they pulled into a really rural desert looking place. rattlesnake heads lined the fence.

"wait in the car," sarah ordered, and then stepped out.

(y/n) looked at john, wondering where the hell they are. john grinned and leaned against her.

"i feel like i haven't had much of a chance to talk to you lately." she confessed, adjusting to be able to see john a little better.

"i know. i'm sorry you got caught up in all this. if i could change it, i would." he sat up fully to look at her.

she shook her head, ignoring sarah's strange calls in what sounded like spanish. "no, no, it's alright. that's just my way of saying i want to kiss you."

john laughed and leaning closer to her. this time they savored the feeling of each other. the other's mere presence was enough to get drunk on. (y/n) cupped his cheek with one hand, the other on the bottom of the seat supporting her.

he smiled into the kiss, his hands in her hair, one going down to her cheek, tracing gentle patterns with his thumb. (y/n) pulled away and got lost in his features for a moment.

"i love you," she whispered softly, pressing her forehead against john's.

"i love you, too," he responded, his fingers still running through her (h/l) (h/c) hair.

suddenly, the terminator shot out of the car, gun raised a random armed man a few feet away. john and (y/n) scrambled out as well.

they spoke in spanish, (y/n) absorbing nothing of the conversation. the man spoke to john in spanish, and his only response was, "hey."

the man had apparently asked about the terminator because john paused and said, "that's uncle bob. enrique, uncle bob, uncle bob, enrique. oh, and that's (y/n), my girlfriend." he beamed at the last part, moving his hands towards the other two.

everyone hugged each other, (y/n) and the terminator standing awkwardly. a woman who'd hugged john kindly shook her hand. she still had no clue what they were saying.

"encantada de conocerte, (y/n)," the woman said. (y/n) looked at her blankly for a minute, and then the woman laughed. "nice to meet you," she translated.

"uncle bob?" the terminator looked at john strangely. he just shrugged.

a small kid wondered over and this confused the terminator. he furrowed his brows and lifted the child by the back of his tiny overalls. john and (y/n) laughed at him, (y/n) taking the kid from the terminator and sitting him down.

sarah now conversed with them in english but (y/n) still wasn't listening. she only looked up from the ground when john nudged her.

"you three man the weapons," she instructed, so john grabbed (y/n)'s hand and hit the terminator lightly.

"come on, let's go," he told the two of them, and they walked off.

the terminator grabbed a chain that was lying in the sand and pulled it. it dragged a board to the side, revealing a small bunker type thing that (y/n) assumed was full of weapons.

the terminator climbed down first, gun still in hand. (y/n) jumped down after him, john climbing down last.

"one thing about my mom.. she always plans ahead." john said once he dropped down into the bunker. they pulled down some cloth to reveal lines of guns.

(y/n) grabbed a gun that she thought looked cool, and john took one from one of the upper sections. the terminator grabbed one and studied it. "excellent."

they continued to grab weapons that were around the bunker. (y/n) barely knew anything about guns, just from the things that john told her.

"see, i grew up in places like this, so i just thought that was how people lived. riding around in helicopters," he explained to mainly the terminator, as (y/n) knew a lot of these things, "learning how to blow shit up." they all loaded their guns, (y/n) remembering all the things john had taught her over the years.

"but when my mom got busted, i got put into a regular school. met her," he continued. "the other kids were into nintendo."

(y/n) laughed. "guilty."

john grinned at her and they continued to reload the guns in silence. it was (y/n) broke the silence this time. "are you ever scared? like of stuff?" she asked the terminator, glancing at him quickly, and then finishing up with her guns.

"no."

john looked at them both, then grabbed a box and looked through it. "not even of dying?"

"no."

"you don't feel any emotion about it one way or another?" john struggled to get a box from one of the shelves, so before the terminator could get over to help him, (y/n) took the other side of it and helped him place it on a table by the gun racks.

"no. i have to stay functional until the mission is complete." he said, grabbing a box and moving it somewhere else, "and it doesn't matter." (y/n) couldn't help but find his last words sad. his tone didn't express sadness, not that she could tell, but it lied in the words themselves.

"yeah. i have to say functional too." he told him, fumbling with something on the table. "'i'm too important'." he said in a mocking voice.

"you are. and not just 'cause of the military shit," (y/n) huffed, ruffling his hair. he offered her a smile as she turned and proceeded to dig through a box of explosives.

the terminator held an extremely large gun and gave a crooked smirk towards the two. (y/n) laughed and gave him a thumbs up, while john said, "yeah, that's definitely you."

ꫛ

john laid on the ground under a car, helping the terminator. (y/n) was sitting down on the ground next to john smoking, not helping, but keeping him company.

"most of the men my mom ran around with were geeks, but there was this one guy, he was kinda cool. he taught me engines." the only thing (y/n) could do in that area of expertise was fix up a bike, so she was always amazed when john would talk about cars in such detail.

"hold here."

"mom screwed up, of course. she'd always tell them about judgement day and me being this world leader." he laughed quietly.

"the torque wrench, please." john handed the tool to the terminator.

"here. i wish i could've met my real dad." john said to really anyone who was listening.

"you will." the terminator assured him.

"yeah, i guess. when i'm 45, i think." he was laying on his side, his back to (y/n). his voice was soft as he talked about meeting his dad.

"i send him back to 1984. man, he hadn't even been born yet. it messes with your head." he told the terminator.

"the other bolt."

"here," john said handing the bolt to him. "my mom and him were only together for one night. she still loves him, i guess. i see her crying sometimes. she denies it, of course," he said laughing a bit, "says there was something in her eye."

"why do you cry?"

"you mean people?" he asked.

"yeah."

"i dunno. you just cry. y'know, when it hurts." they climbed out from under the car, (y/n) and john holding hands and swinging them back and forth a bit.

"pain causes it?"

"uhhh, no. it's when there's nothing wrong with you, but you still feel it anyway. get it?" john asked, still swaying their arms.

"no." the terminator reached in the driver side window and started the car. (y/n)'s eyes widened, as she expected his hands to start the car by jumpstarting it.

"alright, my man!" john praised him for doing something the human way for once.

"no problemo."

his response conjured a giggle from (y/n). "gimme five!" she held up her hand for the terminator to hit in return. he just stared at her blankly. "come on, put your hand out like this." she showed him how to hold his hand, and then gave him a high five. "yeah! there you go!"

"alright, now gimme five," john held his hand in the same position the terminator's was. "do the same thing, do the same thing." the terminator hit his hand and he turned around muttering a soft, "shit," while shaking his hand.

"you good?" she asked him, still sporting a playful tone as she took a short step forward.

he nodded, shaking his hand a bit more. "that's good, that's good, um," he bounced a bit and then raised his hand up high, "up high." the terminator hit his hand again. "down low." he held his hand down for the terminator to hit it but then yanked his hand away last minute. he laughed and said "too slow."

the terminator looked at him funny, and john lightly shoved him. "just kidding! alright, alright let's do it one more time."

(y/n) and john took turns giving the terminator high fives. they taught him to hold his hand down low and move it before one of them could hit it. sarah connor sat and watched them. the air was filled with their laughter, love, and temporarily happiness.

watching john with a machine, it was suddenly so clear. the terminator would never stop, it would never leave him, never hurt him, and it would never shout at him, or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. it would always be there, and it would die to protect him. out of all of the would-be-fathers that came and went, this thing, this machine, was the only one that measured up. in an insane world, it was the sanest choice.

sarah connor carved into the table she was sitting at with her knife. she studied the knife and then looked up to see john and (y/n) load the weapons they gathered into the back of the car they were driving.

she'd fallen asleep, and once we woke up from her nightmare, she read what she'd carved on the table, "NO FATE". she slammed the knife into the table and got ready to leave.

(y/n) and john had just finished up loading up the weapons. john noticed his mom dressed and walking towards a car. enrique came up behind them and told them that she'd meet them tomorrow.

"mom!" john ran towards her, screaming, "mom! mom, wait!" he stopped, the wheels of his mom speeding away from him was spinning dust all around him. he turned towards (y/n) with wide, hopeless eyes.

he stalked over to her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. it'd seemed like he'd just got his mom back, and here she was speeding away without telling him anything.

they pulled away and followed the terminator, who was walking towards the table his mom was sitting at. there was two words carved into it, and a knife sticking out of it.

"no fate," (y/n) read the words off the table as john pried the knife out.

"no fate but what we make," john said looking at (y/n) and then the terminator. "my father told her this. i mean, i made him memorize this in the future as a message to her. never mind. okay, the whole thing goes: the future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves!"

"she intends to change the future." the terminator announced.

"yeah, i guess." john said, thinking about if for a moment.

"oh shit!" (y/n) shouted, hitting john's arm.

"dyson." the terminator concluded.

"yeah!" john said, understanding what the two meant.

"gotta be. miles dyson," (y/n) muttered softly.

john's eyes suddenly widened as his mother's plan made sense. "she's gonna blow him away!" he screamed, looking frantically between (y/n) and the terminator. his worn out shoes kicked dust in (y/n)'s direction as he ran towards their car. "let's go! come on!"

(y/n) sighed at her boyfriend's panicked screaming and picked up her pace to a slow jog behind him. "come on," she said to the terminator, gesturing for him to follow.

they hopped into the car, (y/n) and john both sitting in the passenger seat again. they sped off to save sarah connor again, but this time from herself.

~

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