It was the strange combination of warm and cold that woke me. One half of my body was trying to shiver while the other had something warm and heavy draped over it. I wearily opened my eyes to see Leo had passed out half on top of me, with an arm draped over me and resting on my other side and his legs were tangled into mine. His head rested right next to mine and I smiled a tired smile at his calm features.

Still half asleep I gently reached out and touched the bond, still not quite believing it was there. I smiled again at what I was feeling. He was dreaming. And whatever he was dreaming about filled him with content. I found that if I wanted too, I could push further, to see what he was actually seeing in his sleep, but I didn't want to risk waking him.

The room was still dark with no signs of morning even being remotely close. Must not have slept too long, but long enough for the desert cool night air to sap the warmth from the room. I shivered again and this time a set of blue eyes slowly opened at the movement. And as soon as he did, my mind was flooded with his presence. I had to blink back the tears as I clearly felt him, stronger than before if that was even possible.

After taking a few seconds to fully wake up himself, his head suddenly shot up off of the pillow and he looked me over, concern now filtering across the bond. "Dear one, I am so sorry... I didn't hurt you did I?"

I just smiled and shook my head wearily. "No Leo. And even if you did, the result was well worth it. I'm just tired." To reinforce my point I reached out again towards him, letting my mind softly reassure his that I really was fine. Relief came flooding back towards me as his eyes went from concern to something softer.

"Still, I'm sorry Vicky." He said as he pulled me closer against him. "I could have hurt you."

"But you didn't, so quit worrying about it." I firmly told him. "Don't make me yell at you, I'm too tired."

He laughed a soft laugh as his arms tightened around me. "Yes ma'am."

I let out a quiet, content sigh as I settled into his arms. God I had missed him so much, so very much. "Leo?"

"Yes dear one?" He answered before he kissed my hair.

"Let's not fight like that again." I told him.

"Vicky, I don't think we have a reason to anymore."

"I don't care if we have a reason to or not, the damn make up sex with you is hard to keep up with."

He laughed again.

We laid there quietly for awhile after that, not talking but letting our minds wander around freely. I was poking around up in there when I hit across something he never really let me see before. I hit his own hidden dark closet he tried so hard before to hide. His own fears, doubts, worries. They were all open to me. I was a little shocked to be honest, shocked about how much he actually fears.

I shifted my head so I could look up at him and saw his calm gaze already watching me as I took it all in. The fear of failing. Making the wrong choice that would get one of us hurt, the worry everytime we go out that one of us might not make it back. His constant fear for the children's safety, my safety, the safety of the others. For the first time I truly understood what he goes through, what he feels, when something goes horribly wrong. I had felt it for myself when he went missing, but it was nothing compared to what he feels. And for the first time he was fully sharing all of it with me. "I don't want to hide anything anymore from you, dear one. I shouldn't have done it in the first place. Maybe if I didn't, if I had let you see everything then you wouldn't have felt the need to lash out at me in the first place. It's hard for you to understand something if I don't let you see it."

I didn't answer him, but I understood him a bit better I think. It was just a part of who he is, always trying to look out for others to the point he neglects himself. Who would help him with his fears? Sure, I know his brothers try the best they can if they see Leo struggling with something, but for them to even notice it was hard enough to do. What ate at him deep on the inside that they didn't, I didn't, even know about? Apparently more than we thought. Leo wasn't as perfect as everyone thought he was, he just hid his imperfections from everyone. Until now.

I really didn't know what to say to him. I wanted to comfort him the way he always does me, but didn't know how to go about doing that. I was thinking it over when his fingertips brushed over my cheek, drawing my attention back to him. "You being here is all the comfort I need." He told me gently before kissing me. Not the harsh, demanding kisses from earlier, but the soft, tender kisses I was so used to getting from him.

I wrapped my arm around his neck and returned that kiss as his hand slid over my naked body.

-For the love of Primus! How is a mech supposed to get a decent recharge in? Didn't you two get enough of that earlier!? You should take it easy on her reptile, she still is recovering from the forced stasis you put her into. Didn't know you fleshies could overload like that.- Leo groaned as I turned beet fucking red. I had completely forgotten about that in the heat of the moment earlier. -I noticed.- I blushed even harder.

'Couldn't you just turn your comm off or something?' Leo grumbled at him.

-I tried you dolt! The femme pushes strong when she feels, and she was feeling a lot about an hour ago.-

Damn it! I wasn't coming out of this room ever again, for the simple reason being because I was blushing so damn hard I was sure it was going to stain my skin red.

Hide chuckled a little before he spoke again. -I won't tell, or share the audio files, I promise.-

'You're not helping!' I told him.

He laughed even harder before he grew quiet again.

.

.

At least I was under the covers this time when the next intruder came barging in. Not in my head this time though.

"Leo!" Mikey yelled as the door crashed open, startling me awake. "Are you in here?"

I groaned as I pulled the pillow over my head. The damn sun wasn't even up yet! C'mon!

"No." Leo replied sarcastically as he sat up, readjusting the covers around us. "I'm not."

"Dude! Ratchet is looking for you. He's seriously pissed at you for slipping out on him. Says you need to rest and not be out trying to right all the wrongs in the world."

"I was resting, until you came barging in."

"Is he in there?" We then heard the med-bot in question almost roar from the hallway.

"Oh Lord..." Leo sighed.

"I warned you that you were going to get hit with a wrench." I told him amused as I came out from under the pillow.

He just rolled his eyes.

"You!" Ratchet's holoform bellowed right after it popped into view in the dark room. "Who told you that you could wander off like that?"

"Took it upon myself." Leo told him, slightly annoyed by now. I just chuckled.

"I refuse to have my patients wandering around whenever they feel like it! You don't decide when you are able to leave my care, I decide that!"

"I had something to fix!" Leo snapped back at him. I winced slightly at that, half expecting to having to duck out of the way of a flying wrench. If I wasn't still bareass naked, I would have gotten out of bed and moved.

"You two talk it out finally?" Mikey cut off the spluttering Ratchet.

"Yes Mikey." Leo told him in a calmer one. "And I suppose I should thank you for helping her see what was really bothering her. I should be surprised that it was you, but for some reason I'm not."

Mikey just shrugged. "Seemed pretty obvious to me. But then, I wasn't the one with the emotional roller coaster ride going on in my head at the time."

Ratchet had grown quiet in that short exchange, eyeballing us both intently. "Something else happened tonight, didn't it?"

"You can't hide anything from him." Leo said ruefully.

"Doesn't look like it." I agreed with a smile.

"Well?" The med-bot demanded.

"The bond is back." I said simply.

"How did you manage to do that?" He asked.

"Don't worry about how we managed it." Leo flustered.

Ratchet took in my blushing face, state of undress and Leo's glower and it must have clicked. "Ah. I see. Interfacing very well may have been what was needed here, the raw emotions shared during overload was more than likely enough to bring the barrier down."

"Oh good God!" I groaned. If this kept up the whole base would know what Leo and I did in here tonight.

"So you mean all they had to do was bump pelvisis to fix it?" Mikey asked Ratchet.

"Mikey!" I protested.

"It seems that way." Ratchet agreed, ignoring my embarrassment. "I personally wouldn't have thought about it myself. We have more practical ways of fixing things. But a strong overload seems to have worked."

"Huh, I guess good sex does fix everything."

"OUT!" Leo finally roared. "Just get out! And the next one who comes barging in here is going to be dodging my fucking shurikans for a whole God damn week!"

Mikey squeaked and shot out the door. When Leo started spitting out fucks and damns it was past time to go. Ratchet glared at him a moment, and Leo glared right back. Then to my surprise, Ratchet grinned. "First time in a long while someone had the bearings to stand up to me. Very well, I will let you off of the hook this time. Just make sure you both rest."

"We were trying to do that." Leo told him flatly.

Ratchet just shook his head before his holoform slipped out of sight again.

Leo mumbled a few more choice words he didn't get to yell before he settled back down again, pulling me close to him. He eventually calmed down though and the rest of the night passed with no further interruptions.

.

.

The sun was well up by the time I blinked my eyes open again, and this time I found myself alone in the bed. Leo was already up and out of the room.

I struggled to sit up, trying to clear the last remains of sleep out of my eyes. I was stiff and sore this morning and I moved around with a lot of groaning going on. But I smiled through it all. Finally, things were back to they way they should be between us.

I pulled my hair up into a tight bun and took another shower, wasn't going to deal with that water sloppy mess again right now, and I have to admit I did feel a lot better when I stepped back out.

Once dried off and dressed I began to look for my wayward wandering family members and found some of them outside by the playground area the Bots had made. "Hey...look. Lazy ass finally got up." Cris said as I approached.

I just rolled my eyes at her as I sat on that wobbly contraption of a bench. I looked out to see Thane playing with Lavi and Ty on the slide. "Where are Dennis and Amy?"

"Not sure." She admitted. "Leo came and got them about an hour ago, so where ever he is you will find them I suppose."

"Training probably." I guessed.

She gave me a sideways glance as she leaned back into the bench, something obviously bothering her. "You ok?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

She sighed as she stretched her legs out and crossed them at the ankles. "Honestly, because you haven't been yourself the last few days. Then, well, yesterday happened."

I turned my head back to her and gave her a small smile. "Everyone was worried about it I'm noticing."

She snorted. "Have to be pretty fucking blind if you didn't notice it before now. That was some pretty fucked up shit you two went through."

"Yeah..." I sighed as I looked back to the children. "It was. We talked a little about it last night."

She snorted again, this time in amusement. "So that's where he ran off to. Should have guessed. Ratchet woke us up looking for him."

I just shook my head with a smile. "He didn't seem very happy when he finally found Leo. I guess he's not used to his patients slipping out on him."

"They are usually too smart to try that stunt." She paused for a moment. "Well?"

"Well what?"

She glared at me. "Stop dodging around the subject. Did you two finally get it all straightened out?"

"Nosy." I grumped at her. "Yes, we did."

Her eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. "You fixed all of that with just one little talk? I know you two well enough to know not even Leo can fix it that quick."

"Maybe it's because we didn't use very many words." I finally told her.

"Say what?" She looked confused. Then it dawned on her as she looked back at me and I couldn't hold back the smile. "It's back?"

I just nodded my reply.

"Well...holy shitballs."

"Remind me to never convert to your religion." I dryly told her. "You got some weird holy relics there." She just laughed.

It was at that point my little ones noticed I was up and they came running over to tell me good morning. I spent a pleasant few hours with the twins, playing on the playground, ate lunch with them, you know...Mommy stuff. It was when I was putting them down for naps in their little beds Ratchet had set up in a quiet corner of med-bay, yes he still insisted the kids still sleep there, that Tony came looking for me.

"Hey Vic, Donnie asked me to track you down."

I sighed as I looked at my twins, feeling a little guilty. Once again our lifestyle came in between us. "All right. Thank you Tony."

"No problem. I'll watch them for you." He smiled down at my drowsy kiddos. "I'm actually growing fond of the little stinkers."

"Kids are a wonderful thing to have." I agreed, then I grinned at him. "I might steal you away from Will when this is all over with. You do really well with them and I'm sure Caitlin would love the help."

He just laughed as I turned away to go see what the genius wanted.

I found Donnie, along with the rest of my family, even Caitlin who usually wasn't present during these discussions, in the control room. Will and Epps were there too, along with Sally, Prime, Hide and Jazz.

"There she is." Donnie said as I walked in. "Was starting to wonder if you got lost."

"No," I answered "was just having a hard time pulling myself away from the twins." I sat down on the edge of a control panel near where Leo was leaning against the wall, yup, you guessed it, arms crossed. "Seriously thinking of taking a break from adventuring for awhile after this. It's bad when you miss the kids but you see them everyday."

"I can relate to that." Will murmured.

"So, what's up?" I asked. "Megatron stomping around trying to pancake another town?"

"I wish." Epps said. "Then we would at least know where the fucker is."

"Caitlin and I put our heads together, and came up with a possible motive on what's going on here." Donnie answered my question.

"Oh yay." Casey said. "And here I thought we were here for a tea party."

Donnie just glared at him for a moment before he spoke again. "Anyway, after looking back through the information we got from Bishop and what I picked up from the machine I decided to throw a couple of theories together. But so far only one of them is turning out to be the most realistic option."

"I'm almost too scared to ask." Raph muttered.

"Well, spit it out." Epps told Donnie. "Let's hear your thoughts on how they plan to destroy humanity as we know it."

"First off, I'll start with the machine. From what I can gather, Blaster's description of a mind eraser comes pretty close. Somehow they came up with something that wipes out any conscious thought, leaving behind an unthinking husk of what the person used to be."

"Great, they are trying to make zombies." Mikey groaned.

"Pretty much, except without the unending hunger. There is a problem with that however, the thing wipes out too much. Not only does it take out your thoughts and memories, but it also shuts down the commands your brain sends to your body to keep it functioning. And when that happens everything starts shutting down and decaying."

"Makes sense, since they are effectively brain dead." I said.

"Exactly." Donnie agreed. "This is where Bishop comes in. His contribution to this scheme is altering the bodies to withstand the brain shutdown."

"Say wha?" Jazz said disbelievingly.

"Form the way it looks, he is trying to use CNA and combine it with DNA to create a life form he can program. If he manages that, he can set coding inside the subject to keep it functioning on a basic level, then add whatever he wants later on down the line."

"Is that even possible?" Cris asked.

"Normally, I would say no." Caitlin spoke up. "Just because the human brain doesn't work that way. But Donnie seems to think that the machine works by interfering with the slight electric pulses that exist in the brain. We all give off electricity, just not enough to light a light bulb if you stick a finger on it. It's how our DNA set it up. The downside is that it is very fragile, if you mess with it you could very well end up with the brain dead scenario Vicky pointed out. But if you add CNA into the mix, which is programmable, the chance is good that they may have something to work with."

"Son of a bitch..." Casey said quietly.

"What in the world are they going to use these hybrids for?" Will asked just as stunned.

"Anything they want." Donnie said grimly. "Slaves, servants, or in Bishop's case he'd get that superior army he's been trying for years to develop. What ever they can program them to do."

"This must not be allowed." Prime finally spoke up. "If this is indeed the scenario we are facing, we must turn all of our efforts into stopping it."

Sally's eyes had narrowed as she took it all in. "I think it's beyond time to shut Bishop down. I'm probably overstepping my authority here, but since upstairs isn't in the full loop of things I'll have to risk the ass chewing. Jazz," She turned her attention to the small Autobot "I'm going to need your help and probably Blaster's as well."

"Whatcha need, lil Lady?"

"Your computer expertise. It's time to put something together and let the president see exactly what his alien invasion advisor has really been up too." She sighed as she shook her head. "It's a shame really, he should be working with us to deal with the Cons. Not helping them."

"He doesn't care." Leo told her. "All aliens are in his line of fire. The only reason he is working with them, I almost guarantee you, is so that he can use whatever they come up with against both sides. We've discussed this before, he will start world war three to cleanse the earth of all of them."

"I guarantee you, if he comes across my path again he will regret his choice in the matter." Hide rumbled. "That promise I fully intend to keep. When I am done with him there will be no need for the Earth Protection Force."

"That should make a lot of taxpayers happy." I smiled up at the big bot.

"Not to mention a whole lot of kiddos can sleep safe in their beds knowing the big bad Bishop monster won't be out to get them." Mikey quipped.

"I do enjoy these acts of public service every once in awhile, when it conveniences me." Hide grinned at us.

"So we got it all figured out now?" Mikey asked "Sally strips Bishop of his funding, we look for the goons and let Hide strip Bishop of his breathing capabilities when we find him."

"Findin' 'em is always tha issue tho." Jazz said.

"Then we better start looking." Leo said.

"Like we haven't tried that before." Donnie mumbled.

"And we will keep trying." Leo told him. "Do whatever you have to do Donnie, I want him found."

"All right Leo." Donnie sighed. "I'll see what I can do."