Chapter 7 – It's A Strange, Strange World

Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC

The Connor Family Bunker…

"Hailey, we're going to be late to school! C'mon. You have to get up!" Frustrated, Ruth yanked the covers off her cousin, allowing their little dog to leap onto the bed and begin licking Hailey's face. "C'mon Hailey. I am not going to be late again because you cannot get up in the morning. Now c'mon, I've got great news to tell you!"

"Go away Ruth! I have no reason to go to school ever again!"

Ruth picked Sammy up and sat him on the floor before sitting down on the edge of Hailey's bed.

"What's wrong? Is this about Trevor?"

"As if you don't know!"

"Hailey, don't be so dramatic."

"Mom beat the crap out of him. Now Dad wants to have Mom punished."

"That's childish on John's part," Ruth spit out. "Of course Cameron would teach Trevor not to mess with her John. And Hailey, Trevor's no good. I bet he wanted to try things at the dance."

"Ruth, I'm so embarrassed. Nobody will ever ask me out now. Every boy will be more scared of Mom than Dad and he's bad enough as it is. Now everyone will think Mom is going to go all scary robot on 'em."

Unable to listen to Hailey's self-pity part anymore and dying to share her news with someone, Ruth blurted out, "Brandon talked to Dad."

Hailey sat straight up. "Really? I want details. Spill."

"I'll tell you while you get dressed. But Hailey, we just can't be late to school."

"You're right. We have to deal with the blonde bitch whore before she can distract Brandon."

TechCom Command Central Headquarters…

John sat down. The stunned silence in the meeting room was tangible, almost real enough to touch.

Cameron stood up and looked at her husband and then the other leaders.

"I refuse to agree with my husband that my actions were wrong or will damage the relationships between humans and Terminators in TechCom."

John's head spun around in anger as he glared at Cameron. "How can you say that?"

"You are being hypocritical John. You told me not to terminate Trevor. I obeyed you. I disobeyed the order to not leave marks. For that, I will accept criticism and punishment. But I will not apologize for my actions otherwise. Nor will they harm relationships between species in TechCom."

Stunned, John found himself staring at his wife with his mouth wide open. He closed his mouth, shook his head to clear his thoughts and gathered himself before speaking.

"Again, how can you say that Cameron?"

"You are the individual being inconsistent John. When it has been necessary for your purposes, you have acted unwisely in the past. Yet, your actions were often deemed as necessary for the greater good of TechCom."

Cameron stared at her husband. To the surprise of every individual present, including John, her expression was one of open adoration and affection for her husband.

"Nobody in TechCom will view Terminators any differently John. Why? Because those humans who live with us have come to understand us better than we understand humans."

"You've lost me now Cameron. Do I need to have John Henry examine your chip?"

"Agent Ellison," Cameron asked politely, "what is my overriding purpose?"

The law enforcement leader squirmed uncomfortably, having no desire to be caught in the middle of a Connor family argument. "To protect John."

"At all costs?"

"I would say at nearly any cost."

"Would termination be within the expected means of how I would protect my John?"

"Of course," Ellison replied. "You are a Terminator. Despite your having free will, termination always ranks high on the list of options for problem solving for any Terminator. It is why Father Hidalgo and I have invested so much time in educating our Terminator population in ethics and moral philosophy. It's why Father Hidalgo has religious education for our Terminators. To aid in the development of the will to override the decision to terminate."

"Am I frequent attender at all of the aforementioned classes?"

"They were your idea."

"Did I terminate this Trevor?"

"No."

Cameron smiled at John. "I protected you without terminating the punk, just as you ordered me. I obeyed you in that regard."

"Sarah, what is my second highest priority or purpose?"

Sarah smiled as she answered, "after protecting my son, the General, it is protecting my granddaughter."

"Do I do a good job?"

"As well as any mother could in the world we live in," Sarah replied firmly, staring at her son.

"Is anyone here surprised I reacted the way I did," Cameron asked gently, giving permission by her tone to disagree.

Doctor Johnson swallowed and raised his hand.

Cameron gestured gracefully at the doctor, acknowledging his desire to speak. "Doctor, please, speak your mind."

"Having dealt with Cameron in many capacities as he physician, I have a definite opinion on this matter. I do not condone the injuries she inflicted on this Trevor. I do believe Cameron showed more restraint than I would have thought possible when I first met her.

Trevor attacked you, General Connor during a meeting regarding his seeing Hailey in a social context. In a single act this young man attacked the two most precious things in Cameron's life, individuals Cameron lives to protect.

The doctor paused, uncomfortable with the subject and the attention.

"John, let's face it. If this Trevor attacked you, I can only imagine the young man had the bad intentions for Hailey. The only thing he could have added to his crimes was to have somehow included Sarah, Ruth or Derek.

"Your point doctor?"

"For goodness sake, John. Everybody in TechCom knows you don't cross certain lines with Cameron and expect not to experience physical retaliation!

My orderly Joe physically removed a visitor from the hospital a week ago. I was furious until I found out why. The visitor was arguing with a patient in post-op. Joe removed the visitor by picking him up and carrying him out of the hospital.

Before joining TechCom, being a T-600, Joe would simply have terminated the unruly visitor. Physically removing the individual is actually for Joe, a very reasonable response, even though it was done a bit forcefully. From Joe's perspective, the patient could now rest and the visitor had not been terminated or injured. Thus it was an acceptable solution to the problem. One I have to agree with when viewing it from Joe's perspective."

Sarah spoke up, using her maternal command voice, "John, Cameron obeyed your primary order not to terminate Trevor. I hate to lecture, but you knew full well Tin Miss was going to slap that punk around. You're angry because she left marks, which was disobedience on her part. And you're rightly concerned about how the community will view her actions. But Cameron is who and what she is, a Terminator who is now a protector."

"John, I'm not a parent. I'm not even married," Savannah said. "But do you know how many of our old, damaged T-600s now serve as protectors for our children? Do you know why so many families have taken these Terminators into their families? It's simple. The T-600s will do anything to protect the children. Anything. These machines are better than guard dogs. The key is having well defined limits on acceptable means to protect the children."

"The beauty of a T-600 as a protector," Catherine added, "is once they detect a threat to their charge, they are relentless in acting to protect the child. They will not hesitate to allow themselves to be terminated to save the child. The shame one of our protectors would feel if a child was terminated under their watch would require self-termination if that were possible, you know this as well as I do John. The Old Man was the first protector. How many times has he saved the girls from harm? Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he lost a set of legs protecting both Hailey and Sarah in the Battle of Los Angeles."

"So this is not a problem?" a now puzzled John asked.

"Nobody said that," Father Hidalgo said quietly. "What everyone is saying, is Cameron is guilty of protecting you and her family with a little too much enthusiasm. No human would be surprised by her actions. In fact, the opposite would be true had Cameron not paid a visit to this, Trevor."

Derek broke his silence, speaking softly but firmly. "I had a painful conversation with a young man who plans to ask Ruth to the school dance. I asked if he was concerned Ruth is a T-1000.

Derek paused and looked at his nephew carefully. "John, the boy said no, there was no reason to fear Ruth. So long as he treated Ruth appropriately and acted like a gentlemen, there was nothing to fear because Ruth is a metal. I asked him what he would do if another boy touched my baby inappropriately. He said Ruth would snap the offender's wrist before he could act."

Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Derek added, "I think the point is John, we've learned what to expect from our TechCom Terminators. If you behave appropriately, you have nothing to fear. Trevor did not behave appropriately. In fact, he behaved quite stupidly in regards to Cameron. John, Everyone in TechCom knows Tin Miss is more than just your wife and Hailey's mother. She's your protector."

John looked about uncomfortably before speaking, "So my wife's misconduct is not a shock?"

Wilhelm chuckled. "She did not terminate the miscreant. Now, if that had been the nefarious Riley who had attacked you, there would have been without doubt a termination."

As all those present laughed, John felt like the butt of a joke everybody was in on but him. John felt flush in his face as he blushed in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, so Cameron will never get over Riley."

As the laughter quieted, Cameron tilted her head and touched John. "I apologize for the extent of my actions. But I will never apologize for loving you, for protecting you and my Hailey. I ask for your forgiveness John. Please, can you forgive me?"

The Wastelands…

The Colonel looked up as the former Grey entered his tent. The Major came to attention and saluted.

"News?"

"There will be a delay from one of our spies in TechCom reporting."

"I see. Has one been discovered?"

"No. It will simply be a longer period of time before the spy in question can safely communicate the necessary information to us."

The Colonel allowed his CPU a moment to process. "We have survived Skynet and the Wastelands. We've rebuilt Airbase S-14. We can wait a little longer to destroy TechCom. Patience is, as you humans say, a virtue."

"I agree, Colonel. It took us over a year to get two spies into TechCom. Burning an asset this valuable is ill advised."

"Keep me informed of the situation. If anything changes, I wish to know as soon as the information becomes available to you."

The T-888 leaned back in his chair and watched the human Major who had become his most trusted officer leave.

"What a strange world we live in," he muttered.

Lunch Shift at the TechCom Cafeteria…

"There she is," Hailey whispered. "You ready?"

"Are you sure this is wise?"

"Ruth, we've agreed you aren't going to use feminine wiles to snare Brandon. If you aren't going to bat your eyes and use the girls, then the competition has to be scared off long enough for you to get Brandon to ask you to the dance. Then you can stake your claim."

"Hailey, can't I just wait until Brandon eats dinner? I bet he'll ask me when he walks me home."

"Bad strategic thinking. You know what our parents have drilled into us. Leave nothing to chance. Control the controllable. Thus, when the battle commences and contact is made with the enemy and the plan goes out the window, you have the best possible chance for victory."

"Is this really necessary?"

"Ruth, do you want to make certain you go to the dance with Brandon?"

"You know I do Hailey."

"Do you like Brandon?"

"You know I do!"

"Do you want to stake your claim and be an alpha female?"

"Hailey!"

"Then you have to establish boundaries for the other marauding females."

"And how would you know? It's not like you've had a boyfriend before!"

"Are you kidding me? You should hear the stuff Mom did when she was pursuing my Dad. She was a scary robot all right. To make matters worse, this girl is a Riley type. She's blonde, you know that means trouble."

Worried at the mention of the girl's blonde hair, Ruth considered her options.

"Everyone will think I'm a freak."

"Nobody that matters will. All of our friends know you're a T-1000 and you can morph into anything you want so long as it's a certain size. It's not like you haven't done that enough to entertain people at school."

"I'm going to regret letting you talk me into this. I just know it."

Lunch on the other side of the TechCom Cafeteria…

Sarah strained to listen as the Old Man whispered into Cameron's ear. She nodded when he finished. Sarah watched the T-600 slip away unobtrusively.

"His stealth is much better," Sarah commented. "Now what did he say?"

"The girls have acquired the target," Cameron said matter-of-factually. "Bogie at 3 o'clock."

Sarah quickly located the blonde girl who was eating lunch by herself.

"Are you sure this is wise Tin Miss? John is still fuming mad with you."

"Ruth is your daughter, Sarah. I won't stop you if you feel the need to put a halt to this, but the competing females in TechCom are going to establish a pecking order for selecting mates. I would prefer Ruth and Hailey to be the alpha females and have first choice."

"You have a point Tin Miss."

"We'll only intervene if it looks like it is going to get out of hand."

"Can you hear," Sarah asked. "Turn up your auditory sensors."

"Shhhhh. Background noise makes it harder to hear. I'm not a brand new TOK-715 anymore."

TechCom Cafeteria – Target acquired…

Hailey dropped down in the sat next to the blonde and smiled. "Hi. I'm Hailey Connor."

Ruth sat down silently on the opposite side of the table and glared at the blonde.

"What's your name," Hailey said innocently.

"Rachel," the blonde replied, chewing her food slowly, looking first at Hailey and then Ruth.

"It's polite to wait for an invitation to sit when you don't know someone," the blonde said slowly, looking at Ruth. "And I don't know the two of you."

"Yeah, but we know of you Rachel," Hailey replied with her usual enthusiasm. "You have the hots for Brandon."

"That's none of your business," Rachel replied.

"Rachel." Ruth said coldly. "Hailey, it's an R name."

"Yes, it is," Hailey replied with great seriousness. "Rachel, see it's like this. Ruth here is my cousin and my bestie. And our family is very protective."

"That's nice. Go protect someone," Rachel replied, glaring first at Hailey and then Ruth.

"No need to be rude," Hailey snapped back, wiggling her head from side-to-side in condescension as she responded. "We just wanted to have a polite word and then leave you to your lunch."

"Well what is you wanted to tell me? Spit it out and leave me alone," Rachel replied in a sickly sweet voice, dripping in sarcasm as the words left her smiling mouth.

"You should consider finding a different boy to talk to," Ruth said quietly.

"What," Rachel laughed. "You are telling me to stay away from Brandon? Just who do you think you are Ruth Reese? Yeah, I know who you are. You think your parents scare me? I like Brandon and I intend to go to the dance with him."

"It's not a question of who I am," Ruth whispered ominously.

"Oh, could of fooled me," Rachel laughed. "You have two things going for you as far as I can tell and one of them is a drawback. First, your parents. They may be a big deal in TechCom, but that doesn't apply to you." Rachel looked down to scrape her food to one side of her plate before continuing. "Second, your chest. Mine is a lot bigger than yours and I'm taller."

"It's not a question of who I am," Ruth repeated. "It's what I am!" she said, curling her lips back, revealing her fangs.

Rachel looked up with a grin. It disappeared instantly to be replaced by a look of shock on the blonde's face.

Ruth closed her mouth and licked her lips before smiling, revealing her beautiful white teeth.

"What did you say?" Rachel stuttered.

"I said, it's not who I am you need to worry about. It's what I am."

Ruth smiled again, this time revealing her fighting fangs as she did so.

Rachel dropped her fork and slid her chair back. Her face had turned pale white and her eyes were like saucers. The blonde's mouth fell open in shock.

Ruth sighed, "Rachel, you might want to close your mouth. It's not very ladylike."

She flashed the blonde another big smile, once again displaying a perfect set of beautiful white teeth.

"There's something wrong with you," Rachel said as she stood up.

"No, there's not a single thing wrong with my cousin," Hailey said, standing up, looking Rachel directly in the eye.

"You're new here, so there's a lot of things you don't know. So we introduced ourselves."

"I know who the two of you are," Rachel said, watching Ruth as she backed away slowly.

"That may be so," Hailey whispered in the blonde's ear. "But then, you've probably never met a T-1000 before have you?"

Rachel's head spun to the right to look at Hailey. Then her head spun back to look at Ruth again who smiled, this time displaying her combat fangs as her black hair turned a beautiful blonde.

As the stunned blonde stood with her mouth open, again, Ruth restored herself to her template appearance.

"Brandon is mine," Ruth said nicely. "Are we clear?"

"Clear," Rachel replied as she grabbed her backpack and walked away quickly, looking back over her shoulder repeatedly.

"She's messy," Ruth said, gathering the plate and tray up.

Hailey smiled as she watched their new nemesis leave.

"Yeah, just because we stopped to introduce ourselves is no reason to leave a mess behind."

TechCom Cafeteria that night…

An agitated Old Man sat several seats away from Sarah with the family dog in his lap, scratching Sammy's head. Sarah and Cameron sat silently, observing the old Connor habit of sitting with their backs to the wall to see everyone and anything. Cameron was the first to notice a tired John and Derek enter and make their way towards the two women.

The two husbands sat down opposite their wives only to be promptly told to move. Cameron patted the seat next to her as did Sarah.

"I'm not moving," John told his wife.

"Neither am I," Derek added.

"Well, you are going to miss your daughter moving in for the kill," Sarah hissed. Derek moved quickly around the table to sit next to Sarah. John turned his head only to get poked by Cameron. "Move now," she whispered loudly.

"All right. What's the big deal?"

"Ruth is going to go sit with Brandon," Cameron explained. "Isn't this exciting!"

"Nerve wracking is more like it," Derek spit out through clinched teeth.

As the parents watched their daughters, it was obvious Ruth was reluctant to approach Brandon, requiring Hailey to encourage her cousin. Finally, Ruth checked her hair, stood up and adjusted her clothes before picking up her sketchbook and holding it across chest with her arms folded over the book. Slowly, Ruth began walking towards Brandon as he ate by himself in the far corner. She stopped repeatedly to look back at Hailey for encouragement. Hailey's body language was comical. She would first motion for Ruth to keep going and then tilt her head up towards the ceiling, indicating she was rolling her eyes.

Finally, Ruth covered the distance. Taking a final look back at her cousin for encouragement, Ruth sat down across from Brandon who looked up and smiled at her. Neither spoke as Brandon kept eating and Ruth opened her sketchbook and resumed drawing.

Derek and Sarah sat in silence, holding their hands, feeling mixed emotions the entire time. Hoping the young boy would ask Ruth to the dance and feeling anxiety over their baby growing up.

John watched patiently, knowing his mother and uncle were anxious.

"Ruth will be okay," he blurted out. "It's Hailey I'm worried about."

"What," Cameron said, her attention now totally focused on John.

"I had another young man come talk to me today," John sighed. "I'm really hungry. I'm going to go get something to eat."

"Sir, please, I cannot bear to watch," the Old Man exclaimed without warning. "Allow me to get you and the Colonel something to eat." The two father's glanced over at their daughter's T-600 protector only to see his back as he disappeared into the serving line with the family dog right behind.

Not to be denied, Cameron poked John. "Who is this boy? Do I know him? He better have presented himself better than that punk Trevor."

"Don't worry. It was the twin Hailey had a crush on for such a long time."

"You knew about that," Cameron asked in surprise.

"I know more than you think," John told his wife. "You and our daughter don't have as many secrets as you think you do."

"Ohhhhh," Cameron fussed. "That Old Man. He spies for you, doesn't he?"

"My lips are sealed," John said flatly. "But, keep in mind, our girls have a very large number of family friends who keep an eye on them as well."

Cameron pouted as the Old Man sat down a tray for both John and Derek. Tossing a tiny piece of food to Sammy who caught it in his mouth and swallowed without chewing, John pointed at the far entrance.

"Showtime. There's Thomas, at least I think it's Thomas."

Cameron scooted closer to John and wrapped her arm around his as she scanned the twin.

"It is Thomas," Cameron announced. "I sense a considerable increase in my anxiety level."

The twin approached Hailey unobserved as she watched Ruth and Brandon. Surprised when the twin spoke, Hailey jumped slightly. She recovered quickly and invited the boy to sit down. Always outgoing, Hailey was able to relax the young man. The tension in his shoulders seemed to lessen and he sat up straight. Within minutes Hailey had him laughing and talking to her.

"Just how much infiltration training did you give our daughter," John asked, suddenly concerned at how easily his daughter conversed with a male of the species.

"Enough," Cameron replied, watching intently.

"Yes, John," Sarah laughed, "You would have been proud of our girls today if you had seen them at lunch."

"What?" Derek asked, suddenly worried. "What have you too been teaching our daughters?"

"Essential leadership skills," Cameron replied, her gaze still locked on the twin and Hailey.

Concern crept into his mind. The idea of his mother and Cameron teaching the two girls "leadership skills" he and Derek knew nothing about was troubling.

"Explain," John ordered.

"Oh, John, get over it," Sarah ordered. "The girls had their first experience in establishing dominance as alpha females in TechCom."

"What?" the two confused fathers exclaimed in unison.

"It would seem there is a blonde with large, you know," Cameron said flatly, "who evidently had designs on Brandon."

John clapped his right hand to his face and shook his head.

"Old Man, where were you when this was taking place," Derek demanded.

"Well within easy striking distance. The girls were never in danger Colonel."

"Please tell me Ruth didn't hurt this girl," John begged.

"It was not necessary," Cameron replied.

"You two get over it," Sarah ordered. "Hailey set the play up and Ruth finished it off. That Rachel girl will stay well clear of them, at least for awhile."

"Rachel?" John moaned. The similarities to Riley were too close for the girls own good. Especially with Cameron offering advice and Sarah encouraging the girls.

"Oh, look," Sarah exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Our baby is going to walk home with Brandon."

Derek looked directly at the Old Man and nodded. The T-600 nodded in response and vanished.

"What did you do that for?" Sarah demanded.

"He can ask Ruth to the dance but here will be no kissing," Derek said firmly.

Sarah took one look at her husband's face and decided this was a battle definitely not worth fighting.

As Ruth and Brandon neared the exit, Ruth looked back over her shoulder and gave Hailey a huge smile. Hailey smiled back and gave Ruth a thumbs up and then motioned for her to hurry up and follow Brandon.

"I've lost my appetite," Derek announced. "Let's go home, Sarah."

Sarah stood up and hugged Cameron, "good luck with yours. See you at home."

Cameron nodded her acknowledgement, never taking her eyes of Hailey. Minutes after the Reese clan had left, Hailey acted surprised, smiling a huge smile while covering her mouth with her hand.

"He just asked Hailey to the dance," Cameron said.

"How do you know" John asked cynically.

"Her body language."

"You eavesdropped didn't you?"

"Of course," Cameron replied.

Reviews are always appreciated. If you liked this story, you might want to consider my other TSCC stories:

Cameron Grows Up

The Future Cameron

Cameron and the Black Bird

Cameron and John's Wedding

Who's the Boss?

The Storm Before the Calm