(Thought you guys would like a close-up of her helm! I tried to draw her smiling, but she always ends up looking rather sassy... Either way it kinda matches the character! :)  )

         "Hey, Arcee!" Smokescreen plodded up to her, a smile on his faceplate, "I'll take your shift for you!"

She looked to him with an amount of confusion.

         "Is this about your phantom 'Con?" she asked with a knowing smirk, a servo to her hip plate.

         "No way," he chuckled, "Totally over that, you guys said so yourself she's either offlined or far away from all this scrap."

Arcee still looked unconvinced.

         "Oh come on, I want to do something for you guys! I can't rise up from just a rookie by simply doing what I'm told. I have better chances if I do more for you guys!"

It was a moment or two before Arcee gave in, and allowed him to go, making a mental note to tell Optimus.

     Drifting down the line, Smokescreen decided to take the route he chose when he saw the femme, skidding to a stop when he neared the exact location. Of course, he saw nothing, and no sign of their encounter yesterday either, so he moved on, through the usual route before finishing, but he didn't go back to base, not yet. Instead the rookie lingered near an oasis, untouched by human hands, except for maybe the few nomads that may or may not come along, though very few there were. He spotted a few of the desert wildlife coming for the provided water, and chuckled when a large lizard bolted from a bush, only to hide in another one. Somehow, he knew that this femme, Megatron's daughter (Y/D) or not, would find him here. He stopped by the running stream connected to the oasis, looking at his reflection and smiled by the smallest bit. At the corner of his optic, he saw something glint just behind his reflection, and instead of looking behind him, he tried to focus on this small glint of light in the water. He watched as this light grew, and the figure came closer, he was all to late when he realized just what it was.

     He turned, and tried to retaliate when the B-2 Spirit came in contact, but he soon found himself being forced to the ground, the feeling of a heavy pede on his chassis. When the dust and sand cleared from his optics, a few blinks later, he realized who it was, and she didn't look all to happy to see him.

         "Why are you looking for me?" she growled, single jagged tooth gleaming in the intense sunlight.

         "Why didn't you offline me yesterday?"

This seemed to catch her off guard as her expression turned to one of surprise.

         "I... uh..." she lifted her pede from his chassis and stepped to the side, "You didn't answer my question." she crossed her arms.

Now that Smokescreen was paying more attention to his current companion, he realized just how much she resembled Megatron... he wondered if he should ask.

          "Only if you answer one of mine first." he offered.

         "What are we, three cycles old? I don't have time for games." She growled and began to walk off.

         "Oh come on, it's only one question," Smokescreen trailed after her.

         "Leave me alone," she warned.

         "It's a simple question," he sang, having to almost jog to keep up with her, despite the fact she was maybe an inch shorter than he was.

The femme stopped, making Smokescreen stumble and almost fall.

         "Fine, then you must answer mine," She stood, quite sure of herself, holding the air of a leader, much like Optimus does, but she had an amount of intimidation that befitted the warmonger Megatron.

Smokescreen took a moment to decide which question he would ask, and decided to go with a less personal one first.

         "How did you know I was looking for you?"

         "I scanned your signature, so it was easy to download it into my database so it could recognize you."

         "That must be some high tech stuff you ha-"

         "Answer my question." She interrupted, and never finished his sentence.

         "Well... I guess, I... I wanted to prove to myself that I had made a friend?"This was more of a question than an answer, and (Y/D) knew this, but she accepted it, knowing from her first encounter that Smokescreen did not know who she was. She was quite glad of this fact, most were far to scared of her to even utter her name. She smiled at the rookie, and let her guard down just by a fraction

         "How about we settle for acquaintence?"

To this Smokescreen smiled, and nodded.

     Deciding to take a load off, the two sat by the still water of the oasis, watching as different desert animals found their refreshment. (Y/D) pointed out many of the different birds, coyotes and lizards that trotted on by, surprising her current companion with her knowledge of such things. He began to think of the different theories that had happened to her when she disappeared, thinking that life on the Nemesis was out of the question. The young mech was pulled out of his own thoughts as he heard the slow rippling of water in front of him, and watched in astonishment as (Y/D) slowly waded in.

         "Come on," she smiled, "You'll over heat in the sun, even if the air here is a bit cooler."

Smokescreen was unresponsive for a time, but the femme was patient as she waded in deeper startling some fish that were at the bottom. The oasis was quite deep, being just above her shoulder spikes in the middle. She waved at him, making the rookie shake himself from his stupor, and he slowly got up, smiling as he too waded in just behind her.

         "So," he started awkwardly, "Come here often?"

This made her laugh, and she splashed him with the fresh water. He splashed back, but the water hit air, and come back down with a few small plips. Looking around, the mech was quite confused, until he felt a hard hit to his knee joints, and he fell into the water, his own weight bringing him down. Once the bubbles cleared from his vision, he found the bright, smiling optics of (Y/D) as she laughed under the water, making small bubbles rise, He followed her when she resurfaced, both laughing as they had a truly good time for what felt like the first time in vorns. They sighed in sync, and Smokescreen took a moment to enjoy her smile, before he asked the question he knew might wipe it away.

         "Are..." he began, "Are you-"

         |: SMOKESCREEN! :|

Said mech cringed at the loud interruption in his audio, and hesitantly raised a servo to his com-device.

         "Yeeeeeeeeees...?"

         |: Thank Primus, :| Ratchet sighed, |: Where in the PITS are you?! You are no where on our radar! :|

         "Um... I guess I'm out of range?" he tried to cover up.

         |: We can see Decepticon activity on the other half of the globe, HOW CAN YOU BE OUT OF RANGE?! :|

Before anything else could be argued, Smokescreen disconnected, and looked to (Y/D) with a rather sorry expression.

         "You should go," She shrugged, stepping out of the water, Smokescreen couldn't help but note the small streams that seemed to caress her frame and simply glitter like liquid diamonds in the sun, "By the sound of it your medic is oftly worried about you."

         "Oh... did I have it on speaker?"

(Y/D) nodded with an amused smile.

         "Wait... how did you know that was Ratchet?" he questioned.

         "Well," the femme chuckled, "Now I know it was Ratchet, the old coot, but only a medic would yell like that."

Smokescreen questioned how she would know Ratchet, and by the title she just gave him, fairly well, perhaps there's more they aren't telling him about her. He was about to take off, but stopped, and looked back to (Y/D).

         "Why am I not on their radar?" he asked.

         "Same way I'm not." she shrugged, "A cloaking device, inherited from my carrier. I can cloak up to three others at once..." she hesitated for a moment, about to say more, but she stopped herself, and closed her intake after a moment, looking to her servos as she wrung one around her wrist, "I-if you want... I could take you half way, t-to keep this place secret?" she offered, much to Smokescreens surprise. He nodded with a soft smile, and watched as she transformed into the beautiful white-grey B-2 Spirit. She followed him to the half way point, where the both knew that they had to part. The two transformed, and looked to each other, one rather disappointed they had to go, the other having a serious air, the air of a leader saying 'good luck' to a soldier, rather than the parting of two friends.

         "So-uh... I'll see you around?" he asked sheepishly.

         "I suppose so... sorry for attacking you earlier."

         "Nah, it's good. One can't be too careful when fighting a war," he tried to be funny, but only received a rather conflicted expression from the femme, of which confused him, and also made his suspicion rise of who she was. Smokescreen decided to ask one last question, "Why didn't you offline me when we first met?"

(Y/D) looked into his optics, then to the sandy ground, shuffling a pede, digging a hole in the sand.

         "I-I... I told you... I didn't plan on offlining anyone that day."

         "And what about now?" he asked, taking her servos from her sides, and into his own, making her look up to him in surprise with those bright, beautiful green optics he adored.

         "I... well," she looked back to their intertwined servos, and took them from his grasp, taking several steps back, "I really must go... it was an honor meeting you... soldier."

     With a proper salute, she transformed, and took off, once again flying well past her physical limits. Smokescreen couldn't tell what made him think about her more. The constant string of mysteries she leaves behind, or the fact she called him a soldier rather than just some slighted title that meant an inexperienced rookie like the others did.