Here's a quick update! sorry for the short chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing this one- you'll see why later :) Anyway, after this, we start the countdown to the end of this story.

Anyway, send me feedback!

I do not own Transformers: Prime.

Hot.

Starscream felt as if someone had dumped hot energon into his veins. Boiling. His blood felt as if it were boiling, tight screws of agony focused on the wounded part of his side.

He was lying face up, bright red spots dancing across once perfect vision – now it was just redness and darkness and everything else horrible, as if he were suspended, hanging between life and death and…

What was that?

Words. Someone was talking.

"…I have to get it out. Starscream, can you hear me? I have to get it out or else you'll…."

The voice faded away and Starscream clenched his teeth. He could barely focus, and when he dared open his eye – a gesture that was painful, in itself – Eva's face floated above him like some sort of spirit, blurry, the image crisscrossing in and out as if there were more than one of her.

She held up something that caught in the light. A knife. Where had she found that? Where had she…

The smell of smoke wafted across his nose. Off to the side, a small fire spit and crackled.

"This might hurt. Just…please," Eva's words sounded strung together to form some sort of awful symphony.

For some reason, the knife was glowing a terrible red-hot color.

He passed out before she could even touch him.

Pressure woke him. Eva was pouring water past his dry lips, her face more clear, now. Dirt covered and tired, eyes bloodshot, as if she hadn't gotten a lick of sleep.

She leaned over Starscream, feeding and nourishing him with care. It took Starscream a moment to notice that she was holding his hand, as well.

"…I used my shirt to bandage your side," she whispered. Starscream tried to speak, but failed. Instead he nodded. When he did, he noticed that he was no longer lying on the cool grass, that Eva had moved him inside the busted vehicle with the shattered glass. He lay draped along the back seat, Eva kneeling awkwardly in the floorboard, looking over him.

Starscream nodded. He was grateful.

But the pain was still there. Lingering, but there. He'd taken beatings before. He'd been shot before, as well, and had been able to dull his pain receptors so that it was nothing but a minor inconvenience. The only thing he'd had to worry about? Bleeding out or leaving a bright-blue trail of energon for an enemy to follow.

This was different. He couldn't dull his receptors at all. He had to fight through it.

Starscream wasn't a fighter when it came to the field. This was no different.

Eva's presence, however, eased some of the agony. Eased the…the torrent of flame that tore through his side and into his stomach. Just her face was a distraction – a wonderful, no doubt beautiful distraction.

Starscream had never been the one to notice a femme. Sure, they were there. Sure. Spending time with Airachnid influenced his initial belief that most femme's were horrible, degrading, poor excuses for soldiers – with Arcee being a small exception.

He'd never focused on humans before. He'd only seen one human female , that brat Miko, during his time as a Cybertronian. She hadn't made an impression.

For some reason, he couldn't fathom how exactly Eva had caught his attention. Was it her attitude? Her fearlessness? Her unwillingness to leave him, even when common sense dictated that it was the smart thing to do?

Starscream sucked in a breath as she draped a wet cloth across his forehead. She'd torn the sleeves of her jacket and her arms were bare – little goose bumps arose on her skin, and she was shivering.

Then, Starscream, said something that he'd never had the guts to say before.

"Thank you."

Eva's eyes drifted upward, color touching her cheeks. Ignoring the fresh waves of pain, Starscream scooted so the back of his head was just touching the door, threw back the blanket Eva had managed to salvage from the trunk of the car, and patted the small portion of the seat that was open.

"Starscream," Eva began.

"You won't irritate the wound – you're cold," Starscream patted the seat. "Come now, femme! I don't want you getting…sick."

Biting her lip, Eva slipped under the blanket, more on top of Starscream than next to him. She rested her head under his chin and closed her eyes.

Starscream began tracing small, soothing patterns against the small of her back. His red eyes were open and staring at the thin ceiling above him, air rushing through the shattered, blood specked windows and ruffling his silver hair.

Finally, Eva murmured, "That was a brave thing you did."

"Saving you?" Starscream smirked. "Oh, well, it's nothing. I do those sorts of things all the time."

Eva chuckled and scooted so she was straddling his waist, leaning over. The tip of her nose barely brushed Starscream's. He had a feeling that she was about to lip-hug him again, but instead she murmured, "No, you don't."

Primus, she'd seen right through him again.

He said, "I admit that sweeping in and rescuing the…let's say, damsel in distress, isn't particularly my forte, however," he raised on long, claw-like finger. "I've never had someone special enough for me to save."

"Not even one of your Decepticon cronies? Not even Megatron?"

The name sent pinpricks of fear and just a small drop of pain shooting down his spine. He wriggled getting himself comfortable, before replying. "I served Megatron for a millennium. I can read him like the back of my servo, but you know what, Eva? I've risked my life because I didn't, at the time, have a choice. I saved you out of my own free will."

"I guess I should be flattered."

"I think you are, with the way you're…" he searched for the words. "Lip-hug me all the time?"

Eva propped herself up, raising perfectly trimmed eyebrows. "Lip-hug? You mean, kissing?"

"Is that what it's called?" Starscream said shrilly. "By the Allspark, I've been a fool!"

Eva laughed. Doubled over, face flushed red, tears streaming down her face. The noise was music, almost. Better than Earth music. He loved it so much…

He loved her.

Then Starscream found himself laughing and crying, too.

They laughed more than once, that night. And kissed. And touched, of course, though they both agreed not to take it to the extreme. Starscream wasn't ready for that. Although Eva had pointed out that, possibly in a day or two, he would be Cybertronian again.

Starscream had stated that yes, they would work it out.

He would be sure of it.

Now Starscream was walking, taking small steps towards the creek as Eva snuffed the fire and gathered the bloody knife and the even bloodier blanket and stuffed them into the trunk. Then, she pulled out the two guns from underneath a nearby stack of leaves, brushing the morning dew off their gleaming silver surfaces.

"How's it going over there, Romeo?" she called. Starscream winced at the nickname but then grinned, nonetheless. He eased his way back over to Eva, careful to shift most of his weight onto his uninjured side. The pain was ebbing away, but movement caused it to flare.

Running would kill him. The wound was cauterized, courtesy of Eva, but it hurt like scrap.

The girl noticed his discomfort and gestured for him to sit on a nearby log. Starscream obeyed, staring at the ground and hearing Eva's boots crunch against the dead leaves. The back of her hand draped across his forehead as she sat, staring at him, worried.

"You don't have a fever," she said. "Why so glum, sweetheart? I expected that a…" she shifted closer, lowering her voice, "Rogue like you would have toughed it out by now."

"You expect much of me, Eva," he drawled. "I'm so sorry to disappoint."

He reached out and combed his fingers through her hair, leaning in for a small kiss. They probably looked like a couple of love-struck, movie-stereotype humans, with them giggling and touching the way they were.

He didn't care. It wasn't like Megatron could get onto him for trying out the…local cuisine.

"Alright," she murmured, smiling deviously. "Up and at em' Screamer'. We have a con to bag and a relic to find. I want to be back by dinnertime."

"Restaurant food again?" Starscream whined.

"Either that or you can dig up some worms. Although, you may not need too," her voice dropped an octave, creases appearing in between her eyebrows. "How are we going to do it, Starscream? Grab the relic, I mean. It's bigger than both of us –"

"We'd have to activate it on the ship. Right then and there."

Silence. Then, Eva said, "You can fly. Please say you can fly," her voice took on a pleading tone, even more so when Starscream began shaking his head.

"You know the answer to that, Eva," he drew in a shaky breath. "However, that won't be an issue," he brushed his knuckles against her cheek, saying softly, "You let me worry about that."

"Right, right. Soon I'll be the drag-along human."

"Eva–"

"Is that how it'll work? You'll be Cybertronian and I'll just…I know I'm supposed to help you but there's only so much about this world that you'll get to know, especially if it's coming from me."

"What do you want me to do, Eva? Join the Autobots?" Starscream barked a laugh. "I tried that once, and it came back to bite me in the aft," he grasped her hands, squeezing them lightly. "You're a smart girl. Together, we can travel the world. You can, maybe, help me get my T-Cog back from your father," he caught himself. "If you're up it, of course."

"Give me something to do, then yeah," she replied. "I'd help you."

He kissed her forehead, and then gingerly squeezed her hands once again. "That's what I like to hear. That's…good. So, I'm going to go over the plan, and I need you to listen….."