Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers

Summary: Sequel to One Last Time. Two years later, Human – Autobot relations are breaking down and Sam is the only one who can fix them. Megatron's forces are increasing and Director Galloway is back with a vengeance. In the midst of all this, Sam and Will still have to try and keep their relationship a secret.

Rating: M

One More Time

Chapter 10:

The next morning, the storm had stopped and the humidity was worse than ever. Will woke up with excruciating back pain. His lower back ached where he had picked Sam up in his office the day before and a sharp pain shot across his shoulder blades, where Galloway had struck him with the stapler. Will rolled to the other side of the bed – Sarah was already up and obviously cooking breakfast, due to the smell of bacon cooking wafting through the slightly open door. Will carefully propped himself up and looked at the clock on Sarah's bedside table. The digits spidered across it read 09:07. Will hauled himself out of bed and slowly got dressed, wincing as he did so. He walked out of the bedroom and sat at the small kitchen table. Sarah put a plate with a bacon sandwich on it down in front of him. Will thanked her and checked his mobile. There was one new message. It was a picture message from Galloway with the caption:

See you at ten with an answer.

"So sleeping beauty is finally awake." Sarah smiled, sitting opposite him with her own breakfast – a bowl of muesli. Will smiled slightly and deleted the picture message, placing his phone down on the table. She turned her head and called, "Annabelle, breakfast is ready!" shortly afterwards, Annabelle appeared at the table. "Will, are you okay? Everything you do makes you grimace."

"Oh... I've hurt my back." Will answered, taking a bite of his bacon sandwich. "I'm not really sure how. Maybe I slept awkwardly. I'll just take some painkillers and then I should be fine."

"Aren't you going away again tomorrow?" Sarah questioned, delicately eating her bowl of muesli.

"Yep." Will answered. "I'm sure Morshower will let you have the details once we've left. We're just trying to prevent information leaks at the moment, which is why we have to be so secretive about everything."

"Are you going to be directly involved in the fighting?" Sarah asked calmly.

"Annabelle, why don't you and get dressed?" Will asked. Annabelle had finished her bacon sandwich and was sitting at the table, fiddling with the tablecloth, listening to her parents talk. "After breakfast I'm heading down to the Autobot hangar to talk to Optimus Prime. I'm sure Ironhide would love to see you."

"Okay, I'll go and get dressed." Annabelle jumped down from her chair and ran into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Will knew that would get her. Ironhide had always been close to the Lennox family – he was the one who had brought Will home after Mission City, something Sarah could never thank him enough for. Ironhide had always been close to Annabelle, taking her joy rides whenever she came to visit and teaching her as much as she wanted to know about Cybertron.

"Are you going to be directly involved in the fighting?" Sarah repeated. There was more force behind a words this time. The question sounded more interrogative.

"Yes." Will admitted hesitantly. "I am going to be directly involved, Sarah."

"We've talked about this before." Sarah snapped. "We agreed that you were never going to physically fight again. What about your knee? What if something happens and you don't come home? You can't go and fight, Will. I won't let you."

"It's not your decision, Sarah." Will sighed. He picked up his and Annabelle's plates and carefully walked over to the sink, wincing with every step. "I need to be out in the field for this one. Nothing you can say will change my mind."

"Will, look at you." She stood up and walked over to her husband, linking arms with him and resting her head on his shoulder. "You can barely walk because of your back! Please... just take a step back and let other people fight. You're a good strategist Will, you don't need to fight..." Sarah hesitated when Will looked at her. "Maybe you're getting too old for all of this."

"Oh really? Why don't you go and voice this opinion to Epps as well?" Will asked spitefully.

"Will, Epps has suffered any injuries like yours. He's still at the peak of his health." Sarah reasoned. "Besides, he's always been the more active one – you're an office, he's an NCO. You haven't had to keep your physical fitness at such a high level."

"Sarah you know I've always kept my physical fitness as high as possible. I still do." Will argued. "I'm not too old for this. You just don't want me in danger again."

"Isn't that reasonable?" Sarah asked. "For God's sake, Will! I'm you wife. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Can't you listen to me just this once? If you go on this mission and you fight you're likely to get killed. Please... don't do it. Think of me and Annabelle. You're barely there as it is. You're always half way across the world or you send me and Annabelle back to America when you have a threat to Diego Garcia. Annabelle needs her father. That's the only reason I agreed to move here with you. I thought we would spend more time together as a family."

"If I didn't have this stupid desk job you and Galloway arranged, I would be able to spend more time with you." Will said coldly. "Epps manages to make time for his family, just because he's a regular soldier. He doesn't have to sit in an office all day, filling in forms and signing equipment requests."

"Don't bring Epps into this again."

"I'll bring who I damn well like into this! If you want to blame someone for Annabelle not having a father you can blame yourself and Galloway." Will snarled. "I'm going on this mission and I'm going to fight. I spoke to Morshower about it earlier in the week and he agrees. If you have a problem with it that's your tough luck."

"Mummy? Daddy? Are you two fighting?" Annabelle was standing in the doorway, fully dressed and waiting to go to the Autobot hangar with Will.

"Sorry sweetie." Will said, walking over to the table and retrieving his mobile phone. "We've just had a disagreement about my work. Now, let's go down to the hangar. I need to talk to Optimus Prime before my briefing."

xxxxx

"Are you sure it's safe, taking your daughter in there?" a soldier asked nervously.

"I'm perfectly sure it's safe." Will rolled his eyes. "I've been in there countless times. Besides, shouldn't they be out of here by now? Morshower was going to help get that sorted. NEST high command vetted the order."

"They're going to wait until you and your team have left, sir." The soldier responded. "Until then, no Autobots are allowed to leave the hangar unless accompanied by a human member of NEST."

"Well they better get that sorted when me and my team have left or they'll be blood when I come back." Will growled. "Lets us in, soldier. I have a briefing to get to at ten." The doors to the hangar rolled open and Will walked in, clutching Annabelle's hand in his. The lights in the Autobot hangar were on today and none of them were in their vehicle modes. Will approached Ironhide, Annabelle dragging him along eagerly. "Hey 'Hide, look who I brought to see you!"

"Annabelle?" Ironhide asked.

"Ironhide!" Annabelle exclaimed and pulled away from Will's grip, hugging as much of the weapon's specialist as she could. Ironhide was not one for public displays of affection and Chromia sniggered at his uncomfortable expression. Ironhide grumbled something in Cybertronian which made Chromia laugh harder. Will was convinced that his daughter would be safe and walked over to Optimus Prime.

"How's it going, big guy?" Will asked.

"Will, I've been expecting you." Optimus replied.

"Yep. I need to speak to you about which Autobots are coming on this mission." Will said. Optimus laid his hand out flat and Will climbed onto it. Optimus lifted the human up, so they could talk on the same level.

"Who did you have in mind?" Optimus asked.

"Well, you – obviously. Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Jolt... and I was also considering Sunstreaker and Chromia." Will replied.

"I see." Optimus mused. "May I ask why Sunstreaker and Chromia?"

"Well I think Sunstreaker needs a second chance to prove he can be trusted." Will said. "I know my men won't approve entirely, but I want to give it a go."

"And why Chromia?"

"Have you seen her, Optimus? There's something missing from her and it's war." Will explained. "She needs to be out on the battlefield. I suffered injuries in Kenya too and I'm still being allowed to fight. Chromia should come with us."

"Will, your injuries are not as severe. Your injury does not mean you could shut down and be vulnerable at any moment."

"But I will be vulnerable if my injury affects me. It's likely that I'll be unable to walk or run... if my injury affects me, I'll end up dead." Will said. "Come on, Optimus. Let Chromia come with us. I don't want to leave her here... and Ironhide will make sure nothing happens to her. If she does shut down or something she can stay at the base camp we'll be setting up... I'm sure our liaison will make sure she's untouchable by any military or authority figures. If we leave her here you know half of Diego Garcia will be destroyed by the time we get back."

"I don't want to put her in danger." Optimus confessed. "For all we know, she is the only femme remaining. Arcee and Elita-One died in Egypt, Will. Chromia could be the only hope for our dying race."

"I know what you mean..." Will sighed. "But surely there's got to be other femmes out there. I mean... she can't be the only one left in the whole galaxy."

"How could we know?" Optimus asked. Will was about to answer when Epps bounded into the hangar, a cheery grin displayed across his face. "Good morning, Epps. You look cheerful today."

"That's because he got some last night." Will grinned.

"I don't understand the term 'got some'." Optimus said. Will and Epps both cracked up laughing. "Would one of you care to explain?"

"Basically, Epps had sex with Monique last night." Will laughed.

"You have no concerns for privacy, do you?" Epps asked with his hands on his hips. "So what have you two been talking about this morning? I heard Will was in here and came to see him before our most exciting briefing."

"We were discussing Chromia and the fate of the Autobot race." Will said as Optimus lowered him to the floor next to Epps. "Optimus thinks she should stay here instead of coming abroad with us."

"I think I should go with you." Chromia insisted, joining in the conversation. "I could hear you guys from the other side of the hangar. It's my choice whether I go or not. Come on Optimus, you're always saying that we have the right to choose for ourselves. Stop trying to choose for me."

"Chromia, I'm going to quote a significant moment from Earth's history which is completely relevant to this situation."

"I don't think anything from our history is relevant to this moment." Will muttered to Epps.

"If it was anyone else – not Optimus Prime – I would say 'get back in your place, bitch'." Epps muttered back. Will sniggered. Just imagining Optimus Prime speaking to anyone in that way was highly amusing.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Optimus announced. Chromia, Will and Epps stared at him in silence. "Think about it, Chromia. Rebuilding our race is more important than you going to fight in a far away country."

"Dude... you chose Spock for your historic quote? I mean... Star Trek? Seriously..." Epps asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "I thought you were gonna choose something more epic... more of a historical figure... not Spock!"

"Optimus, I might not even be able to carry a sparkling." Chromia ignored Epps's comment. "I'm not exactly the healthiest femme in the world... what if my command system crashes whilst I'm carrying? I don't think I could cope with that kind of loss... it's still too soon after Arcee and Elita. Come on, Optimus. Let me fight and then when we come home I'll try for a sparkling."

"What if you don't come home?" Optimus asked quietly.

"She will come home." Ironhide declared, joining in the conversation and placing Annabelle down on the ground in front of Will. The weapon's specialist squared up to Optimus and put an arm around Chromia's shoulders. "I'll make sure she does."

"I suppose I can let her go with us..." Optimus rubbed his chin. "Oh, you two –" he looked down at Will and Epps. "The time is now 09:48. Perhaps you should run to that briefing."

"Oh no, I didn't mean to spend this long down here." Will groaned. "Ironhide, can you take Annabelle back home for me? Optimus, you better come with us. You need to be involved in this too." He started to walk towards the hangar door and fell over.

"Will, you okay?" Epps asked.

"I did my back in, lifting a weight yesterday." Will growled, getting to his feet. I'm going to make Sam pay for this.

"Maybe I should drive you there." Optimus suggested, watching Will gingerly making his way to the hangar doors.

"Sounds like a good idea." Epps agreed.

Woo hoo! I finished my biology coursework, which is why this chapter is up so soon. The next chapter will be up at some point... maybe even tomorrow and that's going to be the mission briefing.

Reviews are always welcome, I love to hear what you guys think. Well, now I'm off to bed for a good night's sleep... until my sister comes home from the pub and wakes me up.

Have a good night... or day, depending where in the world you are :)