The last weeks were too much for John. He took all his frustrations on the poor bed, well formally known as his bed, which crumpled at the abuse. He punched and kicked the wood until it couldn’t even be used to make a shelf. Thankfully Sarah and Derek were out of town doing what they do best, disappearing without giving a good reason.
“Three dots” grumbled John under his breath, “who cares about three fucking dots?”
His life was beginning to become even grimmer than ever. Not only did he have to save the world (yes, you heard right! the whole freaking world,)world,) now his girlfriend had slit her wrists. It was just too much. And it took a moment for him to notice the terminator in the doorway. The same terminator he risked his live too save. Did she show any gratitude? No. Not even a “thank you.” All he got was an “I don’t trust you anymore.” Well thanks for nothing. Lately she couldn’t say anything without pissing him off.. All he wanted was a thank you. Was that so much to ask?
“What’s wrong John?” Cameron’s monotone voice entered his ears.
After letting out a breath, he looked at her. She was wearing black jeans, a black top, and her favorite purple jacket. ‘She loves that purple jacket more then she loves you’ came the childish voice inside his head. ‘That is if she even has emotions,’ he argued with himself. That was one of the many arguments he had with himself. He had become quite conflicted.
“Nothing,” John dismissed her.
“Your stress level is far too high, are you thinking about Riley?” Her head leaned a bit to the right, the way it always did if she was curious about him. Completely ignoring her question he went over the edge.
“No” John screamed. “No, I wasn’t thinking of Riley, I wasn’t thinking about my stress level, and I wasn’t thinking about three dots or anything,” he added a bit calmer now, but still raising his voice. The terminator, who was target of all his frustrations, just looked at him and said nothing. Just a twitch above her eye was telling him what she was thinking. If John wasn’t a trained soldier he wouldn’t even had seen it. ‘What was going on with her,’ he thought, ‘and why do I even care?’
“I was thinking of you” he explained to his cyborg protector. The cyborg didn’t respond immediately, but took a step closer to him.
“I never knew you dreamed of me,” she said with one raised eyebrow. Looking very amused was a strange thing for a terminator, even if they were from the TOK-715 line. Her mouth twitched slightly.
“It’s not like that…” John protested. Ok it’s always like that,’ John thought. ‘But she will never know. Oh no… She knows when people are lying... Think of something else. THINK!’ John smiled, regardless of the situation he had put himself in.
“No…” he grew serious. He was going to say it, and he was nervous to boot. John, the future leader of the resistance, nervous of a terminator..? On top of that, it was a friendly terminator as well. “It has to do with trust, Cameron. You said you didn’t have any in me”. He looked her right into her eyes, to see if there is a glimpse of something. With humans he can tell when something is going on but with Cameron that was something more difficult. He saw no glimpse, of course, as she responded.
“You didn’t terminate me. That was a very dangerous thing to do, John,” she said seriously, emphasizing the “r” in “very.”
“You have no idea why I saved you, do you?” he responded, surprised. She must have known how he felt about her. ‘Yes, “felt” is the right word… No, not feel, REALLY it’s not. Stop bugging me mind’ the inner dialogue went on.
“You need a female companion to…” she wanted to respond, but was cut short by John. “Don’t finish that sentence, because I already know that it’s not true,” John gave Cameron a cocky smile. “Come on, guess again. Still two chances left.”
For a moment she looked at John puzzled, but she quickly had an answer ready. “You need…”
“Wrong!”
“You n-”
“And wrong again.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say…”
“I knew… But you’re wrong.” John replied. “It’s about being human.”
A puzzled face was her response. “I don’t understand. I am a Terminator”
“Yes, I know. It’s my own humanity that I am talking about. People need to feel safe and want to follow my lead. If I am going to save people, why not begin with the people I love right now.”
“That’s not very effective, I am a terminator. Expand.” Cameron looked at him with a closed off face, well a “classic Cameron” face to be precise. She was not even thinking about her own safety.
“No that’s not true, I lo…I depend on you Cameron. There is no other you in the world” Cameron looked pensive to say something, but she didn’t. John looked at her ‘Doesn’t she know she’s doing that? Or does she want me to say something about it. Well it is never dull with her that’s for sure.’
“I need for you to trust me again” he looked down. John didn’t want to feel so exposed to her. He felt strange around her, but he wasn’t about to admit that to himself. “This family has to stay together. I am nothing without all of you.” When he looked up he saw Cameron almost a couple of inches away from him. She kissed him on the cheek.
“I am ready to take orders from you” and she smiled. And in all the mess that was his life he was certain of two things: Cameron, and the love he felt for her.
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