Charley came to a sudden halt when he saw the overturned car in front of them, his foot slamming on the breaks. Derek was running out of the ambulance in an instant when he saw a body on the floor nearby. He let out a strangled gasp when he realised it was Kat, surrounded by her own blood.
"Charley!" Derek screamed as he crouched beside her.
"Kat? Kat, can you hear me?!" Derek questioned, placing both his hands on her face.
"Oh my God…" Charley trailed off, seeing the amount of blood around her.
"Help her!" Derek insisted, as Charley instantly tried to feel for a pulse.
"She's not breathing" Charley mumbled, as Derek placed his hands on her chest and began to perform CPR.
Charley let him do this for a couple of minutes, but he knew it would be no good. She had lost too much blood.
"Derek, stop…it's too late" Charley told him.
"No" Derek shook his head, as he leaned down and tried to breathe oxygen back into Kat's lungs.
"Derek! She's gone!" Charley insisted, grabbing his shoulder.
"She can't be!" Derek retorted.
"Look at her, Derek. She's been dead for a while" Charley sighed, taking in Kat's stiff appearance.
"This can't be happening…it can't be…" Derek stuttered, pulling her body into his lap.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing we could have done" Charley exclaimed.
"I was supposed to save her" Derek mumbled, dropping his head so it touched Kat's.
His head snapped back up when they heard footsteps approaching, and saw it was Sarah and John.
"Oh, God…" Sarah trailed off, her hands flying to her mouth when she saw all the blood.
"No, no!" John cried, taking Kat's body from Derek's arms.
"What happened?" Derek asked.
"It was Cameron. She…she overturned the car and…she was chasing us, and John had to…I couldn't leave him" Sarah stuttered.
"You left her?" Derek queried, standing up.
"Cameron would have killed John" Sarah replied.
"That doesn't answer my question…did you leave her?" Derek insisted; his voice low as he loomed over Sarah.
"…Yes" She answered, as he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket.
He never got to find out what he would have done next as suddenly there was a gasping noise from behind him. His eyes widened when he saw Kat sitting upright as John's arm supported her, as she looked around with confusion.
"What…what happened?" Kat asked, her hand flying to her thigh where blood had begun to pool out of again.
"Are you okay?" John questioned, as he took off his jacket and began to press it against her wound.
"I feel like I just got run over by a truck-" Kat began, but was cut off when strong arms were suddenly being wrapped around her.
She was more than a little surprised when she realised the arms belonged to Derek, who seemed to be hugging her as if his life depended on it. Knowing what a rare event it was, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and allowed herself to enjoy the hug.
"This is new" She mumbled into his shoulder, as his hands tightened around her waist.
"I thought you were dead" He admitted.
"It'll take more than a piece of glass to kill me…but also ouch, can I have this thing taken out soon?" Kat asked as the pair pulled away.
"We need to get you to a hospital" Derek stated, looking up at Charley.
The older man hadn't moved since Kat had sprung back to life and was now looking at her with a terrified expression.
"You were dead" He stated.
"Clearly not…it feels like someone did CPR on me anyways" Kat pointed out, as Derek looked at her guiltily.
"Does it hurt?" He questioned.
"Only when I breathe" She let out a pained chuckle.
"No…this…you had been dead a while when we turned up. You should be dead!" Charley insisted.
"Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing?" John inquired.
"I need to go" Charley mumbled, as he began to stumble away from the scene.
"Charley, wait!" Sarah called after him, as she rushed towards the ambulance.
"What are you doing?" She asked as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"When she woke up, her eyes…they were blue. Not like human eyes but like…like your machine's. She shouldn't be alive" Charley warned her, before shutting the door and turning the engine on.
"How're you feeling?" A voice announced as Kat's eyes flickered open.
It took her a moment to remember that she was in the hospital, and another to remember why she was there. She had died. Not almost died but been dead. And there had been nothing. No afterlife, no light at the end of the tunnel, just nothing. She hoped it had only been because she hadn't been dead for long, but something told her it wasn't. Shaking her head, she smiled as Derek entered her room.
"Is it safe for you to be here? What if someone sees you?" Kat insisted.
"I needed to make sure you were okay" Derek admitted, as he came to sit down on her hospital bed.
"Because of your mission?" She suggested.
"Because I…I care about you" Derek confessed, as Kat's eyes widened.
"Did that physically hurt to say? Do you need an ice pack?" Kat giggled, as Derek let out a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, maybe I'll change my mind" Derek teased.
"The Doctor's say that whoever performed CPR on me probably saved my life, so I guess I owe you" Kat pointed out.
"Well I did break a couple of your ribs at the same time" Derek retorted.
"No one's perfect" Kat exclaimed, as Derek laughed.
"What else do the doctor's say?" Derek inquired.
"That it's a miracle that I'm alive. I have a nasty concussion, but I should be out of the woods now. Same with my leg, but I'll probably need crutches for a couple of weeks before I get my strength back. Other than that, I'm healing well" Kat explained.
"Good. We're going to have to start house hunting soon, and I'm sure you'll want to share your opinion" Derek suggested.
"You know me so well" Kat smiled.
Kat was on the mend quicker than anyone had expected and after two days she was discharged from the hospital. Derek had stayed by her side the entire time, much to Sarah's displeasure as they knew it was risky. Neither John nor Sarah had visited Kat while she was in the hospital, a fact that she couldn't help but find suspicious. Her suspicions were confirmed as she walked through the parking lot, one hand using a crutch to help her walk. She saw John first, leaning against the car, with Sarah beside him and then…Cameron. Her eyes widened, and she saw out of the corner of her eye, Derek's hand immediately went to his gun.
"Wait! It's okay, she's good now" John called over to them, as Derek kept his hand on his gun at the back of his jeans.
"You put her chip back in?" Derek spat out, venomously.
"I fixed it. She's safe, I swear" John tried to convince them.
"Safe?! She's never been safe, John!" Derek insisted.
Cameron took a step forward, as Derek went to pull his gun out, but was stopped when Kat put her hand on his arm. She wanted to hear what Cameron had to say.
"I'm sorry you were injured. It is no longer my intention to hurt you" Cameron told her.
"What are your intentions?" Kat questioned.
"To keep John Connor safe" Cameron replied.
"What if your chip goes wrong again?" Kat inquired.
"It won't-" John began, but she cut him off.
"What if it does?" Kat insisted.
"Then Derek should use the EMP grenade he has and destroy me" Cameron answered, surprising Kat.
"You gave it to him?" John asked Kat, expecting it was the same EMP grenade he had made.
"He needed to feel safe. It's a good insurance policy" Kat stated.
"One foot out of line…and your dead" Derek warned the machine.
"I was never alive" Cameron frowned, as she walked back towards the car.
"Kat, can we talk-" Sarah began, but Kat stopped her.
"I forgive you" Kat announced, as Sarah's eyes widened.
"I…I shouldn't have left you," Sarah told her.
"No, you made the right decision. John was your priority as he should be" Kat pointed out.
"You died, Kat! That's not all right!" Sarah exclaimed.
"I don't blame you Sarah, and you shouldn't blame yourself either" Kat went on, before walking towards the car, leaving a confused Sarah standing there.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Hmm, there seems to be more going on with Kat than we realised. We're slowly going to go down a more AU route from now on, as Kat's going to become a very important character for the future. Please leave a review:)
fastandloud: Thank you for the review, really glad you're enjoying this story:)
olischulu: Thanks for the review:) I'm glad you're liking my plot so far! I know what you mean about rushing through the story, I think that's just my preference when I'm writing, I don't like to dawdle. But I'll take what you said onboard and try to explore the story more thoroughly. As for the mum thing, they're both pronounced the same so I didn't think it would be an issue, but I'll keep it in mind in the future.