Early the next morning, Kat was chewing on the burnt pancakes that Sarah had cooked, and grimaced when she had to chew around a particularly charred bit.
"They're not that bad" Sarah insisted.
"Well…I've had worse" Kat giggled, as Cameron came to sit opposite her.
"Maybe Cameron should cook breakfast tomorrow?" Kat suggested, giving the machine a pleading look.
"I am adequately able to make pancakes" Cameron frowned, when she saw Sarah shake her head.
"Yeah, if you want to be poisoned" Derek announced, walking into the room.
"What makes you think we aren't already?" Kat mumbled, as Sarah rolled her eyes.
"When are you going back to Dimitri?" Sarah asked Cameron, as Derek leaned against the counter.
"Today" Cameron answered, simply as Kat went back to nibbling on the pancakes.
"What's the status on the hand?" Derek questioned, picking up a plate.
"Got a good idea who has it…FBI Agent Ellison" Sarah told him.
"Same guy that questioned me in county lockup? What, they only have one FBI agent in this town?" Derek suggested, picking up two pancakes.
"Only one who can put this whole thing together. From what I saw at his house, maybe he already has" Sarah confessed.
"You think he could be a threat?" Kat frowned, as Sarah nodded.
"We eat the table" Sarah called after Derek, who had already begun to walk away.
He turned and raised at eyebrow, as the only two seats were already taken, and Cameron didn't look like she was going to budge.
"You can have my seat…I don't really want to risk giving myself any more food poisoning" Kat shrugged, with a mischievous grin.
"They're not that bad!" Sarah repeated, as Kat placed her pancakes on the counter.
"Here. Doctor Silberman's address" John announced, shoving the piece of paper in his mum's hands.
"Your pancakes are getting cold" Sarah told him, but he pushed past her.
"You coming, Kat?" John questioned, as she hopped off the counter.
"You're not hungry?" Sarah frowned.
"No" John spat out, as he opened the door.
"Since when?" Sarah questioned, but he was already out the door.
"I'll talk to him" Kat sighed, when she saw Sarah giving her a look.
"John…hey, wait up!" Kat shouted, as they began their walk to school.
"What?" John snapped.
"Jesus, someone woke up on the wrong side of bed…what's wrong?" Kat inquired.
"Nothing" John retorted.
"Clearly something's happened…come on, you can tell me" Kat insisted.
"Just drop it, alright?" John told her, a small pleading tone in his voice.
"Okay, message received. Let's detour before first period. I'll buy you some breakfast…and don't even suggest your not hungry. I can hear your stomach from here" Kat stated, as John let out an amused snort.
The pair walked back home that day in the uncomfortable silence that had surrounded them all day. Kat had noticed that John hadn't been picking up calls from his mother, and even sitting next to Cheri hadn't been enough to perk him up. She guessed it was something to do with Sarah, but clearly, he didn't want to talk about it.
"I'm going to my room" John mumbled, as they neared the house.
Kat almost said something, but decided not to, not wanting to get in an argument with one of the only people she considered family. She noticed Derek was standing in their yard, looking at the sky in almost disbelief and started to approach him.
"Looking for anything in particular?" Kat questioned, seeing she startled him a little.
"I can barely remember what the sky looked like before Judgement Day…what grass felt like underneath your feet…" He trailed off, as Kat realised he was barefoot.
"I guess we take a lot of things for granted" She sighed, as she sat down on the swing set.
"He seemed like he was in a bad mood" Derek ushered to where John had slammed the door to the house.
She realised that he must have heard them coming, even playing close enough attention to hear the annoyance in John's voice. However, he hadn't expected her to approach him.
"Might just be teenage boy drama" She shrugged.
"Sarah wants to talk to him when she gets back" Derek informed her, as she nodded.
"Where is she?" Kat questioned, wondering where the eldest Connor had gone.
"Arrowhead. To see Agent Ellison" Derek informed her.
"On her own?" Kat inquired.
"Who else could she take?" Derek retorted, as Kat could tell he was avoiding the subject of Cameron.
"She's different…from when you knew her, in the future" Kat suggested, as Derek instantly knew what she meant.
"Not different enough" Derek mumbled.
"Did…did you ever meet someone called Peter Dale?" Kat couldn't help but question, her thoughts suddenly going to her deceased father.
"Yeah, everyone knew Pete. Why?" Derek frowned.
"It's just…he never mentioned you. I thought he might have, that's all" She shrugged.
"Wait, John sent him back to?" Derek realised.
"To stop a Terminator that was coming to kill him when he was five" Kat informed him.
"And you knew him?" Derek pressed.
"He's how I got involved in all this. I was in the wrong place, wrong time. Almost got killed by the damn machine…but he saved me. And together we killed the it before it even got close to John…but I knew too much by then" Kat explained.
"He took you in?" Derek raised, an eyebrow.
"He didn't need to. I mean, no one would ever have believed what I had seen. I guess he saw something in me" She shrugged, fondly.
"I could never see Pete with a kid" Derek scoffed, remembering the tough military man.
"He was a little unorthodox that's for sure…but clearly I turned out amazing, so he must have done something right" Kat grinned.
They could hear as John slammed the door in his room upstairs and turned up his music to the loudest volume.
"Can you talk to him?" Kat queried.
"Why would he want to talk to me?" Derek inquired, probing for something.
"Because…maybe he doesn't want to talk to someone who he see's as his big sister" She suggested, almost slipping up about the real reason for a moment.
"Okay. But I can't promise anything" Derek stated, as she nodded.
Kat couldn't help but eavesdrop on the pair's conversation later that evening and wasn't surprised that Derek was able to get more information out of him. He made it seem like Sarah wanted to give him up at some point, something that Kat found hard to believe, but he obviously didn't want to outright say it. She almost felt a little hurt that John couldn't talk to her about it, but she could understand that he might find it easier confiding in his Uncle. Kat couldn't help but frown at that word. She had taken on the stereotypical roles in the family, a sister to John, and she saw Sarah in a motherly light. However, she was certain she would never see Derek in that way. Maybe a friend.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter should be up within a few days. I'll slowly be revealing more about Kat's backstory throughout the upcoming chapters, and we'll be finding out more about what Derek knows about her. Please leave a review:)
fastandloud: Thank you so much for these reviews! I'm glad you think Derek seems canon in this story and that you're enjoying my story content:)
Teminalex: Thanks for the review! Derek's definitely my favourite character in the show:)