A JURASSIC 'Thank You!' to all who favorited, followed, and/or reviewed last chapter!

To reply to a particular guest reviewer, Layne:

I went back and edited the two points you brought up in last chapter. Thank you for that, by the way!

I would also like to mention that I truly did not intend to imply that having broad shoulders automatically makes someone a leader, nor a good one at that. I'm actually 100% sure of that. Ironhide has broader shoulders than Optimus, for Primus' sake! I think what happened is that I forgot to look at that part again in my haste to update. I hope that cleared everything up!

So to all my readers: The point I meant to get across was that Optimus Prime holds himself in a way that presents himself as the leader. Let's be honest, it's true. He has been the leader of the Autobots for centuries and is definitely a battle-worn soldier. And, let's not forget that he is a Prime, so he's been in the role of a leader for a very long time. He's used to holding himself like that. However, we thankfully get to see Optimus have some moments where he isn't in "leader" mode.

Chapter 11: Team Glasses

The ride back to the Witwicky house was swift and every being in the alien and human caravan was focused on finding Captain Witwicky's glasses. As the line of Autobots in disguise pulled up to the back of the Witwicky house, the three humans all hopped out of Bumblebee with a nervous energy buzzing in their veins.

"Okay, here's the plan," Sam started, "Jenn and I are gonna go up to my room and search for the glasses. You've got to stay here and you're gonna watch them."

"Okay," Mikaela agreed with a nod.

"All of them. Do you hear what I'm saying?" Sam explained again, his panic already showing through.

"Yeah, okay," the girl insisted again, looking at the sweating teen in front of her with a cocked brow.

Jenn merely shook her head at her little brother and began walking slowly toward the back door. A moment passed before Sam bolted ahead of her onto the back porch.

"Thanks for staying on my path," Ron Witwicky greeted his son, seeing his youngest run across his manicured lawn.

"Oh, hey, Dad!" Sam smiled nervously, making sure to keep the screen door shut. "Oh, the path. I'm sorry. I forgot about the path."

"You know, I buy half your car…" Ron started, a thoughtful but mocking look on his face.

"Yep," Sam nodded rapidly, leaning against the house to block his father's view of the driveway.

"...then I bail you out of jail and then I just decided to do all your chores."

"The chores," Sam deadpanned, face void of emotion. He completely forgot about his chores. He'd never make it inside now.

"Yeah. Life is great, huh?"

"Life... " Sam paused to look behind him, hearing noises from the Autobots, "Life is fantastic, is how good it is. It's so... Oh, the trash cans. I'm gonna do the trash cans right now. Sorry, Dad."

"Hey, Daddy," Jenn smiled as she reached the door, a picture of calm and collected when compared to her brother.

"Hey, there's my little girl!" Ron smiled genuinely, throwing his arms wide. Sam's mouth slightly fell open at his father's sudden change in attitude.

Jenn reached past Sam as she gripped the door handle. She shot a glance at her brother as if to say: 'Get your act together, dude, or he's gonna know something's up.' Jenn stepped through the door frame and into her father's arms for a strong hug, appreciating the comfort it gave her. He squeezed her tight, like back when she was a young girl and he picked her up from a bad day at school.

"Did you and Sam have a good afternoon?" Ron asked as he let go of his daughter. Jenn nodded after a pause. She hoped to whatever higher power was listening that her brother was also nodding his head in agreement instead of freezing up like a scared chihuahua. If her parents saw the alien robots in their backyard, she did not want to know how they would react. She might never see the light of day again and she knew that Sam never would.

"Yeah, we went cruising around in Sam's car," Jenn semi-lied with a small smile. So what if they didn't just take a cruise? So what if they also were chased by a possessed Camaro only to find out that an alien race of Autobots existed?

Jenn ducked her head and moved past her father into the house.

"Your mother's in the den, if you want to go see her," Ron Witwicky told her with another worried glance. He turned around to face his son, who was still sweating a gross amount for the current temperature.

"Right now, you said?"

"Right now," Sam nodded once in confirmation. He then blinked multiple rapidly and reached up to wipe the sweat off his face. "I'm gonna do the trash cans and I'm gonna scrape the grill and I'm gonna…yeah, I'm gonna sweep the whole path right now."

"You know, Mom wanted me to ground you. You're three minutes late," Ron informed his son.

"Oh, well, just another thing you did for me, Dad, because you're such a swell guy."

"Whatever Sam," Ron waved him off, walking toward the kitchen. "I'll probably be in bed when you get done. Goodnight, son."

"All right, I love you!" Sam called after his father. He remained leaning against the door, blocking his father's view of the yard.

Ron Witwicky whipped around, a stern expression on his features and a finger pointed at his son. Thinking he had been caught, Sam's eye widened and he plastered a fake smile on his face.

"Let's not have another episode like last night, son. I think this family has had enough excitement for a while."

"Yes sir!" Sam agreed, giving a stiff salute. "Sleep good, handsome man!"

Jenn walked slowly into the den, seeing her mother on the couch watching the news on the TV. She had already been in this same situation. Only a few days ago Jenn walked into the den to talk to her parents only to get her heart broken. She felt as if the entrance to the den should be marked off with hazard tape and signs. 'Enter at your own risk!' they should read; 'CAUTION: hearts are broken inside!' another would say. Call her superstitious, crazy, or anywhere in between, but she was now hesitant to do the same thing again.

"Any news?" Jenn dug up the courage to ask.

Again, her mother whipped her head around to look at her daughter, caught off guard.

"Jenn, honey!" Judy said in surprise, a smile forming on her face as she looked at her daughter. She outstretched her arms, a silent invitation for Jenn to join her on the couch.

However, Jenn ignored her. She walked over to her father's easy chair, slumping into it with a thud. Jenn glared slightly up at the TV, seeing the face of a reporter.

"No, honey, there hasn't been any news about the-….no, they have just been talking about the same information over and over again. The Government is keeping it under tight wraps."

Jenn grunted at that, eyes drifting to the pictures in the room. There were pictures of her and Sam growing up, all set in mix-matched frames. A larger picture of her in her uniform after basic training sat upon a high shelf in the tall bookcase that had once belonged to her grandmother. A picture of her entire team was sitting beside it, a cruddy print she had sent back home in one of her letters. Her mother had put it in a nice and sturdy frame, placing it amongst all the family photos on display.

They were all smiling in that picture, Jenn noticed, mouths flashing their teeth in the hot sun as they were next to each other. The Jenn in the picture had her arms around Wayne, who showed his small but mischievous smile, and Jim Taylor, who flashed every tooth in his mouth. Next to Wayne, was Donnie, his bright blond hair sticking up in every direction. He had his hand up behind Lennox's head, giving him bunny ears. Will Lennox had a pair of sporty shades on, to beat the sun-grins, and a broad and confident smile was on his tan face. He had one hand hooked on his vest strap and another one on Epps' shoulder. Epps had his arms crossed over his chest and sleeves ripped off his shirt. His eyes were squinting at the camera from his big and bright smile. Beside him, Rodney was sitting down, legs sprawled out in the sand. He also had on dark sunglasses and his lopsided and carefree grin showed through the dark beard on his handsome face. Fig finished the row of soldiers in the picture, he had a bandana tied around his head and looked as if he was mid-laugh when the picture was snapped.

Even though they all wore a smile, Jenn thought her team looked tough as nails in that picture. Their grit showed itself in their stances, the gear on their bodies, in the lines on their faces. It showed because they were able to smile together after making it out of dangerous missions. Together. That's what made them all tough; gave them strength.

But now, they were anything but together.

Her guys were God only knows where. Jenn was here in California, currently dealing with another team of alien robots. She didn't know if her guys were even alive. She wanted to believe they were all still on this earth with beating hearts, but that cloud of doubt was there in the back of her mind, giving her nightmares and controlling her emotions.

Jenn had avoided the news, in any format, since she heard about the attack. Thought she longed for more information on her guys, she didn't know if she could handle hearing more bad news.

Or if there was an actual report about the death count on SOCCENT.

She hadn't watched anymore of the TV. She hadn't looked at the paper on the table that morning. She hadn't turned on the radio…not that she had the chance to today. She hadn't brought up the topic with her family, instead she had chose to run away from them this morning.

"What's this about?" Jenn finally asked her mother, nodding toward the television screen and changing the subject. The screen showed a panning shot of one of streets downtown, all the small businesses cramped together with their lights out for the night. It zoomed back in on the road; the pavement was waded up, like out of an action movie.

"Oh, um, something fell out of the sky close to downtown…no one has a clue what it is!"

Jenn's eyes widened slowly, knowing exactly what the strange crash in the middle of town was: one of the beings hiding out in the Witwicky's backyard. She remained silent though, allowing her mother to continue.

"Your father called Jack," Judy rambled on, "you know how they like to ague about everything suspicious. Like two old hermits. Anyway, Jack thinks its some kind of military experiment. What a knucklehead, right? Always using a conspiracy theory for the answer to everything."

Jenn merely hummed in agreement with her mother and continued to stare blankly at the pictures the news station was showing on the TV screen. Slowly, her gaze drifted back to that picture on the shelf.

"Jenn," her mother spoke again, "Are you alright?" Her voice was soft and her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked her daughter over.

"Hmm?" Jenn swiveled her head to look over at her, clearly not hearing her mother.

"Honey, are you alright?" Judy asked again, leaning forward. She wanted to hold her little girl, but respected that Jenn wanted her space.

"I, uh, I think that my…well, I don't know if…the team…" Jenn stuttered and then trailed off, not really able to answer the question. In truth, she was straight up in denial. Unable to face the music, so to speak. Sure, she felt some anger and frustration because she didn't understand why and how her team was missing. And she felt a deep sadness about the possibility that her team might not come back. But mostly, she refused to face her emotions and, therefore, appeared like an emotionless shell of Jennifer. She was nothing like that Jenn in the picture with her team.

'We can't confirm whether there were any survivors,' the reporter had said. Well, Jennifer Witwicky couldn't confirm what exactly she felt.

"Spending the afternoon with Sam helped," she finally admitted quietly. In truth, it had, she knew that much. The adventure the two siblings had been on that day with giant alien robots had certainly kept her mind off the horrible possibilities about her team.

"Did you two have fun?"

Jenn's mind flashed with images of the cop car turning into a robot, the car chase, the yellow camaro who couldn't speak, and then finally meeting all the Autobots. A small grin tugged at her lips.

"You could say that, yeah."

Jenn, after receiving a bone-crushing hug, excused herself from her mother by mumbling something about getting a shower. She really bounded up the stairs to her room, where the teenager was in the middle of tearing his room apart. She was surprised to see Mikaela already in Sam's room, searching near his closet.

"We're looking for your backpack, right?" Jenn asked simply, already scanning the room.

"The glasses were in a case, in a bag, in my backpack," Sam confirmed, slapping his hands together for emphasis.

"Okay, did you look in the hall?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded, moving things around on his desk, "It's gotta be in here somewhere."

Jenn was just beginning to sift through a pile of laundry by his bed when a low mechanical whine came from outside. Sam, already on edge, flew to the window to peek outside.

"WHAT. They're all parked, Jenn. Parked in the middle of the yard."

"What?" Jenn burst out, throwing down the pile of laundry in her arms. She joined her exasperated bother at the window. Sure enough, a Peterbilt semi, a bright yellow camaro, a porsche, an ambulance, and a bulky truck had all taken a rest in the large backyard.

"What are they thinking?"

"This isn't hiding! This is my backyard, not a truck stop!" Sam said as he gestured to the bots. He flung his arms into the air and went back to ripping apart his bedroom.

"Optimus!" Jenn whisper-yelled out the window. The semi didn't move.

"Optimus Prime!" she called down, raising her volume. No response from any of the vehicles.

Jenn frowned tightly for a moment, feeling her dimples appear.

"Hey, Boss Prime!" she tried again, voice louder.

That seemed to do the trick. Jenn first noticed that Bee was shaking, and she could only assume he was shaking with laughter. She even saw the body of Ironhide twitch, clearly hearing the irritation in her voice and finding it amusing. Jenn felt her frown deepen.

Optimus finally transformed, clearly attempting to keep quiet. Jenn watched him, still in awe over the Autobots. As the tall robot took a couple steps toward the house, Jenn began to panic.

"No, no! Boss, not the flowers!"

But Jenn was too late. Optimus' large foot landed right in the middle of one of her mother's flower beds. Jenn's head dropped into her hand as she sighed in despair while staring down at the destroyed garden. Seeing her reaction, Optimus finally understood what she had warned him about and looked down at his feet. The Prime gently knelt down and placed his head by the window so he could speak to the female human face to face.

"Oops," he told her quietly, "My apologies, Jennifer."

The sincerity in the large robot's voice and that was plain in the expression on the face made her forget about the flower bed. They had more important things to worry about than her mother's flowers.

"Don't worry about it, Boss."

"What did you call me?" he queried in genuine curiosity, bright optics seeming to blink at her.

"Nevermind that," Jenn shook her head, "If my parents see you in the backyard, they're gonna lose it."

"Our mother's got a temper, okay?" Sam added, appearing at Jenn's shoulder.

"Yeah, a big temper."

"We must have the glasses," Optimus' reminded them.

"Look, I know you need the glasses. I've been looking everywhere. They're not here," Sam explained, making a poor attempt at trying to remain calm.

"Did you look within the oblong clothing-storage device?" questioned Optimus after a brief moment of silence.

"The what?" Sam asked.

"I think he means the dresser," Mikaela guessed.

"Perhaps it is beneath the four-point floor sheath," the Prime further pondered, pointing into the room.

"Okay, totally stumped," Sam threw his arms into the air in frustration.

"The rug?" Mikaela provided again.

"I don't think the backpack is under there," Jenn added, glancing at the Autobot leader.

"Keep searching," Optimus instructed the siblings, his patience wearing thin.

"Okay, I need you to be quiet for five minutes," Sam snapped back.

"And please," Jenn added, trying to be polite, "Please hide."

Optimus sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. This was a very human motion, Jenn noted with some amusement. The autobots hadn't been here long on her planet, but they had picked up on human behaviors rather quickly.

"Calm down, calm down," the autobot leader told them, waving his large hand. He then stood to his full height and turned to face his team. During their leader's conversation with the siblings, the rest of the autobots had transformed into their true forms and were awaiting his command.

"Autobots, fall back," Optimus finally ordered and Sam and Jenn let out sighs of relief.

"Thank you," Sam added as Optimus walked away.

Sam turned back into the room when they heard an electrical sound and a whirring. They also heard the sound of glass breaking and the Witwicky house shook.

"Earthquake!" Jenn heard her father yell from downstairs. "Move! Earthquake! Judy! Judy, get under the table! Move it!"

There was a silent moment as no one in the house moved.

"How did you get over there so fast?" Judy's voice sounded.

Jenn went back to the window and looked outside. She saw that Ratchet had walked into some electrical wires and fallen to the ground, causing the 'earthquake'.

"What's wrong with you, scrap metal?" Ironhide scolded the medic, walking up to stand by his friend.

"He wanted us to be quiet," Optimus sighed, covering his face with a hand. Ratchet shook his head a little, giggling madly.

"Woah! That was tingly!" Ratchet exclaimed as Ironhide chuckled at his friend, "You should try that!"

"Yeah, that looks fun," Ironhide responded sarcastically, walking away with the rest of the autobots. More bursts of sparks rained down around Ratchet as the electric line pole finally cracked to the ground.

Suddenly, one by one, all the houses on the Witwicky's street went dark.

"Oh great!" Sam grumbled sarcastically, "Now we'll never find it. Just great."

Jenn heard one of the teens bump into something in the room and a pile of Sam's things toppled over.

"Hang on, guys," Jenn spoke, "I've got a good flashlight in my bag."

She started to make her way through Sam's dark room, holding her arms out in front of her and taking small steps. Her hand finally met the door and she fumbled for the knob. She was able to make her way to her own bedroom by memory and by the light of the moon shining through the windows in her room. She found her military backpack and began searching for the familiar shape of her good flashlight.

She had unpacked the majority of her military bags during the time she had spent at home. Jenn hadn't unpacked all her personal gear, preferring to leave it all in the backpack. Sifting through the bag full of a couple books, a small journal, sunglasses, her combat belt, a few trinkets given to her from some of the people she had met in the desert.

Safely inside one of the zippered pockets, she had some pretty stones gifted to her and her team by Mahfouz. "For good luck" the little boy had said with a big smile on his tan face. Jenn had carried one of his stones in her combat vest for every missions since he had given them to her. She also knew that every man on her team carried one of the small stones from the boy, whether they publicized it or not.

'Some luck they were,' Jenn thought to herself bitterly, choosing to not open the pocket and stare at the little gifts. She instantly felt a ache of guilt in her heart as the memories of the lucky stones swam in her mind. Quickly, she plucked one of the gifts from the pocket. She slid it into her jean pocket, silently hoping Mahfouz was actually right about those stones being lucky.

Jenn paused as she heard her parents coming up the stairs.

"Sam?" her mother called, coming down the short upstairs hall now.

"Sam, are you in there?" Ron demanded, "How come the door's locked? You know the rules. No doors locked in my house!"

Jenn continued her blind search for her flashlight. The moonlight coming in from her window wasn't enough to see into the depths of her backpack.

"You know he'll start counting, Sam," Jenn heard her mother add.

After that, there was a medley of raised voices, a type of fussing often occurring in the Witwicky house. Jenn tuned her family out as she finally found the smooth handle of her steel flashlight. The Army lieutenant quickly clicked it on and after flashing it around her room, she rose to exit. However as she reached her bedroom door, she hesitated.

Jenn spun on her heel and briskly walked over to her closet. After shoving a row of shirts out of her way, the beam from her flashlight fell upon a small black case. Jenn's hand hovered over it. Inside the case was her Beretta M9, a gift from her parents (mainly her father) on completion of her basic training. Jennifer mainly used her handgun to keep sharp when she was on leave. Her and her father would go to the range and shoot a few rounds. She had hardly ever carried it out of the house for something else besides practice, but she now wondered if she should take it.

She knew she had a thigh holster in her backpack, one that she used to hold her issued handgun back on base. But she also knew that a measly 9mm handgun likely wouldn't do any damage, if any, to one of the decepticons. It was for that reason that she decided to leave her pistol behind.

It seemed to her that the autobot team was on their side. And Ironhide himself had more fire power in one arm than Jenn could produce with ten rounds from her gun. With a huff, Jenn shut her closet door and strode out of her bedroom.

Now armed with her flashlight, she was able to quickly walk back to Sam's room. She could hear her family fussing with each other as she walked. Jenn leaned against the doorframe of Sam's bedroom to witness the scene in front of her. She quickly noted that Mikaela was not in sight and wondered about the teen's whereabouts.

"Look," Sam stressed to his parents, "You can't just bounce into my room like that. You got to knock. You got to communicate."

"We knocked!" Judy badgered, gesturing at Sam's door.

"No, you didn't knock," Sam countered, trying to remain calm, "You two were screaming at me."

"No, no, no."

"Now, Sam listen to me and your mother-"

"Hey, did I miss a family meeting?" Jenn chimed in sarcastically while attempting to diffuse the situation.

"Where have you been, young lady?" her father questioned, his signature expectant look on his face. A blinding beam of light was shone directly in her face.

"In my own room, Dad. Geez."

"Jenn, honey, I thought you were getting a shower."

"Well, yeah," Jenn retorted, "but the power is out in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh we noticed," her father sassed back, beginning to walk into Sam's bathroom. "We saw a light, Sam. I don't know where it was, but we saw it."

Unexpectedly the ground began to shake again, causing the house to quiver. Jenn braced herself in the doorway.

"Earthquake!" Ron Witwicky yelled, "It's another one! Aftershock! Aftershock!"

A moment of silenced passed in the house as they waiting for everything to stop moving.

"Oh, I hate these," Jenn heard her father say to himself. Since the house was now still, Jenn walked across the room to peer inside the bathroom at her father.

"Dad, you can get out of the tub now."

"Can't you take safety seriously?" he bickered at her. Jenn raised her hand in surrender and left the bathroom, joining her brother. She could tell he was nervous about their father accidentally spotting one of the Autobots.

As Ron was clambering out of the tub, the lights inside and outside the Witwicky house flickered back on. He took the opportunity to look out one of the windows Sam had left open.

"Hey, the lights are back on," Judy announced.

"Oh no!" Ron cried in frustration, practically growling, "Would you look at the yard. The yard is destroyed!"

"Where do you think they went?" Sam whispered to his sister. Jenn answered with a shrug.

"Judy?" Ron yelled, "Better call the city. We got a blown transformer! Power pole's sparking all over the place!" He paused for a moment and sighed. "Oh, man. Yard's a waste. Trashed. Gone." He turned away from the yard and back into the room.

Outside, the Autobots had heard the whole exchange.

"The parents are very irritating," Ironhide commented as the Autobot team watched the humans through the windows.

"Can I take them out?" he asked excitedly, aiming his cannon at the window. Bumblebee whirled angrily from behind the black bot, shaking his fists like he was getting ready to fight.

"Ironhide, you know we do not harm humans! What is with you?" Optimus chided at his soldier.

"Well, I'm just saying we could…it's an option." Ironhide mumbled, deactivating his cannons with a nonchalant shrug.

"Sam, Jennifer, and the glasses are still in there," Optimus mused impatiently.

"We heard you talking to somebody, Sam," Judy Witwicky continued, turning her sharp green eyes to her son, "We wanna know who."

"Mom, I told you-" Sam started. However, before he could finish, Mikaela emerged from her hiding spot in the back of Sam's room. She had been able to remain hidden so long because of the lights going out.

"Hi, I'm Mikaela. I'm a…friend of Sam's," she awkwardly introduced herself, pushing her hands in her back pockets.

The Witwicky parents looked speechless at the girl and slowly their expressions changed. Ron's eyebrows raise and he looked immensely proud of his son. Judy put a hand over her heart and grabbed Sam's shoulder. She shook her son while giggling, clearly excited about Sam possibly having a girlfriend.

"Wow, you are gorgeous!" Judy Witwicky gushed.

"She can hear you talking, Mom," Sam commented, embarrassed. His father held out a fist for Sam to bump with his own. Jenn watched in mild horror from between her parents at the exchange.

"Thank you," Mikaela replied with a smile, her stance screaming 'awkward'.

"Jenn, did you know she was up here?" her mother asked, a big smile still on her face as she looked at her eldest.

At this point, Jenn's eyebrows had practically disappeared into her hairline. Never in her lifetime had she expected her parents to be so calm about one of their children breaking a rule.

"Nope," Jenn finally replied briskly, sparing a quick glance with her brother, "I had no idea."

"Well, sorry that we're bugging you," Ron and they started to walk out.

"Hey, mom, have you seen my backpack?" Sam asked as a last resort.

"Oh, it's in the kitchen," Judy informed. The three Autobot allies shared relieved looks as the Witwicky parents left. Mikaela grabbed her purse and the three rushed out of the room.

"Thank the stars," Jenn breathed as she followed the two teens down the stairs.

The title for this chapter come from:

The repeated use of the word Team. The Autobot team, Jenn's (still. ugh.) MIA team, and the joint team of humans and Autobots.

The chapter just covers the actions of the human and Autobots working as a team to find the glasses. So Team Glasses.