Tick Tock Part Three - Dock

A New Game

Gavin was feeling pretty good about things a few days later. Things with his own case may have been a little slow, but all of his guidance meetings so far had worked out great. Pennington and Pearson were getting on like a house on fire. Jones and Randal were slowly coming together. Tina was pretty happy with her own recruit, Kalvin, and Miller was patiently teaching Martins how to deal with trauma victims. As for Ralph and Collins, things had gone better than he could have hoped for. It turns out they were bonding over gardening. Barely a day after pairing up and settling Ralph in at his new desk, Gavin entered the bullpen to hear a loud exclamation of "Succulent!" coming from their workspace.

He quirked a brow and snuck a little closer to find Ralph cradling a small brown pot with a shiny blue ribbon around it. Collins was sitting at his desk with a kind smile as he watched Ralph gushing over the small plant. Gavin huffed in amusement as he watched Ralph excitedly reeling off every fact he knew about the small plant he was holding. Collins nodded his agreement and voiced a few care tips that he used for his own plants. Ralph had been excited to hear about Collins' garden and was touched to learn that the small plant in his hands was one that Collins had grown himself. As a maintenance android, Ralph still had a lot of his older programs installed. That included plant care for many common garden species.

Gavin was currently enjoying one of those rare days off while Nines had gone to the precinct to network with Connor on something. That left him alone for the day. He would have gone to work himself, only Nines had lectured him about how humans required rest periods and insisted he stay home. Before he could work himself up to fight about it, his phone had buzzed with a call from Chloe. He'd all but glared at Nines as she excitedly told him she'd heard he had the day off and demanded he spend it with her. Nines had openly smirked as he'd grumbled out an agreement, so there he was. Waiting in the middle of the Plaza for Chloe to appear.

"Gavin!" She looked really pretty. She was wearing a light cotton dress with thin shoulder straps. It was white, but there were little blue flowers all over it, and her head was covered by a pretty straw hat with a wide rim to protect her delicate skin. Not that it actually needs protection. It's not like androids burn. She was also wearing those lace sandals he'd helped her pick out, with a matching white bag slung over one shoulder for her purse and keys. She greeted him as usual, with a kiss on each cheek, before looping her arm through his and leaning against him as they walked.

"Hey, how are things at the office?" he asked as they ambled through the square towards the mall. It seemed to be a silent agreement that they'd start at their usual coffee shop. Nines must have picked up on it too, since that morning he'd brought him a tall glass of cold water rather than his usual coffee. Chloe was happy to update him on Cyberlife business. The initial design phase for teenage models was complete. They'd included the artificial stomach components as a courtesy since they'd likely become commonplace once they hit the market, along with genital components. It had taken a lot of back and forth, but in the end, they'd decided that it wouldn't be fair to deny them the experience that their peers would go through.

Gavin nabbed their usual window table, and Chloe insisted on buying this time. She bought him a large mocha with cream on top, along with a slice of chocolate cake. For herself, she settled on her usual thirium latte and a lemon cake with swirly yellow icing. As soon as she sat down, she nagged him for another painting session. He couldn't exactly turn her down. Nines had enjoyed the session towards the end, and their pictures were still unfinished. He wasn't sure when they'd have time, but they should have a day off together pretty soon, and he was sure Nines wouldn't have any objections. Chloe beamed at the news.

They stayed in the café for a couple of hours before she led the way out and suggested the bookstore. She'd recently started reading a new romance series about a human who fell in love with an android, and she hadn't been able to put it down. She needed the next volume. Gavin was almost surprised, but maybe it was only a matter of time before things like that became commonplace. He almost scoffed at the cover. Romance novels were always like that. A human man with his shirt hanging off one shoulder looking longingly at a dainty, but somehow alluring, female android, who stared out of the cover as she bit her lip and leaned back in his muscular arms with a yellow LED. It reminded him of the books he used to find when his mum had still been around. She'd kept them tucked away, but eight-year-old Gavin Reed had been quite adept at finding things he wasn't supposed to. He still remembered her face the first time she'd caught him frowning at the cover of one.