Three days later, Lennox called for another meeting.

The first thing I noticed was that he looked even more tired than before if possible. He looked clean, fresh out the showers from his damp hair, but he looked like he needed a month long vacation.

"Okay, so my time here is short, so I'll get straight to it. I hope you've given the choice some thought. It's not a simple one I know, with what little you know, and how much pressure I'm putting on it, but I hope that you've at least considered it. The work you'll be doing will not be picking up daisies, you're going to be fighting against terrorists that are out of our league at times, but the Autobots are going to be giving us the advantage that we need to fight them off. I need you to be ready to face this head on, physically and mentally. Like I mentioned last time, the Autobots are unique, I need you to be able to handle that. And that's an understatement. They keep surprising me at times, but at the end of the day, I know that they're a hundred percent on our side. There is no doubt."

There was no sugar coating in any of that. We were either in it or not, for better or for worse. I was still skeptical about all of this, one peek at Ford told me that he thought the same, but the way Lennox spoke was starting to make me realize that maybe I wanted to be a part of this.

"Being that the rest is classified, there's nothing else I can say. Now I'm going to be on base until Saturday, three days from now. On Saturday at 3 pm, I'm leaving. Those who decide to come with me, will be leaving at 3 pm. We'll be heading to another base, the location of which is classified for now, where the operation is taking place," he continued in the same stern, no-nonsense tone. He huffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment before leaning against the desk behind him.

"One last thing. I know that I mentioned that if you find the job unpleasant and that you want to leave, then you could do so. But it has been brought to my attention that it may not be possible, due to circumstances that have to do with the terrorists. So unfortunately, if you're in then you're in for the long haul."

And that was pretty much it.

I tried to think about it, but I always arrived to the same dilemma. My instincts told me to go, but my logical thoughts said that it was too great a risk to go into blindly. I had a chance to really go forward by just working hard at this base, there was no need to move. I was hard working and I caught on pretty fast to pretty much anything, so I would have no trouble finding a section that would take me. However, the thrill of the unknown was an alluring prospect that kept pulling me at it.

Sandra was ignorant to my thoughts, and took the fact that I hadn't mentioned anything about leaving as my decision to stay. She may not have said it out loud, but I kept getting the hints that she envied the fact that she wasn't given the option to go. I no longer got those dirty looks she tried to hide beneath a friendly face or those sarcastic comments. Of course, I wasn't chosen for this, but it must be a difficult decision for those that were. Since she decided that I wasn't going she's been more friendly and cheerful.

Shay and Crocker were going, they were already packed. Ford didn't say anything, but since Crocker was going I knew he'd think twice about staying. I wasn't sure about the others.

The days passed, and Saturday came. Some of our group had come to say their goodbyes to the ones that were going, Evans and Green had decided to stay, worried that their families might be involved with the terrorists, but like I predicted Ford was following Crocker down the rabbit hole.

I had already said my farewells to them early this morning. Crocker had given me a hug, Ford as well surprisingly, while Spencer was content to shake my hand a give me a friendly smile. The rest of the well-wishers were gathered around them now with Sandra among them for their turns at goodbye. I leaned against one of the hanger doors, the ones that housed the plane they would be taking off in. I felt like I should be going with them but I felt frozen to the spot.

Soft tapping boots gave away their owner as they walked next to me and turning around I saw that it was Lennox. He looked confused.

"You're not coming, are you?" he said. "I honestly thought you would."

"I don't think it's a good idea that's all."

His eyes studied my face, looking for something. "It's not."

"That's why I'm not coming," I repeated. He kept scrutinizing my face, reading whatever he was seeing. Was my face really that interesting?

"Something on my face, sir? " I said, not unkindly.

He snorted. "Somethings, yeah."

A loud laugh from the group caught our attention, Crocker was twirling Sandra around while she laughed as she spun.

"Your heart for one. Your lie for another. The rest is obvious."

I looked back at Lennox, my eyes widening at the bold statement. Was I really that obvious?

"Look, I don't know why you're holding back, but whatever it is I hope it's worth regretting your decision later tonight." And with that he turned to leave. A couple of paces away, he turned back to me saying. "We leave in twenty minutes, just so you know."

I watched him leave as my mind swirled with a sudden panic. I didn't want to stay, I wanted to go. All this overthinking was getting me nowhere but disappointment. When that clicked, I took off towards the barracks where my room was and packed anything that came in my way, franticly jamming everything into a duffel bag. When that was done, I ran back to the hanger, panting noisily after that burst of energy.

The plane was spinning ready to take off, a couple of soldiers were packing in the bags and Lennox was talking with some other officers next to it. When he spotted me, he came over with a small grin growing on his face.

"Didn't you say that you weren't coming Schmidt?" he said, taking my bag and throwing it over his shoulder as he lead me towards the plane.

"Didn't you say that you were leaving in twenty? There's still four minutes left, "I fired back jokingly. His grin got even bigger. "I thought I'd better hurry up and pack."

He patted my shoulder in a fatherly manner, looking to me with something like pride in his eyes. "I had a feeling you'd catch on, you always do."

The others were already seated in on the benches at the sides, and when he saw me Crocker whooped while Ford and Spencer smiled at me.

"What made you change your mind, girlie?"

I sat down next to him, letting him ruffle my hair a bit. "I never said I wasn't coming. Sandra just assumed and made it a fact. I never said so."

"Good to know I'll have back up against this idiot. I might have went mad," Ford said in a mock serious voice. He was sitting opposite to us and Spencer was somewhere near the cockpit as I heard his voice from further in. I smiled at him as he took my bag from Lennox and put it with the others in the top compartments.

"I couldn't leave you to fend for yourself, you're the only intelligent conversation I get any day."

Crocker pouted and pulled me under his arm." Hey, I thought we had something good going on between us."

I snorted as I pulled myself away." Something called delusion."

"Oh, so cruel."

"It's good to see you getting along, that will help you through the coming days. Get settled, we're taking off soon," Lennox said. He headed up to the front to where Spencer was and I heard his voice joining in the conversation.

Once he left, Ford leaned towards us, lowering his voice as he said, "Am I the only one feeling like a little kid again? Like going off to preschool for the first time…"

Crocker nodded." Yeah, something like that."

"Me too, "I murmured.

"I've been thinking about something for the last few days… We're going to be the new guys, and the rest are going to have a lot of experience over us. So I want to make a deal. "

Ford was looking at us with that serious expression of his, rubbing his chin nervously.

"What deal? " I asked.

"We watch each other's backs. Not just in in the field. We stick together on base too. You're my friends, I want to make sure you'll be all right, and if there's anything you need I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Deal," I said without thinking. I knew he wasn't pulling our legs, he was serious, and he deserved my sincerity in return. We turned our heads together to look at Crocker, who had a little smile on his face. I knew then that he was in for it too.

"Deal. And to make this official…" He trailed off holding up his hands towards us. The little finger on each hand was turned out apart from the rest. "I pinky swear that I'll look out for my friends."

I breathed out a laugh. This was so typical of him, yet I reached out with one of my own pinkies and repeated what he said. Ford did as well.

The plane's ramp was pulled up, and any chance of going back disappeared. I had taken a risk, a big one, yet I felt more excitement than I had felt in a very long time. I had two colleagues- no, two friends looking out for me and I knew that Lennox would look out for us too. And maybe it was the nervousness or the remainder of my adrenaline, but I felt a change in my life like a new chapter was coming up.

Ford and Crocker were already bickering about something, but that only reassured me that I chose right. They would be with me along the way, and whatever came next I would face it with them together. It was time I moved on from the death of my parents. Neither I nor they could do anything about it. So whatever came next, be it good or bad … I was ready to face it.