Summary: Living with the Autobots has become normal for the Yeager family, they moved states to keep a low profile, kept the remaining 'Bots out of trouble for a whole year…then Optimus came back…and it all went to the Pit.

Disclaimer: I own except those you don't recognize, and even then I tweaked others a little...

Review please, they are my fuel and without them I starve and do not write...

Chapter One

I was Blown Away

Xxx September

The fact that Tessa didn't even blink an eye at Brains standing on three phone books stacked on a stool in front of the stove, frying eggs in a pan with bacon sizzling on the flat top, should be the first clue her life had changed entirely since her dad brought home a junk truck.

Next clue, engineering genius-inventor-billionaire Joshua Joyce lived with Tessa, Cade, and the Autobots. Third clue, Tessa didn't react a bit at Brains' lewd comments as she grabbed a travel mug of coffee and headed out the farmhouse door, waving to whichever Autobot was lounging against the massive oak right outside, (this morning it was Drift) before hopping onto the waiting ATV and heading out to find her dad. (Again…)

After Hong Kong, Joshua flew everyone back to Texas, arranging temporary housing until Tessa graduated High School. He had been more than willing to pay for the house to be rebuilt and the barns remodeled, but then Cade had picked up the phone one night to call family and friends to reassure them everything was fine…until he called Cheryl.

Cheryl Woods had gone to high school with Cade and Caroline, and she'd been there for Caroline's senior year pregnancy with Tessa that ended on graduation day, only because she'd dropped out in February after having her own daughter. Her boyfriend had been a sleaze-ball, at least that's what Cade told Tessa about him, Katherine didn't know biological father and never would. The two girls grew up together with three struggling parents who barely made it out of high school.

Cheryl was also the one who had packed up Kate in ten minutes and boarded a red-eye flight from her home in Virginia when Cade had called saying Caroline was in critical care. They'd made it in time for Kate and Tessa to be removed from the room by a nurse while Cheryl kept Cade from losing it. They'd stayed in Texas with the now Yeager family of two for six months, making sure Cade could handle things before having to leave.

Even though thousands of miles apart, the two single parents kept in touch for sanity's sake, and because for the longest time neither daughter had a license or working car. Then Hong Kong happened, and when Cade called Cheryl to check in, it had taken her exactly three minutes to get everything out of him, another five to yell at him loud enough to make both phone speakers squeal. Two weeks after Tessa graduated they moved to Iowa and Kate and Tessa had attended their first year of community college in the fall.

Cheryl's two hundred acre property was secluded enough that once off the highway the Autobots were safe to be themselves, within reason, damaging buildings wasn't acceptable.

Speaking of damaged buildings, Tessa was glad Cheryl had basically given the old machine shed up by the horse barn for Cade to use as he pleased, though it was probably out of necessity since he'd taken apart her coffee maker and forgotten to fix it one morning. Cheryl was midnight to nine am shift cop.

Lights were on in the shed and Bumblebee was lounging out in the sun in his alt mode, engine revving softly as she parked the ATV next to him. A smile and pat to the warm hood as she passed, and Tessa headed into the workshop, barely glancing at the pieces of electronics and circuit boards covering every available square inch of workbench area.

As usual, her dad was hunched over at the main bench, lamps shining bright down on him as he slept on top of his latest project.

Poke "Dad?"

Poke-shake "Dad."

Poke-shake-shake "Dad…"

*snore*

Bang! "DAD!"

"What!?"

Tessa rolled her eyes, handing her dad a rag from a nearby bin of them, making sure it was clean so he could wipe his face before passing off the coffee, "It's 8:30, Cheryl's gonna be home in an hour and you still haven't fixed the front door."

"It'll be fine, she had nine to nine last night, she won't notice if I…forgot to replace the hinges."

A sigh followed by a yelp as Tessa stole the coffee mug again, "Dad, it's the front door, and not the screen one, the solid one she closes when she turns the AC on so she can sleep during the day. Plus, coming off a twelve hour shift, she's going to be cranky as hell."

"Damn."

Bumblebee was waiting for Tessa when they finally made it out of the shed, Cade putting away a few tools and covering the exposed circuit board he was working on with a static protector. Tessa slid into the Camaro while Cade hopped on the ATV to keep the grease off Bee's leather interior. And another day had begun…

Xxx

Crosshairs tweaked the wiring in his wrist, occasionally glancing up at Drift trying to teach Bumblebee how to handle a blade as long as the young mech was tall. Prime may have left Hound in charge, but that didn't stop everyone from testing the limits, especially without the fear of being discovered if their antics got out of hand, well…at least until Cade or Cheryl yelled at them.

The past year had been strange, but better than the three years before Hong Kong, Crosshairs landed after receiving Prime's message that had originated in Egypt, he'd raced towards Earth, clipping an steroid and ending up off course and in stasis when he landed, just eight months after Chicago and NEST's disbandment, Ratchet had restored him enough to explain what had happened since 2011, and sent him on the run. He hadn't ever trusted humans.

Tessa and Cade had earned a small bit of his trust, Joshua had absolutely nil alongside Cheryl (only because in all honesty, the cop scared the crap out of most people and was a downright bitch to the bots most days) Shane…he still needed to prove himself along with Darcy and Sue who were rarely around. Kate…

Well, she'd earned a lot of respect the minute she met the bots, mainly because she'd had a hand gun strapped to her hip and ear muffs around her neck from shooting targets when they'd pulled up. Drift had said something that rubbed Crosshairs the wrong way and just as a fight broke out Kate had literally finished it herself.

She'd shot them, hitting Crosshairs' wrist and the ricochet bullet lodged in Drift's helm side panels. After that the unspoken rule of no fighting around Kate or any humans, lest they slip up and hurt someone.

Trust was another thing; Kate had a radio unit always on her hip and a headset that was almost always chattering to someone or another, and judging by how many times she had stuttered and changed names or what she was saying the first few days to cover up what was going on, both at home and on the other side of the communication link. Nothing had happened yet, but that wasn't stopping Crosshairs from being on edge…

Clink! Bang!

"Drift! That had better not have been a gun!"

"Y'all better haul aft! Ya woke up Cheryl!"

Cade was laughing his ass off as Bumblebee and Drift transformed and gunned it away from the house, heading up the gravel road that traversed the majority of the property as Cheryl ran from the house, work boots untied and half covered by the thin pajama pants she had on with a tank top, her gun however…locked and loaded, waiting to hit whichever transformer had fired off a round near the house.

Cade finally made it outside with a drill in his hand to start working on the front door before Cheryl noticed, smirking as he waved to Hound and Crosshairs from the front steps.

"Mornin' guys, just another day huh?"

Hound chuckled, fiddling with the missile round in his denta as he lounged back against the hill along one side of the house.

Crosshairs rolled his optics, but managed a slight smirk as horn blaring echoed back to them, everything was completely normal…

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