TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
The Grey Matter - Silver Lining sub-story (between chapters twenty-six and twenty-seven)
"At the same time as Megatron reawakening, a girl falls to earth and Sari manages to convince her Father to let the new girl - Emma - become her nanny. Emma doesn't talk much, and she's ESPECIALLY not saying she's from a different world! But, when the All-Spark is shattered, her origins are questioned, and her importance becomes key to the tides of the war...PxOCxJ"
The Month Of Celebrations
"In the month of December, Emma and the Autobots get news of more All-Spark Fragments in exciting and exotic places, and before that is Aquilla and Audrey's first Christmas! Emma will discover more about herself, and there's bound to be chaos and adventure and romance! Never before seen stories from Grey Matter - Silver Lining!"
CHAPTER ONE
A Very Autobot Christmas
The doctors didn't know how or why it happened, but Emma made a swift and rapid recovery. They wanted her to stay and do more tests, but it got to the point where she was threatening to rip out the IV and discharge herself, especially since they wouldn't let her see her daughters. After that, they decided that Ratchet's med-bay was the best place for her.
Everybody greeted Emma happily when she arrived back at the base (with the exception of a certain blue and orange bot) and Aquilla and Audrey latched onto their Mother and wouldn't let her go. Bumblebee had to bribe them with donuts.
Prowl and Jazz stayed by Emma's side almost all the time, and nobody said anything about it. Jazz and Prowl had confessed their love for her, and now she was not going to be able to get rid of them (not that she wanted to!).
She slept in the same room as them - they were all three of them worried about Succubus and (mostly) Incubus. Emma didn't mind one bit. She felt loved like this for the first time in her life, and she intended to try and explore it as much as possible.
Sentinel was, thankfully, oblivious to anything going on between Emma and the two cyber-ninja, and they planned to keep it that way...
Emma began to wonder about something, though.
"Say, Jazz..." Emma was sitting on the couch watching Aquilla and Audrey watch their favourite TV show. The Jet-Twins were watching with them, and all four of them were getting excited about Tuxedo Top-Hat kissing the heroine in a red; white and blue dress (Emma wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing). She had her computer open on her lap, but she wasn't really focusing on the screen. It was a cold wintry day.
Ratchet was in his med-bay. He was still in a bad mood because the twins (both sets) along with Miko and Sari had pranked him by placing hundreds of rubber duckies around the base, and moving them (the ducks). They had also added to them, and stated that the ducks were multiplying.
Optimus was on monitor duty.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead were ice-skating with Sari; Miko and Flora.
Sentinel was glowering at the colourful presents brought home from the hospital (but, his Glower Power was no match for the Flower Power!).
And, Prowl and Jazz were, of course, sitting on the couch with Emma, on either side of her, as she teased Scuz-Bag with a ribbon. He was acting just like a kitten, and trying to bat at the ribbon with his claws. "I've been wondering, Jazz...aren't you lot supposed to be headed back to Cybertron?" Emma looked up at him.
Jazz grinned at her. "You trying to get rid of me, Ems?"
She shook her head. "No, it's not that, it's just..." She was suddenly cut off by the sounds of a call coming through on the monitor. "That..." She groaned, as the call turned out to be from Cybertron.
"Ah, it is seeming that communications are okie-for-dokie." Jetfire said, as he and Jetstorm got up, leaving the girls singing along to the ending credits of their favourite show.
Everybody else crowded in front of the monitor.
"This is Cliffjumper, reporting from...what the slag?" The red bot that looked like Bumblebee and Wasp stared at the assortment of robots and holoforms.
Optimus groaned, as Sentinel smirked, and those that were in their holoforms returned to their robot-modes. Jazz lifted Emma up on his shoulder, so that she was level with them.
Cliffjumper began to speak again. "Approximately fifty mega cycles ago, Ultra Magnus was attacked by the Decepticon traitor, Shockwave."
Of course, Emma had been expecting this, but she still gasped. She liked Ultra Magnus, despite all appearances, and the thought of him being attacked by Shockwave was suddenly an overpowering sense of disbelief.
Everybody else was just as shocked as she was.
"Is Ultra Magnus...?" Optimus couldn't finish his sentence.
"In recovery." Cliffjumper sounded grim. "But Shockwave got away with his Magnus Hammer. And did a number on our communications network." He leaned forwards. "As you can imagine, we're in serious flux here."
Emma jumped down from Jazz's shoulder, and began walking away from the monitor.
"Ems?" Jazz called after her, but she didn't stop. He went to walk after her, but Cliffjumper had one more thing to say, and it wasn't good.
Jazz and the Jet-Twins stared at Cliffjumper in shock.
Only Sentinel seemed unaffected. "Well, it's about time!"
Aquilla and Audrey hurried after their Mother, and found her sitting in Prowl's room at the foot of the tree, her knees drawn up to her chest.
The twins were dressed in full winter gear (a pink wool-lined long coat over black stockings for Audrey, and a purple wool-lined long coat over white stockings for Aquilla), but they still managed to make their way over to where their Mother was.
"Mummy?" Aquilla asked, sitting down on Emma's left. Her locket swung out as she leaned against her Mother's arm and looked up at her, worriedly...
Audrey sat down on the right, and touched her Mother's forearm. "Are you okay?" She asked, quietly.
Emma nodded, not wanting to cry in front of her kids. "Yes, sweetsparks...Mummy's just got a lot to handle right now, that's all..."
"Is everybody going to be okay?" Aquilla wanted to know. Her dark orange eyes were wide. "Everybody's so worried..."
Emma swallowed, wondering what to say and, just then, Prowl and Jazz entered the room. They assumed their holoforms, and approached the three females.
Emma looked up at Jazz, and knew, she just knew, what he was about to say. She didn't want to hear it, so she said it for him.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" She whispered.
Jazz could only nod, and Emma closed her eyes. A tear dripped down her face, followed by another and then another. She couldn't stop them.
Arms enveloped her, and she couldn't tell whose they were, just that she seemed to be involved in a five-way-hug at that moment, and she felt warmer than she ever had before, but sad at the same time. Why? Why did Jazz always have to leave her like this?
Optimus and Ratchet were watching from the doorway.
"Jeez, they look almost like a real family, there." Ratchet muttered.
"Trust me, Ratchet, there's no almost about it." Optimus sighed. Why must so many sparks be broken in life? Optimus thought of Elita and, though he didn't know it, Sentinel was thinking of her, too.
Blackarachnia, all alone and in a strange place, knew the feeling...she stared up at the moon, for she was on the other side of the world, and shivered, despite the heat. Life really sucked, sometimes...
The Elite Guard was leaving that very night, and Optimus; Ratchet; Prowl; Emma and her twins came to see them off.
Emma watched with some suspicion as her twins hugged the Jet-Twins - Aquilla hugged Jetstorm, and Audrey hugged Jetfire. Aquilla and Audrey were handling this better than their Mother. Maybe that was because Bulkhead had promised to get the Space-Bridge finished, so that they could all go to Cybertron soon. Aquilla and Audrey didn't mind waiting.
As the Jet-Twins hurried on-board the ship to get things started up, Emma held onto her twins' hands, and watched as Optimus briefly clasped Sentinel's shoulder. There was a lot of significance in that one small gesture.
As Sentinel boarded the ship (whose engines powered to life almost as soon as he did), Jazz nodded to Optimus, and smiled at Ratchet, before he and Prowl shook hands. There was as much significance with that as there was with Optimus and Sentinel's interaction. There was acknowledgement and respect but, with the two cyber-ninja, there was something else. A warning, from Jazz to Prowl...
Jazz then glanced at Emma, but she stubbornly looked down at the ground, not wanting to speak, so that she would avoid another avalanche of emotions.
Jazz smiled, albeit a little bit sadly, and said: "Stay sharp, my cool cat." He then turned and began to walk onto the ship, although he was walking rather too slowly for Sentinel's liking.
"Hurry up!" The commander complained. "Come on, Jazz, when I'm chiding you, that means hurry up!"
Jazz didn't increase his pace - if anything, he slowed down a bit, as he walked up the ramp. He paused at the top, as the ramp began to close up, slowly...
Emma closed her eyes, grimacing. She bit her lip. She was consciously aware of her daughters on either side of her, and of Prowl standing close by. This was it. She wouldn't see Jazz for...well, who knows how long! She sure didn't! And, what was worse, she was about to make sure their last moments together for awhile were going to be of her being ridiculously stubborn!
Emma suddenly snapped open her eyes, let go of her daughters' hands, and ran forwards a bit, summoning up her powers which came from her chest and hit Jazz square in the back, forcing him to assume his holoform.
"You said to me we were going to be together!" Emma shouted, not caring how high-pitched or upset she sounded. "I need you with me, and you and I both know it! Even before, you always put your Elite Guard status and duties over me! I got so bored, not being allowed to leave the dojo, and it was all your fault! Why are you always leaving me, Jazz?!" She kind of wailed. "I need you!" Tears were in her eyes, making them sparkly, and her fists were clenched.
Jazz saw all of this when he turned around, and there was an unusual look on his face - kind of a smug smirk. "Well, why didn't ya say so, sweetspark?" Somehow, when he said it, it sounded so different from when anybody else said it. He ran, and jumped from the slowly-closing ramp.
He practically sprinted up to Emma, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her full on the mouth, surprising everybody.
Optimus and Ratchet were speechless, their optics just about bugging out of their heads.
Prowl just sighed.
Sentinel was practically glitching. "Jazz get up here now! That's an order! An or-der!"
Jazz and Emma looked up at him, with similar expressions.
"He sounds like my Mum." Emma muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Hmm, if it's an order, then I know what I want." Jazz whispered in Emma's ear. "Care to satisfy?"
Emma grinned. He was just playing, and she knew it. She was so happy - Jazz was staying! She suddenly didn't care if it messed up part of the story-line - heck, she'd practically destroyed the entire franchise! To the others, she said: "Take the girls home, they can have a cup of energon-milk before bed at eight!" The girls were getting to stay up a little bit later, tonight, but Emma planned to stay up very late!
Jazz went from holoform to robot-mode to vehicle-mode in about three seconds flat, and soon he and Emma were cruising through the streets, heading towards their favourite nightclub with a Katy Perry song playing at almost full-volume.
The twins were in bed and asleep soon enough, although it taken three stories from Prowl to get them to finally doze off, after all of the excitement of that night.
The twins fell asleep sleepily singing, like the kittens from The Aristocats, only they were singing a different tune.
"You're from a whole other world..." Aquilla muttered.
"A different dimension..." Audrey added.
Prowl rolled his eyes as he turned on the night-light (a flower-fairies one from Fuchsia) and pulled the door to. He walked out into the main room, where the rest of his team was - Bumblebee was playing video games with Bulkhead; and Optimus and Ratchet were going over some data. Scuz-Bag was perched very cutely on the keyboard of Emma's computer, which had gone into screen-saver-mode.
The Autobots all looked up as Prowl entered.
"What?" He asked, stopping.
Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a glance, wondering how to approach this.
Bumblebee, naturally, just decided to plow straight ahead and ask the difficult question, which was: "Prowl, aren't you jealous about what's going on between Emma and Jazz?"
Prowl cringed. True, Bumblebee and the others didn't know what had happened in Emma's all-too-real dream, or the fact that she was a Half-Vampire now. They wouldn't know about the duty of protection and care that Prowl and Jazz had both promised Emma, one which bonded their sparks and forced them to work together.
Still, promise or not...was Prowl jealous of Jazz? Of course he was! What mech wouldn't be?! He respected Jazz, yes, and valued him as a comrade and as an Autobot cyber-ninja. However, that didn't mean that Prowl had to like it when Emma and Jazz spent a lot of time together...or when Jazz kissed Emma like that, for that matter. Prowl couldn't help but feel jealous; he wanted to be the centre of Emma's universe, and the one that she needed. He would never do anything to take Jazz out of the picture, but that didn't take the other feelings away now, did it?
Something told him that Jazz felt the same way about him...
They would never stop vying for Emma's attention, and they would never stop competing for her affection. It made them rivals, but it also bonded them.
There was no way for Prowl to explain this to anybody right now, except for maybe Optimus.
But, instead of answering Bumblebee's question, Prowl went over to the couch and sat down, carefully shifting Scuz-Bag, and picking up Emma's computer. He of course knew her password (it was ANGEL) and so typed it in, drawing up the page that they had been looking at earlier on.
It was about Vampires - they were trying to research as much as they could, and Emma was seriously contemplating contacting either Lockdown or Soundwave for advice. Prowl and Jazz weren't too keen on that.
As Prowl stared at the computer screen, it suddenly flashed twice, and then turned black. Just as Prowl was wondering what had gone wrong, blue and green lines began to appear, snaking over the computer screen and forming shapes.
Bumblebee was peering at the screen from behind Prowl. "Whoa...better take it to Boss-Bot?" He suggested suddenly. Prowl jumped. Bumblebee grinned. "Time to switch to decaf, Prowl."
Emma and Jazz arrived back at the base at eleven-thirty.
Everybody was still up, and waiting for them.
"And what time do you call this?" Ratchet asked, grumpily.
"Aww, come on, Doc-Bot, Cinderella got until midnight!" Emma reminded him. She smiled at Jazz, and then danced happily over to Prowl, giving him a big hug. "Though, I'm hardly a Princess!" She giggled.
Prowl glanced at her. "Emma...have you been drinking?"
She nodded. "Not a lot, though." She told him, snuggling up to him.
Prowl glanced at Jazz. Jazz held up three fingers and mouthed the word 'glasses'. Prowl nodded.
Prowl? Emma thought to him. We even ran into Soundwave - he's the DJ at EvƎ now! She showed Prowl a few select images.
Wait, what was that one? Prowl asked, picking out one in particular.
Soundwave punched the guy that tried to touch me when we were leaving the club. Emma explained.
The image was of a man, whose hand had been reaching for a particular part of Emma's body, before she turned and gasped, and then Soundwave's fist connected with the man's face.
How come Jazz didn't do it? Prowl wanted to know, making a mental note to follow Soundwave's example, should the opportunity ever present itself and he met this guy.
He was stopping me from going all Vampire and ripping the guy's throat out. Emma frowned. He would have deserved it, though... She added, as an afterthought. Maybe...
Prowl silently agreed with her, although he didn't say it because he knew she was a bit upset about it. She still didn't like her Vampire side. She sighed, and then she leaned around him, and noticed her computer. "What's going on?" She asked, out-loud.
"Glad you asked." Optimus seemed a bit amused by all of this, but was successfully managing to keep a stern and businesslike manner. Emma didn't come home tipsy very often (in fact, this was the first time, ever!) - if she did, then it would have been a different story! "Your computer began picking up All-Spark Fragment signals, so we decided to hook it up to the main computer terminal and try to trace them better."
"And?" Emma asked, as Jazz came up to the table.
"And, we've found that there are over a hundred Fragments that have all seemed to converge in three places!" Ratchet said, gruffly, crossing his arms.
"Where?" Emma and Jazz asked in unison.
Prowl felt a twinge of annoyance at this, but since Emma was still hanging onto him, he didn't mind so much...
Emma then looked at the monitor, which showed a huge map of the world. Her eyes lit up. "Wait...is that...?!"
Emma was tingling with excitement - more All-Spark Fragments, and...?
It was. The All-Spark Fragments seemed to have chosen these places, if indeed they had a choice, with their rightful owner in mind. Perhaps they knew, and wanted her to have a little treat. Ratchet agreed to stay in Detroit and monitor things, which left the rest of them to plan what they were going to do, and how they were going to do it. They decided to save time, by splitting into groups and going to two separate places, before meeting up at the third destination.
However, there was one tiny, insignificant little problem.
"Umm, how are we getting there?" Emma wanted to know, the next night, after the twins had gone to bed.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead were watching TV, and Emma was sitting at the table with the others, trying to make plans. She was about to discover something.
"We'll be flying Royal Dutch Airlines from the Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport," Optimus told her, as he was typing away at the computer. "To arrive in..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma held up her hands. "Back up! You mean fly? As in, fly commercial?!" She leaned over Optimus' shoulder to have a look at the flight map. "Look at...why do they have to go up to fly over the Arctic Ocean, I mean why can't they just fly straight across the North Pacific Ocean instead?!" She waved her arms about.
Prowl and Jazz were staring at their spark-partner in fascination. She sounded frantic. They could sense the panic within her, but couldn't do anything to quell it until they knew for sure what was the matter with her.
"Nineteen hours?!" Emma fairly shrieked.
"And eight minutes." Optimus added. "What's the matter?"
Emma sighed, and put her hands down on the table. "Look, bots, there are but two things that truly frighten me in this world. One is the centipede, and the other," she pointed to the TV screen. "Is that."
They all turned, to watch a jumbo-jet slam into the ground as part of some movie about Air Force One getting hijacked by the Russians (so generic).
"That's not going to happen." Optimus and the two cyber-ninjas said in unison.
"And, if it does," Ratchet added. "It's not going to do you much damage - Transformers don't damage that much from something so trivial." He glared at Emma.
"Okay, so what about the humans onboard the plane?" She challenged him.
"We'll send their families sympathy cards." Ratchet replied.
"Awwww..." Emma groaned.
Optimus gave Ratchet a Look.
"Emma, if worst really does come to worse," Prowl said calmly. "Do you really think Jazz and I would let anything bad happen to the plane?"
"That's right, cool cat," Jazz added. "That's what Processor-Over-Matter is for, ya dig?"
"Maybe..." Emma sighed. She envisioned the two cyber-ninja levitating the plane, and felt better. "It's just..." She looked up, smiling a little bit. She was still scared but Jazz and Prowl sensed that she was thinking about something else. "I was kind of hoping to take the others along, too...you know, Miko and Flora and Sari. I mean, since Isaac's paying for the passports and getting them speed-ran through security and all, and Flora needs a distraction from what happened with Wasp..."
"What about the twins?" Prowl wanted to know. "Do you want to take them with us?"
Ratchet had a look on his face that was saying: 'please take them!'. He still hadn't gotten over the rubber duckie incident...
Emma, however, ignored it. Her hands were suddenly clasped in front of her, and she had starry, starry eyes. "Awwww..." She gasped, a smile on her face.
Prowl smiled, too. "Emma, could it be that you want them to have a similar holiday to the ones you had overseas as a child?"
"Yes..."
"And," Jazz grinned. "Is it also possible that you ain't gonna fill em' in on the sitch until we're at the airport?"
"Yes..."
The two cyber-ninja exchanged a glance, and then smiled. Crisis averted...
"If we're gonna be overseas in a hot place for the festive season, shouldn't we have a proper Christmas before we leave?" Jazz made the mistake of saying a few days later.
Emma gave him a Look, her hands on her hips as she glared at him. "Excuse me?"
Jazz looked surprised. "What'd I say?"
Prowl decided to intervene. "Emma's Australian, and Christmas falls in the first month of summer for them. Hot weather is a real Christmas for her." He was secretly happy to know something about Emma that Jazz did not, and that Jazz had (indadvertedly) insulted Emma, so now Prowl was making her feel better! (The way the world works in Prowl's mind...).
Jazz didn't miss a beat. "S'cool, Prowl - I only meant that, 'cause the twins were born here, they might want a snowy Christmas." He sounded cool.
Prowl glared at Jazz.
Jazz shrugged.
Emma tried not to groan.
Just keep smiling, just keep smiling... All three of them were thinking this and, at that point, all three of them suddenly heard that. They had to laugh - it was just too classic.
"It's okay," Emma put a hand on Jazz's arm. They were sitting by the monitor, having been placed on monitor duty by Optimus. To both of the cyber-ninja, she said: "That sounds like a good idea, though...I've never had a white Christmas before (unless you count sand) and I missed out on last Christmas..."
"What?" Jazz interrupted. "Why?"
"I was in a coma after being chased by the Decepticons and falling off a cliff." Emma explained. "I got to see snow, but not the Christmas." She shrugged. "I was out for a few weeks."
A brief look of anger flashed across Jazz's blue visor, before it was replaced by his usual cool look. "Well, if we do the whole celebration on December fifteenth, it'll be a first white Christmas for all three of the special ladies, dig?"
Prowl and Emma stared at him.
Jazz grinned, taking their silence as a yes. "Yeah...we'll rock out in style, the way the humans do it...I could get Sari and Miko and Flora to help me plan this shindig..."
Emma and Prowl glanced at each other.
"Gotta get jivin' and get this show on the road!" Jazz was off and running - literally.
Emma and Prowl watched him go, and then looked at each other again.
"Mistletoe!" They heard Sari yell randomly, from somewhere on base.
"What's this mistletoe thing, Sari?" Jazz wanted to know.
Emma's eyes widened. This was going to be a very interesting Christmas...
The day before "Christmas", Emma was helping decorate the living room at Sumdac Tower - Aquilla and Audrey were out with Victoria and Sai, to make it a surprise.
Bumblebee, Sari, Miko, Bulkhead, Flora, Jazz and Prowl were also decorating.
Prowl hung some paper cranes he had folded up by the window. Jazz glanced at them, smiled, and then shook his head with an: "Uh-uh." He proudly displayed the paper cranes with moving wings he had suspended near the light, which was casting lights around the room.
Prowl gaped slightly, and then sighed.
Sari was humming as she worked to string some popcorn on the tree (which Emma had never done personally, and quite frankly she had no desire to string it without eating it). Emma smiled, recognizing the tune, and continued to smile until Sari began to sing.
"Deck the halls with kerosene, falalalalalalalala. Light a match and throw it in, falalalalalalalala!" Miko joined in. "Watch the school burn down the ashes! Falalalalalalalala!" Emma had dropped the decorations she'd been putting up by this stage, and Prowl had dived in a saved them with a jingle of bells. "Now you know how to..."
"Where did you learn that?!" Emma cried, interrupting them.
"Flora." Sari and Miko said in unison.
Emma raised an eyebrow.
Flora chose that moment to make an appearance, carrying a tray of hot-chocolate so Emma couldn't really do anything about the song. Plus, everyone was wearing Christmas-y clothes - Flora had a red dress on with a reindeer broach, Sari was wearing a cream-coloured dress with a Christmas hat (Bumblebee also had one), Scuz-Bag had a red ribbon around his neck and Bulkhead had green tinsel round his neck. It was hard to feel annoyed at this time of the year (plus, Emma secretly liked that song - doubly blow up her old high-school!).
Bumblebee suddenly came in, along with a fir tree that had Optimus' legs.
"We're back!" Bumblebee cried.
"Yes, we certainly are." The tree said in Optimus' voice, and it turned out to be Optimus, carrying the Christmas tree. He sounded like he was struggling.
Sari was thrilled. "You got the tree!" She exclaimed, abandoning her drink on the coffee table.
"We had to go to three different lots!" Bumblebee held up three fingers. "They're almost all sold out!"
"Oh, don't worry, it's not like I need help or anything!" Optimus complained.
"Hey, Ratchet, is that you?" Bumblebee asked sarcastically.
"I heard that!" Ratchet smartly slapped Bumblebee upside the head. "Prime, put that thing down by the fireplace."
Optimus obeyed.
The tree was kind of...scraggly.
"That's not a tree!" Miko complained. "That's just a weed, wishing it was a tree!"
"Patience, Miko." Prowl approached the fir calmly.
"Prowl, what's with the butterfly swords?" Bumblebee wanted to know.
"Just...trimming the tree." Prowl moved with deadly ninja skill and precision.
The tree was sparkling.
The others immediately set upon it with ornaments. Isaac sat on the couch and held the star, smiling at his daughter's antics. She may have grown up overnight (literally!) but she was still like a kid at Christmas time!
"Hey, Daddy!" Sari turned to her Father, a big smile on her face. "Let's put the star on the tree the way we always did, remember?"
Isaac looked surprised, but got up and walked over to Sari. He handed her the star.
"Can you do it?" Sari questioned. She was suddenly having second thoughts.
Isaac stepped onto a chair at the base of the tree, and looked at Sari. He took a deep breath, and then, somehow, picked her up from the waist, displaying a sort of strange strength. Sari, expertly, positioned the stair on the tree, running her hands over the gold surface fondly.
"It's beautiful." She said proudly.
"Great job, Sari!" Miko cheered.
"It is very festive, maybe even more so than last year." Prowl appraised.
"I'll...take your word for that." Emma smiled. "Good show, kiddo." She told Sari.
"Uh, don't mind me..." Isaac was shaking. "Not at all..."
Sari gasped. "Okay, okay, put me down now. I know I'm not a kid anymore..." She said, as her Father sat her down on the ground. She smiled up at him. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."
That evening, the twins were showing off their new velvet dresses - Audrey's was a dark maroon, and Aquilla's was deep green. Sari had put on a CD of Christmas carols, and almost everybody was in the living room.
There was a small kitchen just down the hall from the living room, and it was here that Victoria, Fuchsia, Flora, Sari, Mama Fuyano, Sakura, Zakuro, Aiko, Kerry and Miko were cooking. Well, Sari was learning how to cook, and loving it. Fuchsia taught her how to boil cauliflower and broccoli. There were also roast potatoes and mashed potatoes, beans and peas, pumpkin and corn, turkey and ham. There was also gravy and white sauce - it was a feast!
Emma poked her head into the kitchen, looking sheepish. "Umm...should I...do you want me to...help?"
"NO!" Sari yelled, turning and brandishing a fork.
Emma jumped back. "Umm...okay..." She looked down. "If you don't want..."
"It's okay, we got it." Miko assured her, from where she was peeling potatoes. Next to her, Aiko was coating them in flour and, further down the line, Zakuro transferred them to the hot oil.
"We're alright." Fuchsia told Emma kindly.
Emma nodded, and walked away. Victoria watched her go, and then looked at Sari. "Sari...?"
"Emma can't cook." Sari shook her head. "Trust me, I know...but...do you think we should have let her help?"
"YES!" Aiko and Sakura cried.
"She's probably upset..." Zakuro added, looking ashamed. "You know how sensitive she can be..."
"You're burning that!" Fuchsia cried suddenly, and Zakuro gasped, immediately attending to her potatoes.
Emma trudged down the hallway, and nearly walked into Bulkhead.
"Oh, sorry!" They said in unison.
They sighed.
"What's up?" Bulkhead asked.
"They wouldn't let me help cook." Emma's shoulders sagged. "You?"
"They wouldn't let me help decorate." Bulkhead replied. He looked sad.
Emma fidgeted. "You know...there must be something we can do...something nobody else can...something..."
"Artistic?" Bulkhead guessed.
Emma nodded, and then both of them had an idea.
"Place cards!"
Emma and Bulkhead were crouched by the fireplace, working on their place cards. Presently, Aquilla and Audrey came over and asked what they were doing and, upon finding out, wanted to help, so there were now the four of them working on place cards. Whenever somebody would come along to find out what they were doing, one of the artists would glare until they moved away.
For awhile, all that could be heard from the fireplace was: "Pass the glitter, please." Also: "That's a really beautiful design." Or: "Are you sure that's a reindeer?" And: "It's an echidna."
"Oh."
Once the place cards were finished, the four artists sat back and admired their work. They had had a lot of fun, coming up with different designs and colours for everybody, and the twins had gone a little bit crazy with the glitter and glue-on sparkles. The cards still looked good though.
"Let's place the cards boy-girl-boy-girl." Emma suggested. "There'll only be a few double-ups..."
"Okay, but why?" Bulkhead wanted to know, as he set down Optimus' place card (which was blue and red and looked slightly digitized except for the abundance of glitter on there) at the head of the table. At Emma's prompting, Audrey ran to place Isaac's at the other end.
"Well," Emma explained, setting down Ratchet's red and white place card. "My year seven graduation dinner had the same setting..." She remmebered something. "But, ironically, they'd seated me next to my enemy, Andre Vasse...luckily, I saw this, and took note of the pattern, so by the time dinner rolled around and the teachers were telling everyone to switch back, they didn't notice my change because I stuck with the pattern but switched my card with another girl's...pointless story?"
"Pretty much." Bulkhead nodded, but grinned.
Miko and Flora bustled in with cutlery, but stopped when they saw the place cards.
"Oh..." Flora understood. "I see...okay, Miko, come back with me..." She nudged the Japanese girl.
"But, what about these?" Miko held up her stack of plates.
Flora looked around, and spotted Prowl and Jazz tending to the fire. She whistled, and about six people/bots looked at them. Flora made eye-contact with the cyber ninjas, who came over, and the girls gave them all the cutlery before hurrying back to the kitchens.
Prowl and Jazz exchanged a glance, before going over to the table, which had a white table cloth (risky!). The plates were white with green rims, and Prowl and Jazz placed them at each place along with the knives and forks and glasses.
Sari then appeared, and handed them some red napkins. After exchanging another glance, the two cyber ninja swiftly folded the napkins into cranes.
They both noticed that they were both sitting next to Emma (she had placed her card in between theirs). When Emma came to check on the table, she was a little shocked to find at least sixty napkins folded into cranes at her place, and she could guess who had folded them.
Prowl approached Emma, smiling slightly. "Emma, I..." He suddenly looked up. "Oh...isn't that...?"
Emma looked up, too, and saw a strange green plant with a red ribbon hovering above them.
"Mistletoe..." She said faintly, and then frowned, and walked up to the other end of the table to help Aquilla with the placing of the knife and fork at Aiko's place. ("Knife on the left, sweetspark, as Aiko's left-handed.")
She then walked back, and nearly bumped into Jazz. He grinned, and pointed up. "Check it out, cool cat - more mistletoe."
"So I see." Emma rolled her eyes, and went further up the table to fix up a non-existent crease in the table cloth.
Prowl was waiting for her, and so was the mistletoe. "More mistletoe..." Prowl sounded amused. "I believe there is a certain human custom to this...?"
"Well, we're not human, Prowler." Emma patted his arm, and then walked back the other way, towards Jazz.
Prowl followed her, and so did the mistletoe.
Emma was now caught between the two of them. "Look, it's following you, cool cat." Jazz grinned. "It's a sign..."
Emma raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the mistletoe. Her gaze drifted along the rope attached to the mistletoe, and then a pulley.
Bumblebee, Sari, Miko, Flora and Bulkhead grinned, from where they were standing at the centre of it all.
"Hiya, Ems!" Bee grinned. "Whatcha got there?"
"Mistletoe?" Sari giggled. "You can't cook, but can you kiss?"
Emma stared at her, and then said: "Sari...is this your way of telling me something?"
Sari nodded. "Yeah...like...sorry for not letting you cook and all, but we also want to eat without getting food poisoning."
"Sari!" Emma rushed at her, and Sari yelped and ran.
Emma chased her around the living room with the mistletoe, threatening to make her kiss a certain Autobot...
Everybody was seated at the Christmas table. Most of them were practically drooling, what with the turkey and potatoes and gravy and all. But, before anybody could eat, Fuchsia insisted that they all say Grace. Fanzone agreed, as did Isaac, and so everybody clasped hands and listened as Fuchsia said a few well chosen words, which reminded Emma of her Nanny (her Dad's Mum, who said the Christmas Grace every year).
Fuchsia opened her blue eyes, and saw that everybody was salivating over their plates by this stage, so she sighed, and said: "Okay everybody...dig in."
And, everybody did so, with much enthusiasm, but Emma slipped out halfway through (after eating about six roast potatoes and three chicken wings in record time) and went to the kitchens.
Jazz and Prowl, sensing something was wrong, followed her, and peered into the kitchens as Emma took out a piece of paper from the pocket of her red dress, and began to read what was written on it. As she did, she danced around the kitchen, taking out bowls and various ingredients.
As she turned, she spotted Prowl and Jazz, and gasped. The piece of paper fluttered to the floor.
"Oh..." Emma looked embarrassed. "Guys...umm..."
They didn't even need to ask what she was doing. They knew. She wanted to cook something on Christmas, no matter what. She felt very strongly about this.
Aquilla poked her head into the kitchen, and so did Audrey.
"Mummy!" Aquilla called. "We'll help! We'll help you!"
She ran into the kitchens, followed at a slower pace by her sister.
"Yeah, we'll help." Audrey said, taking her Mother's hand.
Aquilla added: "As long as we get to eat it..."
Jazz had picked up the piece of paper. "Pfefferniisse?" He read out.
"German gingerbread cookies?" Prowl translated, eyeing the ingredients.
"Gingerbread!" The twins exclaimed.
Emma looked uncomfortable. "I...I kind of...wanted to...make them myself..." She admitted. "Because...I can..."
"We know." Prowl told her. "But, I believe that part of the Christmas tradition is helping others, so..."
Emma sighed. "Well..." She looked at Jazz and Prowl, and then at Aquilla and Audrey in matching red aprons. "I guess...but...I get to be the boss!" She declared suddenly.
"Mummy, you are always the boss." Aquilla rolled her eyes.
"And you are a glutton!" Emma retorted, and the others laughed.
"That was go-oo-ood!" Bumblebee leaned back in his chair, patting his very full stomach. "My compliments to the chefs!"
"Hear, hear!" Bulkhead agreed. "This red drink is good, too." He took a big sip from a goblet. "What is it, anyway?"
"Uh...Bulkhead?" Miko cringed. "That's red wine..."
Bulkhead looked shocked. "Oh...no wonder my head feels so funny..."
Miko shook her finger. "And, that's why excessive drinking is a no-no, kids."
"Hey, speaking of which, where are the kids, anyway?" Flora looked around.
"Emma and Prowl and Jazz are missing, too..." Optimus noted, just as the doors to the room opened, and the delicious smell of gingerbread filled the air.
Everybody turned, as Aquilla and Audrey entered the room, holding big baskets of gingerbread cookies. The cookies were about palm-size, and were coated in a layer of white icing. They looked delicious.
Which was why everybody took one and began eating before they asked who made them.
Everybody began exclaiming:
"Oh, wow!"
"Delicious!"
"These are great!"
"Oishii!"
"Can I have another?"
"Where'd they come from?"
"Yeah, who made them?"
Everybody looked at the twins.
Aquilla and Audrey exchanged a glance, and then smiled mischievously. "That's a S-E-C-R-E-T!"
Sari raised an eyebrow, as she slowly chewed her gingerbread cookie, and her gaze drifted over to the doorway.
Emma was leaning against the doorframe, her red dress practically white from flour, which was also practically covering her forearms, up to her elbows.
Sari nearly choked on her cookie but, when she looked again, Emma was gone.
Must've imagined it. Sari thought, uneasily. But, it didn't stop her from eating six more of those cookies!
"Twas a couple of nights before Christmas, when all through the tower,
Not a creature was stirring, at this un-Primus-ly hour,
The automatic shield was set up around the perimeter with care,
In hopes that the Decepticons wouldn't be there!"
Flora rolled her eyes. "Who tells a Christmas poem like that?"
Miko glared at her. "Well, I can tell one like that, it's my story!"
"You'll give the kids nightmares!" Flora responded.
Sari, who was leaning over the side of Audrey's bed, pointed out: "Yeah, well, they're asleep, so it doesn't matter."
"Oh."
Emma stepped into the room then, as the teenagers stepped out, and quickly kissed the twins' foreheads, whispering: "Merry Christmas." She then half-closed the door, and went back into the hallway.
Where was everybody?
A quick check of the floor she was on revealed that pretty much everybody had either fallen asleep, or was in their rooms/guest rooms. She checked on Scuz-Bag, and then knocked on Sari's door once to remind the girls to go to sleep, adding that Isaac, Mama Fuyano or Fanzone would be up next if they didn't! Everybody else was fairly tired. Bulkhead especially was sprawled out over the couch, practically dead to the world. He'd have a hard time with his hang-over tomorrow!
Emma smiled, and then made her way out onto the balcony, enjoying the feeling of cold air on her skin, and of the snow beneath her feet. A cool breeze billowed around her. She smiled, and then turned when she sensed somebody behind her.
Of course, it was Jazz and Prowl.
"You shouldn't be out here without a jacket." Prowl told her. "You'll catch a cold."
"You can only get a cold if germs are already present." Emma informed him.
"She's gotcha there, Prowl." Jazz grinned, and then held up the cloak he'd been carrying, which he held up and then draped around Emma's bare shoulders. "Here, just in case."
"Thanks, Jazz, I was actually a bit cold." Emma admitted.
"Now, why didn't I think of that?" Prowl muttered.
Emma sighed, and then her breath caught in her throat. "Wh-what was that?" She asked, quietly, and turned, staring up at something.
Prowl and Jazz also looked.
"Is that...?" Jazz stared.
"It can't be..." Prowl looked shocked.
"I...I don't believe my eyes..." Emma grabbed onto the railing of the balcony, and stared up in shock. She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Soundwave?" She whispered.
A giant red and black metallic bird pulled what looked like a really decked-out sleigh, and somebody wearing a red cloak sat in the driver's seat. His red eyes gleamed, but he raised a hand in a quick salute, before a second, smaller bird flew towards them, and perched on the rails above them.
They all looked up.
"What's it got there?" Emma asked. "Wait..." She looked closer. "Isn't that...mistletoe?"
"Mmhmm." The two cyber ninjas nodded, before leaning down and kissing her on either cheek, much to her embarrassment!
The next morning, the teenagers (along with Bumblebee) woke up at the un-Primus-ly hour of six AM. They crept into the twins' guest room and tried to wake them up.
Aquilla got up easily enough, but Audrey firmly clung to the rails of her bed, like the teenager in Disney's Freaky Friday.
Finally, Sari nodded to Miko, who whispered into Audrey's ear: "Don't you wanna open your presents?"
Audrey's deep orange eyes flew open, and she was up in a flash, and at the door before the others could blink.
She looked impatiently at them. "Come on!" She ordered.
Sari took charge. "Okay, I'll go wake up my Dad, Flora you wake up your parents." Flora nodded. "Kerry, Sakura, Aiko and Zakuro, you wake up Mama Fuyano."
The waitresses saluted, and Kerry hummed a sort of war-memorial tune.
"What about us?" Miko and Bumblebee wanted to know.
"You two wake up Optimus and Ratchet." Sari ordered them. "And, you two," she knelt down to the twins' level. "Wake up your Mummy and the cyber ninjas, okay?"
The twins nodded.
"Everybody meet back in the living room in five, okay?" Sari saluted. "Roll out!"
Emma opened her eyes slowly and, for a second, she wasn't sure where she was. Then, she focused, and found herself staring at a familiar blue ceiling. Oh, right, it was their pretend Christmas morning, and she was in her room at the Sumdac Tower.
Emma sighed, and was about to turn over, when she realised that she was not alone. On her left was Prowl, and on her right was Jazz.
Oh my Primus! Emma's heart began to race. Did I...?! No, I definitely did NOT...okay, calm down, it's okay...so what if you slept in the same bed...you used to sleep with them when they were in their robot forms all the time! No biggie!
Emma gulped. It was still embarrassing! Especially since her head was resting on Prowl's right shoulder, and Jazz had her right hand held up against the side of his face. Emma gingerly took her hand back, and then carefully sat up. She did it slowly and carefully, to avoid the cyber ninjas from waking.
She sighed again.
The bedroom door suddenly slammed open, and the twins ran in, giggling.
"Wake up, wake up!" The yelled in unison. "It's Christmas!" They jumped onto the bed, and there was no way the cyber ninjas could sleep through that.
"M-Merry Christmas, you two!" Emma hugged the girls, who were jumping up and down like Miko on coffee, so this was a feat in itself.
"Presents! Presents!" The twins cheered, grabbing their Mother's hands. "Let's go!"
"Okay." Emma caved in, rolling her eyes. "Let's go open some presents!"
Jazz and Prowl watched as Emma got up, both of them slightly amused at their beloved's messy appearance in the morning. Almost as if reading their minds, Emma stopped, and said: "On second thoughts, why don't you two take Uncle Jazz and Uncle Prowl, because Mummy needs to do something first. Uncle Jazz has never had a Christmas." She added.
The twins' eyes widened, and they immediately shifted their attack, leaving Emma to run to the bathroom and freshen herself up. She then put on a robe, and followed her ears to the living room, where she was met with an incredible sight.
Emma stopped, wondering for a second if she was dreaming. She couldn't remember buying that many presents...unless...?
Soundwave...
Emma stood by the doorway, and watched the twins tear into a mountain of presents. Mountain? It was a mountain range. There were miles and miles of piles and piles of presents, some big and some small, and all beautifully wrapped with colourful paper and big bows.
Ratchet, somehow, had been conned into dressing up as Santa, and was handing out the presents as Miko called out names.
"Audrey!"
"A make-up kit! See it, Mummy?"
"I see, Audrey...I see..."
"Aquilla!"
"A painting kit - look, Bulkhead...Bulkhead?"
"Oww...my processor..." The artist groaned.
"Bulkhead?" Aquilla blinked.
"Leave him, Aquilla." Flora advised.
"Isaac!"
"A Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab Kit!"
"Aren't those illegal, Captain Fanzone?" Sakura wanted to know.
"Only in the 1950's." The police chief replied.
"Mama Fuyano!"
"A new sushi kit! Look at this knife!" She held it up, and it glittered in the light.
Everybody cringed.
"Bumblebee!"
"The Speed Racing handbook and starter pack kit!"
"What the Hell is with all the kits?!" Sari cried.
Miko hovered over a big present, which was pink with a yellow bow. "This one's for you, Sari!" She looked over at the red-head. "It's from your Dad." She added.
"It had better not be a kit." Sari frowned, and then opened up the big box. "Uh...okay..." She examined the orange scooter. "Thanks, Dad, but...I was kind of hoping for something with...four wheels?"
"Why does she need four wheels when she's got you lot?" Flora whispered to Bumblebee, who shrugged.
"Who needs wheels?" Isaac added, and pressed a button on the scooter. It folded in, and transformed into a jet-pack, which settled onto Sari's back!
Everybody stared in amazement as Sari allowed the jet-pack to slip onto her shoulders snuggly, and then she was zooming around the room above all their heads.
"Bumblebee, I'll bet your jealous!" Sari called to him, above the gasps of amazement.
Bumblebee stared at her, his electric blue eyes shining, and then he said: "You bet I am! Hey, guys..."
"No!" Optimus stated.
"Double no." Ratchet added, crossing his arms.
"Well, thanks a lot, Mr. Grumpy-Claws." Bumblebee pouted, as Sari flew around in the background, smiling and waving. She stopped long enough to thank her Father, before she and the other teenagers (plus Bumblebee) hurried outside to test the jet-pack out further.
"Sari, make sure you share!" Isaac reminded her. "And be careful!"
The twins sat on the floor surrounded by their presents and playing with about six different things (a scary-looking dragon plushie sat in a ride-in pink convertible, making roaring noises as the car's radio played Gangnam Style until Ratchet pressed the off-switches).
Emma accepted a cup of coffee from Isaac, and drank it, until Prowl drew her attention to a stack of presents for her.
"For me?" Emma shook her head, putting her cup down and getting up. She went over to the pile of presents (not a very big pile, thank Primus) and picked up the first one. "To Emma, from Sari..." She read, and unwrapped the present. She stared at the kid's cookbook for a moment, before going over to the window and yelling something unrepeatable to Sari in Indian (a phrase that she'd learned from Sari).
Isaac gasped, but everybody else smiled, especially when Sari responded in kind.
Emma rolled her eyes and returned to her present unwrapping. Her other gifts were a bit kinder - a new pair of semi jet-powered rollerblades from Isaac, a box set of an anime she liked from her fellow workers, a new drawing tablet for her computer from Bulkhead, and a calendar of echidna pictures from Flora. That sort of thing.
Audrey approached her Mother, as she was unwrapping a book on first aid from a certain medi-bot. Audrey smiled a big red smile at Emma - her hands were also sticky from the candy cane she'd just eaten.
"That's going straight to your thighs, you know." Emma told her.
Audrey's smile grew, and she held up her hands for a hug.
"No way, Miss Sticky Fingers!" Emma laughed, ruffling the little girl's pink hair. "Why don't we go and wash up before breakfast, hmm?" She guided Audrey to the door.
Meanwhile, Aquilla was halfway through her own candy cane. Bulkhead had woken up by this stage, and the first thing he saw was the green-striped candy cane (Aquilla was sitting at the foot of the couch).
"Oh!" Bulkhead cried dramatically. "Candy cane! Here, let me help you to finish it!" He then gasped and cringed back, as Aquilla shoved the entire sweet into her mouth quickly. "Or...not..."
"You got that right, Bulky." Emma called over her shoulder. "Aquilla, come wash your hands, sweetspark."
"Nkkay Mmmy." Aquilla replied obediently.
"Mummy?" Audrey and Aquilla asked in unison, as they stood on little steps in the bathroom.
"Me first." Aquilla said stubbornly, although it sounded more like 'mm shst' because of the presence of the candy cane.
"No, me." Audrey replied, just as stubbornly.
"Mm!"
"No, me!"
Emma saved the conversation by grabbing a damp flannel and beginning to wipe Aquilla's face before the argument escalated. She had learned the hard way that her two girls had inherited stubbornness from both sides of the family...
Audrey clasped her hands and said: "Mummy, if you're our Mommy, like Flora's Mummy is her Mummy, and she has a Daddy, then who's our Daddy?"
Emma cringed, and wished that she'd let Aquilla ask her question first, that is until Aquilla pushed the flannel away and said: "Yeah, and who's your Mummy and Daddy?"
Emma looked around desperately, as she wiped Audrey's face, and then turned the tap on. As she helped the girls to wash their hands, she thought about her answer, but she didn't really have one.
Suddenly, she heard Sari calling to her: "Hey, Ems, come here a minute! Bring the twins!"
Emma and her kids exchanged a glance, before returning to the dining room, where everybody turned to look at them with big smiles (even Ratchet).
Prowl and Jazz were standing in the center of the living room, holding a beautifully wrapped red present tied with a big green and red bow.
Emma blushed, and would have frozen, but her twins had other ideas, and dragged her over to the two cyber ninja.
"Merry Christmas, babe." Jazz said, kissing Emma (much to her embarrassment, especially because Bumblebee and Miko went: "Ooh!"), as Prowl hugged the two kids.
Then, Jazz knelt down to hug the girls, and Prowl straightened up and looked Emma in the eye, placing a hand to her cheek and putting his forehead against hers. "Merry Christmas, Emma." He said quietly, before he and Jazz made Emma and the twins sit on the couch to open their present together.
Emma carefully undid the ribbons, placing them to the side. The twins then shredded the paper, flinging it aside to reveal a big, reddish-brown, leather-bound book.
"This looks like the kind of thing we do on the side of my old TAFE course." Emma said appreciatively, running a hand over the cover as she turned it over.
"Except this one was assembled specially by a master book-maker, in China!" Isaac spoke up.
Emma was about to answer him, when the gold script writing on the front of the cover caught her eye. Her breath hitched in her throat. "H-How?" She tried to say, but it came out sounding more like: "Hulk?"
"Your computer." Prowl said, matter-of-factly.
"Also, everything you've ever laid down for us, ya dig?" Jazz tapped the side of his head, grinning. "We got it pegged, babe."
"B-but..."
"Don't worry." Prowl told her. We didn't write any of the terrible things. Only the good things, some sad, and a lot about your relatives, as well.
Emma nodded. "Oh...okay, then..."
"What does it say, Mummy?" Audrey wanted to know.
Emma swallowed, and said: "It...it says...Th-The Paradiso Family Book..."
"What's Paradiso?" Aquilla asked.
"That's my family." Emma replied. "Our family..." She corrected herself.
The twins' eyes lit up, and they eagerly opened the first page, to reveal some words. They didn't even have to ask; Emma read: "To our beautiful Emma, and wonderful Aquilla and Audrey, with love on Christmas from Prowl and Jazz." She cleared her throat as she turned the page, to reveal a photo of all of them.
"Oh, and we raided your computer to get photos of all your family." Jazz said nonchalantly.
Emma cringed slightly, and then turned to the next page, to reveal a family tree. She took a deep breath, and began to read, out-loud. She missed her family, her parents and her sister, and her other relatives as well, as well as her two best friends and pets...however...
She had a new family here, as well, and coming to this world had been the best thing that had happened to her, as she always said!
She had new friends, young and old, human and alien and somewhat in-between! She had a new pet, and she had her former charge, though she was annoying she was still close enough to a best friend. She also had two beautiful daughters, and...two spark-partners. This was more than she ever could have asked for and had ever felt she deserved, but she planned to enjoy every second with them!
Merry Christmas!