Chapter 7

Cameron eyes flickered open suddenly in the early hours of the morning, the sun only beginning the shine on the city of LA. She found herself in exactly the same position she was when she fell asleep the night before, lying on her side, her right arm across John's chest, her hand resting on his shoulder. She had her head resting on his chest, rising up and down as John breathed. He had his arm wrapped around her back, his hand resting on her shoulder, her hair entwined between his fingers , having been stocking it the previous night. Turning her head ever so slightly, she could see John eyes were closed. "John?". she whispered as quietly as she could.

As John didn't respond, she guessed he was still asleep. Moving her head back, she moved around slightly, getting comfortable again. She smiled at herself, not knowing any time she had been more happy. She helped Kacy give birth, named baby Allison, ate chocolate cake with Sarah, received her diamond necklace from John, then telling him she loved him after he told her the same and then spending the night together. Cameron moved her other hand to her chest, beneath her skin, she could feel her heart beat, despite not having a heart. Though this occurrence was less likely then breathing, she didn't wish for it to stop, the beating making her feel more human.

John began to stir, Cameron guessing she had woken him when she moved around. Turning to face him again, she saw his eyes slowly open and close again a few times focusing on her and a wide smile appeared on his face. "Hey, sleep okay?". Cameron returning the smile, moved herself up the bed, resting her head on the pillow next to John, who turned himself to face her. "I'm fine, I slept like your bed more then mine". John began stroking her hair again. "Why's that?". Rising her arm, she took hold of John's other hand and held it in her own, locking their fingers together. "Because you kept me warm when I sleep, when I'm in my bed, I'm always cold".

Smiling, he leant forward and kissed her, a kiss she retuned with equal passion. Breaking the kiss, John couldn't stop staring in to her brown eyes, getting more beautiful the more he look, then he remembered something Cameron told him. "You told me, before what happened in Mexico, you said that you could never be happy". Cameron, remembering what she said when they lay next to each other on the bed, she said that she was a machine and could never be happy, at the time, she thought she was telling the truth. "I guess I lied". Both smiling, they kissed each other again. Pressing their foreheads together, they drifted back off to sleep.

Sarah woke a few hours later, her arms and legs stiffer then normal. It was getting harder every day for Sarah, her muscles were tense, her limbs stiff and she was in constant pain from the tumours. Knowing she was going to die but not knowing how long she had till then was driving her mad. Every night she wonders what will happen to John when she's gone. Will he be safe?. Will he be able to become the leader everyone needs?. Will he service even Judgement day?. She repeated those questions in her head every night, over and over, hoping for an answer, but never getting one. Getting out of bed and dressed, she looked out of the window seeing Kacy's house in the distance.

Making a mental note of call Kacy later in the day to ask how baby Allison was, she turned and left her room. Coming in to the hallway, the first thing she noticed was Cameron's bedroom door was opened, strange as she usually has it closed. Standing in the doorway, she saw her bed hadn't been slept in. Without thinking, she went to John's room and pressed her ear to the door. Not hearing anything, she slowly opened the door. Instantly looking to the bed, she could see both Cameron and John in the bed asleep. Sarah looked around the room, seeing the discarded clothes on the floor made it clear what they go up to last night. Smiling, she muttered "About time", under her breath. Cameron moved slightly when she said this, Sarah thought she had heard her, but she carried on sleeping. Sighing in relieve, she closed the door and left.

Getting downstairs, she made herself some pancakes for breakfast. Eating the pancakes, she thought of what she saw in John's room, thinking it ironic that months ago, she would have killed both of them for what they had done, but now, she couldn't care less, being happy for both of them. Finishing her pancakes, she took her phone and called Kacy. "Hey Kacy, just calling to see how you and baby Allison are?". "Hi Sarah, yeah, we got home last night, Allison's sleeping at the minute, listen, thanks for your help yesterday and Cameron, couldn't have done it with out either of you". "Its okay, I like to think you would do the same for me". "Course I would, anyways, can you come by later?, Trevor's been called in to work and I kind of haven't got a clue what I'm doing with Allison". "Yeah, I'll get thongs sorted here and I'll be right down". "Thanks Sarah, see you soon". Hanging up the phone, Sarah wrote a note for John and Cameron.

Gone to see Kacy and Allison, see you two later

Leaving the note on the table, Sarah got her coat and left the house, heading for Kacy's.

John lay on his side, awake but keeping his eyes closed. He still couldn't believe what had happened the night before. He confessed his love for Cameron and they spend the night together. He couldn't remember a time he was more happy. Sensing he was being watched, he opened his eyes, meeting the glare of Chocolate brown eyes. "Hey, how long you been watching me?". "About twenty minutes, I like watching you sleep, you look different when you do". "Good different of bad different?". " Good different, your not as tense or worried when you sleep, your calm and peaceful instead". Laughing softly, she learnt forward and kissed him.

The slamming of the front door broke the kiss. Both sitting up, John reached for the floor, finding his underwear and putting them on. Going to the window, he saw his mother leaving the house, heading down the road, walking slowly with a limp. "It's mom, she's heading towards Kacy's I think". Cameron got out of bed and joined him next to the window, holding the blanket around her body. "Kacy must be back from the hospital with Allison, can we go see them later, I want to see Allison again?". "Yeah, I'm going in the shower first then we can go". Kissing him on the cheek, Cameron walked around the room, picking up her discarded clothes. She then left the room for her own, taking the blanket with her. John, picking up some fresh clothes, left his room also and headed for the bathroom.

Cameron went in the shower after John had finished, leaving John to wait almost an hour for her to get ready. Finding Sarah's note, he spend most of the hour again looking on the internet at the Zeira corporation. The corporation had been in the news lately, someone died in the building. John was shocked when it said the person who died was doctor Boyd Sherman. Reading through the report, John felt uneasy reading about how the AI under development there cut the power to the room Boyd Sherman to keep itself running. Once Cameron eventually came downstairs, John found it hard to keep his eyes off her. Her skin seemed to shine with the light, making her a hundred times more beautiful then she already was. Both stepping out in to the sun, Cameron automatically observed her surroundings, not seeing any threat to John. While looking around, Cameron removed her hud view from her eyes, allowing her to see things as a human would. Taking John's hand in to her own, they walked towards Kacy's house.

When walking, Cameron looked around at her surroundings, at the birds and trees. Everything looked different without her hud view. It was like she was seeing everything for the first time again. John noticed she seemed fascinated by everything she was seeing and so let her carry on looking around. Arriving at Kacy's, John let go of Cameron's hand. Noticing her confused look, he quickly said, "We need to keep up appearances". Nodding in agreement as they are supposed to pretend they are brother and sister. John knocked quietly on the door. Not getting an answer, Cameron walked to the window and looked inside. Kacy spotted her looking in, and waved at her to come in to the house. Opening the door, Cameron and John headed inside. Kacy, instantly threw her arms around Cameron. "Cameron, thanks so much for yesterday".

Cameron looked over Kacy to Sarah, who was sitting on the couch, holding baby Allison in her arms. "Your welcome". Kacy beckoned them both in to the room, everyone crowding around Sarah, holding Allison. John spoke in a whisper, "Did everything turn out okay at the hospital?". "Yeah, she's healthy and everything, I still can't believe she's here finally". They all took turns in holding Allison, she only woke up once when Cameron was holding her. For a moment, John thought Allison could tell Cameron wasn't human.

Sarah and Kacy retreated to the kitchen, Kacy asking for tips on looking after Allison as Sarah had looked after John alone for years. Cameron sat on the couch next to John, holding Allison again in her arms. "Why did you call her Allison?". Cameron knew exactly why, she wanted to make up for killing Allison Young in the future, she hated herself for doing it. She didn't want to tell John the reason why though, as she thought that if she told John what she did, he wouldn't love her anymore. "I just liked the name, always thought it as my second name if I couldn't use Cameron anymore". John smiled, raised his hand and ran it across Allison's forehead. "Why did you choose Cameron as a name then?". "I didn't, you gave it to me". Looking around to see if Kacy could see them which she couldn't , Cameron raised her free hand to the back of John's head, pulling him in to a kiss.

Cameron intended to just kiss him once but was taking in by the moment and now found herself unable to pull away from him. They would have been quite happy to stay and kiss each other all day, but a thud on the top of both their heads broke the kiss. Looking up, they could see Sarah looking down on then, an amused but concerned look on her face. "You two, behave yourselves, your supposed to pretend your related remember". She walked back in to the kitchen, John and Cameron found it hard to stop laughing. After a while of just watching baby Allison sleep, John and Cameron looked up when they saw someone watching them. "Say cheese". A flash of light blinded both of them temporarily. Their eyes focusing again, they could see Kacy standing in front, holding a digital camera in her hands. "You three look so cute together, I had to get that on camera". Allison began to cry, woken up by the flash from the camera. She handed the camera to John. "Here, can you get the pictures off this thing, I haven't got a clue how". "Yeah sure".

Baby Allison began to cry, woken up by the flash from the camera, Cameron looked around for help, not knowing what to do. John got up and headed for Kacy's computer in the corner of the room while Kacy took Allison from Cameron and Sarah showed her a good way on getting her back off to sleep. John hooked the camera to the computer and downloaded the pictures. Most of the pictures were of Kacy and Trevor at different places, out shopping or with family. Getting to the end, he found the picture of him and Cameron. It looked like he and Cameron were holding their own child, they did look good together in the picture. Kacy appeared behind him, looking at the picture. "She does look happier then she used to, I've never seen her smile before today". Printing off the pictures, Kacy handed John the picture of him and Cameron. "It was Cameron's birthday yesterday, give this to her from me". John's phone suddenly started the ring from his pocket. Taking the phone out, he saw Riley's name. "I'll be back in a minute". John walked out of the house and answered the phone.

"Riley, what do you want?". John wanted this conversation over as quickly as possible. "John, we need to talk, will you meet me?". "No, I've got things to do". "Look, please meet me, I know about Cameron, I know what she is and I know what's going to happen, I know about Judgement day". John was speechless, how the hell would Riley know about Cameron or Judgement day, it was impossible. "Where and when?". " I'll find you at the pier". She hung up. John put the phone back in to his pocket. He couldn't believe what Riley had said. Frowning and turning around, he walked straight in to Sarah. "Sorry, you alright?". "Yeah' I'm fine, who was on the phone". He decided to tell Sarah the truth, she didn't need anything else to worry about, not with the cancer. "Riley, she knows what Cameron is and about the future, I'm going to find out how". Sarah looked more shocked then he did. "Take a gun with you, keep your eyes open and always….". She stopped when seeing the I already know mom look on John's face. "Before you go, you and Cameron, just be careful okay, you both took a risk in there".

John forced himself to look serious, fighting off the smirk that was trying to form on his face. "Are you okay, about me and Cameron, please be honest". Sarah looked around, making sure they were alone. "I'm fine, seeing you two together these past few weeks, it been obvious what was going to happen and the look on her face when she saw your present, I think she fell in love with you all over again". "Thanks mom, I really appreciate that". "I better get back inside, if we're not careful, Cameron will probably kidnap Allison, she loves holding her". Turning and heading back to the house to get a gun, John couldn't even consider to think how his life will be with out his mother.

Arriving at the pier half an hour later, John didn't know if he wanted to hear what Riley had to say. Spotting her near the stalls they saw the last time they were here, he walked over towards her. When she spotted him, she appeared cheerful as if nothing bad had happened between them. "Hey, how are you?". Her cheerful smile disappeared slowly when seeing John's face. "You wanted to talk so talk". She looked disappointed, as if she were expecting this to be another date. "Okay, your uncles waiting for you, come on". John followed her as they left the pier, John kept a firm grip on his gun. They walked in to an apartment block not far for the pier. Standing outside on of the doors, Riley knocked three times. Opening the door, They were confronted by a dark haired woman John hadn't seen before. "The famous John Connor, well the younger one, glad to meet you at last, I'm Jessie". She held her hand out to John, who didn't take it. "Okay, you two better come in then". Riley went straight in, John hesitated before following. Derek was there, leaning against the wall.

"Hey John, how you been?". John didn't reply at first, he just looked at the faces of the three other people in the room, Riley, Derek and who ever this Jessie woman was. "You wanted me here to talk so talk, I cant be long". Derek moved himself next to Jessie. "Its about the machine". "The machine as in Cameron, use her name Derek". Derek went red in the face again, as if saying her name was insulting. Jessie spoke next. "She, it shouldn't have a name". Riley took this moment to stand next to John, she reached out for his hand trying to hold it, John shrugging her off, walked away from her, leaving her looking hurt. "John, we came back to stop her". John turned on the spot, what did she mean she came back. "You come from the future?". She nodded her head. John looked over to Jessie. "I guess you are to?". She nodded also. "So why did I send you back?". All three of them gave each other nervous glances. "John, you didn't send them back, its kind of complicated". Looking at Derek, John wanted nothing more then to punch him for what he did to Cameron at the lake. "Uncomplicate it then".

Derek looked over to Jessie and back to John. "I only found out about Riley yesterday and what they are doing here so they can tell you. Derek took a sat on the couch, followed by Riley. John waited for someone to talk, which Jessie did. "The machine living with you, Cameron or what ever its called, she's taken over, its sick what she's doing, you were supposed to be leading us and you only talked with her, you've cut off everyone else, no one trusts you anymore". John looked away from her to Riley and Derek. If what they say is true, why did he send Cameron back?. "If Cameron had taken over, which I don't believe for a second, why did I send her back to protect me". He looked at Riley when he said this, making her reply to the question. "There was a group of us, a large group, we tried to convince you to get rid if her, you refused so we tried to remove her ourselves, she fought back, killed seven. You sent her back to keep her safe". "Not safe, to hide her from us". Jessie came back in to the conversation. "She made all the decisions for you and now she's living with you, what do you think will happen if you spend twenty years with her, I doubt you would even bother forming the resistance, she would hand you over to Skynet".

John took out the gun and aimed at her head. Derek stood up quickly. "See what I mean Derek, he's not John Connor". "I'm not listening to this shit". John lowered his gun and walked towards the door. "John, she killed her". John hand reached for the door before he stopped. He turned and looked at Riley, who had spoken. "Killed who". Riley looked to Derek, and nodded in John's direction, wanting him to talk. Derek frowned and looked towards John. "There was this girl, she was in one of the outer bunkers, bunker got attacked, everyone was killed, she was captured. Weeks later, she turns up at your camp. Except its not her, its Cameron. Cameron kept her locked up, learnt everything about her, then made herself look like her, then killed her". John felt a little sick at hearing this, not sick at Cameron, but sick at the fact that they thought this would work. "You think making up that kind of story will change anything?". "Its not made up, Allison Young was killed by that machine so she could get close to you, then she started taking over, think about it".

Thinking about, they did make some kind of sense, Cameron getting close to him to control things for Skynet's benefit but he didn't want to believe it, he couldn't believe it, he loved her. He opened the door. "What you going to do John?". H turned and faced Derek. He didn't have any intension of going home and yelling at Cameron for answers. "John, we told you what she did, if she isn't gone by tomorrow, we are going to destroy her". "You touch her, I'll kill you". Jessie and Riley stood either side of Derek. "Why is she so important to you, she's a fucking machine John". "She's important to me because I love her, and nothing you say, nothings she's ever done will change that". John had to duck as Derek threw a punch at him, John, took hold of his gun, rose the gun up as fast as he could, hitting Derek on the side of the head, knocking him out cold. He turned to look at Jessie and Riley, shocked looks on there faces. "What about me John, we have something between us". "No, we never did, never will, I love Cameron". He backed out of the apartment. Jessie stepped out also. "It still stands Connor, if she's not gone by tomorrow, we will get rid of her. I personally don't care if you or your mother gets in the way, either way, she will die".

John left with out another word. He got outside and headed towards the alley where he parked the car. "John, wait". He turned and was faced with Riley again. "How can you choose her over us?". "I already told you, I love her". "She's a machine, she was build to kill us and you love her". "Pretty much, yeah". Riley made to walk away before turning around again. "I used to catch rats to eat for a living, i was brought back to get you away from her, I love you John, how can you choose a machine over me, I have a heart, I feel, she doesn't". "You don't know how wrong you are about her". He got in to the car and started it up. "John, please, don't go yet, jut come back and we can talk". "I've got nothing left to say to you, Derek or Jessie, just leave me and Cameron alone". He took off, leaving Riley in the ally alone. John didn't head straight home, he drove in circles for about half an hour before stopping down the road from the house. He sat there as the day gradually became night, thinking of what he had been told earlier. He came up with hundreds of theories on how and why Cameron could control the resistance to Skynet's benefit. Every theory he came up with, h ended with the same conclusion. That conclusion was that he loved Cameron.

Riving the car to the house, he looked to his watch, it was nearly eleven at night. Shocked that he spend hours in the car, he got out and headed for the house. Opening the door, he stepped inside. On the couch, moving uncontrollably was Sarah, her face quenched in pain. "Mom, are you alright?". He knelt next to the couch, holding Sarah down on the couch, stopping her moving. "Hey, you've been gone hours". "Yeah sorry, what's wrong". Sarah had sweat dripping off her face as she moaned in pain again. "The tumours have grown, I wont last to the end of the week". John's heart skipped a beat. "We need to get you to the hospital". "No, they ask questions and things get complicated". John opened his mouth to argue but Sarah held her hand up to stop him. "What did Riley want?". All John could think about was his mothers pain, he had never seen her like this before, never like this. He told her exactly what Riley, Derek and Jessie had told him. Once he finished, he waited for Sarah to reply. "What do you think of her now". "I still love her, I don't care what she's done, I'll ask her about it tomorrow. I don't care what she tells me, I'll always love her". Sarah gave a quick smile before moaning in pain again. "Can't Cameron make that stuff again".

"No, the tumours are too big now". John could free tears forming in his eyes. "What can I do mom, I can't stop Skynet without you". Sarah raised both her hands, placing them on the side of John's head. "Yes you can, its what I've been getting you ready for". Sarah's grip on him lessened, her hands fell from him as she passed out from the pain. Checking to make sure she was comfortable and her pulse was okay, he headed upstairs. He hated the idea of leaving his mother on the couch in her state but he needed to hear Cameron's side of the story. He knocked on her bedroom door. She didn't respond so he opened the door and peered inside. Cameron wasn't there. Closing the door, he headed to his room and opened the door. He could see the outline of a sleeping Cameron under his blanket. Closing his door, he walked over to his bed, stepping over Cameron's discarded clothes, looked at her face, so peaceful as she slept. Not wanting to wake her, he got himself undressed and got in to bed next to her. Leaning forward, he kissed her on the forehead before closing his eyes.

After only a few seconds, John felt Cameron pressing her lips against his. He retuned the kiss, bring his hand to her head, stroking some of her hair "Hey, where were you, you were gone for hours". "Sorry, I lost track of time, I thought you were asleep". "I was, then you kissed me, where were you?, I missed you". John smiled, he found it weird that Cameron would miss him. "I was with Riley". Cameron's face expression changed rapidly to disgust. "What did she want?". John had to fight to stop himself laughing at Cameron's jealousy. "She told me some things, her and Derek". Cameron's expression changed again, from disgust of Riley to nerves of Derek. John told her what they had said, everything about her taking over and of Allison Young. When he finished, John could see the fear in Cameron's eyes, a fear that Cameron looked like John was going to kill her. "I want you to know that I don't care what they said, true or not, I still love you, but I want to know, is it true?". Tears fell across her face on to her pillow, John raised his hand and wiped them away.

"About Allison Young, yes, about me taking over, no". John regretted asking her about the future, he didn't like her seeing Cameron this upset. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to get upset". Cameron didn't move at first, but she gradually moved herself closer to John, she pushed him on to his back before resting her arm across his chest again. "I was an experiment model, Skynet tried over and over to kill you but you could always tell who was a machine and who wasn't, so Skynet build me. Allison Young was captured and brought to me. I learnt everything I could from her. Skynet made my skin and hair to look like her". Cameron ran her fingers through her hair when saying this. "I found out she lied to me, she didn't tell me about her bracelet, the bracelet that allowed access to your camp, I killed her and took it".

More tears began to fall from her eyes, John again raised his hand, wiping away her tears. "When I left, I don't know what happened to me, I regretted killing her, I couldn't understand why at the time, but now I know it was guilt. I got to your camp. I got right next to you. I had a gun to your head. Everyone went quiet, they thought I was Allison Young. Bit you already knew what I was, you didn't move. You just looked at me, I said I was going to kill you. You told me to do it, to kill you. But I couldn't, I cried and you held me, told me you would help me". John listened to her words, knowing every one of them to be the truth. "I let you take my chip, so you could fix me, but you didn't need to fix me, you didn't even reprogram me, you isolated my Skynet settings so they wouldn't come back". John held Cameron tighter, reassuring her that he believed her.

"But the car bomb, that let Skynet's settings out again". "Yes, when I was between the trucks, I wasn't lying when I told you I loved you, I panicked because you were going to kill me, I was able to overpower Skynet temporally, I told you the truth, that I loved you, but you took out my chip. Then you put it back and gave me the gun, Skynet wanted me to kill you, but I didn't want to, Skynet couldn't control me anymore, I deleted it from my chip". She turned herself to face John, her brown eyes meeting his green. "I killed Allison Young, I hate myself for doing it, please don't hate me". "I don't hate you, I cant hate you, I love you, that wont change". He couldn't hate her, he knew what she meant to him no matter what she did, he loved her.

"Did some people want you dead, in the future?". "Yes, everyone who was close to Allison Young wanted me gone, others didn't like you reprogramming machines to fight for you. You placed a machine in one of the outer bunkers, some people there tried to get rid of it, it fought back, wiped out half the bunker before they could kill it. You tried to stop them but they tried to kill me, you sent me back to keep me safe from them". Staring in to her brown eyes, he knew she was again telling the truth. Leaning forwards, he pressed his lips against hers, bringing a moan of approval from her. John didn't want to question her anymore on the future, the future hasn't been written yet, he and Cameron could change it, even if Judgement day couldn't be stopped, they could change things, maybe even save Allison Young. But at this moment in time, he wanted to be with the woman he loved more then anything, and that was Cameron.