This is the largest chapter installment so far. I could have split it into two, but I had promised some people certain scenes to be in this chapter, and I did my best to deliver. So here is double the pleasure, chapter 8. Enjoy!

Catherine Weaver led John and Cameron to the side of the factory, where they could see an entrance, and two 888s guarding the door. John had sent the others in his group back to Derek. They would be attacking from the front shortly.

"Um, Ms. Weaver, not that I don't trust that you have a good plan and all but… what are we doing?"

"We're going home Mr. Connor."

"Home? As in, back… in time? We can do that?"

Weaver gave him an exasperated look, as if he'd asked if grass was green. "Yes, John, we can go home. You didn't really think I'd jump time, let alone let you follow, if I wasn't sure we would be able to go back one way or the other, did you?"

John had the grace to look embarrassed. "Well, no I just… never mind. I assume Skynet has a TDE built in here somewhere?"

"Yes. It's in the basement."

John rolled his eyes. "Of course it is."

John Henry suddenly appeared, as if out of nowhere. "I've checked the perimeter, and this remains the most logical entrance."

"Excellent," Weaver responded. "I'll take care of the guard dogs. You three follow behind."

Weaver quickly took care of the two T888s, and they entered the building.

****************************

Once inside, it was surprisingly quiet. They could hear the attack starting outside. John assumed most of the machines were probably out fighting, not expecting anyone to be able to sneak in.

They made their way down the empty corridor, and down a flight of stairs. There weren't any problems getting through locked doors. With three terminators, the doors didn't stand a chance. It was almost too easy.

They reached the basement, and followed John Henry to the correct room. They watched him kick the door repeatedly, each hit resulting in a large dent in the metal door. It was taking longer than the other doors, and John assumed it was a lot heavier to protect what was inside.

Finally, the door had buckled and dented enough that there was a small opening along the doorframe. John watched as Catherine Weaver liquefied and literally squished herself through the hole. He was completely fascinated, until something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a T888, aiming at Cameron.

"Cameron!" John screamed, and without thinking, pushed her out of the way. At the same time, the T888 had fired. The bullet hat missed its target, but found another.

John yelped in pain as his arm suddenly felt like it was on fire. He looked down to see blood coming out of the bullet hole on the sleeve of his jacket. He could feel even more blood running down his arm, and the pain made him nauseous.

"John!" Cameron grabbed John as he fell into her, collapsing to his knees. She had processed the situation just a second too slow, and John paid for it. She didn't know why he pushed her out of the way. She could take a bullet, he couldn't.

Cameron was suddenly charging the triple 8. She slammed her fist into the side of his face, and followed up with a backhand in the other direction. She then grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him into the wall.

Her HUD was flashing in her eyes.

WARNING! POWER SURGE OVERLOAD! SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT. PLEASE STANDBY.

Cameron ignored it. She was too focused on the triple 8 to heed the warning. She grabbed the gun out of its hands and shot its head until half of it was missing. It was effectively terminated. She dropped the gun and turned towards John.

WARNING! POWER SURGE OVERLOAD! SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 5… 4…

OVERRIDE ATTEMPT DENIED…

SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 3… 2…

"John…"

John watched as Cameron walked towards him, her eyes glowing blue. She reached her hand out to him, and called his name… then froze. Her eyes slowly stopped glowing, and she stood there, arm stretched out, as if she was a Greek statue. John got up and grabbed her face.

"Cameron… CAMERON!" There was no response. He turned to John Henry, who had watched the whole thing, with an undeniable look of amazement on his face. "What the hell happened to her?!"

John Henry shrugged his shoulders, in a very human way. "I can't be sure John, but I would guess she temporarily shut down. She should reboot in 100 seconds now."

"Why did she shut down? Was she hurt?" John was starting to panic. He grabbed and held Cameron's outstretched hand, and stared at her, fear in his eyes.

"I can't be sure, John," John Henry repeated. "I would guess she had a power surge overload."

John tore his eyes away from Cameron's and stared, confused, at John Henry. "A what? You mean like, what happened to the microwave during a storm last year when lighting hit? How the hell did she have a power surge?"

"It's similar to an adrenaline rush in humans. You get a sudden burst of power and strength."

"But that only happens to people in special circumstances, like when they're extremely afraid or angry. "

John Henry tilted his head and regarded John, much like Cameron would do when she didn't understand something. John almost laughed at the similar gesture.

"For a human so intelligent, and destined to lead mankind, you're not very observant. We need to work on that"

John raised his eyebrows, having no clue what John Henry was talking about. He was certain, however, that he'd just been insulted.

At that moment, the door to the TDE room opened, and Catherin Weaver appeared in the doorway. "We must hurry, I don't know how long I'll be able to… what happened here?" He eyes moved from John's bullet wound, to Cameron's statuesque form, to John Henry's blank and innocent face, back to John. John looked at the demolished terminator still embedded in the wall, and Catherine followed his gaze with her own. Curious, she stepped into the hall to get a closer look. Tilting her head, she observed the destroyed machine. John had the sudden urge to laugh again. Skynet must be a dog owner. Catherine looked at John Henry, and although their faces remained still, John would have sworn they were communicating somehow. He looked back and forth between the two until Catherine nodded, and headed back to the room. "Remind me not to piss her off."

John heard the telltale electrical sounds that told him Cameron was rebooting. He let out a sigh of relief, and waited for her eyes to focus. When they did, they focused directly on his own.

"Are you alright, Cameron?"

"Yes, John. I'm sorry. I had a power surge. I automatically shut down to avoid damage." She glanced at his arm. "Your arm…"

"It's fine, just a flesh wound. It can wait till we get back."

"It'll have to," John Henry cut in. "We haven't much time left. We must go now, before others arrive. Ms. Weaver has infiltrated the room security, and blocked Skynet's access temporarily. There's no telling how soon it'll be back online."

John nodded, and started following John Henry into the room. He was stopped suddenly, and when he looked back, he saw Cameron staring at their still joined hands. He gave her hand a light squeeze, and she moved her gaze up to his. They stared into each other's eyes, both pondering the same question, until a voice broke the moment.

"Now, Mr. Connor."

John turned, and hurried into the room. Cameron followed behind, never letting go of his hand.

********************************

Savannah sat on the bed, coloring in her new coloring book that Mr. Ellison had brought her. The TV was on with the volume down low, but Savannah wasn't paying attention to the 5 pm news. She was coloring a fish, with purple fins and a yellow body.

She could hear Sarah and Mr. Ellison talking outside. Sarah was nice; she liked her. Last night, she had tucked her in just like her mommy used to do, and told her a story. Mommy didn't do that anymore.

"Hmm… I'm going to make your eyes blue. John Henry likes blue too."

She felt sad thinking about her friend, and wished he was there to play with her. She didn't know where John Henry went. Sarah told her that he went on a trip with Mommy and John, and they'd be back soon. She hoped soon was really soon. She was getting bored.

Savannah crawled off the bed and walked to the TV. After a couple tries, she found the channel button and started looking for cartoons. She stopped, though, when she reached another news station. She recognized who was talking on the screen.

"Sarah!"

When there was no response, she called again louder. "Sarah! Mr. Ellison!"

Sarah ran back into the room, Ellison right behind her. Her hand was on her gun in the back of her waste band, ready for anything. "Savannah, what is it?"

"Mommy's on TV!"

**********************************

"Regardless of the unfortunate events that happened here yesterday, Zeira Corp will continue its research of…"

John wasn't really listening. He sat on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. They had "bubbled" back to the present in, of all completely unsurprising places, the basement of Catherine Weaver's home. They had only been back for three hours, and John was doing his best not to fall asleep.

Catherine had found them clothes to wear, John guessing they were the previous owners. Or more specifically, Savannah's real parents.

John wasn't a fan of time travelling. The whole stark naked thing never got any easier. Just thinking about it made John blush.

"John, we need get the bullet out of your arm." Cameron had lightly grasped his arm, and was analyzing the entry wound carefully.

John tried his best not to look, but as any teenage boy would find it difficult to resist, his gaze took in Cameron's naked form. Oh my God.

"Cameron… um… we should, um… " He couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth. He could feel the heat burning his face, and knew he was red.

Cameron tilted her head to the side in that adorable puppy dog way. "I've seen you naked before, John."

At that moment, John wished the bullet would have killed him, as he surely was going to die of embarrassment right then and there. "Yeah, but… um… uh, it's kinda cold." It's kinda cold? You are such an idiot.

"It's 71 degrees in here, and your body temperature is elevated above normal." Cameron deadpanned.

Oh my God… please just kill me now. What the hell is she trying to do? "Yeah… um…"

"Here are some clothes. They'll be big, but they should do for now." Catherine set a pile of clothes down in the steps and returned back upstairs.

John sighed in relief and practically flew to the clothes. This time, he was positive he saw the smile on her face.

John switched the channel on the TV. SpongeBob was obnoxious enough to take his mind off of inappropriate things.

Cameron stood in front of John Henry as he removed the bullets from her back. She had almost forgot about them, as it seemed like days ago that she saved Allison from Skynet.

Allison. She knew it shouldn't have mattered whether or not she saved her, but somehow it did. Cameron was glad she saved her, even though that future didn't exist anymore. It made her feel better, as if she somehow made up for killing her the first time. She had observed John's reaction upon Allison's return, and noticed he was pleased. As he hugged her, Cameron had seen the look of relief on his face, and it had made her feel… something.

It was the same something that she used to feel when John would hang out with Riley, and ignore her. She wasn't sure what it was, but she didn't like it.

Since being reactivated after giving John Henry her chip, Cameron had been running a subroutine to try and figure out what had changed in her programming. She had no mission, and she had been feeling things a lot differently, and a lot more frequently. This concerned her greatly.

Cameron knew she was capable of emotion, at least to some degree. It was what made her Skynet's best and most advanced infiltrator. Normally, though, the emotion was under her control, and she only used it while in infiltration mode. After the car explosion, things had started to change. She was feeling things out of her control, and it was affecting her judgment and decision-making

"Last one." John Henry said, as he pulled a bulled from her lower left back. The other wounds had already started to heal.

"Thank you." She put her shirt back on, and helped John Henry clean up.

When they finished, Cameron returned to the living room to find that John had fallen asleep. She lightly touched the back of his neck, and did a scan. He was fine, just tired. She moved to sit beside him on the couch, when she heard a noise outside.

"John Henry, someone is here."

John Henry was already accessing the security system wirelessly. Weaver had rebuilt him with that capability, but he'd never had the need to use it before. He accessed the perimeter cameras and scanned. He recognized who it was, and smiled.

"It's Sarah Connor and Savannah."

*******************************

John Henry opened the front door as Sarah walked up the steps. She instantly drew her gun and pointed it at him, holding Savannah behind her.

"Hello Sarah. I'm glad you came. Please, come in."

"John Henry!" Savannah pulled out of Sarah's grasp and ran to John Henry. Sarah watched as the machine she knew best as Cromartie, knelt down and hugged the child. She slowly lowered her gun.

"Is mommy here too?"

"No, not yet. But your friend John is here."

Savannah smiled, and ran into the house. Upon hearing her son's name, Sarah followed suit.

"John!" Upon hearing his name called, John started awake. He looked around, and saw his mother running towards him.

"Mom…" He stood up just in time for her to nearly tackle him. She hugged him tightly, and he grimaced as the pressure shot pain up his arm. "Mom… my arm…"

"What? Oh… Oh my God John what happened?" Sarah had pulled away, and John noticed that her cheeks were wet with tears. She looked at him questioningly, touching the bandage on his arm.

"Well, it's a long story. Let's just say I got in the way of a bullet. Cameron fixed me, it'll be fine."

At that, Sarah finally noticed the terminator standing behind him. She glanced over her body, head to toe. "I see you're all fixed."

"Yes, I'm all fixed."

Sarah looked again at Cameron's left hand. "How's your head?"

"My head is fine. It did not obtain any damages."

Sarah rolled her eyes, and John smirked. "She meant your chip, Cam."

"Oh, thank you for explaining. I am all fixed. My chip is fine." John's use of the diminutive wasn't lost on Cameron or Sarah. Neither chose to comment on it.

Savannah, who had thus far been patiently waiting her turn, tugged on John's hand. He looked down and smiled at her, and knelt down on one knee. "Hello Savannah."

"Hi." She smiled. "Are you hurt?" She asked, while pointing to his bandaged arm.

"Oh, it's ok. Just a scratch. Cameron put a big band-aid on it. It feels better now," he lied with a smile.

"Oh, I have lots of pretty band-aids. You want to see?"

"Uh, sure."

With a huge smile, Savannah grabbed his hand and dragged him down a hallway towards the bathroom, leaving Sarah and Cameron in the living room.

They regarded each other in silence for a long moment, until Sarah finally asked, "how did he get shot?"

"He pushed me out of the way."

The shock on Sarah's face was clear. "Why the hell would he do something stupid like that?"

"I don't know. I have not had the chance to ask him yet."

"Who was shooting at you?" Sarah was curious as to whether it was a machine, or a human.

"A T888."

"What happened to it?"

A look akin to mischief flashed across Cameron's face. "I destroyed it."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at this, but turned as John and Savannah entered the room. She couldn't help but giggle at the band-aids that were now placed over the gauze on his arm. "Wow… are those Disney Princess band-aids? How pretty, John." John glared at her, while Savannah's grin got wider.

Cameron looked thoughtfully at the bandages as Savannah approached her. "This one's for you. Ariel is my favorite, she has red hair like me." The girl smiled, as she stuck a band-aid on a cut that was almost healed on Cameron's arm. Cameron looked her new bandage, noting the half human, half fish creature on it. She looked at the bandages on John's arm, and noticed they all had different cartoon females on them. "Which one is your favorite, John?"

Sarah lost it, and John covered his face with his hand.

*******************************************

John lay on the bed in the guest room, staring at the ceiling. He was exhausted, but there was too much on his mind for him to fall asleep.

His mom had made pancakes for dinner. Having not ate "real" food for weeks, John inhaled pancake after pancake, burnt ones and all, until he was certain his stomach would explode. Catherine Weaver returned home, and put Savannah to bed. She had explained that for now, this was the safest place for them to be, and lead him and Sarah each a spare bedroom.

His arm hurt, and his stomach was full, yet he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so comfortable. After sleeping on the hard ground for weeks, laying on a soft bed felt like heaven.

A soft knock on his door broke him out of his reverie. "Come in," he called out softly. Expecting to see his mother, John was surprised to see Cameron peering at him in the doorway.

"Hi." He noticed she was now in something closer to pajamas, having to keep up appearances for Savannah.

"Hi." She shut the door quietly, and walked over to his bed. John moved over as she sat down next to him.

There's that déjà vu again. He just looked at her, waiting for her to say whatever she had come to say. She didn't disappoint.

"Why did you go to the future?"

John felt his heart start to race. He knew this question would come, from both his mother and Cameron. He wasn't sure which he dreaded more. Now that he was faced with it, he had absolutely no idea what to say.

Cameron watched John's face change from fear, to embarrassment, to something she couldn't quite describe. She waited patiently for him to answer, who own face giving nothing away.

John decided on the safest answer he could come up with. "Why do you think I went?"

Cameron wasn't expecting this. Answering a question with a question. He was avoiding the question, but she wouldn't let him. It was not her turn to answer.

"I asked you first."

Damn it. John knew he was caught, and had to answer. He thought about lying, coming up with some lame answer that probably wouldn't have made any sense. But as he looked at Cameron, he felt himself give in. Her wavy hair framing her face, she looked like a beautiful, innocent girl. In her eyes he saw nothing but honest devotion. She deserved the same in return, he thought. He took a deep breath, and hoped for the best, whatever that was.

"When we got to the basement, and I saw your body… I immediately knew you weren't activated. When I saw your chip was gone, I was scared, angry, confused… When Weaver said you had given it to him, I felt betrayed. How could you have just left me like that? But then, my mother pointed your message on the monitor. Weaver fired up the TDE and my decision was made. I had to get you back. I couldn't let him have you, I couldn't let him take you, wherever he went. I needed you."

"It was dangerous to go, John. You could have been killed. You didn't know where you were going or what you were getting into. As it was, you realize now how important you are to the future. The entire future changed without you. You can't let that happen. Humanity loses without you. You shouldn't have gone. Future John would have sent back another protector for you."

John realized she still wasn't quite getting it. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headboard. When he opened them again, she was still staring at him, waiting for him to respond.

"You're right. I would have sent another protector back eventually. I always do."

Cameron was surprised, and even a little… hurt. She hadn't expected John to agree with her, or not put up some sort of argument. She wasn't sure why that hurt her, but it did.

There was something else though… she noticed he didn't use "Future John", as she did. He responded in the first person. That made her feel a little pride. John was beginning to see that he and future John were one in the same. He was beginning to become the man he would be in the future.

John saw something flash across her face, but it quickly disappeared back to the stoic machine look. She looked away, eyes moving slightly back and forth. John watched her for a few moments before he continued.

"But… that protector wouldn't have been you."

Cameron quickly brought her eyes back to John's. She thought about what he said, and realized it wasn't quite logical.

"It could have been. Skynet may still find reason to model a terminator after Allison Young in your future, there's no reason to believe they wouldn't create me again."

John shook his head. "No. Skynet may create another terminator modeled after Allison; another Cameron Philips. I may even have chosen to send that terminator back. But it wouldn't have been you. I didn't go to the future to find another Cameron. I went to the future to bring back my Cameron."

A hint of a smile played across Cameron's lips. John smiled in return. She finally figured it out in that dense head of hers. Cameron felt a strange warm feeling spread through her body. She quickly did an analysis, but her HUD displayed no abnormalities. She'd need time to analyze it further.

Returning John's smile, Cameron stood up. "Thank you for explaining."

What happened next surprised both Cameron and John. She leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek.