Chapter Ten:

Smile

"I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite!" –Buddy the Elf (Elf)

It wasn't that I didn't like the second movie, I swear it wasn't, it was just me being beyond exhausted from throwing up all morning. That was the reason why I had fallen asleep after about three minutes of watching it.

The sound of a phone ringing made me snap awake. My eyes traveled across the room trying to regain my composure. It was hard to tell what was happening on the screen, but it looked like Shia LaBeouf was arriving at college. Sideswipe groaned and I focused my blurry gaze on him, "You fell asleep! You're gonna miss all my action!"

I mumbled a quick apology before rubbing my eyes and pulling myself off the couch. The nap I had taken left me more tired than I had started off. How long had I even fallen asleep for anyways? The movie continued to play as I headed toward the kitchen and I didn't mind. I hadn't exactly been paying attention to what was going on anyways.

The house phone was by the fridge ringing shrilly. I still couldn't believe Aubrey had a landline. I thought those had gone extinct and the only place you could find them now was by the T-Rex fossils in a museum.

"Hello?" I answered and rubbed my face again. At least the nap had pushed away most of my nausea. For now, at least.

"Aimee? Oh, you sound horrible."

I forced a smile despite knowing my older sister couldn't see me, "Aj, and thanks. Horrible was the look I was going for this morning."

"Sorry." Aubrey replied in a heart-felt tone.

"I was- it's fine. You know sarcasm is my natural reaction to…well, everything."

Aubrey chuckled, "I guess I just need to get used to it again."

I bit back a sigh and sat down on the kitchen floor with my back against the fridge, "So, what's up? The kids are at school right now."

"I know. They called me and told me you were sick."

My eyes widened, "What do you mean they called you?"

"Peter used the office phone this morning. I told them to take the bus home this afternoon, they used to do that on the days I couldn't pick them up."

"I can pick them up." I said firmly and rather loudly. "I am fully capable-"

Aubrey sighed on the other end, "They're going to be upset if you pick them up. Peter suggested the bus idea to help you out, and he's going to be disappointed if he cant help you."

I blinked in surprise. Peter was trying to help me out as much as possible. That wasn't surprising. The kid and I hadn't gotten off to the best start, but we were good now. What did surprise me was that Aubrey knew the exact way to get me to agree. Damn it.

"Fine." I snapped a little rougher than I should have. The line was quiet and guilt began to eat away at my core. My voice came out softer with the next words, and I felt smaller, "How are you Aubrey? Is everything…Is everything alright?"

I could almost hear her smile over the line, "Everything is going perfect, Aj."

"Good."

"I actually called to tell you something else too." Aubrey spoke up and her voice was filled with excitement, "I ordered the kids' Christmas present online and they should get there next Monday." Shit. Today was Thursday, or more specifically the 19th of December. I groaned aloud and Aubrey's panicked voice responded, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just remembered I have to go Christmas shopping is all." I replied. Mentally, I put it on my to-do list. I had to get this done before Christmas eve because if I tried to go shopping in the Christmas eve crowds I would punch somebody's teeth in more than likely. Having their aunt in jail would be a pretty shitty Christmas gift.

Aubrey chuckled, "Not today though. Wait until you feel better."

"I'll probably do it tomorrow while they're at school." I replied, "What did you get them?"

"Oh, right! I bought them some more transformer stuff."

I paused, "Like…the action figure, model things or…?"

"No." Aubrey replied and I let out a breath of relief. I didn't think by entering the household a transformer toy would suddenly come to life, but it would still be weird to have a still one when all the others are running around, "Just some clothes, a new backpack for Tyler, and things like that. Those are the stuff that should arrive on Monday."

"You say that like there is stuff coming on not Monday."

"Santa is bringing them new bikes this year." Aubrey said with excitement, "You'll have to build them, but I was told the instructions aren't hard to follow."

I chuckled, "I forgot about Santa. I'm glad you remembered or this would be an awkward Christmas."

"I'm a mom. It's my job to remember." Aubrey joked. It was just a lighthearted joke, but it reminded me that I was not a mother and I probably wouldn't be a very good one. Sure, I was taking care of the kids pretty well. They were safe, they weren't starving, but the little things like remembering that Santa was supposed to visit next week had completely slipped my mind. It was a small detail, but to a kid it was huge. "Oh, I have to go. Take care of yourself today, Aimee. Tell the kids I'll call them tonight."

I nodded then remembered I was on the phone, "Right. Got it. Bye."

The line ended, but I remained sitting on the floor for a couple minutes. I could always go back to watch the movie, but I had already missed the beginning so it'd be pointless. Suddenly, I remembered the yellow bot I hadn't seen all morning. I rose to my feet with a groan and headed for the stairs. Sunstreaker was the only person up here right now, and it didn't take me long to find him.

Surprisingly, he was in the twins' room of all places. I leaned against their doorframe taking in the sight of Sunstreaker working over the family tree project. The twins had colored the tree last night and all they needed to do was paste pictures of their family members on it.

"Go away, I'm busy." Sunstreaker said without glancing back at me.

I pushed off the doorframe and grabbed a small folder by Taylor's bedside. Inside were the pictures they found that they wanted to use, "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer my question. In fact, he acted as if I hadn't even spoken at all. I plopped down on the ground by her bed and began to flip through the photos. There was on of Aubrey with her hair tied in a ponytail and an apron over her clothes. She must have been cooking. They had even grabbed a photo of their dad Wes. It was mid chest and up like Aubrey's and he looked like he was wearing a military uniform. Was Wes in the military? I couldn't remember what it was he did, mainly because I hadn't cared. Hell, I still didn't really care, but my curious side did wonder. There were three more pictures. One of Taylor, who was dressed as Cinderella, it must have been Halloween, one of Tyler who wore a baseball uniform and a layer of dirt, and one of Peter who was beaming into the camera without his glasses on.

The three of them were beyond adorable and it brought a soft smile to my lips. I set the photos back in the folder. It was sad to me that they didn't know any of their grandparents. I didn't know anything about Wes' side of the family, but I personally knew that my mom would've adored the three of them. She would've spoiled them absolutely rotten.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I lifted my gaze to glance at Sunstreaker only to realize he had stopped working and was now staring me down. I froze under the gaze. It wasn't one of the usual glares he sent me, but rather it was almost analytical. As if he was studying me. His eyes had changed just like Sideswipe, but like Sideswipe had said Sunstreaker's eyes were a lighter shade of purple and blue. It fit well with his yellow paint job, not that I'd ever admit that to him.

"What?" I said. He didn't break his gaze or even flinch. It felt like his gaze went right through me and that made me shift uncomfortably, "What are you looking at?"

Sunstreaker didn't reply, but glanced back down at the poster board in front of him. He tilted his head slightly before nodding. I pushed myself off my butt and onto my knees to crawl over and see what he was looking at.

My eyes widened at the artwork on the tree. It was me. Sunstreaker had drawn a portrait of me among the branches. Underneath the drawing, scribbled in Taylor's handwriting, was 'Aj (aunt)'. The drawing itself though was spectacular. Bumblebee had mentioned that Sunstreaker drew, but I didn't think that he could do something like this. So there I was surprised at the talent this foot tall mech had and the fact that I was on the tree at all.

"They put me on their tree." I breathed. I knew we all got along, but a part of me felt like I still didn't deserve it yet. Where was I the past ten years? Not here that was for sure. "You…you drew me on their tree."

"They asked. Apparently they didn't have a picture of you." Sunstreaker shrugged, "I didn't want to, but I've never drawn a human before. Seemed like it'd be an interesting subject to try. It wasn't much of the challenge I hoped it to be though."

The dismissal in his tone didn't even reach my ears. The detail in the drawing was beyond accurate. He had captured the slight wave my hair held and my face shape exactly. He even added the little scar I had under my left eye. The smile drawn on my features though…

"It's amazing, dude, but…" I began and Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me as if daring me to finish that sentence, "I don't smile like that."

In the picture I was way too happy. He had somehow drawn it out to make my smile reach my eyes. The drawing was black and white, with pencil only, but still he had found a way to make it look like my eyes radiated with amusement.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "It's perfect, but more than that it's exact."

"I just-"

"That's how you look when you're around the kids." He replied and scoffed again, "Pit, that's the fragging smile you had on your face plates a nano-klick ago."

I assumed nano-klick was when I had been looking at the photos, but was he serious? Is this the look I wore whenever I was interacting with the kids? I stared at the picture longer and chuckled. Sunstreaker made me look good. There was no way I looked like that today with my hoodie, messy hair, and pale skin. I was basically radiating sickness today.

"It looks amazing." I nodded, "You did a good job, grape."

Sunstreaker's eyes narrowed at me again, "What?"

"Grape. See, before I only had the color yellow to work with, but now that your eyes are purple…" I forced a joking grin despite the fact that I was beginning to feel nauseous again.

"Fragging pit spawn." He said, but rather than being full of spite and anger his words just seemed like an afterthought. Like a sigh or something. A moment passed before his head snapped to the side and he grew stiff.

I narrowed my eyes, "You ok?"

Sunstreaker didn't answer. Instead, he transformed and raced out of the room. I jumped to my feet, with a spinning head, and followed. He had transformed again to handle the stairs, but this gave me time to catch up with him. I scooped him up into my arms to race down the stairs, and the yellow bot with light purple eyes didn't even complain.

The sounds of gunfire, yelling, and a movie mingled in the air. I reached the living room and paused to see an all out war had been started. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were fighting with Barricade while Wheeljack and Jazz were tensely speaking to Soundwave though it looked like a fight between them had just ended. Sideswipe and Prowl were stuck under the table as the seekers zoomed around the room and brought a rain of fire down on them. Optimus and Megatron were on top of the coffee table and in the middle of a heated Cybertronian argument that was on the brink of turning into a fire fight as well. Grimlock was still sleeping on the couch as if none of this was happening. I was frozen in shock, but Sunstreaker used his new height to his advantage. As Skywarp flew by me, Sunstreaker leaped off my hand and landed on the guy's back. He immediately began to barrel roll and warp around the room trying to get him off.

The movie was still playing, and I watched as a large helicopter dropped a motionless Optimus Prime onto an open tarmac. He had died in this movie? Wasn't he in the other movies though? What the hell was happening?

"Get upstairs! We are trying to contain the situation-" Ratchet was yelling at my feet, but I shook my head and stepped into the heat of the battle. Someone cried out in pain, but I couldn't pinpoint who. My gaze was locked on the leaders. Fastest way to end a fight was to separate them, right? My goal was to pull them away before the physical fight started, but the moment I stepped toward them Megatron fired at Optimus who was shot back. The autobot leader came close to falling off the edge, but came to a screeching stop just in time. He brought out his own weapon, a sword, in response and began to plead at Megatron in Cybertronian.

My attention was yanked away when a sharp pain bit at my arm. I let out a small, startled cry and glanced down to see stray bullets had pelted my upper arm and left small burn marks. It hurt more now than it did when they first showed up. Had that changed like their eyes or was it just because I was under the weather?

Someone called out my name, that someone probably being Ratchet, but I ignored them and reached forward to grab the leaders. Both of them apparently had been so absorbed on each other that they didn't even notice me because when I grabbed them they jerked in surprise. Megatron's gun was hot and it made my fingers warm, but Optimus' sword was sharp and made my fingers bleed. I quickly released him in fear of getting blood all over him.

"Aj!" He called out in his deep voice, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm peachy, except for the whole robots fighting in my living room thing!" I snapped loudly so everyone could hear. The fighting was beginning to slow down. I knew 'robots' was kind of an insulting term for these guys which is probably why it slipped from my lips. "What the hell is going on in here? I was gone for- How!?"

Optimus spoke up, "It was a simple argument that got out of hand. We apologize, Aj."

My eyes glanced back at the television screen, "It have anything to do with you dying, OP?"

He didn't answer, but that was answer enough. I set Megatron down, but he continued to just glare at me. Dealing with this was tiring, and I was tired enough as is. A sigh slipped my lips and I shook my head, "No more movie."

"Aj!" Sideswipe began, but I cut him off with a glare of my own. He visibly wilted and crossed his arms like a child pouting while I turned the TV off using the hand that wasn't bleeding.

I glanced at the cut in curiosity. It was rather thin, but it was long and went across the inside of all my fingers minus my thumb. It also burned like a paper cut would making my face scrunch up in distaste. I was surprised Ratchet wasn't on me about this yet.

"Aj, grab Bumblebee and get him upstairs." Ratchet said firmly with a mix of determination and authority in his voice. My eyes darted over to see a dark eyed, motionless Bee with Ratchet standing over him holding a bright yellow door wing.

My other hand was playing with the new Band-Aids over each finger as I watched Ratchet work. I was seated on the floor with my back against my bed.

"Stop messing with them." Ratchet snapped without even looking up from his work. I let my hands drop into my lap with a disgruntled sigh.

"Are you sure he's ok?" I questioned probably for the hundredth time.

Ratchet once again didn't look up, "I am positive. His door wing was ripped off and the pain overloaded his sensors and knocked him into stasis."

My mind drifted to the movies and I squirmed, "I can't tell the difference between stasis and death. It…" Bothered me? Worried me? Scared me? I didn't know how to finish the sentence so I just didn't bother.

When I had carried Ratchet and Bumblebee upstairs nearly everyone had tried to follow. Ratchet was apparently King of kicking people out of places though. He had banned anyone from entering the room while he worked. I was about 95% positive that the only reason why he let me in here was because of my fingers and the fact that I was sick. Otherwise, I'd be shit out of luck like all the others.

"How are you digits?" Ratchet questioned. Sometimes I liked that he never replaced his Cybertronian terms with human ones because then it made it easier for me to learn. Other times it was just frustrating.

I shrugged and assumed the digits he was talking about were my bleeding fingers, "They're fine. Burning a little, but that's normal."

Ratchet was silent a moment before letting out a sound of surprise. I sat up straighter, but he didn't clarify what he was surprised by. He looked up from what he was doing, locking his sea foam eyes on me, "Go get Optimus and Wheeljack."

"Only cause you asked so nicely." I mumbled under my breath and Ratchet ignored me. A grunt escaped my mouth as I forced myself up and out of the room. The moment I stepped out Optimus, who was standing by the doorway, greeted me. My eyes widened slightly, not expecting him to be there, "Hey, OP. You scared me."

"I didn't mean to surprise you."

"It's ok. Ratchet is looking for you."

He nodded then paused, "Are you alright?"

I glanced down at my hand then back at him with a forced smile, "No worries. Takes more than a paper cut to bring me down."

"It wasn't paper that cut you, but my blade."

I shrugged, "Eh, tomato, tomato. Do you know where Wheeljack is?"

Optimus shook his head, "I do not. Sorry."

I waved off his apology and walked down the hall looking for the engineer. My search came to an end in the kitchen where Wheeljack was getting a serving of coffee for a curled up Grimlock. I always had a jug of coffee made and stored on the lowest shelf in the fridge with all the kid medicine cups I could find beside it. Cold or hot they didn't care as long as the caffeine got their energy levels up and this way they could get it themselves when needed.

"Here we go now." Wheeljack hummed holding the plastic medicine cup filled with black coffee. Grimlock grumbled and stood. He began to transform which always threw me for a loop. I had seen him do this before, but I guess I couldn't get used to the fact that Grimlock could look not like a dinosaur. His other form was just like everyone else except Grimlock was still freaking huge. The bot took the coffee, chugged it, dropped the cup, and then walked out. Wheeljack picked up the cup and looked at me, "He's still in a mood about missing the earlier fight. How is your hand?"

"I'll live." I held up the bandaged hand with a forced smile, "Ratchet is looking for you though." I took the plastic cup from Wheeljack and tossed it into the sink for me to wash later.

Wheeljack shrugged, "Best not leave him waiting, he's probably already in one of his moods as well."

"Are you psychic?" I joked and picked him up from the ground.

It was one of those moments where you hear the words and understand that the words form a coherent sentence, but said coherent sentence just doesn't click in your mind. I lifted my hand and shook my head, "Wait, wait, wait…what?"

Ratchet sighed and crossed his arms, "We are changing. The optic change brought it to my attention and now Bumblebee's injuries further prove it."

"Amazing." Wheeljack said in excitement as his fins lit up. He still had his attention buried in Bumblebee's wound.

Optimus stepped forward, "What exactly does this mean for us?"

"I have no idea." Ratchet admitted, "For one, it means we need to stop getting fragging injured. The more these bodies change to match our normal ones then the more complicated the jobs will become. I have a field kit in my subspace, but not enough materials for any big fixes."

Wheeljack nodded, "I have some extra material in my subspace as well. I'm sure others do too."

"Still we shouldn't count on that." Ratchet argued.

I blinked, "The toy bodies are becoming your real bodies?"

"It seems so." Optimus grumbled with worry reflecting in his eyes.

"The good news is this means we will most likely get our comm systems back as well as a viable way to connect to your internet, Aj." Wheeljack hummed, "Perhaps even our holoform program will come back online."

I didn't know what the fuck a holoform was, but my mind was stuck on something else, "The toy bodies are becoming your real bodies."

"We have established that, Aj." Ratchet snapped.

"Your real bodies are bigger than my house." I said and the room grew quiet. A lump formed in my throat and I quickly swallowed it, "Will your toy bodies grow as you change?"

Wheeljack glanced at Ratchet then back at me, "Well, honestly, there is no way to know for certain. We just have to monitor it?"

I buried my face into my heads and heaved a sigh. Who knew that housing miniature aliens would be so stressful? As I pondered my poor decisions in life, Ratchet pushed Wheeljack aside and began to finish working on Bee's injuries.

"Well, I guess when y'all's heads start banging against the top of the doorframes we'll figure it out." I stated while rubbing my forehead with my hand.

A groan filled the room as Bumblebee came back online. I was beyond pleased to see his cyan eyes light up. He slowly stood up and his door wings twitched, "Nevermind what I said about door wings. I don't like them anymore."

"We're home!" The front door to the household was accidentally slammed shut.

"Welcome back, cadets." The voice of Jazz drifted through the front of the house into the kitchen where he sat, "How was school?"

"It was fun. Where's Aj?" The little girl questioned.

"She's takin' a nap. Finally. It took us nearly two groons to convince her to do it."

Their voices grew in volume as they group of them made their way into the kitchen. Peter, the eldest, was the first to step in with a smile, "Good afternoon, Megatron. Soundwave. How was your day?"

Megatron didn't bother answering the question since it held no real weight and was simply a conversation starter. Soundwave who stood next to him, however, did speak up, "Status: Fine. Day: Slow, but intriguing."

The two twin younglings began to excitedly request that the older youngling retrieve something for them to eat. Megatron motioned toward the archway with his head then left the kitchen with Soundwave beside him. For creatures that seemed to care about Aj's wellbeing they were abnormally loud.

Megatron hated being here. He hated being a smaller, weaker version of himself, and he hated, more than anything else in the universe, that he had to 'play nice' with the fragging autobots. In his processor, they'd be better off permanently offline. However, the more time that passed the more he realized he'd need some of those pathetic bots to get back to his own world. Starscream and Soundwave were smart no doubt, but they couldn't build a working device to get everyone home like Wheeljack could.

So, perhaps he couldn't end them all as he had originally planed, but there were still actions he could set into progress that would benefit him. For example, there was a very short list of autobots he wouldn't mind having a chat with. Mainly to ask why they were wasting their time and skills on a side that was going nowhere with a leader who should have never been Prime. Perhaps then they could see their mistakes and poor decisions and make a change from blue to red. That was a long-term plan though with long-term effects.

His more short-term plans involved a rather squishy organic. The younglings were worthless in his optics. They had no real value in his eyes and only served as a distraction if nothing else. Aj, though, could serve a purpose. If he could convince her somehow to see his Decepticons in a revered light and the Autobots as simply meddlesome then perhaps his earlier suggestion of crushing the bots would be taken more seriously. It wasn't a farfetched idea. The more he learned about the organic femme the more he saw potential. Better than that, he could see the look of tamed wild in her optics. It was a skill he had that he prided himself on. It often came in handy back at the beginning of the war when he was recruiting the best.

Megatron could look a mech in the eye and see what lied beneath. He could see the darkest corner of their processers. Apparently the skill worked on fleshies as well because he could see that Aj was no creator. She was a fighter. More than that, she was a broken one. The type that had no self worth, the type that was easy to manipulate simply by using emotional pain. Megatron's favorite type. There was a decepticon under those fleshy eyes, Megatron was sure of that.

"What did you find from the recon?" He questioned as they passed the stairs.

Soundwave replied, "Recon Subjects: Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Aj. Information Gathered: Mech bodies are changing. Becoming more real."

Megatron chuckled in amusement. Well wasn't this a turn for the better? If all his other small plans failed he could always just wait until his body became his own. Destroying them with his own servos was always the more pleasurable plan.

The nap I woke from was the kind where when you wake up you have no idea what's happening, what year it is, or what planet you're on. It wasn't just because I was sick either. Whenever I took naps during the day for longer than an hour I always woke up confused and disorientated. The good news? Bye-bye, nausea. Of course, I say that with the prayer that it doesn't spontaneously come back.

"Oh good, you're awake." I focused my gaze on Wheeljack who was on the desk flipping through one of the books Ratchet usually flipped through, "The younglings are home. The twins have finished their project, they're creator called and spoke to them, and I believe they were thinking about making dinner."

I sat up slowly, "What? No. No, I'll make…that. The food."

"Are you alright?" Wheeljack asked with worry.

"Mhmm", I nodded and waved him off with my eyes closed, "Jus' groggy. Why are you in here?"

I opened my eyes and stood to stretch. Wheeljack shut the book before answering, "Ratchet asked me to keep an optic on you while he went downstairs to refuel."

It was sweet, sure, but they really didn't understand that I didn't need anybody watching over me as I slept. The argument wasn't it worth it though so I just nodded and walked over and offered him my hand to step on. He didn't hesitate and I moved him from my hand to my shoulder where he could sit.

The two of us headed out the door and down the hall. I could already hear the kids' voices drifting up the stairs from the kitchen. Before I could call out to them though my eyes landed on Aubrey's door, which was cracked open.

"Why is that door open?" I grumbled and walked over to shut it. Wheeljack didn't have an answer for me, but I found one myself when I peeked through the crack to see two familiar bots lying on the bed back to back. I slowly backed away so they wouldn't hear me. "What are they doing?"

Wheeljack motioned for me to head down the stairs and I did with one last glance at the door. He made a sound akin to clearing his throat, "They were recharging. Sleeping."

"The seekers were doing that earlier." I mumbled to myself and stopped on the stairs in thought, "Do they always sleep together like that?"

Wheeljack shrugged and I kept walking, "I don't know the whole truth. Living in the same base as them I know a few things, but it isn't all concrete. I do know they share the same quarters, but I was under the impression that they both slept in separate berths."

"They do." Jazz's voice entered the conversation. He would be the one to know, the damn sneaky saboteur. I glanced over to see him leaning against the base of the stair railing, "This is the first time they've recharged since gettin' 'ere."

Wheeljack made a humming sound, "Ah, I see."

"I don't see. Clueless organic here." I replied and sat down on the bottom stair so I wasn't straining to look at Jazz.

Jazz chuckled, "Lemme tell you a quick story. There was this one battle on Cybertron. It wasn' anythin' special. Jus' an ordinary skirmish, but the twins ended up gettin' separated in it." He paused for a moment, "It was only for an orn-"

"Roughly 13 earth days." Wheeljack cut in.

"But that can feel like a lifetime when you're fightin'." Jazz finished his sentence, "The twins just weren't the same that orn an' everyone understood why, but none o' us ever realized how strainin' it was fo' them to be apart durin' a stressful time like that. My point is that when they did find each other again at the end they were beyond inseparable. An' I know for a fact that when Ratchet had them rechargin' in the medbay for observation they were sharing a berth back to back."

I glanced up the stairs, "That's how they were sleeping upstairs."

"It's stressful for us being here, and considerin' the bomb could've offlined the twins rather than just sendin' 'em here…"

Wheeljack shook his head, "Not a bomb!"

"Why back to back though?"

Wheeljack crossed his arms, "Based on their alt modes and models I assume it's because of their sparks." He saw my look of confusion and continued, "By recharging in that position it allows their sparks to be as close as possible."

"Ya gotta remember, Aj." Jazz said, "Our twins are different than human twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are two very different mechs, but when you get down to the basic facts. The two of 'em make up one single spark."

I sighed, "I'd like to say I understand, but I think I'm more confused."

Wheeljack and Jazz laughed, but the kids coming out of the kitchen to greet me ended the conversation. I listened to them talk about their day as I began to make dinner. My mind remained on the mech twins though. I hadn't understood everything the guys were trying to explain, but I had understood one thing.

Their situation was different from mine and Aubrey's and anger was no longer the emotion I thought of when I thought about their connection. Now, I was jealous. It wasn't an overpowering jealousy that led me to hate them more though. It just made me wish I had someone in my life that I knew would always have my back. An other half.

It was a silly thought to have because I knew I couldn't have someone like that in my life. Not because I was so negative to think that the person for me didn't exist. It was mostly just me knowing that I would never let someone get that close to me. I put up too many walls in an attempt to protect and shield myself, and I didn't think I could bring them down for anybody. Somebody would have to get by them through sheer determination and willpower alone and what idiot would be stupid enough to put themselves through that?

"Ok, ok. Y'all gotta get to sleep. Big Christmas party tomorrow right?" I said while trying to get the kids to move up the stairs. They were dressed and ready for bed, but were still bouncing off the walls. The bots and cons had kept a good eye on the kids while I napped, but apparently they hadn't stopped said children from snacking on every sugary item they got their hands on.

Tyler, in his dark red Iron Man pajamas, tugged on my shirt, "Johnny said his mom is making cupcakes to bring!"

"Yeah, yeah, and Jamie's dad is bringing pie!" Taylor jumped up and down in her own pajamas. She could never decide between her Barbie ones and her Captain America ones so tonight she wore the pink pants and the dark blue shirt with the shield on it. I was a fan of Steve Rogers too, but that was mainly because he had a heavenly ass.

Peter chuckled, "You guys get to turn in your project too."

That statement sent a whole new wave of excitement through them. We passed Megatron in the halls and the kids wished him a good night that he grumbled at in response. I herded all three of them into the twins' room. They jumped into bed while I picked up some random toys on the ground and Peter turned on the nightlight in the corner of their bedroom.

"Aj", Taylor spoke up in a soft, quiet tone, "Can you sing us a song?"

I reeled back in surprise and tossed aside the doll in my hand. All three pairs of eyes were on me. Bumblebee and Bluestreak hadn't shown up yet to stay with the twins and Wheeljack or Prowl was probably already in Peter's room. "What?"

"Can you sing us a song?" Taylor asked again.

Peter sighed, "Tay."

"Mama used to. We miss it." Tyler defended his sister.

I twisted my lips and then sat down at the end of Taylor's bed with my legs crossed, "Come here, y'all." They were silent as they gathered closer. Taylor crawled into my lap with her head against my chest so I rested my own head on top of hers. Tyler and Peter got onto the bed side by side and across from me and Taylor with their knees touching mine. "I know you guys miss Aub- your mom, but she's gonna be home before you know it and she misses you guys more than y'all can imagine. Until then, I'll do anything for you guys. Do you understand? Anything at all. Name it and I'll get it done. Got it?"

"Got it." Peter said as the twins bobbed their heads.

"So, what do you want me to sing?"

"Can you sing playmate?" Taylor asked and my heart stuttered. "Mama sings that song to us all the time."

Playmate was a song I knew by heart. It was the catchy jingle mom used to sing to Aubrey and me when we were small. It's one of the first songs Aubrey and I would sing together in our younger days. I opened my mouth to agree but a sad chuckle came out instead.

"Playmate, come out an play with me." I sang softly, "And bring your dollies three… climb up my apple tree. Look down my rain barrel… slide down my cellar door… and we'll be jolly friends…forever more." Tyler and Peter were smiling and I could tell Taylor was too by her quiet giggles. I let my fingers brush through her blonde hair, "It was a rainy day… she couldn't come out and play…and with a sigh I think I heard her say, I'm sorry playmate…I cant come play with you…my dollies came to life and nearly burned down our kitchen."

My last line of spoken improvisation made all three kids burst out in laughter filling the room with a heart-warming feeling. I wrapped one arm around Taylor and used the other to pull Tyler and Peter closer as I joined in the laughter. This was what having a family felt like. We might not have been the most conventional family, but we were still together and if I could pause time and live forever in one moment? This would be it.

A/N: Hey guys. Sorry this one is kind of shorter. It was technically supposed to be part of the last one and I didn't want to pull stuff from the next one in an attempt to make it longer b/c then everything would get goofed up. Anyways, if you have any questions go ahead and ask me! The little drabbles I owe you guys will be done, but I have to get to a certain point in this story first XD The song Aj sings at the end is just something my parents/grandparents sang to me as a kid and now I sing it to my little sister. I've seen different versions where the lyrics are kind of different though. Also, I'm gonna leave the romance poll up until probably around next week so keep voting! It's neck and neck between like three options. So lemme know what you think! Thanks guys!