** Many thanks to all you amazing TSCC, Camerah, & Weaver fans for reading and feedbacking :)
Happy birthday to Shirley Manson (August 26) the feistiest terminator we love to hate.
The last paragraph of chapter 9 repeated just to make Sarah's thoughts a little more cohesive. (hopefully) **
"I should go. Do not hesitate to call or text if you require assistance. Don't allow pride or anger to come between us. There are much larger and important things at stake."
Weaver always spoke in riddles and contradictions. She claimed not to want me angry but the challenge in her eyes and the jut of her chin said something different altogether. I felt the anger clawing to the surface of my brain. I sent it scrambling back into the dark with a vivid memory of Cameron's smile at the moment she first crested with my fingers hooked inside her. That image would stay with me until my dying day.
Ha. Take that, Weaver. I didn't need to be a tin miss or a liquid metal bitch to keep that sexy moment tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. I smiled at the vivid memory as Weaver reached for the door handle to leave.
The sound of something very heavy crashing made Weaver and I both freeze in place a moment. I saw my own shock and bewilderment mirrored back at me in her glacier like eyes. Realization dawned on us simultaneously. "Cameron," we both spoke the name as we quickly made our way to the bathroom.
Weaver twisted the knob and pushed the door inward. I rushed past her to find Cameron facedown in the tub. The shower water still cascading over her naked form. "Cameron?" my voice trembled.
"Step aside." Weaver ordered as she knelt in front of Cameron. She turned the water off and easily rolled Cameron onto her back. Cameron's eyes were closed. If not for her shallow breathing I would have thought her system was rebooting. Weaver touched Cameron's left eyelid and forced it open. Terminator red blazed back at us.
I stepped back, horrified. A scream caught in my constricting throat.
Someone was whispering, "no," over and over again. It took a minute before I realized it was me.
A piercing blue light emanated from Cameron's other eye when Weaver pried that one open too. Seeing the mismatched eyes and the lifeless features on Cameron's unmoving body propelled me into action for all of five seconds before Weaver's elongated arm shot out and I was pinned against the far wall. The palm of her left hand applying just enough pressure to my sternum so I couldn't move away.
"Please remain calm."
"How am I supposed to be calm when she's coming undone? It's been a hell of a lot longer than two minutes. She's not resetting. What the fuck is going on?"
Weaver managed to make a shrug look fluid and graceful. "Cameron is an enigma, Sarah. She's not quite human, not quite terminator either. I believe she is processing the upgrade I gave her this morning. I have never seen a terminator react in this manor."
"Upgrade?" I repeated. My hatred for her growing exponentially. "You lying terminator, bitch. Yesterday's grand talk of peace was all just a crock of shit."
Her features tightened. The tile beside my head cracked when her fist missed my head by mere millimeters. "I can only give so many warnings, Sarah. Do not test me further."
I closed my eyes and focused on breathing and keeping composed. If there was a chance to save Cameron I had to cooperate. I looked down at Weaver's palm still pressing against my chest. "You can let me go. I'm obviously not going anywhere."
She sighed as she pulled her hand back. "It is truly not necessary for you and I to fight. I assure you my intentions are only to save both our kinds. The humans and the machines. We can make peace."
I bit back a scoff and sort of disguised it with a cough. "I'm stuck with you, Weaver. I realize that. Just don't feed me anymore crap and expect me to trust you."
Pain lanced my heart when I looked at Cameron again. She remained slumped in the tub. Her clashing eyes flashing like a demented parody of Christmas lights. I knelt before her and brushed the wet hair from her face. "How can we help, her?" my voice cracked. Tears stung my eyes.
The phone rang before Weaver could reply. "Fuck," I grumbled. "It's probably Megan."
"Answer it. We cannot jeopardize the mission."
Cameron's body started to convulse. Her arm flailed and knocked me backward. I struggled to regain my balance at the same time I heard my own voice answering the phone. I tore my attention from Cameron's twitching frame and listened to Weaver pretend to be me.
"Yes, I'm so sorry we're late." a pause and "Very well, we'll see you soon. Thank you for your time." Weaver disconnected and cast her gaze at me. "They're on their way here. They decided to save you a trip to their room."
I barely registered her words. Cameron's body was still again. Her eyes were the only things moving. No longer flashing. The red eye was dull and staring straight ahead. The blue one rapidly tracking back and forth. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. I couldn't turn away.
"Sarah." Weaver whispered from just behind my shoulder. She was surprisingly gentle as she urged me to stand. "You must concentrate on the mission. Cameron will be fine."
"You don't know that." I argued. "How can you possibly know that? You said yourself you've never seen a terminator do this."
Weaver showed me her teeth. This time there was warmth in the smile. Her eyes brimmed with sincerity. Feigned or not, I couldn't be sure. "We must have faith, Sarah. Faith in ourselves. Faith in the mission. Faith in Cameron's ability to overcome the greatest of odds just as she's been doing since you first met her. To lose our faith is to lose everything."
"She's right." Cameron spoke in a slurred voice about three times slower than her normal speech pattern.
Weaver and I both jumped. A half smile quirked Cameron's lips when I faced her. She was trying to be reassuring but it looked like she might have been in pain. "I will survive, Sarah. Go with Weaver. Protect Kim and Megan. It is my belief they are both important to -" she froze again. Her stare blank but blessedly back to brown eyes.
"Okay," I breathed a sigh, knowing I didn't have much choice. "Do your shape shifter tricks and let's see your best Cameron. And please change your clothes. Cameron would never wear a Wilma Flintstone dress like that.
Her eyes narrowed and I thought for a second she might throw another punch at the tile or maybe my head. She didn't seem to like being called a bitch or digs at her monochromatic fashion choices. Less than a minute later she stood before me as Cameron. Tight chocolate colored shorts hugged her ass and thighs. A form fitting pink T-shirt with matching chocolate letters proclaimed, "Caution: Contents May Cause Global Warming."
What have I done? I wondered on my way to open the door for Megan & Kim. I thought maybe Weaver's shirt was going a little too far til I saw their shirts. Kim's said, "I kissed a girl..." and Megan's completed the thought, "And I liked it!"
** More to come.
Special thanks, kudos, twinkies, & Charley/Sarah hugs to Comicbooklovergreen & CheekeyMonkey