A/N: I know I've said this a lot. But the feedback you guys have given me just makes my day! I love seeing all the reviews, favorites, and alerts I've been getting. It really makes me feel happy knowing that my writing is being enjoyed so much. :) I just can't thank you guys enough for your continued support of this story. :)

Guest: Sadly, as much as I love Ratchet, he's dead in this story. Everyone who died in the movies is gone. Which is why I'm bringing in First Aid.

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CHAPTER 23
Flirtations and Rides

Mark was having a very bad day, and it had hardly even started. Perhaps, it was just because of his exhaustion, considering he'd been awakened in the early hours of the morning by another incident of the Dinobots trying to go rogue. But if it wasn't it didn't change the fact that he had barely dragged himself out of bed that morning to take the half an hour ride to school. If it weren't that, it might have been the fact that he'd been assigned two papers in place of final exams, which were coming in close to three weeks. But either way, he was frustrated, and most of all, he was ready for the day to be over. He sighed quietly, closing his locker as he prepared for third period math.

As he turned around, he bumped into a young girl, nearly jumping as books toppled. "I am so sorry!" Mark shouted "I didn't see you coming, and I'm tired as hell." He crouched down, beginning to pick up the figures books "I'm so clumsy sometimes, I can't even..."

As Mark stood handing the books over, his face paled. It was the Maria girl, the one that he'd already walked into once before. And to say that he was embarrassed by the fact that this was the second time in a row was an understatement. "You know, if you just wanted to talk to me, you could use a new approach." Maria teased playfully "It's fine, really. I get it." She explained.

Mark smiled a little bit, trying to catch himself. "Is that a bit of an accent I hear? Sounds... Italian maybe?" He questioned.

"Good catch." Maria replied with a bit of a smile "Most people don't really notice it much. It's kinda repressed, even though it comes out sometimes. It's mostly on my fatha's side of the family though." She nearly covered her mouth at the pronunciation of "father" "You know, like that." She laughed.

Mark gave a small chuckle, though he was visibly nervous. She was actually talking to him, him. He definitely wasn't expecting this after what Tessa had said about her popularity. "I guess I should kinda introduce myself in case this happens again." He held out a hand slowly "I'm Mark..." He introduced himself.

"Maria." She took his hand and shook it.

"Yeah, I kinda know. You're friends with my buddy, Tessa, right?"

Maria nodded her head, smiling a little and tilting her head. "Yeah, you could say that, we were closer when we were younger though. She has two years on me now, and it's high school, so." She shrugged her shoulders a little bit "Hey, I couldn't figure it out when we ran into each other before, but now I know where I know you from... The newspapers. You're the son of that Savoy guy, right? The one they found hiding out there?" She asked.

Mark froze up, unsure of how to respond to that. Would it weird her out? "Y-Yeah... I didn't realize that made the papers." Mark paused a minute "But I guess with the whole Decepticon attack thing it would." He shrugged his shoulders slightly "But yeah, short answer, that was me." He explained.

"Yeah, what was up with that?"

Mark hesitated, he thought most everyone in the school knew by now. Didn't rumors travel fast in small towns? He sighed a bit, and leaned against the lockers. "I had been living with the Autobots... I kinda still am." He could see her eyes visibly widen at that "Yeah, I know, I get that a lot. That look or, "holy crap, your dad's an Autobot!?"." He laughed a little "Most people find it weird."

"I actually think that's pretty awesome. Do they really turn into cars and all of that?" Mark nodded his head, stunned at the fact that she hadn't been weirded out, and rather was still talking to him "You know, just between you and me, since I know a lot of people are on the fence about them... I always thought the Autobots were really cool, even after Chicago." She admitted "What that Cemetery Wind group did was pretty..." She thought about it "Oh, sorry, I almost forgot."

"It's okay, what my dad did was disgusting." Mark told her bluntly.

Mark nearly jumped out of his skin as the bell rang, signaling classes. Maria rolled her eyes slightly, and sighed. "Well, that's my cue to get my butt to third period English before I get marked tardy again." She smiled "We should hang out some time." She commented, he was surprised as she took out a marker from her backpack and took his hand "You got a cell?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Good, here's my number." She wrote along his hand with the marker before smiling "Call me sometime."

And with that, Maria was off and walking down the hallway, towards her class. Mark could only stand there, first staring after the girl, then down at his hand for a long moment. Was she asking him to ask her out? He doubted it, and in a way, he was thankful, as he wasn't sure that he was ready for a "relationship" yet. But still, she'd given him her number, she wanted him to call her. If anything, he had to admit that it was a start. "Score!" He found Kenny's hand going around his shoulders as he also started off to his own class "Dude, that was awesome! She totally just hit on you."

"Ken, I really don't think she was-."

"Sure, sure." Kenny rolled his eyes "Be modest about it. She was." He insisted "Bask in the glory of it for a little while, you have tasted the forbidden fruit that is... Older women."

Mark couldn't help but at least grin a little, even if he didn't believe it himself.

...

"Me Grimlock want know what you Mark doing."

Mark nearly jumped out of his skin as the massive t-rex appeared over his shoulder. He'd gotten used to it by now at least, Grimlock was far from a subtle mech. But every so often, the booming voice still scared him out of his mind. Quickly, he hid his phone slightly, blushing. He quietly hoped that no one had heard him, but since they were in the Autobots relaxation wing he doubted it. "Nothing, Grim, just... Uh..." Mark shook his head "Talking to a girl."

The giant t-rex tilted his head, as if not quite understanding. "Mmmm. Mark have femme?" Grimlock questioned "Me Grimlock meet you Mark's femme. Me Grimlock no want her femme hurting you Mark." He commented.

Mark made a mental note that whenever, if ever, he brought over Maria, Grimlock was not allowed to meet her. He could only imagine what the overly possessive and brutish dinosaur would do if she didn't meet his standards. "It's not like that, Grimlock. She's just a girl I met at school." He replied, shifting uncomfortably "I don't even think she likes me like that."

"Me Grimlock say if she femme no like you Mark, you Mark should eat her femme."

Mark wondered if it was meant as a poor attempt at a joke or not, yet still chuckled quietly. He looked over as the Dinobot waved his tail back and forth in an almost dog-like way. "Grimlock, I'm not going to become a cannibal over that stuff." He commented, starting to walk "And besides, I'm not ready for a relationship yet. Maybe later but..." Without warning, he found Grimlock's nose moving underneath him, and then lifting him up "WHOA! WHOA! Grimlock, what are you doing?" He asked.

"You Mark walk too slow. Me Grimlock give ride."

Mark shook his head, well he had expressed his desire to ride a Dinobot before. But now that he looked down, he couldn't help but gulp, as it was a long way down from the smooth top of Grimlock's head. "Uhhhhh Grimlock, that's a longgggg way down." Mark commented "Are you sure this is, y'know, safe?" He asked.

"Me Grimlock no let you Mark fall." Grimlock noted "Me Grimlock transform if you Mark fall. Me Grimlock catch you Mark."

Mark sighed in relief, thankful that despite the way he talked, Grimlock seemed intelligent enough. Sucking in his fear, he took in the pure awesomeness of the situation now. He was living his childhood dream of riding a dinosaur, well, a robotic one, but a dinosaur all the same. Of course, as soon as he was able to suck in his fear and take in the world a hundred feet high, his excitement ended. "Markus Franklin Savoy, what on EARTH are you doing?" Mark looked down over Grimlock's head, noticing as Hound approached, signifying they were in the main hangar now "I told you that you're not allowed to ride them!"

"Chill, Hound." Mark shouted down "Grimlock said he won't let me get hurt, besides. This is AWESOME!" He then added "What did you want me to do when he pulled his head up with me on it? Say no?" Even from so high up, he could see the unamused look that plastered Hound's face "Come on, just ten more minutes!" He added.

Grimlock gave a snort, his optics looking up at his passenger. "Him human so foolish." Grimlock then added "Me Grimlock like foolish human. You Hound let me keep foolish human?" He added.

Hound crossed his arms slightly, and shook his head. "I'm afraid that "foolish human" belongs to me, Grimlock." He told him politely, with the "foolish human" part said in a loving way "And I'd appreciate it if you'd bring the "foolish human" back to the ground. You're giving me a spark attack just having him up that high." He added.

After a moment of though, Grimlock nodded. "Mmmmkay. Me Grimlock let him Mark down."

Mark almost groaned a little, though he repressed it as Grimlock lowered his head, allowing him to climb down. "Thanks for the ride, buddy." Mark chuckled a bit "It was pretty awesome even though it was short." Grimlock lifted his head, but didn't offer a "you're welcome" as Mark looked up at Hound "And come on, see, I'm fine." He added.

"Me Grimlock bored now." Grimlock spoke up "Me Grimlock go find Scorn. Me Grimlock make him Scorn play "chase the human" with me Grimlock."

Mark wasn't sure that he wanted to know which human they would be chasing, or what else the game entailed. Yet before he could ask, Grimlock was off, clearly distracted by the idea of playing the game. However dangerous and stupid it probably was. "I guess it did at least look fun." Hound muttered "Just don't tell Prowl about it, he'll tan my hide." He added.

"Tell me what?" Prowl asked as he entered the main hangar.

"Uh, nothing." Mark rubbed the back of his neck "Everything okay, Prowl? You look kinda tense."

Prowl shook his head a bit, and crossed his arms before looking at Hound. "Gather up Crosshairs and Sideswipe, we're leaving in ten minutes." Hound raised an optic ridge "There's been a spike in activity just outside of DC. We're worried with this many signatures, an attack is imminent." He then added "So don't waste a second." He explained.

"Right." Hound nodded as Prowl transformed and drove back towards the human side of the base "Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, will you? I don't want to come back from this with you in the med bay." He noted jokingly.

"Scouts honor." Mark replied as Hound made his way past him "Stay safe, Hound."

"I will." Hound replied "Love ye, bitlet." He added, now that he knew it was a safe statement to make.

"Love you too."

As Hound rushed off to find the others, Mark only smirked a little. He almost felt bad that he had said that, considering he'd never been in the scouts. Turning to walk off towards where Grimlock was. "Hey Grimlock! How does a game like that work!?" He shouted.

"Ahem." Hound noted "Heard that."

Mark rolled his eyes, starting off towards where his bedroom was in a half-sulk. Hound only rolled his optics, chuckling. "What am I going to do with you?" He asked quietly.

He only allowed himself to dwell on things a moment more, knowing they had much bigger things to worry about right now. Without another look back, he continued off towards where he knew he would find his comrades.

...

A/N: I know, sort of another filler chapter. Just wanted to move the whole thing with Mark/Maria forward, and get Grimlock back in there though. :) But don't worry, action's coming next chapter when they hit DC! :D