SARAH VS SARAH

Disclaimer: Lacking the ability to travel back in time to the early 80's and come up with the idea for the Terminator Franchise before anyone else, I own nothing and make no money from this.

Enjoy :)

They've been driving for almost fifteen hours straight now. Pops has a destination in mind, a safehouse in Montana. They have their fake IDs, and a hidden compartment in the back of the truck full of weapons, so in theory they're as prepared as they can be. Pops definitely didn't waste the last 30 or so years he spent waiting for their arrival. Still, Sarah finds she can't relax. Skynet might be destroyed, the world might be safe, but somehow it still feels the same. The world; the future still feels threatening and ominous. Maybe it's all in her head. Maybe after growing up constantly fighting her very own personal war day in day out, she doesn't know how to do anything else now.

Her eyes flick to the rear view mirror, to Kyle asleep in the backseat. He spent the first couple of hours shifting around uncomfortably back there, trying to settle in in a position that didn't hurt. Then they stopped for a few minutes at a gas station where she convinced him to take some painkillers. He's been fast asleep ever since, head pillowed on his jacket against the window. He's going to have a ridiculous crick in his neck when he wakes up. But next to all of his other injuries, that probably won't seem all that important. In the last 48 hours, he's time traveled twice, been knocked unconscious, hit by a car, survived a bus crash, and survived a beat down from his AI enhanced former best friend/future son, among other things. He can probably use a little drug-induced sleep at this point.

She could do with the same. God knows her body's complaining loud enough, especially her shoulder. But she wants to stay awake, wants to stay alert. She's still on edge. Skynet being destroyed is almost too easy. It's not that they've won an easy victory, it's just that Sarah's never experienced this kind of victory before. She's won plenty of battles with Pops at her side, but this is different... This is winning the war. Which of course begs the question: What now?

It's just the three of them now. She almost lost Pops but he's here to stay. Even Kyle survived, destiny and alternate timelines be damned. Kyle. For all that she's spent so long railing against the unfairness of being part of some pre-destined romance, it's hard to deny she has feelings for the soldier curled up in the backseat. But does that mean she should try to... what? Date him? Marry him?... Yes she has all of these feelings for him, but they're tangled up in all that destiny shit and then an insane adrenaline fueled bid to stop the apocalypse together. Hell of a first date that was.

Still, it makes for a tempting fantasy:

She tries to imagine a few of years from now, when they can maybe settle somewhere permanently and not have to live of the grid anymore. She tries to imagine an apartment or a house or maybe a cabin in the woods. She closes her eyes and tries to make it feel real. Her, and Pops, and Kyle... a family...and maybe a few years later, who knows?...kids. But John's face comes unbidden to her and she blinks it away hurriedly, sitting up a little straighter.

"You should try to sleep, Sarah." Pops says beside her, "Your body requires rest to heal."

She looks over at him in the shadowy interior of the truck, trying to see if she can tell that he's different now, liquid metal moving under his skin. But he looks the same.

She berates herself silently for that. She should just be grateful to have him back, not thinking about the liquid metal that's haunted her since that day on the lake, being somewhere under the face she knows and loves.

"I'm fine," she mumbles, rubbing her gritty eyes.

"You are showing signs of fatigue."

"Lay off, Pops," she begs, "I just don't want to sleep right now."

"If you require a sedative, I can provide you with one. It is working optimally for Kyle Reese."

Sarah turns to look at the backseat again and can't help a smile. The soldier's mouth is sightly open and he looks like he's sleeping the sleep of the blissfully dead-to-the-world. He looks so peaceful, that she lets herself fantasize for a second about climbing back there and curling up against him.

"Anything in your files about my destined true love being a snorer?"

"Negative."

Oh well. it's kind of a cute soft snore anyway.

"I guess I can overlook that," she smirks turning back to look out the windshield.