✓ Skin Deep ↠ Connor | D:BH

Chapter Sixteen: The Pitch

I can't help but think back to a few nights before, as I'm being prepped for my interview. The soft caress of his hands as he went slow into me. I didn't care in those moments if we truly loved each other or not, because regardless, he's the only one I want to do that with, and be with forever.

My hand goes to my stomach at the thought of a life that could be growing there soon, something I had never even thought was possible.

Hands rest onto my shoulders and by looking up into the mirror, I see him. Clothed unlike my memories, but strikingly handsome nonetheless. The makeup girl gives us a minute and I hope that means she's done with me finally.

"You're so beautiful," he comments, his gaze hitting mine in the mirror.

"That's better than pretty," I breathe out, smiling at him. "You look beautiful, too."

"It's the suit, isn't it?" he asks, grinning down at his attire. "I used to get pretty...leering looks from woman in my CyberLife suit."

"I think it's mostly the butt." I grin, smacking his, clearly startling him. "Every woman likes a cute butt. And yours looks great in a suit."

"Are you two ready?" A woman with a headset asks, the pen in her hand clicking furiously, showing her stress and impatience. We nod, and Connor helps me out of the chair, still afraid for my rib. I think that's why he was so slow and careful a few nights ago.

We're seated across from a plump middle aged man who's chatting with a few crew members. Then, he is signaled the 'live' motion and he goes straight into introducing us.

"Good morning, Michigan! And parts of Ohio and Canada! We have two very honored guests with us today, Connor and Aurora Anderson." The crowd watching us live claps and I try to push down my nerves by giving a wave.

"So let me get this straight, Aurora, you are the only human to protest with the androids. Why is that?"

I had already known he would ask this, so I'm not too flustered. "When my mother passed away, Elijah Kamski, a close friend of my father's, sent him a prototype android. She became my mother in every sense of the word, and she became a wife to my dad. We were a very happy family."

"So there's some personal business in your feelings, then?"

"Definitely. But they are alive. They might've come from a different creator, but they're still very much like us."

"Connor has already been very interviewed these past few weeks about his part in freeing the CyberLife androids and thus, playing a very important role in their freedom, but no one has commented on the public display of affection between you two. Tell me the story there."

Connor speaks first. "When you have to go against your programming and become deviant, afterwards, you just feel everything. They have always been there really, but we are told that we don't feel, we aren't alive. After I separated myself from my orders, I realized I loved Aurora, and things have been going very well since." His hand clasps mine, and I squeeze his affectionately.

"Truly the Romeo and Juliet love story, isn't it? Two warring species and yet you found love. Amazing."

Finally, it's time for my pitch. "Well, we actually found that we aren't so different after all. With our two brilliant minds," I say, trying not to be sarcastic at the end. "We came up with a way for androids and humans to procreate if they decide to be together, like us."

Now it's Ron Truman to be shocked at this. "Are you pregnant? With an android's baby?"

My hand goes immediately to my abdomen. "Not yet, though very soon we could be. We tested it on an android ape and a living ape. Both mother and baby are doing amazingly."

"That is awesome. Truly awesome. I hope the best for you two, and this will definitely open doors for other intercyber couples. Will this be released to the public?"

I nod to him. "Yes, very soon. I'll be releasing it under my father's company, Breath of Life. Right now, we only have the capabilities for it to be between an android male and a human female, but we are currently working on it for the opposite."

Truman leans forward, rubbing the light stubble on his chin. "I remember your father's company. I had wondered what happened to it. Your father passed away, correct?"

I wasn't prepared for that turn in the conversation, so I clam up. "Yes, he did, when I was fourteen."

"If I may ask, how did he die?"

My mind drifts back to that horrible day. One of the worst uprisings from laid off employees that machines had taken jobs from. "H-he was caught in a revolt from unemployed factory workers. He was there to fix the machines there that day. They took it out on him."

"That's awful," Truman says, looking down at the paper on his desk. "You were left in the care of your android mother, then?"

I shake my head. It isn't quite true. "The state was going to put me into foster care, as androids had know rights then. They couldn't give custody of me to her. So instead of a life of going from one house to another, she brought me to Detroit to live with Kamski, dropping me off at the hospital. Instead of Kamski, though, I was adopted by Lieutenant Anderson, with DPD."

"He was very popular after those red ice cases. I'm glad everything worked out for you in the end, Aurora."

And just like that, it's over, and I'm going home already. I don't expect the angry Hank to meet me at the door, though.

"When you said you were making me android grandchildren, I thought you were kidding. Aurora, you're still so young and you and Connor haven't been together very long."

I walk past him, sitting on the couch in utter exhaustion. Hank sighs before taking a seat beside me. "I'm sorry. It's your life, of course. I still see you as that skinny girl that played softball and punched a boy for looking at her funny."

"That would probably explain why I never had boyfriends," I comment, crossing my arms. "Hank, I'm not doing this just for ourselves. Markus is wanting to separate the androids from humans, and I'm afraid for our future. You don't want Connor gone either, do you?" We both look at the said android that's sitting on the ground, playing with the giant, Sumo, his face lit up with joy.

"No," he sighs, his arm going around the back of me. "Guess I better get used to the idea of being a grandpa, huh?"

"Yeah, though I still don't know if it'll work. Kamski thinks it will."

"So that's who's been behind this. Damn bastard."

I giggle, leaning against my adoptive father. "He really is a bastard. I'm glad he was so late getting me on that day. You have been much better."

He shakes his head. "No, I haven't. I've been a real shitty father. I had a second chance and I squandered it. That's why I'm going to be here for you now. With whatever the both of you need." He's looking at Connor now, who's cuddling with our loveable dog. His suit will definitely be covered in fur now.

My loveable idiot.