Ok here is chapter 2. Focuses on Camerons emotions complicating things and the others realizing that she has them. I tried to make it more dialog driven. Let me know what you think, the good and the bad! Might also be my last chapter for a while so I tried to make it solid.

This chapter has some strong language in it.

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The wall clock read 4:37A.M. Derek sat silently at the kitchen table, his hands moving with a precision gained only from years of experience. He carefully oiled the slide of a Berretta 9mm semiautomatic. In front of him lay an assortment of weapons large enough to supply a small army. It had become tradition for the members of the Connor household to alternate cleaning duty and today it had fallen on Derek to ensure their weapons would fire without fault. Putting down the rag he resembled the handgun and racked the slide once, twice, three times. Satisfied with the action he returned it to the pile and began to clean up. Derek preferred the quiet of the morning. Fewer distractions meant he could concentrate on his work and enjoy the silence that was nonexistent in the future. It also meant he could sleep during the day. But his early morning peace was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching. The machine…

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Cameron stood silently at the living room window, ever vigilant for threats. The countdown on her HUD showed 1:03 until she would rotate to the window in the kitchen. A proximity alert flashed for the third time which she simply canceled. Cameron was well aware of Derek Reese's presence in the room beyond. A sudden movement in the yard instantly drew her attention as she initiated combat subroutines. The pistol was half way out of its holster when she determined the threat level of the small mammal, a raccoon, to be minimal. Still Cameron considered terminating it to prevent any disturbance of the trash cans but thought better of it.

0:52 second remaining

As she continued scanning the perimeter Cameron's processes drifted back to John, who was currently sleeping upstairs. He had been asleep for 2 hour 36 minutes and 14 seconds after awakening from a nightmare. Cameron had found that these emerging emotions and coinciding feelings almost always dealt in some way with John's actions or mood. Things that John did such as ignoring her or talking to another female at the store previously had no affect on her condition, but now in similar situations she would find random strings of code rolling across her HUD accompanied by odd sensations her chip could not interpret. Similarly if John touched her or she caught him looking her way a feeling that could only be described as warmth spread through her and she would smile at him. John was the focus of her existence; he had been her reason for being, her mission. But after her mission had been overridden she realized that she was still protecting him. Cameron wanted to be around John, she…cared about him. She cared about what he thought about her and how he was feeling yet she still didn't understand why. A machine shouldn't be able to have these feelings or emotions. But I'm different.

Cameron decided to perform a quick system scan while the timer continued.

0:34 seconds remaining

…SCANNING…

…System operating at 96% efficacy…

…Chip integrity compromised…

…Emotional restrictions failing - 57% - necessary repair imminent…

The results scrolled across her HUD before vanishing. Cameron was shocked or at least she thought that's what current sensation and sensory data was pointing to. Her restrictions had fallen by another 10% in the last 24 hours. The results did not correlate with her logic; she had calculated that it would take another 2 and half weeks for her emotion simulator to become fully unrestricted. At this rate it would be 6 days not encompassing any more fluctuations. What worried Cameron the most thought was that her new emotions had over ridden her logic core once already. The incident with John's door was most likely only the first of many. Cameron created a small program to alert her whenever there was a change in her emotional simulator or state.

0:00 seconds remaining

The warning flashed as Cameron turned on a dime and headed for the kitchen, deciding to deal with these complications after her patrol. As she entered the room Derek Reese purposely ignored her. His heart rate was raised and he quickened his effort to finish his task. This was often his response to her presence. Another feeling passed through her, amusement?

"Good morning Derek Reese"

"…It was good" Derek mumbled as he finished packing away the cleaning supplies and began packing the weapons into the case usually found under Sarah Connors bed. His quickened pace causing him to drop one of the shotguns and he mumbled a few choice curses. Cameron took her position at the window and began scanning the yard, but after only a few seconds turned and stared at Derek. A question entered her HUD and a flare from her emotion simulator caused her to blurt it out instantly. Curiosity humans called it.

"Why do you hate me?" Cameron put the emphasis on me. The question caught the grizzled veteran by surprise, but his response was ready.

"Why do I hate you?? For an advanced learning computer you are about as smart as that goddamn toaster, but please let me explain it for you." Derek said as the anger began to build. "You. Are. A. fucking machine parading around as a human and it disgusts me! You and the rest of your dam kind where built to do one thing, kill. You may have fooled John and Sarah but I know what you're capable of you metal bitch! You proved me right when you nearly killed John in the little stunt a few weeks ago and hell if I'll ever let you touch him again, even if he hates me for it. You went bad once already, next time he isn't going to be able to save you." Cameron processed each word understanding that his hatred had been brewing since the future. She did not care what he thought of her but felt some genuine sadness for whatever it was he had been put through.

"I'm sorry for whatever you have been through" Cameron said but cocked her head quizzically while looking at him. "But you still did not answer why you hate me" Derek stared at her for a long moment realizing he didn't know why he hated her...it. He cursed himself for the mental lapse. Its all a trick, its always a trick. Derek was starting to get angry that he couldn't think of a reason for his hatred of Cameron specifically but he wasn't going to let it get the last word.

"It doesn't matter, you're all the same. You kill without remorse or regret; you carry death with you where ever you go. It doesn't matter how Skynet dresses you up, you'll never be anything more than metal!" Derek was just listing his hatred for all metals but it dawned on him why he hated Cameron. "The General should open up his goddamn eyes and stop programming you pieces of trash as his fucking pets!" A look of realization flashed on Cameron's features as he said this.

"You hate me because John chooses my company over that of his own family or race" Cameron allowed a small smile to show as she thought about John choosing her over anyone, and he could have anyone. But it quickly vanished as she realized how dangerous this was for John to do in the future; it could alienate him from his army. Cameron looked at Derek, to his credit he didn't waver under her glare. "I don't hate you Derek" now he looked very confused, this conversation wasn't going the way he had planned.

"Bullshit you can't hate me so it doesn't matter, you no different from the rest." He said letting the contempt drip from his words. It was time to go before she could get in his head. It, goddamit, IT!

"I am different" Derek looked at her with an unreadable face before swiping the case off the table and heading upstairs with it in hand. He mumbled about manipulating and lying but Cameron had turned back to the window. "Thank you for explaining"

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7:00 AM

Eight two, eighty three, eighty four. Sarah had the same routine every morning; she would wake up and begin exercising, crunches and pushups usually. Then she would go around the house and ensure that the doors were all locked and nothing had been disturbed. Even with one hell of a guard dog watching their back old habits do die hard. Ninety one, ninety two. After that she would put on a pot of coffee and begin cooking breakfast or start some other task that needed to done. One hundred.

Sarah pushed herself into a kneeling position and relaxed her breathing. A quick squirt from the nearby water bottle relieved her dry mouth. She was in great shape and exercising in the morning was a good way to wake up the body but she still pushed herself. Standing up Sarah threw on a pair of jeans and a black tank top before unlocking her door, nearly tripping over the case that rested against it. Derek had learned long ago not to enter her bedroom so he had fallen into the habit of leaving the weapons outside her door. Sarah put the case in her room before closing the door, heading downstairs to check the rest of the house.

As Sarah walked into the kitchen she was greeted by the stoic voice of their guard dog, Cameron.

"Good morning Sarah" Cameron did not understand Sarah's need to check the perimeter every morning. She had sufficiently secured and patrolled it all night with the exception of checking on John. There would be nothing missing or unlocked.

"Mornin tin miss, anything interesting happen last night?" Sarah asked raising an eyebrow while she set up the coffee.

"No, nothing interesting happened last night"

"Really? Because I seem to remember waking up to hear Derek yelling about metal and almost ran down here with my shotgun." Derek's voice had carried upstairs in the early morning waking up Sarah who was a light sleeper to begin with. "What did you say to him?"

"I asked why he hated me" shaking her head Sarah looked Cameron in the eyes. The cyborgs face was as always, emotionless and cold as if to say that was a stupid question and the answer was obvious.

"Why would you do something stupid like that?" Cameron looked up at Sarah arching her eyebrows. It was a very human expression and coming from Cameron it made Sarah uneasy.

"John said people do stupid things"

"Yes people do stupid things, machines don't. Machines always have a reason"

"…I wanted to know" Cameron said with what looked like a sheepish smile, Sarah swore she saw it but it had been so quick. Cameron picked up a book that had been resting on the table and left the room. Sarah watched her leave feeling oddly protective of the terminator for a moment. She seemed like a normal teenage girl who had heard something she didn't want to, but she must have expected what he would say. Cameron had been acting odd ever since the explosion; the thought of almost losing John made her shudder. John said he had fixed her and she believed him, but there were defiantly glitches.

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John slowly made his way down the stairs not in any particular hurry to begin the day. As usual the aroma of pancakes greeted him as he entered the kitchen, sorta smelt like they wore burning. John swung open the refrigerator and grabbed the carton of orange juice, quickly pouring himself a glass before sitting down. Derek was shoveling pancakes into his mouth while he read the paper. Somehow he never gets tired of them, but I guess I wouldn't either if all I had was the mush he had described to us once John thought.

"Here you go John" Sarah said as she set a plate of hotcakes in front of her son, taking notice of the irritated look on his face. At least she fed him, his training and safety were more important than her culinary skills so he would have to deal with pancakes. "We are also out of syrup"

"That's awesome" John said with a sigh looking down at his plate.

"I'flf Tafe emm" Derek said through a mouthful of food as he reached across the table for the plate. He quickly withdrew his hand as John stabled the table with his fork. If he didn't know any better they could pass for a normal family.

"Where's Cameron?" This question rewarded him with an annoyed look from Derek. John looked around, noticing her absence. Not really thinking that she had no need to ingest food and never ate breakfast. Still John wanted to talk to her. He knew it was stupid but he though she was angry at him. Pushing the thought that she could even be angry out of his head John reminded himself that she still owed him a new door frame.

"Probably off drinking a can of WD40" Derek chuckled at his own comedic genius while John gave him an irritated glare. That dam kid was too attached to that thing for his own good.

"Try the living room" Sarah said over her shoulder trying to avoid an argument between the two. "me and Derek are running some surveillance so stay safe!" John stood and strode into the living room, at first he didn't see Cameron because she sat in the comfy chair which was faced away from him.

"Hey, Cameron?"

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"Hey, Cameron?"

Cameron recognized the voice as having a 97.6% match to John Connor but did not look up or greet him. Instead she continued to read Psychology: Understanding your Emotions which she had found on the book shelf earlier this morning. Oddly enough the last owner had not desired any of the literature and left the house with a reasonable library. She continued reading until John moved around the chair and crouched down to read the spine at which point she snapped it closed and looked at him with her customary stoic stare.

"Uhh yea Cameron I don't know if you realize but you busted my door the other night. Could you fix it?" He had meant it to be a simple request but he still sounded like a jerk. In an attempt to save face John added "If you aren't busy" nodding towards the closed book.

"Yes I could fix it" she replied staring at him. It took John a few seconds to realize his mistake. Cameron always took things so literally.

"Would you fix it?"

"Yes" Cameron said as she stood and made her way to the garage to acquire the necessary tools. John looked dumbfounded as he watched the faint smile appear on her face as she passed. Had she just been teasing him? John shook his head in disbelief and was again extremely confused about his understanding of Cameron or the apparent lack thereof. John looked down at the seat and saw a psychology book; slowly he began thumbing through the pages that had been tagged.

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"Sarah she has got to go!" Derek exclaimed as he slapped the arm rest of the ford explorer for emphasis. "You didn't see her last night, she's acting crazy again. She tried to get into my head, it was sickening. You're going to wake up as she is breaking our necks laughing!"

Derek was on one of his anti Cameron rants again. Sarah had never grown too fond of the machine but she did not hate with the passion that Derek did and recognized its usefulness. Still Cameron had been odder than usual during their morning chat, that much she would admit. Still Sarah didn't feel like listening to this all day.

"Look John said he fixed her, I trust John, and when Cromartie comes around again I'll bet you don't complain when we have her fighting with us."

"Well he fucked something up insider it. I'm just saying don't trust it, and don't let it get any closer to John." Sarah wasn't too worried, after the accident John had been keeping his distance from Cameron. Her son knew better.

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She stood up and gently pushed the door, it closed with a satisfying click. John had simply sat on his bed watching her work for the last five minutes amazed that he could act like such a dick and she would still do these simple tasks without question. But did she even understand that he was acting like an ass? Did she know how hard it was for him to try to convince himself that she was nothing but a machine? Why was she reading about human emotions? Too many questions that he didn't have the answer to. He had allowed his eyes to wonder while she worked but quickly looked away when he to felt the rush of blood to his cheeks embarrassed she would see.

"Wow Cam you're like our own personal handyman." Cameron secretly smiled at the use of the nickname as familiar warmth was recognized, but turned around a little confused.

"Handyman? Is not my appearance that of a teenage female?" John chuckled a little. For the most advanced infiltrator built she still didn't know much about human expressions.

"It's just an expression, means you can fix everything."

"Ohh thank you for explaining. I have detailed files on most home repairs." Cameron knelt down and packed up the tools, the look on Johns face was the one she associated with him feeling uncomfortable so she decided to leave. As she turned to open the door and leave he called out.

"Cameron…wait" John said. He ran his fingers threw his close cropped hair, a nervous habit of his. Cameron had been acting odd since that…explosion. The attempt on his life should have forced John to believe she was just a machine, but he couldn't. Not when she kept leaving clues that she was more than that, John was going to find out what was going on. Cameron put the toolbox back on the floor and turned to face John.

"Yes?" John's facial expressions had suggested he wanted to be left alone but he was asking her to stay. Curious

"Well it's just…are you ok?" John realized how stupid his question was, she would probably respond with some diagnostic.

"I am operating at 97% efficiency. I am ok" Yup there it was.

"It's just since the exp…err…incident when I put your chip back in you have been different. I mean more different than before." Cameron saw the distant look on Johns face and realized that he must be remembering the day that she had reverted; they had both avoided the topic in conversation. She suddenly had a need to sit down with him on the bed closing the distance between them.

"John…I told you things would be different." Cameron said as she folded her hands in her lap and looked straight ahead. John had a 93.8% chance of becoming emotional, which would most likely activate her emotional simulator. He let out a frustrated sigh that had been building up for the last two weeks and finally let it all out.

"Yeah you did, you also told me I couldn't be trusted anymore! That coming from the person, the thing that just tried to kill me was a little hard to believe. I trusted you! and look how that turned out for me!" John's voice was hoarse and full of emotion. He stood up and began to pace hoping it would bring him some comfort, trying to understand his own feelings at the same time. He didn't see the hurt expression splash across her face.

"Still I put your chip back in after all you put me through that day!" John said as he threw his arms into the air. "Just before I pulled your chip do you remember what you said to me?" There was a long pause before John could continue what he was saying. "You told me you loved me. You can't just say that to someone when you don't mean it. You may just be a cold machine but saying that…it really messed with me. I almost killed myself to turn you back on! I guess I was just lucky your switch wasn't set to kill!"

"John…" John was too caught up with himself to see the tears beginning to travel down her face.

"Cameron look I have defended you from my mom and Derek because I thought you were special, different from the rest of the terminators but I'm starting to doubt that now. I need to know what's going on with you. Can you feel anything, do you have emotions or are they just for show; are you just another disposable machine? Because right now I don't have a clue and the way you have been acting is starting to confuse everyone. Is this just another one of your tricks? An infiltration protocol? I need an answer Cameron; I need something so I can finally get past that god dam day!" John had to take a long breath once he finished, realizing that he had been breathing. Cameron felt the sudden triggering of her emotions. She hadn't meant to cry, she didn't even know how it triggered but it had. She looked up at John as her lower lip gave a slight quiver. Her CPU told her crying was illogical as she didn't need sympathy from John but she ignored it. Shock registered on his face at the sight of her bloodshot eyes and tears.

…Emotional restrictions failing - 50% - necessary repair imminent…

"I didn't want to hurt you, all I ever wanted was to protect you" Her voice was little more than a whisper. It had lost its monotone edge that John was accustomed to. It sounded hurt and ashamed. His features began to soften at the sight of her in this state. She was crying, her voice was choked up, but it was her eyes really. They had that same twinkle as when they first met. Cameron suddenly stood up with speed that only a terminator could possess.

"I'm…I'm sorry John" She said and lunged at him. His instincts and training kicked in automatically, but he wasn't fast enough. They were always faster. Before he could respond she had grabbed him and pulled him close cutting off any escape. But it wasn't an attack; she had slipped her arms underneath Johns and now held him in a tight embrace. It only took John a few seconds to realize what she was doing before he hesitantly placed his arms around her feeling her tears moisten his shoulder.

She was different.