The flood of code flowing across Danny’s screen paused and then blinked out, a single image taking its place. It was a headline and news article from the paper Danny read every day in the back of the black-windowed SUV that took him to Kaliba; the date was the day before, from the local section, but Danny knew it hadn’t been in any paper he had seen. He would have remembered seeing his mother’s name under a headline that read, “Local woman missing, feared dead.”

He rocked back in his chair in surprise and took a paranoid glance around. He was mostly alone in the room, and Kaliba’s extreme security measures ensured that none of his colleagues were in position to view his screen. More images cascaded across his monitor, images of his home, the front door splintered and punched through, walls pockmarked with bullet holes, shattered glass all over, and a curiously blackened door handle. They were police evidence photos, he realized, evidence of yet another assault on his home, an assault like the one that Sarah Connor had perpetuated so many years ago on the day that had shattered his childhood, the day his father had left and never come home. The bullet holes were eerily familiar from that day and he sucked in a sharp breath.

In his shock, it didn’t even occur to Danny to wonder how C.A.I.N. had come by the photos. His thoughts were almost completely for his mother.

Shaking, Danny’s fingers typed quickly on the keyboard; no feedback appeared in response to his actions, but he knew C.A.I.N. would receive his message.

No further information on your mother has been reported. Police are looking for a man seen leaving your house alone. He stole a car and a handgun and was last seen at a police station several miles away where Savannah Weaver was in custody.

More images covered his screen, a school photo of a young redheaded girl, a family photo, the logo for Zeira Corp, and a grainy black-and-white still of a large, lumbering man in a leather jacket and sunglasses standing in front of a reception desk. The name Zeira Corp was vaguely familiar to Danny as another R&D firm, and he dimly remembered hearing Sarah Connor’s name associated with it as well.

Carefully, Danny glanced over his shoulder, this time at the tiny surveillance camera in the corner.

I have it on a loop.

Danny’s fingers typed out a single question, why?, not sure what question he was asking, why his mom had been attacked—he refused to believe she was dead—or why C.A.I.N. was helping him. A second later, he typed a second query: who?

Unknown.

Kaliba?

Unknown.

Sarah Connor?

Unknown.

Vaughn?

There was a pause in response to his final question, almost as if the AI was considering the possibility. While the moment stretched, Danny felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck.

No information available points to a motive or suspect. There are few leads suggested in the police file. The basement door was wired into an electrical current and police believe that the intruder sustained an electrical shock. They have no theories on how he survived.

But you do?

No human could have survived the current.

A terminator?

Yes.

Danny remembered the terminator at the junkyard, during Kaliba’s first attempt to capture Sarah. If they had one, they might have more. His mother had shown what side she was on that night, and Vaughn was not known for his patience. If he had thought that Terissa knew where Sarah was…

Feeling sick to his stomach, Danny typed a last note:

Thanks. Let me know if there are any new developments.

Of course.

With that, Danny logged out of his workstation and walked to the cafeteria, but the cup of coffee he fetched couldn’t seem to penetrate the ice-cold ball that had settled in the pit of his stomach.

 ***

Act 1

The coffee didn’t seem to be helping, Sarah thought, after her scant, intermittent sleep of the night before. The promised story for Savannah hadn’t ended with a single tale. Instead, long after the lights had been turned out, Savannah had enjoyed the undivided attention of her ‘aunts,’ wheedling Cameron into telling story after story well into the morning.

Her mind drifted back over the hours spent curled up with Savannah and Cameron, enjoying the cyborg’s stories nearly as much as the child snuggled against her. Savannah had soaked up their attention, oblivious to the occasional weighted look that had lingered between Sarah and Cameron in the ghostly blue of her nightlight. Those stolen glances had done things to Sarah’s body. If Savannah hadn’t been a buffer between them, Sarah suspected she would have been hard pressed to remember her resolve to give Cameron space and keep her hands off the terminator. If Cameron would have allowed the touch, that is. Every time she caught herself returning one of Sarah’s heated looks, Cameron had abruptly shifted her focus back onto the girl.

Sarah had succumbed to the need for rest first, her healing body finally giving in and letting her fall asleep with her head pillowed on top of Savannah’s. She’d stayed awake far longer than she should have been able, Sarah knew, but she didn’t dwell on the reason why, even as she felt a twinge deep in the bone of her left arm. She’d woken in her own bed, alone, but she could smell Cameron’s distinct scent on her clothes with her first deep breath of the day.

Stifling yet another yawn, Sarah let her gaze drift once more to the cyborg preoccupying her thoughts. The wounds on Cameron’s face were nothing more than fading scratches now, and Sarah fervently hoped the healing bullet holes hidden by the terminator’s clothes were fairing just as well.  

Cameron was standing distinctly apart from the group settled in the couches and chairs around the coffee table, her attention fixed on the child playing in the back yard. Sarah wondered how long Cameron would carry the guilt of Savannah’s hurt feelings and aborted attempt at running away, or—and here she hid her grin with a sip of coffee—how long it would take for Cameron to figure out that Savannah was taking advantage of that guilt to keep the terminator at her beck and call. Already that morning Cameron had made her breakfast and, much to John’s bemusement, played with stuffed animals, and only Sarah’s insistence that Cameron needed to talk to the grown-ups had kept her from going to the back yard to play.

“I knew. The moment I opened the door, I knew what it was.”

Terissa’s voice floated on the edge of Sarah’s awareness, but her attention was riveted on Cameron as the cyborg continued to watch Savannah play. Cameron looked decidedly uncomfortable, like she was longing to join the little girl, and Sarah pressed her lips together in a tight line as she resisted the urge to offer some kind of comfort. With a sigh, she reluctantly shifted some of her focus back onto the conversation.

“What was it doing?” James asked from his position next to Terissa on the couch. John remained silent in a nearby chair, but his features looked troubled as he toyed with the pocket watch his mother had been wearing around her neck in his absence.

“Looking for Savannah,” Terissa admitted, glancing up to study Sarah’s profile before looking away. “It had her picture.”

It. Sarah remembered when she called Cameron by that ambiguous pronoun. Feeling a shred of guilt, she continued to watch the terminator, but Cameron didn’t appear to be listening, her entire focus seemingly on the child playing outside on the swings. Sarah’s jaw bunched and she glanced down into the dwindling depths of her coffee.

“Then what happened?” James prompted.

Terissa stared at her hands, watching them shake with sick fascination. “It must have realized that I knew… what it was. It… it called me a name…”

John’s head came up. “Tango,” he blurted.

Terissa gave a startled glance around the room, her lips tightening into a thin line as she looked first from Sarah to Ellison and finally to John. “Yes,” she replied carefully, “that’s what it called me. How did you know?” Her tone sharpened at the end as she stared at John.

Sarah finally focused on the conversation in earnest. “Tango?” she repeated. “What does that mean?”

“It was your name,” John explained to Terissa in a hoarse voice, painful memories reflected in his eyes. “In the future.”

Terissa stared at him, sudden anger and fear turning her features hard. “What?”

Sarah made a move to step between them, but John stopped her as he met Terissa’s stare calmly and explained, “You were important, in the future, a future I destroyed in coming back. That terminator must have been sent back before I got to the facility.” Terissa’s eyes widened as she understood what John was saying and realized the implications.

Sarah’s gaze drifted back to Cameron, who seemed to be ignoring the entire conversation, and her eyes followed the terminator’s gaze to the redhead on the swings. She felt a sinking in her gut and a flash of white-hot anger at her son for keeping secrets he had no business keeping. “And Savannah is important in that future as well,” she guessed, her jaw clenching.

Cameron’s head finally swung around, the first indication that she had been listening at all, to lock eyes with Sarah for a second before fixing on John, her expression decidedly displeased.

Just the brush of those brown eyes stirred something deep within Sarah, and she shuddered. Her strength wasn’t the only thing recovering from her illness, she thought ruefully, as she turned her attention to her son and hoped no one noticed her slip. The space that she was trying to keep between them seemed to evaporate into the ether every time they shared a look. It was starting to wear on Sarah, breaking her down a little more with each passing day.

“She is,” John admitted bitterly.

Everyone went silent, all of them staring at John who glared back at them defiantly.

James rose to his feet to tower over John, his eyes sweeping over Sarah and Cameron to include them in his anger. “I told you I didn’t want her involved…”

“She isn’t, not anymore,” John snapped defensively. “I erased that future by coming back.”

“The hell you did!” James bellowed. “You just brought that future back with you!”

“James,” Sarah warned with a low tone and intent look. She gave him a slight shake of her head before casting a knowing glance at Cameron who had taken a step closer to Sarah’s side as the conversation turned heated.

“What did the terminator do?” James demanded of Terissa to prove his point.

“It tried to kill me,” Terissa confessed.

“Savannah was his mission, but your name was known to him,” John guessed in a tight voice. “When it realized who you were…” He trailed off, wondering how the machines had come by the knowledge of Terissa’s true identity. They shouldn’t have known it. They shouldn’t have known about Savannah, either. His stomach curdled at the thought. “Chances are it’s the only one out there looking for either of you.”

“So what do we do?” Terissa asked in alarm. “Just wait until it comes for us?” She looked up at Sarah. “You said it yourself. They don’t stop. They’ll never stop.”

Sarah was about to respond when a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Cameron was walking away, heading to the door with an intent expression on her face.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sarah snapped more harshly than she intended, her exasperated tone cutting across the room and quieting everyone.

“There’s a terminator after Savannah.” When no one said anything, Cameron continued. “I am going to stop it.”

Sarah didn’t remember striding over to Cameron or grabbing her; she just found herself there, inches away, clutching the cyborg’s arm in a tight, but ultimately ineffectual, grip. “You’re going to do what?” Sarah could feel the weight of several puzzled glances at her back as she confronted the terminator, but she couldn’t seem to control herself anymore. She wasn’t even sure she cared.

“Find it. Terminate it,” Cameron clarified needlessly, her gaze dipping to Sarah’s hand where it was curled around her bicep, an unreadable emotion in her eyes.

“Because that worked so well the last time,” Sarah retorted, images of Cameron lying in a heap on the floor of the van filling her inner vision. A sense of panic flowed through her at the thought, and Sarah tightened her grip. “You can’t take him on by yourself.”

“Savannah is in danger.” Cameron’s gaze slid to Terissa. “Terissa is in danger,” she added almost politely.

“They’ll be in more danger if you… if you…” Sarah swallowed past a lump in her throat, unable to voice the words that would admit more than she was ready to.

Cameron’s head tilted as she studied Sarah intently, the moment stretching out between them and thickening. She started to say something only to hold back the words as a voice shattered the tense silence.

“Mom’s right.” John’s calm voice broke them apart, Sarah’s fingers reluctantly releasing Cameron as they both turned to him. “You can’t take him on by yourself. You need help to track him and incapacitate him.” John rose to his feet, slipping the pocket watch around his neck as he brushed past James to stand in the middle of the room. He had all of their attention, Sarah noticed. He had learned something during his time away, or he was emulating someone he had met. His voice held a hint of command, and he dominated the space as he positioned himself in the center.

Whatever had happened in the future, John finally seemed ready and willing to be the leader he needed to be. It was a moment Sarah had been unsure she would live to see. A flicker of pride tinged with a strange dose of relief flared inside her.

James glanced between Sarah and John curiously, unsure whom to defer to. “So what’s the plan?” he asked.

John drew a breath and then hesitated, waiting for his mother to speak. She gave a tight nod, the movement so small compared to the sweeping change that it signaled, granting permission and handing over command all at the same time. They stared at each other for a moment, John swallowing as the role he’d come back to claim settled on his shoulders. With a nod in return, he began to lay out his plan.

“We don’t know where he is so we’ll need to lure him out.”

“Not with Savannah,” James countered instantly.

“No,” John agreed, “not with Savannah.” His eyes shifted to the side, to Terissa sitting on the couch.

As if she expected this, Terissa nodded thoughtfully, her eyes bright with the knowledge of the danger and risks, but she looked relieved, like she had been waiting for her chance to strike back. “How will it know…?”

“He’ll be scanning police communications. He’ll come if your name shows up.”

“Auldridge,” Sarah supplied. “He wants to help? We’ll let him help.”

Terissa gave her a faint, knowing smirk.

The conversation took off from there, the plan emerging bit by bit. Sarah stood back, letting John direct the conversation. She wasn’t the only one; Cameron stood silent and motionless, a faraway look in her eyes.

***

 

An hour later, flags fluttered in the slight breeze at Cameron’s wrists, knees and elbows; she was standing, motionless, watching and waiting for Savannah to make her move. When it came, it was a feint to Cameron’s right and then a quick dash at the flag on her left knee. Cameron had anticipated the move, and her arm swung down, but Savannah caught the flag with a snap and hit the ground rolling, her slight body sliding past the cyborg just out of reach of her fingers.

Cameron turned, her immobilized leg slowing her down just enough to keep her from catching Savannah as she darted in to grab the flag at Cameron’s right elbow with a squeal of delight. Despite the serious intent behind the game, Cameron smiled unconsciously at Savannah’s peal of laughter.

She could feel Sarah’s eyes on her. Cameron knew she had only to turn her head to spy Sarah lazing in the porch swing as she watched the two of them play. The pull of Sarah’s presence divided her attention, making it hard to concentrate on the slight movements that would telegraph Savannah’s plans. Savannah was getting better at hiding those movements and anticipating Cameron’s reactions, making the game difficult even when Sarah wasn’t there to distract her.

Savannah snatched at the flag on her right knee, and Cameron swung away just barely in time to keep it out of her grasp, her counterattack missing by feet rather than inches. Even though she couldn’t get tired, Cameron felt… overextended. She had told Ellison not to envy the machines for their lack of caring, but now, she wasn’t so sure. The emotions that he had labeled in the ruins of Zeira Corp—worry, regret, fear—weighed on her, and Sarah’s reaction to her own salvation confused her. Cameron had expected a fight; she would have welcomed a fight. In the face of Sarah’s anger, her resolution to sever the ties between them would have been easier to achieve.

Sarah should have been furious.

Savannah must have noted Cameron’s preoccupation, and she swiped the flag from Cameron’s knee in a running dodge, the terminator’s frozen arm and leg impeding her movement as she tried to catch the girl on her way in. Savannah tossed the flag down with the others, her small hands clutching at her shorts as she caught her breath and sized up the cyborg in front of her.

Between the girl in front of her and the woman behind her, Cameron felt trapped, trapped by the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. Sarah’s lack of anger the night before had been as confusing as her anger this morning. Cameron didn’t need to replay the moment to feel Sarah’s fingers wrapped around her arm or the closeness of their bodies. An average female’s grip force ranged from 57 to 65 pounds per square inch, a negligible force compared to the strength in Cameron’s endoskeleton, but she had been unable to break the contact. Sarah’s touch had rooted her there, and the longing that had been unleashed by it had threatened to destabilize the composure that Cameron was desperately trying to achieve.

The desire—to turn, to look at Sarah, to cross the yard, to take her in her arms—was so strong that Cameron felt a slight tremble in her fingers. But she had no time to reflect, as Savannah’s narrowing eyes told her that the girl had decided upon a course of action. A feint to the left and the remaining flag pulled Cameron slightly off her center of balance, and she was in the process of adjusting when she realized that Savannah was running straight towards her, a seeming suicide mission when only one touch from Cameron’s hand was required to end the game. But at the last second, Savannah ducked down and caught Cameron’s ankle, sweeping the immobilized leg out from under her and sending the cyborg down with a muffled thud into the grass.

Warmth pooled inside her as Cameron heard Sarah’s all-too-rare chuckle. She started to leverage herself up off the ground, needing to see the smile she knew would be on Sarah’s features, but she caught sight of Savannah first, grinning gleefully as the child waved a handful of flags.

“You can’t move,” Savannah taunted.

“You win,” Cameron conceded, lifting herself up off the turf. Savannah ran over to help, brushing at the dust and grass on the terminator’s clothes.

“Can I play?”

John was standing just inside the gate, and Cameron was startled to realize she had no idea how long he had been watching. He came closer, and Savannah went still and stiff as he approached. “Looks like fun,” he said, his casual tone belied by a flash of anger in his eyes.

“No,” Cameron answered coldly.

“No?”

“It’s our game,” Savannah called out from behind Cameron as she placed the cyborg between them. “No boys allowed.”

John’s smile was meant to be charming as he leaned down to be on eye-level with the girl, but it looked more vexed than friendly. “You sure?” he asked, trying to cajole Savannah.

“You are too old,” Cameron stated quietly.

He rose to glare at the cyborg. “So why didn’t you teach me when I was younger? You...”

Cameron cut him off. “You were already too old. Your training up until that point had centered on weapons and computer programming, not on hand-to-hand combat. It was best to continue in that vein.”

“I…”

“It’s our game,” Savannah insisted again, coming around to grab Cameron’s hand and to glare up at John.

For a long moment, they just stood there in silence, until John threw his hand up and stomped away.

Cameron felt a tug on her hand, and she turned away from John and the speculative look Sarah had cast her from the porch into a pair of watery blue eyes.

“It’s our game, isn’t it?” Savannah asked.

Sinking to her knees, Cameron drew the girl into a hug, feeling her thin arms circle around her neck and cling there.  She felt a twinge of regret for the way she’d treated John, but she set the feeling aside to focus on the little girl in her arms. “Yes,” she whispered reassuringly into the girl’s hair, “it’s our game. No boys allowed.”

***

 

Sarah watched as Cameron and Savannah hugged, charmed by the way Savannah turned to Cameron for comfort and support. James had told her a little bit about what he termed as Cameron’s ‘freak out’ in the kitchen, at least enough to explain the new table and patched cupboards. He had finally admitted how Savannah had helped defuse the situation, his somber voice communicating his concerns clearly in tone if not in word. But Cameron’s obvious feelings for the girl, her fear and guilt over Savannah running away… Sarah couldn’t imagine the terminator ever harming the child, and Savannah seemed as fiercely devoted to Cameron as well. Sarah felt the stirring of envy, at the easy way they showed affection and even love, and she sighed.

John was crossing the porch, nearly by her and in the house, when she caught him, asking, “What was that about?”

He paused in the doorway, the door held open for a long moment like he was considering dodging the question, before he turned and retraced his steps, coming to stop where he could lean against the railing and watch Cameron and Savannah reset their game. He stood for a long moment with his back to Sarah.

“You raised me to believe that I was the one hope of humanity in the future, that I was irreplaceable. It was like this myth I had of myself, the same way your stories about dad made him into this larger-than-life figure.” He shook his head and absently picked at a section of peeling paint. He thought about his humbling experience in the future, both in his own self-concept and in his understanding of his father. His father was both more and less the hero he had imagined him to be, a rank-and-file soldier, trusted and well-liked but not a leader of men or even the toughest fighter in the barracks. His eyes settled back on the redheaded girl playing in the sunshine, a frown tightening his jaw.

“But then I jump into the future and I find that the resistance is getting on fine without me. There are other people, other leaders, who take over in my absence.” His head sank again, his eyes fixed on the paint collecting under his fingernails, as he admitted his worst shame. “I… I was a nobody.” He swallowed past the words and went on. “The name John Connor didn’t mean anything. Prophet, Tango, Sierra, those were the names that were revered. I didn’t like it.”

A long silence stretched; Sarah gazed at her son as he confessed his hurt pride to her, her mind on all the times that she had told him he was special, important, the most important person in the world, even, and she felt a pang of guilt at her role in his pain.

“I know who Tango is,” she said slowly, squinting into the sun as she studied her son’s back. Her lips twitched. “I’m going to take a guess that Prophet was Ellison.” The muffled snort and half laugh from her son confirmed her suspicion. “Sierra?”

John was so still, Sarah wondered if he’d even heard her. She got to her feet, settling her hip against the rail as she watched his profile, the warmth of the sun and the soft, cool breeze welcome on her back. John’s gaze was fixed on Cameron and Savannah, and Sarah turned her head to watch them.

“Sierra was the leader,” John croaked, his gaze still intense as he watched the game unfold before him, seeing glimmers of who the little redheaded child was destined to be in each dodge and feint.

Sarah watched Savannah as she giggled in delight, collapsing back into the too-tall grass as Cameron won their latest round. The truth came home to her in the moment, and Sarah felt her breath hitch deep in her chest.

John felt the change, the realization as it sank in. He turned to look at his mother who was wrestling with emotions he wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. “She replaced me. She was the leader of the resistance, and doing a pretty good job of it. Maybe… maybe better than I ever did.”

A squeal of laughter drew both their gazes again to where Cameron had tackled Savannah, her triumphant voice carrying clearly over the girl’s giggles. “I win.”

Sarah watched the muscles clench in her son’s jaw, but no words would come to soothe him. 

“You taught me to run away from the machines every time I saw one,” John explained in a tight voice. “Her… you taught her to attack them, to take them down.” He swung around to face his mother fully. “You should have seen her, mom. She took on a terminator with nothing but a knife, and she won.” Admiration mixed with anger in his voice, and his hand swept out to indicate the game behind him. “She disabled it, piece by piece, until it couldn’t fight anymore.”

“I didn’t teach her that,” Sarah whispered.

“Cameron did.” John turned back to the yard. “And she’s doing it again.”

The proof was right in front of them. Sarah had to look away, recalling the rationalizations she had told James, had told herself for that matter, about the need for the training. “We took her in to protect her, to teach her how to protect herself.”

“You did a lot more than that.”

Stung by the accusation in his voice, Sarah countered defensively, “We did what we had to do. We couldn’t leave her defenseless. She’s six, Judgment Day is just around the corner, and we aren’t… I’m not going to be around to take care of her forever.” She stressed the word, reminding him of how close she had come to not being there now. “What would you have me do?”

“Ellison was still around.”

Sarah clamped her mouth shut, her gaze sliding off to the side to avoid looking at her son. When had she started thinking of Savannah as hers, or rather, as hers and Cameron’s, since the ‘we’ in the sentence had been the two of them, together? Ellison and his role in Savannah’s life had never even crossed her mind. Sighing, Sarah returned to the swing. Leaning into her hand, she tucked her legs up and watched the two of them, the terminator and child, done with training for the day, flags snapping in the wind as they competed to see who could go higher on the swings. A small, unconscious smile graced her lips as Cameron realized her composition was a liability in the game.

The fond smile on his mother’s face sparked a brief flare of anger, but then John shook his head with a chuckle and leaned back against the railing to stare at his feet. “I’m jealous.” When his mom glanced at him, puzzled, he laughed for real at the absurdity of it all, feeling something loosen in his chest. “I’m jealous… of a six-year-old. And of her place in a future that doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“You have no reason to be jealous,” Sarah promised him quietly.

“You didn’t see her,” John murmured, but now there was a hint of pride in his voice. He smiled at the memory of Sierra, of those fierce blue eyes, and a part of him mourned her. “You would have been proud of her.” His hand wrapped around the pocket watch dangling from his neck. “She wore this,” he told his mother absently. His thumb tabbed the catch and it clicked open, revealing the now useless buttons inside. “Except there was an actual watch in here by then.”

Sarah bit her lip, her mind tumbling through the unexpected information. She hurt for her son, at what he’d been through, and she ached for the young woman Savannah must have become, the young woman she and Cameron had obviously raised her to be. Sighing, Sarah opened her mouth to say something but John beat her to it.

“I realized that whoever leads mankind in the future can be replaced.” John turned to look at his mother again. “But the person who trains that leader… that person is always meant to be you.”

Swallowing, Sarah looked away, unable to deal with the mixture of emotions in John’s eyes. She shook her head, feeling an edge of morose humor rise inside her. “No wonder Skynet keeps winning.”

John blinked in surprise only to laugh out loud a moment later. He shook his head, hearing his mother’s quiet chuckle join his. He felt the sun on his back and warming his hair, saw his mother sitting, alive and laughing, and for the first time, it felt real. He was really here, not just daydreaming in his bunk when the fear and hunger and regret got the best of him. And he still had a chance to make sure that that future never happened. He still had a chance to save them all.

“It just…” he swallowed as a little bit of the hurt came back, “seemed like you replaced me… forgot about me.”

“John, no.” Sarah’s hand reached out and caught his in a tight grip, tugging him down next to her on the swing. “Never, I never…”

“I know,” he said hurriedly, embarrassed by his feelings and not wanting to hurt his mother further. “It was just all so hard, it was like I didn’t know who I was anymore.”

An arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer, a pair of lips brushing his forehead, before his mother’s green eyes locked into his. “You were never replaced. Never. I… I didn’t even want Savannah with us. I knew what growing up like this did to you. Do you think I wanted to put another child through that?” Her eyes shone with unshed tears and years of guilt. “I never wanted that for her, for you. I… I just couldn’t not help her.”

This time, he was the one to press his lips to her forehead, whispering, “I understand. You did the right thing, for both of us.”

Breaking apart, Sarah wiped at the corner of her eyes, feeling decades worth of weight lift from her shoulders. She could see Cameron pushing Savannah on the swing, her brown eyes fixed on the porch with laser-like focus, and Sarah’s smile included her as much as her son. “I’m glad you’re home.”

He nodded. “I’m where I need to be.” The tone in his voice was resolute, clear, and Sarah once again saw the man he needed to be, the man she had raised him to be. “I won’t let you down again.”

“You never…”

“I did. I let everyone down.” He gave a mirthless chuckle. “Sierra told me that, in the future. I didn’t think she was going to let me come back. I think… I think she liked being the leader.”

“You never wanted this life,” Sarah reminded him. “You fought me every step of the way.”

“It was never real to me. I just wanted what I saw on TV, a bowl of cereal and Saturday morning cartoons… school, friends, a normal life. Once I got old enough to realize that it wasn’t just a game, that it was real and it was my life, I resented you, you and everything you did.”

“You were a teenager.”

He shook his head dismissively. “I guess. I don’t know.”

“Savannah is different,” Sarah broached the subject carefully, relieved when her son just nodded his head in agreement. “I don’t know when she figured it out, but she knew. She knew about her mother. This fight, it’s personal for her, in a way it never was for you growing up. She’s lost so much to it already.”

They both turned to watch Cameron and Savannah play.

“Everyone’s afraid of losing something. You’re afraid of losing your place in the future. Savannah is afraid of losing her family again…” Sarah sighed.

“What are you afraid of losing?”

Sarah’s eyes darted guiltily to the terminator before she looked up at her son. “I’ve already experienced that loss,” she said quietly. “And then my son came back to me.” She pulled him into a tight hug, feeling the extra inches he had grown in the way her body had to stretch to reach his neck. He hugged her back, fiercely, with an intensity and love he had never shown her before. And over his shoulder, she could see Cameron and Savannah, playing in the sunshine.

John finally stood and cast one last look at Savannah. He nodded faintly to himself before going inside.

Sarah took the moment of peace for what it was, already feeling it slipping through her fingers. With a sigh, she stood as well. There were weapons to pack and a terminator to stop.

***

 

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