Disclaimer : I don't own it.

(Bella's POV)

When I finally woke up, it was to the static of my television, and someone poking me in the shoulder repeatedly. "Stop." I absently swatted at the offending...thing, while settling back down against the warm hard surface I was leaning against, my eyes feeling heavy. When the poking continued, I growled. "Stop!" I shoved out, knocking something away only to have it come back.

With a surprisingly loud growl, I finally sat up, blinking at the blinding light and then turning groggy eyes on what appeared to be a finger poking me in the shoulder, from above and behind me. "If you don't stop poking me, so help me Primus, I'm gonna shove that finger so far up your ass, you'll be chewing on it for a month!"

"Ahh, sleeping beauty finally awakes." The surface I'd been laying on moved and Rika sat up, stretching her arm. "Good, my arm's numb."

I could have chosen to continue bitching at her for waking me, but realizing I'd more or less accosted her shoulder for a pillow, and feeling the odd weight in my body, I shuddered instead, curling up against the arm of the couch. "'M goin' back to sleep." I muttered.

"Whoa, no you don't! We have an agreement, you know! Remember the rules? We pig out during our birthday, then go for a run to work off some of those bad calories. Now up you get." She groaned. "Admittedly, I feel like crap, popcorn must'a been bad, but... What about Richard?"

My eyes snapped open and I sat up sharply. "Oh pit, he was supposed to call!" One glance towards the curtains told me it was daylight out. Checking my phone and cell, I got a little worried when there wasn't even a text message from him. I put a hand to my neck, and gasped sharply. "The shard's gone!" Yeah, yeah, I know. It was only a knockoff and not the real allspark, but it was still a gift.

I got up, stumbling a little as a dizzy spell hit me, before turning and searching the couch thoroughly. Had it when I sat down last night.

"Relax, it's not like it grew legs and-Oh hell!"

Looking up, I blinked to see Rika holding on to the chain that held her shard. She was fumbling around her neck, twisting and turning the chain until she finally growled and undid it, holding the empty chain in front of her. "You don't suppose they mysteriously go invisible, do you? Huh, maybe it was all a dream?" Yeah, I admit I was grasping at straws.

"A dream." She shot me a look. "That we both had. That we both have the chains from." She held up her chain pointedly. "There's no way someone would have come in here for two pieces of Transformer merchandise. They were just metal! I saw them at Walmarts for twenty fucking dollars!!" She growled as she too, began to look around. "Maybe they fell off the chain?"

"Without damaging it?" I sat back, shaking my head. A tiny part of me questioned how two shards of metaljust disappeared, not a day after they got to us, without breaking the chain or either of us knowing. There was no chance of being drugged, we'd been eating on popcorn I'd had in the cupboard for two weeks, and we bought the Pepsi from a local market ourselves. "This doesn't make sense."

"Hah, unless it was a real allspark." Rika grumbled absently as she dug at the cushions.

Looking at her a long moment, I raised an eyebrow. That makes more sense than the two pieces of metal just up and walking off on their own.Something clenched in my stomach, with a grunt I made a mad dash to the washroom, throwing up everything I'd eaten the night before. What the...? Food poisoning?After several heaves, I settled down, my vision spinning slightly, and sweaty. "Wow, two missing shards of merchandise, and I'm sick to boot. Today's just turning out wonderful." I moaned sarcastically.

"Hey, you ok?" Rika was at the door, staring down at me with wide eyes. "That was a pretty impressive mad dash. How many fingers am I holding up?" She lifted three, then folded one down, then spread all five, and continued changing the number.

I made a show of staring thoughtfully for a moment. "Um, five?"

"Eh, close enough." She shrugged and grinned, before pulling a wash cloth from the hall closet and holding it under the faucet a moment.

I rolled my eyes. "How about me?" I held up one hand and flipped her off, before smiling weakly and taking the offered towel.

"Three?" She leaned against the door and rubbed at her temples. "Wow, whatever was in that food last night sure packed quite a punch! I feel like shit warmed over."

"There's a nice mental image." I hung my head as another wave of nausea rolled through me. "Thanks for that." I gulped heavily, breathing through my mouth to help calm my system a little.

"Maybe we should have Richard take a look at you?"

"He's probably dead to the world." My eyes widened. "Not literally." I hope, though he never did call last night.

"Here."

Before I knew it, Gravol and a glass of water were being pressed into my hand. I swallowed the little pill after rinsing my mouth out and slowly got up, happy when the nausea seemed to pass. Gotta love fast acting medication. Looking up, I sighed. "Ok, you win. Let's go see Richard."

I used the excuse of being sick because whether or not she already knew about my feelings for him, I wasn't about to tell her it was just an excuse. I'd been sick before, I knew how to take care of myself, but I really was worried. One of the things I'd learned about Richard was that he seemed to be fairly dependable, so the fact he hadn't called...

We both took our time getting ready, feeling strangely like we were hungover, but without the alcohol usually necessary to get one. Heading outside, I grimaced and slid my sunglasses on, covering my face, before stepping aside for Rika. We made our way over to the ambulance station slowly, and I paused outside. "What do we tell him about the shards?"

I'll admit I was more than embarrassed to have lost a gift he'd gotten us, not even a day after getting it.

"They came to life, and ran away?" Rolling her eyes, Rika sighed heavily. "I haven't the foggiest. I suppose you can tell him that neither of us were feeling well and we left them in the apartment to keep them safe? It's not a total lie."

I nodded, slightly cheered by that fact, before heading inside the building. Two red and white ambulances sat on the far end of the garage, and on our end sat the familiar yellow Hummer, but with no sign of Richard. I was just walking past the Hummer when a dizzy spell hit me, and I stumbled, landing hard against the edge of the hood. With a jolt, I jerked away again, rubbing at my arm and staring at the vehicle.

It was warm.

"Bells, you ok?" Rika walked over with a frown.

Probably been on for a while. "Yeah, I'm fine." I looked around the garage. "No sign of Richard though." I leaned against the Hummer once again as I sighed. "I don't get it, the food was still good, so I can't really understand why we're both so suddenly sick. Though you don't look as bad as me."

"I feel worse than I look." She muttered with her arms folded over her chest.

"I hear that." I agreed with a nod, wrapping my own arms around myself when a shiver hit me.

"Excuse me."

The voice startled me and I jumped, gasping and closing my eyes when everything spun and my legs shook violently underneath me. Grasping on the edge of the hood for stability, I felt warm, strong hands surrounding my upper arms.

He muttered something under his breath and sounded suspiciously like 'slaggit', and I found myself being half carried to a chair, where I was sat down. "I apologize. I didn't mean to startle you, ma'am. Are you unwell?" Fingers wrapped around one of my wrists and pressed against a pulse point, and a small hum was heard.

"She'd be better if you weren't scaring the shit outta her, Richie."

"Rika..." I groaned, not really in the mood to deal with her whining.

"'Richie'?"

I looked up, blinking back sudden tears at the spinning, and focused on the dark glower Richard was sending Rika. "Richard. Oh good, I'm glad you're alright." I smiled a little, but it quickly faded when he turned a dark, confused look on me. "Richard?" Why is he looking at me like he doesn't recognize me?

"How do you know my c-name?" He seemed to fumble a moment before raising one eyebrow slowly. "Do I know you?"

I blinked and then frowned. "Normally I'd come up with a snap smartass comment to that, but right now..." I shook my head. "Can we drop the games, please? You didn't call last night." I gave a weak smile, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. "Not that I'm complaining, I was just a little worried." I'd almost expected him to smile and break out with a 'So you came all the way out here just to see me?' comment.

"Was I supposed to?" His eyes had narrowed a little and he placed a hand against my forehead. "Your body temperature is alarmingly high. How long have you been ill?" He tilted his head over to look at Rika before glancing back.

"Since movie night last night." The look of confusion didn't fade. "We both felt lazy so we stayed in, had popcorn and pepsi and watched both Transformers movies. Not much of a birthday, but then it was nice to relax. Then we went to sleep, actually we both just conked out on the couch, really. This morning we both woke up feeling like slag."

Richard started, leaning back as his eyes went wide a moment, before narrowing dangerously in a glare. "Where did you learn that term?" The fingers of his hand tightened uncomfortably against my arm, and I stiffened up in instant alarm. Something in my head kept screaming 'Warning! Warning! Warning!' despite my belief Richard was just playing.

"Ok, seriously, Richard. We're not playing. We're both sick, but we really came by just to make sure you were ok, since you broke your promise to call us last night." Rika stalked forward and plopped down in the chair next to me. "It's not my fault you're a fragging forgetful idjit."

"I will only ask you once more." Was it me, or did the ambulance just slide forward a tiny bit? "Where did you learn those terms?" The grip tightened even more, and a tiny yelp of pain escaped me before I could stop it. At least it served it's purpose, because he abruptly let me go, as if my touch had burned him, and stood up, backing away. What's going on?!

I rubbed at my sore wrist. "From. The. Movies. Like everyone else." I pulled one sleeve off my shoulder, showing him my tattoo as a reminder before pulling it back up again. "But you know what? I'm suddenly feeling a lot better. Sorry for wasting your time, thanks for nothing, and fuck you very much." And not in the fun way, either. Getting up, I grabbed Rika's arm and stomped towards the exit.

I was already feeling like crap, and his new attitude wasn't really helping. I was at a loss for what to say or do, so the frustration just seemed to take hold. My feeling like death warmed over faded slightly as I stomped off.

"Yeah, what she said!"

A small part of me wanted to smirk, because she must really have been feeling like crap if she didn't think up her own clever smartass comment.

"Hey, wait!"

I paused at the open door and looked over my shoulder with a raised eyebrow, feeling far too nasty to be in a good enough mood to play along. If this all did turn out to be some twisted game, I figured I could bitch him out later when I was feeling better.

"What're your names?" The look on his face was honestly curious and worried, but it didn't really register.

That's it. I didn't bother to answer, stomping out of the garage and towards my apartment. I was more than aware Rika wasn't talking either, which only told me she wasn't happy with him either. As we entered my building, I got a foreboding sense that I shrugged off as I climbed up the stairs.

"Boy, what a day!" Rika grumbled behind me. "First we both wake up sick with no real reason to be sick. Then we both lose the necklaces, with no logical way to do so without having some vague recollection of where they might be. Then Richard decides to be a dumbass, asking stupid questions and playing it like he doesn't even know us."

"What if he's not playing?" Turning to her as we stood outside my apartment door, I clutched the key to open it tightly. "I mean, he looked really serious. I'd never seen him so serious."

"And what possible reason would he have to suddenly forget us?"

Turning back to the door, I unlocked it and opened it, stepping inside. Once Rika was in, I locked the door behind us. "I just have a really weird feeling."

"Oh dear, sweet Primus. Don't tell me you're gonna go on one of your 'what if the Autobots were real?' kicks." She groaned, kicking off her shoes and stumbling over to the couch. "It's not physically or logically possible. If they exist, I'll eat my Trans-a-Holics Anonymous membership card."

Trans-a-Holics Anonymous was just a fan club made up of easily obsessed fans of the movies, who readily admit when they were in over their heads, and enjoyed theorizing about the movies' possibilities. I had one too, stashed in the back of my wallet. I just didn't readily admit it.

Shaking my head, I wandered over and plopped down beside her. "I just don't get it. Today is so not my day."

"Gee, and here I was having a ball."

I rolled my eyes at Rika. "Then you can continue to have a ball. I'm going to bed." Standing up, I wandered into the bedroom, only pausing to look out the window. What I saw made me gasp and had Rika at my side in seconds, because of the sound. "What the pit?!"

Richard was standing just outside the garage, arms folded over his chest. The Hummer was parked in an empty driveway across the street, pointing in our direction, though I hadn't heard it start up and it wasn't the quietest of vehicles, and Richard himself was staring right up at us with a clearly suspicious look.

"Creepy much?"

"Ok, so maybe he isn't playing a game, but... How does he go from being a sweetheart to...well...this?" I swallowed heavily, clutching the curtains tighter as my heart clenched painfully. Richard?

"Maybe he's really a freak and just hid it from us."

Yeah, thanks. I thouht darkly. That makes me feel so much better. "That still begs the question, why reveal himself now? Why, after all this time, would he turn into a wacko? Look, Ri, none of this makes any sense. I dunno why we're sick or the shards went missing, and I sure as pit dunno why Richard's turned into a complete and total nutcase." I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Maybe he's playing? No..." If he was, he would have dropped it the moment we went inside. I mean, there's no logical, possible way he could have known I'd look out the window. "I just don't have the energy to figure this out right now."

"He's still staring."

My eyes opened of their own accord and I found myself staring down at him. He was frowning deeply, but the look in his eyes held too much to identify. He looked suspicious, curious, confused, intrigued, and concerned, all in one. His lips were pulled together tightly, and when he squinted, I couldn't make out the crinkles in the corners of his eyes, but then... I put that off to distance.

"Then stop looking!" I snapped the curtain closed and walked over, allowing myself to fall back on the bed and then whimpering when it jarred a fresh headache. "Today just isn't our day!"

As I closed my eyes and drifted off, one thought came to mind.

Were his eyes blue??

Written : Jan 20, 2010

Hope you like it.

R+R Please

Thank you

Tenshi