Author's Note: Hey guys, I was working on Impact, and suddenly the inspiration came to me for this little fic here. It has nothing to do with any of my other stories. It just came to me and I wrote it down. Well, here it is. Please review and let me know what you think of it!

Reunited

By: Kyraillion

Bumblebee lay sprawled on the unforgivingly hard ground. One of his legs was folded awkwardly underneath his body. He lay unmoving, paralyzed by pain. His once blazing blue optics now shone dull behind a glaze of agony.

Nearly one hundred years after the Battle of Mission City and the destruction of the All Spark, the war waged on.

The cold vacuum of space against the moon's non-existent atmosphere began to send Bumblebee's exposed systems into shock. Energon pooled from a gaping tear in his chest plate down into a freezing puddle underneath him.

Bee didn't bother alerting Ratchet. There was nothing the medic could do to help, even if he wasn't locked in battle. Some lucky Decepticon had gotten off a cheap shot while Bee was engrossed in battle with Barricade.

The shot had hit him hard at a point-blank range. Energy crackled up into his main energon tank just as he had twisted around to deliver the deathblow to Barricade.

Bumblebee could sense no life left in Barricade's shell of a body, just as there soon would be no life left in his own.

A wave of white-hot agony flared through Bumblebee's sensors. However bad he throbbed though, this pain was nothing compared to the blow dealt to him nearly eighty years prior. Nonetheless, he didn't want to think about that. A painful death was a thousand times more preferable to the mental anguish of remembering that day, the day when fate had stolen his charge from him.

Sam.

That was all it took. One tiny fragment of a though, one single name, and Bumblebee was launched into a string of memories.

He saw Sam's face as clearly as if the boy was standing right there in front of him.

It had been warm that summer day when Sam had stumbled over to his faithful camaro and trusted friend. Bee did not need his extra powerful optic sensors to notice the redness in his human friend's eyes and the traces of tears on his cheeks.

Bumblebee opened his driver's side door, silently admitting Sam inside to share his problems with his guardian. "If you care to talk about it Sam, I'm here, you know I'll always listen," Bumblebee offered, watching Sam slide his backpack off of his shoulder. He could smell the faintest traces of salt residue left from the tears the boy quickly wiped away onto the back of his sleeve.

Sam shook his head slowly as he sunk into the camaro's cushy seat. "How could it honestly matter to you in the grand scheme of things, Bee?" he questioned, drawing a twinge of pain from the autobot's spark. Was the boy insinuating that he did not care? "You're thousands of years old. You've served in the ranks of the Autobots, traveled the stars, carried the All Spark,..." Sam continued, "What could a measly breakup mean to you?"

Bumblebee recognized that the defensive tone in Sam's voice was only caused by the boy's own pain, not anger at Bee.

"Sam," he whispered through the radio mounted in his dashboard. "I'm not so old that I've forgotten how to feel. I understand the pain and just because I've been involved in things that you would consider miraculous," he let out a sound resembling a human sigh, "well, that does nothing to diminish the importance of the pain you are feeling. You are my friend Sam. If something is important enough to be a grievance to you, then it is important enough to be a concern to me."

Sam relaxed against his seat. Finally he had a friend who really did care.

"Thanks, Bee," he mumbled while staring at his shoes. Bumblebee's engine revved in sympathy as he pulled out of the college's parking lot. "I suppose you gathered that 'Kaela broke it off with me then," Sam said.

"Yes," he paused as he pulled out onto the highway and made a left, his tires searching for purchase on the damp asphalt. "I recognized the probability of the event." Bumblebee figured it was best to be completely honest with Sam. He couldn't hide anything from his charge. Sam had sacrificed everything for him and the cause he held so dear. He didn't deserve lies and half-truths. "The two of you seemed to be growing more distant lately. With the stresses of college added to your load, the two of you just lost time and interest in what you once had in common."

"Yeah," Sam breathed a sigh as he stared out past the glass of the window to the now drizzly world beyond.

"You won't feel like this forever," Bumblebee reminded him. "The relationship may have ended, but in time, the friendship can still remain."

Unexpectedly, Sam smiled. Bumblebee almost let out a small chuckle. His human never failed to surprise him. That was one of the things Bee loved most about him, aside from his loyalty and compassion... Sam was at times, unpredictable, a welcome change after spending centuries among Autobots who had only one common purpose and goal. Sam was different. His reactions were always new to the small yellow Autobot soldier, refreshingly so.

"Hey Bee?" Sam asked, his tone changing completely from it's dejected state to one of curiosity. "Can I ask you a personal question?" The boy prodded in a lazy drawl as he braced an arm against Bee's console.

Perplexed, Bee asked a question on his own in return, "Are not most questions asked in private, personal?"

"I guess so," Sam laughed. Bumblebee felt relieved that he had made Sam laugh. "Still though... you don't have to answer if it feels like I'm prying."

Bumblebee slowed and pulled over onto the shoulder of the road in order to direct more of his attention to Sam. He was simply intrigued. "Shoot?" he volleyed the question back.

"Yuh, okay..." Sam hesitated for a moment in thought. "Well, why is it that you care so much about me Bee? I mean, when something bothers me? It seems like you're the only one who ever gives a shit."

Bee's mind backpedaled. His processors whirred in thoughts, all overlapping each other. Why did he care so much? Sure, he was sympathetic to big things like a breakup, but why did even little things that bothered Sam concern him? When did he feelings deepen like that?

"Well Sam," he began cautiously, watching the boy's every reaction. Bumblebee was unsure just how much his answer should reveal, but once again he opted for the complete and total truth. "I suppose I care because I am your guardian. In our time together you have shown great concern for me and I in turn feel the same devotion and loyalty to you. You are the closest thing to a best friend I've had in a very long time, Sam. I don't like to see you in pain, be it physical or emotional." Bumblebee took a moment, preparing himself for the plunge. The prospect of rejection frightened him, but with Sam he didn't feel so worried. "I'm your guardian, Sam. Your pain is my pain." He watched Sam lean forward in his seat, staring intently into the radio console now, no longer focused on the world outside of his camaro.

"Bee?" he whispered, his breathing heavier than normal. He sensed his friend's worry, his hesitation. He knew there was something more. "What is it?"

They sat in silence for a moment. Bee took comfort in Sam's presence. He knew if he confessed his more recent developing feelings, there would be no going back. But if he held back and said nothing, there would be no going forward.

Borrowing from his bravery as a soldier, Bumblebee picked up where he left off.

"I am your guardian, Sam. It is my duty, charge and honor to protect you from all physical harm. Bum Sam, if you wish, I could be more. Let me be the guardian of your heart, Sam. I give my word I will not hurt you."

Sam's eyes were wide when Bumblebee dared to look at him again. His hand rested at his chin, massaging the short stubble that had recently began to grow there. When he opened his mouth to speak, Bee heard the best three words of his entire existence.

"I trust you."

Sam ran his hand slowly and tenderly over the leather of the seat beside him. "Can you feel that, Bee?" His voice shook with the emotion of the moment.

"Of course Sam, my sensors can pick up most touches that your skin might leave unnoticed."

The boy smiled once again, this time more genuinely than before. "I trust you, Bumblebee. I don't know how anything like what you are proposing could work, but I trust you Bee. I know you would never hurt me. I'm willing to try. I won't leave you. You won't be alone anymore. I'll be with you."

A hot and terrible spasm of pain rocked Bumblebee from his reverie.

Oh his dear Sam... How he longed to hear his voice again and hold him in his holofoil's humanlike arms. But Sam was gone. Dead.

The word ran in Bumblebee's mind with such a tortured finality that all memories and images of Sam seemed as if they were suddenly and impossibly far away.

Would he see his soul mate again soon, somewhere beyond the stars? With one last shuddering pump of his shattered energon tank, he hoped so.

Moments later Ironhide knelt be his friend's side. He gazed wordlessly down at the still form before his. The old mech realized that although his friend's body lad doubled over itself, twisted and torn, his face looked peaceful in death.

For the first time in eighty years the brave little soldier's optics did not carry their usual hints of loss and sadness. Instead they were a cold grey, devoid of their color and free from their pain.

Ironhide reverently placed a black and silver hand on Bumblebee's chest, over the empty casing that had once held such a vibrant and vivid spark. "Go find him, Bee," he whispered as he arose from his position and turned to face his leader, Optimus Prime and long-time comrade Ratchet.

"Hatchet, man, he's gone," Ironhide used his nickname for the medic. He was surprised to find his voice husky and scratchy against his vocal processors.

"He was gone long before this day, old friend," Optimus recalled, voicing the truth the others could not bear to speak. They had all mourned Sam's passing, perhaps Optimus more so than the two flanking him, but no one had mourned more than Bumblebee. The scout had blamed himself for not catching the threat in time. By the time Bumblebee had made it from his position on patrol around the base and back to Sam's side in the human quarters, the thirty-eight year old man was already dead.

Optimus remembered returning with newly appointed Defense Secretary Young to find scorched and marred pieces of Soundwave's body scattered ruthlessly in a trail across the base. Never before would he have dreamed the gentle Bumblebee capable of such utter destruction of Megatron's favorite Lieutenant.

When he had entered the human quarters to find Bumblebee, the sight he beheld brought even the battle-hardened leader to his knees. Seeing the empty and hopeless look in Bumblebee's eyes as he rocked back and forth, gently cradling a ripped and bloody Sam in his holoform arms had been enough for Optimus to know that Bumblebee had died the moment he knew Sam was lost.

Optimus stood for a long moment, gazing at the shell of his lost friend. Then he bent his lanky frame down to pick Bumblebee up and cradle him against his own chest.

"He has found Sam now," he spoke quietly as he turned began the long walk back to the Ark II. "In death, let them be reunited."