Sarah/Cameron Prompt response #3 "Slumber Party"
“Hold still.” Cameron tightened her fingers on Sarah’s wrist, pulling the squirming woman’s hand into her lap. “Now spread your fingers.”
“Does it have to be pink?” Sarah crossed her legs and leaned back against the arm of the couch behind her, eying the already coated brush in the terminator’s free hand distastefully.
Cameron looked up with a slight pout. “I like pink.”
“They’re not your nails.”
“Would you prefer purple?” Cameron returned the brush to the bottle and set it on the coffee table. “I have Amethyst Dreams and Violet Persuasion.” She held up each bottle in turn, clearly expecting Sarah to be able to tell the difference.
“What about the brown one?” Sarah indicated the least offensive of the options spread out on the table. If there had been a clear polish, she would have gone with that, but Cameron’s taste in nail polish tended towards the exotic.
“That’s Autumn Sunrise,” Cameron corrected her, picking up the bottle with a frown. “And it’s boring…”
“I like boring,” Sarah argued. “Boring isn’t going to kill me.”
Cameron sighed dramatically and released Sarah’s wrist to unscrew the chosen bottle. “Nail polish isn’t dangerous Sarah,” she pointed out, offering her hand again expectantly once she had the brush ready.
“In those shades?” Sarah reluctantly surrendered to the terminators silent demand, allowing her hand to be pulled back across the couch to rest palm-down on Cameron’s thigh. “I’m not so sure.”
“You’re not funny,” Cameron stated flatly, her head already bent over her task. She spread the polish over Sarah’s nails as carefully as if it were a matter of life or death that each one be absolutely perfect.
Sarah snorted, resisting the urge to point out that the terminators opinion would mean a lot more if the girl actually possessed a recognizable sense of humour. “Remind me again why we’re doing this?”
“I have been invited to a slumber party.” Cameron answered, finishing the last nail on Sarah’s right hand with exacting focus. “I need to practice to make certain that my behavior is flawless.”
“And why did I agree to let you go to this party?” Fighting to keep from getting caught up in the delicate brushing of Cameron’s fingers over her own as the metal girl switched to her other hand, Sarah couldn’t actually remember.
“All the girls in my class are going. It would invite speculation if I did not attend.” Cameron paused, looking up with a smile. “It’s going to be tight.”
“Hmm…” Sarah kept her opinion of Cameron’s developing vocabulary to herself. Trying to weed the slang out of the terminator’s speech had long ago proven a futile effort. Even John hadn’t been able to make her understand the importance of context and delivery. When Sarah had tried, she’d only managed to hurt Cameron’s feelings… something that shouldn’t even have been possible.
“That doesn’t explain the pajamas,” she pointed out, shaking her head over Cameron’s flannel two-piece. It was pink of course, with smiling purple computers gallivanting across the fabric. “Where did you even get those?”
“At the mall,” Cameron explained. “You told me I couldn’t wear the ones I had.”
Sarah narrowed her eyes at the terminator’s sulky tone. “That’s because what you call a night gown has less material than a three year old child’s… and most of that is lace.”
Cameron bent her head at that and muttered something unintelligible, looking up warily when Sarah asked her to repeat herself. “I said, you never complained about that before,” she supplied grudgingly.
Caught, Sarah could only glare. “That’s not the point,” she insisted finally, shivering when Cameron raised her finished hand and blew gently across the drying nails.
“Yes it is.” The terminator replied implacably, and if the light in her eyes was anything to go by, she was fully aware of Sarah’s distraction. “You do not wish for anyone else to see me in lingerie.”
Snatching her hand back, Sarah grumbled an unconvincing denial. “So what else is on the list?” she asked, changing the subject.
Cameron pursed her lips, thinking. “John is getting the movies and the popcorn,” she mused. “He promised to pick out something appropriate.” She tilted her head. “We should braid each other’s hair.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. Cameron’s idea of a slumber party was apparently straight out of an 80’s sitcom. “Where did you get this list?” she grumbled, reaching up to let her hair out of its pony-tail before turning around.
“The internet.” Cameron answered easily, uncrossing her legs and stretching them out to either side of Sarah so that she could move closer. “Would you like a traditional or French braid? I’ve researched both.”
“Surprise me,” Sarah replied dryly.
“But you don’t like surprises.” Cameron’s tone was doubtful as she began gathering up strands of Sarah’s hair and sliding them through her fingers.
“Keep talking and we’re going to go back to looking over those Cyberdyne files again,” Sarah warned, unable to resist the urge to lean into the terminator’s ministrations. Cameron wisely kept her mouth shut, and Sarah allowed herself a few minutes just to enjoy the metal girl’s touch without worrying about where it might lead, had led and would probably lead again.
She murmured a wordless protest when Cameron pulled her fingers away and sat back.
“John has returned.” The terminator explained. “He will be at the door in approximately thirty seconds.”
Sarah sighed and straightened up reluctantly. Whether she was ready to put the feeling into words or not, her body sure as hell knew what it wanted, but she moved down to the other end of the couch anyway. This was one battle she could protect John from.
“Hey party girls!” John called cheerfully as he banged in through the front door, tossing the movies and a bag of snacks onto the coffee table on his way into the living room. “I got some classic chick flicks. Did you know that’s actually a section at the video store now?” Oblivious to the simmering tension he’d interrupted, John flopped down on the couch between them, reaching out to tug playfully on the end of Sarah’s braid. “Nice job Mom.” He commented with a grin. “Cameron’s work I assume.”
“I am full of hidden talents.” The terminator agreed tonelessly, repeating a phrase that Sarah had used to describe her skills on previous, often far more intimate, occasions.
“I’ll bet.” John laughed. “Homicide and hairdressing, just like chocolate and peanut butter.”
Shaking his head, the teenager levered himself to his feet again. “Well, I’d love to stay and giggle about boys with you, but I’ve got homework and a test tomorrow, so I’ll leave you to your fun.” He turned on the way to the stairs and wagged a finger at them. “Don’t stay up too late!”
Cameron waited until he had gone before turning to look at Sarah. “You never giggle,” she observed.
“Neither do you,” Sarah agreed with a lopsided grin.
They left the couch long enough for Sarah to throw a pizza in the oven and Cameron to get out the sleeping bags and push the coffee table out of the way so she could set them up.
“Sleeping bags?” Sarah asked doubtfully, coming out of the kitchen to lean on the back of the couch. “Are you joking?”
Cameron finished straightening the second bag and fluffed the pillow before standing. “Its part of the experience,” she argued.
“But you don’t sleep.”
“I know.” Cameron looked down, her brow furrowed. “I will have to pretend.”
Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, praying to whatever gods might be listening, for just a little bit more patience. “Just so you know,” she said evenly. “I’m drawing the line at a pillow fight.”
“But it’s - ”
“No, Cameron!”
Sarah resolutely ignored the simultaneously belligerent and sulky expression on the terminator’s face and went back into the kitchen to get out the plates.
Cameron got over her disappointment readily enough while they watched the movies and ate burned pizza, sitting companionably on their sleeping bags with their backs pressed against the couch. She was full of questions which Sarah tolerated for the first half hour, before threatening to turn the television off and leave Cameron to do her practicing solo if she didn’t shut up.
After that the terminator kept her inquiries to a minimum, but she made up for it by shifting along the front of the couch until she was nestled up against Sarah’s side, her head resting on Sarah’s shoulder.
Not nearly as displeased by Cameron’s proximity as she should have been, Sarah eventually gave in to the inevitable and slid her arm around the terminator’s shoulders, pulling her closer. Cameron responded by resting a hand on Sarah’s stomach, stroking her skin softly through the thin material of her tank top.
When the credits finally rolled, they pulled apart reluctantly. Sarah stood up to turn the television off and Cameron began unzipping the sleeping bags.
“Are you sure we need to sleep out here?” Sarah asked, already imagining how a night on the floor would make her old and half healed injuries ache.
“I have to practice,” Cameron repeated, curling her legs underneath her and looking up woefully at Sarah. “You don’t need to stay…”
Sarah sighed and resigned herself to aching. It was ridiculous, but she just couldn’t say no when Cameron looked at her like that. She sat down on the other sleeping bag. “This is the last thing on the list right?”
Cameron looked down and played with the edge of her pillow.
Sarah knew that pose. “What?”
“There is one more thing,” Cameron hedged. “Sometime at slumber parties, the girls practice kissing…” She looked up hesitantly, a shameless glint of mischief and guile in the back of her eyes.
Somehow Sarah wasn’t surprised it had come to that. “You won’t be,” she promised firmly.
“What if someone asks me to?” Cameron insisted.
Sarah set her jaw. “Then you say no,” she said firmly.
Cameron put on what Sarah had come to know as her most stubbornly oblivious face. It was the one she used when she was trying to pretend not to understand what someone was saying to her. “But I might learn something,” she ventured.
“I don’t care.”
The stubbornness became a little more focused. “You have kissed multiple partners…” Cameron argued. “I have only ever kissed you. I might be missing something.”
Sarah couldn’t deny the flash of rage that ripped through her chest at the idea of Cameron experimenting with other partners. “Do you want to keep kissing me?” she growled, leaning forward and griping Cameron’s chin firmly between her thumb and forefinger.
“Yes.” The terminator whispered softly, her brown eyes darkening under Sarah’s fierce attention.
“Then you won’t be kissing anyone else.” Sarah realized she was pressing just short of hard enough to leave bruises and dropped her hand abruptly.
Cameron simply looked at her for a moment, and then she smiled. “This is jealousy,” the terminator concluded. “You are jealous.”
“No,” Sarah clarified, her anger ebbing inexplicably in favour of amusement. “I’m possessive.” She shifted onto her knees and reached out to push Cameron down onto the sleeping bags. The terminator submitted without a fight and Sarah leaned over her, pressing a hand to the fabric beside the girls head. “Start kissing people and you’ll see jealousy,” she threatened with a smile. There’s a lot less talking involved.”
Far from being intimidated, Cameron raised her hands to either side of Sarah’s waist and urged her gently over until she was straddling the terminator. Then she slid her grip down to Sarah’s hips. “Does that mean you want us to be exclusive?” she pressed. “The girls at school say that is a very important step in a relation - ”
“I don’t care what the girls at school say,” Sarah ran her thumb over Cameron’s lips, silencing the terminator. “But the only person you’re going to be practicing with is me.”
“That is acceptable.” Cameron agreed, a hint of smugness in her voice. “Can we start now?”
Sarah wondered briefly how exactly she had lost control of this situation, and when she had stopped caring, but she was too aware of the terminator trapped willingly between her legs to waste time on either of those questions for long. Lowering herself until she could press her lips to Cameron’s ear, she murmured throatily; “If I agree to the kissing, can we lose the sleeping bags?”
Cameron nodded quickly, turning her head towards Sarah’s mouth but Sarah drew away, rising fluidly to her feet and holding out a hand. The terminator accepted the offer, allowing Sarah to pull her up and into her arms.
Sarah held Cameron close until she felt the last gasp of her panic at giving in to the metal girl once again, ebb and still. Then she took Cameron’s hands in hers and tugged her towards the bedroom. “Come on girlie, you’ve got a lot of practice to catch up on.”
“Does it have to be pink?” Sarah crossed her legs and leaned back against the arm of the couch behind her, eying the already coated brush in the terminator’s free hand distastefully.
Cameron looked up with a slight pout. “I like pink.”
“They’re not your nails.”
“Would you prefer purple?” Cameron returned the brush to the bottle and set it on the coffee table. “I have Amethyst Dreams and Violet Persuasion.” She held up each bottle in turn, clearly expecting Sarah to be able to tell the difference.
“What about the brown one?” Sarah indicated the least offensive of the options spread out on the table. If there had been a clear polish, she would have gone with that, but Cameron’s taste in nail polish tended towards the exotic.
“That’s Autumn Sunrise,” Cameron corrected her, picking up the bottle with a frown. “And it’s boring…”
“I like boring,” Sarah argued. “Boring isn’t going to kill me.”
Cameron sighed dramatically and released Sarah’s wrist to unscrew the chosen bottle. “Nail polish isn’t dangerous Sarah,” she pointed out, offering her hand again expectantly once she had the brush ready.
“In those shades?” Sarah reluctantly surrendered to the terminators silent demand, allowing her hand to be pulled back across the couch to rest palm-down on Cameron’s thigh. “I’m not so sure.”
“You’re not funny,” Cameron stated flatly, her head already bent over her task. She spread the polish over Sarah’s nails as carefully as if it were a matter of life or death that each one be absolutely perfect.
Sarah snorted, resisting the urge to point out that the terminators opinion would mean a lot more if the girl actually possessed a recognizable sense of humour. “Remind me again why we’re doing this?”
“I have been invited to a slumber party.” Cameron answered, finishing the last nail on Sarah’s right hand with exacting focus. “I need to practice to make certain that my behavior is flawless.”
“And why did I agree to let you go to this party?” Fighting to keep from getting caught up in the delicate brushing of Cameron’s fingers over her own as the metal girl switched to her other hand, Sarah couldn’t actually remember.
“All the girls in my class are going. It would invite speculation if I did not attend.” Cameron paused, looking up with a smile. “It’s going to be tight.”
“Hmm…” Sarah kept her opinion of Cameron’s developing vocabulary to herself. Trying to weed the slang out of the terminator’s speech had long ago proven a futile effort. Even John hadn’t been able to make her understand the importance of context and delivery. When Sarah had tried, she’d only managed to hurt Cameron’s feelings… something that shouldn’t even have been possible.
“That doesn’t explain the pajamas,” she pointed out, shaking her head over Cameron’s flannel two-piece. It was pink of course, with smiling purple computers gallivanting across the fabric. “Where did you even get those?”
“At the mall,” Cameron explained. “You told me I couldn’t wear the ones I had.”
Sarah narrowed her eyes at the terminator’s sulky tone. “That’s because what you call a night gown has less material than a three year old child’s… and most of that is lace.”
Cameron bent her head at that and muttered something unintelligible, looking up warily when Sarah asked her to repeat herself. “I said, you never complained about that before,” she supplied grudgingly.
Caught, Sarah could only glare. “That’s not the point,” she insisted finally, shivering when Cameron raised her finished hand and blew gently across the drying nails.
“Yes it is.” The terminator replied implacably, and if the light in her eyes was anything to go by, she was fully aware of Sarah’s distraction. “You do not wish for anyone else to see me in lingerie.”
Snatching her hand back, Sarah grumbled an unconvincing denial. “So what else is on the list?” she asked, changing the subject.
Cameron pursed her lips, thinking. “John is getting the movies and the popcorn,” she mused. “He promised to pick out something appropriate.” She tilted her head. “We should braid each other’s hair.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. Cameron’s idea of a slumber party was apparently straight out of an 80’s sitcom. “Where did you get this list?” she grumbled, reaching up to let her hair out of its pony-tail before turning around.
“The internet.” Cameron answered easily, uncrossing her legs and stretching them out to either side of Sarah so that she could move closer. “Would you like a traditional or French braid? I’ve researched both.”
“Surprise me,” Sarah replied dryly.
“But you don’t like surprises.” Cameron’s tone was doubtful as she began gathering up strands of Sarah’s hair and sliding them through her fingers.
“Keep talking and we’re going to go back to looking over those Cyberdyne files again,” Sarah warned, unable to resist the urge to lean into the terminator’s ministrations. Cameron wisely kept her mouth shut, and Sarah allowed herself a few minutes just to enjoy the metal girl’s touch without worrying about where it might lead, had led and would probably lead again.
She murmured a wordless protest when Cameron pulled her fingers away and sat back.
“John has returned.” The terminator explained. “He will be at the door in approximately thirty seconds.”
Sarah sighed and straightened up reluctantly. Whether she was ready to put the feeling into words or not, her body sure as hell knew what it wanted, but she moved down to the other end of the couch anyway. This was one battle she could protect John from.
“Hey party girls!” John called cheerfully as he banged in through the front door, tossing the movies and a bag of snacks onto the coffee table on his way into the living room. “I got some classic chick flicks. Did you know that’s actually a section at the video store now?” Oblivious to the simmering tension he’d interrupted, John flopped down on the couch between them, reaching out to tug playfully on the end of Sarah’s braid. “Nice job Mom.” He commented with a grin. “Cameron’s work I assume.”
“I am full of hidden talents.” The terminator agreed tonelessly, repeating a phrase that Sarah had used to describe her skills on previous, often far more intimate, occasions.
“I’ll bet.” John laughed. “Homicide and hairdressing, just like chocolate and peanut butter.”
Shaking his head, the teenager levered himself to his feet again. “Well, I’d love to stay and giggle about boys with you, but I’ve got homework and a test tomorrow, so I’ll leave you to your fun.” He turned on the way to the stairs and wagged a finger at them. “Don’t stay up too late!”
Cameron waited until he had gone before turning to look at Sarah. “You never giggle,” she observed.
“Neither do you,” Sarah agreed with a lopsided grin.
They left the couch long enough for Sarah to throw a pizza in the oven and Cameron to get out the sleeping bags and push the coffee table out of the way so she could set them up.
“Sleeping bags?” Sarah asked doubtfully, coming out of the kitchen to lean on the back of the couch. “Are you joking?”
Cameron finished straightening the second bag and fluffed the pillow before standing. “Its part of the experience,” she argued.
“But you don’t sleep.”
“I know.” Cameron looked down, her brow furrowed. “I will have to pretend.”
Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, praying to whatever gods might be listening, for just a little bit more patience. “Just so you know,” she said evenly. “I’m drawing the line at a pillow fight.”
“But it’s - ”
“No, Cameron!”
Sarah resolutely ignored the simultaneously belligerent and sulky expression on the terminator’s face and went back into the kitchen to get out the plates.
Cameron got over her disappointment readily enough while they watched the movies and ate burned pizza, sitting companionably on their sleeping bags with their backs pressed against the couch. She was full of questions which Sarah tolerated for the first half hour, before threatening to turn the television off and leave Cameron to do her practicing solo if she didn’t shut up.
After that the terminator kept her inquiries to a minimum, but she made up for it by shifting along the front of the couch until she was nestled up against Sarah’s side, her head resting on Sarah’s shoulder.
Not nearly as displeased by Cameron’s proximity as she should have been, Sarah eventually gave in to the inevitable and slid her arm around the terminator’s shoulders, pulling her closer. Cameron responded by resting a hand on Sarah’s stomach, stroking her skin softly through the thin material of her tank top.
When the credits finally rolled, they pulled apart reluctantly. Sarah stood up to turn the television off and Cameron began unzipping the sleeping bags.
“Are you sure we need to sleep out here?” Sarah asked, already imagining how a night on the floor would make her old and half healed injuries ache.
“I have to practice,” Cameron repeated, curling her legs underneath her and looking up woefully at Sarah. “You don’t need to stay…”
Sarah sighed and resigned herself to aching. It was ridiculous, but she just couldn’t say no when Cameron looked at her like that. She sat down on the other sleeping bag. “This is the last thing on the list right?”
Cameron looked down and played with the edge of her pillow.
Sarah knew that pose. “What?”
“There is one more thing,” Cameron hedged. “Sometime at slumber parties, the girls practice kissing…” She looked up hesitantly, a shameless glint of mischief and guile in the back of her eyes.
Somehow Sarah wasn’t surprised it had come to that. “You won’t be,” she promised firmly.
“What if someone asks me to?” Cameron insisted.
Sarah set her jaw. “Then you say no,” she said firmly.
Cameron put on what Sarah had come to know as her most stubbornly oblivious face. It was the one she used when she was trying to pretend not to understand what someone was saying to her. “But I might learn something,” she ventured.
“I don’t care.”
The stubbornness became a little more focused. “You have kissed multiple partners…” Cameron argued. “I have only ever kissed you. I might be missing something.”
Sarah couldn’t deny the flash of rage that ripped through her chest at the idea of Cameron experimenting with other partners. “Do you want to keep kissing me?” she growled, leaning forward and griping Cameron’s chin firmly between her thumb and forefinger.
“Yes.” The terminator whispered softly, her brown eyes darkening under Sarah’s fierce attention.
“Then you won’t be kissing anyone else.” Sarah realized she was pressing just short of hard enough to leave bruises and dropped her hand abruptly.
Cameron simply looked at her for a moment, and then she smiled. “This is jealousy,” the terminator concluded. “You are jealous.”
“No,” Sarah clarified, her anger ebbing inexplicably in favour of amusement. “I’m possessive.” She shifted onto her knees and reached out to push Cameron down onto the sleeping bags. The terminator submitted without a fight and Sarah leaned over her, pressing a hand to the fabric beside the girls head. “Start kissing people and you’ll see jealousy,” she threatened with a smile. There’s a lot less talking involved.”
Far from being intimidated, Cameron raised her hands to either side of Sarah’s waist and urged her gently over until she was straddling the terminator. Then she slid her grip down to Sarah’s hips. “Does that mean you want us to be exclusive?” she pressed. “The girls at school say that is a very important step in a relation - ”
“I don’t care what the girls at school say,” Sarah ran her thumb over Cameron’s lips, silencing the terminator. “But the only person you’re going to be practicing with is me.”
“That is acceptable.” Cameron agreed, a hint of smugness in her voice. “Can we start now?”
Sarah wondered briefly how exactly she had lost control of this situation, and when she had stopped caring, but she was too aware of the terminator trapped willingly between her legs to waste time on either of those questions for long. Lowering herself until she could press her lips to Cameron’s ear, she murmured throatily; “If I agree to the kissing, can we lose the sleeping bags?”
Cameron nodded quickly, turning her head towards Sarah’s mouth but Sarah drew away, rising fluidly to her feet and holding out a hand. The terminator accepted the offer, allowing Sarah to pull her up and into her arms.
Sarah held Cameron close until she felt the last gasp of her panic at giving in to the metal girl once again, ebb and still. Then she took Cameron’s hands in hers and tugged her towards the bedroom. “Come on girlie, you’ve got a lot of practice to catch up on.”