Epilogue

Cameron walked to the front door of the Connor home, face blank despite the surprise of seeing John still up, sitting on the front porch with a computer on his lap, idly surfing the net. John's eyes brightened as he looked up. "Hey," he greeted her. "Did you have fun?"

Cameron thought for a moment. "I believe I did," she decided. "It was not as enjoyable as doing things with you, but it was nevertheless good to interact with somebody different.

"Cool," John responded. He got up and put his arms around her, kissing her on the cheek. He didn't recognize the names of the stores on the bags she carried, but he knew enough to recognize expensive packaging when he saw it. "Let's go put your new things away, wouldn't want them to get wrinkled."

"Amanda insisted on paying for everything to make up for deceiving me into helping her break into the museum," Cameron told him as they walked inside. "Would you like to see what I got?"

He shrugged. "Sure, sounds like a kind of thing a good boyfriend would do. I'm going to get a soda first. You want one?"

Shaking her head, she said, "No, thank you. Go wait in your room. I will meet you there."

A few minutes later, John sprawled on his bed, idly flipping through a magazine. What a celebrity gossip rag was doing at their home was beyond him, but he was bored, and it had been sitting on the coffee table. Perhaps Kacy had left it. In any case, none of the so-called celebrity actresses could hold a candle to Cameron, he noted. He sighed and tossed the magazine across the room, looking up as the door opened.

Cameron walked in, clad in tight, faded jeans and casual white blouse—a stark contrast from the dark grays and slates she seemed to usually favor. Her hair shone and a soft smile graced face. "Do you like it?"

Stunned, he could only nod. "Good," she replied, obviously pleased. "Wait here," she requested before she turned and left.

Over the next half hour, Cameron paraded in and out of John's room, showing him the new outfits she had bought, including two long formal gowns that she had purchased after, "Amanda told me to buy them 'just because.' Because what, John?" she asked.

John didn't know what Amanda had meant, so Cameron cocked her head to the side for a second and decided she didn't need to know. "One more outfit," she told him as she walked out. John threw his head back. Cameron was beautiful no matter what, and she seemed to be having fun, but he personally was bored. He closed his eyes as a took another swig of soda. Mmm, grape, he thought. The click of the latch being released signaled Cameron's returned and he opened his eyes, barely turning his head away from Cameron's direction as a fine mist of grape soda sprayed from his mouth.

Cameron wore a black, shiny, vinyl bondage outfit that barely covered the important parts of her body, and in her hand was a painfully real-looking whip. Solicitously, she hurried over to pound his back has he continued to choke and sputter.

Once he had recovered, she asked, "Don't you like it?" There was a hurt expression on her face.

"No!" John said hurriedly. "I mean yes! I mean, you … you always look beautiful, no matter what you wear, but that's a …. That's a really … different kind of outfit, isn't it?"

Cameron frowned. "I admit it seems to not be very practical, except that it is water resistant. But Amanda insisted I buy it and model it for you."

"What?? Why??" he demanded.

"Actually, she put it this way," Cameron said before her voice abruptly changed to a perfect reproduction of Amanda's voice, accent and cadence.

"Gotcha, John!" Amanda's voice said. "You didn't really think I was letting you off the hook that easily, did you?"

John's eyes bulged. "You knew I would react like this, didn't you?"

Cameron looked at him blankly and smirked for a split second, saying nothing.

"Not funny, Cam," he said, annoyed.

"I thought this would make sure you remembered your lesson," Cameron told him. "Besides, it was amusing."

John glared, and Cameron's smile turned into a grin. "It could have been worse. Amanda wanted to buy YOU something, too."

John looked away, blushing suddenly.

"John," Cameron said after a while. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

John shook his head ruefully. "I guess not. Shocked, maybe a little annoyed, but I guess this'll remind me never to take you two lightly again," he said. "It was pretty funny," he admitted.

Just then, the door opened.

"John, we have a lead to …" Sarah began as she walked before she stopped short, Her eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up beyond her hairline as she took in Cameron's outfit and her position as she stood over John with a whip in her hand.

"Mom!" John yelped, jumping up and standing in front of Cameron, covering his girlfriend's scantily clad body with his own and turning around protectively. Sarah's eyes narrowed.

"We have a lead to follow," Sarah repeated, still glaring at the two of them "We're going on a road trip to Chicago."

She turned to leave, then stopped. "And John," she said, without turning around.

"Yes?" he asked timidly.

"I don't know what I interrupted, and I don't want to know. But we're never talking about this. Ever. And I'm never going to see something like this again. Right?"

"Right!" he responded immediately.

"Good," she said as she slammed the door behind her.

John flopped onto his bed and buried his head in the pillow, mortified. "I want to die," he moaned, voice muffled.

"But you are an Immortal, so that is unlikely," Cameron reminded him.

"Damn."

Author's notes:

Thanks to all who read, and that goes double for those who reviewed. As you might guess, in the next installment, the team will be paying a visit to the Windy City—and to other great places outside of California as well. Hope you'll check that out when it's posted!

Thanks to lilaeth, who pointed out an error in my Highlander knowledge in Chapter 8. It's been corrected.

To Lego Land: While women can indeed be just as dangerous as men, there is never an acceptable non self-defense-related reason for a man to hit a woman, even out of anger. And that's what John did. As for why everyone forgives Amanda so readily—well, we all have at least one friend or relative that nobody can ever stay mad at, don't we?