Everything was strange in a way. After most of the humans had departed, even with new ones taking up residence, the area was suddenly open, cleared out and quiet.

Over a month had been spent organizing things and giving out tasks. Sideswipe did most of the delegating while allowing a few others to join in and help assign the jobs to the ones they believed were best suited. A lot of talking was done during that time as everyone tried to figure out exactly where they belonged and what they were going to do. She met some of the new arrivals that way: Dorothy a seventy-something year-old who had more energy than some of the people Alexis' age, Rick, a chef who quickly went to work improving the food quality, and sixteen-year-old Peter, who brought with him a younger brother and sister who were the only surviving members of his family. There were others as well, seventeen new arrivals in all, making the total humans on board ship thirty-one.

Alexis had been given the job of looking over the selected planets. It took research and plenty of time. But she learned quickly enough that it was a head filler, taking her away from her problems and circumstances. After getting everything in order and working through how she wanted to approach it, she enjoyed it. Organizing and going through the info provided was far more fulfilling than cleaning and shifting through the Autobot's storage room had been. And being as she worked on a terminal or a tablet most of the time, she didn't have to worry about accidentally dropping cleaning fluid on herself, which she did all that time ago, making herself smell like citrus for a good many days after.

After the other humans had left, they were also given access to the Autobot ship, rooms opened up to them and adapted for their use. She met a couple more Autobots then, liking the ever talkative Bluestreak, whose cheerful giving nature bellied the self-involved attitudes of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

She felt someone come up behind her. Alexis was in the provided work room for the humans, and she had been alone for some time. She could really focus when others weren't around her. And Alexis would even sleep longer during the days, so she could stay up later in the night. Nobody bothered her then, and she could focus completely. Nearly forgetting that she was actually waiting for someone, she prepared herself, ready to get things over with.

"Josh isn't here," Alexis told Sideswipe. "He waited for you for an hour, but he's had a long day, so he went to sleep. Told me to tell you that you guys can pick up things tomorrow."

She turned back around, finger swiping along the monitor as she continued to try to read. Sideswipe didn't leave. Alexis began to fervently pray, wanting him to leave. That hope was dashed when she heard him grab a chair. It scratched along the smooth floor underneath as he sat beside her.

"You're still up," he observed.

"Yes."

"Still working?"

"Sorta."

He leaned forward and looked at one of the planets she had put in the unacceptable pile.

"What's wrong with that one?" he wanted to know.

"No oxygen."

"Yeah, but that is easily resolved. We have..."

She frowned and interrupted, "We need to be independent. We can't rely on you guys for everything. What if the equipment broke? What if they stopped working? Too many things could go wrong."

The Autobot brushed his shoulder against her own and lightly pushed her to the side as he monopolized her viewing area. He swiped through the screen, going through what she had done that day. Somewhat used to his rude behavior, she did her best to ignore him. A thought came to her.

"I need to get something to drink..."

She took her time when she went and got a bottled water, hoping beyond hope that he would be gone when she returned. He got under her skin and made her uncomfortable. He spent a lot of time with Josh, as he knew her brother the best out of the group, he used Josh as a go-between. That made everything simpler for Alexis, and distinctly more complicated. Being as how the twins thought about humans, she didn't know why he became one all the time. And she would catch Sideswipe staring at her. Something that he knew Alexis knew he was doing, not that he was trying to be subtle about it. Amanda was even starting to tease her about it.

Returning to the room, she happily entered when she found it empty. Getting closer to the computer that she had worked on, Alexis saw some sort of small container by her chair. Putting the half-empty bottled water on the table, she bent down and opened the lid. Cold air broke free and tickled her chin. A metallic cylinder rested inside with a small tag with her name on it connected to the top. She untwisted the cap.

Just when she realized what it was, a spoon appeared out of nowhere in front of her face. Startled, she bumped against Sideswipe, who had once more sneaked up behind her.

He was smiling at her, proud and pleased. The spoon still hovered in the air; he spun it around and then placed it in her hand.

"Is this...?"

"Ice cream, yes. Rick Timperlang made up a batch. Aren't you going to try it?" his greenish blue eyes sparkled and widened with gratification.

Ice cream had always been one of her weaknesses, yet being as she hadn't had it in years, Alexis felt strangely humbled and startlingly homesick. She took a bite though and found it was chocolate and so cold that her tongue tingled from the coolness. Alexis took another bite and smiled.

"This is... this is great, thank you," she said with astonishment as she looked him over and tried to figure him out. She knew she wasn't supposed to judge someone so quickly. Alexis just wasn't in a position at the moment to give someone the benefit of the doubt, or put faith in another only to be disappointed or hurt. She had learned her lesson, and it was going to be one that stuck.

He nodded his head. "No need to get all sentimental. It's not my doing. Go ahead, finish it before it melts and makes a mess."

She did just that. And as sugar always managed to do, or just a food that she really loved, Alexis found by the time she was through that she could suddenly manage the unmanageable a little better. So when Sideswipe remained and helped with what she was working on, in only the intrusive way that he could, Alexis didn't mind so much.

He was staring at her again. They were in their apartment and in the outer room. Sideswipe was sitting next to her brother who was talking about the progress they had made. It wasn't as if she had looked up to confirm it, but she knew, even as she concentrated on her tablet, that he was watching her.

Alexis could only take so much of that. She didn't know why he did it. It wasn't as if the staring was lecherous or curious, just a straight out stare that made her skin tingle strangely. Leaving the room after deciding on going to bed early, she went to the bathroom. It had changed in the last week, a bathtub had been added. First, the humans were given ice cream, and then bathtubs were installed for those that wanted them. Others were given things that they wanted, from hearing aids, to a T.V., to sneakers and an exercise room. She had taken a bath every day since the thing had been installed, and she would never tire of it.

Brushing her teeth and letting her hair out of its holder, she yawned softly. That day had been a particularly long one. Alexis was ready for it to end. Reading her bible and going to bed was about all she could manage at that point.

"A run?"

Alexis shook her head. She hadn't exercised in a long time, but found she wanted to. "Sure."

She changed into more appropriate sweats and a tank top and joined her friend. They ran around the room until they exited onto the main ship and slowed down into a jog. They passed Autobots and residents as the two women talked.

"You're looking a lot better, Lex," Amanda let her know.

"I feel better."

"I was really worried about you for a while."

"I know, me too."

"You know," Amanda began with hesitation, flinching a little, "we never really talked about what happened to Timothy."

Alexis bit her lip and turned her head to the side, hoping the dark expression on her face went unseen. She hadn't thought about what had happened in a long enough while that for it to be brought up again made a pang clench her heart terribly.

Alexis hardened her heart and spoke evenly, "He was shot and killed, and I watched it happen. Nothing more to add."

Amanda pulled on Alexis' arm and forced the two to stop.

"Your brother said that the two of you got close... that there might have been some..." She pushed her recently cut and now short hair behind her ears, her hazel eyes darkening with uncertainty.

Alexis interrupted after she managed to swallow the thick lump in her throat, "We were friends. We could have been more, but now we'll never know... he's dead. He's gone. He's no longer here." She shook Amanda's hand off and looked away. "Can we continue?"

"It doesn't help to hold these things in. Believe me, I know." Amanda stepped closer and lowered her voice. She waited for a passing Autobot and a small group of humans to pass before she continued, "You're not telling everything, Lex. There is something more going on here. Did... did any of those Decepticons do anything to you that wasn't..."

Alexis cut her off, "You said they didn't look at us humans that way, so how could you even ask me that? And what would even make you ask such a thing?"

Amanda shrugged her shoulders and wrinkled her nose. "I don't know. It just hit me suddenly. You act differently than you used to... guarded, more sensitive. The way you treat Sideswipe..."

Off course, she was more guarded, she had lost a trusted friend who ended up being the enemy in flesh form. And even with Amanda not knowing that, her friend still knew the pains of being a slave, the horrors Alexis dealt with after being shot, the near escape from Starscream. She didn't want to talk about those things anymore. The more they talked, the more she had to avoid the truth, and that left her feeling detached and cold.

Suddenly, Alexis' attention came back to what Amanda had just said.

"Sideswipe? What does he have to do with anything?"

"He keeps reaching out to you and you just... bypass him."

"He's offensive and rude."

"He's adorable and hot, and he wants to know you."

Alexis cringed and shook her head hard. "Adorable, no. Hot? Sure, but his attitude makes up for that in abundance."

Amanda smiled gently. "Get to know him. I'm sure he's not that bad. Josh thinks highly of him," she added.

Alexis began to tremble under her friend's sympathetic gaze. "I don't want to know him. I want to find a new planet and try to start a new life. I want to move forward and get away from all this pain and suffering and daily reminders of everything that is wrong and gone." The pain poured into her words, and water began to build in her eyes. "I cared for Timothy and let him in only to lose him and find myself stuck with these regrets and horribly tainted memories that will affect me for a long time. I don't need anyone else. I have had enough caring for now." A couple of tears escaped that she wiped off harshly with the back of her palm. Alexis hated getting hysterical and hated showing how much she hurt. But she had held it in too long, and now it was too late to deny the out pour of emotional release.

Amanda wrapped her arms around Alexis and allowed her to cry it out.

"You're not with the others."

Josh, Bobby, Amanda and some others were inside their dwelling watching a movie. Not in the mood for what they had picked to watch, she grabbed her tablet and sat outside, reading through a collection of short stories she had found by one of her favorite mystery writers.

"These movies. I do not understand the concept of them," Sideswipe said while hovering above her and looking down. He pushed his bangs away from his eyes; they immediately fell back into place.

"Then why did you come? And why do you keep coming down on this level?" He didn't say anything, so she went on, "Going from a titan to a human, it has to be... disconcerting, but you keep doing it."

He nodded his head. "Yes, it is. And this form repulses and confuses me the longer I use it. But for now, it's necessary."

"We are quite capable of coming to you as the Cybertronian that you are," she let him know.

He took a step closer, a flicker of light dancing through his eyes.

"Would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Come to me?"

Something in his words made her flush. She ignored it while trying not to think too much about what he just said or how. "Yes, we are willing to come to you. I can understand how uncomfortable taking on our form must make you feel, what with the way..."

He tore through her words, eagerly interrupting, "Then I wouldn't be able to personally see how you humans exist. "

Alexis chuckled darkly at that, her mind taking his words several steps forward with an imagination she had that was never escapable. "Exist? Of course, ants in the glass farm, I'm surprised us bugs offer you any real interest."

"Some of you bugs do. Some more than others."

He took another step closer to her, the tips of his combat boots nearly touching her toes as he leaned down and looked at her tablet's semi-bright screen. Once more riled by what he had just said, even if she baited him a little and asked for it, Alexis still couldn't help but look up at him when he spoke again, his sudden serious enthusiasm apparent.

"We are going to be at the Entertainment Trion port soon. I expect to see you and Josh exiting the ship along with the other humans upon our arrival."

"Why?"

Sideswipe walked away and his voice drifted behind his broad shoulders.

"To have fun of course. You do know what that is, don't you?" he teased.

Yes, she knew what it was, even if the concept had changed the older Alexis got. Birthdays used to be fun, and as her brother's 23 was coming in the morning, she couldn't help but think about that. Remembering where she was the last time his birthday passed by, she knew that no matter what they did, at least this time they would be together. And that was far better than fun.