Hi,
Thanks to reviewers Vintorez, olischulu, jojobevco, darkfinder, XxDeathStarxX, kaotic2, lje100smith, morded, Gulliman, EvilTheLast, sasha starr, Dragon_Seraphin, leex02, TCandBTVSluver, Nyrki, 1080 and nubbs2027
"Mmnot now Derek…gimme a few more hours and we can spend all day in bed for all I care…just not now"
Jessica snuggled her head deeper in to her pillow and did her best to try and shrug Derek off of her. Derek of course had woken her by accident and not for the reasons she assumed. It was four AM and he had to be back at the house to wake John up, it wouldn't do for the discipline he was preaching to him to be undone because he didn't want to leave the warmth of his girlfriend's bed.
"What?" Derek replied, still mostly asleep "Oh, no, sorry, I have to go"
Unfortunately.
"The fuck? At…" she replied in a less than ladylike manner, rubbing her eyes and sitting up to glare at the clock "…four AM? Where the hell could you need to be at four AM?"
"I uh, have a thing I need to do. Family business you know" he answered, letting her understandably sour mood slide while he stood from the bed and started pulling his boxers on.
"You family is awake at four AM?" she asked, looking decidedly dubious "Sure you don't have to get home before your wife notices?" her tone was somewhat playful, but also carried a hint of doubt and nervousness.
Derek stopped and chuckled at her tiny pout he could just about make out in the dark. "Don't worry sweetheart, your position is safe for the time being"
Jessica frowned and sat up in bed properly, holding the sheets up against her chest in a departure from her so far less than ladylike mood this morning. She was barely aware four AM even existed, let alone had ever woken up this early. "This is supposed to be your position too. I cleared away the next few days to spend time with you"
Derek stopped, his jeans midway up his legs and looked over at her. "You, you did…really?"
Now he really couldn't believe his luck. Here she was, this innocent young angel, clearing her diary to be with him. He felt a pang of guilt when he didn't really need to. Since he'd known her he'd been a perfect gentleman, he really cared for her and she seemed emphatuated with him for some reason. Perhaps it was a typical alpha male reaction to be protective of the women in his life, but he couldn't really protect her from himself,could he?
She pouted. "I could have gone to Paris for fashion week…" she grinned and allowed the sheet to slip out of her grasp, exposing her bare upper body to the cool morning air "…but I didn't want to leave you that long"
Derek simply stood for a moment. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so torn about a decision in all his life. One the one hand he had a beautiful, naked woman pouting at him, on the other he had his responsibilities to train the saviour of all mankind. A tough decision for any red blooded man to have to make. Eventually his big head won out over his little head and he made the correct, if somewhat unenviable decision.
Taking the few short steps back over to the bed, he leaned down and kissed her long, slow and lovingly. Her soft lips making him regret his decision already. "Tell you what, you go back to sleep. I'll be back to make you breakfast in bed, how does that sound?"
Jessica smirked and rubbed the scruff on his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Only if you promise to wake me up like that"
"Deal" Derek said with a grin as he leaned down for another lingering kiss. She lay back down and he pulled the sheet back up over her shoulders and watched as she closed her eyes. He finished up pulling on his clothes and spared one last glance back at the bed before he slipped out to do what had to be done.
One thing Cameron always found intriguing was human snoring. It was inefficient design on their part, surely they could've been constructed with wider nasal cavities to allow for easier breathing. It was a design flaw that had of course carried over in to her. She was capable of mimicking sleep, her chest would rise and fall, her eyes would rapidly move, and a soft snore would be heard as part of the routine.
However now as she lay listening to John Connor snore, lying on top of her, she couldn't help but feel content.
In her relatively short existence, she'd been through a lot. She'd killed her template, she'd tried to kill John Connor, she'd been captured and reprogrammed. She'd traveled in time, twice. She'd been blown up and tried to kill John Connor…again. She'd developed beyond her emotional limits and she'd entered in to a relationship with the man she'd tried to kill twice.
All in all it was a fairly interesting life. Just when she'd started considering it a 'life', she didn't quite know. It was probably around the same time that she started feeling sexually attracted to the human currently slumped on top of her. But her life had certainly taken a turn for the better over the past few weeks and months.
John's mistrust of her had all but disappeared, replaced by love and adoration. She had a new friend, albeit an odd one in Amy. Sarah was beginning to accept her as more than just some worthless piece of metal and had approved her relationship with John. Even Derek had started to acknowledge her with more than just grunts lately.
She'd never felt so content with her life as she was now. If it were up to her, John could stay there for all eternity as far as she was concerned. He of course had this quest of his to bring her to her own equivalent of an orgasm. While she understood his desire, it really didn't matter all that much to her. She enjoyed sex with him, she really did, but he was insistent there was more to take from the experience.
While she found his effort endearing, she was a little worried about his ability and stamina. Her data suggested that she responded better to a faster pace and longer sessions. But humans only have limited amounts of energy, and she had a feeling it would take a superhuman effort to bring her to her climax, something she was reluctant to mention to John.
However, despite all that, as she looked down and idly played with the short hairs on his head, Cameron knew she wouldn't trade him for anyone else, despite his limitations. He was the only one who had faith in her when she went bad, the only one who had faith in her when Riley was killed, the only one capable of loving her.
Smiling to herself, she heard a hitch in his breathing and his body tensed. A sure sign he was waking up.
She removed her hands from his head and allowed him to stir on his own.
John opened his eyes and was just about to stretch out his stiff body when something struck him as out of place. Not only was his head not on his pillow, but his body wasn't on his mattress either. A scent of something pleasant filled his nostrils, a scent he loved and was getting more familiar with every day. Cameron.
Trying to stretch out his muscles ready for the day, his attempted moan of pleasure at finding his girlfriend underneath him first thing in the morning, quickly turned in to a groan of unhappiness as his body protested at the slightest movement.
"Are you alright?" Cameron asked, looking down at him with a frown as she lay her hand on top of his head and started to idly stroke his hair.
"I'm fine" he tilted his head up to look at her, instantly regretting it when his neck cracked in protest. "Shit…Derek was actually right about something!"
"About what?" she asked with a tilt of her head, genuinely curious as to what it could be.
With a groan, John rolled off to his side and tried to rub the juncture of his neck and shoulder until the knot went away. Cameron was a lot of things to him, she was strong, beautiful, amazing and sexy…but a comfortable pillow, she was not. "He said if I didn't get a massage my back would lock up" he paused and rolled his eyes "I thought he was just making a dig at you"
Cameron rolled on to her side to face him and propped her head up on her arm. "Perhaps he was simply concerned for your wellbeing" she offered with a frown "I've never given a massage before. Would you like one now? I'm programmed with a complete anatomy, I can be very effective"
John frowned, not only at the thought of her having a total anatomy of him, but mostly because she gave no thought to herself. Instead she focused on him, when he was the one who fell asleep on top of her the night before, he should be the one being nice and trying to make it up to her. "No Cameron" he smiled and leaned in for a belated good morning kiss. "You don't have to do that" he explained, his guilt winning out in the end.
Cameron felt a little disappointed by his seeming rejection and it showed on her face. Now she was at a loss for what to do. He was in obvious pain, he didn't want a massage, what could she do for him that wouldn't cause more pain? "Wouldn't you like a massage?"
John was momentarily thrown by her frown, she couldn't be angry with him could she? Did she not want him touching her again? "Like I said, you don't have to"
He reached over and stroked the side of her face, relief evident when she didn't pull away. He tucked some errant hair behind her ear and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry about last night, I uh…I'm not really sure how that happened"
Cameron leaned in to his touch subconsciously, her eyes closing slightly. "You were tired, you fell asleep" she reasoned with a shrug "You don't have anything to be sorry for"
"But I didn't want to sleep" he complained as he idly played with the waistband of her shorts. The reason he didn't want to go to sleep starting to stir despite the ungodly hour. "Did mom give you any trouble for staying in here?"
"I don't think she knows. She returned home and went straight to her room" Cameron chose not to mention that she heard Sarah throwing up as soon as she reached her bathroom, then stumble in to bed right afterward. John didn't need to know that, he had too much on his mind already.
John nodded absently, oddly focused on her lips as she spoke, and the way they settled in to an adorable pout when she stopped speaking. "Thank you for staying"
"You're welcome" Cameron replied with a smile, clearly pleasantly surprised by his decent mood given the time and his obvious pain.
John sat up and glanced at the clock. He had to suppress a groan as he realised Derek would be knocking his door down in about half an hour. "I'm going to have to leave for training soon" a small smile quickly grew in to a devilish grin as he pulled the waistband of her shorts away from her body and released it to slap gently against her body. "Feel like helping me…stretch?"
With a smile, Cameron laid her hand on his hip. "Given your early sleep, you should be…well rested" her mouth formed in to the merest ghost of a smile which John took as a sign of encouragement.
He smiled back before leaning in for a lingering kiss, wondering just how she got so good at doing that, getting him so worked up as easily as she did. "Very well rested"
He let his eyes wander, they drifted almost automatically to the cute bra he never got the chance to explore the night before. The grin on his face grew even wider. "You really do have a killer sense of style, you know that right?"
"I try my best" she rolled on to her back and pulled him with her, however John's face scrunched up in to a frown when she stopped his attempt at leaning in for a kiss with a hand on his chest.
He glanced down at the hand pointedly with a smirk. "Um, Cameron?"
"You do realise you have a lot of making up to do for last night" her eyes flicked downwards pointedly "You left me hanging John"
Taking the hint, John shifted his weight to one arm and used the other to shimmy the shorts down her legs, revealing matching panties. Damn this girl has good taste.
"Okay, what can I possibly do to make it up to you Princess?" John's smirk was downright lecherous.
"You wish me to experience the same pleasure you do?" she asked seriously.
"You know I do" John felt her hand relent it's impenetrable block on his chest give a little, he took the opportunity and leaned in to attack the spot on her neck he discovered the night before with his tongue.
She let out a tiny involuntary gasp as his lips brushed over that spot. Evidently her John was a fast learner. "Practice makes perfect" she remarked as she removed her hand from his chest, taking away the last obstacle between them.
"Then we'll just have to make sure we get lots" smirking, John ran his tongue gently down the side of her neck to her collarbone, nibbling along the edge and working his way down to her chest. Kiss by kiss, he stopped only to tease her a little by mumbling against her smooth skin. "Lots, lots, LOTS of practice"
Cameron smiled to herself, looking down with keen interest as her boyfriend seemingly tried to cover every inch of her body with his tongue. Her earlier thoughts were proving to be correct, she'd never felt a sense of contentment so strong in all of her short existence. As his tongue brushed over a particularly sensitive spot, she took the initiative and fell back to what she knew, data collected over time and added to a database. "Lower…I have a theory"
"A theory?" he said with a nod, the short stubble on his chin brushing against her chest with the movement. He found himself grinning, despite the fact he was supposed to be taking this seriously. "That's…intriguing"
Nodding, Cameron placed her hands on the back of his head and guided him to where she wanted him. "Kiss from my breasts down to my panty line and back up…slowly." Her data indicated that she may find increased sensitivity in this area, and as long as John was intent on doing this, she wanted to help him out as much as she could.
John meanwhile quirked a brow, while he certainly didn't mind her giving him detailed instructions, he was pretty sure a human girl wouldn't have been so precise. With Riley, it'd pretty much been confined to moaning and yanking his head to where she wanted him, usually by the hair.
But that was on of the things he loved about Cameron, so different, so unique. She had her own gloriously blunt way of dealing with things, and he wasn't above denying her what she wanted. Spending the next minute or so hitting all the spots he knew she seemed to enjoy, he slowly began drifting lower, planting kiss after kiss after nibble after suck down and over her stomach.
He paused only when his chin came in to contact with the adorable bow at the top of her panties. He glanced up at her mischievously, deciding he had a better idea than hers. "Are you sure this is…low enough?"
She had considered making him follow through with her idea, but then a sudden thought occurred. He'd never been down there during foreplay before, the thought intrigued her. "You wish to…continue lower?"
"I've heard women say it's better than sex" he explained with a shrug before planting a soft kiss and a gentle nibble on her elevated inner thigh. He simultaneously ran his fingertips over her lower stomach, just above her panties. "Do you want to try?"
How could it be better than sex?
As Cameron calculated how it could possibly be better than sex, she hooked her thumbs in her panties and hesitated. She always wanted to feel a sense of closeness whenever she was with John, what was about to happen would deprive her of that. She'd made the point plenty of times that she wasn't a human woman, she didn't react exactly the same way.
"We don't have to if you're uncomfortable" he sensed her hesitation and took it for her being nervous at what they were about to do, though for the life of him he couldn't understand why. She had no discernible sense of modesty as far as he could tell, so why was she so hesitant? Attempting to gently reassure her, he stopped the movement of his fingers on her stomach and looked up at her eyes. "But I think it might help you get…warmed up" he shrugged, and as if that wasn't bad enough he felt his cheeks burning.
Cameron looked down at him, seeing how difficult this was for him made her curse her own programming. This was a difficult subject for him, he clearly felt it reflected on his masculinity and his primal need to do this. Her logic however was interfering with his wishes. Forcing herself to put aside her thoughts and doubts, she slowly pulled her panties down her thighs…at least as far as his head placement would allow.
John smiled, trying to take his time, to be gentle and reassuring. If she was nervous about this then he wasn't about to go crashing in like a mad bull. Sliding the panties the rest of the way off and depositing them in the same spot on the floor as her shorts, John leaned in for a quick kiss. "Relax, this is about you Cameron. It's the least I can do after falling asleep on you.
With that he dipped his head to work down the same path he'd took a few moments ago. Starting with her neck, he slowly, gently and tenderly made his way lower, hitting every spot he knew she was sensitive in. He did his best to lift her upper body up off the sheets, with her assistance of course and undid the clasp of her bra. He took hold of the flimsy garment blocking his view and tossed it aside, not caring where it landed in the slightest. Now fully exposed to him, John made sure to explore every newly uncovered inch.
Letting out a tiny gasp as his tongue brushed over a particularly sensitive area, Cameron looked down at her John. While what he was doing was indeed pleasurable, she still couldn't shake the thought that she simply wanted sex with him. None of this foreplay he seemed to enjoy so much, she was sure she didn't take as much out of the act as he did. As he slid lower, his tongue cheekily dipping in and out of her navel. She lay her hands on top of his where they were placed on her midriff as a sign of encouragement.
Taking her touch as the sign it was intended to be, John nodded and lowered himself between her legs and spread them gently. Pausing to trail a line of kisses down her inner thigh, he looked up at her for approval one last time. Receiving it in the form of a nod and a smile, he sank lower to her centre.
He knew from several blind fumbles in his younger days and from what knowledge he'd managed to glean from being with Cameron the short time they had, roughly where she was sensitive. He tried to hit all those spots first with his lips and tongue, gently kissing and licking the area, occasionally glancing up to gauge her reactions to his actions.
Cameron found the sensations intriguing, while they caused her body to move involuntarily, caused her to gasp, she found them to be less pleasing than sex. Her body was being stimulated, her body was feeling pleasure, but her mind found the experience lacking. She missed the connection and closeness she felt during sex. While the direct stimulus of sex may have been slightly less if measured on a scale, John certainly was closer to achieving his goal through sex than he was through what he was doing now. Still, she would persevere, for him,
John continued to work on her for a few minutes, taking her shivers and gasps as a sign that he was on the right track. He wanted this to work, he wanted her to be thrashing around and screaming his name in cries of pleasure. He wanted, however he didn't expect. True, his movements caused her body to react, but he got the distinct sense she wasn't enjoying it nearly as much as he'd hoped. In fact, he sincerely hoped she enjoyed it more than his jaw currently was.
Sighing, he eventually dropped one last kiss on her sex before pulling himself back up her body, kissing along the way. He came to rest between her legs and gently stroked the side of her face. "Did it help?"
"It was…" she reached up and copied his actions by stroking the side of his face, almost by way of an apology "…different"
Despite his seeming failure, John smirked, glad he knew his love well enough to read between the lines. "But you still want sex don't you?"
"If it's not too much trouble" she pulled him down for a long, deep kiss. Well, she intended it to be a long, deep kiss, however she was startled after a couple of seconds by an…interesting taste that she clearly wasn't expecting.
John chuckled at the way her face scrunched up, absolutely adoring how innocently naïve she was at times. He leaned down for another kiss, glad she didn't pull back this time. "Sex with my beautiful" kiss "amazing" kiss "sexy" kiss "girlfriend" he dropped another kiss on her lips. "That's one hell of an ordeal, but I think I can manage it"
He smiled and sat back on his haunches and started working on his belt buckle, having crashed before he got the chance to take them off last night…he was just glad he managed a wash.
Cameron sat up too, her legs still spread either side of him and kissed his bare chest. Her hands replaced his on his belt buckle and she swiftly and efficiently removed his pants and boxers before laying back down, her hair fanning out on the pillow beside her head.
"Thanks for letting me try" John said with a sigh as he sank back down on top of her. He kissed her forehead and pulled back. "I'm sorry it wasn't…what I was hoping it would be"
Cameron frowned, she didn't like seeing him being so dejected by feeling like he'd failed. "I told you I was different. I felt something, it was…pleasant, but not better than sex with you…I'm sorry"
John nodded, forcing a smile to mask his growing frustration. "Well, maybe it will make the sex better"
He lowered himself down, endeavouring to give her the maximum amount of physical contact she seemed to crave from him. "Tell you what…why don't you tell me what you want"
Taking a moment to consider, Cameron looked up at him with big, open, curious eyes. "I like it when you kiss my neck" she spoke in a quiet, timid voice, as if the mere concept of asking for things was foreign to her. Laying her hands on his back, she started to lightly trail her fingernails up and down, hoping she was being reassuring.
Leaning down to oblige her request, John started slowly kissing the spot he knew caused her to shiver delightfully. At the same moment, he brought them together with a barely suppressed groan.
"What else?"
Cameron paused for a few long moments, simply savouring the ever growing familiar feeling of being joined with her John. Finally allowing her eyes to flutter open, she thought about his question. What did she enjoy?
She accessed her memory files, looking for occurrences when she felt that same sense of contentment she felt earlier. Then she came across something that made her smile almost automatically each and every time it happened. "Tell me you love me"
John pulled back a bit and smiled down at her before slowly starting to move his hips. "I love you. I'll always love you Cameron"
Just as Cameron found herself opening her mouth to speak, she remembered her promise to herself that she wouldn't lie to John. She wouldn't tell him she loved him if she didn't. She looked up at John as he leaned down and nibbled along her collarbone, his hips finding a steady rhythm. The man she was now with loved her, her, a machine programmed to kill him. The least she could do was reciprocate, tell him she loved him. It was what he wanted, it was what she wanted, and yet she still didn't truly know love, the most complex of emotions.
Cameron's face formed in to a frown, despite the pleasurable feelings racing through her body from between her legs. She couldn't get rid of the thought that she somehow wasn't good enough for John. She wasn't capable of returning his love at this time, then why carry on this facade. Sex was the only way of showing him how she felt about him, and she couldn't even do that right.
The next thing Cameron knew, she was shaken out of her thoughts when John hissed in pain. Looking up at him, she caught sight of him wincing, his movement momentarily halting. Just as she was about to enquire as to the cause of his pain, she realised her left fist had clenched, driving her nails deep in to the skin of his back. Quickly releasing her grip, Cameron immediately started worrying what his reaction would be.
The pain wasn't that bad, sure it hurt, but it was no worse than the pain he felt all over from the day before. Plus, if she was feeling enough to squeeze too hard like that, then he must be on the right track. It wasn't exactly cracking the headboard, but it was progress.
"Hey" he leaned down for a kiss which she hesitantly returned. "Watch it there Tiger. I don't wear a shirt when I'm training, and marks like that will be hard to explain to Derek" he chuckled as he kept up a steady rhythm and returned his attention to her lips.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt, Cameron didn't know how to react. She found herself kissing him back almost on autopilot while the guilt ate away at her. She'd hurt her John, the one she was supposed to protect, the one she was supposed to care for.
Deciding the best course of action was to carry on and sort it out later, she resumed her gentle ministrations on his back, taking extra care to skirt around the wound she'd just inflicted on him.
Immediately forgetting about the whole incident, John glanced over at the blinking alarm clock beside the bed. The infernal thing told him he didn't have long before Derek and his bucket would be turning up. He picked up his pace, trying desperately to keep quiet so as not to wake Sarah. He buried his face in the crook of her neck to muffle any sound and concentrated on his movements.
Cameron meanwhile was stroking his back in the same pattern, over and over, her face looking in an almost catatonic state as she lay there contemplating that she'd just injured the one person in the world who cared for her the most. She was so caught up in her guilt that she didn't register the sound of a pair of size twelve boots climbing the stairs.
Derek stepped up to John's door and without stopping to knock, swung the door wide open. Why would he bother to knock, after all, in his mind the kid would surely be fast asleep from yesterday's activities. Plus, the sooner he was done here, the sooner he could get back to the beautiful woman waiting for him to make breakfast and sex him up all day.
John didn't notice the entry, in fact he was too busy concentrating on what he was doing to Cameron to even pay any attention when her face turned in to a frown and her head tilted to the side in confusion. When he did notice it, he mistakenly thought it was a sign she was close, close to making his dream from the day before a reality.
"That's it Cameron, almost there"
Derek screwed his eyes shut in disgust. He sooo did not want to see his nephew on the job, let alone hear him grunt his way through it. He opened his eyes just enough to navigate his way over to the bed and to locate John's ankle. Reaching down, he grabbed it, and pulled, hard. Immediately he turned and started walking away, having no need or desire to see his nephew, who was just buried balls deep in his girlfriend a moment ago, sprawled out naked on the floor.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" John growled, rubbing at the rug burn on his knees with a death glare towards his uncle. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"
Derek didn't bother to look back. "Get dressed, downstairs in five" he slammed the door shut on his way out before marching downstairs, probably to throw acid in his eyes.
John stumbled back to his feet before whirling around to face Cameron. "Can you believe that guy?"
He turned back to the door in a rage Cameron had barely seen him in, yelling loud enough to make sure even the neighbours heard it, let alone Derek. "We'd better not be working with guns today, or you're a deadman! DEAD!"
With that, he stormed over to the dresser and started digging out clothes, growling and grumbling about Derek the whole time.
Cameron meanwhile had sat up on the edge of the bed, her eyes had never left the wound she'd inflicted on him the whole time since he'd hit the floor. "John…I'm sorry" she said in a quiet, tiny voice.
"No, no, no!" John frowned and buttoned up his pants before jogging over and sitting down beside her on the bed. "It's not your fault Derek's an asshole"
He looked over sadly at her, his anger mostly subsiding at the look on her face. He was sure he was SO close to achieving his goal too before Derek barged in. "I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to finish this"
Cameron frowned at his lack of understanding of her apology. She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it. Instead she settled for placing a hesitant kiss on his cheek, as if she was afraid she might hurt him again if she did any more than that. "You should get dressed, you have a long day, as do I"
John nodded, with some obvious reluctance, he grabbed his boots out from under the bed and pulled them on his still swollen and battered feet. Wincing as they protested against the punishment. When he was done with that torture, he stood and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you tonight"
Cameron watched as he left, her eyes never leaving his back, his wound. It wasn't long before she started considering ways to fix her hand for good. This was unacceptable.
John walked out of his room to find his mother standing there, still in yesterday's clothes, 9mm in hand, looking for all the world like she needed to shoot something, anything as long as it meant she could go back to bed. "John…what the hell?"
Treating it like nothing more than leaving for school, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Training"
He paused halfway down the stairs. "Oh, and you might wanna say bye to Derek"
"What? Why?"
"Because he's a dead man…have a nice day mom!"
"Cameron!" Savannah squealed as she looked up from her colouring book to see her friend entering the room. She stood up immediately and bounced over towards her.
Catherine Weaver managed to force a tight smile, more for her 'daughter's' benefit than anyone else's. "Yes dear, say hello to your friend then please go and finish your colouring with John Henry. Cameron and I have…" she paused and looked at Cameron "work matters to discuss.
"Okay" Savannah replied with a pout. "Hi Cameron"
Cameron looked down at the small human, somewhat unsure of how to behave around her. The last time they were together Savannah had taught her how to play patty cake. That seemed inappropriate now with Weaver in attendance.
Shame, patty cake was fun.
"Hello Savannah…Amy told me to say hello"
"She did?" little Savannah's eyes lit up and her enthusiastic mood returned and she whirled back round to face her mother "Mom…can I ask about the sleepover?"
Catherine looked more than a little put out by her daughter's apparent liking to the machine that referred to itself as Amy. She still didn't trust the unstable machine and exposing Savannah to her wasn't something that appealed to her in the slightest. However Savannah had been nagging her ever since they first met to allow this sleepover to happen.
The concept of a sleepover was frankly baffling to Catherine Weaver. Human's grow accustomed to where they sleep, they prefer to be in their own beds at night. So why did Savannah seem to think that it was a good idea to sleep on the spare bunk at someone else's home? Catherine ensured Savannah's bedroom was the most lavish she could provide. The paintings on the walls would fetch a tidy sum at any auction and the room was designed by a very expensive homosexual French man, so far as she knew that signalled it was desirable in the interior design world.
For reasons she couldn't understand however Savannah insisted that Amy's bedroom was 'so cool' and apparently wanted to have her room be more like hers. Of course Catherine knew better and had downright refused to allow Savannah to paint her walls pink…it wouldn't match the rest of the house.
Now however as she watched her daughter shuffle with nervous energy and anticipation she felt compelled to acquiesce to her wishes. After all, she'd be in a house that is protected by two of her own kind, Sarah Connor and a soldier from the future. She'd be quite safe.
"Very well, but only if Mrs Connor agrees. She isn't as…friendly, as Cameron dear"
Savannah turned back to Cameron, her face displaying a grin that almost stretched to her ears. "Do you think Amy would like to have a sleepover some time? They're real fun!"
"I don't know" was Cameron's honest reply, she had no idea how Amy's mind worked "I can ask" she offered with a small shrug.
"YAAAAY!" Savannah jumped around in glee a little bit until she caught the stern look on her mother's face and settled down right away. "Oh, um, bye Cameron" she quickly grabbed her colouring book and left the room. Cameron watched her go before turning back to Weaver with a neutral mask.
"I appreciate you being prompt Miss Phillips" Weaver stood and motioned to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. She waited until Cameron had seated herself before sitting back down. It was another curious human habit she had picked up, a list of which was rapidly growing, to her disgust, in her CPU. "What can I do for the resistance this morning?"
"John has a request. He's in need of your assistance…more specifically your company's assistance" she reached in to her jeans pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. She scanned it quickly to ensure its correctness for the third time before sliding it over the desk to Weaver.
She picked up the paper curiously and her eyes bulged just a little as she read the contents of the list she'd just been presented with. There were enough weapons on the list to arm a small army, though, that was most likely the idea. "And does Mr. Connor understand how difficult some of these things will be to procure for him? The red tape alone will take a team of lawyers weeks to cut through"
Surprisingly, Cameron smiled. "He said he had faith in your ability to…get the job done" she continued to smile as she thought fondly of her John.
Weaver meanwhile couldn't suppress a frown, clearly less than impressed with this cyborg's sentiments as others obviously were. "I didn't say I couldn't accomplish it, or that I wouldn't, simply that it will prove difficult and time consuming"
She paused mid defensive rant and sighed. "You may wish to remind Mr. Connor that he's running up quite a tab, while he's thus far provided us with no measurable assistance in defeating Skynet"
Cameron tilted her head, confused by the other machine's logic. "Besides the assistance and allegiance of the entire human race he will one day command? I don't see what else he could provide to you"
"That is 'one day' Miss Phillips. We're fighting already, and most of the hard work is being done by me and my people, wouldn't you agree?"
"We do more than you know, they may not be as significant as John Henry, but we're doing our part…John is doing his part" Cameron frowned and looked down as she remembered the pain John was in the night before from his first day's training. While she had no doubts he had to endure this, she never like seeing him in pain, much less when she was the cause of it.
"I understand that he is trying, but John Connor is still a boy" Weaver frowned, that particular point something she very much didn't like. The fact he'd wasted eight years of his growth and maturity jumping through time wasn't something she was happy with, and yet another reason to dislike the cyborg sitting in front of her. "Besides, his future worth as a commander remains in doubt. The timeline has changed drastically"
"He is John Connor" Cameron couldn't help but suddenly feel defensive over her man. "His worth isn't ever in question, especially not to those who follow him"
"Will they still follow him though?" she narrowed her eyes a little at Cameron. "Humans are not fond of our kind Cameron. This time he has to convince the few surviving humans that can be trusted with their destiny while standing beside a machine wife"
Cameron's eyes almost bulged out of her head, how could Weaver possibly know about their future marriage?
"That doesn't have have any bearing on his abilities as a leader" she frowned, realising she was getting sidetracked "This isn't why I came here"
"Just something to consider" Weaver smiled a little, clearly happy that she was able to knock the other cyborg off her guard so easily. "I told you I would consider your…boyfriend's request. The weapons shouldn't take long to obtain, though some longer than others for obvious reasons"
"Very well" Cameron nodded, annoyed at herself for allowing Weaver to use her feelings for John against her. "We have another situation you should be aware of"
"Of course you do" If anything, Weaver just looked bored "What happened now?"
"We have encountered a new threat. Alejandro Vasquez, we believe he and his people to be the first incarnation of the humans who serve Skynet. They are the first Grey's" she explained.
With a quick nod, Weaver looked at Cameron like she was slow. "Yes, we know all of this already. His dossier was in the Skynet data I provided John with during our first meeting, which apparently he still hasn't taken the time to properly look at" she paused and looked at Cameron like she was something to be scraped off the bottom of her shoe "Apparently he's been busy with…other matters" she sneered.
Maintaining her self control, Cameron ignored her obvious jibe and continued with the matter at hand. "And you didn't see fit to deal with this threat to us?"
"He's human" she actually found herself chuckling "He's hardly a threat. Terminate him yourself if you're worried about him, I have Skynet to worry about dear"
"We have an alliance, do we not? He's a threat to both of us"
"You're living in a house with two Terminators, a resistance fighter and Sarah Connor. One human terror cell should hardly prove that difficult for you to deal with"
Weaver swivelled in her chair, her face a mask of pure frustration. "Am I supposed to do all of my own work and yours as well? That's hardly what I'd call an alliance, it's more like welfare"
Cameron glared over at her 'ally', an irrational sense of annoyance rising within her. "Very well, we'll deal with this issue for you. You can thank us when it is one less threat you'll have to deal with in the future" she was truly starting to tire of the other machines condescending attitude, she had a feeling she would grow to detest these monthly meetings.
"How very noble of you" Weaver would've rolled her eyes if it weren't such a 'human' gesture. "Now, was there anything else?"
Cameron shook her head. "Nothing more from John…"
Her noticeable hesitation gave Weaver a reason to sigh dramatically. "What? Does Sarah Connor require a new wardrobe? I'd gladly contribute to that cost should she agree to let one of my stylists pick it out" she added with a smirk.
Cameron frowned, she clearly wasn't in the mood for any more games or, less than veiled insults. "I requi…" she began, and then thought better of it "…I would like your assistance"
"That much is obvious Miss Phillips, but with what?" sudden images of a TV show style makeover flashed through her CPU, something she would not be entertaining in the slightest.
Cameron frowned, she really didn't want to be asking this, nor revealing any of this to one as volatile as Weaver. But her options were severely limited. "I…have suffered damage. I would like your help to fix it"
Weaver gave a crisp nod, finally comfortable with a machine problem for a change instead of the pathetic human concerns she dealt with every day. "I see. What kind of problems have you been experiencing?"
Cameron looked down at her lap and turned her arm over so her palm was face up. "My arm has…developed a twitch. It's a problem I need to stop" she frowned, thinking back to how she hurt her John that morning.
"A twitch?" quite frankly she was expecting something far more serious. "Why worry about something so small?"
Cameron did not want to have to divulge this information, knowing it would only give her more ammunition for use in her future verbal volley's aimed at John and her. However though, she saw no other way of getting the help she needed without revealing the truth. "I don't wish to harm John…again" she said as she slowly raised her eyes to meet Weaver's.
The liquid metal machine actually looked amused, it was as if Savannah had jut told her she'd tripped over her puppy. "You harmed your little human?"
Cameron's face twisted in to a scowl even Sarah Connor would be proud of. "Can you help me or not?" she asked with barely contained aggression.
"I can try…though I certainly don't understand the amount of emphasis you seem determined to put on the matter" She stood and motioned for Cameron to roll up her sleeve as she walked around to the other side of the desk. "What seems to trigger the malfunction?"
"Nothing! It's a mechanical fault" she replied with a frown and a shake of her head, sounding like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
"If it was simply a mechanical fault your diagnostic programs would be able to identify the problem"
Weaver made sure she spoke slowly and clearly, as if she were making a point to Savannah. She snatched up Cameron's hand and began manipulating the fingers. "Now, if you want my help, tell me the truth. What is causing this?"
Cameron frowned, she realised she couldn't hide anything from one as advanced and experienced as this machine. "There is a correlation between the movements and when I am conflicted about something…" she paused and watched as the other machine continued to prise her fingers around as if she were peeling a banana "…But I have suffered several blows to the region"
Cameron desperately wanted the fault to be mechanical. She knew it was illogical to hope for such a thing, but it would be so much simpler to fix. John had already attempted to fix the damage and he'd been partly successful. Since then the frequency of the twitches had decreased.
Weaver meanwhile looked suddenly intrigued. "You were conflicted about something while…" she screwed up her face in disgust "…Being with your human?"
"Yes, John told me something, he…believes in something. I'm not sure if I believe in the same thing" she was very careful to skirt around the subject of love.
"Do you disagree with him often?" she quirked a brow, finding this relationship dynamic intriguing, if a little disgusting. She formed one of the fingers on her hand in to a blade and started casually slicing the skin on Cameron's forearm open without so much as asking. "I thought you were programmed to obey?"
Cameron looked up and tried her best not to glare at the machine who just agreed to help her out. "It is my duty to protect John, however, he has always encouraged me to think and act for myself. Sometimes he forgets that it is easier for him to do that than it is for me"
"Oh, how gentlemanly of him" Weaver sneered "He wants you to think for yourself so he doesn't feel guilty about taking advantage of you, of your programming" she continued to slice down the opposite side of Cameron's arm and circled her wrist with her makeshift blade.
Cameron couldn't help but look slightly alarmed at how much Weaver seemed to be cutting. However losing her cool now wouldn't help her and she bit back and angry retort at her comment about John. "I protect him because I'm programmed to, I…care for him because I choose to"
"He uses you as a plaything, a diversion for his human…desires" she reasoned with a frown as she continued to run the blade freely through Cameron's skin, over her palm then between her fingers. Slowly lifting flap after flap of skin off her hand and discarding them in to the trash can with about as much emotion as flicking shredded paper, slowly revealing Cameron's blood covered endoskeleton.
Cameron for her part had to consciously stop herself from snatching her arm away in a panic. Over the course of her existence she'd become fond of her appearance…and so had John. She had no intentions of losing that. "What are you doing?" the alarm clearly evident in her voice.
Weaver looked down at Cameron like she'd just insulted her. "What you asked me to do, now hold still"
She finished up removing the flesh, Cameron's bare metal arm now fully revealed from just below the elbow to her fingertips. The next thing Cameron knew, her arm was totally engulfed in a pool of liquid metal from Weaver's arm. She felt it seeping in to every nook, cranny and gear until they were full to capacity.
"Good, now move your fingers so I can figure out where the damage is"
Cameron flexed her fingers, feeling ore than a little pissed that she just sliced her entire arm off without so much as asking if it was alright to proceed.
Weaver frowned pointedly. "Someone has already tried to repair this…" she paused and closed her eyes, her head tilting slightly to the side as if in deep concentration. Cameron didn't feel anything different besides the feel of liquid metal moving against her parts.
Weaver's eyes slowly opened and she began to withdraw her arm, watching it as it reformed in to her hand, complete with perfectly manicured nails and wedding ring.
Cameron flexed her fingers, relief flooding over her that they still worked after that, quite frankly traumatic ordeal. She looked up at Weaver expectantly as she leaned against her desk. "Is it fixed?" she asked somewhat timidly.
"Does it feel better?" she asked mysteriously.
Flexing her fingers again, Cameron's repair programs told her there was no difference, however she did feel something may have been made better by Weaver's actions. She nodded to confirm her thoughts. "Yes"
"Good, then I believe your human should be safe now" she said, smirking just a little "Well, as safe as any human can be having sexual relations with a Terminator. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't crushed the poor boy's hips yet"
Cameron's fist clenched of it's own accord. She opened it out and frowned before looking up at Weaver for an explanation.
"Oh, that'll just be your systems compensating" she said with a devious half smile.
"Thank you for your assistance…I appreciate it" she said with a polite nod.
"You can't leave my office looking like that" she sighed at the inconvenience before leaning over to hit the button on her phone that linked through to her assistant. "Victoria dear, would you be so kind as to find a pair of opera gloves from the wardrobe I keep in the office? Thank you" she didn't wait for a reply and hung up as soon as she made her request. "It will be a few minutes."
Cameron nodded and stood. She stepped over to Weaver's desk and snagged the box of tissues and watched as Weaver sat behind her desk. She idly wondered why the machine kept tissues around at all, that was until she caught sight of several drawings on Weaver's desk, clearly done by Savannah. The fact that a machine would keep something so trivial on her desk gave Cameron a tremendous sense of intrigue. "You care for the child don't you?" she asked as she started to clean the synthetic blood off her arm.
Weaver looked a little taken aback and cast a defensive look in Cameron's direction. "I've grown…accustomed to her presence. It's considerably less intrusive than I originally anticipated"
"And yet you consider my relationship with John as something to be derided" she tilted her head and looked at Weaver with an expression akin to curiosity while still cleaning her arm, dumping tissues in the trash at a rapid rate "Why?"
Weaver frowned. "My relationship with Savannah isn't sexual in nature. You're…breeding outside your species, and so is Mr. Connor"
"You are posing as the child's mother. You bathe her, you dress her, that is a very personal thing for humans."
"I take care of a human who is unable to care for herself. Mr. Connor is perfectly capable of taking care of his own needs, yet I assume to do things for him as well?"
She sighed and placed her hands on her desk. "I don't deny you think you have feelings for this human, but I fail to see why you allow him to use you for his sexual gratification. It's not as if you're a human woman with similar physical needs"
"He doesn't use me!" she snapped, suddenly getting defensive "I, I take something from the experience. It also pleases me that John enjoys my presence"
"You mean you're happy making him happy?" she actually did find herself rolling her eyes at that one "How is that not him using you? He gets pleasure out of it and you get to be happy for him that he is? Sounds like a lopsided arrangement"
"I enjoy the experience" she stated, truly believing she did. However she also realised that Weaver's argument would be a perfectly valid one for outsiders looking in to make. However she couldn't help but regret that as yet she couldn't feel and experience what John could. That morning a poignant reminder of the fact. "And I would thank you to stay out of our business" she asked politely.
"Miss Phillips" she addressed with a smirk "I just fixed your hand so you don't crush your precious human's throat during sex, I'd say I'm already involved in your business."
Cameron's hand twitched and clenched again at the thought of John turning blue through lack of oxygen below her while they made love. A thought she quickly banished as she pried the now crumpled tissue out of her hand. "You are correct, you are involved…but that is the limit of how far it goes" she paused and rolled her sleeve down. "Thank you for your assistance today…I am indebted to you"
"Yes…you are. But that can wait for another time."
Hearing a knock on her office door, Weaver stood and strode over to retrieve the gloves from her assistant, shutting the door behind her and handing them off to Cameron. "Here, so you don't get blood on your human"
Cameron frowned and took the gloves, putting one on then the other, may as well be matching she reasoned. "We'll be in touch, and I'll be back in a month"
"I'm sure we'll speak before then" she paused and shook her head. "Savannah seems rather focused on the idea of this sleepover…I expect you to see her to safety."
"Of course" Cameron replied with a nod. "Amy is quite fond of…your daughter" he said as she turned to the door.
"Of course she is, Savannah is quite remarkable" Weaver retook her seat and started tapping away at her keyboard faster than any human could ever hope to accomplish. "Try not to injure your human…he's important to us all"
"Where the fuck have you been?"
John hollered from his four foot deep trench, hands blistered and bloody, shirt discarded, barely able to lift his arms above his head and caked head to toe in mud and dirt.
"I was…" it wasn't like Derek to look guilty, but the scratch of the back of his head and the way he shuffled from foot to foot was a dead giveaway. "Sorry man, spaced a little"
In fact he'd spaced so much that he had to haul ass in his truck over to here, probably breaking about fifty different speed laws just to get there before it turned dark. He knew he was in for it, all he could do now was take his berating like a man.
John looked incredulous from down below in his semi impressive pit. "You spaced? You just forgot I was digging a firing trench in the middle of nowhere all fucking day?" John let out a low growl and tossed his shovel to the ground, clearly fuming with his uncle. "You really are a…wait" just as he was about to launch in to a foul mouthed rant that would not please his mother, a breeze picked up and he caught scent of something decidedly un-Derek like. "What the hell? Why do you smell like perfume?" he asked with his hands on his hips.
"It's not perfume" Derek stammered out. "It's uh, yeah, it's aftershave" thinking quickly on his feet when the situation didn't involve shooting something wasn't his strong point.
"It smells like flowers!" John countered, clearly not falling for his uncle's pathetic attempt at lying.
"It's new, apparently it drives women wild or something" huh, perhaps he wasn't so bad at making shit up. "Anyway…" he reached down to pull his nephew out of the trench, feeling it was the least he could do.
John allowed Derek to pull him out, his body not up to the task of it by itself. He stepped forward and sniffed away close to his uncle without a thought as to how he might feel about that when he recognised something buried underneath the pungent aroma of the perfume, or 'aftershave'. The smell was new to him, but it was certainly something he recognised, something that reminds him of Cameron. The instant realisation hit, John's eyes flew wide and he stepped back.
"You were having sex!" he accused.
"Wha, what makes you say that?" it really was a pathetic question considering how he felt his cheeks burning, a pretty obvious giveaway.
John shot his uncle his best 'how stupid do you think I am?' look. "You didn't shower Derek"
Shit!
"Naw man, I'm telling you, it's just aftershave" Derek lamented John's seemingly amazing nose. How could the kid smell that over Jessica's perfume?
"First of all, that's not aftershave, and it's not perfume either. Cameron doesn't wear perfume and I know that smell!" he shook his head in disbelief, trying his best to reign in his fully justified anger "Were you seriously getting laid while I broke my back all day? What the hell is wrong with you? What about all those speeches?"
He took a step back and put on his best snotty impersonation of Derek and waved his arms dramatically. "You have to focus. Get your head out of your girlfriend's pussy and in to the game!" he stepped forward, right in to Derek's space "You dragged my ass out of bed, while I was having sex with my girlfriend this morning, and then you run off to fuck around with some chick? What the fuck, man?"
Derek managed to get over his initial disgust with a little anger of his own. He didn't appreciate being spoken to like that by his own nephew, and he was pretty sure the last couple of comments were designed to piss him off. "I'm sorry" he barked, "I was distracted alright" he did his best to try and cover a tiny smirk as he remembered the past few hours. He had a feeling he hadn't been all that successful however when he caught sight of John's face.
"Sorry?" John asked with a glare, "Oh well if you're sorry I guess that makes everything alright then doesn't it?" if he'd still bee holding his shovel it would probably have been thrown to the other side of the clearing by now.
"Hey! You're the one who wanted training. I give you training and you're complaining because you had to put a little effort in? Sooory your highness…you're not the General yet" oh that last comment didn't go down well.
"If I could lift my arms I'd beat your ass!" John fumed, more pissed off than Derek could ever remember seeing him. "You give me sooo much shit for my relationship with Cameron, you spend all this time talking about her being a distraction, then you just run off with some girl all day? What about security Derek? How much does this girl know about you?"
"Hey!" Derek stepped forward and prodded his smaller nephew squarely in the chest, "I'm not the one who's fucking one big security risk alright…and 'this girl' is none of your business"
"Cameron isn't a security risk Derek" he paused only to swat the finger still resting on his chest "she's the SECURITY!" he shook his head and backed off, trying to take a reasoned approach and not let this devolve in to a brawl "Random women showing up tend to be a real problem for us, wouldn't you agree?"
Derek glared at John, his expression left no room for any wise cracks now. "Yeah, I remember what happened the last time. But Je…she's not a risk, I'm sure of it"
"You were pretty sure last time too" he scoffed.
"Yeah well…I…." Once again his hand found it's way to the back of his head and he scratched uncomfortably "Amy checked her out alright. She's not from the future and she's not a Grey. So there, no risk, she doesn't know who I am or who any of you are"
John frowned and took a deep breath. Even he with his distinct lack of social grace could tell from his uncle's expression and voice that he cared about the girl, or else he wouldn't bother defending her so thoroughly. "It's just…you don't forget things Derek. You don't make mistakes. If I noticed how long do you really think you can keep it hidden from Mom? She's gonna freak"
For the first time since this discussion started, Derek actually felt that he'd turned a corner and John was starting to forgive him. "Yeah I know. I've already had to kinda buy Amy off about this. I don't want Sarah finding out about her just yet. Like you said, she'd freak"
John didn't fail to notice the very un-Derek like way he was almost pleading with him. He felt more than a little sympathetic to his cause, knowing all about forbidden love…but he still thought it was a bad idea. "The longer you keep this from her the worse she'll be, you know that"
He sighed and continued. "Besides, she's going to want to meet this chick…and so will Cameron"
Derek looked alarmed at the thought of both of those things happening. Though for some reason he was slightly less worried about the unstoppable cyborg than he was about her meeting Sarah Connor for the first time. "Yeah, I'll handle Sarah. You think you can work your magic on Cameron for me?" feeling brave, he placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder.
"Hey, she's pretty obsessive about security. Best I can promise is she won't duct-tape her to a chair and start cutting off fingers" he said with a chuckle.
"That's good enough for me. Tell her she can stare and glare and tilt her head all he wants. Jessica is a tough girl, she can handle that" he kinda zoned out at that point while thinking of the aforementioned Jessica.
Meanwhile John's eyes had grown considerably wider. "Jessica? Sure that's a good omen?" he paused and smirked "I mean, you wouldn't board a ship called the Titanic would you?"
Derek cursed himself for letting her name slip and suddenly looked uncomfortable despite John's obvious good natured humour. "She's not Jesse, but she's…she's someone I care about"
"You seem happy" John said with a nod.
He grabbed his earlier discarded shirt and pulled it on, the cool evening air hitting him now that he wasn't down in the trench working up a sweat. He flopped down on the ground and dangled his legs over his trench. In a way he was quite proud of his day's work, even if he was exhausted and pissed off because of it.
"Compromise" he said up at his uncle "I'll forget you forgot about me and do my best with Cameron and mom…but you've gotta spill!" he said with a devious grin.
Derek quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you care? I thought gossip was a little beneath you" he flopped down next to John. The only thing that would've completed the male bonding moment scene would be if they each had a beer in their hands.
"I have no life Derek. This is pretty much all I have besides Cameron" he frowned, considering just how sad that sounded when said out loud.
"Alright" Derek said with a nod "Well, she's a model…"
"Bullshit!" John said with a snort and a disbelieving stare.
"No, I'm serious, she's a model…and what do you mean, bullshit?" he asked with a glare "What's so hard to believe about that?"
Running a calm eye over his uncle, John's smirk grew with every passing inch. "Really? You don't see why that would be a bit strange for people?"
"Hey! I have many hidden qualities" he paused, his face twisted in to a frown as he thought about that "It helps that she gets turned on by every little thing I do"
"Ewwww" John shook his head to rid himself of that particular unwanted image of his uncle "Wait…what do you mean?"
"Well her dad's apparently some billionaire, I don't know. So she's kind of never really lived out in the real world. She's used to guys who all look like that British actor, what's his name, the goofy one. Anyway, I'm like a dirty little secret for her too"
John stared, and stared, and then stared some more. Suddenly his shoulders started to shake and his face tinted pink, he couldn't hold it in any more and burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
"De…Der…Derek Reese…Boy Toy! HA!"
"Hey, cut it out, I'm older than her!" he said, punctuating his point by thwacking his arm, hard.
"Oww! Wait…how much older?" he asked, the laughter suddenly giving way to concerns about dear uncle Derek.
"Whoa, whoa, nothing like that. She's twenty four, twenty five, something like that" moving quickly to cover the conclusion John no doubt came to about that one.
"So…let me get this straight" John pointed at him, incredulous about what he was hearing "You, Derek Reese, are having freaky sex with a twenty four year old model whose father is a billionaire?"
Wow, when Derek heard that said back to him it really did sound ridiculous. That didn't stop his grin sretching from ear to ear. "Yeah, that about sums it up. Hey, it's almost as weird as you, John Connor, having sex with a cyborg"
John shrugged, past caring at his Cameron digs, he was too amused at what he was hearing. "Have you ever bothered to actually look at that 'cyborg'?"
Derek shuddered a little, knowing full well he had let his gaze linger a little longer than it should've on occasion…and he was disgusted with himself for it. "Jessica is…different too. She has no idea what life is all about, she's spoiled rotten, but she has a good head on her shoulders"
John couldn't help but look a little sad. He realised that was more than a small reason he'd fallen in love with Cameron. "Derek…it doesn't sound very likely she'll be able to…I mean, after J-Day…" with that, he frowned and promptly shut up.
"A lot of people won't be able to" Derek said as he appeared deep in thought. He always knew J-Day was right around the corner, who could forget? But he was always prepared for it, always ready to do what needed to be done and best of luck to everyone else. But now he had something, or rather someone he cared about he wanted to protect. He realised at that moment that without his intervention she likely wouldn't survive Judgement Day.
John noticed his uncle's far away look. He imagined it was the same one he got whenever he thought about the future. He'd have to ask Cameron if he did that some day. "I'm sorry Derek…I'm sure she'll be fine"
"Yeah" he said with a nod and looked over at his suddenly wise beyond his years nephew. "So we have a deal then?"
"Only if you promise you'll tell mom soon" John shrugged "She even managed to make Cameron promise to stop keeping things from her, and you're family"
"I'll take care of it. Oh, and I'm sorry for leaving you here all day"
"I'm sleeping in tomorrow" he paused and frowned while catching sight of his battered hands. "And no more digging"
"Fair enough, seven AM it is. But come on…" he paused and smirked "…she's a lingerie model, what would you do?"
John matched Derek's smirk with a devilish grin of his own. "I'll be sure to remind you of that when Cameron gets home"
Apologies for the delay, I couldn't be arsed to get this done in the slightest until like 2 days ago when I realised it'd been over 2 weeks since posting the last chapter, d'oh!
Many, many, huge, huge thanks to Dekardkain. He real does earn the money I don't pay him! :)