A/N: Quick question time for those who remember, and watched, the original G1 Transformers cartoon. When I do a chapter switch between Autobots and Decepticons, does anyone hear the "symbol switch" music? Just me? Okay then.

Fire in the Sky

A Much Needed Talk

Arcee, in her travel mode, pulled into the Autobot bunker as quietly as she could. With luck, she wouldn't run into anyone. Especially Silverbolt.

Suffice to say, she hated herself right now.

She had been avoiding him for two weeks. For logical reasons, of course. Well, logical to her, she had convinced herself.

Well, maybe not reasons. But for a reason.

A very good, solid, reason.

Maybe a good reason.

Or not.

She really wasn't sure.

With a heavy sigh, she reverted to her robot form. No one was in the Ops Center. Which was good. Well, considering it was 0100 hours, according to her internal chronometer, she would had been very surprised to find someone there. Which is why she did a double take, when she saw that the TV was still on.

Moving closer, and with a sigh of relief, Arcee noticed the slumped forms of Miko and Raf on the couch. They had fallen asleep playing video games, which was becoming a common occurrence, and they both still had a controller held loosely in their hands. With a soft chuckle, and a roll of her optics, she shut the TV and game system off, and removed the controllers.

With a contended sigh, she turned away from the sleeping younglings, and made her way (as quietly as she could) across the room and to the hall that lead down the to her rest-chamber. All she wanted to do was to enter into a peaceful rest-cycle, and maybe, just maybe deal with Silverbolt tomorrow.

Or the next day.

"Scrap..." She groaned, as she pressed the button to open the door to her room. "Why-?"

"There you are, Arcee." A voice greeted her from inside the darkened room.

"Frag!" Arcee yelled. She would have jumped out of her armor plating, had it not been securely attached to her frame. So instead, she readied both her energy cannons.

"Wait, Arcee! It's me!" the voice panicked.

She didn't lower her weapons. "Lights."

The lights in her room activated. There, standing in front of her with his arms raised in defense, stood the last 'bot she wanted to see.

Silverbolt peeked over his arms. "There's no need for those, you know." he said, indicating Arcee's blasters.

"I'll be the judge of that." Arcee growled, keeping them trained on him. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I just wanted to talk." Silverbolt explained, still hiding behind his raised arms.

Arcee lowered her guns, and transformed them back into her hands. With a huff, she said "Well, I don't. Now leave."

"I'm not leaving." Silverbolt stated with defiance. He lowered his arms, and then crossed them. "Not until you tell me why you've been avoiding me."

Arcee glared at him. "Excuse me? As your commander, I order you to leave my room immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

Silverbolt returned her scowl. "I thought you might pull that. Well guess what? I had Optimus pull me from active duty. So you can't pull rank on me, Arcee. Want to try a different excuse?"

She placed her left hand on her hip, used her right hand to "pinch" her "nose", and closed her optics. "Silverbolt... I'm tired. Can't we talk later?"

"No." He said with forceful tone. "We'll talk now. Why have you been avoiding me?"

Arcee placed her right hand on her hip and fixed him with an 'are you kidding' look. "You haven't figured it out yet?" she asked rhetorically. "Of course not. You're just a -"

"A what?" Silverbolt demanded. "Just a what? Just a kid?"

She stared blankly at him. He wasn't finished.

"After all this time... You still see me as a kid, don't you?" He chuckled sarcastically. "I get it. It doesn't even matter that I'm one of you now. You'll never see past the fact that I'm young."

Arcee still didn't say anything. So, he continued.

"What am I to you, Arcee?" he asked, sounding hurt. "A distraction? An outlet for your guilt? A means for you to feel better about yourself?"

Arcee looked sadly at him. With a shake of her head she answered "No."

"Did you... did you mean those words that you said to me three weeks ago?" Silverbolt asked sadly.

Arcee nodded her head. "Yes."

"Then why haven't we seen each-other for the past two weeks?" He asked kindly.

"Because." Arcee began, taking a deep "breath". "When Ratchet told you how old I was... it made me think."

"Arcee, I-"

"Just listen, Jack." She said, raising a hand to silence him. "By Earth standards, I am exactly 5735 years old. I've experienced so much in that time; Victory, war, hurt, comfort, love, loss, friendship, rivalry, hatred, you name it. And then there's you. Like Prime said, you're young, even by Cybertronian standards. If we were back on my planet, You would still be in training. Frag it, you wouldn't even have an Alt-mode yet."

"Then why-?" Silverbolt tried to ask, but Arcee cut him off. Again.

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you, Jack." She said guiltily. "But Ratchet explained to us, according to his scans, that you have the body of a 500 year old autobot. Your mind, however, remains 16."

"That doesn't even make sense." He argued. "How is that even possible?"

Arcee shook her head. "Something to do with those fragging nanobots. But, even still. How can we-" she indicated the space between them "- or rather I, have any kind of relationship with one as young as you? Or even, how could one as young as you, ever be interested in a bot as old as me?"

Silverbolt was silent. While she did present a valid argument, he still didn't buy it. However, he also knew that no amount of arguing would convince her other-wise. In fact, once Arcee had made up her mind, that was it.

But he wasn't going to let a simple thing like that stand in his way.

"Let's go Arcee. I want to show you something." He said, as he walked passed her and out of her room.

Arcee was confused. "Silverbolt? What are you up to?"

He didn't answer. He simply continued down the hall towards Ops. Arcee quickly followed him, quietly as to not wake Miko and Raf. Or the others.

"Silverbolt?" Arcee whispered, once they had reached the main area. He stopped walking, and looked over his shoulder at her. "Why won't you answer me?" she asked with a look of worry on her face. "C'mon, Hot shot. Talk to me."

Silverbolt, quickly, and quietly, converted to his car form, and took off up the exit ramp. Annoyed, Arcee converted to her bike form, and took off after him.

"Silverbolt!" Arcee shouted at him, once she had caught up. "This isn't funny. I'm tired, and I want to rest."

"Just give me a minute." Silverbolt requested. "It'll be worth it. Trust me."

"Fine." Arcee huffed. "But if it isn't, I never speaking to you again."

"Fair enough." He said. And the two fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Silverbolt lead them down the main road away from the autobot base. Form there, he lead them through town, which was very quiet and empty due to the current hour. After a few moments, the headed for the Interstate, which was, again devoid of any traffic.

By this point, not only was Arcee extremely annoyed, she was getting impatient. "Silverbolt, where are we going?"

"We're here." Was all he said. Without slowing down, he converted to his robot mode and jumped the guard-railing. Landing on the other side, he slid down the dusty cement embankment, and came to a stop.

Arcee was surprised that he was able to transform at speed, but didn't let it impress her. Instead, she she jumped the railing using an impromptu ramp, transformed mid-leap, and landed beside him in a crouch. She then stood up, place her hands on her hips, and waited for an explanation.

Silverbolt had his arms crossed, and was looking up at the sky. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a minute, he spoke.

"Ever look at the stars, Arcee?" he asked, looking down at her. She didn't look happy.

"What about them?" she shot back.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to explore space." He answered. "I guess that was every kids dream, really. But there was something about them, I just couldn't explain."

"Billions of giant gas balls, floating billions of miles away." Arcee dead-paned. "Yeah. So exciting and mysterious."

"Call them what you will." Silverbolt shrugged. "That doesn't change that fact that they're mysterious."

"Is that why you brought me here?" Arcee demanded. "To look at stars?"

"Not really." He answered. Taking a breath he continued. "Did you know that some scientists say that light we see from stars aren't actually the stars themselves? But rather, it's the light from stars that burnt out long ago, and we are now just seeing?"

Arcee looked up at the sky. Her expression softened slightly. "No. I actually didn't know that."

"Then I bet you didn't know that the stars light could possibly be millions, if not billions, of years old?" Silverbolt asked his silent companion.

Arcee looked at him with wide optics. "No. I didn't."

Silverbolt smiled. "Kinda surprising that something so old, could still be so beautiful, huh?"

"Y-yeah..." Arcee admitted, letting her head and wings slump. "I guess so..."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Arcee? Do you recognize where we are?"

She took a few seconds to scan the area. It did look familiar, but she wanted to make sure.

"Isn't this the place where I fought those 'cons after we first met?" she asked, looking back up at him.

"Got it in one." Silverbolt laughed. "It's also where I saw your robot form for the first time, too."

"Why did you bring me here, Jack?" Arcee asked kindly.

Silverbolt sighed. He turned to face her fully. "Arcee... I wanted to tell you this for long time. When I first saw you, almost a year ago, I thought you were one of the most beautiful motorcycles I've ever seen."

"Jack..." Arcee whispered, but didn't finish. So, Jack continued.

"Granted, I had never seen a lot of bikes, but still." he laughed quietly, "I knew you were something special. And I was proven right, wasn't I? You turned out to be a giant robot, who, in turn, saved me from those 'cons. And looking quite beautiful at it, too."

Arcee was speechless.

"Look, Arcee. I don't care what crazy excuse you've come up with for us not to be together." Silverbolt stated. "And honestly, I really don't to hear it. So I'm young. Big deal. Doesn't mean I don't have knowledge or experience. And so what if you're older than me? That's never really bothered me. At all." He paused for a second as he glanced up at the stars, and then back at her. "You're like that stars, Arcee. You may be old, but you're still beautiful."

Arcee turned her back on him. "Oh, Jack... I... Look, when I first came to Earth, five years ago, I honestly didn't think much of it. It was dirty and wild and of course, filled with primitive life. I hated it. Well, maybe that's too strong of a word. But I wasn't happy. In fact, I was bitter that Prime had brought us here."

Silverbolt was silent.

"And then I met you, and my opinion of humans really didn't change. You were annoying, bossy, and you wouldn't stop asking questions." Arcee chuckled at the memory. "And I really resented Prime for making me watch over you, like some baby-sitter. But then, something changed. You started to become concerned for me when you didn't have to. You fought the cons, and showed bravery that I never knew humans had. It was then, I think, that I started to care for you..."

Silverbolt still remained silent.

"I thought I was crazy. A robot having a relationship, outside of friendship, with a human?" she laughed "Just the thought of us, well doing anything seemed strange. At first. But as I thought about it, well, why couldn't we do things? We already spent all of our free time together, so that was basically like that dating ritual humans conduct. But I was afraid too. What would the others say? What if you died? I couldn't take the risk, so I pushed those feelings aside."

Arcee turned around and faced him. "And then this happened." She gestured to his body. "You go and become an autobot, and suddenly, all those feelings come rushing back. And then you tell me that you had all those feelings too, and you gave me such a beautiful gift by reformatting my colors... I was so happy."

Silverbolt smiled. "I'm happy too. I just wish you wouldn't think I couldn't care for you just because you're older than me."

"And there you go, using logic against me." Arcee said with a cute smirk. "Little wonder I like you so fragging much." her expression became sullen. "I'm so sorry for stressing you out. I was scared."

"Apology accepted, Arcee." Silverbolt whispered, as he pulled her into a hug. "Just don't do that again, okay?"

Arcee returned the hug, and closed her optics. "Oka-"

There was a large explosion, and Silverbolt and Arcee where knocked away from each-other. Silverbolt slammed into the concrete wall, and then fell onto his front. Arcee slammed into the ground and skidded 10 feet.

"Ar-cee..." Silverbolt said weakly. He lifted his head, but remained in a prone position. He barely made out two vehicons, in their robot modes, standing over an unconscious Arcee. "Cons..." he mumbled. He had to act quickly, but couldn't think straight. Maybe, if he was lucky...

He sent a command to his arm servos, and cycled his forearm into his arm cannon, which resembled a cybertronian version of a mini-gun, (something that Silverbolt was happy to find out about). He then took aim at the two enemies.

The cons, however, detected his target lock. They both reached down, grabbed Arcee, and used her body as a shield.

"Cowards..." Silverbolt groaned. "Leave... her... alone..."

The two cons looked at one another, then back at him. Still holding Arcee between them, the raised their unoccupied hands, changed them into their cannons, and fired.

His body shook as system by system shut down. The last thing he saw, just before his sensors shut down, was the two cons carrying Arcee into...

TBC

A/N: Oh, what? Like you didn't see that coming.