AN: So this story hasn't died, yay! Sorry for the long wait everyone, I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated, and I was working on another story a bit more. Come summer I should have less of a life, so TC should hopefully be updated more. For such a long wait here's a bit of a sweet chapter, showing a bit more of how much Barricade's developed from the beginning of this story, and his relationship with Miles. You know the drill, five reviews puh-leeze.

Reviews: Thanks to all who reviewed! (MissShelz, Iwanita, Sharta, supergirlprime, Snow Kyubbi, DarkHunter643, CrossoverAUman, writergurl616, wolfwitch94, shadow-dog18, YukirinSnow, gabriela chocobar, runaways, sonadowkiss256, Tai Prime, Sam Whitlock, shadonic25, Charlene) Wooh, that's a lot, but I really appreciate them

Charlene: Why do I hold the next chapter for ransom? Because I'm evil! Mwahahaha. No, in truth, it's because there's just some people who I know constantly review, so I can expect five fairly easily, and it's nice getting reviews. There's usually more than five reviews, so it's never actually being held for ransom! If you go back some chapters you'll see me be like 'not five but whateve, five next chapter and here's an update!'. And thank you very much for the compliment. Concerning What a Smooth Cat most likely not, but that story is on hiatus. This story, as long as it may have been, and Imprinting are what I'm mainly working on for now.

shadonic25: No, TC is not abandoned! Just a little ignored for a bit.

Tai Prime: I'm glad you like this story so much!

AN2: It's been nearly a year since I started TC, and while I've been updating less and less, this story is still my little fanfiction baby, and is important to me. While I have hit a bit of a roadblock in developing, I am going to finish this story, and not just let it die. Have hope, it will continue, even if it takes me forever and a day to update again.

Chapter 52
Growth

Miles sat in the human rec-room, playing old maid with Sam and Bumblebee's holoform. Barricade's holoform sat next to the teen, watching the three play, while Sam and Bumblebee sat on the floor. It had been an uneventful few days, Barricade and Prowl still mainly recuperating from the surprise attack. Both would be able to do their fair share if another surprise came up, but that would be after Ratchet blew a gasket and went on a one mech rampage to kill the Decepticon army for messing with his mechs too often. Barricade, having been the worse damaged, had been ordered to use his holoform as much as possible until Ratchet was content with his bipedal form. He couldn't transform into his alt mode at all, and neither could Prowl. This left both of the police cruisers with a slightly worse mood than usual.

Barricade was still blocking the connection as much as he could, though with both he and Miles being as inexperienced as a mech or human could be in their positions, whenever the teen felt something strong enough it always slipped through. Almost nothing slipped through from Barricade's side unless he allowed it, so all the mech mainly had to work on was not letting Miles' feelings affect whatever he was doing at that moment, like it had in the Medbay with Ratchet. Ratchet and Wheeljack were going through the archives, attempting to help Miles to learn how to block his own side. It seemed successful for the most part, though the teen would occasionally forget to use it.

So far Barricade had been fairly content with how it was working, seeing as the teen had mainly been calm for most of the time. A few hearty laughs, and at one point a scare from Epps, but that had been about it. Stuff Barricade could handle easily.

They heard a whistle from outside the door, and all of them watched as Sam grinned. Even Bumblebee was looking at his Charge quizzically.

"Look, buddy, I know your birthday's coming up, but with everything that's gone down it's not like we could get your parents here," Sam started explaining, "So I got someone else I thought you'd love to see instead, which Optimus agreed to them coming."

"Who-" Miles started to ask, but Epps being dragged in the room was answer enough. The Sergeant was attempting to hold on to a large and excited Mastiff, determined to see his beloved answer. It had been going good until Mason had caught Miles' scent, and then it was a battle to get the dog to stay. Now he was being dragged behind the large canine, and it wasn't like Jazz or Will were helping, but both followed and snickered behind him.

"Mason!" The hound was released, and Sam was nearly run over by the one hundred and fifty plus pound dog. He knew how to avoid the overly loving Mastiff by now, though, and moved over just far enough to do so.

Mason jumped right on the couch with Barricade and Miles, crowding his large body into the teen's lap as much as he could and showering Miles with licks. The teen loved it, laughing happily and hugging his dog close, but Barricade was annoyed. A huge wave of happiness and love rolled through him, making him feel happy to see the organic canine until he remembered that he actually hated the dog after Mason had peed in him. Even before then he had never been very welcoming to the thought of the large Mastiff.

"I don't see how that thing can make you so happy," Barricade stated simply, but Sam looked at the ex-con in horror. Bumblebee made a cutting gesture over his throat, but the meaning was lost.

"This thing is my puppy, so you better watch your mouth. He has a name, and it's Mason." Miles warned, holding Mason defensively.

"That is obviously an adult of its species," Barricade pointed out sarcastically, "It'll most likely die in a few years, anyway. Forming such a strong attachment is unnecessary."

By this point Barricade could see Sam making a desperate 'no' gesture out of the corner of his eye. Maybe if Barricade had been curious about learning the teen's emotions, he would have felt how angry Miles was getting. But he didn't care to learn, would have been happy if there was no connection, and for once Miles was actually keeping up his side of the bond, making Barricade think everything was still okay.

"Attachments are necessary to get you through life, Barry. Mason loves me just as much as I love him."

Barricade snorted, "It's just another stupid organic. Short lifespan, too eager to connect if you even actually have the capacity to do so, and easily replaced with another from one of those 'kennels' or 'pounds'. All of you organics are like that."

"Then these stupid organics are leaving," Miles replied calmly, standing up and leading Mason out of the room. The Mastiff followed loyally, not needing a leash.

Sam, Epps, Will, and Bumblebee watched the teen and dog leave without any surprise, but Barricade was left slightly confused.

"I think we've found Barricade's greatest talent," Jazz commented, deadpanning. "Sticking his ped in his mouth and digging himself a hole."

"No one tell him what he did." Sam grit his teeth, and glared Barricade down, leaving Bumblebee, Epps, and Jazz to try to conceal their secret mirth at the fact that Barricade knew enough by now to just let him. "You're going to use that supposed greater intelligence to do something other than look up the meaning of 'pound' and 'kennel' on the web. This is the biggest idea I could come up with for Miles' birthday, and you ruined it you moody aft! You and Mason have more in common than you think."

Barricade stared at Sam, trying to do just what the teen wanted. He realized by now that at some point Miles had gotten upset over something, but he wasn't sure what. He had insulted Mason before, and Miles accepted the fact that Barricade would probably never like his beloved Mastiff. He had agreed that he probably wouldn't like something if they had peed in him either, and had just brushed aside any snide comments Barricade might have thrown in.

To top it all off, he knew the human tradition was to give one a gift on the day they were born, and Cybertronians celebrated the day, too. He had just made Miles angry, and what could he get the teen that he didn't already have? Barricade thought that it would be expected of him to give Miles a gift, but after a little more thinking he realized it wasn't. None of them expected Barricade to give Miles a gift, probably the main reason he hadn't heard about it being near the teen's birthday.

Barricade allowed the holoform to fade out of existence, returning his complete attention to his bipedal mode. It somehow made him angry that everyone just expected him to do nothing, that they all might think that the relationship between himself and the teen was mostly one sided. Even if he had seen Miles as a means to an end in the beginning, the boy meant more than that now.

Barricade found himself in the same predicament he was always in whenever he and Miles had what Judy would call a 'little tiff'. The mech's daily routine consisted around Miles normally. If the teen was in the rec-room, that meant he was in the rec-room being sociable. Miles used to constantly come and bring Barricade out even when the used to be 'con didn't feel like being around anyone or mech, and if Barricade was in an especially bad mood that day then Miles would just spend time with the ex-con alone.

He did have Groundhog now, but Groundhog had been assimilating quite well and was normally in the same places as Miles, because that's where the fun and relaxation was. Barricade wasn't even sure if what he did required him to avoid Miles, or Miles to avoid him.

If nothing else, Barricade had Ratchet to rely on. The Medbot was a perfectionist, or as close as he could get, and had Barricade slated for some work today. It saved him from needless wondering, so he didn't even bother to use a holoform to get away while Ratchet worked. He just stayed aware and watched the Medic.

But Ratchet was as big on the social and psychological aspects of his patient's lives as he was their physical aspects.

"I heard you managed to piss Miles off pretty badly," Ratchet commented, tinkering with the transformation seam in Barricade's arm.

Barricade growled, "He is being too sensitive about that thing Samuel had brought for him."

"Do you really think it's just about Mason?" Ratchet asked, glancing up and receiving a confused expression. "Review what you said, and then what's just recently been happened. I had hoped that the bond with Miles has made you more aware about such things, but it seems like you're more content to just have it blocked the whole time. I'm done, you can go."

Barricade shuttered his optics in surprise, but left once he had permission to. He had expected the Medic to work on him longer, but realized that Ratchet being the mech that he was would want to work on his problem with Miles too, and Sam had most likely warned off anyone from doing something.

Barricade was almost angry at Bumblebee's Charge, but the last time he had done something to anger Miles he had known right away what it was, even if he hadn't bothered to make everything okay back then. That had been the brief period of time when Miles spent more time with Prowl. It hadn't been until a few days later when Miles and Sam had met the Dinobots that Barricade had bothered to apologize, and Miles had bothered to accept.

"Barricade?" Ratchet called, and Barricade turned around to look at the Medic. "Try looking at what you said through someone else's optics. Like Sam's or Bumblebee's, if not Miles'."

After that, Ratchet gave Barricade permission to take his bipedal mode out and exercise himself. Barricade went outside immediately, more than happy to take the Medic's orders and stretch his legs. Just as soon as he rounded the corner of the barracks, a green ball rolled under ped, followed by an excited Mastiff. Barricade froze in his downward step, precariously balancing on one ped with all his weight.

A sharp whistle followed by a "Mason, come!" pulled the excited canine away immediately, the dog forgetting his ball and instead trotting back to Miles' side.

"Sorry," Miles grinned sheepishly up at Barricade, "Didn't notice you coming, or I wouldn't have tossed the ball that way."

Barricade shuttered his optics for a moment, having expected a different reaction to his presence. Somehow the response he get didn't make him happy. That was how it was going to be, Barricade realized. He had done something to upset the teen but here Miles was grinning away. Getting off scott free didn't please Barricade for some reason. Why could the teen just suck it up, or tell him what he did wrong in the first place? He had to find out now. Miles was letting him off, and no one really expected him to get it. Ratchet had been trying to drop hints, and maybe even Miles thought he never would understand what he did. Barricade held back a growl; he wasn't as socially inept or uncaring as they thought he was. He just wasn't as experienced.

"You'll have to train him not to do that," Barricade growled, some of his annoyance slipping into his tone, but he made sure to describe Mason as a 'him'.

Miles nodded, "You're right. Good thing Masey's a fast learner."

Barricade nudged the tennis ball Mason had been chasing back towards Miles and the dog, watching Miles pet the canine lovingly before picking it up and tossing it for the dog to fetch again. Both watched Mason go after it.

"How did you end up getting him?" Barricade asked, recalling what Sam had said about him and Mason having more in common than he might think.

"It was right before sixth grade," Miles started, "I was walking home from baseball practice, and was late for dinner since I stopped in a store to pick up a box of granola bars, and I took a shortcut through that patch of woods I found you in. He was still literally a puppy then, but he was already a behemoth in the making. He was all skin and bones, you could count all of his ribs just by looking, and a dog like him is normally supposed to be heavy set. He was covered in fleas, maybe even a few tics, and around his neck there were areas where a collar that had been put on him had rubbed the skin raw, or actually punctured it in some places."

Mason came trotting back with the tennis ball, dropping it at Miles feet just as he paused in his story. The teen bent and retrieved it, wiping off some of the slobber as his dog waited, tail wagging. Then he was winding up and tossing it as far away as he could, Mason darting after it in the blink of an eye.

"He wasn't as happy as he is now. He was terrified of me, wouldn't even let me come near him. I ended up leading him home, dropping a piece of granola bar on the ground and walking about five feet away and repeating the process. By the time I got him home he'd eaten the whole granola box, so I had to herd 'im in there on my own. It worked, but Mom and Dad weren't exactly too happy with me bringing a stray home. He was so pathetic that they agreed to let me keep him and care for him until we could find a better home for him, but by the end of the week he was mine and they knew it. He likes them, and he likes Sam, too, but he loves me."

Barricade could picture the whole thing perfectly. A young Miles just opening his heart to a creature he didn't know, that could be dangerous if pressed the wrong way, but never bothering to actually pause to think about it. He had done the same thing when he had realized Barricade was alive.

The two stood together, an awkward silence hanging between them. Miles was still playing fetch with Mason, occasionally cooing and talking to his dog, but none of that was towards Barricade. Barricade watched the whole interaction, trying to feel through their bond to the teen, but Miles had his side blocked.

"I upset you," Barricade stated simply, before adding on. "I don't understand how."

By this point, he figured if Miles was going to at least attempt to act as if he hadn't been upset, he could at least be honest and get it explained to him. Maybe then something like it wouldn't happen again, because somehow he had ended up getting Sam angrier at him than Miles was. Alone Sam was a force to be reckoned with, but the Witwicky had Bumblebee on his side, and that made him even worse.

Miles looked at Barricade in surprise for a second, mainly over the fact that Barricade was accepting the fact that he had to have done something wrong to upset him, and that he didn't know what it was. When Mason came back with the ball he just took it, petting the dog as he thought best how to respond.

"It wasn't you, Barry, it was just…" Miles trailed off for a moment, "What's going to happen when I die?"

It'll most likely die in a few years, anyway. Forming such a strong attachment is unnecessary. It's just another stupid organic. Short lifespan, too eager to connect if you even actually have the capacity to do so, and easily replaced with another… All of you organics are like that.

Barricade knew what he said fully well, and knew what he meant. He could see now that his generalization in 'another stupid organic' and 'you organics' had made it take an entirely different spin from just being about the Mastiff. It was about Miles, too. About all the humans on base, and he hadn't even realized.

Barricade had nearly died, and in Ratchet's own words only the "grace of Primus" and the "bullheadedness of a certain organic" did he persevere. For once, Barricade hadn't needed anyone to tell him that something like that could affect an organic. Miles now had a bigger sense of mortality, in those he cared about, and in himself. His first time in danger while saving Orion hadn't done much to give him one, and neither had the incident when he and Sam had been kidnapped by Skyfire. But Barricade nearly dying had had an impact on Miles, too.

"Ratch and Prowl have been explaining bonds to me, helping me with it so I wouldn't have to bother you with random emotions so much. Every time someone you're bonded with dies, you feel it. And ours is different, I'm a completely different species, and the bond was used to save your life. If I die, will I bring you with me?"

There were no records recording a Cybertronian bonding with another species, much less a Cybertronian being saved through said bonding. Barricade had asked about it. All of them were in the dark about it, and all they had to go off of were normal bonds. So far the bond between he and Miles had been fairly normal, if they removed the whole saving his life part.

"With my luck, it'll make you live until I do." Barricade finally said, looking down at the teen.

Miles looked back in disbelief, and just like that the situation was diffused. He snorted, "You're an aft."

Barricade activated his holoform, taking the ball from Miles and tossing it for Mason. "Just wing it. You're better at that than trying to think everything through."

"I thought you weren't going to have anything to do with Mason?" Miles asked.

"I thought the same thing about you once you were going to finish fixing me. Look how that turned out."

The teen grinned, "Can't get rid of me now, Barry."

An 'I wouldn't want to anyway' or something similar would have been nice to top it all off, but Barricade wasn't the type to say things like that. In his time with the Autobots, and more importantly Miles, he had opened up more, even if that didn't include speaking it aloud. Instead, he took down one block he had on the bond, still attempting to block anything that might come through on Miles side, but letting his Spark send a warm burst to the teen before putting the block back in place. And if he was able to have a small chuckle to himself over Miles' expression, then that just made the Spark pulse more worth it.