"So, explain this all to me again?" Sam said, sitting down at the kitchen table beside Zora and Mikaela. "The whole, you know, light thing."

Zora rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. The base had been surprisingly quiet since both she and Optimus had returned from the living hell. After being held in the med bay for a few days, she wasn't surprised that a few of the human and Autobot soldiers didn't want to speak to her. She bet Ratchet's usual moodiness had rubbed off on her.

"There's nothing to be explained, man," Zora said, sighing and leaning on her elbows, resting her head in her hands. "I think of light, and bam, light."

"I don't know if I should be scared for you, or happy for you," Sam said, lowering his voice when he saw Epps walk past the open door.

"What's….that supposed to mean?" Mikaela asked, speaking up crossing her arms. She cocked an eyebrow at Zora, who shrugged.

"No diss to you or anything, Z, but….um, normal people aren't going to like this," Sam said. "Neither are the bot's."

"Why do you think Optimus is keeping it a secret?" Zora said slowly. "He and I have already discussed this. You, Mikaela, and Bumblebee are the only other who know. Possibly Lennox and Epps, if Prime decides to tell. I dunno, and frankly, as long as the right people know, I don't care."

"Wait, what about Ratchet?" Mikaela asked. "He's the medic. There has to be something he can do to fix it?"

"He's a medic, not a Prime. Supposedly, only the Prime's can give and take away power. Unless Ratchet cuts off my hands, there is nothing else he can do," Zora said.

"So….you don't care if others find out?" Mikaela asked, raising her eyebrows.

"As long as they don't go leading an angry mob against me," Zora said, shrugging.

"Sort of risky, if you ask me…" Sam murmured. He caught Zora's confused glance and spoke up, making his voice a little louder. "I mean, think about it. Things are already weird enough for everyone, bot's and humans. Then, all of a sudden, some random girl comes up with some serious mojo, and, like, you expect everyone to be like, 'oh, yeah, Zora can shoot fireballs out of her eyes or something…we're cool with that.'" Sam gulped and shot Zora an apologetic glance. "No. Nobody is going to be okay with it."

"They'll blame Optimus, who won't really have an explanation," Mikaela continued. "A lot of the humans who don't know the bot's don't quiet get the whole 'supernatural' thing. You know, the Prime's and all."

Zora thought for a moment. Mikaela and Sam where both….sort of right. If she went in acting all superior and righteous, the consequences could be deadly. It was like at school. A kid gets picked on because they're different, they get shoved around, bullied, the adults step in. Here, a person, a human especially, is different, they don't just get picked on, they get either jailed, or captured by the Decepticons. The scenario was similar, but the rules had changed.

"See what I mean?" Sam said. "Prime was right to keep it down low. People are freaked out enough. No need to fuel the flames."

Zora shrugged and huffed. "I guess. It's not like I was going to stroll into the hangar with my hands glowing."

"Right." Sam looked at her suspiciously. He drummed his fingers against the smooth surface of the table, clearly unnerved by the awkward silence that had cast around the whole room. Zora bit her lip and glanced at Mikaela, who was busy examining her nails. Finally, she looked up, looked at Zora, and then Sam.

"Alright. Time to change the subject," she said, letting out a long breath. She suddenly straightened up, a smile taking over her features. "Hey, we're going to that club tonight, right?"

"The one in rich-town Synapsis?" Zora asked. She had heard about it a few days ago, from Ratchet, when she had been in the med bay being poked and prodded and scanned. She hadn't commented, for at the time she had thought she was going to be stuck in the med bay for longer than she had anticipated.

She groaned, remembering the last party she had been too. It hadn't ended well.

"Parties….not another one," Zora moaned. "Parties are bad luck."

"It's a club not a party," Mikaela pointed out, as if it made any difference.

"Yeah, well…." Zora trailed off, glancing out the door, seeing Lennox and a few other soldiers walk by, idly chatting. She hadn't spoken to the Major much, but from the way Sam and Mikaela described him, he seemed to be a nice guy. She looked back at Mikaela and said, "do I have to wear a dress?"

Mikaela nodded. "Not a fancy dress, though."

"But a dress," Sam said. "If you happen to have one. Skirts work too."

"And you know this….how?" Zora asked.

"Ah, well, I was talking to your boy Drake…" Sam began. Under the table, Zora's hands clenched into fist.

"Don't talk about that asshole to me," Zora snarled. "I'm sort of pissed at him right now."

"Why?"

Zora opened her mouth, but closed it. How was she supposed to tell them that Drake interrupted her and Optimus when they were about to….kiss. It wasn't something you blurted out at any given time, and quite frankly, she didn't feel very comfortable talking about it with humans. They would probably thing something was wrong with her. It wasn't normal to be attracted to aliens.

Well, if something was wrong with Zora, there must be something wrong with Optimus, too. She had met members of his kind. A few of them didn't particularly see humans as the most compatible species. If Optimus had a problem, then he would get more beef for it that Zora would.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Zora sighed. "So…how about that party?"

Maggie Madson didn't even think about the thing growing on her shoulder.

It was just a bruise, she thought, from when she had bumped against something or something had hit it unexpectedly. It wasn't a new thing for her. She bruised often and easily, especially since she had a tendency to do reckless, stupid things. But that was just her. And there was no changing her.

She wasn't all that happy with her new job at Rand Corporation. It provided her with two things and two things only: money and friends. Her involvement with the Autobots had been terminated long ago, but that didn't mean she didn't get a glimpse of them every now and then.

And that all led up to the fact that she lived and breathed in Florida, loved the state almost as much she loved her old home back in Australia. Maybe that was because it reminded her of home the most, with its beaches and all.

"You have a pretty nasty bruise there, Maggie," Glen had brought it up once.

"Yeah, just hit my shoulder, that's all."

So she ignored it. For now, until one of her friends asked her to go to a club with her, and Maggie had already begun to pick out a dress, which, once she stopped and thought about it, was quite stupid because she wasn't going until next week. So she shook her head, scratched her shoulder, and went on with her life.

The thing began to itch, and she finally began to question the concept of going to get it checked out.

But it was too late because before she knew it she was in her friend's deep blue sports car and heading out to the party.

Her dress was on way too tight, which was providing her with a suitable distracting from the itch.

Her friend was busy driving and Maggie was peering out the window as they drove by Synapsis, probably one of the worst places in the U.S.

Her friend began talking, but Maggie was ignoring her. She was busy probing her shoulder, sliding the thick red straps to reveal the sore, probing it lightly. It didn't hurt when she touched it, but it felt squishy. Like a balloon filled with water.

She would go to the doctor tomorrow, she though as she pulled her strap back over the bruise, too late now.

Too late.

Mikaela had left early with Sam and Bumblebee, leaving Zora alone in their room. She was having to borrow one of Mikaela's outfits, a black dress that came just above her knees. Mikaela had a lot more stuff packed than she did, for Zora hadn't actually been prepared to get involved in the whole alien affair.

Since Synapsis was right next to the base, they didn't have to drive far. Apparently, Optimus had offered to take her, to just drop her off and drive back to the base and let her come back with Bumblebee, Sam, and Mikaela. Zora was relieved. More quality time with her favorite bot. It was a shame he wasn't going to stay, though. Most of the Autobots were going, so she suspected the Decepticons would think better of trying to pull something off.

"Should have never agreed with Drake…" Zora bit her tongue when she said Drake's name. The boy was going to be at the party, with Arcee, of course, his new best friend. Arcee was really his guardian, but Drake treated her like his girlfriend. Was Zora disgusted? No. She would have been a hypocrite if she had been disgusted. But she could see Drake's game. He was trying to make her jealousy by getting all buddy-buddy with Arcee, who, frankly, seemed to dislike Drake as much as Drake disliked Simmons.

Was his plan working? Of course no. Zora loved him, of course, loved him like a brother. She had never seen him in that way. Not even when he had kissed her that one time, before everything around them had come crashing down.

Zora adjusted the straps to her dress, lightly running her fingers across the necklace around her neck. Her hair had grown out, long, red tendrils curling down her shoulders. Looking nice was a new high for her. She had never really even preferred dresses. She liked soccer shorts and jeans. That had been her main wardrobe since she was eighteen.

She stared at herself in the mirror, at her gaunt form. Her cheeks were hollow and her eyes had lost that deep brown, glazing over.

The effects were killing her. She could see it as she fluffed her hair and tried to look presentable. The dress, the makeup, wasn't bothering her. It was the fact that her hands were trembling, fingers twitching.

And it hurt.

Using her power, using that deadly green light, hurt her. After every shot there was an aftermath of spasm's that had her convulsing, doubling over it pain.

She had fixed it with medication. Ratchet hadn't prescribed it, of course, but it helped with the pain and eased her distress.

And as long as it worked, she didn't care what it would do.

A soft knock jolted her out of her trance.

"Come in."

Optimus' holoform appeared in the doorway, as tan and handsome as ever. He smoothed back his short black hair and said, "Zora?"

He looked stunned at the sight of her in a dress. Zora saw his expression in the mirror's reflection, the way he gulped nervously and shut the door behind him.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Zora rolled her shoulder, tinkering with the loose material of the straps. It didn't dip low in the back, and she'd prefer it didn't, for she didn't want to spend the entire night having people staring at the scar on her back.

She shuddered nervously. She always had scars, but the two most prominent were the one on her chest from where Megatron had shot her, and the jagged one on her back. No one could touch her there. No one would touch her there.

"You look….beautiful," Optimus commented, stepping beside her. His hand hovered over her back, and then went to her shoulder.

"Thanks. I tried not to go overboard," she stared at her ground nervously. She could feel the heat radiating off him like a sauna, the previous days events flashing back to her.

They had almost….kissed. Drake had robbed them of the opportunity. Zora clenched her fist and turned to Optimus, staring up at him.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

His look gave her the answer. Saddened. Disappointed. Zora knew what he was about to say, so she beat him to it.

"Did Wheelie tell you?"

"How did you know?"

"I have a knack for knowing what people are going to say before they say it," Zora shrugged. "It's one of my gifts. Your look gave it away," Zora turned her back to Prime and looked in the mirror at herself, at her crumbling figure.

"This is serious, Zora," he held up a hand, and in his palm was the orange capsule she had been looking for. She reached for it, but he jerked it away. "What drove you to do something like…."

"It's not my fault, alright!" She shouted. She held up her hands, raw and blistering, shaking them in front of Optimus' face. "Look at this! Look at it!"

"Zora, calm down," Optimus gripped her wrist, though they continued to tremble. Her entire form was shivering like a wet dog.

A lone tear fell down her cheek, and Optimus released her wrist, wiping it away with his thumb.

"It hurts whenever I use it…." Zora stifled her tears and steeled herself. "Whenever I use it, it hurts so much….and I didn't know what to do so I….I stole some pills from Ratchet so I wouldn't hurt anymore…."

She was shaking, her knees banging together. Optimus touched her cheek gently, pulling her close.

As soon as their bodies met, her trembling stopped. It was like an off-switch, touching him.

And she wanted more.

"Optimus, I'm so sorry," she shook her head and stared up at him with big brown eyes. "God, I'm such a fucking idiot…."

They sat on the edge of her bed, Zora wiping her eyes and touching a hand to her stomach. She felt it, her bones underneath the material. Her body ached and her mind felt numb, like she had been jolted full of electricity and the aftershocks had deadened her.

"How come…." She said suddenly, "Every time I try to do something, I end up hurting someone else? You, Drake, Simmons and his crew when they tried taking me back to base. It's like I'm just a….destruction magnet."

"You are far from that, Zora," Optimus said, stroking her hair. "Do not put the blame on yourself."

"It's kind of hard not to when you turn your head and look around," Zora said with a small smile. "I don't know how you deal with it, Optimus. Deal with all the pain and loss…."

"Pain and loss have followed me for centuries. But it's the mech's and femme's around me….dead or alive, that keep me from falling into an inescapable state of despair."

"I just don't know what to do anymore…." She leaned into his touch and said, "Help me find out what I'm supposed to do."

Zora could feel his spark flaking away, piece by piece. Her agony was affecting him. Causing him to tremble.

She needed to show him that she, too, cared for him.

The kiss was simple, soft. His lips against hers. He didn't respond at first, and then hands came up to grasp the side of her face. Her mouth moved, almost methodically, against his own.

She had never done this, had never kissed a Cybertronian. The effects sent her mind into a frenzy, each touch he placed against her skin foreign.

Foreign, but loving and tender.

"We will face this," he said, lips separating. Her breath was in his ear and she felt him securing an arm around her waist. "Together. I swear it."

"I know."

Optimus smiled, resting his forehead against her, kissing her one more time.

It was the most incredible feeling in the world.