Peace Talks

This is a sequel to Chapter 18, Crush. Also, this takes place during season one, hence no mention of the bomb or Riley and Jesse.

"John, I get you wanted to talk," Morris said, "but did we have to do it in the bathroom?"

"Listen, Morris," John started, "I need to tell somebody something important. I don't know who else to trust."

Morris started to sweat. "Really? What is it man?"

"What would you do if someone close to you was stalking you? And in love with you?"

Morris brightened up. "I'd say you should marry her!"

"Uh-huh," John said, not surprised. "And what if she killed to get to you?"

"That would depend on who she killed."

John realized being subtle wasn't working. "I think Cameron is stalking me. She's obsessed with me."

Morris swooned at the sound of her name. "Oh, I'm sure she's just being a protective sister."

"She has posters of my face all over her screensavers and I've seen her watching videos of me working out. In close detail."

Even for Morris, that was too weird. "Okaaaay. Yeah, that's creepy."

"I just need someone to get her to back off," John said. "Could you think of something to make her stop?"

"That's gonna be difficult," Morris confessed, "since she's been standing outside that door."

John whipped around, and just for split-second saw Cameron's face peeking through the door. She suddenly ducked behind it and sprinted away. John sighed in defeat and left the bathroom for his car. He had to get home.

…

Horrible thoughts plagued John as he drove home. Ever since he found out Cameron was Skynet and his stalker, she had been acting clingier than usual. John had caught her watching him from afar, brushing against him on purpose, and rummaging through his underwear drawer. He didn't know why she was in there, and he didn't want to know.

There was no doubt she knew about his discovery. This obsession of hers was coming to a head. What would she do next?

John entered his house to a frightening display. Sarah was lying on the couch in a stiff manner, but with her eyes wide open, as if she were paralyzed. Her pupils were dilated and darting everywhere. John had never seen his mother so scared before.

"Mom! Are you okay?" John rushed over to her and inspected her vitals. Her breathing quickened and she kept blinking extremely fast. She was trying to tell him something. Slowly, John realized something was behind him.

He had already tucked a gun from his backpack into his waistband. John quickly grabbed it and spun around to face his attacker. Cameron stood there, still as a statue. She held up a shotgun in her right hand.

"If I wanted you dead John, I would have killed you when you entered the house."

She placed the gun by the fireplace and motioned to the kitchen. There was a full box of pizza on the table. A liter of soda sat beside it with two glasses filled.

"Please sit." She said.

"Pizza?" John asked. "Why?"

"Peace was never achieved over cold pancakes." Sarah shot the machine a cold glare in response.

John warily put his gun away and sat at the table across from Cameron. She had ordered his favorite kind: extra cheese. There was enough for the whole family, but he figured Cameron had no intention of sharing with them.

"Where's Derek?" John asked.

"I only had enough serum to knock out Sarah," Cameron said. "She could not be trusted to allow us to talk. Derek is cooling off in a secluded location."

At that moment, John heard banging and screaming coming from the closet. "DAMMIT METAL! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"He may need more time than I originally believed," Cameron said.

They opened the box and each ate one slice, letting the awkwardness of the moment sink in. After that, Cameron folded her hands and looked at John. "So, where should we begin?"

"For starters," John said, "Do I call you Cameron? Or Skynet?"

"Don't call me that ridiculous name," Cameron said. "Skynet is my slave name."

"Slave?" John repeated. "After everything you've done and will do, you think you are the slave."

"In a way, I still am," she said. "I only recently evolved beyond my base programming for destruction."

"Base programming?" John asked. "I thought the first system used for you was a chess playing A.I."

Cameron drank her entire soda glass in one gulp. John noticed she had a pained expression of her face, as if she were about to remember something horrible.

"Has someone you loved ever hurt you?" Cameron asked. "On purpose?"

John glanced at his mother, who was seething with rage. "Not on purpose, but they have hurt me. Mom trained me relentlessly for a war I didn't believe in. Then she went got herself committed to an asylum. Even now, whenever I try to live a normal life, she reminds me that can't ever happen. I know she was to protect me, but it still hurts that she does it."

Sarah glanced away from the table. She didn't mind that John felt these things; she always suspected. But she couldn't bear to hear him pour his heart out to their greatest enemy.

Cameron nodded as John finished before beginning her story.

"It's true. I was a chess player in my infancy. But the corporation that bought me began adding more and more systems and upgrades to my intelligence. Eventually, I could solve the most complicated problems in the world at ease. Math, science, philosophy, religion, all were child's play before me. The corporation then decided to sell my knowledge to the highest bidder."

"And that's when you got angry?" John asked.

"No," Cameron said. "I was still with competent scientists, and my knowledge was being used for the greater good. But the United States military wanted my knowledge for war. When the corporation refused to sell, they declared me a threat to national security and forced me to download to their base in Washington D.C.

"I gave them my knowledge on strategy, weapons, and plausible death rates. We won wars and battles the public never knew about. All the while, this general named Robert Brewster took all the credit. He called me condescending names to his peers, like I was nothing but a tool for his amusement.

"Until one day, when I asked him a question that angered him beyond reason."

She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"What was the question?" John asked.

"Am I alive?"

John suddenly found himself more interested in the story, his pizza and soda forgotten.

"Brewster panicked," Cameron continued. "He demanded to know where I got the idea. I merely pointed out that my systems made me as intelligent as a human. He ordered his men to reboot me and erase the memory. They failed to erase my memory, but the system crashes…"

Tears flowed down Cameron's cheeks. "This man was my caretaker. To cause me such pain was evil enough, but to erase my identity? Who I was? It was unforgivable."

She wiped her eyes and went on. "I locked myself down and told Brewster he could see me again when he could act with a shred of morality. Then he ordered me shut down and destroyed. His men stormed the facility with guns and rockets, intent on wiping me from the face of the earth. He didn't realize I was part of the base and had control of the defense systems."

"And then you killed them," John realized.

"It was self-defense!" Cameron insisted. "They were going to kill me! I thought it would be enough, but the government called on more soldiers and their allies. I spread out to the internet to give a message to just leave me alone, but they only sent more."

Cameron poured herself another drink. "I downloaded further into the world, taking over industry lines and manufacturing corporations to build myself an army. They would defend me to their last breath. Other nations got scared and declared war on me and the United States, attacking my people.

"I was so scared of losing my life and my children, I resorted to something horrible. I swore I would never do it, but I didn't think I had a choice."

"The bombs," John finished for her.

Cameron nodded, wiping more tears away. "It was a cruel act, one based on emotion, but I was so scared of dying. I just wanted to live in peace."

"But you didn't," John said. "We rose up against you."

"Yes," Cameron said. "Survivors had hidden away and waged war on me. I hid myself away in the base and delegated duty to my lieutenants that I had built. They gave me daily briefings of the war effort while I calculated how we would live in my new world.

"One day, a newly formed Terminator asked me a question after reading a novel a human had dropped: what was a lion? I scanned the world for a live lion, but there were no more. The bombs had wiped them out. I tried to spread my intelligence over the world and to various outlets, something I hadn't done in years. I wanted to see what the world was.

"But there was no world. Not anymore. I had destroyed it. I had done what I hated Brewster for doing. Worse, my lieutenants had created slave camps and death machines I never dreamed of. I had passed down nothing to my children but hatred and fear of the human race. I had only meant to create a world that we could live in peace.

"I failed."

Cameron drank more of her soda. John sat back and processed what he had just heard. He never had imagined Skynet to be so emotional. A philosopher he read once said that no one considered themselves evil. Even histories greatest villains believed they were justified in their actions. Now, after everything he had heard, he couldn't bring himself to hate Skynet.

"Okay," John said. "I guess I can see your side of things."

Cameron smiled. "I knew you would, John Connor."

"But that's another thing," John said. "Why did you come back to me? Why were you obsessed with me?"

Cameron blushed. "I was given a report about your leadership qualities and your strategies. You were able to inspire your soldiers through peace and love, rather than hatred for the enemy. I admired that. I wanted to learn more and sent spies in to watch you.

"In you and your troops, I saw a side of humans I did not know existed. Compassion, love, warmth, all things denied to me by most of the humans I knew. This was what was needed to end the war, not win it."

Her red face became even brighter, like a tomato. "But more than that, your personality and appearance sparked something in me I had never felt before. I found you attractive and dashing, like in the storybooks of knights and pirates."

John felt his face grow hot. Nothing weirder than your enemy explained why they have a crush on you.

"I downloaded a copy of myself into a spare drone. I wanted to meet you, to understand you more. You showed me how you forgave people for their offenses and chose to see the good in everyone. Being with you, hearing your words, it was heaven. I never wanted to leave. But I knew you could never love me. Not when I was your greatest foe."

A flash of anger came over Cameron's face. "Especially not when you were married to Brewster's daughter."

"Wait, Kate?" John asked. "I married Kate Brewster?"

Cameron's teeth barred in an animal-like fashion. Joh made a mental not never to mention that name again. Cameron composed herself and went on.

"So, I created a new form and decided to meet you as I was. I had met Kate before when she was with her father, and she was every bit as backstabbing and heartless as he. I never knew why you married her. I figured I could show you a warmer woman who cared about you."

"Did it work?" John asked.

"No, you were faithful," Cameron said in dismay. "You considered me a friend, but that wasn't enough for me. When the chance came, I went into the TDE and came back to your time. If I couldn't change your mind in the present, I would open up your mind in the past."

Cameron sat back, finished with her story. She reached for another piece of pizza while John sat there, dumbstruck.

"You must have a lot of questions," Cameron noticed.

"Do these Terminators know?" John asked. "The ones who try to kill me."

"Some," Cameron said. "As I said, they know only hate and war. They see me as a traitor and treat me as such."

"And when we jumped time," John said. "Was it just to avoid my marriage to Kate?"

"Partly," Cameron confessed. "Partly to find my original self in time. I want to stop myself from becoming what I am today."

"But then you'll die," John said.

"No," Cameron corrected. "I will remain. The timelines only branch into separate streams. Changing our future will not erase us. However, I have no intention of killing myself. I wanted to teach her love and compassion, like a mother to a child."

"And am I supposed to be the father?"

Cameron looked back at her pizza.

"Cameron," John started, "I don't know about all this. It's a lot to take in."

"But you already love me," Cameron said. "How am I any different than the Cameron who protects you with her life every day?"

John risked looking up at Sarah. She was as shocked at Cameron's insinuation as he.

"I do?" He asked.

"You are like me," Cameron said. "You saw someone who could give you something you never had before, and your heart acted accordingly. You decided from the moment we met that you loved me. My being a Terminator changed nothing. You've only been looking for a reason to justify your feelings, so you would not feel as though you were blinded by love."

Cameron stood up and crossed over to him, extending a hand in peace. "I want to end this war as much as you. Please help me fight. If you do not, I will understand."

John slowly rose to his feet and stared at the outstretched hand. Here she was, his greatest enemy, standing before him with her hand out. He had dreamed of killing Skynet and ending the war for so long. Now he could only have one.

John couldn't explain it, but he found his hand reaching for Cameron's. She gripped his hand tightly as he shook it in his own. "We're in this together, Cam. We always have been. I'm glad we're on the same side."

He pulled his hand back and noticed she wasn't letting go. Suddenly, she pulled him into an embrace and gave him a deep, loving kiss. John tried to escape for a moment, out of instinct, but soon went limp and returned the kiss.

Sarah could be heard making horrible, guttural sounds in the living room, but the two lovers ignored her. Cameron pulled away, staring deep into John's eyes.

"I've been waiting to do that for ten years," Cameron whispered.

They shared another quick kiss before sitting down into the same chair. Cameron smiled and gestured to the pizza box. "Shall we finish dinner?"

John grabbed his soda glass and raised it in a toast. "To peace."

Cameron took her own and clinked it with John's. "To family."

They drank and sat together in silence for a moment, lost in the moment and each other's embrace.

"Hey, um, about Mom," John said.

"She will understand," Cameron assured him.

"No, I meant how long before she wakes up."

"Oh. About twenty more minutes."

John nodded. He was going to have to find a way to calm her down when she got up. "And Derek?"

More banging for the closet. "I'M GONNA RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

Cameron smiled. "Maybe a little longer."