"I'm getting tired of asking! Tell me the truth!"

Amy squeezed the fistful of hair she had in her grasp tighter as she tried to block out the searing pain travelling through her body. She barely heard Quinn yelling at her, much less saw him mashing the button of his signal generator while he loomed over her. Her HUD and vision flickered, despite the fact she had her eyes screwed tight shut, her entire system was on the verge of collapse, her liquid metal matrix struggling to maintain cohesion under the bombardment.

It was right around that time her 'imagination' kicked in. She didn't consider at the time it may have been some form of defence mechanism she'd developed, after all it was a little difficult to think that clearly when one is being tortured for information by one's captor. Her CPU certainly was advanced enough to pull something like this, it was designed like all other advanced processors with the ability to learn and grow. Not to mention the fact that Amy's mental state was already precarious at best thanks to Skynet's experimentation.

"Tell me the damn truth! Why are you really here?"

In a flash, Amy's mind was transported back, or rather forward, to the future. To a particularly important part of her life, her first briefing on her mission in the past.

She pushed the heavy door to John and Cameron's quarters open with a grunt, the old metal squeaking and grinding in protest. The doors clearly weren't meant to be opened by someone of her stature, and it was something she was irritated by every day, not to mention everybody else she nagged to do something about it. What made it worse was the guards outside the room not lifting a finger to help her, and she fittingly flipped them the bird as soon as she heard a chuckle.

I'm really starting to dislike Private Morris…if only he knew how well I know his wife…

She entered the darkened room to find John hunched over his desk, papers haphazardly strewn over the surface of it a good indication of what sort of mood he was in. Only a single dim lamp illuminated his features, bags under his eyes, tension in his shoulders visible even from across the room. Amy did note however, one conspicuously missing wife of over ten years, "Where's Cammy?"

"Mission." John's abrupt reply gave Amy all the evidence she needed as to why he was in such a bad mood. It was legendary that when one was separated from the other, either by circumstance or argument, John and Cameron were notoriously difficult to deal with. In fact, the entire base seemed to head into a downward spiral such was the bond and love they shared with each other. Apparently it was infectious.

"'Kay…You wanted to see me?" Amy asked as she shoved the door closed behind her, the metal scraping causing John to at least look up from whatever paper it was he'd been staring at for the last ten minutes.

"I do. Have a seat." Amy looked around, her body spinning a full 360 at one point to locate a seemingly non-existent chair. Finding none, she settled for hopping up onto the bed, little legs kicking happily off the edge in time with the ticking clock on John's desk.

"Ugh, Skynet's pushing back on the Western front." Finally sitting up, John slouched back in his chair, his hands trying to knead some tension out of his tired face. Looking over at Amy, he couldn't help but smile a little, she'd picked out a pretty yellow dress to 'wear', a nice contrast to his otherwise miserable day. "I suppose you're wondering why I asked you to come here?"

"A little," Amy shrugged nonchalantly, "But I'm thinking you don't wanna just hang out?"

"Not exactly."

Amy's eyes narrowed slightly as John tried to stretch out his back, the cracking noise rippling its way down his spine the further he leaned back. John looked tired, frustrated, pissed off, and in no mood for any of Skynet's futile counterattacks. It didn't take the entirety of her processing power for her to lean closer and take a wild stab in the dark, "How long has Cammy been gone?"

"Eight days." John answered without any hesitation, his head swivelling to face the oddly perceptive machine a moment later. She shrugged, earning herself a smile. "How come you didn't know that? Where have you been for the last week?"

"Down in the tunnels, doing a little exploring, played lots of hide and seek with the other kids." Amy smiled as she thought about it. It wasn't odd for her to disappear for large chunks of time to wander off on her own. Apparently she'd missed a lot during the latest adventure away from her family. "But I guess that explains a lot. You look like you haven't slept in oh…about eight days!"

"Have I ever told you that you're getting way too good at being a smartass?" John asked, a slight chuckle in his voice. "Anyway, I asked you here because I have a mission for you. If you're willing to accept it, that is."

Quinn lifted his thumb off the button, giving Amy's writhing body a brief moment's respite. She still clutched at her hair pathetically, just wanting this torture to end.

"Ready to talk yet?" Quinn asked, feeling brave enough to get closer and closer, seeing the machine laying prostrate on the floor. Unable to react to him, he actually prodded her shoulder to get her attention.

Amy glared up at him, using what strength she had left to muster to let him know just how much she despised the man. It seemed to work. The Australian's face twisted into one of disgust as he jammed his thumb back down on the button again as Amy's shrill cry filled the room.

"So that's it. That's what I'm asking of you. Your cover story is only part of your mission. Take out Kaliba then carry out the duty I've asked of you." John couldn't look up at his little friend, instead choosing to stare down at a crack in the floor in front of him. He knew how important this was, and how risky it was…idiotic in fact.

Amy's legs had long since stopped kicking off the edge of the bed, and now she too stared down at her feet, caught up in just as much turmoil as John was about this. She understood his reasoning, supported it in fact. But why now? Why after so much good work had been done? But through all that conflict, one thought stood out amongst the others as being the most worrying. "Why isn't Cameron here too while you're telling me this?"

John looked over to find Amy staring at him, a little judgementally. He sighed and stood up, only to sit back down beside her on the bed, "I uh…I don't want her to know about this."

Amy found herself genuinely surprised. For John to want to keep something from Cameron after so long was almost inconceivable, despite how she could see why he didn't want her to know. The two shared everything, they deeply loved and trusted each other, and quite frankly it made her a little uncomfortable to have to help John hide something. "You're keeping secrets now? Why, after so long?"

"Because I'm not sure she'd understand why I'm doing this. I don't want to fight with her." John looked sidelong at his little friend almost pleadingly, not wanting her to push this. For the record, neither had any problem with what he was doing, they just didn't want to have to hide it from Cameron. They both loved her.

"Just explain it to her. She'll understand." Amy prodded hopefully.

"Do you remember the last time we had a fight? Not an argument, I mean a real fight?"

"Yeah, I do, she almost lost control. I thought she was going to kill you, and she pissed off half the base for two weeks after." Amy thought back to what was possibly one of the most miserable two weeks in memory. John was rocking the couch in his office while making his soldier's lives suck one order at a time. Cameron wasn't much better off, spending all her time either breaking things through irrational anger or crying her eyes out in a fit of emotion she couldn't handle. It was a nightmare, one that she was in no hurry to repeat.

Denying John's request was never really in any doubt. It just took her a while to make sure this was what he really wanted. She kinda hoped he'd reconsider, but knowing John as well as she did, she knew in no uncertain terms he wasn't about to do that.

"Alright, I'll do it. When do we perform the procedure?" Amy asked in a small voice.

"Whenever you're ready. The engineers and doctors have everything set up for you."

Amy paused a moment, the thought of being subjected to a procedure in a room remarkably similar to the site of her torture at the hands of Skynet was something she was in no hurry to endure again. "Could you…will you be there?"

John smiled kindly and ruffled her hair playfully. "I'll be right beside you holding your hand. Nothing will happen to you, okay?"

"Okay, John…I trust you."

Amy didn't know if the device Quinn was using had an intensity setting, but if it did she was pretty sure he'd just cranked it up a notch or two at her continued stubbornness. In a somewhat perverse way, it pleased her to know she was causing him endless frustration. She only wished it didn't hurt so damn much for the pleasure.

Oddly enough that made her think of Cameron and her…'needs', giving her a moment's humour to enjoy before the pain overrode anything pleasant she could conjure.

Her vision and mind blurring into one, her past and the present flickered together. Quinn stood looming over her one second, and the next she was back in her memories, her brain fighting to protect her and struggling to do so. Eventually though it won out, pushing her thoughts to her past and one of the most pivotal moments in her life.

Amy entered the room to find only three people waiting for her, John, Cameron and little Abi. She knew her mission in the past was of vital importance, but it was still playing havoc with her emotions when she saw her family lined up waiting to see her off. She knew she'd feel gut wrenching loss as soon as she arrived in the past, but sucked it up and forced a smile.

Three and a half year old Abigail, who had previously been content to wander around the bright lights of the time displacement room enjoying the adventure of exploration, was somewhat unhappy to be nudged towards Amy by her mother. She remained unhappy until she saw her Aunt Amy waiting for her with a beaming smile.

"Well, I'm going to miss you!" Amy cooed as she dropped down to her knees to greet the much smaller girl.

"Where are you going?" She asked, her innocent eyes full of curiosity and wonder.

"I'm going away." Abi's eyes widened in a mixture of fear and apprehension, but Amy was quick to soothe the little angel, "Don't worry, I'm going to be fine."

Looking on the verge of stomping her foot, Abi couldn't understand why her best friend was leaving her, "Whyyyyy?" She whined, clutching at the stuffed bunny in her arms.

"Because, I have to do a job for your daddy. If I don't do it, daddy will get sad." Amy soothed. It was a partial truth at least.

"But…I don't want you to go!" This time, Abi actually did stamp her foot, her princess complex kicking in despite her early years. "You can't go!"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I have to." Brow cinching together as tears welled up in the girl's eyes, Amy wasn't above admitting she felt terrible. The poor kid didn't understand why her friend was leaving her, and it broke her heart to know she was the one causing her pain.

"Here. I have something for you." Clutching her most prized possession in her hands, Amy looked down one final time at Barney Bear. The stuffed animal that had been gifted to her by her first ever friend, Jenny. The girl who had been tragically killed by Skynet forces, the one that taught her the power of her own imagination. She owed her a lot, and that bear was the last remnant of their friendship. She couldn't bring it back with her, so she wanted him to go to a good home.

Reluctantly handing the bear off to her friend, Amy smiled when Abi took it gratefully, smiling down at its little face. "He belonged to someone very special to me. Take good care of him, okay?"

Abi nodded slowly, carefully running her little fingers over the bear's ears, as if understanding just how much it meant. Reaching out, Amy pulled the girl into a hug, one which she felt returned by tiny arms clutching onto her sides almost desperately. "I'll see you around, kiddo."

She didn't really understand, she didn't really know what was going on, but tears flowed freely in Abi's little eyes as she was detached from her best friend by her mother before being promptly ushered towards her waiting dad. Cameron crouched down in front of Amy and quickly pulled her into a hug, pouring more affection into it than Amy had ever known from the usually reserved cyborg.

"Stay safe, Amy. Please, be patient with my younger self when you get back. She's…confused." Amy pulled back a little to look at the person she'd come to think of as her big sister. Despite a couple of spats down the years, the two of them were as close as any two friends could be, and Amy knew it must have been killing the cyborg to see her go. She didn't form attachments easily, but when she did, she really did. She dread to think what might happen to her if she ever lost someone she really cared about.

"I will, Cameron. I'll make sure to keep her on the right path." She pulled back and winked at her friend who was clearly trying to suppress tears herself.

With a sniffle, Cameron reached out and brushed Amy's cheek affectionately before standing and returning to her husband, taking Abi out of his arms. She watched him walk over to Amy, crouch down and pull her into a hug just like she'd done a moment ago.

The hug lasted for a long time with no words exchanged between the two, much longer than Cameron expected. John was too strong to show much emotion these days, but evidently he cared for Amy way more than she was aware of.

When the hug did finally break up, John waited a long moment before smiling and ruffling Amy's hair in just the way she hated, earning him a half hearted eye roll. Eventually though, the time for goodbye's came to an end. Amy made her way to the displacement pad in the centre of the room and crouched down in preparation. She looked up to see Abi fussing in her mother's arm and sucking her thumb for comfort, the two stuffed animals clutched in her arm.

She watched Cameron discreetly slip her hand into her husband's, clearly looking for support. John gave her hand a squeeze in reply just as Amy looked up at him. He smiled, then winked at her, about as clear, albeit hidden sign of encouragement as she was ever going to get.

Smiling at her family, Amy waved back at all of them. She saw John nod towards the window at the back of the room, and suddenly her world was enveloped in electrical discharges and a bubble of white light.

Clutching her head in crippling agony, Amy writhed on the floor, her memories of the bright white of the time bubble mingling with the blinding pain of her reality. She couldn't take much more of this, her liquid metal matrix couldn't take much more of this. She had to do something, had to stop it somehow.

Pain receptors in her body lit up like they never had before, her liquid metal structure coming apart at the seams. Amy had rarely known fear, being impervious to most forms of attack would do that to a person. But now she knew true fear. If she didn't do something to stop this torture, she wasn't going to last much longer. Only the truth would satisfy this man, so that's what she gave him, screaming as loud as she could, "Sarah! It's all about Sarah!"

"Sarah?" Quinn asked, finally deactivating the signal generators in the room, his curiosity piqued. "Sarah Connor? What does she have to do with anything?"

Still struggling with the effects of her torture, Amy took several moments, her systems trying to right themselves, everything affected from her balance, her vision to even her motor skills, her body still spasming randomly. "She, she's why I'm here. She's my…mission."

"Your mission? What mission?" Crouching down beside the machine, confident he would be safe, Quinn nudged the girl to get her attention, practically growling. "Are you here to keep her safe? To give her intel? Tell me!"

Amy shook her head, struggling to sit up, her body leaning heavily against the crate behind her, "No…something else."

One thing was for certain, despite Sarah's dislike of the entity known as Catherine Weaver, she wasn't about to turn down good advice. After being dispatched from Zeira Corp without so much as a lead to follow up on, Sarah had taken the machine's advice and travelled back to the scene of the crime, namely Aegis Enterprises' main office building. This was where that damn fun day had taken place. This was where Amy was taken from her.

Fortunately enough it had a nice and secluded, dark alley opposite the building. Perfect for Sarah to conduct her covert surveillance and investigation. She vaguely wondered just how many darkened alleys she'd been in down the years, tracking one target or another. She got the feeling it was significantly more than most women her age, that was for sure.

But this one was perfect. Hell, there was even a diner around the corner that sold donuts and coffee, right next door to a Chinese restaurant. It was like the building was begging to be staked out. Unfortunately thought for Sarah, she hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and the driver's seat of the Jeep was incredibly comfortable, especially at three in the morning when activity had been at an absolute zero for the past, oh…six hours.

Consequently, she woke with a start just after five AM, the blare of a reversing garbage truck stirring her from her relatively peaceful albeit short slumber. Mentally kicking herself for sleeping so long, she sat up in her seat to survey the building in front of her. Just as she thought, not a single thing had changed, well, aside from the early morning sun.

Stretching her aching body out as much as she could, she opened the door and slid out of the Jeep, raising her arms above her head to complete the full body stretch. Satisfied she was awake properly, she ducked back into the Jeep and pulled her phone out off the dash. The thing hadn't been turned on in days, and she deemed right then as good a time as any to re-connect with the world, and most importantly her family.

Wow, when did I start considering Cameron and Derek my family?

Shaking her head, she powered on her phone, the BlackBerry symbol glaring at her for a moment before disappearing and giving way to the familiar home screen. As she'd expected, the voicemails and text messages promptly started flooding her inbox. She wasn't this popular when she was actually popular, eighteen voice messages and thirteen texts.

She'd listen to the voicemails later, most of them were probably from John anyway. Scrolling through her texts, she noticed a definite trend in the messages from him, each one more pleading and desperate than the next. She could tell he was trying to control himself, the fact he'd only sent eleven was a pretty good indicator of that. There was one message from Derek that simply read:

'What the hell are you doing? Where the hell are you? And what the fuck are you thinking?'

Typical Derek. Even when he's trying to be caring he comes off as aggressive. Just what The Model™ saw in him she'd never know. There was one oddity in amongst John's messages though that caught her eye. It was one from Cameron.

Sarah's curiosity piqued, she opened the message, and the contents surprisingly brought a warm smile to her face.

'Please come home, Sarah. John is worried about you.'

Short, simple, and to the point, but it reminded Sarah just how much the cyborg cared for her son. Her absence was getting him worked up, so Cameron sought to alleviate that stress. Pretty simple, but Sarah appreciated it nonetheless.

As she prepared to toss her phone back onto the dash, she paused. A smile growing on her face as she looked over the background image of her phone. It was a shot of her and Amy, John had took it one day when she wasn't paying attention and set it as her background. She didn't have the technical knowhow to change it, so there it remained.

The shot pretty much summed up Sarah's feelings about Amy. She sat in her lap, giggling away as the woman she thought of as her mother said something to make her laugh, her arm wrapped securely around the little girl's waist. She knew it wasn't right, tried to deny it, but her true feelings shone through in the moment that John had chosen to capture.

Life sure had a way of surprising you…and biting you in the ass. The picture was a stark reminder of what she was missing, and more pointedly what she still had.

Keying in John's number without a second thought, Sarah waited for it to dial. She had no idea what she was going to say, she just wanted to talk to her son. The phone was answered just barely as the first ring finished. As she expected, it was Cameron that answered in a quiet voice, "Hello Sarah."

Sighing, Sarah pulled the phone from her ear, but only to punch in her code. She heard Cameron's a moment later, confirming her identity. "Where's John?"

She could almost see the cyborg's nose crinkling when she got right down to business. For some reason, Cameron expected politeness to be reciprocated, and it irked her when it wasn't. For an advanced cybernetic intelligence, she sure was easy to annoy, much to Sarah's eternal delight, "John is here. He's currently asleep…and drooling on me."

Sarah smiled at the vision of her son currently dribbling on his girlfriend's chest…she only hoped they were clothed. Vision ruined. "Is he now? Can I speak to him…please?"

Silence came from the other end for a moment, Cameron obviously considering the request. She was protective of John to ridiculous lengths, including making sure he got a suitable amount of sleep per night. Usually Sarah would've just told her to put her son on, but she wanted to honour their relationship. Cameron was the gatekeeper at the moment, and she had to ask, not take.

A second later she heard a faint voice and then some shuffling. She faintly heard John mumbling something incoherent, something along the lines of wanting Cameron to be more gentle. Dismissing it as sleep induced nonsense from her son, Sarah listened some more, John making more sense as he slowly woke up.

"Mom?" John's eager sounding voice came through a moment later, like music to her ears.

"Hey John." Smiling at the sound of his voice, Sarah slumped against the side of the Jeep. "How are things?"

"How are things?" To Sarah's surprise, John sounded more pissed than she'd been expecting, his voice actually stuttering before he continued, "You've been gone for days and you're asking me how are things? Where are you?"

"I'm safe. That's all you need to worry about." Waiting for a reply, Sarah could almost hear John's teeth grinding. For once she was actually glad Cameron was there with him. She was no doubt doing her level best to keep him calm.

"And Amy?" John ground out, his lips forming into a tight smile as Cameron drifted her fingers over his cheek lovingly. He appreciated her efforts, but that didn't mean he wasn't still pissed with his mother, despite how happy he was to hear her voice again.

"Nothing yet." Sarah fell silent for a moment, unable to get that image out of her head, or the memory. Amy squirming in her lap as she ran her fingers through one of her pigtails…Dammit, stop it Sarah!

"That sucks." John commented dryly. He missed Amy too of course, but he missed his mother more. "Why don't you come home and we can work out a new plan for finding her?"

"No." Sarah shook her head, despite knowing John couldn't see it, "Not yet. I still have to…just, not yet John, okay?"

There were a few moments silence from the other end, John no doubt mulling it over. She didn't know it, but his head flopped down onto Cameron's chest, his finger slowly tracing around her exposed belly button.

"There's nothing I can say to convince you, is there?"

"Not really." Despite everything, Sarah smiled. She knew her sone better than anyone, well, his girlfriend possibly excluded in that. But she knew that when he thought about something, he was the most logical and careful individual around.

"Alright, mom, I understand." There was another period of silence, Cameron's fingers coming to rest on his scalp, gently massaging the tension away out of his voice, "Listen, don't do anything stupid. Come home when you're ready and we'll be waiting for you."

"Alright John. I…" With a frown, Sarah shook her head, steeling herself. It was the only way to get through this, be strong, don't let any weakness show, get Amy back, get home and then let herself play happy families. "Sit tight, make sure the model doesn't do anything dumb…and John?"

"Yeah mom?" John asked, grinning as he dropped a kiss on Cameron's belly.

"Take care of yourself…" She couldn't help but smirk as she said this, the soft squelching sound coming down the line clear as day, "And if you can manage to peel yourself off of Cameron, go get a shower, breakfast, and do your workout. That's an order, John."

Chuckling, John actually did as instructed, rolling off his girlfriend, Cameron propping herself up on her side to watch him, "Yes, mom. I'll even brush my teeth and clean behind my ears."

"Good boy." Smiling, Sarah hung up the phone, in a much better mood now that she'd heard her son's voice. As she pushed herself up off the side of the Jeep, a loss of balance had her thudding back against it, her head suddenly swimming, her stomach lurching in an all too familiar way.

Lifting a hand to her forehead, she took a moment to steady herself, forcing it down deep, fighting on through the pain. She was a warrior, able to up against not one but two Terminators and survive. She'd be damned if a little sickness was going to get the best of her. So she did what she always did, sucked up the pain and the discomfort and forced herself to get on with what had to be done.

She pushed herself to standing off the side of the car, swaying only a fraction before closing her eyes and taking in a deep, calming breath. Satisfied the worst of it had passed, she got back in the Jeep ready to move on. She was getting no change out of watching Aegis, time for a switch in strategy.

She had to get her Amy back…she just had to.

She poked her head around the corner of the doorframe, not even inch by inch, but millimetre by millimetre. No sooner had her beautiful eyes crept around the timber frame, she ducked back, her heart racing in her chest. Derek, despite his obvious love and caring for the woman, couldn't suppress a smirk. He knew how terrified she was, and quite frankly, that was understandable, so he felt like an ass for finding it funny the way she wouldn't even head downstairs without him there beside her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked calmly, taking gentle hold of her arm.

"She's in there!" Jessica replied in a mixture of a hiss and a whisper, as if it should have been plainly obvious what was wrong.

"So?" He shrugged, whispering also. He didn't know why, after all, the machine could hear everything they were saying anyway, it just felt like something he should do.

"So? What do you mean, so?" Eyes widening, Jessica shook her head, a little disbelieving. What on Earth she saw in this man she'd never know, "I can't go in there! She's….she's in there, Derek!"

"So?" He shook his head, but not in frustration, nor sympathy. More like… hopeful thinking. "You'll have to do this eventually, babe. She's not going to hurt you, okay?"

Jessica stayed silent for a moment, eyeing her boyfriend like she wanted to do some damage to his face, some damage probably involving her fist. Shaking her head, she slowly leaned back towards the entrance to the kitchen, again peeking her eyes out around the corner for a brief moment before pulling back just as quick.

She sucked in a deep breath before letting it out again, her fringe lifting up, caught in the sudden rush of air. She looked to her left again, right at Derek who smiled encouragingly. She gave him a pleading, puppy dog look that usually worked miracles on him. But today he wasn't budging.

"I'll be right here, okay?" He smiled, but stopped short of nudging her towards the kitchen, wanting her to do this in her own time. "I love you. You'll be fine."

Jessica forced a little half smile before nervously chewing her lip and turning away. She didn't see it, but Derek smiled a very proud smile at her back as he watched her poke her head out for longer than a second this time. He watched her take a moment to collect herself, take a deep breath, gather her courage, before stepping over the threshold of the kitchen.

She didn't stray too far though, choosing instead to hover in the doorway, nervously shuffling from one foot to the other. Cameron didn't look up. Little did Jessica know, but the cyborg was aware of her presence, and had been since she'd left the sanctuary of Derek's room and ventured downstairs. She didn't know that a real sense of excitement and anticipation had been building in her chip, every passing second like a form of torture. But she wouldn't push it, she wouldn't make any sudden moves at all, not if it meant potentially getting her best friend back.

While she was contemplating clearing her throat, Jessica took a moment to have a quick look around. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for Cameron herself. The usually badass cyborg looked anything but, wearing a knee length white dress with red detailing, a departure from the jeans that she'd always just happened to be wearing whenever the two of them were together.

Her hair was pinned up into a loose ponytail, oddly enough tied with a red ribbon. Cameron was in a strange mood that day, feeling oddly sentimental about Amy after John's phone call with his mother. Amy had shown her how to tie her hair up that way, so she felt it was a fitting thing to do. Her feet were bare and her legs crossed demurely under the kitchen table. All in all, she looked like a sweet, innocent young girl. All it did was remind Jessica just how hard she'd fell for the ruse, she truly believed once upon a time that Cameron was just a sweet young thing confused about life and love, looking for a friend to help her out.

Boy, was she wrong.

Still though, she'd promised Derek that she would at least make an effort to get over her initial reaction whenever she thought of, or saw Cameron. Outright panic and fear. So she sucked it up, took a deep breath, lifted her chin and cleared her throat. It had the desired effect as Cameron looked up from whatever she was working on, her hand pausing over the paper beneath it. "Hello, Jessica."

Despite the fact she'd been expecting that, it still caught her off guard a little, "Um, yeah, uh, hi…Cameron."

Cameron formed one of her patented half smiles and tilted her head just a fraction while looking the young woman over. It was a quick glance, but she had no idea how much it unnerved Jessica. She decided on going for the uncharacteristic patient, faux-ignorant approach she'd recently been learning to incorporate into her personality matrix. Not her usual style, admittedly. She favoured a somewhat…stronger approach, but John had assured her it wasn't always the best method. "John isn't here. I'm assuming you're looking for him?"

Cameron's lilting voice almost had Jessica relaxing, right up until she blinked a couple of times and shook her head to clear it. "Um, no, I was just uh…Is it okay if I get something to drink?"

Cameron noticed Jessica's tone was clipped, polite, but not friendly. It had a shake to it that most humans would never detect with their relatively poor auditory systems. But unfortunately she was cursed with perfect audio receptors, and the realisation hurt her in ways she wasn't expecting it to. Despite a momentary twitch of her left hand and a certain impulse that was becoming altogether too familiar, she smiled and nodded, not letting her voice betray her inner turmoil, "Of course. There is chilled water or juice in the refrigerator. Or something stronger in the cupboard under the sink if you prefer."

Already taking a step towards the fridge, Jessica paused and quirked a brow at that last part. How did…never mind, she'd had enough alcohol lately to last a lifetime. "Thanks…"

Keeping her eyes glued on the cyborg, she watched Cameron smile and return to her work, the pen moving over the paper again with inhuman speed and precision. Letting out a shudder, she skirted around the area of the kitchen table as much as she could until she reached the fridge. Once there, she was forced to tear her gaze away to grab a bottle of water from the door. Once she had it, she immediately went back to keeping a watchful eye on the girl at the table, closing the fridge door harder than she intended.

Cameron didn't flinch, she merely tilted her head the opposite way and turned the paper slightly.

As much as she knew she should have just been getting the hell out of there, mission accomplished, curiosity started to get the better of Jessica, and she found herself craning her neck to get a better look at what it was Cameron was drawing. Next thing she knew she'd drifted closer until she was looking right over her shoulder, and what she saw both confused and intrigued her, "Is that…is that um…you?"

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Cameron's lips as she looked up and away from her drawing, sitting up slightly to give Jessica a better view. "Yes, it is me. My endoskeletal structure, to be precise."

As she examined the image, perfectly drawn with a precision only CAD software could match, she couldn't help but be drawn in by the lines of the body. So sleek, dangerous, and yet somehow…feminine, if that was even possible. "So, so that's what you look like…underneath?"

"Yes." Chancing a glance up at her friend, Cameron moved the paper closer to the woman. So far she didn't seem repulsed, curious if anything. "My construction is not that different to yours, just, different materials. Would you like me to explain anything to you?"

"Um, no thanks…" Leaning down, she examined the drawing closer, almost forgetting about the crippling fear of the machine sitting next to her, "Why are you drawing yourself?"

"It's a gift for John." With that, Cameron turned the paper back towards herself and started labelling certain objects, her perfectly neat handwriting placed precisely next to critical systems.

"A, a gift?" With a shake of her head, Jessica tore her eyes away from the paper and towards the back of Cameron's head, the impulse to help her friend out like she'd always done kicking in before she had a chance to stop it, "Why not just get him an Xbox game or something? Seems easier."

Cameron smiled while she carried on with her work. "Not that kind of gift. John has expressed a desire to learn and to grow into the role he will one day assume. This means he needs any knowledge that is available to him about his…enemy."

Her pen stopped, and she put it down a moment later as she stared at her own chassis design on the page in front of her. "One day, John will pass on the information he knows about machines to others. It's how he rises through the ranks to become leader. He shows the human race how to fight back, he teaches them how to win. My design is close to most Terminator units, there are many similarities."

"So, the important parts of you are the same on other…models?" Jessica asked, again on autopilot.

"Yes." Cameron turned slightly in her seat, making Jessica jump just a little. It wasn't as much as she'd been expecting though, progress at least, "Our power cells are located here."

She pointed to her chest, and also to the label on her diagram. Then she raised both her fingers to the top of her head, physically and on the schematic, "Our chips…brains, are located here." She tapped her skull for emphasis, right over her chip port.

Jessica leaned forward, as if expecting to actually see something. She only found Cameron's perfect hair, nothing more. "I um…" She glanced back at the doorway where she knew Derek was waiting for her. She couldn't see him, but just knowing that he was there gave her strength and courage, "Derek says that in the future it'll help me if I know this stuff. Would you…"

She paused. She didn't want to do this, but knew she had to, if not for her then for Derek. She had promised after all, "Would you be able to teach me more about you? About others some time?"

Apparently this was what humans often referred to as an 'olive branch', although that was an expression Cameron never truly understood…and she didn't like olives either. Fighting off every impulse in her system to snatch the branch being offered, she merely nodded once and smiled, "Of course. When you have time, come and see me and we can get started."

"Oh, thanks. I'll uh…I'll see you later." Turning around and heading out of the room, Jessica had to shake her head to remind herself just what the hell she'd done. She had an actual pleasant conversation with Cameron, without freaking out! Maybe Derek and John were right. Although she had a feeling it would be a while before she was truly comfortable around her again.

As she rounded the corner, she found Derek smiling a wide, proud smile at her and couldn't help but smile back, still clutching her water in her hands.