Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I've been quite busy with the hiring processes for various PDs as well as teaching. At any rate, here's the next chapter. I'll try and get the next few out a bit quicker, but I can't make any promises. Thank you all for the reviews!

CW6132026

"Okay, let's hear those codes," John said once he had Withers' chip hooked up for hacking.

"It's pretty long," Cameron cautioned.

"That's what she said," John joked.

"Who?"

"What? Oh, no it was a joke," he explained, They do it on that TV show The Office. Every time somebody says something that could be misinterpreted to mean something sexual, Michael, the main guy, says 'that's what she said.' Think about it."

"It's pretty long…that's what she said…" Cameron thought about it, then broke into a big smile, "Oh! I get it! That's perverted," she laughed, "And it's a play on words. That's funny."

"Yep. Okay, now the code," John said.

"That's what she said," Cameron replied, still laughing.

"Uh…nice try, but that doesn't work. Keep at it though."

"Oh," Cameron frowned for a moment, then smiled again, "Thank you for explaining. Anyway, maybe I should type the code so I don't have to dictate. You can just point to where I need to enter it."

Once again, it was not a "plug and play" situation. The codes were difficult and they needed to be hacked from the start, which took over two hours. Finally, they reached the last layer, which was where John had left off before. This time, though, they had the key.

"So, how's it coming?" Sarah asked, walking into the room.

"Almost there," John said, concentrating.

"Not through the code yet? Holy crap," Sarah shook her head.

"Yeah, this guy is tough," John agreed.

"That's why I hate these…Triple Eights," she emphasized, making sure that Cameron did not get the wrong idea, "And we've had two people playing with this damn thing since we took it out!"

"That's what she said," Cameron replied.

"What?" Sarah could not believe her ears.

Cameron giggled and John burst out laughing.

"See? You got it," John squeezed her shoulder.

Sarah let out a groan of mock exasperation, "Really, John. Must you teach her these things?"

"She would have found out anyway," John said with a shrug. He saw his mother shaking her head and trying hard not to laugh. It was pretty funny, and coming from Cameron was even better.

"Okay, John, I think we're in," Cameron called his attention back.

The T-888's CPU was very well laid out in a surprisingly easy to read fashion. There was a log of its locations, various new words and social behaviors it had learned, combat recordings, a list of allies and enemies, and naturally, a hit list.

"Let's see who he was supposed to go after and who he got," John suggested.

"Can you take it from here? I'm not good with this stuff," Cameron said, "I could learn it but I don't feel like it right now."

"Sure," John scooted into the seat as Cameron moved over, "You…getting up?" he asked.

"No," she gave him a playful smile, "I'm too lazy. You can share with me."

John grinned back, "You're cute."

Cameron put her arms around him and gave him a quick hug before sitting up again and paying attention to the screen. Sarah watched the whole thing from the doorway with an uncomfortable feeling. Sure, she was okay with Cameron, but…with John?

"Okay, let's see, Curtis Taylor, whereabouts unknown. That's the guy like Azadah that we have yet to meet," John said, "Lieutenant Derek Reese, opportunity target, contact made, termination: Failed. What does 'opportunity target' mean?"

"It means Withers was not assigned to terminate him," Cameron explained, "But that should he find Derek, he could and should take him out. But otherwise not to look for him or anything."

"Okay then. Sergeant David Whistler, secondary target, terminated. Poor guy," John commented, "Let's see…TOK715-DE5152026 alias Daniel Eckerd, informant 1 of 3, primary target, terminated."

"That's obviously one of them," Cameron commented.

"Unknown assailant, terminated. Unknown, unknown, unknown…TOK715-CW6132026 alias unknown, primary target, termination failed due to subject escape. TOK715-TW6122026 alias unknown, primary target, termination failed due to subject escape. TOK715-CP7242026 alias unknown, opportunity target, termination in progress," John continued reading.

"That's me," Cameron said flatly.

"Which one?"

"The last one. That was my designation number: CP7242026. Plus, I was his last target before you and Azadah shut him down," she continued.

"What does the code designate?" John asked, reading carefully over the list. The mid-morning sun beams beat through the window onto his face, but John still felt cold. It was maddening to see his beloved Cameron on someone's hit list.

"The first letter designates the unit I am. The second designates what line I'm from. The numbers are the date of construction; my built-day…can I get a cake on July Twenty-fourth?"

John turned to her and smiled, "Of course. What kind?"

"Chocolate. And I get presents too, right?" Cameron seemed to be getting excited, "And not just flak vests and guns."

"Yep, whatever you want…that is, whatever we can afford," John did not want to brush her off too much, but she seemed to be distractible today, so he would have to keep her on task, "So…CP: Cameron Phillips, DE: Daniel Eckerd…Okay, I'm seeing how you guys got your names. Do all TOKs take their names from the two letters?"

Cameron thought, trying to remember, "I don't know what I did since I had my memory scrubbed. I would guess that the most likely answer to that is that Skynet assigns the names, so I don't think we 'take' our names."

"So, do the first two letters always denote the first and last names?"

"To the best of my knowledge, though they could use an alias."

"Hmmm…" John thought, "well, according to this, they're all in the LA area. I need to take a look at the photos and maybe that will give us some leads."

"That could take awhile," Cameron commented, "I'm beginning to really dislike doing this," she paused for a moment and stared off into space, looking bored. "I think I'm still hungry. I'm going to get a bowl of cereal, because I'm pretty sure Derek ate the rest of my crepes."

"I did," Derek called out as he reached the top of the stairs, "Why should…"

"Derek, just stop talking right there," Sarah ordered.

"…we let them go to waste?" he finished.

"Anyway, I'm going to go eat. Call if you need me," Cameron said as she walked out of the room.

John continued to hack as Cameron went to the kitchen and came back munching on dry Corn Pops, bumping him with her hip to signal him to move over and share the chair.

"Hey, I'm curious, what do you do when you sleep?" John asked. He knew it was completely off topic, but, as Cameron did, he wanted to just make conversation as he typed.

"I…uh, close my eyes and stop moving," she laughed.

"Well, I know that, but, do you feel relaxed? Do you feel anything? Do you shut down completely? Do you dream? What?" he continued.

"Why do you want to know?" Cameron thought this was a random and this odd line of questioning.

"Just making conversation," John said with a smile.

"Oh, okay. Well, I kind of…what is the colloquial term for when you're almost completely asleep but still somewhat aware of your surroundings?"

"I think…I'm not sure…I think that's a catnap," John told her.

"Yeah, that's what I usually do, and I feel refreshed afterward. It's good because I can end the sleep immediately if there's trouble. But last night, I went into a deep sleep and I started dreaming. I didn't know I could do that," Cameron replied thoughtfully.

"What did you dream?"

"Well I…it's a long story. You know how people describe dreams and it makes sense to them but to nobody else," she reasoned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and laying her head on John's shoulder.

"I had this weird dream last night. I was running through this wasteland; it must have been after Judgment Day. I was getting chased by this prehistoric…bear monster thing and the thing kept chasing me and I kept getting away. Every time I'd hide, it'd find me, and I'd barely get away. And it was strange, because I had this guy—some guy I'd never met before…didn't even see his face—and he kept telling me to just stop, because the bear was eventually going to catch me."

Cameron sensed what felt like a short circuit running through her body and a strange cold sensation ran through her arms as she sat up straight and stared at John with wide eyes. "The bear will never catch you," she said quickly, remembering the words Joshua—or Jesus—had said in her dream.

"What?" John was almost speechless. The way she said that…it was like she knew he had that dream.

"I mean…I…uh," There was no way that was dream, Cameron told herself, feeling dread and excitement at the same time. You'd better think of an alibi before he thinks you've gone crazy. "I…would…imagine…" she stopped and thought for a moment. Her CPU was no good for this kind of thing; she was relying almost fully on her real brain. Then, she got it, "I would imagine you're dreaming about terminators or Skynet or something like that. That's what the bear is. And the person who keeps saying that the bear will catch you is just your own doubt. But, the bear won't catch because I won't let it."

"I know," John put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick hug. That made sense; she wasn't psychic, just analytical.

Was I right in saying that? Maybe the bear dream had nothing to do with Skynet and it was just a sign for me. Did I just sin? But I wasn't lying…but I didn't tell him what I dreamed…this is going to blow my CPU trying to figure this out!

"We're into the photo IDs," John said, but Cameron only half heard him.

Am I telepathic and just don't know it? Or did I really have some out-of-body, or resurrection experience? "John, can you excuse me for a moment?"

"Sure, but come back soon. I'm going to get this cleared up in the next few minutes," he said, a bit distracted.

"Noted," she said, getting up and walking almost aimlessly back toward her room. Her bed was still not made and mess kind of annoyed her, but right now, she did not care as she flopped down and started thinking. It was real! It was all real; it had to be. But what does that mean for me? What do I have to do exactly? Before she could analyze any further, John's somewhat panicked voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Cameron," John called, "Come here. I need some help."

Cameron shot up and walked quickly over to John's room, seeing him typing furiously.

"Do you know anything about emergency self destruction? Because I'm getting warnings that…" suddenly the screen went blank, "Shiiiitt!" he hissed as he pounded at the keyboard, "No, no, no!"

"That's not normal," Cameron said matter-of-factly, "I was completely unaware that they had a self-destruct. Oh no," she shook her head, "no, no, no, no…" she trailed off.

"Well, there goes our lead," John's voice was icy, "And Osborn and Larson died for nothing."

Cameron looked mournful. She had thought this was it. They would be two steps ahead of Skynet and they could probably take it a little bit easier. She sighed deeply, "Nothing seems to work in our favor," she lamented, laying her head on John's shoulder again, "Whatever this CW or TW models know is really important because Skynet doesn't want anyone near them." She began to tap the desk impatiently.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The house was pretty much silent except the quiet hum of the computer, the faint sound of Derek watching TV downstairs, and Sarah washing the dishes. John was angry about the chip, but Cameron's presence soothed him a bit.

Should I make a move? He wondered, she seems to have changed her mind about me. No, she never gave me the go ahead. I know Cameron, and with the way she is now, she could snap if I do. Just slow down, John. She'll be gun shy for awhile.

Cameron sighed again, "I'm trying to figure this out," she explained, "My CPU is working overtime on this, and my brain is going to…overheat," she provided a forced, nervous laugh.

John shook his head and grinned at her, "I'm having trouble getting over you…the way that you are, I mean," he said, "You're completely real. I can usually sense when something is not quite real, but I just don't see that in you."

Cameron smiled back, "Thank you, John," she kissed him on the cheek, "I know I'm a bit retarded as a human, but it really means a lot to hear you say that I'm real…because that's what I want to be more than anything," she tilted her head back thoughtfully and wondered aloud, "I wonder if the other TOKs have the same thoughts."

"Well, one thing's for sure—and this is kind of scary—I could be standing right next to one and if didn't already know, I would never guess she was a terminator. Hell, maybe I have more TOK friends and I don't even know it."

"Maybe," Cameron replied dreamily, somewhat spaced out. Then, something hit her, "Wait…CW6132026…CW…it seems unlikely but…" she looked at John with wide eyes, but he did not seem to get it, "Do you think maybe...?"

"Maybe what?"

"You know…" Cameron prompted, "I'm trying to get the answer out of you because my calculations say the possibility is incredibly low, but I have that thing Sarah calls a 'gut instinct' that I might be right. And I want to see if it's sane enough to reassure me that I know where I'm going."

"Cameron, I know you're sane, but I have no clue what you're talking about," John said, grabbing a handful of her cereal, "What are you saying?"

She grabbed a piece of scrap paper and pen and wrote down the number. John looked it over, not quite understanding.

"Think about it," Cameron looked slyly at him, "Who is another awkward person we know?"

"Well, not Brad, not Morris…wait, the initials, have to stick with that…" John said. Then it hit him. "Wait, Cam, what was that other one. There was another from the W line, right?"

"Yes, designated 'T'."

"Son of a bitch, you're right. You've gotta be," John slapped his palm down on the desk, "Damn, we gotta see if this is legit!" he got up excitedly and walked over to his nightstand, retrieving his M&P pistol and stuffing it into his waistline.

"Get your M4 and load it with XM1009 rounds, just in case we're wrong," Cameron advised, "Keep it in the car though."

"What's going on?" Sarah asked, alarmed as Cameron and an armed John came down the stairs.

"We may have found the informant," Cameron said with little emotion, "John's going armed just in case something happens. No one is ever safe, right?"

"Alright," Sarah turned quickly around to get ready, "Give me five minutes and Derek and I will be good to go."

"No!" Cameron cautioned sternly, "No, this is something for John and I; if something goes wrong, we'll be the best ones to explain our way out."

"You'll need backup, though," Sarah argued.

"Less than a ten percent chance of armed engagement. The rifle is just a precaution," Cameron replied, pulling on a pair of combat boots, "We'll see you later. Can you order a pizza or something for dinner? But not from Dominos because they taste like cardboard," she said as John and her left.

"Cam, you should slow down," John advised as he looked over at the speedometer and saw that she was going 50 in a 25, "the last thing we need right now is to get pulled over when I have dreaded 'weapon not suited for sporting purposes' in the car."

"Sorry, I got excited I guess," Cameron applied the breaks, "'Weapon not suited for sporting purposes?' Sure, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"California's stance on the right to bear arms is that it applies only to the military and police, so civilians are only allowed to own hunting rifles and some pistols," John rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't make sense. It goes without saying that the military and police would be allowed to have weapons. Why would the Constitution have that clause unless it was to specifically denote that civilians were allowed to arm themselves?" Cameron pointed out.

"I don't know. There's a lot of weird thinking in this state," John said, "Turn here."

"I know," she sighed, "I've memorized it."

"Right."

John could not believe this. He was not sure if it was denial, ignorance, or fear of being labeled as crazy if he was wrong, but he should have seen it; so many hints had been dropped, so many clues and behavioral issues had pointed to this conclusion; it had to be the case. "So, how are we going to do this?"

Cameron thought for a moment, "I don't know. I'm not the best source of information on how to approach a social situation."

"Well," John said, "We'd better figure it out soon because we're here and they're going to get suspicious if we just sit here."

Cameron put the truck into park and looked at the house. "It doesn't look like anybody is here."

"Tom is gone, I think she's here though," John replied as he undid his seatbelt and got out of the truck. It did seem pretty quiet though. Granted, the neighborhood was generally pretty low key and most people were probably either at church, asleep, or at a prom party this Sunday morning, so really who knew? A few kids were running around in the yard a couple of houses down and Cameron was keeping a close eye on them, making sure that nobody gave them a strange look that could indicate that something was wrong. John kept an eye on Cameron because, though she had emotions and attachments, he was still unsure of whether or not her terminator instinct to kill without remorse was gone or reigned in.

"Children are kind of annoying and loud," Cameron stated as they walked toward the front door, "But…cute," she smiled, "I sometimes wish I could be a mother someday, but I can't reproduce."

John nodded as they got the front stoop, "Maybe we can talk about this later, but let's stay focused, though."

"I am focused," Cameron replied, an edge of sensitivity in her voice (she was not into being criticized just yet), "I'm just trying to keep the mood light. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," John rang the doorbell and stood to the side of the frame.

"Out of the kill zone; that's smart," Cameron commented, "If we're wrong, what should be our excuse for being here?"

John tapped his foot and looked around again, instinctively patting the pistol over his shirt. There were many ways that this could go wrong. She could actually be working for Skynet, or maybe she was who she said she was and would call the cops, or…well that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Cameron rang the doorbell again and stood off to the side, shaking a little bit.

"You okay, Pretty Girl?" John put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm worried that Cromartie or another terminator got to them first and we'll never find out what causes Judgment Day," she shook her head sadly, "I'll do anything to prevent it…what is taking so long? I thought you said she was home!" she looked severely at John, then softened up and dropped her head, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, John, I didn't mean to snap, I'm just…"

"Cam, it's okay," John comforted before she burst into tears, "Just calm down." It was weird; he was supposed to be the emotional one and not the terminator!

"Let's go see if we can get inside. We can find evidence whether or not this is a…a…" she stuttered trying to remember the expression for pursuing a bad lead.

"Wild goose chase?" John filled in.

"Yes. We need to get inside and see if there is evidence that will prove whether or not this is a wild goose chase," she began to make for the side of the house.

"Whoa, Cam, no!" John followed after her, "Cam, what if they are home?"

"We've done worse than this," Cameron reasoned as they rounded the corner to the backyard and approached the bulkhead, "We're just going to look around."

"Cameron, calm down…please," John put his hands on her shoulders, "I know you're worried; I am too. I just don't want this to end in a shootout. Come on, what would you do if you found a strange person in our house?"

Cameron sighed and leaned back on John, who had to shoot his foot out to keep from stumbling from the sudden increased weight, "I understand your concern, but…I don't know, I'm very anxious right now. I need peace of mind."

I hope Uncle Bob can make some terminator Prozac, John thought. "We'll get it figured out. We'll call them later."

"No," Cameron grabbed the bulkhead door and easily tore it off, "I need to know. John, please come with me."

Left with no choice but to follow, John, descended down into the basement behind his cyborg love. The basement was pretty typical overall; there were old clothes and boxes in the corner, a pile of old VHS tapes and a broken VCR. A rusty refrigerator sat on the other side, next to the water heater. The cracked, moldy concrete floor was covered in dust and rodent droppings that seemed to decorate much of the basement, including the top of the washer and dryer. Naturally, the entire basement smelled musty; John really did not mind it; it was not a bad smell and the dark, messy space was to be expected. God help the person who got stuck in the Connors' mess of a basement!

"I can barely see a thing, Cam. You've got the night vision; anything suspicious?" he asked.

"So far, nothing," Cameron replied, scratching her head, "something just landed in my hair. Is there a bat or something that might have defecated on me?"

"Hmm," John ran his hands through her silky brown hair, brushing out a bit of dust and cobweb, "No, just dust. Anyway, there's nothing here…what are we doing anyway?"

"I need to know if we're right," Cameron replied, sounding distracted as she continued to scan the room.

"I thought you needed to know if they were still alive?"

"John!" her shaking voice was just below a shout, which she realized immediately, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I'm anxious and it was a reaction. I…I just need to…"

John threw his hand up to her mouth as a board creaked overhead.

"Urm serry…" she apologized again for the outburst with Johns fingers still planted on her lips.

"Shhh! Let's just go!" John hissed.

"Okay, we'll go knock on the door and…"

Suddenly, the basement door opened and someone began to descend the stairs. Silently, Cameron grabbed John and pulled him behind the washing machine. The basement was quite dark and they were out of the stream of light coming from the broken bulkhead door, but there was obvious signs of breaking and entering, so their seeker would not leave quickly.

"Maybe they'll think we booked it when they opened the door," John whispered.

"Shh," Cameron held her finger up to her mouth.

The person got to the bottom of the steps. John saw that it was a tall, slender female figure standing in the darkness, her fists clenched as she scanned the room.

I'm a dead man, John thought as he saw her walk to the opposite side of the basement and looked under a blanket that was draped over a table. The furnace, on that side of the basement, clicked on, so John figured it would be okay to talk.

"Okay, she's alive, let's get out of here…" he cut himself off as Cheri, still on the other side of the basement, spun around and advanced toward his voice, her face without any expression.

"Cheri, wait," John stood up just as she reached him, obviously not recognizing him. Suddenly, Cameron jumped in between then and held her arms out.

"Please, stop…" she said just as Cheri grabbed her arms in a vice like grip. Immediately, Cameron's combat mode kicked in and she began to defend herself, twisting her arms to escape from Cheri's grip. But John's former prom date had her too tightly and she quickly whipped her hips and threw Cameron across the basement.

John knew Cheri would not hurt him normally, but he figured it would be best to not be near her like this. He dived out of her way and began to scramble toward Cameron.

"Cheri, stop!" he ordered as she followed after him, "Cheri!"

Just as she reached him, Cameron recovered and delivered a kick to Cheri's abdomen, sending her flying across the basement into dryer. Cameron did not want to destroy her, so she backed off her strength down to about seventy-five percent. Nonetheless, it was enough.

"We're not here to hurt you," Cameron said, "We need to talk."

"Who are you? My night vision was damaged awhile ago. Identify yourselves!" Cheri ordered.

"It's John and Cameron," John said.

"Oh," Cheri suddenly relaxed, "What are you doing in my basement? I don't have anything valuable except a few dresses and a necklace," she sounded very disappointed. Her new friends had burglarized her house!

"We're not here to rob you," Cameron said with a laugh, "we…" she sighed, "actually I was worried. I wanted us to get to you before another one did, so I panicked and insisted that we check immediately."

"Wait, before another 'what' got to me?" Cheri said, sounding a bit angry, "Who do you guys think you are? Who do you think I am?"

Cheri sounded sincere, as though she truly did not know what they were talking about, but after John saw what she had done to Cameron, and then what Cameron did to her, he knew they were right. There was no question. The attractive silhouette was of someone just like Cameron: Someone who had learned to become human. Someone who he would have never guessed was machine until he saw it with his own eyes.

"Cheri, can you come into the light?" John asked. Quickly, though not threateningly, she stepped toward the open bulkhead door, her pretty features seeming to slowly materialize under the light. "Cheri…I…" John stopped and thought for a moment, "My name is not John Baum…it's John Connor. I'm who you're looking for."

Cheri stared at him for a second. John knew she was conducting a scan of his facial features. With facial recognition confirmed, CW6132026, a.k.a Cheri Westin, flashed the blue lights behind her mechanical eyes.