Disclaimer: People, we're ten chapters in, you should know this by now.

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Barricade had adjusted well within the Autobot base. He was quiet for the most part, uttering a stream of cybertronian curses only when Ratchet was plugging his nerve receptors in. He was getting his arm worked on. Roxy was breaking one of her own rule of 'don't go in the med bay unless injured.', but she was concerned about the con-gone-neutral. It couldn't be helped, he was injured, he saved her butt, she saved his, he owes her...

...his...life? Blah, history likes to repeat itself, big whoop. Roxy pulled out her i-pod and listened to Tom Waits' gruff, demonic voice roar into her earbuds. (1)

"What is that?" a voice growled. But it was not an angry growl. She turned to Barricade and pulled out an earbud.

"It's an i-pod. 80 gigs, 55 gigs of music." Barricade did a small head tilt.

"What about the rest?" he seemed only half interested.

Thunk! "No moving." Ratchet muttered. Barricade growled, and Ratchet glared.

"Eh, random crap I can't remove." she cared about the conversation as much as Barricade did.

"I better go, I don't want repeat of a last week." That got Barricade's attention.

"What happened last week?" Roxy was screwing with Barricade's head. The only thing that happened in the past week was Jazz waking up. But still, Barricade walked into it. And Ratchet felt like playing along.

"Aw, god, it was a mess! It took forever to get the medbay back in order. Bee was screaming, I was screaming because Bee was screaming, and Jazz was curled up in a corner!" Ratchet just kept doing what he was doing, keeping a straight face. Then Roxy struck a dramatic pose and yelled "He ripped a mech's arm off!"

Then she left the medbay, hardly containing her giggles. Barricade looked at Ratchet, a little skeptical. "Did that really happen?" Ratchet kept working.

"I'm not nicknamed 'Hatchet' for nothing. " That kept Barricade still for the next few hours.

X later...X

Ratchet had finished what repairs he could do, and Barricade was up and limping. He stayed out behind the hanger though, not wanting to become a target for a certain weapon specialist. Roxy had nothing to do, what with Jazz and Bee jokingly joined at the hip. She was bored out of her skull, so she might as well bug the noob.

"Hi Cade." he turned to her voice and grunted.

"Cade?"

"Well, you don't look like a Barry to me." that just confused him further.

"Why are you calling me that name?" she blinked.

"Well, it's a nickname. I give just about all my friends a nickname." She had his attention.

"Like what?" wow, he was interacting with her. About time too, Roxy was not the one for silent types.

"Well, Bumblebee gets called Bee, Jazz is still Jazz, Ironhide is Hide, Ratchet gets, well, Ratchet, And Optimus Prime gets one or the other."

"Meaning... what?" Why did he confuse so easily?

"Situation. If we are simply talking to each other, it's Optimus. If it's important with little talking time, or he pisses me off, then it's Prime."

"I understand that, but why rename them?" Okay, she was getting frustrated.

"Cos, if I give you a name, I remember who is who better." silence.

"So, when you want to remember someone, you rename them?" Does that mean she sees me as a friend as well?

"Yes." she pulled out her i-pod and speakers and plugged them in. Again, Tom Waits' guttural voice grated through.

"Is that human dying of something?" Roxy glared.

"This human is called Tom Waits." she flipped through a few songs. Tom Waits' voice was gone, and some man with a bouncy voice, not one for singing, came up.

"Ugh, what's wrong with this one?"

"This one is called Bob Dylan. He's a great song writer, but he can't sing worth a damn." (2) The harmonica blared at them, and Barricade visibly winced.

"Primus Almighty! Change it back!" Okay, Barricade hated Bob Dylan. Tom Waits was back, and Barricade seemed calmer. Not by much, but he stopped wincing.

"What is this human called again?" Roxy smiled. It was about time she found a Waits fan in this crew!

"His name is Tom Waits, and there is a lot more of him out there." Barricade's face went blank.

"Cade?" she asked. Barricade blinked.

"What?"

"Uhh, what just happened?" she was honestly confused.

"I just downloaded all the information there is on this Waits person." she smiled. And he, for some reason, smirked back at her. Smiling was not something he was used to.

X later...X

Optimus hadn't seen Roxy much that day. He personally hated letting her out of site, but she had the right to wander about. He heard her enter his room, and greeted her with a half smile.

"I heard that you spent most of the day with Barricade. What do you think of him?"

"He is awesome!" she beamed. He raised a brow plate at that.

"How so?"

"Well, he likes Tom waits. Unlike you, who can't stand the guy."

"I don't see why his taste in music is important." Big mistake.

"Well, I love music. I know you do, but you don't tell me what you like."

"Maybe you should ask."

"Well, now I don't want to know." she growled.

"Fine by me." he just realized his mistake.

"Optimus, you know me. I need something interesting to happen otherwise I do stupid things."

"If Barricade is so interesting, why not bunk with him tonight?" Oh shit.

"Ok." her voice was quiet, just a bit more quiet than her normal voice. He didn't have time to say anything else before she was out of his room. He was left staring at an empty doorway.

"...Primus..." he held his head with one hand.

Roxy was fuming. She was not happy with the current situation. Either Prime had something up his aft or he was jealous. Hold on, the great Optimus Prime? A jealous bunk buddy? Hmm, if Barricade wouldn't take her in, then Jazz was an option. But then again, he liked to ask questions...

"Roxy, why are you up?" She turned to the rasp, and stared into the green eyes of none other than...

"I could ask the same thing, Cade." she grumbled. "Prime said to bunk with you, so, may I?" Barricade was not stupid, he could tell there was more to it than that. But it was late, and he was tired. He gave a nod, and turned back to his room. Roxy followed. He laid flat on his back, ignoring the strange twist his spark was having. Roxy plopped down a few feet away. The bots had no real body temp, so things got cold at night. For some reason, the concrete felt especially cold tonight.

She felt talons encircle her, and the ground was gone. She was rested on something very warm and humming.

Barricade had hoisted her off the floor and had placed her right over his spark casing! Roxy didn't know whether to freak out or feel flattered. To late for either now, Barricade was out of it. All she knew was that she would be sleeping well.

For a few hours, anyway.

"SSHHSS! Do you want to wake him up?!" Who the hell was that?

"Shut up you dumb fragger! It was your idea!" Twins. Damn it, why won't anyone let her sleep?

She tapped her foot on Barricade's chassis. The mech stirred. "What now?" Roxy climbed down to his side and whispered.

"The twins are trying to prank you or something." Barricade glared at her.

"Why prank me?"

"You're the new guy! They got me too!" Barricade growled at that. Who would prank someone like her? And why the hell did he care? He pushed her into a corner and froze in a crouch by the doorway. A moment later, he launched himself at the first thing in veiw, which was Sunny. A short tussle ensued before the rest of the base was up.

" WHAT ARE YOU SLAGTARDS DOING?" Ironhide boomed. Barricade let go of Sunny and backed off.

"These to were trying to prank me." Barricade growled, not in the mood for an argument.

"Were not!" Sides yelled, failing to hide the can of pink paint behind his back.

Optimus looked for Roxy, but she was no where to be seen. "Where is Roxy?" it was almost a threat. Barricade glared right at the Autobot leader, only to be met with an equally fierce stare. Someone cleared their throat, and the group looked down to see an angry Roxy. She spoke to no one directly, but she didn't need to.

"It is one o'clock in the morning. No human or mech should be awake at this time." Roxy growled through clenched teeth.

"Come back in a few hours and you can try again! Only guess what? I'm NOT GONNA BE HERE!" The twins had gotten Roxy mad before, but something was off. They just didn't know what... wait, didn't she sleep in Prime's room? Why was she with Barricade? And why the pit was she giving Prime a death glare?!

Oh, wait, the pieces were falling into place. Prime had pissed his pet - no, his human - off, so she was bunking with the new guy!

"Bee, can I bunk with you?" Bee was half awake, but he walked over to her and picked her up. He glanced over his shoulder plate at Optimus, only to find him staring into space. Bee kept walking. Optimus came out of his trance and glared at the twins.

"I'll deal with you two later." he muttered. He heard a voice over his comlink.

'Optimus, why ain't Roxy witcha?' Jazz spoke.

Optimus didn't turn to his second in command. He simply walked away and in a flat voice he said, 'Just go back to bed.'

Lesson: Noobs tend to cause trouble without meaning to.

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1 If you want to hear the Tom Waits I like, look for his song 'Hold On' on you tube. (most of his work is scary at first, FYI.)

2 In my opinion, Bob Dylan has many talents, but singing isn't one of them.

I want to apologies for my time away, but my grades are out of the toilet and higher than ever! I'm a bit disappointed that no one took a crack at my little one-shot thing, but it's still up and waiting! Please R&R!