Chapter 269

Choice

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River's Future Timeline:

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Cameron explained everything to the girls. There were a lot of questions. They wanted to know what was different in the years that passed. It was all a hard concept for them the fathom. They were all still on the same day they started out on that morning.

Duplicate Vanna took Cameron off to the side at one point. She wanted to know everything about Savannah. She was surprised she was a young woman in every way now. She wanted to make sure than no one ever 'touched' her. It was her biggest worry that what happened to her in her future would happen to Savannah. It hadn't happened, at least not yet.

"The Vanna that is there and all the girls watch over her along with Sarah and all the Terminators.' Cameron said. "You know that. Remember 'that Vanna' is you and will do everything that you would the same way."

That was some comfort to Duplicate Vanna. There was another worry and it was personal to Cameron so it may be a sensitive issue when it was brought up. She wanted to know for sure.

"Have you put Savannah in John's bed yet?" Duplicate Vanna asked. "I want to know the truth."

Cameron thought of doing that more than a few times once Savannah could reproduce.

"I have not, nor has she gone on her own - yet." Cameron said.

Duplicate Vanna was very aware that Savannah was heavily 'indoctrinated' to be with John and have a baby to give to Cameron as her own.

"I'm afraid she will do that soon." Duplicate Vanna said. "Please give her a choice and also listen to what she wants or needs. She is me, Cameron, and she will want the same things I do. Please give her that choice. Let her be who she is and don't make her what she is not."

Cameron understood Vanna's message. Savannah may not want to be with a male even if she does it for her. Every Savannah Weaver needs an Allison Young in her life. She never planned to thwart that relationship. She felt she'd encouraged it from day one.

It was time for some decisions to be made. Cameron wanted some flexibility for everyone too.

Duplicate Cameron agreed to stay in the future with River, if Cameron promised to go back and stay with John. Duplicate Cameron loved River as much if not more than John. River seemed to have everything to make Duplicate Cameron feel 'complete'.

Cameron reluctantly agreed. This mission was not to alter or create a new timeline. Cameron knew it was Duplicate Cameron who'd fallen in love with River, not her, even though it was 'her'. It was still depressing to Cameron. THIS is what she thought she wanted and was going to achieve.

Now, what was to be done with the Duplicate girls?

Duplicate Jesse was worried about Gail but Cameron told her the original version of 'her' and Gail were together. The love continued as if it never stopped.

"I will stay with Cameron and River in this future if they will allow it. That's only as long as there is a version of 'me' with Gail." Duplicate Jesse said. "I don't want Gail without a version of me. Now I know what being 'replaced' feels like. It's not a good feeling."

Duplicate Jesse and Cameron exchanged a long look. Cameron nodded.

Cameron again assured Duplicate Jesse there was a version of her with Gail.

"There is and you – 'her' are partners." Cameron said. "Your original version and Gail are in love. All is as it was before for Gail."

Duplicate Jesse saw this as a chance to get closer to 'Cameron', HER Cameron, without John in the picture. Jesse would do anything to be with 'Cameron'. It didn't matter if 'Cameron' was a Duplicate, she was too. She still felt the same.

Cameron saw no need to bring up the trouble Allison and Vanna experienced. That all seemed to be her doing and there was no need to discuss it. She dealt with enough grief over it on her own. She didn't want them to blame her too.

Cameron did inform Duplicate Allison there was now a younger sister named Summer. Cameron told her Summer would also be under their protection. She thought it best to leave out the part that Summer would be an additional 'back up' for John in the future. She hadn't expressed that desire to anyone because of all the flack she got over Savannah who was 'ready' and Young Allison who was not, at least for the reproduction aspect.

Cameron looked over at Duplicate Allison.

Duplicate Allison and Duplicate Vanna spoke quietly with each other.

There something that Cameron wanted.

"What about the baby?" Cameron asked.

Duplicate Allison knew Cameron wanted her baby. She'd discussed this with Duplicate Vanna.

"It's my baby, Cameron." Duplicate Allison said as she glanced at Duplicate Vanna. "It's our baby, Vanna and mine. I want to keep it. We want to keep it, please. Please, let me keep my baby. PLEASE, Cameron. I know you want it. Please, think of me, of 'us'. PLEASE, don't take my baby from me."

Cameron wanted that baby. Everyone could see it on her face. They didn't know that Cameron wanted to take Summer from Claire, Allison's mother, as her own. Holly stopped her.

"Cameron, it's her child. It's part of her to be nurtured by her body. It belongs to Allison." River said. "You know this. I know you do."

Cameron was not about to give up easy. She also knew she couldn't lie to River.

"Will you come back with me?" Cameron asked Duplicate Allison.

River could see that Cameron was about to break her promise to John by pressuring Duplicate Allison. She could feel that Duplicate Allison would feel obligated to do what Cameron wanted of her. She might even give up her baby to Cameron but she would forever regret it. It would be something she did out of love even if it was against her will. For Cameron for 'force' Duplicate Allison was an intolerable abuse of that love.

"What about the timeline?" River asked. "You have a promise to keep."

Duplicate Cameron knew exactly how Cameron felt. She felt the same way. They were identical.

"It would be better if they stayed in this future with River and Jesse and I, Cameron." Duplicate Cameron said. "I know you know this."

Cameron could tell she was defeated. She knew what she tried to do was 'wrong' right now. She tried to put the best face on it.

"It's their choice." Cameron said.

Cameron struck out over and over with these issues here. There was no need to create an 'issue'.

There was a plus to them staying in this future. It created a 'backup' for all the girls in John's timeline in case they were ever 'needed'. Based on what already transpired and could have several times over, a backup set of all of them was a good thing to have.

Duplicate Allison and Duplicate Vanna discussed it and decided to stay in River's Future with Duplicate Cameron, Duplicate Jesse and River.

River knew the real reason Duplicate Allison elected to stay in her future. She believed that Cameron would take her baby from her no matter what she said. That was probably the safe bet.

Everyone thanked Cameron for saving them. Cameron said thank River. River said she could use the help of Duplicate Cameron and the three girls to retrieve two members of her crew who had been - lost.

Cameron hadn't updated Duplicate Cameron's chip to avoid her knowing the hurtful information she possessed on Vanna and Allison and some of Cameron's actions and 'thoughts'. For Duplicate Cameron and the girls it was all the same day still. It was the same day they all 'died', The Day Of Loss. Years passed since then in Cameron's timeline. The Duplicate girls here were all 'younger' now compared to the original girls in her timeline. That gave them additional 'productive' years. That was another plus. She could always come back to this date and retrieve them at this age at any point in John's life.

River seemed to pick up Cameron's trepidation to not update Duplicate Cameron.

River spoke with Cameron and asked her to update Duplicate Cameron anyway.

"Give her everything but firewall the files you do not wish her to see yet. I want her and you to be identical." River said.

River and Cameron fabricated a tether and hooked them up in no time.

Cameron looked around and found a small knife. She slipped her dress off. She'd put the second heart that Duplicate Cameron left behind inside her sheath long ago. She never really knew why. Now she did. It was for this moment. Maybe that was a latent 'suggestion' by River. Maybe it was good planning on her part. Maybe it was blind luck.

The girls all looked at Cameron's naked beauty.

"I have something of yours." Cameron said as she looked at Duplicate Cameron. "It belongs to you."

Cameron cut into her sheath and retrieved Duplicate Cameron's locket – her heart. It really made her think about it as she removed it. This was not what she thought about or planned when she did it but this must be why she did it.

Duplicate Cameron slipped her dress off as well.

River and the three Duplicate girls all looked at both versions of Cameron as they stood there naked.

The girls were in Heaven as they watched this.

Duplicate Cameron opened the locket and saw her photo on one side and River's on the other.

Cameron and Duplicate Cameron shared a long look.

"Thank You, Cameron." Duplicate Cameron said.

Cameron 'felt' it was going to be this way that she would not get River but Duplicate Cameron would. She felt she came up short on everything else anyway. Why would this be any different? It wasn't.

Cameron placed the locket inside Duplicate Cameron after she cut open her sheath.

They both embraced.

The three girls and River continued to stare in fascination and awe as they took in the two perfect naked figures. Duplicate Allison and River both wondered if they could ever look that 'good'. Duplicate Allison doubted it. River felt she could pull it off.

Duplicate Cameron wanted Cameron to go back to her timeline as soon as possible. She believed that the longer Cameron stayed here the more she would want to stay. She would obsess on Allison's baby the more she stayed as well. She knew how Cameron thought.

River picked up on everyone's feelings and trepidations. She looked at Cameron.

"You have a choice to make." River said. "There is what you want and what you know is 'right'."

Cameron frowned. None of this was what she'd expected. She did have a choice. She could make a lot of different choices. She could choose to go back further in time now and 'fix' some of the things that she needed to 'fix'.

"I don't know." Cameron said.

River touched Cameron.

"You do know." River said. "You've always known."

Cameron could have done without that reminder. She did know she was going to come up short. It was her worst fear about coming here in the first place. More rejection was something she could have done without.

"Maybe I have." Cameron said. "I can make things better too."

River did not think so.

"Is your TDE still locked into the past?" River asked.

River knew it was.

"Yes." Cameron said. "Can you fix it?"

River smiled.

"It will be fixed when you need it to be." River said. "That's all I can say about it."

Cameron thought River's love for her - Duplicate Cameron would give her some more flexibility as to what happened next.

"Will you send me anywhere or any when I want to go when I leave here?" Cameron asked.

River was ready for this.

"Of course, I love you." River said. "I will do whatever I can for you."

Maybe it was what River said about loving her that did it.

"It's time to make a choice." River said.

Cameron decided to go back to the moment she left her timeline. She would be able to retrieve her clothes and return to base before anyone knew she was gone…. She didn't want anyone to know about this debacle and latest failure on her part.

"I'll do what is right for John." Cameron said. "Stay in contact with me."

Cameron provided River with the coordinates of her TDE at her base and set up a schedule of times so they would know who it was. River was to visit within one week of her timeline but several years in Cameron's timeline.

She wanted to give the girls the option to return if they wanted to do so - soon. That way their lives would not be disrupted by the future they were in now. She also hoped to have more information on the other set of Duplicates that were 'in some future' by then. She hoped to go on a rescue mission to find them. She gave River all the temporal data she'd put together and this set of girls visited that future briefly. There may be some temporal data there as well.

River approached Cameron as she hugged her and thanked her.

Before the time bubble started to appear, River looked at Cameron as she handed her the dress she'd removed earlier.

"I'll try to visit you one week from now in my timeline but in the year you specify in your timeline. If we are unable to visit for some reason, Cameron, I will see you again in 1999 on the day you arrive in your past from your original future." River said. "You will arrive from your current timeline's future the same day as well."

Was this for real? It was what Cameron suspected.

"I knew it." Cameron said. "I will relive my life over again."

"It's your destiny. It's your choice." River said. "My Cameron and I will be waiting for you with a place to store your other future self that will appear from your future. We will help reset your chip back to what it would be with encrypted files set to appear when needed. You will never know you are doing it over until this point in your life again, in your future. Even though I have not actually done any of this yet, apparently we already have…."

"Thank You, River." Cameron said.

"Thank you, Cameron." Duplicate Cameron said. "This means a lot to me. It's a sacrifice for both of us, we are identical. I am you and you are me. Thank you for allowing me to stay with River. I love her, Cameron. Please take care of John for me."

"Everyone sacrifices for John Connor." River said.

Cameron nodded. They all needed to sacrifice something. It was time. The choices were made by everyone.

"Do it." Cameron said.

The arcing and flashing started.

The time bubble quickly appeared.

"See you soon." River said. "Or in 1999."

"Or sooner - if I need the girls…." Cameron said.

The time bubble formed and disappeared

The arcing and flashing ended.

Cameron was gone.

'The Boxer' by 'Simon and Garfunkel', went through Cameron's mind as she time jumped.

Choice

We can think once
We can think twice
Do we ever listen
When we're give advice

Everything in life
Is about making a choice
That is the only way
To make one hear your voice

I know that it
May sound somewhat strange
But it is you yourself
That can make things change

It is always easier
To return to the castle
Because things that are different
Are usually a hassle

Look at your hands and feet
There is no enslaving chain
The restraints that hold you
Exist only within your own brain

As life evaporates into time
It becomes harder to choose
Because no matter what you do
You know you will always lose

Nobody