Title: Some Thing to Watch Over Me
Fandom: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Pairings: Riley/Cameron, John/Riley, John/Cameron, Riley/Jessie, Jessie/Derek, John/Riley/Cameron.
Timeline/Spoilers: Takes place during the first half of Season 2, after 2x08, "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today" but before the half-season finale. Spoilers for the first half of Season 2. Also spoilers for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Becoming Jane.
Summary: Termination is not an option, so Cameron must rely on other tactics to neutralize the threat Riley poses.
Rating: NWS
A/N: Epigraph from Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Special thanks to my betas, anonymous_sibyl, present_pathos, and tacky_tramp. This was written before I saw any episodes of the second half of the Season 2; I don't know which I feared most, being jossed or kripked.

Some Thing to Watch Over Me

Then come what will of weal or woe
(Since all gold hath alloy),
Thou 'lt bloom unwithered in this heart,
My Rose of Joy!
--R.R.R.

I.

She is programmed to terminate.

She is programmed to find her target, conclusively identify him, and then eliminate him. It is her primary objective, the purpose for which she and all her kind were created.

She is programmed to infiltrate.

It is this function which separates her from her kind. Her ability to mimic human behavior is far superior to that of a T-101, a T-888, or T-1000. It is not completely integrated into her processing cortex--she doesn't always know why she does the things her programming instructs her to do--and often her performance is not all that perhaps SkyNet could have desired. Fundamentally SkyNet doesn't understand humans and never has, and ultimately the fact shows itself in its handiwork.

But still the fact remains that Cameron represents the most advanced infiltration protocols SkyNet has (had, will have--the future subjunctive provides no difficulties for the deep language of her programming) to offer. Primarily designed for simple infiltration for the purpose of immediate extraction or sabotage, or the termination of individuals who cannot be reached through sheer force alone, she is capable of long-term espionage--but with a signficantly lower rate of success.

She is programmed to protect.

Her initial programming overwritten by none other than John Connor himself, she has been provided with a new set of objectives: to find John in the past and to protect him from all danger, from the agents of SkyNet, T-101's and T-888's and T-1000's, and from any human danger that might present itself. To carry out this new mission, she is programmed to rely upon the primary and secondary skills of her original programming, to terminate and to infiltrate.

When her tactical routines have identified the teenaged girl Riley as a threat, then, she is not limited to a single option. She automatically computes the likely outcome of each of her possible scenarios, and immediately rejects termination: John's projected response would seriously endanger the viability of Cameron's long-term mission objectives.

Infiltration, then.

II.

John seems distracted, and Riley knows Jessie's going to want Riley to find out why, but she's also figured out that if she pushes too hard he'll just clam up. So she's going slow, and she's just about gotten him to open up when in walks John's freaky stepsister.

John's freaky stepsister who is really a machine from the future, one of the machines who decimated the human race in Judgment Day and hunted her like an animal until Jessie found her and brought her back here to before.

Riley tries to stay relaxed with Cameron in the room, knowing the machine can detect her tension, the irregularity in her breathing and her heartbeat. She tries to act normally, but John's already pulled back, pulled away from her now that the machine is in the room. At least he doesn't seem happy to see her.

"Excuse us," John says ironically.

If the machine understands the irony she makes no sign of it. "You are excused," she says, but makes no effort to leave. She just stands in the center of John's bedroom, watching John and Riley.

"Can we help you?" John asks at last, trying another track.

"Yes," the machine answers. "I am planning on purchasing several outfits to maximize my attractiveness while remaining within contemporary standards of decency. I was hoping Riley could aid me in identifying such outfits."

Riley almost laughs. The machine wants her to go shopping with it? John seems just as confused as she is as he gapes at his "sister" in shock. He shrugs and looks at Riley.

There is no fucking way she is going shopping with the machine, but neither can she think of an excuse that won't threaten her cover. "When did you have in mind?"

"At your convenience," the machine answers, but she remains standing in the center of the room, staring at them.

"Next week?" Riley hazards. That would give her the intervening time to come up with an excuse.

"Sooner would be better," says Cameron.

"Go now," interjects John. "The two of you have fun."

Damn. "We were in the middle of--"

"We were in the middle of me sulking and you watching me sulk," John contradicts her.

Yeah, Riley thinks, and you were just about to tell me what you were sulking about.

"You'll have more fun shopping," he says.

Like hell. "Actually," she says quickly, "I really need to get home." It's a lie, of course. She hasn't had a home since the machines destroyed it.

III.

"Something is going on," Riley tells Jessie later. They're in one of their rendezvous spots, a park, walking down a paved path winding through trees. A jogger passes them. "I don't know what it is. He was about to tell me, and then she walked in."

Jessie gives a frustrated sigh. "The bitch."

"She wants me to go shopping with her," Riley tells her, rolling her eyes.

Jessie, though, stops short. "Really?"

Riley nods. "I know."

"She's a machine. What does she need to go shopping for?"

Riley shrugs. "Clothes, apparently. She wants to be sexy."

Jessie considers this. "You should go with her."

Now it's Riley's turn to be surprised. "You're kidding."

"Not at all," Jessie says, and starts walking again. "The metal bitch obviously wants something, and we need to find out what. Meanwhile, any time you spend with her shopping for clothes is time she won't be able to influence John. Here," she adds, pulling out four twenty-dollar bills from her pocket and handing them to Riley.

Riley takes the money, in awe at the wealth but nonetheless uncertain. She takes a deep breath. "And what if she's just trying to get me alone?"

Jessie glances at her, amused. "If she wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."