Lauren sat next to John as he cried. He had been crying for the last ten minutes. Lauren, upon seeing John's state, pushed the other members of Command out of the room and shut the door on them. John was grateful for this. He wasn't sure he could take it right this moment. John only cried harder when Lauren declared Sarah Connor dead.

"I'm so sorry, John. She had been so sick for such a long time. With her cancer, she should have left us many years ago. She fought. She refused to leave this earth until she found you. Sarah was the head of the Resistance for many years. She was very special to a lot of us. But now…She loved you. She loved you very much, John."

John had to take several deep breaths before he had calmed himself down enough to speak. "I never thought she would die. We've been through so much. We always survived. She was always there for me. She had the answers and the plans. What am I going to do now?"

"There isn't an easy answer here." Lauren sighed. "John, you are the head of this army, now. Whatever you choose, we will follow. I know that isn't easy for you, but your mother believed in you. We all believe in you. From now on, Command will look to you. Your mother did leave you with some of the answers. Command will help you where we can, but if we are to win this war, you must be able to lead us."

John nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak. He could already feel the tears building up for another round. He took several more deep breaths to keep his emotions in check. There would be a time for mourning, but this wasn't it. He could still save his mother, he just had to get home.

"I need to tell Command about your mother's passing. This news will affect Savannah harder then the others. She looked up to Sarah like a mother figure. John, when you are ready, the soldier outside will have orders to bring you to General Ellison or myself. I'll have the cyborg John Henry held in lockdown until you wish to see him."

Lauren stood and placed a hand on John's shoulder before leaving. The sound of the door clicking shut caused John to jump slightly. He was left in the room alone with his now deceased mother. He wasn't sure how long he had sat there. It could have been minutes but it felt like hours.

Finally, he stood up and gave his mother a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you again, soon."

The soldier, a sergeant, looked back at John for a second before opening a door and pushing through the throng of refugees and TechCom soldiers. Not wishing to get separated, John stayed close to the sergeant.

"You keep looking at me, Sergeant. What to tell me why?" John asked.

The soldier gently nudged a group out of their way. "I'm sorry, General. I've acted as General Sarah Connor's guard for years. As night, when her nightmares where at their worst, she would call out for you. I asked her once who John Connor was. She simply told me he was her son. He was the only one who could save us from the Machines. I thought you would be older."

John couldn't help but smile. "I guess that is fair. It would make sense that I should be older than what I am."

"Forgive me, sir. I hope that I didn't make you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about it, Sergeant. I'm sure you are not the first person to wonder such things."

"Yes, sir. Command had gathered in room A-12." The sergeant pointed to a door. "I'll wait out here until I receive further orders."

"Thank you Sergeant."

John pushed the door open and step inside. It was a slightly bigger room then the one they had met in previously. A round table sat in the middle of the room and the members of Command sat round it. Ellison was the rest to rise to his feel upon see John. He had removed his suit jacket. Without the jacket, John could see that he the man had lost a lot of weight. Lauren and Savannah both stood at the same time. Both looked like they had been crying. Martin, who sat away from the others, looked at John with emotionless eyes. In his right hand was his sidearm, in his left was a bottle of liquor. He didn't stand. He just took another swig of his drink.

"Behold." Martin said loudly and very slurred. "The great John Connor. General, I would like to request permission to parade the troops for you."

"Martin," Ellison hissed. "This is not the time or place."

Martin didn't take much notice of what Ellison had said. "Do you remember the demerit I gave you? Do you Connor? How was I to know I was giving my commanding officer a demerit. You won't hold that against me, will you?"

"No, I won't hold that against you. You are too fine of a soldier."

"Good. Then I won't hold your disappearance against you."

"Martin!" Savannah screamed. "That is enough. He just lost his mother and the Resistance just lost a great soldier. Why don't you show some respect?"

"Oh? I'm sorry. I didn't realize he lost his mother. Because it wasn't like she meant something to each of us here. I might have become somewhat of a drunk, but she was my family too. She was all of our family! Hell, we were all each other had back in the day. We all bleed together. Where was John during all of this? Gone! Nowhere to be found."

Ellison crossed the room faster than anyone. He picked the drunken soldier up by his shirt and shook him.

"Ellison," John said quickly. "Don't. He is right. I wasn't around when I should have been. This is all my fault. Let him go. He just needs time, like the rest of us."

"You're lucky." Ellison pulled Martin towards the door and threw him out of the room. "Martin, heaven knows I love you like a brother. I would take a bullet for you any day, but if you show you face in the presents of John Connor again while you have been drinking, John won't be able to stop me. Go, sleep it off, old friend."

"Your mother's death has hit all of us very hard." Lauren said after the door had been shut. "Martin is not the same man he was before Judgment Day. He spent years organizing and leading troops in the field. Each battle drove him a little farther away from all of us. Sarah was the only one he seemed to respond to. It was after he was pulled from active field duty—due to injury—that he began drinking. She was the one that saved Martin from killing himself that first night."

"Each of us in this room can recount a dozen times where Sarah Connor saved our lives." Ellison said as he retook his seat. "What are you orders, John?"

John looked at each face. It scared him to see the faces of the Command looking expectedly at him. The fate that he never wanted, that he fought to change, had finally caught up to him. He wanted to go home. He wanted to run again from his fate, from his responsibilities. But it wasn't an option anymore. The only way he could hope to return to his own time was to fight this war.

"Ellison, please show me what our lines look like. Savannah, I need all the intelligence we have on where the Medal's forces are. Also, please inform the sergeant outside to find Lieutenant Reese. Lauren, I will speak with John Henry as soon as we finish here. Savannah will come with me."

The Resistance Command quickly moved to complete the orders John had issued.

John Henry sat behind a sheet of bulletproof glass. Although the glass was one way, it didn't seem to stop the cyborg. He was looking right at John and Savannah. Standing behind John was Derek. His uncle was shift uncomfortably under the unnatural gaze of the cyborg.

"I don't like it." Derek finally said as he checked his weapon for the third time. "Maybe I should be in there with you."

"He won't hurt us." Savannah said.

"All due respect, ma'am, but how can you be so sure?"

"When I was a little girl, he and I would talk all the time. He became the friend that I needed. Later, he helped to save my life when Skynet tried to kill me." Savannah glanced over at Derek. "He won't harm us."

John walked over to the door and pulled it open. "Stay here Derek. Make sure we are not interrupted for any reason."

"Sir."

Savannah slipped passed John and he closed the door. He took a seat directly in front of the cyborg. Savannah, on the other hand, had walked up to her long lost friend and embraced him. John Henry blinked, obviously unsure how to react, before returning the embrace.

"Savannah," he said in a monotone voice. "It is good to see you again. You have changed. You are no longer the little girl I knew once."

She smiled. "No, I'm not. I grew up. War took my childhood away from me. Skynet—"

"My brother?" John Henry asked, not realizing that he had cut Savannah off.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"When I was hooked up to the computer servers, I was attacked by another AI. He was just like me. A brother. He caused this destruction? The war?"

"Yes." Savannah sat down next to her friend. "Skynet destroyed all the world. Humans nearly vanished overnight. There is a good chance we will not survive the month. The T-600's will overrun this compound and kill us all if something doesn't change."

John Henry nodded. His eyes fell to the floor. There were a few seconds of silence before he looked up at John. He cocked his head slightly. His normally blank face had a look of questioning written upon it.

"I know you…from somewhere."

"I haven't met you before John Henry. My name is—"

"John Connor. Your mother is Sarah Connor. Your uncle is Derek Reese. There was another. I can't seem to recall any information on this one. Strange, I feel like I should know the other one."

John didn't say anything immediately. He felt a deep sadness building up inside of him. Slowly he broke eye contact. The memories were still quite fresh for him and remembering was painful.

"Cameron." John looked up. "Her name was Cameron. She was my friend. My mother and I sent her to kill you. We thought you were Skynet. My mother and I confronted Catherine Weever and when we came down to the basement, you were gone. All that was left was Cameron's body. This is why I followed you. I've lost too much to this damn war. My father died before I was born, my uncle while we were fighting to stop Judgment Day. Today, in 2026, I lost my mother to this war. I won't lose Cameron as well."

"She meant a great deal to you, I can see that. Something, inside of me, tells me you meant a great deal to her. Yet, I don't know how I know that. It is something I shouldn't understand. I shouldn't be able to feel anything, and yet I feel her fondness for you. You are her world." He blinked the leaned forward. "She was a machine, like this body?"

John nodded.

"Savannah," the cyborg looked back at his friend. "This is all my fault. I have files of coming through time. I don't recall this Cameron very well, but I feel her. Deep in the back of my mind." He reached up and rubbed his head slightly. "It is her chip isn't it?"

Savannah nodded.

"Then I am why this world is so bad. I took you away from 2009." He looked at John. "We must return and fix this. My brother must be stopped." John Henry stood up and walked towards the door. He was only stopped by John as he grabbed the cyborg's arm.

"You are going to stay here. I need you in order to get Cameron back. Until we find a way to do that, I want you to stay put. Savannah, you'll be in charge of him. Keep him here for now." John stood and passed both of them. "You are right, John Henry. If we can get back to 2009, we can stop this."

John left the room. As the door closed, he found his uncle standing in front of him. This time, it was John's turn to feel uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how Derek was going to react to the news he had just heard.

"Tell me, General, was anything said in there true?"

"Yes. All of it."

"John…" Derek took a deep sigh. "I don't know what to say. I'm a little pissed that you didn't tell me I was your uncle. You could have told me."

"And you would have believed me?"

Derek shook his head. "I guess not."

"Come." John said. "We have work to do."