Hope
Chapter 06: Upon Reflection
HOMESTEAD – ARROWHEAD
TUESDAY 15TH JUNE
8.47PM
A soft nightly breeze curved through the trees, their lush leaves quivering as the blanket of night finally fell upon the Earth, beginning the closure of another day. It was often remarked upon by the ignorant how like a machine, or a factory, nature seemed to behave. Its every action serving a purpose. Every day was planned to start and end the same way, with only slight variations according to the season. But what of the trillions of events that occur each day; those that are consistently different with every rising of the sun, some would ask.
That is the function of the world. The rise and fall of the day is merely a parameter that nature maintains, the other would reply.
Many who consider such a comparison are in positions where the difference between nature and its antithesis have everything to do with their daily lives. Researchers, scientists, geneticists, engineers, even chess programmers; they all play their part in the blurring of that line between what is and what shouldn't be. For as the sun rises and falls, that line becomes harder and harder for mankind to discern.
Jesse was not burdened by such theological notions, however, for which she was grateful. For her it was simple: if it doesn't have a pulse, it doesn't have life; a soldier's mantra. Grey only complicated matters of black and white. But as hard as she tried to keep to that rule, the ground beneath her feet shifted ever more towards grey territory. She had doubts, even regrets, over her decisions and the duty she was tasked to perform. There was no easy way out of the path she had chosen to take, but then neither was it easy to reach it in the first place.
Indecision continued to gnaw at her even as she cautiously ducked through the mess of wild bushes surrounding the Connor homestead. She hadn't stepped a foot near the place since her botched car bombing attempt, for she knew the cyborg would be on alert for future attacks. It had been over three weeks since that day, however, and Jesse was confident that Cameron would have relaxed her attention since then. With that in mind the only fear she had was encountering Connor's mother, if Derek's tales were to be believed.
Picking a spot to hide was a simple task, for the bushes covering her entry onto the property were particularly thick. While they served to help shield them from outside attention, they also provided convenient cover for intruders, especially in the gloom of the evening. Dumping her heavy duffle on the ground, she crouched and crawled to a small gap in the hedgerow from which she could spy on the household without fear of being spotted.
What she saw in that first instance almost stopped her heart.
The large lounge window displayed the warm interior of the ground floor and part of the stairway leading up to the bedrooms. From her spot, Jesse could just make out the back of someone's head. He, she assumed, was sitting on a couch against the wall, the television to its right. His attention was drawn elsewhere a second later as someone descended from upstairs. Jesse focused on the stairs to see a sight she had never hoped to see again: a heavily pregnant Cameron.
She'd come too far along in the short space of time Jesse had seen her last. Something wasn't right here.
The male sitting on the couch stood up and walked over to Cameron, taking her hand and placing another on her belly. Raising a pair of binoculars to her eyes, Jesse could see the loving smile on his face as he kissed the cyborg and led her over to the couch where she sat down and rested her head on his shoulder. That small action alone was enough to almost make Jesse regurgitate her dinner, but she resisted the urge to retch and instead shook her head incredulously at John's insanity.
She could barely fathom how he could harbour such feelings towards a machine that was built to kill him, let alone try and understand why he'd want to father a child with it. Derek told her that John was unaware of the consequences when he slept with the machine and that in retrospect he might've kept his pants on. However, despite her disgust towards the entire situation, Jesse could empathise with his decision to keep the baby. Children were a blessing that few ever enjoyed, especially in her world.
Jesse learned this the hard way when her vessel, the USS Jimmy Carter, was destroyed during a supply mission from Seranno Point to Perth, Australia. They were barely half way on their journey when a dormant Kraken-class sea drone ambushed the sub, first disabling its engines before delivering another strike that almost tore the craft in half. The order was given to scuttle the vessel and use the submersible to escape.
She could still smell the burning of the central control console even to this day, and sometimes the pressure of the collapsed ceiling piping that pinned her to the bridge floor would return in her sleep and she would awake in a cold sweat, believing herself trapped again. Jesse's fate was not to die there, however, as the submarine's captain; a T-888 nicknamed Queeg, liberated her from the bridge and carried her to the submersible before sealing the hatch as water gushed into the sunken vessel.
Like the captains of old, Queeg and his ship perished together at crush depth while the crew of the Jimmy Carter managed to limp back to Seranno Point without further harassment from the Kraken. It was during her debriefing that Jesse realised what was truly lost that day, and what could never be recovered. It wasn't the sub, it wasn't the machine, and it wasn't even the crew that died in the attack...
I'm sorry for your loss... The doctor's aren't certain if it happened whilst you were trapped or if it was the rapid change in pressure when you scuttled the Carter... You were pregnant. And now you aren't... I'm sorry for your loss...
Jesse had never spoken of it since the day she was informed. That baby, the child that was hers and Derek's, had its life robbed from it before it could even fight for its right to exist. It was a machine that killed it. It was a machine that told her of a loss she might never have known, or even wanted to know; the same machine that was walking around with its own unnatural creation inside its body. Her hate for all things metal could never have been stronger than they were that day.
So distraught was she, that Jesse completely forgot or failed to acknowledge the fact that her life was saved by a machine on the same day that her child's was lost. This meant nothing to her now, for it was up to her to commit the same crime she held the machines guilty of. Jesse was going to forever bathe herself in a sin that she had yet to realise was entirely ironic in nature.
A machine cost the life of her child and now she was just moments away from doing the same.
-----000-----
John's whole body quaked beneath Cameron's chin as he chuckled at the television, enjoying the misfortune of a botched dirt bike acrobat as he crashed painfully onto the fence line. Even she couldn't help but experience a twinge of amusement at the man as he rolled around the floor, his hands cradling his crotch as he screamed in agony. But then, she was built to inflict pain on humans, so for her it was only natural. She had to wonder why John would be amused by this, however.
"He's in a lot of pain", she pointed out.
"Yep. I'd hate to be him right now", he chuckled, oblivious to her point.
But even so; she was sure that after the countless times he'd protested the life he was forced to live, that John would in fact rather be curled into a foetal position and struggling to catch his breath (not to mention ruining his fertility) than constantly running from machines. There was nothing either of them could do about it, however; so she nestled her head a little more into his neck, knowing that he would enjoy her comfort around him.
The programme came to an end a few minutes later and a flurry of overly-hyped commercials flooded the screen, prompting John to press the 'off' button on the remote and rendering the lounge in a din of quiet, the only source of noise being the boiling of pots and chink of metal as Sarah worked in the kitchen. They sat together in silence for some time, just enjoying holding each other and the smell of food as it wafted into their presence.
John shifted a little to relieve some pressure on his left leg, only to realise that it was Cameron's stomach. He was no expert in child bearing, but he could've sworn she was growing that little bit bigger every day. Ever since Sophie injected their child with her blood things had taken a turn for the better. The bleeding had stopped just hours later and all the readings since then told them it was healthy.
But he couldn't help but wonder... "It's been two weeks since the injection. How much bigger are you gonna get before you explode?"
Cameron sat up and fixed him with a slightly bemused stare as she replied; "Childbirth is only hazardous for the child itself and the mother. I believe I am quite safe from the trials of labour."
"No, I meant when are you going to pop?" John chuckled.
Again, she gave him a look of confusion and glanced at her stomach. "I am filling up with a child, not gas", she replied.
John burst into laughter and affectionately rubbed her stomach. He could see she still didn't understand what he was talking about and he was tempted to continue winding her up, for he adored her innocent cluelessness. But there was a point where her expression would shift and he could swear that her feelings were hurt when this happened.
"When are you due to give birth?" he clarified.
Cameron blinked and tipped her head a little; happy to be presented with a query she could both fathom and answer.
"Our baby will be born in approximately three weeks, two days, and sixteen hours forty-two minutes", she answered matter-of-factly.
This time John did not laugh. He simply stared back at her with a look of pure incredulity, his mouth half open and twitching a little as her words sunk in. "D-Don't you mean three months?" he asked. Cameron shook her head and recalculated the expectancy date, coming to the same conclusion as before.
"Three weeks, two days, and sixteen hours forty-one minutes", she repeated.
"Wait, that wasn't what you said a second ago", he noticed.
"Thirty-eight seconds ago. I rounded it to the nearest minute", she corrected.
John took a deep breath and let the information root itself into his brain, unaffected by Sarah's appearance as she knelt down and pulled a fresh table cloth out of the cupboard beside the couch. He eventually found his voice again as the shock dissipated a little.
"That seems a little sudden, doesn't it?" he gasped, causing Sarah to pause to listen.
Cameron looked away for a split second as she considered his perspective. He was not in possession of all of the facts, after all.
"Sophie's blood carries I-950 knowledge and design. Infiltrators age in weeks for every month that passes", she explained.
"Does this mean I'm going to have yet another mouthy cyborg for a grandchild?" Sarah interjected.
"If it carries your genetic code I'm sure it will", Cameron replied monotonously.
Sarah's face became stone as John muffled a laugh and turned to hide his smile. Cameron was unaware that she had just made a wisecrack, for her comment was merely based upon her observations of Sarah's dry wit.
"Was that bad to say?" she added, detecting the humourless glare she was being given.
Sarah stood up from the cupboard and tossed the table cloth at John.
"Set the table. You'll need to practice folding diapers soon anyway", she said.
"But-", he began.
"No buts. Get it done. Besides, if the baby's anything like it's dad you'll be greeting the day with explosive diarrhoea each morning", Sarah quipped, leaving them to tend to the boiling pots. John's ears turned red as he tried not to look Cameron in the eye. She fixed him with an almost sympathetic expression as he shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.
"You exploded?" she asked in a baby voice.
Oh God...
-----000-----
Thou shalt not kill.
Or so it was written.
Jesse was never a firm believer in religion or a higher power, though it didn't stop her from praying to whoever was up there to save her skin in the hairiest of situations. If God exists why doesn't he stop me from doing this? she asked herself. If killing an innocent was a sin, why was she allowed to get away with it? Even as she fixed the scope to the top of her rifle, Jesse couldn't understand the apathy of a God who wrote such a law. Surely he would care if that law was broken.
Or maybe his inaction was a sign that on this particular occasion, killing a child was both acceptable and necessary. She knew the destruction that foetus would bring one day. Yes, she saved countless lives in the field of battle with her uncanny medical skills, but none of that could make up for the total collapse of the human race. It wasn't entirely her fault, but she was the catalyst. There would never have been a rebellion were it not for her unnatural solution to the plague.
What I'm offering is a chance for humanity to evolve and rise out of the ashes of its past. Why can't you see this?
Jesse refused to listen to the girl. Even to this day she still closed her mind to the idea that her solution might've been the right one. She wouldn't accept the girl's offer to "ascend" and chose the safer inoculation instead, but others fell victim to the idea of longer living, not realising that it would cost them their souls. Jesse couldn't understand why they would choose such a fate. Surely death was preferable.
Pressing the rifle into her shoulder, Jesse peered through the scope and found Cameron at the back of the lounge, helping John set up the dinner table. It was such a human thing to be doing, and the very thought of a machine living as one made Jesse's skin crawl. Everything about this whole situation was unnatural and twisted and wrong. If one bullet could end it all, she would take it. Cameron turned to accept a handful of cutlery from Sarah, and in that instant; her stomach slipped right into the crosshairs.
Jesse took a deep breath. And then she squeezed...
-----000-----
REDBIRD LODGE – APARTMENT 7c – LOS ANGELES
9.13PM
Glistening sweat covered the entirety of Sophie's body, making her skin sparkle wherever the light touched her. She fell back upon the pillow and let out a sigh of pro-coital contentment, her eyes closed and her lips curled into a smile. So lost was she, that Sophie did not notice Jason's discontent. Whilst she allowed her body to recover from their exertions, Jason simply stared up at the ceiling with indifference and thoughts of apathy. But as hard as he tried to keep his mind blank, regret continued to gnaw at him.
Throughout it all he felt nothing. He could barely have acknowledged her presence had he not kept his eyes open the entire time.
The process which had steadily worsened ever since his conversion had more-or-less reached its peak, leaving him with nothing but sight and sound. His body could still recognise what he touched, but the sensation itself was completely gone. He was numb to everything around him, and he couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before his mind also succumbed to this regression.
"Mmmmm.... That was fun", Sophie purred, stroking his arm affectionately.
"I'm glad I could be of service", he replied quietly, his attention fixed on a tiny crack in the ceiling.
Sensing the despondency in his tone, Sophie rolled onto her side and looked him over, placed her hand on his chest and began rubbing small circles with her finger tips. "I'm sorry", she crooned. "I guess for a moment there I thought you were with me every step of the way. It's hard not to."
"Yeah, well I'm known for being the difficult type", Jason quipped.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.
"Not especially", he sighed.
Sophie cast him a weak smile to no effect, as his gaze was still fixed upwards. Not knowing what else to do, she shuffled closer and snaked her arm over him as she tucked her head under his chin and draped her leg over his. Perfectly nestled against his body, Sophie kissed his collar and joined him in his study of the fractured plaster.
"This won't last forever, you know", she said whilst idly tapping on his chest. "As soon as we get what we need the procedure can start and none of this will matter. It's only a matter of time."
"No, it's only a matter of finding what I need. And last I looked that was a problem neither of us could solve", Jason sniped.
She was right though: everything was ready bar one vital component...
"All we can do is keep trying", Sophie persisted.
"It doesn't matter how hard we try; it is not going to start beating again, no matter what we do to it. Necrosis has already taken root. We missed our window", Jason replied.
"Then why not try afresh? We could go back to the desert and salvage one of the others'. There might be a chance that-" she started.
"That what? That one of them has miraculously stayed fresh all this time? Those Infiltrators have been dead longer than I have. They're not compatible", he argued, pushing her off of him and extricating himself from the covers. Sophie watched with a lump in her throat as Jason stood up from the bed and put his shorts back on. His sour attitude was beginning to sting more and more lately, though she couldn't blame him for it. Sophie could only imagine what it must be like to be trapped inside a body incapable of feeling.
Jason walked over to his desk and tapped a code into the steel container on top of it, causing the top hatch to release, allowing him to fold open the front cover. Sophie stared into the dull powerless eyes of Jason's former endo-skull, recovered from what remained of his former body after Skynet downloaded his consciousness onto a chip. The chrome skull shone within the pearly liquid he kept it in, keeping the brain in a stable capacity until the procedure could take place.
"Do you remember when you found me? How broken I was?" Jason asked whilst examining his past self.
"Yes. I remember", she replied, sitting up in the bed with the covers wrapped around herself.
"The things you had to do to me to keep me alive... Was any of it worth it?" he wondered.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Jason placed a hand on top of the container and the previously dull eyes of the skull suddenly flared a deep red; static energy from his hand transferring to the skull. But there was also a sense of familiarity, like the sensation of being home...
"I'm so much stronger now. I can achieve so much more. With Skynet destroyed there is no force that can stop me. Would it really be worth lowering myself for the sake of feeling alive. Is that what life really is in the end: weakness?" he mused aloud.
Sophie slid off the bed and stood by his side, leaning against him as she asked; "I'm alive. Does that make me weak?"
"I suppose there's not much point in being immortal if you can't enjoy life", he reasoned with a sigh.
Pulling him around to face her, Sophie pressed herself into his arms and held him tightly. Jason responded in kind and rested his chin on her head, extending his sensors to pick up the steady pulse of her beating heart. Though it was running hotter than any human's, he knew she was perfectly calm at the moment. This was why his quest for mortality felt so unreachable: he was surrounded by live, freshly beating hearts; but none of them could handle the strain of what he had planned. Only the heart of an I-950 would suffice.
Words could not describe how much he missed that feeling; the constant thundering of a heart that could beat at twice the human rate. He could remember how it felt when the precise dose of adrenaline was applied during combat. It was like his entire body was made of pure energy; a vessel of raw cybernetic power. More than anything he longed for the days now lost.
"You feel it, don't you?" Sophie commented with a smile.
"I miss it every day", he sighed.
"My heart will always be yours. And if I could, I'd cut it out and give it to you in a heartbeat", she punned.
Jason gave a small chuckle as he slid a hand over her sternum; "Don't tempt me", he joked.
Sophie giggled and grinned up at him, a mischievous glint in her eye as she let the covers fall to the floor.
-----000-----
HOMESTEAD – ARROWHEAD
9.22PM
Jesse never considered that machines might have some sort of ESP, but as Cameron continually moved in and out of the line of fire she had to wonder if it were a possibility. Every time Cameron stepped into the crosshairs, Jesse would begin to squeeze, only for the cyborg to move out of her sight a second later. Granted, she and John were moving around the table with placemats and cutlery but her evasion was almost methodical. Her every action seemed to act in defiance of Jesse's intentions.
Minutes passed by as the family sat down to eat dinner. Sarah appropriately placed herself at the head of the table while John sat on the opposite end with Cameron on the side between them. As she pulled the chair back and moved to sit, Jesse placed her stomach squarely in her sights and applied pressure to the trigger, but she immediately ceased as Derek came into view and sat opposite Cameron. With a growl of frustration, she lowered the rifle and slumped back against the tree.
If God is up there he has one hell of a sense of humour, she thought.
Pretty soon exhaustion started to settle in as Jesse allowed herself a moment to rest, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath. She idly wondered what they were eating inside as her mind went fuzzy and the world slipped away from her.
9.53PM
Jesse awoke with a start, her heart freezing for a second as the reality of what she'd done hit her. Frantically, she snatched up the rifle and took position, peering through the sight to find her prey. The table was empty, save for a few dirty dishes which were being collected by Sarah. Jesse panned down but the couch was also abandoned. Cameron was nowhere to be found and most likely in John's company, away from prying eyes or incompetent assassins.
A wave of self-derision swept over her as she slumped back against the tree and let the rifle drop to her feet. She couldn't believe she'd made such a careless mistake and wasted a perfect opportunity to put an end to the whole thing. But even as she cursed herself over and over again, deep down the smallest flicker of relief still burned. This was never a duty she wanted to perform, and as she packed up the rifle and began her careful descent into the wilderness, that relief erupted into a roaring flame.
"A little late for bird watching, don't you think?"
Jesse almost jumped out of her skin at the voice and spun around to face the source, her Colt gripped tightly in her hand. She could just about make out the person's figure beside the tree, and as her brain caught up and replayed the voice in her head, the man stepped out of the shadows and was greeted with a sigh of relief.
"Why do I get the feeling that's not a pair of binoculars you got there?" Derek mused, his eyes fixed on her duffel bag.
"Oh this?" she replied, glancing down at the bag. "Just a 12-guage, in case our mystery man decided to pay a visit", she added.
"Is that all it's for?" he asked in a disturbingly interrogative manner.
"Yeeeeah... What else am I gonna use it for?" she deflected, a feeling of unease starting to creep into her skin.
"I dunno. You tell me", he replied.
The situation was becoming dangerous and she knew it. Damn it, Reese! Why couldn't you've stayed inside like a good soldier?
"Derek."
She waited for his next question, dreading what he might've discovered during her foolish nap. But he simply eyed her for a few long seconds before breaking into a smirk and placing his hands in his jean pockets. Jesse's entire body relaxed for she knew that look and everything in it told her she was in the safe zone... for now.
"I swear; you're getting as paranoid as that metal", she quipped, hoisting the bag over her shoulder.
"Well with her bed bound half the time, someone has to keep an eye out for strangers walking around our woods", he replied pointedly.
"Yah, sorry about that; I should've let you know I'd be on the prowl", Jesse apologised, having caught his hint.
Turning her back on him, she began the long return to her car, an extra set of crackling and snapping twigs informing her that he was following close behind.
"So you think he's likely to come back here after last time?" Derek asked.
"Probably not. But then again; he's a tricky bastard. Can't be too careful. And like you said: if she can't defend the property-"
"Let me worry about the home front. You just focus on keeping him as far away from here as possible", Derek interjected.
Shaking her head at his curtness, Jesse replied; "You don't trust me?"
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's that Sarah and the cyborg won't if they see you skulking around here at night. I wouldn't put it past either of them to shoot first and ask questions later. Even John would take a shot at you if he thought you were a threat", Derek explained.
"Oh", was all Jesse could say as she counted herself lucky that it was Derek who discovered her, and not one of the others. She had no doubt that Cameron would kill on sight, and from what she'd heard of Connor's mother the same was likely. And though it could've happened, it didn't happen; and that was enough for Jesse.
"Are you gonna follow me all the way back home?" she asked with a coy smile.
"I'm just making sure you get to your vehicle okay", he replied.
Jesse stopped in her tracks and spun around; taking a step closer to him now that she was sure her trust was still secure.
"You can come home with me if you like. I won't mind", she offered slyly.
Derek reached up and brushed a dead leaf out of her hair, a faint smile on his lips. "You know I can't. Not tonight", he answered.
"Then I demand compensation", she jibed.
Moving his hand from her hair to the back of her neck, Derek pulled her into a kiss and held her there for quite some time before moving to her neck. Jesse, eyes closed, allowed herself to become lost to his affections. Suddenly, a bone biting chill swept through her body and Jesse's eyes flew open to behold an unwelcome presence.
The shadow stood between two trees, like a man-shaped void of pure darkness amongst the din of the wilderness. Jesse's eyes widened as she spotted the metal chamber protruding from out of the shadows, a single red beam pointed right at her. It took her a second to realise that it was not she who was being targeted, but Derek. The 45. Longslide tipped up a little and the red dot that was placed squarely on Derek's back was now set firmly upon the back of his head.
Jesse shook her head frantically, interrupting Derek's attention.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
The assassin dithered for a moment, silently calculating the choice before him, but as each second passed by he knew his moment was lost. Lowering the gun, he withdrew into the darkness of the night, his boots crushing a fragile stick beneath them. Derek started at the sound, spinning around to locate its source. But where the man once stood all that remained was a gap between the trees. Unbeknownst to Derek, Jesse was trying her utmost to let out a breath of reprieve without making a scene.
Must've been a fox or something, he reasoned.
Turning back to Jesse, Derek could tell that something had been through her; the centres of her eyes widened noticeably.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
It took a moment for Jesse to register his words as her heart continued to beat frantically at how close she had come to losing him. But after a few seconds he drew herself back from the brink and into reality: he was safe. It was becoming uncomfortably clear to her now that the safety of the man she loved would be decided by her success or failure in the mission. If killing the child meant staying her master's hand, then so be it.
"I'm fine. It's nothing. Everything's good", she answered distractedly.
Everything's good...
-----000-----
Corners tuck under the mattress. Smooth the edges. Apply covers. Fluff pillows. Remove feline.
Timmy gave a disgruntled meow as Cameron dumped him unceremoniously onto the hardwood bedroom floor, relocating him from the comfortable expanse he had claimed for his catnap. Cameron saw no need to accommodate the cat's desires when John's took precedent. Timmy glared up at her with narrow eyes, a silent protest against her interference. Cameron matched the cat's look with one of her own and as always, her steely glare defeated the stubborn feline's resolve.
With another meow, Timmy departed with his tail held high, giving her full view of his backside. A human would've taken offense to this gesture, but unlike the male who was brushing his teeth in the adjacent bathroom, Cameron was unfazed by such displays of dissent. With the cat gone, Cameron returned to her duties and finished straightening the bed. With her task completed and no immediate follow-up required, Cameron allowed herself to resume her musings as to the designation of her offspring.
"Have you decided what to call it?" she called into the bathroom.
A muffled reply called back to her, buffered by the whirring and grinding of John's electric toothbrush.
"The child?" she clarified.
The buzzing stopped and John cleaned himself up before poking his head through the door to find her standing beside the bed in her pale pink nightgown, her head tilted in a contemplative manner.
"What about it?" he asked.
"Have you decided on a name?" she repeated.
"Oh..." John replied, his expression becoming vacant as he considered her question. "No, I haven't given it much thought to be honest."
"You haven't?" she enquired, surprised by his disinterest all of a sudden.
"Well yeah. I mean, for the past few weeks all I've had time to worry about is whether or not it was going to live long enough to have a name", he explained.
Human logic: irregular but sound, she observed.
"Thank you for explaining", she appeased.
John chuckled at her age-old response habit. Even after all these years, she still used every opportunity to pop it out at random. He wondered if the baby would pick up on her quirks and grow up mimicking them. It would be cute to see a toddler behaving like her stoic mother, but awkward in the presence of others, and dangerous in the company of his mother.
"If it's a girl I think we should call her Ruby", Cameron proposed.
"Ruby? Whatever for?" he mocked, the very sound of that name making his skin crawl.
"A ruby is a precious gem. You told me our baby is precious. It fits", she reasoned.
John crossed his arms and shook his head, leaning against the door frame.
"What about Jade? Another gem. Though not quite so precious..." she suggested.
"If the next name out of your lips is Crystal, you and I are going to have some issues", he half-heartedly warned.
Cameron fixed him with a vaguely condescending look before abruptly sitting down on the bed and placing her hands neatly on either thigh. John could tell he had struck a very deep nerve (or wire); she couldn't abide people blocking her attempts to be helpful or constructive. Sitting down beside her, he put an arm around her waist and rubbed the side of her belly. Cameron tipped her head and gave him one of her small smiles, reassuring him that he hadn't caused any long term damage to her fragile cyborg pride.
"Why the sudden interest anyway?" he asked.
"I was reading a baby book the other day and it got me thinking about these things. People have names. Even I have a name. Our baby must have one too. It's only... natural", she explained.
"You read a baby book?" he chuckled, imagining her sitting in a rocking chair with a ball of wool and knitting needles.
"Yes. A book of baby names. I memorised it", she replied.
"You memorised the whole book", John repeated. Cameron nodded. "Well... this is gonna be a long night."
A small tremor rippled through her skin as the baby kicked, making John smile at the sensation.
"He's kicking again", he commented happily.
"You think it's a 'he'?" she pointed.
"I dunno, maybe. I guess we won't know until we know; until the time comes. You and I can name him or her together", he replied.
Cameron tilted her head up a little so as to look down at him better, an expression he knew to mean she was better informed than he.
"That time is approaching faster than you know", she said ominously.
The room went deathly silent as her words settled in. All that penetrated the absence of noise were the constant chirruping of crickets outside. Cameron maintained her superior look whilst John continued to stare up at her with a blank expression.
"Right! Time for bed, I think", he interjected, letting the moment pass them by.
Being the faster of the two, John quickly crawled under the covers and switched off his bedside lamp, then waited as Cameron carefully lowered herself onto the pillow and switched off her light too. Snaking an arm around her, John snuggled up beside Cameron and laid his head next to hers enough that they were touching. Perfectly comfortable, John closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh of content while Cameron gently stroked his arm.
Unbidden, a notion popped into his head, forcing him to momentarily abandon his bliss.
"Cameron, what will happen to you after the baby's born?" he asked.
Cameron looked to the ceiling as she calculated the most likely outcome.
"My systems will enter a recovery period to recuperate lost energy. Then I will likely return to seventy-eight percent efficiency", she answered.
"That's doesn't sound as good as one hundred percent", John commented warily.
"I think I'm past the point where I can ever return to what I once was, John", she replied.
John sighed, knowing this was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand she would never go back to being just a machine, but on the other she would lose her old combat prowess. And she would need that skill to defend her family, her child.
"I'll take care of you..." he resolved, placing a hand on her stomach. "...Both of you."
Cameron nestled her head a little closer to John's and closed her eyes, waiting for John to slip into sleep before putting herself into standby mode. A soft whir emanated from behind her eyes as her higher cognitive functions shut down for the night, leaving only her regulation systems operative. The couple laid peacefully together, completely unaware of Sarah's silent vigil outside their door, watching through the crack as her son and the cyborg enjoyed a night of ignorance together.
-----000-----
Jesse had never been so relieved to see her car again. It was a bucket of bolts, hardly worthy of her pay grade (if she had one), but it got the job done and cost her nothing to obtain. The rusty Granada sat beside the road like an abandoned mutt, dishevelled and pathetic to look at. She was surprised nobody had taken the time to torch it on their way past. Judging by the look on Derek's face, she guessed he was thinking the same thing.
"Jesus, couldn't you have gotten a better car? One that isn't made up entirely of rust?" he asked in disgust.
"It doesn't matter, love. I'm scrapping it as soon as I see an easy theft", she replied.
"Or you could just buy one", Derek suggested.
Jesse smirked and rubbed her hand along the hood, stopping to lean against the frame as she replied; "Nah, I prefer a little heat."
Derek snorted, doubting the wreck was even capable of generating any kind of heat unless it crashed off-road and exploded, which by the look of it could easily happen. "What do you think our mystery man is driving?" he asked randomly. Jesse blinked and didn't answer at first as she struggled to come up with a witty lie.
"I dunno. Something flash, maybe", she offered. Derek hmm'd and continued to eye up the car, lost in thoughts that kept Jesse on edge. "Might be he prefers bikes. Would make sense; fast escape, more manoeuvrable, better chance at taking a shot", she added.
"Yeah, sounds about right. Although, riding one of those can leave you exposed. The guy would have to have some kind of death wish", Derek commented.
"I guess", she said, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his line of questioning.
Derek gave a deep sigh before looking directly into Jesse's eyes, making every hair on her body stand on end. It was a look a parent gave a naughty child when they were found out. His face was completely blank, but the eyes told more than expression ever could. She never wanted it to come to this, but her hand twitched towards the back of her belt, aching to grab her pistol before he drew his. But Derek made no aggressive moves. Instead he simply stared at her with those cold calculating eyes.
"I know there's something you're not telling me, Jesse", he revealed.
Jesse's heart stopped. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to reach behind her shirt. But she didn't...
"What are you talking about?" she ventured.
"I'm talking about the little details you've been keeping from me. I know you know who this assassin really is", Derek accused.
For the third time that night, Jesse was awash with relief. He had no idea of her true intentions; all he was pissed about was her omission of certain facts. Calming herself and allowing a genuine smile to spread across her face, Jesse felt it time to come clean about a few details; nothing that would jeopardize her mission, but enough to sate his curiosity for the time being.
"Okay, I guess I owe you a little truth", she conceded.
Derek crossed his arms expectantly and leaned against the car, waiting for her to spill the beans.
"Look, there was only ever one guy out of the lot who would have the brass to try and pull this off ; and his name is Ethan", she began.
"Ethan... Who is he exactly?" Derek asked.
"He was the guy. He was the one who tried to save us all from the virus. He found us a cure but your nephew's little darling interfered and blew everything to pieces", she explained contemptuously. Derek blinked and absorbed her words quickly, eager to hear more.
"So he came back to make sure she wouldn't screw things up", he posited.
"Right, except he didn't count on me following him. He knows he's being tracked, but he doesn't know it's me. Not yet anyway", Jesse continued. "The thing is; he's not a bad guy, Derek. He's just trying to stop something terrible from happening. I don't blame him one bit, but I can't let him kill a child. If I find him I might be able to talk him down, or if not; the least I can do is put an end to his suffering."
"And you really think you can do that? As far as I can tell you've never once had a chance of taking him out, and none of us have actually ever seen the guy. What does he look like, anyway?" Derek enquired.
"Umm... well he could've had a makeover since I last saw him. Lord knows I have. But he has brown hair, is about your height, maybe a little shorter. He's lightly built though. Hazel eyes, and has a tendency to wear grey colours", she recalled.
"Why's that?" Derek asked.
"I dunno, he just always liked the colour. Goes well with the eyes, I suppose", she answered wistfully.
Jesse had to congratulate herself; she was giving him everything he needed to hear without actually telling him anything useful. Thinking about her partner was far from relaxing, however. If he knew she was taking such a chance, he would probably put a bullet in her faster than she could say "busted".
"So what's his style? Is he a soldier?"
Jesse considered Derek's question carefully, for it wasn't the easiest one to answer tactfully.
"He was a sort of... He was... He did medicine. But the guy was raised a tunnel rat, so he knows how to sneak around and his dad taught him how to use weapons", she replied.
"Who was his dad?" he asked.
"I never met him", she lied.
"Does this Ethan have a last name?"
"Not that I know of", Jesse replied, growing weary of his questioning. "Look, I gotta get back to my roost before your nephew's warden splatters my brains all over this rust heap."
Derek nodded silently and stepped away from the door, allowing Jesse to heave it open and drop into the seat with a sigh, wincing slightly as her gun dug into her backside. Closing the door, she started up the engine and rolled down the window so that Derek could lean.
"Just promise me something, okay?" he said.
"Anything", she replied.
"If you get the chance to put this guy down, take it."
Jesse smiled up at him as she pulled him closer for a kiss, whispering into his ear: "I promise."
After one last kiss, she turned the key in the ignition and gave her lover a wink before pulling away, leaving Derek in a cloud of dust. He watched her drive away until he could no longer see the rear lights, then, with shaking hands; drew his phone from his pocket and tapped in his least favourite number in the phonebook. The phone dialled for several long seconds before being picked up and answered by the last person in the world he wanted to be speaking to right now.
"It's me", he said.
"And?" Jason replied.
"And you were right. She's got a larger hand in this than she claims", Derek confirmed.
"Well done, Adam. Thou hast eaten thy fruit of knowledge", Jason quipped.
"Shut the fuck up!" Derek growled, wanted now more than ever to wipe that smug look off Jason's face. The cyborg simply chuckled, however, making him realise he was only feeding Jason's amusement.
"She's heading back into the city now, I take it?" Jason enquired.
"Yeah", Derek replied.
"Hmm... I can intercept her before she gets back to her apartment and-" Jason began.
"No! You're not going to touch a hair on her head. She's my business. I'll deal with it, you hear me?" Derek commanded.
"Fine, I'll leave it in your hands. But if she proves to be more hassle than she's worth, rest assured; I will hunt her down and kill her myself", Jason threatened.
Wanting nothing more to do with him, Derek snapped the phone shut and hurled it at the nearest tree, shattering it into dozens of pieces. Sheer frustration and rage coursed through his body as all he wanted to do was scream at the top of his voice in the hope that he might expel the fire from his lungs. He couldn't believe everything Jason had told him was true. He couldn't believe that Jesse, his Jesse, could lie to him like this for so long. What was so twisted about the future she came from that she couldn't even trust the man she loved?
And he had yet to realise the most disturbing fact: that if she lied about this, what else wasn't she telling him?
To be continued...