Hi,

Thanks to reviewers J0hn_Henry, uncommoner, Nyrki, meanoldmoe, ljm, CloudyShadows, Steel_Dragon_64, olischulu, gypsy069, kaotic2, XxDeathStarxX and Dragon_Seraphin.

Savannah had lost track of the point where she stopped being able to taste the whisky she was swilling down her throat, and quite frankly, she didn't care. Her spat with Sergeant Bent had really hit home with her. He accused her of being responsible for his friend's death, and while not exactly true, she still felt guilty for not even caring. Was she really so out of touch with her own species that she'd lost all semblance of any humanity she once had? While she treasured the few human friends she had, namely John Connor and James Ellison, she always felt much worse upon hearing that one of the machines under her command had come to its end.

Savannah had the distinction of being one of the few humans in existence who didn't fear seeing a bare machine endoskeleton, in fact she actually quite liked them. She liked the way the light reflected off of their bones, and she especially liked the way that even though they were all physically identical she could tell each of them apart by their many small quirks and behaviour. Whether it was the dent in Hank's head, or the particular shade of red that Charlie's eyes glowed, she wasn't afraid to admit that she adored her machine friends, particularly John Henry and Cameron.

Despite all that, Sergeant Bent's comments bothered her.

"Go ahead, say it" she slurred her words slightly due to the effects of the decades old whisky.

"You're upset" John Henry observed from his seat opposite her.

"No shit" she took another shaky swig from the now almost empty bottle.

John Henry examined his friend with a mixture of concern and confusion on his face. He'd rarely seen her like this before, she was usually bright and bubbly to the extent it was often annoying, even to him. He also never liked it when she drank. She didn't do it often, but when she did she had a tendency to become moody and generally unpleasant. Today didn't seem to be any exception. He chanced what he knew to be the correct phrase in this situation.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Yes, no, I dunno"

She folded her arms on the table and placed her head on them and stared at the ground. For a long few minutes, John Henry merely watched her, ensuring she didn't drop off to sleep and fall off the chair. Eventually, she raised her head and looked at him with slightly glistening eyes.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"You seem to be healthy, I detect no signs of ill health Savannah. You are a healthy human female of breeding age"

Savannah scoffed and shook her head at his appraisal and lack of understanding of her question.

"Yeah, human, really? As for breeding age, as if any guy would get with the 'queen of the machines'. I hate humans, humans hate me"

A single tear spilled down her cheek as she looked at John Henry with pleading, desperate eyes. He observed her behaviour and listened to her statement and one thing stood out for him.

"Why would a human male not want to copulate with you?"

"Oh come on John Henry, you heard that guy. I'm not a human in their eyes, hell, even Cameron is kinda accepted around here, she even has her own baby to raise. What the hell do I have? Twenty bodyguards at all times and every one of them a machine…"

After a brief hesitation, she looked away from John Henry.

"…I'm not human any more"

John Henry tilted his head in a manner reminiscent of Cameron. Surprisingly though, his face contorted in to a frown.

"Savannah, you are the most human person I know. Even though you are surrounded by machines, you still maintain your humanity that very few machines have been able to replicate. You pointed out Cameron, even she struggles with certain aspects of humanity sometimes, and Amy is outright odd…" he considered for a moment how best to sum up his meaning and cheer her up "…Your mother would be proud of you"

Instead of saying something like he expected, Savannah slowly raised her head and peered at John Henry from behind long lashes. Wordlessly, she stood and unsteadily walked to the opposite side of the table. John Henry watched confused as she straddled his lap and clasped her hands behind his neck. She looked down and grabbed hold of his hands and placed them on her waist and slid closer to him.

"Savannah…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his thoughts as he was silenced by her lips crashing in to his. He found the sensations to be…interesting, despite his confusion at her actions. She'd kissed him before, usually on the cheek, but this was very different. This was desperate, intimate…and a little sloppy.

"Shut up and kiss me" she mumbled against his lips.

She cupped his face in her hands and ground her hips as she continued to kiss him. She had no idea why she was doing this. It probably stemmed from seeing Cameron's baby and from being upset by Sergeant Bent. She was emotional, broody and just wanted to be loved. Her whisky fuelled mind came to the conclusion that John Henry was the obvious choice for this purpose. Who better than the man that had looked after her and loved her for so long. She sloppily kissed her way down his neck while she continued to slide up and down his legs and licked and sucked her way back up to his lips.

She was so busy trying to focus on what she was doing that she failed to notice that John Henry wasn't following her instructions and had remained motionless since she'd first touched him. Savannah moved her hands down from his face and ran them down the length of his chest, feeling the faux muscles underneath his shirt until she reached the waistband of his pants. As soon as she started to fumble with his belt, she felt a pair of strong hands circle her wrists and stop her movement.

"Savannah, stop" John Henry said gently but firmly.

For the first time since she started, Savannah pulled back and looked at her friend and his innocent expression. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming sadness, and she didn't know why. Her eyes began to well up with tears as she looked at John Henry. All of her movement stopped and her brain had trouble keeping up with what was going on. She was trying to have sex with her best friend.

What the hell are you doing Savannah? Are you so desperate for a lay that you'll try it on with John Henry?

Suddenly she felt disgusted with herself. Not because John Henry was a machine, but because he was her friend and had been like a father to her since her mother was taken from her.

Fighting down the sudden urge to wretch, she instead chose to throw her arms around his neck and sobbed in to his shoulder.

"I'm…so…sorry…J…John…Henry" she managed to choke out between sobs.

For his part, John Henry was used to this behaviour and knew what to do. He encircled her small frame with his arms and gave her a gentle squeeze before rubbing her back comfortingly with one hand.

"It's okay Savannah. It'll be alright"

John Henry had always had the most profound influence over Savannah. Even to this day he had the knack of saying the absolute correct thing to her. After several moments like of rubbing her back and simply holding her, he felt her body slump against his and a soft snore near his left ear.

Smiling to himself, he lowered one arm underneath her backside and used the other to hold her top half close to him. Effortlessly, he hoisted her up in to the air and held her close. On the rare occasion when Savannah did choose to come and see Cameron, there were always quarters set aside for her, somewhere John Henry knew she'd be safe while she slept. Carefully picking his way through the base and ignoring the odd looks he was receiving from the its inhabitants, he made his way to said quarters. He opened the door quietly and entered the room. He walked over to the cot in the centre of the room and gently lay Savannah down and detached her arms from around his neck. Standing up again, he went back to the door and locked it before returning to Savannah's side.

He crouched down next to her and reached out to tuck a few errant strands of hair behind her ear. She shifted in her sleep and leaned in to his touch subconsciously, bringing a smile to his face. He stood up silently and walked to the bottom of the bed. He stood facing the door and resolved to stand guard over her for the night. He wasn't a combat model, but in the absence of her bodyguards he was going to make sure that no harm came to her tonight.

If the forces of the human resistance could see John Connor right now, they'd probably all think the same thing, 'this guy's in charge?'

The same could be said for Skynet, who would probably just laugh.

There he lay, on his side, on his bed, the bed he shared with his wife, but at this moment he shared it with his wife and daughter. Abigail had fallen asleep on Cameron's chest with her head finely balanced between her breasts and Cameron's hands holding her in place. Cameron also had gone in to standby as part of her three day recharge cycle. She'd locked the servo's in her hands to prevent herself from crushing Abi and also to stop her from slipping off her chest.

Cameron didn't know this, but John always stayed awake on the rare occasion when she did have to go in to standby. He saw it as his duty as a husband to watch over her, but mostly he just enjoyed the peace and quiet and being able to simply admire her as she slept peacefully. If she ever found out he did this, she'd probably threaten to run the risk of degrading her systems by refusing to enter standby until he got some sleep. Which is why to this day he still closed his eyes when she lay down and opened them again when he heard the faint whirring sound she always emitted when powering up or down.

Over the years she'd tweaked the sensory inputs that would wake her up to include any noise over seventy decibels, John's voice telling her to wake up, and lately to anything above a whimper made by Abigail. In short, anything other than a triple eight breaking down the door would fail to rouse her. So here John lay with his hand idly tracing circles on her bare stomach under the sheets. He marvelled how her skin felt just as soft and smooth as the day he'd first touched her intimately, despite his calloused and scarred hands.

Today however, he was joined in his quiet observations by his daughter as she lay on her back on her mommy's chest with her mouth hanging open and drooling a little. He smiled and watched as the two favourite ladies in his life happily slumbered. He took the opportunity to let his mind wander. He thought about what Abi would be like when she grows up, what she'd look like and what sort of daddy he was going to be. Hell, he even wondered what she'd be like when she became a teenager.

Pushing that train of thought far down with a shiver, he focused on his wife. His wife who almost died a few days ago. What was usually quite a pleasant time for John suddenly turned sombre for him. It was the first time since they'd adopted Abigail that either of them had been in any real danger, and that thought scared John. He was the one who was initially sceptical about adopting her for this very reason, they live dangerous lives in dangerous times and it wouldn't be fair to Abi if either one of them died.

Letting his eyes drift closed for a moment, John broke his personal rule and allowed himself to let his guard down when Cameron was vulnerable. At almost the exact instant he felt sleep starting to overcome him, his eyes snapped back open to the sounds of screaming and gunfire from out in the tunnels. He sprung up out of bed and grabbed his rifle, not caring in the slightest that he was totally naked.

"Cameron, wake up"

Fifteen seconds, she needs fifteen seconds to reboot.

John knew he should have been heading out of the room already to join in the fight against whatever was out there, but when Abigail woke up and started to cry, all he could think of was that she needed protecting. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, John scooped her up in to his arms and shook Cameron.

It's been more than fifteen seconds, wake up dammit.

John continued to frantically shake Cameron's lifeless body while trying to shush Abigail and keeping his eyes peeled on the door.

"Cameron, this isn't funny, wake up dammit"

Still nothing. Pushing back her thick brown hair, John did his best to inspect her chip port with one hand while Abi continued to squirm in his other arm. The sounds of screaming became louder, and soon John heard the loud 'thud, thud' of heavy mechanical footsteps approaching.

"Hey, hey, shhhh, it's okay…" he gently bounced Abi in his arm while she whimpered and tears streamed from her eyes "…Cameron, wake up…please"

John swivelled his head and body around to face the door when something crashed in to it, leaving a large dent, and then another, and another. It wouldn't be long now until the machine on the other side forced it's way in and threatened his family, he had to take action, he had to get them out of the firing line and behind cover. Placing Abi down gently on the bed to loud cries of protest, he grabbed Cameron by her hands and tugged for all he was worth…but she wouldn't budge. It didn't make sense, despite her weight he was always able to move her when he needed. He tugged and pulled with all his might and barely moved her an inch. The loud clangs on the heavy metal door came closer together now and John grew more and more frantic. Searching around the room, his eyes locked on the closet.

Scooping a sobbing Abigail up, he quickly made his way over to the closet and opened the door.

"I'm sorry baby, but you'll be safe in here"

He placed her in the bottom of the closet, ensuring that she'd be safe and wouldn't get hurt, closed the door and moved back to the bed, just in time for a triple eight to burst in to the room in all it's metallic endoskeletal glory and catch him midway between his wife and his daughter. He didn't have time to raise his rifle and watched on in horror as the machine raised it's weapon and aimed it squarely at his head. However, as if reconsidering it's decision, the machine hesitated. John's terror increased as the machine first adjusted it's aim to Cameron's still unmoving body on the bed. But again before firing, the machine paused and actually looked squarely at John this time. With a small tilt of it's head, reminiscent of Cameron, it adjusted it's aim towards the small whimpering noise coming from the closet. Before John had a split second to react, the machine fired.

John awoke with a start with his eyes wide and quickly flitting around the room, unable to focus on any one thing. A soft and gentle voice stole his attention.

"John…it's okay"

His eyes focused on the source of the noise and he found Cameron sitting up in bed with a hand on his chest and a concerned look on her face. Even a propped up Abigail looked at him worriedly. John's head slumped back on to the pillow and he took a deep breath to try and calm his racing mind and body.

It was just a nightmare.

Bringing a hand up to wipe his soaking brow, he turned towards Cameron and gave her a grateful smile.

"I'm okay, and so are you two"

Cameron tilted her head and picked up Abi and held her facing him.

"Of course we are, we've got you to look after us"

Oh if only you knew.

John let out a short laugh and reached out to take Abigail from her. He settled her down on his chest before grabbing Cameron's hand and tugging her down to place her head on his chest too.

"Yeah, you're right"

He hoped he sounded more confident than he actually felt.

"What? What does 'the jackpot' actually mean Amy?"

Amy fixed John with her patented 'don't be an ass' stare. Normally nobody looked at the General like that, but he made an exception for certain individuals, particularly ones that actually had the balls to call him out on it when he was being an ass. John had gathered all of his Generals in a room with Cameron and himself when Amy had arrived back and came bouncing in to his quarters with a huge grin on her face and kept on repeating 'jackpot baby'. His Generals being Charley Dixon, James Ellison and Derek Reese.

"John, if you'd let me finish"

"Amy, you haven't even started yet" an exasperated John pointed out.

"Well then, let me start"

John waved his arm in an after you gesture and smiled while shaking his head.

"We were out on patrol and we found it John…we found it"

Clearly confused, John shook his head and shrugged.

"Found what?"

"Would you let me finish?" Amy snapped with her tiny hands on her hips.

John couldn't take it any more and he let his head slump on to the desk. Almost immediately he felt Cameron's nimble fingers glide over the back of his neck reassuringly.

"Amy. What. Have. You. Found?"

"Are you slow, I already told you"

"No, you didn't" Cameron leapt to her husband's defence this time and smiled sympathetically at Amy.

"Oh, haven't I? Sorry" Amy smiled sheepishly and took a seat at the table.

Damn messed up chip.

John raised his head up off the table and looked at a suddenly upset looking Amy.

"Amy, it's okay. Now, tell us what you've found"

"I've found the last Skynet hub" she said sadly, a lot of the bluster taken out of her mood.

"You, you've what? How? Where?"

John could hardly contain himself so much that he actually physically bounced in his chair with excitement. If this was true, the resistance could now wipe out nearly all of the remaining remnants of Skynet's communication network. Before Judgement Day, Skynet was dependant on the millions of networked computers around the globe to function. However after the bombs dropped, your average home PC became little more than something humans could use to hurl at each other. In order to maintain communications and control over it's units, Skynet had ordered the construction of hundreds of communication relay hubs around the world. These hubs were very well guarded and vital to Skynet's continued dominance over the human population. That was until the first one went down through sheer luck on the West Coast of Australia. Apparently some of the local wildlife had worked it's way down in to the core processing unit and had disabled it, forcing the local Skynet units in to disarray and allowed for the capture of hundreds of enemy machines for reprogramming. Those forces spread out and attacked more of these hubs, creating chaos on the continent. Eventually the sheer number of human allied machines were used to overwhelm defences of other hubs until there were but a handful left. Although John did find it odd that one had managed to pop up in downtown L.A. He couldn't help but be excited about the prospect of putting another nail in Skynet's coffin, especially after his nightmare this morning that he sincerely hoped wasn't prophetic.

"We found it out on patrol. John, it's going to take a lot to get in there, you won't be able to half ass this one"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, I was in there for the best part of a half hour. It may not look like much up top, but underground it's like a maze"

John took a moment to consider his options with his elbows propped up on the table and his chin on his hands. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, unfortunately he saw only the remnants of last night's nightmare on the inside of his eyelids.

"Okay, we'll send in the Third Battalion, and Silver Company will lead the way"

The unanimous nods around the table seemed satisfied with his decision and stood to end the meeting.

"I'll lead them personally"

At John's statement, every head in the room swivelled in his direction. He was immediately bombarded with arguments from everyone in the room besides Cameron and Amy. Charley told him it was too dangerous, Ellison told him to let his men take care of it, Derek told him he was too important to risk. Amy sat quietly, as did Cameron rather surprisingly. Of all the people in the room, John expected her to put up the biggest argument, however when she remained quiet, he took that a sign that she approved of his plan. Easily ignoring his Generals, John stood and pushed his chest out with an air of authority.

"Send word for the battalion to assemble and activate Silver Company. We leave when they're ready"

The finality in his voice left no room for argument and the three men filed out of the room, followed by a slightly awestruck looking Amy. Cameron however still remained seated and silent, staring at him as he slowly paced back and forth.

"What?" John asked, as if expecting her to say something.

"I don't know what to do"

Wow, I wasn't expecting that.

As if on cue, the baby monitor system standing on the table crackled to life as Abigail cried in her nursery. Wordlessly, Cameron stood and left the room and John quickly followed, struggling to match her brisk pace and deft movements. By the time John had reached the nursery, Cameron had already scooped her baby up in to her arms and was gently bouncing and shushing her. She turned around when John entered and fixed him with a worried look.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He sidled up next to her and placed a hand on Abi's back and rubbed in small circles while matching Cameron's concerned look.

"We can't bring her with us"

"What? Who?" quite clearly with no clue what she meant, John placed his other hand on his wife's back and matched his other hand's movements.

"Abigail won't be safe when we attack the hub"

"We?" John asked incredulously.

"Yes, if you're going, then I must go with you, to keep you safe" Cameron reasoned.

"Cameron, I'll have over a thousand men and machines to watch my back. I think I'll be okay without you for a little while…" he glanced down at Abigail who stared at her mother and drooled on her shoulder "…besides, she needs you more"

Cameron looked at Abi and couldn't help but smile a little. She wanted to stay with her daughter, but she had an overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right about all of this. The last time she felt like this was the time Hansen died on her last intel mission to Savannah's base. She couldn't risk that happening to John.

"No, I'll go with you. Remember the promise you made to us…to me? You promised that we'd both come home to her. I need to know you're going to be safe out there…I need to be with you"

After the longest moment, John nodded slowly. While he didn't want her to come, he knew that once his wife's mind was made up then there would be no changing it.

"Okay…we'll leave Abi with Amy, she'll be alright…"

He ran a finger through his baby girl's fine hair and looked up at Cameron and spoke with an unsteady voice.

"…she'll be alright"

Ok, so the story is picking up pace and will be done in 3 more chapters plus an epilogue. Just to let you all know, I have started work on the still untitled part 3 of my main story and the sequel to 'I wouldn't Be Worth Much If I Couldn't Feel'.