Title: Secrets

Rating: M

Disclaimer: We own nothing, that belongs to Hasbro.

Decided to put up the next chapter and probably one or two more before I move! Enjoy!


Meanwhile, back at the base, the Autobots had just returned to their home feeling wary and in need of some energon and a recharge. Upon entering the base, though, Prowl noticed that Lizy was not at the monitors. Somehow he wasn't surprised though, considering she hated watching them, and she could possibly have gone to bed by now anyway. So he quietly headed toward her room just to check on her. If she were asleep, he wouldn't disturb her at all; he simply wanted to see for himself that she was okay.

However, when he checked, she was not in her room. So then he checked his own room, but she wasn't there either. He then checked the room that had the fridge and the energon dispenser, but she wasn't in those places either.

Slightly edgy now, Prowl continued to look around the base for his daughter. He looked around the usual places that she could be including the roof, but there was still no sign of her.

He made his way back to the main room, to see the rest of the team there talking. Suddenly the sound of an engine caught his sensitive audios and Prowl turned to the front door.

Lights broke through the dark night before it came inside followed by a motorcycle, which slid to a stop. "Oh shit," he heard.

Oh shit was right thought Prowl as he stood watching Lizy take off her helmet and get off the bike. The others had silently backed out of the room allowing the two to be left alone to deal with what had happened.

"Uh… hi Prowl!" Lizy said a bit too cheerfully, and smiled one of her sweetest smiles. Prowl, however, was completely unaffected, and his glare made that clear. Lizy tried to brighten her smile, but then it quickly faded from her face.

"Uh," she said, and fiddled with the strap of her helmet for a moment, just to be able to look away from those angry blue optics. She removed her helmet and turned away, looking at her bike.

"Lizy," Prowl said calmly, "why were you out of the base?"

"I just… felt like going for a ride," Lizy shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"You felt like going for a ride," still speaking calmly. "Do you have any idea how worried I have been? Not only that, but you failed to tell me where you went. No note, not even a call. What are you up to Lizy?"

"I'm sorry," Lizy said, trying to sound convincing. "It was just very boring here and I wanted to go out and get some fresh air. I thought I'd be back before you noticed I was gone."

Prowl was silent for a moment, as if analyzing her answer through his processor. Then she noticed that he seemed to be looking at her face. "There is a discoloration on your cheek," he said, pointing at her face. "I have seen this before on humans who were injured… it looks like a bruise." He frowned. "Why do you have a bruise on your face, Lizy?"

Lizy reached up and touch the area he was talking about, wincing at the slight pain that came after pressing it. "I fell off my bike." She lied easily.

"If you did fall off you bike, why is your bike not damaged? Not even a scratch on it." He pointed out.

Lizy growled, clenching her hand tightly, "You know what Prowl, if you don't believe that's fine, but I don't have to listen to this shit."

Prowl opened his mouth then closed it. He knew full well that there was something she wasn't telling him. He had suspected this ever since that day they'd gone out on patrol together, and she wouldn't say what she was looking for. But if they kept going like this, it wouldn't be long before she started yelling, and he got frustrated with her.

"Fine," he finally said, with a sigh of resignation. "But from now on, when you wish to leave the base, you either ask one of us to go with you, or you call me to let me know. Okay?"

"Yes, fine!" Lizy said. "Can I go now? I need to put my bike away."

He nodded stepping aside as she rolled her bike to the storage area, watching her go. He wished he knew what was bugging her so much so that he could help. It bothered him slightly that she wouldn't talk to him about her problems, but then again she still didn't trust him very much.

Prowl could say the same for his trust in her, wasn't very strong at this point. He knew he was just lied to by her, since the bruise on her cheek was of that of a human fist. She had obviously gotten into some kind of fight tonight, the bruise to indication that.

What Prowl wanted to know, is what she was getting herself into, so that maybe he could help her out. But with her not wanting to talk to him, he couldn't do that, not without sneaking out after her.

Meanwhile, Lizy had put her bike away and then decided to grab something to eat from the fridge.

"So why were you out today?" she heard a voice ask behind her.

She turned and saw Optimus Prime himself standing behind her. She hastily stuffed one of the pieces of fruit she'd gotten out of the fridge into her mouth, buying herself some time before having to answer. Once she swallowed, she said, "Just out doing some sight-seeing and getting some fresh air."

"Yeah well, I can understand not wanting to be cooped up in the base all the time," Optimus said. "But you really should let us know if you want to go somewhere. Especially so that Prowl won't worry about you."

"I can take care of myself," Lizy snipped. "I've got these, you know." She gestured at her sai's then narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "You know, why does Prowl bother to teach me how to fight and how to defend myself, when he won't even let me do anything? He didn't even want me to go with you guys when you left to help out at… well, whatever was going on out there." She played stupid a little bit, just so he wouldn't catch on that she HAD really been there.

Optimus sighed. "Lizy, I know that Prowl can be a bit… well, difficult sometimes." The boss-bot cleared his throat softly, as though thinking of some sort of memory he preferred not to mention. "But he just wants to make sure you know your stuff, and that he can trust you, before letting you do anything."

"Oh and how long will THAT be?" Lizy grumbled, and stuffed more fruit into her mouth.

"I think you should try talking to him more," Optimus suggested. "If you just tried opening up more, I'm sure he'd listen."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Lizy, you've really gotten better about many things over the past couple months, but sneaking out today the way you did, well…" Optimus frowned. "I just don't want to see you go back down that path where you might do something that would really jeopardize our trust in you. Prowl loves you, Lizy, and he does what he does because he doesn't want anything to happen to you."

Lizy sighed, and finished off the rest of her dinner. Then she said, "Yeah well… you guys can't protect me from everything, you know. And I have a right to live a life of my own, too. I was doing fine, going to live my own life like any normal human being, and then THIS happened to me." She tapped the black, metal armor in her right cheek. "Now I'm stuck here, being treated like I'm seven again."

"Lizy, what happened to you is very unfortunate, but if I remember correctly," Optimus said patiently, "you were the one who decided to stay here. You decided you wouldn't fit in anywhere else. And I'm sorry, but if you want to live here, with us, and with your father, you have to follow his, and my, rules. Understood?"

"Yes," Lizy said with a sigh. In all honestly she didn't like being lectured by Optimus any more than she liked being lectured by Prowl or Ratchet. But Optimus was more… gentle and diplomatic than the others. He had a presence where you just wanted to be quiet and listen to him.

"Good," Optimus said. "Now, I have some things to take care of, so I wish you a good sleep period."

In spite of herself, Lizy grinned. "To quote Sari," she said slowly, "'Duh, I think you mean, good night!'"

Optimus chuckled. "Good night." With that, the large robot walked away.


A few days later Lizy was sitting within her room, meditating to herself. Her mind kept going back to Zac, the boy she had meet and was wondering if he might be in the alley tonight. Prowl was to be out on patrol himself, so that she had a good chance to sneak out.

For the past few, he had been constantly watching her, making sure she didn't sneak out again. He had given her the cold shoulder, something that didn't bother her too much, but did make her feel bad.

She sighed looking at her watch noticing that Prowl had been gone a good twenty minutes.

Quietly she stood up and made for the storage room, where her bike was parked. The room was empty as she went in and placed her helmet on and rolled the bike out of the back way. It wouldn't do well for any of the others to notice what she was doing.

Once outside the base she started up the engine and took off, sticking to the side streets. She definitely didn't want to be seen by Prowl while she was out and about. Of course that all depended upon the route he had taken tonight.

She made her way to the alleyway, the place where she and Zac had agreed to meet, hoping that he would be there. She looked around carefully as she made her way toward it.

She brought her bike up to a stop just near it, pulling it up beside the mouth of the alleyway and looking around hesitantly. She did not want Prowl, or anyone else for that matter, to see her.

She quietly slipped into the shadows then looked around frantically. "Zac?" she called out softly, but there was no answer. She couldn't see anything at all, but she was determined not to give up yet. "Zac!" she called out a little more loudly, but there was still no answer.

She sighed heavily, and slowly moved out of the alleyway, deciding that he wasn't there. She wondered if it was possible that he had been there all the other nights, and maybe this was the first one he hadn't been able to come. Or maybe he had decided she wasn't coming, and had stopped waiting for her. Or for all she knew, his boss might have been keeping him so tied up he couldn't find a chance to get out here again.

She climbed back onto her motorcycle and took off down the street. Since apparently he wasn't there, well, she couldn't afford to hang around forever. She had to get back to the base before anyone noticed she was gone.

Then, just as she turned a corner, in such a hurry that she didn't bother to look to see what was coming, she ended up seeing a vehicle coming right toward her. She screamed and gripped her handlebars, swerving to get out of the way. At the same time, a yelp came from the car and it skidded off to one side, nearly ending up in a ditch.

Lizy, meanwhile, ended up running straight into a deep pothole in her haste to get out of the way, and ended up being knocked off of her bike from the impact. She ended up slamming headfirst into the front of a brick building, but thankfully her helmet protected her head, and she landed on her right side so that her Cybertronian armor could absorb the brunt of the impact.

"Ugh," she groaned softly as she pushed herself up. She wasn't really hurt—at least, not as hurt as she would be had she been fully human, but the impact made her body ache a little.

"Lizy!" called a familiar voice. Then she glanced up, to see one of her worst nightmares. She realized that the car she'd nearly run into was Bumblebee.

"BUMLBEBEE YOU NEARLY HIT ME." she yelled at him, standing up and heading to her bike. She picked it up and noticed the scratches on the one side of it. "Shit and now my bike is scratched."

"So that's nothing to what Prowl's going to say when he finds out you were out again," laughed the little bug as he changed and speed back to base.

"BUMBLEBEE, DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM OR I'LL DESTROY YOU GAME SYSTEM." She yelled after him, but he continued on despite her threat.

Lizy quickly hoped back onto her bike and took off after him, hoping to get back to the base before the annoying bot. But he was obviously built for speed and there was no sign of him anywhere.

She gritted her teeth so hard she felt like she cracked her molar, and she growled loudly. Why couldn't anything be easy around here? She gripped her handlebars so hard that her metal hand dented the right handle a little.

She could only try and get back to the base as quickly as she could. And then… she would probably just have to face the music.

But what the hell was he even DOING out here, anyway? Was he patrolling too? She kicked herself for not being more careful. She should have been more wary of what the other bots were doing, too.

It took her a short while to get back to the base, and she leaned her bike against the front entrance then bolted inside. She would take care of the motorcycle later. Then, just as she got to the main, social room, she saw everyone there talking. Everyone that is, except for Prowl.

Part of her felt relieved that Prowl was apparently not back from patrol yet. But another part of her filled with dread. It was only a delay of the inevitable that was all. Prowl would simply be the last one to find out.

She slowly edged her way toward them, just to hear what was being said. Bumblebee was apparently going into detailed—and slightly exaggerated detail at that—over what happened. She winced. Bumblebee sometimes had a flair for the dramatics, and this seemed to be one case where he was sparing no details.

When he finished, Ratchet cleared his throat. She slowly looked up at the large med tech, her eyes widening. "Lizy, are you alright?" he asked her with a concerned frown.

Lizy wasn't sure what she meant at first, but he seemed to be looking at her left check. She reached up and touched it, and her hand came away slick with blood. So, apparently she had scratched herself during the fall. "Just a scratch," she shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Lizy, why did you sneak out?" Bulkhead asked. "You know that Prowl's gonna be furious!"

Lizy's only response was a growl, along with an "I'm gonna get you for this!" look at Bumblebee. She didn't say those words, but her glare said it all.

"Lizy, I think you should just go to your room until Prowl gets back from patrol," Optimus said. "And then we'll decide what to do."

Lizy was about to protest, but then there came the sound of screeching tires outside, and then the sound of soft, clanking footsteps. Lizy gulped; she knew that Prowl had arrived.

The ninja bot stepped into the social room a couple moments later, looking to see everyone else there. "Why is Lizy's bike parked out in front of the base?" he asked, glancing around at everyone.

"Excuse me—I will be waiting in my room!" Lizy said, and took off toward her room. Yes, she knew that, again, she was just delaying the inevitable, but… at least she could buy herself a little more time.

Prowl watched her go feeling like he just missed something big, as he turned back to the others. "Will someone please tell me what is going on?"

Bumblebee looked to the others, before he started telling Prowl, what he had said earlier. They all watched as the black and gold ninja, stand up straight and see his body tense in anger.

Then as the yellow bot finished his tale, Prowl was out of the room so fast, the others swore he transwarped out of there.


There you go, please review!