Sunstreaker is still winning the vote guys! For any of you that want Sideswipe to pursure Clare first you better vote before I close the poll down! Also I was thinking of giving Clare an electromagetic manipulation mod like Jazz later on. Who wants to see what kind of trouble she can get in using that? Lol Anyways on with the story!

I woke up the next morning safe and warm in my bed in Jazz's room. After my little discussion with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker he had come to get me to put me to bed. It was kind of strange being pretty much an adult and having Jazz practically tuck me in for bed. But I really did like it at the same time. And I slept great!

If only waking up was as good as falling asleep I mused when I registered the throbbing in my leg. Now I felt the pain. You know after I had hit and angered Ratchet even more than the prank we had pulled on him had. I sighed and tried to sit up in bed leg protesting the movement my body was making. A soft groan of discomfort escaped me. The next thing I knew my opiluck was in front of me peering at me worriedly.

[Ya a'right sweetlin'? We shoul' probably go get some'hing from Ratchet for the pain.] He offered me his arms to climb into.

I didn't hesitate to climb into them either. It wasn't exactly like I could walk properly with my leg mutilated and having just been repaired from being crushed. [Next time Sides gets sticky paint involved in a prank I think I'll stay far away.] I stated dryly.

A deep chuckle vibrated his frame. [Maybay ya shoul' follow t'rough wit' dat. Sides is a lovable mech, cheery and outgoin. But 'e can also be a bit overzealous to da poin' dat o'hers can get 'urt if 'e ain' careful. But ah also kno' dat 'e woul neva 'urt ya on purpose.]

[I know.] Sides was too sweet to ever try and purposefully hurt me. I think that was why I was starting to crush on him a bit when I didn't even know him for that long. That last thought was one that I kept hidden from Jazz, thanks to the lessons that Sides had given me last night in blocking certain thoughts. He told me it was as easy as putting up a mental wall around things that you didn't want heard. I wasn't sure if it would work, but when Jazz gave no outward reaction internally or externally I figured that it had.

And at that moment we arrived at the dreaded med bay, AKA the place where I was soon going to be banned from unless I was dying. We stepped inside taking in Ratchet's form banging on something on one of his counters. That didn't seem like a good way to fix things to me... "Hi Ratchet!" I called obnoxiously.

He whipped around in my direction with a deep scowl. "What are you doing back here femme? You're not to come in here unless you're dead or dying!"

Ouch! So I really had angered him with the whole wrench thing. Whoopsie! "But Ratchet! My leg really hurts!" I whined. Jazz chuckled at me gently running a digit over the top of my head.

Ratchet however did not look so amused. "Fraggin pit spawned femme!" He growled as he stalked over to a cabinet and tore it open to sort through various vials and bottles. After a moment he finally settled on one and pulled it out along with a needle.

Ohh not another needle! I whined when he filled the syringe with a good amount of the strange purple liquid and approached me. Then the aft shoves the needle into my arm without even giving me time to prepare myself. "HEY!" I yelped trying to yank myself away from him only to be held there by his firm hold.

"Sit still femme! You need something for the pain and this will numb it!"

Somebody was in a bad mood! I resisted the urge to pout under the torture he was giving me until he finished pumping the stuff into me. As soon as he pulled away I actually did pout. "Mean Ratchet."

He only growled in irritation. "Get out of my med bay!"

"A'right Ratch! See ya latta!" Jazz called as we turned and walked out into the hall. He started in a random direction keeping a decent pace. "So ah 'eard 'bout wha' Chromia said ta ya an' Optimus." He started quietly.

I stiffened anxiously. "Yeah? Small world huh?" I gave a nervous laugh when inside I was nearly dying from anxiety. It wasn't that I was a coward...I just... Well I didn't really know what was wrong with me. All I knew was that the thought of both learning to fight and being forced to implement it to protect myself from bots that only wanted to kill me because I'm a femme made me anxious.

"Ah can sense yo'r nervousness sweetlin'. Dere ain' nothin wrong wit' bein scared ta fight some'imes. Even Optimus an' ole Hide feel dat way at times. Jus' ask em. An' ah feel scared some'imes in battle, ah ain' scared ta admit it eitha. I's normal."

I leaned into Jazz relishing in the feelings of comfort flowing between us. Until I got things going I was going to be scared that was all there was to it. And the first time that I actually fought was going to be nervewracking as well. But I had to do it even if it did frighten me. Sunny and Sides had said that I would learn, that it was normal to feel nervous at first. They were most definitely right about those things. Besides, I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

The cons would not pull back from killing me just because I was young and untrained. If anything it would make them more willing to try and kill me seeing as how I was purely defenseless. So I had to do this not only so that I wasn't such a burden to Jazz and the others, but for myself.

And on the bright side my leg was still trashed so it wasn't like I could do much anyways. So yay! I lucked out until it was all better! At least I hoped so.

"Well since yo'r leg is badly damaged ole Hide t'ought we coul' get'cha started on weapons first. So ah'm gonna take ya down ta da shooting range an' leave ya wit' him, Arcee, an' Chromia."

And there went my good mood in a fiery shower of acid rain falling from the sky and eating me alive. I slumped as we headed into the firing range where I could hear the loud sounds of what sounded like big cannons going off. Ironhide was going to eat me alive! Maybe I could make a break for it when he wasn't looking!

"No' ah told em dat ya had no shootin experience so today shoul' be more about teachin ya 'ow ta safely handle yo'r guns, den afta dat dey migh' have ya shoot a lil bit. It shoul' be easy enough."

We stepped into a huge room that looked just like a typical firing range with guns lining the wall on racks, windows where the shooter would stand, and moving and unmoving targets down the field in varying distances.

I was sat down next to Ironhide before I had even finished taking in the room. As soon as I saw this I scurried over to where Arcee was standing. Hadn't they said that I would need updates before all of this? Well I guess they wouldn't be that advanced of a species if they couldn't learn without being updated. Maybe those would come after Ratchet wasn't tempted to kill me?

"Well Hide ah'm trustin ya no' ta do any'hing stupid wit' mah sparklin. By dat ah mean she betta be in da same shape when ah get back as she is no'." There was a distinctly threatening tone accompanied by the almost stoic expression on my adoptive creator's face that strangely made him look even more frightening.

It might have just been my imagination but I'm pretty sure that Ironhide shivered... "What do you think we're going to do with her when her leg is still repairing itself? Intense servo to servo combat training? Her leg would go out before we even got started." Ironhide snorted turning away from Jazz in dismissal. "Go and do your patrol with Flareup already. Clare will be just fine when you get back."

It took another moment before Jazz nodded and left after shooting me one more reassuring smile. That left me to Ironhide's mercy...

"Ok Clare the first thing to know is that your weapon is your best friend in a battle, if you know what you're doing it can always be counted on to save your aft. If you don't know what you're doing you might as well not even bother picking one up. It'll normally end up doing more damage to you than anybot else. So what we're going to do today is get you acquainted with some easier to use weapons, as well as going over gun safety." Ironhide informed me.

I nodded paying close attention to what he said.

He walked over to the wall and pulled down a small silver gun that looked to be about twice as large as a handgun. "This is an acid pellet gun. It fires acid pellets in case the name wasn't enough to give you that information."

I scowled at him as he walked over and handed it to me. I was hesitant to take it but he was rather forceful in making me even if I didn't want to. It was surprisingly heavy more so than I was expecting and it seemed to fit into my hands well.

"Ok now there are rules you must follow when handling a weapon. Rule one: Never ever point your own gun at yourself. Can you tell me why?"

"Because you could shoot yourself...and it's just plain stupid to do that with a real gun." I left out the part where I had actually shot myself repeatedly with an automatic airsoft gun when I was a little kid... Yeah somehow I was sure that it would make Ironhide even more tough on me.

"Right. Rule number two: Never point a gun at an enemy if an ally is in the way. Rule number three: When maneuvering keep the muzzle of your weapon down and close to the ground at all times. You can avoid any accidental shootings by ensuring that your weapon is never pointed at anyone when you don't mean to. Rule four: Always remember to perform proper maitinence on your weapons. If you want your gun to be reliable you have to take good care of it like you would take care of a living being. If not they will not not always function properly when you need them to and that can cause accidents in the field."

I slid down into a sitting position placing my new acid pellet gun onto the floor next to me. My leg was hurting already just from standing on my own for a few moments so I thought that if I was going to be forced to stand and shoot maybe it would be better to take pressure off of it for a while.

"Rule Five: Always be aware of your surroundings when handling a weapon. This rule ties into rules two and three for obvious reasons. I cannot stress gun safety enough Clare. You can and will cause accidental deaths by not following these rules. If you are ever reformatted to have weapons on your frame you can activate them and deactivate them at will to prevent accidents, but since you are going to have to carry an actual weapon for now it is imperative that you follow these rules. Understand?" He looked at me very seriously.

Like he had to ask me that! I definitely didn't want to go around accidentally shooting people or bots when I didn't mean to! "Yes. Make sure to follow safety rules."

He and Chromia nodded at me in approval. "That's right Clare. Even a weak gun is a lethal weapon in experienced and sometimes inexperieced servos."

"So is this a lethal weapon to you guys?" I held up the acid pellet gun giving it a curious glance. "It's so small! And wouldn't acid not really hurt you all that much? It would just eat away at paint and certain cables and stuff right?"

"Right. It's the least dangerous weapon we had to start you out with." Ironhide knelt down in front of me. "That being said Clare if you were to aim at important wires or cables in the cracks in a bot's armor this could still eat away at main energon lines and arteries, thus it still has the capability to be a lethal weapon."

"Ok so for this weapon where you aim is especially important if you want to do damage?"

"Aim is important for any weapon if you want it to be effective, but yes aim is especially important for weapons like this that are not designed to do massive outright damage. So for this gun you would aim for breaks in the armor near the throat if you were going for a main energon line to inflict a killing blow. However this weaon is more designed for self defense purposes to repel an attacker. Acid pellets cause intense pain and can eat away into the protoform even which is even more sensitive than any other area. So this gun is designed solely for self defense, you would not want to take it into an actual battle as your main weapon." Ironhide gestured for Chromia to come over and take the acid gun from me. "First we'll show you the safety clip, then we will show you where to load the acid pellets."

"Ok." I sat there watching as Chromia used her smaller servos to flip the gun over and point at a small switch near the butt of the gun.

"This is the safety red means that it is armed and ready to be fired, green means that the safety is engaged. So as you can see the safety is on but all you have to do is flip the switch to deactivate it." With a quick flick of her wrist the gun was set to be fired. Then she quickly spun it around making sure to keep the muzzle pointed down and away from me as she maneuvered it so that the rounded part just behind the muzzle was in plain view. "This is the ammo chamber. To reload this gun all you need to do is apply a small pressure here..." She pushed a digit down onto a small circular shape located neaer the rim and the gun seemed to snap apart, at least the circular chamber slid out. Chromia grabbed it and pulled it free so that I could see it.

There were chambers filled with multiple green glowing acid pellets.

"To reload you simply snap the used chamber out," She held it up for me to show me this step. "then you snap a new acid pellet clip in. They come in clips like a human weapon."

I cocked my head to the side when she held up another circular chamber from somewhere. So their weapons actually did sometimes work like human weapons. Cool.

"Push the little circular plate to arm it and you're good to go." She handed it back to me carefully gesturing for me to stand. "Come so that we may show you the proper way to fire a gun."

My leg screamed in protest when I went to heft myself up and I would not have been able to stand had Arcee not grabbed me to help me. I stood with her help keeping my gun pointed at the floor like Ironhide had told me which got a nod of approval from him. Then I was helped over to a window where a metal target dummy was placed a good fifteen feet away.

"Now Clare aiming for us works differently than when humans aim. We have an auto lock on function to help guide us. You have not had that update yet so you will have to aim as a human for now." Chromia gripped my shoulders surprisingly gentle and maneuvered me into a shooters stance like one I had seen many times in movies and video games. "Now you bring your gun level with your shoulder and peer down the sight."

I followed her instructions and leveled with weapon with my shoulder so that I could peer down the sight. It was kind of like an iron sight on a human weapon only this one was more like an actual holographic sight. There was a small red symbol that I did not recognize shining like a hologram in the center of the sight. Kinda cool since it didn't have one of those bigger sights on it.

"Now line up your target, breathe deep, exhale then shoot."

Shifting slightly I lined up my target retinal on the neck, took a big breath as I steadied myself...then exhaled and pulled the trigger. There was a burst of green that flew from the muzzle accompanied by a slightly jarring motion from the actual weapon firing, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I was more focused on the pellets as they hit the target just where I had aimed them with several loud splats. Steam rose up as they quickly corroded the metal away. Yes I actually didn't screw it up! If it weren't for my leg I would do a happy dance.

"Good job Clare." Arcee praised me.

"Thanks but my leg is really starting to hurt. Can I sit down?" Until now I had been so focused that I didn't realize how weak it was starting to feel.

"No. We'll keep practicing for another hour." Ironhide informed me gruffly.

I scowled at him! It was sooo going to be his fault if I accidentally shot his ped or something!

Later that day I hobbled down the hallway on a pair of crutches that Ratchet had gotten for me. I had just called Uncle Ron to tell him that I would have to stay on base due to some unexpected circumstances, AKA I got hurt again. I promised to make up for the chores when I got back home. He agreed and wished me well until he next saw me.

My mind drifted back to my "training" earlier... Yeah best not to ever speak about the events that transpired afterward while Ironhide was around. Nope definitely not a good idea! I just hoped that he got out of the med bay with only minor damage.

"Clare!"

I whipped around in time to see Sideswipe come barreling up to me with Sunstreaker trailing behind him. "Hi Sides. Hi Sunn-nnnstreaker." I quickly corrected myself before I angered him in record time.

Sides snickered at me. "So I heard that you spent some time in the shooting range today! How'd it go?" He picked me up and carried me into the rec room before sitting down at a table.

I blushed horribly. "Well it went good...until my leg gave out from standing on it for too long. I kind of fell on my face and shot Ironhide in the ped with an entire clip of acid pellets. So not really good. But in my defense I did tell him that my leg was really hurting. He just chose not to listen and that's why his ped was eaten away by acid." I shrugged...actually feeling kind of bad about it but I had told him.

Both of their jaws dropped. Sides spluttered out a laugh. "You accidentally shot him in the ped with acid pellets?"

"Yes. I kinda feel bad. His entire ped was eaten away..." I slumped on the tabletop that I was sitting on dejectedly. Maybe weapons weren't for me? At least if I didn't have one I couldn't accidentally shoot anyone.

They busted out laughing like it was the funniest thing that they had ever heard! Even Sunstreaker! Well I was so not laughing! "Tha-that's the funniest thing I have ever heard!" Sides howled.

I sighed and waited for them to finish with their hysterics. "It wasn't really all that funny. I shot him."

They snickered. "We know."

I scowled at them and stood with a huff. Not that I could really go anywhere with my leg in the state it was in. It wasn't like I could jump off of the table without further damaging myself. Still I was irritated and frustrated and...just every negative emotion I could possibly feel in this situation. I hobbled away from them anger bubbling up inside of me.

"Clare where are you going?"

I didn't answer Sides as I carefully lowered myself down onto a chair then onto the floor. Once I was settled I crutched myself out of the room as fast as I could.

"Clare come back!" Sides called, I could hear him following after me. But I didn't turn back to look at him.

The visual of Ironhide being pelted with acid pellets because of me...of him roaring in pain and clutching at his ped. He had looked positively murderous! Then again I had shot him! I'd be surprised if him or Chromia ever offered to train me again!

A firm grip on my upper arm stopped me in my tracks. "Clare we didn't mean to upset you."

I sighed turning to face Sideswipe's sheepish facade. "I know Sides. I was just frustrated with myself because of what happened." My leg hurt so I hobbled over to a pile of boxes sitting in the corner of the hangar and plopped down on it. "It's just...they spent so much time today drilling me on gun safety and then I go and trip and shoot him! You should've seen it! It was so embarrassing! They'll probably never let me even look at a gun again!"

My head fell into my hands dejectedly as I sighed in defeat. Maybe it was just better if I didn't touch another gun? But then what could I fight with? If I couldn't even safely hold a gun then what was the point?

A gentle caress on my back made me look up at Sunstreaker of all mechs. Sides was standing behind him looking totally lost, but Sunstreaker was actually here making an attempt to comfort me. "Everybot makes mistakes femme it's called life. Get used to it and keep on trying. Only a weakling would let it get them down for good."

Honestly his encouragement made me feel better until he got to the weakling bit. Then I scowled and jumped up as best I could to point an accusing finger at him. "You'll call me a weakling when I beat your face in with a baseball bat!"

He raised an optic ridge at me. "I'd like to see you try it."

"Ohh do not test me Mister I'msobeautiful!" I mocked him, my earlier morose emotions temporarily forgotten. Call me crazy but I think I was quite enjoying the banter the two of us got into! If he wasn't such an ass...well I had to admit that the asshole personality could be very hot. As soon as that thought crossed my mind I blushed such a bright purple that it almost seemed to shine through my skin.

Both of them cocked their helms at me. "Clare your internal temperature just increased considerably. Should we take you to Ratchet?" Sides questioned.

"No! That's ok! I was just thinking about something that's all!" The words left my mouth in a rush. Oh my god what was I even thinking these days?! It was one thing to kind of crush on Sideswipe cause he was so sweet and nice...but Sunstreaker?! He hated me! Why did I insist on doing pointless things like crushing on giant robotic aliens with vanity complexes from hell?

"Are you sure Clare? Your cooling system might have malfunctioned as well. If that's the case Ratchet needs to fix it."

Better question did I even have a cooling system when I had freaking skin?! I must have said that out loud without realizing it because it earned me an amused chuckle from Sideswipe.

"Yes you have one. Hot air is expelled through the ports in your skin via a cooling system similar to our own, only your fans expel it through both microscopic vents located all over your protoform and your skin ports. If you were to actually get rid of your skin you'd see what I'm talking about."

I shook his explanation off, though I must admit that it did sound kind of cool. "Well I'm ok. No need to worry! I'm just being my normal spacey hyperactive self." Honestly I would have struck a pose at the end of that if I hadn't been standing on crutches. It kinda sucked that I couldn't cause striking poses could be really fun.

Neither one looked convinced. "Well if you say so." Sides trailed off.

"I do say so!" I chirped. "Now let's go find something to do!"

It was obvious that I didn't need to tell Sides twice because in an astrosecond he had shifted down to alt mode and opened his door for me. I stared at the small front seat dubiously, looking down at my crutches. "Umm Sides I don't think I can get in with my leg unless you move the seat back."

"Good point." He moved the passenger seat back a good foot or two so that I would have room to sit comfortably and keep my leg extended. "There that ought to do it."

I ducked down into the seat with some difficulty thanks to my bandaged leg only to curse when I dropped my crutches halfway in. "Freaking hell." Before I could get out to retrieve them Sunstreaker's holoform was there grabbing them for me. "Thanks."

He only nodded before disappearing back into his alt mode.

Sides shut the door and buckled me in before pulling out of the hangar. "We won't go far maybe just to the beach again. Optimus wants all the bots not on patrol to stay close for now unless ordered otherwise."

"M'kay."

The scenery flew by in a blur of lush green and pale yellow from the trees and sand on the island. It really was a nice place to be as far as I was concerned. Well I guess I better get used to it since I was stuck here for most of the week while my nanites repaired my skin. Luckily for me Lennox agreed to gather my work for the week since he had to go back to the mainland to take care of some things with his family, so he agreed to stop by my house to get the work that Sam was going to pick up from my classes for me. At least I didn't have to worry about that.

We pulled up to the plateau overlooking the beach finally. Sides let me out and transformed somehow ending up sitting down before the sequence had even finished.

Sunstreaker transformed and sat down next to his brother. I looked between the two before I hopped onto Sunstreaker's leg. It would probably annoy him, but I was actually strangely comfortable. It wasn't like he could toss me into the water again or anything. In fact he didn't even react to my bold move.

Sides however was staring at me. I shrugged. "He's comfy to sit on. Besides this is probably going to be the only time that it's safe for me to just hop on his leg like this."

"Sunny wouldn't hurt you for real. But I do think that you picked a good time to not be cautious."

We both looked at Sunstreaker, or up in my case. He growled. "Do not call me that. And I may be an aft but I wouldn't harm an injured femme."

"See Sides? He does like me!" I grinned wickedly when Sunstreaker looked down at me like he had been slapped. "What? You can't tell me that you don't like me at least a little bit! Especially after we painted Sides pink with my little ponies on him. We're prank buddies now."

He looked like he wanted to grimace and smile at the same time. Sides pouted at me. "That was so not cool Clare. It was a good prank, but it took me hours to repaint myself over all of the different colored ponies. And to think all I was going to do was cover you in sticky paint and force you into that strange human armor."

My smile fell as I shuddered in horror. "It was a bikini! I am not wearing a bikini Sideswipe! All my bits would be showing!"

"Ah ah ah! If I took your cloth armoring off first! But I never technically said that I was going to do that..."

At his devious look I reached out and smacked his leg. "Oh no! You only said that you wanted to see my protoform in it! That amounts to me getting naked!"

He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. "So? You act like you've never been seen in your protoform before."

Embarrassment hit me hard, and like the idiot I am I said the first thing that came to mind however dumb it waws. And it was pretty freaking dumb. "I HAVEN'T! I'M A FREAKING VIRGIN YOU IDIOT!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I cupped my face and wailed forlornly. "Why?!"

Sides cocked his helm at me curiously his optics dimming slightly. "But I read on the internet that most earth femmes your age have interfaced already. Your age is considered more than acceptable. Are you really saying that you still have your seal?"

OMG WAS HE REALLY ASKING ME THAT?! SERIOUSLY?! "YES! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING! I'VE NEVER GOTTEN LAID! JEEZ YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING!" By this point I was doing everything in my power to avoid looking at either of them. Besides the ocean was far more interesting than paying attention to either of them when I literally just said the most embarrassing thing ever!

"No wonder you're so...shy."

The sudden voice in my ear made me jump. My hand lashed out reflexively smacking him in the cheek hard. "SIDES YOU'RE SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! And I'm not shy about most things...only that." I added quietly.

His bright optics watched me with more interest than I knew how to handle. "That's pretty hot Clare."

"Sides stop being a pervert!" Sunstreaker smacked him in the helm.

"Yeah stop perving on me for one day jeez!" I was completely flustered at this point. Something about having him say things like that to me made my virgin mind want to short out. I mean he always called me pretty or cute and now he was saying that me being a virgin was hot. How was I even supposed to react to that?

"You're not used to somebot flirting with you are you?"

"Not really. Well just some boys at school but they're idiots." I brought my right hand up to play with my hair like I always did when I was nervous. "And well they look so stupid when they're doing it that normally I just laugh."

"Ouch sparkbreaker." Sides laughed.

"No I'm just not interested in them. There are so many other things that I'd rather use my time for than getting involved in high school drama. I don't like any of them. I don't want the drama that comes with dating immature teenage boys. And well at this point I really would rather not stir up the rumor pool anymore than it already is after the Trent incident. Now everyone at school is spreading rumors that we were having sex in his hummer and my other boyfriends caught us and tried to beat the shit out of him."

"Other boyfriends? Is that what they think Bee and I are?"

"Yes." I deadpanned. A sigh escaped me as I turned to Sides more fully. "Like I said the kids at school are immature, they have to always make up insane stories everytime something big happens. Unfortunately for me I happen to have been labelled the slut with three boyfriends, one of whom I was fucking in the school parking lot this time." I rolled my eyes. "How stupid. As if I would ever screw Trent even if we were the last living things on this planet."

Sides grinned like mad. "Ouch poor mech! He does seem like an aft though."

"He is." I held out my arms to Sides in an up motion and was rewarded when he quickly scooped me up to deposit me on his lap so that my back was against his stomach. "It's days like those that I wish I was ugly or something. That way I would never have to worry about him ever again. Or any boy for that matter."

"I must say that this is the first time I have ever heard a femme say she wants to be ugly." Sunstreaker mused with an oddly concentrated look on his face. "You get more and more strange everytime I talk to you."

"Hey at least I'm an individual and not a complete freaking tool! Just because I don't want to be so gorgeous that boys trail after me like little lost puppies does not mean that I'm weird!" ..."Well not really." I trailed off embarrassedly. In a way it did kind of make me weird I guess to not want to be the pretty popular girl. But I'd rather be myself than be the kind of girl that does whatever it takes to fit in.

"You can be both!" Sides ever the helpful bot offered. "You're already different from most femmes and you're good looking."

My cheeks quickly heated in another blush. Both of them sensed it and turned their complete attention on me making me want to turn and take off hobbling as fast as my three limbed self could.

But before anyone could say a word I felt something crawling on my leg. I looked down quickly and saw...a giant freaking tarantula! My mouth fell open in a loud shriek as I turned and smacked the thing off of my leg causing it to land on the ground near Sides leg, only the fucker scurried back up on him at lightning speed. "SIDES IT'S A FREAKING TARANTULA! GET IT AWAY GETITAWAYGETITAWAYGETITAWAY!" I shrieked like a maniac and climbed up him as fast as I could while the little fucking tarantula followed me. WHY WASN'T SIDES GETTING IT?!

"It's just a spider." Sunstreaker somehow managed to be heard over my screaming. But he was looking at the thing in disgust as well.

"OH MY GOD IT'S BREAKING THE APPENDAGE RULE! SIDES GET IT AWAY FROM ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK IF YOU JUST FLICK IT OR SOMETHING! I'LL EVEN WEAR A BIKINI!"

"You will? You'll wear one later if I get rid of the spider for you?" Sides asked with a wicked grin.

"YES JUST GET IT AWAY FROM ME!"

Just as I made it up to his shoulder Sides reached down and grabbed the tarantula up so gently that the thing didn't even get squished, which pissed me off. Then he moved his arm away and put the fucking thing on a tree. Once that was done he turned back to me with the same wicked grin in place. "So now you have to wear a bikini for me."

I winced wanting to beat myself in the face. "When my leg is finished healing?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure. But remember this Clare...a mech never forgets a promise like this." If possible the grin on his face grew until he looked like the cat from Alice in Wonderland! He faltered slightly though after a moment looking confused. "What's the appendage rule?"

I wanted to facepalm onto the ground and have it swallow me up in its depths. "Well the appendage rule is the rule that I made up that states that no living being with more than four limbs comes anywhere near me. If it does it is subject to being squished with the nearest shoe I can find. Preferably Sam's shoe not mine."

Sides chuckled at me. "Why are you so frightened of spiders just because they have eight legs?"

I exploded. "Because it's freaking weird man! I don't know why but everyone has their things that they fear and mine are creey crawly bugs with too many legs and heights! And you can't even say that phobias are stupid because Sunstreaker has a phobia of getting dirty or scratched and I'm sure that is an actual known phobia."

Sunstreaker scowled at me. "I do not have a phobia femme, I merely like to look good."

I frowned at him. "Fine then you have a complex! Same thing in a roundabout way!"

While we were arguing Sides had taken to singing. "Clare and Sunny sitting in a tree F-R-A-G-G-I-N-G! First comes love then comes bonding then comes a sparkling in a mini tank!"

Both of us whipped around in his direction with intense glares. "Sides that is so not funny!"

Sunstreaker smacked him upside the helm again. "Cut that out slagger!"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sides spelled out obnoxiously.

"You're such a weirdo! As if Sunstreaker would ever kiss me or frag me!" I looked to said bot. "No offense but you hate me."

He gave me a weird look.

Sides kept singing. "Clare and Sunny sitting in a tree F-R-A-G-G-I-N-G!" He was cut off when Sunstreaker reached out and smacked him across the face. The motion nearly caused me to fall but luckily Sides was quicker and caught me. "Careful Sunny or you might hurt your femmefriend!"

"She is not my femmefriend!" Sunstreaker growled looking highly irritated.

"Kiss her!" Sides encouraged. Was he even listening to either of us?

"No I'm not going to kiss her! I barely even know her."

"Wuss."

"Sideswipe shut up!" I protested hotly. Was he trying to get Sunstreaker and I to hate each other? And no way was I going to give my first kiss to a mech that didn't even like me!

"She wuss." He taunted me. "Sunny's a wuss and you're a wuss as well."

"Oh real mature Sides. I'm not going to kiss him just because you called me a wuss. Besides I thought that we were supposed to come out here to relax and have fun not to anger your brother again."

Sides gave me an innocent look. "I am completely relaxed, and on top of that I'm having fun."

"Well we're not." I deadpanned. "You're making both of us feel irritated and awkward so cut it out! Besides I'm so not giving my first-" I clamped my mouth shut so fast that I bit my tongue. "Nothing. I was going to say nothing at all!"

The wicked light came back into Sideswipe's optics. "Never been kissed even? That's so cute."

I flushed horribly and released an embarrassed growl. "Sh-shut up Sideswipe! God you're being a real jerk!" Man I was almost to the point where I wanted to cry! It was like he was poking fun because he thought it was pathetic that I was so inexperienced!

There was a sharp 'thwack' followed by an angry curse. "You're being an aft Sides!"

"Ouch what the slag was that for Sunny? I'm just teasing!" Sides glared at his twin.

"Yeah and in case you were too dense to notice you're upsetting Clare. Not that I really care, but I'd rather not have her leaking all over the place."

Sides quickly looked back at me looking rather alarmed. The look only grew when he noticed the sheen that must have been coating my eyes. "I wasn't being serious Clare!" He hastily comforted. "There's nothing wrong with being inexperienced! And you're still young so I should have expected it anyways! I promise that I was just poking a little fun and that I did not mean it to be hurtful."

I sniffled. "You're still an aftcake."

His optic ridges pulled together. "Aft-cake?"

I nodded. "You're an aftcake." Thankfully I was wearing long sleeves that I could use to wipe my eyes before I really did start crying. It wasn't only the teasing that had gotten to me, but it was the way Sunstreaker spoke of me so callously. I was used to it for the most part but it just really bothered me today. It was like he just saw me as a nuisance not worth his time. Was he only sitting here with us now because of my accident?

Sideswipe surprised me when he leaned over and rubbed his cheek over mine while a deep rumbling resonated through his body.

The metal was strangely soft like it was pliable and it was so warm that I was sure touching it for prolonged periods of time would make me break out in a sweat. The softness of it really got me though more than anything else at that moment. I rubbed my face back as a strange sound similar to the one he was making escaped me.

"I really am sorry Clare. Can you forgive me?" He pulled away and gave me the most adorable puppy dog expression I could ever expect to see on a twenty foot tall robotic being.

"Yes." I answered immediately. "I'm just sensitive about that stuff is all. I know you didn't mean it."

He offered me a genuine smile.

And then Sunstreaker had to go and open his mouth and ruin the moment. "If you two are going to insist on being so sickeningly sweet with one another at least let me know so I can leave in advance."

We both whipped in his direction. "SUNSTREAKER!" We shouted simultaneously.

He only smirked. What an aft!

R&R! Some light teasing to hint at future things. The vote is still going for at least a few more chapters so take a look if you haven't already!

infinity angelic wolf- Thanks!

cmfanreidsgirl- Me either!

Muirgen79- I know lol! It was a genius plot twist hehe!

HeartsGuardianSol- Definitely lol! But you can be sure that he's not going to wait for long to use it. Oh Jazz glitch because of a bikini? IDK about that. And yes Ratchet finally got a little taste of his own medicine. Maybe I should give Clare a boomerang to use later XD.

himelove22- Yes my little pony the evil children's show. And as for the question maybe.

Izzy-dragon-rider- I loved the sheet bit lol. Yes I love the terminator bits XD. And well as you saw in this chapter they're going easy on her for now. That being the key part of the sentence.