"This must be what hell is like" Second lieutenant John Connor thought to himself as he surveyed the destroyed city of Los Angeles.

The smoldering remains of the city filled the sky with smoke, blotting out the distant sunset. The bodies of the dammed littered the streets, silent witnesses to humanity's judgment.

He motioned his men forward, leading a patrol deep into the city. They made their way down the deserted streets of the city, not a sound but the soft crackle of fire and snapping of charred bones under their boots. Venturing outside of the tunnels during the day was risky, most of the time you traveled by night.

"Contact front!" one of the soldiers on point managed to yell before he was cut to ribbons by assault rifle fire. The men quickly returned fire. There were two terminators ahead of them, they were the older 600 series, powerful but made of inferior titanium-alloy armor. The soldiers easily dispatched both of them.

"It's a scouting patrol!" John called out to his men. "They already called us in! Get ready to move into the tunnels!" They needed to get out of sight before the Arial Hunter-Killers arrived, his small patrol didn't have the firepower to take them down.

John and his men eventually entered into the dilapidated tunnels of the city, a maze or rubble created from the remains of sewers and once standing buildings. It was a seemingly endless labyrinth and the best place to hide from the machines. As they continued forward into the tunnels John entered a small room. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness he noticed a body lying in the corner. It was nothing out of the ordinary as the ruins were littered with the dead, but this was different. The body of a young girl who looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite make the connection.

John walked over to the girl, who was laying on her side with her back to him. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently rolled her over so he could see her face.

John's heart skipped at beat and his face went pale. Cameron…the girl from his past, his protector, his friend; lay before him abandoned in the ruins of the future…the present. . He placed his hand gently on her cheek, caressing it softly with his thumb. She looked so peaceful, so serene. It was then that he noticed damp hair was coated with blood. John quickly checked her CPU port cover and found that her chip, her very soul, was gone.

"CAMERON!"

John shot up from his bed, soaked in sweat and struggling for air. The nightmares had become more regular in the last few weeks. Ever since the girl…NO; the Machine sent back to protect him reverted to her Skynet programming and tried to kill him on his birthday. However, it wasn't the attempt at his life that was troubling him. It was what she said to him as she was pinned between the trucks. The way she begged, pleaded, to be spared. The way she tried using his feelings against him; feelings that he had been trying very hard to forget.

Sitting on the edge of his bed trying to calm himself, John looked up and noticed Cameron standing quietly in his doorway. Her eyes locked onto him. "What are you doing in here? Don't you usually patrol the house at night?" he was not sure if it was her unwavering stare or her silence that was making him uncomfortable.

"You said my name." She stated in her usual monotone voice. She stared at him for several seconds before stepping fully into the room, the soft moonlight illuminating her beautiful features.

"What?"

"While you were sleeping, you said my name." Cameron stated as she walking around his bed and sat down beside him, entirely too close for John's comfort. She seemed to be peering into his soul with those beautiful brown eyes of hers. It was easy to forget that she was a machine at times.

"Well, it was nothing important. Just forget it happened." John said as he shifted slightly away from her, not fully trusting himself to be so close to his cyborg protector.

"You were talking in your sleep, your pulse was elevated, and you were perspiring heavily. You were having a nightmare." Cameron paused for a moment before speaking again. "Was it about me?" Her voice was slightly, almost imperceptibly, different. She sounded…timid, as if she were afraid of what his response would be. Was it just his sleep-deprived mind playing tricks on him? John wasn't sure.

"Cameron, it was just a dream. I don't see what the big deal is, just forget it happened."

"I have been monitoring your sleeping patterns for the past several days; your nightmares are becoming more frequent."

"Wait…You've been monitoring my sleep? …Why exactly?" The thought of Cameron hovering over him at night as he slept made John feel uneasy, it's no wonder I'm having nightmares, John thought.

"You have not been receiving a sufficient amount of sleep. It may begin to have a negative affect on your health." Cameron blankly stated. Typical Cameron, John thought, always trying to keep him safe even from his subconscious.

"Look, there's not a lot I can do about it, it's not like I can just stop having nightmares whenever I want to. Stop watching me sleep, by the way."

"If you talk about your nightmares, it reduces the likelihood of them reoccurring." John laughed to himself as the mental picture of Cameron pouring over research on nightmares and sleep disorders flooded his mind, all so she could make sure he had a 'sufficient amount of sleep'.

"You can talk to me John." Her voice sounded almost wistful, but that wasn't possible. That couldn't be possible. She's just a Machine, John. She's just looking out for your health. He mentally reminded himself.

"You really want to hear this?" John couldn't believe he was going to talk to a Terminator about his nightmares, some kind of twisted sleep therapy. Things are just getting weird. He thought.

"Yes. I do."

"It was the future….in my dream. I was leading men on a mission, we were searching for something. I don't remember what it was exactly. I remember the burned out buildings, the dead were everywhere. I remember getting a man killed…a…His voice caught in his throat, he wasn't sure if he should tell her the last part.

"John?" Cameron insisted.

"And I found you; deactivated…your chip was gone… I didn't know what to do, I couldn't save you." John sat quietly, lowering his eyes to the floor as he waited for her judgment.

"You are afraid." Cameron said in an understanding tone. "You are afraid of the future and you are afraid that you will not be able to lead and make the right choices…You are afraid of being alone." John remained silent, he knew she was right.

"In the future you harbor many of those same fears." Cameron continued.

"Good to know I'm the same as 'The Great General Connor'." John said sarcastically. He was absolutely sick of hearing about his future self.

"No" Cameron shook her head "Not the same."

"Well, what's different then?" John asked. He figured she would tell him how 'Future John' had overcome his fear, or how in some way he was better than him.

"You will have something that Future John did not have. You will not be alone." She took his hand in hers; her skin was smooth and warm. "I will be here to protect you. I will always protect you." John froze, he couldn't think of anything but Cameron's silky hand gently holding his own. He looked up at her, his eyes becoming captivated by hers. The way she was looking at him, the emotion in her eyes, no simple machine should have been capable of that. "Get some sleep John." Cameron said with a half-smile.

Before John could respond she stood up and walked to his door, looking back at him with a soft smile and a wink as she closed the door behind her. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what just happened. He was struggling to come to terms with his conflicted feelings.

Is she different?

It was that last thought that plagued him until he finally drifted to sleep.

The door to John's room slowly closed, a petite female figure silently made its way to the side of his bed.

John had been asleep for over an hour, deciding that it should be safe to enter Cameron quietly opened his bedroom door and slipped inside. She carefully made her way to John's bedside. John had been suffering from nightmares far more frequently in the last few weeks. That was unacceptable to Cameron. She studied his sleeping form. He looked different when he was asleep, peaceful. His face suddenly darkened, he was dreaming again. She knelt down by his bedside, contemplating the best course of action. Lightly brushing her hand along the side of his face, she began to gently whisper to him.

"It's ok, John. I'm here now. It's only a dream." After a few moments of this John returned to a peaceful sleep. The desired effect was achieved but Cameron did not leave his side. She knew that John would object to what she was doing but, for reasons unknown to her, she could not bring herself to leave the future savior. She felt obligated to protect him from all threats, even those in his nightmares.

Tonight, John Connor would sleep well. Kept safe from the horrors of his nightmares and as always she would be his shield, his watchful protector.

His guardian angel.