Chapter 9

First Date. Moral choices.

John and Cameron were laying on John's bed quietly. John had his eyes closed but was still awake, slow soft music played in the room from John's laptop which creating a calming atmosphere.

The day outside was still bright still early in the afternoon, the sun's ray lit up John's room brightly, birds chirped in their nests cars roared their horns and drivers yelled at one another, but all that felt miles away.

Cameron nuzzled herself into John's side, they had only just finished with coming up with a plan when John decided they should relax with one another, Cameron didn't argue, she'd liked spending time with John, her head laid on his chest, his left arm wrapped around her lovingly, she could hear the strong beating of his heart she liked it's rhythm.

Cameron had just initiated the next step in their relationship; French kissing, she'd heard the term, researched it when everyone else was asleep and only now put it into practise, it felt good, but with John everything felt good, great even.

John's plan. The date with Riley. It was simple to say the least, but it would be effective. John and Riley would go on a date, something which Cameron hated the idea of and had told him so, John had chuckled and replied likewise, he didn't like it now he had Cameron, but it would just be for show in case of Jesse. While Riley and John were doing their date Cameron would scout the perimeter in disguise, possibly clothing she herself normally wouldn't wear, and looked for Jesse.

"What would happen if I locate her?" Cameron had asked at the time.

"If you see her, hide, keep her in your sights, when she leaves follow her, but don't get too close or she may be suspicious, I want to know where she is in case worst comes to worst, just make sure you don't confront her, we'll get to that later, this is just recon, okay?" he has replied to her.

Again the plan was simple, but simplicity was effective, less to go wrong. Cameron liked his plan.

"I think I'll set up the date and location this time, that way we can get a good layout of the area then we'll have the advantage" John had concluded, before turning on the music.

Cameron smiled softly, John was showing improvements in what it'd take for him to become the General, she just hoped that he would be different to the Future John she knew, more human, more caring. She understood Future John's reasoning, but looking back after all the development she'd had recently, she didn't think Future John's decision to cut himself off was the best option. But he'd had no choice, he was alone. Her John wouldn't be alone.

Cameron sat up suddenly, John opened his eyes and looked at her.

"John someone is coming." Cameron said to him quietly.

"Oh man." He groaned and jumped off his bed, John walked over and sat at his desk, he allowed the music to continue and opened up an internet browser. As Cameron had said John's door opened, it was Derek.

"Hey John your mom…" Derek paused when he noticed Cameron sitting on John's bed. "What the hell's the metal doing in here?" he asked annoyed.

"Not that it's any of your business Derek but me and Cameron were talking about possible changes that could be made to the jeep, Mom wanted Cameron to fix it, I wanted to customise it, so I thought since we are doing it, we might as well talk to one another." John lies convincingly.

Cameron kept quiet as Derek looked between John and herself in disgust.

"Ugh, don't know how you can stand having that thing around without protection." Derek complained.

"She IS the protection Derek, now what do you want?" John asked losing his patience already with his uncle.

Derek grumbled but said no more about it. "You mom wanted you to look over this hard drive, tell us if you find anything of importance."

John got up and walked up to Derek and took the Hard drive from him, he looked it over for a moment.

"Where'd you get it?" John asked.

"That don't matter. Just tell us what you find." Derek said before walking off downstairs.

John closed his door and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Can you believe this?" he asked Cameron but kept his eyes on the hard drive. "They went out on a mission while we was at school." He groaned.

"It would seem so John." Cameron said, not sure what John was getting at.

"And now like some low paid lackey I have to look through this, some General I'm turning into." He groaned and walked over to his laptop. "I'll never learn anything if I don't go on missions."

"It could have been dangerous John." Cameron added, she didn't want John to get hurt, especially now.

"I know but, in a few years, if we fail it won't matter will it? And I'll have no experience in the field, other than running away, if people expect me to lead, I have to be able to do things like this." he complained, he placed the Hard drive on his desk and leaned back in his chair.

"John." Cameron spoke softly, she stood up and walked over to John, he was upset, he felt unneeded, unused, especially when everything, the protection and such was for him.

"If we fail, you'll prove yourself to others." She continued and put her hands on either side of his neck and began to knead her fingers into his joints, he needed relaxing.

"I guess so." John sighed as Cameron started massaging him. "I just feel like I have so much expected of me, to be this ultimate badass General, but when it gets to it, everyone now just sees me as a kid who can't do it, they're giving me no way to prove myself to them." He lowered his head.

Cameron frowned sadly. "You don't need to prove yourself to me John. I know what you're capable of, you're brave, you're strong, you could become better than what people expect."

John lifted his head and turned it a little to look at her from the corner of his left eye a small smirk on his face. "Better than Future Me?" he asked.

"Yes." Cameron answered immediately so sure of what had been said. Her John could be a better General than the John she'd left behind. "Your future self was cold John, he was alone, but he was a genius, you're already showing signs of that genius. I believe in you."

Cameron leaned down and pressed her lips to John's cheek, she tasted a salty wetness on his cheek, she moved back and saw a few tears on John's face. Cameron frowned worried she'd hurt him. She didn't mean to make him cry. "John?"

"I'm okay Cam. I just … thank you. Sometimes, I think you're the only one who believes in me." He admitted sadly, feeling a little guilty about it as well.

"What about Sarah?" Cameron asked.

"I don't even think Mom does, she and Derek aren't too different when compared about their outlook on Machines, and how they see me." John waited a moment and let out a long sigh. "They both hate Machines blindly, they both hate you and use you as a tool, and they both look at me like I'm not good enough." Saying it out loud made it hurt all the more, tears welled up in his eyes again.

"Some Leader I'm turning out to be, get knocked off my feet by an idiot jock and I'm crying over what my mother thinks of me." He closed his eyes feeling disgusted with himself, feeling ridiculous.

He felt Cameron's hand leave him and felt her arms wrap around him from behind.

"It just shows you're human John. That's the best kind of leader you can be. Human" she kissed his cheek once more.

Cameron spun John around in the chair to have him looking at her, his eyes travelled up and down her body, she leaned in close to him and pressed her sweet lips to his.

John felt comforted, he dared to feel safe, he felt loved. In his insane world, he had his most sane relationship. He reached out and put his hands behind Cameron's head pulling her a little closer as he slid his tongue between her lips and entered her mouth.

Cameron allowed it's entrance happily, she slid her own tongue over his sensing him shiver from the touch, she held him, lovingly, comfortingly. Before her was not the Great General Connor, but the boy John, a boy who had everything weighing upon his rundown shoulders, he felt a failure, he felt over protected but uncared for.

She'd prove that wrong. She loved him, she cared for him, and if all else failed, she'd look after him.

John reluctantly broke from the kiss and smiled at her.

"Thanks Cam." He gently stroked her left cheek. "I don't know what I'd do without you." He smiled weakly.

"Neither do I without you." she replied, in truth however she knew, she'd be an emotionless Machine, a foot soldier a tool. Looking at that existence, she decided, by herself, she'd rather be deactivated or destroyed.

"I think we should find out what's on this hard drive then go out, somewhere anywhere." He suggested as he looked at Cameron, a small smile forming on his face.

Cameron smiled in return, she didn't like John being upset. "What would you suggest John?" she asked.

John thought for a moment. "How much room you got for food?" he asked.

Cameron did a quick check with her systems. "I have enough nutrients and calories to last me a Month or two, depending on damage I sustain." She answered.

John winced at the thought of her being damaged but knew in their line of existence, it'd be unavoidable.

"You wanna go see a movie, maybe get some ice cream later?" he offered sheepishly.

Cameron tilted her head. "John are you asking me out on a date?"

John blushed a deep red and nodded slowly. "Yeah I guess I am." He admitted sheepishly.

Cameron tilted her head back and smiled. "I'd love too."

John turned his attention to the Hard drive and got to work.

Derek walked into the living room.

Sarah and Danny sat in the living room, Sarah's Remington sat across her lap resting on the arms of the chair, Danny sat with his hands on his knees on the sofa.

"It's disgusting" he announced, Sarah and Danny turned to look at him. "John and the Metal bitch. It's sick" Danny and Sarah looked at one another, neither saying a word then looked back to Derek.

Finally Sarah spoke up. "What are they doing?" she asked curiously.

"They're together." Derek blurted out. Sarah's eyes opened wind in fear and shock.

"In what way?" Danny asked confused.

"They're in John room, discussing the jeep." Derek told him, anger still in his voice.

At his words Sarah immediately calmed down and chuckled dryly.

"So what's wrong with that?" she asked.

"Because he's with the enemy, talking to it like it's an actual girl, or a friend or maybe even a fucking pet or something. It's sick and wrong." Derek walked into the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer before returning.

"Well, I thought," Danny began gaining the other twos attention. "I thought Cameron was supposed to protect John. Can't do that if she's not near him, right?" he asked, still not entirely sure if Machines worked to some form of code, or something.

"We're in doors, there is us … well me and Sarah down here, we know how to handle Machines, the Metal doesn't need to be near him all the damned time." Derek growled as he opened his beer and took a quick sip.

"Oh, okay" Danny shrugged and looked at Sarah.

"Look, I know you don't like her…" Sarah began

"IT!" Derek interrupted.

"It. I know you don't like … it, being with John, I don't either, but what's he going to do? He knows Cameron is a machine, he knows it can't feel, he knows Derek, he's not stupid. I guess he's just lonely." She shrugged, she did feel bad for John for not having any friends he could have over, their lives were too complicated.

"He's got a Girlfriend, why not hang around with Riley?" Derek asked, Sarah stared at him annoyed.

"I'd rather him hang around Cameron than her, Riley is a distraction to him at least with Cameron he knows what it is. He's safer with Cameron than Riley." Sarah argued.

"But at least Riley is human" Derek pointed out.

"Yeah well. If we stop Skynet, he can be with Riley all he wants." Sarah told him.

Danny stayed quiet, he didn't want anywhere near this argument.

"And if we don't?" Derek asked. Sarah said nothing he continued. "If we don't, Riley might burn in ashes and that might leave the Metal to stay with John, imagine if it's with him too long, he may get delusions that it feels, likes him or something worse. It could end up running the resistance with John as a frontman then you can kiss humanity goodbye."

Sarah let out a deep annoyed groan. "Jesus Christ Derek, you're fucking paranoid, and coming from me? Yeah that's saying something, nothing is happening with John and Cameron, sure they're acting a little friendly together, like they were before the car bomb, sure I'll admit that much, but frankly all the better for his safety, at least if he's with Cameron, he'll have a better chance of not getting killed."

Sarah turned back to look at the TV. "Now sit down and shut up."

Derek grumbled but did so, he walked to his chair and sat down, beer still in his hand. "Well I still don't like it." He grumbled.

"You've made it perfectly clear you don't like Cameron or John being near Cameron." Sarah said calmly her eye not leaving the TV.

Derek just grumbled and sipped his beer.

Danny was utterly confused and really wish he had the ability to turn invisible.

As they watched the TV John came down Cameron following him in from behind. He held a piece of paper in hand.

"Alright. I got some information you're probably interested in." he announced. Derek and Danny turned to look at him.

"What you got?" Sarah asked turning to look at him.

"Shipment logs, Coltan alloy, Titanium, enhanced loading equipment, and other storage spaces across the country. Some closer to home some go as far as Florida." He informed them as he walked closer and placed the paper on the coffee table.

"Right me and Cameron are going out for Jeep parts" He announced, Sarah looked at him curiously, Derek stared at him with angered shock. "Cameron identified the model, I looked it up on the internet for the parts we'd need." He lied. "So see ya" he smiled and walked out the door, Cameron remained quiet and followed him.

"Fucking metal." Derek said as the door closed.

John and Cameron walked up to mom's car.

"I'll drive" John offered, Cameron nodded. They got into the car and John reversed away from the house and drove into the city.

"Derek seems suspicious of us John" Cameron pointed out as the wind from her opened window blew her hair, she enjoyed to cooling wind.

"Maybe, but Derek is paranoid, Mom won't believe him and Danny well, I don't know, Danny doesn't seem to …" John stopped as he tried to find the right word of phrase.

"not want to get involved?" Cameron offered. John smiled and nodded

"Yeah that's it." He glanced at Cameron and watched the wind blow her hair gently, he himself was getting a bit of the breeze and was enjoying it, it was a hot day. "So, movie, ice cream, maybe a light snack later then I don't know, a cliché walk in the park?" he smiled at her.

"Yes, that sound's good John." Cameron replied with a smile. She was truly excited about this, an actual date, just her and John, no one to bother them. She cursed her inability to describe in better detail how she was feeling, to describe her emotions. But she was new at it, and she was a capable learner, she'd develop she thought. 'John will help me if I need assistance' she thought to herself happily.

"Right the theatre should be around here somewhere." John muttered to himself as he looked around for it, he turned another corner on the road and located it. "Found it" he smiled, he looked for the nearest parking zone and parked, he got out of the car as did Cameron, he ran round to her side and held her arm tenderly. "This way Milady" he chuckled.

Cameron scan her on board dictionary for the term, he found "milady" was a term used for noble women. She smiled, John was treating her like a lady, he was giving her some respect.

"Thank you John" she smiled and kissed his cheek, she was safe to do so, she'd scanned the area as she got out of the car, no one they knew from school was near them.

John led her into the theatre to begin their date.

She sat in her apartment, classical music played loudly from her music player built into the wall, The Terminatrix had scanned a list of her immediate targets, their ages ranged from early teens of 14 up to one which aged at 35. She was looking at herself in a small handheld mirror, her face had regenerated enough she thought, cover herself up with sunglasses, wear gloves and make up, she'd be fine.

REGENERATION TIME REMAINING: 3 DAYS. 6 HOURS. 34 MINUTES T-MINUS 7 SECONDS

Her biological covering had rejuvenated greatly. It's regeneration had started slow at first, which looking back, she did find strange but then it was to be expected, she hadn't been damaged like that in a long time, she was careless.

"Careless on a mission, Dwayne would have hung me from a street light" she said to reflection. Dwayne was someone she'd met years ago. He was British and a member of the S.A.S, she found him impressive, reaction times were greater than many humans from the Resistance, she'd dare say it rivalled a 600 series, possibly a 700.

Regardless. Her skin had fully "charged" from the nutrients she'd ingested and had truly "awoken" it's regeneration cycle was running at maximum speed. She'd be back to her old safe in no time, that's when she'd start looking for Connor.

She smirked to herself and placed a sunglasses over her eyes and stood up. She walked over to her wardrobe and grabbed her dark jacket which she'd been using her free time to fix up, she also grabbed a shoulder holster for her Mauser. This was a stealth mission, she wouldn't use the large leather rig and wooden holster set up. Maybe next time.

She slid her Mauser with a 10 round magazine into her holster and put her jacket on top, perfectly concealed, she looked back into her mirror and smirked. Who said Death had to be ugly?

She walked out of her apartment and locked up behind her.

She had her mission, nothing would stop her, nothing would slow her down …

"Afternoon dear" came an elderly woman's voice, The Terminatrix stopped momentarily and looked to the older woman.

"Afternoon Mrs Richardson." She replied.

"Could you be a dear and help sort out my radio? I think it's broken." Mrs Richardson asked kindly.

Nothing would slow the Terminatrix, after she fixed the radio.

Twenty minutes later the Terminatrix exited the apartment building.

'Old people and plugs.' She groaned, the Radio wasn't turned on, she got out her garage keys and opened up the first of her two garages, which held her new car, and a motorcycle, the other held more. Larger guns.

Today she felt like using her motorcycle. She wheeled the bike out and closed the garage behind her, locking it she straddled the motorcycle and rode off.

TARGET - NATASHA SINCLAIR

AGE - 16

UNEMPLOYED/ STUDENT

MISSION – TERMINATE

TARGET – GEORGE SINCLAIR

AGE – 17

BURGER KING EMPLOYEE.

MISSION – TERMINATE.

Brother and Sister, this would make it easier to begin with, two targets one household.

She rode down to the outskirts, she looked around the place and had to admit.

"I'd like living here." She nodded, perhaps somewhere was for sale.

She stopped outside the labelled address and looked up, there was a banner outside the house.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE"

The Terminatrix smirked. A Birthday party, and from the sounds, there was a lot of people inside, her day just improved, she removed her Mauser discreetly and removed the 10 round magazine and loaded in a 20, 21 shots in all in her gun, Semi-Auto fire for ammo conservation. A house full of humans.

"Happy Birthday indeed" she holstered her weapon, again this holster had been customised to her specifications, just like the wooden stock holster, these holsters would work whether the pistol held a 10 or 20 round magazine, sometimes Machine logic and advanced thinking was a great benefit.

She walked up to the house and knocked, she waited and heard someone walk up to the door, it opened and a man in his 40 opened the door, bald and fat, he looked at her with a smile.

"Hello" he said happily.

"Do Natasha or George Sinclair live here?" she asked, sometimes information was wrong, she had to clarify.

"Ugh yes they do." The man replied confused.

"Are they in now?" She asked.

"No sorry they're down the street, number 36 for George's Birthday, they're having a party." The man pointed to the house, The Terminatrix turned and looked at the house, using an advanced zoom she saw the "36" on the door.

"Thank you" she smiled.

"Ugh who are you?" the man asked.

The Terminatrix blinked, her CPU ran through multiple options, from lying, to killing him. It came with a quick solution.

"I'm George's stripper" … 'What?' She blinked in surprise under her glasses, maybe being very human was a bad thing.

"Oh. I see." The man said a little worried then slowly closed the door.

The Terminatrix shook her head and mounted her bike before riding to 36, again she walked up to the door and knocked, this time a tipsy, though stable, young man answered the door.

"George Sinclair?" she asked as she scanned his face.

"Yeah, I'm George, my sister is in the shower with some guy." The tipsy George explained.

'Lucky her' The Terminatrix thought before pushing George onto his back and drew her Mauser firing a single shot into his head, the partying kids in the place began to panic, she turned towards them.

Natasha heard the chaos going on outside she and Craig were holding each other tightly, both wet and nude in the bathroom the door locked.

"What the hell is going on?" Natasha asked terrified.

"I don't know, maybe if we're quiet whoever's down there won't find us." Craig replied, bullets continued to fire, in rapid succession, a pause, then more firing, screams, banging on walls then silence.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." Natasha whimpered quietly,

"Sshhh, it's okay, we're gunna be okay." He told her trying to convince himself more than her.

They heard footsteps against the floor.

"Natasha" came a young girl's voice scared. "Natasha, oh god, help I'm bleeding!" the girl cried out horrified.

"Oh God Alice!" Craig called out, he and Alice had done it one time, he unlocked the door and flung it open, a tall woman wearing dark sunglasses stared at him. "The fuck?"

The Terminatrix slapped her hands on either side of his head and gave it a quick spin. Natasha screamed as Craig's head spun 180 degrees now staring at her, frozen in a moment of pain and shock, the Cyborg poked him, his stiff body fell to the floor.

"Oh god. Oh god!" Natasha cried out. "Please leave me alone, Please! Please don't kill me" she pleaded as this psychotic and strong woman stepped into the bathroom.

NATASHA SINCLAIR LOCATED.

TERMINATE.

METHOD – SCANNING.

The Cyborg could easily just shoot the girl, but she looked around for anything inspiring. Nothing, what a bummer. Annoyed she half-heartedly pulled out her Mauser, flicked it to full auto and emptied a full Magazine into Natasha. A Waste of bullets, but she had plenty of 9mm.

She reloaded using a 10 round mag, holstered her Mauser and walked outside. She mounted her bike, then paused, she looked back to the first house and rode back to it, couldn't leave any witnesses.

The Cyborg exited the house, two more people dead, Mr and Mrs Sinclair, in her arms was a chocolate Birthday cake, homemade.

'I love homemade food.' She should have left the mother alive long enough to get the recipe, she placed the boxed cake in the secret compartment under the seat and rode off, up high the sky was turning orange as the sun began to set, birds flew past in the sky looking for shelter to sleep for the coming night, the street was surprisingly quiet.

Fear she guessed, no one would come out in case of being shot at.

She looked up the next on her list.

CLARISSA PAYNE

AGE – 19

UNEMPLOYED/STUDENT.

TERMINATE.

This target took her to College campus, she walked into the College's reception, she found a woman in a grey suit dress behind the desk.

'Do all Receptionists wear the same damn thing?' she wondered. "Hello" she said getting the woman's attention.

"Yes?" the Receptionist asked.

"I'm looking for Clarissa Payne." She informed the woman.

"One moment please." She got onto her phone and dialled a number. "Hello Registration. Someone is looking for a Clarissa Payne." The woman waited, the Cyborg could hear the person on the other end and formulated a reply to the inevitable question. "Are you a relative?"

"Yes, I'm her Aunt, I've just come to check up on her." she smiled the woman smiled.

"Her Aunt, come to check up on her. Oh okay thank you." The woman hung up. "She's in Building D room 31" the woman smiled.

"Thank you for your co-operation" the cyborg smiled and walked off, then walked back. "Where's Building D?"

After getting directions the Machine found Building D, she walked in and looked for room 31, it was on the third floor.

She got into an elevator and got to the third floor, and walked to room 31. She was about to knock when a young man opened the window.

"Hot damn." He smirked looking the slightly taller machine up and down. "Hey there beautiful, how you doing?" he wiggled his eyes brows.

SCAN COMPLETE

TARGETS AGE APPROX. – 18

'Great, being hit on by a kid … again.' She thought glumly.

"I'm looking for Clarissa Payne, is she in?" she asked with a smile.

"Pain in my ass is in here, damn dyke, I was just going out." The boy explained slightly annoyed. "If ugh, she don't give you a good enough time, I'm available you think about it, I'll be in the bar." He said before walking past her.

The Terminatrix blinked and walked into the room, she glanced around the place searching for her target, she heard music playing in one room and walked towards it, the door was locked, from what she could tell, the music was loud, she was almost reluctant to do it, almost.

She drew out her Mauser and kicked the door off its hinges she stepped in finding a surprised Clarissa pleasuring herself with a phallic object and a video camera on a tripod, the Cyborg hesitated.

ADJUSTING PROFILE …

CLARRISA PAYNE

AGE – 19

INTERNET SLUT.

TERMINATE IMMEDIATELY!

The Terminatrix leaped onto the girl crashing down on top of her and, that 'thing' she kept herself away from it, Clarissa had been startled and horrified then tried to fight off this powerful woman, The Terminatrix couldn't fire off a shot, not here, too many people too thin walls, she hit Clarissa on the head stunning the girl greatly, grabbed the pillow and put it over the girl's face, in the daze she couldn't feel her breaths getting shorter, shorter, then nothing.

"Suffocation, that's a new one." She said to herself, she looked at the camera then removed the tape and destroyed it before making her way out. 'That was gross' she shivered in memory, sometimes being a machine with perfect memory was a curse.

'Okay, who's next.' She thought.

John and Cameron were walking in the park with an ice-cream in their hand. John had a strawberry one, Cameron had triple chocolate fudge, she liked chocolate.

The movie was good, fair share of action, adventure, explosions and romance, it had entertaining them both thus served its purpose, John had half some popcorn left over, to say the least, their first date was a success.

"What did you think?" John had asked as they exited the Theatre about 10 minutes ago.

"The character Max Payne was a very efficient killer, it seems his life is nothing but misery, and everyone seems to hate him, even though he is doing his best for those he loved." Cameron had replied at the time, then paused in thought. "In some ways he is like us." she smiled to John.

John blinked and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Like us?" he asked in confusion.

Cameron smiled lovingly at him before replying.

"Yes, your life has been unfair due to your destiny against Skynet, while I am an efficient killer, and no matter how I may try to do my best to protect you, I will still be hated by Derek and Sarah, and you believe this fits you as well" she smiled sadly at her remark.

John smiled in return then had kissed her cheek.

"Come on, let's get some ice-cream, I'll buy" John said with a smile, putting his arm around Cameron, she smiled in return.

Now, the sun up above had moved along and was in its stages of setting, the clouds had a purple, pinkish colour to them created by the sun's light, it was a beautiful sight to behold, John looked at his watch. 6:12pm

"Damn, didn't think the movie would last so long" John commented.

Cameron checked her chronometer. "Yes it seems so." She blinked then smiled at John. "Thank you for a lovely evening" her smile grew a little bigger so John could see her white teeth.

"It's alright Cam, I'm just glad we got to have some time together" John said in reply, for once he felt a success at something, Cameron made him feel a success.

John and Cameron leaned into one another and pressed their ice-cream smeared lips together, the taste of the different flavours mixed together as they shared their love.

"Tasty" John said as he pulled away and licked his lips. "Strawberry and chocolate go nice together right?" he chuckled

"Just like we do" Cameron commented and winked at him, John blushed in return.

The pair found a bench, Cameron scanned the area for any threats before allowing John to sit down, there were none, they both sat and enjoyed the world around them, or rather John did, Cameron enjoyed John being next to her, their development, their love.

Soon enough it was getting late, they'd have to head home or else Sarah would get paranoid.

"Right let's get going before mom begins to freak out." He suggested.

Cameron nodded. "Alright John."

Back at home, Danny stood leaning against the wall looked over the manifesto John had printed hours back, he wanted to feel helpful, to repay Sarah for saving him. Said woman was sat at the table in the dining room checking her 45 S&W pistol and her shotgun.

"Hey Sarah?" he asked gaining the woman attention. "Do you have a home computer, anything that isn't John's laptop?" he asked

"No sorry, John's the computer savvy one out of me, him and Derek." She shrugged.

"What about Cameron?" he asked curious.

Sarah groaned and nodded slowly. "of course Cameron, her mind is a computer after all." She noted Danny nodded slowly. "Why do you ask?" she asked now curious as to his intent.

"Well, I think. Maybe, I could try and get more information from this manifesto, I mean John may be good, but I may know what I'm looking for." He turned to look at her better. "This manifesto could be related to Kaliba, it seems like their sort of thing." He noted

"Their sort of 'thing'?" she asked raising a brow.

"Yeah. Secretive stuff, armed employees, no bullshit, and I've been wondering after you guys found that Triple … thing, maybe more infiltrated Kaliba." He scratched his chin in thought.

"Perhaps" Sarah said her eyes opened a little wider. "If we get you your own computer, could you?" she asked but trailed off.

"Help? Look for more information, try and get a better grasp of the enemy? Sure, you helped me, I'll do it." He smiled, he felt useful now.

"Right, great. It's a plan" Sarah smirked, things were finally going their way, perhaps they'd be able to put a big dent into Skynet. "I'll get John to look into getting you a computer or something later, sometime this week, that okay?"

"More than okay" he smiled, Danny sat down at the table, his mind drifted along what he knew now and what he'd seen, the first meeting with the Connors when Sarah first tried to kill his father, then John and the Big Guy broke in and calmed her down. 'The Big Guy' he thought, he'd heard a little about him, but not much and now, he wanted to know more.

"Sarah." Danny began slowly, mindful. Sarah looked at him curiously. "What happened to the big guy?" he asked.

Sarah blinked once and narrowed her eyes a little as her mind rushed for who he might mean. "What big guy?" she finally asked.

"Back in 97. When our families first met, you had a big guy with John." Danny explained.

"Oh! Him" Sarah realised, Danny meant the T-800 "Uncle Bob". "He was a Machine Danny, similar to what infiltrated Kaliba, and the one who attacked us back in 99, but an earlier model, less advanced." Sarah explained.

"Oh right." Danny said slowly as he took it all in. "What happened to him, it, whatever?" he asked.

"It allowed itself to be destroyed, it … he, died to save us." Sarah then explained what had happened during the Cyberdyne battle, going into detail from her point of view how it played it, Miles' death, the escape, then the final battle in the factory. "I'd never seen John cry like that, when the Machine went down into the steel." Sarah said as the scene replayed in her head, the 800 hugged John with its remaining arm, shook her hand, then allowed itself to be melted in the vat of molten metal.

"Woah" Danny said, his mind nearly blown by what had been said. The Machine, from his stand point sounded almost, human. "Thanks Sarah." Danny got up and stretched and left the room.

Sarah was lost in her thoughts, thinking about The 800. It had sacrificed willingly, possibly more than any Machine could have, to save a world it only began to understand, to understand friendship. Sarah lolled her head letting it roll freely. "I need a drink" she told herself.

John and Cameron returned home not too long after, the city was beginning to cast a long shadow as the sun was disappearing over the horizon, inside the house there was a small light coming from the kitchen, creating very little illumination. They stepped inside.

Once inside they found Sarah, sat at the kitchen table, a small glass in front of her and a bottle of whiskey right next to it her face wasn't illuminated well enough to see from the front door, Sarah didn't seem to move.

"Hey mom, everything okay?" John asked as Cameron closed the door behind him. John looked at his mother worried, she seemed far away, lost in thought, he walked over to her cautiously, carefully. "Mom?" he spoke softly.

"I'm okay John." Sarah finally replied, she turned her head to look at him and smiled, her eyes were red and puffy. "You find the parts for the jeep?"

"Ugh yeah, we were looking at which places could give us the best deals." He lied while his eyes looked over his mother's features.

"We need to be careful with our spending" Cameron added as she took scanned Sarah's face. "Have you been crying Sarah?" she asked.

Sarah turned to look at Cameron, her cheeks had dried tear lines upon them, Sarah reached up and touched her own cheeks, first left then right, then looked at her hand for a moment, she laughed dryly. "It seems I have." She admitted.

"Why mom, what's wrong?" John asked concerned for his mother, and wondering if the whiskey was actually making anything better.

"Machines John." She said and looked straight ahead of her and took another sip from her glass. "They're a part of our lives for better and worse" she laughed without humour at the notion.

"I don't get it Mom." He told her, confused about her words.

"John." She said exasperated and tired. "What was the first true father you ever had, the first … healthiest father figure you had?" she asked him and leaned back in her chair and waited.

"What?" he asked as his mind rushed, there was Charley, but he was rather recent in comparison, he wouldn't count Derek, there had been a lot of 'father' like figures in John's life, but it suddenly hit him, and her words began to make sense. "Uncle Bob" he said with slight surprise.

Cameron tilted her head, John had an Uncle Bob.

Sarah looked at Cameron and smirked at the Machine girl's expression.

"You don't know Uncle Bob do you? No record or file on him, do you?" Sarah asked feeling smug about knowing something the Machine didn't.

"No." she admitted and looked to John. "Is this Sarah's brother?" she asked.

"No," he began as he thought of him, Cameron was confused even more. "Uncle Bob was a reprogrammed T-800, sent back to protect me in 1997 against a 1000 series." John explained, Cameron nodded in understanding. "I named him Uncle Bob once and it, sort of stuck when I thought about him, he sacrificed himself to save the world, so no one could use him to create Skynet" John explained.

Cameron nodded, she was slightly impressed a 'mere' 800 series had the mental capacity to think on such a level. They were smart sure enough, stronger and more durable than her, but then they were combat orientated, she was infiltration.

"Thank you for explaining." She said softly.

"Yeah." Sarah spoke up again. "The same skin as the one who tried to kill me I hated him as much as I dislike you, to start, but he grew on me, on us, for a moment, a brief moment, we felt like family, The 800 was … " Sarah trailed off looking away to gather her thoughts and calm herself down. "was the first male figure who measured up to be a father to John, a fucking machine. For better or worse, for better or worse." She repeated and took another sip of her drink.

For her point, Cameron knew a bit about the event in 1997, about the attempt on John's life, but she didn't know anything in such detail as the naming of the Machine, or small details that transpired.

"You gunna be okay mom?" John asked worried.

"Of course John, you do what you want, I'll be right here, just want some alone time." She smiled to her son.

John smiled but still he didn't like leaving his mother by herself in this state, she seemed sure to be wanting left alone.

"If you're sure mom." He said nodding at his own words. "Me and Cameron just got to discuss some things, okay?" he asked.

Sarah looked at him, her mouth a thin straight line, her eyes taking in every feature of his face.

"You two have been a lot friendlier lately." She said, there was a hint in her voice that her words were an accusation, something to be guilty of.

"As I told you Sarah" Cameron spoke up. "John had forgiven me, for what I did on his birthday, John accepted my apology." Cameron reminded her.

Sarah had looked at Cameron once the Cyborg started speaking. "I remember." She said before continuing. "But you two seemed to be joined at the hip, you go everywhere together, sure, you were close before, but this is a bit more." Sarah looked at the two of them questioningly.

"Joined at the hip?" Cameron tilted her head and looked at John.

"It's an expression Cam, it means what mom just said go everywhere together." He explained and added a small smile.

Cameron nodded once adding the phrase to her list of expressions and metaphors.

"I'll admit, we've been doing a lot of things together recently, but it's for my own protection you know, that and Cameron has an advanced mind, so she's helpful with stuff." John said putting up a fairly good ruse.

Sarah thought about it slowly and nodded. "I guess so. Okay, I'll see you later John." She gave her son a smile and watched as he left Cameron following behind him, Sarah gave a glare to the back of the Machine's head, eventually she sighed and shook her head. 'Damn it Sarah, don't let Derek get to you, it's for his protection, just his protection, he's not stupid.' She told herself.

He was John Connor leader of the Human Resistance and future Messiah.

Cameron was a lifeless, soulless Machine sent back to protect him, nothing but wires and circuits.

There was nothing going on between them. Sarah was sure of it.

She was positive.

John opened the door to his room and let Cameron in first before walking in himself closing the door behind him.

"Can I help you off with your jacket?" he offered.

Cameron turned her head to look at him for a moment curiously. 'Why do I need assistance in removing my jacket, I am capable of doing so myself.'

She quickly analysed the information in her CPU.

MALES SHOW THEIR PARTNERS KINDNESS AND CONSIDERATION BY AIDING THEM IN THE REMOVAL OF EXCESSIVE CLOTHING. I.E JACKET, SHOES.

'Oh, John is being polite and helpful.' She smiled with realisation, it was another strange human quirk, she added it to the list along with 'rolling eyes'.

"Thank you John." She moved her arms backwards, John gently took the collar of the jacket and slid it off of her, once free of her arms he quickly looked at the tag near the neck, getting her size and measurements and committed them to memory, he lowered it from his face and smiled as Cameron turned around, he walked over and placed it over the back of his chair.

"That was close" he said finally, releasing a sigh, he turned towards Cameron. "Derek and Mom are getting suspicious." He bit his bottom lip.

"Does that mean we must separate or stay away from each other?" she said sadly, the mere thought of doing do, was painful.

"No." John said hurriedly in panic, "never you're the best thing to ever happen to me, I'm not letting you go so easily." He placed his hands on her arms firmly further showing his commitment.

Cameron smiled. "That's good, I don't know if I could have done it." She admitted, a small blush on her cheeks, she felt the raise in temperature around her face.

John chuckled at how adorable she looked before kissing her softly on the lips. "Neither do I."

19:50. 10 to 8 at Night, the sky was pitch black which thick dark grey clouds, there was no stars out tonight. It seemed all celestial light had vanished, covered by a thick black evil.

Pitter patter, pittar patter. The raindrops fell from the sky slowly at first a drop landing here or there.

The Terminatrix stood in a pitch black house, the fuse having blown out all the electricity. She gazed around, her deep red vision not effected by the darkness before her, lay multiple bodies, most killed as witnesses, the main target laid dead against the wall, blood dribbling from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

DANIEL MATTISON.

AGE 27

TERMINATED.

The wind picked up outside, blowing through the doorway blowing papers from the table across the floor. She could hear the rain outside, droplets coming at a faster pace, heavier, a roar of thunder, a crack of lightning, the wind began to howl louder blowing leaves into the house that had fallen from the trees.

The Terminatrix enhanced her audio sensors, listening for anyone else in the building, she heard one, upstairs, she reloaded her Mauser, slipping the empty magazine into a jacket pocket and loading in another 10 round. The sound was screaming, crying. She located the sound a bright white door her CPU told her with a plastic label which read "Claire's room"

Her CPU lit up red with warnings.

CLAIRE MATTISON.

HIGH VALUE TARGET.

TERMINATE.

The Terminatrix blinked once in surprise, she hadn't expected to find Claire Mattison, in the future she was a highly intelligent technical officer, used for programming Machines, and good at interrogations, but if she was in this time then …

The Terminatrix opened the door and walked in, cuddly toys littered the area, soft teddy bears, ponies, and Unicorns, a small cot lay infront of her, the Cyborg walked closer and looked into it, a small baby girl wearing a light blue baby onesie, like a soft pair of overalls, cute bear faces covered the clothing. The Terminatrix scanned the baby's face, her bone structure and hair colour.

TARGET IDENTIFIED – CLAIRE MATTISON

HIGH VALUE TARGET.

TERMINATE.

The Terminatrix stared at the baby, who seemingly realised wasn't alone, she stopped crying and screaming now making only small baby sobs and looked up to the woman, immediately the baby's expression changed, it smiled and raised its arms wanting closeness and affection.

CLAIRE MATTISON

HIGH VALUE TARGET.

TERMINATE

TERMINATE

TERMINATE

The order continued to flash, The Terminatrix raised her Mauser pistol and aimed at the baby's skull, she hesitated as the baby continued to reach for her.

Lightning flashed outside, lighting up her features, the baby noticed the Mauser pistol, she looked at it with wonder and awe, and she reached out and touched the barrel, wrapping her little fingers around it, it was warm, but not uncomfortable, she squealed with joy and giggled.

The Terminatrix stared at the baby before her, so innocent, so defenceless, her finger pressed against the trigger lightly, she hesitated again. The baby turned her attention back to the large unknown woman.

Releasing a sigh The Terminatrix lowered her pistol and removed her glasses, her red eye lit up a small surface of her face from within the darkness, the baby girl stared in awe and reached out to touch the shiny.

CLAIRE MATTISON MUST BE TERMINATED!

Holding her glasses between her fingers of her left hand, the cyborg closed her human eye and rubbed the corners of her eyes on either side of her nose.

She looked at the baby girl once more. She did what she had to do.

The Terminatrix stood outside the house her glasses back on her face, her pistol holstered, the rain splashed against her unmoving body, the wind howling around her, she stared at nothing, thought about nothing, she was a statue. She was a creature of logic, she eventually thought, she did what was necessary, sure she had fun doing what she did that was from her development.

But now. She was confused.

She couldn't understand why she had done what had done. Claire Mattison was a high value target and had to be Terminated, must be Terminated.

She closed her eye and let out a very human sigh.

It was time to call it a night.

Jason's Notes

Hey everyone. Thank you for your comments, I hope my being too descriptive is a good thin rather than a bad thing, if you have suggestions how I could improve, I'm happy to hear them, I write these not only for myself but for you to enjoy.

I want to please as many people as I can. I feel I must do so. I like adding description, because in truth it helps me tell what I'm seeing in my mind, and my dyslexia makes it hard for me to explain. With things like gun descriptions, there are a lot of guns out there, I like being precise, and again I'm a big gun fan.

Now in a future chapter, the timeframe compared to the TV show will be sort of reversed, I'm just giving you a heads up on that. It'll make sense when it happens. So I hope everyone will be okay with it.

So if you're still enjoying the story, give me a review and send me some love.

And thanks again.