A knock broke through the silence that hung in the room. The sole occupant groaned as he pushed himself up and slowly approached the door. He threw it open and started in surprise when he found himself staring at a rather wet Xyleon. "Alexis?" he asked. She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile while her optics roamed the floor.

"Hi, 'Hide. I was... wondering... if I could stay here for the night. Chloe's asleep, and my quarters are with Optimus," she squeaked. Ironhide moved out of the way to allow her through. She flashed him a real smile that fell quickly. It was enough to get Ironhide concerned.

"Something wrong?" he questioned.

"I can go-" her words were cut off by Ironhide stepping in front of the door to block it. Even though she was his height, she couldn't just push past him. She wasn't strong enough to do so. She sighed and forced herself to meet his optics. As soon as she did, she snapped them away since tears began spilling down her face. "I'm so weak." Ironhide covered the distance between them and caught her in a hug. She buried her face in his neck while he held her. Feebly, she gripped the edges on his armor.

"Alexis..." he said in an attempt to get her to talk.

"It just... hurts."

"What does?"

"M-my spark."

"Should you see Ratchet?" Ironhide asked. Alexis shook her head slightly.

"It's just the block... from Op- Prime's side," Alexis answered, still refusing to call the mech by his name properly. Ironhide frowned, concern in his optics.

"You sure, Lexie?" He half-sparkedly teased, leading her to a spare berth that Bumblebee used to have as a Youngling; the scout had always taken a liking to the gruff old warrior and Ironhide had volunteered to look after him as he grew up, a berth being moved to his room should Bumblebee wish to stay in there. Alexis gave the weapons master a weak smile as he fetched a few blankets for the Xyleon to wrap up in as well as a towel for her to dry off, leaving the femme to ponder about her descision.

'Now... now I'm not sure about this...' Alexis thought, replaying all of her best moments with Chloe in her processor, the ones filed under 'Unforgettable Moments'. One of them brought small tears to her optics; it was the day before Chloe had bonded to Jazz and the day after Jazz had proposed to the girl. Alexis had decided to treat Chloe to 'a day of freedom' as they had called it considering it would be the human's last day as a single girl. The entire day had consisted of laughs, nerves, hiccups, tears and a lot of ice cream... and it proved to be a day neither girl could forget.

"Here ya're, Lexie!" Ironhide said, reappearing with his arms full of blankets of numerous colours; shattering Alexis' reverie and banishing the tears that threatened to fall. She grabbed a few with a smile.

"Thanks for putting up with me," she said softly.

"Only cos ya live 'ere!" Ironhide said playfully, his faceplates cracking into a smile. Alexis laughed and hugged him, even though she knew he wouldn't really like it. Too 'mushy' for a mech like him. And, true to the fact, Ironhide growled softly at the Xyleon. "Gerroff!" He snapped, trying to worm out of her grip without hurting her. She laughed and held on as long as she could until he finally managed to pull away.

"Awww... you killjoy 'Hide!" Alexis joked, laying back on the berth and wrapping the blankets around herself tightly. Ironhide only growled further before chuckling. He tossed the other blankets at her, and delighted in her slight squeal as she fought to get them off of her. He reached forward though, to keep her from falling off the edge. Alexis squealed again as the black mech started to prod her in the side, one of her many numerous tickle-spots. Ironhide laughed, an actual proper laugh, and continued to prod and tickle the Xyleon. She thrashed as tried to get away from him. "No! HIDE! STOP IT!" Alexis gasped as she laughed, diving towards the warrior and flooring him easily.

"My revenge for you hugging me!" Ironhide chuckled as he continued to tickle Alexis. Both aliens rolled around on the floor, getting tangled up in the many blankets that littered the floor. They did this until Alexis was gasping for air, and her vocaliser shorted out.

"Ir-hi- I c-n- br-h st- -t!" Alexis tried to protest against the constant fusillade of tickling, static now making up a majority of her voice. Ironhide pulled away briefly to allow her to take in some air. He didn't want her passing out on him after all. It would ruin his fun. "C-n I -le-se -et -me re-?" Alexis made another attempt at speaking. Ironhide let her up and watched as she fell into another giggle fit. In between breaths she laughed until she was simply shaking without any sound at all. "NOW can I go to bed?" Alexis asked, rearranging the blankets that were a mishapen pile on her berth.

"I don't think I should let ya," Ironhide replied with a smirk. Alexis narrowed her optics, even as a smile painted her lips.

"Why?" Alexis said, her voice impersonating that of an innocent Youngling's. Ironhide roared with laughter. Alexis whipped one of the blankets at him and managed to trip herself. She fell with a shriek and laughed at her own mistake. "Night, 'Hide."

"Hehe good night Lexie!" The black mech chuckled as he retreated to his own berth, a chesire's grin still upon his faceplates.

Elsewhere, a high ranking soldier was far from laughter. Alexis' words from earlier still rung in his ears. He had a choice to make. And he would lose either way. Which bullet would he take? The answer was far from his mind. If he did as she'd asked, he would make the base unbearable. If he didn't, she'd be even more miserable. She was a friend of his, so it would tear at his heart to make her unhappy. The same went for Chloe. He sighed and stepped into the rec room. He stopped when he noticed the only other person in the room. "Epps? What are you doing up so late?" Lennox called over. The black soldier smirked.

"I could ask ya the same thing," he replied.

"You first," Lennox said.

"Dunno man, jus' can't sleep I s'pose," Epps shrugged, "Come on brah, why're you up?"

Will sighed, "I'm gonna risk my life telling you this buddy, but I got an evil descision to make."

"Sounds spooky. What descision? This 'bout the bots?" Epps questioned.

"Kinda, namely a techno-organic," Lennox stalled, "Alexis." Epps' eyebrows were raised so high that they were in danger of disappearing past his forehead.

"Oh? What's happened now?" Lennox sighed again and motioned for his friend to take a seat.

"She came to me earlier today, asked me a question."

"Go on..."

"And she wants me to..." Lennox paused, racking his brain for an easy way to explain, "... get her off base without anyone noticing." Epps stared at his friend for a few long, agonizing moments.

"What're you planning?" Epps asked carefully.

"I don't know, Epps, I just don't know brah," Lennox pinched the bridge of his nose like he had done so many times before and Epps, from experience in the field with his teammate, immediately recognised it; the soldier would do this whenever he was stressed or frustrated... or confronted with an impossible decision.

"You can't do that. An' you know it. Chloe'll freak, and Prime'll be upset. An' Jazz 'cause of Chloe. But can you see yourself survivin' Alexis when she gets upset?"

"To be perfectly honest, Epps, I don't see me surviving either way for very long." Will weakly joked.

"Don't think like that, man. You'll only have ta hide for a month or two. Or three," Epps commented. Will's hand connected with the back of his friend's hand. "Pick the lesser of the two evils. Which'll be worse?" Lennox glared slightly at his fellow soldier.

"Uh heelllooo? BOTH will be the worst. Prime will send someone else out to kill me considering he won't and can't do it himself and Alexis will murder me too."

"I really don't see that happenin' dude. We're talking about Prime and Alexis here. Prime won't hurt humans, and Alexis... is Alexis," Epps said as he raised his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, Alexis is Alexis... occassionally unpre-bloody-dictable," Lennnox replied sourly.

"The most you'll get from her is a threat and tears," Epps pointed out.

"Yeah and a flood of 'em if she's in her original form!"

Epps choked on a laugh at the very thought. "Haha! Yeah 'help me- blub blub blub blub blub!' Haha!" Epps laughed at the moody soldier.

"Not helping Epps, not helping."

"Pfffffttttt! Hahahahahaha! Oh man that is just TOO funny!" Epps roared with laughter, earning a good hard smack upside the head from Lennox. Again. "Okay, okay, okay. Will, she won't kill you, either way."

"What should I DO?" Will cried out.

"Don't look at me brah! I ain't got the faintest!" Epps surrendered.

"Thanks Epps, thanks a bunch..." Lennox groaned as he buried his head in his arms on the table. Epps frowned and got up, giving Will an almost reassuring pat on the back.

"Come on brah, ya know what ya need?" Epps said. Lennox gave a muffled response. "Ya need a good ol' pick-me-up!" The black soldier moved off to get something from 'NEST's secret stash'. Moments later, Epps reappeared beside Will with two small bottles of legal vodka. "Come on brah, sit yerself up," Epps coaxed the doll-like soldier into a slouched sitting position and pushed a bottle into Lennox's hand. "Bro, drink." Epps ordered. Lennox uncapped the bottle and chugged the whole bottle in one, a fierce burning sensation attacking his throat.

"*hic* Epps!" Lennox slurred slightly, "you know *hic* how bad *hic* vodka goes with *hic* me!" The soldier's vision had gone blurry as Epps discretely tipped the rest of his vodka into Lennox's bottle, a mischevious look raging upon his face.

"Lennox, finish up brah!" he said, tipping his friend's bottle up to Will's lips.

"Nah but I don't *hic* wanna..." Lennox protested weakly, accepting the vodka being leaked into his mouth. Another burning sensation attacked Lennox's throat and mouth, making hin cough after he'd finished the extra vodka. "Epps..." Lennox slurred heavily, "I *hic* hate you for *hic* this... you know I *hic* have duty tomorrow *hic*!" Epps just smiled evilly.

"Yah but you needed to relax a bit brah! You ain't chillaxed like this for ages bro!"

"You should *hic* know better than *hic* to gimme vod*hic*ka before I'm on *hic* duty!"

"Hehehe oh well!" Epps tried to smother a snigger at Will.

"Great *hic* I have ta *hic* see Lexis tomorrow *hic*," Lennox moaned.

"Good luck hiding that hangover!" Epps burst out laughing at the thought of the usually stoic soldier confronting a potentially stroppy Xyleon whilst recovering from a hangover.

Lennox barely bit back a groan the following morning when he found Alexis, in her human form, leaning against the wall beside the door to his office. He staggered forward even though he only wanted to go back to sleep. Alexis looked up with slight concern in her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Not really... Epps... blame him..." Lennox replied weakly, opening the door to his office and inviting the patient Xyleon into his office.

"What did he do?" she inquired as she stepped inside. Lennox followed and took a seat behind his desk and motioned to the chair in front of it.

"Vodka." Was the short reply. Alexis half-scoffed, half-laughed at his answer.

"So he got you drunk. Wow." Lennox glared at the sniggering girl, but it only made Alexis laugh harder. "Remind me to congratulate Epps on this!" she barely got out before collapsing into another fit of hysterics.

"Not funny. My head's killing me," he snapped. Alexis gave him a gentle smile and ceased her laughing once she was able to.

"Sorry, but you gotta admit, that is pretty fraggin' funny!" Alexis giggled weakly as she closed her optics to picure a drunk Lennox.

"No, it's not. Are you here to make fun of me, or to find out my answer?" he growled. Alexis finally fell silent, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Your answer, Lennox, sir."

"I have one condition for you. If I get you away without anyone noticing, you stay with my family. I called Sarah last night. She already agreed with me. Do you accept?" Lennox asked. Alexis bit down on her lip as she thought through the situation. A smile pulled at her lips.

"Thank you," she said softly. She nodded. Lennox breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking Primus that he hadn't signed a death warrant.

"Go get packed then. You'll leave tonight," he told her. She stood and walked over to him and hugged him gently before practically running from the room.

Alexis did as Lennox asked and packed what she was planning on bringing. Including one reminder of Optimus. The little snow globe he gave her the day after arriving on Cybertron. Back before any of the madness with Black Charade had happened. Once she was packed she stuck the bag under her berth to avoid Optimus finding it if he beat her back to the room. She then left her quarters to search for Chloe, to spend her last day on the base with her best friend.

Ten, long, agonising minutes were spent searching for the girl before Alexis found her. Chloe was in the Rec Room playing on the Wii against Bumblebee and Jazz on Mario Kart when Alexis called her out. "Alexis! Where have you been?" Chloe asked.

"I was talking with Will," Alexis replied. She pulled at the dark brown hair hanging over her shoulder as her eyes wandered the room.

"What about?" Chloe asked, waving away the protests of the others as she reset their game back to the Wii menu.

"... Stuff," Alexis replied, thinking quickly on her feet. Chloe glanced over at the Xyleon's reply.

"'Stuff'?" she repeated.

"Yeah, army stuff and... stuff..." Alexis answered, thinking even quicker on her feet as she received the full bombardment of questions from her naturally-curious friend.

"Huh," Chloe said. She gave Jazz's holoform a quick kiss and walked over to where Alexis was waiting for her. "What do you want to do?"

"Uh... talk? Do some art? I don't know," Alexis responded. Chloe's optics narrowed in suspicion for a fraction of a second before agreeing and bouncing after her friend as Alexis headed to her personal hanger.

Alexis sighed softly in relief as she realized that not spilling her secret would be a lot harder than she'd thought. Thankfully, so far Chloe didn't quite suspect anything. She led Chloe outside and retook her true form to unlock her hanger. Another thing she would truly miss.

"Soooooo..." Alexis said, breaking the annoying tension and silence surrounding them, "What do ya wanna draw? Or work on?" Chloe shrugged in response, her optics scanning over the Xyleon's almost nervous movements.

"Dunno..." Chloe trailed off as a small idea hit her, "Has something happened, Alexis?"

"What? No, no, I'm fine." Alexis quickly defended herself... a little too quickly.

"Hmmm... ok. Could we work on a short-term project? Like a model?" Alexis smiled warmly at the human techno-organic; Chloe was always coming up with good art ideas for both girls to try out and, with Alexis' careful hands, very few of the pieces went wrong or were scrapped.

She motioned for Chloe to join her at the table that was the perfect height for humans while she moved off to grab some supplies. Chloe could automatically sense that something was wrong. "Alexis?" Chloe called. The Xyleon turned to the human girl slightly, but she didn't move from her spot.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you are ok?"

"I'm fine, Cazz, I'm just tired..."

"Cazz? You never call me that."

"Don't I?" Alexis sounded surprised, "Hmm... I must have called you that at least once..." Alexis said as she returned to the table with numerous types of art media.

"No. You don't. Ever," Chloe said with concern. "Alexis, you can tell me what's wrong."

"Chloe..." Alexis sighed, "I'm fine. Stop worrying!" Chloe frowned at the response and started randomly making tissue paper flowers of blue and white. Alexis, having returned to her human form, smiled, switched on the radio and started making flowers too.

"Alexis," Chloe said, shattering the silence outside of the music, "You're leaving... aren't you?"

Alexis kind of froze and the flower in her hand tore apart. She closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath. "How'd you guess?" she asked in a voice so soft Chloe barely heard her over the music. The human girl fell deathly silent and, when Alexis opened her human eyes again, Chloe had sunk down into her chair, the flower in her hand crumpled and stripped of its leaves. Alexis could see that Chloe was crying, her body shaking and wet patches appearing on her T-shirt. "Chloe..."

"Why?" Chloe cried out, "Why are you leaving?"

"Chloe, believe me, I don't want to but-"

"But what? What is more important than our friendship? Than our friends?" Chloe cut in, her voice cracking.

"Chloe. I can't do this. I can't fight with Optimus every moment. I can't force others, like you, to allow me to stay with them because I'm afraid of Optimus Prime. I'm tearing you and Jazz apart. I'm miserable. We've caused everyone to take side in a fight that was bound to happen. You can't change my mind Chloe... I care about everyone here too much to stay," Alexis replied. Chloe stopped herself from snapping at her friend, trying to control her breathing desperately.

"Alexis, if you cared about us too much, you wouldn't leave us. You would try to make things better! Because that is how you work! That is what you are like!" Chloe said, trying to keep a level tone, "That is why you are my best friend..."

"Chloe, its already been decided. Lennox has allowed me to stay elsewhere. I'm leaving tonight." Those three last words drove the knife straight into Chloe's heart.

"B-but..." Chloe didn't know what to say.

"Chloe..." Alexis moved to the younger girl's side, wanting to hug her and reassure her.

"No! Just... no..." Chloe nearly shouted as she jumped from her seat, away from the Xyleon, tipping the chair over in the process.

"I'm sorry," Alexis said. She closed her eyes to will away the tears. "This is why I didn't want to tell you..." Chloe left the hanger, leaving Alexis alone. The Xyleon dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. "What have I done... what have I done..." Alexis whispered to herself, rocking slightly. She was out of tears. The past few days had been enough to make her want to forget everything. Maybe even turn herself over to the Decepticons. But just getting off the base would have to be enough. She looked towards the doors while she rested there, regretting everything.

Meanwhile, Chloe had run. She had run so far and so hard and yet she found herself back at the Rec Room. Tears had been streaming down her cheeks as she ran, each of them staining her shirt with unfathomable markings.

Everything had happened so fast that Chloe's brain had yet to catch up.

"Why... why Alexis... why?" She sobbed quietly to herself as she slowed down, wiping her eyes with her sleeve before she opened the door to the Rec Room. Her optics were greeted with the would-be funny sight of Jazz trying to balance on a Wii-Fit board. Chloe merely plonked herself down on the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest and hiccupping; Jazz's attention was quickly drawn to her at the noise.

"Cazzy? What's wrong, babe?" Jazz asked, pausing the game after he had fallen over.

"Nothin' Jazz, hon," Chloe sniffed, bringing her knees in tighter to her body.

"Somethin's wrong, I can tell," he said while taking a seat beside her.

"Jazz... just leave it," Chloe said, snuggling down into the couch even though it was mid-morning.

"Oh no ya don't," Jazz said, pulling his bondmate into a hug, "What's the matter?"

"Alexis is... leaving..." Chloe said, breaking down into a fresh pool of tears.

"Oh, man," Jazz held her tighter to his chest and ran his hand through her hair. "Did she say why?"

"N-no, I left b-before she c-could s-say,"

"Baby, I'm sorry..." Jazz said softly into Chloe's ear, "But no matter what ya think, it ain't your fault - that I know for definite."

"Jazz... I think I helped her towards that decision..." Chloe stopped, "Jazz it's all my fault!" she wailed, her voice muffled by her mate's chest, and resumed her sobbing.

"What makes ya think that?" he asked as he pulled away enough to look into her optics.

"Jazz, isn't it obvious? It is ME that is getting in her way, ME that is driving her and Prime apart, ME that is tearing everything up between them and it is ME who is doing more damage because of this thing inside me!" Chloe cried, tears falling down her cheeks from behind her visor; now she was beginning to curse Ratchet for not taking out the tear ducts during her operations.

"Chloe, none of that's true. Alexis need you as much as you need her. An' Prime had it comin' with how he babied 'er. None of it's your fault," Jazz objected. Chloe sighed shakily into her bondmate's warm holoform body, her body relaxing as she realised that Jazz was right.

"I don't want her to leave," she whispered.

"Neither do I, but if that's what she wants, thinking that it'll make everything better, then it's up to her," Jazz said. He began stroking her hair again, his hand working its way down to her shoulders, tickling the nerves that were so close to the surface of her skin.

"Ah... Jazz..." Chloe moaned softly, biting her lip and gripping Jazz harder as her body relaxed almost completely into her bondmate's.

"Come Cazzy babe, calm down now," Jazz cooed, stroking her sensitive shoulders again, feeling her shudder under his touch. Chloe gave a small, innocent yawn and half moan as, although it was morning, her optics were flickering drowsily beneath her visor. "Come on, I think ya need a bit o' rest, yeah?" Jazz coaxed gently, laying Chloe back into the couch and slipping back into his robot mode. Chloe moaned something softly, possibly a weak protest, as Jazz slipped his hand underneath the girl and lifted her away, taking her back to their quarters. She snuggled into the metal of his hand as he walked. He placed her on her berth and settled himself to watch over her while she slept.

Several hours later, Alexis was stalking through the halls. She'd briefly stopped by the rec room about an hour before and managed to get down about half a cube of Energon before anyone else arrived to make her abandon it. She was heading to her quarters to get her bag, hopefully before Optimus headed to his.

Alexis punched in the code for Optimus' quarters while glancing over her shoulder. The last thing she needed was for him to randomly appear on her. The door slid open and she rushed inside, turning to her left she unlocked her own quarters and ducked inside. She reached under the berth and grabbed the bag before turning back to the door.

"So, what are you in a rush for?" Came an unknown voice, deep and baritonal, from the darker depths of her quarters.

"Oh Primus!" she shrieked in surprise. She pressed a hand to her chest. "You scared me!"

"Well, considering you just ran in and out of here... you got me curious." The flamed Prime said, pushing himself from the wall were he was leaning.

"They're my quarters too. I'm, uh, just after this," she responded nervously as she held the bag up.

"Why? What is so important about this bag?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," She replied and let the bag rest on her foot.

"Are you sure? So nothing is important about this bag?" Optimus echoed, suddenly lurching forward and snatching the bag from the Xyleon. She growled in anger and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Rude much, Prime? You could, I don't know, ask before taking something from me," she snapped.

"Well... it doesn't matter. So... what is in this, I wonder?" Prime said, preparing to rummage through the bag. Alexis pulled the bag away and glared at him.

"It DOES matter, Prime. Believe it our not, I do deserve to be treated like everyone else. You don't rip things away from Ironhide or Lennox, do you?" Optimus fell silent, thinking about every single thing that had happened since the inline skating incident.

Taking advantage of his distraction, she pulled on the strap of the bag and ran from the room as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't, come back here!" Optimus growled, rolling his optics and sprinting after Alexis.

She screamed as he reached for her and nearly caught her arm. She hurried through the door and ran down the hall. If she didn't have the bag she could change into another form; one much faster than her current one. She tried to figure out what to do. She could run straight for Will's office where she was supposed to meet him, or she could head to the quarters of the other Autobots where she could go to the Med bay for Ratchet's help, or try to get one of the others up to save her from Optimus.

As the girl ran an idea hit her. She turned a sharp corner and then turned again, confusing the Prime chasing her. Alexis slowed slightly, yet another idea hitting her. She concentrated for a few seconds and soon found her body shifting; her canine teeth lengthened into long, sharp ones, capable of ripping through anything, her bones shifted too to form the skeleton similar to that of a cat's. Her thumbs moved back until they were smaller and useless as the rest of her hand changed into a paw, along with her other hand and her feet, each of them ending, not with soft pads, but sharp metal claws. Her ankles moved up until Alexis was finally running on all fours. Then her skin rippled and became hair-like, but metal and then a tail, long and graceful, grew from the base of her spine. And finally, her face became long and cat-like until Alexis had eventually transformed into a Cybertronian version of a prehistoric, sabretooth tiger. The bag's strap had become caught in her dagger-like canines and she clamped down on it, still running to evade the Prime that had just caught sight of her again.

'Scrap,' Alexis thought, being unable to speak in such a form, 'why can't he just leave me be for once?' The Xyleon turned another corner, dodging both soldiers and Autobots alike until she reached Lennox's office. But she kept on running.

Alexis kept on running until she had run out of the base, now with a Peterbilt Semi hounding her; it seemed that Optimus had tired of running and had transformed, hoping to catch up with the Xyleon sabretooth.

Soon however, Alexis hit a dead end. She could only dig her claws in and come to a harsh stop. Optimus then transformed and had her cornered, his optics almost burning again in anger. She waited until he reached for her to lunge; catching him across the chest. Unable to brace himself, Optimus was sent crashing to the ground and Alexis used him as a springboard to launch from. As soon as her paws hit the ground, she was back to running full tilt towards Will's office.

Upon reaching the human's office she pawed the door with a soft meow. Will opened it and gasped at the sight of a Cybertronian sabretooth. He watched with wide eyes as Alexis regained her true form. She was panting heavily. She drooped to her knees and closed her optics. "What? I'm sorry just... what?" Lennox gaped at the panting Xyleon.

"Optimus... chasing... had to... run," she managed to get out. Lennox stared at her for a minute before giving an extremely slight nod.

"You're not having any luck with him, are you?" he asked in a teasing voice. Alexis exhaled with a smile and a shake of her head.

"Seemingly... so... may... I?" Alexis breathed; Lennox, only just remembering his manners, stepped aside and allowed the panting girl in once she'd regained her human size.

"Are you still going through with it?" Lennox asked once he'd closed the door. Alexis placed her bag, one of the few things she's brought with her from Xylia, on the ground with a sigh.

"Yeah. Optimus just reminded me why I wanted to leave. I was planning on staying earlier today when I was with Chloe. Now... I just want to go," she replied softly.

"It's a shame. You certainly made things interesting," he joked. Alexis only smiled. "If you're ready to go now, you can. I have transportation ready for you."

"Thank you, Will, I owe you one!" Alexis replied, smiling widely at the soldier.

Lennox led her out to where a boat was waiting. She hesitated as soon as she could see it. She hadn't imagined actually just leaving the Autobots, and Chloe, behind. But she wasn't about to back out. She embraced Lennox in a quick hug.

"If you want to come back, you'll always be welcome. Even if Prime's upset with you," Lennox said.

"Thank you so much Will, just..." Alexis paused, choosing her words carefully, "... just make sure Chloe is safe, please?"

"Of course. You better get going. Someone's bound to notice us out here. Be safe yourself," he responded. Alexis nodded and boarded the ship where a soldier was waiting for her. She waved her goodbye to Lennox who remained on the dock long after the ship had disappeared. For some strange reason, he felt as if he'd done the wrong thing. With no idea what he was going to tell the other alien and human residents on the base, Will started back to the base, and, in the pit of his stomach, Lennox felt that horrible sinking feeling as he approached a death wish in the shape of a Semi.