Sam sat, spread out on his bed, his eyes scanning over the same sentence in his astronomy text book for the last ten minutes. He couldn't focus. Another nightmare had kept him from sleeping the night before and astronomy, with its horrible teacher and dry subject matter, weighed too heavily on his sleepy mind. The homework was hardly exciting enough to keep him interested for very long.

It had been a little more than three months since he had returned from Egypt. Ninety three days had passed since he had last risked his life in another Autobot battle. More than enough time for his physical injuries to heal, but hardly long enough for the ordeal, and the impression it had left on his mind, to be overcome. Even in the serene air of Tranquility.

He had returned here, much to his chagrin, instead of to his new college while arrangements were being made with the College Board. They weren't very inclined to allow him to return after his last attendance had caused the complete destruction to the library building, minor damage to the dorms, and the injury of sixteen other students.

So now he was stuck living back with his parents while the government, who had eventually admitted to error in how they had handled the situation involving him after Optimus had died, agreed to negotiate with the college on his behalf. Sam saw this as a sort of peace offering, though he suspected it was aimed more at the Autobots, who had been furious at how Sam had been treated, especially Optimus, than it was aimed at him.

He had given up hope to be returning to his college any time soon. He wasn't even sure he could even call it his since he had only been there for two days before he had been pulled away and he might never be returning. But he was still expected to keep up with his work. Something made much harder by the fact that he was not allowed to attend the lectures.

Sam was pulled out of 'studying' when he heard a honking outside. Starting at the familiar sound, he looked out of his window and saw a bright yellow Camero with black racing stripes sitting innocently in the driveway. All too eager to abandon his work, he jumped off his bed, shoved on his shoes and jacket, and headed outside.

Bumblebee waited patiently for his young charge and friend to join him. He hadn't seen much of Sam in the last month. He had been too busy with the aftermath of the battle. They were trying to find the Decepticons that had fled when the battle had been lost, finishing new renovations to the base in Diego Garcia, making preparations for Autobots they were expecting to arrive, and situating the few Autobots who had arrived recently.

And in the time they had spent together, they hadn't had much time to talk to each other. Or rather Sam hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him. His lack of vocal processor made it very difficult for him to talk back, something he had grown to resent now more than ever. He was fine with other Bots; he had become very apt at comm. use. He might even prefer it because he was able to keep others from hearing what he was saying. But with his human friend, with whom he wanted to speak the most, he was rendered unable. Sometimes he couldn't stand it.

More than anything he wanted to talk to Sam about what happened three months ago, in Egypt and the days preceding it. He hadn't had the chance in awhile, and before that whenever he had tried to broach the subject with him, Sam would carefully maneuver the conversation away.

Bee greatly enjoyed his time with Sam. The cheerful, sweet boy was wonderful to be around. Bee had come to care for him more than anyone else. His position as Sam's guardian, a very rare and honored position among Autobots, showed as much. And sometimes Bee worried about the boy.

Sam's careless smile as he shuffled out of the house and made his way over to Bee erased any worries that he might have had. Sam threw himself into the driver's seat when Bee opened the door for him.

"What's up, Bee," he asked curiously. Bee rarely came around anymore just to hang out and he doubted that he would start now. It made him incredibly sad that he thought that Bee would need a reason to come see him, but it didn't make it any less true.

"Boss wants you to… meet… the newbies… they're coming… be here soon… and the ones from earlier," he cut out using snippets from the radio.

Excitement buzzed through Sam. He had yet to meet the new Autobots no matter how much he had begged Bee to talk to Optimus. They had been on Earth for a month and a half and so far all he had heard of them was that they were unprepared to meet their human allies. He had heard Ironhide briefly mention that new Autobots were to arrive but the rest were being very tight lipped about it.

"Yeah? Finally…" Sam cried joyously while Bee happily chirped what sounded a lot like a laugh.

"New… bots… coming tomorrow… boss… wants you to be there… when they get to base… to welcome them," he continued revving his engine at Sam's happy face.

"Ya' think… we should pick up… Mikaela… on the way?"

Bumblebee grew worried as Sam become quiet and sunk down in his seat. He whirred in concern when Sam didn't speak and continued to brood.

"No, Bee," he started slowly. "Me and Mikaela… well we broke up, Bee."

Bee almost swerved off the rode in shock. Never had it crossed his processor that they could break up. He had assumed they were life mates; that they would be together until they died, and they would be reunited by the All-Spark even after that, as Cybertronian mates were. They had seemed so perfect together. How could they have broken up?

"When," Bee said after a moment. Why hadn't Sam told him when it had happened? His frame drooped thinking that Sam had kept such information from him.

"A couple weeks ago…" Sam trailed off awkwardly. He was pretty sure he knew how Bee was going to take it: Badly.

"Why… didn't you… tell me?" the words were cheerful, but Sam knew that if he could, Bee would have said them miserably.

"Well, you weren't really around Bee."

They were quiet for a while, neither knowing what to say. The break up still hurt Sam, but he had gotten some time to come to terms with it. It hurt him more to know that he was hurting Bee. Bee knew that he hadn't been there very much recently but he hadn't thought that he was that absent. Now thinking about it though, he realized that Sam was right. Bee hadn't been around for Sam to tell, even if Sam had wanted to. It was a problem Bee planned to rectify soon.

"Why?"

"After Egy… Well after all the excitement died down, all the problems between us came back. And we got together because of the bot battle, and then we stayed together for another bot battle. I think we were pretending the whole time, really. We liked how we felt around each other, not really each other. I guess we just accepted reality… Well that's what she said anyway. I don't know… I don't really want to talk about it."

Bee hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should push the subject or if it was one of those times that Sam really didn't want to talk about something. Finally giving in, he fell silent and left Sam alone with his thoughts.

After a few moments Sam decided to break the awkward silence. "So the new guys don't get here until tomorrow, huh? That should give us enough time for a car wash. If you want one, that is. Looks like you could use it. What did you do Bee, make mud angels? You're making me look bad with all this dirt."

Instantly Bee's bad mood lessened. He loved his car washes. While his cleanings weren't new to him, the water and soap and suds were, and he had come to enjoy them above most other things. The feeling of getting scrubbed and rinsed was amazing. And while he often was able to clean his armor, betting the grim that collected under it was very difficult (especially with the significance those deep washes had) and it always bothered him. And, though he knew Sam didn't understand the gesture, he loved showing how much he trusted his new friend.

He revved his engine in excitement and speed up, going far past the speed limit, to get to the base quicker while Sam laughed.