A/N: Chapter 2 is here! But before you guys start reading I just to give a heads up that Ironhide and Chromia will be mentioned in this chapter, but I do not know if they will be making an appearance in the story at all. I hope you all enjoy the story. Let me know what you think. Have good day and God bless!

Deuteronomy 31:8

"Adonai- He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be discouraged."

Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers franchise.

Chapter Two: The Date

"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!", could be heard throughout the room.

"This isn't funny, Ratchet!", Orion Pax snapped.

It was the day after Orion had asked Ariel out on a date. He was so nervous that he was beginning to doubt himself; what if this was mistake? What if he screws up and says the wrong thing? Or worse; what if she doesn't came at all? It was to get so bad, in fact, that he was starting to give himself a processor ache. That was when he decided to seek advise from a bot he knew he could always count on, Ratchet. While it is true that the medic was no Alpha Trion he was, however, one of the smartest bots that Orion Pax knew.

Besides, he was one of the few Cybertronians who knew what kind of mech Orion really was. The two of them as well as another mech, Ironhide, go way back, all the way to their days at the Youth Sectors. Orion Pax was an orphan, never knowing who his parents were; and while he does think of Alpha Trion as a bit of a father figure, both Ironhide and Ratchet were his closest friends and the closest thing he had to a family growing up.

Furthermore, while Orion knew he could talk to Alpha Trion about anything, his mentor told him as much, he had a feeling that the Head Archivist would not approve of him seeing this femme. For whatever reason Alpha Trion and Ariel seem to have close relationship; he appears to be so fond of her that he seems to be the most at ease and happy whenever Orion has seen them speak with another.

All of these reason are what brought him here; sitting in his old friend's office at the hospital and telling the doctor about his situation, which resulted in Ratchet hysterically laughing his head off. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just that you came in here like somebot had just died, only for me to find out that this is all over some femme," Ratchet explained, bringing his laugh down to a chuckle.

"This is serious, Rachet; ok? I really like this femme. She's funny, she's smart, she's...," Orion shook his head to prevent himself from getting off topic. "I just don't want to screw this up," he admitted with a sigh.

"Orion, would you relax? You are acting as if this is your first date," Ratchet told him nonchalantly.

Orion just look pointedly at him.

Realization dawned the medic as he said, "Unbelievable." He then bellowed out another fit of hysteric laughter. "This is your first date!"

Instead of snapping at his old friend, again, he just sighed and tried to keep the conversation going. "Yes, this is my first date. Look, could you please give some advise, I don't know what to do."

Finally ceasing to laugh at his friend's expense, Ratchet decided to help Orion out. "Alright, look, did you in any way act any differently than you you usually do when you talked to her?"

The clerk shook hid head. "No, not really."

"Then clearly she likes you for you," Ratchet chuckled. "When you go out on this date tonight just relax and be yourself, the rest will work itself out."

"You really think so?", Orion Pax asked with a somewhat hopeful expression.

"Of course!," the medic assured him, smiling. "You are a good mech, Orion, you just need to faith in yourself."

The following evening Orion Pax was waiting outside in front of the steps to main entrance of the Iacon Hall of Records, waiting and praying for Ariel to arrive so that they can head over to Maccadam's and have their date. But she has yet to show up, the sun was already setting and the city was beginning to come to life with all the lights activating. Thinking that she stood him up, he began to dejectedly walk home. However, he took no more than a few steps when he heard a voice call out to him; her voice.

"Hey! Hey! Orion, wait up!," each shout getting louder as she ran towards him. When she did finally manage to reach him she stopped a few feet away from him and was panting heavily, her systems trying to cool down from the overexertion of running too fast. "Oh, thank God I made it. I'm so sorry that I am late, Orion. I did try to get here on time but I got held up," she tried to explain.

Just thankful that she had actually showed up he reassured her, "You are here now, that is all that matters."

Still waiting for her systems to cool down Ariel exhaled a, "Thank you."

This caused the clerk to chuckle. After giving her a few more minutes to recover from her run he spoke again. "Well, shall we go then?", he asked extending his arm in the direction that Maccadam's was in.

After one final huff a smile spread across Ariel's face. "Yes, let's," she told him. She also surprised Orion by hugging his arm and pulling him the direction of the restaurant. It wasn't like he was complaining or anything, never had a femme clutching his arm like this felt so natural.

A few minutes into the walk the two bots were able to find a pace that they were comfortable with and allowed the noise of the bustling city around them to fill the void of silence. It was only after they had reached their destination and were seated at a table did they began to converse once again.

"Orion, I just want to again say how sorry I am for running late," Ariel told him sincerely. "It's just that my roommate would not stop bugging me about tonight's date. I think she was just excited for me, that's all. You see, I don't really really have much of a social life; mainly I have just been focused on on my career." She then began to laugh at herself and shake her head in amusement when she realized what she was doing. "Sorry, I am rambling, aren't I?"

"No, no. You're fine," Orion reassured her.

"I'm just really nervous," the femme admitted.

"Really, it's alright," he chuckled, realizing the irony. "I am nervous myself. In fact, I was driving myself out of my processor this morning that I decided to go get advise from a friend of mine. And you know what he did after I told him?"

Ariel shrugged with a smile on her face. "What?"

"He laughed! I tell him how I am worried about screwing tonight up and he laughs." Just after he tells her this he then sees her begin to laugh herself.

"I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you, really; it is just so funny."

Orion looks at her dumbfounded for only a second before laughing along with her. It was at that moment that a server came to their table and handed them their energon. "Thank you," the young archivist tells the the waiter as he leaves.

"This looks delicious," Ariel commented as she began to drink her energon.

"Yeah, it sure does," he agreed. But then his smile fell from his face a he started to ponder whether he should ask the femme sitting across from him the question that had plagued his mind since he asked her out. "Ariel, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"No, not at all. What's up?"

"Why did you agree to go out with me tonight?"

This surprised the young archeologist for she certainly wasn't expecting that. She thought about her answer before telling him. "Well, I guess the main reason would have to be that I wanted to get to know you better. From what I can tell so far you are kind, patient, and you seem like you have a good spark. And I must confess that from the day I first saw you walk into Alpha Trion's office I thought you were cute," she said the last part shrugging her shoulders sheepishly. This caused Orion's spark to swell, thrilled that she seemed to feel similarly as he does about her. "Besides, if Alpha Trion is allowing you to study under him, then that must mean you are a trustworthy mech."

Hearing that last statement reminded him of the other question that was floating around in his mind; one that would he always ask himself whenever he saw Alpha Trion and Ariel together. He decided to voice this inquiry. "That leads me to another question. What is your relationship with Alpha Trion?"

"What do you mean?", Ariel asked perplexed.

"Whenever I see the two of you speaking with each other he seems at ease with himself, more so than when I see him working. You seem to give him a sense of peace; happiness," he explained.

It took her moment before she responded. "Ah, I see," she nodded in understanding. "Alpha Trion never told you, did he?"

This caused Orion Pax to raise an optic ridge and ask in return, "Tell me what?"

Ariel sighed before explaining. "Well, professionally, you could say that I work part-time as the liaison between the Hall of Records and the Institute's Department of Archeology, where I work. What I basically do is keep Alpha Trion updated on any progress that my department has made. You know, the progress that is being made at the digs, what we've found so far, and other stuff like that. And in return I report to the Institute whether Alpha Trion supports our findings or not. And the reason why I am the one that does it is because his need for very thorough detailed reports and to ask numerous questions doesn't irritate me has it does the rest of them."

"Many bots do find that annoying," the clerk agreed. "But that is what makes him a great archivist."

"Exactly."

"While that would explain why he would respects you, it still doesn't explain why he acts the way he does around you."

Ariel sighed again, this time in disappointment. "He really never told you?"

"All he has ever told me about you was your name," he answered honestly.

After one more sigh Ariel signaled for him to get closer. Clearly understanding that she did not want others to eavesdrop on their conversation Orion leaned further over the table to hear what she to say. Ariel met him halfway and whispered to him, "The reason why Alpha Trion acts like that around me is because he raised me; he is my guardian. Although, considering I do call him my grandfather, you could you that I am like his adopted granddaughter."

This resulted in Orion jerking back in surprise, causing Ariel to jump back a bit too. "Granddaughter?", he asked above a whisper. "You're his granddaughter?"

She just nodded her head, waiting patiently for him to get over his shock.

"I can't believe this! How come I did not know about this?"

"Not many bots do," Ariel reasoned. "Grandfather is a highly respected member of society, not to mention a member of the High Counsel, all that result in him having enemies. So, in order to make sure that I was safe and so that nobot could use me to get to him, our relationship was kept out of the public eye. And, besides, I wanted to build my career based on my own merit not because of who I have ties with."

"I just can't believe that I'm a date with my mentor's granddaughter," was all Orion could say.

"I honestly thought he would've at least told you," she told him. But when he didn't say anything for a while she started to get concerned. "This isn't going to be a problem, is it?", she asked worriedly.

"No! No. No, of course not," Orion quickly reassured her while shaking his head. "I'm just shocked is all. I was not even aware that Alpha Trion had a charge."

"Well, like I said, in order to keep me safe only a certain amount of bots know about my true relationship with him," she told him. "Alpha Trion was good friends with my parents and become the closest thing I have to a grandfather, hence why I call him grandfather."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. It is just that I am worried," Orion admitted. "If he finds out that I went out on a date with his granddaughter, he might..."

"Not take it well," she finished for him. "Yeah, I can see where you might be coming from; grandfather can be kind of overprotective at times. He might be a wise and understanding old mech but he is definitely not somebot you want to trifle with."

"You are not helping," he told her.

"I'm sorry," she chuckled. "But, seriously, if that is what you are worried about then we don't have to tell him."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you for understanding. And if it is any consultation, I only asked you out because I wanted to get to know you. I have never felt this way about a femme before, there is just something about you; I can't explain it."

"I feel the same way," Ariel smiled. "About you I mean, not me."

This caused both of them to laugh.

"Ok; so, now, it is my turn to ask you a question," Ariel stated after their laugher died down.

"Go ahead," Orion nodded in consent.

"What's your family like?"

This question caught Orion by surprise. Sure, he knew it was a possibility that she would ask that question, but that didn't mean he was expecting it so soon. Honestly, he did not like it when he was given looks of pity when bots find out that he is an orphan, and because of this he was kind of embarrassed to tell her. In fact, he did not speak for several minutes with a gloomy look on his face.

"Orion?" she inquired concerned.

"I actually don't have a family," he decided to tell her. He waited for Ariel to say something but when she didn't he continued to speak. "You see, I grew up in the Youth Sectors never knowing who my parents were. All I do know is that my caretaker found me on her doorstep in the middle of the night. I don't know if my parents are dead or they just gave me up."

"Oh, Orion, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, really," Orion interrupted her apology. "I'll admit that it was difficult growing up not knowing where I came from; I guess that is what led me to being an archivist. I would always learn and ask what questions I could about history, hoping and praying to discover my own. And while there may have been hardships, overall I've been blessed with a decent life."

There was a reflective silence between the two before Ariel decided to say something.

"Well, I don't know if it'll make you feel any better, but I never knew my parents either. Like I said I was raised by Alpha Trion; ever since I was a sparkling, in fact."

"Really?", Orion couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," was Ariel's reply.

"If you don't mind my asking; do you know what happened to them?", the young mech inquired; resting both arms on the table.

"They were murdered," she answered; her voice cracking a bit in sadness. "Poor grandfather was sparkbroken when he found out. Knowing that I didn't have any other family to take care of me, he decided to raise me as his own."

"I am so sorry, Ariel," Orion told her still in disbelief that she had to go through all that spark ache.

"You don't have to apologize," Ariel assured him; placing her hand over his own. "Like you, I too have been with a good life."

"Guess we have a few things in common, huh?", the clerk somewhat joked.

"Ya think?", the young archologist smartly countered, causing Orion to chuckle.

As the date continued the pair would tell jokes, laugh, and tell each other more about themselves; what they like, what their jobs entailed, they even compared Alpha Trion stories. Orion Pax even got to talk about how he met Ratchet and become friends with him while the medic was an under the tutelage of the Youth Sectors' doctor at the time. But when he began to talk about Ironhide he was interrupted.

"Wait, did you say 'Ironhide?", Ariel questioned.

Orion answered her with some uncertainly. "Yes, I did."

"Ironhide?", she asked again. "Big, black mech who is in the military? Has a bit of a temper? Has cannons has his most prized possessions?"

"You know him?", Orion asked, shocked that she knew all that.

"Know him?", Ariel laughed. "He's dating my best friend!"

It only took a second for his processor to put two and two together. "You're best friend is Chromia?!"

"Yes! She is also my roommate that told you about earlier; you know, the one that caused me to be late," Ariel continued to laugh.

"This is unbelievable," Orion exasperated. "I mean, what are the odds?"

"Believe it," she told him after she calmed down from her laughing fit. "You do know what this means now, don't you?"

Orion was a little afraid to ask but did anyway. "What?"

"Once Chromia finds out, she is going to want the four of us to go on a double date."

Orion groaned in response, which just caused Ariel to go into another fit of giggles.

As they were leaving the restaurant, Ariel asked a question. "Hey, Orion, other than laugh at you did Ratchet give you any actual advise?"

"Yes, he did," was his reply.

"Well, what did he say?"

"He told me to just be myself and that it would all work itself out in the end."

Ariel chuckled. "Sounds like he's a pretty smart mech."

Orion chuckled as well, putting his arm around her shoulders without even thinking about it. "I'll be sure to let him know that you said that," he told her as they walked off into the night.