Blissful Ignorance

John's eyes flutter open. He's in a hospital, and has a tube jammed down his throat, which he prompty removes.

His eyes fall shut again, and voice is hoarse. "Mom?"

"She's resting," Cameron's voice says quietly. No, submissively. Like she's afraid of him. She's never sounded this way before...

"Are you okay?"

There's a long pause, then Cameron answers. "I am... okay... but I am not one hundred percent."

John's eyes open wide. "What? What does that mean?"

Her head tilts. "There is physical damage to my chip."

"Your... When? How? What can we do? Will it get worse?"

"Your birthday, a car bomb, you already did everything that can be done, and I don't know."

It takes him several seconds to sift through her sentence for the answers she has given him.

"I don't remember any of that."

There is a long silence, then Cameron tentatively asks, "Would you like me to come closer?"

"Yes, I would." She quickly takes a seat beside his bed, and John can see a slight curl on the corners of her lips. "What?"

"You haven't wanted me around lately."

His head pounds. "Wha...? I don't understand. I've been in the hospital since the car bomb, right?"

"No. It's December, twenty-oh-eight. You are seventeen, now." Her face falls, and she immediately removes all emotion from it. "You have a girlfriend. She has been with you for over a year."

John's mouth somehow becomes even drier. When he reaches out for her to take his hand, Cameron simply stares at it. "I'm sorry that I don't remember any of it."

She slowly touches her fingertips to his palm, as though expecting it to be electrified. Finding that it isn't, she holds it tightly- possessively -and smiles. "I'm not."

Her response hurts and confuses him. "What do you mean? I can't remember the last year."

Looking down at the delicate human hand within her grasp, she watches its thumb stroke the back of hers. "You're back where you're supposed to be."

Trying to move, he winces as pain shoots through his side, and he sees Cameron adjust his morphine drip. He hadn't noticed the drugs. "What happened?"

"We were running again," she says softly. "There were terminators-"

"More than one?"

Her head tilts. "More than two. You were driving." Her hand tightens slightly around his. "You had been shot, but you didn't tell me. You lost consciousness while I was distracted by our pursuers. Our car hit the median, and we rolled twenty-one times."

"You brought me here? Saved my life?" She doesn't answer. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm just a machine."

"I can't remember the last year, but my feelings haven't changed." He squeezes her hand. "I still love you."

A frantic blonde girl comes into the room. "John?!" In an instant, the girl is draped over his chest, hugging him tightly.

When he looks to Cameron for help, she offers it by releasing his hand and standing. "That's your girlfriend." She walks to the door, then stops and turns back. "She's not right for you."