it comes and goes, like the sun rises and sets. T;TSCC. John/Cameron. One time John and Cameron kissed.

It happens once.

It doesn't happen the way it does in the movies – not on one late sunny afternoon, sitting on the bleachers after the football game. He's not a jock, she's not some pretty cheerleader. It's not a fairytale come true.

It's just a kiss.

-

Scratch that.

-

If there is something he feels he shouldn't ever forget, it's this very moment.

Not perfection, but something close to it.

-

It shouldn't have happened – after all she's a machine.

(flesh and blood over metal, but she feels too damn soft under his touch to ever see her as anything else but a girl.)

-

He gathers her closer to him, holds tight and closes his eyes. The smell of the leather backseat and the sound of raindrops splattering on the car roof will remain with him until the day he dies.

This is what being sixteen is like, something he knows he'll never experience again. He's John Connor, future leader of mankind. The savior. His life can't be about anything but that.

-

If they could all (humans and machines alike) see the two of them. The boy and the machine falling in love.

(if they could understand them.)

-

The rest doesn't matter – Skynet, the impending destruction of the world, the war. Nothing except her.

Right this moment, she's his and his alone.

-

It all started in 1999, leading to this one moment.

(there can be peace.)

What's your name?

"John."

A smile and he's lost. "Cameron."