Two weeks had passed since the 'meeting'. Two weeks of me hiding in the clinic and the stores to avoid any interaction with any giant robots. I lost track of how many times I went over the stocks, how many times I rearranged the shelfs and how many times I rechecked every single box in that room. It had become a near obsessive ritual, because I was convinced that if I wasn't doing something then there was a chance that we would cross paths again. And we were not going to, not if I had any say in the matter.

But that was just me. The others had pretty much gotten used to them being around, some had even gotten friendly enough to have regular conversations with them, not on the same level as Lennox, but just enough to make me uncomfortable. Could they not see that they couldn't just be trusted? They were dangerous. Sure they were helping us now, but they had no obligation to keep on doing so, and the minute that they no longer needed our help, or any government funding, they would leave. Or worse, they'd turn against us.

The thing is I had no proof. Not yet at least. Apart from the occasional scuffle that the silver one and the weapons specialist got into, which would in turn would drag the medic or the SIC away from their duties, they barley caused any trouble. I wasn't looking for anything specific, I just wanted to prove that they were…

I wasn't sure what I wanted to prove they were.

I also wasn't sure that it was the others that I wanted to prove wrong, but I wasn't ready to acknowledge that yet.

"You know, if you put those boxes in a different order, again, they're not going to unlock some universal secret."

Ford was pretty much a constant. He kept to his promise, he was looking out for me and Crocker. He checked in on us every once in a few days. Well, he checked on me every few days.

"Who knows…? Maybe I'll find out where babies come from."

"Gosh, you don't know?" he said, faking a tone of surprise. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in a side hug." Well, when a man such as myself and a lady unlike you-"

"Hey!"

"-Really love each other, they decide to do the thing-"

"Oh, shut up! I know where babies come from, you idiot."

"Mm, seems those boxes did have a magic order."

I elbowed him in the ribs and moved on to the next batch, hiding my smile away from him.

"Well, that wasn't very nice, but I guess I'll suffer a little boo-boo to see you smile."

I gave him a side grin while continuing on with my work. "That wasn't a boo-boo. And I can smile whenever I want, you know."

He had occupied an office chair next to the desk I was using to sort out the batches and he was swinging lazily from side to side as I moved around. It was a routine we had formed, he visits me when his shift was done, I visit him sometimes, rarely actually, and we just talk. Crocker was off doing his own thing most of the time, with the Autobots, so he left us mostly alone. I missed him, but Ford's company was just simple and easy, so I didn't mind all that much.

"I know, you just need a little push sometimes."

"Mneh-mneh," I replied.

"How original."

"Shut up."

Then we lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while, him still swaying and me still moving around.

"You need to get out more," he said suddenly." Not even the doctors stay here as much as you do, and they're in charge of this place."

"No need, my job is here, you visit me here and I can conveniently hide while I work."

"True to all, but you still need to socialize more."

"No. I socialize enough with you and Crocker, don't really need all that much more," I said, slamming the next box a little more harshly than was necessary.

"But it's not just me and Crock here. There are so many people, if you give them a chance I know you'll like at least one of them," he insisted.

"Them being only people? Or them also including them?" I snapped, facing him for a few seconds to glare at him. He just gave me the same annoyed expression he gave me whenever I was being petulant.

I huffed as a response and decided to try to ignore him. This wasn't the first time we were having this conversation and I knew he would try a different angle every now and then. By now it was our main ad nauseam.

I heard him sigh from behind me. "What are you still trying to prove? I'm pretty sure that if they were going to try something, they would have by now. Way before we arrived. And even if they did, we're not exactly defenceless either."

"Nothing and you don't know that. Maybe they're just biding their time…"

"Biding their time for what exactly? "

"I don't know… more of their own or something? So they can blow us sky high more easily?"

He stayed quiet after that, just thinking. I could hear his cogs turning.

"Would it help if I said that I was giving them a chance?"

I let out a long sigh and turned to look at him. He wasn't angry or annoyed, he never was. He was just curious most of the time, just trying to help. Crocker was a social butterfly, he made friends anywhere he went, but I was the loner, the one that had to be dragged to morning training to at least bond over physical sweat and all of that. I felt like a little pet, except for the feeding part, I knew how to feed myself just fine.

He kept his gaze on me, it wasn't uncomfortable, but it was weird sometimes just how patient he could be. It wasn't something I was used to. I grew up with a family that were pretty much known to be spitfires, so I wasn't used to someone actually thinking things through and letting me think for a while.

I stopped moving around and tried to figure out how exactly I was going to explain what I was feeling, but I couldn't. I couldn't concentrate on anything but the swishing and creaking from his side of the room. Somehow he was still swaying on that stupid chair.

"Ok. Get out. I did my socializing today, you made sure of that. You brought that up again and I disagreed. Now go take Crocker to bed."

He laughed. And he kept swinging. "It's not 10pm yet."

"Ok, then go annoy him until it is and then take him to bed," I replied, getting back to sorting the boxes.

"All right, all right, I got the hint." The chair creaked as he got up and I heard his steps as he came behind me. He patted my back and turned to leave. "Don't take too long, you've been here all day."

"I thought 10pm was bed time." It was only a few minutes past nine.

"For Crocker. Who needs a bed time to shut up. He can get just one hour of sleep and be ready for the Olympics the next day. You unfortunately need more rest, so your bedtime is earlier, or else you'll wake up looking like Frankenstein's bride."

"Piss off."

"See, you're rude when you're tired."

"Ford."

"Yeah?"

"Just go. Before I throw something at your head."

He couldn't have left for more than a few minutes, but I missed his presence. And he was right, I was tired. I had gone over the same box for the past few minutes and I still couldn't make sense of it, not because it was wrong, but my mind was somewhere else. How was it that even when he wasn't here, Ford still managed to be right?

I closed the store, signed away the logbooks and then headed out to the cafeteria. I barely ate lunch and I thought a small meal before bed would help me sleep better. The cafeteria was past the main hangar, the one where we met them, so I had to go past it to get to the cafeteria and then my barracks. I felt a sharp pressure in my chest and it got bigger the closer I got to the hanger. It was routine by now to get as close to it as possible and then speed walk as fast as I could past it. Today, however, the noise coming from inside made my curiosity overcome my fear for a while, which was why I was currently looking covertly at the people and robots in the hanger. A voice that sounded very much like Ford kept telling me that spying was wrong and that this was my subconscious telling me that it meant that I was craving social interaction. I told the voice very plainly where it could shove its opinions.

I sighed, for what seemed the hundredth time today. I was really tired if I was arguing with my thoughts.

The voices from inside caught my attention again.

From my position by the doors, I had a pretty clear view of the inside. There were still plenty of boxes and equipment to be sorted out by the opening on the other side and there were a few planes that were currently being serviced or that were just garaged here filling the hanger. Even though some planes were rather big, they still didn't take up half the space that the Autobots did, even more so when they were moving. Hand gestures and a few steps here and there. They were almost human. Except for the large metal beings part.

The silver one was there. And the big black one. There was also the scout, Bumblebee. He was sitting on top of a metal crate which seemed to hold up his weight pretty well even though it was dented at the top.

They were talking to a few soldiers near them. I recognized Ford's stance, legs shoulder width apart with his hands crossed over his chest. Crocker was there too, his voice booming lightly in the echoing space. There were a few other soldiers that I didn't recognize and one that was in civilian clothes. The latter seemed different from the rest. Mainly his stance. You don't go through months of Lennox's training and not gain the trained type of stance. This one had a more relaxed, carefree body language, so either he was really good at looking relaxed or he wasn't even a soldier.

I remembered something about the scout having a charge or something, a teenage boy. Or more like young man. He seemed a bit eccentric with the way he was moving his hands around and his tone, but the scout seemed used to it, comfortable even. He said something to Crocker, who responded with something funny as they all laughed, even Ford and the robots.

The pressure in my chest turned dull and heavy. They never laughed like that around me.

I pulled myself away from the hanger and headed straight to the barracks as I no longer felt like eating. All I wanted was a long dreamless sleep where I'd wake up when there were no giant robots and I still had the beetle and its owners. I knew it was all wishful thinking, but I couldn't help but hope for it to be true. I slipped in between the sheets on my bed letting my sleep deprived mind imagine that I was back in my room in my own bed under my own sheets, with a football game as background noise and the smell of something good cooking from the kitchen. And that this was all just a bad dream.

A really bad dream.