Re: Derek/John
"I wasn't doubting that they 'went bad'," John said gently. "But, you only have her word that he didn't know why. I can think of three or four reasons off the top of my head right now, just knowing basic tech. So, how could he have not known with how much better he understood their programming? I'm not even saying I know him better than you. I'm just saying that maybe I have a better vantage point to try to make sense of the mistakes so they aren't repeated. I'm not in it. And I'm not asking for you to find me a place in it, Derek. I'm telling you that none of it matters to me. Not what I was supposed to be or who I was supposed to be, not who leads or whether or not you're being an ass about it right now.
"What matters to me is that my family and my world find peace. And you can't do that if you're stuck in the past. So, yes, you should care and you should talk to him because it's what we need to do while we're here. But, I'm asking you to talk to him for me because you are my uncle and I love you and I can't believe the man who took me to see my father is as cold and unfeeling as you sound right now. I can't believe that you've turned into the man neither of us wants me to be. Please. See if he can help you. If you want, we can talk to him together and you can tell him what you need to and I can worry about covering my own ass. Because, that's all the secrets are, protecting John Connor until we know for certain whether the twenty-year old he is now will matter as much as the adult ever did. And you're more important to that twenty-year old than a man who'll never exist."