I'm alive, I didn't drop off the face of the planet either, writers block and an overwhelming number of other plot bunnies have just been cutting into my writing time.

Just to reassure everyone, even if it seems like forever since I've updated some of my stories, I will finish them eventually.


Starscream spent the next hour or so working on fixing his body and ordering Joy around, telling her what to do to help.

Joy glanced down at her watch then said, "I'll be right back."

"Where do you think you're going?" Starscream demanded.

"I just need to call my mom to let her know I won't be able to meet her for dinner." Joy told him.

"You can't." Starscream said.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because all of earth's communication systems are offline." He replied.

"What do you mean and how would you know?" she asked.

"I know because it was another Decepticon who planted the virus that shut it all down and I invented it." he said rather smugly then asked, "How could you not have known about it?"

"I just haven't had to use the phone or computer today." Joy told him.

"Or your TV? I thought humans couldn't live without those." He said sarcastically.

"No, I don't watch a lot of TV." She told him, "So basically you're telling me I have no way to contact my mom?"

"Unless you have a short wave radio, yes." Starscream replied.

"Well then I guess I'll see you in an hour or two." Joy told him as she started to head towards the door.

"What are you talking about? I didn't give you permission to leave. Get back here now!" Starscream ordered her.

"Like I told you earlier, if my mom doesn't hear from me she'll send the police to check on me and I'm not exaggerating. My phone lines went down in a storm right after I moved out here, she has a neighbor who is a police officer and she had them stop out to check on me. So unless you can make the phones work, if I don't go we're going to have company." She told him hoping he would let her go; she really wanted to get away from him for a while or more specifically his robot body. She did just fine keeping up her act of not being afraid of him when all she saw was the holoform, but being in the barn and seeing that huge body made her uncomfortable.

"Fine, just make sure you don't say anything about me and you get back here as quickly as possible or I'll make sure you regret it." Starscream told her.

"Yes sir." Joy said saluting him before running out of the barn when he glared at her.

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When Joy got back a little over an hour later Starscream was still working on the repairs and mumbling something in a language she couldn't understand, but she didn't think it sounded like anything good.

"How are the repairs going?" she asked as she walked into the barn.

"I can't even make some of the repairs until some of the wires have time to start to heal on their own." He replied irritably.

"Heal? You mean that robot body can heal it's self?" Joy asked.

"Of course, last I knew all living things were able to heal them self's depending on the severity of the injury. Now stop asking stupid questions and come hold these wires so I can try to reconnect them. " Starscream said sounding even more irritated.

"Like you said earlier, human technology is primitive compared to the technology you have. I guess I just hadn't thought about that robotic looking body really being alive and being able to heal it's self. You can't blame me for being clueless about it when you either get mad at me or refuse to answer when I ask you questions." Joy told him.

"Shut up and get over here now." Starscream responded trying to focus on his repairs and ignore the fact that she was right.

Joy spent the next several hours helping Starscream, which mostly just consisted of handing him the tools he asked for or occasionally holding stuff together while he secured it.

"So do you sleep?" she finally asked when she wasn't sure she could stay awake much longer.

"Why, are you going to run away as soon as I go into recharge?" he asked suspiciously.

Joy rolled her eyes, "Quit being so paranoid, if I was going to run away don't you think I would have done it by now? I've had plenty of chances. I'm just exhausted and need to get some sleep." She told him.

"Fine get some sleep, but do it out here where I can keep an eye on you." He told her.

"You just don't trust anyone, do you?" she said as she walked over to one corner of the barn where there was a large pile of hay, she collapsed into it and was asleep in minutes.

After a couple more hours of working Starscream had made all the repairs he could until the wires that had been melted, shredded and cut healed enough to be reconnected. He let out a frustrated sigh; he hated the idea of his holoform being the only way he could move around until the wires healed. He hated feeling so small and not having his weapons, if the Autobots came looking for him he wouldn't be able to fight them. He just hoped they were too busy dealing with their own injuries to think about coming after him right away.