So I finally got this chapter done after a full re-write. Apologies, but I've just had a lot going on and poor concentration levels lately.
Anyway, enjoy.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Ugh…" With a reluctant roll of her eyes and a hopeful glance towards the bedroom of her home, Jessica started to shove herself up off the couch. Walking, or rather waddling over to the door, she held a protective hand over her bulging belly as she twisted the handle. Revealing a smiling John and Cameron behind the door, Jessica smiled, despite how tired she was. Pregnancy might suck in a lot of ways, but being constantly tired was a pretty major minus point.
"Hi guys, come on in." Jessica held the door as the couple entered, both dressed in older clothes and looking all together more cheerful and energetic than she was. John passed her with a simple 'hi', and Cameron dropped a kiss on her best friend's cheek by way of greeting. In what had become a ritual of late, Cameron immediately dropped to her knees and hovered her ear close by Jessica's belly. Gently, she lay her fingertips on the soft, stretched skin and smiled a moment later.
"She has grown significantly since the last time I saw you." Cameron smiled up at Jessica, a genuine, wide smile that reached her eyes. For some reason she'd become attached to the unborn baby, and Jessica had come to trust her almost as much as she trusted her midwife. The ability to scan humans in intimate detail certainly helped.
"Well I wish I could say the same for her mother," Jessica sighed, resting her hand gently over her belly causing Cameron to frown.
"What's wrong?" She enquired with her hands already reaching out to make contact with her skin again.
Jessica didn't mind, actually she kinda liked it when she knew Cameron was scanning her. It made her feel good to know that she cared, even if her fingers were usually freezing. How John managed to actually sleep with her being that cold, she'd never know.
"Nothing, just a little tired that's all. I'll just be glad when this baby is out of me…and I can dump her off onto Aunt Cameron to babysit!" She grinned, but Cameron's eyes narrowed slightly, accompanied by her usual head tilt, "Kidding, Cameron! Kidding, I'm not that desperate!"
"Good," Cameron commented as she stood, taking Jessica's offered hand but placing no weight on it. "I've told you, I will…'babysit'. You're sure that infants spend most of their time sleeping?"
"I'm sure you'll be fine, sweetie." Patting her friend on the back, she turned her around to face John who had kind of zoned out while the girls did their thing. He perked up a little though once he saw them approaching.
"So!" He clapped his hands together and rubbed them a little, "Ready to get to work? Where's Derek?"
"Back there," Jessica tossed her head back towards the hallway, "I've been nagging him to get our nursery sorted for weeks, I'm hoping with your help he'll get it done today."
"Well, that's what we're here for!" John paused for a moment, already half a step towards the hallway when he turned around, "Just remember, Cameron, honey, not everything has to be purple, 'kay?"
Cameron narrowed her eyes at her departing, and chuckling, boyfriend momentarily before turning back to Jessica and laying a hand on her shoulder, "You should rest. We'll let you know when we're done."
"Okay, Cameron. Make sure Derek does a good job…I'll kill him if he doesn't."
Cameron smiled warmly and set off towards her next mission while Jessica slumped back down on the couch. She picked up her iPad, intent on getting at least a little bit of work done. Unfortunately though, she drifted off before she'd even had a chance to browse her favourite fashion blog.
Next thing she knew, she was being gently shaken awake by a firm hand on her shoulder. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal a paint splattered Derek's face leaning over her, "Hi baby."
Derek smiled at her tired sounding voice as he gently brushed a few hairs behind her ear, "Wake up sleepyhead, we have something for you to see."
"You've finished?" She asked, immediately feeling more awake.
"Of course, come and take a look!" Derek, ever the gentleman, held his hand out for his fiancée which she gladly took, allowing him to haul her up off the couch with less grace than an NFL lineman picking himself up off the turf. He guided her towards the bedrooms, latching his hand over her eyes as they approached, making her giggle in anticipation.
"You ready?" He asked. She nodded quickly and he removed his hand.
Her excitement didn't last long. She opened her eyes to reveal a dank, dreary, miserable room, only a solitary light bulb swinging from the ceiling to illuminate it. The walls were cracked and filthy, the floor dripping wet and dirty. The bulb swung over a crib, mostly rotten and verging on collapse.
This was no place for her baby, her hand dropped over her belly protectively as she tried to process what she saw. How could Derek do this? How could John and Cameron let him? It was then she noticed her kid's future Godparents standing off to the side, smiling and looking quite frankly proud of their efforts. "Derek…what, what's going on? What is this?"
"Do you like it, babe?" Derek cooed softly, wrapping his arms around her from behind, "It's great, isn't it?"
"No!" She shrugged out of his grasp, one hand still cradling her belly, "No it's not! It's…horrible! How could you do this? What is this supposed to be?"
By now she was on the verge of tears, she could feel them welling up behind her beautiful eyes. But Derek looked only confused as to why she didn't love what he'd done for her. A hand on her shoulder startled her, she whirled around to find John smiling kindly at her. He waved his arm towards the room slowly, "This is what it will be like in a few years. There are no nice nurseries in the future. Once Skynet attacks, all humans will live like this. Your baby may as well get used to it now."
"No! No way, this is a joke! It has to be!" She was no longer bordering on tears as she looked around again. However, Cameron wasn't there this time, but she still heard her soft, almost soothing feminine voice from the shadows, "It's not a joke, Jessica. This is what the future holds for your child."
Jessica tried to peer through the shadows, to pick out Cameron. She even tried to step forward into the darkness, but John's hand stopped her, "No, it can't be, I won't accept that! It's not true, Cameron, I won't let my baby go through this."
"There is no alternative, it is inevitable." Cameron's calm voice replied, still hidden by the shadows.
Jessica's gaze dropped to her stomach, a solitary tear escaping her eyes and staining her dress. She squeezed her eyes shut, imagining all he horrible possibilities that the future held for her daughter, "No, I won't let that happen. I don't want her to grow up with this life."
"It is impossible to live any other life. It is her fate." Cameron sounded a little sterner now, as if she was losing patience with Jessica's stubbornness.
Still with her eyes closed, Jessica whispered a single word, "No."
A loud metallic clanging sound startled her into opening her eyes. What was once darkness was now illuminated by two, bright blue glowing orbs. The light throwing into view the gleaming chrome of Cameron's foot as she stepped forward, slowly revealing the rest of her body. Angular metal, built to kill, and yet, with a distinctly feminine shape to it, an odd contrast, and something Jessica couldn't tear her eyes away from despite the overwhelming fear gripping her heart and the desire to run.
She kept on staring at the sight before her, right up to the point some of that shining metal wrapped around her throat. But to her surprise, her throat didn't hurt. It was the crippling, sharp pain in her midsection that hurt more. She didn't look down, she didn't want to see what Cameron had just done to her, the agonising pain and the feeling of warm trickling blood was enough to let her know. "C, Cameron? S, stop, please…"
"You have made your choice," The machine that she once considered her friend replied, but her voice no longer was soft and gentle, it was harsh and metallic sounding. "You don't want your daughter to live in this world, this is the way to spare her."
Jessica's eyes welled up with tears again as she carried on staring into Cameron's, all strength drained from her body, the machines hands the only thing holding her upright. Those blue eyes flashed brighter as the metal hand buried in her stomach was suddenly ripped free…
Jessica awoke with an ear piercing scream, her hands immediately flying to her belly as she sprang up in bed. She was bathed with sweat, her hair was stuck to her head and her breathing shallow and rapid and filled with panic. Her eyes flitted quickly around the room, searching for any sign of those terrifying blue eyes as she shivered with the cool air hitting her body. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she tried to block the vivid nightmare from her mind.
It didn't work.
As her breathing gradually slowed, she hugged her knees tight into her chest and sobbed, hard. How could this have happened to her? All she wanted was to get married to Derek and raise a family. Now she was living in constant fear of the future and the girl…machine, that lived next door to her. Oh God, those eyes. Those eyes terrified her to her very core, the machine had killed her baby, her freaking baby for Christ's sake!
How in the hell could John claim to love that thing, and actually sleep with it? How could Derek even stand to be in the same room as it? That machine was the most terrifying thing Jessica had ever encountered, fear gripping her heart whenever she thought about it.
Rolling over to her side, she clutched Derek's pillow tight as she sobbed into it. She had no clue what she was going to do. She felt alone, afraid…and fearful of what her future held.
"Sarah!"
Taken aback with surprise, Sarah made doubly sure to conceal her weapons behind her back as Savannah came hurtling towards her at an impressive pace. The eight year old slammed into her legs and wrapped her arms around them, smiling happily all the way. "I missed you!" She squealed.
"Uh, you too sweetie." Keeping one eye on Weaver who remained oddly calm behind her desk, idly flipping through several sheets of paper, Sarah returned the hug. This wasn't good, she knew she had to find a way of getting the kid out of here without scaring her. She may have wanted her Amy back, but she wasn't a monster.
"Where's Amy?" Savannah innocently enquired.
"Amy is…well, she isn't here." Sarah tried not to let her emotion show as she hugged the girl who simply wanted to see her friend again.
"Can I come see her sometime? We never had a sleepover or anything."
"Um, well, the thing is…you see…" Sarah stuttered, too high on adrenaline and anger to come up with anything plausible to feed the girl. She was actually quite relived when the machine behind the desk spoke up.
"Savannah, would you please go wait outside with Victoria? Sarah and I need to have a talk." Her voice was soft, kind, even loving when she spoke to her 'daughter', so much so it almost had Sarah convinced of it's sincerity.
Savannah, to her credit, didn't whine or complain, she simply nodded and did as her mother asked.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Sarah already had her 9mm drawn and pointed right between Weaver's eyes. The barrel never wavered, her hand stayed solid despite her heart still pounding. Irritatingly though, the machine merely tilted her head quizzically why eyeing the peashooter being aimed at her.
"Where is she?" Sarah demanded, getting right down to business now that Savannah had left the room.
"Who?" Catherine calmly enquired, swivelling slightly in her chair to face Sarah, revealing her prim and proper posture and neatly folded hands over her crossed legs. Even Sarah had to admit that this machine had improved it's methods of blending in, looking much less stiff and mechanical than when they first met.
"You know who!" Sarah yelled as she charged a few paces closer, her weapon still clutched in her hand and still pointed squarely at the wisp of red hair hanging down between the machine's eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't." Weaver's soft Scottish accent almost floated on the air, her voice taking a tone of serenity that only irked Sarah more, "Who are you referring to?"
"Amy! Who the hell do you think I mean?" By now Sarah had advanced right to the edge of the desk. If she'd been thinking straight and not running on adrenaline, she'd have realised that getting closer to a liquid metal Terminator was a very, very bad idea. Hell, being in the same room with one was a bad idea, pointing a gun at one was insane. But at least if there was some space between them, life might not end quite as quickly as one would expect.
"Oh, your daughter, of course." Catherine noticed the slight, almost imperceptible twitch of Sarah's cheek as she pulled the 'daughter' line out, her own lips forming into a devious, and yet still calm smile as she continued, idly re-arranging a few papers on her desk, "I have no idea. Did you misplace her?"
"Don't give me that bull crap. What have you done with her?" By now Sarah was fuming, her finger twitching on the trigger, she barely realised she didn't react or correct Weaver when she called Amy her daughter.
Folding her hands back neatly in her lap, Weaver tilted her chin up and looked Sarah up and down. Dipping her head back down, a clump of hair fell in front of her eye which she carefully replaced. It might have been irritating to allow her hair to function that way, but she was actually starting to like creating it to appear more natural than before. Eventually though, her eyes settled on the 9mm in Sarah's hand, her expression looking barely interested, "You do realise, Ms. Connor, that weapon you have there will do me no harm. All you will do is bring security in here just that much faster."
To Weaver's surprise, Sarah's face softened. An odd, almost serene expression overtook her as she looked down at the gun in her hand, for the first time since she drew it, not pointing it at the machine's forehead. She held it side on, her eyes automatically reading the word 'Glock' stamped on the side of the otherwise smooth metal as she considered what it was she was doing. She watched, fascinated as Sarah slowly nodded, her arm and the gun dropping to her side.
"You're right." Sarah calmly remarked, pulling the bag slung over her shoulder up and placing the gun carefully back inside, ensuring she flicked the safety on first. Catherine found this behaviour highly confusing. She'd never witnessed it before and it didn't fit with Sarah Connor's psychological profile. Was she actually giving in? After only one denial?
What she pulled out of the bag though was anything but an admission of failure, and as she held it loosely in her hand, Sarah was fairly certain she saw the machine squirm, if only a little, and only for a fraction of a second. She had to fight hard not to twitch herself when Weaver slowly leaned forward, one hand reaching out towards the phone on her desk, one of those fancy video screen ones that people with too much money had in their offices.
She pushed a button and spoke almost immediately, "Mr Ellison?"
A moment later a slightly breathless James Ellison answered. Sarah wondered what sort of communication system this was where one button press got her through to exactly who she wanted. "Ms. Weaver, are you alright? John Henry just told me Sarah Connor…"
"I'm fine Mr. Ellison." Catherine's eyes momentarily flicked to Sarah, then back to the screen, "Ms. Connor is in my office. Please inform your security team that today's incident is merely a test of their readiness to deal with a situation like this."
Despite the circumstances, Weaver's smooth CEO voice simply rolled off the tongue. Damn she was good, "They haven't performed to my expectation, however. Let them know in no uncertain terms that I'm disappointed, and will expect to see an improvement in the future."
"But, Ms. Weaver, I really think that…"
"Thank you." With that, she hung up, signed off, whatever. Her eyes slowly returned to Sarah as she laced her fingers together and leaned on her desk. "Again, I'm forced to consider your thoughts here, Sarah."
Sarah smiled at the use of her name and not 'Ms. Connor'. "That one grenade wouldn't be enough to destroy me."
Looking down at the small barrel in her hand, Sarah smiled and nodded, "You're right. But the thing about these incendiary grenades, they burn at around four thousand degrees." She hefted it in her hand and looked up to the machine behind the desk, "It may not destroy you, but it'll do one hell of a lot of damage. Now tell me…what, have you done, with my Amy?"
Weaver stared long and hard at the human currently threatening her existence, her blue eyes unnerving to most, but to Sarah they were nothing more than simulated and fake. At least Cameron's held some warmth, and Amy's…
"As I've already informed you, I've done nothing to your Amy." Catherine's lips twitched upwards just a little as she held a hand out in front of her, "Please, have a seat."
"I'll stand," Sarah stopped short of adding 'thanks', "And you can start talking, or Savannah might be wondering why her mommy looks a little…rough around the edges next time she sees her."
Weaver bristled at the mention of her daughter, sitting up a little higher in her seat, "What would you like me to say? You seem to be under the impression that I know more about your daughter than you do."
Sarah stopped just short of growling as she leaned forward, "Stop, fucking with me! She was taken yesterday, kidnapped! You just couldn't wait, could you? Once she was out in the open you took your chance, didn't you?"
"Sarah…" Catherine's calm voice drifted across the air, "I believe you need to take stock of your situation."
She watched Sarah stiffen, her grip tighten on the grenade in her hand. It was pretty obvious by now to the machine that Sarah was…desperate. She had no clue what had happened to her baby girl, and that thought scared her, so she was clinging on to any possible lead, no matter how thin it was. "I do not like the machine, I believe she is a possible threat to my plans."
That was almost…almost enough for Sarah's hand to twitch on the pin of the grenade, but Catherine's voice stalled her, "She came from the future, her intentions are unknown to me, and the reasons she provided to yourself and John are…flimsy, to say the least."
"She is a problem for me. But I didn't do anything to her. I didn't take her from you."
"You expect me to believe that bullshit?" Sarah spat, her finger again tugging on the grenade pin, "You've just admitted you'd rather she wasn't around. You'd be glad to have her gone, what better chance would you have than when she was out having fun?"
"Fun?" Weaver chuckled, despite the gravity of the situation, "She is an odd machine, isn't she?"
"However, remind yourself of this fact, Sarah. I am in alliance with your son and his machine." She paused, her nose wrinkling slightly, "An alliance, I might add, that is proving to be far less fruitful for myself than I had been expecting. However, it is an important part of the future, for our fight against Skynet."
"Now Sarah, ask yourself this. Am I foolish enough to jeopardise that alliance by taking your daughter away from you, in broad daylight, and then casually sit here in my office while you threaten me?"
The machine made a lot of sense. Of course she did, that's what they do, they lie, they twist the truth to make you drop your guard. Since working with Cameron, Sarah knew that if they couldn't kill you for any reason, they were devious enough to talk their way out of trouble and convince you a lie was the truth. For that reason alone, Sarah was still suspicious, but her outright certainty of guilt was wavering. This alliance was important to them all, and Weaver was right in that it was pointless to endanger it by removing an ally's most potent weapon.
Catherine watched as Sarah processed what she'd said. The human brain was a remarkable thing, far more powerful than any artificial processor ever created, her own included. If only humans could engage more than ten percent of it, there would be no need for her mission, they wouldn't have been stupid enough to bring Skynet online in the first place.
Sarah stayed silent as she slowly came around to what she was being told. She didn't like Weaver, she didn't trust her, she'd always felt John's alliance was a mistake. To trust this machine with anything important was something she just couldn't get her head around John allowing. But she trusted her son, trusted his choices. He was far more intelligent than she ever was, he was destined to defeat the machines, she had to trust that he was right.
She didn't like it.
"Sarah?" Weaver nudged patiently, despite still being threatened with a grenade. "I suggest you change the focus of your search to the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Where was she, what was she doing…who was she with?"
The glint in Weaver's eye should have set alarms racing, but by now Sarah just felt drained, defeated. She didn't like it, but the machine was right. Amy was what was most important in all this, not Sarah's pride, or her gut feeling. The gut feeling she couldn't shake that Weaver still had some part in this.
But she slowly tucked the grenade back in her bag and shook her hair out of her face, all the time staring at Weaver, whose sickening smile only seemed to grow. "That door over there will lead you to an elevator."
Weaver nodded to the opposite side of her office to the main entrance, "It is an alternate route out of this building, it wouldn't do for you to walk back through my security. John Henry will stop the elevator at the exit."
Sarah nodded slowly and took a step towards the exit she'd been offered. Stopping, she turned back around to face the machine who, annoyingly, had already resumed working. She just couldn't leave without offering one last threat, if only to get rid of the feeling that she was leaving with her tail tucked between her legs.
"If anything happens to Amy, and I find out you had anything to do with it, I will burn this whole fucking building down, and I will destroy you." She took a few more steps towards the elevator and stepped inside when the doors opened. "Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Catherine replied as she watched the doors close and the light from inside the elevator lower out of view.
"Savannah dear, you can come back in now," She spoke into her intercom as she set her papers down. She watched as the doors to her office opened and her little red haired girl entered, full of eager smiles and anticipation. She was disappointed however, when she saw no sign of Sarah.
"Where's Sarah?" She asked, her voice small and filled with disappointment.
"Sarah had to leave, dear. I'm sorry." Catherine watched her daughter head over to the couch to resume her colouring again with a pout, when she stopped her, "Savannah, come here please."
She didn't know why, but for some reason seeing Sarah so obviously disturbed by what had happened to Amy, Catherine felt an odd desire to be close to her own little girl. Yet another strange development caused by her prolonged exposure to the child. When she approached, Catherine patted her leg and helped Savannah up onto her lap.
"Can I go see Amy soon?" Savannah's pout hadn't diminished at all, "You promised!"
"I know I did, dear. But Amy is…" For the first time Savannah could remember, she felt her mother's lips drop on top of her hair, a gentle and loving kiss that made her pout disappear, replaced by a beaming smile. "I'm afraid Amy isn't very well at the moment. I wouldn't want you to get sick too. Do you understand?"
"Yes mom." Savannah stopped and thought for a moment, "When she's all better, then can we go see her?"
"Of course we can, dear. I do hope she gets well soon."
"John?"
"How long has it been, huh?" John waved his arm in the rough direction of the couch, too worked up to even notice if Cameron was even watching.
"John?" Cameron calmly repeated.
"I mean, she wouldn't do anything stupid, right? She's, she knows what she's doing." He roughly ran his hands through his hair, his fingers settling over his mouth in nervous tension as he stared out of the window, as if it might make Sarah magically appear.
"John." Cameron replied, a little more forcefully, her eyes having never left him since he started pacing in front of her.
"I mean, God, why the hell did she turn her phone off?" John chewed his lip in pensive thought, each passing moment bringing more and more dark possibilities into his mind, "We, we have to go look for her!"
"John!" This time, finally, Cameron got his attention with a raised voice, his head snapping around to face her like he'd almost forgot she was sitting there with him.
Pleased that a two hundred percent rise in her normal voice decibel level garnered his attention, Cameron smiled up at him from her spot on the couch. Although she was more than a little disappointed that he didn't return it, she kept it up though as she patted the spot beside her on the couch.
John was unmoving however, staring at her like she was insane. How could she be so calm about everything? Oh yeah, cyborg, right.
"Sit down." She returned to her usual gentle voice, but her tone made sure he knew that it wasn't a request. To be absolutely certain, she patted the spot beside her again, this time with more force than before.
After a moment of being completely unmoving, John relented and sat down. He loved and loathed that smile of hers…it was lethal to any form of resistance he had. If anything, that damn smile only grew warmer as he tiredly flopped down beside her. But for some reason, he felt like being a little stubborn today, "Okay, I'm sitting. Happy now?"
Cameron frowned at his attitude, but quickly returned to her half smile. John watched her as she shrugged and leaned towards him. Not knowing what to expect, John found himself watching in confusion as she settled on her side with her head in his lap. He became even more confused when she rolled over so that she was facing him, head still in his lap.
"Uh, Cameron?" John asked as his hand settled down on her shoulder.
She didn't reply, instead she merely took his hand off her shoulder and settled it down, fingers linked with hers, underneath her head like a pillow. Blinking once, she looked up at him, and what she said would forever go down in history as one of the least expected things to ever come out of her mouth. "Tell me a story."
He was so surprised, he even chuckled, "What? You want me to tell you a story? Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine." As if to prove her point, she tilted her head and dropped a kiss on his palm, "Please, tell me a story."
"Cameron…" Sighing, John had to remind himself that Cameron wasn't always the best at reading people or situations, "We don't have time. Amy is gone, Mom is out there somewhere. We should be helping, not sitting here with out thumbs up our asses."
After a moment of her unchanging expression looking up at him, he shook his head, "Why do you want me to tell you a story?"
Cameron shrugged and shuffled herself closer, seemingly trying to get more comfortable, "I like when you talk to me. I like the sound of your voice."
It took John a moment to register what she was saying, and by the time he had, she'd already resumed talking. "When you first reprogrammed me, I guarded you a lot. It was my sole function."
Cameron waited a beat to make sure John was still listening. Satisfied he was, she continued with her own little tale, "Most nights you would work at the desk in your quarters while I stood guard by the door, facing away from you. One night, you started to talk to me. You told me a story from your childhood, a story about you growing up in Central America."
John listened to her, rapt with attention. He had no idea he used to…will do…would one day do this. Every detail he could get from his future he would soak in, especially if Cameron was the one telling him. "I didn't understand why at the time. I never once responded to you. Often you would fall asleep at your desk in the middle of a story, and I would find myself what I now know to be disappointed that you didn't finish."
"It used to make me feel…" Cameron paused as she struggled to come up with the correct word. In the end, she settled for a smile and another kiss to his palm, "It used to make me feel."
The corner of John's lips twitched upwards in response to her heartwarming story. What limited mobility he hand in his hand was used to brush his thumb across her cheek, bringing a smile to her face. "I think I know why you told me the stories now."
"Yeah, why's that?" John asked, still watching his thumb move over her cheek.
"I think you were trying to teach me about trust." She pulled her knees up towards her chest, curling up a little tighter against him, "Nobody else knew any details about your childhood with your mother. Everyone knew you were trained and raised in the jungle, but I was the only one you told stories to that included personal details. You trusted me. I think you wanted me to trust you."
"And did you?" John asked after a beat.
"Yes, I do." Her eyes moved to meet his. When they met, she held his attention for a moment before the corner of her lips quirked up just a fraction, "I love you."
Unable to keep the smile off his face, John merely nodded and squeezed her hand, "I love you too, Cameron…even back then, you really were special, weren't you?"
John didn't expect an answer, he nodded instead, "Alright, a story it is then."
"Thank you," Cameron replied quietly.
John thought for a moment, his eyes looking up to the ceiling for inspiration, "Have I told you the time I first learned to shoot?"
He looked down at her for an answer, and she shook her head. In truth, she had heard the story, but she still liked hearing it.
"Alright, well it was on my fourth birthday. We were living in some craphole jungle. Guatemala, I think. Anyway, mom decided one day we were going to do something different and she dragged me off away from camp."
John chuckled as he relived the memory, "I remember just wanting to stay and play hide and seek with Pablo."
"Pablo?" Cameron asked, looking inquisitively up at him.
"My friend. Only other boy my age in the camp. We were living with some smugglers, mercenaries, you know, generally good people who do bad things." He shrugged and looked down just in time to watch Cameron closing her eyes and shuffle her head on his lap. He rarely got to see her with her eyes closed. After all, she didn't sleep, so he just enjoyed it for a moment before continuing with his story.
"So she took me away from camp for about half a mile, then we stopped in a small clearing. She told me to wait while she started digging in her bag and walked to the other end of the clearing. I just flopped down onto my ass and started playing in the dirt, as kids do. I thought she had some big surprise party planned or something."
"She came back a minute later and she's fiddling with the biggest gun I'd ever seen in my life. Seriously, it was like, as big as I was." Cameron smiled at that mental picture, still content to listen to the sound of his voice and of his body.
"She pointed out four silver cans on a log at the other end of the clearing and told me to stand up. I watched her heft this huge assault rifle up to her shoulder. Fours shots, four cans down!"
"Cameron, it was the most awesome thing I'd ever seen. I remember thinking, 'Wow, I wanna do that. Where did mom learn that?' I never knew she was so badass!" Slowly, John ran his free hand through his girlfriend's hair, brushing a few stray hairs behind her ear.
"Then it was my turn. I started reaching for her gun, but I had no chance of even holding it, never mind firing it, so Mom handed me a 9 mil. It was the first time I'd ever held a gun. She pointed out what all the parts do, showed me how to hold it, made sure I knew how to not shoot myself."
John paused and smiled as he remembered that moment, how close he and his mother were when he was that age. She carefully shaped his tiny hands around the pistol grip, smiling encouragingly all the time. He didn't think they'd ever been as close as they were in that moment.
"She reset the cans. I could still see the holes from where she hit them. She came back and sat down behind me and told me to try and hit them. I couldn't wait, I was so excited. I thought, 'Mom did this in four shots, it looked real easy, no sweat.'"
"Did you hit them?" Cameron asked, despite her appearance suggesting she'd dropped off to sleep.
"Of course I didn't. I fell on my ass the first time I pulled the trigger. It was so loud!" John chuckled, remembering Sarah picking him up again and patting his backside encouragingly. "I missed by like a mile. The second shot wasn't much better, but at least I didn't fall over!"
"So I worked my way through the clip. I think the closest I got was a tree about two metres to the left of the cans. The gun just felt so heavy, I was so glad when mom took it out of my hands to reload it. She showed me how to do that too. I was so determined though. I was going to hit one of these cans, no matter how tired my arms were."
"What did Sarah do?" Cameron prompted, again moving her hand over his.
"She just put the gun back in my hands and pointed me back towards the cans. I tried everything. If I missed low, I aimed high. If my shot almost hit a bird, I'd lower my arm a little."
"It didn't work?" She asked.
"Of course it didn't. I started getting upset." John chuckled, "So stupid. I remember thinking that mom could do this easy, she was bound to be mad that I couldn't do it. She was always so strong in my eyes. My mom, the one that protected me from everything, made me feel better when I was sad. I didn't want to let her down."
"You could never let her down, John." Cameron reminded gently.
"Well I thought I had. I thought she was going to yell and shout at me for not being able to do it. My arms hurt by now, they were shaking, I just wanted to go home, Cameron. But I turned around, tears in my eyes, and she just smiled."
"She was smiling, Cameron. I didn't understand why, I was so sure she'd be mad at me, but she wasn't. She kneeled down beside me and took the gun out of my hand. She wiped away the tears and told me it was okay. She checked the magazine and put it back in. There were four shots left. She told me if I got one, then she'd have a special surprise for me when we got back to camp."
"I almost started crying again. I knew I couldn't do it, but she stopped me. She put the gun back in my hands and turned me around. This time though, she kneeled behind me and wrapped her hands around mine. She took most of the weight of the gun and whispered the best way to aim, told me to squeeze the trigger slowly, and just relax. I pulled the trigger and missed."
By now John had barely noticed Cameron had curled up tighter, her lips resting lightly on his hand. "She just squeezed me a little tighter and told me to try again, lifting the barrel just a little. I was so sure I couldn't do it. She told me to take a deep breath and relax, so that's what I did. I hit it, Cameron! I hit the can! I was so happy I turned around, dropped the gun and hugged mom.. I jumped around like it was the best thing I'd ever done. Mom clapped and smiled then hugged me again, told me I'd done a great job."
"Thinking back, it was pretty much all her aiming, but I remember the look of pride on her face, Cameron. She was so proud of me for keeping going, for still trying, for hitting the damn can."
"Did you get your surprise, John?"
"I did. She managed to scrounge up some cake from somewhere, I don't know where, and we had a little birthday party back at camp."
John's smile dropped into a frown momentarily as his hand stopped moving through Cameron's hair, "I grew up to hate her for taking my childhood away from me, for turning me into a soldier when I should've been playing video games. I forgot about times like that, when I didn't know that this wasn't a normal life for a kid. There was just me and mom having fun, I didn't know she was just doing what she had to do."
Cameron finally opened her eyes and looked up at her John, who seemed deep in thought and worry. Cameron sensed her moment and dropped a soft kiss on his palm, "Your mother is a strong, resourceful woman, John. She trained you to beat Skynet, she kept you safe, she went to prison for you."
John was paying rapt attention by now, his eyes softening with each passing word, "She loves you, she won't allow anything bad to happen to you. But she also loves Amy, more than she's willing to admit. She won't let anything bad happen to her either, or herself."
"She'll be alright, John. She'll contact us when she's ready."
John simply looked down at Cameron, realising just how intuitive she really was. This whole story idea was simply a way to remind him that Sarah Connor wasn't as helpless as he thought, that she could take care of herself and had been doing it a lot longer than he had. She wanted her baby girl back, and nothing was going to stop her, he could respect that. If anything ever happened to Cameron, he'd stop at nothing, not even a phone call home, to get her back.
Slowly, he brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers and watched as she closed her eyes with a smile. "Thank you, Cameron."
"For what?" She innocently enquired.
"For being you."
The couple stayed like that for a long time after, comfortable in each other's silence and company, neither feeling the need for more words. Cameron's task was complete, and John's fears had been allayed for a while. Sarah would be fine, he believed it now…he believed in her.
Hope you enjoyed it. I'm going to make a real effort to improve my writing times, hopefully I can stick to that promise.