Author's Note: SO sorry it took forever for me to reply, guys! I've been so busy this summer with my Engineering camp and all…and the last months of school were RIDICULOUS! Fun, but busy, for sure. I'm glad I finally took a 'ME' day and decided to write! Sorry I don't have specific replies to reviews this time, but I'm trying to get as much writing as possible tonight so I can have a chapter out to you guys. :) Enjoy!

Unfortunately, I do not own the TF series…but I DO own my imagination, as crazy as it may be!

Lillian's fondness for material things became more and more imminent every time she received a package. The packages came steady, but with a few days' space in-between, giving her a sort of comfort that nothing else could. She got so used to the routine that she didn't check every day for a package, she checked every four or five days, using a calendar to mark an 'X' on the days she had received a package, and nothing on the days she had not. She was trying to figure out a pattern, but so far she had found none – she was giving it more time to understand.

A week or two after the first incident with the 'man', Lillian found herself exploring the woods outside her home, carefree and feeling foolishly safe that nothing would happen to her. She wasn't too far off from her home, but far away enough that it couldn't be seen in the distance. She had gotten curious as to what kind of fauna existed in the woods, and managed to even run into some wild deer in the deeper parts of her exploration; on her way back the sun still shone, but only slightly as it began to settle and with darkness came cold.

She had been quiet on her return to the home, but something surprised her when she heard voices not too far off from her location – male, and deep. She approached with caution, trying not to step on any twigs as she had learned from movies, and found herself a nice resting spot behind a tree. There was enough light to illuminate the two men – one was tall, almost 6'5, and the other was shorter, probably about 5'11. They both seemed like giants to Lillian's 5'2 stature, and she moved to pay attention to their facial and bodily features.

The taller of the two men was obviously very built, with broad shoulder s and muscled arms. He was wearing raggedy jeans, and a T-shirt that looked worn and slightly dirty. His hair was tied up and back into a loose ponytail, the tip of said ponytail coming down to about his shoulders. The second man had muscles that weren't so defined, but his clothes looked cleaner and better cared-for than his companion's. His medium-length hair reminded Lillian of someone who'd just rolled out of bed. She moved slightly closer, pressing her body against the tree and peeking her head out from behind it slightly.

She could hear them speaking, but couldn't quite make what they were saying. The taller man spoke, his scratchy voice deep, and she tilted her head slightly to the side, only one thought sprouting in her mind: "Who does this guy think he is, Starscream?"

Immediately following, the man stopped talking and looked at the shorter man, alert. The shorter man looked at him in slight confusion, asking him what was wrong, his voice deep but commanding.

"I smell a female…" The taller man replied, his head slowly turning in Lillian's direction.

Lillian wasted no time and took off running, causing the two men behind her to follow suit. She had legs for running, but even they weren't enough to outrun the two men. The taller one caught up to her quickly and tackled her, making sure they landed on him instead of on top of the shorter girl. Lillian fought and kicked, and it wasn't until the taller man pulled out a knife and she caught the gleam that her movements ceased, her eyes widening.

"That's right, pretty girl. You don't want this to cut you; it'll be like a hot knife through butter with the force I'd put behind it."

The shorter man set his hand on the big man's shoulder and looked down at Lillian. "Pull her up. Let's see what we've caught tonight."

Pulling her up, the bigger man grabbed Lillian's arms and held them behind her back, leaving her totally vulnerable to the shorter man in front of her.

Looking down at her, the shorter man glanced over her body with a smirk, reaching his hand out to touch her face and feeling as her jaw muscles tensed. "There there, pretty girl. You don't want to get on my bad side…I like to mess with minds rather than bodies." He traced his hand down to her upper chest, "But seeing you, I wouldn't mind doing both." The two men laughed, and Lillian found her anger slowly simmering to panic. Her heart began to beat unnaturally fast, and she closed her eyes for a moment, gasping when she heard a familiar voice.

"Let her go. That's an order."

Lillian opened her eyes and looked around, seeing no sign of anyone nearby. She looked at the two men, who looked as thoroughly confused as she was, and jumped when she was suddenly released and the two men were picked up by two giant, metal hands. She could hear the men screaming, but couldn't see anything above the trees now that the sun had finally settled.

"Go home. Now."

The voice was angered but obviously not with her; Lillian didn't think twice about the order and began to sprint, making it home in no time and standing on the back porch, trying to catch her breath. She waited a few minutes, the porch light giving her a minimum amount of illumination. She tried to use her hearing, and she pressed her hand against her chest to try and calm herself down even more.

"Who was that? I hope he comes back…I want to thank him." She whispered; almost as if on cue, the roar of an engine was heard in the distance and creeping closer, causing her to squint to try and get a better look.

What she saw surprised her, but gave her warmth and comfort at the same time. The outline of Wheeljack's car form moved closer and closer until it stopped a few feet away from the porch, and Lillian stepped closer to the edge of the porch and stared at him. Her breath came in short, quick bursts, and she was hesitant at first to approach him. When the engine switched off, she crept closer and closer slowly until she was standing in front of the car.

Her lips parted, and she tried to form words to thank him, but all that would come out was a whisper of his name.
"Wheeljack…?"

The respondent remained silent for half a minute, causing Lillian to think she was wrong, but finally, the door opened and a stout man stepped out – the same man she had seen on that fateful night, the same man she had been having dreams about returning. The two locked eyes and as he approached her, she began to step back – in simultaneous fear and admiration.

Managing not to trip up the stairs, she found herself trapped between the man and the wall of her home, their gazes radiating heat from the intensity.

He was the first to speak.
"What do you THINK you were doing out there?!" He yelled suddenly, causing Lillian to jump and give out a soft whimper. "Do you know you could've been KILLED?! All my hard work for nothing, absolutely NOTHING!" He slammed one hand against the wall next to Lillian's face, causing the tiny home to quiver slightly.

Lillian, regaining her composure, suddenly scrunched her face up in anger and lifted a hand to slap him. He caught her hand and even the other as she tried to retaliate, and placed them above her head, inching ever closer.
"You haven't answered my question, Lillian. How could you be so naïve?!"

Lillian's fiery gaze locked with his and suddenly, tears began to fall from her eyes. The trails of moisture ran down her pink cheeks and she cried out in response.
"What do you expect me to do?! I've been stuck all alone for what seems like eternity, and the ONE time I decide to explore on my own will, something happens! Don't treat me like a child…besides, what do YOU care? I'm surprised YOU haven't even killed me yet!"

Wheeljack looked at her sudden outburst, startled. He tried to scrounge words to defend himself but couldn't find any. He released her wrists gently and let his synthetic hands fall to his sides, staring at her. He waited for her tears to stop flowing so quickly to respond.
"Don't insinuate that I don't care Lillian…because if I didn't, I wouldn't be here." He paused, watching as the information sunk in and she looked up at him, wiping her tears away.
"Secondly, it is very difficult for me to come visit due to the fact that I shouldn't even be communicating with you…I am a Decepticon now, and my orders are to kill you." He stared at her, his eyelids narrowing slightly, "But I haven't, and even I don't know why."

Lillian looked up at him, hesitantly reaching up and touching his smooth skin. She watched as his expression went from confusion to surprise, and she pulled her hand back suddenly, hoping she hadn't angered him again. Her heart began to race when she realized just how close their faces were, and she didn't even get to second-think to move back before she was suddenly swept up into the holoform's strong arms, pressed tight against his body.

"I never realized how much I craved to touch your skin and feel the warmth radiating from it," He spoke, his voice almost a growl. He pulled Lillian up to be at eye-level with him, using his left arm as leverage against her bottom half. He pressed her back against the wall again, using his right hand to grab her jaw gently so she wouldn't be able to turn away.

Lillian's heart rate suddenly spiked, and she felt herself give way into her emotions. Out of reflex she wrapped her legs around the holoform's waist, and clenched her fists into his shirt, moving slightly closer.
"Wheeljack, what do you want from me?"

"This." He responded, suddenly wrapping his arms around her torso and engaging her in a fierce kiss, both of them barely stopping to get some air. Neither of them had ever felt this strong of emotions before, and they didn't realize the complications their actions now would bring them in the future.

Saber woke up the next morning with a jolt, as if electricity had suddenly surged through her and her body. She gasped, blinking a few times before she turned to the side and saw Blurr's bipedal form in recharge mode, causing her to smile widely and let out a soft sigh. She closed her eyes and last night's actions returned to her mind, causing her to blush and shake her head.

Saber knew that it hadn't all been fun and games, however; she now had full access to Blurr's memories, and she was still trying to get used to the whole mind-communication thing. He was able to 'read' her mind, per se, and she could do the same for him. Although she knew he was better at keeping secrets from her than vice-versa, she doubted he'd even try at this point – after all, why should he?
She slipped out of bed to take a shower, taking some time to think about Lillian and wondering how she was doing. "I know she's still out there…I know she's alive. But where? And what's happened to her?" She thought, suddenly hearing the door open. She peeked out from behind the glass doors and saw Blurr's holoform step inside, looking handsome as ever.

"You're lucky you don't have to take showers, y'know. You're always sparkly clean." She smiled, watching as the holoform shook his head and moved closer to her, sitting on the lid on top of the toilet. "Ah, a king on his throne! How fitting." She teased, watching as he threw a bar of soap at her gently.

"I was just coming to see how you were doing, my Saber. I couldn't help but…overhear." He stated, referring to her thoughts.

Saber paused a second to reply, looking down at the floor as she scrubbed her arms. "Oh, you heard that, huh?" She sighed, closing her eyes and letting the warm water run down her body, "Well…it's been a while since she disappeared. I wish I had information on her whereabouts…any at all would help. Who knows? Maybe even the Decepticons have captured her and are torturing her for information. Or worse…" She shook her head to try to get rid of the thought, and shifted uneasily. "What do you think?"

Blurr waited a moment before responding. "I don't think anything bad has happened to her, Saber. But there's not much we can do without any information. I'll try and send out Laserbeak to explore further out than last time and see if there's anything we can find. We'll do our best, I promise."

"I know, Blurr…I just wish it would hurry."

Rosaline peeked into the room that Jetfire usually spent working on his projects, smiling and pushing the door open to enter. She approached him cautiously, knowing that she shouldn't disturb him. She moved over to a ladder that led to the table he was working on, and climbed the long way up to reach him.

"Mind if I watch?"

The pleasant voice didn't startle Jetfire as much as give him warmth, and he looked over to Rosaline with a grin before urging her to come closer. "Of course, Miss Rosaline. You are more than welcome to."

"What are you working on?" The girl spoke up after a moment of quiet observation. She was usually pretty good at picking up on what he was messing with, but this time, the gadget looked too…alien-like for her to understand.

"It's a prototype." He responded promptly, resting it in the palm of his hand and holding it up for her to look at, "I remembered one of the projects I left back in Cybertron, and I realized that it could probably come in handy in Miss Saber's search for Lillian." He paused, turning it over in his hand, "I have to attach it to Laserbeak and from there, he'll be able to search longer ranges for human heat signals where there normally wouldn't be any. If I can get a sample of something that has Lillian's DNA on it, I'll be able to enhance it to search 'till the ends of this earth until it finds her. It'll be a little while, but I'm getting there."

Rosaline's jaw dropped in admiration. "Wow…that's amazing, Jetfire. You have such wonderful skills...I'm so glad we have you here! We're lucky; truly, we are."

Jetfire cleared his voice box and for the umpteenth time thanked Primus for not being able to, what did the humans call it? Oh yes, blush.
"Why thank you, Miss Rosaline. Coming from you, it is a very big compliment."

Jazz and Iris stood across from each other in their cozy little abode, which had already been made sparkling-safe by Ratchet and was in continuation to become a haven for any type of child alive, Cybertronian or not.

Jazz was the first to speak. "Primus, if Ratchet made this room any more brat-safe I bet the sparkling could live without us."

Iris let out a sigh, crossing her arms and looking at Jazz. "Well, I think both of us are going to have to start shaping up for this. I won't be able to battle…or I can, but only minimally, which means I'm useless on the battlefield except for assisting from a distance." There was an irk in her voice that Jazz picked up immediately, "I'm going to focus all my time and energy into this sparkling…like Ratchet said, it's going to be a miracle."

Jazz took a step closer towards her, setting his hands on her shoulders and causing her to look up. His voice switched from its usual too-cool tone to the soft tone he spoke to Iris and Iris alone.
"Iris, I know you're a warrior…but this time, for the sake of the two of you, I can't let you fight. I can't risk losing you, much less the both of you." He stared at her, watching as her expression softened as she looked at him. "I know I'm usually immature and careless, but I promise I'll do my best to take care of you both. You are my sole responsibility and I'll risk every piece of my spark and armor to protect you."

Iris looked at him, wrapping her arms around him and embracing him tightly. "Jazz, you don't understand how much your words mean to me…thank you, my sparkmate. Primus chose the right one for me."

"I'm the lucky one, Iris. Primus could've matched you up with any other prominent Cybertronian, but instead, he chose me to be your partner…and I couldn't be more proud." He released her gently, his hands resting on her arms, "Iris, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me…and now, our sparkling will have two loving parents to take care of it."

Starscream could be seen in the far distance, red-hot sword in hand swinging at imaginary enemies. The dance his movements made in flow with the sword were beautiful, almost as if the two were made for each other and held hands as the light of the sun guided them in their ballad. Starscream was actually quite graceful in battle, but he had the tendency to let his emotions get the better of him, which caused him to make the wrong decisions.

He took a break, holding his sword in a defensive position and staring off into the distance, his central processor racing with different 'thoughts' of the past, present, and near-future. Lately, he'd been plagued during recharge with visions of possible misfortunes to the Autobots and, mainly, Alexis.

He lowered his sword and, eventually, returned it to his shoulder to become his wing again. He took a seat by a large, old tree nearby and looked up at the sky, watching as the first traces of the night's stars appeared.

It bothered him most that he had visions during recharge – recharge was supposed to be sacred, something no one could enter or mess with, no matter what their faction. As long as he'd lived his recharge had been his safe haven for him to escape to, away from all the insults, debauchery, and embarrassment Megatron put him through. But, now that he was happier, he felt bitterness toward the fact that he couldn't even step away for a millisecond before negative thoughts were plaguing his central processor again.

His fingers curled up into fists, and he tried to relax himself by thinking of the one person that kept him sane –Alexis. He didn't know why or how the girl did it, but somehow the fragile femme always had the ability to calm him and lead him to reason, which was probably how he hadn't ended up dead these past few years. He owed a lot to her - more than she realized – and felt that it was his duty to take care of her, especially since she was…his sparkmate.

Just the thought of the word sent a chill through his mechanized body; never in his life had Starscream thought that he'd be paired up with anyone, but yet, here she was, in all her freedom and glory. He couldn't admit to ever having seen anyone more beautiful than her, and he knew it was instant hatred toward anyone who tried to harm her. Alexis was, almost literally, his savior, and he couldn't thank her more. Although his Decepticon ways sometimes got the better of him, there was a type of beauty in the way she brought him back to her side that he couldn't begin to explain.

Almost as if on cue, he turned attentively to the rustling he heard to his left, hand raised to pull out his sword if necessary. After a moment of careful and intricate scanning, he relaxed and watched as the small figure that was Alexis Anderson emerged from the trees and looked up at him, baring a bright smile.

"Hey Star, I figured you might want some company."

"More than you can imagine, Alexis." He thought, reaching his hand out toward her and watching as she carefully climbed into it. Without another word, the two began to watch the sunset and the stars as they began to settle, illuminating most of the night sky with their glow, and giving Starscream a deep sense of pride to be named after them.

Sunbeam took her time training outside, doing her best to avoid any contact with the males inside the base. She knew very well they had a tendency to spy on her; after all, they hadn't known very much female contact in their days, and she took it to her advantage. Being a femme had the tendency to mean she could get pretty much whatever the frag she wanted, especially since she had power to back up her threats. Shockwave took her side if ever anything came up, even though she had no idea why. She wasn't about to ask questions, either – she didn't care much for anything other than getting the job done.

Something inside her flickered whenever she saw Wheeljack, however; she had an interest in him solely because she wanted to find out what he was hiding. What did that paper say, and why did he have it? Was there a possibility that Wheeljack could be trying to befriend a human? And, if so, why? She wasn't jealous by any means, but rather…curious to find out the truth. She'd tried various times to enter Wheeljack's room once more, but the slagger kept it sealed shut – and even took the liberty of making his own lock so that no one else could enter.

"Fraghead…I'll find out what you're hiding. And when I do, I'll crush it and everything it represents." She muttered, turning away from her training once she was done and heading back inside.

A sudden, distant memory caused her to freeze on the spot, her optics widening in surprise before she growled fiercely and shook her head, trying to clear herself of the taint. "No. My past is no more…I have begun anew. Everyone has been left behind because they don't deserve a place in my future." She reminded herself, resuming her walk toward the base and holding her head high as she entered, passing a few mechs until she arrived and entered her chambers.

Author's Note: Whew! That took a while! Sorry about the fragging LONG update, guys…my Thanksgiving break has started as of today, so hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter out before classes resume! Thanks SO much for baring with me…until next time, my lovely readers!