I had woken up early due to a bad dream I had, and it was around five o’clock in the morning as I walked into the rec room stretching my arms wide above my head and yawning. I noticed the new mech, Xandred, sitting along drinking his energon while staring off into space and not paying attention to anything surrounding him.

                I quickly got me an apple to eat and a cold bottle of water, before climbing my way up the giant Cybertronian sized chair- of course I lost my footing right when I was at the taught, but luckily Xandred had noticed me by then and had caught me before I could fall and hit the ground. “Careful there lil’ femme, I don’t need Ol’ ‘Hide yelling at me because I let you fall.”

                Rolling my eyes and stepping off his hand onto the table, I quickly sat down and looked up at him. “So X, wait do you mind if I call you X?” I asked, in which he responded with shaking his helm no. “Tell me about yourself, I want to get to know you. Especially while the others are still recharging and it’s quiet around the base.” I added in, letting out a laugh and getting a chuckle from Xandred as well.

                Xandred chuckled before answering my question, leaning back into the giant Cybertronian sized chair. “Well, as you know I’m the younger brother of Wheeljack.” He says, making me nod my head. “Wheeljack raised me, since our creators… they went missing when I was young, or at least that’s what my brother always told me. I always thought there was something more to it than just that.”

                I nodded my head, knowing how he felt. When I was younger and listening to my mother tell me about my father, I always thought there was something more to the stories. Now I knew that there was, that my dad was an alien from outer space from a planet named Cybertron and that he was also a weapons specialist for the Autobots.

                “Now tell me something about yourself, femme. Let’s make a deal here- I tell you something about me and you tell me something about you in return.” He says, a mischievous glint in his visor. I didn’t know why he wore a visor but I wouldn’t pester him, if he wanted to tell me then he would tell me when he wanted to.

                “Alright Xandred, I’ll take you up on that deal.” I said, smirking at the mech. “I grew up with my uncles, Lennox and Epps, and Ratchet as my worried ‘uncles’ and ‘grandpa’ for most of my life. I can’t remember a time when they weren’t there, and I remember one Christmas with ‘Cade-“ I cut myself off, as tears came to my eyes.

I had done it again, I had brought him up- I had brought Cade up after I had promised myself I would never do it again and make myself feel the same pain I felt whenever he was ever brought up or even thought about…. The memories between me and him were too painful to remember, but I couldn’t help but remember them. I missed him dearly…

“What’s wrong femme, why are you leaking out of your eyes? Should I go get Ratchet? Is it normal for you humans to leak out of your eyes?!” Xandred asked me quickly, making me smile and shake my head in sadness. “Then what is it femme?” He whispered, which made me look down at my lap at my barely eaten apple.

“Not far before you showed up Xandred, I found out my closest friend in school- his name was Cade… I found out he was the Decepticon named Barricade.” I whispered, shutting my eyes tightly and waiting for him to gasp or for him to hate someone who knew Barricade. “I was in love with him X, I foolishly fell in love with him.”

                Instead of him doing anything I thought he would do, Xandred simply let out a chuckle which made my eyes snap open as I immediately looked up at the mech with confused eyes. “Femme, you weren’t foolish for falling in love. We can’t control at all who we fall for, it’s our sp- well for you, it’s your heart that chooses for you.” He says, pointing at my heart and making a small smile show up on my face.

                “Thank you Xandred, really… I don’t remember anyone having ever given me such good advice.” I said, grinning up at my new found friend before taking a bite of my apple with newfound courage and happiness. “Hey X, how about later when everyone is awake- I show you around the nearby town and get you used to everything?” I offered, smirking at him.

                Xandred simply chuckled and nodded his helm, grinning back at me. “I would like that lil’ femme, it would be best to do it later so we can get away from the others.” He said, knowing how bad it could probably get when everyone here was awake… it wasn’t a pretty sight sometimes, the Lambo Twins running around yelling and Ratchet chasing them with wrenches. 

                Unknown to both of them, a black mech who was the weapons specialist of the Autobots was watching us- wishing he could have that relationship with his daughter where he could sit down and talk to her, instead of being so pig headed and ignoring her. He had even said she wasn’t his daughter, even after Marianne herself had told him otherwise.

                He would have to work harder, he knew this much, to be able to have the father-daughter relationship most mechs and femmes had both on Earth and on Cybertron. He could see himself in his daughter, and he could see Marianne in his daughter as well- Lucille was a perfect combination of them… for now he didn’t do anything but one day… maybe he could have a relationship with his daughter.