Author's notes:

Tom 67 – Don't give up on Cameron yet. She's definitely not a quitter.

LadyKryptonite294 – I'm glad you liked the ending, even if it is angsty. Let's see how you like a happy ending for this chapter. :)

DR1812 – Well, since you have threatened me with death, I guess I will give them a happy ending. :) Just kidding. I'd give them one anyway. No real angst in this chapter.

King Steve – Nice insight. You're right about Cameron's response. Being a machine, she doesn't know exactly what she's feeling. And yes, the "are you anything but a weapon" is reference to Serenity. (such a great movie. Go River!)

Augustus Paladin Maximus – Sorry for causing any "pain". I think I know what you mean. I don't think there's any "cow killing" in this chapter.

Pointzip73 – There are going to be nine chapters.

Chapter Five:

Taming of the Shrew

Cameron entered her hotel room before Riley returned. John's words had hurt. He was angry, and that was unacceptable.

Ms. Darbus had announced that dinner would be in nine minutes. Cameron scanned the room. It was cold out, so she grabbed her purple leather jacket. She spotted Riley's own heavy coat hanging behind the door and cocked her head, staring at it.

Riley would need her coat. Misplacing the coat would make Riley angry. An angry Riley is not good company for John. Cameron grabbed the coat and walked into the hall. After performing a visual scan to make sure Riley was not in the vicinity yet, she walked over to the cleaning lady's cart and stuffed Riley's coat into a bucket of cleaning solution.

Smiling in satisfaction, she walked back downstairs where the students were gathering to go to dinner.

When they arrived at Pizza Hut, Cameron could tell that John was still angry with her. Riley was too. The girl was shivering from the cold, even after putting an extra sweatshirt on. Cameron watched as John took off his own coat and put it around her shoulders. Riley blushed and smiled and Cameron stiffened.

Unexpected behavior on John's part.

John gave her an unfriendly glare. He knew exactly who had taken Riley's jacket and he wasn't happy about it. Cameron looked away. John was making this difficult.

*********

After dinner at Pizza Hut, Ms. Darbus announced that they had an hour of free time before they had to get to the next production. John was still frustrated with Cameron after the stunt at the restaurant. Why was she targeting Riley? She couldn't feel jealous, so it didn't make any sense. He was still contemplating when he entered the hallway to see Riley coming out of her room. His eyes were instantly drawn to her jacket, a very familiar jacket. He felt his blood run cold and he hastily looked around to make sure the jacket's owner was not in the hallway.

"Is that Cameron's jacket?" he demanded.

Riley looked perturbed at John's tone. "Hey, ease up, Jumpy, she took mine first…"

John felt a wave of panic. Cameron had killed the last guy to steal her beloved jacket. Despite his explicit order not to murder Riley, this could be a deciding factor for Cameron to attempt a termination that she probably stayed up at night planning.

"Take it off now," he ordered. "Hurry."

Riley stared at him puzzled. "Why?"

Cameron suddenly turned around the corner, spotting John and Riley. She stalked forward slowly, eyes on Riley.

"That's why," John muttered.

"My jacket," Cameron said stonily. "Give it to me."

Riley cocked an eyebrow. "Come and get it."

Cameron took a step forward, planning on doing exactly what Riley suggested, and John quickly stepped between them. "Hey, wait. Cameron, stop."

Cameron stood still, eyes never leaving Riley. John turned back to her.

"Riley, give it to her," he said slowly.

Riley looked less than happy, but she removed the jacket and tossed it to Cameron, who caught it without taking her eyes off Riley.

"Riley, why don't you go wait downstairs?" John suggested. Riley was about to protest, but saw John's pleading look and Cameron's stony stare. She nodded in mute agreement. As soon as she was gone, John turned to Cameron, furious now.

"Why did you do that?"

"She stole my leather jacket," Cameron replied calmly, as if that excused her actions.

"So you were going to kill her?" John demanded.

"It's my leather jacket."

"What is with you and that jacket?"

"It's my favorite jacket. Everyone who touches it dies."

"Yeah, I know. My mother told me. What if she were to touch it?"

"It's against my programming to harm Sarah Connor," Cameron replied.

"And Derek?"

"Derek would die if he touched it."

John held back a smile. "What about me? Would you kill me if I touched it?"

"No. My mission is to protect you. You can touch it as much as you like."

John flushed and looked away. "I told you not to kill Riley."

"I wasn't going to kill her."

"No, just torture her?"

"She has an 86% chance of surviving a fall from the second floor."

John scowled. "New rule. Do not do anything to physically hurt Riley. Okay? Nothing. Especially dropping her off the second story. Understand?"

"Yes. I understand."

"Good," John growled.

**********

John couldn't understand himself. One minute he was ticked off at Cameron for being a machine and the next he was unconsciously searching for her in the crowd of students entering the Stratford Theater. She doesn't deserve this, he told himself. It wasn't her fault she didn't understand human emotions. He shouldn't be taking his frustrations out on her.

No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he still came back to the same mind-blowing conclusion. He cared about her. A lot. More than he should. And it didn't matter what his uncle, or his mother, or even Riley might tell him. Nothing would change that. Despite what she'd done to him and his friends, despite what had happened between them, he couldn't hate her.

But he couldn't love her either.

It was hypocritical, he told himself. He'd trained his entire life to be able to fight and destroy these things. He couldn't fall in love with one. Derek was right about that much.

And he'd tried. He'd tried desperately to ignore her, to push her away. She pushed right back. He tried to talk himself out of his belief that deep down, in her own cyborg way, she loved him too. It was impossible, according to everyone around him.

So even if he couldn't love her, he could still care. He could still be friendly. Which was why, when they selected seats for the next theater production, he made sure to pick a spot right beside her.

She didn't react, though he was sure she was a bit surprised, considering the fact that he had just yelled at her a little while ago. Maybe she was used to it. Maybe he was bipolar in the future.

The production started. This time, it was the play "Taming of the Shrew", one John had never heard of before. It told the tale of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong "shrew". Petruchio begins to inflict various psychological torments on her - the "taming of the shrew" - until she becomes an obedient bride.

When the actual torturing began, Cameron touched his shoulder lightly. "Why is he hurting her?"

John hesitated, trying to come up with the best way to explain. "He's…trying to make her submissive. To make her obey him. I'm sure you know all about that." She was a Terminator after all.

Cameron didn't disagree. "Yes. I interrogated Allison until she submitted."

John looked over at her, losing interest in the play. He still didn't know who this Allison was, or why Cameron had called herself Allison. She'd never explained it to him, and he never had asked. "Who is Allison?"

"Allison Young," Cameron replied. "From Palmdale. You chose her. She was from the Connor Camp."

"Allison from Palmdale," John repeated. "That's who you thought you were when you lost your memory?"

"I have Allison's memories," Cameron replied. "I was made to look like her. We captured her and I broke her down. She lied to me; she refused to help me get to you. I snapped her neck and took her bracelet to infiltrate your camp."

Great…that's another person to add to the list of those who have died for John Connor. "What happened? Did I…" he hesitated. "Did I believe you?"

"I don't know."

John shook his head incredulously. "You don't know?"

"They scrub our memories when they reprogram us."

"But you remember the interrogation," John protested. "You still have those memories."

"Those are Allison's memories, not mine."

John leaned back in his seat. "So when you asked, 'did you hurt me' that was Allison's fear? From being tortured by you?"

He saw a flash of indecision on Cameron's face. "And…there was a man who came to hurt Jody. He threatened us. I had to give him my money to make him leave."

John frowned. "Wait…you didn't just kill him?"

"I didn't know I could. And yes."

"Yes?"

"That's why I asked."

John turned in his seat to face her, gripping her hand tightly. "I would never hurt you," he said strongly.

"You should," she replied.

John frowned. "What?"

"I told Sarah, if I ever go bad again, not to let you bring me back."

John pursed his lips. "But I will," he said. There was no way he would let her go again. He needed her. She was there to make sure he survived. She saved his life. She always saved his life. Cameron went silent, processing his conviction.

John turned back around, watching the play once more, hoping she would understand. I'll always bring you back.

***********

Her first attempts at getting John to "dump" Riley had been unsuccessful. She needed a new tactic that did not involve harming Riley. John would be very angry if she harmed Riley. She didn't want him angry again, not when he had been kind to her in the theater. She wanted it to stay that way. That was how it was supposed to be.

But Riley was still in the way.

Being forbidden to physically harm Riley, Cameron settled for simply making Riley angry. She took an extremely long time in the shower, approximately thirty-three minutes with the water turned all the way on hot. At the same time she turned on the sink's hot water.

She heard Riley knock on the door after seventeen minutes. "Are you almost done in there?"

"No," Cameron replied. She was no longer in the shower, though she kept it running while she painted her nails.

Finally Cameron left the bathroom and Riley stalked past her with a scowl. Cameron waited by the door as Riley entered. The water turned on and she was rewarded with Riley's shriek as icy water blasted against her.

Cameron smiled.

This was not physically hurting Riley.

***********

Everyone was invited to watch a group movie in the downstairs lounge. Ms. Darbus had chosen "The Princess Bride". Several of the guys had groaned and thought about staying in their rooms until Jason had pointed out that it had sword fighting, scary monsters, death, revenge, and torture. John also added that it was better than going to bed early.

John wasn't sure why, but Riley had decided not to attend the gathering. He'd heard something about all the hot water being used up, but he didn't know anything else. Cameron, of course, had joined him on the couch as everyone got settled in to watch the movie.

When it got to the part where Westley says his famous, "As you wish" and the grandpa explains that he really meant "I love you," Cameron turned to John, eyes showing confusion.

"How does 'As you wish' mean the same as 'I love you'?" she questioned.

John took a deep breath. "Well...uh, he says 'as you wish' which means he's willing to do anything she wants him to do because he loves her. Does that make sense?"

"He obeys her because he loves her," Cameron repeated.

"Yeah," John agreed. "He wants her to be happy, so he's willing to do anything for her."

He met her eyes and Cameron smiled softly. "Thank you for explaining." It was her tone that made him think twice. It was the same tone she'd use the first time she'd said that to him, when they'd first met, before he knew she was a Terminator, before Cromartie had tried to kill him. Back when they were just John and Cameron.

For some reason, he felt the color rise in his cheeks and he quickly turned to refocus on the movie screen. He was acutely aware of their shoulders touching lightly and the fact that she kept her eyes focused on him for a few seconds longer than necessary.