Her skin is still flushed, a soft pink color compared to the normal ivory. I run my fingers over her arm, softly feeling the goosebumps settling on her skin. With a small smile, my palm goes across her and brings her closer to me. She smiles, and we mold our bodies together underneath the sheets of the bed.
"When was the last time you had a hot shower?" Sarah asks.
"About two years ago," I tell her as we settle together. "John and I raided a Skynet compound where they kept humans captured. If you offered good intelligence, they gave you an apartment with all the amenities."
My eyes go to the ceiling, and I remember what kind of cowards did it. There are deserters in every place you go, so it's not a complete surprise. But to betray all of mankind because you think some machine is going to have mercy on you is the most ignorant thought I have ever heard.
"They were rarely used," I go on. "But once we took control of it we all got an apartment each for the night. John said it was a reminder of what we were fighting for. We lived like kings for that night."
"Seems like a tactical disadvantage," she says. She really was raised by a terminator. "Letting everyone sleep with their guard down."
"We reprogrammed a bunch of terminators to stand guard," I respond. "Then John and I took shifts to watch them."
My hand traces her arm again, grazing softly over the skin. She seems to fight her exhaustion by rubbing her hand gently across my chest. She fits so easily in my arms. I don't want to sleep, but I also don't want this to end. Ever.
We lay there in each other's embraces for a long time. I'm almost asleep when I remember the endless supply of hot water there is here.
"You can take the first shower."
I can feel her slowly wake. Lifting herself, she props herself up on her elbow. My hands trace over her jaw, and she smiles a flirtatious grin at me.
"I was thinking we both take the first shower."
The words might as well be a prayer from long ago answered. Every part of me responds, and I take her face gently. Pulling her down to me again, our lips meet. My mouth covers hers, but she pulls back and comes at me again to overtake my lips. We fight for dominance, but then we both end up surrendering. I don't care about tomorrow. All I know is that this is how it's supposed to be.
We leave the comforting warmth of the bed for the shower, only breaking apart when we have to turn the hot water on. Sarah's fingers lace into my hair and along the back of my neck. I grab her and lift her onto the vanity while the steam from the shower starts to fog the room. Her tongue runs across mine, and she wraps her legs around my waist. I'm going to come undone again.
My hands cup her breasts, massaging them slowly before I cradle her face and bring her body as close as I can to mine. She presses against me, and her hands find every inch of me. When I tuck my head down to kiss the sensitive area between her neck and ear, I feel her teeth and tongue on my earlobe. She takes it in her mouth and sucks on it. Without thought, I let out a groan and feel myself respond. I grip the sides of the vanity for support and tell myself not to lose it.
But I want to make her feel the same way. I tear my lips away from her body, watching her as she looks at me with a curious expression on her face. I want her more than anything I've ever wanted, but I also want to please her. She is the most precious thing in the world. I want to cherish her for whatever amount of time we have.
I lift her from the vanity, and we make our way into the hot water together. When we're under the warm jets, Sarah reaches for the shampoo first while I relax under the heat. She runs her fingers through my hair while I take her in. I press myself against her, evoking a few moans. It becomes an unspoken game where I tease her while she tries to get me clean. She rinses my hair and lathers my body, giving particular attention to my loins.
When her hands surround me, I freeze. The soap makes her hands glide easily, and I am having trouble remembering that this is a game. My eyes close, and my head falls back slightly. She quickens her effort, changing the pace as often as she can until she's satisfied that I'm on the brink. And she's not wrong.
"My turn," I whisper to her. She responds with a smile.
I start with her hair. The entire time I'm rubbing the shampoo in and rinsing it, I make sure to press myself against her. She responds by running her fingers along my body, and while I try to ignore it I can't fight my response on several occasions. When finally I'm ready for the soap, I turn her to face away from me. Her hands are behind her back, playfully rubbing the length of my manhood. I grab the soap, and I lather my hands and run them across her breasts first. Softly, my lips press against her shoulders as I work the suds across her entire front portion.
When my fingers find the most sensitive spot between her legs, she gasps. Her legs instantly part wider, and I know I've won this game. But in reality, I'm lost to her. My fingers rub diligently as my lips locate her ear, and I tease her as she did me. It makes her hands completely stop, and I can feel her starting to tremble. She grabs my hips, pulling me in her direction.
That's when I tell myself that the game is over. I don't even bother rinsing her. Instead, I release her. Sarah turns towards me, her mouth opening to find mine again. As my tongue finds her lips, she closes her mouth around it, sucking it. When she releases it, I playfully bite her lip. But one look in her eyes, and she knows we're both done playing. Grabbing one of her legs and hooking it around my hip, I slip inside of her.
I'm once again without a rational thought when she surrounds me. It feels like home. Like I've woken up on Christmas morning. I start a rhythm. Sarah is so close to her limit, and I know I'm not far behind her with the noises she's making now. The noises I'm causing her to make are the most beautiful sounds in the world, but they only drive me that much closer to the edge.
Her lips crash into mine, biting and kissing. The shower's water runs across our bodies, and all I can do is hope I can last as long as it takes until she's ready. I tell myself to hold on. For her. But the sound of her breath catching, her gasps and the way she's trying so hard to show me how much she wants everything I have is enough to drive me into oblivion.
But I do hold on by kissing her. She still makes the same sounds, though muffled with my mouth. Her nails drag along my back, and I don't know how much longer I can keep going. It's not just sex. It's the expression of love with our bodies, uniting our souls and binding us together forever. It's about love. The kind of love that's worth saving. The kind of love war is fought for. This is what the books were all written about.
I feel her falling apart around me, trembling as she breaks her lips away from mine into an uncontrollable scream. I'm not very far behind her. The second after I feel her walls finally relax around me is when I lose everything. Her name is the only sound I make, and it's a rasping whisper into her ear.
Releasing her leg, I take a step away from her. Sarah wraps her arms around me, and together we finish rinsing her body. We turn off the shower and make our way back to our bed. The knock on the door startles us, and I let her cover herself with a sheet. Handing her a handgun, our eyes meet for a moment as I silently count off opening the door.
The attendant from the hotel smiles as I open the door with nothing but a towel on. He glances at me, but takes notice when Sarah walks out in just a towel as well. I don't like the look on his face, and I immediately take a step between the two.
"Will you still be needing the roller bed?" The attendant's weasel smile makes me uncertain whether I want to punch him in the throat or just tell him no. But I glance to Sarah, letting this be her decision, as always.
"No, thank you," she tells the attendant. "Just refund us when we check out tomorrow."
"Are you sure, miss?" he asks. "I could always come back with the cash in hand."
Definitely punch in the throat. My eyes narrow on him, and he keeps up with the smile. Without letting her respond, I shut the door.
"Creep," she says as she crosses her arms. "You saw me naked and didn't even make things that uncomfortable."
"Is that your way of saying I'm your knight in shining armor?" I ask as we pull the covers of the bed back. I settle back onto the bed, and she tosses me my clothes. "What's this for?"
She rolls her eyes.
"Pops is coming back, you know."
Right. The terminator that raised her. I've never seen a terminator as anything to get attached to, but she has. Part of me wonders how John would react in the situation she was placed in, and then I realize that it's entirely possible we might have just ensured his survival. But no matter what, I won't let what happened to the John of my memory happen to this one. It's still insane for me to realize he is my son. Or was. Or will be.
Sighing, I slide back into the bare minimum clothes and lift the covers for Sarah to join me. She fits against me again, and I curl my arms around her. We rest there for a long while. Our fingers knit themselves together. So do our legs. And my last lingering thought before I do drift off to sleep is about something Sarah said.
"We meet. We fall in love. You father John. And in less than 48 hours, you die."
I hold her tight against me as the memory surfaces. In the fading light of the city lights, I brush her hair from her sleeping face, close my eyes and hold on to this memory. I want to savor every moment I can. If I only have 48 more hours to live, then I might as well make every single one of them count for something. I refuse to give up unless I can show her just how much I want to stay.
Beside me, the cell phone we purchased rings. I look at the clock. We've been asleep for no more than three hours. Pops has to know we need more sleep than this. Grabbing it, I gently sneak out of the bed and slip into the bathroom. As I close the door behind me, I answer it.
"Yeah, Pops?" I ask.
"Is Sarah Connor asleep?" he asks.
"She just went to sleep," I tell him. "Should I wake her, or are you allowed to tell me why you're calling?"
"My mission parameters are to keep Sarah Connor alive," he says. "But you should know that I have seen on the news that Skynet is not gone."
The high I've been on since Sarah's kiss sinks to the pit of my stomach. Fear claws at my mind like a rabid animal. My mouth goes dry.
"How is that even possible?" I ask. "We bombed the whole damn facility! How could something have survived?"
I'm starting to feel that familiar fight or flight instinct rise, but I ignore it. Taking a deep breath, I resolve myself to not tell Sarah until she's slept. I look at myself in the mirror.
"Bring us some clothes, food, and whatever intelligence you can find," I tell him through the phone. "I'll let Sarah know."
Pops agrees, and I hang up the phone. The nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach feels like it's rising to the back of my throat.
"Let Sarah know what?" I hear from behind me.
Turning to her, I'm frozen. I don't want to tell her. I just want to go back to bed, wake up and never have to worry about Skynet again. But I can't. We can't.
"What is it? Was that Pops?" she asks. "Did he get himself arrested again?"
Normally I'd ask about the story behind that remark, but all I can do is think that I don't have much time left. That I can't tell her and share with her everything I've ever wanted. That my last moments with John were when he was the enemy.
"It was Pops," I tell her. "Let's sit."