DISCLAIMER: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and its characters are the propert of James Cameron and Fox. No infringement intended.
CHALLENGE: Written for the first International Day of Femslash.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For keinlurker, who provided the prompt.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Dance With Me
By mysensitiveside
"He's not here."
Sarah turned to look sharply at Cameron. "What do you mean, 'he's not here'? How could you possibly know that already?" she demanded. They'd only been in the club for about two minutes, and Sarah had just settled into her seat in the corner, eyes beginning to scan the area.
"I have identified every person within the building. None of them match the man in the photograph."
Sarah scowled. She knew that Cameron's ridiculous efficiency was useful, but somehow it mainly seemed to irritate her. "Your intel said that he received an internship at Cyberdyne. And you also assured me that he comes here every Thursday night. Are you telling me that your information is wrong?"
As always, Cameron didn't appear disturbed in the slightest by Sarah's annoyance. "No, that is not what I said. I simply informed you that he is not here. Yet. My information is not wrong. He'll be here."
"Well...fine. Make sure you keep a close eye on the door, then. I want to know as soon as he gets here."
Cameron chose not to reply, so they lapsed into silence. Sarah leaned back in her chair, reaching into her back pocket to remove her sheet of notes on the man they were hoping to find. Sean Miller, 28 years old, an engineering major from Duke, recently moved out here to pursue...
Sarah's thought process broke off, however, as she caught sight of Cameron out of the corner of her eye. The girl was nodding her head in rhythm with the loud music, seeming to be thoroughly enjoying herself.
"Are you watching the door? What are you doing?" Sarah asked, a mixture of confusion and frustration in her voice.
If anything, Cameron's movements only became more pronounced at Sarah's words, with her hand now tapping out the beat on her leg. "Of course I'm watching the door. And I'm attempting to blend in." A tiny smirk drifted across Cameron's face as she continued, "Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't believe that many people go out to dance clubs in order to read through their notes."
In spite of herself, Sarah laughed, nodding her head in acknowledgement of Cameron's point. "Yeah, probably not."
As soon as Sarah returned the sheet of paper to her pocket, Cameron stood up abruptly. Turning to briefly face Sarah, she offered a brief explanation -- "I want to dance." -- before making her way into the crowd.
"You... What? You can't..." But Cameron either couldn't hear her, or was choosing to ignore her, and neither possibility made Sarah feel comfortable with the whole situation.
Sarah craned her neck to follow Cameron's progress. The cyborg looked completely at home among the mass of bodies on the dance floor, and Sarah couldn't help but keep her eyes glued to Cameron's sensual movements. She tried to tear her gaze away, but found herself mesmerized by the smooth flow of Cameron's body, moving in time to the music.
Sarah gulped audibly. Really, the last thing Sarah needed to be worrying about was the sway of Cameron's hips, but she couldn't seem to make her mind move on to anything else.
Her heart rate escalating, Sarah could only watch as Cameron turned away numerous potential dance partners (of both genders, Sarah noticed).
Suddenly, though, Cameron was on the move again, making a straight line towards Sarah. She couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine, as Cameron reached her, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "He's here."
Cameron then confidently reached out and grabbed hold of Sarah's hand, easily pulling the woman to her feet. "Come dance with me," she murmured, tugging Sarah behind her.
In her head, Sarah was yelling at herself to stop. But the rest of her either disagreed with her head, or was in too much shock to manage any kind of decision. So Sarah followed mutely behind, her throat dry, her heart racing, and allowed Cameron to pull her in close.
Sarah remained stiff at first, and then finally found her voice. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, unable to summon the anger that she knew she should be feeling.
Cameron merely smiled enigmatically, circling her arms around Sarah's neck. "Dance with me," she repeated.
Little by little, Sarah let go of her reservations, giving in to the pull of Cameron's body, the deceptively soft curves beneath her fingers, and the whisper of warm breath against her cheek.
She barely noticed as Cameron steered them through the crowd, but stiffened again when her eyes found Miller's face, barely three feet away. Before she could really react, though, Cameron had turned her around so she was no longer facing him, whispering in her ear, "Don't let him know that you recognize him. And it's possible that he'll know who you are, too, so try not to let him see your face."
Sarah couldn't help but feel stupid as she realized that this was all part of Cameron's plan. She watched, spellbound, as Cameron apparently caught the eye of someone behind her, smiling seductively and licking her lips. She wanted desperately to turn around, to see if it was Miller, but forced herself not to.
The hair at the back of her neck stood on end, though, as she felt someone move in behind her, and an extra pair of hands landed on her hips. Instinct told her to whirl around and slap the newcomer, but Cameron's firm touch kept her still.
"Hello, ladies," came the deep voice behind her.
"Hi." Cameron's breathless reply was so different from her usual tone, it was disconcerting.
The three of them fell into rhythm together, and Sarah could only hold her breath, watching helplessly as Cameron fixed her gaze on the mysterious figure behind her, even as she brought her lips to Sarah's.
The kiss -- firm, and soft, and perfect, and where the hell had Cameron learned to kiss like that? -- left Sarah breathless, and she struggled to hold herself together, as Cameron proceeded to the lean over her shoulder to kiss Miller as well. Sarah's grip on Cameron tightened as a flare of emotion -- not jealousy, not possessiveness, Sarah told herself -- ran through her.
But then Cameron shifted, lightly trailing a hand down Sarah's arm as she moved away, apparently in order to sandwich Miller between the two of them. Sarah suppressed a shudder, as lips that weren't Cameron's came down to press against her shoulder. This kiss, from someone who might potentially play a role in the creation of SkyNet, disturbed her much more than Cameron's had, and that fact was plenty troubling in its own right.
Suddenly, though, Cameron was pulling them apart again and sending Miller off to buy them a drink. As soon as he was gone, Sarah felt Cameron grab her hand and pull her outside the club.
Out in the fresh air, Sarah breathed in deeply, trying to get her heart rate back under control. Cameron still hadn't released her hand -- holding on with something resembling jealousy, possessiveness.
"I briefly stole his wallet and memorized the access codes on his Cyberdyne key card," Cameron explained. "This should help us hack into their system."
Sarah simply stared at Cameron at first, trying to get her brain to focus. "Oh. Right, that's...that's great. Good job, Cameron."
"Thank you." Cameron pulled her around the corner, in the direction of the jeep.
Sarah sighed, finally finding the presence of mind to wrench her hand away. Cameron merely paused, looking down at each of their hands. The expression on Cameron's face -- a disturbingly accurate portrayal of hurt and disappointment -- caused Sarah to bite back her instinct to snap angrily at Cameron.
God help her, she was starting to see Cameron as more than just a machine.
The End