Fic: Right Here (Part 4/?)
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Pairing: Sarah/Cameron
Rating: M (Whole story rating)
Beta: My anonymous best friend
Disclaimer: Fox owns. I play.
Right Here: Chapter Four
The household’s atmosphere had been relatively calm apart from Derek’s occasional appearances that disrupted any sort of peace. His natural hatred for Cameron voiced with no regrets caused anger in both Sarah and John. Sarah found herself wondering after every outburst of his if Cameron was bothered by Derek’s harsh attitude towards her.
The front door opened and pulled Sarah from her thoughts. Her hand inched towards her gun on the kitchen bench but stopped when she saw John enter the room, quietly followed by Cameron. Sarah focused her gaze on John, feeling her body panic in the presence of the terminator. It still surprised her that the panic had nothing to do with fear and more to do with her feelings for Cameron.
“How was school?” Sarah casually asked John and he gave her an unimpressed look. The metal girl stood motionless, watching the two humans she lived with.
“It was great. I’m still not quite failing. But you might want to tell Cameron not to answer everything right or the geek squad will be demanding for her recruitment.” He sarcastically spoke to his mother as he walked over to the fridge, pulling it open easily and inspecting the contents.
“I like math, I understand it.” Cameron defensively countered although she did conclude it may be better for her not to be a part of the ‘geek squad’ as John called it.
“Cameron, you know we can’t draw any unnecessary attention to our...family.” Sarah noticeably struggled with the notion of the terminator being her daughter and it wasn’t because of the part where she was a killing machine. Her tone lacked anger these days. As she averted her eyes to the floor, John gave a Cameron a curious glance before grabbing something to eat and closing the fridge. He shrugged his mother’s behaviour off as being uncomfortable about pretending to have a terminator related to her.
“Did Derek tell you when he would stop by again? I don’t like how he just turns up all the time. It upsets the routine.” Sarah asked John as Cameron once again continued to silently watch them.
“No, he didn’t say when. But he said he’ll visit more often. Oh, and that he’s sorry he’s been busy. Wouldn’t tell me what with.” John told his mother before he left the room and headed towards the stairs to his room.
“I don’t like the feel of that man’s secrets.” Sarah muttered to herself though she knew Cameron would hear her.
“You don’t need to worry about Derek’s secrets. They will not be secrets for much longer.” The terminator spoke cryptically and Sarah gave her a curious look, wanting her to continue. Cameron stayed quiet and came closer to the woman, standing just in front of her.
“You’re not gonna do anything crazy, right?” Sarah asked carefully. Cameron tilted her head in question and Sarah had to try extremely hard not to smile.
“No pointing guns at Derek,” Realising Cameron didn’t need guns to hurt anyone she added, “Just no hurting or threatening. Okay?”
In response, Cameron merely nodded. Sarah gave her a small smile and leaned back against the kitchen bench. Cameron looked as though she were about to say something but stopped. Her lips were parted slightly and Sarah was staring without intending to. She felt warm hands on her hips and Cameron was coming closer.
The movement was slow; Sarah could see Cameron’s fear of being pushed away all over her face. Her eyes couldn’t focus on one place. If anything Sarah would think Cameron was nervous. A nervous terminator. Sarah assumed Cameron was trying to see if she would let the girl hug her.
To put Cameron’s nerves at ease, Sarah snaked her arms around the girl’s shoulders and slowly pulled Cameron into her body. Sarah felt the terminators arms reached further around to hold her closer. It felt good to be held in strong arms. Sarah inhaled deeply and felt some amount of stress leave her.
The feeling of Cameron’s chest rising and falling with each breath brought comfort to Sarah. It didn’t make her forget what Cameron was, it just made her remember that she wasn’t like other terminators. The warmth of the girl’s body reminded her that Cameron wasn’t cold and soulless.
Cameron eased back enough to look at Sarah. Her eyes showing so much emotion, something she never allowed to happen in front of anyone else.
“Cam, are you okay? You seem kinda...troubled.” Sarah softly asked her. Cameron looked down briefly before return her gaze to green eyes.
“I missed you...and I was afraid that you didn’t want to be close to me anymore. It has been over two day since we talked. I was not sure when to talk to you about it again.” Again she looked down but this time her eyes didn’t find their way back. It wasn’t the whole truth. Cameron was also apprehensive about the day Sarah would find out about her mission. John would be the first to know but Cameron knew he would take it better than Sarah. The day was coming closer.
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you. I’ve just been a little off since there have been no leads for a couple of months now,” Sarah touched Cameron’s face lightly with her hand and moved the hair that had fallen forward. Cameron looked back up at Sarah from the intimate contact. “I’ve missed you too.” Sarah saw Cameron’s visible reaction to her rare act of spoken feelings. The girl swallowed hard and took a deep breath, such a human thing to do. Sarah smiled before she leaned in closer, her lips lightly touching on Cameron’s.
Sarah’s eyes closed when Cameron responded by kissing back shyly. She felt Cameron’s hand inch up her back and their bodies were pressed even closer together. Before they could think otherwise, the kiss had deepened and Sarah had her hands woven through Cameron’s brown hair.
Before their passion could grow any more evident, Cameron pulled away from Sarah and stepped back. Sarah saw Cameron revert back to her mechanical posture and her eyes were once again blank. Sarah gave her a confused look but her question was answered when someone opened the door loudly in a rushed way. She was already holding her gun and pointing it at the entrance of the room when Derek walked in. He stopped when he saw Sarah holding her gun.
Sarah let out a sigh of relief and lowered her weapon, hoping it wasn’t noticeable that her heart rate felt out of control and was more than a little out of breath. Derek moved further into the kitchen while glancing at Cameron disapprovingly, that reminded Sarah about asking if it bothered the terminator. She’d have to later on.
“I need you to come with me on some surveillance work.” Derek spoke directly to Sarah and had an expectant look going on.
“Surveillance on what?” Cameron entered the conversation. Both Sarah and Derek turned and looked at her.
“Uh, small business about an hour’s drive away has been getting suspicious funding over the past two months,” He explained but turned back to Sarah when he spoke. Sarah just nodded. “Half hour?” Derek requested with his eye brows raised in question.
“Yeah, sure.” Sarah simply replied before glancing at Cameron briefly before walking out of the room to get ready. Cameron’s eyes followed Sarah until she was out of sight. Her attention then rested on Derek. She stared as blankly as she could just to make him uncomfortable. Cameron was not at all pleased with his timing. She slowly turned away from him and walked towards the staircase. She heard him walk back outside.
Sarah was packing multiple guns into a bag in her room when there was a soft knock on her open door. Sarah curiously looked up to see who would even bother but wasn’t surprised to see Cameron in the doorway. She somehow had a lonely look about her.
“You can come in, Cameron.” Sarah told her in a slightly tired voice. The girl slowly walked into the room.
“What are you so down about?” Sarah couldn’t take the sullen Cameron much longer.
“Be careful.” Cameron spoke so quietly Sarah almost didn’t hear her. She was touched by Cameron’s concern and found herself wearing a small smile as she walked over to the terminator.
They were inches apart and Sarah leaned close with her hands on Cameron’s hips. “I’m always careful.” She told her with a smirk. Cameron was visibly confused.
“I disagree. Sometimes,” The girl stopped when Sarah let out a quiet and short laugh. “You were joking.” Cameron realised out loud and a smile grew. Sarah was still smiling and simply nodded before leaning closer and kissing Cameron softly. She pulled away but strong arms pulled her back and Cameron initiated a rather passionate kiss.
Sarah could see herself getting addicted to the feel of Cameron’s soft lips and the lightening her kisses created in her. She eventually had to pull away to breathe and rested her forehead on Cameron’s.
“I want you to stay. But you must go.” Cameron’s defeated tone brought Sarah some awareness.
“Yeah.” She sighed breathlessly and backed up slightly.
“Did you tell John?” Cameron inquired, masking some of the surfaced emotions from a few minutes ago.
“Yeah, I told him before I started getting ready. I should probably go down now.” Sarah spoke in a way that let Cameron know she’d rather stay with her. Hopefully the terminator got that.
“Yes.” Cameron said in her old monotone. Sarah felt herself speechless at the change in Cameron. It’d happen in mere seconds. She turned away and grabbed the bag full of guns and ammo, unsure of what to make of Cameron right now. This never happened when no-one else was around. It was just the two of them; there was no need for Cameron to hide her emotions.
Sarah avoided Cameron’s eyes and walked passed her out of the room. She was confused as hell and didn’t have time to figure it out or ask questions.
--
Sarah and Derek had been gone an hour before Cameron stepped out the front door, gun in hand and set her gaze across the stress into the yard of the opposite house. Someone was watching. She put the gun in the waistband of her jeans and waited for them to make the next move.
--
John had just finished his homework when he heard his door open. He turned and faced the only person it could be. Cameron.
“I’ve locked up the house. I need you to come with me and we need to go now.” She stated and left the room. John stared at the space where Cameron had been, wondering what on earth was about to happen.
Ten minutes later he found himself in the car with Cameron driving. Sarah had called and said that she and Derek had to stay out over night. The silence in the car was killing him, mainly because he had no idea where they were going or why.
“Can you just tell me where we’re going?” John tried to reason with the terminator. She continued to stare ahead.
“You will see,” Cameron’s simple answer. John rolled his eyes and turned his sights to what was outside of the car, “You need to know some things.” She added. John slowly turned his head so he could see her; she was looking at him now. Something was different about her. He could see something in Cameron’s eyes.
“What kinda things?” John carefully asked, Cameron returned her gaze to the road ahead.
“Things about my mission. Things that change your future and things that change your mother’s future.” Cameron explained to John. He took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare himself for an onslaught of information.
--
Cameron and John stood together in an empty grey room. Dust covered every surface but the floor. More than one thing had been dragged across the ground recently. There were two doors. One was as thick as the walls and one lead to another room connected to the one they were in.
“This is the place John. You will come here a week before Judgement Day, Derek comes with you. And you must protect this place or your mother won’t make it.” Cameron had an insistent tone to her voice. John faced her, his eyes holding unshed tears as he accepted all that was to come.
“I will.” John’s determined but shaken voice ends the conversation as the sun set for the day.
Tbc...