To set up the backstory for a original character appearing in a continuation to TSCC, and help catch up readers without having to watch the show (Though I still would recommend it anyway), this is a fanfic where an investigator attempts to understand what Sarah was doing in the series, by retracing her steps all the way from the pilot. At the same time, I will show a few things that the show doesn't allow us to see and a subplot that will reveal some additional story for my continuation. And give people who have already seen the show another reason to read. Because I have no idea who will be reading this.

Anonymous Fanz doesn't own Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, or Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Please support the official release.

No seriously. I would be so happy if this lead to a continuation of TSCC, words would not be able to describe it.

Sarah Connor: 1999

There are those who believe that a child in her womb shares his mother's dreams. Her love for him. Her hopes for his future. Is it told to him in pictures while he sleeps inside her? Is that why he reaches for her in that first moment and cries for her touch? But what if you'd known since he was inside you what his life held for him? That he would be hunted. That his fate was tied to the fate of millions. That every moment of your life will be spent keeping him alive. Would he understand why you were so hard? Why you held on so tight? Will he still reach for you if the only dream you ever shared with him was a nightmare? Would he know my love runs through him like blood? I hurried to find my son in his school. I found him sitting in a library. "John, now!" He looked over to me. "Now!" I repeated. He started running to me, while grabbing his bag. "The cops meet you at the diner?" He asked. "I don't know. Maybe." I answered. We hurried outside. "Yes. definitely." Four police cars, each with several armed officers standing by them with their guns aimed for us were right outside the school. "Sarah Connor! John Connor! Drop what you're carrying. Put your hands on your head and kneel on the ground. Now!" An officer yelled into a megaphone.

We were handcuffed, and forced into separate vehicles. To make things worse, someone was coming. Or something. I think it's a terminator, a robot assassin sent from the future to kill my son. I need to get out of here now. The officer next to me was looking down. My skirt was messed up. "Do me a favor, will you? Fix it." He moved his hand. I hit him in the face before he could touch me. He started groaning. The machine is moving faster. I continued attacking the man next to me. A car started it's sirens and moved in front of the terminator. He pulled out a shotgun and began firing at the two in the car. Other officer began aiming their weapon at him while he threw away the shotgun. "Drop your weapon!" He pulled out two SMGs, which he fired at them. The officers engaged in a firefight with him. He shot open the window next to me, allowing me to open the door using the outside handle. I moved over to the car John was in and helped him out of it. "Move!" I shouted, as I pulled him out of the car. We stayed down to avoid being shot. Most of the officers are already dead. I pulled John up, forcing him to look at me. "Run! RUN!" I ordered. He ran as fast as he could. The machine dropped his SMGs, which were now out of ammo. Before he could pull another weapon from his coat, I fired one of the dead policemen's pistols at him, aiming for the head. I managed to knock his sunglasses off. He looked to me. Then he fired his pistol at John.

NOOO! I ran to him, screaming his name. "John? John?" I checked his body, to see if he survived. He didn't. I almost started crying. No. I won't. "Do it!" I yelled to the metal assassin. "Do it, kill me! Nothing matters anymore, kill me!" Now that John is dead, Skynet wins. "You're right. Nothing matters anymore. Only the boy. The future's ours. And it begins now." After the machine finished his sentence, a nuke went off. Judgement Day has begun. The building was destroyed, and the flesh flew off the terminator. He walked to me, grabbed my throat, and began strangling me to death.

...

I woke up from another of my nightmares. "Did you scream or something?" Charley said. He's the man I've been living with for half a year now. "Scream? No. Go back to sleep." I responded. "I can't. Got an early shift. Are you all right?" Charley asked. "I'm good." I answered. "Yeah?" He asked. "I'm great." I replied. "Well, you damn well better be. You know, the guy down at the store told me any woman would be lucky to have this ring." Also, we're engaged. "He doesn't know the giver like I do." I said. I gave him a kiss. "You wanna know a secret?" Charley asked. "I don't know. I don't like secrets." I answered. "No? This is a good one." He said. "Really?" I asked. "Yeah." He replied. "Alright." I said. "John picked it out. Sort of." Charley said. "You know I'd been looking and looking and I... kinda starting freaking myself out with the whole color and cut and clarity—" He explained. "So you turned the job over to a 15-year-old boy." I finished for him. "You think I'm a jackass, don't you." Charley said. "I'm thinking I love you." We started kissing again. "Always rember that." I whispered. "Early shift. Better get going." I reminded. "Right. Early shift. Bye." The sooner he's gone, the better.

John Connor: West Fork, Nebraska; August 24th, 1999

When I woke up I jumped before realizing the person right in front of my was my mother. "Mom, how many times have I told you it's freaky when you do that!" This has happens a lot. I'm suprised I haven't gotten used to it at this point. "I'm sorry." She apologized. It feels like she wants to talk about something. "What's going on?" I asked. "We can't stay here, John." She said. "What?" I asked. "It's not safe." She said. " Not safe from who? No one knows us. No one asks questions. It's been almost two years. School starts in, like, three weeks." What is she worried about? "We need to go." She said. "No, you need to go. You're scared. He gave you a ring and now you're freaking out." We've only been here for a few months. "I know you like him." She said. "So do you, mom! So do you. You love him, I know you do." I got out of bed. "Listen to me! The cops will never find us. We're safe." I tried to reassure her.

"Don't you think that, John!" She grabbed my shoulder and pushed towards my bed. "Don't you ever think that. Look at me!" She tilted my head. "No one is ever safe." This isn't about the cops. It's about Skynet. Even though we destroyed it all, she's still scared of the machines. "Half an hour. One bag. Plus the guns. I'll make pancakes." There's no arguing with her. We're leaving.

Sarah Connor's narration

Every family has rules. And we had ours. Keep your head down, keep your eyes up, resist the urge to be seen as important or special. Know your exits.

Charley Dixon: Days later

"I mean, she's not exactly missing, right? The way you explained it." I went to a police station to find out what happened to Sarah. "Right, The way I explained it, she's not missing. She left." That's what it looks like. But she wouldn't. "Happens more than you think." The officer said. "You don't know her." I told him. " I can say the same to you, Mr. Dixon." Someone else walked in. He was wearing a black suit. He was carrying a file, and a wallet. He opened it to show me his badge. "FBI." I observed. I have no idea what he's doing here. "Been together long?" He asked. "Six months, maybe. Bit of a whirlwind." I answered. "You have no idea, the whirlwind." He replied, as he opened the file.

"Tell me, does the Skynet Defense System mean anything to you?" He was pulling some papers out of the file. "No." He dropped a news article on the table. "How about this guy." It's a news article about some guy from a cybernetics company. "Miles Dyson. No. Never seen him before." I answered. "That's because he's dead." What does this have to do with anything? "Your fiancée, freshly escaped from the Pescadero Mental Hospital, blew him apart two years ago. Leveled a four story research lab along with him. But since there's no lethal injection for the destruction of property, let's just stick with the murder of one of our county's brightest computer scientists. And... dedicated family man." He showed me a picture of Dyson's family. "That's... it's just not... Why would she do that?" I have no idea what this is. It doesn't make any sense. "Well, you know, Mr. Dixon. It's the robots." What? "The ones from the future. The ones Skynet sent to kill her son. Which makes total sense. Because, in the future, John's not only her son, but... What does it say here?" He started looking back at the file and read it aloud. "The leader of the resistance fighting artificially intelligent machines determined to annihilate the human race." He looked back to me. "Did he strike you that way? Leader of a scrappy band of rebels? Luke Skywalker type?" He asked. " He's just a kid. He's a great kid. He was like a son to me." What the hell is this! "I came down here for help. You can't really be asking me this!"

"No. I'm not." The FBI agent said. "This is just my patter, Mr. Dixon. This is just me impressing upon you that I'm not here because you lost your fiancée, love of your life and all-around good time girl. I'm here because my boss, the United States of America, thinks Sarah Connor is a deluded... Dangerous grade A whack-a-mole who killed a man because she believes that in the future he'll invent a computer system that declares war on the world." I can't believe this. "So let's begin with her name. I understand it's not Connor." It wasn't.

Sarah Connor: A gas station

I drove until we were out of the country, to make sure no one can find us.

Detective Michael Graves: FBI

I added Sarah Reese as a known alias on her file. Not that I expect it to help anyone find her, since she probably has tons of other aliases we don't know about, but it gives us another name to look out for. If we're lucky, she hasn't changed it again. It's not easy to establish a new alias.

Last time they slipped up, we almost had them. Connor got into one fight, and we caught is face in a report. This time, we won't let them get away.

Unknown: waiting

After years of waiting, the name "Sarah Reese" was finally added to the FBI database. Which means it's time.