Life Lessons (John Connor Style)
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Characters: John, Cameron (Gen)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1900 words
Prompt: John and Cameron being all buddy-buddy and bonding (a still distrustful and/or weirded out John is fine).
Author's Note: Set during 1.03 ("The Turk"). Written for shopfront in the SCC flash ficathon.
"This assignment did not require us to access additional research materials," Cameron stated bluntly as she cut the engine in the parking lot of the North Hollywood Regional Library.
John paused before opening the passenger door. "I know that. You know that. But Mom didn't know that and I needed a break." He jumped out of the big vehicle and stretched appreciatively in the shadowy lot while Cameron exited more cautiously.
"Don't forget your notebook," Cameron advised as she stalked around the car, eyes restlessly surveying the darkened nooks and crannies of the quiet neighbourhood.
With a sigh, John grabbed his bag off of the seat and slammed the door shut. "Come on," he urged as he strode off to the brightly lit library entrance.
Making one last visual sweep of the vicinity, the terminator followed.
***
It was a week night, so, excepting for a few industrious souls and two homeless people snoozing in the soft chairs of the "reading corner", the library was quiet. With Cameron hovering at his shoulder, John had searched the catalogue for some references they could use for their project and then added a few further cryptic notes to the scratchpad.
Wordlessly, John wiped any evidence of his search from the screen before heading off to the shelves. Cameron strode crisply a few steps behind.
"Relax," John hissed, "we're in a library, not a war zone." Cameron's pace slowed and her head tilted slightly as if to suggest a weary tolerance. John glanced back over his shoulder with an approving nod then turned down between two rows of bookcases. Within a few minutes, he had three books off the shelves.
"Here's where the fun begins," John said, grinning.
"Were we not having fun?" Cameron asked.
John sighed. "Not yet." Slowing to survey some overhead signage, John led them back towards the front of the library.
"Here's what we want," he explained, as he stopped in front of a range of shelves filled with DVD boxes. Quizzically, Cameron reached out and lifted one. "Wonder Woman," she read out slowly and thoughtfully.
John leaned over her shoulder to eye the box. "A bit retro for our purposes," he explained. Cameron turned the box over carefully before placing it back on the shelf, experimentally putting her hands on her hips and raising her chin.
John slowly moved along the shelves, running a finger under the titles. "Ah, here we are!" He slipped a DVD case off of the shelf.
"Battlestar Galactica," Cameron pronounced doubtfully.
John smirked. "One of the kids in shop told me about it: apparently it has sexy robot girls. Maybe you'll see a cousin. It'll be fun!"
Cameron eyed the case with dispassionate intensity. "I do not require amusements."
John laughed as he flipped the case on top of the pile of books. "You sure do. Some days you're as wooden as a post. You need to get up-to-date and be less freaky. I'm going to teach you how, beginning with some advice: stop trying to look like a comic-book girl."
Cameron dropped her hands from her hip as she followed John to the check-out desk. A bored librarian scanned the barcodes on their titles and handed John the printout. "Books are due back in three weeks. The DVDs are a two-day loan. Havaniceday."
With Cameron leading the way, they returned to the car. She revved the engine, pulling out onto Tujunga at high speed.
"Careful," John warned. "We don't want to get a ticket."
Cameron's eyes flicked rapidly to the rearview mirror. "Do not worry. There are no police vehicles in the vicinity and this region has yet to be outfitted with remote monitors for enforcement."
John rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Slouching in his seat, he idly flipped a few pages of the books as Cameron navigated their way back to the house.
Sarah glared dourly at the Terminator as she entered the house on John's heels. "You're late."
Cameron let the kitchen door close behind her. "It is still before eight p.m., well within the parameters of our outing."
John sighed as he opened the fridge. "Mom, give it a rest. We weren't even gone for an hour."
Sarah glowered at her son. "I worry about you and I'm still not convinced that hanging around with, this thing!, is safe enough." Cameron stood, still and expressionless.
John pulled out a pop from the fridge and leaned on the counter as he took a drink. "Nothing's going to be safe enough for you. But unless you're gonna wrap me up in cotton wool until Judgment Day, you have to start somewhere."
Sarah just glared at John before enveloping him in a fierce hug. "I'll do anything to keep you safe. Anything."
John frowned. "I know. But right now we've got some homework to do. Nothing to do with the end of the world, Mom."
Sarah straightened and sighed. "And I have to go out for a while. Be in bed before midnight if I'm not home by then. And no sneaking out, at all." At the last, Sarah eyed the terminator significantly.
John opened his mouth as if to argue and then checked himself. His mom had been really stressed ever since uncovering the information about Andy Goode's AI project and John really didn't want to pick a fight. "Okay."
With an awkward move past Cameron, Sarah was out the door in the growing dark. The car engine soon started and lights rolled across the window as she reversed and drove away.
Cameron remained stock still in the kitchen, only her bright eyes indicating that she'd followed the whole discussion. With a sigh, John levered himself away from the counter. "Come on, I'll pop some popcorn and we can watch the show. Work on your education."
"But there still is the assignment to complete," Cameron protested.
"We can get to that afterwards," John said as he punched buttons on the microwave. Craftily, he eyed Cameron. "Or, since you don't need to sleep, you can do it for both of us after the movie's over."
"All right," said Cameron obediently.
John rolled his eyes and sighed as he waited for the popcorn to finish. When Cameron was so agreeable, it took the fun out of sluffing his homework off on her. "Forget about it," he barked. As she blinked, he sighed again. "I didn't mean literally. I mean, damnit!, we'll do it together after we watch the DVD."
"I know," Cameron said flatly. John stared at her. "I know that you did not mean that literally. In the future, you used that expression frequently and always with the same apology." She smiled infinitesimally.
John didn't know whether to be weirded out or just accept another this tidbit as another strange future-robot-friend revelation. Fortunately, the timer rang, providing a distraction. John popped the microwave door open and steam wafted out along with the scent of freshly popped corn. "Here," he said, offering the bag to Cameron. "Take it in to the living room. I'll bring the books and the DVD."
***
"She's a machine?" Cameron asked as they watched the seductive blonde confidently confront the nervous scientist, Baltar, with the news that she had used his connections to breach the military security systems.
"Apparently," John said, as he lounged on the couch. He tilted the bowl of popcorn towards where she sat, more stiffly, beside him. "Relax, Cameron." She obediently sank into the cushions a few more degrees. "Want some?"
Cameron took a kernel and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it contemplatively. "It is insubstantial."
John stuffed another handful in his mouth. "The best things sometimes are."
A flash of bright light appeared on the screen behind the figures. The female stood resolutely sheltering the man who crouched at her feet while a storm of glass and heat poured through the windows and towards the viewers.
"Judgment Day," Cameron proclaimed flatly.
John winced and hit pause on the DVD player, freezing the screen on the rush of an oncoming apocalypse. "Not quite. This is science fiction. They're on another world somewhere."
"Where machines have risen up and are destroying humanity," Cameron said, turning from the screen to capture John's gaze. "Judgment Day."
"Can't get away from it, I guess," John said as he thumbed the button that turned the screen dark. Rising from the couch, he ejected the disc and slipped it back into the case. Somehow, the appeal of the show had soured.
On the table, the stack of books and notepaper loomed. "We could start on the homework, I suppose," John muttered.
Cameron rose instantly. "Sit down," John insisted, feeling a little bit irritated at her readiness to do anything. She did so while he grabbed the schoolwork and thumped back down on the couch.
"What'd we have to include in the report?" John asked. Cameron reached into the pile of papers, extracting a yellow sheet.
John grunted as he looked at the photocopied list. "Shit. That's a lot."
Cameron inclined her head and regarded the paper. "It is not excessive. All of the information is in our textbooks."
John gave her a wry glance. "Which you've read and memorized, huh?" At her nod, he chuckled.
"So you really could do the whole thing?"
Cameron nodded again and John relaxed back into the cushions. "Cool. We can chill. It's too bad Mom has the car or we could head out, maybe see what she's up to with Andy and his computer." He eyed Cameron speculatively at the last.
She gravely turned to regard John. "Your mother prepared for that contingency. I am under orders to keep you in the house until she returns unless an immediate threat emerges."
John rolled his eyes and sat quietly for a few minutes. Suddenly, he moaned and clutched his head, rolling onto his side. "Ugh! It hurts; gotta be a migraine. You need to get me some medicine."
After a few moments of groaning, he looked up to see Cameron's expressionless face. "Hey," he complained, "you're supposed to be concerned about me!"
Cameron frowned minutely. "You are feigning distress. Your vital signs are within normal parameters. I will not be deceived by such obvious stratagems designed to get me away from the house."
John snorted in annoyance as he straightened up. "Great. It's like my mom never left."
Cameron stood up and strode to the window, looking out on the quiet street. "You are incorrect. Sarah Connor is clearly absent from the premises."
"Forget it." John waved his hand irritably and sighed as he reached for the first book in the pile. "I guess we might as well get started on the homework."
"I will do so later," Cameron said.
As John attempted to wrestle the books away from her, she stopped his hand. "I will do the assignment. It is nothing you will need for leading the resistance. But I am sorry for ruining your evening."
John rolled his eyes but gave up the fruitless tug-of-war. "You didn't. The show was, well, just not the kind of thing I expected and now there's nothing to watch and nothing to do except wait around for Mom to return. Maybe we should've borrowed those Wonder Woman DVDs, instead."
Cameron smiled. "Maybe next time?" she asked.
John nodded. "Maybe."
He patted the couch seat beside him and, wonder of wonders, Cameron accepted the wordless invitation. "Here, let's see what's on the boob tube," John said, flicking on the remote. As he slumped back into the couch, Cameron casually mimicked his position, putting her feet up on the coffee table for good measure.
John grinned to himself. Maybe he wasn't that bad a teacher, after all.
Characters: John, Cameron (Gen)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1900 words
Prompt: John and Cameron being all buddy-buddy and bonding (a still distrustful and/or weirded out John is fine).
Author's Note: Set during 1.03 ("The Turk"). Written for shopfront in the SCC flash ficathon.
"This assignment did not require us to access additional research materials," Cameron stated bluntly as she cut the engine in the parking lot of the North Hollywood Regional Library.
John paused before opening the passenger door. "I know that. You know that. But Mom didn't know that and I needed a break." He jumped out of the big vehicle and stretched appreciatively in the shadowy lot while Cameron exited more cautiously.
"Don't forget your notebook," Cameron advised as she stalked around the car, eyes restlessly surveying the darkened nooks and crannies of the quiet neighbourhood.
With a sigh, John grabbed his bag off of the seat and slammed the door shut. "Come on," he urged as he strode off to the brightly lit library entrance.
Making one last visual sweep of the vicinity, the terminator followed.
***
It was a week night, so, excepting for a few industrious souls and two homeless people snoozing in the soft chairs of the "reading corner", the library was quiet. With Cameron hovering at his shoulder, John had searched the catalogue for some references they could use for their project and then added a few further cryptic notes to the scratchpad.
Wordlessly, John wiped any evidence of his search from the screen before heading off to the shelves. Cameron strode crisply a few steps behind.
"Relax," John hissed, "we're in a library, not a war zone." Cameron's pace slowed and her head tilted slightly as if to suggest a weary tolerance. John glanced back over his shoulder with an approving nod then turned down between two rows of bookcases. Within a few minutes, he had three books off the shelves.
"Here's where the fun begins," John said, grinning.
"Were we not having fun?" Cameron asked.
John sighed. "Not yet." Slowing to survey some overhead signage, John led them back towards the front of the library.
"Here's what we want," he explained, as he stopped in front of a range of shelves filled with DVD boxes. Quizzically, Cameron reached out and lifted one. "Wonder Woman," she read out slowly and thoughtfully.
John leaned over her shoulder to eye the box. "A bit retro for our purposes," he explained. Cameron turned the box over carefully before placing it back on the shelf, experimentally putting her hands on her hips and raising her chin.
John slowly moved along the shelves, running a finger under the titles. "Ah, here we are!" He slipped a DVD case off of the shelf.
"Battlestar Galactica," Cameron pronounced doubtfully.
John smirked. "One of the kids in shop told me about it: apparently it has sexy robot girls. Maybe you'll see a cousin. It'll be fun!"
Cameron eyed the case with dispassionate intensity. "I do not require amusements."
John laughed as he flipped the case on top of the pile of books. "You sure do. Some days you're as wooden as a post. You need to get up-to-date and be less freaky. I'm going to teach you how, beginning with some advice: stop trying to look like a comic-book girl."
Cameron dropped her hands from her hip as she followed John to the check-out desk. A bored librarian scanned the barcodes on their titles and handed John the printout. "Books are due back in three weeks. The DVDs are a two-day loan. Havaniceday."
With Cameron leading the way, they returned to the car. She revved the engine, pulling out onto Tujunga at high speed.
"Careful," John warned. "We don't want to get a ticket."
Cameron's eyes flicked rapidly to the rearview mirror. "Do not worry. There are no police vehicles in the vicinity and this region has yet to be outfitted with remote monitors for enforcement."
John rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Slouching in his seat, he idly flipped a few pages of the books as Cameron navigated their way back to the house.
Sarah glared dourly at the Terminator as she entered the house on John's heels. "You're late."
Cameron let the kitchen door close behind her. "It is still before eight p.m., well within the parameters of our outing."
John sighed as he opened the fridge. "Mom, give it a rest. We weren't even gone for an hour."
Sarah glowered at her son. "I worry about you and I'm still not convinced that hanging around with, this thing!, is safe enough." Cameron stood, still and expressionless.
John pulled out a pop from the fridge and leaned on the counter as he took a drink. "Nothing's going to be safe enough for you. But unless you're gonna wrap me up in cotton wool until Judgment Day, you have to start somewhere."
Sarah just glared at John before enveloping him in a fierce hug. "I'll do anything to keep you safe. Anything."
John frowned. "I know. But right now we've got some homework to do. Nothing to do with the end of the world, Mom."
Sarah straightened and sighed. "And I have to go out for a while. Be in bed before midnight if I'm not home by then. And no sneaking out, at all." At the last, Sarah eyed the terminator significantly.
John opened his mouth as if to argue and then checked himself. His mom had been really stressed ever since uncovering the information about Andy Goode's AI project and John really didn't want to pick a fight. "Okay."
With an awkward move past Cameron, Sarah was out the door in the growing dark. The car engine soon started and lights rolled across the window as she reversed and drove away.
Cameron remained stock still in the kitchen, only her bright eyes indicating that she'd followed the whole discussion. With a sigh, John levered himself away from the counter. "Come on, I'll pop some popcorn and we can watch the show. Work on your education."
"But there still is the assignment to complete," Cameron protested.
"We can get to that afterwards," John said as he punched buttons on the microwave. Craftily, he eyed Cameron. "Or, since you don't need to sleep, you can do it for both of us after the movie's over."
"All right," said Cameron obediently.
John rolled his eyes and sighed as he waited for the popcorn to finish. When Cameron was so agreeable, it took the fun out of sluffing his homework off on her. "Forget about it," he barked. As she blinked, he sighed again. "I didn't mean literally. I mean, damnit!, we'll do it together after we watch the DVD."
"I know," Cameron said flatly. John stared at her. "I know that you did not mean that literally. In the future, you used that expression frequently and always with the same apology." She smiled infinitesimally.
John didn't know whether to be weirded out or just accept another this tidbit as another strange future-robot-friend revelation. Fortunately, the timer rang, providing a distraction. John popped the microwave door open and steam wafted out along with the scent of freshly popped corn. "Here," he said, offering the bag to Cameron. "Take it in to the living room. I'll bring the books and the DVD."
***
"She's a machine?" Cameron asked as they watched the seductive blonde confidently confront the nervous scientist, Baltar, with the news that she had used his connections to breach the military security systems.
"Apparently," John said, as he lounged on the couch. He tilted the bowl of popcorn towards where she sat, more stiffly, beside him. "Relax, Cameron." She obediently sank into the cushions a few more degrees. "Want some?"
Cameron took a kernel and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it contemplatively. "It is insubstantial."
John stuffed another handful in his mouth. "The best things sometimes are."
A flash of bright light appeared on the screen behind the figures. The female stood resolutely sheltering the man who crouched at her feet while a storm of glass and heat poured through the windows and towards the viewers.
"Judgment Day," Cameron proclaimed flatly.
John winced and hit pause on the DVD player, freezing the screen on the rush of an oncoming apocalypse. "Not quite. This is science fiction. They're on another world somewhere."
"Where machines have risen up and are destroying humanity," Cameron said, turning from the screen to capture John's gaze. "Judgment Day."
"Can't get away from it, I guess," John said as he thumbed the button that turned the screen dark. Rising from the couch, he ejected the disc and slipped it back into the case. Somehow, the appeal of the show had soured.
On the table, the stack of books and notepaper loomed. "We could start on the homework, I suppose," John muttered.
Cameron rose instantly. "Sit down," John insisted, feeling a little bit irritated at her readiness to do anything. She did so while he grabbed the schoolwork and thumped back down on the couch.
"What'd we have to include in the report?" John asked. Cameron reached into the pile of papers, extracting a yellow sheet.
John grunted as he looked at the photocopied list. "Shit. That's a lot."
Cameron inclined her head and regarded the paper. "It is not excessive. All of the information is in our textbooks."
John gave her a wry glance. "Which you've read and memorized, huh?" At her nod, he chuckled.
"So you really could do the whole thing?"
Cameron nodded again and John relaxed back into the cushions. "Cool. We can chill. It's too bad Mom has the car or we could head out, maybe see what she's up to with Andy and his computer." He eyed Cameron speculatively at the last.
She gravely turned to regard John. "Your mother prepared for that contingency. I am under orders to keep you in the house until she returns unless an immediate threat emerges."
John rolled his eyes and sat quietly for a few minutes. Suddenly, he moaned and clutched his head, rolling onto his side. "Ugh! It hurts; gotta be a migraine. You need to get me some medicine."
After a few moments of groaning, he looked up to see Cameron's expressionless face. "Hey," he complained, "you're supposed to be concerned about me!"
Cameron frowned minutely. "You are feigning distress. Your vital signs are within normal parameters. I will not be deceived by such obvious stratagems designed to get me away from the house."
John snorted in annoyance as he straightened up. "Great. It's like my mom never left."
Cameron stood up and strode to the window, looking out on the quiet street. "You are incorrect. Sarah Connor is clearly absent from the premises."
"Forget it." John waved his hand irritably and sighed as he reached for the first book in the pile. "I guess we might as well get started on the homework."
"I will do so later," Cameron said.
As John attempted to wrestle the books away from her, she stopped his hand. "I will do the assignment. It is nothing you will need for leading the resistance. But I am sorry for ruining your evening."
John rolled his eyes but gave up the fruitless tug-of-war. "You didn't. The show was, well, just not the kind of thing I expected and now there's nothing to watch and nothing to do except wait around for Mom to return. Maybe we should've borrowed those Wonder Woman DVDs, instead."
Cameron smiled. "Maybe next time?" she asked.
John nodded. "Maybe."
He patted the couch seat beside him and, wonder of wonders, Cameron accepted the wordless invitation. "Here, let's see what's on the boob tube," John said, flicking on the remote. As he slumped back into the couch, Cameron casually mimicked his position, putting her feet up on the coffee table for good measure.
John grinned to himself. Maybe he wasn't that bad a teacher, after all.