It was late in the afternoon and Monica was home, not sure what to do with herself. Her parents were still at work, her little sisters were at an after school play date, and her brother probably got picked up by Bumblebee as soon as school let out. She didn't want to bother Luna since she was still recovering from her injuries.

So without a car, Monica decided to get her old bicycle out of the shed. She had to put some air in the tires since it hadn't been used in so long. She rode into town to go surprise her dad at work. He was the proud owner of Andy's Hardware Store. The store has been in their family for as long as she could remember. It's something she grew up with.

When she got there, he was up on a ladder trying to put up Christmas lights. He seemed to be struggling with them. "Hey, Dad."

He looked down and grinned at the sight of her, "Hey, Kiddo!"

"You need a hand?" Monica offered.

"Uh, sure, hand me that stable gun."

"You do realize you're a little late putting up these lights? Christmas is like, a week away." She said, handing him the tool.

"Your mother thinks the shop isn't festive enough."

Monica looked around, noticing that most of the other shops weren't decorated at all. "Yeah, tell that to the rest of the town."

"Well, she thinks it'll attract more customers who are Christmas shopping. She's probably right. I've been meaning to do this, anyway. I just haven't had the time." He noticed her bike leaning against the store. "Hey, your car still not fixed?"

"Not yet."

"I don't know, Monica." He shook his head, "Maybe you shouldn't have bought such an abused car. I know you're living on your own now, but I could have helped you find one in better condition."

"But I got a bargain for it. Plus, I have a friend at the Auto Shop and he's giving me a generous discount on repairs." She felt the need to add that lie because she didn't want her dad getting suspicious about how much it was costing.

"Yeah? Have I met this friend of yours?"

"No." She said too quickly, "Just someone I knew from High School." She changed the subject, "I thought you liked my new car?"

"Sure, on the outside it looks fantastic, but what matters most is how it runs on the inside. I don't want you breaking down when you're driving back to school."

"Don't worry, it'll be good as new in no time. I love this car, Dad. It has personality."

"Personality, huh? Bring home a race car next time. Then we'll talk about personality." He joked. Her dad always dreamed about owning a race car. He was a NASCAR fanboy.

Monica helped her dad finish putting up the Christmas lights. He was glad she had stopped by. She was a big help and he missed spending time with her.

Monica's eyes wandered across the street and she noticed Jack walking out of K.O.'s Burgers. She looked at her dad who was hanging up a Christmas wreath on the front door. It looked like he could handle it on his own. "Hey, I'm gonna go talk to my friend over by K.O.'s, okay?"

"Sure, Kiddo."

Jack took out his cell phone and was about to call for Arcee when someone shouted his name. He looked up to see Monica and smiled, "Hey."

"Hi. I was just helping my Dad put up Christmas lights and I saw you walk out . . ." She explained, awkwardly.

He nodded, "At least someone's getting a little into the holiday spirit around here."

"Tell me about it. Did you just get off work?"

"Yeah, I was about to call Arcee to pick me up."

"Oh." Monica hesitated, unsure if she should even bring it up. "Did you . . . hear what happened yesterday?"

"It's okay, I know all about it. Arcee's fine now. She said Luna's feeling better too."

Monica sighed in relief, "You should have been there, Jack. I was freaking out. I mean, that was beyond anything I have ever dealt with before."

Jack defiantly knew how they felt. "You get used to it. The team was impressed by how well you handled it."

"I'm just glad they're okay." She said, smiling. She paused, "Do you . . . want to hang out? We could get frozen yogurt down the street, if you like frozen yogurt."

He smiled, "Sure, that sounds great."

As the two of them walked there, Monica was curious to know a little more about him and Arcee. "Do you like having Arcee as your guardian?"

"She's great. My life has changed completely since I met her."

"Do you know what she did before the war started?" Monica asked.

"She was a teacher."

"Really? Did she like it?"

"She tells me it's something she misses a lot."

"Luna hated being a gladiator." Monica frowned, "It pains her to talk about it. I think that she's very troubled from her past, and I think that Megatron has a lot to do with it. I wish I could make her feel better."

"Arcee's had a rough past too. She's lost two of her partners from this war. One of them was her sparkmate."

"Sparkmate?"

"It's a special connection two Cybertronians have, and they bond their sparks to spend eternity together, or something like that." Jack said, not entirely sure how it worked.

Monica smirked, "Sounds like marriage."

"Yeah but people end marriages all the time. Sparkmates last forever, so I've been told." Arcee had explained this to Jack once, although she didn't go into much detail about it.

"If only it were that easy on Earth, huh?"

Jack half smiled, only to look down at the sidewalk. What she didn't realize was that his parents didn't exactly work out themselves.

The frozen yogurt place was the best in town. Monica couldn't believe he had never tried it before. They were sitting at a table outside, just about finished, when Jack received a phone call. He checked the caller ID before answering. It was Miko. "Dude! Why aren't you at base? It's after five!"

"Relax, Miko. I'm with Monica. We got frozen yogurt."

"Monica? Why are you with Monica?"

Monica could hear her from across the table. She made a face, offended by her tone. "Uh, because she's our friend?" Jack answered.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. But you have to see the tree we got. It's huge! Arcee is on her way to get you right now."

"Alright, we'll be there soon." He ended the call.

Monica looked at him, arching a brow. "Are you and Miko like, together?"

"What? No! There's nothing going on between us. Miko is like the annoying sister that I never had. Uh, just don't tell her I said that."

Monica laughed, "Got it. I was just wondering."

They went to go meet up with Arcee who was waiting patiently at K.O. Burger's. Monica was happy to see that she was feeling like herself again. She watched as Jack put on his helmet, not sure if she should go along for the ride. "You coming?" Jack asked.

"My mom would kill me if she saw me on a motorcycle. She doesn't think they're safe."

Jack smirked, "Arcee isn't your average motorcycle."

"I promise to drive carefully." Arcee added, although Monica thought she heard a bit of sarcasm in her tone. She gave in anyway and climbed on behind Jack.

Arcee could tell she was hesitant. Once she got away from town, she picked up some speed, just for fun. Monica got nervous and quickly wrapped her arms around Jack. He smiled a little, feeling his face flush. When Arcee shifted her side-view mirrors to check on them, she could see that Monica was enjoying the ride.

At base, the first thing they noticed was the Christmas tree that Miko was talking about. It was almost as tall as Optimus, completely decorated with lights and bows and tinsel.

"Very nice, guys" Jack smiled, looking up at it.

"Bulkhead and I did most of the work." Miko said, earning her an angry response from Bumblebee and Raf. "Okay, okay, they helped too."

Monica rushed over to see Luna, who surprisingly looked a lot better. She was a wreck last time she saw her. "Wow, Luna, you clean up good."

"Thank you. I tried to repair my finish as best I could." She replied.

"Are you . . . in pain?"

"Hardly at all. I feel fine. But I must remain at base until I am cleared for action." She gave Ratchet a playful look, "However long that may be."

"Your systems need time to fully recover." Ratchet insisted, "Megatron did inflict serious damage. You must not push yourself."

Suddenly, the alarm went off, and everyone huddled around the monitor. Surveillance footage popped up on the screen, showing a familiar ship that had just landed on top of their base.

"That's Wheeljack's ship!" Bulkhead rejoiced, "ALRIGHT JACKIE'S BACK!" They watched as Wheeljack stumbled out of the Jackhammer, clutching his chest in pain. Bulkhead gasped, "He's hurt. Ratchet, open the hatch!"

Everyone stared as Bulkhead helped Wheeljack into base. Ratchet immediately sat him down to examine his wound. His chest was cut open pretty badly. Energon was leaking everywhere. Wheeljack looked around. He could see that no one was missing from the last time he was here. That was good.

Then he recognized Luna, the famous gladiator from Kaon. Once their optics met, they stared at each other for what seemed to be some of the longest seconds of his life. His spark started to pulsate inside his chest, which made him forget all about his wound. Call it an infatuation, a chemical attraction, a spark. Something was there between them. All he knew was that he didn't like it, not one bit.

"How did this happen, Wheeljack?" Ratchet questioned, cutting off his thoughts.

"I was being tracked down by a Decepticon ship." Wheeljack explained, "Big enough to fit a whole team of 'Cons. I played it safe and decided not to engage. Tricked them into thinking I head off in another direction. Really I ended up right back in this familiar solar system. So I thought I'd hideout here and pay Team Prime a visit."

"That still doesn't explain how you got hurt." Arcee pointed out.

"Why don't you ask her." He replied, bitterly, gesturing towards Luna. Everyone turned to look at her.

She blinked, "Me? What did I do?"

"Not you. Your twin."

"Nova did this to you?!"

"Yeah, she made sure to give me a warm welcome as soon as I entered Earth's atmosphere. She also managed to damage my ship beyond repair, so you can thank her for that as well."

His tone was somewhat offensive, but her response was calm. "I am not affiliated with my sister anymore. She is the enemy."

"Right. And I'm guessing everyone here thinks you're on our side?"

"I am."

Wheeljack shook his head, "Yeah, right. You're a ruthless killer, like every other gladiator out there. You're all Decepticons. So don't act so surprised because I bet you were in on this."

"Whoa, hold up, Jackie. You got it all wrong-" Bulkhead cut in.

"She's one of them, Bulk, and she knows it's true. She's got everyone fooled. It's only a matter of time before she turns on you."

Luna stared at him for a moment, not sure how to take this. "Your entitled to your own opinion. I'll let Ratchet patch you up." She simply replied, and walked away before things could get any worse.

Monica glared up at Wheeljack, "Hey, who do you think you are? You don't even know her!"

"I know her kind. She can't be trusted."

"You have no idea what she's been through." Monica said, and then ran off to find Luna.

"Wheeljack, that behavior was extremely unnecessary." Optimus spoke up, "Luna is one of my most trusted friends, and I don't appreciate you coming here and accusing her of something she was not a part of."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm just looking out for all of you. I can't be the only one here who thinks she's a threat." He looked at everyone's blank expressions. "What? Do you think I'm wrong?"

". . .It was a bit harsh, Jackie." Bulkhead said, "If Optimus can trust her, then so can we. There's nothing to worry about."

"I should have known this was all his idea." He grunted, finally letting the pain get to him.

"You need to settle down now. You're only making your injury worse." Ratchet instructed. There was still energon leaking everywhere and he was losing too much. "Sit still so I can work on you."

Luna sat alone in another room. She was staring at the wall, lost in deep thought, when a tiny hand touched her leg. "Are you okay?" Monica asked.

"Yes . . . Just thinking."

"That Wheeljack jerk doesn't know what he's talking about. Don't let him bother you."

The problem was he did bother her. When their optics locked, her spark felt like it was about to explode (in a good way). She had never felt that before. She wasn't sure what it meant exactly. He couldn't have felt the same. He was so rude to her. On top of that, there was a small part of her that feared Wheeljack was right about everything.

Since she didn't respond, Monica felt the need to add, "You're one of the good guys, Luna. Don't ever think for a second that you're not."

Luna smiled down at her. Somehow this human managed to always make her feel better. "Thank you, Monica."