That took a while. I am sorry about that. It's been crazy for me as usual.
I hope you all enjoy. A lot happens in this one and I had a tough time with this one.
Anyway, read on and stuff.
Enjoy
Chapter 25: In the Arms of a Cyborg
"This is the last piece of equipment." John muttered towards Cameron as he wiped his forehead of the next wave of perspiration that formed on his head. He walked out of the bunker and closed the door.
Cameron typed in several numbers into the newly installed keypad. It blinked a bright green and then locked. She turned around to look at John.
"Ready to go?" he said in between breaths. He wiped his head again with his black sleeve to stop the next round of sweat.
She nodded and they both a newly purchased black SUV, courtesy of Catherine Weaver. The shine from the new finish shined into John's eyes as he entered. The engine roared and they took off back home.
John sighed to himself. His mind was still anything but calm. With the admittance from his mother that she was sick and the aftermath of the terminator attack, specifically the fallout between him and Cameron was still constant sources of melancholy. She said she wasn't upset at him anymore and she accepted his apology, but the guilt still lingered within him. He wasn't able to take her stargazing like Stacy suggested and the ring wasn't ready yet.
"Are you okay? You haven't spoken in five and a half minutes." Cameron spoke up, still looking at the road.
John placed his face on his fist, which was leaning on the door.
"I'm fine." He whispered. His mind occupied on the objects they passed on their ride home.
She frowned at his obvious lie, but kept her eyes on the road.
He observed everything. The trees, the buildings, the people, they crossed the street dodging cars, sat in front of buildings conversing or waiting for the bus stop. They argued with each other in the street. John eyes focused as a mother dragged her spoiled child from the toy store, crying that her mother wouldn't buy her something.
"It won't be here anymore." He whispered.
The whisper would have anyone else ask for John to repeat it, but Cameron heard it.
"Yes, it won't be here anymore." She answered him.
John sighed at her relative stoic response. He looked at her this time, taking his eyes off the surroundings.
"Why? Why does everything have to go?"
"You know the answer to that, John. I don't need to tell you it." Cameron told him, a little confused at his small outbursts.
"Skynet. Yeah, I know." He answered, a vicious tone escaping his mouth.
Cameron looked at him, her eyebrows scrunched. She was starting to get annoyed. "What is wrong with you?" she asked, the human emotion exiting her mouth now.
John was taken back by Cameron's tone; he stopped for a minute, and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I'm being this way, it's just with my mother-" He was cut off.
"You're worried about your mother, I understand John." She finished his thought.
John's mouth was still open, the words still on his tongue. "Yeah, I am." He looked down towards his feet.
"She won't be around forever, John. In the future I came from, she died before the war." Cameron told him, a hurtful truth, but she couldn't sugarcoat the situation.
John shot her a look. "She died before the war?"
"Yes. She did." She answered eyes on the road, hands planted firmly on the jet black steering wheel.
"From cancer?" he asked her, his mouth open and eyes directed towards her. He waited for her answer.
"From cancer." She repeated John's words, confirming his hidden answer.
It made sense though; Cameron must've told his mother that she died from cancer soon after their arrival in 2007. She acted strange after her fate was undisclosed by his cyborg lover. She entered staring contests with the walls and furniture, deep in thought, she would take an endless amount of vitamins. She would disappear at times, probably going to the doctor despite the risk, even with flawless ID's.
The truck pulled up to the Weaver residence, Cameron exited followed by John. The doors' slams filling the silent air around them. John looked up at the blue sky and closed his eyes taking a deep breath. Cameron stopped and turned around, eyes on him.
John's eyes slowly opened to reveal Cameron staring right back at him. Her back was towards him, her head turned right at him.
"Does she die in this timeline?" John asked with a look of desperation on his face.
"I don't know." She answered.
"Is she a bomb waiting to go off?"
"I don't know." She answered again. Cameron remembered being asked that same question by Sarah herself.
How could she know the answers to his questions? He knew she wouldn't. He was being irrational on the whole situation. But wasn't it justified? How long until his mother perished? Another person gone in his life, another to add to the litany he had watched passed. Death held a heavy toll on a human conscience.
His head shifted quickly towards the ground, he stood their stiff as a board. Cameron walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
He shook at the physical contact.
Cameron tilted her head. She remembered when John broke down after Riley's death, she didn't comfort him there. Even with the longing look in his eyes. It confused her; she didn't know what to do.
Now she regretted not letting him cry on her lap at that time, but not this time. She wouldn't miss the opportunity and he needed it. Her free arm wrapped around John and met with the other, bringing John closer to her body. John's arms responded quickly and their bodies connected.
John buried his head into her neck and he felt his eyes moisten up. The fabric of Cameron's shirt absorbed his tears, the color darkened by the liquid. Cameron placed a hand on the back of his head and stroked his hair gently.
"Some leader I am." He whispered into her neck.
"Everyone grieves, in the future, everyone loses someone. That is what makes you human." She answered him.
He removed his head from her shoulder, trails of tears defined on his face. His eyes were lit up with a tint of red, irritated from the tears.
"Crying doesn't mean weakness, it shows you care." Cameron told him, she wiped a tear from his eye.
John was surprised by the human answer. "Where did you learn that?" he asked her.
"From you, you've shed tears in the future. No one looks down on you for it; they feel relieved that even the great John Connor can be so human, that he can show a moment of weakness in front of many, that is true strength." She was looking right at him now.
"I don't know about the 'great' John Connor." He tried to correct.
"You are in the eyes of the Resistance, John. You are to me." She said with a small smile.
John placed a kiss on her lips. "Thank you." He whispered to her with a smile in return to hers.
She gave him a kiss in return. "You're welcome." She took his hand and headed towards the house.
----
John slowly opened the door of his mother's room. He frowned to see her lying in bed. He wished she was unloading and loading guns, a sign of her being back to normal. His mother always pushed herself; to see her voluntarily stay in bed wasn't good. His face disappeared between the space of the frame and the door. The lock clicked in place and turned around to see Stacy right next to him.
"Don't do that!" he screamed silently, not to wake his mother.
"I'm sorry, John." She apologized. "You left your cell phone on the table and it rang, it was the jewelry guy! The ring is ready!" she said with excitement.
John smiled, it was the second smile he had today, the first being from Cameron's comfort.
"It's ready?" Good. He thought, it was something to help get his mind off his mother and the perfect way to completely apologize to Cameron, even if she already had forgiven him. He needed to show her he was sorry.
"Well let's go." He said with a smile.
----
The bell over the door rang as John and Stacy entered the store, he was greeted by the owner.
"Hello, John right? You got here fast! You must be really excited to give this ring to your lucky lady!" he said with a chuckle in his voice.
John blushed a little at that statement.
"You know he is!" Stacy answered nudging him with her elbow.
The owner smiled. "I'll get it for you, wait a minute." He headed towards the back.
John turned around and looked at Stacy; he hopped up and down, shaking his arms. She smiled at him.
"You nervous already? You haven't even given her the ring yet!" she laughed.
"I know." He answered. "It's the thought of giving her the ring. What will she say? What is she going to do?" he asked her.
He was right, he was nervous when he and Cameron got closer, the first time they made love, but this was something totally different. He was giving her a ring, a hollow circle that meant commitment. What if she said no? What were the chances of her saying no? He didn't think too high, but nevertheless the thought wandered in the back of his mind.
"You can start by telling her you love her, that's an excellent place to start." She said with a laugh. "Don't worry, you're John Connor."
"John Connor saves the world, giving a ring to the woman he loves doesn't really fall under that list." He whispered.
"Here's the ring, sir. I hope it is to your liking." He placed the open box on the glass counter. John slowly picked up the dark purple velvet box and stared at the ring. His mouth opened slightly.
The gold shined in the light, and the diamond reflected into his eyes, like a prism, a rainbow emanated from it and filled the store. It was beautiful and he knew would look perfect on Cameron.
"This is perfect." He muttered to himself.
"Do you think she'll like it?" the owner asked John.
He looked at him with a smile on his face. "She'll love it."
----
John walked into the house with Stacy following behind him, the door shout followed by Stacy's voice.
"It's supposed to be a clear night tonight, maybe you can look at the stars with Cameron and… you know…" she said with a small laugh.
He smiled at her.
"You know what?" Sarah asked.
John's smile disappeared; he felt like a child getting caught sneaking back into the house past his curfew; thank goodness the ring was in his jacket pocket. He stared at his mother, clad in a robe and an empty glass in her hand.
"I was going to ask Cameron to star gaze tonight." He whispered.
His mother look at him skeptically, she still looked ill, but her eyes still were fierce and intimidating.
"Can I see it?" she asked him, he knew what she meant, but he played dumb.
"See what?"
"The ring." She answered with annoyance in her tone.
"Yeah." He mumbled quickly as his hands darted for the box in his jacket pocket. He took out it and nervously handed it to his mom. The acceptance from his mother kept him on his toes.
She opened the box slowly and stared at the gold band and the diamond on the top, the same diamond John gave her all that time ago.
Most importantly, it didn't look like the ring from her dream.
Perhaps a little irrational on her part, considering dreams have caused criticism from others around her, the three dots that haunted her even made her son question her. But, she knew what she saw in this dream wasn't Cameron's ring. She handed it back to John and gave him a small smile.
"When are you going to give her the ring?" she asked softly, still a little weak to be talking, or walking for that matter.
"I was hoping tonight." He answered her, relieved at his mother acceptance.
"Clear skies, John." Stacy added.
Sarah nodded and gave John a kiss on the forehead and ruffled his hair before heading towards the kitchen. John watched as his mother walked away, normally some defiance for such affection towards Cameron would be known, but he knew why that was simply a thing of the past.
How much longer was his mother going to be around?
Cameron said in her timeline she died before the war, could this be true in his timeline? Was his mother's fate sealed since the day she was born?
If this was so, she knew that John needed Cameron and she had accepted it, mainly to protect her own son, but she was willing to give John protection in another way. Letting someone she knew was more than capable. She would let Cameron, the most devoted protector of her son, next to her of course.
Another shirt found itself folded as Cameron continued the menial task of laundry. She picked up another shirt, it was John's. Sarah usually frowned upon Cameron or anybody else doing her son's laundry. Mother's way of saying her son was lazy, but Cameron didn't mind doing John's laundry. Cameron heard footsteps make their way to the open door.
"Hello, John. I am almost done folding your laundry." She said lifting up another shirt of his.
"Mom told you not to do that." He responded walking up to here.
"Yeah, but you left a pile of clothes in the corner and I felt the need to take care of them." She said; another perfect folding job for Cameron.
John looked down at the bed and observed the clothes on their bed. They were only his.
"You didn't your laundry?" he asked her.
"No, just yours." She answered.
He smiled at her.
"John?" she shook him from his reverie.
"Yes?" he shook his head.
"Did you need something?" she asked him.
This was it. John swallowed his saliva and took a deep breath to himself, asking for the date wasn't the nerve wrecking part, he'd done it before.
"I was wondering…" he paused for a second. He coughed and cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you like to do something with me tonight?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "Of course, John." She blushed at John's nervousness. It was cute to her. She waited for his next words. Cameron leaned towards him. "What did you have in mind?" she asked him slowly. She took another step further.
John swallowed again. "The skies are supposed to be clear tonight, so I was thinking we could find someplace nice and look at the stars. What do you say?" he asked her, leaning in for her next words.
She stared at him. A smile slowly appeared on her face, just like the one she gave him the first time she muttered "Thank you for explaining". "That sounds great, John. But what's the occasion?" she asked John.
John froze. He wasn't expecting that from her, he figured that she would say yes with no questions asked. "Uh… I wanted to make it up to you for what happened back at the bunker with the terminator."
"John, I already told you I forgave you for that. Don't worry about it anymore." She told John, for who knows for what time.
"I know you did, but I don't feel like that's enough, Cameron. I need to show you that I deserve forgiveness. I want to you show you how much I care about you. How about that? Will you go with me tonight?" he explained. His face showed his anticipation.
She looked down and then her eyes met with John's. Cameron lips formed into a big smile, her teeth complimenting the color of her lips.
"Of course I will, John. I can't wait." She said with an even bigger smile. Her lips met with John's cheek.
----
John held Cameron's hand as they walked through the park. John's eyes wondered towards Cameron. She always had quite the sense of fashion, Cameron always observed the people around her, but the amount she gained from her observations was astounding, but he figured it was normal for a terminator.
His eyes went up and down; he could never keep his eyes off of her and this time proved that theory right once again. Her hair was slightly curled and fell perfectly onto her bare shoulders; she had a simple black spaghetti strap tank top on. Her delicate shape was clearly defined with her pair of denim jeans.
He wondered how girls made their way into tight jeans.
She had make up on, but nothing too over the top, not like that eye shadow that she wore on her first day of school. The one she thought was a "tight" color. John thought it wasn't her, it was too obstructive. The color on her now was her, it was perfect.
"John, I like your shirt." She told him. John winced at the sound of his name; she knew he was staring at her. He knew it didn't bother her, but it was embarrassing nevertheless.
John wore something out of the ordinary for him; he couldn't remember being anywhere closed to "dressed up" since he wore that tuxedo several months ago. His white button down shirt fell over his nicest pair of jeans. When did John Connor ever wear white? He wanted to look good for Cameron, for his Cameron.
"You look great, Cameron." He said with a smile on his face. He swung her hand with his.
"Thank you, John." She smiled back at him. "I like your shirt, when did you get it? I don't remember you having that shirt."
"I got it specifically for tonight." He said with a proud smirk on his face.
Cameron bumped up against him and rubbed him softly. "I like it." She whispered to him.
He separated from Cameron, must to her dismay and opened the black bag he brought with him. He opened it up and looked inside.
"Blanket." He whispered.
He moved his always present pistol and took the blanket into his hands; he looked up at Cameron who gave him a smile waiting for his next move. John showed it to Cameron before placing it carefully on the damp grass. Cameron made her way to the blanket and slowly took a seat on the fabric.
John followed suite and sat next to Cameron, rubbing up against her. She smiled at him and watched as he lied down on his back, he patted the spot next to him, telling her to do the same. She nodded and fell down next to John, her hair touching the blanket and John before she did. He closed his eyes and smelled the hair, the scent made him feel at peace. It helped suppressed the anxious feeling in him, which he needed all the suppression he could get.
"It's August 27th 2009, John." Cameron whispered.
"I know that, Cameron. Why are you telling me that?" he asked quizzically confused by her first statement since lying down.
"I can tell the date by looking at the stars." She smiled.
"You can do that?" His voice went higher at the end of that question, almost too much.
She nodded. "Yes." Her head redirected back towards the sky. "In the future, we use the stars as a source of guiding us. Well, the humans do. I always know where I am. The Resistance used stars in the beginning of the war before someone actually mapped out the surroundings. The maps mainly contained landmark locations as guide points." She smiled.
John closed his eyes, the images of downed skyscrapers and rubble filled his mind. How could one navigate through a post-apocalyptic world? Would you know exactly where you were before and after the end of the world? These thoughts filled his head. What a different world they would live in soon.
"Using the stars, just like explorers." John added.
"Yes, just like explorers." Cameron looked back up at the sky.
The sky was clear, not one cloud blocked the tiny stars far away in the sky. The two just stared at the stars.
"Well, what I see when I look at the stars are constellations." John pointed towards the sky. "Look at Orion." His face touched Cameron's.
"Over there is Aquaris, and right there is Perseus." She added to John's constellations.
"Perseus?" John asked.
"Perseus is a figure in Greek mythology. He is the one who killed Medusa and claimed Andromeda, who was chained to a rock to be sacrificed to a sea monster." She explained.
"Sounds like quite the guy." John laughed. "Where did you learn all of that?" he asked her.
"History channel. I've been watching some television over the past couple of weeks." Cameron answered.
He smiled at her. "You've been watching television?" A small laugh came from him afterwards.
"Well, I didn't have anyone to be with after our fight, so I watched television." She muttered the last part, not wanting to bring up a sour subject.
John looked down. "Cameron." His eyes met with hers. "I know you said you have forgiven me, I still feel pretty bad about it." He figured now would be a good time, he swallowed real hard and sat up, Cameron followed him and sat up as well.
"I care for you, Cameron. I need you. You've saved my life many times and I'm devoted to you, just as you are to me." He said. He went into his pocket and pulled the small purple box. Cameron's head looked down towards the box and her eyes grew wide.
"John."
"Cameron, I love you." He opened the box and revealed the ring.
Cameron realized where the diamond came from. "Is that mine diamond?"
"Yes, it is the one I gave you. I didn't know you kept it, but when I found it, I thought this would be perfect." John said with a nervous smile.
"It is perfect." She said her face was lit up.
"Stacy said were married in the future, so here I am, telling you I want to stay devoted to you and I need to know if you will stay devoted to me? Will you marry me?" John asked leaning towards her, anxious for her answer. He didn't have to wait too long.
"Yes! Of course!" Cameron said with piercing cheer. Her smile lit up the darkness they were in.
John slid the ring onto her ring finger. He placed a kiss on her lips.
"I love you, John." Cameron whispered with excitement.
"And I love you, Cameron." John answered giving her another kiss.
Her eyes fell upon the ring.
"It fits perfectly. You know my ring size?" she asked him.
"Uh… Stacy knew it. She said you show her the ring a lot in the future, it gives her hope she said." John admitted.
Cameron took her eyes off the ring and looked straight at John.
"Did she?" she asked.
"Yeah, she did." He said, his smile disappearing, realizing the whole story of the ring and Stacy.
Cameron looked at him with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He forced a smile, trying to push Stacy's memories in the back of his head. This was supposed to be a happy occasion. Not that he didn't care, it wasn't the time. The same went for this mother, his memory kept her their always, but it wasn't the time right now. He had Cameron with him and this was supposed to take his mind away from the strife of being John Connor.
"C'mon!" He stood up; Cameron's eyes followed his movement. "Let's celebrate. I'm hungry. Want to go eat?"
She smiled and nodded. "Let's go."
----
The light from nothing to abundance as Cameron and John entered a diner, the restaurant was packed and the voices of couples and families traveled through their ears. The hostess came up to the two with a smile on her face.
"Good evening! Welcome! Table for two?" she asked them.
The two nodded with a smile and followed the hostess to their table. They sat down as their menus were placed in front of them.
"Thank you." John told her. "What are you going to get, Cameron?" he asked her.
Cameron's eyes scanned the menu. "Well, I don't require anything; I would like to share something with you. Is that alright?"
He smiled at her answer. "Sure, I'm not too hungry. We can share an appetizer. How would you like that?"
She looked up from the menu. "Actually, how about we share a dessert instead?" She showed her menu to John and pointed at the dessert that caught her eye.
"That's a huge ice cream sundae, Cameron." He commented staring at the picture.
"That's what I want." She told him.
He smiled. "That's what you want? Okay, sounds good." He told her. A smile appeared on her face.
"That sundae looks pretty good." A voice came from behind them.
Cameron looked up as John's head redirected towards the voice behind him. The man wore a hat with long hair draping down to his shoulders. He put another spoonful of pudding into his mouth, he wiped his mouth with his napkin, John and Cameron's eyes were still on him.
"Who the hell are you?" John asked quietly, not to gain any attention.
The man cleared his throat and looked straight at John.
"My name is George McCarthy."