Title: What's In A Name
Author: gega cai
Pairings: Kate Brewster centric, eventual Kate/John
Rating: PG-13
Words: 1700+
Warnings: Blood
Summary: Judgment Day has come and gone. Kate Brewster struggles to find her new identity and purpose in a post-apocalyptic world.
Disclaimer: Characters and other likely inventive scenarios based on the world created by James Cameron and William Wisher Jr., John Brancato and Michael Ferris (?)
Author's Note: This fic references some events from T2, T3 and T Salvation. Fic takes place in 2009, five years after Judgment Day according to T3 (July 2004).
I would like to thank all of the readers for their feedback and, most of all, for reading. I have never received so much feedback for a fic I've written and I am very grateful. I must admit that it has me nervous and I find myself wanting to do the characters/story justice while completing a good Kate/John fic that readers will enjoy. I hope to do both!
What's In A Name
Part 2
by gega cai
A look of total fear shot up at Kate. "Oh, G-g... --help me!" he struggled to speak through the pain. "I wanna go home...I-" the soldier began to shake and his breath became rapid and shallow. His blood shot wide-eyes and rabid fear stared back at her in agony.
Stop the bleeding, Kate. He's going into shock. Her ears were ringing from the sound of gun fire and the cries of the wounded dying. There's no time! --No, I can do this.
"Incoming!" a distant voice called out.
Kate ducked, covering the wounded boy with her tiny frame. A moment passed and Kate looked up, relieved that she was whole and not hit. Ignoring the desire to cry out in gratitude, she sat up to continue. Kate felt her clothes warm and clinging to her chest: the soldier's blood had soaked through; they were both drenched in blood and sweat. Uncontrollably, she let out a gasp at the amount of blood.
"Kate!" the soldier cried out as he gripped her wrist and looked up at her pitifully. His eyes begged for relief. His young face, dirty from days without bathing and jumping from one hole in the ground to the next, lit up from the explosions of the battle that continued around them. "Kate," he choked again, only this time it wasn't the soldier's voice or face looking back at her. Her father, General Brewster, winced in pain. The soldier was gone and Kate began to sob at the sight of her father lying before her on the battlefield. He was as she last saw him: wounded by a machine in his blood-covered uniform. She took him into her arms, squeezing too hard. But, she did not care.
"Daddy? Wh-"
"Katie," he swallowed, "Don't be afraid. I've never been afraid for my girl," he assured as he cupped her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. The tears burned as they welled in her eyes.
"No, Daddy! Don't..." she pleaded as she buried her face into his shoulder.
"Kate? Come with me, Kate," John Connor called. She shook her head, but John called again. She looked up to see him reaching for her. The sounds of the battle were distant and muffled, but still there. Kate looked around confused; they were in her father's office now.
"He wanted me to take care of you, Kate," she heard John say.
The room began to shake and a thundering sound from outside alerted Kate to look out the office windows to see a hunter-killer incoming straight for their floor. There was no stopping it. Kate, clutching her father's body, sat wide-eyed and waited for the impact.
Instead, Kate awakened in a violent jerk. A nightmare. Her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room of cots. The room, along with her cot, was shaking and she could hear the distinct sound of incoming aircraft. Tiny pebbles and dirt tickled her face and fell in her hair. Looking up, she could see the lights of an aircraft fly by in the night sky through the ventilation on the ground above. For a moment, she laughed at herself for her mind allowing the approach of the aircraft to enter her dream like it did. Her smile faded as she started to wipe away the dirt and felt her cheeks wet with real tears. She had no time to wipe them away as soldiers began to enter the room.
Kate quickly turned on her wounded side so that her back was to John's cot. She cursed herself as the pain shot through her body. The clunking of booted steps filled the room and others around her began to stir awake from their deep sleep. She waited for his approach, but it never came.
Finally, the room calmed to whispers and the rustling of others to get comfortable in their cots. The pain in Kate's side had nearly subsided when she heard John approach. She laid still and breathed steady to feign sleep. She didn't have a chance to move the hair that fell in her face, which was tickling her nose.
She listened as John worked to remove his gear and weapons. He was careful not to be too loud. After a few moments of unaccountable noises from him, she heard him let out a deep sigh. He moved around her cot and knelt down so that he was at her level. She could sense him watching her sleep. He probably knows I'm faking, she thought.
To Kate's relief, he swept the lock of her hair from her face. She really wanted to be asleep to escape imagining what he must have thought when he saw her face. It was impossible that he could not see the trail of tears on her cheek. She felt the gentle pressure of his hand on her shoulder. He began to softly knead his thumb into her shoulder as if to say to himself, "There, John. She's okay."
Careful not to wake her, John rose to his feet and returned to his cot. She waited until he was asleep to rub the dirt from her face.
"Okay now, be still. There you go, good girl," Kate whispered to the German Shepard. She began to check and feel the dog over for any apparent illnesses or injuries. Her heartbeat was good and with the exception of being a few pounds underweight, she was healthy.
"Now, that wasn't so bad was it?" she smiled as she scratched the dog behind the ears.
The dog began to wag her tail and perked up, but not for Kate. Following the dog's line of sight, Kate saw John leaning in the entrance of the kennel. He was casually dressed in his favorite dark cargo pants, boots, gray undershirt, and faded green button up shirt, which he left unbuttoned. Typical down time wear for John that hinted at his (unusual) grunged youth in the Nineties. He seemed relaxed and genuinely happy to see Kate. They exchanged smiles.
"I thought I'd find you in here. I kind of wanted to be the one to tell you that they had animals here." He crossed to them and knelt down to greet the dog, who visibly favored John as she placed a paw on his thigh and wagged her tail faster than before.
Kate laughed at them, "It's been awhile. They're healthier than I expected." John nodded and playfully spoke to the dog as they both took turns petting her. It was nice to see him like this. Knowing the fate of everyone and trying to save them all made John a serious man. He chose to keep his history and understanding of Skynet a mystery since the first time he tried to explain himself got him nothing but annoyed looks and ridicule. "I have to earn their trust and loyalty. There's so much to be done, Kate," he had said.
They grew quiet in the kennel and John furrowed his brow at the silence. Kate knew that look.
"You found something."
John lowered his head in admission; whatever it was, it was serious. Kate stopped petting the dog and waited for John to speak.
"Kate...it's about Cyberdyne. If I had not dug as deep...as I wasn't supposed to, I wouldn't have found it-"
"Cyberdyne Systems?" she interrupted. "Wait, I don't understand. I thought you and your mother destroyed Cyberdyne. Skynet-," she looked away from him. John knew she felt guilt and it was difficult for her to talk about it. He ignored her discomfort and continued; she had to know.
"Cyberdyne wasn't destroyed," he began. "It still existed despite what we tried to do," he shook his head as if he were still in denial.
"Somehow, Cyberdyne Systems and Skynet became two separate areas of research and technology development. Skynet was always the software or intelligence behind it all. But, Cyberdyne is what was enforcing Skynet's development --and the war today, Kate. The files I found were very clear: Military patents and genetic research."
"Both areas were top secret, but the genetic research was radical and only beginning to evolve when Judgment Day happened. They called it Project Angel. Skynet absorbed all information available and appears to still be continuing the work of someone named Dr. Serena Kogan."
Kate stared blankly at John. She was unsure if she should believe what she was hearing, "Cyberdyne..."
"Judgment Day was inevitable, Kate," he explained softly. He knew the weight of the words. "It would have happened with our without me trying to stop it or your father initiating Skynet going online. There was no stopping it."
Kate lowered her head and held back the tears. John had anticipated her response and quickly moved to take her into his arms, "I'm sorry, Kate. I couldn't stop it."
She covered her face as he held her. Relief. In some twisted, selfish way, Kate could not help but to take it as good news. But, as they let out their relief together, alone in the kennel, Kate felt ashamed. Deep down, a part of her blamed John for what had happened to her father and the world. If John and his mother had just accepted their fate and not intervene, Skynet wouldn't have fallen into her father's hands. It would have been someone else's shameful legacy. She knew better than to blame John and she struggled not to. He was a good person and, like Kate, only did what he thought was right with what knowledge they had against Skynet. She could not blame John Connor anymore.
"No, John," she pushed some distance between them. A single tear fell as she gripped his shoulders. "There's no one to blame. I know what you've done for all of us --what you will do. I know you will stop it."
He held back his emotion, but she could see her words meant a lot for him to hear them. "We'll stop it together," he whispered with a serious nod.
He wiped her cheek dry with the cuff of his sleeve and winked with a subtle arrogance she had come to know. She gave him a weak smile in return, "I think he'd be proud of you, John."
"Yeah?" he asked incredulously. She shook her head at him knowingly and smiled as the German Shepard looked on with a tilted, curious expression.