Authors Notes: Well be doing a bit of jumping around in this chapter so hopefully it doesn't get to confusing. There will also be a bit of a plot twist. Enjoy

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CHAPTER 12

There did not appear to be a cloud in the sky. The sun was bright, and yet the air around Savannah felt cold. A shiver ran up her spine and she rubbed her forearms with her hands in an attempt to warm herself. Her throat was dry and due to the effects of dehydration she could feel her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. Savannah desperately craved a drink of water, but knew that it was unlikely that she would receive one anytime in the foreseeable future. Dried blood was smeared across her face and her clothes were dirty and torn from last night's ordeal. Her eyes hung heavy with exhaustion, but Savannah forced them to stay open as she carefully moved from one position of cover to other attempting to conceal herself from any Skynet units that might be in the area. Her body throbbed with pain in every way imaginable. She had been walking for what she knew had been miles, and yet there was still a great distance to cover. Savannah hoped that she would reach Bedell's camp before nightfall, but feared that if she did not, she might not survive the night. And despite her aching body, her emotional state felt worse than her physical condition. Martin Bedell, probably the most important resistance leader in the world was dead, and while she had not found his body, Savannah assumed that John Connor had also met with the same fate…or possibly worse. Every step she took grew more taxing and Savannah found that her ever increasing fatigue made the extra effort of concealing herself seem less and less important.

There was a crushing loneliness that had befallen Savannah as she stumbled through the rocky terrain. The loss she felt due to Bedell's death was so much more than one of just losing a leader; Martin had been a friend, perhaps even her best friend. And then there was John. His obvious possible tactical significance aside, there was something else there that Savannah could not quite place, something that she had never felt before. Just as Savannah was trying to determine exactly what it was that she was experiencing her foot struck a rock that was lodged in the ground below her. She fell forwards throwing her hands out in front of her body in a futile effort to catch herself. Her palms struck the debris covered ground and she instantly felt a sharp pain shoot up her left hand. On all fours Savannah's head hung low and her now dirty red hair cascaded across her face.

Slowly raising her left hand Savannah saw thick crimson blood oozing from the gash that had been inflicted by whatever sharp object she had landed on. Too weary to even curse herself for making such a careless mistake she mustered enough energy to stand. As she continued onward she fought the urge to collapse and surrender to her exhaustion. Savannah had to make it back, if for nothing else, to deliver what Martin had given her.

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John's consciousness slowly returned to him. He took a deep breath and felt cool air rush into his lungs. Still groggy and tired, he slowly opened his eyes. His vision remained impaired. The room where he was confined appeared blurry and he could not make out any specific images beyond the fact that a blinding white light surrounded him. Finding that he was still unable to move, John looked around for anything familiar that might give him a clue as to what exactly had happened after he had passed out. However, he discovered that his vision stubbornly remained out of focus. Then suddenly he heard it, a tantalizing and extremely familiar voice came out of the white light.

"John…" The voice lacked a specific emotional tone, but John instantly found that it had a comforting effect on him. He slowly moved his eyes over to the direction of the sound.

"John…" The sound grew somewhat closer and John felt an irresistible sense of excitement come over him as the voice grew more recognizable.

"John…" The third time John heard his name spoken he responded.

"C-a-m-e-r-o-n…" He said slowly and with some apprehension.

Cameron gradually emerged from the blinding white light that surrounded John in an almost angelic fashion. John blinked his eyes still trying to focus, but found that she was the only thing that he could see with any clarity.

"Cameron…" he said again, the excitement and surprise in his voice grew.

"Hello John…" Cameron responded, the pitch of her voice changing slightly. If John hadn't known any better he would have sworn it sounded like affection hidden behind her flat tone. There was a momentary still as the pair stared quietly at each other before Cameron broke the silence again.

"What are you doing here John?" She asked. John hesitated for a brief moment again looking around the brightly lit room. He was still unable to make out anything specific, except for Cameron.

"John…" Cameron said again, "Why are you here?" John looked into Cameron's eyes finding that he was growing slightly nervous about his response, although he was unsure as to why he felt this way. Cameron slowly tilted her head to one side, coyly waiting for his answer.

"I…I came here for…" John hesitated momentarily, "I came to get you." John finally stated, his voice growing somewhat quiet. Cameron paused, looking at John briefly.

"What am I doing here?" She finally asked. John blinked his eyes somewhat confused by the question.

"After you gave your chip to John Henry, he jumped into this future. Catherine Weaver and I followed you two here."

"Catherine Weaver is here?" Cameron asked directly.

"Yes…" John responded, "She turned out to be a Terminator as well…A liquid metal one." John stated flatly.

"That's interesting." Cameron responded.

"I thought she might have been trying to help us, she said she was building something to stop Skynet."

"John Henry?" Cameron asked.

"I think so yes."

"Did anyone else come with you?"

"No…" John stated. "Just Catherine Weaver."

"How did you plan on getting back?" John remained silent for the moment, searching for an answer, but not finding none.

"I don't know." John finally said in a more solemn tone. "I guess I assumed Catherine Weaver would have some sort of plan for that." Cameron nodded her head.

"Has anyone been helping you?" Cameron asked.

"Not much, Derek and his faction don't trust me. I thought you might have been posing as Alison Young for awhile, but I found out pretty quickly that she wasn't you. Martin Bedell and Savannah Weaver have helped but…" John's voice trailed off. Cameron took a half step closer to John, gently placing her soft hand on his lower arm. As had occurred nearly every other time she had touched him in this manner, John found that he was disoriented, unsettled, confused, yet unmistakably calmed. After looking down at his right arm where she was now touching him, John slowly lift his eyes up and met Cameron's brown eyed gaze.

"What happened to them?" Cameron asked, her voice growing softer. John sighed.

"They were killed…" John responded solemnly, "Skynet killed them." John looked down at the foot of the table where he was laying and remained silent for a brief period. Then he looked back up at Cameron.

"How did you get here, I thought they destroyed your chip?" He asked softly. Cameron again tilted her head to one side and this time offered a small smile.

"I will always find you John." John could not help but smile in response. Cameron then slowly stepped back away from John easing her way back toward the blinding white light.

"Cameron…" John said trying to reach out to her but finding that he was unable to do so. As she moved away from him she was slowly enveloped into the surrounding white light. And then she at last disappeared leaving John alone again.

"Cameron, come back…" he said again in a quiet pleading voice hoping that she would again emerge from the light. Several seconds of silence passed before John dropped his head back onto the metal table. As he stared up at the blinding light that was above him, a tear slowly rolled down the left side of his face.

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Charles Fischer moved further away from the examination table where John was restrained and walked toward one of the room's exits. John continued to lie motionless in his drugged stupor on the cold steel table gazing up at the light that was situated above him. Fischer smiled, a truly evil smile and shook his head.

"All too easy…" he said as he turned and left the interrogation room.

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Savannah had been walking for hours, she wearily looked up at the now slowly setting sun as she made her way towards the remains of a large concrete building. Scattered among other buildings of similar nature this particular one did little to stand out, yet Savannah pushed herself towards it. She forced herself to walk slightly faster, as she heard the drone of a Skynet Aerial HK rapidly approaching her position. Her legs ached and she wobbled from the dizziness caused by the concussion that she had suffered. Savannah momentarily braced herself against a large concrete block. Upon moving away she left a smear of blood from the wound on her palm, which stubbornly continued to bleed. Exhaustion, dehydration, and loss of blood had nearly overwhelmed her. To her dismay she found that she was having trouble focusing her thoughts.

Moving ever closer to what appeared to be a burnt out, abandoned building Savannah stumbled again and this time she collapsed. Striking the ground with a thud the wind was instantly knocked out of her. She coughed and gasped for breath as she lay on the dirt covered ground. In the distance she could hear the HK approaching. Pulling herself onto all fours Savannah began to crawl towards the building which was now only about forty feet away.

She began to come to the bitter conclusion that she would never actually reach her intended destination even though it was so tauntingly close. Moments later, she at last succumbed to her fatigue and fell over onto her side. Straining to keep her eyes open, Savannah tried to muster enough energy to move again, but soon realized that she had none left. The Skynet Aerial HK was closer now, and worse yet she now heard movement around her. Hearing the dirt crunch as something or someone moved next to her body Savannah gradually turned her head to look up, lacking even the energy to move her tangled hair out of her face. She was sure that she would see a Triple 8 or some other Skynet creature poised over her.

Before she was able to focus upon what was positioned above her Savannah was surprised to feel something soft touch her face. It was a human hand, a male's hand to be more specific. His gentle brushing of her hair out of Savannah's face and eyes let her see a white male with short dirty blond hair in his early thirties kneeling down over her. She managed to find the energy to look up into his light green eyes,

"Pyle…" She whispered in an extremely weak voice.

"I got you girl." Kevin Pyle stated in a mellow tone as he shouldered his plasma rifle over his black BDU jacket. Putting Savannah's right arm over his shoulder Kevin helped bring her to her feet. Savannah moaned in pain as he pulled her up.

"Let's get you home..." Kevin said after standing and then moved the pair quickly over to the concrete building that Savannah had initially been trying to reach. A few seconds later they disappeared inside just as the Aerial HK flew overhead.

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John's eyes slowly opened and he again saw the bright glow of the examination light positioned above him. Slowly blinking his eyes he found that his surroundings had now come back into focus. He soon realized that he was still in the same interrogation room that he had been first confined to. Somewhat startled by his seeming lack of recollection of recent events, John looked around for a brief moment trying to decide exactly what had occurred. His consciousness had come and gone so many times during the past few hours he was very unsure of what had actually happened. He could see the other humans positioned on the tables around him, all were lying motionless and John could not tell if any of them were alive or dead. Attempting to move his left arm John found that he was still firmly secured to the table. Becoming more and more alarmed he struggled with an increased intensity against his restraints.

Suddenly, John heard a clank and saw the metal door to the room slowly swing open, the hinges groaning somewhat as it did so. Moments later Charles Fischer emerged through the doorway flanked by two T-888's. Their silver looking endoskeletons gleamed in the brightly lit room and their burning red eyes stared at John. Fischer slowly made his way over to the examination table.

"Hello Mr. Connor, how are you feeling?" John glared in contempt and said nothing.

"Hhhmm…" Fischer remarked as he looked over John's body, and briefly positioned his fingers around John's wrist to feel his pulse.

"Your heart rate has come down…That is good." He stated flatly. Another moment of silence passed before Fischer spoke again.

"Have you given any more thought to my proposal?" he asked. John looked away still not responding. Fischer nodded his head.

"Okay, we'll do it the hard way then…" Fischer mumbled under his breath so that John could not quite make out what he had said.

"You know we really can help you Mr. Connor. It would be so much easier if you would let us."

"There's nothing you can do that could help me." John shot back angrily at which point Fischer immediately renewed his evil grin as he stared down at him. A few seconds of eerie quiet drifted by before Fischer leaned in towards John.

"I CAN help you John…" He said quietly and in a cryptic voice. Fischer's casual use of John's first name actually added to the foreboding atmosphere.

"I CAN bring back Cameron." John's eyes widened in shock. Until this moment he had no idea that Fischer knew about Cameron.

"How…" John stuttered, "How do you know about Cameron." Fischer's deathly smile remained across his face.

"You told us John…You told us...about everything." John's mouth nearly dropped open due to the horror that was now beginning to overpower him.

"No…" He whispered.

"Yes John…you told us everything." Fischer reconfirmed John's worst fear as he continued. "About your trip through time, John Henry, Catherine Weaver, and of course the distressing story about Cameron." There was a certain smugness in Fischer's voice as he spoke. John swallowed, his mind was blank, and he could only sense the dread that was now sweeping over him.

"You told us how Cameron sacrificed herself for you, and for John Henry. You also told us about Alison Young." Fischer paused momentarily to take a slow breath. "Like I said John, you told us everything." Tears began to fill John's eyes as he fought to keep from screaming. Fischer waited another moment allowing the full weight of the situation to crash down upon John. He then leaned in a bit closer to John.

"There's no point in fighting it now John. You may as well join us."

"NO!" John screamed as he jerked against his restraints. "I'll kill you!" He shouted with utter rage in his voice and then let out a blood curtailing scream. At which point Fischer laughed maniacally in response.

Several seconds went by after John's furious outburst during which time he cursed and swore at Fischer. Eventually out of sheer exhaustion he rested his head back against the table breathing heavily still trying to fight back his tears.

"There is no need to be so dramatic John…" Fischer stated as he again leaned in closer. "I can still help you." He whispered. "We can bring Cameron back to you. That is what you want isn't it?" Still struggling to maintain his composure John said nothing. Fischer gradually moved back away from the table.

"I'll let you think about it." He said as he turned and moved towards the door, after taking a few steps away he paused momentarily and turned back around.

"We're your only option John. Cameron's body would have been destroyed by the time displacement when you came here. Her chip is gone, her body is gone; Skynet IS your only chance to get her back." Fischer turned away from John and moved out of the room, followed closely by the two Terminators that had escorted him in. Once he left the room the grief and humiliation immediately overcame John and he began to sob.

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Authors Notes: I hope everyone remembers Pyle from the episode, "Goodbye To All That". Specifically, he was the recruit that Derek went off on for asking how many confirmed kills he had. Just as a side note Pyle will not be the only "minor" cast member returning in this Fan fic.