So I regret to inform you guys that this might be the last bit of Barricade x Jessica fluff for a while. To help satisfy those who love fluff, there's a steamy piece included. ;D It's not intense enough to raise the rating, but it's still a steamy piece. I'm not saying more, for fear of giving it away. ;D Now then, on with it!

The drive back to the Witwicky residence was all too short for Barricade and Jessica. Though Jessica was more than willing to get the observation over with, both found themselves not wanting to be constantly watched. Sipping her milkshake quietly as they pulled up to a stop light just outside the subdivision Sam lived in, she stared out the window as people roamed the streets in a care free manner, laughing with friends, talking on cell phones or texting, or wrapped in their own little worlds. None of them had to deal with the idea of giant alien robots, at least not yet. None of them drove one to work or was developing feelings for one. None of them had to sit for 72 hours at a military base with seemingly nothing to do while people watched and recorded their every sneeze and burp and how they reacted to someone looking at them cross-eyed. And for that, Jessica envied them. Barricade's holoform stared blankly ahead, taking her place in the driver's seat so she could finish the small meal she had picked up from a near by Wendy's on the way back to the house. He seemed to hesitate, acting as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Jessica watched him carefully from the corner of her eye for a minute, and, as the car passing in front of them reflected the sudden change from green to yellow on the stop light, she let out a sigh and broke the silence.

"Barricade, what's on your mind?" He jumped at her voice, slowly easing forward as their light turned green. "Is this whole observation thing really bugging you that much? I don't think Optimus would really complain if you backed out and went back to the Decepticons.."

"I'm not backing out." He said suddenly, startling her with his voice. He hadn't spoken to her since they had left the base, lost in his own thoughts, so hearing it all of the sudden was a bit startling. "I just...have...never mind." He shook his head and focused on the road, seemingly putting all his concentration into doing 35 mph in a 45 mph zone.

"Barricade, you're gonna get pulled over." She groaned, running her fingers through her hair. "You of all bots would know that. And just tell me. You're my guardian for fuck's sake." He chuckled at her use of profanity. "That's right, laugh it up, tin head. While you're over there laughing at my expense I'm starting to get pretty pissed off that you're keeping something from me. Almost as if you think I'm too weak to handle it." If there was one thing she hated in this world, it was being told or it being suggested that she couldn't handle something. Her guardian, best friend, and crush was a robot from outer space that was five times her size and had killed so many of his own kind and who knows how many of her species, she had seen her father's bloody pulp of a corpse and her mother's dead body as a kid, watched her father beat her mother, and had even under gone molestation from her own father and yet he thought she couldn't handle a single thought. Oh how that got under her skin.

"Why must you insist on knowing what is wrong?" He asked, sounding just as irritated as she was. Good. Now maybe he would tell her what was wrong. She glared at him as if he should have already known the answer.

"Because I'm sick of people telling me I can't handle jack shit, alright?" She shouted as they pulled into Sam's driveway, but neither Barricade or Jessica made a move to exit the vehicle. He just stared at her, surprised by her outburst while she glared daggers at him, her body beginning to quiver with years of pent up anger.

"What do you mean? I never-"

"I know you didn't say it, but you didn't have to." She spat coldly. "Your silence suggested it. After you left, I was stuck in foster home after foster home, stuck with parents who didn't give a shit about me, sometimes even beat me." Tears were running down her face now, but she completely ignored them. "For years I was told what I could and couldn't do, and I'm not talking about silly shit like going out with friends or whatever like most girls freak out over. I was told I would never grow up to be someone decent. I'd never go to college. I couldn't handle the pressure of the assignments. I couldn't handle the soccer team because I was apparently lazy. Yeah right, I cleaned that entire fucking house on a day to day basis while that pathetic excuse of a man sat on his ass drinking beer! Here I was 10 years old doing more than he ever dreamed of doing!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation, ignoring the fact that her fingertips hit the fabricated ceiling. "All my life I've been told I can't handle anything major, and I've proved them wrong." She murmured quietly, her voice now trembling with tears. "Why can't you tell me what's bothering you? If I could do everything I was told I couldn't do, then I can handle this one little thing."

Barricade stared at her for a moment, completely taken aback by her sudden outburst. He wasn't used to humans being emotional, and he definitely wasn't used to her being this way, either. When she was younger she would try to at least wipe the tears from her eyes and would refuse to admit she'd been crying. She'd laugh and smile, even if it sounded or looked forced, which had him commending her for her mental strength. Now here she was, crying openly in front of him like it was an every day thing. He wasn't used to that at all.

He shook himself to recover from the initial shock of her outburst, then leaned forward and kissed her. At first it was just a soft brush of the lips, like he was afraid of her reaction, but then he put more force into it, nearly bruising her lips with the pressure he put on them. She didn't mind one bit. What she did mind, however, was his breaking off the kiss.

"Go. Get your things." Was all he said, and she didn't have to be told twice. It took her 15 minutes to borrow a duffel bag from Sam and explain to him and his parents where she was going and for how long, gather her essentials as well as some entertainment, and make it back out to the car after patting Bumblebee on the hood and telling him goodbye. She laughed when he played her a song from a musical that she couldn't quite name and gave his hood a hug before throwing her duffel bag into the back seat and getting in beside Barricade.

"Let's go." She said, pumping a fist into the air half-enthusiastically. Barricade gave her an smile before slowly backing out of the driveway and heading for the main road again.

"Do you understand what I was trying to tell you?" He asked her as they plowed through the stop light they had started the conversation at, looking over at her. She looked at him as she took the final sip of her milkshake that was now just melted cream and flavoring, eyebrows raised.

"Hm?" She thought long and hard for a moment before blushing slightly. "I'm guessing you're trying to tell me just how much you care?" He smiled slightly at her, then turned his attention back to the road.

"In a manner of speaking." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Be specific."

"Would you like me to explain further?" She just shrugged as he began to slow down, then knit her eyebrows together in confusion when he put on his turning signal when they were no where near a stop light or a turn.

"I guess...?" She asked, heart beginning to pump faster when they pulled into a parking garage for a near by business. When they reached the very top, which was mostly vacant, she turned to look at him and demand an explanation, but was met by his lips as the engine switched itself off. This time she kissed him back, reaching her hands up to mess up his perfectly gelled hair. Barricade lowered the front seats and pulled her onto his lap. Once she was comfortably situated he moved from her lips to her neck, trailing butterfly kisses along her light skin and occasionally nipping the sensitive areas. She let out a moan as he began to move to her shoulder blades, then her collar bone and shivered when he reached his hands up to lower her bra and tank top straps down to the middle of her upper arms and kiss the now exposed flesh.

Face flushed, she kept her fingers entangled with his hair and let out another moan when he kissed just above one of her breasts and reached up to grab the other. He let out a moan of his own when she ground her hips against his in revenge for his teasing kisses and grabbed her hips to keep them against his own. To her dismay he leaned upwards, placed a kiss on her throat and brought her head down with one of his free hand to whisper in her ear as he massaged the sensitive mound of flesh.

"Do you understand now?" He placed a kiss on her ear lobe and licked the sensitive skin behind it, causing her to gasp. "I love you." He murmured against her skin, pressing a tender kiss to the junction between her neck and shoulder. "I never intended to fall for you. To me you were just another human." He kissed up her neck and moved both of his hands to her lower back as he reclined against his seat. "But for some unfathomable reason, I did. I don't regret it, either." Cheeks turning the color of a ripe beet, Jessica lowered her head onto his chest and moved one hand to trail a patter on his collar bone and left the other in his hair.

"I...I do believe I feel the same way, 'Cade." She whispered, letting out a sigh of content. She'd gotten worked up, sure, but she was just fine with what they were currently doing. He moved his arms to fully envelope her into a hug and kissed her still exposed shoulder, a smile on his lips.

"Good."

"I'm curious." She said, propping herself up on her elbows. When she was sure she had his attention, she continued. "You were a Decepticon for years. You killed several mechs and...femmes?..yeah, femmes, on your planet. Not once did you give them a second thought. You probably enjoyed it." She shivered at that, imagining thousands of agonized screams and shrieks of different tones and frequencies reaching her ear drums accompanied by Barricade's own voice twisted in sadistic, almost psychotic laughter as he took more and more lives. "You come to earth intending to keep it up, to maybe even do that to us humans. Why the change? Why the sudden burst of affection?"

Barricade just stared at her. Where had that come from..? He sat up, eyes clouding over as he thought long and hard about her question. He personally had never thought about it before; he'd just let the emotions that filled his spark and processor take over almost completely, blurring his thoughts and influencing his decisions. He'd never met a female of any species that had done that to him. He'd never been in the position he was now, laying beneath a femme who was staring at him intently, as if she was reading his every thought like a crystal clear data pad, its contents in plain English.

"I...don't really know." He began, sitting up slightly. Jessica sat up with him, clinging to his shirt as his seat was brought back to its erect position and moved back so she wouldn't be against the steering wheel. "When we first met, I believed you to be nothing but a pest. I had every intention of leaving my landing site the next day after I recharged and my internal repairs fixed what small amount of damage had been done during my journey. When I awoke to find you there, I wanted to squish you, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. You were a curious little sparkling. Brave, too." He chuckled when he remembered her walking cautiously up to him and poking him, squeaking when she was met with a jolt of electricity. She giggled when she remembered the same memory. "I guess...I seen something in you. Something that had my processors nearly shutting down and sending me into stasis lock from too much thought. You were innocent; I hadn't seen anyone smile like you did, laugh or behave in such a manner in several earth years. The war had been raging long before I had been sparked." He let out a sigh, suddenly feeling ancient and tired. "I began to think about your planet, observe it in a way I'd never thought to before. I began to stop thinking about our war, put my mission aside." He smiled softly, closing his eyes in rememberance.

"What do you think of our planet?" Jessica asked, fiddling with a button on his shirt. He opened his ruby red eyes and smiled at her.

"It's beautiful. Cybertron was beautiful in its own right, but it lacked the foliage Earth has, the organic animals that roam the landscape, the birds that sing every morning and ever night. The weather is unique; I've never seen clouds rain balls of ice from the sky before, or wind behave in such a violent matter." She shivered at his reference to tornadoes; she hated those things. "Most of all, your species has its...moments." He chose his words carefully. "For instance, human sparklings have such an innocence about them; they know nothing of pain and hard ship. They smile and laugh, they play and socialize without a care. Despite hardships many humans go through, they smile and enjoy their incredibly short lives. You're a strong race, though only up here." He tapped the side of her head and she laughed, grabbing his hand with her own.

"So I guess this means you actually like us humans?" He snorted at her and curled his fingers in between hers, gaze moving to their clasped hands.

"Slag no. I just said you have your moments." She giggled and kissed his forehead. Barricade smirked and leaned forward to bite the top of her breast, the smirk growing into a devilish smile when she moaned and nearly collapsed on him.

"'Cade.." She gasped out as his hands moved to remove her shirt. Still grinning, he pulled the tank top off her head and began to work at her bra while she unclasped his buttons. He gave a small gasp when she grew impatient and kissed what skin was exposed.

"S-slag.." It was her turn to smirk, then full out laugh when she ground her hips against his harshly. She groaned when he bucked his up against hers. "Don't dish out what you can't take as you humans say." He said impishly as he finally removed her bra and began to work her exposed breasts thoroughly with his hands. They almost missed the sound of her phone over her moans as he moved from using his hands on the flesh to leaving marks with his teeth and lips teasing her with his tongue. Almost.

"Fuck." She growled, pausing her work on his shirt. "It can wait." Barricade couldn't have agreed more, shoving his tongue in her mouth as his hands began to work on her pants. But as soon as the cheesy ring tone began to blare again he knew he'd have to stop so she could answer.

"Answer it." He groaned as she leaned forward, jostling his pelvic area unintentionally as she grabbed the phone from the outer pocket of the bag. She flipped it open without looking at the caller i.d., squeaking when Barricade bit the side of her bare breast and began to suck at the skin.

"H-hello?"

"Where are you?" Optimus' voice startled her to say the least. Barricade immediately stopped his work on marking her as his and listened to the phone call intently.

"At a restaurant. I got hungry; I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch so. Barricade couldn't take my stomach growling much longer. Or my bitching and whining." Barricade rolled his eyes at her, not that she noticed. She was studiously trying to ignore him and keep her voice steady. He may have known nothing about human intercourse but he knew how to get her worked up. Then again it was pretty easy; he was the first guy who'd removed her shirt other than a doctor when she had her first pap smear.

"Please hurry back to the base. Your government officials are getting impatient."

"Why? Does our observation start as soon as we get back or something?"

"Please just hurry." Was all the leader said before cutting off their connection. She lowered the phone, blinking at it. How had he even gotten her number.

"Slag." Barricade cursed, gently sitting them up and gathering her tank top and bra. "We have to go. I don't want this observation to be any more annoying than it has to be." She flopped down onto the now raised passenger seat and put her top clothing back on, watching in amusement as Barricade flickered his holoform. Nothing had changed about him, minus the fact that his hair was now fixed and his buttons re-done. She snickered and shook her head, finger combing her hair again.

"You make that look so easy." He just snorted at her as he started up the car again and began to leave the parking garage. "Can I bother you with stopping at Starbucks? I want one last good meal before I'm reduced to eating military food." She stuck her tongue out in disgust as Barricade laughed at her misfortune.

"I don't envy you." Was all he said as he pulled out onto the street. He was then met with a flip flop against the side of his holoforms' face, which just made him laugh harder.

"Laugh it up, tin can." She said, sticking her tongue out at him. As they pulled up to a stop light, she sighed, staring intently at the small Starbucks they were about to head for. "It'll probably be the last time you get to laugh for three days."

Barricade frowned at that. The observation wouldn't be that annoying...would it?

...Alright, so that did get steamy enough for me to become paranoid about the rating and raise it. o.o And steamier than I intended. I hope ya'll enjoyed it, because it'll probably be the last scene like that for a while. Things will...be getting pretty serious here soon, though there will be bits of humor during the three days of observation. Well, review! :D