"Sit down, Sarah."

Derek sat on the couch with John's laptop on of all things, his lap, stealing the neighbor's wireless Internet connection to watch TV on the amazing site John introduced him to. Sarah had been pacing back and forth for two hours in front of the living room window, and it was driving him crazy.

"I don't want to sit down."

It was the umpteenth time they'd had this same conversation, and it was getting old.

"Sarah I mean it this time. If you don't sit your ass down or go do that somewhere else, I'm going to be forced to tie you to a chair. You're disturbing my Hulu time."

Sarah huffed and sat down on the couch. She'd already cleaned the kitchen and finished folding the laundry. Derek was hogging the computer, and Savannah was fast asleep. Where the hell was John?

"My mother always said, 'if you're bored, go to bed'," Derek mumbled.

"I'm not going to bed until I know John's back safely."

Derek paused Family Guy and glared at Sarah. "You know something? You are the most dramatically high-strung, overprotective, controlling, occasionally whiney, ridiculous woman on the face of the planet. And don't you dare hit me." Derek held his hand in front of his face, just in case. "You need to relax, take a deep breath, and let it all go. John is going to be perfectly fine. He has Cameron in the car with him, and that weird T1001 will be wherever it is they're going. Even he can't manage to screw up enough to get into trouble with that much metal protection. Cameron does a decent job of keeping him in line, even in the future. This one time…"

"Shut up, Derek."

Derek saw Sarah's hands clench into fists, and decided it was probably wise to obey her.

***********************************

"Ow, ow, ow, hold on… my foot is caught… no the other way… yeah, thanks." John fell onto the backseat and rotated is ankle. They should've just used the doors, but for some reason, climbing over seats always seemed way cooler and much more romantic in the movies. He took Cameron's hand and helped her climb between the front seats and into the back seat with him.

"Are you hurt?" Cameron reached for his leg, but John pulled it away.

"No, just a little bruised, that's all." He looked her up and down. "Now, where were we?"

John leaned in and kissed her on the neck, right under her left ear. "We should not be doing this, John. It's dangerous, it's public, and it's illegal."

"Uh huh," John mumbled, planting kisses along her jaw. "Tough fight you're putting up here."

"We have a 36% chance of being caught, and a .5% chance that it would be by a terminator."

"Hmm…" John slid his hands under Cameron's top and pulled it off. "Those sound like pretty decent chances. I think I'll take them. What do you think?"

"You're the boss… I'll just blame it on you."

*************************

"I'm going to kill him myself." Sarah slammed her phone down on the table and huffed.

"Still not answering?" Derek wagered.

"No. And I just called Catherine. She said they left an hour and 45 minutes ago.

"Okay, so what? Maybe she lives longer than that away from us?"

Sarah glared at him. "That doesn't give him a reason not to answer his phone."

"Maybe they're listening to the radio too loud and he doesn't hear it."

"Or maybe something happened to him."

"Or maybe you're being paranoid."

Sarah paused and considered it. "Do you think I am?"

"Yes. You're just freaking yourself out for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Now shut up, scoot over, and just watch this with me before I get the rope and duct tape."

*****************************

"John, I can't find my underwear."

John looked up from his search for his cell phone. "What? They gotta be here somewhere."

"I know, but I can't find them."

John halted his search for the phone and began helping her look. He couldn't find them either.

"Okay, this is not good. We can't leave them in here." He glanced around the car, trying to figure out where he would be if he were panties. He stood up and looked in the front, and sure enough, they were on the passenger seat. "How'd they get all the way up here?" He handed them to her and started searching for his phone again. "Where's your phone? I need you to call mine."

Cameron picked up her jeans and pulled out her own phone from her pocket. Five missed calls. "Sarah has been calling us."

"Oh, great, just what we needed. Let's hurry up and get back home before she steals a car and hunts us down."

"There's only a 12% chance of that happening."

"That's 12% too much when it comes to my mother. Do you really want to explain this to her?"

"I'm blaming you, remember?"

John quickly pulled on his own jeans. "Yeah. I remember. Sacrifice the man you're supposed to be protecting to his dragon mother. So kind of you."

"Your mother still saves a box of thermite under her bed for me." Cameron finished tying her shoes and opened the door. "The worst thing she'd do to you is ground you."

John slid back into the front seat the conventional way. "All right, you win that one."

*****************************

They pulled up to the house 35 minutes later, after Cameron the Speed Demon high-tailed it at nearly double the speed limit all the way home. John had to nearly pry his fingers off the "oh shit" bar to open his door.

Cameron quietly opened the front door, and John followed her into the house.

Sarah and Derek were asleep on the couch, his laptop resting on their laps, and Sarah's head on Derek's shoulder. Derek's head was simply tilted back, mouth wide open. John wondered when the two had gotten so friendly.

He stood in front of the couch and crossed his arms, clearing his throat loudly.

His mother and uncle both jumped awake. Derek grabbed the falling laptop while Sarah pulled her gun out from her waistband.

"John!" She quickly lowered her gun.

"Well, it certainly is good to know a terminator could waltz right through the front door and kill you both and Savannah, without either one of you being the wiser."

Both adults looked a little sheepish, but Derek wasn't about to go down without an argument. "Any other terminator wouldn't have a key to the front door. I'm quite certain a 350 pound machine barging through the front door would wake me up."

"He has a point," Cameron agreed, earning her a patient glare from John.

Sarah looked her son up and down, not missing the blood splattered on his right sleeve. She jumped off the couch and grabbed his arm. "Is this yours?"

John looked down at his arm in surprise. "Uh, no. It's not mine. I didn't even realize it was there."

Sarah didn't let go of his arm. "Are you all right?"

John nodded. "Yeah, mom. I'm all right. Don't worry." Unexpectedly, he pulled her into a hug.

Sarah held her son tight, and let the silent tears fall. Derek quietly got up and headed for the kitchen, motioning for Cameron to follow.

John felt the silent sobs rack his mother's body. He simply held her until she pulled away, a little embarrassed. Seeing his mother cry nearly tilted his world upside down. She never cried… at least in front of him.

"You look exhausted mom, why don't you go to bed. I'll fill you in on everything tomorrow, okay? It's all taken care of, you can stop worrying."

Sarah wasn't exactly sure if that was good or bad, but John was right. She was exhausted, and it could definitely wait till morning.

"All right," she agreed, nodding. "Get some sleep yourself and I'll see you in the morning." She reached out and caressed her son's cheek, and needlessly fixed his jacket collar.

John watched as her head tilted, and her fingers fumbled with the neckline of his T-shirt. "John… why is your shirt on backwards?"

Shit. He quickly racked his brain for an excuse, but only a stupid commercial came to mind. He briefly wished he had a Twix. "Um… I dunno. It did feel a little funny. I must've walked around like this all day."

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to remember earlier that day. "This is the stupid shirt with the gas mask on it isn't it?"

John made a show of looking at his shirt. "I'm not sure; it was dark when I put it on this morning."

Sarah stuck her tongue in her cheek and folded her arms.

"Hey Tin Miss, get out here."

Cameron walked in from the kitchen, appraising the situation. Sarah, meanwhile, was appraising her up and down. There didn't seem to be anything out of place on her.

Cameron noticed John's shirt was inside out, and the slight blush that ran down his neck. She assumed they'd been busted.

"Cameron, you have exactly 15 seconds to explain what took you so long to get home… and why neither of you answered your phones."

Cameron tilted her head and looked Sarah in the eye. "John had been quiet for a long time after we left, I was concerned. I pulled over to ask if he was okay after dealing with Danny Dyson. The cell phones were on vibrate, we did not hear them."

"Uh huh, where were the cell phones?"

"In the back seat."

"With you two?"

"Yes."

Cameron realized her mistake a second too late. She was simply answering the questions, not analyzing them. Upon seeing John's shoulders slump behind Sarah, she realized she should have lied.

"I'm disappointed in you."

John looked up, prepared to be hit with the one look every child in the world dreads. To his surprise, it wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at Cameron.

"You know better than that, you're supposed to be intelligent. You know just how unsafe it was. Why would you deliberately put John in danger like that? You're supposed to be his protector. I trust you with his safety. He trusts you with his safety."

"Mom…" John interrupted. He could see the look in Cameron's eyes that only he would notice. She didn't like being reprimanded anymore than anyone else did. He wasn't about to let her take the heat, when in all honesty, she really wasn't the one to blame. "It was my fault. She did warn me, I basically said I didn't care. Don't blame her."

"And I told you before not to make excuses for her."

"I'm not making excuses! Stop trying to blame her for everything!"

Sarah turned back to Cameron. "Is that the truth? Did you warn him?"

"Yes, I warned him. He chose to take the 36% estimated chance of getting caught."

Sarah took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm tired. We'll finish this in the morning. For now, you're both grounded."

John's eyebrows nearly jumped off his forehead. "What? How are you grounding both of us? She's not even your kid! She's not even a real kid! You can't ground her."

"She is now, and yes, I can. I believe I just did. Your fault or not, it takes two to tango." She headed for the stairs. "Get to your room, John. Tin Miss, outside. You're on patrol duty… all night. You don't walk back through that door until first light, got me?"

John and Cameron gave each other incredulous looks. They heard snickering coming from behind them, and looked to find Derek leaning in the kitchen doorway.

"That has to be some of the funniest shit I've ever witnessed. You two getting grounded by Mama Connor… that'll forever be a classic."

"Shut up, Derek."

"Hey, I'm actually with Sarah on this one. Serves you two right. What if you got busted, by cops or otherwise? You really want to see your girlfriend have to kick ass stark naked?" Derek paused. "On second thought…"

"DEREK!" Both Cameron and John yelled in unison.

"Hey, I'm just sayin…"

************************************************

Sarah walked downstairs early the next morning and found Cameron at the stove.

"Good morning, Sarah."

Sarah didn't respond. She walked to the fridge to dig out the coffee can, but was intercepted by a steaming mug.

"Milk, and a teaspoon of sugar."

Sarah blinked, and accepted the coffee. She tasted it, and was surprised it was made exactly how she liked it. She glanced at the stove and saw diced potatoes frying in a large pan, with what looked like onions and peppers. She wasn't aware they even purchased such vegetables.

She moved out of the way as Cameron opened the fridge and pulled out a pound of bacon. Somebody went grocery shopping…

"Did you get bored out there last night?"

"There were no threats."

Sarah nodded and watched her lay the bacon in another pan. She wasn't aware they owned that many pans, either. She looked at her coffee thoughtfully.

"Sucking up isn't going to get you ungrounded, you know."

"It never hurts to try."

Despite herself, Sarah had to smile. She set her half empty mug down on the counter and headed downstairs to the basement.

She found her son sprawled out over the bed, blankets thrown off on to the floor, and the sheet twisted around his legs. She reached down and swatted his butt as hard as she could.

"Ahhh! Jesus mom what the hell?"

"Morning sunshine! Time to get up."

"What?" He rubbed his butt and glanced out the little window. "It can't be any later than 7 am. What's the deal?"

"The deal? It's morning. It's a beautiful day. Grounded boys don't get to waste it sleeping in."

John groaned and pulled the sheet over his head. "Mom, I'm seventeen years old. You can't seriously ground me."

"Until you're eighteen you're still a minor, and I can seriously ground you."

"I can lead an army against killer robots, but I can't spend a little quality time with my girlfriend away from my dysfunctional family without getting grounded?"

"Not that kind of 'quality time', in the family vehicle, in the middle of the night out in public. You need to start thinking with your head, not your…"

"MOM! UGH!" John shivered. "Okay, I got it. It'll never happen again. I promise."

"Good. Now get up. There's carpet waiting to be vacuumed and furniture asking to be dusted."

John groaned again. Vacuuming was the devil's work, and dusting wasn't far behind. Maybe he could convince Cameron to help…

"Fine. Ten more minutes."

Sarah, who was picking up various dirty clothes from the floor, threw a shoe at her son.

"OW! OKAY! Geez… I'm up, I'm up."

"Your love machine is busy upstairs trying to cook her way out of punishment. Don't make me ask her to carry you upstairs."

John cringed, knowing Cameron would have no objections. He kicked the sheet off and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"How long are you enslaving me and holding me hostage?"

"About a week, with chance of parole."

"A week?"

"I can make it two if you like." Sarah smiled as her son glared at her menacingly. "Wear old clothes today. You'll be washing the car, inside and out, paying close attention to back seat upholstery."

*********************************************

John climbed the stairs and headed straight for the shower. It was pointless really, since what his mother had planned for him would have him sweaty and dirty in no time, but it helped him wake up.

He wrapped a towel around his waist and combed his hair back. He spent a few long moments looking at himself in the mirror. He needed a haircut, and he definitely needed to start working out again. He flexed his arms, and noticed a bit of muscle definition loss. Yeah, he definitely needed to work out.

He headed back downstairs, detouring through the kitchen to grab a glass of juice.

"Good morning, John."

"Morning, Cam. Holy crap, it looks like Denny's in here. I knew I loved you for a reason."

She handed him an empty glass. "Would you like pancakes or eggs?"

"As much as I love pancakes…" John said sarcastically, uncapping the orange juice. "Eggs would rock my world."

He put the carton of juice back in the fridge and stole a piece of finished bacon. "Mom said you were sucking up… I didn't realize she meant you went all out."

"You do not get enough variety in your diet."

"Oh, come on, you mean burnt and semi-burnt doesn't count for variety?"

"I'll give you variety, John Kyle Connor."

John jumped, hearing his mom pull out the dreaded middle name.

"You're dripping all over the floor! Get downstairs before I toss you down the steps."

John snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Cameron…"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

************************************************************

John lugged his sixth bucket of water outside. As luck would have it, he couldn't find a hose in the shed, and his mother refused to let him take the SUV to a normal carwash. When he mentioned having to wash the car, Cameron mysteriously disappeared. He hadn't seen her for an hour.

At least he wasn't the only one stuck doing chores. Derek was nominated to mow the lawn, and even Savannah was sweeping off the back porch and feeding the kittens. Sarah had taken it upon herself to scrub the bathroom, claiming nobody else could do a satisfactory job of disinfecting. Nobody argued with her, either. John suspected it simply gave her time to herself to deal with everything he told her about the previous night.

He dumped his fifteenth bucket and watched the last of the soap roll off the hood. Sighing in relief, he tossed the bucket aside and sat down in the grass, arms resting on his knees. It was hot, he was exhausted, and he wondered how much ice cream it would cost him to get Savannah to help him dry.

A glass of water appeared out of nowhere in front of his face, and he looked up to see Cameron settling down beside him.

"There you are. Nice of you to drop by." He took the glass gratefully and finished it all at once.

"I was busy."

"Uh huh."

Cameron noticed the bucket in the driveway. "You didn't wash the car with a bucket, did you?"

"Yeah, why? What the hell else was I supposed to use?"

"The hose would have been easier and more effective."

John shook his head. "What hose? We don't have one, I looked."

"The hose wrapped up on the side of the house."

John turned his head slowly. "You're not serious, are you?"

Derek, who was busy cleaning off the lawn mower blades and heard the whole conversation, began to laugh. John turned his glare on him.

"Don't tell me you knew about the hose, too."

"Yup."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

"You're an asshole."

Derek simply laughed harder.

Cameron took the glass from John and stood up. "I'll help you with the inside, John."