Disclaimer: "I do not own any part of the transformers franchise, or any of their characters. I own only Harper, and any original content that I make her do or say. Everything else is property of the amazing men and women who brought this story to life on the big screen. Thank you."

Chapter 1

As Harper Witwicky was finishing up the dishes for the evening, she can't help smiling at the men in the yard outside. Thanks to Sam, their parents had been convinced to take a long weekend away in a motel of their choice somewhere.

Harper still has no idea where they went exactly. She's just glad they left for a while. Because it meant that she could host her favorite people in the world for one final meal before they left for overseas again. Not that she couldn't do it at her apartment... but having the large house and the yard outside to entertain them in was much better in her opinion.

Harper loves the entire unit, make no mistake. The letters she wrote while they were away were for all of them, as individualized as they could possibly be. But these four in particular, were her favorites.

Fig, with his Spanish background and heritage, called her his 'chica' all the time. And Donnelly was simply fun to be around. But Epps… well, Epps was like her older brother. Since Sam was her younger brother, and she was always looking out for him, it was nice to feel like she had an older one.

Epps had been the first one she wrote a letter to. It had started in her sophomore year of high school, as an extra credit assignment. Harper had wanted to do it anyway, but the additional points to her grade pushed her 3.8 GPA to a 3.9. So yeah, she definitely pulled a soldier's name to write to for that.

When Epps had first received his letter, he'd expected it to be like a lot of others. Sure, there were some who wrote and actually wanted to express their gratitude towards the work the Army did. But a lot of the students that did this were just looking for the extra credit.

But not Harper. She didn't just say a line of gratitude and wish him well on his journey. Her phone number was at the bottom of the last page… of which there were at least four pages. She asked him about where he was, what he was doing, what his job was in the group. Did he have family, and would he like her to help them in some way while he was gone? She told him about herself, and her studies. She was going to get a business degree when she went to college, but she was also going to culinary school so she could be a chef. Her intention was to, eventually, start up her own bakery. That was her favorite thing to do. But she also promised him that if he came back to California, she'd be happy to cook him whatever kind of dinner he wanted.

On his first leave from duty, he took her up on that offer. And ever since, she'd been like his little sister. And he hadn't been able to help smiling when, after he'd told her his friends were jealous of his letters, she simply asked for their names so she could write to them as well.

Hence all four men now being in her backyard, finishing off the cheesecake she'd made as a dessert for them.

Or… well, three men were in the yard. Harper frowns for all of a moment, wondering where the other one had gone. Then she jumps when Will asks from nearby, "Are you ever going to let us do the dishes?"

Grinning as the man comes up to her side, she says, "Maybe. If you slowpokes ever manage to beat me here." "Oh… Ouch." Harper just laughs, and when he picks up a towel to dry what she's washing, she knows better than to argue with him about it. The first time he'd ever come and helped her out, she'd tried to make him go back and relax with the others. But Will, as much as he enjoyed relaxing and hanging out with his unit, also enjoyed taking advantage of opportunities to do things like this. Simple, household things, like dishes and laundry. Things that weren't really his tasks or concerns overseas.

As he puts the last plate away, he watches as Harper looks out at the other three still in the yard. Resting a hand on her back, he asks, "You gonna join us again?" "Yeah." The silent 'in a minute' is something she no longer feels the need to say to him either. He knew why she needed a minute. She was twenty-four now, so they'd all had eight years' worth of time to spend with her and get to know her. And they all knew that the prospect of them going back overseas, into enemy territory or into enemy hands, was always something she wouldn't like. She understood it, and admired it greatly, there was no mistaking that.

But these guys… they were family now. And proud as she was of them, she'd never really be happy with sending them away into the line of fire every time they had to leave.

Particularly Will, though Harper will never tell him that. Epps is the only one who knows about the crush she'd developed that had then slowly turned into love. The instant attraction to him had been for his deep voice, honestly. And, obviously, he was hot. But as she'd gotten to know him… and all of them… well, Harper found herself loving everything about the man. Even the little things he did that she sometimes couldn't stand, were things she still loved about him. Like when they were in a car and he'd turn the radio down so you could only barely hear the words. Harper has always hated that. The radio either needed to be on so you could hear it, or completely off. Not that ridiculous volume in which you can tell it's playing, but you have no idea what.

But she loved that about him too, because if he turned the volume down, it was either to make sure the conversation people were about to have didn't have to be shouted, or to make sure that if you were talking to him, you knew you had his attention. So yeah… she sometimes couldn't stand that he did it… but she loved him for it all the same.

As his hand runs up and down her back for a brief moment, she asks, "Do you guys have any idea how long you'll be gone this time?" Will shakes his head, "The report didn't say. Means we stay until the job's done." Harper nods, and then smiles wryly when he says, "We'll be alright, Harp."

Turning to look at him, she tells him the same thing she always tells him when he says that. "You shouldn't make promises that you aren't certain you'll be able to keep."

He takes no offense to that. He knew it wasn't because she thought they weren't capable of fighting and handling themselves. She knew, more than most, exactly what they were capable of. Hell, they were the ones teaching her how to fight when they were here, and setting her up with tutors when they were away.

But even the best of fighters in the world, when kicked hard enough, could be knocked down. There was no such thing as an invincible man. Everyone was human. Everyone was flesh and bone. And every single one of them might die in whatever land they were being sent to.

Will could say they'd be alright to other people, and they'd take him at his word. But Harper didn't want that. She wanted them all to come back, alive and well. But she didn't want someone promising her things when it wasn't within their power to assure its certainty. Only God himself, in situations like this, could make certain they'd be alright.

Harper leans away from the sink as Will moves closer. Wrapping her up in a hug, same as always, he cradles her head to his chest. Smoothing down some of her red curls, he says, "Then I promise to do everything I can to make sure we all make it back to you." Nodding against him, Harper sighs and hugs him in return. She squeezes tight, soaking him in while she can.

She lets him go before he starts leaning away. She doesn't want him to think she's being clingy, or get the idea that she's in love with him. The man was her friend, and she was not going to lose that. Even if he did make her heart skip beats whenever he'd grin at her.

Like he was doing now. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he says, "Come on. We stay in here too long, Epps will come looking for us. And we do not want a replay of what happened last time."

And then he laughs when Harper says, "He shouldn't have thrown me over his shoulder! It's not my fault my foot ended up kicking him in the face after that. You wanna pull crap like that, you need to be braced for the consequences." "Right. Because a broken nose is obviously the consequence in that situation." "It is when you aren't smart enough to hold the person's legs still! Geez!"

Chapter 1! I'm back guys! For those who are curious, this will be a nine chapter story. Quick and cute in my opinion. As always, these other stories I write are not as in-depth or as long as the teen wolf stories I wrote. But I hope you enjoy it and it makes you smile.

I also feel the need to point out a couple of things. First, is that I will not be continuing past the first movie with my stories. It ends here in this one. This is my favorite of the transformer movies, and so I'm sticking with this one. Second, is that I know in the movies, William Lennox actually has a wife and a kid. I got that. But for the purposes of my story, he doesn't.

Okay, I think that covers it. Thanks for reading! :)