Chapter I
Twelve years later…
"Mom! Mom! Look what James did to me!" Amelia came running into the house with mud all over her dress, thanks to her twin brother, James.
"Oh, no, not again," said Jaeda, Amelia's mom. "James!" she screamed. "Get in here!" A boy covered with grass stains and the same amount of mud dragged himself into the kitchen, tracking the ground with wet dirt from his shoes. He looked up at his mother with guilt all over him.
"I'm sorry, Mom," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to do it."
Jaeda calmed herself down. She learned that to talk to these kids, to get them to listen, you have talk to them in a calm sense, but tensional enough for them to get the idea.
"Would you like to tell me why you did this to your sister?" she said, leaning over to him. James looked over at Amelia as she crossed her arms and glared at him. He looked back towards his mother.
"I don't know. I guess I'm used to playing with Aurora," he said.
Aurora was Jaeda's friends' child. She was at least four-years-old. She was adopted because Tara's husband was a Mini-con, a robot, named Jolt. Aurora wasn't like a girl; she was more of a tomboy, like what Jaeda used to be like. She liked to play with James more than she did with Amelia and loved to make a mess of things.
"I'll buy that," said Jaeda, accepting the apology shown in her son's face. "Just don't do it again. Now clean this up. Uncle Jolt's coming." James and Amelia liked referring to Jolt as an "uncle". The twins jumped up and down screaming "Uncle Jolt's coming! Aunt Tara's coming!" They rushed to the linen closet to grab a bucket and a mop. Jaeda waltzed over to the couch and plopped herself in front of the television. She sighed as her husband, Ryan, walked in from downstairs.
"Just heard the two screaming. Why?" he said. Jaeda stood up.
"Jolt and Tara are coming over. Aurora's been begging them to take her to this new park that was built last week. They invited us along too, so I said yes. I'm sorry, were you doing anything?"
"No, nothing important," he said.
"But it was something."
"Okay, nothing so important it would mess up my job or not help pay for the bills. Does that convince you enough?"
"Close enough," said Jaeda as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now get into some 'dirt clothes' (that was what she had called them as to 'clothes you don't mind getting dirty'), they should be here in about ten minutes." Ryan went upstairs to change and Jaeda went into to kitchen to help her kids with the floor.
The doorbell rang after some time and James called out "I'll get it!" and rushed to the door. He looked out the window first, like his mom had taught him to do, and then opened the door. He put his hands in a fist, like a gun, to the two standing in front of the doorway.
"Stick 'em up!" he said.
"Oh, playing G.I. Joe now, huh? Can two play?" said Jolt. He rubbed his hand on James' hair, messing it up a bit. Tara stood next to him, laughing.
"Thanks for inviting us, guys," said Jaeda, wiping her hands off on a kitchen towel. "I needed a break."
"No problem. That's what we're here for!" said Tara. She thought for a bit. "Wait, you're not having a writer's block again, are you?"
"Afraid so," Jaeda admitted. "I'm trying to think of a good place where May and John can meet."
"I'm sure Tara could give you something, knowing how her mind works," said Jolt, smiling as he said it. Tara gave him a nudge and then she went after Amelia, who wrapped her arms around Tara's legs, getting mud all over her.
"What happened now?" said Tara. Jaeda motioned a look over to James and he turned his head to Jolt.
"Let's make a run for it," said Jolt, and they both ran off to the front yard.
"No, James! You need to go get changed, and now!" said Jaeda. She heard a "yes mom" come from outside and James stomped back in, leaving the rest of the dirt on his shoes get on the wooden floor. "And take your shoes off before you get in your room! I'm not sweeping that place for a second time today." She turned back to Amelia. "Go get dressed sweetie." Amelia nodded and skipped down the hall to her room.
"So, how's Aurora doing?"
"You wouldn't believe it. Just last night we saw her fixing a computer!" said Tara. Aurora was known to do things others couldn't at her age. By now, she could figure out math problems that would come to her in about five years and she was probably finished with reading Moby Dick by now.
"I would almost say she really is your child, Jolt!" said Jaeda. "She's learning stuff as fast as you do!"
Jolt started to blush (if Mini-cons could actually blush). Jaeda had seen one do that before, but she didn't remember when or where.
"Well, I'm not too sure myself. True, she's acting like a Mini-con, but I was pretty sure we adopted her," he said. "I had to look through some folders for the adoption papers to make sure."
Jaeda and Tara laughed. Ryan came down wearing a red T-shirt with blue jeans.
"Hey, Jolt!" he said, offering a hand-shake. Jolt accepted it. "Long time no see! How's the delivery going?" (Jolt was an over-seas deliverer, thanks to his helicopter mode)
"Terrible!" he said. "I swear to Primus, I think that each time I get one, there are two the next, and it keeps doubling!"
"Ready, Mommy!" the twins said as they came running down the hallway. James was dressed up in a yellow T-shirt and blue pants. Amelia wore a purple shirt with Dora on the front and some white pants. She even had a purple ponytail set up in her hair.
"Alright, let's go! Now, who's riding with who?" Tara never had to ride around in a car whenever Jolt was around, obviously. And both the twins had loved to fly with Jolt. So they put out their hands and did a two-out-of-three rock-paper-scissors.
"I win!" said James, beating his fist onto Amelia's scissor hand. Amelia crossed her arms again and stuck out her tongue when no one had looked.
"Lucky," she grumbled.
xXx
Author's Note: If anyone who did not read my first story, stop reading this one!!!!! This one's a sequel and will be so much cooler if you've already read the first one!