Thank you GrimlockX4 and Diana Longman for adding!

I've been thinking about pairings lately… I honestly don't know if there will be any romantic pairings. We'll find out soon enough, I usually do these on a whim.

By the way… I have no idea what sort of winter weather Nevada gets so… if I'm wrong don't chew me out.

Chapter 7:

"Get back here you little glitch!!" Arcee snarled as she chased a frantic Frenzy deeper into the city's outer limits. Bee couldn't follow as easy since his hulking bulk caught the extended extremities of the organic growth. He saw his partner fire a few shots and a few choice Cybertronian insults were thrown back in return.

Frenzy wasn't about to lose his head a third time, he sprinted across the uneven ground only a blur to a human eye.

Arcee dug in her heels and stopped having lost total contact with the Decepticon. Her swearing only increased when Bee didn't watch his next step and ran right into her.

"Bee!! Get the slag off me!"

"S-sorry." He apologized, quickly removing himself, "That Frenzy sure can run." He mused.

Arcee snorted in disgust, "Well, I can at least shoot something faster than Barricade."

He placed his digits against his heavily armored chest, "Ouch! Arcee that punctured my spark!" Bee responded with mock hurtfulness.

"Good, you slacker!" Arcee put away her guns, in much the same well earned arrogant manner as Ironhide did. Bumblebee was glad to have his old partner back; her feistiness reminded him of Diana.

Speaking of which…

000

"…You had me worried sick!" Diana was yelling at her 'Bot friend when Bee's call came through to Ratchet.

"I am not your pet! You don't have to protect me so much!" Stalker's burning gold eyes were much brighter now that his inner workings were functioning properly.

"I don't protect my pets! I protect my friends! It's you who needs to stop worrying about me you dork!"

Stalker's ears flattened in confusion, "I fail to see how I'm a-."

"Don't! Don't you dare finish that sentence! It's slang dumb ass!" she hit her forehead for cursing.

"I am not a beast of burden you Caucasian Asian."

"What?! That's not even an insult! You've been hacking into my emails to my cousin again haven't you?!"

Ratchet groaned more in relief than annoyance and turned his back on the two who'd been fighting for the past ten minutes. The medic explained the current situation was better to say the least when he answered Bee's call.

"They sound energetic." Bumblebee said in amusement when he heard the raised voices in the back round.

Ratchet chuckled, "They're definitely have a filial attachment it seems."

"Are you switching locations now Officer?"

"I have to, this wasn't an ideal spot to begin with."

"Do you need help moving the equipment?" That was Arcee.

"No, no I can handle it. You two should find Sparkle, I would like to have a word with her. Ratchet out." While simultaneously holding a conversation with the two soldiers Ratchet had contacted Commander Prime informing the leader of his movements. Ratchet turned to the consoles and pressed a few buttons. The equipment shuddered, whirred and began folding in on themselves.

"Hey! Don't hit me! You'll injure yourself!" Stalker whined.

"Argh! Just…" Diana took a deep breath and thought a saying her mom had taught her: Soft and gentle. Often she was screaming it in her head angrily but strangely it eventually worked.

SOFT AND GENTLE SOFT AND GENTLE soft and gentle SOFT and gentle….ok I'm good.

"Ok… let's just put this whole argument aside. Let's just be glad you're back in tippy top shape k?"

Stalker nodded.

"What were we arguing about anyway?"

Ratchet dropped the tool he was holding.

Stalker looked appalled.

Diana looked at them innocently before she started trembling with high pitched laughter. Her side started to hurt.

Her bio readings told the Autobots that despite the memory loss, the girl's systems were relieving themselves of harmful toxins created by her anger.

One ear tipped higher than the other, "Dia? Are you ok? Did you perhaps get hit in the head while you fought?"

Diana wiped away a tear, "Y-ya!" she leaned against the four foot mech, her legs threatening to give out beneath her.

"I've been researching the human body for some time now." Ratchet inserted, "Your argument went on with no logical explanation of the topics discussed. Verbal sparring is a good way to relieve overwhelming emotion for a human."

"What he said." Diana grinned, "Man! We must've looked stupid."

"Indeed…" Stalker decided it best not to recount the weird turns their 'verbal sparring' had taken. The 'Bot was caught off guard when his friend suddenly embraced him tightly.

"I just yell at you because I care for you, k? I'm glad you're ok."

Stalker was uncertain of what to do and looked to Ratchet for guidance. The medic made a gesture of return and the attachment gave Diana a hug back.

After awhile of being poked by Stalker's metal frame Diana let go then was immediately attacked with a chore.

"Oof!" she staggered under the weight of the cube Ratchet had shoved into her arms, "Wha-?!" before she could finish her sentence the 'Bot transformed into his alt and opened his back door, indicating the task. Stalker clicked a high pitch noise which sounded like a laugh. Diana glared and shoved the block into her partner's arms, "You too nimrod!" she went to get the other.

Ratchet took note of what most other 'Bots would overlook. Despite her major relief from yelling at her recouped friend, he saw her body tense slightly with ever so carefully controlled nervousness. The girl didn't like ambulances he realized as he pulled out of the warehouse. He did a more thorough scan of the female searching for signs of the body still healing from past traumas.

"Sooo…." Diana asked after a long silence, "Where are we going?" she looked at Stalker.

"I am taking you to a good friend of ours for now, till we get more information on the situation." Ratchet answered.

"Mmm! Stalker, you said you wanted to tell that Prime commander dude something important before you totally conked out remember?" she nudged him.

Stalker opened his vocal processors to answer then stopped, one earlike antenna twitching, "I… I can't remember what I wanted to say now." He pinned his ears back in frustration while filing through his memory, "It had… something to do with… science or something like that."

"Oh?" Ratchet's voice indicated his high level of interest.

Diana snapped her fingers a few times, "Is this like… trauma or something? Like, if a human gets hit in the head real hard and they can't remember anything before that? 'Cause when I saw Stalker land it was pretty… not smooth if I'm a judge at landing."

"Neurological damage is a possibility. Stalker you are not to hack for the next few days and don't do anything to strain your thought processors. Give yourself time to recover, I'll give you something to help speed up the process later."

"Thank you Officer Ratchet." Despite that, Stalker looked sourly disappointed to the fact that he was completely useless at the moment. Diana hoped her fidgeting would go unnoticed, not that Ratchet's seating was uncomfortable. She just wanted out of the sterile smelling car. It brought back… unwanted memories.

OOO

"Ah man! It's going to be sooo quiet without Lieutenant Jazz, Primus receive his spark." Arcee said solemnly as she and Bee drove down one of the highways, "I mean, remember back after Tyger Pax? He would cheer us up when the worst was staring us in the optics."

" 'Do it with style or not at all.' " Bee quoted Jazz's favorite saying. They pulled into a wooded area and transformed, Sparkle was hard to find. But like any Transformer she left residue of her spent energies behind. A property only spy type Transformers could detect.

"Frag I've missed you so much!" Arcee suddenly said.

"Me to." Bee suddenly stumbled with surprise when Arcee jumped onto his shoulder.

She grinned mischievously, "I also miss making you my glitch."

"Oh no not the riding thing again! Arcee you are perfectly capable of walking on your own! Now off! We have orders to fulfill." Bumblebee tried to grab the feminine machine but failed miserably when she slid off his shoulder and clinged to his back.

"Uh uh! I'm lazy!" she laughed at his vain attempts to detach her from his armor.

"You aren't allowed to be lazy as a soldier!"

"It's peacetime we can afford it!"

"Get off!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"Nuh uh."

"Arcee get off!"

"Make me!"

"I will!" Bumblebee swung around intending to brush Arcee off with one of the nearby trees except he didn't see the glint of gold and red in time. Metals screeched as they ground together, the two Transformers went falling in a tangled heap with Bee standing at a loss of what to do.

This day wasn't bad… just weird!

"I'm sorry, I guess I should've tried to greet you both verbally instead." Sparkle was as big as Bee, so luckily she ended up on the bottom of the pile.

"Sheesh! What is with 'Bots and falling today?!" Arcee seethed, remaining sitting where she'd rolled off, head propped up with both hands.

"Eh heh heh," Sparkle laughed nervously as Bee helped her to her feet, "I guess I took the commander's orders a little too literally."

"No it's ok it was an accident." Bee helped Arcee up.

"Yeah… accident my foot!" she kicked him. Before Bee could react the pink and black 'Bot turned to Sparkle, "By the way sweetie, when you have the time Officer Ratchet wants to see you." She looked at her partner then jumped back onto his shoulder, "There, orders fulfilled. I can be lazy now." This time she made the mistake of not stopping Bumblebee from dragging her off.

"May I ask why?"

"He didn't say the reason." Bumblebee felt a little embarrassed but safe while holding Arcee by one foot upside down so she couldn't cause anymore mischief. She just folded her arms and hmphed!

Sparkle's frame shuddered with contained laughter, "A-alright, I will stay in communication range." Her pink optics shined with the laughter threatening to burst her spark chamber.

Bumblebee shook his head in exasperation, "Did you spend too much times with the twins or something Arcee?"

The fembot clicked in annoyance, "Hey when you're sent on a deep space mission with only those two to keep you company you have to survive somehow."

"They're alive?"

"Yeah, but they got distracted and will be landing a few days behind me. Speaking of which…" she stretched then flipped right side up gripping Bee's hand and he let go of her leg, "I could use a High Grade shot right about now." She landed softly.

"Only Ratchet knows where those are." Bee realized he was due for his dose as well.

"Well let's all go bug him as one big happy Autobot squadron!" Arcee transformed and headed out.

"You should come, it'll be fun." Bee assured Sparkle.

She smiled, "I'll join you soon I have something I need to take care of first, just don't take in all the Energon without me." The Transformer tilted over to watch the motorcycle leave, "Energetic… isn't she?"

"Definitely, more so since the last time I saw her." Bee felt a twinge of painful memory pop into his processors, "I guess you have to have a high energy level to be with the twins so long. Makes me wonder how Ratchet hasn't rearranged them in a way that they can't transform or something horrible like that." Bee chuckled at the thought of Ratchet chasing down the twins through the endless halls of the fortress they'd lived in for awhile, screaming and threatening them with his weaponry.

"Who are these twins?" Sparkle asked.

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Lieutenant Jazz's old wards. Man… they're going to have a horrible fit when they find out he's gone."

Sparkle lifted one hand touching his shoulder, he noticed her movements were slow, graceful and carefully considered, "This Jazz meant a lot to you all."

"Touched all of us, the commander said he would've made a great administrator once the war ended."

A honk interrupted the conversation, Arcee sat on the edge of the road waiting for them.

OOO

"Are we there yet?"

"Dia! You asked that two minutes ago! Have the patience you had while driving us here."

"Hey I was quiet because I was actually doing the driving."

"St-."

"We're here children." Ratchet informed them sarcastically. The neon yellow ambulance pulled onto the driveway of a very spacious looking house, "This is the Witwicky residence, Samuel is the one that helped save our race from Megatron. He's agreed to take you in for awhile till we can contact your parents."

"No!"

Ratchet skidded to a stop after feeling a foot to his dashboard. Stalker immediately started to apologize for Diana's actions.

"Shut up Stalker! I'm not going home! I'll contact my parents, don't you guys dare do it otherwise the government will be crawling up me and my family's ass about seeing that dumb video of that copter alien." Aggressively she shoved open the door and jumped out. She was about to walk off but stopped at Ratchet's bumper. She looked at them both, "Sorry for yelling. I just need to make my point clear, I'm not going back, I'm here to help you guys now."

Both Transformers were silent as Diana walked past the hedge to the front door where she stopped and looked back waiting for her friend.

"Stubborn, isn't she?"

"Yes, in my states of consciousness I often heard Diana arguing with her parents about going out to places. It's strange, they often expressed their love to each other but when it came to leaving the nest they were subtly but absolutely against it. I never asked why this was."

"A story for another time perhaps, since she's so insistent for now I don't see a problem with her helping like Makaela and Sam do. I'll talk to Optimus about it, for now you both need rest."

"Yes sir… although I don't know how I'll survive without hacking something."

"You'll manage if you want to remember what was so important." He opened his door and the 'Bot jumped out, in midair there were clicks and whirs and he landed on all fours looking very much like a foxcat machine.

When the door opened a young man with dark hair opened the door, he smiled, "Hey you must be Diana Shae, I'm Sam." He shook her hand, "Ouch! Gotta good grip there."

"Thanks."

"Sam? Who is that?"

"Oh it's Makaela's friend! You know the one I told you about earlier."

Stalker barely had enough time to transform into his boom box alt before Judi Witwicky came running in.

"Oh hi there! Please come in come in we were just about ready to have lunch." mother mode clicked on when she saw how dirty the girl was, "Goodness but first a shower! You look like you've been through a lot honey."

"Yeah… I definitely need one." She followed Judi to the upstairs guest room that had its own bathroom. Diana found the size of the house almost as daunting as the Transformers. She could see herself getting lost.

"Oh it's so nice to have someone to talk to in the house, you know how the kids go to college and get on with their independence. Sam is hardly ever home and when he is he's studying. My husband has been working overtime, oh the bills racked up by those sleezy agents that dropped by a few years back. Tearing up all my garden and breaking things… ugh! It was horrible. Well let me know if you need anything honey, lunch'll be done in thirty minutes."

All the while Diana was just smiling politely, as soon as Judi was downstairs she slammed the door shut. She turned around pressing her back against the door as if the boogie monster was on the other side, "Goodness! Does that woman breath?!"

The boombox on the bed only snickered a response.

OOO

The Witwicky's weren't as bad as Diana was initial thinking. Judi was just starved for a little conversation in her own home, Carl was a tired but strong willed individual with a twist of humor for everything about life and Sam seemed like any college student Diana had ever met. Inquisitive and a little shy at first but a warm young man at heart. Diana's keen eye for difference saw that Sam showed signs of being deeply affected by some great event that had happened in his life. She made a mental note to ask him the details of the Final Battle later.

"So how long will you be staying Diana?" Judi asked while they washed dishes.

She shrugged, "Um, what did Sam tell you?"

"He didn't say anything, just said that you needed a place to stay. He mentioned getting away from some problems." Judi was careful not to ask what despite how much she wanted to know.

"Well, I think for the rest of Thanksgiving vacation."

"Oh perfect! I'm planning a big family gathering and Makaela's coming over as well…" Diana only half listened since she was looking over her shoulder at Stalker who apparently had grown bored with staying upstairs. He seemed to be approaching something with careful, quiet steps.

Diana blinked and the next thing she knew was the howl of surprise from an ankle biter called Mojo. The chauaua(sp) snarled and chased after the Autobot who only sneered in triumph as he made his escape.

"Carl! Quiet Mojo down will you!" Judi yelled without looking behind her to Diana's relief.

"Hey guys! It's snowing!" Sam called.

Indeed, when the women looked up heavy sheets of thick snowflakes were falling silently. Diana couldn't help but smile stupidly, she absolutely adored snow. Suddenly she wondered if Stalker had ever seen snow.

Probably… he's been to a hundred planets… surely one of them had snow. Then again… I wonder if he sees it as beautiful the way most humans do. She frowned and scrubbed the last of the plates.

Stalker jumped on top of an old piano in the living room so he could get a better look at the flakes. It was nothing impressive, it was only falling ice. But it held a certain… mystic. The 'Bot made a shuddering sound, equivalent to a sigh. He recalled patches of the past few months, most of them with Diana. As far as being with his partner Shadow…

Don't push yourself. Time, give yourself time to heal. Doctor's orders.

Footsteps interrupted his fretting and he quickly transformed.

OOO

Taking advantage of the bad weather, the F-22 Decepticon Thundercracker followed the little tidbit the runt Frenzy had left. He cackled in triumph when he found the unmarked Cybertronian. He kept his distance however, deciding it was best to stoke out her intentions first. A boring task but it had saved his six several times before. The alien plane checked left and made a wide birth. The wind resistance from the snow storm would've daunted an experienced pilot but not him. It was child's play.

The Transformer below didn't seem to be doing anything of real interest. She was just sitting on a cliff just outside of eyesight of humans crossing what was called Hoover Dam.

A pretty little thing like that naught to sit alone. The Decepticon was about to pull down into the canyon when a small energy reading caught his attention. Too small in spectrum strength to be a spark, yet too advanced to be human made.

Zooming in he managed to catch sight of a hovering drone exiting one of the dam's supposedly sealed off entrances. Its frame was similar to that of Sparkle.

The drone stopped in front of the unmarked one and settled in her hand. She brought it up to eye level taking in all the information it had gathered, nodding occasionally at something she considered good. Thundercracker watched as the Transformer reattached her accessory and took on a jet form.

Screeeeeee!

"Agh!" the plane tipped into a dangerous freefall as all his sensors suddenly went haywire, "Frag jamming signals!" the 'Con growled. When his sensors finally cleared up, Sparkle had vanished.

OOO

Hmm seems like an appropriate place to stop for now.

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