Now that Alana knew about Jazz Ratchet was able to work on Jazz's remains in her presence. When ever Jazz's body was out Alana would go all quiet and observe Ratchet and what he did. After a few moments of silence she would ask if there was anything that she could do to help. At first Ratchet was hesitant, but when he caved in he found Alana to be a great help when small wires and small places were involved, she could crawl into small little places and by following instructions Ratchet gave her she was able to speed up the entire process.
Alana was coming home from school one day, Ratchet was waiting for her, and he had a few repairs for which her small hands were required.
"Alana" Ratchet said as she was coming in, Ironhide following after her "I need your help in the med lab" he said.
Alana shook her head at him and looked sad "Sorry but I have homework" she told him holding up her backpack with was filled with binders.
Ironhide leaned down "What's homework?"
Ratchet also leaned down "Yeah" he said.
Alana thought for a moment "well at school sometimes we don't finish our work in class so we have to bring it home and finish it at home" she said trying to explain it as best as she could.
"Well that's just dumb" Ironhide said "Why not wait for the next day of school and continue the work then"
"Yeah" Ratchet said "This interferes with family time" he said.
Alana shook her head up at him "Miss S says I'm supposed't ask you guys to help me"
"But what if we have plans" Ironhide said.
"Homework comes first" Alana told him.
Ironhide le out a big sigh "Alright Alana" He picked her up gently and placed her on his shoulder "I'll help you with your homework"
Ratchet shrugged "I wanna see what the whole fuss is about for homework so I'll help too" they then walked into the lounge where they sat Alana on a table and the big bots picked up chairs and moved them over to the table where they then sat waiting for Alana to show them what homework was.
Alana took out a small binder and a pencil and opened it to a half filled page, filled with messy writing.
"What are you supposed to do for this" Ironhide said leaning forward reading what she had written.
"We are supposed't write about what we think of school" Alana told them looking up at them for help.
"Well what have you written so far?" Ratchet asked.
Alana looked down and began to read her own writing, "I think school teaches us good things though math is no fun because I know everything you are teaching. The sandbox is full of army men and sometimes it gots a car. L.A is kinda dumb. And Mabel don't like me, and Harry likes to pick his nose. David likes the army men we find in the sandbox and I like the car." Alana looked up at them "That's all I got" she said "Miss S wants a whole page!" she waved her arms at the word whole.
Ratchet sniggered "You could also say it's lacking in grammatical lessons"
Alana looked up at him "Huh?" she said, she looked down at her paper and shrugged, she leaned down and put her pen to the paper, then she looked up at Ratchet "How do you spell that?" she said. Ironhide laughed while Ratchet spelled it out for her.
After she had another two lines from Ratchet's idea she looked up again. "What else?" she asked.
They thought for a moment until Ironhide spoke "Why do you think L.A is dumb?" he asked.
"Cause we have to write this" Alana said. She looked up at Ironhide "Should I put that down?" she asked.
Ironhide shrugged "Why not" and Alana wrote that down two leaving one line left for her to fill in. Alana looked at it for a moment and proceeded to fill it in with the words 'this year will be ok… I guess" she looked up at them proudly. "Done" she told them.
Ratchet looked down at the sheet of paper which she was putting away "I don't understand why they can't let you finish it at school" he said.
"Ah well" Ironhide said getting up.
Ratchet picked up Alana "Time for you to help me" he told her. Alana gave him a thumbs up and they walked towards the med lab.
A couple days later Alana was sitting in her desk looking quite bored, beside her David was doodling, they had a guest speaker who was a fireman. He was going on and on about how to become a fireman and when time came for him to close up his speech he said,
"It has always been my goal to be a fireman, I urge you all to take a goal and keep it in mind and work hard towards it" he said for his closing. He then turned to Miss S and said "thank you," then he walked out of the class room.
Alana frowned, did she have any goals? Alana thought, she didn't think so. As she was searching for a goal her thoughts drifted to Jazz and how his body lie dormant in the cupboard of Ratchet's med lab. She thought about Ratchet's efforts and compared them to her own. Once more she frowned, the fireman was right, she did need a goal. After thinking about it for a moment more Alana decided it would be her goal to bring back Jazz, it was a difficult goal she knew and studying was needed but Alana figured she could do it.
After school Alana ran over to Ironhide who was waiting for her patiently. Once she got in she turned to him and asked,
"Can we go to a library?" she gave him a big pleading smile.
Ironhide frowned "I suppose so" he drove off and headed towards the towns library. Once there Alana ran out of Ironhide and ran towards the door, Ironhide turned on his holoform and followed in after her. She didn't go to the kids section like he had expected but rather to the manual section. There she looked up at the spines of the books sounding out the words trying to figure out if they could help with Jazz. When her eyes landed on a book that read 'Ethical Hacking & Countermeasures' she shrugged and took it down from the shelve. It was a heavy book and Alana figured she could only carry one more of the books of about the same size. She grabbed two of them and handed them to Ironhide who looked down at her in surprise.
"Can I get these one's?" she asked.
Ironhide looked down at the heavy books in his hands "Are you sure you want these?" he asked. "There are far more interesting books over there" he pointed towards the kids section of the library.
"Nope I want these" Alana told him with stubbornness.
"Ok" Ironhide sighed. He walked to books over to the counter and took them out while Alana waited patently. Once she had the books in her hands she ran out the door and sat back in Ironhide, Ironhide sighed and followed after her.
Once they were home Alana waved goodbye to him and rushed to her room where she shut the door and sat on her bed. She took out the first book and opened it to the first page. It read foreword, Alana skipped it and turned to the next page and began reading. And by the end of the first twenty pages Alana discovered in order to fully understand what she was reading she needed a computer. Alana hadn't understood a word but she was determined.
And so for the next two weeks Alana poured over the book and with the use of a dictionary slowly she started to learn. But since she was almost seven she had no clue how to apply what she learned to real life. With a small little sigh Alana closed to book.
Pretty soon it came time for the first parent teacher meeting night; the students had all been working hard to put together portfolios of what they had done. Alana was feeling quite proud of her portfolio; she had included the 'what she thought of school so far' page which she Ironhide and Ratchet had worked on.
The night of the parent teacher interviews Ironhide and Ratchet drove on over; Ratchet carrying Alana. Once there they got out and activated their holoforms and walked in. Alana led them to her class room where she excitedly pointed out the drawing of her family she had been told to draw on the first day of school. Ironhide had spotted himself easily and pointed to the drawing of him.
"That's me right?" he looked down at her.
"Yup!" Alana smiled.
Ratchet also found himself and gave her a smile "I do believe you drew me quite well" he told her, Alana giggled and was about to point out the others when she remembered she could not say the Autobots true names. Ironhide saw her intent as did Ratchet they leaned in close and told her to whisper who everyone else was. Alana did so and the patted her head proudly.
"You did well Alana." Ironhide patted her head and stood up to his full height.
'Where is your desk Alana?" Ratchet asked looking around the room. The other children were around as well showing their parents their work and portfolios. Alana rushed on over to her desk and sat in it.
"This one" she said proudly.
Ironhide peeked into the little cavity that held all of the students books and supplies and laughed as he found it a mess, "Well Alana you have a very nice desk" he knelt down and noticed a folder which was on top of her desk. "What's that?" he asked pointing to it.
Alana shrugged "Just some work we've been doing" she said.
Ratchet took it and leafed through it, when he saw the 'what I think of school so far' page he frowned. "How come you got such a low mark on this?" he showed it to her.
Alana sighed "She said that my negativity to school was not acceptable"
Ratchet frowned "But this is the truth right?" he asked "You did write what you felt"
"Yup" Alana nodded.
"Then she's asking you to lie?" Ironhide asked confused, "I thought school taught good morals"
Alana shrugged "It doesn't matter. I got a high mark on my math test though" she pointed to another page which showed a bunch of math problems and a big 100% in red on the top. Ratchet smiled happy his teaching was still in effect.
"Excuse me" a voice said behind Ratchet.
"Oh sorry" Ratchet got out of the way and say a small little man being led by his son to the desk next to Alana.
Alana gave the boy a smile and turned to look at Ratchet and Ironhide "This is David, he's my friend"
Ironhide smiled at David "Nice to meet you" he said.
David looked at the two muscled men before him in awe and turned to Alana "Wow!" he said in awe.
David was suddenly joined by a woman with wild hair, she gave the men standing before her a look over when she saw Alana she then covered her son's ears and leaned forward "Are you gay?" she asked.
Ironhide tilted his head to the side his eyes closing for half a second looking up what the word meant. Once he had a definition he opened is eyes feeling somewhat disturbed, it was apparent Ratchet had also figured out what the lady meant by gay. He shuddered and shook his head.
"No ma'm" Ratchet said, he gave Ironhide a look and shuddered once more.
"Then who is the father?" the lady asked.
Ironhide raised his hand "I am" he said.
"And you are?" she turned to look at Ratchet.
Ratchet thought for a quick moment "I'm her uncle"
The lady narrowed her eyes a Ratchet "You two don't look like brothers" she said looking between them.
"Oh we get that all the time" Ironhide said trying to force a laugh.
"I see" the lady said uncovering her son's ears.
Before she could continue Miss S stepped to the front of the class "good evening everyone" she said clapping her hands. "Oh this is so exciting!" she said "It's so lovely to have everyone here! I invite you all to stay and chat and get to know what your child has been doing in this class" she said. There was a quiet moment and then the people in the class room started talking once more.
Ironhide eyes the David's mother nervously and inched farther away from her. Ratchet gave the woman a pained smile and turned to Alana,
"Wanna go home now?" he asked "I think Sam and Bu-" he cut himself off remembering that Bumblebee's name was not an average name among humans "Sam and his friend are already making dinner" Ratchet corrected himself.
Alana looked up at him with a strange look on her face "Sam has friends?" she asked.
Ratchet grimaced and Ironhide stifled his laughter, Ironhide then bent down and picked up his little girl "Time to take you home" he said.
"Ok!" Alana said. She looked down at David "Bye bye David"
"Bye Alana!" he waved at her.
Ironhide held onto Alana as he and Ratchet walk out of the building, once out he let put Alana on his shoulders and she let out a whoop.
"Ohh!" she held onto his head. "Run Ironhide!" she told him.
"Hey what did I say about calling me that in town?" Ironhide told her, he didn't mind too much since no one was around.
"Oh right… sorry. Run fast Dad!" Alana shouted and Ironhide took off towards his original body, Alana shouting the whole way there. "Ok now drive fast!"
"Alana last time I drove fast Optimus was mad, don't you remember?" Ironhide said putting her down into the passenger seat.
"Optimus doesn't have to know" Alana told him, her eyes twinkled mischievously.
Ironhide let out a sigh "if he catches us…."
"He wont I promise" Alana told him.
"Fine" Ironhide disappeared and the passenger door closed on its own accord. Ironhide's engine started and he rushed on home. Ratchet decided to let loose as well so he too pushed the speed limit and drove along with them on the way there.
Once at the base Alana got out and the two bots transformed, and the three of them walked into the base together.
Once they had reached the kitchen they found Sam covered in spaghetti sauce and Bumblebee in almost the same state. Bumblebee was rubbing the sauce off his yellow armor shaking his head sadly.
"We followed all the instructions" Sam said. "How come it exploded on us?"
Alana giggled and walked on over to Bumblebee holding a wet towel. She began to help him scrub the sauce off.
"Thanks Alana" Bumblebee looked down at her; a thankful look crossed his metal face. Alana didn't answer him but rather she turned around and washed out the cloth and walked back and began to scrub him off some more. Sam gave up trying to get the sauce out of his hair and ran for the shower.
"Maybe you should go to a car wash" Alana told Bumblebee.
"Yeah I think I will" Bumblebee said. One of his optics flashed at her in what was a transformer type wink and then he walked out of the room still covered in spaghetti sauce.
Alana looked down at the floor and sighed, "I need a mop" she said looking up at Ironhide. Ironhide got her the requested item from a large cupboard and handed them to her. Alana then began to mop the floor; it seemed she had some experience which was in fact the case. The Autobots were no good at cooking, even though they were super advanced robots they just couldn't seem to get the hang of cooking human food. So Alana's meals were usually quite simple, or they were take out. So because of the Autobots lack of cooking spills there usually were quite a lot of accidents in the kitchen and Alana had gotten quite good at helping cleaning up.
Once done cleaning she opened the fridge and took out the ingredients for a chicken sandwich. Once the Autobots made sure she was all set they left her and went about doing their own thing.
Once done her dinner she got ready for bed, she was just climbing into bed when Optimus came in. He flashed her a smile and bent down. His large metallic hand brought up the sheets so that they were coving everything but her head. Alana gave off a contented sigh and closed her eyes.
"Good night sweetheart" Optimus whispered, he was getting up when Alana's voice stopped him.
"Optimus?" she sounded sleepy. Optimus knelt back down and waited for the little human to speak "Can I have a computer?" she asked.
"A computer?" Optimus said thoughtfully "I suppose it's an option. Why do you want one?" Optimus asked.
The sheets rose indicating that Alana's shoulders were rising in a shrug "Dunno for school I suppose" she said.
Optimus knew immediately she was hiding something from him "Alana" he said her name sternly.
Alana sat up "Alright she said "I wanna try out some stuff" she told him.
"What stuff?" Optimus asked. Alana said nothing but pointed to the thick books on the end of her bed. Optimus looked at them "Hacking?" he asked sounding surprised.
"Yeah" Alana said.
"What do you want to hack?" Optimus' asked.
"Jazz" Alana said simply.
"What?" Optimus sounded surprised she even knew about Jazz.
"I wanna help Ratchet" Alana told him, "But I need a computer" she said.
"How will hacking help Jazz and Ratchet?" Optimus asked.
"Well when Ratchet fixes Jazz's body that's not gonna bring him back right?" Alana said knowing all to well about the transformers sparks. Ironhide had told her all about then when she had seen a blue glowing orb coming from each of the Autobot's bodies when they were in a black out.
"That's right" Optimus said.
"Well if I can connect to his spark maybe I can restart him" Alana said.
"How?" Optimus asked.
Alana bowed her head "I don't know yet" her head snapped back up "But I'll figure it out!" she told him. Optimus was starting to see little but some sense to her plan.
"I suppose I'll ask Ironhide to get you one in the morning" Optimus said, if there was a chance they could bring Jazz back he was going to take it, even if it was coming from an unlikely source- that source being a six year old child.
"Thank you!" Alana's eyes popped, her green eyes twinkled and she smiled. Then she flopped back down onto her bed and Optimus once more fixed the sheets so that they were covering her.
"Good night Alana" Optimus said softly.
"Good night Optimus" Alana said with a small sigh.
Optimus got up and shut off the light to her room and quietly exited. He then walked over to Ratchet's med lab where he was certain the doc bot was working on Jazz's body. Optimus watched him for a second.
"Is there something wrong?" Ratchet asked looking over at his leader.
"No" Optimus said. "Alana just told me something very interesting" he said.
"What?" Ratchet said stopping his work to look up at Optimus. Optimus began to tell him of her idea to connect to Jazz's spark and with some clever hacking restarting him. Ratchet leaned back and smiled broadly at Optimus "We have one smart kid" he told him.
"So it has a possibility of working?" Optimus said surprised.
"Yeah it might work" Ratchet said "we might as well try it" Ratchet said.
"Then Ironhide will be getting Alana a computer tomorrow" Optimus said, he was about to leave when Ratchet called after him.
"Sir? Make sure she gets a real high powered one" Ratchet said "It needs to be able to handle Jazz's programming as well as what ever she does to it"
"Alright" Optimus said, he was about to leave when once more Ratchet's voice stopped him again.
"Sir?" Ratchet said.
"Yes Ratchet?"
"Thank you for letting her try this" he said.
Optimus smiled "We all want Jazz back" Optimus said, and with that he left the med lab.