Decided to go ahead and give you the next chapter since it gets a lot more into the story. Enjoy!

Six months later

Sam Witwicky's job search had not been going so well. But finally it seemed like things were turning around for him. It was not an awesome job. He was certainly not out saving the world. But at least it was something.

After his parents dropped him off at his home and left to begin their tour of Washington DC, he couldn't wait to tell Carly. Thankfully his old Datsun started.

Although she had been working there for several months, this was the first time Sam had been to visit his girlfriend at the Gould Accounting Firm. As soon as he arrived there, though, he realized this was no ordinary business.

"Carly!" He called across the never-ending white room. The glass ceiling brought in the sun to light the space. Classic cars stood like statues everywhere. His girlfriend was standing at a white desk talking with an older woman and looking as beautiful as ever.

"Sam!" She looked up and smiled, walking over to greet him. "Did you get the job?"

He wrapped her in a hug. "Yup. Do you like me more?"

"A little bit," Carly laughed. Her British accent sounded better with an echo.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you worked at the Starship Enterprise. I knew your boss loved cars, but this is ridiculous."

"Isn't it great? I told you I worked with the books in his car division. And Dylan is such a cool guy…"

Before she could finish, a tall and very handsome man with thick black hair walked up to them.

"You must be Sam. Dylan Gould," he stretched out his hand, introducing himself. "Carly has told me so much about you."

"Yeah, yeah, she's told me a lot about you, too," Sam replied.

"Listen, I would love to stay and chat but I am very late for an important lunch date," Dylan said, checking his watch.

"Sir, she's here," the older woman who Carly was talking to earlier said, pointing to the entrance. A woman was walking in, short but with an athletic build. Her hair was naturally a sun-kissed blonde and cut in a short bob. Her loose, purple blouse and dark skinny jeans were casual yet looked expensive. Sam recognized her instantly.

"Emma?"

Her green eyes had been focused on Dylan but instantly flicked to Sam. "Oh my goodness. Sam Witwicky! It's been such a long time. What are you doing here?"

She walked up to him and gave him a quick hug while Carly and Dylan looked on incredulously.

"I should be asking you that," Sam replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I'm guessing you two know each other?" Dylan asked. His face seemed contorted and stretched, his smiled forced, as if he was hiding some emotion.

Sam started to answer but Emma cut him off. "Oh, I knew his parents. Way back in the day. A long time ago." Her eyes pleaded with Sam to go along with the lie.

He stared at her for a second before refocusing on Dylan. "Oh yeah, long time ago. In fact, I was an infant at the time."

Everyone laughed and Dylan relaxed, placing his arm around Emma. "This is my very important lunch date. I'm so sorry I was late, darling. I will make it up to you." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Emma shrugged, seeming to be uncomfortable with Dylan so close. "It's fine. I hadn't made it to the restaurant yet. I was across the street checking on things at the pharmacy and decided to stop by."

Carly looked over at Sam expectantly. "Oh, Emma, this is my girlfriend, Carly," he said, pulling her closer.

Emma looked at Sam quizzically but smiled at Carly and reached out her hand. "Very nice to meet you." Much had changed for the both of them apparently since last seeing each other.

"Well, we should get going," Dylan said, starting to guide Emma away. "Carly, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Go celebrate Sam's new job."

"Really?" Carly grinned. "Thank you, Mr. Gould."

"Sure, yeah, let's get out of here," Sam said quietly, leading his girlfriend out the door.

As they were getting in his car, Emma ran out the front door. "Sam, wait!"

"Carly, just stay here in the car for a second, ok?" Sam asked his girlfriend, peering through the car window.

She made a face. "Why?"

"I just need to talk to Emma for a second."

"I thought you said you barely knew her."

Sam sighed. "I'll explain everything when we get home, ok? Just let me do this."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Ok."

Emma was hurrying down the wide steps and Sam walked up the sidewalk to meet her.

"Where's Bumblebee?" she asked, surprised by his old, ugly car.

"He's unavailable. What was that in there?" he asked angrily.

"I know, I'm sorry," she shook her head. "I wasn't prepared…for this."

"Prepared for what? Explaining your past to your new boyfriend? What happened with Colonel Lennox?"

Emma took a deep breath. "Me and Will broke up about 6 months ago. And Dylan is not my new boyfriend. We've gone out a couple of times. That's it."

"But why did you lie to him? Are you embarrassed about the Autobots?"

"No. Never. It's just…you have to understand. When Will and I broke up, I had to leave all of that behind. And I can't explain to anyone about the Autobots. That's still classified information…as if anyone would believe me anyway. So it's just easier to…leave all of it out." Her eyes were sad even now as she talked about it. "This has not been easy for me, Sam. That was four years of my life that I had to move on from."

His face softened. "Well, I guess I understand."

"What about you and Mikaela?" Emma asked.

"Oh, we broke up some time ago. Yeah, me and Carly have been dating a couple of years now." He turned to see the sour look on his girlfriend's face. "She's normally very nice."

Emma smiled. "I'm sure she is. Look, I'd better go. I'm meeting Dylan at his car. But let's keep in touch, you know. I didn't know you were in DC. Maybe you, me, and Carly can grab a bite to eat sometime. It would be nice to catch up."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Sam nodded.

"Great. See you soon!" She was gone as quickly as she had arrived. Sam was left shaking his head in wonder.

Later that evening, Emma sat on the couch in her pajamas, sipping some hot chocolate and flipping channels on the television. It had been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster seeing Sam today. It brought back so many memories, some of them bad, but most of them good. She wondered if she was finally beginning to move on and be able to look back on those years with happiness instead of breaking into tears thinking about her failed relationship with Will.

And the Autobots. She couldn't wait to hear how they were doing.

Lunch with Dylan had been nice. He was always good company and made her laugh. She smiled as she thought of him. Yes, maybe she was ready to move on.

"She's lying to you," hissed a mechanical voice. Dylan sat in a chair in the middle of his office. The day had turned to night, yet only a lone lamp lit the room. It did little to illuminate the space, but Dylan knew it was there before it spoke.

"You know she is," Laserbeak poked its head out of the shadows, its red eyes peering at the accountant. "You must find out what she knows."

Dylan ran his fingers through his hair. He was sad yet angry. Sad because he finally felt like he had found someone special in Emma. He really liked her. But angry because he did feel she was lying about something.

"I know, I know," Dylan said, exasperated. He swiveled around to his desk and logged onto the computer. It took only a basic search before her name began popping up with strange occurrences in Qatar, Mission City, and Egypt. Pictures on rumor websites of her with alien robots. And one picture of particular interest…her in an embrace with the NEST commander himself, Colonel William Lennox.

Dylan's shoulders sagged while Laserbeak wore an evil grin. "We can certainly use this to our advantage."