Theseus and Ariadne
The sound of leaking water dribbled like clockwork. Four drops, followed by a down pour of beating water, before an unseen force, or a lull in the flow from the source, stubbed the leak. Several seconds later it began again.
Ryan counted the droplets to distract himself from the beautiful young woman who sat next to him. Sarah watched the soldier who sat on the stone slab with his knees to his chest.
The now scruffy Connor looked ragged, as he refused to change into the white prison scrubs given to him, not conforming to the machines' will or dress code. The olive green fatigue shirt and navy t-shirt were now threadbare, and his muddy brown motorcycle boots were wrinkled and stained with grime. His face was covered with heavy stubble and his curled locks were disheveled.
For the last several months, each day Sarah would come into Ryan's dark, dank cell and sit next to him. Day after day she would greet him, and day after day he would ignore her. She never said anything before her goodbyes. She would just sit for hours at a time, in the dark, watching his every facial feature, memorizing every scar, big and small. The youthful clone wasn't sure why she was there, or what was drawing her to the man. But she spent every second she could with him, despite his dismissal of her existence.
That was until one night, in the wee hours of the morning when the girl was supposed to be in her quarters, she decided instead to sneak out and see the soldier. Sarah was counting the rhythmic dripping when a deep and water-deprived scratchy voice spoke for the first time in months.
"Was it real? Was any of it … was any of you, real?"
The question was more philosophical in sound than the prisoner had intended, and it took the young woman by surprise causing her to jump at the sound of the voice. She snapped her head toward the man and seemed to be at a loss for words. She had become so used to their silent sit downs that she had forgotten what she would say if he ever chose to speak to her. Sarah looked into pools of caramel that appeared as hard as the molded stone cell around them. She wanted to comfort him, tell him that it was, but she owed him the truth.
"No, what my father …" she stopped and almost gagged on her comment. "What Skynet showed you, was a ghost on a chip implanted in my cerebral cortex." She explained. Ryan scoffed and thumped his head back against the wall.
"So, it was all a trick … everything you told me, everything that we did. It was all a lie." He chuckled bitterly to mask the deep pain in his heart. Youthful and bright green eyes that no longer were hardened seemed struck deeply by the young man's comment.
"The woman that was in my memories … she wasn't real. But the feelings, those are real …" Sarah stopped herself as it came to her attention that she had been pleading with him, clutching his soiled fatigue shirt.
Ryan didn't say anything as he looked down at her grip. Sarah knew that she should let Ryan go, but she couldn't bring herself to. She didn't want to let him go for fear that if she released him he would leave her forever, despite being in a cell.
After a moment of desperate silence, the officer sighed with great emotional pain. He looked into Sarah's eyes, searching for some answer, or divine shot in the dark, to his confusion on the shambles of his broken life.
"Why do you keep coming here …? You're not my blood; you're not my friend … why?" He sounded frustrated and coarse, tired of the mind games, weary of the attrition his love had suffered.
Tears stained the girl's cheeks as she refused to look the older man in the eyes. Instead, she stared a hole in the officer's chest, as if trying to see into his world-wearied heart.
"My entire life I've been the wife of a man who I thought was great … I spent my life having obedience to my husband and to Skynet drilled into my mind … a year ago I would never have dreamed that I would be sitting in the deepest, darkest cell, wanting, sometimes needing, to see the face of a Connor." Her tears were large, and came from deep self-reflection the girl had undertaken in the moment the soldier had asked her the question.
"What's changed then?" Ryan asked.
"Me … I changed, because of you." She looked up at him. "You're the first person who has ever shown me unconditional love. When Sarah Connor took over I remember how she felt when you talked to her, when you teased her with small witty quips, how safe and secured she felt when you held her in her sleep. But now that she's gone I … I don't know how to live without that. For the first time in my life I truly know what it was like to be loved. I'm not sure how I can give you up and let you rot away in this prison." She chanced a bold move and touched his hard, stubbled and grimy cheek affectionately.
"I need that feeling … I want you to love me." Sarah sniffled, shaking her head with a small whimper.
The Officer's glassy eyes reflected the dead look of heart break that sat in his soul.
"How can I do that? After what you've taken from me." He looked as numb as he felt. The young woman squinted in confusion as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"What have I taken from you that I can't give back?" She spoke as if she had broken something important, and was in a rush to fix it. Ryan sniffled in constricted rage and breathed slowly.
"Her … you've taken her away from me." He shook his head at her, gritting his teeth. "When I was little my mom was a hard girl to be around, she never was capable of showing the emotion or caring to comfort a scared child. My father never had the time, nor the patience, for fear and I learned bravery quickly out in the fringes of the world. But when I was alone in the mountains, or on a ship to Asia by myself, I use to think how much better my life could have been with my grandmother there. I used to stare at the pictures of her until I was too tired to stay awake. And when I was scared or lonely on those long dark nights, I used to imagine what she would say to me. Imagine her strong arms around me, protecting me from all the things I didn't understand, or from the uncertain future." Ryan's voice broke as he spoke, his left eye produced a tear that glided down his cheek cleansing a clean streak on his dirty face. "Sarah Connor was all I had left … and you took her from me, and perverted her memories and mine … and now when I think of her all I'll see is your damned face!" He slapped his chest as if he was showing how she tore her from his heart.
"You turned my hope into a Nightmare!"
"Hold me down, mom. We need to keep pressure on the wound."
Inside the dining room of the Baum household a raven haired soldier from the future lay flat on his back upon a table. His black coat was removed, and sitting in the grip of a traumatized blond. She was clutching the worn out fabric of the uniformed overcoat like it was a security blanket to hug in a moment of fear as she watched a teenage boy, and his still confused mother, as they worked quickly to hold off the bleeding. Next to Riley, Cameron sat paralyzed and propped on the couch, watching with a put-off look on her face as John's back obscured the progress of the two Connor's trauma on the time traveling stranger.
Sarah had a mixed look of puzzlement and adrenalin. One moment she was waiting on John to come home safe, the next she was sweating from nerves while holding her palms down on top of John's hands that were placing pressure on a puncture wound inflicted on a man who she seemed to have an unusual connection and affection for.
"I think we got a plug on it …" John panted, motioning Sarah to ease off. With startled breaths she nodded and did as directed slowly sliding her hands off John's bloody ones. With a shaky sigh he removed his hand off the bloody chest. Both exchanged looks as the wounded soldier breathed shallowly in a comatose state. John wiped his brow off with his forearm.
"What the hell is going on, John?" Sarah demanded, motioning to the wounded man. John caught his breath a moment.
"We were at the dance and some clown attacked us … it was one of them." John gave Sarah poignant look, motioning to Riley as if reminding his mother that she was close.
"Metal?" she whispered privately.
John shook his head looking at the soldier who appeared very weak. There was a deep sorrow that hit John, and he wasn't sure why. A burning in his gut to make this better for the man, a mad need to make him better was driving him nuts.
"I don't know what it was, but it was barely human." He replied with a sigh. Sarah bit her lip and flashed a worried look toward her child.
"Is it still out there?" she asked wearily.
John shook his head, again turning to flash a reassuring, roughshod look Cameron's way. "No … I took care of it." He was talking more to the couch ridden underwear-clad girl.
There was something in Cameron's face that reflected ache and human-like shame at the subtext of his message. Cameron wasn't the only one. Sarah closed her eyes and felt sorely disappointed in herself for not finding a way to somehow protect her boy from taking another life.
"Why didn't you protect me when I had Sarkissian by the throat … why didn't you protect me from that!"
"I'm so sorry, John." Sarah blurted out as if answering the pained voice that shouted inside her mind. The young man slipped a shrug in while cleaning his hands.
"There wasn't anything you could've done … It gave me no choice and I made it pay for the lives it took."
The sadness Sarah was feeling soon melted away, and a startled sense of fear bloomed in her chest in its stead. In her boy's voice there was no remorse or guilt of taking a life like before, instead he seemed to have a grateful, almost sadistic, sense of thrill as he recounted it in his head.
"No one will take her from me." John muttered quietly.
"John …" Sarah called upon hearing it. He snapped from his vengeful musing to Sarah, who had a look of fear and worry on her face. John lowered his head a little.
"Mom, can you watch him …" he asked without looking at her, not wanting to ever see anyone looking at him like she was, like he was a murderer.
Sarah turned back to the soldier who was wheezing softly with each breath. She nodded and walked back into the dining area.
John chanced a glance and watched his mom stand over the man. She looked conflicted for a moment, as if she wanted to do something. After a moment she took a breath and pulled a chair toward her. She sat, and with a bite to her lip, she gingerly took the man's hand in hers and soon seemed to be transfixed on him. For some reason unknown to him it brought a small smile to his face.
Despite what had been said about her, and what Sarah had wanted people to think, she was still a caring human being. John remembered one time, several days after Derek had been shot, he and Cameron had come home from school to find his mother on the couch with his injured uncle's head in her lap, stroking his hair gently while she watched television.
Leaving Sarah to her musings John turned to the two girls on the couch.
"Riley can we talk …" he asked, taking the overcoat from her grip gently. The blond girl watched with a small hurt expression as John draped it over Cameron comfortingly. Cameron didn't seem to have a very grateful look to her, but more of a blank stare that somehow seemed to scream pained resolve.
Riley nodded and stood to which John led her out the door.
The sounds of the cold night echoed down the quiet street. Cicadas chirped around the yard, the light sound of Bruce Springsteen softly played from an open window of Kacy's house. Riley crossed her arms and stood apart from John as the two tried to find something to say to each other.
"I …" Both teens said at the same time and paused, there was a small scoffed chuckle from John. "I'm not sure what I can say to you about tonight." He sighed looking into her blue eyes. Riley shifted emotionally.
"You don't have to say anything John … not until you're ready." There were tears in her eyes. John shot her a suspicious look, but didn't say anything, just nodded. Finality to their conversation loomed over the night.
"Riley what happened here, I would appreciate it if you …" John started hesitantly, knowing what he was about to ask of someone clearly traumatized by what happened.
"I won't tell anyone, John." She cut him off.
"Thanks" he nodded and looked at his shoes a moment. "You should go." He motioned to her foster family's SUV parked next to the curve. John awkwardly placed a warm and bloody hand on her arm, leaving a hand print on her moisturized skin. He withdrew his hand quickly when he became aware of the stain. The girl looked to her arm a moment, then back at John, doing her best to give him one of her laid back smiles, but she just couldn't seem to do it.
Not looking back John left her alone outside, and walked into the house closing the door. When he was gone, Riley broke down into sobs and wrapped her arms around her waist as if trying to comfort herself with a hug. Sniffling quietly she pulled a cell phone out of her bag and punched several numbers. She waited with a whimper. When there was a crackle from the other line she sniffled again.
"I need you …"
By now there was a crowd of concerned parents and faculty sitting outside a police car perimeter surrounding the high school. In the parking lot a fleet of bubble gum lights flashed brightly and near the four main exits empty SWAT team trucks blocked the entrance.
Derek walked quickly behind the pack of demanding citizens and news reporters who were clamoring for answers about what had happened inside. He rubbed his soul patch nervously, meeting a petite, slim Asian woman with long, thick black hair who had her hands in her Australian surplus military jacket.
"Jess, you find him?" he asked looking around. She shook her head at her boyfriend.
"Sorry babe." The woman's Australian accent had a twinge of uncertainty. "Everything is going to be carrots and apples." She smiled, rubbing his arm affectionately. Derek scowled at her choice of words, never taking her unusual quips seriously. He neurotically moved away from her and went back to double check just in case he missed John by pure accident.
"I'll make sure he's safe."
Jesse's inner monologue was interrupted by her phone buzzing in her jacket. Flipping her hair, she reached into the pocket and pulled out the cellular and flipped it open.
"Hello"
"I need you …"
Glaring at the sound of crying on the other line the woman huffed in irritation, twitching her lip dangerously.
"Sweetheart, master yourself …" She coached, examining her nails a moment as she heard several calming breaths. "Now what happened?" She asked now watching Derek converse with a police officer.
"I ... Just need to see you, please?" Riley begged.
"I'm a little busy, sweetie." She reprimanded lightly seeing the scruffy soldier's conversation with the policemen wrapping up.
"Please, Jesse, Please, just an hour." Riley begged on the other line. Jesse sighed, agitatedly frumping her hair in thought.
"Alright Luv, all meet you at the usual place." She sighed and hung up as Derek made his way toward her again.
"I'm going to go back to the house and see if he's there." he addressed the woman.
"Why not call and ask?" she shrugged.
Derek shook his head at the question. "I'm not going to call Sarah without having John first. I'm not going to get her hopes up only to smash her heart with pointless questions … I couldn't do that to her." The man seemed caring and protective of the woman. The ugly fire of Jealousy reared its ugly head inside Jesse.
"How come you never talk about me like that?" She shot with a possessive hitch in her voice, though trying to pass it off as a joke. The soldier gave her a glare that said this wasn't the time for one of these talks. Reeling slightly, Jesse back tracked with a coy, flirty smile and got up on her tiptoes expecting a kiss, but Derek instead took a step back.
"I got to go." He said, and walked off leaving Jesse to herself with a suspicious look of her own.
The sound of silence was broken in the claustrophobic dungeon cell as the metal door in the cubic room lurched open widely, and a completely naked large, muscular man with wispy hair walked in and stood before the prisoner. Ryan squinted and turned away from the bright white light of the clean hospital-like hall outside. Giving himself a moment to readjust his eyes to the light, the Lieutenant gave the T-800 a defiant smirk.
"You forget something when you got out of the shower this morning, sunshine?" He asked the machine sarcastically. The Terminator shifted its strong jaw emotionlessly at the officer's dry self-amusing humor.
"You have been summoned." The machine's voice had a hard to understand Austrian accent. Ryan scoffed at the statement.
"You're going to have to tell them to reschedule … I'm busy today." Ryan motioned for the machine to get out.
The Terminator paused before it lumbered forward, snatched the young man by the neck and dragged him out of the cell and into the hall.
John had spent the last twenty minutes upstairs cleaning himself off, and changing into a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. While he changed he thought of Riley, and felt a sting of insensitivity at her tears. He didn't feel right leaving Riley out like that, but what else could he do? He had to fix Cameron, and he couldn't do that with her there.
Walking down the stairs he made a lazy b-line towards the couch where Cameron lay observing the coat draped tenderly over her unresponsive body. He checked on his mother and their patient to find her running a gentle hand through the man's hair and gazing upon him with fascination. His soft wheezes could be heard in the living room.
"He's badly injured …" Cameron stated, looking up from her observation of the silver eagle wing on the left arm of the black stitched field jacket.
"Yeah, I know … we got the bleeding to stop, but he might need a transfusion." John nodded, folding his arms and giving Cameron a good a once over. "How are you?" he asked.
"The clown has disabled my HUD and motor functions. I'm mostly paralyzed." She explained.
John kneeled next to her. "Is there anything I can do to fix it?" he grabbed her hand and lifted her limp arm up and then down again in a silent test. Cameron shook her head in response.
"I believe there is a restraining bolt on my chip hatch sending an electric current that is disabling my movements." She frowned as she explained.
"Alright …" John paused when he noticed that he had Cameron's hand in his. Both stopped and looked into one another eyes. John gave her a smile that could have caused some girls to faint. Cameron, however, only blinked with a look of some hidden resolve behind the mask of a pleasant smile. After a beat John stood and walked over to Cameron's head and opened a circular flap of her scalp. On the metal skull he saw a small round device with a black light flash on and off. John touched it with his hand only to get zapped.
"OW!" John jumped back shaking his hand. Cameron jolted and her eyes glowed blue a beat before returning to normal.
"J ... J … John, please don't do that again." Cameron twitched out in a voice touched with fear. John kissed the electrical burn on his fingers.
"Yeah, trust me, I won't." he commiserated. He sighed and examined the device.
"I think it might have remote access." Cameron called over to him. Then, as if on cue, something jarred loose out of the officer's black overcoat and hit the floor next to the couch. Intrigued John walked over and picked it up.
"What is it?" Cameron asked as she watched John examine it. The young man scoffed at the device in his hand.
"I'll be damned …" he snorted, looked to the table at the wounded soldier, then moved the instrument into the girls viewing range. "He swiped the remote." He chuckled as Cameron looked at the small black control pad.
"It's the one to the far right." She said to him. John raised it up, pointed it at Cameron, and then pressed the button down hard, causing his arm to dip. There was a click and a whirr that followed. Once again Cameron's eyes glowed a brilliant blue before they powered down. With a passive face, she bent her waist and got to her feet, tossing away the coat that was defending her modesty. She reached up, picked the restraining bolt off her head and crushed it in her hand. Motioning John out of the way, the girl did two ballet steps in perfect sequence, before she jumped gracefully and spun. When she was finished she struck a pose. John gave her an impressed quirk of an eyebrow.
"I feel better." She dead panned.
"Yeah you do …" the teen said with a playful grin, pushing a strayed lock of curled hair behind her ear. Cameron noticed that his hands lingered in her silky hair for several moments.
"John … I'm not fully clothed." She stated emotionlessly. However, John knew better. Her admission was as good as a nervous girl about to be kissed by the boy of her dreams.
"I don't care." He said dismissively.
Cameron had seen that look in his future self's eyes before. It told of a desire and a passion to get something, whether it was a Skynet factory, or the freedom of trapped prisoners. Cameron also knew that there was no standing in the way of the sheer force of John Connor's will. To make his point, John reached out and strafed a hand over her perfectly smooth bare belly. She found it strangely gratifying and it brought a small sense of comfort. The two brushed lips lightly as John continued stroking her taut abdomen.
"No …"
"Get away … from me."
"NO, you keep away from me!"
"John!" a familiar voice called over shouting.
Sarah sat on a chair and stared at the face of a handsome, shirtless man lying in front of her on the dining room table. A hard wince came over the woman as she observed the deep cuts embedded on the man's face that appeared like a wild animal mauling. Three cuts above his left eye told the tale of a bronze knuckle graze, and a ghastly looking slash across the bridge of his nose were fine accompaniments to the diagonal scar across his right eye.
She noticed that those weren't the only cuts on the man. There were bullet indentions on his well-built, muscular upper body, as well as a nasty collection of precise lacerations that looked a lot like the scars she carried from her fight with the T-1000. However on further inspection it looked like the man had several run ins with a T-1000.
There was a discrepancy with the man's hands as well. While the fingers on his right hand in Sarah's grasp where off angled due to a history of breaks, the fingers on his left were perfectly straight and even.
She couldn't help herself due to instinct when she ran her finger through his hair almost lovingly. She felt weird in doing so, because not only was he a stranger, but the way the mountains of black curls brushed through her finger she swore it felt exactly the same way her hair felt when she did it.
"OW!"
Sarah snapped her head to see John shaking his hand while standing over Cameron. Seeing that he was alright, she turned back and gave another look at the man under her.
He was only the third living future soldier she had met, and only the second officer. She remembered the first time meeting him. The man had shown a great concern for her, she could see it in his eyes, even after nosing through his journal. Then at Kacy's party he called her beautiful, and even engaged in some playful banter that made her feel so young all of the sudden. Sarah smiled and regarded him softly, hoping to return the kindness he had shown her. He looked familiar, very familiar and yet she couldn't place him.
Suddenly she saw his eyes start to rotate from side to side under his lids. Bracing herself, Sarah did her best to comfort him by stroking his hair as he started to blink open his eyes. He stared at her a moment and she gave him the gentlest smile and nodded.
"Welcome back …" she spoke softly in a low docile tone. The soldier started, as if she were looming over him with a knife.
"No …!" he protested, shaking his head trying to throw off her hand. Taken aback by the reaction, Sarah touched his cheek comfortingly.
"Hey, it's alright … you're okay." She tried to reassure him in her best motherly voice.
"Get away … from me!" he called deliriously, fighting her.
"Hey, calm down!" She called to him, fearing that he might begin to bleed out again.
"NO … You Keep away from me!" yelled at her. Seeing him going nuts, Sarah turned back to the living room.
"John!" she called as she held the soldier down.
She heard two pairs of footsteps walk into the dining area.
"What's going on?" John asked.
"I don't know … he just woke up and started to panic." She answered.
"She's a liar … all she does is lie!" he accused the woman over him trying to get away from her. John ran up next to Sarah and helped hold him down.
"Hey, it's alright … rest easy." John called him. However, the sight of John next to Sarah sent him into frenzy.
"She's a killer! She kills … she's a monster." He called shaking his head at her. Sarah gritted her teeth at the insults coming at her.
"Cameron, come hold him down while I get a sedative." John called. Cameron walked passively to him and pressed her hands down on the man's shoulders, effectively pinning him to the table.
"Please remain calm." She offered to him with all the warmth and comfort of an automated voice. John rushed out of the room and up the stairs to Cameron and his bathroom.
"Keep her away from me!" The man begged the teenage girl in a fearful, childlike manner.
The tone felt like a slap to Sarah's face. She thought she would never see the day that a Resistance soldier, an officer, was more comfortable with the touch of a machine, than with hers. His reaction reminded her of Derek's to Cameron when he was shot. He was ranting, and then pleading for Sarah to protect him from a metal monster that he fought all his life against and Sarah had been more than willing to let Cameron have it, to isolate her from the men she cared about. But now she was eating the smug attitude of that day, because now she was receiving the business end of a future soldier's fear and hatred.
The sound of the front door opened and closed. Sarah looked up to see Derek wander into the living room.
"Reese!" she called, not remembering a time she could have needed him more. Shedding his jacket, Derek rushed in and looked at the man on the table.
"Christ, Robin" He muttered with panicked concern what was clearly a nickname. Sarah snapped her head at the oldest Reese with a look of shock and anger not only at the fact that he was on first name basis with the wounded man, but he had been keeping a secret from her.
"Derek! … Derek, she's going to kill him … she's a liar!" he ranted deliriously. Derek loomed over the man.
"Ryan, listen to me! You need to calm down, alright, just calm down." He coached sternly with concern. Ryan kept looking at Cameron, who suddenly seemed to be frozen in human shock.
"Cameron …" Sarah turned catching on to the girl's very human expression of sudden bewilderment toward the man who, for some reason, was concentrating on the beauty as much as she was on him. "Cameron!" Sarah pushed the girl when she didn't answer.
"He's bleeding out." The cyborg said and moved quickly to put pressure on the wound that was once again starting to bleed. Sarah and Derek exchanged glances at the tone. It was slight, but to anyone who knew her it was as good as hysterical.
The sound of someone thundering down the stairs marked the return of John. Rushing through the door the teen had a capped syringe in hand, on instinct he handed it to his mom. Biting the cap off, Sarah looked for a place to stick the needle.
"No … No … Keep that bitch away from me!" Ryan yelled in fear, squirming away from Sarah, causing blood to gush in between Cameron's fingers. The name calling only made the woman more determined to be the one to give him the shot herself. She moved to inject him when a hand caught her wrist. She turned to find Derek restraining her hand.
"Give it to me." He commanded holding his hand out.
Sarah snarled at the forceful command in his voice. When she didn't comply he took it out of her hand, turning away from her he handed it back to John.
"You need to get out of here." Derek looked back at Sarah.
Now she was truly outraged. She had never taken orders well and no matter what was going on Sarah Connor didn't obey commands being barked at her. Stubbornness overtook Sarah and she crossed her arms and shot a deadly look at Derek.
"You don't give me orders in my house …" she spat venom at the scruffy man.
"GET OUT!"
Everyone was startled at the tone of what was usually a monotonous and innocent voice yell out in what sounded like frustration. Turning the three uninjured human's sought out the cyborg that was the unmistakable owner of the harsh voice. Cameron was staring icicles at Sarah and regarded the woman with a look that said test me. Sarah was about to addresses the teen's tone when John spoke up.
"Mom … come on!" he shouted at her.
Anger and frustration at being considered the problem fumed from Sarah. She felt like everyone was silently accusing her of something she obviously didn't do. Seeing the glaring faces of her family Sarah gave a growl of disgust and stormed out of the room slamming the double glass doors behind her. Cameron watched Sarah leave before she looked back down at the soldier who was gazing back up at her.
SCANNING FOR FACIAL RECOGNITION …
65 PERCENT PARTIAL MATCH TO SELF
BLOOD TYPE: O NEGATIVE
CHROMOSOME MATCH TO TARGET JOHN CONNOR
ANALYSIS: FULLY GROWN SUBJECT PRODUCED THROUGH SELF COMMANDED USE OF GENERAL ORDER 66
The inside of an elegantly lit and decorated dining room that looked like something out of Bram Stoker's Dracula, or a gothic fairy tale, was quiet. The candles flickering on the table seemed to shadow the impatience that swelled amongst the three occupants of the room.
The woman at the head of the table was older, with poofy salt and pepper curls. She wore a black, skin-tight, plastic-like dress that pushed up her cleavage. She seemed to lounge back proudly, taking in the sight of the girl sitting to the side closest to the door. The teenage girl, with long, perfectly curled brunette hair wore a slinky silver dress. She sat shooting suspicious glances at the older woman.
On the other side of the table sat an early college-aged woman, her long black hair was pinned back and braided in places. She was fit in a white silk gown that played off her milky complexion beautifully. Her lips had a deep shade of red that gave the rest of her a look of purity, though her face was a mixture of fear and sadness.
The black haired youth's hand was held in the tight grip of an, extremely tall man with a brilliant, almost unrealistic, handsome face framed by shiny blond locks. His sleek and muscular body was covered by a grey and gold uniform specially tailored for him. There was an almost sense of vain superiority in his blue eyes as he played with a flickering candle, touching the tip of the flame with amusement.
"Darling, don't do that …" the older woman chastised the man with a whimsical sigh to her slurred English accent.
The man glared and huffed at her impatiently, turning irritably to the girl next to him. She broke her eye contact with the door long enough to give him a rough smile, to which he kissed her hand passionately.
"Ryan should have been here ten minutes ago …" Cameron spoke up coldly fixing the old woman with deadly contempt. The recipient of the accusation merely smiled and took a breadstick from a basket near her and bit into it.
"Come now, Bebe … I sent the T-800 to get him." She chewed and swallowed. "These things take time, especially when it comes to your own bebe." she winked and continued to munch. After a long moment there was a large thud from outside that startled the table. Commotion sounded loudly. "See, what mommy told you?" she sighed and ignored the sound of a plasma rifle going off. Cameron shot out of seat at the sound.
The door crashed open, and a T-800 head rolled into the room, a plasma hole through the eye. The sound of a struggle preceded the body of a shabby man with black curls and heavy stubble being thrown into the room. Ryan hit the wall and immediately got into a martial arts stance. A naked body builder came into vision taking a swing at the soldier. Ryan jerked out of the way, pushing the 800 into the wall with a loud slam, like a matador eluding a charging bull. The hands of another machine threw him onto the dining room table with a heavy landing that dumped candles and overturned glasses.
The officer groaned in pain as he lay flat on the end. Just as the machine advanced on the winded soldier, Cameron defensively walked in front of the young man. She gripped the terminators head and broke its neck, then with a frozen mask of death, she tossed it back into the wall. When three more endoskeletons arrived in the room they looked to advance on the mother and son. The sound of three distinct claps from the older woman at the head of the table halted them.
"That will be all for now." The woman ordered the machines away.
With a grunt, Ryan was helped to his feet, then held supported by Cameron. Squinting, the young man looked at the strange setting around him.
"I suddenly feel underdressed." He snarked, wrapping his arm snuggly around Cameron's waist, looking for an unrealized, residual childhood sense of safety in a new surrounding that he felt uncomfortable in.
"Welcome …" the older woman greeted.
"We would be delighted if you would join us Mr. Connor."
Sarah paced the floor over and over. She was angry at her family who had dismissed her from the dining room like a small child. She was even more frustrated that for some reason every time John sends someone back to help them, they end up mortally wounded on her kitchen table. But also Sarah was hurt; she always wanted to be feared, to make everyone scared that she could snap at any point, it gave her power over people and situations. However, she never wished to be feared the way the wounded man did, and more to the point, she may have a hardened heart but it was still a heart. So when the soldier called her names such as "Monster" and "Bitch" she would admit it stung her, especially from someone she couldn't help but care about.
She was wiping her glassy eyes when one of the double doors opened and Derek strode out. He did not give Sarah a glance as he disappeared outside, but not before he took a fire poker from the fireplace. John walked out of the room and toward his mother.
"Hey …" he said cautiously. Sarah fixed him with a withering glare for his dismissal of her earlier. John shuttered a little and shrank in it.
"How's he doing?" she asked, pressing her death glare.
"Cameron's got the bleeding stopped … for now." He answered with hesitation, looking back into the room. Sarah followed to find the girl keeping pressure on the wound. She seemed to have a deep concentration on the man who seemed to have passed out again.
"Hey … what he said about you … I'm sure he thought you were someone else." John did his best comforting voice, but Sarah instead just glared at him with a look of stubbornness.
"John!" Derek came back into the house holding the fire poker in a gloved hand. The tip of the iron instrument was glowing red and giving off heat. "Go hold him down." The man ordered his nephew.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sarah's chest felt like it was made of ice as she called in alarm at her roommate as John left her side.
"We can't move him so I'm going to close the wound the only way I know how." He stated evenly and brushed past her. She watched with horror when he walked into the room.
"Ryan … this is going to hurt." Sarah heard Cameron say in a docile tone taking his hand, while John held him down.
Without a warning there was a sound of a loud sizzle.
"GUHAH!"
The glass door was kick shut to muffle the scream.
A silver car drove up on the edge of a cliff-face parking lot. The view of the city was perfect, with all the skyscrapers in clear view accompanied by the little sparkling lights of the surroundings neighborhoods.
Jesse turned off her car and got out to look around for Riley. Suddenly, the shadow of a girl threw itself into Jesse's arms sobbing desperately.
"HE LEFT ME!" Riley screamed in tears, burying her face into Jesse's chest.
The Asian woman frowned in confusion at the jumbled mumbling from the girl. "Sweetie … what's going on?" She pried the girl off her and looked at her tear washed face. Riley just sobbed. Angrily, Jesse slapped Riley across the face. "Get a hold of yourself!" she shook the girl.
With tender sniffles Riley nodded and took a deep breath. The submarine commander felt that she had taken it over the line with the slap, so to reassure the girl she leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on the nasty red welt on Riley's cheek.
"Now tell me all that happened, baby." She gave her a motherly hug and slung an arm around the teen's waist.
"Well, we… we were at the dance and… and there was this clown there, and he was coming after Cameron when a soldier from the future in a black trench coat… He opened fire… and..." Riley started to cry again
Inwardly, Jesse felt like slapping the girl again for being so weak but outwardly, she simply shushed the girl. "Come on, sweetheart …" the woman rubbed the girl's bare arm warmly.
"John jumped to protect Cameron…" she sobbed. "He left me all alone… he didn't care if I got shot and died… when it mattered the most, he protected the machine." She buried her head into the crook of Jesse's neck.
"Damn it… it's already starting."
"It's okay, baby. We'll just have to push a little harder." Jesse said distractedly. Riley looked up into the petite woman's dark eyes.
"Jesse … you care about me, right?" The girl asked through a sniffle. It seemed the girl's entire life hung in the balance of her answer.
Jesse looked down and smiled broadly. "Oh, come on, you know I love you." She lied to the girl's fragile blue sparkling orbs. "Now tell me about this soldier that protected the machine?" Jesse pushed now, that she had Riley in a comfortable zone.
"The machine said that he was an officer like you and that he was going to stop the clown that was after her. He also referred to her as John's girlfriend." Talking about something else seemed to be helping Riley and it was a plus to Jesse that there was anger and hatred in the girl's voice.
Suddenly, Something turned in Jesse's mind, she couldn't fathom anyone wanting to protect Connor's little metal whore. Unless …
"What did this soldier look like?" she asked cautiously.
"He was tall, handsome, he had black curly hair like Sarah… Oh and he had this scar across his right eye." Riley described it by trailing her finger down her eye, to show the exact length and shape. She flinched at Jesse's dark look.
"Is there something wrong?" Riley asked.
"Looks like Connor and the whore's little Robin left the nest."
"When I got your message I got here as fast as I could."
Sarah had the door open, letting a haggard Charlie Dixon in the house. He looked like he had been in the middle of some "me" time when he haphazardly rushed out the door. His blue uniform shirt was open and his normal shoes seemed to clash with his black work pants. His EMS bag was slung over his shoulder.
"To tell the truth I didn't expect you to call… ever." He said, his eyes sparking with some long lost hope. There was something inside Sarah that was still drawn to that spark that Charlie had always had in him, but, at the same time, she knew that that was the past and this was now.
"What the hell is he doing here?"
Both Charlie and Sarah turned away from their intimate eye contact and toward Derek Reese, who had been on his way out of the dining room to have a small heart to heart with Sarah about things. Only to come in and find her making eyes with her ex, whom Derek hadn't, and probably never would approve of.
"Sarah asked me here." Charlie responded icily to the rugged man. "Said there was another injured guy on her dining room table." The paramedic's comment had an accusation laced in it, silently pointing at Derek's inability to do something about the situation.
"It's none of your concern." The soldier shot, crossing his arms in a show of defiance to Charlie's presence.
"No, it's my concern and it's my decision!" Sarah bared her teeth at the Reese boy.
"Oh yeah? Well he's one of my men and he's my responsibility… so that makes it my call." He shot back. Sarah was surprised and a little flabbergasted at the worry and defensiveness in Derek's voice. As if he was scared of anyone or anything he didn't know or trust to even go near the injured man.
"Are you really going to do this? There is a man's life on the line here!" Charlie shouted at Derek.
"Wouldn't be the first time." He responded with an experienced shrug.
There was a part of Sarah that wondered if this was what Derek was like with Kyle when he was sick or injured. That same look of hawk-like protectiveness and animal sense of territory of someone he viewed as his responsibility to make sure they made it out in one piece.
"This is ridiculous!" Charlie blurted out and moved forward, attempting to brush past Derek into the dining room.
On a dime, Derek turned and slammed the older man into the glass door frame, drew a pistol from the waist band of his jeans and pushed the barrel into the man's buzz-cut head.
"Test me… I dare you." There was no hesitation in the junior officer's voice, and little room for error from Charlie's end.
"Drop the weapon!" The click of a hammer cocking on a pistol sounded over the tense silence. Sarah pointed Ryan's scratched and scared chromed .45 at Derek. John rushed in and put himself right into Sarah's line of fire.
"Mom, lower the gun." He commanded, pointing at her forcefully. She immediately lowered the weapon in the fear of hitting John. Next he turned to Derek.
"Derek, let him go." He ordered calmly. There was a familiar gruff and mature tone to John's voice that inspired immediate obedience from the lieutenant. He pushed off the paramedic and removed the gun.
"This is your last get out of jail free card… garbage man." Derek warned Charlie as he returned the gun to his waistband. Sarah hated the nickname Derek had for Paramedics.
John glared at his uncle, but gave a nod in which he silently promised he would watch Charlie, though he believed he wouldn't need to. After a beat, he led the man inside the room where Cameron still stood in her underwear. She held the injured soldier's hand with a look of disbelief, almost as if the machine was having a hard time believing the injured soldier actually existed at all.
The living room was silent with lingering tension as Derek and Sarah stood alone. Slowly, murder creeped into the beautiful woman's hardened pools of emerald, as if unsure what she was doing, she raised the Colt and pointed it at the man in front of the dining room doorway. Derek reacted with surprise at this threat.
"You gonna shoot me?" He asked with a turn, squaring his shoulders to give her a better shot. Sarah glared at the action.
"I'd talk me out of it." She warned. Derek shook his head.
"Oh no … I'm not going to, but I wanna know why?" He pushed, taking several steps toward her. The woman unconsciously took several backwards.
"You threatened Charlie…" She closed her eyes at the emptiness to her excuse. Derek continued to move forward, while Sarah moved back till she was pressed with her back against the front door. The barrel of the well-used weapon was digging into Derek's chest.
"Quit the bullshit. You're not going to shoot me." Derek's tone was so even that, with all the blood roaring in her ears, it sounded to Sarah as if he was whispering. He then turned to walk away. A flame of passion burned right through Sarah, and before she knew it she had Derek by his long sleeve and slammed his back against the door.
"What makes you say that?" She growled aggressively, trying not to notice how close their faces were. Derek soulful eyes didn't portray a cent of emotion as he snorted dismissively at the question.
"Because of this…" Derek motioned his head toward the weapon pressed into his diaphragm. "This is you going through the motions. Pretending to be outraged, trying to act out how you think you should react to what happened." His voice was low, and his hands were slowly moving hers apart, pushing the barrel away from him.
"And why would I do that?" she whispered, their lips where just inches apart.
Derek didn't reply, his hand reached up and touched her hair, feeling the curls intertwine in his fingers. Sarah shook her head getting his palm on her cheek. It was like a lighting strike to feel her skin against his, a jolt of Passion and need shuttered through her, making her gasp at the contact against her skin. The pistol dropped with a thud as she pulled him against her suddenly.
The kiss was just like their last. It was soul consuming, and Sarah felt as if electricity was crackling around them like a TDE bubble. She nearly lost herself in him. She tried to fight the warm and complete feelings swelling in her chest. That feeling was linked to a dream, a dream of a happy ending with a white picket fence, and of a real home with a man's love. It was something that hurt to dream about. It was a Dream she never thought she would have with Derek Reese of all people, but she couldn't deny the chemistry, the passion, and that right feeling she had holding him like she was.
Trying to pull out of the passionate connection that she never thought she could ever have with anyone else was like trying to wake up early on a lazy Sunday. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled on the back his hair, forcing him to break the kiss before it was too late. He was as breathless as she was. She rubbed her smooth, milky cheek against his hard stubble and pressed her lips close to his ear panting softly and sweetly.
"I want you to get out of my house." She whispered dangerously, hating him for what he was doing to her, for breaching her defenses for that one perfect moment.
Derek nodded with a sobering look of the same confusion plaguing Sarah. He looked as surprised at what he had done as she was. When he finally stepped back there was softness in his hazel green eyes as he regarded her. He wanted to say something, but instead walked back and collected his jacket, balking again with parting words. She closed the door as soon as he walked out, though she let her hand linger on the base of the door a moment.
"Mom …"
Sarah looked up to see John standing several feet away; his face seemed sympathetic as if he could somehow read her longing pain.
"How long have you been standing there?" She cleared her throat, composing herself.
"Not long…" He shrugged gingerly. Sarah saw right through her Child's tell and knew he was lying. However, she spared him and herself the details of what had just happened, and the fact that he hadn't seen that look of pure love on her face in his entire life.
"Charlie wants you." John folded his arms. The comment struck Sarah like a bat, and a small river of hollow obligation rushed through her.
"What I mean is … our patient might need a blood transfusion, and you two are almost an exact match according to Cameron." He corrected himself maybe a little too quickly when he saw her stricken look.
She nodded her head, and started toward the dining room with John at her side.
John had felt ashamed that he didn't have the faith in his mother, but now he was impressed. Despite what the stranger had done in his delirium, causing Sarah to be sent out of the room, she still volunteered to donate some of her blood.
John watched from the kitchen, leaning on the doorway. Sarah sat in a chair in a ratty, thread-bare tank top and blue windbreaker pants, her gray cut up sweatshirt tossed to the side. A plastic tube stuck out of her inner elbow as blood traveled through the clear device and into the unconscious man who was still wheezing. His lower chest was puffy and red around the edges of the black burn where Derek had cauterized his wound.
A sense of overwhelming relief overcame john when he realized that the captain was out of the woods. He felt like he owed him not only for saving Cameron, but Fighting off Skynet's monster so that she could getaway. It was somewhat of a surprise to John to see someone from the future give it all to protect a machine; he couldn't imagine Derek doing something like that for his protector.
Turning to the girl in question he found Cameron standing by the man's side, holding his hand tightly as she had since just before the cauterization. There was an unreadable look on her face, which made John curious of what she was thinking about. He pondered if she was also somehow grateful to the soldier for saving her life. The young hero also found it interesting how in Ryan's moments of fear and confusion that he would reach out to Cameron for comfort and consolation. Even more to the point, how she had answered, taking his hand and keeping herself in his eyesight.
John looked to Cameron's scantily clad exterior and cleared his throat.
"Cameron why don't you go upstairs and change into some clothes, you're probably cold." He suggested eyeing her with a once over.
She squinted at her best friend and turned back to the man.
"I don't believe that's necessary … I'm fine here." She answered in a docile reassurance.
"Do what he says girlie." Sarah glared, clearly being of the firm opinion that it was much better when she wore clothes. The cyborg hesitated at the command.
"He might wake up …" She claimed.
If John didn't know better he would've thought that his protector's attitude mirrored that of a new born baby's mother, scared to move two feet away, because of the uncertainty of a second that her charge would spend alone.
"If he does than we'll give him another sedative." Sarah argued back.
Cameron looked at Ryan, who was in a less than peaceful slumber. Reluctantly she unhanded him and walked out of the room. Silently John slipped into the kitchen unseen and used the main entrance to pursue Cameron.
Alone in the room Sarah sat observing the soldier on the table, feeling every movement she made was walking on egg shells to avoid triggering another freak out.
"So this guy is another time traveler?" Charlie asked with his arms folded. Sarah nodded and sighed, feeling a little light headed from the blood transfer. Charlie sneered slightly at him. "I'm starting to sense a pattern of jackassery from Johnny's soldier boys here." He snorted in amusement, remembering the unpleasant exchange in the diner several weeks back.
"They all seem to have a chip on their shoulder." She agreed, shifting her weight on the hard kitchen chair. Sarah could tell Charlie was watching her, and she couldn't handle that look he was giving her. It was a look that said he was all chips in when it came to this life, when it came to her. But, every time she thought about it, all she could think about was Derek and those kisses that took all of her and her feelings. Sensing the discomfort Charlie decided to check her blood pressure.
"You're almost done… I need to get something out of the truck." He placed his hand on her bare shoulder before leaving. Sarah stared at her shoulder, knowing that his touch should be enough, that a year ago it was all she wanted to go back to, but now …
"She … she needs me." Sarah saw that Ryan was muttering in his coma. She gingerly shushed him, trying to avoid any distinction in her voice.
"No… she's in trouble… I have to protect her, she's my last hope." He fought her consolation.
"Who?" Sarah tried to understand what was going on in his fevered mind.
"I got to save … got to save …" He blindly reached out his hand. Not knowing why, she reached out and took the wandering hand in hers. "You." A tear streaked from his left eye when his hazed eyes opened and saw her face.
She couldn't understand why, but her eyes glassed over. "It's okay … I'm alright." She pressed his hand to her cheek to let him feel that what she was saying was true.
"I'll be safe, now."
She leaned down and planted a small chaste kiss for comfort.
It was dark ascent to the upstairs floor of the two-storied Baum home, but John didn't mind. As he reached the top, he saw that all of the lights to on the floor were off. Despite the darkness there were distinct sounds of shuffling and moving around. With a knowing smile he walked farther down the hall and into Cameron's room.
Inside, all the lights of her room were shut off, however a brilliant and broad beam of moonlight was shining into the middle of the pink bedroom. In front of the window, Cameron stood at the sill, watching outside. She was clad in a tight, long silk, strappy nightgown. She hadn't washed the makeup off her face, and due to some trick she had once explained to him her curls hadn't fallen out. She took his breath away and he hadn't even seen her face yet.
"Hello John" she deadpanned without looking back.
"Hey" he smiled leaning against the door frame.
"It's still outside." She observed silently. John chuckled lightly at her statement.
"It's been known to happen." He said in an off-hand manner, with a slight turn of his head. Cameron nodded in agreement.
"You killed someone tonight." She stated, neither pulling any punch nor turning to face him. John's light mood turned cold and he shifted uncomfortably.
"That thing wasn't a person." He corrected her with a twinge of hatred.
"Either way you risked your life again to save mine …" she was unmoving, unchanging in her tone.
Her comment unearthed something he had desperately tried to bury. He saved her life twice now, just like she had saved his. He wasn't keeping score, to him it was just what they do, what friends do, what people who …
"I would do it again in a heartbeat." He walked into the room trying to be as bold as his statement, to show her that he was a man of action.
"I know you would …" Cameron wasn't flinching or hesitant of her knowledge of this fact. "That is why I can't trust you." She followed it up.
The young man couldn't have been hurt more if she had taken a sludge hammer to his testicles. There was that phrase about trust again and oh how John hated it.
"What part don't you get of that is what people who … people who love each other do, they protect one another." He ranted to the statuesque, ethereal beauty. A part of John couldn't believe that he had just said that to her, yet another was telling him it was about time.
"I can't allow that." She addressed his point stoically.
"Well that is just too damn bad, isn't it?" he spat at her.
"John, my mission is to protect you. Yet you impede it by making rash decisions when I'm endangered." She displayed no emotion to her reasoning.
"That's what people do when they care for someone."
"But I'm not a someone, I'm an it."
"No … don't you go there."
"John"
"Cameron, don't say it."
"I'm a machine."
"Cameron!"
"I'm programmed to protect you. I know nothing of love or care. I protect you and nothing more, because I am nothing more than what a program allows me to be. I'm sorry John." Her voice was unemotional and there were no flaws to her tone, not even an unsure whimper.
"How …" a tear slid down his cheek. "How can you say that to me? After all that you have said, after all we've been through and done tonight. How could you say that to me?" John's voice growled in frustration, holding back pain that could possibly leave him in a fetal ball. Cameron paused a moment.
"I told you what you needed to hear, to keep you away from danger." She replied coolly.
"No …" John gritted. "No … that's what you're doing to yourself right now! You're scared of what you feel because it's not natural. You're telling yourself what you want to hear so that you don't have to face it. Go on ahead … try to convince yourself, but you don't fool me … you're not an It, you're a coward!" He walked out of her room, slamming the door.
Steady streams of tears ran down Cameron's face.
"Goodbye John."
Sarah bandaged her arm in her bedroom, a half-eaten stack of cookies on a napkin where on her night stand. Her mind was elsewhere, than on her task.
It had been a tough night for her. Still recovering from a virus, she was worried nearly to death when John rushed into a dangerous situation. Then just as she got him back, she was thrown into assisting on the care of a Resistance fighter she thought that she might be falling for a little bit. While also finally realizing what her feelings for her not-so-distant brother in-law meant.
It was plain to the thoroughly tired woman that she was in fact, for the first time since she was eighteen, in love with someone. It was true that she had loved Charlie, but even when she wore his ring she always had one foot out the door. But with Derek, there would be no running this time, and if she committed, she was full in. But she knew it wasn't right. What would Kyle say to her if he were here, what would John say to find out that she was in love with another Reese. She couldn't trust herself or him.
This night was a perfect example of why she couldn't love him. He had kept secrets about the mystery Tech-Com officer, about where he's been the last several months, about why he always smelled lightly of perfume and sex, and he had lied about killing Andy. Sarah couldn't possibly be in love with someone who had lied to her so much, but then what makes her any different.
"No" She shook her head defiantly.
"Hey …" Turning she saw Charlie standing at her doorway. "The machine … Cameron is moving your guy into her room, is that cool?" he asked tossing his thumb behind him. Sarah shrugged passively.
"She doesn't use the bed, I don't see why not." She answered shortly. The bandage unraveled for a third time, causing her to growl in frustration.
"Let me help you with that." Charlie smiled at her. He walked up, took her arm and began to wrap it correctly. Sarah watched him work with a helpful smile that could be misconstrued as teasing. It was something she loved about him, but now it seemed so hollow as if it was a part of another life belonging to a familiar stranger.
"No, this is who it should be; this should be the man you love, you should be fighting to get back to. He's honest, loves you and your son. He's not a tortured fighter who lies and is the brother of your Soldier."
"You okay?" Charlie broke her musing; he placed a worried hand on her cheek. Her eyes watered as he stroked the sensitive skin.
"I'll show you … this is what you want."
Sarah leaned in and kissed Charlie hungrily with a sense of urgency. At first he returned the kiss, receiving what he had been wanting back for eight years now. However, he stopped when he felt desperation in her touch and kiss, as if she were rushing.
"Sarah, are you sure this is what you want?" he asked sensing something off about her.
"See he cares"
The woman walked over to her door and closed it. Then when she returned, Sarah grabbed the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head, revealing a creamy satin bra that fit her bust beautifully. Next she slid off her wind breaker pants, exposing matching satin panties. Charlie was speechless at her actions. She watched him a moment, and when he didn't react, she walked past him and laid flat on the bed posing herself in an inviting manner.
"Charlie … please." She begged slightly. "I need you." She nodded, her voice breaking.
He gave it another moment, then he sank down on the bed kissing her again. This time he didn't break off, or give anything another thought. He kissed down her neck, nibbling on her sensitive skin as he removed his EMS shirt. She let out a content breath at his attack of her sensitive spot. Now on top he began kissing down her chest, stopping to nip and suck at her covered nipples. Quickly he unhooked her bra and it joined the pile of clothing.
"This is the way it's supposed to be. This is who and what you're fighting for."
"What am I doing?"
It had been a long time since Derek Reese had sat on top of a car hood near this highway sign counting the familiar street lights of a lost desert road used as a short cut by tired truckers.
It was a place his father had shown Derek when he was in kindergarten. He and his father had spent a lot of time in this spot in the days when it was his dad's time to have him during his parent's brief separation. That, however, had changed quickly when his mother became pregnant; the too-young couple had snapped back like a rubber band at the news of the upcoming child. It was another reason Derek loved Kyle so much, if it wasn't for him their parents may never have been reminded why they loved each other.
As a teen, Derek often came here by himself and watched the semis blow by. It was a good place to think, and get his head right on the problems plaguing his life; most of the time it was about a girl. But, Sarah Connor wasn't the same as some preppy airhead named Tori Martin who didn't like his DJ work. He looked down the empty darkened road and sighed.
There was a voice in the back of Derek's head demanding to know what he thought he was doing. He had a girlfriend that loves him, that saved his life in his time of need. So why play romantic chicken with Sarah? He ignored the voice in his mind that sounded vaguely like his mother. It told him that the reason was that he had needed Jesse back then. She had kept him sane and given him a connection to the humanity he had all but given up on when he lost Kyle. But now that he had come to 2007, and found Sarah, he felt she was the woman that all the roads in his life led him to and that every experience and trauma had prepared him for. Essentially she was the one and only for Derek. He could fight it, and be pissed about it, but that was just fact.
"What does Freud say about guys who want to punch their moms for high jacking their son's consciousness?"
Sighing, Derek rubbed his face tiredly. He knew that the time for games and putting things off were over, and that he had to choose. It was an easy choice for his heart, but tough on his reasoning, with so many strings and complications, but he couldn't think of someone more worth it.
He jumped off the hood and walked around to the driver's side. He was willing to fighting his way through a hail of lead being fired at him by the woman to whom he just wanted to say three words, that could make or break the rest of his life.
"Goodnight, Derek"
The sound of a cold, autonomous, mechanical voice greeted him as he turned the corner to his front door. The figure was petite and had a sleek feminine build. She wore skin tight blue jeans tucked into black combat boots. A black padded, collarless motorcycle jacket covered her entire slim body, and a shiny blood-red helmet with shaded framed eye slits sat covering her entire head.
Derek froze at the sudden appearance of the stranger. The red masked female snapped back a black gloved hand, and threw it at the soldier
Crack!