John woke up with a start. He was in his room, as usual, but he wasn't wearing any clothes, and someone was in the bed with him! The young man quickly turned to his side when he realized that person's arms were on his chest…then immediately relaxed. It was Cameron! As he looked into his new girlfriend's eyes, which had been watching the future leader ever since he had woken up, all the memories from the day before, and last night in particular, crystallized in John's foggy mind as his brain started to wake up. It seemed too good to be true, but he and Cameron were actually a couple right now, and it was better than John could ever have hoped for! John smiled at the cyber girl, who was obviously still nude under the covers of his bed, and Cameron quickly returned the sentiment with a grin of her own, then leaned toward John to add a kiss for good measure. 'And who am I to refuse an offer like that?' John thought to himself. The kiss was less intense than the ones the night before, only lasting for about five seconds, but it still expressed all of the love and devotion the two individuals felt for each other. "Good morning, John."
John was grinning so wide, it actually hurt a little. "Good morning, Cameron! That was the best wakeup call I've had since…ever, actually." Cameron's smile grew wider as she processed the info that, if John ever had slept with Riley, he still preferred waking up next to her, rather than the blond. "And last night…" John added awkwardly. "That was…amazing! I can honestly say I've never felt anything like that before."
Cameron couldn't help herself, and the question came out automatically. "Not even with Riley?" John's eyebrows furrowed. To be honest, he was selfishly glad the cyborg had been jealous of Riley's former place as the object of his affections, but he didn't want Cameron to feel insecure now that they were together. John knew he had a lot of work ahead of him if he wanted to make up for how he had treated Cameron until recently, and the strain that had put on his relationship with the cyber girl. The future leader thought this was a good a time as any to start fixing things between his new girlfriend and himself. "Cameron, listen to me. Riley and I were not that close. We never had sex. We didn't even get to that point when we were in Mexico together. I won't lie to you and say I didn't like her before I learned she was a traitor, but I didn't ever love her like I love you, and she and I are over now, so I don't want you to worry about her, ok?"
Cameron tilted her head to the side, and John noted she was wearing the biggest smile he had ever seen on the cyborg. "Thank you for explaining. I love you too, John!"
The future General took that as go-ahead to kiss his girlfriend again, but he stopped when he noticed Cameron's face take on her serious, robotic, expression. "We performed an unwise action last night, John."
John was confused, what was Cameron talking about now? "You mean sleeping together? I'm sure Derek and Sarah would want you to think that it's unnatural for you and me to be together, but I know that they are wrong, and I thought you did too! I mean, David's proof that…"
"That's not the problem, John. We were loud."
John's face fell. He hadn't really thought about it at the time, hell, he had barely been thinking at all when he and Cameron were being intimate with each other, but they had been making quite a bit of noise. "Yeah, I guess we kind of were. Do you think we woke Derek or my mom up?" Cameron seemed reluctant to reply after several seconds, so her boyfriend persisted. "Cameron, did we wake anyone else up?"
"If I tell you the truth, will you promise not to be angry with me?"
John thought that Cameron's response was odd, to say the least. 'Why would I be mad at her, we were both making noise?' "I promise."
The cyborg looked John directly in the eye. "I guess you couldn't hear over the vocalization we were creating during coitus, but Sarah knocked loudly on the door exactly 5 times last night to tell us to be quiet. " In fact, Cameron reflected that if Sarah had not done this, she would probably have not paid enough attention to hear everything else that was going on in the rest of the house while she and John were being intimate together. The cyborg continued speaking. "Furthermore, sounds downstairs indicated that Derek Reese was also awakened. It is also likely that David was aware of our activities."
John tried to control his temper, remembering that he had promised Cameron he would not get mad at her, although she had made that difficult. The teenager had never been so embarrassed in his entire life! Not only had he and Cameron woken up his mom and uncle; they had also made their own son aware of their nocturnal activities, and Cameron had been aware this was happening the entire time. "Cameron…" John fought hard to keep the edge out of his voice, and just barely succeeded. "Why didn't you tell me we were being too loud? Now I won't be able to look David or Derek in the eye for days, and my mom is going to kill me!"
"Sarah is your mother, John; I don't think she would ever terminate you."
John rolled his eyes. "I was just exaggerating, Cameron. Now, I'm trying not to be mad here, but you have to help me understand. Why didn't you tell me we needed to be quieter when we were making everyone else in the house upset?!"
Cameron hung her head to avoid eye contact with John. "I don't know. I just deduced that you were happy at the moment, and I didn't want to ruin that by interrupting our time together. Also, I…" Cameron seemed to be reluctant to admit the next part out loud, and John saw the cyborg look down, as if embarrassed. "I was somewhat overwhelmed by the new sensations I was experiencing at the time, and I found it difficult to verbalize words in a coherent fashion. By the time my CPU had adjusted to those new cognitions and…emotions, to borrow a human phrase, 'the damage had already been done.' Even so, I can see now that I made a social error. I'm sorry, John." John nodded in understanding. It finally occurred to him that it probably hadn't been wise for him and Cameron to rush into having a physical relationship so quickly, especially considering how emotionally inexperienced Cameron was. Sex, and the emotions that came with it, were complicated enough for humans. For Cameron, it had all almost been too much for her processors to handle at this early stage in her emotional development. John promised himself he would take his relationship with Cameron slower from now on and allow Cameron time to develop more emotionally before making love to her again. Even so, despite all the trouble the events of last night would certainly bring them today, John couldn't bring himself to regret making love to his girlfriend, as premature as he now realized that act had been. The future General did not voice any of these thoughts at this time, however, since he did not want to hurt Cameron's feeling by implying she was emotionally underdeveloped. A conversation with Cameron about slowing the pace of their relationship could wait until their more immediate problems could be dealt with. As if trying to lighten the mood a little, John's subconscious turned his mind to something amusing that Cameron had said earlier and he soon found himself laughing uncontrollably, despite the fact that John was aware this made him look like an insensitive jerk at this particular moment. Cameron was confused by John's laughter. "What's so funny, John?"
"You….Cameron, I'm sorry, that was just such a 'Cameron' thing to say, 'I made a social error.' That is an understatement if I've ever heard one!"
Cameron sat straight up, allowing the covers to fall to her side, but keeping her arms crossed over her chest to show her irritation at John. "I was trying to apologize, John, and I don't appreciate you laughing at my difficulties comprehending how I should behave in certain social situations."
The cyborg quickly got out the bed she had shared with John and began to get dressed. The future General quickly scrambled to his feet and began to do likewise. "Look, Cameron, I'm sorry, and I accept your apology. I wasn't trying to laugh at you. I just really enjoy the awkward way you express yourself sometimes. It's just one thing that makes you different from any other girl I've known, and I wouldn't have you any other way."
Cameron smiled and tilted her head after her and John finished getting dressed. "Thank you for explaining. I accept your apology as well."
John coughed, "So I guess we had better join the family for breakfast and face the music, huh?"
"What music?" The cyborg replied in confusion. Judging from the nonplussed look on John's face that she had misinterpreted another human saying, Cameron ignored the expression and shook her head. "The others finished eating half an hour ago, John. But you were tired and I didn't want to wake you. Your body needed rest. We'll have to make something for you to eat."
"Alright then," John sighed as he turned back towards his girlfriend. "Follow my lead when we get downstairs. I have a plan for how to deal with my mother. " John's words exhibited more confidence then the teen felt at the time, however. In reality, he was dreading the storm that he knew was about to come his way: Hurricane Sarah.
…
"Good morning, everyone." John said in a badly faked chipper voice that definitely did not suit him as he desperately tried to lighten the mood when he and Cameron entered the kitchen. Sarah, Derek and David were scrapping off, washing, and putting their dishes into the dishwasher. They had spent the last half hour lounging around the breakfast table and engaging in small talk until the Connor matriarch decided to stop waiting for John. Derek and Sarah glared back at John and Cameron, while David did his best to avoid eye contact with his parents.
"I think they are mad at us for the disturbance we caused last night, John." Cameron added helpfully.
John sighed. He would really have to tell Cameron later that she stated the obvious too much. "Thank you, Cameron." Looking back at his upset family members, John decided it was time to take evasive maneuvers. "So I see you all have already eaten…"
Sarah continued to glare at her son and his new cyber squeeze. She had had a chance to cool down a little over breakfast this morning, but she was still livid about last night's incident."We ate almost an hour ago, John. I knocked on your door, but I guess you don't respond to door knocks anymore, do you?"
John made a valiant effort to sidestep his mother's loaded question and escape her wraith. "So...Cameron and I will just be heading out for breakfast, then."
John grabbed his girlfriend's hand and tried to get her to the front door, but the couple didn't even get two feet before Sarah growled at them. "Sit. Both of you. NOW!"
The last part came out almost like a scream, and, like he had been trained to do since he was a child, John instinctively obeyed his mother's voice by sitting on a chair in the dining room. Cameron shot John an annoyed look, as if to say "That was the best plan you could come up with?", then calmly took a seat next to her boyfriend. Sarah showed David and Derek (both of whom were now smirking at the prospect of John's impending grilling, courtesy of his mother) out of the room and glared at her son. "First things first." Sarah quickly patted down John's body, avoiding the groin at all cost but trying to do a thorough enough job to make sure that the machine had not hurt her son during their extremely loud nocturnal activities together last night. The Connor matriarch vowed that if Cameron had hurt her boy, she would terminate the Tin Miss immediately, no matter what David or John thought about that. John found the whole experience deeply humiliating, but both he and Cameron understood what Sarah was doing, and neither one of them wanted to provoke Sarah further by interfering. Finally satisfied that her son was physically unharmed, Sarah stepped away from her son and glared intently at John's new love interest. "Good, John isn't injured, that means I don't have to kill you, Tin Miss." Cameron looked at Sarah without blinking, pretending to be unimpressed with Sarah's implied threat to her person. John sighed with relief, but that relief was short lived as his mom looked and him and continued speaking. "That also means I won't feel any remorse when I punish you both severely. Now, I assume you know why everyone in this family is upset with you two."
Cameron tried to interrupt in a monotone inflection . "The error was mine, Sarah. I was the one who heard you and didn't tell John you were pounding on the…"
"Excuse me, Cameron; I was speaking to my son. You'll get your turn soon enough, believe me." John gulped as his mother turned back toward him. "Now, setting aside you having sex under my roof to begin with, you must have known you two were being indecently loud, John, even if you couldn't hear me banging on the door. What were you thinking causing a racket like that where everyone in this house, including your own son, by the way, could hear you?!"
John looked down at his shoelaces intently. "I wasn't really thinking at the time at all."
Sarah huffed at her son. "That's exactly what I thought. And as for you, Tin Miss…" Sarah turned toward Cameron and John swore that he now saw a hint of fear in the cyborg's eyes, although her face remained expressionless . "Don't you EVER disobey one of my orders again, or keep us all up in the middle of the night like that, or so help me, I will burn you in thermite myself! Is that understood?"
"Yes."
"Good." Sarah started pacing around the room, and now it was John's turn to be scared. His mom only did that when she was REALLY pissed off. "But that's not even the real issue. David tells me you two are this inconsiderate in the future as well. All throughout his childhood, you two kept the entire Resistance bunker up till all hours of the night! David must be so traumatized; I'd be surprised if he's still sane! Damn it, John, I thought I taught you to be more considerate than that!"
John's entire face turned red at the implication that his future self was, at times, just as much of an inconsiderate jerk as he had been last night, and that future John and Cameron had even kept their own child awake at nights with their lovemaking. John could have sworn that Cameron's blank face was also slightly more crimson than usual as he replied to his mother in the most neutral tone and logical manner that he could manage. "Mom, I'm really sorry about subjecting all of you to that noise last night, and I'm sure Cameron is as well…" The cyborg nodded before John continued speaking. "And we will apologize to David and Derek later. But we are not responsible for future John and Cameron, and the rest of that stuff wasn't the us in this timeline."
Sarah huffed. "You're damn right that won't be you , John! As much as it freaks me out that you are in a relationship with a machine, I realize…" Sarah sighed, hesitated a few seconds, and then continued speaking. "That I may not be able to stop you two from being a couple, or whatever, if David's presence is an indicator of anything. But I will make sure that you learn to show more consideration for others while I still have time to teach you this stuff." Sarah Connor took a deep breath to calm herself, then continued speaking to the new couple in the "Baum" household. " I've had some time to think this morning, and I have made some ground rules for you two being in a relationship in this house. One, from now on, I don't want to see or hear you two kissing or "touching" each other in my, Derek's, or David's presence again. Two, I am homeschooling you starting next week. I want you to understand how that is going to work. Don't think this means you will get to spend every waking moment doing who knows what, I'm only making that change so I can keep a closer eye on both of you. I will be watching you both like a hawk from now on." John gulped. In a way, his mother watching him and Cameron constantly was worse than any other punishment she could have dealt, but John was sure there would be more where that came from. Sarah continued her rant. "Also, I don't trust you two to not blow our cover by accidentally revealing that you two are in a relationship right now. Now let me be clear, I still expect both of you to get your assignments done by the deadlines I assign for them. In the meantime, I also expect you to keep your heads down and remain unnoticed at school, and you two will still have to do all of your assignments for this week. Do you understand these two rules?"
"Yes." John and Cameron replied simultaneously, and even John thought it was a little weird.
John's mother continued after suppressing an involuntary shudder at the synchronized reply. "Three, you and Cameron keep to your own rooms from now on; I will not risk a repeat of last night's incident. Also…"
"No." Cameron stood up from her chair, and when John saw the defiance in Cameron's eyes, matched by the fury in his mother's, John's first thought was. 'Oh crap. Someone's going to get killed now, aren't they?!'
"What…did…you…say to me…Tin Miss!?" Sarah growled out between sharp intakes of breath that indicated that she was on the edge of losing control completely. John tried to speak to calm his mother down, but Cameron, knowing that his fear of his mother could hamper her plan to help both John and herself, held John in place on his chair and put a hand over his mouth. 'HERE it comes!' John thought helplessly as he waited for his mother to pull out a shotgun and try to blow out Cameron's chip.
Thankfully, that never happened. It turned out Cameron could be a pretty good negotiator, and she slowly began explaining the reason for her refusal to obey Sarah's directive. "John has nightmares." John nodded without thinking, that was the truth. He had nightmares about the machines coming to kill him every day since he had been eight years old. Except, oddly enough, he had not dreamt at all last night.
Sarah sighed, the wind clearly taken out of her sails by Cameron's words. Sarah's love for her son and hatred of the machines were what drove her in life, but the guilt she sometimes felt for being unable to provide John with a "normal childhood" also motivated some of her decisions. That guilt was the primary reason she had not forced John to stop dating Riley, even though she had known that relationship wouldn't lead to anything good. "I know." John knew his mother felt guilty every time he had a nightmare, as if she thought that not telling him about his destiny had ever been an option. Personally, John preferred to know what he would be up against, but the nightmares were still pretty terrible sometimes. John noticed his mother visibly calm down a little as she looked at Cameron with sadness in her eyes . "John has had nightmares every night for years. When he was little, he would wake up screaming, and I would have to hold him and sing to him until he fell back asleep. He doesn't scream anymore, but I still hear him wake up from his nightmares sometimes." At this point, Sarah almost looked like she wanted to cry, although the moment passed quickly, and Cameron looked at John with concern. The whole scene made John extremely uncomfortable; and he wanted to leave the room. Sarah snapped out her reverie, and some (but not all) of her previous anger returned as she turned to face the female cyborg once more. "What does any of that have to do with you refusing my order, Cameron!?"
Cameron shrugged. "I stayed in John's room with him last night, and he did not exhibit any symptoms of impaired or restless REM sleep."
Sarah slowly turned toward her son, whose mouth Cameron had just taken her hand off of. "Is that true, John? You didn't have any nightmares at all last night?" The Connor matriarch seemed incredulous that Cameron's mere presence could be that helpful to her son, but she knew (or at least, hoped) that John would not lie to her about this. The Connor matriarch knew her son well enough to know if he was lying anyway.
John smiled, realizing Cameron had made a connection between her presence and his own sleeping patterns he had failed to notice himself. "No, I actually slept really well, mom. For the first time in years, actually."
Sarah grumbled in disbelief and shook her head, but John already knew what his girlfriend was going to say, and that she had miraculously won this particular argument with his mother. Cameron resumed speaking "If I go back to sleeping in my assigned quarters, there is a high probability John's nightmares will return. A good night's sleep is important for a human's physical and psychological health, Sarah…" As his girlfriend spoke, John was trying to look as innocent as possible, attempting to tug on his mother's heartstrings so that she would see the logic in allowing Cameron to stay in the same room with him. It was manipulative and undignified, John knew this. But if it worked…
"Fine." Sarah nearly spat out as she looked at John. "Cameron can stand in the middle of your room during the night while you sleep, and I do mean SLEEP, John. If I catch you two doing anything else in that room, Cameron goes back to pretending to sleep in her own room. "In truth, although the idea of John sleeping in the same room the Metal was in every night made her stomach churn, she could see the logic in the Terminator's words. Besides, at least this way, Derek could sleep in Cameron's room at nights instead of on the couch, while Cameron stayed in the room with John instead of standing still in her room like usual. The Connor matriarch had always felt guilty that she had to make Kyle Reese's brother sleep on the coach due to the lack of adequate sleeping areas in the house, and now the man could sleep somewhere more comfortable. Despite his recent behavior with Jesse, Sarah figured Derek had earned that much after decades of service to future John. Sarah turned towards Cameron. "And only at night, understand? During the day, you stay out of each other's rooms unless your mission absolutely requires you to do otherwise."
"I understand, Sarah." Cameron immediately agreed. Personally, John was hoping his girlfriend would be willing to bend a couple of these rules with him…once John thought Cameron was emotionally ready to be with him. Until then, John would take things slow with his new girlfriend. Also, when that time came, John knew he and Cameron would have to be much more discrete than they had been last night. Sarah smiled at her son, and then added, while looking meaningfully at John and Cameron. "By the way, you are both grounded. Indefinitely. And that means whatever arbitrary limitations I will decide that means, for however long I deem necessary. " John groaned. He supposed he should have seen that coming, and he knew that the punishment could have been a lot worse, but he was still disappointed he wouldn't be able to take his new girlfriend on a formal date anytime soon. This just wasn't shaping up to be John's day.
Someone coughed only a few feet away from Cameron, John and Sarah. John turned around towards the sound of the noise, and was surprised to find that David had reentered the room holding his new cell phone in one hand, and he now looked slightly more cheerful. "Actually, Derek and I were thinking that we should all have a family outing today. You could all show me the mall while I go clothes shopping. You know, that kind of thing."
Sarah glared with a mixture of anger and disbelief. She couldn't believe that David would just disobey her orders and reenter the room like this. Not to mention the fact that he was trying to undermine her authority in the household by interrupting her conversation with John and Cameron. "I thought I told you to stay out of this room. Aren't you supposed to be a good little soldier!?"
David smirked. "You aren't my commander though. Future John is, or was, anyway. Besides, I've lived long enough to develop a healthy distrust of authority." John nodded slowly; he supposed something like Black Wednesday would be enough to make anyone lose faith in their government. Still, John Connor thought that his son must be either extremely brave, or very stupid to stand up to Sarah like this. Considering the seemingly trivial reason David had given for doing so, John was leaning towards stupid.
Sarah sighed angrily and ran her fingers through her short dark hair. She appeared more tired than angry. "I really don't need this right now, David. I can take you clothes shopping today, heaven knows you could use some better wardrobe options, but John and Cameron are still grounded. Besides, they still need to complete their school work for Monday."
Cameron smiled. "Actually, I completed my assignments last night while John was sleeping." John gaped in awe at this girlfriend's ability to have enough foresight to think about schoolwork after what the two of them had done last night, much less complete all of her work. John's girlfriend turned toward John. "I hope you don't mind, I know you usually like to do it yourself, but I completed your schoolwork as well, in your handwriting, so that we could spend the whole day together."
John could already see from the undecided look on his mom's face that her resolve was softening, although he couldn't imagine why his mother, the toughest person he knew, already seemed to be losing her will to argue. Shrugging at his unexpected good fortune, John quickly went in for the kill. "Come on, mom, It would be a lot more fun if you let Cameron and I go. It will be the first outing we've had as an entire family since David got here. What not hold off grounding us until tomorrow if we are going to be under lock and key for the foreseeable future anyway?"
John watched as his mom looked between him, Cameron, David, and Derek (who had just cautiously entered the kitchen himself while looking at David like he had just lost his mind), who were all waiting for Sarah's word on the subject. John knew that, as tough as she acted, his mom hated to wear the 'bad guy' role in the family, and would probably feel guilty if she remained firm in her decision not to allow him and Cameron to come. He hoped that would be enough of a motivator to make her change her mind, although he sort of doubted it. Finally, Sarah caved and spoke in a muffled voice. "Fine, be ready to leave in five minutes, everyone. And John, you and Cameron are still grounded starting tomorrow!" To tell the truth, Sarah didn't feel up to another major verbal confrontation this morning, not after the changes she had been going through for the past few weeks that had been scaring the hell out her. She hoped the other couldn't tell, but the Connor matriarch simply didn't have the energy to argue with her family right now. Besides, the Connor matriarch thought that giving into David on this one thing might make him more inclined to share more about his mysterious mission to bring down Skynet later.
John sighed in relief and surprise. He didn't actually think his mother would give in! He watched as Cameron, his mother, and Derek all left the room to make themselves presentable for the mall, while David watched his grandmother walk away with a knowing expression on his face, as if he had just realized something very important about Sarah Connor. For a moment, John swore that David actually looked sad, but the expression vanished from his son's face so quickly that John was sure he had imagined it. After John noticed that David was still standing in the room with him several seconds later, and looked like he had no plans to leave anytime soon, the future General observed that David was still holding his phone. "What are you doing with that thing?"
David, who was now wearing a smirk on his face, looked up at John. "Actually, I already did it. I just recorded the entire conversation where Sarah was chewing you and Cameron out for last night's…um, activities. The great John Connor being chastised by his mother."
John's face turned red for what felt like the hundredth time that morning as he tried to snatch the phone out of his son's hand, and failed miserably as David put the phone back into his jacket faster than John could see. "What are you going to do with it?"
David shrugged. "If we complete our mission and stop J-day? Absolutely nothing. But if we fail, I'm going to ask Derek to play this for all your Resistance fighters in the future every day for the rest of his life."
John's eyes widened in fear. "You wouldn't…"
David shrugged again. "Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. Just consider it an extra incentive not to screw this up for me. You always did operate well under pressure." John's son exited the room. The future General supposed he deserved what David had just done, considering what he had subjected his son to last night, and he wasn't sure the hybrid would actually go through with such a bizarre threat. Even so, that did not stop him from being mad at David for what he had done. For the second time that morning, John acknowledged to himself that this REALLY was not turning out to be his day!
Hello, readers! I'm glad I could get another chapter to you this weekend! I realize this chapter probably did not turn out like some of you were expecting, because both David and Sarah are acting a little OOC. I can assure all of you there are reasons for that. I wonder if any of you can guess what they are? I will be dropping more hints about why David is acting oddly in the next 2 chapters (yes, I said MORE hints, there have already been some in the last couple of chapters for you all to find!). As always, thank you all for your continued input and support of my story, it is very much appreciated! Happy Holidays!