Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.

Starman800: I double checked what I wrote and you must have gotten something a little crossed in the timeframe. Anyways, a quick answer so you don't go rereading it, John spends the next two weeks fixing Cam. After those two weeks Sarah and Derek arrive. Next 7 weeks are getting ready before the bombs to fall. Make sense?

Notes: Sorry about the last chapter guys. I had an absolute ton of things to fix and I was tired when I finally posted it after a large amount of work so I just missed way too much. At least no one is being a Grammar Nazi about it. I have been going in and trying to fix all my chapters as best I can but if you read the first run of the last chapter I'm sorry about all the mistakes. Thanks.

The sun had just crested one of the nearby mountains and it wasn't long before Jessica found the light pouring into her eyes. She tried to ignore it for a little while but found it impossible. She had always been a person who needs it absolutely dark and quite to be able to sleep. She let a huge yawn escape and stretched, well she stretched what she could. She was still wearing her extra jewelry, two pairs of handcuffs, and it didn't really let her move as much as she wanted. She was really surprised that she wasn't horribly stiff or in a large amount of pain. John must have given her some sort of muscle relaxant.

She sat up and kicked the covers off of herself and tried to look through the windows of the Jeep. It must have gotten rather cold as everything had frosted over and she could see her breath inside the car, but it wasn't horribly cold and she figured that the sun would quickly melt all the frost. She had a much bigger problem to worry about because if she didn't get to use the bathroom soon there was going to be a big mess inside John's new car.

She looked around and figured that she could open the tailgate herself. She scooted herself over to it and positioned her back to it and reached out with her fingers and pulled on the handle feeling the latch release. She rolled over onto her back and used her legs to push the door open and then realized it was a lot colder outside with the slight breeze present. She saw the Tent just off to the left of the car and she slowly set her feet down on the ground and was preparing to try and hop over to the tent when the main flap was unzipped and John stepped outside. She signed and spoke out.

"I'm so glad you got up."

"Well Cameron wouldn't let me sleep and told me you had gotten up and had opened the tailgate. So how are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine, but I really got to use the bathroom."

John chuckled a bit.

"No problem. Let me get those handcuffs off of you."

She gave him a very grateful smile and he came over and undid them and she rubbed her wrists a bit and was still surprised she wasn't in a ton of pain.

"Let me get you some supplies and you can pick a tree and take care of yourself. I'm going to start cooking breakfast once you come back."

John was still a bit worried she might take off but figured he would take Cameron's advice about her for the moment. It was going to be real interesting when they started on Cameron's repairs later today.

"Cam, do you want to come on out as well?"

"Not yet. Once you have everything all setup then come grab me."

"Sure."

He had just finished getting their campsite mostly organized when Jessica came back. She looked quite a bit better and stopped by the Jeep picking up the handcuffs that had been on her ankles and then came over.

"I'm guessing that since you left this chain with the handcuffs attached to it on my waist you are planning to lock me back up so here is the pair for my ankles, but I'm going to hold you to your promise that you will let me go completely once you have explained everything."

"Jessica I'm not going to tie you back up right now. Cam told me that you seemed to get what was going so you can relax right now. I just didn't have the key for the chain on me as it got buried underneath stuff when I was making up your bed. Why don't you grab a blanket form the car while I grab Cameron and we can all eat."

"Thanks."

Breakfast was a simple set of pancakes John made on a small portable stove. They all ate the meal in silence but it was a calm and peaceful silence and John found the view of the sun slowly rising over the mountainside to be very relaxing. Too bad this was all going to fall apart so soon.

"I will miss it too."

John looked over at Cameron and knew that his revelation about when Judgment Day was going to happen this time weighed heavily on her heart. It made him so sad but he was very glad that she was with him and always would be.

"So could you two explain what is going on?"

John shook his head.

"Not yet. We need to run into town and grab a ton of supplies so that we can stay out here for while. Also, we need to get you some shoes and clothes."

"Yea a different change of clothes would be nice and walking out here is little difficult without any shoes, but how long are we going to be out here."

"Couple of months."

"Months! John people are going to be looking for me and will have thought I was murdered or something. Who knows what will happen since the FBI wants to talk to me about what happened at the office. What are you going to do about that?"

"Jessica I promise that it will make sense later. Now don't worry about the authorities right now and just be glad that you are alive. Try to take it all in and enjoy it as much as possible over the next few months."

"John you sound like the world is going to end. You better have one hell of a good story."

"The best one you will ever hear and then wish you never had," replied Cameron.

She had been silent for a while but had shaken herself out of her trance and joined in the conversation. Jessica looked a bit annoyed but relaxed and John went back to eating a few more pancakes. He was rather hungry this morning as with the new ones he just put on his plate increased his total to 13 pancakes if he finished all of them.

"Cam, do you have a list of everything we will need?"

"Yes. I have also included the necessary supplies for Jessica in it."

"Hey, you two aren't planning on leaving me here are you?"

"It would be the safest option. There is a possibility that someone has reported you missing or saw us leave with you and it would be troublesome to have to deal with the authorities. Also, if we took you with us I would recommend that John use the restraints on you because you might suddenly change your mind and try to run off quickly ensuring your death by forces we would have a very hard time in stopping while still trying to meet a quickly approaching deadline. The changes of your survival if you left our protection would drop to less than 3 percent and I don't want one of my only other friends to die."

"Well I don't want to say here by myself. What if something happens to both of you and you leave me here all tied up? What am I going to do then?"

"We wouldn't leave you like that."

"Well that's nice to know but I would still rather be with you two than alone. I'm still rather scared about everything and that story you told me last night is still bugging me. It won't bother me if John ties me up again. If I was able to handle it last time I will be fine again. So, please let me come with you."

"What do you think John?"

"I would rather take her with us. I can really understand where she is coming from."

"Alright. Jessica please promise me you won't try and leave us. I know you are scared but I swear the best place for you to be is with us."

Jessica had a rather happy smile on her face.

"I promise. Thanks for caring about me."

John had finished covering everything up and was just double checking that the campsite would be very hard to spot if someone came walking by. The stuff they were leaving behind was far too important and it bugged him that they couldn't at least take Cameron's new parts with him. She had told him that the chances of people coming through this area and finding their stuff to be less than 0.1 percent. He was still worried though.

"John it's fine. The aren't any tracks out here that were made within in the last three months, which was when it last rained in this area. We are only going to be gone for a few hours and I didn't sense anyone within several miles when we drove to this area."

"I know Cam, but I just worry."

"If you are this bad now how are you going to deal with all the coming problems?"

"I will have you with me, that's how.

"Thanks, but we have a limited numbers of hours present in a given day John so it is best to move forward."

He signed and headed back over to the Jeep and walked over to Jessica's side of the car. He opened the door and saw that she had locked the handcuffs about her ankles already and put them on just as tight as he would have. He looked at her and she gave him a silly smile and turned her back to him and held out her free hand. She had also locked the handcuffs about one of her wrists. Apparently, she had decided to trust them completely and he wondered if it would be better to just not bother with restraining her anymore.

"I can't seem to use my other hand to finish the job. I never seen handcuffs that didn't have a chain before. They really make it hard to move in them."

"Yea, well when I went to purchase them the sales girl explained that these would be the best fit for use on a small framed female."

John finished locking her other wrist in place and then double locked all of them so that they wouldn't tighten any further on her and help prevent her from getting hurt. She turned to look at him and gave him a knowing smile.

"So I take it that since you are rather red she teased you about the purchase. What did you tell her?"

"Nothing."

Cameron watched him and found his reaction really funny. He had told her all about it and she figured it would be fun to give him a 'hard time' as most people put it. Once he got into the car she turn to Jessica.

"Actually he told the sales girl that he was buying them for his girlfriend. She found it rather funny and gave him lots of advice on how to use them correctly so that she wouldn't be able to escape but not hurt her at the same time. Apparently, she also gave him a demonstration."

"Cam!"

Jessica couldn't help it and found herself laughing up a storm at John's reaction. She could just see him in the store listening as the sales clerk explained away the details about safety when playing with handcuffs while he got redder by the second. If only there was a video of the demonstration as it would provide them hours upon hours of entertainment. Well, at least he had paid good attention to the sales clerk because while they were tight enough to not all her to free herself from them the rounded edges of the model he purchased and the play he allowed her had prevented any major pain or soreness for her. If only her boyfriends were so caring. Cameron was one very lucky girl.

"I just wanted to give you a bit of a hard time. You get so embarrassed over the simplest things and I'm not sure it is something I will ever understand. What is so bad about a couple engaging in such activities if they both agree to it?"

Jessica stopped her laughing and looked over to Cameron noticing her very confused expression and John's beet red face and intense focus on driving the car and figured she could explain this one. Cameron must have grown up in a really interesting household if she didn't know the answer to this question.

"It's because activities, like tying up your partner, are considered different and strange. In America we are very shy about sex so it draws a ton of unwanted attention. So, for John he felt embarrassed because he was painting a picture of himself that suggests he favored these types of activities and you know how shy he is. Now where did you grow up where you wouldn't know about this?"

"I grew up in a desolate waste land and sex wasn't something that was discussed very often. Generally people engaged in it whenever they could to find comfort in another person and no one ever complained about how they did it as long as both people were willing participants."

"That sounds really bleak Cameron. You sure you aren't pulling my leg."

"No. It relates to what we will explain tonight."

The mood in the car darkened immensely and Cameron began to wonder if she should have told her a small lie. No, it was better she started to learn a bit of the truth no matter how bad it was. She just really hoped that Jessica wouldn't be one of many who killed themselves over the horrors that came.

After making it back down the north side of the Pargin Mountain range John got them on the highway and they soon made it through Bayfield and into Durango. It took about 95 minutes so they couldn't really afford to be here very long, especially with it already being 10:11am.

"Cam, where should we go first?"

"Find either the Autozone or NAPA auto parts supplier. We need several additional tools especially some cutting and welding equipment to swap out the parts. Most of the locking mechanisms were unable to be released and we will have to manually do it or remove them. Also, that list I gave you contains a list of bolts and fasteners we might need. Try to get the highest grade of stainless steel they have. If they don't have a stainless steel version don't get anything else and we can check the other hardware stores."

"Alright."

The next hour and half was spent with John running into stores while Cameron and Jessica waited in the car as he tried to complete the entire list of parts they needed. She had twelve different thread sizes of bolts and fasteners and it took going to every hardware store in in town to get the over two hundred bolts and fasteners that could be required. As soon as they had her fixed he planned to get a small stockpile of parts put together so they wouldn't have to search for them again later. A strange thought that was, a supply of parts to repair your wife.

He had picked up a welding torch kit which came with various heating and cutting heads. Cameron had told him the cutting heads would be useless against the hyperalloy chassis but the heating parts would work well in loosening things. He also got a small generator and several power tools for cutting and drilling along with all the cobalt drill bits he could get his hands on. Some work lights, an axe, and many different sizes of hammers and chisels had completed that part of the trip.

Now they were off collecting various camping supplies. A trip to a place called Backcounty Experience had taken care of the special supplies he wanted to get. These included a large amount of the civilian equivalent of an MRE. They would be very helpful if he got too busy to cook up something.

To finish off the last bit of their shopping they made their way to Wal-Mart. As John pulled into the parking spot he turned off the car and looked back at the girls.

"What do you want to do Cam?"

"Hey, we already had this discussion. I'm not staying behind and if you leave me hear alone I'm going to scream my head off."

John gave her a funny look and then looked over at Jessica.

"I wasn't planning on leaving you behind. I just wanted to know what Cameron thought I should do?"

"Jessica is in a good state of mind right now but I would rather you shop while we wait here. I have written down everything you should purchase for her on the list as well as all her sizes."

"Alright, but this might take me about 45 minutes or so. It might get a bit hot in here so I'm going to leave the car turned on with the engine off so that you adjust the windows and such."

"Thanks John."

"No Problem."

With that he headed into the American icon of discount shopping with a large list of items for clothes and food.

Jessica turned and looked at Cameron.

"I wouldn't have caused any trouble you know that right?"

"I do, but I dislike what I don't know. If you stay here with me I can control the interactions of people who come into contact with you and don't have to worry about the small chance of you deciding to run. While this may sound terrible, you currently accept your situation and keeping you in handcuffs reinforces this thought process. However, once we let you go and you are around other people that thought process degrades. The only way to keep it would be to make horrible threats and that isn't something I would do to you. Do you understand?"

"I believe so, but I am rather annoyed that you don't trust me?"

"I do trust you but I have to deal with the less than 8 percent chance of you changing your mind about staying with us. My goal is to keep you safe and if I want to be certain that will be achieved I must keep you under lock and key as it were. I am going to refuse anything that damages this mission and it was a major concession on my part by letting you accompany us. Sorry that my decisions are not what you want right now, but they have to be this way."

"I get it. You never really say things in an easy fashion do you?"

"How so?"

"You always seem to outline and explain how you are thinking. Most people assume that others can follow their thought process."

"That doesn't work for me because my thought process is very unique. John is the only one who can usually know what I mean so I tend to be a bit shorter in my explanations with him. Also, he doesn't question my judgment which removes the need to give a justification of my reasoning. If you would have differed to my reasoning without question I could have shortened my responses."

"You sure are strange sometimes. Anyways, while we are waiting for John I have a few questions."

Cameron arched an eyebrow, something she had learned from John, and felt it was a response that fit the situation.

"You never really talked much about yourself. I would usually talk to you about my problems but you and John were usually rather tight lipped. So, I figure that you can at least tell me some stuff. I mean I am trusting the both you quite a bit here and would like to know more about the both of you."

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"How did you and John meet each other and how did you end up loosing an arm and two legs?"

"I will answer the second and tell you about the first one later. The loss of my limbs occurred due to a car bomb. I was on my way to get John his birthday cake when a Russian mobster named Margos Sarkissian had planted a bomb in our car which detonated when I tried to start the vehicle."

"You're serious. My God! That's all I can really think to say about that. Is that why you think I am in great danger?"

"No. Your enemy isn't from Russian mobsters but comes from an organization called Skynet."

"Skynet? What is that?"

"I will tell you later."

"Cam, come on. I deserve to know about what is out there planning to kill me."

"I agree but you need to have other things explained to you and I want you to believe them. Once you believe them then I know you are ready for the explanation of Skynet."

Jessica made a sour face and wanted to put her head in her hands but instead had to settle for squirming around in her seat. She was getting a bit uncomfortable and was going to try to move some more when Cameron reached over and undid her seat belt let her stretch out on the back seat.

"Thanks. That really feels good. Ok, now I got another question. What do you and John have planned for me?"

"We want you to join us in our efforts. Your abilities are very useful and I would like to have another friend around most of the time. As ugly as things are going to get I would really enjoy your company."

"You and John both seem to act like some horrible event is coming. How do you know it is coming and what is it?"

"It is the end of the world and we will explain it in much further detail later."

Jessica rolled over and looked at Cameron's face closely and noticed that her eyes had welled up with tears. How could Cameron believe that the world was going to end? Nothing really bad was going on in the world and she never listened to the environmental nutcases so how could someone as rational and sensible as Cameron think such a thing. She found herself trying to wrap her head around it but decided to leave it for later; however, it really bugged her and made her a bit nervous. Not enough to doubt her choice to stay with them but just an uneasy feeling in the back of her head.

"Now you are starting to scare me again. So lets..."

Cameron had placed her hand on Jessica's mouth and looked down directly in her eyes. Her gaze was very intense and Jessica knew she was about to tell her something from the depths of her heart.

"Don't be scared. You don't have to be because John will take care of us. He is the only one who will be able to fight what is to come and he will win. As sure as the earth orbits the sun am I about John. So, please don't be scared of us and believe that what ever happens John will be the light to lead us from the darkness."

Cameron removed her hand reached over to the door and rolled down the window a bit. Jessica found herself unable to entirely understand what Cameron was saying but whatever it was she believed in John with every fiber in her being. She knew then that Cameron was totally devoted to John and would never leave him no matter what happened. She wished that she could find a guy that she could feel that way about.

She was about to ask another question when someone came over and knocked on the glass. It made her jump a little bit and then she pushed ankles under the blanket that was at the end of the seat. She stayed still hoping that who ever this person was they hadn't seem her ankle jewelry.

"Hi there. I noticed you have been parked here for a while and it is rather odd to see people in a car waiting for so long. Could you tell me what going on?"

Cameron looked at the man and was very annoyed. Why did this guy have to come bother her? Usually all the security guards at these places didn't bother anyone but they had to find the only Wal-Mart in the state that would have a nosy security guard.

"We are waiting on my husband and my friend here is keeping me company. As you can see I'm a bit disabled and didn't want to go inside so she was nice enough to hang around with me."

The guard looked at her a bit more carefully and then seemed to get a bit embarrassed over having bothered them.

"Sorry. We have recently had a large number of shoplifting cases so they want us to keep a look out for strange things. I will be going now and have a good day."

"We will."

Once he was far enough away Cameron looked down at Jessica and gave her a big smile.

"Thanks. I was wondering what you would do."

"Actually I was more embarrassed than anything else. I just kept thinking that I hope he doesn't look at me too closely because I would have to think of some really stupid excuse."

Cameron's gave her a sly smile no doubt wanting to know more about what she was thinking.

"Oh and what excuse did you come up with?"

"Once you indicated your disability I thought I would tell him that you had challenged me to try being helpless for a day to see what it was like."

Cameron reached down and rubbed her head and told Jessica.

"Good idea. Perhaps John and I should give you a treat later."

"Hey. I'm not your pet."

Cameron just laughed at the whole thing and marveled at how much she had changed. Everything felt so much clearer and people's actions and feeling were no longer a very difficult puzzle that were impossible to solve. Now she could understand them and even feel with them. It was an astounding revelation and again she felt her emotions surge with the thanks she had for the amazing gift John had given her.

"Cameron are you ok? You're crying."

She began to wipe her eyes and knew it was strange that she would suddenly have her emotions take over like this at odd times and wondering what other people thought of these odd spells she would get now and then.

"I'm fine. I just really happy about something."

"What is it?"

"It is the greatest gift I was ever given. I will tell you about it later."

As John opened the tailgate Jessica sat up and Cameron turned to look at him.

"Cam, did something happen while I was gone?"

"No. I'm just remembering things and it got to me a little bit."

"Alright. So, Jessica did you get your answers?"

"Not really. She doesn't want to tell me much until later."

"Well that will be soon. Once we get back to the campsite we can start to go over it all then. Anyways, I'm going to start loading everything and we can take off soon."

Jessica looked past John and noticed the two shopping carts full of stuff and wondered if everything would fit.

"You can put some stuff up here by me if you want as well."

"I think I can put it all in here and the front seat but thanks for the offer."

"Were you able to get everything?" asked Cameron.

"Yea. I'm not too sure about some of the clothes and shoes I picked up for you and Jessica but they mostly matched the measurements you gave me. Well we can bring them back and exchange them another time if they don't fit."

The ride back didn't take very long and John was very pleased that they hadn't wasted the entire day in town but it was close. They didn't get back until 4:23pm and it would start to get dark soon. Well tomorrow would be the first big day but now they needed to explain to Jessica just what the heck is going on.

John got out of the car and was very pleased to see that no one had been around and he had Cameron double check for him and she agreed with him as well. He quickly setup two chairs over by their work area and placed Cameron in one and carried Jessica over and sat her in the other.

"Um, you could just take the handcuffs off now."

"Not yet. Once we are done explaining everything we will."

"Cameron, don't you think John's being a little too cautious here?"

"No. His decision is correct. Just be patient."

Jessica sighed and wondered just how long she had been tied up for over the last two days. It had to have been longer than all the time she had spent with her last boyfriend doing something like this and she decided that such thinking was a really depressing and instead watched John unload everything.

Soon there was a small mountain of stuff spread about the campsite and she was still amazed that he had been able to fit it all in the Jeep without disturbing her or Cameron. John was one heck of a packer for sure.

"Cam, I think we have just enough time to do the servos. What do you think?"

"I agree. Get the other limb and you can start getting the other parts off while I examine the new replacements and I will begin explaining everything to Jessica."

"Alright."

Finally she was going to get some answers. She watched as John grabbed what looked to be a rather odd looking robotic arm that had been badly bent and damaged and then Cameron engaged her in a story she was never expecting.

Once Cameron was finished Jessica had but two words for them.

"You're nuts."

"Well Cam, that's better than I had expected to hear from her."

"I can't believe that you two would expect that I could believe such a loony story. Honestly, how can you or anyone for that matter believe in robots from the future and then tell me that Cameron here is one herself but a good one. It is just crazy. Now I want one thing. Let me go so that I can leave you two in peace. I won't tell anyone about any of this and will stay away from the reporters and I won't even talk to the FBI but I don't want to stay here."

"Sorry Jessica we can't let you go because you need to see this."

Jessica watched in horror as John removed Cameron's shirt and used a scalpel to slowly slice open her arm from the top of her shoulder all the way down to the elbow bisecting the bicep muscle.

"John, what the hell are you doing?"

He didn't respond to her and she yanked at her handcuffs even though she knew it to be futile but she couldn't just let her friend be mutilated by someone who was nuts. She gave up on freeing her hands and instead tried to get to her feet intending to hop over and try knocking him down somehow.

"Jessica stay put."

She stopped as Cameron spoke to her without a single worry or crease in her face. She knew that there wasn't an anesthetic that existed to allow you to be alert and thinking correctly but still block the pain that must have been caused by John's cut so she paused.

John spent a little more time pinning the tissues away and then came over to Jessica and helped her look into the cut he had made and what she saw surprised her. Cameron's arm wasn't anything like a human arm and bright metal gleamed inside the wound. The lack of flowing blood and the minimal bleeding also confused her. Any normal person would be loosing blood like a fountain if they had their arm opened up to the bone. Alright, something more was going on here.

"Okay you have got my attention now."

John sat her back down in the chair and moved it so that she was closer to Cameron and could see better as John worked.

"Good. What John is going to do is replace my damaged servos in my left arm with the new ones that were made with the material we developed in the lab. Once I have these we are going to rebuild the rest of my limbs and then remove my left arm and use the new material in it as well to finish the repairs. Still with me?"

Jessica had to take her eyes away from the structure inside Cameron's arm. It was amazing but she had one other question she still had to know.

"How do I know these aren't just some super advanced artificial limbs and that at your core you are still human and not a Terminator as you called it?"

"Two main things will disprove that I am human. First these wounds will heal in days and second we are going to replace some key armor plates on my torso and back with the new material. Once you see those I'm sure you will be able to believe us."

"Alright but what about this Judgment Day where 3 billion people die. I just can't even imagine that and why would this computer suddenly decide to kill everyone?"

"Skynet's motives are not known. All we seem to know for sure is that it is an unavoidable event."

Jessica frowned but as far as she could tell Cameron was telling her the truth. In fact, from what she could tell every word Cameron had spoken was the absolute truth and she knew that Cameron believed every word of it. It was giving her a headache thinking about all of it but Cameron was right she wished she had never heard it because if it was true then it was the most horrible thing she had ever known.

"Cam, I'm all ready."

"Go ahead and start."

John inserted the new servo and aligned the bottom connecting joint. Once he was happy with it he used the fastener from the broken servo to anchor it in place and then moved to the top. This spot was a lot harder to get right because it went up and inside part of the shoulder joint and it took him a little while before he felt it slide into the right location.

"I got it all setup in the top can you try attaching it?"

Cameron's face became blank for a second and then she looked back at John with a smile.

"I got it. Patch up the top and then lets get the tricep one installed."

John worked quickly and soon had the entire incision all stitched closed and then he made another incision on the back of her arm of just about the same length. It took him a little longer as he pulled the tissue out of the way and pinned the wound open.

"Jessica do you want to see the other side as well?"

Jessica considered it for a few seconds while John had started pulling something off the busted arm.

"Sure why not. Cameron can you raise your arm a little bit and then I will be able to see it just fine."

Cameron raised her arm and Jessica leaned forward and examined the wound. The same gleaming metal stared back at her and when she looked up in the shoulder she was amazed by the connection she saw there. Instead of a bone and metal joint she saw a round ball joint and more metal. She swallowed hard and realized that she was starting to believe their story.

"Thanks Cameron. You can lower your arm now as I have seen enough."

"Oh. Are you starting to believe me?"

"A little I guess. It is still going to take more for me to really believe all of it."

"You will believe I'm sure of it but remember you need to trust us. We are still the same people you knew before but now you know everything."

"I know but then again I don't."

"You will see all of the extraordinary evidence soon and then you can believe our extraordinary claims."

"I hope so and yet I don't want them to be true."

"Yea, I know what you mean," spoke John as he came back over with a few parts and a lantern.

"This one took a bit longer as the lower connector really didn't want to come out but I finally got it. You ready Cam?"

"Yes. Please proceed."

John put in the servo and aligned the bottom joint and then tried to insert the lower fastener. It refused to go in and he pulled the servo back out and tried to fit the fastener through the lower hole bit it was just a tiny bit to small. He walked back over to the toolbox and got some calipers and Emory cloth.

"John what's wrong?"

"The fastener won't fit through the lower hole. I'm going to double check it with the calipers."

John measure the items carefully and quickly found the problem. While most of the fastener was the correct size the very end had been mushroomed slightly which resulted in it being 8 thousands of an inch too big. He used the Emory cloth on it for a while and then remeasured and once he was happy with the result he tried again.

It went in perfectly this time and then he worked on the top part. He had to move Cameron's arm back and forth a bit to get the upper joint to line up correctly.

"Cam it is all set. Try to attached to it."

Cameron's face again became blank and then Jessica jumped in her seat as she heard some loud clicks and clatters. Soon a small hum could be heard as Cameron's systems began to apply power to her new servos and then Cameron turned back to John with a very happy expression.

"They are working perfectly. In fact, they are even better than the old ones I had. I'm so happy John because it won't be much longer until I am once again able to walk by your side."

"Me too."

John quickly stitched up the wound on the underside of her arm and was happy with the results.

"How long do you think it will take to heal those wounds?"

"I'm going to accelerate it so they will be all healed by tomorrow and you can take the stitches out in about an hour."

"No way. John, is she really serious?"

"Yep. Just you wait as there won't even be a scar left to see."

"Wow. Hey I'm really hungry do you think we could eat something?"

"Yea, I think that would be a good idea especially since it is getting really dark now."

John grabbed the lantern and went over to their supplies and came back with some more lights and then began to pack up all the tools and parts that were left from their recent repair work.

"John I could cook for all of us tonight if you want."

"I will take care of it because you are a bit tied up right now."

"Ha Ha. Thanks I am so glad to be the butt of your jokes right now. Seriously, I would like to be let out now."

"I'm going with a no on that for right now. Once you really believe us then we won't have to worry over you anymore and then you can say goodbye to your handcuffs."

Jessica frowned but she expected his answer. Both of them liked to be very cautious and she knew by Cameron's answers earlier that if they had to keep her locked up for several months they would do it without a second thought if they believed it would save her life. Not a wonderful prospect but if it prevented her from a horrible death at the hands of merciless killer trying to extract information from her she would take John and Cameron's treatment any day.

"John I need to calibrate these servos. So while you are cooking don't be alarmed by the loud noises."

"Sure thing Cam."

John was working on making some hamburgers when a loud explosion erupted and then the sound of a tree falling could be heard. It caused him to dive to cover pulling out his Glock. He tried to look in every direction at once but didn't see the threat. He was about ready to grab Cameron and Jessica and run for the Jeep when he noticed Jessica was staring at Cameron with eyes as wide as saucers and then he noticed that Cameron had a really surprised expression as well.

"Cam, what happened?"

No response. She was either really scared at what was coming or somehow that was her 'loud' noise. John started to smell the burning of the burgers and slowly climbed out still not sure what was going on. He let his 'gift' begin to fill in what details it could and he quickly concluded that if it was a threat it had to have been caused by something with freewill. He carefully crawled over to Cameron and tapped her back while still scanning the area for threats while keeping his gun ever ready.

"JOHN!"

He jumped as she jumped from his touch.

"What happened?"

"Sorry. I'm sorry but that was my fault. Apparently these servos are far more powerful than my original ones. This is going to take some work."

"No kidding. I was expecting loud noises not explosions. What happened?"

"I grabbed a rock weighting about ten pounds and tossed it as hard as I could at a nearby tree. I wanted to start to understand the upper limit on these new servos and had planned to use the depth of impact in the tree as a quick gauge. However, they responded with over eight times the force I expected and two times faster than expected. I almost lost control of the rock but was able to release it in time but it had so much force behind it that the impact broke through the trunk of the small tree it impacted."

"I'm going to finish the cooking before we have charcoal to eat. Just don't scare me like again alright."

"You and me both."

As John walked back to the stove he stopped and tapped Jessica on the forehead causing her to focus on him finally. Only two words escaped her mouth.

"Holy shit!"

He just shook his head and quickly flipped the burning burgers. Wonderful, just like mom would make. One thing he really tried to do was not cook food like his mother. She liked to cook but really shouldn't as it was only marginally edible.

After about ten minutes he had everything finished up and Cameron only made him jump two more times. Every time she did she would say she was sorry and then would mumble the word 'amazing'. Apparently her invention was surprising her and he found that ironic in a strange fashion.

"Well I think it is time to eat."

"Um, John are you planning on feeding me?"

"Oh, I'll be right back."

Jessica watched Cameron pick up her burger and began to eat it when a question suddenly came to mind.

"If you are one of these Terminators then why do you eat?"

"I need the nutrients it provides to keep my organic components alive. Other unit's organic components will began to decay and rot over time since they do not eat anything. I'm a bit different."

John had come back and reached behind Jessica and undid her handcuffs. She rubbed her wrists a bit and then attacked her burger. It was a bit burned on one side but she didn't care because she was starving. As she ate her food she realized that she was starting to believe the story that Cameron had told her and knew that the accident with the rock was partly to blame. In her entire life she wouldn't have ever imagined seeing a petite little girl throw a rock hard enough to fell a tree.

She watched as John and Cameron talked about little things and found the interplay between the two of them very fascinating. She was no longer looking at a normal loving couple. If Cameron was really what she claimed to be then John for what ever reason truly loved and cared for one of the very machines he was going to be fighting against. Cameron had explained the program that the John from the future had put inside of her and the consequences of what it all meant were just crazy. Could humans and machines really learn to love each other in a meaningful way? As she watched John and Cameron she had to conclude that they could but it still felt strange and foreign. Time would have to help her with the issues surrounding it.

"You all done Jessica?"

"Yea, but I want to change clothes and get cleaned up a bit. I'm don't want to be stuck wearing this top and skirt for another night or day."

"Sure. Cameron even put some night clothes on the list and I will grab them fore you. I also picked up this small hot water shower systems that had a little pump and uses a propane bottle to heat the water. There is a stream just a little ways away and we go head down there to clean up."

"That would be just wonderful. Could I also get some shoes finally?"

"Yea, sorry about that I completely forgot that you weren't wearing any. I will grab them as well."

They all returned to the camp site after each taking a turn getting to shower and clean up. Jessica found the experience to be a wonderful treat after how yucky she had started to feel and she had helped John clean up Cameron and remove her stitches and just like Cameron had told them they were ready to be removed. Well what ever happens she knew it wouldn't be boring.

"Am I sleeping in the Jeep again?"

"Do you want to sleep in the Jeep again?", John replied.

"Is there enough room in the tent?"

"Yea. It is a big tent and if we move what is in there out to the Jeep there would be room for you. At least you could stretch out all the way."

"I would like that. John why don't we go ahead and put the handcuffs back on me and then Cameron can quite watching me like a hawk. I don't think she has taken her eyes off of me the whole time I haven't been wearing them."

"That is correct. I wanted to make certain that you didn't make an escape attempt and before you say you wouldn't I know that you had considered it a few times especially since you believe us both to still be crazy. Your slowly changing your mind but haven't yet so I refuse to take any chances with you."

Jessica sighed. Just what had she gotten herself sucked into still bothered her. Oh well, perhaps she shouldn't have wished for an 'interesting' life so hard when she was younger.

"Jessica lets grab the blankets for you and then get you comfortable first."

She got everything organized just the way she wanted and then locked one pair about her ankles and then locked one about her left wrist and then motioned for John to finish up with the other one. She was getting way too accustomed to this.

"I'm going to give you another shot tonight as well. I don't want you to get really stiff or sore on us."

"Thanks."

Cameron watched as Jessica drifted off to sleep and once she was sure she was asleep she turned to John.

"I'm surprised with these parts."

"Me too. I had no idea they would function like this."

"I agree but we have a new problem. We need to make sure that Skynet never gets a hold of any of the material or the design information about it. It could create a huge strategic problem if it does."

John had also considered this issue. He knew that everything in the lab had been blown to pieces and all the design material that had been located there as well because they hadn't yet been able to afford off-site backups. He was glad about that but was very worried about Cameron's copy to her gmail account.

"We need to get ride of the copy in your gmail account."

"Yes. However, I had encrypted it using triple AES so it should be hard to break into and I used a 128 letter password, the maximum the program allowed to protect it. I figured it would be a good precaution to keep and an encrypted backup of the files in case of emergency."

"Good thinking. It also means that you will have to do one other really important thing once everything is fixed."

"What's that."

"You can never leave my side. You would be too dangerous to allow to fall into enemy hands."

Cameron picked up on the sly smile he was giving her and reached over and grabbed him.

"Don't worry I won't. Now I believe I should give you a small reward for the work you did today?"

Cameron kissed John and enjoyed every moment of the sensation and couldn't wait until everything was finished with her repairs as she had a list of things she wanted to explore with John as a married couple.

Notes: This took way to darn long. Adding Jessica increased the detail level by a large factor and I am somewhat regretting the decision but she will be very helpful to John and Cameron in providing Tech-Com with technology and weapons. I know it seems like she has really gotten one heck of a raw deal for a little while but it is very hard to rescue someone when they don't even believe they are really in danger. Plus I like to add a little twisted humor in places. Next chapter deals with a lot of repair work and we see Jessica come to terms with their story. Also, someone asked what I see Jessica's future role in the story being. Basically, I want her to be a friend for Cameron so she has at least one other person who can see her as something far more than a machine but also as one of the first members of Tech-Com heading up their technology division with Cameron. She will move to a more secondary character status later because chapters of this length are hard to write without going the Robert Jordan route with too much useless detail. If I ever start to get close to that you guys have my permission to whack me upside the head.

Other useless detail. The correct term for those parts would be actuators not servos but I didn't feel like typing that over and over again so you guys are just going to have to live with that little inaccuracy.