*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.*

In all honesty, I had no entire clue where Optimus and I were headed at the moment. I knew we were headed to eat, or that we were supposed to be, but we had been driving for at least four hours at the most. It was getting darker and darker as he continued driving. The only thing that I had to inform me of the time was the bright blue numbers on the dashboard of the semi, those of which read 8:10 PM.

Aside from that, my senses had calmed down quite a bit. I could only guess that this journey had put quite a distance between me and my pursuer. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Optimus was distancing us from Dallas on purpose. He had spent the past two hours solely concentrated on driving. He was on red alert, almost as if he were waiting on some sort of danger to make its presence known.

Given this situation, the ride was silent and I grew terribly weary because of it. Nobody understood just how bad I grew to despise the silence. It consumed me and brought me into my own realm of pain that I tried so desperately to escape time after time. This time I was fortunate though. Had it not been for the overwhelming amount of peace and comfort that I could feel radiating off of Optimus, I probably would have lost it. It still didn't change my hatred towards silence though, so I decided that now was a better time than any to say something.

"Optimus, where are we going?" I asked him. In the distance I could see the many lights emitting from skyscrapers and other big buildings. We were nearing a city, a big city, only I didn't know which one it happened to be.

"We're heading to San Antonio, Texas, I believe," he answered me.

"Why?"

He shot me a sideways glance. "I can't very well protect you and keep you within the same vicinity as the ones pursuing you. It's out of my character, Brenna."

And Brenna Morgan is right yet again. .

"Well, are we still going to eat?" I asked him. Four hours on the road had given my body the perfect opportunity to digest the hamburger and fries I had consumed earlier. It had done an impeccable job of making me hungry again.

"Of course, young one. Do you have anywhere in mind?" I sort of gave him a dumb look. It didn't take but one glance at my face before he began chuckling. It must've slipped his mind that I had been running for three months; I was paying more attention to keeping myself safe than the many dining areas around me.

"I'm kind of stuck when it comes to issues such as fine dining, Optimus."

"My apologies, Brenna." He paused for a moment, his face etched in deep concentration. Seconds later, he perked back up and looked at me, a warm smile on his face. "There is an establishment in San Antonio called Bohanon's, I believe. It serves seafood and steak," he told me.

I raised a brow at his almost instantaneous knowledge. "How do you know that?"

He shifted in his seat a little before looking back at me. He seemed slightly uncomfortable about something. "I'm a truck driver, Brenna. I travel everywhere."

That particualr detail seemed to have slipped my mind. "Oh, right. I forgot about that."

He only chuckled, and before long the city lights were shining brightly outside of my window. I knew that San Antonio was a big city, but in person it seemed to be much bigger. There were so many people bustling around, and not to mention the abundant amount of cars and trucks. I felt that my only reason for even admiring the city was because I wasn't being brought here on a smelly ass bus with a bunch of loud, ignorant beings aboard. Instead, I was now being accompanied by a very wonderful truck driver; my parents would have definitely objected to this, but I couldn't take the feeling of being alone any longer, and either way, I knew he wouldn't hurt me. .I could sense it.

"So, would you like to eat or not? I'm nearing the restaurant," Optimus spoke up.

"Yes. I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm still paying though," I told him. He didn't respond; he only smiled as he watched the road.

It seemed like hours had passed before we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant; that was probably only because of the vast amount of traffic this city possessed. Once Optimus was parked in the designated area for semis, I opened the door and hopped out. Optimus rounded the front end of the large truck and came to stand beside me. I smiled up at him and the two of us made our way into the fairly large sized eating establishment.

The moment I walked in the door my senses began to overwhelm me. There were far too many people in here, and honestly, I had never been in an area that had so many people crowded together. Buses didn't even compare to this, and I had never experienced something like this before. There were so many good feelings, yet so many bad feelings. My mind was literally attempting to register every single individual at once and I had no control over it. It was giving me a strange headache and the only thing I could do was attempt to squeeze the pain out of my head, but it didn't exactly work for me.

A warm hand found its way onto my arm and I jumped. To my surprise, though, the headache immediately disappeared and my senses had now settled back into their normal state. I quickly removed my hands from my head and looked at Optimus who was staring at me with a worried expression on his face. I just shook my head, a new thought immediately coming to mind.

"What if any of these people recognize me? What if they turn me in to the cops?" I babbled.

Optimus shook his head at me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, pushing me towards the hostess stand. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he assured me.

I just took a deep breath and nodded before stepping up to the post. The hostess smiled at me and I smiled back, still slightly shaken up about this whole thing. "How many?" she asked me.

"Two," Optimus answered her before I could even open my mouth. The woman nodded and grabbed two menus before walking away. Optimus had to literally push me to get me to move and I frowned, but followed behind her anyway.

We were led into a very populated area and I did my best to shield my face from the multiple bodies that looked up at the two of us as we followed behind our hostess. I sighed in relief once she sat the menus down on a table which just so happened to be away from the crowd. I slid into the booth and situated myself, Optimus doing the same.

"Your waiter will be with you in a moment," our hostess informed us before walking off. I picked up my menu rather abruptly and flipped through the multiple, laminated pages. Most of the food looked rather appetizing which made me more than ready to order.

"Is everything okay, Brenna?" Optimus chuckled.

I looked at him and nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

He hadn't even picked up his menu yet. That was rather strange to me. Truck drivers were normally always the hungry ones. "I only ask because of your little episode back in the main lobby. It worried me, young one."

I bit my lip. It was the most random thing that could have happened. I understood just fine as to why he worried. "Um, I just had a small headache."

He raised a brow, but said nothing as our waitress walked up to the table.

"Hi, I'm Katie and I'll be your waitress tonight. What can I get you to drink?" Katie asked us with a smile.

"Water," I answered her. She jotted it down and and turned to look at Optimus.

"I won't be dining with her. I'm just accompanying her," he told her.

She pursed her lips and nodded before grabbing his menu and walked away. I shot him a look.

"Why are you not eating?" I inquired.

He only shrugged and I frowned. Katie returned with my water and took out her pad again.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked me.

I nodded and looked at the menu before pointing to a random picture. I had no clue what it was, but I saw a bunch of lobster, and that was really all I needed to see. "Can I have this?"

She chuckled and nodded before taking my menu and walking off. I turned back to Optimus who was watching me with his eyebrows raised. I bit my lip and remembered conversation we had back at the truck stop in Dallas.

"So, you have reasons for wanting to keep me safe. I want to know what they are," I told him.

"I was hoping you had forgotten about that," he chuckled.

"Nope."

He sighed and leaned forward, placing his arms on the table. "Are you sure you would like me to tell you, Brenna?"

I squinted my eyes. His tone was frightening me. "Yes, I'm sure. I've been through so much in the past three months. I don't think I've faced anything I couldn't handle."

He frowned. "Well, firstly, if this is going to work, I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Brenna?"

I didn't even need to think about it. I knew my answer the moment the words left his mouth. "Yes, I do," I answered him.

He seemed to relax at that. "I have quite a bit I must confess to you so that I may keep the trust I have so quickly earned. First and foremost, I do not know you because of your issue with the federal government. I know you because of your father, Aaron Morgan."

"What? How?" I asked, a little surprised at his revelation.

"I worked with your father, Brenna."

I raised a brow. "But, you're a truck driver and my dad was in the military. In my mind, there's no possible way that you two could have ever crossed paths."

He let out a chuckle, obviously amused with my statement. "Has he ever spoken to you about the Autobots?"

I pursed my lips. The name sounded incredibly familiar, but I hadn't heard it from my dad; I had actually heard it from a few friends and of course the news. The only thing I knew was that the "Autobots" were supposed to be good alien beings from some planet called Cybercon.

"I've heard of them, just not from my dad. What do they have to do with anything?" I asked him.

"What do you know about them?"

I huffed and took a sip of my water before answering him. "All I know is that they're like giant, robot alien beings from some planet called Cybercon."

"Cybertron," he corrected me with a chuckle.

I shrugged. "Same difference."

He was ready to speak again until my waitress approached our table, my food in her hands. She sat it down in front of me and I blinked; it looked so mouth watering.

"I'll be back to check on you in a little bit. Hope you enjoy," she chirped before walking away.

I only smirked and dug into the lobster shell that had generously been pre-cracked for me. After shoving a piece of the meat into my mouth, I looked at Optimus. "Go on and continue. I'm listening," I urged him with a mouth full of seafood.

He only chuckled at me and resumed his speech. "Well, we work with the United States military to help defeat the other faction, also known as Decepticons."

His use of we kind of caught me off guard. "We?"

He chuckled again and nodded. "I'm Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobot faction."

I nearly choked on my lobster. That damn name. .back home, before my life turned to shit, my friend Mackenna had shown me a picture of some blue and red robot in a magazine with the caption "Optimus Prime." That picture looked nothing like this man sitting here at the moment.

"I've seen pictures of Optimus Prime. You are not him," I chuckled.

"This is simply just a synthetic, lesser version of myself. Our chief medical officer designed them for us; he calls them holoforms. They help us interact safely with humans," he explained to me.

I swallowed the piece of lobster I had been working on and spoke. "Are you being serious right now?" He nodded. I studied him for a split second to see if I could sense whether or not he was lying, but I found nothing but sincerity. This was not what I expected from him at all, but oddly enough, I was okay with it. "But don't you have more important things to do than babysit me?"

"Not quite, young one. At the moment, protecting you is my main priority," he told me.

"But, why?"

"Your father has asked me to do everything that I can to see that you remained safe. I have known your father for many years. The Autobots and I have been working with his and Colonel William Lennox's NEST team for almost four Earth years," he answered me.

I pushed my finished seafood aside and placed my hands onto the table. "I still don't understand why, though."

He sighed. "I'm very well aware of the abilities you possess. Earlier, you very nearly obliterated this form. Had your muscles contracted in the very slightest, I would not be sitting across from you right now," he whispered.

I frowned, but at least now I knew why he didn't freak out after it happened. "I really do apologize for that. You gave me quite a fright."

"It was never my intention, but I should have approached you with much more caution. But, onto the issue at hand. Your father knew of your abilities as well, far before they were known to you. He had seen the same thing within his grandmother and his mother. There is still no explanation as to why you can do what you do though," he said.

I still wasn't understanding why he was sent to protect me though. "What about the protection detail?"

His face dropped. "Your father kept an entire file about you and your abilities on his office computer at our base in Washington state. Unfortunately, a Decepticon attacked the facility and hacked into our mainframe. Your father had no choice but to perform a system sweep and collect all of the information so he could transport it back home with him.

"Over time, your father grew very paranoid. He was afraid the Decepticons had managed to gather the information about you, so he made a special trip back out to Washington state to speak with me. He asked if I would keep an eye out for you and make sure that you stayed out of harm's way, or in this case, the Decepticons' way. I happily obliged and flew out to your home state with him the next day.

"I watched over you for about two months before I was summoned back to Washington state to take care of a particular issue. As much as I wanted to stay and keep watch over you, my men needed me and I couldn't very well abandon them. I was more than distressed, though, when I learned of the incident regarding your family," he informed me.

I frowned as I listened to his final words. "Do you know who killed my family?" I whispered, a single tear trailing down the side of my face. I quickly wiped it away and looked at him.

He frowned and nodded. I didn't even get the chance to respond before Katie showed up again; I guess I would just ask him about it later. She smiled down at me and I did my best to return it, but it didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would. She only grabbed my empty plate and placed a piece of paper down on the table before walking away again. I looked a the slip of paper and groaned when I realized I had left my wallet in the truck. .or in Optimus for that matter.

"Is something wrong, Brenna?" he asked me.

"I left my wallet in your cabin," I told him.

He only chuckled and grabbed the slip of paper. "You don't need to worry. I have it taken care of."

He quickly removed himself from the seat and walked away from the table and towards the front to, I assume, pay the bill. I just sat there, my head in my hands. This was a whole lot for me to take in. I didn't really care that Optimus was a giant robot; he was giving up everything at the moment just to protect me, and I admired that so much. The fact that my father knew about my abilities before I did was rather surprising, but I could only assume that he had kept it from me for safety reasons. I was also surprised that I had never noticed something off with my grandmother, but she was probably very careful around me for those specific purposes.

A warm hand on my arm removed me from my thoughts and I could feel the comfort from it flowing into my body; it was almost as if it were being done on purpose. I looked up at Optimus and he smiled down at me. "Are you ready to head out?" he asked me.

I nodded and stood up. "Can I pay you back, please?"

He raised a brow and shook his head. "I can't let you. Come now," he said. I let out a huff before walking ahead of him, trying my best to ignore the many eyes I had on me. Once I was out of the restaurant door, I sighed in relief. I had never been so happy to be out of a single place in my life.