"Mercedes…"

"What?"

"I told you before, I have to drive and I can't be distracted like that." Did she have to choose now to tweak the wires under the dash? It—it felt tingly and—made his running lights flicker…

"But it's so much more interesting now. I mean, with me being like you."

"Then you should understand what you're t-touching and how sensitive it is."

He'd kept the rear view mirror trained on her every nuance. He didn't miss her evil grin. "Absolutely…"

"Gah!" He swerved to miss the Volkswagen Samba three inches to the right and felt her flop over onto the floor.

"Eep! Ouch! Maybe I should just stay down here?"

"Please, Mercedes, keep your hands to yourself when I'm driving."

"Oh, come on, Mr. Stuffy, we just had, like, Bot-sex and you're going to get all shy on me now?"

"I'm not being shy, I'm being safe. There's a difference. And there's a time and a place for things like that."

She huffed a glare right at the rear view mirror. "I'm bored."

"What about conversation?"

She tried crossing her arms, but couldn't figure out how to get around the fenders on her forearms. She ended up planting her hands on the floor behind her. "We're talking, now."

Optimus was very careful to keep his amusement to himself. "You don't have any questions you'd like answered?"

"Well, yeah, but let me take it in for a bit, first. I don't know all the questions to ask."

"The Intuition should give you all the answers you need."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "There are a lot of logic jumps to figure out."

"When you were human, how did you allow for instinct?"

She peered into the mirror, irritated. "I get your point." She still thought and reacted like a human. "So how old are you?"

He chuckled. "A lot older than you."

"Millions?"

She thought to lash her irritation over him, but he knew how to handle a disgruntled Autobot. "Yes, and proud of it. What is your age?"

She wiggled around and sat on the sleeper. "Twenty-one." She thought about it. "Boy are you robbing the cradle."

"Mercedes…" He needed to distract her somehow. She was running her hands along the sheets and he was reminded of an accidental discovery he'd made one night, peering into the upper story of a house. He'd never bothered with a holoform for pleasure before, but what if...he internally reprimanded himself. That way laid danger while driving. "What of your family?"

That stopped her hands, but he regretted the pain that etched her face. "I…don't have any immediate family. You don't have to worry about any angry parents or search parties. No one wonders where I am."

"I will."

Her optics dulled for a moment but then flared brighter than he'd seen as of yet. "Thank you, Optimus. That means so very much to me." He suspected that if she'd been human there would have been tears.

He made sure to put as much solemnity into his voice as possible. "Gladly."

She looked around for something to say. "What will the rest of your company think? About me and this…change?"

"I think they'll be pleasantly surprised."

"I mean, Ratchet will probably want to dissect me or something."

He accidentally rode over hazard bumps on the side of the exit off the highway. "He won't."

She was adamant. "He will! Unless Ironhide shoots me first!" He was surprised to detect panic in her voice.

"They won't, Mercedes. They'll realize the importance of the situation. Even if they didn't, they are under direct orders to not harm humans."

Her response was so small he had to strain to hear her. "I'm not exactly human, anymore."

They were both quiet for a moment. Optimus broke the silence with a necessary question: "Do you regret it?"

She took her time to say no, but there was an acceptance there that relaxed him.

"They never disobey a direct order?"

He chuckled. "They may try to wend their way around it, but they respect my orders."

"Oh really?" She sounded skeptical.

"Yes."

"You're that sure of yourself?"

"I'm that sure of them." He turned left at a light and entered a parking lot.

"I…I don't know if I can handle this, Optimus."

"You can, and you will."

"No, seriously. I'm terrified. What if they don't like me? What if I screw up? What if I get killed or something and I lose this great big thing for you? What if something happens and I change back to human?"

"I am taking you seriously, Mercedes. I understand your fears. They liked you before so they will like you even more, now." He pulled around back of a large warehouse and parked. "You'll do fine. You're a lot harder to harm now than you were as a human…and…if you are lost…" He did not want to think about that possibility. "We can still regain the information. The Prophetess will not die."

She jumped out of the cab and stepped back as he transformed behind the building. He knew she had an important question to ask. Her anxiety levels were skyrocketing.

"Would…would you still have liked me if I were human?"

He knelt down to her diminutive frame of seven feet. "As a human, you were fascinating." He was careful to align their optics. "As an Autobot, I can't begin to describe the feelings…" He was at a loss. He truly couldn't begin.

"Try."

He surveyed the area to make sure no one was around. This was the place to meet, but he couldn't scan inside. He couldn't take the chance of anyone eavesdropping. "I…will tell you more when we are in private. I cannot say much more than I will regain fallen comrades because of your abilities. That alone means very much to me."

"Megatron was closer than an enemy to you." Her surprising insight bothered him until he remembered what she was…who she was.

He chanced an explanation. "Is there such a thing as closer than an enemy? He was my brother. We were raised together. He was my first lieutenant before Jazz."

"So I can bring him back to you." She looked down and then back up at him. "Do you really want that?"

Without a doubt. "If I could have my brother back, I would give anything. But he has not been my brother for thousands of years." That sadness had taken most of that time to be contained.

"He was the one who split the All-Spark and the Prophetess." His optics were riveted to hers. This Intuition was fearsome.

He nodded in the affirmative, but slowly.

"Omega convinced him that it was for the best, and then Megatron gave him the cube. That doesn't make sense. Why didn't he keep it for himself? The cube-holder rules Cybertron. Oh my God." Her apertures blinked up at him. "You rule Cybertron."

"You knew I was the Autobots leader, Mercedes."

"I didn't know you were like a king. I thought you were a general or something."

"I am not a king. I am a leader, but there are checks and balances, much like your system of government."

"Well, I sure as hell hope you got the kinks worked out. Our system sucks."

He smiled down at her. "A few hundred million years will do that."

"So…I've caught the big fish, huh?"

Happiness started to flare his inner spark. "Fish?"

"You know what I mean." Silence, then. "What really happened in that hotel room? You said we joined, and I know we made some pretty serious sparks, but what about that mental thing in the middle?"

"You don't know?"

"I created…something. Just by touching it."

"You created a botling. A child among us Autobots."

"A child!? What do you mean? Was it real?"

"I'm certain it was a manifestation of the Joining, but if it were real… we have not had a botling appear in a very long time."

"I'm not sure if I should say this, but damn, Optimus, if you and I made a child the first time we had Bot-Sex, then you must be very…uh…potent."

His roaring laughter shook the building and was what brought Glen peeking around the corner, armed with a dust mop.