A/N: This takes place at the end of Today is the Day Part 2, where John breaks down crying after learning that Riley is dead.
Manganese: brittle metal- fragile- being sad/upset
-o0o-
Cameron watches John, seated next to his mother, as his eyes close and he bites his lip. It takes a minute or so for the tears to appear, for John fights them as long as he is in front of Cameron and Sarah, but in the end his sadness wins out. Hot tears appear in the corners of his eyes, quickly growing into heavy sobs as he lays his head in his mother's lap. She strokes his hair, comforting him in the only way she can as a dark sorrow appears across her face as well.
Cameron cocks her head to the side, studying the scene before her as John continues to cry. It's something she hasn't seen from John before. She'd seen humans cry like this before, both here and in the future, but it was quite different when it came from John. "Riley…"
Cameron scans the action through her database as she hears the quiet word slip from John's lips.
Mourning, the result tells her, performed to express grief or sorrow, especially in the event of a death.
Cameron nods to herself, piecing together Riley's death and John's grieving as she understands the link between the two. She then scans her database for further information about grieving, searching for the appropriate phrase to respond. It takes less than a second for it to appear.
"It's going to be okay."
Sarah looks up at Cameron's soft spoken remark, surprise filling her features as she realizes the machine has spoken. She continues to stroke her son's hair as his sobs continue, but she meets Cameron's gaze as she glances over at the girl.
Thank you she mouths, not wanting to disturb her son's much needed mourning.
Cameron nods in response, continuing to watch Sarah and John as the ritual continues. She marks this moment in her database under the topic of "Human Rituals", satisfied that she has correctly assimilated to the process of grieving.