So this is going to be part one of two chapters.
Part one is sort of a reintroduction to things and sort of comedy to it.
These chapters will be the big exposition chapters that will fill in some of the blanks for anyone who didn't read Purpose.
The Man Who Laughs
6 Months Ago
Amongst the many decrepit, old and forgotten piers of Santa Monica there once stood a certain pier. Its now rotted, shaky foundation many years ago had held a carnival business.
In the early 1920's, the Hartwell Family Circus was considered one of the best. It was notorious for its freak show spectacles and slapstick clown crew. Many young men would take their girlfriends and dates to the pier to see the bizarre, and in many instances scary, sights just so they could have the opportunity for their girl to cling to them, giving the young men an excuse to put their arms around them. Through the years the circus became increasingly darker, until soon the carnival was no longer a running gag location for first daters, but a haunted place where even the clown's jokes were considered sinister in nature.
In 1947 a string of murders were reported throughout the outlying area. But, the police had no suspects until the parents of a surviving teenage victim of one of these attempted murders hired a private eye to solve the linked crimes. A former Marine sergeant, Thomas Reese, built a case and provided evidence against a clown at the circus, who had no other name than Bonkers. When the skilled young detective turned his evidence into the police, the Hartwell Circus was crucified by the DA's office and in 1954, the pier was finally shut down. Fifty-four years later, the archway to the entrance of the circus, shaped like a green-haired clown opening its mouth, was taped and an eviction notice circa 1953 was slapped on one of the teeth.
The cold night bred a chilled wind that howled through the abandoned fair grounds, pushing an old carousel. The small bells and mechanical jingle sounded ever-so-slightly over the dusty area. The drapes and plastic ribbons danced in the breeze, giving thier shadows and silhouettes the appearance of tiny apparitions dancing to the grinding music of the carousel. Suddenly the wind picked up, and the low hum of electricity sounded over the old pier. With several loud crackles, an energy bubble of blue and violet appeared in the mouth of the clown, burning away caution tape and the weathered eviction notice. The power surge provided by the blast of electricity ignited the fuses of the entrance. A row of light bulbs burst on in a sequence pattern, and the sound of a mechanical clown laugh echoed through the dark night for the first time in fifty-four years.
After a minute of bright light and violent electricity the bubble dissipated and a shadowed, naked figure knelt. With a quick shiver the male figure stood. He was large and robust, with a dough-like fleshy face. The man had a keg-sized beer belly, and a prison buzz cut.
The mystery time traveler gave a good look around at the setting. Recognizing the face of the clown, he then let out small, child-like chuckles slowly matching up with the recorded voice. After several moments of checking his footing, and looking around at the decayed carnival grounds, the small chuckles became an insane hyena-like belly laugh that made him sound like a maniacal spoiled little child. With gleeful skips the figure entered.
Present
There wasn't much preparation to John Connor's costume. He simply put on his digital camo fatigues from Presidio Alto over a black t-shirt, and wore a gun belt with Cameron's present holstered at his side without a clip. He was beginning to really become annoyed with the wait for everyone else.
"You'd think with the time it's taking Mom and Cameron that they were going to the prom."
John sighed and clicked on the television. A DVD menu for the fourth disc of the Wonder Woman television series, starring Lynda Carter, was left running. After Cameron had chosen her costume the other day, she had bought the entire Wonder Woman. She had spent the last twenty-four hours watching it just to make sure she understood who she was dressing up as. It had amused John to find that the first-ever bonding time Cameron and Sarah had was watching the show. It was one of Sarah's favorites as a preteen.
"The wonders of television …"
Snorting, John turned off the DVD player, and flicked to network station, and became absorbed in game six of a World Series Baseball game. There was a loud knock on the front door. John sighed with a glare, turning his head toward the door.
"Forget it Timmy!" John yelled at the entrance to his house.
"Trick or treat!" the voice of an obnoxious ten-year-old in an astronaut costume yelled through the door.
"No!" John shouted back from the couch.
Just then the sound of someone coming down the stairs accompanied the defiant knock on the front door. There was shuffling of loafers near the door, and a scraping of the curtain rod, as the fabric was pulled back, immediately followed by the sound of someone shamelessly biting into a candy bar. After a beat the curtains closed with a metallic echo through the house.
"Dick!" the boy's voice yelled through the door at Derek, who entered the living room munching on a candy bar.
John ignored his uncle to watch the event of a foul ball that just missed the separating post. With a relieved sigh, he turned to Derek and gave an amused "Huh".
Derek was in a half suit, covered with a khaki trench coat and a fedora hat atop his head.
"Private Eye" he answered John's intrigued look.
"Nice …" John complemented going back to the game.
"You know your great-grandfather was a private eye." Derek commented off handedly, sitting down on the other side of the couch. He was more self-musing than story telling.
John turned back to Derek with an interested look. It wasn't often that John got family history stories. Mostly because he didn't know his dad, and with his mom he knew that his grandmother had done things to Sarah when she was in high school that he wouldn't want her to relive by telling him.
"In fact, it's how he met his wife. He was working on a case for her parents. When he solved it, your great-grandmother fell in love with him and they got married." Then Derek chuckled at something.
"What?" John smiled back with a puzzled face. Derek shook his head.
"It's just that it seems everyone in our family falls in love with only one woman in their life." Derek scratched his ear. "Pops and Grams, Mom and Dad, and your Dad and Mom …" He listed off in deep thought.
John pondered what his uncle was saying.
"Is Cameron going to be the only one for me?"
He wondered as he began to give some serious thought about his family history. He wasn't sure if there will ever be anyone other than Cameron. The sad part was he couldn't think or even imagine there being anyone else. That road of thought made him suddenly guilty that after all this time Riley hadn't even made a dent in his heart. She was fun to be around, and he liked her, but to say he loved her was far from the truth.
Numbly, John watched a strike out. He turned back to Derek, who seemed sad about something that was triggered by his observation. Both males, rather than air out their sad fears etched on their faces, chose to instead ignore each other's pensive faces and concentrated on the World Series.
During a commercial break a silhouette appeared next to the uncle and nephew. Cameron's hair was curled to perfection, with a gold tiara set upon her brow. The satiny-nylon red Wonder Woman top was skin tight on her gorgeous figure; tracing every perfect curve of her upper body. The blue miniskirt with white stars gracefully played off her long, toned legs. A red cape with silver stars was tied around her neck, covering her smooth, bare shoulders. While her red and white boots made clacking sounds on the wooden floor. Her brown eyes looked to John's costume and she gave a human-like, endearing smile his way.
"Wow …" John wolf-whistled at Cameron.
Derek, however, chose to give a half huff at the outfit and went back to the game.
Without hesitation, Cameron walked out of the light and into the darkened living room, settling between Derek and John. Derek glared and slid farther to the armrest. John unfazed, sat where he was, comfortably lounging with an arm behind Cameron's stiff form on the back of the couch. She gave a small ghost of a smile at the action, and with minuscule movement got closer to John. Soon both seemed to not realize that Cameron was pressed into his ribs as he slouched back, and the two looked almost like a couple relaxing before a night out. The three stayed silent as the game continued, slowly being drawn into it again.
"Shit!" There was a soft thud from the stairs that announced the arrival of Sarah.
"Mom … you good?" John called from the couch, not turning away from the TV at the sound of his mother's sixth slip on the long train of her costume dress.
"I'm good" Sarah called back from her sitting position on the stairs. Derek handed John his candy bar and went to go help Sarah.
Cameron blinked at the television commercial about cavemen and car insurance, which she was sure was inaccurate. But then like John had always told her. "Can't believe everything you see on the tube." Frowning, she stared at the metallic bracelets on her wrists and twisted them a moment.
"John …?" Cameron asked.
"Huh …" he grunted, while watching the shadows of his Mom and Uncle.
"You think that if I made bracelets out of Coltan, I could deflect bullets?" she asked curiously.
Quirking an eyebrow, he turned back to Cameron and shrugged. "I guess, but then wouldn't that be like me making bracelets out of human bones?" he asked. The cybernetic girl thought about what he said for a moment.
"Yes, but cavemen used to make jewelry out of human and animal bones and they're buying insurance now." She explained, almost defensive of her plans to construct Amazon bracelets. Letting out a small chuckle, John shook his head at her logic.
"This is totally unnecessary." Sarah complained as Derek came into the room, carrying her in his arms.
John smiled at the sight as the two in the dark, with his mother's white dress and Derek's suit and the way he was carrying her, it was almost like he was a groom carrying his new bride over the threshhold of their home.
"Quit bitching … it was this or you could have stripped out of the dress." Derek growled.
"Yep, just like a married couple."
Sitting down in his original spot he turned on a lamp, accommodating Sarah, who was sitting in his lap. Sarah was breath taking in her costume. She had done just the right touches of make-up, and pinned back her longer hair so that it touched her lower back. Derek gave a slight nervous gulp as his hand brushed Sarah's bare back, which was one of the drawbacks of her costume. Snorting, the youngest male shook his head as Cameron attempted to help Sarah get the ancient Greek dress untangled from her feet.
For a moment there was no lingering tension between the family, no pressure from the future, no death of a mob boss, and no pondering suspicions of the term I love you. It was simply a family trying to get ready for a Halloween party. Seeing the need to capture a rare, happily normal moment between his loved ones and uncle, John got up to get something he had seen in a storage closet.
There was a quiet, muffled sound of recorded screams and witch laughter echoing out of Kacy Cotton's house as local neighbors and children piled onto the patio and back yard of the large house.
Amongst several parked cars, a motorcycle swerved into a tight space near the curb. The rider powered down his ride and kicked down the stand. Ryan removed his helmet and took a look around. The feeling was strange as he placed his boots on the asphalt, feeling a connection to the ground.
"I've been here before …"
His gaze flicked back and forth on his surroundings, and then with a shrug, he hung his helmet on the handle and dismounted his cycle. He gave a frown as he watched colorfully dressed people in clothing that most wouldn't wear in public. Ryan had heard of Halloween before, and seen pictures, but to experience it up close was something completely different. Looking down he saw that his faithful brown leather jacket, yesterday's jeans, and a black T-shirt under his father's twenty-year-old navy blue Henley was nowhere near the acceptable dress for the party.
"Guess I'll make up an excuse."
He shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking across the lawn toward the front porch. Half way there, he stopped abruptly just missing a shifty-eyed, red-headed ten year-old in an astronaut costume laughing to himself as he ran away. Sensing something mischievous, he watched the kid for a moment. Yawing he continued forward, reaching a blond, pregnant woman in a pirate costume at the steps.
"Two things …" the eye patched hostess addressed him before he could give her a hello. Ryan twitched an eye. "You're supposed to be in a costume and two, why do you look so tired?" she asked disappointedly.
"Well first of all, the words 'costume party' wasn't in the description, second I was up late last night and all day today setting up computer equipment." Ryan answered Kacy's questions still amused at her getup.
"It's a Halloween party … costumes are, like, mandatory and I can't believe you of all people are a nerd." She tapped her foot impatiently.
"A what?" He squinted and jerked his head forward. Angrily, Kacy slapped his arm.
"What was that for?" Ryan rubbed his arm tenderly.
"How are you supposed to get my friend laid if you can't even bother to bring the A-game, hotshot!" she gritted her teeth at him.
"Excuse me?" Ryan said with outrage in his voice.
"Son of a bitch!" A familiar voice called out angrily.
The sound of the voice caused Ryan to smile smugly. It was a blast from the past to hear the voice utter the phrase he had heard a million times, usually because it was something he had done as a teenager.
Turning, Kacy and Ryan looked to a house a football field's length away as a man in fedora and trench coat rushed out and examined a black pickup truck which had words written on the windshield in red.
JOHN AND CAMERON LYING NEXT TO A TREE
F.U.C.K.I.N.G
"ASTRONOUT!" Derek yelled to the lawn over. "YOU LITTLE RAT BASTARD!" there was a vengeance to his shouts.
"Seriously?"
"Get in there and wait!"
Sarah frowned as she led John and Cameron to the entrance of her neighbor's house watching the pregnant lady pushing somebody inside against their will.
"Kacy?" Sarah called with a suspicious smile.
Hearing the voice, the blond slammed the front door which gave a secondary thump followed by a pained muffled curse word.
"Hey! You came!" Kacy said with a too suspicious cheeriness. Sarah craned her neck over Kacy to look at the door. Seeing the action the pregnant pirate stepped in front of the door to block her view.
"Oh my god, look at you!" this time the blond was genuine in shock at the family's costumes, but was more focused on Sarah than John and Cameron. As usual the royal-looking beauty shrugged humbly at the flabbergasted compliment. Turning, she looked at all three people. "You guys went for a Wonder Woman theme." She squeed.
"Wonder Woman?" John puzzled with a grin.
"Yeah …" Kacy began. "Sarah is Hypolita, Diana's mom, Cameron is Diana, AKA Wonder Woman, and you're Major Nelson." She pointed out with a charmed voice.
"But Major Nelson was an Air Force pilot, John is an Army General." Cameron corrected, causing Sarah to shoot her uninhibited comment a look, reminding her of caution.
"Meh, close enough." Kacy waved off the correction. There was an awkward silence that was cast over the four, before Derek walked up behind them with a scowl on his face.
"Hey it's the Dick …" Kacy narrowed her eyes at him after observing his costume.
The relationship between Kacy Cotton and Derek Reese had always been up and down. At first she was convinced that Derek and Sarah were married, but then she found out that they were only in-laws, and while she was okay with that, she felt like they were more to each other than that. There was a respect for the man when she saw that he took care of Sarah and the family like a true man of the house, but lately Kacy had noticed that he had been absent. With the added tension between John and everyone, Kacy felt sorry that Sarah was alone a lot these days.
"Nice to see you, too." He grunted at her. After a trade of dirty looks, the restaurant manager lightened her face.
"Party's in the back." She smiled sweetly. With a suspicious look Sarah motioned the family to go to the side of the house. Watching them leave, Kacy got a smug look and looked down at her belly.
"Look baby, your momma is about to give one of our friends a really good night."
Ryan rubbed his nose, which had taken a vicious shot from Kacy's door. He wiped away a tear from his only sinus and continued through the nicely furnished home until he reached a polished, wooden kitchen that looked to be the most important room in the home. There was a row of fancy pots on a rack above an island that had a large bowl of punch on the counter. He also found the same red-headed astronaut from earlier pouring a bottle of liquor into the reddish, orange punch with a devilish grin.
"Hey!" Ryan hissed at the kid. Being discovered the boy dropped a flask and ran off. After a moment he shook his head and walked up to the counter and picked up the cheap looking flask. He gave a raised eyebrow as he brought it up to his nose and sniffed carefully.
"Everclear … what kind of time period is this were ten year olds have Everclear?" Ryan said out loud, closing the flask and pocketing it.
With a sigh he figured he would tell Kacy when she got back. He stared at the faucet and reached out and turned it on. A smile formed on his face as he ran his hand under the stream of water letting the cold liquid rinse his only human hand. He wasn't ignorant of the times. He had his mother's neural network latched to his brain. So, while he may not have her memories, he knew of her experiences with the things, and some of the culture of 2008, and it helped. But, at the same time it was still a welcome sight to find running water that you don't have to check to make sure it wasn't poisoned.
Blowing out a breath he turned off the running water and ran the hand through his thick mane of black hair. He leaned on the counter and shoved his hands into his pockets again. Feeling two paper squares, Ryan dug them out and looked at them. A fond smile spread across his face as he remembered that they were two age-faded snapshots that had fallen out of his father's journal on his way out the door.
The first picture was of the Connor family in Halloween costumes. John was dressed as a soldier and Cameron in a Wonder Woman costume, both teens leaned into each other. Meanwhile Sarah, in a Grecian queen costume, was sitting on Derek's lap with a cringe as John's hand was placing a fedora on Sarah's head while Derek appeared to be laughing at the sight. The second seemed to have been taken several moments later, because this time all the Connors were pleasantly smiling, and huddled together for the camera, John being the one with the fedora on his head.
Ryan smiled sadly, and with his thumb, he rubbed a fingerprint off a part of the picture were John had an arm tossed around Cameron.
"Better days …" he sighed.
Then suddenly there was the sound of someone whistling an ominous tune nearby. There was a gut instinct that told Ryan that he was in trouble. He quickly reached for his pistol as the whistling got louder. Just as he was ready to draw his weapon, a man appeared in the kitchen doorway.
He was medium build and obese. His fleshy face was covered with smeared on clown's make up and he wore a moth eaten-dress tux, a top hat, and carried a cane. He looked like a homeless gentleman clown of the late eighteen-hundreds London.
"Hello … boy!" the clown spoke with an amused and drawn out, high pitched voice. There was a critical part of Ryan's gut that was telling the officer he was in danger. Never one to ignore his senses, the soldier took a defensive posture.
Seeing the motion the clown gave a large, almost painful looking grin Ryan's way and reached into his overly baggy pants. Letting out a childlike giggle he snapped his teeth and grinded.
"Draw!" the man growled.
Then, quickly, the clown pulled a ridiculously long barreled revolver from his pants and pointed it Ryan. Just as Ryan moved for his weapon the clown pulled the trigger.
POP!
Confetti flew from the barrel, followed by a flag with the word "Bang" stenciled on it. Seeing the soldier's reaction, the fat man let out a squeal of maniacal laughter at the man's expense, to which Ryan glared murderously. Then with heckling and obnoxious whistling the clown stuck his head out at the Captain and jinked it from left to right. With every fiber of his being, Ryan wanted to beat the clown to death, but the clown waved goodbye and skipped back down the hallway and out of sight. Without realizing it, Ryan exhaled a held in breath.
"The hell was that?" Ryan asked himself shakily.
Suddenly the build of stress caused the young man's cybernetic hand to twitch uncontrollably. He panted in fear, as he grabbed it to calm the malfunctioning prosthetic.
Back with his time in the 112th Tech-Com in North Africa, the local's used to fear the teenage soldier. When he had first arrived they believed that Ryan was an abomination kept alive only through demon parts. He was often referred to by many tribes as the "Phantom Hand", and it was rumored that his mother was a succubus that seduced his father. His unexplained spasms from Cameron's hand only fueled the tales that there was always an evil spirit fighting to get out of him. These stories always took their toll on Ryan who never denied them, as they were truth to a certain extent.
Feeling the shame that always followed the spasms he blew off Kacy's request to stay and left. Feeling less human then he did an hour ago.
John had never been the life of any party, and in fact, he had never liked them all that much. He didn't have much experience with them and the truth was he didn't feel the need to go to them. His whole life, before Sarah's capture and imprisonment, he had always liked just hanging out with his mother. He never saw anything wrong with it and he often felt guilty when he wasn't with her, because he never wanted her to be lonely.
When she was hooking up with someone for training he never got to see her that much. She would set him up by himself at motels, while she would spend the night at other men's houses. She lied to him a lot, saying that it was like him having his own house and he could make his own rules. He missed her terribly and there were times when she would come to his motel early in the morning as he was getting ready to go to school and she would be in a skimpy fetish costume and have bites marks on her or she would walk with a painful limp. All John wanted to do was hold her instead of go to school, but he knew when she came back it was time for another lesson about guns or military tactics, and there were no time for hugs.
It was this time six years ago that the illusion John was living in was shattered. It was just before Sarah was taken to Pescadero Asylum. John was in his motel room studying when he decided to break the rules and go find his mom to see what she was doing that night. He was hoping she would come to watch Charlie Brown with him. It was one of the few traditions that they held. Instead he found his mother in an expensive three story mansion sitting on the couch with an older man and his two kids in their Halloween costumes, as they watched Charlie Brown and ate candy.
The next morning he confronted his mother about it; Sarah begged him to understand that she was just playing a role that will help save the world. He had to understand that he, John, was her family, not the two spoiled brats and the man. It was that very morning that was the first and last time John told the woman he loved more than anything that he hated her.
Not two days later, the man who Sarah was fooling as his trophy housewife and soccer mom to his kids shot her in the leg, and sent her to Pescadero when he found out she was planning to destroy Cyberdyne's, his company, main building. John spent entire year and a half by himself on the run from the cops before they caught him and sent him to foster care.
"Fucking candy company conspiracy holiday"
"John?" He turned to Cameron who was standing next to him. She had spent most of the party following him everywhere in the large fenced back yard.
"Yeah …" he cleared his throat. Cameron looked at him with curious yet sympathetic eyes.
"You look sad." She said gently.
"No … I'm good." He gave her an empty smile. The teenage girl tightened her lips at his blank expression. Seeing that she wasn't buying the act, he sighed. "I just hate Halloween …" he scoffed looking at a little girl and boy in costumes that resembled the Cyberdyne CEO's children's.
There was a pensive look on Cameron's face as she looked around at the generally happy crowd. "Everyone seems to enjoy it, especially young children." She turned back to John matter-of-factly.
"Just bad memories … that's all." He answered her, getting lost in her angelic innocence that always captured him in the oddest times.
Oblivious to John's struck stare, Cameron tried to think of a way to help John cope with whatever was bothering him. Then she remembered something that a soldier leaving for North Africa told her as he packed a duffle bag in John's quarters.
"Sometimes when there are bad memories in a place you should try to make some better ones."
"Maybe you can make some better ones?" She offered looking into dazed green eyes.
"Yeah, maybe we can." He responded to her in hypnotic state. The two stared into one another's eyes not flinching, not flickering eyebrows, and just looking at one another intimately as if John was sharing a soul with the machine in front of him. After a minute a sobering look played across John's face, blinking rapidly, getting some moisture back into his eyeballs while Cameron looked down. John scratched the back of his head and let out a nervous chuckle at the odd behavior the two were publicly engaging in. Seeing his opportunity to break the sudden ice that formed between the two, John pointed to a bowl of punch.
"How bout we start off tonight with some punch?"
"This party's lame …" Derek grumbled as he walked next to Sarah, who was starting to master the train of her dress.
Her costume was a hit at the party. Not only was it a glamorous departure from some of the other costumes the mothers in the Neighborhood wore, but the strategic exposure of skin seemed to make the father's and teenage boys drool.
"And what would you say a great party would be?" Sarah huffed at Derek who she was getting tired of hearing complain.
"I could tell you, but there're kids around." He smirked as they sampled the snack bar. Though she narrowed her eyes at his comment, she couldn't hide the grin on her face at the tone of his voice. Before Sarah knew what was happening, Derek was fixing both of them hot dogs as the line began to move.
"You've been to many parties?" He asked as he worked. Sarah shrugged.
"Here and there …" She shook her head at him when he offered her relish. "You?" she asked.
"Parties in Tech-Com were pretty rare, but when they did happen it tended to get rowdy and end with some fist fights … here and there." He chuckled at a distant memory triggered by a song playing, as he put mustard on both dogs.
"Something you can share in public?" Sarah tilted her head at him.
Derek gave a smug grin and handed her a hot dog, done just perfectly. It sometimes scared Sarah how Derek could figure her likes and dislikes on almost intuition. The two found a private spot where other wallflowers had congregated on the side of the lawn. They talked and watched people on the open dance area.
"It's just this song." Derek chuckled as he took a bite of a hotdog. Sarah stuck out an ear to listen to a song.
"Gasoline Alley by Rod Stewart?" Sarah questioned. Derek shrugged.
"Back in early 2024 our entire division did a stint in Canada to bolster the Third Army there, and a corporal in me and Kyle's Platoon named Ryan Phillips heard this song somewhere and changed the words to accommodate our situation." Derek smiled fondly as the lyrics were about to begin.
Sarah "huh" at his comment and as she bit in her hot dog she heard a familiar voice begin to sing different lyrics to the song.
"I think I know now what's making me sad
It's yearning to return to my tunnel in Hollywood
I've realized maybe it was wrong to leave but
I can't seem to swallow my stupid Tech-com pride
Going home, running home, down to Home Plate base
Where we started from
Going home, running home to the Mexican deserts
Where I was born
Where the weather was better
And your freakin nails don't freeze
And the wind doesn't whistle at your knees
I'll pack my gear and catch a supplies chopper
And I'll be home before the Skynet patrols are
On the roll
Going home, running home, down to Home Plate base
Where we started from
Going home, running home to the Mexican deserts
Where I was born"
As Derek sung, Sarah saw a light, almost nostalgic part of her roommate that she had never seen and felt herself liking a lot. For a moment he was back in Canada with all his friends and brother as they sung around a portable stove in the back of a supply truck in the snow drifts in the middle of the wilderness. Sarah couldn't fight the large grin on her face as she listened to him sing, imagining Kyle singing with the same stupid grin that the two people who loved him had right now.
"But if anything should happen
And the climate goes wrong
Or the hyperthermia makes me say stupid shit
Let it be known that
My intentions where good
And I'd rather be
Puking from radiation if I could
And If battle calls me away
And it's my turn to go
Should the blood run cold in my veins
Just one favor I'll be asking you …
Don't bury me here it's too cold."
Sarah was a little embarrassed when she let out a laugh at Derek's playful tone at the end of the lyrics before the chorus took over the song. He chuckled at her reaction to the song that was sung by the 132nd begrudgingly throughout the campaign. There was a small silence between the two; it had seemed like a long time since they had lowered their defenses around each other long enough to actually enjoy one another's company. Derek and Sarah shared a smile and relished the comfortable quiet with the both of them just brushing arms as they ate in silence.
"So … John's been a little off today." Derek said off handedly. Sarah's comfortable posture stiffened, and she cast her eyes down sadly as she took another bite of her hot dog.
"So he has." She acknowledged in a hardened voice.
"Is there a reason for that? At least something that hasn't happened recently?" he pushed not looking at her as he ate.
Conflicted about what to tell him, she threw her defenses up and crushed the napkin in her hands at the memory of the betrayed look on her little boys face when she came to see him on that morning after Halloween six years ago. He looked so sad and hurt as he accused her of pushing him aside for a new family while he sat alone in motel rooms. All that day she never felt sicker in her entire life as she carted two spoiled brats to soccer and jazz dance practice in a minivan while her one true love in life sat alone on a Saturday thinking that he was not loved.
"I'm done." Sarah said to Derek showing him her napkin. He got the message loud and clear, taking it, he left without a word giving her space.
She folded her arms around herself and fought tears. Every Halloween since her escape from Pescadero John had never wanted to be around her, and she knew that on this day that she shouldn't bother him. He still carried the scar, and even though he now knows why she did what she did, he still feels the hurt. There was nothing she wanted to do more at that moment than to take John into her arms and force him to stay there until he realized that he was her one and only purpose in life, and that she will always be his and no one else's.
"This is going to get you nowhere."
Sarah wiped a single tear from her eye and sighed spotting someone she recognized in the distance who seemed to be feeling the same way.
A pair of warm pools of gold-flecked brown watched in wonder at the blankets of snow on the desert sands.
On top of a snow and sand mixed dune, a six-year-old little boy stood in the open, looking out at the wasteland for the first time. The boy felt very small at the vastness, and felt an uncomfortable fear at the sloppy nothingness all around him. The cute boy was dressed in an overly large pullover hoody that had once belonged to his father, and a too-big beanie was fitted over his moppy raven curls. The boy's chubby cheeks were pink from the cold air, and he sniffled at his numb nose.
The sound of footsteps broke him out of his mesmerized look. The spot next to him was soon occupied by an extremely beautiful teenage girl clad in a closed purple leather motorcycle jacket with a scarf tied underneath it. Her tight blue jeans hugged onto her perfect curves as she stood straight backed, overlooking the terrain. She had two rifles slung on her shoulder. One was a large shotgun; the other was a modified assault rifle.
"Come" The girl had an emotionless voice as she addressed him. The boy looked into matching eyes and lifted his small hand for her to take and lead him. Cameron Connor simply blinked at the gesture, then at the boy before moving forward, leaving him with his hand in the air. With hurt in his eyes, Ryan Connor followed his mom into the desert.
It had seemed to take forever to get where they were going. Ryan amused himself by stepping in Cameron's pothole-like footprints. Finally, the girl stopped, causing Ryan, who wasn't paying attention, to run into her tight rear end, knocking him to the ground.
"uoof!"
Cameron felt a face running into her butt. , Turning she grabbed the boy off the ground by the front of his hoody and set him on his feet.
"Stay here." She said with a commanding scowl. The boy nodded and watched as his mother disappeared below a dune. After a moment of standing around, Ryan sat in the snow and sand and began building a sand fort to pass the time. When he was done he gave a pirate grin at his creation. As he was starting to add little steps to the walls, a combat boot crushed the north rampart. He looked up sadly at Cameron for what she had done.
"Leave what you find as is." She said emotionlessly, and then she turned to his sand and snow fort. With a sad sigh the boy stood up and kicked his work back into piles of sand.
With that done she pointed to down the dune. The boy obeyed and started in the direction when she grabbed him back. She thoroughly brushed the sand off the back of Ryan's pants and hoody before releasing him to go. With an annoyed scowl, the moppy haired child walked down the sandy hill with Cameron trailing him. When they got down the hill, he found a burned out old car with seven snowballs placed strategically on top of it.
"What's this?" he asked his mom with a confused frown. Cameron picked up the assault rifle and marked it.
"Your first target practice." Cameron answered.
There was a nervous excitement that rushed through Ryan as he looked at his dad's rifle. He was going to get to shoot his first gun today. He was miles ahead of his best friends; Sydney and Alice, whose sister and momma hadn't let them shoot a gun yet.
"You remember what your father taught you about shooting?" she asked stoically. Ryan nodded frantically.
Cameron laid the rifle on the ground in a perfect angle. After a moment Ryan walked to it and went stomach down on the snow and picked the rifle up with a strained huff and balanced it on the ground.
He felt Cameron kneel next to him, followed by a warm slender body slide half on top of him, half next to him.
"Don't put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire." Cameron advised docilely into his ear. Ryan obeyed holding the handle with all his fingers. "Aim carefully …" she instructed gently. The small child once again nodded squinting as he aimed the crosshairs for a snowball. "Once you have got your target … squeeze the trigger slowly. There is going to be a loud boom, but don't let it frighten you, just keep your eyes on the target." Cameron continued.
Ryan wasn't going to be scared, but that had more to do with the warm bracing hug his mom had him in and less about having a concentration on his target.
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK, CRACK
One by one each snowball was obliterated by a single bullet. Ryan didn't miss once as he knocked each sphere in succession. When he was done he opened his right eye and looked at his handy work with a smug, lopsided grin. Turning to his mom for her thoughts, he was shocked. Cameron was genuinely beaming with a proud maternal grin on her angelic face, looking at her only child. It was the first time Ryan could remember making his momma smile.
Ryan had a sad grin on his face as he sat perched upon an empty picnic table with a beer in hand watching a painfully familiar angelic face in a Wonder Woman costume standing with several other costumed individuals. She smiled when someone turned to her in the conversation and laughed on cue when everyone else did.
The officer swigged the horrible tasting liquor to clear away the memory. He grunted a sigh at the god awful alcohol. It was a blessing and a curse to Ryan to have a failsafe in the form of a thirty year old TOK 715 Neural Network that will never let him become completely drunk so that he can still keep coordination as well as enough soberness to drive home.
"Never numb enough." He complained to himself bitterly looking at the amber tinted bottle of beer perspiring in his hand.
"I'm stumped …" a familiar voice put a dagger in Ryan's heart when he heard it call to the lounging soldier. Turning, he found Sarah crossing her arms and looking his clothing over.
"Ever consider a prosthetic?" he joked trying to avoid the woman who was wrapped in so many of his painful memories it hurt just to glace at her beautiful face.
Sarah gave an unamused look the officer's way. Getting closer she could feel an almost unbearable amount of sadness that surrounded the man. She couldn't understand why it hurt her to see the stranger in so much pain. She bit her lip at the step out from her normal "let it be" attitude and turned around and slid into the spot next to the rugged man. Ryan lifted an eyebrow but said nothing just drank his beer.
"What I was saying was that I was wondering what you're supposed to be." She asked with a tilt of her head.
Ryan scoffed and looked at his left arm. "Wish I knew." He mused sadly flexing his mother's cybernetic fingers. Sarah gave a sympathetic look at the slightly younger man. Sensing the glassy eyed sympathy he gave a grim laugh.
"Sorry, just uh … thinking a little too much tonight." He apologized to Sarah. The ravened haired woman shrugged at the comment.
"Thinking can be overrated." She commiserated with a sympathetic lightening of her eyes as the man seemed to be lost in thought looking at his left hand.
When he heard her retort he looked up and both shared a smile at her comment. "I'll drink to that." He raised his beer to her. After another hearty swig the two sat in silence as one another kept an eye on the party and another on each other.
"So …" Ryan finally gave a good look at Sarah's costume. "Is this a reflection of your personality or is this a shrink exercise?" He asked with a wiggle of eyebrows that made the hard as nails woman bite her cheek to keep from laughing.
Instead she gave another "Hardy, har, har" look his way. "Just something that caught my eye." She replied simply hiding another smile by feigning interest somewhere else. Ryan gave a lopsided pirate grin at her and cleared his throat.
"You look very beautiful …" he spoke with an honest low tone in his voice, as if there was something deep in the statement. Sarah turned back, speechless. The man however seemed to catch up with his statement, turning away, trying to be as casual as possible.
Most of the time she would find a statement like that disconcerting, but there was something about this man, something about the way he looked at her, the way he genuinely cared, Sarah couldn't help but be at ease around him. She felt less guarded, almost the way it was with John.
"Thank you" she replied with a genuine smile.
"No problem." He smirked going back to the party thankful his slip up didn't go left of the right way he had meant. After a moment they both saw Kacy watching them, her face was scrunched with a dirty toothy smile and she nodded at them.
"What's she doing?" Sarah asked.
Ryan quirked an eyebrow. "Apparently the only reason I was invited is because I'm supposed to make sweet, sweet love to you." He said flatly still watching their hostess.
"Really?" She smiled at his tone.
The man shrugged. "It's why I'm here." He laughed opening his arms in a welcoming manner.
"But I'm not on the pill."
"It's okay I don't believe in birth control."
"What would everyone think?"
"Screw them, they can't do what we do!"
"Such sweet pillow talk."
"Who needs pillows?"
"Who needs a bed?"
"I just want to make you feel beautiful tonight Angel …"
"Then take me in a manly fashion, stranger."
They both smiled at their act and chuckled shaking their heads at the plot that brought them together that wasn't going to happen for all the money in the world. She sneaked a look at the young man who was still grinning at their exchange, chuckling under his breath at the replay. It made her feel good inside to see him smile, the way it did when she heard John laugh at something.
Stiffening, Ryan narrowed his eyes at some commotion. "Looks like you might be needed, elsewhere." he pointed to the snack tables.
Sarah followed the soldiers finger to a hotdog on the ground in front of Derek who looked like he was about to explode at a robust clown in top hat and tails who was laughing at the oldest Reese boy. Derek's was about strike when the clown gave a guilty face for slapping the dog out of his hand. Reaching inside a pocket, the fat man gave Derek a plastic flower. With a control of his anger the soldier took the flower. The clown motioned for Derek to smell it. With a calming breath he moved the flower to his face. Just as he went in for a sniff the flower squirted root beer onto Derek's face.
Dropping the flower, the soldier wiped his face with his coat sleeve and turned with a vengeance on the clown. He took an angry swing at the obese man only to hit the air missing the smudgy makeup individual who took a fighters stance, hopping up and down rotating his fists in front of his face in a campy mocking of the Tech-Com junior officer.
Seeing red, Derek threw an upper cut at the clown to which it dodged easily and bounced in a circle around him making high pitched growls, as if making fun of Derek. He next tossed a trained elbow at the fat man, but all he did was twist out of control, crashing backwards and over the refreshments table. Staggering to his feet, Derek was about to advance on the high pitched chuckling when Ryan locked the others solder's arms behind him in a restraining manner while Sarah stuck herself between Derek and the clown.
"Hey … HEY, Reese … that's enough!" Sarah pressed her hands and chest into Derek getting him to look into her eyes as he struggled against Ryan hold. Getting caught in hardened emerald orbs and the calming touch of Sarah's body on his chest, Derek slowly settled.
A moth eaten gloved finger poked Sarah's exposed waist. Turning quickly at the touching of her bare skin she found clown with a sad face and he offered her a handkerchief for Derek's soaked face. With a suspicious glare she took it and pulled only to find that it was attached to a sting of them inside the clown's sleeve. The clown exploded in maniacal laughter as the Spartan Queen tossed the rag down. Derek momentarily fought to get free of Ryan's Judo lock but was quickly calmed by Sarah again. The clown laughed and whistled the ending credits music to the Looney Toon's cartoons as he bowed and skipped away.
"That clown is toast …"
Sarah gave Derek an amused scowl as he sat on a picnic table while she cleaned his face with a piece of the train of her dress that she had been dying to rip off. Despite the fighting words, his tone and heart wasn't in the threat as he felt Sarah's hands trail his face with only a thin cloth.
Tossing the wet cloth on the table, Sarah touched Derek's face just to make sure she hadn't missed a spot. Her eyes soon became lost as her hand began to wander through his scratchy stubble. The scrapping of the hardened facial hair against her surprisingly smooth palms gave a mutual tingle of pleasure to both.
Derek looked into concentrated green eyes, feeling compelled to move on the feelings swirling in his chest. He reached and took her naked waist with gentle care and almost on instinct he began to stroke her cool skin with his thumbs. This caused her to look at him in confusion as she felt like she was being pulled in a thousand different directions. Cautiously she cupped his cheek with her other hand, and to her surprise he turned into the touch. Then subconsciously the two's faces started to close the gap of separation. Neither knew what got into each other and there was almost a sense of stepping outside as their lips brushed. There was a pause before the plunge between them as if each wanted the others permission.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Being brought back to reality like a plane crash, both parties separated quickly finding Ryan watching them with a towel in hand.
"No … God … no." Sarah said a little too panicky, stepping away from the soldier who released her smooth sides quickly.
"I can come back." Ryan said with a lifted eyebrow and tossing his thumb over his shoulder.
"No …" Derek grunted with a fogged mind, trying hard to get a hold of himself, he slid off the table.
Sarah crossed her arms trying to desperately to control a hungry need in her that was awakened. It was dark and powerful, she had read about this kind of fiery passion before in sappy romance novels she used to love as a teen, but she never thought that in a million years she would be actually feeling it. There was an awkward silence between the three people at picnic table as two of the three where trying really hard not to lay their hands on one another.
"Okay … well." The youngest in the small group cleared his throat. "I'm going to be outside if anyone needs me …" Though his comment fell on Sarah's deaf ears, Derek caught Ryan's poignant stare. With a small nod the officer walked away, leaving Derek and Sarah alone. Both were scared to even look at each other in the event of losing control.
"I need to go change." Derek cleared throat. Sarah nodded her head.
"You should." She responded with a clenched hiss.
Derek sidled past Sarah on his way to the gate, but stopped when one of his hands brushed her bare back. At the touch Sarah sucked in her breath. Both paused as his hand lingered. Then once again, like being directed by an unacknowledged part of his brain, Derek began to run his hand over her bare back, becoming addicted to the feeling of her now-hot skin under his palms. With her eyes rolling to the back of her head, Sarah gripped the table and shuddered at the gentle trails over her exposed skin.
She bit down hard on her lip when he reached her lower back. Then cautiously, he ran his hands down her sculpted hips to her thighs. She made a fragile whimper as she felt the hands stop just as they were about to enter between her thighs.
"Christ … I need to go!" Derek shoved his hands in his coat pockets.
"Agreed …" Sarah sputtered. There was a pause between the two as they stared into one another's eyes.
"Yeah!" Both said at once and went separate ways quickly.
"You ready?"
"Yes"
"You know what to do?"
"Yes"
"Do I know what to do?"
"Do you?"
"Wait …"
John was on his third cup of punch and he was feeling great, scratch that, he was feeling awesome. But he seemed to having trouble remembering things.
"Remind me again?" John squinted. Cameron looked off to the distance a moment as if trying to remembering what they were about to do.
"You were going to show me how to do something involving the use of lunar gravity on earth." She answered matter-of-factly.
John looked at her with a dazed expression that was only missing the appearance of drool on the edge of his mouth.
"I swear … it just the way you say things, Angel." John sighed downing the rest of his punch. Cameron gave a small interested lift of her eyebrows. John smacked his lips with a giggle.
"John …"
"Huh?" he turned back to Cameron who was tilting her head at him.
"You called me Angel." She frowned in confusion.
"So …" he looked around a moment and hung his empty cup on the back of the stinger of a soccer mom's bee costume.
"Why …?" she asked watching the unaware lady walk away.
John paused and then smiled cheekily. "Because of what happened to your head …" he said happily. Cameron continued to look lost. "You remember on our first day of school you said you fell … hard." He chuckled.
"Yes …" she nodded.
"Well I know why you fell." John sighed. The girl looked shocked at his statement.
"How …?" she had an innocent fascination to his statement that melted John's heart. He closed the gap and boldly kissed Cameron on the nose.
"It's a long drop from heaven …" he whispered and strolled away. The nylon clad cyborg processed the confusing conversation a moment trying to decipher what it meant. Several moments later a small smile formed on her face when it finally came to her. John came back to Cameron and grabbed her hand.
"Woops … I almost forgot something." He said clumsily and tugged her with him.
Cameron suddenly remembered why she liked drunken John.
Author's Notes
End of part one …
Gasoline Alley was just something I was listening too and got the idea at the last moment.
I hope you guys liked the Cameron flashback.
I didn't really like the way I wrote Sarah and Derek in this one, but you guys decide …
This is going to be the humorous part of the two and the next one will be full of angst.
I'm not going to say when part two will be done, but I'm optimistic that it will be this week.