Chapter 51
Future's Gift
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Cameron's Future Timeline:
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Cameron started to cry.
It surprised and saddened Future Allison to see the pain Cameron was in. She'd been so strong for her and both of them these last few months.
Future Allison tried to comfort Cameron. She'd slowly become very dependent on Cameron. It was evident that both of them were very attached to each other. In fact both of them slowly fell in love with each other. Being so close for so long to someone, it was bound to happen. Their attachment was now to each other.
Cameron 'felt' everything that Future Allison did. She needed to often remind herself of her mission. It worked most of the time. She knew Future Allison wanted more than she could give, at least at this time. It was a physical experience that she'd wanted to share with Vanna and later Allison. Now it was with Future Allison as well. They were very attached to each other now. She did not want to 'return' Future Allison back to Future John. She wanted to bring Future Allison back with her for John and her. Staying focused on her mission was very difficult.
Future Allison wanted to express her thanks and gratitude to Cameron for all that she'd done for her. The bond she felt with Cameron was like no other. She needed to say it to Cameron.
"Cameron, You have been a mentor and teacher to me. You have taught me history, science, math, English and survival skills. You have allowed me and helped me to draw and create. I like to draw. You've made me a better person than I was. You showed me how to express myself through poems and writing. You've allowed me to have dignity during this 'process'. I believe you, Cameron, about everything. I have come to respect you like no other." Future Allison said. "Cameron, I love you."
Cameron stopped crying.
Future Allison wiped away her tears. It was a loving gesture.
"Thank you, Allison." Cameron said. "I think I needed to hear that."
Cameron wanted to hear those words. It was what she felt too.
Future Allison knew Cameron was deeply conflicted about what to do. She knew Cameron needed to complete what she saw as her function or mission.
"You love him too don't you, both of them, both Johns?" Future Allison asked.
Cameron hadn't told Future Allison everything. There were many things she did not know. This seemed like the time to tell the story since they would part soon. That separation would most likely be forever.
"Yes. Past John is my husband." Cameron said and explained the story.
Future Allison was awed by the story. It was a love story in reality.
"Is that why you did all this?" Future Allison asked. "You sacrificed yourself for love?"
Cameron was aware her presence disrupted everything for John, both of them.
"Allison, you and Savannah belong to John, not me. I am an interloper, a machine. I am nothing. I am NOBODY." Cameron said.
Future Allison saw something different.
"I don't know what to say but you are not 'Nobody'. You are the most caring, unselfish person I have ever known." Future Allison said.
Cameron appreciated everything that Future Allison said. It did not change her perception of herself or her actions, both past and present. This was about Future Allison now and her homecoming. This was about redemption and salvation. This was about starting over.
"Get some sleep." Cameron said.
Cameron touched Future Allison's cheek. Their faces lingered inches from each other. Both of them wanted to kiss the other one. They were both aware that if that happened. All bets were off. Their faces moved ever closer.
Future Allison was a little surprised at the kiss she ended up with. It was only on her cheek. There would not be a 'new future' for them, at least not at this time.
"I will take you home tomorrow." Cameron said as she gave her a peck on the cheek.
None of this seemed good enough at this point to Future Allison. There was a brighter future for both of them. Instead they were both going back to what once was. They were going back to 'yesterday's news'. Life was supposed to move forward not backwards.
"And you?" Future Allison asked. "What about you?"
"I don't sleep." Cameron said.
Cameron knew what Future Allison meant about her being able to get back home. She knew she was probably never going to get back home. What mattered now was to have Future Allison and Future John reunited. That was the purpose of this whole endeavor. She was about to fix her wrong doing. She was about to change the future.
Future Allison, Cameron, Unit Two and Unit Three moved out. They'd eradicated all traces of their camp wherever they'd been as they did now at the bunker they were about to leave. It was if they'd never been there. Unit Two and Unit Three took turns carrying Future Allison over the rough terrain to speed their progress. They also brought along all the things Future Allison made and the things Cameron made for her.
Future Allison thought it was fun to be carried a few times. That was the first thing she remembered about Cameron was regaining consciousness in her arms as she carried her. She hoped Cameron would have carried her instead of the two Terminators. They'd always been kind to her and looked after her. They'd never been forceful when they brought her back the times that she tried to run away in the beginning. They seldom spoke.
"These guys never say much." Future Allison said.
Cameron was very pleased with the performance and loyalty of Unit Two and Unit Three. Maybe she still did not fully trust them but she did respect them.
"It is not their function. Their function is your survival. They will perform that task until they are terminated as will I." Cameron replied. "Your survival, Allison, is all that matters."
Future Allison knew how much she meant to Cameron and what Cameron wanted for her and Future John and Future Savannah. Future Allison wished she could share it all with Cameron too. It could be the four of them.
Cameron watched Future John and Future Cameron leave the Resistance base. There was a glitch impulse that shot through her left hand.
It stabbed her heart to know Future John was about to send her away. It hurt just as much to relive it again. How could he do that to her? They loved each other. Now, he has no one. He pushed Future Savannah away. He pushed everyone away. That was all because she'd killed Future Allison. It was all her fault. It had bothered her for years. Now she was going to fix it. She headed for his bunker to wait. She thought she knew what would happen next. If anyone spotted her they would think she was 'Future Cameron' and hadn't left.
Even seeing her naked seemed to make it worse to send her away for Future John. Cameron remembered Future John's tear filled eyes as the time bubble formed and his last words as she departed.
"Everyone sacrifices for John Connor, even John Connor." Future John said.
"I love you, John, and you love me." Cameron replied. "I'll be back."
Then she was gone.
She never dreamed then how much more she could be 'hurt' as her 'feelings and emotions' evolved. Life was much simpler for her back then. There was no way for her to know that at that time.
Future John stared at the empty pad in the TDE room. He questioned is decision. He started to walk away from the empty pad. He paused and turned.
"I love you, Cameron, and you love me." Future John said softly.
He returned to his bunker. He sat in his room alone. Always alone, now forever alone he thought. The women he loved were all gone or driven away to protect them. That would leave him with a lifetime of emptiness. It would be a future of more emptiness and loneliness. This is living?
Future John looked around the empty room and at the belongings of the women he loved. It was all that remained, that and memories. They were all gone.
Future John pulled his Government Model 1911-A1 from his holster. In one quick motion he racked the slide and chambered a round. He raised the weapon to the side of his head and pulled the trigger.
The pistol was yanked from his hand before it fired. The web of Cameron's hand between her thumb and index finger blocked the drop of the hammer.
"I love you, John, and you love me." Cameron said.
Future John spun around.
Cameron stood before him.
This made no sense.
"What? How?" Future John asked. "I just sent you away."
Cameron reminded him of her last words to him.
"I'm back." Cameron said. "I told you I would be back."
Future John wondered how the TDE malfunctioned.
"You just left a short time ago." Future John said. "What went wrong?"
Cameron looked into his eyes.
"You sent me away." Cameron said. "That is what went wrong."
This still made no sense to him.
"How are you here?" Future John asked.
"This is where I live. Don't you remember?" Cameron asked.
Cameron pointed to some items.
"LOOK, those are my things next to Allison's things and Savannah's things." Cameron said.
Future John looked around.
Cameron felt a million emotions inside of her. Something bothered her greatly.
"How could you send me away if you loved me?" Cameron asked. "How could you do that to me and make me suffer for years?"
Future John realized that this really was Cameron who'd returned from the past.
"It is because I loved you that I sent you away." Future John said. "They were going to kill you. They were going to terminate you and then assassinate me."
Cameron was aware that sacrifice was the true test of love.
They embraced.
Future John moved to kiss her. Cameron dodged the kiss.
That confused Future John.
"John, STOP. Listen." Cameron said. "I need you to listen to me first."
Cameron stood directly in front of him and faced him.
"I've brought you something that I took from you, John." Cameron said. "Something you tried to replace with - me."
This was a 'different' cyborg than the one he'd just sent away. She had clearly evolved. Now he began to regret erasing some of her files.
"What? I don't know what you mean." Future John said. "You're different now."
There was a 'sad' look to Cameron's face as she spoke.
"I've grown these last few years." Cameron said. "I am more than I was but not yet all I will be."
He still could not get over the fact it was only a short time ago that he'd sent her away.
"Years? You have been gone less than a few hours." Future John said.
The sad look on Cameron's face seemed to deepen.
"It has been years for me." Cameron said. "YEARS, John, it has been years without you."
Guilt and remorse flooded Future John. What had he done? She was right. What was he thinking? They should have fought their enemies, not run from them.
"I'm sorry." Future John said.
The look of sadness turned to a look of anger.
"Isn't everyone?" Cameron asked. "I need you to follow me."
Future John followed her to the abandoned bunker where Cameron had moved Future Allison to.
They passed some guards on the way. No one raise an eyebrow. She recognized an old man. He was one of the few old timers to survive. She saw the old battered Model 1928 Thompson with the horizontal foregrip that he always carried. Some things never change she thought.
"John, I want you to restart your life. I want you to bring Savannah back. I want you to keep the women safe." Cameron said. "No more patrols for either of them, EVER."
He wondered about the plural form of her words. Maybe she was here to stay.
"What women?" Future John asked.
Cameron did not want questions. She wanted promises.
"Promise me." Cameron said sternly.
He wanted to see what she meant exactly. The wording was confusing.
"I promise, Cameron. Savannah and who else are you talking about?" Future John asked.
Cameron rounded the corner. Future John saw the two Terminators and started to stop.
"They're with me." Cameron said.
Future John relaxed a little. He was still a little wary. Unit Two and Unit Three looked very intimidating to him.
"I am talking about the one woman you truly love, the mother of YOUR future children." Cameron said.
This made no sense to him. Maybe Cameron was about to malfunction.
"What are talking ab…?" Future John started to ask.
Cameron cut him off.
"John, I give you back your future. I give you back your life. I give you purpose and a reason to live. I give you the one you want the most." Cameron said.
Future John felt very confused and uneasy. He looked at the two big Terminators again and then at Cameron.
"I don't under…?" Future John started to ask.
"Hello, John." Future Allison said.
Future Allison stepped out of the shadows.
Future John just stood there. His mouth dropped open. Future Allison looked perfect. He had never seen anyone look that good since before Judgment Day.
"Do you like me to look - Tight?" Future Allison asked.
Future Allison ran into his arms.
Future John turned around to say his thanks to Cameron, there was - Nobody.
Future's Gift
We have what we have
It is never enough
The smoother it goes
The more it becomes rough
Without a crystal ball
We can't see through life's wall
Even when we give our all
We are left feeling very small
How do we know anything
When nothing seems real
Constant pain in a heart
Will slowly make it anneal
There is no freedom
There is no escape
We get mired in the past
As if bound with tape
Lost love in the past
Creates quite a rift
To find that love again
May be the future's gift
Nobody