fairedust: Thank you so much for the review. I wasn't quite sure how Future John and Young John would react to each other. I'm glad you liked Dereks dialog, so did I :)


"Are you sure this is the spot, Tin Miss?" Sarah asked. She was going to kill John when he got back from whenever he went. What the hell was he thinking listening to a Terminator? Even a reprogrammed one.

"These are the exact coordinates Future John gave me." Cameron replied.

"Great." Kyle said. "I'm going to kill the kid. Justifiable homicide." He didn't sound like he was joking. "What the hell was he thinking?"

"He was-" Sarah was cut off by the electrical output the Time Bubbles gave off.

Sarah and Kyle raised their guns and train them on the bubble forming incase it wasn't John coming through. Never could trust Terminators. Reprogrammed or not.

There was a bright flash of light that left spots in front of Sarahs' eyes, and then John was standing there. Naked as the day he was born and with a new friend apparently.

"Derek?!" Kyle sounded incredulous as he lowered his weapon.

"Derek, your brother?" Sarah asked, gun still at the ready. Kyle was already pulling his brother into a tight hug, Derek holding on just as tightly. Sarah hesitated before lowering her own gun and flicking the safety on as she tucked it away at the small of her back. She trusted Kyle. Besides Kyle could tell if he was hugging metal.

"Hey mom." John said nonchalantly as he tried to cover himself.

Sarah pulled John into a fierce hug before pulling back to check him for injuries. Finding none she slapped him upside the head.

John winced. "You know, you're the second person to do that to me in a half hour period. At this rate I'm going to be to brain damaged to lead the Resistance."

Shoving a bag of clothes at John, Sarah started rattling off questions. "Who hit you? When have you been? What were you thinking? Where exactly did you go? Do you know how dangerous that was? What if you'd been hurt or killed?"

Pulling on his clothes John replied. "Future me, 2029, that it was important, Serrano Point, yes, and I wasn't. Is that all?"

"John we can't lose you. Your to important."

"Yeah I know. Leader of the Resistance. I die and the future dies with me." John bit out.

"Screw the future John. You're my baby. You die and my world dies." Sarah told him.

John ducked his head and blushed as he finished straightening out his clothes. "You'd still have Dad, Ginger, and Derek."

"I'd be devastated if I lost any of my kids, or your father." Sarah put her arm around Johns' shoulders as they walked over to where Kyle and Derek, the latter now wearing the formers' coat, were quietly conversing. The metal was staying as far away from them as possible. Must have a self-preservation instinct programmed into its chip.

"Try and be nice mom. Derek was having a hard time dealing with dad being gone." John whispered.

"I'll try but no promises." Sarah whispered back just before they reached the reunited brothers. Kyle was glowing with happiness.

"You're older now Kyle. How long have you been here?" Derek was asking.

"Including or not including the eight years we jumped forward?" Kyle tried to avoid the question unsuccessfully.

Derek just looked at him. Not even Reese's were immune to the Reese stare.

"16 years Derek. The best 16 years of my life. All I was missing was my big brother there with me."


There was a knock on Gingers' bedroom door before it opened. Derek was standing in the doorway shuffling his feet.

"Can I sleep with you, Ginger?"

As Ginger pulled back the covers, Dereks' 4-year-old body dived into her bed. Settling the covers around her baby brother, she asked him what was wrong.

"It's just us home right now. What if the metal comes?" There was a tremor in Dereks' voice.

"I'll protect you kiddo." Ginger told him, gesturing towards the shotgun she kept within easy reach. Cuddling Derek to her side, Ginger started to read to him from her book, one eye on the clock waiting for the rest of her family to come home.

Just as Derek was falling asleep, Ginger heard a car pulling up the drive. Grabbing her baby brother, Ginger gently placed him in her closet. "Don't move till one of us gives the all clear. Do you understand?" Ginger told him urgently. Derek nodded. Shutting the door Ginger grabbed the shotgun, and flicking off the safety, went to investigate.

Sticking close to the shadows and niches of the house Ginger made her way down the stairs to the first floor. She could hear the back door being creeped open. Gun at the ready and heart in her throat, Ginger peered out from behind her cover. A soft sigh of relief escaped her. It was her mom and dad back with John and the robot. They had company with them. Very naked company that was wearing dads' jacket. Gingers' dad looked a strange combination of ecstatic and apprehensive.

"Come on out Ginger." Her father called. He always knows. Steeping out from her hiding spot, Ginger flicked her guns safety back on and placed it into her fathers waiting hands. The next thing Ginger knew, her big brother was pulling her into a hug. She wound her own arms around her brother. Oh how she had missed him.

"You ok, little sister?" John asked, his voice a whisper meant for her only. "You're shaking."

"Yeah stupid. Just missed you is all. Thought I might end up having to lead the resistance someday, if you didn't come back." Ginger whispered back. Growing up in this family, all you had was family. Always moving, always lying to people, making friends wasn't an option. Especially when knowing someone could get them killed.

John chuckles lightly. "Heaven forbid. Then the human race really would be doomed."

Untangling herself from John, Ginger smacked him lightly upside the head. John winced. "Why does everyone go for the head?" He snarked.

"'Cause we're trying to knock some sense into you." Ginger snarked back. "Damn. I need to go let Derek know it's all clear."

"It's ok. I can do it." John offered.

"Thanks. He's in my closet." Ginger accepted.

John headed up the stairs 2 at a time. While her and John had been talking their dad had left the room, leaving her mom and Cameron keeping a close eye on the new guy. The new guy looked pretty confused by everything. Ginger took pity on him. Holding out her hand she introduced herself as her mother tensed.

"Hi," She said brightly." I'm Ginger. Ginger Reese-Connor." Smiling, she hoped to put the man at ease. "What's your name?"

The man just stared at her for a moment before grasping her hand in a slightly shaking grip. "Derek Reese." He dropped her hand.

Just Reese, she thought. Not Reese-Connor. Can't be little Derek from the future. Dads' brother maybe? "Any relation to my dad?" Ginger asked him.

"He's my brother Ginge'." Her dad answered, stepping into the room, extra clothing in his hands. So that's where he went.

"Uncle Derek." Ginger stated, watching her dad hand her uncle the clothes. Ginger averted her eyes as he started to get dressed.

"Anyone hungry?" Ginger asked, suddenly nervous, now that she realized that she was around the uncle her father always talked about. "I made a casserole for dinner. There's still some left over." She told her uncle. Wow, her uncle, who had been thought dead, was standing in their living room.

"That depends on who you inherited your cooking skills from." Uncle Derek said.

Ginger laughed. "Well mom, who can cook up plastique, can't seem to follow a recipe properly, and dad set 3 kitchens on fire, 4 times, that last one he set on fire twice. So John and I had to figure out how to cook or we would have all starved."

"Speaking of food," John spoke and he walked down the stairs, little Derek in his arms. "I hear it was Mac & Cheese Casserole tonight." John handed a sleepy Derek off to mom, little Derek was yawning out that he wasn't tired. Uncle Derek watched as Sarah Reese-Connor, gun-toting-badass-metal-crusher softened into Sarah Reese-Connor, gun-toting-pb&j-sandwich-making-mommy-extraordinaire.

Turning to John, Ginger informed him of the left over food. He headed towards the kitchen calling back to Uncle Derek, "Hey Uncle Derek, you hungry?" Poor Uncle Derek looked like he was going to fall down. Ginger said as much.

"I think we're overwhelming him." She took her uncle by the arm and led him over to the couch before pushing him down on to it. It was going to be a long night.


John woke up early the next morning. Damn time lag. Getting up and headed towards the kitchen, a frightening sight awaited him. Mom, dad, and Uncle Derek were already up. That however wasn't the frightening part.

"Step away from the ingredients and put down the spoon." John told his mother. Why does she always try to cook? Food poisoning wasn't fun and could probably kill you. Maybe. Moms probably could. She ignored him. Cautiously, John pulled his mother away from the counter.

She brandished the wooden spoon like a weapon. "And what are you laughing at?" Mom asked dad, who was trying to cover up his laughter. "You can't even turn on the stove without burning down the kitchen." Plucking the spoon out of moms' hand, John heard his father squawk indignantly.

Measuring and stirring the ingredients into the bowl, John tuned out his parents playful banter. John kept one watchful eye on his uncle as he made the batter. Explaining everything to Derek had taken most of the night. John had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow not giving him a chance to think on everything that had happened.

24 hours ago Uncle Derek had been seriously contemplating ending it all so John was worried. John hadn't said anything to the rest of the family about the position he had found Derek in, wanting to give his uncle time to collect himself. Not knowing if his uncle really would have done it or not, John was still glad to have gone to investigate where the soldier had been going when he left Serrano Point. Plopping some of the batter on the griddle his mom had heated up; John started setting the table. Hoping it had been a one-time thing, John watched as a smiled formed on his uncles' face as Derek watched his parents.