Thanks for the awesome reviews, you guys make me laugh. I'm glad that you're all enjoying this fic, it's been a lot of fun. I also want to apologize for the long wait, I was ten pages into chapter 4 when I realized that another plot bunny had it going in the wrong direction. I had to start it over again. Please enjoy!

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Chapter 4

***

Sarah stared out the window after she had finished talking to Will, watching Ratchet work on Ironhide's side. Whatever he was doing made the black robot squirm and occasionally laugh. Not robot, she corrected herself, but Autobot. As in sentient and intelligent life not from earth. She had aliens on her lawn.

As she watched, Ironhide carefully rolled onto his back, giving Ratchet room to work on an area towards his front. Ironhide watched the other work for a while, then lifted his hand and gently touched Ratchet's face.

"Love you," Ironhide said simply.

Ratchet's serious expression softened and he briefly nuzzled Ironhide's hand. "Love you too, you fragger," he said. "Now, let me finish before Will's mate wakes up and we scare her."

'Too late,' Sarah thought, belatedly realizing that Ratchet must have pulled the car seat out of Ironhide so he could change shape.

She watched them for a few more minutes, then did a quick check on the still sleeping Annabelle. Then she headed downstairs, and out the back door.

***

Ironhide saw her first. "Oh slag!" he said, and while Sarah didn't know the word, she was sure by the way he said it that it was a cussword.

"Now what?" Ratchet asked in exasperation, looking up. "Oh."

The three of them stared at each other; none of them quite sure what to say. Then Ratchet's eyes narrowed and he jabbed the tool in his hand at her.

"Will told you!" he said with conviction.

Sarah crossed her arms to hide her nervousness. "Kind of hard not to when there's giant robots wrestling in the yard," she said bravely.

"Mechs," Ratchet corrected, already focused back on his work. "If this stubborn glitch had just cooperated, you wouldn't have seen anything."

"Hey," Ironhide protested, and tried to sit up. "I told you it could wait."

Ratchet pushed him back down. "So you're a medic now, hm? Tell me," he said, hand darting into Ironhide's side, "what does this do?"

Sarah darted back several feet as Ironhide howled with laughter and tried to squirm away. "Ratchet! You slagger!"

"Wrong!" Ratchet said gleefully, and planted an elbow on Ironhide's chest and pinned him to the ground as he renewed his attack.

Sarah found herself laughing at them, and what little fear she had left dissipated.

Ironhide finally admitted defeat. "I give, I give!"

"Swear it!" Ratchet demanded.

"You're the medic and I'll never argue with you again!"

"Hah!" Ratchet released him and Ironhide sprawled across the ground in relief. Ratchet snagged on of the pieces of black armor he had set aside earlier, and began attaching it back to its proper place on the large black mech.

"Slagger," Ironhide said with gruff affection, then turned his full attention on her.

"The medic with no manners is Ratchet," he said, then grinned as Ratchet thumped his shoulder. "I'm Ironhide, Autobot Weapons Specialist." He stretched his right hand out towards her, palm up.

Sarah blankly looked at the hand for a few seconds before realizing what he wanted. She hesitantly placed her hand on his forefinger, awed by the sheer size of him, then grinned in amazement as he carefully shook her hand.

"I'm Sarah," she said. "Welcome to Earth."

At that exact moment, Annabelle decided to announce to the world that she was awake and wanted to be changed right now. Sarah sighed, but both Autobots looked towards the house.

"Is she malfunctioning?" Ratchet asked, concerned.

Sarah just grinned as Ironhide snorted and said, "The only thing malfunctioning are my audio sensors. Primus, human young are loud!"

"Not as loud as your cannons," Ratchet said.

"Hey!" Ironhide protested and Sarah shook her head and headed inside as the bickering continued. 'Old married couple,' she thought.

***

One thing led to another, and by the time she had Annabelle's morning routine taken care of, a truck was pulling into her driveway.

Sarah ran to the window to warn Ratchet and Ironhide, but the two hardly glanced at the truck that slowly came down the driveway. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized the pickup. It was Epps; he had Fig in the front passenger seat and Will sentenced to the cramped extended cab.

Epps parked between the picnic tables and the fire pit to unload the large haul of party supplies. Will scrambled free from the backseat, carrying a folder with classified stamped across the front.

He immediately hugged her. "I'm so sorry about all this. They weren't supposed to show themselves unless it was an emergency."

Sarah gave a strained little laugh. "Well, it's definitely been an interesting week."

"Hey!" Fig yelled from the truck. "Someone get me my crutches so I can get outta here."

"Have a little patience man," Epps said, and dug through the stuff in the bed of the truck. He unearthed the crutches and helped Fig get out without jarring his bad leg.

"Forget patience! I want to see those beauties before he puts them away." Fig made a beeline for Ironhide. Epps followed right on his heels as soon as he realized what Fig was talking about.

Sarah stared. Ironhide and Ratchet were seated on the ground, now conducting repairs on two huge pieces of machinery on Ironhide's arms. As she watched, Ironhide partially collapsed one down into his arm, then brought it up again as Ratchet asked questions about how it was functioning.

"Will," Sarah asked, her eyes wide. "Are those cannons?"

"Yeah," Will said with a bit of gun lust. "You wouldn't believe some of the weaponry these guys have."

Sarah swallowed, suddenly realizing that she didn't just have aliens in her yard, she had alien soldiers.

"Come inside," Will said. "I've got paperwork for you."

***

Sarah sat at her kitchen table and read then signed several forms, feeling the absolutely surreal nature of the last few days hit her at last. Will sat across from her, fiddling with one of Annabelle's toys as he waited.

She signed the last page, thinking about several of the non-human names she had read. Optimus Prime. Megatron. Bumblebee. Starscream.

"My god, Will. How many of them are there?"

"On Earth? Eight Autobots and one known Decepticon in hiding. On their way?" Will shrugged. "Could be a few, could be thousands. Prime sent out a signal calling his people to earth. Their world is dying, and they're scattered across the galaxy. He hopes they'll find a new start here."

Sarah straightened the pile of paperwork and thought about the last week. "The government's not going to be able to hide them for long."

"No," Will agreed. "They're having a hell of a time trying to spin what happened at Mission City. People aren't really swallowing the top secret weapons testing gone wrong angle that we've been leaking to get public reaction. We've been real lucky that the Autobots have equipment that scrambles any recordings or photographs taken of them; but too many people saw what happened and we can't keep Mission City under lockdown for much longer. We can't shuffle this one under the rug."

Sarah abandoned the pile of paperwork and twisted the pen in her hands. "When are they going public?"

Will took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Monday. We've done what we can, it's now in the President's hands."

The pen dropped and rolled across the table, bumping into the salt shaker. "Well," Sarah finally said, mentally grabbing for something to say. "Now I understand why you guys didn't want to wait for a party. It could be months before things settle down again."

Will nodded and smiled. "All the more reason to party while we can."

Rolling her eyes, Sarah leaned back in her seat and studied her husband's face. "What else?" she finally asked. "I don't think you guys would have me fill out this much paperwork for something the world is going to find out about anyways."

"Yeah." Will nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "This wasn't my idea, but I'm good with it if you are."

Sarah just looked at him, waiting.

"Right now," he started slowly, "the Autobots are staying in a hanger we emptied at the base. But with the latest batch of arrivals, space is getting tight. They're too big to keep cooped up all day long. And we really can't turn all the hangers into a motel for Autobots either."

"Oh, I can see where this is going," Sarah interrupted. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, we've got the room. It would only be for a few, probably the injured. They need to lay in the sun, the solar energy their bodies make helps with repairs. And they'll be moving on as soon as the government figures out what land they want to give them."

Sarah took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I need to think about this," she finally said. "And I want to meet the ones that would be staying here first."

Will grinned impishly. "Shouldn't be a problem. They're all coming today."

Sarah's jaw dropped. "All of them?"

Will's grin widened.

***

They arrived a few minutes later, a convoy of vehicles that must have gotten second looks on the road. Two SUV's and a truck arrived first; Sarah recognized them as vehicles owned by some of Will's men. Several of the passengers, however, were new faces and Sarah was sure that a few of those were civilians. They pulled off the road and parked. Sarah, who was standing on the porch with Will, waived at them, but most of her attention was for the vehicles that followed.

A police cruiser led the way, followed by a blue and red semi pulling a flatbed trailer. The flatbed had two large, tarp covered, objects on it. Two cars of the same model brought up the rear; one was a striking yellow, the other a brilliant red. They all drove around the side of the house, heading to the picnic area where Ironhide and Ratchet were curiously watching the party preparations and asking questions.

"Are those Lamborghinis?" Sarah asked in awe.

Will laughed. "Yup." He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Let's go say hi."

***

The three smaller vehicles transformed immediately. The cop car's doors sat high on his shoulders like a small pair of wings. Sarah had half expected the two Lamborghinis to look the same, but she quickly realized they had many differences, though they were of a similar height and build.

All three turned to the semi. The yellow Lamborghini helped Ironhide unhook the flatbed while the other two and Ratchet began pulling off the tarps. There were two more Autobots on the flatbed, another yellow one with wings like the cop car, and a silver one that was the smallest mech she'd seen yet.

The semi pulled forward a few feet once it was free of the flatbed. Its doors gently swung open and two teenagers, a boy and a girl, climbed out. They both moved stiffly, the boy especially, like they were recovering from injuries.

"Hey Sam! Mikaela!" Will called out in greeting. He quickly introduced them to Sarah.

"Not taking your pain pills?" he asked them.

"No way," Sam said. "I want to be awake for this."

"Me too," Mikaela added. "This is one party I'm not going to miss."

"What happened?" Sarah asked, and almost wished she hadn't when they told her they had bruises and strained muscles from running around smack dab in the middle of the fight in Mission City.

A shadow fell over them and Sarah turned to look up at the tallest Autobot she'd seen yet.

The semi carefully kneeled before them. "Do not worry, Captain Lennox. Ratchet will see to it that they are taken care of."

Both teens made unhappy faces, but Sarah noticed that they both respected the big mech enough to not make an issue about it.

"Sarah," Will said with a big smile, "I would like to introduce you to Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

Optimus carefully touched her outstretched hand with one finger and made a small bow in greeting. "A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Lennox," he said. "Thank you for inviting us."

Sarah grinned at him. This one had manners. "The pleasure is all mine. And you can call me Sarah."

"Sarah, please allow me to apologize for my men. Ratchet and Ironhide were supposed to remain hidden until matters with your government were resolved and Will could introduce you."

She waived the apology away. "It's been a crazy couple of days, but I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Thank you," Optimus said sincerely, then turned to introduce her to the others.

***

The cop car, Prowl, was actually the Autobot second in command and their head tactician. He seemed quite serious, but there was a sly humor in his face and Jazz, the third in command, seemed quite happy to have Prowl sitting next to him on the flatbed. They were waiting for Ratchet to finish examining Bumblebee.

Optimus had introduced the three new mechs to her and apologized for the twins' absence. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who were brothers of some sort, had already run off to track down some of Will's men and start a paintball game. Ironhide had followed them to "Keep the younglings in line." That sounded ominous to Sarah; she just hoped they stayed away from the house.

Jazz had given her a winning smile when Optimus introduced him. "Hello, pretty lady," he greeted, his voice playful seduction and interest.

"Hey!" Will warned good naturedly and pulled her closer. "The pretty lady is taken."

Jazz just grinned unrepentantly. "I'm taken too," he said, and reached for Prowl's hand, tugging him closer.

Sarah watched the two mechs with amusement and a tinge of sadness. She wondered if anyone had told the Autobots about humanity's wildly varying views of homosexuality, especially if they were going to be hanging around the military. Then she wondered if they were really as male as they seemed to be. For all she knew, they had no sexual orientation.

"Alright," Ratchet said, and ended his examination of Bumblebee's legs.

The smaller mech made a hopeful noise.

"Yes, you can use them," Ratchet started to say, then held up his hand to keep Bumblebee from standing up. "But," he stressed, "you can only walk. No running, jogging, jumping or transforming. Your systems need a few more days to integrate the welds."

Bumblebee nodded, and then said in a strained and static laden voice, "Thanks Ratchet." He carefully stood and headed towards the two teenagers, who Epps had slicing tomatoes for the burgers.

Ratchet turned his attention to Jazz. Sarah watched him poke, prod, and scan the mass of welds across the silver mech's chest.

"You-" Ratchet started.

"-are a mess," Jazz finished. "And I'm going to stay a mess until you get your hands on some supplies. Let it go for today, Ratchet. Please?"

Ratchet stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. "Scram. Before I change my mind."

Prowl carefully picked Jazz up and headed towards the crowd gathered around the picnic tables. Jazz quietly hung on, and Sarah was left with the impression that for all of his upbeat behavior, he was in very bad shape. She looked from Will, to Optimus, to Ratchet. "Is he going to be okay?"

Ratchet snorted. "As okay as any of us are."

"Ratchet," Optimus warned with fond exasperation.

"I call it like I see it. If you want a diplomat," Ratchet crossed his arms, "find another mech."

"But I have you," Optimus said simply. Sarah thought he looked very smug, like he was planning something. Beside her, Will coughed to cover a laugh. Ratchet caught on too.

"Slag no," he said.

"You disobeyed a direct order to remain hidden unless there was an emergency," Optimus said firmly. "Fixing some loose wiring in Ironhide is not an emergency. Since you've had two very long weeks repairing all of us, I'm willing to give you a choice. You spend a few weeks helping Prowl and me with diplomatic matters with the humans, or a year helping Sunstreaker repair and maintain his precious paint job."

Ratchet stared at Optimus, aghast. "That's not a choice, you fragger!" He stomped off, heading towards the trees where Ironhide and the other paintball players had last been seen.

"Dust off your diplomatic programming," Optimus called after him.

Sarah stared in disbelief as Ratchet flipped the finger at Optimus over his shoulder. Will just laughed out loud.

Optimus knelt to talk to them again. He caught sight of her expression and smiled. "Don't worry. It's not as bad as he's making it out to be. Before the war, Ratchet was one of Cybertron's most respected senators and an accomplished diplomat. He just gave me an opportunity to make him help without the usual avoidance and protests."

"He's going to make you pay," Will said.

Optimus's expression turned rueful. "Of that, I have no doubt."

Sarah just shook her head at the whole situation.

"Will," Optimus asked. "Have you had a chance to talk to Sarah about Ironhide's proposal?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Ironhide was the one who proposed having some of you stay here?"

"Yeah," Will answered before Optimus could. "Apparently, he likes it here. Says it's a good place to rest and heal."

"Oh," Sarah said, and thought about that for a second. "Could I give you an answer tomorrow?" she asked Optimus. "This would be a very big change and I'd like a chance to think about it."

"Of course," Optimus said, completely understanding. "Meanwhile, I believe we are missing out on the fun."

Sarah looked to the picnic tables where two grills were set up. Epps was throwing steaks on one grill while Fig leaned over Sam's shoulder and tried to take over the cooking of the hamburgers. Sam valiantly fended him off with a spatula. Will saw this as well and cursed as he jogged over to manage the chaos. Sarah's stomach growled and she realized that she had completely missed breakfast.

Optimus laughed. He gestured with his hand for her to go first.

Sarah led the way, wondering what else this day would have in store for her.

tbc

There's one more long chapter coming, in which there are party antics and Sarah makes a decision. P.S. Party antic ideas are welcome.