Future Family Ties

Chapter 2

When he opened eyes again John was gone, the paramedic who'd saved his life was checking his vitals. "Where's John?" Derek asked weakly.

Charlie looked up, "Your awake, that's good"

Derek noticed how he avoided the question, "Where is he?"

He still had a job to do, take care of John, but things where messed up. He still wasn't sure what it was John had revealed, didn't dare dwell on it either. His priority was John, the other stuff came second, but John was proving to be as stubborn and difficult as his elder self; it was disconcerting to say the least.

The paramedic was in the process of checking his wound when Derek grabbed his arm. Charlie looked up, "He took off; Cameron went after him."

Shit, Derek thought to himself, WTF John? He wasn't sure how much this guy new about the whole robot thing so he didn't ask to confirm whether Cameron was the Terminator that was hanging around John and Sarah. "What about Sarah, where is she?"

"I'm here," she said from the doorway.

Derek looked over and saw Sarah Connor and again his thoughts returned to his brother and that damn picture he'd carried in his pocket. Derek had a thousand questions he wanted to ask Sarah. He wanted clarification on what John had implied; the thought alone made turmoil of his emotions; he didn't know what the hell to think anymore.

"You can't trust that thing with your son," Was the first thing he said.

Sarah glanced over at Charlie, but returned her gaze to Derek and approached him, "I don't have much choice."

Derek suddenly struggled to get up, Sarah put her hand on his chest; stopping him. "You can't move. You could make it worse." Sarah told him gently.

"I need to-"

Sarah cut him off by slightly shaking her head, "Believe it or not, he is safe for now, and he can take care of himself"

"No one is ever safe," Derek shot back.

She looked at him solemnly, and suddenly her thoughts where a thousand miles away. Derek frowned, "What is it?"

Sarah returned her gaze to his and all he saw was sadness, "You look like him." She whispered and left the room before he could reply.

He really needed to have a one on one talk with his John, Derek thought to himself, not the junior version he'd been sent back to protect, but the man that had taught him and his brother everything he knew about warfare, the man who'd fought beside him, the man who's taken bullets for him, the man who'd been like family to him for years, who he thought of as a brother, his leader. Things had been strained between him and John after Kyle had been sent on his mission. Kyle hadn't come back. John hadn't been able to really look him in the eye after that. Derek had always wondered why that was. And now, he was pretty sure he knew the reason. As much as he wanted a face to face with the man, it wasn't going to happen any time soon, he'd have to deal with the younger version, whenever it was that he chose to reappear from his disappearing act.

xxx

His family was messed up, John concluded. Who else on this Earth had been born before their own parent? The answer was no one, that's why he was psychologically messed up. And now, all of a sudden, he had an uncle; an uncle who though of him as a messiah and not as a nephew or even family. For all he knew, Derek hadn't been fully aware when he'd revealed the big secret, but deep in his gut, he was sure some of it had gotten through. His mother was going to be mad, but John knew his mom, he'd seen the look in her eyes when she'd been fighting for his uncle's life, she would forgive him.

Suddenly, he had the distinct feeling he was no longer alone, he looked behind him, "Go home Cameron."

There was hesitation in the robots movements, almost as if it didn't know how to treat the situation, "Leave, NOW!" John ordered. There was no hesitation after that. John, kicking a nearby tree, quickly followed the machine.

xxx

When he entered the house, he quickly realized that Derek was no longer on the kitchen island; he was gone. Fear gripped him, he quickly turned to go search for his mother when he noticed her looking at him from the kitchen entrance.

She quickly put his fears at ease, "He's upstairs, Charlie's up there taking his vitals."

She walked towards him, "He was asking for you."

John looked away, "What did he want?"

"What did you tell him, John?" Sarah countered.

He looked at her, "Probably too much."

She didn't say anything.

"It's going to screw with his mind," John said frowning.

His mother nodded, "Probably," she paused then smiled slightly, "I know I've always told you that you take after your Dad, but the eyes; yours are a dead ringer for Derek's"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She confirmed with a far away look.

"I wish-" he started.

"You will, John." She soothed, "You'll meet your Dad, just not the conventional way."

"I know, but I still wish he could be my Dad, not my soldier." John replied sadly.

"I know," Sarah said, hugging her son to her, "I know."

xxx

When he was finally alone again, Derek tried getting up. He was sitting up and holding on tightly to the mattress. He got light headed all of a sudden and had the sudden urge to throw up. It eventually passed, but Derek realized he wasn't going anywhere's anytime soon. God Damn it.

When he woke up again some time later, Sarah was sitting in a chair by his bed, she was awake. "How you feeling?"

Derek did a quick mental check of his body. His side hurt like a bitch, but that was to be expected. He also felt slightly feverish; he was cold. "Fine," he answered.

Neither spoke for several minutes.

"Is it true?" Derek finally asked.

Sarah looked away, "Is what true?"

Derek frowned as the obvious evasion of his question; "You knew Kyle?" he prodded.

She finally turned her soulful gaze towards him, "Yes, I knew him."

"How well did you know him?" he asked carefully; fearing her answer.

Sarah knew what he was asking, "Well enough, but that was a long time ago for me; a lifetime ago."

She wasn't telling him anything he decided, "How long did you know him? Where you there when he-"

"When he died?" Sarah finished; a tear escape and trailed down her face, "Yeah, I was there."

The soldier in him refused to process this information with emotion, "And how long did you know him?"

"Two days; two very short days," Sarah answered, wiping the traitorous tear away, "It was the worst and best two days of my life."

Again silence.

"Yes." She finally said.

He looked up, "Yes what?"

"Yes, Kyle is John's father."

He'd pretty much figured that one out, but hearing it was another thing. Kyle and Derek had always felt a strong bond with John, but they'd always figured it was because of their similar goal: kill the fracking toasters. John had looked out for them when they were weak, had protected them, taken in the Reese boys as innocent men and turned them into soldiers. They'd been part of Connor's family in a way; John had made sure of that he now realized. But the man had neverhinted they had actually been family by blood. Sure, John had talked about how his father had been a soldier and died before he'd been born, how his mom had loved the guy, but he'd never said his name or revealed any pertinent information. The whole situation was hard to wrap his mind around. Basically, he'd been the uncle to an older man and his brother had been his father. Just thinking about it gave him a headache. Regardless, he was an uncle to that teenager, because in 2007, he was just that, a teenager. Trained; yes, but a teenager nonetheless.

He was starting to rethink John's reason for sending him here. Had he known what was going to happen? Probably, Derek concluded, John always had his reasons for doing the things he did, rarely did he share though.

"This is obviously a lot for you to take in," Sarah said lightly.

Derek looked up at her, "You have no idea."