"Sarah," came a whisper

Opening her eyes ever so slightly Sarah saw a lady in what looked to be like a nurse's uniform standing at the edge of her bed. Lifting herself slightly upright against her pillows she found it more painful to move every day now.

"You were shouting in your sleep again" said the nurse as she started to take down notes from the night shifts medical sheets.

"Was I?" breathed Sarah knowing for a matter of fact that she had.

"Yes, do you not remember anything? That's been four nights in a row now hunny." The nurse actually seemed like she cared for Sarah. Finding it hard to breathe, Sarah simply replied, "I don't remember anything."

The nurse pulled a face which only meant she was ether thinking 'liar' or 'poor woman'.

When a doctor appeared beside the nurse, his teeth shined as he smiled at them. "Well now Mrs. Baum, how are we feeling today?!" he asked cheerfully.

"Like death," Sarah responded as she laughed and coughed at her comment.

The doctor and nurse gave each other a quick glance in a non-amused kind of way before they both walked off towards the door of the hospital room. Just before leaving the room the nurse took the doctor's arm gently. "How long does she have?" she whispered at the doctor. His face quickly turned from a big smile to a serious line.

"She doesn't have long left now, a day or two at the most." And as if in sync with each other they both glanced over at Sarah before leaving the room in single file.

Looking around the creamy painted hospital room all she could see and hear were machines. It was funny, seeing she had spent her whole life killing them and now it seemed that machines were the only things keeping her alive at this very moment in time. That, and, well, the medicines of course. Removing the tubes from her nose so she could move her head properly Sarah simply took this chance to look out of the window where she could see the green and the rain against the hospital window pane. Looking out at the world from her hospital window made her feel scared; she was going to die here alone without anyone. She knew that sooner or later she would die but she didn't think it would be so soon even if the doctors did tell her that the cancer was taking a rapid effect on her body.

"I love you" echoed the voice in her head, it wasn't just a voice it was his voice, it was John's voice. She closed her eyes as the tears rolled down her soft pale cheeks. She was going to die alone without ever seeing or hearing him again. Her nightmares were coming true, never having the chance to tell him that she loved him or to help him on his long road to leadership, her reoccurring nightmare was always the same that one day soon she would die and with that so will John because she couldn't be there to save him. If only he had a normal life maybe she could have had all the chances to tell him she loved him or be able to cuddle him, but no, the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of her son. How could the world possibly survive without her to help? She's the only one who knows what could happen.

"He'll stop it," she said out loud to herself, even more tears running down her face.

"Of course he will, Sarah," replied a voice she knew all too well.

"Kyle!?!" She wheezed heavily as she looked around the room but she saw nothing but plainness and machinery.

"I'm here Sarah, I've always been here," replied the voice. It took her a while to try and focus but now she saw him as bright as day sitting at the end of her bed smiling at her. Those eyes that looked so much like her son John's did not once looked away from her.

"Kyle!" was all she could say. It was too hard for her to move now, so all she did was lift her hand at him. He moved close to her so that her hand could rest upon his cheek.

"I've missed you so much," she whispered as tears ran down her face.

"And I've missed you Sarah Conner." He smiled at her with his eyes still on her; he looked just as he did before, just as she remembered him.

"John," she whispered, taking a deep breath. She was finding it difficult to breathe now, but at this moment in time she was too weak to care. Kyle nodded at her, his smile at this point seemed to have disappeared and his face had become more serious, but still somehow he looked completely innocent.

"Sarah he can do this, it's his destiny!" he said now holding her hand in his.

"But what if it isn't his time yet?"

"It has always been his time Sarah, he'll be a great leader," he whispered sincerely to her as he traced the side of her face with his fingers.

"Kyle I can't leave yet, I'm the only one who knows. I need to be here."

"You're not the only one," came a much harder voice from over by the window.

It took Sarah a good few seconds to work out who was standing before her until she smiled slightly.

"Derek," she wheezed.

"I can't, I can't say I'm happy to see you," she breathed while smiling at him.

"So you've met," said Kyle smiling widely at her not taking his hand from hers for even a second.

"You could say that," Derek laughed. Derek had laughed. Sarah had to think about it. She had never remembered seeing his smile let alone his laugh.

"This can't be real, I must be dead. I can't leave yet." She coughed, tears still running down her face

"Yes you can Sarah, it's okay now," Derek spoke while leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. Kyle looked from Derek to Sarah and then nodded slightly in agreement with his brother. Now having them together you could tell that they were related. Except for the eyes, Kyle's eyes always seemed so kind even when he was serious.

"We know him, we know what a great man he'll become and we know what a great leader he will become. He has you to thank for that." Derek spoke seriously now and she knew he spoke the truth, though she couldn't bear to think of letting John go without a fight; she couldn't just leave like this. She looked at them both then started to shake her head.

"No, no, I'm not leaving my son! ... I can't leave without saying good bye, without telling him I love him." Her tears came heavily now. Kyle slowly let go of Sarah's hand causing her cry even more before he leant over kissing her forehead and then looked deeply into her eyes.

"And you will." Sarah looked at him through her heavy half-closed eyes, wondering what he was talking about. How could she get such a chance? She watched as Kyle stepped away from her and looked over at the hospital door that had just been opened. Sarah's eyes were becoming drowsier to the point where her sight was hardly able to see anything. The curtain around Sarah's hospital bed was pulled back and there he was, it was him. How did he get here? How did her John get here?

"J-oh-n," she breathed. He looked and was dressed exactly how he had been that very day they were separated, but that was over 2 years ago. Though seeing him standing there before her didn't change a thing. She wanted and needed her son, holding her arms out to him as he quickly crossed the space between them and hugged his dying mother harder than he had ever done in his life.

"John, it's you, it's really you!!" Her hands held his soft innocent face.

"Mom, it's really me!" he whispered.

"John, I thought I had lost you." She hugged him again, but tighter, even in her weak form.

"Mom, it's time," he whispered in her ear while still hugging her closely.

"What? John no! I just got you back!" she tried to shout at him. Actually at them, all of them that were now staring at her.

"It's okay now, you're finally safe. It's my time to be that person you've always spoke about." He was now sitting, faced towards her on the edge of the bed. His face seemed so serious, like he had grown up but stayed and looked exactly like the same John she was separated from all those years ago.

"But I can't..."

"You know you can, everything going to be okay"

John I'm so tired, I can't..." she breathed heavily. John took a hold of his mother's hand and held it closely to him.

"You should sleep now, I love you," he whispered into her ear before kissing her forehead.

At that moment everything seemed to become peace. Full quiet even, she lay back against her pillow comfortably, too weak to resist falling into sleep.

"I love you too," she breathed before she fell into a peaceful sleep for the first time in years.

On the 4th of December 2012 Sarah Conner died of cancer during her sleep one evening alone at the St Georges hospital in New Mexico.

_I love you_