Chapter 27 - Epilogue

It had been five years since the war had ended, Allison Connor, now twenty one years old, stood in the field, full of long lush green grass, behind the Connor home, watching over her younger brother and sisters playing. Most people at Allison's age would have preferred to spend their days off out partying with friends instead of looking after her younger siblings, but unlike other people her age, Allison didn't care how others preferred to spend their free time, she loved her brother and sisters and loved to watch them play together in the field. After long shifts at the hospital a couple of miles away, she welcomed the time she had to play with her siblings. Kyle, now nearly six, was running round in circles holding an old tennis ball while his younger twin sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth chased him.

"Give us the ball! Give us the ball". The twins were almost identical in appearance to their mother, as they were to each other. They both had long brown hair and the same facial features as Cameron. Everything but their eyes they inherited from their mother. They both had green eyes, the same eyes of their father. Allison couldn't help but laugh as Kyle tripped and fell over and his sisters jumped on top of him, wrestled the ball from him and then both ran away again, laughing in triumph, "We got it, we got it!". Kyle stood back up, his T shirt covered in a thick layer of mud. He spotted Allison laughing at him and shot her an angry look then took off in hot pursuit of his sisters.

Allison looked up in to the sky and smiled as the sun easily broke though the now small black clouds. After Skynet's fall, the sky had steadily clearing itself. The black clouds from the fires of Judgement day, which once covered the whole world, were now disappearing one by one. The sun could now almost freely shine down and together with the heavy rain falls which now covered the world, was slowly bringing it back to life. Allison could hear whispers from her three siblings, mixed together with soft laughing and knew they were planning something.

Hoping to 'accidentally' hear the plan, Allison casually walked forwards, hoping they wouldn't notice her before she got close enough. Allison stopped suddenly as she heard Kyle crying. Concerned for her brother, Allison ran towards him to see if he was alright. She found Kyle sitting with his head in his lap, crying loudly. "Kyle, what happened? Are you alright?" Kyle shook his head but didn't look up, "My knee, I've cut my knee". He yelled out in pain as he pointed to his knee and Allison knelt down next to him and moved his hand out of the way, "Let me have a look…. Hey! There's no cut!" She looked up and realised Kyle had been faking it. "Got you!" Sarah and Elizabeth ran out of nowhere and jumped on top of Allison, wrestling her to the ground. Allison laughed at herself as her three younger siblings jumped all over her, pinning her to the ground and tickling her, covering her and themselves in mud. When they were all exhausted, Allison sat up and looked at the grins on her three sibling faces. "Whose idea was that then?"

The grins on the twin's faces got larger, "You two are little devils you know, and you're so like mom". They laughed again but then Sarah's grin disappeared as she looked around. "Where's the ball?" Elizabeth stopped laughing herself and joined her sister in searching for it. Kyle also moved to look for it but with his sisters backs turned, Allison produced the ball from behind her back and tossed it to Kyle who grinned before breaking in to a run. "Sarah and Elizabeth saw him run and chased after him, "Kyle's got it, get him!". Allison grinned at how quickly they ran after their brother. They were just over four years old and together, could easily take on their older brother. Allison stood up and looked around towards the Connor home, which was at the other end of the field. It wasn't exactly a big house but it wasn't small either and she smiled feeling truly happy. Allison then spotted someone close to the house, walking towards her.

Reaching for her the back of her jeans, she grabbed her pistol and primed it and looked for her brother and sisters. "Kyle! Sarah! Elizabeth! Get here now!" All three of them recognised the seriousness of Allison's voice and instantly ran towards her. Sarah and Elizabeth each took hold of Allison's legs and held on tightly while Kyle stood behind them, holding on to them as if shielding them. Allison gripped her pistol tightly and could feel her younger siblings shaking with fear behind her, "It's alright, and he's not going to hurt you while I'm here". This didn't give them any confidence and they held on to her tighter. When the man got close enough, Allison raised her pistol, "Stop right there or I'll shoot!"

He stopped and raised his arms, "Don't shoot, I'm not armed, I promise you!" Allison didn't lower her weapon and as the man took a step forwards, Allison shot at the ground, missing his foot by little more then an inch, "I told you!, stay where you are". The man didn't look afraid but more surprised by the lack of hospitality, "I already told you, I'm not armed. Do you treat everyone you see like this?" Again, his words didn't prompt Allison to lower the weapon, "I treat people who I don't know and who are here uninvited like this, so I'd leave now if I were you". The man didn't move but continued to stare at them. He seemed more concerned on why all four of them were covered in mud for a moment then the gun, but when Allison moved her pistol to aim at his head, he backed off. "Look, I'm here to see John and Cameron Connor. That's all. I'm here on the orders of the President himself".

Allison still didn't back down but she did stop aiming at the man's head but still kept the gun raised. "What does Perry want with my mom and dad? If he wants them to work for him on some project or something, he can forget it". The man seemed surprised by Allison's words and lowered his arms. He reached in to his pocket and pulled out an envelope, his eyes fixed on Allison's gun in the hope she wouldn't shoot him. "How do you know the President wants them to work with him? I haven't even seen your parents yet".

Allison gave a small mocking smile and felt her three siblings move to peer around from behind her. They were becoming a little braver. "You're not the first person to come here and offer them a job. I can tell you now, they'll say the same thing they told all the others, they aren't interested". The man seemed disappointed by this and put the envelope back in his pocket and slowly backed away. "I wish I could leave but the President gave me specific instructions to hand this directly to your parents. Once they have it, I'll leave, I promise you". Allison was now annoyed but remained focussed. "They left this morning; I don't know when they'll be back". Suddenly, Kyle spoke from behind Allison, "Mom and dad are home!"

Sarah and Elizabeth both gasped with relief and Allison could see John and Cameron running across the field towards them, both carrying pistols. Their dog Max, who they adopted after Liz had died, ran ahead and growled and showed its teeth to the unknown man. The man again raised his hands to show he was no threat. Sarah and Elizabeth both ran out from behind Allison and towards Cameron, who knelt down and hugged her daughters before picking them both up following John. Allison reached behind her and took Kyle's hand and assured him everything would be alright. John stopped before the man and also held him at gunpoint, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The man lowered his head and took a step back from John, again taken aback.

"My name's Richford, David Richford. I was sent here on the orders of the President to deliver this to John and Cameron Connor". He pointed towards the envelope and jumped when Max barked at him, thinking he was reaching for a weapon. John sighed and lowered his weapon and put it away. "It's alright Allison!" Allison lowered her gun and she and Kyle moved towards Cameron, Kyle running ahead to cuddle his mother's legs. Cameron lowered her daughters to the ground and hugged Kyle. "Max, come here". Max instantly did as he was told and after barking again at the man, ran to Cameron. "You three play with Max while we talk with the man alright". The three of them seemed completely happy again with their parents present and Kyle took out his tennis ball and threw it. Max ran after it and then Kyle, Sarah and Elizabeth ran after Max, laughing again already. Cameron stood up and walked forwards, now covered in mud herself from carrying Sarah and Elizabeth and looked intently at Richford.

"Like I said, I was sent here by the President, he told me to give you this". He took out the envelope and held it out to John, who took it and with a sigh opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper and John read it quickly before handing it to his wife. "The answer's no". Richford had looked hopeful after handing the letter over but his face dropped again. "But you've just read it. If you take some time to think about it". Cameron gave him a dark look which shut him up and she handed the letter back. "John's said no, I'm saying no. Perry's ran the New World Government for five years now since he was elected. He's done a good job so far and doesn't need us. There are plenty of other people capable of doing what he's asking". Richford looked more disappointed then ever and took the letter from Cameron's hand and glanced at Allison, who gave him an I told you so look.

"That's exactly what the President said you would say. It's just there's just a popular demand from people for you two to be involved in the government. Nobody wants to see the Connor's disappear, you're heroes you know. No one's going to forget what you two did for us all in a hurry". John nodded his head and turned to watch his children play. He smiled as he always did when he saw Sarah and Elizabeth throwing the tennis ball to each other while Max ran between them. They both looked so much like their mother; it was almost like having two mini Cameron's running around the place. "Perry's asked us to work the New World Government eighteen times now. We've given him the same answers every time and that hasn't changed. The answers still no". Richford eventually bowed his head in defeat. "Alright, I'll go tell the President your answer but he won't be happy about it". Richford held out his hand and John shook it, "Perry never is. But he'll forgive us, he always does". Richford smiled and then held out his hand to Cameron, who also shook it.

"Well, despite your answer, it's been a pleasure to meet you both; it's not every day you get to meet the famous Connor family". He then turned to Allison and seemed to have a strong debate in his head about what to do next but eventually held his hand out to her. Allison, after a moment's hesitation, also shook it. "You wouldn't have actually shot me, would you?" Allison gave a small mocking smile, "Well, if you stay any longer, you can find out". Richford looked terrified by her and quickly let go before nodding his head at John and Cameron and walked back to his car near the house, walking quicker then he normally would have. Cameron turned around to face her children and called out, "Come on you three. It's your dads turn to cook and you need to get out of those clothes". Sarah and Elizabeth ran straight over and this time ran to their father, who hugged them both and like Cameron, was now covered in mud from them. Kyle continued to play with Max, but was slowly making his way over to the group. Allison took the lead back towards the house, "Are you sure it's a good idea to let dad cook. I nearly died last time". Sarah and Elizabeth giggled at their dad, who smirked and shook his head, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with my cooking".

He was lying; his cooking was just as bad as his mothers had been. Cameron kissed John on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder. "Your dad's cooking is just fine!" John looked to Cameron with a smile and kissed her back, "Thank you". Allison shook her head from where she was standing, "Please! I nearly choked to death". John and Cameron began to make their way back towards the house, holding each others hands while also holding the hands of their daughters. Kyle ran ahead to hold Allison's hand and turned to his father. "Are Auntie Lauren and Uncle Martin coming to eat?" Kyle looked up to Bedell as he looked up to John and enjoyed them both telling him stories of the war, even though they both left out most of the details and mixed the stories up to make them more exciting, like including fire breathing dragons and huge tornados. "Yeah, they'll be here in a few hours. You all need a bath and wash off this mud".

Allison glared at John for a moment before continuing to walk. Despite trying to keep out of the mud as mush as possible, Kyle, Sarah and Elizabeth's little trick had left her worse off then they were. Cameron looked down to Elizabeth, who was holding her hand, "Anne's coming as well, and you like playing with Anne!" Elizabeth beamed at her and looked to her sister, who was holding John's hand and they both began to discuss what they would play with Anne. They became stuck on whether to play hide and seek or play with their dolls. Reaching the house, Cameron pushed open the door and watched as Kyle, Elizabeth, Sarah and Max all ran inside, leaving a trail of mud on the floor. "Great, we'll have to clean all that up now". Cameron and Allison both smirked and stepped inside and just as John was about to follow, he remembered he forgot to lock the car, "Hold on, I'm just going to lock the car".

John walked over to the car, which was very similar to the car Derek used to have all those years ago, big, black and with enough space for Allison, Kyle, Sarah and Elizabeth to sit comfortably in the back. John pushed the key in to the lock and turned it and locked the car before an uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched crept over him. In the distance John could see two people. Putting the car keys back inside his pocket, he slowly reached for his gun and once grabbing it, raised it and aimed it at them, only to stop and lower it almost instantly. His parents, Sarah and Kyle were standing there; hand in hands and watching him. They smiled and waved at him and John, after getting over the shocked of seeing them, smiled back. He looked at their joined hands and could see clearly then they were in love with each other.

They seemed happy together and John hoped they where ever they were now, in the after life if there was one, they were together and that they were happy. He also felt a little sad at the sight of them together, because they never got the chance to spend more then two days with each other before being forced to part from one another forever. Putting his gun away, John smiled one final time and they smiled back as John turned away, only to walk right in to Cameron looking confused. "What were you looking at?" John turned to look again but Sarah and Kyle had vanished. Smiling at himself and turning back to Cameron, he pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply and passionately. After what seemed like a long time, they finally parted. "Nothing, I thought I saw something, but there's nothing". Cameron shrugged her shoulders and kissed him back softly. "I hope you're not seeing things. I need you to have a clear head for what I've got planned for you tonight". John looked at her with confusion on his face, "What have you got planned?" Cameron took John's hands, winked and then kissed him again, "When the kids are asleep, you'll find out".

John couldn't help but grin and wish tonight would hurry up and come. Taking each others hands, they slowly walked back towards the house. John and Cameron couldn't have asked for more, they had their own home, their own family and their own lives, they wanted nothing else, they were happy together.

One leader, one Protector, a joint Destiny.