Chapter 3

I do not own anything from Transformers.

Jessica ducked her head and covered her ears. She didn't think that she had heard a noise so loud and so close in her entire life.

Optimus Prime swerved and tried to avoid the missile. She heard the sound of metal upon metal, as something seemed to unlock inside of him.

Jessica tried to cover her ears tightly as something pulsated for a second and she heard the hiss of smoke as one of his cannons fired.

Another explosion, and another whimper from her as she was jostled on the floor of the semi.

He was trying to send reassuring words through the speakers, but she could hear his voice was very tense.

Jessica knew they were out in the middle of the desert, and even the lights from Optimus' console couldn't cut through it. She could barely see a hand in front of her face, and she wondered how he was able to even see the Decepticon in the black of night.

She thought she heard some kind of growling coming from somewhere and wanted to take a look, but she was too afraid to raise her head above the dashboard.

Then something hit Optimus. Jessica cried out again, and dared to look behind her. There something on the window that was clawing at the glass. The scrapes made her skin crawl, and she cringed every time the metal claw hit the glass. It was huge, and Jessica, even though it was dark, thought it looked like a big cat.

She heard Optimus groan for a moment, and then anger took over. "Get off me!" He yelled.

"Jessica, brace yourself," he again yelled through the speakers.

Jessica held onto the seat, and the semi began to zigzag across the road. She felt a little sick to her stomach being in the position she was in, and trying to hold on to the seat.

Suddenly, the semi came to a screeching halt making her lurch forward and she hit her head on the dashboard…hard.

Seeing stars for a moment, and hoping she wouldn't pass out, she thought it ironic the first thing she thought of was the huge bump that would be on her head tomorrow.

She heard metal crash and bend outside of the semi as Optimus stopped.

She dared to look up, but could not see anything at first. Then Optimus turned on some kind of spotlight, and the huge Decepticon cat was trying to recover not far from them.

"Jessica!" Optimus suddenly said through the speakers.

"What?" She asked rubbing her forehead. She could already feel the headache coming on as her breathing slowed.

The door opened and Optimus said, "I need you to get out, and run as far from me as you can."

Jessica began to panic as Optimus said that to her. "What? Where am I supposed to go?"

"I can't transform, and destroy this think with you in here. I will get you when I'm done," he explained quickly.

Jessica looked into the night, and thought if she ran too far she would lose where she, and wondered if Optimus would find her in the desert.

The big cat metal thing was starting to get up and Jessica almost froze when she heard it growl.

"Go!" Optimus said loudly.

Jessica rose and jumped from the cab into the dirt. She looked to her left to see the big cat ignoring her for now.

His sickening red eyes glowed despite the spotlight on him. She turned and ran as fast as her feet would take her.

She suddenly heard that weird noise again, and took the chance to stop and turn around.

Her mouth dropped, and she could not speak the words as Optimus Prime transformed from a vehicle to a robot not far from her.

When he was done, he turned to look over at her, and she could not believe how blue his optics were. It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life.

He crouched down so effortlessly in an attack position, and suddenly an ax appeared glowing orange in the sudden darkness.

Jessica could have sworn she could feel the ground shake beneath her feet as both alien robots began to circle each other.

She winced as the big cat Decepticon began to growl and roar. It was dark and menacing, but Optimus did not seem to be intimidated by it. In fact, she thought she heard a low growl come from him.

There was a slight calm as metal moved in sync as each body of the robots still circled each other. She could hear the gears grinding softly against each other, and then metal upon metal scraping.

Finally, Jessica gasped as the cat robot jumped high in the air, and began to claw at Optimus.

She had to move a few more feet backwards to get out of the way of the dust, debris, and dirt that was hitting her face.

Her hands came to her mouth as she tried to stifle a cry as Optimus fell backwards with a huge bang with the tiger like monster attacking him.

His ax flailed widely through the air, and then finally struck the cat in its shoulder causing it to roar again.

More sparks flew lighting up the night slightly. The tiger like robot tried to recover, and Optimus was finally able to throw him off. The cat rolled a few feet on the ground, and then jumped upright.

Jessica realized that Optimus was too big to recover as fast as the cat, and he was slow in standing.

She debated for a moment if she should do something to help Optimus Prime out, but he had specifically told her that she should stay far away and keep cover while he fought.

He did save her life just a few hours before, and now she felt like if she could just…..do…..something.

The pitch black of night was a hindrance to her. She could barely see the fighting robots in front of her, and definitely could not see the ground below her. There was no moon tonight to help her out, and the millions of stars in the galaxy were not bright enough.

The cat jumped on Optimus again, and the claws digging deep into metal were sickening as she heard a scream of pain from Optimus Prime.

He flailed the ax again, and was hitting some parts of the metallic cat, but it just kept coming at him.

Finally, Jessica could take no more. Praying she could not touch anything gross or poisonous, she felt around on the ground. Her hands touched nothing, but dirt and some desert plants she could not identify.

She was about to give up when her hand clasped something hard, and the size of a baseball.

Hoping it wasn't anything living she picked it up and felt over it, and found it was a rock. It might not be big enough to distract the cat, but it might help.

She would keep a safe distance. She played softball in school, and hoped her throw was still as good as used to be.

The two robots were so busy with each other that neither of them had noticed she walked as close as she could with them.

Taking a deep shaky breath, Jessica yelled, "Hey! Jerkwad! Over here!"

I have no idea where that came from; Jessica thought almost laughing at her choice of words.

Both robots stopped for a second, and both began to eye her with wide optics.

"Jessica," Optimus began.

Suddenly, the rock flew from her hand, and landed straight in the middle of the cat. There was a huge clang, and the cat almost looked amused as his red optics flashed.

It was enough. Optimus took his chance and suddenly the ax went straight through the middle of the cat like a knife through butter.

Something exploded, then sparks flew, Jessica heard the buzz of circuits. The cat's eyes began to flicker as it was dying on top of the Autobot.

Optimus took the ax deeper into the cat like robot, and it finally went limp on top of him.

With the ax still inside of it, he tossed the cat off of him and it landed with a metallic thud.

Optimus finally stood straight up, and eyed the injuries he had sustained for a moment. Jessica could not believe how big he was in person. She had seen them on TV plenty of times, but he was just huge!

He turned and Jessica thought his optics flickered for a moment, and then they settled on her.

He walked over and bathed Jessica in a bright blue light. She could barely make out his injuries, but they were there.

Something green, and almost glowing was coming from his temple, but he just whisked it away. She wondered if that was their version of blood.

"Are you alright?" He asked, and Jessica could tell he was upset at her.

She had no regrets though. She knew she took a huge chance, but she knew he was in trouble, and didn't want to just stand there and let that thing tear him apart.

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered lifting her chin a little waiting to be lectured.

"I will let the other Autobots know that the threat has been eliminated, and then I will take you home," he said.

Jessica was surprised but grateful that he did not scold her on her choice to get involved in her fight. He seemed didn't acknowledge it, but he didn't get angry either.

After she thought it over, she was kind of disappointed he didn't really say anything at all.

Optimus Prime then transformed, and they were on their way to her home.

They must have driven over an hour before Optimus finally said something Jessica. She knew she was almost home, and looking at the dashboard clock it was almost three in the morning. She knew her mother was probably calling out the National Guard by now, and her father was probably on the road, but would turn back if he needed to.

She was tired, dirty, and exhausted, but she was happy to be alive, and happy that Optimus seemed to be okay despite the damage that she could see in the dark.

"I am still trying to decide if what you did was very stupid or very brave," Optimus suddenly through the speakers.

Jessica frowned, and felt insulted, but said, "Thanks?"

"I do want you not to do that again," he commented.

Jessica had to sit up straight. Again? What did he mean by that?

"I just want you to stay safe," he answered almost reading her thoughts.

"I am sure I will be going back to my boring life now," she said smiling slightly.

Optimus suddenly pulled over to the side of the road much to Jessica's chagrin. What in the world was he doing? She looked over the dashboard in surprise, and then out of the window. They were still at least a good half hour from her house. Did he need directions? Was he going to leave her here? That's not what he promised.

All these thoughts ran through her head as she tried to be nonchalant and gaze out of the window.

"Jessica look over to the driver's seat," Optimus ordered after a moment.

Jessica could not pinpoint it, but that moment before Optimus talked to her she suddenly felt like there was another presence inside of the cab.

She turned her head slowly, and there sitting in the driver's seat was a man with the interior light suddenly coming on and shining on him.

He was actually pretty young, and had on a red T-shirt with a blue denim jacket with blue jeans. His hair was dark and thick, with a slight beard covering his chin.

Jessica's eyes widened in fear at first until she actually spotted the eyes. They glowed even with the light shining on him, and they were a stunning blue.

She leaned towards him and squinted her eyes. She could not believe how handsome he was; he could be in a magazine modeling clothes or something.

"Optimus?"

He laughed a little, and that familiar deep voice said, "Yes."

She scrunched her eyebrows. "You're so….ummmm…..so…."

Goddamn he was beautiful, and Jessica did not know they could do human form, but she like it…..a lot.

"What?" he asked.

"Young," she blurted out.

This made him chuckle. "I am nine million years old in human years, but for an Autobot, yes, I am young."

"Are you real?" She asked still surprised by his human form.

He suddenly reached for her hand, and she did not argue. All she knew that little butterflies began to fly through her stomach, and was trying to will her palm not to sweat.

He gently placed her hand, which was surprisingly warm and soothing, on his chest. She was never the forward person with guys, but she could feel her heart fluttering in her chest.

His chest was solid and muscular. She swallowed as she felt his heartbeat inside of it. She could not believe that he was so…..solid?

Their eyes met with blue human upon blue optical, and Jessica could not help herself. She took a deep breath, and their lips touched ever so slightly as he leaned across the seat.

Then he took her and pulled her closer into a passionate embrace, and Jessica gave in willingly.

She only kissed one other boy in her past, but that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now.

Everything inside of her exploded as she met his tongue with hers.

Never, never, never in a million years would she be able to conceive that she would be kissing an alien who was not only a robot, but also more human than she could have ever imagined.

He was so warm that she just melted into him, and she suddenly forgot about everything else and did not want this night to end.

….

One more chapter after this, and it will be Optimus' POV.