Chapter 11:

Nicole POV

"So you're saying that I did this? That's…..awesome."

We were in the Med Bay(this was becoming a habit) and the twins were laying on two berths, still locked up. Prowl explained what had happened, and how I had shocked the twins. Apparently, since I had been in the meditation state(as Prowl called it), I had only been semi-conscious, which is why I didn't remember attacking the twins.

Jazz and I thought it was flat out hilarious. Even Prowl smiled. Ratchet was just grumpy.

"I swear, Nicole Witwicky, if you or someone else comes to my Med Bay because you did something stupid, I will personally make sure that you're assigned cleaning duty in the restrooms and the wash racks." The neon medic grumbled, bent over Sides helm, trying to get the mech to reboot.

All I could do was grin. "Whatever you say, Ratch. But, honestly, it's not really my fault. After all, Prowl did tell them."

The medic glared at me again. This time I felt a tingling sensation go over my body. Now it was my turn to glare. "Ratchet, no more scanning without permission!" In truth, I was more afraid of him discovering the bond I shared with Barricade.

Ratchet seemed to stiffen for a moment. I saw surprise written all over his faceplates. But instead of saying something about the bond, he said, "I'm a medic. I don't need permission." His tone was a little less gruff than before.

I silently thanked Ratchet, but the way he gave me the look told me he wanted to talk about it later.

At that moment both twins decided to wake up.

At first they looked confused, then slightly panicked when they saw how close I was to them. Both of them tried to scramble backwards, which resulted in them falling off of the berths.

"Scared much?" I asked, looking over the edge at them.

They both just stared at me, stuttering like fools, then Sideswipe pointed at me and shouted, "She-Devil!"

Oh, God, that was priceless.

After a few minutes, we all calmed down(well, down to some extent). Ratchet kicked us all out after giving the twins some painkillers. Prowl was looking fairly smug. When we were a fair distance away from the Med Bay, he said to the twins, "Now you know what it feels like to have a glitch. And anytime you need a reminder, I can always ask Nicole…."

"You just say the word, Prowl." I answered, with an innocent smile.

The twins watched me warily.

Thirty minutes later, I had taken a shower, dressed in combat clothes like Taylor's, and was currently trying to convince Optimus to let us go to Wal-Mart.

"Please?"

Optimus sighed. "What do you need at 'Wal-Mart'?" The tone in his voice told me he had never been to the store.

I held up my hands, counting off reasons. "1: Taylor will become sulky if she doesn't have more clothes than just camo. 2: She will bug me about it, and if I don't kill her first, she'll bug everyone else here. 3: I need to get things for Spice, like cat litter, food, a litter box….4: I need a toothbrush. 5: This sort of ties in with 1. The people at the party in our old apartment stole all our clothes. And there's a bunch more reasons that I can't think of right now."

The Autobot commander seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of letting us go. Ironhide, who had been listening quietly, decided to speak up now. "Prime, I'd let them go. But that 'Con stays here."

I growled and turned on Ironhide. "Ironhide. Wherever I go, Barricade goes. I don't like the idea of leaving him here, without me to get some of the thicker-helmed Autobots to back off."

Barricade, who had been standing behind me, growled. "I can take care of myself."

I turned around and pointed at him, annoyed. "Mute it, Barricade." Then I turned back to Optimus. "Please, Optimus?" Then a light bulb went off, and I added, "And we could take one of the other Autobots with us, if that makes you feel better. Like Jazz. I'd bet he'd like to get to see the rest of the world."

Speaking of the devil.

Said Autobot just happened to be walking past outside of Optimus' office. He backtracked and popped his helm in the doorway. "Did I hear my name?"

Once I explained to him what we were trying to get clearance on, his visor flashed brightly. "Sounds great ta me. Wha' 'bout you, Bossbot?"

Every head or helm in the room turned to Optimus. He looked a bit unsure, but said, "Fine. But if you see any Decepticon signatures, send a comm. and return to base immediately."

I would've done a victory dance right there if I hadn't had to go get Taylor.

As it turned out, the nearest Wal-Mart was thirty miles away.

We drove into town, and, after being surrounded by people in uniforms and giant alien robots, seeing the ordinary day-to-day people was somewhat…..strange. Was it bad that I expected to see an Autobot or tank around every corner?

But Taylor didn't give me time to stare because the second 'Cade pulled to a stop, she jumped out and drug me out. Just as Jazz and Barricade activated their holograms, she said, "Are ya'll hungry? I haven't had anything to eat in forever. Can we stop by Sonic or something?"

I stared at her. "Taylor," I said slowly, "It's 2:30. And we can't afford to waste time, with the 'Cons lurking around. Can you wait till we get back to base?"

"Nope." She sounded overly cheery about that.

I sighed, then looked at 'Cade and Jazz. "Can one of go to Sonic and fulfill Queen Taylor's wishes?"

Taylor gave me an indignant "Hey!", but Barricade nodded. "I'll go. I know what she'll want. Primus knows you eat there too much."

I shrugged, while Taylor glared.

Barricade smirked, and I gave him a peck on the cheek as his hologram got back in the driver's seat. Just as he was about to pull off, he stopped beside Jazz's hologram. "Whatever you do, don't leave them alone in Wal-Mart. I don't want a repeat of last time."

Then he drove off.

Jazz gave me a strange look. "Is tha' somethin' I want ta know 'bout?"

"Probably not. It involved the fish tanks and Tampons."

His eyes flashed while he looked up Tampons. Taylor began dragging me towards the entrance, babbling about things to get. I didn't notice Jazz wasn't following us until some lady almost ran into me with a cart.

I turned back around. Jazz was standing in the middle of the street, frozen. He seemed to snap out of it when some body honked and ran to catch up to us.

When he was back beside us, he shot me a glare. "What?" I asked.

"I really, really, really didn't need ta know 'bout tha'." He said, shaking his holograms head. "A bad mental image."

"Hey, you asked. But, listen. Taylor and I'll go get some clothes and other necessities. You can observe or whatever. I'm pretty sure you'll find Wal-Mart interesting."

"But Barricade said-"

I held a hand up. "Jazz. Do you trust me?"

"Yeaaa…."

"Okay. So what's the harm in getting clothes and cat litter?"

In the end, I won the argument, and Jazz went to observe the human race in Wal-Mart. But before I left, he gave me a credit card. When I gave him a questioning look, he merely shrugged. "Prowler said tha' this goes ta yer parents bank account. Whatever's in there is yers, and has been since ya were 18."

I gratefully accepted the credit card. Another thing Prowl had done for me.

"Taylor, I really don't care which shampoo you get, as long as you get some."

Taylor and I were in the shampoo aisle, trying to pick some out. We had already gotten some clothes and cat stuff. Taylor's clothes consisted of skirts, t-shirts, jeans, and for pajamas, a large t-shirt and some shorts. My clothes consisted of t-shirts and jeans, pajamas similar to Taylor's. We each got new tennis shoes(well, Taylor bought sneakers and two pairs of high heels; I bought tennis shoes and was perfectly happy).

So here we were, with Taylor sniffing every bottle.

Sighing, I grabbed a bottle and an idea came to me.

I held the bottle out to Taylor. "Here, sniff this."

She leaned forward even more and sniffed. "Well, I wanted something more like cherry blossom-"

I accidentally-on-purpose squeezed the bottle too hard and shampoo squirted in her face.

We both froze, with shocked expressions.

I couldn't believe I had actually done it. Taylor couldn't believe there was shampoo in her nose and mouth.

Then laughter overcame me, and I had to bend over, I was laughing so hard. "Tay….the look…on your…..face…" I said between gasps.

Too late did I see the bottle that was pointed at me.

Fifteen minutes later and twenty bottles later….

Taylor slipped trying to get up. A woman and her son hurried past us, the mom saying something to her son about, "This is what happens when you hang out with strange crowds….."

I snorted, which was a bad idea since shampoo was in my nose. That woman had no idea how strange the crowd I hung out with was.

They were alien robots, after all. Can you get any stranger than that?

The floor was covered in shampoo, and we were no different. I had shampoo in my nose, mouth, eyes, and somehow, in my pants and shirt. Taylor was an exact copy, and she was hiccupping.

I stared at her from my splayed out position on the floor. "You swallowed it, didn't you?"

She nodded, looking miserable and pitiful with the added affect of hiccups.

I sighed. "Help me up."

All that came of that wonderful idea was both of us back on the floor, her laying across my stomach and a severe headache threatening to overcome my now sore head.

Suddenly an old woman and geeky teenager leaned over us. Both were dressed in Wal-Mart uniforms.

The old woman glared at me(why always me?). "See what idiots you have to deal with everyday once you start working here?" She said to the teenager, gesturing to me. (Not Taylor, who was still hiccupping)

I groaned and let my head fall back on the tile floor.

Jazz was going to kill us. Barricade was going to kill Jazz and us.

Optimus and Prowl were going to kill us all.

As it turned out, Taylor and I made a deal to clean it all up in exchange for not having to pay for the shampoo.

While mopping the mess up, I saw Jazz start to approach us. Then he saw what we were doing and walked right past us like he didn't know us. Coward. I was going to smack him on the back of the helm later.

And he had a freaking iPod in his hand. Where the hell did he get that?

But after thirty minutes of mopping, we finally got done and went to change into the clothes we had picked out. The bad thing was we had forgot to pay for them, and so we had to go up to the check out, and have them scan the clothes while we were wearing them. Awkward.

The whole time, Jazz and Barricade just decided to avoid us. I think dear old 'Cade would have cared a bit more if he had known that the geeky teenage boy had had to scan a tag on my butt.

So Taylor and I walked out of Wal-Mart with new clothes, new shoes, and shampooey hair.

The clothes I had decided to wear were simple. A new pair of dark jeans, a white scoop neck t-shirt that said, "People love to hate me", and my new black converses. I had also bought a black leather jacket.

Taylor had picked out a long sleeved black shirt, a light pair of jeans, and a similar denim jacket. She wore a new pair of black high heels.

We carried our bags out to where Jazz and Barricade had parked. Said Mustang was back, and Jazz's hologram was plugging in the iPod into the speaker system using some kind of cable. The second Taylor and I were within ten feet, Barricade's hologram appeared.

And did he look pissed.

"I told you not to leave them alone!" He pretty much snarled at Jazz.

The saboteur barely glanced at him. "I…er…got distracted. 'Sides, shouldn't ya be getting' on ta them? I ain't the one who fragged off Wal-Mart."

Taylor hiccupped.

Barricade seemed like he wanted to say something else, but just sighed and glared at me. "Who started it?"

Taylor pointed at me, then hiccupped.

I glared at her, then looked at my sparkmate. "So what if I did?"

"So what? So what? You are officially banned from Wal-Mart! Again!"

I waved it off, instead gesturing for Barricade to open the trunk. "Come on, 'Cade. It's not like they're going to take it to heart to make sure Taylor or me set foot inside that place again."

He didn't open the trunk. "That is the closest Wal-Mart to the base, and you can't ever buy from there again."

I shrugged. "I can just transwarp to the next nearest Wal-Mart. Besides, they aren't the only store around here."

Taylor hiccupped.

The bags were starting to get heavy. I grabbed the handle that would have opened the trunk and pulled. Barricade still didn't open it. Frustrated, I threw the bags down and kicked Barricade's bumper. "Dammit, Barricade! Why can't you just drop it?"

Instead of answering me, he just deactivated his hologram and opened the driver's side to the door. "Get in." Came the short, sharp reply.

I stared at the door, more than a little hurt and mad. What the frag had I done to upset him so much?

But instead of asking, I just got in after putting the bags in the trunk.

Rolling down the window, I started to ask Taylor if she was going to get in when she got in Jazz. Sighing, I rolled the window back up. I didn't really want to have to deal with Barricade alone.

The first few minutes of the drive were tense. I didn't know why though. What we did wasn't that bad. Sure, we wasted time. Time that the Decepticons could've found us and attacked us.

I sighed again. Okay, now I saw what he was getting worked up about.

So, that left it to me to apologize. I swallowed my pride and said, " 'Cade, I'm sorry. I guess what we did was stupid."

He didn't say anything for a moment. Then, a sigh came through the radio. "I just worry that the Decepticons will attack and we won't be able to hold them off. Being far away from the protection of the Autobots makes me edgy."

I smirked. "Is my big, bad sparkmate getting scared?" I asked, teasing.

"I'm worried that I wont be able to protect you." He said, in a dead serious tone.

I frowned. "Barricade, I'm pretty sure that we'll be okay. We'll be back at base soon."

"Anything could go wrong, at anytime-"

And then the road in front of us exploded.

Willow Turner was a grumpy 21 year old woman.

Today had been sucky, in her opinion, and then on top of that, when she arrived at the bus stop, on time, it wasn't there. After asking around, she had figured out that it had came early. So here she was, walking home.

She sighed and hefted her bag on her shoulder again. She had even tried hitch-hiking. But if Jason, her brother, were here, he would have smacked her on the back of the head for trying.

Willow lived by herself in a small house in the woods, a few miles from the city. Her brother was off on another mission for the military, and he was supposed to be gone for months. Their father had died of cancer when Willow was twelve, and then her mother had left them when she was fifteen. That was after….. No, Willow wouldn't think of her deceased twin.

Right now, she was living in a house with her brother, but he was gone most of the time and so she had the house to herself.

After her mother had left, Willow had started changing her appearance. She had had short dark brown hair, but she had dyed it blue today and it was short and spiky. Her eye color was dark brown also, but she was wearing fluorescent green contacts today. Her signature black leather jacket-something that had been her dads-protected her from the chilly wind as she walked down the side of the road. Everyday she wore a quirky t-shirt, and today was no different. The shirt was white with a dinosaur on it that said, 'Rawr!' She had on black skinny jeans with silver Sharpie doodles all over them. Her white tennis shoes were no different.

Willow ran a tattoo parlor that was known for its wonderful tattoos. She herself had none, because from what she had learned from customers, it hurt like hell.

Suddenly she heard a powerful car engine-maybe two-and moved farther to the side to avoid being road kill.

This move probably saved her life.

Before she knew what was happening, the road behind her exploded, and she was thrown to the side of the road, in the ditch. Heat waves fell over her. Willow vaguely thought she saw a ball of fire.

Her ears were ringing and her head felt like it was going to explode. She felt cuts on her legs, but her jacket had protected her from serious damage.

Squinting, Willow sat up.

And what she saw was even more shocking than the sudden explosion.

Five giant robots stood not 100 yards away, and they all had red eyes. Three of them had a triangular shape, like a Dorito. The fourth one had long tentacles that just flat creeped her out. The fifth one was huge, and had a curved and wicked looking cannon on it's right arm.

A silver and black Dorito robot was shouting something, but Willow's ears were hurting still. It pointed what looked like a gun at something to Willow's left.

She turned to see two cars, one a black with silver stripes Mustang GT and the other a silver Pontiac Solstice. Both of them were flipped over, and the door to the Mustang was open. A still form was hanging out. Willow struggled to look closer. It was a girl with long black hair.

Willow had one thought on her mind: What the hell was going on?

She touched her ear tentatively. Whatever it was, she didn't want to be a part of it. Willow crawled further off the road to the tree line where she would be hidden.

Where she could watch.

Just because she didn't want to be a part of it didn't mean she didn't want to see it.

Nicole POV

I groaned.

There wasn't a part of me that didn't hurt. The last thing I knew, I was talking to Barricade, when the road in front of suddenly exploded. Like, right in front of us. Barricade had been blown backwards. If I hadn't had a seatbelt on, I would've been killed as we rolled. The Cybertronian armor that served as the outside of Barricade's alt form was the only thing that saved the roof from collapsing in.

Now I was hanging out of Barricade's broken window with a headache and a few broken bones. It didn't take long for my head to clear(probably thanks to the AllSpark). My first thought was Decepticons.

That gave me the will to lift my head and look around. When I saw everything, my first thought was: Oh, shit.

Jazz looked no better than the situation Barricade and I were in. I couldn't see Taylor and that worried me.

But just as that thought went through my head, Taylor opened the door and fell out, her eyes wild. She looked around for a moment, saw me, and started to get up, but suddenly another missile exploded between us. The fire blocked my view of Taylor and Jazz.

I clenched my teeth and pulled myself out of Barricade's driver seat. Just as I did, I heard static go through the radio. "Nicole?"

"I'm okay, 'Cade. Just scratched up. You might want to transform now. Looks like the 'Cons decided to show their ugly faceplates…" I said, still trying to take an assessment of my injuries. But so far, everything just hurt.

Barricade transformed, and he looked slagged up. His armor was ripped and torn by shrapnel, and Energon was leaking from a few cut tubes.

"Where-"

He was cut off as another missile shot right past his helm. I curled up to protect my face from the blast. I heard him roar over the explosion. He sounded mad.

When I finally looked up, he was gone. There were still a few explosions, and smoke surrounded me everywhere. Shakily, I stood up. I need to find Taylor and get covered. I only hoped that Barricade or Jazz had commed someone.

Suddenly something wrapped around my waist, and before I could react, I was jerked off the ground roughly. I was pulled through the air so fast that I couldn't even scream. And then I was jerked to a stop, right in front of two burning red optics.

The AllSpark identified the 'Con as Soundwave. Then I noticed something. His servos were at his sides, so what was holding me up?

Then I saw those damned tentacles.

Ah, how I learned to hate those tentacles in a few seconds time.

Not saying anything to me, or showing any emotion for that matter, Soundwave said aloud, "Megatron: target acquired."

Now that made me mad. "Hey, you fragging pile of scrap!" I shouted at him, grabbing the tentacle holding me, "I'm not going to go easy." Then I used the AllSpark energy and sent God knows how many volts of electricity through his system.

I would say that his optics widened as the tentacle loosened around me and Soundwave dropped, but I cant be sure.

But knowing my luck, the damn 'Con ejected on of his Casseticons. It was a panther-looking robot that had one red optic. And it's name was Ravage.

"Great." I muttered. "I like cats, but not the kind that want to eat your face off."

The metal kitty waved its tail for a moment, as if getting used to it's surroundings, then turned it's one optic on me. I took off in the opposite direction, only to almost be stepped on by Thundercracker.

The blue mech growled at me and aimed his null ray in my face. I transwarped onto his other side, and the Seeker ended up shooting Ravage in the faceplates instead. I had the sudden urge to laugh, but a roar ripped my attention away.

I turned to see a large silver mech the size of Optimus firing at Barricade. My first reaction was anger. No one shot at my sparkmate.

I transwarped as close as I could to the mech without getting stepped on. I was about to reach out and shock him, but then the mech turned and looked straight at me.

I froze. Those red optics. The same ones from my nightmare.

Megatron had killed my parents.

Suddenly I wasn't on a battlefield anymore. I was in my parent's two story house again.

Mom and Dad had just pulled me back from the edge of the now torn away wall. Below us were flames so hot that I could feel the heat.

Just like every time, I looked up to the red optics of Megatron. Now the smoke that had once covered his faceplates was gone, and I could see the gleeful look in his optics. Quicker than I could blink, Megatron brought his arm down on the floor next to us with a laugh.

I felt myself falling, but then at the last moment, my parents pushed me back on a stronger part of the floor. I scrambled back to the edge, already calling out to my parents.

But all I could do was watch and cry in shock as they fell into the fire below.

I swear my heart stopped. I forgot to breathe. Unable to look at the fire any longer, I looked up just as a yellow blur tackled Megatron, who had been reaching for me.

Then a white servo reached towards me but I scrambled back. I saw Prowl lean in closer. He was saying something, but at the moment I couldn't hear anything. I was too shocked. Prowl looked as shocked as I felt. His optics were nearly white.

He said something again. This time my body moved. I sat on his open servo and he pulled me over the flames and held me to his chasis as he backed away from the fire.

Then a hard impact to my side brought me out of the memory.

My eyes snapped open in time to see Barricade tackle Megatron. I looked around to see what had tackled me. It was a blue-haired girl with green eyes. She had a few cuts on her face and she looked pale and scared.

"Are you freaking crazy, woman? You were about to me grabbed by that damn robot!" She yelled in my face.

I didn't say anything to her. Instead I looked around for Jazz. He was currently trying to shoot down Starscream who was in his alt mode dropping missiles from above. Thundercracker was raising his null rays and aiming for Jazz.

Just as I was about to scream a warning to Jazz, a white and black blur tore across and attacked Thundercracker.

When I recognized it was Prowl, I heard Optimus shout, "Autobots, attack!". Then there were several Autobots transforming and attacking the 'Cons.

Now that I was sure that Jazz was okay, I looked around for 'Cade again. I felt pain radiate from across the spark bond. Panicked, I stood up frantically despite the strange girls protests to stay down.

When I did see Barricade, my heart literally stopped.

Megatron had 'Cade pinned against a tree by the neck, with his fusion cannon aimed at my spark mate's spark.

Without thinking, I transwarped right onto Megatron's back. I grabbed a handful of tubing and wires in his neck and pulled as hard as I could, bracing myself on his back.

I didn't stop the Decepticon leader from shooting 'Cade. But instead of shooting a hole through his spark, Megatron missed and shot mere inches from the spark casing.

I felt the pain the same as Barricade did. It hurt like hell. The pain was so great that I let go of Megatron's wiring and dropped to the ground.

Megatron seemed shocked for a few moments, then shouted, "Decepticons, retreat!"

The large Transformer glared down at me. "Next time, girl." Then he transformed, but I didn't watch his escape.

Instead I stood shakily and ran to Barricade. He was completely still, leaning against the tree. It barely held his weight. His optics were dim, and a large gaping hole was in his chest. The sight of energon running down his chasis nearly made me want to break down right there.

" 'Cade? Can you hear me, babe?" I asked, reaching up but not touching him.

His optics onlined and he looked down at me. "Ni-Nico-…Nic-cole?" Static laced his voice.

"Shh, Barricade. I'm going to try and help you, 'kay?" He gave the barest of nods and offlined his optics.

Sighing, I reached up and took off my necklace. Maybe, if I gave it to 'Cade, he would be able to hold out for a little longer as we waited for Ratchet.

Suddenly a coldness on the other end of the bond startled me. I started to panic again as I realized that Barricade's spark was fading.

" 'Cade? 'Cade, can you hear me, babe? Listen to me. Stay here. Don't go into stasis, okay?" I said frantically as I reached towards his spark casing. I just barely managed to reach it and shove the AllSpark shard in as close as I could get it.

I saw an immediate reaction. Barricade's optics unnaturally flashed blue instead of red and a small blue pulse seem to go through the Mustang's frame. I felt an immediate reaction, too. The second the shard left my hand, I felt my energy drop.

But I didn't really care how tired I felt, as long as my sparkmate would make it.

Jazz winced as First Aid treated the cuts he had received during the battle.

They were back in the Med Bay at base. Jazz hadn't been injured that bad, just some cuts and lucky shots those fragging Seekers had landed on him. Barricade had been in much worse shape, considering he had taken a point blank shot from Megatron's fusion cannon only a few inches from his spark casing.

They had loaded the black and silver mech in a trailer that had been specially designed for the purpose of carrying Autobots that couldn't transform since they were injured. Nicole had hung back, almost like she was afraid of getting in the way, until Ratchet barked an order at her to stay close to Barricade.

While other Autobots had been confused at the order, Jazz knew exactly why. If Nicole stayed close, Barricade was most likely to stay with his sparkmate close by.

But Jazz didn't know why the human femme looked so tired. From what he could see, she only had a few minor cuts on her face and hands. There was a haunted look in her eyes. It made Jazz wonder just what Nicole had discovered during that battle.

Prowl seemed to see it, also. When he sent a questioning look to Jazz, he just shook his head and shrugged.

Prowl wasn't the only one who had thought that the saboteur might know. Taylor had came to him, asking why Nicole seemed distant and tense. After receiving the same answer, she had just hung by her best friend.

There had also been another human femme who had seen the whole thing. Willow Turner was her name. She had pretty much demanded to know what was going on, or she'd go to the press. They had been blackmailed into taking her with them. Now, Willow was somewhere in the base, probably trying to be negotiated with to keep quiet. Even after their brief encounter, Jazz bet that the girl wouldn't let it go that easy.

Now, Prowl and Jazz were sitting in the Med Bay while First Aid repaired Jazz. Not that there was much to repair. Even after all these years, the Jazz-man still had his skills. Ratchet was in a private operating room working on Barricade.

"So what happened again?" Prowl asked as First Aid welded a cut sealed on his own armor that the tactician had gotten when he attacked Thundercracker.

"We we're jus' drivin' back ta base when all o' sudden the 'Cons fired buncha missiles at the road in front o' Barricade. The rest ya pretty much know."

Prowl opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the human-sized door opened. Taylor walked in, looking worried.

The three mechs looked down at the human femme in surprise. "Taylor, doncha know tha' the Hatchet'll kick ya out if he sees ya in here?" Jazz asked, scooting off the berth he had been sitting on with Prowl to bend down to the woman.

Taylor's expression remained the same. "Have you seen Nicole?"

First Aid set the welder down on a small tray beside the berth. "If I'm not mistaken, didn't Ratchet take her into the operating room with him?"

Taylor shook her head. "No. Well, at least I don't think so. She was in the Rec. Room a few minutes ago with me. She looked a bit sick, so I went to go get her a drink. When I came back, she was gone."

They heard a door open and the three Autobots and one human looked up to see Ratchet come out of the operating room, wiping his servos on a rag and his optics on half-power.

"Please tell me ya didn't operate on 'Cade with yer optics off, Ratch." Jazz joked, but his spark wasn't into it. The things that had happened in the past few hours made it hard for him to put up a cheerful charade.

Ratchet shot the silver mech an annoyed look. "Shut up, Jazz. Where the frag is Nicole?"

Taylor and the three mechs looked at the medic in shock. It wasn't unusual for him to be brusque with his comments, but the tone wasn't the same.

"What do you mean, Ratchet? Is Barricade's condition worsening?" Prowl asked, being the first one to get over the shock.

Ratchet shook his head. "No, he's stable. He just needs to rest and recharge. Barricade'll be staying in my Med Bay for awhile. But Nicole needs to her aft in here now."

"Why?" Taylor asked, getting more worried by each word.

"Because of this." The Medical Hummer held up a small necklace.

Jazz felt dread seep into his circuitry as he realized just what the necklace being separated from meant. "When'd ya find it, Ratchet?" He asked quietly.

"When I opened Barricade's chest plates, I got this nice little surprise. Apparently she took it upon herself to try and heal him. You know what this means don't you, Jazz?"Jazz nodded, while Prowl asked, "Ratchet? Some of us here aren't medics or weren't in Nicole's head. Would you care to explain?"

"You remember when Nicole was diagnosed with lung cancer, right? Well, Sam and Mikaela thought that maybe if she wore a shard of AllSpark it might cure it. It did. The only thing was she had to wear it the whole time or the cancer would return. That's why they never taught her to swim. I don't know how long she can go without the necklace, but we need to find her now. Then I'm going to have a talk about personal health with her when we find her."

Prowl immediately opened a comm. link with Red Alert. ~Prowl to Red Alert.~

~Red Alert, here.~

~Can you pull up video footage of the past 15 minutes? See if Nicole shows up around the Rec room.~

~Why? Is she a Decepticon spy?~

Prowl resisted the urge to roll his optics. ~No, Red Alert. This has to do with her safety.~

~…Oh. I'll get on it.~

Not thirty second later, Red Alert contacted Prowl again. ~It looks like she went into the human femme's restroom three minutes ago and hasn't came out since.~

~Thank you, Red Alert.~

Prowl relayed the information to the anxious human and Autobots waiting for a reply. Prowl, Jazz, and Ratchet left the Med Bay, Ratchet with Taylor on his shoulder. The CMO ordered First Aid to stay and watch Barricade for any changes.

They soon found which restroom Red Alert had told them about. Ratchet set Taylor down. "If anything's wrong with her, I don't care if you have to drag her, bring her out." The medic said.

Taylor nodded and went inside the bath room.

Immediately she was hit with the coppery smell and that horrible hacking sound. She began looking in all of the stalls.

Nicole was in the last one. She hadn't bothered to lock the door. Taylor's best friend was leaning over the toilet, coughing up blood.

For a moment Taylor's brain froze up. There was so much blood. That hacking sound was Nicole coughing. She hadn't even heard Taylor enter.

A particularly bad cough brought Taylor back. "Oh, Nicole, honey…." She muttered, rushing to her best friend's side.

Nicole half-turned to Taylor. "Taylor-" She broke into another coughing fit. When it was over, she put her head in her hands. "Oh, Taylor….I keep seeing their faces as they fell into the fire." Nicole spit on the floor. "Don't look at me. There's blood everywhere." Then she started coughing again.

Taylor bit her lip. Blood usually made her queasy. But for her best friend, she would forget that. And what was she talking about, 'their faces'? Who?

But instead of asking, she grabbed Nicole's elbow gently and tugged her to her feet. Nicole was pale, and the blood that was on the front of her clothes scared Taylor.

There was even blood smeared on her face and what looked like…tears? That scared Taylor even more than the blood. She had never seen Nicole cry.

The black haired girl had to lean against Taylor as she half-dragged, half-carried her. Nicole coughed a few times, even more blood getting on her clothes and some on Taylor's. She tried to ignore that as she opened the door to Ratchet, Jazz, and Prowl's little cries of surprise at their appearance.

"Ratchet, give me the necklace," Taylor said, holding her hand out. The little necklace was dropped in her hand. She put the necklace as gently as she could around Nicole's neck. Immediately the coughing stopped, but Nicole looked more tired than ever.

Jazz knelt down to their level. "Takin' tha' necklace off of yerself really messed ya up, baby girl." He said softly.

Nicole looked at him. "Is Barricade alright?"

"Yeah, Ratch fixed 'im up. He's jus' gotta rest for awhile."

Nicole closed her eyes and sighed. "Good."

Nicole POV

In all honesty, I felt like I'd been to hell and back.

Sure, I wasn't coughing up blood anymore and Ratchet had given me a healthy dose of painkillers, but mentally, I felt horrible. I replayed my parents death over and over and over and over…..

I couldn't get their faces out of my mind.

And also, it was my fault that Barricade was in the position he was in right now. If I hadn't froze up, he wouldn't have attacked Megatron. If he hadn't attacked Megatron, Megatron wouldn't have pinned him against a tree and tried to shoot his spark out.

It was all my fault.

A slight cough brought me out of my thoughts.

I looked up. Bumblebee was standing a few feet away from my spot on the couch in the Rec room. He was shifting nervously.

"Can I help you, Bumblebee?" I asked, trying and failing to smile.

He hesitated before saying, "Ratchet told me to take you on a drive and talk to you."

I cursed the medic. "Why?"

"About….remembering how Sam and Mikaela died."

I stiffened. Why the hell did he want me to talk about that? Did he think it might be easier to deal with or something?

"Can we talk about that later?" I asked coolly.

The Camaro's faceplates scrunched up. "He pulled rank."

I sighed, considering just transwarping away. But instead, I just nodded. "Fine. Come on."

I transwarped on his shoulder, which was something Ratchet had specifically told me not to do. He must've also told Bumblebee, I guess by the frown on his faceplates. "Ratchet told me not to let you transwarp."

I sighed, staring straight ahead. "No offense, 'Bee, but….try and stop me."

I thought I may have seen a small smile, but that could've been my imagination.

Fifteen minutes later, we were driving away from base. There was an uncomfortable silence hanging over us.

I was looking around the interior. It was just like when I was a kid and my mom and dad would take me to school or wherever. I smiled faintly when I remembered once when they had taken me out for ice cream. I had gotten a large strawberry cone. I remember we stopped quickly, and the top half of my double scoop had fallen onto the seat. Dad had been mad, but Mom just calmly cleaned it up and cleaned the seat, telling me to be careful. Now I knew why my dad had been so mad.

"Are you alright?" Bumblebee asked.

I blinked and nodded quickly. "Yeah, just remembering something."

"The time you dropped ice cream on the seat?"

I looked at the dash board in surprise. "How'd you guess?"

"That memory….kind of sticks out. And the ice cream was fragging cold."

I snorted. "Sorry about that."

"That's okay. I thought it was actually pretty funny."

"Yeah…." I said slowly.

After another few seconds of silence, he said, "I'm sorry that I left you."

That caught me by surprise almost as much as the time Barricade had said sorry. "What?"

"I….shouldn't have left. Especially with you not being able to remember what happened. Maybe if I had stayed, you wouldn't have had to go into the foster system. What was it like?"

"The foster system?"

"….Not remembering."

"Oh." I said flatly. That was not what I had been expecting. "Well….shocking, I guess. I mean, I remember falling asleep in bed that night, and then waking up in a hospital. Optimus' hologram was there. He explained what happened. It felt like running into a brick wall at 100 miles an hour. They were there, and then…they weren't." I finished softly.

We were both silent for awhile. Then Bumblebee said, "But you remember now."

"Yes." I said, painfully. "I do. I don't know which is worst, remembering or not."

"Maybe some doors are better left closed."

I laughed softly. "Maybe. But it's pure curiosity that makes you open those doors. And usually you don't like what you see." I sighed. "You know what's ironic? I thought that by remembering how my parents died would bring some closure. Instead it left me with guilt and the grief to deal with all over again."

"It wasn't your fault." Bumblebee said quietly. "It was a well thought out strategy. There was usually someone patrolling the area around your house if I was at the base. The Decepticons attacked while they were changing shifts. We got there as quick as we could. I arrived just as Megatron was reaching for you. We lost a few mechs that day."

I didn't say anything. Instead I just stared out the window, watching the desert roll by. So Jazz had been right. Bumblebee didn't blame me.

"I hope you know that I don't blame you for leaving. If I was in your position I probably would've, too." I said suddenly.

Bumblebee seemed to think about that for a few seconds. Then, "…Thank you."

I smiled. "Don't thank me. I don't deserve it."

We sat in silence for awhile, with me looking out the window. The silence wasn't uncomfortable anymore. It was actually nice.

"Do you really believe Barricade had changed?"

I jumped at the sudden sound of Bumblebee's voice. Then what he had asked sunk in. I became defensive. "Yes, I do. With all of my heart."

"But how do you really know?"

"I just do."

"But how?"

I hesitated. I knew because of the bond. But no one except me, Barricade, Jazz, and Ratchet knew about it. And I had a nagging suspicion that Bumblebee wouldn't be exactly happy. I sighed. Sooner or later it was going to come out, so might as well get a head start.

I stared at the dashboard. "You promise not to be mad? Or freak out, at least."

"With the tone you're using, I'm not sure I want to know anymore. But, yes, I promise."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, well, we sort of have a…..spark bond?"

Suddenly I was jerked forward as he hit the brakes and I heard the squealing of tires. "You have a what?"

I winced at his tone. "Spark-"

"It was rhetorical." He snapped.

Ouch. "Look," I said, holding my hands up, "I have no idea how it happened. Whenever we first got here, Optimus and Ironhide took Barricade to the Interrogating room. When I got there, Ratchet had knocked Barricade over the helm-"

"For a good reason, too." He cut me off bitterly.

"Hey, it was not his fault that he hit me. I didn't look both ways."

"One of the things that Sam and Mikaela tried to get you to do."

"I was in a hurry!" Then I glared accusingly at the dash board. "We're off topic. But when I touched Barricade to see if he was alright, there was like this weird electric shock thing. Our energy fields connected, I guess you could say. And suddenly there was a spark bond."

Bumblebee sighed. "You are a strange girl, Nicole."

I crossed my arms. "I prefer the word special, thank you very much."

He laughed at that, but sobered again once he thought of the bond Barricade and I shared. He sighed again. "Well, I don't guess I could get you to sever it, could I?"

I stared at the dashboard. "Are you crazy? Not a chance in Pit, Bumblebee. I love Barricade, and he loves me."

The Camaro didn't respond for a few minutes. Then he said, "Are you sure you love him, though?"

That surprised me. No one had asked me that before. "What do you mean?"

"Do you really love him, or…." He didn't finish.

Suddenly the meaning struck me. And was I mad. "Are you serious? Do you think that I'm that weak? That the only reason I think I love him is because I felt alone at the time we met?"

"I didn't say you were weak. I was merely wondering if he took advantage of your situation to make you think that he really loved you-"

"Did you not hear what I said a few minutes ago? We have a spark bond. I cant get anymore sure than that." Suddenly l felt tired all over again. I wanted to just curl up and ignore the world. "I don't see why you cant see that he has changed. He lied to me for the past four years, sure, but he did it because he thought he was protecting me. He went all the way to freakin' Canada to keep me away from the Decepticons!"

"And the Autobots."

"Oh my God! Why cant you just believe me?" I said, putting my face in my hands. I felt like crying. It seemed mighty tempting. "For the first time in a long while, I was actually happy when I met him. And when he asked me out on our first date…." I sniffled. "It was like a dream come true. I had found my perfect match."

Bumblebee didn't say anything for a long while. I didn't bother trying to break the silence, either. I wanted to sit and just enjoy the quiet.

I suddenly heard Bumblebee sigh. "I'm sorry. I guess that if you're this sure, I should believe you. I see how much he makes you happy. I just hope I'm not making a mistake in trusting him."

At that moment I could've kissed Bumblebee. "Thank you, 'Bee."

"How was your first date, anyway?"

I snorted. "Terrible. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. But all the same, I loved how much effort he put into it to make if perfect. You should've seen his face at the end of it. He kept apologizing. He almost didn't ask me to go on a second date."

"Hmm." Was the only response I got. Then, "Did you ever….never mind."

I raised one eyebrow. "Did I ever what?"

"Nothing."

" 'Bee, it's not nothing. Go ahead and ask."

"Did you and Barricade ever-well, you know."

My eyes widened as I got what he meant. I face palmed. "Oh, God. That is none of your business, Bumblebee! None, whatsoever!"

"You said I could ask!"

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to ask about my personal life!" I put my face in my hands again, this time out of embarrassment. "God, this is embarrassing. Damn…. Do you go around asking everyone who they've been interfacing with?"

"No, I just feel entitled to ask you since, in a way, I consider you a sister, I guess."

"I'm touched, but I'm pretty sure regular brothers don't go around asking their sisters who they've been sleeping with. Wow, this is such an awkward conversation…..Damn…."

Hey you guys! Sorry I havent updated in a while, but school had been getting in the way.

I made this chapter longer so I could get in the talk between Nicole and Bee. I know some of you have been waiting a long time for it.

Man, I'm almost afraid to read some of the reviews for this chap.

But review, cause we're almost to 100 reviews! Yay, kudos and cookies to all of us!

By the way, who wants me to do a one-shot on Nicole and Barricade's first date?

Review!