You don't realise you needed something, until you have almost lost it.

Gavin stretched his back and glanced at the time. 16:34 Not even close to the time he usually leaves at. But his research was going nowhere and he wasn't actually sure at this point if he wanted it to go anywhere. His mind kept imagining Nines' as all the androids. Getting shot by him, getting arrested by him, being deactivated and killed, because of him. Every success he imagined to achieve with this investigation came with a bitter taste. He wasn't even trying to deny anything to himself, he just felt miserable.

To fall for a piece of plastic. Pathetic. He could have at least picked a deviant who could accept or refuse his feelings, not a machine. He sighed and just turned shut down his terminal, getting his thing together to leave.

On his way out, he went past the android boots, pausing at Nines'. He thought about saying good night, or something of the sort, but he was interrupted by Chris.

"Where are you going Gavin?" he asked, surprised.

"Getting the fuck outta here." he turned away from Nines, facing the exit and Chris.

"So soon already? Do you have some plans?"

"Nah I just don't feel like being in this shitty place anymore. Anyway, see ya later."

"See ya." He passed Chris and went straight to underground garage without stalling much more. Only when he got to his motorcycle, fishing in his pockets for key, did he realise he didn't actually drive here today. But since his motocycle was here, Nines must've brought it here. He felt anger wash over him, that someone else rode his baby and stormed up again, inteding to put Nines' in his place.

He went up to him and snapped his fingers in front of Nine's face. "Hey, tin can. Wake up!"

Nines opened his eyes and then blinked a few times. He put his hands behind his back and curled his lips slightly. "Yes, detective Reed?"

In an instant, all of Gavin's anger was gone and he was just staring at Nines' pretty face, wondering if it's real. He scratched the back of his head. "I-uh.. Do you have my keys to the motorbike?"

"Certainly." Nines took out the keys from his pocket and handed them to Gavin. "I walked your motorbike to the station last night, so I wouldn't waste your gas."

Gavin felt a throb in his heart and stepped back a bit, suddenly not comfortable with how close they were. "Thanks." he coughed a bit and stepped back more. "I'm gonna go now. See ya."

"Goodbye, detective." Gavin turned around on his heel and was quickly gone again, avoiding everyone's eye contact, feeling as if everyone was staring at him. Gavin getting angry and no one getting hurt was an unusuall occurence. He was already cursing himself. The consequences would be unavoidable the upcoming work day. He resumed his commute home as soon as he could, feeling soothed by the wind blowing past him, when he was on his motorbike.

Even at home, there were milions of thoughts going through his head. The androids, his new case, Nines, Tina and now a new e-mail from his mother too. He was about to delete it as he usually does, but for some unbestknown to him reason, the memory of Nines' words stopped him. She's family. That doesn't mean he owes her shit though. Still, he opened the e-mail and looked through its contents.

"Dear Gavin,

I don't know if you read my e-mails and deliberately ignore my pleas, or if you don't even open them, but I will keep on trying to reach you. Your brother's baby was just born and he couldn't even be there to see it. We sent him some pictures to prison, but it still doesn't make up for the experience.
You should meet your nephew too. He's the cutest thing in the entire world. It would also help Megan to have someone to talk to. She's so lonely these days with Josh behind bars.
You used to be such good friends too, I bet you miss her just as much as she misses you. We all miss you.

Please, call me. I need you.

Love, mom."

His conscience was biting him again and he was consideirng calling her. Afterall, he was the one to report Josh and thus brought unhappiness to the whole family. But then his rational thinking kicked in reminding him, that his family wasn't happy even before that. He closed and deleted the e-mail, before he did something he'd regret. The message stayed on his mind, even when he drank all the leftover beer from his fridge and even when sleep took him.

Memories and faces flashed before him, each one making him feel more bitter and miserable,tearing open the hole in him. Redemption came in a form of buzzing. It was short, but loud in his quiet apartment, startling him awake. Gavin blinked a few times, before grounding himself in reality and banishing his nightmares.

He looked around for his phone in the dark, dim light from the screen helping him along. He grabbed it and yawned before checking his notifications. It was a text from an unknown number.

"It was a pleasure working with you, Detective. I hope you forgive me one day."

Gavin rubbed his eyes and looked at the text again. He didn't have the number saved, but it sounded exactly like from the mouth of a certain plastic prick. He knew Nines could send messages, he just didn't remember giving him his number. It had to be, it wouldn't make sense for anyone else to send such a message.

But still, he had no idea what the fuck was the android going on about. It almost sounded like a farewell. Fuck, it was a farewell. Gavin stood up, wobbly, using the side of his couch, which he was sleeping on, as support. Why would an android need to say goodbye? RMC wasn't moving them to a different division, was it? He looked at the clock showing 23:38. No, it couldn't be. It's too late for such procedural matter.

His heart suck a bit. Were all androids getting deactivated again? He picked up the TV remote, panicked, almost dropping it. He calmed down somewhat after not finding anything interesting on any news channels. He re-read the text again. It's been 10 minutes since it was sent, and he was getting more unsettled. Maybe he should text him back. He weighted pros and cons, but told himself to fuck it and just text him.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Where are you?"

He sent, hoping to get a reply soon. Nothing. He nervously paced around and the urge in him to punch something grew by the second. His phone buzzed suddenly and he lunged for it, quickly opening the text message.

"I am going to finish our investigation, so you don't have to."

Gavin shook his head and resisted throwing his phone against the wall. Why the hell was Nines being so secretive about everything? Gavin stopped pacing for a second and stared at his phone. If he was going to finish the investigation, did that mean he had a lead, that he didn't tell Gavin about? It was probably too much of a stretch, but his detective sense was telling him something was amiss and he was right.

He racked his brain, trying to think of a way to find out where Nines is, seeing as he had no intention of telling Gavin. If only he had some sort of a tracker on him... The he realized something. Nines is an android, so it's not entirely impossible for androids to have trackers.

After long scrolling through his e-mail inbox, almost missing the e-mail he was looking for in his frantic search, he found the information he never bothered to read when he 'recieved' the android. And there it was, a link to downloading software to Nines' tracker. He clicked on it and quickly dressed himself while the app downloaded. With every app permission he had to give to the tracker, he tapped his phone harder and almost dropped it down the elevator out of frustration. "Stupid fucking piece of plastic." He muttered as he got on his motorbike, the app finally showing him Nines' location. After securing it in his phone holder so he can watch the screen while driving, he starts up his motorbike and speeds out of the underground parking garage.

Nines was a small dot, moving towards a former industrial district of the town, which was mostly abandoned due to RMC's monopoly on pretty much everything. "Shit, I knew he had a lead he kept quiet about, I'll have to knock him about after this. He's just gonna get himself killed!" He sped through the traffic lights, no matter the colour and narrowly avoided a collision more than once. He was half-fuelled by anger, that the plastic prick would try getting ahead of him in investigation. The other half of him was trying to deny a sinking feeling of dread slowly creeping up on him and cooling his anger. He was faster than Nines though, and was closing in on him quickly. That was until the app declared an error and after clearing it, the dot pinpointing Nines' position was gone. That's when his feeling of dread washed over him full force worried, that Nines was already in trouble.

It didn't matter, since he was just two streets down and hasn't heard any gunshots yet. He remembered the last spot the tracker showed Nines to be and stopped his bike to a screeching halt in front of a not-so-old, but definitely abandoned factory building. He drew his gun, but kept the safety on before entering through the front door hanging off one of its hinges. It creaks a little bit but there doesn't seem to be anyone near.

Gavin explored the first floor until he heard voices above him. He stopped to listen, but couldn't discern the words. He looked for stairs to get to the upper floor, but the only ones he found were wooden stairs barely holding together. Careful not to make too much noise, he climbed the wooden stairs and moved towards the voices. Soon, he was close enough to recognise the different voices and his heart started beating faster once he realised, one of those voices was definitely Nines and he did not sound like his usual calm and collected self.

He carefully peeked around the corner and saw Nines across the room with his gun trained on someone out of his vision. He tried leveling out his breathing to hear what they're saying better. A foreign voice spoke to Nines soothingly.

"Look, I understand how you're  feeling but I assure you, you'll be able to see much clearer-"

"I can see clear enough." Retorted Nines sounding slightly annoyed.

"Of course, of course you can. But the guy who sent you can really tell and he wouldn't have sent you here if he thought you were just a machine" Said the other man quietly and after a short silence, he could hear footsteps approaching. "I can help you. Whatever it is that you want, you'll be able to achieve it if you just put down the gun-"

Nines fired the gun and Gavin could hear it ricochet off the floor. "That's close enough." Warned Nines with a voice unlike his. It kind of sounded like two voices together, but Gavin had no time to ponder it further once he heard a gun cock near his head.

"Stand up slowly and drop the gun." He did as he was commanded by a familiar voice. One he hasn't heard in year and a half. Hank fucking Anderson "Kick it away." He kicked the gun away from him Hands in the air and move."

They left the hiding and went into full view of Nines and the person he had his gun pointed at. Nines heard their footsteps and quickly turned, pointing his gun at Gavin's forehead before noticing the person behind him. His eyes widened, but he quickly pointed the gun back at the first guy, who tried to take advantage of the situation by charging towards Nines. He shot the guy in the shoulder, but that didn't stop him and he kept charging towards Nines, until they were grappling for the gun.

Gavin felt Hank's gun leave the back of his head and he quickly went even further out of the gun's reach and rammed Hank into the wall with his whole body. He back away slightly and punched him the face before Hank could regain his footing. He then kicked the gun out of his hands and dove for his own, which was on the other side of the room, closer to where Nines was still fighting with the other guy, who was leaking blue fluid from his wounds.

He grabbed it right as the deviant won the battle for the gun and shot Nines in the chest. Nines tried to disarm him, but the deviant easily fended him off and kicked him away towards Gavin. Gavin felt a pang in his heart as he saw Nines fall and shot the android multiple times before he could notice him. He didn't even aim properly, all he could think about was to get him away from Nines. The deviant also fell and Gavin quickly ran to grab Nines.

"Nines! Are you okay?" Nines took away his hands from his chest, which were covered in blue blood. Gavin's heart dropped, but they had no time, because he could hear footsteps coming from the direction he came from too. "We have to hide." He took Nine's arm and wrapped it over his shoulder, half-carrying him away. He was only able to carry him a few rooms before his muscles were already giving out. They found a small space behind a crumbling wall and he set Nines down.

"My th-thirium valve was d-damaged." Whispered Nines with a slightly robotic voice, which made him sound panicked. "My thirium pump i-isn't recieving enough t-thirium."

Gavin pressed his hands against Nines' chest, hoping to stop the bleeding to no avail. "Dumbass, why did you think this was a good idea?" He took away his shaking hands, now covered in blue blood too. "Look what you got yourself into stupid tin can."

"I-I'm sorry detective. You were so stumped i-in the investigation and I wanted to help you s-so-" Gavin quickly pressed a finger to Nines' lips when he heard footsteps and voices approaching. He could hear Hank giving out orders on where to find them and decided they couldn't keep hiding forever.

Gavin made sure Nines was focused on him. "Stay here. I'm going to try negotiating. And don't you dare fucking move." He took his gun and waited, until he could hear footsteps right outside of where they were hiding. He then went out with his gun trained straight on Hank's face. "Drop the gun" He ordered and this time, it was Hank's turn to obey.

"You know we can't let you leave." Hank said, as he kicked the gun away from himself. "We can't risk hundreds of lives just to let you two live."

"Well you won't have no choice, 'cuz I'm not letting Nines die in a deviant shithole." Gavin said, trying to stop his hands from shaking so much.

Hank sighed. "The only way you two get to live is if we take you as prisoners. The android. Nines was it? He's damaged, but we can treat him if you let us turn him deviant."

A million thoughts were running through Gavin's head, as he was trying to think of the best solution. "Or how about I take you hostage and only release you once we get out of here."

"Gavin, think. You're going against androids with perfect fucking aim, there's no way you last longer than 10 seconds. Take my way out while you have the chance. I've only offered it, because we used to be colleagues." Said Hank, frowning.

"Hey, how would I even know you'll keep your word you prick? You left the DPD and for what? A few androids, which lost their battle for rights?" Gavin heard something like an electronic coughing sound behind him and was painfully reminded of Nines' condition.

"You say that, but you care so much about that android that you come to save him?" Said Hank, which made Gavin more unsure and caused his hands to shake harder. All he could think about was Nines dying behind that wall and no matter how much he tried to tell himself he can't ruin his career and become a criminal, like his brother.

"Fuck. If I just let myself get captured you'll repair Nines, right?"

"I promise." Hank assured him. "Look, I have nothing to gain but everything to lose here. So just take it while you can."

Frustrated, Gavin lowered his gun. "Shit. You'll regret it if you cross me." He handed his gun to Hank, still weary of his former colleague, and went to check on Nines. He was not doing well. His LED was spinning wildly, fluctuating between red and orange and he even seemed to be breathing heavily despite that not making any sense. "Hey, Nines. Nines look at me." He turned the android's face toward him. "Everything will be fine. You'll be okay."

"D-det-tectiv-ee?" His voice was sounding more electronic than normal at this point and it really worried him.

He took the android's face into his hands. "C'mon Nines. Just hold on a bit. I need you- I need you to hold on a bit longer." Gavin hooked his arm around Nines' back again and mostly dragged him into the bigger room, where there were already two more deviants with guns trained on them.

"Hey! Somebody help me with him, he's kind of heavy." Shouted Gavin.

"I'll help you." Said Nines' voice from behind his back but before he could turn around to see, he was hit in the back of his head with something heavy and passed out before he even hit the ground.