More time had passed since her first encounter with Decepticons and, subsequently, the humans and Autobots of NEST. Since then, NEST and B.A.B.E.L. had worked together when certain situations arose, and the espers continued to do their missions as usual.

And then the mission that had nearly cost Naomi her life. She'd survived, of course, but at the cost of losing the man she'd tried so hard to save. Every night after she'd regained consciousness, save for the first one spent with Jolt, she'd had vivid nightmares and woken up in a panic, forced to relive every minute of the mission.

Physically, she was doing better-- she was still a little weak on her feet, but she'd been freed from the bandages and her injuries were mostly healed. But coming to grips with the Normal's death hadn't been easy. She wasn't even sure if she had done that yet. All Naomi knew was that she didn't want to cry anymore. So she'd taken to flying, after every mission, after every college class. She still faithfully kept Jolt clean, and did her best to keep up a cheerful front in his presence, but today was another day that she'd gone away from B.A.B.E.L.

Reminiscent of the first day girl and car had been together here, Naomi found herself once again at the riverbank. Save for the cars driving on the bridge overhead, it was peaceful. Quiet. No fretting from her supervisor, no questions about her health or well-being, it was just a place for her to think.

And if her thoughts would just stop straying to the same thing, it would have been a lot nicer.