A/N: I'm going to try to update this once a week from now on, probably wednesdays. I'm starting work again next week, so I'll have less writing time, and I'd rather leave a bit longer between each update than suddenly waiting several weeks for a chapter.

Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I own Mattie and her family.

"Mattie! Mattie! Mattie!"

Mattie opened her eyes groggily. A very excited Izabella was bouncing up and down next to her bed. "Izzy?"

"Hey, Mattie!" The younger girl hugged her. "How awesome is it that you're here! I wanted to come with Viviane to the airport last night, but she said it was too late for me." She pouted.

"It was really late," Mattie yawned. "I think we landed about… one-ish local time? Can that be right?"

"It was late, anyway," Izzy agreed. "Come on, get up! Cogman's made breakfast, and weird as he is, that Autobot whips up some killer waffles."

Mattie led the younger girl drag her from bed. "Cogman?"

Izzy grinned. "You'll see."

Once Mattie was dressed, Izzy dragged her downstairs. Viviane's house was a grand old two-story affair with a garden behind it. For the moment, Bumblebee was in his alt mode up front on the street.

"Good morning, Mattie!" the older girl called as they arrived in the kitchen. "You hungry? Oh, this is Cogman."

A small, man-shaped Autobot bowed to her. "Charmed to make your acquaintance, miss."

"Hello, Cogman," Mattie said, surprised.

He noticed her look. "I am the butler, miss. I was butler to the late Sir Edmund Burton, of the Witwiccan foundation, and now I'm caretaker of his estate."

"I borrowed him for a few days," Viviane explained. "I do that once in a while. He gets bored with no one to look after."

Mattie sat down to the lavishly set breakfast table. "Wow, this looks amazing. Hotel quality breakfast."

Cogman bowed again. "Thank you, miss."

"So how're my guys?" Viviane asked. "I heard you got hit again."

"Yeah," Mattie sighed. "Cade's still working on Drift, he will be out of it for a while. They fragmented his left servo, and did a real number on his back. He'll live, but he won't be back on his feet soon. The rest of them are okay, mostly minor injuries. Hot Rod and Hound were off base at the time, so it was mostly Optimus and Crosshairs needing repairs."

"Not Bee?" Viviane asked.

"Bee was with me, out at the house," Mattie said. "We only got the one drone out our way, and he swatted that easily."

"So how are things with you and Bumblebee?" Izabella asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

Mattie blushed slightly and smiled. "We're good. Still going strong. Everyone on base knows now, that's made it all a bit easier."

"You told them? How did they react?" Viviane looked at her curiously.

"Not as badly as I feared." Mattie smiled. "Hound had guessed it already. Crosshairs just laughed, he thinks it's hilarious. He's always poking a bit of fun at us – calls me "Bumblebee's little mate" and things like that. But he doesn't mind. Drift doesn't understand it – he thinks we're both weird."

"Sounds about what I expected," Viviane said.

Mattie nodded. "Yeah, us too. And none of them are rude, or mean, so that's okay."

"Optimus would have their hide if they were rude to you," Izzy stated. "He thinks it's awesome." She grinned at their looks. "He told me. Of course, he didn't use that word – I don't think he knows that word – but he said something like 'a pleasant development in the cooperation of our species' or some such."

"Typical Optimus wordiness," Viviane laughed.

"Pardon the intrusion," Cogman said behind them. "Miss Viviane, you wished to be alerted at this time."

"Oh, it's now?" Viviane asked. "And the plane was on time?"

"Yes, miss."

"Good." Viviane grinned and looked at Mattie. "Come on, finish your breakfast. We have a surprise for you. And he should be here any minute."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

"Oh, come on," Izabella said. She looked at Viviane. "You knew he was right outside. That kind of thing never happens."

Viviane grinned. "I did. Can't blame a girl for having a bit of fun, can you? Come on, let's let him in."

"Him?" Mattie asked, putting down her napkin. "Him who?" She followed Viviane out into the hallway.

The older woman opened the door, and let in a tall boy with dark curls and bright blue eyes. He lit up when he saw her. "Marie!"

Mattie gaped. "Jacques?"

He looked down on himself, then grinned at her. "In the flesh."

Mattie ran over and hugged him. "Oh my God, Jacques! Wow, look at you! When did you grow taller than me?"

He blushed slightly. "You haven't seen me for a year, Marie."

"I know, but wow! My baby brother, and he's taller than I am." She grinned and reached up to ruffle his hair. "This has grown longer, too."

He ducked away from her hand and blushed, still grinning.

Mattie turned to Viviane. "How did this happen?"

Viviane grinned. "I invited him to stay when I knew you were coming."

"I'm starting a university course here, in math," Jacques said. "Viviane said I could stay here with her, so I didn't have to live on campus."

Mattie stared at him. "University? Are you trying to tell me you finished your Baccalauréat in just eighteen months?"

He grinned smugly. "Fourteen. I did an advanced physics course at UBO this spring."

Mattie raised her eyebrows and grinned. "My brother, the genius. I'm so proud of you!"

"Come on in, Jacques," Viviane said. "I'll show you which room is yours."

Mattie stepped aside to let her brother pass. Izabella caught her eye and grinned. "Your brother is really cute," she mouthed. Mattie grinned and shrugged.

"Viviane?"

Viviane looked up. Mattie was standing in the doorway to her room, wearing a night robe. "Mattie? Is something wrong?"

The other woman walked over and sat down on the chair in front of her. "Do you have a moment? We encountered something, and Optimus thought you might know of it from the archives."

"Well, I'll try to help," Viviane said. "What is it?"

"Well, Bumblebee and I… We – well – you know…" she paused, blushing. "Well, we got physical. And he has this spark chamber, see? It's hidden behind his chest armor. Apparently, that's a very sensitive spot, so when I touched him there, he – well, you get the gist of it." She looked up at Viviane, still blushing slightly.

"I get it," Viviane said with a smile. Wow, they actually did it. Who knew that was possible.

"Anyway, when he – climaxed-" again with the furious blushing "- this blue light kind of exploded out of his spark chamber, and suddenly I couldn't see anything. But I could hear his voice in my head, and he could hear mine. And we talked to each other telepathically, until the blue light faded."

Viviane sat back. "Huh."

"Does it ring any bells?" Mattie asked. "Bumblebee's worried that it would have been harmful to me somehow."

"I can't say it sounds familiar." Viviane shook her head. "Right off the bat, I doubt it's harmful – extensive research has been done on the properties of the matter that makes up the Cybertronians, including Energon, and none of it has been found to be harmful to humans in small doses. That said, I don't think it occurred to any of the researchers to try to inhale it, and you may have, if it was gas. If it was just light, it may still have a fairly high UV count, but you should have felt that as a sun burn if that was the case. Tell you what." She looked the younger woman in the eye. "I had intended that we go down to the estate as soon as Hound gets here, because there's more space there. How about we go tomorrow instead? Then you can introduce Jacques to Bee properly, and we can do some research."

Mattie shot her a relieved grin. "Thanks, Viviane. I really appreciate it."

Viviane gave her a hug. "Anything for my favourite couple."

The ride down from Oxford to the Burton mansion took around two hours, so they started early the next day. The biggest problem was getting Sqweeks into Bumblebee's back seat – the little robot simply wasn't built for getting into sports cars with ease. In the end, Bumblebee had to partially transform to get him in, and then he ended up on the front passenger seat, meaning Izabella and Jacques had to sit in the back together.

"Chihuahua…" the little robot said, sounding ashamed.

"No, that's okay, Sqweeks," Mattie said. She reached out and petted the little robot. "The important thing is that we got you inside."

"I have a large and/comfortable back seat," Bumblebee offered. "And they're/quite small/humans."

Mattie grinned. She had a feeling that Izzy didn't really mind sitting in the back with Jacques all that much.

Viviane leaned in through the open window. "Stay right behind Cogman, okay, Bee? I know you've been here before, but I'd like it better if I can see where you are at all times."

"No problem," Bee promised. "I'll stick to/his/shiny/aft."

"I heard that," Cogman said, sounding somewhat insulted. "Unmannered cretin."

Mannie grinned, then turned around to look at her brother in the seat. "So, you guys haven't officially met. Jacques, meet Bumblebee." She stretched out a hand and touched the door panel gently. "Bumblebee, this is my baby brother Jacques. Not so baby anymore."

Jacques grinned. "Hey, Bee. Nice to see you at last."

"You too, kid", Bee said.

"You'll get to meet him in bipedal form later," Mattie promised. "The mansion has large grounds, so he can transform and walk around as he chooses."

"Cool," Jacques said.

Izzy looked at him. "You aren't scared, are you? Mattie was terrified the first time she met a Autobot."

"I'm not scared," Jacques grinned. "I've talked to Bee on the phone several times. I know he's cool."

Bee revved his engine in response. Mattie giggled and stroked the steering wheel. "Showoff."

As they hit the M25, Mattie heard the conversation in the back seat turn technical.

"They are dynamos, self-sustaining organisms, right?" Jacques said.

"Nearly," Izabella replied. "They have this stuff they need to fuel themselves, it's called Energon. It lubricates them. But it's nowhere near the fuel consumption of regular cars, or even like food. They can last quite long without supplies."

"It has to be a fairly potent energy source, then."

"I guess. But they're really efficient machinery. You know how cars – or any engine, really – loses a lot of its energy to heat? The Transformers don't, they don't waste the energy."

"You know a lot about them," Jacques said.

"I'm a mechanic," Izabella replied. "I was okay at it before Cade picked me up, and then when I got to work on the big 'bots I learned even more. Do you know engines?"

"No, not at all," Jacques said, chuckling. "I couldn't tell one end from the other. But I can tell you the theory behind them."

Mattie grinned, and stroked Bee's seat stitching gently. She could feel the seat move against her in response, and the engine purred. "Love you, Bee," she whispered silently.

Bee responded by changing the radio – suddenly they were listening to Jason Mraz singing 'I'm yours.'

"Sing along?" Bee asked. Mattie giggled.

"Yeah, do that, Mattie," Izzy said from the back seat. "I haven't heard you sing since your birthday."

"Okay, but you guys too, then," Mattie said. "I know you know this one."

Jacques grinned. "Mom always says that singing makes the road shorter. Which of course is a physical impossibility."

"Yeah, and still it always worked," Mattie grinned. She started singing along, and pretty soon the other two joined in. And they got to the mansion in no time at all.

A/N:so this chapter is a little on the short. The next one is longer, I promise :) Thanks for reading!