Jazz (still looking a little offended) left soon to park at the end of Anna's driveway as a sentry. Ratchet waited for a little while after the human climbed into Optimus' vehicle form, but when Prime's vitals dipped down into recharge mode and she didn't reappear, he finally relaxed. "Well, looks like that worked," he commented to Ironhide. "He's resting and she's contained. Now if only they'll both stay that way for a while, I'll be happy."

Ironhide shook his head. "I gotta say it, Ratchet–you're good. No way would I have guessed they'd both shut down just like that."

The medic shrugged. "It's not magic, just a little psychology."

Ironhide raised an eyebrow. "All right, then, since it's so obvious, how about you tell me how you accomplished that? Cuz Optimus has been chomping at the bit to get moving since we got here, and that human might be little, but she's every bit as stubborn as he is."

"I know how to handle stubborn–I deal with you lot on a daily basis, don't I?" Ratchet returned, but instead of being insulted, the big fighter just grinned. Ratchet rolled his eyes and explained. "Think about their personalities. The human is intelligent, curious, driven. Her medical scans showed stress from fatigue, but no way was she going to sleep and miss out on whatever she thinks we're doing here. And we all know how Optimus is. Right now he desperately needs to rest and heal, but he's so used to putting everyone ahead of himself that it's almost impossible to force him to shut down for a single nanosecond. They'll keep going until they collapse, both of them."

"Yeah, and you didn't even ask them to rest and now they're both in recharge without a peep of protest. C'mon, give. How'd you do that?" Ironhide persisted.

Ratchet sat down with a sigh and didn't even try to keep the smug look off his face. "Think about what I just told you. Put it together and it's obvious. All I had to do was tell Prime that her health is suffering since she won't sleep because she wants to be here with us. He had already scanned that semi and the thing came with a sleeper compartment." The medic spread his hands, voilà. "Now it's not the scary medic she distrusts who's asking her to rest. Optimus is the one inviting her to try out that sleeper, right here in the thick of things. She likes him and it's bizarrely mutual, and that also takes care of Prime because first of all, he's taking care of someone besides himself, and secondly, while she's asleep in there, he can't move without waking her up. All that's available for him to do is exactly what he needs to do–be still and rest. This was a guaranteed success."

Ironhide chuckled. "You can be pretty damn manipulative when you want to, you know that?"

Ratchet waved that away. "Don't worry, I promise to only use my powers for good." He stretched, looking more than ready to get some rest himself, then shifted into his alt-mode–still the Cybertronian ambulance.

"You need to find an Earth vehicle form for yourself soon too. You're the only one who hasn't got one yet," Ironhide pointed out.

"You know, it's not like I've had an excess of time on my hands," Ratchet replied dryly. "And I'm not going to go looking right now, either. I plan to take advantage of having both of them squared away by getting some recharge myself. I'll scan a new alt-mode before we leave, don't worry."

"How about you ask Anna to help you out when she wakes up? She's done pretty well for the rest of us," Ironhide suggested, but when Ratchet pretended to already be in recharge instead of replying, he just chuckled. "Now who's the stubborn one?"

"Never claimed otherwise," Ratchet said, and then he really did shut down.

Ironhide considered doing the same, but in the end, he decided not to. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jazz–far from it–but right now, with his Prime in such a vulnerable condition and so few Autobots on hand to defend him should it become necessary, he simply couldn't relax enough to shut his systems down. Besides, with Prime and Ratchet both in vehicle mode, the barn was pretty well full. If he tried to shift into his truck form too, they'd be bumper-to-bumper in here, and that wouldn't be comfortable for anyone.

Moving outside was out of the question, though. Jazz could get away with it, but Ironhide had copied Anna's truck, and it was sitting right where she'd parked it in front of her house. It was reasonable for someone to overlook Jazz–she might've gotten a new car, or maybe she had a visitor–but it would probably be a little too much to expect people to believe she'd bought an exact duplicate of a vehicle she already had. The sun had fully risen now, and although her house was set well back from the highway and mostly concealed from view by low hills and a few trees, he hadn't survived four million years of war by taking unnecessary chances. No, he was staying put where he wouldn't run the risk of being seen.

Anyway, he'd gotten a few hours of solid recharge earlier before Anna had "botnapped" him, to use her word, and he didn't have to fully shut down to rest. He leaned against the doorframe and set his proximity sensors to maximum range, preparing to enjoy one of life's most underrated pleasures–doing absolutely nothing and savoring the peace and quiet.

But only a little over an hour later, his proximity alarms pinged a vehicle crossing Anna's property line. Ironhide was already getting to his feet when Jazz commed him. ::A vehicle just turned down the drive, 'Hide, and there's another one not too far behind it,:: he reported urgently. ::You've got maybe a minute to button it up back there.::

::Decepticons or humans?:: Ironhide replied, quickly dragging the barn doors closed behind him and hurrying over to shut the ones at the other side, too. The wooden structure would offer no protection in a true battle, but keeping out of sight might prevent a battle from ever starting. At least the barn's single window was impressively dirty–it was hard to see out of it, but from the outside, it was impossible to see in, and Anna's line of generators and the signal converter all partially obscured the view, too.

It wasn't a perfect hiding place, but it was pretty damn good and he'd definitely used worse.

::I got no Energon readings when the first one passed and it didn't react to me at all when I scanned it, so I'm pretty sure it's not the 'cons,:: Jazz replied. ::Orders?::

:: Stay put and wait for further instructions,:: Ironhide told him as he yanked at the other set of enormous doors. He got one closed, but Anna's tractor partially blocked the other from swinging fully shut. "Frag," he muttered–if he shoved the tractor out of the way, the approaching vehicles might see him do it, but if he didn't, he couldn't secure the building. At least it wasn't one of the front doors, but still, if someone walked around the back of the barn they'd be able to look right inside.

But if they did, what would they see? Three vehicles parked way too close inside a barn? That might be a little odd, but it was nothing that would instantly raise suspicions of alien activity. He started to relax–

–until his gaze fell on Ratchet's alt-mode.

His very distinctively Cybertronian alt-mode.

"Frag," he growled again. Hating to do it, he tapped on Prime's hood. "Prime, wake up, we got a situation. We need your friend out here," he said as he glanced out the single window to see the first vehicle stop in front of her house–a late-model sedan with mismatched paint. The flightless and frankly unattractive vehicle didn't look like a Decepticon, but again, Ironhide hadn't lived so long by taking chances. They'd been known to use the locals as spies before. ::Jazz, keep your weapons ready but don't move until I give you the word,:: he told the spec-ops leader. ::I'm gonna ask Anna to see if she can run 'em off so we don't have to.::

::Definitely the best option,:: Jazz agreed.

Optimus came back online immediately and Ironhide heard him speaking to Anna through his internal speakers even as he replied to him over their com link. ::Report?::

::Two vehicles, apparently human but occupants unknown, and I don't remember her saying she was expecting anyone, do you?::

::No.::

Before Optimus could say anything else, his door opened and Anna jumped out. Her face was pale from sleep and she was running her hands over her hair to smooth it, but she looked reassuringly alert for someone who had just been woken up. She had barely hit the ground before she looked over at Ratchet and came to the same conclusion Ironhide had. "Damn, he looks alien as hell. Ironhide, help me," she said as she hurried over to him. She pointed up at the hayloft. "I need to get something from the loft, can you get me up there?"

He held out his hand and she jumped on, holding on tight as he lifted her to the loft. She scrambled out of his hand and grabbed a large, heavy-duty tarp. Dragging it back toward him, she said, "This should mostly cover him–here, you can get it over him quicker than I can–"

Ironhide was already snatching it up. He snapped it open and flung it over Ratchet, who awakened with a start. "Don't move," he told the medic before turning back to get Anna down.

He didn't need to bother. She had already climbed halfway down the ladder and jumped the rest of the way, landing with a thump and a gasp as she clutched her bruised side. Ironhide instinctively reached for her but she waved his hand away. "No, forget that, be a truck! Hurry!" she hissed at him, and then she ran out of the barn without waiting to see if he complied.

::What's happening?:: Ratchet commed him as Optimus backed up as much as he could to make room for Ironhide to transform between them. Ironhide chose his position carefully, putting himself between Ratchet and the partially-open door. He'd really rather park in front of Optimus, too, but there was neither time nor space for that much rearranging in here. Best he could do was try to block Ratchet from view as much as possible.

::We're about to find out which one of us is right about the human,:: Ironhide told the medic.

Ratchet was silent for an instant and Ironhide could almost hear him thinking of Optimus Prime's medical condition and how little they needed to get into a fight right now. ::Hope it's you.::

.

Anna's whole side ached as she ran out to see who had arrived–that jump might not have been the best idea she'd ever had, but she pushed the pain out of her mind. She still felt a little befuddled from the nap and wished she hadn't let Optimus talk her into it, but that jolt of pain from jumping down had done a good job of banishing most of the sleep from her system. She came around the corner of her house and recognized the car before she even saw the teenager knocking on her door. "Oh, hey Spike," she called, relieved. "Over here. What's up?"

The brown-haired teen turned and grinned at her. "Hey, doc," he greeted her, jogging over. He looked her up and down and Anna reflexively ran a hand over her hair, wondering just how messy it had gotten while she'd slept. "Well, look at you. I'm gonna guess that one, you've been awake all night working on something badass, and two, you forgot that you agreed to help me study today for my physics final. I've been calling you since like eight o'clock and it keeps ringing to voicemail. Did you get so into what you're doing that you forgot how to answer your cell phone again?"

Anna blinked and then groaned. Yes, she was supposed to tutor him today. "Oh god, right on all counts. I'm so sorry, kiddo. Give me a minute to get my head on straight and we'll get started on that."

He waved a hand. "Forget that, I'd rather know what you're working on out there," he said, grinning, and Anna had to laugh. They'd started these informal study sessions a couple of years ago when his father had begged her to help Spike with school. She'd known Sparkplug for years–he'd been a friend of her father's, and whenever she didn't have time to work on her own vehicles, his garage was the only one she'd trust. Over the years since her parents' deaths, the Witwickys had become almost like a second family to her. But Spike was a typical teenager and soon the novelty of being tutored by a real NASA scientist had worn off, and now he was always looking for excuses not to study. Getting her going on her favorite topics–robotics and space–was usually a good ploy. "Come on, lemme in the barn, lemme see your project! I promise I'll study after!"

"Yeah, nice try, but not today," Anna told him firmly. She loved his interest and she usually indulged him in hopes that he'd buckle down and focus, because he truly did have both brains and talent and she would love to spark his passion so he could live up to the potential she saw in him, but the very last thing she wanted to do today was talk to him about space or robots and there was no way in hell he was getting near her barn. "Today we're going to make sure you graduate high school. You want a cool job like mine, you go to school and earn it."

He groaned theatrically. "But my physics teacher is so boring!" he wailed, a lament she'd heard before about any number of math and science teachers. "She doesn't explain it like you do!"

"Then maybe you should pay attention to how I explain it so you pass your test and don't have to repeat your senior year and take her class again." Then she noticed another vehicle coming up her driveway–this time, an unmarked black SUV. While Spike's old Civic with its mismatched, faded paint and incongruously fancy chrome rims was as familiar to her as his face, she definitely did not know this vehicle. "Did you bring friends?" she asked as her worry resurged.

Spike turned, looked at the SUV, and shrugged. "They're not with me." Then, catching sight of her anxiety, he added, "You okay, doc?"

Anna thought fast. She didn't know who these people were or what they wanted, but she had a barn full of reasons to be suspicious of strangers on her property. She looked at Spike and made an abrupt decision. "I don't know who these people are but they cannot get near my barn. Help me keep them clear and I'll get you a behind-the-scenes tour at my lab as soon as you turn 18. Deal?"

It was the very best carrot she could think of to dangle before him. Spike had been begging for a chance to see her lab for years but security concerns and his age had always prevented it. She'd been saving this for a reward for him getting into college but, well. She'd just have to think of some other bribe. Right now she needed the extra help running interference.

And it was very effective. "You got it!" he agreed immediately with a huge grin. "Project Keep-Away in effect! You talk 'em in circles and I'll tackle 'em if necessary."

She grabbed his elbow and spoke very quickly–the SUV was rolling to a stop now. "I'm serious, Spike. This is not a game. They can't even get close, do you understand?"

The teenager stared at her, taken aback by her vehemence. "Okay, Anna," he said, and this time he looked like he was taking it seriously. "I'll do everything I can to help. Will you tell me why later?"

"No. You'll just have to trust me," she said, and then the SUV's doors opened and two men got out, and there was no more time for explanations. Anna walked forward and stopped beside the vehicle. "Can I help you?" she asked, looking at their dark suits and hoping for something simple. It was Sunday, after all. "I'm not looking for Jesus, if that saves us any time."

Spike snorted behind her as the driver stepped forward and offered his hand. "Mrs. Elias, yes? I'm Gordon Horiuchi. I understand you had an unexpected visitor a few days ago."

Anna shook his hand and raised an eyebrow. Just as she had with the Autobots, she recognized the military bearing, and his omission of his rank and unit was more than a little disturbing. She hid her disquiet as best she could, but didn't try to pretend that she wasn't somewhat anxious. Anyone receiving unexpected visitors like these two would be. Acting too calm would be just as suspicious as acting too nervous. "It's Doctor Elias, actually," she replied coolly.

"Forgive me," Horiuchi said with almost-believable sincerity. Anna dropped his hand and waited, and he prompted, "And your visitor?"

She crossed her arms and jerked her chin at Spike. "Not that it's your business, but he's the first visitor I've had in days."

The strangers turned to Spike. "And who are you, son?" Horiuchi asked.

"He's none of your concern," Anna answered before Spike could. "Again, can I help you with something? Because my time is valuable, gentlemen."

Horiuchi smiled. "So is ours, so let's stop playing and talk about the visitor that landed here two days ago."

Anna stared at him for a minute, letting her face go utterly blank with confusion. It wasn't hard to do–how could they know about Optimus? Then she blinked and said, "Are you talking about the meteorite?" as though that thought had just occurred to her.

Horiuchi nodded, confirming her fears. "If that's what you want to call it. We need you to hand it over."

She snorted and shook her head. "Oh, I don't think so. To quote United States law, finders keepers," she said, which made Spike laugh. When both men frowned, she elaborated. "I collect meteorites, both bought and found. I know the law. This one fell on my private land and that makes it legally mine. I could sell it if I wanted to, but you haven't made an offer and anyway, it's not for sale. How often does someone actually get to see a meteorite hit?" She shook her head again. "There's serious sentimental value there. Are we done here?"

"No, we're not done here." Horiuchi didn't move, but his still-unnamed companion took a step closer. He was about a foot taller than she was and built like a brick house. The intimidation ploy was crystal clear and Anna was starting to get pissed off now. Spike moved forward too but she put a hand on his arm and he stayed put as Horiuchi continued. "We both know that we're not talking about a meteorite. What are you willing to go through to protect your guest? We've come out here, just the two of us, to ask nicely, but there's another way this could go. Perhaps you should think about it a bit harder, Doctor."

And if she wasn't already annoyed with his attitude, the derisive way he said her title would've done it. She narrowed her eyes and thought about her guests in the barn, and how much easier it would be to give them over without argument, and decided they could stuff it. "Well, I'd call you by your title like you bought it online, too, but you haven't offered one," she replied dryly. She looked over at Muscles, raked him up and down with her gaze, then deliberately dismissed him to turn back to his boss. "You're, what, a captain? Major?"

"Colonel, actually," Horiuchi replied, crossing his arms, and Anna smirked.

"Bit high-ranking to believe in little green men, aren't you?" she said, and Spike, bless him, laughed right on cue. "And a bit high-ranking to pull this kind of stunt. Did you really think you could just come out here and threaten me on my own property, in front of a witness, and on camera–" she glanced meaningfully at the security lights tucked beneath her eaves, "–and there would be no consequences? Did you hope I'd just fall over myself in fear and do whatever you asked? You must've missed more than just my doctorates when you researched me."

Both men looked up at the overhang of her roof. "I don't see any cameras," Horiuchi said, glowering into the shadows.

"You know what, that's actually kind of the point of hidden security cameras," Anna replied, sarcasm dripping from her tone. "Feed is automatically uploaded to the cloud, so even if you take 'em down and erase my files, it'll do you no good. Smile, guys. You're on Candid Camera."

"Are you really here looking for aliens?" Spike asked, still grinning hugely. "I mean, I love the Men In Black movies. Do you have that flashy-thing? Can I see the sunglasses?"

Muscles glared at Spike and Anna snapped her fingers to draw his gaze back to her–it was annoying and that was the point. She wanted all their attention on her, not the teen. "You know what I'll do for you, Colonel?" she said, putting as much disdain into the title as he'd put into hers. "Just because I'm such a nice, understanding person, but mostly because I don't want you to have any excuse to come back, I'll humor you. Come on, bring your friend. I'll show you the crater and you can see all the little broken meteorite pieces, but if you want to take any with you, I'm going to need a boatload of cash or a court order compelling me to surrender them. How's that sound?" She didn't wait for a reply, just turned her back on them and started walking around to her backyard.

Spike followed and after a moment, the men in black–she should really call them something else, but it just fit so well–did too. Deliberately not looking at her barn, she gestured to the torn-up earth and scorched, cracked granite outcrop. "Not a single little green man in sight," she said, turning back to them and standing on the edge of the crater with her hands on her hips. "It was enough excitement even without that, I can tell you. Shook the whole house and set the ground and grass on fire." She gestured at the empty fire extinguisher for emphasis.

Horiuchi pursed his lips as he examined the crater. "Looks like something pulled itself out."

Anna scoffed. "Oh come on, seriously? Did you miss the part where I collect meteorites? I've been out here digging up pieces all weekend."

Muscles pointed at the tractor tracks and drag marks. "And this?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, you got me. There was a badass alien spaceship in there and I dragged it away with my tractor," she said sarcastically. "Or maybe I pulled my Caterpillar up here to use the backhoe attachment, and I didn't disconnect the road-grader from the back before I did it." She gestured to the barn where the bright yellow tractor with its dirt-stained backhoe was clearly visible and hoped that they wouldn't want to take a closer look at it because there wasn't a road-grader on the back. "I suppose you'll just have to decide what's more likely."

The muscle-man bent and poked at a glint in the dirt, then stood up with a sliver of shattered iron meteorite in his hand. Anna watched him like a hawk as he showed it to his commanding officer, both to maintain her cover of greedy meteorite collector, and also because she truly was nervous about what they might see. Horiuchi took the shard and looked closely at it, even pulling out a jeweler's loop and examining it like he was grading a diamond, and she hoped like hell that Ironhide really had neutralized any traces of Optimus Prime's spectacularly destructive landing out here.

After a moment, Anna pointedly held out her hand. At first she didn't think he was actually going to give it to her, but finally he did, laying it carefully across her palm. "Sorry to disappoint you, but there are no aliens here. Are we done?" she repeated as she closed her fingers over it.

The two men exchanged a glance and then the colonel nodded. "Sorry to have disturbed you, ma'am," he said, already walking back to the SUV.

Muscles, however, reached into his jacket. Anna tensed, vividly remembering looking down an enormous gun barrel and not wanting to repeat the experience on any scale, but he merely pulled out a shiny black card and offered it to her. "Should you… recall anything… it would be in your best interests to call us," he said in a voice like gravel. Anna didn't want to take it but she made herself do it anyway, pinching the slick plastic card between two fingers to touch it as little as possible.

"Skywatch," Anna read, glancing at the card briefly before looking back at Muscles. "Never heard of it."

"No, you wouldn't have. Have a nice day, ma'am." He nodded and followed his boss, and a few moments later the SUV drove away again.

Anna sat down in the dirt the minute they were gone, legs limp with reaction, but she wasn't so far gone that she didn't remember to jam the slightly-too-thick plastic business card deep into the loose soil. Spike frowned when he saw her do that, then knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Doc, what's going on here?" he asked when he felt her shaking. "That was… that whole thing was just weird, and why didn't you call me and Dad when this meteorite hit? We would've been out here in a second to help you dig it up."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Spike, sweetie, you know there are some things I can't tell you about my work," she said, fighting a twinge of guilt at using this excuse to basically lie to him. She genuinely liked the kid and that was exactly why she wasn't going to let him get involved in any of this.

"I'm not asking about your classified stuff," Spike persisted. She opened her eyes to see him frowning at her with deep concern. "I'm asking if you're all right."

She pulled him in for a hug. "I'm fine, kiddo," she told him, then pulled back to smile at him. "I promise. Okay?"

He didn't look fully convinced, but he finally nodded. "If you say so." Then he gave her a crooked grin. "And hey, since when do you have security cameras? Dad's been nagging you to get some forever and you always say that you hate those things and won't have 'em around."

She gave him a mischievous little smile. "Oh, I won't. But they didn't know that, now did they?"

Anna grinned and Spike laughed, and for a moment, everything was all right.

.

Thank you to everyone who continues to review! You give me life. :D