Disclaimer; I do not own anything from transformers at all. I have OC's in this story.


Chapter 7

Don't judge a book by its cover.

Beth sat opposite Optimus Prime as he spoke to her about the possibility or rather the improbability of her staying in her apartment until Simon was well and truly behind bars and Aiden was found safe. The young soldier didn't want to stay in the N.E.S.T base, she enjoyed the privacy and freedom her own apartment offered her, but it was the only way Optimus Prime was going to have it. He had told her she fought bravely during the battle in Chicago and he felt he had an obligation in keeping her safe.

Beth thought about arguing with the Autobot leader or trying to defend her right to live away from the base, and convince him she would be okay as long as she had Sideswipe with her but he gave her a look which told her he was having none of it,

"I have lost too many friends and loved ones, Beth, I don't want to see you hurt anymore than you have been," he replied solemnly,

"Yes, but Optimus Prime...I only live a few blocks away...,"

"It is a few blocks too far from us as far as I'm concerned, you were lucky Sideswipe was there," Optimus Prime replied.

Beth sighed and run her fingers through her curls, there was no way the Autobot leader was going to budge on this and conceded defeat, "Alright Optimus Prime," she replied, "You win, I'll stay on the base,"

Prime leant forward a little bit so he was eye to eye with the young woman,

"It's not about winning, Beth, it's about keeping you safe," he held out his hand, "Come, I'll take you back to Sideswipe," Beth stood up and settled herself into the palm of Prime's hand,

"Can I at least fetch some of my belongings?" she asked the giant Autobot,

"Not without your guardian,"

Now Beth was angry "Guardian!...since when have I had to have a guardian? I'm a soldier for goodness sake," She suddenly felt like she had become property of the Autobots and shot a look of resentment toward Prime, but he chose to ignore it and continued to take her to the rec room where Sideswipe was with Strobe, Mirage and Bumblebee.

Strobe stood between Mirage and Sideswipe who were speaking to her about earth customs. They all had a cube of energon in their hands and stood to the far side of the room. She looked up when she saw the Autobot leader walk into the room carrying the tiny human female. The green and black femme noticed a slight familiarity with the human in Prime's hands but couldn't think where it came from. She looked at Beth and searched through her data banks for the few humans she'd come across. After several attempts she had a perfect match with one of those who were holding her in the installation. She glared at Beth and narrowed her optics threateningly, Beth felt intimidated by the femme and slunk in Prime's hand, Sideswipe saw Beth's reaction to Strobe and wondered why she was behaving in such a strange manner. Mirage followed Sideswipe's gaze to Beth. He looked back at Strobe and kicked her,

"Leave the human alone,"he snapped, "She's done nothing to you,"

"She hasn't but she looks like somebody who has," Strobe snarled quietly while looking at Beth contemptuously.

"Strobe," Optimus Prime bellowed, "Many of the humans here have fought beside us in a war that doesn't belong to them, Beth was one of them and she nearly died. These people are our allies and deserve to be treated with respect...from all of us!" he stated firmly while glaring at her.

Strobe stood in front of the Autobot leader and then looked at the tiny human in his hand. She narrowed her optics, Beth looked up at the green and black femme and hid behind Optimus Prime's massive fingers,

"Pfft,"

Strobe waved her hand dismissively at Beth, okay she had to respect the tiny organic but she didn't have to like her. She was part of an inferior and cruel species. Optimus Prime walked toward Sideswipe and gave Beth to him,

"Sideswipe, you are her guardian now, she may not need protecting from Decepticons but there are humans on this earth who behave like Decepticons. Beth has agreed to stay on the base but she wants to go back to her home to pick up some of her belongings,"

Beth scowled at the reference to Sideswipe being her guardian but the Autobots weren't going to listen to her. It was almost like now that they had defeated the Decepticons they saw themselves as king pins and could do what they wanted, "Huh that's what they think!" Beth thought to herself. She coughed politely, Optimus Prime looked at her,

"If you don't mind Optimus Prime but I am a soldier and I think I can protect myself from one human. It's not like he's...,"

Optimus Prime's face softened, he was once a youngling who believed himself to be young and invincible. Not that Beth was a youngling because she was far from it by human standards. She had fought bravely alongside them and if protecting her from some rogue human was a way they could protect her and repay her for the sacrifice she made then that was how they were going to do it.

Sideswipe looked at her, "No can do Beth the game has changed, besides you yourself have said we are your family and families live with each other," he replied with a big smile.

Beth looked down, a pained expression on her face, "Why did her brother get involved with these people," she thought sadly. She hadn't fought with the Autobots just to have one of them carting her around everywhere because of Simon.

Strobe watched her curiously and cocked her head, she felt sorry for the human. Beth looked up slowly at Sideswipe,

"I'm not going to get out of this am I?"

Sideswipe shook his head. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, being a soldier himself he knew what she was feeling, especially after coming against the Decepticons. One human shouldn't make much difference to her but this man was dangerous and deceitful. In the eyes of an Autobot...the characteristics of a Decepticon,

"Come Beth, I'll take you to your apartment" he said as he put her down.

William Lennox walked into the rec room with a smile. Optimus Prime's hydraulics hissed as he got down to the Colonel's level,

"Colonel William Lennox, how are you?"

A look of sadness crossed his face, "You know, I have good days and bad days, I miss him terribly,"

"We all do," he said as he looked at Strobe, "He was Strobe's brother,"

Strobe dropped to the ground and looked at William, "You knew my brother...Ironhide?"

"Yes," William replied, "He became my guardian and one of my most trusted friends. It was an honor to know him and serve with him,"

Strobe put her head down as she tried to fight back the tears, here was a human paying tribute to her brother. These organics appear to be ...sentient, not heartless killers as she first thought. Strobe decided she was going to do all she could to get to know this man, Ironhide would have wanted that.

William turned back to Optimus Prime, "I believe we may have found where Aiden is hiding,"

Beth turned quickly in Sideswipe's hand, "You found my brother?"

William looked up at Beth, despite she was so high he heard the hopefulness in her voice and knew she had an expression to match. He shook his head sadly,

"No we just found where he is living," he replied,

"Oh," she replied quietly,

"Well please let me know when you find him,"

"Don't you worry, when we do you'll be one of the first to know," Wiliam assured the young soldier,

"Thank you" she replied, her voice laced with disappointment.


Sideswipe slid through the washington traffic with ease and made his way to Beth's apartment. Beth enjoyed watching the jealous looks of young women who would have done anything to be sitting next to the good looking young man in the shiny silver Corvette. She smirked to herself, little did they know the nice looking young man was actually a seventeen foot alien robot. When Beth looked up at her apartment it looked the same as she had left it when Simon dragged her out. Beth turned to Sideswipe's holoform,

"Will you come up with me?"

The frontline warrior looked at her and frowned slightly, "Sure," he replied and unbuckled himself to get out.

They walked up the stairs to Beth's apartment together quietly but stopped just by the entrance.

The door to Beth's apartment had been jemmied and left ajar. Sideswipe moved to the front of her and stood to the side of the door frame. He slowly pushed the door open, it squeeked as it swung on its hinges and stopped when something jammed underneath it. Beth went to move around him but he put his hand out,

"Not yet, Sweetspark," he said, "We don't know if whoever did this is still inside,"

A door opened opposite hers to reveal a young woman and a blonde curly haired toddler with a filthy face and dirty nose on her hip. The mother looked tired and her blonde hair was shoved on the top of her head in a messy bun. She looked at Sideswipe who was dressed in a pair of tight black jeans, a deep crimson shirt which was unbuttoned at the top, a pair of black Italian leather shoes and a black jacket. His hair was jet black and spiked and a gold chain with the Autobot symbol hang around his neck. She smiled at him approvingly,

"There is nobody in there," she said in an English accent, "I rang the police but by the time they got here he was gone,"

The toddler started to whine so the young woman jiggled her up and down impatiently, her blonde curls bobbing up and down.

"Who?" Beth asked,

"I don't know, I daren't open my door but they woke Lilly up," she turned to the toddler, "Didn't they beautiful," The woman raised her voice a little higher as she spoke to her child.

Lilly didn't do anything else but wiped her nose with the back of her hand smearing the contents across her face. Sideswipe cringed in disgust, Beth had a tissue and handed it to the woman,

"Thanks," she said gratefully.

The woman went to shut her door but opened it again and looked at Beth, "By the way the police are looking for you. They want to ask you some questions,"

"Thanks," Beth replied she went to shut the door again but Sideswipe asked her a question,

"You said they. How many were there?"

"I don't know, but there was more than one. I could hear them talking I don't think they were planning on vandalling your apartment, I think they were interested in taking you. If I were you Beth I'd stay away for a few days, the police can question you wherever you are," a cold shiver ran down Beth's spine.

Beth stepped in carefully so she didn't tread on anything, the place was worse than she had left it. The lounge suite had been turned up and the cusions were shredded, drawers were pulled out and paper was thrown onto the floor, her laptop was missing and so was a memory stick. The picture of Aiden and Beth was still in its place but somebody had scribbled across the glass so Aiden's face was gone.

Beth stood in the middle and looked around in disbelief, her face was pale and her eyes were moist, "Who are these guys?" she asked.

Sideswipe comforted her, "Get some of your belongings quickly," he said quietly, "They could come back."

Beth moved to her bedroom, her bed covers had been thrown back and her clothes were all over the floor and the drawers thrown on the bed. Her bible was still in its place and untouched, the young woman heaved a sigh of relief, it was her most treasured possesion. Beth slowly gathered up what she could and placed it into a small case, sniffling every now and then. A smile came to her face as she thought of Ironhide and what he'd be doing right now and it wasn't standing around for too long. Beth looked at Sideswipe,

"I'm ready," she said.

They walked through the apartment, Beth turned around and took one more look at it before she left. She couldn't get to the security of Sideswipe's corvette quick enough and once inside she felt a whole lot safer,

"That was horible," she moaned as she covered her face with her hands and massaged it,

"Are you alright?" Sideswipe asked,

"Oh well what do you think?" Beth snapped sarcastically. Sideswipe raised his eyebrows and looked at the road ahead, "I'm having a really fantastic day, first I find out I have to be looked after by you and then I go back to my flat to find out its been ransacked. All that after I met Strobe for the first time,"

Sideswipe looked away from the road to look at Beth. She scowled at him,

"Why are you looking at me, you're driving you should be looking at the road,"

Now Sideswipe was angry, "Hey listen to me, first of all I'm not exactly happy about being a guardian to you, secondly I'm a far better driver than you'll ever be and thirdly I will not be told what to do by a whiny little organic. Have I made myself clear?"

Beth pouted and looked out of the passenger side window,

"Answer my question, "Have I made myself clear?"

She turned back to Sideswipe, his blue eyes watching her angrily, "Yes," she snapped back,

"Yes what?" Sideswipe barked,

"Yes Sideswipe," Beth hissed through gritted teeth,

"Good," he replied.

An angry silence settled in the car as Sideswipe continued driving through Washington and pulled into the base. Soldiers were standing in the doorway joking and messing around. Mark was given some time off from his duty in the med bay and he had joined them. He saw Beth,

"Woah who upset her?" he asked his mate Joe.

Sideswipe transformed and left her standing where she was.

Joe looked at Sideswipe and then Mark and smirked, "I'd say those two had a bad start,"

Mark being the gentleman he was walked up to Beth and held out his hand, "Do you wanna hand with that?"

Beth looked at him, she had seen him before but not so close. He was rugged with short brown hair and kind eyes which were smiling at her, "Thanks," she said.

Mark took her bag and they slowly walked through the base,

"You're the one helping Ratchet, aren't you?...Mark,"

"Yes I am, what happened back there?"

Beth looked at him and then the direction Sideswipe went in, she felt guilty for speaking to him the way she did and wished she could make it up to the Autobot by apologising but her pride wouldn't let her...not yet anyway. She shrugged her shoulders,

"It's nothing," she replied sadly,

"It doesn't sound like nothing," he replied.

Beth looked at him and scowled, "You know what I'll take my own bag," she replied and snatched the bag from him.

Joe was following behind them, he laughed, "Woah you struck out there buddy,"

"Shut up," Mark hissed as he watched Beth strop off to the quarters where she slept last night.

Beth punched in her code and waited for the door to open. She heard it hiss as it closed behind her automatically and growled, "I can't even slam the door here," she thought to herself,

She sat down quietly on the end of her bed, rested her elbows on her knees and supported her chin in her hands as she bent over. A tear rolled down her face and plopped on the floor. Somebody knocked on her door,

"Go away," she snarled,

"Beth," William called.

Beth looked up and wiped her eyes as she opened her door, "I'm sorry sir,"

Beth tried hard to hold back her rebellious tears tears but this time they weren't going to comply. She burst into tears when she saw William's concerned face,

"Sideswipe told me what happened, are you okay?"

Beth couldn't say anything, all she could do was stand there and cry. She felt so pathetic and wished the Colonel would just go away. William hugged her as he stood there waiting for her to finish crying. He stroked her curls and comforted her but the tears wouldn't stop coming,

"I don't know why he did it," she cried,

"He was probably looking for something, Sideswipe said that the mess suggested a very systematic search," Beth nodded, "I have just a couple of questions to ask; did he access your laptop and was there anyting on the laptop to suggest you work for N.E.S.T?"

"No sir," she replied, "Nothing at home suggests N.E.S.T,"

The reply was nothing of a surprise to William, Beth was always concious about security when it came to matters with the Autobots and N.E.S.T. She had become one of the most trusted memebers of the team who would be sorely missed if ever she chose to leave. Not that William could ever see her doing that, she once told him life would become an anticlimax if she ever left N.E.S.T or the Autobots.

Strobe was walking past the human department of the N.E.S.T base on her way to the Optimus Prime's office. She heard Beth crying and William comforting her and stopped to watch the interaction puzzled by the show of emotion. She heard footsteps stop behind her,

Strobe cocked her head to the side, "It's called crying, it's the way human's show their emotion,"

Strobe turned around to find Sideswipe behind her, "It's almost like us," she replied, "What happened?"

"It's a long story," he replied.

Strobe raised an eyebrow ridge, but Sideswipe shook his head,

"Beth is a private woman and the issue is very sensitive, especially for her," Sideswipe replied,

Strobe looked back at her, her body jolted with every sob as she continued to cry into William's shoulder. She then continued her walk to Optimus Prime's office confused by what she had seen.


Aiden had found a dingy apartment block and rented it from the landlord, it was a far cry from Beth's upmarket apartment but it would do until he could sort things out. He was on the fifth floor and he had to climb a dark creaky staircase and walk along a dark corridor before he got to his front door. The walls were split by a dado rail and they were painted off white on the top and bottle green on the bottom. There wasn't a carpet on the floor, only a white lino which looked like it had seen better days and was quite grubby.

The room itself was dark and smelt of stale cigarette smoke, across the window were heavy dark brown curtains which shut out the bright morning sunlight. The walls were a cream colour with a brown carpet which had holes and looked chewed in the corners...possibly by mice, Aiden hoped. On the first night Aiden lay on his back on the mattress with his hands under his head and his knees bent. He looked around the apartment once more and wondered about his wife and family and how he ended up in this situation.

It was a week later when the alarm went off again, he got up and put his shoes on, the thought of walking across the well worn carpet made him cringe. The young man threw the curtains back allowing the bright morning sunlight to shine into the apartment giving a false sense that everything was alright when it wasn't, he wanted to open the window to allow fresh air to circulate through the apartment but the windows were locked. Aiden remembered the long list of rules the landlord had listed to him sourly the night before one of which was no open windows. It was an apartment which attracted high roberies although he couldn't see why, there wasnt much to steal. He could hear the angry voices of a man and a woman who were arguing...again, in the distance a baby was screaming and in competition with the TV that was blaring out.

Aiden walked to the fridge and pulled out the milk to make himself a cup of coffee. He had brought the milk and other groceries when he first arrived but his cupboards were now getting bare. He ran his hands through his mop of curly hair and massaged his developing beard in the hope that it would be a good disguise. He really needed to go shopping but money was getting low and he'd have to start using the credit card. His thoughts wondered back to his wife and family again, he missed them dearly and it was about time he went back to them. If he could do it without Simon knowing where he was going.

Aiden made his way to a coffee shop before doing the shopping. He picked up his cell phone and switched it on. There was a message from his wife,

"Hi darling. How are you, I'm really missing you, when are you coming back? Please come back soon, Chloe keeps asking me where you are? What can I say to her because I don't know. I don't even know if you're alive," there was a sniff which Aiden assumed his wife was crying.

He snapped his phone shut and looked at the coffee cup, the chocolate on the froth of his cuppocino had started to melt. Aiden picked up a sugar lump and hang it over the cup for a while before letting it go and watching it plop into the chocolate leaving a white square. He looked out of the large cafe window and watched the people as they went about their daily business. It was a clear sunny day with a strong wind; shadows fell on the street below the tall buildings making the street look colder than it already was. One woman walked past the window in high heeled boots and a shoulder bag held on her shoulder, her long black hair was dancing around her head in the wind which played with the belt on her coat and whipped off an old man's hat. Aiden smiled as a younger man picked the hat up and gave it back to its owner. He averted his gaze back to his coffee cup and picked up a spoon to stir it.

The young man knew he couldn't spend the rest of his life running away from Simon; he desperately wanted everything to go back to what it was before Strobe, Simon, the new job. For the first time it what seemed like years he bowed his head and prayed to God for help. A gentle peace flowed over him and through him bringing with it a restful reassurance that everything was going to be alright and that he would be safe.

After a while he decided to ring his wife and make his way to the shop before heading back home. He didn't notice a waiter hanging around nearby or the two men in suits sitting in the dark corner waiting to hear from the waiter. He drank his coffee, paid the waiter and walked outside, pulling his coat around himself to block out the cold Autumn wind.

Charlotte was sitting in a meeting when her phone vibrated, she sighed as she looked at it and then looked up at the person leading the meeting,

"I'm sorry, I have to take this," she said as she got up and walked out of the wooden doors to the conference room.

She walked a long way from the doors before starting a conversation with the caller,

"Charlotte Mearing here," her voice held a no nonsense tone, "Uh huh, yep, hmm. Follow him. Do not let him out of your sight. I'll send somebody to pick him up," she hang up the phone and rang N.E.S.T,

"We have found Aiden," she announced,

Aiden brought his groceries and made his way home, he walked up the stairway and opened the door to find Simon sitting in a chair in the apartment,

"Boo!" he said sarcastically

Aiden looked at him and frowned, "How did you find me?" he asked.

Simon shrugged and looked around the apartment, "My my you have gone down in the world, Aiden," he walked up to the young man and looked him over, "Couldn't imagine you living in a place like this. I'm sure your soldier girl sister wouldn't be happy to see you here,"

"You leave my sister out of this, it has nothing to do with her,"

"Oh but it does, you involved her the minute you turned up on her doorstep,"

"It's a shame she couldn't tell me where you were," he raised his eyebrows and looked around the apartment once more, "And now she's...well who knows where she is."

Simon smirked as Aiden's expression turned into one of fear, "What have you done to her?" Simon shrugged his shoulders, "What do you want off me? I will do whatever you want,"

Simon shook his head, "Aiden, Aiden, Aiden, it's not what I want but what I wanted. You're too late, you should have joined us in the hunt and then Beth would have been safe today,"

Aiden placed his bags on the table and looked at Simon, his fists clenched in anger, "Get out!" he growled, "Get out of my apartment...before I ring the police."

Simon stood there smirking at him, believing he had the upper hand. Aiden pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialled the number for emergency services. Simon scowled at him,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he snarled,

"Well you're not me, now get out," Aiden retorted angrily.

The phone stopped ringing and a reassuring voice called out over the other end of the line asking Aiden which emergency service he wanted. Aiden requested the police. Simon lunged for the young man now desperate to stop his call but Aiden jumped out of the way.

"Police, a man is in my apartment being aggressive and refusing to leave," Aiden screamed down the phone.

Simon chased Aiden around the apartment and out of the door. Aiden raced down the stairs and fell but managed to get grab the hand rail. He cried out in pain as he felt his shoulder rip out of its joint but got up and contined running. In the distance he could hear sirens but they were still a long way off and he hoped that he could get away from Simon but the blonde man was agile and fit and he was gaining on Aiden,

"Get here you little...," Simon snarled.

William and Beth were in the rec room, the soldier had calmed down and she was talking to the Colonel over a cup of coffee. Her fingers were clasped and she was twirling her thumbs around each other subconciously. Beth used to do this quite frequently as a child when she was stuck in a situation she couldn't cope with, it had stopped when she was accepted into the army. When she looked down she quickly sat on her hands and closed her eyes, "Stop it, Beth," she willed herself, "Everything is going to be fine, just stop it." She pulled her hands out and picked up her coffee cup; at that moment Sideswipe walked in. Beth looked at him and then quickly looked away. She felt guilty for speaking to him the way she did, he was only asking her if she was okay and he didn't deserve to be spoken to in that manner, especially after he protected her from Simon.

William's cell phone went off, "Excuse me," he said as he looked at it. Charlotte's name was on the screen,

"Beth I'm sorry I need to take this," he walked out leaving the young soldier sitting there alone.

Beth looked around the rec room, Sideswipe stood in front of a window while he was drinkng an energon cube. Beth watched him carefully, if she was going to apologize to him then now would be a good time. Beth slowly rose out of her seat and walked toward him, it was only a short way but it seemed to take forever to get across the floor. The thud of her army boots seemed louder than usual on the hard concrete flooring. She looked up at him, a pained expression was on his face and his sapphire blue optics looked dull, almost sad. Beth swallowed as she slowly put out her hand and went to touch his leg but she quickly pulled away as he looked down at her,

"Beth," he exclaimed,

"I...uh...," Beth looked down nervously, she needed to apologize to the mech but she couldn't seem to muster the courage to say anything to him. She swallowed and looked up at him again, her eyes watering.

"I'm sorry," she said.

The soldier looked at her and raised an eyebrow ridge in a sarcastic manner. Beth looked down and waited for him to say something but instread she heard a hiss as air passed through his valves, it was warm and smelt metallic. For a minute the warrior didn't do or say anything but then he smiled and bent down to pick her up,

"You didn't deserve the way I spoke to you, I'm so sorry," she replied.

He gently pushed some curls which had fallen over her face behind her ear and pulled her in to hug her,

"How could you hold that squishy little creature," Strobe's voice snarled,

Sideswipe looked up, she was leaning against the doorway looking at the scene in disgust. Sideswipe placed a hand behind her and glared at the femme standing in front of him,

"You're supposed to be with Optimus Prime," he said,

"I couldn't find him," she replied,

"I'm here now, my office," Prime said.

Bumblebee raced up to Optimus Prime, "Optimus,"

Prime turned around at the urgency with which the yellow scout had called him,

"What's the matter, Bumblebee?"

"Aiden has called the emergency services for help, he's in trouble. It sounds like it could be Simon,"

"Take Sideswipe with you and go and rescue him," Optimus said,

"Sideswipe," Optimus Prime called.

The frontline warrior looked at Beth, "Can I come?" she asked hopefully,

"No," Sideswipe replied, "I need you to stay here where you'll be safer,"

"But...," she went to argue,

"No buts, Beth. We are rescuing Aiden we don't want to put you in danger too," he picked up Beth and took her to her room where he bent down and held her face gently with his servos, "Stay here, Beth, you'll be safer,"

Sideswipe and Bumblebee left Beth standing by her door and took off toward the coordinates Bumblebee had picked up from Aiden's call.


Aiden raced through the alleyway that led from his apartment to the road tipping garbage cans as he went in the hope Simon would fall over them, but when he looked behind he was still in pursuit. Aiden didn't know how long he could keep it up for, he could see the alleyway open to the street and forced himself to keep going. Sweat was pouring off his forehead and his shirt was soaked, he was panting heavily and beginning to slow down. As the young man raced onto the street he screamed for help. At that point a yellow camaro swerved in front of him while a silver corvette blocked Simon from escaping the alleyway. Simon was preparing himself to launch onto the corvette,

"Don't even think about it," Sideswipe snarled stopping Simon dead in his tracks.

The door to the Camaro swung open revealing a blonde man in his late tweties, "Get in!" he barked at Aiden.

The young man jumped into the Camaro which drove off closely followed by Sideswipe leaving Simon to the fate of the black SUV's who were surrounding him.


So what will happen with Aiden and Simon now?

Will Strobe change her attitude toward the humans?

More coming soon.