Hey all! Thank you for all the reviews on both the Soul Recon and the Halloween special that I posted! If you haven't read the halloween special, you can always find it under the title Our First Halloween in my profile! Check it out!

FORD B: Definitely! I'll keep writing on it! :D

GrimlockX4: And more secrets to come ;)

Enjoy!

--------------

It was a long day for Cat, even though it was supposed to be a joyful holiday. Christmas morning had come faster than she imagined, and after no sleep, trying to figure things out, and watching the sunrise, Cat found herself being forced to open gifts. She received several accessories for her Hyabusa including a magnet bag to clip on the top of the motorcycle's gas tank, newer gloves, and other items. She'd given her gifts as well, Sam being the most satisfied with the five new games for the game system that his parents had gotten him. She had Sam send over the gifts to Mikaela as well so that she could open them on Christmas with her family. She had given Mikaela charms to go on the sterling silver charm bracelet that Sam had given to her on Christmas Eve. After a day of playing with her new gifts, it ended with a night of the Witwicky's family Christmas party. An event which Cat felt more adverse to being there for, however Sam's parents made it clear that it wasn't an option. Sam slumped his shoulders and had told Cat that she may as well gone along with it.

Cat had been standing on the back porch of the Witwicky house. The back door was closed so that no one could see or hear her while she stayed away from the family's Christmas party. She knew that she would have to go back at some point, but she also knew that Sam was practically dying to go back to play his new game station, and the others were imersed in conversation with each other. That meant it would be some time before anyone realized that she was missing.

"Hey!" Mikaela's cheerful voice was heard.

... So much for having time before anyone noticed that she was missing...

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Mikaela asked sweetly, wondering if Cat was still going over the short sighting of Barricade in her mind, "You okay?"

Cat could hear Mikaela step just next to her on the porch, but didn't look away from looking up at the night sky. It was strangely clear on such a cool evening. Even for California it was rather nice. Cat just let a cool breeze sway across her cheek without even so much as a muscle flexing in her jaw due to the cold.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cat answered.

"Well, what are you doing out here?" she asked again.

"I'm just... Not feeling up to being around so many people right now..." Cat replied quietly.

"You want to talk about it?" Mikaela pulled herself up on the wooden porch railing, seating herself next to Cat, waiting for a story of some sort.

Cat looked over to where Bumblebee was parked. She used the specialized scanner in her left eye to make sure that he was, indeed, deep in recharge. She didn't want to have a discussion in confidence with Mikaela if someone was going to be listening in. She was already sure that he had informed Optimus about her admitting to going after Barricade. Not that she could blame him, she usually found herself unable to lie to him either... at least when she was looking at him straight in the face...

Once she was sure that Bumblebee wouldn't be listening in on what she was about to say, she turned and looked to the awaiting teen.

"Can you keep a secret? I mean from Sam and the Autobots?" Cat asked.

Mikaela looked at her friend with sincere concern, "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Last night... When I came into contact with Barricade, he had harmed a human male in his own vehicle. After Barricade left, I was told to wait for the ambulance by Optimus," she began.

"Didn't you leave to look for Barricade anyway?" Mikaela asked, obvious that the secret was out.

Cat looked back to Mikaela and smiled, "Yeah, but this was before I did that..."

"Well? What happened?" Mikaela was getting anxious.

"I took my biker's jacket off to cover the kid and tried to calm him down but... Then he said something..." Cat turned away, looking back up at the sky.

"Said what?" the teen asked.

"He called me 'Seven'..." she explained.

Mikaela's eyes widened, "B-but... How would he have known to call you that?"

"I-... I don't know Mikaela... I was so stunned myself. He asked me if I remembered him and told me that his name was Evan. Saying something about we had met before..." Cat was at a near whisper now.

Mikaela scooted herself off of the railing and walked to Cat's side, staring at her deeply. She couldn't make sense of what Cat had just told her.

"Did he say anything else?" Mikaela asked.

"I didn't give him the chance to. I just got on my bike and left, even without my jacket," Cat replied.

"Maybe he's from Tranquility and saw the three of us out somewhere... Maybe he heard Sam or I call you-"

"No Mikaela..." Cat turned to look at her friend, "You and Sam stopped calling me Seven that morning that you two renamed me after we were ambushed by the Decepticons, remember? I'd remember if you had ever called me that afterward, and you haven't. The two of you haven't even so much as mentioned the number Seven. At least not around me. That reasoning would have made more sense if he had called me Cat... But he didn't..."

Mikaela's eyes darted around on the patio ground, and then back up to Cat, "Could he be someone who worked at the Dam before you escaped?"

"No... He had to have been about my age, no older than that. No one, my age, had ever worked there," Cat shook her head.

A long pause between the two, as they were both lost in thought for a few moments.

Mikaela looked up to Cat slowly and said, "You need to tell them..."

"No, no way," Cat answered firmly.

"Why not? They could probably help!" Mikaela grabbed a hold of Cat's wrist to break her out of her thoughts.

"Remember what happened the last time I told them about something coming back from the past? I was lucky I was able to talk Optimus and Prowl into letting me come out here for Christmas!" she explained.

"Cat, if there's someone out there who's trying to get to you, we need to find out who and why! The Autobots are just trying to protect you!" Mikaela reasoned.

"That's just it, Mikaela... I don't think that he was out to harm me... I think... I think I met him when I was little... And he remembered me somehow..." Cat explained.

Mikaela sighed, "So what are you going to do about it?"

Cat looked to her friend, "What?"

"Are you planning on chasing him down? Chasing down your past?" Mikaela brushed back a lock of her hair that had gotten in her eyes and stared at Cat.

"I don't know... I don't know what I'll do..." Cat looked back to the sky.

Mikaela looked up to the hazey night sky as well and crossed her arms as another stray wind passed through, a chill running up her spine.

"Well whatever you do, I'll keep your secret... But you have to tell me why you couldn't have at least trusted Sam about this," Mikaela insisted.

"Are you kidding? Do you even remember when I was living here? If Ratchet even suspected that I had done something out of the norm, he'd go straight to Sam, and he always found a way to get it out of him," she smirked.

"Oh, right... Well, you can trust me. I won't tell anyone," Mikaela promised.

"Thanks," Cat smiled softly.

"But just so you know, I'm upset that you won't tell the Autobots. They just want to find out what's going on and help you, and you won't give them the chance to," Mikaela lamented Cat just before she went back inside the house.

"Yeah, I know..." Cat sighed and looked back up to the night sky.

--------

New Year's Eve approached quickly. Cat made sure to stay on top of things around everyone. Keeping a smile on her face, going places with her two friends, helping Sam's parents with the housework, and even answering every phone call from any Autobot who "happened" to have some time on their hands to check up on her. However, any time spent alone, she usually would stare into nothing, or sit on the roof of the house at night, staring up at the sky. Mikaela did as she promised, and kept Cat's secret, even though she had qualms about doing so. Cat was pretty impressed with the way Mikaela could avoid the important questions that could possibly lead to revealing what had happened that night. She felt that she had made the right decision in trusting her friend with such important information.

Cat was up in her room. She had just gotten back from the motorcycle dealership and was carried a coat hanger with a black, plastic bag draped over the item that was hanging on it. She laid it out on the bed, about to take the item out of it's plastic haven when there was a knock at the door.

"Come on in!" Cat turned towards the entrance to see Judy walk in.

"I just got back from the store and Sam's not here. Do you mind helping me with the groceries?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll be down in a second," Cat replied, "Oh! Before I forget, I've decided that for most of the day, tomorrow, I'll be gone."

"You're not going to be here for your birthday?" Judy asked.

"I'll be back before evening, but I've got somewhere that I need to go. It'll just be for a few hours," she replied.

"Where are you going?" Judy asked.

"Just a little ways north of here. It's not more than a couple hours there and back. I just need to go and... see someone..." she trailed off.

"Well, all right. Just don't forget the birthday present that we have for you here!" Judy replied with a bright smile as she left Cat's room.

---

Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee had just pulled up behind Judy's car in the driveway. The two teens hopped out of the camaro with some bags of snacks.

"There you are, Sam!" Judy smiled as she grabbed a bag of groceries from her car, "New Year's snacks?"

"Yeah, we've got some stuff that we think Cat will like too," he replied.

Judy stopped her trek towards the house and looked back to her son, "But... Won't Cat be out for most of the day?"

"Out where?" Mikaela asked.

"...Well she just told me that she'd be gone until tomorrow night. Didn't you already know that?" Judy asked.

Sam and Mikaela looked to each other with confused expressions.

"Hey guys!" Cat smiled brightly as she walked out of the house towards Judy's car.

Cat grabbed a couple sacks from the trunk and looked towards her two friends, "Something wrong?"

"Uh, yeah. When were you planning on telling us that you weren't going to be here tomorrow?" Mikaela asked.

"Oh... Uh, I was going to tell you when you got home... And now you're here, and you know! Saves me some time!" Cat continued into the house, being followed by her friends.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"Up north," Cat replied as she sat the bags down on the table.

"Up north, where?" Mikaela pressed.

Cat sighed and turned to her friends, "I'm just going to be gone for a few hours. I need to go take care of something, it's not dangerous, I'm not going out to get revenge, and it's nothing for any of you to worry about since I'll be back before nightfall."

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked.

"I told you, I was going to tell you when you got back!" Cat replied.

"People don't normally decide to take a day-long trip out of the blue, so you've known for a while," Mikaela pointed out.

"Yeah, okay. I'll give you that," Cat thought, " but you have to believe me when I say that it's nothing that requires me needing assistance."

"Sam!" Judy called from outside, "Come and get these bags for me, please!"

Sam rolled his eyes and turned to go back out to the car.

Mikaela looked to make sure no one was looking and then approached closely to Cat and whispered, "This doesn't have anything to do with what we talked about last week does it?"

"What did we-" Cat looked to Mikaela and realization hit her, "Oh that... No, I haven't decided what I'm going to do about it."

"Then what are you-?" Mikaela started.

"It's got nothing to do with S-Eleven, or the Decepticons, okay? It's nothing bad, just something I want to do," she replied quietly.

Mikaela crossed her arms and looked away for a moment, "But you're going to be back tomorrow night, right?"

Cat smiled, "Yeah, I'll be back. I promise.... Oh! You and Sam should check out what I just got!"

--

The three, having helped Judy with putting away all of the groceries, were all in Cat's room, looking at the new item which was still wrapped in it's plastic.

"So what'd you get?" Sam asked.

Cat pulled off the protective layer, showing a brand new rider's jacket. It was nearly pure black with the exception of thin, orange lines around the upper arms that looked to be the outlines of flames. The jacket matched her bike, perfectly.

"Whoa! That's even better than your first one!" Sam's face lit up as he took hold of one of the sleeves, looking over the jacket.

"Nice, huh? They didn't have this design when I first bought the bike. It's totally new, and absolutely perfect!" Cat flung it around her and tried it on, zipping it up, "What do you think?"

"It looks great!" A different voice had the three turn towards the window, "It's just a shame the only place that you're going to wear it to is the Dam!" Bumblebee crossed his hologram arms.

Cat looked to Sam and glared.

The boy shrugged and said, "He was going to figure it out at some point."

"Yeah, but I was kind of hoping it would be when I was a few miles away from the house..." Cat replied just before she felt the scruff of the jacket being grasped tightly.

"You're not going anywhere, " Bee frowned.

"As much as I would love to sit here and argue with you, Bee, I have things that need to get done..." Cat pulled away and unzipped her jacket, putting it back on it's hanger.

Bumblebee turned to the two teens and asked, "Do you mind if I have a moment to speak with Cat?"

"Sure, buddy," Sam nodded slowly and Mikaela shook her head as they both exited the guest room.

"Well? What?" Cat sighed and crossed her arms.

"I've just gotten word from Optimus. He sent Jazz and Bluestreak to investigate into the human that Barricade had attacked," he began.

Cat had turned to hang the jacket up in her closet when she stopped suddenly, "And?"

"There was nothing found about him that makes any sense as to why Barricade suddenly attacked him," Bumblebee explained, "Apparently he's just a human who lives in an apartment in Boulder City."

Cat gave a silent sigh of relief and continued hanging the jacket before she heard, "The hospital that had admitted him also reported that he was covered by a biker's jacket. They remember because it was strange that he wasn't riding a motorcycle, but the paramedics recall seeing someone on one flee the scene."

Cat turned and looked to the hologram and asked, "... I'm in trouble again, aren't I?"

"No. We've agreed that you showing an act of kindness to a human was a gesture that we'd rather see more often from you," he gave a chuckle.

Cat pursed her lips, "Funny..."

"Optimus also wanted to know if you wanted us to retrieve it for you from the human," he mentioned.

"... I've got a new one now, so don't worry about it," Cat muttered as she picked up some of the clothes on the floor to get them ready to be shipped back.

"You're still not leaving Tranquility just yet," Bumblebee mentioned.

"You know I'd expect this kind of reaction from the others, but I thought that you would be a little more understanding of the idea that we all need a little space from time to time!" Cat grouched.

Bumblebee looked a little remorseful for a moment and replied, "I understand that you want to be alone with your thoughts from time to time. But when we have a sighting of a Decepticon, and it appears as if you were intended target-"

"You don't know that! Barricade ran from me! I think I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Cat seethed.

"Whether or not that's true, we have to stay on high alert. It's just too dangerous to-"

Cat threw a bundle of clothes into a pile and turned to him, "Just drop it, okay? I'm an adult, and I'll do as I please! If I have a problem, I'll activate the little button that Ratchet installed in my arm! So get off of my back!"

"Fine, you're an adult and can do as you please," Bumblebee agreed.

Cat raised an eyebrow at the blond. Her suspicion of what he was thinking was outweighing the thoughts of what he had just said, "Really?" she asked.

"Absolutely... And I'll accompany you," he smirked.

Cat rolled her eyes, "No you won't."

"Exactly why won't you at least tell us what it is that you're planning to do?" Bee asked.

"It's just personal, all right?" Cat replied.

Bumblebee shook his head, "I wouldn't accept an answer like that from Sam or Mikaela, and Optimus wouldn't accept an answer like that from me."

Cat sat down on the bed and sighed, "If I tell you... Then you can't tell anyone else or even follow me... All right?"

----

Chapter Teaser!

The early morning hours on New Years Day made it difficult to traverse some of the back roads. The paths were long and steep. There was a thick haze of fog that surrounded the park. The ground was wet with the morning dew and moisture was beginning to form on the outside of the rider's plastic cover on the front of their helmet. The rider wiped it clean with their gloves and continued down the long pathway. Trees surrounded the rocky roads and swayed with the cold winds. The motorcycle gently navigated the park roads with a low hum of it's quiet engine. That was, until it stopped just in front of a set of tall, metal gates. The rider noticed that there was also a single car parked off to the side of the gates in the grassy knolls. One of the gate doors were just slightly opened to about a foot of squeezing room. The rider parked the motorcycle and shut off the engine, getting off of the bike and setting it on it's stand carefully. There was a large, black plastic bag that had been strapped down to the secondary seat of the bike. The rider unstrapped the bag and took to the gates, squeezing through and into the park where the rider stopped and looked around.

A graveyard. To the left and to the right of the rider there were gravestones. Some were fairly new, others were old and leaning because the ground had softened and slumped beneath them. There were gravestones that had chipped and there were some that had the lettering worn away, barely able to be read. The rider began their trek through a long, winding pathway, until after about ten minutes of walking, they finally came to a newer gravestone.

The rider removed the helmet, revealing the long, brunette hair of Cat. Her eyes softened with sadness and remorse as she kneeled in front of the grave. The area was quiet, the early morning light was darkly disbursted through the thick haze around her. She set her helmet down to the side of her and sighed as she stared at the gravestone. She had felt good and alone at first, until she heard footsteps from behind her and quickly turned to see a man standing just a few feet away, frowning as he looked down to her.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.