AN – Cameron is not canon in this micro, my dialogue sucks. Also, there is a non-ending, if Stephen King can do it, then so can I, lol.

Skin Deep

Taking time to ensure a thorough cleansing action, John is more than aware of the stimulation that his hands are achieving. Shielding her body from the downpour he moves his attention from her shoulders to her upper back. Knowing what is below the flawless dermal covering, John still has trouble comprehending his unquestioning love. He is, or will be, the saviour of humanity, but he would kill them all, without regret, to defend his lover. His lover, who was built to be the instrument of genocide, but through her own volition chose to defy her orders, chose to defy her programming.

A turn of her head at his now stationary hands and preoccupied state, brings him back to the here and now. A slight smile plays on his lips as he remembers far more innocent times, when a similar motion would have roused unspoken hopes and desires. Desires that have now been met in full. His eyes involuntarily sweep down, past the two hollows in her back to her perfectly formed, athletic ass. She giggles quietly as his hands reach their target. That response is yet another expression of her love for him. He knows full well that she isn't ticklish, he knows that she is deliberately stimulating him without even touching him......yet.

Moving in close, his hands travel around her hips. Gripping them, he leans forward to whisper above the sound of the heated water emanating from the shower head. "That was effective...". They both see the humour of John using one of 'early' Cameron's expressions. Her face beams as she recalls how Aspergic she appeared to others, and how much she has grown since then.

A fresh application of shower gel sees John's hands climbing her well toned stomach and coming to rest just below her breasts. Cameron's arms reach backward and around John so that her hands can grasp his buttocks. He needs no further encouragement. Gently encompassing and manipulating the sublimely perfect mounds he feel her nipples respond and become firm and extended. Exhaling raggedly, Cameron emits a low moan of pleasure.

John wants these moments to last forever, but he knows they can't. He knows that Judgement Day isn't far off.

Furrows appear on his brow. 'Was that a lump?' His left hand returns to the side of her breast where it finds the source of his apprehension. 'No, this can't be cancer, surely? Can terminators even get cancer? It's probably just damage from a fight, I'll mention it later.'

-----

Twenty days, and the scar on the side of her left breast has yet to heal. John is more than concerned.

"This should have healed by now. Shouldn't it?"

"Yes. This was.....unexpected."

"I know you said that I shouldn't worry about the thing you cut out, but I think we're a bit beyond that now. Don't you?"

"Yes"

Immediately John knew something serious was wrong. She had agreed with him far too readily.

"Now, Cameron, I know you think that you're doing the right thing when you keep certain truths from me. And I understand why. Really, I do. But this is not one of the things that I will be happy to be ignorant about. So I need to know"

"It was a cyst." she eventually revealed.

"A cyst? Like what Mom had?"

"Yes, but it was not formed around a foreign object".

"So what 'was' it formed around?"

Cameron looked at the floor and remained quiet.

"Cameron? You can tell me anything, you know that. It doesn't make any difference to me what it was, but it seems to have compromised your healing process.

We need to resolve this so that you can heal again".

"What if it is more than that?"

He says nothing, but looks quizzically at her.

"What if I am losing my skin?"

"What?"

"I don't want to lose my skin. You used to say that it didn't matter whether or not I had skin. You would love me the same, regardless." A single teardrop betrayed her calm voice. How could she tell him that she believes his love will falter without the physical intimacy that has now developed.

"Oh Cameron, of course I will love you as much without skin, as with". He slowly and carefully wiped away the tear. "You are my true love, my soul mate, my confidante, my every and only reason to get up and take the fight forward. Why do you doubt me?"

She knows her doubts would kill him a little, inside. She will not do that to him, she says nothing.

'Why did this issue jump straight to *no skin*?'. It was clear to John that Cameron believed she was going to lose her skin, and the thought of it being a real possibility started to grow in his mind.

"Cameron, what was inside the cyst?" He hoped his direct question and the manner in which it was put had conveyed the sincerity in his heart.

This was torture of the worst kind. What could be so bad that she couldn't tell him? What had happened to her? Was it her fault? Was it his? Was she truly losing her skin? For the love of sanity, why wouldn't she just tell him? He can't stand it any longer, grabbing Cameron by the shoulders he wills her to look him in the face. The five seconds it takes her to raise her melancholic gaze seems to last for ever. She cannot deny him the truth any longer. The pain and confusion in his eyes threaten the very foundations of her existence. He does at least deserve to know why she would, in all probability, end up having to leave him.

"The cyst was protecting me from...coagulative necrosis"

"What?"

"Localised blood starvation has caused the death of cells in my biological covering. If left untreated in humans, it becomes gangrenous. My body produced a cyst around it, similar to a computer virus being quarantined. Normally, this wouldn't happen to terminators. Our bodies are made to self repair, but there are limits to this. We are designed so that our dermal covering will last far longer than human tissue, although it is not an exact science. I believe that the explosion set by Sarkissian is partly responsible for the shortened life of my...body. It took a lot of damage that day. The explosion, electrocution, being crushed between two trucks."

John is stunned by this revelation, and can only manage to slowly shake his head in a vain attempt to change the cruel fate that had beset his one and only reason to carry on. 'This could be my fault'.

"The cause of the necrosis is the reason this scar isn't healing, a compromised blood supply. Having no bone marrow, I cannot produce much new blood. There are finite resources built in to my combat chassis, they are now exhausted."

John steps forward and envelopes her in his arms, she yields. John smiles at the juxtaposition, the protectee seemingly guarding the protector. Fate has found a chi nk in her armour, one that will allow him to finally repay her for all that she has done for him. He pulls back enough to allow him to kiss the top of her head, "We will beat this, we will find a way...together...I promise". She raises her arm so that she can carress his face, a symbol of gratitude.

/non-end sry