Author's Note: So at first, my obsession with The Sarah Connor Chronicles just caused me to jump about madly every time the topic came up. And then Allison of Palmdale aired and ever since, it's been eating my brain. I am thoroughly obsessed with the countless possibilities, especially when it comes to Allison and Cameron. This is what happens when that obsession reaches my fingertips.
N.B. I mess around with Allison's age a lot in this. And Cameron acts more human than she probably should.
Note: This is a repost of a fic originally published 10.04.08, transferred from a previous account.
Time and Time Again
One
Technically, the first time he sees her is when she arrives at their camp, two weeks after Judgment Day. His gaze sweeps over the survivors, sweeps over her, unaware that she's looking right back at him.
He isn't the one to register her, to assign her a bunk, to give her that weary smile of welcome. He doesn't know the name Allison Young.
...
He notices her after a recon mission gone bad. She's fierce and brave and when she tackles him to the ground, earth and fire raining down on them, she earns herself two broken ribs and a nasty burn.
You saved my life, he says later when she's being patched up across from him in the infirmary.
Then I guess we're even. She grins and he feels a little more alive than he did a minute ago.
Twelve hours later, she gets a transfer order to the Connor camp.
...
He can't remember what it's like to sleep alone anymore and he doesn't want to. She makes sure he doesn't forget how to smile, how to live, how to love, because he does. Love her.
And she loves him and it's like everything good left in him is wrapped up in this one person.
He thinks it's ironic that he had to wait for the apocalypse to find this. She says they would have found each other anyway.
Six months later she goes missing.
Two
He sits in the corner and watches Cameron watching the blonde pregnant woman they're stuck with. It's hot and dark and he's already wishing he hadn't refused Cameron's offer to fix the situation. But for all he knows, she'd consider ripping her way out of the elevator shaft more efficient than trying to reroute power to their stationary car.
She breaks the silence. "I'm Cameron. This is my brother John."
The woman manages a wavering smile. She's sweaty and she needs a bathroom like, now.
"Claire. Claire Young."
...
He tells himself that he's watching them to make sure Cameron doesn't glitch again and not because of the expression on her face as she gingerly places her hand over Claire's belly. He doesn't recognize the girl – machine – sitting next to him.
She inhales sharply and smiles; he's never seen her smile like that before. "She kicked."
Claire laughs. "She kicks so much, I think she's practicing to become a soccer player or something."
"She'll be brave," Cameron says solemnly. "A fighter."
He wonders what the fuck she's doing.
...
Night had fallen by the time they're released and she's leading the way home. Sarah is going to be pissed.
She stops. Waits for him.
"She's going to name her Allison."
He shoves his hands in his pockets. "Pretty name."
Three years later; Claire Young and her daughter don't survive Judgment Day. She doesn't know why, but the knowledge makes her feel a little more alone. She doesn't tell John.
Three
They're on their way to the command centre when he sees her double walking toward them. A quick glance to his right tells him that she's seen her too. There's no surprise on her face and he wonders if she's been waiting for this.
He knows who she is, who she was, in some other lifetime.
He won't let that happen this time. She won't let it.
They can change the future.
...
Allison Young does not rise high in the ranks of the Resistance. She isn't part of any daring missions. She doesn't have a piece of shrapnel buried in her right leg and she doesn't walk with a slight limp.
She's never targeted or captured. She's never interrogated by the enemy and she doesn't know what it's like to have your life stolen away from you.
She doesn't know about the machine that shares her face. She never meets John Connor.
...
When she's nineteen, she falls in love. At twenty, she gets married in the dining hall and someone manages to concoct something that passes for wine. Her husband laughs and lets her dance him around the room.
When an operation goes horribly wrong, her infirmary is bursting with the injured and dying. She stumbles back to her bunk covered with blood and sweat and she's never hated the machines more.
She's pregnant at twenty two, and prays her child will see a life better than her own. The baby goes without a name for two weeks until she overhears the latest stories of the Connor camp. One name sticks out and she's heard it before.
She names her daughter Cameron.
Four
The world is ending. Billions are dying. His destiny is at his doorstep.
There's a four year old girl sleeping on his cot, her little arms wrapped around a singed teddy bear that's missing an ear. Her parents are dead, but that's nothing new anymore.
When they found her, she clung to Cameron with a stubbornness possessed only by children and Terminators. Dirty and crying, she buried her face in her shoulder, arms twining around her neck, desperate to hold onto her new saviour.
Hold on tight, she told the little human. She glanced at John; he nodded and turned to lead the way out. We'll take you somewhere safe.
...
When she wakes, it's dark and quiet and she wants her mommy to stroke her hair, kiss her head, and tell her that everything's going to be okay. Except mommy isn't here and she's alone in the dark.
"Allison?" She opens her eyes and recognizes the lady that saved her. "Are you okay?"
Her bottom lip trembles and there's a fresh wave of tears. "I'm scared. And I want my mommy."
Cool fingers brush the damp hair away from her face. "Don't be scared. I'm going to protect you."
...
She stays with a woman who's raising two other children her age; none of them related. When they come to see her, she lifts her hands to them, uncaring that she's getting a little too big to be picked up. It doesn't matter because Cameron can lift her with ease, and she likes the face John makes when he hauls her into his arms.
She likes to rest her head on her chest, inhale the familiar smell of her skin, and wrap herself around the person she trusts more than anyone. Her hair is soft and smooth as it slips through her fingers. "Your hair is so pretty, Cammy."
Cameron wonders if this is what pain feels like.
Five
Judgment Day doesn't come, but no one knows what the world so narrowly avoided.
It's funny, but achieving the goal they've dedicated their lives to has left them adrift. Sarah doesn't know how to raise a son instead of a solider and Derek can't stop looking over his shoulder every three seconds. John doesn't know how to imagine a future with endless choices and Cameron's something that shouldn't exist but does.
They fall into a strange rhythm, tentatively finding their place in a world they've never lived in.
...
She has her sixth birthday at the park and sees a boy riding a silver mountain bike. She wants that bike. Two days later it appears, abandoned on the front lawn.
On her twelfth birthday, she doesn't look when she crosses the street. She hears the blaring horn and feels an arm around her waist, pulling her to safety. By the time she stops shaking, she's alone again. She doesn't notice the silver bracelet that appears on her wrist until she gets home.
When she's fourteen, her parents tell her she has to put a pause on her dancing "just for a little while" because money is tight. A week later she turns fifteen and the studio tells her that her fees have been paid anonymously.
At sixteen, she catches a glimpse of a girl who could be her twin. She stops dead in her tracks, searching the crowds. It's futile; the girl is nowhere to be seen and she wonders if she imagined her.
Strange things always happen on July 22nd.
...
Her mom says she's been touched by an angel and her dad says she has the luck of the devil.
She thinks it's fate.