Hey guys! Welcome to lucky number thirteen! I got a bunch of fun stuff in store for you! You guys are probably anxious for Jessica to be reunited with the Autobots. I can't say if that'll happen in this chapter, you'll just have to read to find out! Trust me, this is going to be a good chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. You do. Hahaha. Jk.

Chapter Thirteen:

Being locked up with Sideswipe was definitely a lot better than being alone. He was definitely a lot more talkative than Sunstreaker. The red mech wanted to learn everything about the Autobots here on Earth and how I came into contact with them.

"Well, Arcee was the first one I met. She's the only femme on the team but she's one hell of a warrior. Her and I don't really talk much though. I think she finds me irritating? Probably because I am always encouraging Cliff's recklessness." I giggled into my hand. "Personally I think she likes him and is jealous with how much time I spend with him."

"I've never met Arcee, but I've met her sister Chromia. Sunny and I worked with her sparkmate, Ironhide, for a little bit. We used to prank him all the time. He would get so angry." Sideswipe chuckled.

"I'd love to see Sunny pulling pranks." I sniggered, dragging out the nickname. Sunstreaker did not seem like the kind of mech who'd let you get away with calling him Sunny. Something told me he probably hated it and would undoubtedly squish me if I ever called him that in person. It would be pretty funny to see his reaction though.

Sideswipe then prompted me to finish my story. "Well, I met Arcee because of this other human named Jack. My parents and I had just moved to J- err, our hometown, and I decided to explore the town. After realizing this was the smallest town in the universe, I decided to get some food. The place I stopped at was where Jack worked. Talked to him for a bit then left. I get halfway down the street when he comes riding past me on a motorcycle, screaming his head off in fear. So naturally, I chased off him."

"Naturally." Sideswipe grinned and I returned it.

"Anyway, long story short, I bumped into Jack again, got chased by some Decepticons- ended up smashing one of their windows with a pipe, pretty proud moment in my life-, got rescued by Arcee and the rest is history. We were chased into a channel. Arcee let us off and she transformed and fought against the Cons. This is when we met Raf, he'd been there playing with his toy cars. Bumblebee joined the fight and we got the hell out of there. The next day, we were invited to the base and yeah." I finished the story.

"Sounds like you had quite the adventure. I bet you'd never imagined that you would meet aliens when you moved."

I shook my head. "But I wished for something exciting to happen. I wasn't happy in my hometown. I was alone and ridiculed there. Now I have friends who are basically family. I may have freaky alien powers now, but hey, I'm happy so that's all that matters."

"Who else is there at the base?"

"Well, there's Bulkhead and Bumblebee."

"I don't know who Bulkhead is but I do know Bumblebee. He'd just joined the Autobots when I was captured by the Decepticons. I remembered thinking he was way too adorable to be fighting in this war. Then again, it was nearly impossible to not be involved somehow." Sideswipe sighed.

"Well, Bee still is pretty adorable but he's also a kick ass warrior. I've seen Bee take out so many Cons in the past." I chuckled and ran my hand through my hair. I desperately needed a shower. My hair was greasy and my skin was so oily from sweat. Plus the blood and energon that covered my body had dried and it was itchy and smelly. "Bulkhead was apart of the Wreckers before he joined up with Optimus."

Sideswipe nodded in recognition. "I know about the Wreckers. Sunstreaker and I wanted to join them when we were younglings. But Optimus Prime himself saved us when the Decepticons destroyed our city. We would have joined the Well of Sparks if Prime hadn't gotten us out of the way of a bomb. We left to join the Autobots shortly have that and haven't looked back since."

I smiled. Optimus had done a lot of incredible things it seemed. There was no bot better suited to take on the mantle of Prime. I wonder how many lives he saved on Cybertron. I imagined it was quite a bit. However, I knew there were even more lives lost. I couldn't imagine the guilt Optimus had to deal with, I'd never want to deal with that kind of burden. Then again, as the Allspark, I knew I might have to one day make a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Optimus is a great leader." I mumbled and Sideswipe nodded in agreement. "We also have two medics now. The first one is First Aid. I haven't had a chance to talk to him much but he seems friendly enough. The other is Ratchet." I couldn't help the fond smile that spread when I said his name.

"Hmm, I've heard about First Aid, and I definitely know Ratchet the Hatchet." Sideswipe laughed. "He was Sunny and I's favorite bot to prank, even more so than Ironhide."

I snorted. "Don't let him hear you call him that. I've heard him tear into Sunstreaker a couple times for that nickname. I remember him telling me about you guys during one of our lessons. He definitely had quite a bit to say. You are not his favorite pair of bots." I cocked an eyebrow with an amused grin on my face. Sideswipe laughed again.

"You have no idea. Though something tells me there's more to your relationship with the medic than your letting on. That smile is definitely more than admiration. And don't think I've forgotten when you had me tell Sunny that he and Cliffjumper we're the two that got you through all of this. Cliffjumper is your guardian, so that makes sense, but what is Ratchet to you?" Sideswipe asked and I knew he was genuinely curious. I didn't see any disapproval or judgement in his stare so I figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him the truth.

I took a deep breath. "Ratchet and I… we're complicated. I do feel more than friendship for him, I think I love him. But we had a huge fight a couple weeks ago. I lied about something pretty serious and it hurt him. So we've barely spoken, except to argue. He didn't want me to go on the mission that got me kidnapped." I drew my legs to my chest and laid my head on my knees. "I miss his friendship though. I'm hoping to finally make amends if… when we get out of here."

"Don't worry, Jessica. I'm positive my brother and the Autobots will find us." Sideswipe assured me and I attempted to smile but I think it came out more like a grimace. "We will get out of here and you will make amends with Ratchet. I have zero doubt in my mind that he regrets all the time he spent angry at you. Something tells me if won't let you out of his sight for a while.

I giggled and nodded my head. "He and Cliffjumper both are going to ground me to the base. My parents are going to be so confused when I tell them I'm not coming home any time soon. I'll probably have to move into the silo."

"We can have sleepover." Sideswipe winked and I burst out laughing. I wasn't expecting him to say that. "Yes, we can have sleepover." I snorted and he joined me in laughing.

I was really glad to have a new friend in Sideswipe. He reminded me of Cliff in a lot of ways. They were both pretty goofy and knew how to make me laugh. Something told me they'd be pretty good friends. The three of us could probably cause all kinds of mayhem together. It's probably a good thing I wasn't a Cybertronian because I could only imagine the chaos we would get into. Here's hoping we get the chance to one day.

Sideswipe and I continued to talk about random things. He told me lots of stories from his days on Cybertron. He and Sunstreaker really loved to mess with bots and they're adventures were pretty amusing. They were also pretty badass fighters. Apparently they were so insync with one another because of their bond that, when fighting together, they were a nearly impossible to beat. I would love to see them in action one day. Actually, I would love to train with them. Imagine how much I'd improve if I had them helping me out.

When I brought the idea up, Sideswipe seemed pretty enthused by it. "My brother and I could definitely teach you a thing or two!" We made all kinds of plans for when we were free and I was pretty excited.

But first, we needed to get out of here. And when a bunch of alarms began sounding, indicating that there were Autobots on board, I knew that would be happening soon.

XxRebelWriterxX

Cliffjumper's POV

Things were looking pretty grim around here. There still wasn't any sign of the Decepticon warship. I was happy that we now had a way to know if Jessica was okay, thanks to the bond between Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but that didn't get us any closer to finding her. Communicating wasn't enough, I needed to see her, to hold her.

Jessica was more than just a charge, she was like my own sister. If she were an Autobot, I knew I'd form a sibling bond with her. And as such, I needed to protect her. Not being able to do a thing was slowly driving me mad.

To make matters worse, Optimus had gone on a mission with Ratchet. The ship they were on was full of deceased Autobots. They had been infected with the Cybonic plague and Prime had caught it. So now we had to watch as he slowly died because there was no cure for it. "Cybonic Plague was engineered in the Decepticon's biological warfare program… by Megatron himself." Ratchet was explaining to everyone.

Everyone was gathered around Optimus, including the humans. "You don't have a cure, do you?" Raf asked with a dejected frown. Optimus slowly turned to face Raf and said that there was no cure.

"Optimus, please. Save you strength." Ratchet begged with a sigh. I could see the amount of stress he was under. Between the search for Jessica and now this, it was amazing that he hadn't cracked yet. I knew the pressure was pretty intense. Jack gripped the railing and asked, "Would Megatron create a disease without a cure? I mean, what if he caught it by accident?"

"It's not like we can ask Megatron, Jack." Bulkhead sighed.

The main computer started to ding. Ratchet walked over to it and gasped at its results. "You're never going to believe this, but I finally found the location of the Decepticon warship." The medic said, his optics wide in disbelief. Both me and Sunstreaker straightened up. "I can bridge you guys to their location. Arcee, Bumblebee, you can search through their database and see if Megatron documented a cure. Cliffjumper, Sunstreaker, you know what to do."

"Yes, we do." I transformed my hand into a cannon, a determined look on my face. Optimus moaned. "Be quick everyone." Ratchet begged. Then he turned to me. "And bring her home. Please." He begged, his optics shining with emotion. I nodded, promising him that I would do everything in my power to bring Jessica home safely.

He typed in the coordinates and pulled the lever to activate the bridge. Everyone selected for the mission walked through without a glance back. When we made it, I nodded at the other two before following Sunstreaker through the halls. Because of his bond with his brother, I knew he would find them quickly.

There weren't many Cons walking around, which I thought was pretty suspicious. Still, we remained cautious and alert, our weapons raised in front of us. My spark beat wildly in anticipation. We were so close to finding them… to finding her.

The Decepticon warship was large, however, and neither of us knew where they would keep their prisoners.

We eventually did run into a small group of Cons. Sunstreaker and I took them out with ease. We needed to be quick and efficient, giving them no time to raise the alarm. This might be our only chance to get Sideswipe and Jessica, we weren't about to waste it.

We finally came across a guarded door. There were two Cons standing on either side. "Sideswipe is through there, I can feel him. The girl is still with him as well." Sunstreaker informed me quietly.

"We need to take out the guards quickly. They'll call for help as soon as they see us." I replied. He nodded and we prepared to attack, but before we could move, an alarm sounded. "Scrap! They must've found Bee and Arcee. We need to be-" Before I could finish talking, Sunstreaker ran towards the Cons, shooting at them as he went.

I followed after but he took them down fast. We opened the door and inside there were hundreds of prison cells. Sunstreaker knew where to go and he took off.

We were so close now.

XxRebelWriterxX

Jessica's POV

When the alarm started going off, I knew it had to be the Autobots. One look at Sideswipe and my suspicion was confirmed. He had the largest smile at his face.

"My brother is near. He has your guardian with him." The red mech informed me. Hope blossomed in my chest. Cliff was here, they had found us. I always knew they would but now that they were so close, I couldn't be happier. I stood up, wobbling slightly on my still tender leg.

I wished there was a way for me to get out of this stupid tube. I was anxious to see my friends once more. Though there was no way I could be half as excited as Sideswipe was. He hadn't seen his brother in a couple of decades. At least it had only been a few days for me.

We heard the sound of Cybertronians running outside our cell. My heart sped up and I really hoped that was our bots. "Brace yourself." Sideswipe warned me. I didn't question him and quickly sat on the floor and laid my hands on the side of the tube.

Our cell door was blown away, smoke filling the room. When it cleared, I nearly cried at the sight of Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker. Cliff scanned the room and when he met mine, his optics light up. He ran over to me while Sunstreaker ran over to Sideswipe.

"Howdy partner. You have no idea how glad I am to see you." I said when he was near. Cliff grinned and untwisted the top of the tube.

"You are never leaving my sight again." My guardian decided as he lifted me out and brought me close to his face. I smiled meekly and hugged his neck. When I released him, we turned around to see Sunstreaker helping an unsteady Sideswipe up off the table. Though I healed all of his injuries that the Cons had inflicted over the years, he was still weak from being stuck to a table for Primus knows how long.

Cliff lifted me up to his shoulder and then went over to give Sunstreaker a hand. "Ratchet we need a bridge." He called over the comlink. He gave Ratchet their coordinates and we only had to wait a few seconds before a portal appeared.

We heard the telltale sign of approaching Decepticons. "Quickly!" Cliff exclaimed and the hurried through the portal, finally leaving the Decepticon ship behind.

When we arrived at the otherside of the portal, I couldn't help but cry in relief. I was finally home, back in the silo where I belonged. We were greeted by a loud cheer. I looked around and saw all of my friends, human and Autobot alike.

Cliff sat me down at the second floor landing and I was quickly swarmed by the humans. Miko was the first one to me. "I'm so glad you're finally home, girl! I've missed you so much!" Miko shouted in my ear as she hugged me tight. I laughed and hugged her back just as fiercely.

Next was Rafael. I knelt down to hug him and he sniffled. "I was so worried about you, Jess. I'm happy you're home, safe and sound." He said when he pulled back, his eyes shining with tears. "Thanks Raf, I missed you too. Very much." I informed him.

Then it was Jack who hugged me. "Don't ever do that again. You are my first true friend, Jess, and I couldn't handle losing you. This past couple days have been rough… on all of us." Jack also had tears in his eyes and I finally broke down completely. "I'm sorry Jack, I missed you so much. I thought about all of you everyday I was there. It's what got me through it." He smiled weakly and nodded before stepping to the side.

The last human to come up was Agent Fowler. "Welcome home, soldier. We were all very worried about you. But you survived and that's all any if us can do. You are strong and you are brave." He said before saluting me. I returned the gesture with a watery smile.

I was then greeted by each of the bots. Arcee was the first to approach me. "Welcome back kid. It wasn't the same without you. Please don't leave again, both Cliff and Ratchet were impossible to deal with." She told me, smiling slightly. I nodded, promising her that I had no intention on going through that again.

Next was Bulkhead. "Fowler was right, you're a strong girl Jess. I'm glad your back, safe and sound." He grinned and returned it. Since I couldn't understand Bee, he just offered his hand and brought me close to his face so that I could hug him. "Missed you too, Bee."

First Aid and Ratchet were in the medbay, tending to Optimus and checking over Sideswipe. Cliffjumper picked me back up and carried me that way. No doubt I would be thoroughly looked over before I could do anything else. I was nervous to see Ratchet again, but I also couldn't wait. I've missed him so much and we had so much to talk about.

When we walked in, First Aid was checking over Sideswipe and Ratchet was administering the cure to Optimus. It worked almost instantly and I watched as Optimus went from looking like he was inches from death, to looking lively once more. "Just take it easy, Optimus." Ratchet warned him when he sat up.

"Besides being pretty low on Energon, you're systems are all working as they should be. I honestly don't see anything wrong with you. Get some energon and some rest and you'll be good as new it no time." First Aid was telling Sideswipe. He looked surprised that he was in such good health and I knew that was because of me.

Sideswipe shot me a grateful smile and that focused First Aids attention on me. "Jessica!" He grinned and walked over to me and Cliff. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ratchet turn to me when First Aid shouted my name but my nerves got the best of me and I focused on the bot in front of me.

"Hey Aid. It's really good to see you again." I smiled tiredly. I was really looking forward to a comfy bed. And a shower. I can't believe everyone hugged me when I was still covered in blood and energon. And I smelled. Really bad.

"It's good to see you again too. Cliff you can set her on the berth by Optimus. I'm positive Ratchet will want to look over her himself." First Aid winked and I felt my face heating up. My heart sped up as we walked towards him and I looked down at my feet, biting my lip nervously. I was terrified of what he'd say to me.

Cliff set me down on the berth and I looked over at Optimus. He was watching me curiously, a relieved smile on his face. "Optimus, it's great to see you again." I cheerfully told the Prime.

"You as well, Jessica. You had us all worried, but we are thankful to have you home once more." Optimus replied, hours voice hoarse but happy all the same.

Finally I managed to work up the nerve to meet Ratchets gaze. My heart fluttered when I saw the look in his optics. It was a mixture between relief, pride, and… love. The love outshone every other emotion I saw. I felt a lump in my throat when I thought about how worried and scared he must have been the past few days.

"Ratchet, I-" I couldn't finish, my voice cracking up as a fresh wave of tears gathered in my eyes. I couldn't find the words to tell him just how sorry I was and how much he meant to me. I wanted him to know that he was everything to me.

"I know, Jessica. Me too." He whispered and that was enough for now. We would need to have a serious conversation at some point, but for the time being, we just wanted to enjoy the moment of being reunited.

Ratchet scanned me. He frowned at the results. "The energon in your blood had nearly doubled! And the Allspark energy has consumed you. You practically reek of the stuff. I've never seen anything like it."

I shrugged. "After I saved Sideswipe, I felt more connected to the Allspark. I now understand why I was chosen. It was my destiny all among. Primus created the cube knowing one day I would possess its power. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that I'm right where I belong." I looked at Ratchet seriously. "I may not have wanted to be part of your war, but now I know that's it's much bigger than that. This isn't about you guys, it's about saving life and creating something beautiful. I'm proud to be the Allspark. And I will do everything in my power to help the Autobots rebuild their home. That is a promise."

Ratchet was staring at me intensely and I held his gaze. I needed him to understand that I regretted the words I said during our fight. I regretted ever letting that night happen. Now I knew I couldn't keep secrets if I wanted a relationship to happen one day. So I promised myself that I would tell him everything.

Somehow I knew he got my message. And just like that, I knew everything would be okay. We had a long journey ahead of us, but I knew we would make it work. I didn't know for sure if Ratchet and I would have more than a friendly relationship, but that was okay. I had him back in my life. I would apologize to him and everything would be fine.

The future was a scary place but I was ready to face it with the Autobots and my human friends by my side.

Short chapter again but this was an important one so I hoped you enjoyed it! Yes, Jessica and Ratchet have to have a pretty important conversation and that will happen soon. Just not in the way you guys think. Cliff also has some words for her so that'll be fun. And I'm sure Optimus will want to throw something in there as well. I'll see you guys soon with chapter fourteen! Time for me to go to bed. Night!