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Birthday Pressies
One shot Kyle Reese, this is completely unbetad so any and all mistakes are mine
28th December 1964
This date is engrained in Kyle’s mind as indelibly as his own date of birth.
The tunnels were still full of people who had celebrated several days ago.
Despite the war raging around them, people still managed to celebrate their own particular traditions when they could, birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah.
The days of large dinners, presents and parties were long gone. But people still exchanged homemade cards and well worn kisses. The air always felt a little lighter and people generally seemed happier at these times. As if the memories of better times, the rituals of long forgotten holidays gave them a little more to fight for.
Kyle had never been one for Christmas; perhaps he had enjoyed it when he was younger. He sometimes thinks he has a vague recollection of his mother tucking him in with tales of a miracle baby and expectations of presents and love and laughter the following morning.
But he doesn’t remember much of his mother anymore except her smile and the way she laughed. So, whether his flashes are actual memories or a mixture of old hallmark cards and other people’s imaginings, he is unsure.
He watches others celebrate and depending on his mood, he may or may not get drunk with his brother and some friends, but he and Derek never exchange cards or wish each other a merry Christmas.
His celebration starts three days later. He doesn’t send any cards or greetings, he doesn’t get drunk, he doesn’t even share with anyone that this is a date worth celebrating, although he knows of at least one other person who has this date firmly set in his mind.
Whether the day brings him happiness or sorrow Kyle doesn’t know he has never worked up the courage to ask him.
But to Kyle this is a day of hope, it keeps him rallying, keeps him fighting and charging the lines. On this day, many years ago, hope was born. On this day Sarah Conner was born.
Kyle has never been totally sure why Sarah matters so much to him. There are the obvious reasons of course, without Sarah, there would be no John and without John, there would be no resistance, they would all be slaves to the soul sucking metal. As far as Kyle is concerned, this day should be a national holiday.
But it is more than that to him. Ever since John gave him that picture of Sarah three years ago, she had become almost an obsession with him. He had spent hours looking at her face, memorising the curve of her jaw, the clearness of her eyes. Over the years he has ferreted information out of John about her, what she had been like.
He didn’t know if it was because no-one else really asked about her, but John had always seemed happy enough to share stories of Sarah with him.
He knew the Sarah that others knew, her love for John, the weapons of brains and drive she had equipped him with for the battle to come, he knew she had loved her son fiercely, but he also knew she had hated hot dogs, that she loved books, that she had adored animals and hated the smell of lavender, little things that he didn’t think anyone else knew, other than John that is.
He had stored these facts away and turned them around in his brain when he looked at the picture. He had built up a picture of Sarah in his head and she was everything a man could ever hope for in a woman, proud, loving, brave, independent and unique.
He knew it was madness to fall in love with a photograph, his brother had given him a hard enough time about it often enough, about how he didn’t know her, that you couldn’t love someone without knowing them.
But Kyle had no other answer for the feelings that Sarah brought out in him, he only knew that he had never felt anything like it for any of the woman in his time. He knew, in his heart that if he and Sarah had lived in any other time, if they had ever had a chance to meet, she would have been the love of his life.
But that was impossible; Sarah had died a long time before Kyle had even been old enough to know what love was. He wasn’t sure of when she had died, that was one date he had never had any incentive to learn. But she had died and he had never gotten the chance to know her, to love her.
All he had was this, a picture, memories that weren’t even his, and one day a year to celebrate the birth of the woman he could have loved.
“Happy Birthday Sarah” he whispered to the picture, before tucking it back into his combats and setting off, back into the fray.
The end
According to Wikipedia Sarah was 19 years old in the first Terminator film. The film was primarily set from May 12th through May 14th of 1984, placing her birth date between May 15, 1964 and May 11, 1965.
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Any SCC fic is more than welcome &hears; I especially like your take on Sarah. I guess maybe being a mom helps, huh? ;)
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My little boy's birthday is 6 days before Christmas, and a lot of people just get him one big pressie, rather than 2 smaller ones, so he has a small birthday and big Christmas too :)
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Argh, you and
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Whilst you are jumping into new fandoms, how did you find Twilight??