Chapter 53 – Together

Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC

Relief to be home was something Sarah seldom felt. Home had been such a transient concept since Kyle Reese had entered her life. The closest thing to home had been their house in L.A. when John and Cameron had attended their final years of high school.

Home now, Sarah realized, was a series of hills with tunnels north and east of what had been Greater Los Angeles. If the sun was able to shine through the impenetrable clouds of post-Judgment Day debris in the air, Sarah would have been able to see the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance.

Having made contact with the perimeter sentries, the patrol was now being walked in and Sarah could not wait to take a shower in the makeshift shower facilities and sleep in the sleeping bag of the tent she called home with her husband and daughter.

Scanning ahead, Sarah looked for Ruth who had taken off to see her brother and cousin as soon as the patrol was safely within the confines of the TechCom encampment. Sarah smiled as she saw a flashlight bobbing hurriedly in her direction. The light reflecting onto the faces and hair of two young girls, one raven haired like her mother and the other with thick brown tresses like Cameron. The yelp of a little dog chasing could be heard. Somewhere behind them Sarah was certain a particular T-600 was making the best progress he could on his damaged knee.

"Grandma!"

"Hailey!"

"I am so glad to see you! There has been almost nothing to do! Mary and Grace are only so much fun and then their boring!"

After a quick hug, Hailey was gone again with Ruth in lock step with her and their little dog happily chasing them. As the pair of whirlwinds ran past the Old Man who had just arrived, Sarah smiled, waved to him and shrugged.

"It is good to see you have returned Sarah Connor," the T-600 told her. "I must follow the girls. Trouble has to be prevented now that they are reunited."

Laughing at the situation and happy the girls were safely together again, Sarah replied, "Go. Do your duty. I wish you luck."

Standing aside, Sarah watched as her exhausted personnel trudged by, glad to be home but looking forward too much needed rest.

"Mom."

Turning, Sarah saw a weary John. She walked slowly to her son and embraced him. Feeling the weariness and exhaustion from the stress in his body Sarah suddenly became aware her husband and daughter-in-law hand not greeted her.

Panic seized Sarah. Derek and Cameron normally would have been part of the squad that walked the patrol in beyond the boundaries.

"Where's my husband? Where's Tin Miss?"

"Their going to be fine, Mom."

"Going to be? What's happened to them?"

"Mom, a lot's happened since you left on patrol."

TechCom Ambush Force…

"Eight more wounded have died. One Terminator has ceased to function. Permanently."

Cameron stopped and looked first at Derek and then John Henry.

"We have to stop. If we keep moving more of our wounded will die and we've lost too many personnel already," she told the other two leaders.

"We can't stop out here in the Wastelands. If we are ambushed, we'll lose all of our wounded," Derek argued.

"Send for help. Communicate to TechCom Central Command our situation and wait for General Connor to advise. In the meantime, it will give the personnel a chance to rest and the wounded to stabilize. If we can repair a few more Silvers, they can help with the transport of the wounded human personnel."

Derek and Cameron looked at each other and agreed without speaking.

"John Henry, I don't think we have a choice," Derek muttered. "See if you can raise TechCom Command Central."

TechCom Command Central…

Feeling like she had scrubbed off most of her skin, Sarah stood in John's command tent. Dressed in fresh black combat fatigues, a black cotton t-shirt and her worn boots, Sarah stood looking at her exhausted son as she dried her still damp hair with a towel.

"Where is Weaver? She's your administrative officer. Why isn't she here helping you," Sarah demanded.

John laughed. "Mom, there's another thing I forgot to tell you."

"Has something happened to that T-1000?"

"Yeah, you could say that," John snickered.

"Just what is so funny? This is serious. You are clearly overworked, stressed out and exhausted. Where is Weaver?"

"Mom, it's all right. Catherine is making sure our beloved Lt. Wilhelm is welcomed home properly."

Sarah's mouth dropped open.

"You mean?"

"Yeah, go figure. Miss Prim and Proper has the hot's for Wilhelm. Never saw that one coming. I had to order him to walk her around the perimeter of TechCom so she can work up the nerve to tell him how she feels."

Stunned, Sarah sat down hard in the chair by John's desk. "God help him. She'll ruin him. He'll never be fit for command when she's done making him into a girly man."

As the two Connors sat and laughed at Wilhelm's new predicament and the unforeseen knowledge Catherine Weaver was capable of romantic feelings, the communication device announced an incoming message.

"This is not good. John Henry reports they have had to stop to stabilize the more seriously wounded. They request help."

"Send the HK we captured. We can shuttle them in."

36 hours later…

Cameron's hair blew in the wind, exposing the damage to her ear and face as the HK took off with the most seriously wounded. Relieved Doctor Johnson himself had come, Cameron squeezed John's hand. An exhausted Derek had been flown out with the wounded while Cameron and John Henry remained behind.

"You shouldn't have come John. You are too important to risk out here in the Wastelands."

"Had to see my gorgeous wife, you know, check to see how the Sexbot is doing and make sure there are no predatory males trying to move in on what's mine," John whispered in the opening where Cameron's left ear had been. Her newly repaired auditory sensor picked up his words with ease.

"You're just saying that," Cameron pouted.

Slipping his arms around Cameron, John pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.

"No. I mean it. You're not going to be in command of the Silver's much longer. It is too much being separated from you like this. I need my wife with me."

"John, I refuse…"

"No. That's an order from the General. We will talk about this later. Now, please, go have Doctor Johnson look at your ear. He has some ideas about helping regenerate flesh faster for our Terminators."

"John, we are going to talk about this now!"

"Did I tell you Weaver has the hot's for Wilhelm?"

"What? Do not change the subject John Connor! Wait, did you say Catherine wishes to pursue my Lt? Does he know this?"

Relieved to have successfully distracted Cameron with the juiciest bit of camp gossip to hit TechCom in a long time, John proceeded to fill his wife in on all the best details.

TechCom…

Sarah stood waiting for the final arrival of the HK. Ruth and Hailey were about to drive her batty as she waited for her son and daughter-in-law to return. Derek patiently stood next to his wife, keeping his eye on the two girls. Recoiling as the giant turbines blasted the landing area creating powerful winds, the two adults covered their eyes and leaned into the wind.

As the landing gear touched down the pilots immediately began the process of shutting down the turbines so save what little fuel the HK had. The door to the troop compartment opened, allowing Doctor Johnson and his human and Terminator medics to quickly enter to begin the process of offloading the last of the wounded after the few remaining healthy personnel disembarked.

The final occupants to appear in the doorway were John and a dirty, disheveled Cameron. Unable to restrain herself any longer, Hailey darted across the open space to the HK. Seconds later Ruth was in hot pursuit.

"Mama! Mama!"

Bending over to lift Hailey up, Cameron lovingly declared, "Oh, Hailey! I have missed you so much. I think you have grown since I left!"

Ruth waited patiently to be noticed, allowing her cousin to bask in much needed attention from her mother. John noticed his metal sister and bent down to pick her up. "You're a good cousin," he whispered. "Hailey really needs Cameron's attention right now. I promise Aunt Cameron will spend some time with you later."

"It is okay John. Aunt Cameron is your protector and she always makes sure you are happy if it is possible for her to do that. As Hailey's protector I try to follow Aunt Cameron's example."

"Well, I still think you're a good cousin. And thank you for letting Hailey have Cameron to herself for a little bit."

Tired of waiting, Sarah walked over and took Ruth from John and leaned in to kiss her son on the cheek. Reacting like a teenager, John scrunched his face up and gave his mother an annoyed grimace.

"Tough John. I'm your mother. Besides, it's my job to embarrass you."

A quick glance to Derek for support resulted in his uncle simply shrugging his shoulders to say, "what can I do?"

Finally noticing her father's presence, Hailey leaned over towards John so he would take her from Cameron. Sarah passed Ruth to Derek and hugged Cameron.

"You are a mess Tin Miss. If it were possible, we'd have a girls night out and get your hair and nails done. Get you a new purple blouse or something."

Without warning Cameron burst into tears and hugged Sarah tightly. Without saying a word, Sarah just held her metal daughter-in-law.

Two days later…

For the first time in a long time John sat and surveyed his entire command staff. Cameron sat to his right. Her lacerations had healed and the bright red and pink flesh of her scar tissue would fade soon as if Cameron had never been wounded. Her newly grafted ear tissue had taken hold and Doctor Johnson was confident it would regenerate in half the normal time. Her thick hair was already an inch long where it had been shorn off her scalp.

An anxious John Henry sat to Cameron's right, next to his mentor and teacher Agent Ellison who was accompanied by Father Hidalgo. Derek and Sarah sat together next to Doctor Johnson on John's left. Across from John sat a content Weaver and an uncomfortable Lt. Wilhelm. John smiled. The trusted Terminator never knew what hit him. His trademark cigars only made their appearance now when there was no chance Weaver could make a sudden appearance. Savannah and Sgt. Brighton rounded out the people John had asked to attend the meeting.

John called the meeting to order and looked carefully at each of the people in attendance. His staff had changed considerably in the past two years and for the better.

"The war has reached a point where it needs to end, at least in our part of the world. TechCom needs to focus on building a future for our people. Not surviving from one Skyent attack to the next. We simply cannot continue in a war of attrition. Skynet is feeling the effects like us. Our intel all points to the fact Skynet is having problems as well."

John paused long enough for the gravity of what he was telling his leaders.

"We need to force a culminating battle. Winner take all. If we keep fighting like we are, the end result will be the destruction of TechCom by attrition. I have made the decision we need to force a final battle on Skynet. Think of it as a Dien Bien Phu. I want to hear from each of you, your thoughts, what you think about this and how we can or should go about this."

Derek stood and cleared his throat.

"We cannot fight full scale battles in the open. The cost is simply too high. We had the total advantage at the Battle of the Valley. We selected the ground to fight on, held total surprise, had superiority in numbers and did not have to worry about Skynet's airpower. Of our 1500+ troops, we lost just over 20% in KIA. I lost over 200 human infantry and Cameron lost almost 40 Silvers. John Henry lost 9 engineers. When you factor in the number of wounded, the casualty rate goes up to over 40% for human TechCom personnel and 100% for the Silvers. Skynet's forces are more likely than ever to fight as dead enders. We only took seven prisoners. Two human and five Terminators who had lost their legs."

John was well aware of the appalling casualty figures. Hearing Derek say the aloud somehow made them worse.

"Was there, in hindsight, anything overtly wrong with the plan?"

John Henry spoke up. "I do not believe, with the resources we had, there was much we could have done differently. We engaged the strike force at the most advantageous geographic location we could without allowing Skynet's forces to come closer to our base. Our initial ambush in the kill zone was devastating. Analysis of video of the battle indicates we inflicted 40% casualties in the first two waves of detonations. Our envelopment was total. The strike force was doomed."

A somber Cameron added, "If we had fought human forces only, they would have surrendered within minutes. The very nature of Terminators though made that outcome unlikely once Commander Romulus gave the order to overrun Derek's position. Termination was the only way to stop them. It almost goes with out saying, Terminators do not give up, cannot be reasoned with and will pursue their objective till ordered otherwise."

"Would someone like to explain why our first big conventional battle was so costly," John inquired.

"Simple. We're effective as a guerrilla army. Hit and run. Ambush and vanish. Fighting underground allows us to create choke points, limit the amount of front we are exposed. Even in the Battle of Los Angeles, when the battle moved above ground, Skynet's forces were in retreat," Cameron summarized before adding, "We have to find a way to not fight Skynet's fight. We have to make it the largest guerrilla style battle every fought."

John surveyed the room; pleased his wife had stated the obvious. Everyone present was in agreement.

"Good. I am glad everyone agrees. I have some ideas now that we have more intel on where Skynet Central Command is actually located. This won't be easy. In fact, it will be the largest undertaking TechCom has ever attempted. All of you must contribute for this idea to work."

TechCom Hydroponic Farm…

Sitting under one of the long trays filled with soil and seedlings, Hailey and Ruth had hidden from the Old Man in hopes of avoiding the parent ordained bath scheduled for the day.

Mary and Grace were involved in the hunt for the girls and both had their nose out of joint because Little Al had betrayed them. Ruth could hear the Italian Greyhound sniffing as he darted about, searching for them.

"I told you we shouldn't have given Little Al a bath last night," Ruth insisted.

"It's too late now," Hailey whispered back. "How were we supposed to know he would get even with us by helping them hunt us down?"

No sooner had Hailey finished speaking when the total absence of sound became almost deafening.

"Uh oh," the girls said in unison.

"Woof!"

"They're over there," Mary shouted, pointing directly at the girls hiding place.

Sprinting down the long aisle with their dog in pursuit and barking to indicate their position, Hailey and Ruth suddenly found themselves, as usual, dangling in mid-air, the steel fingers of the Old Man's vice-like grip firmly holding them both.

"Uh, how is your day going," Hailey asked innocently.

"It will be going much better after you have been scrubbed, dried and brushed," the T-600 replied.

That Night…

Listening to John breath peacefully as she scanned his vital signs was always something Cameron enjoyed. A knowing Mary had volunteered to keep Hailey, Ruth and their always-present little dog for the night. Earlier in the night John and Cameron had enjoyed a good laugh as the sounds Sarah made were easily discernible in their tent.

Running her hands over John's bare chest, Cameron rolled on her left side instead of draping herself over John as she normally did. Just as she had hoped, her husband instinctively rolled over and snuggled his chest against her bare back. John wrapped his right arm around her abdomen and pulled Cameron close to him.

Pleased to learn, once again, she was still the only Sexbot John was interested in, Cameron pondered why she still felt insecure at times in her marriage. Despite John's repeated reassurances that humans felt insecure about things from time-to-time and as Cameron developed it was logical for her to experience the same things, it still bothered her to have these feelings.

Deciding she was not going to resolve her problem any time soon, Cameron nestled gently against her husband. Taking his right hand, she intertwined her fingers with his and began shutting down the various subroutines running in her CPU. Within minutes Cameron was in Terminator Sleep, her CPU in maintenance mode. A faint smile on her lips was the only sign Cameron was, for the moment at least, completely content.

Reviews are always appreciated. If you liked this story, you might want to consider my other TSCC stories:

Cameron Grows Up

Cameron and John's Wedding

Who's the Boss?

The Storm Before the Calm