I like the idea here that Hank knows but is either actively trolling the real Connor and/or buying them time (trying to lure Sixty into a false sense of security)
I also subscribe to the idea that Hank knows which serial number Connor is (either through his multiple deaths or not) he just knows his Connor isn't Sixty but he can't see a way into Cyberlife without letting Sixty take him in?
Because let's think: when Hank asks where they met and Sixty rushes to answer Jimmy's bar and recounts going to a crime scene later
Hank knows Connor would remark on being a "wonder of technology" or grossing Hank out with his sampling feature
When Hank asks what his dog's name is he isn't looking for the answer Sumo: he's looking for that light in his Connor's eyes that just fucking adores dogs and his dog in particular
When Hank asks what his son's name is he isn't looking for his son's name: he's looking for that empathy that Connor proved not just during the Kamski test but over the course of their time together: that Connor asked why he was so determined to kill himself, why he hated androids etc. Connor speaks with the weight of these things in mind when he describes Hank's son, like Connor is also forgiving Hank for his abrupt and rude behaviour at the start of the partnership because he knows that it was never about him per say it was about the android who failed to save Cole
I fully believe that Hank and Connor in this scene are taking the moment to reaffirm their love and dedication to one another because Hank hears Connor and sees that recognition of who he is within another person, that partnership/companionship he wanted
And Sixty is just watching them like o_O are they exchanging vows rn? is my cover blown?
above are the references for Connie and Hannah's clothes mentioned in the fic <3
It's Cole's seventh birthday and proud mothers Hannah and Connie are determined to make it memorable despite it being a work day.
Hank flipped up her welding hood as she took in her work. It wasn't her worst—she might have been rushing a little to avoid the proposition of overtime. They were celebrating Cole's birthday this afternoon and she'd made a pinky promise to be there. As she removed her gloves and headed for her locker she pulled her grey hair out of a short pony and rubbed her scalp where the helmet band had been pressing into all shift. Her phone buzzed and she already knew it was Connie reminding her to leave work.
On my way.
Connie felt a wave of relief at the prompt response—immediately interrupted by the ringing of the oven timer. She jumped slightly and snapped back into focus, reaching for the nearest tea towel to retrieve the cake. She sighed in defeat looking at the burnt confection and fishing out a knife from the drawer to try and shave off what she could.
Hannah was just starting her car when she got the phone call.
Hannah's lips curled with a toothy grin as she answered it.
"Hey, can you swing by the grocery store on your way home?"
"Just a cake I'm assuming?" Hannah tried reply without laughing.
"Or cupcakes…honestly anything at this point." Connie groaned, "I swear I set the timer ten minutes before it was supposed to be done."
"How long did the box say?" She teased. For as much as Connie tried to bake she never really got the hang of things, mostly due to her ADHD distracting her during the process at some point. Hannah loved that she never really gave up trying despite this.
There was a moment of silence on the line as Connie re-read the box instructions and realized she'd read it too fast to register the numbers properly.
"Not important." Connie declared loudly, earning a snort from Hannah.
"Of course not babe." Hannah smiled. "I'll be home in twenty."
Hannah was rushed as soon as she opened the door, her son clinging to her legs as if she might float away.
"Hey Cole," Connie took the items from her hands, affording her the opportunity to ruffle Cole's hair affectionately. This earned her a happy shriek from the kid. He was dressed in his favourite orange shirt and blue overalls.
Connie set the violets on the table beside the package of cupcakes, she was half dressed in work casual with a white button up and a pair of Hannah's PJ shorts that revealed the moles dotting her legs. Hannah raked her eyes over her wife for a moment longer watching her lean into the fridge to set down the six pack.
What a cute ass.
Connie ran her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face, realizing she didn't have a scrunchie on her wrist as usual.
Hannah wordlessly pulled a hair tie off her wrist and gave it to her wife who blinked her brown doe eyes at her appreciatively.
Cole made a noise and Hannah turned to focus on her energetic kid, hoisting him up to rest on her hip. He was non verbal but that didn't mean he was quiet, not in the slightest.
Connie beamed at them, eyeing the way Hannah's arms flexed as she picked up their seven year old—god she was strong.
"Shit—forgot the food in the car." Hannah plopped the child down and pointed towards his shoes, "Can you give me a hand little man?"
Cole had crawled away so fast that the mothers' couldn't help but laugh, Cole climbed onto the couch to burry himself in pillows—clearly not wanting to put on his shoes to go outside.
"Here take this when you go—" Connie slung a trash bag at Hannah's feet, the smell of burnt cake emanating from the black plastic.
Hannah just shot her a toothy grin and slipped outside to dispose of it, returning with the bag of burgers she'd left in the car.
Connie began to unpack the food, taking a seat at the table and sighing—she'd been wrangling their son for hours in-between plugging away at her remote job and her back was starting to ache. Cole perked up immediately as he heard the rattling of his chicken fingers and he grabbed a spot at the table, pressing his face onto it making a humming noise.
Hannah quickly disappeared into their room to change out of her sweaty work clothes. She put on a fresh black tee and shrugged on a loudly patterned button up—her signature style consisted of what Connie called 'old-man shirts.' She stepped into some navy blue cargo shorts and returned to the living room to see Connie attempting to wipe Cole's face with a napkin. How their kid had managed to get honey mustard sauce all over his face within minutes of eating was a mystery, even more than Cole's hyper-fixation on all things mustard.
Hannah dug into her burger with a hearty bite and took over the impossible task of keeping Cole from staining another one of his shirts. Connie flashed her a grateful smile and began to eat her own food.
Taking a sip of her pineapple soda she cleared her throat, "How was your day?"
"Internet went out in the middle of a meeting." Connie smiled softly, "Might need help finding that Ethernet cable in the closet."
Hannah licked the ketchup that dripped out of her burger onto her fingers. Humming a response she grabbed a napkin off the table to tuck into Cole's shirt—he was getting more of the mustard on the chicken fingers at least.
"The flowers are lovely." Connie reached out with her foot under the table to rest on top of Hannah's, "Nice attempt to distract me from the beer."
Hannah swallowed a bite, "For the Gears game this Friday." She had cut back on drinking a lot since having Cole—of course it came with the territory of carrying a child. They'd spent most of their savings for IVF, Connie was unable to carry due to health complications and so Hannah had rose to the challenge—she surprised herself with how much she enjoyed the pregnancy. Of course Connie dotting on her and giving those legendary foot massages definitely played a role.
Connie just smiled back at Hannah, "You've earned it I suppose."
The family had finished their dinner and Connie had thrown on her favourite blue cardigan with various fish scattered across it. It was brisk outside with the fall breeze, and the sun was already setting when they buckled Cole in the backseat and headed for the animal shelter.
They'd spent a few days of the week looking at adopting a dog, Cole had zeroed in on an elderly St. Bernard. He had a calm temperament and didn't seem phased by Cole's occasional banshee cries so they were confident they could give the dog a nice home. Since it was finally his big day they let him name the dog while they filled out the paperwork.
Their son had signed the word for wrestling and Connie tilted her head curiously.
"You wanna name him wrestle?" Connie asked, trying not to dissuade him from choosing even the most unconventional of names.
Cole shook his head and signed the letters: S-U-M-O.
As soon as they'd brought Sumo home he found a comfortable spot on the couch and laid there, gratefully accepting the belly rubs afforded to him by the family. Not long after Cole had begun to doze off so Hannah had brought him to bed, followed by Sumo who snuggled up beside him. Hannah gave them both a kiss goodnight before grabbing a shower and falling into bed beside Connie.
"Did we forget to open the cupcakes?" Hannah mused, trailing circles lazily on Connie's back.
Connie cursed, burying her face into the crook of Hannah's neck, "I knew I was forgetting something."
Hannah chuckled, "I don't think he noticed."
"We're bad parents." Connie moaned melodramatically, rolling onto her back and throwing an arm over her face.
Hannah propped herself up on an elbow and gently grabbed Connie's hand planting a kiss on her knuckles reassuringly.
Connie's eyes snapped open and she gasped, "Where's your whiskers?" Connie on multiple occasions had expressed how much she loved the grey thick hairs that lined the edges of Hannah's jawline.
Hannah huffed, "I shaved em'."
Connie narrowed her eyes, grabbing Hannah's face with her hands and pressing their foreheads together, "How dare—" Her joke was cut short as Hannah silenced her with a kiss.
There's speculation Hank had a bad relationship with his father (because of his comment at Kamski's regarding talking to his 'maker')
So my guess is Hank was raised by a single mother (absent father)
and just for pain lets say she lived with addiction and she died of an overdose before Cole was born (the start of his marriage failing as he threw himself into work) *let's also remember addiction is inheritable*
*Hank was inspired to join the police force to stop the distribution of narcotics
Let's say him graduating at the top of his class meant he was absent in his own marriage with Cole's mom so they divorced when Cole was 3 years old BUT both had shared custody
for some seasoning let's throw in that Hank likely got Sumo as a puppy around the time of his divorce mainly to make Cole happy when he spent time at his place
let's say the day of the accident he was working late the night before and was sleep deprived (he might not have caused the accident but it certainly didn't help his reaction time) hence why he deals with feelings of self-hatred
for a little extra kick let's say he and his ex wife don't talk because they BOTH blame Hank for the accident and it's just too much grief to face head on
And then the DPD assigns this cute ass Cyberlife android to work with him and growing up in the aids crisis this man has some serious internalized issues when it comes to sexuality and he's already hateful of androids because of Cole's surgeon but its more complicated than just an android fuckin up the surgery: a human was too high to operate...that kind of shit you don't find out about without some digging
Hank would have investigated to find out why the usual surgeon was unavailable--would he have been given a settlement from Cyberlife? Or would it be in some fucked up contract that he'd be unable to hold them liable, and would this have spurred his investigation into medical malpractice in order to get some type of apology from Cyberlife that would never come?
Thinking about Connor witnessing some of humanity’s most complicated, ugly, broken parts through Hank.
Thinking about Connor still choosing him in spite of this. Or maybe partly because of this. Thinking about Connor with the whole new world at his fingertips choosing to stay by the side of that hardened, damaged, and devastatingly human detective.
Like Connor was designed as part of his features to accommodate human unpredictability, and him becoming deviant was just the most likely scenario but that's why Amanda monitored him and his mission reports so closely, why they replaced each predecessor and stripped it's memory when he was destroyed because they needed someone to study in real time as he observed and explored deviancy
Amanda's most terrifying bluff was that Connor never deviated because his purpose was always to provide Cyberlife with that information, leverage and power to regain control over the deviant problem which is why Cyberlife would have known it was risky but necessary to create Connor as a deviant constrained by the internalized shame of being defective and the promise of praise through obedience
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