Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I love family reunions. Maybe next year we can pass out samurai swords.”

-Doug Solter

The house was massive. Granted, my judgment was a bit skewed considering I lived in a closet sized apartment with the view of a dirty alley in New York City. So in comparison, this two story light blue paneled house with a sprawling back lawn and decorated front looked like a mansion.

I quickly glanced down at myself self-consciously. A worn out light brown leather jacket over an equally worn out red plaid shirt, dark skinny jeans with holes in the knees that weren’t there when I originally bought them, and a pair of scuffed up brown boots to complete the hobo trash look I was rocking. My attire alone made me stand out like a sore thumb in this upscale, suburban neighborhood and that didn’t even include my various bruises and busted knuckles. 

It wasn’t as cold down here in the south as it was up north right now, but it was still chilly enough that when I heaved a defeated sigh my breath showed in a fog of warm air. The heavy book bag on my back filled with a week of clothes and essentials weighed me down as much as my rotten spirits did.

What was I even doing here? I hadn’t seen or spoken to my older sister in years. Why start now all of a sudden? The urge to pretend like I had never even attempted to visit became more and more appealing with each passing second. I could always act like the mysterious letter and plane ticket from Aubrey had gotten lost in the mail. I’m still not even sure how it had found its way to my apartment in the first place. How the hell had she gotten my address?

The sharp sound of a car horn cut through the air not only making me lose my train of thought, but also making me jump. I whipped around with a confused glare. The taxi driver was glaring holes into my figure as he impatiently held his hand out and over the passenger seat beside him.

“You gonna pay or what?”

“Oh, right.” I mumbled and stuffed my hand into my jacket pocket pulling out a bunch of ones and fives to pay. He eagerly took the money and paid no mind to the crumbled and blood splattered condition they were in. The window snapped back up and the car took off down the road. There went my last chance of escape. No going back now.

I took in a deep breath and turned back around to face the monster of a house. Determination began to fill my body and settle in my gut. My hands clenched into fists by my side. I’ve faced bigger moments than this and survived. I’ve been in tougher, more dangerous, situations and come out mostly unscathed. This was just another obstacle in my hellish life. I refused to be scared of seeing my sister for crying out loud. At least, I refused to let anyone see it.

Before my mind could go back to pathetically trying to find a way out of this, I pushed forward down the small brick path toward the front porch. Three white steps up onto the wooden porch, four steps to the matching white door, and suddenly my thumb was pressing down on the doorbell. A minute or so passed by where I just awkwardly stood at the door not moving when I heard the sound of running footsteps. They sounded small and light, but my questioning was cut short when the door was yanked open.

My eyes had been focused straight ahead at eye level, but when I didn’t see anybody they gradually drifted downwards to land on the small girl who had opened the door. She couldn’t have been older than 6 or 7 based on her height. She was a petite thing with dirty blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in loose, natural curls. The little girl wore a light pink dress with small darker pink hearts and a wide grin on her face. Her dark blue eyes looked way too familiar and it was unsettling.

“Hi.” She chirped innocently.

It was silent as the girl waited for me to reply to her greeting. After a few more seconds of not finding a response I finally managed to blurt something out, “Um, hi. Is this…I’m looking for Aubrey Williams, do you know-?”

“Mom!” The girl turned her head to yell into the house, “There’s a stranger at the door looking for you!”

“ Mom ?” I choked out in surprise. I knew Aubrey had one kid, a boy who was probably around ten years old now, but where the hell had this girl come from?

She ignored my statement and smiled, “What’s your name?”

“I’m- I’m Aj, who are-?”

“Her name is Aj!” She yelled again then snapped her gaze back to me, “She’ll be here soon.”

The girl sprinted back into the house off to the right leaving the door wide open. Didn’t anybody ever teach her about stranger danger? Slowly, I took a step into the house and glanced around. I was in a wooden floored foyer with cream colored walls. There was a staircase against the wall to the left that led to the second floor. Straight ahead was a sliding door that led to the back porch and back lawn. A glass chandelier hung from the high ceiling ahead. It was in the position where someone could’ve stood on the second floor railing, jumped off, and swung onto the chandelier. To the left was a large, open archway that looked like it led into a dining room with the same floors and the beginnings of a tiled kitchen area. Through the archway to the right, where the girl had run off, was a carpeted area that looked like a living room. I could hear the sound of a TV playing along with small voices.

“Aimee.” 

My head snapped to the left where a tall, frail woman stood in the archway. Her dirty blonde hair was stick straight at the moment and stopped a little past her shoulders. Her big, dark blue eyes were bright and began to collect tears. She wore a regular t-shirt and jeans, but still managed to look elegant and beautiful. I got the stubborn attitude and competitiveness from our parents, but Aubrey got all the redeeming features.

Aubrey crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. Unsure of how to react I just let my hand pat her back occasionally until she let go. Ten years had passed since I last hugged my sister. I had been sixteen, her eighteen, and it had been just as uncomfortable as it was now. She set her hands on my shoulders, she was a good five inches taller than me at 5’8, and smiled, “Look at you. Your hair is so long now.”

“Thanks, I grew it myself.” I replied dryly. My light brown hair was much longer than Aubrey’s now and went to about my mid-back. I actually planned to cut it soon, I just hadn’t found the opportunity yet.

“Aimee, I-”

“I go by Aj now.” 

Aubrey let her hands fall to her hips as she chuckled, “Since when?”

“Since I was 16.” I couldn’t hold back the bitter tone in my voice. Aubrey flinched at my words before reaching out and taking my hand.

“Come on, let’s talk.”

I let Aubrey drag me through the archway she came through past the dining room into a medium sized kitchen. The light tan tiled floors were spotless and matched the dark wood counters and light marble countertops. The appliances were stainless steel, though you couldn’t even see the color silver on the fridge due to all the papers and drawings hanging from the front by magnets. Large windows let in enough sunlight to brighten the entire kitchen and most of the dining room.

Aubrey motioned for me to take a seat at the kitchen island barstool. She noticed that I hadn’t taken my bookbag off, but it probably wasn’t the only thing she noticed about me. I saw the way her eyes glanced over my healing knuckles and bruised hairline. My lip was still a little busted as well and I’m sure that wasn’t lost on her. 

“Would you like something to drink? I have water, milk, juice, coffee-?” Aubrey opened the fridge.

I shook my head, “No thanks. Not thirsty.”

She let the fridge close before coming over to stand across from where I sat. She leaned against the counter with her hands clasped in front of her. Aubrey gave me another one of her bright smiles, “So how have you been?”

“Less busy than you apparently.” I answered, “You have another kid?”

“Twins.” Aubrey glanced down at her hands before looking back up softly, “Taylor and Tyler. I wanted to tell you the news, but…getting in touch with you has always been a little hard.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You managed to do it this time. How’d you get my address?”

“I…” She paused uncertainly, “I may have hired a private investigator.”

“You what ?”

“I’m sorry I just needed to get in touch with you Aimee.”

“It’s Aj.” I snapped. This had been a mistake. Why hadn’t I just hopped back in the cabbie and run away? Because I wasn’t a runner, that’s why. I took in a deep breath and moved back to the twins, “How old are they?”

Aubrey looked relieved at the questioned and quickly replied, “They just turned six. Tyler is the older by four minutes.”

“Who’s their dad?”

My sister blinked and a look of insult passed her features, “They have the same father as Peter.”

The sound of laughter carried into the kitchen from across the house. Peter. That was what the oldest kid’s name was. I was a bit ashamed to say I had forgotten it, but I never had forgotten his age. How could I considering the last conversation I had with my sister before she up and vanished was about her being prego with the kid.

“Right.” I carried the word out, “Mr. Mystery. The one who pays for this huge house and all your living expenses, but won’t stick around for you or his kids.”

Aubrey shook her head with a defiant look in her eyes, “That isn’t fair. You don’t know Wes like I do.”

“Thank God.” I muttered under my breath. Aubrey looked away as her slim fingers clenched around each other. A part of me knew I was being a brat. This was an opportunity to reconnect, but all I was doing was mouthing off sarcastic remarks to her. I couldn’t help it though. Sitting across from Aubrey after all this time was bringing up all sorts of bad memories. There had been a time in my life where I would’ve done literally anything for the woman across from me. Despite being two years younger, I played the role of older sister my entire life. I protected my petite, frail Aubrey from the bullies and the big bad world and what was the thanks I got? Abandonment. 

That left a scar much deeper than any of the superficial ones I wore these days.

“Aimee- Aj.” Aubrey began, “I’m sorry. Back then-”

I quickly stood up with a shake of my head. The last thing I was interested in was going down a walk on memory lane with her, “This was a mistake. I should go.”

“Please, wait.” Aubrey threw her arm across the counter and grabbed my wrist. I glanced back at her as her hand tightened around me, “I’m- I’m sick.”

That’s when I really noticed how much older my sister looked. The exhaustion alone made her look much older than her age of 28. Growing up, she had always been a sickly kid. Aubrey was weaker than the others, always catching colds, which was why I picked up the mantle of protective sister in the first place, the one who was quick to throw fists.

Aubrey opened her mouth and she said another word, but it didn’t click in my mind right away. Did she just say cancer? No. No. No. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to Aubrey. Aubrey was too good, she was too soft and kind hearted for something as destructive and evil as cancer. I was the one with the crappy, going nowhere life. She had something to live for, she had kids for crying out loud, young kids at that. I didn’t realize I had been shaking my head until she came around the counter and softly cupped my face. 

“Aimee.” Aubrey gave a comforting smile, “I’ve already accepted it.”

That didn’t set me at ease. Not in the slightest. I pulled away from her with a glare, “ Accepted it ? You don’t accept something like that, Aubrey!”

She chuckled, “Always a fighter.”

“How long have you known?”

“About six months now.”

“And your…the kids, do they…?”

Her warm smile melted away and a look of heartbreaking concern and pain filled her eyes. Aubrey’s answer was soft, “N-No. No they don’t.”

I sat back down, letting my bag fall to the floor. Aubrey sat down in the stool beside me this time. Words failed me at the moment. I never considered myself a communicative person, but I usually at least had something sarcastic to shoot out, “When do you plan on telling them?” I was answered only with silence and a guilty look, “You do plan on telling them right?”

“That’s kind of why I asked you to come.”

“What? You want me to tell them the news?” I scoffed, “Hey kids, I’m your long lost aunt Aj. Nice to meet you guys and oh, by the way, your mom has cancer .”

Aubrey set her hand on mine, “I don’t want to tell them. They’ve been through so much with their father and I….” She paused, “The doctors said it probably isn’t fatal.”

“ Probably .” I repeated in disbelief.

“They caught it early on. I just have to go through the treatments and I should be fine.” Aubrey nodded, “I sent you that letter and ticket because…because I don’t want them to see me go through that. I was hoping you could watch them while I go through the treatment.” I pulled my hand away from hers, but this didn’t seem to faze Aubrey who continued, “The treatment should last two months-”

“Watch your kids?” I cried.

“Aimee-”

“I told you it's Aj.” I replied, not knowing what else to say. She wanted me to watch her kids? Two twin six year olds and a ten year old? I could barely take care of myself. I killed the goldfish I won at the fair last year after two days. There wasn’t an earthly way possible I was capable of taking care of living and breathing children.

“Aj, please.”

“No you- you’re making a huge mistake. You gotta have someone else who could do this. A neighbor or- or- or a family friend or something!”

Aubrey straightened her posture as a look of bewilderment flashed across her features, “Maybe if it was only for a couple days or so but…these are my children , Aj. I don’t trust them with anyone else for that long.”

“But you trust me ??” I cried motioning toward myself with my hands, “You haven’t seen me in ten years, Aubrey. Ten years ! Listen to me when I say you do not want me to do this.”

She reached forward again to grab my hands in a calming motion, “But I know you, little sister. I know the type of person you really are and that’s why I know you are the only person who can watch my kids.”

I pulled my hands away from her and crossed my arms tightly so she wouldn’t be able to grab them again. If she really knew the type of person I was, if she truly understood how much trouble I had gotten myself into, she wouldn’t be asking me to do this. I wasn’t the babysitting, mom type. I was a walking disaster. A lump formed in my throat, after all these years and this big discovery, I didn’t want to lie to my sick sister, but…

“I have school.” I blurted trying to find something that would keep me from having to say yes, “My Christmas break only lasts a couple weeks.”

Did she already know that I never actually started medical school? That I finished college just to end up doing nothing with that degree? That I chose a life of fighting over anything actually productive? Based on the look of absolute guilt on my sister’s face I figured she didn’t know that. The private investigator had apparently only tossed her my address and bailed.

“I know.” Her voice broke. Aubrey’s guilt began to eat me alive. Only she would make me feel guilty about making someone feel guilty, “I know, and I feel horrible for even asking. I know how much school means to you.” My eyes broke away from her gaze. It used to mean the world to me. “But like I said…you’re the only person I trust and- and I’m desperate.”

I sank in my seat. It killed me a little bit to be this close to my sister and not be able to fix anything in her life. I couldn’t knock cancer’s teeth out with my fist. Life was so much simpler back in the day where her issues were just school bullies, back when we were two peas in a pod. Call it an old habit, but I wanted to make the worry, pain, and desperation disappear again. For that reason alone I knew at that moment that there was no physical way I could say no to her request.

“Mama!”

The sound of a young boy’s panicked cries made me jump in my seat and whirl around to face the problem. Whereas I was tense and alert, Aubrey still seemed relaxed and at ease. The look on her face, a small smile peeking through, made me realize that she recognized the fact that this panicked tone wasn’t anything serious. Her child wasn’t in any danger. 

A few seconds later a six year old boy whipped around the corner clutching something to his chest. His dirty blond hair was messy and short. The front strands were pushed up into the air and away from his eyes. He looked a lot like his twin sister obviously, with the same eye color that reminded me of Aubrey. He wore a red t-shirt and jean shorts with mix matched socks.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Aubrey questioned. 

The kid paid me no mind as he held the toy clutched to his chest up for his mom to look at. My eyes focused in on a toy robot. It wasn’t a small action figure, but rather more of a large model. It had a white and dark gray body with a red and blue stripe going down its chest area. The number four sat on top of the stripes. The toy was a couple inches short of being a foot tall and it was missing its arm.

“Jazz’s arm fell off again !” His eyebrows were scrunched up in worry for his toy. Aubrey took the toy from him. He dug an arm out of his pocket and handed that to her as well.

Her attention darted to me with a smile, “Tyler, this is your Auntie Aj. Can you say hi?”

Tyler’s eyes widened as he quickly looked to me, “This is your sister?” Aubrey nodded and he immediately looked hopeful, “That means you’re a doctor! That’s what mama always says!”

I’m pretty positive I felt my heart stop at that moment. She had told them I was trying to be a doctor? How much did she talk about me to them? 

An awkward laugh escaped my lips, “Well, I uh, I’m not actually a doctor. I don’t-”

“Can you fix Jazz!?” He cried. “He needs a medic now and Ratchet is too busy!”

“Can I- Jazz ?” I blurted in confusion. Most of his sentence had been nonsense to me. Aubrey handed the toy to me and I took it hesitantly. The toy was actually made of metal rather than a cheap plastic. It was probably aluminum or something. My eyebrows furrowed in thought as I gazed at the robot in my hand. A black helmet thing covered the top of its head with a visor over what I assumed were eyes. The thing had a human like face somewhat. Lips. Chin. Nose. I glanced back up at Tyler who was staring at me. “Oh. Jazz .”

“Can you fix him? Please?”

Tyler clasped his hands together in a begging motion that matched his pleading eyes. Who knew a kid’s eyes could be so big and blue? This wasn’t the first time I had seen a look like that though. In that moment he looked just like his mom so many years ago and my heart skipped a beat. My jaw clenched in resolve, “Lemme see what I can do, kid.”

Aubrey handed me the toy arm and I took a moment to see how it would fit in. At least it was a cleanish break, the arm socket didn’t have any screws or anything. In fact, it looked like the arm should be able to just snap back into place so I did just that. There was a small click as it settled in, but I could tell that it wasn’t much of a permanent fix. I glanced down at my bag. Around the strap of my bag was a dark green ribbon I had tied on a couple months back. It wasn’t anything significant, I just hadn’t felt like getting up to throw away the random ribbon and instead tied it to my bag. 

I reached down and pulled it off with ease then began to tie it around the robot like a makeshift sling. To my utter surprise it actually came out looking like an actual sling for the thing’s arm. A smile came to my face in victory as I handed the toy back to Tyler, “There we go. Just be careful with it.”

He held it in his hands with a look of pleasant surprise written all over his face. It was silent a moment as I uncomfortably sat under both his and his mother’s gaze. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and began to pull me forward calling out that I needed to follow him. My eyes widened in panic as I looked back to Aubrey for a sign or help or something. She just gave me an amused look.

My attention went back to Tyler who was pulling me out of the kitchen and into the living room. I was vaguely aware that Aubrey was following the two of us at a distance.

The living room was just as nice as the kitchen. The ivory colored carpet seemed like a poor idea to have with kids, but I digress. The walls matched the rest of the cream colored walls. On the far wall was a dark wood entertainment dresser with a large TV playing a colorful cartoon and a collection of music and movies. The coffee table that was situated in front of the TV was the same color wood. There was a long couch that sat behind the coffee table, a matching love seat, and a single seat couch as well.

“Not my paint!” Taylor cried out in her best impression of a male voice. She held a golden colored robot in one hand moving it around like it was the one speaking.

“Tay! Tay! Tay !” Tyler let go of my hand and rushed over to where his sister was sitting on the floor surrounded by a wide variety of robotic toys. She paused in her play to look at her twin, “She fixed Jazz!”

“Who? The stranger?” Taylor pointed at me. I should’ve expected the stranger part. They began to talk quickly and quietly to each other. I glanced over at the couch where an older kid sat. He had light brown hair that was a little longer than his younger brother’s. He wore glasses over his gray eyes. This was obviously Aubrey’s older kid, Peter. He glanced up from the comic book he was reading to look at me before burying his head back into his book. The title on it was ‘Transformers’. Recognition filled my mind at the summer blockbuster that had come out a couple years ago about robots that turned into cars and stuff. A new movie had just come out too, hadn’t it? I remember it now because I had been invited to go see it in theaters with a friend, but refused because I hadn’t seen any of the ones that came before it.

“Stranger-” Taylor called out bringing my attention back to her.

Aubrey shook her head from behind me and corrected her daughter, “Aunt Aj.”

“Aunt Aj.” Taylor repeated slowly before continuing, “Can you fix Bumblebee? Starscream hurt him.”

I blinked in confusion. Were these just more robot names? What the hell was a starscream? She lifted a yellow and black robot up for me to see. I had gotten lucky with the first robot. What if I couldn’t fix this one and they hated me?

“Ummm…” I said dumbly.

“Did you guys finish your homework?” Aubrey asked with a light, scolding tone.

“Yes.” Peter answered without looking up while the twins remained silent.

Aubrey put her hands on her hips and looked so much like our mom that I couldn’t help but smile. The twins groaned and slowly began to stand up. She smiled, “And put all the bots away. Understood?”

They began to pick up the many toy robots. I chuckled at the sight of the small twins trying to hold them all in their arms. I always thought toys like these were supposed to be small, like fit in your hand small. The biggest one, which was also strangely shaped like a T-Rex of all things, reached a little above my knee.

“Why are they so big?” I asked aloud.

“They’re technically collectible items which is why they’re also made of metal, but that hasn’t stopped them from playing.” Aubrey chuckled. She opened her mouth to speak more when her phone began to ring. She pulled it up to her ear quickly, “Hello?” A smile came to her lips as she looked to me, “I have to take this. I’ll be right back.”

I curiously watched her leave me alone in the living room with the kids. Peter still paid me absolutely no mind, but the twins took this as an opportunity to play a little bit longer. They settled on the floor by my feet again. 

“Mama said you’re staying with us for a while, right?” Tyler asked innocently.

My lips formed a frown, “Um. Yeah, probably.”

“Yay! Doctor aunt Aj, sit down!” Taylor tugged on my hand.

I slowly sat down in front of the twins, “You can just call me Aj. It’s less of a mouthful.”

“You can call me Taylor or Tay or Starlight.” She beamed and I could feel my eyebrows rise in confusion.

“ Starlight ?” I asked, “Is that on your birth certificate?”

Taylor giggled, “It’s my designanon, silly.”

“Designa tion , Taylor.” Peter corrected his sister without even looking up from his comic book.

Taylor nodded, “Mama came up with it for when we play!”

“Mine is Lightspeed.” Tyler announced proudly. I chuckled to myself. These kids were kind of cute. Man, did I miss the days where I could just play make believe with my sister and not have to worry about anything else. I reached forward and picked up the toy closest to me. It was taller than the one with the broken arm that I fixed and slimmer. It was bright, cherry red with a couple accents of white here and there on its legs and arms. It also wore a black helmet thing but this one had no visor. Instead it had two solid, light blue eyes. On its chest was the black robot insignia face thing that was always on the movie posters. I couldn’t remember if it was the good guy one or bad guy one though. Blue eyes were good guys right? Maybe I should’ve seen those stupid movies, it’d make befriending the kids much easier.

“That’s Sideswipe.” Taylor scooted over so she was sitting on my right and Tyler moved so he was on my left. “He’s an autobot.”

Tyler picked up the toy Taylor had been playing with when I walked in. It looked an awful lot like the red one except it had more metal pieces around its shoulders and a yellow vent looking things coming out of the side of its helmet, “This is his twin, Sunstreaker. They’re front liners which means they fight a lot and they used to be gladiators. Right, Pete?”

“Yupp.” Came Peter’s not so enthusiastic reply.

“Twin, gladiator robots-” I began.

Tyler shook his head, “Mechs. Twin, gladiator mechs.”

“Right.” I nodded as if I had any idea what that meant. I set the red one down, “So are they y’all’s favorite then? Since they’re twins too?”

“No.” Taylor shook her head, “My favorite is Bumblebee.”

I watched her pick back up the yellow and black one. This one had doors coming out of its back making it look like it had wings. I remembered what she had said about Bumblebee needing fixing, “He’s broken?”

Taylor turned the toy around to show how one of the doors sticking out of its back was loose and nearly falling off. This looked much easier to fix though. In fact, it looked like the screw was just loose or something.

“Looks like an easy fix, honey.” I voiced nonchalantly. Her little face lit up in excitement and I couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“My favorite is Bluestreak!” Tyler said firmly holding up a toy for me to look at. It was a collection of red, dark gray, and light gray colors with the only blue being his eyes. He had the same symbol on his chest and doors on his back like Bumblebee. 

“He isn’t blue.” I thought aloud.

“Well, duh. Pete says they call him Bluestreak because he likes talking and he does it a lot.” Tyler blurted.

I nodded, “I see why he’s your favorite.”

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Peter smiling, but when I looked over to him the smile was gone. Tyler continued on, “Blue’s my favorite because he’s a sharpshooter and I think that’s so cool.”

“Who’s your favorite, Peter?” I asked trying to drag the kid into the conversation. He glanced up at the sound of his name, but the look on his face told me he didn’t plan on answering my question.

Taylor didn’t notice her older brother’s glare and answered for him happily, “Pete likes Wheeljack.”

That answer didn’t hold much weight in my mind since I had no idea who the hell Wheeljack was and Aubrey came back into the room before the twins could point out the toy.

“Sorry about that.” Aubrey walked back in. She noticed the twins and their shared ‘deer in the headlights’ look. “Guys.”

“Sorry!” They chirped together and began to pick up all the toys again at a faster pace. Tyler shifted all the ones he held to his right hand and then picked up one with a noticeable life line on its forearm. He shoved it into my hands without warning, “You should hang onto Ratchet for us.”

Ratchet. Wasn’t that name tossed into a conversation earlier? I glanced down at the bulky white and red robot. When I looked up to Aubrey she wore a growing smile so I just looked back to Tyler, “Why are you giving me…Ratchet?”

“Because he’s the CMO.” Tyler replied in a ‘duh’ tone, “I cant remember what that stands for, but it means he fixes all the other bots just like you fixed Jazz.”

“Well, I mean-”

Taylor grinned, “Keep a good eye on him! The team needs him.”

“Thanks.” I nodded with the toy still in my hand, “Good luck with your homework. Lightspeed, Starlight.”

The twins noticeably beamed at me calling them by their robot nicknames and it made me lightly laugh to myself. They turned and took off for the stairs in the foyer to head to what I assumed would be their rooms.

“Hey, Pete.” Aubrey called out making the give her his attention, “Do me a favor and help them out, please?”

He nodded and closed his comic book before walking off in the same direction. I watched him go with my arms crossed tightly across my chest. “He doesn’t like me much. Not that I blame him.”

She shook her head and set a hand on my shoulder, “Peter just takes a little to warm up to new people. By the end of the week he’ll adore you.” I held back a scoff of disbelief and tried to hand her the toy the twins had given me. Aubrey held her hands up, “Oh, no. They trusted you with Ratchet, not me.”

“Right.” I sighed and let my hand drop to my side, “Guess I’ll be keeping an eye on the big ass collector item slash toy.”

Aubrey glanced at the toy with a warm smile, “Wes sent a few of them to Peter before the twins were born. Peter just fell in love with them. Then he just kept sending more and more and now the twins adore them too.”

For a second, I completely understood. I knew what it was like to latch onto something and hold onto it. For Peter, this was all he had of his absentee father. The hatred I had for this Wes guy just seemed to grow every day. The only sound in the room was that Disney cartoon playing on TV until I finally found the nerve to speak up, “What type of cancer is it?”

“Breast cancer.” Aubrey answered softly. I bobbed my head up and down but dropped my gaze so it was on the toy in my hand again. My mind was still reeling at the fact that Aubrey had talked about me to the kids at all. If she had known that I had given up on the doctor option in my life would she have told them that too? “Can I show you something?”

My eyes locked onto hers and I nodded again. She led me into the foyer and then up to the second story where the kids had just run off to. The hallway on the second floor was wood with pictures hanging on the cream walls. Aubrey motioned down to the left of the hall, “The kid’s rooms are on the right. The twins share and Peter has his own, but they all share a conjoining bathroom. My room is across from theirs.” I glanced down there at the three shut doors. Aubrey led me down to the right of the hallway, “The first door is a bathroom with a shower. The second is our gym and office, and then the door across from them is your room.”

I opened my mouth to question why Aubrey would have a gym in her house. It didn’t make much sense considering my sister wasn’t exactly know to be the physical activity type, but my mind quickly jumped to the topic of me having my own room. Had she set up a room for me?

“My room?”

“It used to be storage, but I fixed it up so you could stay here. If you decided to watch the kids or if you just wanted to…you know, visit.” Aubrey shrugged, but the sadness in her tone made me want to punch myself in the face. I pushed the door open and stepped in while she stood in the doorway nervously.

The room was medium in size and matched the rest of the house wall and floor wise. There was a double sized bed pushed up against the wall in the far left corner with a light blue bedspread and a thick, white comforter on top. There was a dresser against the wall in the far right corner and a matching dark wood nightstand by the bedside. I assumed the door to the left was a small closet. To my immediate right was a small desk and to my immediate left was a huge pile of cardboard boxes and random junk.

“After dad died we lost all our stuff, remember? Turns out they got moved to storage and after I…after I got this place. They sent it all to me.” Aubrey explained. 

I took a step toward it and peeked at all the box labels and items that were already pulled out. My eyes landed on a familiar light blue item resting between two rather large stacks, “No way.” I carefully pushed the first stack to the side to reveal the item more. A light blue and white softball bat lay on the floor. Next to it, in an open box, was a volleyball, two yearbooks, and a few other items from my high school years.

“You were always so good at sports.” Aubrey chuckled, “I know you could’ve gotten a softball or volleyball scholarship if you kept playing.”

Her words made me turn around and ignore the items. I didn’t want to think about sports or why I had stopped playing altogether, “I’ll watch the kids.”

“You- You will??”

“Yeah, but-”

Aubrey didn’t let me finish. She rushed across the room and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. This is what I missed. I missed Aubrey’s hugs, I missed her in my life, and it felt so good to be in this nice house talking to her again, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t just hug her back and let things go back to the way they were. I slowly pulled myself away from her.

“Aubrey, I’ll watch them, but this doesn’t…doesn’t change anything.” I said carefully, “I love you. I realize that even after all these years of being so…so angry at you, I still loved you. You’re my sister and I…” I stopped myself and shook my head, “I’ll always love you. I’ll always be here to help you and support you as best I can, but we can’t be what we used to be. We’ll never be that level of close again.”

“Aimee.” Aubrey breathed.

“Mom died and my heart broke.” I bit my lip, “Then it was just the three of us and things slowly got better again. I didn’t feel whole, but I felt not so broken. Then dad was gone. He just disappeared and left us on our own and it killed me on the inside.” I shook my head, “You were the only person in the world I trusted and you abandoned me. Wes showed up, you turned 18, and then it was just me. Me alone in that stupid foster home for two years.”

Tears built up in Aubrey’s eyes. I could see her regret, her pain and remorse, “I’m so sorry. I had to. You don’t understand.”

“I don’t.” I agreed, “I don’t understand how you could ditch me after everything.”

“I want to fix this. I want to fix us.”

I sighed as my thoughts drifted to her sickness. If I left things unsaid I could never live with myself, but in my mind I knew the end game to this. Aubrey was going to get better. I knew it in my heart and soul that she’d beat this. “Consider us fixed. It’s all in the past, forget about it. Just know that I can’t…I can’t give you my trust again.”

“I understand.” She replied after a moment.

“So, now what?”

Aubrey wiped a stray tear away as I averted my gaze, “Well, my flight leaves late tomorrow morning-”

“Tomorrow morning??” I blurted in surprise, “What if I had shown up late? What if I hadn’t shown up at all??”

Despite the sad look lingering in her eyes, Aubrey chuckled, “I know my little sister. Come here.”

She left the room. A sigh escaped my lips as I glanced at the desk. The thought of leaving the toy here crossed my mind, but I decided to bring it with me just in case the kids popped up again and wanted it back. I followed her out of the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where my bag still sat on the floor ribbonless.

“Is that really all you brought?” She questioned.

I shrugged, “I didn’t know it was going to be a two month trip.”

Aubrey pulled out a folder from a counter drawer and set it down on the island in front of me. I set the toy down on the table top and picked up the folder curiously.

“Inside there’s a list of all the numbers you might need. They still have school for another two weeks before their Christmas break begins. I’m leaving the car for you, keys are hanging by the garage door.” Aubrey explained, “Taylor has dance lessons every Thursday but they won’t start again until after Christmas. There’s a map in there too that shows where the school is and-”

“I know where everything is.” I interrupted her, “Maybe it slipped your mind, but this isn’t just your hometown. I was born and raised here too. I can’t believe that after ditching this place at 18 you came back to settle down.”

Aubrey just shrugged, “Summerbrooke, Alabama will always be home. It’s where my best memories are.” The same went for me which is the exact reason why I picked a college in upstate New York and fled like the devil was on my heels when I turned 18. I wanted to get as far from here as physically possible. I would’ve moved to China if the possibility had been open. “You know, I think some girls from your graduating class live in the neighborhood a few streets down.”

I made the mental note to avoid exploring the area a few streets down from here. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was to run into an old high school classmate who had settled down here.

“Anything else I need to know?”

“Nothing comes to mind.” She replied. I picked up my bag and slung one strap over my shoulder with the folder tucked under my arm. Aubrey smiled, “Tonight I wanted to go out and eat with the kids. Would you like to come?”

I quickly shook my head, and this time I wasn’t saying no just for my own selfish reasons, “Go out with your kids. Have a good night with them, I’ll get settled here.”

Aubrey seemed to understand that I was giving her one last normal night out with her kids before she left. She gave me a thankful nod before I turned on my heel and went to leave the room.

“Wait”, She called out making me turn, “Don’t forget Ratchet.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Right. Can’t forget the doc bot.”

With a sigh I picked up the toy and continued on my way back to my new room. The entire time I had been in this house so far, my mind had been focused on seeing Aubrey and her new illness. I hadn’t even let my mind wander to the fact that I was back home in Alabama. The stress that came with that thought process made me roll my eyes and force it out of my mind. I stepped into the room, but came to a halting stop when I noticed Taylor sitting on the desk chair swinging her legs with a toy in her lap.

“Umm hi?”

She beamed at me and jumped off the chair, “Finally! I was wondering where you and Ratchet went.”

“What’s up, kid?”  I questioned and let my book bag fall to the floor. Taylor took the yellow and black robot in her hands and set him on my desk in a seated position.

“Bumblebee needs to be fixed so I brought him to the med bay for you and Ratchet to fix him.”

“The…med bay?” I questioned and walked over to the desk. I set the folder down by the seated Bumblebee. Talking to these kids made me realize I was gonna have to google some transformers information before I lost my freaking mind. 

Taylor nodded as Aubrey called for her kids to come downstairs, “This is the med bay now. You and Ratchet share. Bye Bee!”

The little girl ran by me, ignoring my looks of confusion, and took off down the hall. I lifted the red and white toy in my hand, “Hear that, Ratchet? We’re sharing.”

I scoffed at myself before tossing the toy onto the desk. If I was going to actually stay here for the next two months, I’d have to clear up a few things back in New York. I sat down at the desk and used my foot to pull my book bag towards me and then began to dig through the thing for my cellphone. The bulky pre-paid slip phone from Walmart was nearly dead, but it had enough life in it for me to make one call. At least I hoped it did. My mind sent up silent prayers for the thing not to die while I typed the phone number in from memory.

It rang three times before a husky, exhausted voice answered, “What?”

“Kyle”, I chuckled, “Did you just wake up?”

“I had a fight last night. Didn’t end well.”

Worry instantly flooded my systems at the thought of an injured Kyle, “What? Are you ok?”

“Peachy. It’d be better if my favorite doctor didn’t up and leave the state though.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat, “I’m not a doctor.”

“Close enough.” Kyle grumbled. I could picture him lying in his small bed with messy, ruffled blond hair and his green eyes closed. The fact I didn’t want to picture was the injuries and bruises he was probably sporting now.

“Actually, my lack of a degree means I am not a doctor nor am I even close to being one.” I replied. He mumbled something over the line again sleepily, “Listen, I need to ask a couple favors from you. Two actually. First, I need you to go to my apartment and pack up all my stuff. Well, not all, but like I need my clothes and anything essential you might see. Pack it all up and then send it to me. The address is-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Kyle sounded more awake now, “Send you stuff? I thought you would be back by this weekend?”

“Change of plans.” I glanced around the room.

There was a pause before Kyle spoke up again, “Aj, Boss is not going to like that. You’re scheduled this Saturday for the pit. He already gave you your loan!”

“I know! I know.” I sighed, “That’s my second favor. I need you to return the 20k to him.”

“He gave you 20k for that fight?” Kyle asked in surprise.

“You know how it works, Kyle. He gave me 20k to bet on myself. If I win I get to keep 10%, if I lose I fall even further into debt.” I shifted nervously, “Kyle, I really need you to get him that 20k. I’m already so far in debt to Boss. If I lose that 20k he’ll have my head.”

Kyle sighed on the other end, “You know I have your back, Aj. I’ll get him the money. Where is it?”

“Duffel bag under my bed.”

“How long are you going to be gone?” 

“Two months.” I answered, “I’ll text you the address I’m at so you can send me my stuff.

“Sure. I’ll get on that now.” Kyle replied, “Is everything ok?”

“I…I don’t know. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later.”

The line disconnected and I opened a new text to send Kyle the address. Kyle Osborne. He was the one good thing I had going for me at the moment. He was best friend and probably the greatest guy on the planet. Not to mention he was easy on the eyes. He was the one who introduced me to boss and got me started in the New York fighting ring. If it wasn’t for him I’d probably be living on the streets.

The text sent so I dug out my phone charger and plugged it in. A confirmation from Kyle was received by my phone, but I had my attention elsewhere. The yellow and black toy was staring me down from the desk. All it needed was a screw tightened. I pulled out my bathroom bag and found my nail clippers. Attached to the nail clippers was a nail file that would be perfect for the small screw. I knew it would work because this was the same nail filed I used to tighten the small screw on my sunglasses.

It literally only took a minute before the door wing thing on the toy’s back was as good as new. Based on the way I saw the kids playing with the toys though, I was sure this wouldn’t be the last time I fixed one or two of them up. I tossed the nail file onto my desk and walked out of my room with Bumblebee in hand. 

The house was quiet already so I assumed they had already left. Down the hall, the twin’s room door was already open so I just walked over and stepped in. The room was obviously split between a girl and a boy and it was decorated almost in a stereotypical function. The left had a twin sized bed with rocket ship bedsheets and was surrounded by a mess of lego blocks, toy cars, and little army men. To the right was a twin sized bed with Disney princess sheets and surrounded by coloring books and barbie dolls. I chuckled and glanced over at the window against the far wall and the door on the right side of the room. I assumed that was the adjoining bathroom door.

Sitting on Tyler’s bed was the same toy he had called his favorite. It was the one that wasn’t actually blue, but had the word blue in his name. The thing sat against the pillow and I was surprised to see it was the only visible transformer toy in the room. Where had they put all the others? I set Bumblebee down on Taylor’s bed just like the other was on Tyler’s and then left the room. My set path was to my own room, but I couldn’t help but pause outside of Peter’s room. Curiosity got the better of me and I pushed the door open to peek in.

The room was smaller than the twins, but it was perfect sized for a ten year old boy. His bed was pushed against the wall in the center of the room under a window. He too had a desk with books on it, there was a math book open to a random page. To my left was a small wooden shelf where all the transformers stood. I let a low whistle out as I studied one that looked like Tyler’s favorite except its doors read ‘POLICE’ on them. So it turned into a police car? It stood next to the one with I fixed with a sling. What was that one’s name? I should’ve been paying more attention, I knew it had something to do with music. My eyes continued to trace over the room until I turned around and jumped, “Shit.”

Eye level with me was another one of those toy robots, but this one wasn’t fun looking in the slightest. Its gun metal gray body looked menacing, and its face was twisted into a sneer while its red eyes looked angry. This toy along with a few others with red eyes were kept in a glass case and looked to be in slightly better shape than the toys I saw today. I wondered why these were kept separate from the others. The wooden shelf had all the blue eyed ones whereas this glass case tower stored all the scary red eyed ones. 

Without much thought I opened the case and pulled out the one I had come eye level with. However, the moment I picked it up the leg fell out of its socket. My eyes widened, but I remained calm. This wasn’t an issue. I could fix this creepy toy before Peter and the others came back and everything would be ok. No need to panic.

“What are you doing?” I spun around to see Peter glaring at me. Ok, now I could panic.

“Shi-oot. Shoot.” I blurted. “Um, what are you doing here?”

“This is my room. What are you doing here?” His eyes landed on the legless toy in my hand, “Other than breaking my stuff.”

I glanced down at my hands, “I can fix this.”

“Don’t bother.” He pulled the robot body and leg from my hands and stuck it back into the case before closing the door.

“You didn’t go with your mom?”

“She forgot her wallet.” Peter replied and held up the small clutch, “I ran in to get it for her.”

“Right.” I nodded, “Good. Well, I’ll just…leave.”

I quickly exited the room and Peter came out behind me closing the door behind himself. Awkwardly, I gave him a tight smile before rushing toward my room. It would be my luck to get caught by the kid as I snooped in his room. Honestly, I was such an idiot. Peter called out to me making me stop and look back at him.

“I don’t like you, and I don’t want you to stay.”

After stating his piece, the boy walked down the stairs leaving me in the hallway alone. I let my face fall into my hands and a groan come from my throat. This was going to be a long two months.

Chapter Text

“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised by anything in life.” 

-Marcus Aurelius

The crowd was deafening. Their cheers and heckling filled the basement as did the heat from their bodies. Every inch of the room was packed, but nobody dared pass the white ring drawn on the concrete floor that signified where the pit began. The pit was just as it sounded, it was a hellish indent in the ground where people fought, cried, and bled. It wasn’t too deep, only going about a foot down into the ground but it was just right for keeping the spectators out of the fight and keeping the fighters in the ring.

That’s where she was right now, circling the outer edge of the ring as sweat poured down her face. It didn’t matter that she only wore a tight sports bra and spandex shorts, she still felt like she was on fire. The heat burned in her chest as she glared at her opponent. Tall, thick, and scary as hell was a good way to explain the large, obnoxious woman.

“What are you going to do now, small fry?” The woman mocked and waved her forward. 

She didn’t need to reply. She loved to talk, to shoot off snarky replies, but during a fight there was no need. It only distracted her from what she needed to do. A quick breath and she was moving. A punch was thrown out, but she was quick enough to duck under so she was behind the behemoth of her enemy. Two kidney punches and the woman stumbled forward in pain.

The woman spun around shakily and suddenly was no longer the same opponent.

She was no longer in the pit fighting for money.

She was ten again with pigtails and a sister she loved more than life. The older boy in front of her taunted and mocked said sister along with the crowd of children around the three of them.

“Leave my sister alone.” She demanded in a squeaky voice.

“What are you gonna do about it, small fry?”

She rushed forward and threw all her weight on the boy. He didn’t expect it and fell to the ground with a cry. The hits that came weren’t well orchestrated and consisted of a flurry of flailing arms aimed toward the boy’s face and random bites.

Nobody messed with her older sister. They were a team until the end.

“I’m leaving, Aimee. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

I startled awake with wide eyes and a mild headache. For the first few seconds, I had no idea where I was. The room was clean and smelled fresh. There were no odd stains on the wall or ceiling and sunlight streamed through the window to my left filling the room with a soft light.

Alabama. I was in Alabama at Aubrey’s house. I was safe. My body relaxed as I let out a sigh and my hands drifted to rub the sleep away from my eyes. There was an alarm clock on the nightstand to my right. The date and time flashed at me in a neon green color.

Monday, December 8. 8:14 AM.

My eyes narrowed at the clock. How long had I been asleep? I went to bed rather early at around 7:30-ish, which meant I had for a freaking long time. 

“I never sleep that long…” I murmured to myself rubbing my face with my hands. It had been a pretty stressful day overall.

A knock on the door made me glanced over just as Aubrey peeked her head in, “Good morning, sleepy head.”

“Hi.” I replied simply.

She stepped further into the room. Aubrey wore a turtleneck shirt with jeans, boots, and a winter vest over it, “So, I just dropped the kids off at school. You were asleep before we got back last night, but Taylor was just beside herself when she saw Bee on her bed.”

It took me a couple seconds to connect her words to my memory, but I shrugged and nodded my head nonchalantly, “Yeah, no problem. It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing.” Aubrey smiled warmly. There was a beat of silence before she clasped her hands together, “I have some breakfast left over downstairs if you’re hungry. My taxi should be here any minute now. Oh, and remember that school ends at 3:10.”

“Got it.” I nodded and crawled out of bed. I made my way to the desk where my phone was plugged in and charging. There was only one unread text message and it was from Boss so I had no issues leaving it unread. 

Aubrey leaned against the doorframe as I tossed my phone back down, “Aim- Aj, I don’t meant to pry, but…is everything ok?”

“Well, my long estranged sister has cancer.” I replied.

“I meant with you.”

I just shrugged, “I’m peachy.”

Aubrey obviously wasn’t convinced by my answer. Her eyes darted to the fading bruise at my hairline before snapping back to my gaze, “What happened?”

The tone suggested that she already knew the reasons for the bruise, but she didn’t want to confirm it herself. I gave her a tight smile and let my fingers brush against the bruise, “Slipped in the shower. Those faucets are a bitch.”

It wasn’t a total lie I suppose. I had really slipped, it just hadn’t been in a shower. It was in a small concrete fighting ring and it wasn’t a spot of slick soap that sent me sprawling to the floor. Rather, it was a 200 pound mass of muscled woman looking for my blood.

“Alright”, Aubrey conceded, “Just…be more careful in the shower, hmm?”

I could hear the double meaning behind her words and the worry in her eyes that I would scorn her concern. The care she showed for me though was nice. It felt good so I just nodded with a small smile, “So, breakfast?”

One thing that hadn’t changed over the ten years of no contact between me and my sister was her cooking skills. In fact, she may have even gotten better. French toast, warm syrup, a non-burned egg, and those little sausages made me feel like I was eating a breakfast fit for royalty. I was more of a ‘ throw a hot pocket in the microwave and run out the door with it ’ kind of breakfast person. As I ate, I actually began to pity the kids. They had to go from this five star home cooked mom food to my amateur level cooking. I knew how to make pasta and…cereal. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should go out and buy a ‘ Cooking for Dummies’ book or something.

It didn’t take long for me to inhale my food, so as I placed the dishes into the sink with the plans to wash them later I heard the sound of a car horn outside. Without much haste, I strolled into the foyer where Aubrey was checking her bags one last time beside the front door.

“Here, let me.” I stepped forward and grabbed the heavier of the two bags. It was her dark blue duffel bag and by the weight of it I think she might’ve packed rocks. She smiled as I slung it around my shoulder and then exited the house pulling her small suitcase behind her. Aubrey parked her suitcase outside of the cab by the trunk and turned to look at me.

“Thank you again, Aj.” She began as I dropped her duffel bag by her suitcase. The cab driver got out of the car and began to pack the bags into the trunk for her.

My hand rose to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. Goosebumps had risen on my skin from the cold morning air. It didn’t help that I only wore sleep pants and a baggy v-neck shirt, “No problem. You just…You just get better, Aubrey.”

She closed the space between us and pulled me into a quick, tight hug. As Aubrey pulled away she forced an envelope and plastic card into my hand.

“What is this?” I tore my gaze away from her to look at the items. The letter had my name written on the front and the paper looked a bit aged. The plastic was a credit card with Aubrey’s name on it.

“Use it to pay for groceries and anything else. Gas, clothes, whatever you need.” She pressed.

I shook my head, “I can’t use your card.”

“You can and you will. Wes makes the payments.”

I bit back a scoff, “Well, if it’s his money I’m spending…Is he- Is he paying for the treatments?”

“Yeah.” Aubrey nodded.

“Is he going to be there for you?”

She paused before replying, “He’s going to try.”

This time I didn’t bother hiding my scoff. If I ever met this guy, I’d break his nose. I feel like I have more than enough justification to do so without feeling any remorse. The taxi driver cleared his throat grabbing both our attention, “Whenever you’re ready, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” Aubrey nodded then glanced back to me, “The letter is for you to read. I wrote it…a while ago.”

“Sure thing.” I mumbled under my breath.

“I’ll try to call as often as I can.” Aubrey pulled the cab door open. I rested my hand on top of the door as she climbed into the back. My mouth opened to say something, anything, but no words seemed to form. Instead, I gave her a tight smile and nod before shutting the door for her.

I remained standing at the end of the lawn until the taxi was gone and out of sight. My eyes drifted to the two objects in my hand one last time before turning around and heading back into the warm house.

Luckily, last night, before I passed out in my bed from exhaustion, I was unable to unpack the items I did bring with me. My weeks’ worth of clothes were hanging in my closet and all my bathroom items were tucked away where they were supposed to be. I still didn’t have any soap, but I planned to go into Aubrey’s bathroom and steal hers. I had also managed to explore the house a little more which is why I found out that there was another bathroom downstairs connected to the living room and if one went through the kitchen the hall at the back of the house led to two things. To the left was the door into the garage and off to the right some, but still on the wall in front of you would be the laundry room. It’d be nice to have a washer and dryer in the house rather than having to go to a Laundromat. 

Still, even though I was personally unpacked there was still some things I needed to get done. A shower topped the list forming in my mind, my greasy hair was proof of that. Also, those dishes still needed to be washed in the kitchen and the leftovers from breakfast put away. On top of all that, a small part of me wanted to sort through the mountain of boxes in the corner of my room and put some things away just so I wouldn’t have to stare at the ugly brown containers.

It took me all of a minute to get up the stairs to my room and place the credit card into my wallet beside my ID. I stared at the letter for a few seconds before stuffing it into my empty book bag under my new desk. 

“Out of sight, out of mind, right, Ratchet?” I said aloud. Unsurprisingly, the red and white toy didn’t reply to my statement. I was talking to the kid’s robot toy. This had to be a symptom of losing my mind, right? Quickly, before I could question my sanity any further, I grabbed a change of clothes and headed toward the bathroom. There had been a towel closet inside the bathroom so I didn’t bother looking anywhere else for one. 

I stepped out of my room, but instead of going straight to the shower I paused and stared at the door beside it. The office with a little gym was behind that door. I hadn’t bothered peeking in yet, but what would be the harm? When I opened the door and peeked my head in, I was pleasantly surprised.

The floor was hardwood just like the hall and bedrooms. To my right was a corner desk nestled beside a tall shelf lined with books. The desk itself had a desktop computer on it and a couple folders as well. My eyes were drawn to the left corner of the room where a small weight set sat beside a treadmill and a punching bag hung from the ceiling. It made absolutely no sense for Aubrey to have this mini gym in her home. The kids were way too young for this stuff and Aubrey was never the working out kind. I tossed my clothes into the desk chair and stepped further into the room.

My feet automatically drifted to the bright red punching bag. It was a bit worn down in some places meaning it wasn’t brand new. Someone had faithfully used the bag. I lifted my hand and used my knuckles to push the bag forward. The bag swung back and forth lazily as my lips twitched up into a small smile. I could feel the itch form in the back of my mind as my hands craved contact. My eyes drifted down to my fists to see the fading coloring of my knuckles. What would a few more bruises hurt? 

The first few punches were light and held no weight behind them. It was just me going through the motions, but each time my skin brushed against the bag the itch grew. Anger began to settle in my gut. Anger at the world. It didn’t blind me or fill my head with a suffocating fog. It was clear. Concise. It put every inch of my life into a perspective I could understand.

That was the thing about fighting. At first, it had just started as a way to protect the ones I loved. How many times had I gotten in trouble for hitting a kid that mocked Aubrey? Geez, how many stars were in the sky? Then it became a sport. I was taking lessons, kickboxing being the first, and it just became another sport to me. I put it on the same list as softball and volleyball. Then out of nowhere, dad left. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like swinging a bat or spiking a ball, but I never stopped feeling like I wanted to hit something. Aubrey hated when I would fight, but it was still controlled. I was mainly just sparring people in my class. I had to though. Fighting had become my only protection against the world and I needed to be strong. Mom and dad weren’t there to protect us anymore which meant I needed to be the shield between frail Aubrey and the rest of the messed up world.

Then Aubrey left and fighting was no longer just the only protection I had.

It was all I had, period.

My heart was broken, my soul had been shattered, and my mind had become a jumbled mess. Yet, when I was thrown into a fight things became clear. The haze would lift and my thoughts became manageable. Fighting was my drug of choice, it was my crutch, and my addiction. Thinking was easier when my body was in motion.

I took in a sharp intake of breath as I began to pound into the bag harder. My body found a rhythm as sweat formed at my hairline.

Aubrey was sick. She was sick, but I couldn’t fix that. 

Her kids were now my whole responsibility. They needed me now more than they even knew.

I wouldn’t let them down. I was determined not to.

One last right swing of my arm then I came to a halting stop. Deep breaths filled my lungs with air as I slowly pulled my right arm back to my body. Fighting took the mental pain away. It made things easier to work through for me, but at what cost? I opened and closed my hands looking over the broken skin across my knuckles. The small spots of red alerted my mind that I should be feeling pain, but I had grown used to this feeling. This physical ache was nothing compared to the mess upstairs in my mind. I would take broken and bleeding hands over a jumbled thoughts any day of the week.

‘ 3:11 ’ was the time on the dashboard. I had gotten to the elementary school eleven minutes ago in an old blue pickup truck that had seen better days. A part of me was thankful that the car wasn’t anything flashy or high priced. Also, the car wasn’t a minivan which was a miracle in itself. This seemed like the kind of car I would drive with old leather seats, a small front seat, and even smaller back seat, and the type of windows you had to crank to roll down. However, it didn’t seem like the kind of car Aubrey would drive with three younger kids so I didn’t understand that.

My eyes glanced at the dashboard again. It was ‘ 3:13’ now. The school looked like it was emptying out so I wasn’t too worried. Holly Hill Elementary school housed kindergarten through 6 th grade. It was decent sized and placed in a decent neighborhood about four miles from the house. It was also the same elementary school I went to as a kid. A small part of me wanted to go into the school and see what had changed over the many years, but the fear of running into a familiar faced parent I had gone to school with kept me locked in the car.

Finally, my eyes landed on a group of three searching the area. I leaned out the already open window, put my fingers to my mouth, and let out a loud whistle. The kids, and a few other curious bystanders, glanced over in my direction. I forced a smile and waved for Peter, Tyler, and Taylor to come over.

“Hi Aj!” Taylor greeted when they got close to the car. The twins wore matching grins whereas Peter looked a bit downcast. Was this kid allergic to smiling or something? 

“Hey guys, how was school?” I asked. That was what you were supposed to ask a kid after school right? I distinctly remember being pounded with that question for years in my youth and hating it every single time. Now, ironically, here I was asking it.

“It was good.” Taylor answered as all three climbed into the car.

Peter sat up front with me while both Taylor and Tyler crawled into the back. Should they have car seats? How old were kids when they didn’t have to sit in a car seat anymore? Oh God, I was not prepared to take care of these children.

Tyler glanced around, “Where are Bluestreak and Bumblebee?”

All eyes shot to me. Taylor and Tyler had a curious look drawn on their face while Peter had more of a ‘n ow you did it’ look that made me cringe. Day one and I had already screwed it up. To be fair though, Aubrey never mentioned to me that the twins liked having their toys pick them up from school.

“Uhh, well, you see”, I dragged each of my words, “Ratchet…It- He wanted to…give all the other robots a checkup. Soooo Bumblebee and Bluestreak had to stay home. Yeah.”

“Oh ok.” Tyler nodded and leaned back in his seat. They all buckled up as my eyes darted over to Peter. He still wasn’t wearing a smile, but the kid had a look in his eyes and it kind of looked a little bit like respect. I was totally counting that as a win for today.

The first half of the drive home was filled with Tyler telling me about what him and his sister did in school, and then immediately after he was done Taylor jumped in with a round of questioning that lasted the rest of the trip.

“Why do we call you Aj?”

“It stands for Aimee Jane.”

“Why Jane?”

“It’s my middle name.”

“What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Chocolate chip.”

“Do you have a favorite movie?”

“Maybe Back to the Future?”

“I don’t know what that is. Do you like cats?”

“Nope.”

“Dogs?”

“Yeah, dogs are pretty cool.”

“Do you drink milk?”

“All the time.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“I like red.”

“Do you like dancing?”

“I’m not the best at it.”

“Do you have a best friend?”

I pulled the car into the driveway and parked it. Did I have a best friend? Kyle briefly crossed my mind, but I wouldn’t call him a best friend. Just a really close friend that I would love to make out with someday. I thought about the question for a moment before glancing back at Taylor’s innocent look.

“Um, no. I guess not.”

We all got out of the car, Peter was already heading for the door with his own key in hand and Tyler beside him, but Taylor latched herself to my side and slipped her hand into mind, “Why not?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged.

“I’ll be your best friend.” She gave me a huge smile that I chuckled at, “I mean, technically I already have three best friends. Sam and Leslie at school and then Bumblebee of course, but you can’t not have a best friend so we can be best friends too, ok?”

A real smile slipped onto my lips and I just nodded my head at her, “Sounds good. Thanks, kid.”

Taylor nodded before letting go of my hand and running ahead of me into the house. I slowly followed them and closed and locked the door behind me. The sound of the TV turned on and I peeked into the living room to see a cartoon playing. Peter was sitting on the couch and the twins were nowhere to be seen.

“No homework?” I asked curiously. The cartoon had a talking blue cat and an orange fish, but I wasn’t familiar with it at all.

Peter shook his head, “We do our homework after dinner.”

Taylor and Tyler ran down the stairs, past me, and then jumped onto the couch beside Peter. Both had Bumblebee and Bluestreak with them.

“Right.” I replied, “After dinner.”

For all I knew he could’ve been tricking me. Maybe Aubrey made the kids do their homework as soon as they got home. How would I know? Doing it after dinner sounded like a decent enough plan though. Then it hit me.

Dinner .

I had to make dinner. 

While the kids did their own thing I walked into the kitchen to look for my game plan. The fridge and pantry were both stocked and fully ready to be used, but was I ready to use them? There was macaroni and cheese. That shouldn’t be too hard to make. She had bought the Easy Mac kind where all I had to do was throw it in the microwave. I was a pro at stuff like that. What else? I couldn’t just feed them macaroni and cheese, they had to have like a meat or some form of protein. Maybe a vegetable too. I could do this. I could do this.

Two hours later, about thirty minutes after five, I was sitting in a McDonald’s booth across from all three kids as they ate their fast food. I thought I could do it, but come to find out I just honestly didn’t want to. The fact that parents could get themselves to cook each night for their family was beyond me. Starting tomorrow I would actually cook things for the kids. I needed a night to get myself in that mindset though.

Peter looked content as he ate his burger, Taylor was happily munching on her fries while pretending to offer some to Bumblebee who was in her lap, and Tyler was devouring his food as if he had been starved for weeks. In fact, the kid might not have been breathing as he stuffed chicken nuggets and fries down his throat.

“The chicken is dead already, Tyler. It isn’t going anywhere.” I joked.

The kid didn’t slow down, but Peter actually chuckled at my statement. I was gonna win this kid over if it killed me. 

“Thanks so much, Aj.” Taylor smiled.

I nodded, “My pleasure, guys.”

“Mama never lets us eat McDonalds for dinner.” Tyler grinned. 

Great. That’s just great. I gave them a tight smile, “Well, let’s just keep that to ourselves then. Hmm?”

The rest of the school week went just about the same as that first day. Minus the McDonalds trip though. I actually managed to feed the kids real food the next few days. Granted, they weren’t gourmet meals, but they hadn’t died from food poisoning or anything so that’s a win.

Aubrey hadn’t called the first night, but every night since she would call to talk for a little while. She had gotten to the hospital alright, and so far the treatments were going ok. I would usually talk to her for a minute or two letting her know the kids were doing well and the house was still in one piece then I would toss the phone off to the kids and they would talk to their mom for around an hour.

“Socks into the laundry room, not the coffee table.” I called when I spotted the polka dotted clothing articles lying about.

There was a pause before Tyler called out, “Starlight can’t put her socks away, Megatron took her prisoner!”

“Well when she’s rescued, tell her to put them away.” I replied before entering the kitchen.

“Autobots, roll out!” Tyler called in a mock deep voice from the living room. I laughed to myself before setting upon the dirty dishes from dinner. It was Friday a little after eight and I was trying to figure out what the lot of us could do over the first weekend. It just felt like this being the first weekend with them and all I should do something fun.

I thought about asking Aubrey when she called earlier, but it just didn’t come up. There was always the movie theater, but I didn’t know if any good movies were out at the moment. The park could be enjoyable. A sigh escaped my lips as water and soap sloshed onto my shirt from the bowl I was washing.

“Tyler is standing on top of the coffee table again.” Peter said as he walked into the kitchen making a beeline for the fridge.

“Tyler! Get off the table!” I yelled loudly. Peter raised his eyebrows briefly as he pulled a Capri sun juice pack from the fridge’s drawer. “Hey, come here.”

Peter stuck the yellow straw into the pack and took the few steps over to stand beside me at the sink, “What?”

“So, Pete.” 

“It’s Peter .” He replied bluntly and set his juice on the counter. In hindsight I should’ve taken that as a sign to not continue the conversation, but then again being thick headed tended to be one of my larger personality traits unfortunately. 

“Right. Peter. I was thinking maybe we could do something fun this weekend.” I shrugged and turned the water off. The kitchen towel was on the island behind me and I used it to dry off my dripping hands, “I was just wondering if you could help me out and all. Like what would your mom do? Would she-?”

Peter’s eyes narrowed, “You’re not our mom.” 

My eyes widened, “I never- I wasn’t trying to be, Peter.”

“Hpmh.” He huffed and turned to leave. I, of course, couldn’t leave it at that and began to follow him out until both of us were in the middle of the foyer.

I caught his arm, “Peter, listen-”

“Leave me alone.” He pulled away with a glare.

My own eyes narrowed, “Kid, what have I done to you? I’m just trying to do my best and you’re shooting me down each time I try. I see you laugh at my jokes and try and hide smiles. Is it too much to just call a truce?”

“Why?” He replied with a frown, “It’s not like you plan on sticking around.”

“Wha-”

“Dad left, mom’s gone, and you’ll leave soon too.” Peter crossed his arms, “No one stays.”

I shook my head, “Hey, no. Your mom isn’t gone. She is coming back. You just talked to her on the phone, kid.”

“You didn’t say anything about yourself.” He replied softly.

My face fell slightly as he turned around and headed up the stairs. I planned to follow, I wasn’t going to let this settle on that note, but a soft voice stopped me.

“Aj?”

I glanced to the side to see Taylor and Tyler standing in the archway staring me down. Both had this broken, worried look on their faces that threatened to break my own heart. 

“Are you really going to leave?” Tyler questioned.

It had been a week, not even a week. It had been five days and these kids had me wrapped around their little fingers. Maybe that’s why I never even considered visiting Aubrey back when she first had Peter. I knew there was no way I wouldn’t care about her kids. I stepped toward them and knelt down onto one knee.

“You guys listen to me.” I said firmly, “I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Promise?” Taylor pressed.

I nodded and gave them a smile, “I promise.”

The last thing I was expecting was a hug, but that’s exactly what came from the both of them. They rushed forward and wrapped their arms around me nearly knocking me to the floor. I was touched though. The twins wanted me to stick around. Maybe, just maybe, deep inside them they understood how small our family was and this was their way of latching onto all they had. All I really knew though was that I was never going to just walk away. I wasn’t going to do to them what my dad had done to me and Aubrey, what their father had already done to them.

“Alright, how about you guys go get ready for bed?” I said.

The two of them nodded before running back to the living room to grab their toys. I followed them and helped them gather the rather large amount of toys. Ten blue eyed ones and six red eyed ones in total. Luckily, the kids usually didn’t play with many of the red eyed ones. It had something to do with Peter liking to keep those in the glass case because they were his oldest ones. They were some of the first ones that their dad bought him. 

“Can the autobots sleep with us tonight?” Tyler asked.

I motioned them toward the stairs with toys in arm. I didn’t take the time to look over the others in my arms and try to figure it out who was who. I still mixed up the autobot twins with each other and the decepticon jets with each other.

“I’ll ask Peter, ok?” I nodded.

The kids headed to their room with most of the blue eyed ones, but I still had a few of them in my arms along with two red eyed ones. I paused outside Peter’s door before using my foot to knock on his door. There was a moment of silence before the door opened.

I stepped in just as he turned back around to sit on his bed. 

“So, the twins were hoping to sleep with the autobots tonight. Is that ok?”

Peter shrugged, “I don’t care.”

I sighed and set all the toys down on the end of his bed before moving to put some of the red eyed ones away. Apparently, he didn’t like the way I was doing it because he heaved a groan and stood up to correct the way I put them. I chuckled lightly to myself and let him finish it up.

“I can leave Wheeljack in here if you’d like.” I suggested. Wheeljack was the red, white, and green one with things on the side of his face and this mask thing over his lower face. It was kind of sad how proud I was at the fact that I was slowly figuring out what the hell these kids talked about.

“No thanks.” Peter replied in a bored tone.

I took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to not be able to…put your trust in someone, but I want you to know that I’m not gonna bail out.”

Peter didn’t reply, but based on his gaze I had his attention.

“And I know just saying that doesn’t make it any easier for you to trust me, but I’m gonna do the best I can to prove it to you kid.” I said firmly, “I ain't going anywhere. In fact, it might get to the point where you’re so annoyed at me that you want to leave, but guess what? You’re stuck with me.”

I could see the corner of his mouth twitch up slightly and took comfort that maybe this was the first step to making things right. He gave me a small nod and I set my hand on top of his head to ruffle his brown hair.

“Now get to bed.” 

I quickly grabbed the blue eyed ones I had set down and left his room to go to the twin’s room through their main door. Jazz was in my arms, I recognized him because of the green ribbon sling, I also had Wheeljack, the T-Rex one that I still couldn’t remember the name of, and Optimus Prime. It was easy to remember his name because of the movie trailers and everything. He was one of the more well-known robots after all.

“Can they stay??” Taylor asked excitedly.

“Yupp.” I smiled, “Autobots are sleeping over.”

Tyler ran over to take the toys from my arms and settle them in the middle of the room with the others. I smiled at their little setup before giving them a glance over. Their pajamas were on.

“Teeth?” I questioned. Rather than answering they just gave me big smiles to show off their teeth. I chuckled and gave them a thumbs up, “A plus job. Now, to bed.”

“Wait!” Taylor ran over and picked up Ratchet, “Here you go.”

I shook my head, “Don’t you think he wants to be here with the others?”

Taylor rolled her eyes of all things making me laugh, “Then you’d be by yourself silly.”

“Right. Can’t have that.” I took Ratchet from her then watched them crawl into bed and under the covers making themselves comfortable. Tyler spoke up first, “Night, Aj.” Taylor quickly followed, “Good night.”

“Night kiddos.” I replied hitting the lights and closing the door behind me. 

My room looked the same as it did when I moved in. I still hadn’t unpacked any of those boxes, mostly out of fear of digging up old memories. Also, none of the stuff Kyle had sent me arrived yet. I closed the door, set Ratchet onto the desk like usual, then began to change into my own pajamas. It only took me a few seconds to turn off the light and crash onto bed to sleep.

I wasn’t a deep sleeper. Never had been. So it wasn’t unusual for a sound to wake me up from my sleep. This specific sound was like a shuffling, a thumping, and then a creaking. I slowly sat up and glanced around the room that was dimly lit by the rising sun from outside. I was groggy and didn’t see anything out of place. My door was open, but I couldn’t remember if I had closed it all the way earlier.

I tilted my head to see the clock by my bed. It was a little after six in the morning. I could sleep another hour at least and with that thought I fell back into bed with my eyes closed.

“Aj.”

Maybe if I ignored them they’d go watch Saturday morning cartoons or something.

“Aj.”

Someone shook my shoulder.

“Aj.”

I let out a sigh and replied with my eyes closed, “What’s up, guys?”

Tyler and Taylor were standing by my bed. Peter could’ve been there, I wouldn’t know with my eyes closed, but he hadn’t said anything yet.

“The Autobots woke us up.” Tyler said.

I let out a soft hum, “Oh yeah? Well, tell Optimus Prime to…” my voice faded and I didn’t bother trying to finish my sentence. I needed another thirty minutes to sleep at the least.

“Aj, they’re fighting downstairs.” Taylor pressed.

“How about in an hour I-” I was interrupted by the sound of something crashing and a faint male voice crying out. It wasn’t Peter. It wasn’t Tyler. My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly. Someone was in the house. Another crash. “Stay in here. Lock the door behind me.”

“But Aj-” Tyler began. I rushed across the room and grabbed my old softball bat.

“Lock the door behind me and don’t open it for anyone but me.” I said firmly. “Where’s Peter?”

“We tried to wake him, but his door was locked. Both of them.” Taylor replied. 

That meant the guy downstairs maybe didn’t know about any of upstairs. Peter was locked in his room safe and the twins would be locked in mine safe. I gave them a quick nod before leaving the room and closing the door. I waited until I heard the sound of the lock being engaged before moving down the hall. 

My steps were silent and measured and I was equally as silent going down the stairs. Another crash and more voices. Shit, it sounded like a lot of voices. At least three distinct ones, but they were distorted and whatever they were saying definitely wasn’t in English. My attention wasn’t on those details though, they were already trying to form a plan. I was confident in my fighting skills, but I couldn’t take on a huge group alone. If I went down then nobody would be there to protect the kids and these guys wouldn’t get their hands on them. Over my dead body.

My grip tightened around the bat, there was one more crash that sounded like a pan hitting the floor. I took a deep breath before peeking around the corner. 

Suddenly, I was convinced that I was still asleep. That or I was finally losing the remainder of my sanity. Maybe my eyes were just going bad? It had to be one of those things because it definitely wasn’t the kid’s robot toys walking, talking, and fighting in the kitchen. It couldn’t be.

“No way. The A utobots .”

My head snapped back to see Peter beside me. We both had wide eyes, but mine were focused strictly on the boy beside me at the moment. His eyebrows rose and I spun back around to see all the toys staring at us with glowing blue eyes.

Please, oh please , just let me be losing my mind.

Chapter Text

“I wish you’d help me look into a more interesting problem- namely, my sanity.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

Peter was staring at the toys in star struck awe.

The toys were staring at us with concern for their situation.

I was spinning my head back and forth from Peter with a look of surprise that he was able to so skillfully sneak up behind me without a sound, to the toys with a look of absolute confusion. At this rate I would get whiplash.

“Aj, the Autobots are alive .” Peter breathed as a slow smile began to creep onto his features. Now the kid decided to use those facial muscles? At a time like this, when I was fully questioning the universe and my sanity? “Look at them! Optimus Prime, Jazz, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Prowl. Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Even Grimlock and look, look! Bee and Blue! Tay and Ty are going to freak out .”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” I mumbled.

The toys glanced at each other. Their facial features scrunched up in a variety of increased worry, frustration, and distrust. Although, I feel like I was the winner of the most absurd facial expression at the moment. Then again, I wasn’t even sure what my face must have truly looked like at the moment. How does one look when everything they thought they knew was possible was proved wrong?

I’m sure whatever my features expressed, it was nothing like Peter’s. Saying the kid was beside himself in exhilaration was the understatement of the century. I hadn’t heard him rant like that, or even speak for that long, since I freaking got here. For crying out loud, I was pretty sure he was about to pee himself in excitement.

“How the frag does the squishy know us??” The red twin held his arm out toward the two of us. His look was more of a confused ‘what the hell was going on’ whereas the yellow look-a-like beside him just looked pissy and annoyed. I was so absorbed in what their faces looked like I didn’t even realize the thing was now speaking in English.

Peter, however, caught on immediately, “Whoa! So you guys can speak English? Does that mean you’re the G1 versions? Did you come from the Ark?”

My gaze had focused solely on him at this point. Was this actually Peter beside me? Like Peter Williams? At this point I was beginning to think that he and Tyler had a freaky Friday moment or something along those lines. Based on the length and speed at which he was talking, you’d think a taller, darker haired Tyler was standing by me instead.

“Wheeljack, what in Primus’ name did you do this time!?”

I snapped my attention back to the scene out of toy story in time to watch Ratchet threaten Wheeljack with a little wrench in his red hand. The red, white, and green robot was on the kitchen floor holding up his arms in a feeble attempt to protect his face. Where did the little wrench even come from? I didn’t remember the doctor robot coming with any accessories.

“Ratchet, I’m sorry! Stop!” Wheeljack cried as the other robot landed a blow onto his arm. None of the other toys even blinked an eye at the attack or moved to help him. In fact, I’m pretty sure they took a few steps away from the scene. “It must have been a small error in the timing portion! I thought I set it- ow !- With enough time for us to get out of- ow! Primus that hurts! - of the blast radius but it must have- OW, Ratchet, please! - malfunctioned!”

“You’re a malfunction, you slagging, bucket of-” Ratchet replied but the rest of his sentence leaked into partly the other robotic language and a bunch of unintelligible yelling. 

“My thought is”, Jazz with his green sling still intact was speaking now, in English, but with a heavy accent, “Why didn’ Jackie’s bomb just offline the whole lot of us?”

Wheeljack was dragging himself across the floor trying to escape from a fuming Ratchet, “He has a solid point!”

“Hold on, timer?” Bluestreak perked up as if hit with a thought. The door wings on his back twitched into an upright position and continued to move as he spoke with his hands, “I didn’t see a timer on the thing Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had. I mean, normally it’s easy to see because Wheeljack puts the timer on the front left where we can all see it. Remember? He started doing it after that one time where the timer was set, but no one knew how long it was set for, and we couldn’t figure it out because the timer was hidden.”

All the robots turned their gazes to the back of the group where the twins lazily stood. The yellow one kept his arms crossed over his chest and the red one held his hands up in innocence, “We just grabbed the thing on the left like Jack told us to.”

“ Left ?? No, not left!” Wheeljack cried, “Right! I said right !”

“Me, Grimlock, tired of this!” The T-Rex robot began to stomp in place, but nobody moved to placate it.

Optimus Prime narrowed his glowing, light blue eyes, “Then what exactly did the twins grab?”

“ I don’t know !” Wheeljack shrugged in horror, “It could’ve been anything !”

“Me, Grimlock, want to go home !”

That, of course, was when the dinosaur robot began to breathe fire into the air.

I grabbed Peter by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back so he was behind me. The toys jumped into action, trying to calm the dinosaur down, but that didn’t stop the thing from scorching the cabinet with flames.

“Shit, move !” I forced Peter out of the kitchen with the plans to get him out of harm’s way. The twins were still upstairs hiding which meant they were safe for the moment, but my goal was to get all of them out of the house. At this point, maybe even out of the state.

Peter tugged against my grip on him trying to break free, “Wait, Aj! I want to see them fight!”

“Hell no! Your toy is breathing fire !” I barked back. Peter apparently didn’t understand the danger in an out of control, toy breathing fire, and continued to fight against me.

“Aj!” Two light voices chimed from upstairs. My gaze snapped to the top of the stairs where Taylor and Tyler stood in their pajamas. The dinosaur was still roaring in the kitchen, and I could hear the other toys screaming and arguing as well.

I pushed Peter towards the front door and quickly began to climb the stairs to grab the twins, “Come on, we’re getting out of here!”

Tyler didn’t move and just pointed down the hall to their rooms, “Aj, I think the Decepticons are waking up!”

“What the hell did you just say?” I blurted and came to a halting stop midway up the stairs. The fact that I had cursed in a direct statement to Tyler didn’t even register in my mind at the moment. Decepticons. Those were the bad ones. The red eyed ones. New voices filled the air, closer to us, and suddenly there were three jets zooming through the air. They banked right in our direction and flew right past the twins’ heads then over mine. Taylor hadn’t been expecting their closeness to her and stumbled forward down the stairs. I lunged forward to try and stop her fall, but she still landed on her hands and knees and slid down a few steps. Tears collected in her eyes, but the little girl tried to bite them back with a quivering lip.

I tucked the softball bat under my arm and picked her up off the stairs noticing the bright red blood beginning to seep through her pajama pants over her right knee. Taylor immediately wrapped her small body around mine and tucked her face into my shoulder. 

“What do we do ?” Tyler cried as he ran down the stairs toward me. 

I could barely breathe with Taylor’s arms tightening around my neck, but I was already moving down the stairs with Tyler right by my side, “Get to the- ack , the front door.”

We reached the foyer and I wasn’t surprised to see that Peter hadn’t stayed put like I told him to. The kid was probably in the kitchen cheering on the toy violence. The jets had disappeared into the kitchen as well, but as it turns out, the kitchen mayhem wasn’t enough for one of them. A white jet with red and blue accents came barreling out of the kitchen overhead.

“It’s Starscream!” Tyler cried as he pointed at the jet.

The jet didn’t reply and instead opened fire directly at Tyler. I swung around so I could cover Tyler from the hits and took the brunt of the attack on my back so it wouldn’t hit Taylor either, but a couple still managed to catch Tyler right on his cheek. The hits weren’t super painful, more annoying than anything, like small little stings, but it sent the little boy right over the edge. The little stings had managed to irritate his skin and the stress of the entire situation on hand had this twin in tears too.

The jet cackled loudly before flying back into the kitchen.

Oh, hell no.

I set Taylor down and she began to cry harder. Before she tried to crawl back up my body I forced them both to look at me, “Run into the bathroom in the living room. Lock the door, understand? I need to get Peter.”

“Aj-”

“I promise everything is going to be ok, alright? Trust me.” I said firmly. They nodded their small heads lightly making their bed head bob messily. Tyler slipped his hand into his sister’s before the two of them ran into the living room like I told them to. 

I pulled the bat out from under my arm with a glare and stormed into the kitchen. The first thing to grab my attention? The kitchen towel was aflame. It burned in the middle of the kitchen floor like some kind of ridiculous campfire. The second was that there was a new robot in the brawl. It was the red eyed police car from upstairs. How the hell it got down here, I had no earthly clue. Everyone in the room was fighting, Peter was hiding under the dining room table watching the chaos, and I was beyond pissed.

The white jet circled the room, shooting at the other robots from the air, before making a beeline towards me. The toy was shooting at me, but I ignored the pelts against my skin.

“Starscream! Leave the humans be!” Optimus Prime roared from across the room. He was one of the three still trying to get the dinosaur under control.

The jet laughed again and I lifted my bat. On the softball team, back when I played years ago, I was known primarily for two things. The first being, I was fast. Running and stealing bases was my forte. Secondly, I might not have been an over the fence homerun hitter, but my aim was impeccable. When I was up to bat, I didn’t miss.

I swung the bat with a form that had been ingrained in my muscle memory and I could feel the bat reverberate as it connected with the jet. The sound of metal crunching metal made the fight pause as everyone stopped to watch the now dented jet go careening backwards into the far wall. 

Although the fight may have momentarily paused, I did not. I rushed over to the sink, turned the water on, and used the hose to put out the kitchen towel that was still brightly burning. The water also hit the red eyed police cruiser due to his close proximity and he growled at me in response.

I shut the water off and glared right back at him, “Don’t think I won’t punt you across this room, buddy!”

Taylor’s favorite, Bumblebee, leaped out of freaking nowhere and tackled the police car to the ground as they began to fight. The sound of jets made me turn just in time to the two jets that were still in the air firing at me. One of the two, I couldn’t tell which one, had shot off something bigger than the last round of ammunition and this one actually hurt when it hit me under my eye.

“Motherfuc-” I began only to stumble back, trip over one of the damned living toys, and land right on my back. A cry of pain slipped out, but before I could try and get up the dinosaur robot jumped onto my stomach and began to shoot flames up into the air at the jets that were now soaring away. The area under my eye was burning like a bitch, and the dinosaur toy stomping around on my gut wasn’t exactly making me any happier. 

“Grimlock save you, human.” It roared in triumph. Save was an over exaggeration. I let out a groan and pushed the bot off me making it roar in displeasure. Without a word, I jumped to my feet with the plan of crushing all three of the jets into a fine dust.

“Aj!” Peter called out. My eyes snapped over in his direction just in time to see him frantically waving me over. He used his other hand to hastily push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. I made my way over to him, trying not to step on the toys at my feet. Mostly because I knew stepping on the moving, metal objects would be freaking painful with my bare feet. I was forced to stop as the red twin leaped off the island counter in front of me and landed onto the back of the purple jet who screamed and began to roll in the air frantically. The red one clung on tightly, laughing as the jet rolled, and I could only wonder how the barely a foot tall robot even got on the counter in the first place.

I slid across the floor on my knees to talk to Peter, “What? You ok, kid??”

“You need to separate the ‘cons from the others!”

“How about I just beat them to death with my bat?” I pointed back to the softball bat that had been abandoned on the floor where I had fallen.

Peter let out an exasperated sigh, “Aj!”

“What?” I questioned innocently. The sound of metal hitting the floor made me glance back in time to see the red twin jump off the ground and race back behind the counter. I turned back to Peter, “How will separating them help? It doesn’t stop the T-Rex from trying to burn our house down.”

As if on cue a trail of fire shot into the air from behind the counter. I motioned toward the area with an ‘I told you so and now we’re all screwed’ look. Peter shook his head, “If you can separate them, then you can calm them down and talk to them.”

The kid had a point. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to settle my mind. This crowd from toy hell needed to be settled down if I ever wanted to get control over this house again. So separate them I would. Never mind the fact that some of them are perfectly fine shooting things at me and breathing fire in my direction. I had to be stuck in the twilight zone or something. This was still too unreal.

“Alright. I’ll handle this, you get to the bathroom downstairs and sit with your brother and sister.”

“But Aj-”

“Kid, don’t start with me.” I held up my hand. Peter realized he had lost and heaved a heavy sigh before crawling out from under the table and running out of the kitchen. Now came the more difficult part. I forced my gaze back to the brawl. 

Across the room, the white jet I had crushed with my bat was slowly beginning to sit up. He was now in the shape of a robot rather than a flying machine, but he was still dented in some areas and wore a rather pissed off look. The last thing I needed at the moment was the third jet back in the air. Without pausing at the gunfire, I rushed across the room and grabbed the thing off the floor. 

“Release me now, you filthy human!”

“No problem.” I replied and burst into the laundry room. With quick movements, I opened the washer door, threw him in, and slammed it shut. 

The toy immediately moved to the thick glass and began to bang on it, “What is this!? Let me out, I demand it!”

I smirked triumphantly and the demon spawned toy, “How about no?”

One down, three to go.

When I stepped back out into the mess of a kitchen the red eyed bot I was looking for ran over my foot to tackle Bumblebee who was on the other side. It didn’t actually hurt so the cry I let out was one from surprise. The monster of a police cruiser had his hands wrapped around the yellow toy’s door wings tightly.

“I just fixed that, you asshole!” I barked at him before scooping both toys up. It took a minute or two of trying to untangle the two bots while cursing at the same time, but finally I had a bot in each hand. Almost immediately, the black and white robot began to claw and stab my hand, “ Ow !”

I set Bumblebee down a little harder than I meant to and stormed back into the laundry room where the jet was shooting the inside of the washer. If that damned thing broke my washer I’d rip him into two. The next part of my plan took a bit of timing, but I swung open the washer door and threw the police car in before the jet could escape. The whole thing worked out because the car robot collided with the jet knocking them both over. I slammed the washer door shut and went out to get the other two toy jets from hell.

“Fighting at the moment is useless.” 

I could hear Optimus speaking and that actually sounded like the only sound coming from the room. Hesitantly, I stepped into the kitchen to see the Autobots had the two jets grounded and surrounded as well. The dinosaur bot had stopped spewing fire and was now walking around the kitchen looking at different things. It noticed me and narrowed its eyes. 

It. Things. Those were the terms for inanimate objects, right? Well, these damn things definitely weren’t inanimate anymore. He? She? I don’t remember the twins mentioning any female toys.

“What did you Autobots do to us?” One of the robots that turned into the light blue jet demanded.

“Us? This is all your slagging fault. If you cons hadn’t been attacking-” The yellow twin stepped toward the jets threateningly, but I didn’t let him finish his little rant of doom. I marched across the room, picked up the two robots who were complaining profusely, and walked back to the laundry room. The others were following me, I could hear their metal footsteps, but they didn’t speak and I didn’t pause.

The robots were squirming in hands. I tucked one under my arm briefly, opened the dryer door, and then tossed them both in slamming it behind them. The washer still had enough room for some more metal prisoners, but I wasn’t about to risk the other two jumping out when I tried to put these two in. A sigh of relief left my body at knowing the red eyed monsters were contained. I spun around only to jump at the sight of ten pairs of blue eyes staring me down.

The tallest, not counting the towering dinosaur, was Optimus Prime and he only came up to my knees. Yet, being stared at by these small…beings was absolutely unnerving. Maybe it was because of the whole ‘shouldn’t be alive thing’. Yeah, I’d just chalk it up to that.

“We thank you for your help.” Optimus nodded his head in my direction. He had a mask over the lower half of his face that suddenly slid back to reveal his mouth. The bot was still red and blue, though a bit scuffed up in places, with flame decals decorating his limbs. Tyler said he was based off the movie version not the cartoon version which I also didn’t understand. Why were there so many different versions of how these guys looked? 

Standing by his side was the stone faced, blue eyed, police car. He looked a lot like Bluestreak in some ways, but was a bit taller. The others fell in line behind them with the dino in the back.

The shock, the aches, and the impossibility of these living toys running around in the house hit me all at once as my adrenaline faded to nothing. I collapsed rather ungracefully onto my butt in front of the washer. My back was pressed against the machine with the door to it being right behind my head. I could feel the jet and car banging against the glass and that did not help my precarious situation.

“This isn’t happening.” I breathed, “This isn’t real. This can’t be real. There’s a gas leak in the house and we’re all hallucinating. Yeah, that’s it.”

I buried my face into my hands. There was the sound of shuffling as the group of mini robots came closer to where I sat. It remained quiet for a couple more beats before one of them groaned, “Great. We slagging broke it.”

My head shot up again and they all jumped in surprise at my sudden movement, “You’re real. You’re alive and you’re talking. To me .”

Before any of them could reply to my rambling I reached forward and picked up the closest one which just so happened to be the police car I had been looking at seconds ago. The bot remained stiff as I brought it closer to my face to look at. Their eyes were actually glowing with life. Real life. There was no off switch hidden on his back. His mouth opened and he spoke in a calculated tone, “Please release me.”

I dropped the bot like he had spontaneously combust, but he had no issues landing on his feet gracefully. Optimus made a noise that sounded a lot like someone clearing their throat before taking a step toward me so he was only an arm’s length away.

“Perhaps introductions would make bridging this gap of confusion easier?” I opened my mouth, but nothing came out so I just pathetically shrugged. He seemed to take this as approval and continued pointing at the police car first, “This is my second in command Prowl. Beside him is my third in command and also head of special operations, Jazz.” I recognized the grinning Jazz. Optimus motioned toward Ratchet, who still looked wary, and Wheeljack, who actually gave me a small wave as the fins on the side of his head glowed blue, next, “Ratchet our Chief Medical Officer and Wheeljack our Chief Engineer.” 

“I knew those names.” I blurted, “Well except the Prowl dude, but I mean I’ve heard it before I just never thought I really needed to learn it because you guys were…”

“Toys?” Wheeljack chirped.

I nodded pathetically, “Um, yeah. I know…I know Bumblebee and I know Bluestreak, but I can’t remember the condiment twin’s names or the dinosaur.”

“Condiment twins?” The yellow one seethed. I had successfully made him angrier apparently by opening my big mouth. It wasn’t my fault him and his brother were the same color as ketchup and mustard.

The red one was lazily leaning against his brother who looked ready to throttle me despite being much smaller, “I think I’m more insulted that she doesn’t remember our names.”

“The dinobot’s designation is Grimlock. The twins are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.” Optimus finished. I was going to assume Sunstreaker was the yellow one based on the word ‘sun’ in his name. Sideswipe smirked at me of all things while Sunstreaker continued to glare at me as if I had personally wronged him in some way.

My eyes snapped to Ratchet next who pushed past Prowl and stopped in front of me, “Don’t move.”

I didn’t move. Not an inch. However, I was fairly positive that was because of shock and not my typically subpar listening skills. A tingling feeling brushed against my skin making my eyes widen in alarm. The red and white bot let out a huff of frustration, “Scrap. My scans still come out inconclusive on these humans.”

“Do they still work on us?” Prowl questioned.

Ratchet turned to Jazz who suddenly jumped, “Whoa, warn a mech!”

“Indeed.” He turned back to me, “Now, are you injured?”

Was the little robot doctor assessing me for injuries? I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again to answer with a shake of my head, “What? I- no - I mean, a little, but- gah, it doesn’t matter!”

Ratchet narrowed his blue eyes, “I can see the burn on your face and I’m sure the injuries do not end there, and do not tell me what does and doesn’t matter.”

I used my foot to push the little robot back an inch or two. He looked appalled at my action before angrily grumbling to himself and moving on to check Jazz’s arm. The situation wasn’t keeping these guys back in shock like it was me though. They were looking around, assessing the issue at hand, and figuring out the next step.

“Is my comm the only one down?” Bumblebee asked glancing around.

Bluestreak nodded, “No, mine is down too. It has been since we got here. I was going to mention something then but Grimlock started freaking out then the seekers flew in. Where did Barricade and them come from anyways? Are they the only Decepticons here?”

“-speak to the Decepticons. We need to also find a base of locations for the time being while we wait-” Prowl was having his own conversation with Optimus who listened thoughtfully.

“-the jetpack is working like a charm.”

“I wish we could say the same about your processors.” Sunstreaker replied to his brother.

Ratchet was focused on Jazz, “-how did this even happen? Your entire fragging arm is falling off! And I- Wheeljack! Don’t touch that!”

My eyes glanced at Wheeljack who stumbled back and away from the vacuum sitting in the corner with a sheepish look. It seemed like all the bots were in their own world and I had no idea what was happening.

“Hey, hey hey.” I said loudly making all other conversations pause. Ratchet continued his work on Jazz’s arm though. “Ok. So… ok . I need to fix this. I need you guys to fix this. Just- Just go away. Like, now. Go back to wherever the hell you came from and let my life revert back to it’s normal state of boredom. Please.”

Sunstreaker scoffed, “You think we’d still be here if we could. Fragging organic.”

“I will step on you, daffodil.” I replied with a neutral face and dead tone. My breaking point had been about five minutes ago. The twin growled at me and only remained where he stood because Sideswipe wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

It didn’t last long because Sunstreaker shrugged out of the red, lanky twin’s grasp with a grunt. Sideswipe didn’t take insult to it, he didn’t even bat an eye, “But seriously, can you send us home, Wheeljack? I had plans.”

“I was thinking about that.” Wheeljack chirped, “You see, I was trying to remember what was on the left side and I’m fairly positive it was just a storage container of some of my more random chemicals. That doesn’t make too much sense though because then why did it explode?”

“Why did it explode ?” Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes, “It came from your pit of a lab, that’s why!”

Wheeljack shook his head, “What did you two see on the field?”

“We were carrying it when the seekers showed up and started dropping bombs.” Sideswipe answered in a nonchalant tone, “We managed to hide your bomb-”

“Not a bomb.” Wheeljack interrupted.

“-Under this white out cliff thing and take cover.” Sideswipe continued, “Before we could retaliate your thing went off with a flash of white.”

Wheeljack shook his head, “That doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand how that explosion occurred at all let alone made us jump into a dimension where the humans are larger than us by a significant amount, but I do know I had nothing to do with it.”

“This time.” Ratchet grumbled.

“But jumping dimensions.” I could tell Wheeljack was beginning to get more and more excited even with the face mask he was wearing, “Can you imagine the prospects of this finding? What could come from this? If only Perceptor was here and maybe-”

The entire time I sat on the floor listening to the robots in front of me speak, the robot behind my head had been yelling and cursing the entire time. I had managed to ignore it for the most part, but it suddenly reached a point I couldn’t stand anymore. 

I turned around on my knees so I was eye to eye with the jet, “We are having a mature conversation about getting the whole lot of you back home. Now, shut up!”

“How dare you command me, human? I am Starscream, second in-”

“If you don’t stop talking I will turn this washer on.”

“Is that a threat!? You think I am scared of this human contraption?!”

Starscream just wouldn’t shut up. So, I lifted my arm to reach the top panel where all the buttons were. It was easy to find and start the rinse cycle. The clicking sound of the washer door being locked made the jet stop his yapping. Suddenly, water began to fill the washer from all sides. Both toys began to protest and bang against the glass door in anger. The washer slowly began to move and they both cried for me to stop.

I pressed the cancel button and watched as all the water drained out. With an air of smugness, I raised an eyebrow at them, “You were saying?”

“Continue your meeting with the Autobots. I will allow it.” Starscream replied.

I rolled my eyes and sat back down with a groan. Jazz grinned at me and opened his mouth to speak when Ratchet made something click in his arm and he let out a surprised cry of pain. He wasn’t the only one amused by my threat, Sideswipe was smirking but his attention was on his stoic looking brother.

“Me, Grimlock, go home now?” 

That growling statement filled me with panic. I highly doubted anyone in this room had an answer that the dinobot was going to like and the absolute last thing I wanted was the laundry room being set on fire. Luckily, the dinobot was distracted a few seconds later. Unluckily, he was distracted by three kids racing toward the laundry room.

My back straightened and my eyes widened, “I told you guys to stay in the bathroom. It’s dangerous.”

Tyler shook his head at me before letting his eyes roam across the room again, “Peter said you were helping the Autobots fight the seekers and Barricade!”

“It could still be dangerous I haven’t-”

“You have the seekers and Barricade trapped though, Aj.” Taylor argued, “Plus, the Autobots can protect us.”

At that statement, Jazz turned his head to the little girl and gave her a thumbs up sign with the arm not in a sling. Her little face broke out in a huge grin and that made Jazz chuckle to himself. Ratchet forced him to turn around again and then ripped off the green ribbon sling without much ease. Jazz, apparently, was used to this rough handling and just smiled as he moved his arm around. The doctor toy held up the ribbon with disgust, “Who wrapped this…thing around him?”

“Oh, Aj did that! She fixed him.” Tyler answered.

I could tell that both twins weren’t as shaken anymore, and I wondered if their older brother had anything to do with that. Either way, the two of them were now on the same level of excitement as Peter was earlier. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t question the fact that their once toys were now real robots walking around and talking. I guess I was the only one stuck on that little tidbit.

Ratchet let out a huff and dropped the ribbon, “Adequate at best. No where near well enough to consider an actual fixed job.”

“I don’ care wha’ the docbot says”, Jazz spoke up in my direction, ignoring the heated look Ratchet shot in his direction, and smirked, “It held up tight in battle. You can play doctor for meh anytime, girl.”

Ratchet shook his head and moved toward the twins to check for injuries. Optimus grabbed my attention again, “May we know your designations?”

I realized that after their little introductions, I never actually told them my own name. My mouth fell open to give him an answer when the twins beat me to it by shouting out their…designations.

“Starlight!”

“Lightspeed!”

I inhaled a sharp breath as all the bots just stared at the twins in confusion. More likely than not it was because they were expecting names that didn’t sound like somebody they might’ve known. Peter took control of the name situation, “My real designation is Peter. These are my siblings Taylor and Tyler, they’re twins. That’s our Aunt. Her designation is Aj.”

“Earlier, you were aware of our designations without our saying. May I inquire as to why?” Prowl asked Peter in that same calm voice he spoke in before. Maybe that was the only voice he could talk in. I glanced at Peter who sat down with the twins and began to get into the ‘fan of your lives which also happen to be movies and cartoons’ story. All the bots were zoned in on Peter as he spoke. Me, on the other hand, decided to get my shit together. I took in one last deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. I had my panic attack already, I freaked the fuck out, but now it was time for me to knuckle down and get my hands on this situation. First things first. Injuries.

I stood up making everyone glance at me, but I ignored it and left the room. Nobody tried to stop me, which saved me time considering I didn’t have to explain myself. I headed toward the stairs so I could grab a first aid kit. Did Aubrey have one? I’m almost positive she did somewhere around here, but like hell I knew where that was. I certainly wasn’t about to call her and ask.

‘Hey Aubrey, your kid’s toys came to life and attacked us. Where’s your first aid kit?’

Yeah, no thanks. Polite pass. 

Besides, I had my own little kit upstairs under my bed. I brought it with me from New York because I knew that with the way I lived my life, I couldn’t go anywhere without that thing. It took me only a couple seconds too bound up the stairs. When I got to the top I turned to head to my room, but I suddenly came to a stop as one thought hit me.

There were only four red eyed toys downstairs meaning that two were missing in action. I cautiously began to head toward Peter’s room where the door was already flung open. There was a small bit of fear that a toy was going to jump out and attack, but I pushed past it and peeked into the room. There wasn’t any movement. Part of the glass case to the side was shattered and broken leaving glass on the floor where the four had been. My eyes landed on the big, bad guy. Gray body, creepy red eyes, and mean frown. What the hell was his name? Meg-something wasn’t it? Under him on a lower shelf was another toy with no face, just a screen. No way was I gonna remember that one’s name.

Both of them were unmoving and lifeless. I nodded before peeling out of the room and taking a step toward my own before stopping again. The seekers hadn’t come to life immediately. If they had, Peter wouldn’t have been able to calmly leave his room and sneak up on me. What if those two jokers in there decided to jump to life?

I spun back around at a startling speed and burst back into the room as if the two were going to come to life at any second. Scary as hell Meg still had a broken leg so when I picked him up it fell off. I rolled my eyes and shoved the leg into my pajama pants pocket and grabbed both robots before booking it out of Peter’s room and making my way to my own.

I need something to put the robots in. I wasn’t about to just keep them on my desk so they could come to life in the dead of night and kill me. There wasn’t anything I could use that I brought from New York which meant I had to do some digging. I threw the toys ono the bed and moved toward the stack of boxes. Digging through them was messy. Memories and junk went tumbling to the floor as I ripped through the boxes like there was no tomorrow.  Finally, I came across a large, clear box with a lid that held a bunch of office junk from my parent’s office. I dumped it all out onto the floor and then moved back to my bed. It was a tight fit, but I managed to stick both toys in. I tried to stick the leg in there too, but it wouldn’t fit so I just shoved it back into my pocket with a sigh.

The lid went on and just for good measure I also stacked my old yearbooks on top of the box then set it on my desk. Now to get back to what I was originally trying to do. Injuries. I grabbed the small first aid kit under my bed and rushed back down to the laundry room. As I went through the kitchen I tried not to look at anything except what was ahead. Cleaning the kitchen was phase three and I wasn’t there yet.

I stepped into the laundry room where it looked like the kids had finished telling the robots what was going on here. My eyes narrowed at the sound of Prowl lying on the ground motionless with dark eyes. What was happening? Were they turning back into toys? 

“We told them about the cartoons and Prowl crashed.” Tyler shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in all of the universe. Ratchet was standing over him with Jazz beside him. 

“Sunny”, Sideswipe elbowed his brother, “We’re stars here.”

“Don’t call me that, slagger.” Sunstreaker grunted. 

I shook my head and put on my blinders. My focus was on the kids right now. The kids were phase one, robots were phase two. My eyes darted to Peter, “You alright?”

“I’m fine.” He replied with a nod.

I opened the kit and sat down between Tyler and Taylor turning to Taylor first. The blood stain over her knee wasn’t too large so I figured the scrape wasn’t too bad. I rolled up her pants leg to see the wound. It was already beginning to scab over and like I guessed it wasn’t too bad. Luckily, she was too absorbed in watching the robots speak to each other to even notice what I was really doing.

“You have to clean her wound to remove any and all foreign and harmful bacteria.”

“Shit.” I jumped and glanced over to see Ratchet standing by my side and by Taylor’s feet. 

Taylor beamed, “Aj is just like you, Ratchet. She mainly helps humans though, but she fixed Bee’s door wing just like she did Jazz’s arm.”

“Patch jobs at the most.” Ratchet grumbled.

I ignored the grumpy robot. Phase one. Focus on phase one. I began to clean Taylor’s wound with a small pad of alcohol. She let out a small cry of pain bringing all attention to her. I tried to give her a small comforting smile, “I’m sorry, sweetie. I just gotta clean it up.”

I stuck a small band aid over it and began to turn to Tyler when Taylor spoke up, “But wait you didn’t…”

Her sentence trailed off and her voice got quiet. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she avoided my gaze and just stared at her knee. An old memory hit me of Aubrey. Of her putting band aids over my small bloody knuckles and…

I leaned forward making Taylor look back up at me and quickly placed a small kiss over the band aid on her knee. When I made eye contact with her again I took pride in the smile drawn on her features. Tyler was next on my injury list, the broken skin under his eye wasn’t too bad. I began to clean it with a new alcohol pad. Ratchet was still standing by me watching me work on Tyler as the other robots held a small little meeting by the doorframe.

 I finished cleaning his cut. Neosporin. Band aid. Small kiss. The kid was good to go. 

“They’re from the G1 universe.” Peter said to me, “That’s why they know English and recognize us as humans. Even the ones that look like they’re from the movies or transformers prime.”

My shoulders slumped as I let my fingers gently brush the burn under my own eye, “G1, G2, G93. I don’t care. They need to go back.”

“But Aj!” All three kids yelled at once making me jump.

I narrowed my eyes at them, “I’ve heard ‘ but A j’ a little too much today.”

“We apologize on any trouble or grief we have laid onto your shoulders, Aj.” Optimus said making me glance back at him, “We will do the utmost in our power to return home as soon as possible. Wheeljack, what is your estimate?”

The toy in question pulled his attention away from a power outlet and to the group. His head tilted slightly as his fins lit up, “ Weeeeeell , first I would need to find out some way to pinpoint where exactly our own universe lies in correlation to the one we are in considering we were somehow blown into another one entirely. Then of course, with the right tools, perhaps I can create a device that can throw us back into our own world. Perhaps using the same type of technology as the space bridge? Then again…” Wheeljack began to ramble to himself using words I didn’t recognize.

“How long , Jackie?” Jazz clarified.

“Oh!” Wheeljack nodded, “Hmm, maybe a stellar cycle or so. Perhaps even a solar cycle.”

The robot twins groaned at the sound of that, but I just shook my head, “I don’t know what that means.”

Peter gave me a look like he was embarrassed to be related to me. How dare I not know what a solar and stellar cycle are. He sighed, “Stellar cycle is around 7 and a half months, solar cycle is 12 months.”

“That’s a long time.” Taylor hummed.

Tyler pumped his fist in excitement, “You guys can live with us!”

Meanwhile, I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole ‘7 and a half months to a year’ thing. I shook my head in denial before rubbing my face with my hands, “Wait a minute, wait a minute.”

“They can’t stay with us?” Tyler pouted, “Where else can they go?”

“I don’t know, but do you see the outcome of them being here for ten minutes?” I replied, “And you’re suggesting they stay here for”, I scoffed, “Basically a year!?”

The twins immediately latched onto my arms and began to beg and plead for the toys to stay. As they tugged on my arms, and heart strings, they even teared up a little bit with their big blue eyes. Good Lord, his wasn’t fair in the slightest. I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn’t form any words. Geez, I couldn’t even say no to these two when they asked for extra dessert and the looks they wore now were ten times worse than that.

“We would be in your debt and would stay as far out of your way as possible.” Optimus added.

All eyes were on me and that made saying no even harder. The toy robots did need help after all, Tyler was right. Where would they go? But how was that my problem to deal with? They had, unfortunately, fallen into my life which made me feel slightly responsible for them. Plus, it felt like if I said no I would be kicking a puppy dog while it was down.

I let out a sigh, “Let me get all this straight first. The toys are from the H1 universe-”

“G1.” Peter corrected.

“And we are not toys.” Sideswipe interrupted, “We’re mechs. Mechs .”

I held the bridge of my nose with my hand, “Ok, ok, ok. You Mechs , are from the G1 universe and you don’t really know how you ended up here, only that it had something to do with ketchup and mustard over there-”

“ Hey !” Sunstreaker barked.

I motioned to Wheeljack, “But it’ll take nightlight nearly a year to maybe make something that’ll get you guys home?”

Jazz shrugged, “Sounds ‘bout right.”

“I’m gonna need therapy after all this.” I closed my eyes in defeat as the twins cheered in excitement. What had I just gotten myself into?

Chapter Text

“Coffee, because crack is bad for you.”

-Unknown

You don’t understand persevering annoyance until you’ve had a foot tall jet turning robot banging against the inside of the washer demanding to be let out in a high pitched voice. It seemed like the moment I finished agreeing that they could stay the Decepticons decided to open their mouths.

“Come on, can you let us out already?” One of the jets in the dryer whined while the other just stared at me with unblinking red eyes.

“I demand it!” The high pitched one yelled again.

I turned and set my hand on the dryer door first, “Do you little monsters promise to control yourselves?” 

“Wait, you’re not going to let them out are you, Aj?” Tyler gasped.

“I can’t leave them in there.” I shrugged. “Now are you going to liste-”

“You have no power over us, human!” 

“Look here.” I narrowed my eyes at them while pulling the metal leg out of my pants pocket, “The mega- ‘ whatever the hell his name is’ guy does though, right? Because guess who has power over him right now.”

The Autobots seemed just as surprised at my statement as the Decepticons. Bluestreak’s voice spoke up first, “Is that Megatron’s leg??”

“Yupp. Now-” My statement was interrupted by the red, white, and blue jet throwing up his arms and letting out a celebratory cackle. 

“Finally! The strongest has prevailed!” He cheered while the other three Decepticons looked bored, “I am Lord Starscream, leader of the Decepticons!”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I glanced back at the Autobots and kids, “I…That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.”

Sideswipe crossed his arms, “All of us expected that reaction from that slagger.”

This was taking longer than I wanted it too. I groaned in irritation before turning back to ‘Lord Starscream’ and all his annoying glory. “Alright, as your first action as leader you can promise me that no Decepticon is going to start any fights or tear up our house. This entire house is now a neutral zone.”

“And if I don’t?” Starscream sneered.

I gave him a big smile, “Then I tear off your wings and bury you in the backyard. M’kay?”

He looked taken aback and gave me a quick nod, “Agreed, human. Now release us!”

The Autobots tensed as I opened the dryer door then the washer. All four of them hopped out with ease. I didn’t stand around and wait to see what would happen next. Instead, I turned and walked out of the laundry room to head toward the kitchen. Injuries were taken care of and I’ve handled the bots, mostly, so now it was time to take on the war zone.

One word to describe the kitchen would be scarred. Small bullet holes littered the cabinets along with charcoal black scorch marks. I stood there in thought. How was I even supposed to clean this? Maybe I could rub away some of the black from the flames, but I couldn’t exactly wipe away the holes.

“Are you sure it was ok to let them out?” Taylor whispered to me. The kids had caught up behind me and stood close to my back. They were eyeing the Decepticons warily and I honestly didn’t blame them.

I nodded, “They’re gonna be on their best behavior. Right ?”

My eyes cut to Starscream who walked a few feet from my right side. He gave me a sickly sweet smile and bowed in my direction, “Of course. I give you my word.”

The urge to roll my eyes was almost hard to bite back but I managed. The sound of transforming filled the air as the two other flying robots jumped into the air and took off. 

“Come on, TC!” The mainly purple one called as he zoomed out of the kitchen with the mainly light blue one right on his tail.

“Be careful!” I yelled in fear that they would knock something over, but the only reply I got was a round of laughter. I closed my eyes as a pressure filled my head. A headache was forming right behind my eyes. It wasn’t anything new, I got tension headaches all the time. My pills for it were upstairs with all my junk. Usually the cause of these headaches were stress. I wonder what could possibly be stressing me out right now.

The other robots began to scatter throughout the house to explore. In fact, the only robots who remained in the kitchen were Wheeljack who had opened the cabinets under the sink and was now looking at the piping and Optimus Prime who stood a few feet away. 

“Alrighty.” I clapped my hands and focused my attention on the kids, “Upstairs, now. Get cleaned up, new clothes, and be careful around the robots.”

“They aren’t robots.” Peter crossed his arms with defiance, “They’re sentient beings.”

“Kid, you’re ten. Do you even know what the word sentient means?” I replied.

Peter narrowed his eyes at me, “Of course I do.”

“I don’t wanna go upstairs, Aj.” Tyler shook his head, “I wanna talk to the Autobots.”

Taylor bounced where she stood, “Yeah, me too!”

I massaged the bridge of my nose, “Will you just listen to me? I want you upstairs and-”

“Why are you being so bossy and uncool?” Peter questioned.

There was a pause of silence as I let my gaze drift from each kid. They stared at me in return with a look of questioning and confusion. Ok, so I had been a bit bossy this morning, but could you blame me? I needed to be bossy to get things done and to keep them out of the gunfire and literal fire. 

I took a knee so I was closer to eye level with them, “I know… I know that I’m being a little more tight strung right now, but… You guys have to understand. New things, things that I don’t understand, they make me nervous.”

“Nervous?” Taylor asked in a soft voice.

“Yeah.” I admitted, “It makes me feel out of control and I worry. I just want to keep you guys safe is all. I promised your mom I would.”

Tyler smiled and set a small hand on my shoulder, “Now you have the Autobots to help though. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

I chuckled at the kid’s innocence, “I’m sure. Now, how about you guys go get cleaned up like I said before. Then you can come down and make conversation with whoever. Cool?”

They agreed before bounding out of the room and up the stairs. I stayed on one knee in thought. When Aubrey asked me to stay and watch over her kids I highly doubted that she had anything like this in mind.

“Aj.” I startled some at the deep voice and glanced over my shoulder to see Optimus Prime staring at me, “May I speak to you?”

“Uh.” I opened my mouth and couldn’t form words. It was as if my mind suddenly disconnected from my mouth. Eloquent as always, Aj. “Sure thing, just let me…”

It felt really weird talking to him on one knee, but if I stood up to talk it would feel even weirder. He stood there patiently as I internally struggled with how to make this a little less awkward. Finally, I just muttered a quick apology and picked him up off the ground from around the waist. He seemed surprised as I stood up and set him on the island countertop. Now we were just about eye level.

“I didn’t mean to manhandle you like that.” I said sheepishly, “I do need to talk to you too though…Mr. Prime?”

Optimus nodded, “I don’t mind, and Optimus is fine. I just wanted to thank you again for your hospitality. My mechs and I will do everything in our power to make this easier on you and the younglings.”

“Right, right.” I nodded. I wasn’t familiar with the word younglings, but from context clues I figured it was their equivalent of kids. I could’ve been totally wrong, but I didn’t care enough to continue pondering it. “Don’t think of this as me taking back my hospitality, but is there anyway we can turn that year into, I don’t know, say two months?”

Optimus narrowed his blue eyes in confusion. The amount of emotion I could see on their metal faces was astounding and a little unbelievable. 

“Two months!?” I jumped and glanced down at my feet where Wheeljack stood with glowing blue fins. 

“I need to put bells around y’all’s necks or something.” I mumbled before reaching down to pick Wheeljack up. I set him down on the counter beside Optimus. “It’s just, my sister is going to be home in two months and I need you guys gone by then.”

Wheeljack tilted his head, “Why?”

The last thing a newly recovered Aubrey needed was a bunch of living toys running rampant through her home. I was in perfect health and I could feel it wearing me down already. I opened my mouth to explain that but immediately stopped myself. What if one of the bots let it slip and accidentally told the kids?

“Because she’s allergic to alien robots from different universes.” I replied. Optimus seemed to understand that I was being sarcastic and didn’t want to talk about it. Wheeljack, on the other hand, didn’t fully get it for the first few seconds and just seemed utterly lost. “So let’s just make that our goal, hmm?”

Optimus nodded, “We understand.”

“Well, I guess I should get started then.” Wheeljack shrugged. I helped Wheeljack down to the floor and watched him walk out of sight.

“So”, I turned back to Optimus, “Should I be worried about the rogue cop car and the jets from hell?”

He nodded in determination, “We will keep Barricade and the seeker trine from causing trouble.”

Seeker trine equals jets from hell? I’d add that to the list of things I needed to ask the kids about. I reached back into my pocket for that metal leg and held it up for Optimus to see. “What about Meggy? He hasn’t woken up yet and neither has the screen faced one.”

The battle mask on his face was still retracted so I saw his lips twitch up in amusement briefly before returning to its more stoic state, “I suppose we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Sound like a plan.” I agreed.

The remainder of the weekend was somewhat successful. Meaning, there were only three more fires throughout the entire house thanks to a grumpy Grimlock and I only had to separate two brawls. The first was between Skywarp, the mostly purple seeker, and Sideswipe while the second was a battle of Barricade versus Jazz and Bumblebee. For the most part, I didn’t see the bots at each other throats all that much. The Autobots had claimed the office as their base of operations late Saturday afternoon while the four Decepticons mainly just roamed the house. Saturday night, the first night they were alive, Aubrey didn’t call. With the craziness that was yesterday, I hadn’t even given it that much thought. At the beginning of today I had finally realized it and considered it kind of a blessing in disguise since it gave me one more day to deal with everything. As the day progressed though and I hadn’t heard from her I got more and more worried.

It was 6 PM, Sunday night, and I sat at the dining room table staring at the cordless phone in front of me. Dinner had ended about an hour ago and I had just finished cleaning up and putting away dishes. I could hear the TV playing in the living room, but I couldn’t hear what was playing over Taylor and Tyler’s loud voices. Both of them had been even more attached to the hip to Bluestreak and Bumblebee than before, but that wasn’t exactly surprising. The two bots seemed taken to the kids as well so I didn’t interfere. They might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I wasn’t entirely sure where all the other bots were. Peter had been jumping back and forth between helping Prowl with the base setup and Wheeljack with getting them home. Grimlock was currently curled up in a mass of metal on top of my feet under the table like some sort of robotic pet. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why the T-rex robot was so chilled out. He was usually wreaking havoc whining about going home. I have burn scars on my hands to prove it.

The sound of someone climbing up into the dining room chair beside me greeted my ears, but I didn’t turn to look at who it was. A couple more beats of silence and then a grinning Autobot came into sight. He took a seat right by the phone casually.

“Hi Jazz.” I said without much enthusiasm. I was actually beginning to remember all their names and match it to faces. Turns out, all it took me to learn them was for them to magically come to life. Go figure.

Jazz crossed his arms, “Wha’cha doin’ in here all alone?”

“I’m waiting for a phone call.”

“From?”

“The kids’ mom.”

“Where are the younglins’ carrier?” He questioned. I was assuming carrier meant mother? I really needed to start a list of these terms. I didn’t answer his question and Jazz seemed to catch on that I didn’t plan to. There was shifting at my feet and a grumpy moan. Jazz stood up, “Was tha’ Grimlock?”

I pushed back my chair, momentarily forgetting the phone, and peeked down at the dinosaur. He remained curled up on the floor in his dinosaur mode, but his eyes were a lot dimmer than I was used to. My own eyes widened in surprise as I reached down to scoop him up into my lap.

“Jazz??” The alarm was evident in my voice, “What’s wrong with him?”

The bot stood on the edge of the table staring at Grimlock, “Better get ‘im to the docbot.”

I reached out to grab Jazz and set him on my shoulder so I could hold the dinobot in my arms. Jazz didn’t mind me picking him up. On the few other occasions I did, he had no complaints and was all smiles. Wheeljack also didn’t mind it as well as Bluestreak and Bumblebee. However, there was also a list of bots that did not like it. Prowl and Ratchet had their own spots on that list. After that first hour they were alive, I hadn’t tried to pick up Optimus again mainly out of respect. He was like some sort of autobot general or king, right? You don’t manhandle guys in his position whether he was a foot tall or not. Nobody had tried to pick up either condiment twins yet, and I certainly didn’t plan to. Especially not Sunstreaker. I automatically put the temperamental daffodil on the ‘ don’t pick up’ list right next to the Decepticons.  However, the bot on top of that list was none other than Grimlock himself. The fact that I didn’t hear a word of complaint from him as I pulled him to my chest was sign enough that something was seriously wrong.

Jazz took a seat on my shoulder so he wouldn’t fall and rested his hand behind my ear for support. It didn’t bother me so I kept moving out of the kitchen area. The moment I stepped into the foyer my foot bumped into a bright yellow body.

“Hey, watch it!” Sunstreaker growled after regaining his balance.

I ignored him and looked to his more manageable twin, “Have y’all seen Ratchet?”

“He’s upstairs.” Sideswipe replied, “What’s going on with Grimlock?”

“Out of my way, small fry.” I breathed and hopped over Sunstreaker to get to the stairs. Jazz held on a little tighter as rushed up the stairs.

Sideswipe called after me, “What’s going on??”

I didn’t hear them following us, but didn’t pay too much attention to it. Jazz slipped slightly as I turned quickly around the top of the stairs and marched into the office. He didn’t complain though and instead just readjusted himself.

The office looked the same for the most part except the office chair had been moved across the room and books were stacked in front of the desk so the bots could stand on the desktop. Most of the books came from the large shelf downstairs in the living room corner. Currently standing on the desktop was Prowl and Optimus. They had been speaking to each other, but when I came storming in they stopped.

“Aj”, Optimus stepped toward the edge, “What happened?”

Jazz didn’t jump off my shoulders onto the desk which is what I was expecting. He did stand however to speak to Optimus, “Grimlock ain’t lookin’ too good, OP. Where’s the Hatchet?”

I hadn’t heard anybody call Ratchet a hatchet yet, but from the nearly two days I had gotten to know him I could see why he would be called that. Apparently Prowl was familiar with the nickname because he answered without a pause, “The med bay.”

“Med bay?” I questioned with a furrowed brow. Suddenly, realization hit me and my eyes narrowed, “ Med bay .”

I turned on my heel without waiting for the other two bots and walked out of the room. Optimus and Prowl were following behind us as I walked down the hall to my room or rather the new med bay. 

This morning when I had left my room it looked the same as it had the day Aubrey showed it to much just with less boxes and a little more mess. Now, however, half my room had been converted to a med bay. Someone had taken all the boxes in the corner and stacked them in levels coming to a little under my waist. Books sat on the floor like a staircase and make-shift cots made of more books and blankets sat on top of the boxes. All that took up the left corner by the door. My desk had been cleared and it seemed Ratchet had taken that space as his own with another staircase of books to my desk chair.

The CMO was organizing things on my desk working around the plastic box pushed to the back corner where Megatron and the other bot, who I learned was Soundwave, still lay inanimate. 

“Good, you’re here.” He spoke then looked up from what he was doing. His blue eyes widened, “Frag it all. I knew this was going to happen. Put him on the berth over there.”

Ratchet jumped onto the desk chair and then jogged down the books to cross the room. I shook my head, “You knew this was going to happen?”

“Set him on the berth.” Ratchet ordered motioning toward one of the cots. I bent over and set Grimlock down on one of the bigger ones. Optimus and Prowl walked up the book staircase to join Ratchet as Jazz jumped from my shoulder onto the boxes as well. 

Prowl spoke up first, “How is he?”

“He’s close to falling into stasis.” Ratchet continued to look Grimlock over. I had never seen a robot checkup before so I was a bit on the lost side. For example, I had no idea what the hell a stasis was but it didn’t sound good. “He needs energon, and soon.”

“Don’t we all.” Jazz commented. 

Ratchet looked up from Grimlock, “What are your current energon levels?”

“37%.”

“29%.”

“18%.”

All the bots answered their medic. Jazz had the highest level while Optimus had the lowest. I let my eyes travel over them all before speaking, “So, what? The bigger the bot the faster you…fall into stasis?”

“It’s a…coma like state in human terms.” Ratchet grumbled, “We need energon, Optimus.”

There was a thoughtful look on Optimus’ face as he pondered their current issue. I took a seat with my legs crossed and my arms resting on the boxes. The bots were taller than me like this. I finally spoke up, “Don’t judge me, but what the hell is energon?”

“Our lifeblood, our fuel. We need it to survive just as you need food and water.” Ratchet answered as he scanned Grimlock one more time.

Optimus continued, “Is there any sort of that in your world? Even as an unrefined ore?”

“Energon? Here?” I scoffed. “Yeah, lemme just run down the road to our local energon mine.”

I was shocked when Ratchet suddenly lashed out and whacked one of the knuckles on my left hand with his wrench. It was more startling than it was painful, but I still pulled my hand away with a small cry of pain and matching glare. He pointed the wrench at me, “Watch it, youngling. That mouth will get you in trouble.”

“Not the first time I’ve heard that.” I mumbled. I didn’t add that it probably wouldn’t be the last. Although, I wasn’t expecting Ratchet to call me youngling. That’s what they called Taylor, Tyler, and Peter. It meant kid, right? I was not a kid, but I didn’t press on the topic. I pulled my hands into my lap, “Maybe we can find a replacement.”

“If finding a replacement were that easy, the war with the Decepticons would be very different.” Prowl shot down my plan.

I shrugged, “But that was like your for real bodies.”

“Wha’dya mean?” Jazz pressed.

“I just mean, you showed up and you guys became the toy action figures.” I tried to explain. It was something I thought about briefly last night while I lay awake in bed. “And the toys weren’t actual robo- er, mechs. Sorry.”

“She has a point.” Ratchet backed me up, “Wheeljack and I have been thinking about the fact that perhaps it wasn’t us that came to this world, but rather our minds and sparks. It would explain why some, like Optimus and myself, do not look like we usually do. It also accounts for why we can’t access our commlinks, or holoforms, or even connect to the human’s source of information.”

Prowl grew even more rigid, which I didn’t think was possible for the stoic bot, and his blue eyes flickered for a moment. All eyes were on him as he slowly began to relax again. Jazz was grinning to himself, “You good, Prowler?”

Prowl gave a curt nod, “So this… replacement ?”

“Let’s see.” I shrugged and got up off the ground and left the room. I didn’t wait for them as I waltzed out of the room with the intention of heading to the kitchen first. What could they use instead of energon? It was their food, they were machines, machines took gas…

Aubrey probably didn’t have a spare tank of gas in her garage, but I could siphon some from out of the lawn mower or the truck. Just enough to test and see if it worked that is. What other options were there? As my mind wandered, my legs carried me into the kitchen. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, and Ratchet were all following me, but they were a few feet behind. I stepped into the kitchen to see the fridge door already open.

“Hey.” I called out.

The door shut quickly to reveal Taylor with her mess of blonde curls and a pout on her lips, “I’m hungry, Aj.”

“Still?”

She nodded her head sending the loose curls bouncing around her shoulders. A bright smile quickly grew on her features, “I want chocolate cake!”

“You guys ate all the cake.” I replied, “Besides, sugar is the last thing you need right now, kiddo. How about an apple?”

“Mmm”, Taylor thought to herself, “Orange?”

I nodded and walked across the room to stand beside her and open the fridge, “I can do that.”

The palm sized tangerines were in a drawer to the right below the yogurt. As I grabbed one and began to peel it the bots walked in. Taylor’s eyes brightened, “Hi guys!”

“Well ‘ey there,  darlin’.” Jazz grinned. Prowl and Ratchet nodded at her in greeting, but they were already at the lower cabinets digging through them for anything that would work as an energon substitute.

Optimus replied to her, “Are you well, Taylor?”

“Oh, yeah!” She chirped and took the peeled orange I offered her, “Bee and Blue are showing us how to fight!”

My eyes widened, “Bee and Blue are doing what now?”

“Bye! Thanks, Aj!” Taylor waved nonchalantly and skipped out of the room. Should I be concerned? Probably, but one issue at a time. I’d handle the hand to hand combat lessons on a different day.

I clapped my hands and leaned against the counter, “So, any idea what type of thing I should be looking for?”

“No.” Ratchet grumbled, “Let me see inside there.”

“The fridge?” I clarified and opened the door so Ratchet could peek in. He began to scan things near the bottom. “I’m gonna grab something from the garage that might work.”

Jazz jogged the few feet over to walk by me, “Lemme tag along.”

“Sure.” I shrugged and kept moving.

“So wha’ were we talkin’ ‘bout earlier?” Jazz spoke up. My eyes narrowed in suspicion. I didn’t mind Jazz. He seemed like a pretty relaxed bot, but I was starting to notice something about him I hadn’t noticed before. My original thought of him was nonchalant. He was the type of guy, well robot mech, that went with the flow. Relaxed in every definition of the word. Yet, every time he popped up and started asking me questions about Aubrey or me I got suspicious. It reminded of when Boss would act all buddy buddy to get what he needed to know.

So I played dumb, “Earlier? Hmm, cant remember. Maybe the weather?”

Jazz’s lips twitched up in the corner, “Maybe. ‘Cept, the weather aint all too special up in ya office.”

“If you’d like I can pump up the A/C in there. Make it really feel like Christmas.” 

“Christmas?” Jazz questioned.

We passed the laundry room and I reached for the garage door knob, “Do alien robots celebrate Christmas?”

“I’m gonna have to say nah.” I pulled the door open and let Jazz enter first. The garage was cold, but not cold enough to effect either of us. The truck was parked out in the driveway rather than in here. The wall to the left had a shelf with shoes while the other side had bikes, and outdoor toys, and the typical junk one would find in a garage. My eyes immediately focused on the lawnmower up ahead, but not because I needed gas from it.

Lying in front of the lawnmower was the seeker trine that made my life difficult. Starscream and Skywarp were motionless with dim, nearly dark, eyes while Thundercracker’s creepy red eyes still had some life in them.

“Well, this explains why y’all haven’t bothered me in the past hour.” I crossed the garage over to them. “Are you guys ok? Guess that’s a dumb question but…”

“We need energon.” Thundercracker replied in a broken voice.

My eyes darted to Skywarp who had black smears along his chest. I already knew the answer, but I asked anyways, “What is that?”

“We tried to find a replacement.”

I sighed, “And you had the same idea that I had.”

So gasoline was off the list of possibilities. I reached forward and scooped up all three of the seekers. Thundercracker stared at me with a curious, untrusting gaze. I gave him a curt, small smile in response. Jazz followed me out of the garage and back into the kitchen with the now still seekers.

Optimus took notice of us first, “The seekers?”

“Same as Grimlock.” I commented. When I glanced down I realized Thundercracker was now in the same state as the other two.

Ratchet paused from what he was scanning and motioned out of the room with his head, “Take them to my med bay.”

“ Your med bay?” I repeated and began to move toward the arch, “You mean my room?”

Ratchet grunted in response and paid me no more attention. He was a bossy bot, that much I had managed to learn. The moment I stepped into the foyer, Tyler and Bluestreak did as well with the mech sitting on the boy’s shoulder.

“What happened to them?!” Tyler cried in surprise.

“Did you do that?” Bluestreak asked, “I mean, I understand if you did. Especially if they were causing trouble. Were they? Does Optimus know? We’re supposed to protect you four from them and-”

I shook my head and interrupted his rant, “I didn’t do this. They’re running low on energon is all.”

“Are you running low?” Tyler turned his head slightly toward him.

Bluestreak shrugged, “Not too low. I still have 42%. That’s not too bad compared to the others. The twins are at like 20% already.”

Tyler turned back to me, “How can we help?”

“You can take these three to my room.” I replied and he came forward to accept the seekers into his own arms.

“Your room?”

I rolled my eyes, “The med bay. Grimlock is up there right now.”

Tyler gave a brief nod before rushing up the stairs with Bluestreak holding on tight. Before I could turn around and head back into the kitchen Taylor walked out of the living room with Bumblebee walking beside her.

“Hey, have you seen Peter?” I asked.

“Pete is with Wheeljack in his room.” She replied and walked over, “What’s going on?”

The three of us took the few steps necessary to enter the kitchen. Ratchet had managed to pull some stuff out of the fridge in the few seconds I was gone. A six pack of Pepsi lay on the floor along with a few bruised apples. Jazz was actually inside the fridge rooting through one of the lower levels as Optimus and Prowl continued to dig through the lower cabinets.

“We’re looking for something the bots could use as energon. They need it.” I replied then glanced over at Bumblebee, “How you doing on energon?”

He looked startled that I spoke to him directly, “Oh, I’m ok for now. I’m still at 40%.”

“Good.”

Taylor giggled, “They can use mama’s energon. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

All movement in the kitchen stopped as everyone cut their gaze to the small girl who didn’t seem to mind being the current center of attention. Taylor, in all her innocence, just stared back with a offhand smile.

“Tay”, I said slowly and knelt down in front of her, “What are you talking about?”

She pointed to the top cabinet to the left of the fridge, “Mama’s energon! It’s at the top!”

“What is she talking about?” Ratchet repeated the question to me. I gave him a shrug before rising to my feet and moving over to where Taylor was still pointing. The bottom two shelves were lined with medicine and first aid type materials. That would’ve been nice yesterday. The top shelf, however, had a large red can with a black lid.

Taylor sat down on the ground and let Bumblebee sit in her lap, “She drinks it every morning, but she says we can’t have it till we’re older.”

I let out a small laugh as I pulled down the can of ground up coffee beans. Jazz hopped out of the fridge, “What is it?”

“Coffee.” I answered and opened the can to peek in. There was only about a quarter left of it.

Ratchet stepped forward, “Lower it so I can scan it.”

I did as he asked, or rather as he demanded, and waited for the results. His face twisted in hesitance as he mulled over his own thoughts.

“Ratchet, will it work?” Optimus asked. He closed the cabinet him and Prowl had been in.

“Perhaps.” He sighed, “We need to try it, but the outcome could be dangerous considering we don’t know what it will do.”

“Skywarp tried gasoline and he’s not dead.” I offered. Although, he could have been. I wouldn’t be able to tell a coma induced bot from a dead bot. “Lemme make a cup.”

Taylor was humming a song to herself as she leaned back on her hands. The coffee machine was on the other side of the sink already plugged in and ready to go. I was never a big coffee drinker. The only time I ever really drank it was when I needed to stay awake and was on the verge of totally crashing.

“If this does work, Aj, are we allowed to use it?” Optimus questioned as I began to make a pot. My eyes widened slightly at his question. His manners kind of surprised me, but at the same time I liked the fact that the leader of the bots didn’t automatically assume he could use and take whatever he wanted. The manners weren’t necessarily required, but still it was appreciated.

I nodded, “Of course you can. Though, I’ll need to go out and buy some more. If it even works.”

“Can Tyler and I have some?”

I paused in thought, “Hmm, I’ll let you guys taste a little. Ok?”

Taylor nodded in excitement. Tyler walked in a few seconds later with Bluestreak and his twin began to tell him all about the energon. Jazz caught Bluestreak up to speed as I started the coffee machine.

“It should take a couple minutes.” I explained to the bots surrounding my feet. There was a comfortable air around the group standing in the kitchen, but that was shattered at the sound of faint gunfire and Peter calling my name.

I didn’t pause to wait for the Autobots to act. I ordered the twins to stay in the kitchen before racing out of the room. I sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, and found myself in Peter’s room where a battle had broken out between Barricade and the twins.

Peter sat on his bed with Wheeljack standing in front of him with his own weapon out. He called out to me again, “Aj! Barricade started it!”

“Shocker.” I mumbled to myself before physically trying to separate the fighting bots. The twins had these blades out as Barricade was trying to shoot them. There was a hoodie lying on the floor, probably dirty, by the edge of Peter’s bed. I grabbed it and threw it over the twins trapping them under the thicker cloth before picking up the police car with my hands. 

Barricade seemed to never want to speak with me. Instead, he would just hiss at me in their own language. I figured it was safe to assume that it wasn’t anything particularly nice. 

“Why is it always you?” I demanded while holding him by his leg so he hung upside down.

Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz burst into the room. They were starting to get good at getting up the stairs quick. I motioned toward the hoodie, “Condiment twins are under the red hoodie.”

Prowl and Jazz ran over to pull the hoodie off the struggling Autobots. Barricade took advantage of me being distracted and swung at my face with his hands. Something sharp cut the bridge of my nose making me cry out in pain and drop him in surprise. Barricade landed on his back, but before he could get back up Optimus stood over him with a cannon pointed at his face.

“Stay down, Barricade.” He threated. Barricade growled in response but didn’t move.

“Are you alright?” Wheeljack asked.

Peter’s eyes widened as he hopped off the bed, “Aj, you’re bleeding.”

I touched the bridge of my nose with my hand. When I pulled back there was bright red blood on my fingers. I could even begin to feel the warm liquid drip down my nose onto my cheek. It only burned a little though. Considering I’ve had my nose broken before by a fight gone wrong, this small cut was nothing.

“I’m fine. You Ok, bud?”

Peter nodded, “Wheeljack and I were taking apart my alarm clock when Barricade came in and started ruining everything. Sides and Sunny ran in and tackled him.”

“Don’t call me that, squishy.” Sunstreaker barked. I glanced over to see the hoodie had been successfully pulled off the two.

I shook my head at him, “Can it, sunshine.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead on the floor from the glare that got me. Though, his burning blue eyes were beginning to dim, but not as fast as Sideswipe’s eyes were going. The red bot opened his mouth to speak only to collapse instead. Sunstreaker caught his twin at last minute, but his own strength was beginning to fail him.

I walked over and picked up the twins. Sunstreaker struggled against my hold, “Don’t touch me you fragging-”

“Can you just pass out already?” I breathed. Sunstreaker couldn’t hold on much longer and his eyes dimmed out as well. I crossed the room again to hand the twins over to Peter who took them, “Take them to the med bay.”

Peter’s eyes brightened behind his glasses, “Did you see it already? Prowl and I helped Ratchet put it together before dinner!”

There were quite a few downsides I could say about this entire situation, but seeing Peter really come to life wasn’t one of them. I had the kid pegged as a debby downer, but hanging out with the autobots had brought out a side of him I hadn’t seen before. A small smile graced my lips as I nodded, “Yeah. I saw it. Impressive, I gotta say.”

Peter returned the smile before walking out with the twins. I turned my attention back to Optimus who was listening to Barricade speak in their language. Jazz stepped forward when he saw my look of confusion, “He says he doesn’t like ya.”

“The feeling is mutual.” I replied and knelt down, “May I?”

Optimus looked at me in shock and took a step back. I grabbed Barricade with both hands holding his arms down to his side. He still struggled against me, but I kept moving. I went around the back way of the stairs to enter the hallway where the laundry room was. Barricade must have recognized the surroundings because he struggled more.

I threw him into the dryer and slammed the door shut. A smug smile lit my face, “Now what, you little cretin? And guess what, I did laundry this morning which means I can leave you in here for a lot longer than last time.”

Barricade was banging on the glass, but I just turned out of the room and left. I walked into the kitchen to see the coffee maker had finished about a minute ago. Bumblebee noticed me first, “You’re bleeding! Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, it’s all good. Just a scratch. ” I replied and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, “You got two new patients though, Ratch.”

“Let me guess.” He said dryly. “Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.”

“Good guess.” I poured some of the hot liquid into the mug. “How’d you know?”

Ratchet scoffed, “It’s always them.”

I grabbed a spoon and sat down on the floor by where Ratchet was standing. Taylor and Tyler were seated on the ground as well and both of them already had an empty mug in their hands as they waited patiently for me.

“It’s mega hot right now.” I commented. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Peter came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Prowl walked over to me, “What did you do with Barricade?”

“I tossed him into the dryer.” I shrugged and continued to blow the cup of coffee while stirring it slowly.

Ratchet turned to look at Optimus, “What is your energon level now, Optimus?”

“9%.” 

I glanced from bot to bot, “So how much should you guys try?”

“Not too much.” Ratchet replied quickly. I got a little onto the small spoon in my hand and held it up slightly so he could see. He nodded in approval, “That should do.”

Optimus stepped forward, “I will try it first.”

“What type of glitch spawned idea is that?” Ratchet snapped. It wasn’t the type of tone you’d except a medic to use when talking to his commander. Nobody but me seemed surprised though so I kept my mouth shut. 

Prowl nodded, “I agree with Ratchet. If this coffee turns out to be detrimental to our health and puts you in danger, we will be in even more trouble than we are now.”

Optimus looked like he was going to argue, but Jazz stepped forward with a shrug, “Relax, mechs. I got this.”

“Are you sure, Jazz?” Optimus said with a tight frown.

“Positive, OP.” Jazz gave the leader a thumbs up and walked over to me. He grinned at me and motioned toward himself with his hands, “Bring it on.”

I brought the spoon toward his face and stopped allowing him to pull it toward him the rest of the way. Jazz didn’t mess around. He drank all of the coffee I had in the spoon. All eyes were on him waiting to see what would happen. Panic filled everyone in the room as Jazz stiffened and shook his head.

“Jazz!” Bluestreak cried.

Jazz made a sound akin to coughing and waved off the worry, “I’m fine. I’m fine. Slag, I wasn’ expectin’ that rush.”

Ratchet was scanning him, but Prowl was the first to question him, “What is your energon level?”

“Ya guys aint gonna believe this. Ah jumped from 35% to 65%.” Jazz chuckled and shook his head again, “Slag, that feels weird.”

I chuckled and stood up, “That’s caffeine.”

“Everything on the scans look alright.” Ratchet commented. I left mug on the ground with the spoon for Ratchet and grabbed the pot. The twins jumped up in excitement and held out their cups. 

“Thanks, Aj!” Tyler cheered as I poured a little in his cup then Taylor’s. They looked at each other with wide smiles before carefully tasting the hot drink. Their cheerful faces twisted in disgust the moment the liquid touched their tongues and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Taylor set the mug on the island counter, “It tastes so bad!”

“Coffee is bitter not sweet.” I replied and put the pot back where it had been. As Ratchet scanned the coffee and Jazz one last time I looked around the kitchen for something they could use as a smaller cup. The smallest thing I could find was a couple plastic cups used for liquid kids medicine. “So, Ratchet, problem solved?”

His lips actually twitched up in slight amusement, “For now, I suppose.”

For now. I couldn’t imagine a better way to describe the solution. As Ratchet moved around the kitchen supplying the bots in here with the amount of coffee they would apparently need I wet a paper towel to wipe away the dry blood from my face. Wounds on the face always bled more than others and that annoyed the crap out of me. 

I’d grab a band aid from my own supply upstairs. Knowing Ratchet he’d be commanding me up there any minute with the pot of coffee anyways. 

“Aj.” Ratchet called out. Did I say minutes? I meant seconds.

“Yeah?”

He handed me the small plastic cups. There were three in total, “Help me bring these upstairs.”

“You got it, docbot.” I nodded and grabbed the pot. I glanced over at Tyler and Taylor, “Can you guys put those three mugs into the sink. Be careful just in case it’s still hot.”

They agreed and I made my way upstairs with Ratchet and Optimus following a few feet behind speaking to each other. By time I reached my room I noticed Peter had decided to follow as well. He passed the two bots and caught up with me walking in right behind me.

“Your nose really doesn’t hurt?”

I chuckled and set the coffee pot on my desk, “Not even a little. I got a high pain tolerance.”

“That means things don’t hurt as much right?”

“Basically.” The bots came in next. Ratchet quickly examined the bots not moving. “Hey, Peter, can you hand me that little white box on my bedside?”

He nodded and grabbed it. The curious kid opened the box as he walked it back over to me and when he noticed what the box held he began to dig out a band aid. Ratchet called out, “Bring that here, Peter.”

“Wait a minute-” I said, but apparently Peter saw no issue with doing as Ratchet said. 

“Good. Now, can you pour the liquid into the small cups? Fill them only three quarters of the way.” Ratchet said. 

I pushed off the desk and went over to Ratchet, “Hang on now, it’s still hot I don’t want him to-”

“I can do it, Aj.” Peter said and went over to the desk to do as Ratchet had asked. I noticed that. Ratchet asked Peter to do stuff whereas for me it was mostly commands from the red and white robot.

“Sit down here now.” Ratchet said in my direction. Proof if there ever was any.

“Why?” I questioned but sat down in the same spot I had been in when I brought Grimlock in. Ratchet walked up to my face and I realized he planned on dressing my wound. I reached up to take away the band aid. “I can do this.”

“Quiet.” Ratchet slapped the top of my hand. I pulled it back with a frown. The robot dug through the white box and pulled out the Neosporin. “This is the medicine you used yesterday, correct?”

I nodded, “Yeah, but you don’t have to do this. I’m perfectly capable of-”

“Primus, be quiet.” Ratchet groaned and walked up to my face. My eyes were about level with his head so I slouched some so he didn’t have to lift his arms to treat the wound. I remained quiet as he applied the medicine and then stuck the band aid on after struggling with the sticky side for a few moments. “There.”

“What? No kiss?” I joked.

Ratchet scoffed, “Get up and help me get coffee into these mechs.”

A small smile slipped onto my face as I stood. I didn’t know what I was even smiling at. Was it the ridiculousness of it all? It had been years since I had anyone tend to any type of wound I had. Even the bigger stuff I handled myself. Yet here I was being taken care of by an 11 inch robot with a grumpy demeanor. Life worked in freaking weird ways.

Chapter Text

“Love your enemies. It makes them so damned mad.”

-P.D. East

“ We’re sorry. The person you are trying to reach does not have a voice mail box set up- ”

I pressed the end call button on the cordless home phone only to immediately hit redial. Again. The phone was at my ear again as I frustratingly listened to the shrill sound of ringing. Call number six bring me luck.

“You guys ready yet?? We’re gonna be late!” I yelled up the staircase only to receive no reply. 

“ We’re sorry. The person you are trying to reach-”

I released a loud groan and smashed my finger against the end call button. Aubrey hadn’t called last night either and my worry had hit a new high. Was she alright? Did something go south with her treatment? Honestly, I was gonna have a panic attack. I was less stressed when the freaking robots came to life in the kitchen.

“Is everything alright?” Wheeljack questioned as he strolled out of the kitchen alone.  In his arms he held a collection of small black screws. 

I narrowed my eyes at him, “I’m fine, but where did you get those screws?”

“Kitchen.” He chirped in a friendly tone making the sides of his face light up bright. Wheeljack continued through the foyer and into the living room as if I was going to be pleased with his simple answer.

I moved to follow him and press for more information when Taylor’s voice stopped me in my tracks, “I can’t find my book bag!”

One crisis at a time. I’d have to deal with Wheeljack later. Hopefully wherever he got the screws from wasn’t too important. I jogged up the stairs, phone still in hand, and froze when I got to the top. Tyler had his back pack pulled open and was ushering Bluestreak in.

“ No !” I blurted and stormed over, “No, no, no. No Autobots at school!”

“Aw, but Aj!”

“Don’t 'Aj' me. Blue get back to base.” I said and motioned toward the office. 

The bot gave Tyler and me a sheepish smile and shrug, “Don’t worry. I’ll be here when you get back from the school thing. I kinda wanted to see it too, but Prowl and Optimus probably wouldn’t have liked me going either.”

“Aj!” Taylor called again. 

“Check under your bed and do not smuggle Bumblebee into your bag once you find it!” I yelled back and then turned to head to my own room. She either didn’t reply to me or I didn’t hear her. I quickly pushed open my cracked door and stepped in. Ratchet wasn’t in the room, but unsurprisingly Grimlock was.

Grimlock stomped his feet and turned his gaze up to me, “Grimlock look for you human.”

I tossed the cordless phone onto my bed and began the search for my cellphone. It was in here somewhere. Hopefully it didn’t take me too long to find. 

“Grimlock go with you human.”

I paused in my fruitless search to focus on the T-Rex by my feet. All the bots had woken up after the coffee was given to them and they went their own ways throughout the house. All but Grimlock that is. For some reason, he decided to stick to me like glue. 

I shook my head, “No, Grimlock, you don’t go with me, human.”

Ratchet walked into the room behind me like he owned the place which I was pretty sure he thought he did now. 

“Have you seen my cellphone?” I turned and asked the medical bot. “It’s small, black and gray, probably has like a million missed calls?”

Ratchet marched across the room and climbed up the makeshift stairs to get onto my desk, “I have not. Now, how long will you be gone?”

“Like 15 minutes top.”

“That’s like 2 breems.” Peter’s voice spoke up.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Peter standing in the doorway. He was ready for school with his hands holding the straps of his backpack proudly, “You scared the crap outta me, kid.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged and was obviously not too apologetic. “I saw your phone in the top shelf of the desk drawer yesterday.”

I shot him a thumbs up and moved to grab it, “Good. Go start the car, take your siblings with you. I’ll be down in a minute or two.”

“Bye, Ratchet. Bye, Grimlock.” Peter waved and then strolled away.

My attention was now firmly focused on the hidden cellphone. It had apparently gotten tossed in the drawer at some point. Probably during the reconstruction of turning my room in a medbay. I should just be happy that Wheeljack and Peter didn’t dissect it for parts. I grabbed it and flipped it open. Twenty missed calls, 12 unread messages and like 60% of it all was from Boss. Now I remembered why I hadn’t been too eager to look for my phone before now. Avoidance was kind of my middle name. 

The last thing I wanted to deal with while down here was a pissy Boss. Once I got back to New York in two months I’d explain everything to him, minus the walking talking toys of course, and the problem would be solved. Mostly.

Still, my eyes focused on the missed calls with dread. You thought missed calls from a mother were scary? This was a whole new level of panic.

“Are you alright?”

I cut my eyes to Ratchet who was staring at me with a calculating gaze. Without missing a beat, I forced a grin and began to type in Aubrey’s number, “I’m peachy, Ratch. See you later.”

“Grimlock wants to go!”

“ Nope .” I replied bringing the phone to my ear and moved to the door.

“Hey, Hatchet. We need to talk to you.” Sideswipe’s cheery voice chirped as him and his twin strolled into the room. I stepped over the two of them.

“Do not call me that.” Ratchet snapped. It was the last thing I heard from the room as I sped down the hall then down the stairs. This place was a mad house sometimes. Well, most of the time actually.

The ringing stopped, “ We’re sorry -”

End call. Redial.

As I pulled open the front door I spotted Jazz and Optimus coming out of the living room side by side. I leaned back into the house and pointed at them, “Optimus Prime!” His eyes darted to me in alarm and I continued, “I’m gonna be gone for like 2…beers? Berks? …Bushes?”

“Breems?” Jazz offered with a cheeky grin.

I snapped my fingers, “Yupp. That’s the one. Please make sure nothing is set on fire.”

Optimus nodded his head at me with an amused look. At least it looked sort of amused, it was hard to tell with his lower face being covered. “Of course, Aj.”

“Awesome.”

The kids were waiting for me patiently in the car, but I could see little pouts on the twins’ faces. They couldn’t honestly have thought bringing the bots to school was a good idea. Peter was in the front, but he was turned around in his seat talking to the twins. As I got closer I watched as the frowns dropped of the twins’ faces only to be replaced by excited grins. I got to the driver’s side and pulled the door open.

“We’ll do it!” Taylor bounced in her seat. 

“Do what?” I asked while reversing the truck out of the driveway.

Tyler snickered to himself, “Nothing.”

Yeah, like I believed that. Still, I let them have their little secret. I was preoccupied with trying to get my sick sister on the line. We were halfway to school when I snapped my phone shut and stuffed it into the cup holder with a disgruntled sigh. If she didn’t pick up the first 18 times then maybe she was busy.

“Are you trying to call our mom?” Peter questioned.

I stiffened in my seat and watched as the twins stopped what they were doing in the backseat. Taylor shook her head with wide eyes, “Aj! Mama didn’t call last night or the night before!”

They had just realized they hadn’t gotten to talk to their mom in the past two days. Based on the look Peter wore, I could tell he had realized it from the beginning. I couldn’t really blame them though. When your toys magically come to life you tend to forget about anything else.

“She’s busy.” I said quickly, “With work and stuff, she’ll call tonight.”

“Really?” Tyler asked in an almost timid voice.

I locked gazes with them in the rear view mirror and gave him a small smile, “Really.”

Good God, I hoped I wasn’t lying.

Five minutes later and I was watching the kids run across the school field toward the front doors. I didn’t leave until I saw all three kids enter the school building. So I was a bit on the paranoid side. Sue me.

I threw the car into drive and began the trip home. The speed limit was 25 in the school zone, but I stayed at a steady 20. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go home, but this was the only quiet time I’ve had in the past two days if you don’t count sleeping. Suddenly, my cell phone began to ring and I nearly swerved off the road to grab it.

“Hello??”

“Hi A-”

I let out a sigh of relief, “Damn you, Aubrey. I haven’t heard from you in the past two days! Do you know how worried I was?? Is everything ok?”

“Everything is fine.” I let out another sigh. No matter how mad I was about the past I couldn’t stop being me. Maybe that was why I blocked all contact with her. I knew that if I didn’t then I’d still be the baby sister playing older sister. I could hear a smile in her voice and I’d call it smug except I knew that Aubrey didn’t have a smug bone in her body, “Some things came up and I didn’t want to call at a bad time.”

“I don’t care if it’s midnight.” I turned the car into the neighborhood, “You call and check in with me or- or send me a text! Just let me know that nothing went wrong.”

“Typical worrywart, Aimee.” She laughed to herself.

“It’s Aj.” I corrected out of habit, “So…everything is ok?”

“I already told you. Everything is fine. How are the kids? Did they ask why I didn’t call?”

“Yeah, but I handled it. You better call tonight though to talk to them. I’ll be pissed if you make me out to be a liar.”

“I will. I miss them so much.” She sighed, “They’re at school right now, right?”

“School? You mean, you wanted them to keep going there while I was here?”

“Aimee.”

“Aj. Now relax.” I pulled the car into the driveway and threw it into park, “I’m kidding. Of course they’re at school.”

I reached across the cab of the truck to open the glove compartment and pull out the garage door opener.  My eyes widened when I picked it up and realized it had no backside or any internal wiring. Even the battery was gone.

“Damn it.”

“What?”

“The garage door opener.” I said. It was probably one of the poor things dismantled by Peter and Wheeljack yesterday. “It’s um- The battery is dead.”

Aubrey’s tone was surprised, “Already? I just changed it.”

I hopped out of the truck and started toward the front door, “Shame.”

“Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” Aubrey began. I lifted the welcome mat and grabbed the spare key to open the door. “Christmas is next week and I’m sure the kids have been bugging you to death about putting the tree up.”

“Tree?” I paused in surprise. I had totally forgotten about the holiday. I most definitely forgot that I had to actually decorate stuff this year. The closest I came to Christmas decorations the past couple years was the hoard of candy canes I had in my kitchen to devour. Candy canes were addicting. 

Aubrey was still speaking, “I usually put it up with them early on, but this year things just got…pushed back. All the stuff is in the attic for when you’re ready.”

“You guys have an attic?”

“Of course, the ladder for it is in my room.”

That explains why I haven’t seen it. I hadn’t even considered stepping into that room.

“Right.” I nodded even though I knew she couldn’t see me then I stuck the key in and pushed the door open. Quickly, I tucked the key into my jacket pocket and stepped in only to stop in surprise.

In the middle of the foyer was one of Taylor’s Barbie dolls. What really caught my attention about it though wasn’t Barbie’s rocking hair, but rather it was the fact that her lower half was melted onto the hardwood floor. 

“Aimee? Aimee?”

“I gotta go. Call tonight.”

“Wait-”

I hung up the phone and stuck it into my jean’s back pocket. Then I just stood there for a few minutes. I was going to have to scrape Barbie off the floor. Damn, that was going to be hard. The sound of yelling upstairs ripped me from my thoughts. I sprinted up the stairs and gasped at the bullet holes and scorch marks. The largest scar was a legitimate hole in the wall between Peter’s room and the office. I bit back a cry of distress and marched to the office where I could hear the voices.

I basically kicked open the office door making it swing back into the wall with a crash. Everything froze when I showed up on the scene. All of the Autobots stood in the middle of the room a few feet in front of me while Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Barricade stood off to my left. The three Decepticons had their weapons aimed at the Autobots while staring at me in disbelief. Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and the twins had their weapons aimed at the three Decepticons while all the other Autobots had their weapons aimed in my direction just a whole lot lower to the ground. All stared at me in shock except Grimlock who stood behind the Autobots with a menacing glare.

“What?! What is this!?” I breathed, “I’m gone for 15 bushes and you guys are fighting!?”

There was movement behind the door I had slung open. I sidestepped and pulled it toward me to see who the hell was behind the thing. Starscream was lying on the ground in a daze, one of his wings was a little worse for wear. However, most of my attention was drawn to the bot beginning to stand up. Megatron. 

“What the hell??” I cried again and looked back to the Autobots for an explanation.

“Um Aj…?” Bumblebee began hesitantly.

Jazz finished his thought, “Maybe ya wanna pull back toward us, hmm?”

I snapped my gaze back to Megatron who was seething in anger, “You insolent human bug . You dare try to end me and my reign?”

“Wait, what?” I replied dumbly.

“I will destroy you.” He barked, “I will end your pathetic life. No autobot can protect you from my wrath!”

There was a tense pause of silence before I began to laugh. Apparently nobody had expected that reaction. To be honest, I didn’t even expect that reaction from myself. This was the point where I really started to question my sanity. I couldn’t help it though. My life was being threatened by a foot tall, dark gray metal beast who didn’t even have both his legs.

“You foolish-”

“No offense, Megatron.” I put my hands on my hips as the laughter died down, “But I’m not super scared at the moment. What I am is pissed. I’m gone for 2 beeks-”

“Breems.” 

“-2 breems ”, I corrected myself smoothly, “and when I come back the fragile peace we’ve created has been broken by you and your nasty attitude. Now, listen up. This is a neutral zone. No fighting allowed, got it?”

Megatron seemed taken aback by my words. His surprise quickly turned back into anger, “You dare speak to me in that manner? Your insolence will be the death of-”

“And stop threatening me.” I sighed, “You’re a foot tall. Trust me when I say I’ve been up against worse enemies.”

Starscream picked up his head, still seeing stars, and lifted his arm toward me, “This, my lord, is Aj. The human I spoke of.”

“My lord?” I scoffed, “What happened to Lord Starscream supreme ruler of the Decepticons?”

Megatron tilted his head slightly to glare at the now panicking jet. The seeker forced himself to sit up, “I would never! Lord Megatron is unreplaceable! A magnificent leader! A-”

“What a kiss ass.” I mumbled and glanced back at the other bots. Everyone still looked like they were in one piece for the most part. “Any injuries?”

“None.” Ratchet replied, “ Yet .”

“Human pet left without Grimlock!” The dinobot roared.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Did he just call me his human pet?”

“Congratulations.” Sideswipe replied with a grin, “You just got adopted by Grimlock.”

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at Grimlock, “Did you melt the Barbie downstairs?”

Grimlock lowered his head and glared at me in defiance, “No, Grimlock didn’t.”

“I think Grimlock did.” I replied, “I think Grimlock roasted Taylor’s favorite Barbie and now Grimlock is gonna have to explain that to her when she gets home.”

The dinosaur grumbled under his breath in annoyance. Optimus made a sound akin to someone clearing their throat, “Perhaps we can handle the more pressing matters?”

“Oh.” I turned back around to Megatron, “So, peace? For now?”

A menacing grin spread across his harsh features and I could actually feel my skin crawl at the sight. He nodded, “I can agree under one condition.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, “Yeah, ok, what?”

“Destroy the Autobots.” He ordered firmly, “Crush them beneath your heel and I will not conquer your home.”

I shot a glance over my shoulder at the Autobots and was surprised at the fact that they tensed under my gaze. They didn’t think I was actually gonna stomp on them, did they? Sunstreaker’s weapon actually shifted toward me ready to fight. Geez, and I thought I had trust issues.

“Will you take my generous offer or will I have to dismantle your residence?” Megatron question.

This time I didn’t resist the urge to roll my eyes. A sigh slipped from my lips as I bent down and grabbed Megatron. He apparently wasn’t expecting my quick movements so I was able to get a hold of him. It was a challenge to hang onto the robot, but I managed. 

I sped walked down the hall to my room and spotted the prison he had broken out of lying in the middle of the floor. Megatron thrashed in my hands and cursed at me in his own language as I used my foot to flip over the clear box. Soundwave, the other toy, wasn’t awake and now was lying on my floor face down. I quickly grabbed the box, threw Megatron in, and slammed the lid back on top.

Immediately, he began to claw and shoot at the plastic walls. If I continued to let him he’d probably be able to break the thin plastic walls and get out. The other bots raced into the room just as I began to shake the box making lord Megatron, in all his glory, bounce around like a tennis ball. I stopped and asked, “You gonna play nice now?”

“ Release me you vile fleshbag !”

More shaking. Megatron bounced against the walls pathetically. The sight of it almost made me laugh. Almost. The thought of the bullet holes lining the hallway sobered me. 

“You’re shaking Megatron, killer of thousands, leader of the Decepticons, in a box.” Bumblebee breathed in disbelief.

“Pretty much.” I replied and stopped, “Feeling peaceful, Megsy?”

“Decepticons! Attack! Free me!” He roared. His call was basically useless considering the only Decepticon in the room was Barricade. Skywarp and Thundercracker must have stayed behind with the injured Starscream. Despite the odds being stacked against him, Barricade charged forward to attack my ankles. Wheeljack and Jazz both pounced on him stopping his futile attack.

I gave the box one last hard shake, “I can do this all day, you know?”

“I will destroy you and your home you-”

I let out a cry of frustration and slammed the box onto the desk making him bounce around one last time. My hand remained on the lid so he didn’t just push it open, “ Why do you insist on fighting?!”

“I-”

“No! Don’t answer that. Just listen. All of you, listen.” I glanced at everyone in the room. The seekers managed to drag Starscream in just in time to hear my rant, “There is no point in fighting here. None . No battle won here will make a difference back in your world. So- So, consider this a vacation . No fights, no injuries, no death. Just a peaceful coexistence between Autobots, Decepticons, and humans. Get it?”

Megatron was silent in the box. I lifted it slightly so I could look him in his creepy red eyes. Another beat of silence before a small smile crossed his lips. It wasn’t as menacing as the last, but there was something behind it that I didn’t like. This bot wasn’t like Barricade who raced around shooting things I told him not to shoot just to screw with me. This one was smart. It was cunning dare I say it. I could basically see the wheels turning in his mind. 

“The Decepticons will accept the offer of peace.” He said in a carefully calm tone. I hesitantly set the box down by my feet and popped the top off. He stood and climbed out, which was a struggle considering his missing leg. I could hear the twins and one of the jets, Skywarp I would guess, snickering at the sight.  

He finally got out then offered a hand to Optimus. I watched him carefully just in case he decided to attack or something, and I wasn’t the only one who was doing so.

“A truce, Megatron.” Optimus reached out and took the hand to shake.

“For now”, Megatron replied then dropped his hand. Prowl and Ratchet stood on either side of Prime ready to act, “On one condition.”

I groaned, “I swear if you ask me to stomp the Autobots again-”

“I just require my leg.” Megatron growled.

Optimus nodded, “That can be arranged. Aj?”

All eyes turned to look at me and I’m pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was silent for another couple beats before Optimus questioned, “Where is his leg?”

“I, um.” I stopped. What the hell had I done with the damn thing? Think, Aj. Think.  I swallowed the lump in my throat, “That…is a reasonable question. I will…go and…get it.”

I darted out of the room, not waiting for anybody. The last time I had it was Saturday when I was showing it off as a threat. Wait, no. I had it on Sunday. My eyes widened as it hit me. Taylor had asked to see it Sunday afternoon and she never gave it back. In the mess of everything that happened Sunday night, I had forgotten to go looking for it.

The twins’ room was a mess. Partly from them playing and partly from the robots waging a war in here. More bullet holes along the doorframe that I tried to ignore. Maybe if I pretended they weren’t there they’d go away. Avoidance, remember? 

Now, if I were a Decepticon’s severed leg where would I be? The answer ended up being under Taylor’s bed and the damn thing didn’t exactly look to be in the same shape it had been in when I gave it to her. Damn everything.

I peeked my head out of the twins’ room just as all the bots got to the mouth of the stairs. Megatron was hopping down the hall on his own accord, but Starscream hovered around him. If Megatron actually fell over I wondered if Starscream would help him up or stand on his chest and declare himself lord again. 

“So, I found the leg.” I said bluntly.

Ratchet, straight to business, replied, “What condition is it in? Give it to me.”

“Condition? It’s…It’s in good condition.” I shrugged and stepped out of the room, “It’s just a little…pinker…and shinier.”

“What?” Megatron demanded in a dead tone.

I pulled the leg out from behind me and knelt down to hold it in front of them. The twins were in the back of the group basically rolling on the floor in laughter. Jazz and Skywarp weren’t much better.

Taylor had sloppily painted the thing pink, drowned it in glitter, and then stuck stickers along it. Megatron let out a cry of outrage as he glared at me. 

“It should wash right off.” I assured him. His glare didn’t lessen. I glanced back down at the leg and turned it to show him one specific sticker that read ‘ SMILE’ with a big happy face. I grinned, “It’s good advice. You should take it to heart.”

He wasn’t amused.

Chapter Text

“A man in Hawaii who came face to face with a shark whilst surfing, survived by punching the shark in the face. Meanwhile, I saw a cockroach in my bathroom, and now I shower at the gym.” –Seth Meyers; SNL

He was still grumbling. Two hours has passed, only thirty minutes of which he had to sit in the med bay being fixed by Ratchet, yet the cranky Decepticon leader was still grumbling about it to me.

“You lied .” He hissed from his spot on the floor in front of the fridge. Megatron’s arms were crossed across his chest and his glowing red eyes on his trapezoid shaped head narrowed at me.

I shut the cupboard door in front of me a little harder than need be, “That is not constructive criticism, Megatron.”

“You said this atrocious color would be gone!”

“It is!” I yelled back in argument. “It’s just the glitter I’m having a hard time removing, ok?”

Megatron sneered up at me. Like I had said, the paint and the stickers came off with no problems whatsoever. The problem arose when I realized that no matter how many times I ran the damn leg under water and scrubbed it with soap some glitter remained. The pink sparkles had gotten stuck in his knee joint and in the tight seams all along his leg. Now, in the right light, his leg glittered a fancy pink. I had spent a good ten minutes trying to get rid of it, but nothing worked. Even Ratchet gave it a try, but to be honest I really don’t think he tried very hard.

I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back on the grocery list in front of me. I added ‘ glitter remover??’ under milk. After I picked up the kids from school I needed to make a run for food, but I wasn’t exactly comfortable leaving all the bots home alone. Especially now that sir sparkles was awake. Could I get someone to deliver groceries to me? You could hire people to do that right? Although, having someone come to the house seemed just as bad of an idea. At this rate the kids and I would starve.

I shoved the list into my jean pocket and then moved to make myself a late breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the condiment twins standing under the archway between the foyer and kitchen watching me. It had been like that since Megatron could walk on his own. Prowl had been the original Aj stalker. He followed me at a distance for about an hour until the twins came to relieve him of duty. They had stayed since.

“I demand you to clean it.” Megatron growled again as I pulled open the freezer. 

I tilted my head back and let out a groan of annoyance, “Starscream! Come clean your beloved leader!”

Megatron said something in his own language, but I ignored him and used my foot to push him further away from the fridge which only made him angrier. Not that I cared though. There was a pepperoni hot pocket in the freezer with my name on it, and Megsy wasn’t about to ruin my meal.

The twins started cursing so I glanced over just in time to see Starscream fly into the room, transform mid-air, land, and then smoothly slide to a stop. Tens all around, Starscream. It was a great landing especially considering Ratchet had just finished repairing his wing. I will admit I felt a little bad about crushing him with the door, but I comforted myself with the fact that he was probably doing something that would piss me off. Or he would eventually.

“My lord!” He ran to Megatron. “What is the problem!?”

Starscream didn’t get an answer. Instead, Megatron reached out to grab the jet’s throat. He then began to punch Starscream.

“Hey!” I barked and nudged him with my foot, “Don’t be an asshole!”

Megatron released him to glare at me again . Starscream cheered, “Yes, Aj! Take him down and rule with me!”

“Sorry, it’s lunch time. I don’t overthrow dictatorships until at least after 3:00.” I replied. Megatron snapped his gaze to Starscream who in response transformed again and took off. Megatron raced out of the room after the jet. That hadn’t been my exact plan when I called Starscream in here but I wasn’t complaining. 

A sigh of relief left my body as I pulled a hot pocket out of the box before letting the freezer close. While I went to grab a plate to use I watched as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stared each other down. It was silent, yet Sideswipe grinned cheekily while Sunstreaker shook his head and walked away in the direction Megatron went. It wasn’t the first time I noticed them oddly staring at one another.

Sideswipe strolled into the kitchen as I set the plate down on the island counter. I nodded at him, “So I’m not the only one with an Autobot stalker? Megsy has one too?”

“Two hours and you catch on?” Sideswipe smirked jokingly, “Man, whoever said humans were slow apparently hasn’t met you.”

I rolled my eyes and unwrapped the hot pocket from its clear wrapper then set it on the plate. I moved to throw away the trash, “It must suck for your brother. Having to tail him.”

“Eh”, Sideswipe shrugged, “He’d rather follow that fragger than you.”

“The daffodil prefers lord bucket head over me? I think I’m insulted.”

The cherry red bot let out a bark of laughter, “Don’t take it too personal. Sunny isn’t a fan of humans in general. Besides, this means you get to hang out with me.”

I knelt down and forced a cheesy grin, “Well, aren’t I just the lucky one?”

“You betcha.” Sideswipe chirped.

“Mind if I ask you something?” I said suddenly. 

His smile faltered in surprise before widening, “Go ahead.”

“You and your charming brother do this weird thing where the two of you just stare at each other and-”

Sideswipe laughed and shook his head, “We aren’t just staring at each other and it isn’t weird.”

“Then what is it?”

“We’re talking to each other. Through our bond, duh.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was hard to follow everything with these guys. It only got harder when they used their own robot terms and words. One thing I had caught onto talking to Ratchet was that these guys usually had a communication system where they were able to talk to each one another basically like a mental radio. I had learned that this was one of the systems that wasn’t working for them right now. “Ratchet said your comm systems were broken.”

“They are, but I didn’t say comm system I said bond.” Sideswipe replied then explained, “You know that Sunny and I are twins, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Twins are kind of rare from where we’re from. Sunny and I have this bond, a twin bond. We can talk to each other over it. We know everything about each other, we know what each other is feeling. He’s my other half.”

I paused in thought, “Other half?”

“Twins are one spark that were split into two.”

I opened my mouth awkwardly before closing it and trying again, “And a spark is…?”

Sideswipe shook his head, “ Primus , it’s like I’m talking to a sparkling.”

I decided not to ask what a sparkling was and just assume that it wasn’t necessarily a compliment at the moment and shrugged instead.

He continued, “Spark is…hmm. It does what your heart does, but it’s more than just an organ for us. It’s who we are.”

“Like a soul?”

He snapped his fingers, “That’s the word Ratchet used!”

“So you and Sunny-”

“Don’t let him hear you call him Sunny.”

“Right. Anyways, the two of you are one spark split into two and because of this you guys can talk to each other over this magical bond?”

Sideswipe paused before nodding with a shrug, “Close enough.”

“That’s kind of cool, and only twins can do this?”

He shook his head, “Well, only twins can have a twin bond, but there are sparkmate bonds and guardian-ward bonds too.”

I stood back up in thought. This was kind of interesting. I mean it was still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that these guys weren’t just toys come to life. They were their own alien race. A freaking alien race with their own customs, anatomy, and culture. The sound of a faint engine alerted my attention back to what was going on around me. 

Sideswipe was the only Autobot with a working jetpack. I knew this because he used it all the damn time. Just like now. He had activated it and within seconds he was standing on the counter by my plate, “What’s that?”

“Perfection in microwaveable form.” I answered and grabbed the plate, “So, tell me about those other two bonds you mentioned.”

“Sparkmates and guardians?”

“Yeah.” I replied and turned to the microwave above the stove. 

“Well,  let’s see…” Sideswipe thought aloud.

I grabbed the microwave door handle and pulled it open only for the entire door to fall off in my hand. A startled yell escaped my lips.

“Was that supposed to happen?” Sideswipe asked as I turned around with my plate in one hand and the microwave door in the other.

My reply to his question was another yell, but this one was more frustrated than startled. This would only happen to me. How did this even hap-? My eyes narrowed in realization. The memory of Wheeljack walking out of the kitchen with an armful of screws entered my mind.

“Wha’s happenin’?” Jazz slid into the room with his weapon raised and ready.

I set the plate on the counter along with the microwave door, “ Wheeljack !”

Sideswipe began to laugh, “It would be him. This is hilarious.”

“I’m glad you think so! Wheeljack !” I yelled again. Jazz walked up with a smile tugging on his lips. I put my hands on my hips and scoffed, “I didn’t even know you could take the door off like that. How did he even reach it!?”

“Don’t doubt Jack’s ability or need to tinker.” Jazz commented.

Sideswipe added, “Yeah, or his ability to blow slag up.”

A minute of me glaring at the microwave passed before Wheeljack rushed into the room, “Is everything ok?”

He had his weapon out already as well. Though his tense body relaxed at the lack of danger. However, it tensed again at the sight of me glaring at him while pointing to the microwave.

“Wheeljack.” I said firmly.

The weapon disappeared and I would’ve been asking questions as to how if I wasn’t so focused on ripping Wheeljack a new one for breaking the microwave. He shuffled sheepishly, “Right. I was going to fix that once the supplies became available.”

“Supplies? Put the screws back where they came from or so help me-”

“Well, you see, the screws were the perfect material for what I was doing and-”

I pointed at him and then to the microwave, “ Fix it .”

“That may be a problem.” He replied. “The device I’m working on, the one to find out which dimension or universe we are specifically in, is what I used the screws for.”

I shook my head, “I’ll find you new screws. Just replace these now.”

“I may have melted them down for the device.” He explained slowly.

There was a pause before I lifted my hand and slapped it over my face. Wheeljack was babbling out a long winded apology as I rubbed my face. A headache was forming behind my eyes again, but I was a professional at ignoring those headaches. I lifted my hand to end his ramble, “Since you used the screws to find a way home all is forgiven. Just… be more careful about what you use. M’kay?”

“You got it!” Wheeljack replied cheerily.

I turned, picked up my plate, and then set it in the microwave. Then I picked up the door and set it in place before pushing it closed. I paused a moment to see if it would fall off and when it didn’t I hit the timer and pressed start. The thing actually began to work and that was good enough for me.

“Hey, she was asking about sparkmates and guardian-ward bonds.” Sideswipe sat down on the edge of the counter, “Help me explain.”

“Why were ya askin’ bout them?” Jazz questioned.

“Sideswipe mentioned his twin bond.” I shrugged.

“Well guardian charge bonds are usually formed between one younger Cybertronian and an older one. The relationship usually can be compared to that of a human child and their parental figure.” Wheeljack explained, “Or it can also be like the relationship a human would have with their older sibling.”

I nodded, “And they can talk over it and feel emotions just like the twins?”

“Yupp. Sparkmates are like that too.” Jazz added with a sly smirk, “Except sparkmates are lovers .”

The microwave began to beep, but I didn’t move immediately. Did he say lovers? I opened my mouth slowly, “Lovers? And by lovers you mean…?”

“Your equivalent would be marriage. Except being sparkbonded is much more of a commitment.” Wheeljack said.

My eyes widened, “Wait, marriage ? You guys get…and you… what ? Like, with each other ?”

“With femmes.” Sideswipe replied, understanding my babbling. He stood up and since he was on the island counter it nearly made him eye level with me.

“What’s a femme?” I asked, but based on context clues I think I had a pretty good guess.

“They are comparable to your females. Such as yourself and Taylor.” Wheeljack chirped. The microwave beeped again so I moved to get my plate which was a fiasco in itself since I had to pull the door off, get my plate, and then put the microwave door back into place.

I set the plate on the counter to let it cool, “I didn’t know there were females. Maybe I should’ve watched those Michael Bay movies.”

“Speaking of which, I wanna see these movies and shows we’re in.” Sideswipe pointed at me.

“I’ll put it on my to-do list.” I replied without much thought. My mind was still reeling around female toy robots. Jazz said lovers for crying out loud did he mean- Nope, nope . Not going there. My mind was going to steer clear from the thought process of robot lovers and how that worked exactly. “Do any of you have a…sparkmate?”

“ Frag, no .” Sideswipe replied. Wheeljack shook his head.

Jazz spoke up, “Nope. Optimus does though. He has Elita.”

“Aw, Optimus Prime is married?” I laughed. “He seems like the settling down type.”

I spent the next twenty minutes or so eating my hot pocket while the three bots explained what exactly a subspace was. I had asked about their weapons. It sounded pretty freaking handy. I didn’t mind carrying a purse or book bag, but damn would it be more convenient if I could just pull stuff out of a pocket hidden between time and space. 

Wheeljack had excused himself to continue what he had been doing before I called him into the kitchen leaving just Jazz and Sideswipe with me. The conversation had turned toward the fact that they knew how to play poker and how a game night should happen, but it had come to a stop when a jet flew into the kitchen and landed on the dining room table we were at. It was the mainly light blue one which was Thundercracker. Right?

“What do you want, Thundercracker?” Sideswipe asked with a narrowed gaze. He was lounging on the table to my right. I didn’t say anything and just smiled because my guess had been right.

“I need your help.” He replied and focused his red eyed gaze on me.

“What’s up?” I questioned. 

He shifted tensely before repeating himself, “I need your help.”

I shrugged and stood up to follow him. Jazz just watched me with a thoughtful look, but Sideswipe sat up with a frown, “You’re going to just follow him blindly? What if it’s a trap?”

“Neutral zone remember?” I said before glancing at Thundercracker who nodded. The jet seemed like a no nonsense kind. He was probably my favorite Decepticon at the moment. 

“That doesn’t mean you can just trust that slagger!”

Thundercracker transformed into a jet and hovered by my side waiting for me to start moving. I grinned and winked at Sideswipe, “What wrong, cherry? You gonna miss me?”

Sideswipe still seemed tense, but the corners of his lips twitched up slightly, “You? Please .”

“Later, guys.” I waved at the two of them before following Thundercracker out of the room and up the stairs. He took a turn to the left and my eyes narrowed. My suspicion was confirmed when Thundercracker landed in front of Aubrey’s door and looked at me. I crossed my arms, “What is going on?”

“Help me! I’ve been trapped!” 

My eyes shot to the door where I could hear Skywarp screaming behind it. I pointed to the door and Thundercracker sighed, “I know it was off limits. He was…curious. I can’t get the door open.”

I opened my mouth to reply then just shook my head. Since the bots weren’t exactly at doorknob level, the kids and I had been leaving all the doors in the house cracked open slightly so they could get around. The exception was the garage door, the back door leading to the backyard, and Aubrey’s room. Skywarp was still yelling behind the door. I pulled the door open and stepped in. Thundercracker ran by my heels and across the room to find Skywarp who was on the other side of the queen sized bed, but I remained frozen to my spot.

The room was just like any of the other bedrooms. Same color walls, same flooring. A queen sized bed centered on the wall to my left by two bedside drawers. There was a door to the wall on the right that led to what I assumed to be the bathroom and on the ceiling in front of the door was the entrance to the attic. To my right was a larger dresser with pictures and accessories laid across the top. I took a step toward the first picture frame.

“Aj!” Skywarp yelled again. I forced myself to turn away from the photo and cross the room. On the other side of the bed the purple and black jet was half stuck on one of those black, sticky mouse catchers. Shit, did that mean there were mice in the house? I hadn’t seen any sign of mice. Besides, the only thing that had gotten stuck in the trap was an obnoxious jet and…

“Are you going to help me?” Skywarp pleaded as he tried to pull himself off the pad. My eyes however were glued on the large, dead roach stuck beside him. 

“Well, uh," I tilted my head, “How did you even get in here??”

“I warped in.” Skywarp scoffed.

My eyes widened, “ Warped in? What the hell do you mean you warped in?”

Skywarp groaned, “Sky warp . Now pull me off!”

Thundercracker stood beside Skywarp with a look of…annoyance? It wasn’t annoyance per say. More like exasperation. Almost like the way an older brother would look at the younger after being dragged into a mess they didn’t want a part of. I pointed at him, “Wait a minute. You’re not…twins, right?”

“Twins? Primus, no!” Skywarp yelled, “We’re a trine!”

“Trine.” I repeated. 

Thundercracker looked like he was about to explain the new word, but Skywarp cut him off, “Now help me!”

“I would.” I took a step back, “But that is a huge roach.”

Skywarp tilted his head, “That thing? It’s offline! Pull me off!”

“I don’t-” I shook my head, “I don’t do bugs.”

It wasn’t that I was scared of bugs. I mean, I went head to head against people twice my size in fights. It was just…bugs were gross. They were creepy as hell. I understood that bugs were good for the environment and stuff and I was super grateful that they kept the world balanced or whatever, but that didn’t mean I wanted them anywhere near me.

Thundercracker stepped forward, “I can handle it from here.”

“Rock on. Do you mind taking the trap and throwing it away after you pull him off it?” Thundercracker gave a grunt of acknowledgement before trying to rip Skywarp off the pad. “You’re the best.” I gave the two of them a thumbs up before backpedaling away. 

My feet traveled back to the dresser with all the picture frames. There were pictures all over the house on the walls. I spent a couple hours exploring the house on one of my first days here looking at all the pictures around the house. After that I didn’t pay them much mind considering they were just pictures of the kids growing up. The pictures in Aubrey’s room, however, were different. There were four in total. The first, on the far left, was a picture of Aubrey with all three kids. It was a recent picture since the kids looked to be about the same age they were now, but Aubrey didn’t look sick at all in this photo. She was beaming at the camera holding her arms around all three. The background looked like the city park. A chuckle escaped my lips when I noticed the corner of Bumblebee’s wing in the picture from Taylor’s hands.

“Hurry and pull me off, TC!”

“Shut up, I’m trying . I told you not to come in here.”

The next two pictures made me frown. The first had Peter as a toddler with a mess of brown hair. He was sitting in the lap of a guy while a book was read to him. I recognized the guy easily. You don’t exactly forget the guy that your older sister chose over you. Wes looked a lot like Peter with the same brown hair and gray eyes. I hadn’t actually met him or had any real conversations with him. I never really made the time to get to know him when Aubrey was dating him and then I found out she was pregnant and they were leaving. At that point the last thing I wanted to do was get to know the guy. The second of the Wes pictures was of him and Aubrey. It was a photo of before Peter, the two of them were sitting at a restaurant table laughing together. I had no idea who had taken the picture, but it looked like one of those couple photos you saw in Valentine’s Day advertisements. 

“This would go a lot faster if you quit moving around, Skywarp!”

“The offline organic is twitching, TC!”

“If you get me stuck to this thing, I swear to Primus-”

My eyes hesitantly darted to the last picture. It was the one I first noticed when I walked in. Aubrey was sixteen in the photo and I was fourteen. I knew because I recognized the picture. I had just found out that I made the volleyball team for school. It wasn’t a flattering picture considering I was sweaty and my hair was a mess, but Aubrey was hugging me tightly anyways. Dad had taken the picture of us outside of the gym and then we had gone out to eat as celebration. It was taken a month before dad left. 

“-got it!”

“ Freedom !” Skywarp screeched and flew out of the room. I turned around to see Thundercracker walking towards the corner where a little trash can sat. He threw the pad in before noticing me staring at him. He tensed and gave me a quick nod, “Thank you for your help.”

“Thank you for taking care of the roach.” I replied, “You don’t have to be so formal you know?”

He nodded again and walked over, “You asked about a trine earlier?”

“Yeah, what is it? Is it anything like the twins?”

Thundercracker rolled his shoulders, “I suppose. When we say trine we mean Starscream, Skywarp, and myself. We form a trine. Seekers naturally lean toward others. We have a trine bond.”

“I guess I get that. The three of you are like a flock. Birds of a feather and all that, right?”

Thundercracker narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, “I…suppose.”

“TC! TC! Come here!” Skywarp yelled from down the hall.

I gave him a smile, “Later, TC.”

He didn’t waste another second and quickly transformed before flying out. I will admit that watching them transform was pretty cool. The clock above the bed read 10:48 AM which meant I still had time to kill before I picked up the kids. Plenty of time to pull the Christmas stuff out of the attic for the kids to put up when they got home. First though, I wanted to grab my phone. I thought I had set it in my back pocket, but apparently I was wrong. 

My eyes darted to the picture one last time. I was literally looking at one of the last moments where I still was able to hand out trust without any wariness and Aubrey… 

I picked up the picture frame sighed. This could be us again just add three kids. All it would take is to let Aubrey into my life again completely, and a part of me wanted to. I missed what we had. Anytime I entertained the idea of doing so though, memories stopped me. Nothing could stop Aubrey from betraying my trust again if she decided to and that terrified me. I couldn’t survive that again. I put the frame back on the drawer face down then walked out.

“I love you, brother.”

“Frag off.”

“Don’t you love me too? I need verbal confirmation, Sunny.”

“Eat slag and die.”

“That’s hurtful. Your words only do negative things to my self-esteem.”

I whirled around with instructions in one hand and a screwdriver in the other, “Can the two of you go annoy each other to death in a different room?”

The Autobot twins turned their gaze away from each other to focus on me. They stood a few feet away from me by the couch. As per usual, Sideswipe wore a cheeky grin while Sunstreaker tried to kill me with a glare.

“Why?” Sideswipe chirped.

“Because this is stressful enough as is.” I replied. It had taken me all of thirty minutes to haul boxes of Christmas junk out of the attic. It’s taken me twice as long to try and put up the Christmas tree. I figured I’d put the tree up in the living room on the right side of the entertainment system in the open corner, and then when the kids came home they could decorate it to their hearts desire. Me putting the tree up had gathered a crowd however.

Wheeljack crawled out of the box, “This would be perfect!”

“Do not take anything from that box. I need it.” I shot a glare at him.

“But Aj-”

“No.” I pointed the screwdriver at him in a threatening manner. He let out what sounded like a sigh before crawling back into the box to replace what he had taken. The twins began to bicker again, I couldn’t understand how they didn’t run out of things to say to one another, but I couldn’t yell at them because my attention was pulled away by Grimlock.

The dinosaur glared at lower ring of the tree. It was literally just a circle of fake pine needles. He reared back and opened his mouth. I pulled my arm back and threw the screwdriver at him. The tool bounced off his back, “No! No fire! If you set this tree on fire, Grimlock, I will- I- I don’t even know what I’ll do!”

Grimlock huffed and marched away mumbling, “ Bad human with good aim .”

 Sideswipe laughed at me, “Nice throw, Ratchet!” 

Seconds later Ratchet came into the room with Jazz and at the same moment a little wrench collided with the back of Sideswipe’s head sending him to the ground with a cry of surprise. Sunstreaker’s lips twitched up in a small smile at the sight of his brother on the ground clutching the back of his head. It was short lived though when another wrench came flying in his direction. Sunstreaker was able to duck out of its way though and the wrench landed by my foot.

Ratchet and Jazz headed in our direction, the former came stomping while the latter strolled in casually.

“What in the name of Primus are you two pit spawns doing?!” Ratchet howled at the twins.

“Nothing Hatch-!” Sideswipe began.

“Nothing is right! You two should still be tailing Megatron!”

Sunstreaker sneered at the medic, “We are. Him and his band of Decepti-scum are in there!”

Jazz and Ratchet glanced over to the small bathroom connected to the living room where Sunstreaker pointed. I nodded and pulled their attention to me, “He’s right. Megsy and his crew ran into the bathroom declaring it as their base and they haven’t left since.”

Wheeljack crawled out of the box again and began to walk across the room to the bookshelf where his project was being worked on. I narrowed my eyes at him, “Jackie??”

He held out his arms in good nature, his fins glowing bright blue, “I didn’t take a thing, Aj.”

“Good.” I replied and glanced back down at the bots ahead. Ratchet picked up his first wrench as Sideswipe got up off the ground. The medic whacked him across the head one last time for good measure and ignored Sideswipe’s complaints of not doing anything. I bent down and picked up the small wrench by my foot, “How many of these do you have anyways?”

“Enough.” Ratchet grumpily replied before coming over to take it. I handed it over, not wanting to get whacked across the knuckles again, and focused back on my current dilemma. The tree wasn’t going to make itself after all.

So far all I had set up was the metal base. Now I had to put on the various layers of tree. There were four layers in total, each one smaller than the last and the last one being the very top. However, Aubrey had apparently bought the most complicated tree in the world because I couldn’t just set the damn things on top of one another. No, I had to screw each one in place, but I couldn’t find the right screws to fit in the right holes. I sat down and began to study the instructions again.

“Havin’ trouble?”

“You have no idea.” I mumbled my response to Jazz. He came over to where I was sitting with my screwdriver in held in his hands. I took it from him, “Thanks.”

“No problem. Anythin’ I can help with?” He questioned with a grin.

“Do you know how to put together a Christmas tree?”

“Nope," Jazz replied then pulled the instructions out of my hands, “But I’m sure I can learn.”

I leaned back on my hands letting Jazz glance over the page of instruction that were nearly as tall as him. My eyes glanced over to the base of the tree. Wow, I was really putting a Christmas tree up. I hadn’t done that in…forever. The last real Christmas I had was with Aubrey at the foster home we were staying in. The next two years when I was at the home without her I refused to participate, and since then I just didn’t pay the holiday much mind. I wasn’t scrooge incarnate or anything. I would buy a few gifts for college friends here and there, and after I dropped out of school the only person I would ever need to buy a Christmas gift for was Kyle. The two of us decided early on that we wouldn’t buy each other gifts though. We’d just hang out together on the dreaded day.

“It’s the black ones.” Jazz said determinedly, snapping me out my thoughts.

“Black?” I picked up the bag of black screws and shook my head, "They’re too long though, and the silver ones are too short.”

Ratchet peered over Jazz’s shoulders, “No, it’s the white screws.”

“There are no white screws!” I cried.

“According to these instructions there are.” He scoffed and pointed to a certain part on the instructions, “See.”

Jazz tilted his head, “Mech’s got a point.”

Wheeljack came walking back over from his project, “Perhaps I can help?”

The twins had disappeared so the only ones in the living room, not counting the Decepticons in the bathroom, were me, the grumpy medic, the easily excited nightlight, and Jazz. It was hard coming up with a nickname for Jazz. I’m pretty sure I had one for everyone except him. I’d have to work on that.

“-if we do this then it’ll fit.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“The fake tree isn’t supposed to catch fire.”

“You have so little faith in me, Ratchet.”

“Only because I’m constantly reattaching your limbs!”

Jazz was seated on my knee, leaning back, as the two of us watched Wheeljack and Ratchet argue over the instructions. They bickered just as well as the twins did.

“By reattaching his limbs, does Ratchet really mean…?”

Jazz nodded, “Oh yeah. Jackie’s constantly blowin’ himself to kingdom come. You should see his lab.”

“So he seriously does have a knack for blowing things up? You guys weren’t kidding?”

“Nope. We were as serious as a spark attack.”

Great. Just great. So basically Wheeljack was building a bomb in my living room. The aunt of the year award goes to, drumroll please….

I nudged Jazz off my knee and moved forward, “Listen, you can do whatever you want to any part of this tree as long as it stands and doesn’t explode.”

“Really?” Wheeljack’s eyes and fins lit up bright blue.

“Yupp. I just need it up before the kids get home.”

Ratchet slapped the back of my hand, “You can’t give him free reign like that!”

I rubbed the back of my hand, “That’s abuse, Ratchet.”

“It’s punishment. You do something stupid, and you get punished for it. Ask the twins, they know all about it.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sure they do.”

Even though my free reign was supposedly a bad thing, it got things done. It only took another hour of work and bickering for the tree to go up. I would pick up the layer and set it where it was supposed to go and then Wheeljack and Ratchet would settle it in place. As we got higher, Jazz had to be the one to settle it in place by using his grappling hook. Finally, the tree was set up in its dark green, plastic needle glory. I let out a sigh of relief and grinned at the thing. We came, we conquered.

“There may be a few issues when it comes time to take it down.” Wheeljack began to warn.

I waved his warning off, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Hey, you finally got it up!”

I turned to see Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak come into the room. Sideswipe had been the one to speak, but Bee and Blue jogged over with more excitement while the taller bots followed at a slower pace.

“Is this a Christmas tree? It looks so cool, but I thought there was supposed to be more stuff on it? Like lights, and balls, and-”

I shook my head at Bluestreak, “It’s not done yet. When the kids get home they’re gonna decorate it.”

“Can we help?” Bumblebee asked.

I chuckled, “I doubt the kids would have it any other way.”

“It’s an optic sore is what it is.” Sunstreaker replied to a comment from Sideswipe that I didn’t hear. Maybe he had said something over the magic bond, “Couldn’t she have picked a better spot?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “I will punt you across the room, Goldilocks.” 

Sunstreaker let out a low growl, “Frag off, femme, and don’t call me-”

Ratchet reached out and hit Sunstreaker across the back of his head with his hand, “Language!”

“You curse around her all the time!”

“I don’t curse at her though. Have some respect you pit spawn glitch.” Ratchet snapped. 

Sunstreaker replied in his own language to which Ratchet hit him again. The yellow bot jumped back, “Watch the paint!”

“I am going to need so much therapy after all this.” I mumbled to myself with a shake of my head.

Jazz chuckled, apparently hearing my words, “We ain't that bad are we?”

The bathroom door swung open and the Decepticons began to file out making all the bots around my feet tense up. They stopped to stare at the green tree behind me. 

Barricade shouted something in his own language while Skywarp transformed into a jet to hover above the group, “Do we attack it?”

Before Megatron could even answer I threw my hands up to shield the tree, “You attack the tree and I kill you, so think carefully!”

Megatron glowered at me for a moment before speaking, “Stand down.”

I probably looked crazed standing in front of the tree in a defense position like I was. Yupp, serious therapy after the next two months.

Nervous was an understatement to how I was at the moment. I was close to pulling out my own hair. My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as I waited for the kids to get out of school. My thoughts kept zooming back to the house. Was it still standing? My eyes darted to the time. 3:00 PM. It had been an hour and thirty minutes since I put up the tree. It had been about ten minutes since I left home. Ten minutes was plenty of time to ruin everything, and I still had to go shopping.

Finally, I spotted the kids running out of school with a mass of other children. 

“Hey guys.” I greeted as they got into the car in their usual places.

“Did you bring Bee and Blue with you??” Tyler questioned as he put his seatbelt on.

I shook my head, “No, not today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll bring them with me.”

“Ok.” Taylor chirped happily.

“How was school?” I asked smoothly as I pulled out. Walmart was like five minutes away. I could make this a quick trip, I know I could.

“We did an experiment today in class for science and Mr. Kingsley caught some paper on fire on accident.” Peter spoke up first.

My eyes widened, “He did what? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. It was really cool though.”

“Ty and I have a project to do, Aj!” Taylor leaned forward.

“Sit back in your seat.”

She did so and continued, “Mrs. Belle says we have to make a family tree of our family! We have to put who we’re related to and pictures of them.”

“Yeah," Tyler added, “It’s due this Friday. We turn it in before our Christmas party.”

Peter glanced back, “They need a poster board for it.”

“No problem. We’re heading to Walmart right now.” I replied. As estimated, it took me five minutes to get to Walmart and only another couple minutes to find one of those buggies with the big blue seats were kids could sit. Tyler and Taylor sat in the seat happily whispering to each other and sending me giggly glances. Peter walked by my side as we tore through Walmart looking for the items needed starting with the poster board.

“Milk.” Peter read off the list for me. I pushed the buggy toward the back where milk would be. He adjusted his glances then looked up at me, “Why are we in such a rush?”

“I want to get back home before the house burns down.”

“You can trust Optimus to keep it standing, Aj.” Peter said with full faith. I couldn’t help but smile. This was just another good sign. Peter had put his trust in me, he had put his trust in a living toy that came to life not even a four days ago. It meant he wasn’t broken like me. He could heal.

I nodded, “You’re right. OP is a good bossbot. I’m just…nervous.” I wouldn’t tell them about Megatron until the drive home. I grabbed a gallon of milk and set it in the cart. “Next?”

“Glitter remover?” Peter questioned. “We have that at home. Mom uses it for when Taylor gets glitter on things where it’s hard to remove. It’s under the sink.”

I laughed, “Oh, so getting glitter on things is a habit of yours, huh Taylor?”

She beamed at me with a wide smile. I reached down and ruffled her hair making it a wild mess. She briefly complained between her laughs and began to fix it.

“Next is cereal.” Peter continued.

I headed in that direction when Tyler spoke up, “Who’s your favorite bot now, Aj? Is it still Ratchet?”

I wasn’t going to comment that they had decided Ratchet was my favorite. Honestly, I didn’t know how to reply at all, “Umm I guess? Ratchet is pretty cool.”

“Jazz should be your favorite!” Taylor said happily, “You saved his arm and now you guys can be best friends forever!”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Tay.” I replied.

Tyler shook his head and ignored me, “What about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?”

“Why would it be them?” Taylor asked with a frown, unhappy that her idea hadn’t been accepted by all immediately. 

Peter shook his head as I turned into the cereal aisle, “It can’t be them. Aj doesn’t have anything in common with them.”

Tyler shrugged and I watched as the twins jumped from their seats to go find their favorite cereal. I focused my gaze on Peter. Nothing in common? Maybe with Sunstreaker yeah, but I had quickly caught onto the fact that Sideswipe was just as sarcastic as me. Who doesn’t bond over shared sarcasm?

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

Peter smiled, “Don’t tell them I said this because I don’t think they want us to know, ok?” He waited until I nodded my head in approval then continued, “They’re the scariest Autobots for a reason. They used to be gladiators in this giant fighting arena where they killed others to survive and for the entertainment of other bots. They moved onto other things and joined the Autobots eventually, but for them fighting is everything.” My eyes widened at his last statement, but he didn’t notice my surprise and kept going, “All they have is each other and fighting. Sideswipe is funnier and he’s easier to be around, but he’s still scary and Sunstreaker…he doesn’t trust people. I mean, he trusts enough of the Autobots so he can get out there and fight, but the only person he really trusts is his brother.” Peter looked sheepish, “That’s why I kind of avoid them. I mean, I know they’re Autobots, but…they still kind of scare me.”

“Pete!” Taylor called.

Peter smiled at me and went to stand by his little sister and brother. I stood frozen by the buggy. Nothing like them, huh? Peter said that the twins scared them. That the blood lust those two had for fighting was basically terrifying to him. What if they knew I was like that? What if they knew how much I needed fighting in my life? How I craved it like a person craves sunlight after being in the dark too long? How I needed it like a cocaine addict needed their next hit? Taylor and Tyler were trying to decide which cereal was better and Peter was helping them. All three were laughing and smiling without a care in the world. They turned to look at me happily before returning to their conversation. Would they still look at me like that if they knew how much enjoyed fighting? How I reveled in the fact that my controlled movements could bring victory, bring bloodshed? 

“Can we get these?” Taylor called from across the aisle holding up her own box.

I cleared my throat and nodded, “Yeah. Bring them over.”

They all rushed over with a box and threw it into the buggy. The shopping list was complete and it was time to pay and then head home. Peter had joined in on the twin’s conversation and I was glad. It gave me more time to think. If they knew who I really was it would be over. My vacation from the reality of my life would be shattered. They wouldn’t just hate me, if it was hate alone I think I could live with that, but it was worse than just hate. The kids would be scared of me. Terrified, and that thought alone made my blood run cold.

“Can we get candy?” Tyler asked as we stood in line waiting for the register.

“Yeah, go ahead and grab one. Each of you.”

The drive home was quiet and it was mostly because the kids were powering through the candy I had bought for them with Aubrey’s card. My thoughts shot back to one of the other things Peter said about the twins. All they had was each other. In that single moment, I hated Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. It wasn’t fair of me to hate them, but a part of me couldn’t help it. I hated them purely because I was jealous. Sunstreaker had fighting and his brother. That was it. Ten years ago I had fighting and Aubrey. Sideswipe never left Sunstreaker. He stood by his brother still. I, on the other hand, was alone. My partner in crime, the only person I gave my full and absolute trust ditched me, and for that reason I hated them. I hated them for what they still had. For what I had lost.

How could I even look at them anymore without thinking of Aubrey and I ten years ago? I heaved a sigh and pulled into the driveway. I could always just avoid the condiment brothers. Once again, I was a professional avoider. It shouldn’t be too hard to avoid the two, right?

“I can’t wait to see Blue!” Tyler jumped out of the car.

My eyes widened, “Wait!”

I jumped out and stopped the kids from running to the house, “Grab a bag each of you.” Once we had all the bags we walked to the porch. Peter held the poster board. I stopped them again, “Listen, Megatron came to life while-”

“Megatron is alive??” Tyler cried.

“Yes. We have a truce, everything should be hunky dory, but I don’t trust the little fragger.”

“You said fragger.” Peter pointed out.

My eyes widened, had I seriously used their curse? I shook my head, “No, I didn’t. I said fuck- no ! No! I said nothing because cursing is very bad. Don’t do it!”

The kids were stifling their laughs. I sighed and opened the door ready to be greeted by a new war. Instead, at the base of the stairs a familiar bot stood. It was the one without a face. The one that was supposed to be lying face down in the med bay not moving.

“Whoa! Soundwave woke up too!” Taylor beamed.

I pushed the kids into the kitchen to set the bags down, “What’s on fire!?”

“Nothing is on fire, Aj.” Peter replied.

“Whenever a new one of them wakes up things go to hell- not hell, heck . I said heck !” I cried and marched out of the kitchen where Soundwave still stood. He stared at me and I stared back.

“Why are you panicking? You sound like Red Alert.” Sideswipe walked out of the living room. My glare settled on him and his eyes widened in surprise. He glanced behind himself as if to see who I was glaring at because I couldn’t possibly be trying to burn a hole in his chest with my eyes.

“Whoa! A Christmas tree! Can we decorate it, Aj?” Tyler yelled and ran into the living room to look at it. The other bots were in the living room because I could hear Tyler greeting them all. 

Peter stepped up beside me, “It’s very nice to meet you, Soundwave. Welcome to our home.”

The bot nodded his head before walking into the living room with Peter who was still talking to him. I glanced around. Nothing seemed out of order since I left. That was a relief. I turned to put the groceries away when I saw Taylor standing behind me staring sadly at the tree.

“What’s wrong, sweetie? Are you hurt?” I fell to my knees in front of her and begin to glance at her arms and legs for injuries. She shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. It felt like someone punched me in the gut. I put a hand on her face softly, “Hey, hey. It’s ok. Tell me what’s wrong?”

She folded herself into my arms, nearly knocking me backwards, and began to cry. I wrapped my arms around her tightly and soothingly rubbed my hand against the back of her head, “Taylor, baby,-”

“I miss mama.” She sobbed. “Mama always does the decorations with us. Why isn’t she here?”

My heart broke a little at her words. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that the kids might have thought that way. Tyler and Peter seemed ok, but I had noticed that Taylor was more sensitive than them.

“She’s…She’s busy, honey.” I said softly, “She’ll be home soon.”

“Not soon enough. I don’t want Christmas without her.”

What do you say to a little girl who missed her mom? To a little girl who didn’t even wanna celebrate Christmas without her? 

In nodded, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know you miss her, but she doesn’t want you to be sad. She doesn’t want you to miss Christmas just because she was busy this year. I talked to her after I dropped you off. She’s gonna call tonight and you can talk to her all about it.”

“Really?” Taylor replied with a muffled voice.

“Really.” I pushed her back a little so she was standing, but I kept her in arm’s reach. I wiped away the tears with my hands and gave her a small smile, “She wants you to have fun. Besides, if you don’t go over there to decorate who’s gonna teach the bots what to do? This might just be their first real Christmas and we get to spend it with them.”

She rubbed her face with the back of her arm, “Can I put the star on the tree?”

“Of course.” I nodded. 

“Is…Is everything ok?”

I glanced back to see Bumblebee standing between the foyer and kitchen nervously, like he didn’t want to interrupt anything, but still wanted to make sure everything was ok. I nodded, “Everything is ok, right?”

Taylor nodded, “Hey Bee, can I show you my ornaments? They’re princesses.”

Bumblebee could obviously tell Taylor needed a fun distraction, “I would love that! Can I help you hang some up?”

“Yeah!” She nodded and picked the bot up in her arms. I watched as she walked into the living room hugging Bumblebee to her chest like an anchor.

I stood and moved to grab the groceries. Peter’s voice called from the living room, “Aj! Can Wheeljack and I put the lights on the tree?”

“Wheeljack isn’t allowed anywhere near the lights!” I yelled back, “All he can handle is the non-electric, non-exploding Christmas decorations!” 

There was no reply, but Jazz stepped into the kitchen chuckling. He pointed at me, “Now you’re learnin’.”

Putting the decorations on the tree wasn’t a disaster. It was actually kind of fun. Nearly everyone got into it and the few who refused to participate still watched. Those few being Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Barricade. Prowl said it was because he decided to leave more for the kids to use, but I think he just didn’t want to get tangled into this Christmas decoration nonsense. Sunstreaker didn’t want to mess up his paint, fully believable, and Barricade was just an asshole. There had to be some reason why he hated me so much. Maybe it was still because of the dryer thing. I didn’t care enough to ponder over it.

I helped Taylor get the star on the tree, but it was decided that we wouldn’t turn it on until it got dark outside. As the entire group of humans, Autobots, and Decepticons hung out in the living room still high on the fun they had decorating the tree and not fighting, I slipped away into the kitchen. I did so to figure out what I’d make for dinner, but I paused at the sight of Megatron in the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Megsy," I called out sweetly, “Why didn’t you join in?”

“Like I would participate in that nonsense, fool.”

“I’m sorry.” I moved past him to the cupboards, “If I had remembered you were allergic to non-terrorizing activities and the full range of pleasant emotions, I would’ve set out a different activity for you. Coloring book, maybe? Crossword puzzle?”

Megatron wasn’t impressed by my joke. I thought it was pretty good. It was silent a moment before he spoke up, “It is obvious you lean toward those Autoscum rather than us Decepticons.”

“That’s not true.” I replied. “I mean, maybe it seems that way sometimes. This might come as a shock to you, but Optimus Prime is a little more trustworthy.”

“You don’t know him like I do.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, “Yeah, ok. Listen, I treat you guys how you treat me and the kids. Barricade has shot at me multiple times which is why he’s probably going to live in the dryer for most of the two months here. Starscream shot at the kids when he first showed up so I came after him with a bat. If Prowl or Wheeljack or Optimus Prime started terrorizing us I’d bury them in the backyard just like I would to you.” I bent down and opened the cabinet under the sink, “So, helpful tip? Be nice. At least fake it until you get out of here. Smile sometimes. Unless, do you burst into flames when you smile?” Megatron wasn’t amused by that joke either. “Just, stop commanding me to do stuff. Say please every once in while or something.”

I pulled out a bottle with the label ‘ glitter remover’ written on it in Aubrey’s handwriting. I wondered if she wrote that just for me. I grabbed the kitchen rag and soaked a spot on the towel. I wasn’t entirely sure what was in that mixture, but after a few minutes of elbow grease most of the glitter was gone.

“Thank you.” Megatron said after I put away all the stuff. 

I gave him a thumbs up, “That didn’t hurt too much did it?”

He shook his head, muttering under his breath, and left the kitchen. Why couldn’t it be that easy to get through to Barricade? 

The tree looked awesome. We had waited until after dinner, after they talked to Aubrey on the phone, which lifted their moods significantly, and after the kids were ready for bed and then I let Peter turn it on. It was a mess of lights, princess ornaments, glass ball ornaments, and superheroes, but it seemed to fit our little makeshift family. The bots seemed impressed by it too.

“Look!” Peter came back into the room with two ornaments.

At the sight of them I laughed, “Oh, no way.”

“Mom got it for us last year. I forgot that I put them in my room.” He held up the metal ornaments. One was the red face the Autobots wore and the other was the purple one the Decepticons wore. He leaned forward, “Should we have them put it on?”

Taylor and Tyler were watching eagerly, but I could see their eyes drooping. I took the ornaments and stood in front of the bots. “OP? Megsy? Front and center.”

The two leaders came forward. They both seemed hesitant, but Optimus’ hesitance was friendlier while Megatron narrowed his eyes at me.

“Time for the last ornaments.” I handed each one to the respective leader. Jazz and Bumblebee started a round of cheers that even most of the Decepticons joined in on. I set my hands down so they could get on rather than just grabbing them around the waist. It took longer for Megatron to get on, unsurprisingly, but after they were both on I carried them over to the tree where they hung each ornament close to the top.

“Thank you.” Optimus nodded.

“Alrighty," I put them down then turned to the kids, “Time for bed.”

Tyler yawned, “But I’m not tired.”

“Mhmm, that’s believable.” I replied and began to head upstairs with them following. As we reached the top I was surprised to see Bumblebee and Bluestreak with the twins and Prowl with Peter. Instead of questioning it I leaned forward and noisily kissed the top of Peter’s head. He let out an over exaggerated groan, “Night, Peter.”

“Night, Aj.”

I walked the twins into their room giving each of them a kiss on the head, to which Tyler copied his older brother and groaned as well. They chorused a good night to me and I watched as Bumblebee and Bluestreak settled in the bed beside them but not asleep.

Slowly, I backed out of the room and closed the door. While I had been putting them in bed the bots had scattered around the house and most of the Autobots were coming upstairs to their own base. Ratchet headed toward my room, but I stopped Optimus while the others went to the office.

“Hey, I noticed Blue, Bee, and Prowl with the kids? I mean, I know the kids love hanging out with them, but if your bots wanted to be on their own rather than staying the night-”

Optimus shook his head, “They volunteered. We know a truce was issued, but it felt better to have someone keeping guard. Blue and Bee enjoy spending time with the twins and although Prowl isn’t as open about how he feels, I think he enjoys Peter’s presence as well.”

“Oh.” I said. I liked how he was keeping an eye on the kids too. It felt good, “Thanks, OP. I can call you that right? Is it too like unprofessional?”

Optimus chuckled, “I believe it’s fine. After all, you did say this was our vacation correct?”

I snapped my fingers, “Now you’re getting the hang of it.” The two of us walked toward the office, “So do I get a little guardian?”

It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be to tell if Optimus was smiling behind the battle mask. I could easily tell he was smiling now, “There’s a reason why the med bay is in your room.”

“Ratchet? He’s my guardian?”

“Guardian is a bit too formal. He keeps an eye on you at night.” Optimus replied, “Besides, you honestly do not require much guarding.”

I grinned, “Because I’m so tough, right?”

The office door was already open so we stepped in as he spoke, “That and Grimlock did technically adopt you. No one messes with the dinobots, even an adopted dinobot.”

I lifted my gaze to see Grimlock in the corner. He noticed me as well, “There you human are! Me, Grimlock, bored! Bring something!”

“Adopted dinobot.” I repeated, “Are you sure you don’t mean dinobot slave?”

Jazz was on the desk with Wheeljack talking. Optimus quickly climbed the makeshift stairs to the desk. He glanced at me again, “Are you going to sleep?”

My eyes darted to the punching bag in the corner of the room. An itch began to grow, “Umm…actually, no. There’s one more thing I need to do.”

‘If this is a vacation, why do we still have to patrol? There’s not even any real room to let loose.’ Sideswipe whined over the bond. At his words he swerved left and right before straightening again to fall in line with his twin. ‘It’s so boring.’

‘Keep whining, I’m sure that’ll fix it you slagging idiot.’

‘How about you pull that stick out of your aft, Sunny?’

“Don’t call me that.” Sunstreaker growled aloud and swerved to ram into his brother. Sideswipe easily dodged with a snicker and sped forward. The two continued this little game until new voices alerted them. They transformed and hid behind the wall behind the stairs.

“Do not warp in there.” Thundercracker said firmly.

“But TC-”

“No.” He continued, “She doesn’t want us in there.”

“You don’t know that.” Skywarp replied.

Sunstreaker wanted to attack. Sideswipe could feel it over the bond, and he knew he was probably giving off a similar feeling. It was overshadowed by his curiosity though. The seeker’s argument ended with Thundercracker jetting away and Skywarp following after a moment. 

‘She’s in the garage.’ Sideswipe stepped around the corner. The garage door was closed per usual, but there was a sound coming from the room. Something neither probably would’ve heard if it wasn’t for their warrior enhanced hearing. 

‘So what?’ Sunstreaker growled.

‘Let’s go see what she’s doing in there!’

‘Why the frag would we do that?’

Sideswipe knew why Sunstreaker wasn’t curious in the slightest. He wasn’t happy about being here, he wasn’t happy about being only a foot tall, and he wasn’t happy dealing with a bunch of humans. Three of which who were younglings. 

‘She’s not that bad’ , Sideswipe argued, ‘ This afternoon was interesting.’

Sunstreaker was fully aware that his twin was amused this afternoon. He could feel the effects of it the entire time, and he knew it had to be from the bond considering he wasn’t entirely amused watching Starscream suck up to Megatron. He couldn’t understand why his brother would even want to talk to the slagging squishy, let alone try to become friends. They’d be gone soon enough and she was unbearable at best.

‘I wanna see what she’s up to.’ Sideswipe declared and headed toward the door, ‘She was acting weird when she came home.’

Sunstreaker scoffed, “She was ignoring you and I don’t blame her. You’re fragging annoying.”

“Please, I’m a pleasure to be around.” Sideswipe grinned and looked up at the locked door. This was just like any other day in their lives. Sideswipe got hung up on something and Sunstreaker got dragged into the mess. He could’ve left his twin to break into the garage alone, but he wouldn’t. Even if he wanted nothing to do with the femme.

Being right next to the door, they could hear the sounds even better. Low thuds repeating, fast music barely audible. Sideswipe turned to his brother with another grin, ‘ Lift?’

Sunstreaker sighed and held his hands out. Sideswipe was quick to jump into his brother’s laced together hands. “Watch the paint, you-”

Sideswipe moved one foot to stand on Sunstreaker’s face. He didn’t need to considering he already had his servos around the doorknob and was turning it, but why give up such a perfect opportunity?

Sunstreaker dropped him and moved to punch him in the side as the door popped open toward them slightly. Sideswipe stifled his laughter as Sunstreaker stepped back and tried to rub the scuff marks on his face away. He hadn’t washed in four days. Four fragging days.

Sideswipe ignored his brother’s depression over his lack of hygiene. He wasn’t exactly happy about the lack of showers, but it didn’t bother him as much. Besides, Sunny looked fine to him. Sideswipe slipped into the room and froze in surprise.

‘What?’ Sunstreaker followed after feeling his brother’s shock. He paused beside his brother to stare in surprise as well. His surprise didn’t show on his face like Sideswipe’s did though.

Across the garage a punching bag hung from a bike rack on the ceiling. That wasn’t the startling image though. There Aj was next to the bag pounding away at it. They were used to seeing fighting femmes. All the femmes from back home could kick ‘con aft. A fighting human femme though? That was a first for them. She didn’t look like she did the last time they saw her either. 

‘Where’d her armor go?’ Sunstreaker thought to himself but the thoughts traveled.

‘Clothing, Sunny. Humans wear clothing.’

‘Don’t call me that.’

Sideswipe tilted his head. Aj only wore shorts and a top that wasn’t made of much cloth. Her arms and legs were exposed along with some of her shoulder blades. Her hair was tied up and music could be heard playing from white buds in her ears.

‘Look at her move.’ Sideswipe hummed. They may not have understood why humans wear what they do or what the pit hair was or what it was for, but what they did understand was fighting. 

‘Not bad. She’s off balance though. Should shift her weight.’ Sunstreaker replied as Aj pounded away on the bag, ‘She’s leaking.’

‘That’s what happens when humans work hard.’

‘I hate how much you know about these pathetic organics.’

‘Don’t be jealous, Sunny, you know I’ve always known more than you.’ Sideswipe’s comment got him hit over the bond. He expected no less. Aj continued moving throwing punches and kicks, shifting around the bag as she went. From this new angle they could see more, like how her knuckles were leaving traces of red on the bag.

Sideswipe frowned, ‘She’s bleeding.’

Blood was a human term both bots understood completely. Sunstreaker didn’t continue keeping his attention on the blood, but rather he shifted his gaze to Aj’s determined eyes. Sideswipe had commented days ago how he thought it was amusing that three of the humans had blue eyes like an Autobot. The twin organics blue eyes were on the darker side unlike the fighting femme. Her eyes were lighter with flecks of an even lighter color in the right light. The only reason Sunstreaker noticed was because it was an interesting color, not that he cared at all, he just thought to log the color away in the back of his processor to use in a painting at some point.

Another thing he thought was interesting? How different her eyes looked right now. Focus, determination, and…

‘She might as well have gladiator programming. Look how different she is.’ Sideswipe crossed his arms.

Sunstreaker mentally hit him again , ‘Don’t say that.’

Aj’s movements were slowing which meant it was time for the twins to leave. They did so quietly and lightly shut the door. Sideswipe was grinning at his brother with a smugness spreading across the bond.

‘Told you she was interesting.’

‘Even a broken clock is right two times a day.’ Even more smugness spread much to Sunstreaker’s dismay. Sideswipe began to poke his brother through the bond as an unspoken question rang through crystal clear. Damn his brother’s tendencies to get hung up on the stupidest things. Damn it straight to the pit. ‘Fine. We’ll keep an eye on her. See where it leads.’

‘Love you, Sunny.’

‘Frag off.’

Chapter Text

"Visitors always give great pleasure ⏤ if not the arrival, the departure." ⏤Portuguese Proverb

“Helm. That’s your head. Servos equals hands, pedes equal feet. I…I have no idea what’s written here. The word maybe starts with a 'W'. It’s supposed to mean sleep?”

“Recharge.”

“That’s an R?” I squinted my eyes and leaned closer to the list lying to the right of Ratchet’s feet. My hands were outstretched as I sat on the ground by his little med bay stage. The morning had been normal for the most part. Tyler and Taylor had given me a list of Cybertronian words to learn. Apparently, Peter had given them the idea yesterday and that was what they had been so giggly about. It was helpful, except I couldn’t read their handwriting at some points. “Does that say berth? I need to work with the kids on their handwriting or something.”

Ratchet’s reply was a smack on the side of my hands, “Stop talking. I’m working.”

“My hands are injured not my mouth.”

He narrowed a glare at me that I smiled sweetly at. On my way out of the house, Peter had pointed out that my knuckles were looking worse for wear. They were bruised and the skin was broken, but it wasn’t a big deal. I had reassured the kids that it was nothing, but Ratchet deemed otherwise. I had hoped that when I came back from dropping them off he would’ve forgotten about it, but I guess I wasn’t that lucky.

“You still have not told me what happened.” Ratchet snapped as he rubbed Neosporin across my knuckles with a Q-tip I had provided him.

I shrugged, “The others already told you. I took the punching bag down to the garage to work out. They all saw me do it.”

“You hurt yourself working out?”

“Yeah”, I nodded, “Kick boxing. I took a few lessons in college, it burns calories like nobody’s business.”

Ratchet set the Q-tip down, “You didn’t think to stop when you started to feel pain?”

“I didn’t realize I was causing so much damage.” I replied calmly, “I have a high tolerance of pain from the sports I used to play. I stopped when I first noticed the blood.”

For a second neither of said a word or moved. I could tell that Ratchet didn’t believe me. I could read it on his little, metal face, but I didn’t offer up a new excuse. That would be too obvious. It was best to play dumb. People underestimated you when you played dumb.

My eyes darted back down to the list, “So obviously there are no Cybertronian swear words on here. Wanna enlighten me, Ratch?”

His reply was another slap to my fingers. I chuckled and pulled my hands back before quickly standing up. The list wasn’t really long, but I still hadn’t read through it all the way yet. I folded up the list and stuck it into my back pocket.

“You should take better care of yourself. I’ve noticed you take medicine often-”

“It’s Excedrin, for headaches. My doctor suggested them to me years ago when I started having the headaches.” I shook my head, “It’s no big-”

Ratchet interrupted me, “Not the red pills. You take a pill daily before bed. What is that for?”

My eyes widened, “My birth control? No. Nope . We’re not going to talk about that.”

“Is it essential? Do you-”

“ No .” I shook my head, “I refuse to explain to you what that medicine is for just like I refuse to talk to Jazz about more details on sparkmates.”

“You spoke to him about sparkmates?”

“Yeah”, A new voice chimed in. My head snapped to the side to see the condiment twins come in. Sideswipe spoke, “She also asked about guardian-ward bonds.”

“What do you two slaggin’ idiots want?” Ratchet growled. He continued on his rampage, still grumpy from having to deal with my transparent excuses and lack of information on my essential medication. However, I narrowed my eyes at the twins. I hadn’t been suspicious when they lounged in the kitchen this morning as I made breakfast. I wasn’t suspicious when they showed up in the office as I was speaking to Optimus this morning. Now, though, I was plenty suspicious. These jokers were showing up in every room I went to. The house wasn’t that big which means there was usually at least one bot in any room I was in, but I never ran into these two this much. They were usually constantly on the move.  

The only thing I didn’t understand is why these two would follow me? Them stalking me was making it hard for me to avoid them. Assholes. If they wanted to play that game though, I could play too. I had learned a few things over the last couple days. 

I sat back down and leaned back on my hands casually. Sideswipe was still cheekily replying to each complaint that Ratchet threw out. Sunstreaker on the other hand had locked his gaze onto me. I stared back unblinking. He quickly realized that I didn’t plan on glancing away and narrowed his eyes in determination. So that’s how I found myself in the stare down of the century with a foot tall metal warrior. 

“Hey, Ratch.” I spoke up, not breaking my gaze with Sunstreaker, “Maybe the twins here need a check-up. You were complaining that they were part of the group who hadn’t gotten theirs done yet, weren't you?”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sideswipe’s blue eyes widen. He shook his head, “I wouldn’t say that, we aren’t that important. The others should come first.”

Sunstreaker saw my play and called me on it. His jaw clenched, “Good idea, human. Go ahead and get your check-up, Sides.”

Sideswipe was arguing vehemently now against Ratchet, but I just narrowed my eyes at the yellow devil. I was hoping my little suggestion would have the two of them running. Check-ups from Ratchet seemed to make every single one of them run. Hell, I think I saw Optimus Prime flinch at the mention of it. 

I let my gaze drift some to take in his features. I hadn’t really looked at these guys that closely before. Sunstreaker had really humanish features, they all did, but this was the first time I was really looking at him. His metal face was very symmetrical and I figured his twin brother had identical features. 

I was vaguely aware that Ratchet was dragging Sideswipe onto the stage to my right where the makeshift berths were when our stare down was interrupted by something I didn’t expect.

The doorbell .

My eyes widened and I broke gazes with him to quickly stand up. Ratchet had stopped trying to get Sideswipe to stay still and the red monster took advantage of that moment and leaped off the stage to stand behind his brother. I glanced from a curious looking Ratchet to a smug Sunstreaker.

“Stay up here and stay quiet.” I said before rushing out of the room. Grimlock stepped out of the office with Optimus and Prowl behind him. I motioned back to the room, “Stay in there.”

I didn’t stay to see if they listened and rushed down the stairs. I had this bad habit where I never checked who was behind the door before opening it. It was a force of habit really. Part of it was because I had no fear of who would be standing behind the door ever. The thought always hovered in my mind that if a danger was lurking behind the door I could take it head on. I didn’t check in New York, and I didn’t check here. I pulled the door open and stuck my head out only to freeze up in shock.

“ K - Kyle ??” I blurted. The green eyed man stood at my door with a smirk on his lips and a duffel bag around his shoulder. His blond hair was a ruffled mess, per usual, and his tall, broad frame wore a plaid button up shirt with jeans.

“Hey, Aj. Brought you your stuff.” He shrugged his shoulder to bring attention to the duffel bag again, “Are you going to let me in? It was kind of a long drive.”

Seconds passed where I didn’t say anything or move. Kyle was at my door. Kyle Osborne. Shit. I slammed the door in his face only to quickly reopen it. His eyes were wide, but I offered a forced smile, “Don’t move. Stay here. I’ll be back.”

I slammed the door again and ran into the living room. Wheeljack was by the bookshelf working on his little invention with Jazz hovering around it watching.

“It’s really coming along!” Wheeljack cheered.

Jazz tilted his head at me, “Who was at the door?”

I rushed forward and grabbed both of them into my arms. They let out startled cries that I ignored for now. I could apologize for man handling them later. I ran back to the foyer and set them in front of the stairs, “To the office! Make sure everyone stays upstairs!”

They headed up the stairs and I ran into the kitchen where I spotted three jets lounging on the kitchen island looking at me curiously, “Go to your base. Stay there! Tell Megatron, Barricade, and Soundwave to stay in there too, and for the love of everything stay quiet.”

“Why should we?” Starscream narrowed his eyes.

“Because if you don’t I’ll rip your wings off.” I replied.

Thundercracker transformed, “Come on.”

I watched all three jets fly toward the living room bathroom. I mentally thanked TC and then began to count off all the bots. All Autobots were upstairs and the Decepticons were in the living room bathroom. I was covered.

Quickly, I went back to the door and took a deep breath. Before opening the door I ran a hand through my messy hair. This time when I smiled it wasn’t stressed or forced. It was a legitimate smile.

Kyle was still on the front porch looking confused as ever. He lifted an eyebrow at me, “Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yeah. I just had to tidy up a bit.” I replied and motioned for him to come in.

He stepped in with a small smile, “Were you talking to-”

“ Nope .” I cut him off and shut the door, “So, what- what are you doing here??”

He grinned showing off his dimples on his tan face, “I brought you your stuff like you asked.”

“I asked you to mail it to me. You drove all the way from New York to give me my stuff?”

“I’d do anything for you.” Kyle replied sweetly. I hated how this guy could melt my rough exterior and make me feel like a high school girl with a petty crush. At the same time though, I kind of liked it. I bit my lower lip and walked toward the kitchen. He set my bag down by the stairs and followed.

I moved toward the fridge, “Are you hungry? Maybe something to drink?”

“Just some water would be great.” Kyle replied and sat down at the table. I moved to get him a glass then sat across from him.

As he drank, I let a smirk cross my lips, “Seriously though, Kyle. All the way from New York? I mean how many fi-” I paused and lowered my voice, “ fights are you missing ?”

He set down his glass after taking a sip and leaned across the table to whisper, “ Why are we whispering? ”

Oh, just because I don’t want any small Cybertronians overhearing about my involvement with fighting. No other reason.

“Umm.” I shrugged, “Just answer me.”

He chuckled, “I took a few sick days. I figured I could visit some family in Florida while down here.”

“You have family in Florida?” My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, “I never knew that.”

“Neither of us talk about family too much, Aj.”

“Touché.” I mumbled.

Kyle continued, “So why are you staying here for two months?” I began to spin the tale of my sick sister and her three kids who didn’t know. Kyle listened intently the entire time with his gorgeous green eyes locked onto me. At the end of the story, the story lacking living toys mind you, he shook his head, “I’m so sorry, Aj. I hope you sister is alright.”

“The doctors are hopeful.” I shrugged.

He reached across the table to set his hand on top of mine, “How are you handling it? Really?”

Kyle knew me inside and out. I never talked about Aubrey, but he knew I had family issues. He knew that I was the type of person to bottle everything up inside of me until I exploded one day. Kyle knew me just like I knew him. I sighed, “It’s… confusing . I missed her. I missed her a lot and seeing Aubrey again was…I just don’t know what to do.”

“Well, I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” Kyle replied, “It seemed like your sister really crushed you. You don’t want that to happen again do you?”

“Of course not.” I shook my head and his hand tightened around mine.

“I just don’t want to see you put your heart on the line to get it stomped on again.” He said smoothly. I didn’t know how to reply so he continued, “What about her kids?”

I didn’t even realize I was smiling at the mention of them until a chuckle escaped my lips, “The kids are…the kids are great . Peter, the oldest, he’s a smart kid and he’s so responsible for his age. Then the twins, Tyler and Taylor, they’re just… I love these kids, Kyle. They had me wrapped around their fingers within days.”

“That’s good.” Kyle nodded. He shifted in his seat and his eyes widened slightly. “What is this?” I watched as he pushed his chair back and reached under the table. He laughed to himself before sitting back up with a dark gray Decepticon in his hand, “ Transformers ?”

I was frozen in my seat staring at Megatron in Kyle’s hand. The leader hadn’t moved a single finger yet and just let Kyle hold him. How the hell had he gotten out here and under the table? He was dead. Deader than dead. I would officially declare myself an Autobot just to stomp his ass into the ground.

“This thing is cool.” Kyle chuckled and set Megatron on the table, “Where’d you get it?”

“Uh, it belongs to the kids. They’re huge fans.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Kyle chuckled, “I used to love the show as a kid. You still haven’t seen the movies yet, have you?”

I shook my head, “It’s on my to-do list.”

“You know, this guy, Megatron, he was always my favorite.” Kyle smiled and picked up him up again to look him over.

My shock and fear of having Megatron out here was shattered with Kyle’s statement, “What? Him? Why ?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Megatron is kind of a dick.” I replied with ease. Kyle had Megatron facing me right now and I watched as his red eyes narrowed at me. He was obviously offended. Not that I cared. He was still good as dead in my mind.

Kyle laughed, “How do you know? You haven’t even seen the movies.”

“Call it a hunch.” I mumbled. I reached across the table and took Megatron from Kyle’s hand, “Lemme just put this away.”

He nodded and I walked out of the kitchen toward the laundry room. 

“Put me down.” Megatron hissed as I stepped into the other room.

“What part of stay put didn’t you understand?” I snapped in a hushed tone. The dryer was filled with clothes so I opened the washer and threw him in there. He yelled something else at me, but I shut the washer door and then the laundry door itself. 

Kyle was standing by the table when I came back in. He pointed to the back rooms, “Were you talking-”

“ No .” I replied and came closer, “So, did you…did you return the money to boss?”

Kyle’s face fell, “Yeah, I did, but he wasn’t happy. He’s still pissed you missed the fights that night.”

“I knew he would be.” I sighed, “As long as he has the money it doesn’t matter. I’ll make it up to him when I get back.”

Kyle gave me a reassuring smile, “I’ll help where I can.”

I honestly didn’t deserve a friend like him. Kyle was always there for me when I needed him. We took care of each other. I kept thinking of the past, about how Aubrey abandoned me and that I was alone, but I wasn’t really alone anymore was I? I had Kyle. Maybe Kyle was my Sideswipe.

“I should probably head out.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, “It’s a long drive to Miami.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, it is. Be careful alright?” 

“Aren’t I always?” He joked. 

Kyle and I walked side by side back to the foyer. It was nice seeing him. Nice talking to him face to face like this. It was much needed, and a part of me wanted him to stay longer, but it really was a long drive to Miami and I didn’t want to hold him up any longer.

“I must have missed these guys earlier when I set your bag down.” Kyle chuckled.

My blood ran cold as I glanced over my shoulder to see Kyle staring down at a red and yellow robot at the foot of the staircase. After I declared myself an Autobot to kill Megatron, I would switch sides to then murder the twins. 

Kyle picked up Sideswipe, “I can’t remember their names.”

“I call them dumb and dumber.” I replied with a glare that Kyle didn’t see. He looked back at Sunstreaker on the ground and I could tell he was about to pick him up. Sunstreaker noticed as well because I could see his metal body tense up, “Wait, no!”

Kyle paused midway from grabbing him to look back at me, “What?”

“Don’t pick up the yellow one.” I replied quickly.

“Why?”

I bit my lips briefly, “He’s- It’s umm absolutely filthy . You do not want to see where it’s been. Trust me.”

Kyle shrugged. He tossed Sideswipe back onto the ground and headed toward the door. Sideswipe had landed on his back and I watched as he angrily sat up to glare at Kyle. I pointed at him before moving back toward Kyle who was none the wiser.

“Don’t let the kids make you weak.” He spoke up, “Remember who you are, Aj.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I replied. Kyle leaned down and pressed his lips against mine briefly. How long had I waited for something like that? Years . Though as he pulled away with a smile I didn’t feel anything. There was nothing behind the kiss. My lips didn’t tingle, I wasn’t grinning like an idiot, it was just a peck. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

“Good luck, Aj.” He left the house. I watched from the doorway as he got into what I assumed was a rental car, since he didn’t own one, and drove away. Ok, so maybe I was wrong about being in love with the guy, but he definitely was my best friend. I slowly shut the door and turned back around to see the twins staring at me.

“So, this is awkward.” Sideswipe broke the silence with a nervous grin.

I gave him a smile, “Oh, you two are so dead.”

Jazz liked knowing things. It was as simple as that. Why? The list was long. It stretched to the pit and back. As the head of Special Operations and as a professional saboteur, his main reason should’ve been something along the lines of ‘ knowledge is power’ . Which he did live by, knowing his enemy had saved his aft more times than he could count. Knowledge in his field of expertise gave him the upper hand. However, another reason was just plain curiosity. Jazz wanted to know because he was curious. 

His latest curiosity? A human femme by the name of Aimee Jane Bradshaw. She had a different family designation than the younglings who went by Williams. They hadn’t known what hers was so he went digging and found an identification card with the information. Only 26 human years old. He had parts that were older than the femme. Slag, most of him was made up of parts older than her. 

Jazz wasn’t entirely sure why his curiosity was so set on her, but it was. The younglings were interesting, but they were easy. Aimee Jane, or Aj, however was not easy. Peter, Tyler, and Taylor didn’t know much about her and whenever he tried to pry information from Aj herself she turned the conversation around rather expertly. He would’ve been impressed if her tactics weren’t keeping information away from him.

Today had been a breakthrough though. Someone new had shown up, and the human guy was spouting off information he probably wouldn’t have figured out on his own. The moment she had sent him upstairs he was already planning around it. He wasn’t the only one with that idea. Jazz had watched Megatron get warped under the table by Skywarp only to be caught moments later. He saw the twins get caught too and now all three were locked away in the new brig as he ran free. The difference between those three and him was that Jazz knew what he was doing. Sneaking around tended to be his expertise and he wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Aj didn’t catch him.

So now some new information was on the table that only four bots knew. Aj had a sick sister and that’s why she was watching the younglings. The younglings themselves had no idea that their carrier was sick, and it didn’t seem like Aj wanted them to know based on the way she threatened Megatron, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker not to breathe a word. Jazz wasn’t worried about the three of them saying anything. Megatron seemed to have his own agenda in mind by knowing the information, and Jazz was already aware that the twins had something planned as well based on the way they had been stalking the poor femme all morning.

Another new twist of information dealt with fighting and money which was a twist that Jazz didn’t expect in the slightest. It had surprised Megatron as well, but not the twins. Jazz tucked away their lack of surprise in the back of his processor to figure out later. 

Aimee Jane Bradshaw, 26 human years old, watching her sick sister’s younglings, fighting others for money. 

Jazz had just scratched the surface. He didn’t just want random facts, he wanted to know who Aj was. Why she did what she did. Maybe it was a tad bit obsessive, but Jazz had nothing else to do while he waited for a ride home. 

A sly smile graced his lips as he sat on the end of the stair’s handrail. The front door opened and Aj walked in. Her light blue eyes landed on Jazz in surprise, “Hey, Jazz. Anything on fire?”

“Not a thing.” Jazz replied with a quick thumbs up. 

The younglings ran in behind her from school.

“Hi Jazz!” Taylor cheered excitedly. 

Jazz chuckled at her high energy, “How you doin’, little lady?”

Aj let out a quick sigh, “Hey, Peter, go open the dryer and washer for me will you?”

“Is someone in there?” Peter asked curiously.

“Yeah. Megajerk, Rosie, and Sunflower.” She chirped back and headed up the stairs with Taylor who was calling out for Bumblebee. Jazz chuckled at the nicknames. She was good at them. He actually hadn’t heard her call Sunstreaker the same thing twice. He knew that Sunstreaker had noticed it and loathed it. That was probably why she did it.

His optics landed on Tyler who sulked into the living room quietly. He grappled down to the ground quickly then transformed to follow Tyler into the living room. He was quick to transform again and it didn’t take the mech long to get up to the couch where Tyler sat with a frown.

“Why the long face, kiddo?” Jazz questioned. Wheeljack was still across the room working on what Jazz was already referring to a soon to be bomb. He had faith in Jackie’s skills no doubt, but Jazz knew the mech well. He knew that when Wheeljack rushed, things got more dangerous and Wheeljack was trying to get this thing done quick. Now add in the fact that he was using subpar materials? Jazz didn’t plan on standing too close when he activated the thing that was for sure.

Tyler sighed, “It’s nothing.”

The youngling hugged his book bag to his chest. Jazz took a seat and leaned forward, “Aw come on, cadet. You can tell little ol’ meh.”

“C-Cadet?” 

Jazz bit back a smirk, “Well yeah, Aj declared herself neutral, but I can see it in your optics. You’re an Autobot in the makin’.”

The young boy’s lips twitched up slightly, “I wanna be like Blue. I wanna be a sniper.”

“Sounds good to meh, but you gotta start at the bottom and work your way up. Got it cadet?”

Tyler nodded, “I got it!”

“Got it, what?”

Jazz had to hold back a laugh as the youngling’s face grew serious, “I got it, sir!”

“Good, now tell the Jazz man what’s bothering ya.”

Tyler sighed, “It’s…It’s silly.” Jazz didn’t say a thing and just waited for Tyler to continue on his own accord. After a moment the boy sighed, “There’s this…there’s this girl. Her name is Sophia.”

“Sophia?”

“Yeah. I did something bad. I…I made her cry.” Tyler said softly then quickly added, “But I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to talk to her!”

Jazz crossed his arms, “How’d you make the little femme cry?”

“I pulled her hair.” Tyler said with shame, “Not too hard, but… That’s what Tommy does! And George and Jeffy.”

Jazz narrowed his optics behind his visor, “They all pull her hair?”

Tyler bit his lip, “She’s just…Sophia is really nice, and she has really curly, black hair and she always smells really good.”

“Ah”, Jazz chuckled, “You like Sophia.”

“No!” Tyler cried in argument. “I do not! I just- I- I don’t know.”

Jazz liked the younglings. He really did. It wasn’t often the bots got to hang around kids. The youngest Cybertronian he knew was Bumblebee and it wasn’t often they found themselves in the presence of human younglings. So it wasn’t surprising when all three of the kids grew on the bots. 

“Well, listen up, cadet!” Jazz stood up with an authoritative voice. It wasn’t one he used often, and it was tinged with amusement. Tyler sat up straighter, “As an Autobot in training, you can’t go pulling Sophia’s hair no more. In fact, you have to keep any other guys from pulling it. Got it?”

Tyler deflated, “Um… Alright. Then what do I do, Jazz, sir?”

Jazz had to hold back a chuckle again. Primus, when was the last time someone called him sir with a straight face? He nodded, “Tomorrow, you’re gonna go up to her and say you’re sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“Yupp. Then you’re gonna tell her that you think she’s the prettiest femme you’ve seen and that you wanna be friends.”

Tyler’s dark blue eyes widened, “What!? I can’t do that! My friends will laugh at me.”

Jazz smirked, “Listen to your commanding officer, kiddo. Put a little trust in meh.”

He opened his mouth then closed it again. Tyler sat in thought then finally opened his mouth again, “Are you sure it’ll work? What if she doesn’t forgive me?”

“I know it’ll work, and she’ll most definitely forgive you little man.”

A slow smile spread across the boy’s lips. He jumped up, “Thanks, Jazz, sir! I’m gonna go tell Blue that I’m a cadet!”

The thought of Tyler actually being an Autobot, of him being part of their war, was sickening. The only reason he could joke about it like he did was the fact that there was no way in the pit they could join the war. Living in a universe where the war was just fiction was a blessing that none of them realized they even had. Jazz watched as he ran out of the living room and up the stairs. Wheeljack left the room as well probably to find more supplies. Another bout of chuckles escaped his vocalizer as he shook his helm. 

“What was that all about?” Sideswipe entered the room. One jetpack usage later and the red mech was standing by Jazz. 

“Nothin’ much. Glad to be out?”

Sideswipe shrugged, “That was the longest she left anyone in the brig, about a joor if my chronometer is working right. Nothing compared to how long Prowl usually leaves us in there.”

“If it were up to Prowler I think he’d leave the two of you in there till it was time to go home.” 

“Probably.” Sideswipe nodded. He had no doubt about Jazz’s words. It sounded about right. “It was kind of fun though. Megatron was right next door and if you think we didn’t annoy him the entire time you’re wrong.” 

Jazz chuckled, “ We ?”

“Alright, so mainly me.” Jazz was sure that Sideswipe did everything in his power to annoy the Decepticon leader, and Jazz was also sure that all it probably took was Sideswipe talking. He also knew that Sunstreaker was probably just as annoyed. “So, how in the pit did you not get caught by Aj?”

“For starters, I ain't a bright red target.” Jazz grinned. Sideswipe let out a scoff, but Jazz continued, “Now, why don’t you tell me why you and your brother weren’t surprised by today’s news?”

Sideswipe smirked, “What’s in it for me?”

It wasn’t often that Jazz was on this side of the deal. It was usually the other way around where Sideswipe was paying Jazz for information. Jazz shrugged, “What you lookin’ for?” 

Jazz watched as the red mech thought for a moment. He knew that Sideswipe wasn’t stupid and would take advantage of this opportunity. He was probably talking to his brother over the bond too. Finally, Sides nodded, “Alright, any new information you get about her you tell us.”

“I can do that.”

“ And , you owe us a favor when we get back home.” 

Jazz paused before smiling, “Deal, now?”

“Sunny and I caught her in the garage last night.”

“When she was working out?”

Sideswipe chuckled, “Working out, yeah. She was beating the slag out of a hanging bag. She isn’t just some femme who knows a few defensive strikes. She was someone else last night. Like she slipped into gladiator mode or something.”

The twins didn’t like talking about their gladiator days to anyone. They never even really mentioned it, but the exception was with Jazz. Sideswipe wasn’t bothered by mentioning it here and there with the smaller mech, but all he really did was mention it. Never in detail. His lovely brother on the other hand still didn’t say a word about it.

“That’s interestin’.” Jazz hummed. “That why you’re stalkin’ her?”

“Yupp.” Sideswipe nodded, “you know she actually won some points with Sunny today. She kept that fragging human from picking him up.”

Jazz laughed, “Who would’ve guessed that saving Sunstreaker’s paint job was the quickest way to his spark?”

The conversation quieted when Jazz heard approaching footsteps. His smile grew when Aj herself walked in. She glanced around before looking at him and Sides, “Have y’all seen Grimlock?”

“Nope. I’ve been otherwise occupied.” Sideswipe grinned at her. Aj narrowed her eyes at him in response. 

Jazz stepped toward her, “I was hopin’ to run into ya.”

“How come?” She asked curiously.

“I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re the prettiest femme and I wanna be your friend.” Jazz grinned with a joking tone.

Aj’s face scrunched up in confusion before quickly switching to suspicion, “What did you do? Is something on fire??”

The femme was more than paranoid when it came to flames. Jazz chuckled and shook his head, “Nah. I just wanted to let you know.”

Aj paused before walking forward and pulling a paper out of her pocket, “Well, since I’m the prettiest femme ”, Her tone was mocking, “You can answer some questions.”

“Shoot.” Jazz nodded and even Sideswipe looked curious.

She glanced at the paper, “The kids gave me a list of Cybertronian words, but I’m still struggling with the time terms. I thought breem was a minute, right?”

“Well, technically a breem is about 8.5 earth minutes. A klick is closer at 1.2 minutes. Then you have joor which is about 6.5 earth hours.”

Sideswipe continued, “Nano-klick is about a second. Orn is around 13 earth days.”

She shook her head, “8.5, 1.2, why can’t it just round up or something? I have to do math to convert??”

“Looks like it.” Sideswipe shrugged.

She let out a groan and shoved the list back into a pocket, “Fuc- Forget that.” Jazz watched as she glanced over her shoulder as if looking for the younglings. She turned back to the two of them. “Well, nice talking to y’all. Jazz, stay out of trouble.” Her optics shot to Sideswipe, “You, stop following me , same goes for your brother.”

Aj began to leave, but Sideswipe wasn’t the type to let things drop, “Oh, hold up! Tell me more about that guy who showed up! The two of you kissed!”

Jazz watched as Sideswipe ran after Aj who had picked up her pace up the stairs. His smile faltered some at the mention of the stranger and the kiss. Something just didn’t sit right with him about the entire scenario and Jazz didn’t know what it was about it that he didn’t like, but Jazz would figure it out eventually. After all, he liked knowing things.

I groggily sat up in bed. The lamp on my desk was on and Ratchet was standing on the desk reading through one of the random books that had been on my desk. It was a humorous sight to see him flip the pages of the book, but my mind wasn’t focused on that.

My eyes glanced to the clock on my bedside. 4:49 AM . I had gone to bed hours ago after the kids talked to Aubrey. Why did I wake up? It wasn’t the light on the desk. That didn’t bother me. I was a light sleeper, but I was good at ignoring things that would keep others from sleeping. So if Ratchet’s muffled steps, page turning, or night light didn’t wake me up then what did?

“Is everything ok?” Ratchet questioned.

My eyes darted to him to see him staring at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and glanced at the open door, “I…yeah. Night.”

He nodded and I laid back down and closed my eyes. Seconds passed and I was nearly dead asleep again when I heard the faint noise that had woken me up in the first place. My eyes snapped open and I jumped out of bed. I was pretty sure that Ratchet was following me out, but I didn’t look back to check. As I got halfway down the hall Tyler’s voice cried out, “ Aj !”

I slid into their room and flipped the lights on. Tyler was half out of bed with Blue on his shoulder. Taylor wasn’t in bed and Bumblebee was trying to climb out of the mess of covers to get to Taylor who was standing in the doorway to the bathroom. I crossed the room to see the vomit that had landed on the tiled bathroom floor. Taylor’s skin was flushed and pale and tears filled her eyes.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I tried- I tried to get to the toilet.” The tears began to fall.

“Hey, it’s ok.” I reassured her. I picked her up and stepped over the vomit to get her to the toilet just in case she had to throw up again. Seconds later she was leaned over the porcelain bowl puking again. I held back her blonde hair and rubbed her back as she threw up whatever was left in her stomach. When the throwing up stopped she sobbed. I continued to rub her back, “Hey, get it all out. Don’t try to hold it back.”

Peter’s bathroom door opened to my right and he stood there with a concerned look and a glass of water. Taylor sat on the floor. “Swish some water in your mouth, spit it out, and then actually drink some. Stay with your sister.”

I stood up as Peter sat down beside her. Taylor turned to look up at me, “Don’t leave, Aj.”

“I just gotta get some medicine, ok? I’ll be right back.” I said softly. Bumblebee ran up behind me. I pushed him forward so he leaned against Taylor’s leg. 

Ratchet was waiting by the door of their bedroom. I scooped him up and placed him on my shoulder as I rushed downstairs. He didn’t complain about being picked up, “What happened?”

“Taylor threw up.” I answered.

“I heard the first sound, but I didn’t recognize it.” He said mostly to himself.

I shook my head, “Don’t beat yourself up.”

I turned the kitchen light on and began to dig through the medicine cabinet by the fridge. Ratchet let me look in silence before speaking again, “It woke you up. It was a very faint noise.”

There really wasn’t an answer for that because it wasn’t really a question. Plus, the answer made me sound kind of pathetic. I was a light sleeper, but more than that it was as if my body was tense when I slept. Like I was always expecting something bad to happen so even the slightest sounds from the kids had me awake. 

“It wasn’t anything she ate or Tyler, Peter, and I would be sick too. I’m guessing the stomach virus. Hopefully it’s only the 24 hour bug.” I paused and grabbed the kids ibuprofen. It wasn’t anything serious, I needed to calm down. 

Ratchet glanced at the medicine bottle, “Will that fix it?”

“It’s just if she has a fever. If she doesn’t then I have no medicine to give her. Any over the counter stuff could make it worse. The stomach virus kind of just has to run it’s course.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah”, I rushed back up the stairs, “I have to keep her hydrated of course.”

I put Ratchet down at the top of the stairs when I noticed bots coming out of the office to question me. He could explain everything, I had a kid to help. I headed back into the bathroom. To see the kids were in the same spot except now Tyler was sitting behind Taylor rubbing her back slowly as Peter spoke soothing words.

“Did she throw up anymore?”

Peter nodded, “One more time.”

I knelt down and felt her head. She did feel much warmer than usual. I poured the right amount of pink medicine into the cup and offered it to her. It only took a few minutes to convince her to take it. By then a crowd of bots stood at Peter’s bathroom door watching. 

I set the medicine aside on the edge of the tub as she downed some water, “Do you still feel like throwing up?”

Taylor shook her head. I leaned over and scooped her up into my arms then stood up. I set her on the bathroom counter and soaked a hand towel under the faucet. “Peter, can you bring me-”

“The cleaning stuff?” Peter finished my sentence. I nodded and he ran out of the room. I used the towel to wipe Taylor’s face slowly. I pushed all her hair back so it wasn’t in her face and used the cool towel to wipe her neck as well.

Tyler flushed the toilet and then stood by my side with both Bumblebee and Bluestreak in his arms. Taylor frowned, “Sorry for waking everyone up.”

“Silly goose, you don’t have to apologize for anything.” I said with a small smile to reassure her again, “I just need you to get better, ok?”

Peter came back in with a blue bucket that had cleaning materials in it. He set it down and I picked Taylor up again. She wrapped her arms and legs around me tightly, burying her head into the crook of my neck, “Alright, show’s over y’all. Beat it. Peter, Tyler, back to bed.”

I carried Taylor through Peter’s room out into the hall and then toward my room. The covers were still thrown back from where I had lept out of bed. It was easy to set Taylor where I had been lying less than ten minutes ago. 

“Aj?” Tyler’s voice spoke up as I covered Taylor with my comforter. I glanced back to see Peter and Tyler standing there. Tyler held the bucket, but it was empty now. “I left the stuff in the bathroom, but mama left a bucket by my bed when I was sick so I didn’t have to try and run to the bathroom.”

“Good idea, buddy.” I nodded and took the bucket. Ratchet and Bumblebee stood by the kids. I turned to Peter, “Get him to bed?”

Peter nodded and led Tyler out. Tyler gave his sister one last worried look before leaving. I set the bucket by the bedside and ran my hand across her blonde locks again. Her eyes were already closing again.

“Can I- Can I stay here? I won’t be any trouble, I just wanna keep an optic on her.” Bumblebee shifted nervously by Ratchet. He crossed the room and I picked him up to put him in bed by Taylor. He sat on her pillow and kept his eyes on her.

I glanced back at Ratchet, “Watch her. I’ll be back.”

He nodded and headed toward the desk to stand on again. I left my room and headed back toward the twin’s room. The lights were off and Tyler was in bed but he sat up when I came in, “Is she ok? I don’t want Tay to be sick.”

I stepped toward him and gently made him lie back in bed, “She’ll be fine.” I pulled the covers around him, “She’s a trooper. Now, sleep.”

He nodded and shifted under the covers. Bluestreak gave me a tight smile, but didn’t say anything for once. The bathroom light was still on. I walked through the bathroom to check on Peter. He was in bed with Prowl sitting on his nightstand reading from a glowing tablet in his hand.

“What is that?” I whispered.

“Data pad. Will Taylor be alright?”

I nodded and glanced at Peter’s form one last time before pulling the door shut. It took me about ten minutes or so to clean up the bathroom. By time I had finished Tyler was fast asleep again. I headed downstairs to throw away the paper towels I had used and put away the cleaning supplies.

“What happened?” Skywarp asked from the kitchen counter where he stood by Thundercracker and Starscream. It was almost as if they had been waiting for me.

I stuffed the cleaning stuff under the sink, “Taylor got sick. The stomach virus.”

“Virus?” Starscream screeched. I shushed him, “How do humans use anti-virus to remove it?”

I blinked before shaking my head, “We…We come with anti-virus. It’s in us. We call it an immune system.”

“I guess humans aren’t as useless as I thought.” Starscream shrugged and flew out of the kitchen. 

I rolled my eyes. Thundercracker spoke up, “We hope she feels better.”

“Yeah, we’ll help the fleshy get better! I’ll go say hi.” Skywarp said. I reached out to grab him, but Thundercracker beat me to it. Skywarp sighed before flying after Starscream. I chuckled and nodded at Thundercracker who flew out next. 

I flipped the kitchen lights off then headed back upstairs to my room. Taylor was fast asleep. I sat down in my desk chair. Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me, “Aren’t you going back to sleep?”

“Nah, I’m gonna stay up just in case she gets sick again.” I shrugged.

“You need sleep.” He pressed,

I waved his concern away, “I gotta wake Peter and Tyler up at 7 anyways for school.”

“And Taylor?”

“She’s staying home today. I’m not gonna send her to school sick.” I replied. He nodded and I leaned forward in my seat to see what Ratchet was reading, “You do realize this is a dictionary, right?”

“I was looking up birth-control.”

It was going to be a long two hours awake.

Chapter Text

“I like to call in sick to work at places where I’ve never held a job. Then when the manager tells me I don’t work there, I tell them I’d like to. But not today, as I’m sick.” –Jarod Kintz

I was speeding. It was a 35 mile per hour zone and I was going closer to 50. To be honest, I’ve always had a lead foot when it came to driving. It was probably a good thing I didn’t have a car back home in New York. If I did I’d be drowning in speeding tickets. When driving the kids though, I usually curb my speed racer tendencies for good reason. My eyes drifted over the area looking for cops as if I’d be able to slow down in time not to get in trouble if I happened to spot one. I wouldn’t mind going the speed limit except I had a sick little girl at home being babysat by a group of mini Cybertronians. Do you see my worry? I wear it well.

After I had dropped Tyler and Peter off at school I took a detour to Walmart to pick up some supplies. Sitting in my passenger was a plastic bag filled with a variety of Gatorades and a couple soup cans. The sports drink had plenty of electrolytes her body needed right now and I figured the more flavors I got the higher the chances there’d be one she likes. Besides, whatever she didn’t drink I’d drink eventually so it wouldn’t end up a waste.

The truck turned into the neighborhood and I lowered my speed some. A sigh slipped my lips as my hands tightened around the steering wheel. I was beyond tense. My after hour workouts in the garage were a twisted form of therapy for me, and although it worked it still didn’t feel the same. I was itching for a fight. An honest to God, bare all, brawl. At this rate I was desperate enough to go bar diving looking for some buzzed idiot to start something just so I had the excuse to beat the crap out of them. I couldn’t do that though. My mind had established a strict ‘no fighting’ rule for the remainder of the two months. No fighting until I was back in New York far away from the kids.

Far away from the kids. The thought reverberated in my mind and made my heart ache. Obviously I had to leave them eventually. I knew that was what the end game was. This wasn’t some happily ever after story and I knew that, yet the thought still made me want to clutch my chest in pain. As I parked, I came to the conclusion that my best option was to just not think about it. I wouldn’t think about leaving them yet. Just don’t think about it, Aj.

When Kyle had shown up he brought with him all of my stuff including the black knock off ray bans worn on my face. I grabbed them and tossed them in the glove compartment so I wouldn’t forget them the next time I drove. With my sunglasses came an abundance of clothes. I was no longer wearing the raggedy jeans I had shown up in. Now I wore a different pair of raggedy jeans.

I grabbed the bag in the passenger seat and headed up to the front door. I still hadn’t managed to fix the garage door opener, but it honestly wasn’t very high up on my to-do list. Especially considering I had made the garage my new work out area. I pushed through the front door and was greeted by a lack of gunfire. That was always a good sign. The TV in the living room was still playing the movie I had put in for Taylor before leaving.

“Look, this is where she meets Kristoff.” Taylor’s small voice spoke up from the couch. I shut the front door behind me and headed toward the living room to check on her. She was lying on the couch with a blanket tucked around her small frame. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were sitting on top of her watching the movie. Surprisingly, Skywarp was sitting on the arm of the couch focused completely on the movie Frozen playing on the large TV. As if I wasn’t surprised enough, Barricade was in car form parked under the living room coffee table watching silently. At least I assumed he was watching silently. For all I knew he could’ve been sleeping or something I guess. What I did know was that he wasn’t terrorizing me and honestly that’s all I really needed to know.

“How do you feel, Tay?” I asked and reached down to touch her forehead. The fever had been short lived last night and hadn’t returned.

She kept her gaze on the TV, but still answered, “Ok. I haven’t thrown up.” Her small hand came untucked from under the blanket so she could point to the empty bucket by the couch.

“Good.” I smiled and gently pushed stray pieces of her blonde hair out of her face, “I want you to drink some Gatorade. I have blue, red, green, and yellow. Which one do you want?”

Taylor tore her gaze away from Anna and Kristoff to smile at me, “Can I have blue?”

“Course, honey.” I nodded and headed toward the kitchen with my bag of anti-sickness. There were no bots or cons in the kitchen so I quickly began to put the stuff away. In one of the cabinets by the fridge was a cup with a lid and straw so I filled that one up with ice and then began to pour in some of the blue Gatorade. Taylor probably couldn’t hold down any real food yet so I’d wait until later to try and get some soup in her.

I walked back into the living room to see Taylor had sat up. The blanket still covered her legs and Bumblebee sat in her lap while Bluestreak sat beside her. Both bots weren’t as focused on the movie as Skywarp was. I handed Taylor the cup and came around to sit by her.

“Try and drink it all, but do it slowly. Alright?”

She nodded and began to sip up the Gatorade. I scooped up Bluestreak making him let out a short yell of surprise and then dropped in the seat where he had been in one fluid motion. I set Bluestreak down in my own lap and then leaned back against my seat to relax. Frozen was still playing on TV. This was actually one of the few newer movies I had seen. Figures that the one new movie I actually decide to watch is about two sisters who were close and then fell apart. Of course, at the end of the movie they’re reunited and everything is just chipper and cheery.

“Disney needs to direct my life.” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?” Taylor questioned with a curious look.

I grinned at her, “Nothing.”

Truthfully, my life was nearly a disney movie already. We had the cute, lovable kids who got handed a bad hand of cards when it came to the game of life. The missing parents. I couldn’t talk to animals, but I could communicate with Grimlock and that was pretty damn close, right?

“You’re silly.” Taylor said with a smile. I made a goofy face making her giggle. Her laughs died down and I watched as her attention shifted to Bumblebee in her lap. He was fidgeting as Taylor brushed her fingers against the door wings sticking out of his back.

The sound of short laughs came from the bot, “Taylor, that tickles!”

The door wings were an interesting topic. Only Prowl, Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Barricade, and Bumblebee had them. I’d say it had something to do with the names that started with B, but Prowl and Wheeljack had to go and throw a wrench in that pattern with his name. What I noticed about the door wings was that sometimes it showed emotions. It reminded me somewhat of how humans talked with their hands. Bluestreak’s wings for example tended to flutter a lot when he got on one of his ranting conversations. The more excited he got about what he was talking about the more they would move. On the other hand, stoic Prowl’s wings rarely moved. I noticed they would occasionally tense up in a situation, but that was about as much as I got to see them move. Wheeljack was about the same as Prowl in the sense that his didn’t move much. His were different than the others anyways being much slimmer. Besides, most of my attention was drawn to Wheeljack’s glowing fins when he spoke. Those things gave away more emotion than his wings. Barricade was also one I couldn’t say much about because he often tended to stay in his alt mode. The few times he wasn’t speeding around the house looking like a mostly black police cruiser he would be in bipedal mode, I’m getting good at these Cybertronian terms , terrorizing me. I never really paid much attention to his door wings during those times considering I was mostly focused on not pelted with his mini bullets. Out of all four Cybertronians, Bumblebee’s wings moved the most. Honestly, I don’t think I ever saw the bot with his wings still. My eyes glanced down to my lap where Bluestreak sat.

“You can touch them if you want.” Bluestreak chimed as if he noticed what I had been staring at, “I don’t mind. Just be careful, they’re really sensitive in certain areas and tend to-”

“It’s ok.” I shook my head, “What are they- I mean, why do you have them? Is it an appearance thing?”

Bluestreak laughed and shook his head, “Not at all! Our door wings are very helpful in battle. Tyler told you about my position, right?” More like the kid never shut up about it. “Well, my door wings have sensors that tell me information about the area around me like wind speed and such.”

I gave a curt nod, “That makes a lot of sense.”

“Since our door wings are covered in sensors it also makes it our weakest point. It hurts an absolute ton when the get shot or ripped off.” Bluestreak kept talking and my eyes widened at the whole ‘ripped off’ thing. Ouch. I guess it was a good thing Bumblebee was still a toy when his door wing fell off. “It feels really good when they’re touched right though.”

“ Anything can feel good if you touch it right.” Skywarp added suggestively. I glanced over at the couch’s armrest to see his smug smirk.

Poor Bluestreak shook his head and his wings went rigid, “I didn’t mean it like that! It just feels like a- like a- Oh, what did Ratchet call it…. A massage !”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Skytwerp .” I replied and swatted him off the couch. He cackled and landed on the floor where he resumed watching the movie.

“Aj?” Taylor spoke up, “What did you mean? Isn’t the gutter outside?”

I shook my head, "Nothing. It means nothing. Ignore me, ignore him .” Skywarp let out another cackle while Bluestreak rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. The sight of Bluestreak internally panicking was kind of adorable. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the bot, “So, does this mean if I pet Barricade’s door wings he’ll be my friend?”

The result of my joke of a question was immediate. Barricade roared his engine and gunned out from under the table to speed out of the room. I guess he hadn’t been asleep after all. 

“I like them, Blue.” Bumblebee said. Taylor continued to pet the door wings as if he was a small puppy, “Do you think Ratchet would give me an upgrade?”

“Upgrade?”

“Back home Bee doesn’t have door wings.” Bluestreak answered, “Also his alt mode is a Volkswagen rather than a Camaro.” I couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled up in my chest. Essentially back home Bumblebee was literally a yellow bug. The irony in that was not lost on me. Bluestreak continued, “There are downsides to door wings though. Like I said, they’re really sensitive and I don’t think Ratchet would make you some. He always complains when he was to fix mine and Prowl’s.”

I chuckled and lifted my finger to brush against the top of Bluestreak’s right wing. He squirmed and gave out a short laugh, but after a few minutes of me brushing my finger against his wings lightly he began to make a sound similar to an engine running or a kitty purring. These guys were absolutely precious.

“Will you rub me down next?” Skywarp snickered.

Ok, so maybe they weren’t all precious. I could think of a few other adjectives for Skywarp right now and only a couple of them I felt comfortable enough to say in front of Taylor’s young ears. So instead I settled at shooting the seeker a glare.

“It’s done!” Wheeljack’s voice declared over the sound of Elsa singing and Skywarp laughing at his own joke. I had almost forgotten the autobot engineer was over there working on the machine. “Bee, Blue! Can you gather the others??”

“Sure, Wheeljack.” Bumblebee replied. Both bots leaped off our laps and ran off. Skywarp disappeared as well to get his own band of living toys. I stood and took a few steps over to stand next to the other couch that had its back to the project. Sitting about a foot away from the tall bookshelf was a metal box. I didn’t know how else to describe it. I mean, it wasn’t an exact box, but it had that boxy shape with random wires sticking out from certain spots and connecting to other spots. More than half of the material it was made from I had no idea where it came from and something told me I didn’t want to know.

“It looks… good ?”

Wheeljack preened at my words with his fins glowing bright blue. Apparently he hadn’t picked up on my hesitant tone. He nodded, “Thank you, Aj.”

“How does it work?”

“Well you see”, Wheeljack began his explanation. Every word that came out of his mouth at that point was utter nonsense to me. The scientific terms went right over my head and more than half of the terms I was sure he had made up to confuse me more. After a minute he tilted his head, “Understand?”

I blinked, “Um. Yes.”

“Great! I’m going to get it warmed up.” He replied and turned back to the machine that was about an inch shorter than him. I glanced back at Taylor who had risen off the couch and was now trying to get closer. I stepped toward her and ushered her back to the couch.

Taylor frowned, “Aj, I wanna see it work.”

“You can watch from here. I don’t want you to strain yourself.” I replied. I also didn’t want her standing too close to the machine just in case it went boom. Slowly, the other bots and cons began to gather in the room. Chatter filled the living room as they gathered, but I didn’t pay any attention to the numerous conversations.

“Alright! Everyone gather around!” Wheeljack chirped. Megatron and Soundwave stood a few feet away from the machine and Wheeljack being closer to the bathroom than the scene. The seekers stood to their left along with Barricade. On the other side of Wheeljack and the machine were the Autobots. Ratchet, Optimus, and Prowl stood together talking in their own language. Behind them scattered about were the others. Bluestreak and Bumblebee stood diagonal to Prowl’s shoulder watching. Sideswipe was leaning against a bored looking Sunstreaker who had his arms crossed. Even further back was Jazz who leaned against a side table leg casually and alone. In fact, it seemed all the Cybertronians had given Wheeljack a rather wide berth. All except Grimlock who was pacing by the bookshelf edge. Wheeljack said something Cybertronian briefly before his fins lit up, “Everybody ready?”

“I will not reattach any limbs you lose, Wheeljack.” Ratchet growled.

Wheeljack waved away the words with his hand, “Nonsense. Most of the kinks have been already worked out.”

“ Most ?” I breathed in worry.

“ Most .” Sideswipe chuckled to himself, an excited grin on his lips. Was the red bot so bored around here that watching Wheeljack possible blow himself up was fun? The answer was probably yes.

“Here we go!” Wheeljack cheered and began to toy with it.

Sunstreaker had enough sense to look like he dreaded what was to come, “Here we go.” He took a step back making his red brother stumble.

The machine began to vibrate softly and gave off a slight hissing noise. Everyone in the room was dead silent, but this climatic moment was dampened by the talking snowman on the TV. Wheeljack continued to work with the machine when it suddenly made a loud clanking noise making everyone jump.

“We’re still good!” Wheeljack reassured with a thumbs up to everyone. 

Megatron growled, “Why bother with war when this glitch spawned scientist will probably end our enemies with his own schemes?”

I shifted to the left slightly so I was partly in front of Taylor. She could still see the machine, but now I’d be able to stand in front of her in case something suddenly combust. Minutes passed as the machine continued to whir. Finally, a long high pitched beep erupted from the machine making everyone flinch again. Wheeljack ignored us this time and bent over to read the results it was dishing out.

“213.00.89.” Wheeljack suddenly said.

“Results: Explain.” Soundwave said in his usual monotone voice. The way he spoke was very different from the others, but I didn’t mind it. As long as he didn’t cause trouble he could talk however the hell he wanted to.

Wheeljack’s fins flickered with excitement, “It’s the code used for this specific universe.” He glanced at me, “Just like I explained to you, Aj.”

All eyes shot to me so I nodded as if I totally understood said code, “Right.”

“It compares to the same wavelength we use for our space bridge technology.” Wheeljack explained and suddenly it seemed like a few more people in the room knew what was going on. I was not one of them.

Soundwave spoke, “Code: No confirmed match with any known bridge coordinates.”

“Well, yes.” Wheeljack nodded, “I had to use a new system considering all I had were scraps to work with. The numbers given, based on what I calculated our own universe’s to be, means we’re only right next door! When we were sent here we were simply pushed through the veil separating our two universes.” He put a hand to his chin in thought, “However, now the difficult part of trying to build a machine to punch us back through the veil has arrived and that will be infinitely harder. Perhaps-”

His rambling thoughts were interrupted by another loud clang from the machine. All eyes focused on Wheeljack as he hurriedly tinkered with the thing. Optimus stepped forward, “Wheeljack, is everything alright?”

Wheeljack didn’t answer immediately, “It should be fine. Give me one moment.” He tore out a wire making sparks fly out, “That should short circuit the system and shut it down.” Another high pitched beep echoed through the air. Wheeljack’s eyes widened slightly, “ Hit the dec -”

Before the warning could even be finished a pulse of some sort was pushed out of the machine. The electrical pulse was visible in a ring of white light. No one had any time to react. The pulse nailed me in the shins making me stumble backwards. Taylor who was on the couch with her feet pulled up didn’t get hit. The bots and cons on the other hand were a different story. Every single one of them had been knocked off their feet and shot back a couple inches. More than that it left them in a daze as they lay sprawled on the ground. Wheeljack who had been closest wasn’t in a daze, he was lying on the ground with dark eyes. 

I seemed to be the only one who noticed what the pulse did to the close bookshelf. It had hit the base with enough force to unbalance the entire structure. I watched with wide eyes as it began to teeter forward. Suddenly it felt like I was in the pit. Decisions had to be made quickly there. If you didn’t act then you went down hard . Catch it or dive? Catch it or dive?

The other bots and cons were just beginning to sit up when I dove forward on top of Wheeljack and the smoking machine. I was lying on my elbows with Wheeljack hidden under the space between my stomach and the floor while the machine dug into my waist uncomfortably. I tucked my head down just as the bookshelf came down completely. Books, movies, and a pile of magazines rained down on top of me, but that was nothing compared to the solid wooden bookshelf landing on my back. A cry of pain slipped my lips.

“ AJ !” Taylor screamed, “ WHEELJACK !”

I could hear other voice yelling, but I was too busy trying to catch my breath. Not only had the bookshelf knocked the wind out of me, but the machine under my hip had pierced the skin. It wasn’t sticking through me or anything serious, but it was far from comfortable and the more I moved the more it hurt. Luckily, the bookshelf itself wasn’t nearly as heavy as I expected it to be.

“Lift it!”

“Get the pressure off her!”

“Can she slide out?!”

“Taylor, it’s ok! I promise!”

The bookshelf creaked and the pressure lessened slightly. I let out a grunt of pain, took in a sharp breath to ready myself, and then began to slowly push myself up. Once I had gotten to my hands and knees the rest was cake. All I had to do then was grab the shelves with my hands and push the wooden structure back against the wall. The spot between my shoulder blades ached something awful and warm blood began to leak from a spot right above my jeans. It wasn’t a deep wound at all and the blood mostly just bubbled in the broken skin rather than spilling over. It still ruined my light blue t-shirt though. My eyes darted to Wheeljack who was lying on his back with dark eyes still. He hadn’t moved an inch.

“ Ratchet .” I breathed, “Ratchet, is he-”

A small pair of arms wrapped tackled me in a hug making me grunt in pain. I shifted so her arm wasn’t rubbing against the blood stain. Taylor had her face buried against my back, “Are you ok?? I was so scared, Aj. Aj, are you alright? Do we have to go to the hospital?”

“Taylor. Taylor, honey, I’m fine.” I replied softly to soothe her frayed nerves. I kissed the top of her head and forced her gently to the couch where she could sit.

Ratchet rushed toward Wheeljack as Optimus stepped toward me. He held his arm out, “Aj, are you injured?”

Nobody spoke as they all waited for me to answer. The room was filled with Cybertronians staring at me, some with more worry than others. I lifted my hand to show the small blood stain. Surprisingly, Megatron was the one to speak up next, “You are injured.”

“I’m ok.” I shook my head, “The shelf wasn’t that heavy, this was from the…the thingy.” I cleared my throat and looked to Ratchet, “Is Jackie alright?”

“The glitch is fine. The energy pulse put him in emergency stasis. I just need to reboot his processors.” He replied in a relieved tone, but when he glanced back to me his gaze hardened and focused on my apparent injury.

I ignored his gaze and chuckled, “Good, and look, no limbs need reattaching.” Unsurprisingly, Ratchet didn’t find my joke very funny. It got a chuckle out of the seekers though so there was that. I turned to Taylor, “I gotta help Wheeljack. Drink your Gatorade and keep watching your movie, ok?”

“Ok. Can I watch a new one when it’s over?”

“Sure thing.” I nodded. She settled back further on the couch and let me cover her with the blanket. Then I handed her the cup of Gatorade and turned back to the scene of the incident. There was a mess of books, movies, and magazines all along the ground. I didn’t make direct eye contact with any of them and just waved toward the general area, “Can you guys start putting some of this stuff away? Just…Just what you can reach, I mean.”

I rolled my shoulders and flinched at the ache. Prowl’s voice forced me to look at him, “Are you sure you are alright?”

With a wide, forced grin and a cheery thumbs up, I replied, “Right as rain, Prowler.”

“That is not my designation.” He replied, but I ignored him and went to carefully pick up Wheeljack. After seeing them running around the house and so filled with life it was weird to hold them while they were motionless. It was uncomfortable actually. Ratchet had already left the room, heading to the medbay, so I left the living room with Wheeljack. His blank look and non-glowing eyes stared up at me as I cradled him in my hands. I forced myself to look away. It was kind of surprising how much I didn’t like seeing him like this.

Ratchet was already on the stage moving around when I got to the room. He slapped his hand against one of the berths so I placed Wheeljack on top of it.

“I’ll start with you. Come-”

“ No .” I said firmly. The tone of my voice actually made Ratchet’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. I shook my head, “Take care of Wheeljack. My injury is just a flesh wound. I can handle it.”

He grumbled something about this being his medbay, but turned to take care of Wheeljack anyways. I didn’t pay much attention to what he was doing since I was too busy grabbing my own first aid kit to fix my bleeding wound. I moved to take off my shirt, but hesitated momentarily as my eyes darted to Ratchet who was working on Wheeljack. Then my eyes narrowed in confusion. Why was I hesitating? He was a medic who was probably used to seeing people in their weakest forms. More than that he was a 10 inch Cybertronian alien who took the form of my nephews and nieces toys. I mentally punched myself for being ridiculous before tearing off my shirt and beginning to wipe the blood away with tissues.  

It only took me a minute or two to clean up the wound, rub some Neosporin on it, and patch a piece of gauze over it since I didn’t have a big enough Band-Aid. Other than that injury I was relatively fine. My back ached some and I’s probably have a huge bruise between my shoulder blades, but bruises and aches were easy to handle. I barely noticed them anymore. I moved to my closet to find a new shirt.

“Why didn’t you just catch the shelf?”

I peeked my head out of the closet to see that he was still working on Wheeljack. He hadn’t looked up as he asked the question. I grabbed a loose, dark gray tank top and stepped out of the closet, “Why do you ask?”

“Because I want to know.” He replied with a single glance up at me.

I pulled my shirt on while in thought. I didn’t know how to explain my thinking process to him because I’ve never had to explain it before. It was the type of thoughts I had in a fight when there wasn’t enough time to think. The sarcastic, asshole in nature Aj hadn’t made that decision. The calculating, fighting Aj had. 

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I shrugged and sat down on the floor with my elbow leaning against the stage. 

Ratchet wasn’t pleased with this answer, but he didn’t press further, “If you had only caught the shelf one of the heavier books could’ve hit him causing him to sustain far worse injuries. If you had nothing the bookshelf would’ve landed on his chassis surely putting too much pressure on his spark casing which would have offlined him almost immediately. There would’ve been nothing I could do then.”

“Yikes.” I flinched at the thought. Killed by bookshelf. What a way to go. It would’ve been a horrible way to die, especially considering how much Wheeljack had survived from their war.

Ratchet made one last movement before stopping and focusing his gaze on me completely, “You saved his life, Aj.”

“I was just in the right moment, at the right time.” I was quick to shake off his praise. Honestly, I just didn’t see it as that big of a deal. Of course, I was beyond pleased that Wheeljack was still alive and what not, but I didn’t see a need to be thanked or praised. Wheeljack was my responsibility. They all were. Diving on top of him had been my duty.

The conversation ended as Wheeljack’s eyes slowly lit up again. They started off as a soft blue, but quickly jolted to bright blue as his fins flashed and he jerked up in a sitting position. Panic rolled off his frame and Ratchet was quick to grab his shoulders to keep him from hurting himself, “You’re fine, Jack! You’re in the medbay you slagging two bit processing fragger .”

Wheeljack relaxed at Ratchet’s charming words and glanced around the room. His gaze stopped on me, “What happened? I got the code, but then-”

Ratchet whacked him across the back of the head with the same tool he used to bring him back to the world of consciousness. Wheeljack howled in pain and clutched his head. For some reason I didn’t think hitting Wheeljack in the head was the best treatment plan considering he had just been in an emergency coma. However, I technically never went to medical school so I kept my mouth shut. Besides, anything I said at this point would probably just get me hit by the grumpy doctor.

“Your machine sent out an energy pulse that hit everyone and knocked you out.” Ratchet growled, “Why the frag -”

“ Everyone ??” Wheeljack cried in panic. He turned away from Ratchet to look at me, “Are you and Taylor alright? Did the blast hit you two??”

His concern made me freeze like a deer in headlights. It kind of warmed my heart. It also won Wheeljack huge bonus points that he obviously cared about the little girl downstairs. Granted, he had technically lost a couple points considering he was the reason she was possibly in danger but details, details…

“Taylor didn’t get hit. She was on the couch with her feet pulled up. It hit me in the shins, but it didn’t do anything other than make me stumble a bit. Don’t worry, Jackie.”

“The pulse brought down the entire bookshelf down, Wheeljack. You were nearly offlined.” Ratchet added, “Aj, saved your hazardous life.”

I quickly shook my head, “It really wasn’t that-”

“Thank you, Aj.” Wheeljack interrupted me in such a sincere voice I had to stop talking. His fins glowed a soft blue, “I truly thank you from the bottom of my spark. I owe you.”

Embarrassed was one of the main emotions I felt. I wasn’t the type of person who got thanked so sincerely or cared about. That wasn’t who I was and having the two bots attention on me made me feel awkward. My cheeks began to grow warm and I’m sure a shade of pink decorated them. I quickly rubbed at my cheeks as if the color would come off in my hands then stood. I shrugged and tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

“I want you resting today.” Ratchet snapped at Wheeljack who also stood. “Prowl will get someone else to cover your patrol and primus help you if I so much as hear about you tinkering with anything for the next 24 earth hours you slagging glitch.”

Wheeljack groaned, “Ratchet.”

“You heard the cheerful docbot.” I chuckled and ignored Ratchet’s glare, “You and Taylor are officially bed rest buddies.”

“Well, at least I’ll have company.” He sighed. Without waiting for permission I scooped him up.

“That’s the spirit. Later, Hatchet!”

I left Ratchet grumbling in the room as I headed back downstairs with Wheeljack. He was fully awake in my hands and it was so drastically different from when I carried him upstairs only a little while ago. When I reached the living room I came to a halting stop as I watched bots and cons working together to stack books and movies on the shelves. There was still a lot to do, but seeing them working without fighting each other was…alarming to say the least.

“Wheeljack!” Taylor greeted as I set the engineer on the couch beside her. He didn’t stay there long because Taylor grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. “Are you ok? I was so worried!”

Wheeljack’s fins were glowing bright at her comfort and words. He chuckled, “I am doing just fine thanks to Aj and Ratchet.”

“She’s a hero.” Taylor said without missing a beat and then beamed up at me with pride. I shifted my weight awkwardly and didn’t reply. A hero? Me? Pffft. Maybe for Christmas I’d buy the little girl a dictionary.

The movie Frozen had ended and Taylor had apparently turned on Netflix which I didn’t even know they had until now. I grabbed the small remote as Wheeljack settled in the seat beside Taylor and began to flip through the many movies.

“What are you going to put on?” Taylor asked and then looked to Wheeljack who seemed just as curious, “What do you wanna watch, Jackie?”

“I don’t know.” He replied with a shrug. I still found it hilarious that these guys had such human movements like shrugs and sighs and what not. I grinned when a familiar title popped up in the corner of the screen. Without pause I went straight to it and turned on a random episode for them to watch.

Taylor tilted her head, “I know this show. Peter watches it sometimes.”

“What is it?” Wheeljack questioned.

“It’s called Mythbusters, Jackie.” I replied and tossed the remote into Taylor’s lap and moved to help put away all the fallen items, “And it is right up your alley.”

Talents came in all shapes and sizes. My talents were very black and white. There was no gray area where I was kind of good at something. For me, it was always all or none. Right now was a very good example of this. My main talents included breaking people’s noses, avoiding emotional problems, and eating an entire pizza by myself. Drawing was nowhere close to being on that list. It wasn’t even in the same zip code.

I couldn’t even draw stick people so the fact that I was trying to draw a large, neat tree on this white poster board was a struggle straight from the depths of hell. I figured I’d get the tree drawn for the twin’s family tree project and then they could color, decorate, and paste pictures on it later. If I had realized earlier how difficult this was going to be then I would’ve told them they had to do it all by themselves with some lie about taking responsibility early on.

Although, the tree wasn’t looking too bad I supposed. I mean, I could tell the difference between its trunk and branches. In fact, dare I say it, I was a little proud of my tree. For someone as artistically challenged as I was this was looking pretty good.

“ What the frag is that supposed to be ?”

My short lived good mood plummeted rather quickly at the sound of his sneer. I glanced up from my work to see the lanky, yellow mech standing by the edge of the poster board staring down at my poor little tree with disdain. I was currently lying on my stomach, propped up on my elbows, with my legs and feet stretched out behind me so Sunstreaker was actually eye level with me.

I scowled, “It’s a tree. See the leaves?”

“It’s absolute slag .” Sunstreaker replied.

“What the hell do you know about art?” I shot back and began to angrily erase a rather crooked line with the back of my pencil. Sunstreaker was silent to my remark as I attacked the dark line.

He scoffed at my barely disappearing line, “If you sketched your lines fainter you wouldn’t be about to tear a hole through the paper right now.”

“Thanks, Tweety.” I snapped in an overly sweet tone, “You’re a real big help, but how about you skedaddle? I think I saw a puddy cat.”

Sunstreaker wasn’t entirely sure what to make of my looney tunes reference by the look on his face, but he was displeased none the less, “My name is Sunstreaker you fragging glitch of a femme.”

I rolled my eyes. The only other person in the office with us right now was Grimlock who had been stationed to keep watch on the otherwise empty Autobot base. Of course, right now the Autobot guard was curled against my side sleeping, but no one in their right mind would risk accidentally waking the bot by trying to sneak into the base. I thought the fact that always had someone on watch was silly anyways. It wasn’t like they had a whole lot of confidential information to steal.

I focused my attention back on my pathetic work of art and began to draw again. The lines I drew were fainter this time, but I’d rip my teeth out before admitting I agreed with Sunstreaker’s tip. It was silent as I worked and I bit down on my lower lip in concentration.

“It’s crooked. Again .” He said with a little too much pleasure in his voice.

I dropped the pencil and brought my eyes up to his, “You wanna draw the damn tree, Buttercup?”

“If I did you can bet it’s be the best fragging organic tree you ever saw, squishy!”

“It’s interesting that you call me squishy considering I can and will step on you, Sunflower.”

“My name is Sunstreaker ! Not any of the slagging, glitched nicknames you think up! At least be consistent and stick with one!”

I wasn’t going to mention to him that I had internally made calling him different things a game in my mind. How many nicknames could I come up with for Sunstreaker without directly calling him the same thing twice? So far I was at eight, but if you counted the term ‘ condiment twin’ then the number got bumped up to nine.

“You’re not the boss of me.” I replied childishly and moved to make my position more comfortable. Unsurprisingly, I was still sore from the bookshelf incident two hours ago. Taylor and Bumblebee came waltzing through the door without a care in the world. The little girl’s eyes landed on the poster board and she grinned.

“Is this our project?”

I nodded and sat up in an upright position so I was back to looking down on Sunstreaker. I sneered down at him for good measure before answering Taylor, “Yeah, it is.”

She came closer with Bumblebee walking beside her. Taylor’s head tilted slightly and her lips puckered in confusion as her eyebrows furrowed together, “Why are you drawing a rake?”

My face fell along with all my self-confidence. Sunstreaker just stared up at me with a smug look on his stupid metal face. That jackass. Biting back a sigh, I handed her the pencil, “I’m making you some food. Do what you want to the rake, ok?”

“Ok.” She chirped and sat down beside Sunstreaker who sidestepped so he wasn’t too close to the human. I stood up and stretched briefly, Grimlock didn’t move from his sleeping position, before moving to leave. 

Bumblebee stepped in front of me, “Can I come with you?”

“Course.” I said and picked him up. Bumblebee sat on my shoulder as I left the room and headed down the stairs. I was careful not to jostle the poor bot too much as I walked. In the living room, Mythbusters was still playing but it was obviously on a different episode. The nightlight of an engineer figured out how to use the remote I guess. He better not even think of taking apart though. “Up for a detour, Bee?”

His door wings fluttered, “Sure!”

I stepped into the living room to find out who all was watching the show. Wheeljack had his eyes glued to the screen, but now he was joined by the seekers, Bluestreak, and Sideswipe.

“Hi Aj!” Bluestreak greeted as I came in.

Wheeljack gave me a brief glance, “Aj!” His eyes went back to the screen, “This television program is fantastic! Do you think Jamie and Adam exist in our universe? Perhaps I can set a meeting with them.”

“That sounds”, I paused, “Like a good idea. I guess.”

My eyes darted to the TV. I had no idea what episode was playing or what was even going on. The camera zoomed in on Adam who lifted his clipboard to his cover what was beyond his face, like he was telling the viewing audience a secret, and said, “Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.”

Sideswipe scoffed in amusement, “I think we just found Jack’s new motto.”

“Quiet, you aggravating front liner.” Starscream snapped.

Sideswipe opened his mouth to retaliate only for his fellow Autobots to shush him. I chuckled to myself before turning to leave the room. There was a can of soup in the kitchen waiting to be heated up. The sound of a jetpack starting up was far from unfamiliar these days, but I was startled when it grew louder and something suddenly hit my shoulder and then clung to my shirt. It didn’t hurt, but it did scare the shit out of me.

“I missed.” Sideswipe grunted and began to pull himself up on my shoulder so now Bee was on my left and Sideswipe was on my right. 

I held back a sigh of aggravation, “What do you want, cherry?”

“Your company?” He replied cheekily, “Is that too much to ask for, dear human?”

“Yes.” I answered without missing a beat. I plucked him off my shoulder and set him right outside the kitchen before breezing in with Bumblebee who was chuckling to himself.

Sideswipe crossed his arms and huffed, “How rude .”

“Whatever, Stephanie Tanner.” I shot back referencing Full House. Man, I was just full of good references today. Good references that none of the Cybertronians could fully appreciate. Carefully, I set Bumblebee down on the island counter so I could work without worrying about him falling into the soup pot. Sideswipe didn’t get the message of ‘Get Lost’ that I was sending out. He jet packed right up to the island to stand by Bumblebee.

“Will this make Taylor feel better?” Bumblebee questioned as I set out the can of chicken noodle soup.

I went searching for a pot to use, “Hopefully. I’m just trying to get some food in her. She seems a lot better so hopefully she can keep this stuff down.”

There was a clean, black pot in the cabinet beside the stove so I grabbed it and set it on the flat top stove. It only took me a few minutes to get the can open and pour it in. Then, I turned the stove on and waited.

“Is that it?” Bumblebee tilted his head. Sideswipe hadn’t said a word yet. He just sat on the counter staring at me which was a little more than unnerving.

“Yupp.” I nodded, “It gets more complicate when you try and make soup from scratch which I didn’t plan on doing. I’m trying to make her feel better after all.”

There was another beat of silence before Bumblebee blurted his next question, “How come you didn’t just catch the bookshelf, Aj?”

Déjà vu, much? I blinked at him in surprise and didn’t immediately reply. “Why?” I said finally. The same response I had given Ratchet when he asked. I grabbed a large plastic spoon to stir the warm soup, just to give my hands something to do.

“It’s just- Well, you never would’ve gotten hurt if you caught the shelf.” Bumblebee explained, “You were strong enough to push it off of you which means you were strong enough to catch it. So why didn’t you?”

“She made a choice.” Sideswipe suddenly said making my body tense. “Just like we do in a battle. She had two choices, and she picked the choice that was safer for Wheeljack. I bet she didn’t think too hard about it. It was spur of the moment, a natural reaction.” I glanced over my shoulder at the bots and caught Sideswipe’s gaze. Bumblebee was looking away in thought, but the red bot kept a steady gaze with me. “Hesitation means you lose. It means someone gets hurt or worse.”

How the hell did he do that? How the hell did that little punk put my thoughts into words? It didn’t make any damn sense and it pissed me off. Why did I have to make comparisons with my sob story of a life to the condiment twins’ lives? My mind was a flood of emotions that linger for very long. I was pissed that Sideswipe was still looking at me. I was confused on why my thought process and his were on very close levels. I was…I was a little bit relieved. A part of me felt relief to have someone else voice my thoughts. To see someone who just might understand why I made choices the way I did.

“I get it.” Bumblebee nodded with a small smile. His wings perked up happily as he looked at me, “You’re kind of like a soldier. Like us. I mean- not exactly like us, you aren’t in a war, but…” His words trailed off. I wasn’t a soldier. Soldiers were noble. They didn’t fight for money, they didn’t fight as an addiction. He continued, “I didn’t mean to question you or anything. I just wanted to say thanks. You did save Wheeljack.”

I shrugged and glanced back at my soup. It was beginning to boil so I let Bumblebee jump into my hands and then set him on the floor so he could go get Taylor for me. He jogged off and I focused my attention on stirring the soup so it didn’t boil over.

“What? You aren’t gonna help me down?”

“Use your jetpack.”

I turned the stove off and went to find a bowl. The sound of a jetpack activating didn’t fill the air which meant Sideswipe was still on the island counter, probably still staring at me. 

Maybe if I ignored him he’d disappear.

I found a glass bowl and used the same large spoon to fill it up about halfway. She might not even eat that much, but if she did then she could always get more.

“How come you’re still trying to avoid me and Sunny?”

Maybe one of these days my ‘ maybe’ thoughts would be right.

I moved across the room to set the bowl on the table, “Why are you and your brother so hell bent on following me around?”

“We just want to be friends.” Sideswipe replied a little too innocently. Like we were kids that met on the playground and I was the bully that refused to play with him then kicked sand in his face.

A forced smile lit my features as I looked back at him, “Try again.”

His features morphed from sincerity to a shit eating smirk, “Nothing gets by you, human.”

“I try.”

Taylor still hadn’t come down yet so I headed for the stairs to get her myself. Sideswipe called out making me pause by the archway, “We saw you fighting. You already knew we were listening in on your conversation with that fragger-”

“Kyle. His name is Kyle .”

“Fine. Kyle the fragger .” He replied and I rolled my eyes, “It made us more curious is all. It’s not like there’s much else to do around here. You’re the first human femme we’ve seen fight like that.”

“Fight like what?”

“Like a gladiator.”

I shook my head, “I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

Sideswipe tilted his head, “You didn’t see what we saw.” His smirk slowly dropped from his features and a look of seriousness became present. It was moments like this, when he wasn’t joking around or grinning, that I realized that Sideswipe could be just as bad as his brother. “We have stuff in common. Which is saying something because Sunny and I don’t ever compare ourselves to squishy organics. Ever .”

“We have absolutely nothing in common.” I said firmly before marching towards the stairs. I got halfway up before I called out, “ Taylor !”

“One second!” The faint reply came back.

As I reached the top of the stairs I noticed Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Jazz, and Thundercracker standing outside my room talking. They noticed me and I gave them a quick wave before pushing into the office.

“Son of a glitch!” Sunstreaker snapped, “Will you just back the frag up!?”

My first thought had been that Sunstreaker was saying this to Taylor and my mind mentally prepared to punt the pint sized yellow bastard right out the office window, but as I walked into the room I realized he was yelling at a fully awake Grimlock who was trying to stand near the white poster board.

“Me Grimlock want to see what femme youngling draw.” Grimlock argued back while Taylor happily scribbled away with her pencil.

Bumblebee who was standing by her glanced back at me with an apologetic look, “Sorry, Aj, she said she wanted to finish drawing first.”

“Look!” Taylor sat up completely and ushered me over. I took a step forward to see that my pathetic little tree had been erased and replaced with a much better looking one. This one had a thicker trunk and branches that actually resembled branches. Not to mention the leaves didn’t look like deformed ovals anymore. It looked like it had been drawn by someone much older than Taylor. I was impressed, “Sunstreaker helped me!”

My eyes narrowed in confusion, “Sunstreaker? He helped you? I’m sorry, I didn’t know those words could be strung together in a working sentence.”

“Do you ever just shut up?” Sunstreaker glared at me.

I shrugged, “Depends.” My eyes glanced back at Taylor with a proud smile, “Great job, kid. It looks awesome. Now say thank you to robo Michelangelo,” make that ten nicknames, “and go downstairs to eat.”

“Thanks, Sunstreaker! You can use some of my stuff if you ever want to draw!” She grinned. To the yellow bot’s defense, he didn’t scoff at her offer. Instead, he just gave a non-committed grunt before she ran out.

I chuckled, “You draw?”

“You didn’t know? Sunstreaker is an artist he…” Bumblebee began but the yellow warrior’s dark glare made the smaller bot’s words trail off. His door wings twitched, “I think I hear Taylor calling me.”

Bumblebee was out of the room before another word could be spoken. I looked back to Sunstreaker, “So you’re an anti-social front liner that also knows his way around a canvas. You’re quite the catch aren’t you?”

“Go frag yourself.” Sunstreaker barked in his rough tone, “You’re the most aggravating femme I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

Grimlock began to growl, “Ratchet say not to say frag to pet Aj.”

“I am not your pet!” I declared as Sunstreaker marched past me and out the door.

“Me Grimlock not good enough for you?!”

“What?? I didn’t say that!”

“Is there a problem?” 

I glanced back to see Prowl and Optimus walk in. Good, they could deal with Grimlock’s growing anger. I grabbed the poster board, set it up high so it wouldn’t get ruined, and then rushed out with the words ‘ your problem now ’ dancing off my lips.

Downstairs, Taylor was sitting at the table talking to Soundwave of all people. She smiled at him and he turned to leave without another word. He walked past me and didn’t offer me a passing glance. I didn’t mind Soundwave, but he was kinda starting to creep me out.

“Can I have more blue Gatorade?” She held her cup up. I nodded and went to get her some more, “Do I have to eat? I’m not hungry.”

“I know, just take a few bites.” I replied and poured the rest of the blue Gatorade into her cup, “If you start to feel sick then stop.”

I handed the cup back to her and moved to clean up the small mess I had made in the kitchen while she turned back to her food. It wasn’t silent as I worked. A soft, hushed tone filled the air.

“Aj?” Taylor turned in her seat to look at me, “Are you singing?” I came to a standstill and nearly dropped the clean plate I had been putting away. Had that been me? I didn’t even notice that my light humming had turned to mumbled lyrics. She leaned her cheek against the chair, “Mama sings too.”

I was well aware that Aubrey sang. It was the one trait we both shared. She was day and I was night, but both of us could carry a tune. Aubrey’s voice was higher than mine and more refined. She took singing lessons almost her entire life and did choir every year in school. I, on the other hand, thought it was fun to sing, but I didn’t do it often. My interests always leaned toward the athletic side. Of course, I sang at home with Aubrey sometimes when we were goofing around. I’d sing when I wasn’t fully paying attention. I sang when I was happy. This was probably the first time in a long time, since maybe my undergrad years in college, that I was singing. 

“Yeah. I was.” I replied slowly. I set the plate down and came over to sit by Taylor who turned back around in her seat.

She smiled, “Mama says that her mama used to sing all the time.”

A small laugh escaped my lips and I nodded. Mom could sing like nobody’s business. Her voice was one of my most treasured memories. Singing was the last thing I had of her. Aubrey got nearly all her traits from that side of the gene pool whereas I leaned toward my dad’s side. The only exception was my voice. I had my mom’s voice. Guilt began to crawl into my mind. Singing was all I had left of my mom and I had basically buried it away under piles of bad days and bruised knuckles. However, the guilt didn’t stay long for it was replaced by sheer amazement. I was singing in the kitchen because I was happy. I was truly happy here in a house with three of the most adorable kids and two warring groups of shrunk down Cybertronians. The dark recess of my mind might have been craving a fight, it clawed at my heart and soul, but another part of my mind was content. It was more than content. I might have been living a lie at the moment, but that lie made me happy enough to sing again.

“I like this soup.” Taylor said suddenly. She was completely unaware of the revelations in my mind. Her own innocent thoughts just enjoyed the simple bowl of soup in front of her. I grinned and ruffled her hair again as she took another bite. 

Hours later I pushed through the front door with two boys bouncing with excitement behind me. The moment the door opened they rushed past me nearly knocking me over. I saw Taylor peek her head up over the couch with a wide grin. Seconds later, Peter and Tyler were on the couch with her. Tyler was speaking a million miles per hour telling her about his day and only paused when she interrupted him with details of her own day. Peter sat quietly beside her. He lifted his hand to briefly touch her forehead. He pulled away a few seconds later with a look of relief. I leaned against the wall and watched the close siblings interact.

Jazz came up from behind me and stopped beside me with his arms crossed, “Busy day. Heard Sunny showed ya a thing or two ‘bout drawin’.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me.” I replied with a sigh, “I’ll never live it down. Is he really like…like an artist? A good one?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve seen some of his stuff ‘fore. It’s real good.” Jazz answered then shook his head, “But don’t worry, sweetspark, I didn’ come ‘ere to mock your… art skills .”

I narrowed my eyes at him as he grinned up at me, “It sounds like you are mocking me, sweetspark .”

“Ok, so maybe a little.” He laughed to himself. The laughter died down slowly. There was a pause between us before he spoke again. His voice was a little deeper this time and much softer, “I wanted to thank you for saving Wheeljack on behalf of all of us. OP wanted to talk to you, but I wanted to say it first.”

My eyes were frozen on him. I wasn’t used to hearing him speak with his usual accent. Hell, I didn’t know he could. I mean, I liked his accent a lot. It was…well, it was Jazz, but he sounded good without the accent to. It was hard to wrap my mind around entirely.

“W-What?” I stuttered out.

“Whoa! She did!?” Tyler yelled making me tear my gaze away from Jazz to see all three kids beaming at me, “You saved Wheeljack!? That’s so awesome, Aj! You’re a hero!”

Another embarrassed blush lit my face as Jazz chuckled, “Couldn’t ‘ave said it better mah self.”

Tyler’s eyes darted to Jazz and I watched as he climbed over the back of the couch to get to us. I began to scold him, but didn’t get far considering he began to speed talk to Jazz, “Jazz, sir!” My eyes narrowed at the word sir. “I did just like you said and it worked! Sophia sat with me at lunch today and we talked the entire time! It was great!”

“Good job, Cadet Lightspeed.” Jazz gave him a thumbs up and a proud grin, “I know you could do it, kiddo.”

Tyler grinned and ran upstairs. Peter and Taylor followed him and I yelled out at Taylor to be careful. The last thing I needed was for Taylor to barf racing up the stairs. I gave one last glance to Jazz who was still grinning at me before heading upstairs to find the bossbot. I found Optimus in the office unsurprisingly. The kids were crouched on the floor around the poster board. Apparently, good, big brother Peter decided to help them.

“How about you go guys do that in kitchen?” I suggested.

“Ok.” Peter replied, “Come on guys. We gotta find you pictures to use.”

“I’ll get my crayons to color the tree!” Taylor chirped. The three kids ran out with the board leaving only Optimus and I in the room. I didn’t know where Prowl was. He was usually in the office with OP, but right now he was nowhere to be found.

“So, OP," I took a seat in the desk chair and leaned back. He stood at the edge of the desk, “You wanted to speak with me?”

He nodded, “I did. I have a question for you, Aj.”

I bit back a sigh, “Good Lord, if you ask me why I didn’t catch the damn bookshelf my head is gonna implode, bossbot.”

The battle mask he wore always hid whether or not he was smiling, but I was starting to get good at reading his facial expressions above the mask. “No. That was not my question.” He paused, “I wanted to know why you put Wheeljack’s safety before your own.”

I blinked rather owlishly, “So…why I saved him?” Optimus nodded and I tilted my head in thought. This question was easier to answer, “Because…Because you guys are my responsibility. You live under this roof and you’re not exactly equipped to handle anymore large scale dangerous situations which means I am responsible for helping you.”

“I see," Optimus nodded slowly, “However, as grateful as I am of what you did, I need to stress that it isn’t expected of you. I thank you with my entire being for saving my soldier, words do not accomplish the length of my gratitude, but I can’t allow you to put yourself in harm on behalf of us.”

I chuckled and stood up, “Allow me? In case you haven’t noticed, OP, I do whatever the hell I want.” His eyes narrowed slightly in frustration, but I gave him a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry about it so much. Taking hits is kind of a specialty of mine. Besides," I shrugged, “I take care of my own.”

With the size difference, I couldn’t exactly slap him on the back in reassurance so I settled for tapping him on the shoulder with my finger before leaving the room.

All was quiet in the house when I suddenly sat up in bed. The light on my desk was on just like the night before and Ratchet was reading again. He noticed my rigid posture and turned around to assess the situation.

“What is it now? I didn’t hear anything from the younglings across the house.” He addressed me. Rather than answering his question and explaining the issue, I stumbled out of bed and ran out of my room with Ratchet lagging behind like last time. This time I didn’t sprint into the twin’s room or even Peter’s room for that matter.

I sprinted straight for the bathroom across the hall from me.

It was 3 something in the morning and here I was barfing into the porcelain throne. Damn it all.

Chapter Text

“Eye contact is a dangerous, dangerous thing. But lovely. Oh, so lovely.” –Unknown

“What are you going to do now, small fry?” The woman mocked and waved her forward.

She didn’t need to reply. She loved to talk, to shoot off snarky replies, but during a fight there was no need. It only distracted her from what she needed to do. A quick breath and she moving. A punch was thrown out, but she was quick enough to duck under so she was behind the behemoth of her enemy. Two kidney punches and the woman stumbled forward with a cry of pain.

The woman spun around shakily with a fire burning in her eyes. She was angry. Beyond angry, in fact. This wasn’t supposed to be a real fight. The beastly woman was supposed to crush the much smaller, underdog with no challenge whatsoever. The underdog was just too damn quick. The woman’s anger grew more as a small smirk slipped onto the smaller woman’s face.

A roar of anger and she rushed forward flailing her arms out in attacks that were more based on brute strength than precision. The underdog ducked and weaved, continually back stepping to avoid being slugged, but she was beginning to grow weary. This fight was lasting too damn long, and the crowd seemed to agree. Their rowdy cheers turned to hissed heckles. They wanted blood and they wanted it now.

“You’re dead.” The large woman growled and lunged forward one last time. The underdog, the small fry, watched her movements with careful eyes. She could see the muscles bulge in the woman’s arm, it swung out with all the strength the woman could muster. It seemed like an eternity in her mind, but it all happened in the blink of an eye. She got on the inside and, before the woman could even realize her punch was useless, she lifted her elbow hard and crushed the woman’s nose. Blood gushed out, splattering against the back of her neck and elbow, as the woman collapsed to the ground clutching her face. The crowd roared in excitement. The blood had sent them into a frenzy like a group of sharks. She let her gaze shift to the sea of faces. The underdog had prevailed. 

The small fry had won again.

Consciousness hit me like a truck, but I didn’t move an inch. Miserable was a decent word to describe how I felt. Pathetic fit fairly well too, and so did exhausted. I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet to face the new day and I already felt done. My head pounded, my stomach was in knots, I was freezing, and to top it all off my sore back ached from yesterday’s events. 

I didn’t get sick very often. Whenever I was down for the count it was usually because of a external altercation rather than an internal one. Who knew the stomach virus would be my toughest opponent? While taking care of Taylor, I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I was putting myself at risk of catching the same sickness. It hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“Aj.” 

I moaned and pulled the thick, white comforter a little closer to my body. It was too hard for me to tell whom the voice belonged to at the moment, and considering it would take more focus to figure it out, I didn’t care. A couple more seconds passed before the voice spoke again. This time it was closer to my bed, “Aj, you must get up. The youngling’s school day begins in a little over a breem.”

“ Breem .” My voice held the word out longer than it should be held and it came out sounding like a hoarse groan. The entire sentence hadn’t really clicked in my mind, and then I had gotten hung up on the word breem. What the hell did that mean again? Ok, helm meant head, servos meant hands, pedes meant feet…

“Aj, they must be at school in approximately 10 minutes and 43 seconds.”

Now that sentence cut through the fog of my sickness pretty well. My eyes snapped open and the sudden light made me cringe. It didn’t make me cringe enough to stop the panic that flooded my body though, “ Fucking what ?” I literally fell out of bed and clumsily got back up. A wave of nausea hit me hard and I had to fight it off while searching for a hoodie to throw over my tank top. Ratchet was standing on my nightstand with his hands on his hips watching me pathetically rush around the room.

He shook his head with a groan, “They are⏤”

“Shit, slag, damn, frag.” I yelled and grabbed my wallet.

Ratchet’s eyes widened, “Watch your language, femme!”

“Taylor! Tyler! Peter!” I called out while running out the door. My feet headed toward their bedroom, but about halfway there I came to a screeching halt. Nausea hit me again and this time it was overwhelming. I backpedaled back to the bathroom just in time to throw up into the toilet. Nothing was worse than being sick. Nothing .

“That is absolutely vile .” Starscream’s voice sneered from behind me. I glanced behind my shoulder after I was sure I wasn’t about to barf again. The flying con stood in the doorway staring at me like I had grown three heads.

I stood up, ignored the seeker’s comment, and moved to rinse my mouth out. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to brush my teeth. That definitely was on the top of my to-do list when I got back home. I gargled a mouthful of mouthwash briefly and spat it out. “Screamer”, I said wiping my mouth, “Get the kids up.”

“They are already up and waiting downstairs.” He replied. My eyes snapped down to his small form. He was staring up at me in disgust still as if I was a ticking, organic bomb. That probably wasn’t far from the truth actually.

I jumped over him, ignoring his complaint, and rushed down the stairs with the running mantra of ‘don’t barf, don’t barf, don’t barf’ being sung in my head. There were voices drifting from the kitchen so when I reached the base of the stairs I made the sharp turn and came to a sudden stop. All three kids were sitting at the table dressed for school with their school bags in their laps. On the table talking to the kids were Optimus, Jazz, Skywarp, and Bumblebee.

“Aj!” Taylor yelled and jumped up from her seat, letting her bag fall to ground, to tackle me in a hug. Peter and Tyler jumped up too, but I ushered all three kids back a few steps. The chances of Taylor getting sick were slim since I got it from her, but I didn’t want the boys to have to go through this too.

I rubbed my face as if my exhaustion would come off in my hand, “What is⏤? When did you guys wake up? Did you eat? I’m sorry, I⏤”

“Ratchet informed us early this morning, around 5:12 AM, that you were ill like Taylor was.” Optimus spoke, interrupting my rambling rant of apologies. He continued, “We made sure they got up at their usual time and got ready so you would have more time to rest.”

“They also refueled on whatever slag comes out of those boxes.” Skywarp added and motioned toward the cereal boxes sitting on the island counter waiting to be put away.

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed in worry, “Do you feel alright, Aj?”

“I⏤” I paused. Did they really run through my normal morning routine just so I could sleep in a little more since I was sick? That was…That was really great of them. I forced a smile, “Yeah, I’m peachy, Pete. We gotta go though,” I remembered what a rush I had been in, “Grab the keys, get out to the car. I’ll be right there.”

The three kids chorused good-byes to the Cybertronians in the kitchen then raced past me to the front door. I moved to grab a quick sip of water, but had to stop when the room started spinning on me. I shut my eyes and gripped the counter to try and settle my flipping stomach. 

“Think ya can make it to the younglin’s school?” Jazz questioned. I could hear the slight worry in his voice.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see the entire room was staring me down. “I’m gonna have to.” I said breathlessly and continued to grab a glass of water. I took a few cautious sips before setting it back down.

“Perhaps one of us can accompany you, just in case.” Optimus suggested.

“Already ahead of you, Prime.” Megatron spat out the words with a tone of smugness. He strolled into the room and stopped by my feet. The Decepticon leader looked up to lock eyes with me, but didn’t smile, “Thundercracker will go with you.”

I wasn’t in an arguing mood. I was in a curl up and die mood, so I just nodded, “Where is he?”

“He followed the younglings out.” Skywarp chirped.

I shot them all a quick thumbs up before rushing toward the front door. I was halfway out the door when I paused. With the door still open, I peeked my head back into the house to grab the attention of every Cybertronian in the kitchen, “I…” My words bunched up in my mind and refused to be spoken. Thank you speeches weren’t exactly my forte. Not because I didn’t like saying thank you, but because it wasn’t often I had someone to sincerely thank for something. “Thanks, y’all. Seriously.”

Before I could study their reactions or before they could reply, I ducked out of the house and slammed the door behind me. I rushed off the porch and into the running car. The kids sat where they usually sat and the only difference was Thundercracker who stood between Peter and I.

“Okie dokie.” I sighed and peeled the car out of the driveway.

Taylor was the first to speak up, “I’m sorry for getting you sick.”

“It’s not your fault, honey.” I replied quickly to try and squash that mindset, “Besides, now I get to have a lazy day.”

The little girl chuckled, but there was a look of guilt still drawn on her features that made me want to hug her. Tyler, oblivious to his sister’s guilt, leaned forward in his seat, “You should watch a movie! Movies make me feel better.”

“Good idea.” I nodded, “Any suggestions?”

“Transformers!” The kids basically yelled and I nearly swerved off the road in surprise. Thundercracker stared at me with a quizzical look with his body in ready position as if I was about to keel over at any moment. I gave him a sheepish smile. Honestly, I don’t know why I expected any other answer from these kids.

The rest of the drive to school was filled with them telling me about the movie. To their credit, they didn’t say anything that sounded spoilerish. They mainly just listed the bots and cons who played a role in every single movie. I had followed along pretty well at first, but around the third movie I got lost and all the information I had understood jumbled together.

“Bye Aj!”

“Feel better!”

“See you later, TC!”

I watched the kids race toward the school’s front doors. Once they were safely inside I looked down at Thundercracker who looked up at me in return, “Promise to make sure I don’t drop dead while I drive?”

“I don’t think I can make that promise.” He replied with confused eyes, “However, I can try to keep your vehicle from hurtling off the road. Hopefully.”

I shrugged, “I’ll take what I can get.”

The ride was silent and maybe a little awkward. I couldn’t tell whether it was or not because I was so focused on not tossing my cookies in the cab of the truck. Luckily, I was distracted from my overwhelming nausea by a curious question, “Would you have saved one of us?”

I blinked in confusion and shook my head, “Listen, TC, I’m running on like half power right now. You're gonna have to be more specific.”

“The accident yesterday. What if it hadn’t been Wheeljack?” He clarified, “What if it were Starscream or Megatron? What if it had been Barricade? Would you have saved them?”

“Well, yeah.” I answered without hesitation.

Thundercracker seemed genuinely taken aback by my answer, “Honestly?”

I gave him a quick glance before returning my eyes to the road, “Why wouldn’t I? You guys are my responsibility too. Besides, I wouldn’t let Barricade be killed by a bookshelf when I could just end him myself. You know?”

An amused smile grew on his features from my poor attempt at a joke, but he quickly smothered it with a serious gaze and slightly puffed out chest. I chuckled and focused on getting home and not barfing. I’d be home in less than five minutes where I could throw up in the comfort of my own bathroom.

True to my thoughts, the moment I got out of the truck I could feel it coming. I grabbed Thundercracker and raced to the front door. I just about kicked the door open, threw Thundercracker to the side where he landed on his feet, and then moved to the stairs.

“Are you ok?”

“’M fine!” I barked back not even knowing whom I replied to then raced up the stairs. I reached the bathroom just in time to get to the toilet. There really wasn’t much left in my stomach to throw up at this point, but my stomach tried nonetheless. After dry heaving a few times I flushed the toilet, let out a groan, and pathetically just laid down on the cold, bathroom floor. I didn’t handle being sick well.

The sound of small footsteps grew closer until a red and white bot stood in the bathroom doorway. Ratchet narrowed his gaze at me, “Get off the hard floor. That is the last thing you need for your injured back. You should be in bed. I have instructed everyone else to steer clear of you. The last thing you need is stress. Now go.”

I didn’t even reply with words. Instead I groaned at him like a dying animal.

He shook his head and came over. I didn’t move as he lifted one of his hands and set it on my forehead. His hand was freezing cold, but it felt good against my head. After a second or two he pulled away, “You have a temperature of 100.2 Fahrenheit. You need to take medicine.”

“I thought your sensors didn’t work on us humans?”

“They don’t. Why do you think I physically set my servo against your helm?”

I grumbled under my breath before quietly saying, “Shut up, Ratchet.” My mind seemed to remember what Optimus had said earlier and my grumpy tone softened, “But thanks.”

He narrowed his eyes, “For?”

“For telling everyone I was sick so I could sleep more. It was… Just, thanks.” I said awkwardly.

Ratchet nodded his head and accepted my gratitude rather nonchalantly, which is exactly what I expected from the grumpy mech. He crossed his arms as I slowly tried to sit up. After a second, I gave up and decided I would just live on this bathroom floor. He hummed in thought, “I was looking over some information while you slept. This birth control you take can still fail at times. Fever and nausea are often some of the first symptoms a female has when⏤”

“Don’t even finish that sentence!” I yelled and sat up so fast that I nearly toppled over again. My hand shot to my sore back which had protested when I moved that quickly. 

Ratchet punched my knee, “Don’t move that quickly! You’ll only injure your back more. Primus, femme. You’re worse than the younglings sometimes. Now, as I was saying, this is a plausible possibility. You humans reproduce surprisingly easily according to the human anatomy book I found in your room.” I groaned, he must have found the book I used for my AP anatomy class senior year. “When was the last time you had⏤”

I pressed my finger against his face, promptly shutting him up. He backpedaled away from me with a glare and I just shook my head, “No. No, no, no. I absolutely refuse to talk about my sex life with you.”

“I am a medical professional⏤”

“ Ratchet ,” I paused briefly to let my spinning mind settle, “The only reason I was still taking the birth control was because I had refills left over. I’m on my last pack which means I’ll be off it soon, and my menstrual cycle came right on time, ok?” I sure as hell wasn’t about to add that the last time I had sex with a guy was nearly a year ago.

Apparently my answer had appeased him for the most part anyways. I stood up and grabbed my toothbrush. The temptation to squeeze the entire bottle of Colgate into my mouth right now was strong, but I settled on trying to get it on the brush bristles.

“Everythin’ ok in here?” Jazz poked his head in. I hadn’t even heard him coming, but that wasn’t a surprise, “We heard yellin’.”

“Everything is fine.” Ratchet answered and since he was answering I went back to squeezing some toothpaste onto my brush. “Aj is stubborn per usual and refuses to share important information concerning her health.”

“What info?” Jazz questioned curiously. I had been brushing my back teeth, but the brush slowed at the question. My eyes darted to Ratchet in worry. The docbot would not bring up sex in front of Jazz of all mechs would he? The only people worse than telling Jazz would be the condiment twins or maybe Skywarp.

Ratchet scoffed, “I only needed to know the date of her last action of intercourse with a human male.”

“ Intercourse . That’s the human’s way of interfacing right?” Jazz’s grin was slowly becoming larger.

Ratchet paused in thought before shrugging, “I suppose. It’s the closest to it.”

Jazz let out a bark of laughter. I couldn’t see his eyes past his visor, but I just knew they were twinkling with amusement and mischief. I pulled the toothbrush out of my mouth and stared at it contemplating stabbing it through my head and just putting myself out of misery.

“So, when’s the last time ya did the dirty, sweetspark?”

Yeah, I was definitely about to kill myself with a toothbrush.

Ratchet was a very persistent bot. By very persistent, I meant he was still hovering around my feet ordering me to get my ass back in bed. Of course, he didn’t actually use the curse of ass at me. Ratchet still never directly cursed at me. I would’ve found that fact rather chivalrous and funny except it implied that I was a child in his eyes, which wasn’t funny.

“I am fine .” I groaned at him and continued to dig through the fridge to grab the red bottle of Gatorade. Luckily, Taylor hadn’t drunk them all which left me with plenty for today.

I had already popped a couple ibuprofens to take care of my fever, which mollified Ratchet for like half a second. He growled, “You need rest.”

“I also need fluids.” I shook the bottle for emphasis. No other bot or con was in the kitchen and I had a suspicious feeling that it had something to do with Ratchet. He did say that he didn’t want anyone else bothering me. The only reason I was ignoring Ratchet’s orders was because I was much bigger than him and knew I could take him on at the moment. If I were, say, the same height as him? Hell, he wouldn’t have to tell me twice to do something. The Hatchet could be scary when he wanted to be. “Besides, I was gonna rest on the couch with a movie on.”

I left the kitchen and chuckled at the sound of Ratchet mumbling under his breath in his own language. I wonder if they could teach me how to say something in their language. Obviously, I’d never be fluent considering some of the sounds they made were impossible with an organic tongue, but a few words could be taught right?

My feet stopped when I noticed Bluestreak standing on the bottom stair staring up at me. His gaze drifted to Ratchet who was following me, “I’m so sorry! I thought I had enough time to get to the base before you guys left the kitchen, Ratchet! Aj, are you ok? I’m not bothering you too much am I? I really want you to get better, Tyler was saying⏤”

“I’m fine, Blue.” I said quickly to try and end his off base rambles, “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything!” He said quickly, “If you need help with anything at all I can do it. Unless, I actually can’t do it, but then I can get someone else to do it because no one wouldn’t help you out. Except maybe Barricade. He still doesn’t like you, but⏤”

“Go tell everyone we’re having a lazy day movie marathon.”

Bluestreak smiled, “Really? That is so neat! I’ll go tell them, but I know some of them probably won't come because they’d rather get work done like Prowl and⏤”

“I’m putting in Transformers.” I replied.

It took a moment for the word to click in his mind, but the moment he did the small bot was scrambling up the stairs yelling something in his own language. I chuckled and headed to the living room to find the movies. After only a few steps I stopped and knelt down to scoop up Ratchet.

“You shouldn’t pick people up without prior permission.” He grumbled with his arms crossed.

“Ah don’t pout, Ratchet. I just didn’t want you yapping at my heels like some ankle biter.” I replied with a chuckle. I crossed the room to the bookshelf where most of the movies were and set Ratchet on one of the eye level shelves. 

“What are you doing?” 

I glanced around the room trying to find the location of Skywarp’s voice. Ratchet spoke, “Look up.”

My eyes drifted upward to the entertainment system to see Skywarp sitting up. The entertainment system itself had two tall black towers on each side and the three seekers were on top of one of them. What threw me for a loop was the fact that only Skywarp was sitting up. Starscream and Thundercracker were lying down still silent.

“Are they⏤ Are they sleeping ?” I said the last part in a hushed tone.

“We always recharge here.” Skywarp replied.

Ratchet hummed, “Interesting how they would pick the highest point in the room. Not surprising though.” 

“So you guys do sleep?” I questioned.

“Recharge, and of course we do.” Ratchet replied, “We tend to do it not all at once though and we do not need it every night like you humans.”

“Huh.” I chuckled. That was really interesting. I already knew Grimlock slept, but I hadn’t seen anyone else do it. The room began to get loud as a crowd of bots came in. Sideswipe basically sprinted in followed by a running Bluestreak and Bumblebee.

“About time you put our movies in!” Sideswipe grinned.

Bumblebee spoke, “The others are coming.”

“Movies?” Skywarp grinned, “Ours? Frag yeah . Get up!”

The other two seekers began to wake up and I figured they’d get any other Decepticon who wanted to watch. I pulled Ratchet off the shelf and set him down on the floor then turned to Sideswipe, “Find the movies for me, I want a blanket.”

“How am I supposed to find them?”

“Look for the box that says Transformers. It’ll be the one with the giant robot face on the front.” I replied. Sideswipe waved away my sarcasm and went looking. I set my Gatorade down on the coffee table and then headed to the laundry room to grab a blanket. The idea of throwing it into the dryer for a few minutes had me pick up my speed.

The last thing I expected to see when I stepped into the laundry room was Wheeljack scribbling equations onto paper with a sharpie that was half his size. He had apparently been doing this for a while because the floor was covered in equation filled papers.

“Oh, Aj. Hi.” He said nervously and set the marker down, “Um, can you not tell Ratchet I’m working right now? I’d rather not face his wrath today.”

“Um…ok. What is all this?”

“I’m working on the equation that will get us all home.” He replied simply, “I wasn’t entirely comfortable working in front of the bookshelf anymore.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, I bet. Well, come and take a break with us.”

“A break? I have too much to do honestly. Starscream and Soundwave are working on something right now as well and I think I’ve convinced them to work with me for it will get us to an answer quicker but⏤”

“Jackie.” I forced a small smile, “It’s a lazy day today. No one is working.”

I pulled a blanket from the closet in the corner and threw it into the dryer for a couple minutes. All the movement had sent my stomach into more flips so I sat down and tried to get my bearings. Wheeljack come over immediately, “Are you alright? Should I get Ratchet? I don’t want him to rip me apart, but if you’re illness is getting worse⏤”

“No way. Mama Hen can stay in the living room and relax. I’m not even that sick.” I said reassuringly. “Once my blanket is nice and toasty I am dragging you into the living room to watch movies with us. All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy⏤ er, mech.”

Wheeljack chuckled, “Of course.”

The white, green, and red mech stood closer to me, almost protectively, but due to him being this close I noticed the difference. His eyes were different. Curiously, I pulled my knees up, picked him up, and then set him on one of my knees.

“Um, Aj. What are you doing?”

“Sorry, just give me a second.” I said. Being vague wasn’t my goal, but my mind was focused on figuring out the difference. When all the Cybertronians woke up they either had solid red eyes or solid blue eyes. By red and blue, I meant the exact shade of red or blue that was the most common. Now, however, Wheeljack’s blue eyes were a different shade. His were now a shade or two darker, like a navy blue. “Wheeljack, your eyes are a different color.”

“What?” His fins lit up in surprise, “What color?”

“Dark… They’re just a darker blue. Like navy. Look.” I stood up and bit back a groan. There was a full-length mirror hanging on the other side of the laundry room door. I pushed the door so it was half closed and set Wheeljack down to observe his own eyes. 

Wheeljack was silent a moment before shaking his head, “They’ve returned to normal.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we first got here, Ratchet and I noticed that all our optics had changed to either a solid blue tone or a solid red tone depending on faction. You see, Aj, this is my true optic color.” 

I shook my head, “Why did it change back all of a sudden?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. Was anybody else different?” He questioned.

“Not that I noticed. Ratchet’s wasn’t.”

Wheeljack narrowed his own eyes in thought, “Then there is an order to change? Why am I first?”

I bit my lower lip in thought. There was a pause before I shook my head and spoke, “Did you wake up first? Were you the first to come to life as a toy?”

Wheeljack’s fins lit up, “No. I was third. The twins woke up before me.”

“Stay here.” I rushed out the laundry room and into the living room. Jazz, Barricade, and Soundwave had shown up since I left but others were still missing. My eyes landed on Sideswipe who was standing on the coffee table next to my Gatorade and four movie boxes.

“Finally.” He said but I ignored his comment and scooped him up. He let out a slight cry of surprise. There were questions from others, but I shot back a noncommittal answer and a quick, ‘ I’ll be back’ before leaving. “What is going on?”

I didn’t answer the red bot and instead stared at his newly changed eyes. I was surprised to see his had made a huge change. They didn’t just lighten or darken, but rather took on an almost purple tint. Sideswipe’s eyes were like an indigo mixed with a dark blue.

“What? What are you staring at? Is there something on my faceplate?” Sideswipe reached up to touch his nose.

“There you are, femme!” Ratchet barked at my feet. I stopped outside the laundry room just as Wheeljack stepped out.

“Ratchet!” Wheeljack had to be grinning behind his facemask, “My optics have returned to their usual color.”

Sideswipe squirmed out of my hands and jet packed safely to the floor where Ratchet rushed over to Wheeljack. The medic studied Wheeljack’s eyes before looking at Sideswipe’s.

“Are mine back to normal too?” Sideswipe turned to me, “Oh, Primus, please tell me they are.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I mean, if your usual color was kind of purplish then yes. There’s a mirror behind the door.”

Sideswipe rushed into the room and I took a seat on the floor to keep from falling over. Ratchet and Wheeljack had slipped into their native language. A second later, Sideswipe cheered from inside the laundry room. He came out beaming, “We were getting sick of that other blue. Sunny is beyond pleased to get his real color back.”

“Sunstreaker’s eyes look like yours?” I asked.

Sideswipe nodded, “His are a little lighter than mine, but yeah.”

“How come you guys didn’t notice each other’s eyes? I mean, you’re glued to each other.”

Sideswipe waved my question away, “He’s working on something. I don’t bother him when he gets sucked into a project.” 

Before I could question said project Ratchet spoke up, “This is interesting, but it does nothing for us except give me hope that perhaps with time we’ll gain back use of our comms and perhaps be able to connect with the internet through our systems rather than the outdated machine in base.”

“Wait, y’all have been using the computer?” I questioned.

“Duh.” Sideswipe replied and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Who woke up after me?” Wheeljack asked.

Sideswipe paused, “Bee? I think it was Bee, then Jazz, Blue, Prowl, Optimus, Grimlock, Ratchet walked in about this time, but he could’ve woken up before one of the others. Then the cons of course.”

“Why do you guys have different colors?” I asked suddenly. This made them all pause for a moment.

Sideswipe crossed his arms, “You humans have different eye colors.”

“Well, yeah, because of genes and⏤ wait, if you guys have different colors because of like parents or reproduction in any form then forget I even asked.”

Sideswipe began to laugh at my flustered words, but Ratchet just shook his head, Wheeljack took up the question, “Not at all. You see, we can easily change our optic color if need be. There is programming that changes the backlight that is projected from our optics. What makes the color vary is the optic glass itself. For example, Sideswipe has optic glass that is tinted a purple color so when the backlight of blue, blue for Autobot of course, is projected through it his optics seem…well, like that.”

“Oh. So the light can change colors, but can you change the optic glass itself?”

“It’s a simple surgery.” Ratchet nodded, “I’ve done a few, but for the most part mechs and femmes don’t change their optic glass unless it’s been damaged.”

“Sunny and I were created with purple optic glass. It’s on the rare side.” He beamed.

I nodded, “That’s pretty neat.”

“Don’t you wanna know how we were created?” Sideswipe teased with a smug tone.

“Nope.” I stood to grab my blanket that had finished being heated up nearly three minutes ago, “Let’s go watch a movie.”

Ratchet peeked into the laundry room and frowned, “Wheeljack! Have you been working?!” The sheepish look on his features was answer enough, “Frag it all, you slagging idiot! As if being yourself isn’t a strain on your processors enough!”

I took a big swig of Gatorade and closed my eyes as if that would help keep it down. The movie was in and the previews before the menu popped up were rolling. The news of the eye color change had been received well, but apparently it wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought. 

The room was filled with bots and cons ready to watch their big screen debut. I was sitting at the end of the long couch with my blanket draped over me. On the small, two-seat couch was Megatron, Starscream, Barricade, and Soundwave. Sitting on the coffee table in front of me was Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Skywarp. On the other side of the couch I sat on was Thundercracker sitting on the couch’s arm. Sitting in the middle was Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet. Grimlock was prowling around the room for some reason and Jazz was sitting on the back ridge of the couch to the right of my shoulder. The only person who wasn’t around was Sunstreaker. When I asked why, the ‘ project’ had been brought up again and then his twin explained that if he got curious Sunstreaker could peek through their bond and look.

“Stop chugging those fluids!” Ratchet barked, “You’ll make yourself purge it all.”

I groaned and set my half empty bottle on the floor, “Come on, Ratchet. Stop whining and come cuddle with me.”

I held my arms open in his direction as an invitation for him to come sit with me. He rolled his eyes and grumpily waved me off. Sideswipe turned around where he sat and lifted his arm in the air, “I’ll cuddle with you.”

Sideswipe winked one indigo-blue eye at me and I scoffed. The dispute was settled when Grimlock huffed and then jumped into my lap. He glared at Sideswipe, who leaned back at the glare, then curled up into my side. I shrugged and set my hand on his back.

“So I better be kicking some con aft in this movie.” Sideswipe said, turning his gaze back toward the screen.

“You’re not in this one.” I said. All eyes drifted to me in curiosity.

Sideswipe shook his head, “Why?!”

“I’m not Michael Bay, I don’t know.” I said, “The kids said only some of the bots and cons were in this one.”

“Who?” Megatron questioned. I figured I was going to get that question from someone, but I just didn’t expect him to be the one.

“Um,” I paused in thought and tried to recall who all the kids had said was in this one.

Jazz chuckled and answered him, “Well, OP, Bee, and you are on the front cover.”

I nodded, “Right, those three. Uh, Ratchet is in this one. Starscream, Barricade, Jazz, and some others.”

“Scorponok, Brawl, Blackout, Frenzy, and Bonecrusher are in this.” Thundercracker finished the list of names I didn’t recognize. “Also, Ironhide. The kids said Ironhide was in this one.”

Sideswipe chuckled, “Ironhide?”

“Who’s Ironhide?”

“You’d like him.” Wheeljack spoke up, “He also enjoys threatening the twins with bodily harm.”

The red bot just shrugged at the statement and I laughed with a shake of my head. Sideswipe sighed, “So when do Sunny and I come in then?”

“You show up in the second one I think, but Sunstreaker doesn’t.”

Everyone stopped except Thundercracker who had already heard this. This was one of the few things I did remember well. Sideswipe stood up, “What?”

“Sunstreaker isn’t in any of the movies. Just you.”

“Just…me?”

Sideswipe wasn’t the only one surprised by this. Hell, even the Decepticons looked shocked at this fact. I glanced back at Sideswipe to see a serious look of concentration on his face. Like he couldn’t even begin to imagine not having his twin with him. It actually hurt me to see him trying to imagine it.

“Um, who else is in which movie, TC? Do you remember?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“For the most part. Grimlock is in the fourth movie, Skywarp and I aren’t in any of them.” Cue cussing from Skywarp. “Neither is Bluestreak and Prowl. Wheeljack is…sort of in a movie. I can’t recall what they said, but it was confusing. Soundwave arrives in the second film.”

Bluestreak’s wings drooped, “Aw, I’m not in any of the movies?”

He looked so sad that I wanted to go out and make him his own movie. I’d film it on my crappy phone and Wheeljack could do the special effects. Although, his special effects would probably be the death of us all.

The menu screen appeared and everyone in the room quieted. I grabbed the remote and pressed play then grabbed my drink to chug down some more.

“I said quit chugging!” Ratchet snapped only to be shushed by everyone else. I grinned smugly at him and then settled comfortably in my seat, even letting my hand traced down Grimlock’s back. 

The movie started off in space with a cube floating through the darkness and a very recognizable voice narrating. We all glanced over at Optimus who acted as if not a single person was looking at him. The gazes drifted away, but I kept mine locked on him. He glanced over at me and despite the battle mask over his lower face I knew he was smiling. I chuckled and returned my gaze to the screen. It had gone to a group of military men in the back of an airplane.

“Whoa, whoa!” Sideswipe pointed at the screen and ignored the hushing, “I know those guys!”

“The human soldiers?” Prowl questioned, “How?”

“I’m trying to listen to the movie.” Starscream sneered. I rolled my eyes and paused the movie since I was curious as well.

Sideswipe grinned, “Remember that mission Sunny and I got sent on? Ironhide led it, Hound and Trailbreaker were on it.”

“I recall it.” Prowl replied, his eyes glanced over to Megatron suspiciously, “The base you encountered held these soldiers?”

Sideswipe nodded, “Yupp, but he was younger. More like Aj.”

“Good for you.” Skywarp scoffed, “Now start the fragging movie.”

I started the movie before an argument could start and Sideswipe sat back down. The movie rolled on, but I couldn’t tell how I felt about it. If I had watched it before I had come to babysit I probably would’ve enjoyed it a lot. However, a lot of parts just didn’t seem like they fit the bots and cons I had come to know. My mind couldn’t put together any decent examples, but the feeling lingered. Some of the guys in the movie looked different than they did here. Ratchet was a good example and Sideswipe had teased him about the neon green, emergency color for a good ten minutes. Jazz was another example and I had turned around slightly in my seat to let him know that I preferred the way he looked now over the movie.

The fights had been pretty sweet, and I’ll admit I probably enjoyed watching Barricade get his ass handed to him by Bumblebee a little too much. The final battle was beginning on the screen and I was proud to say that I only had to rush to the bathroom three times. I had used the living room bathroom since it was the closest. Starscream had whined about it at first, but after I threatened to just barf on him he quieted down.

There was cheering and teasing during the last fight. Most of it was in good nature. Most . It was all going well for the most part. The Decepticons here weren’t even too upset over the deaths that occurred from their faction during the movie. The cheer took a hit when Bumblebee lost his legs, but the room had gone quiet in shock when Jazz died. I watched Megatron up on the building rip him in half, but it didn’t fully click.

“Did I just⏤?” Jazz spoke from behind me.

I glanced over at Megatron expecting to see a shit-eating grin, but the con leader just looked perplexed. He had an air of satisfaction about him, but his mind, or processor if you will, was still trying to grasp it.

“Dude.” Sideswipe blinked. The movie kept going just like any real fight would, but my mind was stuck at that part. I was genuinely uncomfortable about it, which was silly since I knew it was just a movie. Jazz was my responsibility and watching him die on screen almost made me feel like I had failed him. This probably meant that I should get some serious sleep considering I was feeling guilt over something that hadn’t even happened.

I glanced back at Jazz who didn’t seem overly upset. He still had a small smile on his face and it grew slightly as he greeted my gaze. Was he bothered? It was just a movie after all, but I was upset and I hadn’t been the one to watch myself get ripped in half by the enemy. 

“You alright?” Jazz whispered since the movie was still playing. He was asking me if I was all right. I scoffed to myself and then pulled him off the back of the couch. Grimlock had fallen asleep halfway through the movie and was snoozing in my lap so I set Jazz against my side and held him like one would hold a doll. Jazz chuckled to himself but didn’t protest.

The movie ended with Shia LaBeouf shoving the cube into Megsy’s chest and ending him. The same feeling came where I felt like I had failed someone, but this time it was muted because movie Megatron was a total dick whereas the Megatron I had grown used to just had some major asshole like qualities. 

“Well that was,” Wheeljack hummed, “Interesting?”

“I think ah need to have a little chat wit’ this Bay fella.” Jazz shook his head, crossed his arms, and snuggled closer to me, “In fact, if I wasn’ so comfortable, I’d go hunt the glitch down now.”

I nodded, “I’m sure he’d be terrified of you, Jazz.”

“You bet your aft he’d be, sweetspark.” Jazz nodded

Sideswipe groaned, “Come on, can you put in the second one already??”

“Cool your jets.” I replied and carefully got up. Jazz slid onto the couch seat where I had been and Grimlock shifted with a growl. As I took out the first disc and began to put in the second one I glanced over at Megatron who was glaring at Starscream. I hadn’t heard the jet say anything, but I had no doubt he did something to piss off the leader. “Do you need some cuddles too, Megsy?”

His glare snapped to me while Sideswipe complained about not being offered cuddles. I ignored both of them though because I realized Megatron’s eyes had changed. Since he was the second to last to wake up that meant they had all changed. I threw the movie in to shut Sideswipe up and then began to look closer at the eyes.

“What are you doing?” Prowl questioned.

“All your eyes have changed.” I replied without pause. Megatron’s were still a shade of red obviously, but it was very dark like rosewood red. Starscream was a lighter burgundy. Soundwave might not have changed yet, but I couldn’t tell past his glass, facemask. I was surprised to see that Barricade’s was very similar to the bright red that he had woken up with. It was more vibrant now, but still the same.

I continued looking at each of their eyes and they didn’t even ask questions as to why I was so curious which was good because I didn’t really know myself. Bumblebee had really bright eyes like cyan in color. Bluestreak were on the teal side, and Skywarp’s were on the raspberry side. Ratchet had what was apparently considered rare too since his had a natural green tint. The color came out looking sea foam green almost. Optimus had sky blue eyes, Prowl had a grayish steel blue tint, and Thundercracker’s eyes were almost maroon. Grimlock was still snoozing away, but Wheeljack explained that his were a very light blue, nearly white, and that all the dinobots were like that. I was stuck on the fact that apparently Grimlock was not the only dinobot. Good Lord .

“You are out of your fluid. Go get more.” Ratchet said when he noticed my empty bottle.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of bossy?” I replied and started the movie for them. I wouldn’t mind missing the first few minutes to get a drink. Besides, if I didn’t start it now Sideswipe would have an aneurysm or at least the robotic equivalent of one. 

Optimus chuckled, “I’m sure he has heard it a time or two.”

Ratchet glared daggers at the Autobot leader and I snorted with amusement. I headed out of the living room, but paused when I noticed Jazz following me. With a smile, I reached down and scooped him up.

“You ok, Jazz?”

“I’m fine. It’ll take a lot more to rattle meh.” Jazz replied as I set him on the counter so I throw away the empty bottle then grab a new one.

I pulled out a pink one and narrowed my eyes at Jazz. He was like Soundwave in the sense that I couldn’t see his eyes. I took a quick sip then pointed at him, “What color are your eyes?”

“Mine?” He clarified and I nodded. A short chuckle slipped from his lips, “That’s a secret.”

“Oh, come on.” I whined, “Lemme see.”

“Sorry, can't do that. If I did I’d have to offline ya.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Are you doubtin’ mah skills??”

“I’m just saying that you’re under a foot tall, and I might be sick, but I think I could still handle these said skills.” I joked.

Jazz shook his head, “Maybe one day I’ll show ya.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I said firmly.

There was a pause of silence before Sideswipe’s voice carried into the kitchen, “Did you fragging see that?! I just destroyed Sideways. Aj! Come here and make the movie go backwards, you have to see me in action!”

Chapter Text

“I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite!” –Buddy the Elf (Elf)

It wasn’t that I didn’t like the second movie, I swear it wasn’t, it was just me being beyond exhausted from throwing up all morning. That was the reason why I had fallen asleep after about three minutes of watching it. 

The sound of a phone ringing made me snap awake. My eyes traveled across the room trying to regain my composure. It was hard to tell what was happening on the screen, but it looked like Shia LaBeouf was arriving at college. Sideswipe groaned and I focused my blurry gaze on him, “You fell asleep! You’re gonna miss all my action!”

I mumbled a quick apology before rubbing my eyes and pulling myself off the couch. The nap I had taken left me more tired than I had started off. How long had I even fallen asleep for anyways? The movie continued to play as I headed toward the kitchen and I didn’t mind. I hadn’t exactly been paying attention to what was going on anyways.

The house phone was by the fridge ringing shrilly. I still couldn’t believe Aubrey had a landline. I thought those had gone extinct and the only place you could find them now was by the T-Rex fossils in a museum. 

“Hello?” I answered and rubbed my face again. At least the nap had pushed away most of my nausea. For now, at least.

“ Aimee ?? Oh, you sound horrible.”

I forced a smile despite knowing my older sister couldn’t see me, “Aj, and thanks. Horrible was the look I was going for this morning.”

“Sorry.” Aubrey replied in a heart-felt tone.

“I was⏤ it’s fine. You know sarcasm is my natural reaction to…well, everything .”

Aubrey chuckled, “I guess I just need to get used to it again.”

I bit back a sigh and sat down on the kitchen floor with my back against the fridge, “So, what’s up? The kids are at school right now.”

“I know. They called me and told me you were sick.”

My eyes widened, “What do you mean they called you??”

“Peter used the office phone this morning. I told them to take the bus home this afternoon, they used to do that on the days I couldn’t pick them up.”

“I can pick them up.” I said firmly and rather loudly. “I am fully capable⏤”

Aubrey sighed on the other end, “They’re going to be upset if you pick them up. Peter suggested the bus idea for your sake, and he’s going to be disappointed if he can't help you.”

I blinked in surprise. Peter was trying to help me out as much as possible. That wasn’t surprising. The kid and I hadn’t gotten off to the best start, but we were good now. What did surprise me was that Aubrey knew the exact way to get me to agree. Damn it.

“ Fine .” I snapped a little rougher than I should have. The line was quiet and guilt began to eat away at my core. My voice came out softer with the next words, and I felt smaller, “How are you Aubrey? Is everything…Is everything alright?”

I could almost hear her smile over the line, “Everything is going perfect, Aj.”

“Good.”

“I actually called to tell you something else too.” Aubrey spoke up and her voice was filled with excitement, “I ordered the kids’ Christmas present online and they should get there next Monday.” Shit . Today was Thursday, or more specifically the 19 th of December. I groaned aloud and Aubrey’s panicked voice responded, “ Are you ok ??”

“I’m fine. I just remembered I have to go Christmas shopping is all.” I replied. Mentally, I put it on my to-do list. I had to get this done before Christmas eve because if I tried to go shopping in the Christmas eve crowds I would punch somebody’s teeth in more than likely. Having their aunt in jail would be a pretty shitty Christmas gift.

Aubrey chuckled, “Not today though. Wait until you feel better.”

“I’ll probably do it tomorrow while they’re at school.” I replied, “What did you get them?”

“Oh, right! I bought them some more transformer stuff.”

I paused, “Like…the action figure, model things or…?”

“No.” Aubrey replied and I let out a breath of relief. I didn’t think by entering the household a transformer toy would suddenly come to life, but it would still be weird to have a still one when all the others are running around, “Just some clothes, a new backpack for Tyler, and things like that. Those are the stuff that should arrive on Monday.”

“You say that like there is stuff coming on not Monday.”

“Santa is bringing them new bikes this year.” Aubrey said with excitement, “You’ll have to build them, but I was told the instructions aren’t hard to follow.”

I chuckled, “I forgot about Santa. I’m glad you remembered or this would be an awkward Christmas.”

“I’m a mom . It’s my job to remember.” Aubrey joked. It was just a lighthearted joke, but it reminded me that I was not a mother and I probably wouldn’t be a very good one. Sure, I was taking care of the kids pretty well. They were safe, they weren’t starving, but the little things like remembering that Santa was supposed to visit next week had completely slipped my mind. It was a small detail, but to a kid it was huge. “Oh, I have to go. Take care of yourself today, Aimee. Tell the kids I’ll call them tonight.”

I nodded then remembered I was on the phone, “Right. Got it. Bye.”

The line ended, but I remained sitting on the floor for a couple minutes. I could always go back to watch the movie, but I had already missed the beginning so it’d be pointless. Suddenly, I remembered the yellow bot I hadn’t seen all morning. I rose to my feet with a groan and headed for the stairs. Sunstreaker was the only person up here right now, and it didn’t take me long to find him.

Surprisingly, he was in the twins’ room of all places. I leaned against their doorframe taking in the sight of Sunstreaker working over the family tree project. The twins had colored the tree last night and all they needed to do was paste pictures of their family members on it.

“Go away, I’m busy.” Sunstreaker said without glancing back at me.

I pushed off the doorframe and grabbed a small folder by Taylor’s bedside. Inside were the pictures they found that they wanted to use, “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer my question. In fact, he acted as if I hadn’t even spoken at all. I plopped down on the ground by her bed and began to flip through the photos. There was one of Aubrey with her hair tied in a ponytail and an apron over her clothes. She must have been cooking. They had even grabbed a photo of their dad Wes. It was mid chest and up like Aubrey’s and he looked like he was wearing a military uniform. Was Wes in the military? I couldn’t remember what it was he did, mainly because I hadn’t cared. Hell, I still didn’t really care, but my curious side did wonder. There were three more pictures. One of Taylor, who was dressed as Cinderella, it must have been Halloween, one of Tyler who wore a baseball uniform and a layer of dirt, and one of Peter who was beaming into the camera without his glasses on.

The three of them were beyond adorable and it brought a soft smile to my lips. I set the photos back in the folder. It was sad to me that they didn’t know any of their grandparents. I didn’t know anything about Wes’ side of the family, but I personally knew that my mom would’ve adored the three of them. She would’ve spoiled them absolutely rotten.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I lifted my gaze to glance at Sunstreaker only to realize he had stopped working and was now staring me down. I froze under the gaze. It wasn’t one of the usual glares he sent me, but rather it was almost analytical. As if he was studying me. His eyes had changed just like Sideswipe, but like Sideswipe had said Sunstreaker’s eyes were a lighter shade of purple and blue. It fit well with his yellow paint job, not that I’d ever admit that to him.

“What?” I said. He didn’t break his gaze or even flinch. It felt like his gaze went right through me and that made me shift uncomfortably, “ What are you looking at ??”

Sunstreaker didn’t reply, but glanced back down at the poster board in front of him. He tilted his head slightly before nodding. I pushed myself off my butt and onto my knees to crawl over and see what he was looking at.

My eyes widened at the artwork on the tree. It was me . Sunstreaker had drawn a portrait of me among the branches. Underneath the drawing, scribbled in Taylor’s handwriting, was ‘ Aj (aunt )’. The drawing itself though was spectacular. Bumblebee had mentioned that Sunstreaker drew, but I didn’t think that he could do something like this. So there I was surprised at the talent this foot tall mech had and the fact that I was on the tree at all.

“They put me on their tree.” I breathed. I knew we all got along, but a part of me felt like I still didn’t deserve it yet. Where was I the past ten years? Not here that was for sure. “You…you drew me on their tree.”

“They asked. Apparently they didn’t have a picture of you.” Sunstreaker shrugged, “I didn’t want to, but I’ve never drawn a human before. Seemed like it’d be an interesting subject to try. It wasn’t much of the challenge I hoped it to be though.”

The dismissal in his tone didn’t even reach my ears. The detail in the drawing was beyond accurate. He had captured the slight wave my hair held and my face shape exactly. He even added the little scar I had under my left eye. The smile drawn on my features though…

“It’s amazing, dude, but…” I began and Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me as if daring me to finish that sentence, “I don’t smile like that.”

In the picture I was way too happy. He had somehow drawn it out to make my smile reach my eyes. The drawing was black and white, with pencil only, but still he had found a way to make it look like my eyes radiated with amusement.

Sunstreaker scoffed, “It’s perfect , but more than that it’s exact .”

“I just⏤”

“That’s how you look when you’re around the kids.” He replied and scoffed again, “Pit, that’s the fragging smile you had on your face plates a nano-klick ago.”

I assumed nano-klick was when I had been looking at the photos, but was he serious? Is this the look I wore whenever I was interacting with the kids? I stared at the picture longer and chuckled. Sunstreaker made me look good. There was no way I looked like that today with my hoodie, messy hair, and pale skin. I was basically radiating sickness today.

“It looks amazing .” I nodded, “You did a good job, grape.”

Sunstreaker’s eyes narrowed at me again, “What?”

“Grape. See, before I only had the color yellow to work with, but now that your eyes are purple…” I forced a joking grin despite the fact that I was beginning to feel nauseous again. 

“Fragging pit spawn.” He said, but rather than being full of spite and anger his words just seemed like an afterthought. Like a sigh or something. A moment passed before his head snapped to the side and he grew stiff.

I narrowed my eyes, “You ok?”

Sunstreaker didn’t answer. Instead, he transformed and raced out of the room. I jumped to my feet, with a spinning head, and followed. He had transformed again to handle the stairs, but this gave me time to catch up with him. I scooped him up into my arms to race down the stairs, and the yellow bot with light purple eyes didn’t even complain.

The sounds of gunfire, yelling, and a movie mingled in the air. I reached the living room and paused to see an all out war had been started. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were fighting with Barricade while Wheeljack and Jazz were tensely speaking to Soundwave though it looked like a fight between them had just ended. Sideswipe and Prowl were stuck under the table as the seekers zoomed around the room and brought a rain of fire down on them. Optimus and Megatron were on top of the coffee table and in the middle of a heated Cybertronian argument that was on the brink of turning into a fire fight as well. Grimlock was still sleeping on the couch as if none of this was happening. I was frozen in shock, but Sunstreaker used his new height to his advantage. As Skywarp flew by me, Sunstreaker leaped off my hand and landed on the guy’s back. He immediately began to barrel roll and warp around the room trying to get him off.

The movie was still playing, and I watched as a large helicopter dropped a motionless Optimus Prime onto an open tarmac. He had died in this movie? Wasn’t he in the other movies though? What the hell was happening?

“Get upstairs! We are trying to contain the situation⏤” Ratchet was yelling at my feet, but I shook my head and stepped into the heat of the battle. Someone cried out in pain, but I couldn’t pinpoint who. My gaze was locked on the leaders. Fastest way to end a fight was to separate them, right? My goal was to pull them away before the physical fight started, but the moment I stepped toward them Megatron fired at Optimus who was shot back. The Autobot leader came close to falling off the edge, but came to a screeching stop just in time. He brought out his own weapon, a sword, in response and began to plead at Megatron in Cybertronian.

My attention was yanked away when a sharp pain bit at my arm. I let out a small, startled cry and glanced down to see stray bullets had pelted my upper arm and left small burn marks. It hurt more now than it did when they first showed up. Had that changed like their eyes or was it just because I was under the weather?

Someone called out my name, that someone probably being Ratchet, but I ignored them and reached forward to grab the leaders. Both of them apparently had been so absorbed in each other that they didn’t even notice me because when I grabbed them they jerked in surprise. Megatron’s gun was hot and it made my fingers warm, but Optimus’ sword was sharp and made my fingers bleed. I quickly released him in fear of getting blood all over him.

“ Aj !” He called out in his deep voice, “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fantastic, except for the whole robots fighting in my living room thing !” I snapped loudly so everyone could hear. The fighting was beginning to slow down. I knew ‘ robots’ was kind of an insulting term for these guys which is probably why it slipped from my lips. “What the hell is going on in here? I was only gone for⏤just⏤ How !?”

Optimus spoke up, “It was a simple argument that got out of hand. We apologize, Aj.”

My eyes glanced back at the television screen, “It have anything to do with you dying, OP?”

He didn’t answer, but that was answer enough. I set Megatron down, but he continued to just glare at me. Dealing with this was tiring, and I was tired enough as is. A sigh slipped my lips and I shook my head, “No more movie.”

“ Aj !” Sideswipe began, but I cut him off with a glare of my own. He visibly wilted and crossed his arms like a child pouting while I turned the TV off using the hand that wasn’t bleeding.

I glanced at the cut in curiosity. It was rather thin, but it was long and went across the inside of all my fingers minus my thumb. It also burned like a paper cut would making my face scrunch up in distaste. I was surprised Ratchet wasn’t on me about this yet.

“Aj, grab Bumblebee and get him upstairs.” Ratchet said firmly with a mix of determination and authority in his voice. My eyes darted over to see a dark eyed, motionless Bee with Ratchet standing over him holding a bright yellow door wing. 

My other hand was playing with the new Band-Aids over each finger as I watched Ratchet work. I was seated on the floor with my back against my bed.

“Stop messing with them.” Ratchet snapped without even looking up from his work. I let my hands drop into my lap with a disgruntled sigh. 

“Are you sure he’s ok?” I questioned probably for the hundredth time. 

Ratchet once again didn’t look up, “I am positive. His door wing was ripped off and the pain overloaded his sensors and knocked him into stasis.”

My mind drifted to the movies and I squirmed, “I can’t tell the difference between stasis and death. It…” Bothered me? Worried me? Scared me? I didn’t know how to finish the sentence so I just didn’t bother.

When I had carried Ratchet and Bumblebee upstairs nearly everyone had tried to follow. Ratchet was apparently the King of kicking people out of places though. He had banned anyone from entering the room while he worked. I was about 95% positive that the only reason why he let me in here was because of my fingers and the fact that I was sick. Otherwise, I’d be shit out of luck like all the others.

“How are your digits?” Ratchet questioned. Sometimes I liked that he never replaced his Cybertronian terms with human ones because then it made it easier for me to learn. Other times it was just frustrating. 

I shrugged and assumed the digits he was talking about were my bleeding fingers, “They’re fine. Burning a little, but that’s normal.”

Ratchet was silent a moment before letting out a sound of surprise. I sat up straighter, but he didn’t clarify what he was surprised by. He looked up from what he was doing, locking his seafoam eyes on me, “Go get Optimus and Wheeljack.”

“Only because you asked so nicely.” I mumbled under my breath and Ratchet ignored me. A grunt escaped my mouth as I forced myself up and out of the room. The moment I stepped out Optimus, who was standing by the doorway, greeted me. My eyes widened slightly, not expecting him to be there, “Hey, OP. You scared me.”

“I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“It’s ok. Ratchet is looking for you.”

He nodded, then paused, “Are you alright?”

I glanced down at my hand then back at him with a forced smile, “No worries. Takes more than a paper cut to bring me down.”

“It wasn’t paper that cut you, but my blade.”

I shrugged, “Eh, to may to, to mah to. Do you know where Wheeljack is?”

Optimus shook his head, “I do not. Sorry.”

I waved off his apology and walked down the hall looking for the engineer. My search came to an end in the kitchen where Wheeljack was getting a serving of coffee for a curled up Grimlock. I always had a jug of coffee made and stored on the lowest shelf in the fridge with all the kid medicine cups I could find beside it. Cold or hot they didn’t care as long as the caffeine got their energy levels up and this way they could get it themselves when needed. 

“Here we go now.” Wheeljack hummed holding the plastic medicine cup filled with black coffee. Grimlock grumbled and stood. He began to transform which always threw me for a loop. I had seen him do this before, but I guess I couldn’t get used to the fact that Grimlock could look not like a dinosaur. His other form was just like everyone else except Grimlock was still freaking huge. The bot took the coffee, chugged it, dropped the cup, and then walked out. Wheeljack picked up the cup and looked at me, “He’s still in a mood about missing the earlier fight. How is your hand?”

“I’ll live.” I held up the bandaged hand with a forced smile, “Ratchet is looking for you though.” I took the plastic cup from Wheeljack and tossed it into the sink for me to wash later.

Wheeljack shrugged, “Best not leave him waiting, he’s probably already in one of his moods as well.”

“Are you psychic?” I joked and picked him up from the ground.

It was one of those moments where you hear the words and understand that the words form a coherent sentence, but said coherent sentence just doesn’t click in your mind. I lifted my hand and shook my head, “Wait, wait, wait… what ?”

Ratchet sighed and crossed his arms, “We are changing. The optic change brought it to my attention and now Bumblebee’s injuries further prove it.”

“ Amazing .” Wheeljack said in excitement as his fins lit up. He still had his attention buried in Bumblebee’s wound.

Optimus stepped forward, “What exactly does this mean for us?”

“I have no idea.” Ratchet admitted, “For one, it means we need to stop getting fragging injured. The more these bodies change to match our normal ones then the more complicated the jobs will become. I have a field kit in my subspace, but not enough materials for any big fixes.”

Wheeljack nodded, “I have some extra material in my subspace as well. I’m sure others do too.”

“Still we shouldn’t count on that.” Ratchet argued.

I blinked, “The toy bodies are becoming your real bodies?”

“It seems so.” Optimus grumbled with worry reflecting in his eyes.

“The good news is this means we will most likely get our comm systems back as well as a viable way to connect to your internet, Aj.” Wheeljack hummed, “Perhaps even our holoform program will come back online.”

I didn’t know what the fuck a holoform was, but my mind was stuck on something else, “The toy bodies are becoming your real bodies .”

“We have established that, Aj.” Ratchet snapped.

“Your real bodies are bigger than my house.” I said and the room grew quiet. A lump formed in my throat and I quickly swallowed it, “Will your toy bodies grow as you change??”

Wheeljack glanced at Ratchet then back at me, “Well, honestly, there is no way to know for certain. We just have to monitor it?”

I buried my face into my heads and heaved a sigh. Who knew that housing miniature aliens would be so stressful? As I pondered my poor decisions in life, Ratchet pushed Wheeljack aside and began to finish working on Bee’s injuries. 

“Well, I guess when y’all’s heads start banging against the top of the doorframes we’ll figure it out.” I stated while rubbing my forehead with my hand.

A groan filled the room as Bumblebee came back online. I was beyond pleased to see his cyan eyes light up. He slowly stood up and his door wings twitched, “Nevermind what I said about door wings. I don’t like them anymore.”

“We’re home!” The front door to the household was accidentally slammed shut.

“Welcome back, cadets.” The voice of Jazz drifted through the front of the house into the kitchen where he sat, “How was school?”

“It was fun. Where’s Aj?” The little girl questioned.

“She’s takin’ a nap. Finally . It took us nearly two groons to convince her to do it.”

Their voices grew in volume as the group of them made their way into the kitchen. Peter, the eldest, was the first to step in with a smile, “Good afternoon, Megatron. Soundwave. How was your day?”

Megatron didn’t bother answering the question since it held no real weight and was simply a conversation starter. Soundwave who stood next to him, however, did speak up, “Status: Fine. Day: Slow, but intriguing.”

The two twin younglings began to excitedly request that the older youngling retrieve something for them to eat. Megatron motioned toward the archway with his head then left the kitchen with Soundwave beside him. For creatures that seemed to care about Aj’s wellbeing they were abnormally loud.

Megatron hated being here. He hated being a smaller, weaker version of himself, and he hated, more than anything else in the universe, that he had to ‘ play nice’ with the fragging Autobots. In his processor, they’d be better off permanently offline. However, the more time that passed the more he realized he’d need some of those pathetic bots to get back to his own world. Starscream and Soundwave were smart no doubt, but they couldn’t build a working device to get everyone home like Wheeljack could. 

So, perhaps he couldn’t end them all as he had originally planned, but there were still actions he could set into progress that would benefit him. For example, there was a very short list of Autobots he wouldn’t mind having a chat with. Mainly to ask why they were wasting their time and skills on a side that was going nowhere with a leader who should have never been Prime. Perhaps then they could see their mistakes and poor decisions and make a change from blue to red. That was a long-term plan though with long-term effects.

His more short-term plans involved a rather squishy organic. The younglings were worthless in his optics. They had no real value in his eyes and only served as a distraction if nothing else. Aj, though, could serve a purpose. If he could convince her somehow to see his Decepticons in a revered light and the Autobots as simply meddlesome then perhaps his earlier suggestion of crushing the bots would be taken more seriously. It wasn’t a farfetched idea. The more he learned about the organic femme the more he saw potential. Better than that, he could see the look of tamed wild in her optics. It was a skill he had that he prided himself on. It often came in handy back at the beginning of the war when he was recruiting the best.

Megatron could look a mech in the eye and see what lay beneath. He could see the darkest corner of their processors. Apparently the skill worked on fleshies as well because he could see that Aj was no creator. She was a fighter . More than that, she was a broken one. The type that had no self worth, the type that was easy to manipulate simply by using emotional pain. Megatron’s favorite type. There was a Decepticon under those fleshy eyes, Megatron was sure of that.

“What did you find from the recon?” He questioned as they passed the stairs.

Soundwave replied, “Recon Subjects: Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Aj. Information Gathered: Mech bodies are changing. Becoming more real.”

Megatron chuckled in amusement. Well, wasn’t this a turn for the better? If all his other small plans failed he could always just wait until his body became his own. Destroying them with his own servos was always the more pleasurable plan. 

The nap I woke from was the kind where when you wake up you have no idea what’s happening, what year it is, or what planet you’re on. It wasn’t just because I was sick either. Whenever I took naps during the day for longer than an hour I always woke up confused and disorientated. The good news? Bye-bye, nausea. Of course, I say that with the prayer that it didn’t spontaneously come back. 

“Oh good, you’re awake.” I focused my gaze on Wheeljack who was on the desk flipping through one of the books Ratchet usually flipped through, “The younglings are home. The twins have finished their project, they’re creator called and spoke to them, and I believe they were thinking about making dinner.”

I sat up slowly, “What? No. No, I’ll make…that. The food.”

“Are you alright?” Wheeljack asked with worry.

“Mhmm,” I nodded and waved him off with my eyes closed, “Jus’ groggy. Why are you in here?”

I opened my eyes and stood to stretch. Wheeljack shut the book before answering, “Ratchet asked me to keep an optic on you while he went downstairs to refuel.”

It was sweet, sure, but they really didn’t understand that I didn’t need anybody watching over me as I slept. The argument wasn’t it worth it though so I just nodded and walked over and offered him my hand to step on. He didn’t hesitate and I moved him from my hand to my shoulder where he could sit. 

The two of us headed out the door and down the hall. I could already hear the kids’ voices drifting up the stairs from the kitchen. Before I could call out to them though my eyes landed on Aubrey’s door, which was cracked open.

“Why is that door open?” I grumbled and walked over to shut it. Wheeljack didn’t have an answer for me, but I found one myself when I peeked through the crack to see two familiar bots lying on the bed back to back. I slowly backed away so they wouldn’t hear me. “What are they doing?”

Wheeljack motioned for me to head down the stairs and I did with one last glance at the door. He made a sound akin to clearing his throat, “They were recharging. Sleeping.”

“The seekers were doing that earlier.” I mumbled to myself and stopped on the stairs in thought, “Do they always sleep together like that?”

Wheeljack shrugged and I kept walking, “I don’t know the whole truth. Living in the same base as them I know a few things, but it isn’t all concrete. I do know they share the same quarters, but I was under the impression that they both slept in separate berths.”

“They do.” Jazz’s voice entered the conversation. He would be the one to know, the damn sneaky saboteur. I glanced over to see him leaning against the base of the stair railing, “This is the first time they’ve recharged since gettin’ ‘ere.”

Wheeljack made a humming sound, “Ah, I see.”

“I don’t see. Clueless organic here.” I replied and sat down on the bottom stair so I wasn’t straining to look at Jazz.

Jazz chuckled, “Lemme tell you a quick story. There was this one battle on Cybertron. It wasn’ anythin’ special. Jus’ an ordinary skirmish, but the twins ended up gettin’ separated in it.” He paused for a moment, “It was about two orns⏤”

“Roughly 1 Earth month.” Wheeljack cut in.

“But that can feel like a lifetime when you’re fightin’.” Jazz finished his sentence, “The twins just weren’t the same during that time an’ everyone understood why, but none of us ever realized how strainin’ it was fo’ them to be apart durin’ a stressful time like that. My point is that when they did find each other again at the end they were beyond inseparable. An’ I know for a fact that when Ratchet had them rechargin’ in the medbay for observation they were sharing a berth back to back.”

I glanced up the stairs, “That’s how they were sleeping upstairs.”

“It’s stressful for us being here, and considerin’ the bomb could’ve offlined the twins rather than just sendin’ ‘em here…”

Wheeljack shook his head, “ Not a bomb !”

“Why back to back though?”

Wheeljack crossed his arms, “Based on their alt modes and models I assume it’s because of their sparks.” He saw my look of confusion and continued, “By recharging in that position it allows their sparks to be as close as possible.”

“Ya gotta remember, Aj.” Jazz said, “Our twins are different from your twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are two very different mechs, but when you get down to the basic facts. The two of ‘em make up one single spark.”

I sighed, “I’d like to say I understand, but I think I’m more confused.”

Wheeljack and Jazz laughed, but the kids coming out of the kitchen to greet me ended the conversation. I listened to them talk about their day as I began to make dinner. My mind remained on the mech twins though. I hadn’t understood everything the guys were trying to explain, but I had understood one thing.

Their situation was different from mine and Aubrey’s, and anger was no longer the emotion I thought of when I thought about their connection. Now, I was jealous. It wasn’t an overpowering jealousy that led me to hate them more though. It just made me wish I had someone in my life that I knew would always have my back. A other half. 

It was a silly thought to have because I knew I couldn’t have someone like that in my life. Not because I was so negative to think that the person for me didn’t exist. It was mostly just me knowing that I would never let someone get that close to me. I put up too many walls in an attempt to protect and shield myself, and I didn’t think I could bring them down for anybody. Somebody would have to get by them through sheer determination and willpower alone and what idiot would be stupid enough to put themselves through that?

“Ok, ok. Y’all gotta get to sleep. Big Christmas party tomorrow, right?” I said while trying to get the kids to move up the stairs. They were dressed and ready for bed, but were still bouncing off the walls. The bots and cons had kept a good eye on the kids while I napped, but apparently they hadn’t stopped said children from snacking on every sugary item they got their hands on.

Tyler, in his dark red Iron Man pajamas, tugged on my shirt, “Johnny said his mom is making cupcakes to bring!”

“Yeah, yeah, and Jamie’s dad is bringing pie!” Taylor jumped up and down in her own pajamas. She could never decide between her Barbie ones and her Captain America ones so tonight she wore pink pants and a dark blue shirt with the shield on it. I was a fan of Steve Rogers too, but that was mainly because he had a heavenly ass.

Peter chuckled, “You guys get to turn in your project too.”

That statement sent a whole new wave of excitement through them. We passed Megatron in the halls and the kids wished him a good night that he grumbled at in response. I herded all three of them into the twins’ room. They jumped into bed while I picked up some random toys on the ground and Peter turned on the nightlight in the corner of their bedroom.

“Aj,” Taylor spoke up in a soft, quiet tone, “Can you sing us a song?”

I reeled back in surprise and tossed aside the doll in my hand. All three pairs of eyes were on me. Bumblebee and Bluestreak hadn’t shown up yet to stay with the twins and Wheeljack or Prowl was probably already in Peter’s room. “What?”

“Can you sing us a song?” Taylor asked again.

Peter sighed, “ Tay .”

“Mama used to. We miss it.” Tyler defended his sister.

I twisted my lips and then sat down at the end of Taylor’s bed with my legs crossed, “Come here, y’all.” They were silent as they gathered closer. Taylor crawled into my lap with her head against my chest so I rested my own head on top of hers. Tyler and Peter got onto the bed side by side and across from me and Taylor with their knees touching mine. “I know you guys miss Aub⏤ your mom, but she’s gonna be home before you know it and she misses you guys more than y’all can imagine. Until then, I’ll do anything for you guys. Do you understand? Anything at all. Name it, and I’ll get it done. Got it?”

“Got it.” Peter said as the twins bobbed their heads.

“So, what do you want me to sing?”

“Can you sing playmate?” Taylor asked and my heart stuttered. “Mama sings that song to us all the time.”

Playmate was a song I knew by heart. It was the catchy jingle mom used to sing to Aubrey and I when we were small. It’s one of the first songs Aubrey and I would sing together in our younger days. I opened my mouth to agree but a sad chuckle came out instead.

“ Playmate, come out and play with me .” I sang softly, “ And bring your dollies three… climb up my apple tree. Look down my rain barrel… slide down my cellar door… and we’ll be jolly friends…forever more .” Tyler and Peter were smiling and I could tell Taylor was too by her quiet giggles. I let my fingers brush through her blonde hair, “ It was a rainy day… she couldn’t come out and play…and with a sigh I think I heard her say, I’m sorry playmate…I cant come play with you…my dollies came to life and nearly burned down our kitchen.”

My last line of spoken improvisation made all three kids burst out in laughter filling the room with a heart-warming feeling. I wrapped one arm around Taylor and used the other to pull Tyler and Peter closer as I joined in the laughter. This was what having a family felt like. We might not have been the most conventional family, but we were still together and if I could pause time and live forever in one moment? 

This would be it.

Chapter Text

“We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.” –Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

“You should not be leaving the house!” Ratchet argued as I pulled out my ratty book bag to look for my money pouch. “I only let you leave earlier to take the younglings to school!”

“Ratch, I am totally ok.” I replied without giving him a glance. The bag was buried at the bottom next to an empty water bottle. My money pouch was literally just a cloth bag filled with cash. I always kept one for emergencies and stuff of that nature. Without hesitation I dumped it all out onto the floor and began to count.

Ratchet walked over and narrowed his eyes at me, “What is this?”

“Cash, Ratchet. Human money. Do Cybertronians have money?”

“I know that and of course we do. We have credits.” Ratchet answered, “I meant why are your monetary paper slips crumbled up and covered in…is this blood ?”

Well, you see, sometimes the blood was mine. When I would grab the cash, blood from my hands, face, etc would drip on them. No biggie. I was more concerned about the ones where the blood wasn’t mine. I wasn’t about to catch some blood borne disease, ok? Of course, none of that came out of my mouth. Ratchet would rip me a new one.

“Good question, I should probably take that up with my bank.” Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me in response. The two of us had an interesting relationship at this point. He nagged and bossed me around while I either sassed or ignored him. We were like an old married couple except he was the bitchy wife and I was the lazy husband. The more interesting part of our relationship was what we didn’t say. I knew that Ratchet knew something about my fighting. Just like he knew that I knew. However, neither of us had approached the subject aloud yet and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to bring up the subject. “I got 231 dollars. That isn’t bad.”

“You are not leaving this house, Aimee Jane Bradshaw.”

I blinked and tore my gaze away from stuffing the money into my wallet to stare at Ratchet in amazement, “Did you just use my full name??”

“According to the internet, the usage of one’s full name implies seriousness and discipline.” He crossed his arms. I bit my lower lip in a futile attempt to not burst into laughter. Ok, so maybe we weren’t cranky wife and slothful husband, but instead we were overprotective dad and smartass daughter. “I asked the younglings and they provided me with your name. Well, Peter did. That is beside the point though , you are not leaving! You are still ill.”

I rolled my eyes with a soft smile, “I’m fine, dad .” His eyes widened slightly, but I kept talking, “Do you want me to do jumping jacks or something to prove it?”

Prowl walked into the room with his steel blue eyes glued to his datapad. I didn’t understand how the guy was constantly working. Like, what was there to work on here? Ratchet noticed him and grabbed his attention, “Prowl! Tell this infuriating femme that she is not setting a pede out of this house!”

Prowl looked up from his datapad at the fuming Ratchet and then to me who was barely holding back giggles of amusement. He shook his head and tucked his datapad into thin air. Well, technically it wasn’t thin air, but his subspace. However, I was perfectly content with pretending all the bots and cons were magicians.

“I have no real authority over Aj, and you know this. Prime has given her guest officer clearance.” Prowl spoke in his no nonsense tone, “And if we are truly being honest with ourselves, even without said clearance her size alone stops me from restraining her. Although, I do agree with you, Ratchet.”

Ratchet rolled his eyes but my attention had been drawn to Prowl’s words, “Guest officer clearance? What exactly is that and why haven’t I heard of it before now?” 

“During one of our first debriefings here Prime announced to treat you as a guest officer in the Autobot army. Any orders you issue out are to be heeded. Strictly temporary of course.” Prowl explained. 

I nodded, “Who are the other officers again?”

“I am second in command. Jazz is third in command and also the officer in charge of special operations. Ratchet is CMO. Wheeljack is an officer and Chief Engineer. Prime is⏤”

“Yeah, yeah, Prime is king-general-bro.” I waved it off and stood up with my wallet.

Prowl looked appalled, “ King general bro is not a title becoming of the Prime.”

“I winged it a little, admittedly.” 

Ratchet shook his head, “I’m getting Prime. He is not letting you out.”

I watched Ratchet walk out with Prowl beside him. I scoffed, “He’s your King general bro, not mine!”

They ignored me and left so I continued to get ready to leave. I really was feeling fine. Still a bit sore from the bookshelf and a bit dizzy from being sick, but I’ve had worse. It was just the 24-hour virus and my 24 hours had passed. As I pulled my leather jacket on my thoughts traveled back to relationships. 

The Cybertronians hadn’t been here all that long, and yet the kids and I had already formed these connections with them.  I mean, we lived with them which probably played a huge part in it, but still it was strange. 

Whereas Ratchet and I had our strange relationship, he also had one with the kids. I saw the way he doted on all three of them in his own cranky way. It wasn’t obvious, but I could tell he had adopted them as patients as well. Plus, they had it lucky when it came to Ratchet. He was always ordering me to do things, but when it came to the kids he always asked.

I wasn’t as close to Prowl. There was no reason for it other than I didn’t see him often. We got along well in a way where we respected each other. I mostly saw Prowl and Peter talking and it didn’t honestly surprise me all that much.

A quick glance in the bathroom mirror as I walked down the hall showed I was presentable. My face was actually pretty void of injuries. There were no bruises or black eyes from being punched or kicked in the face. My hair still hung around my face in loose waves reaching way past my shoulders and I was tempted to cut it short again. I liked the way it looked long, but with my lifestyle short hair was the best.

Someone cleared their throat as I walked by the office so I backpedaled to see Ratchet in the doorway. He didn’t say anything but motioned for me to follow him with a grumpy frown. I chuckled and walked into the room. 

Optimus was on the desk waiting for me obviously. Jazz was sitting on top of a stack of books pushed to the side while Wheeljack leaned against the stack. Prowl was on the desk standing a little behind Optimus.

“Geez, why does this feel like an intervention?” I questioned and scooped Ratchet up to put him on the desk. He glared at me and crossed his arms. I sat down on the desk chair with my legs pulled in, making Optimus’ eye level a little higher than mine. “Oh wait, is this an officer’s meeting??”

Optimus bit back a chuckle, “It was an informal meeting between only a few of my officers, but Prowl and Ratchet came to me with a request.”

“Are they still trying to keep me under house arrest?” I sighed and shook my head, “I am a-ok, y’all. Fit as a fiddle.”

“We are simply concerned that by venturing out and stressing yourself today your illness may return.” Optimus replied, “Ratchet gathered information on human illnesses and he says that this is a possibility.”

I nodded, “Ok, ok, so yeah. Maybe. I could also step outside and get hit by a bus,” Ratchet’s eyes widened in alarm and he opened his mouth but I cut him off, “But that doesn’t mean I waste a day doing nothing. I need to buy groceries, coffee being one of them, and Christmas gifts for the kids.”

“Christmas gifts?” Wheeljack questioned.

“Yeah, Christmas gifts. You guys try explaining to the kids why they don’t have any presents under the tree from me because I ain't gonna deal with the water works.” 

Ratchet narrowed his eyes, “Would they rather you be sick again??”

“I’m not gonna get sick again.” I scoffed.

Optimus was paused in thought. He shrugged, “Perhaps we can settle on a compromise?” I leaned closer to show that I was listening and he continued, “You take someone with you on your errands? Just as a precaution?”

There was no getting by this and the sooner I got this meeting to be over the sooner I could leave. I nodded and threw my hands up in defeat, “Sure, who’s on babysitting duty?”

“I got this, OP.” Jazz jumped from his seated position to the desktop.

Optimus looked at me and I gave him a quick nod. He agreed, “It’s settled then. Jazz will accompany you on this trip.”

“Well, come on then, Jazzman. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.” I held out my hand and he jumped on. As I began to walk out I turned and gave the group a quick salute, “Guest Officer Aj asking for permission to be dismissed?”

“Permission granted.” Optimus chuckled.

“See y’all soon. Unless, of course, I get hit by a bus…”

“You insufferable femme, I oughta⏤”

I slipped out of the room before Ratchet could finish his threat. A chuckle escaped my lips and Jazz shook his head in amusement as I walked down the stairs with him. We didn’t pass any other bots or cons and went right out the front door.

“I like you like this.” Jazz commented as I reached the truck.

“Hmm?”

Jazz jumped off my hand and onto the truck’s passenger seat as I settled in my own, “You’re funnier than when we first met ya. Easier to talk to. You seem…happier.”

“Well, to be fair,” I started the truck up, “When you first met me I was 90% sure I was having a mental breakdown.”

Jazz laughed, “Touché.” 

“It’s been a long time since I could joke around and relax. This is as much of a vacation for y’all as it is for me.” I confessed. It was a thought I had in the back of my mind for a while now, but this was the first time I really admitted to it. Jazz didn’t reply and I reached over to the glove compartment to grab my sunglasses. I quickly tossed them on and threw the car into drive. Before releasing the brake though I looked over at Jazz just as he glanced over at me. I grinned at him and raised my sunglasses once before letting them fall over my eyes again then pointed at his visor, “ Twinsies .” 

Jazz grinned and turned to his window to let out a laugh as I let go of the brake and got the car rolling.

I parked the car and reached over to the glove compartment. Jazz stepped forward to see what I was rooting around for, “What’cha doin’?”

“I saw a Bluetooth headset in here before.” I replied and found it buried under the car manual. With quick movements, I tied my hair up so my ears could be seen then slipped the small, gray Bluetooth over my right ear. “This way I can still talk to you in the store.”

“Sweet.” Jazz grinned. I didn’t care what people thought of me and had no problem talking to the bot as I shopped for stuff, but if people saw that I was talking to what looked like a toy they might think I was off my rocker. The last thing I needed right now was someone calling the cops on me because they thought I escaped the looney bin. 

“Hop in.” I said and opened up the small purse I had brought with me. It was Aubrey’s and I figured she wouldn’t mind me borrowing it. I usually didn’t carry a purse, but once again it’d be strange to carry Jazz in my arms the entire time and he couldn’t exactly walk beside me.

Jazz crawled into the purse and laid on his back with his hands behind his head. There was a grin on his lips, “This is the life, sweetspark.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I replied and got out of the car. 

The local Wal-Mart was settled at the end of a strip mall. This made my shopping day easy because one of the stores on the other end of said strip mall was a local toy store. I could pick up Christmas gifts and then go get groceries. The tough part would be finding gifts for the kids. What the hell was I supposed to get them?

“Don’t think so hard. Might hurt yaself.” Jazz teased.

I glanced down briefly to see him looking up at me and faked a laugh, “You’re a riot, Jazz.”

“I try. Now what’s buggin’ ya?”

“I don’t know what to get the kids for Christmas. What toys, I mean.” I sighed and stepped into the medium sized toy store. The heater was on full blast and I was tempted to take off my jacket.

Jazz hummed, “I thought that Santa guy was supposed to bring gifts.”

I chuckled, “I hate to break your heart, or spark , but Santa isn’t real.”

“He ain't? We looked him up online.”

“Then how did you miss that tiny detail?”

Jazz sat up and shrugged, “We didn’ look too far. Prowl crashed at the flying organic land mammals.”

“I’m not even gonna press the subject.” I replied with a shake of my head. “Seriously though, what could these kids possibly want? Their favorite toys came to fragging life. Everything else sort of pales in comparison.”

“We are pretty great.” He chuckled. I moved into the aisle with race cars when Jazz spoke up again, “You said fragging.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, you did.”

I paused, “Did I?”

Jazz laughed, “You didn’ even notice. I told the others, you’ve been hangin’ with the Hatchet too much.”

Fantastic. A foot tall, cranky medic was rubbing off on me. Soon I’d be throwing wrenches at the unsuspecting public. Although, I could think of a few people who could use a wrench to the head.

“’Ey, look at that.” Jazz said, making me stop in my path. He was pointing to a box on the lower shelf. My eyes widened as I realized this specific area was filled with the laboratory/make it yourself toys. The box Jazz was pointing to was a Smithsonian ‘ Grow Your Own Crystals’ set.

I picked it up with a soft hum, “Hm, Pete might actually like this.”

“I didn’ know you humans grew crystals too.”

“Cybertronians grow crystals?” I questioned skeptically with my gaze focused on the small bot rather than the box in my hands.

“Oh, yeah.” Jazz nodded, “There was this place in Praxus⏤”

“Praxus?” I interrupted, but Jazz didn’t seem to mind.

He grinned, “It’s a city on Cybertron. It’s where Prowl and Blue are from.” I gave a slight bob of my head to let him know I understood and he continued, “In Praxus was this place called the Helix Gardens. It had the best looking arrangement of crystals on the planet.” 

“Had.” I noticed the word, “What happened?”

“The war happened.” Jazz replied solemnly, “It’s been a long time though. Maybe some of the planet has healed. We wouldn’ know. We landed on Earth and woke up millions of years later.” He paused before continuing, “We hadn’ been on Earth long when we got sucked here. Long enough to show the public we were friendly and the cons aint. Visit some military sites. Get sort of settled, but we hadn’ been able to make contact with home yet.”

Jazz spoke plainly, but I could tell that his tone was tenser than it usually was. It was hard to believe these guys were in the middle of an age-old war. Jazz had said million years like it was nothing, and I could barely wrap my head around that.

“So Prowl and Bluestreak are from this crystal place.” I said in hopes to change the subject back to something that would be less painful. I set the box in my basket along with a smaller science kit that dealt with lights. Peter would probably enjoy both of those.

Jazz smirked, “Praxus, yeah. Prowl used to grow crystals himself. Smaller scale, and in our final vorns on Cybertron he didn’t really have much time for it.”

“Prowl was a crystal gardener.” I replied with the mental picture of Prowl in a sunhat with a watering tin in his hand. A chuckle left my lips, “Maybe I’ll get him a crystal growing kit for Christmas.”

Jazz laughed along with me and we continued through the store. I settled on a crayon maker for Taylor. She loved drawing and painting, but the reason I knew that was because she already had a ton of art stuff. It seemed pointless to get her things she already had like paints and crayons, but I figured she’d enjoy making her own crayons since you were able to do tie-dye designs and things of that nature. Since I got Peter two things I decided to also get Taylor a stuffed animal. It was a medium sized dark brown bear with a white bow tie.

Tyler was a bit harder to shop for. I could get him a remote control car? He’d probably like that. I could already see him racing the bots with it. As I tucked a light gray remote control truck into my basket Jazz pointed something else out.

“Do ya see that?” He said excitedly as he continued to motion toward the box about a foot away from him, “You gotta get Cadet Lightspeed the spy kit, sweetspark.”

“It sounds like you want the spy kit, Jazz.”

Jazz grinned, “Come on, he’d like it. I know it.”

“I don’t need you teaching my six-year-old nephew how to be a spy.” I replied, but picked up the box anyways. Jazz was right. Tyler would totally love this little kit. It had a ‘communicator’ watch, special ‘night vision’ glasses, a flashlight, and more. It was a six-year-old honorary Autobot’s dream. I stuck it into the basket and headed to the front.

It took only a couple minutes to pay for it all with my own cash money and get it bagged since the store wasn’t crowded. I figured this close to Christmas it’d be packed. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be a worse procrastinator than I was.

“So, now what?” Jazz asked on the way to the truck.

“Now, I need to get some groceries.” I was setting the bags of toys on the floorboard on the passenger side of the truck when my cell phone began to ring from the ashtray of the truck’s dash. “I must have forgot to bring it in.” 

Jazz stood on the seat as I grabbed the phone to look at who was calling. The number flashed across the small screen and my eyes widened.

“Who the hell is calling me from the house?” I said aloud.

Jazz held his hand up, “We meant to tell ya, we got your cell number just so we could call ya in case of emergencies. If we had our comm systems we could call ya through that, but we just gotta settle for your house phone.”

“When did you get my number?” I cried.

“While you were sleeping.” He shrugged.

My eyes narrowed, “What exactly do y’all do while we sleep?” Jazz grinned rather than answering and since the phone was on its last ring I quickly answered, “Um, hello?”

“Aj?”

I sat down in the driver’s seat, pushing Jazz over, but kept the door open, “Optimus? What’s wrong? Oh God, please tell me the house isn’t on fire.”

“There is nothing on fire.” He replied, but his voice held a worried tone, “There are two men outside. They have rung the doorbell twice and stationed themselves on the porch steps.”

My body tensed, “Two guys? What do they look like?”

“One is an older human. White hair, but none of us could see any further details. I have refrained from anyone sneaking outside to check further, but⏤”

“Good.” I said quickly, “No one goes outside. I’ll be home.”

I flipped the phone shut and then closed the driver’s door before starting the car. Jazz sat down and rested his hands behind his head, “What happened to groceries?”

“I can head back out after I deal with this problem.” I replied and pulled the Bluetooth out of my ear, “It might be a pain to drive back and forth, but I ain’t about to have some random people lurking around the house.”

It was probably nothing. Some neighbors or friends of Aubrey that showed up looking for her. I kept trying to tell myself that I was getting worked up for absolutely nothing, but there was a nagging part of my mind that wouldn’t rest until I solved the problem immediately. I was paranoid, sure, but I’d rather be safe than sorry and considering this dealt with the safety of the kids I wasn’t about to take a risk.

The ride home was relatively short and quiet. It was a comfortable silence though and it didn’t really bother Jazz. He had originally gone along with Aj because the Council of Overprotective Bots- er, the Autobot Officers didn’t want her to go alone, but Jazz didn’t regret it. Talking to Aj was always an interesting encounter, but that was because she was an interesting human.

Jazz was confident enough to say that the relationship he had with the adult human was friendly. They were friends, though he did have to admit the word was probably held loosely in her eyes. Jazz liked to think that if he had met her under less stressful circumstances that they would’ve hit it off immediately. He couldn’t be sure though. Talking with Aj was a lot harder than socializing with the younglings. 

The kids seemed to like Jazz a lot, and he could honestly say he felt the same. Maybe it was because he hadn’t dealt with younglings in so long and missed how honest and trusting they could be, not to mention fun, but he got on well with Peter, Tyler, and Taylor.

It was easy to get the younglings to open up to him though because they were extremely easy to read. It wasn’t their fault. They hadn’t reached the age where skepticism and defensive walls were thrown up so easily. Then of course there was Aj who lived behind a castle of defense mechanisms and skepticism. She was a tough one to crack, but the more he saw her personality the more he began to understand.

He had seen the human in a lot of settings. Jazz had seen her frustration dealing with Wheeljack and the microwave. He had seen her worry when talking to the older male human. He had seen her face illness and he had even seen her face a possible dangerous scenario when the bookshelf came down. She handled it without hesitation and with a brave face. She handled it like a warrior. 

Jazz was sure that this Aj would be his favorite. The Aj who could hold her own in battle, a fighter at heart. That was before he saw the carefree Aj. Jazz was fully aware that each setting he saw of her made up one whole person, but there was something about the singing, joking Aj that stuck with him. This Aj, the one who sassed Ratchet, joked with him, sang to the younglings, was fun and he hoped she’d stick around.

Jazz learned his least favorite side of Aj when the truck rolled to a stop in the driveway. Everything seemed fine until he glanced over at her. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that the tops of her hands, her knuckles, were a ghostly white. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes focused on something out the window that he couldn’t see. Jazz knew fear when he saw it, but he hadn’t seen it on Aj before. She hadn’t been scared when a group of Cybertronians took the form of toys in her kitchen, but in this single moment she was filled with horror.

“Aj.” Jazz spoke slowly.

She kept her gaze out the window, “Stay in the car. Don’t move, Jazz.”

“Is everything alright?” Jazz asked, ditching his accent. He hadn’t seen her like this before and there was a part of him that yearned to help. He was sick and tired of not being able to do anything these days.

“Everything is⏤” She paused and took a deep breath, “Everything is fine .”

Jazz watched her get out of the car and he wished more than anything that he wasn’t the size of a useless, fragging toy.

Panic. Pure panic and horror was dumped into my systems at the familiar faces sitting on the porch steps. It never scared me to see these guys in a dark alley or in my apartment. Never was I ever worried around them, but seeing them here was a different story. They couldn’t be in front of the house that Aubrey owned. They couldn’t be sitting on the porch where Peter, Tyler, and Taylor currently lived. They just couldn’t.

 One was smoking a cigarette; the other stared at his hands. My first few steps out of the car were slow, but once I rounded the truck they quickened. Fear and panic turned to anger. Hot anger and blinding confusion. Conflicted was a good word to describe me. My shoulders remained tense as I stopped a few feet in front of them.

The guy to the left was younger. He was maybe around 35 with slicked back, light brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore a dark purple button up shirt, blazer, and dress pants. A cigarette hung from his thin lips filling the crisp air with the stench of nicotine. Beside him was an older man with thinning hair. What hair he had left was white as snow. His eyes were a soft brown and were sunken with age. He wore a suit as well with suspenders. Both had an expensive taste with what they were and both were from New York City.

I knew this because I knew them.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped. My hands clenched by my side.

Joey chuckled and threw his cigarette on the ground in front of him. He stood, stamped out the burning embers, and straightened his jacket, “Nice to see you too, bitch.”

Gellar stood up beside him with a grunt. I had never learned the old man’s first name, and I didn’t particularly care to. Both men came from Boss’ inner circle which is why I was completely fine with pretending they didn’t exist.

“Boss sent us.” Gellar replied.

I scoffed, “I figured out that much on my own, thanks. I meant, why ? And how the hell did you even find me??”

Joey stepped toward me with narrowed eyes. He was only around 5’9, and though the other guys I knew from New York were usually taller, his short frame still towered over mine. He rubbed his jawline, “So many fucking questions. How about you just give us the money, hmm?”

“What money?”

“The money you owe, Boss.” Joey replied.

I shook my head, “I’ve owed Boss money since day one. I made my last payment on time. If you had seen me a couple weeks ago you would’ve seen the wounds to prove it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Joey snapped.

“I’m talking about the unfair fight I had in the pit with that behemoth of a lady.” I yelled, “The one where I won, but she got pissed and⏤”

Joey grabbed the collar of my jacket and yanked me forward so we were face to face, “That is not what we’re here for.”

“ Let go of me .” I growled.

“Or what?” He chuckled and tightened his hand around my collar. I wanted to punch him. Repeatedly. I wanted to break his nose and wipe that smug grin off his stupid looking face, but to do that to someone in Boss’ inner circle would only dig my grave deeper.

“Let go of her, you idiot.” Gellar snapped. Joey was still for a few more seconds before letting go of my jacket. I fixed my collar without letting my glare drift from him. Gellar forced himself into my line of attention. He stood between Joey and me with a look of urgency drawn on his old face. “We’re here for the 20k, Bradshaw. Just hand over the money and we won't have a problem.”

My eyes narrowed in confusion, “20… I returned that already. Is that why you shitheads are here? Because Boss got his damn money back.”

“She’s lying, you old fool. I told you we should’ve come tonight and handled this.” Joey shook his head and glared at me, “Couple bullets in the knees and she wouldn’t even think of lying.”

“ I’m not lying !” I barked, “I gave the money to Ky⏤ to Osborne .” I corrected myself. Most fighters went by last names when it came to dealing with business. It made it easier to keep track of people, “He delivered it to you before coming down here.”

Gellar sighed and stepped aside to text something on his phone, “ Shit . It’s probably long gone now.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded.

Joey stepped toward me again with a smirk on his lips, “Osborne. Kyle Osborne, that is, gave us this address when we asked where you had gone with our money. He said you bailed out on us.”

“No, he didn’t.” I said firmly, “No, he fucking didn’t. Kyle wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t. Did you hurt him ? Did you and the others⏤”

Joey laughed, “We didn’t touch the asshole.”

It was getting hard to breathe. It felt like the entire world was collapsing around me. Kyle didn’t do that. He didn’t lie, he didn’t throw me under the bus. Was my heart even beating at this point? It seemed like someone had thrust their hand into my chest and clamped their fat fingers around the vital organ. 

“Kyle Osborne hasn’t been seen.” Gellar stuck his phone back into his pocket, “He gave us the address over the phone. We traced the call and it put him in Europe. Probably used Boss’ money to buy the damn ticket.”

I bit down on my lower lip to keep from screaming out in frustration. Nothing made sense. Why would he do this to me? Kyle was all I fucking had. He was my best friend; he was my silver lining in the storm cloud that was New York City. 

“Europe⏤” I shook my head, “This isn’t right. Kyle was visiting family in Florida, not…”

“Osborne doesn’t have family.” Gellar replied.

My eyes shut tightly. He ran. He fucking ran. Kyle took the money, sold me out, and ran away leaving me to deal with the mess. To deal with Boss. I had put all the faith that I could muster into him. He was one of the first people I truly trusted after Aubrey left. There were friends in college that I had, but I never fully put my trust in them. I never truly counted on them like I had with Kyle. 

“Bradshaw⏤” Gellar began, but he was interrupted by my outburst.

“ Fuck !” The word slipped from my lips as I bent over with my hands on my knees. It would’ve felt better if somebody had just kicked me in the chest. At least then I would’ve known how to deal with it. Right now it felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs and it was never coming back. My dangerous life was coming loose at the seams. I pushed my hands off my knees to stand straight, “You know the truth, Gellar. You know I wasn’t a part of this! Just add ⏤” My voice cracked slightly, but I continued on, “Just add it to my debt. I’ll pay Boss back. I haven’t stopped working for him, I’ll be back in February.”

Gellar took a deep breath, “This doesn’t look good, Bradshaw, regardless of your cooperation with Kyle.”

“ I didn’t cooperate with him !” I cried, “I’ll take on more marathon fights. Those always rake in a ton of cash.” Marathon fights also raked in a ton of injuries. “I’m the best he has in the woman’s division and y’all know it. He knows it.”

“Rules are rules. He gave you a loan, and now the loan is missing. You know, as well as I do, that the missing loan is in your name. It was your responsibility.” Gellar said firmly.

Those words felt like the final nail in my coffin. I was being buried alive and it was all Kyle’s fault. The worst thought was that I wasn’t just bringing myself down. The kids were here. They lived under the same roof as me and that could make them targets.

“Aw,” Joey chuckled, “Is the Small Fry gonna cry? You going to fucking cry for us, bitch?”

I had never been the type to linger on sadness. The betrayal was sharp and it did make me want to cry. The worry was clouding my mind and that made me want to scream. The confusion and fear was suffocating, but it never lingered long. My entire life seemed to be reigned by me returning to the one emotion that made things easier for me. Mind-clearing rage . 

“Shut your fragging mouth, Joey, or I swear I’ll rip your throat out.” I threatened.

“ Fragging ?” Joey narrowed his eyes.

I didn’t pay mind to his confusion and turned to Gellar again with fire in my voice, “Tell Boss that I’ll be back earning him money soon enough. I’ll get him the 20k with interest before summer.”

“Why don’t you come with us now? Tell him yourself.” Gellar argued.

The urge to shift my weight came, but I ignored it and kept my feet planted about shoulder length away. I was ready to move if I needed to. “I can’t come now.”

“Right.” Joey nodded, “We saw you this morning with the kids. We did our research, you’re their aunt.” I didn’t reply and he waltzed toward me until he was in my face again, “I can pick them up from school for you. Take them to visit the nearest bay or river that you rednecks have down here and handle them. Cops wouldn’t even find their⏤”

I grabbed Joey by the collar and yanked him down right as I brought my knee up catching him in the gut. He remained doubled over as a surprised cry of pain left his lips. Using my momentum, I shoved him to the ground and dug my knee into the top of his chest close to his neck. My fist lashed out making contact with his face. 

“ You even look at those kids and I’ll end your pitiful existence, you hear me? !” I snapped at him. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to the ground successfully rolling over so he straddled me. His anger was in control just like mine. The difference was that his was blinding him and mine was helping me see. Joey went to punch me head on so I tucked my head to the side, letting his fist dig into the ground where my face once was, and then I threw my own punch in the dead center of his throat. He clutched his throat and I threw all my strength toward him so he fell over on his back and I was on top again ready to turn his face black and purple.

Admittedly, my biggest issue when fighting was tunnel vision. I’d focus all my attention on one target and completely forget the world around me. This is why I forgot that Gellar was even there. Hell, I didn’t even know he was walking up to me until something hard and metal hit me in the side of the head.

I fell off Joey in a daze. I was seeing spots across my vision and my head was spinning. Hits to the temple were always a bitch to get over.

“ Don’t even⏤ Get off the ground, you idiot !” Gellar snapped, but it seemed like he was yelling at Joey, not me. He grabbed the younger man by the arm and yanked him to the side. The two began to quietly argue as I tried to get my bearings back. 

I forced myself off the ground and stumbled slightly. There was warmth on my face that was rolling down past the outside corner of my eye. I lifted my hand to check the wound. It stung, but it was small. Probably just broke the skin of the edge of my eyebrow. I was much more worried about the probable concussion Gellar had just given me by slamming me in the temple with… damn , what had he even hit me with?

My eyes drifted over to the two of them. My vision was blurred, but after a few more seconds of staring it slowly began to clear up. In Gellar’s hand was a small, silver handgun. He probably hit me with the butt of his weapon. Guess that was better than shooting me.

“Why are you even yelling at me!?” Joey snapped, “She started it! Let me end her right now!”

I stood up and resisted from clutching my head in pain. I’d do that after I got these guys out of my hair, “Embarrassed I kicked your ass, Joey?”

“Stop it.” Gellar said firmly. His hand clenched over the handle of his gun briefly before he stuck the weapon back into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “We are far more civilized than this.”

“Most of us.” I commented while glaring at Joey. He sneered back at me. His brown hair was ruffled and now a few strands messily hung in his face. His cheekbone was already bruising under his eye. My gaze drifted back to Gellar, “Come on, Gellar. My word is good. I’ll be back by February, ready to fight.”

Gellar clenched his jaw before nodding, “I’ll talk to Boss. See what I can do, hopefully convince him of all this. He’s been in a bad mood lately so don’t get your hopes too high.” He chuckled after a second and wore a small smile on his face, “It’s honestly the least I can do. I mean, do you know how much money I’ve won off your fights? You’re putting my son and daughter through college, Bradshaw.”

It was ironic that I was helping put two different strangers through college and couldn’t afford to send myself to school. Hell, I could barely afford rent each week. I didn’t mention this oh-so-funny tidbit though. Rather, I kept my mouth shut and gave him a brief nod. 

He began to walk towards the small rental car and paused only to clap my shoulder like we were old friends or something. Joey stormed to the car without giving me a second glance. I remained where I was standing and just listened to the car start then drive away. 

I took a ragged, deep breath and then made my way back to the truck to grab the Christmas gifts. 

Just focus on each movement. Don’t think about Kyle. Don’t think about Boss.

I pulled the passenger door open and came face to face with Jazz. He was standing on the edge of the seat with his gaze set on me. I could tell that his jaw was clenched and his body was tense. Neither one of us said anything or moved for a moment. Until finally, he broke the silence, “Aj, are you alright? Your head is bleeding.”

He wasn’t speaking in his accent, but I didn’t have time to linger on that question. I grabbed the bags with both hands, “Come on, get inside.”

I left the door open so he could hop out and headed to the front door. This wasn’t New York. I figured nobody would steal the truck if I left the door open for a couple minutes. Of course, this morning if someone had said two wannabe mobsters were going to show up asking for money I would’ve laughed. Still, I dared someone to try and steal the truck right now. To try and mess with me period. I was on edge. 

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.

I set the bags down briefly to open the front door then scooped them up again to step inside. The moment I stepped inside I was greeted by every single Cybertronian, minus Jazz, standing in the foyer with their gazes locked on me. There was no doubt in my mind that they had heard it all. The look on their faces said that alone.  I let out a harsh chuckle, licked my bottom lip, and glanced at each of them briefly, “Don’t say a word to the kids.”

    Nobody replied so I made my way upstairs with the toys. My room was empty of course, so I set the toys into my closet away from sight and added wrapping paper to my grocery list. They sold that at Wal-Mart so I wasn’t worried. I should probably get some extra tape too just to be safe. 

    Warm blood dripped from my face landing on my shirt. I silently cursed and then ripped off my leather jacket. Luckily, none had landed there. I had lost plenty of shirts to blood stains, but I was rather attached to my jacket. The first aid kit was on the desk so I walked over and opened it up. My hands grabbed a small Band-Aid and began to try and rip it open. My shaking fingers wouldn’t cooperate though. They kept slipping on the thin paper and it wouldn’t tear away. Wasn’t that fitting? The big fuckup who couldn’t even get a Band-Aid open. 

The Band-Aid slipped from my fingers and in response to the small failure, I grabbed the edge of the first aid kit and threw it off the desk. The plastic box flew through the air briefly until it hit the wall with a crash and fell to the floor. First aid supplies littered the ground and there was a small chip in the paint from where the box had hit.

My hands went up and my fingers dug into my hair as I tried to suck in air. I didn’t know what it felt like to drown, but it had to feel similar to this. My knees were starting to give out so I fell back onto my butt and let my back lean against the side of my bed with my eyes shut. Boss knew where I was exactly and that put ice in my veins. I knew agreeing to watch the kids would be a horrible idea. I knew, I just knew , that I would mess it up and hurt them.

The thought of Boss being anywhere near the kids made me want to vomit. It made me want to rip something to shreds. It made me want to rip Kyle to shreds. How could he do that to me? He knew there were kids here and he knew what Boss would do the moment he found out the money was missing. I wanted to kill him. It was his entire fault. All of it.

Was it though?

A broken chuckle escaped my lips. This is what I got for trusting someone. I knew it’d end in pain for me, but I still gave it a try. I didn’t learn from my past⏤my mistakes. Well, this time I would.

The sounds of someone clearing their throat made me open my eyes. Ratchet walked by me and grabbed a few things off the floor. I swallowed the lump in my throat, “I’ll clean that up later.”

“Get over here.” Ratchet ordered as gruff as ever. I sighed and crawled over to sit by the stage of boxes. He climbed up them and then stood in front of me at eye level. “You shouldn’t have attacked that man.”

“Don’t, Ratchet.” I said softly.

He used an alcohol swab to wipe the blood off my face and wound, “You were outnumbered and the older man had a weapon. You’re lucky he didn’t⏤”

“Just don’t .” I replied firmly.

Ratchet scoffed and continued to tend to the small wound at the end of my eyebrow. He stuck a Band-Aid over it, “How does your helm feel? Are your optics in working order?”

“I’m fine. Thanks.” I said and stood up. I grabbed my leather jacket and pulled it on before heading for the door. Ratchet called after me, but I pretended like I didn’t hear him and kept walking. 

The foyer was mostly clear except a couple Decepticons by the door. Starscream had his eyes narrowed at Megatron who leaned against the wall by the front door. My gaze locked with his as I came down the stairs. Megatron put a small smile on his face and bowed his head at me in greeting as I reached the door.

“Aj! Where are you going?” Starscream questioned.

“I’ll be back.” I replied and closed the door behind me. The truck’s passenger door was open and when I went to close it I realized Jazz was sitting in the seat now, “I said go inside.”

Jazz shrugged, “I did. Came back.”

“Why?” 

“I went with ya this morning ‘cause the others thought you were sick. I should probably keep a closer eye on ya now since ya got hit upside the helm.” Jazz replied. I didn’t feel like arguing and I didn’t have the time. I shut the door and headed around to the driver’s side.

It was silent as I pulled out of the driveway, “If you were gonna come with, why did you even get out of the car in the first place?”

“I had to go talk to OP.”

“About me?” I glanced over at him. 

Jazz was sitting in the passenger seat facing me, “We’re worried.”

I let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry. If Boss decides to off me and hide me at the bottom of a river I’ll make sure it happens after y’all have had enough time to get home.”

“We’re worried about you .”

“Well, don’t be.” I replied nonchalantly, “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

The rest of the car ride was quiet until we reached Wal-Mart. I parked the car, but didn’t move to get out. Jazz rose and took a few steps over so he stood by my thigh. I shook my head, but kept looking ahead, “Why would y’all be worried about me?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“You’ve known me less than a month.” I said and glanced over at him, “That’s a really short amount of time for me, but for you…it must be the blink of an eye. You talked about a million years like it was nothing. So why ?”

Jazz thought for a moment before answering my question with one of his own, “Why are you so convinced that you don’t deserve people worrying about you?”

I chuckled and couldn’t hold back the pathetic smile that graced my lips, “Experience, mostly.”

Grimlock was curled in my lap. He was awake, but he didn’t move or speak. I had been constantly moving since coming home from shopping and then picking up the kids and dinner of course. The kids were in the kitchen on the phone with their mom and I had finally decided to slow down. Of course, the moment I plopped down on the couch Grimlock had chosen to stomp over and rest in my lap. I didn’t mind.

He was kind of like a metal guard dog. He even liked it when we scratched his neck, and scratching a metal neck was a strange experience let me tell you. He was the same with the kids these days too.

“We had our Christmas party and it was so much fun, mama!”

I could hear Tyler’s voice from the kitchen and it brought a small smile to my face. The bots had been rather surprised when I came home with the kids wearing a bright smile on my face. It hadn’t been too surprising though. I wasn’t about to worry the kids with my own matters. Like I had told Jazz, the worry was pointless. I took care of myself, and more than that, I took care of my own. No one would touch a hair on those kid’s heads. In a few days, I’d hear word from Gellar if Boss was satisfied with my solution or not and I’d work from there.

I was surprised when Megatron climbed onto the couch and walked over to stand beside me. Grimlock lifted his head and narrowed his frosty, light blue eyes, nearly white, at the Decepticon leader. 

“It’s fine, Grimlock. No fire.” I said and continued rubbing his neck. He grumbled under his breath but lowered his head, “What do you want Megsy? I’m not in the best of moods.”

Megatron chuckled, “Of that, I have no doubt. Of course you seem to be in a better mood now.”

“What can I say? My self-control is superb.”

“I haven’t met many of your kind ,” He basically sneered the last two words out, but continued tactfully, “but you seem very adept at wearing a mask.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Sorry, I’m pretty sure I have a mild concussion from this afternoon and I’m not really following.”

Megatron shrugged, “You’re wearing a mask. Hiding the truth behind a smile and cheerful words. It’s very deceitful of you.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure you know all about deceit, Mr. Decepticon .” I replied sharply.

He shook his head and began to head to the edge of the couch, “Us Decepticons have no need for that. We aren’t the ones wearing masks.”

I watched as he hopped off the couch and left the room. My eyes drifted to the Christmas tree as I sunk in my seat and took a deep breath. My mind drifted to this morning. It had started off so well. I was so…happy. It was foolish of me to consider this a real vacation. There was no escape from my life. My reflection in the dark television screen was proof of that. The Band-Aid over the end of my eyebrow and the bruised temple were just proof that this was all my life would ever be. So I’d accept that and move on. My life may already be halfway down the drain, but I would do everything in my power to make sure the kids’ lives were better. More than better. They deserved the whole damn world in my eyes. 

I’d keep up the charade of smiles and cheerful words like Megatron had said if only to make the kids happy. Hell, I’ll probably get lost in the pretending and enjoy myself, but I wouldn’t lose sight again. There was no running from my past, no vacation from it, because there was no running from myself. The consequences of my bad decisions lingered around every corner and I’d be ready for the next domino to fall.

Everything would be ok. I’d make it ok, and I’d learn from my mistakes.

Chapter Text

“Don’t you dare, for one more second, surround yourself with people who are not aware of the greatness that you are.” –Jo Blackwell Preston

"You're dead." The large woman growled and lunged forward one last time. The underdog, the small fry, watched her movements with careful eyes. She could see the muscles bulge in the woman's arm, it swung out with all the strength the woman could muster. It seemed like an eternity in her mind, but it all happened in the blink of an eye. She got on the inside and, before the woman could even realize her punch was useless, she lifted her elbow hard and crushed the woman's nose. Blood gushed out, splattering against the back of her neck and elbow, as the woman collapsed to the ground clutching her face. The crowd roared in excitement. The blood had sent them into a frenzy like a group of sharks. She let her gaze shift to the sea of faces. The underdog had prevailed. 

The small fry had won again.

She heaved a sigh as her tired body began to relax. The aches of her muscle and the throbbing of her head were becoming more and more noticeable. The crowd didn’t care though. They were much too preoccupied with collecting their winnings or slipping out the back before a collector came to hold them accountable for their losing bet. That’s why nobody noticed the other woman stand back up with hatred written on her features. 

The small fry sure as hell didn’t notice the mountain of a woman.

As far as she was concerned, the fight was over. It was time to crawl back into her personal corner of this concrete hell and patch up her wounds. There were no other fights scheduled for her tonight. Maybe if she left now she could avoid the traffic leaving this place and get to her bed that much sooner.

The other woman had no intention of letting that plan happen. The other woman was angry. Furious. Livid. Fuming. How dare that small woman make a mockery of her like that? How fucking dare she? Small Fry wasn’t supposed to win. 

She was nothing. 

Nothing.

She had let her guard down. Her body was completely relaxed and unprepared for another fight to continue. So when she turned around and spotted the behemoth of a woman storming towards her, there was nothing she could do. Her mind wasn’t in the right place. It was at home ten miles away in bed. Even her muscle memory couldn’t help her in this scenario. Her body couldn’t react fast enough to stop the woman from rushing toward her. She pathetically backpedaled a few steps, spun around to flee, but the woman was being fueled by pure hatred and couldn’t be stopped.

The woman dove forward; wrapping her arms around what she could grab which just so happened to be her thighs. The crowd was watching now. Eager to see more bloodshed. Eager to watch someone hurt.

She was falling now. Her hands should’ve shot out to catch herself, but they went to the wrong place. They went to the other woman’s hands to try and untangle them from her own body. So she continued to fall, unable to do anything but watch the cold, hard ground come up at her at a startling speed.

If she hadn’t moved when the attack first started it wouldn’t have been so bad. Those few steps she took when backpedaling though had put her that much closer to the edge of the pit where the concrete made a hard step up. 

Her head came down on the concrete corner and the room erupted in shouts. The only sound she had heard though was the sickening crack of her skull. There was nothing after that. Just darkness, and shockingly enough, Aimee Jane Bradshaw found comfort in that darkness. 

My eyes snapped open as I sucked in a sharp breath. I quickly sat up and glanced around the room. It was still dark outside and the only light came dimly from the lamp on my desk.

“Are you alright?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused my eyes on Ratchet who was standing on the edge of the desk now. His seafoam blue eyes were glowing in the dim light and narrowed in my direction, “Wh⏤What?”

“Are you alright? Is your helm aching?” Ratchet asked again firmly.

It was then that I noticed my hand was cradling the side of my head. My fingers traced over my hairline briefly. The hideous bruise was long gone, but there was still an indent under my skin where the bone had been injured. Sometimes, I could still imagine hearing the cracking of bone echoing through my head.

“Aj?” Ratchet was on the bedside table now. His narrowed eyes had widened slightly in what I assumed was concern. 

I let my hand drop into my lap, “I’m fine. Bad dream.”

“Your helm?”

“It’s…” I was going to say nothing, but what was the point of lying? I didn’t lie unless there was a legitimate reason for it, and my legitimate reason toward the bots and cons had gone down the drain when Gellar and Joey showed up at my door. “It was an old injury. Couple months ago.”

“What happened?”

I briefly clenched my jaw, “Skull fracture.” Ratchet’s eyes narrowed again and I shook my head, “It was a closed fracture. The best kind of injury I could’ve gotten in my situation, honestly.”

Ratchet let out a small scoff, “And you got this injury from fighting?”

My thoughts drifted back to the dream, “I got it from winning .”

The room was quiet. I didn’t have anymore to say and Ratchet seemed to be in his own thoughts. One last deep breath and then I pulled myself out of bed and towards the closet. The medical bot didn’t say anything until I changed my cotton sleep pants to a pair of work out shorts and tore off my sleep shirt to leave on a tight sports bra.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Just starting my day, Ratch.” I gave him a forced grin before quietly walking out of the room. The kids were still sleeping and the stairway was empty as I quickly bounded down towards the garage.

In the kitchen, I ran into Soundwave who was coming out. I quickly flipped the light switch on the wall to my left. My eyes darted around before landing back on him, “What are you doing?”

“Mission Orders: Patrol. Inquiry: Human female is active during anomalous time for reasons unknown.”

Peter and the kids were really good at talking to this con, but for some reason I sucked at it, “Um, ok. I’m just gonna workout. Do me a favor and let me know if the kids wake up?”

“Request: Accepted.” Soundwave replied before stalking past me. I lifted my eyebrows once before continuing on my way to the garage with no further interruptions. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the faceless con. In fact, he was still one of my favorite cons for the simple reason that he seemed civil with no ulterior motive. Still, there was something about him that I just found unsettling so I tended to avoid him. The kids on the other hand had no issues with chatting up the polite-ish con. To be honest, Soundwave seemed to like talking to the kids too. I didn’t understand it, but Soundwave seemed to like the kids most out of all the cons.

The garage was freezing which wasn’t surprising in the slightest. There were goose bumps on my exposed body, but I ignored it. My tape was sitting off to the side by the punching bag and it only took me a couple minutes to hastily tape up my hands before I was going at the bag.

Soon the goose bumps were replaced with sweat. My mind was focused and calm. There had never been a chance that I’d fall into drugs like so many of the others taking part in the fighting rings up north. I never worried about falling victim to a needle or bottle. This was addicting enough. The rhythmic sound of my fists hitting the punching bag. This was my drug of choice. 

I hadn’t been down in the garage long, at least not long enough, when I was interrupted. The cracked door was being pushed open and I quickly stopped in worry that one of the kids was going to come stumbling in looking for me.

“Oh,” I said and paused to try and catch my breath, “It’s just you.”

Optimus Prime stood in the partly open door frame with his gaze focused on me, “May I enter?”

I lifted my hand towards him in a ‘ why not’ manner, “How could I say no to the Autobot King-General-bro?”

Optimus didn’t react to my comment and began to walk across the garage. I set my hand against the bag to stop the swinging then sat down on the ground. By time Optimus reached where I was sitting, I was halfway done with pulling the tape off my first hand.

“You are up rather early this morning.” Optimus spoke up.

“Do you know what time it is?”

He nodded, “Nearly 6:30.”

“Huh, the sun should rise soon then. Kids’ll probably be up by 7 or 7:30.”

“Most likely.”

It was silent as I ripped up the last of my tape and balled it all up to throw away. I was starting to feel the cold again, but at this point it felt rather good. My eyes drifted to Optimus as I rested my elbows against my legs, “So, can I help you? I assume you came to talk or something.”

“I did.” Optimus replied.

“Well, go on then.” I said firmly, “Spit it out, OP.”

“I’d like to know more about you, Aj.” He said, “I want to know what exactly you are involved in.”

I chuckled and shook my head, “Why would you want to know that?”

Optimus tilted his head, “Would you prefer the truth or the rational reply?”

A small smile grew on my features, “I guess it depends. If the truth is something stupid like you caring or something than you better go with the rational answer.”

Optimus didn’t reply. He glanced around the garage briefly before finally speaking up, “Perhaps we should take this conversation to the kitchen. My sensors show it’s rather cold for a human to be sitting in her with so little outward armor.”

“ Armor .” I scoffed and stood up with the ball of used tape in one hand. I offered the other to Optimus and he stepped on. Quickly, I set him on my shoulder so I’d have use of both hands and then left the garage. I stopped in the laundry room to grab a clean shirt from the dryer and then continued on into the still lit kitchen.

I set Optimus down on the dining room table before tossing the used tape into the trash, pulling the shirt on over my head, and then heading to the fridge for a bottle of water, “You want some coffee?”

“I am fine, thank you.”

I used my foot to shut the fridge before coming over to the dining room table to take a seat across from where Optimus stood. My back was to the walls and windows while I faced the arch to the left, leading to the garage and laundry room, and the right, which showcased the foyer and the edge of the stairs. Light was beginning to peek through the slits in the window shades showing that the sun had already started to rise.

“ So ,” The world fell out of my mouth as I let my thumb swipe at the condensation on my water bottle, “How do we start this fun conversation?”

Optimus took a full step toward me and firmly replied, “Is your life in danger?”

My eyebrows lifted and I let out a slow whistle, “You don’t beat around the bush.”

“ Aj .”

“I’m not in danger.” I dismissed him with a shake of my head. The statement had been so sure and true six months ago, but now the words tasted wrong on my lips. My voice wasn’t as strong when I said it, “Boss… He won’t kill me. Not when he can still make money off me.”

Optimus didn’t look entirely convinced of my supposed safety, “Jazz told me you said something along the lines of you being dumped into a body of water. Even if you had meant it as a joke, it alarms us.”

“What a little snitch.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.

“ Aj .”

“Stop saying my name like that.” I said quickly and resisted the urge to squirm in my seat. The last time a conversation had taken a tone like this was when my favorite college professor had pulled me aside after class to scold me. It left me with the same sinking feeling in my gut and shame in my mind. I took a deep breath and made the quick decision of where to start my story, “My sister, the kids’ mom, moved away from here when I was 16. I lived in a foster home for two years until I graduated high school. That summer I moved up to New York for college with only a thousand bucks to my name. My major was Cell Bio with a pre-med focus. I wanted to be a doctor.” I chuckled and forced myself to make eye contact with him, “College wasn’t eventful for me. I had a few friends, nobody I let past arm’s length, and I graduated in four years. Had a high enough MCAT score and did well enough on my interviews to get accepted into a nearby medical school with a minor scholarship. That’s kind of a big deal for us squishy humans.”

There was a pause where I didn’t continue in an attempt to find my next words. Optimus cleared his throat before breaking the bout of silence, “It is a big deal anywhere. Only certain Cybertronians can qualify for medical programming and even if they qualify they still must prove themselves through school and training.” He nodded his head, “You should speak to Ratchet about it. I’m sure he’d be impressed as well, even if he doesn't admit it aloud.”

“Thanks.” I replied softly. “You know, I wanted to be a doctor because… because I thought⏤ I hoped that it’d make me worth something.” Optimus’ eyes widened slightly and he took a half step forward, “Up to that point, I was nothing. I figured if I could become a doctor, save lives, then maybe⏤ just maybe , I wouldn’t be such a waste of space.”

Optimus looked alarmed at my words. He shook his head and it seemed like he was going to speak behind that battle mask of his, but I quickly started up again so I wouldn’t have to hear his reply to my pathetic thoughts.

“Anyways, I didn’t have enough money for medical school. Like I said I had a small scholarship, but I needed more and I was beyond determined to make it work out.” I sighed, “The summer before I started school I went out looking for jobs. Anything, really. I met this guy while applying at a grocery store. His name was Kyle Osborne.”

Optimus let out a low hum, “This is the male who was first here?”

“The male who sold me out? Yeah, him.” I replied in a sharper tone than I had intended, “We hit it off, he was fun to be around. I told him about my past, the fighting, and he told me that he was a boxer. Few days later he invited me to this place in a shady part of town.”

“And you went?” Optimus asked.

“I went.” My voice was quiet and filled with more regret than I intended to show. How many days had I spent wondering what would have happened if I had never accepted that invitation? Too many to count . “I knew what it was probably going to be, but I went anyway.”

“What happened?”

I paused in thought, “We call it the Circle. It’s an illegal fighting ring owned by this rich guy. I don’t know his name. Hell, I don’t know how many people actually do. Most just call him Boss.” I shrugged, “I went that night and watched a few matches with Kyle. It had been the first underground match I had seen since my high school days. It was… It was something else. I hadn’t realized how much I missed fighting until I saw it again. It just sucked me in. I didn’t even try to resist. One week later, and I was in the ring myself for a marathon fight. That’s where one person fights around five or six matches back to back. They either make it to the end and win or they fall short. It was me versus a bunch of other newbies to the ring.”

“Did you win?” Optimus asked gravely.

A sad smile lit up my features, “I destroyed them, OP. After all those years, my body had been a bit slower, but it remembered the rhythm. The pulse of a fight, the movements. It was like I had just been drifting before, but suddenly I was wide awake.” I shook my head, “I kept fighting for the rest of the summer, convincing myself that I was just earning money for school and that when Fall came around I’d be done for good.”

My words came to a gradual halt as my thoughts took over. I still remember how it felt during that summer. Things had seemed so good. I wasn’t dirt poor, I was enjoying myself, and best of all it seemed like I had an actual shot at the future.

“Aj?”

My eyes snapped back to Optimus. He didn’t press further and instead just kept his gaze locked on mine. I took a quick swig of water before continuing, “It was one last fight. I had already decided I was done, but this guy came up to me…Boss came up to me. He asked me for one more fight. An all or nothing type deal.” My jaw clenched, “I should’ve said no, but I didn’t. I figured, hey, it was just one last fight.” I shrugged, “I was the rising star of the Circle, but that was just the shallow water. That last fight? It sucked me into the deep end like a riptide. They call it the Pit.”

“The Pit?” Optimus questioned.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “It’s where all the big fights take place. It’s literally just an indent in the concrete floor about the size of half the kitchen where two people just beat the shit out of each other. Anyways, the chick I was supposed to fight was supposedly sick so they brought out her replacement, which was the top fighter of the woman’s league. It was too late for me to back out and keep my money. Besides, I’ve never just called it quits on a fight.”

That fight was still fresh in my mind. It’d always be fresh in my mind. Thirty years from now it would still feel like yesterday. The pain, the blood, the feeling of absolute dread as her fist continually pounded into my cheekbones. I brushed off the invading memories and took a deep breath, “I lost. Made a name for myself though. I had become the little girl who wouldn’t stay down. The small fry that kept bouncing back up until the very end when she got her lights knocked out. I woke up the next day in debt.”

“You’ve been stuck in this illegal fighting ring since then?” Optimus demanded, “By this Boss fellow?”

“I can leave if I pay off my debt in full plus interest, but…I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Especially not after Kyle⏤”, My sentence fell apart as a lump formed in my throat. An awkward silence filled the kitchen. At least, it felt awkward to me. I forced myself to clear my throat, “That’s it. That’s my pathetic story.”

Optimus took a step closer. I could tell he had something to say, but I honestly didn’t want to hear it. Quickly, I rose from my seat and shook my head. His gaze turned questioning, “Aj, I⏤”

“ No .” I held my hand up, “I told you my story because you said you wanted to know more about me, not because I wanted comfort.” I took a deep breath, “I don’t want people or⏤ or Cybertronians telling me they understand and that they’re sorry. I got myself into this mess. It’s my problem, and I’ll handle it alone without the pity of the ones around me.”

The sound of doors opening and running footsteps made me stand up straighter. I expected the kids to come speeding down the stairs and into the kitchen, but the footsteps stopped.

“What’s going on?” Peter asked aloud from the other room. I crossed the kitchen and peeked my head around the corner to see three kids standing in the middle of the staircase, and nearly every Cybertronian currently staying in the house sitting along the bottom step. 

Taylor grinned when she saw me, “Good morning, Aj!”

Some of the bots and cons managed to look sort of guilty when their eyes landed on me. I narrowed my gaze at them. Tyler shook his head, “What are you guys doing?”

“They’re being nosy.” I replied. To be honest, I wasn’t annoyed at any of them for the obvious invasion of privacy. It didn’t really matter in the end. They already knew something was up with me. Now they just knew the details. “You kids hungry?”

“Yeah!” Tyler bounced on the stairs before rushing down and over the Cybertronians, “Can we have bacon??”

“I want waffles!” Taylor cheered and followed her twin quickly into the kitchen. Peter wasn’t far behind them after he gave me a warm smile. Taylor spoke again from the kitchen, “Morning, Optimus Prime!”

I let my gaze fall back to the nosy robots, “If any of you breathe a word of this to the kids, I’ll sell you on eBay.”

I wasn’t pissed that they listened in and knew about my life, but if the kids ever found out from them they’d witness a whole new level of anger from me.

Winter in Alabama was a tricky thing. Some days it’d be close to freezing outside and other days one could walk out of the house in shorts and a t-shirt without so much as feeling a chill. Despite the early morning being cold, the sun had come up and turned today into one of those warm winter days. It was nearing 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside and it wasn’t even noon. Which is why I planned to wash the grime off the truck. It’d probably be one of the last warm days until after Christmas so why not take advantage of this opportunity?

“Where are you going?” Peter asked from the couch as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the foyer. I had an old t-shirt on, work out shorts, and a bucket filled with sponges hanging from one arm. At Peter’s words, Tyler and Tyler turned around from the couch to look. After breakfast they had settled down on the couch to watch a movie.

“I’m just gonna wash the car since it’s warm outside.” I shrugged.

“Oh!” Tyler grinned, “Can I help?”

Taylor nodded, “Me too? Please?”

I chuckled, “Sure, guys. You wanna help too, Pete?”

“Ok.” He shrugged and slid off the couch. 

“Go get changed and meet me outside.” I said before exiting the house. There was a slight breeze in the air that carried a chill, but as long as the kids and I didn’t get wet we’d be fine. Although, there was a seriously low chance that none of us were going to get wet in some form or fashion. I did plan on washing a truck with a ten year old and two six year olds. What exactly was I getting myself into?

I let that last thought drift away as I set down all the materials and went around to the side of the house to unroll the green garden hose. My eyes drifted away from the hose as my hands continued to work. They landed on the house next door which was unoccupied. It looked similar to Aubrey’s house, but with a different paint job. This house was painted in darker shades and warm tans. The paint was also different from Aubrey’s in the sense that it was peeling from the walls. From what I could see through the windows, the house was completely empty. I briefly wondered why there was no ‘For sale’ sign or something of that nature stuck in the front yard.

“Aj! We’re ready!” Taylor sung cheerily as she rushed down the porch steps. The three kids had on clothes they could get dirty in and for the first time in a while they didn’t have any Autobots or Decepticons hovering around them.

I gave them a wide smile, “Let’s get to washing then. Who wants to be in charge of the hose?”

Things went smoothly for the first ten minutes of washing. Pete had been in charge of the hose while Taylor, Tyler, and I soaped up the car. Of course, then Peter wanted to wash the car so I took the hose from him. Now, I am a responsible adult, for the most part, but even I couldn’t let this perfect opportunity go to waste. The breeze had vanished leaving the weather to be bright and sunny, all of us were beginning to sweat, and honestly, what’s the point of washing a car if you can't get into at least one water fight?

A smirk crossed my lips as I changed the setting on the hose from jet to shower. I raised it into the air slightly and turned it on full blast so the water began to rain over all three kids’ heads.

“Aj!” Peter cried with a laugh as the twins squealed in excitement. 

“I’m just trying to rinse the car!” I called out innocently, “Why are y’all in the way?”

They began to rush away, but I followed with the hose. I let my mind run from the painful memories of my past as I chased after their laughter.

Thundercracker stood on the kitchen table staring out of the window against the wall furthest from the laundry room on the other side of the kitchen. From here he could see what the humans were doing outside. Briefly, they had been bathing the simple motor vehicle, but now they were running around the soapy car laughing. The younglings had acquired the green tubing and were now shooting water at Aj who was trying, rather pathetically, to hide behind the car where she could.

He glanced around the room and noticed that many of the other Decepticons had left, his trine members included. The Autobot twins stood by the window next to the door and Thundercracker could hear them mumbling about wash racks and the unfairness of it all. Wheeljack was tinkering with the hinges on random cabinet doors and Thundercracker briefly caught sight of Optimus Prime right before he turned the corner with Ratchet, Jazz, and Prowl by his side speaking softly.

The seeker turned his attention back to the scene outside to find that Aj had gotten the hose back and was seeking a joy filled revenge on the kids. His processors lingered back to what he had overheard not long ago. It had surprised him. Pit, it had surprised everyone, but Thundercracker couldn’t wrap his thoughts around it completely. How could one human femme experience that much in so little time? He hadn’t spent much time on Earth yet, but to say he didn’t see much value in the humans of Earth was an understatement. However, maybe it was just because he hadn’t ever even tried to see the humans as individuals. In the short time he spent here, he had to admit, the younglings had grown on him. Even Aj had some redeeming features mixed into her confusing past.

Skywarp zoomed through the air, around the corner, into the kitchen and Thundercracker pulled his attention away from the humans. Perhaps it’d be better for him to not linger on thoughts of these strange aliens.

“Ok, ok!” I cried with a pant, “You win! I give up!”

“But I wanna keep shooting you!” Tyler replied and kept the hose trained on me. The kids were wet, but I was soaked. There was a literal puddle forming around me as my clothes and hair dripped.

Peter chuckled, “How about you shoot the car?”

“Yeah, shoot the car, Ty.” I replied with a grin. Taylor giggled as she watched me peel my shirt away from my body and try to wring it out. Only in Alabama could you get soaking wet in the middle of December. I missed this weather. I was definitely not Elsa in the sense that the cold bothered me a whole damn lot.

Tyler turned his attention to the truck as he finished spraying off all the soap that we left on the car when we turned our attention to soaking each other. Loud rumbles of an engine from down the road made me narrow my eyes in suspicion. I took a few steps down the driveway to see a large black truck a few houses down.

“Soap up that back bumper, Pete.” I called and nudged Taylor closer toward the truck and further from the road. As the kids continued to work, I stood at the base of the driveway with my body half facing them and half facing the truck. I wasn’t taking any chances.

The truck itself seemed to be cruising with no destination in mind. I was no car expert, but I could tell it was an expensive car. It was worth a hell of a lot more than the POS truck sitting in my driveway. As it neared I began to make out details of it like the silver smokestacks on the back and the red letters that red ‘GMC’ on the front grill. The thing was massive though.

“Pete, Pete, Pete!” Tyler shouted so quickly that his words smashed together, “It’s Ironhide, Pete! Isn’t it?? Like from the movie!?”

My eyes darted to Peter and Taylor as they both turned their attention to the truck. Their eyes brightened in excitement as mine filled with dread. This was Ironhide? Oh my God, what if it was really Ironhide? I could barely manage the mini versions of these guys, and now I had to handle a life-sized version? Life-sized version being bigger than the damn house. The beginning of a headache lingered behind my eyes. I was worried enough about the little guys growing as they changed.

The truck slowly drove by our house as the kids squealed and geeked out over the truck. I kept my narrowed gaze on the black vehicle as it passed and turned to face it completely. My eyes landed on a familiar robotic face printed on the tailgate. Suddenly, the red tail lights lit up as the car came to a halting stop. The truck then immediately reversed so the driver’s door was right in front of me. However, I had to tilt my head up to look at the driver’s window.

“Is it really him, Aj?” Taylor asked and clasped my hand.

“God, I hope not.” I mumbled and wrapped my hand tightly around her smaller one. The tinted window slowly rolled down and I was slightly relieved to see some scrawny dude sitting behind the wheel. He was probably a couple years younger than me and had slicked back brown hair that looked more greasy than styled. He gave us a cheesy grin and a slight nod. I raised a single eyebrow in response, “Are you lost or something?”

He readjusted the thick glasses over his dark brown eyes and I watched as his gaze darted from my chest then back up to my eyes in a very indiscreet manner. He winked, “Lost in your eyes, honey.”

“Keep driving, lover boy.” I scoffed and shook my head with a laugh. A part of me felt like I should maybe be creeped out by him, but honestly the attempt to flirt with me was more awkward than pervy. 

 “Your car looks like Ironhide, mister!” Taylor chirped with an innocent smile.

“That’s fragging right, girly.” He replied.

“Hey.” I snapped making him jump, “Watch your language.”

His eyes widened slightly before he pushed open the door and basically fell out of the cabin. The guy nearly face planted as he struggled to climb out of the large truck. He was around my height and I was starting to wonder if I guessed his age right. Was he even allowed to be driving?

“Have I found a family of Transformer fans?” He asked with a growing smile.

“No.” I replied in hopes to get him to leave, but the kids chorused a positive response. 

He ignored me entirely and I crossed my arms as the kids followed him to get a closer look at the truck. As he began to point out different features of the vehicle I made sure I was always within arms reach of the kids.

“You see, this is an exact replica of Ironhide from the first Michael Bay movie.” He patted the side of his truck, “I hate those movies, but Ironhide did look pretty badass.”

I frowned and snapped again, “ Language .”

Tyler frowned, “How come you didn’t like the movies? I liked them.”

“Why? Why ?? Those movies are an abomination to the any of the previous series and any true fan would⏤”

“ Hey .” I barked again, making the guy jump in shock and stop ranting, “Slow your roll there, poindexter.” He pushed his glasses up his nose again and looked slightly miffed at my wording before I continued, “They’re just kids and it’s just a movie. Relax.”

“But Aj⏤” Tyler began.

I shot him a pointed look, “Just a movie, remember Ty?”

He paused before smiling with a nod, “Right! Just a movie!”

The guy shook his head disappointedly, “Three young minds poisoned by the fake Transformers. I bet they wouldn’t recognize a G1 bot if it hit them in the face.”

“How about you get out of here before I hit you in the face, yeah?” I threatened when I noticed the defeated frown slip into Peter’s face. I wasn’t above decking this guy in the nose. He let out a huff before turning back to his jacked up truck. His foot slipped on the railing, “Want me to get you a step ladder?”

He shot me a glare before slamming the car door and speeding away. I scoffed, “What a fragging jerk.”

“Yeah, a fragging⏤”

“ Tyler .”

“Sorry.” He replied with a bright grin. Tyler grabbed his sister’s hand and dragged her back towards the hose and bucket.

“No more getting wet!” I called before focusing my attention on Peter who still looked upset, “What’s wrong, buddy?”

Peter shook his head, “Why did he say that? We liked the movies, but we like the G1 cartoon too, and I read the comics and⏤”

“Hey,” I knelt down and offered him a smile, “Every popular series has fans who think they’re better than everyone else because of some stupid reason.” I shrugged, “You love Transformers. Don’t ever let anyone put you down for that even if they say they’re Transformer fans too.”

Peter nodded and shook slightly as a breeze floated through the air, “It’s starting to get cold.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “Come on guys. Let’s head inside.” Peter drained the bucket, the twins wrung out the sponges, and I put away the hose. It didn’t take us long and then we were all rushing toward the porch. “Alright, stay in the foyer and I’ll get…” 

My words drifted away as I pushed open the door and noticed a stack of towels by the window. The kids were quick to snatch up towels and wrap them around their shoulders without question. I set down the bucket and picked mine up with a questioning look. Had the bots and cons got these for us?

“Aj, look!” Taylor giggled and pointed into the kitchen. I glanced in and my eyes widened at the sight of a line of brightly colored cars lined up across the kitchen floor. There were even three jets near the end of the line. The only ones who weren’t there were Megatron, Soundwave, Barricade, Ratchet, Prowl, and Grimlock. Even Optimus Prime was lined up in his truck mode.

I nodded with a growing smile playing on my lips, “I guess we aren’t done washing cars, huh?” The sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room. I rolled my eyes playfully, “And jets.”

They all began to transform back into their bipedal modes. Sideswipe slapped his hand against his brother's back, “Fragging finally!” Sunstreaker shoved the red bot away.

“Pete, how about you and Tyler use the living room sink to wash up some of these guys?” I suggested, “Taylor and I can use the kitchen sink here.”

“Ok.” Peter replied and then told his brother to grab a few supplies. 

I watched as Taylor scooped up Bumblebee to wash first and chuckled as Sideswipe groaned in response, “I’ll be back. You go ahead and start, sweetie.” Taylor chirped back a response and I began to head toward the stairs in the foyer. I paused at the base of the stairs when I heard footsteps following me. “Didn’t we already have our heart to heart, OP?” I questioned as the leader of the Autobots stood tall by the doorway of the kitchen, “Or would it be heart to spark?”

Optimus nodded, “We did. Where are you going?”

“To get the others. If we’re having bath time I plan to get everyone clean at once.” I replied and shook my head, “Lord knows Grimlock needs a bath.”

There was a brief pause in which I planned to continue up the stairs, but Optimus cleared his throat, “You are a better person than you realize.”

My gaze focused on the red and blue bot who remained unmoving where he stood. His sky blue, glowing eyes were glued to mine and made me feel as if I was the foot tall being and he was the giant. I forced a scoff, “I don’t need a pep talk, Optimus. I know who I am, I know my sins.”

“You are a good person.” He replied firmly, “Not many would drop their lives to watch the younglings of their sister while their sister is…unable to do so.”

“Not many would ignore their older sister for ten years either.” 

Optimus shook his head and let out a slow chuckle, “ Aimee ,” my shoulders tensed at the sound of my actual name, “You are not a waste of space. You are worth far more than you believe.”

When was the last time I heard anything like that said aloud to me? I couldn’t even remember. It definitely had to be before I started working for Boss. Hell, it might’ve been before I ever moved to New York. Maybe someone since then had thought that about me, but to actually hear it struck a chord in me. It wasn’t life altering and I didn’t expect to have a new viewpoint on the world or who I was, but it still felt good. 

It felt like I had someone on my side again.

Before I could reply the doorbell rang. It broke the daze that Optimus’ words had put me in and I had never been so thankful for a visitor before. Mostly because I had no idea what I was going to say back to him.

Optimus glanced at the door, gave me a brief nod, and then slipped into the kitchen where whoever was at the door couldn’t see him. I took a deep breath before yanking the door open carelessly.

My eyes narrowed at the guy from earlier, “What do you want?”

“I came to apologize for my behavior.” He replied quickly, “I shouldn’t have snapped at the children like that. In fact, I think I can teach them about the Transformers world. Show them all the⏤”

“Yeah, no .” I cut him off, “I don’t know who you are and⏤”

“My name is Nicholas.” He interrupted me, “I live a few roads behind you actually⏤”

I shook my head, “Fantastic, but I still don’t want you around my kids, buddy.”

“ Your kids ?” He questioned, “You hardly look like you’ve had three children.” Rather than replying I just leaned against the doorframe with a bored look drawn across my features. Maybe I was being a tad bit on the rude side, but something about this guy didn’t sit right with me. Not just because he was rude to the kids, but something just felt off. He chuckled nervously and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “You’re Aj, correct? That’s what one of them called you? I really think we got off on the wrong foot, you see⏤”

The sound of a familiar voice yelling a Cybertronian curse filled the air and something slammed into my foot making me stumble in place. I resisted the urge to stomp down on the hood of the cherry red car still pressed against my ankle.

“Oh my word.” Nicholas breathed, “Is that⏤” Before I could answer or even move he bent over and picked up Sideswipe. My mouth fell open, but no words formed as Nicholas studied the car in his hands, “This is amazing . It’s a perfect replica. I can’t believe this, do you know who this is?”

I forced an unhappy smile, “I usually just refer to him⏤ err, it as the obnoxious piece of shit from hell.”

“This is Sideswipe. The Sideswipe!” Nicholas began to pull at the car as if looking for seams to make him transform. I reached forward and snatched the red car from his hands. “Wait, hey⏤”

I held Sideswipe close to me, “He belongs to the kids. They don’t like strangers touching their toys.”

“ Toys ? That has to be a collector’s item!” Nicholas shook his head, “How much?”

“How much what? How much grief does he cause me? I’m positive numbers don’t go that high.”

Nicholas scoffed, “How much to buy it?”

“Wait, what?”

“How about $500.”

My eyes widened, “You’d pay $500 for this hunk of junk?” I wasn’t entirely sure how the little shit did it, but Sideswipe pinched my stomach making me flinch. Rather than throwing him into Nicholas' arm and slamming the door I shook my head with a forced smile, “He’s not for sale.”

“But⏤ But⏤”

“Not for sale.” I repeated firmly, “So as fun as this was…Bye.”

Nicholas didn’t say a word and just stood on the porch with his mouth agape as I slowly closed the door in his face. There was a second of silence before I heard him rush off the porch back to his car. Sideswipe shifted and transformed in my hands and looked up at me with narrowed eyes and crossed arms, “Hunk of junk?”

Instead of giving him a reply, I just dropped him. He let out a slightly startled cry, but activated his jet pack before he hit the floor too roughly. The jets flew over my head toward the living room bathroom where Peter and Tyler were waiting. Wheeljack and Bluestreak sped past my legs.

“Hey, where are you going?” Sideswipe called out as I began to walk up the stairs.

“I’m going to get the others to wash them up too. I’m also going to ask Ratchet to take you apart and turn you into something useful like a paperweight .” I replied, only half-joking. Sideswipe mumbled something under his breath, but was quick to duck back into the kitchen and avoid the glare I tried to shoot in his direction. I shook my head with an exasperated chuckle, “Bath time, guys!”

I could hear Ratchet scoff from my room. Prowl stepped out of the office, but the look on his face suggested he was not eager to engage in the activity I had planned. Before I could look around for Barricade, Megatron, and Soundwave, Grimlock came charging out of my room with a roar.

“ Grimlock no want bath !”

A wave of fire was shot into the air and I sighed. Here I thought Tyler was tough to get into the bath. At least the six year old wasn’t a fire breathing, metal dinosaur.

Chapter Text

“I love being married. It’s so great to find one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” –Rita Rudner

“You grumpy old fart.”

Ratchet paused in his movements to slowly lift his gaze from the datapad in his hands to shoot a glare in my direction. I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed and a slight smile on my lips. Mocking Ratchet always seemed to lighten my mood. I’m sure if he were his true size though this would be a different story. He scoffed, with a shake of his head, and then began to mumble under his breath in Cybertronian. 

I groaned, “I have managed to convince everyone, even Grimlock , to go downstairs for a bath and you’re giving me a hard time? I expected this behavior from Megsy.”

“The only reason Grimlock is down there is because you lied to him⏤”

“I didn’t lie.” I argued with a slight grimace, “I… stretched the truth.”

Ratchet pointed at me with the datapad in his hand, “The moment he finds out you plan to wash him he’ll go on a rampage.”

The statement wasn’t false and it definitely wasn’t something I was exactly looking forward to when I got back downstairs. I made my bed though so I’d lay in it when the time came.

“I can pick you up.” I said firmly, “This is me trying to preserve your dignity, Ratch.” He didn’t reply and instead let his eyes dart back down to the information in his hands. I sighed, “Why are you⏤”

Ratchet shushed me, “I’m busy. I’ll come down in a moment.”

“You better.” I replied and began to leave, “Fragging little shit⏤”

“ Language !” 

The sound of boys laughing drifted from the living room as I stepped into the foyer. I took a detour from the kitchen to check on how they were doing. For some reason, maybe it was because they had stationed themselves in the makeshift base of the red-eyed little monsters, Peter and Tyler were washing most of the decepticons. Peter was rinsing Thundercracker under the tub’s faucet while Tyler stood on a step stool and covered Wheeljack in soap in the sink. Standing by the doorway waiting was an eager Bluestreak, an impatient Skywarp, a distracted Prowl who had his attention on a datapad in his hand, a blank faced Soundwave, and a pissed off Megatron.

“Everything going alright in here?” I questioned.

“Fantastic!” Wheeljack answered as Tyler whipped around to give me a wide, excited grin.

My eyes darted down to Megatron who hadn’t been happy when I forced him down here, but now he looked nearly livid. I used my foot to push him slightly to the left and the guy basically growled, “Who kicked your puppy?”

Megatron glared up at me and Bluestreak stopped bouncing in place to narrow his eyes in confusion, “Wait, a puppy? Aren’t puppies the babies of dogs? Who would kick a puppy? They’re so adorable and so defenseless. It’d be like kicking a sparkling and⏤”

“It’s just a saying, Blue.” Peter chuckled, “No one kicked any puppies.” He used his elbow to try and push his glasses further up his nose and then spoke to me, “Starscream went first. He’s already clean.”

Tyler nodded, “Barricade too!”

“Well that explains⏤”

“ Femme !” Sunstreaker roared from the kitchen, “Will you get your aft in here already!?”

I turned to yell back at him when Tyler snickered under his breath. Peter smiled, “It sounds like your customers aren’t too happy, Aj.”

“Are you sassing me?” I replied with a growing smile of my own. It did my heart good to hear Peter joking around and just being light hearted in general. The two of us had come a long way since my first day in this house.

“ Femme !”

“I’m coming, you jumbo sized lemon !” 

The guys in the small bathroom got a laugh out of the newest nickname and I jogged back over to the kitchen. It probably wasn’t safe to leave Grimlock in there waiting on me for too long anyways. As I entered the kitchen a glaring Sunstreaker standing on the kitchen island greeted me.

“Get it?” I grinned and pointed at him, “Because you’re yellow like a lemon and your attitude is just as sour.”

“I get it, Aj!” Taylor giggled from the sink. She had already finished watching Bumblebee who was still sitting on the counter beside her happily and was now soaping up a very content T-Rex.

My eyes widened in shock and then shot around the room to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing. Sideswipe was lying on his back by his brother moaning about it not being his turn, Jazz was on the counter like Bumblebee but on the opposite side, and Optimus was standing on the counter leaning against the fridge. Optimus and Jazz both seemed amused at the very least at the sight of Taylor washing up the usually irate, metal lizard.

“ Grimlock !” I called making the T-Rex unhappily open his eyes. Bright white optics glared at me.

He grumbled under his breath and lifted his head so Taylor could get the creases there, “What you Aj want?”

“I thought it was going to be World War III to get you washed. Hel⏤ ck ”, I caught my language again, “You basically threatened to bite my hand off when I told you it was bath time!”

Grimlock shifted and allowed Taylor to get his back, “You Aj demand. Femme sparkling ask.”

“But I thought we had something, Grimlock?” I questioned jokingly. Honestly, I was just happy he was being washed without that much of a fight, “Aren’t I an honorary dinobot or something?”

Grimlock narrowed his eyes like I had said the stupidest thing, “You dinobot pet. Dinobot pet not tell dinobots what to do.”

I ignored the laughter filling the room at Grimlock’s statement and bit back a deadpanned chuckle myself. His answer didn’t surprise me all that much in the end. Taylor glanced over her shoulder and gave me a happy smile. Sometimes it was so easy to make these kids happy. The smallest things would make their day and I wished it wasn’t always like that. I was glad they were happy, but it felt like I wasn’t giving them enough. They were happy with what I had, but what I had was useless. They deserved the world.

“Come on, OP. Let’s get you shiny again.”

“ What ?” Sideswipe sat up, “Aj!”

“Don’t ‘ Aj’ me.” I shot back, “You’re lucky I’m not dismantling you for that stunt earlier. You’ll be last.”

Sideswipe groaned even louder and fell back onto the counter with a ‘clunk’. Optimus chuckled to himself and came over. Taylor and I stood side by side at the sink, her on a My Little Pony stool, washing and rinsing the bots. By time I began to rinse off OP she was already starting on Sunstreaker. I had expected the yellow pain to whine and moan about a human child touching his paint, but he seemed rather pleased at the work Taylor was doing. That meant he probably noticed the same thing I noticed about the little girl.

All three kids had their own little quirks. 

Peter was smart as a whip and ever since he started hanging out with the more scientific Cybertronians he would randomly begin talking about things that were well above my pay grade. Stuff I had no idea how a ten year old could even begin to comprehend. Tyler was an active kid who not only had barrels full of energy, but he also had a good amount of talent in the athletic sense. More than just that, the kid was competitive as hell. Taylor, on the other hand, was an artist. I had figured that out early on, but it wasn’t just putting pictures on paper or whatever. She had an eye for detail. Even at six years old, she noticed the littlest things and paid attention to things I probably wouldn’t. 

All in all, these kids never ceased to amaze me and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they’d go places in this world.

“Alrighty, who’s next?” I asked as Optimus used a hand towel to try and dry off the beads of water on his armor. Sideswipe jumped up again but I shook my head, “Didn’t I say you were going last?”

“ Oh come on !”

I glanced over at Jazz and raised an eyebrow at him. He chuckled and shook his head, “I can wait. Let ‘im go ‘fore he has a spark attack.”

Sideswipe beamed, but the happiness was short lived as Ratchet came into the kitchen. I grinned, “Just in time, Ratchet, it’s your turn.”

“ Aj !”

“Jazz said you could go before him, but I’m still punishing you, you cretin.” I replied and scooped Ratchet off the ground. The medic complained about being picked up in that manner, but I ignored him entirely and began soaping him up. 

Washing the bots didn’t take as long as I thought it was going to and they didn’t raise hell like I thought they would either. It got even easier when Taylor finished Sunstreaker and started on the tomato red loudmouth. As I helped Ratchet dry off, which mainly consisted of him drying himself off and whacking my fingers when they got near him, sounds of laughter could be heard from the living room. Tyler and Peter had apparently finished their jobs and one of the boys had turned on Netflix. This made Taylor go faster and Sideswipe complained louder as she quickly rinsed him off, shouted a quick apology, and then raced into the living room with an excited Bumblebee in her arms.

“Stop whining, you scrap for processors.” Ratchet snapped, “Aj told me about the mech at the door and you nearly blowing our cover!”

“Oh come on, Hatchet.” Sideswipe began to dry off with a rag as large as him. His eyes darted to Sunstreaker in a pleading fashion, but the yellow bot was too busy shining his arm with a smaller rag from his own subspace to notice his brother’s dilemma.

Ratchet growled and pointed at him, “Don’t Hatchet me. Prowl’s waiting for you upstairs.” Sideswipe groaned loudly, but Ratchet forced his gaze toward me, “Get me down now.”

“Only because you asked so nicely.” I replied and helped the medic bot down to the kitchen floor. Sideswipe gave me a wide grin when my eyes darted to him. From the look on his face he expected me to help him down as well. I gave him a brief smile before lightly swatting him off the counter with the back of my hand. He fell a short bit before his jetpack kicked in and he landed on his feet. The bot mumbled something under his breath, but stopped as Ratchet began to yell at him in Cybertronian. A sigh slipped my lips as I ignored Sunstreaker who had sat down to shine his legs and looked to Jazz who was smirking at me, “Ready, Jazz?”

“Born ready, sweetspark.”

Something had to be said about the visored mech’s patience. Although, I was beginning to think he had only decided to go last because then he got to sit back and be amused by the antics of all the others. Then again Jazz was a really hard mech to get a read on. I wasn’t about to lose sleep trying to figure him out when I was content with what I did know.

A stray thought crossed my mind as I washed a spot in the middle of his back, “Isn’t this weird for y’all?” The question wasn’t meant for Jazz alone, but something told me Sunstreaker wasn’t going to be answering me anytime soon. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone giving me a bath.”

“You help the younglings with their bath.” Sunstreaker spat.

“The twins are only six. It’s different. They need my help occasionally.” I shrugged, “You guys aren’t children though despite how you sometimes act.”

Jazz chuckled, “It’s differen’ with us.” He used his own hands to rub soap across his chest as I continued with his back, “We rarely wash alone. Pit, we need the help too. We ain’t as flexible as you humans.”

As if to prove his point, Jazz reached his arm back, but he wasn’t able to touch his back let alone lather it with soap. I nodded. It made sense and I scolded myself for not thinking of the answer on my own. The look Sunstreaker was shooting made me think he was also questioning my intelligence.

“Plus, we’re all in armor.” Jazz shrugged, “Ain’t like we stripped down to our protoforms.”

That was a term I did remember from an earlier conversation. It was their equivalent, or as close to it, to humans being naked. Late night conversations with Ratchet never were exactly the most normal in the world.  Sunstreaker stood and walked to the edge of the counter. I rinsed the soap off my hand, tried pathetically to dry it against my damp shirt, and held it out to him, “Need some help?”

“Don’t touch me, squishy.” He snapped and jumped off the counter. He landed on his feet easily and began to stalk out of the kitchen.

“Love you too, Tulip.” 

“Frag off.”

Jazz whistled, “You like makin’ an enemy outta ‘im?”

“What can I say?” I shrugged with a smile, “It’s a hobby of mine.”

The bot chuckled, “You’re a reckless one.”

There was a pause before I replied, “Well, after hearing my sob story this morning you would know.”

Jazz’s smile faltered slightly. The look on his face grew a tad bit somber, but his visor made it hard to really read his features. He wasn’t like Bluestreak or Bumblebee who were ridiculously easy to read. Jazz was worse than stone-faced Prowl in some ways. Prowl was hard to read because he didn’t really show much emotion as far as I saw. Jazz showed all kinds of emotions, but his emotions were easily forged.

“Sorry about that.” His accent disappeared for the short apology.

“Not a big deal.” I shrugged and began to rinse off the saboteur, “As long as the kids don’t know, I don’t care. Hell, y’all will be gone in less than two months.” Jazz didn’t reply and an afterthought occurred to me, “I should check with Jackie and Screamer. See how things are progressing.”

“Slowly.” Jazz answered.

The kitchen air had an almost awkward tinge to it that didn’t sit well with me. I took a deep breath and decided to change the topic, “So…”

“So?”

Jazz shook his arms sending a spray of droplets around the sink. I grabbed the driest rag on the counter and began to help him wipe the water droplets away. His visor glowed a faint blue, “Are you ever going to let me see what color your eyes are or am I going to die clueless?”

The bot apparently hadn’t expected that question and let out a bark of laughter. A smug smile grew on my features as I reveled in my success in changing topics. Jazz shook his head, “Why’d you wanna know so bad?”

“Uh, I’m nosy? Just like you.”

“Jus’ like me?? That’s rude, sweetspark.”

I moved toward the fridge still chuckling as Jazz continued to dry himself off. It was nearing lunchtime and I needed to see what we had to eat, “Come on. Does everything about you have to be secretive?”

“It’s one of mah charms.” Jazz argued, “I’m mysterious.”

“Someone has to know what color your optics are.” I closed the fridge after realizing there was nothing in there that would work for lunch, unless of course the kids wanted to eat just plain cheese. Actually, Tyler probably would if I let him.

Jazz shrugged, “A few. Ratchet knows. He kinda has to bein’ the docbot and all.”

“Are they a weird color? Do you have like rainbow eyes or something?” I questioned then snapped my fingers, “Brown? That’s unique for Cybertronians.” 

“If a mech or femme has brown eyes somethin’ is seriously wrong.” Jazz chuckled. “But now I got a question for you.”

I rolled my eyes in good nature, “Oh Lord, here we go.”

Jazz grinned and tossed the rag to the side. He strolled across the counter and leaned against the fridge to look at me, “Don’t you have anyone back home missin’ ya?”

“Nope.” I replied simply.

Jazz didn’t seem to like my blunt answer, “No one? Friends? Neighbors? Do you have a sparkmate? Or the human equivalent?” 

“Jazz, are you asking if I’m single?” I joked.

He shook his head with a smile, “I’m serious , Aj. How come you don’t have someone in your life?”

It was weird to hear Jazz go from his usual accent to his voice without it, but it definitely got his point across. I couldn’t help but take the unaccented Jazz seriously, “We talked about this before. I’m bad at making friends. I’ve never actually met my neighbors except the one time they knocked on my door asking me if I’d seen their pet anaconda.” I cringed at the memory and ignored Jazz’s look of curiosity, “Anyways, don’t even get me started on boyfriends .” I began to check the cabinets hoping that by making my hands busy this would be easier to talk about. It wasn’t. “The last guy I considered being in a relationship with stole my money, sold me out, and then moved to Europe.”

“You need people in your life. You can’t go it alone.”

“Words of wisdom from Jazz.” I shut the cupboard and moved to the next one, “ Inspirational .”

Jazz shrugged off the sharp comment and forced a grin, his accent slipped back into place, “Ah try.”

“You know, if you show me your eyes I’ll consider you a friend. Then I technically won't be alone in life, right?”

Jazz held a hand to his chest in mock hurt, “An’ here I thought we were already friends.”

I knelt down to check the lower cabinets and Jazz sat down on the counter with his legs hanging off the edge in response. There probably wasn’t anything in the cabinets that could be served as lunch, but now I was just taking stock of everything we had considering I would be grocery shopping soon. As I pulled open the cabinet I watched as the hinges fell apart and the wooden door slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. Jazz snickered and I bit back a groan. It was bad enough he broke stuff, but Wheeljack had a gift at making things look like things were fine until I touched them.

“ Wheeljack !” I barked and picked up the wooden cabinet. A sigh slipped my lips as I leaned it against the opening and stood back up. Jazz remained sitting with an amused look on his features.

He snapped his fingers, which I wasn’t aware he could do, and then motioned toward me, “I got it.”

“Got what? An answer to keep Wheeljack from tearing this house down screw by screw?”

“ Primus don’t even have a solution to keep Jackie from tinkering.” Jazz replied, “I have a solution to your ‘ boyfriend’ problems.”

“Oh, this should be good.” I replied dryly.

“’Til you find someone... I’ll play the role.” He crossed his arms.

The sound that came out of my mouth didn’t sound human and it ranged somewhere between shock and laughter, “You’ll play the role? You’ll be my boyfriend?”

“ Mech friend.” Jazz corrected and jokingly added, “I’ll love and protect ya, sweetspark.”

“My knight in shining armor.” I replied sarcastically. A chuckle escaped my throat, “Honestly speaking though, you’re still probably better than half the guys I’ve dated.” Jazz held his arms out in a ‘See?’ motion and I rolled my eyes. There was a giggle in the doorway that made me turn to see Taylor standing there looking smug for a six year old. I nodded toward her, “What’s up, sweetie?”

Taylor glanced from Jazz and then back to me, “Nothing. You called for Wheeljack, but he was busy so I came.”

“Well, I can’t exactly tell you what I was going to tell him.” I said sheepishly. Most of the things I planned to tell Wheeljack were R-rated. Hell, a part of me just planned to throttle the foot tall alien. “You hungry?” Taylor nodded quickly and I continued, “Go get cleaned up. Tell Peter and Tyler to clean up too. We’re gonna head out for lunch.”

“Can⏤”

“The bots and cons are gonna stay here.” I interrupted her before she could even finish her obvious question. My eyes darted over to Jazz mockingly, “Hope you don’t mind, honey .”

Jazz grinned and stood up, “Not at all. Family time is important.”

I had to once again resist the urge to roll my eyes. Taylor giggled again before running off. “Hey,” I said as I helped the mech down to the floor, “Tell Wheeljack the cabinet better be fixed by time I get home.”

Jazz gave me a mock salute before wandering off. My mind briefly thought over the past conversation before I shook my head and headed upstairs with the plans to get ready myself. Here I thought conversations with Ratchet were weird.

“ No fire .”

“I give you my word. We shall be on our best behavior.” Optimus reassured the jumpy human femme. Aj bit her lower lip before sighing and giving the crowd of Cybertronians a quick nod. She hustled the younglings out of the house and closed the door behind her. 

“I’ve said this before, but… She’s real paranoid about the fire thing. Like, Red Alert paranoid.” Sideswipe commented as he leaned against the wall.

“Can you blame her?” Thundercracker muttered under his breath before leaving the foyer. Ratchet let his optics wander from each mech before they settled on Wheeljack who was happily strolling into the kitchen. The medic bot was well aware that the kitchen was the very last place Wheeljack needed to spend his time. Especially if the main goal was to avoid a fire.

“What the slag do you think you’re doing?” Ratchet spat as he followed the walking safety hazard into the spacious area.

Wheeljack jumped at the sound of Ratchet’s voice and spun around. His fins glowed a bright blue, “Oh, Ratchet. What brings you in here?”

“Prowl’s in charge of keeping the Unicron spawned twins from wreaking havoc and my job is to keep you from burning the human’s dwelling to the ground.” Ratchet snapped. On one servo, he was entirely overjoyed that he wasn’t the one put in charge of making sure the twins stayed in line, yet he still couldn’t feel joy at the prospect of sparkling sitting his mad scientist of a friend.

Wheeljack chuckled good-naturedly, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m only in here to repair the cabinet door. Jazz told me Aj wants it done before she gets back. It should be an easy fix.”

“Just put back the screws you took.”

He tilted his head, “Well, technically speaking, the screws I took don’t exactly exist anymore so…”

Ratchet resisted the urge to cradle his helm between his servos. ‘ It could be worse’ he reminded himself. Flashbacks of explosions and missing limbs danced through his processors. Those memories were only the ones caused by Wheeljack in the Ark too. It didn’t even take into consideration the many wounds caused by the sheer stupidity of some of his other comrades. He watched with wary optics as Wheeljack pushed the cabinet door where it belonged and began work on the hinges. The sound of revving engines filled the foyer, followed by tires squealing against the wood floor, but Ratchet let the noise fall into the background.

It was strange to see Autobots residing in the same area as the Decepticons without engaging in a full out war, but it was stranger to see both sides uncomfortable in their boredom. There wasn’t a long list of errands to complete or tasks to be done. As Aj had said early on, this was a vacation for both the bots and cons and neither side truly knew what to do with it. Ratchet kept himself busy by continually checking the status of everyone in the house, even the humans, but the lack of stress was almost unnerving. He could admire his newly found quiet time, but there was a portion of it that put him on edge. He felt like something was bound to happen because something always did happen.  

Wheeljack and Starscream were still relatively busy with the project to get everyone back to their own universe, but there was only so much progress they could make with what they had. At the moment they were trying to gather more data on the relative location. Wheeljack’s first invention had done its job well, if one didn’t count the pulse that nearly ended Wheeljack’s life, but it didn’t hurt to have more information on their location. One mistake and they’d end up who the frag knows where. 

“Do you think that’ll hold?” Wheeljack questioned with his servos planted on his hips. Ratchet lifted his optics to study the loose hinges and watched as they began to shift from the weight of the wood. He reached forward, grabbed Wheeljack by the shoulder and shoved him aside roughly before sidestepping himself. The cabinet door’s hinges broke and the door fell with a thud in front of them. Wheeljack nodded, “Right. I can fix this.”

“Of course you can.” Ratchet said in a tone that made his words sound not so encouraging. Wheeljack was used to said tone and barely paid any mind to it whatsoever. 

Wheeljack struggled to pick the cabinet door back up and Ratchet didn’t move an inch toward him. He got himself into this slagging situation; he could get himself out of it. 

Ever since they had arrived their systems hadn’t been at 100%. Radar, GPS, commlinks, and so on were still there but inactive for the most part. It was more than a nuisance, it was basically a handicap, but most of the bots and cons had adjusted to it. However, it led them to rely solely on their senses. This is why Ratchet could hear the approaching footsteps coming from halfway down the stairs. Wheeljack seemed to have noticed as well, but was too preoccupied with the door to give it much time. Ratchet narrowed his optics trying to place the footsteps. It wasn’t the twins, one set of footsteps was too heavy and both were going too slow. It wasn’t Jazz considering Ratchet probably wouldn’t hear the special ops mech coming. Before he could fully narrow down his list of possibilities two faces turned the corner.

Ratchet tensed as Megatron and Soundwave stopped in the doorway. Their optics lazily glanced from the fallen cabinet door to both Ratchet and Wheeljack. The engineer had paused in what he was doing to stand beside Ratchet and hold his ground. Regardless of whatever truce had been drawn up for the time being, things had still remained tense between the Autobots and Decepticons. They hid the tense edge from the humans for the human’s own good, but a miracle hadn’t occurred between the two warring sides.

Hopeful Optimus thought perhaps this temporary truce could blossom into an understanding, but deep down in the sparks of every Cybertronian here they knew the chances of this war ending in a servo shake was slim to none.

Another few moments passed and not a single mech in the kitchen moved. Megatron’s slips curved slightly into a small smirk and Ratchet could feel his entire body grow rigid. Wheeljack stiffened beside him as well as both bots mentally prepared for the possibility of a fight. Without any humans in the house, it was entirely possible the war would continue. Aj and the younglings were still entirely unaware that occasionally during the night a brawl would break out. It was always hand to hand and it only caused Aj to stir, not wake up, but it still happened.

New footsteps approached from behind Ratchet and Wheeljack and before Ratchet could even begin to worry that the new footsteps would belong to more Decepticons he recognized the pace and weight of each step. How could he not considering the many times he heard them running around the Ark causing mayhem?

Ratchet couldn’t see them, he wouldn’t take his eyes off Megatron and Soundwave, but he heard the footsteps stop in the doorway on the other end of the kitchen.

“Would you look at this, Sunny?”

“Would you stop with that fragging name?”

“They’re looking like they’re gonna start a fight.” Sideswipe crossed the room to stand on the other side of Ratchet as Sunstreaker came to stand on the other side of Wheeljack, “And you mechs didn’t invite us? Rude.”

The twins were both the best mechs to have here at the moment and also the worst. Their fighting experience and talent alone would give the four Autobots in the kitchen the upper edge at the moment, but their energon lust could very well push this tense situation into the fight alone. Ratchet did not want to start a fight. 

Megatron chuckled lightly before turning on his heel and striding away with Soundwave by his side. Wheeljack made a sound very similar to a human sigh of relief, “Good timing. That would not have been very fun.”

“Yeah, bet you’ve never been so happy to see us before, Hatchet?” Sideswipe beamed at the medic.

Ratchet scoffed, “I’m never happy to see you glitches.”

Wheeljack chuckled and turned back to the cabinet. His fins lit up, “Oh! While the two of you are here, can you hold this door up while I fix the hinges?”

“Sure thing, Jackie. As long as you promise to put in a good word for me with Aj.” Sideswipe replied and clapped his brother on the back. Sunstreaker swung his arm out to punch him in the back of the helm, but Sideswipe ducked and moved to grab the cabinet door, “She got Prowl to yell at me for crying out loud.”

Sideswipe picked up one side of the door and Ratchet recognized the twins having an internal argument before Sunstreaker cursed under his breath and went to pick up the other side.

“When isn’t Prowl yelling at you?” Ratchet replied.

“Well, it’s not as bad here.” Sideswipe shrugged, “Though something tells me he’s keeping track of everything and just waiting till we get back.”

Ratchet chuckled to himself because he knew Sideswipe was completely right. Pit, Ratchet had seen the growing list himself. Wheeljack nodded and moved to work on the hinges as the twins pushed the door into place, “I’ll let her know you helped me fix the cabinet door.”

“If you really think that alone will get you on her good side then you’re stupider than I thought.” Ratchet spoke up. 

Sideswipe turned and leaned against the door so his back was holding the wood rather than his servos. He crossed his arms, “Good point. I should talk to Jazz. She’s pretty close to him, right?” His optics darted to Sunstreaker as the two shared thoughts once again. Sideswipe grinned, “I could show her a few moves. I’m sure something would be able to translate over into human fighting.”

“ No .” Ratchet snapped. None of the three mechs there jumped at Ratchet’s sharp tone because all three mechs were very used to being yelled at in the same tone. Sideswipe turned an innocent look toward the medic who narrowed his optics at him, “The last thing we need to do is encourage her fighting habit.”

“Why not?” Sideswipe questioned.

Ratchet stumbled over his words from the sheer shock of the red moron asking such a ridiculous statement, “Because it’s going to get her fragging offlined, you slagging glitch ridden terror!”

Sideswipe made a humming sound, “Words are hurtful you know that, Hatchet?”

The medic stepped toward the red mech threateningly and Sideswipe flinched with a sheepish smile on his faceplates. Sunstreaker shrugged, “She took care of the human filth that showed up at her door.”

“She kicked that one male’s aft.” Sideswipe nodded.

“And the other nearly knocked her into stasis with a weapon.” Ratchet growled, “Primus. He could’ve just shot her!”

Sideswipe tilted his helm slightly, “Ok. I see your point.”

The amount of self-control it took to not lunge forward and strangle the red frontliner was immense. Ratchet honestly deserved an award for the many times he resisted the urge to maim the morons he found himself looking after.

“If I find out anyone is encouraging her fighting habits I’ll beat them into the ground with their own fragging limbs.” Ratchet warned. It was a warning he planned to blast to every bot or con in the household, but he knew the terror twins needed to hear it first considering they were probably, once again, going to be the main issue.

“You got it, Ratch!” Wheeljack replied cheerily without much thought behind his words. He was too busy focusing on the task at hand. Besides, why would he ever feel the need to push Aj toward fighting?

Sideswipe held his hand up and grinned, “Autobot’s honor.”

Sunstreaker didn’t reply, but his facial plates gave off the vibe that he could care less about the situation. It was usually the red terror that dragged Sunstreaker into things anyways. Ratchet shook his head and began to march out of the kitchen with plans to head back to his temporary medbay. 

Ratchet didn’t spend much time wondering why he was so determined to keep that insufferable femme in working order. It was probably the same reason why Bluestreak and Bumblebee kept watch on the twin younglings at all times and why Prowl mostly did his work in an area where he could keep an optic on Peter. Protecting the innocent from Decepticons came naturally for nearly any Autobot. It was basically hardwired into their systems at this point, and most times once they began to protect someone it became difficult for them to ever even consider not protecting them, whether the threat comes from Decepticons or some other outside force. 

As far as Ratchet was concerned, these humans were his patients for the time being and like slag he was going to let them become injured. The younglings were fairly good at staying out of harm’s way, but that fragging femme managed to get herself into problems nearly as often as the frontliner twins that plagued his life. Ratchet was more than determined to keep this femme from offlining herself. He’d protect her from harm even if that harm came from herself.

“ Wow ,” I carried the word out for longer than it was supposed to be held, “Those chicken nuggets sound delicious.” 

Peter snickered from the seat beside me. My eyes drifted to the rear view mirror where I could see both Tyler and Taylor sitting in the back with a Wendy’s to-go bag sandwiched between them. Taylor was too busy sucking down her soda to catch my joke and Tyler, the kid who was smacking on his food like a cow, only smiled. It looked like he considered replying, but decided instead to shove another chicken nugget into his mouth.

“Thanks for Wendy’s, Aj.” Peter smiled. He had finished his burger already and had crumpled up his trash. It now rested in his lap as he waited for a trash can to become available.

I shrugged and began to press down on the brakes as the light ahead turned red, “Don’t mention it, kid.”

“We’re going to Wal-Mart, right?” Peter asked.

“For groceries, yeah. Speaking of which, what do you guys want to eat for Christmas dinner?” I glanced over my shoulder at the twins and then let my gaze carry over to Peter before settling back onto the road.

Tyler decided to take a break from inhaling his food to answer, “I want ham! Lots of ham, and corn on the cob!”

“Can we have mashed potatoes with marshmallows on top?” Taylor questioned.

Before I could reply with a question of my own, Peter clarified, “Sweet Potato Casserole. Mom makes it sometimes.”

“Oh. Uh, why not?” I replied and the twins cheered. Oh God, I had just figured out how not to burn the pancakes in the morning and now I had to make some fancy casserole? I was in desperate need of a Christmas miracle. “What about you, Pete?”

Peter didn’t reply immediately as he thought to himself. The light turned green and I pressed my foot against the accelerator. Peter grinned, “Can we have peach cobbler?”

“Heck yeah. Let’s eat some peach cobbler too.” I announced and the twins cheered some more as Peter grinned. Never mind that it wasn’t exactly prime peach season. Canned peaches would do the trick, right? Technically I was allergic to peaches. Slightly. It didn’t stop me from ever eating the fruit. I’d enjoy the peach and spend the next hour or so complaining about an itchy tongue, but that wouldn’t be a problem. Probably. Honestly, I was still more worried about cooking a damn ham and making a casserole.

I parked the car in the mess that was a Wal-Mart parking lot and began to walk in with the kids. Taylor and Tyler held both my hands as we walked through the crowded lot and I kept Peter walking a few steps in front of me where I could see him. He slowed his steps and turned to talk as we walked, “Hey, Aj?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Can we buy Christmas gifts for the Cybertronians?”

His question didn’t get an immediate response, but seconds after the words left his mouth the twins began to jump up and down in excitement. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it was something along the lines of begging me to say yes.

I chuckled, “Sure. Why not? Good idea, Pete.”

Peter beamed at my praise and jogged to get a buggy for me. Christmas gifts for the Autobots and Decepticons, huh? I didn’t have the slightest idea what to get for them. If anything I could name a few who deserved coal.

I let go of the kids’ hands to push the buggy. Taylor hopped onto the end of the buggy so she was facing me and riding the cart at the same time. Peter walked beside me and Tyler bounced around to different things he saw that were interesting but stayed in sight. The Christmas shopping was done first because I didn’t want to grab the groceries and let the cold stuff get warm as we searched Wal-Mart for presents. 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take as long as I thought it was going to. It turned out that the kids were chock full with ideas for what to get our newest housemates. The few bots and cons they got stuck on I managed to come up with something that would work. I grabbed extra wrapping paper, labels, and bows before moving into the grocery section.

‘What the fuck do you put into a sweet potato casserole?’ I texted Aubrey in hopes that she would get it. Sometimes she called using the hospital phone and other times she used her cell. Hopefully today she had her cellphone on her.

Peter and Tyler were arguing over which gummy snacks to buy as Taylor leaned against my hip with a silly smile. I glanced down at her and chuckled, “Why are you so happy?”

Taylor clasped her hands together and began to twist her body so her hair swayed around her petite features, “Aj, can I be your flower girl?”

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, “Flower girl?”

“Yeah! At your wedding!”

“I wasn’t aware I was going to get married.” I chuckled back and called out for Peter and Tyler to hurry up and pick one.

Taylor’s smile faltered slightly as confusion filled her own features, “But I heard you and Jazz talking. He said he was your boyfriend. Girlfriends and boyfriends get married.”

What? It took a moment for my mind to connect the dots and then it took everything in me not to burst into laughter. Hell, the only reason I didn’t burst into laughter was because I didn’t want the poor little girl to think I was making fun of her. No wonder she was giggling earlier in the kitchen. I knelt down slightly so we were face to face, “Sweetie, Jazz and I aren’t actually dating. He was joking.”

Taylor pouted, “But why?”

“Well, we can’t date.” I tried to explain, “We aren’t…the same.”

Taylor crossed her arms and a look of determination crossed her features, “Are too! Both of you are really funny and good and you play nice together.”

There was a brief sense of pride that filled my heart at the young girl’s words. Some people couldn’t even see past couples of different skin color and yet here Taylor was claiming that my soulmate was a foot tall metal alien. Way to not see race, honey, or species. Actually, I should seriously clear this up.

“He’s not human, Tay, and I am human.” I chuckled.

Taylor sighed, “But I want you two to get married.”

“Why?”

“If you get married to Jazz then he has to stay here and if he stays here then the other bots will stay too. I don’t want any of them to leave.”

My heart dropped at her words. The last thing I wanted to talk to the kids about was the bots and cons departure date. I knew it was coming and I was prepared to handle it when it did, but I had no idea how the kids were going to take it. Well, that wasn’t true. I knew exactly how they were going to take it. Badly .

“So, please get married?” She begged with wide, pleading eyes.

Shit. Slag. Ugh. I couldn’t ever say no to a face like that, but the girl wasn’t exactly asking to stay up an extra hour or for a puppy. Hell, it would be easier to get her a puppy. I racked my brain for something to say, “Er well, see Taylor…He didn’t get me a ring.”

“What?” Her eyebrows scrunched together.

I nodded quickly and continued with my reasoning, “Jazz didn’t buy me a ring. You can’t get married without a ring, right?”

Taylor tore her eyes away and gazed off into nothing as she let this last statement process through her mind. I slowly watched as realization dawned across the little girl’s face as she accepted my ‘from the hip’ excuse.

“Aj! Can we bake a cake?”

“ Yes .” I blurted and stood up. That conversation was beyond over, “Taylor, how about you pick the icing flavor with your brothers?”

Taylor nodded and bounced over to where her brothers were looking over a variety of icing flavors. Thank God for six-year-old attention spans. I still had two months to figure out how to get the kids to handle the bots and cons leaving and I planned to wait until the very last moment. It didn’t help matters that in two months I’d have to leave too. My mind had thought about what it’d be like to stay for longer, but after what happened with Kyle and Boss’ money I knew that was no longer an option.

The fact that I said yes to make a cake didn’t actually hit me until the kids ran back over with cake mix, icing, and sprinkles. Damn it, I’ve never made a cake before. It couldn’t be too hard, right? I mean the cake mix came out of a freaking box for crying out loud.

My phone buzzed and I was relieved to see Aubrey had texted me casserole ingredients. By the end of these two months I was going to be a certified chef. Well, maybe not, but I wouldn’t be as kitchen handicapped as I used to be.

“We’re home !” Tyler yelled loudly into the foyer. I chuckled and continued to carry the many bags of food and Christmas goodies into the kitchen. Peter helped me set most of the bags down.

“We’ll put the food away. You can go wrap the bots and cons gifts.” Peter said in hushed tones.

“I wanna wrap the gifts too!” Tyler cried loudly and his brother shushed him.

“We’ll go and help her after we put food away.” Peter reassured him.

I laughed, “Guys, I’ll just help put food⏤”

“ No !” The kids argued. Taylor shook her head, “They might see what we got them! You have to go now!”

“But⏤”

The reply given to me was Peter and the twins pushing me out of the kitchen with the bags of knick-knacks hanging from my arms. Skywarp and Thundercracker came around the corner and looked confused at what was happening.

“What is this?” Skywarp questioned.

“Mutiny.” I replied and bit back a grin. Peter motioned for me to go and I shook my head before jogging upstairs toward my room. It amused me to no end that the kids planned to put away all the food while I wrapped gifts. Although the more I thought about it the more I worried. Did they even know where the stuff went? Could they reach the top shelf of the fridge? I shook my head. They had stools and Peter was fully capable of kicking my ass at checkers and chess. They could manage.

I pushed open my room door and paused to see Ratchet and Grimlock in the room. Their presence wasn’t too surprising.

“Finally, you human back.” Grimlock stomped over, “What you human have?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“For me Grimlock??”

“Yes, for you Grimlock and for every other bot and con here.” I replied.

Grimlock took another step toward me, but I took one back and held the bags higher, “Nuh uh. Not until Christmas.”

“But me Grimlock want it now!”

“Too bad.” I grinned then glanced over to Ratchet who seemed confused, “Now both of you need to get out.”

Ratchet’s confusion turned to annoyance, “I will not be bossed around my medbay.”

“Your medbay, my room.” I replied, “Now seriously, get out.”

He scoffed, “Think again, youngling.”

I pressed my lips together. Ratchet was the only one who referred to me as a youngling and as a 26-year-old woman I didn’t take it too well. I rolled my eyes, “Really, Ratchet? We talked about this earlier. I’m three times your size right now. I could just pick you up and throw you out. You’re lucky I’m allowing you to walk out on your own.”

“Oh, I’m lucky, am I?” Ratchet replied sharply.

“Yeah! We both know who’s gonna win this argument!” I said stubbornly.

Needless to say, ten minutes later I was sitting in Aubrey’s room with the door shut wrapping up gifts while cursing the wrench-wielding medic under my breath. 

When I had first come in, there were some bots and cons that tried to follow. I spent the first six minutes kicking out the condiment twins, yelling at Skywarp to not warp in here while I was wrapping, and scolding Jazz for trying to waltz in like he owned the place. Genius had struck me around the seventh minute though and I told Grimlock that if any bot or con tried to sneak in and see the surprise he wouldn’t get his. Now the robot dinosaur stood guard outside and there wasn’t a spark in this house that even wanted to attempt getting by him and his white-hot glare.

So far I had wrapped six presents. For Grimlock we got him an assortment of dog toys, which sounded strange, but I could already picture Grimlock playing with the multicolored rope and bright orange ball. He could chew on these instead of the couch now. The seekers were hard to shop for, but Taylor managed to find mini pillows in the same color scheme of each flying con so we bought those. They could put them on top of the entertainment system and sleep on them. It didn’t seem like enough though so Peter also suggested giving them these ‘Flying Coupons’. Taylor was going to draw and color them but it basically meant I was going to let them go outside to fly for an hour or so. God help the world on Christmas morning when I hand those out. The fifth gift I had already wrapped was for Megatron. Unsurprisingly, it was hard to shop for the evil overlord but Peter managed to pull through for the win. The kid had found a Starscream plushy, but this Starscream didn’t look anything like the one flying around the house. The kids said it was the Starscream from the Transformers: Prime cartoon rather than G1. At least, that’s what I think they said. Either way, Megatron could beat the shit out of this plushy and none of us would have to hear Starscream’s whiny cries of pain. It was a win-win for all. I also threw in some Glitter Remover because I like to flirt with danger. Optimus, much like Megatron, was a really hard bot to shop for. I had drawn a total blank on what to buy the mech, but the kids finally settled on getting him a sweater. A Christmas sweater that was technically the size to fit a small dog, but it would work for his size as well. I questioned it, but the kids insisted that they wanted to buy the Autobot leader a sweater.

“No one come in!” Grimlock roared from outside the door.

“But Grimlock we already know the surprise!” Tyler cried.

“They can come in, Grimlock!” I yelled in hopes that the metal lizard would hear me. Seconds passed before the door opened and all three kids rushed in happily. 

Tyler bounced in place, “Can I wrap up Blue’s??”

“I wanna wrap Bee’s!” Taylor cried in agreement. Luckily, I had saved those two gifts for the twins to wrap. Did I know my niece and nephew or did I know them? I handed the racing obstacle course for Bumblebee to Taylor and the shooting targets for Bluestreak to Tyler along with a good sized chunk of wrapping paper for them to use. Then I did the same with Prowl’s gift, one of those grow your own crystal things, for Peter.

“You know what?” I stood up, “I have an idea for Prowl. Just something to add, maybe. Hang on.”

I could feel the kids' eyes on my briefly, but I continued out of the room. I closed the door behind me and then knelt down to scratch Grimlock’s neck, “Make sure no one but me comes in now, ok?”

He gave a grunt of confirmation and I moved down the hall back toward my room. I stepped in and Ratchet scoffed, “Back to argue more?”

“No.” I mumbled and stuck my tongue out at him when he turned his back to me. Wheeljack who was sitting on the desk beside him chuckled to himself and I moved over to my suitcase of crap. Kyle had packed a bunch of random stuff. He brought the clothes I needed and some other essentials, but then he also threw in stuff I hadn’t used for years. For example, as I dug through my suitcase for the first time I found a dress I hadn’t worn since freshman year of college and the pile of junk mail I had left on my kitchen counter and never thrown away. To think I used to consider his scatterbrain traits adorable. Now I just wanted to claw his eyes out. Go figure.

“What are you looking for?” Wheeljack asked. I glanced over to see him craning his neck to try and look into my suitcase from where he sat, but he wasn’t curious enough to stand up and step down from the desk. A smirk grew on my lips as I shifted to block his gaze.

“It’s a surprise for Prowl.” I replied and continued digging through my junk looking for an old book of mine. I distinctly remember spotting the book as I was putting my jeans away.

Ratchet scoffed, “All these surprises, what even is the point⏤”

“Nobody likes a scrooge, Ratchet.” I interrupted and threw aside a stained T-shirt. “Aha!”

The book was worn down on the edges because I hadn’t taken the best care of it. I had thrown it around some and shoved it into far too many purses and book bags, but it was still in decent enough condition that Prowl wouldn’t have to worry about it falling apart on him as long as he didn’t let Grimlock chew on it.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony. The book had been assigned reading to me in an old Literature class I took. The only reason I still had it was because I tended to keep all the books I actually paid for. It had been lying under a pile of crap on my desk back home and Kyle must have shoved it into my suitcase for some random reason. I flipped through the pages and glanced over all the handwritten notes I had taken. Prowl seemed like the kind of guy who’d enjoy this read. Any of the autobots or decepticons could enjoy it actually, but Prowl seemed to be one of the few Cybertronians who would actually read it.

“What is that?” Ratchet demanded.

I shoved the book under my shirt and stood to leave, “Nothing.”

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me and I only smiled innocently in response. Wheeljack snickered to himself and I gave them both a brief wave before rushing out. Grimlock was still doing a fantastic job of keeping the others at bay and I gave him another pat before walking back into the room.

“We did it, Aj!” Taylor held up what she had wrapped. Both the twins had indeed wrapped the gifts, but it definitely looked like a six year old had wrapped it.

Peter pointed to the pile, “I waited for you to wrap Prowl’s. So I wrapped Wheeljack’s instead.”

The model airplane and tool kit we bought for Wheeljack was wrapped as nicely as a ten year old could. They had even written names down on labels so we could tell what went to whom. 

“Good job guys. I grabbed this for Prowl.” I held up the book, “I thought he might like it.”

“Cool. Can I wrap Sideswipe’s gift now?” Tyler was already moving onto the next task. I chuckled and handed Peter the book so he could finish wrapping all of Prowl’s stuff. Taylor beamed, “If he wraps Sideswipe’s can I wrap Sunstreaker’s gift?”

“Sure.” I answered and began to cut them out more wrapping paper to use. The twins had apparently been easy to shop for and the kids knew exactly what they wanted to get them. For Sunstreaker we bought actual art stuff. I wasn’t entirely sure if he’d be able to even use the sketchpad, paints, and fancy pencils we grabbed, but here’s to hoping. Sideswipe was even easier. The kids picked him out what looked like a bunch of gag gifts. There was a yo-yo, a whoopee cushion, a mini joke book, and an electric hand buzzer. Peter had explained Sideswipe’s pranking tendencies to me in the store and I was beyond relieved he hadn’t shown that side of himself yet. There was almost a sense of dread that filled me as I watched Tyler wrap Sideswipe’s gift. Giving him pranking materials was like opening Pandora’s box.

As the kids worked hard on their wrapping, I managed to wrap up Jazz’s and Ratchet’s gift. The kids didn’t know what to get the grumpy medic so I suggested a little light reading. I had managed to find a small booklet that was filled with emergency treatments for first aid situations. The anatomy book he was flipping through now had information about the human body, but he was always questioning me about what to do in specific scenarios. Now with this book he wouldn’t have to ask. The kids had said Jazz was a big music fan so I figured why not give him a taste of Earth music for Christmas? We bought him an iTunes card and on Christmas he could use it to buy whatever he wanted on my old iPod touch. Speaking of which, I needed to find and charge that electronic device up. I had received it as a gift years ago, but I usually only used it when I was working out.

“I’m gonna wrap Soundwave’s now.” Peter said as he set Prowl’s gifts aside. Soundwave’s gift made the least sense to me. The kids had told me to grab a book about languages and the only one I could find in our nearby Wal-Mart was a medium sized book talking about the English language, dialects, slang, and other aspects. It seemed like a really dry read, but the kids claimed the Communications Officer might enjoy it.

“Go ahead, Pete.” I replied.

I took it upon myself to wrap the last gift, which was to none other than Barricade. The kids wouldn’t let me buy the fragger a bucket of coal like I originally wanted to so I had to settle for my second idea which only came to me when I accidentally walked through the office supply aisle. Wal-Mart had this ‘ desk punching bag’ on sale, which was exactly what it sounded like. It looked just like the type I’ve used in the gym except this one you left on your desk for decoration and stress relief. I figured he could beat the hell out of this thing instead of my feet.

“Can we put them under the tree?” Tyler asked.

“Um, how about we wait until Christmas Eve?” I replied. The less time these gifts spent under the tree the higher the chance they would make it to Christmas. Tyler frowned but he didn’t complain. They helped me hide all the gifts in Aubrey’s closet before rushing out of the room.

As I stepped out I took notice of Skywarp leaning against the wall with a wide grin as Grimlock continued to stand guard considering I hadn’t told him otherwise yet.

“You even think about coming in here Skywarp⏤”

“And you’ll what?” Skywarp replied with a smug smile.

I grinned and nodded toward Grimlock, “I’ll let Grimlock eat you.” Grimlock glanced up at me at the sound of his name, “You don’t get your surprise until Christmas and if anyone sneaks a peek…”

“Me Grimlock rip them apart.” Grimlock growled.

Skywarp’s smile went from smug to sheepish in record time. He transformed into a jet and warped away, but his warp didn’t end as planned. It could have been his rush to get away or maybe it was just Skywarp being Skywarp, but the jet misjudged the distance he was supposed to go and ended up warping right into the hallway wall.

“ Frag !” He cried before tumbling in the air slightly and zooming away.

I began to laugh to myself at the sight of it all. It still amazed me that Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp were grouped together like they were. They all seemed so vastly different that the combination didn’t seem like it could possibly meld together well.

Sideswipe stopped at the top of the staircase in front of me and shot me a grin. I expected him to question why I was laughing, but he just stared at me instead. I gave Grimlock a quick thanks and smile and moved to walk down the stairs past Sideswipe.

“See you later, babe.”

I came to a rocking stop with one foot still stuck in the air from the step I was going to take. Rather than continue down the stairs, I began to backpedal up the top few steps so I stood in front of the smiling Sideswipe, “What did you just call me?”

“Nothing.” Sideswipe replied innocently. His smile took on the edge of a smirk and one of his eyes blinked in a wink like fashion, “Babe.” A reply formed in my mind, but instead of letting it fall from my lips I scooped him up without warning. “Whoa. I know I’m irresistible, but I can still walk on my own, femme.”

I walked down the hall back to my room and ignored all Sideswipe’s curious questions. The only other person in the room was Ratchet who looked up as I came in. His eyes darted from me to Sideswipe and he sighed irritably, “Now what?”

“Sideswipe hit his head or something and now he’s broken.”

“ What ??” Sideswipe cried, “That is not true!”

Ratchet held a bored look on his features, “Are you certain you’re not confusing being broken with his personality?”

“Hey!” Sideswipe complained, “I resent that.”

“You represent that.” I replied and set the red bot down, “And you’re most certainly broken if you think you can continue calling me babe.”

He shrugged, “You let Jazz call you sweetspark.”

It suddenly occurred to me that he was right. I had noticed it of course, but it wasn’t the same thing. At least, it didn’t feel the same. I rolled my eyes, “Where did you even hear the word babe?”

“Internet.” He grinned.

“Of course.” I mumbled. “Listen, I already warned Skywarp, but I want you and your brother to stay the hell⏤”

“ Language .” Ratchet snapped. 

Curse the day Ratchet started recognizing Earth curse words. I took a deep breath, “Stay the heck away from the surprises. They’re your Christmas gifts and if I found out you peeked I’ll murder you.”

“If I promise not to peek will you let me call you babe?” Sideswipe nudged my shin with his elbow.

“Sure, whatever.” I nodded then scrunched my face up, “Why would you even want to call me babe?”

Sideswipe shrugged and began to leave the room, “So we can be best friends, duh.”

“But why⏤” Before I could question him further he was gone. 

I turned my attention to Ratchet who shook his head, “I’ll never understand what goes through his virus riddled processors. I’ll tell you this though, he’s planning something. Primus help us.”

“Fantastic.” I said dryly when the phone began to ring. The house phone was downstairs in the kitchen last I saw it. I rushed down the stairs, but slowed when I heard Peter answer the phone.

“Hello?”

I peeked my head into the kitchen. Peter smiled at me and pointed at the phone, “Hi mom! How are you?”

“Mama!” Tyler yelled from the living room. I glanced over my shoulder to see Taylor and Tyler speed out of the living room to run into the kitchen. With an amused shake of my head I headed toward the living room to relax and wait for my turn on the phone. 

The kids took turns talking to their mom over the phone as I flipped through the different movie options on Netflix. I had only been alone on the couch for a few minutes before others began to join me. The first had been Thundercracker, then Jazz, then Bumblebee, Bluestreak came next, and the last to join us on the couch was Prowl.

“How ‘bout that one?” Jazz pointed to another movie.

I glanced over at him, “That is the third scary movie you picked out. You’re a horror flick junkie aren’t you?”

He just shrugged his shoulders and then rested his hands behind his head in a resting position. I set down the remote when I heard Tyler run in with the phone, “Here you go, Aj!”

“Thanks buddy.” I took the phone and Tyler grabbed the remote as his sister ran in. “Aubrey?”

“Hey Aimee.” She replied cheerfully.

“How do you feel?” I asked and let my eyes glance down at the twins who were shooting through movie options.

“Good. I feel good. Everything is going fine.” She answered, “I told you about the things coming in tomorrow right?”

Tomorrow I was supposed to receive the Christmas gifts from Aubrey to the kids, “Yup. I’m ready for it.”

“Alright, well on Tuesday you should be getting their bigger gifts. The ones from Santa.”

Tyler began to tug on my sleeve, “Aj! Aj! Can we watch this?”

“Tuesday?” I spoke to Aubrey and turned to look at what the kid was pointing out. He had selected The Walking Dead of all things. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head.

“But Aj! Please?” Taylor begged with her brother. 

Aubrey had been speaking but I interrupted her, “Hang on, Aubs.” I pressed the phone against the crook of my shoulder and shook my head at the kids, “That’s a scary TV show. You don’t need to watch it.”

“My friend at school says he watches it with his brother!” Tyler replied, “Please, Aj! We won’t be scared!”

“ Guys .” I sighed. Personally, I had seen all of the episodes of the show. It was one of the only things I watched on TV, which is why I knew there were things they didn’t need to be seeing in it. “Can’t you watch something else?”

“We won’t be scared!” Taylor repeated what her brother said, “We’ll leave the lights on and we have Thundercracker here and Jazz and Prowl and Bee and Blue and⏤”

“Please Aj??” Tyler finished.

 I sighed and shook my head, “Just⏤ Just watch the first episode. That’s it. Got it?”

The twins cheered and I left the room to finish talking to Aubrey. The first episode wasn’t too bad was it? Did they even show walkers in the first episode? The kids would probably grow bored of the drama in it.

“What was that about?” Aubrey questioned.

“Nothing.” I replied quickly, “So Tuesday?”

“Santa is bringing them something good this year.”

The weirdest feeling in the world came from being woken up without a sound. It was a situation where the person didn’t touch you or say a word, they just stared at you until you came out of slumber.

My eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the dark. Ratchet wasn’t in here tonight, something about a meeting, so the lamp on my desk wasn’t on. After a second of realizing where I was I glanced over and nearly jumped out of my skin when I spotted Tyler standing by my bed clutching Bluestreak to his chest.

“Fuc⏤ Shit .” I replied and groggily realized I had replaced my curse word with just another curse word. “Tyler?”

“Aj, we’re scared.”

The twins had watched the entire first episode of The Walking Dead and loved it. They said they weren’t scared at all. However, as I got them into bed I could tell they were a bit on edge, but both the twins and the bots that stayed with them through the night assured me they’d make it to morning.

“Walkers aren’t real, right Aj?” Bluestreak questioned quickly, “I told Tyler they weren’t real, but then again I don’t actually know myself and then I started thinking⏤”

“Walkers aren’t real.” I said sleepily and glanced over to see it was 2 in the morning. It was silent for a minute as Tyler shifted his weight and held on tighter to Bluestreak who was staring at me with his wide, glowing eyes. “How about you guys stay with me tonight, hm?”

Tyler nodded and basically jumped into my bed. He crawled over me and cuddled into the pillow and sheets without a word. Bluestreak laid with him. I tiredly chuckled and laid my head back down. I fell asleep for a total of five more minutes before the same feeling washed over me.

“ Taylor ?”

“Aj, can Bee and I sleep with you too?”

Chapter Text

“Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.” –Johnny Carson

In his own honest opinion, Prowl felt he had adjusted rather well to the circumstances. He had only crashed a couple times since being here. That being said, there were plenty of close calls. Nearly everyday came a close call where Prowl could physically feel his logic center try and catch up to what was occurring around him. They came often when speaking to the human twins. He was sure the younglings didn’t mean to push him close to crashing, but it occurred nonetheless. Peter was better about keeping him from crashing and Prowl found he rather enjoyed speaking to the eldest youngling. He didn’t speak to Aj as often, but the few times he did so he found that the way she spoke often reminded him of Ratchet or Jazz depending on her mood.

Regardless, the easiest way to avoid crashing was to just not think about the specifics of their circumstances. He kept track of what was happening with a good amount of distance between him and the more illogical details. Just thinking about the alternate universes and their toy like bodies now was beginning to make his processors feel like they were filled with static.

He continued down the hall on his search for Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Peter was still sleeping, it was early enough in the morning where this wasn’t too startling, but the twins and their respective guards were missing. Bluestreak and Bumblebee hadn't attended this morning’s meeting.  

The gathering itself wasn’t too important so it continued on without them, but it was still strange for them to be absent.

“Shouldn’t the younglings be waking up for school?” Wheeljack questioned from his left.

Jazz, on his right, shook his head, “Nah, they’re all on break accordin’ to Aj.”

“Is Ratchet coming with us?” Prowl asked and paused in his steps to glance back over his shoulder. 

“I’m fragging coming.” Ratchet barked from where he stood in the doorway of the office. He shot Prowl a quick glare before returning to his conversation with Prime. The CO gave the CMO a brief nod and returned to the office as Ratchet caught up with the three of them, “I don’t know why the younglings would be in here with Blue and Bee.”

“Well if they ain’t in here then we got a problem, Ratch.” Jazz replied as they continued down the hall toward the Medbay.

Ratchet shook his head, “Just don’t wake up Aj. She needs the extra rest. I’ve been trying to get her to recharge earlier, but the femme is more stubborn than the fragging dinobots.”

Wheeljack chuckled, “Accurate.”

The door was left open by a crack just like all the other doors in the household, minus Aj’s sister’s room of course. Ratchet pushed it open slowly, hoping to keep the moving door silent, and all the bots stepped into the room cautiously. They paused in surprise at the sight before them.

“Well, she looks like she’s getting’ good rest.” Jazz snickered and Prowl knew the TIC was taking mental snapshots of the scene before him. The twin younglings had definitely come in here with their guards at some point in the night, and the four of them had basically taken over.

Tyler was hugging his sister with his body in the middle of the berth and Bluestreak lying on top of his side in recharge. Taylor on the other hand laid on the left side of the berth with Bumblebee on top of her in recharge. Her brother’s arms were wrapped around her waist, but her own arms were wrapped around Aj who was partly on the edge of the left side of the berth and partly on the floor. If any of them moved at all they’d all go toppling with Aj on the bottom of the pile.

Ratchet sighed irritably and dragged Jazz toward the mess to try and find a way to get them up without making an even bigger, more painful, mess. 

“ Don’t .”

All the bots jumped slightly at the sound of Aj’s voice. Prowl had assumed she was still recharging because of her closed optics and lack of motion. He was sure the others had thought the same.

“You are straining your back and arms holding yourself in that position.” Ratchet snapped quietly. As if to prove him right Aj’s face scrunched up in discomfort as she shifted slightly. The right side of her back was hanging off the berth and her right arm was pressed against the wooden structure by her berth to try and hold her in place. “How long have you been in this position?”

Aj didn’t answer immediately and Prowl assumed she was counting back the time, “Er, maybe… wait, what time is it?” She slowly cracked her optics open and flinched at the light filling the room. “Wow, it’s already 7:20? They came in around 2.”

“So you’ve been like this since then?” Ratchet’s voice level rose.

Aj shushed him, “ No . Maybe since like 5 or 6?”

Prowl could tell that Ratchet was about to delve into one of his rants and he knew that these rants never ended well for anyone. Still, he found himself surprised at the human femme.

“Why? Just why ?” Ratchet questioned after cursing her in his native glossa under his breath.

“The twins didn’t sleep well last night. They woke up scared.” Aj replied, “It was my fault, actually, but they need as much sleep as they can get.”

“And you don’t ?”

“I’m fine .” Aj scoffed and shifted uncomfortably again.

Perhaps saying he was surprised at the human femme wasn’t accurate. He wasn’t surprised at all that she would sacrifice personal comfort for the younglings, but he was still impressed by it. Despite the trust issues she had because of her past, she obviously had no issues with loyalty or being protective of those around her. That was originally shown when she saved Wheeljack from his own misadventures. Besides, most of the conversations he had with Jazz during their time here so far was spent by the saboteur either obsessing over figuring out her past or praising her traits. 

Impressed was the fitting word in this scenario.

Prowl suddenly realized his processors had trailed away with his thoughts and he had missed most of the angry rant Ratchet was still delivering. He wasn’t too disappointed by this discovery. However, the rant only managed to wake Bumblebee and Bluestreak from recharge. They both slowly sat up and their slight movement caused Tyler to release his sister and roll over on his other side. Everyone stiffened as Taylor began to shift to the other side as well. Aj slid off the berth, but her eyes snapped open before she completely fell and she managed to catch herself with one hand clutching the nightstand and one knee resting on the floor.

“Aj?” Wheeljack questioned with a step toward.

She lightly shushed him and kept her eyes on the twins who continued to sleep. Slowly, she stood up and fixed the coverings on the berth so they covered the twins. Then she scooped up both Bumblebee and Bluestreak and set them on the ground.

“Oh no, did we miss the meeting?” Bluestreak blurted as he took notice of his internal chronometer.

“You both did.” Prowl replied and got back to business, “Come with me and we’ll have a quick briefing over what you missed.”

Prowl led the two bots out the room as Ratchet continued his rant to a human femme who still wasn’t paying attention to it. Aj’s optics remained glued to the twins as a small smile decorated her faceplates. It was painfully obvious to anyone that she cared for the younglings. Prowl had the nagging assumption that she cared more for the three younglings in the house than she did for herself. That type of behavior, where a mech or femme cared more for the others around them than they did for themselves, was actually a bit troubling. Being protective and loyal was one thing, but to not care what happened to one self was dangerous. There was a line that, if crossed, could cause more damage than good in the end. Prowl had seen it before in the war and dealt with it often. 

Her caring about the younglings in this way made logical sense considering they were family. It was only natural for one to feel protective of family ties especially if the family ties were younglings. However, he knew for a fact she showed this same thought process toward the bots and cons in the household. The bots and cons she had only met around an orn ago. 

Perhaps the word impressed didn’t fit the situation as exactly as he thought it would. Worried seemed to belong as well.

I flipped the pancake and beamed at the lack of burned edges. With ease I began to pour out another pancake beside it. My eyes darted to Thundercracker who stood on the counter next to the stove where I was working, “So like a sonic boom?”

“Correct.” Thundercracker nodded. His eyes continued to dart to the doorway of the kitchen as if he was expecting someone to come in. The con had waltzed into the kitchen as I prepared breakfast and I had dragged him into having a conversation with me. He seemed wary at first, but looked a hell of a lot more comfortable now.

“That sounds pretty cool.” I commented and flipped the newest pancake I had prepared after moving the done one to the stack I already had on the plate beside the stove. So Skywarp could warp around and Thundercracker brought the thunder? I chuckled to myself in amusement. All their names made sense, including Starscream whose voice made it seem like he was almost always screaming. To me, at least. “I’d love to see that in action sometime, but definitely not in my kitchen.”