v. everything makes sense
Kate began eating what was left of the fruit cocktail as Connor gathered his thoughts. How could he properly describe all that his mother had done, all that she had been through?
"For the first years of my life, Mom and I lived down in Mexico..All of the stuff she taught me she first had to learn herself, while I was still too young to comprehend. She took it all very seriously, this role she had been given, and the role her son had been given. And I believed it all, and was dead serious right along with her. I mean, what was I supposed to think? I had never known any different."
Kate had been chewing the fruit cocktail very pensively as she listened to John speak, trying to picture him as a five-year-old boy learning to handle an automatic weapon.
"How did your mother know all this? Who told her what you would be?"
Connor gnawed on his thumbnail. "Well.my father told her."
Kate was no less confused. "How did -he- know, then? And what happened to him?"
"Um.that's another story."
Kate shrugged and motioned for him to continue with his tale.
"Anyway, then she was caught breaking into this computer place, and she got put away in an institution. Suddenly I'm thrown into the 'real world,' and it seems that everything she had ever told me had been fantasies and lies. I was angry beyond reason, and confused, and more than a little scared. To go from future world leader to future junior college student? I didn't know what to think, or who to believe, or."
Now Kate tried to picture him as a thirteen-year-old boy, the boy she had known. She vaguely remembered him being pissed off all the time.
"Then one day -he- showed up. And he was everything Mom had described, the nightmare she had lived with for years, except this time he was here to save us. And he did, and for those few days it was like I had a father, and in its own perverted way it was comforting. We destroyed the company that had been working on the Skynet technology, and we thought we had prevented the war." He looked up at the ceiling. "Guess not. And ever since then we had lived much the way we had the first time, albeit a little more optimistically."
Kate put the can of fruit down. "Okay, you will have to explain all of that in -much more depth- later, because I have at best a tenuous grasp on everything you said."
"Imagine having lived it."
"But getting back to your mother.how did she stay sane through all of that? Was your father around to help?"
Connor took a deep breath. "Well, you see, I haven't met my father yet." Seeing that Kate had no response to that, he continued. "Some years from now, I will send him back to protect my mother from a Terminator.like the one you met, but bad, sent to kill my mom to keep me from being born. And well.he and my mom will hit it off.or did hit it off, whatever.and I'm the result. But he was killed that same night, and my mother managed to get away.
"As far as I can tell she loved him a lot. I never saw her get emotionally attached to anyone, not like that at least. She never liked to talk about him; when I would ask she would just tell me that he was a great man whom I would get to meet later." He smiled sheepishly. "Like I said, who was I to disbelieve her? That was my world."
All this talk of the past and his mother had made him kind of uncomfortable and more than a little sad. "I can tell you more later, but why don't you tell me about your parents?"
Kate shook her head. "There's nothing to tell. My mother was a legal assistant who left my father when I was ten. I've barely seen her since then..She's certainly nothing like your mother," she added with a touch of quiet awe.
Connor wondered why she was so interested in his mother, but didn't know how to ask. Kate must have sensed his confusion and stood up, wringing her hands.
"These past few days I've thought a lot about.us, and this situation, and what is expected of me. And I've thought a lot about your mother, and wondered how she dealt with it all. Clearly she dealt well, because I mean, look at you. But I didn't have that, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to become what I should."
She had her back to John, and he watched her for a moment before responding. "Originally you and I would have been together for years before Judgment Day. And in that timeline, you became what you fear living up to. Who's to say you can't become that now? It's obviously in you somewhere."
Kate's eyes filled with tears, for that was exactly what she had been trying to convince herself. The words -fate- and -destiny- had played ad nauseam in her head this past week; it was her destiny to become the wife and second-in-command to the man who would save the world. Fate had brought them together, and when fate's timeline had been altered, it had brought them together again.
She turned to face him. "I want you to teach me what your mother taught you. It's hard to explain, but I feel this kinship with her, and when I think about her and all she's done, I feel stronger, and everything makes sense."
Connor smiled. "I know that feeling. And I wasn't kidding when I said you remind me of her. She would have liked you."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"I would like to hear more about your.family, though," he said, trying not to stare at her engagement ring. She sat down and squeezed his hand. "And I would like to tell you more. Right now, though, how about we fix some real food? I think we deserve it after the week we've had."
Kate began eating what was left of the fruit cocktail as Connor gathered his thoughts. How could he properly describe all that his mother had done, all that she had been through?
"For the first years of my life, Mom and I lived down in Mexico..All of the stuff she taught me she first had to learn herself, while I was still too young to comprehend. She took it all very seriously, this role she had been given, and the role her son had been given. And I believed it all, and was dead serious right along with her. I mean, what was I supposed to think? I had never known any different."
Kate had been chewing the fruit cocktail very pensively as she listened to John speak, trying to picture him as a five-year-old boy learning to handle an automatic weapon.
"How did your mother know all this? Who told her what you would be?"
Connor gnawed on his thumbnail. "Well.my father told her."
Kate was no less confused. "How did -he- know, then? And what happened to him?"
"Um.that's another story."
Kate shrugged and motioned for him to continue with his tale.
"Anyway, then she was caught breaking into this computer place, and she got put away in an institution. Suddenly I'm thrown into the 'real world,' and it seems that everything she had ever told me had been fantasies and lies. I was angry beyond reason, and confused, and more than a little scared. To go from future world leader to future junior college student? I didn't know what to think, or who to believe, or."
Now Kate tried to picture him as a thirteen-year-old boy, the boy she had known. She vaguely remembered him being pissed off all the time.
"Then one day -he- showed up. And he was everything Mom had described, the nightmare she had lived with for years, except this time he was here to save us. And he did, and for those few days it was like I had a father, and in its own perverted way it was comforting. We destroyed the company that had been working on the Skynet technology, and we thought we had prevented the war." He looked up at the ceiling. "Guess not. And ever since then we had lived much the way we had the first time, albeit a little more optimistically."
Kate put the can of fruit down. "Okay, you will have to explain all of that in -much more depth- later, because I have at best a tenuous grasp on everything you said."
"Imagine having lived it."
"But getting back to your mother.how did she stay sane through all of that? Was your father around to help?"
Connor took a deep breath. "Well, you see, I haven't met my father yet." Seeing that Kate had no response to that, he continued. "Some years from now, I will send him back to protect my mother from a Terminator.like the one you met, but bad, sent to kill my mom to keep me from being born. And well.he and my mom will hit it off.or did hit it off, whatever.and I'm the result. But he was killed that same night, and my mother managed to get away.
"As far as I can tell she loved him a lot. I never saw her get emotionally attached to anyone, not like that at least. She never liked to talk about him; when I would ask she would just tell me that he was a great man whom I would get to meet later." He smiled sheepishly. "Like I said, who was I to disbelieve her? That was my world."
All this talk of the past and his mother had made him kind of uncomfortable and more than a little sad. "I can tell you more later, but why don't you tell me about your parents?"
Kate shook her head. "There's nothing to tell. My mother was a legal assistant who left my father when I was ten. I've barely seen her since then..She's certainly nothing like your mother," she added with a touch of quiet awe.
Connor wondered why she was so interested in his mother, but didn't know how to ask. Kate must have sensed his confusion and stood up, wringing her hands.
"These past few days I've thought a lot about.us, and this situation, and what is expected of me. And I've thought a lot about your mother, and wondered how she dealt with it all. Clearly she dealt well, because I mean, look at you. But I didn't have that, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to become what I should."
She had her back to John, and he watched her for a moment before responding. "Originally you and I would have been together for years before Judgment Day. And in that timeline, you became what you fear living up to. Who's to say you can't become that now? It's obviously in you somewhere."
Kate's eyes filled with tears, for that was exactly what she had been trying to convince herself. The words -fate- and -destiny- had played ad nauseam in her head this past week; it was her destiny to become the wife and second-in-command to the man who would save the world. Fate had brought them together, and when fate's timeline had been altered, it had brought them together again.
She turned to face him. "I want you to teach me what your mother taught you. It's hard to explain, but I feel this kinship with her, and when I think about her and all she's done, I feel stronger, and everything makes sense."
Connor smiled. "I know that feeling. And I wasn't kidding when I said you remind me of her. She would have liked you."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"I would like to hear more about your.family, though," he said, trying not to stare at her engagement ring. She sat down and squeezed his hand. "And I would like to tell you more. Right now, though, how about we fix some real food? I think we deserve it after the week we've had."
