TMWolf: Alrighty! Time for chapter 38! Before that, though- So I've got some major stuff coming up. Tests. Lots and lots of tests. Finals, especially. GRANTED, I only have 3, but the first in next week on Wed so... basically- I'm not going to be working on writing for a while. Like how tests are MAJOR in school, in college finals are more important than eating and sleeping. I also happen to have my 3rd Chem test Monday, and so I'm sure you can guess, but I'm going to be very busy studying _;; I don't even plan to really leave my room at all. Just straight up studying for the rest of the week/weekend and then finals studying time. BLEH. I'll TRY and get another chapter up before finals, but if not... except updates to continue after May 7, which is my last final.
Anywho~ Today's chapter comes from Silversun Pickups - Currency of Love. Lyrics don't have much to do with the chapter, but the title fits well for what's going to come up :)
Now for reviews! And HOLY CRAP. 500+ REVIEWS ALREADY? You guys are too awesome! :D And all those "theories"! Again, I will neither confirm nor deny anything, nyahahaha! ;)
Angel897: Thank-you soo much! :D
AngelGirl11097: Thank-you sooooooooooo much! You're review really helped my mood right when it need it most! :) -bows for the applause- thank-you, thank-you! xD I try my best to make things interesting and creative and as realistic as possible :P And no, Jazz was most definitely NOT serious about the kiss xD;; Cybertronians don't have "kissing" in their culture, so it's really just a joke for him. As for the holoforms. Well, actually- I bring that up in a few chapters :D I'll explain about them when they do, but they are there! You'll just have to be patient :)
Anon: Who doesn't love seeing a trio of hot speedy cars racing? ;) AND THEY'LL GET TOGETHER WHEN THEY WANT :P They're stubborn, you see~ And yes- no comment, ha ha. And yay for theories, but I shall refuse to confirm anything as always! Takes out all the fun if I do :P And, yes, you'll see holoforms soon enough. They're either the next chapter or the one after :) I think you'll appreciate what I do with their brief "show" ;) ...and I was about to say at the last part. Had the "D:" face going, but then I kept reading and I was ":D" ha ha~ And Ireland? Nice!
AnonymousAuthor1998: Ha ha, possibre! Very much so possibre! You'll just have to wait a few more chapters for the answer, though! :)
Autobot-Bre: Er, well, it wasn't "symbols" but close enough xD And maybe maybe maybe~!
Cascadenight: I know right? I mean, they're robots disguised as vehicle- what better way to bond then race since most of their alternate modes are VERY fast and sexy cars ;) And, well, I don't know about SPARK BROKEN, but he was most likely a little annoyed :P And hell yeah Jazz is teasing him! xD Bandit will be most pleased then :) He'll try to jump, but just tell him no and he won't~
Goldenfightergirl: Maybe! Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe! :D
Iceshadow911247: ...Neither? They're not... citizens? D: And no, the stories don't bother me. They're actually pretty funny/entertaining! I know I've laughed aloud a few times :P As for the law thing... being drunk, I guess? Makes sense? Please- Jazz doesn't need to "want to win more". We all know he was going to win ;) And LOL that'd be so awesome xD;; You need siri then! She could probably do it, ha ha. Oh Primus if Jazz was an internet troll? We'd be doomed D: And yupyup- ROTF coming up! :)
Joldino-Sidestreakee: Gerhaps, my friend! Gerhaps! :D And you shall get what you want this chapter! Just gotta read through until the end :)
LadyAmazon: Ooh Dogs 101! I remember watching the Husky episode! Yes, they are BEST for the cold, but they are PERFECTLY fine with hot weather so long as you have a cool place for them to go when it does get too hot for them (essentially, an air-conditioned house). And uh... erm... if by "loyal" you mean the EVENTUALLY come back when they WANT to or someone brings them back because they know you as the "Husky people"... then yes, they are loyal, lol (not even kidding, by the way ha ha) xD Speaking of that last part... eh heh heh heh... -flies away-
Lunar Mist: Prowl logic. Best logic there is. Until you give it something illogical, ho ho ho~ Anyways, just keep waiting and you'll found out! :)
Mercedes Wolfcry: Thanks! And, no. When Sunny comes he will not be a "Sparkmate" for Catherine. While they are Twins and thus have VERY similar sparks, they will not have the same Sparkmate due to the differences. For instance, Sideswipe doesn't like art, but Sunstreaker does. So, no, no CatxSunstreaker. Just Catswipe~
Pelawen Night: Thank-you! :D And yeeeah, that happens some times xD;; The chapter wanted to end, though, so I had to obey!
Phaedra39: Actually, yes. At the end of this chapter there will be! :D
Shizuka Taiyou: I'll half count a stuffed husky :) And thanks, as always! Oh, and have some faith in 'Cat and 'Sides, will you! xD
Spark of the Forgotten: Why yes indeed they are! And it only gets better (or so I hope)! :D And no she can't. That'd be too easy, bwahahaha~ ;) Same for Sideswipe, tee hee.
Starscream's Prime: Why yes, yes she did! :D And made plenty of more questions for herself, too!
Starla: Oh my Primus! Thank-you sooooooo much for your review! It really made my day! :) Although uh, let's just cool things down a little, my friend xD;;; -pats- I will be making more, of course! I can generally get a chapter done within a day, but sometimes not, and, again, I do have school work. I promise you'll get more, though, ha ha! Just give me a little time! :P
Szynka2496: Then I warn you now: You're going to wish you had never left and also be glad you did... at the same time. And yes, they totally got a funny reaction out of Sides. He's so fun to tease :P The kiss wouldn't be as hard as you think- just pick her up, bring close, and there we go! xD
TheBlackRose: I am to please with that Catswipe ;) And keep on speculating! :D And uh... again- no comment on Sunstreaker. Back to work, too (unfortunately), and so much more~ Now, in the meantime-to avoid the Sunny questions... -flies away-
Topkicker26: Because he's also an adorable flirtatious horny hound dog (until Brotherhood/Revelations), tee hee :P And yeah, that's pretty much what Grill was. Fowler was funny, though :P "Unicorn" instead of "Unicron" bwahahaha~ and yeeeeeeeah! Armada looks like it'll be good for sure! :D Have to wait until like Sunday/Monday though to watch it :/ And psssh, you so know. Oh, and LOL Mirage space core? Somebody's a little obsessed ;) It's not smut you dirty whore! xD -throws shoe-
Worried sib: Well, if you're SURE about that... then try guessing WHY I might have done that ;) And uh... no. Cat really shouldn't, ha ha ha. As for Annie seeing... don't worry too much about that. Catherine doesn't plan to make many drones besides R2, and she knows better than to let a little kid see that... granted she wouldn't want Lennox/Sarah to see either since she'd get into quite a bit of trouble xD;;
Now onto the show!
XXXVIII. Currency of Love
With the weekend coming to an end, it would take some time before Catherine could properly hangout with Sam, as another week of school was starting up. If she wasn't dead to pretty much everyone she knew, she would have happily taken Jazz or Sideswipe down to Tranquility and visited them, but, well, she couldn't very well say she was a zombie. Thankfully, that time was made up with going out and spending time with her foster family—she even partook of shopping, which she never imagined herself doing ever. With Lennox, her fun involved shooting or some other "man-fun" activity, and with Annabelle she could only stick to young, baby play, but that was a gift in itself.
Of course, she spent time with her robotic companions, and gladly took up teasing them as much as possible. She often found more alone time with Sideswipe, though, as Jazz became the favored form of transport for everyone—Sideswipe was a bit too reckless for Sarah's liking, especially when Annabelle was in tow. It was a different, but wonderful gift that she personally enjoyed above all else, though would never say.
And when no one was occupying her attention she found her thoughts took up the position. First and foremost was R2, the miniature Cybertronian she had made. According to Sam he was doing fine and following the rules, and he and Bumblebee both got along very well as, apparently, R2 was a fantastic conversationalist. For that she was relieved and glad, but still the question remained: how the hell had she done it? Tip-of-the-tongue was her mortal enemy in her battle for the knowledge, and no matter how many suggestions Sideswipe and Jazz could give her nor any questions she asked could put her on the right path. It was annoying, frustrating, maddening, and any synonym to describe a desire to throttle the mystery before her. Even worse—when she concentrated and tried to summon the same feeling, all she got were sparks and the darkness behind her eyelids.
By the middle the weeks she finally gave up—but not really—and let herself become preoccupied with working out to make sure she didn't get stale over the break. Lennox helped to make sure of that, and so she also started doing chores, too. Of course, Sarah argued against it, but Catherine's "responsibility" meter wouldn't have it any longer. Besides, she knew Lennox would get her back at NEST even more than he already was if she didn't.
It all helped keep her mind off too many things, the work outs weren't bad at all, and she always enjoyed shooting. Her drones helped with passing the time and making things better, too. They were always curious about everything she did, especially the horses. Their first encounter had been awkward to say the least, but soon enough the horses took on their usual "don't-care" attitude, her drones were happy to prance around on their backs or to roll around in the dirt while she was shooting. Sometimes they played with Jazz or Sideswipe, and, after finally forcing them to confront the toddler terror, they had begun to make friends with Annabelle.
And so things went along smoothly and quickly through the week. It was honestly a good thing for Catherine, for it meant it was soon to be Saturday, which was the day Sam was going to bring his parents to the ranch and they were all going to have a picnic-dinner. It had taken much discussion, but it was decided it would be better at the ranch because she was considered dead, they didn't want to take chances and it would allow the Autobots to walk around and have fun at the same time. His parents were still a little weary of Bumblebee being an alien sometimes, but they figured he could stretch his legs, especially if it kept him from getting antsy in the garage. It also just might have possibly had a bit to do with the fact Mrs. Judy often wondered aloud about the women who had "stolen" her potential "daughter" from her, but no one was foolish enough to say so. Sam mentioned Mikaela would be coming, too, and while it had surprised Catherine—although it probably shouldn't have—she didn't mind. It had been a long time since they talked, and, well, if she was Sam's girlfriend, then she should try and get along again being Sam's bestfriend.
All it was going to take was a few days, and, luckily for Catherine, they went by quickly enough.
-O-
"Oh my goodness, Catherine!" Judy Witwicky cried out, tears nearly forming in her eyes as she spotted the young, redhead woman. A tight, loving embrace soon followed, the recipient laughing happily as she returned it. "I didn't think we'd ever see you again! Even Ronald was worried!"
Ron Witwicky smiled briefly before putting his hands on his hips, "Only a little. You know how to handle yourself."
"I missed you too, Mr. Witwicky," Catherine grinned, reaching out to grab and squeeze his hand since Mrs. Witwicky refused to let her go. Despite his grumpy exterior, he returned the squeeze , and then moved forward to greet Will and Sarah. Behind Mrs. Witwicky, Sam and Mikaela stood, snickering at the redhead's predicament, and behind them Bumblebee transformed and greeted Jazz and Sideswipe happily.
"Okay, Mama Judy… Really, I love you and I missed you and you know I love getting hugs from you, but you should probably go say hi to the Lennoxes. Common courtesy, and, you know, I like to breathe, too," Catherine chuckled, glancing up at the older woman. Mrs. Judy made a sob-like laugh before tightening the embrace for a brief moment and then let her go to go greet Sarah, whom she embraced with a hug, too. The redhead watched happily, glad to see they were already getting along—Lennox and Ronald talking about something manly no doubt, and Judy cooing over Annabelle. She turned to Sam and Mikaela whom had finally come up to her, and she greeted them with a grin.
"I see you couldn't stay away, Sam! And you brought a fair damsel to make our next victim! You are terrible, my amigo!" she boasted, setting her hands on her hips.
"I try my best," he chuckled, and opened his arms for the two of them to embrace.
"Looks like you're doing well," Mikaela added, but Catherine could tell she didn't want an embrace, so she merely gave a grinning shrug back.
"Eh, as well as you can get from working with the government. Anyways, we can all catch up on the couches inside. They're a lot more comfortable then standing out here," she replied, gesturing at the house behind them. Both agreed and all three huddled in— the adults still preoccupied outside— and they settled into their spots. Catherine took up the single chair, folding her legs beneath her, while Sam and Mikaela took the longer couch, sitting close with the dark-haired girl leaning on the dark-haired boy.
"So… how's life everybody?" the redhead began, and she got half-hearted shrug from the young man.
"Eh, we've been at school all week and since we had this plan, we didn't go out to anywhere fancy or anything."
"Well, we did go to the mall on Wednesday, and we did have a little excitement there," Mikaela smiled, and Sam's eyes brighten as he snapped his fingers and leaned forward. Catherine raised a brow curiously.
"Okay, so listen to this," he began with excitement. "Me n' Mikaela were eating lunch at a table and stuff and this old lady is coming by with her grandkids. Now, these kids are fighting over the toy—some stuffed dog or something—and they're tugging back and forth while the grandma is trying to stop them and make them take turns, y'know? Well, eventually one of the kids wins, but he's surprised the other kid let go, so he flies back and the toy goes right over him towards us. Oh, right—we were sitting right by the edge, so it's a pretty far drop down, but luckily for the kid, I've been honing my ninja skills and you know what happened? I caught it. BAM! I caught it in mid-air. It was sooo awesome! Kids were all amazed and the grandma even said thank-you all sweet, granny-like."
Catherine snorted and then laughed, "S-sorry, Sam. It's just—you made it sound funny, and you so totally do not have ninja skills. Just a whole lot of damn good luck. Still, that's pretty awesome how you saved that kid's toy."
"The old lady was really sweet about it, too. She even offered to buy us some sweets. The toy must have been really important," Mikaela smile, snuggling a bit closer to Sam once he leaned back.
"Seems like it. So what about you, 'Cat? Anything exciting?"
"Not really. Mostly just been working out and doing my fair share around here. I helped Sarah with shopping, too, and mostly just hung out with Sideswipe and Jazz, so, you know, usual week for me, although without the job obligations of NEST. Soooo basically paradise!" she smiled leaning back into the chair.
"What's it like at NEST by the way? What do you do again?" the dark-haired girl inquired, and the red-head raised a brow at her friend.
"What? You don't boast about how cool your best friend is to everyone else?" she mused, and laughed off his stumble of words meant to be an apology or excuse. "Anyways, to answer your question, I'm the Autobots' liaison. Basically, I try and keep things going smoothly between the humans and Autobots and do paper work. Lots and lots and lots of paperwork. I'm also training as a soldier, but I won't actually go into the field. It's pretty fun there when we're not on duty or training. Everyone's pretty cool except for a few."
"Huh… Sounds… awesome," Mikaela hummed, though the red-head detected a lack of sincerity. She brushed it off—didn't even show a sign of annoyance—and looked to Sam as he opened his mouth. However, he was cut off when the front door opened and all five of their missing persons entered, still stuck in whatever conversations they had started. It paused when Sarah spotted the three and moseyed over to drop Annabelle off into Catherine's lap.
"Mind watching over her while we start making dinner? Mrs. Judy apparently has a roast to die for that takes a few hours," she smiled, while her baby cooed and reached out for the redhead.
"Sure, and trust me—it is. We should have your wedged potatoes with it, too, and your rolls. It'll go great!" she smiled back, cuddling the toddler close, who squealed with delight.
"Oooh, sounds good. Now, you three have fun. I might need you later on to get Will and Mrs. Witwicky back inside. They're going on about politics now, and lord knows how long they'll spend on that! It's bound to be as bad as when your father is cleaning his guns."
Catherine laughed, "Sure thing."
Sarah left them then, joining Judy in the kitchen while Lennox and Ronald departed to the study with a beer in hand. The redhead rolled her eyes at the sight, but quickly let Annabelle take up her attention and playfully tussled with the little girl, which became the target of affection from Mikaela as well, although it was in the form of cooing from afar. Sam, meanwhile, smirked at his friend, giving her look that she finally noticed after about a minute and gave him a confused look back.
"What?"
"Sooo… Lennox is your 'father' now, is he?" the young man purred, and she snorted back.
"Well, it's official now… or, well, unofficially official, but you know what I mean. Just shut-up and look at how adorable Annie is!" she barked back, holding up the toddler's hands to wave them at him. Annabelle giggled happily and Sam finally gave in and reached out to grab her hands and wiggle them a bit.
"And let me tell you, Sam," she began again, leaning on the arm of the chair. "It's made life pretty darn good."
-O-
The trio of young adults and one baby eventually found themselves outside amongst the Autobots where they combined their conversations, talking about whatever they wanted. Throughout it Catherine noticed something, and it was a fact that surprised her more than anything else. Just judging by the dark-haired girls interactions with her, Catherine knew Mikaela had no idea that she was the living Allspark. She had expected that, maybe, Sam would have let something slip, but her friend had done a phenomenal job of saying absolutely nothing about that little detail. Although, Mikaela did know about R2 who finally made his appearance, perched on 'Bee shoulders, but the story was like she had asked him to tell—an "experiment" done with the shard. She was both happy and grateful. She was sure Mikaela could keep a secret, but her being the Allspark was a secret she couldn't trust with just anyone.
And as much as she wished, she couldn't keep herself from analyzing Mikaela It wasn't anything born from jealous or what not, but she supposed it was some natural urge among women to scrutinize one another, and she was no exception. The dark-haired young woman looked no different from before save for a slight attire change. She definitely wore more dignified clothes—less skin showing than before, which Catherine personally approved of. She still retained her youth and model-good looks, which made it seem impossible that she was with her friend. The dark-haired young woman still retained some of her "popular chick"—she honestly didn't have much better word for it—demeanor, but she had definitely broken from that shell to reveal more of her true, independent and strong woman side underneath. She supposed helping her father integrate back into society helped, as did working in a garage. There wasn't much time to be "pretty" or "popular" there.
Over all, she thought Mikaela was okay. Not entirely perfect or someone she would consider calling a close friend, but she was okay. Catherine was confident she couldn't talk about much with her, though. The dark-haired girl seemed to be fine with that, though, as she preferred cuddling next to Sam like he was a teddy bear or managing to put in some input here or there. She honestly didn't contribute much to the conversation, and while Catherine at first thought it made her seem less "okay", she soon realized it was because she was just awkward in regards to the situation. Unlike her or Sam, Mikaela wasn't all that close to the Autobots. Yes, she'd ridden in Bumblebee, but they'd never actually talked like Sam did. It probably didn't help that most of the topics didn't really pertain to things the dark-haired girl would know, too.
Thankfully for Mikaela and for Catherine's growing desire to stifle her inborn tendency to observe other females closely, the hours passed by faster than they could have imagined, and Sarah Lennox and Judy Witwicky came calling. All four humans departed from their metal companions, and took up helping to move a table outside, which was more complicated than expected. However, once they got both fathers away from whatever conversation they were having, things got much easier and it didn't take long for everything to be set and ready for the food, which was all that remained. That wasn't a long wait, either, and once all the food was out and everyone had taken their seats with their Cybertronian companions nearby, the "picnic" dinner began.
"So, are they treating you well at—ah, where was it again?" Judy inquired after taking a quick drink to help down a bit of roast. Though her question was directed at Catherine, Lennox answered for her.
"We work with NEST, but I'm not allowed to say where. Secrecy and all," he chuckled, but the woman simply rolled her eyes and waved her hands at him.
"Oh, pish-posh! While I do approve of your taking Catherine in, she was my kid before you, and I have the right to know where she's going to be and if she's being treated right!"
Beside her, Sarah giggled, not the least bit bothered, while Catherine raised a hand to calm the woman.
"It's okay, Mama Judy. They're treating me just fine. Besides, I've put more than a few unruly pests in their place, and I always got my boys over here to back me up," she winked, gesturing at Jazz and Sideswipe behind her who glanced over at their being mentioned "And then I have my uncles and big brothers on my team."
"Well, I still don't like you being so far away and having to do all this military business!" the woman huffed and chewed on another bite of roast.
"Aw, calm down, Judy. Catherine's an adult now, and she's always known how to take care of herself. Heck—she helped take care of Sam when we weren't lookin'!" Ronald Witwicky spoke up, eliciting a deep, red blush from Sam who threw up his hands with an expression that all but sarcastically screamed "thanks, dad!". Mikaela grinned with amusement while Catherine laughed aloud.
"Oh, you're right. She was always the one that kept him out of trouble or from getting lost!" the woman sighed miserably. "It's just—oh! I was so worried when she ran away, and then joining some secret army involved with these giant troublemakers!"
"Ma'am," Jazz spoke up, smiling warmly at her. "I can assure ya we're lookin' out fo' her. That's includin' me n' all the other Autobots' n' the humans. Catherine's covered, so ya can rest easy."
"See? Nothing to worry about," the redhead added with a reassuring grin.
"Oh, be quiet, all of you!" Sarah sighed, shaking her head, and fed Annabelle another bite of applesauce before turning to face them. "As a mother it is her duty to worry about those that are her children! You men will never know, and you two ladies are still too young, but it's just how mothers are! Now hush and let her fret! Especially you, Catherine. Just enjoy being doted on."
"Hee hee. Okay."
"Wait—how come I don't get any of this kind of attention?" Sam grumbled, folding his arms.
"Because you're a grown man who refuses to act like one," his father barked, and Catherine let out another laugh. Sam quickly stepped on her foot, which made her stop, but then she stepped on his foot back. Both paused to glare, and then a tremendous foot war began. As both were seated across from each other, they were in perfect spots to do so, and were able to go on without interference for a while until things finally got rowdy.
"Alright, I think that is quite enough you two!" Lennox finally bellowed when Catherine's knee accidentally rammed against the table. "Honestly—how old are you two again?"
"Five," Sam said at once.
"He's five," Catherine said at about the same time, and the young man glared and attempted to step on her foot, but missed. She quickly smacked her chest and held her arms out in a "come-at-me-bro" gesture with a confident smirk on her face.
"Did this happen a lot at your house?" Lennox inquired of Ronald, and the larger man nodded with a groan.
"It was actually a bit worse. They would sometimes have slap fights. Honestly, these two. It's a wonder how they ended up separated in the first place!" Judy Witwicky replied, shaking her head with a chuckle.
"Eh, it's all good now. And, of course, I always won the fights," the redhead purred, and Sam raised a brow as he folded his arms again.
"Oh really? 'Cause I distinctly remember winning more than a few," he purred back, and she raised a brow.
"Care to test out that theory? 'Cause, I mean, we're already outside, so if you wanna go, bro, we can do this right now," she barked, standing up with her arms spread in challenge.
"Oh, man, my Energon's on Catherine," Sideswipe called out behind them.
"Scrap. I meant to bet on her!" Bumblebee huffed, door wings rising up slightly.
Sam looked up with surprise, "What! 'Bee!"
"My apologies, Sam, but Catherine is stronger and more skilled than you are," the yellow Autobot replied with a shrug.
"Except there is going to be no fighting," Sarah Lennox spoke up and, though her voice was calm, the underlying tone of force was there and both teens calmed and returned to their food. "Honestly. If I didn't know any better I'd say you two were twins!"
Both young adults shared a playful grin before returning to their meals, Mikaela glancing between them with a look that went unnoticed. She too returned to her meal, but was far more lackluster compared to the others. Silence followed for a bit longer, the group scarfing down more of their meal, until Mrs. Witwicky dropped her fork with a clang and heart-wrenching sob came from her throat. Her hands went to her mouth, napkin in tow, and Sarah Lennox was quick to comfort the woman while her husband did the worst thing possible and sighed, shaking his head. The rest looked with concern and confusion, though their robotic companions had the worst of it.
"Oh, shhhh. It's alright," the blonde-haired woman cooed, and Sam's mother nodded as sniffled and wiped at her tearing eyes.
"C'mon, Judy, stop cryin' now," Ronald spoke firmly, but with a hint of worried love as he turned to her and grasped her shoulder.
She looked at him and sniffed again, "Oh, how can you not be sad? Catherine's all grown up and so is our little baby boy! If she wasn't with that—that government thing, then she would be going to college with Sammy! And then all this darn business that happened and I was so worried about her! Oh, Ronald, you heartless bastard! You weren't ever worried at all!"
"Aw, Judy," the man sighed, and relieved Sarah of the hysterical woman as he brought her close, rubbing her back soothingly. "You know I was worried. I'm just a lot better at holding it together than you are."
"Yeah, calm down, Mom. It's not like we're gone forever. You know I'll be back every summer," Sam spoke up, reaching over to grab his mother's hand, who squeezed it like a death trap. He kept the wince from his face as she continued to sniff and wipe the tears, smudging something of her eye shadow and mascara with it.
Catherine grabbed Mrs. Witwicky's other hand, smiling softly, "And I get off every few months or so, which I can visit during, so I'm not gone all the time either. And I'm a liaison, so I'm not out fighting any bad monsters or people or anything."
Judy met her gaze, sniffed and nodded, and then burst into more tears. She was given soft smiles all around as she leaned into her husband, whom comforted her with an amused shaking of the head. Everyone else exchanged looks, smiling at one another. Emotions eventually calmed down of course, things were explained as best as they could to the Autobots, and their meal continued on happily, all the way through dessert and long into the night. And all the time there was only love and joy around, and Catherine couldn't have been happier.
-O-
"Well, that was interesting," Sideswipe hummed as Catherine hopped onto his hand and he lifted up her up to his shoulder. She stepped off and settled into a small crevice she had recently found, cradled by the metal panels, and was rather comfortable.
It had been a few hours since everyone had left, and that had actually been at a rather late hour. Sarah had insisted that the Witwicky's not help clean up so, after warm goodbyes and hugs—Mrs. Witwicky held together well—Catherine and her new family cleaned everything up. And when that was done, the parents started to prep Annabelle for bed, leaving Catherine to do what she pleased. She spent a few minutes with Jazz, sharing a few laughs over the dinner, but then she'd spotted the silver mech roll toward the usual hill and her guardian-brother let her go with a tease hidden in his laughter. She'd merely rolled her eyes, and trotted over to be where she was now.
"Mama Judy's just veryemotional. It doesn't help Papa Witwicky antagonizes her," she chuckled back, leaning her head against the side of his helmet.
"Is that what you call it?" he snorted, settling down carefully on the hillside. "I couldn't understand any of it to be honest. Although I was looking forward to seeing you fight Sam."
She laughed, "Figured you would! It wouldn't have really come to blows, though, so, y'know, feel disappointed."
His blue optics brightened in the dark, and though there was barely any light with the crescent moon, she knew he was grinning. She curled herself closer, enjoying the heat coming from his metal frame although it was still a little warm outside.
"So… you and Sam and his family and everyone are pretty close," he spoke up after a few moments and she put her cheek into her palm as she leaned forward.
"Well, yeah. They're my family. Lennox and Sarah and Annabelle are my immediate one. Er, by that I mean Lennox is my Dad, Sarah my Mom, and Annie my little sister. But Sam's also my family. The Witwicky's have always been more like parents than my biologically ones, and, well, while I was in love with Sam for a while, we're just like brother and sister now. He's my best friend, you know?" she replied, a warm, content smile growing on her face as she spoke. "Of course, you guys are my family, too. But I guess you know that. I mean, I've told you how Jazz is like a bro to me, too, but like the older brother. Ratchet's like the overprotective Uncle and so is Prime, and then Ironhide's like my grandpa, and then I have my kids."
He looked over at her, "Yeah, I remember… Where… where do I fit in, though? Just curious."
"Huh… Where do you fit in?" she mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I guess I could say brother, but then that's not right, and you're certainly not an Uncle or grandpa or dad. You are my friend, too, but that doesn't seem to fit, either. I guess you're just an enigma!"
"I am pretty fantastic. Only an enigma is cool enough to describe me," he purred, and she laughed.
"Yeah, you're a cool cookie, amigo. All I know is that I need you along with everyone else. Maybe even more than the others."
It took her a few seconds, but the words sunk in and she quickly flushed, her face turning hot. She was so glad it was dark, but even then she was sure the Autobot could tell she was embarrassed. She didn't know if he knew what those words meant, but it was humiliating none the less. If he did, he didn't show it as he turned away, his optics diming slightly. She didn't dare test to see what he felt either, if only to keep her from exploding from the embarrassment. Too bad it was the only emotion that she could never push away no matter hard she tried, so she sat there against him, flushing like crazy and letting her thoughts consist of saying how dumb she was.
And then, by some miracle, Teletraan, whom had been snoozing in her pocket, buzzed. Her embarrassment ebbed as she pulled him out and read the message. All flushing and humiliation vanished as soon as she finished and she stood up excitedly. Thankfully, Sideswipe's torso was large and flat enough at the top that she could walk out on it to face him.
"What's up?" he inquired, and she held Teletraan out towards him, though he didn't really need to read the text.
"We got new recruits coming!" she exclaimed and then brought her drone back to scroll down. "They're not saying who, but we got more Autobots coming! Maybe one of them is Sunstreaker!"
The silver mech's optics dimmed for a few seconds, "…No, he's not with them. He's too far away."
She frowned, excitement essentially halved, "Oh… well... Well, maybe they know something about him then?"
"Yeah, they might!" he replied, an expectant smile on his face. "He left with a ship, too, so he might have gotten separated. Someone's bound to know what happened."
"Well, they're supposed to be here a few days after we go back, so maybe! I just hope those 'Con sightings aren't going to cause trouble. Sure, the NEST troops didn't find anything yet, but, you know," she rumbled, stepping back towards his shoulder.
"Yeah, the 'Cons can be tricky, but if they know what's good for them they won't try anything," the silver mech smirked, and the redhead returned the expression.
"'Cause Sideswipe's gonna come flying in to save the day, huh? Kinda like superman?" she teased, and his smirk widened as his optics brightened.
"Something like that. Give me a jetpack and I'm there."
"Well, not quite Superman, but close enough. Looks like we can rely on you then," she replied, settling back down into the crevice.
"I'll be there when I'm needed," he purred, and watched as his play sunk in. With a groan she shoved her face into her hands, mumbling an incoherent string of words that only served to make him laugh.
With a sigh she leaned against him again, though smiling a little as she did so, "You suck."
XXXVIII. End
TMWolf: Well, I do hope that was some good 'ol Catswipe at the end there for all your Catswipe shippers ;) They're FINALLY getting somewhere, am I right? :D And Sideswipe finally got some payback, tee hee!
Also, turns out I lied. ROTF officially starts the chapter AFTER nest... so chapter 40 starts ROTF. HOWEVER, I do believe you're all going to very much so enjoy the next one, if only for the little bit I put at the end. ;) Sooo yeah, next chapter it's back to NEST time! :D We're pretty much done with establishing relationships/introducing new terms so we can really get things moving along. Expect time skips to start and things to move a lot faster! Hell, we're about to go through a year time skip pretty soon :D So hold onto your butts people! And then cling for your lives once ROTF starts, because slag goes down hard REAL fast.
Alrighty. So. Again. I find Sarah to be like... the epitome of a mother. I just... I can't see her not being basically perfect. That's probably just me, but I just... can't not do it. Good thing she's a background character (with slight main attributes) eitherwise she might be close to a Sue, lol! xD;; And poor Judy... I stand by her reaction, though. I mean- just watch how she acts in ROTF! She's literally going bipolar- bawling her eyes out and then being pissed off. Oh, Mrs. Witwicky. I love her so much. And then Ron Witwicky! Oh that stubborn man! :P He really is a softy at heart... and totally like Catherine as a kid more than Sam, lol~ But no, really- he does love Sam a lot xD
And then we have Mikeala... As Catherine has shown- no more jealousy! Mikeala is Sam's girlfriend, she is okay with that, and no worries! But what about Mikeala? What about her indeed... nyahahaha~ Too bad the story focuses on Cat's POV... otherwise we could see a lot of the other drama going around :D
I'd say that's about it. Until next time which might be a while! -flies away-
P.S. No, Sam is not a ninja. He just wishes he was. Although those kids thing he is. But he's not.
P.S.S. I suddenly realize the Sunstreaker-no-show-let-down just might be a sore spot at the moment... hmm... -flies away quickly-