Author's Note: Disclaimer found below.

These two stories tell the same sequence of events from Terminator Salvation movie canon (and a little extra, because it's fanfic and I felt like it XD ), but from two different perspectives. I have no idea, yet, if I'll write more than this for these characters, but... yeah. Shipping Blair/Marcus here after just the first viewing of the movie. *Waves doomed little shipper flag.*

Subtitle is a quote from the Doctor Who episode "Blink". It's only there because it fit.

Alpha

(Because Life is Short and You're Hot)

She liked him.

It surprised her to realize just how much she liked him, actually. He was strong and capable, which wasn't so surprising given what even civilians had to go through anymore. There was no safety at all in which to grow soft. Most civilians didn't move like soldiers the way he did, though. Maybe he hadn't always been civilian - but that was his past, and he didn't seem inclined to talk about it, and she didn't feel inclined to ask. Living in the present was another of humanity's survival mechanisms, now. Dwelling on the past would hurt you, if not just kill you outright.

On top of his abilities, though, he was decent in a way she hadn't seen in years. It didn't matter that they'd only known each other for a day of little speech and much walking in the desert. There was little time to connect with anyone any more, and the bond of merely being human had been quite enough for her many times before.

She'd known exactly what she'd been doing, pulling her jacket open more than she had to in checking the small wound on her chest. She'd known he was right there. And he'd still only asked if she was hurt, and dodged out into the rain to find firewood as though she'd threatened him. She'd have thought he didn't like women, but he had been looking. She'd caught him checking her out a couple of other times that day, too.

Of course, he had been the one trying to walk into Skynet after the kids he told her about, until she told him that Connor would help if anyone could. And then he'd followed her without a word. Loyalty to a couple of kids he'd only known for a few days, as he mentioned later, made his decision for him, and he didn't question it. How many people could even think that way at this point?

Usually guys like him were walking dead. Self-sacrifice was admirable but not a long-term survival skill.

She'd have gladly had him just for that. It was another way to feel alive and remember what you were fighting for, and she'd enjoyed it with people she liked less than she liked him. But he deserved it.

And she'd thought so before he'd (almost literally) torn into the guys that had tried to take her down. He'd been angry. For her sake. Fighting like they'd challenged him instead of simply tried to take what they wanted. She wasn't ungrateful; that wouldn't have ended well for her. But she was surprised.

And still he said he wasn't a good man.

Liar.

She snuggled up against him a little closer, her head still on his chest, and smiled. When she'd first moved toward him he'd looked, for a moment, like he was going to run. His arm lay securely over her shoulders now, but it had taken a little time before he'd allowed it to rest there.

She couldn't stop smiling. She was tired and hungry, but that was nothing new. If you put things off until you had a full belly, you'd never do anything at all.

So she let her hand slide down to lay on his thigh, and outright grinned when he felt him tense and she heard his heart rate spike.

"Uh." His voice rumbled low, felt more than heard.

Blair smirked, not unkindly, as she sat up, his arm sliding from her shoulders, and pushed at him to lie down. "Just go with it," she murmured. "You can sleep after. I'll keep watch."

But Marcus didn't seem tired at all, after, so she slept instead. Because she liked him enough to trust him.

Disclaimer: Terminator Salvation, its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of The Halcyon Company/Wonderland Sound and Vision/Warner Bro.s Pictures, and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.