The Frailty of Trust, a terminator: sarah connor chronicles fanfic

Author's note: This is a 'what if' piece centered around the idea of Cameron going bad again and how John, Sarah, and Derek might act in the aftermath. It ended a little darker than I originally intended…sometimes characters take on a life of their own! Please forgive a little OOC-ness as I take some liberty with mental thoughts. Light J/C undertones. I hope you enjoy it! :)

He pressed a light kiss to her motionless lips, the pleasure at the softness of her mouth dampened by the stillness of her body. Resting his forehead against hers, he gently held her head between his trembling hands.

They wouldn't give him the chip. He couldn't be trusted. Not with her. Not again. Not alone.

They were investigating a power plant, which Derek discovered and thought it was of use to SkyNet in the future. It was the same as any other mission. Sarah led the charge, followed closely by Cameron, then Derek, and John was to run at the first sign of trouble.

Sarah and Derek set explosives throughout the building to destroy the plant. Once done, the group was on their way out of the building and heading back into the darkness of night. Pausing in the parking lot outside the plant, they waited for the explosions to finish. All detonated, save one. Heading back into the plant to check on the remaining explosive, Cameron was caught in the explosion, which detonated late.

In hindsight, that seemed odd to John. A little too coincidental.

Stepping out of the building, scratches and slight burns covered her arms and face with bits of shrapnel embedded in her skin. Cameron looked straight at the three people clustered outside the building. Sarah and Derek restrained John by his arms as he struggled to get to the building. To Cameron.

Just like before.John felt his stomach drop as Cameron looked at him. Cold, unfeeling, and lethal. Just like before.

Springing into action, everything happened so fast that John barely registered the events. Cameron, lacking a gun, moved towards John. Slowly. Methodically. Deadly.

Sarah grabbed John and pushed him towards a truck parked nearby. Blood rushing in his ears, John saw her mouth move and it looked like "Run," but no words could reach him. His thundering heartbeat drowned out all sound. Ducking behind the truck, John watched as Derek unloaded the contents of his gun into Cameron's chest.

And still she moved forward. Intently and unfazed. John's breath caught in his chest. Not again. Please, not again.

Throwing Derek another gun, Sarah ran back towards the destroyed power plant. An idea forming based on Cameron's own previous actions, an ironic twist of fate for the cyborg. Grabbing a loose electrical wire, taking care to handle only the rubber casing, Sarah moved behind Cameron, who remained focused on Derek's firing, and jammed the wire into her neck as hard as she could.

Cameron's body jolted then went quiet. Sarah pulled out the wire and tossed it aside. She flipped open a switchblade and began cutting into Cameron's scalp, screaming for a screwdriver and pliers. Hands shaking with the awareness of how short 120 seconds really was, Sarah took the screwdriver from Derek's hand and popped open the lid covering the chip. A quick twist of the pliers and Cameron's chip was removed; the danger abated.

Sitting back on her heels, Sarah looked at Derek, who remained stone faced and glaring at Cameron's form. John crept out from behind the truck and slowly approached the motionless body.

"Why did you have a screwdriver and pliers?" Sarah asked of Derek, slight suspicion lurking within her eyes.

He glanced away from Cameron's body and looked at John with narrowed eyes, "What would you do if you had a guard dog you couldn't trust?" His gaze swung to Sarah, "They always go bad. It's just a matter of time before they turn on you. I didn't want to be caught unprepared." Looking pointedly at John, "None of us should be caught unprepared."

Kneeling down beside Cameron, John reached out and brushed his fingers across her cheek. His eyes skittered to the chip which was on the ground a few inches from Cameron's head.

Without conscious thought, John's hand reached towards the chip. Sarah's hand clamped down on his arm, his eyes jumped to hers in question. "I don't think that's a good idea, John." She quickly grabbed the chip with her unoccupied hand and slipped in into her pocket.

Jerking his arm free, John stood up and glared across Cameron's body at Sarah and Derek. Sarah looked at John with weary eyes, "The explosion must have messed with her chip again."

"Funny how that one explosive didn't detonate until Cameron was close to it." John's gaze settled firmly on Derek.

Unfazed, Derek maintained the accusatory eye contact. "It was bound to happen again. It's not a human, John. Not matter how pretty it is or what it says. It's a machine designed to kill you."

"I can fix her. Just give me a chance."

"Like you fixed it last time? You see how long that lasted. The only permanent solution is to destroy it. Otherwise it'll keep turning on you until you're dead."

Sarah shifted and stood up, glancing between the two men. Inwardly she felt a flash of surprise as she mentally acknowledged John as a man. He was growing up way too fast. But what choice did they have?

"You heard what she said last time, John. She didn't agree with you reactivating her. It's too risky. We need to destroy her. It's what she would do. It's the best course of action to protect the future." Her fingers grazed the chip in her pocket; calmly looking at John, attempting to convey the gravity of the situation.

A lump formed in his throat as he steeled his face to communicate a lack of emotion. It's the best course of action to protect the future. The future. He was so sick of concern for the future messing with his present. Would any decision in his life ever be made in the here and now? Or would they all be clouded with thoughts of the future?

"Fine. Let's take her back to the house and burn her. After all, only humans are forgiven for their mistakes, right?"

Maybe this is why the future is so messed up. No one can see beyond their hatred of the enemy. The only side worth salvation or redemption is your own. With a view like that the war will never end.

He glanced at Derek, "Help me move her body." Sarah let out a small exhale of relief at John's acquiescence. At Derek's look of distaste John firmly added, with a hardness in his voice that made Sarah take back her exhale of relief, "It's the least you can do."

Cameron's body lay on a long metal trunk in the garage, concrete cinder block forming a short wall around the outside. The blocks would contain the fire that destroys her body, but what would contain the void left in John's life?

John sat on the side of the trunk and gently brushed the hair from her face. Tears formed behind his eyes, threatening to fall, and held back only by his strength of will. Leaning forward, his breath caught in his throat at the knowledge of what would soon happen. It was over. For Cameron there would be no future.

John Connor was not the messiah for the machines. Not even for the one he called a friend. The future, and now the present, left a bitter taste in John's mouth.

They wouldn't give him the chip. He couldn't be trusted. Not with her. Not again. Not alone.

Closing his eyes, John took a deep breath. Trust was such a delicate thing. So easily broken. So difficult to forge. Betrayal permeated the air, suffocating him with its insinuations.

John Connor could not be trusted because he valued the life of a machine.

Cameron could not be trusted because she was a machine and susceptible to programming.

Derek Reese could not be trusted because he acted on his personal beliefs without regard for the impact on others.

Who could be trusted? Could anyone really be trusted? Was Cameron less trustworthy than Derek simply because she lacked a soul? Cameron actions, while based on programming, were far more stable than Derek's. And yet Derek qualified as redeemable and valuable whilst Cameron should be destroyed.

Sarah Connor could not be trusted because she acted first and foremost out of concern for the future. His future.

A future John wasn't sure he wanted any part of if these were the choices he was forced to live with. Cameron said that in the future he has many friends. What comfort does the concept of future friends provide, when it is the here and now that is so lonely?

Later today, while he is at school, John knows that Sarah and Derek will burn Cameron's body. When he returns to the garage in the evening, all that will be left of his friend will be ash. Easily broken apart and scattered in the wind, just like trust.