So, new chapter, a little later than i planned, but I hope it's still OK.

Beginning of the chapter is still happening in the spa, but the rest of it moves on. Perhaps you'll find some of Cameron's behavior in the first part of the chapter a bit odd, but you shouldn't forget that she's still evolving. Although it might have looked like she'd transformed herself into completely human behavior overnight, the fact is, she's still learning. And sometimes falling back a little happens. Even to the best.

Chapter 27 – Magical Evening

The two hours, which Sarah determined as the 'off' time for them, passed extremely quickly. Cameron and John were the first to return to their meeting point. Nothing surprising, considering that Cameron was monitoring the clock all the time and she definitely didn't want to be the late one. So they arrived from the sauna even five minutes too soon. However, Cameron decided not to sit or lay on her lounger, but opted for sitting at the edge of the pool with her feet in the water. It made her feel inexplicably good to simply put her feet in the water. John looked at her face, which glowed in satisfaction while she carefully observed the small waves she made with her feet and tilting her head curiously.

"I believe that I'm not wrong if I'd say that you like the water?" He sat down beside her, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, before she could turn it to face him.

She tilted her face towards John and beamed at him: "No, you're not wrong. I really like it." She paused, made some more waves and watched them with dreamy eyes. Then she turned back to look at her lover's smiling eyes: "I can't understand that I was so uncomfortable with it before."

John shook his head: "Well, I guess it's just like the prejudice that terminators are only killing machines."

"I don't see a connection between these two subjects." Cameron frowned at him and pouted a little, annoyed that she didn't understand the meaning of John's words. Being human is difficult. There are so many nuances in their speech, behavior that I'm not sure if I'll ever master them all.

"It's quite simple; almost everyone believes that a terminator is a mindless machine, set only to kill humans and nothing more. But the truth is completely different; just look at yourself, Cam. You are still a machine beneath your skin, but that doesn't make you a simple terminator. You're so much more and you're proving all those, who think only in terms of 'terminator equals killer', completely wrong. With your conviction that you cannot swim is just the same; you believed that you couldn't swim, without even trying to master it." John loved to explain such things to Cameron. He felt filled with pride as he looked into her eyes, gazing at him with understanding. The look on her face as she finally understood what he meant was priceless: thankfulness, happiness, adoration, all mixed in a beautiful cocktail of emotions, almost unbelievable to appear on the face of a machine.

She nodded happily: "You're right John. I was sure I couldn't swim, because everyone tried to convince me that I couldn't. But now … after I've seen that I can … I believe that there are more such convictions, which are probably completely wrong." She pressed her body to his and kissed him on a cheek: "Thank you for not seeing me just as a simple terminator."

"How could I? You've proved time and again that you're beyond any possible expectations for evolvement of a machine." He turned to her and captured her lips with his.

The kiss grew more intensive and they were once again beginning to lose themselves in it as an intrusive cleaning of someone's throat disturbed them.

"I thought you two could keep your hands off each other for a short time. I was obviously wrong." Sarah's irritated voice destroyed the last spark of magic, but caused them both to giggle in shame and blush a little before they turned to look at her. She stood like a tower over them with clenched fists on her hips and glared at them intensively. However, a small tug at the corners of her lips revealed that she didn't mean it just the way it came out. They also noticed Derek, standing a little behind Sarah, who looked at Cameron with clearly annoyed face, but decided to stay quiet and allow Sarah to settle the situation.

John coughed tensely: "Sorry, but we did keep our hands from each other. But if I'm not even allowed to kiss my girlfriend, then I'd better …" He trailed off, seeing Sarah grinning at him. So he turned to Cameron, just to see that she was grinning at him too, although because of completely different reasons. He exhaled, relaxed and grinned back.

"Then you'd better what, John?" Sarah didn't want to let go of this opportunity, but backed off quickly after John turned back to her with a hint of a dark look in his eyes, which however dispersed almost immediately. "OK, I get it." She sighed, knowing that she'd have to be really careful with her words for quite a long time. I have to remember not to tease him or, even worse, to say anything bad about tin miss. Funny, how quickly she ascended to the state of inviolability for John. "What have you two been doing?" Her voice revealed that she was really interested, not just being polite. Well, that is, if Sarah Connor ever was able to be polite.

"Cameron learned how to swim and then we were in the sauna …" John began to explain but Sarah interrupted him with wide eyes.

"She learned how to swim? But … but … she' can't! She said herself that she can't swim!" Sarah turned to Cameron, who looked at her with self satisfied smirk on her lips.

"I thought I couldn't swim." She explained laconically, but then she turned to John and smiled at him: "I also almost drowned …"

Again it was Sarah's turn to interrupt: "WHAT? You can't drown, you're a ma…" She clasped her hand over the mouth and looked at Cameron with clear fear in her eyes. She almost yelled the biggest secret out to anyone to hear. She muffled through her hand: "Sorry!"

Cameron nodded sympathetically and continued with absolutely innocent sounding voice: "But John showed me how to give mouth to mouth respiration and saved me." She grinned proudly, but her grin ebbed away slowly as she took in John's even redder face and his shaking head, Sarah's unbelieving eyes and Derek's suddenly much darker face.

"You're not helping, Cameron." John whispered into her ear.

"Oh! Sorry!" She was confused as why they all found it so odd that John showed her how to revive a drowning person and her eyes darted from one to another.

The awkwardness of the moment was luckily wiped away with arrival of Andrea and Tim. They strolled towards them, laughing and chatting amicably with each other. It was obvious that they had had a good time, but as they saw Cameron's confused look, John's blushed face, Derek's obvious bad mood and Sarah's state of shock, they stopped laughing and Andrea asked slightly confused: "Is something wrong? We're not that late." She obviously believed that the fact that they were almost ten minutes late was the reason for the awkward silence.

She was reassured as Cameron shook her head and looked at her, with still slightly confused expression: "No, it's not that. I was just explaining to Sarah how John taught me the mouth to mouth respi…"

"CAMERON!" It came at the same time from John and Sarah and Cameron's head bobbed from one to another.

Andrea suddenly understood the situation and grinned from ear to ear: "And what's wrong with that?" She looked at Sarah expectantly.

Before Sarah could answer, Cameron shrugged: "I don't know! I thought it was a good lesson how to save someone who's drowning."

Andrea nodded vividly: "Definitely! I'd also like to learn it." Her eyes involuntarily darted towards John, whose face was now turning a new shade of red.

Cameron noticed her look and her face darkened immediately: "Well, you're not going to learn it from John!" She linked her arm with John's possessively and showed unmistakably that she wasn't ready to share her John with anyone.

"Girls, girls … please!" Tim grinned but tried to calm the situation down before it could escalate further. Actually, Derek was the only one who looked completely unfazed by the conversation and found his nails extraordinary interesting at the moment.

John noticed too that it was time to hit the brake and gently squeezed Cameron's hand, which found its way into his and clutched to it harder than necessary. He looked into her eyes: "Cam, you're the only one whom I'll ever show it. I'm sure that Andrea didn't think that I should teach her. Right, Andrea?" He looked into Andrea's face.

She nodded forcefully: "Absolutely! My remark was meant in general. It would really be good to know how to help someone." She was a little surprised over Cameron's reaction, but understood her as well. Hell, if I'd be on her place, I'd probably react just as resolutely. Or even more. She turned to Cameron: "I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. I really wasn't thinking of John."

Cameron peered at Andrea for a second, but saw honesty in her eyes and her face lightened up: "And I'm sorry for overreacting." She could feel John's grateful squeeze and felt proud that she reacted the right way.

John sighed, relieved that the crisis was over before it really emerged at all. Somehow he was even grateful to Andrea and Cameron for this small announcement of a possible chicken fight for it took Sarah's focus away from the imminent problem. I don't even want to think of a chicken fight between Cameron and Andrea. It wouldn't last even a second. But Cameron really became more human than I could ever believe. Already! He looked at everyone: "I suggest we rest for few minutes and then we could return to our hotel, to do something else." He grinned at Cameron's again changed expression. She looked at him with lifted eyebrows. How can she express so much now, while only few months ago this beautiful face was just a blank mask. He was surprised that it was Cameron who asked the expected question.

"What would we do? I find it quite nice here and I don't know why I should return to hotel so soon." Her face betrayed her too badly. It was obvious that she didn't like the idea of leaving the spa already.

John swept his look over the others and noticed that he had their undivided attention. "Sledding!"

After few seconds of absolute silence, it was Sarah who found her voice back as first: "Sledding? Like riding a sleigh downhill at neck breaking speed? Like flying off in a curve? That kind of sledding?"

John nodded satisfied: "Exactly! That kind of sledding."

Cameron tried to find any information about sledding in her database and was soon successful. After she reviewed her information, a smile spread across her face. It's normally an activity for two. I could be quite close to John, without making anyone angry. She nodded to John: "I'd like to try it." Then she looked a little lost for a second: "But I'd like to be in a spa too." She turned to John, seeking for help.

John smiled at her: "We can return here tomorrow, Cameron. If you like it that much, we can come every day until the end of our vacation."

Cameron's face beamed again: "I'd like that!" She nodded.

"Actually, dude, it's quite a good idea." Tim nodded and pursed his lips. "There's a track beside the slope at the cabin lift and it's open until 23.00 hours. It's naturally illuminated and as I've seen before, it looks quite nice."

Andrea grinned: "Romantically! Just made for Cameron and John." She didn't miss Derek's rolling eyes and Sarah dark look, but chose to ignore the elders. They were on vacation and she decided that she'd enjoy it and wouldn't let anyone spoil it for her.

Derek turned to Sarah: "Are you really thinking of participating in such activities?" He didn't exactly know how to feel. On one hand he found the idea stupid, but on the other side it was appealing to him. He never tried sledding before. There was no snow in L.A. and definitely no snow after the bombs fell.

Sarah actually forgot that she should be angry with John and Cameron and turned to him: "Why not? I haven't tried it before and if I have the opportunity …" She turned to John and smiled at him: "I'm in!" Then she cast a quick glance towards Derek and turned back to John: "And this grumpy too!"

Derek opened his mouth to protest that she made a decision for him, but was silenced by Sarah's raised finger and stern look, so he changed his answer into: "Well, I guess, we could try it too." His voice was less than enthusiastic and he concentrated on his nails again to avoid looking at the others.

Andrea clapped and bounced:" YES! I like it. We're going too. Definitely!" She turned to look at Tim: "I guess you'll be forced to entertain your sister again, bro'!" She exploded into giggles.

Her giggles caused Tim to chuckle: "Oh, it could be worse. With you I'm at least getting something I know very well."

Andrea nudged him with her elbow: "You could probably ask one of those girls you were only minutes ago so focused on." She smirked.

Tim rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly: "They are not like I hoped they'd be."

Andrea frowned: "What do you mean?"

Tim grinned: "Their favorite occupation is shopping; their ideal guy is six foot 220 pound hairy muscle package." He shook his head: "I'm nothing of interest to them. And vice versa."

John and Cameron listened to them with clear interest while clutching to each other firmly. "So, I guess it's settled then. We'd like to rest for few minutes and after that, we'll return to the hotel to get ready." He turned to Cameron: "It's going to be very cold. You should take care to put on enough warm clothes." His hand gently caressed her arm.

Cameron smiled at him: "I will. I wouldn't want you to worry about me."

XXXXXXXXXX

About half an hour later they were already in the hotel. Andrea and Tim hurried to their hotel to get ready and promised they'd be back in twenty minutes. That left enough time to get ready without rushing anything.

John was the first to get ready and was now looking at Cameron, who was meticulously scrutinizing her choice of clothes. She opted for her snowboarder pants, a white sweatshirt with long sleeves and turtleneck, over which she put a thick woolen sweater in Norwegian design with little reindeer chasing each other all over it. John looked at her and found her incredibly cute in it. She noticed her stare and turned to him: "Am I dressed correctly?"

John nodded: "Absolutely. You look adorable." Then he frowned: "But you should put something over the sweater too. And don't forget the scarf, cap and gloves. I don't want you to catch cold."

Cameron smiled at him tenderly: "I can't catch cold John. We've been over this before."

"Still! You can feel cold and I don't want you to be uncomfortable." John insisted. He pulled her tasseled cap and gloves out of the closet: "I'm taking these. I have to hurry. Mom wanted to have a word with me in private." He frowned again: "I have absolutely no idea what she wants this time, but I'll humor her. Just don't wait too long. I want you down in five minutes to save me from the dragon mom."

Cameron grinned at his choice of words. She heard how on their way back from the spa Sarah said to John they'd have to have a quick word without hers or Derek's presence. She might not have agreed with it, but she knew that John and Sarah needed some privacy to improve their shattered relationship so she reluctantly agreed to let him go. "I'll come in five minutes. Not a second longer. You two better hurry with what you have to talk about."

John smiled back: "Thank you Cam. You're my savior again." Then he turned and left the room, taking Cameron's cap and gloves with him.

XXXXXXXXXX

After he arrived to the lobby, he saw that his mother was already sitting there and waiting for him. Her eyes swept over the place, subconsciously looking for any possible threats. He shook his head slightly. She's never going to relax. No one is ever safe. Not even from your attention, mom! He went to her and let himself sink in the soft armchair opposite her.

Sarah noticed his arrival immediately upon him exiting the lift and looked at him like a hawk, taking in his every move and expression. He's somehow more mature than only few days ago. Perhaps tin miss really isn't bad for him. Her thoughts were interrupted by John, who sat down in front of her and looked at her inquisitively.

"So, here I am, mom. What do you want to talk about?"

Sarah inhaled deeply and concentrated on the topic, she wanted to talk about. Ever since Derek told her about his interrogation in the future by Cameron, she felt the need to tell it to John. Lately perhaps less urgent, but still … "John, there's something you should know about Cameron and Derek."

John immediately understood what she was trying to tell him and in his thoughts he thanked Cameron that she already remembered the incident and also told him about it. So he grinned and interrupted Sarah: "If you think about the interrogation in the future, I already know it mom."

The impact of his words on Sarah was immediate and monumental. Her jaw almost hit the floor and her eyes widened uncontrollably. After initial shock she stuttered: "B … b … but? How? I had no idea until Derek told me."

John explained patiently: "Cameron has been having flashbacks recently. She remembers things from the future, which she shouldn't remember at all. And she told me everything she remembered."

"So you know that she tortured him?" Sarah's voice was suddenly angry and she stared at John coldly. "Did she tell you that she killed all the others from his team? Did she tell you that?"

John sighed: "She told me everything. Things that Derek doesn't even know too." Suddenly there was a sharp edge in his voice: "You have to know that it wasn't really Cameron who did those things. And yet she feels remorse for it. And no … she didn't kill the others. She allowed it to happen, because morality, sanctity of human life was a mystery to her at that time." He paused and looked at Sarah as angrily as she peered at him: "Did Derek also tell you that it was her, who put him on a longer chain? Did he tell you that it was her who gave him the axe to free himself? Did he tell you that she instructed all machines to let him return to the base? I guess not, because he had no idea that it was her, who actually saved him." His voice was quiet but cold, just like his eyes.

Sarah suddenly felt deflated like a plump tire. What if this is all true? She couldn't believe that Cameron would do such a thing. But it all added up perfectly. Everything Derek told her and John's story matched and completed the story smoothly. She opened and closed her mouth few times like a fish out of water, without making a single sound. She stared into Johns, now much warmer eyes, and tried to deal with the facts, he told her. Should she believe? Wouldn't Cameron lie to him, like she did numerous times before? She clung to this idea like a drowning person to a piece of wood. "John, you can't be sure that she told you the truth. She lied to you before."

John's eyes turned cold again and he shook his head in disbelief: "Yes mom, she lied before. But I know that she didn't lie to me in this matter. You haven't seen her while she told me. You haven't seen how scared she was that I wouldn't understand her. You haven't seen her tears."

Sarah saw absolute conviction in John's eyes and her belief that Cameron might have lied to him began to melt like snow on a warm spring day. She sighed and looked at her hands, which were laid in her lap with intertwined fingers, playing nervously. After a while she looked into her son's face again and saw that his coldness dissolved again. "I'm sorry John."

John's voice was genuinely curious: "What for?"

"For not believing you." She stopped and corrected herself: "For not believing in you."

John stared into her eyes for a long moment, trying to see if she was genuinely sorry or was it just a façade to distract him. He couldn't see anything but remorse and sorrow in them so he smiled briefly: "If you really believe me to be the one I'm supposed to be, you'll have to start believing in me and trusting my decisions. And you can as well start with trusting me that I'm right about Cameron."

Sarah nodded slightly reluctantly and opened her mouth to answer, but in that moment, Cameron appeared at John's side and put her hand on his shoulder. She saw how John's face instantly changed. The moment he looked at Cameron his eyes became warm and he smiled at her gently: "Hi!"

Cameron smiled back: "Everything all right?" Her eyes flickered towards Sarah questioningly and settled back at John's.

John nodded and put his hand over hers, still resting on his shoulder: "Yeah, everything's fine. My mom just informed me that Derek told her about the interrogation."

Sarah looked at Cameron carefully and she saw how some strange expression, just like fear, briefly showed on her face before she put on the blank mask again.

"Oh!" Cameron kept it short and emotionless.

John saw the brief subtle change on her face as well. Unlike his mother, he was able to explain it correctly. Cameron was afraid that their relationship might be influenced. He smiled at her reassuringly: "I explained it to her. Just like you did to me. Everything's fine now."

Cameron's eyes returned to look into Sarah's and slight hesitation and expectance could be seen in them. This time Sarah was sure that she saw it and she nodded: "Like John said. Everything's fine."

John squeezed Cameron's hand reassuringly and nodded to her sympathetically.

"I see that we're all here now." Derek's voice came from behind Cameron and as they turned to look at him, they saw, how he entered the lobby from the entrance, together with Andrea and Tim.

Sarah scrunched her forehead: "What were you doing outside? I thought I left you in the room."

"You did. But I got bored so I went outside to catch some fresh air and waited for Andrea and Tim to stop them, should they arrive early." Derek grinned at them, proud that he managed to sneak past his nephew and his mother without them noticing it. That he exited through the back door was a minor detail he decided to keep secret.

Sarah's eyes narrowed at him: "Right! And you simply sneaked past us without anyone of us noticing you. Do you really think that I believe you? I accidentally know that this hotel has back door too."

Derek's pride seemed to be brought back to reality and he sighed: "OK, guilty as charged." But then his face lit up again: "But I really prevented Andrea and Tim from disturbing you two."

Tim nodded: "Exactly. For once in the history we came early and we ran into him. I believed that we'd be early for the first time in my life and he stopped us." He shrugged: "Now the chance is gone and I won't be able to say that I did come early once." Then he grinned: "Never mind! It's my trademark that I'm always late."

John smiled and got up from his seat, handing Cameron her cap and gloves: "Let's go!" He waited for Cameron to put on her cap and couldn't help but admire her appearance again. She's too cute to be real! After she put on her gloves too, he caught her hand with his and pulled her towards the exit, not wanting to wait for the others.

XXXXXXXXXX

The stars shone from the clear sky like little dots, their pale light reflecting from the sparkling snow. The whole picture was somehow out of worldly and even Cameron was impressed by the serenity and beauty of the landscape. There were very little people on the streets and the lamps, throwing their yellowish light over the snow covered streets only added their part of magic to the nature. Cameron tilted her face to look at the stars.

"Do you like them?" John's quiet voice whispered into her ear.

She was little startled, but didn't show it. She turned to look at him: "Like what?"

"The stars." John's forefinger shot upwards to point at the night skies. "I saw how entranced you looked, gazing upon them."

Cameron's face returned to look upwards. After a second she nodded: "Yes. There are no stars in the future. Pity. They are so beautiful."

Johns hand let loose of her and his arm snaked around her waist to bring her closer to him: "Then you should enjoy them as much as you can." He tilted his face to look at them too, but after few steps almost stumbled, so he returned his look towards the street below. "But they are also dangerous if you pay them too much attention." He grinned at his clumsiness.

Cameron put her arm around his waist too and closed her eyes: "Not if you are being guided by someone. Someone you love and trust completely." A content smile appeared on her face.

John looked at her and suddenly felt like being thrown into a fairy tale. Her beautiful face was still tilted upwards but her eyes were closed. The soft light of the stars and street lamps illuminated it and changed her features into a magical appearance. Breath caught in his throat at the sight before his eyes and his heart skipped a beat. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world." His murmured words weren't supposed to be heard by her, but, again, he underestimated her abilities.

Her eyes opened and she looked at him dreamily: "Why?"

John shook his head upon his own stupidity for not knowing that she heard everything and grinned: "To have you, Cam."

For a second Cameron contemplated his words but in the next second she beamed at him: "Thank You John. And I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have you." She stretched to him and gave him a gentle kiss.

John chuckled quietly: "I believe that this is the first time that you refer to yourself as a girl and not as a machine."

Cameron gave him a ghost of a smile and tilted her head towards the stars again: "It's the first time I feel like one."

TBC