xoxox Here's another 'feelings' chapter :) Skywarp is going to appear within the next couple of chapters, I swear!! xoxox

Mirage was leading the way down the long stretch of empty highway, and I was beginning to wonder what we were up to.

"What's Mirage's plan exactly? Where are we going?"

"I don't know… Let me get him on the radio."

There was a faint squealing from the dashboard as Hot Rod contacted Mirage, and then the SUV transformer's voice boomed loud and clear through the speakers. "What's up kiddies?"

"Where is it you want us to go?" Hot Rod asked a little snippily.

"You know, I was just asking that same question!" He said jovially. "I was thinking it would be fun to go to a 'theme park.' Roller coasters might be a good ride even for the holoforms."

"Hey, that's a good idea," I said cranking the passenger seat back to relax. "How long is the drive?"

Mirage was silent for a moment, and then said a little apprehensively, "About five hours."

"What?" Hot Rod and I blurted out together. "It'll be halfway through the afternoon in five hours!" I added grumpily, not looking forward to a drive that long.

"I know. That's why we'll stop at a hotel and wait until tomorrow morning. It'll be a Monday, so it shouldn't be too bad if we get there bright and early."

"Does Optimus know we're going to be gone so long?"

"I already cleared it, Hot Head. He said we could have three days of leave to absorb human culture firsthand, so we don't have to be back until Tuesday night."

"Where are we going that will take a five hour drive?"

"Six Flags, in Los Angeles. It looks pretty exciting."

I nodded slightly in agreement, before realizing that Mirage couldn't see. "It sounds good, but how are we going to pay for the hotel and the theme park?"

"Government issue credit cards. They let us have some currency as a sign of good will, I suppose, and in return for our excellent tech support," Mirage claimed confidently.

"Ah…" I trailed off uneasily. I knew their credit cards were safe, but I'd had at least one major disaster because of one. "They don't mind you spending their money on theme parks?"

"Why would they?" Hot Rod asked. "They gave it to us to spend, why would it matter how we spend it?"

"Good point. Six Flags it is…"

It only took two hours for me to get bored and tired. We stopped a few times so I could stretch my legs, but I really just wanted to lie down and sleep the rest of the drive. Hot Rod's Vanquish mode didn't have a backseat and I was having a tough time getting comfortable in the passenger seat despite myself.

As I tried to stretch out the kinks in my muscles during one of our breaks I looked at the SUV Mirage enviously, or more specifically, his wide backseat. His hologram self, leaning on the door, caught me looking and flashed his bright teeth in a smile before coming over. Hot Rod's remained in the car. He said the receiver needed to charge, but he watched Mirage with a fierce expression from the driver's side.

"I know that look," he said to me, still smiling winningly. "You wish you could trade that cramped little sports car for a big luxury vehicle. Do you want to try out the backseat?" He asked, smirking.

I giggled weakly and looked at Hot Rod. "Hey… I love your vehicle mode, but I'd really like to sleep for the rest of the trip. Would you mind if I rode with Mirage the rest of the way?"

His engine grumbled rebelliously, but his hologram shrugged from the driver's seat. "If it's what you need to do… But I get the first roller coaster ride, ok?"

I smiled in relief and rubbed the corner of his windshield in thanks. "See you in a little bit, Hot Rod. The first ride is yours."

He smiled weakly and waved, so I scampered back to Mirage the SUV, his hologram trailing behind. The backseat popped open for me and I slid in, stretching across the seats and moaning with relief.

"Might want to keep the sounds of pleasure to a minimum, your boyfriend could hear," Mirage joked playfully.

I sat up and pulled the door shut, waving at Hot Rod while he watched me with a plastic smile. He waved back, then pulled out of the rest stop and was on the ramp to the highway before Mirage had gone ten feet.

Mirage's hologram looked back at me. "You need to talk to the kid about his jealousy issues. Every little thing sets him off."

"He doesn't mean to be like that. I think he's just not used to… our situation."

"And what would that be exactly?" he asked gently.

I sighed and flopped back down in the backseat, covering my eyes with my arm. "I don't know… Can you keep a secret?"

"I can. And I suppose I will, for you."

"After we watched this movie called The Notebook last night… He asked me if I would want to stay with him forever. Like marrying, kind of."

"As in the human dedication ritual?"

"Pretty much."

Mirage was silent, but I heard his hologram shift in the seat. It seemed so real. In the closeness of the car, I could tell he was even wearing some kind of cologne. How did he manage that?

"Does that bother you?" He finally asked.

"I don't know! I like him, I trust him, and I would hate it if we couldn't see each other anymore. He's the closest thing I've got to normalcy. I don't have anybody else. But why would he ask that? We don't know anything about each other."

"He's pretty well pegged as impulsive. He means well, but it doesn't mean what he does or says is always right. He probably didn't realize the idea was so serious to you. I don't even really know why it's so serious."

"Because… When you get married, you really mean it. You want to spend your life and dedicate it to being with that other person, and share everything… And I mean, everything…"

Mirage considered what I had said for a while, then cleared his throat. "Do you mean 'share a bed'?"

"Yeah… That. It couldn't happen."

"Responsibility for reproduction is taken on by ours femmes, too. I understand why you would be concerned."

I was a little embarrassed now and fell silent, picking at the leather of his seat and wondering if he felt it.

"You know," he said hesitantly, "If he could get a solid replica holoreceiver like mine, it's completely possible that the two of you could-"

"NO!" I snapped, to the surprise of both of us.

I heard his head turn and felt his eyes on me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."

I was glad my arm was over my eyes. Tears were welling up, and I didn't want Mirage to see.

My life was missing, a monster was tracking me down, and the one person who cared about me more than anyone else was a giant metal man. A tear slipped down my cheek and dripped onto the leather seat.

I started when I felt Mirage's all too solid hand brush my arm. "Please don't cry. Things will work out."

I moved my arm. He was completely turned away from the wheel, leaning between the front seats. His expression was sincere.

I sat up and looked down at my lap. "It isn't fair, Mirage. Everything has all happened too fast. I barely have a week's worth of memories, and one of the only really good things to happen to me is… wrong."

His hologram turned gray and indistinct and slid to the back of the car, then rematerialized so that Mirage was sitting next to me in the back seat, his arm wrapping around me comfortingly.

"Shh. It will get easier. You'll see."

"Why can't everything be easier now?"

"Love can't always be easy."

I sighed heavily and buried my face against his soft white shirt, inhaling the smell of his cologne.

"Thank you for listening, Mirage… I don't have anyone to talk to about this, you know?"

He began to gently stroke my hair. "I don't think I would listen for anyone else. It's easy to see why Hot Rod loves you. You humans have something about you, something different from the other organics we've seen."

I leaned back, and Mirage's hand dropped to his side. "I think I'm ok now."

He smiled sadly and he turned ephemeral again. The hologram slithered from the back, returning in the front. As he stared out at the road, I curled against the backseat, uncomfortably aware that he could probably feel every inch of my body touching him.

xoxox There's a specific story that's responsible for me losing my fear of the hologram idea. It's called Experiments in Human Nature, by Keelywolfe. It's rated M for a good reason, so if you're underage or squeamish, don't read it. Don't worry, my story is sticking with the T rating ;) thanks for all the great reviews :) xoxox

Edited March 20th, 2010