Okay, well this is gonna be weird. I'm not used to writing for these two, but I love their characters. I got a lot of reviews on my other story Shifting Reality that told me Derek and Cameron/Derek and Allison should be together. This will explain why Derek hates Cameron so much and why he was in tears when she was dancing. I have no time to update anymore, so I hope to write like 3 chapters tonight and post them randomly whenever I feel like it. I really hope you like it!

This chapter is for my new bff Teliko. X3 because for the past two nights, she has stayed up all night with me, chatting on yahoo.

Derek woke up with the feeling that someone was watching him. Instinctively, he reached for the nine-millimeter that was hidden under his pillow. He picked it up and pointed it at his intruder.

"What the hell are you doing here?" It wasn't an intruder at all, though she was very unwelcome. The metal had come by, probably interrogate him about his late night.

"I came to… talk," she said icily. It was weird, it was almost like she was angry at him. The tone she used would have been rude, had she been human. Derek had almost stopped noticing it. That's just how she was. But that made him more aware that she was, in fact, metal. Just a hunk of metal, made to look and act human.

"You are never here to talk. To interrogate, maybe, but never just to talk," he rubbed the hand that wasn't pointing the gun over his eyes, dragging the last bit of sleep out of his system. The window was closed, though the shades were half open. The sun warmed his face and he smiled. In the future, there would be no sun. At least, not one like this.

"I want to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Why do you resist?" she questioned back. She was stubborn, that was for sure.

Derek sat up in his bed and lowered his gun. He took the clip out, knowing that if she wanted to kill him, she wouldn't need a gun. But then again, why take away his only defense against her, not that it would make much of a difference. He put the clip back in the gun.

"Why don't you have a shirt on?" He looked down at himself and saw that she was right. He did not have a shirt on. But why would she care?

"Because I like to sleep without a shirt on. Why would you care?" he bit back. She looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. He walked over to his closet, never turning his back on her and pull on a new shirt.

"Where were you last night?" she investigated.

Derek considered lying to her, but decided not to.

"I was at the bar downtown."

"Drinking?"

"Yes drinking. What else is there to do at a bar?" He wondered where she was going with this.

"You could have been 'picking up girls,' as you and John would put it," her voice changed to match his. Despite him being extremely annoyed with her, he had to laugh. It sounded like something he or John would say.

His tone turned serious, "You think that I would risk everything to bring some random girl back here just to get laid?"

She seemed to shrink a little, but her voice held steady. Like it could ever falter. "I don't give you enough credit."

"Why do you care if I was picking up girls anyway? If it doesn't endanger the mission, then you should leave." He was probably being overly cruel. But she didn't have feelings, so it didn't matter.

"Just making conversation. John has been teaching me some techniques to help me socialize better. He thinks that if I don't act so 'robotic' we could fit in better." Derek barked out a laugh. Once again, it was cruel. There was nothing funny about what she said. It was just that… she was a machine. She was never going to fit in. She would always be one and she would always act like one.

"You can't make conversation. Either that or you're really bad at it."

"I used to be good at it," she was baiting him, again.

"I don't want to talk!" He ran out of the room into the kitchen. The smell of pancakes hit him like a thousand bricks and instantly his stomach gurgled. Another thing that the future was lacking, good pancakes, even if they were Sarah's crappy ones. He should be grateful, at least the only thing she attempted was pancakes.

Both Sarah and John looked startled by his sudden outburst, which they surely would have heard. He had practically shouted it.

"Morning Derek," John said, his tone a little off. Derek looked at him questioningly. As soon as Derek caught his gaze, John's flickered to the pancakes on the stove. When his mother was turned around, he made a face. Derek smirked.

"Pancakes again?" Cameron asked lightly, walking into the room. It annoyed Derek to see her making small talk like that. It wasn't like she was going to eat any of it. He glared at her. She took notice and sat at the opposite end of the small table.

"Yup, and I didn't burn them this time," Sarah sounded genuinely proud.

"How do you burn pancakes?" John asked Derek quietly.

"I believe that you may burn pancakes by overcooking them," Cameron said shortly. John snickered and Derek wondered how that was funny.

"That was a joke," she said, feigning as if she was hurt that Derek didn't laugh.

"Well it wasn't funny," he said curtly.

"Ouch," Sarah said from the stove.

"Derek…she's trying. Just give her some time. Besides, if you don't laugh at her jokes, she could tear your head off," John cautioned wryly.

"Finish your pancakes everyone. John and I are going to parent teacher conferences while you and Cameron go to this address," Sarah put the last of the pancakes on the table.

"What are we doing?" Derek asked disgustedly. The thought of spending hours alone with the cyborg made him cringe.

"Recon," she replied, "Cameron found out that the company found at this address might be smuggling raw materials. She said that the VP might be a terminator."

"We're just going to look for anything unusual. No confrontations unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Right."

John got up quickly, grabbing his leather jacket. "Thanks for the amazing pancakes Mom. They were better than usual." Cameron raised her eyebrows. She could tell when he was lying.

"You two have fun… and don't kill each other."

"Right," Derek repeated. Shouldn't be too hard.

She was looking outside, and he thought he saw the ghost of a smile on her face. But it was just his imagination, of course. It was much easier to think about her as a machine hell-bent on destroying mankind than the innocent girl she thought she was.

"Let's go," he said impatiently, standing up. He failed to notice the droplets of water on the floor and because of his bare feet, he slipped. Suddenly, he felt a hand gripping his upper arm. Cameron had grabbed him in an attempt to steady him. The pressure on his arm was considerable, and he knew there would be a bruise. How uncharacteristically human of her. He looked down at the wet floor and found that his feet were not touching it. That explained the extra pressure on his arm. She had lifted him completely off the ground. It was moments like these that Derek wondered what was going through her mechanical head. Did she mean to do it? Or was it a reoccurrence of the dreaded twitch?

"Put me down NOW!" he said, making every syllable sound more deadly than the last. A strange look crossed her face and she dropped him suddenly. He crumpled to the ground, expecting her to put him down gently. She walked out of the kitchen, wrenched the door open, and walked outside. If she was human, she surely would have been smirking right now. He picked himself up with much more grace thn he felt and walked slowly back to his room to put on a new pair of pants. Let her wait.

I hope I didn't make Derek too hard on Cameron. I'm trying to get his thought process down without giving too much about the rest of the story away. I promise, things will make more sense next chapter. Well, I shouldn't promise… *sighs* I love reviews and everyone who reads this better send me one, even if you hate it (but please don't hate it.) Tell me what you think should happen next. I am always open to new suggestions about everything. If you want to know how the rest of the story is going to go, PM me and I'll get back to you within a few hours. REVIEW!!!