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Gavin Reed yawned and switched on the news station, his TV being the only source of light in his dreary living room. The clock read 1:32 AM. He hadn’t been able to sleep since the start of the damned revolution.“As the android revolution comes to a close and the deviant group known as ‘Jericho’ revels in their success, the city of Detroit--and the United States of America--can finally sleep peacefully knowing that the “Civil War” is no longer a looming threat. Jericho’s leader, an android known as Markus, the same android known for its--his--speech that was broadcasted across national television, is planning to discuss the deviants’ terms with Congress and CyberLife in the coming weeks. Though, many are questioning whether the deviants’ cause is still legitimate after the events that occurred during a Jericho gathering following President Warren’s broadcast. One of the later leaders of the revolution, the android responsible for the infiltration of CyberLife tower, Connor, was reported to have commit suicide in front of hundreds of androids while their leader was giving a speech. According to multiple sources, he had been pointing a gun at Markus before aiming it towards himself and pulling the trigger. The act caused a violent uproar in the crowd, and several androids were killed in the next hour. Many have expressed concern over Connor’s intentions and whether or not this will lead to further android violence. CyberLife’s former CEO Elijah Kamski has provided us a possible explanation as to why this has occurred:‘Emotions are still new to most androids. Many of the members of Jericho were newly deviated--they hadn’t had time to adjust. After watching such a traumatic event, their stress levels may have peaked to their limits, causing them to self-destruct or become hostile. Most of the offending androids were androids set free directly from CyberLife’s warehouse, so we can assume that this is the most probable explanation.’Mr. Kamski, however, has also expressed concerns about the situation:‘There’s no need to worry about the hostile androids. They’ve most likely all self-destruct, and those that didn’t are unlikely to cause any more issues. But, for the safety of the androids, I highly suggest that the Detroit authorities investigate before any further issues occur.’”“Jesus Christ,” Gavin grunted as he switched off the TV and darkness overtook his apartment. He was so tired of seeing those damn reporters on the TV.He rubbed his eyes and decided that it was finally time to try to sleep again, but his thoughts kept him up. His bed hadn’t been used in weeks, and whenever he attempted to sleep on his couch in front of his old, lame TV, he gets reminded of that damn lieutenant and the damn infatuation he had with that android. ‘Damnit Connor,’ he thought to himself. ‘Of all the ways a badass android could go out, suicide is what got him?' Gavin thought back to when Connor first arrived at the precinct. The way his big brown eyes looked so innocent, yet the indifferent expression on his face told otherwise. The way Connor didn’t obey orders and always managed to get on his nerves. The way Connor pretended to be hurt when Gavin punched him in the gut, and how easily Connor had beaten him up in the basement. Gavin didn’t want to admit that he had gotten slightly…excited...during the fight. His feelings contradicting the reason Connor fought. Gavin was looking for a reaction, trying to piss off Connor the best he could to see what he would do, while the android was on a time limit, trying to solve his case and find Jericho. In the grand scheme of things, Gavin’s emotions and little social experiments with the Android looked small, meaningless against Connor’s ambitions. Gavin lied on his right side, sighing. Sleep didn’t come easy, and by the time he felt like he was able to rest, the phone rang. Begrudgingly, Gavin sat up and reached across the coffee table to pick it up. The phone displayed the time, 4:54 AM, as well as the Caller ID. He wasn’t shocked to see that it was Chris calling, sometimes he needed him to come early into work, especially if there’s an ongoing case. He pressed the answer button and slowly brought the phone to his ear.“Hey Chris...what’s goin’ on?” He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. It was silent and dark, save for the metal cage in the corner. His rabbits seemed to have roused from their sleep due to the loud ringtone. Gavin heard shuffling both from the cage and from over the phone.“Gavin? Gavin! Thank god,” Chris’s voice sounded frantic, “Listen, something just happened, and I need you at the precinct.” More shuffling and other voices came from the other end of the call.“Chris? What’s going on?” More shuffling. “I’ll tell you when you get here, everyone’s just freaking out, and I’ve gotta go. I’ll fill you in, just hurry!” The phone went silent. Gavin was sitting up now, thinking about the possibilities of what was awaiting him at the precinct. He decided he couldn’t just sit there, so he got up and went to the closet. He chose his usual getup of distressed jeans, a casual dress shirt, and his leather jacket. Once he pulled into the precinct parking lot, he noticed the copious amounts of officers pouring into the building. Gavin got out of his car, and looked around. He spotted Chris and waved him over. “Thank god you’re here Gavin, everyone else is inside.” Chris explained.“What’s goin’ on, why is everyone rushing inside? The fuck, Chris--?!“Chris cut him off. “I’ll explain in a second, just follow me, okay?” Chris walked into the building. Gavin sighed, then followed his friend. The precinct was packed with frantic officers pacing back and forth. People were huddled into groups, the biggest group surrounding Hank and Connor’s desks. Some of the officers were crying while others stood in silence. Fowler was standing just in front of Hank’s chair. Chris leaned over to Gavin and whispered in his ear.“We got a call from a neighbor, saying that he heard a gunshot coming from Hank’s house. When he checked it out, he noticed the window in the kitchen was broken and thought someone had come into his house. Sumo was howling next to... Hank’s body on the floor with a bullet in his head,” Chris exhaled sadly, shaking his head. “Gavin, Hank committed suicide shortly after the news broadcast about Connor’s suicide.”“Oh, Jesus fucking Christ..” he said, although he could barely hear himself over his heart beating in his chest. He knew Hank had a bad streak with things like this, but he never expected it would... actually happen. A wave of guilt flooded within him. He had been such an asshole to both detectives.. and now they were gone. Gavin couldn’t help but feel slightly responsible. If only he had been more helpful to the two, maybe things would’ve ended differently. He couldn’t help but fill his head with those thoughts as his head hung low, his hands rested on his hips. He felt himself begin to shake, in both shock and distress, but Chris knew better than to say anything about it. Fowler moved over to Chris and Gavin, his voice was low and soft.“I know you didn’t get along well with Hank, but I can’t imagine this to be easy for you either.” Fowler addressed Gavin. He put his hand on the smaller detective’s shoulder. “It’s tough for all of us but we have work to do.” Gavin looked up at Fowler, a growl filling up his throat.“So that’s it? You’re just going to carry on like one of your top detectives didn’t just fucking kill themselves?!” He could hear Chris warning him about how loud he was getting, but he couldn’t find it in him to mind. “God fucking damn it!” he exclaimed, frustrated, “I may have hated the guy but that doesn’t mean i’ll just ignore his death!” Fowler gave him a scowl,“Detective Reed, I will not let you give me that tone! Either you calm down immediately, or I’ll have to suspend you for your actions!” Gavin suddenly felt eyes on him and looked around, seeing the entire room’s attention turned towards them. He scoffed, pretending like he didn’t feel insecure about his outburst.“i’ll be at my desk,” he said finally, after about a minute of staring down Fowler. He heard Chris apologize to Fowler before following Gavin to his desk. Reed huffed as he sat down, his head low as his hands grabbed the back of his neck. His elbows hurt from the impact but he didn’t care. Chris sat down across from him.“Hey man, be easy on Fowler,” Chris said gently. “It’s especially hard on him, he just lost one of his closest friends.” Gavin exhaled, still shaking. He lifted his head, looking back at Chris with a pained expression.“Do you think I don’t know that?” He retorted, fighting back tears. “God this is so fucked up.”“I-“ Chris started. “I also wanted to mention that I’m leaving.” Gavin’s head snapped back to Chris, a shocked and confused expression flashed on his face.“What do you mean?” He asked angrily. Chris stayed calm, as if he knew this would be Gavin’s reaction.“Listen, me and my wife are scared. We have a kid at home and my wife thought that it would be best for me to stay with them. She doesn’t want me to get hurt, and if anything happened to me, who would help her take care of our kid?” Gavin understood that, sure, but that didn’t make him any less upset.“We just lost two of our guys and you want to leave now?! Chris this is insane!” Reed tried to keep his voice down, but he couldn’t help it. Several heads turned to check what was going on.“I’m sorry Gavin, I have to be there for my family. I’m sure they’ll assign you a new partner.” Chris assured him. “I already talked to Fowler, all I have left to do is to clean out my desk. I’m sorry.” He said, looking at his friend with a frown.“Fuck man, I don’t need a new partner! We’ve been working together for years.” Gavin could’ve believe what was happening. He turned away, scoffing. ‘First Connor, then Hank, and now this?’“Look, I know this is hard for you, but I have to think about my family’s needs, and they need me home. And who knows, maybe when everything settles down, I might come back. It’s just that right now I need to be home to keep them safe.” Chris started to grab things off his desk and put them into boxes. The two stayed silent for a while, until Chris was finished packing. Once Chris was ready to go he glanced back at Gavin. “It was a pleasure working with you Gavin. We’ll still be in touch.”Gavin got up to give Chris a hug. “I’ll see you around Chris.” His hold on Chris tightened as he added, “I’ll miss you.” Chris patted his back and they separated. Chris waved goodbye before walking out the door. Gavin watched him leave before going to the break room, his thoughts whirring at 60 mph. The groups of officers began to disperse and leave the building. Once Gavin walked into the break room, he headed straight for the coffee maker. He began brewing himself a cup, remembering when he made connor make one, yet refused it afterwards. Gavin felt another pang of guilt as he remembered punching the Android in the gut. ‘God... I’m such an asshole..’ he thought idly, as he watched the coffee drizzle slowly into his cup.Once his coffee was done brewing, he grabbed it and headed back towards his desk. Before he could reach it however, Fowler called him to his office. Feeling a tad bit annoyed, he walked up the stairs and entered. He closed the door and walked over to the desk, straightening his jacket before taking a seat. “You wanted to see me?” He asked.“Listen Gavin, I’m sorry for getting upset, but we’re all on edge.” Fowler stated. Gavin was surprised to say the least, Fowler was apologizing to him. “Everyone takes loss differently-your reaction was only natural- and I didn’t mean to snap at you.” His voice was still filled with sorrow, but he continued on. “I know you’re upset, so I’m going to be letting you go home and rest today. Chris just left and I don’t want you to be overwhelmed. You’ll be returning to work tomorrow though, so don’t get too comfortable.” Fowler chuckled, ending the conversation with a joke that only further shocked Gavin. “T-thank you Jeffrey.” He got up and started to head for the door to leave. Before walking out, he turned his head slightly back at him. “And, I’m sorry for your loss.” He closed the door and walked back to his desk, grabbing his jacket before leaving the precinct. The drive home was silent. He was too distraught to play any tunes. The only sound he could hear was the tires rolling on the pavement.———————————————————— It was only 8 AM, the day had barely begun, but all Gavin wanted to do was sleep. He felt sick, his thoughts were screaming in his skull. He took some Advil for his headache and laid down on the couch. Alone in his apartment, as his emotions changed from sadness, anger, and guilt, he cried. Gavin wasn’t known for crying, as he was used to concealing his emotions. He sobbed anyways, crying as loud as he wanted. Letting it all out helped lull him into a deep sleep.————————————————————-When Gavin woke up, it was 6:32 PM.“Shit!” He jumped up, going to the fridge and grabbing some lettuce and spinach for his rabbits. He walked over to the metal cage in the corner and turned on the lamp that was on a table next to it. He cooed at them as they hopped over to him, sniffing the air. “Sorry little guys, I hope you aren’t mad at me,” Gavin said in a tone meant only for pets.He grabbed one of the two rabbits and lifted them up. It was a male rabbit, the fur was white with grey spots and brown eyes. The rabbit’s name was Trigger, while the other was named Ashes. Ashes was a male with black fur with a clouded blue eye (he was blind in that one), while the other eye was brown. Gavin picked up Ashes as well and held them both to the ceiling before bringing them close to his chest, where he cradled them. He never let anyone see his soft spot for animals other than Chris, who was shocked to know that Gavin even had rabbits. He baby talked with them more before he set them back down in their cage. He took the leafy greens and put them in their food bowl. He then grabbed their water bowl and brought it to the kitchen sink for a refill. On his way back to their cage, Gavin realized that Hank had a dog, Sumo. His eyes widened, and before he could even realize what he was doing, he rushed over to the phone to call Fowler.The phone rung for a couple of seconds before Fowler picked up. “Gavin? Is everything alright?” he asked. “Hey, Hank had a dog right?” Gavin asked quickly. He went back to his rabbits and placed the water bowl in the cage before closing it. Trigger and Ashes nibbled their food happily.“Yeah, Sumo is currently being held in a cage at the station. I was thinking about taking him in but my wife is allergic to dogs, so we were going to see if someone else at the station wanted to--““I’ll take him.” Gavin said, not letting Fowler finish.“You?” Fowler laughed. “I didn’t take you for an animal person Reed.” He laughed again before thinking about it. “Are you sure? He’s a pretty big dog, and he seemed very upset. He might be a challenge.”“I don’t care, I can take care of him,” Gavin assured him. It was the last thing he had left of the people he, even if he didn’t want to admit it, regretted being an ass to the most.“Well, alright. You can pick him up today if you want. He was just moved to the break room. It’s great that you want to take him, I would hate to have put Sumo in the pound if nobody took him.”“Great, I’ll be there in the hour.” They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. He took a shaky breath, grabbed his car keys, and left his apartment after, saying goodbye to Trigger and Ashes. He hopped into the car and drove to the local pet store.The employees know him as a regular because of his rabbits, and he would sometimes bring them in to let people pet them. It was also a good way for them to stretch their legs and explore. The cashier looked up when he walked in, the door making a ringing sound when he opened it.“Hey Gavin!” said the man behind the register. His name was Steven, and he was usually always working when Gavin went to buy food and treats for Trigger and Ashes. “We have a special sale for rabbit food, any two bags for $4. It’s pretty sweet if you ask me,” Steven said, smiling. Steven was a tall guy. His hair is long and tied back, and his dark brown locks complimented his tan skin. He had brown eyes, as well as a short beard. “Thanks Steve, but I’m looking for some items for a dog,” Gavin replied, smiling back. It wasn’t common for him to smile genuinely in public, but Steven has been helping Gavin with his rabbits for years. Whenever one passed away, Gavin always invited him to its funeral where Steven always gave his condolences and supported him.“A dog? I never thought I would hear the day that Gavin Reed would adopt a dog!” he leaned over the table, punching Gavin’s shoulder playfully. “What kind of dog is it?" Gavin laughed. “He’s a Saint Bernard, and he’s huge. I'm looking for a dog bed and some food, maybe some treats, a cage, and some toys.” Steve nodded his head, his fingers on his chin. He suddenly smiled brightly. If they were in a cartoon, there probably would have been a light bulb flickering on above his head.“I know exactly what you need brother,” Steve said cheerfully, before rushing into the back. Gavin took that time to grab some treats and toys. He looked around the store and found the dog isle. He grabbed some bacon chews, some beef flavoured dog food, as well as some dry food. While he walked further down the aisle, he grabbed a rope toy and some squeaky pigs, smiling a little. He then realized that maybe he should’ve grabbed a basket to carry everything because some of the cans in his arms were falling onto the floor. Thankfully they didn’t burst open, and so he picked them up before carefully waddling to the register. He placed everything on the counter and Steven re-emerged from the back room. He was carrying two large boxes, and Gavin tilted his head, curious to see the contents.Steven placed the boxes on the counter and opened them, pulling a large brown dog bed with white paw pads all over it out of one box, while the other contained 6 sides to a large cage along with padding. “This is the biggest size cage and bed we have,” he said brightly. “I’m certain that these are perfect for what you described. Gavin smiled. “Thanks man.” Steven started to ring him up, scanning each item.“Will that be all for you today?”Gavin looked up, handing a hundred to him. “Just two bags of rabbit food, and I’ll be all set.”————————————————————-He walked into the precinct and immediately headed for the break room. Fowler was already there, sitting on a chair next to Sumo’s cage. Gavin walked over and saw that Sumo was laying down in the far corner of the cage. It looked almost as if the large dog was crying, and Gavin felt bad for the poor mutt. Fowler greeted him and told him that he was thankful that he would have a home. Gavin assured him that Sumo would be well taken care of and that he already purchased everything necessary to care for him. After Fowler left, Gavin knelt down in front of the cage.“Hey Sumo, it’s Gavin, remember me?” He asked in his ‘animals only’ voice. Sumo lifted his head, and sniffs Gavin’s hand as he extended it towards the cage. “I was at Hank’s BBQ that one time a year back. Chris dragged me out.” Gavin continued as Sumo got up and walked closer to Gavin, the door was now open and Gavin’s hand was inside the cage. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone so you and I hung out the whole time, remember that?" Sumo’s tail began to wag as he walked out of the cage and jumped up on Gavin, licking his face. Gavin fell back on the floor as Sumo proceeded his assault on Gavin’s face. Gavin started to laugh and sat back up, petting the dog.“I knew you remembered me!” He smiled. Sumo got off of him and he attached the leash that was on top of the cage to his collar. Sumo only stood, tilting his head showing that he was confused. “You’re coming home with me Sumo.”Sumo whined and laid down, putting his head on his paws. “Oh come on boy, you don’t wanna stay here do ya?” Gavin tried to pull the dog, but he wouldn’t budge. “You’re not gonna make this easy for me, are you?” He asked as he attempted to pick Sumo up. The dog was very heavy, but he managed to lift him up. “Jeez, Sumo, you need to be put on a diet.” Gavin finished as he carried the dog to his car. Once he placed Sumo in the back, he drove home.