March 26th, 2010
Racheal woke as the sun began streaming in, she took in Destinys' bewildered gaze. "Good morning." She whispered.

"Am I dreaming." Destiny asked looking around. Racheal shook her head no and grinned. Destiny blinked and sat up as Racheal did.

"Mom!." She cried and wrapped her arms around Racheal who laughed as she returned the embrace.

"You missed me afterall I suppose." She chuckled.

"Is dad..?" Destiny asked. Racheal shook her head no."

"Katya?"

Racheal shook her head again. "Only me."

Destiny sighed. Racheal smiled faintly and gently slapped her shoulder. "Come on, school."

"Ugh." Destiny sulked.

Racheal grinned. "And here you wanted to be with the normal people."

"They're naïve and materialistic."

"This is normal for this time. But your friends do like you for you and not your father here."

Destiny smirked. "I miss home though, the machines scared everyone away after the trip to the mall."

Racheal frowned and Destiny jumped up off the bed suddenly eager. "I got to get to school, see you later, mom." She said and dashed from her bedroom.

"We'll talk about this when you get back." Racheal called after her.

Racheal got up and slowly went down the stairs to the kitchen. Her present self was sitting on the couch as still as a statue. John grabbed his backpack and cautiously edged toward Racheal when she stood up to stand next to TJ. His eyes dropped to the floor next to the couch then back up at Cameron who was staring intently at the older Racheal. John traced Cameron's gaze to the older woman. Racheal stared at Cameron a moment longer then glanced at John before she stalked out the door. He gave his mother a quizzical look before leaving with Racheal and Cameron for school. Amy gave Derek a sly look and both exited.

Destiny slammed the locker door closed and jumped at Racheal's sudden appearance.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "I never got to thank you for yesterday."

"Don't mention it." Destiny muttered as she walked off to one of her classes. Racheal hung her head for a moment and jogged to catch up with Destiny.

"Can we talk?" Racheal asked.

Destiny stopped and turned to look at her. "About what?"

Racheal chewed on her lip. "Your mom."

Destiny shuffled her feet nervously. "You can ask her when we get back home. She can explain better than me."

Racheal's jaw dropped. "She's here too?"

Destiny smirked and nodded. "She came to take me back home I think. Or at least she came to check up on me."

Sarah stood against the kitchen counter as the older Racheal smugly leaned against the door post. "So what has happened since she's been here?" Racheal asked, breaking the silence.

Sarah took a moment to think. "We found her in November, the safehouse had been broken into, covered in destroyed furniture and glass. We found one body and then found her bleeding to death from a gunshot wound to the gut. Since we didn't have the ability or time to fix her ourselves, we let her be taken to a hospital. Not long after she broke out, found Amy and Amy brought her here. She's been here ever since, we put her ID in the system as one of ours and she's been having the life of a normal girl. Of course she complicates everything but running off to a trip to the mall or a friends' house."

Racheal nodded. "She did mention a trip to the mall."

"Yeah, she made quite a scene there. Ran off to Century with a friend and ran into some trouble." Sarah said.

Racheal frowned. "What kind of trouble?"

"A T-1000 showed up during her act of rebellion." Sarah answered and Racheal paled.

Quickly she looked at the clock and pulled away from the door post. "I need to get her out of here. If John's terminator is here and so is Destiny's then the two of them in the same place is beyond stupid and highly dangerous. You might as well stick a sign on the door saying they're here."

Sarah glared. "That was not my stupid idea. I never…."

"No, you didn't. John did." Racheal said.

"I did what?" John's voice asked from across the room.

Racheal and Sarah turned to see the four teens standing at the doorway. "Not you, future you." Racheal said.

"Yeah, future me does a lot it seems. Who are you?" John asked as the teenage Racheal wormed her way in between John and Destiny to stand in front of them.

"She's me." She said in awe. TJ looked between the younger version of Racheal and her future counter-part.

The older Racheal smirked and nodded. "Yes." Destiny smirked at the younger Racheal and went to stand next to her mother.

Destiny leaned against the kitchen counter to get a better look outside. Her mother and the younger Racheal were walking down the stairs to the yard. "Can I ask you something?" The girl asked.

"I suppose."

"Why are you here?"
The older Racheal smirked. "I went to talk to my daughter and my husband asked if he could speak to her first. I agreed then I waited for about a half hour. No conversation could be that long and not important enough to not involve me. I simply went to find them and when I came back, another soldier told me she had been sent across time. She was gone withought my consent or knowledge. I didn't even get a damn goodbye."

John and TJ snuck to the porch and edged closer to the two Racheals, just out of sight.

"Oh. What will you do now?"

"I plan to take Destiny out of here, take her back to the future but mainly to keep her in an opposite place, apart from John."

The teen looked up. "Are you that mad at him?"

She smirked. "Not mad at this John but it is strategically unwise to place the top two on Skynet's list for this year both in the same house. Well, three if you count TJ."

The younger Racheal chewed her lip again and stopped walking. "Did you ever love TJ?"

The older Racheal stopped walking and turned to look at her younger self. "I thought I did once. He was so normal but I met who he would be and that changed my mind. He wasn't the person I wanted to be with…... What brought that on?"

Her younger self shrugged. "He's kinda cute I think. Plus he just seems more normal."

The older Racheal smirked. "He'll change very quickly though after he meets who he's meant to be."

"Oh." The teenager nodded.

The older Racheal laughed. "Remember something. This is your time, not mine. I have made my decision and I still stick with it but this is your choice. You get to pick... but think of all options and every category you can. You need to be sure about whichever one you choose, ...if either." Racheal said as she walked back to the house.

She glanced down at where John and TJ were hiding. "Some things never change." She muttered before entering the house.

John pushed away from TJ and followed the older Racheal into the house. TJ popped his head up and stared over at the teenage Racheal as she walked over to the swingset and sat down.

She looked up to the sky. A sad sigh escaped her. It was so extremely hard to keep her thoughts together, especially since each opportunity to get away from her was used. Everything had become so very complicated. Unable to adjust to the situation and the people involved, she had fled the house and had taken to the swing.

Another sigh escaped her before she thought about the woman she was destined to become.

"Hey, you okay?" A gentle voice asked from a few feet behind her.

Her heart got lodged into her throat and she began to startle all over. Quickly she glanced over her left shoulder to see TJ standing a few feet away from her; he looked somewhat self-conscious and was scratching himself behind his left ear. Her initial fear, if not panic, subsided and she relaxed a little. He was the first to come and see if she was okay, and that made him kind of endearing to her. Heat rose to her cheeks and she turned back quickly. She could not answer him without bursting into giggling, and she did not want him to think she was just some silly teenage girl, so she decided to keep quiet until she had enough grip on herself to be able to talk to him.

"I'm fine," she managed to say with a steady voice.

He chuckled wryly: "Saying it doesn't mean that you are."

He was right: she was far from fine. Everything she had ever known, every security in life she had had, had been taken away from her. Her mother, her home, her life.

"How can you be so okay with it, TJ?" She ventured to ask.

"Okay with what?"

"All this," she answered while she rose to her feet and turned to face him and the house.

He shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know. Maybe because my mother was from the future too? I had thought what she told me as bedtime stories were just... stories. And then all of this happened, and I realized she tried to warn me, prepare me for the things to come."

"But you sounded so happy with it. While it will all go to hell," she remarked. "And the future you is a mean bastard without any form of humility, as far as I can tell."

He nodded in agreement: "Yeah, he's something alright."

"Doesn't it bother you that you'll become him?" She asked curiously.

He crossed his arms and took a deep breath before answering: "No idea. I like the thought I will make a difference in the future, but I am not sure if I like the price I will have to pay."

"Same here," she agreed.

A slow, crooked smile spread across his face and she felt her heartbeat pick up. He looked like the cat who had just swallowed the canary.
"Do you think we could change it?"

"Hmmm, I like to think so," he replied before he sat down on the grass. "Time is like a river, always moving, always changing. It can be wild or calm. Deep or shallow. Never the same."

"Seems like you gave it a lot of thought."

He looked down and plucked at the grass: "Not really. Just remembering something my mom once said to me."

She took her time to study him. It was the first time she could see any resemblance between TJ and the man he was going to be; the sadness of a known fate. Slowly she rose to her feet, walked over to him and sat down next time before putting an arm around his shoulder in comfort.
He shrugged her arm off: "Hey, hey, now," he laughed, masking his embarrassment. "I came out here to see if you needed comfort, not the other way around."

His laughter worked contagious and she started to giggle. For someone who knew his destiny as well, he sure seemed upbeat. She gave him a playful push on the shoulder, earning a curious frown from him. Immediately her shyness around boys set in again. Why had she done that? He had to think she was just another stupid girl. But he was such a carefree person and she had felt at ease around him, enough to be silly and give him a push. Quite the opposite of John.

"Sorry," she muttered, feeling incredibly stupid all of a sudden.

She moved to get up but he pulled her back to him: "You owe me for that push," he grinned while he gave her a gentle push on the shoulder, that had her ending up losing her balance and falling over.
"Ow," she faked being hurt

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Just like she had thought he would, he leaned over her to make sure that she was okay and not as badly injured as she had tried to make him believe. Now it was her turn to push him over, following him as he ended up on his back, she quickly sat on his lap and pinned his arms next to his head.

"Ha, fooled you," she laughed victoriously.

He struggled to break the pin for a minute but his resistance halted abruptly. She turned beet-red when she felt why. It was the first time in her life she was confronted with this kind of thing. After letting go of his arms, she sat up a little causing him to groan a little. "Don't move," he pleaded with her while he looked as miserable as could be.
"Think it will go away then?" She giggled.

"Uhm, no," he muttered.

"So what do we do now?" She asked innocently. "

Wait it out?" He offered, his voice filled with hope.

"Is that gonna take long?"

He kept quiet and she could see the wheels in his mind turning. Only now she realised that what she had asked had a second meaning. The look on his face was one of misery and embarrassment. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from bursting into laughter.

"Nope, gotta think of something nasty," he said slowly. A few minutes later, she was sitting next to him, fidgeting because she was unsure of what to do or what to say.

"Now that was not embarrassing at all," he commented.

She could hear the laughter in his voice and it brought a smile to her face. At least he could joke about it. She still wasn't sure whether she should feel flattered in some weird way or completely embarrassed.

"It just pops up whenever it feels like it," he continued. "Like an uninvited guest. Especially when there's a party with some bumping and grinding going on."

"Sheesh, TJ," she squeaked, unable to keep herself from giggling and giving him another playful push on the shoulder.

"Careful now," he laughed.

It was so cute that he was being so casual and funny about a very embarrassing moment. Before she even realized it, she leaned in and stole a kiss from him. He leaned back startled and brought his left hand up to scratch himself behind his left ear.
"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."She chastised herself. What the hell had she been thinking? What had brought her to kissing him like that? He was cute. He did care. And he did have a wicked sense of humor. But was that a good reason to be as stupid as to kiss him?
"I'm sorry," she muttered shyly.

He smiled again: "Don't be... It was not that bad," he said, emphasizing 'that'. "You just need a little more practice," he whispered.

This time he leaned in close slowly. His breath was warm when it blended with hers, just seconds before his mouth covered hers. She brought up her right arm and put it around his neck. A strange warm and fuzzy feeling ran through her. It certainly was not an unpleasant experience.