Okay. Wow. I really broke my pages mark on this—24! By far the longest chapter I've written for this story yet. Oh, well, good to have a nice, long, happy, fun chapter before the story starts taking a turn. Hope you guys all enjoy this. I guess you could call this a "late Christmas present". Sorry it took so long.

WolfAssassin369—I get the feeling it'll be Qrow who helps Yang out, I don't really now why, I just kinda like the idea. Also thanks for helping me pick out the song for our favorite father-daughter duo here. ;)

AllSpark Princess—Thanks. Hope you had a good Christmas, too. :)

Shadescribe—Yup. I've seen RWBY and I love it. So many great fight scenes, weapons, and an awesome story! And no, Prime didn't tell Hunter he was planning on adopting her, but he will before too long. ;)

Alice Gone Madd—Evidently she can't stay hidden for too long. And no problem. ;)

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize. I also don't own any of the songs mentioned.

Christian Baczyk; Memories of You

11

Ω A Votum Adveho Verus Ω

(A Wish Come True)

"So, nearly there, huh?" Chief Charlie Burns questioned over the vid. com.

"Four days to be exact, Chief Burns," Optimus answered with a smile. "Four more days. I believe it is safe to say now that I cannot foresee anything to stop this."

"Neither can I," Charlie replied. "I've gone over your paperwork that Agent Fowler sent me and everything seems to be in order. I'd say this thing is gonna go off without a hitch."

"Thank you for overseeing the legal matters of this procedure, Chief Burns. It is of utmost importance that this takes place in the most official and proper way possible to avoid any complication. I am most grateful to you."

"Don't mention it Prime—I'm happy to do it," Charlie waved off the thanks before he chuckled. "The hard part was keeping this call under wraps so that the 'bots wouldn't think it was some important, pop check-in. With all the excitement that's been going on in Griffin Rock this past week I'm not quite sure they could've handled that impression. So, when are you going to tell Hunter?"

"Well, if everything is ready and in order I believe I will let her know in the next couple days if I can find the right moment."

"I think just about any moment would be the right moment for this, Prime," Charlie stated with a smirk. "Especially if what you've told me about Hunter's past is true."

Optimus chuckled. "I believe you are right, Chief Burns," he admitted. "I will talk to Hunter as soon as possible."

"Good," the man nodded. "For the record, when exactly do we islanders get to meet this girl?"

"In the near future, Chief Burns," Optimus responded with another chuckle. "I assure you."

"All right then," Charlie chuckled. "I'll let you go now, Optimus. I think I've disappeared long enough and if I'm gone any longer the team might send out a search party for me. Plus, I can't take any chances of spoiling the surprise in case your girl walks in."

"Of course," Optimus nodded. "Thank you, Chief Burns." With that the call ended and the viz. screen went black as it switched off. The large mech turned away from the screen an almost elated smile curling his lipplates. Now was the time. He had said he would talk to Hunter as soon as possible and how more "soon as possible" could you get than right now? The Prime just hoped he wasn't possibly jinxing anything by jumping the gun even this little bit. Still smiling the Prime strode across the room and headed for the hall that would lead him to the berth rooms when a resounding crash and a torrent of angry buzzes stopped him in his tracks. Optics wide in alarm, Optimus broke into a sprint and barreled down the hall towards the sound. He skidded to a quick stop as he saw a giggling mad Hunter come running out of berth room, the obviously angry owner of the room hot on her tail.

In human form, Hunter spotted her spark-father and sprinted for him, somehow managing to look panicked and over-joyed at the same time. "Dad!" she half-screamed half-laughed. "Save me!" Leaping up the teen snagged a hold on the top of her father's windshields and scrambled her way up to his shoulder and then up to the very top of his helm. She smirked down at Bumblebee who was standing there on the floor, neck craned back as he glared daggers up at her. "Can't get me now, 'Bee," she snickered devilishly. "Nyah, nyah-nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!" She stuck out her tongue and pressed her thumbs to her temples as she tauntingly wiggled her fingers at the yellow and black mech.

Frame literally shaking with rage, Bumblebee let fly a string of expletives, all directed at the redhead who was currently doing a jig on the top of his commander's headset.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus exclaimed with a disapproving look.

/Don't you see what she did to me?!\\ the young mech demanded pointing to his face which was painted up to make it look like he was wearing make-up. Tacky make-up. The enormous red lips painted over his mouth-guard were particularly obscene. The caked on, bright blue eyeshadow above his optics wasn't all that appealing either. And the blush… well, you couldn't be sure if it was really that shade or if it just looked that shade because the scout whose cheekplates it adorned was blushing with hot fury and humiliation. /I look ridiculous, Optimus!\\

Fighting hard to keep from laughing (because even the Prime himself couldn't withstand the awesome power of Bumblebee's make-over) Optimus replied, "It is… not as bad as you think." His voice was strained and choked. The Prime could barely spit out the words for fear of bursting into laughter.

/"Not as bad as I think"?\\ the scout repeated in absolute disbelief. /I look like Raf's little sister's Bratz dolls!\\

"Yeah, ya do!" Hunter snorted.

/Can it, spawn!\\ 'Bee buzzed, pointing a jagged finger at the sixteen-year-old. /Optimus can't protect you forever and I know where you sleep!\\ That only made Hunter laugh harder. Slumping in defeat, Bumblebee turned his attention back to his commander. /Prime, what am I gonna do?\\ Desperation was in his voice. /I have to go pick up Raf in less than an hour and there's no way I'll be able to wipe this stuff off my faceplate before then!\\

"Calm down, Bumblebee," Optimus comforted the young mech, laying a soothing, fatherly hand on his shoulder. "We can inform Bulkhead or Arcee to collect Raf if we must. In the meantime I suggest you clean up before the paint completely dries."

/Thanks, Optimus,\\ 'Bee sighed in relief, his whole body going limp with it for a brief moment. /You're the best.\\

Optimus nodded with a smile. "Go on then. Hunter will be along in a moment to help you once I have a talk with her."

Hearing that, Hunter immediately stopped laughing and rolling around atop her Prime's helm and froze. After a moment she hung over the side of his forehead and met on of his optics, gazing into it with a bewildered look. "Say what now?" she asked, hoping she'd heard wrong.

"You heard me," Optimus replied firmly as he looked cross-eyed at her.

"Uh… you know what he'll do to me if we're alone, right?" Hunter inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you played your joke on him," Optimus suggested, (even though he had [secretly] enjoyed it). "Besides I'm sure it will be no more than you can easily handle." That said and with a longsuffering sigh, the red and blue Autobot reached up and gently plucked his spark-daughter off the top of his helm and knelt down to carefully deposit her on the floor. "Hunter, that is the tenth prank you have played in two weeks," he began, reprimand in his voice. "Sweet-spark, as I have told you many times, I am not against you having fun but this seems rather excessive for you." And he wasn't wrong. It wasn't unlike Hunter to play pranks but it was just something she did every now and again when she got the urge. She never clipped pranks off like this. "Tell me what is wrong."

Transforming to her Cybertronian form, the young Hybrid met her spark-father's stanch gaze with an even more unwavering one of her own. "I'm bored!" Hunter admitted without even the slightest hesitation. "Dad, I've been locked up in this base for two weeks now and I'm bored out of my skull! I need to get outside—feel the sun, race the breeze, feel the road under my tires as I speed down the highway. I've never been this cooped up in my entire life. Daddy, I want to go outside!" the femmling sobbed the last statement and she dramatically fell forward and wrapped her arms around the mech as she buried her face in his chest.

Optimus sighed tediously and couldn't help but roll his optics. "Hunter, you know you can't."

"Just for an hour!" Hunter exclaimed, looking up at him with pleading optics. "I promise, just for an hour."

"Hunter…"

"Half an hour."

"Hunter, please…"

"Fifteen minutes? Ten minutes? I'll even take five minutes, Dad, just five minutes! I just wanna get out of the base for a while." She shoved her faceplate back into his chest armor.

Optimus couldn't help but gaze at his child sympathetically as he loosely wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back. "You really are restless aren't you?" he murmured softly.

"I'm stir-crazy," Hunter muttered into his armor. "I have never been so bored in my entire life and I sat through Mr. Wheelwright's math class at Jasper High School so that's saying a lot." Pulling her face out of his chest and looking up at her spark-father again, the teenager added, "I would even go back to school again just to get out of this mesa."

"Then you most certainly are bored," Optimus chuckled. It was a huge thing for Hunter to admit she'd rather go to OHS than just stay home. "But… I am afraid leaving this base, even for a few minutes, is quite impossible, My Shooting Star. It is best you stay inside where you are safe and undetected."

"But what if you went outside with me?" Hunter tried to weasel her way around the rule. "I might not be undetected then, but I would most definitely be safe. At least safer than I would be if I went outside just by myself."

Optimus was quiet for a moment, thinking this over. "Well…" he began, sounding unsure.

"What if the whole team was with me? And Atlas? I'd definitely be safe then, right?"

At that, Optimus narrowed his optics. She was up to something—trying to get something she wanted. Of course that something she wanted was to get out of the base for a while but it was more than just that; she had a place and most likely activity in mind. "All right," he sighed, "where do you want to go?"

"Well, you know how it's Labor Day weekend coming up?" Hunter questioned feeling a bit more hopeful now that the Prime was interested in at least listening to her idea. Once he'd nodded she went on. "Jack and Raf said that every other year Jasper has a carnival/rodeo-fair type thing over Labor Day weekend, and this is the year for it again. And… well… I was just thinking… I know that the Lennoxes and Epps will be going and so will Jack, Miko, and Raf, and since the kids are going I'm sure at least Bulk and 'Bee will go, and… well… I just thought that maybe if we all went, and if we invited Atlas to go, it would be okay for me to go to. Ya know, since everyone's there?"

An uncertain look came over Optimus' face as he thought it over. Though outside, Hunter would most definitely be much safer with the whole team as well as Atlas there with her should something happen. However, had they not just witnessed how dangerous their enemy was when they'd attacked her at Olympus High—a school full of Hybrids? Atlas and Hunter aside, their team was made up of Purebreds and humans, so who was to say they could even stop the enemy from taking Hunter should they come for her at the carnival? "Sweetspark, I do not know…"

"Please, Daddy?" Hunter pleaded, voice insistent. "I haven't been to a carnival in… well… ever actually. Please? Just one night? Please?" To help seal the deal, the femmling pulled out her fail-safe: the sad puppy eyes.

Gazing down into his daughter's face, Optimus' resoluteness wavered. Why was it so hard to say 'no' to that face? And to make things worse her sad eyes looked even more pitiful since she really was desperate to get out of the base and do something fun for a little while. Groaning and letting his head fall back, the Prime gazed up at the ceiling, trying to break away from the spell of the infamous sad puppy eyes. It didn't work. Even when he wasn't looking into them, the mech could feel them gazing up at him, burning through him and penetrating his very spark, weakening it, bending it to his will.

"Please, Daddy?" Hunter asked one more time, voice as small and meek and innocent as she could possibly make it sound.

And just like that, all of Optimus' herculean resolve came tumbling down. "Well…."

The Celestial Estate;

Luna sat in her throne deeply entranced in thought. She'd been in this exact position for much of the two weeks since her field acolytes had returned from their failed mission to retrieve the Fuser. The sorceress had been furious, so furious in fact she'd ripped out the sparks of the few remaining members from that mission and crushed them, an act she'd become notorious for. And the woman wasn't much calmer now. They'd had one chance where the odds had been all in their favor and they'd blown it; the Fuser had now vanished underground, just as Luna had feared. There was next to no chance of finding her now.

But Luna had never been one to give up. It was the one truly good skill that her grandsire had instilled in her and it was her greatest strength. Odds are the Fuser wouldn't come out of hiding unless the situation was most dire, and if that was the case then Luna would simply have to force the Fuser to come out. But what situation would be calamitous enough to warrant the Fuser's assistance?

Luna was just beginning to dive into the question when one of the large doors at the end of the throne room opened and Steel walked through. "Grandmother?" he called, making his way across the dark hall.

"I thought I specifically requested to not be disturbed," Luna stated, though her voice lacked harshness and edge, as she was still thinking.

"You did, Grandmother," Steel agreed with a nod. "But I believe I've found some information that will interest you." Pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket, the eighteen-year-old unfolded it and bowed before the feet of his grandmother, offering it up to her.

With a gloved hand, Luna took the paper and held it up to read, carefully looking it over. After a moment her dark red lips slowly pulled up at the corners and parted to reveal her pearl white teeth. She chuckled lowly and darkly. Perfect! "Well done, Steel," she complimented her grandson, not looking away from the paper. "Well done."

"Thank you, Grandmother," the young man replied. Though instead of sounding happy or pleased as he should have about his success Steel's voice was still dry and tight, devoid of any emotion. With that he got up and left the room.

Still gazing at the paper, Luna whispered to herself, "I believe this would definitely be warrant enough to force her out of hiding."

Two Days Later—Evening—Jasper, Nev.;

Optimus couldn't help but grin as he watched his spark-daughter bounce up and down in her seat in utter delight in his passenger seat. Just seeing that grin on her face and the brightness in her eyes made the risk of taking her out of hiding for the night completely worth it. Hunter was excited and happy—it couldn't be better than that. Well, it could be better without the niggling fear that whoever was trying to capture her could possibly show up here tonight, but at the moment that was all at the very back of the Prime's processor. He wasn't going to worry tonight. He was going to enjoy this time with his daughter and nothing was going to interfere with that.

"This is gonna be so awesome!" Hunter sang. Her eyes were fixed out the windshield as the fairgrounds came into sight on the horizon. The sun was just beginning to set over the Nevada desert but many of the carnival lights already had their lights on. That only made the teen more excited. She was going to a carnival! She was actually going to a carnival! This was something she'd always wanted to do and now she was finally getting that chance. One more activity to check off her bucket list!

Finally Optimus pulled up into the parking area of the grounds and parked, the alternate forms of Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ratchet—yes, even Ratchet!—pulling in and parking right next to him. The Lennoxes' vehicle pulled in not long after. With everyone here it was time to hit the carnival and nobody was more ready to do that than a certain redheaded Hybrid. That couldn't be made more clear than when she literally threw open the door of her father's cab and leapt out with a whoop. "Whoo-hoo! Whoa!" Hunter was suddenly snagged around the middle and pulled out of her leap and back into a pair of arms. With a sheepish giggle she looked up to see her father's holoform smiling down at her.

"Calm down," Optimus gently cautioned. "Not so fast. The carnival is not going anywhere, so slow down." Setting her back down on the ground and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, the Prime led the femmling around to the other side of his vehicular form where everyone else had congregated.

"So, what's the strategy?" Arcee questioned. "Are we splitting up or staying in one big group?"

"Who cares?" Miko said by way of answer. She, too, was quite excited. "There isn't any kind of plan you make when you go to a carnival you just go! This isn't a battle." With that the Japanese girl turned to her guardian's holoform and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, Bulk! Let's go on the roller coaster!" She pointed up to the winding track that towered above much of the rest of the fair grounds. Every once in a while you could see one of the carts packed with screaming people come into a view and then plummet straight down again out of sight, the screaming growing louder.

Staring up at it, Bulkhead couldn't help but gulp. There wasn't much the ex-Wrecker was afraid of, but he wasn't fond of the idea of feeling like he was free falling and drops like that one on a roller coaster did just that. This wasn't the first time he'd encountered roller coasters with Miko, and she liked the fast and tall ones. The faster and taller the better. "Miko, maybe we should rethink this," he suggested.

Miko whipped around and gazed at him with disbelief. "You kidding? That's the whole reason I wanted to come here! Now come on!" She began pulling him in the direction of the entrance.

"Miko! Wa-wait, Miko. Miko!" Bulk tried to dig his heels in and pull away from his young companion but it was no use, she wouldn't let him go. The rest of the group couldn't help but snicker.

"Mommy, can we go see the bunnies?" Annabelle questioned, turning to look up at her father with pleading eyes.

Will and Sarah chuckled and shared a gaze before turning back to their child. "Put the puppy eyes away," Sarah sighed, playfully tapping her daughter's nose. "Of course we can go see the bunnies."

"Yay!" Annabelle cheered, doing her famous happy dance.

"All right," Will laughed. "Do you wanna walk to see the bunnies or do you want a piggy back ride?"

"Piggy back!"

"All right, my little jockey, hop on." Will crouched down and picked his daughter up to set her on his shoulders before standing up again. "Here we go. I guess we're off to see the small animal house first then," he informed the others as the family walked away.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys," Epps stated as he patted his middle, "but I haven't eaten anything since dinner and I've been workin' hard all day so I'm hungry. I'm headed to hit the snack shacks. If you need me, you can find me behind a pile of corndogs." He began to head towards the entrance as well.

"I'm gonna laugh when you get indigestion," Hunter called after him with a smirk.

Epps smirked back over his shoulder at her. "Hey, if I do, just know that I'll be riding home with you."

Both Hunter's and Optimus' eyes widened in terror.

"Sergeant!" Optimus exclaimed.

"You wouldn't dare!" Hunter screeched at the same time.

Epps simply snickered evilly and kept walking away.

Optimus and Hunter shared a look and shuddered before turning back to the rest of the group. "What about all of you?" the Prime questioned.

"They're having a wild west show over in the arena," Raf stated. "'Bee wants to see it we we'll head over there."

"I'll go with them, too," Ratchet said. Apparently he hadn't meant to sound so excited because when he say everyone looking out him strangely his holoform face flushed beet red. "Uh… to keep an eye on Rafael and Bumblebee," he rushed on to add. "Someone has to make sure they don't get into trouble."

The others didn't seem to buy it. "Ratchet a closeted cowboy wannabe?" Jack snorted, looking over at Hunter.

"Who knew?" the girl replied with a laugh.

Growling and still red in the face, Ratchet began to leave the group. "Come along, boys," he grumbled. Still snickering up their breath, Raf and 'Bee followed after him.

"Wait, 'Bee!" Hunter called. When the young Autobot had paused and turned back to face her, the girl removed her black, felt cowboy hat that Will had handed down her to her placed it atop her brother's holoform's head. "There," she giggled, adjusting it before stepping back with her hands on her hips, "now you look like a real cowboy: boots, chaps, hat, and all." And he really did. For the occasion Bumblebee had switched up his holoform's outfit for the night to look like an authentic cowpoke. Bumping the brim up a bit more, 'Bee gave the girl a lopsided smile before pointing at her and winking, clucking his tongue as he did. Hunter laughed and did the motion back at him. "You got it, partner," she drawled. "Now go round up them there little doggies." She tried to stifle her laughter as the mech turned away and began to saunter off with the best bow-legged swagger her could manage.

Chuckling, Optimus came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, watching after the young scout as she did. "Bumblebee," he mused shaking his head, "the first Cybertronian cowboy."

"I think he can pull it off," Hunter commented. The sixteen-year-old turned to look at Arcee and Jack who, like she and Optimus, were watching after Bumblebee and trying not to laugh. "What's the plan for you two?" she asked.

"I don't know," Arcee answered before looking at Jack.

"I guess I was planning on showing Arcee some of the shooting games," Jack answered.

"Shooting games?" the femme questioned.

"Yeah," the boy replied. "You put down money and you shoot at targets and if you can it what you're supposed to you can win prizes. Knowing you, you might actually be able to beat them."

"I'm always up for a challenge," Arcee said with a shrug, a slight smile curling her holoform lips. "And target practice is always a good thing to do." With that the two of them walked off, Jack digging out his wallet and going through it to see just how much money he had.

With the rest of the team gone, Optimus turned to his daughter, the one person who had looked forward to this evening most but had yet to proclaim what she wanted to do. "And what of you, My Love?" he questioned, turning her to face him and brushing her bangs back out of her face with a loving smile. "What would you like to do first?"

"Everything!" Hunter almost had the exclamation out before he'd finished asking the question.

Optimus laughed. "Well, I am afraid we will be unable to do everything first, Sweet-spark," he remarked. Putting an arm around her shoulders the duo began walking towards the entrance of the fairgrounds. "Why don't we start with what you want to do most first and work our way from there?"

"But I want to do everything most."

"Well, you are simply going to have to narrow it down."

"Wow, okay," Hunter chuckled as she looked around at the surroundings she was currently rising above. "This is really high. I don't think I'm even this high up when I'm standing on the top of your helm," she mentioned to her father seated beside her in the bright green Ferris Wheel chair. After much deliberation, the teenager had decided that the best way to kick of her carnival debut was to do the most classic thing one thought of when thinking about going to a carnival: riding the Ferris Wheel. It was all well and good until they reached the top of the wheel and suddenly came to a stop as the operator let people out of the lowest basket. Hunter looked down to see just how high they were. Her excitement turned into terror and her grin slipped away when she saw how far away the ground looked. That was a long way down. And nothing but the safety bar and a couple flimsy belts to strap them in…. The redhead sat back a bit but continued to stare down. "Almost too high," she added to her previous statement with a gulp.

At that, a devilish smirk claimed Optimus' lips as a brilliant idea popped into his head. It might be a little mean but this was by far too good an opportunity to pass up, and when it came to his daughter the Prime wasn't above playing a little harmless prank on her. Primus knew she did it to him often enough. Grabbing the safety bar with both hands and bracing his feet against the little lip on the footrest, the Autobot quickly threw his weight backwards, causing the chair to suddenly rock.

With a scream, Hunter instinctively wrapped both arms around the safety bar and hung on for dear life until the basket stopped moving. She glared over at the laughing Prime. "That was not funny!" she fumed a bit breathlessly, harshly glaring at him.

"On the contrary, My Shooting Star," Optimus retorted, grinning from ear to ear at her, "it was most humorous."

"No it wasn't," Hunter snipped. "Don't do it again."

"Of course, Hunter," Optimus ceded, still smiling and chuckling. "Whatever you say." The Ferris Wheel began to move again and the Prime waited a few seconds more before her made the chair sway once more.

"Ahh! No! No!" Hunter desperately clung on to the safety bar as well as the back of the basket, trying to stabilize it. When is stopped she relaxed and slumped back into the seat, arms crossed over her chest. She glared at her spark-father. "You think you're awfully clever, don't you?" she rumbled. It was a rhetorical question.

"Well, I am sorry, Sweet-spark," Optimus chuckled, "but you make it far too easy. Hunter you have nothing to fear. You are safely secured within this basket; I myself am not going to let you fall out; and even if you were fall you are not high enough to be injured should you hit the ground. And let us not forget, little one, with your pyrokinesis you do possess the capability of flight."

"So?" Hunter responded. "Hybrid or not, Fuser or not, I still have the instincts I developed as a human, so I'm gonna freak out at the prospect of falling regardless. Besides, it's still not nice to scare people, especially your daughter!"

Optimus sighed and looked away from her harsh gaze. "Ah, I suppose you are right, Hunter," he admitted, though he still couldn't help but smile. "I am sorry. I will sway the chair again." And he didn't… until they'd rounded the Ferris Wheel and reached the top again. That time the basket swayed more dramatically than it had before because right at the moment the Autobot commander threw his weight the Ferris Wheel came to yet another stop.

That time Hunter grabbed at and clung to the holoform to anchor herself. "DAD! You said you weren't gonna do that again!" she shrieked frantically, sapphire blue eyes wide with fright.

"Ah, but I did not promise that I wouldn't," Optimus stated, "did I?"

"Well, no, but… but… ugh!" Hunter hid her face in his shoulder. Gently slamming her fist against his chest, the sixteen-year-old grumbled, "You're a meany-pants."

"I do not believe that is an actual thing, Hunter," her father informed her, "much less a word."

"Doesn't matter," the girl insisted. "You're a meany-pants—case closed."

Chuckling, Optimus wrapped an arm around his daughter and pulled her close to his side. "I am sorry, Hunter," he crooned, rubbing her back. "I won't sway the basket again, I promise."

Pulling her face out of his shoulder and resting her head there, Hunter looked up at him and studied his face for a moment. "I know you promised you wouldn't," she said after a moment, "but I'm still not sure I believe you." Smiling, the Prime kissed her forehead and nuzzled her making it impossible for the child to not smile and nuzzle him back. "You're infuriating," she grumbled, still trying to pass off as angry.

"Mmm, yes, that is why you are cuddling into my side," Optimus noted.

"Take it and shove it."

The Prime chuckled.

"I think I might have to breathe through my mouth tonight," Hunter remarked half-way to herself as she and Optimus walked arm and arm down the midway, looking this way and that to take in the sites. There was so much here! Stands selling food; stands selling jewelry and clothes and hates and boots; chainsaw sculptures, pony rides, a fun house, a bouncy house, a bull ride—they had everything! It was dazzling to the eye.

"Why is that?" Optimus questioned, looking down at his daughter quizzically.

"The smell of the food," Hunter answered not looking up at him as she was too busy looking around. "It's overwhelming for my sense of smell." Hybrids were renowned for their heightened senses and because she was the Fuser Hunter's senses were even more acute than those of any other Hybrid. Epps always joked about her being the blood-hound of the group. As you can probably guess being compared to a dog—even loving animals as she did—did not make the teenager feel the least bit flattered. Unfortunately, Epps just took that as a cue to joke about it even more.

"Does it hurt?" her father questioned in some concern. Knowing just how sensitive his daughter's sense of smell was, the Prime was aware that odors that were too concentrated and overpowering could physically hurt her olfactory nerves. It had happened once before when Hunter had been helping Epps and Lennox on the ranch and they'd stirred up a skunk. Thankfully Hunter wasn't the one that got sprayed but she had come away from the incident with burning sinuses and a bleeding nose because of the stench. Sometimes having more powerful sensory functions didn't pay.

"No," the girl assured him, shaking her head. "It might if I deliberately smelled the air but I'm not. It's just really pungent." That's when something out of the corner of the Hunter's eye snagged her attention. "Ooh, is that cotton candy?!" she exclaimed, looking in the direction of the stand and stopping, consequently causing her father to stop as well. When the teen had discovered that, yes, it really was cotton candy she spun around and looked up at the Prime with excitement. "Can I get some cotton candy, Daddy?" she pleaded, jumping up and down like a small child. "Please, please, please, please, please?"

Laughing, Optimus placed a gentle hand atop her head to keep her still. "All right," he grinned. "All right. I honestly do not see what you find so appetizing about candy that looks like something clothing should be made from, but all right." Digging into the pocket of his holoform jeans, the Prime pulled out some money he'd made sure to stash there and placed it in Hunter's hand. "Go buy yourself a bag," he said, folding her hand over the cash. "But just one."

"You are the greatest!" his daughter exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. She remained there for only a split second before turning and running off towards the stand.

Optimus watched after her, chuckling and shaking his head. His little girl—sometimes she truly did seem like a little girl.

"Thanks," Hunter chirped to the person behind the counter as she passed her money over. Swiping up her bag of sugary goodness, the sixteen-year-old opened it, reached inside and pulled off a good chunk of it. She popped it into her mouth, savoring the taste as the pure sugar melted on her tongue. What could be better than this?

"Hey, Red," a familiar voice caught her attention. "Been a while."

Freezing mid-stride, Hunter rolled her eyes. "Not nearly long enough, Vince," she replied, turning around to see the red-haired, green-eyed boy standing there, leaning up against a light pole, smiling. The girl couldn't help but take notice at how he was looking her up and down. Suddenly this night didn't seem so magical.

"Aw, come on, Hunter," Vince flirtatiously returned, "that's no way to talk to an old friend."

"You're exactly right," Hunter agreed, pointing at him with a smile. "Good thing we're not friends then, huh?"

Chuckling, Vince ran a hand through his perfectly angled bangs and pushed off the pole, swaggering towards her. "Aw, don't say that now, Red, I'm trying to be optimistic here."

"Yeah, well, I'm being realistic," Hunter shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. "And guess what, Vince? It's realism that helps you survive in this world."

"Did I mention how great you look?" the boy suddenly asked, admittedly throwing Hunter a bit off her game. She knew that Vince liked how she was built, but it had been a while since she'd heard him mention it.

"No," she answered. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't."

"Ha, still got the acid tongue I see," Vince commented.

"I try to keep it sharp for you, Vince."

"Good to know you think of me."

"I don't. It was sarcasm? Do I need to hold up a sign?"

"Aw, come on, you don't think of me at least a little bit?"

"Well, admittedly some whenever Miko or Jack or Raf mention you."

"Oh? And what do you think of?" Vince had covered the distance between them and was standing well within the girl's personal space bubble, gazing down into her sapphire blue eyes.

Hunter tried to step back but he came with her. "Excuse me?" she snorted.

"What do you think of when you think of me?"

Hunter stared at him for a moment, cocking her head to the side as she looked him over. Seriously? Did he take this page out of 'How to Flirt Clichés 101'? "You really want me to go there?" she asked, narrowing her gaze at him.

"If you do I'll tell you what I think of when I think of you."

"I don't wanna know what you think of when you think of me," Hunter silently snapped. "Well, all right," she sighed with a shrug, "if you must know. When I think of you I think of… what a damn, sparkly dill weed you are." And that was heavily sugarcoating it.

In a matter of three seconds Vince's expression turned from one of flirtation to shock to anger. The vein that Hunter remembered so well began to pop out on his forehead. "Excuse me?" he seethed.

Smirking Hunter shrugged and shook her head. "Hey, man, you asked."

"You think I'm a sparkly dill weed?" Vince fumed, voice raising.

"Well, actually I think of way worse things than that but I'm trying to keep it civil here."

"You think I'm s sparkly dill weed?!" Thanks to Vince they were really having a lot of unnecessary attention drawn towards them now.

"Why are you surprised?" Hunter inquired with a small laugh. "I don't like you Vince. I never have. Or don't you remember?"

"You got some nerve, bitch!" Vince roared. "Do you have any idea how many girls would consider themselves frickin' lucky for me to be talking to them the way I'm talking to you?"

"Some girls must really have a thing for being yelled at then," Hunter muttered.

"I mean the flirting!" Vince bellowed.

"Yeah, it was really pathetic by the way," the girl jabbed. "Seriously, Vince, I expected better material from you."

All at once Vince raised a hand. "I should smack some respect into you!" he growled. With that the boy swung his hand down, only to have his wrist be caught and easily held off. His eyes widened. He'd forgotten just how freakishly strong this girl was!

A deadly scowl on her face Hunter glared Vince down, making him feel like she was burning into his very soul with those vivid eyes of hers. "Lay a hand on me," she hissed, "and I will bust your fat, empty head wide open. Understand?" She threw his hand way, causing the boy to spin and almost lose his balance.

Finding his feet again, Vince wheeled around to glare back at her and give her what for. "Are you threatening me?" he demanded.

"I'm not threatening you, son, I'm telling you," Hunter informed him. "Step off."

"Oh, what, you actually think I'm afraid of you, Red? You actually think you can take me?"

"Maybe you have some brain damage from our previous encounters and don't remember because of it, Vince, but I've trounced your sorry backside twice—once only a week after I had my appendix removed. You honestly think I can't do it again?" There was a dangerous challenge in Hunter's voice, almost as if she was daring him to try. And to be perfectly honest she was. More than anything she wanted to show this guy what for, knock down to the bottom of the ego scale, and watch him try to climb back up from that devastating blow. Unfortunately she never got that chance because it was right when Vince seemed about ready to take her dare that her spark-father came walking in to the picture.

"Is everything all right, Hunter?" Optimus questioned, even though he knew everything clearly wasn't.

Relaxing a bit and taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes to calm herself, Hunter nodded. "Yeah," she sighed, opening her eyes again and looking up at him. "Everything's okay, Dad."

"Dad?" Vince snorted with a sneer. "What Dad? He's not your dad—you're an orphan, Red, you don't have parents."

Hunter whirled around on him, shooting daggers his way. How dare he?! Oh, that was it! He was going to have to by dentures for himself now! The girl moved to attack but a steady and firm hand was placed on her shoulder, silently telling her to amp down. Begrudgingly, Hunter did just that. "No, you're right, Vince," she said instead, "I was an orphan and didn't have parents. But see, that's the beauty about being a orphan, Vince—you can get new parents."

Another snort. "Who'd want you for a daughter?"

That time it was Optimus' turn to go rigid and snarl from deep in his chest. "I would," he rumbled menacingly, causing the boy's eyes to widen a bit in fear and step back.

Hunter couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, see, Vince," she added, "I can get a new family, but you? You will never be able to get a new attitude; you are always going to be a jerk. And not even a jerk—you are like the King Jerk and even all your jerky subjects hate your guts. Now if you'll excuse us, my father and I were enjoying a lovely evening together before you so rudely interrupted it. So if you wouldn't mind." Taking each other's arms again, the duo turned and walked away, leaving a very flustered and tongue-tied King Jerk in their wake.

"Well," Optimus remarked after a minute or two, "that was interesting."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Hunter agreed. "Too bad Vince isn't the one who's after me. I wouldn't mind one bit seeing him locked up."

Seated on a bench across from the photo booth they'd just come out of, Optimus and Hunter were huddled together, looking over their line of photographs and laughing at how ridiculous they looked. What was it about photo booths that brought out the comedian in everybody? "Oh, my gosh, you're doing the bunny ears on me!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing to the first picture on the strip. "You jerk! How do you even know what bunny ears are?" She gave her father a befuddled look.

Optimus chuckled. "Hunter, I am not as oblivious to Earth customs as you seem to think I am," he informed her. "There are many things I have learned since arriving on this planet."

"And are you gonna spring all of them on me as surprises?" the girl asked with a raised eyebrow and smirk.

"That is for me to know and you to find out," Optimus answered mysteriously, returning her look. Hunter rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the photos again, her father doing the same. "Besides," Prime sighed heavily, "it didn't seem to work out, what with you deciding move your head and kiss my cheek at the last minute."

"You look way more surprised than I thought you would," Hunter giggled, grinning from ear to ear.

"Of course I was surprised," her father stated. "I was under the impression that the first photo was to be a serious one."

"But you were gonna do the bunny ears on me."

"Yes, but you weren't to know that until we retrieved the pictures."

"So you're a sneaky hypocrite," Hunter summed up, giving her father a look again.

"No," Optimus began, "I am…"

"Yes you are," Hunter persisted with a devilish grin. "You're a sneaky hypocrite."

The Prime gave her a fed up look and shook his head. "All right," he finally caved, neatly folding the photos. "You are you going to be that way you are not going to get to see the rest of the photos." He slipped the strip into an inside pocket of his jacket.

"Wha- no, Dad, come on," Hunter replied with a sweet smile. "That isn't fair."

"Oh, I believe it is perfectly fair," Optimus replied with a shake of his head. "You disrespect me and…"

"I wasn't disrespecting you, I was just teasing!" Hunter exclaimed with a disbelieving laugh and shrug. "Come on, you know that."

"I am sorry, but my decision is final," her spark-father declared bracing his hands on his knees in a finality gesture.

Hunter scoffed, not quite buying it. "You're playing with me," she stated.

"No, I am not."

"Yes, you are, now let me see the photos."

"No. You cannot see them."

"Yes, I can—lemme see."

"No."

"Yes." Hunter moved her hand towards his jacket to retrieve the photo strip but Optimus scooted out of her reach. "Dad, come on." She tried again and he turned away. "Dad." When she went for them again he stood up. The redhead smirked. So, he wanted to play hardball, huh? Fine, two could play at that game. "Lemme see the pictures!" Standing up on the bench, the young Hybrid lunged and landed on her father's back, almost toppling him to the ground. As she clung to him she tried worming her hand down into his jacket pocket, but he caught her wrist. "I wanna see the pictures!"

"Never!" Optimus chortled evilly.

"Dad!"

"No!"

"They're my pictures too!"

"Well, that is unfortunate, because you're not going to see them! Ugh!" The Prime reached around to try and snag a hold on his daughter and drag her off his back. However, it was easier said than done. She was squirming around on his back so that Optimus was finding it difficult to keep his balance and was staggering this way and that. Finally the Autobot decided to go up and over instead of around and back. Taking hold of her upper left arm, Prime jerked Hunter down over his shoulder, the force of his action causing him to stumble back and fall do a seat on the bench again, Hunter crashing down in his lap. "Oof!"

After shaking off their daze the two paused and met each other's eyes before bursting out laughing. "I'm pretty sure we just got a bunch of weird and probably annoyed looks," Hunter remarked, sitting up on his knee.

"Then so be it," Optimus replied, smiling lovingly at her. "I could not care less about what they think, I only care that you are happy, My Shooting Star. That is all that matters to me tonight."

Hunter couldn't help the mile wide grin that claimed her lips. Being a Prime, Optimus was always careful to keep his emotions in check when on the battlefield, in a briefing, over even just when he was around most of the rest of the team, but when it came to her he was an open book. And not just because they shared a spark-bond. The link certainly did make it easier to sense what the Prime was feeling at any given moment but even without it Hunter would have been able to know. He held nothing back with her. Especially when it came to letting her know just how much he cared for her. When he showed her love and affection Optimus did it completely without any shame or remorse, no matter who was around. The only thing he cared about was making sure she felt cherished and happy and important. He made her feel like she was the center of his very world even when she knew that wasn't completely true. He was so different from every other adult she'd met in that respect, including the few families who had considered adopting her when she'd been younger. Even back then when those families had showered her with love and affection there had always been questions and worries. Did the family really love her or did they just pity her? Did they really want her? Or was it just something they had said to help calm her fears? With Optimus there were no questions: There was no worry. Yes, he really loved her, there was no pity there. Yes, he really wanted her—she could see it every time she looked into his eyes. He was hers for all eternity and she knew that he would never, ever abandon her or give her up for anything. That's why she loved him so much. That's why she wasn't afraid to trust him with, not just her life, but her happiness as well. And he safeguarded both with the fiercest devotion. And, though he never asked for or expected repayment, Hunter did her best to do the same for him and to make him proud. It was the very least she could do since he had not only saved her life numerous times but had taken her under his wing, stood by her in her greatest hours of need, and, most importantly, had given her love and a family. She would never truly be able to repay him for that.

"You know what would really make me happy?" Hunter asked teasingly. "Seeing the pictures."

Chuckling Optimus dramatically rolled his electric blue holoform eyes and reached inside his jacket. "Very well," he sighed. "If you must." The Autobot dug into his pocket and pulled out the strip, tenderly unfolding it. He handed to her. "Are you happy now?"

Hunter grinned cheekily at him. "Very," she answered. "Thank you." She chuckled as her father kissed her hair and then looked the pictures over again. "I think this one is my favorite," the teenager stated. She was pointing at the last photo of the strip—the one where she was laying across the Prime's lap, after being tickled and dragged into it, and one arm wrapped around his neck while the other was stretched down towards the floor of the photo booth. Optimus was doing somewhat the same thing with one arm around her and the other extending away. They were both smiling, their mouths open as if to announce, "Here we are!"

Optimus smiled, not a bit surprised that was her favorite. "I believe this one is mine," he commented, pointing to the picture just above Hunter's pick. In that one they were hugging each other, looking as happy as two larks. Simple and sweet—it couldn't get any better than that.

"That's a good one, too," the girl admitted. Suddenly something slammed into her back and Hunter went tumbling off her father's knee to the ground. "Oof!"

"Hunter!" Annabelle chirped happily.

Laughing, Hunter rolled over and sat up, grinning as the little girl wrapped her in a hug. "That's quite a powerful tackle you got there, Belle," she remarked, ruffling the child's golden locks. The teen looked up over Annabelle's head to see Sarah and Will standing there, trying to stifle their laughter as they watched on. "Will, I think you have a football player on your hands here," she told the man as she got on her feet.

"Well, the high school is in need of a good linebacker," Will replied with a shrug.

"Daddy!" Annabelle huffed, giving him the cutest glare. "I don't want to be a football player when I grow up—you know that!"

"And what is it you want to be when you're grown, little one?" Optimus inquired with a soft smile.

At that Annabelle leapt to her feet and started dancing around. "I want to be a coregrapher!" she exclaimed.

"That's 'chor-e-o-graph-er', sweetheart," Sarah corrected her daughter, pronouncing each syllable.

"Chor-e-o-graph-er," her daughter repeated with great concentration. "Hmm, that's hard to say. Maybe I'll just be a ballerina instead." With that statement the seven-year-old went up on her tip-toes and began pirouetting as best she could. "I'm already really good at walking around on my tip-toes," she stated proudly. "Uncle Epps calls me a ninja because he says you can't hear me when I walk on my tip-toes. Ooh! Maybe I'll be a ninja when I grow up."

"You can grow up to be whatever you want to be, Annabelle," Hunter assured the child with a chuckle. "And whatever it is, I'm sure you'll rock at it."

The little girl simply beamed and continued spinning and leaping around.

"So," Will asked, looking at the father-daughter duo, "what have you two been up to tonight?"

"Well, we began the evening riding the Ferris Wheel," Optimus informed them, "and from then on, this one," the Prime looked down at Hunter and put a hand atop her head as he ruffled her fiery mane, "has been dragging me around ever since."

Scoffing, Hunter smacked his hand away. "I have not been dragging you," she retorted with a smirk.

"Perhaps not in the literal sense," Optimus conceded, "but close enough to it."

Hunter rolled her eyes. "What about you guys?" she asked her former foster parents.

"Pretty much the same," Will answered.

"We were just on our way to the dance," Sarah added.

At that statement Annabelle came flying back at Hunter and latched onto the teen's leg. "Can you come with us, Hunter?" she asked, looking up with those entrancing baby-blues of hers. "Please, please, please, please, please come! We can show everyone how to do the 'Hoedown Throwdown'!"

Laughing, Hunter rested a hand on the child's head. "I'm not sure I remember it, kiddo," she said. "I helped you learn that at the end of last school year for your talent show and, unlike you, I don't perform it every day."

"You remember," you young friend insisted. "Please?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Optimus chuckled and met his daughter's eyes. "I do not believe she will let you escape this one, sweet-spark," he remarked.

Sighing, but smiling, the redhead turned to look Annabelle again and nodded. "Okay, Belle," she caved. "You win."

Annabelle leapt off Hunter's legs and jumped into the air, pumping a fist up. "Yes!"

"I don't know, Prime," Will stated, "I think maybe we have two professional dancers on our hands here." Will, Sarah, and Optimus were seated at one of the picnic tables that were set off to the side of the dance floor which, in all reality, was really just a large space of rake sand and dirt in the middle of the open air bar where the dance was being held. As it was, that space was currently full of dancing bodies. Most of them were children between Annabelle and Hunter's ages, though there were a few young adults and even some young-at-heart older people partaking in the merriment. After all if you were five or eighty-two the hoedown throwdown was something you could do!

"Perhaps you are right, Major," the Prime replied with a laugh as he watched both his sixteen-year-old and Will's seven-year-old dancing at the front of the large group. The Autobot couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle to himself as he watched Hunter. She had been worried that she'd forgotten the dance steps after all this time, and here she was hitting every move, striking every pose, and singing along with the singing along with the song while doing it. If she kept this up, Annabelle would be asking her to perform the song with her at the next talent show at the end of the school year. Optimus could almost see the Youtube video Miko would most undoubtedly post up now.

When the song finally ended and the group on the dance floor began to disperse, the girls came back to their parents' table, Annabelle streaking as fast as she could and Hunter following more slowly along behind. "Mommy, Daddy, did you see me?" Annabelle chirped excitedly clambering up into her father's lap.

"We sure did, baby girl," Sarah answered, stroking her daughter's hair before holding her face in both her hands. "You did such a good job."

Annabelle beamed.

"Okay," Hunter puffed as she finally arrived, "I have to admit I'm a little winded now. Whew!" The teen collapsed to the bench beside her father. Crossing her arms on the table she laid her head down on them.

"Well, what do you expect?" Optimus chuckled, pulling her into his arms. "You were dancing and singing at the same time."

"I know, but still."

"That was so much fun!" Annabelle exclaimed, obviously not half as worn out as her sister-figure.

"Well, you did a great job, kiddo," Hunter told the child, lifting her head and smiling. "You should be proud of yourself."

"Thanks, Hunter," Annabelle replied bashfully, blushing a bit. "You did a good job, too."

"Thanks, Belle," Hunter chuckled.

"Well, now what?" Will asked, looking around at their table. "What's next?"

"How about staying right here for now so that the Hybrid can relax a little bit?" Hunter suggested with a lop-sided smile. "That sounds like a good plan to me."

"Whatever you want, sweetheart," Sarah laughed.

"Ugh, thank you," Hunter groaned before dramatically letting her head drop to her arms again, face down.

It was then that a new song began playing over the system, a much, much slower song. Immediately recognizing it, Sarah looked over at her husband, a dreamy, far-off look in her eyes. "Will, remember this song?" she questioned with a soft smile.

Having not really been paying attention, the man fell silent for a moment before the same dreamy expression came over his face. He gazed at his wife. "Etta James 'At Last'," he answered. "It was the first song we ever danced to."

"And the song we danced to at our wedding."

"Wow," Hunter laughed, looking up with a devious gleam in her eyes. "I had no idea you guys were that old."

Both adults gave the girl a playful glare. "Haha," Sarah replied.

"The song wasn't new then, smart mouth," Will informed the girl at the same time. "And for your information, it was fairly old by that time."

Hunter simply snickered in delight.

Shaking their heads, the couple turned back to each other. "I can remember it like it was yesterday," Sarah sighed, that wistful look coming back. "You looked so handsome standing up there at the front of the church; so stoic and strong—the man of my dreams."

"I was a nervous wreck," Will snorted. "And who can blame me? Your father was givin' me the stink eye all the way down the aisle and your brothers weren't much better." The man sighed and smiled. "But then I got a look of you in that dress… and that's when I realized just how lucky a guy I was. You weren't just beautiful that day, babe, you were smokin'!"

"As opposed to now?" Sarah inquired, arching an eyebrow and giving him a look.

Will chuckled. "You're even more so now, babe, trust me." With that he leaned towards his wife and gently kissed her.

"Mommy, Daddy, gross!" Annabelle loudly complained. Screwing up her face and sticking out her tongue the little girl made her disgust well know. "Yuck!"

Evidently Will and Sarah were too wrapped up in their memories to pay much attention to their daughter because the kiss lingered on. When it finally broke, Will scooted Annabelle off his lap and onto the bench, took his wife's hand, helped her out, and led her out to the dance floor where several other couples were already dancing. Once there he swept her up into a slow dance.

Pouting, Annabelle crossed her little arms over the table and rested her chin on them. "My parents are so weird," she grumbled, glaring down at the table top.

Hunter and Optimus chuckled at the little girl.

"Trust me, kiddo," Hunter murmured winking at her, "that'll be you and your guy one day."

Annabelle shot up straight, looking both horrified and appalled. "Ewwww! No! Boys are yucky! I don't want anything to with them—blech!"

"Unfortunately, you won't always think that way, little one," Optimus lamented.

"Yes I will." Annabelle was persistent. "Boys have cooties."

"Eventually, Annabelle, you'll find out you want those cooties," Hunter stated.

"No thanks," the little girl insisted. Crossing her arms over her chest she turned away and stuck her nose in the air to emphasize her point.

Laughing, Hunter and Optimus turned to watch on as the Lennoxes danced. Hunter wasn't much of a romantic (or at least she didn't like to think she was) but even she had to admit the way Will and Sarah were holding each other close and gazing into each other's eyes, like they were the only two people in the entire world, was just about the sweetest thing she'd ever seen. The couple still loved each other so much. Not even death itself would be able to tear those two apart.

The song finally ended and Sarah and Will were coming back to the table when the DJ came on over the sound system with an announcement. "We're gonna keep it slow for this next song," he drawled. "Ladies, take a seat, but men keep on your dancin' shoes be prepared to bring that other special girl of your life out onto the dance floor. We're about ready to have the father-daughter dance."

Turning away from the speakers, Will looked down at Annabelle and smiled lovingly. He bowed low before kneeling down to his daughter's height and gentlemanly offering her his hand. "Pardon me, miss," he said, "but may I have this dance."

Grinning of ear to ear, Annabelle looked like she'd swallowed the very sun. "Really, Daddy?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, you are the other special girl in my life," her father answered. "Unless, you would rather have me dance with Hunter." He looked over at the redhead and winked her with a smirk.

The teen winked back. "Aww, really, Will?" she played along, watching Annabelle's reaction. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the child's horrifically shocked expression.

"Sure," the man said, standing up. "I mean, you are like a second daughter to us, right, honey?" he asked, turning to his wife.

Smiling, Sarah nodded. "Of course."

"No!" Annabelle shouted, jumping up on the bench. "I wanna dance with you, Daddy! Dance with me, Daddy! Me! Me!"

Chuckling, Will turned back to his daughter and tenderly smoothed a hand over her locks. "Of course I'll dance with you, pumpkin," he assured her with a smile. "We're all just teasing you. You know no one could ever take your place as my little girl, right?"

Looking beyond relieved, Annabelle smiled and nodded. "I know, Daddy," she assured him. "I'm your little Princess."

"That's right," Lennox agreed with an affirmative nod. "So can this knight have a dance with his Princess?"

The beaming grin came back onto Annabelle's face and she leapt up, throwing her arms around her father's neck. "Of course you can, Daddy!" she chirruped.

Will chuckled and hugged his little girl close before setting her down the floor and offering her his arm, having to lean over to do so. Like a little lady Annabelle slipped her tiny hand through and Lennox led her off to the dance floor where several other fathers and daughters had congregated. The music started playing.

Hunter was humming along to the opening guitar chords of the song and swaying to the slow tempo when the warmth of Optimus shifted beside her. She looked over to see a large hand, weathered and callused but also warm and inviting, being offered to her. Her gaze traveled up to meet her spark-father's eyes. She smiled. "Does this Princess get to dance with her knight in shining armor, too?" she questioned teasingly.

"Only if she desires to," Optimus chuckled the answer. "Might I have this dance?"

Sighing and shaking her head, Hunter's smile transformed into a beaming grin that rivaled even what Annabelle's had been. "Well, since you asked so nicely…." The young femmling reached and took her father's hand, letting him help her rise to her feet, then she wrapped her arm through his and let him lead her to the dance floor. Once there she turned to face him. The sixteen-year-old could help the quiet giggle of joy that escaped her as Optimus took her right hand in his left raised them to the proper position. She placed her left hand on his right shoulder. When he slipped an arm around her waist and rest his hand in the middle of her back, Hunter stepped closer so that her forehead just brushed the side of his chin. And just like that they were dancing. Well, in all reality it was really more like swaying to the music and slowly turning in a circle with Hunter following Prime's steps, but the magic was still there.

Optimus smiled down at his daughter as she grinned back up at him, utter joy shining in her beautiful sapphire eyes. No words could describe what seeing her like this did to his spark—he absolutely loved it. If he could freeze time he would do it right now. Nothing could possibly be better than dancing forever through endless time with his daughter held close in his arms and shining like the brightest, most precious star. Nothing. Lowering his head, the Prime closed his eyes and pressed a tender kiss to Hunter's hairline before resting his forehead against hers and gazing adoringly into her eyes. This moment was perfection.

Her grin fading into a soft smile, Hunter nuzzled along her father's cheek before resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes drifting closed. She snuggled close. Pulling her hand free from his she gently clutched onto his jacket and simply held him close. Optimus' arms closed around her in an affectionate embrace and his head came to rest atop hers, his cheek pressed again her hair. She could feel him smiling and that only made her smile more. This was the warmest, happiest, and most loved the teenager had ever felt in her entire life up to and including the year she had come to find and live with Team Prime. Hunter finally realized it. Everything she had been through from the time Comet Thunder had left her at the orphanage at the age of three to now—all of the broken hearts, the pain, the rejection, the feelings of failure—they had all led her to Optimus, to this moment. All those years of wondering why her time never came finally made sense. Her time to find a family had never come because this, right here, right now, was her time. She had a home, a family, and everything she'd ever wanted. The teen still wasn't completely sure why Comet Thunder had originally given her up—maybe she'd never truly understand—but she didn't care anymore. In fact, Hunter couldn't be more grateful to him. Because of him and his decisions she was here now and she couldn't even begin to imagine being anywhere else. She didn't want to.

"Thanks, Dad," Hunter quietly sent the thought out, hoping Comet heard it and realized just how sincerely she meant it. The sixteen-year-old cuddled closer to her spark-father. She listened on to the steady beat of his spark as it almost seemed to fall in time the rhythm of the song. "I love you, Daddy," she murmured without thinking.

Smile widening, Optimus allowed his eyes to drift closed and held his daughter closer. "And I love you, Hunter," he whispered back. "More than I can describe." The Prime lifted his head, smoothed her hair and placed a kiss there before pressing his cheek to her head again.

And the song continued on: "There is no mountain… that I can't climb. For you I'd swim through the rivers of time…."

"Feeling any better, Bulkhead?" Arcee questioned her large teammate, trying to keep from laughing. The ex-Wrecker didn't look so good, and to be perfectly honest, it wasn't all that surprising. After all Miko had taken him on the rollercoaster about twelve times!

"I'm… I'm… I'm okay," Bulk managed to weakly stutter as he sat on the bench, pale in complexion and shivering ever so slightly. "I'll be okay."

"Aw, come on, Bulk!" Miko chastised him as she punched his shoulder. "Dude, I thought you were made of tougher stuff than this. Grow some back bone—cowboy up!"

Bulkhead was still a little to petrified to retort, if he had even heard what she'd said to begin with. So many ups and downs. So many moment of weightlessness and feeling like he was falling. Thankfully holoforms weren't capable of producing vomit, but the mech was sure he'd be purging later when he was back at the base in his true form.

"How'd you guys like the rodeo show?" Jack asked of Raf and Bumblebee.

Grinning a mile wide, 'Bee gave a thumbs up.

"It was great!" Raf replied. "Along with calf-roping and steer wrestling they also did some trick riding and rope tricks and stuff. It was really cool!"

"And what did Doc 'bot think?" Epps asked sticking a piece of licorice into his mouth.

"I think he liked it okay," Raf answered. "I mean, with Ratchet it's kinda hard to tell sometimes but…" the young boy trailed off as his gaze was drawn beyond Epps. His eyes widened in shock. "R-R-Ratchet…?" he stammered.

Everyone turned and looked to see Ratchet at one of the booths were they were selling cowboy hats and miniature lassos. The medic currently had one of those lassos and was spinning it around in front of him, looking mighty pleased. In fact it almost looked like he was having fun! It was terrifying! Almost has if he could sense he was being watched, the old mech looked up to see seven pairs of eyes all staring at him in amazement. After looking at them for a moment, he slowly looked down towards the lasso. Quickly he hid the lasso behind his back and averted his gaze skyward, whistling as though nothing strange was going on there. But deep down he knew. Busted!

But Ratchet was spared from further humiliation, because right then the last few members of their group arrived, Hunter and Annabelle leading them over. Annabelle was on Hunter's shoulders, holding something pink and purple and fluffy. She looked overjoyed.

As they came closer to the table Annabelle began putting up a fuss, trying to get down off Hunter's shoulders. When the teen finally lowered her to the ground, the little girl darted forward. "Hey, everybody!" she shouted. "Look at what Hunter won me!" She held up the fluffy thing she was holding to reveal it. A stuffed unicorn.

"Wow, that's great, Annabelle," Raf said with a smile.

"Eh, I've seen better," Miko replied. "Well, I have," she stated matter of factually when everyone shot her a glare.

"What's his name?" Jack asked the little girl.

"Penelope," Annabelle answered proudly.

"That's a nice name," Arcee stated.

"So how many tried did it take you to get that thing, Red?" Miko questioned with a smirk. She knew the Hybrid's aim wasn't the greatest and never failed to snag any opportunity to tease her about it.

Knowing what her friend was trying to do, Hunter gave Miko a look. "Ah-heh-heh-heh," she mocked laughed, sticking out her tongue. "You're hilarious, Pig-tails. For your information my aim has greatly improved. And by the way, I won that unicorn in three shots. So you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it."

Miko just snickered evilly.

"Your aim in improving every day, love," Optimus chuckled, kissing his daughter's head and giving her shoulders a squeeze as he came up behind her

Hunter looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. "Thanks, Dad."

"So," Will sighed, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders, "how was everyone's evening? Did we all enjoy the fair?"

"They have a lotta great rides here," Miko commented. "I'm impressed. The roller coaster is really rockin'!"

"What about you, Autobots?" Sarah asked.

"I wouldn't want to do it every year," Arcee confessed, then she smiled, "but it's nice once in a while."

"What about you, Ratchet?" Hunter asked, looking over at the medic.

Ratchet seemed frozen for a moment, trying to find an answer that wouldn't make it sound like he enjoyed it as much as he had but also wouldn't make it seem as though he hated it. "It was… decent," he settled. "Like Arcee I wouldn't want to do it every year."

"Not even if they had the rodeo show?" Miko prodded knowingly.

Everyone snickered. Ratchet just shot a collective glare their way.

"Epps, is that all you've been doing all night?" Will asked off his army buddy who was still chowing down on his licorice.

Epps looked up at him, pausing in his chewing for a moment so that a strand of licorice hung from his lips unmoving before he began chewing again. "What, man?" he muttered through a mouthful of candy. "Carnival food only comes to town every other year, I'm gonna enjoy it while it's here."

"I hope you're planning on working all of that off," Hunter commented with a slight grimace.

Epps gave her a patronizing smile. "Hunter, I'm the only hired hand at the ranch, even if I didn't want to, I'd work this stuff off." With that he took a particularly aggressive bite out of his licorice.

"On that note," Will said, taking everyone into his gaze again, "good to know everyone had a good time tonight. And now that we're all together again, Sarah and I would like to make an announcement." The man looked over at his wife who in turn met his eyes. For a moment they shared a gaze of utter love and joy before turning to look at everyone else again.

"Will and I would like to let you all know that we're expecting," Sarah said.

For a moment everyone simply sat/stood and stared in silent confusion, but that was quickly broken when Hunter gasped, hands covering her mouth and eyes wide. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, voice muffled by her hands. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Bulkhead questioned.

"We're pregnant," Will said.

"We're having another baby," Sarah made it even easier to understand.

Everyone erupted, all coming over to shake Will and Sarah's hands and congratulate them.

"What do you think about that, Annabelle?" Hunter questioned, crouching down to the little girl's height. "You're gonna be a big sister!"

"You mean, I'm gonna have a baby to talk to and take care of and read stories to and sing to sleep?" Annabelle questioned.

"Yeah," Hunter replied with a grin. "You are. What do you think?"

"I don't know," Annabelle confessed. "I've never been a big sister before. How do I know I'll be good at it?"

"You'll make a great big sister, Annabelle," Jack assured the child.

"Hunter, will you teach me how to be a good big sister?" the little girl asked, bringing out her puppy-dog eyes again. "You're the bestest big sister ever."

Chuckling, Hunter reached out and affectionately smoothed a hand over Annabelle's golden hair. "Of course I'll teach you, kiddo," she replied.

"In that case, yay!" Annabelle pumped her fists up in the air, unicorn dangling by its leg in one of her hands. "I'm gonna be a big sister! Yippee!" She started to dance around.

After several minutes when everybody had congratulated Will and Sarah the ruckus died down. It was at this moment that Optimus decided it was his turn to make an announcement. "Well," he said, clearing his throat and drawing everyone's attention, "it would seem as though this night has been one for proclamations. I do not intend of being left out, for I have something I would like to say as well." Smiling, the Prime looked over at Hunter. "Hunter, would you come here, Sweet-spark?"

Looking a bit confused, Hunter slowly nodded her head and came back to his side. She watched as her spark-father wrapped an arm around her shoulders and then looked up to see him smiling and gazing down at her. The teen couldn't help but smile a bit. Why were his smiles so contagious?

With his spark-daughter by his side, Optimus took everyone else into his gaze again. "I have been keeping a secret from you all," he announced, admittedly looking a little sheepish. "Now I realize that that is not something I generally do, and to be quite honest I wasn't quite comfortable with it. But it was something I had to do for the good of everyone until I was sure what I was trying to achieve would come to pass. For the past several weeks, ever since Hunter and Annabelle's birthday party, I have been meeting with Agent Fowler on an… off-the-record basis you might say. You see," the Prime suddenly smiled down at his daughter again, "he was trying to help me accomplish something that I would not have been able to do on my own otherwise. Something that I know will not change one or even two lives, but many forever." With that, Optimus turned to face Hunter fully, taking both her hands between his and meeting her eyes, making the girl feel as though he was gazing right into her spark. "My dearest Hunter," he began softly, "the day you came into my life I never could have guessed where our paths would lead. From bounty hunters to high-speed battles—and yes—even death," he regretted having mentioned it when he saw a brief shadow of pain come into Hunter's eyes before she looked down at the ground, "we have been through much together." He looked around at everyone else and amended, "We all have."

The Prime looked at the teenager again. "I may not have been able to tell what you coming into my life would bring… but one thing I do know for certain: It was the most blessed day of my life." He couldn't help but smile at the sudden shock in Hunter's eyes. "It was the most blessed day of my life," the Autobot commander repeated, "and every day since then has been filled with that same blessing. I have witnessed you grow and learn and in the course of a year you have come to make me the proudest father any mech could be." He reached up and cupped her cheek, lovingly caressing her cheekbone with his callused thumb. "I love you more than anything, Huntress Starstreaker James. Perhaps we are only bonded by spark, but to me you are in every possible way my own daughter. I have absolutely no knowledge of how I came to be fortunate enough to call you my daughter, but whatever it was I am most grateful for it. I also do not know what the future may hold for us. Even now we are in a time of uncertainty and vigilance. But I do know that whatever else may come at us, I want us to be prepared for it in every possible way—I want everything to be secure."

Narrowing her gaze, Hunter watched the Prime carefully, looking him up and down. It wasn't unlike Optimus to say he loved her in front of the entire team, but he didn't usually make a speech out of it. Where was he going with this.

"Hunter," Optimus went on, "I know that we do not require a piece of paper to assure us that we are family—that you are my daughter and I am your father," the Prime let go of her hands and reached inside his jacket. Grabbing the envelope he began to pull it out. "We do not need it," he repeated with a shake of his head as he carefully unfolded the envelope and straightened it out, "but I believe others might." He met her eyes again. "I want to go forth secure in the knowledge that everyone knows you are my daughter. I want to be assured that you can never be taken away from me."

Hunter's eyes widened as it dawned on her. The girl tried to gasp but she found her breath suddenly stolen away. Was this really happening? Was he…?

Optimus smiled, knowing that she was finally beginning to understand what was happening. Opening the Manilla envelope, the mech reached inside it and slipped out the papers. "Perhaps, you would like to see the proof for yourself," he suggested, handing the papers over.

Slowly, almost like she was afraid that they would fade away if she touched them, Hunter took the papers from Optimus' hands and began looking them over, reading slowly and carefully every word. She'd never seen these documents before—only ever dreamed about them—but now here they were right in her hands! They certainly looked authentic. But were they really? She looked up at her spark-father again, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Is it… are they… are you really… I mean…" she tried to voice a dozen things, but the words just couldn't come past the lump in her throat. This was almost too good to be true!

Chuckling warmly, Optimus nodded. "Huntress Starstreaker James," he pronounced her full name very slowly, with feeling and purpose, "you are without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me." He put his hands on her shoulders and bowed his head, looking deeper into her eyes than he ever had before. Hunter could see a few tears beginning to shine there. "Would you allow me the greatest honor of becoming your legal father?"

Hunter's spark stopped. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it! It was really happening! Finally after all these years of wondering and waiting and worrying it was finally happening! She was being adopted! Optimus was adopting her! Hunter's mind still wasn't working, but it didn't have to be in order for her to spit out the answer. "Yes," she said, voice hardly above a whisper. "Yes. Yes. Yes! YES! Dropping the adoption papers the sixteen-year-old threw her arms around the holoform's neck, clinging for dear life, tears streaming down her face. She buried her face in Prime's neck as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around. It had finally come true! Her wish of being adopted was finally coming true! Hunter couldn't keep this to herself anymore. Shoving away from her father, the redhead ran over to the picnic table that everyone had been seated at and jumped up on it. She turned to face her family and the rest of the fair grounds. "Hey!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, cheeks wet with her tears. "Hey, everybody! Guess what?! It's happened! It's finally happened! I'm getting adopted! OPTIMUS PRIME IS ADOPTING ME!" With a wild whoop the girl leapt down off the table, performing a spin as she did, and lunged back into her spark-father's arms, knocking him to the ground.

"Whoa-oof!" Optimus laughed and wrapped his arms around the girl. This reaction was better than anything he could have hoped for. Of course he knew Hunter would be happy about his announcement, but he certainly hadn't been counting on this.

"Thank you," Hunter wept into his chest. The poor girl was so overcome by emotions she was laughing and crying all at once! "Thank you, so much! You don't know what this means to me…" she dropped off as she started sobbing. All she could think of was: "Finally! Finally!" It was finally happening to her.

Sitting up, Optimus cradled the girl in his lap, rocking her back and forth as he instinctively tried to calm her tears. But these tears weren't bad ones. They were the very best of happy tears, and they were well deserved. A few of the Prime's own tears began dripping down his holoform cheeks. "Believe me, Sweet-spark," he murmured into her ear, "I do know. I do."

Hunter could only hold onto him tighter. This truly was the greatest night ever.

Confession #34:

I can't even tell you how much I looked forward to writing this chapter. It made me so happy when I was finally able to start writing—it was just… *squeals for joy* Ahem! Okay, got that outta my system, I'm good now.

Confession #35:

I hope you guys enjoy this happiness while you can, because, as you can probably already guess because you know me, it's not going to be that way for long. *snickers evilly*

Hunter: *glares at me* I hate you….

REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR HYBRID QUESTIONS!