Three days had passed and Diana still hadn't mentioned her encounter with the Autobots to Knock Out. She knew he would be far from pleased once he found out, but she was wracking her brain to find a way to tell him that wouldn't leave him furious. From what she'd been told by both Knock Out and Optimus, the Decepticons were trouble, and Diana sorely wanted Knock Out to leave them, but she knew full well he couldn't just hand over his letter of resignation. But if she could get him to come to terms with the Autobots, to trust them, to accept their help, maybe then he could be free.

A sting on her arm broke her reverie, the woman yelping and swatting at the wasp that had nipped her arm. "Son of a..." she frowned, rubbing at the bite. She was kneeling in the little flower bed she maintained in front of her shop, a past time she had fallen in love with due to her late Grandmother.

The sound of an engine drew a smile to her face, she had come to recognize the sound of Knock Out's engine long ago. Rising from her knees she turned to watch the Aston Martin approach.

"Hey Knocks." she pulled her gardening gloves off, tucking them into the pockets of her capri pants as she walked over to the Medic.

He didn't reply, nor did he transform.

"What's wrong?" Diana frowned, stopping in front of him and setting both hands on his hood.

He still made no sound.

"Knock Out?"

"Breakdown got hurt." The mech finally spoke, voice low, pained.

Diana blinked. "What? How? Is he okay?"

Knock Out sighed, rolling back a tad before shifting into his regular form. "He's alright, banged up, but alive."

"What happened?" she was sure her heart had fallen into her boots, the angst on the red mech's face enough to make her chest ache.

"A group of humans, they call themselves MECH. They captured Breakdown." he glanced to her. "They were dissecting him, while he was awake."

Diana frowned. "He was, he watched?" she shook her head. "That's disgusting!"

"They disconnected most of his sensors, he couldn't feel it, but he saw everything, they took one of his optics." he crouched down, offering his left hand for Diana to step into.

"But he's okay? You got him back?" she stepped into his hand without hesitation.

"The Autobots rescued him..." his voice was barely a whisper, as if he didn't believe his own words.

"The Autobots, the Decepticons didn't?"

"Megatron wouldn't waste resources on him." Knock Out hissed, anger flickering over his face. "Not surprising, although Starscream did try later on."

"But Breakdown's okay?" she reached a hand out to his face, doing her best to comfort him.

"He's fine." he smiled at her touch.

"Part of me, can't believe that the Decepticons wouldn't rescue one of their own, but the other part of me remembers all you've told me about them."

"I can't figure out why the Autbots would rescue him, what could they possibly gain from that?" he frowned in confusion.

"Nothing, they did it because it was the right thing to do." was her gentle reply.

Knock Out considered her words a moment, eventually sighing. "What are you doing there?" he gestured to the flower bed nearby.

"Weeding, but that can wait, want to go for a drive?"

He nodded, his voice warming a bit. "Always."

"Junk, junk, bill, junk." Diana sighed, tossing bits of her mail to the floor as she sifted through it.

"Ey, don't make a mess." Knock Out scolded, maneuvering himself and Diana out of Jasper, the pair having gone into town so Diana could pick up her mail.

"Oh it's just paper you whiner, hello." she said softly, lifting a pink envelope. "What's this."

"What?"

"It's an invitation, to a friend's wedding, guess Cindy got serious with Matt." Diana scrutinized the frilly card, her nose crinkling up.

"Who's Cindy?"

"A friend, we met in high school, went to college together. She's a good friend."

"How come I've never met her?" Knock Out hummed.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because opening with a: Hi Cindy, how are you? By the way, have you met my boyfriend? He's an alien robot that turns into a car, no biggie. is a bad idea?" she rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Boyfriend huh?" there was a grin to his voice.

"Well, I'm not sure what else to call you at this point." she smirked, leaning back and setting her bare feet on the dashboard.

"So, are you going to go?"

"I guess, I mean, of course I want to, but it's formal, I don't do formal."

"I think you'd be just fine." he replied, turning onto the little highway that led to Diana's home.

"I guess, I do have that cocktail dress in my closet." she sighed, closing her eyes. "Can we drive a little more?"

"If that is what My Lady desires." he teased, accelerating down the road.

A smile was on her lips the moment he sped up.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Knock Out took a moment, carefully choosing his words. "You said your makers, your parents, were killed by a rogue driver."

Diana opened her eyes. "Yeah."

"And you got angry that time we discussed speeding, yet when we met, you were racing, I'm just confused."

The female pursed her lips, a slight scowl on her face. "It's, hard to explain. I was really close to my Grandma, and when she died it bothered me a lot, I started running, it made me feel better. And then when my parents died, running wasn't enough, so I started to race, or just went out on my own. I wanted to outrun everything." she glanced out the window, her voice dropping low. "But it was never fast enough, I couldn't get away."

An undignified squeak left her as Knock Out halted, his body seeming to pitch as he transformed, Diana almost bouncing from the passenger seat to his right hand, the process ending with him holding her near his face.

"I understand the feeling, and I'm sorry." he focused his gaze on her. "For everything that's happened to you."

Diana nodded, smiling faintly. "It wasn't your fault."

He sighed, leaning forwards until his head touched hers. "I want you to know, that from now on, I will protect you. I won't let anything happen to you, ever. I promise."

She watched him a moment, stunned by his words, and the absolute love that he had spoken with. "Knocks..."

His lips quirked into a grin. "I love you."

So, the title is from the song I was listening to: Chasing Cars - by Snow Patrol :3

Edit: Someone pointed out to me that it was Meg's going "trololol if Breakdown was dumb enough to get caught by hoomans it was his fault so he should be punished" Which I totally knew... brain y u fail me when I writing T_T I even remember going "Daw Screamer does care a little" when he shows up at the end... DERP HERP MY BAD!