Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Balm: *gulps* I don't like the looks of this. I start this chapter about finding secrets.

Honeywhip: *glares* Authoress, if you hurt Balm, I will eviscerate you! *whispers* Ratchet and Knockout would kill me otherwise.

Authoress: *raises eyebrow* You are more scared of an ancient mech with one pede in the scrapheap and a preening fashion diva over me, who controls your fate?

Honeywhip and Balm: *optics widen as looks behind Authoress*

Authoress: *gulps*

Ratchet: *arms crossed* So I am ancient now?

Knockout: *optic ridge twitching* You think I am simply preening to show off? *flexes servos* I think I need to file these down some. A bone file would work best.

Authoress: *chuckles lightly* Heh...excuse me. *sprints out of the room followed by Doctor of Doom and the Surgeon of Death who chases after with the intent to offline*

Chapter 16: Finding Secrets

Balm's 1st P.O.V.

"Balm, if you don't stop bouncing around like that, you aren't going to get through your check-up in time for that date of yours tonight." I flinched at Honeywhip's vocals cutting through the thoughts that I was having.

Tonight was going to be a big date night for me. This would make the six month anniversary of me dating Matt and, while that wasn't such a big deal for me, given human life spans six months of being together in a courting relationship was a decent enough of a deal to be anxious. Up until this point, Matt and I had always met at a specified location that wasn't any of our homes. Of course, bringing Matt to the ship would be awkward and I was thankful that our first date meeting at the other's home would be me going to his.

Frag was I nervous as the Pit though. Tonight, I was going to Matt's house to meet him for our date. We planned to meet before taking my alt mode to go to a local outdoor movie theater that he went to with his brother and sister a lot. They were playing the classic movie The Phantom of the Opera, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and I was really excited to see it with him.

Back to Honeywhip however, "Honeywhip, I can't help it. What if one of his siblings is there and gives him a hard time? You know that I don't act well when other beings tease each other, even if they are friends unless I know them."

One of Honeywhip's friends, called Styx, had been messing with him because Honeywhip had been going out on a date with a mech he was interested in. I heard and thought he was making fun of Honeywhip so I ripped Styx a new one. I was so embarrassed when Honeywhip calmed me down and explained that he and Styx had been friends for a while and was just having fun. I had apologized to Styx profusely and thankfully the mech had just laughed it off.

But I wasn't sure how Matt's family would react to the same situation.

"Balm, it'll be fine. Nathan and Jasmine have known us for six months now. They'll understand if you are a little defensive of Matt. Plus, once you do get used to them, they'll tease you about it like we tease you about it." Honeywhip, to my surprise, suddenly grew worried. "Balm, in all seriousness though, be careful. I trust Matt and his family, but if anything happens, make sure to give the rest of us a call. We'll be there faster than you can imagine. And by Primus, if he hurts you I'll tear him apart."

Talk about going one-eighty.

"Okay...and what brought this on?" While Honeywhip did pick up on some violent tendencies from his mentor, Knockout, he usually didn't show those when it was just him and me in the med bay. Tana doing something stupid in training to get herself hurt, then yes. Honeywhip was going to go all in.

But for a conversation between me and him, he could normally talk calmly.

Honeywhip glanced at me before letting out a vent. "You were his apprentice for how long and you don't know that Ratchet would have my plating if anything happened to your aft...especially on my watch? And if Ratchet, by some miracle of Primus, didn't get to me first, you could bet your last credit that Knockout would be all over me for letting my teammate be hurt and not avenging them. Those sharp servos of his aren't just for show." He then shivered.

I let out a laugh at that. "Well, the worry about Ratchet was implied, but Matt and I have already been dating for six months. Why the sudden need to say something now?"

Honeywhip stared at me for a nano before he sat on the med berth. "Balm, Matt's a human. Six months of dating may not be long by our standard, but for him, that is a big commitment. For him, this is serious,"

"I know that and it's serious for me too!"

"And I'm not saying that it is not." Honeywhip interrupted me. "But, in his mindset, it's getting close to a point where he is going to be deciding whether or not your relationship is important enough to keep moving forward with it. I don't want you getting hurt Balm, if his decision isn't what you hope it will be." I felt a chill go down my backplates at his words. If this was any-other being that I was dating, I might be worried. Getting to this point in a relationship wasn't something to scoff at.

But, I knew that there was nothing to worry about. Matt and I were really close and I doubted that we would be separating anywhere in the near future, my version of near or his. So, I simply smiled before walking toward the med-bay doors. "It'll be fine. I have faith in Matt like I know that he has in me. I don't have to worry about anything."

"Right, except you won't be the one on the spinning end of a wrench from your psycho mentor." He massaged the back of his helm to emphasize his point. Honeywhip against Ratchet and his wrenches was not something that he would win, no matter how Knockout trained him. I once saw Ratchet hit Blurr as he was running away, and that said a lot about how quickly my mentor could throw his favorite tool.

I laughed at Honeywhip's grumbled response before I walked out of the med bay and made my way to the ground bridge controls. Once I was there, I quickly typed in the coordinates Zarron and I had planned for me to use on this date before going through the activated bridge. On the other side, I immediately transformed and, once the bridge was closed, I started to make my way down the road toward his place.

As I moved forward, however, I let my processor move back to the conversation that I had just had with Honeywhip. The fact that Matt and I were even dating still made my processor spin. Back on Cybertron, the anti-organic stance would have scared me enough to never even be open to this. The thoughts about being around organics alone would make most bots on Cybertron run for the nearest sanitation station. The thought that Matt could be dangerous like that in any sort of way was ridiculous.

Matt was the kindest person I knew. He always made sure that I was alright with something before we would do it. Even for something as simple as going to a new coffee shop, Matt would ask if that was alright or if I wanted to go somewhere else. I always laughed and told him that it was perfect, but it always touched my spark how he always made sure that I was happy.

I trusted him and I trusted my spark. Every time I was near Matt, my spark practically screamed at me that he was safe for me. That he was meant to be with me, and I was meant to be with him. Matt and I complimented each other so well, and I knew that down to the spark level. It didn't matter that he was a human and I was a cybertronian. We would make our relationship work for us, and nothing that any of those bigots on Cybertron could say would make me give up on this. With Matt, I felt complete and I couldn't think of any future that I would have without him in it. For the time that we would have, given his organic nature, we would be perfect for each other. I was not going to let him go. I was going to follow my spark on this, no matter how it led me.

Letting the feel of the road put me in a trance, all other thoughts moved to the back of my helm for the remaining thirty clicks of my drive. When I pulled up to their place, I was surprised. While the house was simple enough, the large warehouse next to it was anything but common. It looked like 'Mala could, not only stand, but move around inside comfortably. That wasn't too common here on Earth. The only place that was coming to my processor was Sumdac Tower. But, given that he worked with robotics development and needed the room to transport his prototypes, it made sense. For Matt and his family to have a place this big...not so much. That would just be something I could ask him while we were on our date.

I parked my alt mode before my soliform exited and went to the door. I knocked but, when no one responded, I knocked again. Nothing. This was weird. Why was there no one at the house? Did Matt's siblings go out so it was just Matt here for the night? And where was Matt? Glancing around, I noticed that one of the bay doors into the warehouse was cracked open. Definitely large enough for my soliform to squeeze through. Maybe Matt was waiting for me in there?

As I walked closer to the warehouse, I was starting to hear Matt's voice. But, it sounded slightly different. Almost like he was talking through a vocalizer instead of through human vocal cords. But, that wasn't right. Unless one of his siblings was into inventing stuff. Guess that made sense. Maybe he could show me some before we left for the movie.

Getting even closer to the door, I could start to hear what words Matt was saying. "Come on, I know what I'm doing. Just trust me on this one, won't you?" I didn't hear a response until Matt spoke again. "Thank you. Now, I have to go. Alice should be here soon and you can be chit-chatty when you want to be." Finally arriving at the open door, I peeked inside.

I could feel my spark constrict to a stop as I took in what was in front of me. Nowhere in my sight was the human I knew as Matt for these six months. The human whose smile caused my spark to soar whenever he directed it toward me. Instead, I stared with wide eyes at a mech standing in front of me.

He had to be just under 'Mala's height, which was not something I was used to seeing. His armor was white, though there were places that it was scuffed. He had sharp servos like Pandimala so I had a feeling that he was a flyer of some sort. His red optics seemed to be focused. "Slag it."

My spark felt like it was about to crumble as the mech in front of me spoke. He...he was Matt. Matt wasn't a human. He was a Cybertronian. Panic coursed through me as I realized that thought. Pandimala. The Council had to have hired him to find us...find us and take us out. I was an idiot.

At that click, I also realized the vulnerable position I was in right now. My alt was in the open and I wasn't sure if my comms would work. If he was undercover then he would have a jamming device around the area to stop unauthorized calls from going out. Not only that, but he would have come prepared to take us out.

I could feel my spark pounding as this thought hit me.

I needed to warn the others. We were in danger.

But I was trapped if he caught sight of me.

Even if he didn't, he was expecting me. He probably already had me trapped.

I was trapped!

I needed to get away from him!

I needed to get away from here!

I needed to run!

Run!

Stormfire's 1st P.O.V.

"I can't believe you both are making me do this," I grumbled over my comm as I stood in my bot form. I had my soliform all ready for my date with Alice before Chaom had contacted me. I had on casual clothes that would be perfect for the date and even made sure that my soliform's hair was in perfect order.

This had to be perfect. I wanted to keep in this relationship with Alice and, since this was our sixth month anniversary, this was the best time to let her know that. While six months wasn't much for me, being a human meant that this was a lot of time spent dating, for Alice that is. She was probably wondering if I still wanted to be with her and if our relationship was going anywhere. I was going to make sure that tonight eased any and all worries that she might have. She was mine and I was not going to risk ruining that.

Then, Chaom's call came in. He and Beam were out getting some air under their wings...metaphorically speaking for Beam of course, and they noticed that a few of their systems were moving sluggishly. So, Chaom told me to deactivate my soliform and run a diagnostic before my date.

That mech could be a real nuisance when he wanted to be.

Finally, the diagnostic came in. All clean and working properly. Perfect. "All better now. Is there anything else you want me to check carrier?"

I could almost feel Chaom's optics roll. "You know that I just want to make sure we are all alright. Plus, what would have happened if your soliform program glitched during your 'big date' tonight? How were you going to try and explain that to Alice? You can only use allergies for so many excuses you know."

A growl slipped out of my vocals at his jab. My first date with Alice wasn't exactly the picture of perfection I had hoped it would be. We had walked about half-way down the trail and Alice had been having a good time. Or seemed to be at least. She had been even laughing at a joke I had managed to think of on the spot when it happened.

My soliform glitched.

I had forgotten to refuel on some energon before I had gone out and my chassis had tried to shut-down my soliform program to conserve energy. I had barely been able to stop my soliform from fading out in time. Alice had been panicked the entire time, asking me what was wrong while helping me walk toward one of the shelters on the path. I told her that I was slightly allergic to pollen and that it caused me to have vertigo if I didn't rest enough.

Thankfully, she had bought that and lectured me about keeping track of my health, even when on a date. Alice might have gone on forever if I hadn't done some flirting, which caused her to have that cute blush on her face and distract her from her lecture. But, at every hiking date since, she always made sure that we took breaks and I was healthy enough to continue.

But, I didn't need to worry about that this time. "I'll be fine Chaom. I made sure that my energon was full before I activated my soliform. I will have plenty to get me through the movie tonight." I then paused, to make sure that sank in with him before I continued. "Come on, I know what I'm doing. Just trust me on this one, won't you?"

"Mech, you said that about your first date with Alice." He then laughed a little at that before he continued. "Yeah mech, you have this. You're going to take her breath away tonight."

"Thank you. Now, I have to go. Alice should be here soon and you can be chit-chatty when you want to be." And it was really close to the time we had arranged for her to arrive. She was going to wonder why I wasn't at the door waiting for her to arrive. Slag it if Chaom messed this up, I was going to rip out his slagging voice-box and tear it to shreds.

"Don't forget to be on your best behavior. Lizzie would tear me a new one if you did something to make Alice upset. Now, go be the best swain you can be and sweep that girl off her feet. You can get more of those blushes you like so much out of her if you try hard enough." He then disconnected the line.

I felt my chassis heat up slightly at his words. As soon as he mentioned Alice's blushes that he knew I couldn't get enough of, I perfectly pictured her wearing one. "Slag it." I needed to focus. Alice was going to be here any click and I needed to reactivate my solifo…

A small movement at the bottom of my vision caused me to glance down at the doorway. Slag did Chaom leave it open again? That mech was going to get it…

My spark froze when my optics landed on Alice. Her light-blue eyes were staring up at me, wide with fear. Slag it all to the Pits this was not how I wanted Alice to find out that I wasn't human. I wasn't ready for this conversation. But, it looked like I was going to have to have it now.

I never wanted to see that look on Alice. The fear in her eyes...she was terrified. Worse of all, she was terrified of me. Me. I wanted to protect her from everything that could want to hurt her. I wanted to be that support that she could lean on if she needed to. Now...now I was the monster that she feared. I needed to explain this to her. I had to show her that I wasn't going to hurt her. So, I took a step toward her.

Immediately, Alice turned and ran toward her ambulance faster than I had ever seen her move before. "Alice wait!" I opened the door the rest of the way as I heard her start the engine. I needed to explain this to her. She didn't have to fear me. I would never hurt her.

So, now I found myself chasing after her as she drove away. I was not going to let her go. Not without explaining everything to her. She deserved to know.

As I ran after her, all of the plans I had made for tonight flashed through my mind. We were supposed to be on our way to the movie right now. During the movie, I would flirt while keeping her close to me. We would sit close together as we watched each scene of the movie.

Of course, I wouldn't watch the entire thing. No matter what that screen showed, nothing was more beautiful to me than Alice. It wasn't her looks that called to me. She could be a fragging scraplet and I would still be falling helm over pedes for her. She was kind, humble, and always willing to help anyone. We would work out how our relationship would continue with her being human. But she would be worth it. She would always be worth it.

But now...now I risked losing her because of one mistake. I should have checked the door. But, I had been in such a hurry to get that diagnostic finished that I hadn't even thought about checking my surroundings. One mistake.

One.

Now, I was running to keep up with Alice to explain. My very life depended on explaining myself to her. I needed to explain myself to her. My spark would give out on me if I let her leave here without giving her the full story. I needed her to hear why I kept this from her. Explain to her that I would never hurt her. After that, if she never wanted to see me again, I would respect that. My spark would be crushed, but I would respect that. I never wanted to hurt her, and if my spark had to be demolished to make her feel safe and happy, then so be it.

As we continued forward, I felt the urge to transform and fly in front of her. Try and cut her off. But, I knew that wouldn't work for a couple of reasons. Firstly, she could turn, and then I would have to try and catch up again. With the different ways she could drive away, she could end up going toward a town and then I would have to stop. I couldn't reveal us to an entire town. The second reason, however, was that in trying to cut her off, I could scare her even more.

The sound of breaks screeching to a halt caused me to dig my pedes into the ground beneath me. I needed to stop so I didn't run into her vehicle. Was she giving me the chance to explain? I didn't deserve that much, but I was grateful that she was,

My optics widened when, as I came to a stop, the ambulance in front of me started to shift in a way that I had only seen with Chaom and Beam...and not on Earth. Soon, in place of the ambulance from before was a femme with a yellow-green chassis. She was of average height for her model build and I could see that she was on the defensive. That lasted for a nano before she launched at me.

I wasn't ready for any sort of retaliation and so I felt myself fall backward as she landed on me. Right before I was going to try and throw her off, she started to yell at me. "Who are you and who sent you?" That voice….Alice! "Was it the Council? Why can't they just leave us alone?" Her fists were slamming into my faceplate as she yelled this at me. The Council? The only Council I knew of was the Autobot Council on Cybertron. What did Lizzie do to get the Council after all of them?

Before I could get those answers though, I had to get Alice to stop attacking me. "Alice, let me explain! Why don't we start with our names? I'm,"

"Don't try to play dumb with me!" Her vocals were cracking and the sound of it alone was causing my spark to clench in pain. "The Council would have filled you in on all of us! Well, you can tell them that they will have to take out my spark before I give her up! They have hurt her enough already and I won't let them,"

"Alice enough!" Her chassis jolted when I yelled that. "I do not know what you are talking about. Honestly! Nathan and I are from Sigma Six. We fled from there with Jasmine to escape from the effects of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and to get away from Nathan's parents. His parents are going to come after him one solar and we have been waiting for that to happen each solar we are here." I then took a risk and held her helm with both of my servos. "Alice, I swear on my spark to you that I am telling the truth."

Our optics stayed locked on each other for a few clicks and, during that time, I could feel the tension leaving her chassis. It was slow at first but, after about four clicks, she seemed to relax. "I...I'm sorry. I...we have b...been so worried about them coming….I'm s...sorry."

Finally, she seemed to calm down. "It's alright Alice. I can see why you would be scared. I've heard of the Council...if it is the Autobot Council you are talking about."

A laugh coming out of her vocals eased my spark before she nodded. "Yeah. It's weird to think that the first Council some bot would think of wouldn't be them." She then smiled softly, causing my spark to increase in pace and, if I was in soliform, I would have a face redder than a tomato. "I guess we should introduce ourselves."

I smirked at that. "I would love to, and having you on me makes it even better."

Her chassis tensed at that before she let out a shriek and fell off of me. I actually hadn't wanted her to get off, just get embarrassed a little. Oh well. We were going to have to take things slow again. "S...Sorry!"

A smile settled on my faceplate at that. She was still the most beautiful being in the universe. "Alice, it's fine. You could have stayed on there if you wanted anyways." I then motioned to myself. "Now, you can call me Stormfire." I then held out a servo to her.

When she smiled, I felt my spark flutter slightly before she took my servo. "And I'm Balm. Nice to meet you." She then grasped my servo with her own. "So...does this m...mean we have to start over?" I raised an optic ridge at her question. "I mean in our courting."

Ah. My spark fluttered at the nervous look she gave me. "No. Not unless you want to."

"No!" She then grabbed onto me in a hug and I immediately felt my chassis warm up a little at her touch.

I gulped slightly before hesitantly hugging her back. "Al...alright then. Well," I let a vent to hopefully clear my processor. "I think we have a date to go on. Still care to join me?"

However, instead of her looking excited, she looked nervous. "Ma...Stormfire. I'm guessing that Nathan and Jasmine are like us too."

I nodded at that. Then, thoughts of her own family gave me another idea. "Just like your family right?"

She in turn nodded. "Yeah. Should we tell them about...well…" Balm then motioned between the two of us to emphasize what she was trying to say.

It took my slow processor a click to realize what she was asking. Should we let our respective families know that the other family was just like us. While a part of me said we should, I knew that Nathan wasn't always one to react best to this sort of surprising news. "Probably not yet. Once you and I get used to each other like this, then we can tell them. Nathan can be a little touchy when I dump a lot of information on him."

Balm laughed at that. "So can Lizzie." It seemed that Balm, like me, was still using soliform names to refer to her family. It was probably best until we all met in the metal. I already knew that they were going to be put off by us not telling them about this development right away. If we already knew everybot's names, then that would just be rubbing rust in the wounds. So, for now, this would be our little secret.

It couldn't hurt that bad.

Knockout: *smirks at bound Authoress* Now, I think it is time for the fun to begin. *flexes servos*

Ratchet: For once, I agree with you Knockout. *takes out wrench*

Authoress: *bound* *eyes widen*

Balm: *walks in* Enough you two. Authoress needs to keep writing. Plus, it didn't turn out that bad. *frees Authoress*

Authoress: *hugs Balm* Thank you so much! *cries*

Honeywhip: *walks in* Don't get us wrong, Authoress. Next time you slip, we'll let Knockout paint you red...and he doesn't even need his paint

Authoress: *shivers*

AN: And here is the next chapter! We focus on Balm and Stormfire as they discover the truth about each other. Of course, not telling the others won't come back to bite them...*laughs nervously*

Anyways, the next chapter is going to focus on two others first, one from each family, and them growing closer to each other. Then, we have some buildup for what is to come. I can't wait!

So, without further ado, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 17: An Unexpected Inheritance

Chapter 18: Dinner Showdown

Chapter 19:...(of course it will come next time!)

And that is all for now! Reviews, of course, are appreciated greatly. However, I always am grateful for you all just taking the time to read my stories. It's amazing when I realize how many people I am touching with my stories.

So, that is all for now. Until next time, TTYL! *still on Halloween high*