I know what I said about this being the last cannon chapter but have you any idea how much crap they shoved into "Born To Run"?

I mean, I can't believe they managed to finish it in a hour with commercials.

Anyways. The next chapter which is done will be posted tomorrow and that includes the last few bits of "Born to Run" and then we follow John into the future.

Sorry for the delay, HULU got rid of TSCC eps and I had to find them elsewhere and had no idea where to start and go....Enjoy. (Thanks for sticking around)

Sarah was shoved down forcibly. Her head hit the ground with a teeth rattling thud bringing forth not just pain but the entire conversation she'd had with Cameron just before John and Derek had gotten back from their hellish mission.

Connor Household - Four Days Earlier

"I am showing you something that you, were never meant to see."

Sarah nodded and sat beside the teenage terminator. "Why are you showing me?"

"John has only me and you as his support. You made recordings for him. Those recordings keep him anchored and alone." Cameron set up one of the old laptops that John had cannibalized for parts back when they wanted a look at Vic's chip.

Sarah ran a hand over the handgun in her lap anxiously, "how do I know that what you're showing me is real?"

Cameron turned on the machine, "you don't, but if you want to help John. You'll stay and watch."

The scene was fuzzy at first. Sarah opened her mouth to remark that with all the metal in the room the reception should be a little better but she clamped it shut. She didn't want to ruin Cameron's benevolent mood. "What is that?"

Cameron typed a few words in and the screen cleared up. She changed the view angle and with a few key strokes took off the data that usually scrolled in Cameron's view. 'Are these John's quarters?'

The room was simple with cement walls and an industrial metal door. The ceiling was equipped with several recessed lights in the ceiling which helped divide what must be the bedroom and the everything else area; though it was a generosity to call them spaces with only a middle wall and two pieces of furniture.

Sarah thought that although some of the places that John had grown up in had not been much different than this brief glimpse into the future, she had always hoped that all their fighting would lead to something better than this, something better than an underground bunker.

Sarah fought the guilt she felt. She had never been exceptionally optimistic of what her son's future held. The machines left rubble in their wake in her time, it was to be expected that they would decimate a time that was overrun with them.

However seeing the sagging army cot tucked into the corner with a blanket that would barely fit John now, much less his older self and the table with one lone chair on the other side of the wall with nothing but maps and tunnel schematics to adorn the room cracked even her soldier's heart.

'This was where he ended up? This was what her John had to look forward to?' It made sense that he would turn to whatever beauty there was to be had in the place. She glanced at the cyborg beside her and seeing her in comparison to the wasteland of the future made her appeal to future John all the more evident.

As if summoned, Cameron entered the room. Sarah knew that it was the same girl sitting beside her but it took a few quick glances to verify that Cameron was indeed still here. "Time travel's a bitch."

Cameron looked like she wanted to ask her what she meant but Sarah's eyes were focused on the video.

Future Cameron was dressed in a simple dark green jumpsuit with black combat boots. She held a cannon sized gun which despite its size was held loosely in her arms much the same way that Sarah held her favorite shotgun.

"It's clear, you can come in."

"Cam, it isn't necessary to do a sweep every time I come back into the room." His gruff voice said somewhere behind the cyborg.

Sarah actually tried to grab a hold of Cameron but her grip was hampered by her sweaty hands. She blinked rapidly trying to clear her eyes of the sudden moisture in them. She inhaled noisily as John finally strolled into the frame.

Sarah was being granted the chance to see her grown up son for the first time in her life and she wasn't going to squander it. She actually got off the bed and pressed her hand to the screen as if hoping that John would turn and look into the past and into his mother's eyes.

"He's taller than I expected," Sarah said speaking in a hushed voice.

"Yes, he is. He has also built forty eight percent more muscle mass. He makes everybody train like you did for him. He made us stronger."

Sarah would have in any other circumstances, cringed at the obvious adoration in Cameron's voice but seeing the General that everybody spoke about took all her concentration.

John shook his head, he was clearly used to her behavior because he ignored her and went instead to inspect a map on the wall.

Cameron dropped the gun to her side and it dangled like a bizarre purse. "Too many people have access to you. Slipping in here would be effective if they wanted to eliminate you. This is your primary location at most times."

"I know but I can't hide away. People need to be able to reach me. I'm just another leader not some god." John said turning to fully the face the camera.

Up until this time she had only seen his profile. "What happened to his face?" Sarah gasped out loud her fingers spread over the jagged scar that ran down from his forehead past his eye and down the right side of his face stopping at his cheek. "He looks older."

"He has never told anybody what made that mark." Cameron paused looking at her hand and then the mark on the screen. She curled her fingers into talons and relaxed them before Sarah could see. "He is 47 years old. Humans age more under stress and John…"

"It's aged him, I've aged him." Sarah corrected dropping her gaze away from the future.

Cameron pointed back to the screen, "this is why I asked him to send me away."

Out of a side room that Sarah hadn't noticed in the camera's first sweep, a man emerged so quickly that if Sarah had not been nose to nose with the screen she would have missed it.

The man stabbed Cameron in the back of the head. Her gun went off sending a scorching trail of plasma into the square table and inches from John.

"John, run!" Cameron on the screen commanded as she let go of the gun and tackled the man that had just lunged at John. She grabbed the man's arm and twisted until the sickening sound of a bone snapping was heard. The man not to be outdone took the end of his own gun and shot clumsily into Cameron's face.

Her grip slacked and she fell to the floor. "Cameron," John shouted and dropped to the floor beside her. Her left eye had been obliterated leaving the blue ocular lens visible. "Cameron, please Cam. Wake up." John said over and over,"come on baby."

Two other men entered, one immediately going to the injured would be assassin on the floor. The other kicked the plasma riffle beneath the now misshapen table.

"I told you he was a metal lover. I told you." The assassin shouted. "Look at him crying over his metal whore as if she were human. You're sick Connor. You're not fit to lead."

The man attending him rose and pulled the gun from his belt and leveled it a John. "Sorry Connor, your playtime with the metal ends here."

John paid him no attention instead he held Cameron's hand, his eyes never wavering from her face. "Do it! If you have the balls to, Rydex."

"Don't worry, I'll say you died heroically. I'll say that you tried saving Jones here and that the metal bitch finally turned on you but we were too late to save you." Rydex wiped an imaginary tear away. "You'll be a legend for sure, now."

The gun cocked and a shot was fired. The man standing above John crumpled and fell on the confused and injured Jones. The other man who had kicked the gun under the table was lowering his own weapon, the barrel still smoking.

"Van Allen?" Jones asked, carefully moving the dead weight off him. "You traitor! You metal loving son of a-----." The rest of Jones's shouts were cut off as a bullet hit him dead center in the forehead knocking him back.

Sarah having heard the first shot closed her eyes in fear of what had happened. However hearing a second shot gave her courage to open them.

Cameron's head twitched and the hole where her left eye should have been filled with a blue light as she came online. All of Cam's body was limp in his embrace except for the right arm that remained semi-raised with a recently fired gun in hand.

John cradled her head against his shoulder, "So glad. I thought…you didn't come back right away and…" he was muttering without a care for the man still standing open mouthed by the door. Cameron let the gun that she had taken from John's waistband fall and she jerkily wrapped an arm around him.

"Lt. Van Allen, do we have any unusable terminators?"

Lt. Harold Van Allen snapped to attention amazement present in his less that standard salute. He put away his own weapon and saluted a second time before answering, "yes, sir. We have two."

"Good. Get some thermite, dispose of them and throw these two in as well."

"Sir?"

John helped Cameron up then deposited her on his cot. "Throw these bastards in. I want all the useless trash to burn together."

The young Lt. saluted but before he could leave to follow orders, John spoke. "Van Allen?"

"Sir?"

"This did not happen. Understand."

"Yes, sir."

Sarah felt revulsion as John closed the door and approached Cameron.

"That was wrong, John." He placed his hand under her chin raised it and kissed her ruined eye. "Can he be trusted?"

"Let's hope so. I'd hate to kill him."

"Would you? For me?" She asked and he bent to kiss her.

"For us, I would."

The screen went black and Cameron shifted to face Sarah. "You were a threat to him." Sarah stated her gun now leveled at the terminator.

Cameron blinked slowly, "John was a threat to John."

"What the hell does that mean? Spit it out." Sarah cocked the gun and pressed it to the girl's temple.

Sarah couldn't believe that Cameron had the gall to give her a pitying look even with an automatic ready to blow out what was left of her chip. "This footage was from a camera feed that was monitored at all times. The only one that was monitored."

Sarah's grip loosened at the implications. "The room was destroyed just after this. There were people who hated John.

"Because of you." Sarah gritted out.

"Yes but before me as well. Before Allison, before he became General Connor."

Sarah wilted before her eyes and Cameron saw the raw woman underneath. "They hated him for his brilliance, for his bravery but most of all for his youth. He was exceptional because of your training. He shamed veterans with his knowledge, forcing their hands and making John rise quickly through the ranks."

Cameron unhooked all the wires and snapped the laptop in half. "I was just an excuse. A justification for killing him and this was the fourth attempt that I know of."

"There were more?" Sarah was horrified to find that all the machines had done to them could not compare to the savagery of a power struggle between petty humans. To have the nerve to fight amongst themselves while they were being systematically hunted to extinction. Sarah was suddenly glad that Cameron had put a bullet into the would be assassin.

"I found references to more than ten different plots to get rid of him. Nobody could succeed for John was fated to lead. Fate has kept him protected, it has kept him alive."

"Since when does a machine believe in fate?"

"Since I keep overriding my termination order, since I was rescued by him even after I killed his daughter."

Sarah ran her hand over her face exhausted from all she had found out. "So what happened afterward?"

"Lt. Van Allen raided the booth and the man watching the monitor was silenced."

"Did he see what happened or did you just take him out like you normally do?" The resignation was heavy in the question and for all her faults Cameron was not cruel.

She understood Sarah's soft heart. She was not a killer and would never be. That was the difference between her and John. "He was part of the attempt." She had no idea if that was true but she felt lying would serve her purpose to get Sarah's cooperation and would make the older woman feel better.

"The bodies were burned as ordered, I later patrolled and returned with a damaged T-600 to make the scenario more plausible and account for my damage." Cameron paused as her hand twitched slightly. "John had retinal scans installed. A blast proof door was added along with a password to further secure John's quarters."

"So only John could get into his rooms?"

"No, I knew it also. I kept John safe." Cameron replied.

"So what changed?" Sarah knew the answer lied not with her John but the Future leader and what he had allowed to happen in the secrecy of those rooms.

"Jesse Flores." Cameron's eyes glowed blue. "A resistance fighter. She was Derek's lover. She was onboard the submarine, USS Jimmy Carter. She was given permission to move up by going on a mission to get classified cargo from an undisclosed source and take it to Serrano Point and straight to John."

Sarah was staring off into the distance as if she was trying to recall something important.

"The mission went badly. The cargo was compromised and the crew was forced to abandon ship. We lost a valuable sub, a T-800, the cargo and the whole crew except for her."

"What did that have to do with John?"

"She was angry about the loss and became depressed. She was unstable and therefore not allowed anywhere near John. She became angry when I spoke to her and shortly after, began turning others against me. She claimed that the General refused to talk to her on my word and that he was nothing but a puppet and I controlled his strings. She began to say that they had no way of knowing if that was the real John and not some liquid machine that could change form."

"Was she crazy?" Sarah asked.

Cameron shrugged, "it didn't matter. We didn't have the ability to deal with unstable people. She was making a division in the ranks. John threw her out of Glory City and sent her to a base not far from Century."

"What's Century?" Sarah knew the name from Kyle but he had never explained what it was.

"A death camp set up by Skynet. They do research and test human prisoners, that is where I was first born. That is where my father, Marcus Wright was first created. He was the first infiltrator."

"John would never do that." Sarah couldn't believe her son was capable of that but then she hadn't thought he be capable of killing Sarkissian either.

"My John did, he had to. The fighting among his men got worse until any soldier that didn't agree with John got left out to the mercy of any patrolling terminator. Though it saved Glory City, John was forced to explain himself. I offered to be shut down to restore faith in John's leadership."

Cameron's whole arm moved and she clamped it down but Sarah had seen it. "My chip parameters are no longer controlled by Skynet and the ones John had placed have also been removed. It makes control of my systems difficult."

Sarah accepted the explanation for the time being and prompted Cameron to continue her story. "The camp agreed but John couldn't kill me. He opted to send me back to himself to this time to protect him and teach him to be a better leader. He cares. We are a problem, all of us."

"What happens now? You are already too close to him and a problem in this time."

Cameron looked remorseful and Sarah actually almost felt sorry for the terminator. "I failed my mission. Future John ordered me to not fall for him. You haven't failed him yet, we will both have to leave him."

Sarah regarded the teenage girl with new respect. "You really do love him. It's not just programming, is it?"

She had never gotten her response. John and Derek had returned with the body and anything that could have been said to salvage the situation was burned along with the left over metal.

Sarah had tried taking John away from Derek and Cameron but all she had done was further alienate him and put Charley into danger. She, not John had gotten Charlie killed. His death made her sloppy and when they had gotten a tip that Kaliba was after Katherine and Savannah Weaver, she'd jumped at the chance to get back at those bastards.

They had gone to retrieve Savannah and Katherine Weaver before they too, were taken by Kaliba or Skynet of who ever was hunting them but it had been too late. They'd barely escaped with Savannah and in the process lost Derek. The loss had eroded whatever confidence John had in her or Cameron pushing him that much further away and closer to the cold man that Derek often told her about.

She had seen how he had gotten close to Savannah and the realization that they were inches from finding the Turk had breathed a bit of fresh enthusiasm into them. Agent Ellison had been contacted and a meeting had been arranged to return Savannah Weaver.

As usual their luck had not held and the police had nabbed her right outside the theater. Even now from this distance she could see Cameron holding on to John. Sarah kicked and punched refusing to give in but the men overpowered her and she was smacked down as second time. John glanced at Cameron briefly and Sarah knew that he was planning on using Cameron's abilities.

Sarah stopped struggling choosing to use her time wisely, she turned her face scraping in on the street. "Run," she mouthed.

John didn't bother to argue once he felt Cameron's grip readjust on his arm. She wouldn't allow him to be apprehended no matter how much he wanted to help his mother. "Let's go."

John let go of the door lest the police see him as well.

"I had no idea. I would have never done this." The stunned Ellison attempted to assure John but to no avail as he was forced to shove Savannah behind him as John lunged at him.

Ellison looked at the enraged man knowing that only the terminator holding him back kept him from being seriously injured. "I'll kill you, I swear…I'll kill you…"

Cameron pushed John ahead of her, Sarah had given her an order and she intended to follow it. Time was not on their side and the police would burst into the building at any moment. They raced to the far end making their escape while Ellison was escorted to the waiting car.

Cameron stood beside John. On the television being broad casted live, his mother, Sarah Connor was being bodily lifted out of a squad car. The windows reflected John and her, they were alone now. The mother of the Connor clan had inclined her head; it was a tiny nod signifying the turning over of her responsibilities to Cameron. John's well being was up to her now.

Her eyes left the screen and locked onto his.

Rental Unit - #34 - Warehouse District - 2 Days Earlier

He covered Savannah with the blanket just to have something to do. He knew he should have said something before the mission but they hadn't had much time to themselves, "I want to tell you something."

"Yes."

The fact that she didn't cry or yell at him for waiting so long to tell her made it so much worse. He wiped his hands on his jeans and bit the bullet. "It was not my idea to ditch you and Derek. I thought we were going to meet you in the desert and my mom took this detour off to Charley's, I thought you knew."

"She had her reasons." Cameron's deadpan responses were back.

"She was pretty pissed at Derek about the whole Jesse thing. Who wasn't." Neither one of them brought up, exactly why Sarah's feelings about Jesse had been so strong. Derek and Sarah had been on the outs before the mission and he had died without an apology being uttered by either party. "I guess none of that matters know."

His face twitched and she could tell that he was desperately trying not to break down. She was deliberately keeping her responses as unemotional as possible. It had often been the only way to get through to Future John, "you miss him."

He decided to beat her to it. This time he brought up the General, "well, there's no use crying about it. Is there?---- I'm sure future me would beat my ass if I did."

Just when he thought he was beginning to understand Cameron, she came out with some weird tidbit from completely left field, "future you knows what it means to lose people you love. It happens to him too."

Today would be the day that John was going to know the whole truth. Today would be the last day of deceptions. "Your mother was going to ditch us because she was going to ditch you. She was going to leave you with Charley."

"No, no that's---- insane," he shook his head refusing to believe that. 'She wouldn't just abandon me, she wouldn't…' but a tiny niggling doubt began to creep up on him and he suddenly remembered how she had spoken so quietly to Charley while he was struggling to sleep.

"She found a lump in her breast." Cameron said it unaware of John's inner struggle.

"Yeah the transmitter, I know."

"She thought it was cancer."

John was piecing it together, "she had a lump, it made sense." Yet that night at Charley's she had not unpacked her bag and it had been Derek who had found him later…after Charley had died.

"She's lost weight."

His eyes shifted to the screen where his mother was being branded a terrorist. Saw how despite being pulled by cops and having microphones pushed into her face, she kept that calm hard look on her face. The same one she had worn right before the theater door had closed in their faces and she'd been apprehended.

Cameron was now facing him, her entire body perfectly straight awaiting his command, awaiting his orders, with his mother gone he was now the head of the Connor Clan and it was time he stepped up. John eyed Cameron, his green eyes closing for a second in silent affirmation that he was her commander.

Cameron kept still waiting to join his lead and only when he began to walk away did she turn and follow.

Room #236 – Apache Motel - Several Hours Later

Her arrest had now been shown on every news network at least twice. "How much weight has she lost?" Cameron was not forthcoming and he was sick of just looking at his mother without being able to do a damm thing about it. "You think she has cancer because she's lost weight. So how much weight has she lost?"

"11 percent of her mass in the last six weeks."

"She was healthy before you showed up." He got her attention but he instantly felt guilty, "that's all I know. She was healthy."

"If my power source was leaking radiation, I would know. I have sensors for that."

"Where are they?" He used this opportunity to run his eyes over her figure. It had been almost a week since they had been together and he very much missed her.

"You can't see them."

He laughed. 'That wouldn't have been a problem a few days ago.' "No, of course not." He tried not to be annoyed that she was keeping things to herself. That she was closing up and reverting to the whole I-can't-tell-you-anyting. "So I just have to trust you on it."

Cameron kept her face blank furious at having her hands tied. At having to still struggle to override all protocols that determined what she could and could not show. He was seeing a world without his mother and she knew it scared him.

John scared meant John was mean and he tended to take it out on himself but this John didn't do that trick yet. "Stuff does go wrong with you doesn't it. Stuff breaks, you kill birds, you twitch…" Cameron stilled her hand but he had already seen it. "You try to murder me. You're not perfect. You're a machine."

The phone rang taking his focus of her. A tear ran down her face but he was too busy on the phone to see it and by the time he mentioned the priest she had returned to her bodyguard routine. "I should meet the father, it could be a trap."

"No, I don't think mom wanted him scared to death. Remember he saw you in a less that gentle light."

"I understand, thank you for explaining."

"Cameron…" he pleaded but she had resumed her hard staring out the window. There was no use to try to appeal to her so he instructed her to not speak to the father and just retrieve whatever his mother had left for them. While Cameron was gone he spent some time going through her bags. Her usual assortment of clothes and guns but nothing else that would give him an insight to what was going on.

The night he had told her to burn Jesse's body, he had left and holed up in his room.

He'd been so angry and bitter about Derek and his mother and Riley all keeping secrets. The only one who'd had the balls to tell him the truth was being incinerated. That was why he had spent the night in his own room and only talked to Derek and Cameron to communicate their rendezvous point and then everything had been shot to hell and he'd lost not one but two father figures.

That brought up his total to three and now he had lost his mother and his companion was acting like his loyal guard dog when what he needed was for her to force him to give in to his feelings. The walk to the church was surprisingly quick and he only barely managed to sit at the table and pretend that he was playing solitaire.

"You're back, that was quick."

"It was a quick mission." She put the package down on the table. She gave him the message the priest had given her.

"That's it?" John asked looking over the money and coordinates to the safe house in the desert.

"Yes, that's it." Cameron replied and on cue went back to the window. They were just sitting around waiting for the messenger the father had mentioned. The Father had said it could be anywhere from an hour to three before the person showed up but not more than ten minutes had elapsed when Cameron suddenly cocked her head.

The messenger was the cousin of the men who had done their papers and she came bearing new identities as promised by the Father. John searched through them, he heard Cameron tell the girl that the papers were flawless.

"There's nothing else there. There's nothing hidden there. No secret message for her escape, I am to tell you this from your mother. Leave this place as soon as it is safe. Leave this place, do not think of her. Do not come for her, leave." She turned a dark look on Cameron, "you are to make sure that he does."

She rose from the table throwing one last bit of wisdom. "We lose everybody we love."

"She said that?" John asked.

The woman shook her head, "no."

"Hasta luego." Cameron said. The brunette shut the door and Cameron locked it behind her. She went to the window, "that's interesting." She cocked the shotgun and left the room, a few minutes later she came back with Agent Ellison in tow. The man was forced to the seat.

He reiterated that he had nothing to do with Sarah's kidnapping. That if he had, a S.W.A.T team would be outside the hotel and John said that what happened to the first S.W.A.T. team would happen to the second one. Katherine Weaver wanted to meet John and thank him. John said she already had. Ellison mentioned that his mother wanted to meet her and John said when his mother got out she would.

"Katherine Weaver said if that was the case, I'm supposed to ask one question." John looked expectantly at him, "she says I'm supposed to ask you." Both men stared at Cameron, "will you join us? She says she hopes you'll know what that means."

"Do you know what that means?" John asked.

"No, I don't. Please leave now, Mr. Ellison. I've think you've said enough."

"John?" Ellison appealed to him but John had no idea what was going on.

"You've said enough Mr. Ellison. I won't ask you again." Ellison left and it was John who rushed to the window.

Cameron approached him, "he upset you."

"Me?" John asked coming away from the window and facing her. "I think he upset you."

"You know that's impossible."

John came closer as if to test her limits, "is it?"

"You said it yourself John. I'm just a machine."

Cameron spent the night patrolling and generally making sure that their location had not been compromised. She studied the passports and for one brief second she wished they could go away and leave this place. To pretend that her only burden was to keep him alive and that she would get her chance to be happy as Future John had hoped.

Dawn came and with it came reality. Future John had also hoped it would not be him that she would need to be happy but then he forgot how charming he was. He forgot that this John was free of his soldiers and could make her the woman she was supposed to be instead of becoming just one more of his soldiers.

The light danced in the room alighting on his sleeping form. He was on his right side with right arm stretched out pillowing his head and the other underneath his actual pillow. He had not changed clothes and she was grateful, it would make leaving that much faster.

He came awake quickly shifting to his favorite leaning on elbows position. "Don't do that. My mother used to do that. I really hate that."

'You hate anybody watching over you. You would say…'

"Dammit, Cameron! How many times have I told you not to hover and watch me sleep?"

"I'm sorry, John. You didn't have nightmares. You looked peaceful, you don't ever look that way." She brushed his hair off his face, what little there was. "Do you require breakfast?"

"Cam," he pulled her back into his arms and she went willingly. "I am not your master. You don't have to get me breakfast. I'm a big boy and can get my own food."

"But you are. I was made for you, to serve you." She explained still puzzled.

John had only been reprogramming her for a few months and she was having a hard time adjusting to what he was teaching her. "You might have been made to appeal to me and maybe to kill me…" Cameron sat up ready to protest that she would never do that but he shushed her. "I was joking. You may have been made for me but you don't have to serve me. You were made to be my companion and no matter what else you hear, know that is the way I see you now."

"That is why I watch you sleep." Cameron said linking her hands with his, "you are special and should always be watched over. I am made to protect you, that is my job."

Future John recessed back into her chip's memories but not for long.

"What's going on?" the younger version asked.

This was the moment of truth. "You need to understand how this works." Cameron said quietly.

"Just a job? Is there any desire to want more than that?"

"What?" he asked not fully awake.

"Can I desire, John?"

"This chip, this body. The software is designed to terminate humans, the hardware is designed to terminate humans. That's our sole function." Cameron stated.

"You are the most advanced learning infiltrator right?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then you can do anything. We, not me can work on you chip and design what you would like to have."

"Not you." John assured her.

"My only like is you, what else is there?" she asked confused by his embarrassed face.

"No, not anymore but what was there is still there. It will always be there." Cameron stated more forcefully.

"That is deeply flattering, Cameron but since I already have an entire camp full of worshipers to the greatness that I am. I rather have someone that will tell me what my faults are."

"So down deep you want to kill me?" John asked requiring her confirmation.

"You snore, you are grumpy in the morning and you always look mean outside of your quarters." Cameron answered.

"Yes, I do." Cameron replied. 'Liar, you can override it. You can stop it.'

"OK…you are surprisingly funny, Miss Cam."

"Then why don't you?" John challenged.

"Am I?'

"It's a compliment. Just say thank you."

"Thank you, John."

"I might someday." She stood and removed her shirt. "I need to show you something, this body." She unhooked her bra sitting far longer than necessary as if wanting John to memorize her. His eyes roved from her face to her chest and back again. He moved over so she had plenty of room to lie down.

"Get on top of me." She was the one commanding this time.

He had no idea why he was trembling. After all hadn't they done more than this when his mother and Derek had been gone? Hadn't he taken her in the shed after he found out about Riley and then again the night of Derek's death? Hadn't she slipped into his room and consoled him with her body until he had fallen into fitful sleep only to discover his bed empty of her?

"Put your knee here." He obeyed straddling her body and leaning on his arms to keep his weight off her. She pulled out something from her pocket and for one crazy moment he thought she was going to pop out a condom.

The switchblade snapped open and she handed it to him. He almost laughed at the idea, that given that her chip was the only way to disable her, having a switchblade when being with her would be tantamount to safe sex. Not that he would be able to remember that he had it on him if she turned, especially in their present situation.

'I've gone nuts. I'm thinking sex and what else could she think I would think? I'm a boy and she's girl that I love and am crazy for, but in my world this could mean this could kill me or help me stay alive.'

She handed him the knife with the tip pointed towards her abdomen. "Right here." Cameron covered his hand with her and guided it to right beneath her breast, "If I'm damaged we need to know."

He had cut into her several times, twice to remove her chip but this was somehow more personal. This was her insides literally being handed over for his inspection. "Reach down, under the breastplate."

Cameron was forced to hide her longing as John's face came closer while his hand went deeper,"there, what does it feel like?" Her brown eyes widened and she resisted the urge to close them. This was what she had missed from John, his love for her, whether it was out in the open or not.

"Cold." He said, wondering if she was talking about what they were doing or what they both wanted to do. "That's good, right?"

"That's good. That's perfect. John…" She tilted her body up, "it's time to go."

"Cameron, I don't want to go yet…I want you. I want us. I want…I need you to tell me everything."

"John, I have told you everything." Cameron replied.

"I want all of you. No more Future John. I want to know everything he knows." He said leaning down to kiss her.

"What if you don't like it?" she asked kissing him back.

"I don't care, no more secrets." He said.

"Yes, John. No more." She replied and he gave in.

It had been awkward and clumsy the first time and all the other times had been quick and done just to remind him that he was alive and that Skynet was still failing.

"This is not the t---" she began but John had already removed his own shirt and was running his fingers over the incision he had made.

"I keep apologizing for the way I treat you but I don't stop. How do you live with me?"

"I can't help it. It's my..."

"Please don't say job." John uttered nibbling her earlobe.

"…desire to do so." Cameron finished enjoying the feel of him pressed against her.

He gazed down on her marveling that he had been given so many chances with her. Not that he deserved them.