(no subject)
1. Mikaela has always been good with mechanics. She's been fixing cars since she was little, and she once took her dad's car apart while he was mowing the lawn, thinking it would 'surprise' him. He was surprised, all right. Still, it had showed him that she was brilliant with a wrench, and ever since, he's taught her everything he knew. Of course, since Mom had the tendency to fall for the tall, dark, and criminally inclined lot, her dad ended up in jail when she was older, and she herself ended up with a record due to her refusal to turn him in to the police.
2) Mikaela was nearly held back in grade school due to the fact that Dad used to take her on late night car jacking stints. She missed a lot of school because of this, and was nearly kept back in first grade because of it. She managed to somehow catch up, and stay with the class.
3) Sam is one of Mikaela's biggest memories along with those of her dad. Her boyfriend was one of the most important people to her, and losing him was one of her worst fears. She loved him unconditionally, and would do anything for him. What a frustrating and complicated relationship they have sometimes, yet at the same time, extremely simple: he is someone Mikaela would give her life for and not think twice about it. She’s been with him through everything; and will continue to do so until she can’t any longer. Sam's presence in the Nexus was a constant - it kept her from going too crazy, and she him. They were each others rocks, their foundations. They helped and supported each other, and kept each other from danger whenever possible. Discovering an alien race together is a big thing, and of course intertwined their fates forever, like it or not.
...*EDIT*
When Mikaela was killed by Megatron, her memory of Sam ever being in the Nexus has been erased. Shockwave's process isn't foolproof, and she has no recollection of him ever setting foot in the city. She still wears the locket around her neck that was given to her by him for her birthday, but she does not know who gave it to her. As far as Mikaela is concerned, Sam is back in college, moving along with his life after the battle in Egypt. Thinking about him sometimes makes her extremely sad, and she misses him terribly. Recently, she's realized (and acted impulsively on) feelings for another, and the guilt sits heavy in the pit of her stomach. Unfortunately - she has no one she feels she can really speak with on the matter, and so she takes it slow and one day at a time, and tries not to let the guilt fester. After so long (and him quite possibly and likely thinking she's dead at this point), she wouldn't expect him to wait around for her and at this point, she no longer does. She finds herself not wanting him to mope around and hope she returns, because she knows that deep down...that isn't fair to expect. It's coming close to a year since the last time (she thinks) she's seen him, and in her mind...they're over.
However - even now, were Sam to return, she would gladly give her life to protect him.
4) Losing Ironhide would be her second biggest fear. She has become increasingly closer to the huge Weapons Specialist since her arrival at Axiom, and every time he gets himself into a scrap or hurt her heart twists. This last time she's pretty angry with him for it. Ironhide reminds Mikaela of her dad in a lot of ways. He’s gruff, stubborn, and has an extremely hard head. There is strain on their relationship sometimes, but it doesn’t make Mikaela care any less about him. Ironhide is one of her most trusted companions. She trusts him, and even though he frustrates her sometimes, she cares very deeply for him.
5) Magnum's words have affected Mikaela more deeply than anyone really realizes. She knows the Autobots don't realize that they sometimes treat her as a person might a puppy (Stay home, don't leave the house, keep quiet), but Mikaela sees it and has begun to resent it. She has been feeling exceedingly useless in Axiom lately, she has no real purpose here; there are others here who she feels are smarter, more talented, and more welcomed. This has changed a little more lately, since her exposure to Sam (who had slowly been affected more and more by the Allspark, and by her touching it to begin with) - She has become fluent in Autobot and Decepticon, and only needs to hear any other language once before she is able to also speak it fluently. She knows of Cybertron's past, everything the Allspark would have seen, Mikaela has seen in her dreams.
6) When Mikaela was ten, she fell out of a tree and broke her arm. She didn't cry on the way to the hospital (or even when she broke it, for that matter), but the second the doctors told her that she wouldn't be able to 'help' her dad out for a few weeks, she went into a fit of anger. Being kept from her work and knowing that without her dad doing his 'job' their income would suffer, Mikaela decided she'd help her dad anyway. So, for six weeks, Mikaela helped her Dad jack cars and work on them with a cast.
7) In the seventh grade, Mikaela got written up and suspended for punching a male schoolmate for grabbing her butt.
8) Mikaela isn't above killing someone who is intent on killing her or Sam, or someone she cares deeply about. She had no qualms about hacking Frenzy's head off to keep him from Sam, or helping Bumblebee down Brawl in Mission City. Nor did she have any guilty feelings about torching Wheelie's eye, or ramming Alice into a light pole then backing over her. If the situation calls for it, she'll fight, especially if it's to protect someone she loves.
9) Mikaela once spent the night in juvie hall for underage drinking. Not long before she met Sam, her and previous boyfriend Trent had spent an evening downing half empty bottles of whiskey by the lake. Deciding to take a dip in the lake, their 'friends' decided it would be funny to steal their clothes, and when the cops showed up due to noise complaints from Trent's stereo, not only did she get arrested, but she was decidedly naked. She was extremely lucky she didn't get in any more trouble, since she already had a record due to her refusing to turn in her father.
10) When Mikaela was younger, her mom tried to make her into a 'real lady' (as opposed to a bit of a tomboy who preferred working on cars to Barbies and dolls) by forcing her to take several kinds of dance lessons (including ballroom, tap, and ballet). She was eventually pulled (or kicked) out of the class after an 'incident' on stage. Mikaela doesn't really talk about this.
11) Mikaela's death and following resurrection in the Nexus isn't something she likes to talk about, but it's something she's been reliving every single night since she's been back. Without fail, every night, she wakes up in a cold sweat, terrified to the bone. Sometimes she calls for Ironhide, sometimes it's Graham, and occasionally it is Sam she screams for, but it's always the same dream. She's walking, walking, walking and everything is fine and then she's picked up and sliced by Megatron's claws and there's blinding, white hot pain...and that's when she wakes up.
12) Graham Spector is an individual in the Nexus that has somehow managed to worm his way into Mikaela's heart. He started as a friend and nothing more - she showed him around the city and taught him to use his map, and in time offered to let him work with her at her shop. After several misadventures (including one trip to the Heap for parts which ended in tricking Ironhide to carting a decomposing robocorpse back to the shop to poke at), she began to realize there was...something else there. She'd brushed it off initially especially while Sam was still there, but it started to grow after his disappearance, even while she was a hysterical mess when he was deported. Eventually, Mikaela realized that yes, she did feel something, but had yet to audibly admit it until directly after her resurrection, and after she had forgotten Sam was in the city.
Oddly enough - the crazy mechanic has been an extremely positive influence, especially after she came back. He pulls her out of her depressions and urges her to keep herself busy, something she knows she needs to be doing.