What's this? An update?

School, my dear people has started for me and summer has ended, unfortunately. And while I tried to finish this story this summer, I failed, but I'm not brought down by that fact. I'm glad I got to update a couple of stories and enrich them.

Well, you all know what school means, less free time, less time to write etc. And as always, I'll try my best to use the free time I have to update here.

So now, let's get on with the story, like we always do.

Everything felt so perfect. Everything felt so right.

I was laying in the grass, nude, in arms of my best friend. In the arms of the love of my life.

I felt loved, wanted, cared for. I felt amazing.

The early sun woke me up gently, the melody of birds chirping went into my ears in a true form of relaxation.

And the warmth of a certain someone's body made it all feel better.

"Good morning, beautiful." His deep voice embedded into my mind. I smiled as I turned around to face him.

"Hey." He brought his head down to kiss me. "Good morning to you, too."

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. A little caring today, aren't we?"

"It's not going to last forever, so enjoy it." I chuckled.

"Of course, love." I gently ran my hand over his cheek, enjoying the softness of his fake skin. His naked body pressed against mine.

"A little caring today, aren't we?" he chuckled, mimicking my words.

"Maybe. So what are we going to do today? Have any plans?"

He shrugged, as his hand looped over my waist. "Have anything on your mind you'd like to do?"

"Except lazing around? Not really." The hand that was looped around my waist started to caress it. It was a little ticklish. I suddenly got an idea. "We can go to the mall? I haven't been in a café for so long…" but then again, I didn't want to go to a café either. I got shot in one the last time I was there.

"It would be a great idea, had it not been for your encounter with guns. Though, I think you should go."

"I don't think I want to anymore." I shook my head.

"Why not?"

"I don't want history to repeat itself."

"I will be there."

"As if you can make a difference." I snorted.

"You think I can't?"

"Well… I still don't want to go."

"We are going."

"This conversation is over."

"It's over when I say it is. And it is not over. I will be there if anything happens."

I grew irritated. Couldn't he understand that I was still afraid? "You don't get it, do you."

"Don't get, what?"

"Ironhide, I'm still afraid. Afraid that this time, I could really die."

"I will be the-"

"You won't be able to do a thing! Even if you're there it makes no difference! Anything can happen even if you are there. You think the robbers will stop if they see you? No, they'll kill you."

"You mean, they'll shoot the holoform. They can't offline me."

"Baby, I don't want either of us to get hurt."

"Melissa, for Primus's sakes, we're just going out, nothing is going to happen." He cupped my face, trying to get the information into my head. I shook my head, getting away from his hands. "It's a very rare occasion that somebody tries to steal from a public property, in the middle of the day, with many bystanders."

"And yet, it happened to me." I rolled my eyes. This was getting nowhere.

"But you are stronger now, because of that."

He was right. "Well… yeah, but I don't want to go."

"Your fear will never stop if you keep avoiding it. You need to face it in order to get over it."

"And what if I don't want to face it?"

"I'll make you." He smirked, despite the serious discussion we were having.

"You think this is funny?" I didn't like this. I knew him too well. He was going to make me. And I wanted to avoid that. That incident already cost me a big amount of time trying to get to remember myself and the people I cared about.

"Not at all, Mel. I know how serious and how frightening this is for you. I understand it, completely. Which is why I need you to face your fear, otherwise you will never move on. You'll be afraid forever. And I don't want that to happen to you."

"I'll take my chances with being afraid forever, thank you."

"Not on my watch, you won't."

I snorted, a little amused by our conversation. "I don't want you controlling me."

"I know you don't. I know you've always been fond of your freedom."

"Thank you for understanding my needs, Hide."

"But you also need to understand mine," he looked at me straight in the eye, "I don't want you to be scared. And if I can do something about it, I will."

I knew he would. I put my fingers on the bridge of my nose, trying to figure this out. "Can we please talk about something else?"

"Not until you face your fear."

"Do you want me to get angry with you?"

"If it gets you to stop being afraid, I'll do whatever it takes."

"Alright mister, you got yourself into some serious trouble." I pointed a finger at him, "We'll go to that café, and I won't say a thing to you, because I'm mad at you."

"Are you serious?" he doubted I was.

"Damn straight." I huffed, getting up on my feet. "We are in a fight, and you're about to see what it's like to be ignored." I found his alt not too far away from where Hide and I were laying. I got to the trunk and was surprised to see my clothes in there. I started to put on my undergarments on.

"And when have I ignored you?" he got up from his laying position too, and in all his glory walked towards me.

I didn't answer.

"Oh, so that's what we're playing now, aren't we. Alright Mel, it was your call. You'll see that you won't make it." I could imagine him smirking from behind my back. I suppressed a chuckle as I put on my bra and then my shirt.

After I've got myself completely dressed, I turned around to see if Ironhide was still naked. Apparently, he wasn't, because when I turned around, he was completely dressed.

I walked towards his alt, sliding into the passenger seat. The door closed for me and the seatbelt did itself for me, too.

The seat massaging was turned on as well.

Ironhide was going to make this day a living hell for me, in every way. I just knew it.

His holoform found its way into the passenger seat as he began to drive out of the field and onto the paved concrete. It would be a good few hours until we got to the town.

The first couple of minutes were quiet, as I could almost hear him plotting something in that big robotic mind of his.

He put on some love songs through his radio. Then he put on party songs as well, to make me want to dance and sing in the car. It was torture.

"My name is Joanna, 'Anna, na na na na na na…"

Oh but that wasn't it. Ironhide can be a love struck idiot and a very caring person, but he can also torture you. Not physically, but in any way he likes to.

We entered the town, finally, but then he wanted to take my hand. I pulled it away. We were in an argument and I wanted his apology for making me do things I didn't want to. It was logical.

But he wouldn't end the torture, knowing Ironhide, he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted.

His hand trailed to my head, where his palm caressed my cheek. I moved my head aside, to stop the gentle touch, as I could hear him chuckling. Oh he was so getting beat after this.

He drove towards the mall. It wasn't long before he got to the parking lot of the mall.

It was a sunny, hot day with no clouds in the sky and warm weather. A perfect day to be outside.

But I knew if I was outside, I'd be with Ironhide, something I really wanted to avoid now.

He parked the truck as the truck's engine died out and my door clicked open. I didn't move. I didn't want to.

The seatbelt retracted itself as my door fully opened on its own.

I didn't want to face my fears!

What have I gotten myself into?

Ironhide was by my side in less than a second, with his hand offering a safe exit out of the truck. I acted like he wasn't there, as I got down on my own. "By the way, Bumblebee gave me something." he said as he walked back towards the trunk. He came back with a blue box. My wig box.

I took it and opened it. The brown, flat wig was in there. I took it out of the box and put it on. I put the box into my seat and closed the door. I looked at my reflection in the tinted glass as I ruffled the hair a little to look more natural.

"Are we ready to go?" he said as I just turned around, not daring to say a word to him. He may torture me through a lot of different ways, but I have girl power. As lame as it sounded, I hoped I did. I mean, this is Ironhide we're talking about.

I walked through the parking lot with Ron next to me. As we got out of the parking lot and into the entrance of the mall, he took my hand. I pulled it away. He's not winning this time.

"I see you've taken this seriously." I didn't reply.

I knew he was going to tease me a lot, make me regret doing this, but I had to do this. If not for me, then for him.

As we walked, I realized the mall had a lot of visitors today. A lot of glances were directed at me and Ron.

As if he could feel my sudden tension, he took my hand into his, entwining our fingers. For once, I didn't want to let go, and neither did he let me, hence why he entwined our fingers.

As he and I continued to slowly walk through the mall, we took the escalator to get to the second floor. The escalator was slow and as Ron and I stepped on the same stair, he moved closer to kiss me.

I almost forgot of our argument for that split second, but I turned my head around and his lips landed on my cheek. As I looked who was on the stairs after us, I saw a couple of teenage girls, staring at me and Ron.

Ron, as if not noticing them at all, continued with his talking, only to get ignored by me. "Still not good enough?" he smirked, despite his 'efforts'. I looked at him with an aggravated look and rolled my eyes.

The escalator came to an end as he and I stepped off, our hands still in each other's. We started to walk as I looked at the shops.

Ironhide could use some shopping torture.

I let myself smirk evilly. Ron caught the look, but said nothing about it. Oh, I'll get him good.

As we walked hand in hand, we started to near a café. It had a couple of places empty, perfect for us to sit in.

I felt my legs slowing down.

I could almost hear the gunshots.

I didn't want to get shot again.

It's always as a possibility.

I don't want it to happen!

I dug my feet into the tiles, I didn't dare move a step forward. People were looking at me strangely. Ron, who was an arm's length away, stopped and turned around. I shook my head violently, with my eyes wide and mouth a little open.

"Come on, nothing is going to happen." He reassured. I didn't care what he said. He tugged a little, but I didn't give in. "We had a deal, Mel." He was right, we did.

"I lied." I mockingly said, shooting him a 'go fuck yourself' look. I wasn't doing this, and no fricken deal would make me.

"No, you didn't." he came back and his other pulled me close to him by my waist. "Don't lie to me."

"Don't force me." I argued as I pushed him away lightly. I didn't want to cause a mess in the mall and get kicked out because of it.

"I never forced you into anything."

He's tortured me enough, he was going to get that shopping torture. Even I can be a sadist when I want to. "Can we make a deal?"

"We already did." He was a little confused.

"No, a new one."

"You tried to break this one, already."

"Yeah, but you'll forgive me right?" I sweetly said, trying to wrap him around my little finger.

He tilted his head and raised his eyebrow, as if dubiously deciding whether to forgive me, as our faces came closer and our arms instinctively went around each other. "Maybe. Depending on what you're offering."

I chuckled. "Say, we do something I like, for as long as I like and I'll go with you into the café."

"You must do as you said, otherwise I'm dragging you inside and you won't have a say in it."

"You really want me to get a heart attack, don't you."

"I just want you to feel safe." I sighed.

"Alright, my man. Let's do this."

Oh and did we do it. I had him go through every clothing and shoe shop in the mall, picking out dresses, high heels, sandals, flip-flops, skirts, shirts, blouses and a whole lot of other clothing, just so I could torture him.

And how did we pay? Courtesy of Galloway, the man who didn't even know we were feeding off of his bank account.

"How much more time need I spend here?" he was bored and he wanted to get out, meaning my form of torture was working.

"Oh, a couple of hours more, at least." I casually said, hearing him groan. "Having fun?" I said as I looked through the racks.

"Having the time of my life." He sacrastically said, as I could imagine him rolling his eyes.

"Just keep holding those bags, I'll be done in a moment."

"You said that twenty three times ago. Can we go now?"

"Nope, I like shopping."

"I hate it."

"Your loss." I shrugged as I picked out a shirt. "Do you like this?"

He groaned and hung his head back. "Sure, let's just get out of here."

"You haven't even looked at it!"

He looked at it with hate. "Just buy it."

"Do you like it?" I pushed.

He sighed. "Yes, Mel, I like it."

"Okay, and what about these shoes-"

He grabbed my forearm and tugged me to the cashier. "We're done."

"No, the shoes-"

"You bought twelve different pairs, I'm sure you're good for another year."

"No, no-"

And before I even knew it, we were facing the cashier. I sighed in defeat as I handed the shirt over to her. Ron took Galloway's credit card copy and handed it to her, performing the transaction successfully.

We walked out of the shop and stood in the centre of the mall. "Mel, did you really need any of these things?"

"Sure I did."

Maybe.

"Are you ready?"

"For what?" I played it. He cleared his throat and motioned with his head towards the café. "Oh, that. Well…"

"I'll be there with you, you can count on that. Don't worry, we're in this together."

I sat down on a nearby couch that the mall had. I sat on it, my head in my hands.

I felt the weight of another person sit beside me and I knew it was Ron. He put all the bags he carried with him from my shopping spree down on the floor.

"I'm just so scared, Ironhide. You wouldn't understand it. Once you're scared of something, you avoid it and not jump straight into it." I tried explaining.

"But I do, Mel, I do understand." He took my hand from my head and held it in his hands. "I'm scared of losing you, but we argue all the time and it's always a possibility. Doesn't mean I can do anything to stop it."

"But aren't you scared of…" I whispered, "Decepticons?"

He stood silent for a moment, brewing up his answer, "To be honest, I've never really thought about it."

"You're kidding."

"No, really. I mean, there was always excitement when I was about to go into battle, but fear? I don't think there was any."

"Right, because you're not afraid of anything."

"Damn straight." I actually laughed at his remark. He actually repeated what I said before. "Are we alright now? I don't want you to stay mad at me." I couldn't believe Ironhide's words. He always wanted to make everything right. No matter what.

"Sure. As long as you don't drag me into a café."

"Ah no, you're not getting away with it." I couldn't fool him. I knew it, I just couldn't. "Up." he stood up. "Café."

"I'm not your pet." I angered.

"No, but you're still not going to get away with it." I sighed in defeat. "Now, let's finish what we came here for." He picked up my bags and carried them. We started walking towards a café.

I looked around frantically for anyone that posed a threat. Anyone suspicious. Anyone with a mask, with anything…

"Mel." I felt a nudge on my arm. "Snap out of it. Humans are going to think you're crazy."

"I might be." I still looked around, half shaking.

"Come on." He took my hand, and guided me towards a café and made me sit down on the chair at the table for two. "You're going to be fine."

"Uh-huh." I looked around, as if I could prevent something that might occur.

"You can't let your fear keep you from living. Relax Mel. I'll be constantly scanning everyone and anything."

As if that was any consolation for my frightened soul.

"Hello, what would you like to order?" a kind man came towards us, with a little block pad and pen in his hands.

I tried to calm myself and be civilized. "One mocha coffee, please." Ironhide looked confused, not knowing what to order. How could he? He's never been in a café. Not a human one. "Make that two mochas." I smiled. The waiter nodded and went off.

"What is this mocha coffee?"

"It's basically coffee with chocolate. I love it."

"I don't know if you should drink that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Exactly, why wouldn't I?"

"Your condition." He said.

"I'm in perfect condition, I'm not going to fall apart. I can drink coffee."

"I'm uncertain of how it will affect you."

"Relax, will you?"

"No."

I waited a couple of moments, before deciding something. "I'm going to the ladies' room."

"Who's room?"

I almost laughed, "Ladies' room. It's a… public bathroom." How do I explain this to him? "I'll be back soon."

"I'll be waiting."

I went to the restroom, I washed my hands and used the toilet. I fixed my wig a little and went back to Ron.

On my way out, I saw a lot more girls around our table than they were before I went to the restroom.

I walked towards Ironhide as I saw a brunette, roughly around my age, approach Ironhide. Her body language immediately told me she had some suggestive actions in mind, but who knows. Maybe she wanted to ask him what time it was?

Who was I kidding. I'm dating a God. I should be used to girls drooling over him by now. But then again I didn't get out much, did I?

Ron saw me coming and he motioned the girl away, effectively dismissing her, as if she was never there.

"Back!" I smiled, trying to brighten up the atmosphere between us.

He looked uninterested. "Joy." He boringly said. Wasn't he glad to see me? Did I push things too far? I did ignore him a lot and refused everything he said today…

"Oh…" I sadly said and sighed, as any sign of real joy and happiness vanished from me. Maybe I was a complete bitch today.

"Mel, I was only joking." He took my hand from the table and grinned. I pulled it away, shooting him a hurt look and looking to the ground.

"I'm not in the mood, Ironhide."

The mocha coffees arrived and so did the bill. The waiter put in on the table and left.

I felt like leaving, too. Except I didn't know where to go.

We stood silent for second, minutes. Maybe hours, I didn't know. I slowly drank my coffee as Ron did his. I didn't care how his holofom could eat or drink. Ron was really irritating me.

At this moment, I realized just how complicated our relationship was. We were different species, for goodness sakes. And we argued all the time, like an old married couple. But we always came back to each other. He was my best friend. The one who knew me to my core. I loved every part of him and I knew he felt the same way. He protected me like he would his little sister.

But these arguments… God, they were frustrating.

"You see? It isn't so bad after all." Ron suddenly spoke up.

"What?"

"You aren't afraid."

It took my brain seconds to connect it all. He was right. I wasn't scared at all. I didn't even think about getting shot or robbed or whatever.

I looked around the café calmly. There was no reason to fear.

I looked to Ironhide. His calm and gentle eyes looked at me, as I stood up. I took his hands in mine and he stood up as well. I quickly hugged him, oh so tightly. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Ironhide." His hug was returned to me. "I love you so much. You're putting up with all this crap, just to make me feel better. You don't know how much that means to me."

A kiss was planted on my head. "It's alright." His head bowed down to kiss me. "I'll do anything for you." His eyes and mine connected with an invisible line, as it seemed that time stopped for us. Enchanted in this moment, we stood silent.

I actually used one of my favorite songs here: Allexinno Starchild – Joanna. I really like it.

So what do you guys think of this chapter? I think it's a bit sadder (or more argumentative) than my chapters usually are, but hey, that's what happens when you listen to a wide range of songs through the whole night!

Not that I regret any of it :D

And that's why this chapter is enormous.

But, please review? It took me a lot of time to make it happen.