Disclaimer: Transformers/Beast Wars are not mine, they belong to Hasbro. Not me; Hasbro. Got it memorized~?

Chapter 3: Unlikely Friendship

Bronx Zoo, three weeks later, early-February…

And Ashley did go the next day. Then the next day. And the day after that. And just about every other day for the next three weeks.

She just couldn't put her finger on it; there was just…something about that cheetah.

Something…special.

And as she sat down in what had become her 'usual spot', she thought back to the second day she'd come back and she'd realized this…

-Flashback-

At first, when she came back, nothing was really out of place. The feline was stalking around his enclosure (though she kept thinking about it as a cage and it made her angry for the poor feline. It'd probably been in a cage for most, if not all, of his life!), looking curiously up at the people gawking at him.

She suddenly felt so sad for the poor creature; he probably didn't know what was going on. And also, a pang of…something when she saw the crowd of people staring at him like some kind of anim— Oh, right.

But, that didn't stop her mind from making that feeling, whatever it was, known…

'Back off, he's mine!'

She started slightly, her eyes widening in surprise when she realized what she'd just thought. She shook her head immediately, trying to dispel the sudden, and confusingly, possessive feeling.

'What is wrong with me? That cheetah belongs to no one, as soon as he and the others've been 'rehabilitated'; they'll send them back to the wild…'

She felt horrible again, but this time for a more selfish reason. She didn't want the cheetah to go.

Frowning in consternation of all the confusing thoughts and feelings, she shook her head again and concentrated once more on the cheetah. He sure looked normal, but…

'I just know that he looked at me yesterday! He even looked slightly...surprised? But…Why? How could that even be possible? He's just an animal…right?'

Feeling her confusion grow more, she unhooked her backpack, and quickly pulled out the small sketch she'd made of the cheetah yesterday. It wasn't completely perfect, but she didn't really care about that now. All she cared about was the look she'd drawn onto the cheetah's face. The one he'd given her.

The feline was looking slightly over his shoulder; almost as if he didn't want to be noticed or be caught looking.

His eyes had been slightly widened and had almost…glowed with something, something intelligent, much more so if he were just a simple animal. His maw had been slightly opened, not like he was panting or about to roar…but as though in awe, like someone who'd seen something they'd never seen, or ever thought they'd see, before.

And when they'd locked eyes…she'd felt almost a…thrill, go down her spine. Not one of fear, no…just something different.

Yeah, definitely different.

And she wouldn't stop coming back until she found out what that 'something different' was.

Deciding that she wasn't getting any answers just standing around and gawking like all the other people, and that she needed a better look at the cheetah, she headed down the nearby stairs to the 'Face-to-Face' glass wall that gave a much more 'closer' look at the feline.

Although, 'close' was an understatement; there was only, like, two, maybe three feet of reinforced glass between her and the African savannah native.

And now that she was so much closer, she realized something else had been an understatement. This cat wasn't just amazing; he was magnificent. She felt her eyes widen as she stared in awe at the lithe and beautifully deadly creature just a few feet from her.

His coat was brilliant, obviously well groomed (whether by the zookeepers or the cheetah himself, she wasn't sure), every spot stood out tastefully from the bright marigold-yellow fur.

The muscles under his skin were well-defined and showed a power that she could almost feel; one that just wanted to burst free, either in a simple run or while hunting prey. And those eyes, she'd never seen eyes as green as those. She didn't even think cheetahs could have green eyes; she'd always seen them either amber or dark brown when she watched them on the TV.

But there was something else. Under all those amazing details, there was something…almost shy…uncertain…about his movements. Like…he was afraid that he might misstep and reveal some big secret.

It was those small, unusual details that made this cheetah stand out to her; that made her want to know more.

Taking a deep breath and gathering her courage, and bravado, she stepped right up to the glass window and knocked on it, hard, trying to get the cheetah's attention.

'Thank God there's no one down here, or they'd think I'd gone insane! Heck, I think I've gone insane…'

He couldn't believe it. He just could not believe it. She was back. She was actually back!

He noticed her long before she got close enough to see him; he'd caught sight of her dark gold hair weaving through the crowd through the corner of his optic. It was her.

'Oh Primus, oh Primus, oh Primus! She knows! She knows! I really did it now; Optimus is so going to have my hide! What do I do? What do I do? I know! I'll ignore her! That's it! I'll act like a regular cheetah and she'll probably just brush it off and forget about yesterday…maybe.'

All throughout his panicked thoughts, he managed to look calm and nonchalant. Well, as much as possible.

Ok, so ignoring her wasn't his most brilliant idea, but it was the only one he had at the moment.

Before she could get a look at him, he continued yesterday's routine; prowl, stalk and generally show off for the humans, but it wasn't with as much energy as he had yesterday.

And this time, he pointedly kept his gaze away from the crowd and her. She would, eventually, get bored and leave, then everything would be ok. She would forget about him and Optimus wouldn't find out and lecture him again. Yeah, that's all he had to do. Ignore her.

Yeah. Right.

He grimaced slightly when he felt a painful twinge in his spark and groaned mentally in frustration.

Why did the very idea of ignoring her and making her leave make him feel so awful?

He'd just met - well, not 'met' met - her yesterday! There was no real reason for him to feel bad about ignoring her or feel sad, no, distraught at the thought of never seeing her again!

Shaking his head slightly, disguising it as a simple movement to shake some imaginary dirt or whatever off himself, he tried to ignore the way his spark kept clenching painfully at the fact that he couldn't look at her, that he'd probably never see her again after today.

But, it had to be done. No one could know about what he and his friends were. Not yet, anyways.

He'd been so preoccupied with his inner ranting and struggling, that he didn't notice that the girl had disappeared from the crowd and had made her way down to the large 'window' that was just below where the other human spectators were standing; where she would be hidden from other eyes.

The sudden knocking on the glass made him snap out of his internal reverie and he swiveled his head over in its direction.

He knew he was staring; he knew there was no excuse he could make up later; he just couldn't help it; he looked at her and felt his eyes widen once more in admiration; his spark practically leaped in its chamber.

'Oh Primus…she's beautiful.' He thought dazedly.

When he'd first seen her, he'd been shocked by the beauty of her. Never in his life cycle had he seen a femme as lovely as her; cybertronian or otherwise. He didn't know what it was; if it was the golden-brown hue of her hair; he'd seen a similar color on other femmes, even a few mechs before, but none as vibrant as hers.

Her eyes were something else, too. After the Great War, all cybertronians were allowed to have any colored optics they wished, but they were all a single and solid color.

Hers were a bright grass green with hints of gold around their edges. And there were so many other details he could number, but they only made the obvious even more so.

And there she was, not eight feet away from him; with nothing but a few feet of weak earth-made glass separating them; easily dealt with, with his strength. He could just transform, break the glass, take her in his arms and…and…

His optics widened in shock.

'What…in the pit...am I thinking?'

He was so surprised and taken off guard by the intensity of his thoughts and feelings he actually started stumbling backwards, to try and get away from the glass window, but ended up tripping over one of the fallen tree limbs that littered the enclosure and comprised his 'obstacle course'.

He managed to let out a surprised yowl before falling down a small mound that was behind the limb, rolling all the way down till he hit a wall with a soft, yet emphatic "Ooomph!"

As luck would have it, at least his, anyway, helanded right next to the window. He couldn't find it in himself to care about the sounds of confusion and surprise from the other humans or their worried exclamations and queries.

At the moment, all he cared about, all he saw was the pair of gold-green eyes that had locked onto his, staring at him in shock, worry and a little amusement. It didn't even matter that he was on his back, looking at her upside-down. All that mattered were those eyes.

And that's when he knew he was in trouble.

And, oddly, he couldn't care less about it.

-End Flashback-

From that day onward, Ashley would visit him as many times as she could.

At first, she'd felt guilty about causing the feline to react like that; it had been glaringly obvious that he hadn't been expecting to see her again, specially so close, and had been shocked into stumbling into an, unfortunately comical, 'trip' down that small mound. But she'd stopped feeling guilty weeks ago, now she couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her as she remembered the look on poor Freckles' face.

Yes, she'd named her new 'friend' 'Freckles', simply because of all the little spots that littered the bridge of his nose. Yes, it was lame, but she really couldn't bring herself to keep calling him 'cheetah', now that she knew he was more than just a simple animal.

And even though something told her that he probably had another name, she couldn't help but feel that her nickname suited him. She smiled fondly at the feline in question, as she sat in what had become her usual bench in the 'Face-to-Face' room.

Luckily, everyone's curiosity and excitement over the new animals had faded within the week and the zoo now had only its regular income of visitors; which wasn't that many during the weekdays and especially during the winter. This meant that she and Freckles had the chance to 'hang-out' without anyone noticing anything strange.

Freckles was currently running around, chasing after a stray piece of cloth that had probably blown in from the street; basically, he was goofing off, as always.

She'd come to discover that her new friend had quite the energetic and playful personality. Now that he didn't have to 'hide' from her, at least while they were alone, he wasn't holding back anymore. The intelligence, the person that she'd seen in his deep green eyes that first day was now shining through like a beacon.

When it was just the two of them, of course.

Turning her attention back to her sketch pad, she couldn't help but smile softly at the drawing she was finishing up. It was Freckles, running around just like he was doing now, except she drew him in a small prairie, filled with some of her favorite flowers, orchids and lilacs, blooming all around.

Another detail was that she was in it as well, sitting on a small blanket, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms loosely wrapped around them and her chin resting on them, a content smile on her face as she watched her cheetah run around the plain clearly enjoying himself.

She blushed slightly; yes, her cheetah.

She couldn't help it; she'd started feeling slightly…possessive, of her new friend since she'd discovered there was more to him that at first glance. She knew his secret, well, part of it, and she felt honored that the young feline had trusted her with it. Her. No one else. And she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

She knew she was being selfish, and a little obsessive, but she really didn't care. She still went to school and did her work; she still helped out with the chores around the apartment; she never stayed out past her usual self-imposed curfew and she didn't neglect her friends when they needed her.

So, as far as she was concerned, everything was ok and there was no need for her friends to worry.

Not that that stopped Rosie from doing so…

-Flashback—

Earlier that day…

"Ash, what is going on?" Rosie finally managed to corner Ash before she left for the zoo…again.

"Why do ya keep going to that place? You're barely ever here!"

"Oh, Rose, you worry too much. I'm fine, honest!" Ash tried to reassure her friend, while trying to walk around her and head for the door.

" 'Fine'? You call spending every free moment you have at a zoo with a cheetah 'fine'? Nena, estas loca?" Ok, this was getting out of hand. The first few days it was ok, but for three weeks?

"You're becoming obsessed!"

Ash started feeling a little frustrated and defensive. "No, I'm not! I've just found some new inspiration for my drawings, that's all! You know how I am with my art." She crossed her arms, and glared defiantly at her friend.

Rosie scowled slightly at her friend's tone, but then softened it with a look of pure worry. "Ash, cariño, you're like my sister, I'm just looking out for you…I don't want you to get hurt. And I'm startin' to really worry…"

Ash herself couldn't stay mad and uncrossed her arms and hugged her sister tightly. "I know, Rosie-posy, and you're like my sister, too. But I'm fine, honest, I am! I'm just being usual old me; like a dog with a bone, y'know?" She smiled reassuringly, and then teased lightly. "Besides, I doubt Freckles can break through a three foot thick pane of bullet-proof glass~"

Rose hugged back, groaning in fond exasperation. "Ay Dios, you named it? Y'know, never mind. Just promise you'll be careful, 'ta bien?"

She giggled in response. "He, not it. And yes, I promise to be careful. Now," Finally, she managed to step around her sister and walked for the door. "I'll see ya at dinner, ok? Love ya, sis!"

-End Flashback-

That little 'discussion' had been this morning, and Ash felt slightly guilty at making her friend/sister worry so much and for lying to her. Because, yes, Freckles was her new artistic inspiration; the many, many drawings of him and herself were obvious proof of that, but it wasn't the only reason she came back.

But, she couldn't exactly tell her best friend that she thought the rescued cheetah was far, far more…intelligent, than what everyone else believed. She snorted at the thought.

'Oh yeah, then Rose will really flip her lid…although, that would be a pretty funny sight…'

She snickered softly to herself at the image of the 5 foot Latina girl cussing her out creatively in Spanish and English.

She almost laughed out loud when the image shifted to Rosie as a Chihuahua…Oh, Lord. She just had to draw that!

Back to her original thoughts, she knew all she could do for now was come by and 'hang out' with the feline, hoping that one day she could discover just what it was that made him special…or the day he would trust her enough to show, or maybe even tell her, himself.

Until then, she would fully enjoy her time with her friend, creating new ways to draw him and herself in adventures together.

After that second day, Cheetor had decided to succumb to the inevitable. The girl knew his secret, or, well, part of it. And apparently, she decided she wasn't going to tell anyone, which made him sigh in relief.

At least he was safe from Optimus' wrath…for now. Shaking the negative thoughts from his head, he concentrated on his inanimate 'prey'.

The small piece of organic cloth wasn't much for 'prey', but he'd come to realize that his new 'friend' (because, really, what else could her call her?), smiled and seemed to giggle happily at his 'antics', as Rattrap had once called his energetic actions. And he liked it when she smiled, so he decided to just swallow his pride and act like a youngling, if only so he could see that lovely smile on her face.

The young mech still marveled at the feelings he was experiencing while around the human female, but decided to just go with them. He'd figure them out eventually. All he knew was that he liked to see her happy and that he'd do anything to make her smile. End of story. Rattrap would probably laugh and torment him over that…

Speaking of the rat…Where was he? It had been almost a full human lunar-cycle since they'd gone missing. Surely he'd started looking for them…Then he snorted in derision.

'Yeah, right. Like that mech's ever thought 'bout others before himself. He's probably happily fixing the ship and planning to leave us on our own until he's finished, if even that!"

The thought almost made him growl, but stopped himself when he remembered that Giggles (well, he couldn't keep calling her 'human' or 'girl' now, could he? And it wasn't like he could ask what her name was…), was very perceptive of his moods and would quickly realize something was wrong.

So, he simply accepted the current situation and went with it; besides, if he wasn't as adaptable as he is, he probably wouldn't have joined Optimus' crew.

Speaking of the Big Bot, Cheetor hadn't seen or spoken to him since they'd arrived at the zoo. Which worried him because then, how could they plan their escape if they couldn't talk to one another? Sure, Rhinox said that so long as they remained in beast form the humans wouldn't know about them, but still…It wasn't as if they could keep up the act for too long.

He certainly didn't; evidence being Giggles sitting happily outside in the small windowed room, scribbling something on her datapad…well, he assumed it was some sort of datapad.

That thought completely derailed the rest of his train of process.

Every day that she came to visit him, she would always pull out that strange, white square and a small stick that she used to scribble on it. Just what was she doing? Was she studying him and making notes?

There were dozens of things she could be doing, and all he could do was wait until she showed him or he found some way of looking without getting found out by others.

Bringing his attention back to the piece of cloth, he realized it was gone, probably got blown away while he was lost in his processings. Oh, well. He shrugged his hunches and started walking over to the window, sat down and observed his friend concentrate hard on whatever it was that she was doing.

He couldn't help but smirk when he noticed her glossa (Did humans call it a glossa?) was sticking out slightly from the right corner of her mouth. She looked so cute…

Suddenly getting a devious idea, he decided to be a little bold, but not before making sure no one was watching him, and tapped on the glass, like she'd done that first time.

Ash was focusing so hard on her drawing that when she heard the light tapping on the glass, she snapped her head up in surprise; thinking it was one of the zoo people or a guard coming to let her know the zoo was closing or something (it wouldn't have been the first time she'd lost track of time).

What she saw, though, was not what she was expecting…

Freckles was standing right there, in front of the glass; it was the closest he had ever been to her. But that wasn't what had her staring at him like a deer caught in head lights…

He was smirking at her! In a sort of secretive amusement, like he was sharing an inside joke with her.

When he saw he had her attention, he nodded towards the upper veranda, where the visitors came and observed him, and he rolled his eyes in mock-annoyance, as if saying: 'If only they knew, huh?'

Oh, so that's what he was grinning about. She couldn't help but giggle and nod in agreement.

Then, he smirked again and winked. Winked! Ok, so she knew he was just being cheeky and stuff, but still, she couldn't help herself, she blushed in embarrassment and tried to hide her face behind her hands.

'Oh Lord…Why the heck am I reactin' like this? He's a cheetah! It's not like he's flirting…'

The very idea, even as absurd as it was, made her blush even more and she tried to make herself invisible to the feline by turning away slightly; totally missing the feline's surprised and curious look at her reaction.

She did look back, peaking through her fingers, when she heard him tap on the glass again. He had a confused look on his muzzle, his head tilted slightly. She wanted to look at him and smile reassuringly, but the whole 'flirting' thing kept wiggling around in her head and she just couldn't do it; she hid her face again, trying to will her blush away and to stop thinking such silly things.

When she did manage to control her over-active imagination and look back at her friend, she felt all her embarrassment wash away and be replaced by an awful guilt.

Freckles looked absolutely distraught; his ears and hunches were slumped and there was a guilty and almost scared look on his face.

'Oh no! He probably thinks he did something wrong! Oh, stupid, stupid me!'

She mentally chastised herself and immediately went over to the window. They were now only separated by the three foot glass window. And how she wished they weren't!

Going down on her knees, she was now eye-level with the sad feline. She tapped on the glass, getting him to look up into her eyes, and smiled warmly at him, hoping that her eyes could say what her voice wanted to.

'It's ok, Freckles, you didn't do anything wrong.'

He actually seemed to understand and in a moment of delighted surprise she realized that she could understand what his eyes said as well.

'I thought I did something wrong, that you were mad at me…'

His eyes turned away a little in guilt.

She tapped again and smiled reassuringly, shaking her head slightly.

'I'm not mad, it's ok.' Her smile turned sheepish. 'I'm sorry I worried you, guess I overreacted…' She shrugged her shoulders slightly.

He grinned, sheepish as well, back at her. 'It's ok, it was my fault too,'

Then his grin and his eyes twinkled playfully. 'But it was funny, though…' His hunches started shaking, like he was laughing silently.

Ashley was completely fascinated by what was going; they were having an actual conversation. Without words! She couldn't help but giggle softly, grin and raise her right eyebrow in the universal sign of 'Oh, really?'

Her own smile turned devious, and she mimicked a frightened face and started stumbling back and dramatically falling down, making sure she was looking at him upside-down, grinning in devious glee at him.

'Like you're one to talk~' Her eyes said, giggling slightly the stunned look on his face.

She absolutely lost it, though, when it melted into a look of mock-affront that crossed his face and he actually stuck his tongue out at her!

She actually had to hold her sides to keep from falling apart, she was laughing so hard. Once more, she was glad she was alone down there or someone would've called the 'men in white coats' already. As it was, she probably would've called them herself if she hadn't already been 100% sure that she wasn't crazy.

She blearily managed to see Freckles through her tearing eyes, trying to hold down his own laughter, his shoulders shaking almost violently in silent laughter, eyes shining brightly in joy.

And just as she was managing to get a hold of her mirth, he went and pulled his own 'revenge' when he started mimicking her 'drawing face', as Rose had once called it.

He started doodling on the dirt with one paw while his tongue stuck out, overly exaggerated, his eyes crossed and with a look of mock-concentration on his mug. She started giggling madly again.

They continued making faces at one another until they had to stop when a curious passerby had headed into the room, asking Ash if she was alright. She'd immediately pulled out her cell phone and dismissed his worry as a 'funny text her friend had sent'. Once the man was gone, both friends shared a look before promptly starting to laugh again, but this time more careful not to be so…rambunctious.

Ashley couldn't believe how much fun she was having; she had never laughed this much and this whole-heartedly. With a brilliant smile for her companion, she realized that she was happy, well and truly happy.

Sure, she'd been content with her life and with her small motley 'family', but actual happiness had eluded her…until now.

As unlikely as their friendship was, it was everything that she'd ever wanted; someone who understood her and that she understood back. There may still be many things they didn't know about each other yet, but that only made her want this just that much more.

A little fluffiness always makes my day better and brighter~! What about you my dear readers~? X3 Review, please~!

A/N: Spanish-English glossary

Nena, estas loca? – Girl, are you crazy?

Cariño – Honey or Darling

Ay Dios – Oh God

'Ta bien? – Ok?