Hey everyone! I'm back and will try and keep things brief!

I went on an awesome camp and have written most of the next chapter already. Will probably post it soon be be back on track with my chapters. As always, I would like a Beta, or you guys can just point out any mistakes I make.

PrimeSPARROW - Yes, he died. No, you didn't miss anything. All will be revealed :)

Sweettea1 - Because he is a self-absorbed, egotistical son of a... Lovely lady who didn't raise him properly. And yes, I would not only tip Will's chair, I would probably also douse him with ice water. XD

Tai Prime - :3 Well, here it is! :)

As always I own nada. Not the band Prime Circle nor Transformers.

And please RnR! Enjoy :3

The night was silent save the soft whooshing sound of the two trucks speeding on the pitch black roads. The stars were their companions in the night, keeping watched as the moon waned as the time passed. Arabella was driving as fast as she dared, she knew they would have to complete their journey in half the original amount of time.

She was not happy.

"Why do I need to take an Autobot with me? Why can't I just take a trailer?"

"We do not have trailers, there is not enough space in your vehicle alone, and Bulkhead is an experienced war veteran. He shall act as your bodyguard and escort for your journey back. You will need all the protection you can get and the extra carrying space he provides will be invaluable."

"But…"

"The decision is final. Once he has safely escorted you back to your previous place of residence, he will return post haste. Is that understood?"

She was furious. She had worked so hard to keep her existence a secret, to be hidden from the world. Now, not only does she now suddenly have four extra occupants, the stupid alien will be able to tell them exactly where she lives!

Well, at least she had not been joking when she had said she had an extra set of caves.

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. She had bitten off more than she could chew.

She had been given her four recruits. Four young men, each of them green behind the ears. They had been given basic military training, yes, but… but they all lacked experience.

Timothy Summers was a tall young man with brown hair and brown eyes. He had a strong, angular jaw line and was thin lipped. She pegged him to be approximately 18 years old and had quickly realized that he would rather spend his time in a quiet corner with a book than be out rough-housing with the others.

Kyle Hansen was short, about a head shorter than Arabella was. He was a African American with long dreads. He had a round face and a fiery personality, and easily took offense if anyone regarded his height. He was brash, outspoken, but deep down he was reliable. He was that one reliable person that would always have your back, no matter the threats he made. Arabella guessed his age to be 19

James Nollsworth was a tall, thin and gangly lad with black hair and dark eyes. His drawn, pale face made him look sinister, with eyes that seemed to bore into your soul. He rarely spoke and seemed to observe everything that was going on around him. Arabella had a hard time reading him, and took him to be 23.

Andrew Grosse was a freckled red head with bright green eyes. He was just shorter than Arabella was, but she could see that he would soon outgrow everyone. He had a childlike, innocent face and she realized that he could not have been a day over 16. She had yet to make a proper assessment on his personality, but she had realized something fairly quickly. He had a nervous stutter and butterfingers.

She had her work cut out for her.

Presently she was driving Big Blue with Timothy nodding off beside her. He was trying very hard to stay awake, bless his soul, but she could see his head nodding periodically. The other three were in the large army green truck that was driving right behind her, though she couldn't see anyone driving.

Bulkhead had seemed nonplussed about his new 'mission'. He had taken the orders without complaint, as a soldier should. Arabella couldn't shake the feeling that he was watching her from back there.

Her mind wandered back to the last couple of preparation days before they had left.

-A few days ago-

Arabella was sitting on one of the raised platforms against the far wall of the room. She wanted to be left alone, hence the high and lonely spot, but she also wanted to observe the going on's, hence the high and lonely spot. She rested her chin on her crossed fore-arms that were resting on the metal railing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She threw a glance in the direction of the voice. Coming to settle next to her on the railing was Optimus Prime's holoform. "Or I think that was how the human saying went." He joked, softly smiling. She turned her gaze back to the scurrying people.

"Shouldn't you be in a meeting?" She asked in a monotone voice. She heard him chuckle softly.

"I am."

She looked at him, head tilted as she frowned. She gaped a few times, but words failed her. She huffed.

"I'm not following." She conceded. Optimus' gaze turned to the men and women that were running different tasks down below.

"My physical body is at the meeting. I, however, got bored and found you here." Arabella was quiet, trying to make sense of what he had said. "I've split my processing power. I'm concentrating on the meeting and conversing with you separately but at the same time."

Arabella's mouth split into a slight grin.

"So, you're hearing voices?"

Optimus started laughing. Not loudly, but a laugh none the less. It was a deep chuckle that made her smile. "You could say that." There was a moment of silence between them. "Thank you."

Arabella was confused.

"For what?"

"For making me laugh. It's been a while." They continued to stare down at the busy workers in silence again, lost in their thoughts. Arabella frowned.

"Hey, Opty." Optimus looked at her, the one corner of his mouth turning up in a smile. "Pardon me for being blunt, but why aren't you dead?" His smile disappeared.

"In the… In the years that we have been on earth, we came upon an ancient Cybertronian artifact left here by our ancestors. It is called the Matrix of Leadership." He held out his palm. An image of a dagger-like object flickered right above it. It emitted a faint blue glow. "It is an item of great power, and could tip the scales in any direction." He stared intently at the object. "After we had found it, we placed it into hiding once more to keep it safe from the Decepticons." He closed his hand into a fist and the flickering holographic image faded.

"After Megatron killed me, we went underground. Ratchet slaved for an Earth month to repair my body. They made the dangerous journey to get the Matrix and used it to bring me back to life." He stared into nothingness, lost in thought. Arabella only stated one thing.

"Huh. Neat."

They went back to their prior silence.

"Arabella…" Prime started softly. Arabella looked at him with eyes large in anticipation for his question. "What happened between you and Simon?" Her face became dark and drawn. She was quiet for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she answered.

"It started when I was about eight years old. My parents had been happily married until then. My big, wonderful daddy was serving in the army." Her voice was cool and emotionless. "And then one night, I heard shouting. Turns out he had been cheating on her with some of the women from the base. Mom had found out and confronted him. It was a screaming match. Simon was drunk. He, he slapped my mother, calling her names before storming out of the house. Mom had been a wreck." She took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"The next day he came back, saying sorry and promising to fix things. And it worked, for a while." She became lost in her telling. "But Simon never stopped cheating on her. And Mom knew. Mommy knew, but she stayed. She stayed because she believed they could still save their marriage. Mommy always stayed.

"Simon became manipulative. He started telling Mom she wasn't good enough, that she can't do anything right, that she was cheating on him. She would deny everything, but that would make him mad. He would say that he didn't do anything wrong, that he could do whatever he liked. And he drank. Good Lord he just never stopped drinking. He would be sober when he was on duty, but at home he was always drunk." Tears started rolling over her cheeks. Her hands started to shake, but she didn't notice either.

"He started beating her. He had this wooden baseball bat that he used on her. She always explained away the bruises, saying they were accidents. She did this for years. Then one night…" She faltered, putting her hand over her mouth before taking a shaky breathe and continuing. "He began beating her with the bat again, but he was so angry that he wouldn't stop. I jumped in front of her, trying to get him to stop, but then he turned on me.

"He beat us within an inch of our lives and kicked us out the front door. He didn't want to see his 'slut wife' or 'bastard child' ever again. It was raining that night. Pouring. We both had severe concussions and broken bones. I guess one of the neighbors saw us and took us to the hospital. The police got involved, but couldn't pin anything to the Commander of the army." She practically spat out, venom dripping from her words. "He barely had the decency to divorce my mother. We worked hard, Mom got a job, we found a place to live and we got ourselves back on our feet. I worked hard in school and pulled off straight A's to get a scholarship. I can't even remember what for anymore." She paused, pulling her knees to her chest.

"But the day he kicked us out into the rain, that was the day he died to me. He was no longer Daddy. He was a monster." She pulled her knees closer. Optimus sat, shocked. He had originally had a vague concept of what might have happened, but to hear it completely floored him. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but she shifted away from the contact. He dropped his hand and they were quiet, lost in their thoughts.

-Present-

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face in an attempt to keep herself alert. She was starting to get tired, but she could not swap places with Will anymore. He had stayed back on the base.

Yes, he wanted to come, but Arabella refused so blatantly that he had nearly wet himself. She had stated, quite passionately, that he would be of more use at the base and that his wife needs him more than she did. Well, actually Arabella said if Will died she was pretty sure Sarah will find her and kill her slowly. Will wasn't happy, but eventually relaxed a little when he found out Bulkhead would be traveling with them.

Her green tinted world was starting to shine brighter and she realized dawn was coming. She started slowing down, signalling that she wanted to turn off. Bulkhead followed her lead and pulled over behind her. She got out of the car, stretched and surveyed the area. Bulkhead observed what she was doing, but said nothing. She got back into the car and moved it into the shade underneath a group of tall trees that were standing nearby. She got out and scratched around in the back, finally pulling out the tarpaulin.

She started spreading it over the car when a second set of hands joined her. She looked up and straight into the bright blue eyes of Holographic Bulkhead. He was a large man, a few inches taller than she was with wide shoulders and muscles, lots of rippling muscles. He had quite a wide jaw and a short face, his black hair buzz-cut closely to his skull. He was in the typical army uniform of the olive cargo pants with black combats boots. With that he wore a white vest with dog-tags dangling from his neck.

What truly caught her attention was the amount of scars on his arms and face. They were generally very narrow, but here and there they showed the signs of having once been large gashes. There was no doubt that he was a front-line, war-hardened soldier, but his eyes carried a kind tone. Sure, he could intimidate the pants off you, but she had a feeling that deep down he was a teddy-bear.

A big, scar covered, scary teddy-bear.

"Thanks." She whispered softly as the car vanished into the surrounding darkness.

"You're welcome." He breathed back softly. She tilted her head to his alt form.

"They asleep?" He nodded again, leaning gently against the back of Big Blue while staring at his alt form.

"I kinda feel sorry for them." He stated in a hushed voice with crossed arms. Arabella raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because Will told me what you had put him through. I can't imagine how they're gonna survive." They both shared a soft laugh. "I could just imagine you running behind him with a riding crop and whipping him into shape." Arabella acted mock-outraged.

"Shame on you, Bulkhead! I'm not that primitive! Imagine that! Using a riding crop? What kind of a barbarian do you take me for?" She shook her head before smiling softly, pausing for effect. "I use a taser."

Bulkhead sputtered loudly as he tried to contain his guffaws. He clapped both his hands over his mouth to keep the sound from coming out and ended up rolling on the pine covered ground trying to contain himself. His alt form was rocking as he laughed.

Luckily he didn't wake the slumbering occupants and finally stopped wheezing. He stood up, wiped away the holographic tears and giggled at the image his imagination had gladly offered.

"You should have been a comedian. You're gold!" Arabella blushed slightly.

"Only when I'm tired. Now if you don't mind, I would actually like to get some sleep. We still have a couple of days of trekking to do." Bulkhead nodded and lifted a piece of the tarpaulin so that she could climb back into Big Blue. "Sleep tight." She whispered as she climbed back into the driver's seat. Bulkhead nodded and fizzed out of existence.

::Bulkhead to Optimus.::

::Optimus receiving Bulkhead. Go ahead.::

::We have stopped for the nigh… er, day. We will recharge and then proceed to continue the journey when night falls.::

::Good. Any 'Con activity out there?::

::Negative. It's pretty quiet out.::

::Good.:: Optimus paused for a brief moment. ::Anything else to report?::

::Arabella is a fragging funny femme.:: He sent Optimus a recording of their conversation in a data burst. He waited with baited breath for his boss to finish watching. He heard Optimus chuckle when he replied.

::I will most certainly show Captain Lennox later. I do think it would be a good time to go into recharge as well, Bulkhead.:: Optimus suggested.

::Aye, aye, sir. Bulkhead, over and out.::

::Over and out.:: There was a soft clicking sound as the comm-link clicked off. Bulkhead stayed awake long enough to watch an orange sunrise before he was finally lulled to sleep.