So… there's a scene a fan suggested that I finally wrote into this chapter. I'm sure you can easily pick it out. I figure this was a good time for it, since chapter 5 is going to mostly be some real terminator-huntin action. We'll OD on Jameron here, and have a small reprieve next time… small one. Little bit. Teeny Tiny… for a quarter of a chapter anyway ;-) Enjoy.

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Sarah stood at the top of the steps as she watched Cameron and Derek usher a stranger up the driveway.

When they reached the porch, Cameron gave her a short nod. "She's resistance."

Sarah lowered her gun and led them into the house.

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

"Someone better start talking, because I'm in no mood for this."

Sarah hovered over the kitchen table were Derek, John, and the new young woman sat.

"This is Captain Danielle Martin, one of John's future officers. She came back with me."

"Nice to meet you, Ma'am." Dani held out her hand politely.

Sarah took it, and fixed her with a stare. "What were you doing here?"

Dani fidgeted in her seat. Sarah Connor was a legend, and under other circumstances, she'd be honored to meet her. In the current situation though, she was admittedly a little scared.

"Mom, it's a long story. Just sit down and let them explain. I'm sure there's a good reason Captain Martin was trying to get her ass killed by our resident terminator… and why Cameron let her live." John watched Dani glance loathingly at said cyborg, who was busy setting up the coffee pot.

Everyone looked up as they heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. A disheveled Savannah appeared around the corner rubbing her eyes, carrying her favorite doll.

"What's going on? Who's that?"

Sarah started to stand up, but John beat her to it, placing a hand on her shoulder much as he did to Cameron at the Café.

"We just have a visitor, everything's all right. You can meet her in the morning. For now you need to get back to bed."

"But I'm thirsty."

"Then we'll have Cameron bring you up a glass of water. Come on, now." With a smile, he turned Savannah around and gave her a gentle push towards the stairs.

Sarah watched her son disappear around the corner with the child. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about what she just witnessed. There was a sense of pride at how he handled the situation with gentle affection, but also a bit of sadness. John was all grown up now, and she didn't have to do those motherly things for him anymore. Now, it was supposed to be his turn, and he was doing it quite well.

"Wow, was that Savannah? She was a cute kid."

Dani's question brought Sarah back to the problem at hand. "I take it you know her in the future?"

"Everyone knows her. I'm just a little surprised. I don't think anyone realizes how unrealistically close in age they are."

"They're not. John is technically almost twenty-four years old." Cameron shut the refrigerator a little harder than necessary and headed up the stairs with Savannah's water.

Derek cleared his throat. "John knows most of it, so I suppose it's all right if we get this story rolling."

Sarah agreed, and focused her attention on the man who was practically her brother-in-law… at least in an awkward "I slept with your kid brother before he was born and conceived the future leader of mankind" kind of way.

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

Sarah rubbed her eyes and finished her second mug of coffee. "Okay, so there's a terminator on the loose, killing off future resistance leaders one by one, and all the soldiers sent back with you are pretty much dead. By the same terminator?"

Derek raised his eyebrows. It was a good question.

"Most likely not," Cameron said.

"Even better," John groaned, his head resting on the table.

Sarah stared at her empty mug. "Why isn't this stuff working anymore?"

"It's decaf," Cameron answered.

"What's the point of coffee if there's no caffeine?"

"The placebo effect of drinking coffee kept you awake long enough. If you had consumed caffeine, you would not be able to sleep well."

"Right." Sarah yawned, and stretched her arms over her head. She looked at Dani. Really looked at her. While her face and arms were clean, her clothes had seen better, cleaner days. Her hair was pulled back, and Sarah assumed it was probably in the same shape as her clothes. "It's past 2 am; you can stay here on the couch tonight. You can get the rest of whatever it is you have and we can start tomorrow. Why don't you go upstairs and take a shower. I'm sure we can find you something to wear."

Dani actually smiled. "Wow, thank you ma'am. I appreciate it."

"Stop calling me ma'am" Sarah turned to her son. "John, go on to bed. John… John?"

"Wha… yeah I'm up. What?" John sat up and wiped his mouth.

Sarah gave him an affectionate look. "Go to bed. We don't want your drool on the table."

"Yeah, yeah," John stood up groggily. "I wasn't drooling."

Cameron followed John down the steps and started digging through her clothes. "I don't have anything for her to wear."

"I'm surprised you're even looking," John said as he collapsed on the bed, shielding his eyes from the light with his arm. "Don't worry about it. My mom has some baggier clothes that should fit her, and if not, she'll have to wear some of mine. She's a little bigger than you guys."

"She's only a size or two bigger. Just an inch taller than I am. They should fit." She pulled off her shirt and slid out of her pants, tossing them on John's slowly growing pile of dirty clothes.

John shook his head. "Pant size, maybe, but her chest is a lot bigger. I don't see her squeezing her boobs into any of your shirts."

Cameron looked down at her own chest. "Good point."

There was a light knock on the basement door.

"Yeah?" John hollered.

Sarah came downstairs carrying Dani's dirty clothes. "I'm not even sure it's worth washing these, but for now I guess we don't have a choice. Can you get me one of your t-shirts for her to wear, John?" She glanced at her son on the bed. "Cameron?"

Cameron nodded, and sifted through John's shirts. She found a plain black one that would be appropriate for a female to wear and gave it to Sarah.

"Thanks," Sarah nodded to John. "Let him get some sleep. I don't want to deal with him in the morning otherwise."

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

Dani woke to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen, and heard her stomach growl. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and saw several Wal-Mart bags on the floor by the couch. Curiously, she peeked inside one and found clothes. She pulled out several shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, and all the essentials, even a new pair of sneakers and a toothbrush. "Wow" was all she could think to say.

She slid on a shoe and it fit perfectly. "How the hell did they guess my size?"

She stood up and made her way into the kitchen, where she found Sarah Connor flipping something on the stove.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?"

Dani was a little surprised at how pleasant she was. "Um, yeah, I slept great, thanks. And um, thank you for the clothes. How did you guess my size?"

Sarah gave her a weird look. "What are you talking about? The shirt's John's and the pants are just one of mine."

Dani tilted her head. "What are you talking about? I'm talking about the bags of clothes in the living room you left for me by the couch."

Sarah looked lost for a moment, but then a clue flew in through the window and smacked her in the face. "Oh, Cameron must've gone out last night. You should thank her, not me. That would explain how she guessed your size. She probably did some weird body scan or something," Sarah grinned, and pulled several pancakes off the griddle. She didn't miss the look on the girl's face when she told her it was Cameron.

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

John nearly ran into Derek on his way up the stairs.

"Whoa, sorry. Didn't see you."

"That's cause your eyes were closed," Derek grumbled, and watched John walk by completely ignoring him. "Aren't we pleasant this morning?"

"Shut up. I just need a shower."

"Your girlfriend's in there now. Hope you like cold showers," Derek snickered, and left John staring at the bathroom door.

"Oh, hell no." John knocked and opened the door. He blinked a few times upon finding Cameron standing in her underwear cupping her breasts.

"Um… sorry?" He started shutting the door again but Cameron stopped him

"You can come in John."

Okay… John walked in and shut the door behind him. "What are you doing?"

Cameron pointed to the full-length mirror on the back of the door. "I'm looking at my body."

John moved behind her and looked in the mirror. "Hmm…" He began poking various parts of her anatomy, feigning serious inspection. "I see… well, it still looks perfect to me."

"That's the problem."

John gave her a strange look. "What problem?"

"Normal bodies are not perfect." She turned and looked at herself from the side. "This body does not store fat. I do not have thunder thighs, nor do I have cellulite." She turned back to the front. "I do not have belly flab, muffin top, or love handles, and my breasts don't sag."

John started laughing. "Lord I told you those magazines would brainwash you. Are you aware just how many women would kill to have your body? Do you know how many women have paid an arm and a leg and their first born child to have a body like yours?"

Cameron actually looked shocked. "They've sold body parts… and their children?"

"No, it's just a saying… like raining cats and dogs. It means they spent lots of money."

"Oh."

She went back to scrutinizing her body. "In polls done in magazines, most men say they prefer natural bodies. What do you prefer, John?"

"I love your body, you know that."

"That's not what I asked."

"I know what you asked. Do you want the truth?" He looked her in the eye through the mirror.

"Yes."

"The truth is… I don't prefer unnatural, fake bodies."

Cameron attempted to keep her blank terminator face, but John noticed a slight flinch. She tore her eyes away from his gaze in the mirror.

"Thank you for exp…"

"I'm not finished." He took a step closer, so he was right up against her back. "I don't have a preference for natural bodies either." He reached around and caressed her abdomen, sliding his hand further north. "I prefer the ability to do this…" he cupped her breast. "… and this." He slapped her butt, making her jump and turn around.

"And since you just made it so much easier… this." He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply, not waiting for her processor to catch up with his actions before lightly teasing her tongue with his own

He slowly pulled away and smiled. "Those are the bare essentials of the wants and needs of one John Connor."

A small smile played across Cameron's lips. "So this body adequately suits your preferences?"

"Well…" John flipped his hand back and forth. "There are a few subessentials to my overall happiness."

Cameron's face fell.

"Let's see…" John counted off on his fingers. "There's undying love and devotion, complete loyalty, protection against homicidal killing machines… and my mother… that should be a separate one, intelligence, an often odd yet twisted sense of humor, the ability to totally kick ass, an unrivaled fashion sense amongst cybernetic organisms and human females alike, and an inexplicable desire and attraction to my god-like sexy body."

Cameron's face remained blank. One of her eyebrows slowly crept up her forehead.

John's ego deflated just a bit. "Okay, obviously we need to work on that last one."

Cameron finally grinned. "We need to get moving before Sarah comes up here. Breakfast is probably finished by now."

"Oh well. I'm in no hurry for pancakes anyway."

"You should be. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Cameron unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor.

John paused with his arm halfway out of his sleeve to watch her slowly… and he was positive it was purposely seductive… slide out of her panties and brush by him. He felt the long week of his grounding catch up to him, as he watched her bend over to turn the water on and nearly fell to his knees.

He snapped out of his drooling stupor when she disappeared behind the shower curtain. He undressed in record speed and stepped in behind her.

Cameron felt the cold air as the curtain moved, and suddenly, her back was pressed against the wall. John's mouth was on hers, and his hands were everywhere.

Cameron's wrapped her arms around him tight. He trusted her to keep them balanced as his mouth made its way lower.

He had just made it to his goal when there was a knock on the door. He squeezed his eyes shut and stood up, audibly smacking his head against the wall as he fell forward in despair.

"I hate my life," he groaned.

Cameron leaned her own head back, blinking through the spray of water. She was just as disappointed as John was, and was letting her own systems readjust back to normal. A message flashed across her HUD.

Action Required!

Answer door.

There was another soft knock. "John!" She recognized the voice, and didn't need her HUD to tell her it was Sarah Connor.

"Yeah?" John managed to answer.

There was a slight pause. "Breakfast is ready, and Savannah needs to use the bathroom."

John felt like crying. "All right, mom! I'll be out in five minutes!"

He stood back up straight, letting Cameron out of her sandwiched position, and turned the hot water almost completely off.

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

John walked down the steps with Cameron tiptoeing behind him. He looked in both directions before sneaking around the corner.

"Hey, John?"

Damn it.

Sarah stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Have you seen… oh. There she is." She glanced between the two of them, dripping wet and wrapped in bath towels. She fixed them both with a stern stare.

"We need to talk." She turned and walked back in the kitchen.

John and Cameron glanced at each other. That was definitely not good.

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

Derek pulled up to the café and put the SUV in park. "How long do you need?"

Dani opened the door and stepped out. "About 20 minutes."

Derek nodded. "I'll be back then. I'll pick you up right here."

"Where are you going?"

"I have something to do for John. I'll be back," he repeated.

Dani wondered what it was he had to do for the kid, but knew she'd probably never find out. "Fine then. I'll be here."

Derek waited for her to disappear around the corner before pulling away and heading for the jeweler's.

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

"First, may I reiterate my one simple rule of no fooling around in public territory? You two obviously have a difficult time remembering that."

"Sorry," John and Cameron mumbled in unison. They were sitting side by side on the couch with Sarah standing over them, her arms crossed and foot tapping in a scary "you're lucky I don't just kill you" kind of way.

"Second…" She looked at Cameron. "You're going to tell me exactly what's between you and Danielle, and exactly why you're both waiting for the other's back to be turned to kill each other."

Cameron gazed at her quietly for a moment.

"She's a bitch-whore."

Sarah blinked, and John covered his eyes, laughing silently. He remembered when she learned that word. He hadn't heard her use it since.

"What exactly makes her a 'bitch-whore'?"

Cameron glanced at John. She never planned on telling him the whole story, but lying to Sarah wasn't really a smart thing to do, especially considering the box of thermite that literally had her name written on it with Sharpie. Sarah thought she didn't know.

"She hates machines, and never approved of John's reprogramming. She would often refuse to work with them. She also sometimes does… not so nice things to get what she wants. And what she wants is a commanding position in the resistance."

"Sadly… that's not all that uncommon in society," John pointed out.

Sarah was still staring at her, waiting for further explanation.

"She deactivated me and blamed it on other people. Then pretended to 'save me' to gain special favor with John."

Sarah was rather skeptical. "How exactly did she manage to deactivate you?"

"I was leading a recon mission when we were attacked. A blast from a grenade too close to me caused me to reboot. Everyone else ran, but she took the opportunity to extract my chip."

"Wait, wait," Sarah stopped her. "You weren't even online. How do you know what she did?"

Cameron seemed to sit up straighter. "You'll understand once I finish my story."

Oh, snap. John tried his best not to smile. Sarah gave her a warning look, but sat down in the armchair anyway. "Fine. Continue."

"Hold up." John scooted down and fluffed up a couch pillow against the armrest. He brought his legs up on the couch and stretched out, laying his feet on Cameron's lap. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Cameron and Sarah both gave him 'the look', but he ignored it by closing his eyes.

Cameron turned her attention back to Sarah. "A triple eight in our group saw what she was doing and tried to stop her, but she destroyed it. Later, her and a few other soldiers dragged my body back to camp. When John heard, he immediately came for me, and Captain Martin told him that the triple eight had gone bad and deactivated me, and when everyone else ran, she stayed back to help me. She said she stopped it before it could destroy my chip, and brought me back to him.

"When John reactivated me he told me what happened. I insisted that I didn't believe her, and that I didn't trust her. You see… the machines didn't have grenades. He just said it must have been some other kind of explosion, and said that there was no evidence, and the only way we'd find out was by reviewing the triple eight's chip. So that's what I did. It had been slightly damaged, so it took me a very long time to manage to view the memory files. When I finally saw the truth, I saved the files and went to John's quarters. It was late at night, and he always waited for me."

Somehow, it really didn't surprise Sarah. She looked down at her son who seemed to have dozed off… And Cameron, who, seemingly without thinking, had started rubbing his foot. It was such a human gesture that it threw Sarah off. Hands that could crush bone effortlessly were gently massaging, paying no attention at all.

"I was the only person he could talk to. We'd sometimes stay up for hours just talking. He'd eventually fall asleep, and I'd stay and watch over him. He'd often have nightmares that I'd wake him from. Sometimes, he'd cry out for you in his sleep."

Sarah tore her eyes away from Cameron's hands and stared at her in shock.

Cameron smiled. "Even at 42 years old he still missed you."

"Way to make me out to be a huge momma's boy," John mumbled.

They both looked at him, surprised he was actually still awake.

"There's nothing wrong with being a momma's boy," Sarah said, reaching over and playing with his hair.

John batted her hand away. "Don't you dare tell anyone. I have a hard-ass reputation to uphold."

"I never told anyone," Cameron assured him.

"Good. Now, get to the good part. Did I draw and quarter her?"

Cameron suddenly looked very sad. "No, you didn't. When I got to your quarters, I found you in bed with her."

John felt like he'd been physically slapped. He sat up, a little embarrassed that his mother had to hear that. Sarah just cleared her throat.

Cameron looked for all the world like she was living the moment all over again. John realized she probably was replaying it.

"You hadn't brought anyone to your quarters for months. I knew you met with women elsewhere, but never in your own room, and rarely at night. Your nights were spent with me, and even when I tried convincing you that your soldiers didn't like it, you said you didn't care. You wouldn't have it any other way."

Cameron looked away, and John swore she looked ashamed for some strange reason. "Well, that night you did. You had her."

Cameron watched the moment on her HUD.

She had entered after knocking only twice, as per usual. She never waited for him to answer; she didn't have to. He was always waiting for her. She walked in, and saw him in bed with her.

"Cam!"

Cameron simply turned around and walked right back out.

"Cameron, wait!"

She stopped in the hallway, the guards conspicuously leaving rather quickly. She turned around to face John, a blanket haphazardly wrapped around his waist.

"Cam, I'm sorry. I didn't expect it. She just showed up and…"

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked coldly.

"What?"

"Why are you apologizing?" she repeated. She handed him the drive. "The files you requested from the triple eight."

John took it, a little stunned. "Did you find anything?"

"I wouldn't be wasting your time if I didn't. Have a good night, sir." She turned and walked back down the corridor, leaving John standing there in shock. She had never… ever… called him 'sir'.

"That was my last night in the future. You watched the files, and saw what really happened. You called me to a back room… the one very few people knew about, and nobody ever came out of. I knew you had a TDE… I knew you were sending me away."

Sarah felt a sense of déjà vu, remembering what she had said to Cameron months ago. "He sent you away from him."

"You gave me one last mission: to protect you in the past. You said I was the only one you trusted. You told me I was different, and said it's why I was the only one who could ever protect you enough. You promised…" Cameron let her sentence die off. It really wasn't anything they needed to know anyway.

Cameron stood naked in the circle watching John press the appropriate buttons.

"I'm sorry; I can't remember when we actually moved in 1999. I can only send you to the town. You'll just have to wait for me."

"I'll wait," she said. John pressed the last switch and turned around to face her.

They gazed at each other for a long moment, before John finally spoke.

"I'll probably be obnoxious, and my mother is bound to hate you. But please, whatever you do… don't give up on me."

"I can't give up on you, John." He was the leader of mankind. Of course she couldn't.

"I'll treat you better, I promise. Trust me."

"I trust you."

All three looked up as the front door opened, and Derek and Dani walked in.

"Oh, hey sorry…" Derek looked at the three of them, a little uncomfortable. "Are we interrupting something?"

"No." Cameron stood up and walked out of the room.

"Always so charming," Dani mumbled.

John got up and followed Cameron, not even bothering to say hello.

"Right. We can, um, go back out… get some milk or something," Derek said.

Sarah shook her head. "No. You though…" she pointed at Dani. "…are going to come sit by me and have a little chit chat."

Derek grinned and pushed Dani towards the couch like a sacrificial virgin. "Have fun with that. Hey John!" He ran out of the room before either woman could even blink.

He managed to catch his nephew before he disappeared out the back door.

John quickly glanced outside, making sure Cameron was thoroughly distracted and out of earshot. He whispered anyway. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Derek pulled a small bag out of his pocket and handed it to John. "I'm gonna go hide in the shed for a while. Your mother's talking to Dani..."

"Wait." John pulled out the small velvet box and opened it. His breath caught in his throat, and he felt his heart speed up. It was exactly what he had hoped for, and even more.

"Well, was it worth the two extra diamonds you paid him for it?"

John turned the box and showed it to him. He watched Derek's jaw drop.

"When are you…"

"Her birthday… or build day, or infiltration day… whatever you want to call it. We're celebrating it."

Derek nodded. "So next Saturday then?"

"I guess it's the same in the future, huh?"

"Yeah, but only a few people know about it. It's more of a private affair."

John closed the box and put it back in the bag. "Here, I need you to hide it in your room. She'll find it in ours."

"Sure." He stuffed it back in his pocket. "It um… looks like we might be travelling soon, doesn't it?"

"Unfortunately." John crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Did Cameron talk to you about…" Derek nodded towards the living room.

"Yeah. It's not pretty. I know that woman in there is a different person, and it'd be about as fair blaming her for those mistakes as would be blaming me for my future self's actions, but…"

"But, she's an asshole, and everyone knows it. Just be careful."

John nodded and glanced at the screen door, where he could hear the sounds of several happy cats. "Let me go be John Connor, boyfriend extraordinaire, and see if I can coax her back in here to start hunting down some pain in the ass terminators."

"Ah, sounds like good times ahead," Derek grinned.

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

John and Cameron stood over the kitchen table. A large map was spread out over it, with red circles around the towns where the murders occurred.

"I'm afraid I don't see a pattern," Cameron said. "It only appears that it's taking the easiest, most direct course, so we can assume it would not need to back track." She picked up a pencil. "We can also assume then that the most likely directions will be within this area." She drew a curve in front of the last circle.

"Gee, that narrows it down to, oh, the rest of the damn country," John said.

Cameron gave him a tolerant look. "The majority of your officers in this part of the United States came from this general area. Most other people were wiped out, remember?"

"Either way, unless we have a target name, we're not going to know who to look for."

"Not necessarily," Cameron argued. "I know the profiles of all of your officers. I know the towns they are all from." She began circling several towns with her pencil.

"No… you know the profiles of the officers in your future."

"There's a high chance most of them are the same. I recognize the ones already murdered."

"Well… let's double check." John walked out to the back door and shouted. "Hey, Derek!"

Derek poked his head out of the shed to make sure the coast was clear before meandering down to the porch.

"Yes, oh Great One?"

John rolled his eyes. "Will you come in here and take a look at this map?" He led Derek into the kitchen. "Do you remember any of the officers' home towns?"

Derek took a look at the map. "The older officers, sure. But she's got most of them circled already." Derek ran over the list of officers in his head. "These are pretty much the 'elite eight'. I would, just in case, add Rogers who lived here, and…" Derek froze.

"What is it?" John asked.

Derek drew another circle on the map, this one being closest to the last murder than the others.

"Me... she didn't have me on here." Derek looked at John with a worried expression on his face. "If I'm right… I'm next."

Everyone just looked at each other for a long moment, and then suddenly… everyone was moving at once.