A/N – Hello potential reader!

I've been doing some digging around for an action-packed Bumblebee/OC story and although I found some good ones, there's nothing like getting your own idea (freshly brewed from your brain!) turned into a story :)

This is my first Transformers fanfic, and I've put quite a lot of effort into this baby (meaning hours long of revising and rewriting) in order to get it right. However, since Murphy hates us all I'm pretty sure that no matter how many times I revise it, there will still be some grammatical and spelling mistakes.
If you can point them out to me I'd be more than happy to correct them :)

Also, this is a work in progress so I'm looking for experienced beta readers. PM me if interested :)

P.S - Best viewed in 1/2 page width!

Disclaimer: anything you recognise is mine. Anything you don't belongs to me. If I owned the Autobots I'd be far, far away having my own adventure and hitting on Bumblebee ;)

Chapter 1 - Parallels

'Great. Yet another day wasted at work', I thought to myself as I opened the door to my small apartment. It wasn't much, but it was home. At least until I get my own house. Someday.
Maybe after college because a job at Target just wasn't gonna cut it.
I sighed. Getting out of the shower, I put a very comfy pair of pants and t-shirt on, then stood in front of the mirror to brush my wet hair.
I wasn't anything special. I had brown eyes and brown hair, which had a slight auburn tint to it in the sun. It wasn't straight but not exactly wavy either. Just too damn average, too much like everyone else.
Maybe I should get a freakishly short haircut, as my hair was already past the middle of my back. Brushing it became somewhat tedious and it was starting to annoy me.

I was exhausted, but watching a movie before going to bed sounded like a good idea. I decided to sit on my rather old, shabby TV couch (second hand of course, got a bargain price on Craig's List) and play whatever was in my DVD player. I wasn't gonna get picky. God knows it's been ages since I watched a proper movie. I pressed the play button on the remote.
It was the first Transformers movie and I was relieved. I was a bit afraid it was going to be some romantic drama from my sappy days. I really didn't need any reminders from that period. I wasn't in the mood for that and I was perfectly happy to watch some action and explosions. Besides, I rather enjoyed watching a certain yellow Autobot.
I didn't know all the lines by heart, but it was still very familiar to me as I watched it several times since its release in theaters. I was almost halfway through the movie when I finally gave way to sleep. I was simply too tired to stay awake.

It was already dark when I began to wake up. The movie must've ended a few hours ago. At first, I wasn't sure if I was awake or still sleeping. I felt the couch shaking but I kept still, thinking it was a minor earthquake. Such things weren't exactly rare in this earthquake prone area. I guess that's what woke me up. But then I heard something that definitely didn't add up to my earthquake assumption. I could swear it sounded like a giant's footsteps, but that didn't sound right. I must've been dreaming still.
I finally opened my eyes. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dark surroundings. The noise did not stop. I suppose a slight adrenaline rush was the reason behind the speed of which I suddenly started moving: I darted across the small living room towards the window and gasped.
Looking outside the window, I stared at the most surreal sight I would probably ever see in my life:
Real, walking and possibly breathing giant robots.

"Oh. My. God." I whispered.

Now, I wasn't the fainting type. I was the kind of person who went head first into what others deemed dangerous and possibly hazardous situations. Some would call it bravery; others would call it foolishness. I was pretty sure it was the latter.
As I ran to my bedroom, grabbed whatever pair of jeans I could find first and got dressed, I considered the options: one, that I was having my first lucid dream. I read about it on the internet and I always thought it would be cool to have one.
Two, that I was completely awake, and either giant robots were now part of reality or I was in some sort of parallel universe, which would involve a lot of quantum mechanics and some very creative thinking on my part. I went with the sane, realistic option that made sense to me - the first one of course.
Since I was dreaming, I decided to go a little bit over the edge and have some fun. Being in a dream meant I wouldn't get hurt, so why not play along?

I quickly grabbed my bag and keys from the table, locked the apartment door behind me and ran downstairs. The giant robots weren't very far. I broke into a sprint, passing blocks of buildings as I did and the closer I got to the scene the more I realized my dream had some very familiar faces in it. Then it hit me.
"Holy shit! Autobots!" I exclaimed breathlessly.
And that wasn't all of it – a certain guy was running alongside them, and even though I only saw the back of him there was no mistaking that I recognized him. I've seen him a few hours earlier - on my TV screen.
I knew this was my only chance of an awesome adventure outside my boring average life and quickly decided upon my next move – yelling at the top of my lungs.

"Sam! Sam!"
But he didn't hear me. I kept on running and shouting out his name.
"Sam!"
Damn it, still nothing. I wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Sam! Sam Witwicky! Hey, Witwicky!" I practically had no air left in my lungs after shouting this loud but nevertheless it yielded the result I was hoping for. Sam stopped running and turned around.
I kept running towards him and when we were finally face-to-face, he asked, "Who are you?"
I was about to answer (although I wasn't exactly sure how) but then I heard a deep voice coming from above.
"Sam, we haven't got time for this, we must keep moving."
I immediately recognized the voice before I even looked up. Optimus Prime.
Sam looked as if he was torn between following Optimus and finding out how I knew his name. He was bound to get suspicious of people he didn't know after the whole ordeal the government had put him through.
"Just a second Optimus, I want to know how she knows my name," he said, still facing me, "Well?"
"I'll tell you what, I promise to tell you everything if you let me come with you. Deal?"
Thank goodness my brain works best under pressure.
He turned around and looked up at Optimus.
"Optimus?" he asked
"Bring her along if you must, but we have to keep going," he replied urgently. I took that as a yes.
"You better give me some answers and you better give them soon," he told me, pointing his finger at me. I simply nodded.
"Autobots, rollout!"
I suddenly realized I was so preoccupied with making sure I get to tag along I only now noticed the rest of the Autobots. I was simply transfixed by the way and speed in which they transformed.

First, there was Optimus, who transformed into a huge red and blue Semi-Trailer. He was almost too big to be allowed.
Then there were Ironhide and Ratchet, who transformed into a black GMC Topkick and a green and grey search and rescue Hummer H2. I wasn't too big on cars, but those particular ones were hard to mistake for anything else.
And then I saw him. The smallest of all, yellow and black with bright blue optics for eyes. Bumblebee. He transformed into a beautiful Fifth Generation Chevrolet Camaro and opened the front doors for us. He was absolutely gorgeous.
"Message from Starfleet, Captain... Let's get to it!" he said through his radio. I think that was when I had my happy moment. Sam got in the driver's seat and I in the passenger's. As soon as the doors closed, Bumblebee started driving, and boy, he was fast. I put the seatbelt on just to be on the safe side.
The seat was almost too comfortable. It felt as if it was carved to fit my body. I ran my hand down the right side of my seat.
"Hmm, Bumblebee…" I sighed happily. I just couldn't keep quiet when I was happy. I swear it wasn't as weird as much as it sounded.
Suddenly, the radio turned on:

"Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum

Beautiful stranger"

I smirked at Bumblebee's choice of a song. This dream was better than expected.
"Do you guys know each other?" asked Sam, which reminded me that I wasn't alone in the car. He pointed at the car's dashboard then at me. He seemed to be slightly confused, and I didn't blame him – as far as I knew, none of the Autobots was on speaking terms with any civilians other than Sam and his family.
"I don't think he knows me," I replied, which was the truth. I promised to tell him everything and I was going to stick to it.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Amy Grosvendor." God, I hated my last name. He chuckled.
"What kind of name is Grosvendor?"
"What kind of name is Witwicky?" I asked rather acidly. He sighed.
"Sorry, I'm not very stranger-friendly these days."
"I can tell."
After a silent second or two, he finally decided to ask me, "So how do you know me and Bee?"
I took a deep breath. I hoped whatever I say wouldn't make me come across as a crazy (and possibly) demented person.
"You're not real," I started with a simple statement but as seeing the look on his face, which suggested he probably already thought I was crazy, I added, "We're in my dream right now. I'm dreaming all this. I fell asleep watching the Transformers movie and I'm still sleeping." Apparently, this did not make any sense to him.
"Transformers movie?" at this point his jaw dropped slightly.
"Yes, a movie. This is a fictional world. There are no Autobots or Decepticons in reality. This whole franchise was made up. This entire universe will cease to exist when I wake up." I answered, positively confident of this declaration.
He was still staring at me in disbelief.
"What makes you say that?" he finally spoke.
"I'm pretty sure I'm having my first lucid dream Right now. This whole thing –" I stopped in mid-sentence as Bee's door opened and we were thrown out of it. Within seconds, he transformed and charged at someone or something I could only see from the corner of my eye.

"What was that all about?" I yelled, confused.
"We found a Decepticon, we were tracking him down before you ran into us," he said, breathless.
"So what are you doing here? I thought they liked handling it all by themselves so they wouldn't put anyone's life in danger," I asked curiously.
"It's part of plan B," he stated.
"Plan B?"
"Yeah, in case…in case something goes wrong. I'm – I'm the bait." He replied.
"Let me guess, it was your idea?" I chuckled. Typical Sam.
"They don't like it much but I don't care," he shrugged, "I wanna help."
I looked up as I heard clashes of metal. The ground was shaking and sparks were flying everywhere as the four Autobots were pretty much giving the Decepticon what he deserved – some serious ass kicking.
The battle was short, which wasn't surprising considering it was a four on one fight. I was simply rooted to the spot with amazement as I was watching their enormous dark silhouettes ripping apart what looked like the hands, legs and finally head of the Decepticon. It was over.
The Autobots turned back and approached us.
"Did you get your answers, Sam?" came the deep voice of Optimus from above.
"No, not really," he stared at me. By now, he was probably sure that I was one hundred percent mentally impaired.
"Want me to squeeze them out of her?" asked Ironhide in what sounded a little too trigger-happy. He transformed his right hand into a plasma rocket launcher and aimed it at me. This was not my idea of a good dream. I had to intervene if I was to regain control over it.
"Now you wait a second!" I yelled. I wasn't sure if they would hear me from up there if I didn't.
"This is my dream! You can't just threaten me like that! You're in my dream and these are my rules! We're supposed to be doing something extremely cool right now instead of arguing! I'm wasting time here! I can wake up any second now!" I paused, drawing more air to my lungs, "Don't you go aiming that thing at me!"
"What is the meaning of this, Sam?" asked Optimus.
"I – I don't know. I think she actually believes she's dreaming. She thinks that none of us exists and we belong in some fictional world. She even said we come from a movie!" he paused, and then added quietly, "Maybe she ran away from a psychiatric hospital?"
He was starting to get on my nerves.

"I am not crazy! I am dreaming!" I was now shouting at Sam.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, will you?" he raised his hands with both palms facing me in an attempt to make me see reason, "There's a way to check if you're right."
"Which is?" I asked testily.
"Ouch!" He pinched my arm!
"What'd you do that for?" I yelled.
"If it hurt it means you're not dreaming," he replied with a victorious smile. I was getting frustrated.
"I am not having a normal dream!" I exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, the lucid part. There's a way to check that too," he said.
"How?"
"Try flying."
"What?" now it was my turn to consider the possibility he was insane.
"Yeah, when you're having a lucid dream you can think about flying and then it sort of happens," he explained. Trust Sam to have an explanation for everything at the ready.
"How do you know that?" I asked, although something about what he just told me was a bit familiar. I might've read about that before.
"The internet."
"Oh."
It was worth a try I guess, and besides, being able to fly sounded like a really cool idea.
I concentrated on a random spot on Sam's shirt and willed myself to fly. I waited.
Nothing happened.
'Focus!' I thought to myself. I closed my eyes shut and tried to concentrate harder. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes.
"See? If you can't fly it means you're definitely not dreaming," proclaimed Sam.
Oh no. No, no, no. There had to be an explanation to this. I can't be crazy. It didn't make sense.
What if I wasn't dreaming? Was this some sort of joke?
"A joke…" I said softly to myself. Sam and the Autobots simply stared at me.
I thought I finally realized what was going on here. This was a prank, a very expensive one. And the only person I knew who had that kind of money to pull it off was -

"Charlie Sheen!" I exclaimed. I felt as if a light bulb was suddenly turned on above my head.
"The female's random use of words suggest she might be mentally unstable," commented Ratchet as a matter-of-factly.
"I am not mentally unstable!" I yelled at him, "Charlie Sheen put you up to this, didn't he?" I pointed accusingly at Sam, who by now I realized wasn't Sam. It was Shia LaBeouf.
"What?" he looked completely clueless.
"Oh, don't tell me you don't know Charlie Sheen," I replied sarcastically.
"I don't think there's a single person on Earth who doesn't know him. Dude's friggin famous, but what does he have to do with anything?" Boy, he was good. What else could I expect from an actor?
"About a month ago he tweeted something about pranks. I follow him on Twitter," I explained, "Anyway, I told him there was no way in hell he could pull a prank on me. Guess I was wrong," I paused, "You can stop pretending your name is Sam now; I know you're Shia LaBeouf. And that -" I pointed at the Autobots, "was a very expensive prank. You got me. How did you manage to get them moving like that? And where is he?" I asked.
"Who?" he looked at me in amazement.
"Charlie Sheen!" this was so exasperating!
"I don't know Charlie sheen! I don't know what you're talking about! YOU'RE CRAZY!" he practically screamed at me.
"Then how do you explain this? I was watching a movie about you, about a fictional universe that doesn't exist! I fell asleep, woke up and I'm here! How is that possible? And don't tell me this is a parallel universe and I somehow stepped into some sort of portal out of a crappy sci-fi book plot because such things don't exist!" I was talking so fast I was gasping for air.
This was getting ridiculous.
"Optimus, if the girl is right about the portal then we must make sure the Decepticons don't get their hands on it," said Ratchet, looking at his leader.
"There is no portal! I just made the damned thing up!" but Ratchet ignored me.

Optimus bent down so his face was the same level with my own. His face was so close I could see every single piece of metal in it. Funny, he wasn't human, yet his face conveyed so much more than a human's ever could. In front of me was a face so beautiful and complex: the optics were a bright, electrifying blue, full of energy and life. The etches between the metal pieces replaced what would be age lines on a human skin, which made him look older and wiser than the other Autobots. It was evident it has seen many battles, probably more than the others have. There was a sense of power and greatness radiating from him. Every doubt I had, every fear, was gone. It was impossible not to trust Optimus with my life.
"What is your name, child?" he asked.
"A-Amy," I suddenly felt very small and insignificant compared to him.
"Amy, the portal you described is not a figment of your imagination. What you call a portal, we call The Gateway, an ancient legend passed on from generation to generation, from one Prime to another. It told of a gateway made of unknown energy, which can bring different worlds together, binding them. It was thought to have been made by the same creator of the All Spark, yet it has never been found. The Gateway can only be opened with the Key. According to legend, the Key was split in two by its creator: one piece in your universe," he pointed his metal finger at me, "the other – in ours. It was done to prevent our race from misusing it."
"For thousands of years, Cybertronian scientists and explorers have tried looking for it and eventually it was deemed a lost legend. If the Gateway is indeed on Earth, we must make sure it will never fall into Decepticon hands," he explained.
"If it does, they will use the Gateway to bring the parallel Cybertron into this dimensions and for all we know, that Cybertron hasn't suffered the same fate of war. The two dimensions will be damaged beyond repair," added Ratchet.
I think that was the moment I finally accepted the fact I wasn't dreaming. Everything around me was real: Sam, the Autobots, the Gateway... Only one question remained – how exactly were we going to find something that many Autobots haven't managed to find, if we don't even know what it looks like?
"So how do we find it?" asked Sam.
"Amy, you said you woke up in your apartment. Can you take us there?" asked Optimus.
"Yeah, sure," I replied timidly.
And once again I found myself sitting inside the Camaro.