Author's Note: First and foremost a shout out to Kelly for her kind review, welcome aboard. And once again to my loyal follower Musical Medli, thank you! Remember, reviews keep these fingers typing and help me become a better writer FOR YOU! Win/win people... ;-)

/Denotes internal thoughts/

I know this was perhaps not the direction people saw this story going, but it IS called ''Unrequited''.

In this chapter, while Prime is upset and feels responsible for Orianna's pain, I did not want to portray Prime as being utterly heart broken and wracked with guilt as he is still processing how he feels about what has transpired. While he feels there is something there between them, a deep connection, it can't be love, or what he knows to be love, as she is a human and he is Cybertronian. After all, as far as Prime's concerned at this point in time, a human woman and Transformer can NOT form a romantic attachment it simply...

Chapter 33: Defies logic

Prime P.O.V

/How did it come to this? How did it go so wrong between us so quickly?/.

I stood there on our beach, my processor and spark alternating between shock and pain in rapid, successive waves as I watched Orianna's form disappear between the trees. Once again, as seemed to often be the case when it came to Orianna, I was at a loss as to what to say or do. In this moment – I was horrendously out of my depth and utterly perplexed. Confused not only by Orianna's wholly unexpected heartfelt confession and kiss, but by my own reactions and feelings on the matter.

I brought a hand up to brush against my lips, lightly touching where moments before soft, warm lips had moved against my own. A touch that had felt at once foreign, having been so incredibly long since I had felt such a sensation and not being metallic dermas, and yet, it was intoxicating. The sensation set a strange mixture of emotions coursing through me as her lips and the way they moved against my own, seemed to awaken within me a need that I never expected to feel given she is a human and not of my kind.

My hand moved slowly from my lips to my chest, where my spark chamber would reside in my bi-pedal form, and I stared silently out towards the moonlit waters as they wrinkled before me. My spark hadn't felt love or desire for another in millennia. /Not since Elita/, the thought hit me like a mental slap. After that ended in utter spark ache and loss, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to feel that for another again. It was just too painful to give your spark to someone, only to lose them.

I closed my eyes, recalling in detail the intimate contact between us. Her warm breath on my face, her soft lips moving against mine, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck pulling our bodies together. That sound she made against my mouth as I returned her kiss, the heat that seemed almost palpable between us. In that moment, I wanted to feel love and desire again – with her.

Almost at once, the images shifted within my processor, and I saw Orianna fleeing from me, her painfilled sobs echoing down the beach towards me. I was immediately assailed with images that haunted me. Her face as it crumpled in grief and sorrow. The look in her beautiful eyes when I told her I did not love her. The streams of tears that cascaded down her cheeks and pooled at the corners of lips that trembled. The bitter, angry accusatory tone in her voice that turned into something even worse – abject misery and utter defeat.

I shifted on my feet as I clutched at my chest above my spark. My spark ached, it felt heavy, and it pulsed erratically at the dissonance of emotions flooding through me, through my processor. Shame, guilt, fear, anger, concern, worry, regret. This human woman, whom I had known for almost two years, had stirred within me feelings I had neither wanted nor felt for millennia and it had both shocked and scared me. The fact I felt such strong emotions and physical responses from a simple kiss was not the issue. The fact I felt them with Orianna, because of Orianna - was!

/She is a human woman!/.

Though I had no need to breathe, I felt my chest rise and fall as I struggled to reel my emotions in, and I wrestled with my thoughts and deliberations. I felt my lips purse together tightly in confusion and frustration. I had come to admire and respect what humans were capable of given their fragility and relatively short lifespans. I also appreciated their courage and bravery in taking up the fight against our foes, the Decepticons. While there were some similarities between our races and much to be celebrated about the humans, I could not see how two such vastly different species could be thus connected. /By desire and love!/.

I removed my hand from above my spark as I sighed out loud, the pain subsiding to a dull, persistent ache. Orianna was indeed a very special human femme amongst her own kind, one whose company I enjoyed immensely, above all others - human or Transformer. Yet despite this deep connection between us, I simply could not believe that her heart and my spark could form any sort of lasting romantic attachment. It would, as my missing 2IC Prowl would say, ''Defy logic.''

While I was nowhere near as fiercely logical and practical as my missing Praxian tactician, I had to agree, the notion of a human female and a Cybertronian mech forming a lasting romantic bond was not to be entertained. I snorted out loud. /What would my Autobots say on the matter? And the Decepticons! If they found out about Orianna, what would they do to such a vulnerable and fragile mate to get at me?/. I felt sick to the pit of my tanks at the thought of them hurting her in any way on my count.

I began to stalk towards my bi-pedal, true form, when I had cause to stop. I looked down at my hands. My human like hands. This form has allowed me to experience what it is like to be human on an unprecedented level. To interact with people, especially Orianna, in a way my bi-pedal form could not and would not allow without inflicting grave harm. I turned my hands about before me, studying them intensely as I silently digested my thoughts. This form has allowed me to enjoy simple pleasurable physical stimulus I had not experienced in millions of years; the comforting touch of a hand, a hug, the stroke of fingers down my face, /a kiss/.

/And yet you should NOT derive pleasure from such interactions - with humans!/. The thought slammed into me again mockingly and I snarled in frustration. This form might allow me to act human, engage in human practices but at my core I was – I AM - a Transformer. A Cybertronian mech. /It would not be me I was giving her. I cannot reconcile my holoform self with my true self in that way. By my very nature, by my very make up I cannot give Orianna, a human female, what she needs/. ''And I would want to,'' my voice sounded almost foreign to me as I allowed my thoughts to be spoken out loud, ''If I ever gave my spark to her, Primus but I would want to give her all that I am.'' Not since Elita had I felt such a need to be with someone, connect with them.

I moved my hands about before my eyes, clenching my fists and unclenching them. They have allowed me to touch, to feel, to show Orianna how I care for her but in doing so, they have also brought misunderstanding, confusion, and overwhelming hurt. I growled at them as I deactivated the holoform, moments later becoming cognizant in my bi-pedal form once again.

My optics shuttered several times as I once again looked to the tree line Orianna had run through, seemingly a lifetime ago. ''No. My decision was for the best. It was the only choice left to me.'' My deep voice rumbled, strangely devoid of emotion. I would not hold her actions or feelings against her. On the contrary, I meant what I had said to her. I was humbled and honoured a person such as Orianna saw within me a soul worthy of her affections.

The ache in my spark had receded from the persistent, throbbing ache. I turned to face the heavens and as I did so, a shooting star burned across the sky. All at once Orianna's beautiful voice flooded my processor, ''There is some comfort to be found in putting your faith and your hopes in the celestial heavens.'' Though I was tempted to do whatever it might take to heal the wound in our friendship, I was not prepared to do that yet. Such a human practice was beyond my understanding and logic.

I let the star fade away without a wish attached to it.

I was not going to entrust a wish to the stars. In fact, I was not even going to wish, as wishing implies inaction and leaving things to fate. I had no desire to simply hope that my damaged relationship with Orianna might miraculously repair itself! I had absolutely no intention of standing by impassively and hoping, wishing, I could fix what was broken between us. While I did not believe I loved her as she wanted me to, I did care for her deeply and I did not want to lose her. I needed her in my life in a way I could not quite explain. I began to stride towards the tree line.

/I have to act/.

Though I had never meant to do so, I had hurt her badly. I would find her and explain why I acted the way I did tonight, why I made the choice I did. I would tell her how very important she is to me and how I hope to keep her in my life in whatever capacity she is happy to fulfill.

As I neared the tree line, I sifted through all the possible places she might have fled for comfort or solace. I transformed and made for her apartment building. /Perhaps she simply went home, seeking the familiarity of her domicile to console herself?/. If she isn't there perhaps the movie theatre, Turtle Cove, or even Major Lennox's abode?

As the throaty growls of my engine tore through the otherwise still night, I ignored the minor flare of irritation at the thought of Orianna seeking solace with Lennox.