A/N: The reviews and support for this story have been amazing! I honestly thought no one would have any interest in an Alice story. I am glad that you have surprised me. :) So thank you again for making this a favorite and putting it on your alerts.

Special shout-out goes to Razorgaze, my wonderful beta in all things Transformers. Her story "Our Debt" is one of my personal favorites. The link is in my profile page. Read it. :) you will love it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. This is purely for fun. Please do not sue. I am not making any money from this.

Chapter 4

"You must be Zoe. Hey, I'm Charlotte."

I looked at the hand thrust towards me, taking a nano-klik to reference what the human gesture meant. Ah, a sign of greetings and trust, created a couple of hundred earth years ago to show that the person before you was unarmed and unwilling to cause you harm for the moment. I shifted the stack of books from one arm to the other, making a show of how heavy they supposedly were. To a human femme of my build, it would have been an uncomfortable load.

I smiled, taking her outstretched hand gently but firmly in my own. "Hello Charlotte. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Charlotte's smile faded a bit around the edges, and inwardly I winced. My greeting was too formal, the etiquette procedures I had selected for my verbal exchange with my new room mate not quite what was necessary. Quickly I placed my books on the empty side of the room, sighing and pretending to work a kink out of my back.

"Sorry," I said, flashing what I hoped was an embarrassed and apologetic smile in her direction. "Nervous as all hell. Didn't mean to be so formal."

Charlotte's smile returned to full wattage. "Don't worry about it. First time away from home, I take it?"

Oh, how much I wanted to tell her how true that really was. "Yeah, this place… it's a little overwhelming."

"It can be," Charlotte giggled good-naturedly. "Is the rest of your luggage out in the hall?"

I froze, yet again cursing myself. Of course she would want to know where my belongings were. I couldn't very well produce a different holographic set of clothing each day and not have it go unnoticed. And my credit cards were still days away. I had to come up with a reason quickly and latched onto the first thought that entered my processors.

"Lost in the move," I sighed, sitting down on the bed and placing my head in my hands. "I don't know what I am going to do. My credit cards won't arrive for a couple of days."

"Man, that's horrible," my roommate replied, settling down on the bed next to me and draping an arm across my shoulders. "I'm sure they will turn up soon. Not everything stays lost forever. You have enough cash on hand to get you through? I know it's not the best, but there's a thrift store down the road and a Target nearby. At least get you a pair of jeans and some shirts."

Her arm was warm against my skin, her hair smelling of herbs and wild flowers and just a touch of human musk. I loved it, and more than that, I loved the tender show of affection. Decepticons would have mocked me, laughed and used me as target practice had I told them that I lost items essential to my functionality. Charlotte offered gentle touch and hope. It was such a contrast to my former life that the emotions overran my thought processes. My human image began to leak fluid from the eyes, which prompted Charlotte to turn the gentle draping of her arm into a full embrace.

And for reasons I would never be able to explain, that one action undid me. All the fear, the pain, the horrible knowledge of knowing that you could never go back to the place you once belonged, that you were absolutely alone in the universe, crashed through every block I had in place.

"I'm all alone," I sobbed into her arms. "I'm alone and I don't have anything of value to offer anyone. What am I going to do?"

Charlotte's hand smoothed over my hair, soothing sounds coming from her mouth. "You don't have anyone you can call?"

I shook my head against her shoulder. "No. My family is gone. I don't have any friends here."

I felt wetness falling against my hair, and I looked up to see Charlotte crying, too. "Don't worry, Zoe," she said. "We're going to make it through this. We girls have to stick together."

And then I uttered the words that would have meant certain death in the Decepticon frame of thought. "Wi..will you help me? I promise I will find some way to repay you. Just… please, I need help."

"Of course!" Charlotte exclaimed, wrapping me in a tight embrace once again. "Don't cry anymore. Why don't you borrow a towel and some soap and stuff from me, go take a shower and I'll order us some food. After a hot meal and a shower, you'll feel better, trust me. We'll work on the rest tomorrow."

I took the items she put into my hands and made my way down to the shower area, wondering what I was going to do next.

~*~

I waited until Charlotte was fully asleep before sneaking out of our shared room. Still, I paused in the doorway to glance back at her. She was pretty in the human standards, with long black hair and bright blue eyes. Her frame was thin and rounded, soft like Mikaela's. Her nose was a bit too long, too narrow for her face, but to me it made her all the more perfect in my eyes. She was real. Not some sculpted fantasy come to life.

Charlotte rolled on her side, unconsciously flinching away from the light spilling through the doorway from the hall. The remnants of our meal—Chinese vegetable soup, crab Rangoon, and a shared order of beef with broccoli—sat on the small folding table between our beds. We had shared the food after my shower, and I spent the rest of the night listening to her talk about her family and friends back home in Texas. It was so strange, but unlike when I tried to seduce Sam, I did not have to force a laugh or a smile when Charlotte made a joke.

I had really laughed, truly found humor in her words. And found solace when she told me that I didn't have to tell her about myself yet if the memories were still too painful. My alluding to the recent death of my family was all she needed to hear. It was a rare kindness.

It was a memory I was going to treasure for the rest of my existence.

I closed the door on my new friend, heading back down the hall to the toilet facilities. There I emptied my tank of the nutrient food items I had ingested, taking a moment to pass a high powered UV sanitation light over the storage tank. The last thing I needed was to smell like rotting human food. That mission complete, I set about my real task for the night.

For I had told Charlotte that I had some kind of money on me, and she had promised to take me into town to gain clothing and various items that I needed. The money was waiting for me in an account, scammed from these 'off-shore, untraceable accounts' that humans used to hide their finances from their own government. I had bounced the money transfers all over the globe and back again in less than a human hour, ensuring that the original owners could not trace it back to me.

And even if they were lucky enough to do that, I was more than prepared to deal with them. Though I felt like a child in a grown-up body, I at least knew that the adult body possessed skills enough to protect itself. A regular non-military human, while not something I would kill lightly anymore, did not pose even the slightest threat to me.

I had money. What I needed was a way to access it.

I took a stroll through the campus, heading in the direction of a frat party Charlotte had mentioned in passing. She wasn't the type to attend those things regularly, afraid of being that drunk around people she didn't know. I shared those sentiments greatly. I did not relish the idea of loosing control of my systems around just anyone. Still, a frat party would be the perfect place to find what I needed.

What I needed was a debit card. Any debit card would do.

What I didn't need was the yellow Camero with the distinctive Autobot emblem heading towards me like the Pit, itself, was in pursuit.