Hi,
Thanks to reviewers JustJoe, sumofme, lje100smith, olischulu, uncommoner, Mouse56, XxDeathStarxX, EvilTheLast, Jaing Li, darkfinder, Nyrki, Lsquare, morded, Lee and CloudyShadows.
"Owww!"
"Sorry."
Charley glared up at the girl, no, cyborg, he mentally corrected himself. While he couldn't fault her technique at patching up the graze on his arm, she had a lot to learn about the merits of being gentle with a patient.
On the journey back home, or rather, to the Connor's new home, he'd been filled in on what had happened. Once he'd fully regained consciousness that was, the fall after he'd been shot almost instantly knocking him out.
To put it mildly, he was pissed.
He'd been used, he'd been abused and as far as he was able to tell, John was the only one who saw any problem with that. However, Charley wasn't the type of man to lash out in anger, at least, not with somebody who didn't deserve it. As far as he was concerned, Cameron wasn't to blame, as far as he knew she, it, was just doing it's job.
When she finished up bandaging his wound and double checking everything was to her satisfaction, Cameron stood back up to her full height and walked towards the kitchen sink.
"You need to eat. Have whatever you prefer, this kitchen is fully stocked," it took a long few seconds, and an odd look from Charley before she spoke again. "Bon appetit," she added, very much as an afterthought.
Unable to totally suppress a smirk, Charley stood and made his way to one of the cupboards and watched as Cameron twisted the cold tap to full and started scrubbing her hands. He couldn't blame her, they were covered in his blood after all.
"But not the pop tarts, they're mine," she cautioned barely a moment after he'd touched the door handle.
Turning his head to the side, his expression read 'really?', but the look of 'don't mess with me' on her face cancelled out any reply he might've been ready to give. Turning back to the cupboard, a thought occurred to him, "Uh, would you like one now?"
Cameron slowed the motion of her undamaged hand over her metal one under the stream of water as the question took her by surprise. She barely knew anything of Charley besides the background research she'd performed the first time she'd met him and what she'd managed to glean from John. She knew from John that he was a caring man, but she never thought he'd stop and ask her if she wanted a snack.
"Yes…thank you," she answered with a small smile as she resumed scrubbing her hands.
Sure enough as Charley opened the cupboard, there was a box of pop tarts. Smiling, he snagged the box off the shelf and walked over to the counter to pop one in the toaster. When that was done, he began pulling out the ingredients he'd need for his sandwich. He couldn't help but wince however as he glanced over towards the sink.
"What happened?" At Cameron's questioning look, he nodded towards her exposed hand.
Cameron's gaze averted down to her hands as she twisted the tap off and grabbed a nearby towel to dry them off. "The synthetic skin was removed from my hand," she explained.
Rolling his eyes, Charley cast aside how stupid he felt having a casual conversation with Cameron, the metal monster he'd last seen trying to kill John and Sarah. "Yeah, I can see that. I meant, how'd it happen."
"I needed to perform a closer inspection of the damage to my hand."
That was apparently the end of the discussion as Charley watched her discard the cloth and take up a position near the entrance to the living room. She seemed to be attempting to listen in to the conversation going on next door. He idly wondered why she wasn't out there and was babysitting him in here. Seeing as he was going to get nothing more out of her, he set about making his sandwich. His arm stung like hell, but he thought he may as well make the best of it, the fridge was surprisingly well stocked by Sarah Connor standards.
He kept glancing up, and each time Cameron hadn't moved, she just stood near the doorway, her head tilting to the side at odd intervals.
Finally his prayers were answered as the toaster pinged to end the uncomfortable silence, "Uh, your supper's ready."
Cameron turned away from her eavesdropping, unable to school her features enough for Charley not to notice the frown on her face. He served up her pop tart on to a plate along with his sandwich and sat down at the table, sliding her plate across to her. Cameron sat down and accepted it, pulling it closer with a half hearted, appreciative smile.
Charley took a bite out of his sandwich and watched as she didn't. Instead she looked…pensive, thoughtful. Despite the fact he was starting to grow insanely uncomfortable, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the clearly unhappy cyborg.
"Are you gonna eat that, or just sit there looking miserable?"
He said it through a grin, but was actually half serious. He watched as she glared at him momentarily before picking up her snack and taking a small bite and placing it back down on the plate carefully.
Alright, progress. Well done Charley.
Well, he thought it was progress, but then the pair settled in to another spell of uncomfortable silence, uncomfortable for him anyway. He settled in to eat his sandwich, occasionally glancing up to find her staring off in to space as she slowly chewed her pop tart. It was eerie, she looked…zoned out.
"Uh, are you alright?" He asked, out of sheer curiosity more than anything.
She looked up, as if noticing him for the first time, "I'm fine."
"Well you don't look fine. You look like you're pissed at babysitting me out here, you look like you wanna be out there with John and the others."
Cameron found it odd that the human sitting near her was able to converse with her so easily, without fear of any reaction on her part. Despite the fact he knew who and what she was, he didn't fear her. If she took the time to run an analysis, his actions would've appeared paternal, to an extent. Deciding that it was safe to discuss the situation with him, Cameron placed her treat down on the plate and looked up at him, her hands folded neatly in her lap.
"I'm…disturbed. Today's events did not go according to plan."
Charley nodded, he could certainly sympathise with her on that one, after all, he was fairly sure it wasn't the plan for him to get shot. "So, why are you out here and not in there?"
"My presence isn't required in there. The discussions are between them. I'll speak to John later…alone," she said with a finality as she picked up her snack again and took a bite. It was curious, the food held little to no nutritional value, but ever since Sarah had made her one that morning, she found herself desiring more. She should've been consuming foods high in protein to aid in her regeneration, but the sugary treat was something she found she enjoyed, regardless of nutritional value.
"So I guess you two made up then."
His statement caught her slightly off guard, knocking her from her musings about tasty nourishment with the non-sequitur. "I don't understand."
"Well," Charley paused, trying to work out how best to word his explanation without offending the unpredictable cyborg. "Last time I saw you, no offence, you were trying to kill John and Sarah," he paused and gauged her reaction, "he must've forgiven you…right?"
Cameron frowned as she set her pop tart down on the plate. She did not need to be reminded of her actions on John's birthday. It was like a silent agreement in the house that they rarely, if ever discussed that day. It tended to be reserved for intimate discussion between her and John, as he was the only one who truly understood what had happened to her that day, and he knew it wasn't intentional on her part.
"Yes, John has forgiven me, we enjoy each other's company now."
"Wait," Charley eyed the cyborg warily, suddenly taking a keen interest in what she had to say. In fact, from the look on her face, he was pretty sure she was hiding something, something important, something about John, and he knew that look, the way her synthetic eyes almost sparkled whenever she spoke of John, despite how carefully schooled the rest of her face was. "Are you…are you and John?" He nodded his head side to side, hoping she'd get his meaning.
In fact she did, and it impressed her that he was able to pick up on it just by the few words she'd spoken. More impressive however was the fact he didn't seem to be angry, just genuinely curious. "Yes, we're…" she nodded her head, mimicking Charley, apparently 'in a relationship' wasn't to be said.
Charley sat back in his chair, the wind taken right out of his sails. He eyed the cyborg with a half grin tugging at his lips, proud of himself for his almost Sherlock Holmes like deduction abilities. "Since when?"
Again, Cameron was surprised that he sounded more curious than anything else, "A few weeks." She'd quickly learned that humans weren't appreciative of knowing things right down to the minutes and seconds. At first she'd just assumed that her reciting of seconds was over the top, then she'd quickly worked out that in situations like this it was usually best just to be vague.
"Wow," Charley leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table, "I guess he really did, like you, like you," again, he nodded side to side.
Cameron found the man's need to speak in code a highly detrimental character trait, annoying even, "Explain."
Chuckling, he sat back in his seat again, "Well, a long time ago when we first met, I asked John if he, you know, liked you…in that way."
Allowing herself a small smile, Cameron thought back to the first time she'd met Charley, Derek almost died and she got to prove just how much of a scary robot she was.
"I mean he denied it of course, but I never really believed him. The kid is a terrible liar."
"It's one of his more endearing qualities," Cameron stated, now allowing herself to open up with regards to her and John, despite the fact Charley was mostly a stranger to her. But John trusted him, that was all it took.
"So you and him are…you know?" Once again, he nodded side to side.
Just how Cameron was supposed to keep up with the man's code she didn't know. His constant need to avoid saying the things he meant would stand him in no stead in the future, especially after the bombs dropped and it was either communicate or die. She neglected to mention this however and merely smiled and nodded, assuming he was referring to sex.
"Oh, so you're…you know?"
Way to go Charley, did you just ask a freaking cyborg if she is all woman?
As Charley mentally kicked himself, Cameron went through a similar thought process. Putting aside the fact that it would normally be a deeply personal question, she reminded herself of the fact that the man was likely just curious, that curiosity was in all likelihood born out of concern for John.
"You seem interested, why?" Cameron asked, deftly changing the subject, frankly because she couldn't formulate an answer that wasn't blunt enough to not embarrass the man.
"Well, uh," Charley leaned forward in his seat again. "Look, I love John, he's like a son to me. I just wanna know about whatever is going on in his life. If you're…a part of that now, then I guess I want to know all about that too."
At her quirked brow, he amended his statement, "Well, not all about you," he corrected with a smirk.
"You're concerned about his safety," Cameron observed.
"Of course I am," Charley said as he stood with his now empty plate, "Like I said, he's like a son to me."
Cameron paused for a moment, silently observing the man sitting across the table from her. He'd agreed to give the others some space, despite his understandable anger. He'd made her a snack. He'd treated her like a person, to an extent. He claimed to care for and love John, and Cameron was inclined to believe him. He was a nice man, and she could see why both John and Sarah cared for him as much as they did.
"Excellent, John needs all the friends he can get…I'm sorry for us having to put you in this situation, however you must realise that John is more important than all of us." Cameron stood from the table and collected both of their plates and deposited them in the sink.
Charley watched her quietly, her movements carried so much grace that if it weren't for her exposed arm screaming at him in the face that she was different, he'd have believed she'd been a dancer in a previous life. However her words struck him as odd, the girl was clearly devoted to John, but there was something more, something he knew wasn't possible, wasn't right. The machine was in love with John, whether she was aware of it or not, he was sure he was right.
Smiling just a little, Charley watched as she made her way to another cupboard and dug around for a second. She emerged holding a chocolate bar in its wrapper. "You're still hungry?"
Cameron looked up from her prize, "No, but the more I eat, the faster this heals," she nodded to her arm.
"You really like chocolate don't you?" Charley asked as he stood and made his way over to her, "Will you promise me something?"
Cameron tilted her head and focused her full attention on the man, it felt like the least she could do. "If I can."
"Protect John. Even if he doesn't want protecting, you make sure you keep him alive…" Charley trailed off, leaving it at that, hoping the machine would pick up on his desire for the conversation to end.
She did, once again having to use her admittedly limited behavioural knowledge to interpret what he was telling her. She nodded her agreement and watched as he smiled appreciatively and held out his arm, motioning in the direction of the living room.
"Ladies first," he said with a smile.
Derek flopped back in to the recliner and kicked his feet up. Nursing a well earned beer, he surveyed the room and the people surrounding him. He was tired, sore, and crashing from the adrenaline rush of the battle, but in his mind it all turned out pretty well. They'd killed a shitload of Vasquez's men, sent a message to him that they knew what he was doing and that they were one step ahead. Hell, they even managed to get Dixon out alive.
Despite himself, he couldn't help but smile a little.
John meanwhile had taken up a similar position to Derek on the couch. He was feeling the similar soreness, tiredness and the lack of adrenaline was doing a number on him. He just REALLY wanted his bed and he idly wondered why they weren't all in bed right then and there. Snuggling his head backwards on one of the couch cushions, his eyelids were just starting to droop when he heard a small voice from across the room.
"Awww, Rambo is tired."
Amy certainly had a knack of saying the wrong thing, because her innocent little comment was apparently all it took to send both Sarah and a suddenly pissed off looking Derek flying off the reservation. They both stared at Amy for just a moment before the entire room became a blur of motion. Sarah pounced on John from her position standing near the window, almost tripping over Derek on the way, that caused him to stand, believing her to be blaming him for the incidents of the day. Both ended up looming over John like genuine parents scolding there child.
"Hey," Derek was the first to speak, feeling more than a little defensive, after all, it was HIS job keep John safe during the fight. "No one told 'Rambo' here to go charging down the hill in to enemy fire. Everything was going just fine until he got that hair up his ass."
"Is that what you were thinking John? Like it was some sort of movie?" John's eyes bounced over to his mother who had barely waited long enough for Derek to finish before she took over and rounded on her son. "Don't you realise how much danger you were in?"
"That would require thinking," Derek rolled his eyes, "thinking obviously wasn't part of the process. How many times have I told you to follow orders John? Obviously I haven't made you dig enough trenches yet."
"Fuck digging! You'll end up in a six foot deep trench if you pull any shit like that again!"
"You're lucky to be alive John, and you'd better thank your lucky stars for your little girlfriend." Derek shook his head, trying not to look disgusted, "If it wasn't for her you'd have about a dozen holes in you right now, and not even Dixon could patch you up after that."
Realising, mostly from John's dazed expression that it was doing no good both herself and Derek berating him at the same time, Sarah stepped back, hopeful the boy's uncle could drill some sense in to him. She was still fuming, but she had a feeling John would listen to the male authority in his life more than her.
John looked up with a tilt of his head. He'd barely been able to make out a lot of what was said in amongst the berating from both his uncle and his mother. He didn't bother to reply, after all, he'd been expecting this, despite the fact he fully believed he'd done a good job. Apparently others disagreed.
Derek, realising that John wasn't paying much attention, and as Amy had pointed out, he looked exhausted, decided that he'd best get everything out of the way quickly. After all, he felt the distinct desire to get the hell out of there, preferably to Jessica's, to curl up with her and sleep off the days exertions.
"So…you got anything to say about all this?"
John, despite the tense situation closed his eyes and let his head rest on the cushion, "Is Charley alright?"
"He'll live." Derek shook his head, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "That was a stupid fucking move John…but you're gonna have to make a few of those before you learn it for yourself I guess."
John opened his eyes, replaying his words through his head just to make sure he'd heard him correctly, "What?"
"You didn't freeze," Derek explained with a shrug, "You made a call, you stood by it, and…you did alright."
"WHAT?" Sarah yelled as she practically leapt across the room, "Are you fucking insane? Don't encourage him!"
"This is the first time we've seen anything from him that even remotely resembles the man he's supposed to be!" Derek spun around, quickly forgetting about John as soon as Sarah took it upon herself to get up in his face. "Did it ever occur to you that this constant fucking nagging about protecting his own ass at all costs is why he's too afraid to even breathe in a firefight?"
John was just about to sputter out a defence for himself, despite the fact it was in many ways a compliment when Sarah cut him off abruptly, "If he dies, we all die. What part of that aren't you getting?"
"What? You think he's gonna go through the entire war without a scratch?" Derek rolled his eyes, ignorant of just how much that pissed Sarah off, but in all honesty he was beyond caring, he just wanted to get the hell out of there and go see Jessica. She'd kiss it and make it all better for him, "Your son leads from the front, Sarah! Get fucking used to it or get out of the fucking way!"
Sarah's eyes widened, more in question than shock or surprise. She wasn't used to being spoken to like that by anyone, usually her word was law, especially when it came to her son. Deciding that Derek wasn't budging, she shifted her attention to easier prey…John. "You call that leading from the front? It was more like suicide!"
"Funny, he seems alive to me." With a sight, Derek set his beer down on the table, "You've got my cell if you need me."
That was all he said before he left, heading for the front door. Sarah watched him leave, still fuming at his flippant attitude and pissed at knowing full well he was scurrying away to be with his little girlfriend. Without warning, she rounded on John again, startled from her thoughts when Derek slammed the door behind him.
"John! Look at me!" Sarah continued on with her berating undeterred, despite Derek's word and swift exit, "Do you realise how close you came out there? Haven't I taught you anything?"
John glanced up at his mother, levelling his impatient gaze at her. "Come on mom…this whole thing was your idea remember? YOU put Charley out there, not me."
"I'm not the one who decided to run out in front of fifty guys with assault rifles!" Sarah ranted, waving her arms around in random directions.
John meanwhile simply stood up from the couch, ignoring her telling off. He was in no mood, he was filthy, tired and just wanted to go to bed and deal with all this shit in the morning. "I'm filthy, I'm tired, I'm going to bed."
Before he'd even taken a full step, Sarah moved closer and continued yelling, "I'm not kidding John, you are in so much trouble young man!"
Sarah realised what she'd said even before John had turned around to glare at her. She'd lost her cool and slipped back in to mommy mode, something she shouldn't have done and she knew it. She stood and waited for his reaction, expecting him to lash out at her comment.
Instead of reacting like she expected, he merely quirked a brow in a clear 'are you serious?' look. "Fine, ground me then. But I'm going upstairs and I'm going to bed."
Sarah watched as her son stalked towards the stairs, "John…" She sounded resigned, almost apologetic, but she was still simmering beneath her restrained exterior. She was still furious with him.
"Don't…just don't." He frowned and leaned on the banister, "I may not know everything I need to about being a leader…but I do know who I am. If you were trying to raise someone that would have left Charley to die…you failed."
Sarah's eyes bulged almost out of her head as she watched him depart and disappear up the stairs, unable to summon up the words to reply to him as a red mist descended over her eyes. How could he speak to his own mother like that? How dare he?
She whirled around, subconsciously searching for someone or something to take her anger out on. She found Amy sitting there on the couch, her little legs dangling off the edge and not a hair out of place smiling sweetly up at her.
"Uh, you look like you need to sit down Sarah." Amy said sweetly.
"Don't you fucking tell me to sit down! I don't need your advice or your help!" She glared down at the girl who seemed to shrink under her tirade. Unable to stand still, Sarah settled for pacing back and forth in front of the couch, clenching and unclenching her fists. "Where the hell were you during all of this anyways? I thought you and John were 'friends' in the future? Where were you huh?" Sarah snapped harshly.
"Well, I was busy protecting you. You know, doing my job!" Amy grinned in reply, trying to get Sarah to calm down and loosen up. It looked like the pulsing vein in her forehead was on the verge of popping.
"Protecting me from what?" Sarah tossed up her hands in frustration, it seemed like the only people in the house who realised just how important John was was herself and Cameron. "They were targeting John!"
"Well, there were these three guys…" Before Amy had a chance to finish her story, Sarah cut her off again with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"I don't care! John is who you should be protecting." Sarah looked totally at the end of her rope, "Why am I the ONLY one who understands that?"
At that moment, both Charley and Cameron emerged from the kitchen, Cameron worked on unwrapping her chocolate bar as she walked. Her exposed hand wasn't really designed for subtlety after all. She barely noticed the scene before her, her attention only taken away from the wrapper when she heard Charley's raised voice beside her.
"Sarah, what the hell? I know you're worried about John but that's no excuse to take it out on a little girl!"
Charley of course had no idea that the little angel sitting on the couch wasn't what she appeared to be. He felt a pang of sympathy when she whined at Sarah, "Yeah…I saved you," she pointed out, feeling more than a little put out over Sarah's apparent anger towards her.
"It's alright kiddo." Charley reached over and ruffled Amy's hair in just the way he didn't know she hated, "Why don't you go up to your room so Sarah and I can talk, okay?"
Amy looked up at him, feeling more than a little pissed that Charley, a total stranger was being nicer to her than her Sarah was. Resigning herself to defeat, and respecting Charley's wishes, she slipped off the couch and trudged off towards the stairs, glaring at Sarah the whole way, even throwing in a sniffle for good measure once she was out of sight.
Cameron used the opportunity to bounce her gaze between the two squabbling humans, "Where's John?" She inquired.
"Upstairs, probably in his room," Sarah answered with a barely restrained annoyance. She watched as Cameron disappeared in the same direction as Amy, seemingly oblivious or ignorant of what was going on.
"What the hell is wrong with you Sarah? Screaming at John for doing the right thing, taking your anger out on that little girl." He shook his head, running the fingers of his uninjured arm through his short-cropped hair, "What's gotten in to you?"
"What's gotten in to me?" Sarah asked incredulously, slightly startled when he suddenly started yelling in her direction, "What's wrong with you, trying to get up and run for the house like that? You should've stayed down and none of this would've happened."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Charley felt his anger that had slowly ebbed away during his chat with Cameron returning, "maybe if someone had TOLD ME about the plan, I could've cooperated."
"You weren't a part of this plan, all you had to do was keep your fucking head down."
"I wasn't part of this plan?" Charley sounded just as incredulous as Sarah had been, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you just used me as fucking bait!"
That was just about the first time Sarah had ever heard Charley curse. The man was as softly spoken as they come, and yet it didn't phase her. "I used you to get the job done. It would've worked too if you hadn't ran for the house like a total idiot. John would never have been at risk if it wasn't for you!"
"I had to run! Laying there got me shot!" He pointed to his bandaged arm to emphasise his point. "They know where I live Sarah! What am I supposed to do now? Where am I supposed to go?"
"You think I give a damn?" Sarah took a moment to suck in a deep breath and at least try to calm herself down, "You can stay here for the night, more if you need to."
With a sigh, Charley dropped down on to the couch and wondered just when Sarah, the woman he once loved had become so heartless. "Thanks," he answered, sounding less than grateful.
Reaching behind him and pulling the blanket off the back of the couch, he set about getting himself bedded down for the night, "Is there something you needed?"
"No," with that, Sarah stalked off towards the stairs, flicking the lights off on her way, plunging the living room and Charley in to darkness as she departed.
"You bitch! How could you do that to your BFF?"
Jessica screamed at her TV, irate beyond words that the fictional character on the show she was watching had started an affair with her best friend's boyfriend, the cute guy, the nice guy. How dare she seduce the poor guy like that, he was only human. The bitch!
As she shoved another slice of takeout pizza in her mouth, she picked up her cellphone and double checked the screen for any messages. Finding none, she huffed around her pizza and turned her attention back to the screen.
Her 'Daddy Daughter Day' had gone well, or at least as well as she'd hoped. He complimented her dress, and actually managed to go for three full hours with his cell phone turned off, his attention fully focused on her for a change. She enjoyed it immensely, despite the fact he had to dash away for an emergency meeting. Having quickly said his goodbyes, he disappeared, leaving her in her apartment all alone again.
She missed Derek.
Her poor mood had led to her indulging in some 'reality' TV and ordering some pizza to stuff her face as full as it could get. She'd curled up on the couch as soon as it had arrived, clad in a loose fitting pair of cotton yoga pants and a Hello Kitty shirt and promptly shut her brain off in order to process the unadulterated crap on the TV. She'd pulled her hair up in to a loose ponytail, removed her makeup from the day and was very happy to be a slob for a change.
The sound of her doorbell ringing startled her, she wasn't expecting anybody. With a sigh, she picked up the remote for the TV and lowered the volume before gracefully unfolding her legs from beneath her and hopping up from the couch. Pushing a last mouthful of pizza crust in to her mouth, she set the remote down and made her way over to the door.
To say she was surprised to find Derek leaning against the door frame would've been the understatement of the century. However instead of being delighted, or even pleased to see him, she leaped backwards, hiding herself behind the door, cheeks still full of crust.
"Hey," he greeted casually.
Taking a moment to chew and hastily swallow the pizza, Jessica stared at him like he'd just declared he was just elected President. "Derek, what the hell are you doing here?"
Chuckling, Derek stepped over the threshold, "Nice to see you too babe." He stepped closer and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
Jessica stared at him as he made his way over to the couch and slumped down on it, picked up a slice of pizza from the box and started digging in like nothing was out of place.
She closed the door carefully and made her way over to him. "How come you're here? What happened to your camping trip with the kids?" She asked, somewhat impatiently.
If Derek noticed her attitude he said nothing, instead choosing to answer with his mouth full of pizza. "Um, Amy got sick on the way up there, so we turned around and came home."
Despite feeling a momentary pang of sympathy for the little girl, she quickly shook it off, "You could've called first before you came over."
Derek shrugged, still flicking through the channels, looking for some kind of sport, instead of that bullshit program she'd been watching when he came in. "I thought it'd be a nice surprise," he paused and glanced over at her, still standing beside him, "Why? What's wrong?"
"Well…" she motioned with both hands to herself and the room, "I would've appreciated a warning."
Derek looked around, missing her point entirely, "I know you're a little messy Jess. It doesn't bother me," he said with a shrug.
"Derek, I look like crap," she pointed out. Derek had never seen her in anything other than a magnificent dress, or nothing at all. Even first thing in the morning they barely saw each other, and on the rare occasion they did she had a chance to at least run a brush through her hair.
Derek eyed her up and down. True, she was a far cry from looking as immaculate as she usually did, but to him, she'd look beautiful wearing a burlap sack. "You look fine to me. Why are you so bothered about it? I'm not."
"Because, I…" She eyed him curiously, he really didn't seem too affected by seeing her like this, "You're really not bothered?"
Derek turned away from the baseball game he'd managed to find, "No, I'm really not…c'mere."
Tugging at the hem of her shirt self consciously, she made her way over to the couch and sank down on to it, "You don't understand, I look like crap, I haven't even tided up, my hair is a mess, I'm wearing a Hello Kitty shirt…"
Before she'd managed to go any further, Derek chuckled, breaking her stride somewhat. "Jessica, I don't care if you're wearing Hello Kitty or a dress that cost as much as my truck. You don't always have to be perfect around me you know."
With a pout, she tucked her legs underneath her before snatching the pizza out of his hand. With a grin, she took a bite out of what was left, happy in the knowledge that her ridiculous fears were unfounded. For some reason she thought she'd scare him away if, God forbid, he saw her without makeup, dressed in her comfy clothes.
"Look, um…" Derek paused and looked down, "We just had a pretty bad day for the family, lots of yelling, arguing. I just wanted to come over here and relax…with you. Sorry if I caught you at a bad time, you're right, I should've called first."
Jessica shook her head, "No, it's alright, I just don't like you seeing me when I'm not looking my best."
"Hey, everyone has off days," Derek replied with a kind, for him anyway, smile. "So, how was your day? Daddy okay?"
"Yeah," she sank down in to the couch with a sigh, snagging the remote off his chest and flicking the TV back to her show and snuggling in to his side, "He's fine…still as busy as usual."
"He did show up didn't he?" Derek asked, suddenly feeling very protective of his girlfriend.
"Yeah, he showed, even went most of the afternoon with his phone off. He didn't stick around much longer when he did eventually turn it back on though," she said with a shrug.
"Oh, so that's why you decided to pig out a little? I understand, in fact I fully sympathise."
"Your day didn't go great either?"
"Not really, like I said, Amy got sick…it didn't help the atmosphere in the family any." He snagged the remote back off her and switched back to the game, earning himself a glare from the woman curled against his side.
"She alright?" She asked, concerned for the little girl she'd never met before.
"Yeah, no blood was spilled…just about." He said with a slightly guilty chuckle.
Jessica sighed and buried her head in closer to Derek's shoulder, content to just be with him. That was until she breathed in and her nose took in a lungful of a peculiar scent. Nothing as bad as perfume, another woman's perfume, nothing like that, but certainly an odd smell, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"Are you sure you didn't go camping? That's a weird smell," she pointed out, sounding more curious than accusing. It had however piqued her interest.
Derek sucked in a sharp breath. Of course, he'd been shooting an assault rifle that evening and he hadn't had a chance to change. Of course she could smell the burned propellant, especially with her nose as close to his clothes as it was. Thinking quickly, he surprised himself when he came up with at least a semi plausible reason for the smell. "Uh, we had to drive through the industrial part of town with the window lowered, you know, for Amy. Must've picked up some of the weird smells from there."
He waited with held breath as she seemed to mull over his answer. She wasn't worried he was cheating on her, no self respecting woman would ever smell like that, but still, she couldn't shake the thought that there was something he wasn't telling her.
"Yeah, that must be it." She said quietly as Derek breathed a silent sigh of relief.
However he did hear the flat tone of her voice, he had a sneaking suspicion she didn't quite believe him. "Hey, what would you say to breaking out the alcohol? I've had a really bad day."
Picking her head up off his chest, Jessica couldn't help but grin, a plan quickly forming in her mind. "Sure, so long as you don't mind a sloppy goodnight kiss," she answered with a sly smile.
John stood in front of the sink, shirt tossed in the trash knowing he'd never be able to get the blood out of it properly. He had a warm washcloth in one hand, scrubbing at the dirt and grime around his arms, staring off in to the mirror, zoned out while running over the events of the day. Needless to say there was a lot to consider.
He wrung the cloth out, the sink turning in to a pinkish red that made him shake his head, still annoyed with his mother for putting Charley in danger like that. It wasn't so long ago that she was considering marrying the man, and now it seemed that she didn't care in the slightest what happened to him.
Cameron entered his room without knocking, munching on her chocolate bar. "John?"
"In here, Princess." John called from the adjoining bathroom as he rinsed the cloth out before going to work on his chest.
Cameron walked in to the bathroom and froze at the sight of the blood in the sink. Immediately she sprang forward and ran her hand over every inch of exposed skin, searching for any sign that he'd been injured. She latched her free, skin covered hand on to his neck and scanned his vitals for any more indication he'd been hurt.
Shaking his head, John was torn between being grateful and annoyed, "It's…not my blood."
Satisfied he was telling the truth, Cameron nodded before stuffing the remains of her chocolate in to her mouth unceremoniously. The sight of the blood reminding her that she needed to have a little talk with him, the sooner the better.
"We…mneed…moo…malk."
John couldn't help but smile. Leaning over, he dropped a kiss on her rounded cheek, no doubt full of chocolate and reached over to grab a towel off the rack and began drying himself off. "Remember what mom said about talking with your mouth full?" He said with a grin.
Cameron merely glared at him before quickly swallowing the remaining chocolate whole, not bothered in the slightest that it would've caused a human to choke. "I refrained from saying anything in front of your family. But what you did today was…ill advised."
Sighing, John turned around and leaned back against the sink and motioned to his upper body with both hands. "See? Barely a scratch Cameron. Just like I told mom, I did what I had to do to save Charley. I'm not gonna regret that."
"You ran out in front of fifteen fully armed men," Cameron felt the need to remind him. She found her eyes lingering over his upper body, particularly to the still healing wound he suffered when they were staking out the Kaliba building. "Eventually you will regret making decisions like that."
"Come on, Cameron." John shook his head, he really didn't want to hear this from her of all people. "I've heard you and Derek talk about future me. He saved people all the time."
"He had an army behind him…and years of combat training." She shook her head, more due to the fact she couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn, "He never did anything as…suicidal as you did today."
"Funny." John's temper was wearing thin, he just wanted to go to bed. He walked, or rather pushed past her in to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed before going to work on unlacing his boots. "I don't feel dead. That's what usually happens with suicide, ya know?"
Cameron followed behind him, ignoring how he brushed past her, and stood in front of him about a yard away, "You're not taking this seriously." She found her own voice raising slightly, her frustration with John seemingly ignoring her bubbling to the surface, just as it had done earlier that day.
"Charley almost died!" He threw his right boot in to the corner of the room a little harder than he intended to, it hit the wall with a thud before tumbling to the floor. "I'd call that serious!"
"You seem to place more emphasis on Charley's life than your own." She shook her head and took a step closer to him, "That is unacceptable."
"We had no business putting him in the line of fire like that," he tossed his other boot roughly in the same direction as the first. He lay back on the bed, hands laced behind his head as he closed his eyes pointedly, hoping she'd take the hint that he was tired and didn't want to talk any more, "He's not a soldier."
"Exactly, he's not one of your soldiers, he has nothing to offer you in our efforts to defeat Skynet." Cameron reached down and gripped his forearm and gave it a tug, enough to get him to unlace his arms. She was just about at the end of her own zen like patience and wanted him to show her some respect. It wasn't like John to treat her this way, not recently anyway, and she didn't like it, not one little bit.
John's eyes snapped open and he glared up at her, pulling his arm out of her grasp, or at least trying to, "So, the only people I'm supposed to care about are those that can provide me some kind of advantage? That's pretty damn cold hearted Cameron."
"War is cold hearted. You have to learn that casualties are unavoidable…you can't become one of those casualties." She released his arm with a quick flick of her wrist, throwing it back in his direction petulantly.
By this point John was beyond annoyed at her constant bitching. He'd just sat and had his ass chewed by his mother, something he always hated, the last thing he wanted was the love of his life telling him that he'd made the 'wrong' decision. "People are going to die, I get that."
Shaking his head, he shuffled backwards and allowed his head to thump backwards on to the pillow before glaring up at the ceiling. "But I had a chance to save him, I took it, and it paid off. End of story!"
Cameron disagreed. She stepped closer and leaned over the single bed, putting her face in his eye line, earning herself a glare. "You cost me a shot at the commander of the enemy forces."
John sighed, rubbing the stubble on his face with a frown, he was hoping that what he was about to say would mean the end of the argument. He was hoping that she'd see sense, forgive him for what she deemed to be a mistake and curl up next to him for the night, "I'm sure we'll get another one."
"We shouldn't have needed one," evidently John wasn't going to get his own way, not yet. "I had several opportunities, each time I was forced to cover you in your idiotic manoeuvre."
"If you're just gonna lecture me, you can leave." John released a low growl, he really didn't appreciate his girlfriend calling him an idiot, "I almost lost Charley, I killed three people. I need my girlfriend right now…not another mother."
Cameron frowned. She wasn't expecting him to insult her, or to take out his frustrations on her. Instead of responding rationally as she knew she should have done, she felt the frustration bubbling beneath the surface fighting to get out. In the end she lashed out, almost on autopilot, "Charley is expendable, I'd kill him myself if it meant your survival!"
John paused for a long moment, unable to keep the shock off his face entirely. It quickly turned from shock to barely contained anger, her comment just about enough to push his carefully contained feelings over the edge. "Get out," he growled dangerously.
Cameron pulled back, as if stung by his words, "But…"
"I really don't care what you think about him, but Charley is important to ME!" He finally sat up as he cut off whatever it was she was about to say. Frankly he didn't care if it was an apology, an explanation. Hell, he didn't even care if she was just about to turn around and declare her love for him, he was at the end of his rope, and his rope had just snapped. "If you can't understand that, or at least accept that I feel that way…then I can't look at you right now."
Cameron, despite her desire to stay and say more, nodded and replied in a quiet voice, "Very well."
She frowned as she turned around and slowly started walking towards the door. She opened it and half stepped out of the room, "John?"
"Yeah?" He lay back down on the bed, trying to get his temper back under control. He didn't like being angry with Cameron, but she managed to push his buttons just too far this time.
Cameron hesitated for just a moment, "Everything I've said is correct." With that she slipped out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her, hurting more than he knew.
Derek's face hit the pillow with a solid thump, the cool cotton a much needed contrast to his hot, sweaty face. He couldn't help but relax, loving the feeling of being wrapped up in Jessica's soft, Egyptian cotton sheets which probably cost more than his truck. After his rather vigorous workout he suddenly felt exhaustion overcome him and didn't even bother to roll on to his back, settling for simply climbing off of Jessica and staying wherever he landed.
"Now I feel much better," he said with a frown, his mouth still feeling a little numb, "might have gone overboard with the contest…two shots to one just isn't fair, I dun care how small you are!"
A moment later a smile spread across his face as he felt Jessica's lithe body crawl half on top of him and her head settle between his shoulder blades where she dropped a soft kiss. "If there's one thing Daddy taught me it's how to spot a safe bet. You were an easy one, Baum!"
"You didn't have to get me drunk to get me in bed with you," he mumbled in to the pillow, "on that, I'm always a safe bet Jess."
A smirk spread across her face as she idly traced patterns on his back with her fingernail. After a moment, she sat up just a little so she could see what she was doing. "Hey, it was your idea. It's not my fault you can't hold your liquor."
"Feels good…" Derek zoned out a little, enjoying the feeling of her feather light touch across his skin. "And I can totally hold my liquor…as soon as the world decides which way it wants to tilt, we'll be back on course."
She chuckled as she leaned in to softly kiss the same spot she'd done earlier, right in between his shoulder blades. She didn't know why, but she felt the overwhelming desire to talk, despite the fact they were both drunk, thoroughly sated and it was about three in the morning. By rights she should've been about as semi-conscious as he was, but she was full of energy. "You're a funny man, has anyone ever told you that?"
He smirked, first at the kiss and then the comment, "Oh yeah, 'Funny Derek', that's the first thing everyone says about me."
With her head propped up on her hand, Jessica's eyes followed her fingers. For the first time, she really paid attention to the marks on his back. She'd felt the numerous marks before, usually when they were making love, a time she wasn't really focusing on his back. Now however she was looking at them, really looking at them…and wincing at more than a couple of them. Slowing down her movements and lightening them just a little, she traced a prominent mark down by his flank. "What's this one from?" She asked softly.
Derek meanwhile was far more interested in how good her fingers felt than the actual question. After all, people get shot in modern wars, not usually by machines, but they still get shot, he could tell her a version of the truth. "Minigun, close range. Almost bled out on that one."
Jessica's eyes flicked up to the back of his head and she wondered just how he could talk about it so casually. Her fingers drifted higher, up to an angry looking mark up near his shoulder. She repeated her earlier movement and traced the mark with her fingertips, "And this one?"
"Huh?" Derek was rapidly losing the battle to stay awake. Her gentle ministrations weren't helping with that either, "Oh, Grey. We were trying to evacuate refugees…one was a human bomb."
Her eyes snapped back to his head at the mention of 'Grey'. But she quickly dismissed it as him saying her surname, despite of how odd it was. She was really starting to find her explorations interesting, after all, Derek never opened up much about his past, especially about his past in the wars he'd fought in. Leaning down, she gently laid a kiss where her fingers were over the wound.
Pulling back, her eyes roamed further before landing on a mark on the back of his upper arm, her delicate fingers quickly followed and settled over the scar. "This one?" She actually sounded eager, given the hour.
Derek smiled a little, pleasant memories rushing back to him, coupled with her nails tickling the sensitive tissue. "Saving Kyle. He wandered in to a minefield, managed to get himself pinned down. I took three rounds carrying him out of there."
Jessica smiled at hearing Derek telling his story, yet another insight in to the man and his past. She sat up just a little higher, her eyes eagerly searching out the next mark. She found it right in the middle of his back, a very odd mark indeed. It was a circle of mangled scar tissue surrounded by three smaller marks, all equal distance from each other in a triangular pattern around the central mark. Her jaw dropped as she ran her fingers around the outside of the circular scar, "What are these?"
Derek by this point was barely even registering the conversation any more. His mind flashing back to a situation years earlier where he and Jesse were trying to one-up each other with war wounds. "Hydrobot. Managed to latch on, but one of John's shock troops took it out before it drilled a hole through my spine. Still, pretty bad day."
Jessica watched him snuggle further in to the pillow as her fingers stopped moving, her face scrunched up in obvious confusion. "A what? A Hydrobot? What's that? And who's John?"
Derek froze immediately, his eyes snapping open as his muscles tightened noticeably. He'd fucked up and he knew it, "Nothing…I'm drunk. Let's get some sleep, alright?"
Jessica frowned, obviously she'd hit on something he didn't want to talk about. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt that he shut down again when she got a little too close for comfort. With a sigh, she leaned in and dropped a kiss on the wound before laying down a little higher, her mouth close to his ear. She whispered softly, "You okay?"
He didn't want to hurt her, in fact, Derek suddenly wanted to spill, to tell her everything, about him, about the machines, about John, everything. Hell, even John was lucky enough to be with someone who understood who and what he was. He found himself asking why he couldn't have that too, "No Jess…I'm not even close to okay."
She frowned and hugged herself in tighter to her man, "Is there anything you need me to do?"
He let out a short bark of humourless laughter, "You could leave. Save yourself now, go back to your old life and pretend you never met me. Then maybe I wouldn't feel like such an asshole."
"You're right," she pulled away just a little, "you are an asshole."
He nodded against the pillow, having fully expected this for a while. He could've kicked himself for thinking that this relationship could end any other way than it was about to now. "I'm sorry…"
"But you're my asshole." With a smile, Jessica snuggled herself back in tighter, wrapping her arms around him as best she could and laying her head on his back, her breath tickling the hairs close to her lips. "And you're still my Scruffy Puppy!" She grinned and kissed the closest patch of skin she could find.
Derek rolled on to his back, being careful not to throw her on to the floor in the process, and pulled her down on to his chest with a sad smile. "I really don't deserve you. You know that, right?"
"Oh, I know," she answered with a grin as she laid her head on his chest, adjusting the rest of her body to try and get comfortable, "I'm waaaay out of your league!"
"For what it's worth," he paused and frowned, this was the best he could do, but it still seemed woefully inadequate, "I want to tell you everything. I just…I can't."
Running her hand over his chest, her fingers found yet another scar. She frowned and moved her hand away from the spot, instead choosing to wrap her arms around him again, "I know. When you're ready…right?"
"It's not me you have to worry about." Derek was starting to realise she'd never let up on wanting to know more about him. He couldn't blame her, after all the innocent girl was simply curious, and he didn't want to keep lying to her. He knew he'd have to bring her in to the fold sooner or later if he wanted to carry on being with her, and that was something he wanted more than anything else. He was worried however about what Sarah and not to mention Cameron would think of her. "I'm just a soldier. I don't make the decisions."
She chuckled, "Fine, when the witch says you can."
"Would you…I mean…my family will start wondering where I run off to all the time." Derek was never one to ramble, but he couldn't help himself, "Sarah hates secrets, like hate-hates, and John is starting to pressure me to come clean about you, Amy has me strung up by the shorthairs and enjoys watching me twist in the wind."
"You want me to meet them?" She asked, picking her head up off his chest, glad that she might finally get to meet the rest of Derek's family.
Derek spent a long few moments staring at something through the window before snapping back to the present, "I…want you to live."
Jessica laughed, missing his point completely for obvious reasons, "Oh come on, Sarah can't be that bad. I'll be fine…don't worry."
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll be fine." He forced a smile and craned his neck up to drop a kiss on her lips, "I'll set something up soon, I promise."
"Yeah you will…" Her smile faded before she leaned closer and kissed him deeply, she pulled back and gazed at his face again, "I love you."
Derek smiled, those little words like music to his ears. His earlier slip all but forgotten about, his head sank back to the pillow in an exhausted bliss, "I love you too. Now get some sleep," he said with a smirk, "the old man over here really is drunk."
Apologies for this being a slightly shorter chapter. Also, apologies for not much happiness going on lately. It is however a necessary chunk of the story that I need to get through before some bliss returns!
This hasn't been beta read, all mistakes are mine. Also, it's past midnight here and I have work in the morning, I've wrote about 4000 words today and I'm exhausted, I'll proofread this properly tomorrow and fix any mistakes then.