*I don't own Transformers or anything affiliated with Transformers. I only own my original characters and plots. All rights go to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.*

The ride back to North Carolina took a lot longer than it should have, or at least that's what it felt like to me. Maybe it was because I was busy stewing over the fact that I was actually going back home after being gone for almost four months. I honestly didn't know what I should expect upon my return. I absolutely loved the fact that I was going to be able to see my best friends again, and I also liked the fact that I was going to be back in my hometown, but the one thing that I wasn't necessarily looking forward to was going back home. I wasn't looking forward to being back in my childhood home where the final memory I had of it was coming home to find my entire family slaughtered. The only thing I saw in my mind when I thought about that house was the way my mom, sister, brother, and dad looked before I fled. They were images that would forever be implanted into the soft tissues of my brain, images that I wanted nothing more than to be rid of.

Not only was the ride back to North Carolina bringing back unwanted memories, but it was also allowing me to think about what could have been if none of this would have happened. It was almost June, which meant that I would be soon be ending my junior year of high school and starting the summer off in Myrtle Beach with my friends, my family, and their families, just as it was every single year since we started high school. Also, I would be starting open gyms and camps to get ready for my last year of varsity volleyball. I just couldn't believe how much my life has changed in the span of three months--three long, agonizing months might I add.

The only reason I was even remotely able to get through this journey was because of Optimus. Throughout the entire ride, despite the many thoughts I was having about returning home, I was left in a state of immense comfort. Without his comforting aura I probably would have already drowned in my tears back in Virginia, but I had yet to shed a single tear, and that was all because of him. I was now starting to believe that Optimus did what he did on purpose.  I most certainly was not complaining about it though. If being around Optimus meant that I would never experience such an intense amount of pain and suffering ever again, then I never wanted to leave his side.

I've known Optimus for a little under a week, but he's easily the most important part of my life at the moment. Without him I would probably be sitting in some random hotel in a random city running from the cops, or I could possibly even be sitting in a dark alley somewhere just waiting for death to find me. He's done so much to help me, and he's risked so much just to keep me--an irrelevant little human--safe. He's taken care of me and has protected me better than anyone has or ever could--without the exceptions of my family. And yes, I've said it before--and I'll say it a hundred more times if I have to--but Optimus Prime truly is one of a kind. He'd risk his life to help someone in danger, just as he has done with me. And I care about Optimus so much; if anything ever happened to him because of me I would never in my life be able to forgive myself for it. I could never thank him enough for what he's done for me in such a short amount of time, and I could probably never repay him for it either, but I would definitely find a way to try.

"Brenna?" a deep voice sounded, startling me slightly. I turned to look at Optimus's holoform in the driver's seat of his cabin. He had a questioning look on his face, one that led me to believe he had been attempting to get my attention for quite some time now.

"Hm?"

"What's on your mind, young one? You seem to be in deep thought."

I sighed and started playing with my thumbs. "Everything."

"Would you care to share? I'm always going to be here to listen to you," he replied, causing a small smile to creep onto my face.

"Well, I was just thinking about how much my life has changed. In a few days my junior year will be over, and I've missed the last three months of it. Not to mention the beach trip my friends and our families take every year is probably not going to happen, unless my friends have just decided to continue the tradition without my family and I," I started.

"I will agree with you that your life has changed incredibly within these past few months, but the fault is not yours; you can not help what happened to you. Also, I highly doubt that your friends and their families would continue the tradition without you. You all seemed very close from what I remember," he responded softly. I was about to question him about his final sentence, but then I remembered that he was assigned to protect me far before I even knew about my ability.

"I know, I know. And I guess you're right. I just can't help but think about it." I now knew that I was definitely not going to tell him that I was thinking about him as well. It would just be weird, especially since we were talking about this specific subject at the moment.

"Overthinking isn't good for you, Brenna."

I sighed and fell onto the seat. If we weren't having a conversation I could probably fall asleep right now. "Tell me something I don't know," I finally replied.

It was silent for a moment before he finally spoke. "Hm, well, we're now parked in front of your house."

I shot up almost immediately and looked out of the window. Optimus was right. The large, two-story house sat directly in front of my face, and I found myself struggling to hold back the tears. It was just the same as I remembered it being when I left, only it was vacant. I could only assume the military and the police had something to do with that.

I let out a breath and looked back at Optimus. He gave me a reassuring nod before opening the passenger's side door for me. Without even thinking about it I hopped out and slowly headed up the walkway to my front door. I knew Epps and Lennox were following me, but I couldn't worry about them at the moment. I was far too focused on the house in front of me.

The heel of my boots sounded as I walked up the stairs to the front door. It was so quiet the sound echoed several times, and I did not like that at all. This house was always so loud, so full of life. Now it was just...empty.

With a slow breath, I placed my hand onto the door knob and turned it, pushing it open and stepping over the threshold. Somehow the faint smell of cinnamon and syrup still lingered inside the house. An outsider--like Epps and Lennox--probably would not be able to make out the smell, but because it was so familiar to me it was kind of hard to miss. Just the smell alone caused a tear to fall out of my eye, but I quickly wiped it away and continued on into the house. I stopped, though, when I came upon a picture frame sitting in the living room. I removed it from its place on the table and studied it. It was a picture of all of us that we had taken at the beach last year. Brandon had just gotten a new phone and insisted that the first picture on it be one of all of us. Mom loved the picture so much that she had it developed and framed.

"Brenna," Lennox's voice called, removing my focus from the picture frame to him. He, Epps, and a few other soldiers were wondering around the house trying to see if they could find something they might have missed last time, but little did they know that they would find nothing, especially down here in the living room.

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna look around for a bit to see if we've missed anything. You just keep searching, okay?" he said to me.

I just nodded and continued on with what I was doing. After I finished looking at the picture I sat it back down, and proceeded on. The police, or whoever it was, had done an impeccable job of cleaning this place up. The last time I saw it it was pretty much a blood bath, but now it was as good as new. A few rugs were missing of course, and there were a few small blood stains left on the couch, but I did my best to avert my attention away from them and instead found myself wondering up the stairs.

Almost everything up here was the same. My room, the bathroom, my brother's room, my sister's room, and even my mom and dad's room hadn't been touched. The beds were made, all except for Brandon's, and my clothes from the day before I left were still laying in the floor. I was always the one to leave my clothes in my bedroom floor for my mom to pick up. She would always scold me for it when I got home, but I could never take her seriously half the time. I just wished that I could have had at least one more chance to hear her chastise me for it.

As I stood inside my room, my eyes fell on the chest I had sitting at the end of my bed. I ran over to open it when I remembered everything I had in there. Most of it was just junk, but there was one important thing I had buried deep inside it; it was a special quilt that my mom had made for me when I was about ten years old. It was absolutely huge, and consisted of every single baby blanket I used up until I was about seven years old, and trust me, I went through a lot of blankets. Brandon had one just like it, but his was far smaller than mine was.

I scooped the heavy blanket up into my arms and hurried back out of my room. My last stop was my dad's office, the one place that I was almost positive this file would be.

I pushed the large door open and walked in, immediately trying to ignore the pang of hurt in my chest. It has been so long since I've been in here, and it hurt almost more than being in the house. My dad was literally my best friend and this was the last place I found him before fleeing.

I took a deep breath and sat the blanket down beside the doorway before heading over to the closet. You had to have a pretty keen eye to be able to find what I was looking for, either that or you had to know it was here...which I did.

In the very back of the closet--which was filled with clothing--was a small switch. It was installed inside the rack used to hang the clothes, and you had to move one very specific item a certain way to be able to activate it. Behind the cluster of clothing was a wall, and it looked like a wall, but when you turned the switch on the wall opened up and led down a very small flight of stairs. This is where my dad kept everything he claimed was classified.

Once I was down the stairs I began rummaging through the many boxes of files he had scattered throughout the small room. After about five minutes of searching I had found nothing, and was more than ready to give up until I spotted a box in the corner labeled "Operation Brenna." It was a weird label, but I knew that this was the box.

With a wave of my hand I pulled the box in front of me, wasting no time at all in scouring through it. There were more pictures of me in here than anything else, but there were like three files and that was really all that I was focused on. I pulled them out of the box and hurried back up the stairs and into the closet. After closing off the small room I hurried back into my dad's office. I picked up my blanket and ran back down the stairs. Just the thought of staying in the house was beginning to make me feel sick. I got what I came here for and I was ready to leave.

Epps, Lennox, or the other soldiers were no longer in the house from what I could see, so I walked back out the front door. Epps and Lennox stood beside Optimus's alternate form, so I ran over.

"I found these," I said to the two of them as I held out the folders. Lennox took them from my hands and began looking over them.

"These are it. Where'd you find them?"

I smirked. "They may be gone, but I could never give away my family's hiding spot."

Epps laughed. "Good job, Morgan."

"Thank you. And I can still go see my friends right?"

Lennox closed the folder and looked at me. "Yeah. We're going to go ahead and head back to Washington though. We have a lot to review."

"Okay. Thank you!"

The two of them waved to me before heading for their Suburbans. I immediately became weary over the fact that I was about to see my best friends after being on the run for four months. I didn't know what to expect. All I wanted was for everything to work itself out, otherwise I just wouldn't know what to do. I could not lose my best friends either.

"Brenna," a loud voice sounded, removing me from my thoughts.

I looked over to see if I could find Optimus's holoform, but I didn't. He was speaking to me with his alternate form.

"Huh?"

"Are you coming, young one?" he asked.

I only nodded before hopping into the cabin of his alternate form. Soon enough we were taking off down the empty streets.