Keys clicked beneath her fingers, the computer tower hummed, and the light of the screen poured onto her face. The sound was lost to her, but she could feel the vibrations of the components within the device working, and she could feel the keys giving way beneath every push of her fingertips.

Like magic. She grinned giddily at the thought.

A hand gently grasped her shoulder and she looked up at the source of the weight and warmth, confused. The face of Maggie, her friend and partner, looked down at her with concern, "It's late Lilah. Are you ready to head to the cafeteria?" Lilah, though deaf and unable to hear her friend's words, was easily capable of reading her lips. With a soft smile, she nodded and carefully stood from her desk. She hadn't been aware of the fact that it was time to go home.

Maggie returned the smile and took the deaf woman's hand in her own. There were times when she wouldn't hear a soldier approaching, or a lighter and more nimble Autobot- such as Jazz- and was in danger of being stepped on, kicked, or shoved aside.

Thus, Maggie had gained something of a soft spot for the slightly older, yet somewhat smaller woman, and tended to have a hold on her so she could pull her out of the way.

Lilah didn't mind in the least. In fact, she rather liked it. This way, she didn't get in so much trouble, and she didn't get hurt so often.

The five foot two inch tall woman waited patiently for the computer to shut down, smiling all the while. She was always cheerful and happy, with a kind gesture ready for anyone that crossed paths with her. Good natured and kind hearted, she easily made many friends among her fellow computer analysts and hackers. Most soldiers however claimed it to be 'creepy' and tried to avoid the deaf woman.

It didn't bother Lilah so much. She never really saw them anyway unless they were delivering something to the 'lab' where she worked or she was reporting something to her superiors, which wasn't often. The twenty five year old was brought from her thoughts when Maggie began to lead her out of the lab stubbornly, obviously hungry.

Giggling a little, unsure if it came out aloud or was silent, Lilah quickened her pace and strode at the blonde woman's side, beaming. The Aussie pulled her around a corner, dodging soldiers and Autobot feet, and honed in on the cafeteria doors like a bloodhound.

No one paid them any mind when they entered and joined the line. They didn't turn any heads. Well, Maggie did with her good looks, but other than that? Nothing. Nada.

It was something Lilah was grateful for. She didn't like people looking at her, and she certainly didn't like how people tended to belittle her for her lack of hearing, something which she had been born with.

She could still read lips though! It wasn't like she was completely useless. Contributing to a conversation was something she could still do, so why did they shun her so much and ignore her? Lilah shrugged the thought off and continued to smile brightly at Maggie's side. So what? She still had the pretty dirty blonde at her side as a friend, right? So why was she so worried about such silly things?

Said taller woman brought the other back to her thoughts with a wave of her hand. Lilah blinked several times before refocusing on her with an apologetic look. Maggie smiled and shook her head, brushing it off before talking to her about today's menu. Lilah grinned in amusement, bright amber colored eyes shining. Maggie never did like what the cooks served; she claimed they couldn't cook, they just blundered around the kitchen until something worked- and then they slapped the slop on the trays and gave it a random name.

They chatted until they retrieved their portions of food- which Maggie wrinkled her nose at- and then headed to an empty table with Lilah on her heels. Together, they settled at the table they had commandeered; all thanks to Maggie's glare of molten lava, which had scared those other soldiers off, and proceeded to try and eat their food. The dirty blonde was the first to push her tray away with a look of displeasure. Lilah got a little bit further in her tray before also sliding it out of her reach.

It really didn't taste good at all.

Maggie began to dig around in her purse with a determined look on her face, leaving Lilah to blink at her and wait in confusion. A moment later, the dirty blonde pulled out a black, flat hair brush with a triumphant look on her face. The deaf woman had to laugh at that. Maggie was too cute for her own good sometimes; no matter how rough around the edges the Australian woman was. Said woman sent her a scolding look, to which she replied with an innocent gesture and wide eyes, though a playful smile still tugged at her pink lips.

The Aussie rolled her eyes, holding the brush out to the other woman. Lilah accepted with a laugh and reached up to tug the skewered ponytail from her hair. The shoulder blade length pitch black locks fell in waves and unruly curls in its layered style. Now that it was free, it curled in every direction, much like the snakes upon Medusa's head from ancient mythology.

Unconcerned, Lilah began to rip her brush through the locks in an attempt to tame them. After several minutes, she managed to at least make her hair look decent; and threw it back into a high ponytail. While she wrestled her hair into the poor black rubber band, Maggie took the brush back and tucked it away into her bag.

Lilah's hair was a bit of a problem. Though she brushed it in the morning and took good care of it, it didn't like to listen much. Despite her efforts to keep it in a neat style, by the end of the day there would be a ton of stray strands free and half of the hair would be free of the band and against her back. After a week or so on the job and Maggie seeing this, the Aussie had taken to letting the other woman borrow her brush.

The deaf woman chalked it up to her being bothered by the messy mop she called hair. Liliah didn't mind though. It was nice of her to offer, and she wasn't about to turn it down.

Maggie jumped, the sudden action causing Lilah to snap her gaze on the other woman in worry, silently asking if she was alright. The blonde woman didn't answer, simply ripping her phone out of her bag and tapping at it with a confused expression. The longer she stared at the device, the more her expression changed. From confusion, to anger. Wary, the black haired woman scooted away from the enraged Aussie that was currently seething.

After a moment, Maggie took a deep breath and looked up at Lilah with an apologetic expression. Attentive, the blackette began to lip read. "I'm sorry, they're having an issue in the data center. Can you make it back to your room all right?" Lilah nodded in response to the blonde's question. With one last apology and a goodbye, Maggie stood and hurried away to put her tray up and head out the door.

It wasn't the first time she had been called away, and so Lilah felt no discomfort with her friend's absence. She could make it back to her room without trouble, so she stood and began to put away her tray without issue.

Darting down the hallway, Lilah did her best to avoid running into soldiers and to keep from under the large metal titan's feet. It wouldn't do any good to be squished. Being a human pancake wouldn't help the war they were in with the Decepticons. So, nervous and quick, Lilah tried to simply stay out of the way and get to her room.

Unfortunately the giant robot foot had other plans. The worst part about it all was that the poor bot was stationary.

Lilah still somehow managed to ram right into him at full speed. With a squeak, she fell over onto her rump, hands flying to her now sore face. Oh, she sincerely hoped she hadn't broken anything, or offended the Cybertronian now crouched in front of her. A cry of surprise left her as a pair of black servos scooped her up and she was suddenly in the air. Forgetting her face, she wrapped her arms around one of the digits tightly.

Falling was bad, falling was very very bad and it was something she did not want to do. To fall meant to die. Death was bad.

These panicked thoughts raced through Lilah's mind as she clenched her eyes shut and held onto the servo that had picked her up. It was still for a moment besides a steady vibration running through her being… and then a rumbling began.

The same rumble that accompanied them when they spoke. As if it was coming straight from their chests, which wasn't very far the mark. Blinking, Lilah focused her golden brown eyes upwards on the bot. For a moment, his optics dimmed and he stopped speaking. Something that happened when they were doing something mentally.

Taking a moment to examine him, the deaf woman began to relax. He didn't seem like one of the more cranky or rough ones. Gray, soft looking face with gentle deep blue optics; a red chevron on his forehead- at least she thought they were called that- a gray and black chassis that stuck out as the front of his alternate form, and vague hints of red here and there along his body. Finished and feeling a little braver, Lilah looked up at his face.

For several moments, his optics remained dimmed and his expression blank, as if reviewing something, before they suddenly brightened and locked on her with a bright twinkle. A cheerful smile lit up his face. His next words were spoken so fast, most wouldn't be able to keep up; but Lilah, a master of reading lips, easily understood him.

"Hi there! I'm Bluestreak! You must be Lilah Abernathy, right? I hope we can be really good friends! Oh! I'm sorry I was standing in the middle of the hallway. I didn't mean to cause you to crash into me." He looked sincerely apologetic, which Lilah thought was bullshit because she had rammed into him and it was therefore her fault, not his. However, he continued talking at lightning speed, not allowing her a word in edgewise. "Oh! Wait! Your file said you were deaf. Maybe I should set you down and use sign language…"

At that, she shook her head fiercely in an attempt to get his attention and dissuade him as she felt he didn't need to go through that trouble. "Then you can understand me?" Bluestreak perked up, hope shining in those large blue optics of his. Lilah nervously wetted her lips and nodded in the affirmative. She didn't like being up in high places, but she was comforted by the knowledge that he for one wouldn't let her fall, for two wouldn't throw her, and for three wouldn't get angry at her lack of understanding at times.

This wasn't her first interaction with the aliens she called her comrades. On occasion, she would see Red Alert when Maggie was reporting to him, and his mate, Inferno. She hadn't, however, spoken with them, and after an encounter with Sunstreaker, she wasn't keen on being around the huge titans. Still, this one- Bluestreak- seemed nice enough. Perhaps she could make a friend? The deaf female could almost imagine his bright, happy voice.

"That's wonderful!" Bluestreak stepped out of the way, against a wall as another bot came down the hallway, "I'm really sorry about getting in your way, I can take you to your room if you'd like. That is, unless you don't like people you don't know very well going to your living space- I totally understand that. I don't like it very much either, but if you'd like me to I could take you there! I'd really like to since I almost hurt you really bad. You know, you humans are so small!, its so easy to forget you're there or not see you! That always makes me really nervous because I could step on you easily-"

Lilah smiled in amusement as he rattled on, shifting so she was sitting in his palm where it was safe, thankful she had chosen to wear a pair of dark blue jeans and not a dress. Still paying attention to what he was saying, she tucked her ankle high boot clad feet under her butt and carefully moved her nice pain brown t-shirt back into place.

"Anyway, would you like me to take you back to your room?" He came back around to his initial question and Lilah nodded with a laugh. Walking was rather dangerous for her, it seemed. "Great! Point the way!" Bluestreak beamed down at her happily before starting to walk as Lilah pointed the way as she was told. The entire way to her room was filled with Bluestreak chattering away about this that and something else. He never ran out of things to say.

The computer analyst had little trouble keeping up, and found herself enjoying his company. It made her feel awkward when no one was talking, even if she couldn't hear them, because she could almost feel how uncomfortable the other people felt. Blue had a way of relaxing her, and thus, she rather liked being around him. Content, Lilah leaned back in his hand, lip reading and watching the bright, happy expression on his face. "Oh, hey, is that it?" She blinked as he pointed to the apartment building that was a little ways away from the base. Lilah grinned and nodded.

Computer analysts and hackers got to stay in a strange motel like thing, while the soldiers were kept on base. Something about keeping them out of the way in case there was an attack and there not being enough room on base for them. Lilah didn't care. She just liked having her own space, so she didn't complain.

She held onto Bluestreak's hand firmly as he slowly knelt down so as not to injure her by whiplash or some other ailment. Really, he didn't know too much about humans, so it was best to be careful. Once he had his servo against the ground, Lilah climbed off gracelessly and nearly tumbled to the ground. Luckily, Bluestreak lowered his other hand to carefully steady her as she did so. Sending him a grateful look, Lilah clung to the free hand and steadied herself, now standing at the door to the hotel building.

Once she had her balance again, the analyst removed her hands from the large bot's. "Here we are! I suppose I have to go back now… I'm sorry if I talked your ears off. A lot of people say I do that." She shook her head, hearing his sad tone, "I didn't?" Blue's voice and visage brightened up noticeably, "I'm glad! Oh… I'm getting a call from Optimus… I gotta go!" A sudden flash of panic and fear flashed across his face before he stepped back, transformed and sped off in his pretty Datsun form.

Lilah blinked dizzily. That had been fast, nearly rushed.

Brushing it off, she turned and headed into the motel with a tired sigh. She had, hopefully, made a new friend today, but she honestly doubted she would see him again. The base was large and she was a computer analyst while he was a Cybertronian. Another meeting wasn't likely to happen. Still, Lilah remained hopefully that there was a possibility.

Smile coming back onto her features, the blackette went to her room, took a shower, and crawled into bed.

There was always tomorrow.

(A long time ago, when I was a small child, I had a friend. This friend was deaf, and stuck in a wheelchair. What was strange, was that I was a mere 5-8 years old, while she was in her fifties. We would sit and talk for hours about anything and everything. We developed our own way of speaking to one another, because I couldn't seem to learn sign language. It was through her that I was initially introduced to Transformers.

Her favorite was always Bluestreak. So, in my small, determined way, I told her- promised, really- that I would write her a story. She would smile and say she'd like that, and we'd go about our business. She was always there to cheer me on in my goal to become a renowned author, telling me I could do it and that my writing was wonderful.

Three months later, she was killed by a drunk intruder. I wasn't aloud to attend her funeral. In my fear and anger, despair and pain, I laid my pen down and lost my drive to write.

Many years later, I'm reminded of my promise, though she's long gone from this world. Once more, I pick up my pen, determined to fulfill my promise.

This ones for you, Miss C. I haven't forgotten, though others have.)