Chapter Eleven

Joe sighed as he walked down the street, his parents had returned home last week totally surprising him so he had no time to 'prepare'. No time to contact the Autobots and ask if he could 'borrow' Prowl again, no time to contact his sister and ask no tell her to get her arse over to the house, no time to do anything except be as shocked as heck when they walked through the door. So when they asked where Sara was he simply said 'she's out with friends.' Which was technically true the bullet trains were friends, friends that happened to be big alien robots that could transform into trains. He was surprised at how…easily his mother had bought his 'excuse' saying how happy she was that Sara had taken her advice, she had even calm their father down when he started asking all sorts of questions about these so-called friends. Though he had no idea what to say when asked why Sara had named three of the puppies Midnight, Rapid and Spike and said the first thing that came to mind, 'she thought those names were cute.' He had tried to high tail it out of the house when his mother told him that he should take the three puppies his sister had named and give them to her, she thought that since Sara had named them and none of the others that she was particularly fond of them and would be heartbroken if they were to be given away. Joe chuckled as he remembered that, oh Sara was fond of them all right not of the puppies as his mother thought but of whom the names represented. He suddenly frowned and hoped the puppies weren't destroying his place as he walked back home. An hour later he was on the road again heading out of town towards a quiet spot where he could think, though he never expect to see Rapid Run 'running' along side him. It seemed the bullet train hadn't noticed him yet, he wondered if he was actually running a route or was just out for a 'drive'. Well he has no carriages, and besides why would there be a train route all the way out here anyway? He thought to himself. He beeped his horn getting the train's attention and put down his window. "You often come out this way?" he joked then inwardly cringed as it sounded like a bad pickup line.

"Only when I need to think." Rapid Run replied.

Joe wasn't sure he liked that answer. "Anything you want to talk about?" he asked.

The bullet train looked at him a moment then said, "not really."

"It's my sister, isn't it?" Joe suddenly said, "What's that woman done this time?" Rapid Run looked at him an annoyed look in his optics, he didn't know whether to shout at the male or smack him for talking about Sara like that. "Hey, she's my sister. I'm allowed to talk about her like that. Besides, she'd say the exact same thing about me." He added having a feeling he was being glared at. Finally becoming tired of talking to Rapid's vehicle mode Joe said, "there's a nice quiet spot up ahead, how about we talk about what she's done there." He then put up his window and drove away leaving one confused if slightly annoyed Rapid Run.

When the bullet train reached the area he found the human sitting on a picnic bench that had a nice view of the ocean. As he began to sit next to the male he heard him say, "she isn't as confident as she seems you know." Rapid Run gave him a confused look "you wanna run that by me again?" he asked.

Joe looked up at the mech sadness in his blue eyes "Sara may seem this overconfident person who can handle anything but she isn't, I should know." He looked back down at the table, sighed then over at the ocean view. "When you guys…left her she was an emotional wreck. She never smiled and she never laughed." He closed his eyes as he remembered back to just before his 'accident' to when the trains were taken off 'guard duty'. "I heard her crying in her room later that evening."

Rapid Run couldn't believe what he was hearing, she really did like them but then he thought or perhaps it was Midnight she was upset over. "I'm sure she was just upset about not being able to see Midnight anymore. She…" he stopped as he saw the male stare at him with a fiery anger.

"She was upset over all of you, Rapid Run." He said sternly. "Did you not hear what she said to both you and Rail Spike back at our parents house?" he asked rhetorically. "My sister is insecure about herself which is why I'm so protective of her, why I drive away any guy that even looks at her the wrong way. Because I know what would happen if they got to know the real her."

'You think it's bloody easy to tell them both that I love them as well as Midnight!' Sara's words going round in Rapid Run's head then the way she'd tried to comfort him when he was a little upset in the medbay. 'Just because Midnight's now…awake, doesn't mean I'm going to start ignoring you or go back on what I said at my place.' She even kept a hold of his hand as she tried to tell Midnight about her feelings. She was trying to reassure him, he knew that but he just couldn't shake the feeling that she would eventually forget about him and just stay with Midnight. He leaned back on his hands and looked over at the ocean view not realising that he'd sighed.

Joe watched him carefully and suddenly realised what the problem was he's scared he thought someone who spent three days taking care of Sara while she was upset and depressed over what she believed was her fault with what happened to Midnight Express. Someone who refused to let me take care of her, even though they knew it was best, is scared that she doesn't care about them? He then inwardly chuckled as he got up and headed to his car, taking out the 'item' he headed back to Rapid Run stood on the table and held the item in the bullet train's face.

Rapid Run jumped slightly when he felt something warm and wet touch his face, he looked down slightly and saw Joe was holding something that was light grey in colour and looked at it a few moments before recalling what Joe had told both him and Rail Spike before they returned to base 'our parent's dogs had puppies…there's a Rapid also' "this…is what she named after me?" he enquired. As he placed the small dog in his hand, he found it quite different to the 'Midnight' puppy whereas that puppy had barked whenever he went near Sara this one seemed quite…pleased to see him, wagging it's tail and jumping up on its hind legs every now and then as if to say 'play with me'.

Joe chuckled, pleased that Rapid Run had taken the dog so that he rest his arms that now felt like lead weights. "Yeah, as soon as she saw it's colour she said 'this one's definitely Rapid' she had a little trouble with naming Midnight and Spike though since there were two or three to choose from, but she had no trouble instantly called it Rapid. In fact, if I remember rightly, she wouldn't stop playing with you er him I mean."

Rapid Run gave a small smile behind his faceplate as he gently stroked the puppy.

"So you see, Rapid…" he stopped to give a small laugh as the puppy looked over at him and barked happily upon hearing the name Rapid. "Wrong Rapid, little one." He joked and looked back at the train "…Run" he continued stressing the 'run' part of the mech's name as if to teach the puppy to learn that it wasn't him he was talking to. "My sister cares for you just as much as she cares for Midnight Express or Rail Spike."