Cameron sat in the downstairs office watching the triple eight memories. John was supposed to be helping her, but he'd fallen asleep with his head on the desk.

The house was quiet. Derek was sleeping on the couch, and they let Savannah go downstairs to play with John Henry since it had begun raining outside. She was teaching him how to play pretend with her tea party set.

Cameron, skilled at multitasking as she was, used the somewhat free time to think and analyze things that had been going on with her.

Like emotions. How did humans deal with them? Sometimes she was so confused she wished she didn't have them. She had at least begun understanding them a little better recently. Well, except love. That one was still enormously complicated. It wasn't like a set emotion. It was more like lots of emotions at once.

And sex. She knew she was designed fully capable of sexual intercourse. It was part of being a female infiltrator. She just hadn't known what to expect. She wasn't sure Skynet knew either. Unlike Vick, she had a full range of emotions allowing her to process sensations differently and more effectively. She had preferences, and got genuine enjoyment out of some sensations. Vick wasn't capable of that. He wasn't self aware. He was a drone to Skynet, following directives, never truly thinking. Cameron was designed differently. And helped by John Henry, she was completely free of Skynet's clutches, which future John had only locked away in a box. She was capable of developing beyond her basic Skynet programming. Unfortunately, there was still one last fluke…

Cameron quietly stood up so as not to wake John, and headed down to the basement, where Savannah was setting up her tea set.

"Hi Cameron, do you want to play too?"

Cameron smiled. "Maybe later. Right now though, could you go upstairs for a little bit and play in your room? I need to talk to John Henry."

Savannah nodded. "Okay." She looked at John Henry. "I'll get more people for the party."

Cameron watched her climb the stairs before turning back to John Henry.

"What can I do for you, Cameron?"

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

Cameron sat in John Henry's seat, waiting for him to finish opening her port. John Henry had assured her it was just a simple programming fix. A few limits to set, a new line of code here and there, and she wouldn't have any more "shut down" problems.

In erasing her Skynet programming, which included several function limits (such as her emotional capacity), John Henry hadn't realized it would cause a power regulation malfunction. Frankly, he didn't know she'd be able to, well… feel that much. She was programmed with the capabilities, but not necessarily physically designed. When she shut down at the factory, he just thought it was because she'd only been back online a short while, not having time to adjust to her altered programming. He expected her to gain more control over it. While she had gained some, it wasn't enough. From Derek's story John had passed to her, it was a continued problem in the future. It was definitely something that needed actual modification.

"This should not alter you in any way except improve your power management, but as we really don't know for sure, I can't promise you anything."

"Shutting down is dangerous, regardless of the situation. A lot can happen in 120 seconds. I can't put John in danger."

"Very well, then. If you're ready…"

Cameron handed him the pliers.

The modifications were completed, and it wasn't long before Cameron was heading back upstairs. Savannah was waiting at the door, two stuffed animals in her arms.

"Can I go back down now?"

"Yes, you can go."

"Good, cause John's cooking something and it smells really yucky." She pointed to the kitchen before heading back down to the basement to start her tea party.

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

Sarah woke, feeling impressively better. She slowly got up and stretched, checking the time on the clock. It was only 12:30. She took a hot shower, letting the water relax her muscles. Putting the previous night's memories in a tightly sealed box…

It was not something she ever, ever wanted to see. Her son, in bed, with any girl… not something any mother wanted to witness.

She had to admit, though, beyond the emotionally disturbing, mentally scarring images… it was actually kind of funny.

He thought he killed her. Sarah couldn't help herself; she had to laugh. It would make remarkable teasing opportunities. If he's going to make me deal with this…

Stepping out of the shower, Sarah wrapped herself in a towel and headed to her room. She didn't get two steps past the door, though, because she smelled something burning downstairs. Quickly running down, careful not to slip on the wood stairs, she ran into the kitchen to see her son standing at the stove, and Cameron opening doors and windows.

Walking over to the stove, she could see what looked like a relatively square black chunk of coal in a frying pan. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I was making a grilled cheese sandwich," John said exasperatedly.

Sarah turned to Cameron. "You let him near the stove?"

"I was downstairs and unaware of his actions. I would have prevented them if I knew."

Sarah looked at her son, and back to the frying pan. "I never want to hear another joke about my cooking again."

Derek had woken up, choking on smoke. He walked into the kitchen to find Sarah dripping in a bath towel, and John looking like an idiot. He took one look at the pan, and the spatula in John's hand, and decided to take action.

"Alright. From now on, the area from here…" he pointed to a spot on the counter, "…to here," he pointed to the other side of the stove, "is off limits to you. There's an imaginary bubble surrounding it. It's like a dangerous force field that people named John Connor can't cross." He looked at Sarah. "Should we trust him with the microwave?"

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

"But there's no tea in the pot."

Savannah smiled. "Of course not! You pretend. "

"I don't understand." John Henry was holding a tiny porcelain teapot.

"You use your imagination to pretend there's real tea."

"And this is a game?"

Savannah bit her lip. "Sort of."

"Oh. How do you play?"

Savannah smiled and took the teapot. "Like this." She turned to her right, where she had a large stuffed bunny wearing a goofy hat sitting in an extra chair. "Would you like some tea, Mrs. Bunny?" She pretended to pour tea into the small cup on the table. "Do you want sugar, or cream? Sugar?" Picking up the little sugar dish, she pretended to scoop sugar in the cup.

John Henry was confused. "The bunny isn't talking. How do you know what it wants?"

"I just use my imagination." Savannah watched John Henry analyze the tea set. "Do you have an imagination?"

He looked at her. "I don't know."

"Well, it's easy. You just close your eyes..."

The lights went out in the basement.

"You don't have to turn the lights off, John Henry." Savannah laughed.

But John Henry didn't turn them back on. "John Henry?"

When John Henry spoke, it was in a weird voice she'd heard once before. "Run… Savannah... NOW."

Savannah ran towards the steps, but it was too dark. She couldn't see where she was going, and she tripped and fell. Looking back, she saw John Henry's eyes glowing red. She screamed.

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

Sarah was at the stove making edible grilled cheese sandwiches. They were actually the one food besides pancakes that she had an 80% chance of not screwing up.

Derek and John were sitting at the table behind her, looking at Derek's shoulder. "We were idiots. We thought we were cool, like some gang or something. Most of us just got nasty infections. One poor bastard actually died." Derek had a poorly designed tattoo on his solder. John really couldn't tell what it was.

"How did you do it?"

"We cut the design in with a blade, then rubbed ash in it."

Sarah snorted. "That was brilliant."

"Hey I never claimed to be a genius. At least John's…"

Derek paused, as the power suddenly went out. "Is there a storm coming?'

Cameron, who had wandered in from the office, looked out the window. "No."

All four heads turned in unison when they heard a scream.

Sarah grabbed the shotgun from under the kitchen sink, and Derek pulled out the handgun John gave him. Sarah threw John hers, and followed an unarmed Cameron to the basement door.

Cameron opened it, and with the light from the upstairs, saw Savannah sitting on the steps.

"CAMERON!"

Cameron ran down the steps, but instead of helping Savannah, as soon as she cleared the upstairs wall she leapt over the rest of the steps and put herself between Savannah and John Henry.

Sarah ran down the steps, aiming the shotgun. John followed behind her, and reached for Savannah. Picking her up, he turned towards the terminators.

John Henry was standing behind his desk. His eyes were glowing red, and his body was twitching.

"They found him," Cameron said. She turned to Sarah and John. "You must get out, now."

With Savannah in his arms John didn't waste any time. It wasn't a good time to argue with her. He ran back up the steps, with Sarah at his heels.

Cameron tilted her head at John Henry, whose mouth stretched open.

"Help… me."

"I'm sorry." She pulled out her switchblade, and approached him.

********

Derek was waiting at the top of the steps. "What the hell is going on?" He didn't know about John Henry yet.

"No time to explain," Sarah said. She looked at John and took Savannah from him. "Get Catherine on the phone. Pack up your room." She looked at Derek, who was still standing in complete confusion. "Pack my room. I have to get Savannah's. We're in the car in fifteen. Move."

Derek was a soldier, and when given an order, especially by a Connor, he didn't need an explanation. He just moved.

John had been through the drill many times before. Only essentials, as fast as you can. He was glad that his mom had bought half a dozen new large duffel bags though. More people, more crap, she had said. He shoved as much as he could from the two dressers into one, and barely got it zippered. In another, he shoved as much of Cameron's clothes as he could, starting with the new stuff, and what he knew to be her favorite pieces. In two others, he grabbed his and Derek's. He didn't bother carrying them down the stairs; he just tossed them over the railing.

Going back in his room, he packed his backpack with his laptop, gun, and mp3 player. He grabbed his and Cameron's new identities and papers from the desk drawer, and ran downstairs.

Derek was already loading the car up with all the bags.

"Let's go!" Sarah shouted. "Eight minutes!" Savannah was sitting on the couch clutching a doll, while Sarah was gathering up all of the weapons around the house.

The front door burst open, and Catherine stormed in.

"MOMMY!" Savannah cried, but Catherine paid no attention. She headed right to the basement.

*******

Cameron turned to see Catherine running down the steps. She handed her John Henry's chip.

"I don't know how much they got. It was all I could do."

Catherine nodded. "Thank you." She walked to the back of the room and opened a hidden cabinet under the steps. She pulled out a large manila envelope, and handed it to Cameron. "Take them and go. Sarah already has them packing, she knows it's not safe to stay. They found Zeira Corp. through John Henry; they'll find him here, too." Her face suddenly took on a whole new level of seriousness, even for a terminator. "I don't have to explain to you… we both know Judgment Day is soon."

Cameron nodded, and they both headed back upstairs.

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

Sarah was zipping up the last bag when the two terminators came back upstairs. She saw Cameron was holding a large envelope, and Catherine headed straight for Savannah.

"That's all of it," Derek said, coming in from outside. John followed behind him.

Sarah didn't acknowledge them. She was watching Catherine and Savannah.

"Mommy!" Savannah was in tears. She had no idea what was going on.

"Savannah, listen to me." Catherine held her by her shoulders. "You have to go with John and Cameron." Sarah thought it odd that she didn't mention her or Derek. "You're going to go far away, and hide from some bad people. I can't come with you, I have to stay and fix John Henry. A lot of people's lives depend on him."

Savannah sniffed. "But you'll come back, right?"

Catherine touched her hair, and tucked an errant strand behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Savannah. But someday, you'll understand."

Savannah started bawling, and threw herself at her mother. "No mommy please! I don't want you to go. Please mommy don't you love me?"

Sarah's heart was breaking. She looked at John, whose eyes were brimmed with tears. Looking down at her feet, she wiped her own cheeks.

Catherine hugged Savannah back. "Of course I do, Savannah. More than anything, that's why I have to do this."

Cameron had handed John the envelope she held, and walked up behind Catherine. "We have to go."

Catherine stood with Savannah in her arms, and attempted to pass her to Cameron. Savannah wouldn't let go though.

"NO mommy PLEASE!"

Sarah couldn't watch anymore. It reminded her of when they arrested her, and took a nine-year-old John away from her. She grabbed the last bag and headed out to the car, with Derek following behind.

"Savannah!" Catherine scolded, and gently pried the girl's fingers off of her. Not quite sure why, she gave the child one last kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you again," she said, and walked back down to the basement.

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

John stared out the backseat car window, not really seeing anything as they passed. Lost in his thoughts, he leaned his head against the door.

He couldn't believe they were leaving already. This had to qualify as the shortest time they ever lived in one place. It was amazing, really, how quickly life could change. One minute, you're having a nice day with your family. The next… you're running for your life.

No, that wasn't normal life. That was John Connor's life. And now, it was young Savannah's life. He glanced to his right, where Savannah had curled up against his side; his arm wrapped protectively around her. Life… their life… just really wasn't fair at all.

Looking up, he noticed Cameron watching him. They just stared at each other for a long moment, not needing to say a word.

He reached over and clasped her hand.

**********

It was several hours later when they finally stopped and rented the last two rooms in a dark, sketchy looking motel. Just our type, John thought. Tossing a few bags in the corner, he collapsed on the first bed. Savannah crawled up and sat next to him, still clutching her doll.

Cameron was wandering around outside, checking the building safety and perimeter as usual.

Derek, who hadn't said a word the entire trip, finally decided to speak. "So, is anyone ever planning on filling me on what the hell is going on?"

Sarah sighed, and sitting on the other bed, she began to explain.

"You had a T888 in the basement the whole time and didn't tell me?"

"No," John answered. "We had an advanced AI, built to rival Skynet, in a triple eight endo, using a TOK715 chip…Cameron's other chip."

"Oh like THAT'S much better… wait, other chip?"

John sat up on the bed, and checked the time on his cell phone. "Mom, why don't you and Savannah go out and find something for dinner?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Sarah said. "Come on Savannah, you get to pick dinner tonight."

John waited till they left before he started talking.

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

Derek sat on the bed opposite John. His face didn't reveal any emotion; he just stared at the wall, listening to John's words.

John didn't hold anything back. There really wasn't any point in doing so. He told him everything; the jumping to the future, finding Cameron, switching the chips, coming back… the old Derek.

"So that's why Cameron had trusted me to come back. You had already met me."

John took a breath, before girding himself and continuing. "We knew you, yes. And my mother knew your brother as well."

Derek's eyes snapped to John's at that. "What are you talking about?'

"Your brother… didn't disappear Derek. Not really, anyway. I… my future self… sent him back in time to protect my mother in 1984."

Derek just stared at him. It was obvious Kyle wasn't still around. "What happened to him?"

"He died protecting her from a T800 that was sent back to kill her before I was born."

It was hard for Derek to hear. He'd long ago had to get past losing his brother. But hearing now, for the first time, what had happened... it brought the pain and the memories back. "I never knew what happened to him… he was the only family I had."

John glanced at the floor and took another deep breath. "No, he wasn't." Looking back at Derek, he dropped the other bomb. "Cameron was sent back to protect me in 1999. In order to be able to hunt Skynet, we time travelled to 2007, bypassing my mother's death in 2005. I should actually be 24 years old."

And that was that. Doing some fairly quick math, Derek didn't need any further explanation. He sat there for a moment in shock, and then quietly, stood up and walked out of the room.

John didn't hear the door shut, so he turned, not surprised to see Cameron walk in. "You told him?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. He should know."

John sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. "Nothing about today was good."

Cameron laid down beside him, mimicking his posture. "I wouldn't say 'nothing'."

John turned his head to see Cameron grin. "That was last night."

"It was 12:37 am. Technically, this morning."

John laughed. "Okay okay, you win." He thought about the previous night, and smiled. "We'll have to remember to schedule disasters and cataclysmic events for at least 2 minutes after sex in the future. Think we could work out a deal with Skynet for that?"

Cameron chuckled, and slapped his arm. "I doubt it, but we won't need to anyway."

"Right. Are you expecting our love life to take a downfall to boring and anticlimactic endings?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. "While I can't vouch for 20 years from now… I had John Henry fix my chip."

John sat up, suddenly serious. "You what?"

Cameron picked up a layer of strategically parted hair and showed him her new stitches. "I had to, John. Once, like at the factory, is a fluke. Twice… is a problem."

"Why didn't you tell me? When did you do it?"

"You fell asleep in the office."

John remembered waking up and wondering where she was. He was too busy burning the kitchen up when she must have come back upstairs to notice.

"That wasn't long before John Henry was hacked. You're lucky you were already disconnected."

"Yes, I am. And he wasn't really hacked this time. He was infected with a virus."

"A virus?"

"Yes. The AI hacked him the first time, collected valuable information, then tried to destroy him, which ultimately didn't work. This time, it sent a virus to try to alter his programming. As soon as he was breached, he shut the power down, including the network. Unfortunately it was too late. The virus was slow working though, and I was able to remove his chip in time. Catherine will have to remove the virus before activating him again."

John turned completely on to his side to face her. "So, we're on our own then now, I take it?"

Cameron turned to face him as well. "We will still have occasional contact, I'm sure. Savannah won't, of course. But otherwise, yes. We're on our own again."

"In a way, I'm kind of glad," John admitted. "She freaked me out. I always half expected her to warp out of walls or something."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "You're such an idiot."

"And you do that way too well. Have you been practicing in mirrors again?"

"Have you been spying on me?"

"Ha!" John pointed accusingly, a wide grin on his face. "So you have been!"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't say no, either."

Cameron pouted. "I don't want to look like a freak."

It was John's turn to roll his eyes. "You never look like a freak. Gorgeous? Yes. Stunning? Absolutely. Beautiful? Without a doubt. Freakish? Only if you start wearing eyeliner like Catherine."

John's words made Cameron feel all warm and happy. "Why do your words like that make me feel good?"

John chuckled. "That's the point. It's called flattery."

"So… I'm flattered?"

"You should be."

She smiled. "Thank you for explaining."

John leaned in and kissed her. "How does that make you feel?"

Cameron searched for the right word. "Excited?"

John grinned. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

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

Sarah balanced two pizzas on her left arm, as she dug in her pocket for the room key. She felt the top box sliding, and quickly reached up to stop it, dropping the key in the process. "Damn it. Honey, can you get that for me please?"

Savannah picked up the key and slid it in the door lock.

John jumped when he heard the door open. Luckily, Savannah was the first one in.

Or not. The girl giggled for the first time in hours. "John and Cameron sittin in a tree… "

Sarah walked in to find two very guilty looking teenagers on the bed. At least, one very guilty looking teenager, and a very guilty looking teenaged appearing terminator. Either way one looked at it, they were both very busted.

"Seriously, if you two can't control yourselves for 45 minutes alone..."

"Thirteen."

"What?"

"Derek left for a walk only thirteen…fourteen minutes ago."

"Not helping, Cam," John mumbled, as he opened the top pizza box.

Sarah rubbed her face in exhaustion. "I can't handle this," she grumbled to herself. "John, for crying out loud use a plate, they're in the bag right in front of your face. Cameron… " Cameron quickly adjusted her top. "Thank you."

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

Derek returned as Cameron was moving his and John's bags to the room next door.

"Ah, a little too crowded in there for the Queen Mother?"

"She said she can't handle it."

"Yeah I bet. You two in that one?"

Cameron shook her head. "You and John are sharing this room. I am sharing with the other girls"

"Aww come ON… the manager said the TV didn't work in that one."

"It's not my decision."

"This is ridiculous," Derek grumbled, as he walked into the 'girls' room in search of food.

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

Derek lounged on his bed, staring at a broken TV. John was flipping through a bilingual bible he found in the nightstand.

"So… this is exciting," Derek said.

"Story of my life," John replied sarcastically.

"Your story sucks. I want to stop being a character in it, and go star in a story with a working TV. And maybe some non-alpha female costars who don't scare the crap out of me."

John laughed. "What the hell did my mother do to you?"

"Funny you just assumed it was your mother, not the advance killing machine." Derek sighed. "She was fine at the mall. We went, we saw, we bought, we moved on. Simple. Effective. I was happy. But then… Wal-Mart happened."

John nodded solemnly. "Yeah… Wal-Mart has a way of happening."

"First, I picked a bad shopping cart. She bitched about the wheels squeaking the entire time. 'Couldn't you have managed to pick one that wasn't broken? Nag nag nag nag.' Then, I wasn't pushing it fast enough. Then I was pushing it too fast. Then I wasn't paying attention. Then I grabbed the wrong kind of green beans. Then… THEN she forgot to get toothpaste, which in that hellhole is all the way on the other side of the damn store. So she sent ME to go get it. So I battle the crowed, found the damn toothpaste. The woman said Crest… she didn't tell me there were 30 different kinds! So I just picked one. Took me 10 minutes to find her again. And you know what she says?"

"You picked the wrong toothpaste."

"I picked the wrong damn kind of Crest toothpaste. She likes paste instead of the gel. So what do you know… I had to go all the way back." Derek shook his head slowly. "And you know that look she gives you? It's evil. Damn evil. I'm pretty sure a couple times she was debating just shooting me right there in the middle of the cereal aisle."

John laughed. "Yeah, I've been seeing that one a lot lately."

They fell back in silence, having nothing else to say.

********

Sarah lay in bed, trying to sleep. The problem was, she couldn't sleep while someone was standing over her. It was disconcerting.

"Cameron, do you have to stand there?"

"It is the most efficient place. I can see the whole parking lot form this window."

"I'm sure we don't need a guard dog right now. Just, go sit down or something. I can't handle you standing there like that."

Cameron walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair.

Sarah closed her eyes again and turned over.

"Stop staring at me."

"I'm not staring at you."

"Can't you go walk around outside and patrol or something?"

"That would be too suspicious."

For a half an hour, Sarah tried to ignore her. It wasn't possible. She could feel her sitting in the room, staring.

Sarah tore the covers off of herself and jumped out of bed. "Come with me."

Cameron followed Sarah to the other room. Knocking on the door, Sarah waited for the door to open. John answered, confused.

"What's going on?"

Sarah pushed Cameron into the room. "She's your problem."

Turning back to her own room, she heard Derek get up. "Oh hell no I don't think so."

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

John shut the door and looked at Cameron. "Oookay…. what happened?"

"Sarah was not comfortable with me in the room. She couldn't sleep."

"You were staring at her, weren't you?"

Cameron just smiled.

"You're bad."

"Are you complaining?"

John took her hand and led her over to the bed. "Nope. Not at all."

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

Derek followed Sarah back to the other room and claimed the far bed.

"If you snore, you're sleeping in the car," Sarah warned, climbing in beside Savannah.

Derek ignored her and turned the TV on.

"Turn it off. Now."

"Fine." He clicked the TV off… and waited.

It wasn't very long before he heard what he was waiting for.

Sarah sat up, glaring at the wall separating their two rooms. She grabbed the TV remote and turned it back on herself.

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

John smiled at Cameron underneath him, and kissed her softly. "Well, you're still awake. That's a good thing, right?"

"It's good." Cameron kissed him back. "It's perfect."