Hey, guys! Hope you had a great Christmas. Here, we have a belated one-shot Christmas fic that takes place several months after our main AOE which has not been posted yet. Before we start, let me clear up some things:
1.) The twins are not in the main story, but they arrived before this one-shot fic.
2.) The girl, Katelyn, was originally Sandra's enemy, how they became close frends will eventually be revealed.
Disclaimer: I only own Sandra, and Rhiannon belongs to Dark Maiden95, and we both own the kittens.
"Geez, it's so cold!" Sandra shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her jacket.
"It's not that bad, Sandra." Tessa laughed, walking next to her. "I thought you like the cold."
"That's easy for you to say, you've lived in Texas all your life while I've only been here for five years!" Sandra huffed. "And for your information, I do like cold weather. Doesn't mean I won't complain about it once in a while."
"Don't worry, we just need to buy the ingredients for the cookies and we'll be home before you know it."
"I know that, I still need to finish decorating the Christmas tree at home."
Tessa just laughed again as they walked inside the grocery store. "Okay, we just need to buy more eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. Oh, and we'll also need food coloring for the frosting."
"Okay, that shouldn't be so hard, you think we can buy some candy cane too?"
"We only came to buy ingredients, but why not? Christmas is coming soon."
Aside from the long line of people waiting to pay for their things at the cash register, the shopping was relatively short and they were out on the streets walking through the town before they knew it.
"There's a lot of people in town." Sandra noted. "Christmas definitely makes the town a busy place."
"Good thing, too. With mid-terms out of the way, we can finally relax for the winter break."
"For you, at least. Your college winter break is a bit longer than mine."
"That just means I can spend more time with my family!" Tessa pulled Sandra close to her, while Sandra just playfully rolled her eyes.
"Especially Orion?"
"Especially Orion, my white fluffy pile of joy. Now let's hurry home before Crosshairs starts complaining about the cold weather."
"Please, when has he not ever complain about something?"
"Finally home now?" Cade smirked while wrapping the Christmas lights around the artificial Christmas tree. "Come over here and help us decorate the Christmas tree, will you? The cookies could wait for a while."
"Sure, sure." Sandra walked over to where Rhiannon was kneeling near the box full of Christmas decorations, she started pulling out boxes of glasses ornaments and leaving in the ornaments of the cute winter creatures and Santa and the elves doing Christmas and winter activities to be hung later.
"I'm glad your folks bought the artificial tree, Sandra. Not only is it easy to set up, it does save us a lot of money."
Tessa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Dad, that's definitely progress with you learning to balance the checkbook.
"Hey, Tessa, c'mon. Don't bring that up now!"
Rhiannon and Tessa laughed while Sandra just smiled and scoffed a little. As Sandra unpacked the box, the sound of a chorus of mews could be heard. She looked up to see Suneko, Athena, Orion, Gears, and Luna walking into the family room. It seems that they were finished eating and are out to play some more.
Suneko saw Sandra and mewed as she ran over, climbing over and jumping into the box of decorations, with Athena joining in on the fun. Gears walked over to where Cade was and started batting at the lower end of the tinsel as started to hang it on the tree. Luna and Orion, on the other hand, were grabbing at the artificial tree branches in curiosity.
"But still, it's nice that we have more helping hands to help decorate the tree and outside of our house, this year. It just makes all this work more quicker."
"And I still don't quite honestly understand the purpose of this," Crosshairs was staring at a box
of blue glass ornaments he was currently holding.
"Well, we don't expect you to fully understand Christmas, Crosshairs. But I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it."
"Sure, like that will happen soon."
"Hmm, well this is only part of the Christmas tradition, there are still presents we need to buy for everyone."
"We can do that tomorrow. In the meantime, is there anything else we'll need to do today besides the decorating and cookie making?"
"Well..." Sandra looked down to see Suneko batting at the glass ornament with a dove design that she was holding while Rhiannon and Tessa were keeping Athena and Orion from getting into the tree.
"We might have to kitty-proof the tree at some point."
"I'm not quite sure what exactly is the purpose of this, youngling." Optimus looked down at Sandra while they were walking the next day. Tessa and Rhiannon said that they were going to buy the gifts and that Optimus and Sandra could just walk around for the time being.
"It's window shopping, Optimus. We're not exactly buying anything but we're just looking around. Look," Sandra pointed at a display of jewelry that was currently on sale. "Don't they look beautiful?"
Optimus smiled. "Indeed they do. Humans sure are more lively at this time of year."
"That's just the Christmas spirit." Sandra smiled. "Come on, you should see how some people decorate the Christmas trees."
"Okay, so far we've gotten gifts for Cade, Shane, the Autobots-"
"And Joshua."
Rhiannon looked at Tessa. "You're kidding, right? We have to buy a gift for him as well?"
"Well, Sandra insisted that we did. I mean, he does come around a bit frequently, he did help us with our financial issues, and of course, he helped Sandra."
"I get your point. But I still don't exactly trust him after what he did."
"Well, me neither. But since Sandra is actually willing to give him a chance we might as well do so, and as she says it, 'It's Christmas, guys. Just leave it be for this time of year.'"
Rhiannon thought for a moment before reluctantly giving in. "Okay...but I'm only putting up with him for Sandra's sake until I can completely forgive him."
Tessa smiled. "That's good, now we still need to figure out what to get Sandra as a gift..."
"Oh, that's tough, I remember hearing her tell Cade that she didn't really need anything special for Christmas."
"That's not going to work, it has to be thoughtful and meaningful to her. Like an art set or books."
"Which she could just buy at the art store and the book store since she works at those places."
"True, but let's look around some more."
Sandra was looking at the display of the boxes of chocolates and chocolate truffles outside of the chocolate shop, thinking about how delicious they were. Optimus had decided to look around himself and was at a certain distance ahead of her.
"Oh, hey Sandra!"
Sandra turned around to see Katelyn, Crystal, and their parents, whom Sandra has never met before.
"Hey, Katelyn." Sandra started to recall how she and Katelyn didn't hit it off near the end of the freshman year. But now, as sophmores, they both have become close friends and Katelyn has gradually ceased her ways as the Queen Bee after spending time working on a science project to help Katelyn pass the class. Crystal, on the other hand, remained unchanged and was looking at Sandra with disdain.
"So, this is the girl you've been talking about?" Sandra could have sworn that the mother's voice had a condescending tone to it, she briefly looked up to see that the look she was giving her definitely matched her tone. Well, now she understood where the snobbiness came from...
"Yes, Mom, she was my science partner." Katelyn did her best to keep the attitude out of her voice, though it's obvious she was already getting annoyed.
"And an orphan, too."
Katelyn resisted the urge to let out a loud sigh of exasperation while Sandra briefly glanced at Crystal to see that she was smirking smugly at her.
"I amsorry to hear that, sweetie. It must be hard to not be able to spend time with your real family." Unknown to the mother, Optimus was looking at their direction, clearly being able to hear what she was saying despite being at a good distance away. Needless to say, he did not like a single word that was coming out of the mother's mouth.
"And I do recall that whoever adopted you was a man who fancies himself as an inventor. But doesn't he constantly waste money on such ridiculous things? It must have been painful that he could not provide you with what a teenage girl needs."
By now, Katelyn was staring at the sky wondering, "Why me?" and was possibly asking herself what she did to deserve to be stuck with a family so stuck-up like hers. Sandra had often felt sorry for Katelyn, the poor girl must have wanted to hide her shame so badly but could never have been able to.
"And he was a teenage parent wasn't he?" The father pointed out. "Sounds quite irresponsible if you ask me."
If she had been like most people, Sandra would have let her anger get the better of her and started screaming her head off at them to defend Cade and herself. Instead, she just gave a smile and shook her head. "He may be bad with finances and stuff, but I think he's a wonderful dad. And yes, I may be adopted, but I still love my family just the same."
"You mean the one with the suicidal freak?"
Sandra looked at Crystal, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"
"Didn't one of your sisters try to kill herself twice? What's it like living with her?"
That did it, Optimus was not going to stand by and allow these people to belittle Sandra and Rhiannon any longer. He started walking up to her while Sandra was replying to Crystal's question.
"I wouldn't call her that, but living with her is great." Right then, she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder a little and looked up to see Optimus looked down at her with fierce protectiveness.
"Is there something wrong, little one?" Of course, he knew exactly what was going on, but he simply wanted to get Sandra's mind off of what was being thrown at her.
"Huh? Oh, nothing's wrong. I was just talking to Katelyn and her family."
By now, Crystal and her parents were staring at the tall man with dark brown hair who towered over Sandra, although Sandra wasn't exactly tall to begin with. "Who is that?"
"That's my uncle. My adopted uncle, to be clear."
"Huh, not exactly how I would picture him to be. Even if adopted."
Optimus looked at them. "Blood relation has nothing to do with family, young lady. I also do not appreciate anyone who speak badly of a family member of ours who is legitimately ill. And she is most definitely not a 'freak' as you would call her."
Crystal turned red and scowled, looking down. "You should have just let her kill herself, it's obvious that she can't stand being with
"Crystal!" Their mother chided their eldest daughter. "You know we've taught you better than that!"
What most people would see was a mother simply scolding her daughter for being rude. But for Sandra and Optimus, they could sense what she truly meant. If Sandra was angered by what the older woman was saying, she didn't show it. Optimus, on the other hand, was not going to leave this subject be. He released his grip on Sandra's shoulders and walked up to them
"You seem to be a family that is quite well off, are you not?"
"Yes, what about it?" The father asked, uninterested.
"I'm afraid I do not understand what is upsetting about my niece's lack of material possessions. Sandra has been able to live a happy life with her 'unusual' family because of the love that has been given to her. And I will NOT have you speak so lowly of her and my family in my presence."
The uncaring looks that Optimus received only made him grow more livid. The tension was rising, leaving both Sandra and Katelyn nervous as to what might happen next.
"Umm...my uncle is in the military, you know." Sandra finally said. It apparently worked because the disinterested looks immediately changed to ones of surprise with a slight hint of fear underneath. "Yeah, just like my brothers and other uncles."
Katelyn barely had a smirk on her face, satisfied by the look of her older sister's face and decided to chime in. "It's true, I found out about it when we were working on our science project at her house. So you guys better be careful if I were you."
"Indeed, now is there anything else you would like to say?"
Optimus received no answer from the three.
"Good, now come along, little one. We must be on our way." Optimus walked back to put his arm around Sandra's shoulder and started to walk away.
"Okay, see you around, Katelyn."
"See ya." Katelyn gave Optimus an apologetic look and mouthed a "Thank You" to him, who in turn gave her a soft look before giving her family a warning glare one last time before walking off.
After walking for a certain amount of time, Optimus decided the break the silence.
"Are you alright, little one?"
"Hmmm?" Sandra looked up at Optimus. "What do you mean?"
"Your encounter with Ms. Adams and her family, is it troubling you?"
Sandra was quiet for a moment before answering. "No, I'm alright. But I do feel bad for Katelyn since she has to spend Christmas with them."
"Oh?" Optimus looked down at her, surprised by how easygoing Sandra sounded regardless of what had just happened. "Even after those hurtful things they have said to you?"
"...I'm not going to lie, Optimus. What they said did hurt, just not as much as it probably should have. But should that matter? Why should I be bothered by it? They don't know me, they know nothing about my family."
"Youngling..."
"It's just like how my dad told me and my brother. If they say mean things to us, we should ignore it. Why let it hurt us? They're just words, words that don't describe who we really are. And he's right, I'm not going to let anyone hurt me with what they say. So really Optimus," Sandra just gave him a tiny smile. "You don't need to worry about me."
Optimus smiled and gently ruffled her hair a little. "Those are wise words to say, your father would be proud of you." Yet despite what Sandra told him, he still couldn't help but worry about her. While Sandra was one to be able to brush these things off easily, it's likely that it was really bothering her on the inside.
"By the way, Optimus. Can your holoforms ingest human food or drinks?"
"Hmmm? Why do ask?"
"You'll see."
Optimus was staring at the cup of steaming brown liquid with white cream on top that was in front of him while Sandra was sitting across from him happily drinking hers.
"It's hot chocolate, Optimus. You should try it, but don't drink too fast since you might burn your holoform's tongue."
"Of course, I will be careful." Optimus slowly lifted the cup to his lips, remembering the warning Sandra gave him. The drink was indeed hot, but was sweet and rich with what the humans call "chocolate." The cream on top was quite cool, but it went quite well with the drink.
"My, this tastes wonderful." Optimus smiled.
"Hot chocolate is great around this time of year, Rhiannon usually likes hers with dark chocolate. I also heard that drinking it with a candy cane is great, too. Here, have one." Sandra pulled out two candy canes and held one out to him. Optimus graciously accepted it and pulled the plastic wrap away and dipped it into his drink. He looked up to see Sandra ocassionally stirring her drink and breaking off a piece to put in her mouth. The happy expression she had while she ate did ease the worry he had for her, especially it was one of the rare moments to see Sandra give a genuine smile of happiness.
"I better buy some hot chocolate for both Tessa and Rhiannon, too. They must be freezing after spending all that time outside."
Optimus chuckled. "Indeed, they must be done by now and are ready to return back home."
Sure enough, Rhiannon and Tessa arrived at where Optimus's alt-form was parked just as when Sandra and his holoform reached their destination. The drive was nothing special, just the three girls, mostly Tessa and Rhiannon, talking about what they should do on Christmas day. It ranged to watching
movies to, for Sandra and Rhiannon, some video game battles. As they arrived back home, the three girls were greeted by their respective kittens, pawing and meowing at them happily for their return. Sandra had immediately picked Suneko up and told them that she was going to her room to wrap the presents she got for everyone, much to their surprise since they never recalled seeing her go out shopping at any point during the month. They decided to drop the thought and Rhiannon and Tessa reminded her that they still need to make the cookies later, which Sandra laughed and said that she won't forget. Rhiannon and Tessa too went upstairs to their rooms to do their own thing, leaving Optimus himself to do whatever he wished. Dissolving his holoform, he walked back inside the barn, where all the Autobots were staying in now that it was big enough to house him.
When he was inside, he found Cade and the Autobots working on...something. It was no surprise, since Cade was still quite fond of tinkering with objects in order to create something new.
Although the girls are now more lenient to his interests after the experiences of being on the run with the Autobots.
As Optimus walked closer, Cade looked up from his work. "Hey, big guy, finally back with the girls?"
"Indeed, I am, Cade. Though I would wish to discuss some matters with you."
Cade just laughed for a bit. "Sure, but why so serious? Christmas is almost here and normally everyone would be happy and excited about it.
"I understand, however this mostly regards today's events and I simply cannot just let it be."
"Well, okay, so what exactly happened?"
Optimus began to explain the part where he and Sandra were simply walking around town when Sandra had the misfortune of meeting Katelyn's family. He also gave specific details of what he heard Crystal and the parents told her, things that would have definitely made Sandra very upset. Cade nodded every now and then, a solemn look on his face. By the time he was done, the other Autobots looked very appalled at what they were just told.
"That little glitch!" Crosshairs snarled. "Why, I ought to go right over there and make her and those creators wish they were never sparked!"
"You must remain calm, Crosshairs," Drift responded calmly. "As disrespectful these people are, we mustn't let our anger get the better of us."
"She never learns, does she? Makes me wish I could crush her." Hound tightened his grip on gun to emphasize his point.
"Let me at her! Show her who's boss!" Bumblebee was making some punches in the air like a kickboxer.
The twins, on the other hand, did not say anything but the looks on their face gave away the fact that even they didn't like what was being said.
"Guys, guys, calm down!" Cade raised both of his hands in front of him. "I know you guys are upset, but there's no need to be so hyped up about this. Even with you guys Sandra is able to handle this stuff just fine."
"I simply do not understand why they feel the need to belittle her. I do not recall Sandra doing anything to warrant their belittlement."
Cade sighed. "Unfortunately, Optimus, people like them are just going find an excuse to act all high and mighty. And to them, Sandra is an easier target."
"But why?" Sideswipe tilted his head in curiosity. "Why exactly is she an easier target?"
"Well, aside from us originally not being financially stable, she doesn't have a family. She has us, of course, but unlike Rhiannon she doesn't have any other living relative left...and those are the things most people like them choose to be ignorant about...plus since she's the youngest they would think that she can't really do anything about it. And the fact that she's been a target of several Decepticons too doesn't really help her case." Cade looked up at them. "But you shouldn't have to worry too much about her."
The last statement caught everyone's attention and they looked at Cade.
"I'm being serious when I say this. As that girl, Katelyn, had learned earlier, Sandra is not an extreme doormat. Sure, she might not look like it, but when the push comes to a shove, she will defend herself. And unlike most kids We all know she's a brave girl, after all we've been through. Even with the help of you guys, of course, she's been able to handle herself. Like she may have told you before, you don't really need to worry about her too much."
"...I understand. Thank you for clarifying."
"Anytime, now why don't you help us with this thing, Optimus?"
Unknown to the them, someone was eavesdropping on their conversation in the barn. Once it was over, Tessa walked back inside the house, her anger boiling to more she thought about it.
That bitch! How dare she and those parents of hers think she had the right to talk to their baby sister like that?! And to top it all off, they had the nerve to say such horrific things right when Christmas is coming.
We'll show them... She seethed. We'll show them that we can have a great time on Christmas as a happy family!
As she stormed her way up the stairs, Rhiannon opened her door. "Hey, Tessa, what's going on?"
"Crystal happened, that's what."
Rhiannon's eyes narrowed at the mentioned name. "What did she do this time?"
"She and her parents apparently said some things to Sandra that I won't mention right now. But you know what? That won't matter, because we're going to have a great time on Christmas!"
Rhiannon smirked at that declaration. "Sounds like a plan, I'm in! Let's show those people who's boss!"
Christmas Night
Optimus sat alone on the couch in the family room, looking at the Christmas tree as the lights glowed in the dark, somewhat illuminating the room.
The day had actually been quite fun, to say the least. Sandra had decided to make a dessert known as a "trifle" to eat besides the cookies. Tessa and Rhiannon had teased her about it, jokingly warned her to not add a layer of shepherd's pie into the trifle, to which Sandra rolled her eyes and remarked that she's "no Rachel," much to the confusion of the Autobots since Rachel wasn't even her name. But nevertheless, the trifle and the cookies tasted wonderful, even if the Autobots were just using their holoforms.
Shane and Joshua were also at the house during the day, where they joined Sandra and Rhiannon on what the two girls called a "video game binge." Shane was not a surprise but Joshua's request to join them in a couple of their gaming battles did surprise them a lot, not expecting him of all people to actually be willing to participate in video games nor to actually be just as good, if not better, than any of them were. He simply handwaved the surprise, stating that it he had been interested in them and that it was nice for someone be able to play video games with him.
Presents were unwrapped near the end of the day, everyone happily accepted what they received, the Autobots included.
"Mew!"
"Hmmm?" Optimus looked down to see a tuxedo kitten coming up and jumping onto the couch next to him while a calico kitten came up to him and pawed at the holoform's pant legs.
Suneko? Athena? Why would they be online around this time? He soon heard footsteps and looked up to see Sandra and Rhiannon, in their pajamas, holding onto their pillows and blankets.
"Hey, Optimus..."
"Sandra? Rhiannon? Shouldn't the both of you be in recharge right now?"
"Yeah, but we wanted to sleep near the Christmas tree tonight," Sandra sheepishly replied. They both laid down the blankets and pillows before slipping underneath the blankets. Optimus smiled in amusement while lifting his hand to stroke Suneko's head, who purred loudly.
The three were left at a peaceful silence for a while before Sandra spoke. "The Christmas lights are so much prettier when you seem them at night."
"Indeed," Optimus agreed as he looked at the tree. "The lights outside of the housing units are also quite remarkable."
"Right?" Rhiannon smiled as the two kittens started to play fight with each other. "It's still nice to be able to enjoy the decorations even when this special day is over. "
"Yeah, but there's always next year, and we don't have to take the decorations down until later in January -Suneko, don't touch the branch!"
Suneko was on top of the couch, trying to grab at one of the Christmas tree branches with an ornament dangling from it while Athena was trying to climb her way to the top of the tree.
"Aww man...and we had to spend the whole day trying to keep them from messing around in the tree, too."
Chuckling, Optimus sat up to pick Suneko up and pull Athena away from the tree and carried to the meowing kittens over to their respective owners. He sat in between the two girls, watching them as they stroked the kittens head. Soon, the kittens grew tired and curled up near the girls' heads.
"Hey, Optimus, why don't you just us in being near the Christmas tree for the rest of the night."
Optimus smiled at Sandra, "I would love too." As he laid down, the two girls instinctively scooted closer to him, giving him more room to pull the blankets over him as well before they went back to comfortable silence.
Once again, Sandra spoke up. "...I've been thinking about something today."
"Oh? What is that?"
"I've had a lot of fun with everyone today...and it reminded me just like the times I went to my cousin, Debbie's house for Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"Really? So I guess it's almost like before you came here?" Rhiannon asked.
"Well, not really. This Christmas is much more special compared to the past ones. To be honest, as I got older the presents I got weren't toys anymore. Instead, what we get were brand name clothese, and gift cards, the same things we get for our cousins, too. And I always find myself having a hard time thinking about what I want to get for Christmas." Sandra thought back to the gifts of art sets, some jewelry, and video games she got today. "But you know...I really shouldn't have to think about it."
"Why is that-?" To Optimus's surprise, Sandra pulled him to a hug. To his bigger surprise, Rhiannon did the same as well.
"Because I already have everything I wanted, it only took me now to realize it. You, Dad, Tessa, Rhiannon, and the Autobots, how could I possibly ask for a better family?"
"Same goes for me, too." Rhiannon smiled. "Merry Christmas, Optimus."
Optimus looked at the two girls before giving a warm smile and returning the hug from the two girls. "Merry Christmas to you both, younglings."
If anyone were to come downstairs early in the morning, they would find the Autobot leader's holoform, asleep, with two sleeping girls cuddled close to him...and two kittens "inspecting" the Christmas tree when they couldn't wake their mommies up.
Hope you enjoyed the story and I hope some of you get the Friends reference. ;) Have a Happy New Year!