I shrugged apologetically after the comment and sat up, watching her walk down the pavement toward the car. I know I'm not ugly, I'm actually a little pretty, but Mikaela always looked like she stepped off the runway, even in her boho-chic. Jean cut-offs that made her legs go on for miles, a white cotton mesh tank top that almost covered the shorts, and a bright red bikini on under it. She had Grecian-style gold sandals on to top it off, a thick gold bracelet jangling from one bracelet with matching earrings. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. I actually prefer her hair in a ponytail. Makes her neck look longer.

"Hey," Sam said casually, trying to be the cool hipster he wasn't and never would be.

"Hay hay," I greeted as she slipped into the passenger seat, tossing her big purse in the floor. "Wait, you've got a smudge..."

She offered her shoulder while I wiped away a grease smudge. She smiled tiredly into the backseat. "Thanks. My dad's had me scrubbing grease off the floor all morning to earn going today. Oh, that's right. Happy Birthday, Rachel."

"Thaaaank you! Sam hasn't even told me happy birthday. But... Wow, you'd think..."

"Her dad doesn't know," Sam injected, backing Bumblebee up out of the parking lot and back into traffic. "Y'know. Keeping it as hush-hush as possible."

"Doesn't help that he's a retired felon," Mikaela smirked wryly, fixing her ponytail. "Important information to leak to a convict."

"He sounds nice enough," I piped up. Her dad had been out for almost a month already and had been doting on Mikaela ever since. I guess prison time works on some people. Who knew, right? I didn't. "I'm still not hearing a happy birthday..."

Her face, from what I could see in the backseat, softened marginally. "He's been okay. We'll see."

"Uh, so!" Sam tried lightening the mood again. "Happy Birthday, Rachel, now stop being a whiny blonde. Bumblebee, some tunes?"

About thirty miles outside of Mission City, between it and the Hoover Dam where all the drama had gone down, the USAF had set up the Autobots with a temporary set-up until they could finish some big plans on a bunker for them, which they were calling the NEST project. Or was the actual organization called NEST? I dunno.

Sam called their current residence pre-NEST. I know, imaginative kid, right? I called it the Tent. Because that's basically what it was. Three enormous white tents set up down a dusty road that the military team we had worked with against Megatron frequented. Others had been added to the team, though I hadn't been out to see any of them yet. College put on hold, Basic Training coming up, still working parttime and keeping track of Mom so she didn't do anything stupid, it all kept me busy, especially with Jazzie coming into the picture. The reprieve of having the government take care of her debt and bills hadn't lasted. I don't know why she wasn't happy. She had a boyfriend, though I was guessing he was more of a stand-in for Brian.

I guess Bumblebee wasn't too familiar with the place either, seeing as how he was Sam's guardian and stayed with him. Ironhide met us at the turn-off and led the way. It seemed a little too... I dunno. Just not enough for such important beings as these. But I guess the military was planning on making up for it. They'd better.

The dry air made me wish I'd worn daisy duke's like Mikaela, but I don't tan as nicely as she does, so.

"Optimus! Ratchet!" I jumped up and down and hugged the leader of the Autobot's foot. It'd been a while since I last saw them. The metal against my cheek was cool in the shadow of the biggest tent.

Optimus let out a gravelly chuckle. "It's good to see you again, Rachel."

"Ditto! I missed you guys. Ratchet? Not a charge addict now, are you?"

"Ah, no." He rubbed the back of his thick metal neck in the universal symbol for 'my bad'. He cleared his throat. "Welcome to our humble abode."

I glanced around. It wasn't dirt beneath my feet, like I'd been expecting, and the tents weren't plastic, like I'd pictured. Hard mats of what looked like a tennis court without the painted boxes were under our feet, the fabric of the tent being a heavy canvas that was used in actual military tents. The place was strewn with technology, one section wholly devoted to looking like a NASA control room. Mixed in with it, on the other side, was a lounge area that mixed open space for the Autobots with couches for the human teammates surrounding an enormous flatscreen that was longer than Bumblebee as a camaro. It looked like it was hooked up to not only a hi-tech computer, but a PS3, an X-Box, and a Wii. Of course. What else do humans do when we're bored? Read? Pff~ not after we escape high school.

"Wow, this is a nice set-up. Nothing humble to it."

Sam and Mikaela were swarmed with seven of the military men stationed with the Autobots, some not having ever met the savior of the planet. I wondered briefly why they didn't approach me, too, because yes, I helped, then noticed the way one guy, probably a few years older than me, gave Optimus a leery glance. A few other faces looked surprised at my willing touching of the big guy, too. That explained it. What wusses. Though, to be fair, Optimus looked just as surprised as they were. Did Autobots not hug?

"Bumblebee tells me you've recently welcomed another member of your family."

I beamed up at Optimus. "Jazz. Yeah. She's adorable."

"Thank you."

I blinked and flushed in embarrassment. "Well, y'know. It kind of fits. She's adorably full of herself, too."

He and Ratchet both chuckled at that.

"Hey, Rachel! These guys want to hear about your mad driving skills!"

I waved at Sam in acknowledgement, gave the two bots a salute, then ran over to join them. Bumblebee had transformed and entered the circus tent, Ironhide behind him. The whole setting gave me the same feeling that Sam's household gave me. I felt at home.

I glanced around briefly, then frowned up at Ironhide. "Where'd the twins go?"

"Hmph. The children," and he stressed the word, "are sulking behind the mess tent."

"Sulking?"

"Jealously becomes them."

I just stared. Optimus joined the conversation. "They needed to learn a lesson."

"The moronic brothers broke into a dealership to find 'wicked badass' disguises," Ironhide growled, arms crossed.

"Optimus kindly suggested a vehicle to better suit their positions," Ratchet offered, an amused smirk in his voice.

Sam looked up. "What vehicle?"

Bumblebee started laughing, grinding really. I grinned in confusion and mirrored Ironhide's arm cross. What was so funny? All military heads ducked down to hide gleeful snickers and coughs. Mikaela, Sam and I looked around at each other in confusion. What was SO funny?

Two seconds later we could hear familiar arguing from outside the tent. Familiar to me, anyway. I rushed over and swung the tent flap open, eyes bright. "Hey, guys-!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Sitting in front of the tent was a lonely, beat up little ice cream truck. It was eerily silent with my greeting. I lowered the tent flap slowly, then turned and looked up at a smug Optimus. "You. Are so bad."

Gears and limbs formed in a rush of sound outside before the tent flap was thrown wide open. "Who you tellin'! This is cruel and unusual punishment, hoss! How we s'pose to pick up honies lookin' like this?"

Ironhide rumbled with dark laughter. Skids cringed a little, sidestepping to let Mudflap join the party. I think I was getting the two of them right, anyway.

"Whoa. Bro. Lookit the legs on that one."

Mikaela blushed under the scrutiny and flashed a nervous grin, fingers plucking at her shorts. "Hi. I'm Mikaela."

"Cool it, guys." I pointed a thumb at a scowling Sam. "That's Sam. That's his girl. And he's the guy who beat Megatron."

Their optics widened, and they both unisoned, "Oooooh."

"Sorry, bro. Won't happen again."

"My spark's already taken, anyway." One of the twins clapped his hands and batted his metallic lids at me. "By the shortie that saved my ass from ol' cannon boss."

Okay. So that was Skids. I was right. I plucked the shoulder of my shirt and sniffed. "That's right. Worship me."

"I'm Sam. Please don't flirt with the blonde. You know blondes. Makes their heads implode."

I punched his arm. "Shut up."

"Hey, now. Throwin' punches already, Rach?"

"Lennox!" Sam and the newly arrived Lennox shared one of those half-hug-half-back-slaps and shook hands.

"Sam, Mikaela, cadet. Nice hair."

"You can call me Rachel, y'know," I said as he hugged Mikaela, then me.

"You could take that ASVAB, y'know," Lennox smirked and gave my shoulder a smack.

I shrugged helplessly. "I'm working on it. I'm more of a coward than you'd think."

"Pain is just weakness leaving the body," he grinned, giving Optimus a salute and both of us girls little hugs. "You'll get use to it. Epps!"

"Isn't that the Marines?"

Lennox ignored me.

"I'm comin'. We off duty, don't you be bossin' me around, now."

Sure enough, Epps poked his da rk head through the tent flap next. "Someone wanna help me get this shit out here? Girl, the fuck did you do to yo head?"

I sniffed and ignored him.

Sam jogged out to help while everyone else bullshitted around, Lennox making a big show of relieving everyone from duty for the day. It didn't take long before the twins were flanking Mikaela and I. She found a safe place to stash her purse, and we followed them outside. It was actually a good location for something so top-secret. The NASA set-up in the big tent was for radar, both for keeping the perimeter secure and for tracking stray Decepticons all across the globe. The three tents were set up in a small canyon, the big tent against the back of the groove in the earth, with the bunker tent to the left and the mess tent to the right.

Someone started up music in the big tent while we scuffled our way through the dirt and towards the mess hall. I know I'd just had cereal an hour and a half before, but all the excitement called for something salty.

"Whatcha got back there, cookie?"

The hispanic soldier cleaning behind the metal counter pointed a soapie spatula at me in warning. "DON'T call me cookie, chica. Don't. What're you two doing in here, anyway?"

"We're here for the party," Mikaela smiled, sauntering up to the counter and leaning over on her hands in the way that squished her cleavage together. "You sure you don't have something for us, chef?"

I turned my back and bit my knuckle to keep from laughing. I had to love Mikaela. Had to. Maybe that was why my punk friends had stopped calling. They didn't understand why I was hanging around the beauty queen we had all at one point mocked in jealously. Yeah, even I had done it. And I felt guilty about it at some random points when I thought about it. That whole don't judge a book by it's cover? Too true.

We exited the mess hall with arms loaded with bags of chips and boxes of Cheez-Its. I already had one Cheez-Its box open, popping them into my mouth as Mikaela preened. She deserved it. The cook was tripping over himself to let us scour the snack pantry.

Mikaela was carrying two boxes of Coke with us. Somebody had to stay sober, I thought as we watched Epps and Sam slip into the main tent with a box of Crown Royal and miscellaneous containers of other alcohol. I could kind of see the point in a party. We hadn't really celebrated the defeat of Megatron properly, just visited multiple hospitals and slept a month away. At least I had.

"How're things going with your dad?" I asked.

"It's... going good." She stopped sauntering and smiled softly. "I never thought I'd see the day he didn't talk about the next big snag."

"Good. I'm glad. Parents should always be willing to change for their kids' sakes."

"What about... your dad?" she asked slowly, holding the flap open with one arm for me to slide under.

"What about him?" I muttered, skipping around Ironhide's big foot to set the armload down on an empty table. I sighed and looked up at her as she set the soda down. "He's never been much of a dad. So I don't really miss him. I didn't need a father figure to become a tomboy." I laughed. "I had to become one to keep Sam from getting beat up."

She smiled and bumped shoulders with me. "You're right. You jumped into an alien war without him. You took down a Decepticon without him-"

"Oh, yeah, I didn't help," Lennox scoffed as he walked by.

"Eavesdroppers go to hell," I shouted at him as he walked away.

Mikaela grinned, then turned back to me. "Not just you. We both did pretty well for ourselves depending on just ourselves."

"Amen."

We set up the bags and boxes neatly. It'd probably be ruined by some drunkard crashing into the table later.

"What about your mom?" I hazarded, figuring we were bonding and it'd be safe to ask.

"I don't know." Mikaela curled a lip and shrugged, dropping into one of the couches by the Mega-TV as the conversations around us buzzed. "She left me with Dad when I was still little. I stayed with an aunt while he was locked up."

"Lucky," I joked mildly, sitting on the arm of the couch next to her and glancing around at all the people and bots taking the time to just relax for once. "Did anybody bring fireworks?"

At the loudly asked question, several hands shot up, including Sam's. I blinked. "What? Where'd you put them?"

"They're outside. I kept 'em in Bumblebee's trunk."

I snorted and tried to cover it by turning around. I just got the very lovely image of fireworks shooting out of Bumblebee's ass. Yeah, it'd always be hard for me to act my age when I wasn't under threat of losing my life by a big Decepticon hand.

"HEY! Smoke outside!"

I looked up in surprise where one of the soldiers was pointing me out from the crowd. I rolled my eyes and slid off the couch, box of smokes and lighter going back into my back pocket. "I'll be right back Mikaela."

"'Kay."

I sat on a flat rock outside, a few yards away from the camp. The twins joined me. Oh joy.

"'Sup, lil' mama."

I flicked a wave up at Skids, then Mudflap. "'Sup guys. Behaving?"

"Slipped away from Ironhide and his damn toys fo' a bit," Mudflap huffed, dropping to the ground in a cross-legged position that rattled the rock under me. "Whatchu got there?"

"Cigarette. Human vice. Wanna try it?"

I managed to maneuver his big fingertips for him so he didn't crush it, then watched curiously as he took a drag. I had no idea Autobots could smoke. They probably couldn't. It took electricity to get Ratchet high. Something told me they were desperate to look badass in their ice cream truck garb.

He went into a coughing fit. Apparently they couldn't. I started laughing. "You would never be able to handle weed, bro."

"Shoot," he coughed, waving his empty hand around. "I can handle anything you toss at me, suga."

"That's why you coughin' up a circuit after one hit," Skids guffawed, managing to swipe the cigarette away without crushing it and taking a long drag that used up the rest of it. "That's how ya do it, boy. Motherboard over matter, know what I'm sayin'?"

I slid three sticks from the pack, then tossed the rest of the box to them. "Here. You guys have fun with that. I'mma go find Bumblebee."

"Oooh!" they cooed, whether it was at me or the pack of cigarettes I had no idea. Bumblebee was helping dig a little hole for the fireworks with Ratchet, setting up five holes in a row by just digging one finger into the earth a little bit.

"How much do we have?" I asked, standing with my legs spread wide and surveying their handy work. My eyes kept straying to the big yellow bot and my chest fluttered happily. Crushes are frustrating. No wonder I'd never had one.

"Almost everyone contributed," Ratchet supplied, smacking his hands together to dispel the dirt.

"We gonna set this world on fire!" Bumblebee crowed with his radio.

"Better not. Where would ya'll go next?"

"You'll have to forgive Bumblebee," Ratchet smirked as the camaro danced in place. "He's rather excited to see them for himself. The concept has only been showed to us through images and videos from the Web."

"Chinese ingenuity at it's best."

Burn. Sorry China.

"What about yourself, Rachel?"

"Hm? Oh, I love the Fourth of July. Patriotism all the way. Hope somebody brought sparklers."

"Sparklers?"

"Little handheld stick fireworks that shoot colored sparks. They're really for kids, but I love writing in the air with them."

"Rachel, Ratchet, Bee! Come on, we're doing a toast!"

"With what?" I shouted back at Sam.

"What do you think!"

"Coming!" I sing-songed. I looked up at Bumblebee. "Hup hup."

Bumblebee held the flap back for Ratchet and me to enter, where already the humans of the camp were in a circle around the snack table with shot glasses in hand. Optimus, Ironhide and the twins were already there, watching the proceeds in avid curiosity.

"Here." Epps handed me a shot, then wagged a finger in my face. "Lennox already told the others, but after tonight, we don't condone no underaged drinking." He winked. "Izzat understood?"

I saluted him with my shot. "Sir, yes, sir."

"Alright, everyone listen up!"

The buzz of conversation dulled as Lennox hopped up onto a chair to address the whole of the tent. He held his own tall glass of golden liquid aloft, eyes sweeping the room. "We're here for a few reasons tonight. To welcome new comrades-" He held his glass up to the twins in acknowledgement. "-To remember old ones-" he did the same action towards Optimus, who's optics narrowed and glowed. "And to salute the country, and the planet, we've all sacrificed so much for. So tonight, we remember Jazz. We remember the men and women who have died for this country. And we honor the Autobots, for everything they've done for us, for everything they've given up, to protect our world. Happy late Fourth of July, guys."

There was a chorus of ''OO-RAHS" and shouts and clapping from humans and Autobots alike, then everyone threw back their shots. Sam in front of me started hacking. I clapped a hand between his shoulders, which did more harm than good, as it was meant to.

"Careful there, kid. Don't hurt yourself."

"Shut-up-Rachel," he groused between coughs.

Mikaela handled hers smoothly, which was a bit of a surprise. I never would've pegged her for a drinker.

Lennox slammed his cup on the table as he hopped down and looked at the soldiers next. "Alright, guys, the other base won't be taking over for us until 0-18, so get back to work. Kids, just sit around and chill."

If it had been anybody else they would have protested. Like true soldiers, they all snapped back to their posts at the computer screens with muttered curses that were pitched low so Lennox couldn't hear.

I didn't know what else to do to pass the time, so I took another shot of Crown Royal, then commandeered the X-Box. Sam joined me soon after, practically glowing. In a good mental way, not the drunk way.

"Lovin' this interplanetary camaraderie."

"Right? Bangin'."

We played Call of Duty: World at War until he got sick of me knifing him in the back and moseyed off to find his shot glass. Guessing he wanted to look tough for Mikaela. Although, he has grown about two years' worth of maturity in two months. Maybe he just wanted to practice.

"'Ey, lil' mama. Got any more o' dem smokes?"

I tilted my head back, glaring openly at the twins. "You went through them all already? That was my last pack, you chainsmokers!"

"Yeah, but dey tiny," Skids said defensively, taking a seat beside the couch. "Not built right fo' a bot, know what I'm sayin'?"

I chewed my lip thoughtfully, then stood and motioned for them to follow me outside. "Come on. I'll show you something else."

I taught them Bloody Knuckles with rocks. Which, in retrospect, probably wasn't a good idea, because it turned into an all out boulder war that I had to run away from when they hit Ironhide with one. Optimus and Ratchet rushed outside at the sound of explosions, took one look at the scene, and glared at me.

I shrugged. "I didn't do it."

"I very seriously doubt that," Optimus chided, then went to catch Ironhide from blowing the ice cream bots up.

Ratchet planted his fists on his hips and looked down at me accusingly. "You're a bit of a troublemaker, aren't you?"

I tried to deny it and failed miserably when I started laughing. "Okay, okay. In all honesty, though, I didn't mean for Ironhide to try and kill them. I am sorry about that."

"Against my better judgement I'll believe you."

"Baby, I'm a troublemaker!"

I jumped a little and immediately felt foolish for letting a bot as big as Bumblebee sneak up on me. He was playing Akon's Troublemaker. I gestured him down to eye-level, which he surprisingly did, then smacked the yellow siding on the side of his head. Not hard, but enough to make him give a grinding chuckle.

"I am not. I'm an instigator. We have morals. It's a difference."

Six o'clock rolled around so slowly I called my other friends to give them the chances to tell me happy birthday. Sad, right? But like I said, they sort of drifted away when I started talking about all the hanging around Mikaela. It was silly, but I guess they were still stuck in high school drama years. I'd had a big robot battle to get to know her better. They hadn't. Only one of the seven numbers I called picked up. Tracy. And she wasn't too happy to hear from me. The last time we spoke it was an argument. She was angry at me for hanging out with Mikaela so much anymore. Tracy had a bigger grudge on her than any of the others. Her ex had dropped her because he just didn't feel right with her when his 'heart was stolen'. By Mikaela.

"Trace?"

"Rachel, what do you want?"

"Um, a happy birthday?" I joked and waved the nosy twins off. "Or maybe just to say hi? We haven't talked in two weeks, Trace, and we've been friends since I moved here in first grade."

"Yeah? Who's fault is that?"

I shoved the tent flap open and stalked out into the evening heat, shaking my head. "Yours, actually. You're holding a grudge over a guy who was a dick anyway because he liked a girl who STILL has no clue he ever even existed, let alone felt that way. I thought we graduated from all this bullshit two months ago?"

I could hear her growling on the other end.

"Okay, FIRST off, Jason and I were ENGAGED. Secondly, she-"

"No you weren't," I snapped before I could stop myself. I squeezed my eyes shut and ran a hand over my face. "Tracy, a 'promise' ring is a 'promise' to get engaged. And you were the only one who even wore one. See how I might not have liked him?"

"Uh, YEAH, that's what girls DO. Not that YOU would know." Her tone turned snide, condescending. Tracy was more like the stereotypical prep than she liked to believe. "YOU never had a boyfriend because of DADDY problems. I mean, really, it's no wonder you're hanging around Mikaela to make yourself feel better."

I snapped the phone closed and almost threw it. I'll be damned if I would let her ruin my day. She was my friend before Sam was, and knew about the beatings before anyone else. I HATE teenagers.

"'Sup, ma?"

I jumped and looked up quickly at Skids. He shuffled his feet and gestured at my face. "Who a bot gotta kill to make dem waterworks stop?"

"Wha-?" I wiped my face, and sure enough, I was crying. I lifted my shirt and wiped my face real quick, shaking my head. I hadn't even realized it. "Nobody. You're in enough trouble. Let's go back insi-"

I stopped when I noticed Bumblebee standing at the tent opening, looking a little uncomfortable, reminding me of how I used to feel when Mom cried and I didn't know what to do about it. I choked a laugh and ran a hand through my spikes. "Ya'll are sensitive. I'm fine. Don't you know women are emotional creatures? I'm sure Wikipedia has an article about it. Let's just have some fun, 'kay?"

"Hey, Sam."

"Rachel."

"Mind helping out?"

"Uh huh."

At six o'clock sharp picnic tables were hauled from the mess tent and dragged close to where the Autobots had dug holes for the fireworks. The table covered in food and drinks was very carefully added to the mix, and we were set. I helped lug armloads of fireworks while Mikaela entertained Sam with a mixed drinks show. He's such an ADD kid.

"Taken that ASVAB yet?" Epps growled at me when he caught up to the rest of the fireworks crew and dumped another armload. We were gonna be setting these things off for at least two hours.

I laughed breathlessly and wiped the sweat from my brow. "I'm gonna start calling you Mom and Lennox Dad. What're ya'll gangin' up on me for?"

"Cuz you a lazy ass, that's why," he muttered, smacking a big hand on top of my head and flattening the mohawk forward. "And hell no I ain't no one's mama!"

"Hey!"