Short little chapter here, to bring in Riella and Prowl! Just a couple of quick notes: Riella and Elita were friends, mentioned in "She Lives In You" and I think one other fic as well (can't remember which at the moment), and "Matrix" was established as Tai's Cybertronian name in Tatyana Witwicky's "The Fallen meets the cousin". Also, Firefly reference. 'Cause I could.

Enjoy the chapter and review!

Riella Meets The Cousin

Chapter Two

Late the next night, Arcee fidgeted impatiently in the parking lot. "I don't like this. They're late."

"Only by an hour," Chromia pointed out calmly. "This is Riella and Prowl we're talking about. If there was a real problem, they'd call. I expect it's traffic."

Practically on cue, Prowl's vehicle mode glided through the open gate, stopping just long enough to let Riella slide off before the mech transformed and straightened up to full height. "Arcee, Chromia. Good to see you."

Arcee nodded to Prowl and smiled down at Riella. The technorganic waved up at her, brushing tangled, damp blond hair out of her face. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." The pink femme knelt to get a better look at her friend. "What happened to you?"

Riella pulled off her torn jacket, grimacing as the damp leather scraped over a cut on her shoulder. "Thunderstorm. We didn't want to stop completely, but it slowed us down a bit. Some of this is from our last 'Con sighting a week ago." She pulled the rubber band out of her hair – the ponytail was a mess, anyway – and shook her head, letting her hair fall down her back. "It's not the worst look in the world. I like to think of it as channeling River Tam."

"Assuming River Tam is a human who was recently dumped into the ocean and attacked by a shark, I'd have to agree," Arcee quipped. Riella rolled her optics.

"Thank you. Now I feel so much better." She hooked the rubber band around two of her fingers and shot it at the much taller femme, who ducked.

Prowl cleared his oral intake with a very faint grin. "If you two are done…"

Riella looked up to see Optimus watching them with a slight smile. She straightened up and saluted briefly. "Prime, sir. I assume you got our last report?"

"Yes, I did." Optimus nodded to both of them. "It's good to have you back."

Prowl unsubspaced a datapad and held it out. "This is the basic report of our final 'Con encounter. Are there any questions you'd like to ask before looking over it?"

"No, thank you." Optimus accepted the 'pad. "I'll discuss it with you tomorrow – I'm sure both of you would like to rest and settle back in."

Prowl nodded, but Riella shifted uncomfortably. "Um, actually…"

Optimus studied her expression. "Is something wrong?"

"No, sir. I was just…" Riella half-smiled, almost nervously. "I - I was hoping that maybe…maybe I could meet Matrix. Sorry - I forgot. Tatyana. Your daughter."

An expression that was slightly amused and mostly proud crossed the Autobot leader's face. "Of course you can. She's in the rec room."

Riella almost bolted out of the parking lot, but skidded to a halt in the door and looked back at Prowl. "…Prowl, what if – "

"Oh no you don't," Prowl said with a smirk, sending a quick reassuring pulse through the bond. "Don't start second-guessing now." Over the bond, he added gently, You are the only one who blames yourself – Matrix deserves to know her mother's friend. Go. Talk to her.

Riella managed an embarrassed grin, turned, and hurried into the base. As she made her way to the rec room, she noted the changes that had been made – specifically, the base was more extensive, the doors had all been adjusted for Cybertronians, and there were signs such as "Human Crossing" at various strategic points. Earth couldn't be that bad, then, if someone had taken the time to work on it.

In front of the rec room door, she stopped and took a deep breath. Another technorganic. Her best friend's daughter. Optimus's daughter. A Prime. So many ways this could be wonderful. So many more ways it could go wrong.

Either way, she wasn't going to find out which it was just standing in the hall. Biting her lip in uncharacteristic nervousness, she pushed the door open. "Hello?"