Sorry for the long delay. The story is slowly closing in on its finale with just few things left to be wrapped up. This chapter should answer some questions from the previous one(s).

Chapter 12

This time Cameron ignored all traffic regulations and drove like all the hell's furies would be hot on their tails. She occasionally looked into the mirror to see how Danny was doing and her eyes always met Sarah's, who was trying to put pressure on the wound to at least partially stop the bleeding. Both women looked concerned and didn't spoke at all. It was the matter of minutes if he would make it or not and Sarah showed it clearly with barely visible headshake every now and then.

John looked straight through the windshield and seemed to have zoned out for a moments. He was still reliving the events of the past hour, especially the deaths of three of his soldiers. He knew that he couldn't do anything about it, but he still felt guilt for being the one who lead them to their deaths. They knew all what they were doing and they were prepared for possible death. Even though he was well aware of the truth in this thought, it didn't make him feel any better.

"John?" Cameron's soft inquiring voice brought him out of his reveries and he turned to look at her.

"He's going to make it." Cameron didn't wait for his acknowledgment and tried to reassure him. She noticed his state of mind and did what she could in present situation.

"I hope so, Cameron. It would be shame to lose him too. We've lost so many good men today and …" He trailed off for a second before continuing: "It so unfair! He was just doing his job, something that he's good at and got shot. So damn unfair!"

"Everything's unfair, John. Skynet itself is unfair!" Sarah chimed in from the rear seat with tired voice. But then her voice lightened a little: "But we kicked its ass, didn't we?"

John nodded with a sad smile: "We did. I'm just sorry that we had to pay so high price for it."

Suddenly his earpiece came to life. "Drive directly to Zeira headquarters!" Catherine's voice was calm, but not as cold as it used to be.

"Why?" John wondered. Danny needed immediate medical attention and he was set on the nearest hospital in the area to get the best possible help for him. He knew that there would be questions asked, but he'd deal with them when it came to it.

"I've got a very well equipped medical facility and doctors, who ask no unnecessary questions there." Catherine explained crisply.

John's face lit up in recognition: "Oh, OK. We're on our way there." He turned to Cameron, but she just nodded, having heard the discussion.

XXXXXXXXXX

The car tires screeched on the tarmac as Cameron came to halt in the Zeira underground garage. There were already three people waiting with a gurney and John shook his head slightly: "Catherine really thinks of everything."

"So do I." Cameron's voice sounded a little hurt and it caused John's head to jerk into her direction.

"Of course you do, Cameron! I didn't want to hurt you." He hurried to explain to Cameron and saw how a tiny smile formed on her lips. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

For a second Cameron nodded with a small smile but then got serious again. She stopped exactly at the waiting group, killed the engine and was out of the car in a second. With the help of the three people, they quickly but carefully pulled Danny out of the car and put him on a gurney. Not half a minute after they entered the garage, they were already taking Danny away.

As soon as they vanished into the elevator, the other two cars arrived and everyone still alive jumped out.

Derek hurried to Sarah's side and ran his eyes over her appearance worriedly. "Is this ...?"

Sarah gave him a small reassuring smile: "No, it's not my blood, it's Danny's."

"Thanks god! I was already afraid something happened to you, seeing you so covered in blood." Derek sighed relieved. Then his eyes finally took in Cameron's ragged appearance: "What about you, Cameron?" There was genuine concern in his voice.

Cameron managed to hide her surprise upon his worry for her well and she answered to Derek, as well as to John, who was looking at her inquiringly, probably thinking in the same line of thoughts as Derek: "I'll be fine, once the bullets have been taken out."

"Good! How about Danny? Is he going to make it?" Derek somehow liked the young man who saved him from death.

"He's on his way to the surgery. We'll know more soon." Catherine joined them and answered instead.

In this moment John noticed Chris and Isabel, exiting the car. It was obvious that Isabel broke down during the drive. Her cheeks were wet and red rimmed eyes witnessed her mental state all too good. She clung to Chris like to a lifeline. John already started towards them, but Cameron held his arm gently but firmly. As he turned towards her, wondering why she stopped him, she shook her head slightly: "I don't think that she would appreciate you seeing her in such vulnerable condition. She's a proud woman and wouldn't want to feel so exposed towards her commanding officer."

"But, Chris is with her?" John didn't understand exactly why Cameron stopped him.

"He's just a friend, not a commanding officer, John. You and I, we are the ones she doesn't want to see her like that. We should leave her a little time. I'll go to her later when she's over the first shock." Cameron explained patiently.

Sarah looked at her daughter in law with wide eyes: "Since when do you feel empathy, Cameron?"

"I actually do not except towards the ones I love and consider my friends." Cameron explained dryly. She still didn't care very much about humans if they didn't have any connection to her. John, Sarah, Chris, even Derek, Danny, Isabel … for them and very few others she felt friendship or love. Not the same for all, for John was something entirely different than the others. But she liked them all nevertheless and also cared for them.

Meanwhile Chris and Isabel joined them. It was obvious that Isabel was trying to look hard, but failed miserably. Her sad eyes still spoke volumes about how she felt. But, before she or Chris could say anything, John cut in: "Chris, please take Isabel to our safe house. We'll just wait to see what is going on with Danny and will join you soon."

Chris understood instinctively that John wanted Isabel to be alone for a while and nodded affirmative: "OK, we'll be right on our way." Then he remembered: "What about … our deceased friends?"

John turned towards Catherine and spoke to her: "I suppose you have some kind of cold chamber here too. We should put them in there until we can properly burry them."

Catherine gave him a nod: "Sure, I'll arrange for them to be taken there immediately." She stepped few steps away and started talking on her phone.

After Catherine stepped aside, John turned to Chris: "We'll take care of everything. They'll get the proper burial, just like they deserve." His face reflected his sadness but also anger; anger that the destruction of Skynet decimated his team so terribly.

Chris was reassured now and turned to Isabel: "We'll wait just until they bring the bodies away." His voice sounded thick with regret.

Isabel just nodded and remained silent, hanging her head and looking at the floor. She didn't trust her voice so she opted for the silence.

Just few minutes later a group of men with three gurneys arrived and took the bodies of fallen comrades. As soon as they vanished, Chris and Isabel returned to one of the cars and drove off.

John's look followed them until they disappeared through the door, then he turned to Cameron and sighed: "I think that we should bring the one person who could help Isabel now." Without waiting for her answer, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After a short wait, the connection had been established and he spoke quietly: "Tim? Hi, John here. We're back and I think that Isabel really needs you right now. She's on her way to the mansion. Could you please …" It seemed that Tim was getting upset. "No, she's physically OK, but she definitely needs a shoulder to cry on. No, I can't explain everything to you, you'll find out when you're there." He waited a second before concluding: "OK, we'll see you later. Bye."

Sarah looked at her son with dangerously wet eyes: "You did the right thing, John. She needs someone who loves her right now."

Cameron smiled at her husband gently and reached for his hand, not saying anything, just squeezing it gently letting him know that she appreciated his action.

"Let's check upon Danny now, before we go home too. You need to be taken care of too." John's eyes took in Cameron's bullet ridden torso in again. He shook his head, sighed and pulled her towards the exit from the parking lot.

XXXXXXXXXX

"And it really doesn't hurt?" John's voice expressed his worries while he pulled another bullet from Cameron's back. They returned from the Zeira building ten minutes ago and He immediately led Cameron to their room, leaving her no time or space for objecting. John was adamant that he had to take care of his wife and take all the bullets out before doing anything else.

Cameron, sitting in front of him, clad only in her panties, smiled and turned her head to look at him: "Really, John. I've told you few times already that I can control pain. I feel it, but it doesn't bother me. I'm not as fragile as an average human girl."

"Sure, I know it, but I still don't have to like it. I'm using tweezers to pull the bullets out of my wife's body! Jesus!" John grinned relieved. He pulled another bullet out of her flesh and threw it in a metal container, where it clung aloud, joining the others in there. He carefully scanned her back and was satisfied to see that he took all the bullets out. "Now turn around!" He commanded softly.

Cameron obeyed without objections. She could take out the rest of the bullets alone, but she somehow enjoyed the attention she got from John. Sometimes it's nice to have help. Her own words from long time ago came back and she smiled slightly at the memory.

"What? Why are you smiling?" John looked surprised into her face. How could she smile while he was pulling the bullets out of her body? Sure, she said she could control pain, but still …

"I just remembered that it's sometimes nice to have help." Cameron answered quietly, wondering if John would catch the meaning and the implications of her words.

John looked lost for a second, but then his eyes lit up in recognition: "Like when I tried to fix your arm? Or when you wanted to make me a sandwich?"

Cameron nodded: "Exactly!" Then she looked at her thigh. The bullet that the man who killed William fired at her made a huge hole in it and she felt that it made much more damage than it should. "I think that this bullet was different."

"Different how?" John then looked at her thigh too and his eyes widened. He hadn't taken a good look at this wound before and seeing the large gaping hole in his wife's thigh shocked him. "Shit! That's one hell of a hole!"

Cameron tried to probe inside the hole with her finger, but before she could even stick it into the hole, she found her hand being swatted away by John's hand: "Cam! Don't do that!" His voice was exasperated and a little angry, his eyes glaring at her.

She just looked up at him in confusion: "I believe that the bullet is embedded just next to my endoskeleton. Quite deep."

"It doesn't matter! I'll take care of it!" John took the small lamp and pointed it towards the hole, looking very closely. "Damn! It's really big!" After few seconds and few different view angles, he exclaimed: "I think I see it!" He reached for the long-nosed tweezers and probed the hole. His eyes almost subconsciously turned to Cameron's brown ones, as if he would question her again if it hurt. After few seconds he managed to pull out a deformed bullet, already at first sight different than the others.

Cameron took it from the tweezers and took a good look at it: "It's armor piercing bullet."

John cursed under his breath: "Now I understand how Danny and William could get shot despite their flak jackets. But why having such ammunition? It's completely unnecessary for protecting the facility from attackers."

"Maybe they weren't there to shoot at humans. Maybe they were there to protect humans from the machines?" Cameron guessed.

"You could be right. They probably didn't trust the machines completely and had guys with right ammunition to disable them." John nodded and his eyes widened: "SHIT!" His mouth remained open as he stared into Cameron's eyes in complete shock.

"What?" Cameron was surprised by his reaction and she looked into his shocked face, saw how he gasped for air.

"He could have killed you! You could have been hit differently and could have died!" Sudden recognition that his wife just barely escaped at least heavy damage if not even death finally settled in.

Cameron looked unimpressed, although she was a little taken aback: "I'm here John and that's all that's important."

John threw his arms around her and pressed her to himself: "Damn, Cam! I nearly lost you and you're being so unshakably cool." He crashed his lips on hers and after a long kiss backed away a little: "And that's why I love you even more." Then he extricated himself from Cameron's arms that snaked around him during the kiss too: "Now let's finish this."

"Why? Are you uncomfortable with me almost naked?" Cameron gave him a sly smile and breathed the words out highly seductively.

"No, I'm uncomfortable with my wife being full of holes and bullets." John deadpanned and continued to pull out the bullets from her front side, taking good care not to touch her breasts, which seemed to have magnetic powers and pulled his eyes ever so often towards them. Now was not the time for sexual desires, now was the time for helping his wife get the bullets out.

"There, the last one!" He sighed after he extricated the last bullet from Cameron's chest and threw it to the others. He leaned over the container: "Ten." He turned back at his wife, who was already bandaging the wounds on her front side. "You've got shot ten times, Cameron! Didn't I tell you to take care not to get hurt so heavily?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't plan on getting shot ten times, John." Cameron looked at him, giving him her puppy dog look.

"Don't look at me that way!" John warned her, but already felt how his heart began to melt.

"Why not?" Now Cameron even pouted a little, while still giving him that look.

"Because you know exactly that I turn into goo when you look at me that way."John grinned but got serious almost immediately thereafter, being mighty proud of his own ability to withstand his wife's most powerful feminine weapon. "Cameron? Do you think that we managed to avert the Judgment day?"

Cameron thought for a moment, put on her bra and then looked directly into John's eyes: "I don't know John. It might be inevitable that some day it will occur. But we definitely postponed it for a very long time."

John nodded resigned: "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sooner or later someone will try to do the same all over again." He looked at her: "But I'd like to think that the deaths of our friends were not in vain."

"They were not in vain, John." Cameron leaned forward and pulled John into embrace. She leaned her head against his shoulder, slowly caressing his back with her hands. "We saved billions of lives today. We destroyed everything that could evolve into Skynet." She paused for a while before continuing: "John Henry will keep a vigilant eye on everything and will inform us, should anything suspicious arise."

John also leaned his head against her bare shoulder, burying his face into her brown locks inhaling her scent in. "We're lucky to have him, right?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Yes, we are." Cameron confirmed and nodded against his shoulder.

They remained tightly hugged for few minutes, just enjoying the closeness and saying nothing. Finally John leaned slightly back and looked into Cameron's questioning eyes: "We should take care of Isabel. She has no one left."

Cameron smiled at him gently: "I will. We will. But you're wrong. She has someone left. Quite a few in fact." She looked at John's raised eyebrows before continuing: "She has you and me, she has Sarah and, most of all; she has Tim."

"Right!" John nodded and pulled her back closer, his hand gently stroking her hair.

XXXXXXXXXX

Isabel sat on her bed, her eyes unfocused, not seeing anything. In her mind she relived the moments as all her friends from the future died. But her eyes were already dry. She'd probably cried all the tears she had.

She didn't even acknowledge the soft knock on the door. Whoever it was, they would sooner or later give up and go away. She wanted to be alone now. But the person on the other side of the door was obviously very persistent and didn't give up. After the knocking became more and more loud, she finally gave up: "Come in."

The door opened and she saw Tim, standing there, eyes wide and sadness written all over his face. In the moment she saw him, she reconsidered her wish to be alone. She just lifted and opened her arms towards him and he understood it immediately.

Dashing across the room, he felt like it would take him an eternity to reach the woman he came to love so suddenly. He ran into Chris after he arrived at the mansion and he told him what happened. Now his most important task was to be by her side and do everything in his power to console her.

He enveloped her into a tight hug, whispering his sorrow about what happened into her ear, feeling how tiny drops of moisture slipped down his neck. Yes, Isabel might have thought that she'd cried all the tears before, but now she had been proved wrong. She still had tears to cry. A lot.

They stood there in intimate, yet so comforting hug for what it seemed like hours, even though it was just few minutes. Finally Isabel let go of the tight embrace and pulled back a little. She suddenly felt ashamed that Tim saw her so vulnerable. "I'm sorry."

"For what, Isabel? For being sad because so many people you loved died? Or because you are mourning their deaths? Don't Isabel! Don't ever be sorry for something like that. You should mourn them, you should keep them in your heart. I just want you to know that I'm here for you. Anytime, anyhow." Tim was never good at consoling a sad woman, but this all came completely natural to him. The words, dictated by his emotions, slipped down his tongue almost automatically, without thinking.

Isabel finally raised her eyes to look into Tim's face. His eyes expressed such affection and love that she shivered slightly. "I'm all alone. In a strange time. Not my time. Without my big brother." She sobbed.

Tim stroked her black hair gently: "No, Isabel, you're not alone. You have me; you have John, Cameron… We're your family. And we all love you."

Isabel's eyes looked at him almost hopefully and after one final ragged sob, she whispered: "Do you mean it, Tim?"

Looking into her desperate, yet hopeful eyes, Tim couldn't help but feel like he'd just assigned himself a lifetime mission; making Isabel happy. "Yes, Isabel. I meant every word of it. I'll do anything to make you happy."

Isabel's lips now finally curled into a small albeit sad smile before Tim's ones gently landed upon them and she closed her eyes. The pain was still there, it would always be there, but she now knew that she had someone to lean on in her darkest as well as in happiest hours. She pulled Tim closer to her body.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sarah paced around her room like a wild beast in the cage. During the drive to Zeira Corporation she was busy worrying for Danny and had no time to think about what happened at the destroyed Kaliba building. But now, after she was sure that Danny was in good hands and she was back home, she had time to think about everything that happened just short time ago.

Everything came back, especially the last moments as she and Derek pumped Jeremiah full of bullets. She never before felt such blank rage at anyone. Even destroying Skynet was more anticlimactic than killing the man, who organized their torture, the man who wanted to kill her and Derek.

"Calm down, Sarah. Everything's over now. We won." Derek, sitting on the chair close to the balcony door was looking at her with furrowed brows and decided that it was finally time to stop her. For the last ten minutes he silently watched her pacing and was now sick of it. He had hoped she would calm down, but it only seemed to get worse, so he had to intervene.

Sarah knew that Derek was right, but right now she was too upset to listen to anything he could say to her. She turned to him with burning eyes: "I can't believe that he was there too! How could he!" She broke off and kept silent for few moments before forcefully calming down a little: "I'm so glad that we finally paid back to that son of a bitch for what he did to us."

Derek's eyes widened for a second before he got his surprise under control. He believed that Sarah was upset because of Skynet, but he had just been taught that his assumptions were wrong. It was Jeremiah that made her so agitated. "He was directing the whole operation, I guess. And yes. We paid him back. With interests." He grinned evilly. He couldn't deny the fact that he felt grim satisfaction upon being able to fill Jeremiah's body full of bullets. For what he did to Sarah.

Sarah finally calmed down enough to stop and she looked at Derek a bit calmer. Then her lips suddenly turned up into a small ironic smile: "I believe that we shocked everyone in there, didn't we?"

Derek looked at her confused: "What do you mean?"

"As we riddled that pig full of bullets. I saw John's expression. He was completely taken aback with our reaction." Sarah's voice was carrying traces of amusement and embarrassment.

"Oh, that!" Derek's face lit up. "I guess so. But I think that they won't resent us for it. After all … we saved the day, didn't we?" He grinned smugly before getting up and stepping over to Sarah.

"Kind of." Sarah nodded and then her look fell to her clothes, still smeared with blood, Danny's blood. "Look at me! I'm still covered in blood and none of it is mine." She shook her head and lifted it back to look into Derek's eyes.

Derek was now standing just inches away from her and his eyes got some strange look. "I thought that it was your blood. Back there. In the garage. I feared …" He swallowed hard. "I feared for your life." He explained with a sigh, his voice quiet and barely noticeably quivering.

Sarah wanted to give him her usual flippant answer, but reconsidered upon seeing his eyes. She suddenly fell silent sensing his relief that she was OK and they stared deeply into each other's eyes for few seconds. Their faces slowly neared and before they were aware of it, their lips met in an insecure, tentative kiss.

Sarah closed her eyes and her mind went blank for few seconds. She never even believed that she would feel anything for Derek Reese, apart from her usual nagging attitude towards him and her constant annoyance over his sometimes questionable deeds and thoughts. But now, now she suddenly felt like kissing him was the right thing to do. His lips on hers were soft and she suddenly felt like she would be missing something before.

After they broke the kiss, they remained standing there, gazing at each other, both slightly insecure and yet tempted to repeat it.

"What the hell was that?" Sarah's inquisitive, yet gentle voice penetrated Derek's slightly foggy mind.

He shook his head free of the rolling mist in it and grinned at the Connor matriarch: "I think that they call it a kiss, Sarah."

"Don't try to be a smart ass, Derek!" Sarah warned him not all too seriously. "We have Cameron for that purpose."

"Oh yeah … a terminator that actually manages to be funny sometimes. The Skynet definitely turns in its grave. It surely didn't want its creations to be comedians." Derek chuckled gently and got serious again: "I don't know about you Sarah, but I wanted to kiss you for a very long time now."

Sarah looked lost in her thoughts for a second before answering: "To be honest … I never thought of it, but now that it happened … hell, it's not exactly wrong." She looked into his eyes. "But don't gain too high hopes, Reese."

Derek grinned wider and shook his head: "I know you too good to be expecting you to wake some false hopes in me, Sarah. But … let's see how the things evolve, shall we?"

Sarah nodded: "Let's find out."

XXXXXXXXXX

The only person who wasn't in their room at the moment was sitting on the bench in the garden, staring up into the sun, squinting his eyes almost shut not to get blinded by the burning ball of gas high in the sky.

Chris was sitting there alone. Everyone else had someone to share these moments with, but he wasn't too sad that he had no one. He was used to be alone and the friends they just lost in the battle were all very new to him and he hadn't got exactly attached to anyone of them. Not that he would have real friend before … he had none and perhaps the closest person to a friend would be Cameron. He quietly snorted in silent amusement. It took a machine from the future to make friends with him; a supposedly unfeeling terminator, created to kill humans, who turned into something quite the opposite.

He smiled slightly and closed his eyes completely. Cameron was right! I really feel better now that I know that Skynet is no longer a threat. He remembered a short talk he had had with Cameron just the other night about how would it be when they managed to destroy the AI. She told him in her usual deadpan that he would appreciate the fact that the murderous AI would finally be defeated.

He was sad for all the souls they just lost, of course, but his heart still swelled with happiness that they succeeded in their quest and that he was able to help them. Slowly the realization of what he had just witnessed dawned on him. They saved billions of lives, they prevented the world wide holocaust, and they stopped the downfall of the human race. If that wasn't something worth being happy upon?

He suddenly asked himself what he would do now. And the instant answer was almost as clear as the blue sky above him; he would try to help the Connors, he would help to keep the world safe and at peace. His knowledge would surely be useful to them or Catherine Weaver, right?

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that's good news indeed." John sighed relieved. He sat on the couch, Cameron curled into his side and he looked at Catherine Weaver, John Henry and Savannah who were sitting on the opposite couch. They arrived few minutes ago and informed them that Danny would make it and that he wouldn't suffer any consequences. Even though he didn't like the young man too much as they met after he saved his mother and uncle from the Kaliba group, he slowly changed his mind, seeing his dedication to the cause. The other members of his team were still in their rooms and John had no intentions to call them now. He had some questions for Catherine Weaver, questions that he preferred to ask in more private atmosphere.

Savannah was sitting by Catherine's side and folded her hands neatly in her lap, looking slightly embarrassed to be among grown-ups as the only child. Every now and then she cast a questioning look at Cameron and gave a cyborg girl a shy smile. Cameron already noticed her looks and smiled back at the little girl every time she looked at her. She didn't need long to add this little human child to the persons she liked. She could see that the 'daughter' of Catherine Weaver was somehow fascinated by her and she kept on asking herself what could be the reason for it. But she found no plausible explanations. Maybe I'll have to ask John why Savannah seems to like me.

John then turned to John Henry, who was sitting stiffly on the other side of Savannah: "John Henry, there's something that bothers me. How could you not have noticed the two men who shot at Danny and killed William? You never gave us a warning. And the same happened with this guy, Jeremiah. He was suddenly there, without you making us alert. In each and every other situation you informed us in advance about the whereabouts of the enemies."

John Henry even managed to look a bit embarrassed before he answered: "I'm sorry John. I didn't track them before they appeared. Afterwards I analyzed the situation and there's only one explanation that makes any sense. There were obviously two different rooms in the building, missing from the grid and shielded from sensory activity, even with hidden entrances that could not be noticed on the surveillance cameras. I noticed the people as they exited the rooms, but then it was already too late. The two men, whom you shot at the server room, were in such a room that was only two meters away from the entrance where you terminated them. I checked the video footage thoroughly and no entrance door to that room could be seen on it. And Jeremiah appeared out of the shielded room just a second before you ran into him."

John nodded at the explanation: "I guess that it makes sense. They were obviously prepared to intervene should they be needed."

"I'm really sorry, John. If I could detect them sooner, maybe your man wouldn't have been killed and Danny wouldn't have been shot." There was genuine regret in John Henry's voice.

"You did everything you could, John Henry. I hold no grudges against you. It was a risky operation and shit happens. There's nothing we can do about it now." John reassured John Henry that he had no reasons to feel guilty for William's death.

John Henry's lips curled into a small smile before he nodded to John.

Meanwhile Savannah pulled at Catherine's sleeve gently and as her 'mother' bowed to her she whispered something into the machine's ear. Catherine looked slightly perplexed but then nodded to the little girl. It seemed as if Savannah would only be waiting for this sign, for she jumped to her feet and scooted around the club table between the two couches towards Cameron. As soon as she reached her, she stopped and suddenly looked ashamed. She crossed her arms behind her back and looked at the floor for a moment, obviously gathering her courage to say something and after few seconds she raised her head again and looked into Cameron's eyes.

John looked at the little girl curiously and as his eyes turned to Cameron, he saw a slightly confused expression on his wife's face. Oh dear, something is going to happen to Cam that she has no clue how to react to. He smiled inwardly at the thought.

"Would you play with me, Cameron, please?" Savannah finally managed to express her wish and looked pleadingly into Cameron's eyes.

That was definitely something Cameron didn't expect and she had absolutely no idea how to react to the plea. On one hand she wanted to please the little girl, but on the other, she was completely clueless as how to do it. So she turned her deeply confused eyes to John as if seeking help from him.

John smiled slightly as she turned to him, her face resembling a giant questioning mark. He knew that she was completely helpless in this moment. She never had to do anything with children and she didn't know how to play. He stayed silent for a second or two, before smiling wider at his wife and turning to Savannah, who was standing there, expectantly looking at Cameron. "I'm sure Cameron would love to play with you, Savannah, but the thing is … you know … she doesn't know how to play."

Savannah's face now stretched into a flabbergasted expression before she answered John: "But … everybody knows how to play?" Her huge eyes flickered back to Cameron's face and then settled her gaze at John, awaiting his explanation.

John's smile grew wider as he shook his head and squeezed Cameron's hand, which suddenly found itself in his. He somehow suspected that Cameron was seeking his help in this matter, the matter that made her feel insecure. And if Cameron hated anything than it was feeling insecure. "Maybe, but Cameron is very special. She never had a chance to learn how to play. But I'm sure that you can teach her, right, Savannah?"

Now Savannah's face lit up in recognition and she nodded eagerly: "Of course! I'd love to teach her. I know so many nice games to play." She softly giggled and turned her eyes to Cameron again.

Cameron finally tore her eyes from John, looked at the little girl, almost bouncing in front of her in anticipation, just to turn back to John again. Confusion vanished from her face, but she still looked at her husband questioningly.

John leaned to her and whispered in her ear: "Humor her, Cameron. I'm sure you could learn something new from her. Just be yourself and allow her to teach you."

"But my place is by your side, John." She tried to object weakly, but knew that it wasn't exactly something John would accept. So she wasn't surprised as he shook his head and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be fine, Cam. Go to our room and I'll join you shortly, OK?"

Cameron now had no further reason to ignore Savannah's plea and she nodded to her husband, before turning to Savannah again: "OK, let's go."

Savannah jumped on place from enthusiasm as she saw Cameron rising from the couch and heard her words, they should go to their room. "Yes! I'll teach you many nice games!"

As soon as Cameron was standing, Savannah grabbed her hand and looked up at her chestnut orbs with almost adoring eyes. The cyborg girl suddenly felt how something warmed up in her and she smiled at Savannah, starting towards the stairs and pulling the little girl behind.

Savannah didn't hesitate and followed Cameron eagerly, hopping merrily.

As soon as they vanished up the stairs, John turned to Catherine and caught her looking after Savannah with clear emotions mirroring in her eyes. It actually surprised him to see the liquid metal terminator express so many feelings towards a human child. Maybe she's not as cold as she pretends to be? Maybe she's just like Cameron and is only hiding her true emotions because the humans don't expect her to have them at all and she doesn't want to disappoint them in their conviction?

Catherine's eyes abruptly turned to John and as she saw his face, she shrugged. A human gesture, slightly awkwardly executed, but nonetheless … "I like Savannah and I'd do anything to protect her."

John nodded and hesitated for a second before he asked the question that was on his mind ever since he met this machine: "May I ask what happened to real Catherine Weaver?" He half expected Catherine to dismiss his question and not answer him at all, but on the other hand he also expected her to tell him she killed the human version of herself. Or better to say … he feared such an answer from the liquid metal terminator.

Catherine looked at him stoically before answering: "I ran into her and her husband after they had a helicopter accident. They were both already dead before I arrived to the crash scene. So I assumed her appearance, believing that their daughter would be better off with just a mother than with just a father."

John was relieved that she didn't kill her human double, but upon hearing this explanation, another question arose. "How did you know that they had a daughter?"

"I've been watching the family for a while before. I decided to come back in time to protect their work and stop Skynet from being created, so I had to get to know them better before I had to interfere."

"Wait a minute! You haven't been sent back? You came to this time out of your own free will?" John was now definitely astonished.

"Yes. The Zeira Corporation has been working on an AI project before and I returned to this time to assure that the project wouldn't escape the control and mutate into Skynet." Catherine's voice was calm and controlled, flat and emotionless. Then she turned to look at John Henry, not without certain pride in her eyes: "As you see, I succeeded."

"Wow!" was all John managed. This information changed almost everything he believed before about this machine. It seemed that it had gained its independence even sooner than he originally anticipated and even more intriguing … it seemed that this machine decided to fight the Skynet out of her own free will.

XXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later, John was slowly climbing the stairs towards their room. He had a long and very informative talk with John Henry and Catherine Weaver and now she asked him to call Savannah so they could go home. His mind was still full of new facts and he knew he'd need quite a while before he could assimilate everything he now knew about the future. At least about the timeline that had now, with Skynet being off the scene, been eradicated.

As he approached their room, he heard soft voices coming from it and stopped before opening the door, leaning his ear towards it to hear what was going on in there. As he finally heard better, his eyes opened wide. He heard Savannah and Cameron … singing! He never knew that Cameron could sing. Of course, now he told himself that it would be quite normal that she could … after all, she was made to be perfect and singing was undoubtedly also one of the infiltration techniques, but still …

He opened the door slowly and stopped before entering the room. Savannah and Cameron were sitting cross legged on the floor, facing each other and merrily singing a children's song he didn't even recognize.

Cameron of course noticed his arrival and turned to him. As soon as he saw her face, his mouth opened in an almost perfect O shape. Cameron was clearly beaming at him and she smiled wider than he'd ever saw her before. With exception of when he proposed her … and when they got married … and …

The girls finished the song they have been singing and they both burst into giggles, clasping their palms together in a just slightly awkward high five. Then Cameron turned back to John, still giggling. As soon as she saw his face, her shoulders began to tremble as the even stronger giggles shook her body.

After few seconds, she stopped giggling and asked John with clearly amused voice: "Is something wrong John? You look so perplexed."

Her words finally tore John out of his astonishment and he shook his head, while stretching his mouth into a wide smile: "No, everything is fine, Cam. Actually … it's more than fine." He quickly stepped over to her. She remained sitting on the floor and as soon as he reached her, she stretched her arms towards him as if challenging him to help her stand up. He gladly accepted her hands and pulled her up. Actually, she stood up and he just followed her movements, but to Savannah it really looked like John would be pulling Cameron up into standing position.

After she was on her feet again, John finally turned his eyes to Savannah, who meanwhile also clambered on her feet: "You should go downstairs, Savannah. Your mother says you have to go home."

A flicker of disappointment seemed to cross the little girl's face, but it vanished almost as quickly as it came. She nodded and turned to Cameron: "May I come back soon again? I'd like to play with you. There are so many games that I didn't teach you yet."

Cameron nodded smiling: "Of course, Savannah. Anytime you like."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" Savannah beamed at Cameron and tugged at her hand.

Cameron bowed to her, expecting her to whisper something in her ear, but the little girl gave her a quick kiss on the cheek: "Thank you Cameron!" Then she let Cameron's hand go and vanished through the door to go to her 'mother'.

Cameron was shocked by Savannah's reaction, but hid it well. She straightened up again and turned to John.

"I can't believe what I just saw, Cam. You're acting just like a human mother. It seems that Savannah outright adores you." John's voice was gentle and caressed her ears with unfelt tenderness. His eyes shone at her, full of love. He never saw his wife act so human with someone else but him and it made him happier than he believed he could be. Especially after what happened just few hours ago. He was suddenly plagued by guilt, but chased the feeling away. He mourned the fallen comrades, but he would not stop living because of their deaths.

"I like her. She's so … cute." Cameron tried to explain and as she opened her mouth for some additional justification of her behavior, she felt John's lips on hers, joint in a tender kiss.

"I love you my beautiful wife." He whispered after he broke a kiss for just enough time to say it.

TBC