TSCC Oneshot: Welcome to the Fallout

[jesterladyfic]

Title: Welcome to the Fallout
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: John/Cameron
Summary: After Judgment Day, John needs someone to tell him he can do this.
A/N: This is a companion piece to my oneshot Welcome to Existence. It is from John's POV.
Disclaimer: I don't own TSCC. The title is from a song by Switchfoot.



Welcome to the Fallout


He really missed metal detectors. It was a small thing, but it made him wish that he'd never dropped out of school that last year. That had been a rebellion against what he was supposed to do, to make up for everything else he would never be allowed to run from. But the stupidest thing was that school itself was normal and he'd given it all up for nothing.

Having Riley hadn't helped. Hadn't that ended well? He always reflected on his relationship with her with the greatest dissatisfaction. True, he'd known she was a lie, well, at a point; but, the fact was he wouldn't have listened to her if it hadn't have been for the events of his birthday.

Speak of the devil. He turned to see Cameron come along beside him, standing there, a quiet, constant presence. Now that he was here to see it all for himself, he needed her more than ever.

“You missed dinner,” she observed.

“You call that dinner?” he said wryly.

“It is sustenance taken in the evening. Is that not dinner?”

“It's not quite what the human race is used to.”

“The human race will become accustomed to many things it did not seek out earlier.”

“Yeah, so I've been hearing all my life.”

“You are the one most prepared for these times. And we are here to help you.”

“Not that I'm not grateful,” he said, “but how the hell am I supposed to do this?”

“This?” she questioned with a quirk of her head.

“Lead the human race and defeat Skynet. We were supposed to stop this and we didn't.”

“Judgment Day occurred three point two years later than the date it was supposed to.”

“Bully for us,” he said and sighed. “I didn't want this, Cameron. What am I going to do?”

“You will lead. Be John Connor. I will protect you.”

“Won't Derek be pleased about that,” he said, smiling.

“Derek Reese is not my biggest supporter,” she agreed. “But he has decided not killing me is favorable. I like that.”

“You would,” he said, and, on impulse, grabbed her hand.

He could feel the mantle settling. It felt wrong, it felt right, it felt like destiny, it felt like choice, it felt like she was carrying it too.

“How did I used to do things?” he asked as they stood there, amidst the rubble and filth and smell of charred flesh.

“You cannot rely on what you used to be or might have been,” she said. “Perhaps you should think of the original Judgment Day, the first timeline. You did not know of it beforehand, you had no prior training. But you united mankind and you won against the machines. Skynet had to travel to the past to defeat you.”

“But if it hadn't done that, I would never have been born.”

“Time travel is confusing,” she said, with a slight smile. He could swear she got more human and more mechanical every day if such a thing was possible. “But the point is that John Connor has always had the ability within him to do this, whether he knew what he was supposed to do or not, whether he knew it was going to happen or not. You are John Connor. You will lead and I will protect you.”

“I'm glad you're here,” he said simply.

And he didn't feel like going in just yet. Not that he was out, that wouldn't be safe. So they stood there, on the perimeter, her hand held loosely in his and the tightening in his stomach didn't feel quite so bad. He was John Connor.