Chapter 1: Mr. Blue Sky

Bumblebee decided that he liked summer on Earth…particularly summer on Earth with Sam. With Mikaela gone, Sam rarely left Bumblebee's side. The fledgling bond between then had grown too deep to measure. The two spent many lazy days going for long drives and finding new places where the Autobot could stretch out into his natural form. Even the quiet evenings spent at the lookout where special to him. For so long, Bumblebee's life had been simply about survival and defending his comrades that peace was a luxury he would never take for granted. He could not remember a time when he had felt as contented as he did with his human friend safely seated on his shoulder. Yes, this was the heaven that humans so often spoke of.

Sadly though, September came like a thief. Sam had remarked time and time again that school would start again soon, and Bee had chosen to ignore such comments. He didn't want to think of spending his days alone in the parking lot of the school or of having the parents once again limit Sam's freedom until ten o'clock. He was too enamored with summer to think of such things. Still, September came. Sam would return to school on the second.

On the morning of the first, Sam rushed out the door with a piece of toast in his teeth, scrambling to slide on a light jacket and keep hold of his bag all at once. Bumblebee revved his engine in greeting as the boy opened the door. "Good morning, Bee," Sam said suppressing a yawn.

Hey, there, Mr Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you, Electric Lights Orchestra sounded cheerily from Bumblebee's speakers. Though his vocal processor had been semi-repaired, Bumblebee relied on the radio, more-often-than-not, to speak to Sam.

Sam laughed. "Someone's in a good mood."

Bumblebee's engine purred in response. He was ready to go. There was no way he wanted to waste a second of their last day. Late into the night, Bumblebee had looked over as many satellite pictures of possible places to explore. He had found the perfect spot to take Sam, and the other Autobots had agreed to meet him there as an added surprise. Nothing could spoil this day…or so he thought.

"SAM!!!!" The shrill voice coming from the window belonged to Sam's female parent—the more annoying of the two—and didn't bode well for their trip.

"Fuck!" Sam swore softly. "YEAH, MOM?"

"I need you to stop at the mall and pick up your father's tux for the dinner we're going to tomorrow night," she called out to them.

"Do I have to?"

In the end the answer had been: "yes, he had to." Disheartened, the pair drove to the mall, and Sam kept saying that it would only be a minute and then they could leave. Bumblebee was not given to human-like bouts of petulance, but he was indeed pouting. He kept the radio tuned to songs like "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "Parents Just Don't Understand."

At the mall, Bumblebee spotted a familiar brunette sitting near the entryway with an unfamiliar young man. Sam tensed in the driver's seat. "So that's Mikaela's new toy," he said bitterly. "The guy's a real winner. He went to school with us before they sent his ass to prison for beating some guy with a wrench."

"…she's just the flavor of the week," came Bumblebee's musical response.

"Screw them," Sam muttered. "I'm just going to run in, grab the tux, and be right back."

One of the hardest parts of being an Autobot in hiding was that there were situations when Bumblebee was aching to interfere, but couldn't. As Sam walked into the mall, Mikaela's new man started calling insults at him. Sam gave a gesture that Bumblebee knew as "flipping the bird" and kept walking. Bumblebee did not like being forced to tolerate people mistreating his human. It made his engine burn just thinking about it. Though Bumblebee truly wished no ill will to the female, he sincerely wanted to crush her new mate beneath his large, metal feet. Soon after Sam entered the building, Bumblebee watched the couple follow not far behind.

Bumblebee sat in the parking lot glumly as he waited for Sam. The human definition of a "minute" must differ from the actual marking of time, he thought.

The Autobot's musings were soon ripped apart by the wail of sirens in the night. As the sound moved closer, Bumblebee began to scan the radio frequencies to see what all the fuss was about.

"…Approximately seventeen year old male with multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen…police are on route to the scene…"

If Bee had been human, he would have felt the air leave his lungs. As it was he simply felt as though all of his connections had been severed, leaving him with only an emptiness. He watched two police cars and an ambulance pull up to the mall. Where was Sam? Was his Sam the seventeen year old male in question?

Bumblebee could not help himself as he rolled closer to where the ambulance was parked. He simply had to know. With his holographic driver in place, Bumblebee hoped to avoid being noticed. The humans from inside of the ambulance raced through the entrance with a stretcher behind them, carrying an assortment of bags. One of the policemen, who had been inside already, exited the mall with a blood-covered Mikaela under his arm.

In the very depths of his spark, Bumblebee knew what had happened.