What are dreams?
A short story featuring John and Cameron from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." In a series of small chapters, Cameron learns more about human dreams and relationships and John learns how much his cyborg protector really likes him.
I haven't mentioned it previously, but this story takes place sometime after "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today" and before Jesse murdered Riley in "Ourselves Alone." This story has gone fully A/U beginning with chapter 5.
I do not claim any rights to the characters or the TV series.
Chapter 6: Sarah's Nightmare Comes True
Derek walks through the early hours of a Monday morning until he reaches a bar. He's stopped briefly at the door by a bouncer, but Jesse's voice is heard saying to let him in.
Scowling at the bouncer as he passes, Derek walks into the empty bar, which has been closed for a few hours now, to find Jesse sitting at a table nursing a drink. She looks like hell.
There is a bruise growing on one temple and a gauze bandage taped to her neck. There are scratches and small cuts on her face.
"What the hell happened to you?" Derek says as he pulls out a chair and faces her across the table.
Jesse looks at him and scowls. "Your compassion is overwhelming, but thanks for coming."
"Does this have something to do with whatever it is you're doing here, that you haven't told me about?"
Jesse doesn't answer but just takes a sip from her glass of ale.
"I'll take that as a yes." Derek looks about the bar then asks, "So how is it you get let in here after closing hours. It can't be for the beer."
"The bloke who owns this place owes me a favor. He lets me crash here on occasion when I can't get back to my apartment."
"Then what do you need me for?"
Jesse takes another slow sip of her ale then answers. "I need your help to get that metal bitch away from Connor. My agent turned on me and has become a liability."
"You'd better tell me everything, and I do mean everything." Derek says with a low growling whisper as the bouncer walks past.
"Not here. We'll go back to my apartment." She fishes her keys from her pocket. "You'll have to drive. I twisted my ankle, I barely made it here."
Derek gets up from his chair as Jesse slides a few dollars onto the table next to her drink. He helps her hobble outside and into her car.
**
John places a cup of hot tea in front of Riley. Sarah still stands by the door. She has slipped her gun back into her waistband, but keeps her hand close to it. Cameron sits across from Riley studying her, looking for any signs of lying.
John is accusing Riley. "You know who I am. You got between me and Cromartie and intervened when that photographer tried to blackmail me in Mexico. You knew who I was the whole time. You always knew."
Riley nods her head.
"And you knew she was a spy or an agent or whatever it is they call it, and you didn't tell me." John says turning on Cameron.
"I didn't know. I only suspected it. I found the bug she placed and I followed the two of you when you took her home. I confronted Riley with the bug. I left it on so her handler would hear every word. Then I crushed it to stop the transmission and threatened Riley with harm if she tried it again."
"You planted a bug?" John shouts at Riley.
"I'm sorry John. The first time I only had to leave the alarm turned off so she could place a device in the house herself. You found it the other day, so she had me come by to place a new device and try to get you away from Cameron."
John just sits there staring at Riley as Cameron tells what happened.
"If Riley was an agent, as I suspected, then I knew that her handler would operate from a position of instilling fear and love. A take on the hard-cop soft-cop routine. Her handler scared Riley enough to return to the house to relocate the bug. Scared her enough she staged an accident so you would bring her further in the house. Riley is afraid of me, but she trusts you. She knows that by coming back here, you would protect her. She doesn't have that option with her handler."
"Riley what happened after Cameron left your home?" Sarah asks.
"After Cameron confronted me with the bug. I got a call from my handler. At first she was all kind and understanding said I could come live with her for a while. So I packed a bag and left to meet her. When I met her at the park, she was angry, very angry. She accused me of not trying hard enough."
"At what?" John asks, "What were you supposed to do?"
"I was your friend. I kept you away from her." She says looking at John and gesturing at Cameron. "But that wasn't enough. She pressured me into asking you to have sex with me."
Sarah raises her eyebrows in surprise looking at John, while at the same time he tries to hide his embarrassment.
"She thought that would strengthen your attachment to me. But I must have tried too hard considering you broke up with me. She wasn't happy with me."
Sarah looks again at John with surprise while Riley continues talking.
"I accused her of wanting Cameron to kill me for getting romantically involved with you."
"Cam?" John says.
"What?" She asks not wavering from her study of Riley.
"Would you have killed her?"
"I don't know. She was becoming an increasingly worrisome distraction, I would have had to do something eventually to separate the two of you permanently." Cameron responds.
That wasn't exactly a no or a yes, John thinks.
"So what happened when you accused your handler?" Sarah asks Riley.
"We fought. I attacked her and she fought back. She was going to shoot me but she turned her ankle and fell. I ran. I didn't want to go back home, thinking she'd follow me there, so I came here."
"Why? What makes you think we'd help you? You've already proved your enmity to us." Cameron responds.
"Because I trust John." She looks at him, "You told me you'd still be my friend. I need your help. She'll kill me."
"John. We need to discuss this." Sarah says, with that stern look that says she means business.
John walks around the table barely looking at Riley. He can't believe he liked her. She lied to him and pretended to be someone she wasn't. He gets Cameron's attention by touching her shoulder and gives a nod of his head to indicate he wants her to come with him.
She gets up to follow, but stops before leaving the kitchen to ask Riley a question. "One question for you, Riley. You haven't told us who your handler is. Who is she?"
"Her name is Jesse."
"Jesse Flores?" Cameron interjects.
"Yes. Do you know her?" Riley asks.
"Yes I do. You're from the future too, aren't you?"
Riley nods her head.
"Cameron, who is Jesse Flores?" John asks.
"Jesse Flores was a Lieutenant Commander on the USS Jimmy Carter. She was the first officer and in charge of the crew. The captain was a scrubbed T-888, named Queeg. One of your best reprogrammed machines. The crew mutinied. Jesse killed Queeg and scuttled the submarine on a secret mission you sent the sub on to reclaim a package."
"What happened to her?"
"She was court-martialled upon her return and stripped of her rank. If it wasn't for the fact you had put an end to executing those who disobeyed orders in such an aggressive manner, she would be dead. Jesse turned on that mission. She was a loyal fighter and had no qualms with fighting along side the machines. She was different when she returned. When you learned what had happened, you refused to see her until her court martial hearing. You sent me to question her on her mission. She became belligerent, verbally aggressive. Sometime after her court martial, she disappeared was never seen again."
"How much of a threat is Jesse Flores to John?" Sarah asks.
"She's angry with him and she hates me. How much of a threat she is, depends on how deep her anger runs."
Cameron faces John with her eyes wide with barely perceptible fear and says, "We are in great danger John."
John reaches out and gently places a hand on Cameron's shoulder to reassure her. "It will be all right. We'll find her and take care of this."
Sarah notices the exchange between her son and Cameron. She glances at Riley still sitting at the table with her face in her hands. Cameron said we are in danger, not you. There is more going on here, but she isn't sure what is worse, the truth or her suspicions.
**
Jesse and Derek are at her apartment. Derek is checking Jesse's wounds making sure they are clean.
"So you brought this girl to this time. Why?" Derek asks as he places a bandage on a scrape on Jesse's back.
"You've got no idea how bad things are, do you?" Jesse counters with her own question.
"I've been here several months, doing my best to change things for the better."
"Well it hasn't, it's gotten worse. You warned me about Queeg. The machines are fucking taking over. When was the last time you saw Connor?"
"Just before I left. He gave me an update on my orders and wished me luck."
Jesse just shakes her head. "You might have been the last person to see Connor. No one has seen him in weeks. The only person we see is that little metal bitch. He wasn't even present at my court martial!"
"Court Martial? What the hell happened on that sub?"
"Queeg was holding secrets. He killed a member of the crew and he refused to submit to chip extraction. The mission was to collect a case from an underwater oil drill."
"What was in that case Jesse?"
"Hell. Liquid metal hell. It killed a member of the crew and hid itself on board. Queeg wouldn't stop the sub so we could hunt it down. He was following his orders blindly. So I blew the top of his head off and scuttled the sub."
"Are you mad? That sub was the most valuable resource we had!"
"What else was I supposed to do? That crew was my responsibility!"
"There's also the matter of following orders. You aren't supposed to question them."
"Listen to me Derek. You want to know why we were collecting that thing? Connor wanted it to join our resistance. A liquid metal machine. How's that for following orders? Would you obey that?"
Derek just shakes his head, looking a little shocked. "What happened to the L M?"
"It turned down Connor's offer. I think we were only allowed to escape to relay that message to him."
"What did he say when you saw him?"
"That's just it. I never did see him. No has since you left. I was questioned by that metal bitch. She told me telling her was the same thing as telling Connor. What's the point of this fucking war, if telling her is the same as telling Connor? I'm telling you the machines are controlling this war. And that metal bitch is behind it."
"But she's here now, and no longer there to influence Connor."
"Because she is here now . . . with him! If things are bad now in the future with her there, how much fucking worse can it get if she is with him throughout his life?"
"So you are here to separate her from Connor by giving him a girlfriend?"
Jesse grins slightly then answers, "That's just about it, yeah."
**
"She can't stay here." Sarah says as they walk into the living room.
"I agree." John says, walking in with Cameron.
"What do you propose we do with Riley?" Sarah asks.
"We'll use her to find this Jesse person." John replies.
"Jesse will relocate. She may have already moved." Cameron says.
"Perhaps, but Riley will go back to her foster parents. She's already been grounded for a month. They'll extend that once they know she ran away. That will keep her home and safe. All other times she'll be at school."
"But what about when she's going to and from school?" Sarah asks.
"I'll be with her." John says.
Cameron's face betrays her jealousy though she doesn't say anything.
John sees her expression and adds, "And you will be right behind us, tailing us. If Jesse sees us like that, she may figure her agent and her plan isn't a lost cause and try to finish the job she started."
"I don't know John." Sarah says. "How do we know she won't try to kill you?"
"She won't kill him." Cameron answers. "She wants to hurt him by forcing him to kill me."
John looks at Cameron. It is very subtle, but her expression reveals the sadness of that idea.
"And if she succeeds, the war will be over before it begins." Cameron adds.
"What are you saying?" Sarah asks her.
"The war with Sky Net is very bad. John and all humans were making great strides, then everything turned against him. Sky Net began producing better machines, stronger, more intelligent, more adaptable. But John was able to capture some and reprogram them. With their help you captured more. The war started turning in your favor again. The machines helped. Without them, you never would have captured Sky Net's facility at Topanga Canyon."
"You're talking about Sky Net's time displacement equipment? The one John will use in the future to send Kyle back in time to protect me." Sarah says.
"I am. If she destroys John's trust in machines now, then he may never reprogram them in the future. Kyle Reese won't get sent back in time. You will die and John Connor will never exist."
Sarah just stares at Cameron for a moment then faces John. The color draining from her face.
The shock of what Cameron has said leaves Sarah speechless. John steps in and says, "I'll go tell Riley our plan. Mom maybe you should call her foster parents and let them know where she is, and we'll talk about this some more after I drop Riley off at school."
"Come on Cam." John steps forward and gently takes her arm. Cameron looks at him gratefully for the physical contact that shows his concern.
The exchange between the two of them doesn't go unnoticed as Sarah watches them walk to the kitchen. John's body language reveals him to be taking a more protective stance with regard to Cameron, and she appears to be taking a more subservient role to John. What the hell happened over the weekend between the two of them while she was out?
Sarah frowns as she doesn't like what her imagination conjures up for an answer to that question, as she waits for someone to answer the phone. But she knows she will have to separate them sometime soon. Right after they take care of this Jesse Flores.
"Hello." Comes an adult male voice over the phone
Putting on her friendliest voice, Sarah responds. "Hello this is Sarah Baum, John's mother. I'm just calling to let you know we found Riley hiding in our garage this morning."
**
John has just returned home. First he took Riley home to pick up her books and drop off her bag. He then took her to school. While there, he turned in his physics schoolwork to Mr. Harris and dropped off the papers at the administration office that his mom had to fill out for home schooling.
Sarah and John are alone in the living room, talking.
"What is happening with you and Cameron?"
"What are you talking about Mom?"
"You've changed in the way you act around her. What happened while I was out this weekend?"
John sighs then says, "Cameron has feelings mom. I can't ignore it. This weekend was the first time I got to see it for myself without distraction."
"She's just a machine John. They don't have feelings!"
"How can you say that? Have you forgotten about Uncle Bob?"
"What about him?"
"You said it yourself. 'If a machine could come to value human life, then maybe someday, so could we.' You said that mom, right after you lowered him into the furnace - at his request."
"John . . ."
"Remember what he said before that, 'I can't cry but I understand why you do.' Mom they are more than machines. They contain the most sophisticated learning computer and artificial intelligence. They learn about human behavior by being with us."
"John she isn't human."
"What makes us human? What makes us so much different from her?"
"Listen to me John. It's just a trick to get under your skin. You can't trust them!"
"I can trust Cameron. And right now I think I can rely on her more than you, and I think that is really what's bothering you. What you really are afraid of is losing me. Not to a bullet or to one of Sky Net's machines, but of losing me. I'm going to be eighteen in a couple of years. I'll no longer be just your son but an adult. Don't force me to choose Mom. Don't push me away before then."
"John you can't. She isn't safe."
"Safe! It wasn't safe for Riley to be friends with her. It isn't safe for me to be friends with Cameron. No one is ever safe, mom. Do you want me to spend the rest of my life alone and miserable, like you? At least with Cameron I'll have a life and be safer and I won't be endangering anyone else."
"John that isn't fair. The life I have, was forced upon me. I've had to make hard choices because of you and for you. And I will continue to do so."
"I'm not judging you on that, but you could have been happy. We could have been happy if we stayed with Charlie. But now we are on our own because you couldn't trust him. Well, I trust Cameron. She is my friend. She is the best friend that I could have. How many people are there who have a friend who is willing to die for their own survival? She would do it for me."
John begins to turn to walk away when Sarah reaches out to put a hand on her son's shoulder.
"Where are you going?"
He shakes off her hand. "I've got schoolwork to do and Cameron's offered to help me with chemistry."
"Alright. Did you look up information on the car and driver from the stakeout I was on?"
"Yeah. I printed off a whole ream of data. I left it on your dresser." John replies and walks off grabbing his book bag from the sofa.
"You really need to talk with Derek about taking photos." He shouts as he walks away. "A lot of them were out of focus."
Sarah is worried. She knows she will have to separate her son from Cameron. Why can't he understand these things are never safe? Derek was right. They should have destroyed it when they had the chance, but then if they did, she wouldn't of been there to save John's life in Mexico. Choices, choices. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Why did John do this? Why did he send this machine back to this time in his life now?
She decides to put that aside for now. Finding out who this visitor is to Bennett and whether or not they have ties to this Kaliba is more important. She goes upstairs to her room and finds a whole stack of paper on her dresser. This is going to take a while she thinks.
She sits down on her bed and begins sorting through the documents.
**
Not finding Cameron in the house, John walks out into the garage. She's sitting at the bench, her left arm is slit open and she is probing the mechanics with a small screwdriver.
"There you are." John says sounding relieved at finding her. "What's wrong?"
"I killed a bird while you were out." Cameron says sounding slightly sad.
"Not the one in the chimney?"
"I was taking it outside to release it when my hand experienced an involuntary spasm. See?" Cameron holds her arm out for John to look.
"Wiggle your fingers." John says and watches the actions of her mechanical wrist.
"Oh yeah. I can see some damage. It's pretty deep. Maybe we can find something to fix it."
Cameron gets up and walks over to a stack of boxes and lifts one off. John follows and watches as she opens the next. There are parts from terminators inside.
"Mom would freak if she saw this. She told you to burn the endos."
"I needed parts for repair. I only saved those which are compatible to my own system."
John shakes his head. "I understand but don't let mom find them. After we get you repaired, take them outside and bury them in the backyard."
Turning on the light over the work bench, John proceeds to help Cameron fix her arm. While he does, they talk.
"Mom's aware I've chosen your friendship over Riley's."
"Sarah is very observant. It is one of her better attributes. Are you going to tell her we had sex?"
"Hell no. She's freaking out enough as it is."
"Does that mean you won't have sex with me again?"
"No. But it does mean we'll have to be careful when we do it from now on."
John removes the damaged piece. "Wow. There is quite a kink in that. I guess you weren't meant to fight other terminators."
"No. I wasn't." She says, her voice dropping as she hands him a replacement part.
"What's wrong?" John asks as he takes the part from her hand.
"I'll explain later."
John nods his head and inserts the replacement part.
"Squeeze my hand." John says as he makes the final connection.
"Are you all fixed?"
Cameron smooths the flaps of skin back in place and flexes her hand.
"All fixed." She answers. "Thank you for helping me. You are ahead of where you should be in what you need to know."
John wraps her wrist with a gauze bandage. "So you really didn't need my help. You were just trying to help me learn more about how you work."
She smiles warmly at him. "Sometimes it's nice to have help."
"Yes it is. You want to come inside and help me with my chemistry now?"
"In a moment. I want to thank you first." Cameron says as she moves close to John and kisses him fully.
He returns her kiss with his own. Soon their kissing grows in passion. Forgetting where they are, they get so caught up in the act that they don't hear Sarah approaching, nor see her at the garage window.
Sarah went to ask John about some of the information he found on the Internet. Not finding him in the kitchen she went outside to the garage. She was shocked, absolutely stunned, to see her son in a passionate embrace with Cameron.
He lied to her. John lied to her and she didn't see it. Not being able to watch her son and the machine make out any longer she goes back in the house. Ignoring the beer in the fridge she pulls her bottle of tequila from its shelf and pours herself two shots and downs them both without a grimace. Maybe this Jesse Flores has the right idea, she thinks.
Back in the garage, Cameron and John stop kissing.
"We should get inside. I really need your help with chemistry. And I'm sure Mom will want to go over the information I found for her."
Cameron, in typical fashion, changes the subject with one sentence. "I am concerned about Riley."
"I didn't think you liked her."
"I don't like her. I'm concerned this is another ruse to keep her involved with you."
"Are you saying she lied to us?"
"No. I'm saying that Jesse is using your compassion against you. You want to help Riley and you want to protect me, protect us. Jesse knows how much you care. Be careful John, we have no idea when or how Jesse will act on her plan."
"I will be. Do you want my help in hiding those parts?"
"No. It won't take me very long. Go inside and get started with your chemistry. I'll be in soon."
She gives him a warm smile as he departs. He smiles at her in return. The door closes behind John as he walks out of the garage. Cameron goes to pick up the box of parts when it suddenly falls from her hands.
She holds her left hand in front of her face and watches the fingers spasm. Cameron focuses her eyes on the window and watches as John walks to the house. Her normally placid face turns to one of worry as she watches her fingers twitch.
**
John walks through the back door into the kitchen to find his mom standing there with an open bottle of tequila and an expression on her face of such anger and fear and sadness all run together, John doesn't know whether he should, fight, run, or give her a hug.
"You lied to me." She growls at him.
John just looks at her.
"You lied to me!" She screams at him so loudly that outside, in the garage, Cameron looks up from picking the parts up off the ground where they spilled out of the box.
"About what?" He asks, not knowing how much his mom suspects.
"I saw you . . . the both of you . . . kissing in the garage. What the hell is wrong with you? You know what she is and you lied to me!"
"Mom. All Cameron was doing was thanking me for helping me fix her arm. She suffered some damage recently and wanted my help . . ."
"Liar!"
". . . she's still learning about human behavior and tried thanking me in a manner learned from watching one of your movies."
"Don't lie to me John. It was more than that. I saw the way you responded to her. For God's sake she's a machine! I would have been happier if I found you in bed with Riley!"
"Somehow I doubt that. I just don't think you want me to be with anyone, because I'm all you got. You don't seek happiness outside our home and you don't want me to be happy either."
The words he speaks are so truthful they hurt. "Go to your room." She tells him.
Cameron walks in the back door. "Is this a bad time?" She asks very simply.
"John, take your school books and go to your room." Sarah tells him.
"I need Cameron's help with chemistry."
"It seems chemistry is the least of your problems. Go to your room. I want to talk to Cameron alone."
John picks his books up off the kitchen table, while Sarah pours herself another glass.
Cameron looks slightly worried. John gives her a light smile to try and reassure her, but he dashes from the room when he sees his mom scowling at him.
After John leaves the room, Sarah drains her glass and puts it in the kitchen sink. She's had three glasses and she knows from experience not to drink any more.
"What are you doing here?" Sarah eventually asks Cameron.
"I'm here to protect John. Stop Judgment Day."
"No. What are you doing with my son?"
"I'm protecting him."
"Dammit! Don't lie to me! I saw you kissing him!"
"You're concerned about John's safety. From Sky Net. From me."
"Yes. Especially you."
"John cares. He cares about you. He cares about Derek and Riley. And he cares about me."
"Why you? Why now?"
"I don't understand."
"Why are you here? Why did he send you here to be with him now?"
"John isn't safe. There is only one way for him to be safe. And that is to be alone."
"What kind of life is that?"
"John's life, both now and in the future. That is why I am here. So he will have a friend. One that isn't endangered because of who he is."
"You said he had many friends in the future. Are you now saying that he doesn't?"
"No Sarah. I'm saying John Connor is alone in the future. He lives apart from humans for their own protection, because he cares. If Sky Net even had the smallest hint of where he was, it would kill everyone in hopes of killing him. So he lives alone, but he has friends."
"How . . . Are you saying his only friends in the future are machines, like you?"
"I am unique. I'm not like other machines. But we all admire and respect him. We learn how to be more human from John. He treats us like equals. We are with him for his protection. We consider him our friend. I consider him my friend."
"Friend? You seem interested in being more than just his friend."
"That is because I love John and he loves me."
"Love? What do you know about love? How can you know?" Sarah says accusingly.
"Sarah, if John's life was in danger and the only way to save him was for you to die, would you make that sacrifice? Would you die to save John's life?"
"I'm his mother, of course I would. John's life is more important than my own."
"I would do the same for John. What about his happiness? What would you give up to ensure his happiness?"
"What are you asking me?"
"Judgment Day is only two years away. There isn't a lot of time left. He only has these two years of normalcy before the world ends. Let him enjoy and experience this life. Give him something worth fighting for."
"A life with you?"
"No Sarah. Life itself. That is what John fights for. So everyone can live and be free. Right now, all he's known is a life running from town to town, of new identities at every stop. This is his last chance to be himself and to be happy before Judgment Day. Don't take that away from him."
"I don't trust you."
"Then trust John."
"But what if you go bad again? How can I be certain if he's alone with you, that you won't kill him?"
"You must have faith Sarah."
"Faith in what? In who? In you? In God? I don't think I've got any faith left . . . in anything."
"Have faith in your son. I made John promise me to deactivate me, even destroy me, if he ever had doubts about being safe with me. You must make sure he carries out that promise."
"Why tell me that? You could have kept that secret to yourself."
"To reassure you and demonstrate my trust in you." Cameron says simply and quietly, then walks away leaving Sarah alone.
Sarah thinks about it a moment and then pours herself a fourth glass of tequila and swallows it.
"I can't. I'm sorry John, but I can't allow it." Sarah says to herself tears brimming in her eyes.
I hope you like the latest chapter. Let me know what you think. I will be soon be posting new chapters to my other TSCC story Reunion. - - The1Russter 11-24-2009