The Dempseys are once again safe, meaning Lionel & Lesley are happy, meaning Sonia is happy, or perhaps in better words – not having her time taken up with the emotional responsibilities facing humans.

Cameron had to make a time-related sacrifice in order to make this possible (Killed Mr Dempsey). She has sacrificed her uniqueness too – perhaps that is a good thing.

It is now known that Lionel fancies the pants of off Sonia – fortunately Lesley does not know this.

Father Armando Bonillo now knows all about the Connors.

-0-

18 February – 8 am. (2009)

Keith Young, (Claire's husband), is lying in bed awake. He's waiting for her to come back to bed.

Then he hears an unusual noise.

There is a rushing of feet down the hallway and down the stairs, as more doors fly open.

He quickly gets out of bed and goes downstairs to find people with guns but no sign of Claire.

He rushes downstairs and sees the 2 little badasses in a lying & kneeling position with guns on the ready, facing the door.

Sonia is now on the scene, doing up the buttons on her soft bunny rabbit pajamas. It seems that Lesley was not in a hurry to join her. Upon seeing her pull her jacket closed, Keith looked away quickly.

Cameron was in the field doing her patrol & testing her termi army.

Earlier on she was talking to Claire, who is now returning to the house on the gravel instead of through the back.

She stays where she is and leaves the humans to sort out their problem as she knows full well where Claire is.

It turns out that the badass's attention was engendered by Sarah, who heard scrunching on the gravel and bashed the door open as she ran to their window.

The cyborgs were always careful to enter the house through the back door in to the kitchen, as there was not any gravel there.

They are a thoughtful pair of hotties.

The badasses are behaving as though they are facing a future terminator attack. Obviously their weapons would be no good against them, but here, who knows.

Knowing the M's from Riley's foster house are now watching, Marta says "guns down, stay cautious", and then looks behind to see who is watching. They have now seen Claire.

There are quite a few adults watching, which makes Marta feel important. (So she should).

Sarah is standing there and now Derek has joined her.

"Claire will be coming in, please do not shoot her" says Sonia.

As she opens the door, she sees guns being tucked down trousers or held in hands pointing downwards.

"Sorry, I forgot. I'll go round the back in future." she says.

She approaches Sarah looking sorry and says "I'm not sleeping well these days, I worry a lot. Look after my baby and I'll go back indoors & make a drink".

From her distance, having received instantaneous comms from Sonia, Cameron smiles a little.

Small changes are still happening inside her. She thinks of the Tiny Allys & smiles lovingly.

She discusses with Sonia what kind of baby they would like and whether they would prefer a boy.

They are not actually aware that their thoughts are being encouraged by a human equivalent for the need to procreate. Of course their needs do not have the same evolved origins. If they only knew the truth, then they would understand why they are thinking this way but in this case they do not even know they are having these thoughts.

Their programming keeps the subject of wanting a baby from their conscious thoughts or awareness.

Cameron asks Sonia to check on Allison.

It is not necessary; John is very concerned about her and is ascending the stairs.

He opens the door and finds her on her knees with a colouring book & crayons.

Sitting with her is Debbie, keeping her amused.

Soon Martin & Maria arrive in the room. (The 2 Ms).

They are no longer the horrible kids that Riley first encountered – not perfect but with parental guidance, the feeling of hopelessness does not exist as they now have a goal in life: shooting practice/combat training/education/lessons and 'jogging with Sarah' until they are exhausted.

During these periods, Sonia brings them home in the SUV (unless Lesley is jogging with Sarah, then she keeps behind her out of sight & asks the kids to promise not to tell her).

As often as possible, they force Riley & John to join them. Debbie often goes too.

Back indoors, Cameron can hear b-Allison (or 16-ally, or even just Allison) has not improved or awoken from her early childhood memories and behaving just as though she was 3 years old.

Cameron does not know what will happen but knows for sure that without this last ditch treatment she would die. There is not any known treatment that would not leave her brain dead. The nanodes are also tiny little learning computers which are diagnosing her brain formation in preparation for any necessary relief.

They have not encountered brains before but have certainly diagnosed & shutdown un-necessary functions, which is necessary to avoid short-circuiting themselves.

Soon, her brain swelling will be fixed.

These nanodes won't die until they have done their work.

After that they will enter the blood stream, fail to reach the regenerator and self-destruct to avoid anybody from using their information for future technology.

Although they can diagnose and fix problems, only the host chip has the power to alter the programming of the nanodes which then passes through the blood stream to the regenerator and thus subsequently they reprogram the regenerator.

This is how Sonia turned her hair blonde & Cameron keeps her idyllic looks. (Sonia too, of course, in the fashion that 'does it' for Lesley, who loves her lips – probably her slightly larger assets too).

As Allison is now awake but very childlike, Maria asks John if Allison can come in to the garden.

He gives this question some thought then asks Cameron the same question. "It shouldn't do her any harm & it will give her some exercise. Please do not speak to her too much or cause her any distress".

John accepts the word of 'nurse Cammie' but first Debbie must take her to the bathroom, just in case. To make things worse she is a young woman which needs Debbie's help.

Sonia keeps the kids & many adults amused by singing & even creating her own music through the same speaker, which is intriguing for many.

John & Cameron are standing at a distance watching events & during, this time Cameron is sharing Sonia's joy with regular rat-a-tatting.

'I like doing this; I am making the humans happy'.

Cameron enters Sonia's processes and they run in 'tandem', as John speaks to Cameron, who is unwilling to break her comms with Sonia and therefore starts a new program running with John, thus totally unaffecting her happiness.

John asks "Have you thought any more about three year old Ally's confusion over her parents?"

Cameron believes John would be annoyed if he knew she was enjoying herself with Sonia as they speak.

She replies, having considered the most probable answer "you are wondering whether we should tell her something close to the truth so that she will know who little 1-Ally really is?"

"Yes, do you agree?"

"It is not for me to say".

"Oh, who do you think is the person or persons with the legitimate right to tell her?"

"Nancy"

"Nancy" replies John with a surprised face.

"Yes because 3-ally comes from a different reality where her parents died because of the cold war. Nancy is from that reality too and she is in principle her guardian".

Both Sarah & Sonia are listening. A termi is closer, so Sonia uses it's 'ears'.

John continues "but surely Nancy knows 3-Ally is not hers to keep".

"Have you asked her how she feels?"

"Once. She seemed OK for Allison to have her"

"I observed her when you turned away, she looked sad".

"Surely that was only temporary Cam?"

(Cameron chooses not to tell John about the conversations she has heard between Nancy & Her boyfriend Russell). "You asked for my opinion but you don't want to accept my honest answer".

John stares at Cameron for a moment trying to see the possible errors in his responses, and then replies "she ought to remain 3-Ally's Nanny then. We are all too closely packed, it seems that all the adults look after all the kids anyway. When we move to the ranch & below ground she might feel more secure and then hopefully sometime soon she will have a baby of her own. Who knows she, they, might wish to be re-homed somewhere safe with new identities one day. They are not Skynet targets".

"No-one is ever safe" says Cameron, which makes John wonder whether 'this reality' Nancy & Russell, living in the Palmdale area, are safe.

Just then, as if by choosing, a shouting din breaks out.

Allison is hugging Mr Young and 3-ally is shouting "GET OFF HIM, HE'S MY DAD".

"NO HE'S NOT".

"OF COURSE HE IS - YOU'RE MUCH TOO BIG".

Tugging him hard "HE IS, HE IS, HE IS".

Cameron for one knows this could be dangerous and dashes over not wishing to hurt anybody in her endeavor.

Now 3-Ally is hanging on to his leg and Allison tries to push her away, which is definitely the time to intervene.

Cameron kneels in front of Mr Young and grabs Allison's arm as gently as possible.

"NONE OF YOU ARE MY CHILDREN" shouts the stressed Claire, who carries 1-Ally in to the house.

Cameron says to Allison "she did not mean it, she is stressed by your arguing", just as both Allies start crying.

It appears that Allison's nanodes in her brain have detected too much activity and are making her feel tired at a rapid pace.

She stops crying, yawns and lies down on the spot and falls asleep all within 5 seconds.

Cameron is convinced that there is no need for concern over Allison's shutdown but everybody else does.

Sarah has the foresight to ask Cameron what has happened.

Then, to try and diffuse a situation Sarah says "I'll tell Claire", and goes indoors to find her, having heard the remark from Dean "she's wee'd herself".

Indoors, Sarah takes 1-Ally while Claire goes to the door carrying a worried & guilty demeanor.

She sees outside that John has lifted Allison, whilst Dean is holding her head.

Cameron follows him indoors, Allison legs first with Dean still holding carefully.

Holding Maria's hand, 3-Ally follows behind crying "I didn't mean it Allison".

The 6 of them head upstairs, John still carrying Allison (making it 7).

Cameron leaves it to Claire to dictate "you guys need to leave the room & give her some dignity".

John nods "come on, let's do as she says". Maria objects; "she's stayin!" (looking at 3-Ally).

So John says "I'll try to explain downstairs – I know you won't believe me and you've heard it before, so I'll tell you the story from my perspective. It's the truth". He gives her a decent smile, slightly raised eyebrows and offers her his hand.

(So you see, talk to Maria as an adult, and she will feel more valued. John escorted her downstairs).

Claire looks at teary 3-Ally and realizes almost literally, that she couldn't possibly turf her out of the room.

She looks at Cameron, who quite remarkably understands her role in all this.

Cameron says to 3-Ally "come and sit on my lap whilst Claire looks after Allison".

There is a chair close to the bed and they sit.

Claire pulls Allison's jeans down a short distance & says "oh dear", then gets a towel.

3-Ally watches intensely – she hears "mmm mmm cup or tea" from Allison's lips.

She places the towel under Allison by lifting her legs, just like a baby, putting her ankles on her shoulders.

Claire says "none of us meant it, I'm sorry".

3-Ally can see tears forming in Claire's eyes as she pulls the jeans right off.

Poor Allison, things are a little worse now, all Claire can do is smile with her broken heart at motherless 3-Ally who has gone dead quiet.

Claire covers Allison with the sheet then walks to the bathroom, soon coming back with a bowl of water, flannels & soap.

She says "come over here and hold Allison's hand. Tell her how much you love her and want (snivel) her to get better.

Oh look at me, I'm being silly".

Claire bends down & kisses Allison's forehead then says "get better Ally, we want you back" then looks at 3-Ally as she does what needs to be done.

She knows that 3-Ally will not see what she is doing from there.

Cameron continues to watch & listen with only her panning emotions running as 3-Ally talks.

Claire can't help but stare at Allison's face as she wipes, then she thinks about her own little daughter & pictures what will be.

Then she looks at 3-Ally, her alt-daughter, who is being quite the little lady as she speaks. Or in her own 1-Ally's case will be in 2 years' time…. (NOW).

She turns her head after drying Allison and sliding another pair of panties up her legs, finally holding her ankles to pull them right up.

Studying Cameron's face, she sees a kind of blank look with slightly raised eyebrows when Allison mumbles "cut off his bed" or something like that.

Looking back, Cameron sees an element of fear despite everything. She wonders what stories Claire has heard.

Claire takes a bowl out to the bathroom & comes back for towels etc.

3-Ally has continued her chat to Allison then she feels a slight hand squeeze.

Allison opens her eyes and looks around groggily.

She says "ooh, I've had lots of dreams about being in a hole under the ground with rabbits & cats with clothes on.

I was looking for mommy & daddy.

I remember seeing them down the burrows but when I went to find them they were always gone.

I wonder if that dream was about my time in the tunnels".

She looks over to Cameron who is listening intently (if you can say that – even in her mode).

Allison continues, whilst holding 3-Ally's hand "later, we had tea parties and danced. At the end, we went to bed in our dens. Then I heard you talking to me Ally. Why did you cry and say you was sorry?"

"MOM, ALLISON'S AWAKE". Looking back at Allison, 3-Ally says (still being observed by Cameron), "don't you remember?"

"Yes of course, we were in the car and Cameron was chased by a cyborg that looks like Thomas. That is the last I remember. Why am I in bed?"

Allison sits up.

3-Ally starts talking excitedly non-stop, even whilst going across the room to get Allison's colouring book & then climbing on the bed to show her who did what. (Both girls had coloured to almost identical standard with the odd crayon crossing the lines).

Cameron leaves the room saying "I'll fetch John".

Claire listens & smiles whilst waiting for Cameron to return.

As he enters the room, Allison is listening to Claire telling her how worried she was.

As Allison sees John, she pulls the covers right up to her neck, makes a little smile and says "hello".

John rushes over as he says "Ally we've all been really worried about you" and almost places a kiss on her lips.

Allison turns her head & it ends up on her cheek.

"Thank you" she says to a puzzled John.

Once again 3-Ally starts her chatter, by saying to Allison "is mommy really your mommy too?"

John for one wonders what the reply will be after all the kerfuffle.

"What do you think?"

"You're too old".

"You're right, she is my fairy godmother".

"What's that?"

"I don't have a mommy, so when I feel sad she comes to see me and cheers me up".

"OOOHH, I NEVER KNEW THAT. DO I CHEER YOU UP?"

Allison hugs 3-Ally with one arm & says "more than anyone else".

(Next, a little shock) "mommy has always got Tiny Ally, I don't think Nancy wants her. If mommy does't mind, you can be my mommy then she can be my fairy godmommy too. Is that alright mommy?" she says turning to look at Claire with an innocent smile.

Claire nods with a smile, feeling like a bit of a cad whilst knowing that now is not the time to explain things.

Cameron quietly says to John "we need to speak".

John turns & his worried face meets a worried cyborg face. "Indeed we do. A little later they do just that.

-0-

John's deuda Catherine (esp) = tener deudas.

19 Feb 2009 early am.

It is always at the inconvenient times that John's phone rings but in this instance it is Cameron who receives a vibration.

CW understands the need for silence at 2.34am and is sure Cam knows this too. She also knows that their conversation will be very quick at 56k, the acceptable speed over the phone system without too much need for error correction (considering that their private cellphone links are not set up for high speed broadband or the like).

She does her 'special handshake' and then, in their constant Skynet way, they change their scramble every second to avoid code breaking by any rogue Kaliba hacker.

Even Skynet knows they cannot break this routine because CW & CB hold their own scramble codes.

"Hello Cameron, I have obtained and made ready the funds from our Japanese account. There is of course a bank charge and my charge for interest lost. The money is available offshore".

"Good, thank you, I will inform John. Then we will proceed with the information that I have obtained".

CW gives Cameron her Cayman Islands USD a/c details., then they end their talk in 1 min.

Cameron has already gone through all the paperwork and discussed it with another cyborg that seemed to be happily enjoying something unusual being done by Leslie at the time, (instead of being fast asleep.

It involved a cocktail stick with Lesley holding one end, being gently drawn around her lower sensitive area making Sonia shudder.

The twins always share these moments in tandem – who wouldn't? Cameron enjoyed it too.)

The next few days are quite uneventful. Allison is getting back to normal.

As morning approaches, 21 Feb 2009, Cameron has been standing by the side of the bed in standby mode, only 'coming to life' each time John moves. She was also watching Allison.

Now that Allison is showing signs of full recovery, she is happy to sleep with John. He is showing her respect as he can see that she does not 'feel that way' at all.

He can only do that when 3-Ally is allowed to share with 1-Ally, with the promise of a bedtime story from Cameron.

It turned out reading was good for Cameron because the girls complained to her when she never made the correct voices and was even forced to make the 'moo moo', 'grr grr' or men's voices. She even learnt to make good emphasis and feelings of the people that she was portraying. (As such that an unknown actress named Summer Glau would do in Grey's Anatomy, s8-ep17 when two-timing Sandra Oh – why do they give her parts like that? Do director's think she makes a good two-timer?).

On a couple of occasions John listened to her outside their room – it made him love her all the more. She always reverted to 'Cameron' afterwards but he did not mind as it was 'Cameron' that he loved anyway.

John feels that there must be something between him & Allison but she will not undress or let him undress in the same room and there is not any touching – only companionship. Perhaps she feels safer with him & a cyborg close at hand.

Allison wakes first and Cameron shh's her saying "as soon as he wakes, we'll meet you downstairs".

Allison dresses and goes downstairs.

John wakes late at 9.34.

He looks up and upon seeing what is dressed in different clothes, says with a smile "good morning Ally, you're up early. Why are you watching me?"

Cameron speaks in her slightly deeper voice, knowing John will recognize her "good morning, we need to speak". Then she smiles to reassure him that it is not life-or-death.

She never disclosed to John that she discusses everything with Sonia through rat-a-tatting, a bit like the girls/lads in the locker or changing rooms.

Upon arriving on the scene, Cameron asks John to wait until Sonia is present.

This means Lesley will attend too – good in fact.

"So you are absolutely sure the 'Mega Bucks National Lottery' has not been scooped for 3 weeks and therefore we must buy a single ticket very soon!"

"Yes because it will be won by 2 people next week" says Cameron "also, the European lotto reaches £122m in a few days time, I have already opened a Portuguese bank account and bypassed the internet protocols to make it look as though I bought a ticket online from that country and in the United Kingdom. I have bank accounts there".

Cameron also itemizes many other betting sure-things that can be done on a daily basis, which will make the entire resistance very comfortable in their new HQ.

Even Derek, Sarah, the Vassilievas & Youngs can partake in cash payout betting joints if they don disguises – Bruno & the Dysons if they wish.

The first thing Cameron wants to do is get her vast amount of money from Bakersfield and requests that John asks Riley, Lesley & Lionel to come with her in the next few days when they are ready.

John asks her why he has not been invited.

"Because you are too valuable to the future resistance & I cannot risk your safety".

"I need to learn to be a leader and be part of missions".

"But….."

"No buts, that is an order". To diffuse the situation John adds "I'm really proud of you for setting all this up, you are the best thing that could ever happen to me", then kisses her on the lips in front of everyone.

Leila is the only one to see that Allison was at the back of the room, as she turns and walks in to the kitchen and looks at a whole week's menu that Sunny had written and pinned on the wall. She didn't particularly want to look at it but it was a diversion for her thoughts.

Leila knows that Allison loves to be with 3-Ally, so she approaches 3-Ally & quietly says "has Allison heard you sing 'baa baa black sheep' yet?" (big smile).

"No, not yet".

"Come with me, let's find her".

They go to the kitchen.

"Al ee son, have you heard me sing?"

Looking down in the dumps, Allison raises her head, her eyebrows raise and her brow slightly furrows "no!"

"Good" as 3-Ally bounds round the other side of the table.

3-Ally is Allison & any second now the latter will melt.

Anybody who has seen the Chaplin film and heard the song 'Smile while your heart is breaking' might emphasize as the song begins.

This is because Allison is not quite fully mentally mended yet. "BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP, HAVE YOU ANY WOOL? YES SIR, YES SIR, 3 BAGS FULL. One for the master, one for the dame and one for the little boy that lives down the lane", (BEAM).

Back in the other room John says "I'll just say goodbye to Allison, where is she?"

Marta says "in the kitchen".

He goes there & finds Leila standing in the doorway saying something to the Allys.

He sees Allison holding 3-Ally & her eyes seem to be water filled to their brims.

She turns quickly and walks towards the glass doors, saying "come on, let's see what the termis are doing".

John moves forward but Leila blocks him saying "they are bonding", then stares him down.

"Oh" he says, looking back. He thinks for a while then nods in wise agreement and walks away slowly.

He knew what Leila meant and she knew she was not ordering the future leader of the resistance to hold his ground – he understood.

John feels awful, as he knows Allison needs to keep her distance from him for some reason.

Those amongst the resistance with good hearing can't detect emotions and as such, Cameron is not sure what happened in the kitchen.

-0-

23 Feb 2009 – 9pm

The next morning, Sonia is discussing with Lesley about setting up the external HDD again so that everybody is put in the picture over what happened to Sarah in 1984. She says that Mr Ellison ought to be present.

It turns out, after phoning his office that he is out on a job. (He is interviewing possible witnesses from Lesley's home street address and as usual hears outlandish things like 'carrying a woman police officer in 1 arm' and a gun in the other. (not so outlandish) and seeing Mr & Mrs Dempsey getting in to a car at the back of the property & being driven away by a pretty girl with long brown hair.

Conversely he has also been told that a distraught Lesley, Lionel & her father were carrying a limp Mrs Dempsey with blood clearly visible on her head – (followed by Mr. Dempsey, carried by Sarah & Lionel). Terrific blasts. Blood curdling loud screams. Large men in green coveralls wearing various coloured helmets, one of which was carried out the house, as was the 'cop' who first entered the house with officer Salaam. He also wore a police uniform. The other occupants certainly match the Connor clan's description.

Most disturbing for James is the fact that 2 more men from his own dept. were shot dead up the road and there were not any witnesses. (The Dempsey confusion will become clear later).

Meanwhile, John's only form of communication without Cameron knowing anything is to write it down on paper. He writes

"I want to go to some nearby shops to buy Cameron a present. I don't know what she would like. Can you help me?" He also intends buying something for Allison in the Jeweler's but he won't tell Riley that.

Riley is close by as Allison reads the note and gets it handed to her to read too.

Riley takes the pen & writes

"Can I come, I might find something good".

The shops are not far away, unbeknown to be in the vicinity of Ricardo's friends and a large Mexican community.

Very soon, the 3 of them set off, as soon as John knows Cameron is in the bathroom shower naked.

When she starts drying herself, there is an absence of 3 voices downstairs. This alarms Cameron. She throws on her clean clothes and rushes downstairs to the door.

Of course the constant stream or rat-a-tat between her and Sonia alarms her too.

"What's up?" says Lesley – a conversation ensues.

Very soon John's SUV pulls up outside the shops: A general store, A Mexican equivalent to an Aladdin's cave, a well shuttered jewelry store, food store & outside stalls.

John says "I know roughly what I want, can you buy a nice vase about this big for me (he gestures). Cameron will probably find me soon, so we must be quick".

Inside the jewelry store, John looks for something nice for Allison. Cameron already has his ring, so he will buy her a necklace & ear-rings for their next (hopeful) night out somewhere nice.

In the 'Aladdin's cave', there is an area at the back which is used by a small gang of various race men led by, it would seem, 'Spartacus', as he liked to be called.

He was big with a beard and long greying hair and of European appearance. What happens next is very quick.

A young dark guy wearing a scarf on his head walks quickly over to him and says in a whisper, pointing towards Allison, "Connor's girls, we take them we get big bucks bro' ".

Sparta looks then clicks his fingers. Already he is thinking about the full set.

Greed is a gamble, he should consider this but he does not.

Riley is in the middle of the shop but Allison is further back.

2 guys head carefully towards Riley and 4 towards Allison.

Through stupidity they grab Allison first which alarms Riley. She turns to see 2 men running towards her and Allison fighting fiercely with her gun in her hand held tight by a guy preventing her from sticking her finger over the release catch.

The first guy to reach Riley receives a swift kick in the whatsits which does not help matters for him, as the other smaller but touch little cookie swings his repeater hand gun at her right arm. It was never the intention to shoot these girls, only force them at gunpoint.

The 4 guys are not exactly gentle with Allison & do not mind where they hold her.

Riley reels in pain but has the 'tunnel' zest for life in her.

The nearest hard things to her are green metal garden fence post supports on a shelf.

She swings one round and hits him on the chest which gives her time enough to hit him again on his gun hand which creates an almighty yell.

The gun hits the floor & slides under a display stand.

The other guy gets up and grabs Riley, pushing her back and then punches her in the eye hitting her bridge too. Her nose bleeds.

She is now deep in the tunnels fighting off rapists/hungry men/even scrambling away from a terminator attack.

She hears Allison screaming for John who does not hear. Only she can get him.

The 3-edged fence post support is on the floor and she picks it up again then rams her head forward to try and wind him.

It fails but she now has the metal and swings it so hard with an almighty scream that she breaks his skull and blood runs out.

She looks down to see with one eye the other guy on his knees looking for the gun.

She does the same to him but after swinging feels weak and falls forward.

She gets up again to see more men coming and quickly heads for the door to the street.

This coincides with Allison being carried by her arms and legs through the door at the rear of the shop.

Outside, Riley puts her hand against the wall for support and whimpers her frantic way to the jewellery shop 2 doors down.

Three men burst out the door which propels Riley to the jeweler's door and flings it open.

Before John's eyes is a badly bloody-nosed Riley falling to her knees. "Allison,…" she says no more & tries to get up as alarmed John shoots past her, gun drawn.

Outside, he sees 3 men stop in their tracks. One draws a gun. John shoots him through the head as he runs towards them.

He runs up to them, gun pointing "WHERE IS SHE" he shouts.

'Aladdin'.

"What?"

"There". Riley steps gingerly out of the jewelers.

John picks up the guns, runs back and gives it to her saying "if they move kill them".

Riley wipes the blood with her sleeve and says in a slightly nasal voice "move".

As John flies in to Aladdin's, he sees what looks like 2 dead bodies on the floor and is momentarily shocked.

He runs towards the cash register and grabs the assistant with 1 hand "where are they? Come with me".

Standing behind the man of unknown allegiance he marches him quickly to the back of the shop, out through the back and looks up & down the back Alley.

Nothing.

(Spanish) "Where have they gone?"

"I don't know, I only work here. Please, I have a wife and family".

John rushes back out the shopfront and is relieved to find Riley did not kill them.

He says "They're coming with us" and runs to the SUV and opens the rear door.

"Gwet in oo wuckers" snorts Riley.

"No, no por favour".

John shoots one in the hand. He screams in pain and the pair scramble in. (It is obvious that Allison means the world to John and he must have her back at all costs – just in case anybody had any doubts).

Riley gets in the front and faces them, gun held firm as John starts the engine screaming with a roar.

"At the count of five shoot one of them where it hurts, if they don't tell you where Ally is. One, two, tres, quatro…"

They both yell "Sparta's place".

"Lead us there" shouts John.

It takes 10 minutes to get there.

Elsewhere at another gangmember house, Allison's wrists are tied to a heavy chair. She has refused to say anything and received many slaps. Her lip is swollen and her face is red. Her plight is momentarily relieved when a young guy enters the room and speaks quietly to Sparta.

"What! He's been to my place".

"Si, I am told Luiz & Mylo are with them, the others are dead".

Sparta looks worried then loses his composure. He knows he can't call the police & Blame the Connors at this stage but refuses to give up Allison.

Allison shouts to Sparta "WHEN MY JOHN FINDS OUT THAT YOU SLAPPED ME, HE'LL HURT YOU REAL BAD THEN KILL YOU".

He replies "SHUT UP SLUT" and just to make her shut up, even slaps her face hard with the knuckles on his other hand.

Then he opens Ally's cellphone but finds nothing in the directory and chops Ally on the legs with his fists.

Her pain is excruciating, as she fights for breath he yells "CALL YOUR MR CONNOR AND ASK HIM WHAT HE THINKS YOU ARE WORTH".

She dearly wants to hear John and dials his Number. He replies "Ally I know they've got you, are you OK?"

Sparta grabs the phone. John Henry listens as Sparta says "So, the famous John Connor. You kill my men and now you want your girlie back?"

The phone goes dead. Catherine & Thomas stand by to listen in as Cameron arrives at the 'Aladdin's cave' to see the first police car arrive.

She drives slowly past then stops, gets out and walks towards the entrance and steps in to survey everything.

"Hey miss, you keep out. That's a crime scene".

Cameron ignores the officer as she sees the till-assistant. She rushes over "Where are they?"

"I don't know, a young man asked me too. He had a gun".

Cameron turns and walks out as a policeman puts his hand on her shoulder, "I told you to keep out".

Cameron ignores him and keeps walking. Fortunately, faced with bodies and smashed up aisles, the cop lets her go.

As she leaves she flicks open her cell '8979'.

She immediately hears "I don't know exactly where we are but I'll let you know Cam. We're taking directions. Pacific Blvd next".

"OK, please wait for me, don't do anything without me".

"Alright, I'll call you back when we get there. We're heading north down the Venture highway".

Just then John has a plan and says to the 2 guys in the back "whoever has my girl is gonna die. Lead us to her and you live".

The first place is a dodgy area on the 1st floor of an empty apartment block.

Before he gets out with one of them he says to the other "my friend here wants you dead, don't give her an excuse. She's tougher than you think".

Even in this situation John is able to wink at Riley, whose resolve is strengthened by this simple action.

John goes round the back to the trunk and gets a rifle out. His desire to get Ally back clouds his precautionary judgment slightly and he does not phone Cameron, who is racing to the scene of his last call.

Walking up the steps, John gives instructions "walk to the door. Do not enter. If anybody is there, tell them the place is covered. They must give her up. I have money, it's all theirs".

Upon saying that, John is thinking he is in a bit of a hole.

Meanwhile, Sarah & Derek have set off in haste – Sonia would like to come but she has to guard the others & Lesley.

The guy, who is quite tall, says "there's no-one there".

John shouts "ALLY" (pause) nothing. Then he shouts "COME HERE".

He does. John holds the rifle cocked to fire and puts his arm around the guy's neck tight and edges him to the doorway. John gives a glance. Correct, nothing.

The guy takes an opportunity to struggle and is almost free to overwhelm John. John is quick and leans down to throw him on to the concrete.

He has his arm around John's neck but John is quick & well versed with the training he received when he was with his mother in Nicaragua etc.

He jabs at his eye area with his fingers until the guy lets go screaming, which enables him to push him away and get up.

John is really mad but not mad-stupid – he has to get Allison back.

He kicks the guy in the leg hard "where now?" his phone rings.

Opening it up he speaks "she's not here, we're moving on. Hang on".

John points his rifle at the guy's leg as he holds his face and shouts to him "I will shoot you in the legs if you don't speak".

"Across the road around the corner".

"OK, (kick) get up. Quick".

Back downstairs Riley sees John & a man holding his face.

John approaches, tugging him along. He says to Riley in a stern voice "Are you standing up OK?"

"Yef, herps like ell".

"you're doin' good gal, hang in there, I'll be back soon".

As John walks away he hears Riley's phone ring but keeps going, giving the guy an occasional shove.

It is Cameron "where is John?"

As John approaches the almost identical apartment block, he is watched from close by – some assorted race kids dancing to music – a good sign for the area that Ricky frequents & Jenny lives.

He hopes that the people he is dealing with are few & far between.

Climbing the stairs to the top floor, John reiterates his instructions.

Inside are 3 males, the one at the back of the room named Bruno, is sickened by what has just taken place.

Allison is sobbing quietly.

Inside, Bruno is seething as he had only turned up on Sparta's request and is now prevented from leaving – he is unarmed.

Just then they hear a knock at the door.

Sparta tugs Allison up off the floor by the front of her jacket and yells "get decent girl" and stands behind her with his gun pointed at her.

He shouts "WHO'S THERE?"

"JOHN CONNOR WITH YOUR MONEY".

Sparta, who is a drug addict, apart from other things says loudly "SLIDE IT UNDER THE DOOR".

"NO, I NEED TO SEE MY GAL".

Allison shouts "THERE'S 3 OF THEM IN HERE, BE CAREFUL".

Sparta holds the gun close to Allison's head and says to his equally unstable colleague "stand there" (meaning beside the door).

"IF YOU WANT HER, DO AS I SAID, PUT THE MONEY UNDER THE DOOR AND WALK AWAY".

John hits his hostage hard over the head, grabs him and kicks the door open, pushing him in, then jumps back as gunfire whooshes through the body & blood splashes.

Bruno jumps with fright as Allison shouts "BESIDE THE DOOR".

She ducks and pushes Sparta backwards as John puts his gun through the door entrance pointing it to the right emptying it.

He has seen what Allison did and shoots at Sparta but only hits his leg being careful to avoid Allison.

Sparta dropped his gun but grabbed Allison's bound wrists and tugged her down.

Bruno finds the gun and picks it up.

Sparta takes another gun out and aims it at Allison.

John freezes in horror.

A shot rings out. The look on John's face is fear as he screams out "NOOOO".

Then he has the surprise, correction, the shock of his life.

Allison yells "NOOO" and Sparta drops to the floor.

A voice shouts "DON'T SHOOT, I KILLED HIM".

John rushes over to Allison and kneels down to untie her wrists. He takes a look at her poor hurt face then looks down.

Having untied her wrists, he says "what ha", Allison butts in and yells "NOTHING", then storms out the door.

John runs to the door and yells "Ally, I'm sorry".

She stops and turns then shouts "SORRY FOR WHAT?" then turns again and runs off.

John looks behind to identify her savior & says "thank you" and turns to chase Allison.

The voice yells "STOP, THERE'S SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW".

Turning back again "what?"

"I wasn't here but I think I know what happened. That is why I shot him".

"Whad'ya mean?"

Silence. The look on Bruno's face hits John like a sledgehammer "Oh shit", then he turns to chase Allison.

The man shouts "TAKE ME WITH YOU, I CAN'T STAY HERE", and then he chases after John.

He heads for the SUV but of course Allison wouldn't know where to find it.

Riley sees Bruno chasing John and shouts "WOOK OUT".

John turns and sees Bruno then shouts to Riley "IT'S OK, HE SAVED ALLY".

Riley, still bloody shouts "WHERE'S AWLY?"

"I've no idea; I've got to find her".

Fortunately for Cameron, with John Henry's help, is able to find John using his Satnav trace.

She screeches up, gun drawn, steps out and aims.

Bruno ducks behind John as he says "DON'T SHOOT, EVERYTHING'S OK. Well, sort of".

Cameron asks the same question "where is Allison?"

John replies "come here Cam".

Standing a short distance away he says to her "she had a very bad experience".

"What kind of experience?"

"When I found her, her button was undone and zip down" as John looks down to the same place on Cameron.

"She was raped?"

"I don't know, I think so".

"Did he do it?"

"No, he killed the rapist".

Riley shouts "wots up?"

John replies "Ally's run off".

"Why?"

No reply. Riley looks at Cameron – that was a waste of time. She looks at Bruno who looks back with guilt on his face, perhaps hoping she will read his mind.

Riley shouts again "WOOT APPENED?"

She gets 3 loud "NOTHING"s in reply.

Even the hostage in the car can guess what might be wrong. He fears retribution as he makes a desperate druggy grab for her gun.

She fires it and he is shot in the leg.

Everybody ducks except Cameron who sees the hand holding the barrel.

She unleashes 6 shots smashing through the glass all in to the guy's head and exiting through the side window.

Then there is silence and an even more shocked Riley with glass over her hair & back.

"COME ON, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE" shouts John as he grabs Bruno by the arm and ushers him to his SUV.

He shouts to Cameron "PHONE ALLY, SEE IF YOU CAN GET AN ANSWER. BE GENTLE AND TACTFUL".

John starts the engine & begins to drive off.

Cameron steps in front of him and he stops. She says loudly "where was Allison held?"

"Why?"

"She is not answering her phone".

Bruno says "around the corner".

"Show me".

"I can't, it's too dangerous". Cameron walks around to the corpse side of the car and pulls it out then says "you'd better do as you're told".

He is certainly jittered by this crack shot, as her slightly red eyes give him an eery clue.

He follows Cameron.

John drives off quickly and finds somewhere to park.

Cameron is downstairs from the apartment and dials again. Sure enough, she hears it ring.

"Fetch it" she says.

'Oh hell' thinks Bruno as he runs to get it.

With it still ringing, he finds it as sirens begin to be heard.

When he gets downstairs Cameron is gone.

'Oh shit' are his new 2 word thoughts until just then a car screeches up and inside is Cameron with the rear window wound down.

He quickly gets in the back and they drive off.

She flies past where John is parked and within 37 seconds rams on the brakes.

Bruno is lucky to be in the back as he flies forward.

There she is, Allison.

Cameron opens her window and shouts "get in".

"I'm walking home".

"It's too dangerous".

"I don't care".

Cameron considers her verbal options and goes for something very risky for a cyborg.

She takes the ignition key and gets out, just up the road past Allison.

When she reaches her, Cameron says "When I was constructed, I would have been tested many times. I know how you feel".

Allison considers what Cameron said and replies "you never knew anything about it".

"I have just told you I know. I have senses, they were not that bothered about me and whether I would develop feelings. To them it was just a bit of fun. Please promise not to tell John".

Allison stays brave and says "is that true?"

"Yes, I will tell him if you want me to".

"No, don't do that. I wasn't raped if that's what you were thinking (a lie)". Cameron knew this too.

"I didn't think you were. I wanted you to know that if you were, you should not tell John. I know he could not deal with it. I will confirm your story and make sure Bruno does too."

"How do you know John couldn't?"

"Because in the future I told him what I told you and it upset him. He must not have his thoughts distracted in a repetitive manner, he will often daydream. I am here for his wellbeing as well as his safety".

Finally Allison says "Take me home".

In the car Allison says to Bruno "thank you for saving me."

"That's all right, he was a bad man".

"Does John know you are coming with us?"

"Yes".

"OK, I will have to blindfold you. When you get home, do not say she was raped".

"Fair enough, I'm definitely not going back to Oxnard & I promise".

Cameron says "when I get home, John is going to hear a lot of words from me".

Meanwhile, John has spoken to his mom on the phone and taken the wrath admirably. He adds "we need to speak when I get home, please wait down the road and don't phone Cameron or Allison".

Riley pipes up "ake me ome irst".

Very soon Sonia alarms Lesley "Riley's coming, she's injured" then walks towards the door & opens it.

Very soon, a chorus of "Jesus, what happened to you" etc. rings out from a room of all ages.

"I willed 2 men (pause, gasp), or fwee".

Lesley is the first "you killed 3 men on your own?"

"wes".

Riley begins to shake as Helena & Claire's husband come from the kitchen with a few warm soaked towels. "She says, sit down Riley".

Meanwhile John has found Sarah and they are out of their vehicles.

Derek watches the arm waving and frantic speech from Sarah with John trying his best to justify how simple his intentions were.

Then Derek witnesses Sarah go quiet as John speaks with only his hands moving.

Then her face turns to that of horror as John speaks.

John turns to face Derek then turn away. Sarah looks at Derek then away.

John holds his hand up, palm facing Sarah. His face looks distraught.

Derek recognizes John's lip movement "I don't know what to say to her".

Sarah replies with a very serious face and talks for a while, then minutes later, the 2 of them return, get in and drive off.

"Well?" says Derek.

Sarah replies "he told me what happened".

Derek feels she is not telling the full truth, she would have told him what happened there and then but she is quiet.

A short while earlier. Cameron has arrived and ushered Allison towards the house. As she does, she says to Bruno "Don't say anything to anybody about what happened to Allison".

The door opens and Allison heads for the stairs. Everybody sees her fat lip & other facial injuries.

They gasp and ask questions but both she & Cameron ignore them.

Cameron says to Marta "please come upstairs and make sure we are not disturbed".

Soon they hear the shower going and Cameron is seen twice coming downstairs for first aid and boiling the kettle and fetching some bowls.

She does not say a word.

The kids stare, as do the adults.

"What happened?" "Is she alright?" "Why doesn't Cameron speak?"

Only Bruno was there, along with Riley but they don't answer the questions.

Riley gets up and heads for the stairs.

Marta knocks on the bathroom door, "Cammy, can Riley join you?"

"Yes".

An hour later, Cameron comes downstairs with Marta, who patiently stood outside the bedroom door & listened for 5 minutes. Eventually she was invited in.

10 minutes earlier, Sarah & John came in and had not spoken a word to each other since.

When people ask, Derek shrugs and mouths "no idea!"

Back upstairs, Cameron had seen to all the 2 girls' ills and tucked them up in Jenny's double bed.

Riley always wanted love and be loved – being with Allison was quite sufficient for her. It was because of her future experiences.

Both girls were sure that they knew they shared the same experience without saying a word.

Riley's was actually in 2027 – a filthy occurrence, covered in filth, in a filthy place by a filthy group which left her feeling no more filthy than she actually felt beforehand. She had seen these filthy things, so knew what to expect some time or other.

In the tunnels, other people supported her the same way she did for them beforehand.

Only 'survivors' existed in 2027.

Some were lucky but most through using their wits & strength.

Conny, Marta & Dean, plus Jenny were 4 excellent examples.

Not to forget of course Derek, plus Kyle in his own way – perhaps the biggest hero of them all. There again, they all were (are).

-0-

For anybody that has studied the tok-715 endoframe, they might conclude that in the human equivalent to a pelvis, there is room above the hottie's pleasure organ to allow a male such as John to appreciate Cameron.

It is also known from another 'possible reality' that Vick Chamberlain was able to fool his wife Barbara.

Something that nobody may know is that the self-repair nanodes possess gene info – the entire human genome is in there. That includes stem cells.

Whilst Cameron was upstairs she spoke very tenderly to Allison. Riley agreed to wait outside for a while.

Cameron now knows that Allison has reached a time in her cycle that makes her fertile.

She is aware of the possible consequences but says nothing to Ally.

Unbeknown to Cam, (or Cammy for those that prefer it), all this info is able to have a bearing on how her nanodes behave.

The same applied when Sonia consciously turned her hair blonde.

Within Cameron, some building is taking place – she will find out soon enough what is going on.

Before Cameron has her stern words with John, she will put in to practice what she has learnt through observation.

When John looks at her, she stares daggers back. Unfortunately Cammy's daggers are rather frightening.

When John walks towards her, she walks away.

She believes an hour will be sufficed and as soon as the hour is up (exactly), she walks over to him.

"John, we need to talk".

"So you're talking to me now then! Let's go outside".

The pair walks through the gate to the field edge, which has a smelly crop turning yellow (rape seed).

Cameron's speech goes on for 5 minutes and includes words: 'without me, alone, risky, love me, love her, Riley, know better, What made you do it, bla bla nag nag, I am upset, you upset me, now that I have Allison to consider she might never be the person she was, I love her too, she is my other best friend'.

She stops.

John says "I'm sorry, I should have taken Sonia with me".

"You would rather take her?"

"No but I couldn't take you".

(Cameron is experiencing rejection & jealously in her emotional panning. Not new to her as she discussed it with Sonia after seeing Lesley adoring the Nordic girl in the Tech Noir in 1984). Her face drops "you did not want to take me? If you had, I could have kept you all safer".

(Sonia is monitoring the conversation but chooses not to tell Cameron the truth that it was supposed to be a surprise).

"Yes I know but Jenny and Ricky told me that the village near Wick was safe. The kids went to school there for 1 day and there is racial harmony. I saw it there for myself. Those druggies did not belong there".

"No-one is every safe, your mom has told you that".

Out in the garden Sarah is listening – Cameron knows this – as does Sarah knows she knows.

"I certainly know that now. I'm sorry".

Cameron asks "have your feelings for Allison changed?"

"No why? Did she ask you to ask me that?"

"No but she was nearly raped and I believe you think she was".

"But that guy Bruno said she was".

"No, (mimicking Bruno): 'I wasn't here but I think I know what happened. That is why I shot him'.

(Cameron voice) He was wrong".

"What do you think? You seem to know these things".

(The most stoic & honest face Cameron can muster, in other words be her early self), "she was not. If she had been, would it make any difference to you?"

"I wouldn't let it".

"I have seen on TV that it can affect a relationship".

Again John says "I wouldn't have let it. How is Riley?"

Cameron detects that he no longer wants to talk on the subject. She replies"she is OK. If she had not escaped things could have been very different".

"I don't need telling that, I feel terrible over what happened. We never spoke on the way home. It's a good job Allison was able to kill 2 of them and let Riley escape".

"It was Riley that killed them. Allison was overwhelmed by 4 of them at the back of the shop. She told me that upstairs just now. That is also why Riley is in bed, she is suffering trauma. She couldn't speak much because of the extremely injured area around her nose but she said (Cameron imitates Riley) 'When wesse bro tee ere, I wort I wood ee safe' ".

John's face looks surprised "oohh hell Cam, I must go up & thank her".

"They want to be left alone".

"How do you know? Are you their mother now?"

"Normally Allison is strong but her experience has upset her. She feels that she failed you. She is weeping and hurts inside".

"What? They hurt her?"

"No, not that way. Riley is with her and holding her tight. They only need each other. Ally knows Riley was brave".

John says quite loudly "What have I done" and walks off quickly, sees Sarah and storms past her then heads for his SUV which has the smashed rear window.

He drives off then parks up the road, just around the bend. He thinks about everything that happened – what will people at the house think of him – how Allison will be affected – Riley again coming to the rescue. How many times can she do this? 4 times so far and each one in a dangerous situation that would strike fear in to most people – Mom – Derek – Sonia – Cameron – the list is long.

He sits there for 35 minutes and during that time he thinks about what he has accomplished. 'Shit, what am I doing here, let's get back', then turns the key.

Indoors the curtains are drawn facing the midday sun which is very bright. He wonders why.

Opening the door he sees Sonia standing close to the TV smiling. She is facing Lesley.

Everybody is sat or standing with the kids at the front. Even 1-Ally is taking notice of the noise.

It turns out that everybody is waiting for John to return because the kids have requested that they watch the birth of Lesley in 1982. Lesley is feigning embarrassment to make everybody laugh. Funnily enough, so is Julie – surprise surprise.

Using her clear mind and better ability to handle people, Sarah smiles at John and says in a cheery voice "we're waiting for you and keeping ourselves entertained in the meantime. Sonia is going to play a video of my early life, I'm not sure what she means".

Lesley knows she will be featured but won't say anything – she feels that all the kids should see it too. This is because nobody is safe & should know the truth rather than naively standing still and dying.

John is relieved and smiles back saying, "do I want to see what you got up to mom? Won't you be embarrassed?"

"Who knows, Sonia won't say".

John squeezes in between Sarah & Derek on the settee, saying "if you're going to be embarrassed, you might need me to hold your hand".

The video plays. Before the Pico Blvd incident and the steel mill car park, they are weaned in to the 1984 events with the Howards and Lesley's banter with Sonia. (Just to remind readers, it is J.C. ch5, there is quite a lot of banter, most of which is at the lover's expense). The bets they placed to obtain money, which amuses everybody too.

It is then that they see Sarah Ann Connor murdered, followed by Sarah Louise Connor. There is not any laughing any more.

Sonia points out that the former had 2 children.

The mood is then lightened lightly before the shooting starts.

The crowd in the room has another little laugh when Sonia speaks. It is over her jealousy of Lesley admiring a Nordic girl dancing. (What a shock they will all soon get). In the video, Sonia's eyes go still and point directly, close up at Sarah's face.

The picture enlarges and numbers appear on her HUD. She moves her eyes and it can be seen that she is examining & identifying the gun held by the T-800.

To help the people watching, She has created another on-screen HUD, which in essence is information contained in her memory. She identifies the weapon as an AMT Hardballer Longslide with site.

Very soon she does the same with Kyle & computes that he has a sawn off shot gun, one of a standard police issue from the period. Once everybody sees Sarah, a meek terrified Sarah (with that hairstyle) in the Tech Noir being shot at & protected by Kyle, John squeezes her hand.

In the video, Sonia stands up. Then the people in the room jerk back in their seats, then again.

They scream and shout in horror and some stare across at 2009-Sarah, who stays sitting with a very stern look on her face. (It has to be born in mind that Sonia's view of events is different from what we see). As soon as the terminator leaves the disco, Sonia rushes to the door looking down at the dead bodies. She goes outside and sees the car without headlights speeding away, whilst the t-800 is heading for its car. (It was habit in the future for the resistance never to use car lights for obvious reasons).

The video goes on until at long last they see Sarah carried out on a stretcher from the steel mill.

Sonia does not stop the DVD playing and everybody is compelled to visit Sarah's hospital.

All of a sudden Derek is incensed at what they plan to do to Sarah. He says loudly "he deserved all he got" (meaning FBI agent Max Wolf and his execution at their hands in the basement of this very house recently. Unfortunately, his wife Jeanette had to die too at Cameron's hands, so that there were not any witnesses).

They find out how the names of the other 'Greys' were obtained & everybody claps Sonia for helping Sarah on more than one occasion.

It is at that point that Cameron feels glumly jealous as she remembers how she went through her worst ever moment as a result of her 'time reality' error (conversely whilst these events took place in the past).

John knew this and looks across the room at her sitting next to Claire with 3-Ally on her lap.

He mouths 'I love you'.

She processes why he chose to say that to her now and is unsure why. She tries her best to mouth the word 'good', then nods.

Unfortunately John does not understand her and smiles anyway but not with a big beaming face.

Cameron interprets his response & rats it to Sonia. Both cyborgs decide they will practice lip-reading and mouthing on their partners later. (Not that type of mouthing… or perhaps).

After those events and witnessing Sarah escape from hospital, the video shows a trip to a seedy motel, talking and then going up to a room.

Now Sonia's voice is talking but no response from the room.

As Sonia walks away after leaving the food & money, people in the room start to applaud her in this time.

It makes her smile and her happiness panning swells so much that her assigned panning levels reach their peak and she freezes.

Meanwhile Cameron is really upset and says to 3-Ally "I need to go to the bathroom" which prompts 3-ally to get up and step on to the floor.

Cameron rushes out the room, but not un-noticed by everybody.

"Stop the video" says Sarah.

Helena leans over the presses PAUSE.

Of course Lesley is up and staring at Sonia's face saying "Sonia, what's happened. Are you alright?" then gives her a little shake. She turns to see where Cameron is.

The kids shout "look out".

Meanwhile, Cameron is standing still, totally in her 3rd mode A.I. -learning with emotions.

She is going over her contrasting events of that same day – she even lost her head.

A teary pair of eyes adorns her downward pointing face and 'scolded child lips' as she hears "look out".

She rushes in to the other room and sees Lesley on the ground face down with Sonia also face down over her, with her knees on the floor & head on her ass.

In other words, Sonia fell against Lesley.

Cameron tries another rat-t-tat and receives back "I'm OK, I am still rebooting".

Cameron stands and stares. Some people including John see her eyes but they glance to Sonia & Lesley's on-floor-pileup.

"Why are you just standing there?" shouts Sarah, who disregards Cam's tears.

"She is rebooting, I don't know how long it will take".

After being helped by Derek to lift Sonia up, Lesley looks to Cameron and says anxiously "what's wrong with her?"

Cameron observes Derek lift Sonia on to the settee next to the standing kids.

As Lesley puts her skirt straight, Cam says "She was too happy".

Immediately Martin, who is at that age, says "she's got pink panties' and smiles.

If looks could kill, he would have had the entire little Jennifer Beal arsenal blowing him to smithereens.

Lesley looks hurt & Sarah sees this. She gets Martin's attention then tips her head and eyes to the left a few times.

He follows Sarah to the kitchen. Once there, she gives Martin a naughty boy stare then says "these things happen. You should not broadcast it. Give her some decency and at the same time show your own decency. In other words, just enjoy the moment and keep tight lipped, (smile)".

"Yes, Sarah". She walks off.

Martin decides to go out the back for a while.

Cameron walks through the front door carefully closing it behind her.

Lesley says loudly "what's wrong with her, don't she care what happens to Sonia. What does she mean? Is she jealous or something?"

Approaching Sonia it suddenly dawns on him 'oh my god, she is!', "Let me deal with her" says John, who heads for the door.

Sarah grabs his arm "I think not, best I go".

He leaves her to it. Then, looking around the room, he realizes that people need privacy & places for their belongings too.

He waits for Sonia to reboot and satisfy himself that she is OK. Fed up with airing problems in public he goes outside in the opposite direction to Sarah, and then phones Thomas Reese.

He says "hi, how are things there?"

"I am telling our colleagues about non-human people, known by ordinary humans as metal in my time, 2040, one of them being myself, although only my skull was replaced.

Also, those that was unaccounted for when I left there.

We are considering possibilities of recent time travel and how, when, if any of them might be here now.

They could be living or in standby, therefore undetected by the time detector.

"Oh I see, that's really good stuff. I'd be interested in names. I've called you to find out if you are in the loop over our search for a ranch-type house somewhere over the Golden Hills potholes".

"We have found somewhere and Catherine is aware of it but has not said anything".

"Oh, I see, thank you. I assume you heard the news?"

"Yes, we are very concerned. Savannah told me. She also said Jenny is very worried. I think she is annoyed too".

"Oh. Those were her local shops, I can understand that".

"John, I have to tell you this. She thinks you were stupid and wonders what possessed you to take that risk".

"It was pretty innocent really; Jenny lives in a nice area. Ricky has never mentioned any gangs or other trouble. He has friends there – all nationalities. All I wanted to do was buy Cameron something nice to thank her for all the awesome things she has done lately. Allison and Riley agreed with me and thought it was a great idea".

John expected the next words and sure enough Thomas says "no one is every safe – I'm sure you knew I would say that".

John talks a little longer then 'click', switch off his phone and turns around with a start.

"How long have you been there? I never heard you coming". He looks down & sees she is bare-footed. With her lovely pooled Allison eyes and a tear slowly trickling down, her lip quivers.

He says "oh my god, did you do that on purpose?"

Cameron's outer lips drop again, they look pouty. She turns to walk away.

"Cam, please stop, I didn't mean it. Stop and think about it, use your computer, infiltration experience, whatever. I wanted to know if you were really sad because I love you Cam. I think you really are sad but I want to hear you say you art hurting inside so that I can understand you".

"When Allison & Riley were hurt, I was mad at you. Later you said you wished you had taken Sonia. I was jealous. Some men are aroused by being with a lesbian and wish they could be with them. I was very anxious that you might wish this would happen to you. Most of all, everyone was praising Sonia for her work in 1984. It made her so happy that her panning memory was insufficient when it grew, so she shut down.

Nobody has made me that happy, there was many people applauding her".

"Not even me!"

"Not quite, there were a lot of people and for Sonia it grew much larger and filled her allocated panning memory. She has fixed it now. It is larger. I will do the same later".

"That was not very safe for her".

"It was, because I was there and besides that, I was in terminator mode it could not happen".

"Back to you Cam, I'm very sorry for your stress, I had no idea it affected you that way. You must tell me everything. I want to understand you. You have spent your entire life, albeit short, trying to understand us".

"Thank you John, next time you go out to get my present take Sonia with you".

Cameron is now smiling, John says "let me hug you" and as he does, says "what plant would you have liked?"

"A black lily".

John whispers in her ear "I know you understand the significance of a gift, I will try to get you one.

Regarding Ally & Riley, you said I should not see them. I am really concerned about them, please tell them that". (He knows that Allison has not recovered 100% from her infection & shock and could not stick up for herself. 'Mortified' is a good word to describe how he feels).

"I will".

The 2 of them turn to go inside as Cameron tells John that Sonia has rebooted".

The door is open and Marta is watching "have you had an argument?"

"No" says John, "Cameron was worried about lots of things. So am I. We were cheering each other up".

Marta is not convinced.

Sonia is enjoying all the fuss and attention. She explained what happened and everybody shows their relief which also sends Sonia's panning levels rising again.

John squeezes Cameron's hand and says "don't forget, she has your body and chip. She is your best friend and now it is your time to share her joy. Look at Lesley, she is really happy. Everybody knows what great things you do, they have not told you yet but believe me, they will. I promise not to remind them then you will see it happen naturally".

"Thank you" (smile).

"Come on girl, I'll escort you to the stairs and you can take me to the casualty room to see that they're OK".

She does and they both peer in the doorway to see Allison asleep with Riley awake, her arm over her.

Riley sees John who nods twice and pulls the door to. This pleases her. She rests her head and closes her eyes.

-0-

Cameron's emotions are still developing but she will not understand how humans deal with extremes of happiness until chapter 10. After all, going 'bonk' on your nose shows that you can only be 'so happy!'

Can humans reach a level of happiness and not go beyond that point? Think about it… perhaps we can. You will see.

For those of you that are wondering why I wrote in this chapter about Cameron's concerns over why she has not overflowed her happiness panning, whereas she did in chapter 3. This is because history was rewrote in chapter 2 (paradoxically), and the butterfly effect (call it what you like), meant that occurrence never happened. Wow!

In the next chapters, things can't possibly get much worse… can they?

Cameron develops a small problem.

Later, to cap it all, back at the Beal house, those that are left behind get a visit, so it is the usual action stations. Things like this always need full and careful attention.

It is quite a busy period for everybody and they have to find enough transport.

Also, love is in the air.

As per request, the FBI thinks they are out of their depth with regard to this case, so they take action. Huh, just wait and see (OMG).

Also, what future Savannah told Cameron starts to happen in an uncompromising, perhaps sadistic or callous manner. Please note at this point, I do not wish any people from any ethnic background harm or wish to single them out but Skynet has to start somewhere.

I'm looking forward to posting the next 6 chapters because things that you might never dream of happen and I've just thought of something else.