Disclaimer: I don't own any material contained within this story. All copyrighted content remains the property of the person, people, or organization that holds the copyright. This story is solely for fun.

AN: I know I haven't done anything with the Virus AU for awhile. I kind of had writers block where that story was concerned. But I finally wrote another chapter. I hope you like it.

PS: This chapter is being told from John's point of view.

First Date.

It started out like any other normal day. My cyborg body guard had driven me to school in the car that she stole from a hit man she had killed. Well, it started out normal, for me. Yup, it was just another normal day. That is until I got to class, the alarm sounded and everything went off the wire.

It was a bomb. Someone had called up the school and told them that he planted a bomb, told them right were to find it too. All the students were rushed out. Cameron came up to me and led me back to her new car. She insisted that I get inside. I did, and we drove away.

I assumed that her protective protocols had kicked in when she heard about the bomb. I assumed that she was just getting me out of a potentially dangerous area. I assumed that she'd be taking me home. Well, you know what they say about assumptions, right?

We drove right past the street that would've taken us home. "Ah, Cam."

"Yes, John."

I point my thumb backwards. "Home's back that way."

"Yes it is. Your point?"

"Don't you think you should turn around?"

"Why?"

"Aren't we going home?"

"No. We have plans."

Okay, now I was getting nervous. Was Cameron taking me to some secret safe house to protect me. Was that her plan? Could a terminator have found out that I was at that school and planted a bomb to kill me? No, that didn't make sense. Terminators didn't use bombs. They liked to terminate their targets face to face.

Even if one had planted a bomb, he wouldn't have called up the school and told them where to find it. Why would anyone do that? It didn't make sense. The only motivation I could come up with, for such an action, would be to get everyone out of the school. I suppose that flushing out the students could have given a terminator a chance to snipe me, but that didn't make sense either. Why not just snipe me on my way in?

All the speculation wasn't doing me any good. I decided to ask Cameron what was going on. If she had a plan, she must've known, or at least had suspicions, about what was happening.

"Cameron, exactly what plans do we have?"

She simply stated, "We are going on a date."

Now that blew my mind. How could she have made plans for a date at a time when we were supposed to be in school? She couldn't. The only way she could've was if she knew that we were going to be sent out. It was then that a little light bulb went off in my head. The bomb had been planted by a terminator, after all. I was astonished. "You planted that bomb, didn't you? Do you know how many peoples' lives you've placed in danger?"

"At current count, four hundred and fifty-seven total. However, none of those lives have been endangered by the bomb. It's a dud. I constructed it to resemble an active bomb in every way. It might even fool members of a professional bomb-squad; but I assure you, it's completely harmless."

"Okay, why would you plant a defective bomb, and how did you sneak one into the school?"

"The answer to your second question is, I didn't sneak the bomb in. I made it while we were at school. It's amazing what you can make with a few things from the Chemistry and Metal Shop classes. As for your first question, the answer should be obvious. I wanted us to go on a date, and absent gets you on the radar."

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to go on a date when we weren't suppose to be in school?"

"And we would explain our going out, how? This is much better. Sarah thinks we're in school. School won't notice that we're absent. And even if Sarah does find out that we weren't in school, it won't be that hard to come up with a lie as to why we didn't come straight home. For example: I could've been worried, after the bomb threat, and taken you somewhere safe, until I had a chance to better assess the situation. I think Sarah would buy that, don't you?"

"Ah, probably; but it still seems like a lot of work to go through."

Cameron shrugged. "Oh, I didn't mind. I've had a lot of fun planning this out."

"So, ah, where are we going? The movie theater? Drive in? Or are we just going to cruise around until we see something interesting?"

Cameron let out a small laugh. "Oh, I don't think so. The movie theater and the drive in are a bit cliché, don't you think? And as for just driving around, as I've said, we have plans."

"Okay, so where are we headed?"

"You'll see when we get there."

"Great. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Cameron laughed again. I thought it had an almost sinister edge to it.

My question was answered an hour and a half later, as I stared out the open door of an airplane traveling 13,000 feet above the earth's surface. Some old guy was telling me to remember to pull my cord before I reached twenty-five hundred feet. Oh no, no, no, no. I didn't even care any longer if Cam thought I was chickening out. There was no way that I was going to jump out of that plane, no way at all.

I ignored the old guy beside me and turned to Cameron. "This can't possibly be safe."

She placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, John. More people die every year from car accidents than from sky diving."

"Well, duh! More people drive cars than jump out of planes."

Cameron smiled. "I was speaking statistically. Only one out of every one hundred thousand jumps ends in a fatality. You'll be fine."

The old guy spun me around. "Hey stop talking to your girlfriend and pay attention. This stuff's important."

I replied, "Oh no it's not, because I'm not jumping. I'm going to stay right here," I pointed at the floor for extra emphasis. "until this plane lands."

I was spun back around. I was then face to face with Cameron, and she captured me in a devil of a liplock. She'd kissed me like that once before. It was right after we got back from Newton Crosby's, and the kiss had sent my head spinning. This one had much the same effect. I was just starting to get really into it when she pulled back.

She looked deep into my eyes and said, "John."

I managed a weak, "Yes."

She smiled and replied, "Time to fly." And then the plane was gone.

She had pushed me out! My life flashed before my eyes. I saw everything in a matter of seconds: learning to walk on a dirt drive way in a border town, my mom being taken away and sent to the asylum, my life with my foster parents, running from the different terminators sent back to kill me. I saw everything from the moment of my birth right up to where Cameron pushed me out of the airplane.

Her last words replayed in my head, and I realized that I heard her wrong. She didn't say, "Time to fly." She said, "Time to die." As I realized this, I stumbled for my rip cord; but I couldn't find it. And suddenly I could see Skynet's whole plan laid out in front of me. The AI had weaved it's plan with all the skill of a spider's web, everything interconnected, and invisible until you were caught.

The other "attempts" had been nothing more than distractions. This was Skynet's master plan all along: introduce me to a terminator that I would find attractive, let it gain my trust, and then at just the right moment it would spell my doom. I felt a certain kinship with Sampson and King Kong. They were both brought down by beautiful women too. I also felt a grudging respect for Skynet. It's plan had been perfect. Of course, what else would you expect from a computer originally built to play chess.

I'm not a terribly religious person; but as I realized that my death was inevitable, I decided to make peace with what ever higher power might be up there. It was then that I saw her. The angelic looking demon who had caused my downfall was flying straight at me.

How could she control her movement so well during freefall? She latched onto me, and I wondered if she was going to snap my neck in mid air. Although, I didn't know why she would. I was going to be dead soon enough, anyway. However instead of snapping my neck, she wrapped her legs around mine and pulled me into a sitting position. One of her hands went around my waist and firmly gripped my belt. She pulled me into her and held me there. Then she released her chute, and our bodies were jerked upward by the sudden deceleration.

She wasn't trying to kill me. How could I have let myself think such things about her? I recanted them all. She wasn't my damnation but my salvation. I wrapped my arms around her, and she kissed me the rest of the way down.

When we hit the ground, she broke the kiss. "See that wasn't so bad, was it?" I shook my head no. She unhooked the parachutes.

"Next time you really should pay attention to the instructor though." I nodded my head yes. She stood up and extended a hand. I took it.

As she pulled me up, I discovered that my knees felt like Jell-O. "Now, where do you think we should go eat? What's good after a skydive?" She paused for a moment, and her index finger tapped her chin. "I'm thinking seafood or maybe Mexican. Uh, we'll just decide on the way."

She grabbed my arm and started to lead me away from the landing sight. I frankly would've liked to of stayed there and waited for my stomach to catch up with the rest of me.

(Well, what'd you think. I really suck at writing romance and this was about the closest I could come without it sounding completely corny. Is it any good, or did I blow it completely. Please let me know. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)