Alright, so I'm a little late...again. Good news is, the next chapter is almost done so it should be up in a couple weeks! How's that for a Christmas present? :) Anyway, thanks to Brittany once again for my electronic kick in the butt! So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I promise not to make you wait as long for the next one, and in the meantime...check out the one-shot I put up a couple of days ago. I've gotta tweak it and repost it to correct a huge mistake I didn't notice (thank you Brittany for paying more attention to my writing than I do! you're a savior!) but you should still definitely read it!

And no, I still own nothing from Transformers or the franchise except for the creative liberties I have taken due to my over-active imagination.

PLEASE REVIEW...'cause it's Christmas time and I deserve presents :)

Two months had gone by before they knew it. The four friends had spent three weeks on the base in New Jersey until Ratchet announced Mikaela to be completely healed and they finally were able to go home. Christian went back to Boston, Leo home to Houston, and Sam and Mikaela back to LA. Word had traveled among their friends that Mikaela was safely back with them, but since the semester was already over they had all gone back to their hometowns spread all over the country. Andy and Balie were the only ones who actually lived in Philadelphia so they had a small reunion when the four had returned to the city to pack their bags for the month long trip home.

Sam's parents had been aware from the beginning what had happened to Mikaela, and it was hard to tell who cried more after getting off the plane in LA-Mikaela or his mom. The two most important women in Sam's life had grown extremely close, especially throughout the last year. On the nights he'd struggled the worst with her disappearance, it had been his mom who'd been his rock and given him the strength to keep searching no matter how pointless it seemed at times.

Before going their separate ways, plans had been made to spend a week at a cabin in Colorado-with Will, Epps, and several Autobot bodyguards of course. It had been the only way Sam or Will would agree to it. Their last vacation had ended tragically and they refused to take chances this time.

It had been the perfect getaway. A week with their closest friends completely isolated from the outside world. They even grounded themselves from cell phones-all of them had been locked up inside Ironhide's glove box with strict instructions that they were only to be used in an emergency.

During their month long break, Sam and Mikaela even managed to finalize most of their wedding plans. The date was set for December 14, a week after the fall semester ended, and it was to be held in the church his grandparents had married in some 50 years before and his parents had married there two years before Sam was born. The minute Mikaela had seen pictures of it, she'd immediately declared it to be their choice as well. Sam was overjoyed; he'd always loved his father's hometown. Up until the day he finally gathered the courage to talk to Mikaela which had intertwined their lives forever, a part of him always wished he would have grown up in the small town.

Christian was the maid of honor with Balie and Rachel the bridesmaids, and Sam's cousin Jacob would be his best man along with Leo and Andy as his groomsmen. Colton, Tyler, and Tate were the ushers. Sam's youngest cousins, three-and-a-half-year-old Jamie and six-year-old Ryleigh were the ring bearer and flower girl.

Originally, Mikaela wanted a summer wedding. Obviously, that hadn't worked out so well, so they'd both agreed it better to wait until Christmas break especially with all of the logistics involved. With it planned this far in advance, all of their friends would be able to make it and Sam and Mikaela decided together to purchase all of the plane tickets. There was more than enough money in their "saving the world fund" (as Mikaela like to call it) to afford the dozen or so round trip tickets.

For now, though, Sam's main concern was Mikaela's birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. Their three year anniversary had fallen a month into her being taken hostage, and he was determined to make this her best birthday ever. They'd gone out to dinner in LA to at least acknowledge the special date had come and gone, but neither really wanted to celebrate it given the events surrounding the actual day itself. In all actuality, every day they'd spent together since the fateful showdown in Mission City was celebration enough for Sam. He could care less they hadn't been together on that day as long as they were together every day after from now on.

He'd been planning her birthday present since not long after getting back from Colorado. His idea had received great praise from Christian when he'd bounced it off her, which only served to bolster his excitement. More than likely her initial reaction would be shock and anger at the extravagance, but she would love it once she got past all that.

Sam looked out at the open road and smiled to himself. Despite the outrageously rough start to the year, things couldn't possibly be better. If anything, he'd learned to appreciate every aspect of life rather than just the big, important moments.

"Baby, where are you?" Mikaela whined petulantly when he answered his phone. "I'm having some serious fiancée withdrawals. I haven't seen you all day!"

"What, you don't remember attacking me with a pillow this morning?" He retorted and rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's what you get for tickling me," She huffed mock-angrily but he could hear the smile in her voice. "But seriously, where are you? We've been back for an hour."

"I'm on my way. I went to see Jake and Drew."

"Aw, why didn't you tell me you were going there? It would've been nice to see them and your grandparents again."

"You already had plans to go shopping with my mom," He pointed out. "And it was kind of last minute."

"When are you gonna be back?"

"Probably 20 or 30 minutes," Sam guessed.

"Sam," She drew out his name in a whine. "That's a long time. You're supposed to say you're turning on the street."

"If I knew you would miss me that much, I'd have gone to see Jake last week," He joked.

"No, my feet hurt. I just really want a foot rub and you're the best," Mikaela told him as seriously as she could.

"Well, in that case I think I'll turn around and go hang out with Jake some more," He decided. "Since you don't miss me and all."

"Ugh, fine, I miss you okay?" There was that hint of a smile in her voice again. "I'll even let you off the hook with the foot rub if you promise me we can just hang out at my house and watch a movie, cuddle a little bit, maybe make out…" Mikaela trailed off.

"You got yourself a date, babe. You're at my house?"

"Yes sir. Tell Bee to hurry up okay?" She told him. "Or he and I are gonna have a talk about him hugging my fiancée."

"That never gets old," He breathed referring to her calling him her fiancée. "It should only be about 10 or 15 more minutes."

The house her dad had bought with the help of his mother a year after getting released from prison had become hers upon his death. From the first time she stepped foot in it when she moved back in with him, she had loved the little house and didn't have the heart to sell it after he died. Instead, she'd paid it off after selling his car shop and the restored pickup he drove. Selling his beloved truck had been a hard decision, but she knew keeping it would mean it never got driven because they already had Bee and her Camaro and she knew her dad would rather her sell it than let it sit. Of course, she cried as soon as the new owner drove away but she was confident in her decision nonetheless.

Sam pretty much lived with her now. Slowly but surely everything he had at his parents' was making its way to her house. Judy and Ron weren't altogether thrilled at the arrangement but there wasn't much they could say with them both being legal adults and they were already living together in Philadelphia as it was.

His parents probably thought they went at it like rabbits in a house with no parental supervision when in reality that wasn't even the case. More than anything he loved the simple things that came with living together. It wasn't about sex; it never had been. There was a reason they'd been together for so long before sex even entered the picture.

A ghost of a smile still shown on his face when he pulled that canary yellow Camaro in the driveway of his parents' house. It struck him as amusing that he'd so quickly come to think of the house he'd grown up in as his parents' house rather than his own anymore; then again, he'd grown accustomed to living with Mikaela and it just didn't feel like home without her.

Speaking of his fiancée, he found her curled up in his dad's recliner with her eyes closed once he snuck in quietly through the back door. He walked right past her in search of his mother. She always tended to completely exhaust herself when she went shopping; at least by letting her rest now, there was less chance of her falling asleep the minute they got back to her house.

"Am I gonna have to ban you two from shopping together?" He joked upon finding his mom in the kitchen.

"Well, I suppose you could always go with me instead," Judy looked at him dryly.

"No, no, that's fine. You just keep on taking her," He quickly backtracked.

"Thought so," She told him smugly. "How are Jake and Drew?"

"They're doin' good. Did you hear Drew's gonna play baseball at Nevada?"

"Oh yeah. Danny called your dad right after it was official."

"Man, I'm always the last to know," Sam whined playfully.

"Shut up and go get that girl of yours," His mom swatted at him with a dishtowel. "She's been whining since we got home an hour or so ago. I'm really not so sure why she's so attached to you."

"Thanks for the confidence booster there, Mom," He rolled his eyes.

There was a smile on Mikaela's face when he retraced his steps to the living room so he knew she'd heard at least the end of their conversation. She, of course, vehemently denied whining for that long but they both knew better. Sam pressed a kiss to her forehead before going out to his mom's car to move all of her shopping bags to his because he knew he would just get conned into it later anyway. The girl had him so completely wrapped around her little finger, but he loved every minute of it.

Who was he kidding? Mikaela had him whipped, and he was always the first to admit it. The boys teased him about it relentlessly. She would too every now and then, but she wasn't the type of girl to take advantage of it. Not with him, anymore. It was more like the knowledge of it made her feel special that he loved her that much but there was no desire to abuse that well-known fact or be some kind of control freak. She loved that he would do anything in the world for her, but she never asked him to.

Mikaela watched him enter the living room from the back door through half-lidded eyes. A chuckle escaped him when he plopped himself down in her lap causing her to grunt and mutter obscenities at him. Sam simply gave her an innocent grin to which she pinched his side hard.

"Ow, fuck," He exclaimed rubbing the sore spot.

"That's what you get, you big oaf," She glared and pinched him again in the same spot.

"Dammit, Mikaela, that hurts!"

"Then get the fuck off my lap," She said sarcastically before doing it a third time.

"Quit fucking pinching me!" Sam growled and she could tell he was getting mad.

"What, so you can sit there and intentionally fuck with me just to irritate the shit out of me but the second I start joking around with you, you get all pissed off," Mikaela looked at him pointedly.

"I don't sit there and pinch the crap out of you in the same spot over and over," He argued.

"No, but you will sit there for hours and mess with me when you know it pisses me off. Sometimes it's funny and cute, but sometimes it just gets old."

"Fine then, next time I'll just ask if it's okay with your majesty that I joke around or if you'll just end up being a bitch about it," Sam said nastily.

"Don't be a jackass Sam," Mikaela gave him a hard stare.

"No, that's bullshit. You're the one who kept pinching me, but suddenly I'm the jackass."

"You know what?" She pushed him off her and got to her feet. "This is stupid. I'm not gonna fight with you. I'm going home. When you're done being a dick, then you can come over. Until then, I really just don't wanna be around you."

Sam watched her walk towards the back door and, before he could stop himself, managed to shove his foot farther down his throat.

"Don't think about taking my car. Find another way to get home."

Mikaela spun on her heels and the fire in her eyes told him she was about to let him have it, but another voice spoke up before she even opened her mouth.

"Samuel James Witwicky, I know I raised you better than to treat a woman like that, especially your fiancée," Judy whirled into the room looking angrier than Mikaela had ever seen her. "I don't care if you're an adult, you're in my house and you will not act like that. Go to your room, young man, we will talk about this later. Mikaela, I'll take you home since my son seems to have a stick shoved up his ass."

Well, nobody could say Judy Witwicky was subtle. Mikaela almost laughed at the shock on Sam's face but the urge was gone when his face hardened and he strode quickly out the back door without so much as glancing at his fiancée when he stalked past her.

The two women shared a look of utter confusion before silently going out to Judy's car. Neither had an idea what to say about Sam's uncharacteristic blow up.

Hours later, Mikaela still had no idea why Sam had gotten so angry. It was nearing two in the morning, and he'd yet to come over. They'd been arguing like this a lot over the last few months, but never for this long and never this bad. This was the first time they'd really ever yelled at each other like that. It wasn't even the first time she'd tried to use his car to get away from him, but he'd never so cold-heartedly told her no before. Every other time, he'd let her take the bright yellow car without a word. What she'd seen earlier that day was a side of him she hadn't known existed.

What was happening to them? They never fought like this. Sure, they had their spats and it had been a rough year for them, but it was never over something so ridiculous. She'd been kept hostage for three months, for God's sake, and suddenly they were arguing over stupid shit every other day it seemed like. For the most part, they were fine and happy and so completely in love, but moments like this were becoming more frequent. There were times it seemed like they walked on eggshells around each other; it was as if they were anticipating the next argument and trying to postpone it as long as they could without knowing how to completely prevent it. She had no idea what was causing all this turbulence in their relationship, but she was getting seriously tired of it.

Maybe she was wrong to have antagonized him, but she hadn't been kidding when she said his playfulness got annoying. Again, it never used to but he never got carried away with it. There was just so much that was…different now.

Mikaela was pulled from her thoughts when she heard the lock on the front door click. Sam was the only other person to have a key so she knew it was him. His footsteps were slow as he made his way to the living room where she sat rigidly and refused to look at him despite feeling his eyes boring a hole through her.

"Hi," Sam said softly.

There was no reaction, no acknowledgment, from her that he'd even spoken a word.

"I'm sorry," He tried again.

Still, she didn't say a word.

"Mikaela, talk to me," He pleaded and moved to kneel in front of her. "Don't shut me out."

"I don't want to fight with you," Her eyes finally lifted to meet his and it was obvious to see she was still hurting. "And that seems to happen almost every time we talk now."

"I know and that's because of me," Sam smiled guiltily. "Your fiancée is a selfish jackass who loves you so much it's going to get you killed one day."

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard you talking to Christian about how much more dangerous your life was since we met and how you were constantly looking over your shoulder waiting to be attacked again."

"That was a month ago!" Mikaela exclaimed. "Why haven't you said anything before now?"

"Because it's true," He muttered darkly. "You were held hostage for three months because you're with me. I'm fighting with myself because my head and my heart are telling me two different things and that's why sometimes I act like a dick and sometimes I don't."

"Excuse me?" She couldn't believe there had been even a second where he'd questioned their relationship, much less an entire month's worth of it.

"My head keeps telling me if I loved you as much as I say I do, I should quit being selfish and let you go so you can be safe," Sam reached out and tenderly cupper her cheek. "But my heart says there's no life without you."

"I'm not gonna deny I told Chris that 'cause I did, but I also told her that it didn't matter 'cause I love you so much it's unhealthy and I knew you'd stop at nothing to protect me. I also told her I hated you for turning us into a cliché but that's beside the point," The both laughed and she placed her hand over his. "But you have to talk to me when something is on your mind. If we can't let each other in, why the hell are we getting married?"

"I know baby, but I didn't wanna pile anymore crap on you when you're already dealing with so much," In one smooth move he was up on the couch with her in his lap and arms locked around her waist.

"Sammy, I'm not fragile," She chastised and he nodded sheepishly. "I want you to come to me when you're upset because I love you and I want to help you get through it."

"Yes ma'am," Sam joked and she kissed his jaw.

"Good. Now that you're done being a jackass," Mikaela gave him a pointed look. "Can we get to the movie and the cuddling…hopefully the making out too?"

Mikaela couldn't sleep. It was really bothering her that Sam had overheard that particular conversation and then held it in for so long. Those words had never been meant for him to hear; she knew he would beat himself up over it-and she'd been proven right. There had never been a moment where she'd resented him or regretted any part of their relationship. The danger was just something that came along with loving him, especially now, and she'd long ago accepted it.

Sam grunted in his sleep and pulled Mikaela closer into his side. She smiled at the subconscious movement in his sleep. They were still curled up on the couch where they had drifted off at some point while they'd been watching movies.

"What are you doing?" He mumbled with his eyes still closed.

"Thinking," She laid her head on his shoulder and ran her hand along his forearm.

"'Bout what?"

"Us. The day we met," She revealed softly and bit her lip. "The way things have been lately…"

"Neither of which are one of my finer moments," He groaned. "Why can't you be thinking about something happy?"

"I thought…here's another jackass who just wants in my pants," Mikaela continued on acting like she hadn't heard him. "Yet three years later, we're engaged and gonna get married in four months. And for the last month you've been acting like the jackass I expected you to be from the beginning."

"I'm sorry. I should've talked to you about it when it happened," A part of him wished she was still oblivious to what had been bothering him. "But it's one thing to blame myself; it's worse to hear that you agree."

"I don't blame you nor have I ever done so and the fact that you think I would hurts me," Mikaela said seriously and one look at her face showed the hurt she felt. "Just because I can acknowledge that being with you might sometimes be dangerous does not mean I blame you. Don't you dare put words in my mouth."

"See, this is why I didn't say anything. It just hurts you and pisses you off."

"Because you can't seem to get it through your hard ass head that I fucking love you and if I blamed you for all of it I wouldn't still be here three years later!" She exclaimed and pushed herself up from the back of the couch to turn and look at him through tear-filled eyes. "God, Sam, you asked me to marry you and I said yes. Does that not mean anything?"

"Mikaela, it means everything, but I'm supposed to protect you and I didn't. You went through hell because I couldn't, and there's a part of me that's always going to hate myself for it," Sam admitted and avoided meeting her eyes.

"Do you feel that?" She took his hand and held it over her heart. "I'm fine. Yes, it sucked what happened, but I'm still here."

"I know that, but I still feel like I let you down."

"But you didn't," Mikaela argued and when she spoke again her voice was gentle. "I know you would stop at absolutely nothing to protect me. Sometimes shit just happens; that's life. Please stop blaming yourself for something you couldn't prevent."

"You don't think it's my fault?" He asked in a small voice and suddenly all she wanted to do was hold him until that vulnerable look in his eyes went away. All of her anger melted away when she realized this all boiled down to him truly thinking she blamed him for the kidnapping.

"No, baby, I don't," She gave him a soft smile and tenderly touched his face. "I just wanna put it in the past and focus on the fact that I'm marrying the man of my dreams in four months despite all the hell we've been through over the last year. My boy is stubborn as hell and he drives me insane sometimes, but I get to spend the rest of my life with him and that's all I want to think about."

"I love you," His deep brown eyes revealed the truth of his words. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"I ask myself that every day," She laughed at the affronted look on his face. "I'm kidding. I love you too Sam Witwicky."

"Even when I'm a jerk?"

"I may not like you when you're a jerk, but I still love you," She pressed her lips to his. "But that doesn't give you a free pass to be an asshole just 'cause I'll still love you anyway."

"Of course not darlin'," Sam wrapped his arms tighter. "You deserve better than that."

"I don't care about what I do or don't deserve, just be the guy who saves the world from giant evil robots without batting an eye but can't tell his girlfriend of two years that he loves her 'cause he's too scared. As long as I have him, that's all I'll ever need."

Mikaela was almost asleep when she felt Sam pick her up in his arms and carry her to the bedroom. The first rays from the sun sent a little sliver of light through the window and she turned her back to keep it from shining into her eyes as the sun began to rise higher. Sam climbed in on the other side and grinned when she slid closer to him. Even after three years, they still couldn't get enough of one another. It was like they were still in that new couple phase where they had to be constantly touching. For him, he hoped they never lost that. They were not the perfect couple, and nobody could ever accuse them of being so, but as long as she still curled her lithe frame into his side even after a night where they'd screamed and yelled and both walked out at one point then he knew they would be fine. He might drive her crazy sometimes and she might piss him off, but that's just the way they were and that's what made them work so well.