Cameron versus the Queen
Chapter Four
Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC
This story is set in the timeline of my other TSCC stories and takes place in between The Future Cameron and Cameron's Revenge. Characters from the original TSCC story arc and Cameron Grows Up as well as The Future Cameron appear in this story.
The Connor Family Bunker…
"I don't like that woman," Hailey announced at full volume.
"You've said that three times now," John admonished his daughter. "Please behave or you may go to your room."
"Fine," Hailey huffed, folding her arms in a display of disgust as she stomped off to her room, glancing over her shoulder to see who was watching.
"Ruth," Sarah coaxed gently, "tell us your perceptions. We watched your file, but we want to know what you think."
"I'm with Hailey. That lady gives me the creeps. It's hard enough being a T-1000 in a place where Terminators are accepted. The man was nice enough, but if he's friends with that lady, I don't want to be around him either."
"Thank you Ruth. Why don't you go entertain Hailey, would you please," Sarah ordered politely. Eager to avoid talking more about the uncomfortable conversation with the delegates, Ruth hopped out of her chair and hurried to Hailey's room. Hailey's head popped out of the door.
"Little Al hates them too. Just to let you know." The girls vanished into Hailey's room and the door shut with a resounding thud.
"Well, I guess the three smallest members of the family dislike our visiting delegation," John said with a sigh. "Father Hidalgo wants them gone. Thinks they pry too much, but he's biased. No priest likes people who want him to violate confidentiality. I've read the other interviewee's reports. Wilhelm only met with Comeaux and he wants to terminate him just to be safe. Catherine was to interrogate them and then infiltrate the delegation as Racineaux and return to their community to gather intel. Both responses I expected."
"I don't like them," Derek volunteered. "I will not deal with that Racineaux. Comeaux, he might be okay, but not her."
"I agree with my husband. Comeaux seemed genuinely interested. Racineaux doesn't want to be here. Their delegation is divided. I would guess their community is divided. For some reason they feel threatened enough to seek help. That threat is serious enough for the machine hater faction to agree to come to us to obtain the help they need. Until we know what the source of division is within their community, I say no deals are possible."
John turned to Cameron who had been silent during dinner and the first part of the meeting. "What do you think about this matter?"
"Racineaux is a bigot. Do not negotiate with her. She was openly hostile towards me, an unwise tactic when negotiating a treaty to provide what I am certain will be military support.
Comeaux is interested in learning about TechCom and our machines. I did not sense hate and deception on his part, or at least nothing to the degree Racineaux displayed. Still, his motive is unknown. He has much better control of his emotions than Racineaux. Beyond curiosity and frustration with his partner, I could not gather much about his intent. I do believe they wanted to discover a way to manipulate you through me to gain an advantage in the negotiations."
"What do you suggest," John asked patiently, bracing himself for his wife's response.
"Terminate Racineaux. Allow Weaver to infiltrate. Maintain close surveillance on Comeaux. Discover what they want so we are able to protect TechCom. Send them on their way with instructions to never contact us again. We will contact them if we so desire. At a predetermined time, Wilhelm can pick up Catherine with one of our new search and rescue teams."
"We are not terminating anybody. If I sent a delegation to another group and my delegates were killed, I would interpret that as a declaration of war. The last thing we need right now is to resume fighting a war."
"John," Cameron started, only to be interrupted by her husband.
"I have decided. No terminations. End of discussion," John snapped, looking pointedly at Cameron. "We'll meet in Command Central at 0600 and I will brief the entire leadership group."
Sensing an argument was brewing, Sarah stood quickly, giving Derek a knowing look, and opened the door to Hailey's room. "Girls, you're sleeping at our bunker tonight. Get your stuff and Little Al's blanket." Already packed up and ready to go, the girls ran out with Little Al on his leash. Hailey hugged her mother who kissed her on the cheek. Ruth gave Cameron a quick hug while Hailey hugged her father goodnight.
Derek stood waiting patiently, holding the door of the bunker open as the pair hurried out. Sarah hugged Cameron and whispered, "John has his reasons. Be patient. Explain to him why you feel or think the way you do, but let him make the decision. Then shut up and support him."
Sarah looked Cameron in the eye, their faces mere inches apart. She nodded once to give her words the weight of a command. Cameron looked down and nodded once in reply, acknowledging the advice of her mother-in-law and family matriarch.
Without looking back, Sarah left with Derek, leaving Cameron alone with John.
Later that evening in the Connor Family Bunker…
John hoped Cameron would return from her first patrol of the night soon. He was exhausted, stressed and eager to talk in private with his wife, both to resolve the budding conflict between them and to plan for the start of the negotiations.
Fighting to keep his eyes open, John was relieved when Cameron stealthily entered their room. John waited until she had slipped off her boots before turning on his bedside lamp, casing a dim light about their humble room.
Cameron took one look at her husband, appeared to think better of saying something and retrieved her boots. Turning with boots in hand to depart as quickly as she entered, John did something he rarely did in their marriage. He gave Cameron a direct order to stop.
And stop she did. Turning to face John, her anger at him was evident in the manner in which Cameron narrowed her eyes, tightened her lips and squeezed her boots with her left hand. Anyone unfamiliar with Cameron would likely not have noticed. John identified all the warning signs and ignored them, issuing a second direct order.
"Sit."
The second order went over worse than the first, causing Cameron to openly frown at her husband.
"I didn't ask you, I told you. Sit," John repeated.
"I don't want to," Cameron monotoned back.
"Sit down," John repeated sternly. "I am going to talk and you are going to listen. Then I want you to provide my counsel. Then a decision must be reached."
Cameron switched the boots from her left hand to her right, putting her left hand behind her back. John noticed movement in Cameron's left forearm, indicating her glitch had started almost immediately. His wife was clearly conflicted between her anger with him over the non-termination order, his ordering her to stop and sit and the general anxiety Cameron always felt when in conflict with her husband. The fact Cameron attempted to hide her glitch from him, something she never did, indicated to John how angry she was with him.
"Sit," he said again, patting their bed next to him.
Cameron threw her boots into their closet and dropped herself onto the bed next to John.
"Now who's acting like a teenager?"
"She needs terminating! How can I protect you if I am not allowed to take the necessary actions to do so?"
"Cameron, terminating Racineaux might actually make things more dangerous for me, our family and TechCom. Why?"
Cameron's face became blank as her CPU processed all of the many variables involved in John's question. A crestfallen look briefly crossed Cameron's face before vanishing.
Softly she answered, "We do not know the military strength of their forces. Killing a diplomat warrants military retaliation. Terminating the delegate may lead to war."
John reached for his wife's face with his left hand, gently touching her cheek, causing Cameron to look away.
"This is not like you. You always think through all the scenarios first. What is wrong?"
"Racineaux is a metal hater. That I can tolerate. It's nothing I can't handle."
"Then what is it?"
"John," Cameron whispered, turning her face to look at her husband. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. "You didn't see how she looked at me, how she disapproved of us being a family. How we raise Hailey. She made me feel like a bad mother."
Tears ran down Cameron's cheeks, causing John to shed a few of his own as he hurt for his wife.
Cameron wiped the tears away, looking away from her husband in the direction of the door.
"You are a good mother, just like you are a good wife. Cameron, no parent, no spouse is perfect. Now look at me," John said, taking Cameron's chin in his hand, turning her face back towards his.
"Hailey is happy, healthy and for a TechCom child, well adjusted. She is alive because of you. You stood up to the council and because of that, we have a child to raise. Do not let this woman upset you like this. I need you to be your normal self, to think clearly and see all the scenarios for me. Do you understand?"
Cameron nodded.
"I am sorry. This is why I do not like emotions. They get in the way."
"Well, you have them and I for one like the fact you have them. Now go get changed for bed."
Cameron pouted. "You just want to watch me take my clothes off."
"Of course I do. You're my beautiful wife," John told her, making eyes at Cameron.
"No Sexbot games," she pouted, reaching across John to cut off his lamp.
"Hey! No fair, you'll be undressed in bed before my night vision kicks in!"
Smiling, John listened as Cameron undressed, placing her dirty uniform in the hamper, picked up her boots, placing them neatly in the corner of the closet. The sound of a hanger scraping told him she had pulled out the ugly t-shirt that was his wife's way of saying no sex tonight. As his eyesight adapted to the darkness, John felt Cameron slip into bed next to him.
She poked John in the ribs and demanded in a whisper, "you were mean to me. I want to be held tonight."
Raising his left arm, John felt his wife move close to him, first wrapping her left leg over his while she nestled close, resting her head on his shoulder before reaching across his abdomen with her left arm. John wrapped his left arm around her and squeezed Cameron tight.
"Happy now?"
Cameron poked John again.
"I need you to be on top of your game. I rely on you, you know that don't you?"
John felt Cameron's chin move up and down on his chest, indicating she had nodded yes.
"Let Sarah deal with Racineaux tomorrow. She won't know what hit her. Mom is more than capable of putting her in her place. You sit back and take in as much data as you can, I need you to pick up on deception, ploys or anything that can give us insight on what they are up to. This might be an alliance that could help us. It could be a Trojan Horse."
Cameron didn't respond, but John noticed the twitching of her left hand had slowed considerably.
"You are a good mother. Hailey is lucky to have you, just like I am lucky to have you. Do you understand?"
Cameron glanced up quickly and smiled before kissing John on his jaw. She settled back down, getting comfortable for her two hours of sleep for the evening, allowing her plenty of time to get up and view the video surveillance footage of the entire visiting delegate party before needing to return home to cook breakfast. Sarah would get the girls ready for school and Derek would keep John occupied while she cooked.
Feeling relaxed enough to try to enter Terminator Sleep, Cameron started her nightly scan of John's vitals. Listening to him sigh, John's way of indicating his irritation with the nightly ritual, Cameron felt even less anxious. John was not angry anymore. He'd made his point. She had disappointed her John by letting her issues with the Racineaux woman interfere with her processing.
John squeezed Cameron's shoulder again, drawing her attention.
"I love you. You love me," he whispered.
Cameron felt as if she melted into John as she snuggled even closer.
"I love you. You love me," she answered.
Reviews are always appreciated. If you liked this story, you might want to consider my other TSCC stories:
Cameron Grows Up
The Future Cameron
Cameron's Revenge
Cameron and the Black Bird
Cameron and John's Wedding
Who's the Boss?
The Storm Before the Calm