Lily was curled up in a little ball in Wheeljack's back seat, listening to the quiet sound of his wheels rolling across the road. He friend had been very quiet lately, and she didn't know why. She let out a quiet, sad sigh and absently rubbed the leather that made up his seats.

She listened hard, and she was able to faintly hear Ratchet driving next to them with her mother inside. She uncurled halfway and looked out of the window to see the greenery whizzing by. It had been almost a month since she'd been back home and, despite how much she loved the Autobots, it would feel nice to sleep in her own bed again.

"We're going to be there soon," Wheeljack said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Lily nodded slowly. "You and Ratchet are going to stay with us, right?" she asked fearfully.

"Ratchet is, but I'm not likely to," Wheeljack said sadly.

Lily's head snapped up and her eyes widened. "But, why?" she asked. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she sniffled.

"Aw, Lily, don't cry…" Lily hiccupped and tears started falling faster. His hologram disappeared from the driver's seat, apparently he didn't think that there were many other drivers, and he flickered by her.

"Pl-please don't go…" she whispered. Wheeljack pulled her into his arms and rocked side to side while stroking her hair and making shushing sounds.

"I never meant to hurt you," he whispered. Lily would never know that his words held two meanings.

"Why would you leave me?" she asked, clutching him as though he would disappear right in front of her. Wheeljack didn't answer her, just stroked her hair with loving gentleness.

For a moment the image of Lily's sage grandmother appeared in her mind's eye and she heard her voice whisper in her ear. "When comes the time you feel as if you're losing everything, hold it closer than ever before and wait until you can take it back without tears making your decisions unsure." At the time, Lily didn't understand what she had meant. Now she did, and she steeled herself to take heed.

She felt Wheeljack roll to a stop and he wiped away her tears. "C'mon, you were really excited about going home a little bit ago. We can talk about it later if you like," he said, a smile on his face. Lily scrubbed her eyes roughly to dispel any remaining tears and nodded, jumping out of her friend and saying nothing. Wheeljack's eyes dimmed with hurt the way his optics did in his true form, but it was understandable for her to act like this. He sighed and his hologram flickered out of view.

Ratchet's hologram and Stacey jumped out of the rescue vehicle. Ratchet noticed Wheeljack sort of sagging on his axle, and he gave his friend a questioning glance. The engineer shook sharply to one side, saying quite clearly he didn't want to talk about it. Ratchet glared at him as if to say that he hadn't heard the last of this.

Lily ran inside, not sparing anyone a glance. Stacey was slightly puzzled by her daughter's behavior but she brushed it off as her being very excited to be back home.

She walked into the by now rather dusty kitchen and looked out of the window. She felt Ratchet pad next to her quietly, and a small sardonic smile twitched the corners of her lips.

"Well, this place can use a good dusting before my parents get home. Speaking of my parents, how am I supposed to explain to them why there's a rescue vehicle and a Lancia in our driveway?" she asked.

"I thought you could say that an old friend from school died and you were the beneficiary of the insurance and got us from their will," he said.

Stacey looked up confusedly. "'Beneficiary of the insurance'?" she asked.

Ratchet smiled. "Indeed. I wired a good deal of money directly to your bank account this morning," he clasped both of her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "This means that you no longer have to do menial jobs to help support your family. You have enough to go back to high school, and then to college, to get a real education."

Stacey's eyes filled to the brim with tears and she couldn't hold it back. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. Ratchet tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back, closing his eyes.

Stacey's mouth stretched into a smile through the contact. The two broke away mutually, blushing a little. There was a silence, but it wasn't a completely uncomfortable one.

"You should go upstairs and clean yourself. You have been complaining about the Autobots' lack of such facilities for the entire time you've been there," he said, letting her go. One hand lingered on her back, and that one touch said enough for them both.

"Yeah. Who knew how dependent I was on showers?" She walked to the door, and she hesitated in the door way. She turned around and kissed Ratchet again on the lips but she was out the room and up the stairs before he had time to react.

Ratchet touched his lips lightly, noticing how they were slightly swollen. He smiled and turned to look out the window.

--

Night had fallen by the time Lily slipped out of the house, light on her feet as a cat sneaking out of its master's home for a brief breath of dark freedom and dark as a raccoon on the prowl for food. Her blue eyes looked gray in the moonlight, only accentuating her brief animalistic appearance. Taking pains to not wake the recharging medic and her sleeping mother, she walked across the dewy grass, her feet not making a sound. The cat was free at last and the raccoon was out of danger.

Wheeljack was still awake when she reached him. Maybe he had been waiting for her. Maybe he just couldn't fall into recharge. His hologram immediately flickered into existence and he made a move to hold the little girl, but she recoiled with a glare. Wheeljack pulled back with a very hurt expression but said nothing.

Lily crossed her arms and set her face in a reproachful scowl. "Why would you go away and leave me?" she demanded. Wheeljack looked at his hands guiltily, biting his lip lightly.

"I… I did something and I'm worried that I'll hurt you. That maybe I already hurt you. I don't want to bring you any harm…" he murmured.

"You will if you go," Lily spat.

"I…" Wheeljack had nothing to say to that.

"You haven't hurt me! Or if you did, I don't care. I don't care if you hurt me later or even now, as long as you stay here I don't care what happens. I don't want you to go away, 'Jack," she said, some rebellious tears escaping on to the landscape of her cheeks.

"Lily…" Wheeljack wrapped his arms around the girl and despite her weak and half-hearted struggles he held her close to his chest. Lily gave up on trying to hold her tears back. She clung to her friend tightly and began crying her eyes out. "I'm sorry, Lily. I never meant for this to happen. I won't leave, I promise. I'll never leave you."

--

Stacey made a movement to go outside after seeing her daughter start to cry. Ratchet, however, held her back at the window of her room.

"I think they need a minute," he said.

Stacey looked at him pleadingly. "But my daughter is crying, Ratchet."

"I know. Wheeljack's being a slagging idiot and he sort of needs Lily to jolt him out of it. I think she's doing a good job," Ratchet said.

"How's he being an idiot?" Stacey asked, turning away from the spectacle in the window with difficulty.

"Oh, he's just blaming himself for things that weren't his fault. The usual sort of thing," the medic said.

"Are they going to be alright?" Stacey asked, nervously pulling at the hem of her shirt.

"Call it a feeling, but they'll be fine. We all will," Ratchet said, smiling.

Stacey sighed and kissed his cheek. "I'm holding you to it."

A/N

Wow. I... can't really believe it's over. Wow.

Well, Maieve Avvi beta'd, so give her a round of aplause, and I shall sit quietly and marvel at the fact it's really done. With any luck, I didn't totally botch the romance scene. I never claimed romance to be my strong point.

Wow.

I don't own Transformers, so don't sue, and please review.