Raf sat in the plane staring out the window eagerly. It had been almost seventeen years since he had left his hometown, and now, after all these years he was coming back.

"We will be arriving in Jasper in ten minutes. We hope you enjoyed your flight, and like always, thank you for traveling on Airline One." The chipper flight attendant's voice called over the intercom system and Raf leaned back into his seat. His mind drifted to his friends. Jack, Miko, I can't believe it's been twenty years! I wonder how they turned out? Raf wondered, but shook his head. Both Jack and Miko were smart, with Miko he sometimes wondered, but they were driven people, and Raf knew they would have gone far. Miko probably entered the music industry, and Jack...well, he wasn't sure about Jack. He buckled his seat belt as the plane began to descend minutes later, and then the plane landed. It was so strange to be back after all this time,Raf mused, I wonder what's different.

"Welcome to Jasper! We hope you enjoy your stay." A voice called in the airport, and Raf smiled. That little welcome mantra hadn't changed since he was a boy. Yep, nothing much changed in Jasper. Raf got in a cab and gave the directions to his parents house. Even after all his pleading and wheedling, the Esquivel's never left Jasper. To them, this was home, and nothing would change that. His mom opened the door, and automatically started talking excitedly in Spanish, gushing and laughing and hugging her son happily.

"Welcome back!" She exclaimed. "I didn't know you were coming, what a surprise! Oh, my son, what has happened since you went away? How is your Mary? Tell me, tell me! Oh, Luca! Our son is home!" Rafael's mother cried excitedly, and Raf's father entered the room.

"Papa!" Raf cried happily.

"My son, my Rafael!" His father exclaimed happily. "How are you? How long can you stay?"

"For a few days, I'm meeting with some friends."

"Ah friendship. A bond that can never be severed." Mama smiled wisely. "Now tell me about Mary! How is my daughter-in-law?"

"Mary, she's fine." Raf began. "She's doing good. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you." He said, and then paused, planning to tease them.

"Yes? Yes?" Mama prompted.

"Nothing much."

"There must be more, you are holding out on your mother!"

"Mary's pregnant!" He finally said.

"Woo-hoo! This is fantastic!" Mama exclaimed, wrapping her son in a hug.

"Congratulations, Rafael." Her father grinned, hugging his son as well.

"Oh, me an abuela! Can you picture it? Oh, is it a baby boy or a girl? Tell me, you must tell me!" Raf's mom begged excitedly.

"A girl, we think we're going to name her Daphne." Raf told his parents proudly.

"Oh, praise God Almighty!" Her mom breathed. "A baby girl, how wonderful! Sweet little Daphne, such a pretty name."

"This is amazing." His dad agreed.

"Oh, I must go call my siblings, oh and your siblings as well. This is wonderful news!" With that Raf's mom was running to the phone to tell absolutely everyone.

"So, what else have you been up to?" Raf's dad asked smiling.

"Nothing really. I've been working on expanding Protectia, we've been hiring more people and just got a contract with the Navy. What about you, papa?"

"Oh absolutely nothing. Jasper isn't exactly the liveliest of towns you know. Oh, did you know the town's building a new town hall? The old one was destroyed somehow. It looked like a giant had stepped on it or something! It was quite weird."

"I bet it was." Raf replied ruefully. He wondered which of his older friends had done it. He doubted Optimus could be that clumsy, and Arcee was always careful with her footsteps, Ratchet didn't usually leave the base, and that left Bulkhead to do the damage. "Sounds pretty weird."

"Well, it's about time they rebuilt that hall anyway. The old one was so, well, old. It's nice to have you back son, when do you have to go meet your friends?"

"Tomorrow morning at eight."

"Why so early?" His dad questioned.

"Well, we're meeting out in the desert. If we went any later it would be to hot." Raf explained, knowing how weird it would sound to his dad.

"Do I want to know why you're going to the desert to meet these people? You do know you could just meet them at the diner around the corner."

"I know, but the desert holds some memories for us. It's kinda like our club house, don't worry it's not as weird as it sounds." Raf said hurriedly.

"I don't wanna know." His dad sighed, shaking his head and getting up. "Your mother's going to be making calls all afternoon, is there anything you want to do? Anything you want to see again?"

"I don't really care, anything you want to show me?" Raf replied standing up as well.

"Let's go out and get lunch. How about Mel's? Great diner. Espe!" He suddenly shouted.

"What, Luca?" Raf's mom called back.

"Raf and I are going to Mel's, we'll be back later!" He shouted, grabbing his keys and walking out the door with Raf in tow.

"See ya later, Mom!" He shouted, shutting the door behind him. His dad got in the car and started the ignition once Raf had gotten in, and the duo drove off. Raf looked out the window eagerly. Just like he had thought, not much had changed in his absence. Jasper was one of those towns that just didn't change, no matter what.

"I can't believe we're back in Jasper!" Sierra exclaimed, stretching her arms above her head. The couple had just flown into the Jasper airport, and Sierra was gazing around in amazement. "Nothing has changed! Jasper really is a stick in the mud place." She mused.

"Hey, at least we won't get lost." Jack joked.

"Like I could forget Jasper." Sierra smiled. "So where we want to go first? My parents, or yours?"

"How about we both go to our parents separately, and then bring them together? We never actually told your parents, or my mom, that we eloped and-"

"You're afraid my dad will kill you?" Sierra asked matter-of-factly. Sierra's dad was an ex-Navy Seal, he could kill you without blinking, and with one arm tied behind his back as well.

"Maybe." Jack said carefully.

"As long as daddy's little princess is happy, you have nothing to worry about!" Sierra smiled, but it faltered seeing Jack wasn't convinced. "Okay, I'll tell daddy on my own. You go see your mom, and we can all meet up at Mel's. Okay?" She said softly, hugging her husband.

"Thanks, Sie." Jack replied appreciatively.

"You do know one day you'll have to talk to him." Sierra told him, taking his hand and starting to walk toward the exit.

"Sure, but when I know your dad won't kill me."

"Oh Jack." Sierra laughed, and after Jack situated her in a cab he got in one himself and went towards his mom's house.

"Oh my gosh, Jack!" His mom exclaimed upon opening the door. "Come in, come in. How've you been? What have you been doing? Where have you been? I've been so worried about you, I didn't know where you went, or who you were with, or-"

"I got married." He said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" His mom gaped surprised.

"To Sierra." His mom didn't say anything for a moment, and then she enveloped him in a hug. "That's so great! When did you get married? Why wasn't I invited? Is she pregnant yet?"

"Mom." He said embarrassed.

"Oh sorry, but this is so wonderful! When did it happen?" His mother replied happily, sitting on the sofa and pulling her son down next to her.

"A few years ago." Jack said awkwardly.

"And I wasn't invited?" Ms. Darby screeched. "Oh Jack." She sighed.

"How've you been?" He asked nervously.

"This is just so amazing! I'm so happy for you, where's Sierra? I always knew you two would make a lovely couple."

"She's with her parents."

"Oh, you two should've come together. You let your wife face her father's wrath alone? Oh Jack, you have so much to learn. Get up, come on, let's go to the Farly's house."

"What?"

"We're going to the Farly's, now. Besides, I want to meet my in-laws." Ms. Darby said cheerfully, grabbing the keys and dragging her son to the car. "Have you seen Arcee lately?" His mom asked conversationally as they started driving.

"No, I've kinda been in Italy for the past ten years." Jack replied with a shake of the head.

"Oh, I would've thought she'd ground bridged to you over the years. Something like that friendship is hard to break. Wait, does Sierra know about the 'bots?"

"No, I never told her. I don't want her tangled up in everything, it's better she never knows."

"That's the truth. Here we are!" His mom smiled, pulling into the driveway. "They moved about five years ago." She explained getting out and going to know on the door.

"June! Welcome to the family!" Mrs. Farly exclaimed, hugging the nurse.

"Oh Michelle, you can't believe how excited I am! You remember Jack."

"Jack, why didn't you tell us?" Michelle demanded, hugging her new son-in-law.

"Hello Jackson." Andrew Farly said dryly, his daughter beside him.

"Since we're all together, I have an announcement to make." The red headed fireball spoke up, blushing happily.

"Come in, come in." Michelle said excitedly, and the whole family moved into the house.

"Well, I was going to tell you alone Jack, but since we're all together I might as well just say it."

"What is it? Is it what I think it is?" Mrs. Farly asked eagerly, getting everyone to sit down in the living room.

"Probably." Sierra smiled, leaning against Jack's side. Her fingers twined in his, and she smiled up at him. "I'm pregnant."

"That's amazing sweetie!" Ms. Farly exclaimed, rushing to her daughter's side.

"Jack, you're going to be a father!" His mom cried happily. "This is so sweet, when did you find out, Sierra?"

"A few days ago, I didn't exactly know how to tell you Jack. But coming home, it's made everything perfect!" Sierra smiled.

"Yes, why did you come back Jackson?" Mr. Farly asked calmly, his brown eyes drilling into Jack's blue ones.

"I made a promise to some friends a while ago. We all promised we'd come back to Jasper in twenty years, and so here I am."

"Keeping a promise, I like that. We might be civil to one another." stated.

"Andrew." Mrs. Farly smiled. "Be nice. I think it's sweet. When are you meeting them?"

"Tomorrow at eight." Jack replied easily. Eight a.m. He thought, eight a.m.

"Well, since we have the afternoon together we must celebrate! There's this new restaurant in town, Elegance Defined, it would be perfect for a celebratory lunch." Michelle was saying. "Everyone who's anyone goes there. Let's go, we have so much to catch up on!" Mrs. Farly was saying.

"Definitely, oh this is just so great!" June agreed.

"The kids can take our car and we'll ride with you June, is that alright?" Michelle asked, grabbing her purse and heading for the door with everyone in tow.

"Perfect." June agreed.

"Do you mind if Andrew drives? He doesn't like letting anyone else chauffeur him around, he says it makes him feel weird. Oh, here you go Jack, my keys."

"Thanks Mrs. Farly."

"Oh we're family now! Call me Michelle, please."

"Um, okay...Michelle." The woman smiled and headed for the Darby car. "Well, that didn't go to bad."

"I told you so, you really should just listen to me." Sierra joked, getting into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, like you're always right." Jack laughed.

"I am!" Sierra laughed indignantly.

"You're the best, Sie." Jack told her truthfully, backing out of the driveway.

High up above the ground Miko was settling in for a long flight. Unlike normal fliers, Miko was going to get to America the long way. Any sane person would head east to get to the U.S.A faster, but instead Miko was flying west. She was taking the long flight, stopping in Kazakhstan, some city in France, traipsing over Greenland, through Canada, and finally arriving in Jasper, Nevada. Like anyone who knows Miko, she's not that normal. She would get back to Jasper in time, and this way she wasn't going to have to stay in Jasper when she had no where to stay.

"Welcome aboard Emirates! We hope you enjoy your flight." The airline attendant's voice called over the speaker.

"Oh I will." Miko sighed, sinking into her chair with a happy sigh.