Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sarah Connor sighed, and finally rolled out of bed. There was no way she would be able to fall asleep anytime soon with that…racket coming from John's room. Once again, Sarah crossed the hall to her son's bedroom door and knocked on it as loud as she could. "John! Cameron! I told you to cut that out five minutes ago! Are you listening to me?!" But the banging of John's headrest against his bedroom wall continued. Sarah figured that either her son and his new cyber squeeze couldn't hear her over the noise they were making (and with Cameron's hearing, Sarah found that unlikely) or they were ignoring her. After briefly considering breaking the lock on the door, and the strong possibility that Cameron would take her head off if she did, Sarah decided to head downstairs to get a cup of coffee and ask Derek for help dealing with this delicate problem, consoling herself with the knowledge that, at the very least, John would have hell to pay in the morning for his behavior with Cameron. 'At least he was a little more discrete with Riley…' Sarah pushed that thought away quickly. She knew, as much as she hated to admit it, that John's feelings for Riley had never been as strong as the ones he had for Cameron. John had never looked at the blond teen the way he looked at Cameron when he had thought no one was looking. Hell, she didn't even know (and she really didn't want to) if John had ever gone past just making out with his ex. Besides, for all her faults, Cameron was not a traitor to the Human Resistance, as Riley had unwittingly allowed herself to become. 'Score one for you, cyber girl, but you and John are still going to get it in the morning!' After warming herself some coffee in the kitchen and pouring it into a mug, Sarah carefully carried the brew into the living room, where Derek was sitting wide awake on the couch watching what looked like a reality show, wearing a scowl. Knowing that Derek would normally rather have his teeth pulled then watch that kind of program, Sarah guessed he must be trying to drown out the noise coming from upstairs. Speaking of which…BANG! BANG! The noise from John's room continued, but at least it was no longer accompanied by the sound of Cameron moaning, as it had been about 8 minutes ago. Sarah dearly hoped to never hear that sound again.
Finally noticing Sarah was in the room. Derek waved at her half heartedly. "Hey."
" 'Hey.' Is that all you can say?! Aren't you going to go up there and tell your nephew to cut this shit out!?"
Derek shook his head from side to side emphatically. "Do I look like I have a death wish?! The Met…I mean, Cameron, already doesn't like me. I believe she would kill me for less than trying to interrupt her right now! Besides, John's your son, why don't you tell him to stop?! It's not like anybody in this house listens to my input about anything anymore anyway!"
Sarah sighed and decided to respond to everything but the last sentence Derek had said. Derek's role in the Connor household was not something she was not prepared to argue about right now. "I tried. I don't think he's listening." Another banging sound, followed by the sounds of bedsprings squeaking, confirmed Sarah's conclusion. "What do you think I should do?"
Derek grimaced. The future soldier shrugged and sighed. "As much as I would love to stop those two from doing things I don't even want to contemplate, much less hear, I don't think there's much either of us can do. At least not tonight. And if David's presence is any indicator, getting them apart from each other in the long run will be next to impossible. Believe me, I can't stomach John being with the Met..." Derek stopped and corrected himself, remembering that David could probably still hear him from the garage. "Cameron any better than you can, but I don't think there is anything we could do short of marching in there with a gun and blasting the Terminator's head off! And we both know neither John, nor David, will allow that." John's uncle said all the last two sentences through gritted teeth. Derek was still obviously unhappy with John and Cameron's relationship, but he seemed to have resigned himself to the fact there was nothing he could do about it. Sarah nodded and sighed. She knew if Derek was saying that John and Cameron couldn't be pushed apart, it was probably true, but she also knew she would have to set some acceptable ground rules for the new couple living in this house. Their behavior tonight was more than just unacceptable, it was also rather unsettling. Also, they would both have to be homeschooled now, since Sarah doubted John and Cameron would be able to keep up the façade of being brother and sister for very long, and Cameron drew too much attention to the "Baum family" with her odd behavior at school as it was. Home schooling would be much safer…and it would allow Sarah and Derek to keep a closer eye on David's future parents. Sarah and Derek were so lost in their own thoughts for several minutes that they did not even notice the brief lull in the noise coming from upstairs. Derek made room for Sarah on the couch and patted the spot he had made available. "You can watch T.V. with me until it stops, if you want."
Turning back to the program on the T.V. and deciding she did not want to watch a show about people obsessed with useless junk right now, Sarah shook her head. "I'll pass. I think I'll go check on David. Has he left the garage yet?"
Derek shook his head. "No, but I think I have been hearing some noise coming from there. It started about the same time as…"Derek pointed toward John's room, which had just started to become noisy again 30 seconds ago. "that started. I think he's trying to keep busy and drown out the noise his own way." Sarah nodded. Now that Derek had mentioned it, she had heard some noise coming from the garage, but it had mostly been drowned out by the noises coming from upstairs, so the Connor matriarch had ignored it. Deciding to investigate what David was doing, Sarah said goodnight to Derek, then headed for the garage.
When she arrived at the garage, it was pitch dark, but Sarah could hear the sound of power tools coming from the corner of the room. Cursing cyborgs' superior eyesight, Sarah fumbled for the light switch, found it, turned it to the on position, and was greeted by the sight of David working on her house's central heating unit. Before she could ask what her grandson was doing, David spoke. "I'm increasing the efficiency of your heating unit by 12%. It should save you hundreds of …I believe you use dollars for currency in this time right?" Sarah nodded and David continued his thought. "Hundreds of dollars a year on electricity cost. I hope that's ok with you."
Sarah nodded. "Of course. However, I'd be willing to bet that you aren't just doing this project out of the goodness of your heart. You are either trying to take your mind off your past, or the sound coming from upstairs. It must be worse for you, having cyber hearing and all."
David chose to only respond to the second part of Sarah's comment as he continued working and shrugged." I can tune my hearing down when I want to. Besides, I'm used to this. Even so, it does help to keep myself occupied to keep my mind off what they're doing."
Sarah jaw nearly dropped to the floor in astonishment. "You mean they were like this when you were a child?!"
David laughed softly. "Not every night, just every now and then. But yes, my parents have been rather…animated when they were having…alone time together ever since I can remember, really, up until the day I moved out of the bunker after V-day. I'm sure if my father hadn't been the best hope for human kind, and they weren't all afraid of Cameron, his followers wouldn't have put up with it. As it was…" David chose not to finish that thought, not wanting to relate how his parents' sexual exploits had become the subject of much gossip in his bunker's mess hall, a fact which, had embarrassed the hybrid to no end, although he never allowed others to see that embarrassment. The hybrid chose to move this awkward conversation along and get it over with. "But it was worse when I had to live in the domicile next to my parents when I was little. I'm not sure that they ever knew how loud they were being, since no one in the bunker actually had the guts to bring it up. Still, I got some of my best mechanical ideas at 2 in the morning, so I guess it wasn't so bad."
Sarah groaned, pinched the top of her nose between her right hand's thumb and index finger, and shook her head with a mixture of shock and disappointment on her face. She would really need to talk to John and Cameron about being more considerate of others with their behavior now! "So you really are used to this then!?"
"Pretty much." David replied simply.
Sarah fidgeted with her cup of coffee. " Well, that was then, and this is now. And right now, John is a teenage boy living under my roof and my rules, but...Um, I can't get them to stop, and neither Derek nor I can sleep like this…so…do you think you would be able to convince them to stop…doing what they are doing, at least for tonight?"
David put down his tools, turned toward his grandmother, and gave her an "Are you an idiot?" look that so closely matched Cameron's that it sent chills down the Connor matriarch's spine. "Are you seriously asking me to go upstairs and tell my own father to stop having sex with my mother!? Because that would just be…."
"Disturbing." Sarah finished for the hybrid. "Right, sorry about that. My mind is starting to fall asleep, even if my body can't right now. That's what this is for." Sarah pointed to her coffee. "But, I guess you don't need anything like that, since you don't need to sleep."
David resumed working on the heating unit. "To be honest, it's more like I can't sleep, at least not since I was converted into a cyborg. It took me days to figure that out after I regained consciousness after the operations . But it's the strangest thing; even years later, I still miss being able to dream. I used to get some of my most creative ideas for various tools , weapons, or technical improvements that way. Now I don't have that anymore."
Sarah sipped from her cup thoughtfully. "I guess I never thought…I mean with all your physical improvements with the cybernetic implants, I never thought about what you might have lost in the process…besides your mother I mean."
"Yeah, don't worry about it; nobody else thought that I would become a permanent insomniac either. I guess that's the price you pay for being on the technological edge, or in my case, survival." David put a panel he had removed back onto the heating unit. "Your heater is fixed."
Sarah nodded, clearly impressed with her grandson's mechanical aptitude."That was fast!"
David shrugged. "I'm used to dealing with advanced Infiltrator unit and nuclear reactor repair. This is child's play by comparison." The cyborg turned to his grandmother. "Sarah, you should try to go upstairs and get some sleep. Enjoy it for both of us, huh?"
Sarah didn't bother to tell David that she had nightmares about the machines almost every night, and hardly ever enjoyed sleeping. The Connor matriarch also decided she could wait until morning to try to wring more details about David's mysterious mission out of her grandson "Ok. I think I'll try to do that. Goodnight David."
"Goodnight Sarah. Don't worry, John's young yet, his and Cameron's …activity will probably cease pretty soon. Just don't try to do anything foolish, like break down the door. I heard that, before I was born, when the General still interacted with subordinates on a regular basis, this low level officer entered the General's room without knocking when my parents were in the middle of….Anyway, Cameron overreacted, thinking he might be a Gray, and she broke his arm. My mother has plenty of positive qualities, but she is very territorial, and likes her privacy, especially when she is having…intimate time with John." Sarah's eyes widened when she remembered that she had, in fact, considered breaking down John's bedroom door. She was certainly glad she had not made the decision to do so! "I'll keep that in mind. See you in the morning. Breakfast is at eight. You still eat, right?"
"I can eat if I want to, yes."
Taking that a sign David would join the rest of the family for breakfast, Sarah nodded. "Alright then." Without any further conversation, Sarah exited the garage before passing Derek and the living room, and reluctantly made her way upstairs to her bedroom while trying to ignore the noises coming from the room across the hall. After her head hit her pillow, Sarah's last thought before drifting into unconsciousness several minutes later was: "John and the Metal are soooooooooo going to pay for this!"
This chapter (and the one following it) is the primary reason I gave this story an M rating. Like I said, I'm paranoid. I'm so sorry to make you wait so long for such a short chapter! I was extremely busy with school the past couple weeks , but the semester is finally over! I thought about merging this chapter with the next one, but that would have taken more time to edit, and I wanted to give you, my readers, something to sink your teeth into now. I will try to update more frequently during my Winter break. Thanks again to everyone who has followed Divergence so far, especially those who have given me feedback! Please, keep your comments coming so I know both what I did well, and what to improve upon!