Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Drabble (2/10)
Title: Double Vision
Genre: Television
Series: Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Characters: Cameron Philips, Derek Reese
Spoilers: 2x05-Goodbye to All That
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: Confessions come easier in the dark of night.
Author's Note: This is written for 10_quotes.
Word Count: 500
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Prompt: Casablanca-"You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die."
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"Sometimes it takes me off guard."
His quiet words in the dark of night did not startle her. Her sensors betrayed his intent to speak seconds before he did, and with her processing speed, seconds could seem like eons. She wondered, in those brief seconds, what he would say. She prepared herself for an angry onslaught, the usual hatred spilling from his lips.
Cameron Philips wasn't programmed to feel pain or shame.
Derek Reese's quiet admission, however, was unexpected and had the same effect on her. She was taken off guard, a large feat for the cyborg. "What?" She asked in a monotone voice, giving no thought to adding human inflection to the word. Derek wouldn't appreciate the endeavor.
"This time, this place," Derek explained. He stood at the window, his scarred and callused hands holding the fragile cloth of the curtains apart. His face was like stone as he stared out into the dark, taking in the view with eyes of the same approximate color as the sky. Unconsciously Cameron's head tilted just slightly to the side as she studied his face. "I saw a deer the other day. A real live deer. I hadn't seen one in...years. It froze me. I couldn't move, I could just stare at it. When I first came back, me and all my men had moments like that. The first time we saw a bird, a flower, the fucking sun!" Derek said in strangely jerking tones, his face contorting as he struggled to stay quiet. Cameron knew that it was not for her that he tried to hold back, but that it was because he didn't want to wake Sarah or John.
"There are deer in the laboratories," Cameron noted quietly, simply stating the fact. The human memories of Allison Young were far too fresh in her mind, and the sight of a snarling tiger pushing at the confines of its cage flashed in front of her eyes, briefly blotting out Derek's face.
"There's everything in the laboratories," Derek bit out. He turned his head to stare accusingly at her, as if she herself had been the machine to drag all the magnificent animals from their ruined and contaminated habitats and into the dirty and barren wasteland of holding cells. He forced himself to take a deep breath before he spoke again. "There are days when I just want to walk away. To stop running and to stop fighting and to just breathe." He smiled bitterly before looking away again.
It seemed like something was occurring between them, a connection that she'd only felt once before with John Connor. After her incident with her malfunctioning chip, however, that connection had been severed. Cameron asked because in the dark of this night it seemed almost like she and Derek were kin, creatures of the same ilk. "Why?"
"You might as well question why we breathe," Derek said softly. "If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die."
_____
Review, please.
Genre: Television
Series: Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Characters: Cameron Philips, Derek Reese
Spoilers: 2x05-Goodbye to All That
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: Confessions come easier in the dark of night.
Author's Note: This is written for 10_quotes.
Word Count: 500
_____
Prompt: Casablanca-"You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die."
_____
"Sometimes it takes me off guard."
His quiet words in the dark of night did not startle her. Her sensors betrayed his intent to speak seconds before he did, and with her processing speed, seconds could seem like eons. She wondered, in those brief seconds, what he would say. She prepared herself for an angry onslaught, the usual hatred spilling from his lips.
Cameron Philips wasn't programmed to feel pain or shame.
Derek Reese's quiet admission, however, was unexpected and had the same effect on her. She was taken off guard, a large feat for the cyborg. "What?" She asked in a monotone voice, giving no thought to adding human inflection to the word. Derek wouldn't appreciate the endeavor.
"This time, this place," Derek explained. He stood at the window, his scarred and callused hands holding the fragile cloth of the curtains apart. His face was like stone as he stared out into the dark, taking in the view with eyes of the same approximate color as the sky. Unconsciously Cameron's head tilted just slightly to the side as she studied his face. "I saw a deer the other day. A real live deer. I hadn't seen one in...years. It froze me. I couldn't move, I could just stare at it. When I first came back, me and all my men had moments like that. The first time we saw a bird, a flower, the fucking sun!" Derek said in strangely jerking tones, his face contorting as he struggled to stay quiet. Cameron knew that it was not for her that he tried to hold back, but that it was because he didn't want to wake Sarah or John.
"There are deer in the laboratories," Cameron noted quietly, simply stating the fact. The human memories of Allison Young were far too fresh in her mind, and the sight of a snarling tiger pushing at the confines of its cage flashed in front of her eyes, briefly blotting out Derek's face.
"There's everything in the laboratories," Derek bit out. He turned his head to stare accusingly at her, as if she herself had been the machine to drag all the magnificent animals from their ruined and contaminated habitats and into the dirty and barren wasteland of holding cells. He forced himself to take a deep breath before he spoke again. "There are days when I just want to walk away. To stop running and to stop fighting and to just breathe." He smiled bitterly before looking away again.
It seemed like something was occurring between them, a connection that she'd only felt once before with John Connor. After her incident with her malfunctioning chip, however, that connection had been severed. Cameron asked because in the dark of this night it seemed almost like she and Derek were kin, creatures of the same ilk. "Why?"
"You might as well question why we breathe," Derek said softly. "If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die."
_____
Review, please.