Alexis stopped when he did nothing. Liquid shimmered in the corner of her eyes. She pulled back, unaware due to the darkness that he had just reached for her. His hands shot right past her elbow, her body reversing motion as she backed away from his unseen, failing grasp.

He still felt that light touch of her mouth on his mouth. The enticing pressure faded entirely away, leaving him with the curses that filtered through his head, dark utterances for his freezing up. She was already back on her feet, her head darting back and forth as she searched for the flashlight by moving out her feet. He got up. Moving behind her, he wrapped his arms around her middle. Alexis stiffened at his action but didn't move away.

"Alexis, forgive me. I was unprepared for your impulsive move," he breathed low, the feel of her body resting against his own causing strange palpitations in the tightness of his chest.

"Impulsive?" she echoed. The word was twisted with reproach, taken and turned to mean as an abasement that he never intended.

"I have never done that before," he elaborated, using the truth because he could think of nothing else. He felt foolish and his tongue felt twisted. Thundercracker couldn't think straight. He couldn't find his reason.

With those words, Alexis turned around. His arms loosened to give her room. She was peering up at him, her eyes searching for his face. But he knew she saw nothing, for the darkness they were in was past her human threshold of perception.

"I find that hard to believe," Alexis said, her voice held disbelief.

While Cybertonians could and have made mouth contact, they never used them in the involved manner as Thundercracker had seen humans do. He couldn't tell her that though. Searching for an answer, he chose one that drifted along the delicate lines of the truth.

"I never wanted to before, never focused on such things. But I want to, with you," he told her with utmost sincerity, knowing Alexis' nature would allow her to identify that his words were genuine.

The embarrassment and confusion she was projecting disappeared. "Okay," she whispered; her unexpected permission forced his lungs to contract as a breath that he didn't need caught. His fingers curled around her arms. Her chin lifted.

TC was grateful that she couldn't see his face, and relieved that she couldn't see the confusion. While he wasn't averse to touching her as before, he didn't exactly know how to go about it. Tilting his head down, he memorized where her mouth was and closed his eyes like he had seen her do before bending further forward. He pressed his mouth down on hers, mimicking her previous actions. He took another step closer; his movement made their mouths break apart as he repositioned himself. With her mouth slightly parted, a strange incomprehensible urge pushed his actions. His tongue found its way into her mouth, an oddity that he nearly cursed himself yet again at until suddenly her own followed his, the awkwardness from his action withdrawing as his stomach fell away. The movement of their mouths that met and shifted, made his pseudo heart beat harshly against his rib cage.

Thundercracker wanted to devour her.

The inclination was a consuming one. He never wanted to leave her. Never wanted her to know who he was, or what he was about. Not if it meant that the warmth of their closeness would end. Not if it meant this intimacy she could experience with him would be replaced by betrayal and hatred. If she wanted Timothy, she could have Timothy. He didn't want to return to the retched emptiness that had filled his spark before he met her. An emptiness he never knew existed until his feelings for the human had begun to grow.

He cared for her. And it wasn't because how close her body was now pressed to his, or the way her mouth made his senses go haywire. But because his curiosity and respect for the human had evolved and changed into genuine affection that was so unfamiliar and unsettling due to its unprecedented quality that TC could not properly compare it to anything else for a better analysis. Instead, he had to settle for the fact that what he felt had been there for some time and was entirely alien to him.

But it was something he was regrettably going to have to put on hold. Still connected to his mech form, he was aware of where the Decepticons forces were being led and diverted to. It was when Starscream gave them a moment of reprieve before flying off on is own that he knew no matter how small the chances were that they were found that there still might be a chance. If he could keep Alexis safe, he would.

Forcing himself to pull away, his fingers drew a path on the softness of her cheek. He held to her arm as he made his way to the flashlight. Grabbing it, he handed it to Alexis.

"I heard something," he explained as he lied. He deplored deceiving her, but the resolution of keeping her was too important to Thundercracker that he ignored the revulsion he felt from his untruths. "We should move to another location, in case they search this area again."

She nodded her head, and he moved his hand down her arm to connect with his own. Exiting the cave, she turned off the flashlight. He walked out into the dark and led them away from Starscream's aerial scan. Thundercracker kept his pace slow, mindful of Alexis' damaged feet.

Finding a road, the two followed a path parallel to it, diverting when the road proved too open. Alexis was tired. He perceived that in her heavy lids and the lethargic manner in which she took her steps. She was already tired when they had returned from the picnic, and it was fear that propelled her when they were escaping the Decepticon forces. He was impressed that she managed as far as she did, impressed further that she could continue after the short rest in the cave. They had been walking most of the night and without the motorcycle, their journey was restrained. Out of the corner of his view, he saw that she was limping again, something she managed to hide when he looked directly at her. She was in pain but didn't want him to know.

Leading her down a small hillside, they wandered into a residential district. He scanned the homes and picked one near the edge, a large two-story house with open windows on both levels that could provide a clear view of outside. Advancing to the back porch, he motioned for Alexis to stand aside. Just when he was ready to break the door open with his shoulder, Alexis bent down, hands extending to rest on a small ceramic cat. She picked it up and turned it upside down before pinching a small tab with her finger. A small compartment slid open with a key revealed.

"Will this work?" she asked, pleased with herself.

"How did you know about that?"

"I bought one of these for my Grandmother." She smiled. "Hers was a black cat though, and it held a garage remote, not a key, but..." she handed him the key, shakily standing back to her feet as she yawned loudly.

He twisted the key in the archaic lock and opened the door. Light from the new day slid through the doorway, cutting through the perpetual darkness of the large home. All the heavy drapes were drawn, creating a somber atmosphere. The two identified quick exit points as he had taught her to do and then searched for food. They only found dusty bottles of water and a box of crackers but Alexis was pleased.

They ascended the stairs and searched for a place to rest. Knowing how particular Alexis was as far as where she slept, especially in someone else's home, no matter how abandoned, she chose what she believed was a guest room. She sat on a narrow bed and fell back against the pillow, coughing when unseen dust unsettled from her movement. Not seeming to care, she calmed, curled to the side and fell asleep.

Regrettably, Thundercracker was forced to nudge her back awake. "Alexis, we should look at your feet," he recommended.

Alexis seemed to consider it, but shook her head. "I can." Her actions were drawn out as she slowly sat back up. He handed her the small medical kit he had found and the flashlight. She disappeared inside the bathroom.

By the time she was through, he had procured a new pair of shoes and a pair of clean socks for her. Motioning her toward the bed, she sat down, rolled the socks carefully over her rebandaged feet and then tried on the shoes. She was astonished that they fit.

"You don't have to wear them while you rest, I am sure..."

She shook her head. "No, I won't be caught without shoes again. I paid for it once, I won't again. It's not so bad, just hurts when I walk..." she smiled, trying to distract him from her obvious pain. However, the resounding cringes that followed every time she moved, betrayed her discomfort.

Lying back on the bed, she sighed heavily. "I'm so tired, Tim. I think I could sleep the sleep of the dead. But I can't stop thinking, can't stop worrying and wondering, and I feel such, such fear..." she shivered. "I feel as if something dreadful is about to happen, and that nothing you or I can do will stop it from happening."

"You have been up too long. You will feel better after you have rested."

She nodded her head. Shifting to the side, she moved the pillow back before sitting upright once more as she reached for a book on the table stand.

"Sometimes when such coincidences happen, it almost worries me, but today... I am just grateful." She hugged the small Bible tight before flipping through some pages. Reading a couple of passages out loud, her lack of stamina caught up with Alexis as her lids fell for the last time, sleep taking her as she drifted. The book fell out of her lax hand, thudding on the floor below. He picked it up and placed it back on the night stand.

Preparing to sleep on the floor, he grabbed the second pillow on the bed. Alexis would have usually handed him a sheet or bedspread, but he really had no need for either. Thundercracker never slept anyway only kept watch.

"Timothy?"

Her small voice caught him unaware. Her eyes were open again, they hovered on the pillow he had just picked up.

"You can sleep with me if you want," she whispered. "I would feel better if I could see you. I just... I just..." She scooted closer over to the right of the small bed and made room.

The morning was full upon them. Light pushed through a gap in the curtains and illuminated the room in small patches, making an ambiance of solitude and tranquility.

Thundercracker sat on the edge of the bed. Alexis leaned over, took the pillow from his hand and put it next to hers. "Goodnight... good-morning, Tim," she yawned, scooted back to her side of the bed and was asleep in moments.

Careful to give her room, he edged closer to the left side and turned his back to her, mindfully aware of the female presence that was less than an arm-stretch away.

There was nothing he could do. Nowhere he could hide her. The inevitability of them being found was undeniable. As Thundercracker, he could have easily whisked her away to safety. As Timothy, he was defenseless and powerless.

Every day when he woke up with the two of them still free, he vowed he would tell her the truth of who he was. Three days had gone by, and he had been unable.

He thought of just grabbing her as Thundercracker, but his movements were being precisely tracked as they always were during their missions. He didn't give a frag about the Autobots. But TC did mind that the fools had led Starscream close enough to Alexis that the Seeker became aware of her presence.

Starscream never asked Thundercracker how she was still alive. He hadn't asked Thundercracker anything, an anomaly that was worrisome. But it was obvious that Starscream was tracking more than just Autobots now with a persistence that TC once admired but now only cursed.

He was going to tell her, going to explain things to her while there was still the opportunity. Alexis was talking to him. Questions being asked as she did when she needed to be distracted. Her words continually flowed as she kept their conversation going. They hadn't been able to travel far with Alexis' injury, and what leeway they had made was not as far as Thundercracker had hoped for. It was night now and at Alexis' insistence, they continued a little longer. She was full of energy because she had rested well that day.

"Maybe someone on the base gave away our position." Alexis spoke up again as she thought things through. "Maybe we were betrayed."

TC lifted his brows, shifting his gaze a little to watch Alexis walk along beside him. "Do you always assume those around you are so fallible?"

She huffed, bit her lip and frowned. "I was captured and made a slave because of a human working for the Decepticons, so I do know it's possible. People aren't always what they seem. It's hard to trust people nowadays."

Thundercracker took a moment before answering, "You trust me," he reminded her. Not that she had ever said it out loud, but it was obvious from the way she treated and respected him. His words came out boastful and proud until he reminded himself how precarious that trust was becoming, and how little he deserved it.

"Most the times," she told him.

That had him halting in his tracks.

"Most the times?" he echoed.

She shrugged her shoulders. Alexis' hand reached out to brush against a nearby tree before lifting up and grabbing hold of some leaves. "I don't know. I mean I have known you for months, and yet I still don't know as much about you as I should. Like what is your favorite color? Your favorite movie? Favorite food? Have you ever been in love? Ever killed anyone? Do you look more like your mom or dad, and are they still alive? What about..."

He interrupted her babbling. "Blue. This Gun for Hire, 1942. Lemons. Yes. Yes. Neither, no."

Alexis stopped abruptly and blocked him. "Timothy, have you ever lied to me?"

His shoulders pinched and his spine stretched. He kept his voice nominal as he spoke, "Why would you ask that?"

She smiled and the tension that had been working through his muscles eased away. She was not asking what he thought.

Alexis chuckled. "Lemons? Really?" She continued forward. "Sorry about your parents," she added with her tone filled with sympathy.

He shook his head. "Don't be. I never knew them."

Several minutes passed before she spoke again. But when she did, her tone was serious.

"How many?"

"How many what?"

"People killed?"

She didn't look at him when she asked only focused on the patches of dirt and grass that lined their path.

"Only as many as I had to in the line of duty. "

Again, she didn't say anything, just shifted a little while placing her hands behind her head as she stared up at the stars.

She spoke softly, her words contemplative and reflective, "I've never seen the sky as much as I have since the Decepticons invaded. They don't hold the sense of wonder as they once did." She frowned. "I almost wish I could go back to believing that we were the only ones in the galaxy, it may be presumptuous and small minded, but it wasn't so complicated. We humans have enough complications don't you think? I mean... The stars aren't even bright anymore. When did our stars become so dull, Tim?" she wanted to know.

Thundercracker had no answer for that that he was willing to share. She was right. Life was complicated. And sometimes knowing certain truths only made things worse. Better to be ignorant. Better not to know.