A/N: Alright heres Ch 3. Thanks to everyone who alerted or faved my story. And special thanks to Roc2Roll for being my first review.

Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student, if I owned this do you think I would be posting it on a fanfiction site? I don't own anything, unfortunately, except Cahira, I do own her.

Chapter 3

The next several months passed in a blur for Cahira. She got to know the Autobots and get a more detailed Q & A session with them. Ratchet was watching her like a hawk after he found out her practically nonexistent medical history, and given the extent of the long term damage her father inflicted on her, he was surprised she was as functional as she was. Jazz had become closer to her, and was thinking about asking Prime to become her guardian. Chormia and Ironhide were making up for lost time getting reacquainted with each other. They had scarred the younger generation and the teens for life. But all in all everything was going good for Cay and that set her on edge.

Cay was feeling somewhat trapped. She was used to having to fight for everything and here she had Sarah to look after her just like when they were kids. They had been close even with the five year age gap between them, and Sarah was always mothering her. She felt lost. She had found an old crotch rocket in the barn and fixed it up without anyone knowing. She snuck out when Ironhide had taken Sarah and Bella somewhere and Will was stuck at the base 'suffering through the worst form of torture' in other words doing paperwork, and drove off. The feeling of riding fast and being in total control was something she needed right now. The bots and Sarah treated her like she would break at a moment's notice and it hurt to think they thought that she couldn't take care of herself.

She sped off towards the coastal ranges; she would head to the beach to escape the suffocating feeling and to process all that happened since she met the Autobots. She was not paying much attention to her surroundings and missed the Saleen police cruiser that pulled up behind her. She did not miss when said cruiser nearly tapped her back tire. The edgy feeling she had before intensified. This was not normal police behavior. There were no lights flashing nor was there a siren blaring at her. She needed to get away from the mustang; that much she knew.

The next road she made a hard right, scraping the peg on the ground. The cruiser was traveling too fast to follow her immediately; she took the next two rights in order to get back to the highway. She opened the throttle when she pulled back onto the highway. The road was open in front of her; or at least it was until an F22 dropped directly in her path, transforming as it neared the ground. There was no way around it she was on a collision course with one of the mech's (at least she thought it was a mech) legs. There were slight odds she would make it but it was her only chance. She aimed for between its legs and prayed to any deity that was listening that she would survive. Glancing up just before she passed under the bot, her eyes locked with blood red optics that held a promise of pain, then she was behind the decepticon.

Cahira wished that she had never left the base or at least told someone where she was going, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say. She raced back to towards the base; she was not going to stop for anything, she would deal with the consequences later, the two decepticons on her tail took precedence at the moment.

There was a silver Pontiac Solstice heading towards her, and she wistfully wished it was Jazz. Then she realized there were a yellow Camaro, a black Topkick and a Chevy Silverado behind it. She made sure the throttle was wide open and sped past them flipping Jazz off as she passed knowing it would get his attention. She barely heard the squeal of tires above the roar of the wind. In her mirror she saw the vehicles pull a 180 in feat of maneuverability that a normal one would have rolled performing. She never slowed down even as the vehicles pulled up near her. That bad feeling she had earlier came back full force and she hit the brake just enough to make a hard left as a police mustang rocketed out from the right.

She leaned into the curves of the road as she headed further north; trying to keep ahead of the cruiser. When she had the chance she quickly scanned the skies for that F22 from earlier. The fact that there was no sign of it did nothing to ease her tension. She glanced in the mirror and saw Bumblebee transform and tackle the Mustang. Jazz swung around the brawling bots as Chromia and 'Hide joined 'Bee in taking down the cruiser. She saw 'Hide aim his cannon skyward and shoot. The F22 got a shot in at her before it broke off to dodge 'Hide's fire. She dodged to the left and felt fragments of the asphalt pepper her right side. Jazz stayed behind her.

Cay took another highway and headed east. She needed to find cover; this open farmland was not cutting it. She bypassed the freeway that would lead back to base, confusing Jazz. Her path lead her into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's. Once the trees became thick enough, she pulled off on a side road, careful of the dirt path. After she judged herself far enough in she parked the bike and removed her helmet. She made sure the bike was hidden by some brush. Turning she saw Jazz transform, confusion showing clearly on his faceplates.

"Where did ya learn ta drive like that?" wonder evident in Jazz's voice, as he examined the femme before him like he was seeing her for the first time.

"Instinct." Cay was feeling the exhaustion set in as the adrenaline high wore off. Jazz scooped up his little femme and set her on his shoulder. Cay automatically grabbed on to the shoulder plates to steady herself. "Mind if we head into the forest a bit and rest?"

Jazz was worried about Cay, but headed into the forest carefully, leaving as little of a trail as an Autobot could. He found a small clearing and sat down leaning against an oak tree. Once he was settled Cay slid down his chest to stand on his leg, wobbling a bit in her exhaustion. Before Jazz could say anything she said, "Can I take a short nap before we play 20 questions? There is no way I can do it now." And curled up against his stomach on his leg.

Jazz was running scan after scan on his little femme, trying to figure out what was going on. Her prediction of Barricades movement was phenomenal and that she was able to evade him and Starscream was amazing. He commed Ratchet and asked him to look over the results of the scans, then settled in to wait until Cay woke up.

Ratchet was in his med bay preparing everything for the arrivals later in the week. Sideswipe's twin, Sunstreaker was supposed to show up in this wave. When Jazz commed him, he vented his air tanks in an imitation of a human sigh, what had the bot gone and done this time? When Jazz asked him to look over the results of his scans on Cahira he was concerned. Cahira always knew when they were scanning her, even when asleep, but there was no sign of her indignation to being woken up. All Ratchet could conclude from the scans were that Cahira was severely exhausted, there were abnormal amounts of adrenaline in her bloodstream and…that can't be correct, there were signs of energon in her bloodstream as well.

Ratchet immediately commed Jazz back and told him to get his aft back to base so he could examine Cahira.

Jazz was now extremely worried. Ratchet had a note of urgency in his voice that only showed up when there was something wrong. He carefully lifted his femme off his leg and transformed around her. She was sleeping in his passenger seat. He activated his holo driver and took off towards base. Cay never stirred the whole time.

Ratchet met Jazz outside the building that housed the med bay and gently took Cay from Jazz disappearing through the door. Jazz stood there staring at the door waiting to know what was going on with his little femme.

Cahira woke up to the sight to Ratchet's med bay. Her head felt like someone was hitting the inside of her skull with a blunt object, repeatedly. She slowly sat up, the pounding in her head got slightly worse. Looking around she could find no sign of the medbot. However, it seemed as though the twins were attempting to paint one of the walls pink, but were only succeeding in painting themselves. She could see Jazz over by the door, obviously debating if defying Ratchet's orders were worth it. She lifted one hand and waved at him, "What are you doing?" she deliberately left off his name.

The twins froze at the sound of her voice; it looked like something out of a cartoon. Skids was half pink balancing on one foot holding Mudflap in a headlock, while Mudflap had his helm and left leg pink and was holding Skids' right leg. Both looked at Cahira, optics wide, "It wasn't us." They looked at each other, "He started it." And their fight continued, Cay laughed lightly.

"You're awake." Jazz's voice came from beside her, making Cay jump slightly.

"Well, yeah. Know where docbot is so I can get out of here? By the way, you might want to tell the twins to get lost cause knowing Ratch, he'll be back soon anyway." She said looking up at Jazz, willing the conga line in her head to disband; needless to say it was not working very well.

"Yo, you two, get yo sorry afts outta here, 'les you wanna be here when Hatchet comes back; I just commed him." Jazz said to the twins making them freeze for half a moment to process what he said, then ran out the door as quickly as possible. Jazz watched as Cay rubbed her head. "You alright?"

"I'm fine. It's just a slight headache. Give me a couple Advil and I'll be good to go." She said.

"I will be the judge of that missy. I need to run another scan on you now that you are awake." Ratchet said. He heard the end of Cahira's response as he walked in.

"Missy?" Cahira blinked at Ratchet. "Uh, where did you learn that? Please don't tell me it was the internet."

"Was that incorrect? I thought it was supposed to be a term for a young femme." Ratchet asked as he ran a scan on Cahira, seeing her flinch slightly as the energy passed over her.

"No you used it correctly, it's just I wasn't expecting it from you. It's mostly used to indicate a girl is in trouble, mock or real, or as a nickname. It was just odd hearing it from you, Ratch."

"What makes you think you are in trouble? Hold still for this next scan."

Cahira froze and suppressed her usual flinch when she felt the energy of the scan. When it was done she replied with "Not in trouble, per se, but you always scold me for not taking care of myself and I know you heard me say I just needed a couple Advil. So you calling me missy was a slight reprimand without actually being a reprimand. It's kind of hard to explain." She looked at Jazz and Ratchet to see the incomprehension on their faceplates. "Just forget it. File it away as one of those human idiosyncrasies."

Jazz looked like he wanted to press Cay further, but opted against it as Ratchet was still there. He seemed to have a look of confusion on his faceplates.

"What is it Ratch?" Cay asked the medibot receiving no response. "Ratch? Earth to Ratchet, come in Ratchet." Still no response, "Okay, now you're scaring me Ratch." When Cay still had no response she walked to the edge of the berth and grabbed the nearest item she could lift and chucked it as hard as she could at him. Jazz just stared at her in horror.

The impact of whatever Cay threw seemed to knock Ratchet out of whatever trance he was in. He looked at her. "So, you going to tell me what had you on the verge of a processer crash?" she looked at Ratchet as if daring him to comment on her method of gaining his attention.

"There seems to be energon in your bloodstream. Did you have any contact with Barricade or Starscream?" He asked her.

She thought to the decepticons that attacked her and the chase. She slowly shook her head as she replayed it in her mind. "No, they never were able to touch me. The only thing that might have something to do with it was Starscream's missed shot where I got peppered with shrapnel." She stopped, knowing by the look on Ratchet's faceplates that she said something wrong.

"What do you mean 'peppered with shrapnel'?" Ratchet asked a hard edge to his voice.

Cahira cringed and curled in on herself. "Starscream took a potshot at me on a back road. It missed, but the debris from the road and whatever he shot scrapped up my right side…" she looked at her right arm where she knew there was a cut deep enough to leave a scar even with Ratchet treating her.

Jazz's optics brightened slightly as he realized what she was talking about. "I know what you are talking about now. I thought it was rather strange that you had no injuries but you were driving like no human I have ever seen, internet or no."

"What do you mean Jazz?" Ratchet turned to silver mech. Jazz sent a data pack with a copy of his memory from the time Cay flipped him off until she parked the motorcycle. Ratchet watched it, and looked down at Cay, incredulity written all over his expression. "How did you predict their movements?"

Cay shrugged. "I dunno. I just knew when to move. I was a little busy trying to stay alive than analyze what exactly was giving me the ability to stay alive. Call it intuition if you want. Just tell me what's wrong with me now. What does me having energon in my blood have to do with anything?"

"Energon is toxic to humans, at least the consumption of it is. There should be some negative side effects to you having it in your bloodstream. However, your body seems to have adapted and is actually utilizing it. It's fascinating but completely impossible. If Prowl were here he would have had a processer crash. I would have if you had not thrown that bolt at me."

"That was a bolt? Damn that was the size of a baseball bat. Well almost. It was damn heavy, that's all I know. And Ratch haven't you ever heard the saying 'there is no such thing as impossible, merely improbable'?" Cay said.

Jazz was watching his little femme take the Hatchet on and not end up with a wrench to the head. He was definitely sharing this with Sunny and Sides when he got the chance. They would pay to see Hatchet disarmed by a being he could easily crush, not that Ratchet would ever harm a human but it was the principle of the matter. He now knew how to get Hatchet to back down. Sic Cay on him.

"Yes but there is…"

Cay cut Ratchet off, "No, there is no such thing as impossible. There may be astronomical odds against it occurring but nothing is ever truly impossible. Many of the mechs would say I'm doing the impossible right now. Winning an argument against you." She giggled at Ratchet's expression. "C'mon you know you would have thrown a wrench at any other mech by now. Hey, question, can you tell how long the energon has been in my bloodstream?"

"I would have to take a sample but I could determine when you first had energon introduced to your body." Ratchet replied. In response, Cay stuck her arm out. If Ratchet had an eyebrow he would have raised.

"Draw some blood, Ratch. I have a theory but I wanna make sure first. Energon is the pink stuff, ri-correct?" Cay asked.

"Yeah, how did you know that? We made sure to keep energon away from you humans." Jazz answered. Cay did not answer, she had a puzzled look on her face that made Jazz wonder what was going through his little femme's head. Meanwhile, Ratchet took a small sample of her blood to analyze.

"Where did you learn to ride a motorcycle? You never told me you could. Where did you get it anyway?" Jazz had wanted to ask Cay some questions for a while; these seemed to be the easiest to start off with.

"I fixed the bike up in the barn, found it there. As to when I learned to ride, well, I've had my license since I was 18. I paid for the classes soon after my birthday. Kind of a belated birthday present to myself. I didn't tell anyone I left because…because well, I was feeling…overwhelmed I guess would be the best way to put it. I never really got the chance to fully process everything and then everyone has been treating me like I'm made of glass and I hate that. So when I found the bike I knew I had my escape…maybe that's not the best word," she amended seeing the hurt look on Jazz's faceplates, "more it was my way of letting go. To get my thoughts and emotions in order and figure out what I really wanted. I know I should have told someone, but I didn't think there was any danger to taking a drive." She shrugged her shoulders, "Now I have a question of my own. How the hell did you find me?"

Jazz looked sheepish? She did not know that the mech's faceplates could make that expression. "Uh, I kinda tracked ya. Ya kinda been actin' funny fo' a c'upla days now, and I thought sumthin' migh' be up wit how fast you was goin'. So I," Jazz rubbed the back of his helm, a habit he picked up from humans, "took off after ya. Mia, Hide and Bee followed me when I took off."

"Okay, but I know I wasn't going that fast until…Barricade? Nearly tapped my back tire, there's no way you would have made it that far between then and where I met up with you guys. Unless…are you always monitoring me? Cause that's kinda creepy and stalkerish."

Jazz vented his air tanks; he had hoped she would not bring it up. This was not something that he wanted to explain yet. "I was worried about you. Your GPS signal was heading away from the base and I thought you might've been taken by the Cons." Cay had an odd expression on her face. "I've been wanting to ask you if it would be alright it I became your guardian?" Jazz still had no clue how to read the emotions flashing across Cay's face. "If ya don' want meh to, I'll understand." Cay's face became blank and her eyes became unreadable.

"Why?"

Jazz was taken aback at the question. What was she asking him? "Why what?"

"Why would you want to guard me? Why do you care so much? I'm not exactly important or really worth much. I'm just a short, useless girl who is in way over her head and can't really be much help with anything."

"You're not useless and you are important," Jazz hissed in a low voice that made Cay freeze. Hiding the flash of fear she felt, she looked up at him studying his faceplates looking for any sign of deceit.

Finally she sighed, looking down, she said, "Sorry. It's just…never mind."

"Never mind what?" Jazz questioned.

What ever Cay may have said was prevented by the thud of Ratchet hitting the floor. The two stared. Cay ran to the edge of the berth and peered down at Ratchet.

"You know how to turn him back on?" She inquired.

Jazz shook his head, staring in disbelief.

Cay began to climb down from the berth startling Jazz. She jumped the last few feet to the ground, ignoring the wave of dizziness. Walking over to Ratchet, she examined his neck joint. Finding what she was looking for; she pressed a series of buttons.

Ratchet gave a groan as his systems came back online. He raised his hand to his head in an imitation of a human with a headache. He heard a soft giggle and looked for the source, finding it in the form of the small femme that caused his processor to crash.

"So what did yeh fin' tha' caused yo processor ta crash, Hatch?" Jazz asked the medic, who was still lying on the floor.

Ratchet sat up and stared at the little femme. It had to be impossible. It was inconceivable. "The energon had been in your blood for nearly 15 years. Your body is producing it naturally. It's just not possible."

"Thought so. Mom was kind of…strange would be the best way to put it I guess. She had, well, not visions per se, more like premonitions. She had this vial of pink stuff that she said was energy for beings much greater than ourselves, and that one day I would know what it was for and what to do with it. Said it had been in the family for years." She tailed off, lost in thought.

"That still doesn't explain how it ended up in your blood."

"Oh," Cay was startled out of her thoughts, "well the first vial wasn't exactly secure, it broke when I was four and I cut my self on the glass. You said it's toxic to humans, right? It hurt like hell and I was sick for a few days, but nothing really happened because of it. And no I don't know how she got a hold of it. All she would tell me was I would understand one day and to keep it safe. She gave me the vial about a week before she was killed. It's at Sarah's. It didn't seem appropriate to wear it."

"I would like to see this vial. I want to know who made it." Ratchet looked at Cay. Jazz looked confused.

"Sure, but first don't I need your clearance to leave?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm reckless but I am not suicidal."

After a quick scan and declaring her fit to leave the base, Cahira was being driven to the Lennox residence in Jazz. She relaxed in the driver's seat, one hand on the wheel pretending to drive.

"You gonna tell meh where ya learned to drive?" Jazz's voice flowed out of the speakers.

Blinking at the sudden question Cahira replied, "Through school, like most people." She stared at the dash with a look of trepidation.

"I don't know any other human who could pull the stunts you did escaping Barricade today. Where did you learn that?"

"Uh." She did not know how much to tell him, nor could she really explain it. "I just knew." She felt her seat jar a bit. "Hey, I can't explain it; it was instinct. Something told me to do it, and that I could feasibly do it. I didn't really stop to think about what I was doing, I just did it. Look, I drive like a bat out of hell, I know, but it was more than just quick reactions, it was like I could see what he would do before he did it. Then that psychotic jet showed up and everything when to hell." She gave a sigh at the end of her rant. "What's wrong with me, Jazz?" she said in a small voice.

"There ain't nothing wrong with you." Cahira glared at the dash and gave it a light smack. "Okay, maybe it is something, but it's not anything that will change you. The amount of energon in you should have killed you, but it didn't. Ratchet wants to know how it's possible, I do too."

"Great, another thing to make me a freak." She muttered, leaning further back in the seat, crossing her arms, not even pretending to drive anymore. She felt Jazz scan her, and snapped at him. "I'm fine. Would you quit scanning me like I'm some china doll that's gonna break at the slightest touch."

Jazz pulled off the road and into the drive of the Lennox home. As soon as he slowed enough, Cahira opened the door and jumped out of the still moving Jazz. If she had not spent the last half of her life walking on eggshells, she would have stomped to the door. Jazz activated his holoform and followed her to the door.

Cahira walked down the hall to the guest bedroom, silently fuming at the world. Everything was unraveling around her. She had always been an outcast due to her father and her need to hide the marks, then she came here and it felt everything was going great and that had set her on edge. She should have known it would be too good to last, and now it seemed she was not completely human anymore due to a freak accident as a child. Everyone was treating her like she would break at a moment's notice. It was driving her nuts. She would have to find somewhere new to go; she had already burdened Sarah too much.

She grabbed the duffel she had brought with her and began to throw everything in it. She grabbed her butterfly knife and flipped it open. She remembered when she stole it from her father's knife collection, earned her one hell of a beating but it at least gave her a method of defense, from there she taught herself how to actually use it without cutting herself in the process. Normally she always kept it on her, but due to the Autobot's presence she had taken to leaving it in the bedside drawer.

"Where'd you get that?"

Jumping and bringing the knife into a defensive position, she saw a man in the doorway. He was tanned and had short black hair, looked to be about mid-twenties. He was dressed in a white t-shirt that showed his muscles and low cut jeans. She felt the same energy around him as-

"Jazz?" she blinked, and then flipped the knife closed. Looking down at the knife in her hand, she said, "Souvenir from daddy dearest, well, I pulled a five finger discount out of his collection about two years ago. Nice holo by the way."

"How do you know it's really me? I could be anyone."

"The spark energy around you, at least I'm pretty sure that's what I'm feeling. It can't be duplicated. You feel the same as the Solstice sitting outside. Ergo, you are Jazz." She slipped the knife into her boot and continued to throw everything she owned into the duffel.

"What are yeh doing?" Jazz paused and looked at the duffel again, "Are you leaving?"

The hurt in his voice was like a stab to the heart. She paused in the middle of folding a shirt, and heaved a sigh, "Jazz, I can't stay here. I've imposed on Sarah long enough and I don't want to drag her into what ever mess I've ended up in this time. I just can't do that to her. So, yes, I'm leaving, but not for good." Grabbing her mother's necklace off the dresser, she tossed it to Jazz. "That's the energon I encountered as a child." She zipped up the duffel and threw it over her shoulder.

Cahira stepped around Jazz and walked to the kitchen. Grabbing a pen and paper she scribbled a quick note telling Sarah not to worry about her and walked out the door. Glancing at the road she decided to head into town. Maybe she could find a cheap apartment and a job. She had barely made it to the end of the drive when she heard Jazz pull up beside her.

"Are you gonna walk where ever it is you're gonna go?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's not that far to town, I'm gonna get a job and look for an apartment. It's what I planned on doing in the first place." She heard the engine whine. "Jazz, it's not about you or any of the Autobots, it's the fact that I've been completely dependant on Sarah these past few months and that is exactly what I didn't want." She trailed her hand lightly over the door of the solstice.

"Why don't we go back to base and you can stay there. I'm sure Ratchet would love to take you as an apprentice. Primus knows you already know more about us than Mikaela and she's known about us since the beginning." Jazz was pleading with her.

"There's just one problem with that Jazz. I'm a civilian, while I can visit the base, I technically can't live there. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that you guys carry me into restricted areas, I would have already been in serious trouble."

"Let's talk to Prime, I'm sure he can pull some strings to get clearance for you to stay on base. 'Sides you know the Hatchet's gonna wanna make sure that energon's not doing anything that's gonna hurt you."

Cay let out a small laugh. "You really don't want me to leave." She stopped and stared at the holo in the car. "You were serious." She could not wrap her head around anyone thinking she was worth guarding. At Jazz's confused look, she elaborated, "In Ratch's med bay. When you said you wanted to become my guardian."

"Of course I was serious. Iah wouldn't joke about that." He was offended she would think that.

She rolled her eyes, walked around him, and opened the passenger door. "You took that the wrong way. I meant your reasons for wanting to be my guardian. It's a little strange to have people who actually care about me." She climbed in placing her duffel on her lap. "Let's see what Op can do and I'll talk to Ratch after he analyzes that sample which is where?"

In response to her question, the glove compartment opened up. She grabbed the small vial of pink liquid. Then surprising even herself she reached over and gave holo-Jazz a sideways hug. "Thank you."

Jazz was even more confused. "What for?"

"For not giving up on me. Making me see that I was running away again because things were getting hard to handle. For just being there, take your pick." She leaned back into the seats, making herself comfortable. She felt the seat tighten around her slightly and a small smile of contentment appeared on her face.

Jazz was processing all that his little femme had revealed today. She had reasons to be as guarded as she was, but apparently he and Ratchet were getting through it. That knife was something that worried him though. She handled it too well for it to be something she had just in case. Her reaction to his holo was a bit unnerving as well. She could feel spark energy? He had never heard of something like that before, human or Cybertronian. The closest would be spark bonds between spark mates, but they could only feel each other. She could feel everybot's spark energy; he would have to mention this to Ratchet when they got back. He glanced at the small femme in the passenger seat and was shocked to see how content she seemed to be in his seat.