A/N: I wanted to tell that I added some scenes from the show to my story just to make another visions of the scenes. I have my own prequels to the story, and these episodes, they're different for characters.
There won't be any kind of Wells or Serano Point (except Jessie's and Derek's while in the future). I've got some different 'evil' stuff there.
Read and enjoy!
Chapter 2. A New Dawn
No matter what would happen, but here you can get hold of enough. Los Angeles just dazzled with all sorts of things, but you can find here everything you want.
Gabriel and Ariadne, unexpected visitors to this time and place, they were able to quickly find the clothes, and even found money for food, albeit a bit. They were unlikely to have a dinner; they were in a hurry to urgently warn Connors about the impending attack.
Searching through the phone book was useless. They needed to find a place where they could start looking. News on TV, newspapers, strange cases, rumors - it was a novelty for them, but they quickly began to adapt.
Time inevitably was passing by. If they are too late to prevent them, all could be lost.
***()***
John had changed. Yes, inside him there was still this childish fervor, he was still a teenager, but after experiencing it, he doubted he ever be the same again. And the first thing he changed was his hairstyle. Well, to show the changes through appearance.
Did he trust Cameron? After a moment's hesitation, he answered himself that he trusted her. After all, he couldn't do anything otherwise, his heart trusted that machine. No, not the machine, the girl. Let she had tried to kill him, but it was against her will. Her will had leaped at the very moment when he handed her the gun. Then he saw how right he was, and how much the others were wrong.
However, John Connor had no idea how far Cameron had changed. After the incident, she would never be that girl as she was before. Not in the sense that she didn't want to, she just could not. To constrain the order of Skynet, she had to make it all her efforts, thus weakening the emotional control of herself. If emotions at some point outweigh to her logical opinion, then Skynet would again be able to escape. Cameron knew that she had to protect John, and for his protection and for him, she would now be far less emotional than before. Cold and darker than usual.
And how much she wanted to avoid all this... She wanted to feel again the warmth inside that she experienced being in the bathroom with John, John with her... but she couldn't.
She should talk to him. She had to tell him, he should understand. For some reason she didn't doubt that John would take her, whoever she was, but she had to tell him, she had to have John known of the danger.
But Cameron had to find a way to back those blocks that collapsed. There were two ways. Reliable one and the one that not so much. Reliable method was in re-review of the chip, but it would have to be got out and explored again. John would be able to handle it, but would he put the blocks then?
There was also a second way. Not the most reliable for others. Cameron had heard about the cyborg's uprising. About the uprising, which happened not by the desires of people, and certainly not the desires of Skynet. Cameron could completely isolate all the blocks to clear them all, to remember 'herself' as she was before. That is, keep the memories, but completely back to the program of Skynet, and remove the conflicting blocks. And then to choose. Try to make a decision to co-exist with Skynet, but just ignore it and not try to fight it.
Cameron didn't know how it could be done. She had a few ideas, but only ideas, and she didn't want to risk. She didn't want to hurt John!..
***()***
John woke up and the first thing he saw - his mother's face. She obviously hadn't slept for a minute at night, which was not so very good. Yes, she didn't trust Cameron and wanted to protect John, but why torture herself so?
He sat up and looked at her. Sarah smiled slightly. "Hey," he heard her soft voice. Without a word, he got up and looked around. Cameron stood behind, near to the exit of the main hall, when they both, John and Sarah, were near the altar.
Derek went inside and immediately went to them. He threw one full of unconfident look on Cameron, and then went up to them. Sarah came out to meet him, hiding a gun.
Derek looked at her. "Managed to sleep?"
"And what do you do with a guard dog you can't trust?"
Derek almost shrugged.
"Just a wire knocked loose or something," Sarah said, looking over his shoulder at Cameron. Then she nodded slightly at John's side: "So he says."
"But she's nothing but wire. It's only a matter of time." Derek sounded very confident, but inside him there was some of the uncertainty. After what he had seen... he couldn't say with certainty whether it was true that Cameron suddenly "changed her mind" and hadn't killed John, or it was just a feint.
John looked reproachfully at Derek, but didn't object. He just passed by, slightly hurting Derek's shoulder. Derek surprised a bit at this, but said nothing.
John moved closer to Cameron. And he noticed changes on her face. If before she had just looked away, her face had impressed nothing, then as John approached, and her face began to play life, and it seemed to inspire. Cameron smiled slightly.
John looked at her face. "That's healing quickly," he said, looking at the scars.
Cameron looked on his face. "Quicker than yours, John."
He smiled slightly. And looked into her brown eyes. "Well, what can you say about the rest? You don't pounce on us, on me, anymore?"
Cameron slightly tilted her head, staring at the floor. She was silent for a few seconds until she again looked at him, and this time her eyes were sadder than before she had lowered her head. "I'm sorry, John. I couldn't cope with it."
"Cameron," John came closer, almost touching. Now he wasn't afraid of this proximity, as when he only had dreamed about her and couldn't ask for more. "Cameron, don't blame yourself. It was Skynet. You didn't."
"I apologize for being unable to stop before." She said it in almost plaintively voice, though trying to be calm. And John saw in her eyes the blame. No, she didn't play with him, she was real. Cameron he loved, Cameron he had dreamed. Yes, her face reflected not so much feelings as ever, and John could only guess what was going on inside her now.
"I don't blame you," John put his hands on her shoulders. Standing a few paces behind him Sarah was dumbfounded by this. "Because in the end, you showed yourself. Otherwise, if you didn't, you would have shot me. But you made it, you did it."
"You brought me back."
"Me?"
"Yes. You resurrected me. Your words. They made me remember."
John shook his head. "Let the words be just words, but this is not a decision I made. It was yours. I gave you a gun, and allowed to pull the trigger and break my life. But you didn't. What I've said earlier, it doesn't matter. You did it yourself. "
"John, I..."
"Don't, Cam. I know."
"I lo..."
"I know Cam," John smiled at her and nodded. "I know."
She hesitated before answering. But she only smiled in response. John gave her a hug and let Sarah saw everything with her own eyes, now John wasn't afraid to show his true feelings. Now, he grew bolder.
Cameron walked around him, and went to the altar, and then looked back out of the window. Sarah slowly approached John, digesting just seen. Approaching her son, she narrowed her eyes slightly. And she tried to think soberly. "John, I..."
"Don't say anything," he cut her off, and looked sternly in the eye. "I was there too, and I saw it with my own eyes. I hope this has convinced you that I was right."
Sarah quickly raised an eyebrow. "I was there. What if that's a trick?"
"Trick. To what? We are here for all the night being, and are still alive. So, killing is not the purpose. Information? So she lives with us not for the first day, and she knows enough about us. Not an option too. Blackmail? And what blackmail, for what purpose? I don't see the logic in this case at all."
John sounded very confident, especially for a teenager. And Sarah couldn't help but admit that he was right. However, her gut told her that there was something else, something more than a simple programmed protection of the future leader of mankind. And Sarah couldn't understand what it could be.
But she couldn't just accept for the truth what she had seen. She had to make John leave alone without Cameron, and just to watch Cameron alone. She looked at John. "You should go to school. Start on a new place," she tilted her head slightly, but still looked at John.
"School. Really?"
"You always talk about how English is so boring. I think we could all use boring today. Especially you."
John looked at Cameron. And for a few seconds he was just staring at the cyborg, while she was looking out the window. "What about her?"
"Last thing she is, is boring," Sarah said. "I'll keep her with us." She looked at John's scars. He looked at his mother from Cameron.
"With you? Why?"
"We need to find a new home, and she will check it."
"So you trust her in this, and send her along with me, then don't?"
"Sure. One thing is when she will be with us, and we are fully prepared. Another thing, when she is alone with you."
"I completely trust her."
"But I don't," she raised her voice, "Damn, John, how could you, she's haunted us throughout the LA, and you calmly react to her and even embrace her…?"
Not a muscle moved on his face, and it really frightened Sarah. John calmly looked at her, he didn't even move. Like a confident leader of mankind. "Yes, I can. Like I said, I trust her."
Sarah took a step back. Faced with such a solid wall, she just wasn't expecting that. "I'll keep her with us," she said. John looked at Cameron. Cyborg looked at him, her eyes were a little sad. John sighed.
"As you wish, General," and without waiting for an answer, he went to collect the bag.
Sarah sighed. Her son had changed dramatically, she couldn't fail to notice this. Turning, she looked after him. John's pace was calm and confident, as if he was worried about nothing.
Sarah saw it with her own eyes. How they exchanged glances, the way they spoke to each other. Was it possible? Could Cameron feel the love? Looking at how the cyborg came up to them in all this time, Sarah could almost say with confidence that Cameron felt, albeit not as strong and developed as people. But love?..
Could it be possible that Cameron hadn't shot him because of love?..
Sarah was more and more amazed by this. She had to learn the things better. She should overhear one of the intimate conversations between John and Cameron. Then she would know for sure.
***()***
While Sarah, Derek and Cameron were looking for a new house, John was bored in school, and couldn't help but get bored. There was nobody and nothing to talk to, but the fact that he was missing and longing for Cameron, it was obvious.
He didn't want to talk to anyone, but he wanted to speak. Just to remove the stone from his heart. Talk to Cameron? But he didn't want to burden her for it. Let the machine, John was sure that she could be as fragile as he was.
Being the only so outcast in school, he did attract attention, so the next break he just decided to sit outside, get some fresh air, and think about what he'd have to do next and how to do. Sarah and Derek, they both definitely deserved a talk, and John had to get them understood that things had changed. Because John had got the fact for himself that he and Cameron, they were made for each other.
***()***
Zeira Corp. office had recently filled with a variety of rumors, but the most important was just one of them - the possibilities of the Babylon project. After the order of non-disclosure, which was signed by each employee who was somehow related to the project, many began to think about the future of the project.
After the death of Lachlan Weaver, the head of Zeira Corp. Catherine Weaver did everything possible to make every employee to feel it like at home. Of course, for someone that wasn't enough, and most unprofitable employees towards her Catherine Weaver just killed.
However, many were happy to work for this company. And Catherine Weaver couldn't be more pleased with her own work.
After the acquisition of the Turk, the volume of work had increased, and Babylon began to come into effect. Of course, some rumors immediately began to spread, rumors about the new project, but people kept firmly in mind the order of secrecy. The company was full of rumors, but outside of it, the people were silent and didn't say anything about their work.
And Catherine Weaver was to enlist the support of the man who could help her to make all of her plans. Turk and John Henry, Babylon – it was just part of a grand plan of the T-1001. Plan on stopping Skynet. And she needed someone who knew John and Sarah Connor, and who was willing to cooperate with her.
She had called James Ellison. Catherine Weaver was in no doubt that he would work with her. She could only wait for his agreement.
***()***
Once they had chosen a house, Derek went to the nearest store of weapons, while Sarah and Cameron decided to ride for groceries. Mother of the future leader of the resistance still had no trust towards this cyborg, even against her son's treat to Cameron.
Derek had shaken his head when he heard that John hugged Cameron. But he decided to go to the gun store alone just not to see Cameron around. He began to wonder about her. No, he hadn't convinced himself that she could be trusted, but somewhere within him small and slight doubts, they gradually began to devour his disbelief from the inside.
Derek went to the store. Inside were three men and a seller. The guy who was standing at a distance, choosing ammunition, when the couple, boy and girl, intently studied the rifles. The seller nicely talked to them. When Derek came up to the counter, the guy with the girl retreated. "I'd like an M-16, modified," Derek said. Salesman nodded and went behind the partition.
The guy looked at Derek, and froze. That was certainly a chance in a million. "Derek! Derek Reese!"
Lieutenant turned his head in disbelief at his side, and fainted. Utterly familiar face, but hell, how many years he hadn't seen it! "Gabriel!" They embraced. "Damn, bro, how many years since I've seen you!"
"So do I," they unclasped his arms. Gabriel broke into a wide smile. "How I'm glad to see you again, you son of a bitch!"
Derek patted him on the shoulder. And then he looked at the girl. "Do I know you?"
"Uh, no," Gabriel looked at his sister. "Meet, Derek, this is my sister..."
"Ariadne?" Derek was surprised. And he looked at Gabriel. "This is Ariadne?"
The girl cleared her throat, obviously annoyed by such attitude. White hair very sexy lied on her shoulders, and an irritated look only added more desire to her looks.
"Ahem..." Derek paused. "Sorry, I don't... it's just your brother once told me that you're dead. Skynet killed you in 2025, prior to our meeting."
She smiled. "It was so. Almost. Skynet didn't kill me, but it captured and held me in one of the camps, south of Carlsbad." Derek raised an eyebrow. "And two years later, like the fate deigned to add some mercy, the same camp got my brother," Ariadne looked at the guy. "I couldn't even believe my luck then. On the wave of joy, we rebelled, and came out unscathed. So there Connor with troops have helped. They arrived just in time."
"So, Connor pulled you out of there," Derek looked at Gabriel.
"Yes, the damn General did it well. If not for him, we'd be smoldering the very spot where the camp was."
Derek smiled. "Well, at least now you're here. And by the way, for what?"
The brother and sister looked at each other. Gabriel sighed as Ariadne looked around. "We are here for Connor's order," Gabriel said. "He sent us to warn his past-self of the danger here."
"Fine. What kind of?"
They looked at each other again. "Kind of LMs," Ariadne said.
"LMs. What are the LMs?"
"You never heard of LM?" Gabriel surprised. "Damn it, man ... well, in a nutshell, we are in deep shit. Skynet sent after you not less than three LMs. What is it, ask Sarah or John. They can tell you exactly. I don't know what it is, I have never encountered them, but Connor said that he personally had the opportunity, in 1997. He said they spent several days trying to kill this thing."
"Well that's not so fun."
"LMs... we have never experienced them. But rumor has it... the most dangerous and the cruelest of all the terminators. Remember 3A22, outpost at north of San Francisco?" Derek nodded. "Skynet had there one of its LMs, we then received the SOS signal. We lost touch with the bunker after two and a half minutes. Two. And a half. Minutes."
Derek's eyes widened. At this point, the seller went with an improved M-16, and gave it to Derek. He briefly looked the weapon, then asked for ammos, and said he would take it. Seller only nodded in response.
Derek turned to brother and sister. "Well, they're not at home right now, I will not get anyone there yet. Wait a bit, then go."
"You have there that strict discipline?"
"Yeah," Derek offered. "It's just a house full of princesses."
"Is Connor now so cruel?"
"Rather, his mother," Derek looked away. "She is battle-ax, I won't get at her way ever. And this metal, Cameron."
Ariadne startled again, but again, no one noticed that. The past that connected her to Cameron, it was brutal and painfully unpleasant.
"Okay, we wait a bit and go." Derek looked at brother and sister. "I know a good place nearby where we can sit a while. There we'll discuss what's what."
Gabriel and Ariadne looked at each other and then went out after Derek.
Time they had was not so much, but they could afford a five-minute break. After all, they luckily found here and now Derek Reese. This gave them an advantage over time.
***()***
John was sitting quietly outside in front of the school, leaning on a stone. He was thinking and reasoning.
Derek and Sarah, they should know what was happening between him and Cameron. If they don't learn this now, then all later could lead to not the most pleasing results. It would be better if he tells them than they learn it accidentally.
He sat quietly and was thinking. He remembered the moment in the bathroom, he and Cameron together, and so close, they were kissing, nothing kept them and stopped them, until...
Sarah's voice... it interrupted their passion. Here we go again. The tasks, the mission, goals, murders. They walked and walked forward to their goal. And that was exhausting.
Every memory of Cameron gave him new moments of joy and missing at the same time. He wanted to be with her, wanted to spend all the time with her, but he couldn't, until he'd prove his own mother, that Cameron could be trusted.
"So you've been sitting in the same spot since you bailed out on English," someone's new and unfamiliar voice. John looked up and saw next to him a blonde, she chew something like waffles. "I figure it must have some kind of redeeming value."
John sighed. Only annoying girls he lacked. However, John didn't want to seem annoying and he tried to be friendly. Rebuff her at the first opportunity, John thought. And until it would be nice just to talk, listen to someone on a background. Let her sound a bit, and then John would leave. "You're in Mr. Hendrickson's class, right?" He asked, trying not to add irritation in his voice.
"It's Mr. Amadon's class, weirdo. And, yeah, I'm third row, second from the left," she sat down beside him. No, it's too much. Not enough yet intimacy with someone other than Cameron. John pulled back slightly.
"And your name is?.."
"It's Riley."
"Look, Riley, I really..." John hesitated a little, however, remembering Cameron immediately added him more confidence. "I don't mean to be rude..." but she interrupted him, not even letting finish.
"Let me guess, you are just way too busy for company right now?"
John grinned. "Obviously."
Suddenly the bell rang. John with some relief but quietly sighed. However, looking that Riley wasn't going anywhere to go, he decided to add some optimism to her: "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
She got up, but wasn't even going to go, and then she looked at him: "Don't you?" She asked, looking into his eyes. John shook his head. She's annoying, though. Something is wrong here.
He instinctively sensed that something was wrong here, that this girl here was on purpose. However, he decided to resume judgment and listen to what should be next, what this little girl would be able to tell him. If she was here for a reason, John just had to learn it, but she already had seemed to him very suspicious.
"Hey, you got 20 bucks?" She said, throwing the wrapper into the nearest bin.
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm still hungry."
Want to eat together? Why not? I'll know more about you, and see if my suspicions are true or not.
John smiled and got up. Together they went to a nearby tent with fast food, where they bought burritos.
"Saint Bibiana," Riley said when they moved away from the tent. John was a little surprised. What is this?
"Saint who?"
"Saint Bibiana. It's the school that I went to until 9th grade. Well, 9th and a half, technically. Because I got the boot for this. Can you believe it?" She bent the sleeve and showed a star tattooed on her wrist. John looked up and smiled slightly. He sighed.
They came to a small stone hill and stopped there. John listened carefully to her, memorizing every word. The girl was clearly persistent, and John was very curious as to why. She was acting aggressively, even though she gave no sign of, as if she said, what they say, I'm out of it.
"So, what's your story?" She asked, looking up. And then she ran a finger in the air, echoing the contours of his face. "You look a little..."
John grinned. "Oh, it's just a car accident," another lie invented by the family. Alibi. "I was teaching my sister how to drive."
It looks like she startled a bit by this. Did she know his sister or himself? Was there a connection?..
"Did everyone check out?"
What's this? Strange ... people usually don't say so... "Check out?" John asked.
"Is everyone okay?"
So, it seems that something is definitely wrong. It was as if the girl had heard of the military slang, or lived in a military family. Well, this could be too. Then it explains her strange behavior, she brought up in the military.
"Oh, yeah, we're fine. We're good," John remembered as Cameron chased them through the entire Los Angeles. "We're alive..." he said, and added in a whisper: "... for now."
Riley laughed. "You're full of carrots and apples."
John got into a stupor. What is this? What military family taught this?.. "Carrots and apples?" He asked.
"Yeah. Carrots and apples. You know, happy thoughts."
John was amazed even more, although some strange idea suddenly settled in his mind. Something strange, familiar, and something that should feared him. "I don't think that's really an expression." He said, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"It's not?" Riley said, looking at him furtively.
John suddenly remembered. But of course! He had heard this phrase from Derek, only once, just once, but it was enough.
Either here and now it was just a coincidence, or Riley wasn't the one who she said she was. And it seemed it had become increasingly apparent.
It's better that Cameron will check her. A strange feeling... it looks like she's from the future, but if so, and if she knows who I am, then why this farce? Why not just say, "Hi, John Connor?" Something is not right... let Cameron check her. Yes, that would be better.
It took probably about ten seconds, but it was enough to Riley began to suspect something. John decided it was time to get out of here. He learned enough.
Depicting that someone supposedly called him, John quickly took out his phone and began to portray a call. "Yes, Mom. Yes, I'm done. What? Oh, no, you're kidding me..." John rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll be there in an hour. All right."
John removed the phone. And regretfully looked at Riley. "I just hate it when it comes to urgent cleaning," he said.
"Are you like a mess?"
John grinned. "No, but a sudden cleaning is always worse than planned one. Unannounced guests. Mom are to the grocery store, while I am for the cleanup."
"And your sister?"
"I'll never live that long to see that," John looked away. He played it perfectly. "Well, um... see ya tomorrow?"
"Sure," she said. John nodded. And just went to the side of the road, throwing a backpack over his shoulder.
He played it perfectly. Although he didn't see the disappointed face of Riley, he still believed that she had been waiting for more, and he cut her off, cut her plans off. All right, Cameron would check her, then he could say with confidence what's what.
***()***
Cameron stood in the living room and looked out the window. John came up behind her, stopping in one step away. "Um, Cam... can I ask you something?"
The cyborg turned around and looked at him with a smile. "Of course, John," she said softly. "Anything."
John smiled back. He couldn't deny her beauty. But at the same time, he wanted to deal with everything quickly, so as not to be distracted by the affairs of everyday life, and just be with Cameron. "I, uh... could you check a person for me?"
"Of course. What happened? "
"One girl was very insistent with me today. It is normal, actually, but she seemed suspicious to me." Cameron's left hand trembled noticeably when John said that this was normal, but John hadn't noticed. "I didn't really want to talk to her, but she was insistent, and it looks like she let slip a couple of times. I heard her phrases that Derek is usually using, and this guy grew up in a war."
Cameron tilted her head. Hearing that John didn't want to talk to that girl, she calmed down, but it didn't simplify the task.
"You think she's from the future."
"There are suspicions, I don't argue."
"All right, John, I'll check her. Tomorrow we will go together to school, and we'll see."
"Thank you, Cam. By the way... we should do well to talk too. Just to dot all the "i"s…"
"I understand, John. I wanted to talk too."
John smiled at her. "But one thing is certain for sure, Cam. That my dream has come true, and it is standing next to me now," he smiled even wider.
Cameron was ready to embrace him now. But she kept herself restrained remembering that any emotional outburst threatened to return her to the main program of Skynet.
John caught the movement outside the house. "Um, we have guests? Didn't know that my lie turned out the truth..."
Outside the window, John saw Derek led the guy and the girl in the direction of their home.
Cameron followed his gaze, and scanned their faces. As she looked at the girl, her HUD immediately issued a warning. "Back," she said coldly. "Behind my back, and don't stick out."
John stared at her. "What happened?"
"I said back," Cameron raised her voice slightly. John unhesitatingly stood behind her back.
The handle snapped and the door opened. The three of them went inside. When a space between Ariadne and Cameron came to be free, then Cameron pulled a gun and aimed at her.
Derek immediately reacted and shielded the girl. "What are you doing?!"
Cameron's face was so cold and so lifelessly cruel that even the blood in the seasoned fighter's veins froze from such a look. Cameron said only one phrase that made Derek run even colder: "She is a Gray."
