The next morning, Valerie climbed down the stairs to the small, cramped kitchen of the Yeager's. She had spent a lot of time crying about leaving Optimus last night, and she was sure that either Cade or Tessa had heard her. But when she entered the kitchen, none of them said anything to her about it. Valerie assumed that they thought she was crying about her parent's deaths in Chicago, which was the cover story that she had made up, and she wasn't going to say anything to correct them.

She sat down at the table next to Cade. "Can I have one of these?" she asked Cade, gesturing to the pile of pancakes in the middle of the table. He nodded, and she pulled some onto her plate. "Thanks." He nodded again.

For a few seconds, nobody at the table spoke. It was a tense silence, and Valerie had a feeling that both Cade and Tessa didn't know what to make of her, the relative that had appeared out of the blue.

Tessa spoke, breaking the silence. "So, Valerie, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" she asked.

Valerie nodded. "So. Um, I graduated high school about four years ago," she told them. "I was in all AP classes. And after high school... I went to college." She paused. "My college was Harvard." She was stretching the truth with that one, but she had been taught by Harvard professors.

Cade interrupted. "You must have been pretty damn smart to get into Harvard," he commented. Valerie nodded. "What was your major?"

Well, that was one answer that she didn't need to lie about. "Mechanical engineering," she answered. She remembered why she had decided to do that; she had wanted to be able to help the Autobots if they were injured, and besides, she already knew a bit about it from Ratchet, Jolt, and Wheeljack had taught her.

He nodded. "Interesting," he muttered. "I'm an inventor. Maybe we can work together on some projects."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Like that dog in the front door?" she asked.

Cade chuckled. "Like that dog in the front door," he agreed.

She nodded. "I'd like that," she told him. He gestured for her to continue her story. "Yeah... and after that, I worked with machines for a few years." Again, she was stretching the truth; the Autobots were, in the loosest definition, machines. "Then the Battle of Chicago happened. And I came here."

Once again, the room fell into silence. After a while, Tessa spoke again. "Dad, would you mind if I go to Ben's house today?" she asked. "We have a project to work on."

Cade turned to her. "A boy?" he wondered. She nodded. "No."

Tessa glared. "Dad, we need to get the science project done," she said.

He sighed. "Tessa, we talked about this," he reminded her. "No boys until you're-"

"-eighteen," she continued in the tone of one who had repeated it multiple times. "Yes, Dad, I know. But it's a science project. I don't like him, and it's not a date. We need to finish this project."

Cade sighed. "Only if you have parental supervision," he grudgingly agreed. "I was planning on getting some work done, but I'll drive you."

Valerie leaned forward. "Or not," she said. "I could take her, if you want. It's not like I had anything planned for today, anyway."

For a few seconds, Cade hesitated. He clearly still wasn't sure if he could trust Valerie or not, which she thought was stupid, since he had accepted her into his house. But she didn't speak, just waiting for him to make his decision.

Finally, he spoke. "Tessa knows how to get to Ben's house," he told her. "She'll give you the directions. Drop her off and make sure that Ben's parents will bring her back."

She nodded and stood up, reaching for her car keys. "C'mon, Tessa. I sure hope you're good at giving directions."

A few minutes later, Tessa was sitting in the backseat of Valerie's Honda, telling Valerie when to turn and pointing out a few landmarks. Valerie did her best to memorize them, knowing full well that this small town was going to be her home for a while.

And, of course, that brought her train of thoughts to Optimus. She missed him more than she ever imagined was possible. It was even worse than when he had died three years ago; now, she wasn't sure if she was dead or alive. She hoped with all her heart that he was. If not... she couldn't even think about it.

Optimus, the competent and skilled soldier. Optimus, the brave and fearless leader. Optimus, the wise and compassionate friend. Optimus, the shoulder that she could cry on. Optimus, the one who she knew would always listen. Ever since they had met five years ago, he had been a constant presence in her life. He had always tried harder than was healthy to do what was best for her.

Unfortunately, that involved sending her away.

She remembered what he had told her the last time that she had seen him. "Do you know how tempting it is to pick you up and drive away right now, just the two of us? I want it, Valerie; I want it bad. But it's not what's best for you." Such Optimus reasoning.

He always made the sacrifices that others weren't strong enough to. He sent her away so that she would live, even though he knew that both of them would feel their separation keenly every day that they were apart.

Tessa's voice interrupted Valerie's thoughts. "Turn right here," she said, and Valerie saw that to their right, there was a long driveway that led up to a house. Next to the driveway, there was a mailbox labeled "The Douglases." Valerie turned into the driveway and pulled up to the house. It was going to take her a while to get used to the Ling driveways.

She got out of the car, and Tessa followed. The two of them walked up to the door, and Tessa rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, the door was opened by a middle-aged lady. A boy that Valerie assumed was Ben was standing behind her.

For a few seconds, Mrs. Douglas and Ben stared at Valerie, probably wondering who she was. Valerie waited for them to speak. Finally, Mrs. Douglas spoke. "Are you new to town?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone.

Valerie could instantly tell that Mrs. Douglas was the community mom type person who stuck her nose into everyone's business. She made a mental note to avoid Mrs. Douglas. "Yeah," she answered. "I'm a distant relative of Cade and Tessa's."

Mrs. Douglas nodded. "Well, I'm Ben's mother," she said as if that wasn't obvious. "Ben and Tessa are classmates."

Not impressed, Valerie raised an eyebrow. "I couldn't tell," she commented sarcastically, causing Ben and Tessa to laugh.

Despite the reaction from the kids, Mrs. Douglas didn't seem to have comprehended the sarcasm. "Yes, well, they're both in seventh grade," she told Valerie. "Call me Shirley."

Shirley held out her hand for Valerie to shake, apparently awaiting an introduction. Valerie, however, didn't stick out her hand or introduce herself. Instead, she just nodded. "Ok, Shirley," she replied. "I'm gonna head back to the Yeager farm. Do me a favor and drop Tessa back off at the farm when they're done."

Without another word, Valerie turned on her heel and headed back to her car. She drove off, careful to shoot a cloud of dust in the direction of Mrs. Douglas as she did.

About half an hour later, Valerie had returned from dropping Tessa off at Ben's house. She assumed that Cade was in the barn and headed inside. She paused when she saw the place; it was a mess. A whole bunch of pieces of... everything were scattered around the place, on tables, on the ground. Cade was in the middle of the mess, and he was tinkering with some piece of machinery. "Cade?" Valerie asked.

He glanced up from his work. "Valerie? What are you doing here?"

She made her way to Cade, stepping around all the junk. "I was coming to see what you were doing," she said. "So you're fixing other people's stuff?"

Cade nodded. "And making my own inventions," he added.

Valerie sat down next to him. "Cool," she told him. "Need help?" He nodded again , warily watching her, and she picked up a nearby video recorder. She glanced at it and started twiddling with some of the gears. After a few minutes, she passed it to Cade. Cade turned it on, and sure enough, it worked.

He nodded appreciatively. "Good job," he commented. "How about you help me fix some of the stuff here?"
For the next few hours, Valerie stayed in the barn with Cade, talking while she helped him. She learned that Tessa was everything to Cade; everything that he did was for her. From the tone in his voice and his expression, Valerie could tell that Tessa was extremely similar to her mother, and Cade tried to keep Emily alive by taking care of Tessa.

After a while, Ben's dad brought Tessa back home. Valerie hung out with Tessa for a little bit, and she learned that Tessa wanted the freedom that her father didn't give her. Valerie wasn't quite sure what to make of the family disagreement.

A few more days passed, and Valerie was beginning to understand how the Yeager farm operated ands get the feel of Tessa and Cade's personalities. It was going to take her a little while to get into the swing of things and to find out where her puzzle piece fit into the jigsaw puzzle that made up the Yeager family, but she was willing to wait for that to happen.

It felt strange living a civilian life after five years of training with the Autobots. Even though she did pushups and sit-ups and practiced martial arts every day, she couldn't whip out her Transformium and practice her shooting. It was too bland; there was no thrill, no risk.

Maybe that was why she decided to go to the Diner one night.

Just like Tessa had said, of was full of teenagers and young adults. Most of them were gathered around a center table in the middle of the diner, making a ruckus. Valerie could fit right in with them if she wanted to.

She glanced around The Diner. It looked like a regular diner straight out of the 80's, with checkered floors and red booths. Valerie slid into a booth in the corner, away from the ruckus that the other people were making. Instantly, a waitress came up to her. "Do you want to order anything?" the waitress asked.

"Coffee, please," Valerie answered. She gestured to the people in the middle of the diner. "Are they here every night?"

The waitress nodded. "Every night," she told her. "I'll be right back with your coffee."

For a few minutes, Valerie watched the group in silence. Then a guy sat down in the booth that she was sitting in, right across from her. She glanced up and saw a teen boy in front of her. "I was just checking out your car," he said with a slight Irish accent.

Valerie raised her eyebrow. "What about it?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's a pretty good make," he answered. "For a Honda, I mean. Racecars could beat that thing any day."

She scoffed. "It all depends on the driver," she told him.

The guy shook his head. "But mostly on the car," he argued. He stuck out his hand. "Shane Dyson. I'm gonna be a professional race car driver when I'm out of school."

Valerie shook his hand. "I'm Valerie," she introduced herself. Then an idea came to her about how to get a thrill out of a normal civilian life. "I have some experience with driving. Wanna race?"

A few minutes later, Valerie was in her Honda. Shane was next to her in his old BMW, which he had told her he was going to ditch for a Chevrolet Sonic RS when he had enough money. But for now, he was driving a BMW.

Shane had gathered some of his friends, and they had been able to (illegally) block off a few blocks for Valerie and Shane to race. A few of Shane's friend wanted to race, too, sol five cars were now at the starting line, a few streets away from the Diner. The other teens who had been in the Diner had decided to come out to watch the race, too, and Valerie could have sworn that she saw some money being passed around.

"Ready!" a teenage girl shouted. She was standing in front of Valerie's and Shane's cars, right in the middle of them so that she wouldn't get hit when they started their cars. The racers revved their engines to show her that they were ready. "Set!" They revved their engines again. "Go!"

They all took off. After about driving for two feet, a silver car collided with a blue car, and they went swerving to the side. Valerie sped up so that she would avoid being hit by the two out-of-control cars, thinking grimly about what Optimus would say about her doing such a dangerous sport. But she needed the risk, needed the adrenaline rush. It had been too long since she had had a true thrill that sent her heart beating in excitement and making her feel alive.

Shane's BMW was slightly ahead of her, but she knew that if she really wanted to, she could pull in front of him. But since she didn't know the course well, she let him stay in the lead. She would pull ahead of him when the finish line was in sight.

Meanwhile, the third car, a tan Toyota, was right behind Valerie. He tried to cut into the left lane and get around her, but she cut, as well, blocking him off. Shane sped up, and Valerie pushed down in the gas pedal, as well, keeping pace with him. The Toyota was left behind.

Shane made a sharp turn, and Valerie let out a curse, almost missing it. However, she quickly drifted and made the turn, almost crashing into the opposite curb. The Toyota caught up to her, and for a block, they drove neck to neck, the Toyota to the right. Up in front of them, Shane turned left. Since Valerie was on the left side, she was able to turn, hugging the curb. However, the Toyota had to make a wide turn, putting Valerie in front of him again.

Valerie sped up, gaining on Shane. He saw and increased his speed, causing him to almost miss a turn and have to drift, like Valerie had done a few minutes ago. However, Valerie had been expecting the turn and made a sharp turn instead of going wide like Shane had, placing the two of them neck to neck. Valerie had no clue where the Toyota was, but she didn't care; she was too caught up on the moment, focusing on each turn, each movement.

After a few more tricky turns, the finish line was in sight. Valerie and Shane were still neck to neck, each one trying to burst ahead but the other not allowing it. It seemed like there was going to be a tie, and the finish line slowly creeped towards them.

Then the Toyota somehow caught up to them when they were about two blocks away from the finish line. He tried to squeeze into the narrow space between Shane and Valerie's cars, and Shane swerved away before the Toyota could accidentally ram into him, causing him to slow down. If the Toyota had been faster, he might have been able to get in front of Shane and next to Valerie, but the car didn't have enough speed. Shane and the Toyota were right behind Valerie, both of them neck to neck. Valerie, however, was clearly in the lead.

Shane tried to pull ahead of the Toyota and get next to Valerie, but the Toyota suddenly swerved out of control. Shane had to slow down, letting the Toyota swerve out of the road in front of him. The Toyota rammed into a dumpster, and Shane pulled ahead, once again trying to catch up to Valerie. But slowing down to avoid getting rammed into by the Toyota had cost him. Valerie was too far ahead.

Valerie sped across the finish line, and Shane followed, a second behind her. They pulled to a stop, and instantly the crowd of teenagers instantly surrounded them, shouting congratulations. Valerie and Shane opened their doors at the same time, climbing out of the cars and heading towards each other.

She stuck out her hand. "Good race," she said.

Shane shook it. "Good race," he replied. He gave her a cocky smile. "Next time we're racing, I'll be certain to call you up."

Valerie didn't know what to make of Shane, but she knew one thing for sure- she had just made her first friend in Texas.