This is a note to everyone from January 2020, several years after I initally wrote this chapter. Thank you everyone for your support and your feedback on this story and I am so sorry its taken me so long to update this story, as promise years back I wanted to update this story to the point I was happy with it again. Thanks again for your patience.

Terminator

Bond of Steel and Bone

Chapter 4

The Truth Revealed. Broken Bonds Fixed.

Cameron looked over the woman once again, standing at five-foot-ten inches the machine had a taller and heavier build than herself. She started a scan of the Terminator's endoskeleton, only for it to quickly step forward and kick Cameron in the torso, the force launched Cameron off the floor and hit the ground a few feet back.

Cameron quickly rose to her feet, this machine seemed to have greater strength than the Tech-Noir Triple-Eight, despite it being shorter and a possessing a smaller frame. The machine grabbed Cameron by her sleeves but she retaliated immediately, Cameron brought her arms up on the inside of the hold then pushed outwards forcing the enemy cyborg's arms away and broke the hold, Cameron ducked to her right and brought up her left leg, kicking the machine in the stomach causing her to hunch over. Cameron grabbed the woman by the rim of her pants and by the back of her neck and ran her towards the far wall and thrust it's head into the wall, cracking the thick marble upon impact.

Pressing her attack Cameron grabbed one of the cyborg's legs, lifting it off the ground then thrust her knee up into the hostile cyborg's knee joint in attempt to damage it. Seemingly undamaged by Cameron's attack, the enemy machine pushed against the marble wall, small fragments of powdered marble stuck in her hair, placed one hand into the hole to balance herself before using her other leg to kick Cameron off of her, sending the smaller machine stumbling backwards.

The taller Terminator got back onto her feet then raised her left leg then checked operational status on her knee, sufficiently working the machine looked at Cameron, who was charging towards her and rammed her into the wall behind causing it to crack further. The woman visibly grimaced before taking a firm hold of Cameron, her right hand around her neck the other gripping the top of Cameron's right arm. The woman put both feet onto the wall and pushed herself away forcing Cameron back. Cameron reached up and grabbed the woman's arms only to be lifted up into the air, the woman turned towards the elevator door beside them, spun them around and slammed Cameron into the elevator door repeatedly, the door bent, then it buckled before finally Cameron crashed through the elevator doors and fell down the shaft.

The woman stared at the empty space before looking at her reflection in a nearby mirror and brushed a piece of hair away from left eye and tucked it behind her ear.

Cameron landed on the rising elevator two floors below and watched the woman look at herself, Cameron dived through the closing gap to the floor, the elevator continued to rise higher into the building, the occupants watching in disbelief and confusion as Cameron went into a full speed sprint across the corridor, the woman turned too late as Cameron barged into her, lifting the machine off the ground, her leg hydraulics moving as fast as they were designed for as she carried the unknown cyborg across the hallway, ramming it into the wall.

The cyborg raised it's arms up then brought them both down hard upon Cameron back, once, twice, thrice, Cameron lost her hold of the enemy machine. Using what little room it had, the cyborg kicked Cameron across the floor, Cameron had barely got to her feet when the machine was one her once more, a powerful fist across her cheek another to the chest, Cameron stumbled back. It strode forward, grabbing Cameron by the jacket and brought its hand down upon her shoulder joint, its raised its arm back up readying another strike, Cameron reached up grabbing the cyborg's offending hand.

This Terminator, whatever it was must've been new, or another secret project by Skynet as she had been. She was losing this fight, the machine was too strong, Cameron knew she needed to find a way to improve her chances of survival. From her periperal vision she saw a full length window, a idea quickly formed.

Cameron suddenly pulled back, the other Terminator briefly loosing its balance, spun it around then ran towards the window with the machine lifted off the ground. The glass shattered upon impact and the pair of cyborgs fell twenty or so feet into a construction site opposite. Cameron used the Terminator's body as a shield as they crashed into a steel beam. The Terminator lost its grip on Cameron and the pair fell several more feet till they landed on what would be the new building's third floor.

Cameron looked at the woman, who was unsteadily rising to her feet, and began to scan her again.

SUBJECT SCAN COMPLETE: ...
... UNKNOWN ENDOSKELETON UNIT ...
60% COMPATABILITY WITH SERIES 888

Her endoskeleton was similar to a Triple-Eight, more feminine in design obviously, but her parts had additional armor plating, improved redefined hydraulics which probably gave this woman her strength.

TARGET - UNKNOWN SERIES INFILTRATOR
MISSION – TERMINATE

At the same time the woman had been keeping her eyes on Cameron, watching as she too had slowly risen, the female cyborg narrowed her eyes, her optics focusing on something out of Cameron's line of sight then ran straight towards her at alarming speed and tackled her against a steel pillar, the steel denting marginally. The woman reached up grabbing a thinner steel support beam that was welded to the pillar, the cyborg's enhanced hydraulics giving it the strength to bend the steel around Cameron trapping her in place.

Cameron frantically tried to push the steel off of her, but the woman kept it held with one hand the other being used to repeatedly punch Cameron in the face with immense force, each punch sending Cameron's head against the steel pillar denting it further and further.

Cameron tried to break free from her bindings, her head continuously banged against the steel behind her, she could imagine her facial sheath was beginning to bruise and tear, Cameron tugged on her left arm trapped between her body and the bent steel, she pulled and pulled and pulled. Something moved, Cameron could feel her arm moving a little, but she could feel the skin sheath tearing against the steel, it didn't matter, she had to escape.

The woman brought her fist down upon Cameron who's left arm broke free from the trap, the back of her hand and along her arm was scraped, blooded and cut, shiny hyperalloy visible under her arm, she grabbed the woman's fist before adjusting her grip and slammed the woman's hand against the alloy, before grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward with a strong tug, Cameron let go then thrust her fist against the woman's face, causing her to fall onto her back.

Cameron looked down at the steel then pushed with her whole body as it began to bend back, the steel getting weaker at the bend from such abuse. Cameron calculated the strength required to break the now dented metal, ducked under the steel, finally free from her entrapment as the hostile machine got back up, Cameron rushed to the enemy cyborg which grabbed her before she could it. Just as Cameron planned. Before the hostile cyborg could do anything else, Cameron pulled backwards, allowing herself to drop to the floor, bringing the machine with her, she put her feet to the machine's stomach as she felt herself roll onto her shoulders and kicked it off of her straight into the bent steel, which buckled and snapped upon impact with the machine.

Cameron rushed towards the cyborg before it could get back and kicked it towards the edge of the construction's flooring, the machines extra weight over a Triple-Eight made Cameron's attack less effective. Undeterred, Cameron picked up the now torn piece of steel, made her way to the cyborg as it slowly got up. A quick strike from Cameron sent its head recoiling to the left, another strike from under the cyborg's chin, then a final one brought down towards its head. The cyborg hand lashed out grabbing Cameron's wrist, the machine turned to glare at her with hate filled eyes, then rose up to its feet.

Cameron wouldn't allow it to gain advantage, grabbing the cyborg's arm with her other hand and pulled it towards her, her forehead making an impact between the Terminator's eyes, momentarily stunned or not, Cameron didn't wait and grabbed the steel from her restrained hand striking the machine across the side of its face with an outwards swing. The machine quickly retaliated as Cameron went in for another strike, grabbing the steel itself and pulling it from the smaller cyborg's grasp and struck Cameron in return across the cheek, her head jolting to the side. The cyborg pulled at Cameron and threw her the last few feet on the flooring and over the side moments before she fell away from view.

The cyborg looked down to the piece of steel in its hand, now buckled and bent from abuse and dropped it before marching over towards the edge of the platform. It looked out over the edge to find its enemy, suddenly a hand wrapped around it's ankle, it looked down just in time to see Cameron pull her off her feet and throw her towards the floor, the machine reached out at last minute and grabbed the Cameron's arm the force and weight forcing her to let go as before female machines hurtled to the floor both crashing hard into the ground below.

Men working at the site came to see what had happened only to see a tall woman get up and run off away from the site, followed shortly by a younger girl, they didn't glimpse their faces, as they just stared in confusion at the running women.

Cameron chased the machine out of the site only to lose it among a crowd of pedestrians, people going about their lives. Cameron scanned the crowd trying to relocate her target, but failed to do so. She realised returning to Hamburg Industries would be problematic. This new Machine was a whole new threat against John, the others needed to be made aware of it. Cameron turned around intending to return back to the safe house when a small store caught her eye. A card store. The first thing that grabbed her attention was a big "Happy Birthday" poster, she immediately thought of John and his 16th birthday, her CPU was receiving negative feedback from the thought.

'I should try and make up for it.' She told herself and walked into the store.

The cyborg woman finally reached Hamburg Industries sixth floor once again, and walked into the waiting area outside of Michael Hamburg's office, she gave her best smile and walked up to the receptionist.

"Hello," The machine spoke getting the receptionists attention, the woman behind the besk looked her over with amusement and slight disgust at the condition of her clothes.

"Hello, may I help you?" she asked trying to be polite.

"I'd like to see Mr Hamburg if he's available," The cyborg woman smiled, this was her chance, no more interruptions, no more delays, she would finally…

"I'm sorry you'd usually need an appointment to see Mr Hamburg, however he was called away about a few minutes ago for important business overseas, he could be away for a week or more." The Receptionist smiled.

The cyborg simply stared at the well dressed woman.

SUBJECT SPEECH PATTERN ANALYSED - VARIFIED – TRUTH.
ACTION: ... TERMINATE ...
... NEGATIVE ... OVERRIDE

The cyborg woman stood unsettlingly still, simply staring at the receptionist, who in turn was beginning to feel uncomfortable under the woman's unblinking stare, completely unaware of the danger she was in.

Suddenly the cyborg leaned closer to the receptionist who yelped in shock, gaining the attention of a few people waiting on chairs behind the woman.

"Thanks." was all she said before she stood up straight, turned and walked out the door.

Cameron walked out of the card store with a small bag in her hand. She smiled at the small thing she had done for John. She hoped he would like it. In the distance she heard a loud crash, and a blaring car alarm. She turned her head towards its direction finding it was coming from, Hamburg Industries.

Her meeting with Hamburg a failure, her next priority was relaying her findings to Sarah and the others. On the plus side, she bought John a nice card.

'Perhaps I should buy him a birthday cake. John likes chocolate, I like chocolate too.' Cameron thought to herself as she brought up a map on her HUD of the closest bakery and made her way there.

Derek lay quietly on a queen-sized bed, his clothes scattered across the floor while he sipped an ice cold beer.

Slowly, he turned his gaze towards the only other occupant in the room, his companion; Jesse Flores. The AWOL soldier from the future, come back in time to hide from the horror of the war. Or so she said. Right now she was pulling on a sleeveless top to cover her bare torso.

Derek had to get away from the Connor safe house. He didn't know what was going on with John now, he'd almost put it down to more teenage rebellion, but the look in his eyes, the tone of his voice. Derek almost fell back in to instinct to salute. Where had that come from? Something had happened, he knew that much. Despite what people thought of him, Derek wasn't stupid. Speaking of which.

"So you gunna tell me what you're really doing here?" he asked suddenly turning to look at his companion. There was no reply, he didn't speak for a moment choosing instead to take another sip of his beer. "You know, the actual reason and not just some bullshit excuse?" he asked with a little frustration in his voice.

"I don't get what you mean love." Jesse replied, oh she was a good lier, almost as good as the Connors.

Wordlessly Derek reached under his pillow, and pulled out a set of photographs, photographs of himself, John, Sarah, Cameron and their safe house, he threw the photos onto the bed. He took another sip of his beer, stared Jesse in the eye and waited for an explanation.

"Where did you get those?" Jesse asked with alarm, her eyes barely hiding her shock, Derek didn't reply. Finally she caved, "Alright, I'm here to save him Derek."

"Save him from what specifically?" he asked, his right brow raising ever so slightly. "It's a little hard to trust you Jesse when I find out you've been spying on us."

Jesse let out a short sigh and ran her fingers through her hair, "I'm here to save Connor from the machine, Derek. The machine that lives with you and the Connors. "Cameron"." She spat the cyborg's name with utter disgust.

"What do you mean save him from it? I'll admit, it should be trashed. I don't like it either, I don't like any of them, particularly this one. But why are you here specifically for that?" Derek asked, now he was sounding interested in her mission.

"She was twisting him Derek, manipulating him. Good men died, a lot of good men, because of missions Connor sent them on, he may as well have handed those men over to the machines gift wrapped covered in gasoline, and it's all because of that machine. I have to save him from it, so I can save those men in the future. If that thing had such a connection with him after only a year then..." Jesse stopped to gather her words, "… then imagine how much it'd be able to manipulate him if they both survived Judgement Day together, stayed together, it may as well be the leader of the resistance for all John would do."

Derek felt the horrors of her implications flow through him, if Cameron stayed with John after the bombs fell, it would be part of the original members of the resistance, she'd be untouchable, possible seen as legendary and as high a rank as John, the Co-Leader of the Resistance being metal. It'd be funnily ironic if it wasn't shockingly horrific.

'If that thing become Co-Leader of the Resistance, she could manipulate John to do anything.' Derek thought to himself, his mind envisioning a horrific world.

"We can't just force them apart now, no, that'd be suspicious, and would make John worry." Derek told Jesse who smirked at him.

"Maybe, maybe not, I've got away to drive them apart." She smirked not telling him about Riley, the less he knew the easier it would be for Riley to do her mission.

"Maybe not," he said darkly, Jesse's smirk vanished as she looked at him curiously, "don't ask me why, but John likes to have it around."

Jesse looked to the ground for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. Riley had already told her what had happened at the previous night, with the Triple-Eight attacking out of nowhere. Maybe something happened after that, and whatever it could have been worried Jesse. 'If all else fails, I'm going to have to resort to plan A.' She thought darkly narrowing her eyes.

"Alright. Thanks for the heads up," Jesse told Derek as she turned to look back at him.

"You got a plan?" Derek asked before taking another sip of beer.

Jesse released a loud groan and looked up towards the ceiling. "Maybe. It depends how bad it really is with John and the metal," Jesse looked at Derek, "you think you could run some recon on them, see how they're behaving together? It'd be a big help." Jesse smiled pleadingly.

"To get John away from that metal bitch, I'm more than happy to do it." He smirked and leaned back next to Jesse before putting an arm around her shoulders. "See? When you let people know what's going on, you can get a lot more help." He smirked. He had a new mission, to save John from making a big mistake, and hopefully getting Cameron away from him, he'd leave the how with Jesse, he knew his part, and like a good soldier he'd stick to his mission.

John had been laying in his bed throughout the day thinking as he said he'd do. He needed to apologies to his mother for being a brat, for putting them in danger and fix his relationship with her. He needed to apologies to Cameron for being a complete jerk to her the past year, he knew however he needed to confront her with the why of it though, despite him knowing deep down what she said has some truth to it, she needed to understand why he felt betrayed, perhaps she already knew though, perhaps not. He'd find out, and whatever the outcome he'd tell her he was sorry.

He now admitted to himself, a part of him was in love with her, but could she feel such a thing for him. She was dedicated enough to him it seemed, but was that just programming, or was it something more, could it become something more? He didn't know. John moved his hands behind his head and sighed, maybe if they just talked, maybe then he'd get some answers.

Next thing he thought about was that he needed to not only break things off with Riley but confront her with what he'd discovered, he had tried a few play a few ideas out in his head ranging from outright confronting her about it to things more deceptive, if he were wrong things would go bad quickly, he'd have accused a perfectly innocent and normal-ish girl of something that wasn't true and feel like a complete asshole, however he felt in his gut he was right about Riley; that she was from the future. But how to get to admit it?

"Cameron!" His eyes opened wide with an idea, he jumped up and rushed downstairs and into the kitchen, looked around not finding his mother, he went further into the basement to look for her, he didn't find her, lastly he went out the back into the shed, he found his mother checking the supplies they had in order to deal with burning endoskeletons.

Sarah looked up to him with a curious gaze, "Everything alright John?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "say uh mom, could you do me a favor?"

"What you need?"

"When Cameron gets back can you tell her I need to speak to her, it's important."

Sarah nodded slowly, she wanted to ask what he wanted her/it for, but she decided she'd rather not know, not right now anyway.

"Sure I'll let her know next time I see her." she smiled, she watched John nod in appreciation turn to leave then stop, he turned back to her, his brow furrowed, deep in thought.

"Also, later could you and I ... talk?" he asked.

Now Sarah was confused, what was going on with her son today? "Um, sure whenever you want to just tell me."

"Thanks mom." John said with a smile then left her to her work.

Something must have happened recently, something last night, with Cameron. But what? Whatever it is, it made John different. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not just yet.

Hours later Cameron entered the house, she had left John's cake and card in the car for the time being. Closing the door behind her she walked further into the room towards the kitchen, she turned her head into the living room and saw a rare sight, Sarah Connor relaxing, however her Remington 870 shotgun was laid across her lap.

"Are you alright Sarah?" Cameron asked. Sarah turned to look at her.

"Fine." Sarah replied without looking back, Cameron turned to leave the room when Sarah spoke up again. "Oh John wanted to see you immediately when you got back." Sarah informed her.

Cameron tilted her head, John wanted to see her immediately?

"Is it urgent?" she asked trying to find out as much information before she went to see John.

"Don't know, he said it's important, but I didn't ask what it was he wanted" Sarah admitted, she turned her head slightly and glanced at Cameron. "You better get going," She turned back to watch the TV. Something sudden registered in her head and she looked back at Cameron as the cyborg ascended the stairs. The machine had been in a fight, and it hadn't looked good.

John waited patiently in his room, as he had been laying there since asking his mom to get Cameron to come see him, he'd been trying to formulate a plan, he knew Cameron would be key to this, he'd need to tell her what he had already put together. He needed her to trust him on this, but he needed to trust her too. Finally there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," John called, he looked and smiled as he saw Cameron enter.

"You wanted to see me John?" she asked innocently.

"Cameron, yes. Perfect timing." He said as he sat up on his bed. Cameron smiled to herself, she liked pleasing John, and right now he seemed very happy to see her.

"Alright come in, close my door and sit down, we need to talk." He continued.

Cameron did as she was instructed, closing the door she sat down next to him on the bed. John got up, she watched him as he pulled his wheeled desk chair from his desk infront of his bed, just opposite Cameron and sat on it.

John was about to speak when he noticed the condition she was in.

"Cameron, what happened to you?" he asked his tone alarmed and worried.

"There was another cyborg who was looking for Michael Hamburg. We had an altercation, I couldn't identify the unit, it was a female based chassis but it was strong, durable, I thought it was better to report back my findings instead of chancing another encounter with the machine while looking for Michael Hamburg." Cameron informed him in her monotone voice.

John's eyes were wide with alarm. "You couldn't identify it?" he asked.

"No, it wasn't a Triple-Eight, it was more advanced. I am unfamiliar with the endoskeleton. Like mine, it has similartiies to the Triple-Eight design except for additional armor plating protecting it's vital systems, and more powerful hydraulics."

John was worried, a new model of Terminator. A more powerful Terminator.

"But are you okay?" he asked worried if she was damaged or hurt in anyway.

Cameron smiled at his concern. "I am fully functional John, my skin sheath was slightly damaged, but my endoskeleton is intact. I'm fine." She clarified. John nodded his head slowly and smiled. "Now you wanted to speak to me?" she asked again wondering what he had wanted her for.

Pushing down his concern for Cameron, and the sudden threat of this new unknown cyborg, John prepared himself for what he needed to say.

"Right now listen," he began his tone serious, Cameron could already tell whatever it was he wanted was big, "it's about Riley." Cameron mentally deflated, maybe it wasn't so important then. "I think she's from the future," or maybe not, Cameron's interest immediately picked up. "During the club she said she knew what you do, as in protect me, she tried to cover it up by being my sister and looking out for me, like you did with that guy during school, but I gut tells me it's more."

John waited as Cameron took in what he was saying, she nodded letting him continue.

"Then there are the facts that she didn't run away last night and she was worried about me, she said I couldn't help you, even though to her the Triple-Eight should have appeared to be some nut with a gun, right?" he asked Cameron was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Then there's what happened in Mexico with Cromartie and the fact Riley's never brought it up since it happened." he added, Cameron's eyes looked down in thought, she looked back to John and nodded. "What do you think so far?" he asked.

"You give valid evidence towards your theory John, everyone else in the club ran away, but she did not, even though she herself had enough time to escape." she replied.

"But, I want hard proof. And this is where you come in, if you'll be a part of my plan" he asked, a small pleading smile on his face.

Internally Cameron was, could she say, excited? Possibly. A chance to prove Riley as some form of threat and hopefully if John was right he may stop seeing her, this would prove to be an excellent turn of events, even better that it was John who wanted to find out, even better than that it was John asking, not ordering, but asking Cameron to be a part of this plan of his.

"Yes, I'd love to." Cameron gave John a small but noticable smile.

"Awesome!" John exclaimed excitedly, his brain taking a moment to register her choice of wording, 'love?' he wondered. He shook his head, more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. "Okay now here's a plan I thought of ..." John began smirking slyly.

Riley Dawson sat silently on her bed, her eyes staring out through her window into the brightly lit Saturday afternoon. Despite how pleasent it all looked outside she couldn't hold back a depressing sigh. Her foster parents had invited her to watch T.V with them but she had declined. Aaron; her foster father, had warmed up to her since she'd first been fostered by them. She could definitely live like this, she thought; a family, school, three square meals a day, no worries except those for homework and any chores assigned to her. But still Riley felt like crying, her thoughts going back to the future, the dead bodies, the smell of decayed flesh, the machines, the war, the constant threat of death. Why did it have to happen? Why did it happen? She was pulled from her thoughts by the cellphones ringtone, she looked to her side, her phone buzzing and ringing on her bedside table; it was John.

'Well at least if it happens, I could Mrs Riley Connor, if not, I'll definitely have some security.' She thought glumly, the notion of being Mrs Riley Connor gave her some comfort, she answered the phone and spoke the date.

"Hey John!" She spoke happily, hiding her fears and turmoil as best she could.

"Riley, you feeling any better?" John asked. Riley found it really sweet he was so concerned for her, she thought back to last night, perhaps she should have had John walk with her without having the machine around, maybe something good could have come from the chaos, especially if she were able to convince him she needed some comfort, closeness, affection.

"Yeah John, I'm feeling a little better, still shook up from last night though. What's up?" she asked smiling to herself.

"I wanted to meet with you, as soon as possible, somewhere private, you got any ideas?" he asked, Riley could have sworn the last part of his sentence sounded rather, seductive, maybe this was her chance. Now she had to think, somewhere private to "talk", she had her answer immediately.

"Yeah I know somewhere. There's a block of old apartments, the place is scheduled to be renovated next month, so the place is deserted. We could meet there." Riley offered.

"Sounds great, send me the directions from your phone, and we'll meet in say, thirty-ish minutes, sound good?"

Riley beamed, finally progress, good things were coming her way, she knew it.

"Right, I'll set off now, find us a nice comfy room, then you call me when you arrive, I'll tell you the floor and the room number, see you soon." Riley smiled.

"Right, see you then." Cameron concluded, imitating John's voice. She hung up on the phone and looked at John before speaking in her own voice. "Got her."

John nodded slowly. "Good, I hope to god this isn't a mistake."

"It won't be. You're good at analysing situations." She told him.

"I am or I will be?" he asked, he didn't like to be compared to his future self.

"You are, although Future John never had this problem." She informed him, hoping that her words would reassure him of himself. Which they did slightly.

"Thanks. Alright you know you're part in this. You ready?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm ready." She nodded before standing up. Then the two of them walked out the door, Cameron analysed the co-ordinates of the abandoned apartments before giving the phone back to John.

"Oh hey mom! Me and Cameron are heading out we'll be right back!" he called to her as the pair walked through the kitchen.

"Hey wait a second!" Sarah Connor jumped to her feet and walked briskly towards them, "what happened to her?" she said pointing to Cameron.

"We got a problem, but we'll tell you later, promise! Bye!" John replied quickly as he and Cameron opened the door and walked out leaving a stunned and frustrated Sarah Connor behind.

Riley arrived at the apartments and looked them over, they looked old, she didn't know when they were built, nor did she really care but they were in good condition. She ran inside and climbed the stairs, that was however one problem with the building, the elevator was busted. Most of the doors had been broken open, the rest were held on by rusted and and damaged hinges, she herself could break them down. After about ten or so minutes she found a good room, second floor, number 205. The room was large, like it was left for those with "real money" or those on a honeymoon. She smiled remembering the room in Mexico she and John had, it was romantic. Riley checked the bed in case of any foreseeable problems, thankfully she found none, no lice, no bed bugs, spiders, blood, mucus, nothing. Just an old mattress with some dirty old sheets. They'd make do.

Her phone rang in her pocket; it was John. She smirked to herself, it was almost show time. She answered the phone and verified it was her.

"Alright John, I'm on the second floor, room 205. You're going to love it." Riley was clearly excited.

"Alright, awesome. I'll see you there." 'John' replied.

Cameron looked at John as she hung up.

"Room 205, Second floor. You will stay outside the room, right?" she asked. John nodded.

"That's the plan. Remember, don't hurt her, just scare her." John reminded her. Cameron appeared to pout.

"Not even a little bit?" she asked. John chuckled.

"Only a tiny bit, but only if necessary. Okay? She's not a resistance fighter, that much is for sure."

Cameron nodded as they began to walk up the stairs to the second floor.

Riley heard the door to the room open behind her, she smiled to herself.

"Hey John, so what did you want to talk about." She asked.

"You." Cameron said plainly in her own voice, Riley spun around shocked seeing Cameron close the door behind her.

"What, what are you doing here, where's John?" Riley asked, her heart began to beat faster, where was John, what had the Machine done to him.

"What's wrong Riley? You seem scared, I'm only John's sister." Cameron's detached, cold, machine tone of voice in place, frightening Riley. The girl's heart rate elevated, she was scared, all Cameron had to do was make Riley slip up. She stalked towards Riley at slow predatory pace.

"Where is John?!" Riley cried out as she stepped back.

"John's at home, sleeping." Cameron said as she stood still.

"But, I spoke to him on the …" she stopped in midsentence. 'Oh god, it wasn't John. It was the Machine' she gulped and stepped back. Riley acted as Cameron had hoped, as John has predicated, the girl's action had confirmed his theory; she was from the future and she'd fallen into their trap.

"Oh the phone? How? When John was asleep?" Cameron asked slowly, her face was a blank expression but inside her CPU she was getting positive feedback from the present situation, not as much as she was with John, but still a good amount.

"You!" Riley gasped as she fell onto the bed trying to back away from Cameron further. Cameron continued to walk towards her.

"I know Riley." She said, her tone barely changed but Riley could hear the danger in it.

"You know?" she asked, not hoping she knew about Jesse.

"I know everything." Cameron lied, in truth she knew nothing, other than this girl was incredibly gullible. "Now Riley, what am I going to do with you?" She stopped at the foot of the bed and glared at the girl.

"Please, please don't, please!" Riley begged. Cameron internally smirked, this was too good, she admitted she was enjoying herself.

"I know everything. I just don't know your purpose here, you could be a threat to John. I can't have threats to John." She said darkly.

"No, please no, I'm not a threat, I'm not here to hurt John. I swear!" Cameron simply stared at Riley's quivering form. "I'm here to save him!" Riley clarified, Cameron tilted her head.

"From what?" Cameron asked.

"From YOU!" Riley spat back in a brief moment of anger, before quivering back again.

"So you admit you're from the future." It wasn't a question, Cameron glared at the cyborg.

"Yes, you fucking metal bitch!" Riley yelled out. Cameron gave her a small smile and turned her head around.

"You can come in now John." Cameron called out, Riley sat up in surprise, she looked as the door opened and John walked in a determined look upon his face.

'It was a trick, and I fell into it.' Riley thought to herself.

"Well Riley. Care to explain?" John asked putting one foot on the bed and leaning onto his leg, Cameron stood still next to him.

"I came back in time to save you John, save you from her." she looked at Cameron. This only confused John.

"Save me from, someone who is reprogrammed to protect me? Isn't that like taking a shield from a knight and saying he'll be better off without it?" he asked, trying to get his head around it.

"She's not a person John, she's a THING, and Machine, she's a soulless, lifeless killer!" Riley cried out in desperation.

"Answer the damn question!" John snapped loudly, his words forceful. Cameron watched John, he was beginning to act more like his future self, this was good progress, but it worried her. She didn't want John to end up like his colder self, she liked John as he was now, alive and caring.

"In the future, no one ever see's you anymore, everything has to go through the Machine, it once said that talking to it is like talking to you, it's manipulating you John, it's turning you against everyone else." Riley told him, hoping he'd understand.

All John was understanding was that he getting pretty fricken tired of hearing Cameron being called an 'it' a 'thing'. She deserved more respect than that. Just like Uncle Bob, he deserved respect, he deserved to be a 'he' a 'him' no matter that he was a machine.

"Cameron is a she, Riley. She may not be human, but she's a person, not an it. Understand." he wasn't even asking her, he was telling her. Riley nodded scared.

"John I doubt she could pull off this mission alone, she must be having help." Cameron told him, as she turned her gaze from Riley to John.

John nodded in agreement. "I agree. Riley give Cameron your phone." He used a softer tone of voice this time, Riley nodded she was defeated, she'd been beaten, she removed her phone from her pocket and gave it to Cameron.

"You promise not to kill me?" she asked her voice wavering in fear.

"It's John's call," Cameron said not staring into the girls eyes as she took the phone. "Who is your contact?" Cameron asked as she looked through contact. There was a number under "home" possibly her foster home, John, she found nothing else in contacts, however she did find another number in the phone history. "Never mind."

Cameron called the phone and waited for it to be answered.

John watched Cameron with some amusement, as Riley watched still scared for her life. Finally someone picked up.

"Hey it's me," Cameron spoke using Riley's voice, using a happy upbeat tone that Riley seemed to use a bit around John.

"What do you want Riley?" came the voice full of anger, Cameron had begun a search for the matching voice through her database, filtering only female and Australian as soon as the voice said 'What'.

"I just wanted to update you with John." Cameron asked still in Riley's voice, her scan continued.

"Oh yeah? And what have you got to tell me?" The woman's voice said. Cameron's scan ended: Commander Jesse Flores.

"Me and John were just having a private talk in an apartment, things may start getting serious between us soon." Cameron heard Jesse chuckle in the background.

"Good work girl, keep it up!"

"Will do." Cameron finished and hung up, she looked at John then spoke in her normal voice. "Riley is working with a member of the resistance. Commander Jesse Flores of the USS Jimmy Carter."

John was quiet for a moment then looked at Riley.

"Where is she?" he demanded, his eyes boring into her, Riley looked away her hands clasped together nervously.

"I-I don't ..." she began feebly.

"Bullshit!" John snapped, "where is she?"

Riley looked on the verge of tears, her bottom lip quivering, she swallowed multiple times before daring to look at John, then gave up Jesse's location, including her room number.

"Alright, you want to remain safe?" he asked, his voice calmer. Riley nodded quickly. "Right, then act dumb, Jesse doesn't need to know what we know, understand. You'll continue to do what she tells you. We'll meet up and you'll tell me what your orders are and in return we'll try and guarantee you're safety."

Cameron was impressed with John in how he was dealing with the situation, she didn't think his Future Self could have done much better.

"But understand this Riley," he said, his voice growing cold. "It's over between us, I'm sorry."

Riley had seen it coming but nodded solemnly.

"I'm not." Cameron spoke up, John chuckled as Riley glared at her. "However," she began, "if you could get Morris off my back, I'd be inclined not to hurt you, for now." Cameron offered, John had a hard time to hold in his laugh.

"Ugh. Sure, Morris is the Hispanic guy, right?" she asked slowly, Cameron nodded.

"Remember, this never happened," Cameron reinforced John's statement, "or you'll wish you didn't happen." She threatened before turning to leave, John got up and followed her out the door.

Once out the door John looked at Cameron.

"Where did that come from?" He asked curiously, Cameron knew what he meant.

"I watch a lot of T.V, I remembered that line from a crime drama. It was enjoyable." She finished John just chuckled, shaking his head slowly.

Riley panted slowly. Her life was over. She'd lost John. And now he knew everything. What good could come from this now, she'd failed her mission, Jesse would beat her.

But then again. "What Jesse doesn't know, won't hurt me." She told herself, John's offer was good, he'd offered to keep her safe in exchange for information. She could do that. Maybe, just maybe, she could still get something out of her new predicament, maybe even regain his trust, if she ever had it beforehand. "I just got to be smart. That's all." She told herself once again before getting off the bed, which now had a small wet stain on it and walked out the door and headed home, she needed a shower.

John and Cameron walked back up their drive way, Cameron stopped suddenly and grabbed John's hand, he stopped and turned at her worried something was wrong.

"Cameron?" he asked worry in his voice.

Cameron looked at him blankly for a moment. John was worried she was about to glitch again.

"John, could you meet me in your room, I'll be there in a few minutes. Please?" she asked.

John was confused but shrugged.

"Um okay, I'll see you there I just gotta tell mom we're back. She still wants to know what happened to you." He said before making his way outside, looking for his mother. Cameron still had Sarah's car keys in her pocket marched back to the car, unlocked the back door and grabbed John's cake and card, the card she had yet to write in and would prefer to do it privately, the closed the door with a gentle tap of her rear and locked it with the car keys before creeping back into the house, she waited patiently until she saw John make his way from the backdoor to the stairs and disappear up them, she waited till she heard his bedroom close.

Cameron entered the house, closing the door behind her then sat down at the dining table and opened out the card. She wondered what to write, it had to have meaning and be true, each unsatisfactory message was superimposed onto the card, some were too long, and wouldn't fit, some didn't convey what she wanted. After a few more seconds she found her message. She focused on the card and began to write neatly, once satisfied she closed the card, placed it in the envelope and wrote his name on the front.

John lay on his bed after talking to his mother, she'd demanded an explanation later to which he'd promised one would be given, though when Derek eventually turned back up so things could be explained to all of them, she'd agreed if only reluctantly. So now he waited for Cameron, he wondered what she had wanted him for, it sounded serious whatever it was. Soon enough he heard the door downstairs close shut, meaning Cameron had entered the house but then he heard nothing. He waited patiently in silence for a few minutes, he heard the eighth step of the stairs creek, Cameron must be on her way up to talk to him about whatever she wanted.

"Come in Cameron" he said loud enough for her to hear, the door opened slowly and John looked at Cameron with surprise, as she carried in a small chocolate cake on a tray as well as something in her hand. "Cameron, what's…"

"It's to apologise John," Cameron interrupted, John raised a brow at her clearly confused, "for your 16th birthday, I understand I had ruined a special occasion and I apologise for it, after battling the unknown cyborg, I came across a store that sold cards and I purchased one for you, and got you a cake, chocolate is your favourite." She put the tray down on his desk then walked over and gave him his card.

John looked at her surprised, shocked. He opened his card and began to read:

'John. I understand I ruined a special day for you, for that I cannot apologise enough, I hope that that you can forgive me for almost killing you that day, it was regrettable, and by preference I would never have tried to begin with. I am sorry John. Happy Birthday. Cameron'

John felt a smile forming as he finished the letter. She was sorry. She was trying to make up for it. This was his proof that she cared for him beyond a mission priority. This was all the proof he needed, he turned his head to look up at Cameron who was watching him intently.

"Thank you Cameron."He said sincerely, he rose up from the bed, placing the card down gently, and wrapped his arms around the cyborg. Cameron froze upon contant, she had not expected such a reaction, but slowly she returned his embrace. "It's a beautiful card Cameron. Of course I forgive you." He said, tears threatening to well up in his eyes.

John pulled away from the embrace, Cameron regretfully allowing him to do so. He sat down on his bed and looked to her.

"I actually wanted to talk more about that day, but first I want to apologise," he began, Cameron tilted her head in a curious fashion, "for the last year, I've been such a real jerk to you, and I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to apologise John," Cameron replied, internally surprised by his words, "I had tried to kill you, it makes sense of you to distance yourself from me." she reasoned.

"But see that wasn't why I did it." He explained, confusing the cyborg. "It was about what you said afterwards, in the chapel."

Cameron went through her files of that day, starting from after they had returned to the chapel and focusing only on her interactions with John, at first she found nothing, but then."I said you couldn't be trusted." She understood now.

John gave her a sad smile and nodded his head, "Yeah and after everything we went through that day, what I did to get you back, I felt ..." he paused, looking away from her, "I felt a little betrayed."

Analysing his statement, she could see his point of view, Cameron frowed. "I see," she knelt down infront of him, "I'm sorry for what I said John, I should have explain myself better. What you had done was dangerous without the right information, I could still have been under Skynet's programming, but I'm thankful you saved me." She clarified

"You're welcome," he replied and looked her in the eye, "besides, friends forgive friends for saying stupid things."

"Friends, forgive friends," she parroted, "you forgive me?" she asked.

"Yeah I forgive you, if you forgive me." He replied.

"I do." She replied, the corner of her mouth rising into a tiny smile.

John wanted to ask more, to delve deeper in to Cameron feelings, for lack of a better term. But now was not the time, they were back to how they were before, they were friends again. John mentally patted himself on the back for fixing one of his relationships, now just to fix things between himself and his mother.

"Only if you have some with me then yes please Cam, yes please." he chuckled as Cameron turned around to cut the cake for John and herself.

Jason's Notes: Well that's another chapter down. Man I'm surprised with myself, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, John and Cameron finally have one another. But the story isn't finished, on no not yet, not by a long shot if I can help it.

Now then. I won't be uploading for a while, as work from Monday to Wednesday is tough, so I might be able to upload something Wednesday night my time. (I'm British) And to those who have enjoyed and reviewed thank you so much, I would love if you could spread this story to your friends or what not, I love having people review my stuff.

To those who have mentioned my grammar I apologies, I have dyslexia and it effects my grammar.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Edit - January 2020

Cameron and Female Terminator fight scene shortened.

Riley gives up Jesse's location, shall fix in future chapters.

Cameron and John aren't boyfriend/girlfriend yet. Simply friends, their relationship will develop further later. Re-reading it I feel it all happened too fast.

Other minor fixes.