Marie trailed closely behind Sideswipe as he walked her down to the Prime's office. She let her mind wander for a moment as she looked around, amazed by all the events that had taken place recently. Never in a thousand years would she have guessed that something like this could have happened to her. It felt like a rabid fever dream. "Life calls upon as at the moment of its choosing, and everything has a reason for being the way that it is." She thought to herself, "That doesn't mean I have to like it." Before all of this, Marie spent her life merely drifting along and doing only as she was told. In a rather unusual way, this situation of hers had given her a sense of freedom she had not felt since childhood—albeit with more inhibitions. She knew that the next steps she took were vital towards her future. She was hesitant around these new, strange beings and found her position unfavorable, but surely there was a way in which she could make the most of it somehow. In the midst of her inner musings, Marie had not noticed that Sideswipe had turned his helm to peer at her. He must have noticed that she had not responded to his incessant rambling.

Sideswipe let out a sigh when he could not garner the femme's attention. He could understand when one was trapped within their own mind trying to figure things out. He would let her be for right now; however, if she were to ignore him again he would have to draw her out of her mind in less than pleasant ways. After all, he and his brother were known as the terror twins for a reason. This train of thought led him to wonder what it would be like if she were to ever get involved with some of their pranks. It would be perfect. No one would expect the quite femme to do anything. He could already see Ironhide or Ratchet throwing a fit. If only he could get Sunny on the sparkmatch boat. If only he could understand. This femme was made for them, she would be the peice of the puzzle that they were missing. He could understand his worry but spark matches were something special, something sacred. It could not be ignored. Sideswipe started when he felt a servo rest on his arm. Turning his helm he looked to peer at Marie in question.

"Are we going to go in? I mean this is his office right?" Marie questioned.

"Huh?," Sideswipe questioned while turning his helm back to peer at the door that was suddenly in front of him. "Yeah, let me comm. Prime to let him know that we are here."

"It would seem that Marie wasn't the only one that got lost in their thoughts." Sideswipe thought cynically.

"Hey Prime. Are you going to open the door to let us in or are we going to have to keep waiting?" Sideswipe jokingly commed.

"Hmmm...It seems to me that you have two working arms in which can easily open the door. Or am I mistaken?" Optimus responded.

Sideswipe snorted before opening the door to Optimus' office. "After you, princess."

Marie shook her head slowly while heading into Optimus' office. Upon entering the office, she noticed Optimus sitting at what appeared to be the world's largest desk. The desk itself was crudely put together and looked like it had seen better days, but nonetheless it still was able to serve its purpose. She nodded her head in greeting when she noticed Optimus' eyes focused on her. Upon noticing Marie's little nod, Optimus smiled in a warm greeting toward the young femme.

"I apologize for dragging you here on such short notice; however, I have some things I wish to discuss with you—with both of you, actually." Optimus stated.

Sideswipe perked up a little at that, confused as to why he was needed here as well. He turned to glance at Marie to see how she was doing. After all, he knew what it felt like to be in Optimus' presence in the beginning. The mech never tried to be intimidating, but it was in his nature. The femme seemed to be handling that fact astonishingly well, all things considered. Sideswipe turned his attention back towards Optimus when he heard him start to speak.

"The reason why I called you here is because I wished to speak to you about your guardianship and teachings. I understand that you know nothing about us and that you know nothing about how to fight. It is too dangerous to not be able to defend yourself properly. I understand that you might not be comfortable with what I am about to say; however, it needs to be addressed: you are in need of a caretaker/guardian bond. We as Cybertronains rely on bonds when we are young, as our sparks are not yet able to support themselves. With that being said, your spark is not fully developed, and as such you need to have this bond. We have a mech named Jazz who is presenting a bond calling. I believe that you two have already met. He is willing to form a caretaker bond with you. I understand that this is difficult and I wish I could give you all the time in the world." Optimus spoke quietly.

"Do I really need this bond that badly? I mean no offense but I really do not know this mech and how do I know that this mech will not harm me?" Marie remarked.

Optimus nodded his helm in understanding, having taken no offense to what Marie had stated. He understood her concern, especially since this is not something that is common with humans. Optimus noticed Sideswipe seemed confused with what was being spoken about. He knew that Sideswipe understood that she may not have been involved in much of the war or that she may not know why the war may have started, but every Cybertronian should at the very least understand bonds and how they function.

"I am afraid that this bond is a necessity. I could have Ratchet keep an eye on your spark in the meantime and during this time I could have you become better acquainted with Jazz if you would like?" Optimus said.

Marie chewed on her lip components as she mulled over how to proceed. On one hand, she could deny all of this and see what happens to her, or she could attempt to get to know this mech—truly know this mech—and then proceed from there. She sighed as she chose the option that was best suited for staying alive. "I am willing to become better acquainted with Jazz; however, I am making no promises." She spoke.

Optimus nodded his helm in understanding. Marie was being very cooperative and understanding about this whole situation. He was grateful for her even being willing to listen to them. Optimus' head turned towards his office doors when he heard the knock. Optimus sighed through his nasal plates. This was the part of the meeting that he dreaded the most.

"Please come in." Optimus spoke out loud for the sake of Marie.

The door slid open with a woosh and there stood Sunstreaker and Ironhide. Optimus knew that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation, but it was something that was needed.

"Sunstreaker. Ironhide. I apologize for having you come in such a short notice but there are some things that I would like to address with the four of you. Marie needs to be taught self defence, and I thought it would be best to have the three of you teach her. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, I would like to have you teach her hand-to-hand combat and blade training. Ironhide, I would like you to teach her cannons and weaponry." Optimus said.

Two of the three bots addressed gave an immediate reaction to what Optimus had said: reeling back in pure horror. Sunstreaker gave Optimus a snarl as he stalked closer to their leader.

"Why the ever-living slag do I have to train her?! I'm not a fraggin' teacher, and I'm certainly not wasting my time with a scrap heap like her!" Sunstreaker snarled.

Optimus' optic ridges furrowed in agitation. He knew that Sunstreaker and Ironhide would react negatively to this, but it needed to be done, as they were the best that they had.

"Sunstreaker, you will do as I say. You and your brother are the best we have when it comes to hand-to-hand combat and blades. I would have had Jazz teach her hand-to-hand, but he has not been cleared by Ratchet." Optimus said firmly

"I slaggin' hate to say this, but I have to agree with Sunshine over there. Why the slag do I have to do this? I'm already busy enough helping the humans and training with the other bots. You and I both know that there are other bots that are just as capable of training this glitch." Ironhide grumbled.

"Ironhide." Optimus growled. Optimus took a steadying breath to calm himself before speaking again. "You three mechs are the best that we have to offer and I trust you to teach her to the best of your abilities. Marie is someone that needs to be able to defend herself. She can not get into the servos of the decepticons. As it stands I wish to keep Marie off of the Decepticons radar as much as possible. That being said I have decided to also grant Marie an autobot guard. Sideswipe I have put some thought into it and have decided that I would like to have you be the temporary guard for Marie. I have faith that you would protect her at all costs. Please do not let me down."

"Excuse me?" Marie mumbled.

Optimus raised an optic ridge. "Yes Marie?"

"Why is it that I need to have a guard? And if they do not want to teach me, wouldn't it be better to find someone else to do it, then? I don't feel comfortable having people forced to help me. It doesn't seem right." Marie said.

"Hmph! Something we can agree on, slagger." Sunstreaker snarled.

Marie shrunk slightly in on herself. She could only hope that Optimus would take pity on her and change his mind. These mechs were total psychopaths, and she would much rather have someone else teach her.

"Perhaps I could offer to be her primary teacher?" Sideswipe suggested. He could feel Optimus' skeptical optics burning into him as he continued, "It would only incite resentment if you force Sunstreaker and Ironhide to teach her incessantly like you have ordered. If you feel that she is not learning fast enough, I am more than open to your idea, but for now I genuinely feel that this would be the better option, Optimus."

Optimus sighed through his nasal cavities. He could not help but to notice how Sunstreaker seemed to be irritated that his twin would be willing to take Marie on as a student. It seemed that there was no true solution with this situation as no matter the decision both parties would become frustrated; however, he could not leave Marie with no option to learn how to defend herself. She was a high risk given her status and should the Decepticons ever find out about her then there would be no end to their attacks for her.

"I can concede to your point," Optimus began "however, I would like to have you placed on a trial period of sorts. For the span of two months I would like to have Sunstreaker and Ironhide periodically watch your lessons with Marie and decide if they, at any point, need to step in. At the end of the two months trial period we will have a test to see how far Marie has come with her training."

Sideswipe nodded his helm in understanding. "I can work with that Prime. If it would be alright with you. I would like to begin her training as soon as possible. Will we need to have clearance from Ratchet first to begin?"

There was a slight shudder in Optimus' frame at the mention of Ratchet's name. He had not yet mentioned to Ratchet that he was having Marie placed on a training schedule. He could already sense the lecture that was sure to come his way once Ratchet caught wind of this.

Ironhide snorted after seeing Optimus shuddered at Ratchet's name. It would appear that he had yet to inform Ratchet of his plan and he could already tell that a screaming match would ensue once Ratchet found this out. He would make sure he would be in vicinity to hear what is being said but far enough not to catch Ratchet's ire. He would also have to make sure to stay away from the medbay for the next couple of days. No sense in putting himself in unnecessary danger.

Optimus cleared his throat before addressing the question that Sideswipe had asked. "I will be speaking with Ratchet about Marie's training; however, I would like to begin her training within the next couple of days."

"Understood Prime. It should give me enough time to figure out what we should start on. I will say that on her first day of training I am going to test her to see where she is at and how much she knows. Even if she knows nothing it would give me a baseline idea of where to begin." Sideswipe said.

"That is all I have to report to you as of right now. Sunstreaker and Ironhide I will have to report back to me in the next couple of days to go over a schedule of when I would like you to watch Sideswipes and Marie's lessons. Sideswipe it would be best to take Marie back to the medbay before Ratchet becomes frustrated that she has been gone for too long." Optimus said

Sideswipe and Marie both nodded their helms in understanding. Ratchet was a mech that most did not want to bother even when he was in a good mood. Sideswipe motioned for Marie to start heading out the door after Sunstreaker and Ironhide had exited. As Sideswipe and Marie slowly made their way back to the med bay Marie glanced at Sideswipe before making a soft noise from the back of her throat. Sideswipe turned to peer at Marie to let her know that she had his attention.

"I wanted to thank you for deciding to become my instructor. I would not have liked to be with anyone who did not want to be around me. I appreciate the gesture." Marie spoke softly

Sideswipe smiled slightly, "You don't have to thank me. I am glad to be able to teach you. And I can't speak much for Ironhide, but with my brother don't take it to spark what he said. This war hasn't been easy to alot of us and how you appeared has made him on edge. He is a good mech and loyal to. He will come around."

"I will keep that in mind." Marie softly said. Marie highly doubted that but understood that there was much more to these mechs than she understood. She may not know much about them, but from what she has seen this war has done much in the way of damage. If there was one thing she did remember from her psychology class, it was that war was never a good thing for those who had to fight it and the cost was never small.

Hey! I wanted to say sorry for the long absence from this story. A lot has happened during the past year (both good and bad) and I wanted to let you guys know that I did not mean to stay away from this story for that long. I have NOT given up on this story. I am already writing the next chapter as we speak. Thank you for reading this story! Happy Readings and God bless!- Spectra