The Park - Saturday Evening

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

Vikings weren't all like Hiccup. Who knew? Kyle did now. He had the bruises and beard burn to prove it. Things were as they were supposed to be. The evening was much more quiet than it had been and Kyle was happy to sit on the park bench and enjoy what he believed to be his last night in Fandom.

[OOC: For me, and then open if anyone's around!]

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[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

Sarah had recognized Kyle after all. He was so young, ridiculously young and so far removed from the scarred and haunted man she knew, but he was still Kyle Reese. Calling his name to get his diploma had helped with the recognition. She hadn't approached him after the ceremony, not after getting out of there after the invaders came. She hadn't left, though. She only had one chance to be here. It was an opportunity that would never come again and really shouldn't have happened in the first place. Time travel gave her a headache.

Her portal home was due in an hour and she was itching to get back to John.

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

There were few times when a Reese didn't know that he was being watched. This was one of them. It took him a long time to realize that someone was nearby. He didn't turn his head, but old habits died hard and his hand drifted to the gun in his waistband. Fandom had changed him though. Instead of pulling the gun out, he raised his voice to talk to whoever was there. "Some ceremony."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

She was quiet for a moment. She was wary now, of people and of everything around her. Sarah knew he hadn't wished this on her, or wouldn't from his perspective. She'd be dead without him and John would never have existed. He had prepared her for what was to come like no one from her own time could have. With that awareness and preparation came sacrifices, like never feeling safe again.

"Are they always like that?" she asked, giving up her position near a tree. The dark of the evening and the shadows of the tree made it hard to make out her features even when she stepped out from behind the trunk.

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"There's always something," Kyle replied. He turned and looked in her direction. His hand rested on his leg instead of reaching for the gun. "They like to give us a send-off to remember. Did you come to see someone?"

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"An old friend," she admitted. He even sounded so young. She couldn't imagine the Kyle she'd known making small talk. "I'm leaving soon."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, me too." He mustered a polite smile. She didn't want to know all of the details, but as much as he was happy to go back and fight where he belonged, it was hard to say goodbye to the only place where he'd felt peaceful. He'd had plenty of goodbyes before, so it wasn't so bad, but he knew that this was it for sure. It had a certain finality to it. "Last portal for home leaves tomorrow."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

He was going home so soon. Sarah knew what he was going home to. She'd listen to him tell her all about it, about the cold and the dark and the death. Standing here, Sarah felt as though she understood at least a small amount how John had felt having to decide to send Kyle Reese back to save her.

"So soon."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"A long time coming," Kyle said, correcting her. "I've been here longer than I ever expected. It's been a good run. If you want something to eat before you go, there's a great diner over that way. Luke's. Best burgers in town."

He still had time to give Luke's a plug or two.

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"You like burgers?" She sounded amused. This was a side of him she hadn't been privy to, hadn't been allowed to see before Kyle had been taken away from her.

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"Anyone who's tried the burgers at Luke's loves them." He leaned back against the park bench, realizing that the woman wasn't going to come any closer. "But yeah, I do. There's a lot to like about this place."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

He was here and alive and too young to even know who she was, other than some name if John had started telling him stories about her, and they were talking about burgers.

"You seem a little sad."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

Kyle looked up at the night sky and shook his head. "I'm going home. Nothing sad about that. Have you ever wanted the best of both worlds?"

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

Kyle and John. Her mother alive again. No Judgment Day. No machines. No running. Ever since the day she'd met Kyle and learned about the Terminators and Judgment Day and her future son and the end of her life as she knew it, Sarah had been in constant conflict. Of course she wanted the best of both worlds. She wanted things in direct contrast with each other. Without the machines, there would be no need or even means to send Kyle back to her and John would never exist.

A person could go crazy thinking about it. Sometimes she felt like she was getting there, but John and Kyle kept her in control.

She hadn't answered him. "More than you know," Sarah said too quickly to pass as calm.

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

He glanced over at her. "Then you understand."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"I do," she had to admit. "I'm sorry."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"It's going to be okay," he said, surprisingly upbeat. "This is how it's supposed to be."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

There was so much she wanted to tell him and so much she wanted to know from him in return. "You seem so sure."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"I am. Things aren't supposed to be perfect. You know there's something wrong if they are."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"You have it all figured out, huh?"

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

Kyle laughed and shook his head. "I get lucky sometimes."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

Sarah's smile softened to a sad shadow of its former self. "Luck has to run out some time, Kyle."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"I'm working on the figuring it all out part before it does." Something clicked. "How did you-?"

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"Know your name?" Sarah knew she had slipped the second after she stopped talking. "I saw you at the ceremony. Nice hat."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

He was easy with a smile tonight. "One of the Vikings crushed it with a club. They beat me to it."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"It looked like they almost beat you too."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"One of them wanted to kiss me. I think." His watch beeped and continued to until he pressed a button to silence it. Kyle stood and checked the time.

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"Have to go?"

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"I promised George pizza. That's my roommate. It's my turn to buy."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

"I know better than to stand between a boy and his pizza. You'd better go." She didn't want him to, but it was easier this way than waiting until the last minute and having to run for her portal. "Good luck, Kyle."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Kyle started off at a jog, leaving his diploma on the park bench. He came to a quick stop and turned. "I didn't get your name."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

She held her breath a beat longer than she should have, biding time to think of the right response. In the end, she went with the only answer he deserved. The truthful one. "Sarah."

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

He nodded and gave her one last smile. "Bye, Sarah."

[wantedtolive.livejournal.com]

Sarah took a few slow breaths to keep herself from calling after him and stepped out of the shadows towards the bench. The diploma was still there. She picked it up and turned back in Kyle's direction, but he was out of sight. She pondered going after him to return it. Instead, she closed her fingers around the rolled up paper and, with a single glance back, started her walk to the causeway and her way home.