John Denver

"Sarah?"

Sarah Connor's hands involuntarily tightened around the handle of her shopping cart as her pulse skyrocketed. Relax. There are probably millions of Sarah's in Seattle. She took a calming breath and continued down the aisle. Sighing inwardly she reached for some maple syrup, the fake kind, I can't understand why John prefers this to the real thing—

"Sarah Connor!"

Sarah froze. Hand almost to the Aunt Jemima, her mind ran through the emergency checklist instantly. John: in the produce section. Weapons: Glock 21 tucked under my jacket at the small of my back, hunting knife strapped to my ankle. Exits: Front of the store…impractical, they probably already have a perimeter set up if they are confronting us. Loading dock it is then. She spun around, one hand on the venerable plastic lady, the other whipping up behind her back to reach her gun. Her eyes scanned the aisle like a feral animal searching for the threat. She was met with the smiling face of a blond woman who looked slightly older than she was. Standing to the woman's left and slightly behind her was a young boy who couldn't be much older than John…

Sarah did something totally out of character; she hesitated.

"I thought that was you!" The woman beamed as she and the boy moved closer.

Sarah tensed even further.

Sensing what she thought was confusion from the lack of recognition, Nicole smiled and said "Sarah it's me, Nicole. Nicole Daniels."

Sarah's eyes remained blank

"As in Nicole Daniels daughter of your mother's sister, Betty Daniels?" it was more of a question than a statement. Nicole shook her head slightly from side to side while smiling "Ring any bells?"

Recognition hit Sarah like a truck. The years and the craziness that was her life melted away in an instant and she was 17 sitting around a campfire with the entire Daniels clan. Her father, who had yet to progress past the "happy drunk" phase into his trademark depressed and asocial drunk state, was telling the assorted children of the family a ghost story. Sarah was sitting near the back of the group next to a cousin she had met for the first time less than 3 days earlier. While she had initially protested this family reunion, it was on a dude ranch for Christ's sakes, Sarah was glad her family had finally made it to one of these. She loved the familial spirit that pervaded her mother's kin and was delighted to find that she had clicked with her younger cousin immediately. The blond 15 year old was focusing intensely but it was obviously not on her inebriated father's yarn. Sarah followed her gaze to the handsome ranch hand standing with a group of men at a smaller fire off to her left.

"Don't even think about it Nicole."

"Why, you got dibs on him or something?" shot back Nicole teasingly

"Absolutely not! He is almost 10 years older than you, remember that."

"Hey, I like older men, sue me!" Nicole giggled

"Yeah, well, there is such a thing as too old kiddo," Sarah chuckled. "Besides I think you are just starved for some non-computer geek boys. Living in Silicon Valley must make the man selection rather homogeneous."

"Wow an SAT word, nice. Sounds like you would fit right in with my "computer-geek friends."

Sarah shrugged, "Sorry lil cuz, technology just isn't my thing."

"Well in that case Sarah, I think that you had better take a stroll over to that campfire and sample some of the 'local fare'. That cowboy is probably living a life as far removed from technology as possible in today's world… and he has been sneaking glances at you all day."

Sarah let out a laugh loud enough to disturb her father's story drawing startled looks from the younger cousins. Sarah forced a quiet "Sorry" and ducked her head. Nicole was red with silent laughter. The older girl turned towards her partner in crime and in a much lower voice, "Just cause I'm not a technology fan doesn't mean I want the whole John Denver experience."

"You mean 5am cow milking doesn't appeal to you Sarah?"

Sarah reached over and gave her cousin a playful shove, "Let's just say country roads won't be taking me home anytime soon little girl."

Sarah blinked. How long have I been standing here? She focused her attention back onto the woman in front of her who had a concerned look on her face.

"Sarah? Are you ok?"

Sarah let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Before she could stop herself Sarah whispered "Country roads won't be taking me home."

Nicole's face broke out into a huge grin. "I KNEW it was you."

***

Ugh, where is she? Thought John Connor as he walked briskly down the back aisle of the supermarket, snapping his head left as he passed the terminus of each row of shelving looking for his mother. Excuse me sir I seem to have lost my mother, you haven't seen anyone mumbling about the end of the world or perhaps attacking your automated checkout lines have you? John winced. While that wasn't fair to his mother it also wasn't that unlikely a scenario. Finally as he looked up aisle 11 he saw his mother. Her back was to him and she looked like she was talking with a lady and her son.

"Uh oh," he murmured.

John hurried his way towards his mom, his head racing with possible reasons she was actually talking to stranger… none of them gave him any comfort. As he got closer he saw his mother seemed stiffer than normal and his mind raced. Shit. Shit! Mom keep it together! She is a stranger. We are in a public place. She doesn't recognize you, she isn't a threat. She has a kid with her for fuck's sake! John was less than five feet from her when the other woman stepped forward and embraced Sarah tightly.

"I can't believe it! What happened to you? Where have you been? It's been so long! How are you?" the words poured from the woman's mouth like rounds from a minigun, verbal diarrhea as Derek referred to it, "especially virulent among women" he had said with a grin.

John shook his head and focused back on the scene developing in front of him. The woman had slowed down some. "You look fantastic! You don't look a day over 30! I cannot believe you are 2 years older than me!" IRONY thought John amusedly. The machine bent on the destruction of humanity had invented the closest thing to the fountain of youth the world had yet seen.

John cleared his throat, "Uh… Mom?"

Sarah disengaged herself from Nicole and turned slightly to face John.

"Oh, uh John this is Nicole she is, uh… shit I always get confused with relatives she is-"

"Your first cousin once removed."

Sarah turned to look at who has spoken. The boy with eyes even greener than her son's was smiling at them. "That is assuming he is your son and that I have not made an error in presumption."

Oh shit, he's got to be metal. Nobody talks like that, thought John. He desperately wished that he hadn't left his gun with the thermite rounds in the truck.

"Thank you Kyle," said Nicole before John could evaluate their options. "Sarah, this is my son Kyle."

Kyle smiled at Sarah, "Hello."

"Nice to meet you Kyle. Nicole, Kyle, this is my son John. John Reese." She was looking directly into John's eyes and saw the fear rising.

WHAT IS SHE DOING?! She NEVER uses old identities; I thought she learned her lesson in Red Valley!

"Pleasure to meet you John."

John took her outstretched hand slowly, "Likewise."

"Sarah you can fill me in on the past later, what are you doing in Seattle? Please don't tell me you live here! I would never forgive myself if I found out family was living in my city and I was oblivious to the fact." Nicole gushed

"Uh," Sarah paused for the briefest of moments, her life on the run had made her fairly adept at whipping up stories at a moment's notice, "No, no. We are just passing through. We were visiting friends in Vancouver for the past two weeks. We are on our way back home." Sarah glanced down to her shopping cart. Shit. Just passing though huh? So why a shopping cart of food? She put her hand to her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "Sorry, that was this morning's itinerary. John's uncle has insisted that we stay for a few days so that he can look up some of his old army buddies. I couldn't really find an excuse to say no, so here we are."

Nice save thought John as he glanced from his mother to Nicole to…Kyle. The kid was staring at his mother with an almost imperceptible look of hurt in his eyes. What the fuck?

Nicole beamed at Sarah, "That's wonderful news! You must have dinner with us tonight. I want you to meet my whole family!" She paused, "I can't believe that I am standing here talking with you! It's been…God 24, 25 years?"

Sarah sighed inwardly here was just another example of what Skynet had taken from her, "Yeah… something like that..."

"Your side of the family kinda fell of the grid after that reunion. I tried to get in touch but," a deep sadness washed across Nicole's face for a split second, "I guessed you didn't want to be found."

Sarah fought back tears. This was her life. Either getting people killed or hurting the ones she loved because of the machines' obsession with her son. She hadn't thought about Nicole once since the day Kyle Reese entered her life. Hell, she barely thought about her mother. He life, her focus… her mission was her son. She didn't resent him, but every so often she wished the burden of being the mother of mankind's salvation were someone else's.

Her brain leapt into overdrive, feigning a sigh Sarah began in a soft voice, "I know…. Nicole I am so sorry! About a month after that reunion my father died and my mother kind of retreated into herself. I was adrift both emotionally and financially so I enlisted in the army." Nicole furrowed her brow in shock, but Sarah continued, "I went through basic training and was about to enter OCS when I was approached by a," she paused for effect, "division of the CIA." She said as if trying to be careful. Nicole's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "I spent the next few years doing things that I can't talk about for this country. When I found out I was pregnant I quit the agency but not before I was forced to assume a new identity for both my safety and the safety of the people I worked with. Since then I really haven't been able to go back to my old life, and with both parents deceased I thought it safer for everyone if I let my ties to my previous life…fade away." She smiled a genuinely sad, tired, smile that conveyed to Nicole that this woman felt she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Shit mom, you are getting WAY to good at this thought John as he smiled inwardly. That story wouldn't fool anybody actually associated with the military or the intelligence agencies, but any civilian would have no problem eating that up. He looked at his mom then at Nicole then at Kyle. There it is again! Why does he look at her like that when she is lying? At least I know he isn't a terminator, they would never risk letting anyone know they knew a lie was being told, hell it wouldn't matter, they would just torture the person to be sure. This is weird.

He awoke from his reverie as Nicole handed Sarah a piece of paper. "This is our address, shall we say dinner at 7 o'clock?"

Sarah wanted to say no, she wanted to run. She knew that by accepting this simple invitation she could and would put Nicole and her family at risk… but she needed this. She needed something to reach out for and to hold on to, if only for a moment. Something that was real, normal, and non-metal related. Perhaps it was selfish but Sarah wasn't thinking like that. She had already justified herself. I need this. As the mother of mankind I need this. And if anything happens we have Derek, Myself, and Tin-Miss to protect them. She smiled. This family has no idea what they have invited into their home and I swear to all things holy they never will. "Seven sounds perfect."

John knew better than to argue. They had said their goodbyes, Kyle and Nicole had resumed shopping and he and his mother had checked out. They were walking towards the car. "Mom, wh-"

"Not a word John Connor." She said as she turned to face him. "I need this, we need this. I just want one evening, just one where we can be normal and see family, family that I had pretty much forgotten I had! Christ, this life has changed me so much!" her last sentence was spoken more to herself than to John as she looked away. She brushed a tear out of her eye and turned back to her smiling son, "What?"

Grinning from ear to ear John said, "I was just going to ask where we parked."

***

Kyle was walking slowly behind Nicole, fully aware how happy she was. She didn't speak about her family very often but he could see she was ecstatic about reconnecting with a part of it. He understood completely. Family was the most important part of his life. Just having Lori away at school was hard enough on him, and she was only 3 hours away by plane. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to never see her again, or Josh or … Jessi. He smiled; at least he knew he would never lose Jessi like that. She wouldn't let him "fall off the grid" as Nicole had called it and vice versa. At this point he doubted that either of them could hide from the other for very long.

But this was what was troubling him. He saw how happy Nicole was and he didn't know how to tell her that almost every word out of her cousin's mouth was a lie.