Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers Prime or X-Men

Being a Family

Jack sighed as he entered the Autobot base with Arcee. It had been months since June adopted Rafael and Rafael's birthday was coming up pretty quickly. June was planning a rather extravagant party to celebrate Rafael's first birthday as a member of the Darby family.

"Jack what brings you here?" Optimus asked. None of the bots had expected to see their human friends that day since Rafael was studying for a major exam and had elected to do so in the peace and quiet of his new bedroom. Miko had a tutoring session due to the fact that she was dangerously close to failing in more than one subject and they had thought Jack had a full shift at the KO Diner and he had been warned by the head boss that if he missed one more shift without a doctor's note he would be fired.

"I need to talk to you about something… and if you're wondering I didn't leave until my shift ended so no worries about my employment" Jack explained as he climbed onto the platform

"What do you wish to talk about?"

"Raf's birthday is coming up and… I was wondering if we could use the ground bridge to take him somewhere where he could see and experience real snow" Jack stated

Ratchet was about to protest that the idea was absurd and that the ground bridge wasn't a toy when Optimus beat him to the punch

"I see no reason we can't"

"Optimus…" Ratchet protested

"Ratchet I realize you don't believe this trip worthy of the time or Energon but I gave Rafael my word he would see snow and this is the only way I can keep that word"

Ratchet sighed jadedly; Optimus had a very valid point. He knew Optimus well enough to know that it was eating him up that he was up to now unable to keep his promise to Rafael.

"You are right" Ratchet caved "but one mention of going to the artic and I scrub the mission myself due to unnecessary medical risk to yourselves and Rafael. One of his small size would go into hypothermia faster than either of you would realize what was happening"

"I assure you I am in no hurry to return to the arctic" Optimus said

"I have to agree with Optimus, only in my opinion if I never go back to that pit spawned place it will be too soon" Arcee said from her position leaning casually on the wall

"Looks like we all agree that the Arctic is out of the question, so we look for places south of the Arctic Circle with decent snowfall in a remote enough area that no unauthorized human would see a bot… say the size of Optimus since I'm pretty sure you want to be there to see his reaction personally" Jack said looking to the prime in question knowingly

"Indeed I do wish to witness this myself, so we will begin our search in rural regions of the northern United States and southern Canada for a suitable location but it will be up to you to get the proper clothing to insulate him and yourself from the cold conditions we will undoubtedly encounter" Optimus stated

"Okay, that shouldn't be a problem, I've been saving up for this, and Optimus thank you for doing this for me"

"It is no problem. We can just call this my birthday gift to Rafael"

"Well then you have no reason to doubt that he'll love it"

Arcee had left the room and Jack knew she went to rest. He knew she was tired and needed the rest.

"I think I'm just going to bridge myself home" Jack said "I don't want to disturb her if she's already in recharge."

Jack went to walk to the ground bridge controls but stopped when he heard the unmistakable sound of one of the bots transforming. He turned and saw Optimus in vehicle mode

"Climb in, I will drive you home. A few moments out of base will do me some good" Optimus stated "and on the way we can talk more about this plan of yours"

"Okay"

June smiled slightly as she saw a red and blue semi-truck come to a stop on the street outside of her house. She knew the Autobot leader's alt mode on sight and knew that in his care her boys were extremely safe. The Autobots had vowed to protect the children they had in their midst with their very sparks if need be. Optimus had smoothly transitioned into a paternal role for the children especially Rafael, Jack and Jo who had no fathers.

Jack came inside and hugged his mom.

"Optimus likes my plan, it took a bit of convincing to get Ratchet on board" Jack explained as he got a drink from the refrigerator. "Where is Raf?"

"He's in his room talking to Yessenia over the phone" June smiled

"You know he still hasn't told Miko he spoke Spanish, I guess he figures she doesn't need to know, but he did tell Arcee" Jack's phone began to ring and he pulled out his phone "Speaking of Arcee…" he answered the phone "Hi Arcee… I know Arcee, but I thought you needed rest, besides Optimus offered… no I didn't ask him!"

June shook her head and waited for the distinct sound of the ground bridge. She knew Arcee wasn't completely happy with Jack and frankly she saw no reason to blame Arcee for being angry.

"You didn't tell her you were leaving did you?"

"No"

"You know she worries about you, Jack" June sighed

"I know, mom" Jack sighed as the ground bridge came through and Arcee rolled into the garage

June shook her head as Jack went to, presumably, apologize to his partner. She then wondered what Rafael was doing. He had been talking with Yessenia and since June had unlimited long distance she didn't mind how long they spoke. It had just seemed that they were about to hang up and he always came and told her when he was off the phone with Yessenia.

June got to Rafael's room to see him sitting in the middle of his bed sulking.

"Raf, what's wrong?" June asked as she sat by Rafael on the bed

"Yessenia had to cancel her plans to come here for my birthday" Raf sighed "she promised, mom!"

"She has responsibilities" June hugged Raf "you know she wants to be here with you"

"I know" Raf sighed

Jack sighed as he entered the garage he knew Arcee wasn't happy with him at the moment and he understood why.

"Arcee, I'm sorry" he said sincerely sorry about his lapse in judgment, but she didn't acknowledge him

"Arcee…" he sighed as she continued to silently sit there in vehicle mode

"Come on, Arcee, I know I should have told you when I left"

"Jack you knew I'd get worried if I couldn't find you on base! I worry about all three of you kids"

"Arcee, I'm not a kid!"

Arcee groaned he was close enough to being a child for her, or was he. She was beginning to realize that Jack wasn't the boy that she had met at the KO Diner almost a year earlier; he had grown mentally and emotionally. He was so much more mature than he was even then.

"Listen, Arcee, I know you need recharge time and I thought you wanted to do that on base so I didn't want to disturb you, so I was going to take the ground bridge but Optimus volunteered, I assumed he was going to let you know that I was safely at home"

Arcee found herself slightly taken aback, Jack had really been thinking about her in his choices.

Rafael's birthday came around and Jack was worried about his plan. He had managed to get the jackets and things they would need to keep warm in the snow, but he worried that Optimus might not have been able to find a suitable location

Rafael's party was going great but it was obvious to those that knew him the best that he was disappointed that his sister couldn't make it to the party.

"Raf, are you sure you're okay?" Miko asked resting a hand on the younger boy's shoulder

"Yeah, Miko, I'm okay"

Miko noticed something out of the corner of her eye as she spoke and she looked to see Yessenia walking over with her finger to her lips in a signal that the Japanese teen should be quiet.

Rafael noticed as an odd look crossed Miko's face, but he didn't get the chance to think too much about it

"¡Feliz cumpleaños, hermanito!"

"Yessenia…!' Raf turned and ran to hug his sister nearly knocking her over in the process

"Rafael" Yessenia laughed as she hugged him

"How did you… I thought you couldn't make it"

"So did I, but my roommate covered for me and Professor Xavier paid my way so I could be here for my brother's birthday like I wanted" Yessenia smiled "I just hope I didn't miss too much"

"You didn't, we were just about to eat" Miko said as Raf and Yessenia came to the table. Miko willingly surrendered her seat to the older girl to allow the two siblings to sit side by side so Rafael was now surrounded by family. His adoptive brother, Jack was on one side and his biological sister Yessenia was on the other.

After the party Jack and Arcee took Rafael to the Autobot base stating they had a big surprise there for him. This had Rafael curious as to what this surprise was that he couldn't bring it to the party. He was even more confused when he saw cold weather clothing sitting on a table waiting for him there.

Optimus smiled inwardly as the boys climbed into his cab now dressed for the cold weather they would see in a few moments.

"Ready Jack?" he asked

"Just a moment" Jack replied

Optimus heard Rafael protest the blindfold that would keep him from seeing where they were going but Jack assured him it would be worth it.

"Ready" Jack said

Optimus could tell Rafael was nervous and that he only became more nervous as they began to roll forward. He briefly wondered if they should scrap the blindfold due to the urge in his spark to soothe the fears of the child in his cab. He also had to fight hard to keep from blowing the surprise in an attempt to placate Rafael as they came through the ground bridge.

Jack and Rafael got to the ground and Optimus transformed and knelt down on one knee to get a better view of Rafael's reaction.

"Okay, you can take the blindfold off now" Jack said

Rafael couldn't get the piece of cloth off his face fast enough. He then put his glasses on and froze

"Wow… real snow… as far as the eye can see!" there was no mistaking the excitement in Rafael's voice

"Does this make up for me not bringing back that snowball from the Arctic?"

"This is better than any snowball, thank you Optimus!"

"You want to play in it?"

"Can I?"

"Yep… challenge you to a snowball fight!" Jack laughed

Optimus's mouth curved unconsciously into a smile as he watched Jack and Rafael play. It warmed his spark to see them bonding so close. Jack's birthday was the next one on the roster; he had turned seventeen not too long after meeting Rafael making this a milestone birthday. Jack was turning eighteen meaning he'd legally be an adult, but to watch Jack playing with Rafael in the snow one wouldn't believe he was just months away from legally being considered a man.

Optimus was jarred from his thoughts by a snowball to the chest-plates. He saw Jack holding snowball and given the trajectory of the last one it wasn't hard for him to deduce that Jack had been the one to throw the one that hit him. He could hear Rafael laughing from the opposite side and smiled taking two small handfuls of snow and dropping it on the laughing boys which made them laugh even more, mostly out of surprise since they never expected anything like that out of him.

Months later Arcee was on patrol when she was ambushed. She sent a distress call out to base and the other Autobots.

Optimus, Bulkhead and Bumblebee got through the ground bridge a few moments later to see signs of a fight but no Arcee

"Arcee…" Optimus called out "Arcee"

"Down here!"

Optimus looked down in the direction the sole female warrior's voice had come from and gasped

To Be Continued…