Adaptations of Love

By Winged Dreamer and Nightmare

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Author's Notes: Haha, we're mean. Sorry, but it was just the best cut-spot for the end of Chapter Three. ;; Otherwise Chapter Three would have ended up ridiculously long.

Also, sorry we took so long to update. I went on vacation visiting family for a month, and it's my job to post here while 'Mare takes care of our websites. I promise the next chapters won't take a month to be posted. (Hint hint: the more reviews we get, the faster I'll post.) Happy reading! – Dreamy

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Chapter Four

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It was at that moment that they came into the back half of the room they had just entered, pushing past the curtain that separated the two halves. Ron, Judy, Sam and Mikaela immediately froze at the sight before them. There, reclining on the medical slab and still as death, lay Bumblebee. His optics were off, the only glow in his frame coming from the Spark in his chest, and that was faint at best.

Mikaela gasped out, "Oh my god."

"Bee… Oh god, Bumblebee!" Sam shoved past Maggie and Alex, bitter dread coating the back of his throat. He didn't even hear his parents call for him to wait, using the momentum from his running start to haul himself up onto the slab to Bumblebee's side. Metal that was supposed to be warm felt frighteningly cool beneath his fingertips. "God… Bee! Bee, wake up!" he begged, slapping his best friend's arm hard enough to sting his hand down to the bones.

There was no response.

More terrified than he had ever been, more terrified than when Bumblebee's legs had been blown off in battle, Sam desperately looked around the room for someone – anyone – who could help. And found him almost immediately, watching in something akin to perverse amusement from his place on the other side of the slab. "Ratchet, what's wrong with him?!"

"Nothing, Sam," was all Ratchet could say before his voice, loud though it was, was overridden.

"Sam, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm just tired. My natural body is trying to conserve energy, so that I can hold this form long enough for them to get more data readouts." Alex's voice was weary and he looked completely wiped, but he approached the slab himself reaching up toward Sam with one trembling hand. "Come down. Let me explain."

"Wait. What the…" Mikaela's eyes were huge as she glanced between the Autobot on the medical table and the young man they had spent the afternoon with since their arrival to New Tyger Pax. And then her expression changed from sorely confused to utter disbelief. "You're joking! Oh my god! How?"

Ron and Judy exchanged confused looks with each other and then returned their attention to the strange tableau in front of them to await an actual answer. Miles just looked from an elated, dumbstruck Mikaela to a confused and hesitating Sam and gave up trying to understand. Instead, he waited patiently for an answer and an opportunity to ask more questions.

Maggie watched Sam stare down at "Alex" for a moment, her blue eyes concerned. The other humans weren't taking this well. Well, Mikaela was, but she had always been a little different from the Witwickys. "We asked him to do it," she threw in. "To see if the program was good enough to fool those close to him. If he could do that then he could fool anybody, and that's what we needed to know."

Eyes darting from Bee to Ratchet to Alex, Sam could only shake as terror became uncertainty. "F-Fool… I-I don't understand… How…?"

"We're calling it a construct," said a white, red, and green Autobot from another corner of the room, drawing everyone's attention. "An extension of the main body built from tiny sensors that perfectly mimic the human body in everything from bone to blood. Think of it as… a laptop that's wirelessly hooked up to a desktop. The ultimate reconnaissance tool." The Autobot seemed to puff up with pride.

"And something that won't blow up, for a change," muttered Ratchet.

Sam's gaze fell back onto the… not-human standing below him, relief starting to melt away the uncertainty. There was something in those gold eyes, something deeply familiar, that begged him to believe everything that was being said, and Sam felt himself giving in. "I-I… You're… You're Bumblebee…"

"Yes, Sam," Alex, or rather Bumblebee, confirmed, his voice the same gentle, cultured British-sounding voice that was so familiar to the boy he spoke to. Once again he wriggled his still unsteady fingers where they reached for Sam's hand. "Come down. They'll explain everything while I disperse and reboot."

After staring at Bee for a moment more, Sam hopped down from the medical slab and yanked his best friend into a crushing hug powerful enough to force the air out of him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he firmly whispered order, though his voice trembled. If Bumblebee died… God, Sam couldn't even bring himself to think about it.

Still confused, Miles leaned towards Mikaela and muttered, "Am I missing something?" He didn't understand what was so scary about seeing an Autobot on a table or why it was such a big deal that Alex was really Bumblebee.

Mikaela bit her lower lip in indecision before finally whispering, "It's what's inside that counts, right?"

The construct in Sam's arms tilted his head slightly to glance at Mikaela over his shoulder. Her words were confusing, but the boy holding on to his torso drew his attention almost instantly when Sam tightened his embrace just a bit. Strong arms settled around Sam's shoulders and hugged him tightly in return. He was tired – oh, so very tired – but for Sam he would muster the last of the strength in this faux body and hold him for as long as was possible. "I apologize. I did not realize you would think the worst."

"Yeah, well, remember for next time that when someone's unconscious on a table in a hospital, it generally means something's seriously wrong with them." Sam gave Bee one last squeeze, then slowly released him, loathe to lose the contact after his scare. "Alright, go do whatever it is you need to do."

Bumblebee left his palms on Sam's biceps for a second. With a firm nod, he rubbed one lithely muscled upper arm and then stepped away and past Sam. Almost immediately he began stripping away clothing starting with the turtle neck, revealing a thin but visible scar across his throat, and then the shoes, socks and camouflage pants. His boxers were simple black cotton which he left on as he reached for the hand of the Autobot on the table, but he paused before actually making contact. "I need to scatter and reabsorb the sensors to recharge them," he informed the humans, staring Sam straight in the eyes. "My natural body will reboot in just a few minutes."

With that Bumblebee put a hand to wrist of his Autobot body and the form of "Alex" shivered, fuzzed and staticked until it had completely dissolved into thin air. The black cotton boxers fluttered to the floor.

"Well," Judy exclaimed after a moment of silence. "That was interesting. Who knew?"

Ron glanced at his wife and could only shake his head.

"You okay, man?" asked Miles, still confused about what was going on, when Sam returned to his spot next to him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Outwardly calm now, inside Sam was shaking with nerves. What if Bee didn't reboot? What if the construct-thing had drained too much of his energy? What if they were lying to him and there was something wrong? Would Bee still be able to transform? What was this program going to do to his cybernetic mainframe? Was he still the same Bee? Just how much had Ratchet and that other Autobot played mad scientist on him?

Reaching out Mikaela took Sam's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You worry too much. He's fine. See."

Mikaela turned everyone's attention from Sam to Bumblebee with a slight inclination of her head. On the slab, the Autobot's Spark was already glowing brighter and with a few flickers his optics came back online as his chest panels closed. He was sitting up slowly within moments.

"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked his charge immediately and placed a steadying hand against the back of Bumblebee's shoulder nearest himself.

"Scans indicate nothing out of the ordinary," Wheeljack interjected.

"Fine, thank you, Ratchet," Bumblebee murmured and swung his legs to the side of the slab. Glowing blue optics landed on Sam and Bumblebee's antennae rose and fell for a second before the yellow Autobot said, "Wheeljack and Ratchet have ensured that nothing bad can come of my involvement in their research. There is nothing to fear."

Mikaela sized Sam up out of the corner of her eye and smirked. If Bumblebee was anything like Swerve he kept a constant sensor on Sam's vitals and chemical levels, which meant that that statement was more for Sam than for the rest of them. He's got it bad, she thought in amusement. But… I haven't really got room to talk.

Sam gave a slightly shaky nod and glanced at Wheeljack. "So… what exactly was that construct thing?"

Again the Autobot seemed to puff with pride. "The construct is a small, external, secondary mainframe built out of trillions of cell-sized sensors which perfectly mimic human cells except under the closest scrutiny. To this, we can give a tiny piece of an Autobot's unique Spark, and thus, make it serve as a second body. Given the construct's human appearance, it would allow us to discretely interact with people while our main bodies perform other tasks, maintaining a single consciousness between the two bodies. Right now the wireless connection has a maximum range of sixteen point two four miles and the construct only lasts up to eight hours, but we're working on increasing those. The range will be difficult, but increasing the longevity will be just a matter of increasing how much power the sensors can hold. With continued practice, I'm confident that Bumblebee will soon be able to create a construct that will be able to last at least an entire solar cycle."

"Solar cycle?" asked Miles.

A young heavyset man suddenly appeared by Wheeljack's foot, his eyes magnified by the thick glasses he wore. Glen nodded a cheerful greeting at Sam and Mikaela as he supplied, "Twenty-four hours. He's still getting used to Earth terms. Hey Wheeljack, what do you think about tweaking this section of code over here?" He led the Autobot back to a bank of computers in the corner, each screen covered in lines upon lines of code in both English and Cybertronian.

"Wait," called Sam. "So what happens to the sensors when they run out of power? And the piece of Spark that's in the construct?"

Ratchet glanced Wheeljack's way and took up the task of answering since it was clear Wheeljack was more interested in playing with Glen. "The sensors can be reabsorbed into the main body or dispersed, along with the piece of Spark. Our Sparks can safely sustain minor amounts of damage, and the size of the piece needed to create the construct doesn't even fall under minimal damage."

"Our Sparks are capable of repairing themselves, though it does take longer than our exoskeletons," Bumblebee added as he slid from the edge of the slab to stand on the floor. After a moment of positioning his feet, he crouched. Now closer to Sam's eyelevel, he offered. "I can explain it all to you as we head back up to the ground side. I'm sure you are all hungry, and it is, as you know, a bit of a trip."

Judy's stomach took that moment to make itself known and Ron's gave an answering growl. Judy gave a surprised, "Oh!" and Ron chuckled while patting his gut. "Yeah," he agreed. "Getting old kinda means needing consistency in some things, and it's well past our usual dinner time by now I'm sure."

"It is exactly seven fifteen Post Meridiem," confirmed the large yellow robot. "I can carry us all to lift since that, I think, will be faster. Swerve says he will be meeting us topside."

"Uh, didn't Optimus say the soldiers were expecting us for dinner at six?" asked Miles, turning to Mikaela.

"Yeah," she agreed. "But I think they'll understand just this once."

"I think so," Bumblebee agreed, straightening and stepping around them so that he could fall to all fours and transform. Both doors popped open and the seats leaned forward so some of them could climb into the backseat.

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"You guys are late," called Lennox from the canteen entrance as Bumblebee and Swerve drove up a little over an hour later, their windows down. "What happened? You guys have a party down there or something?"

Stepping out of the little red Corvette she'd crawled into once they were topside, Mikaela shook her head. "Nope. Just lots of questions and drama."

"Drama?"

"Sam."

"Hey!" called the young man in question, almost smacking his head as he stood up from leaning Bee's front seat forward so his mom could get out of the back. "You were just as freaked out as I was!"

"Freaked out?" asked Lennox, curious.

Miles hopped out of the Corvette and grinned. "He thought his car was dead."

"With good reason!" Sam scowled.

"The construct. Bumblebee had us completely fooled, and he was in some kind of power save mode in his robot form all laid out on an exam table. Sam kinda flipped. I admit I was a little worried, too," Mikaela explained.

Lennox chuckled. "I told Epps you guys wouldn't figure it out. I was told about the experiment and I was still surprised when 'Alex' showed up, asking if he could pretend to be a new Private. Thought he was some kid from the university pulling a prank." He nodded towards the inside of the canteen. "Come on. Let's get you guys some dinner, and then I'll show you to where you'll be staying for the night."

Sam waited until everyone else had gone inside before patting Bee's roof. "Think you'll be up to hanging out for a while after dinner?" he asked quietly, hopeful. Bumblebee had seemed really tired after reabsorbing his construct, and Sam wanted to make sure he was completely okay without anyone else around to interrupt.

"Looking forward to seeing you in the sunshine of my time in a station off the coastline, coming in view," the radio responded with a crackle.

"Okay. Go take a nap or something. I'll find you when we're done eating. I won't be too long, I promise."

"They call me mellow yellow," the radio agreed and then fell silent.

Swerve quietly revved and rolled up alongside Bumblebee, gently nudging Sam's leg with his bumper in a clear show of promise to look after their friend.

"Thanks," murmured Sam. After a brief caress of Bee's roof, he disappeared inside the canteen.

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It had taken them quite some time to find a nook of land that would allow Bumblebee to change into his natural form unseen, but they had managed. Luckily, Fort Pax was located near and somewhat within small mountains that were more like large, wooded hills, giving the two of them and any other Autobots that wanted to be topside for whatever reason some privacy. Once they were safely tucked away from prying eyes, Bumblebee found them a comfortable spot, let Sam out of the cab and transformed.

Sam was patient while Bumblebee found himself a comfortable seat and position, but Bumblebee knew without a doubt that Sam would soon be bombarding him with questions. After his reaction in the medical bay the boy couldn't possibly stay quiet for much longer. He'd been terrified, his vitals spiking drastically as he'd dashed straight to Bumblebee's side without thought of his own personal safety in such an unknown situation. The little yellow Autobot had been touched beyond expression by Sam's obvious care and concern, and he had felt no little bit guilty about the ruse he'd played out for the humans he had come to think of as family. It had been necessary but difficult to begin with, and now he felt nothing short of compunctious.

And… even if he would never admit it to anyone… the results of that tiny lie had been well worth the response. Sam had panicked, become distraught, near-to-frantic with worry and fear, even dread, when he had thought, even for the briefest of moments, that Bumblebee's life had been in danger. It was only the second display of deeper emotion from Sam that Bumblebee had experienced in their oh-so-short time together.

But… it gave him hope.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked the instant Bee had looked comfortable for at least half a minute, his patience giving out. He had barely been able to eat anything at dinner, anxious to get back to his best friend and make sure everything was alright. Just because Bumblebee had claimed to be feeling fine in Wheeljack's lab didn't mean that was the case now, because there might have been some side effect of the construct program they hadn't accounted for and took a couple hours to manifest or something.

"I am fine," Bumblebee assured his human charge with a nod. "There is nothing to worry about with Wheeljack and Ratchet heading the research and development of the Construct Program."

"You sure you're fine. 'Cause it's okay if you're not, no shame in admitting it. You were really tired when you came back online and you only had about a half hour's rest after we got back up here. I mean, if I were maintaining something like that for hours, I'd be tired too. Is that program even safe? I mean, using a piece of your Spark and so much of your energy. What happens if something attacks your real body while you're using that program?"

"I will not always be so incapacitated, Sam. When the program has been completed I will have fewer limitations. It will be as much a part of me as your heart is a part of you. If there were an attack, I would most likely immediately disperse the construct and fight. Our Sparks repair themselves from minor damage without any trouble. My energy reserves will grow to accommodate the new adaptation to this planet..." Bumblebee paused then shook his head a little. He was rambling when all he really needed to say was, "Sam, I promise you. There is nothing to worry about."

Amused and deeply touched by the young human's adamant concerns, Bumblebee reached out and very gently wrapped one hand around Sam's upper torso and hips, lifting him up and placing him on one of Bumblebee's thighs.

With the way the robot was sitting – one leg semi-bent, and the other curled and semi-flopped to the side – Sam was placed on the yellow panel that became the left side scoop behind the driver's door. The boy's legs Bumblebee let hang against the inside of his thigh while the hand that had lifted Sam curled close to Sam's left side, allowing the boy security in his precarious position as well as very nearly embracing him in the process. Sam's heart rate was faster now than it had been even a few short moments ago, and Bumblebee felt his Spark heat in answer. It could just have been very wishful thinking on his part. Maybe he was reading too much into everything. Bumblebee just couldn't help but let hope rise steadily within him. Sam cared. The boy cared so much about what happened to him... was it possible? Could Sam actually feel something even close to what the reconnaissance specialist felt for the boy? It was almost too much to hope for, but Primus, Bumblebee would have done nearly anything for a stronger inkling of Sam's truest feelings.

Frowning, Sam wormed his arms around Bee's middle finger and hugged it tight to his chest. "You better not be saying that just to make me feel better. If anything bad happens while they're experimenting on you, I swear I'll beat up Ratchet and Wheeljack for playing mad scientist on you, then I'll beat you up for letting it happen," he promised, squeezing Bumblebee's finger. Voice dropping to just above a whisper, Sam added, "Jeez, I was so excited to see you after those three weeks and here I am completely ruining it by being a mother-hen."

In the mood that Sam was in right then, Bumblebee knew there was no way that he could talk the boy down. Sam was worried and he would continue to be so until things proved to be as Bumblebee has said them to be. So, without a word, Bumblebee returned Sam's embrace the only way he could. Bringing his right hand up, he laid his palm feather-light against the top of Sam's head, curling his fingers around the boy's head and shoulders and pulling him closer to the Autobot's main body with his left hand. Leaning over the enclosure his hands created, Bumblebee sheltered Sam with the security of his body.

The tension gradually flowed out of Sam as he allowed himself to relax against the comforting shell of Bumblebee's hands. He knew he would continue to worry until the construct program was completed, but there was no point in obsessing over dangers he was potentially just making up in his head, and Sam didn't want to smother Bee with his paranoia. Especially not when today was supposed to be a happy occasion. Forcing his lingering fears down to mull over later, Sam patted the palm above him until Bumblebee pulled it away so they could look at each other.

"So… why Asian?" he asked.

"Isn't that what you would have expected? You did think I was Japanese when you first saw me."

Sam blinked up at him in surprise, then laughed until he was breathless. "I did, didn't I?"

Bumblebee laughed, the sound oddly electronic and yet so very human. "Yes, you did."

Smiling affectionately, Sam rested his chin on the finger wrapped around his upper torso. "You are so weird."

"I will take that as a compliment," replied the Autobot as he leaned back until his frame was straight again. Turning bright blue optics to the starry night sky, Bumblebee fell quiet, unexpected thoughts of his former home plaguing his processors all of a sudden. It was probably something about the peace and tranquility of the moment triggering memories of vorns gone by now dead forever in distant, deep space.

For a long, peaceful moment, Sam watched Bumblebee stare at the sky, wondering what was going through his mind. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time like this with Bee again, just the two of them. Three weeks apart had been way too long. "What are you thinking?" he quietly asked.

"About Cybertron," came the soft reply. Bumblebee's gaze lowered to Sam once more and it seemed as if, had he the facial mobility of his companion, he would have been smiling ever-so-softly. "I wish sometimes that things had turned out differently. But then I realize, had that been reality, I would have never come to Earth. Would have never met you. I don't wish to believe in a reality like that. For all the bad that I have seen in my lifetime, for all the evil, I have seen so much more good. It's at that thought that I realize that I would not have this reality any other way."

"Oh." To such a deep, profound revelation, Sam had no reply. All he could do was stare up at the point in the sky Bee had been looking at and wonder about living on a world where everything and everyone was made of metal. Earth with its organics was such a different planet than Cybertron. Sam couldn't imagine completely uprooting himself and moving across the universe to a world where nothing was familiar, then adapting almost instantly to blend in and live peacefully. Their ability to do just that was what made the Autobots so fascinating, admirable, awesome. And Bumblebee was the strongest of them all, the one who had been on Earth alone for years, the one best able to adapt to their new home. The one so intrigued by his new neighbors that he insisted on living among them instead of with his own kind. With Sam. Chest oddly tight, the young human hugged Bee's finger tighter and scooted over his leg until he could rest his back against the Autobot's stomach.

The silence stretched for many long minutes between them, comfortable and familiar. The human sitting astride his thigh gradually relaxed until he was near to languid and Bumblebee at last felt the tension in his own body unwind. Free of unnecessary astriction, the scout leaned back on the hand Sam did not cling to, reclining them both.

"Hey, Bee?" murmured Sam at last, gently ending the quiet they had fallen into.

"Yes, Sam?" the Autobot answered in an equally low manner.

"What did you look like on Cybertron? Like the twins, all silver and beefy and stuff?"

"Silver and..." Bumblebee paused for a moment and then chuckled. "You're wondering about my natural form?"

Sitting up a little, Sam turned onto his side and looked up at Bumblebee. "Well, yeah. Kinda hard not to after today."

"I understand. Hop down."

Curious to see what Bumblebee had in mind, Sam let go of his finger, slid off his leg and took a few steps back, giving the Autobot room. He watched intently as Bee rose to his feet and took one step back, then went very still. The change was almost immediate. Yellow panels faded to silver and were absorbed by Bee's body as his structure filled out; the door-wings disappeared, making his shoulders seem larger, broader; some gears became larger, some smaller, all more appropriate for the task they had; new panels emerged to cover Bee's frame until he looked dramatically more solid and fluid. In less than a minute, Bumblebee changed from an intricate conglomerate of rearranged car parts to a truly formidable-looking soldier. To say Sam was amazed would have been a severe understatement.

"Wow," he whispered, eyes huge.

"I assume showing is often better than telling." Bumblebee's voice was infinitely amused. Sam's expression was priceless and the once-yellow Autobot couldn't help but preen under the attention of the human he was so very much in love with. "Is it what you thought it would be?" he asked curiously after giving Sam a moment to look his fill.

"Sort of. I didn't really know what to expect since I've never had a chance to compare what any of you used to look like and what you look like now. You're so much more... solid like that." Sam let out a short, excited laugh. "It makes your car form look fragile."

"Truthfully, that is untrue of any of my forms, but I would say my camouflage form is the weakest of all of them if I had to gauge." Sam's pleasure in seeing Bumblebee's natural form sent a tickle of pleasure through the Autobot's circuits, though he did his best to hide it from the young human. The last thing he wanted to do was raise Sam's suspicions after all.

Deeply curious, Sam strode forward and ran a hand over Bumblebee's knee, feeling the different texture of the Cybertronian panels and seams. Bee's joints looked so much more flexible and human-like in his natural form. Between the small, closely overlapped panels, Sam could feel a thin film of a warm oil-like substance. "So what do you transform into when you're like this? I remember Megatron turned into some kind of weird jet or something."

"I turn into something like a car that is not all that different from the Camaro. The frame and other such details are definitely not the same, but many of the basics are," the Cybertronian explained as he once again settled on the ground. Offering Sam a hand up, Bumblebee let his thighs fall comfortably wide so that Sam could resume his perch.

Sam gladly accepted the offer, climbing back up onto Bumblebee's leg. It gave him the opportunity to examine Bee's chest and stomach plating, an opportunity he took full advantage of. "This is so cool," he murmured, running a hand along one of the seams. "I can't quite think of how to put it, but it's like you're more… real this way. Not that you're not real in your camouflage form, but… it's more you. Which would make sense, because of course it's more you, since this is what you're supposed to look like." His lopsided smile somewhat apologetic, Sam glanced up at Bee. "I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"I don't mind," his Guardian told him gently, wriggling a little beneath Sam's inquisitive touch. "I'm just very glad that you're not put off by my actual appearance."

"How could I be put off? You always look awesome. This is just more awesome than usual." Sam grinned.

Bumblebee chuckled. "I am not sure why I thought you might be, but it probably has something to do with the fact that, in this form, I am totally alien to you resembling nothing you've ever known. At least in my camouflage form you see the familiar wires, gears and parts that compose the Camaro. In this form, I need none of those things to function. Well, there are gears and things. We are not human. Still, I am very glad that you are taking everything so well."

The very tip of one thick finger ran from Sam's shoulder to the middle of his forearm in a gentle and friendly caress sort of like a pat on the shoulder.

"Actually, you look more human this way. Almost as if you're just a person wearing a really, really big exoskeleton waiting to hop out at any moment." Laughing softly, Sam turned around and scooted back until he could lean his back against Bee's stomach. "I bet you miss being like this, huh?"

"I... do and I don't. It's not easy to explain. I am me no matter which form I take, but at the same time this is who I am." Resting one hand on his thigh before Sam, Bumblebee again planted his other palm behind him and reclined them both, turning his optics to the skies and added in a soft voice, "Being like this makes me wonder who else is out there, making their way back to us."

"How many of you were left when you left Cybertron to go after the All Spark?"

"I am... unsure. There were many that I saw while I was being repaired that came in to thank me for all that I had done to protect the All Spark, but I cannot be sure that I will ever see many of them again. The battle was still being fought, and they could only spare me a few kliks to a few breems of their time before they were back on the battlefield again. I do not know what their missions were or where any of them were stationed except for my own contingent, so I do not know what they were up against well enough to even fathom their odds of surviving long enough to rejoin us here."

Letting out a thoughtful hum, Sam twisted so he could look up at Bee and opened his mouth to speak. The crackle of fire in the distance coupled with the sound of something large falling cut him off, and the human turned just in time to see what looked like a meteor land in the water close to Fort Pax. He immediately looked to Bee again. "Was that an Autobot?"

Staring out at the landing site, Bumblebee didn't respond.

"Bumblebee?" called Sam, the beginnings of fear twisting his gut. "That was an Autobot, right?" If it was a new Decepticon...

"It was," Bumblebee finally confirmed and turned bright, electric blue optics to his human. "That was Arcee."

"Arcee?" The name was familiar, and Sam sifted through the stories Bumblebee had told him about Cybertron – or rather, had shown him. While Bee wasn't able to create holographic projections in the same fashion as Optimus, he was still able to project images and had shown Sam some of his memories of Cybertron by projecting the video files onto whatever large, mostly flat surface had been around at the time. "Oh, you mean one of the other soldiers from the Tyger Pax battle?" he asked, remembering a small Autobot who had fought with Bumblebee to protect the All Spark before it had been launched into space.

"Yes. Arcee was captured alongside myself and the rest of our unit at Tyger Pax. She is a wonderful being with a very sweet personality and a wonderful outlook on just about everything. I think that you will like her very much, Sam." Fingers that could easily dent metal wrapped around Sam's waist with the care one would devote to a newborn, and Sam found himself lowered gently to the ground out of the way of the rising Autobot. Even as he rose Bumblebee began to revert back to his camouflage form, yellow plating re-emerging from his metallic hide even as the rest of him began to shrink and reform into the makings of the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro they both favored. "We should head back. It's getting late, and you've had a very long day."

Sam glanced at his watch. "It's barely midnight. Unless you're really tired from running that program so long, I say we should stay out at least a little longer. Gotta make up for the past three weeks, right?" he added with a grin, ignoring the odd fluttering in his stomach. For some reason, Bumblebee's clear enthusiasm at Arcee's arrival unsettled Sam and the human didn't really want to think about why, but the want to spend tonight in Bee's company had definitely gotten stronger at the mention of Arcee being female.

"You're not tired after all of the driving and walking around on the base?" Bumblebee sounded a little surprised. From what he knew of his charge, Sam found most busy days to be exhausting. Not that he was complaining about getting to spend more time with the boy. It was just that Bumblebee wanted to make certain Sam wasn't foolishly pushing himself into illness. The human body seemed so fragile at times.

"Not in the least." A small lie, but Sam could definitely stay awake for at least a couple more hours before the excitement of seeing New Tyger Pax and seeing Bee again completely wore off. So what if he spent half of tomorrow asleep?

The Autobot nodded once and crouched, transforming himself into the Camaro in thousands of smoothly executed adjustments. Once the car had settled the driver's door popped open and the radio buzzed to life. "Let's take a drive. Let's take a drive. Hold on tight baby we're about to go. Don't need no destinations for me to go. Why don't we go for a drive?"

Grinning, Sam slid into the driver's seat and ran his hands over the steering wheel in an affectionate caress. "Why don't we go for a drive."

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All was quiet… which was surprising considering the number of brash young men pumped up on camouflage-colored adrenaline she was surrounded by. Then again… it was five in the morning, so other than the guard patrols and maybe the Autobots miles below the Earth's crust, Mikaela was probably the only person awake. The soft growl of a familiar engine changed that "probably the only person" to "one of the very few people."

Bumblebee drove up to the barrack that Mikaela, Miles and the Witwickys had been given as private quarters and rolled to a slow stop. For a long moment everything was quiet again and she was beginning to wonder if Sam was perhaps actually asleep inside the Autobot's lovingly protective shell when the driver side door popped, and Sam slipped out. He leaned back into the car to look at the radio as he talked to it, and she caught the faintest snippet of music before Sam stepped back and shut the door. The little yellow Camaro almost instantly went quiet. Sam turned to walk away and brown eyes met blue.

"Hey, Sam," Mikaela called to him in a soft voice so as not to disturb Bumblebee, though she knew the Autobot was probably well aware of everything around him right down to her troubled chemistry. "Have fun out there tonight?"

It was obvious – at least to her, the fellow sufferer of an incurable affliction (or rather affection) for an alien robot that stood almost ten feet above her head – that Sam had it as bad for his "Camaro" as Mikaela had it for her "Corvette." The only difference between them was that Mikaela was fully aware of the fact that – if she had been able to gather up the courage to say anything to Swerve – she could so totally be dating her "car" right at that very moment and would have probably – provided the red Autobot felt the same – been finding some way to consummate their feelings for each other. It had always been her dirty little secret that a truly fuckable car was a car she wouldn't mind getting off over, in, on or with had she been provided with the right means to do so. And Swerve – sentient, sexy, funny, exotic Swerve – was so much more than just a truly fuckable car.

So quickly after the newly arrived Autobot had been assigned as her Guardian, Mikaela had found that she was enamored of having her very own Bumblebee. At first that was how she had thought of him. Swerve wasn't all that different from Bumblebee, but that was because at first he had been just a little bit shy. That had changed in very little time. As she had always sworn she would do with any classic car she ever owned, Mikaela washed and waxed the little red Corvette until he gleamed a bright, fiery red in the sun, telling herself that it would seem weird to the whole neighborhood if the daughter of a known grease monkey didn't treat a beautiful muscle car with that kind of respect. Swerve had warmed up to her under all of that attention and in no time at all they'd worked out their own unique ways of communication. Then he'd let her under the hood and the bonding had really begun. It didn't take Mikaela long at all to figure out what felt good and what only felt like a solid massage beneath that glossy red sheet of metal. The things that felt good were more often applied as something Mikaela called "a good rub down." Things had just progressed from there thanks to a naughty side of herself that was surprising her a little more everyday.

Sam coming to a stop right in front of her pulled her from thoughts that probably weren't appropriate in front of company even if they hadn't been about an alien robot that turned into a car. "I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked, well aware of the fact that he had been talking to her and that she had completely zoned out on him.

Smirking, Sam leaned back against the barrack wall next to her, hands in his jacket pockets. It may have been summer, but nights and early mornings on the California coast were often cool even after hot days. "I said, what are you doing up so late? Or should I say early?"

"I couldn't sleep." Turning her eyes back to the ground in front of her feet, Mikaela shifted until her aching butt stopped feeling so numb. She'd been sitting on the barrack steps for the better part of several hours, and her rump was only now beginning to protest? Rolling her eyes a little, the young woman got to her feet and stretched. "I couldn't stop thinking."

"About what?"

For one long moment Mikaela just looked at Sam, gauging his potential responses to anything she might tell him about the truth. At last she looked away and fiddled with one of the rings on her slender fingers. "About Swerve. And what he'd look like. If he were human, y'know?"

"Oh." Sam let out a thoughtful hum and looked towards the horizon, where a false dawn was just starting to light the sky. It wasn't that big of a surprise to hear that Mikaela was wondering such a thing. She spent just as much time with Swerve as Sam did with Bee and after seeing Bee's construct, it wouldn't take much to consider how any of the other Autobots might appear in a human form. "So what do you think he'd look like?"

"I don't know..." Wrinkling her nose a bit, Mikaela scanned their surroundings. "I'm biased, so I couldn't even begin to guess."

"And so you stayed up until dawn trying to figure it out?" Sam's question was only a little teasing.

"I think... I'm in love with him." She hadn't really meant to say the words aloud. Still, it was liberating to actually say them. And of all the humans who knew about the existence of the Autobots, Sam was the most likely to understand her feelings. He seemed to be the only other human who truly accepted the Autobots as sentients and equals without question. Maybe William Lennox and Robert Epps thought of the Autobots the same way that she and Sam did, but she wasn't entirely certain of that. So telling Sam it was, and maybe, just maybe, Sam would convince her to tell Swerve. Glancing over to the gleaming yellow Camaro, Mikaela got the impression that Bumblebee was politely pretending that he couldn't hear a word of what they were saying. Well, at least he wouldn't be telling Swerve. She hoped.

For a brief moment, Sam could only stare at her in surprise. "You… oh… Wow. With Swerve?"

"Yeah."

"Wow." Sam turned back to the sunrise and just shook his head a little, still absorbing. It wasn't so much that Swerve was the one Mikaela thought she was in love with… No, no, it definitely was. Despite how much Sam considered the Autobots to be nothing more than really big metal humans, he had never considered the potential of having any sort of relationship other than friendship with any of them. While wrapping his mind around the idea wasn't uncomfortable, it was certainly a little weird. "Well, I gotta say Swerve is definitely a significant improvement on the guys you usually pick as boyfriends, but… how would that even work?"

"It probably wouldn't. Or at least I thought it couldn't. Not until I met 'Alex' today." Mikaela rose in a rush and started pacing. "I mean, they can pretend to be humans. If what everyone is saying is true, then they're capable of emulating us completely, right? I love him as he is, but… now there's a chance that we can have a real relationship. One that isn't just looks and jokes-that-aren't-really-jokes and awkward touches. Right?"

Bright blue eyes shone with hope as she stopped dead right in front of Sam and wrapped one arm around her stomach while nibbling on the edge of a finger.

Sam shrugged helplessly. "I-I guess… it could be possible. If Wheeljack and Glen can perfect the construct program, then I can't see a reason why not. You'd have to talk to them and to Swerve, because the program's still in the developmental stage, so they're still tweaking it a lot. Bee's been doing almost nothing but doing whatever Wheeljack wants him to do so they can get data."

Eyes darting over to said Autobot, Mikaela nodded slowly and lowered her hand from her mouth. "I should just talk to him, shouldn't I?"

"…What you must understand. You can't let the chance to love him pass you by."

The music from the car's radio was loud but soothing, and Mikaela smiled as she turned to Sam again and hugged him. "Thanks. Go get some sleep. You look tired."

Warm arms easily returned the embrace, holding her close. "Anytime. And yeah, I plan to sleep until lunch, and I suggest you do the same since I'm guessing you didn't get a lick of sleep."

"I don't think I'll be able to. At least not until I talk to Swerve now. I know my brain won't shut off without resolution. Go get some sleep." Kissing Sam's cheek, Mikaela pulled away, flashed Bumblebee a quick smile and slipped past her ex-boyfriend through the door to their barrack. She needed her cell phone.

Shrugging, Sam tossed Bee one last "Good night" and went inside. As he stripped down to his boxers, his mind spun around the news of Mikaela being in love with Swerve. To use the construct program to make such a relationship possible… Would it work? Could it work? Sam sighed and sat down on the bed, convinced he wouldn't be able to fall asleep now with those thoughts running circles around his brain.

He was asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.

TBC…

Song Credits:

"Looking Forward To Seeing You" by Golden Smog

"Mellow Yellow" by Donovan

"Let's Take A Drive" by Billy Burnette

"Tell Him" by Celine Dion