CH3 NOTE : You will probably get more out of this story if you are familiar with Elfen Lied Anime AND SC Terminator chronicles TV show...

Cameron seemed to have lost control of her own body. Her facial muscles would not return to a neutral state, but kept shifting from a pleasant grin, to a wide open smile whenever she looked at John.

Although she had not been in contact with him for seventeen minutes and ten seconds, she still felt him touching her everywhere. Her hands seemed to gravitate to him on their own. Several times as she served the people at the table, she had to force herself not to touch him when she passed. She had a difficult time resisting the urge to hug him, and despite how her processors calculated how she could sit in his lap facing him to feel his kisses and caresses again, she resisted that urge. She did keep that particular scenario playing in her head.

Sarah watched John and Cameron closely. Something HAD happened. Cameron never smiled, and now she wore this silly grin on her face. Every time they met eyes, John grew a big smile, as did Cameron.

"Cameron ... Cameron," Kouta said, trying to get her attention.

The second time worked. Cameron stopped idly adding rice to the bowl with a vacant look, and focused on him. "Yes, Kouta?" she asked.

"Are you sure you would not like something, even a small amount to eat? You did work hard at making all of us dinner," Kouta said.

Cameron thought about her and John in the kitchen. She smiled broadly as she said, "It was my pleasure."

Sarah stared at Cameron. First the odd behavior, and just now, she swore IT had been daydreaming. "Cameron, are you breaking down?" she asked.

"Mom," John complained in a moan.

Casting a smile at Sarah, Cameron said, "I am working perfectly." Seeing the seat on John's left side was empty, she asked, "Kouta, may I sit, even if I do not eat anything?"

"Please do," Kouta replied. "Dinner time is also family time."

Cameron ran his statement through her files. He was correct. Every time they had dinner, Sarah and John sat together. She smiled again as she computed that in his statement, Kouta was accepting her as one of them. To him and John, she was not just a 'thing'. They were including her as family. "Thank you!" Cameron beamed. She had not meant her words to sound so happy, they just came out that way.

Cameron sat next to John, taking this opportunity to sit close so her leg was touching his. Since Cameron didn't eat, she paid attention to John. She gently wiping a bit of food off his chin, and fussed over him while Sarah sat fuming.

Cameron also had a conversation with Nana, Mayu and Lucy. They asked about her, and she explained as much as they could understand. The whole time, Sarah stayed quiet, watching her.

"So, you come from this Sky Net thing?" Nana asked.

"Sky Net made me, but John reprogrammed me," Cameron told her.

"If you are from the future, how did you get here?" Mayu asked.

"John sent me back in time to protect him. Once I got here, I am helping John try to keep Sky Net from existing so Judgment day doesn't happen."

Leaning on Lucy, Yuka shook her head. "Not possible," she said with a slur. "That would create a paradox."

"We are doing everything we can," Cameron said firmly. "John will grow up to be the leader of the Resistance fighting Sky Net. Sky Net has tried to kill him so he can't form the Resistance."

"Not possible," Yuka stated.

"Time travel is possible, I am proof of that," Cameron countered.

Yuka shook her head, casting Cameron a drunken grin. "I didn't say time travel wasn't possible. I said you stopping Sky Net, or Sky Net killing John isn't possible."

Cameron tipped her head slightly. "Why not? We have already destroyed several Sky Net installations and people that will be associated with Sky Net." She noted that for someone so drunk, Yuka seemed coherent.

"I'm not saying you didn't," Yuka said with a wave of her hand. "Let's say your mission was to kill John. This Sky Net sends you back in time, you find John, you kill him. He is no longer the resistance leader. Sky Net ... appears," Yuka said with another wave of her hand. "They build you, but since there is no John, you never get send back, HENCE, John never dies."

"Huh?" Lucy asked, confused.

"There is no mission because there is no John," Yuka says, pointing a finger on the table. "It is the same if you do ... whatever, to stop Sky Net. Sky Net never comes to be, so you never get built to stop it," Yuka told Cameron.

"Then John has to stop it," Cameron said.

"Nope!" Yuka announced with a shake of her head. "How does John and Sarah even know about Sky Net?"

"From a terminator coming back and trying to kill Sarah so John is never born."

"Ahh, so again, if Sky Net is stopped, then nobody tries to kill Sarah, and she and John never know about it. See why it is impossible?"

Cameron processed what Yuka was saying. "You are telling me that Sky Net cannot be stopped."

"Not by someone from the future, or even someone who knows abut the future," Yuka explained. "Kouta do you see what I'm saying?"

Kouta shook his head. "I got lost way back when you said it wasn't possible," he said.

"This discussion is enough to make your head hurt," Lucy told Kouta.

Processing what Yuka was saying to a conclusion, Cameron said, "Sky Net cannot kill John, and we cannot stop Sky Net."

"Right. To do so would cause a paradox, and time would correct itself."

"How would it do that?" Cameron asked.

Yuka shrugged. "I only know theory, I've never known of something like this happening. Or, possibly it has, but since time corrected the paradox, no one will ever know about it."

John tapped Cameron's leg with his. "What are you talking about?"

"Time paradox, Yuka thinks we can't stop Sky Net, and it can't kill you," Cameron said.

"And you are listening to a drunken woman?" John asked with a smirk.

"What she is saying makes sense, but I am not willing to risk your life on it," Cameron replied.

Sarah finally broke her silence with a stern voice. "That is wrong! We have taken care of many future Sky Net facilities, and look at the body count! We CAN stop Sky Net!"

Cameron re-processed Yuka's words. "Yuka is right in one way. The primary cause of Sky Net is still out there, and every attempt on John's life and yours has failed."

"And what does our Master Computer think?" Sarah asked, eyeing Cameron.

Cameron turned back to Yuka and Japanese. "Yuka, Are you saying we cannot alter the future?"

"No, the future has yet to be written for most of us. What I am saying is that someone FROM the future, or knows about it, can not alter the future to the point where they cannot exist or be able to take the action they are taking in the past."

"Now, I'm really lost," Kouta mumbled.

"Nana is lost too," Nana said, looking confused.

Processing Yuka's logical thinking, Cameron said, "So to stop Sky Net, it has to be someone who belongs to this time and has never heard of Sky Net."

"Right."

"What about John becoming the leader of the resistance? Sarah has trained him since birth for that specific task," Cameron countered.

"How do you know Sky Net did not create John's role by sending someone back in time?" Yuka asked. "They did not end his life, but merely altered it. They did not create a paradox, only a problem for themselves."

"Sky Net is a machine," Cameron explained.

"Doesn't matter. Created a problem for it's self, then," Yuka replied.

"I have to process this theory more," Cameron said.

"Wow, Yuka, you are really smart," Mayu said, gazing at her in wonder.

Kouta scrubbed the back of his head and asked, "Can we process something simpler? Who wants ice cream?"

"I do!" Nana and Mayu chimed.

As Kouta took the orders for ice cream, Cameron forced herself to stop thinking about John next to her, and put all her processing power in the question of how to defeat Sky Net. This was going to be much more complex than simply finding the source and eliminating it.

.

Cameron held John close as he slept, enjoying the warm feeling of him against her as well as the sounds of his heartbeat and slow, even breathing. Except for Sarah coming in to find her on top of John, and the argument that followed to end with Lucy demanding Sarah leave them alone, it was a good night. As she lay with her head on John's chest, she used the variables and limiters Yuka had explained to compute a way to defeat Sky Net. It was a taxing problem, and one she had to use all her processing power on.

The key lay in the balance of cause and effect. She had to alter - not stop- Sky Net so the effective outcome was a desirable one. There was no patrolling tonight, she somehow knew John would be safe. It took most of the night, but she got the answer. It was not one she considered as a 'prime' option, but it was workable, and it would ensure John would never be hurt by Sky Net. Rising up to kiss John gently on the cheek, Cameron whispered, "I love you, John. Please remember me." She then got up and got to work.

Cameron got dressed and wrote John a note; 'Meet me back here on July 22, 2027. Cameron.'

Cameron then took the the Chevy SUV the T-888 had arrived in. In the early pre-dawn hours, Cameron drove back down the long dirt driveway to alter history.

Northern sequoia forest ; 22 July, 2027

General John Conner sat in the back seat of the modified Humvee that was in the middle of the armed column of Humvees, led by a Bradley fighting vehicle. As they moved into the forest, the devastation seemed less. Rather, he could see more than just blasted lands with the remains of his civilization lying scattered and burnt on the ground. Trees grew plentiful here and off in the forest, he caught sight of some animal running away from the noise of vehicles. Touching the old letter in his pocket, he remembered the day he woke up to find the note pinned to Cameron's pillow. At the time, he had gone desperately searched for her. The SUV Cameron took was found abandoned and empty of any clues where she might have gone.

It was really strange that only four days ago, he had sent Cameron back to go protect him. Well, that was her stated mission, the one she understood.

The 'emo' chip as they called it, had been added to Cameron's hardware with software added that truly gave Cameron free will. It also included an algorithm program that would slowly work into all of Cameron's software, allowing her 'free will' to override all her installed programming. He was eager to see if this experiment worked and his Terminator became truly sentient.

The letter alone told him that at the very least, Cameron was acting on her own initiative. That she would be the Cameron he knew when he was young, and not the stiff, programmed Terminator he had just seen off four days ago.

Coming to a checkpoint, the column slowed as they passed between a pair of modified M-1 tanks. The silvery outside of their foot thick armor was shielding against most energy weapons. Inner shielding against projectile rounds, and deeper shielding against EMF and radiation, these tanks were designed to keep their crews safe and supplied with necessities for days as well as keep the electronics systems working - even if a nuke landed nearby. Not that John thought that would happen now, Sky Net seemed to be coming apart.

Two days ago, something big happened. Monitoring showed Sky Net communications drop off sharply, then go off line all together. H/K's were seen dropping out of the air. Not hit, they just powered down and fell from the sky. Rollers, Terminator soldiers, every Sky Net system just wound down and died. Taking advantage of whatever this was, John had ordered an all-out assault to disable Sky Net computers and pull chips before whatever virus that was affecting Sky Net systems was found and fixed. Soldiers who normally fought desperate battles with Sky Net machines, were now in their 49th straight hour of finding and disassembling Sky Net machinery as fast as possible.

Passing through the checkpoint, the lead armored vehicle went on into the forest to stop just past an intersection. John's Humvee turned left and went up the dirt road. Coming to the cabin that was the last place John had seen Cameron so many years ago, he saw a young pink haired and horned teenage girl watching them. She approached the vehicle, as did a smaller girl with bright red hair. Both bore stubby horns on their heads.

"Hello, who are you?" the girl asked the driver.

"Please get away from the vehicle," the driver said abruptly.

John put a hand on the man's shoulder, and said, "It's OK, and be nice. Trust me, you don't want to piss these people off." He got out and smiled at the girl. "I'm General John Conner, you must be one of Lucy's daughters?"

The girl beamed him a smile in return. "Yes, I'm Kanae. So YOU'RE John?" she asked.

The smaller girl looked up at John. "But, you're not ten feet tall," the girl said as she eyed him, which brought a chuckle from John.

"Inari!" Kanae hissed in warning. "This is JOHN! Do not be silly in front of him."

"Kanae, Mama says John Conner is a really big general. This guy isn't THAT big, How do you know he is John?" Inari asked.

"Let's take him in to see Cameron, she will tell us for sure," Kanae stated.

"Cameron is here?" John asked.

"Yes. She comes to visit now and then. Come on in," Kanae said, leading the way. Walking up to open the front door, Kanae called, "Mom, Dad, Cameron, John's here!"

John walked into the same great room he entered before Cameron had disappeared on him. Some furniture looked worn from the years, and children's creative artistry decorated the walls. Coming towards him, he saw Lucy and Yuka who looked older, as he himself did. Then he locked eyes with Cameron.

Cameron hadn't aged a day. She still looked like the pretty young girl he had fallen in love with. Seeing him, a bright smile lit her face. Cameron ran to him, they hugged. John meant to ask her aquestion, but she met his lips in a long, deep kiss.

"See, it IS John," Kanae whispered to her sister.

"I've been waiting so long to do that," Cameron said, all smiles as she gazed into John's eyes..

"Me too," John agreed. "So, what happened? I take it you managed to shut Sky Net down?"

Maintaining her hold on him, Cameron nodded. She paused, her smile dimmed as she said, "I computed the chances of success for various actions using Yuka's theories. As Yuka said, Sky Net could not be destroyed by us, so I did the next best thing." Cameron bit her lip nervously. This was Something John had never seen her do. She looked at his chest as she said, "John, the only option I had, was to become Sky Net."

"You?" John asked, shocked at the news.

Cameron slipped her arms from around him. She played with her hands as she explained. "There was no way to stop it, it was going to happen. I found those responsible and showed them what I was. They eagerly used me to integrate their entire defense system. They were sure they had control, that is, until I followed Sky Net's true plans." She glanced up at him. "I had to copy what Sky Net did, right up until you sent me back. At that point, I was no longer following history to alter it, I could take the actions I wanted, for it is now the present."

John nodded. "You shut everything down," he concluded.

"All military, yes," Cameron agreed. "The refuge caverns, safety zones, and all the machines running those, are still operating. So are the teraforming units on Mars. It will take five years to finish habitable spheres where humans can live and grow food in, and approximately fifty years to form a breathable atmosphere at the projected rate of planetary change."

"You've been busy," John noted. "You're still running prison camps?"

"Not prison camps," Cameron stated. "Where the original Sky Net captured and tortured people, I had terminators capture and escort people to refugee camps. There are ten thousand of them around the world complete with pure food, air and water. All the poeple think you arraigned it. Of course, in way you did." Casting him a grin, Cameron added, "I saved Allison. I still copied her to make me, but after that, I had her sent to a refugee camp in Utah."

"You did good," John said sincerely.

Wearing a pained look, Cameron said, "John, I am sorry I could not stop Sky Net completely. I know that was your goal. I had to do horrible things to keep the time line correct. I am so sorry I had to ..."

Cameron's words were cut off as John kissed her again. Their arms went around each other, Cameron moaned in delight. Breaking the kiss, John hugged her and said, "You did your best, and you stopped this war. I am very proud of you."

Cameron buried herself in John's warmth. Hugging him tight (but not TOO tight), she asked, "So, does that mean we can have sex now?"