Cameron lay next to John, her hand trailing up and down his arm. She liked the feel of his skin; the light hairs on his arm tickled her fingertips. She reached the spot on his upper arm where he'd been shot, and felt the odd scar that was left. It wasn't completely healed, but it was looking well. She heard the door in the next room open and close, and she waited for the expected knock.

It was early, only about 8:00 a.m., but she'd heard movements next door for the past half hour. Carefully standing up so as not to disturb John, she looked around the floor for convenient clothes to put on. Bypassing her own jeans, she opted for John's sweatpants and undershirt he had put on the night before.

Quietly opening the door, she found Derek holding a duffle bag. "Morning, uh, I just need to switch you bags." Cameron nodded and took her bag, switching it for Derek's on the other side of the room.

"Sarah said we're going house hunting today."

"When are we leaving?"

"I don't know. She said she needs to talk to you. I'd just wake up the Gen… er, John there and get his butt moving before she comes knocking too."

"I will be over."

Cameron shut the door and walked back over to the bed. Sitting next to him, she watched him sleep for a few more moments before gently shaking him. "John, it's time to get up."

John groaned and rolled over. "Who was at the door?"

"Derek."

"What does my mother want?"

Cameron smiled. "She wants to talk to me, and for you to get up and get ready. We're going house hunting today."

"Ugh. Ten more minutes."

"Fine. But if you're not up when I get back I'll be forced to send Sarah."

John opened his eyes fully to glare at her. "You can be evil." He looked her up and down. "Are you going over there wearing my clothes?"

Cameron looked down at herself. "I could change. Derek brought my bag."

Grinning, John shook his head. "No. I think it's cute. And it will drive my mother crazy."

"And you call me bad, John Connor?"

"You're the one wearing my clothes."

Cameron stood, and pulled the covers off a naked John.

"HEY! Not funny!"

"Rise and shine."

Sarah opened the door to find Cameron, wearing John's clothes. She refused to comment. "Is John up?"

"Yes."

"Good. Get in here."

"Morning Cameron!"

"Good morning Savannah." She smiled at the girl who was curled up on the bed watching cartoons.

"Derek told you we're going house hunting?"

Cameron turned to Sarah and nodded.

"I need to know if we need to change our identities."

"Why would we?"

"If John Henry was hacked, is it possible Kaliba could have found out who we are?"

"No," Cameron said. "For this potential situation, John Henry was not made aware of our new identities. We can continue using the ones Catherine supplied us with.

Sarah was glad someone had thought ahead. "I assume Catherine had given you Savannah's papers?"

"I haven't opened the envelope, but yes. From what she said, I can assume it includes Savannah's identification."

"Good. Then we're better off than I thought. I'd like to leave in half an hour, if you can make sure my son is actually out of bed that would be great.

Cameron nodded and opened the door.

"And give him his clothes back."

John washed his hair with the weird smelling shampoo. The water wasn't really as warm as he'd prefer, but he was just glad he managed to get the damn thing working at all, half falling out of the wall as it was.

Sticking his head under the water, he didn't hear the bathroom door open. He did, however, feel the cold air hit his body as the curtain opened and Cameron appeared.

"Are you almost finished?"

"Uh…" John just stared at her. "Yeah, why?"

Cameron gently pushed John out of the way and put herself under the stream of water. "We are leaving in 19 minutes."

John just watched her, the water cascading down her perfect naked form. He swallowed. "Nineteen minutes, huh?"

"Yes, we should hurry." She opened the tiny shampoo bottle.

"I can hurry."

"Good. I repacked your bag, and left you clothes on the bed. Everything should fit better in the bag now."

John blinked. "I'm going to get your for this."

"For packing your bag?" Cameron had a way too innocent look on her face for him to fall for it.

John glared at her and stepped out of the shower before he spent the next seventeen or so minutes in there.

John got dressed and did a quick search to make sure Cameron hadn't missed anything in her repacking. He grabbed the envelope from Catherine he'd brought in and pulled out the contents on the bed.

There were several papers, and two passports. Picking up one of the small blue books, he saw it was Savannahs. Oh shit, her birthday is in three days, assuming this is the real one. He picked up the other passport and opened it up. A photo ID card fell out of it. Picking up the card, he recognized the picture as Cameron, but it was her name that made him blink. Cameron Taylor? He checked the ID with the passport, and verified the last name change. Tossing them on the bed he picked up the small stack of papers. Along with a very significant amount of cash, there were Social Security cards, birth certificate, custody papers, and... marriage license; all with John and Cameron's names printed, ready for signatures. John just stared at the mess on the bed.

"It's only if we need them, John."

Cameron had come out of the bathroom, a bath towel wrapped around her body. She stood behind John, looking over his shoulder at the papers.

"Yeah, I figured. It's just… all a little bit… I don't know. I never thought much about the future, except fighting Skynet and being some great leader of mankind. Getting married, being a dad… it wasn't something I ever thought about. I guess it was just something that I never thought I'd get to have." He shrugged. "And now, seeing all this… it's kind of scary. I don't know if I'm ready to handle all this AND be some kind of messiah."

"You will be…"

John looked up into the face he loved, and saw nothing but hope and honesty.

"You always are."

John sat in the farther back seat of the SUV. With more time to pack, everything managed to fit in the trunk, which made driving around all day a lot more comfortable. Sarah and Derek were checking out the fourth house of the day, and both John and Savannah had lost interest. Opting to stay in the car, John tried to nap, but it was just too hot to be comfortable.

Savannah turned around in her seat. "I'm bored."

"Yeah? Join the club."

She looked at Cameron who was sitting next to John, studiously looking at the window. Savannah looked around, but didn't see anything interesting. "What are you looking at, Cameron?"

"I'm monitoring the environment for potential threats."

Savannah didn't comment, but continued to watch her. Sometimes, Cameron said weird things that she didn't understand. She also did weird things that were different than other people. Her face didn't move as much as other people's, and even just sitting; she sat differently than everyone else.

Savannah glanced at John, who was slouching in his seat, leaning against the door. She looked back at Cameron who was sitting stiff and straight, her hands in her lap. It reminded her of John Henry.

"Can you make your eyes glow like John Henry?"

Cameron jerked her head to the left, and John's eyes snapped open to see Savannah staring at Cameron.

Cameron didn't know how to respond, so she just looked at John for help.

"Um, why would you ask that?" John asked.

Savannah shrugged shyly. "I don't know…" She sat back down in her seat to hide.

John looked at Cameron. Neither really knew what to do.

"It's alright Savannah, you just surprised us, that's all."

"I'm sorry," she whimpered.

John sighed. "Come here." He patted the seat between him and Cameron, and Savannah climbed back. All right, now what genius.

John scratched his head. "Were you scared when you saw John Henry's eyes glow?"

Savannah nodded.

"Why was that?"

"It was dark… and he was talking funny again… and his eyes were scary."

"Would you be scared if Cameron could make her eyes glow?"

Savannah looked at Cameron as if trying to imagine her with glowing eyes. "I don't know."

"What if I told you they looked really pretty when they glowed?"

"Really?"

"Yeah… if you want… you can ask her to make them glow for you." Cameron glanced at John, looking a little nervous. He gave her a reassuring smile.

Savannah sat staring at Cameron, debating whether or not she really wanted to see. Evidently deciding, she sat up on her knees and faced Cameron.

"Can I see?"

Glancing at John one last time for permission, she let her eyes glow. Not to their fullest extent, but just enough that there was a definite hint of glow.

"They're blue!" Savannah was amazed. John was a little surprised she wasn't frightened, Cameron's eyes even gave him chills occasionally… but those were usually good chills, though. "Can I see them again?"

Cameron closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she let them glow a little brighter than before.

"How do you do that?"

"Magic," John said. "Cameron and John Henry are very special people. But you can't tell anyone, okay? It's a really big secret that only we know. Other people won't understand that they're different. They might try to hurt them."

Cameron turned as she heard the front door of the house open.

Sarah walked out to the SUV and stuck her head in the window. "All right, I think this one's it. Why don't you guys come in and check it out… Cameron you can do your thing."

The agent had been rather surprised they wanted to move in immediately, but the right amount of cash up front could really work wonders.

Walking into the living room, John and Derek dropped their load of bags onto the floor.

"Derek, you can have the room upstairs to the right. Savannah will be next to me on the left."

John looked at his mom, surprised. The house was significantly smaller than the last one, with only three rooms, a living room, and a decent sized kitchen. He assumed Derek would be sleeping on the couch again. "Um, where am I supposed to go?"

Sarah smiled, a little too sweetly. "You and Tin Miss can share the basement."

John heard Derek snort beside him, which earned him a quick elbow to the side. "The basement?" John couldn't believe his ears.

Sarah laughed. "Seriously John, do you think I'd make you sleep in a dungeon? "

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

She just gave him a look. "As much as you probably deserve it after keeping me up last night…it's all modeled nicely. Apparently they used it as a game and laundry room.

John hadn't seen the basement, and wasn't exactly sure his mother had either. He could only imagine… dungeon. Right. Thanks, mom.

He picked up his and Cameron's bags and headed for the basement door. Opening it, he found a light switch and headed down the steps. Looking around, it wasn't actually all that bad, besides being a little chilly. The walls had some seriously ugly paneling, but it looked freshly carpeted. The laundry area was at least a separate room. It definitely had potential.

Derek came down the steps behind him, whistling as he took in the room.

"Not too bad. You got yourself a nice little bachelor pad down here."

John rolled his eyes. "Yeah. It's really pimpin'"

Derek feigned confusion. "Is that what they called it these days? In the future, we just call it 'sound proof'."

John punched his uncle in the arm and headed back upstairs; Derek, laughing, followed behind.

"Alright, who's coming with me to Wal-Mart?"

Sarah wasn't exactly shocked to see everyone suddenly looking occupied elsewhere.

"It's you're turn," Derek whispered.

"I can order you to go," John whispered.

"Not yet you can't."

"If someone doesn't volunteer, we'll all go." Sarah was losing patience.

"C'mon John, take one for the team."

John glared at his uncle, but stood up anyway. "Fine, I'll go."

"Good man." John ignored him.

"Reese, you're on babysitting duty." Savannah had fallen asleep upstairs, and Sarah was loath to wake her.

"Fine with me. I think I'll just take a little nap myself."

"Anything happens to her, you die a slow painful death."

"Yes, ma'am," Derek saluted.

John reluctantly followed his mom out the door, running in to Cameron coming in from her patrol.

"Where are you going?"

John grinned. "We're going with mom to Wal-Mart." He grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the SUV. Payback, as she said herself, was a bitch.

"I think a nice neutral cream would work."

"The sage would add nice color."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get some of both."

John leaned over the handle bar of his cart as his mom and Cameron added bath towels to the basket. They each had their own cart; Cameron's was already filled with necessary household supplies. He wondered what the deal was with women and color. If it was up to him, everything would be white, and it would all go together in colorless glory.

Sarah scratched another item off her list. "Alright, John we'll have to get you a bed tomorrow. For now you might as well get the stuff for it while we're here. I'm going to start the groceries."

John sighed, and followed Cameron to the bed linen aisle. Yawning, he looked at all the choices, and decided they were all pretty much ugly. "Pick what you want, Cam, as long as it ain't too hideous, I don't care." He rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes.

Cameron looked over her choices, and choosing a bedspread and sheet set, placed them in John's cart. "Ok, let's go."

An hour later, they rolled up to a register and waited behind two other people in line. There was a toddler screaming at the register beside them, and John briefly wished it wasn't against the law to duct tape other people's children's mouths shut. Or better yet, knock the parent in the head for allowing their spoiled child to wail obnoxiously while they stood there doing absolutely nothing, seemingly oblivious to the stares and the screeching.

Sarah watched her son, who looked like he was about to go on a homicidal rampage. "What's the matter, John? You look tired."

John looked at his mom and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Maybe you should spend more of your time at night sleeping."

"Mom!" John shook his had in exasperation, which made Sarah laugh. She gave him a one-armed hug and kissed him on the side of his head.

"I'm your mother, I have the divine right to tease you."

"Not in the middle of Wal-Mart."

"Chill, nobody can hear anything over Satan's spawn over there."

They rolled up to the register and started unloading their carts onto the moving belt.

"Are you two together?"

Sarah pointed to Cameron, now pushing the overflowing grocery cart. "The three of us."

John watched the cashier's face fall, and felt sorry for her. He hated unloading groceries, and he imagined packing them was just as bad.

Sarah finished her cart and started on John's. "Wow, pink, John? I wouldn't have guessed that was your color."

John looked at the pink and green striped bed sheets his mother was holding. He slowly turned around to find Cameron conveniently observing an unknown suspect on the other side of the store.

"You're lucky I love you," he mumbled, knowing she'd still be able to hear it. A slight smirk appeared on her lips, though she still didn't look at him.

"Grilled or fried?"

John looked at the menu. "If you're at KFC, you get fried chicken. If they called it KGC, you'd get grilled."

"But they have new grilled chicken that looks good."

"We're not here for grilled. It defeats the whole purpose of coming to Kentucky Fried Chicken. We're here for fattening, crispy, artery clogging, breaded chicken goodness. Oh, and mashed potatoes… with biscuits."

"That is more calories than you need to consume for two days," Cameron informed him.

"But it's so tasty."

Sarah sighed, and regretted letting John pick dinner.

John dug around in his bag downstairs looking for his music player. He had pretty much everything pulled out of the bag and thrown around the floor, but he couldn't find it.

"She said she packed it," he mumbled to himself.

Grabbing the other duffel, he opened it up and started digging though it. He felt something hard, and pulled it out. It wasn't his mp3 player; it was a small wooden box. He vaguely remembered grabbing it from the top of the dresser when he packed, knowing it was something Cameron had had since she'd arrived. Curious, he opened it up.

There wasn't much inside. There was the necklace she was wearing when he found her after her amnesiac episode, and a piece of folded cloth. Eyebrows furrowed, he pulled out the cloth and unfolded it. Inside, was the diamond he'd given her way back when. Picking it up, he felt something stir inside him. It's not that he didn't think she'd keep it, it's just the way that she did it: wrapping it and keeping it in a personal keepsake box. He would have never thought a terminator capable of understanding the concept, not even Cameron. I guess you learn something new everyday.

He watched the light refract in the stone, and an idea occurred to him. Rolling it around in his fingers, he imagined… it would be perfect.

He wrapped the stone back up carefully in its cloth bundle, but instead of putting it back in the box, he put it in his pocket.

Hearing the basement door open, he quickly put the box back in the bag and zipped it up.

"What are you doing?"

John looked up to find Cameron taking in the total mess he created.

"Uh, just looking for my mp3 player. You said you packed it, right?"

"Yes. It's in your bag."

"No it's not, I already looked."

Cameron walked over to his bag and knelt down. Unzipping a front pocket and reaching in, she pulled out his mp3 player. "You are talking about this device, aren't you?"

Duh. "Yeah, I didn't look in there. Sorry."

"It's alright. Sarah says it's a man thing." She handed it to him and looked around the room. "Why is this room pimpin?"

"What?"

"Derek said our room was 'pimpin'. I don't understand."

"It… just means it's cool."

"Oh. Thank you for explaining."

John sat against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. Cameron followed and sat next to him.

"How many times are we going to have to move?"

"I don't know, John."

"I thought we jumped through time in 1999 so we didn't have to run any more."

Cameron turned her head to look at John. "I said we could stay in one place, and fight. I didn't say we weren't going to have to move. Even in chess, sometimes the king is forced to castle."

"But why didn't we just stay at the old house? " He bent his left leg and rested his arm on his knee. "I mean, we don't even know for sure if Kaliba knew where we were. And so what if they did? Why didn't we just stay and fight?"

"They sent an HK to Zeira Corp, John. We really don't know their full capabilities. You must know your enemy before you attack. If we stayed, we took a chance at being slaughtered. We made the right choice in leaving."

John sighed. "I know we did. It just sucks. I'm so sick of running. I've been doing it all my life and I'm just tired of it. I want to sit back and enjoy life. I wanna get a crappy job and work for minimum wage. I want to live life, without knowing what my future is going to be."

Cameron took John's hand in her own and gave it a light squeeze. "And I want to be a real girl, but I don't have a fairy godmother."

John chuckled, and brought Cameron's hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Who needs fairy godmother anyway? You're girl enough for me."

"Am I? In the future, you could have any girl you wanted… you often did."

John thought about that. When Jesse said they were close, he just assumed he and Cameron were that close. He really didn't think any other 'close' would piss someone off enough to go to the lengths that she did to try to separate them. But what Cameron seemed to be saying… "You mean, I chose other girls over you?"

Cameron looked away. "Yes. Almost every night."

John was genuinely shocked. How could his future self treat her like that?

It explained a lot of her behavior, especially with Riley. She never said a word to him about his relationship with her other than it was 'dangerous', even though he saw the undisguised hurt on her face several times. She wouldn't though, would she? She was used to him choosing other women over her. Even though in the future she hadn't been completely capable of feeling or understanding emotion as she was now, it was clear she obviously felt some sort of discomfort at his taking other women to bed. Just as much as she didn't like him choosing Riley over her.

John felt like a total asshole. How could he judge his future self, when he himself did the same thing not long ago?

"Cam…" He waited for her to look at him. "I… I don't think 'sorry' is even an adequate apology for what I've done to you… now, or in your future… " He looked down at their joined hands, and added his other hand on top. "All I can do… all I can say… is that I love you. I don't care what you are. When I fell in love with you, I fell in love with all of you. Every nut, bolt, and beautiful smile… you're the only person I can be myself with. The only person I can trust implicitly." He gazed into her eyes. "You are the only girl I will ever choose."

Cameron studied his face for a long moment. Once the face of an insecure teenager, it was now the face of a confident young man, who's eyes conveyed nothing but honesty and love.

"Promise?"

"Promise." John smiled, and sealed it with a kiss…

A kiss that lasted a lot longer than expected. John had to break away before he suffocated. Out of breath and grinning, he glanced at the ceiling. "You know, this room is basically sound proof."

"I'd think rug burn on rather sensitive places would be a bitch in the morning, though."

John blinked, as the words didn't come from Cameron. He turned to see Sarah coming down the steps, with an armload of new towels.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just the mom, coming down to do laundry, assuming the coast was clear as the door was left wide open…" She paused, seeing John's clothes still tossed around the floor. "What the hell happened here?"

"I was just looking for my iPod."

"Right. Did it reveal itself to you?"

"Yes."

"No," Cameron corrected. "I found it for him."

"Well, you packed it, so you knew where it was," John argued.

"I told you where it was."

"You just said it was in my bag."

"Yes. And it was. You just didn't look hard enough."

Sarah watched in amusement as her son thoroughly lost the battle.

"Who puts things in front zipper pockets anyway?"

"Oh, give it up, John." Sarah headed to the laundry room. "And clean up this disaster area down here. You have a closet in the corner. Use it."

Sarah smiled, listening to the bickering continue as she started the washer.

"You should fold them properly so they don't wrinkle."

"Exactly who's going to care if I have wrinkled boxers?"

"I was talking about your t-shirts."

"What's wrong with the way they're folded?"

Sarah shut the washer and closed the laundry room door.

"When that stops, one of you put the towels in the dryer." Heading back upstairs, she paused halfway up the steps. "If you sleep on the couch John, kindly remember it's public territory… and if not, for the love of God shut the damn door."

John pointed at Cameron. "That was all her."

"But you were the one who started..." Cameron pointed back

Sarah just shook her head and continued up the steps, mumbling something under her breath about kids sending parents to early graves.

John bent down to pick up another sock.

"Those socks don't match."

"Yes, they do. They're both white."