john sat closest to the window. he faced it, biting his nails and didn't speak to either of them. (y/n) didn't really know how to comfort him, so she did the only thing that made sense. she leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder while taking his free hand in her own.

"this is tactically dangerous," the terminator said suddenly.

the two briefly looked at him. (y/n) lifted her head off john to glance at him, but then lowered it again without responding.

"drive faster," john snapped. this whole situation was starting to get to him, and (y/n) didn't blame him. he'd rescued his mom, who didn't show any appreciation whatsoever, and now she's taken off on some solo mission.

"the t-1000 has the same files that i do. it knows what i know. it may anticipate this move."

"i don't care. we gotta stop her," john said shortly, and then turned to look out the window again.

"killing dyson might actually prevent the war," the terminator told them, turning to look at the two.

(y/n) sat up. john was getting angrier the more this conversation carried out. he whipped his head in the terminator's direction. "i don't care!" he yelled, "haven't you learned anything yet? haven't you figured out why you can't kill people?"

(y/n) looked at john, and then turned and gave a sympathetic look to the terminator. "look," (y/n) interjected, "maybe you don't care if you live or you die, but everybody, humans, we aren't like that. we have feelings, we hurt, we're afraid."

"you gotta learn this stuff," john huffed. "i'm not kidding, it's important,"

ꫛ

they pulled into the driveway of miles dyson's house, immediately taking in notice of the visibly destroyed room.

"shit. we're too late," (y/n) whispered, jogging up to the front door alongside john. the terminator walked between them and ripped the door open.

they both barreled through the door, john immediately running to his mom. he crouched next to her and looked up at (y/n) and the terminator. "check them," he instructed, vaguely gesturing towards the family cowering on the floor.

as she walked over to them, she noticed the condition sarah had left the man in. dyson was shot in one shoulder, laying on the floor while a woman and kid crouched over top of him. a strangled noise escaped the woman's throat. "don't worry. we're not going to hurt you," (y/n) assured.

john sat in the floor a few feet away with his mother. she has tear stains on her cheeks. "i almost.. i almost.." she whispered. john wrapped his arms around her while she sobbed into his shoulder.

john pulled away and whispered, "it'll be okay. we'll figure something out, okay? promise."

"you came here to stop me."

"yeah, i did," john said hesitantly in the same hushed tone they've both been using.

"i love you, john," she whispered. she took a shaky breath and continued, "i always have."

"i know." john grabbed her and held her in another tight hug.

ꫛ

the terminator studied dyson's wounds. "no penetration. no shattered bones." dyson's previously white shirt was stained red on one side. he breathed heavily as the term gave orders to the woman; his wife. "hold here. apply pressure to stop the bleeding."

she did as asked. their kid sat behind her watching his dad in immense pain on their living room floor. john walked over to the terminator and (y/n), his hand brushing hers slightly. they exchanged a glance, mainly (y/n) checking to see if everything was okay between him and sarah.

"who are you people?" dyson choked out. (y/n) looked back at the man responsible for the war to come.

she sighed and dug in the pocket of her jeans. she brought out her switchblade, her most prized possession besides her bike. she flicked out the blade and held it towards the terminator. "show 'em."

the robot took the weapon and shrugged out of his leather jacket. john grabbed (y/n)'s hand and tug her towards the little boy. john had recently learned his name, danny.

"danny? danny, i want you to come with us right now, okay?" john said, crouching near the boy.

"show us your room," (y/n) offered, smiling sweetly in hopes of calming him down. the boy stood along with john and the three headed towards a different part of the house.

ꫛ

the terminator, and the dysons' sat at the kitchen table. sarah sat on a counter, and john and (y/n) walked hand in hand to the table. sarah lit a cigarette from her spot on the counter.

john and (y/n) sat on the table instead of taking a regular seat. (y/n) fidgeted with her now bloodied switchblade, occasionally glancing at the people around her. john sat with his elbow on his leg, resting his head in his hand. his hair was pushed behind his ear.

the terminator told miles about it all. about everything; skynet, judgement day, the future. it's not your everyday news, but he took it well.

"i feel like i'm gonna throw up," dyson said. he swallowed thickly. "you're judging me.. on things i haven't even done yet." he looked over at the terminator. he gave a small and dry chuckle, saying, "how were we supposed to know?"

"yeah. right," sarah spoke up bitterly. "how were you supposed to know? fucking men like you built the hydrogen bomb. men like you thought it up.

"you think you're so creative. you don't know what it's like to really create something, to create a life, to feel it growing inside you." sarah continued lowly, her voice rising with each word.

john pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "mom-" he started.

sarah ignored him. "all you know how to create is death and destruction-"

"mom!" he yelled, interrupting his mom's rant. "we need to be a little more constructive here, okay? we still have to stop this from happening, don't we?" he scolded.

miles dyson's wife spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "but i thought- aren't we changing things, i mean like right now, changing the way it goes?"

"that's right. there's no way i'm going to finish the neural processor now, not now, i'll quit cyberdyne tomorrow." miles said.

"that's not good enough," sarah said bitterly.

"no one must follow your work," the terminator told him.

"right. then, uh, we'll have to destroy all the stuff at the lab.. the files, the disk drives, everything, everything here. everything. i don't care." he paused, looking down, until his head shot up again. "the chip, do you know about the chip?"

"what chip?" (y/n) asked, leaning up some more to see dyson.

dyson turned towards her. "i keep it in a vault at cyberdyne," he said, looking at the terminator again. "it must be from the other one like you."

"the CPU from the first terminator," the terminator clarified.

sarah flung herself off the counter. "son of a bitch! i knew it!" she paced closer to the table.

"they told us not to ask.. where they got it," miles told them.

"those motherfuckers," sarah mumbled.

"it's scary stuff, radically advanced. i-i mean it was smashed, it didn't work, but it gave us ideas, took us in new directions. i mean things we never would've-" he stopped himself, supposedly reading the room, and then continued less enthusiastically. "a-all my work was based on it."

"it must be destroyed." the terminator stared blankly at dyson.

"right," he muttered softly.

"can you guys get in past security?" sarah stepped closer and asked.

"i think so, yeah. when?" dyson turned to look at her.

the terminator stood slowly, not speaking. dyson looked between sarah and the robot.

"now?"

~

word count: 1315