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It was late July, and things had finally calmed down to a manageable degree.
Kyle was still adjusting to the shock of his new reality and seemed to suffer from extreme bouts of paranoia in the name of protecting Sarah, but he was becoming increasingly more stable within the quiet life the pair had developed for themselves. All the while, Sarah was adjusting to her very own shock: she was pregnant with the future leader of the human resistance.
She hadn’t told Kyle yet. Well to be more specific, she had no idea how to tell Kyle. How do you go about breaking the news to an already stressed and frazzled man that he not only is about to be thrown into the life changing experience of being a father, but the child that he fathered is actually his very own father figure from his own childhood! Time travel can be so messed up at times, and even just thinking about it all would give her a migraine.
But even now after two weeks of holding in her secret, Sarah still didn’t have a plan. It wasn’t as if she could keep this secret from him either, as it was already growing, both literally and figuratively. No matter what she did, he would find out eventually, whether they were ready or not. Hopefully the right moment would just reveal itself to her and everything would work out for the best.
But until that moment arrived, Sarah had bigger things on her mind.
She was growing quite unsettled living in her childhood home, with the knowledge that her mother would never come home again. The home was haunted by flashes of her memory. Her perfume still lingered within all of the blankets and pillows. Her remaining scattered possessions constantly reminded Sarah of long forgotten stories and experiences that the two had shared. And above all, the home seemed to mock Sarah with the knowledge that she still was unable to save her own mother regardless of her efforts.
On top of that, Kyle had begun to grow antsy in the suburbs. Sarah had made the mistake of mentioning that the T-800 had had access to her address book, and now the already paranoid man was convinced that Skynet was well aware of their current location and it would be just a matter of time before the next T-800 showed up at their door.
In the end, the pair had agreed that it would be best to move, preferably sooner than later. Ideally it would be somewhere remote and relatively secluded. Somewhere where the couple could enjoy a quiet and anonymous life, where they could prepare and train for the impending future - without any nosy neighbors getting suspicious. And above all, at Kyle’s insistence, it would be somewhere safe and somewhere far enough from major cities that they would be clear from the initial carnage of Judgement Day.
But before any of these plans could actually be made, the couple had to finish cleaning up and repairing Sarah’s mother’s house. A task that was proving itself to be more difficult than anticipated.
Sarah would never have called her mother a hoarder, but my god, did she have a lot of things. On shelves, in drawers, and packed away in storage containers in the basement, there were knick knacks and things everywhere. You never seem to realize how much stuff you actually have until you have to pack it all up in a box and get rid of it.
And Kyle, bless his heart, having grown up in a world where the only items you owned were the ones that you were able to carry on your personal being, was absolutely fascinated with each knick knack, ceramic animal, or kitchen gadget that he stumbled upon. Always constantly taking things to Sarah and asking what it was and what it did.
On this particular day, Kyle had found a small metal rectangular box. It was covered in small holes and had ridges that were sharper than he had expected.
“Sarah?” He asked, holding up the strange object and slightly shaking it for emphasis.
“That, my dear, is a cheese grater,” Sarah smiled, taking it from him.
“A what?”
“You can rub a block of cheese along these bumpy sides, and it makes it smaller. It kind of shreds it.”
“Why would you want to do that? Cheese is fine as it is.”
Sarah laughed, “Well, I mean, shredded cheese has its uses. You can put it on stuff like pizza and pasta. It melts better that way.”
“Hmm,” Kyle hummed in slight disappointment.
“You know,” Sarah smirked. “You can even put shredded cheese on hotdogs. Well, I mean a type of hotdog called a chili dog. I’m sure we have all of the ingredients around here if you wanted...”
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Later that night
Sarah and Kyle sat side by side in flimsy lawn chairs, both exhausted from the day. Recently it seemed that many nights ended this way. Quietly enjoying the calm before the storm of the future, while sitting in front of a small fire.
Kyle was happily munching away on his second chili dog of the night, having spent the last fifteen minutes praising the delicacy as an immense improvement on his already favorite food. Who would have thought that all you needed to make a time traveling soldier happy, would be introducing various hot dog recipes to him.
Sarah was going to miss this quiet, content life in the suburbs.
Evenings spent in a backyard, surrounded on all sides by families enjoying the night air.
The smell of her neighbor’s freshly cut grass and lingering barbeque.
The sounds of the neighborhood children laughing and playing games in the distance.
The lights from the city illuminating the starless skies above.
If only she could stay in this moment forever.
God, who would have thought that a near death experience would have turned her so sentimental.
Suddenly it hit her. If there ever was going to be a perfect moment, this would be it.
“Kyle, I have something I want to tell you,” Sarah spoke, turning to face him.
“Okay,” He replied. “What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong,” She replied softly. Taking a moment to compose herself, Sarah looked deeply into his eyes, admiring the way that the light of the fire made his face glow. In that second, Sarah could finally see the full extent in which her lover had changed. Kyle was no longer the scarred, skeletal man who had first arrived. He was looking healthy and happy, and best of all he was calm.
It was time.
“Kyle, I’m pregnant,” Sarah whispered. “We are having a baby.”
Kyle sat still for a few moments, not fully processing the news. Though slowly, but surely, Sarah could see the panic grow in his eyes, and before she knew it, he bolted out of his seat and started pacing around the backyard.
“Oh my God. I’ve ruined everything. I can’t! I can’t be John’s father! He would have said something. He would have told me. I would have known,” Kyle manically rambled. “What if I’ve prevented you from meeting John’s real father? I’ve ruined everything!”
Sarah quickly stood in front of him, stopping him in his tracks as she placed her hands on either side of his face.
“Kyle-- Kyle, listen to me,” She replied gently. “You didn’t ruin anything. There isn’t anybody else, and I don’t want there to be anyone else. I love you Kyle.”
Kyle went quiet, still trying to take it all in.
Sarah continued,” And besides, I’ve been thinking it over, and why else would John choose you specifically to come and help me? Why would he give you his own personal copy of my photograph all those years ago? He has been telling you in his own cryptic way all this time, we just couldn’t see the full picture until now.”
“I suppose you’re right, but then again you always are,” Kyle replied with a smile, after a moment. “I just -- I’m going to be a dad. I’m going to be John Connor’s dad!”
“You’re going to be a dad!” Sarah laughed, wrapping the shocked man into as big of a hug as she could muster. “We’re going to be parents!”
Kyle stopped for a moment, “But wait, I don’t know anything about raising children?”
Sarah smiled, “Well, neither do I, but we can learn. Besides with your time traveling we at least know that he will turn out relatively fine.”