The next morning they went looking for Bee's Decepticon - it had disappeared in a hilly area, about an hour's drive away from the city, where there was little to be found except a few truck stops and gas stations with adjoining parking lots. Bee had already scanned local police comms for any mentions of an abandoned car but there were no reports since last night. The terrain was largely rocky and unsuitable for off-road driving, and any foliage that could be found was too scarce to hide a big vehicle, let alone a giant robot.

By Bee's assessment the Decepticon was unlikely to have gotten far and was almost certainly in stasislock. So there wasn't really a sense of urgency about: they took their time driving around, trying to bring each other up to speed with what had happened in the past 10 years. It was a crisp autumn day with clear skies, the kind you can only get after it had been raining cats and dogs the previous night. Mikaela was reminded of the drives they would take together, after Sam returned to college at the end of summer holidays, when they were trying to take advantage of the sunny days before they became too short and too few. They would blast the radio, maybe dabble in a bit of dare-devil driving if the roads were empty, and usually end up on one of the hills that had a nice view of the city.

By the time it had started getting dark, there was still no sign of the Decepticon and Bee was beginning to worry. They pulled over at a somewhat secluded spot where Bee could transform and they could stop to think.

"So no police reports? Nothing?"

"None so far." Bee shook his head in disappointment.

"We've checked every parking lot in the area." Mikaela looked into the distance. "And there's nothing else for miles in that direction."

They both fell quiet while retracing their steps in their minds and trying to think of anything they might have missed.

"Wait, Bee, what was the model of the vehicle again?"

"Huh?" It took him a moment to come back from his thoughts. "Oh! It was a GMC Sierra."

"Hm."

"What is it, Miki?"

"Well, the Sierra is kind of a dud." The confused look on Bee's face told her she should explain. "That means it's a shitty car. So what I'm thinking, you find a banged up shitty car at the side of the road, no license plates, with no signs of foul play..."

"Junk!" Bee's face lit up. "You're gonna think somebody abandoned a piece of junk!"

"Yup! And I doubt the local boys in blue would bother writing that one up - they probably just had it towed and went back to Benny's for coffee." She took out her phone and started searching the contact list. "And I have a good idea who they called to tow it away!"

"Mh... mmm... Oh nooo haha!"

Mikaela had been talking away on her phone or the last 15 minutes, while Bee dragged his feet through the dirt like a bored kid.

"Ok, well thanks for that, Moe! And tell Angie to keep away from the buffet next time haha!"

She finally hung up.

"And!? Does he have the car!?" Bee couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You gotta learn some patience, Sparky! But yes, the car is there; the cops called Moe to tow it away and it's currently sitting in his yard."

"Right!" Bee started laying out his plan. "So we wait until it's fully dark, then we can go down to the yard. I'm not sure what kind of alarm system he has, but shouldn't be too hard to get around. Though the car is probably not in driving order, so if we want to take it we'll have to..."

He was deep in thought when he noticed Mikaela giving him a puzzled look.

"Miki?"

"Em… Moe said I can have the car for 200 dollars. A banged up Sierra isn't even good for spare parts so he'd be glad to get rid of it. We can pick it up first thing tomorrow."

"Oh..." Bee looked somewhat disappointed.

Mikaela crossed her arms. "What's wrong now? Out with it, Bee!"

"Well..." Bee was looking at the floor and kicking the dirt around. "... I was kind of hoping we'd get to see some action. Like the old days."

She burst out laughing. "I swear, Sparky, you haven't changed a bit! Who knows, maybe if you're lucky it'll transform while we're towing it away and punch you in the face! Imagine the excitement!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." He was kind of annoyed at himself for making that comment - he really should be glad they managed to get their hands on the car so easily after he lost it the first time.

Mikaela's laughter had died down, and she wiped away a few stray tears from her eyes. When she finally looked up at him, she realized what lay on the horizon just behind him.

Serpent Hill.

Serpent Hill obviously wasn't its real name, but it was definitely fitting: the hill had a steep, meandering road leading to the top, with hairpin turns and non-existing off road barriers. The whole thing resembled a snake winding down the side of the hill and soon the original name was forgotten in favour of the new, more ominous one. Nobody went up Serpent Hill unless they really had to, and the bottom of the hill was littered with stray car parts that were too difficult to retrieve - a grim reminder of the long way down that awaited any vehicle that didn't manage to stay on the road.

And it was near Serpent Hill that Bumblebee and Mikaela ran into a Decepticon that fateful night almost 10 years ago.

"Hold on!"

Mikaela braced herself as a black Dodge Charger slammed into them from behind. Bee was trying his best to outrun him, but the Charger was showing no signs of giving up. Luckily the impact wasn't strong enough to run them off the road, but they couldn't keep this up forever.

"Bee, we got to get off this road!"

"I'm very open to suggestions right now!"

Mikaela was frantically looking around for anything that could work to their advantage.

"Serpent Hill, Bee! To our right!"

"You gotta be kidding me." Bee was a good driver, but unfortunately humans didn't make 3D maps, and the 2D ones they had were completely useless for a road like that.

"No, I know the way!"

"I guess we don't have much choice." Bee pushed the steering wheel towards Mikaela. "You navigate, and I'll keep us from flying off the road!"

She quickly grabbed the wheel and they took the next right turn to Serpent Hill. The Decepticon followed close by. Luckily there were no lights to be seen up the hill, meaning at least they didn't have to worry about other cars. Just as the Charger was gaining on them, they entered a sharp curve that forced the Decepticon to slow down so as to avoid going off the road.

"Ha, how do you like that, buddy!?" Mikaela took a small moment to gloat, but there was more trouble ahead of them. "Ok Bee, after the next two turns, I need you to speed up like we've hit a straight stretch of road."

"Then what?"

"Then we say our prayers and do some serious drifting!"

After making the turns, they hit a stretch of road that seemed to be less winding. Bee picked up speed, and the Charger decided to catch up. It was gaining on them fast and, just when it seemed like it was going to ram them again, they went into a sudden hairpin bend. They were going so fast that they had to drift to make it through the almost 180-degree turn, and Bee could feel soil eroding behind his back wheels. Unfortunately for the Decepticon, it was not prepared to make the turn and went flying off the road and down the hill. Bee stopped as soon as he could and, when Mikaela got out, quickly transformed into his robot form. They both ran to the edge of the road, where they saw the Decepticon - still in vehicle mode - lying at the foot of the hill and impaled on a broken tree trunk. Its headlights flickered a few times and the car was swallowed by darkness as the Decepticon went offline.

"We got him! We got him!" Mikaela could barely contain her excitement, obviously going through an adrenaline rush.

"Mess with the best, crash like the rest!" Bee stretched out his hand to a height where Mikaela could give him a low five, which she quickly dished out.

"Auuu!" Mikaela's adrenaline rush showed no signs of ebbing. "Miki and Sparky: Decepticon-hunting dream team! We should do this for a living - driving down the open roads, kicking Decepticon butt, just you and me! What do you say?"

When she turned back at Bee, she saw him awkwardly staring at the ground. She knew that look - it was the look Bee had when what he wanted to do and what he needed to do were not the same thing. Fearing she might have strayed into thorny territory, she decided to play the whole thing off as a joke.

"Can you imagine that, Sparky? That would be one hell of a reality show! 'Cops' have nothing on us haha!" Bee gave a half-hearted laugh, pretending he took it as a joke all along, and Mikaela felt her heart sink. It was at that moment that she realized how much she had actually meant what she said: how much she wanted to get away from here, away from Sam's stuck up college friends, from customers calling her 'sweetheart', from the has-beens who gathered at her dad's workshop to talk about the glory days. Just him and her. Together.

But she knew it was not going to happen.

"Guess it's time to call Sector 7 to clean up this mess." She gave him a wink, and he smiled back at her.

Bee transformed back into a Camaro and opened the driver's door. "Let's go home, Miki."

"Yeah, home..."

And though no more awkward conversations happened on the way home, it was obvious their relationship had changed. That night they realized they weren't around each other constantly just because they had a mutual friend - in reality, it was Sam who was the odd man out. No matter how much they wanted to pretend nothing happened, there was no going back to the way things were.

After that, their contact rapidly tapered off and it was not long before she left Sam for good. Bumblebee was afraid that he was repeating the same situation as with Charlie, and all that could come out of it was heartbreak. As for Mikaela, she told herself things were getting 'weird' and left it at that. Had she known herself then as she did now, she would have realised the truth - she was not scared of liking an alien robot so much as she was terrified of what it meant if he liked her back. She accepted there were two types of (human) men: those who thought she was hot but hated her personality, and those who thought she was hot but didn't mind her personality. But to admit Bumblebee could like her beyond simple friendship, she would have to accept that she had something to offer to somebody who probably couldn't understand her physical appeal beyond symmetry - and her confidence just wasn't there yet.

"Hey Sparky, if you're in the mood for action, how about we take on Serpent Hill again?"

His face initially lit up, but she could see his hesitation as the full memory of that night came back.

"It rained yesterday, I don't think..."

Oh well, she would have to play dirty. "What's the matter? Don't think you're up to it anymore?"

He quickly realised where this was going and his face took on a mischievous expression.

"I'm not up to it!? I'm not the one who's spent the last 10 years driving a pickup truck."

"Hey, that's only for work!" Oh, it was on . "Besides, I'll have you know I have another car."

She took a playful step back, as if contemplating walking away, and he came one step forward with his chest puffed out and a big, cheeky smile. She had him right where she wanted him.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. It's a Ford Mustang."

"Lame."

"He's red with white racing stripes." She put on her best lovestruck face and batted her eyelashes several times.

" He sounds like a loser."

" He doesn't complain when I want to go up Serpent Hill."

"That's it!" Bee transformed back into a Camaro and opened the driver's door towards her.

"Get in, we're going up that damn hill!"

Mikaela ran into the car with a smug smile. As she put her hands on the steering wheel, she could feel the low rumble of the engine getting ready to start. She buckled her seat belt and off they went, with Serpent Hill growing closer with every second. Bee started fiddling with the radio trying to find an appropriate soundtrack to their drive, but Mikaela turned the volume down to zero - she wanted to get the full experience, both sight and sound . He understood what she had meant by it and turned off the radio. There wasn't a single light all the way to the top and they had the road all to themselves. The asphalt was dry enough to allow for speeding, but the odd puddle provided a satisfying splash as they drifted through the bends. They reached the top in no time flat, and were greeted with a view of the city glistening beneath them.

"I forgot how nice the view is from here," Bee remarked as he turned to go back down hill again.

"I'm surprised you can see anything with that much grime on you haha!" Mikaela was right, they drove though enough puddles on their way up to leave him looking pretty filthy. "But since you were such a nice boy and let me drive you all the way up, how about a nice relaxing bath ?"

That could only mean one thing: automatic car wash tunnel, one of the greatest achievements of human civilization as far as Bee was concerned. But as much as he loved the car wash, getting into one without an actual human around to pay was almost impossible. He gave a happy little honk and hurried down the hill.

"Haha, I'll take that as a yes!"

Soon they reached the foot of the hill and were back on the main road.

"Would madame like to pick up some fries and a shake at the drive-in before we reach the car spa?"

"Awww, Sparky, you know me so well!" Mikaela gave his dashboard a little pat. "And afterwards you gotta teach me how to ski."

Bee changed lanes to take the exit leading back to the city. "It's a date!"

It was dawning by the time they rolled back into Mikaela's garage.

"That was sooo much fun!" Mikaela got out of the Camaro and took a good stretch, while Bee transformed behind her.

"Look how shiny I am!" Bee was admiring his reflection in his forearm plating.

"I swear, Sparky, I could almost hear you purr as we went through the car wash."

"Nooo… Well, maybe a little."

They both giggled at that when Mikaela noticed music coming from the radio - she forgot to turn it off before they left in the morning, and now the sounds of Bryan Adams singing about how he's coming 'back to yooou' were filling up the workshop.

"Ugh, you'd think I was made of money," Mikaela mumbled to herself as she walked over to turn off the radio. Unfortunately, on her way there, she tripped on a thick power cable lying on the floor and stumbled forward. She grabbed onto the large metal shelving unit to stop herself from falling, which rattled for a few seconds from the impact.

"Damn, my brain really doesn't work in the morning, does it?"

"Watch out!"

As soon as she crouched down to put away the cable, Bee appeared above her, seemingly shielding her from something she couldn't see.

What Mikaela didn't know was that when she grabbed that shelf, she also dislodged the "Planet Piston" ball from the top. And what Bee didn't know…

He braced himself for impact which never came. Instead, something just lightly grazed his back, before mockingly rolling away.

"Huh?" He looked over his shoulder to see the ball rocking gently in the corner, and then down to Mikaela who was obviously trying to stifle a laugh.

"Um, Bee… It's made... from foam… It's… not very heavy..."

"Can you please just start laughing so we can get this over with?"

With that she burst out laughing so hard she had to grab her stomach. Bee was still above her on all fours, rolling his optics both at her and at himself.

"You done yet?"

"C'mon Bee… I'm just..." Mikaela was still giggling so much it sounded like she was hiccuping. She finally managed to sit up so she was face to face with him. "Awww, Bee, don't be upset, you saved me from a big ball of styrofoam! My hero! "

In the spur of the moment, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. It took a few moments for her to realize what she was doing, and she pulled away in shock.

"Oh god, Bee, I'm so sorry I wasn't think..." But before she could finish what she was saying, he quickly leaned forward and pushed their faces back together.

It was the weirdest kiss Mikaela had ever experienced, but certainly not the worst. As for Bee, he still wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be doing or feeling, but her body heat was definitely making his internal fans run a few herzes faster. They separated after a few seconds, with their faces still a few inches from each other.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't stay with you, Miki."

"That's ok - it just wasn't the right time. That's life for ya, Bee."

He gave her a cheeky grin. "Is the time now better?"

"The time is perfect ." She snuggled against his neck like a cat getting ready to take a long awaited nap. It had been an eventful night (to say the least) and she could feel herself getting sleepy.

"Speaking of time, you realize the sun is already out?"

"Oh, dang!" Mikaela noticed her workshop was now filled with long beams from the low sun peeking through the windows. "I have a client coming in the afternoon to discuss a restoration ugh!"

"You should be in bed, young lady, not driving around and kissing strange alien robots." He gave her a little peck on the forehead - maybe he was getting the hang of this kissing thing after all.

"Ha, you really are turning into Optimus, Sparky." She got up and dusted herself off. "Hey, got any room in there for a tired girl too lazy to climb into bed?"

"Always." Bee transformed into a car and Mikaela grabbed a spare blanket she kept in the workshop and nuzzled herself into the back seat. Her back will probably give her hell for this later, but she didn't care. After all those years spent apart, she just wanted to be around him as much as possible.

"Hey, Sparky?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you came back."

"I'm just glad I got my timing right."

"See, you're getting the hang of it!"

And with that she drifted off to sleep.