Next one will be longer...just something to tie you guys over.

Enjoy...

Cameron…Cameron!!

John's green irises were uncommonly close to her HUD. Judging by their appearance, it seemed he had been calling her for quite some time. Cameron blinked causing future John's face to meld and disappear into present John's.

"Yes, John."

She noticed the strange looks they were receiving from the mourners at the same time John had. "Come on," he hissed pulling her behind a conveniently located shed.

"What the hell is the manner with you? I've been calling your name for like five minutes, are you malfunctioning again?" He attempted to pull her head down. As if just by looking at her port covering he would get an answer.

"It's strawberry. My shampoo, it's strawberry scented."

He quickly let go of her head taking a few steps back. "Why would I want to know that?"

"You were sniffing my hair. I am merely informing you of its scent. I would not want you to look strange."

It took several moments to process what she was saying. 'First of all he had not been sniffing her hair, he had been checking her port. Second, even if he had been sniffing her hair it didn't mean she had to embarrass the hell out of him for it. Thirdly, she was trying to teach him to be normal?' "Yes, because you are just the epitome of what's normal."

"I can always keep learning."

John felt a tremor of lust shoot through him. 'Learning what? and why am I so curious to know exactly what she has learned.' "Whatever, I'm on route to the funeral procession. I need you to come with me. You can ride in the back."

"I will take 9mm."

"What?" he said turning to see a wide smile on her face.

"You took shotgun. I will take 9mm. I will sit behind you," she explained.

Something close to relief emerged on his face. "Nice joke."

She followed close behind him. They soon noticed that Derek had taken the truck. Not wanting to be noticed John looked around for his mother. He turned to his right and saw the girl from earlier, Zoe and her friend Henry.

"John, what are you searching for?" Cameron asked him looking the same direction.

"A ride, what else?" John stopped unsure why Cameron was trying to have a conversation now.

"What do you want with Zoe McCarthy?" she tried again, she was being literal this time.

The line of the procession was still being organized so they had a few minutes to talk, "I'm not looking for anything. Just leads that's all."

Cameron seemed to understand but something akin to insecurity flashed across her eyes. "What's going on with you. First you try to kill me and then you come on to me and when that doesn't work you try to sabotage any relationship I try." John paused, "what do you want with me?"

"I want what is best for you. That is always what I want."

He felt an irritable desire to kiss her than shake her. "Want? You don't have wants, you have mission priorities. Parameters set up by Skynet or Future John. Who knows what causes you to do what you do."

"You are mistaken. I have lots of wants." Cameron ignored the protocol that was warning that this was not an appropriate action for siblings. She caressed his jaw feeling it tense beneath her fingers. "I have needs too, John."

He gulped, "like what?"

"I want you away from Riley and Cheri and Zoe and any other girls. I want you to pay attention to me and teach me like you used to." She had snuck her frame beneath him so that his chin sat gently on the top of her hair.

"What can I teach you that you don't already know?" John said fighting the battle to not hug her.

"To be decent. I need to know that my John still lurks somewhere underneath. I want you to be the John that I first met."

John gazed down breathing in her strawberry shampoo. He felt the curves that he'd been dreaming about since that night she slipped into his room. He could almost swear that she had a heart, one that pumped hard and fast for him, like his did for her.

He wished for a normal life where Cameron was a real girl and his mom and even Derek were his real parents. He couldn't indulge himself right now. He had too much too do right now. He had been given a chance to show his mother that he could be the future leader she had raised.

He could not be distracted by the pretty cyborg in his arms. He had to put her aside for now. "Cam. I need to figure things out. To figure out my place here before Skynet. I need to find out if you desire me for me or because you know what I will become."

"Thank you for explaining…" she pressed against him but it was much too quick for him to actually enjoy it. "You didn't have to. I desire all of you…past…present and future."

The procession line was beginning to have a semblance of order and would soon be moving. Knowing they had little time, Cameron dropped the subject and strode to Henry's car. John walked beside her giving her a tight smile.

Zoe offered them a ride ignoring the protesting look that Henry shot her. Zoe got into the front seat while John and Cameron got in the back. Henry reluctantly put the car in drive but an argument between him and Zoe ensued. John stayed out of it glancing out the window. His mind was still swimming from his earlier talk with Cameron.

Could it be that the explosion had opened a door to her Neuronet and if so what could he uncover if he was allowed a peak inside. Would her memory have bits of him in it and if so was he ready to see what she meant to him in the future. It seemed irrational to be angry at his future self for being selfish and hiding what she could possible become.

The fight concluded with Cameron butting in saying that Zoe was not in love with Henry. John had to bite down on his lip. It sounded to him like Henry was in denial. He could sympathize.

Henry told them to get out but John had already seen the police cruiser. He hopped out of the car and dragged out Henry. The boy was shoved into the car beside Cameron.

John opened the door of the truck climbing in quickly. He turned the key putting the car into gear. Before he could so much as signal, her hand gripped his shoulder.

"Seatbelt."

He didn't attempt to fight the grin this time. He clicked on the safety harness and winked at her in the rearview mirror, "thanks mom."

She tilted her head puzzled. 'She was not Sarah Connor.' She would never want to be, though the idea of Connor attached to her first name brought forth a certain delight.

"C.C. would be a good name," Cameron said conversationally.

"What did you say Cam?" John asked maneuvering the truck to the front of traffic.

"She said C.C. would be a good name," Zoe replied for his benefit.

John brought the nose of the truck almost on top of the car before him. He was getting annoyed by the slow moving vehicles. "What are you talking about?" he muttered flipping off some guy in a tiny Honda.

"What's it stand for?" The girl asked.

"Cameron Connor." John hit the brake a little harder than he intended shoving them all painfully against their seatbelts. "Yeah…I forgot because she's my sister…my sister…so…uh…we sometimes... we call her that. …For short as uh…a nickname."

Cameron found it odd that he kept babbling about her supposed name. Cameron could not pull up a time when she had been called by that particular name. She'd been Cam and Cammi and Alison but never C.C. Perhaps she would examine John later maybe he was having trouble concentrating due to his lack of sleep. She would investigate further.

The quicker the ride was over the better. These people had to go.

Apparently the boy next to her was in agreement about the car ride, "I don't know why we let you people get into this car. You're all strange."

Cameron turned her full scary robot stare on the guy until he squirming in his seat. "You are privileged to be here. We could always have just killed you instead."

John laughed nervously from the front, reaching back his hand squeezed her knee in warning, "don't be twisted." The tables were turned on him just as fast since Cameron unused to any contact with him since the night in the truck inched closer, trapping her hand on top of his.

He raised alarmed eyes to the rearview mirror and he shakily took his hand back.

Cameron winked at him. 'Cameron Connor of General John Connor's Army. Had a very nice ring to it.'

Somehow in the chaos of finding out about Zoe's dad, John pushed back the little episode in the truck to the back of his mind. His mom and Derek had found a secret labyrinth that reached beneath several houses in the neighborhood.

Most disturbingly they found the footage of the Zoe's dad shooting her boyfriend, Mike Thompson along with his entire family. The girl and her mother had looked on in horror but none of the Connor clan even twitched at the sound of the gunshots.

Cameron handed him some disks and he quickly pocketed them. They left the McCarthy home glad that the family was aware of the danger but sorry to have to impart it in that fashion. Sarah was confronted by Ed Winston's wife.

Cameron stepped up to stop her but Sarah waved her back. "I want answers," the angry woman shouted.

"Sometimes its better not to know everything." Sarah responded.

John and Cameron climbed into the back and Derek and Sarah into the front. Their own twisted little family. John wondered if his mom really believed that not knowing was better. It was possible that Future John had taken that kernel of philosophy to heart.

'Just how much was he keeping from himself?'

He chanced a glance at Cameron catching Derek's suspicious gaze instead. "I need to show you something."

He directed his mother and they drove over to the shallow lake full of animal corpses. "What is this?" Sarah asked her son as they all got out.

Cameron and Derek approached the water, she again took a sample of it. "It is unchanged. Whatever happened here was not regular pollution."

Derek nodded to Cameron's assessment. "How did you find this place?"

"Zoe McCarthy brought us here during the funeral procession." John replied averting his eyes from the poor animals left to rot in the desert air.

The sound of water bubbling brought them all up from their own thoughts. Light seemed to be glowing underwater as something metallic began poking out of the oily lake. Derek and Sarah simultaneously attempted to cover each other as well as John, who had already been pushed to the ground by the ever vigilant Cameron.

The aircraft rose up in the sky spinning faster as it got more altitude. "What is that?" Sarah asked helping John up.

"I don't know." He looked back but Cameron was now in front of him. Her and Derek were glued to the sight of the machine hovering. A bright light shinned down on them and then it spun away and into the night sky.

"That's an HK." Cameron supplied.

"Hunter/Killer." Derek explained, " it's what hunts and kills us in my future."