seriousfic

Title: Not Quite Absolution
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 368
Characters/Pairings: Cameron
Timeline: Takes place after Allison from Palmdale. Spoilers.
Summary: Cameron is anxious to meet Allison from Palmdale.

When the next Terminator comes, liquid-metal skin rippling as it takes on Derek’s contours, it becomes clear that Los Angeles isn’t safe. Cameron could make the case for anywhere, but she chooses Palmdale. It’s as good a place as any.

Allison’s mother is/was named Lana. Cameron registers her every time they cross paths, the same way she would a person of interest, a model of Terminator.

There is a preschool that Lana drops Allison off at. Cameron watches once. By sight alone she can almost calculate the infant’s weight, heft. But to truly do that, she would have to actually hold Allison. The thought is intriguing, and she comes back to it often.

In kindergarten, Allison plays the lead role in her school play. It’s an easy social gathering to infiltrate. Afterward, Cameron tells Allison that she’s a good actress.

At age five, Allison needs a babysitter. John’s trepid in giving a reference, but Cameron is persuasive. She plays games with Allison, watches TV with her, then makes her go to bed the second her internal chronometer ticks 18:00:00. The way Allison sleeps provides interesting stimuli.

Grade school brings the need for a tutor. Cameron is satisfied with the Turing test of input and recall that is homework. Allison can be taught. She’s real.

High school is when Sarah puts her foot down. Cameron’s agelessness was becoming apparent, as was Allison’s growing resemblance to her. An impartial observer would mark them as sisters, Allison the blank slate that Cameron would be painted on. They can’t grasp that Allison is Cameron’s mother.

The lie is that Cameron is going to college. The truth is that she’s never further than the e-mail address she gave Allison. As the years pass, Allison’s missives begin to sprout irritating little non-sequiturs about boys, menstruation, “girl stuff.” Cameron has Sarah explain it to her.

2029, June 2. Allison’s death-date, in a future that never was. Instead, Allison is writing college applications, seeing boys. Cameron sees her that day, on the street. She walks up to her, says “I got a present for you,” and then hugs her briefly before going back to the Connors.

The hug isn’t for Allison. The hug is for Cameron.