Chapter 9:

Barricade POV

I knocked on the door that said Med bay. When no one answered, I opened the door.

And screaming glitched out my audio receptors. Immediately I lowered the sensitivity, holding my helm.

"Ratchet?" I shouted over the screaming. I looked around and saw Taylor sitting on a metal table, staring at Ratchet, and screaming her head off.

Ratchet was trying to calm her down by saying something, but that seemed to freak her out even more.

I sighed and downloaded a picture of Tim McGraw. I projected the picture a few feet away from Taylor.

She noticed the projection and shut up immediately. After a few seconds of staring, she opened her mouth and screamed in joy. She jumped to her feet and took off running towards the projection…..

And went right through it. She had a surprised look on her face as she fell flat on her face.

I shook my helm. Slow to listen, fast to chase Tim McGraw. Typical Taylor.

Ratchet looked at me. "Why-?" He shook his helm. "I don't want to know."

"Why is this room sound proof?"

He turned back to a tray of tools. Sharp tools. "Would you like to hear the screaming of some mech or femme during a painful operation?"

I shuddered(what happened to sedatives?) and turned back to Taylor, who had a dazed expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

She looked at me. "Where'd Tim McGraw go?"

"That was a projection."

"Are you a dream?"

"No, Taylor. I am not a dream. I am very much real-" I stopped in mid-sentence and grasped at my spark. A fire hot pain was shooting through it. I couldn't feel anything. It was like someone was stabbing at my spark.

Then, in the blink of an optic, it was gone.

I opened my optics. Everything was blurry. A neon yellow blur was leaning over me, saying something that I couldn't understand.

My spark felt perfectly fine. But the rest of me…..felt like I hadn't moved in ages.

I groaned as I sat up. Everything cleared. Ratchet was watching me like I might fall over offline any second. "Are you okay?"

I rubbed my helm. "Yes. No. Maybe." What the slag had just happened?

The neon medic shook his helm. "It seems like every time I turn around, there's another one of you falling over clutching at your spark. I should have more check up days." He grinned as he leaned over a set of sharp tools. "Almost every mech and femme disappears, besides Optimus. Even the humans hide."

Ratchet picked a tool off the table that looked suspiciously like a human needle. "I need to take an energon sample." He said reaching for my arm.

I jerked away. "Frag no. I'm not letting you stick me with that."He scowled. "Stop acting like a sparkling. I just need to test your energon for any unwanted fluids that made you have that spark attack, or what ever it was."

I looked at him in surprise. "You don't know what that was about?"

Ratchet looked like he didn't like admitting that he didn't. "I've never seen it before. The only problems that I could think would cause that would be a glitch in your systems, or something related to a spark bond." He narrowed his optics. "Surely you don't still have a spark bond with some femme, since you are with Nicole. Do you, Barricade?"

The second he had said something about a spark bond, I reached out to Nicole. I relaxed a little when I felt her, but something else was wrong. The connection was dormant. Like she was there, but I couldn't feel her emotions. It was as if she had closed it off from me. But I had a feeling it wasn't that.

I was broke out of my thoughts when Ratchet snapped his digits in my face. Such a human act. I still couldn't do that, with my hologram or with out it.

"Barricade. Are you even listening? Did you hear what I said?"

I blinked, then shook my helm. "No, I don't have a spark bond with another femme, but…" When I saw the look on Ratchet's face, I cursed my self for saying too much.

At that moment, I heard a small cough. We both looked down to see Taylor, who had her hands on her hips, and was looking annoyed. "Uh, hello? Look, I know your aliens and all, but I'm hungry. I've pinched myself I don't know how many times, but what convinced me was when I heard my stomach rumble. And my mama always said, 'If your stomach rumbles during a dream, then you ain't dreamin'-"

"Taylor," I snapped, "Your rambling. Get to the point."

She glared at me. "And here I thought without Nicole I'd actually finish a sentence." She rubbed her stomach. "But, like I said, I'm hungry."

Ratchet smirked. "A very unique young human, you are, Taylor."

She threw her hands up in the air. "Hallelujah, someone around here appreciates my quirkiness."

I sighed. "Ratchet, do you know where she could get some food? And a shower?"

Taylor glared. "Hey!"

Ratchet's optics dimmed, then brightened. "I sent a message to Simmons and Leo. They come here to get her."

I nodded, not saying anything. Nicole had told me about them, but I had never met them.

I saw a neon yellow blur, and then felt a sharp prick in my arm. I snarled, holding my arm.

Ratchet grinned gleefully, holding up the syringe filled with energon. "I've gotten remarkably good at that."

I glared at him. "What if you had hit something other than an energon line?"

He turned around, back to his tools. "Barricade, I'm just too good. It's simply not possible."

I glared at the medic, but turned back to Taylor. "Okay, Tay. I'll set you down." I said holding out my open servo.

Cautiously, she climbed on. "You know, only Cade called me that."

I sighed. "I am Cade. That was a fake name. My real designation is Barricade."

"You don't look like him."

If she hadn't been I my servo, I would have face-palmed.

I argued with her for several more minutes as we waited for her guides. I finally convinced her when I showed her my hologram. But this started a whole new argument about how my hologram was solid when it was basically a projection.

She was about to start shouting when the human-sized door opened. Two humans walked in, and one looked older than the other. The older one was carrying something that looked strangely like a flame thrower. And it was aimed at me.

The younger human held his hand out to Taylor. "Hey, how's it going? My names Leo."

She shook his hand. "My names Taylor. And you are…" she asked looking at human with the flame thrower.

He glanced at her, then back to me. "Call me Simmons."

Taylor stared at the flame thrower. "Why do you have that?"

Simmons nodded to me. "When I worked at Sector Seven, we contained NBE1 by keeping him frozen. This was the next best thing to defend myself against him."

"But…Barricade wouldn't hurt a fly. I've known him for four years, lived with him for 1. And I never saw him kill so much as a iddy biddy bug."

Simmons snorted. "Miss, he's a Decepticon. He's killed a lot more than a bug."

I growled at the annoying human. "I'm not a Decepticon anymore."

He laughed. "Yeah, and you know what alcoholics say? They say they've been sober for months, but even the slightest push can send 'em over the edge! Next thing you know, they're picking pockets for money to buy booze! Why should you be any different?"

Taylor glared at the man. "That was rude."

Leo snorted. "Simmons tends to overreact a little bit."

She glared at him too. "What he said to Barricade was rude, but I wasn't talking about that."

We all looked at her. "What?"

Taylor looked at all of us. "I drink, but I don't pick pockets!"

I face-palmed. "Taylor, he wasn't talking about you-"

"So? It was an insult."

"Just go take a shower, Tay."

"But I don't need one!"

"Yes, you do." Before she could protest again, Leo gently started pulling her towards the door. Simmons went with them, walking backwards and still glaring at me. I returned the glare.

Only once the door closed did I relax. I looked at Ratchet. "I'm starting to think that coming here wasn't such a great idea."

He grunted, still focused on the energon he had drawn from me. "Don't worry. Once they see that your not a Decepticon anymore, the will change their mind. Just don't threaten any humans, or step on them."

Subconsciously, I looked at my pedes.

Suddenly Ratchet's optics dimmed. Then they onlined. Throwing down the tool he had been holding, he cursed in our native language. Ratchet started towards the door faster than I had seen him move.

"What? What is it?" I asked, trying to keep up.

Ratchet growled, but I had the feeling it wasn't at me. "Prime and Ironhide went and told her about the fragging legend. Then she transwarped somewhere a few minutes ago.""Nicole? What legend?"

Ratchet ignored me and kept walking. This was not good.

I followed him, but it was hard to focus on him because Autobots all around me were stopping and glaring at me, some even growling. A few minutes of walking/jogging we reached a room that had a Cybertronian sized desk and desk chair, with a few chairs in front of the desk. I guessed that this was Prime's office.

Ironhide was yelling at Prime, who stood behind his desk, looking grim. I recognized the scientist Wheeljack and Prowl sitting in chairs, quiet and grim-looking, also. The second they saw me, Prowl hissed and Wheeljack tensed up. I chose to ignore them.

Ratchet walked right up Ironhide and hit him in the back of the helm. The weapons specialist stopped and glared, rubbing his helm.

Then Ratchet turned to Prime. "How much did you tell her?"

Prime sighed. "All of it."

"Even the part about her death?"

"Yes."Ratchet looked at the ground, shaking his helm. After a few moments, he looked back up. "Well, any idea where she went?"

Prime shook his head, and Ironhide muttered a 'No.'

Ratchet turned around and looked at me. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where the frag did she go? Do I have to spell it out for you?"

I held my hands up. "What makes you think that I know?"

"Well, you've known her for the past four years. Where does she go when she's depressed?"

"Nowhere!" I said angrily. "All she does is sit on the couch!"

Ratchet looked about ready to hit me when Prime suddenly stood up straight. "Nicole is with Bumblebee."

We all looked at him. "What?"

"He found her at the cemetery where Sam and Mikaela were buried. She was unconscious when he found her, but she seems to be all right. He's bringing her here now."

Ironhide grunted. "Good. When she gets back we're going to have a talk about transwarping at random times."

Prime sent Ironhide a stern look. "Ironhide, the only reason she transwarped was because you told her she was going to offline."

Prowl looked up. "It was more than that. Nicole was distressed, and she complained about her head hurting."

Wheeljack nodded. "Yes. She asked me for aspirin."

Prime considered this. Then he said, "Ratchet, do you think it could have anything to do with the AllSpark?"

Ratchet shrugged. "It could just be her getting used to the power. But she seemed to be able to control her powers fine." He paused. "It may be the knowledge that comes with the AllSpark. She could be having trouble keeping the knowledge from consuming her own."

"What would happen if the knowledge did consume her?" I asked, and they all jumped as if they had forgotten I was there.

"Well," Ratchet continued, "the AllSpark knowledge is so large that it could take over her own mind. She would forget everything, and the AllSpark would take over. Nicole would become an emotionless shell. It would be worse than being offline."

Silence hung in the air as we all processed that. Then Prime asked a question that was probably on all of our minds. "How do we keep that from happening?"

Ratchet shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Millions of years of knowledge is something that is nearly impossible to keep separated from only twenty years of memories."

"What about meditation?" Prowl asked, and we all looked at him.

"Meditation?" Ironhide said slowly, as if he had never heard of it.

Prowl nodded. "It calms the mind and clears thoughts. It might be able to help Nicole control the AllSpark knowledge."

Ratchet sighed. "It's worth a try."

Prime nodded. "It's perhaps the only chance. When Nicole and Bumblebee arrive, we will try your theory, Prowl. You are dismissed."

The other Autobots walked out the door. I was last. Just as I was about to walk out, I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Barricade, I would like you to stay. We need to talk."

Frag.

Nicole POV

I smelled smoke.

My head hurt from breathing it in. I coughed, then looked at me hands. They were the hands of a child. An eight-year-old.

I looked around through the smoke and haze. My mom and dad were near me. We were hiding behind the couch on the second floor.

I could here the shouting outside. Shouting and explosions.

Suddenly one part of the wall ripped away. My parents pulled me back, just before I saw the flames. The first floor was on fire.

I looked up and screamed. Two glowing red eyes glared back at me and my parents. The eyes were hollow and cold, but at the same time they burned with a hate and glee.

Then a silver metal arm came crashing down on the section of floor beside us. I felt like I was falling, falling down into the flames.

But then my dad and mom gave me one last push, and I was on a section of floor that had not fallen through.

Dazed, I sat up. Everything had gone quiet, but there was still chaos all around me.

I leaned over the edge again, just in time to see my parents-

I opened my eyes.

It was dark. I tried to sit up, but my body felt sore. My head wasn't hurting anymore.

The air around me was warm, and it felt like I was in a moving car. Looking at the front seat, I realized I was. The interior was familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen it. I looked at the digital clock 7:28 P.M.

How long had I been out?

Then I noticed something. No one was driving. I was in a Transformer.

I tried to get an idea of which Transformer I was in. Decepticon don't have everyday vehicle alt modes. The only one who had one was Barricade, but this wasn't a Mustang. So, it was an Autobot. Or the 'Cons had gotten tired of military vehicles, but I doubted that.

Trying to appear asleep still, I looked at the dashboard. There usually was the name of the brand the car was.

Camaro was written in silver cursive on the dashboard.

A Camaro.

There was only one Autobot who was a Camaro, and that was Bumblebee. My dad's runaway guardian.

I pinched myself. Surely I wasn't in Bumblebee.

And if I was, why wasn't he talking to me? The idea that he blamed me for my parents death rose in my mind again.

I sighed. 'I was right, Jazz. He does blame me.'

Jazz sighed. 'You don't have 'nough faith in yerself, ya know that? Did ya ever think tha' maybe he blames himself, and thinks that you blame him, too?'

'But I don't! I blame myself!'

'Exactly. Ya both blame yerselves, and think tha' the other does, too.'

'I only half understood that.'

I heard Jazz sigh again.

Suddenly, I noticed we were slowing down. I began to get nervous. Not only because i wouldn't know what to do when we stopped, but because I had transwarped in the middle of an important meeting and Ironhide would probably jump on me about it.

Then I remembered why I had transwarped, and I felt sick all over again. A feeling of dread settled in my stomach, and my palms felt clammy. Death. Why was I so afraid of it? My mom and dad were dead, so id probably see them, but...I had a new life here. New friends. A new family. One that I couldnt leave behind.

I found a grim determination in that thought. I would not give up so easily. I would fight this sentence, no matter what.

As if in agreement, the shard pulsed warmly like a beating heart.

After passing a checkpoint, we pulled to a stop in front of the same warehouse that I had been taken to when I first got here. The hangar door opened, and we drove in. And guess who was waiting for us?

Optimus, Ratchet(who looked mad as hell), Ironhide(his expression mirrored Ratchet's), Barricade, Wheeljack, and, surprisingly, Prowl.

When I saw Barricade's worried and tense expression, I felt relieved and guilty at the same time. Relieved because I could now finally talk to him and relax. Guilty because I had left him here, by himself surrounded mostly hostile Autobots.

I also wanted to talk to him about the spark bond.

Bumblebee stopped, and to save the awkward moment, I just transwarped from the back seat. I regretted it almost instantly. My head started spinning again, and I felt nauseous.

I heard Bumblebee transform, and I looked at him. He looked just like he had in the visions I had seen, door wings and all.

As he looked down at me with a look of astonishment, probably at the fact that I had just transwarped, I looked away. I couldn't meet his gaze. I was tired of being looked at like a dog that had just done a back flip. Least to say, it was irritating.

Ironhide and Barricade both opened their mouths to say something, but Ratchet cut them off. "That was slaggin' stupid, transwarping randomly like that, youngling. Come here." He said, holding out his servo.

I took that as an invitation to transwarp, and reappeared in his servo. Ratchet glared at me. "From now on, no more transwarping."

"Whatever, Ratch." I muttered. "I'm too tired to do it again."

He looked a little surprised, but nodded curtly. "Good." Then he looked around at the mechs watching us quietly. "Now, if you aren't on the brink of deactivation, don't bother me in the med bay." I closed my eyes as Ratchet started walking towards his med bay. The swaying was soothing, yet sickening. Then the swaying stopped. "Prowl, actually would you mind coming with us?"

Prowl must've agreed, because we started walking again. After a few minutes, I heard a door open, and suddenly a clean medical smell hit me. I did not like that smell. It reminded me too much of when I had cancer, and the time that Barricade had hit me and I had a broken leg and arm.

I finally decided to open my eyes as Ratchet set me down on one of the medical berths. The second I jumped down, I was attacked by a blonde blur that let out a high pitched squeal.

This blur was Taylor. She hugged the crap out of me, asking me over and over where I had been and if I was alright and she started babbling about how nice everyone at the base was, and so on.

"You smell cleaner." I said, with a lopsided grin. "You no longer smell like whiskey or Vodka or whatever you were drinking."

She gave me a mock glare, but returned my grin. Her hair was hanging around her face in wet blonde curls. Her clothes had been exchanged for camouflaged cargo pants and a solid dark green crew neck t-shirt.

"Oh, Nicole, you wouldn't believe how cool it is here. There's giant robots all over the place. And they're all nice! Not a one of them tried to step on me like I thought they would-"

I snorted. "Tay, Sunny would kill'em if they did."

I laughed out loud at her expression of confusion.

Then I giggled because I felt a tingle go through me. I turned to see Ratchet had already downloaded the information on to a data pad. After shaking his head a few times, he looked at me. "And you complained of your helm hurting right before you transwarped?"

"Yeah. But Ratchet, I think it was more than that. After I transwarped to….er….the first place that popped in my head, I passed out because it hurt so bad."

He stared at me for a moment, then muttered something. Ratchet beckoned for Prowl to come closer. "Prowl, would you please explain why Nicole has these headaches to her, and tell her about the way to treat it?"I noticed that Prowl had been watching me the whole entire time. When Ratchet said his name, his door wings twitched, but did as he said.

A few minutes later, I felt sick. No only the threat of death hung over me now, but also becoming a mindless drone. Great. Fragging great.

Prowl watched me intently I noticed again with curiosity. "Nicole, whenever you want, you can come by my office and talk to me about meditating." He said sounding surprisingly caring. Man, I had this weird feeling, that at sometime or another, I had met Prowl. He sounded so familiar. But where….

My life was seriously getting way too out of balance.

I smiled up at him. "Thanks, Prowl. I'll probably come by sometime later-"

Ratchet glared at me. "You will go get food, and go with Prowl now. The faster we treat this, the easier it'll be to control. Prowl, please take her and make sure she gets healthy food. Not something like that disgusting McDonald's."

Taylor stared at him. "What do you have against McDonald's?"

And that began a long lecture about how unhealthy McDonald's was from Ratchet.

But I didn't stay to hear it. Prowl just held out his hand and I climbed on. He let me crawl on his shoulder, and we left the room just as Taylor began to say something that would keep the argument going. Taylor has a thing for starting arguments. A big thing.

I barely paid attention to where we went. I just remember getting some food from the cafeteria, with Prowl watching, and then we were in his office. That is how little I pay attention to things. Taylor swears I have ADD or ADHD.

Prowls office consisted of two chairs in front of a desk, with a huge super computer on it and a rolling chair behind it. The computer looked like it had all the security cameras taping live feed to it. I could see the cafeteria, a shooting range, the med bay(Ratchet and Taylor were still arguing), and a conference room, along with other rooms that I couldn't identify.

Prowl had set me down on the desk and started working on a few data pads, giving me the time to eat my food. While I did this, I watched the screens.

There was one small screen, 007 it said, that was static. This seemed strange, seeing as Prowl didn't seem like the mech to leave a camera broken.

"Hey, Prowl." I said. He looked up at me, stylus froze in mid write. I pointed to the screen. "Don't you know that camera's not working?"

He looked where I was pointing, seemed to tense up for a second, then nod curtly. "Yes."

I hesitated, but asked, "Where is it positioned?"

He stared at the small static screen for a moment, then said, "An old storage room. It hasn't been used in a long time."

I stared at him while he went back to work. Something was wrong. There was a specific reason he didn't want to talk about the camera. Then what he said actually registered. An old storage room? Like the one Jazz had been in?

I knew I was on dangerous ground here. This was going to be tricky.

I took a deep breath. "Prowl, is that the room Jazz is in?"

Prowl seemed to freeze, and I wondered if maybe I had pushed too hard.

'I really wish ya hadn't said tha'' Jazz's voice startled me.

I stared at Prowl expectantly, already regretting asking. Then the stylus in Prowl's hand broke in half.

I stared at the bright blue Energon that was leaking from the small cut in the wiring on Prowl's finger. Then I looked at his faceplates. It seemed that the mental guard was gone, and emotions that had wanted to break free were finally taking the chance.

Prowl's optics were squeezed shut, and I could see bright blue tears slowly rolling down his faceplates. It was a look of pure pain. Of grieving.

I didn't know what to do about the tears, but instead I took my necklace off and walked over to Prowl's injured fist. The metal was warm to the touch, and instead of the Energon burning me, it just tingled like I was Energon proof.

Holding the necklace close to the cut, I willed it to heal and close. The shard glowed for a moment, then a small bolt of electricity shot out towards the cut, and it closed.

Prowl jumped and looked down at me, with tears still going down his faceplates. I didn't say anything as I checked the wiring to make sure it was closed. I heard him take a deep shaky breath. "Primus, youngling….It hurts so much to think about him. But it's hard not to. He was my other half." He paused. "How did you know about him?"

I was done checking the cut, but I still let my hand rest on his warm servo. "I….um…transwarped into the storage room when I went to find Barricade. It was on accident. The AllSpark told me who he was."

Prowl stared at me for a few more moments, then wiped his faceplates with the hand that hadn't been cut. "When I arrived on Earth, we were going to be bonded. But…." He took another shaky breath, then shook his head, smiling a little. "Your mother seemed to understand most of all."

It was my turn to tense up at the mention of my mom. Prowl glanced at me, as if seeing if I would tell him to stop. But I didn't say anything.

He continued. "She seemed to understand the grief and the sorrow. Mikaela helped me deal with it. If it weren't for her, I probably off lined myself. She was my favorite human, and I became her guardian, promising to protect her and…."

Prowl sighed. "When you were born, she showed everyone. Everyone. You were a very happy sparkling. You smiled and laughed more than you cried. But then you starting growing, and we had to begin using holograms to visit you. Your parents didn't want you to worry about the constant threat of Decepticons around every corner."

He rubbed his face plates with his servos, looking suddenly more tired then he had seemed a few minutes before. "When Mikaela and Sam died….I was afraid that you had died with them. But they pushed you just as the floor collapsed. It was like loosing Jazz all over again. It was so slagging hard." Prowl stared at me. "I promised I would try to make your life easier. I hacked into the Adoption Agency computers and changed the files, trying to get you into decent foster homes."

I stared at him. "You…did do that for me?"

He nodded. "I was your adoption agent."

So that was why he was so familiar. But if he had worked to get me to decent homes, why had I been given to Phil Darfin? He was anything but decent. All the others had been okay, but I just couldn't follow the rules and had been returned to the agency.

Almost as if he had read my mind, Prowl said, "There was one period of time that I had to focus on the Decepticons. They had been attacking several military bases lately, and I wasn't able to check on you for about a year." He tilted his helm to the side a little. "Were you alright?"

"Yeah, things went okay." I lied.

Prowl nodded, and stared at the opposite wall. After a few minutes of silence, he asked, "That was the year Barricade hit you, wasn't it?"

I stared at him, surprised. "Yeah, it was. How'd you know?"

"I looked at the files and saw that you had been admitted to the hospital for a few weeks. Amazing how easy it was to do it, too."

Now Prowl looked at me directly. "I still do not understand why you are….dating him, as the humans say. There is no logic in it, as it was his kind that killed your parents."

I didn't get mad at Prowl for asking. He had a right to know, I had just asked him about Jazz. And I owed him with all the help in the adoption agency. I sighed. "The Decepticons aren't Barricades' kind. He quit being a 'Con years ago as he told me. If I didn't trust 'Cade, he would not be here, and I would not be defending him." I hesitated. "But I do love him, and I know he loves me. Besides, if he wanted to hand me over to the Decepticons, wouldn't he have done it 4 years ago, when he first met me?"

Prowl seemed to think about that. "I guess there is logic in that." He said, almost hesitantly.

I smiled at him. "Prowl, there isn't a logical answer for everything. Like love. Just because someone you loved with all your spark is gone, it doesn't mean that the love dies with them. If it did, this world would be full of hate and darkness."

Prowl stared at me. "For a girl of your age, you are wise."

I shrugged. "The AllSpark dumped all of this knowledge on me. It's seen every battle, every sparking of a sparkling, every deactivation. Everything." I finished softly.

"That's billions of years of knowledge to be placed upon a 20 year old human."

I laughed. "Yeah."

Prowl didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "Nicole, does the AllSpark pick sides?"

The question surprised me. I fiddled with the shard, which I had put back on. After a moment of considering how to answer that, I said, "No. It doesn't. It helped Primus create a race, the Transformers. You are all the same kind, just with different opinions. It doesn't wish to see the extinction of the race it created, but it cannot interfere. You were given the right to choose your path. In other words, the Transformers are supposed to decide their own fates. You are all supposed to work together, be one. Solve problems together, fight battles together, grieve each other's death, celebrate the new creation of sparklings together. But it cannot interfere. It isn't allowed an opinion."

And it was like the heavens split open, and the light shined on me, letting me know why I had been given the AllSpark.

My hands dropped to my sides. "Prowl, that's the reason I was given the AllSpark. It couldn't have an opinion, but it knows that if something doesn't happen, then many more will die, pushing the Transformers closer to extinction. So it chose someone with an opinion. Someone who's not of your race."

For a few moments Prowl considered what I said, leaning back in his chair. I began to watch the screens of the security cameras. Ratchet was still arguing with Taylor, Ironhide was in the shooting range, blowing up holograms of 'Cons, and Optimus was in his office talking to Bumblebee. I frowned when I saw him. I still thought he blamed me. Why else would he not say anything when I said hello to him?

I saw Barricade, too.

He was sitting on a berth in what I guess was the room he had been given. He appeared to be dozing off. One second his helm would drop, and then he would sit up straight, looking around.

My heart ached. I wanted so badly talk to him, tell him everything. Hear Barricade's voice. To feel his warmth.

Barricade suddenly looked around as if someone had said his name. I felt confusion. His confusion. Then I remembered the spark bond we shared.

I felt him reach out through the bond. Smiling softly, I sent him a calming feeling, basically saying I was okay. Then I chided him for not recharging.

'Cade looked around, saw the camera, and I felt amusement through the bond. I could practically hear him saying, "Spying, Nicole?"

Before I could send him anything, Prowl broke my thoughts. "If only Megatron could here you talk, youngling. Maybe that would be the end of this war."

I shrugged. "Maybe." But I doubted my own words.

Prowl looked very tired again. His door wings were drooping. He must've been thinking about Jazz again. After thinking for a moment, I bent down and scooped up all the trash. It was Prowl's turn to stare at me. "What are you doing, Nicole?"

I smiled at him, my trash gathered in my arms. "You need to rest. I'm going to go see 'Cade."

"But-"

"No buts. You need rest. Go recharge. I owe you that much."

He tilted his helm to the side a little. "What about helping you control the AllSpark memories?"

I waved his worries away. "Prowl, there's always tomorrow. Or the next day. If Ratchet starts to threaten you with deactivation, I'll tell him it was my fault."

"By letting you walk away, it is my fault."

"Go rest. Now."

He opened his mouth. "But-"

"Prowl, shut up and go recharge."

His jaw dropped in shock. Then he shook his head. "No one's ever told me to shut up before."

I grinned at him. "Well, at least I said with good intentions." I gave him a little wave. "Bye, Prowl."

Prowl gave me a look. "You're going to transwarp, aren't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Ratchet said not to transwarp."

"Prowl. There is something that you should know about me that has developed over the years. I have selective hearing." And with one little last wave, I left him to figure out what selective hearing was in a flash of blue light.

Hey you guys sorry for now updating after a long time. But I hope this quenched your thirst! Its longer than usual. I had a limit, but now that is out of the window, so the chaps could be 600 words long or 5000 words long.

I'm only recently planned on putting in some quality Nicole/Prowl time. And don't worry, bumblebee and nicole will finally talk in the next few chaps. It will also be explained as to why Bee didn't answer nicole when she said "Hello?"

Sorry if any one seemed out of character.

Thanks to superprimegirl for being my penpal.

Again, reviews are appreciated, kiddies.

NEXT CHAP: NICOLE HAS A TALK WITH CADE AND SHE GETS READY TO RESURRECT OUR FAVORITE SABOTEUR!