Sorry for the delay guys. I suffered from some major distractions while trying to write this. However you might be happy to know I have a rough outline for at least 8 more chapters!

Thanks to reviewers, kaotic2, DragonSeraphin, TK-MR, ElusiveSanity, acer-sigma, clearfanfic and Dimension3500.

John stood from the bed and turned to face her. He stood with his hands on his hips and his mouth wide in mock exasperation at her before relenting and chuckling.

"Okay. If it'll please Your Highness I'll take a shower"

She tilted her head and looked at him quizzically.

"Your Highness?"

"Um, yeah. It's a term for royalty...um...a Princess"

John rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and waited for her response. She looked away from him and analyzed his words before returning to him with one of the most beautiful smiles she'd ever gifted him. She responded in an ever so slightly seductive tone.

"Thank you for explaining"

He looked at her completely flabbergasted. She spoke again, but this time in a motherly commanding tone.

"Now go, take a shower. I wasn't joking when I said you are starting to smell"

John closed his mouth with an audible smack. He lifted his collar to his nose and took a sniff. Damn, she's right. He performed a mock bow to her and shuffled off in to the adjoining bathroom between their rooms, shutting the door behind him.

He switched the shower on before turning to look in the mirror.

Get a grip John. You're reading too much in to all this. She made you breakfast because you did something nice for her, that's all.

He sighed and stepped in to the now red hot shower. He flinched a little before turning the temperature down. He stepped under the spray and simply let it wash over him, not in the mood for scrubbing with various soaps. He tilted his head back and let the water run over his face and through his hair. He stayed like this for a few minutes before deciding he was clean enough. I didn't smell that bad. He turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around himself before giving the steamed up mirror a wipe with his hand. He picked his toothbrush out from the jar and gave his teeth a quick scrub while a random thought popped in to his head. Do Terminators brush their teeth?

He quickly shook himself from his thoughts and headed for the door joining with his bedroom. He opened the door to find the last thing he expected right on the other side of the door.

"Aaah" he let out a quick yelp of surprise.

She merely stared at him and his sudden outburst.

"Cameron wha, what are you doing here?"

She looked at him as if he were an idiot before replying.

"I'm going to take a shower"

She brushed past him a little closer than was necessary and moved in to the bathroom closing the door behind her.

John stared at the closed door with his mouth open. Hang on, why didn't she just use the door in her own room? John closed his mouth with a clomp for the second time that day and turned around to get dressed. When he did he found his clothes carefully laid out on the bed for him. They were decent ones too, dark jeans, t-shirt and a nice newish jacket. Why does she want me to look nice? Wait, does she think this is a date? No, don't be stupid, she's just saving time, being efficient. He shook his head to clear it a little and dried himself off. As he got dressed he let his mind wander, and not surprisingly it wandered to Cameron. Unfortunately for his current mindset it wandered straight to thoughts of her in the shower. Thoughts of the water cascading over her naked body, of her soaping herself up, of her hands moving slowly up and down her legs. He felt his body starting to react to the inappropriate thoughts. He smacked himself on the side of his head and tried to concentrate on getting dressed.

Having somewhat successfully negotiated that task he headed downstairs to the living room and slumped down on the couch. He switched on the TV and started flicking between channels to kill time.

Where the hell is she? The shower was off when I left my room so she must have been in hers by that time.

John had to hand it to Skynet. It really knew its stereotypes, including the one about girls taking an age to get ready.

"Cameron come on, we're running out of daylight here" he yelled in the general direction of the ceiling.

Another few minutes passed by until John's patience ran out. He turned the TV off and cast the remote aside. He stood and turned to face the stairs with the intention of climbing them when what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Cameron descended the stairs and her appearance took John's breath away. She was wearing a pair of light coloured open toed sandals with a small heel, his eyes trailing further up and over her smooth bare legs to the slightly too short denim miniskirt. A mere sliver of her midriff on show as her white top was, like the skirt, just a touch too short. A cream coloured cropped jacket completed the look. It wasn't her clothing however that stunned him. Her hair was lightly curled and fell in beautiful waves about her shoulders. She had applied more make-up than usual. A thicker application of eye liner and a subtle amount of eye shadow accompanied her light pink and moist looking lip gloss.

He must have been staring. She walked over to him until her face was right in his.

"John"

...

"It's time to go"

With that she turned on her heel and headed out the door. John shook his head and forced his mouth closed for the third time that day. He quickly followed after her, remembering to grab the keys to the Dodge Ram parked on the driveway on the way out. Such was his eagerness that he barely remembered to lock the door behind him as he marched towards the truck. When he arrived he found Cameron waiting patiently by the passenger side door.

"What's the problem?"

"No problem, but isn't it customary for a gentleman to open a door for a lady?"

John grinned at her before opening the door and waving his arm in an 'after you' gesture. He took a slight bow before saying.

"Your carriage awaits Your Highness"

John was sure a slight blush reached her cheeks as she passed by him. He was also positive that she made sure he saw a healthy expanse of thigh as she climbed in to the truck. He closed the door gently behind her as he struggled to keep the dirty minded grin off his face. He rounded the front of the truck and climbed in the driver's seat. He turned to look at her and found her sitting in a very demure pose with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap.

"Is there a problem John?

"N, no, no problem"

He continued looking at her for a moment before starting the engine and pulling out of the Connor household driveway. The silence between the two passengers was only permeated by the radio, to which Cameron had set the station to the same one as the trip back from Mexico to recover Cromartie. John couldn't stop himself from stealing furtive glances at his companion. She was still in a very ladylike position, staring out of the window at apparently nothing. When they reached the mall parking lot John switched off the engine and stepped out of the car, fully expecting Cameron to follow suit. When she didn't, he looked at her face through the windscreen. She stared back at him for a moment before motioning to the door with her head.

Are you kidding me???

John huffed and strode round to the passenger door and opened it. He held out his hand which Cameron gladly accepted and gracefully stepped out of the truck, not losing her ladylike demeanour in the slightest.

"You really are taking this whole 'Your Highness' thing too far you know"

He tried so hard to keep a straight face but caved in the end. What started as a light chuckle ended up in a full on belly laugh. She merely stared at him with a barely tolerant look on her face.

"Okay Your Highness, come on" he managed to get out in between the laughs.

John offered Cameron his arm. She stared at it and accessed her database on social conventions before reaching out and linking her arm through his with a happy smile plastered on her face.

They walked arm in arm across the car park and into the mall, only breaking their hold on each other so that John could open a door for the lady. He had a feeling she would insist.

When she dragged him in the opposite direction to the boutique he knew something was up and put up a slight resistance to her pull. She of course immediately detected it and turned around to look at him. She was about to say something but John beat her to it.

"What's wrong?"

"You've stopped"

"No, not that. You haven't said a word since we left the house. What's wrong?"

She let out a particularly human sounding sigh before looking in to his eyes.

"John, don't you think I'm ever so slightly overdoing my appearance for a trip to the mall?"

He examined her again while trying not to let his eyes linger too long.

"Yeah, about that, I was gonna mention it earlier but didn't wanna upset you"

"What do you think the reason for that is?

She looked up at him with her big adorable eyes waiting expectantly for an answer. To his credit he tried not to look like he didn't have the slightest clue how to answer that question.

"Um, I dunno, maybe, um, you're ah, trying to ah, kinda like um, blend in some more?"

He failed miserably.

She untangled herself from him and folded her arms across her chest in a suddenly very defensive pose.

"No John that's not the reason"

"Well what is then?"

Her eyes started to glisten slightly from her yet to be shed tears.

"It's because of something you said this morning"

John's face betrayed his puzzlement as he shook his head in confusion.

"You called me Your Highness. You compared me to royalty, to a Princess"

She cast her eyes away from his and down to the ground before elaborating.

"I wanted to know what it would be like to be treated like a Princess. To have all eyes on me, for people to admire me and..."

She hesitated before continuing.

"...and to not be treated like a piece of metal. Like a tool to be used and discarded"

She raised her eyes to his again and he caught sight of the tears escaping down her cheeks, causing her eye liner to leave dark streaks down her cheeks.

"I wanted to feel special"

Those five words bit in to John more than any other words he imagined ever would. He himself was on the verge of tears at this point. He did the only thing he could think of and enveloped her in a hug. He hugged her just like any teenage guy would hug his upset teenage sister. It just felt like something he should do.

She slowly and awkwardly returned his embrace, deciding to accept his attempt at comfort.

Despite her previous admission, she had felt special the last few days. Sarah and Derek weren't around to worsen her mood and John had been paying her more attention than normal. He had been treating her as a person made of metal, not as a machine covered with skin. He alone had taken the time to talk to her, to explain things to her, to ask her how she was feeling. He even made her a hot drink for no reason other than to be nice to her.

They separated from their embrace and looked in to each other's eyes.

"Thank you John"

"Any time. Now come on, let's go get you pampered Your Highness"

She smiled a small smile and linked her arm through his again. They made a quick stop to the bathrooms for her to fix her makeup. He managed to convince her that it was safe for him to remain outside, highlighting it would be highly unlikely for a terminator to be looking for him outside the ladies' bathrooms.

The 'women taking an age' stereotype came to light again and John found himself standing outside the ladies' for a rather conspicuous amount of time. He didn't mind, it gave him time to think about what Cameron had just confessed to him.

She wanted to feel special. Damn, she must have been so lonely. She gets nothing but crap from mom and Derek and I've been less than friendly lately. But hey, I'm making an effort...and so is she, wow.

She came out of the bathroom looking just as beautiful as before. Unless you looked really closely you wouldn't be able to tell she'd been in tears less than ten minutes ago.

"Ready to go?" he said through a smile to her.

"Yes"

He offered her his arm again. Instead of accepting it her hand shot out and claimed his as her own. He smiled at the action and set off walking towards the boutique.

"So...why were you pulling me in a different direction earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Cameron, I have over a decade's worth of training from my Mother and various mercenaries. I know the layout of this mall along with all its exits and possible ambush points. I know your nail appointment is in that direction..."

He motioned with his head to their left.

"...and you were pulling me in that direction"

He motioned to their right this time.

She looked away from him slightly and considered her response.

"I wanted to surprise you. I was heading to the ice cream parlour over there. I wanted to thank you for being so nice to me these last few days. You have no idea how much it means to me"

John looked a little taken aback for a moment before gathering himself and asking.

"Well, do we still have time before your appointment?"

She performed a few calculations in her CPU. John could see her eyes involuntarily moving rapidly as she did.

"No. I calculate that with our delays there is insufficient time for us to safely ingest an ice cream before having to leave"

He looked at her rather quizzically for a moment. He wasn't used to hearing her speak in such a mechanical way recently.

"I wouldn't want you to get brain freeze"

That's better.

John let out a hearty laugh and pulled her along with him.

They walked hand in hand to their destination on the second floor of the mall. A bright pink and girly storefront greeted them when they arrived. John prayed a silent thanks to the mall gods that there was an electronics store directly opposite.

"Ok, so how long is this gonna take?"

"I'm only getting the broken nail replaced so it shouldn't take long, around 20 minutes"

"Alright, I'll be in that store over there"

He pointed his spare thumb towards the green store fronted 'Buy More'. He moved towards the store but felt his left arm firmly held in place by Cameron. He looked at their joined hands before looking at her face for an answer.

"John...please be careful"

Her voice seemed to crack a little when she said his name.

"I always am"

"I'm serious John"

He looked at her almost pleading expression before pulling the goofy smile off his face and becoming serious.

"Okay Cameron, I'll be careful"

"Promise?"

"I promise"

With that she let him go and headed in to the boutique. She greeted the receptionist with a warm smile on her face and was invited to sit in the manicurists chair to wait. John simply watched and marvelled at how she blended in so well. He gave her one last smile through the window which she returned and he meandered off to the store opposite. He casually strolled in through the front door while covertly scouting for the exits and taking in the layout. He greeted the employee that passed by him with a pleasant nod to which the employee returned with a smile on his face. He actually felt normal for a change, he was partaking in the popular male tradition of sauntering up and down the aisles trying to kill time waiting for a woman.

I hope you appreciate the effort I'm putting in here Cameron,

Cameron sat facing the window while the manicurist worked on her. She kept her eyes focused on any and all movement in and around the Buy More while being forced to make small talk with the highly annoying blonde working on her nail.

Humans are more likely to perform a task better if they like the person they are performing it for.

Accessing social database...

Selecting topics likely to interest this female...

Topic selected...

"So tell me more about yourself"

"Well my name is Becki and I'm from..."

Cameron tuned her irritating voice out and concentrated on her mission. She analysed everyone who even passed by the store. She did NOT like being separated from John for any length of time in such a public place.

"...and then the asshole took off without so much as a goodbye. Okay I think we're all done here, what do you think?"

Cameron turned and examined her hand. Becki may have been annoying but she certainly knew her trade. Her nails looked just as good as before and she gave Becki a smile and nod in thanks.

"Okay, if you'll please follow me to the register we can let you get back to your boyfriend"

Cameron tilted her head at the statement. Becki smirked at Cameron as she led her to the register.

"What do you mean by boyfriend?"

"Oh come on, that cute guy who was holding your hand before you came in, you're telling me he's not your boyfriend"

"No, he's...just a friend"

"Well trust me, um..."

"Cameron"

"Cameron, trust me, he's so in to you, and you like him too. I can tell"

Cameron's face betrayed nothing in her unblinking 'scary robot' expression. Inside however, her CPU was running at a million miles an hour.

She thinks John likes me, she thinks I like him, why would she think that? John can't like a machine in that way, has our behaviour towards each other been suggesting otherwise?

She was so intent on her own permutations that she almost didn't realise that Becki was just staring with her upright palm extended out towards her. She replayed the last thing she said in her CPU.

"That'll be twenty dollars please" right.

She reached in to the back pocket of her skirt and pulled out a large bundle of notes. Becki's eyes widened as Cameron pulled off a fifty dollar note and handed it to her.

"Keep the change"

"Uh, thanks Cameron. I'll see you around"

She gave the blonde a tight smile before turning and heading for the door. She felt a certain amount of pride in herself as she exited the store.

She made an excellent job of my nails. John will like them, she deserves her tip.

She still couldn't understand why John was beginning to influence some of her decisions and actions. She scheduled an analysis for during her next standby cycle.

Perhaps John will watch over me again.

She performed a very human like shake of her head as once again John influenced her thoughts beyond her mission parameters. Refocusing on her mission, she purposefully strode towards the Buy More. When she was about halfway she froze as her scanners matched a 'man' to her records.

Analysis complete, match found...

Subject identified...

T-888

Wow, cliffhanger!

Yes I got 'Buy More' from Chuck before you ask!