Chapter Two - Family

The police car comes to a graceful stop and my eyes snapped up, away from my phone. I had decided to show Cody Angry Birds a few moments ago and he loved it, especially the black, bomb bird. I quickly glanced outside of the tinted window, eyeing their base – or home. Nothing much had changed, really, so I was glad for that. But still, the giant robot-cars still were in there, almost waiting for me.

I sigh indifferently and open the door, Cody at my heels, "Where are the others?" I chose to ask, looking around for my other cousins that were around my age, but a bit older.

Uncle Burns shrugged and replied, "I suppose they're on a mission. There was something on the news about a black bear getting close to the town this morning. I guess it was true." My eyes open a bit wider and I mutter, "Aren't black bears the friendliest?" Chief Burns shook his head lightly at my city nature and chuckled, "A bear's a bear. When they're hungry, they don't really care what you think about them."

Cody came to my side, smiling, "They just want food!" I blink in surprise, and gave a nervous glance to the woods that barely peeked out from behind the building, "Lovely. I guess you do learn something new every day." My uncle smirked and opened the police car – uh, Chase's trunk and took out my suitcase. I blink and swiftly take action, "I can carry it. You don't need to." He simply waves me off, though, smiling, "I may be old now, but I can certainly pick up luggage, Annabel." I roll my eyes, then smile sheepishly, "Okay…"

My little cousin is soon tugging on my arm again, "Let's go inside! I can show you where I help the team and where you can sleep and…" I tune him out a little, not really looking forward to all the things he can reintroduce me to. I remember most of the building, after all. Cody then proceeded to drag me towards the door and babble "Oh! I know! We can watch a movie. How about 'Rio'? Or maybe we can watch 'The Lorax'!" I smile at my little cousin. I may be terrible with most kids, but Cody was still adorable at this age.

"Do you have any Disney classics?" I ask him, looking around base once we entered.

"Oh! Do you want to see the 'Lion King'? We have the sequel somewhere around here, as well!" Cody blurted out immediately, racing ahead of me. I watch as he rummages through the stack of movie cases in amusement, "Nope. No. Gross – a romance. Who bought that? Oh! I found both of them." My little cousin raises the two movies in victory, ending his commentary. I giggle and clap for him, "Good job, but you might want to take a look at the destruction you left behind." Cody lets out a short, "Hmm?" and turns around, eyeing his damage. Almost every movie was lying on the floor, some cases stretching as far as the couch. His eyes almost bug out and he exclaims, "What? I didn't do all of that!"

I laugh at his rapid reaction and his attempts to shove everything back onto the shelf. Soon, however, Chief Burns arrives at the scene and surveys the mess, "Cody…really?"

His son stands straight up and points at the floor, "There was a little earthquake! You probably didn't feel it because a witch cast a spell on you when you were sleeping. I didn't want to tell you because…I, uh, thought you would…um…get hurt! Yeah, the witch said she'd hurt you! Ah, yeah. That sounds about right." The entire room was deathly silent. I exchange skeptical glances with my uncle, whom was holding my red suitcase.

"I don't know how to answer. I just…what? Where on Earth did you come up with that excuse, Cody?" I asked my little cousin, who was smiling proudly at his announcement. I was almost dumbstruck by his imagination at the moment. I replay his words in my head about several times more, staring at my uncle in confusion. However, Chief Burns is equally confused by his son's statement, so we just stand there in an awkward silence. In the middle of this, my cousin puts the first and original 'Lion King' into the DVD player and plops himself on the couch. Perhaps he just watched a bit too many Sci-Fi movies?

(A/N: Have you ever had a little kid give you an excuse like this? It's adorable to watch them, but seriously! O_O) I shake myself out of my puzzled trance and settle down next to Cody on the couch. I decided to drop the incident altogether and get on with my vacation. No doubt I would tell a close friend about that moment, though. She – being like me, but with a bit more courage – would most likely enjoy hearing the boy's tale of earthquakes and witches. Wow, I think, there's so many mess-ups with that sentence that I don't even want to get started on.

When the movie starts, I can't help but smile when Cody snuggles against my arm. Most boys his age would be embarrassed to do this, so I admired this about him. Though, I never really snuggled much with neither my father nor my mother when I was little. I'm still puzzled why I hated contact between me and others. I guess I wasn't normal. Then again, strange is the new normal nowadays, right? Cody merely sighed, watching as Simba and Nala padded towards the watering hole on the screen, Zazu flying nearby. Soon, my eyes drifted from the screen to the brightly-painted symbol on the wall. Well, that's certainly new, I think, narrowing my eyes in deep thought; I wonder what the symbol means. It almost reminds me of that blasted robot-car. Wait…did they actually paint that in honor of those things? I refuse to worship them!

When I turn my attention back to the movie, I see Mufasa giving his son a little chat. Soon, they were wrestling playfully and I give the screen a warm smile. I missed those times when my dad and I had moments similar to that. What ever happened to those days? I realize that my little cousin is limp against my arm and face him. He's watching the TV screen with longing, "Dad used to play with me like that, but now he's so busy…and he doesn't have the time." I flinch at Cody's statement. He didn't deserve to be ignored. He was a bright kid compared to most. I ruffle his hair a bit in a friendly matter and give him an awkward shoulder-hug, "Cody, your dad still adores you and I know that for a fact. I promise I'll get him to play with you soon, even if it's just a game of catch." Cody smiles and lifts his gaze from the movie ever-so-slightly, "Really? You will?"

I merely nod.

I have to try, after all. How do I know I'm going to fail if I don't even bother trying?

By now, Simba was prancing around with Nala and the infamous 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' song was playing at a soothing pace. Cody was resting against my arm, his eyes half-closed.

Out of nowhere, rather obnoxious yelling erupted from the doorway and I hear the squealing of tires against the cement floor. Cody, startled by the sudden noise, jumps up from the couch and gives the source a rather hazy look, rubbing his eyes, "Kade," he groaned in protest, "you're way too loud." Timidly, I turn around and notice my oldest cousin, Kade Burns leaping from his fire truck, whooping in joy despite his little brother's complaint. Ah, I had heard plenty of information about his new vehicle from my uncle. The fire truck seemed quite advanced and perhaps even a little different from the ones I normally would see…perhaps that thing was a freaking robot, as well?

A green bulldozer had also pulled in, and just by looking at it I could only imagine what kinds of stunts it could pull off. The vehicle came to a peaceful stop and the engine could be heard powering down as my other male cousin, Graham Burns, stepped out, nonchalantly adjusting his glasses and tucking his trusty hard hat under his arm, "We all participated in that mission, so don't hog all of the credit, Kade." I watched in silent amusement as Kade ran a few fingers through his thick, fire-like hair, his pale brown eyes narrowed as he clearly wanted to retort. My cousin, Graham, looked the same since I had last seen him. From his mousey-blonde hair to his nerdy black glasses that covered his deep brown eyes (A/N: When I first saw Graham's glasses the first actual word to pop into my head was 'hipster'. Is that a bad thing? ^^') .

"Cat got your tongue, Kade?" a teasing voice arises from the staircase and I see my only female cousin, Dani step down from the last step, stretching. Her dark brown hair was slicked back from the wind so I could only guess she flew more often nowadays. Her chocolate-brown eyes glistened in mischief as Kade bristled in anger. In an attempt to make myself known I prop both my arms up on the couch I was sitting on and cocked an eyebrow, "Do you guys still fight like this every day?" I ask, but the sentence sounded as if it were forced out due to my awkwardness.

Inwardly, I smirked in justice as all three of their heads whipped to my direction in shock. Their faces were absolutely priceless. Graham had literally jumped at the first few syllables and bumped into his favored bulldozer, "What the heck? Who was…Anna?" I was a bit stunned at his swift reaction, but managed to sheepishly wave and murmur, "Uh, how's it going?" A full-out smile suddenly crossed Dani's face and she ran over to hug me, "Hah! It's been forever since I last saw you!" Her arms enveloped me, and then she gave me a playful smirk, "So, there's going to be another girl at base now, huh?" Kade moaned in the background, his once-proud posture slumping, "God help us all…"

"There is a bit too much male ego hanging around here." Dani claims, eyeing her siblings. Graham merely put his hands up in the air in surrender as he walked near us to greet me. Out of all my cousins, I had to admit I got along better with Graham due to our equal smarts and personalities. Kade muttered something under his breath before also coming over, "It would be rude to not say hello, wouldn't it?"

"I missed you, too, Kade." I giggle softly. After numerous visits I had figured out my eldest cousin and I knew this was his special way of saying hi. Dani plopped down on the couch next to Cody, causing him to squirm closer to me for more room, "So, how's life in the Big Apple?"

I sigh, recalling my home, but refuse to let homesickness overwhelm me, "It's way too hot, and Times Square gets a bit too busy for my liking, but I can deal with it." Cody, after living in a tight-knit community his entire life, couldn't help but ask, "How busy does it get?" I smirk at my little cousin, and reply, "Busy to the point where you're shoulder-to-shoulder with random people and you have to swerve to dodge others. In the city no one will move for you, it's almost like a showdown to see who will cower and avoid the person first." Cody winces at my words in horror, obviously imagining the average New Yorker lifestyle, "How do you survive?" I simply shrug and retort with a smile, "I walk, find the nearest hot dog and water stand for nourishment, and walk some more." Kade laughs at this, but it was damn true. That was basic life, and if you had enough change left over from lunch, you'd go and get some frozen yogurt or whatever.

"It's true! I swear!" I exclaim desperately at my chuckling cousins, "and don't bother asking me how those stupid businessmen walk around in their suits and ties all day long without breaking a sweat! I'm pretty sure that they're super heroes or something!" Cody blinked in surprise at my outburst, but my older cousins already expected this sort of behavior from me. Underneath all that shyness, they knew I had a bubbly side of me, even if it made extremely rare appearances. Chief Burns interrupted our fun by stepping into the room, smiling, and said, "I hope you're having fun, kiddos."

My eyes widened at his new attire. He was wearing his infamous Hula-girl apron. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered whatever happened to his numerous other aprons. Such as the "Kiss the Chef" apron or even the yellow one that had a pixelated black mustache on it. Whereas I was struggling to contain my laughter at my uncle's antics, my cousins had pure poker faces. Suddenly, a warm, sweet scent filled my nose and I feel my mouth water slightly. What was that? Dani, however, took the words straight from my mouth, "What's cooking?" Kade and Graham had leaned over the couch and were both trying to peek into the kitchen out of curiosity. Their father stepped in front of their vision, though, and I swear I could see him smirking under that bushy mustache, "It's a Burns special." I'm quite sure that this got all of our undivided attention.

"Special?" Cody repeats the word, "what kind of special? Like…a special stuffed with sugar?"

"You'll all find out soon enough." Chief Burns merely stated before stepping back into the kitchen with his mustache pulled upwards as he smiled at our sudden dramatic silence.

"…I hope he finishes the 'special' soon." Kade mutters, also being tormented by the amazing scent of food.

"Amen!" Dani murmurs rather loudly.

I smile and giggle silently at their hypnotized expressions.


CupcakeMaster: Ahhhhh~ it's actually done, bros! I mean, friends...erm...I blame PewDiePie and Cry for that.

Annabel: That...that was fun, I guess.

Holly: Oh my God! You mentioned me, girl, thank you! Annabel, I'm going to be your bro and I promise that you will be subscribed to PewDiePie by the end of this hour. That is my goal!

Annabel: O_O Help me?

CupcakeMaster: Meh, I'm sorry, she's like that. You get used to it quickly, though.

Anyways...

I'd like to explain a couple of things in this weird, little chapter. First of all, the whole scene with Cody and the mess of movies was inspired by something that actually happened to me about a year ago. I felt that it would fit with the scene...or at least seem appropriate. I was at my friend's house and her little sister knocked over a stack of her video games when chasing the cat around. The words Cody says are an exact replica of those spoken by my friend's little sister, just so you know. Next, I've never lived in a city, but whenever I visit New York City that is how it is for me. I'm terribly sorry if it is not like that for you, but I was just writing down my very own experiences. ^^' Heh, heh...

Jesus, Holly! Don't use 'le glomp' on poor Anna! D:

Holly: Oh, um... *Drops Annabel* Sorry about that, bro. Uh, CupcakeMaster doesn't own 'Transformers: Rescue Bots', but she does own Annabel and I.

Annabel: *Laying on floor, limp* Review, favorite, and don't be afraid to critique us, dear readers...uh, I think you may have broken some of my bones, Holly...

Holly: ...Scrap.