I woke up groaning because I felt tremendous weight on my stomach. Why were Amanda's legs so heavy? I shoved her legs away and got on my own. A shower was something I was planning to do, along with washing my hair. I took what was necessary from my still unpacked baggage and went for the bathroom. As I was passing by the living room, I saw Ron watching TV with Jennifer. Though Ron was on the couch and Jen on the armchair and quite a distance away. I waved at him, but he waved me to come towards him.

I obediently came with all the fresh clothes, shampoos and body wash in tow. "What do you need me for?" I said.

"Whether you like it or not, you still have self-defense practice."

"What? No. I don't want to."

"I didn't ask you." He said, but I just growled at him. He chuckled, clearly pleased he was teasing me. I got in the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I laid the clean clothes and a towel on the basin and took my clothes off and showered. After I got my hair done and rinsed the shampoo out, I got out of the shower and put on my clothes and managed to dry my hair pretty quickly. I put it up in a high pony tail to fit my sporty figure as I was wearing a black track suit.

I got out of the bathroom, putting the dirty clothes in the hamper on the way out and somehow the sight in front of me in the living room didn't surprise me. Ron sat in the same place as he had been before I went into the bathroom.

"Ready?" He said as he stood up. I sighed.

"Sure. Where are we going to fight?"

"You're going to fight?" Jen suddenly stood up. I nodded.

"Training. I have to."

"Oh."

"Yeah." I said. "Where to?" I looked outside, only to find it to be a beautiful day outside.

"There is a field not far from here."

"I'm fighting on a meadow? You have to be kidding me."

"No, I'm being serious. Unless you want to battle someplace else?"

"Isn't there like a gym or something?" I didn't want to get dirty. I just took a shower. He seemed to be in thought.

"Come on, we're going to this 'gym' of yours." He said and exited the house, going into his truck.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours." I said to Jen and exited the house, too. I got into the passenger seat and slid the seatbelt around me as Ironhide rolled out of the driveway and began driving to the gym. After about 20 minutes of babbling and listening to the radio, we arrived at the gym.

It was huge and as I looked around, I found the fighting ring in the middle of the gym and the various thingamajigs around it. Ron and I approached the ring, and it was empty. Apparently, we didn't need to ask anyone for permission, so we just took the gloves and got in. The gym was pretty empty, anyway, with barely anyone training in here. It looked... deserted.

"Warm up and ready your fighting stance." Ron said, waiting patiently for me to warm up. After I did that, I took that fighting stance of his he was boring me with to death, and we started circling around each other in the ring.

I punched, but he agilely ducked. I punched again and missed by a hair's width.

"You're getting better, kid."

"Don't call me kid." I said as I ducked his punch. "It annoys me and I'm not a kid, I'm going to college."

"Makes no, oof, difference." He said as I punched him in the stomach.

"Ha! Take that you old geezer."

"Oy, is that so?" He managed to punch me in the shoulder.

"Ouch." I regained my stance. "Yes."

"Less talking, more punching." I punched again and hit him in the collarbone. I think he actually let me hit him. "Good. You should use more force when punching in a weak spot." He put his arms down. I took that as a pause in the fight. "Try kicking."

"We never practiced that." I told him.

"No, but I did say try." I kicked his hip lightly. "Really?" He gave me a look. I shrugged and kicked him in the ribs, though I ended up hitting his arm instead. "Come on, kid, you can do better."

"Trying to get me to rage, aren't you?" I kicked him in the abdomen. It was easier to kick, there were lesser chances of me getting hit in the face. He caught my leg. But greater chances of me falling flat on my butt. He pulled my leg upwards and I landed on my ass. "Shit." I groaned.

"Don't swear."

"Shut up." I got up and started kicking him again.

After many times of falling on my ass, I didn't bother getting up.

I landed on my ass, once again, and I laid myself on the mat. "Come on, kid, get up." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Ron, you're killing me. Everything hurts." I whined.

"It should. Now get up." He growled impatiently. "Try kicking again."

I sighed and went for a kick, but he flipped me over and I fell painfully on the ground on my chest with my arms underneath my breasts so I didn't hurt them. "You're a sadist, you know that?" I groaned.

"Up." He chuckled.

"No."

"Melissa. Up."

"No."

"Come on, get up. We have to keep training."

"No." I wasn't anything if I wasn't stubborn.

"Melissa, stand up for Primus's sake!"

"No!"

"If you don't get up, I'll pick you up." I harrumphed at him. He got me by the armpits and lifted me up. I was going to play dummy on him. I didn't stand, instead I portrayed a rag doll, completely numb to the world. "What the pit are you doing?" He asked as I didn't stand and he had to hold me.

"Making your life miserable." I snorted. "Listen, I'm not a fighter."

"You will be when I'm done with you. Stand straight." I gave in finally. I stood straight, but didn't bother taking a fighting stance.

"Happy?" I muttered.

"Pleased. A couple of more times and we'll be done. Deal?"

"Deal." I said as I punched and kicked. He evaded them and threw me on the floor again.

"Kid, kid, kid… I thought I taught you better." He mocked me. Rage mode, here I come. I started bashing at him and swinging and kicking and flipping and whatnot. I portrayed some kung-fu moves from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies, landing a hefty amount of them successfully on Ron. "Ah, there we go." He said as he fought back.

We battled for some time, but then again he threw me on the floor once again and I landed on my back this time. "Ouch." I said, groaning as I lifted my head from the mat. "That hurt."

"C'mon Mel, get up." he laughed.

"Give me a minute, okay?" I slowly turned to my side, rubbing my face. He huffed in annoyance.

"What? You think your opponent is going to politely stand aside so you could catch your breath? That's not going to happen, Mel."

"How would you know? Have you ever asked?"

"What? Of course I haven't asked!"

"Then how do you know they wouldn't give you time to rest if you hadn't asked?" I pushed it. I got into a sitting position. Ron took off his right hand glove and brought it to the bridge of his nose.

"One minute. That's all you get." He tiredly said.

"Thank you." I stood up quickly, but something cracked in my spine. I froze. "Shit. Oh no. Not now! Oh shit, shit, shit…" I said in a frightened voice.

"What's the matter?"

"My back… it's stiff. I can't move."

"Oh Primus… Come."

"I can't freaking move!" He took off my gloves gently and threw them on the ground carelessly. Slowly, very slowly, he walked with me to the end of the ring. He exited the ring and managed to pick me up from the outside, bridal style. I winced in pain.

"Sorry." He said as he jumped from the base. I winced again. He brought me to the truck and put me in the back of the cab. "Do we need to call Ratchet?" I made an affirmative sound. He sighed and moved to the front after he secured me in the back with the seatbelts. He started driving soon.

"Is it bad?" He inquired from the front.

"Yeah. It hurts like hell if I try to move."

"Frag." He sped up, but kept driving steady. After some time of staring at the ceiling of the truck, I could feel him stopping slowly, so that I wouldn't fall over. He managed to pick me up somehow without making me wince. We got into the house after Ron opened the door, by some miracle.

We got in the living room and Amanda and Jennifer's voices immediately rose as they saw us enter from the kitchen. It must have been a worrying sight.

"What happened?" Jennifer asked, tension in her voice rising.

"An accident while training. Would you be so kind and move the pillows so that she could be comfortable?" Ron asked her. She, I think she nodded because I couldn't really see much, and I heard her moving and patting some pillow, presumably the one I was going to be laying on.

Ron put me on the couch and I yelped in pain.

"Melissa, what the hell happened to you? Why can't you move?" Amanda was by my side shortly after I had been put on the couch.

"Just an accident, I'll be okay." I assured her, though it was more like I was reassuring myself more than her.

"Ratchet will be here within the next couple of hours." Ron said.

"Who's Ratchet?" Amanda and Jen said in sync.

"The Army's medical officer."

"Army?" Jen asked.

"Yeah, Ron's in the army too, he's their, um…"

"I'm the army's weapons specialist." He proudly stated. I could almost hear their jaws drop. All of a sudden, my stomach growled. I didn't eat anything.

"Ron?" He turned his gaze to me immediately. "I'm hungry." I whined.

"Er… is there something edible in the house?" Ron turned to Jenifer. She seemed to think for a while.

"Oh! There are fresh bananas! Would you like some, Mel?"

I hummed in approval as she went to the kitchen to get me some. Ron took the armchair and pushed it to my end of the couch. Jen returned with the banana as Ron sat on the armchair. She gave him the banana as he peeled it off and brought it to my mouth. I opened my mouth and he slid the banana in. I took the bite and munched on it and then swallowed it.

I repeated that action until the banana was long gone. He gave the banana skin to Jen, who took it and went to the kitchen.

"Ah shit. Mel, I have to get to class, Mom's gonna drive me. Are you two going to be okay?" Amanda worryingly asked.

"Yeah, good luck with your class." I said as happily as I could. She gave my hand a squeeze and then she and Jen went for the door. Once the door was shut, Ron and I were once again alone in the living room. There was a tense silence for a long while, until Ron broke it.

"Primus Melissa, I am sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you this far."

"It's okay, don't worry. It'll pass."

"No. I should have known your species isn't as endurable as ours. This is exactly what your uncle has warned me about."

"Hey you, don't beat yourself up for it." I felt thirsty. "If you want to make yourself useful, could you bring me a glass of water?" He nodded and went for the kitchen. A couple of seconds later, he sat back on the armchair and brought the glass to my mouth. I drank the whole glass, making an 'aah' sound at the end. "Thank you." I told him. "Can you find the TV remote?" I asked. He ruffled around the couch a bit and managed to find it.

He gave it to me and I flipped through the channels. There was absolutely nothing on, so I turned it off. Silence struck the living room again.

"Ron?" I caught his attention. I may have been paralyzed a bit, but I was going to use it. I was in a mood. I shifted my gaze towards my hand and fiddled with my fingers. He seemed to take the hint and took my hand in his. I crooked a smile at him.

"What am I going to do with you?" He said, looking at me in the eyes, his face holding a soft expression.

"To be honest, I don't know what to do with myself at the moment." I smiled at him. He chuckled. "Can we not train ever again?"

He sighed. "No. I will teach you everything you need to know and then we may stop. 'May' being the key word." He teased.

"Ha ha, I'm laughing my ass off. Not." I huffed. "I can't believe this happened to me." I muttered. He squeezed my hand reassuringly, carefully bringing it to my stomach to rest there.

"You're going to be alright. Ratchet will fix you."

"As long as he doesn't drug me, you know as well as I do, that would end badly."

"Yes, unfortunately I do." He said as I squeezed his hand again.

"Listen, I'm going to sleep, so…"

"I understand. Rest." He knew better than to ruffle my hair, so he just cupped my cheek and rubbed his thumb on it gently. If I could, I would have leaned into the touch, but I just smiled at him. Eventually, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

A couple of days later…

"Ratchet, I'm fine, see?" I stood up once again from the couch, since I was fully recovered. At some point, Ratchet had told Ron to massage my neck and back with this balm Ratchet invented. Which included me taking off my shirt and someone unzipping my bra. I was against the idea, but Ratchet said that when my health was at stake, there was no negotiating.

So Amanda decided to help one day. Ron managed to turn me on my chest when Ratchet arrived for the first time. Amanda took my shirt off and unzipped my bra, but let Ron do the honors.

It was like a massage, like I had gone to heaven. Ron rubbed the balm on the skin on my spinal cord and neck. At one point, I fell asleep and I was embarrassed, because Amanda decided it was funny to tease the temporarily paralyzed. I was going to get back at her.

So now, I had to convince Ratchet that I was fine.

"See? I can punch, duck, run, everything!" I said as I demonstrated.

"Alright. You are fully healed. But be careful." He said as I nodded.

"Bye Ratchet." I said as he went for the door. I shut it behind him. "Well, I'm good. Now what? Amanda's got class and Jen's working. I'm bored." I said, jumping on the couch. An idea popped into m mind, like it always does. "What if…" I caught Ron's attention. "…we go to that meadow of yours and I get to check out your real form! Please!" I exclaimed, jumping off the couch.

"I can't, I might get seen." Ron said, chuckling.

"In a meadow? No, we'll find a forest! Yeah, nobody will see you there! Please, I really want to!"

"Alright. I guess I can make that happe-oof!" He said as I jumped on him, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Thank you! Let's go!"

"Eager, aren't we?" He said as we got out of the house, leaving a paper taped on the door, telling them we were going for a drive.

"Duh, I mean, I was on that couch for three days! I want some fresh air, I want to run!" We got in the truck and Ron began to drive to the destination. As the radio, now automatically turning on, played a club song, I turned the volume up, my party side taking its turn. I started turning my head in various directions, my hair flying across my face as I brought up a hand in the air.

"There's a side to you I haven't seen." Ron commented.

"You just haven't had the chance to see it, yet." I grinned, calming myself. After our long drive, we arrived to this meadow, it was out in the open and if Ironhide wasn't a truck we never could have reached this place. The height of his truck allowed him to go to the meadow, where otherwise other cars couldn't. After we were deep inside the meadow, he stopped driving and I exited the truck, while Ron flickered out of existence. "Are you going to transform now?" I asked him, and he answered with a wondrous transformation. The truck was soon replaced by a giant, gloss black robot.

He put his hand on the ground and I climbed into it gingerly. He brought me up to his chest level, holding a hand under his, that if I fell he would catch me. He started walking towards a nearby forest and we reached the forest and also reached a clearing just as we exited it. It wasn't really a dense forest, so Ironhide could walk freely and not bump into a tree or branch.

He found an old oak tree in the middle of the clearing and sat himself down there. I was resting in his palm inside his hand, which was on his one bent knee. He moved his other hand, pointed a finger at me and slowly started to scratch my back. I 'aah'ed at his touch, but his, engine I think it was, started to purr.

"You're spoiling me, you know that?" I told him as the scratching of back was simply amazing.

"I'll spoil you all I want." He retorted. I had to bring something up. I had to ask him about our 'relationship'. I couldn't hold it in myself anymore.

"Hey um, could you put me down and turn on your holoform?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Just do it. Please." I began to beg. I started to hate myself. But my heart told me otherwise.

He did as I asked him to and a figure of Ron stood in front of me, in front of Ironhide. "What's the matter?" He asked, taking a step towards me.

"I…" How do I say this? "You remember when, uh-that freaky red eyed robot attacked me?" I started. He nodded in response and added a 'mhm'. Oh, I should continue. "Do you remember what happened after that? When you… saved me?" My heart wanted to jump out of my chest.

"Where are you going with this?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest and giving me the eyebrow.

It'd be best if I was just out with it. "You do remember… what happened, don't you?" I sincerely hoped he did. Otherwise I'd be a complete moron.

"Oh, I do. What of it?" He blurted it out, trying to make it sound casual, though even Ron failed as some things. Like, keeping me unharmed, for instance. Suddenly, some sort of cramp pained my lower leg, causing me to bend myself and grab my right calf.

I winced in pain as my butt hit the ground harshly and the cramp stopped harassing my muscle. Just as I looked up, I saw Ron towering over me. "Need a hand?" He offered. I took it and as he pulled me up, he used a bit more force than necessary and I accidently bumped into his chest with my own.

"Oh, sorry." I said, taking a very small, almost unnoticeable, step back, but our chests were still touching. He still held my hand in his as we gazed in each other's eyes. Little did we know that our eyes locked.

It was like time stopped. I didn't see Ironhide's robot mode. I didn't see anything around us. Just him.

I only saw Ron, and all of his pride and beauty. Somehow, his arms moved around my waist and mine locked around his neck.

"…Ron?" I absently said, my heart racing, as if knowing what was going to happen and wishing with every ounce of it that it came true.

"Hmm?" He muttered, very slowly closing the distance between us.

"I… I really like you." I said it, just like that. I hadn't even realized I said it, but he stopped moving for a second. Just for that split second, my heart stopped racing. Had I said something wrong?

He seemed to get out of his gaze, his expression the softest and kindest I've ever seen him have. His lips were so close to mine, they almost brushed them. I gradually closed my eyes, as I've seen him do the same.

I could just hear, "I really like you, too." just before I completely closed my eyes and this time…

We kissed, like a real kiss should have been.

Sparks erupted all around us, like a dream came true. His lips were so perfect on mine, our mouths and tongues shifting effortlessly, to create heaven in each other. I pulled his head even closer to mine, as he pulled my waist closer to him.

It was a battle of the wills and tongues, and Ron clearly won, because I found myself on the grass with him towering over me, kissing me passionately and not wanting to stop any time soon. I decided to take over, as I turned him to the other side, so that now I was in the lead and in control.

I never knew how perfect and wonderful kissing could be. After my breath was gone and we were both panting, I had to break our first 'real kiss' and I laid on him, my head resting contently on his chest just under his chin. His left hand was intertwined with mine as I held it close to me, and his right one was scratching my back gently.

My left leg was on the ground, but the right one was laying somewhat over him. If I could, I think I would have died from the beauty of the moment.

"That, Ron… was amazing." I said, giving him a full peck on the cheek and nuzzling my nose in it. I could smell his wonderful perfume again, and I just wanted to be lost in it.

"No Melissa, you were amazing." He said kissing my forehead and snuggling me closer to him.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first kiss.