Title: Patchwork Girl

Author: Elessar-4-TnT

Disclaimer: I don't own Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Summary: It has been way too long. I apologize, I run a Trip and T'Pol Enterprise fanfiction site and we have been redesigning it. Very time consuming, in addition to 60 yr weeks. I hope two chapters is enough to make it up :).

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Chapter 9

She was only three… maybe four.

Her mother's hair fell around arms as she gripped the wheel, the wind throwing it around as the radio played. Allison was far too young to understand what it meant to be 'so California', but the way her mother bubbled when she sang made her smile. There's no face, just music… just…

Flashes of sunlight in her eyes. Joy.

A few moments later, a breath of air surrounds her again. She's in a leather seat. Something bright glows and twinkles as she is shifted back and forth. They move together with the gentle sway of a highway on the coast. A breeze renders her soft brown hair weightless, flowing around her ears like her mother's loving hands. Allison's head barely sits high enough to see above the windshield, but she knows the sun is on the water. The sky is growing darker, and the music begins to fade. Looking frightfully at her mother, she's terrified to find someone else in her place. An adult woman with familiar hair, pale cheeks, and eyes… Her eyes were cold and empty; there's no music there, only a terrifying blue circle.

Her mother was California… she would have been, but the rising mushroom clouds in the distance ended that. The angelic voice in her ears fades away with a darkening sky and raging winds. She remembers flying.

Springing from bed, Allison yelped aloud as the cold sewer air crept in around her.

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"Cameron killed her," Derek added to the tale of a young, scared, and helpless survivor he and John had once found, together, while combing the rubble of the north shopping district in Valencia. He retired the pistol cast towards Cameron into the loop of his belt, leaving himself at John's mercy. Connor sighed and lowered his weapon, resisting a groan as he felt his head begin to pound.

"No I didn't," Cameron said.

"Yes, you did!" Derek shouted, jamming a finger at her. "Connor told me! She was on a scout party, looking for this new model we'd all been hearing about!"

"Remind me why any of this matters?" Sarah asked, blinking through a wave of nauseating pain as her bandages began to bleed red once again.

"Because she killed this girl to infiltrate our camp, to get close to Connor and kill him!"

"That's not true." Cameron replied. "That's just what John told everyone."

John's brow drew together curiously. "They must have hated you," he said just above a whisper. "Why would he… I, tell everyone that?"

"It was my idea," she confessed, her chin falling slightly. "Because it was better than telling them the truth… that she deserted them. When we caught her, she tried to make a deal. She was scared."

Derek shook his head, grinding his jaw, vainly hoping for a way to express his fury that wouldn't get him shot. His mind wandered to the words he'd once left for Jesse as she headed out to sea on a dangerous mission: aim for the chip.

Sarah sighed and turned away, hobbling away down the hall.

"Where are you going?" John asked. His mother turned slowly, steadying herself against the wall.

"I'm going to sleep. You can argue about this all you want…" she shook her head. "It doesn't change what we have to do."

It might, John thought. Secrets of the future seemed to hinge the wrought-iron seals that held secrets of the present.

"She was… loved, cared for by many people…" Cameron began to explain.

Derek nodded in agreement, though he still refused to believe she could have betrayed them.

"Everyone loved her."

"John thought it would hurt morale if it was known that she ran away… There may even have been a mutiny."

"Why?" John demanded, stepping closer to Cameron as he defended his future self. "Why blame me?"

"Because you knew she was going and you didn't stop her," Cameron said, the words slipping from her lips with curiosity, without understanding. She searched his eyes for it. "You wanted her to be free."

"Free?" John asked. Cameron ignored his question.

"I showed up the next day… looking like her…" Cameron said. "It wasn't hard to convince everyone that SkyNet captured her. That I her took appearance to infiltrate the resistance and assassinate you. The hardest part was convincing them that you managed to stop me and reprogram me."

"Wait a second…" Derek demanded as his whole world turned upside inside his head. "You're saying you were not there to kill Connor? That you have never been reprogrammed?" Derek snorted in disbelief.

"I was never reprogrammed," she answered simply.

"Then why were you there? Why did you take her appearance? Why the hell am I even listening to this?" Derek wondered aloud, turning and pacing into the kitchen. "This is stupid." He announced finally, going into the cupboard to get a drink.

"That information is only for John Connor."

John sighed. "I can't think in here. Let's go."