This need of each other...

2027

Serrano Point:

The wooden staff blazed in the sun, as if to reach out and terminate John Connor. Huffing, puffing, and his Resistance uniform caked in dirt and sweat, John quickly calculated the staff's killing blow and leaped sideways out of the reach of his opponent.

He spun and pulled in his free arm to hit the unforgiving surface of the hard packed dirt with his shoulder. With his other arm outstretched, he held his own staff as a balance and fought to center his body.

For one brief second, John was sure he almost had the advantage and knew his form was perfect, his tactics sound. Then he hit the rock hard ground and felt like if he had just fallen from twenty feet. The breath exploded from his lungs as fireworks of pain receded from his wide-open eyes. He watched the shadow of his opponent rise over him, as if to block out the searing sun.

John looked up and saw his opponent's rise to deliver the final killing blow. Flat on his back, he knew he was just seconds away from having his skull crushed. And then he saw his chance.

His opponent had underestimated him.

A more experienced Resistance soldier would have used the blade end of the staff to slash at the hydraulic lines exposed on the chest of a downed T-888, to render the arms useless. Then if the machine was still down, follow it up by jamming the blade into the unarmored portions to damage any delicate components. Then he could use the blade to pierce the Terminator's power cell and finish it off. T-888s were the successors to the T-800s, built for infiltration and not for combat. Less weight and less armor made the T-888s more susceptible to guerrilla style ambush tactics. If one could be brought down.

A perfect counterattack was what John had before him now. One swing from the blade end of his staff could disembowel his attacker, right across the stomach. The fight would be over in seconds.

Even as John calculated the proper angle for his swing, he saw the fatigue in his opponent's eyes.

There was a better way to end this fight.

John threw his arms up and shrieked in fear.

The blade end of the staff swept down through the humid air and struck John's unprotected neck only-

plastic. It was nothing but a child's toy.

"Ya got me," John moaned, faking a death throe.

His opponent giggled.

John got up and pushed himself up into a sitting position, grimacing as he pulled his attacker to his chest. He ignored the pulsing, throbbing pain of his shoulder in the joy of hugging the most precious thing in the world to him.

Thomas Kyle Connor.

He had been born ten-years-ago, his mother Kate Connor, died while giving birth. A Skynet Terminator ambushed the field hospital where she was and she sustained life threatening injuries. It was a miracle that the baby survived and John tried his best to be the father his child needed him to be.

Thomas's survival was a mystery, but to John it did not matter...his memories of Kate would always be in his heart and the child they created together. John gave love. He gave acceptance. He felt both of those returned and was grateful he had lived long enough to figure out that nothing else mattered.

John jumped to his feet and rubbed his hand on Thomas's head, tousling his bright blond hair, making his son squirm away, laughing.

"Time for lunch," John said. "Then lessons."

Thomas held up two fingers. "Two more rounds," he pleaded.

John smiled ruefully. The past few months every conversation had to be a compromise. Thomas asking for two more rounds meant that he would try to tire out his old man and ask Jessica, his terminator protector, for the last year to play with him. Which obviously meant his son had a deep attachment to her and just wanted to spend time with her, anyway.

But, John knew all about that kind of tactic. He had been taught by his mother and others, and so it seemed to be with Thomas. "You've been spending too much time with Jessica," John joked.

"Daa-ad!" Thomas's face turned a few shades red.

John tried not to laugh. His son was looking very embarrassed that his father would even think of such a thing.

"Hit the shower. Then lunch."

"And then Jessica can play with me?" Thomas persisted.

John smiled at his son. He lost the battle, but not the war. "Listens, mister. Scoot!"

This time Thomas listened and tossed the toy weapon towards John.

"Jessica!" the little boy squealed with delight as he caught sight of the tall statuesque blond haired Terminator, TOK-716, that just arrived at the outer border of the what could pass for a training pit.

John watched in amazement as the child ran like a gangly stork over towards the female Terminator and wrapped his arms around her slim waist. The little boy tried with all of his might to bear hug his protector as she looked down at him with a confused expression.

"John?" Jessica asked as she reached down and carefully undid Thomas's arms around her waist.

"I think he likes you," John said as Jessica tilted her head and returned her gaze towards Thomas.

"You should do what your father says," Jessica suggested in a soft tone. "It's important that you study your lessons."

"Okay!" Thomas replied as he grabbed tightly onto Jessica's right hand. "But remember you promised to play with me today!"

"Yes, I did," Jessica reminded him. "Now go study. I'll be there shortly to go over the lessons with you."

Thomas flashed one of his brightest smiles up at Jessica, let go of her hand and ran wordlessly towards the Hummer that was parked nearby.

Jessica watched Thomas until the passenger side door was opened and one of her reprogrammed T-888s helped him in. She switched to enhanced vision and watched as the vehicle rolled down the pavement towards one of the fabricated buildings that served as a school for the children of the refugees and soldiers that lived near or around Serrano Point.

"You are placing too much onto him," Jessica suddenly said behind John.

John started. He had been so engrossed in watching his son that he completely forgot about Jessica standing behind him.

"I'm doing what?"

Jessica, dressed in a light blue jumpsuit, tilted her head and those blue-eyes bored into John as if he was targeted for termination.

"You place too much on Thomas."

Jessica's direct bluntness surprised John.

"What do you mean I place too much on my son?" he asked, searching for more details.

Jessica only shook her head as if rendered speechless. After all she was Thomas's protector and seemed to act more emotional around the boy when they were together. A Terminator displaying this much emotion was unheard of. Even Cameron never really freely exhibited her feelings when they were together in private.

"I take it you don't approve," John tried again.

"He's only ten-years-old," Jessica began trying to disguise the disdain in her voice. "Thomas can already read with the level of a skilled adult. His math is below average for a child of his age. His brain cannot simply grasp the advanced lessons you want him to learn."

John frowned and came to the realization. His son was only ten, and already he was placing on him the ultimate expectation of destiny- leader of the Resistance.

"Thomas needs to learn about these things," John started.

"It is dishonest," Jessica countered. "Such behavior gives him a false sense of security. When Cameron tried to teach him, he believed that machines could never be trusted, because of what happened to Allison Young."

John sighed at the mention of Allison. She was the young girl that Thomas had bonded with two years ago and died by the hand of the machine made to replace her. She was one of the few humans that he ever trusted around his son. He was unsure how his son viewed the reprogrammed Cameron. Learning that his father was in love with Terminator that killed his 'Allie' created a certain distance between the two of them.

John sighed again, wiped his sweaty forehead, and looked past Jessica's shoulder to see Cameron leaning against the metal rail. She kept her eyes down and pretended to fiddle with some type of device that looked very much like a smart phone. No doubt she was reviewing intelligence reports from the SSV Jimmy Carter and the mission it was secretly sent on. Since her reprogramming, being by John's side was all that seemed to matter to her.

"Listen, Jessica, he needs to learn-"

Jessica cut him off. "If you are serious about teaching him about humanity, he needs to learn about machines as well."

"Not yet. Not at age ten."

Jessica growled at John. He had forgotten that the TOK-716 had advanced emotional packages programmed into her and her design was based upon the tenacity and prowess of the TX series. And that Thomas's protector developed a quirky habit of growling when frustrated.

"Thomas needs me," Jessica said with an air of authority as she spun on her heel and stalked off towards another Hummer.

John could tell that the TOK-716 was angry at him the way Thomas received his education. His son had a lot to learn and there was some things that the mind of a ten-year-old was not just ready to be taught yet.

She really does love him...he thought watching the blond haired female Terminator walk away.