You should never be alone!

Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry about the wait guys; I've been a little busy and I feel more into my Pirates of the Caribbean fic that I'm doing but I'm not one to not finish a story so I will keep at it. Also fanfic wouldn't let me upload the chapter so it was delayed. R&R

"You and Smokescreen are together?" Jack seemed to be lost for words as he spoke. The three teens were sat on the edges of their seats as they were still trying to wake up from their little slumber and process what Bella was telling them; though it wasn't like she wanted to tell them. There was fun in keeping her feelings about Smokescreen to herself. She'd been alone so many times before even meeting the rookie that she was still used to it being just her and now more recently it was her and Smokescreen. As much as the young woman was loving meeting the autobots and she could never imagine her life without them now – there was still so odd feeling to being around so many people that did care about her. It was something that will become more familiar over time.

"Is it really that hard to believe" she was really questioning them now wondering why they really couldn't believe it.

"Well…" Raf looked between Miko and Jack before addressing her

Miko's face was all lit up though and it wasn't hard to see that this sparked her interest "It's awesome!

Bella sighed not expecting the conversation to take this almost awkward turn but then again Miko could probably ramble on and on about the whole which was something she still didn't want. It was when Raf finally spoke that she seemed to calm a little "no its not that hard to believe considering how the two of you act around each other but how would that work between you" Raf adjusted his glasses, pushing them up the ridge of his nose.

"Yeah the way you look at him and he looks at you. It's not that surprising but it is still so cool" Miko's voice wasn't one for having quiet conversations that no one else was supposed to hear as she talked louder and louder each time.

Bella's cheeks flushed red not feeling overly comfortable discussing the topic of her sex life around the teens. Of course she wasn't going to tell them anything in too much detail and she supposed that they had a right to be curious though that didn't make her feel any better about the subject being open for conversation. "I really don't feel comfortable talking about this with you guys" it was then that Bella got up from the sofa so that the teens could go back to sleep on it. Though she was tired herself the red head wanted to stay up to be with her rookie as much as she could. She also that she was going to have to go home soon, her arm wasn't going to fully heal if she didn't rest and Smokescreen would want her to look after herself. Her mind did ponder though that he may no object to her staying with him either, after all it would make things a lot easier for them all which may explain why Jack, Raf and Miko were sleeping on the couch by the tv.

"Dude, you're the first person to have an inter-species relationship which rocks" she held up her hands show a rock sign with a couple of her fingers folded over. The young girl seemed to be very pro the cybertronian/human relationship and was definitely encouraging it all.

"Thanks Miko but I'd still prefer to keep it to myself for now" she smiled to them before walking away to avoid any more discussion. She wasn't one to have all attention on her. Miko was about to call her back and jump up from the comfy furniture to carry on the discussion but Jack quickly stooped her making her sit back down.

He shook his head to her "don't push her Miko, Bella finds things more sensitive than us. Push her too hard and you might trigger an attack; considering that Smokescreen is now emotionally involved with her I'm not sure you want to see what happens when he gets overly protective of her" he smirked thinking of how the rookie would react. They were all aware that Smokescreen had dealt with a couple of her attacks but now things were a little different. Smokescreen could easily become emotionally compromised now.

Bella made her way down the metal stairs hoping to all ends that the teens or anyone else for that matter wouldn't call to her. She quickly made her way to the entrance to the hangar where she saw Optimus and Smokescreen retreat to. Her mind pondering what Optimus was thinking in his processor about her and Smokescreen. She had managed to calm Smokescreen's processor about his nerves of Optimus possibly terminating his guardian mission but that didn't mean that the leader of the Autobots wouldn't. In the red heads mind he did have every right to but even if he did she would stay by Smokescreen. The rookie had won her heart and made a bigger difference in her life for the better; never mind the people in her life that pretended to care about her.

As she moved out into the open air she caught a glance of Optimus coming towards her to go back into the hangar. His conversation with Smokescreen obviously over but the fact that as he moved past her he gave her a small smile and a nod still made her nervous. Had he made a decision? Was Smokescreen no longer her guardian? She returned the smile only for her face to go completely pale and small frown to build up on her lips when he was gone. Isabella hadn't let the thoughts and feelings get to her until now. Her heart was racing within her chest from the unknown. Her eyes followed the Prime as he majestically moved into the hangar and out of her line of sight.

The cooling early morning breeze caught Bella off guard as her skin shivered and goose bumps formed on her arms. The hairs on the back of her neck stood from the chilly air, her arms instinctively reaching us to brush each other to create some warmth. She was so in-cased in her thoughts that she didn't hear Smokescreen come up from behind her "hey, what are you doing out here?" his voice was soft and calm. Never had she heard his voice any different. She had heard it a little gruff when she first met him facing off a con but other than that his voice had remained the same. Not once had he lost his cool, gotten angry. She had seen him protective but even then he was still had a chilled approach to everything and his actions spoke louder than his words. Though he may have been playing it up to keep her calm. The rookie looked her over and noticed that she looked a little cold. His receptors on his armour picked up the chilly nightly air "You shouldn't be out here, Bells. It's too cold for you" he kneeled down shielding her from the cooling wind. He rested his right servo over his knee while he reached his other servo out to her.

Bella's instant reaction was to move towards him. Her skin quickly feeling his warmth radiating out from his body. His digit lightly touched the top of her head and then brush down her back until his entire servo was cupped around behind her. "I can take it" she spoke quietly, so much so that it would be hard for anyone to hear her but Smokescreen did and smirked. His instincts kicked in wanting to keep her warm and close by him so he gently scooped her up and held her close to him. Her head leaning on his chest plates; listening to thrumming of his spark. "What did Optimus say?"

Smokescreen had somehow quickly pushed that aside as soon as he saw her again and forgot that he even spoke to his commander "He understands and says that my duties can continue but…if the time came where I was too emotionally compromised then he would pull me out. I'd have to live with the consequences" The red head didn't think much of any consequences that Smokescreen would face but now it seemed to be all she could think about. Who was to say that being in a relationship could make things worse for him?

"Smoke if this is too complicated…"

He immediately saw where she was going "my spark has never felt so alive and at piece than being with you Bells. I can't promise to Prime that I'll be able to keep my cool all the time particularly if you are in danger but I refuse to let you go" Bella's cheeks flushed red feeling quite flattered.

It was then that they fell silent just as Smokescreen returned the both of them back into the hangar. Bella gave a quick look to the side to see the three teens sleeping soundly again on the sofa while the other autobots where hanging around waiting for orders; waiting for the decepticons to cause trouble.

As if on cue Agent Fowler came running out of his office which was to the side of the hangar and leant on the metal railing. "Prime! Satellite surveillance just picked up two signs of decepticon activity. One near an oil field outside of El Passo the other near the Hibberties Bluff in Scotland. So don't forget to pack your kilts"

Bella couldn't help but let out a sigh; she'd only just got out of hospital and back to her friends and they were back at it with stopping the decepticons from what was apparent as collecting predacon bones. It seemed like this was never ending. Her heart told her to be close to Smokescreen but he was needed elsewhere now.

"We must divide our resources" Optimus turned to his second in command "Ultra Magnus; lead the wreckers to the bluffs"

The second in command stood up straight as he always did. Bella wondered if that was how he normally was or because he wanted to impress Optimus. "Yes Optimus" Ultra Magnus's face turned to that of confusion. He moved to his leader and spoke softly obviously not understanding what Fowler had said. Cybertronians didn't really need to know what kilts were anyway. "Bulkhead, Wheeljack lets roll" Magnus walked away expecting the two mechs he had command over to follow behind him but they didn't. Wheeljack groaned out loud showing his enthusiasm of being under the command of Ultra Magnus.

"Guess I'm rolling out" Smokescreen moved to the catwalk by Ratchet's workstation and deposited Bella down.

Before he could fully retract his servo though Bella reached out and grabbed one of his digits "Be careful" she spoke softly making sure that he was well aware that she worried for him and didn't like it when he had to mobilise and leave her. After what happened when she was in hospital Bella didn't take any of this lightly anymore.

Smokescreen vented and carefully stroked the side of her face before moving off as Optimus ordered him and Bumblebee to accompany him to the oil field to look into the decepticon activity. Arcee now being the only one left at the base along with Ratchet that rarely leaves the base anyway. Isabella watched as Smokescreen, Bumblebee and Optimus transformed and drove through the groundbridge that Ratchet opened up for them with a little assistance from Raf. Arcee couldn't help but notice that Bella was a little unhappy watching them leave and was unsure whether it was a good idea talk to the red head or to just leave her to her own thoughts.

"Don't worry they'll be back before you know it" the femmes instincts kicked in and chose to try and cheer her up.

Bella managed a small smile for the blue femme but that was it. Until the rookie came back with the others she would continue to feel this way. "Thanks Arcee but I can't help but worry for them" She moved to where Ratchet was disabling the groundbridge "could you bridge me home please? I have work in the morning and I really should rest" Ratchet nodded before inputting in what she presumed to be coordinates; not that she understood how he knew them. The medic then glanced to Raf sat at his laptop.

"Groundbridge stabilised" he held up his hand in a thumbs up signal.

"Thanks guys, see you later" Bella moved to walk through the green portal. Her thoughts all on Smokescreen. She felt a little guilty that when he returned from mission she wouldn't be there waiting for him but there were other thingsshe had to think about. Now that she knew the autobots and was now part of their war her life didn't stop. Her job still continued and her art work still needed completing.

Coming out the other side of the bridge, the red head felt a little disoriented. Her stomach churned from the different kind of transportation that she took; her body wasn't used to it. Looking at her surroundings she was astonished to see that ratchet was very accurate. He had managed to bridge her right into her lounge. Into the middle of the room away from any of her pieces that might have been damaged from the opening alien tech. It was then that she spotted her latest unfinished masterpiece. A medium sized canvas; the background full of a sun set over a city scape while the foreground consisted of Smokescreens holoform leaning against his alt mode with one of his signature smirks. She had drawn everything up perfectly and now it just needed a spot of paint, she'd have to do the background first and considering it was supposed to be sunset she was going to get through a lot of paint.

Placing her hand under chin in thought she looked over to where she kept her supplies in a small chest. It was better kept in there so that any open or excess paint wouldn't dry up too quickly. Her fingers acted quickly, unlocking it and pulling open the top the smell of different types of paint and art supplies moved up her nose. The acrylic paint was the most distinguishable smell that came from the chest but even though it was strong it wasn't something that turned her nose. She was an artist after all. Sorting through the storage chest she noted that her paint supply was quite low, it looked like she was going to need to buy some more paint before she could finish the Smokescreen portrait.

It was something that was going to have to wait until the morning however. Or perhaps later if she didn't get the sketches done for this new product design that she had been asked to do and email across. Though with all time she seemed to spend around the autobots and the time she unwillingly spent with the decepticons and in hospital; time had moved on and her deadline was now much closer than she wanted. It only meant that she had less time to work on the designs and now she would have to really focus on it if she wanted to spend time with Smokescreen.

The red head couldn't help but let out a small yawn feeling quite exhausted. Her body still needed to rest as well with her arm still broken and in the cast; she was going to have to take it easy when painting not wanting to hurt it anymore. She gave in to the need to sleep – pushing thoughts about work and other activities aside until the morning when she would be well rested. Closing the chest up she sleepily moved to the window and pulled the curtains across but before the windows were completely covered she took a last glance outside. It was there again. The car that never seemed to move. She felt as though it was watching her considering that she had never once seen any one get inside it. Its dark purple and black colours making her hairs stand on end just looking at it, reminding her of when she first met the decepticons. When they transformed in front of her and aimed their weapon right at her face. Shaking the feeling off she pulled the curtain fully and retreated up the stairs to her bedroom; swiftly changing into a light top with small straps and a pair of soft shorts before climbing into her bed. Allowing the comfort of it to take her away. Her mind slipping as it lost itself in its own little world.