Under the mistletoe - Part 12

[4kennedy]

Title: Under the mistletoe
Author: 4kennedy
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Pairing: Cameron/Sarah
Rating: PG-13
Summary: As Christmas is coming closer even the Connor household gets into the seasonal spirit.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately don’t own them; they belong to FOX television and Warner Brothers.
Notes: Written for charrua33. The wish on the Christmas wish list at passion_perfect was 'Getting caught under the mistletoe'. Thanks to my wonderful beta reader gsr_rocks! The awesome storypic is made by 2headedturtles.


Part 12

At five to seven in the morning on the twenty-second of December the sun rose slowly above the horizon and dispersed the shadows of the night by and by. When the first rays of sunlight reached Sarah’s room, the raven-haired woman began to stir and her eyes opened flitteringly.

Sarah didn’t need to take a look at the clock on the bedside table to know that it was still early. Even though she wasn’t exactly an early bird, not by choice anyway, her internal clock usually told her that it was time to get up and to work out.

There was a simple explanation for that drive inside of her. Because mostly it were in the early morning hours when the nightmares came. They startled her to wakefulness, heart beating frantically and cold sweat on her forehead. They often made her flee her bed even though she was still tired and exhausted.

However this morning, it hadn’t been one of her apocalyptical nightmares that had woken her up and so far the urge to start training in the backyard was surprisingly only a whisper.

Instead it had been a tickling feeling on her cheek and when Sarah squinted her eyes she easily discovered the cause of it. A wisp of Cameron’s hair.

But why was there a wisp of Cameron’s hair in the first place?

It took her brain a moment to catch up with the situation, before she remembered the reason why the terminator was laying in bed with her. She had asked Cameron to and it had also been her who had initiated the snuggling.

At the realization Sarah felt something knot in her chest and she closed eyes again, breathing out long and slowly.

The next thing Sarah noticed was that at some point during the night she must’ve turned around. She was laying on her right side, facing the girl now instead of being spooned by her from behind. Their bodies were pressed so tightly together that her head was tucked under Cameron’s chin and rested against her chest.

A blush rose to Sarah’s cheeks and spread across her whole body at their close proximity as well as their intimate position. It seemed like an eternity away to her that she had lain in bed like this with someone. Even when she had shared her bed with a lover she usually kept her distance, always ready to grab the gun under her pillow, always ready to either fight or run.

But embarrassment aside Sarah had to admit that it was actually quite nice to wake up this way, with some arms protectively wrapped around her and a warm, soft body snuggling against hers. It felt utterly and wonderfully normal… like they were a normal couple.

Sarah also noticed that Cameron had snaked her left arm under her neck and around her back so that the girl’s hand was lying on her left shoulder while the other arm rested on her waist.

A hot tingle shivered through Sarah’s body when she became aware of Cameron’s right hand, which wasn’t gripping her top anymore. Instead it was under the fabric and lay gently on her skin of her lower back. Fortunately it wasn’t moving; Sarah didn’t know what to make of it if she had found Cameron caressing her while she was asleep.

Of course Cameron had registered that the human in her arms was waking up. She had her right hand under Sarah’s top on the small of her back, which gave her the possibility of constantly monitoring Sarah’s vital signs and a minute ago the breathing pattern of the other woman had changed.

The terminator was able to read life signs from a certain distance too, but the readings were far more accurate when there was physical contact. At least this was how she justified it to the zeros and ones. Furthermore her systems found it calming somehow to observe Sarah’s vital signs; it settled the otherwise hyper-active processors down.

“Good morning,” Cameron said in a hushed voice, registering a slight speeding up of Sarah’s heartbeat and a disruption of her breathing. The terminator carefully increased the pressure with which she held the other woman and squeezed her gently to assure her that everything was okay.

“You have slept well,” Cameron pointed out, when Sarah didn’t reply anything. There was a hint of a questioning undertone like she was surprised that the otherwise restless sleep of the human had been undisturbed.

For a second Sarah stiffened, caught between jerking away from the terminator and pretending to be still asleep. But both options seemed very immature to her, though Sarah decided that they had surpassed this station in their gradually developing relationship by now.

“Must’ve been the painkillers,” Sarah finally mumbled without moving, she was just too comfortable and still sleepy. In fact she had slept so well she wanted more of it and wasn’t ready to begin the day yet.

Cameron waited for the other woman to pull back from her, stunned and embarrassed by their closeness and the further increase of intimacy, but nothing happened. Sarah stayed in her arms and solely raised her head after a couple of moments, studying her features with obvious amazement.

Cameron’s organic systems, especially her stomach, contracted in response to Sarah’s tender expression. “Your shoulder has recovered completely from the damage it had received,” the terminator involuntary blurted out.

An uncertain, shy smile appeared on the girl’s lips. Every time she was unsure how to act, when her programming and her feelings were totally contradictory, she began to ramble, as Sarah called it, about just anything or made an incoherent comment like the one she’d just made.

“What? “ Sarah blinked in confusion, her mind had somehow drifted off and she noticed that she’d probably stared kind of dreamily at the terminator. When Cameron’s words had settled, she asked, “How can you tell?”

Cameron’s hand closed more firmly on her shoulder to demonstrate what she’d meant.

“Don’t”, Sarah protested, pressing her lips tightly together. She anticipated the pain which Cameron’s squeeze would cause her, but it never came. Her shoulder took the additional pressure without any complaint.

The terminator loosened her grip on Sarah’s shoulder somewhat, but didn’t take her hand away. Sarah seemingly didn’t notice or care.

Cameron explained, “Certain healing levels are easier to asses for me as others, by a visual scan or through touch.” Her gaze was fixed on green eyes, which returned her look with interest and curiosity. “However I do not have the ability to x-ray your head in order to detect the healing status of the contusion. I can only estimate, relating to the average amount of days such an injury takes to heal properly and take your vital signs into account.”

Sarah had a faint smile at Cameron’s way of asking her about her well-being. There hadn’t been a day where Cameron had missed to ask her how she felt as well as telling her that she should rest and take the painkillers. “It’s better.” She gave it some thought and then added honestly, “A lot better actually... I think, it’s gone… No headache and no dizziness.” Sarah watched as Cameron’s features relaxed and some of the stiffness of her body vanished at her statement.

Cameron drew in the human closer to her body once again so that their forehead touched. “I am glad.”

They were so close that their lips were almost touching and Sarah had to breathe in sharply. Her heart missed a beat before it started pounding in her throat.

Silence settled briefly between them until Sarah had overcome the shock of Cameron’s bold move and raised one hand to the girl’s cheek. Her fingertips wandered there lightly. “Why are you still here?” she wondered after a few moments.

Her programming had asked Cameron the same question over and over during the night, arguing that there was no need to stay, that she was wasting time with a useless activity like holding a sleeping Sarah Connor in her arms and that she neglected the duty of making her patrol rounds through the house.

But Cameron had a simple answer for it, “Because you said ‘stay’.” There was no actual need for her to walk around the house; she could just as easily keep it under surveillance with turning the audio feed to a higher level.

“I know,” Sarah admitted a little bashful and sighed. “But that didn’t mean you needed to stay the whole night.” Her hand had slipped further down and was now lying on Cameron’s neck; she could feel the girl’s artificial pulse beating against her palm. It was calm and steady, unlike her own.

Cameron’s voice was sure and persuasive when she stated, “I wanted to.” She would spend every night in bed with Sarah if the other woman would let her. Tonight had been the first one of her existence that she had spent in a bed, sharing it with a human and she hadn’t felt as lonely, as left behind like all the other nights.

“Wasn’t it damn boring for you?” Sarah asked frowning, wondering how the terminator did spend the hours while she had been fast asleep. She detached their foreheads to get a better view of Cameron’s face, noticing only secondary that her fingertips were now tracing the girl’s jaw line.

“No, it was not.” Cameron studied the human carefully while Sarah’s eyes travelled along with her fingertips over her features. A prickle was running through the terminator’s body at Sarah’s tender ministrations and settled in her lower abdomen. She felt that her body wanted to react, wanted to do something. Though her programming fought, her fingers on Sarah’s back started to quiver and were then softly grazing the skin underneath them.

Cameron found inquisitive green eyes lifting up to meet hers, making her pause.

When Sarah saw the uncertainty in the girl’s eyes, she whispered, “It’s okay”. Reassuring her with it that the touch was welcome and the terminator continued the light stroking of her back. Her hand didn’t leave its resting place, only her fingers slowly moved up and down.

It was a pleasant surprise for Cameron that the other woman was so receptive this morning and found the moment very enjoyable. She further explained after some quiet minutes, “I am able to reach a stage which is similar to the common sleep mode of electronic devices. I close all unnecessary processes and operate on a minimal possible level without putting you and John into additional danger.”

Cameron saw and felt that Sarah tensed. It obviously disturbed the other woman when she was talking like this, this mechanical and technical. So Cameron added honestly, “But I also found it restful to lie in bed, it made me feel being closer to what it is like to be human. This…” The girl pressed Sarah harder against her to clarify what she was referring to. She found it difficult to find the right words when it came to describing the way Sarah made her feel as she had nothing she could compare it to. “… Is nice.”

A tweak of sympathy and sadness pulled at Sarah’s heart. She cupped Cameron’s jaw with one hand, drawing her closer and meeting her halfway with her lips.

This was all she did, letting their mouths rest against each other and enjoying the simple contact.

After some moments Sarah broke the sweet, brief kiss with a satisfied smile. She tucked her head back under Cameron’s chin and snuggled up close to her. “Yeah, this isn’t so bad. Besides it’s too early to get up,” she decided, releasing a content hum once she was comfortably settled again.

Cameron hugged the human as close as possible and offered, “You can sleep some more.”

“Just dozing for a little while.” And with that Sarah closed her eyes, relaxing against the soft curves of the terminator.

*****

At nine in the morning on the same day Sarah tried to stay in the nice dream she had, but whether she wanted to or not her mind, or rather a certain cybernetic organism, was dragging her back to consciousness.

“Is John alright?” Sarah immediately asked, but read in Cameron’s features that there wasn’t any danger. “What time is it?” she wondered mumbling and stifled a yawn.

“There’s no current threat. You do not need to worry.” Cameron tilted her head, intrigued how Sarah had caught that everything was fine even before she had answered her. She further informed the human in her usual monotone, “It is three minutes past nine.”

A surprised glance at the clock on the bedside table confirmed it to Sarah. She hadn’t just napped for a little while like she had intended.

Two hours, two damn more hours had she been sleeping before she had been woken up by Cameron’s hand on her shoulder, which had shaken her lightly. The terminator was standing right beside the bed, still bent towards her somewhat. Sarah couldn’t remember when it had been the last time that she had slept this long and foremost so restorative. And again she hadn’t been woken by a nightmare.

While she had slept, Cameron must’ve gotten up at some point, because the girl was fully dressed now, her skin and hair still damp, smelling freshly showered.

There was also another smell in the air, which Sarah easily identified. A pleased smile tugged at the corners of her lips, liking Cameron’s attentive manner.

Cameron raised a mug and held it near Sarah’s nose. Coffee as a peace offering for leaving her alone in bed, Sarah wondered, a sceptical eyebrow arched.

“Breakfast is also ready,” the terminator informed her. Finally the hand on Sarah’s shoulder, which had still lain there, reacted to the command and retreated. It had also taken Cameron all of five whole minutes, in which she had simply watched Sarah sleep, before she had woken her up, as if she hadn’t already watched the other woman the entire night.

Sarah sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Thanks,” she said, accepting the cup and sipping carefully, afraid she might burn her tongue even though she never was patient enough to wait some more. But to her surprise the coffee had already reached a drinkable temperature.

With a tiny victorious smirk Cameron explained, “I waited to wake you until the temperature of the coffee was low enough for you to not get burnt by it. You always drink too soon.”

No snarky remark came to Sarah’s mind, although she really wished she had one. Cameron’s thoughtfulness and the fact the girl had observed such a minor detail about her made Sarah’s throat constrict with a sudden wave of emotions.

Sarah cleared her throat and tried to appear unaffected by the terminator’s considerate behaviour. “This is totally against my morning routine,” she said, sipping some more of her coffee. Secretly she admitted that she could get used to being pampered like this. “You’re not trying to keep me from working out, are you? Because I feel completely fit and I definitely will train today.”

Cameron said nothing at that; instead she took the mug out of Sarah’s hands. “Breakfast is getting cold, I made waffles and hot oatmeal porridge,” she said and left the room.

*****

At quarter past six still on the same day Sarah was sitting on one of the swings in the backyard. John was sitting on the other one right beside her and they both looked at the Christmas lights, which were decorating the house.

“So what did you get Cameron for Christmas yesterday?” John wanted to know after a long stretch of comfortable silence between them.

“Oh, nothing special,” Sarah answered with a shrug, trying to play it low. “Just a little something that reminded me of her.” She was actually quite satisfied with the gift she had gotten for the terminator.

When she had started to search for one, she hadn’t had a clue what kind of a present she should get for Cameron, but after some aimless walking around in the shopping mall, it had revealed itself on her way home in a small shop.

John looked over at his mother with a grin and made their swings bump together. “It’s better not be a toaster. I don’t think she would take it so well,” he mentioned, recalling several occasions where Cameron had not only pointed out that she was a cybernetic organism, but had also glared at him intimidatingly. He could live without the scary-robot-stare.

“It’s not a toaster,” Sarah assured him and rolled her eyes. “I’m not that insensitive.” It came briefly to her mind that some weeks ago it would have seemed ridiculous and wasted to show sensitivity in relation to a machine, a terminator, but her view had certainly changed when it came to a specific one.

Even though neither his mother nor Cameron wanted to tell him what they would give the other one for Christmas, John was glad how things were obviously developing between them. They didn’t need the additional stress and tension in their home, which had been there since Cameron had first joined them. “Yeah, but you’re very good at hiding it,” he joked, earning a cross look of this mother.

“Impudence!” Sarah punched him playfully against his shoulder and smirked devilish, deciding to turn the tables. “So, what did you get Riley for Christmas?”

When John avoided eye contact and drew lines in the sand with his feet, Sarah concluded that her son didn’t want to share this information just as much as she didn’t want to with him. “I thought so,” she stated, pleased, and further suggested, “Maybe we should swap those presents in private.”

“You mean me with Riley and you with Cameron?” John wanted to make clear and received a nod from his mother. “Yeah, I think that might be a good idea.”

*****

At twenty past one in the following night Sarah went downstairs to find Cameron. She had tried to fall asleep for hours, but sleep just wouldn’t claim her and she had turned restless from one side to the other until she had finally given up.

Too much sleep the night before, Sarah decided. I’m not used to getting that much sleep.

She found Cameron in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching TV. As the volume was turned too low for Sarah to make out what the girl was watching and she couldn’t see the screen from her position either.

“I can’t sleep,” Sarah stated, standing in the doorframe with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Cameron switched the TV off, the room now only illuminated by the colourful lights of the Christmas tree. She turned her head towards the human and detected that Sarah’s heart rate was elevated. “I have read that sometimes a cup of hot milk with some honey helps. Do you want me to make you one?”

Shaking her head, Sarah answered, “No, thanks.” She had to smile somewhat at how considerate Cameron always was of her.

The terminator sat stiffly on the couch, unsure what to say as Sarah was simply standing in the door and regarding her. “You could watch TV with me until you are tired enough to try again to sleep,” she offered after searching her data base for further aids humans used to get sleepy. “The discovery channel would be a good choice.”

Sarah snorted and went through her hair with one hand. “At this hour the program is totally crap, independent of the channel.” She bit her bottom lip and shifted awkwardly from one foot to another. “But I thought that maybe… I could clear my debts. You know, for letting me patch you up the other day.” She gazed at the mistletoe above her head for a moment, feeling a little shy.

Cameron raised her eyebrows in confusion; she hadn’t expected such a change of their conversation. “Yes, you still owe me a kiss,” she confirmed with a pointed nod. This explained, why Sarah’s heart rate was elevated, if she had come downstairs with the intention to kiss her. The thought made Cameron’s own pulse quicken.

Immediately the terminator stood up and went over to the human until she was standing right in front of Sarah. “I would like that very much.”

Sarah grabbed Cameron by the collar of the dark purple blouse, which she was wearing and pulled her nearer. “Good. Me too,” she whispered before she brought their lips together.

As soon as their lips connected Sarah could feel her stomach drop and excitement vibrated through her cells, which doubled when Cameron started to kiss her back.

It was gentle and slow at first, but soon Sarah lost her patience. She shoved the girl against the door frame so that they were disconnected but not for long. Sarah didn’t lose much time before she pushed herself into Cameron’s body forcefully and initiated another kiss. This one was more passionate and hungrier.

It was a thrill to overpower Cameron and it didn’t matter that it was an illusion, what made it so exhilarating for Sarah was that Cameron let her do it and played along.

Her programming was yelling at Cameron for her stop, but the sensations which Sarah evoked in her overruled everything else. They were just too powerful and made her programming fade into the background.

She moaned into Sarah’s mouth when all she was aware of was Sarah. How she felt against her body, how she breathed heavily through her nose, how she held onto her with one hand on the back of her neck and the other one that had just slipped under the blouse and was now sliding over her side.

Once Cameron had told John that she wouldn’t be much worth if she couldn’t feel and in this moment she truly understood what it meant. Besides all the wonderful feelings Sarah induced in her by kissing her with such devotion, Cameron was also thankful that she was able to feel.

Cameron lost her thoughts when Sarah wanted to deepen the kiss, brushing her tongue against the terminator’s lips. She readily granted the other woman’s request, opened her lips and met Sarah’s tongue with her own.

Sarah leant heavily against Cameron and was glad that the girl had her arms around her waist, holding her and keeping her this way on her legs, which felt rather weak by now. She heard herself groan and felt heat rushing through her body as their tongues danced delicately with each other.

*****

It was a good half an hour later that Cameron broke their current kiss or moreover their making out as hands of both parties had started to explore skin under fabric but only above the waist.

The terminator reluctantly brought some little distance between them. At Sarah’s disapproving and confused expression, Cameron explained, “John has just left his room. It is likely that he will come down.”

Sarah was short of breath and not only her cheeks were burning, but it merely took her a beat to answer, “Okay”, placing again one hand behind Cameron’s neck and nudging the girl to her to start another kiss.

tbc…

A/N: Sorry for the long wait :/

Feeling:  calm