Disclaimer: I do not own Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles or its characters. I only own this story and its plot. If I did own the actual show it wouldn't have been cancelled. :)

Happy Birthday To Me

John Connor ran. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him across the empty, hollow canal, his footsteps echoing against the concrete. He had absolutely no idea where he was going or where he would hide, but he didn't care. As long as he was away from her, as long as he was safe. He mentally chided himself at the thought. No one is ever safe, his mother would tell him repeatedly. Suddenly, he heard Sarah's ear-piercing, strangled screams fill his surroundings. Then as abruptly as it began, her screaming stopped.

His heart skipped a beat, and his legs froze in place. The silence that followed began to slowly suffocate him. All of a sudden, he collapsed, trying his best to blink back the tears when the realization hit him. There would be no more lectures about lying low, no more watching her obsessively clean her weapons, and no more pancakes every single morning. His mother was gone, another life sacrificed for "John Connor, future leader of mankind". Sobs finally overtook him, shaking his entire body.

Some leader I am, he thought, knowing that by remaining in his grief-stricken state, he was awaiting death.

When he had first heard her footsteps, he didn't move.

John, run! On your feet, soldier! he could almost hear his mother's spirit scream.

No, he thought. He had been running his entire life, and he was sick and tired of it.

He heard her come closer and closer, until the footsteps stopped in front of him. From the ground and through his tears, he could only see her favorite combat boots. When he finally allowed himself to look up at her face, he instantly regretted it. The eyes that stared back at him weren't the beautiful, curious brown eyes of his cyborg protector. They were the cold, calculating eyes of the TOK715. From the corner of his eye, he saw her hand twitch in anticipation of killing him.

He had not only lost his mother, but he had also lost the girl he had secretly loved. He had lost Cameron. At this new realization, a fresh wave of bitter tears trickled down his pained face.

Happy birthday to me, he chuckled darkly to himself.

She grabbed him by his neck and hoisted him off the ground and held him high in the air. His feet dangled below him as he struggled to breathe. Darkness began to take over the edges of his blurred vision, and he felt his very life being strangled out of him. He tried to open his heavy eyes to take one last look at her face, because even though she was murdering him, he still loved her.

No matter what.

He watched her open her mouth to speak. The words that followed were unexpected, and caught him completely off guard.

Cameron began to sing, "Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun. Wandering free, wish I could be, part of your world."

His face began to wrinkle up in puzzlement.

Through his lack of air, he could only shout, "What?!"