Title: Secrets

Rating: M

Disclamier: Own nothing, that belongs to Hasbro

Okay here is the next chapter!



Lizy jumped when Prowl came into her room without even knocking. She knew that he would be coming soon enough, but she hadn't expected him to come in so quickly, with his optics blazing so.

She cast a glance at him then turned away, staring at the opposite wall, just to look away from those furious optics of his. "Prowl," she stated before he could say a word, choosing to try and head him off, somehow or other. But all she could come up with to say was, "I'm sorry, okay?"

"This time Lizy, sorry isn't going to cut. Time and time again, I've given you chance and this is how you repay Me." he snapped, fed up with her. "This is the last time in which you will be going out without a guardian."

She opened her mouth to argue, but he brought up his hand to stop her. "No, I'm not going to listen to your excuses anymore."

She sighed, turning her head away. Yeah obviously she had blown it, and good this time around. Now she was not going to be able to get to Zac anymore in secret. She felt so mad at Bumblebee—why did he have to be out there anyway, to ruin everything? She was also mad at Prowl, for his damn over-protectiveness.

Part of her mind thought back to what Optimus had said, about trying to open up to him more, to try and trust him. She had to admit that she loved Prowl very much, but frankly, love and trust were two different things. Plus she was still trying to earn Zac's trust and confidence, if she could. So she couldn't just go blabbing everything to Prowl, because there was no telling what Prowl might do if he knew.

"You know, what if I changed my mind?" Lizy said suddenly, surprising even herself at the firmness in her voice as she stood up, folding her arms. "What if I decide I'd rather not live here anymore?"

Great, now she was backstabbing him, she thought not even daring to turn around and look at his expression. It actually hurt just to say that out loud herself.

What she didn't pay attention to was the fact that Prowl was no longer in her room. After she had said that statement, Prowl had tense up even. On top of that he felt hurt, that she would just up and leave like that.

Normally Prowl would have gone to his room, but for some reason he just didn't feel like going in there to meditate or anything. So instead he went toward the room where the energon dispenser was, deciding that some energon would do him some good.

"So, how did it go?" came a voice behind him, as he drained his tall glass of energon. He turned to see Ratchet standing there behind him.

Prowl remained silent, simply getting himself another glass. He felt Ratchet's nod rather than saw it then heard the medic say, "Yeah I figured as much."

"What am I doing wrong Ratchet? I've done everything you have advise me on and now she wants to move out." He told the medic.

Ratchet had a surprised look come over him at what Prowl had just revealed. "You can not be serious?" he asked shocked very evident.

Prowl nodded his head looking away. "Yes she even said it herself. What am I to do Ratchet? I don't want her to go, but yet at the same time, I feel like what trust I'm trying to put into her is dwindling."

Ratchet sighed. "Well," he said, "I think we both always knew that Lizy would be a hard person to get close to—or stay close to, for that matter." He frowned. "I know that you and she were really able to bond that night you linked with her to save her from Starscream. But Prowl, in spite of all that…"

Ratchet paused, shaking his head. "She's still a human, at least mentally. And from what little you've told me, she hasn't had a good life. But I think I will just have to repeat the same advice I gave you once before. Don't treat her like a sparkling that's just been brought online, or even a protoform. Yes she is still very young, and she needs guidance, but by human standards she is a young adult now."

Prowl sighed. "I know that, at least I try to remember that sometimes," he said. "But… I care about what happens to her, and I want her to stay safe. And sometimes, the way she acts…"

"Yeah, I know," Ratchet, grumbled, nodding. "She acts like a child. But you know Prowl, there's something else I must add. Femmes are complicated creatures. You have to handle them delicately, otherwise there's no getting through to them. Also, at times, they really seem to value their privacy."

Prowl nodded his head. "Thank you Ratchet, but I think this is one thing that I have to do alone."

Ratchet placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going any further. "Give her time Prowl, she will come around and realize that what she did is wrong. Like you said she had a rough past, perhaps she's afraid to let it go or afraid it will happen to her again."

Prowl nodded once again, feeling Ratchet release him and he made his way back to his room. He definitely had a big decision to make and either way the outcome wouldn't be good.

Once he sat down on the floor in his room, he began to think things through a bit. He then realized that, perhaps, he had been being a bit too protective of her at times. He wanted to know everything that was going on in her life, and he wanted to keep her safe.

But was he somehow interfering with her, and her life? Perhaps in some ways, he felt that she somehow owed it to him to keep telling him everything, since she had seen most of his memories and he had seen most of hers. And yet, he supposed that that didn't mean she had to tell him everything or share everything with him.

Part of him began to analyze why exactly it was such a big deal for him to know everything about what was going on. He frowned as his thoughts turned to the bruise he'd seen on her features, as well as the small gash on her cheek she'd gotten after the accident with Bumblebee.

He sighed. He knew that Master Yoketron would never have molly-coddled him so much. Yoketron had spent months teaching him how to fight and defend himself then sent him out on a mission. Prowl on the other hand had prevented Lizy from doing much of anything, even though he had been teaching her to fight.

Perhaps it was because she was so small compared to him, and because she was half human. She still seemed so little, and so vulnerable, and her attitude over things certainly didn't help things any. Prowl was pretty certain that if his daughter had been a normal Cybertronian; his interactions with her probably would have been very different.

Finally making a difficult decision, he rose, and quietly walked toward Lizy's quarters. He cleared his throat, and knocked on the door.

"Lizy, can I come?" he asked having not received a reply to his knocking. Still she didn't answer as he opened the door only to find it empty.

Slightly worried that she had already run off, he ran quickly to the front entrance, only to stop dead in his tracks when he noticed her bike still parked out front. However, the sound of quiet footsteps alerted him to the rooftop. He jumped up onto it and found Lizy moving around and then finding a comfortable place to sit down.

Prowl made his way over and by the slight tenseness she had taken on, Lizy was alerted to his presence there. Prowl took a set a little away from her, knowing that she probably wouldn't want him that close at the moment.

For a while they sat there, neither talking nor moving as they stared out over the city, watching as the lights flickered in the distance.

Finally, Lizy broke the silence. "Prowl," she said, "I don't really want to go or anything. And I'm sorry I snapped at you like that in there."

Relief washed over Prowl as he turned to look at her. Though before he could say anything, she went on. "Frankly Prowl, I think I'm still trying to get used to things, you know? I'm over most of what happened, but… part of me still isn't used to being part machine."

"I know," Prowl, said to her. "But sometimes it seems to me like you are having a difficult time getting over some things."

Lizy sighed. "Yeah well, I've never been good at letting things go in some ways. Seemed like no one really cared much when I had a problem anyway."

"I care," Prowl spoke up. "You know that."

"Yeah I do, but it's my nature to push people away. Prowl," Lizy said, looking up at him, "I know you care about me. I saw it in your mind that night—you care about me more than anybody else ever did, at least it really feels like it. You managed to really let me see how much you cared, and that's something I never got with anyone else. But Prowl, I grew up not trusting anyone, and only really caring about myself. You can't just expect me to throw a switch inside my brain and change overnight."

She turned away, frowning a little. "Truth is Prowl, I really don't like some things about myself sometimes," she went on. "But you know, sometimes I think I have a right to be selfish, and I am not going to change everything about me." She looked at him again. "Because I can't."

He nodded looking away. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll try and ease up on you a little. I still want to protect you, but I guess I could allow you go out for a little bit so that you aren't always cooped up in here."

She gave a small smile. "Thanks Prowl, that would make me feel better and I promise not to go out without telling you or the others first."

"Very well then," Prowl said, and glanced at her again. "Besides," he said, as thoughts of his late Master crossed his mind again, "I have been teaching you to protect yourself, and I think you have done well. And I would rather you have permission to go out than to keep sneaking out."

"Yeah you know, I would be a lot more careful on the roads if I didn't feel like I had to kill myself trying to get back here before anyone found me gone," Lizy said indicatively.

Prowl sighed. In some ways it would have been far more preferable if Lizy would simply do things his way, so that he could keep her safe. But she was a free spirit, and as he had just found out tonight, if he tried to contain her too much, she would either break or more possibly, run away.

Prowl stood up once again and began making his way to the hole that went directly to his room. But before he went inside he turned back to her and spoke. "Oh and Lizy," she turned towards him. "Don't stay out to late, it's suppose to rain tonight and I wouldn't want you to get sick."

Lizy nodded and he jumped down inside, knowing that he felt a little bit better then he did earlier. Maybe it was for the better that he eased up on her, so that she could enjoy her life a little more.


Over the next coming weeks, things seemed to have progressed a little better then before. Lizy felt herself becoming a little freer then before. She and Prowl didn't fight as much as they had been, though there was still an occasional snap at one another, here and there.

One day when Bumblebee woke up to play his video games, it was to find the game system and games gone. He blamed Lizy for its disappearance, something he had yet to prove. Lizy only smiled in victory, for it was payback for getting her in trouble and nearly running her over.

However things quickly got back to normal in the game area, because Sari and Bee simply went to Professor Sumdac for aide to get all the stuff replaced. Apparently Sari's dad was the only person whom they interacted with somewhat regularly (other than that plump policeman, Captain Fanzone) who didn't know where the Autobots lived.

Lizy had met the man once, when all of them had been out to help him with something or other. She'd found Sumdac to be somewhat eccentric, and definitely overweight, although she also found him to be a kind-hearted person. About the only thing that Lizy found odd about him was that when he found out she was part robot, she caught him looking curiously at her, and then glancing at Sari, and then back at her again. He'd almost looked like he wanted to say something, but he simply exchanged pleasantries and then went back to work. Lizy had no idea what that was about, but never bothered to pursue it because it really didn't matter.

Now that she had permission to go out more, Lizy took every opportunity to get out. She often went to the alleyway that Zac and her first meet. So far they had only meet there twice since, but the time they did have was spent talking. They got to know each other more and more as the days progressed.

Lizy got to know about Zac's life as he lived with his family who showed him love and compassion. She then learned that he had lost both his parents, after a bad snow storm and their car hit another's on the way home. It had been only two years since he had lost them, but Lizy knew what it was like to lose parents.

In a way she couldn't help but envy him, because he hadn't had to grow up without real parents, at least, plus he hadn't been bullied at an orphanage. But in some ways he seemed to envy her too, because she had someone she could turn to now, all because of the robotic armor and circuitry that had been put into her. The only other person he had was D.J., who was only his sister because they had the same armor and circuitry put into them.

It was something that Zac couldn't explain very well, but he did feel sort of a brotherly bond with D.J., something that told him they really were brother and sister, at least in the sense that their robot circuitry came from the same source. And they seemed to share some sort of connection, or bond. Since Zac didn't feel it with Lizy at all, this seemed to support the theory even more.


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