The next day came around and Saphira went out of the apartment to do some clothes shopping. She brought the camera lens with her so that the scrap bots could keep an eye on her. Barricade remained in the apartment too, as he also wanted to watch and see if this Jerry Wang would show up. And he did. Saphira felt his eyes following her as she went through the mall as she went into different shops to pick out different things. She bought new dresses, jewellery, shoes, makeup and so on.
She had actually spent most of the day shopping as Saphira was not in hurry to leave. And while she did spot the man more than once, he didn't approach her. He did stop following her a few times, or simply hid better, but Saphira knew that he was still keeping an eye on her. He at least didn't seem like he was going to harm her, but it was hard to tell at the moment.
During the day, Saphira and Optimus were also sending each other feelings of love. She didn't know what Optimus was doing at the moment, of course, but he was missing her and she was missing him terribly as well. Saphira had almost been completely distracted by this, but she couldn't complain at all. It made her feel like Optimus was there with her, keeping a watchful eye and making sure that she was safe. It was a great feeling.
But as nothing really happened with Jerry Wang, other than he was watching closely, Saphira, Barricade and the scrap bots didn't think there was much call for concern at this time. But as Saphira had a hair appointment the next day, that might change. But this day didn't really bring anything useful, so Saphira simply went home with nothing to report and spent the time talking with Barricade and the scrap bots.
After she went to bed, Saphira was woken up in the middle of the night because she was alarmed by the sudden feeling of shock and anger from Optimus. She hadn't expected to be woken up like that, but she guessed that something must have happened. She sent love through the bond, which seemed to surprise him, as he no doubt thought she was asleep, as she felt love in return.
But as she had been woken up, Saphira checked the time and saw it was two in the morning. She got up from her bed and made her way to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water. She was quiet as she walked into the kitchen, but she knew both Brains and Wheelie were still in the living room and she could hear them muttering quietly to each other. Barricade was currently recharging, which was why his holoform was not present currently.
"What are you doing up at this time, Mrs Prime?" Wheelie's surprised voice startled Saphira as she tried to grab a glass from the cupboard as quietly as possible. "I don't know how you thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. Is something the matter?"
Saphira smiled as she turned around, looking at the two bots who were looking at her from the couch. "Sorry…I just was woken up. Something must have happened in Ukraine, and I felt Optimus's anger. I was kind of startled awake."
"Oh, I see." Wheelie jumped off the couch and rolled over as Saphira filled the glass with water. "It must have been some anger if it was enough to wake you up. Are you sure it wasn't some bad dream at all?" She shook her head with a smile and sipped the water from the glass. "Hmm, well, okay. I guess you can have some water and then go back to bed. I know you don't have much to do, but we don't want you to be losing your sleep over it."
Saphira smiled at the bot as his concern was very much appreciated. "Thanks for your concern, Wheelie. I'll go back to bed in a moment. I just need a moment." She sipped some more water before she paused for a moment. "Hmm…"
"What is it?" Wheelie asked as he noticed her pausing for a moment. Her expression turned into a confused frown as she seemed to be feeling something. "Are you feeling something from Optimus? Make sure you send him love, I am sure he would like it." She did not say anything before she suddenly placed her cup down and ran out of the kitchen. "Saphira?!"
"What the Pit is happening?" Brains asked as he walked over to Wheelie with a frown. "That was a very weird…" Both bots tense as they heard a loud, horrible sound coming from her bathroom and they both glance at each other. "That doesn't sound good."
"Saphira!" Wheelie shouts as the two bots rush towards the bathroom worryingly. "Are you alright? What's happening?" They enter the bathroom and find Saphira leaning against the wall, wiping her forehead as she took deep breaths. "Are you okay?"
She looked at the bots as they stare at her with concern and she smiled at them kindly. "I am okay…I think I will need to be a filter attached to my tap. I think the town water made my stomach twist." She grimaced before grabbing the side of the toilet. "Oh, shit…not again!"
Both bots widen their optics as they watched Saphira lean over the bowl and heave violently. Both of them rush over to her and place their hands on her back to rub gently. "Geez, Saphira, I hope you aren't going to need to cancel your hair appointment today."
"I should be fine," Saphira responded in a dry tone as her mouth was dry again. "Argh…I need to have water again…but I don't want to risk drinking it from the tap again."
"Are you certain that it was because of the tap water?" Brains asked with a curious frown. "What about the chicken you had last night? Or even the fruit you ate afterwards? Couldn't they have caused this?"
"I suppose so. But they were all fresh…but…salmonella isn't unusual in chicken." Saphira took deep breaths as she leaned back, waiting to see if she would be sick any further. She rubbed her stomach as she felt very off at the moment. "But I probably will be fine once I get it completely out of my system. If not, I'll go to the doctor in the morning to make sure I don't have anything worse."
"That sounds like a good idea. We don't want Prime to come home and find you terribly sick," Wheelie said as he kept rubbing her back gently. "We will inform Barricade when you go back to bed. Should Brains and I make you something to have when you wake up again?"
She shook her head. "No thanks. I will be fine." She smiled at the scrap bot as she waited for a bit, but her stomach felt as though it had settled down. She reached up and hit the button to flush it and stood up slowly on shaky legs. "Ugh…I haven't been sick in a long time…and I hate it."
"I suppose you can't always be running on perfect health forever," Brains said gently as the two bots stay with Saphira as she walked out of the bathroom. She placed her hand on the side of the doorway to brace herself as she walked out. "I know not all humans get sick often, and you have a good immunity. But every now and then, I am sure you just feel awful."
"Yep, that's just how it is," Saphira responded in an agreeing tone. "Hopefully I can sleep it off."
"That will be the best thing. And make sure you get plenty of rest. Your hair appointment isn't until one, so you have plenty of time to sleep in and recover," Wheelie said in an encouraging voice. He and Brains stay with her until she reached her room and climbed into her bed. "Should I get a bucket in case you feel the need to purge more of your guts out?"
Saphira thought about the offer for the moment before she smiled at him. "Sure…just in case. I may not need it, but it is better than getting it all over the bed." Wheelie nodded and turned to leave. "Thanks for being here, guys. I really appreciate it."
Wheelie looked at her in surprise at her thanks, but he smiled at her as being appreciated was really nice. "It is no trouble at all, warrior goddess. Brains and me both love being here with ya. It is a shame that we will have to go back to NEST later with Barricade. But hopefully we will have this Jerry Wang issue sorted by then."
Saphira nodded in agreement as she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. The two bots quietly leave the room, only for Wheelie to return briefly with a bucket and rolled back out. They both made sure to be quiet as Saphira fell back to sleep, hoping that by morning she wouldn't be puking her guts up. There were definitely numerous reasons why she would have been sick, so they all simply hoped that she would be well when the sun comes up.
Saphira ended up sleeping in until after nine. She was woken up by the sun filtering into her room and she was surprised to see it was nine when she woke up. She sat up slowly with a groan and waited to feel any kind of nausea. So far, nothing. She was happy, and guessed it just might have been a one off thing. She stretched her limbs before she stood up slowly and grabbed a brush to brush her hair before she would head into the kitchen.
She smiled when she saw Barricade sitting at the table talking to the scrap bots. He turned his head and smiled as he saw Saphira. "Good morning. I heard from these two that you were purging earlier this morning. I hope you are feeling a lot better."
She nodded. "I am feeling much better, thank you. I think it might have been what I ate last night, not the water." She chuckled a little as she walked over to the fridge. "And now I am starving again." She grabbed out a couple of eggs to fry up and some slices of bread for toast. She grabbed out a fry pan, added some oil and cracked the eggs. "How long have you been here, Barricade? I hope that I haven't kept you waiting."
"I only got here an hour ago. I was just taking a drive through the city before. And, well, I think I found Jerry Wang's car." She looked at him in surprise as she stood by the stove top as the eggs cooked. "I spotted the man stepping out of a Mazda, and he seemed to be very nervous. He didn't recognize me, of course, but I definitely saw him. He was at a McDonald's when I saw him."
"Maybe he just needed coffee," Saphira said in a light joking tone. Barricade frowned at her and she rolled her eyes. "I know, I know, it isn't a laughing matter when I am being stalked by a crazy person. But honestly, if anyone is crazier than Jerry, it would be Megatron. I am tired of his obsession over me."
"Yeah, I know. I remember him sharing some details to the decepticons about you before I officially joined the autobots." Barricade shuddered as he thought about that. "He has some rather twisted logic about you becoming his sparkmate. Even though you are already spark bonded by Optimus, I know that Megatron won't care. Mostly because multiple sparkmates does happen, and I know Megatron will try to ensure that."
Saphira frowned and turned to go back to the fridge to grab out some butter to spread onto the toast when it was ready. "If you are trying to make me sick again, you are going the right way about it. I don't really want to lose my breakfast before I have it."
"I have to be honest about this stuff, Saphira. It isn't like I want to tell you for the sake of it, Megatron has always been twisted. I mean, when he went after Elita, it was more to hurt Optimus. But with you, I am not sure on that now." She shivered as she listened to Barricade speak to her. "I think there is some genuine attraction to you, but it is twisted up in the fact that you and Optimus are bonded, and he wants to destroy it."
"And the decepticon is going to try and do that, I have no doubt, if he somehow gets Sentinel Prime onto this planet," Wheelie said bluntly as he folded his arms. He was extremely unhappy about all of this as well. "Though Saphira said she woke up to some anger last night or something, have you heard anything Barricade?"
"Not yet. They don't tell us anything while we spend time with Saphira. Security precaution, according to NEST." That made Saphira roll her eyes again in irritation. She was certain NEST knew that Saphira wouldn't tell anyone else, but they just didn't want to update her. At least the bots will. Barricade looked at the toaster when the toast pops up and Saphira pulled out the slices to butter them. "But I am sure we will find out when we go back tonight. If the mission has already been finished, they may come back tomorrow."
Saphira immediately felt excited by the idea of Optimus coming back sooner than later, but she didn't get too overexcited. "I really wish that I could come and see Optimus when he arrives…I will just have to wait until he comes here."
"I have no doubt that is what you wish for, Saphira," Barricade said gently with a smile. "But we are stuck. Unless you had a good reason to go to NEST, then I have no doubt that they would let you in. But I am not confident about that."
"Yeah, true." Saphira finished buttering her toast and looked at her eggs to see they were almost cooked to how she liked them. "At least you can keep watching whenever I go out, Wheelie and Brains. I'll keep taking that little camera."
"Good idea. We will make sure that NEST is not aware of this. Hopefully they will not be mad if they do find out about it." Wheelie looked at Brains with a curious expression. "You might be able to know how we can do this without being caught."
"I already got it covered!" The scrap bot said confidently with a smile. "We will not be caught, I know that for a fact. We need to make sure our girl is not in danger. If the stupid humans won't do it, then we gotta do it."
Barricade could not help but nod in agreement. "It is probably the one thing I disagree with Optimus. Not harming humans, while there are some humans willing to harm us seems to be a bit…well…if a human needs to be hurt or killed, I will do it. I don't care about whatever philosophy that Optimus has known, but I do know there will probably be times when we need to kill humans."
"I have to agree. It is the one thing that has confused me about Optimus, but I can kind of understand. Aside from you two…" She points at Wheelie and Brains, making them frown slightly. "And any other scrap bots that might exist, the rest of you autobots are so much bigger than humans. I know have to stand next to Optimus and I am not even taller than his ankle. I think that could be the reason, since he's self aware of his size and strength compared to humans."
Barricade listened and seemed to nod a little. "Yeah, I can see that. But that shouldn't really be the main reason why he wouldn't harm a human. To be it is just stupid to keep thinking that all humans deserve to be allowed to live peacefully. We have already seen humans who are willing to do anything to hurt us and hurt you because you're simply our friend, and to me that warrants them being hurt or killed. Maybe it's the decepticon part of me speaking, but that is how I feel."
"To be fair, Ironhide feels the same way as you, so I don't think it has anything to do with you being a former decepticon." Saphira smiled as she grabbed her spatula to lift the two eggs out of the pan onto her plate and turned off the heat. "I think it's just a normal thing to think, if you ask me. Even I know that not all humans deserve to go unpunished. That is why we say karma will come and bite you in the end."
Barricade started to chuckle softly as he has heard that saying before, and he still found it very funny to hear. She smirked as she walked over to the table and sat down with her plate and utensils to start eating. "At least it is something that we can agree upon. I wonder how Optimus would feel."
"Oh, he already knows how I feel about it. He sees that point of view, but that doesn't mean he necessarily agrees with it. But he knows that I know how other humans can be, so of course he understands my position. But again, I do understand how he feels, but I do also know his patience with NEST has been…wavering a bit. Only because of how I have been treated."
"That is good. At least, in a sense, he has your approval," Barricade said with a smile and she nodded. "That makes things a little easier, in a way." He intakes deeply and sighed loudly. "Anyway, I think we are really thinking about other things way too seriously."
Brains chuckled and nodded in agreement. "I agree, we should let Saphira have the chance to wake up properly and enjoy her breakfast without us talking about this kind of stuff. She isn't going anywhere until a bit later anyway, so we need to just chillax and talk about something else."
"Like the car show that Saphira is going to go to?" Wheelie asked curiously, making all of them look at him. "What? I have been kind of looking at their website a little bit to figure out how things are moving along. And it seems that a few newer cars have been added recently."
"Newer cars? That's odd, I would have thought it would only be classics cars." Saphira chewed on a piece of egg as she listened quietly. "What kind of cars?"
Wheelie rolled over to the closed laptop and opened it before he typed on it and turned it around to show Saphira. "A Mercedes SLS AMG, an Alfa Romeo Brera and a Lamborghini Gallardo, these three are sticking out like sore thumbs if you ask me."
"Can you see who put them up?" Saphira asked curiously.
Wheelie checked for a moment. "Hmm…whoever it was is staying anonymous. If that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is. I am pretty sure that Dylan was the one who put these cars here, but I cannot be sure."
Saphira could see how that was suspicious, but she did not say much about it. "If might not necessarily be him, so we shouldn't be too concerned. The car show is dedicated to classics, but are not necessarily full of classics. Anyway, I will be going there with my own car in a few weeks, so we will have to wait and see by then."
"I'll see if I can come with you at that time," Barricade said in a thoughtful tone, making Saphira look at him curiously. "I do not think you should go to the event on your own. While you might not be in danger because of how crowded it will be, but I want to be there to make sure."
"Thanks for the offer, but…"
"I would rather that you don't reject the offer, Saphira. It is better that you are safe. As far as I am concerned, things might just be heating up again and we need to be careful. That is why I think this Wang person needs to be dealt with soon too." She could see and understand the concern that Barricade had for her. She well and truly did. She still didn't think it was necessary. "I will be honest though, if you say no, I'll be there anyway. You won't be able to stop me."
She giggled softly and shook her head in amusement. "Alright, I see that this is a no-win argument for me." She picked up one of the pieces of toast to eat. "If you decide to come, that is fine. I guess we will see over the next few weeks if your additional protection will be warranted. But even so, I won't be able to stop you if you get your way."
"Good. At least I can be there and you won't have a problem with it."
She chuckled as she finished her breakfast and stood up to clean up. She had a few hours to kill before she had to go to her hair appointment. "By the way, what are you going to get done with your hair?" Wheelie asked curiously. "I don't know nothing about human hair, so I don't know why you to want to go."
"Well, I need repair treatment for my hair. It has been…" Saphira paused as she thought about how she was going to answer him. "Hmm, you guys don't know much about hair…anyway, my hair is in need of repair, so I am getting a treatment done for it, and I will also be getting a balayage done to my hair. Which basically means I am getting color to my hair that will look natural."
"Ooh, okay…" Wheelie nodded, acting like he knew what she was talking about. "Right…uh…are you getting a cut as well?"
She nodded. "Yep, just a little trim though. My hair isn't in dire need of a proper cut, just some light trimming. You might not notice a huge difference, but I am excited to get it done." She scrubbed the pan to get as much of the oil and food remnants from it as possible. "Hopefully it will be a nice and relaxing day."
"Mostly relaxing," Barricade commented with a huff. "I also have considered going with you today. But I know that this man will not follow you around if I am there, which is a nuisance." He sighed deeply and looked at Saphira who was smiling at him gently. "But before you go, I think we should play something. I have learned about UNO…" She widened her eyes and started giggling as soon as Barricade told her about the game he wanted to play. "I don't think that is too funny, but I know it is supposed to be fun. I found the pack of cards last night, I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." She walked back over to the table as Barricade grabbed the pack of UNO cards. "I enjoy the game from time to time." She looked at Brains and Wheelie with a smile. "And you two can join in."
"Sounds wonderful, Mrs Prime!" Wheelie said enthusiastically. "Make sure you let Saphira shuffle them cards, I don't trust that you will keep the good cards to yourself."
Barricade hands Saphira the pack so she could shuffle them and give each of them six cards each to start with. It became a very fun game to play while they sat at the table to kill time. Saphira enjoyed herself a lot while she also thought on Optimus. She noticed she couldn't feel his feelings at the moment. She didn't know if he had somehow cut that off temporarily or not, but it did make her curious as she didn't know if she should be worried.
A few hours go by before Saphira got herself dressed to head to the salon. She wanted to be there pretty early, so she didn't waste the time of the employees. Nonetheless, Saphira made sure to take the camera with her when she left the apartment and took her Mercedes into the city to get to the salon. She did keep an eye out for a Mazda, but as she was not really given a specific model, she couldn't be sure which Mazda belonged to Jerry. She didn't really care at this point. But if he was following her again, she was kind of hoping to possibly talk to him. He obviously wanted to speak to her…maybe.
