Once in the hallway, Shelby could hear bots talking in the bay. Some of them must be up. She knew she was going to have to be stealthy. She moved quickly down the hallway. As she got closer to the end of the hall, closer to the kitchen, she knew who the voices were. It was Optimus and Ratchet. They seemed to be having a private conversation. Luckily, for them, Shelby could care less at this moment. She also wasn't one to butt in on conversations she didn't belong in. She watched carefully as she slid around the corner. Making sure Optimus or Ratchet didn't see her. Now she had the kitchen all to herself. She walked to the back of the kitchen where she knew the liquor cabinet is hidden. She licked her lips as she already imagined the sweet taste of Jack pouring down her throat. She opened up the closet expecting to see the cabinet, but it wasn't there. She moved things out of the way. She pressed her hands against the wall, hoping maybe the bots figured out a way to turn things invisible. She was so focused on the task at hand she didn't hear the footsteps walking through the kitchen to her.

"Looking for something?" Said a deep voice from behind her. She stood up fast and straight, then slowly turned around to see her captures.

"Hey! Optimus, Ratchet." Her voice going up a notch.

They both stood in front of her in their holoforms. Their arms crossed and they each had a raised eyebrow. Its as if they rehearsed before coming in.

"Can I help you?" She asked trying to keep the subject off what she was doing.

"What were you looking for." Ratchet questioned. His electric blue eyes staring her down.

"Uhhh...I was looking for....The broom. Oh look here it is." Shelby stammered, she turned and grabbed a random boom and tried to walk past the two.

"Nice try, Shelby." Optimus said. He let his arms drop, and grabbed the broom from Shelby putting it back in the closet.

"Its not here." He stated turning and looking at her.

"What's not here? I don't know what your talking about." She lied, her nerves getting the best of her.

Optimus and Ratchet both knew exactly what she wanted. They wanted to make sure she didn't get it. They stood there a moment, not saying anything. Staring down at her, with their electric blue eyes. Ratchet still had him arms crossed over his white lab coat.

"Stop staring at me like that." Shelby growled.

This made them stare harder.

"Ah! Fine. I was looking for my liquor. Now tell me where it is." She snapped. Optimus ran a hand through his thick black neatly combed hair.

"Its 4 in the morning. How much have you already had to drink?" He asked her. He was concerned for her, they all were.

"Not that much, I just finished a bottle and I want more. Now tell me where it is." She snapped again.

"How much was in that bottle?" Ratchet glared at her.

"Does it matter? I'm fine. I bought that alcohol and I want to drink it." She said her voice raising.

"We know, Shelby, but we are trying to help you. Maybe you can get more later." Optimus tried to reason with her. Shelby gave him a death glare. He didn't even flinch at this.

"This isn't over." She snarled and walked out of the kitchen.

They both watched her leave the kitchen and take a right to her bedroom, they assumed. Optimus leaned against the countertop and rubbed his eyes.

"She sure is a handful." Ratchet stated, leaning back as well.

"She is, but I'm not giving up on her and I know Dreadwing won't either." Optimus said.

"I wasn't saying to give up on her, but I don't think its a bad idea to try and check her into a facility." Ratchet suggested.

"And risk the cons finding out where she is. Then they destroy a rehabilitation hospital." Optimus disagreed.

"We just don't tell anyone where she's going. Only a few of us know. That way it will be harder for Megatron to find out." Ratchet explained.

"No, I don't believe that will help. Seeing how she is, sending her somewhere may hurt her more." Optimus reasoned.

All Ratchet responded with was nodding his head. This ended the conversation and the to dissipated their holoforms.

Shelby stormed back into her bedroom, not hearing the conversation Ratchet and Optimus had. Dreadwing was still asleep up on the berth. Shelby was still fuming from not finding her alcohol. Attempting to calm herself down, she light up a cigarette. She really wanted that alcohol. She still wants it. She started pacing back and forth in the room. Silently screaming. Silently talking to herself. After she took her last drag, she rolled up her sleeve and put the cigarette out on her arm. Something she had been doing since she got home from the hospital after Dreadwing found her. Over 5 months ago. Her arms were littered with scars now. Seeing as she smoked almost two packs a day, her whole upper arm was nothing but a giant scar. She kept away from her wrist just in case her sleeve rolled up a bit. No she didn't do it all the time. Sometimes she used the ashtray, especially if others were around, but this was the reason she always wore long sleeves. She didn't want anyone to find out. She didn't feel the pain anymore. It was her way of making sure she was still alive. She felt so dead on the inside. Though, she could slowly feel it coming back to life. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

As she rolled her sleeve back down, she heard movement from behind her. She turned and saw Dreadwing sit up. He looked down at her with a confused face.

"I couldn't sleep." She answered, before he could even ask.

"Nightmare?" He asked.

She gave a small nod and looked away. She hated talking about them. Even if it sometimes help to get it off her chest.

"Anything I can do to help?" He asked, stepping down from the berth, he got into his holoform and walked over to her.

"Lets go shoot something." She replied with a grin.

He rolled his eyes at her but thought why not. He gave her a slight nod and she started jumping for joy. She needed to get some steam off her chest. Shooting was the best route to go.

"Wait, were you drinking this morning?" He stopped before they hit the door. He stopped so fast, Shelby ran into him.

"Ow" She cried, rubbing her head.

"I'm sorry." He said kissing her forehead.

"What did you ask?" She questioned.

"Did you drink this morning?" He re-asked.

"Why would you ask such a silly question?" She said sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips.

"Shelby don't toy with me." He warned.

"Just a little. I'll be fine to shoot. Come on lets go." She reassured him, grabbing his hand and dragging him out the door.

They went out to the bay and over to the elevator going to up top. Shelby yelled over to Optimus and Ratchet so they knew where they were. They never liked her shooting inside so she would set up targets up top of the base and shoot up there. No one was in the way, and no one could get hurt. Shelby had started to teach Dreadwing how to use her weapons. Which were totally different than his. Shelby enjoyed teaching him about this kind of stuff.

"Think I should teach the children how to shoot?" She asked after a few rounds.

Dreadwing lowered his weapon and looked at her, thinking about what she had asked.

"I think you would have to make sure it was okay with their parents first. I don't think its a bad idea, but the others might." He answered her. Before she could get another answer in, Dreadwing got a call.

"Yes, Ratchet....Okay we are on our way." He said though the comm link. Shelby looked at him in confusion.

"Optimus decoded the last iacon relic." He told her.

"The last key, You guys need to go back and restore Cybertron." She said sadly.

"Well lets go see where it is." She said trying to sound happy for them.

They went back down the elevator, all the bots were standing around Optimus and the computer. Dreadwing went back to his titan form and joined in the circle, while Shelby stayed on the platform also watching the screen. It was starting to form an image. Like a clue as to where it could be.

"Is that?" Bulkhead started.

"Smokescreen." Shelby finished.

Sure enough the pixels formed a picture of Smokescreen. Shelby looked around, as did the others. Arcee started ranting about it being a joke, causing them all to start to argue.

"Smokescreen, return to base immediately." Optimus tried to call him though the comm link. Making everyone go silent.

"Where did he go?" Shelby asked.

"He may have deactivated his comm link." Ratchet suggested, ignoring the women.

Shelby huffed in anger, not liking being ignored. Optimus ordered his location to be found and to activate the ground bridge.

As so as Ratchet located his position, they all, besides Shelby, ran though the ground bridge. Unfortunately they were to late. They caught Soundwave dragging him through the ground bridge. When they came back though, they all looked disappointed.

"What happened? Where's Smokescreen?" Shelby asked, leaning against the railing.

"Soundwave got to Smokescreen first." Bulkhead told her. Shelby leaned back and took a step back.

"Oh no." She whispered.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Ratchet whined.

"I'm not sure at this moment, old friend." Optimus replied in sorrow.

There was nothing they could do at that moment. There was no way of locating the Decepticon war ship, though Ratchet was going to try anyway. Shelby walked around to the front of the couch and slumped down into it. Wondering how this would end for the Autobots.