Hello to all you Terminator fans. This is my first Terminator fanfiction and I do hope I am doing the characters justice. I would much enjoy reviews telling what you think or what needs improving. Thank you.

Terminator

Bond of Steel and Bone

Chapter One

A New Chapter in Life. A New Player.

Fear. It was always there inside him. Subconsciously he was always afraid, sometimes he would even admit to his fears and rationalise them: machines from an apocalyptic future were trying to kill him so no one would stand up to them once their dominance of the world was set into motion. It was definitely something to be afraid of, all that fear and all that pressure, he had to survive so that humanity could survive.

During the day he would go to school, pretend to be normal, to be like everyone else, a part of him cherished it though he would never admit, most of him hated it, the dullness, the so called "problems" of his peers. He would half-heartedly listen to his girlfriend Riley as she spoke, usually wittering on about something or other, grades or her foster parents, he couldn't recall many indepth conversations with her and his memory of various details of her life he remembered mainly due to his training to recall details rather than her being truly interesting. In class he would idly listen to his teachers normally getting him into trouble when he was caught staring blankly ahead while he was deep in his own thoughts.

John Connor was to be the saviour of humanity, he was to lead them to victory against the tyranny of Skynet and its machines: The Terminators. Skynet had attempted to kill him multiple times throughout his life: once before he was even born, once in his earlier teens then once more when he was fifteen. He would think to himself 'a boy his age shouldn't have gone through what he already has', now as he lie on his bed staring up at the ceiling in his room, his thoughts travelled back to his first encounter with the deadly machines. His first true moment of the beginning of his living nightmare.

His younger self around twelve or thirteen standing still in shock in the corridor of the mall, two men giving off a feeling of unrivaled power. One a thin man with sharp features in a police uniform, the other a hulking behemoth of a man dressed head to toe in black leather with sunglasses adorning his face, a large shotgun in hand pointed directly at him. Those first two words that started his nightmare, as from then on he would run.

"Get Down."

Those two words were what ushered in the dark reality of his life, his destiny, and it's never stopped, never too long, always running, always in fear that one day just one slip would ruin everything, just one slip would kill him. Many machines had been close to killing him, no more so than … her, it! The machine that now walked the halls of the same house he lived in, would stand no less than a foot away from him as he ate cereal would stare at him from across a room or try to be within reaching distance in class. She had tried to kill him on his sixteenth birthday and she had nearly succeeded.

From that day on John could no longer look her straight in the eye, to him it was betrayal, she had betrayed his trust and ruined any connection they had, even though the logical side of his mind tried to reason that it was the damage to her CPU, her chip, her brain.

It was dark outside, and Riley had just left for the night having spent a majority of the day with him, now he lie across his bed in silence left to his own devices if only for a moment as there was a knock upon his bedroom door shaking him from his thoughts, the bedroom door opened slowly not a second later, without moving the rest of his body he turned his gaze towards the door to look at whomever it was.

"John?" came a soft familiar voice. John watched as the machine walked in then closed the door behind her and stayed there, her eyes never leaving him.

"What do you want?" he asked in a tired tone of voice. He was emotionally drained and her presence would not help his mood, it never did in recent days.

"I was checking up on you. Riley just left." Cameron replied in her usual toneless voice.

"I know she left, I saw her go, and I'm fine so you can go now." John replied with a little bite in his voice, he very slightly narrowed his eyes at her hoping she would just leave.

"You shouldn't be talking to her John, she's a threat." Cameron had no intentions of moving just yet, she wanted to further press the Riley issue. To her Riley was a threat, a breach of safety, her mission was to ensure John Connor's survival and safety; Riley distracted him, made him make unnecessary mistakes and badly thought out decisions, she pulled John away from her, away from the one who could provide him the most safety. Cameron had tried previously to get him to see and understand how Riley was not helping him nor aiding in the mission.

"Not this again." John grumbled and pushed himself further up his bed, his back now leaning against the headboard, he turned his gaze back to Cameron and crossed his arms an annoyed expression crossing his face.

"Yes John, this again." She replied. She knew that look on John's face, to her own personal dismay, she'd been seeing a lot of it since his birthday. Her hand twitched by her side. "You know my stance on this subject; Riley is a breach to our security, she distracts you from the mission, makes you do stupid things and make irrational decisions, she puts you in danger of being noticed by the police or by Skynet's machines. Leaving her is the best course of action, aside from allowing her termination."

"Look!" he growled, standing up from his bed and walked towards her. He didn't care that he couldn't intimidate her, he would get his point across and it would adhere to his orders. "The only one who has been a threat to me as of late is you, not Riley," he could have sworn her saw some sort of reaction in the machine's eyes if only for a second, though he put it down to his tiring mind imagining things, "and despite what you, mom and hell even Derek think, I'm going to keep spending time with her so you'd all better get used to it. I like being around her, do you understand? I like that she makes me feel normal, like everyone else out there!" he said pointing out towards his window to the world outside.

Cameron maintained eye contact with him with unblinking eyes.

John stared at her for a few more moments before continuing, "Nothing you say will change that so drop it and leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that John, my mission is to protect you." Cameron replied after a few moments of silence, "I won't say anything else about Riley for now," she conceded for the time being, "I'll go but I won't leave you John."

"Just go away Cameron." John sighed, his frustration draining from him, he pushed down that niggling feeling of enjoyment upon hearing those words come from her mouth "I won't leave you John". Cameron took note of the change in his voice and nodded silently before opening the door behind her and leaving.

John simply stood there as the door closed, he closed his eyes lazily and tried to replay everything that had happened, he had unintentionally exploded at her, in truth he didn't mean to, it wasn't her fault for the way she was, it was her programming, John had simply just lost his cool, and let everything bubble out of it, for now it was a good stress reliever, he knew already he couldn't have a normal life there was far too much at stake but he just wanted to hold on to the thought that he could have one.

Cameron left John's room then entered her own. She was accustomed to John's negative attitude towards her. He would get upset, he would demand she leave him alone, or order her to be quiet if she said something he didn't agree with. Cameron closed her bedroom door behind her then sat upon the end of her bed and stared blankly at the wall infront of her, carefully going over her predicament. She was a machine programmed to protect John Connor, but he no longer wanted her within his proximity, because of the incident, which severely impeded her effectiveness at accomplishing her directive, more so she knew already this had negatively affected her informal relationship with John, but when she laid at the brink of oblivion, when she had been captured between those two jeeps and John removed her chip, he could have ended her, destroyed her chip and her body, effectively killing her. But he hadn't, and in return she told him he couldn't be trusted, she now theorized that doing so was another, if not the main catalyst of their currently bad relationship, she knew she was correct in her reasoning; he had foolishly put himself in danger when he reactivated her without checking her resistance programming was fully repaired, though she realised she should have phrased her words better, a mistake on her part she would have undone if the chance arose.

Cameron stood up and walked to her window and scanned the backyard, her CPU still going over the situation she found herself in. She was damaged, she acknowledged the fact, she had been acting unlike herself before the car bomb incident; making mistakes, the twitching of her hand, data would at times process slowly causing her to think slower, despite trying to find the root of her problem she had been unable to locate it, there must have been damage deeper in her chip, most likely from the debris she pulled from the back of her head once she'd reactivated after the car bombing. She had not told anyone, not John and definately not Sarah, while a machine she did have a small sense of self-preservation, if she were to inform Sarah of her damaged CPU, Sarah would possibly make an attempt at her termination, if she were gone she couldn't protect John and she had to protect him, it was her mission.

That statement, even in its use of tense was true; it was her mission. After the bombing incident her mission parameters were wiped clean, she no longer had to protect John, yet why had she stayed? She had wondered this herself previously, but had concluded it best she follow her previous mission directives, other than seek his termination, no, she would not kill John, she would never intentionally harm John, not if she could help it. But yet she couldn't understand why.

Her thoughts moved back to John's protection, if she were gone she couldn't protect him from other machines, or Grays: humans whom worked for Skynet, humans who had bad intentions towards the Connor family, or Riley. Cameron's hand twitching rapidly as she thought distastefully of Riley. She was a threat, what she had informed John of was true, but what Cameron couldn't answer was why did her analysis tell her Riley was a such a high threat? Much higher than someone of her age, size and weight should've been classed as; a level of threat normally attributed to a single unarmed machine, or a highly trained, heavily armed human soldier. Why was this teenaged girl such a threat? Was she a threat to John? Or more of a threat to herself? And if so the latter then how? She'd need to run further analysis on the subject.

All that had transpired upstairs hadn't gone unnoticed to Sarah. The elder Connor sat at the table in the kitchen drinking a small glass of scotch, her shotgun laid across the table ready for use when ready. Sarah exhaled sharply through her nose as she finished her small glass then looked at as she turned it around between her fingers, releasing a deep sigh she placed it down and leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

'It's good John's keeping away from it' Sarah thought to herself in silence. 'He shouldn't get to comfortable with them, no one should.' Sarah thought grimly, before opening her eyes. She had noticed the way John and Cameron were towards one another before his birthday; they were close, too close, too close for a human and a machine. While she admitted the T-800 and John had been close all those years ago, she could understand that relationship, John had never had a true father figure in his life. Then along comes this thing, this metal man, a man who would never yell at John, never hit him, the machine would always be there for John, and would die to protect him, it had died protecting him.

But Cameron. She … it, was the same in that respect, Sarah could appreciate that at least, but she saw how they seemed to become a bit more than just protector and protectee, more than just friends. No, Sarah had an inkling that something else was developing, something unnatural, as sad as it was, the "Car Bomb Incident" seemed to have been a small blessing in disguise and now John seemed to barely tolerate Cameron. The only problem now was Riley, the girl distracted John, this she could agree on with Cameron, Riley had to go, or John had to stop seeing her, the girl was pulling John into danger, the Cromartie incident in Mexico nearly got John killed.

"God damn it," Sarah cursed quietly to herself as she tiredly rubbed her hands over her face, Sarah hadn't had a peaceful sleep since 1984 when she encountered the T-800. She had recently become wise to John having similar nightmares, how long? She didn't know, about what? Machines obviously, but specifically what? A T-800? Doubtful; the only T-800 John ever knew was a savior to him. These T-Triple Eights? The 1000 series? Or was it Cameron due to her temporary betrayal?

Sarah turned her gaze to look towards the sofa, she could see the two feet resting upon the arm rest, feet belonging to John's uncle Derek. Derek had come stumbling in no less than an hour ago. Drunk. The stench of alcohol was permeating from him giving the air a foul odor. Sarah grimaced briefly remembering the stink coming off of his body before he fell onto the couch and started snoring almost immediately.

Against her better judgement Sarah stood up and made her way upstairs her shotgun being carried by the forearm in her left hand, and knocked casually against John's door.

"Go away!" came a fast and frustrated reply.

'Typical John' Sarah thought to herself, she shook her head and sighed before answering.

"John it's me, can I come in?" Sarah asked not trying to show too much concern for her son.

"You don't normally bother to knock," John retorted from within his room. Sarah groan audibly.

"I thought I'd be courteous, you should try it some time," Sarah replied hearing a snort from John through the door, "fine I'm coming in," Sarah said with a hint of frustration before walking in seeing her son laying on his back looking towards the ceiling. "John?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah mom?" John asked nonchalantly.

"Everything okay?" she asked without thought, before mentally kicking herself for asking such a question.

"Never better," John said before clearing his throat, the sarcasm in his voice plain to see to her, his eyes remained fixed upon the wall infront of him.

"Something's going on John, unless you're starting to yell at yourself," Sarah said, a small smirk growing at the corner of her mouth.

John finally sat up with an annoyed sigh and look at Sarah.

"Would you really blame me if I did mom? How much more messed up could my life actually get? But no, I was …" John stopped as he got his thoughts together. "… I was yelling at Cameron. She came in here and I don't know, I just lost my temper. I wasn't in the mood to talk with her." he said almost shamefully before scratching the back of his head.

"You want to talk to me?" she asked inquisitively. John just shook his head from side to side.

"Not really. If it's all the same to you I think I'll just hit the hay. I'm feeling kind of beat." John said before laying back down. Sarah reluctantly nodded before leaving. She couldn't hold back the small smirk on her face as she looked towards Cameron's room before going back downstairs.

Deep within the downtown Los Angeles a large man stares at the help wanted AD on the window of local dance club and bar, he gazed inside through the window seeing numerous kids jumping around and "dancing" to music far too loud than it should be, he walked inside calmly yet with authority, and strode up to the bar tender.

"What can I getcha buddy?" the bar tender asked turning towards the man, stopping briefly to analyse the large person before him, standing a good foot taller than himself, and probably weighing twice as much in pure muscle.

"I am here for the advertisement in the window," the large man replied as he continued to stare at the bar tender.

"I'll eh, just get Max, he's in charge." The bar tender walked off into the back room, the man waited he could hear talking coming from the room, however the loud music blaring out from multiple speakers throughout the room made it difficult to understand what was being said. Within 3 minutes and 23 seconds exactly, the bar tender returned followed shortly by a shorter portly man dressed in a dark green suit jacket.

"Hey there," the man spoke, presumably Max the club owner, "name's Max I run this place," now clarified, "you wanted the job offer right?" the tall man before him merely nodded, Max looked him up and down, smirking to himself. "I'd like you to answer a few quick questions that okay?" Max smirked to himself, the man again nodded.

"How tall are you?" Max asked. The man was silent for a moment before responding.

"Six foot three inches," the man's tone of voice was blank, emotionless, this just made Max smirk more.

"You know how much you weigh?" Max asked, the man was quiet for a few moments longer than before. In truth the man, this machine, was calculating a realistic response taking in factors of his build and height and averaging the weight a human would be.

"210 pounds" the man finally responded, Max nodded.

"Can you fight?"

"Yes," the machine replied immediately.

"Alright, I got a job in mind for you, better than what is advertised, sound interested?" Max asked finally, the man tilted his head to the side an inch.

"What's the job description?" the machine asked in return. Max turned and pointed up at something, the machine followed his pointing finger to a camera looking upon the dance floor.

"Security, nothing too fancy, just sit in a chair looking at cameras, if anyone gets out of line you come out deal with them, throw them out. Interested?" As Max finished the man's eyes opened a little wider.

"Yes" he replied his tone sounding almost enthusiastic.

With that Max led the large man into a room where he found a sleeping man dressed in black who Max angrily woke by kicking him in the side and telling him he was being replaced. The once sleeping security officer stood up to his replacement but looked up to him, noticing not only was this man taller, he also had a bigger build and wider shoulders. The now ex-security officer left immediately.

"Welcome to your new office," Max smirked to the man before continuing, "there are cameras all over the club, I paid good money for my security, I don't like shit going down, understand?" The man nodded slowly. "Shit happens you sort it out, the cameras cover all entrances, exits and various areas in the club. You own a gun?" Max said as he turned to look at large man.

"Yes," the machine replied, achknowledging the weight of the Canadian made 1911 in its shoulder holster.

"Great, feel free to bring it in, security aint much if you aint got a piece right?" he grinned at the man, who smiled back at him, though the returned smile was empty. However this itself was good news to the machine, if he could openly carry a weapon, it would be easier to eliminate his targets.

"Right then, let me just get some legal documents about your pay and such, then you can start immediately." Max said as he clapped his hands together, and walked out the room, the machine scanned the room and noticed a locker to the side, opening it revealed a set of jacket labelled "Security" reaching out he picked up one that would fit him, and put it on, he could feel slight padding in the jacket, possibly made to offer protection to the wearer, unneeded but would aid in protection of his organic covering's torso.

The job's free roam of the cameras would prove beneficial to it in its search for Resistance operatives. One of its missions was to terminate a select number of note worthy Resistance members whom had lived around this area and were of similar age, being teenagers in this time and this was supposedly the bar teenagers came to. Additionally, an ally T-888 unit had informed it and others working for Skynet that John Connor was in this time and was younger than previously reported even sharing his appearence with them incase they encountered him. It was statistically only time before the machine encountered one of its targets.

Riley walked into a café during the time John was talking down to Cameron, she looked around hoping no one would recognise her, to her delight she recognised no one, at least no one she shouldn't be meeting with.

"Were you followed?" came the all too familiar Australian voice she had come to know, Riley turned around and saw her handler; Jesse Flores.

"No, I wasn't followed, I'm never followed." Riley replied dryly seeing Jesse as over paranoid.

"Never suspect you're safe girl, never suspect anything with those …" Jesse looked around and lowered her voice, "those machines. Especially Connor's machine."

"I know, I know, you keep telling me," Riley replied, frustration in her voice, as she sat down opposite Jesse. She'd heard this all before about how she should fear the Machines, she herself knew already all too well

"Alright then," Jesse began as she started to relax. She leaned back in her chair then took a sip of her espresso, she sighed softly with satisfaction. "Report, what's the update?" she looked at Riley expectantly.

Riley smirked at Jesse. "So far things are going great, just today he took me to the mall and played a little in the arcade, the machine followed us and John told it to go home." She replied in a confidant tone. Jesse closed her eyes, vividly imagining the scene just described to her, a large grin came across her face before she opened her eyes to Riley.

"Great work, things are going just as they should be. Alright…" Jesse leaned closer to Riley and ushered the teen to come closer to her which Riley did, "there's a club downtown that's really popular with teenagers, loud music, sells alcohol to minors for extra money, the works. Take John there and try to turn this relationship of yours up a notch. If things go well he'll disregard the machine completely and you, well you. Possibly a future "Mrs Riley Connor", will be high up in the ranks of the resistance." Jesse's tone was sickeningly soft, Riley now could just imagine herself in the future, no longer running in tunnels, being next to John in a soft bed, her body carrying his child, as he single handedly leads humanity to victory like some modern day Greek hero.

"Sound great, where is it?" Riley asked after she left her little dream world, Jesse put a hand into her jacket and pulled out two tickets.

"These are special free passes to the club, had to, pull a few strings to get them," Jesse passed the tickets to Riley who examined them thoroughly, the address was on the back on the ticket along with a very small map of its location, she realised the club wasn't too far away.

"I'll call John tomorrow, tell him about the tickets and the club, see when he's free, if not I'll drag him along." Riley nodded in excitement from the mental image Jesse had put into her head.

"Great. Now then. Coffee?" Jesse asked, seeing as the girl deserved a small treat for her success so far, a happy pawn is a successful pawn.

John Connor was running, his mother was hurt, Cameron was missing, Derek was missing, he was running for his life, chased by that which had haunted him for so many years. John looked around his immediate area, he was in a factory of sorts, boiling heat resonating from large metal furnaces. He drew his hand across his forehead and wiped the sweat off, he turned back, the slow pacing clacking of shoes upon the ground was heard at a steady rhythm, John panicked and continued to run and evade, just as his mother had taught him. John stopped as he reached a seemingly dead end, he turned around and slowed his breathing down, keeping it quiet to less than a whisper, he could hear the clacking of the shoes louder now, it was close now.

'Shit' he thought to himself looking in all directions, seeing a ledge just above him he jumped with all his might and climbed up trying to distance himself from the Machine. He turned back merely to glance at the lower level he left behind, he still couldn't see it, this machine, that worried- No terrified him. 'Got to keep going' he thought to himself before turning back around to run.

He continued to run, the sounds of crying began to rise up around him, the cries of children for their mothers, the cries of pain and horror, tears began to flow through John's eyes, he could feel it, all of it, the pain, the anguish, the fear, the terror. He had to keep running, or everone's suffering was in vain. He ran until he could no longer run, stopping at a dead end near a vat of molten steel.

"This is familiar" John said quietly to himself, he turned around to get away from the dead end, stopping shortly seeing his chaser turning the corner to meet him. The thin sharp featured man dressed in a police uniform marched towards him, before stopping briefly.

"This is the end of the line John Connor. You've lost. We've won." The Machine marched forward, a howling was heard all around John, followed by an eruption and intense heat, the factory around him reduced to ashes all except for the molten steel behind him, the Machine marched forward as all around him crumbled away revealing an army of skeletal machines staring at him, the light of their eyes reflected from the growing blade of the Machine's arm, it raised the blade above its head ...

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP

John sat up urgently, the sound of his alarm awakening him mercifully from his horrific nightmare, the same nightmare he had for years. He groaned placing his right palm over his eyes trying his best to suppress his anxiety, his fear and the shaking that would follow from his nightmares, he succeeded if only barely. He shook his head from the side to side as he released a slow shuddering breath he'd been holding. It soon dawned on him that he could almost feel someone's eyes on him, he sat there quietly, holding his breath for a moment to listen to the world around him, he heard nothing, which meant one thing…

"What are you doing Cameron?" he groaned without moving his hand away from his face.

"I was watching you sleep John, you look distressed." She replied. John thought he could hear a tiny trace of concern in her voice.

"I've told you before," John began as he turned to look straight at her, stood motionless in the corner of his room simply staring at him with unblinking eyes, "I don't like people watching me sleep."

"I'm aware John, but you were having another nightmare." She replied, her eyes locked upon his form, any tone of concern he may heard heard was gone.

"I was having a nightmare, I know," John panted slowly he could feel the sweat dripping from his forehead and run along the bridge of his nose, "I don't need you to tell me that," he turned his gaze from Cameron back to his bed. Cameron watched him for a moment before stepping a few feet closer.

"I'm concerned for your health John. A male of your age should not be showing such signs of stress."

"Most boys my age don't have robots coming to kill them," John retorted, his eyes narrowing but he didn't look at her.

Cameron thought for a moment to use the correct term for her kind, but decided against it in case of further infuriating John. "You have a valid point," she conceded, "would you like any help in relieving your stress?" she asked in a simple innocent manner.

John's eyes opened wide at her question, while a supposed prophet, he was still a teenager, and the way she worded her question put his mind in the gutter.

"Uh no, I'm fine. Just, can I just be alone for a few minutes," John paused for a moment sweating a little more, a light blush appearing on his cheeks, "please." he added on absentmindedly.

Cameron was silent as she watched him, conscious of the possible outcomes to various decisions she could make. She responded with a simple nod of her head. "Of course John," she replied, John didn't lash out, didn't say anything further, he just watched her with a tired expression, sweat still fell from him body, his breathing long and deep as he tried to calm his nerves, "I'm here if you need me" she offered before stepping out of the room.

John watched her leave from the corner of his eye then sighed softly. He felt numb, he didn't feel angry, nor happy, or anything, a sense of numbness filled his body. John turned to look at his clock.

5:45 am

Another early morning rise on a Friday. Oh well at least the weekend was upon him, John hated going to school, but there was nothing else he wanted to do today. John laid back once more, putting his hands behind his head as it came to rest upon his pillow and looked up to the ceiling. His mind just simply wandered across all that he knew. From his old life with his foster parents, his friends and stealing money from ATM machines, to the meeting with the T-800. All the way up until he met Cameron, first thinking her to be a normal girl.

He remembered that day so clearly, his first meeting with Cameron, her smile, John sighed contently at the memory, he wasn't blind, she was beautiful, she was still beautiful. But he could never get over what she was, how could he have been fooled so easily? Maybe he just really wanted some nice, cute girl to like him.

John got up and headed to the bathroom to get his shower. In the shower he closed his eyes as the hot water poured over him relaxing his tense muscles, he exhaled sharply with content, this was possibly the most comfortable he'd be all day. After lathering himself with soap and body gel, and shampooing his hair, John dried himself thoroughly before exiting the shower, a towel wrapped around his body, he opened the door only to see Cameron standing infront of him, staring right at him.

"HOLY SHIT!" John shouted in surprise as he jumped back, his skin paling in shock as the hairs on his body stood on end. Cameron tilted her head in the way he had known her to do.

"Are you alright John? Your heart rate has increased again. Are you unwell?" Cameron asked in a deadpan tone.

"No I'm not unwell. Other than YOU scaring me half to death." John complained trying to compose himself he shook his body as he felt his heart beating slower back to its regular pace. "What are you doing out here just standing infront of the door?" John asked as he finally calmed.

"I require the use of the shower." She said as if it had been obvious.

John closed his eyes and let out a slow deep sigh before stepping forward, a sudden cold breeze touching his body, he shivered and looked back to Cameron whose focus had shifted from his face to something lower, less than second later John realised his towel had fallen from around his body and now was on complete show to the cyborg infront of him.

He felt his cheeks warm up as they were enveloped in a deep blush at not only the accident which had befallen him, but Cameron's unmoving stare, he almost believed he saw the corner of Cameron's mouth twitch upwards into a tiny smile. John knelt down picked up his towel and wrapped it around himself as quickly as he could. Once doing so Cameron looked back to John, any possible sign of a smile was gone, but he swore he saw something in her eyes, amusement maybe?

"I'll um, just go then." John said his blush still prevalent on his face, he walked forward and Cameron moved back a step to allow him to go, he turned and almost ran to his bedroom.

Cameron watched the door for a moment longer before entering the bathroom, she disrobed and stared at her reflection in the mirror, analysing her features. She knew what she looked like, down to her pouty appearence of her lips, to the mocha colour of her eyes. She went over and over her situation, the cause of it, and the possible ways to undo the damage, it was something that needed resolving immediately but needed to have the profitable outcome. The stem of the problem she knew was what happened during his birthday, but more to the point she knew the exact moment she'd unintentionally caused the whole problem. She knew it would be her who would need to undo the emotional damage she'd caused, even if it was illogical. She turned away from the mirror and stepped into the shower, turned it on and allowed the water to cleanse her form as she planned her course of action. She would fix this.

John slammed his door shut behind him. To say the situation was embarrassing was an understatement, Cameron seemed a little too fixated on his genitals and he was certain she was smiling, amused at the sight of him bare, he let out a deep breath he'd been holding panted slowly to calm himself down.

"She's going to kill me, by a gun, heart attack, or high blood pressure, she's going to kill me" John murmured quietly to himself. Before walking to his bed where he had laid clean clothes ready for himself.

A few hours later down stairs the smell of burnt pancakes greeted John and he stepped into the kitchen.

"Smells great Mom" John spoke out in an overly happy tone. Sarah chuckled to herself and turned around.

"Very funny. Keep laughing John and you can start making breakfast" Sarah replied to him as she turned back and continued to make a few more pancakes. John turned to look at the still slumbering form of his uncle laid across the length of the couch. John chuckled once before sitting down at the table, his attention being caught as Cameron made her way down stairs, the machine girl looked at John first keeping a blank expression on her face before turning to look at Sarah.

"Good Morning Sarah" she turned her attention back to John. "Good Morning John"

Cameron got a simple nod from Sarah as a reply.

"Morning," John grumbled in reply. Cameron smiled a little before turning to look at Sarah.

"May I have a pancake Sarah?" she inquired in a simple tone. Sarah turned and looked at the cyborg with a raised brow and a look of confusion. "I require filling up on nutrients." Cameron explained before sitting down next to John. Sarah seemed to think it over before giving the cyborg a single nod and turned back around.

The elder Connor couldn't argue if it was such a necessity, begrudgingly she plated a few pancakes for Cameron onto a plate and brought it and John's plate over. Cameron's plate noticeably having less pancakes than John's Sarah turned backed around as John slid a few pancakes off his plate and onto Cameron's. Cameron looked at her plate then to John with a neutral expression unsure of why he hadn't given up a few of his pancakes for her.

"Thank you." she spoke in a not too loud a voice, despite her confusion.

In truth John gave her the extra pancakes so he himself would not have to eat them, while breakfast was supposedly most important meal of the day, his mother's pancakes were terrible. The flavor all but burnt out of then. John tucked into his pancakes to get them out of the way, wolfing them down to get them into his stomach to use as fuel and keep them away from his tongue. Cameron watched him as she delicately ate the pancakes, a stark contrast to John's animalistic devouring of them, a sudden cough erupted from John's mouth as he felt one chewed piece go down the wrong way, Cameron watched him then passed him a glass of milk, which he took and drank down rapidly drinking the once near full glass down to half way. He released a sigh before following up with a hiccup.

"Excuse me," he said from the awkward moment.

"You need to slow down John, you could choke otherwise." Cameron stated in a matter-of-fact tone, John simply cleared his throat, sitting back in his chair and continued to eat his pancakes at a slower pace.

"Anyway" Sarah spoke up from the side of them, still stood near the stove top. "I've got a new lead on the three dots, so I'm going to be checking that out. When he wakes up…" Sarah spoke nodding her head to Derek's sleeping form. "… he'll be checking out any other leads he's been tracking down, you two are to go to school. Okay?" Sarah inquired, not that either had much of a choice.

"Yeah, sure mom," John replied while leaning back in his chair.

"Of course Sarah," Cameron replied as her eyes focused on her.

John and Cameron continued eating their breakfast only to be disturbed further by the sound of flatulence as the once slumbering Derek Reese awoke and sat up slowly.

"What time is it?" he said groggily as he spun his feet around and placed them on the ground.

"That got you up. Come on get your breakfast Reese." She continued as she put another plate on the table.

"Time for work, get your lazy ass up," the older Connor ordered while shaking him, "hurry up or I'll give your breakfast to Cameron."

"Thank you Sarah." Cameron spoke up from behind them.

"Alright, fuck, I'm up I'm up!" Derek groaned as he pulled himself to his feet, "don't want food wasted on that tin can."

"Shut it Reese and eat." Sarah warned staring at him with narrowed eyes.

Derek grumbled to himself before walking to the table and sitting down, picking up his cutlery and start to eat his pancakes making soft groaning noises as he ate, his eyes focused on the pile infront of him. John ate slowly next to him his eyes glancing back and forth to and from Derek with a slight look of irritation on John's face, Cameron however stared straight at the older man as she chewed in a civilised manner.

"Got a problem John?" Derek asked noticing John's glances from his peripheral vision. John just shook his head not wanting to start an argument, and got back to eating.

"What are you staring at Metal?" Derek asked in between chews without even looking up.

"You," she replied plainly, ignoring his term for her, or rather her kind.

"What the fuck for?" Derek asked without raising his voice but his tone no less dark and threatening.

"Because you're making a strange sound and I wanted to know why you have to make a noise while John doesn't." Cameron replied still staring at Derek only glancing at John which she spoke his name.

"I don't know, I just got the fuck up, and it's none of your business either way." He replied back annoyed. "So why don't you mind your fucking business."

"Oh but I am." Cameron began. "John is my business, and your noise is irritating him. So could you stop?" Cameron asked trying again to use polite psychology.

"Fuck you. If John's got a problem he can deal with it," Derek said pointing his knife at John in a none threatening way. Cameron stood up abruptly, followed by John who grabbed her arm.

"Come on, it's time for school anyway." John said, leading her away, surprised slightly that she allowed him to lead her, knowing full well they wouldn't have moved if she had no intention of moving.

Cameron and John grabbed their bags and jackets before leaving for school leaving behind an annoyed Derek and a relatively calm Sarah.

Elsewhere a man stood seemingly alone in a hangar, a suitcase by his side, waiting impatiently as he fidgeted with his fingers. He turned at the sound of the hangar doors opening and a car drives in slowly, he smiled to himself calmly and watched as the car stopped beside him and the driver got out, dressed in a hat and long trench coat.

'Okay a little fanatical but alright, alright.' The man chuckled to himself.

"Peter A. Smithers?" calls the hat wearing figure in a strong masculine Californian accent.

"Yeah buddy that's me," the man; Peter replied before kneeling down and held up the briefcase. "I got the information you wanted," he smiled, "all data for those new computer chips the military are looking into, this shit is hot. Big grade stuff you know?" Peter replied excited. "You got the money?"

The unidentified person lifts up their own briefcase.

"Right here buddy, three point two million just as we agreed," the figure steps forward towards and passed the bag to Peter.

"Thanks fella. But I'm sorry it's got to be this way," Peter smirks as two other men step out from behind cover, wielding cut down Remington 870s.

"It's only business," Peter smirked as he himself pulled a Sig Sauer P6 from behind his back.

"From what I heard from your boss, I'd have thought you'd have brought some guys with you. Your problem you're so trusting." Peter smirked as he taunted the figure.

"Check the trunk," the figure said without any other word. Peter looked at one of the shotgun wielding men and nodded to him, the figure threw the man the keys to the car who then walked to the trunk, unlocked it, then opened it up.

"Jesus!" The man gasps as the putrid stench of corpses rises through his nostrils. The man looked up to the figure, who turned around with inhuman speed pulled the shotgun out of the man's hands by force fired one shell into other shotgun wielder by the trunk, killing them while simultaneously pushing the shotgun's owner to the floor. Gasping, Peter turned around and fired multiple shots from his P6 into loner's back, the figure looked towards Peter over their shoulder before pumping the Remington aimed the weapon over their shoulder and fires a shot of 12 gauge into the gun's owner, whom was getting back to his feet.

"Like you said," came another voice, this one female, Peter looked around as he fumbled to reload, "it's only business," he turned to the location of the voice. The figure infront of him who slowly removes their hat revealing the smirking face of a confidant raven haired woman.

"A… a woman?" Peter asks before the woman cocked the Remington and aimed it one handed directly into Peter's face and obliterated it in a single shot, repainting the floor behind him red and grey.

"Should have just taken the money Pete," the woman smirked as she picked up both cases and walked outside, her eyes flashing red momentarily.

Jason's Notes:

Edit - 19th December 2014

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It was a pleasure to write and it is always a pleasure to edit and update as my skills progress

Edit - 16th November 2017

A further development of my skills and to try and erase some previous errors and just update the chapters. Thank you all for your patience.

Edit - October 2019

Small edits to words and phrasings.

Best Regards.

Jason.