A/N Sorry this took so long to post. My compy turned off before I could save it and had to rewrite half of it. Let me know what you think!
Tin Man
"'You are cer-tain-ly as good as you are beau-ti-ful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.'" The little girl struggled with some of the words as she read aloud on her mother's lap.
"'Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,' replied Glinda. 'If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.'
'But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!' cried the Scarecrow. 'I might have passed my whole life in the farmer's cornfield.'
'And I should not have had my lovely heart,' said the Tin Woodman. 'I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.'
'And I should have lived a coward forever,' declared the Lion, 'and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.'
'This is all true, said Dorothy, 'and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most de-des-des…' what is this word mommy?"
"Desired. It means to want something."
"Oh. Thank you mommy." The little girl continued, "'des-ir-ed, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.'"
The girl stopped reading the story and looked up at her mother. I LIKE this story mommy!"
"You do?" He mother asked with faux incredulousness, "And why is that sweetie?"
"It reminds me of my friends!"
"Really?" she wasn't prepared for this answer. "How so?"
The little girl put her arms on her mother's legs and pushed her self into a more vertical position on her lap. "Well. I think that that my friend Cameron is Dorothy because she went somewhere strange like Dorothy did in the tornado, and she needed help from all her friends to get home. I think that my friend John is the scarecrow because he is Cameron's best friend and he is really smart, he just didn't know how smart until she helped him."
Her mother's eyes were wide as she stared at her daughter. This is interesting.
"Agent Ellison is the cowardly lion because he is really brave!" I think we'll keep that comparison to ourselves. "John's uncle is the Tin-Man because deep down he really does have a heart-"
Her mother's laugh stopped her, "Please continue."
"John's mommy is Auntie Em because she is always worried about John and Cameron." More than you realize honey.
"And John Henry is the wizard because everybody was afraid of him but he was really just a nice, regular man."
He mother was quiet for a moment.
Hesitantly, as though she dreaded the answer, she asked, "Savannah?"
"Yes Mommy?"
"Who… who am I in your story."
Savannah beamed her biggest smile at her mother. "Mommy, that's a silly question! You are Glenda the Good Witch of course! You always look after everybody and make sure they are ok!"
Catherine Weaver stared at her "daughter". A single tear streaked down her cheek.
***
"Mommy!"
"Savannah!" Catherine Weaver bent down, arms wide to catch the streak of red that had made bee-line to her.
Catherine pulled the girl in tight, "Oh I missed you so much! Let me look at you!" I missed you? I do not miss anything. Catherine frowned inwardly, unable to explain her comment. It was the right thing to say. I had to reassure the girl and to let he know that I am emotionally invested in her…. Yes, it was the right thing to do…. The little voice that had been cropping up in her head more frequently as of late spoke up, to her you have been gone slightly longer than 24 hours. Your comment was not necessary.
"Mommy, why are you crying?"
Catherine froze. She reached up to her face with one hand and wiped a tear from her cheek. She stared at it for a moment and then the tear absorbed into her finger with a slight ripple.
"I don't… I don't know Savannah."
Just then John Henry walked through the door.
Savannah squealed with delight and ran to embrace her friend. Arms locked around his legs she asked, "Did you have a good trip with Mommy?"
"I did Savannah, it was very productive."
Weaver slowly straightened up and turned to face he daughter and John Henry. I think I am going to have to speak with Cameron after all.
Several miles away another machine-human reunion was taking place. It was not going as well.
Both arms resting on the small table in front of her, Sarah Connor stared at the face across from her. Inches from her left hand was a half empty bottle of vodka, a desert eagle loaded with the last of Derek's special thermite rounds lay even closer to her right.
Sarah replayed the last 20 minutes in her head, they were a little fuzzy.
She had been at the kitchen table, slugging shots of vodka when Tin-Miss had walked into the room and sat down across from her….
Well, I guess I've finally done some brain damage. That only took… she struggled to determine how long she had been drinking, 12 hours? Wow.
"Hello Sarah."
Sarah's eyes widened. Oh shit. "You fucking, metal bitch! I'll kill you" She screamed.
With surprising speed and dexterity for all the drinking she had done, Sarah flung herself from her chair, arms extended, at the duffle bag several feet away. In a flash she had her hands around the grip of the Desert Eagle and was bringing it to bear on Cameron.
Expecting a reaction like this Cameron removed the gun from her hands milliseconds after Sarah had retrieved it.
"Please remain calm."
"Where is my son you steel whore?" Sarah lunged from the ground and threw a punch at Cameron. Missing by more than a foot, she stumbled and would've fallen had Cameron not caught her.
"Sarah, control yourself."
Sarah spit in Cameron's face, and pushed away from her.
Careful not to use her full strength Cameron backhanded Sarah in the mouth. "Don't be rude."
Eyes watering and ears ringing from the blow, Sarah glared at her. "Fine. Do it. I know you are going to. Just do it now and save us the trouble."
Cameron sighed and turned to sit at the table. "Stop being so melodramatic Sarah. Sit down," she pointed at the chair where Sarah had been sitting when she came in, "shut up, and listen to me for five minutes. And I mean really LISTEN to me, can you do that you stubborn bitch?"
Did she just tell me to sit down and shut up? Sarah felt her body obeying Cameron automatically.
Cameron began. "You last saw your son a little more than 24 hours ago, correct?"
"Yes. The little shit decided it was more important to chase his robot friend into the future than to save mankind."
Cameron slammed her hand down on the table, at least that's what she meant to do. In reality she had smashed a whole clean through the Formica and particleboard. Sarah jumped involuntarily. "You will refrain from using language like that in reference to my John. Now, let me continue, you last saw John less than two days ago, however, he hasn't seen you in almost a year and a half."
Sarah's head was swimming Sarah ignored the last comment for a moment and focused on Cameron's previous one, "Your John? YOUR JOHN? Just who do you think you are missy?"
"I am your future daughter in law, and you will treat me with respect Sarah Connor!"
***
Shaking her head Sarah tried to absorb all that Cameron had just told her. She was purposely ignoring the machine's revelation that brought up images of diamonds and white dresses. "So John met his father?"
"Yes"
Sarah choked back a cry. "How did…. Did he… what…?"
Cameron smiled. "Derek did not believe it right away, but according to John, Kyle took one look at him and somehow knew John was his son immediately. The time travel aspect was more difficult to convince them of, but luckily Catherine Weaver was able to assist in that department."
Sarah shuddered at the mention of the T-1001.
"And John and Derek are in the hospital?"
Cameron shook her head. "They are in a private clinic run by Miss Weaver. They are receiving care from two T-800 model 101s."
"What?!" shrieked Sarah, eyes bulging.
"They have been scrubbed and reprogrammed as doctors by Miss Weaver. John and Derek could not receive better care anywhere in the world."
That's probably true actually thought Sarah. "Why? How did they get hurt?"
"At the very end of our time in the future, Skynet learned of John Henry's existence and of the TDE he had constructed. Such technology did not exist in that time line because there was no John Connor for Skynet to need to kill in the past. Skynet wanted the technology and wanted to destroy John Henry. Its forces breached our defenses just as we were about to make the jump. In the firefight, John was shot in the left arm, the left thigh and twice in the right leg. He lost a lot of blood." Tears were dripping down Cameron's face. Nice try missy, even crocodiles cry.
Gaining control of herself, Cameron continued, "Derek was shot in the lower abdomen, the chest, and both legs."
Sarah felt a sudden knot in her stomach. She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her, her eyes widened and started to tear. She knew. She was sure. It was in everything the machine was not saying. She whispered, "Kyle?"
More tears dripped down Cameron's face and she looked down at the table, unable to meet Sarah's gaze.
She shook her head once.
Sarah let out a sob. "H-h-how?"
Cameron wiped her cheeks and raised her head to look at Sarah. In that instant, Sarah finally understood what the 1000-yard stare meant. "John, Kyle, Derek, and I were retreating to the time bubble. I was to John's right, slightly in front of him, Derek was directly to his left and Kyle was to Derek's left, slightly behind him. A T-700 appeared out of nowhere and outflanked us. Derek and I took the brunt of it but John was hit too. Kyle yelled for me to get John to the bubble. He went for Derek. Somehow he got him up and they stumbled towards the bubble. They had just made it inside when the countdown completed." It was Cameron's turn to sob, "Unfortunately so did several rounds from the T-700. Colonel Kyle Reese caught five rounds in the back. When we snapped back into time in the basement of Zeira Corp. Kyle collapsed. He knew he was finished," She smiled weakly at Sarah, "He lived enough to tell John and Derek he loved them," She stopped talking as several uncontrollable sobs wracked her body, "and t-t-t--to tell me he wished he could have seen our wedding." She paused. "Then he closed his eyes."
A/N So I know I kinda pulled a South Park here, not giving you the fight scene. I have to be honest, I am really nervous to write that scene. It was the whole reason I started this story and I am not good at action sequences (in case the complete lack of it so far hadn't alerted you to this fact). I promise that I will stop being a pussy and write it.
