John Connor.
Scruffy, dirty and far too thin, the boy-not-yet-a-man who was destined to be the savior of the human race. Looking at him now, one would be hard pressed to believe that anyone would do what he said, but if the Terminator were to be believed, people would not only follow his orders, but they would do so with fervent devotion, believing absolutely that he was right, even to the point of giving up their own lives for the cause.
The radio crackled to life and he spoke to everyone that came on, telling them what had happened and to try to stay safe and keep in contact. Taking a deep breath, she let it run out slowly, the adrenaline rush from the last hour fading swiftly, exhaustion rapidly taking its place. This place had to have coffee somewhere; it seemed to have everything else. Leaving John to man the radio, because she wouldn't have known what to say anyway, she went to check out their new home. Glancing once more over her shoulder, she could see him hunched over the microphone, coordinating survivors and making plans. Plans that was a laugh, Skynet controlled everything, could get to anyone, even them deep in this bunker. How could they make up a code a computer couldn't crack?
Shaking her head, she resumed walking, going into the glassed in enclosure of a park, filled with trees of every kind and further back, what looked to be a huge farm. Unable to resist the pull of the trees, she walked slowly through the small grove, running her hands lightly along the trunks. Tears began filling her eyes and when she couldn't see straight anymore, she fell to her knees and cried, sobbing and tearing at the grass beneath her feet at the unfairness of it all. "Why?" she sobbed, laying down on the grass.
She wasn't sure how long she laid there, tears slowly drying on her face, but it was long enough, at least to get her through the next few hours. Scowling, she sat up. People were dying outside and here she sat, crying over something she couldn't change. Pushing herself to her feet, she walked slowly out of the park to explore the rest of the compound.
A library, several small apartments, a big barracks and a food locker that stretched as long as a football field and about as wide, all carved out of the solid bedrock of the mountain. She stepped into the food locker, her mouth dropping open as she stared at the stockpiles of freeze dried pouches, MRE's and several huge tanks of water that were slowly rotating to maintain their freshness. At least they wouldn't starve.
~*~
John found her just as the coffee started percolating. Kate was up on tiptoe, searching the cabinets for mugs when he cleared his throat, startling her.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said sheepishly, stepping back and lowering the hands he'd held out to catch her if she'd stumbled. "I followed the smell."
"You must be starving," she said, reaching back up to grab two of the mugs she'd found.
John chuckled. "I'm always hungry."
"Scott was …" Her voice trailed off, hot tears stinging her eyes.
"I can cook," he said quickly into the awkward silence. "I ate a lot of MRE's growing up."
Kate turned around, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, grimly realizing how dirty it was. "That sounds good, I'm going to go hunt down some clean clothes, what size do you wear?"
John glanced down at his torn and filthy clothes. "Uh, medium I guess," he said, shrugging.
Mustering a smile, she poured herself a cup of coffee. "I'm sure I'll find something that'll work," she said, brushing by him and heading for the door. "MRE's are in the next room over, along with the rest of the food," she said as she walked out of the kitchen.
"Great," he said, going to the sink to wash his hands. They'd need to do a complete inventory, but right now, food was sounding really good.
~*~
"What did you get?" John asked as he took the seat across from her in the cavernous dining area.
Kate pulled the lid off of her circular platter and smiled, inhaling the savory smelling steam rising from it. "Spaghetti," she said, picking up her fork, "you?"
John pulled the lid back on his own meal. "Salisbury steak."
"Yuck," Kate said, laughing. "Do you want to share mine?"
John shook his head, reaching for his fork. "Nah, I've eaten much worse, this'll be fine."
"Despite my dad being in the military, I never got to do anything fun, like eat MRE's, or fire the big guns. All I got to do was move around a lot."
"Well, I did that and my mom wasn't even in the military," John said ruefully, taking another forkful of food. "You know how to shoot though, right?"
Kate shrugged, staring down at her spaghetti. "Not really, I know how to hold one and take the safety off, that's pretty much it."
"I'll teach you, you're going to need to know how to handle everything they've got stockpiled down here."
Kate put down her fork, her appetite disappearing at the reminder of what their lives were going to become. Her expression was pensive as she stared across the table at him. "Did you ever just want to run away from it all, just not be who they said you were going to be?"
He laughed mirthlessly. "Every single day of my life." Reaching for his glass, he took a deep swallow of the juice she'd found on one of the shelves. "We even tried to change things, but we never could stop it, just delay it happening."
"So how did you manage to stay sane, knowing what you do?" Kate pressed, toying with her napkin.
"You think I'm sane?" He asked, laughing.
"I'm serious, John. I don't know if I can handle this," she said softly, blowing out a deep breath.
"You can because you have to, we all do. If we sit back and do nothing, Skynet wins. You asked me how I stayed sane. I learned, everything I possibly could about how to beat it. Weapons, computers, you name it, I studied it."
"Has it helped?"
"We're here, aren't we? My mom had this saying, the first Resistance fighter that came back to help her told it to her. No fate but what we make. Humanity was destined for Judgment Day the day the very first computer was dreamed up and no matter how much I fought and tried to change things, that destiny was always going to come true. So now, we have to do the best we can with what we've got and take down Skynet if we ever want to have a semblance of normalcy again."
"The one that came back, did you know him?"
John's gaze flicked to the wall and he shook his head. "He died saving my mom from the Terminator." His gaze returned to hers, "and he was my father."
"What?"
John nodded, setting his fork down and threading his fingers together. "I sent him back, knowing that he was going to die, but if I didn't, I wouldn't exist." He untangled his fingers and reached for the juice, finishing it off, trying to avoid the look of shocked horror on her face.
"He's from the future?"
John shook his head. "Near as I figure it, he was born a few years ago and somehow survives the bombs, ending up fighting with the Resistance. I'll meet him when he's a teenager and send him back when he's in his early thirties."
"This is beyond trippy," she said, trying for levity in the terse silence of the dining area.
"Welcome to my world," John said, pushing back his chair and rising. He began gathering the trash, piling it carefully atop each other. "I've never told anyone that before," he said softly, placing the silverware just so on the top of the pile. "About my dad, I mean."
Kate stood and placed her hand atop his, offering him a tremulous smile. "I'm honored," she said softly. "I should tell you a deep dark secret in return."
He lifted his head, staring into her eyes, trying to determine if she was teasing him or not.
"That night, in Kripke's basement?"
"Yeah?"
"You were the first boy I ever kissed."
He laughed and the thick tension filling the room eased immediately. "You were my first too."
"Stop, or next you'll be telling me I was your only."
He shook his head, picking up the pile of plates and silverware. "Not quite, there was one more besides you."
"But I was better, right?" she said, winking at him.
"Infinitely," he replied drolly, tossing a smile back over his shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen.
~*~
Kate stood in one of the bedrooms of the first apartment in the hallway, staring down at the big bed in front of her. She felt rather than heard John enter the room and spun around, her eyes wide in her pale face. "I uh found the clothes."
"Good, I need to shower, I feel like yesterday's roadkill," John said, stepping around her and reaching for the pile of clothing on the bed.
"I..." She shook her head and tried again. "I don't want to be alone in here." The words left her in a rush and a deep blush stained her cheeks, spreading down below the t-shirt she wore to bloom across her chest.
"Neither do I," he said, setting the clothes back down and walking over to her. He reached for her hands, wincing a bit at their coldness. "I think we both need the companionship."
Lifting her head, her eyes searched his face. "I don't want to have sex with you."
He smiled, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "That's ok; I'm not really up for sex at the moment."
She laughed, and if it was a bit on the hysterical side, he managed to ignore it. "Just sleep then?"
John nodded, his thumb still stroking over her skin, marveling at how soft it was. "Just sleep."
Kate inhaled deeply and smiled. "Good. I hope there's more than one shower, because I feel just about as gross as you do."
"There's a whole row of them, each one with it's own door and everything."
"I'll need to look at your leg before we go to sleep, I noticed you limping even more than before."
He shook his head, chuckling. "Yes, ma'am." Releasing her fingers, he turned around and gathered the clothing she'd found for him. "Ready?"
Kate reached for her own pile of clothing and nodded. "Let's go."
/lj-cut