Soon, Lily found herself forcing a normal routine in her life, hoping it'd give her back that feeling of normalcy. In private, Lily would practice the All Spark's power, trying to see if it would cause some kind of development. As far as she could see, it did seem to change a little, but not enough for there to be a great concern. She was starting to move things around with the All Spark's power, keeping it in the air for a total of two minutes before the energy surrounding it dissipated. Lily was ecstatic at that, but also terrified. If the damned power was possibly going to kill her in the end, she might as well make the most of it while she could, right?

Lily's visits to the military base became almost normal for her; even though she didn't really want it to. Ratchet wanted to keep track of Lily's condition and the All Spark's growth. As for the data he'd gathered, Lily's body seemed to be adapting just fine, if you could minus a few small areas that were under just a bit of stress from the changes—other than that, everything seemed normal for the meantime.

Bumblebee would keep Optimus and/or Ratchet updated on whatever he'd gathered, and occasionally Optimus would come down just to see how everything was going. A few instances, he decided it'd be nice to use the Holoform in front of Sam and Mikaela, as a way to formally introduce himself in a more "human" form. Sam and Mikaela thought it was amazing that they could do something like that—needless to say, Mikaela was checking out the Holoform, though she was adamant that she wasn't—and immediately went to Bee to see if he could do the same thing.

As for Lily and her relationship with the other Autobots, aside from Bumblebee, it seemed to be going very nicely. Even though she didn't see them as often as she did Bee, things were friendly between Lily and the others; Ironhide and Lily joked around on occasion, Optimus and Lily would have more serious conversations or maybe a deep look into their backgrounds (Lily hadn't told Optimus about her parents' death yet, she wanted to get other things out of the way first), and sometimes Lily would ask Ratchet questions about his medical expertise.

Though, during that time of forced normalcy, Lily was happy to know that Alex and Angel were doing just fine. They were able to find a temporary living arrangement until their home was rebuilt. Angel's seizure scare was a thing of the past.

"What happened that night's kinda blurry," Angel would say. "I remember being scared and knowing something bad was happening, but I can't really remember what it was." She shrugged. "It's over now, I'm happy about that."

Thankfully, the Decepticon's body had been disposed of before any other humans could reach the house.

Lily did notice a slight change in Alex. After the attack and Angel's seizure, he was a little more serious. Lily knew that Alex was capable of being serious, despite being so mischievous all the time, but it was only after that time that he was really starting to show it!

"What happened that night...," he sighed. "I know it wasn't normal. It was something...huge."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Lily said slowly.

"Ever since what happened in Mission City, I've been wondering if what everyone's saying happened really happened." The seriousness in Alex's tone made Lily's brows shoot up. News coverage told that it had been an unknown terrorist attack on Mission that caused all the damage, not the alien invasion that really occurred. "I've been looking into what happened that day," Alex went on, "and it doesn't sound like some random terrorist attack to me."

"Sammy and I were there, Alex," Lily said slowly, hoping her tone was convincing enough. "So was Mikaela. We know what happened."

Alex's face hardened. "You're hiding something, Lily," he said. Lily's heart rammed against her ribs. He never said her name unless he really meant it. "You wouldn't be acting so out of it if you weren't."

-0-0-0-0-

Concentrate! If you can keep it up for a little longer, then it'll be good! It'll be an improvement. Lily was in her field, trying to keep one of her textbooks in the air; the bluish tint covering it. Ratchet said this was some freaky form of telekinesis, right? If you keep up with your practices—if it doesn't kill you first—you'll have this under control in no time. The bluish tint surrounding the textbook flickered for a moment before disappearing, causing the book to fall heavily onto the ground. Lily let out a silent curse. She had it levitating for a solid four minutes, beating her usual time of two minutes. She wasn't very good at her abilities yet, but she was going to make the best of it.

If you can keep it nice and steady, it'll be a piece of cake, she thought, trying to encourage herself. The next time a Decepticon tries and ambush you, you'll be prepared.

Lily swallowed thickly. How many more Decepticons were out there? Lily was hoping all the Decepticons were killed after Mission City, but what happened at Alex's and Angel's house proved that theory wrong. There were more out there, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Optimus had said the Decepticons didn't need Megatron's leadership to cause chaos; they were fully capable of doing it on their own. That was the scary thing.

It's a good thing Ratchet's working on that concealment thing. Ratchet had told Lily the last time she visited the base that he'd be working on some kind of "Energon Signature concealment device" for her. Since the All Spark was pretty much putting a giant target on Lily's forehead, the Autobots collectively agreed that she'd need to be protected against rogue Decepticons. The way Ratchet explained it, the concealment device would be a very complex thing to make, given he didn't have any technology he was used to working with and that his project was for a human.

"It'll take some time," Ratchet huffed. "Primus knows you need to be protected immediately, but human technology is so primitive. I'll have to improvise."

It had been almost two weeks, and Lily hadn't received a lot of news on it. But she knew better than to bother the medical officer.

So, for the time being, she'd do what she could with her abilities. She'd try to put up the best normal front she could. If she had known that life was gonna be this way, she would've considered herself crazy. But it was her life, and she'd have to improvise, too, if she was going to keep moving forward.

(A/N):

Heya, everyone! I'm back from vacation and posting a new chapter! Since I'm running on literally no sleep right now, I hope this chapter was decent enough! It was mostly an informative filler chapter, not much interaction with the other characters, but I promise there'll be more interaction! Leave a review on what you think, OK?!

I own absolutely nothing in this fandom. All I own are my characters and the tan I got from being outside.

Do you have a subplot you'd like to see written into the story? Leave a review or PM me. Do you have a suggestion/idea on what you'd like to see happen with the characters? Leave a review or PM me. Do you have an OC that you'd love to see written into the story (at least some time in the near future)? Leave a review or PM me! I love reading what you guys want added and/or what you want to see happen. I even love the constructive criticism you guys leave.

Let me know if there's anything I can improve on.

Many blessings,

Indigo Callahan