"I will return to you. Please don't break yourself down over this."

"...take care of Hank and Sumo for me. Please."

"You can count on me. I wouldn't ever leave you, love."

The itch of stained tears on your cheeks woke you up. Once again, you were in the darkness of Hank's living room. Your need for water was nearly unbearable, so you drowsily removed the blanket from your shoulders and stood up. Your legs walked to the kitchen where you could drink and wash your face of the event from last night. Past the windows of the dark home, dogs barked and the water of a nearby lake lapped against the earth. Everything in this sleeping house was still. It made you feel out-of-place. The water from the sink soothed your throat and calmed your nerves. But now you were freezing, in just your loose shirt and sweatpants. The tiles beneath you were chilling your feet, allowing the cold to slowly circulate through your body while you stood in the silence. You set down the now empty glass in the sink and leaned on the counter with your forearms.
It was still dark outside, before or after midnight, and all you could see outside was the shouting bright lights from the city not-so-far away. You turned the faucet again, releasing more water from the sink. The cold water that hit your face kept you awake for just a moment longer to view the equally awake city. Then you clasped a cold hand over your mouth, holding in a squeal- you heard a noise behind you.
"Who's there?" Other than your fear, all you could register was a deep voice. An intruder? An enemy of yours? Then again, do you even have enemies? Maybe it was Connor. That thought was quickly discarded: he'd already be at your side.
"Who's behind me?" Without the adrenaline, your voice would only appear to be as loud as a mouse. A half-frustrated sigh gave away the now recognizable person.
"What are you doing up so late?" You turned around to see Hank already leaning against the wall next to him.
"I...can't sleep." You brought your hands up to your arms in an attempt to warm them. "About, you know."
Similar to how he spoke to you last night, his voice was gentle and quiet. "Huh, me neither." The silence wrapped around the two of you when neither of you spoke up.
His eyebrows raised as a thought hit him. "You know what, come with me." Hank waved his hand toward the front door before explaining. "There's a place I like to go when I can't sleep."
A smile ghosted over your face. "I guess I don't have a choice." You snatched your coat off of the back of the couch and you both set off.
It felt weird being in the passenger seat of Hank's car. But it was nice. You had a much better view of the city lights all around you. Your mind briefly flashed back to that dark night, but snapped back to reality when the radio was turned on.
"Oh, Jesus-" Both of your hands covered your ears instinctively.
The sound was turned down to a bearably loud volume. "Sorry, I always leave it that way." The comforting almost-silence turned into trying to decipher the lyrics of a few heavy metal songs. You picked at the brown leather seat while the car's tires ran over a few stones. Hank had one hand resting on the wheel, the other wiping the sleep from his eyes or moving his hair out of his face. When the tall skyscrapers and clustered stores in the city started to spread out, your eyes landed on what you assumed to be your destination. A children's park.
The car abruptly stopped when the road ended. You both exited the car. Hank reached into the backseat to reach for something while you took a few steps further into the park. Some street lights were on in the distance, but most of the park equipment remained sitting in the darkness. You could make out a few slides and child-sized swings. The splash of water against the land's surface directed your attention. Your eyes watched the dark water dance before you. Taking cautious steps on the snow below you, you gripped the blue railing and looked down. In the daylight, this water would look bright blue. But in the middle of the night, it appeared as an endless void. You started to imagine what it would feel like if you dipped your feet in and let it drift you away. 
The clanking of glass bottles was heard behind you. "Looks pretty, right." Hank sat on a small bench behind you, alongside a box of beer holding a bottle of it. Your content smile faded.
"You're drinking? You know what happened last time-..." Contradicting what you expected from your short lecture, he chuckled.
"I barely remember what happened after I got home, sweetheart." You looked away again at the city line. A gentle wind blew through you. Cars on the nearby bridge passed in and out of Detroit, moving on with their lives. You felt stuck. For an indescribable reason.
"Why did you take me here? You said you came here when you couldn't sleep, right?" You made sure your voice carried in the wind so he'd be able to hear you clearly.
"Well, 'figured you couldn't sleep either. And...it's a nice place. I used to come here a lot." His voice seemed to leave him. Now he was far away, in a different place.
A half-smile cracked at your lips. "What, to a playground? Seems kind of weird doesn't it?" Hank paused to take a drink and sighed directly after.
"Connor really hasn't told you yet?" You turned around at the question. Your eyebrows pulled together towards him.
"No. I mean, told me what?" Your cold hands hid in your jacket pockets from the silence that followed. Hank looked straight down. His eyes bored into the bottle he was clutching as if his life depended on it. You waited patiently for his response even though your legs felt like giving out.
He took one more quick drink before taking in a shallow breath. "I had a son once. His name was Cole." Your breath caught in your throat.
"He was only six, until...." Hank looked everywhere except you, landing on one swing, to a section of the railing, then the water.
"An...an accident. He didn't make it." His voice crumbled apart as he spoke.
You instinctively went to apologize for prying at the sensitive subject. "Hank, I...I'm sorry, I-"
"That's why I come here so often. Too often." He took a sweeping glance of the park as he spoke. There was a deeply mournful look in his eyes.
"He loved this place." You weren't too far away from him, but you could barely hear his voice anymore. He was mostly speaking to himself now. Instead of staring at him, you took a deep breath of the early winter air. You let your eyes travel through the small park while you exhaled.
Your voice was barely audible. "...I'm sure he was wonderful." Hank only nodded as he took another swig from his bottle. Then he hazily pointed towards you.
"You look like you're about to fall over, come sit." When you looked down at yourself, you noticed your hands were now clutching your sides tightly. You stood on the heels of you feet, anxiety rippling through you.
"Okay." You replied curtly and sat down at the bench beside him, only a container of beer separating you. Just then you realized how uptight your body had been. You leaned back on the bench and thought over another conversation starter.
"I'm sorry for prying, but...a, and stop me if you don't want to answer, but..." You took a quick glance at him through the edge of you vision. Still staring at the cars driving down the bridge.
"...did Cole ever have a mother?" You despised prying at the sensitive topics, but you were too curious to not know.
Hank paused. "...Well. Yeah." He continued on his drink while you waited for a response.
"And?"
"After the incident, we...things didn't work out. We parted ways."  His breath appeared in the air like a cloud, in the cold environment.
"And look at me now. A real fuck up, if you ask me." He let out a short laugh after speaking.
Both of you sat together in comfortable silence. The atmosphere around you could lull you to sleep. Once and a while, you'd hear a car pass by closely or the leaves in the trees above you would shake. You held your cold hands together in a pathetic attempt to warm them up. As much as you liked being here with Hank, you really hoped you'd be going back to the house soon. You had underdressed considering the weather outside: just a loose top, a jacket and sweatpants. Tiny snowflakes began to fall from the dark and partly-cloudy sky again.
"What about you?" Hank's deep voice alerted you to your senses again.
After he got a strange look from you, he elaborated. "Connor told me you had an ex-boyfriend or someone you met at a park." You sighed lightheartedly and shook your head. Thinking about that Android put a smile on your face.
"Mm-hm. He told you that?" What else had he shared without you knowing? Hank also had an amused look on his face.
"Of course he did." He grabbed another bottle from the box beside you and set the empty one down. "So what about it?" Your hands clutched together a little tighter.
"...Well, turns out he...turns out he was an asshole." Your words were spoken slowly and carefully. You tried not to let your emotions get the best of you again.
"He didn't treat me well...at all, but I didn't remember it until I saw him again." You could tell Hank was watching you with intent eyes without looking at him.
A shallow breath warded away the incoming tears momentarily. "Once I saw him that day, I, I had a dream about him afterwards. Then the memories about our relationship came back." You studied how the water would lap up to the side of the concrete, then fall back into the river. Those movements repeated again and again.
"...It really hurt." You managed to snap out of your daze. "But Connor was there for me to talk to, so I was fine in the end." You remembered how he held you in his arms that night. How when you finally let go of your worries, you felt like you could finally breathe again. You nearly melted at every touch and look he gave you.
Hank shifted back to his original position. "Is that the night you two woke me up?" The realization slapped you in the face.
"Hm. Oh, oh yeah I think so. That night..." Deep in thought, you started picking at your fingernails.
Hank held up a hand to stop you. "You don't have to describe in detail, thanks." You nearly shoved him off the bench.
"No, nothing like that!" You laughed and hid your face. That thought hadn't even crossed your mind. Does Connor even know how that works? Would he even be able to... You decided to stop thinking about that.
"I...I actually think that's when he turned deviant. I just brought up the idea of him possibly being one, and he responded...strangely." Remembering how scared he had looked made guilt hang on your shoulders. Was asking that question good for him, or bad?
"You're probably right, considering what he's off doing now." Hank paused to take a few drinks from his bottle. Your hands were still clasped around each other.
After a moment for both of you to think, he turned his attention to you. "Speaking of deviants, did you ever manage to find that runaway Android of yours?" That rainy day, just before you left to Kamski's place. When you shared your feelings for each other.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah we did." You hid your face to hide the dreamy smile. "Also while we were walking." That smile disappeared when you remembered the moment in more detail.
"She acted so...scared. I felt terrible that I had made her feel that way." You thought back to how you held her in your arms for a brief moment.
The breath you had been holding in for however long was released. "I let her go, and wished her well. That's when my memories fully came back."
"Oh really?" Hank's attention was brought to you again.
"Yeah. It was...fulfilling." Now that you realized it, you never really spoke to anyone about what happened. Not even Connor.
"Well? Talk about it!" He flashed a smile and nudged your shoulder.
A sheepish smile grew on your lips. "Alright, alright."
You took deep breaths as you proceeded to tell him about the events of that night. How you were violently attacked, when you started to run away, and how you ended up bloodied in the bathroom. You described in detail how the room filtered in and our of your vision and how you heard the police sirens but only to not be found. You tried hiding the tears that were slipping out of your eyes one by one.
Hank scratched his beard at the awkward atmosphere. "Damn. I'm, uh...sorry about that."
"I wish I could do more, but your case is probably closed considering how big of a problem this is." He set his bottle down and clasped his hands together. "Nobody's paying attention to singular incidents anymore." You quickly moved to wipe a tear from your cheek. He turned his head to look over at you when he noticed the tears.
"Hey...hey, hey don't cry like that." He moved to wipe your face dry and held your shoulders comfortingly.
"God, I wish he could be back sooner." You stood up, away from his grasp.
You barely whispered as you looked into the far distance. "Why am I crying over this?" The smallest wind made you feel like you'd crumble into the ground. Then you felt a pair of arms hug you loosely.
"It's okay to be worried." His arms tightened around you when you accepted the hug. He smelled of alcohol, dog, and old cologne.
"I know he'll be back. No matter how hard you try to keep him away." You could clearly imagine Hank smiling.

Finally, I managed to write something! I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I actually completely lost motivation for anything D:BH related, but I managed to push through. And I don't know when the next update will be, I'm sorry.
Until next time, Pixel Crew!