Hi! New SamBee Oneshot. Please pretend Transformers 2 ROTF didn't happen and then pretend this is somewhere between the time where Sam goes to high school and then college. Then that is where this story takes place.

Prompt: 3 Doors Down - Let Me Go

Summary: Bee wants to protect Sam anyway he can, and sometimes he has to lie to him. So does Sam really know him?

Sam was sitting inside the Starbucks with a coffee in front of him, pumpkin chai if I remember correctly, in front of the window. Sam was waiting for someone as usual and I wait outside. Sam has always told me that I can just leave, put on a holo projector and leave for awhile. Sam knows me better than that though, knows I won't leave him if even for a second other than when he needs privacy. But I broke that rule once.

"Sam..." Mikaela had sounded so sad over the phone when she said his name.

"Yeah 'Kaela?" Sam replied, his voice was lo, he knew what was coming.

"Do… Do you feel… feel anything for me anymore?" She sounded like she was going to cry.

"I… Mikaela-" Sam seemed to be crying as well.

I had stopped listening after that. Sam had stayed in his room for a day after the conversation and I didn't see Mikaela for awhile after that. Sam retreated into himself and went out of the house less and the only trips he made were to school and back or to the grocery store. I truly did miss riding out on the road with him during that time, back then I didn't know why it hurt so much to have him that far from me.

And then one day out of the blue, maybe a month after he and Mikaela broke up, Sam came running out of the house and pulling a jacket over his arm while trying to pull on a shoe. He was excited about something and when he hopped into my cab he was shaking with joy.

"Hey Bee! Guess what?" And really that is an annoying question humans ask, how was I to guess when I hadn't talked to him in such a long time?

"What?" I inquired anyway. Sam was beaming and ghosted a hand over my steering wheel.

"I'm going out tonight-and um… I'm going on a date with someone" He was smiling like a fool. Like when he had first gotten Mikaela into the same seat with him all those months ago in the summer.

"With who? Mikaela?" Sam shook his head in response and frowned for a moment.

"No… not 'Kaela anymore Bee. A new person, I met them over the net recently. They want to meet me at the movies and I thought I'd just make it a date. This person is really cool Bee. And I think this will help me get over this slump I've been in. You've noticed right?" Oh how I did notice, "So I think this person will help me get out of that and make me get out of the house more. Would you mind taking me there? You won't have to stay, I'll just call you when the movie is over." Sam was trying to be considerate towards me. He patted the steering wheel and let his fingers slip over the Autobot emblem.

"Ok Sam, where too?" I replied happily. If he was getting out of the house more often then it really couldn't be such a bad idea. But then again I had never known of the dangers of meeting people over the internet. When Sam came back that night from the theater, after waiting patiently for over an hour and half, he was still cheery and could have possibly skipped back to me if he wanted.

He plopped down into my cabin once again and chatted away about the movie and the mysterious date. A boy named Daniel, so Sam didn't classify it as a date but just as a 'Guy's Night Out'. The movie was Superbad, and Sam didn't really care for the movie, Daniel found it funny for the most part. Sam went on about how he couldn't help but laugh with him. Daniel was 18 and seemed like a really nice guy from what Sam had always told me and I believed him.

The months progressed and Daniel eventually began riding with Sam and I everywhere when possible. There were nights Sam and I went driving alone though, nights when Daniel wouldn't be around. Now that I look back on it I had enjoyed those nights when he wasn't there. Again I didn't know why back then.

And then one night, a month, 3 days and 8 hours after they started the 'Guy's Night Out', Sam was at Daniel's house and he came running out of the house in the late evening.

"Bee-" He shouted as he ran up to me, he was alarmed and that caused me to be on full alert. I swung the door open and let him fly in and slammed it behind him. He was shaking as he curled up into the seat. Daniel came running out of his house and wasn't slowing down. He slammed into me at a dangerous speed, causing his organs to collide but he stayed upright and slammed a fist on my side. Sam flinched and tried to disappear into my seats.

"Don't let him in Bee…please…" Was all Sam needed to say and I pulled out of the driveway. Daniel was screaming obscenities after Sam and I. When Sam told me what happened later I wanted to go back to Daniel's and actually harm him. Thankfully Sam had pulled me out of my rage and Daniel was spared. When Sam finally left me to go sleep in his bed I felt so ashamed of myself. I hadn't been checking in on him. I had wanted to protect his privacy and not scan the house or the buildings or where ever he disappeared inside of just to protect his privacy from me. All because of that one time I had decided to peek in and just regret it.

Sam didn't come out of his room for a few days after that and I broke my promise. I scanned everything every few seconds. I traced his calls and blocked ones from Daniel. I did everything I could to protect him, all for the price of his privacy. But he didn't need to know.

He doesn't need to know.

Slowly he coaxed himself back into to the mainstream of the world. He went back to school and started to hang out with Mikaela again. He was returning to his normal self and I was glad to have him back. We raced on the open roads in the night or just went to lie on the hill with Mikaela.

And a little while later Sam became restless and had said he wanted a change. So we went out one morning to Starbucks and as he waited for his drink he was run over by a boy about his age and had coffee spilled all over him. He laughed it off though since it was cold coffee. The boy, whose name was Benjamin, apologized profusely and offered to go get the shirt cleaned. Sam was laughing though and waved off the idea. The boy refilled his coffee and offered to buy Sam one, to which Sam received his coffee and smirked.

He waved to me through the glass asking me silently to stay. I flashed my headlights in response and they took a seat together at a table by the glass and started talking. From then on every weekend morning Sam would ask me to take him back to the same Starbucks and he would meet up with the blonde haired Benjamin. It had been going on for a few weeks now and every time he saw the boy Sam would smile.

And I wonder if Sam can make the connection to the blonde haired, blue eyed boy and why he always comes to the same place every weekend. And why I always stay.

But my reputation precedes me and it doesn't let Sam ask so many questions. Though I still wish I could tell him.

"How are you today Benjamin?" Sam asks. He's smiling like a fool again.

"I'm doing just fine. It's nice to see you again" Benjamin replies. I can hear their conversation like they are speaking into megaphones in my head. I can hear the din of the Starbucks workers behind the counter even though I am too far away to be actually able to hear such noise through the glass. Benjamin smiles because I make him do so.

And how I wish I could tell Sam.

But his privacy is the price of his protection.

And who better to protect him than me?

Anyone like?

Shamelessly asking for reviews, but I don't mind if you don't.