This is an interesting story … This is number one in a series of one shots I was gonna write. When I started it was going to be 3,000 words tops and then I added to it and I was like. "No, 6,000 at most." Well … I think you can tell where the story was supposed to stop several times and I continued.
Well this takes place in the "Because the Night" AU Terminator verse but like every one shot I do you absolutely do NOT have to read the story to know what's going on. But if you find yourself confused toward the end … then I might be wrong.
Either way this entire story was birthed out of me listening to "Concerning Hobbits" on the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. The beginning does seem to synch up with the song if you wanna try it.
Enjoy it!
First Day
The dawn was just breaking through the cover of trees with golden and orange leaves sprinkling down on a crisp autumn wind in twilight. The purple light of the sky glowed brilliantly in a reflection of a window on an old home down a country road. The purple and orange mix reflected almost like stain glass on the far wall in a master bedroom of the cozy country house.
There were boxes on the floor half opened and a white sheet lay slumped on the floor next to a large mirrored dresser with only half the drawers in it. On the other wall sat a king sized bed with the sheets tossed about and two pillows jumbled, it was the sign of the occupants tossing about in their sleep. However amongst the ruffled and tossed about sheets a little body lay face down on a black tank top snoozing heavily.
The five year old boy was dressed in jeans and plaid button down with a white shirt underneath. His mess of moppy black curls fell in his eyes, shielding them from the sliver of light shining on his face. An unlaced boot was shoved on one foot and an unhindered white sock on the other. He had come into the room to find his shoes, but found that the comfortable warmth of the bed and the appealing smell of the female tank top were too good to pass up half way through his task of putting his shoes on.
From the hallway the sound of bare feet came patting toward the door that was half cracked open. The door gave a slight creak when it opened and feet fell inside silently as if stalking a prey. Bare ankles walked around the bed and stopped behind the sleeping little boy.
Without warning a slender hand reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of his button down and lifted him off the bed effortlessly and came face to face with him. The girl was in her mid to late teens with long curls of brunet hair and big innocent doe brown eyes flecked with gold. Her white silk sundress flowed behind her when she walked making it seem like it was floating with every step.
Cameron Connor tilted her head with a glare of annoyance when she realized that the boy with her nose and bone structure was truly asleep again. His little half snores blew hot air on her beautiful face which only caused her to tighten her cheek.
Turning, she looked like a momma cat with her little kitten as she bent over picking up his boot and walked out of the room and into the polished wood hallway of the two story three bedroom. The house was quiet with the exception of the sizzling of bacon and the rushing sound of water from the bathroom where the shower was going.
As Cameron walked toward the bathroom another bedroom door opened and a youth in his early twenties walked into the hallway. He was tall and broadly built, his hair spiked with a lock falling limply across his forehead. The sleeve to his blue long sleeve was pinned back over an amputated left hand.
Flicking eyes down the hallway at the sight of Cameron holding the boy by the scruff of his collar, John Connor lifted an eyebrow at his wife. The cyborg stopped mid stride and caught his emerald eyes watching with a hint of disapproval hidden underneath his scarred face.
"Do I wanna know?" He asked mid yawn.
Cameron set the boy on his feet and let go. There was a limp thud as the boy nearly hit the ground fully, but was caught by the girl. Then like before she effortlessly lifted the sleeping child off the ground and held him aloft again by the collar.
John couldn't hide the smile on his face when he shook his head at the two of them. "Be careful with him Angel …" He called trotting down the stairs. With John gone, the cyborg continued down the hall and stopped in front of the bathroom alive with the sound of a running shower head.
The door made a loud stubborn bang when Cameron entered the bathroom, steam exiting at her feet and a damp humidity caused her dress to cling to her slender upper body.
"Ow!" The sound of a soap bar fell on a foot.
The shower curtain rattled on the bar when it was drawn back and the wet and dripping face of Sarah Connor came into view, her hand pushing slick locks of hair out of her face.
"It's called knocking …" She called over the running water.
The cyborg blinked at the statement and said nothing till green eyes found the little boy hanging in the air next to his mother. She moved the five year old in front of her to show Sarah like a fishermen with a catch.
"I think he's defective." She said with a frown.
There was a pause and Sarah gave her an annoyed glare and sighed. "First, don't call him defective … it'll effect his psyche later on in life. Two, what's the problem?" She asked whipping her face, then for a moment her eyes suddenly rolled to the back and she moaned. Cameron tilted her head at the action, to which Sarah then reached back behind her to hit something with force before returning the hand. Her face returning to normal
"He keeps falling asleep around the house this morning, first in his room, then ours, and now yours." She explained. "I can't get him up." Cameron continued, giving a human sigh.
Sarah glared at the ceiling then back to Cameron. "That doesn't make him defective, it makes him a five year old little boy on his first day of school." She said stiffly.
"Did John do this on his first day of Kindergarten?"
"No, but I didn't keep him up till midnight on the day before, playing puzzle games." Sarah replied with a glare.
Cameron glared back. "They're not puzzle games …" She sounded almost defensive. "They're supposed to build his intellect and deductive reasoning skills. He has a natural talent for it, like I do." Cameron shot back.
The raven haired beauty rolled her eyes. "Whatever just set him down I'll take care of it, you're making me nervous." She ordered. Cameron hauled the boy over and slumped him into a sitting position on the wall, next to the tub.
"We have to leave in twenty minutes." Cameron informed the woman who disappeared behind the curtain a moment to the sound of a wet slap of flesh and a ticklish chuckle.
"Okay!" She called over the bar.
Cameron turned on her heels and strode gracefully out of the bathroom, closing the door with a mild click. Slowly the steam began to collect inside the room again. There was a moment or two before the shower curtain slid open and Sarah appeared once again dripping wet.
"Ryan … Ryan, wake up." She called over the thunder of water.
At the voice the boy twitched and sighed turning his head toward it, but didn't seem to open his eyes. A wet hand maternally reached out pushing familiar raven curls out of his eyes gently. He shook his head subconsciously. But when the water drops from Sarah's hand dripped on his face he scrunched his nose and blinked his eyes open.
Sarah smiled when the boy's golden flecked brown eyes began wandering in silent confusion as to why or what he was doing inside the bathroom.
"This wasn't where I was a second ago …" Ryan Connor said to himself.
"Hey …" Sarah called to him. The boy found his grandmother and got a tired half smile that made her melt just a little. "You're gonna be late, Cowboy." She reminded him.
The boy frowned a moment, before he widened his eyes in realization and pulled off his boot and stood, beginning to unbutton his shirt. Seeing the disoriented actions Sarah gave a small sympathetic chuckle.
"No, sweetheart, we already took a bath last night … remember." She reminded him with a tilt of her head.
"We did?" He asked.
"Yes … you're gonna be late for your first day of school was what I was talking about." The woman lifted an eyebrow.
The boy thought really hard, blowing away sleepy cobwebs in his brain before he nodded. "Oh" he said finally finding the memory. He plopped down on the bathroom rug and began pulling on his boot.
"But if we took a shower last night, why are you taking another one this morning?" He asked pulling on the other boot.
Sarah gave a cough of surprise at the question and cleared her throat. "I've got my reasons …" She replied, her head disappearing again behind the curtain.
"Okay" he nodded with a shrug buttoning his shirt. Sometimes Sarah forgot how trusting little children could be when they were told something, no pressing for answers, and no suspicions about not being told something. They just shrugged and moved on.
"Bye …" He called walking to the door.
Sarah stuck her head out. "Be careful today, Cowboy." He could tell it made her sad to see him leave. Even as a hardened warrior, she was still a mother and she shared a hidden sorrow to see the boy taking his first step of not needing her anymore.
"I promise." He said in sincere low voice before he gave his father's pirate grin for her, opening the door. Ryan gave her a nod and walked out closing it with a click. But a beat later he opened it again and stuck his head inside.
"Bye Pops!" He called to the tub. Sarah pursed her lips and scratched her neck looking back inside the tub, behind the curtain.
There was a grudging silence for a beat or two.
"Have a good day, Short Round." Derek Reese called begrudgingly.
The boy smiled devilishly, lifting his hand in goodbye and left.
"Angel if you weren't such a Tiger Mom about his education, then you wouldn't have this problem."
"What do you suggest? Letting him listen to Sarah and Derek talk all night? That's not much of an education."
"He's five years old … let him have fun, with Mom and Derek."
"He won't be five forever, John. He has to be …"
"Ahead of schedule? Like I was?"
When Ryan rushed into the kitchen panting, he found his mother sitting on his father's lap. But instead of smiling like most mornings the two looked angry at one another. When John and Cameron saw their boy standing in the kitchen doorway they parted.
Cameron slipped off her husband's lap and back to the stove. "You're late …" her voice was stern and accusatory.
Ryan twisted nervously and trotted toward an empty seat at the kitchen table with a bounce that only a small child could. "Sorry mom." He replied quietly looking down at the table cloth.
"When you're required to be awake at a certain time, you are to stay that way." She lectured with a notable absence of emotion to her voice.
"I'm sorry" His voice sounded shamed, staring a hole in the table.
Cameron slid pancakes onto a plate. "It won't happen again." It wasn't a question.
"I promise" It was the second time he had done so that morning.
Looking up from the white table cover he found his father's eyes watching him as he sipped a cup of coffee. When he placed the mug down John gave his son a smirk and a reassuring wink. Ryan wiggled to sit a little taller in his seat and grinned back.
Their small wordless exchange ended when the girl placed the pancakes in front of Ryan and shot both a suspicious frown. Both hid their smiles behind their food and Cameron returned to the stove.
"It's important to be punctual for appointments … it shows organization, dependability, and a work ethic that will earn respect from your peers later on in life. It is also important for school, especially in the future. When you get a good education you get a good job, and with a good job comes a good salary, and with a good salary comes stability. Do you understand what I'm telling you … Ryan?" Cameron turned around and glared.
Both Ryan and John had their heads down on the table and where snoring obnoxiously, a clear message of what they thought of her lecture. The girl turned off the burner and strode to where her husband lay making noises with his nose. She took his mug of coffee and pressed it to his only hand.
"Christ Angel!" he shot up and cradled his hand under his arm. Despite the action he was still chuckling though painfully. Ryan was giggling with a mouthful of pancakes.
Cameron got a ghost of a smile on her face. "Finish eating." She ordered without looking at the moppy haired boy.
They ate mostly in silence till Ryan was done. When he placed his plate in the sink, Cameron helped him into his jacket and provided him with John's old backpack from their high school days. As Cameron slipped on her purple leather motorcycle jacket and adjusted her satchel, Ryan stood almost at attention in front of his father.
John's haunted green eyes looked over his son silently, his hand running through the boy's familiar raven curls. "Are you alright?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes, sir" the boy nodded
The young man nodded back. "Are you nervous?" He asked looking him in the eye.
Ryan dipped his head. "A little" he admitted. But when he looked up his father just gave him a reassuring smile.
"It's alright, Cowboy … it's your first time away from your Grams and me." He placed his hand on the boys shoulder. "But you don't have to be scared. It's only for several hours, plus your mom will be in the high school right next door." He motioned to Cameron who was now standing at the door waiting for them.
Ryan nodded. "Yes, sir" he gave a nervous shake of his legs. John gave a snort through his nose and placed his hand on his son's waist. "Come here" The young man pulled the boy into a hug. Ryan wrapped his arms around his father's neck and squeezed. When they broke apart John motioned him to the door. Ryan nodded and turned, leaving out the back door that Cameron held open for him. Alone the girl watched John stand, slowly walking over to her.
Gently she reached for his hand and took it in hers. "I'm sorry if I burned you John." She apologized. The young man just got a stupid look on his face.
"Someone should warn people about your temper." He teased placing his other arm around her.
Cameron placed his hand against her cheek in a gentle way, he took that action to rub his thumb over her cheek bone and inclined his head to meet their lips. It was a long kiss by some standers and when they broke apart they made a little wet smack.
"Look after him." John whispered placing his head against hers.
"I will" She reassured him with another light kiss.
Finally he let go and she backed away walking out into the crisp morning toward Sarah's old pickup truck. John leaned in the doorway watching his wife.
"Cameron"
She turned her head to see him, at that moment the wind caught her hair and suddenly at the sight of the multicolored leaves tangling and untangling in her ringlets he forgot what he was gonna say.
"Yes John?" She asked.
He smiled. "Try not to break any Jock's bones this time." He lowered her with a playful frown.
Cameron smiled.
"I'll try not to."
Outside the school building there was a large concrete walkway that was flanked by benches and tree's while a small fountain gushed with cold water in the middle near the entrance. Orange and red leaves floated inside it as the early morning sun reflected off the pennies at the bottom of the clear water.
Children buzzed about with their parents in tow. Giving a last minute I love you or a check to see if they got everything they needed. Hugs and kisses were all around and giggles, there were a few children crying out of fear of abandonment.
Ryan stood facing his mom as she kneeled, looking through his backpack, checking the contents inside. The boy looked pensive watching other parents and children.
"Why do you have this brand?" Cameron held up a pack of crayons. Ryan blinked and shrugged at the question.
"Momma … I mean Grams said that it didn't matter what brand my crayons were as long as I could color with them." Ryan caught himself, his parents were trying to break him of the habit of calling his grandmother Momma … the truth was he couldn't remember why he called her that. He just couldn't help himself, he guessed he'd always called her that. Plus she never seemed to mind; in fact she seemed to like it when he did.
Cameron frowned. "These aren't quality." She placed them back in his pack and closed the flap. When she handed the bag back, Ryan placed it over one shoulder and hitched it.
"Sarah is going to pick you up, you are to stay in this exact spot when you get out of class. Do you understand?"
"Yes"
"No exploring, no questions, you are to stay here until she comes and gets you."
"I know." Ryan nodded.
For a moment Cameron almost looked uncomfortable and there was a flash of something in her eyes that almost made her seem sad at the angle Ryan was standing at when she spoke again. "When we're at school, I'm not your mother." She said stiffly.
The moppy haired boy frowned. "Okay …"
"Here I'm your older sister, if anyone asks Sarah's your mother." She briefed him.
"I guess" Ryan shrugged.
Around them children began to part with their parents and go inside the building, through the glass door. Both watched the children for a moment, Cameron turned and stared at her child who was still staring at the other children.
"Do you know where to go?" She asked.
Ryan tightened his cheek like she always did and dug into his jacket. After a beat he pulled out a map of the school and showed it to her. Cameron nodded in approval and watched him put it back inside his jacket. Ryan wanted to say goodbye, but his mother was still staring at him, with a look he had never seen before.
"I have something for you." The girl reached into her purple leather pocket. Ryan watched with interest as the Cyborg extracted a locket on a silver chain.
Ryan leered his head up a little to get a better look. "What is it?" He asked with interest. Cameron pressed two buttons on the side and bottom, popping it open. Instead of a picture inside like he had always seen on TV he saw that there was a little red button.
"If you are in trouble, or in danger, just press this button on the locket and I'll come for you. No matter what happens, I'll find you." She explained without a hint of doubt, it made him feel safe. Ryan nodded and watched his mother untangle the chain and loop it around his neck.
His mother's hand cupped the lump underneath his shirts. "This is only for emergencies … it's not a toy." She reminded him.
"It's not a toy." He repeated in acknowledgement.
Cameron stood when a bell ringed inside the school. Ryan looked up at her one final time and without a word turned and began following the last of the children inside. It was the normal parting he has with his mother. There was nothing special about them, he learned long ago that when he tried something special she never responded right. It just made him feel embarrassed when she would stare at him blankly confused.
"Ryan …"
The boy heard her call his name and he turned to find that she had been following him. The prospect seemed to surprise her just as much as him.
"Yes" He responded.
The girl paused a moment as if making plans silently in her head. Just as he was about to ask what he forgot, she reached down and grabbed him from under the arms and hoisted him up. The two shared a look for a moment, not sure what was next as he dangled in the chilled air.
Then Cameron pulled him to her and wrapped her arms around him snuggly. Ryan's surprise only lasted a moment before he smiled brightly and nuzzled her curls.
"I love you too."
It was near ten o'clock in the morning when the glass door to the Elementary school opened with a swift whoosh, the bottom of the door dragging on the carpeted floor. The sound of motorcycle boots thumped on the scratchy stiff fibers.
Sarah Connor wore a tight white long sleeve shirt and jeans, all of which was covered by a well-worn dark brown leather jacket with buttons. The decades old male outwear looked too big for her, yet she wore it like it was a second skin. She looked around the office areas inside the front of the school till she saw a bench outside an office door. The glass entrance behind her whooshed open again and the sound of a limp walked up beside her.
"No, don't wait for me …" Derek Reese muttered sarcastically at his fiancé leaning on his cane. He wore a green trench coat over a plain Gray T-shirt and jeans. Sarah scowled at him and motioned Derek down the foyer toward the polished chestnut colored bench.
Ryan sat completely alone in the quiet foyer, his head down. He seemed to be nursing his arm as if he hurt it. Sarah once again didn't waist anytime waiting on Derek when stalked across the open room and to the bench where the little boy was.
When the woman's shadow hovered over him, Ryan looked up at her timidly. His lip was busted and he had a crumpled up tissue wadded up his nose. His plaid button down shirt was dirty and ripped in places as was his jeans.
Sarah bit her lip in a maternal rage, but she held it in, taking a knee in front of him. She gently brushed his curls out of his eyes and lifted them out of the way to see a gash on his forehead. She made an angry noise under her breath, but remand passive. Feather lightly, she touch his chin and moved his head to the side to get a good look at his black eye.
"How many?" Sarah asked with restraint.
"This many" He showed her four fingers. The boy tried to sound tough about it but she could tell he wanted to cry.
Sarah's face lightened and she ran her hand through his hair lovingly. "Do you know where they are?" She asked with gritted teeth. Derek placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder, a reminder not to do anything stupid.
Ryan shifted in his seat with a whimper. "Two are brothers and inside the principal's office with their mom and dad. One is being fitted for a sling and the other is still in the nurse's office waiting for a High School trainer to come with smelling salt." He replied pointing to the Nurse's office across the hall.
The beauty stared that way a moment before she stood. "It's going to be okay …" she gave him a kiss. With a shaky breath, she pushed open the door to the principal's office unannounced and uninvited with a very dangerous glare in her eyes. The door slammed violently behind her, making Ryan jump.
The foyer was once again silent, the ambient noise of a teachers heals clicking down some hallway was faint enough not to be counted. Derek studied his grandnephew who didn't return the look. With a sigh he limped over to a spot next to him.
"So …" He grunted as he sat down. "A fight your first day of school." He sighed again standing his cane on the floor in between his legs. The boy shrugged a shoulder a look of shame was still on his face an hour since.
Derek placed his chin on the tops of his hands that were holding the cane in place. "You wanna tell me what it was over?" He tilted his head. Ryan gave his grandfather figure the slightest of looks before he turned back to the spotted pattern on the floor. His only response was another shrug that made no bones that he was hiding the reason.
Nodding, the man in his late thirties picked a public services poster to look at. "A private fight … I can respect that." He commiserated.
Amongst all of his close family, Derek was the only member that treated Ryan with more respect that befitted someone older than the boy actually was. If Ryan had a question he answered it most of the time without a follow up about what he was doing. It was a reason that Ryan often came to the man for advice or even just to talk about something without a feeling like he would tell someone about it.
"Do you think that dad's going to be mad?" He asked with a sniffle.
The ex-soldier got a knowing look on his face. If Ryan had trouble with something he always went to Sarah or Derek for help, if it was extreme he went to Cameron, but the boy always lived in fear of disappointing his father. Derek found it endearing that the boy always seemed to have two mothers yet there was only one dad in the boy's mind and he never wanted him to think that he was weak or childish. Derek leaned back, placing an arm on top of the back rest behind Ryan.
"I'm sure he won't be pleased … but I don't think he'd be mad. He's done this plenty of times." He stretched.
The comment caught Ryan's attention and snapped his head to his uncle who was grinning at his reaction. "Dad's been in a fight at school?" He asked as if Derek just told him that Fruit Loops weren't made with real fruit.
"Are you kidding me?" Derek asked. "You think that this is the first time me and Sarah have been to a principal's office in the morning because of a fight in school?" He lifted an eyebrow.
"What happened?" He asked with timid interest.
Derek rubbed his stubble in thought. "Oh, some school councilor was trying to put the moves on your mom under the stands at a Pep Rally … your dad found him with his hands up your mom's shirt squeezing "them" like stress balls and he knocked like five of the guys teeth out with the school spirit stick."
"Five?" Ryan widened his eyes.
The older man snorted. "Yeah … it's quite feat really, when you consider what that spirit stick was made out of." He rubbed his soul patch thoughtfully.
"Was Momma angry?" Ryan asked.
"She wasn't happy …" Derek lifted his eyebrows remembering the incident. "She was pretty mad at both your mom and dad. After that she started home schooling them." He looked at the little boy. Ryan tightened his cheek and looked back down at his lap when he learned about Sarah's reaction.
The reaction made Derek's face lighten. "Hey …" He nudged the boy. Cautiously, Ryan responded to him. "Your mom and dad might be angry with you … but as long as you fought for the right reasons no one will think less of you." Derek placed an arm around Ryan's shoulder and shook him gingerly.
At the little pearl of wisdom, Ryan sighed thoughtfully. "There's a girl in my class … she's got black hair and green eyes and she's got a white ribbon in her hair. When she saw me when she and her mom got to the class room she went and sat next to me right away. She's nice and smells good." He looked embarrassed. "When we were on the playground some older guys started picking on her. I told them to leave her alone and … they pushed me on the ground. They called me a hobbit and laughed at me." He sounded sort of sad.
"And you got mad …" Derek finished for him; it didn't take much to understand what happened next. Ryan nodded ashamedly meeting hazel eyes.
Surprisingly Derek let out a laugh at the story. Ryan got a ghost of a smile on his face though he looked confused as to why it was funny.
"You got in a fight to rescue a girl you like?" He asked.
At the question the boy's face burned red, looking back down in embarrassment. "Yeah …" He said quietly.
His uncle just shook his head. "Well don't feel bad about it, you couldn't help it … your only carrying on a family tradition." For a moment Derek Reese saw his brother and a smile formed as he gave the small boy a loving squeeze. Ryan looked back up and gave a small smile.
The office door opened with a bang and Sarah walked out with a hardened look.
"How bad?" Derek asked.
Sarah widened her eyes. "He's suspended … apparently the kid he nearly knocked out has a mother on the school board." She couldn't hide the grin at the concept of her five year old grandchild rattling the skull of a third grader.
"How long?"
"Didn't say …" She cleared her throat stuffing her hands in the leather jacket pockets.
Ryan had always loved her jacket, especially the patch with the knight's sword flanked by hawk wings. Sometimes Ryan would watch her curl up on the couch and instead of a blanket she would use the jacket. He asked her where she got it once, she responded that it once belonged to someone she loved very much and then she pulled him in her lap and draped it over both of them. Ryan found that she often did things like hug him randomly for long periods of time. Sometimes at night he can hear her scream his name in her sleep and then when he wakes up, she's under the covers with her arms around him tightly.
Derek tapped his cane on the floor. "Well … I guess you got your wish about the whole homeschool thing." He grunted pulling himself up to stand.
"Guess so …" She replied with a wince out the circumstances her victory came out of.
Just then the thopping of heels waddled out of the office. They belonged to an older woman with a tight splotchy face of tough skin, she wore a tight pink pantsuit and her hair looked crunchy with the amount of hair spray in it. The ashes of a cigarette in the corner of her mouth fell on the floor with tiny sprinkles. Two kids followed her out, they were skinny and had crew cuts. Both of the kids looked to be nine and had their own cuts and bruises.
"Go wait outside!" She barked at them her teeth clamped on the smoke's butt. Both kids didn't look back even when she took a swat to get them to move faster. A thin blond man in a suit shut the principal's door. He had a ratty face that his son's seemed to share and a mousey opportunistic look about him.
The stumpy woman turned and found Ryan who was still sitting down. She took a long draft of her smoke. "You feel like a man now, boy?" She had a scratchy deep voice. "Beatin on innocent children …" She blew smoke at him.
Ryan frowned and coughed. Sarah clenched her jaw and moved across the couple opening and closing her fist twice as a signal for Ryan to come take her hand. The boy didn't hesitant molding his little finger into her slender palm.
The woman took the opportunity to blow smoke into the younger's face. "And how bout you, slut, your boy sees the customers slap you around so he thinks its right to beat on people … whore?" She spat at Sarah. The black haired woman rotated her jaw at the comment, flashing dangerous eyes at the couple.
She turned taking Ryan's backpack and hitching on her shoulder and then smiled down at Ryan. "Come on Cowboy, let's go get some breakfast." Hand in hand the two began walking away. The couple looked outraged. The woman stomped on her husband's foot and motioned him at Sarah.
"Hey! This isn't over!" He announced moving in pursuit grabbing at Sarah. However just as he was about to grab a handful of her leather jacket, he impaled himself on the end of a cane. Derek had moved to intercept sticking his wooden support out to which the man walked his entire frame into.
He let out a miserable yelp and fell to the floor curled up into a ball. Sarah turned and watched him a moment and then back to Derek which she gave a smug smile waiting for him to catch up before they continued.
The pink dressed woman thumped up to her husband and blew smoke angrily. "It's alright daddy … that bitch would sleep with a tree branch if it was long enough." She called out loud.
Derek turned to Sarah who kept a passive face, linking an arm in his and giving him a tight assuring smile despite angry eyes as they continued.
"If there's any proof of that look at that little freak, daddy … I bet she keeps that little monster locked up in basement."
Sarah suddenly stopped and unlinked her arm from Derek's. Derek Reese closed his eyes, muttering for the other mother not to say the one word that unhinged the woman he loves in relation to people calling Ryan names.
"That's right, I'm talking about your freak abomination!"
When Sarah shrugged off the backpack and let it fall on the floor, Derek Sighed.
"Ah shit …"
The afternoon sun seemed to be a polite fiction with its golden rays casting no warmth on the early afternoon that stung with an uncommon early fall chill that had settled on the small town. A rush of cold air whipped inside the local Sherriff's station when the front doors opened.
John and Cameron strode into the waiting area. The older youth in front, his jacket sleeve pined back over his left hand, with his wife in the back searching for anything unusual or a silent threat looming behind the desks and filing cabinets. Both green and brown eyes searched the area to find no one manning their posts.
It wasn't uncommon for this to happen, in such a town there were few crime related calls. Most of the town's problems would consist of livestock getting loose or wild packs of wolves roaming the woods. So to find the station unmanned seemed about right.
"Hick towns" John snarled under his breath with a shake of his head. Pivoting he found his wife nodding in agreement, though he wasn't sure if it was her opinion or if she was Just agreeing with him cause she didn't have one.
"Okay one more time?"
"A cowboy rides into town on Friday, two days later he leaves on Friday."
"Two days later on Friday?"
"Yep"
The voices were familiar and John frowned and walked around the front desk and further into the station amongst empty desks toward the holding area.
There was a guard station outside a prison bar door that was open. There were three uniformed deputies standing around the desk with a familiar little boy with black curls and plaid button down sitting on top of it. Ryan was wearing a sheriff's cowboy hat and smiling smugly as the deputies looked far away in thought. However, the small crowd turned when they saw John and Cameron.
John made an amused noise at all of them. "Please … don't let me interrupt the revival." He put a hand up in mock defensiveness. His joke got some grins and some good natured laughs.
"John …" One of the deputies broke off the group. She was a tanned woman, thick around the waist with a stern face. But her blue eyes seemed friendly as she stuck her hand out and gave John a tight shake.
She was well acquainted with John when he helped her as a "Consultant" on a special case where a man shot up a bar and walked away despite being gutted twice and shot four times. When John and Cameron finally took down the "Perp" and the sheriff saw his true face, John and Cameron Connor had more than a little pull with the Sheriff's Department.
The Sheriff was about to acknowledge Cameron, but the girl blew past her at a steady, yet quick pace. All the other officers made a path for her when she got there. Her first action was to take off the cowboy hat on Ryan's head and toss it on the desk. The smile melted off his face as quick as an ice cube on a sidewalk in summer. She was as efficient and thorough as the machine she was studying his injuries that had been attended too at this point. The reserved look on Cameron's face seemed to scare the boy.
"Who was it?" She asked Ryan.
The boy shrugged. "Some kids at school." He said quietly.
"How many where there?" she asked emotionlessly, which for some reason sounded more dangerous than if she had been ranting.
"This …" He was about to raise his hand, but then stopped. He knew that his mother would get after him If he didn't tell her the number. He paused a moment in deep thought. "F … fou … four." He continued to talk in a low voice. He was under the impression that if he tattled on his attackers that people would think lesser of him.
John stood close behind Cameron and got a look at his son for second. The cyborg turned up to her husband with a twitched movement of her face. It was widely known that the two had their own language of subtle movements and facial expressions that no one seemed to get but the two.
"Are you alright?" John asked.
The boy looked scared but tried not to show it. "Yes sir" He answered with a stiff nod. John reached over his wife's shoulder and lifted the boy's moppy bangs and tilted the his head to get a good look for himself.
"What are you charging them with?" John asked the group of officers after removing his hand from his son's hair.
The lady chuckled. "I don't think we can press any charges for a cat fight between two moms in a tot school … we just put them in there to cool off. We'll release them back into your custody." There was a round of amused looks.
John gave a long sigh and rubbed the deep scar across his face with irritation. "Shall we?" He motioned to the open doorway. The female walked behind the Desk and grabbed the set of keys off a plank holder and led the way.
The holding area was a small cold room with two separate cage cells right next to the other, with a wall of bars separating the two. On one side was meant for females and the other for males. Across from the cells was a wooden bench where a green trench coated man sat smiling at something someone said with his cane in his lap.
"How did …?" The sheriff gaffed at Derek upon finding him out of his cell.
Derek frowned a moment at her reaction. "Was I supposed to stay in there?" He motioned to the far cell where a blond man with a bloody nose and busted glasses sat next to the female bars.
John snorted "How are you Derek?" He asked his uncle.
The older man shrugged. "Confused as to why I'm in here when I didn't throw a freaking punch." He glared inside the female cells. John followed the glare and walked forward passed a still confused sheriff.
"Take the cane next time." He whispered with a pat to her shoulder. When he was close enough he griped a bar with his only hand.
Inside Sarah sat on a bench with her knees to her chest. There was a cool laid back confidence to her as she lit a match and put it out with her fingers. John just shook his head at his mother as she exhaled the smoke with a satisfied grin.
"Making friends wherever you go …" John said sarcastically with humor in his voice seeing that she didn't have a scratch on her. the same, however, couldn't be said for her cell mate who sported two black eyes, two nostrils full of blood, and a busted lip. The woman sat so far from Sarah that the black bars from the divide would definitely leave marks.
Sarah just flicked the used match at the woman and got to her feet when the sheriff unlocked the cell door with a rusty squeal. Sarah waltzed out giving John a kiss.
"You got sign for them John … then you can leave." She pointed to the main station.
When John returned with his mother and uncle they found that Cameron was redressing Ryan's injuries with the sheriff's department's first aid kit, obviously not trusting the sheriff's medical abilities. Sarah earned a glare from Cameron when she picked Ryan up off the desk and held him in her arms, placing a hand on the back of his head.
Before John could sign the release form Sarah and Derek had cleared out of the station with Ryan. Cameron stayed behind with John reminding him of the fake information that he needed to put down on the form.
Their attention was placed at the holding cell doors when the sheriff came out with the other couple. They both signed forms John was, trying to ignore the almost crazed look in Cameron's eyes watching the rival parents whose children laid hands on Cameron's creation.
The sheriff called John back a moment as the other couple left. With a predatory opening stride the teen in a purple jacket and silk sun dress moved to follow but John wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Don't kill'em Angel" He whispered into her hair. Cameron turned to look at John with a blank unreadable stare before she strode off.
"John do you have a moment?" The sheriff asked.
The young man sighed. "Look, uh … mo … Sarah's always been very protective." He started.
"Yeah I pretty sure that's the last time those kids will mess with your boy … trust me." She chuckled. "But that's not what I wanna talk to you about." She shrugged out of her jacket. "Let me ask you … have you been training your boy to fight?" She asked curiously.
John frowned. "His mother has taught him basic self-defense. Why?" he asked.
The stern woman rubbed her chin. "We interviewed a teacher about the fight … just a routine checkup. She told us that your boy used some very sophisticated fighting moves … moves I didn't think a little kid could know." She was more interested than worried.
"Sophisticated?" John glared in confusion.
"Yeah … martial arts, sleek leg sweeps." She nodded.
The words sleek and sophisticated in terms of martial arts sounded very familiar to John, but it was the wrong Ryan she was talking about if that was the case.
"I couldn't tell you."
Derek was of the opinion that Ryan needed a woman. He was telling the boy sitting on his mother's lap that every man needed a woman after his first fight. Sarah smiled at the advice with a shake of her head. However Cameron countered with the opinion that what Ryan really needed was a new uncle.
John hadn't listened to any of his families bickering or joking as they sat squished in his Mustang. He was passive in thought as he drove, even when his mother stroked his hair for a moment or two he didn't break out of the line of thinking that had plagued him since he got out of the sheriff's department.
He hadn't realized that he had pulled in front of a Pizza place until everyone was piling out. "Ryan" John didn't have to say anything more. The boy let his mother get out before he slid back into the car. Everyone stopped and watched them. John flicked his eyes to Cameron, who was standing in the door way, his face was stony and unmoving.
"I need a moment with Ryan … go get everything ordered, Angel." He said to his wife. The girl nodded and closed the door. John watched Cameron tell his mother and uncle what he told her. Derek limped inside followed by Cameron, but Sarah lingered a moment watching him before she finally went inside the restaurant.
The cab was quiet with anticipation. Ryan fiddled with his fingers and didn't look at his father as he waited for Judgment to be handed down. John felt sort of bad, everyone had found what happened today cute or no big deal, but the boy had been waiting for this talk and so had John.
"I'm sorry" Ryan said, unable to take the tension any longer. "I … I shouldn't have gotten so mad." He looked at John.
The young man watched his son and suddenly didn't know what to say to him. John had been in many fights in school over many things, so how was he supposed to tell the young boy that he was wrong to fight those other kids. He tried to remember what his mom use to tell him but the problem with Sarah was that she didn't say much about it except that it was stupid to do so. Sarah Connor knew nothing about fighting in school, his mother had been popular and cool her entire childhood and never once had a problem socially with the other kids that ended with fists and not with locker room pictures in the halls.
But suddenly as if a light bulb clicked on in his brain he realized what he needed to say. The inspiration was simply in the way his son looked at him. It was the same look another scruffy looking little boy use to have for his mother and most of the time his only friend, it was the same look that a scrawny teenager use to have for a soldier from the future when the man wasn't looking.
John Connor didn't know all that much about being a father, he had never really had one till he was a teenager. But John knew how to be a son and watching Ryan he knew what to say because it was what he wished his father would have been alive to tell him.
"It's not your fault, Cowboy." John sighed. Ryan's face scrunched in confusion almost as if he had heard his father wrong. The scarred man took a deep breath and sighed again.
"It's mine and your mom's fault …" He continued. "All your life you've been raised by soldiers, your grams raised me in that life, your mom was made … born into it and your pops and grams … had to learn it. We've all tried to give you a normal life, but we didn't take the time to let you have it. You've spent all your life hanging out with your grams and me … and we're not normal Cowboy … When those kids made fun of you, you did what I would've done."
"Yes …" Ryan trailed off not understanding what he was getting at. John was painfully aware that his son wanted to be like him.
He placed his arm on the back of the boy's seat. "Cowboy, I don't want you to be like me and I don't want you to be like your Grams … I want you to be you." John leaned toward him. "I want you to be a better man than I am." He gave a half smile.
Ryan looked far away a moment. "Who am I, then?" He asked finding his father's eyes.
The question stopped John's heartbeat. He knew the man his son would become and his many faces, the outlaw, the detective, the hero, the brooding shadow, the obsessed … the broken. He realized he didn't want for him to be any. But in the end would it matter, would he become that man anyway?
"What does mom always say?"
"No fate but what we make?" He replied.
John got a little closer. "It's not just a motto, Cowboy. They're words to live by … it means you can be whoever you wanna be, it's your life, your choices." Golden flecked brown eyes locked with green in a wordless connection.
"I understand." Ryan nodded.
"Good" John slid back. "And preferably you would choice to be someone who doesn't fight everyone who picks on pretty girls." He sighed with a chuckle.
The black haired boy gave a pirate smirk and nodded. "Yes sir" he laughed too.
After the beat the boy was starting to absently move toward the door feeling the conversation was over. But a question leapt out of the man's brain just as the boy was waiting to be dismissed.
"I have a question Cowboy … and whatever the answer I won't be mad." He reassured his son.
"Okay" he replied interested.
"Has your mom been teaching you how to fight?" John asked somewhat sternly. If the man didn't want his son to grow up a carbon copy of his future self, then his mother was complete opposite. Cameron didn't share Sarah and John's ideas on destiny and believed that the only person Ryan could be is the man that she knew.
Ryan shook his head. "No …" He drew out.
"Has mom been teaching you?"
The moppy haired boy winced. "A little bit … I wasn't supposed to tell anyone." He squinted guiltily.
John tilted his head. "Have the moves been complicated? Require a lot of practice?" he pushed.
Ryan shook his head. "Just how to punch and how to block." He shrugged.
The man bit his lip. "I was talking to Sherriff Singer and she was telling me that you're teacher saw you do leg sweeps and some Jujitsu." He turned his head.
For a moment the younger got uncomfortable. "When I got pushed on the ground, I hit my head." Ryan touched the back of his head unintentionally. "All of the sudden when I was down I saw Momma … I mean grams in a park, she was a little older than mom and standing opposite of a man with sort of longish black hair … he looked like mom and he was wearing Gram's leather jacket. He was teaching her how to fight. When I came back to the playground I just did what he told Grams to do." He shrugged.
John sniffed. "Tell me did the man have a scar across his eye, the one teaching mom?" He asked a little more tensely.
Ryan nodded. "Yes … do you know him?" He asked.
"Yeah … I knew him" John said distantly. "He's you"
"Grams seemed to like him a lot." Ryan scratched his head.
"Yeah, she did … tell me does that happen a lot to you?" John asked. "Do you see that man in your dreams?"
"Sometimes … most of the times I have dreams like that. But Grams is always in them."
"What do you dream about?"
The boy frowned in thought. "A bunch of stuff … sometimes she's a little girl on a boat and she's got a dolly under her arm and she's watching the Statue of Liberty go by. Sometimes she's mom's age and she's a cheerleader in a football stadium and everyone is cheering …"
John looked thousands of miles away, worry was etched on his face and he wasn't hiding well enough because the little hand touched his shoulder.
"Is there something wrong with my dreams?" he asked.
The thoughtful man sighed and smiled very roughshod down at his son. "No …" He ruffled his hair. "You can go inside with everyone else." He motioned to the pizza place with his head. Ryan's brown eyes lingered for a moment before he bounced out the car and into the restaurant.
Alone in his Mustang, John Connor watched through the window of the restaurant while his son appeared at the table that their family was sitting at. Sarah smiled and pulled out a chair between her and Cameron. The boy sat down and smiled at her.
John knew that Ryan and Sarah were very close, they always had been and always would be it would seem. It use to reassure him back when things were dangerous that his child would have someone to protect him if things got bad, that he had someone who loved him and would be there always if something happened to Cameron and John.
But the leather bound journal that weathered and used over decades that was in his hand made all those feeling leave him. With his stare still on Sarah and Ryan smiling at each other his index finger found the page if by instinct and he slowly began to read.
Ryan's Journal
November 26, 2012
Personal Entry #54
Had a nightmare this morning … it was a nightmare I haven't had in almost eleven years.
Neon lights are flashing around my eyes, some freakin ridiculous eighties song blaring in my ears and I'm waiting around for the police to show up. I'm trying to calm myself, but the music is making me anxious, people are doing terrible dance moves and every time they get close to me I hold my breath, thinking one of them might be the phone book killer. I search the crowed and catch the glance of a man. It's Kyle and he's watching with a beer in hand. Suddenly, he's spring toward me, digging through a trench coat. I turn Just in time to find some canner with a bad skin job pointing a .45 in my face, the kill dot in my eyes.
I woke up sweating, eyes wild, just like I use to when I was boy. Mom's HUD tells me that there was a breach in her old neural network latched to my brain.
I have a chip in my head that I've had all my life, mom never told me what it is … but this afternoon it picked up a transmission. The neural network can't track it, but it has a hauntingly familiar source code.
The clone of Sarah Connor had the same chip in her head; It contains all of Sarah's life before 2009. Every skinned knee, every cheer she learned, the first steps the old man took when he was a baby, his first words, and all the times her mother molested her in high school.
At nineteen the clone's chip wires Sarah's memories into her head. In the in-between time the chips transmits and I see my grandmother's memories.
I watch my baby self and every time he wakes he reaches for Sarah. He must've seen it too, must have picked up the signal. I wonder how many memories he has seen already, not knowing words or situations … just faces. I know the feeling, cause I grew up with them.
Through all the years I saw her memories, it's brought me a strange comfort. It's hard not to become fascinated, or feel strongly for someone when they've always been a part of you, in the darkest night and saddest moments in your life. You close your eyes and see a face that will always be there.
But the clone has been dead for near eleven years and now all of the sudden I'm getting transmissions again … it means only one thing.
There's a clone of Sarah Connor hidden out there somewhere just like before and like last time …
She's going to kill Dad.
It was a dark cool night out in the nicer part of town, trees rustled in wind and little leaves floated in a hail storm of dark unseen color, their brothers and sisters dwindling in number till soon the trees would be bare by winter's arrival.
The chirping of thousands of crickets always got on the tight faced women with a smoke in her mouth's nerves. She hated everything about the town and thought that they should be higher on the social latter by now. Her husband had sued enough doctors' to make a fortune. Yet they were only in upper middle class twelve years later.
The woman blew a puff of smoke as she grabbed the car keys to buy more cigarettes. She was gonna need them after today. The bloody nose and black eye should be enough to sue the bitch with her feral child.
The social climber didn't know who the woman was but she figured that she had to be some whore. In this small community like she didn't know that she was running around town with the vet with the crippled leg while she was married to the large young man with the missing hand. She had a strange fetish for crippled soldier's …
"What a freak …" the stump of a woman said aloud digging around for keys in her purse. Flicking her cigarette out into the drive way, she pointed her control panel at the car and pressed a button.
But instead of hearing a courteous beep from the controls and the doors unlock, there was an ominous drowning electric noise that sounded like a dying animal. A vein popped out of her head and she pressed down on the unlock button over and over again.
"Come on damn it!" She yelled at the vehicle, giving it a swift kick.
She jumped back when the car squealed loudly as metallic plastic rubbed together in a terribly loud crashing noise as the tires and coverings fell off her car in a collapse reminiscent of a house of cards. Finally there was a loud roar in her drive way when the frame of the compact made a loud slam on the concrete.
The women stood shell shocked disbelieving what she was seeing taking note of the remains of her completely disassembled car.
"This is only the beginning."
The woman fell over in complete terror when she found the presence of a high school girl with long brunet hair and familiar golden flecked brown eyes that observed the women menacingly. She had a grease mark on her cheek and several stains on a mechanic's jump suit.
"If your family comes after my child again, your house is next." The lack of emotion in her voice brought on the smell of urine that stained a pink pant suit. Innocently looking down at her fists she walked forward.
"Here, these are for you." The girl dumped every last bolt and nut that held the social climber's car together in her lap. Then without another word she wandered away …
As if nothing had happened.
Author's Notes
Alright truth time … This was one of the original concepts for the first epilogue in "Because the Night", but I felt it accomplished nothing that people would find relative. Ryan was too young for the abduction of Cameron to really have an impact.
If you haven't read the story of "Because the Night" … I really hope you enjoyed this. If you have you just got slapped with the big reveal that was only subtly hinted at throughout "Because the Night". Yep, Ryan used to be able to see Sarah's memories when he was a kid (Ole'Cammy keeping secrets again.). Nope, I didn't pull this one out of my ass, it really had been part of the story all along just not outwardly obvious.
The one problem with me cutting this out of the story is that you miss the connection Ryan has to Cameron so that when Weaver carries her away at the end of the Epilogue I went with there really isn't an investment seen by the readers between the two.
Read & Review and if you've not read my BTN tell me if you were confused or if it was easy to pick up.
PS. Just a little toot to my horn "Because the Night" was referenced in a Game of Thrones podcast by people I don't even know … so that's awesome.