/blah/=bond talk

~blah~= comm. link

Chapter 13:

Nicole POV

Bumblebee and I talked about more things that had happened in the years since my parents had died. Soon we were back at the base hangar. It was dark outside already, so I wandered how many bots or people would be in the cafeteria. Ratchet was waiting for us at the door. I had to admit, even though Ratchet had forced me into it, I felt better after talking to Bumblebee. Our relationship was no longer the awkward nervousness, and now I couldn't help thinking of Bumblebee as an older-and bigger, way bigger-brother.

I even felt more at peace with myself. I didn't feel as though I was to blame for my parents deaths. But the memory of them falling in the fire still hurt.

Ratchet glared at me as I got out of Bumblebee's driver seat. "Well?"

I shrugged. "We talked. But I swear, Ratchet, if you ever pull rank to get me to do something again, your medical tools will go missing during the night."

Ratchet snorted. "I dare you to even try touching them, Nicole Witwicky."

Bumblebee, now transformed, chuckled. "I'd listen to him, Nicole. Look, I'd love to talk to you some more, but I've got graveyard shift for monitor duty."

I smiled. "That's alright. Besides, I wanted to go and see Barricade before I went to bed."

Ratchet sighed and leaned down with his servo open. "He's still in recharge. He'll probably stay that way for a while, too."

We said bye to Bumblebee and began the walk to the Med Bay. Ratchet started asking me medical questions, which I answered wearily. I was tired and I wanted to get something to eat and then go to sleep.

Soon we reached the Med Bay. Ratchet showed me the berth that Barricade was laying on. I nearly cried at the state he was in. My sparkmate was looking so much better than he had after Megatron had shot him, but he still looked bad. His paint was scratched up and dented in several places, though Ratchet told me that his self repair system would take care of it. His armor had an almost dull look to it. There was a few weld scars that surrounded the area where he had been shot.

Ratchet didn't say anything as he set me down on the berth. After a moment of staring at Barricade, I said quietly, "Thank you, Ratchet."

"Don't thank me. I was just doing my job."

"Yeah, but how many Autobot medics would try and save a Decepticon's life?"

"Last time I checked, Barricade was an ex 'Con, thus making him neutral."

"Touché. I just hope doesn't remain neutral forever."

Ratchet snorted. "He wont."

I smirked. "How would you know? Do you suddenly have the ability to see the future?"

"I know because I'm a medic. And because he has you to think of. He wouldn't remain on the side lines when he has the chance to fight for something that's important to him."

"I'm guessing you speak from experience."

Ratchet smirked as he began cleaning tools on a tray beside the berth. "Youngling, everyone in this war is fighting for something. Bondmates fighting for each other, siblings fighting for each other, friends fighting for each other. Everyone fighting for a better future. Even those damn Decepticons, in their own twisted way, are fighting for something they believe in.'

"Hmm. I never thought of it that way."

"Think over it some more." Then he turned back to me, waving a particularly sharp knife. "I'm going to try and get some work done now. I don't want to have to come back in here and find you missing or with an arm or leg missing, understand?"

"Your work habits are beginning to sound like Prowl's, Ratch. Better watch out."

He snorted. "Don't even compare me with that fragger. I swear, if he hadn't met Jazz, the mech would have bonded to his datapads." Ratchet shook his helm, walking into his office.

I smiled and sat down, leaning against Barricade's side. I could hear all of his systems whirring quietly, then stopping, and his vents occasionally cycling air. His armor was warm. I closed my eyes and reached across the bond.

I was surprised when I felt him reach back. He sent confusion my way. I sent love and comfort back.

/About time./

I jumped when I heard Barricade's voice. I turned around and looked at Barricade's faceplates. He was still in recharge.

/It's called 'bond talk./

I didn't jump this time. /Barricade?/ I asked, thinking I was sort of crazy talking to myself in my head.

/Nicole./

I smiled as I heard his dry response. /Sorry, you surprised me. I didn't know we could do this./

I heard him snort. /Don't you have VIP access to the AllSpark memories?/

/Yes, I just didn't ever think of this. So it never came up./

After a few seconds of silence, he said /Megatron….shot me. In the spark./

I winced. /No, he shot you a few inches away from your spark casing. I…distracted him./

Anger came from the other end of the bond. /No, you transwarped on his back./

I felt my own anger well up. /Well, what did you expect me to do? Let him shoot you?/

Barricade sighed. /No. I just wish you had taken less dangerous course of action./

I closed my eyes. /I'm sorry, 'Cade./

/Don't apologize. I know you were just trying to protect me./

/Not about that. About the fact that I froze up./

Barricade was silent. Then, /What happened?/

I sighed. /When I saw Megatron's optics…it sort of triggered some memories of the night my parent's died. I saw the whole thing, Barricade. Megatron, the fire, their faces…./

/You don't have to tell me. Just show me./

/By thinking of the memory?/

/Exactly. If you don't want to, I understand. I just want to try and help you./

I hesitated, then brought back the memories of the night. When it was over, Barricade was silent and I couldn't feel his side of the bond anymore. After a few more minutes, my patience ran out. /Come on, Barricade, don't block me out!/ I thought, pushing against the block.

I heard him sigh, and then I felt his anger and protectiveness of me flood the bond. I sighed. /Barricade, don't be angry. What's been done is done./

/So? Megatron has caused you so much pain, even after all these years and right now, when he's not even here./

/Babe, Megatron has caused us all pain./ I sighed. /I'm sorry that I froze up and caused all of…well, the condition you're in right now./

/Stop saying sorry. It wasn't your fault. You didn't make Megatron shoot me, did you? You didn't make me attack him to protect you, did you?/ When I didn't say anything, he continued. /Nicole, I attacked him because I love you and would do anything for you. I knew the risks of doing it. I've been in this war a lot longer than you've even been alive. I've seen what he can do to a mech. It wasn't your fault at all./

I closed my eyes. /Thank you, 'Cade. Thank you for being there for me, for being you, for your love. Everything./

/Thank you for being the Nicole I know and love./

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, a thought struck me. /'Cade?/

/Yes?/

/What's it like, talking like this in your recharge?/

/…I guess sort of like dreaming. Only it's not a dream./

/Oh./

Then, /You should be resting./

/You should, too./

/I already am./

I sighed, but I was smiling. /Alright, 'Cade. I'll try to sleep. I love you./

/I love you, too, Nicole./

Still smiling, I laid back and curled into Barricade's side. Soon I was asleep.

Willow Turner grinned as she shoved the bobby pin back in her bag.

She had just gotten finished picking the lock to the interrogation room that she had been stuck in for 8 hours. Before she had, though, she had found a piece of tape in her bag and taped it over the camera(it was zebra-striped!) in the room. In that time, she had drank three of six Monsters she had had in her bag. Any trace of exhaustion was gone and she buzzed with energy.

She grinned cheerfully at nothing in particular as she walked through the halls. No one was out and about at this hour, so that meant no one was in her way to stop her from exploring.

Humming a song that most people found annoying, she looked at some of the plaques on doors. There was a human sized door, and a huge robot sized door for almost every room. Willow stopped when she found a door that said, 'Med Bay'. The light coming from under the door was strange. Most lights were off by now.

Looking around, Willow confirmed that no one was in the hall with her. Smiling happily, she opened the door and walked in.

Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. Willow looked around. There was a bunch of big tables, one of which a bunch of monitors surrounding a large still black robot laying on. There were also other things that were hard to identify.

She had been wrong. There was what looked like another office lit. She set her bag down gently and took her sneakers off. They squeaked when she walked.

As quietly as she could, Willow tip toed to the door. There was a neon yellow robot sitting behind a desk, with his head propped in one hand.

And he was snoring.

At least, Willow thought it was a he. Can robots have genders?

Shaking her head, she tip toed back away from the doorway. The table with the black robot caught her eye. Walking up to it, she squinted at the metal the table was made of. It was either steel or iron.

Willow shrugged as she began to take her socks off. Whichever it was, she could still scale up it. When she was eight, she had taken gymnastics and had learned that she was good at climbing things. Poles, more specifically.

After sticking her socks in her back pocket, she rubbed her hands up and down her jeans to create friction(one of the only things that had stuck with her from school) and make her hands sweaty so she could scale up easier.

When Willow was satisfied with her sweaty hands, she grabbed the pole and started climbing, doing the whole thing silently. Like a ninja, Willow thought, almost giggling at her own thoughts.

She paused halfway up. She really started to start drinking water instead of energy drinks. They made her feel high.

Willow finally reached the top. Her arms were aching. She hadn't done that in a long time. Only when she looked at the size of the robot did she wonder if this had been such a good idea. After all, the little annoying voice in her head reasoned, if it wakes up and sees you, it most likely going to squash you.

Thanks, voice. She thought, annoyed. That made her pause again. Hearing voices is the first sign of madness after all-

Willow squealed and jumped into her 'Instant Ninja Defense Stance(or INDS)', as her brother had deemed it because she looked like she was trying to copy a ninja stance she had seen in a movie. Something had brushed her leg. Willow was certain of it.

"Meow."

Willow almost squealed again as the noise came from behind her. She whirled around. And stared.

There was a cat.

A gray cat.

Sitting right there, in front of her.

And it was staring at her.

Willow relaxed and almost laughed in relief. It was a frigging cat that had scared her senseless. A cat.

Sighing, she leaned down and picked the cat up. It hissed and spit at her. Willow held it at arms length, wincing. She really hoped the robots didn't have sensitive hearing.

Eventually, the cat calmed down and glared balefully at Willow as best as she could from her position tucked under Willow's arm. Willow just grinned back at the cat. "You know what? I think I'll call you Charlie. I don't care what your gender is, Charlie just seems to fit you. Don't you think so, Charlie?" She whispered to the cat.

Newly named Charlie sneezed.

Guess that's the only response I'm gonna get.

A moan almost made Willow drop Charlie and go into her INDS position.

Cautiously, she walked closer to the robot's head. There was something curled up right next to the robot.

Willow froze when she realized what it was the black-haired girl.

What the hell was she thinking, sleeping right next to the robot? It could wake up and flick her across the room.

Or worse, roll over and squish her.

At that moment, the girl opened her eyes.

Nicole POV

I moaned softly as I woke up.

Everything felt stiff and sore, but my mind was calmer than it had been in a long time. I checked the bond. Barricade was in recharge, for real this time. Not some drug-induced recharge.

I opened my eyes. It was dark except for light coming from Ratchet's office. Even from where I was I could here him snoring.

My attention snapped to focus as I realized that someone was standing a few feet away from me. My eyes adjusted and I realized it was the blue haired girl from earlier. She was staring at me like I was going to eat her or something.

And she was holding Spice.

I glared at her. "Can I have my cat back?"

The girl blinked once, twice, then nodded. She held Spice out while I stood up slowly. Word of advice: don't sleep on metal tables without pillows.

I took Spice and scratched her head before looking at the girl warily. "How'd you get up here?"

She tilted her head to the side a bit. "I scaled the pole. See?" She pointed to her bare feet. Her toe nails were painted a startling neon yellow.

I stared, nodding slowly. "Okay. Question two: What are you doing here?"

She opened her mouth, but I held my hand up, shaking my head. "Wait. Let's talk somewhere where there's light and food." I reached out and grabbed her arm, transwarping to the cafeteria kitchen.

Fortunately, there wasn't anyone in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the girl had a weak stomach and threw up in one of the trashcans that were conveniently close by.

I winced at her now even paler face. "Sorry. Maybe a little warning would've been better."

She just stared at me. Then, "Ya think? What in God's good name was that?"

I shrugged. "Look, I'll explain in a bit. First, are you hungry?"

The girl eyed me warily but nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, we had each made ourselves sandwiches and gotten bags of chips and Cokes. Instead of transwarping this time, I just showed her the way to the Rec Room. There, we ate on the human sized couch eating in silence. Spice meowed and rubbed against my legs. I fed her a few chips (you'd be surprised how much she likes Doritos). When we were both done, I transwarped and threw the trash away in the same trash can she had threw up in.

When I returned, she had her hands over her eyes. I snapped my fingers in her face. "Yo, weird chick. What's wrong?"

She peeked through her fingers, then covered her eyes again. "I was hoping this was all a dream."I snorted. "Well, get used to it. 'Cause the hard truth is that it's all real."

She finally dropped her hands when Spice jumped onto the couch with us. I pulled my legs up on the cushion and leaned my head on my hand, which was resting on the armrest. The blue haired girl just crossed her legs with her hands in her lap.

And she continued to stare at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Here. Let me start." I said slowly. I stuck my hand out. "My name's Nicole Witwicky."

She continued to stared at my hand, then slowly shook it with her own. "Willow Turner."

I smiled. "See? There's a start. Now, what the frag are you doing on this base?"

Willow shrugged. "In all honesty, I don't know. One moment I was walking home, then next the world is exploding and I cant hear anything." Her green eyes narrowed and she smacked her left ear. "Still cant hear out of this one. If," smack, "only," smack, "it," smack, "would," smack, "pop." Smack.

Just as she said that the glass lens on the camera in the corner glinted in the corner of my eye. A bit annoyed, I got an idea. "Please don't be squeamish." I said before grabbing her arm and transwarping again.

This time we reappeared on one of the catwalks that I had seen that go all over the place. The hangar, the training room, the Storage rooms…Most of the rooms had them. Of course they were for the humans.

I had transwarped to the one in the training room. Mostly because I just liked the room.

Willow swayed a bit, but thankfully kept down her stomach. She glared at me. "Why the hell did you do that?"

I shrugged and sat down on the catwalk, my legs dangling over the side and my arms resting against the double handrail. "I don't know. Privacy, I guess? Red Alert was no doubt watching the cameras. Up here, no one can see us unless they came in here and looked up."

After a moment, Willow sat beside me and sighed, copying my position. Then she glanced at me sideways. "You're not going to murder me up here, are you?"

I laughed. "No. What gave you that idea?"

"If no one can see us up here, it'd be the perfect time to murder me."

I shook my head, smiling. "Willow, I'm just tired of being watched. Everyone around here seems to have forgotten that I learned to take care of myself while in foster homes."

After a few moments of silence, she asked, "Why does your hair have a white streak?"

"Why is your's blue?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, mine is too."

"Well, we've got time."

I stared at her curiously. "You're an interesting woman, Willow."

She smirked. "I've been called crazy, mad, wack job, nut case, mentally damaged, and mentally impaired, Autistic, but never interesting."

"Well, I'm glad I'm the first." I sighed. "I'm guessing that you want to know why there's giant robots walking around, huh?"

Willow nodded.

I nodded. "Just like me." I sighed again. "Well, it all started when my great-great grandfather went to sail the Artic Circle…."

I told her everything. About my dad 'buying' Bumblebee, about Barricade trying to attack them, about my mom and dad meeting the Autobots for the first time, about the AllSpark in Hoover Dam, about Jazz dying, about the warning Optimus received from that mech, telling of the Fallen's return. About Alice trying to seduce my dad(yes, the AllSpark had the pleasure in showing me that little spectacle), Megatron's little docbot, Scalpel, basically dissecting my dad's brain, Optimus dying. Then my parents journey to Egypt to find the Matrix, then my dad dying.

You really should've seen her face when I talked about that.

Next, Optimus being resurrected, defeating the Fallen, turning off the machine, my parents finally realizing they loved each other, then their wedding about two years after that, my birth, me getting lung cancer, me being healed by the AllSpark, my parents death when I was eight. I had to pause at that point. Willow waited patiently for me to go on, and I did. Me, being jumped from foster home to foster home, never exactly fitting in at school, getting into fights, meeting Taylor, that fateful day that 'Cade hit me. About a year after that, us going on our first date, then us moving away, me and Taylor working in a bar. Barricade taking me to Canada, me meeting Jazz for the first time, the little spectacle that happened there with the Seekers, the trip back, including the party, and everything that had happened here on base since then, including Megatron attacking on the way back from Wal-Mart.

But once I started, I couldn't stop. I told her about remembering, the guilt, the pain, mentally and physically.

I told Willow Turner, an almost complete stranger, everything.

Once I was done, I felt tired as hell, and my head was resting on the double bar of the hand rails. I sighed. "That pretty much covers it."

She didn't reply, and I didn't turn to look at her to see what her face looked like. After a few minutes though, I couldn't stand the silence. "So. What's your sad story?" I asked, still not looking at her.

I heard her sigh and felt the bar vibrate as her head thunked down beside mine. "Well, it's long, but it ain't near as complicated and…well…"

"Messed up?" I smirked. "We've got time." I reminded her.

Willow snorted. "Thanks. Using mine own attack against me."

"Prowl's rubbing off on me." Pause. "He's the head Tactician."

"Ah. Well, I guess I should get started, huh? Well, well, well, where to start, where to start-"

"Do you like repeating things or something?"

"Yeah. But any way, God knows how many years ago, my mom met my dad in a bar. They talked, hooked up, got married three years later. Then my brother was born. When he was six years old, we-I mean, I was born. My mom and dad loved each other to death, so it was devastating when my dad got brain cancer and died when I was twelve. My mom almost couldn't handle the grief, but she pull through for us kids…." She paused. "Then, when I was fifteen my mom just….walked off. I remember, it was just like any regular Saturday. I woke up, but Mom was there with my favorite breakfast." She smiled, her eyes closed. "Waffles with chocolate chips. Something seemed different about her. She was talking about memories that I didn't even remember. The time she met Dad, when my brother and I were born, her wedding…."

Willow sighed. "The night before she had been in her room crying and shouting about God hating her. But that morning, she acted like nothing had happened. In fact, now that I think about it, she seemed almost like she had made a decision. But anyways, she took me shopping. My brother was working that day. We went to the mall. Mom basically gave me her credit card and the pin number and said, 'Shop till you drop'. And we did. I bought stuff that I had wanted but Mom said we hadn't been able to afford, and here we were buying it all at once now. I didn't think about it at the time. I was so happy. I was happier than I had been since…." Willow trailed off, looking like she was in a different world.

Then she shook her head. "Then we stopped at the food market and got some Chinese food. I remember exactly what we ordered. After we were done, Mom started talking about how much she loved me and my brother. It kind of scared me. Like she talked like she was going to die. But she threw our food away and came back to the table. Mom picked up her purse, told me she was going to the bathroom, kissed me on the forehead, and said she loved me." Willow blinked. Her eyes were shining. "I haven't seen her since that day."

I didn't say anything out of respect for her. After a few minutes though, she seemed to pull her self together. Willow sighed. "So, you know all that there is to me. Any questions?"

I opened my mouth, but at that same moment the door to the training room opened and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked in. Sunny looked fragged off and Sides just looked tired.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Sunny grumbled.

Sideswipe sighed. "Because, the Hatchet couldn't find Nicole in the Med Bay and that girl, Willow Turner or something, is also missing. And he thought we would be the perfect two for searching for them."

"Really? 'Cause I got the impression that he just wanted something to wake us up at this hour for. Maybe this is payback for replacing his Energon with high grade last week."

Sideswipe smiled. "That was pretty funny, wasn't it? An angry over energized Ratchet….."

Their voices faded as they left the training room. I looked over at Willow, smiling. But my smile dropped when I saw what her face looked like. She was pale and looking slightly shocked.

A bit worried, I poked her arm. "Willow? You okay?"

Willow didn't look at me. "They're twins?"

I nodded. "Yeah…."

Willow sighed, looking sad. "I had a twin. Her name was Jennifer. My mom hadn't wanted to name us using the same first letter. Too original, she said. That's why she left. Jennifer died trying to cross the street. A driver that was texting didn't see her and….That's why my mom left. After Jennifer died, she just couldn't handle it." Willow closed her eyes. "Dammit, why did you have to make me think about this? Damn that driver. Damn my mom for leaving. Damn Jennifer for dying. Damn you for making me tell you this. Damn me for letting me tell you in the first place."

I smiled softly. "Sometimes you need to tell someone your problems. It makes the grief easier to cope with."

"Don't give me that fortune cookie crap. That's what psychologists are for. Besides, what would you know about it? If you told me the true story, then it sounds like you haven't let anyone know about what inner turmoil's you have."

I sighed. "Now that I think about it, I can count quite a few ways. Like Taylor. I didn't have any friends until I met her. One thing to know about her, she is stubborn as hell. She wouldn't back off no matter how many insults and rejections I gave her. And Barricade-"

Willow gave me a look that said, 'I so don't believe that you are in love with an alien that's ten times or more your size.' "How the hell do you fall in love with an alien robot that transforms into a car? I don't even know how that relationship would work out. And I don't even want to know how-"

At this point I held my hand up. "You are officially the second being that has even questioned my personal life with Barricade. So just…stop. Stop. It was embarrassing enough the first time." I grinned. "Besides. You haven't even met Prowl and Jazz yet, and their polar opposites!" I finished cheerfully.

Willow stared at me. "Prowl….and Jazz? How come those sound like boy names, even for aliens?"

I shrugged. "Technically, they don't have genders. Their gender is based off of their personality."

"So….if I acted more like a girl, I'd be a girl alien here on Earth?"

I rolled my eyes. "Tip to the stupid: mechs are men, and femmes are girls."

"Oh….Hey, I am not stupid! I am in fact very talented and creative." Willow didn't say anything for a moment, then reached over and poked me in the arm.

I stared at her hand. "I'm solid, you know."

She laughed. "I know. If I poke you it means I like you as a friend."

"Oh, well, in that case…" I reached over and poked her.

I winced. "Jeez, Ratchet, I didn't know you could yell that loud."

I was back in the med bay, standing on the berth Barricade was still in recharge on. Willow and I had talked a bit more, then decided it was time to go to bed. When I transwarped us back to the med bay, an angry Ratchet awaited us. And he looked pissed.

"I thought I told you to stay here!" He hissed.

I shrugged, not afraid at all while I could feel Willow standing stiff beside me. "Technically, you told me not to go missing. I didn't go missing. I just went for a walk."

I swear, if I had been a Transformer, Ratchet would've done something very unpleasant to me by now. The look on his faceplates said, 'Murder!'.

Ratchet growled. "Technically," He said, mimicking my voice, "You did go missing, seeing as no one knew where you were."

"Willow here did."

She stamped on my foot.

"That doesn't count!" Ratchet shouted.

"Ratchet! Be quiet or you'll wake up Barricade!" I shouted back, trying to imitate the medic by waving my fist around like I was hold a wrench.

Ratchet looked ready to blow a gasket.

At that moment the doors opened and the twins walked in. Both of them had the weirdest facial expressions as they saw the scene before them. First: surprise. Second: Anger(well, for Sunny anyway). Sideswipe's second expression was amusement.

Sunny glared at me. "Where in Pit were you? We went over the whole base searching for you at this fragging hour!"

I snickered at his angered faceplates. "What's wrong, Sunny? Are you getting too used to Earth's daily cycle?"

For the second time that night, someone looked like they wanted to murder me.

Sides just laughed. "Oh, come on, Sunny, it's not so bad!" He said, elbowing his in the side. "It was actually worth seeing the look on Ratchet's faceplates."

Said medic threw a wrench and hit him right in the audio receptor.

The silver Corvette jumped behind his twin. "Fraggit, Ratchet, that hurt worse than it looks!"

"Good!" He snarled. I had to admit, now that the twins had walked in, Ratchet looked a lot scarier.

Then the neon yellow Medical Hummer turned back to me. "You! In your quarters!"

I gaped at him. "What? That's hardly fair! And what quarters? I was never assigned quarters!"

"The quarters that Barricade was assigned to then! With the two of you sharing a bond, you might as well share quarters, too!"

There was an eerie silence after that last remark.

Sideswipe reacted first. "A bond? Like a fraggin' spark bond? Or, like, just a really close relationship bond?"

Sunny growled. "It better be the second because I'll beat his faceplates in if he bonded with you!"

I felt dazed, angry, and surprised. Wow, the twins were defending me. That was unexpected. Then came the anger at Ratchet for opening his mouth. I glared at him. "Thank you so fragging much, Ratchet! What happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?"

Ratchet, at this point, had sat down in a chair and face palmed. When I said this, he looked up and glared back at me. "You made me so slagging angry!"

I pointed at him. "Don't even try to blame this on me. It's not my fault that you ran a scan on me-without permission I might add-and found the bond in the first place!"

He stood up, towering over me. "Well, you neglected to tell us all in the first place, anyway! So maybe it was a good thing I found it!"

I threw my hands up. "It wasn't really that high on my priority list, Ratchet!"

At this point Willow raised her hand and said meekly, "Excuse me, just a clueless human here with no idea what's going on. What's a spark bond?"

The twins looked at her in surprise, as if noticing her for the first time. Sunstreaker snapped out of it first. Sideswipe continued staring at Willow. "A spark bond is almost like marriage for us, only on a much deeper level. You can feel each others emotions, see each others memories, and even communicate through it. If one partner of the bond dies, the other will, too."

Willow stared at him for a moment, then she blinked. "Oh. Well, that's cool, I guess. Except the whole dying after the other part." Then her nose wrinkled like she remembered something, and she turned to me. "You left that out."

I shrugged. "I wasn't ready to tell the world about it."

Ratchet coughed. "Back to the conversation at servo…" He turned his death glare upon the twins. "I swear, if you tell anyone, I will find you and reformat you into coffee makers." Then he sighed wearily. "I guess we will tell Prime in the morning and he can announce it during the meeting in the morning."

Seeing my horrified expression. "And yes, I said we. I am not doing this alone, Nicole Witwicky." Then he cackled evilly. "I cant wait to see Ironhide's reaction."

I groaned and face palmed. My voice muffled behind my hand, I asked, "What mechs to do you think will try to slag Barricade first, Prowl or Ironhide?"

Sunny snorted. "If I have anything to do with it-"

"You wont." I said, glaring at him. "While I'm touched at you wanting to break his faceplates for me, I actually like the way he looks right now, thank you very much. So, no touching my Barricade."

Sideswipe (who had still been staring at Willow with this weird look on his faceplates the whole time) snorted. "Possessive much?"

I glared at him and his twin. "If I come in here in the morning before the meeting and find Barricade looking like slag, I will hunt you down."

Ratchet muttered something in agreement. Then he sighed and ran a servo over his faceplates. "Now, Nicole, go to your quarters."

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. Willow elbowed me. "Yo, Nicole. Flies are building nests in your mouth."

I glared at her but shut my mouth before glaring at Ratchet again. "Seriously? You are still trying to send me to my room like a teenager?"

"If you're going to act like one, I might as well treat you like one."

"What the frag did I ever do to you?"

He held up his servo, counting them off. "Left the Med Bay without permission-"

"Big whoop, I left the Med Bay."

"-didn't tell anyone where you were-"

I rolled my eyes. "Ratchet, I'm twenty years old. I can take care of myself."

Sideswipe looked at me in mock surprise. "I thought you were fifty."

I took my left shoe off and threw it at his helm. He ducked.

"-and," Ratchet continued, "neglected to tell me about the bond in the first place."

I threw my hands up. "I thought Prowl was supposed to hand out punishments."

"Well, Prowl is in his quarters with Jazz right now, in a peaceful recharge where he doesn't have to deal with all of this." Ratchet said, gesturing all around.

Sideswipe leaned over to Sunstreaker. "Recharge is probably not the only thing they're doing right now."

Everyone one of us turned around and glared at him.

After a few moments of glaring, Sunny smacked his twin on the back of the helm. "Idiot, keep your perverted thoughts to yourself."

Willow blinked. "Perverted-" She broke off as her eyes widened. Then she turned and looked at me, shocked. "Do the Transformers have sex?"

I rolled my eyes. "Its called interfacing, but yes."

She just continued to stare at me. "How-" Then Willow just shook her head. "Never mind. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Know."

I rolled my eyes again, then glared back at Ratchet. "So you really want me to go our quarters?"

The look on his faceplates said, 'What do you think?'

I sighed. "Fine. But who's going to show Willow where to sleep?"

Ratchet snorted, his arms crossed. "Not you. One of the twins will." He looked at said Twin Terrors. "Any volunteers?"

Sunny scowled. "Not me. I'm going back to our quarters." He looked at Sides to see what he would say.

Sideswipe seemed to thin about it for a second, then shrugged. "Why not?"

Both Sunny and me just gaped at him. "What?"

Before he could answer us, Ratchet held out his servo to Willow. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped on and the medic set her on the ground. "Follow Sideswipe. He should be able to show you where to go."

Willow just nodded, waved to me, and left with Sideswipe. Sunstreaker continued to glare at the door. "Traitor." I heard him mutter as he walked past me to leave.

Once the twins and Willow had left, I turned back around to Ratchet. His back was to me, and he was checking some monitors that were hooked up to Barricade. "Did you seriously mean go to your room?"

He sighed. "Yes. What part of 'Go to your quarters' did you not get?"

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I can see you."

I growled before transwarping to the quarters Barricade and I shared. There was now some pillows and a few blankets by the door. I picked them up and transwarped onto the berth. Sitting down, I saw a note under the pillows. I opened it.

Thought you could use these, since I doubt you'll be staying in separate quarters.

-Bee

I smiled. "Thanks, Bumblebee." I murmured to myself.

Then I arranged the blankets and pillows so that I could sleep comfortably. After maybe an hour, sleep still hadn't come to me. Something was missing. Barricade was missing, I thought to myself sadly.

With an idea in mind, I gathered the blankets and pillows and transwarped to the Med Bay again, this time on the berth Barricade was on in a drug-induced recharge. The lights were turned out. Ratchet wasn't in his office.

Looked at Barricade, I smiled. He looked so relaxed and cute when he was in recharge. Once again, I arranged the blankets and pillows next to my sparkmate. Before getting under the blankets, I climbed onto the Mustang's chasis.

"Night, 'Cade." I whispered, before leaning down and kissing his lips.

When I finally did lay down, I was asleep almost instantly.

Hey guys! I know, I know, this isn't that good of a chap. But I honestly didn't know what to else to do in it! Im more happy with the end than I am the beginning half.

So, please don't hate me for a bad chap!

OH and Guess what? We're 5 reviews away from 100! YAAAAAAYYYYYYY!