That moment when you write the entire next chapter a day after you updated… and then you get busy and forget to post it all. Big oops… Lol

Thanks for talking or me though! I really am chatty! XD

haloangel21

Ooh la la. And again, loving what you have so far. ;) I do plan to write more stories, but I've been plagued with a severe case of writer's block :P for a year now actually, haha. Your use of wording is amazing and they're, like, perfect for any situation in this story ;) much better than my own.

Thaaaaaanks! And I'm totally looking forward to it! I completely understand long term writer's block. It's just terrible. Wording? Girlie, it just takes practice, and a lack of writer's block, but your stories are still WAY better, don'tcha worry 'bout it!

I just got hit w/ a basketball; ouch. Gym class… Lol

3luv4eva3

I can't believe that I forgot about this story! When I read the first two chapters Halo and Ice wrote, I made a little note that I would follow and favorite when I get my FF account. I can't believe I'm saying this. BUT I think you're writing this better than Halo and Ice THEMSELVES. I mean, I love their writing style and I would literally bow down to them for making such amazing masterpieces. But I feel that this story was just gifted to you to continue. Please update whenever you can! I'm looking forward to it!

Forgot? Can't say I blame you! I went dark on the FFnet radar for too long, believe me…

I would too! You are not alone in your idolization of them! But I appreciate the kind words, I really do! I've still got a ways to go.

I've looked at your stories too! You're a really good writer too! I never would have thought up Flamewar's obsession, or the individual responses from each of Team Prime's members. Those were gifted to you.

anunexpectedjourney

AHHHH! I LOVE THIS CHAPTER! Your writing style is truly amazing! I hope you update soon, but no pressure. I know how bad school can get and how everything likes to throw itself at you at once. Although I'm really just lazy with my books. Haha this chapter was ssooo good! Keep up the good work!

I just got with with another freaking basketball! The karma, I'm telling you! XD

I try to keep the story at the level of writing the original authors, and I'm glad to see that I'm succeeding at it! I try not to be lazy, I just procrastinate and that's when it gets super crazy. I wrote an entire essay all last night and had a mental breakdown while doing it! I do it to myself, so I guess we're lazy, just in different categories. Lol Enjoy the banter at the end!

Icegirl2772

Writer's block. Whatcha gonna do?

Please update soon! I literally eat popcorn when I'm reading this

Mmmmmm… I need to go home today and make myself some popcorn. We have our own popcorn machine in my house. Lol

Autobotlover56

Please update sooooooon!

Hey! It was only a month this time! #IMPROVEMENT! I'm really getting my mojo back, FINALLY! And I literally had to count the number of Os in your comment to get it right, XD. Copy and paste is being mean. Lol

Guardians, huh? Talida thought glumly, not looking forward to returning back to the house she lived in back in Jasper. As if this week could get any worse for her. Talida knew that she'd have to face the wrath of her foster parents if they were still awake, and that was never pleasant, even when the social service agents were there.

At least, she would have to, unless she could somehow climb through a window into her small, cramped room without arousing the suspicions of any Autobots that followed her home, she'd have to go through the front door, which would be an unpleasant misadventure, especially if Gareth was drunk, or Neisha was awake and angry.

In all honestly, she could try find another path, but was it worth the questions her new guardian would ask about her constantly climbing in at odd hours? Maybe she could say that her curfew was very early, but then she'd never be able to leave without arousing suspicion amongst the other people she knew that attended her school once this whole thing blew over. Maybe she say she was grounded…?

In reality though, she was, in a way, always grounded. Talida had no privileges, no free time, and certainly no tolerant and forgiving family at her house.

If she was honest, she didn't really have a home. Her foster house was nothing more than its name. An unhappy, violent house that was a sort of shelter for the foster girl without her allegedly "loving parents" who were in "great danger" that they wished to "spare her" from.

When, or rather if, really, she saw her parents, she'd slug both of them in the jaw, and probably break down into tears. Any dangers they could have been facing couldn't have been worse than the foster care system, or adoption! After all, they were humans, not Autobots who had to deal with the war, and Megatron's return; scourging for energon constantly, and losing comrades left and right.

No, her parents could have kept her if they wanted to, that much Talida was certain of.

"Ratchet," Optimus' regal tone snapped Talida out of her trance, and she looked at the medic abruptly. The cranky medic, a guardian? She wondered, not believing her ears. Who's the poor soul that gets him of all the 'Bots?

"Busy." He replied, irritated that Optimus had the gall to pull him from analyzing the grape jelly he had gotten from Arcee.

Sighing, Optimus shook his helm at his longtime friend and medic, but he did not feel that placing Arcee with their daughter after her emotional outburst would be wise. As much as he did love his bondmate, she would often say or do things that would be regretted afterwards, and he did not want to endanger Talida for any reason. He could only hope that the both of them might understand.

"I am afraid it will have to wait, old friend. Arcee cannot watch over Talida while protecting her own charge." He said, just as said femme walked out of the chamber she had just been in.

Her optics narrowed, and Talida watched as Arcee walked towards Optimus with a dangerous expression, scowling. "Wouldn't Talida and I bond better than Jack and I ever could? Femme to femme, right?" She said simply, and everyone but Optimus missed exactly what she was hinting at.

Very gently, more than Talida thought possible, Optimus spoke to Arcee, and delivered the news she didn't want to hear. "This is only temporary, Arcee. At least until we are able to tell what our enemy's intentions are with the children." He said firmly, watching as her anger faded, and he felt a pang of sadness from her end of the bond. "They will not be harmed under our watchful gaze."

Struggling not to let her emotions show, Arcee nodded silently, mumbling an apology before trudging over towards Jack, her pride bruised by the harsh reality of her bondmate's words.

However, Talida had problems of her own. She had seen the way the medic acted, and none of their time with him had been remotely pleasant. He yelled at the team, at Fowler, criticized Raf, Jack, and made Miko instantly dislike her, which earned him no points in her book. Miko's judgement was just as good, if not better when it came to her intuitions about people, and Talida could very well say that the Autobots were sentient, Arcee's episode with the acidic grape jam had proved that much to her, so they were people to her.

The Autobots weren't human, their Cybertronian origin proved that much, but they were still people.

Poor Talida was the charge of a cranky medic, and that was not something she looked forward to, though neither did Ratchet. "Optimus," he seemed to almost not believe his audio receptors. "This is important, else we encounter this goo on the battlefield, and it cripples one of you in a situation you cannot return to base so easily." He asked, though the Prime remained silent. "Do you not think that I could work instead of waiting for a Decepticon attack that will not occur?"

"That is enough." Optimus said finally, obvious irritated, though not for the reasons everyone thought. "You will watch over Talida tonight, for I do not believe that the Decepticons would pass up a chance to mount another attack if they believe us to be deceased."

Scowling, Ratchet found the several loopholes in Optimus' argument that he could have surely exploited, yet all it took was one, irked, but otherwise controlled look from his leader to become quiet once more. His optics looked at Talida expectantly, as if she held the answer to his dilemma, but she dared her gaze away, refusing to look at her newfound "protector" and his accusing stare. "Fine. When is your 'curfew' little one." The medic demanded, itching to just pluck her up and place her out of reach of the ground so that he did not have to worry about his latest project; it could always wait until later. Though it was highly likely that the Prime wouldn't put it past him, and that led Ratchet back to square one as he struggled to find a way to return to his work.

Talida shrugged. "Not for awhile. I'll let you know when, but I'm just going to work on some stuff for school… I guess." The lies sent burning, searing acid to flood her mouth and the back of her throat, but it was better to come to her foster home late, and leave early with minimal sleep if she didn't want to deal with her foster parents. She had enough of that on weekends when she was unable to sneak out and crash at Miko's host parent's house for most of the day before she turned into the tutor that kept her friend from failing.

Optimus and Ratchet both stared at her unconvinced, and she said the first thing that came to mind. "They don't really care all that much…" Her eyes widened, and she realized the gravity of her words, and her heart pounded a million miles an hour, the blood rushing through her ears. Why had she even said that? What was wrong with her these past few days? Why was she trusting these strangers, aliens, and mysterious "Cybertronians"? The answer evaded her, and the truth threatened to escape her lungs, clear as a singing bird on a spring morning.

Oops.

She was shocked when Optimus finally nodded, and turned slowly to walk away, heading down a hall and out of Talida's line of sight while Ratchet returned to his work with the microscope, and all his other fancy doo-dads, not too far from where she sat, curled up on the battered old couch. Sighing to herself, she pulled a sketchbook out of her messenger bag, a ruler, a regular pencil, and an assortment of fresh colored pencils before she began to draw, concentrating on the many shades of color as she added dashes of bright stains to the paper.

Slowly, after possibly half an hour of dedicated, hard work, she sifted through her brain and began writing abbreviations that would have seemed nonsensical and purposeless to any other viewer. Her large. brand-new, black Sharpie squeaked every few seconds as she pressed it to the paper and wrote in her stylish, yet smooth, curved writing, smiling as she thought of the perfect pictures to put in place of the colorful shapes and boxes.

Oh how she loved being the sole Editor for the Jasper High Yearbook. It wasn't a burden to her, or just something she could put on her college application to look good. To Talida Corrie Edmonds, being the head of the Yearbook staff was something that had no other competition as, quite possibly, the best thing in the Universe. Her smile was wide, and her one uncovered eye glimmered as she looked up at the lights on the ceiling of the giant command center.

Everything just seemed so surreal, so impossibly nice, and comfortable to her, even if was the HQ for a giant alien robot faction fighting their enemies in the name of humanity. It was all natural, welcoming, and even though her nightmare had been frightening, she felt alright, and very content with the way things were, even if they weren't going to be permanent. Either Agent Fowler would find them out, or the danger would pass and they would be returned home before any political concerns arose. However, Talida had an odd feeling that nothing would be the same again, and as much as that may have frightened someone else, she felt happy at the prospect of change, and giddy when she thought of college in a few years.

She'd have to get a job, obviously, but somehow, she'd make it as an artist, her dream job, with no trouble. Of course she found Civics, History, Politics and Philosophy incredibly interesting; what normal human being wouldn't? Though the arts; design, writing, singing, dancing, and everything else she had a burning passion for, were her calling, and it was purely as simple as that.

Sighing contently, she placed all her materials down on the cushion beside her and reached into the depths of her bag once again. She had been offered a position as the assistant coordinator for a large fashion show in Vegas about two weeks ago, working under the more experienced Melinda Florencia, the newest talk on the block of design. Her skills had made her the best of the best in incredible speed, and if she wanted to pursue a career in fashion design, then this was the way to go.

There was, unfortunately, a rather large problem with this request.

Despite the fact that she had been hand-picked by Miss Florencia, Talida's foster parents would forbid her from doing this, or take all of the money she earned and spend it on only the devil knew what they wasted their money on. It most certainly wasn't feeding her; that much was painfully obvious. She sighed once again, and willed away the tears that welled in her eyes, willing her emotions to slip away as they always did. The hair covering the side of her face really itched, and it took every ounce of her self-control to keep herself from using her fingers to sift through it and brush the soft, silky strands away.

A silent, but overpoweringly strong yawn escaped her, and she stretched her arms, blinking slowly while a silent tear managed to slip through her now closed eyelids. Obviously, she hadn't expected Ratchet to be watching, or even paying any attention to her at all, even with his new role as "guardian". When he spoke, she jumped, her heart rate skyrocketing, and she swore that it had missed a few vital beats. Her breathing lost its relaxed state, and she was instantly tensed up.

"It is almost midnight." He said, emotionless as he spoke to her, oddly neutral. "Would your creators not be worried if you were absent until early the next morning?" Talida almost facepalmed, remembering the bundle of lies she had fed the two mechs. How could she have forgotten, or let time slip away like that?

She nodded, simply deciding to play his game. "Yeah, I guess." Not exactly convincing, she scolded herself. "Sorry, let the time slip away because I wasn't really paying attention to it." Alright, more believable, even if she was grasping at straws. The lying seemed to come somewhat naturally to her, even if she hated it and could let her honest habits break through if she was under pressure.

Ratchet nodded, seeming to accept her answer without much difficulty. "In any case, I doubt Optimus would be very happy if you slept your entire stay here tomorrow, once again." The medic said, and Talida's eyes widened at what he had said, attempting to control her heartbeat and put her papers away robotically. A few slipped, and she lunged for them instinctually, not wanting them to touch the floor. Her classmates weren't exactly the most considerate to her, considering that somehow, Sierra had managed to uncover that she was in the Foster System, despite her most desperate attempts to keep it hidden. After all, nobody would remember the fire unless someone decided to look into it, and see that her real family had perished.

Only the journalist crew was ever kind to her, and that was because she had worked to earn their respect, even if it wasn't their complete and undivided kindness. It was a start, she just had to work harder to create the best yearbook that Jasper High had- "Shall we depart now?" Ratchet said, once again, growing irritable with her. Talida nodded frantically, stuffing her belongings back in her backpack with disorder and chaos that she was sure to pay for later, but at the moment, she didn't care.

"Yeah, sure. I'm good to go." She lied, dreading the return to her Foster Home. She hurried over to the stairs nearby and slid down the railings with an incredible amount of practice and channeled skill, her feet planting themselves on the ground with a resounding clap that echoed in the otherwise silent base. Her face flushed a shade of lighter red, and she dared to look up at the medic's watching optics.

He observed her uncomfortable, shifting form for a short while before his armor and limbs folded in on one another at impossible angles that made her want to cringe as she watched the otherwise fascinating transformation. Everything had a place, and everything seemed to fold into its place in a quick, but organized, pattern until a semi-familiar ambulance sat before her, its passenger door popped open and its engine started. "And this is where we take our leave."

Ratchet was parked across the street, but thankfully on the other side of the house, the side she was sneaking into. Talida seriously doubted he would see her stealthy, and dead silent climbing up the walls of the house, through the small window she had in her room. Nonetheless, she was careful, sprinting towards the house and around the side until she spotted the stray board on the side that allowed her to climb into the hellish structure.

She was stuck there until her bonds were cut, and then she might be able to finally leave Jasper after years and years of living in a repetitive sadness. She climbed up extremely slowly, watching out for the boards that creaked until she reached the patio roof. Creeping across the roof tiles, she winced as one of them squeaked, freezing in her tracks for a good minute until she slowly made the last few steps to the small window she was barely able to squeeze through.

Talida tumbled into her room ungracefully, and landed on the soft bed with a muffled thunk, inaudible to her own sensitive ears. Relieved, she sunk her face into the somewhat soft pillow and breathed out deeply, letting loose every trace of carbon in her body with pure exhaustion.

She could worry, and fear about everything happening in her life another day. For the moment, she could rest, and finally let everything slip away as she was lost to sleep for the night. Tomorrow's concerns were for tomorrow, and today's were done and gone, at least for that night. She could only pray that the undiluted horrors of nightime's reach didn't creep up on her while she slept.

Optimus was lying flat out on his recharge berth, feeling restless and lonely. His bondmate was probably already recharging, she could stay deep in her programs through the loudest and most violent rainstorms in the desert as lighting flashed and thunder rumbled violently. Optimus, despite his strength as a leader, had grown used to having the royal blue femme in his arms as he recharged, allowing their bond to fully open, and every emotion, thought, and feeling were shared before they both slipped into the deep recesses of their programs.

He knew that he had allowed himself to grow extremely addicted to the feel of having his soul mate with him every night, and always being able to steal a kiss from her when the others weren't looking, or to sneakily run his servo up her thigh, only to watch her let a muffled squeak or squeal loose, trying to bat his grasp away before the others noticed his public affection. When Agent Fowler came over, he was at his worst, "accidentally" grabbing her aft, and digging his digits into where her winglets met in the uppermost area of her back he wasn't looking.

Arcee enjoyed these games, even if she would never admit it to anyone, him included.

Venting deeply, he attempted to reach through their bond and see if she was recharging, but the last Prime was startled when she instantly responded, and he felt her silent, but true apology, and a slight sliver of hope hidden amongst all of her shame. Guilt flooded him, and he felt inadequate almost instantly, knowing that he had been too harsh, even if she tried to console him.

Her spark was reaching out, pining for its other half, and he would be lying if he said that he hadn't missed her. He smiled to himself, and the limitless, strongest, and passionate love for her flooded his spark, and in turn, hers. Optimus missed her with every ounce of his being, even if she was only a few Earth miles away. Arcee responded in turn, though she couldn't prevent a pang of exhaustion to come through with her equally strong love. The Prime chuckled, soothing her softly, feeling her side of the bond shrink as she sunk into recharge, but it did not vanish completely. He would not leave his bonded, not until he was sure that she was safe.

He did not know how long he waited until his spark was consoled, and he felt forgiven enough to allow himself some recharge. It would not be much, though was that such a bad thing? Arcee understood, her spirits uplifted, and her recharge peaceful with her spark's worried dissolved, and as an added bonus, she was not upset, even if she did miss him as he did her.

"Goodnight, love." He murmured softly, knowing that one way or another, his words would be heard. "Sweet recharge to you." Satisfied, at least for the moment, his recharge programs cycled down and he shut his optics, the berth not feeling quite as empty as it had before. He would see her in the morning, and that was all that mattered.

I love me some bondmate fluff. :3