Well hello again! It's been an awfully long time... I'm currently student teaching, and my time is completely filled with lesson plans and activity sheets and grading and... when I'm not doing that, sleeping! For the free time I do waste (not on writing, obviously), you can blame DarkDanny :D Anyway, this is a much shorter chapter than we're used to with Fate, simply because I felt like after 2 months, SOMETHING needed to be posted, if for nothing else, to let you all know I'm alive. It's a bit of a lame one, but hey, under the circumstances it's the best I got lol. Send me the spelling errors and editting errors and general proof reading mishaps. I'm sure I've missed a few...

"Sarah."

Dani gently washed the dried blood from the woman's face with a torn piece of her shirt and a bit of the water from the canteen she'd been given.

"Sarah, you have to wake up."

That had only elicited a light moan.

"That's it," Dani soothed. "You need to wake up. You'll feel better after you drink some water. Please…"

Sarah pried her eyes open, and was glad it was dark in the… well, wherever she was.

"Ow," she groaned at the splitting headache she had. Her hand went to her head as her eyes closed tightly once again.

"Sarah," Dani said with a bit more authority. "I know it's hard, but trust me. You need to get some water in you."

I never really cared for that girl, Sarah thought to herself, recognizing the voice.

"Yeah, yeah I heard you," Sarah managed to croak. She felt Dani's arms grip her and help her sit up. She opened her eyes again and looked around for the first time. She couldn't see much, but there didn't seem to be too much to see anyway. They were just in an empty room, with dirty hard wood floors and what looked like a blanket that had been covering her a moment ago.

Dani handed her the canteen and she did her best to drink as much as possible, feeling extremely dehydrated. When she had her fill, she handed back the bottle and looked around once again.

"Where are we?"

Dani rolled her eyes in the darkness and sat against the wall beside her. "If I knew…"

"Yeah, good point," Sarah said. She took the chance to look at the girl in the sliver of light that was streaming in between the boards covering the only window.

"My God, Dani… are you all right?"

The girl's face was swollen, and barely recognizable. Her nose had been broken, both of her eyes bruised. Her cheeks had lacerations on them… as well as the rest of her body. As Sarah's eyes traveled lower, she could see the girl was holding her left wrist, and her clothes were shredded and horribly bloodstained.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Dani said, trying to get Sarah's focus away from her disheveled appearance. "You need to worry about yourself. We have to get you out of here."

Sarah ignored her and reached for her left hand, but Dani pulled it away.

"It was dislocated," Dani explained. "I had to fix it myself. Don't go over there…" she nodded towards the far corner. "I threw up when I did it," she said, embarrassment in her voice.

"Hey, it's all right." Sarah put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and gently held her close, afraid she might hurt any unseen injuries. "Whatever happened, whatever they did to you, it's going to be all right. We're both going to get out of here."

"It doesn't matter what they did to me," Dani whispered. "It's what they're bound to do to you."

"Yeah, well, I can take care of myself, so don't you worry. I don't really matter in the long run. The important thing is that they don't get to my son."

Dani actually laughed. "He's got enough metal protecting him. Besides, he's not really the one they want."

"What?" Sarah asked, confused.

There was a creaking sound as the door was pushed open. Something was tossed inside and fell to the floor.

"Eat up, bitches," she heard a man say, before he laughed and his footsteps walked away.

"That's appetizing," Sarah said dryly. Neither woman moved from their spots on the floor.

"We need to get out of here. Do they have any metal?" she asked.

"I don't think they do. At least, I never saw any. But again, I don't even know where the fuck we are. I've only seen about three rooms. They drag me down the hall about three doors down to the bathroom, and somewhere around there is where they… did everything else."

Sarah decided it best not to ask her to elaborate. "Which direction?"

"Um, the right."

"What about that window?"

"It's too high for me to see out, and I can't pry the boards off with my hands."

Suddenly, the lights in the room turned on, and the door to their room swung open once more. Two large men walked in and locked the door behind them.

Sarah and Dani were instantly on their feet.

"So… this is Sarah Connor," the one on the left said, a large grin on his face. Sarah noticed his teeth were mostly rotted, and he had a large scar that spanned the entire right side of his face. She did her best to keep her own face blank.

The man's head tilted, and his eyes narrowed. "I don't see the resemblance at all. Your bastard son must look like his father."

It was hard, but Sarah didn't react.

"Oh well. Trent, do it."

"No!" Dani shouted, and suddenly she was standing in front of Sarah, her arms held out protectively. "Walker, think about it. I'll tell you where to find her. I'll tell you anything you want. Please, just…"

There was a loud crack, and Dani was tossed to the floor. Walker shook out his left hand. "You should know better, Danielle. But then again, you always did things the hard way. That's probably why that bitch sent you back with us to begin with."

"You're one to talk, Walker. You were one of Connor's most trusted men. Look at you now…," Dani wiped the blood from her chin and spit the rest out of her mouth. "You're nothing now, but a worthless piece of…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Walker's boot made contact with her face.

"She never did know when to shut up," he said, turning back to Sarah. "Now, if you're smart, you'll just do as we say, and do it quietly. Don't fight us, Sarah. I'd really hate to have to kill you."

Sarah did her best not to roll her eyes. "Don't you thugs ever come up with better lines?"

Savannah climbed the stairs and shuffled down the hallway towards her room. She stopped outside of Sarah's room, seeing the door was open. She smiled. Sarah must be home.

She pushed the door open and peeked in.

"Sarah? "

John was sitting on the floor in Sarah's room. He had a lot of guns taken apart in pieces all around him. He glanced up from the shotgun he was cleaning

"Sarah's not home yet."

"Oh." Savannah stepped carefully around the weapons on the floor and made her way over to John. She sat down carefully beside him and tucked her knees under her chin.

"Can I help?" she asked.

John looked at her sideways but didn't pause in his cleaning. "No. You might get hurt."

"No I won't." She picked up two pieces off the floor.

"Savannah…" John warned.

John watched as the girl expertly fit the two pieces together. She handed it to John.

"Cameron showed me."

John stared at her in shock. "Cameron… showed you?"

Savannah nodded. "She said I should know."

John's first reaction was to be angry, that Savannah was too young to be messing with the weapons. That Cameron had no right to show her such things.

But she did have the right. She had as much right as he had.

And of course, she was right that Savannah should know. John himself was much younger than Savannah when he had learned. Children her age were fighting wars. So what was the problem?

He wouldn't wish such a childhood on anyone, especially Savannah. That was the problem.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Well, then…" John said, capping the bottle. "Did she show you how to shoot as well?"

Savannah's eyes got big, and she shook her head no.

"Well then we need to teach you. If you're going to handle the guns, and most especially if you're going to be a part of this family, you should learn how."

He pulled out the box of shells from Sarah's nightstand.

"For now, I'll show you the basics. Did Cameron give you the safety speech?" he asked.

"She said I should never, ever touch a gun unless you tell me to."

"Yeah… that sounds about right," John said. "And this is a very big secret…"

"I'm not allowed to tell anyone. I promised," she said.

"Okay then, sound's like you're ready."

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

Sarah could feel herself slowly gaining consciousness. She could hear people talking around her, but couldn't quite make out the words. She tried to figure out where she was, but the only thing she could guess was that she was lying on the floor.

It was cold.

It was hard.

Her body was obviously in a supine position.

She heard someone walk across the room, and winced as the overhead lights were turned on.

"Oh, she's awake finally," the man named Trent said. "I told you that was too much."

"Shut the fuck up, and just get her ready!" Walker demanded.

Sarah tried to open her eyes when she felt thick arms lift her up, but she could only get one eye open. What happened to her left eye?

Trent lifted her up and placed her in a wooden chair. She was lucky it also had armrests, or she'd have fallen right back out of it.

Slowly, Sarah was able to think more clearly. They must have drugged her. Judging the pain throughout her body, they did God only knew what physically to her. She was fully dressed, at least, but there was a lot of blood on her shirt, and some splattered on her jeans. From the tenderness of her face, she probably had a broken nose.

"All right, let's get this started," she heard Walker mutter.

Sarah tried to glare at him through her god eye, but the light was still making it difficult. The drugs had given her a piercing headache to go with it.

Sarah took a deep breath and focused hard on Walker. He was standing a few feet in front of her, holding something black and rectangular.

"Now... listen up. We want that metal bitch of yours. We know what she is, and what she's capable of… and I don't think you have the slightest clue. Oh, what's the matter, Sarah? You look surprised."

Truthfully, she was. She had just assumed this was all a ploy to get her son. What did they want with…

"You see, we've been watching you. Yes… we already know where you live, it wasn't difficult. So we know all about your little pet metal… She's a pretty one, ain't she? Just as pretty now as the day she came out of the box… Sickening what he does with it. Don't you agree, mommy?"

Sarah looked him straight in the eye. "I don't know. She's more human than some humans I've met," she spat out. She was surprised to find that she had actually meant it, too.

She wasn't surprised, however, when a fist made connection with her face.

"Shut up, bitch."

Sarah leaned against the armrest of the chair and spit out the blood that filled her mouth, but she barely had time to take a breath. Walker grabbed her by her hair and suddenly she was on the floor once again.

"Now here's where you come in..."

Three days later.

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

John sat on the front porch watching Savannah ride her bike in the street. It was a warm afternoon, and the sunshine felt good on his skin. He felt something rub up against his leg, and smiled when a gray furball jumped up on his lap.

"Hey, Dorothy," he muttered, scratching the kitten behind her ear. Movement around the side of the house caught his eye, and he turned to see Cameron walking up from the back yard, followed by Seth.

Wonder what they're up to, John thought to himself. He'd spent the majority of the last few days in the basement doing what he could to locate his mother (which admittedly wasn't much, but it kept is mind off of things). He didn't see Cameron much, other than when she'd come crawl in bed with him late at night. He knew she worked with Seth a lot, showing him the way "things were supposed to be done"… aka, the way Cameron preferred them to be done.

And that was all right by him. He trusted her.

He watched as Cameron stopped and said a few words to Seth. They both stood unnaturally straight and still, neither looking at each other as they spoke. It was odd watching the two cyborgs interact, especially Cameron. He wasn't used to seeing her in full machine mode. However, it surprisingly didn't disturb him. It was a part of who she was, and he accepted that.

Seth was apparently sent on a mission to collect the mail form the mailbox, leaving Cameron standing there watching Savannah struggle to pedal up the slight incline of the street. Her gaze traveled over to the porch where she found John watching her.

Unlike her steps from the backyard, as she walked over to him her gait was natural and relaxed. Her eyes scanned over him, taking in his introspective posture. She sat beside him on the steps and gazed at him quietly, reaching out to brush his arm with her fingers. She let them trail down his arm until she reached his hand, and entwined her fingers with his.

"Hi."

John smiled. "Hi yourself. What have you been up to?"

"Inventory. Packing. We won't be able to stay here much longer."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." John took his hand from hers and ran it through his growing hair. "Just not yet, we've been over this a dozen times."

"And that's about eleven times too many."

John turned to see his uncle walk out of the house, a stern look on his face. He was actually surprised Derek was home. He had been out day and night searching for the missing women, barely making appearances at the house to eat or sleep.

"We're only here because of you. We should have left a long time ago. Every minute we're here, the longer we're in danger. Especially you."

John looked away and ground his teeth together. He knew it was stupid to stay, but as long as they couldn't find his mother, he wasn't going to leave. Where would they go? Was anywhere actually safe?

He stood up and looked his uncle in the eye.

"You're free to go where you like. Nobody is keeping you here."

With that, he walked past him and back into the house, not even bothering to look back at Cameron.

John let the hot water pound on his back and the steam fill the shower. As much as he tried not to think, he couldn't help it when his mind wandered to the current situation.

His mother had been kidnapped, and after three days, they still didn't have a single clue as to where she was. He knew it wasn't safe to stay where they were. He knew his mother would have wanted him to leave; to go as far away as possible and forget about her.

He couldn't do that. He wouldn't. Why couldn't they understand that?

He felt a cold breeze against his skin and suddenly something was blocking the water. He didn't need to look to know what it was; the hand that traveled down his back was his answer.

He rested his forehead against the wall and sighed.

"I'm not being a very good leader, am I?"

Cameron remained quiet for a moment, before finally responding. "You're being John Connor."

John snorted. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cameron moved closer so that she could see the side of his face. She kept her hand on his back as she spoke softly.

"John Connor leads with his heart. He values the life of every single person, no matter who they are. He never leaves a man behind. He'll risk his own life to save others, no matter what the cost. He is the strongest person I know, and his soldiers look up to him with respect, even if they don't always agree with him."

John was quiet for several minutes, thinking about what she said. He knew she chose her words carefully, and that sometimes meant she left some things unsaid.

"What should I do?" he asked.

"You don't need me to tell you what you should do, John. You already know."

John's chin quivered and he squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself under control.

"I can't leave her, Cameron. Just like I couldn't leave you. I won't leave her. She would never stop to find me, and by God..." he pounded his fist against the wall. "I won't stop until I find her."

Cameron slid her hand up to his shoulder. "John…"

"I know. I know…" His voice cracked on the last syllable and he lost control. The tears began to flow down his cheeks as he took a choked breath.

Cameron's arms were instantly around him, holding him up with her strong arms as sobs racked his body. She let the emotion run its course, offering only silent comfort. It wasn't the first time she held John Connor while he wept, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Well, hopefully there won't be such a long break next time. We'll rescue Sarah in chapter 15, however, someone else might not make it through in one piece.