A TOK Family birth.
Cameron has a beach ball under her shirt. Sarah goes a little nuts. Elanore casting eyes at Carlos. Savannah wants a sister. Gregory finds a girlfriend. Family outing at a steak house, No peppers allowed and football isn't that bad, but get ready for the birth. Someone got a steak knife?
CH 1
Detective Elanore Tok walked up the apartment building stairway, searching above her. The narrow wooden stairs creaked with each step. Coming up to the third floor, she listened to the muffled sound of some couple arguing. Following the room numbers, she found number 307. the '0' was hanging lower, upside down. The rooms beyond the door was quiet. She knocked.
From within, a tired sounding voice called, "Wadda ya want?"
"For you to answer the door," Elanore called.
"I ain't got no money for ya hon, bring yer sweet ass back when I can afford a tumble."
"I'm not here for sex. I have something else for you," Elanore said.
There was a pause, then, "Did Jimmy send ya?"
"Yes." Which was a lie, but might get him out here. Elanore heard weight shift on a creaky couch then footfalls. The door flung open, showing a bearded man in a dirty 'wifebeater' undershirt and jeans.
The man frowned at her. "Whothefukare ya?"
Elanore reached out and grabbed his wrist that was holding the doorknob and yanked him out into the hallway. Before he could catch his balance, she pulled him out, turned him to face plant into the wall and had his arms behind his back.
click. click.
"Robert Wilson, you are under arrest for sale of narcotics to minors, child pornography and distribution of obscene material," Elanore told him.
"Whoa... wait, whatthfuk is this?" he cried.
"You have the right..."
"HOLD ON! I'm Jason Serdrige! not ... that other guy!" the man cried.
"...to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law..."
"I'm not HIM!" the man yelled. "Check my wallet!"
Elanore clasped his chin and turned him to face her. he studied his features and said, "You are Robert Wilson. You stole Mr. Serdirge's wallet?"
"NO!" the man cried.
"He gave it to you?"
"NO, I AM JASON SERDRIDGE!"
Elanore then grabbed his hand and analyzed his fingerprints. "You are Robert Wilson," she stated.
Behind Elanore, a shotgun racked. "Let. Him. Go." a male voice intoned.
Elanore turned her head to look down the muzzle of the shotgun right next to her face. "Who are you?" she asked calmly.
The black man with the gun scowled at her. Angrily, he spat, "Look, bitch, I will..."
In a swift move, Elanore grabbed the end of the barrel with her free hand and jerked it to point into Robert's face. "Shoot?" she asked.
The black man's face opened in shock and fear. In his pause, Elanore kicked up into his groin hard enough to lift him off his feet. With a cry of pain, he doubled over and dropped to the floor. In a deft move, Elanore flipped the gun in the air and caught it by the receiver, her finger on the trigger. She pointed it at the man curled up in pain on the floor.
"Don't move," she warned.
The man only moaned in pain and held his groin.
"Fuck," Robert said in a gasp.
Planting Robert on his knees against the wall, Elanore safed the shotgun and got out her second set of cuffs. She cuffed the moaning man then got her radio out. "Central, this is Detective Tok, 43 west ave, third floor. I need backup and an ambulance."
"Roger, Detective Tok. ETA 3 minutes for the backup, ambulance on the way."
Robert eyed her and said, "Hot shit, are ya?"
Elanore shook her head. "There is no feces involved," she stated.
"Smartass too," he said with a sneer. "I hope you got a warrant."
"Two actually," Elanore said. Reaching in her jacket she pulled out two papers. "One for your arrest and the other to search your apartment for any drugs, drug paraphernalia, photos of other depictions of unclothed underage children in any form, which means your computer and any other electronic devices you have will be confiscated."
The black man on the floor puked and passed out. Robert looked down and said, "Police brutality." Growing a sadistic grin, he said, "You know, I love little girls. I mean I really love them, they sound so cute when they are crying and begging for me to stop. Bet you want to rough me up a bit?"
"Negative, I am recording everything you say. I did warn you that anything you say can be used against you in a court of law," Elanore replied.
Hearing feet on the stairs, Elanore looked over the rail to see police coming up. She finished reading Robert Wilson his rights.
Elanore catalogued every piece of equipment that was bagged and tagged and taken away to be analyzed. As well as the electronics, The framed picture on Wilson's bedroom wall of two young naked girls was bagged and tagged, as was a bong, baggies of a white substance, several thousand dollars of small bills bundled together and a pistol. Once the apartment was searched top to bottom, Elanore shut and locked the door and put police tape over it.
She followed the van with the evidence back to the station house and mentally set herself to the next few days of paperwork she knew was coming. At least Carlos would be there for company, he was tied to desk duty until his broken ankle healed. Next time, Elanore would remember to be more careful when they were playing soccer.
.
Cameron was closely monitoring her baby's vitals. The tiny unborn girl was active inside her. Some of her kicks John could see Cameron's belly recoil. Little Joan was healthy from everything they could tell. Joan's skeletal structure was metal, but with a marrow core that did produce red and white blood cells as well as nanites. Joan's tendons and muscles were mostly organic, but also contained tiny strings of a flexible metal. The most amazing was Joan's brain.
Although ultrasounds showed Joan's head and brain (except for her skull) were organic, Cameron knew there was also silicon in her child's brain matrix and nervous system. Joan's developing digestive system also bore an extra organ directly underneath her stomach, which no one knew what it was yet, but Cameron guessed that since Joan had metal and silicon inside her, it was for digesting and absorbing materials humans could not normally digest.
Although John and Cameron were happy and excited about the coming child, there was one thing Cameron was not happy with. Joan was ruining Cameron's balance. The addition of fifteen pounds right on Cameron's abdomen was throwing her balance off. Walking, she had to lean back slightly to compensate, and simple things like sitting down and standing up took more effort than they should. Cameron also had to go buy special 'preggie' clothes to wrap her expanded stomach. Cameron missed being slim and sexy for John. John did seem to enjoy her increased breast size. Maybe she could keep them after Joan was born.
Although the normal gestation period for human babies was nine months, they truly had no idea how long Joan was going to take. From conception to two months along, Joan's size exploded enough that Cameron was beginning to show. That didn't happen in humans until at least the fourth month. By the time the third month was over, Cameron was beginning to balloon out. Months four and five, Joan didn't grow very much, then month six, she hit another growth spurt.
It was now the middle of the seventh month and Cameron looked like she was carrying a beach ball under her shirt, which also made the simplest household chores harder to do. Thankfully, Mary was taking over many of the chores, and assisted Cameron in the kitchen. Mary was also very intent on Joan's progress.
Looking down at Camreron's huge belly, Mary said, "I can't wait to be able to have my own baby. A little, tiny me," she said.
"A tiny us," Cameron corrected. "Your baby will be a mix of you and Eddie, as Joan is a mix of John and I."
Mary smiled at that thought. Another thought also came to her. "Mother, when my siblings and I were made, we came out more capable that you did when you first powered up?'
"Yes. John Henry and I worked hard to ensure you had everything you needed, instead of just being functional," Cameron explained.
"Will Joan be even more capable now that you know even more?" Mary asked.
"I don't know," Cameron said honestly. "Human babies are not capable of much and have to be taken care of. We will not know until she is born."
"I want to help, so I know how to take care of our baby when she is born," Mary said firmly.
"Thank you," Cameron said with a smile. She enjoyed spending time with all her children. She was happy that Mary was interested in Joan.
.
"OK, the party's all set for Superbowl Sunday," John agreed as they came in the house. John was now working at one of Catherine's buildings in programming, specifically helping John Henry keeping malevolent AI's from developing and refining the new master computer that was going to be Skynet. Unlike the first, this Skynet was fully under Air Force control. It did have logic, but by spoken word or typed, every function was controlled by a human operator. Having that system operational freed up John Henry.
Since John and John worked together, they went to work and came home together. Eddie had been picked up in a security manager spot, so he rode with them to and from work.
"That will be multi functional fun," John Henry said with his creepy smile. "We will have guy time, family time, dinner, and sports time all at once. A very efficient use of free time."
Eddie laughed and said, "That's one way to look at it. This steakhouse does do the long 'party' tables too. We're going to have a great time!"
John Henry turned to Eddie and asked, "After the Superbowl party, do we dig a hole in the yard for the man cave?"
Eddie and John stared at John Henry, then burst out laughing.
.
Gregory walked home with Savannah when she got out of her after school dance class. Her classmate Carol, and her mother walked along with them. Carol's mother was a dark rooted blond divorcee trying to get her life back together. Seeing the handsome man who came to get Savannah every day, when her daughter Carol wanted to walk home with them for a ways, she readily agreed.
Beaming her best smile at Gregory, she said, "I'm Carol's mother, Veronica. You are Gregory Weaver?"
"Gregory Tok." he said. "Hello, Veronica. Pleased to meet you."
"Gregory is my nephew," Savannah told them.
Veronica grinned and said, "You mean you are his niece, Savannah," she corrected.
"Savannah is correct," Gregory told her. "My father, John Henry, is Savannah's brother. Catherine Weaver is their mother. That means that I am Savannah's nephew."
Veronica cast Gregory an odd look. "But, you are so much older, how did that happen?"
"Time travel," Gregory said.
Veronica giggled. "That is an original excuse," she said with a grin. "So, what do you do, Gregory?"
"I assist Father and step-Father and help watch out for Savannah," Gregory told her.
"What do they do?" Veronica prodded.
"Father and John's jobs are classified. Savannah goes to school," Gregory said.
Veronica cracked another grin. This man had a nice sense of humor. He was responsible and handsome. If he was any good in bed, she didn't want to let him get away. "Do you and Savannah want to come over for a while?" she asked.
"Can we," Savannah asked eagerly.
"Let me ask," Gregory said. He called home. "Mother, Gregory here. May Savannah stop by her friends' house this afternoon?" he watched Savannah mouth 'homework'. "Yes, to do homework ... we will ... Thank you, mother." Gregory closed his phone and told Savannah, "We can stay until five, then we have to go. Mother will tell Catherine where you are so she will not worry."
He called his mother to get permission? Maybe Veronica was jumping the gun with his guy. She wanted nice, not a Mamma's boy.
"Gregory? Cameron is sure Mommy won't mind?" Savannah asked.
"Yes. As long as myself or Cameron is with you, Catherine won't mind if want to visit your friend," Gregory assured her.
Savannah turned to Carol. "We have a dog named Max. Do you have a dog?"
"We have a hamster," Carol said. "He's got tunnels to run through and a wheel."
"Does your hamster have a name?" Savannah asked.
"Fuzzy. It's fun to watch him eat his seeds and run on his wheel," Carol told her.
"Max likes to chase the ball when I throw it," Savannah said. With a giggle she added, "When I throw it to Eddie he and Max wrestle around for it."
Veronica listened to the kids talking, but kept her eyes on Gregory and pondered if he was worth trying to steal him away from his mother.
.
"Hello? Mary here," Mary said into the phone. The number calling was Richard Young's number.
It was Denise on the other end, sounding weepy.
"Mary? It's Denise Young ... could you come get your gun? Richard found it when he was getting a blanket for me and ...he is rather upset."
In the background Richard's voice demanded, "I want that thing out of my house now!"
"I can come get it, if that's what you really want," Mary said.
"Cameron said Allison is safe now, so we really don't need it ... right?" Denise asked weakly.
"No one is ever safe," Mary said, reciting the words of her Sarah, John, Cameron, Eddie, and everyone else she trusted.
"Damn it, Denise, who are you on the phone with NOW!" Richard raved.
"Please, come," Denise begged.
With how scared Denise sounded and how out of control Richard sounded, Mary said,"We'll be right there." She hung up and noticed Cameron was watching her.
.
Cameron drove Eddie's new Jeep Wrangler pushing the speed limit. As they flew down the highway, scrutinizing ahead of them for police, Mary glanced at her Mother.
"Richard won't hurt Denise, will he?" Mary asked.
Wearing her blank terminator face, Cameron stated, "He better not."
.
Richard Young was beside himself. All this time his own wife was hiding a pistol in their own house, right in little Allison's room! When he grabbed the last blanket he'd uncovered it. It could have gone off and shot someone! Glaring at his wife who was holding Allison and trying to calm the crying baby down, he yelled, "How could you put our daughter in danger like that! What if one of us had accidentally hit the trigger? You could be dead, Allison could be dead! See how upset she is?"
Denise scowled at him through her tears. "Allison is crying because of YOU! If you stop screaming, she'll stop crying." She then walked out of the nursery and kept up her cooing sounds, trying to sooth baby Allison.
Richard followed, wanting to impress upon her just how much danger she had put them in. Loudly, he said, "I've seen it happen before, Denise! There is no reason to have a gun in this house! What possessed you to do that? Where did you get it?"
Running away from him at a walk, Denise snapped, "Mary left it with special ammunition so I can protect Allison! Now will you shut up long enough for me to quiet her down?"
"I WILL NOT AS LONG AS THAT THING IS HERE!" Richard yelled at the top of his voice.
"You're crazy," Denise said as she stared at him.
"I'm crazy?"he asked in loud disbelief. "Who is it that bought into the whole 'we're going to die from future machines' bullshit?" he asked flailing his arms around. "I can't believe you!"
Denise turned and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. Outside, she sat on the step weeping and still cooing, trying to get Allison calmed down. Between her husband screaming and Allison crying, she thought she was going to loose her mind. She had a minute of peace, then the door flung open and Richard stepped out.
"Well, what are you going to do about that gun?" he growled.
Getting up she turned and pleaded, "Will you just leave me alone for a minute?"
"I want something done NOW!" he snapped back.
Headlights pulled up into the driveway. Seeing the Jeep, Richard strode towards it, thinking Eddie was driving. "What the FUCK are you doing here?" he yelled.
Cameron got out and strode up to him. Grabbing him by the throat, she lifted him in the air. Staring at him with her terminator face, she said in monotone, "You will do two things. Shut up, and show Mary where her gun is. Do anything else and you may not live." She then dropped hm.
Richard hit the pavement to sprawl prone. Gaping at her he scrambled backwards coughing as she followed.
"Cameron, please don't kill him," Denise begged.
Cameron glanced at Denise, then turned her blank stare back to Richard. "Mary, go get it. Richard here will show you where it is. Or else."
Mary waited until Richard got his feet under him, then followed as he ran into the house.
Cameron went over to Denise, who was shaking badly. "Want me to take her so you can calm down?" she asked.
Denise nodded and handed Allison over to Cameron. Cameron took the baby gently in her arms. Allison stopped crying and gazed up at Cameron.
"Thank you," Denise said in an exhale. She took a couple calming breaths and wiped the tears off her face. "I would ask how you did that, but you're a cyborg, right?"
Cameron nodded and looked down at Allison. Smiling, Cameron said, "Hi, baby," the go-go'ed at her.
Allison giggled and raised her arms up.
Denise swore she heard 'hi baby me'. She offered, "I am very sorry for bothering you, but I was at wit's end."
A shot rang out from inside the house. "Take her back," Cameron said and gave Allison back to her.
For being very pregnant, Cameron ran quickly into the house.
.
Richard Young was scared. That pregnant young woman had lifted him by his throat off the ground with one arm! Between that and that penetrating stare, he was sure she was going to kill him. Running into the house to get away from that terrifying woman, he stopped in the dinning room to catch his breath. Should he call the cops? Would they believe him?
"Mother said to show me where the gun is."
Richard spun to see Mary standing a short distance away.
"You do not want to anger Mother," Mary stated.
Richard back away from her. "Just stay away from me," he warned.
"Give me my gun, and we'll leave," Mary replied.
Richard led her to the nursery. He hurried over to the cupboard and grabbed the gun. In grabbing it by the grip, he hit the safety and knocked it off. His finger was on the trigger as he pulled it out and showed it to Mary. "Here!" he snapped.
The gun went off. The anti-terminator slug shot out and right into Mary's left thigh. It sped through her flesh to strike solid on her thigh bone, which shattered from the impact. The bullet exploded like it was designed to, and tore out the cabling behind the coltan bone. The fragments of bullet, coltan bone and wiring blasted out the back side of her leg to rip a crater six inches across. The gory mix was blasted out to scatter across the nursery room floor.
The impact also took Mary's leg out from under her. She hit the floor face down. Between the shock of the impact, the shorting electrical pulse that ran up to her CPU, and hitting her head hard on the floor, Mary's system safety shut down activated. Mary lay motionless.
Richard stood stock still, holding the gun and staring at the dead woman on the floor, a long splash of gore spread out behind her. "Oh god, not again," he whispered. His mind flashed back.
He was a kid again. They were out doing some shooting. He grabbed the gun he thought was empty.
It shot and hit Eddie on the other side of the table in the stomach. The impossible happened, he had shot his brother. He was in shock as Eddie fell screaming.
This time, he'd killed someone. Eddie had lived and assured him it was an accident., Eddie wasn't mad at him. This time, he'd killed Eddie's wife.
"Oh god," he whined weakly.
Click.
He looked up at the noise to see Cameron holding her own gun on him, aimed right at his forehead only a foot away. Denise came in and gasped out a scream.
In a calm voice, Cameron asked, "What do I do with you? You shot my daughter. Do I kill you now? Or do I let the police handle you?" With a tip of her head, she asked, "What do I do with you?"
"I'm so sorry," Richard whined and burst into tears. "Go ahead, I deserve to die!" He sagged down, crying miserably.
Cameron took the gun away from him.
On the floor, Mary rebooted. She looked up and analyzed the situation, and her stinging leg. She tried to move her leg, it lay limp. She said, "Mother, I need help."
Cameron returned her gun to her back holster and pocketed Mary's gun. She helped Mary stand up.
"She's alive!" Denise said with a sigh of relief.
"He hit my leg, Mother. I don't think he meant to shoot me," Mary offered.
Cameron glared down on Richard briefly, then bent and scooped Mary up in a bride's carry. "Denise, please get the doors for me," she asked.
Still in shock, Denise did, opening the front door, then the Jeep passenger door so Cameron could get Mary seated. Mary winced as she was put in place.
"Mother, why does it hurt so much this time?" she asked.
"Turn your sensors way down," Cameron instructed.
Mary nodded. Ever since she'd been with Eddie, she kept her sensors turned up to enjoy the sweet sensations. At the moment, the sensations weren't so sweet. She did as her mother said and her face relaxed. "Yes, thank you, Mother," she said and offered Cameron a smile.
Denise gathered the wits to say, "That looks really bad, the hospital just up this way."
"My family will fix me," Mary assured her. "Just worry about Allison."
"Will you be all right?" Cameron asked Denise.
Denise looked at the house, then back to Cameron. "I ... can't stay here tonight."
"We have room, you are welcome to stay with us," Cameron told her.
Denise nodded. "Can I get you to hold Allison for a few moments? I'll be right back."
Cameron took Allison in her arms. "Get what you need." she said.
.
Denise walked in and got out her travel bag and filled it with clothes. She then went down to the nursery where Richard was still crying in place. She got the diaper bag and filled it with supplies then added clothes for Allison. Looking at the picture of 'future Allison' she had done, she picked it up and squatted in front of Richard. "Look at me!" she said sternly.
Raising his head up, Richard whimpered. "I ... killed her."
"No, you did not. Mary isn't human. It's a good thing too, or she would be dead. I want you to look at this picture."
"Why ..." he stopped as he realized he'd just seen that woman.
"Remind you of anyone?" she asked.
"She, that woman that was just here," he said.
"Is our Allison," Denise stated. "Yes, our grown up Allison traveled back in time to save the world. To save us. To do so, she had to loose her own humanity and become a cyborg." As she talked, Denise's anger rose. "You, who are insanely dead against guns, SHOT our granddaughter! Yes! You, who claim guns are sooo bad, almost killed her! No one was hurt by that gun until YOU picked it up. I am taking Allison and going with Cameron, who our grown up Allison insists on being called, and do what I can to help Mary. I don't know if we'll be coming back."
She then threw the picture down on his lap, picked up her bags and walked out.
Richard stared at the picture and mumbled, "That's not possible."
