Hey all! Finally had a moment to myself(been busy for my birthday weekend!) to sit down and type up this chapter! I hope you all like it! I am pretty happy with the way this story is going so let me know what you think!

Happy reading!

~!DDM!~

"Is there something wrong?" a crease appeared between his eyes. "How was your trip to the city?"

"Oh..." I hesitated. "Um...it went well."

"So I hear."

I glanced at Bars who was still glaring at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"You just attract trouble don't you." he snapped.

"Hey!" I huffed in indignation. "I was with Nicky the whole time! We were minding our own business, waiting for the others to get back when we heard the racket they were making and found them partying with a couple of Terminators!"

"The men say you came around the corner so fast you nearly tipped the truck and crashed headlong into the Terminators that were pinning them down." John said, frowning heavily at me.

"It did not almost tip over! It was only on two wheels for a few seconds!" I defended. He didn't seem anymore pleased.

"And running into the machines?" he demanded.

"Well, yeah, that part is true. But what was I supposed to do! I couldn't just pull up beside then and politely ask them to put down their guns and leave the men alone!"

"They said you had some fancy driving skills." Barns said gruffly. "Said you backed down the street at full speed and whipped the truck around before driving off back to base."

"Okay, that time, it was pure luck I didn't tip the truck over! I am a decent driver and I knew the physics behind the maneuver but I had only ever seen it done in the movies! I still can't believe I pulled it off!"

Barns had to cough into his fist to keep from laughing while John looked around and glared daggers at him.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about!" I said. "What I did helped those men, thats all that matters."

"The fuss? The fuss is that you could have been killed, that's the god damned fuss!" John snapped, the machine monitoring his heart rate spiked and I glared at him.

"The men were the ones who could have died! When I heard the commotion going on I couldn't just shrug my shoulders and tell Nicky 'C'est la vie!' I wasn't going to abandon them when we were the only ones in a position to help!"

"He should't have just jumped in on your little rescue mission!" John argued. "Wait till I..."

"John Connor! You will not bring Nicky down here to scold him like you are trying to do to me!" I actually stomped my foot. He was being so stubborn.

John was still looking mulish so I decided to take the conversation in a direction that would surely distract him and hopefully get him to cool off a little so we didn't end up just screaming at one another.

I took a deep breath before speaking.

"How many did they lose?" I asked softly.

"Three." Barns sighed.

"You will be going to collect them, right?"

Both men glanced at one another.

"You can't leave them there! They deserve more than that!"

"Some one will go get the bodies in the next couple of days. We can't risk going back to soon." John said gently as he was capable.

"Good!"

"You won't be going with them." he said firmly this time. "What you did was reckless..."

"John! What I did was necessary! I didn't plan it you know! All I wanted to do was pick up some books and be back as soon as possible! I didn't go looking for trouble! I am not even the one it came looking for this time! I am a big girl and I don't need to ask your permission to do what I feel is right!"

So much for cooling off...now I was mad all over again.

I turned on my heel and left without a backward glance. How dare he chastise me like a child! If I hadn't chosen to act when I did those men would have died! I refuse to let him make me feel guilty. If given the choice, I would pick the same one every time.

I went right back to my room, finding it empty, and went right to the table of books. I picked up the one on the top of the pile labeled 'Childbirth: The Home Guide to Being A Midwife'.

I laid down on my stomach and greedily drank in all the information to book had to offer. I was surprised how quickly I went through the book, finishing all four hundred paged what I was guessing was only a couple of hours. I need to get a clock or a watch. I wondered, as I put the book down, if maybe what Skynet did to me, not only enhanced me physically, but mentally as well. Even in school I don't remember being able to get through a book so quickly, let alone actually retain almost all of what I read. I was eager to start another book but was interrupted my a knock at my door.

I should have known it wouldn't last, I am surprised I managed to get through a whole book without someone needing something. I sighed and climbed off the bed as another knock sounded through my room, reverberating off the metal walls.

"Who is it?" I asked as I made my way across the room.

I opened the door after not getting any answer but more knocks and found Star standing on the other side.

"Hey sweetie, what's..." she just took my hand and began pulling me along the hall, I barley had the chance to close my door she was in such a hurry. I followed her down the halls, going deeper and deeper into the base. Most of the living quarters were near the surface so there could be quicker evacuations if needed.

She stopped outside the door to the room that I have been avoiding until now. I knew what lay in that room.

Marcus' body was in there. Motionless and without a heart.

The guards on either side nodding once before opening the door for us. I took a slow deep breath to stop myself from succumbing to the tears that were welling up before letting her drag me across the threshold. I was even more confused when I saw that Barns, Kate, Blair and Kyle were all standing over the table Marcus was laying on, the sheet pulled down to his waist. They were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"What is going on in here?" I asked breathlessly, hurrying over to them.

"We aren't really sure." Blair answered as I came up beside her.

"Look..." Kate said, pointing at Marcus' face, looking extremely uneasy.

Looking down at Marcus' body I saw his eyes were open and a red light was visible in his left one, it was flickering steadily as though it couldn't decide if it wanted to turn on or off. There was also a soft light that was shining through the tiny gaps in the stitching on his chest only noticeable because the room we where in was so dimly lit.

"One of the med techs came to get me when he saw the light. We were going to get him ready to be buried." She glanced at me. "I think that he is somehow...rebooting, like when a computer crashes. When we looked you guys over when you first came here we learned that you have one human cortex and one machine cortex. I think that because we removed the...the human cortex, his heart, his machine cortex is trying to take over, making up for his body's lack of a heart. We will need to get one of the techs to look him over to see what is really going on, but until then, all we can do is speculate."

I placed my hand where my own heart was beating rapidly in my chest. Could we really survive without our hearts? If he came back to life, if that was what was really happening, would he be different? Would he still be Marcus? Will he even wake up or was this only a false alarm.

I stroked his cheek, sighing. I was suddenly overcome by an almost overwhelming need to make contact with Marcus. Ignoring everyone else in the room as they talked amongst themselves, I put my hands on the table on either side of his head and leaned down to touched my forehead against his and closed my eyes. I felt the point of contact tingle slightly, almost like static electricity, until I suddenly felt like I was being pulled under water by a strong current.

Everything was dark for a moment before the words 'sync complete' flashed across my vision. When I was able to opened my eyes, everything was different. I was surrounded by an expanse of white nothingness and I wasn't alone.