Title: A Helping Hand
Genre: Television
Series: Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Characters: Cameron Philips, Derek Reese
Spoilers: 2x01-Samson and Delilah
Rating: PG
Summary: They'd never be friends.
Author's Note: This is written for 10_quotes, a livejournal community. (If you hit up my ElJay via my profile here you can even find a link to my fanfic!journal where I've included a purty header for this! ElJay, for all your ultimate viewing pleasures.)
Word Count: 500
Prompt: The Wizard of Oz-"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Derek Reese would never be accused of liking a machine. He refused to go near the programmable coffeemaker, let alone a computer, and never mind a walking computer with enough artificial intelligence to destroy the world.
Usually in such matters he was over-ruled by either Sarah Connor or her son, his future general, John Connor. It was highly unusual for Derek to entertain anything but hostile thoughts toward Cameron Philips, so it was terribly surprising to find him working alongside her willingly.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. He's too short," Cameron noted sotto voce as they moved further into the bar. Though Cameron had run several scenarios, all telling her that she could handle the situation on her own, she had bowed to the Connors' continuing suspicion and allowed Derek to join her. She thought, logically, that he might only prove a hindrance.
Derek swallowed back the frustrated sigh and drew comfort from rubbing the pad of his thumb across the rough texture on the grip of his gun. When he was sure he could hold back the irritation in his voice, an effort he knew would go unnoticed by the terminator next to him but an effort he put forth anyways, he asked, "Too short for what?"
"The man who placed the bomb underneath the truck. He was not in the internet café when we attacked. He is a," Cameron paused and tilted her head to the side in a way that Derek would never admit was cute, "loose thread."
Derek cocked his eyebrow at what was clearly unnatural coming from her mouth. "Okay. How will we know if we've found the right person?"
"I will know," Cameron replied succinctly, turning her mercurial eyes back towards the bar dwellers and using her sensors to compare each to the physical parameters she had on file.
"This may seem like a stupid question, but how?" Derek continued, more uncomfortable with silence than with her presence. Silence reminded him too much of nerve-wracking memories from the bunkers during combat. Mindless chatter was a human characteristic and even during those troubling times people couldn't quite restrain it.
Derek froze for a second as he realized that he was expecting Cameron to have that human characteristic, or at least to indulge his.
As his eyes sliced to the side, studying the smooth profile of the machine that he refused to give gender in spoken word but still thought of as a 'she' in his mind, Derek realized that he'd been spending too much time with John. Clearly that had to be the cause for this lapse in judgment.
Derek called on years of training and forced his face to remain placid, pulling back his hatred and anger. Cameron stopped scanning the room and turned the dark depths of her eyes on him. "Even while shutting down I did a scan of the attackers. When I rebooted the second time, the parameters were clear."
Derek nodded slowly. "Thank you for explaining."
Review, please.