around on his fractured knee that still bore a deeply painful laceration. In that time Connor and Lucas took it upon themselves to look after him every step of the way as any loving sons would do for their father.

The reaction to Hank's injuries was one of utter compassion and care. The two brothers truly saw Hank as their father, and they wanted to show the man the same love and respect that he had shown to them.

"Boys, I appreciate your help, but I'll be fine by myself for a few hours." Holding a bag of ice against his still sore abdomen he watched as Connor proceeded to hand him the next dose of his prescribed medication while Lucas brought him some light lunch to eat. "You can go do your own things and leave me be."

"Not until you're well enough to walk around." Connor insisted as he handed Hank the pain pills and antibiotics. Having been discharged from the hospital after a seventy-two hour stay had made all three members of the Anderson family restless, and it was beginning to show. "I'm still healing myself, so I can't return to the precinct and Lucas has agreed to stay in the house until Eddie has been captured."

Glancing up at the deviant Hank and sighed and gave him a slight smirk, the bandage covering the right side of his face pulling a little in the process. "You do realize when I said don't leave the house, I meant don't leave the property, right?"

"Yes, we know."

"And that you can still go to the tower to complete your shifts."

Lucas paused for a moment before he looked over at Connor, who gave him a confident nod, before replying to Hank's comment. "...I'm actually no longer going to be the lead technician at New Jericho Tower. Simon is going to step up in my place."

"Oh? Kamski got another facility lined up somewhere else?"

"No. I just- I decided that being a technician isn't really what I want to do or who I want to be."

"Oh, okay."

The nonchalant and very chill response from his father almost caught the relatively shy deviant off guard. "...You're not mad?"

"Why in the hell would I be mad?" Hank didn't understand the reaction at all. "You're a free man, Lucas. You can do what you want and be who you want."

"It's just... I know you were very proud of me when I became a technician, and I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Neither of you kids could ever disappoint me. You know, unless you fucked up BIG TIME."

Lucas looked over to Connor again who just sort of shrugged his shoulders without an answer to give. "...Like how?"

"I don't know. You robbed a bank, blew up a building, killed a man just for snorin' too loud." Hank winced again as his abdomen was still sore and sometimes even speaking would hurt him. "Trust me, there's plenty of worst things either of you two could do beyond a career change, and even then, it'd have to be pretty extreme for me to be disappointed. Got it?"

"...Got it."

"All right then. So," trying to ease Lucas's misplaced worries Hank asked about his next choice in career. "if you're not going to be a technician then what are you going to be?"