PHEW! This was a major dialogue chapter... Once upon a time I thought I couldn't even attempt dialogue. Thanks for the reviews, you guys. This has been way more rewarding than I ever expected :)

Oh, and for the Skywarp fans who are feeling gypped, I'm very sorry. He'll come into the spotlight again, once I've had my fun writing for Hot Rod :) Enjoy!

Later, about two a.m., Sam, Bee, Hot Rod, and I were sitting and watching The Notebook through a movie projector against one of the walls. Sam had fallen asleep long ago, but I was still nearly conscious. Hot Rod and Bee were completely absorbed, occasionally murmuring things in Cybertronian to each other.

I was curled up in Hot Rod's lap, my eyes barely open. The movie was nearly over; the old guy was sneaking off to his wife's room, and Bee was giving a kind of monologue to Hot Rod.

As the movie came to a close, I felt Hot Rod's eyes on me. I saw out of the corner of my vision as he raised his hand up to me and hesitantly brushed the very tip of his finger against my cheek. I grabbed on to him as he started to move it away and pulled him back. Of course, he let me pull him in, but all the same, I clutched his finger to my chest like an oversized teddy bear.

He whispered something I didn't understand to Bee, who made a noise of agreement. I opened my eyes more and turned to look at Bee, who was looking down at Sam with an expression I wanted to describe as loving. I rolled onto my back, still holding onto Hot Rod's finger, and smiled up at him sleepily.

"What's up with you guys?" I asked teasingly. "Did that movie make you all mushy on me?"

He waggled his finger ever so gently, rocking me side to side a little. "It did inspire me, but I guess I've always been mushy." He looked at Bee, who stared back for a moment and then tenderly picked up Sam, who had started talking in his sleep.

"No… dogs?! It's under my fingernails… didn't order high heels…"

I giggled and waved goodnight to Bee as they left the rec room, then squeezed Hot Rod's finger when he sighed.

"What's wrong, Roddy?"

"Since when do you call me Roddy?"

"Since a few seconds ago. Is it ok?"

He laughed. "In private, you can call me whatever you want."

We sat in silence for a long time and I was nearly asleep when he spoke up again. "Bravura, can I ask you a question?"

"Uh huh…"

"I… Do you think…? We're both very different people… Is it possible for us to… have a… real relationship? Like in the movie?"

I had grown more alert with each nervous pause. As he finished, I was staring up at him wide eyed.

"What do you mean when you say a real relationship?"

"Well, how they promised to be together no matter what, and they kept their promise to the very end. Do you think it would be wrong for us to make a promise like that?"

My arms slid off of Hot Rod's finger and fell to my sides, the cast clinking against his metal leg and sending a jolt up my nervous system. I must have grimaced, because he slowly pulled his hand back and it dropped out of view.

"You're talking about getting married."

He looked away from me, embarrassed by my disbelief. "If it's so upsetting to you, I won't mention it again."

"No! I mean… No, it just surprised me that you would think of it… Do you really understand what marriage is, though?"

"I looked it up."

"It's a huge commitment. The kind of thing you don't just dive into. And we wouldn't… be like other couples."

"What about Sam and Bee?"

I peered up at him. "Are you serious? Sam and Bee?"

"Well, yeah. Bee loves him, and Sam loves Bee too, he just doesn't know it yet."

I covered my eyes, my shock wearing off and leaving me worn out and threadbare.

"Do you want to go to bed?" He asked gently.

"Yeah… yeah, I need to be unconscious," I groaned. "This is all just too much. I need to sleep. I need my pain pills. I need ten pain pills."

"Do you really need them, or do you just want them?"

"I want them."

"Sorry. Ratchet warned me about humans getting addicted to substances like that, so unless you're in pain I can't let you take them."

"Pfft. He's a robot doctor, he doesn't know anything."

Hot Rod got up, his hand scooping under me and cradling my rebelliously limp body. "He knows enough, small fry. We're going straight to bed."

And to 'bed' we did go. In a few short minutes we were standing in our quarters. "Still gonna skip the cot?" He asked halfheartedly.

I actually considered the question very seriously. I didn't want to sleep on the cot, but Hot Rod's ideas had completely blown me away. I didn't know what I wanted. The only thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Who picks the cot when they've got a big warm robot bed instead?"

He laughed faintly with relief and slid onto his platform to stretch out. He set me on his stomach, and from there I crawled carefully over his chest to his shoulder joint, just right for sleeping in. The lights flicked off, the only brightness coming from the glowing strip on the floor and his shining blue eyes.

His warmth and the relative darkness gave me some of my nerve back. "Hot Rod?"

"Hmm?"

"Doesn't the fact that we aren't even the same species bother you?"

He was silent for so long I thought he wasn't going to answer me. I'd given up when he quietly answered my question with a question. "What do you know about Cybertron's history?"

"Nothing."

"Ok. Long story short, there was a great war between the Autobots and the Decepticons over a powerful energy source, an energy source that gave our species life. The only way for us to reproduce was with the help of the All Spark or a femme. A female Cybertronian. Megatron tried to discourage us from ejecting the Allspark into space by… killing all the femmes."

I gasped. "That's awful…"

He nodded. "Without the Allspark, we had no way of continuing our species. Optimus saw the danger of keeping it, and so as a species we made a choice. Bee was the last sparkling ever created by the Allspark."

"Poor Bumblebee. That's a big burden."

"More than you or I will ever know. The worst part is that he'd never had a chance to fall in love. Neither of us had, really, before we came here. Most organic species don't like us, you know. Some were more our size, but… Completely incompatible."

"So you're saying you feel the way you do because there's no other choice for you?"

"No! That's not right at all. I feel like this about you because you make me smile, and you've given me something new to fight for. I want to fight for you and the life of your species, because you've… renewed my faith in our cause. You've reminded me why we fight. I want to be with you because of who you are."

I smiled despite myself. As lonely as I felt without my memories, I really would always have him on my side.

More to himself than to me he whispered, "One day, the Decepticons will be gone and we can be happy. I'm so tired of searching and fighting."

I ran my hand along the warm metal of his shoulder and he looked down at me with the same expression Bee had worn for Sam.

"How much do you feel that?" I asked curiously.

"Probably as much as you would… Maybe more. We're hyper-sensitive to keep us from destroying ourselves on our surroundings, or vice versa, according to the medics."

"Gentle giants."

"What is it that one of your presidents once said? Speak softly but carry a big stick?"

I sighed, relaxed as my nervousness drained out of my system. "Plasma guns may count as more than just a big stick."

"Not when your target is Barricade."

"I wonder if the Decepticon that landed today is going to start causing trouble."

"No doubt about that. Not many are as careful as Barricade and Skywarp have been about staying under the radar."

"So whoever it is may be killing people right now?"

"Optimus and the others should be there by now. If he goes on a rampage, they'll stop him. Maybe even kill him."

"How many are going to come here?"

"I can't honestly say I know the answer to that. Could be a few… could be dozens. Or hundreds. As long as Autobots keep responding to Optimus's signal, everything should be ok."

I didn't say it, but the thought of hundreds of Cybertronians battling with super-powerful weapons and technology on my planet didn't comfort me much.

I looked up at his face, wanting to trust him and his people to protect mine. I just didn't know if I should. He met my gaze, and we just looked at each other for a long time. From my position in his shoulder joint I could hear his internal mechanics whirring as he lifted his other arm across his chest and gently stroked my back as I curled on my side.

"I know that I upset you earlier when I started talking about getting married. It's only natural that the idea is scary to you, and that you're still adjusting to living with us. I want you to know that I understand, and that I don't want to make you feel obligated to do anything. We just met a few days ago. We're friends, and until you want it to be more, that's all it will be. I respect you, Bravura. Skillful one…"

I could sense that he was speaking for his own benefit as much as mine, and all I did to answer was snuggle against the smooth curve of his shoulder and let myself close my eyes, his gentle touch soothing me to sleep.

Edited March 19th, 2010