Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
Ella called in sick to work again the next day after Ratchet threatened to drag her back to the warehouse if she tried going to work. After getting back to the warehouse that morning she had convinced Optimus to train her some more with the sword. When they finally took a break Optimus carried her over and set her on a large desk that sat in one corner of the first room and looked like it had been welded together from pieces of old vehicles and machinery.
"So what do you want to do now?" Optimus asked as he sat down.
"I don't know, I suppose I could go harass Ratchet with more questions and see if he'll send me home. I just feel like I'm wasting your time being here, I'm sure you have better things to do than entertain me." Ella said looking around the desk.
"You are not wasting anyone's time; there really isn't much for us to do here. We have gone over our battle plans for any imaginable Decepticon attacks several times, Ironhide has all the weapons taken care of, Ratchet is constantly researching earth technology and medicine and it's almost impossible to keep Bumblebee here unless I have a job for him to do. We spent so long hiding in space that now that he can go out without worrying about being shot at he just won't stay in one place for very long. It's actually nice to have you around to talk to. If you weren't here I would have nothing to do but worry about the Decepticons." Optimus told her.
"Okay, if you're sure." Ella said then noticed a box that had the piece of the Allspark in it, "Could you teach me to speak and read Cybertonian?" she asked as she looked at the strange symbols on it.
"It is very different from earth's languages, I don't know if a human would even be able to speak it and our written language is very complex." Optimus told her.
"So are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but I taught my self to read those. I've always been pretty good at learning new languages; couldn't you at least try to teach me, please?" Ella asked hopefully.
"Alright, there's no reason you can't try, but don't feel bad if you can't get it." He said, his holoform appeared on the desk and he got out a pen and paper then sat down and started writing strange looking symbols on the paper.
"Okay." Ella replied as she sat down next to him and watched.
They spent the next several hours going over the Cybertronian alphabet and a few common words. Some of the words Ella was even able to pronounce well enough that they sounded right.
Ella spent the rest of the day and most of the next day with Optimus training with the sword, learning more Cybertronian or just talking. By Thursday Ratchet finally said her arm had healed enough that he let her go back to work after she promised not to use her arm.
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"Where have you been all week?" Rachel asked when she saw Ella come into the library.
"I got hurt while I was at grandpa's place and the medic who took care of me refused to let me come back to work until the wound started to heal." Ella told her.
"Since when can anyone tell you what to do? And how badly were you hurt?" Rachel asked.
"Just trust me he wasn't the type of person you argue with. And it was just a cut on my right arm, I got a few stitches and I'm fine." Ella told her.
"Well I'm glad you're okay and that you came back today. My car broke down on the way here and it's going to be at least some time tomorrow before it'll be fixed. Do you think you could give me a ride home?" Rachel asked.
Ella hesitated a minute wondering if Optimus would mind, but if she said no Rachel would have wanted to know why so she finally said. "Sure, no problem."
At the end of the day she told Rachel she would meet her in the parking garage then raced down as fast as she could. When she got there she ran over to Optimus who was waiting for her with his holoform sitting in the driver's seat.
"Get rid of the holoform quick." She told him glancing over her shoulder to make sure Rachel wasn't there yet.
As soon as the holoform was gone she got in and quickly explained. "I hope you don't mind but we're giving a friend of mine a ride home. Her car broke down and if I had said no she would have been suspicious that something was going on. I would have asked you first, but I had no way to contact you." Ella told him.
"It's quite alright, don't worry about it." Optimus told her.
A minute later Rachel got in, "So you said one of the kids at the school got you this until your car is fixed and you didn't have anything to do with the paint job on it?" she asked.
"Right, why?" Ella asked as they pulled out.
"Because the paint job looks like it would mach the paint on your boyfriend that you keep drawing pictures of." Rachel said.
"He's not my boyfriend." Ella said as her face turned a brilliant shade of red and she wondered if she'd ever be able to face Optimus again.
"Well you sure draw a lot of pictures of him." Rachel said.
"So I like to draw, that doesn't mean anything." Ella retorted.
"Sure, whatever you say. I still think it was love at-"
"Rachel! That's enough!" Ella said cutting her off before she could finish, she was sure that if Rachel kept going she would die of embarrassment.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to bite my head off, I was just-" Rachel was cut off as they heard sirens behind them.
Ella looked in the mirror and saw a police car with its lights on following them. Ella glanced down at the speedometer and said, "Great, what do they want, I'm not speeding or anything."
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A second later a voice came over the radio speaking in Cybertronian, Ella was able to pick out the words need, talk and Optimus, but didn't catch the rest.
"What was that?" Rachel asked.
"I'm not sure." Ella replied as Optimus suddenly pulled onto a back road.
"Where are we going, shouldn't you pull over before you get your self arrested?" Rachel asked glancing back at the cop car that was still following them, but had turned its siren off.
"I-" Ella hesitated not sure what to say.
"You might as well tell her the truth, if this is a trap she needs to know what's going on so she doesn't panic." Optimus told her.
"What was that voice and where did it come from?" Rachel asked.
"You know the robot I told you I saw in Mission City?" Ella asked.
"The one you're always drawing pictures of, yeah, what does this have to do with him?" Rachel asked.
"Well, you're kind of inside of him." Ella told her.
"Ella this is a trailblazer, not a giant robot." Rachel said looking at her like she had lost her mind.
"He can change what he looks like." Ella told her.
"Okay and why would a giant robot be driving you around?" Rachel asked still unable to believe her.
It's a long story, but basically that piece of metal I found belonged to him and he was trying to get it back without me finding out about him, which obviously didn't work." Ella told her.
"And why was that piece of metal so important?" Rachel asked.
"She can explain that later, right now I need you two to listen to me. That police car is Barricade, he wants to talk to me for some reason, I'm going to pull over, he'll pull over a good distance away and we'll use our holoforms to meet half way between to talk, that way if he tries anything I can just turn off the holoform and pull out. I want you two to stay here and don't get out; if this is a trap we need to be able to pull out as quickly as possible." Optimus said as he pulled off the road and parked a second latter his holoform appeared next to the driver's door of the trailblazer and the window opened.
"Where did he come from?" Rachel asked her eyes widening when Optimus appeared.
"I'll explain in a minute." Ella replied then looked back at Optimus, "Are you sure this is safe? Didn't you say Barricade is the one who came after Sam?" Ella asked.
"Don't worry this is the safest way for us to talk. He said he needs help with something and he doesn't want to take any chances of being overheard communicating through the com link incase there might be other Decepticons in the area. He also said that he doesn't want to fight us anymore. I have to see what he wants, if he truly want's to change sides I can't just ignore him." Optimus told her then walked towards the police car and a man who had gotten out of it and was walking towards him.
"Okay, so who's the hot guy?" Rachel asked once Optimus had walked away from the trailblazer.
"His name is Optimus Prime; he's the robot, that was just a holoform." Ella told her.
"Don't you mean hologram?" Rachel asked.
"No, it's solid; he feels completely real, just like a normal human with all the normal senses and everything." Ella explained.
"Okay so let me get this strait, your robot boyfriend can turn into a trailblazer and a really hot guy?" Rachel said.
"He's not my boyfriend, I barley know him." Ella said.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, "You barley know him? Not, there's no chance of anything happening between you two? So does that mean you think you like him but you want more time to get to know him better before you can be completely sure?" She asked.
"Rachel he's a giant alien robot, I highly doubt he would be interested in me." Ella said.
"Hay I'll take any chance I can get to get you to date someone even if he isn't from this planet. It would have to be better than watching you spend the rest of your life alone and unmarried." Rachel said.
"Who are you to talk; last I knew you were still single too." Ella replied.
"At least I go out on dates occasionally. Now admit you like him, I'm not going to back off until you do." Rachel told her.
Ella glanced in the mirror making sure both holoforms were still talking then she said, "Fine I do like him, he's a lot nicer and more mature than any human guy I've ever met. I've only known him about four days and I could already picture my self spending the rest of my life with him, but, that doesn't mean that he's my boyfriend or ever will be. No mater how hot his holoform is he's still an alien robot who would probably never think of me as anything more than a friend."
Rachel started grinning.
"What are you grinning about?" Ella asked.
"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you admit to thinking a real guy was hot." Rachel told her.
"That's not true." Ella said.
"Oh yeah, name one real guy you think is hot and actors don't count." Rachel said.
Ella groaned when she realized Rachel was right then noticed Optimus coming back.
"So what's going on?" Ella asked when he got back and his holoform disappeared.
"Apparently he wants to join the Autobots. He found an injured woman on his way to the battle in Mission City and helped her deliver her baby before she died and he promised her that he would take care of it. It seems to have made him rethink his life. He has no idea what he's doing though and has been searching for us since the battle, since he knew we had human friends who might be able to help with it. He's going to follow us back to the base." Optimus explained.
"Are you sure that's safe?" Ella asked.
"I've already radioed the others, they'll all be there when we get back and Barricade agreed to let Ratchet disable his weapons once we get there." Optimus told her.
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