Catherine sent Cameron to the basement. She wasn't told why, but it was clear that she was supposed to go by herself. Cameron assumed it had to do with the triple eight chip, and they probably found something that would be sensitive to Sarah and John.

She reached the basement and was greeted by John Henry. "Have you found something?"

"Yes, I have. If you don't mind, we need your input on some things." He pulled up the original list on the screen. "The left side is a list of targets, and the right side is a list of names I haven't been able to identify."

Cameron looked at the list, and was once again faced with an unexpected twist. Cameron Connor. She heard the T-888 call her that, but she didn't have much time to analyze it too much. Now, she was face to face with it, and it could really only mean two things. Either she was posing as John's sister under his birth name in the future, or she was his wife. Cameron tilted her head.

"Is Kate Brewster or Connor on the list?"

"No, there's no one by either name on the chip." John Henry replied.

Well. Cameron also noticed Savannah was on the list, sharing the same last name. There was really only one answer to that, as the only believable cover would be adoption; there was absolutely no resemblance between the two to pretend sibling relation.

Her logic was undeniable, and gave her the answer to the puzzle. But something made her feel a little odd about the information. She'd have to figure out what sort of emotion it was.

Focusing her attention on the rest of the list, she saw Danny Dyson was the primary target.

"What would Skynet want with Danny Dyson?"

"We're not sure. But we agree that if the T-888 was looking in the mall for him, then it's safe to assume it had leads that Danny Dyson is in the local area."

"That's logical."

"Yes. Unfortunately, we're not sure exactly where to start looking for him. It doesn't look like the T-888 really knew either."

Cameron thought about it for a moment. Something just wasn't adding up. She turned to John Henry. "I'll need all memory video playback from the time it arrived in this time period to the present. We need to find out if it had seen him."

"That's an excellent idea. It'll take some time, though. It seems he's been here for quite a while."

Cameron shrugged. "I don't sleep. And John will insist on helping."

John Henry nodded. "The list, though… we don't recognize the other names, of course. We were hoping you would be able to."

Cameron recognized the other targets as high-ranking officers in the resistance. The other list was a different story.

"The uncategorized list of seemingly random names is a list of well-known humans working with Skynet. We call them Greys in the future."

John Henry looked surprised. "Could these people be helping Skynet now?"

"It's possible. None of them are particularly young, even now."

John Henry sat down at his desk, and picked up one of the action figures he had painted in the basement of Zeira corp.

"I believe my brother was created by Skynet. The sophistication is far beyond any human design. It had been looking for me, and when I was hacked, it tried to make me destroy myself. I believe that obviously implies my brother is a rival."

"A rival… who has a reason a reason to destroy you." They turned to watch as Catherine descended the steps. "So the question is, what would give it a reason to kill you?"

"Skynet," Cameron said. "In the future. Just as it sent terminators to try to kill John, Sarah, me, you…" she indicated Catherine, "…and Savannah. In the future, John Henry must be a serious rival to Skynet, so they decided to send something back to try and destroy him."

"Exactly," Catherine agreed. "But it realized the only thing that could truly destroy him was another AI."

"Well why the hell didn't Skynet just send itself back?"

They all turned to see John coming down the stairs. John Henry quickly erased the screen with the list of names before John could notice them.

"It doesn't work that way. Skynet… is huge. It's not really an individual machine."

"So basically, instead of sending itself, it sends this… smaller AI. This "brother" thing. But you really couldn't send that by itself either, though, could you?"

Cameron wondered how long John had been listening. "No, you couldn't send it back. It had to be built here."

"Alright then. That explains why it's not a monster AI… why it's not Skynet itself… yet. So, the question is: who built it? I vote Kaliba, anyone else?" John had raised his hand in mock vote. Amusingly, John Henry did the same.

"It's the most logical possibility," John Henry explained.

Suddenly, John Henry froze, and a surveillance camera began feeding on to the large screen.

"Ah, Mr. Ellison has kept his appointment. Let us finish this meeting later." With that, Catherine returned upstairs to answer the door.

John Henry addressed John. "Cameron has asked to view the T 888's video memory footage of his time here in the past. She'd like to find out if it had ever come across Danny Dyson, as he was its primary target. I think this is an excellent idea."

Danny Dyson was the primary target. Well, this keeps getting better and better. "Right. That's a great idea. Let us know when it's ready." Without another word, John returned upstairs.

*******

John lay on his bed with his headphones in his ears. There was just way too much to think about. Kaliba, Skynet, Danny Dyson… and how much more had he not heard? It was giving him a headache. He didn't hear the knock on his door.

Sarah sat on the bed next to her son who jumped, a bit startled.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to… "

"It's alright. What's up?"

"I just want to talk. We haven't had a chance to do that lately."

Oh, boy. "Yeah, jumping through time, fighting homicidal robots, and preventing the end of the world can get kind of busy."

Sarah smirked. "Well at least you're still a smartass."

"I think I've gotten better at it too."

Sarah laughed, and lightly punched her son in the arm. Sobering though, she asked him a question. "Are you doing okay?"

John considered the answer with due seriousness. "Yeah, I am. Honest. It just gets to be a lot, you know? I now know what we're heading for. Before, I only had my imagination and stories. But now…" John paused to take his headphones off. "Well, somehow you just don't grasp a situation unless you've been there. And sometimes, that situation's a lot worse than you could have ever thought possible."

John studied his mom's face. There was a look of gentle sadness there. Almost… pity. Her face was thinner than it was just a couple months ago, and he could see a few strands of gray hair lining her face. It made him think again about what Cameron had told him. Was there really nothing they could do?

"Maybe you should get out of the house."

John shook his head as his thought train derailed and flipped. "What?"

"Get out of the house, have some fun." She paused, briefly considering. "Go take Cameron on a date or something."

The train exploded. "You… are telling me… to take a terminator… on a date?"

Sarah gave him a look. "What is she, John, a terminator or your girlfriend? You better get that straight before you even think about anything else."

Thoroughly chastised, John felt like an ass. The double meaning of the question wasn't lost on him. He didn't really think about Cameron as a terminator, but his mom still did. She always would. John, however, couldn't afford to think that way. He'd always know what she was, but couldn't treat her as such.

"Besides," Sarah continued. "Compared to what I know you two have been up to, dinner and a movie seem like rather safe and innocent activities for a couple of teenagers, don't you?"

John tried to control the blush, but he felt his face heat up regardless of his efforts.

"That's what I thought. So go find her, get a damn shower, and get the hell out of here. This house is too full, it's starting to drive me crazy."

***********

John was in the shower trying to come up with ways to ask Cameron out on a date. "Would you like to go out with me?" Yeah, LAME. "I'm hungry, why don't we go get something to eat?" Yeah, exactly why is dinner a good idea with someone who doesn't technically eat? "I'm bored, let's go see a movie." Yeah, that's romantic. Why don't we wash and wax the car while we're at it.

John still hadn't a clue what he'd say when he got out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waste and walked to his room. He pushed the door shut without paying attention, and walked over to his dresser. Dropping his towel, he opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of clean underwear.

"Your mom bought you new underwear."

John jumped out of his skin and turned around. He hadn't seen Cameron sitting on the bed with his laptop. He watched, turning all shades of red as her eyes scan him head to toe… and back up. Slowly.

"You've gained your weight back. You're now at a healthier physique." She managed to keep a straight face, and looked back at the screen. Without looking, she pointed towards his desk. "They're in the bag over there."

Uh… huh. Two can play that game. John swallowed his pride, and sucked up his manliness. She'd seen it all before, anyway. Feigning confidence, he walked over to his desk naked. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a pair of boxers, and blinked.

He turned around, momentarily forgetting completely about his nudity. "Seriously? Seriously… SPONGE BOB?"

Cameron shrugged. "I picked them out. Sarah wanted to get you Kermit the Frog."

John looked at the boxers and admitted he was glad Cameron won. Slipping them on he glanced up to see Cameron had a tiny grin on her face. It was barely there, but oh… it was there. I still owe her… yeah. It's payback time.

John meandered over to the bed. Without warning, he grabbed the laptop off Cameron's lap and tossed it on the other side of the bed. Climbing on top of her, he grabbed her face and kissed her passionately.

Cameron was frozen. She had purposely stalled her movements when John surprised her, so as not to react to fast or dangerously. Now though, she had simply forgot to turn them back on. Her processor was completely focused on the variety of sensations. Her body was heating up too quickly, her skin beginning to sweat. John's lips were on hers, his tongue battling her own. When she finally found control of her arms again to pull him closer, he pulled away.

John almost didn't make it. He was way too tempted to just keep going. But, it wasn't the time, nor the plan. When he felt her arms tighten around him, he knew it was his last chance. He pulled away, breathing heavily.

Looking into her eyes, he noticed they were faintly glowing blue. Smiling, he gave her one last quick kiss before saying, "It's time to go."

Cameron's face was blank. Go where? She wasn't aware they had to go anywhere. She was irrationally angry at whatever it is they had to go do. Her body processes were on overload, and she was not happy about pausing them. Wait…

She recognized that line. That line was her line. He did this on purpose.

"That was not very nice of you John Connor."

"Neither was it of you, Cameron Phillips."

Cameron looked away. "You knew?"

John had to think a moment before he shrugged, and climbed off of her. "No, not really. I knew something was up, obviously. I suspected it was kind of unnecessary and on purpose.. But, that's not what I was talking about, though. That was payback for that damn picture you sent my mother."

Cameron remembered. "She told me to."

"Pffft. You had that thing sent before she said a word."

"How do you know?"

John gave her a look. "Because when you're up to something, you look like a little kid sneaking around with cookies in her pocket trying not to get busted."

Cameron wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but she smiled.

"Anyway…" John started. Here goes nothing. "I was wondering if you'd like to get out of the house for a while with me. I haven't been out in a long time. I think I'm starting to drive mom crazy."

"Yes, Sarah does seem a little more agitated than usual. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," John shrugged. "Maybe we can catch a matinee movie at the theater or something."

Cameron processed this, and a tiny smile formed on her lips. "Are you asking me out on a date, John?"

John sighed. Why did she have to be such a straight forward, logic driven, pain in the ass? "Yeah, I guess I am. So how 'bout it?"

Cameron sat up and kissed him on the cheek. "I would love to." She crawled off the bed and walked to the closet. Instead of coming out with her own clothes though, she brought out one of John's new shirts.

"You should wear this."

John looked at the shirt, a dark grey polo. "Okay, whatever you say."

He took the shirt from her, and she turned back to the closet. "Wear it with the new jeans in the third drawer."

John paused, one arm in the shirt. "Ooookay Stacey London."

Cameron came out of the closet wearing a pair of light denim jeans and a pink fitted top. She was surprisingly not wearing combat boots, but rather a pair of new white and silver sneakers. They must've been Sarah's idea.

John looked her up and down, tying his own pair of shoes. "You look great, Cam… but you should probably do something to hide your shoulder."

"Oh." Cameron looked at the bandage, as if she'd totally forgot it was there. Digging back through the closet, she came back out with a white, cropped jacket.

"I see you and mom were quite productive at the mall."

"Yes." Cameron replied, without elaborating. Typical.

John followed Cameron downstairs. They found his mom outside on the porch, watching Savannah play with the kittens.

"My, my… don't we just look spiffy. Did Cameron pick your outfit?"

John rolled his eyes. "Shut up. We're going out. See you later."

Sarah stopped him before he could turn around. "Woah, not so fast. Where are you going?"

John sighed. "We're going to the movie theater."

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know."

"Are you going anywhere else?"

"I don't know."

"Do I need to put a tracker on you?"

"Mom."

Sarah looked at Cameron, and gave her a stern look. "You don't let him out of your sight. Don't let him talk you into doing anything stupid. You're to have him back here by 10:00." Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling it out, she flipped it open and grinned.

"Awww… you look adorable in SpongeBob."

John turned to glare at Cameron, wondering when and how she took a picture of him in his damn underwear.

"Payback's a bitch," she said with her typical straight face, and walked back into the kitchen.

"This means war, I hope you know!" John shouted, as he followed behind her.

********

John and Cameron were the first ones in the theater, as they were a good 20 minutes early. They sat in the very last row, center screen. It was the safest place to sit, as no one could sneak up on them. At least, that's what John claimed.

Cameron scanned every person as they entered the theater. She didn't detect any threats, but there was no reason to take chances.

John propped his feet up on the chair in front of him and watched the previews. Another movie about some nerdy wizard kid, saving the magical world from evil. John never understood why they insisted on using magic wands, when they could easily use an AK47 and solve all the magical world's problems.

Cameron sat back and observed the people in the theater as the main feature began. She noticed a couple to the left snuggling close. She wondered if it was what people on dates were supposed to do. She looked around at other couples. One couple a few rows in front of them had lifted the armrest between them. A couple in a side row were holding hands and whispering.

Cameron looked at John, who was slouching in his seat. His feet were propped on the chair, and his hands were folded in his lap. Maybe he didn't want to be close to her?

She felt a little… dejected? She wanted John to want to be close to her. She wanted to be closer to him. She liked when he touched her, and it seemed he liked when she touched him as well. But if that was what John wanted, he wouldn't be sitting next to her, acting almost as if she wasn't even there. Turning back to the screen, she crossed her arms and legs in a posture she'd seen other girls do, and focused on the movie.

John wasn't stupid; he noticed Cameron looked upset. Unfortunately, he was at a total loss of what to do. It's not like he'd ever gone on a real date before. Even with Riley, they had really just "hung out". Going to the movies with a girl was something completely new. Especially when that girl was Cameron. It was hard to get used to the fact that they didn't have to pretend to be siblings, and they were able to act just like any other couple in public.

John looked around, not entirely interested in the cheesy horror movie they were watching. He noticed a young couple in front of them sneaking kisses every once in while. Glancing at Cameron, it didn't seem she wanted anything to do with him. John sighed. Why couldn't Skynet have left the whole part about women being difficult and complicated out of their design? He had to do something.

He stood up, whispering to Cameron he had to use the restroom, and assured her she could let him out of her sight to do that much. Mom could put the fear of God in anyone, he thought.

Once outside, he headed for the concession stand. For a machine who didn't have to eat, Cameron had a sweet tooth. He once thought about asking what her body did with it all, but decided it was probably something he didn't need to know. He ordered a cherry Icee, and grabbed a straw.

Heading back into the theater, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness before attempting the stairs. When he reached the top, he climbed over a few disgruntled patrons before finding his seat beside Cameron.

She looked at the drink in his hand, and whispered, "You said you were going to the restroom."

John shrugged. "I found out they don't sell cherry slushies in there." He handed her the drink, which she accepted.

She should have been mad at him for lying to her, but for some reason she couldn't be. He lied so he could surprise her with an Icee, for no apparent reason. That made up for it, right? It wasn't like he had gotten hurt. She looked down, as John rested his hand on her thigh. Maybe he wanted to be closer after all.

*************

They ended up going to the mall after the movie, Cameron stating the probability that they'd run into another terminator was next to nothing. She promised not to tell Sarah though, regardless.

They ended up in a video arcade, teaming up on Ghost Squad. Cameron was thoroughly kicking his ass, but he wasn't doing too bad himself. They had already played three rounds, taking different possible routes each time. It wasn't the most awesome game, but it was addicting.

Cameron was laughing at him "Stop shooting the civilians!"

"I can't help it," John complained. "They're in the way."

When they both died again they decided to try a different game, before the small crowd that had begun watching them got any bigger. They walked around looking for another duo game. They stopped at a blue machine and watched the demo. The object was to shoot and destroy killer robots.

"You know," John began, "if only people knew…"

*****************

John took Cameron's hand as they exited the mall. "So what would you like to do now?" Admittedly, the area they moved to wasn't really exciting. Being further in state, they weren't near the beach, nor were they in a particularly overpopulated area.

"You have not eaten since this morning," Cameron pointed out.

John's stomach growled as if to prove her point. "Yeah, you're right. There's a Denny's on the other end of the parking lot. Let's just head over there."

It had begun to rain halfway to the restaurant, and John regretted not just driving over. By the time they entered, they were both thoroughly wet and dripping. The air conditioning hit them like a sheet of ice, and John shivered involuntarily.

The hostess smiled at them. "Table for two?"

John nodded, and they followed the young woman to the back of the restaurant. She stopped at a booth and placed two sets of silverware on the table and a couple of menus. "Your waitress will be right with you."

John smiled and guided Cameron to the other side of the table. She preferred to be able to watch the doors. Before she could sit down, though, a voice stopped them.

"About time you two showed up."

Thanks for reading! I already have chapter 15 finished... if you're nice, I'll think about adding it tonight as well ;-)