Chapter 50 is the longest chapter I believe I have ever written, it's clocked out at almost 11,500 words and is likely to get longer still in future edits, hence why it's taken me so long to post again. Sorry for the delay, hope you all enjoy this rather short and sweet one!
Chapter 45
Estrada Villa Barcelona
Kia rubbed at her holoforms eyes, trying to ignore the temptation to let her patience snap. "Ira… for the love of… stop pacing and come to bed!"
Her patience hadn't held out for more than half the sentence.
The redhead who was very much pacing, and still fully dressed in her day time attire, spun on the latina.
"Bed? Bed! Yah expec' me tah sleep righ' now?!"
"Ira-"
"No! Don' yah 'Ira' me! Yah reanimated a head, the twins maybe almost died, and all of ah sudden they were raised by tha disembodied spiri' of a tyrannical warlord who's apparently sworn off his tyrannical warlord stuff?! All within 24 hours?! Yah expect me tah sleep when MEGATRON is distracting them from us?! From… this?!"
"They went to the bath to clean themselves, they're in switzerland and we don't have a long range holoform anchor established there, that's why they're not here in holoform."
"They didn' just go to tha Bath! They took him with them!"
Kia rubbed at her temples. "And your point?"
"Mah point, is there's a fuck ton ah stuff they ain' telling us! And we only found ou' abou' some ah tha' shit because yah raised tha' dead! Were they ever going to tell us?!" The 'before this' was implied.
Kia stared her down, and Ira froze for a moment, her anger dissolving into fear at the realisation she'd been effectively yelling at an Estrada.
Kia held the moment of blessed silence for a few more moments, before answering. "No. They wouldn't have ever told us. The circumstances of their upbringing is not something they wish to be made known to others. We should respect their desire for privacy when it comes to private family affairs. The reason we know what we do now, is because of circumstances they had no direct control over causing an unravelling. I see no issue with them wishing to maintain their privacy and taking Megatronus somewhere private where they can talk. They were not raised… in a healthy environment, none of us were if I am being totally honest, but the methods put upon us were… very different, and as a result we all have our… coping mechanisms, theirs is… keeping it to themselves… I believe because of the sheer amount of internalised self loathing they share."
Ira paused fully as Kia spoke, listening with all the intent of someone being read a gospel, spoken by a prophet.
She slowly moved to the end of the bed, and sat down, ever fluctuating eyes never breaking their gaze with Kia's golden. "Wha'… wha' dah yah mean?"
Kia sighed. "It is… just a hunch… one I have had since that day we first met…"
"When yah were six and they were five righ'? Tha' was before Aria's hair wen' white righ'?"
Kia nodded. "I honestly don't enjoy remembering it… their... mother was there…"
Ira kicked her shoes off and spun to sit cross legged and facing the Latina already under the covers. "Please… tell me? This one thin'? Ah'v only hear' rumours before..."
Kia hummed, took in a low and slow breath before answering. "Alright… but you may not like what I tell you…"
Triage Earth, a fancy house, somewhere in Europe?
The chatter was obscene, the fake and genuine laughs mingling in the higher pitches as lower baritones and lower yet whispers rumbled and flittered between ears.
Waiters scurried about, serving platters adorned with tiny morsels of food that could hardly satisfy a baby rabbit.
The lights above lit the place in a too bright golden glow, the marble walls glistening and shining as the light danced on the inlaid gold, molded into faux flora.
Kia hated all of it, too bright, too loud, too noisy.
Father was off speaking with 'old friends too stubborn to die' and her mother was busy trying to shush her baby brother, Fernando, who was equally not amused, and was having none of their mother's attempts to hush him.
They were left alone mostly, only passing glances whenever her brother made a louder than appreciated noise.
Suddenly the noise died out completely.
Heads all turned at once, her own included, and from where she'd been lifted up to sit on a high chair against the wall, she could see the focus.
Atop the last flight of stairs that led to the ballroom floor, there stood a woman Kia had never seen before.
Hair as pitch black as an endless void, which seemed to flow over and around her shoulders where it was cut, eyes of such piercing green, even without them being directed on her, she felt like she'd been lanced into place by a number of invisible spears, she was adorned in a form fitting mermaid dress Kia had the morbid thought was dyed in blood.
One pale hand clutched a clasp purse made of some form of similarly red dyed leather to her abdomen.
The other, was clamped around the back of the neck of a girl who stood to her side, adorned in a frilly white dress with a large bow tied into each of the two pony tails their equally black hair had been pulled into.
She heard her mother mutter something under her breathe. "Orichiono."
She wasn't imagining it, there was fear in her mother's voice.
The woman began to descend the final flight of stairs, the girl not delaying, the hand still clamped in an almost vice like grip around the back of the neck.
The woman's eyes darted around the hall, before landing on her mother.
A small, but no doubt wicked smile bloomed on the woman's face as she approached, the crowd parting to avoid getting in the way.
Like the creatures of a watering hole parting to avoid a lion.
In under a minute, the woman, the 'Orichiono' was standing, no, looming, over her mother, Kia had the chilling image of a preying mantis looming over prey playing in her head, the frozen moment before the lethal strike.
"Essstradaaa, so good of you to accept my invitation to visit. I would have greeted you at the door but… well I'll get right to the point first, you Estrada's rarely have any patience to spare… hm. Would it be any trouble if I left… my… daughter…" The word was drawled out with a degree of venom Kia had to flinch from, the heavy French accent was equally palpable. "You see, something has… come up… and well… she'd get in the way, only for an hour at most then I will send her father to collect her."
Her mother nodded. "Of… of course… what's her name? She is adorable."
The woman, the girl's mother, scowled, lips painted as red as her dress parting slightly to reveal a small snarl as she clenched harder on the girls neck. "We named her Aria… so call her that, and nothing else… she's a filthy liar, and no matter what we do, we can't… 'convince' her to stop… you understand surely how unruly children are… she has a rather drastic physical mutation, two hearts, but we still plan to get her tested soon, no one wants to find early rot development after all." She looked at her and her brother pointedly as she said that, and it turned Kia's stomach.
Her mother nodded. "Oh of course, Kia certainly has her tantrums, I can handle one more for an hour."
The woman beamed as she hummed, and none too gently shoved the girl forwards, causing her to stumble into her mother's legs. "Useless klutz! Keep your feet under yourself!" The woman snapped, baring her teeth like some feral dog choking on the end of a too tight leash, before returning her attention to her mother, a big grin that warped her face in an unpleasant way, like being courteous made her sick. "Have a lovely night."
With that, she turned and left, the crowd parting again to allow her to pass, all eyes averted as she re-climbed the stairs and vanished into the higher level of the too fancy building.
Her mother's shoulders dropped, and she passed Fernando to her. "Kia, hold your brother, go find your father, I need to take Aria to the toilet, I will see you when I get back…"
Kia looked at the girl as her mother helped her to stand, this girl, Aria, she could barely keep her legs under her now, and up close and paying attention, Kia noticed things.
She looked ghastly.
Her skin looked paler than a ghost, there was no baby fat left, her eyes looked sunken in... her lower lip was starting to bleed from biting too hard…
Oh and the tear streaks… rolling down from those sunken in sea green eyes so empty and lifeless… well… Kia had the morbid thought she'd look better if she was just a pile of bones.
Her mother carried the girl away, mumbling something about 'Devil woman' and 'Skinning alive' but the rest was lost in the rising chatter again.
Kia was left to hold her squirming brother, and equally left to ponder, if she would ever see the girl again…
Or if her mother would grow tired of her… and let the tests she mentioned… go wrong…
Things going wrong always meant someone was never coming back… she knew that well… Even at her young age.
Barcelona, modern day
Ira tried to unclench her fists, but her hands wouldn't listen, too intent to remain white knuckled and tangled in the sheets.
Kia took a steadying breath at the end of her tale. "Remember Ira, she's dead… long dead with maggots long done with her rotten heart, they beat her…" She reached out and took Ira by the wrists, pulling them free and dragging the Irish woman up to her front, letting Ira drop her head onto her shoulder as she reached up to pet at the wild short cut red hair.
Ira let the motion soothe some of the tension out of her. "Tha'… Megatronus was there for that… And he did nothing?"
"No… no he was likely doing something… he cares for them too much to have not done something… what exactly we will never know, because we will not ask, we will let them have their privacy, and we will wait for the day they are willing to talk to us, alright?"
Ira nodded, and began trying to get under the covers, suddenly feeling the heavy weight of exhaustion bear down on her.
"Please get changed first."
Ira huffed and rolled her eyes, and began pulling her top off, revealing the lack of a bra underneath.
Kia averted her gaze to give Ira privacy.
Ira flopped back against her a few moments later, having noticeably not gotten up to pull any of the sets Kia had specifically tailored for her out. "Ira…"
"Please… Ah don' sleep well in clothes… please…"
Kia sighed, and resigned herself to her fate. "I… I understand…"
She checked the calendar function she'd found a while ago, and tried not to wince.
Time had flown by…
The month of her fiances murder… of course she would be more emotional than usual…
She went back to carding her fingers through Ira's hair, one of the first features Ira had managed to perfect on the holoform.
Ira curled into her side, and seemed to drift off right there and then.
Kia envied her…
Slumping back into the plush pillows, Kia tried to centre herself…
But another memory she'd done her best to repress was coming back to the forefront…
Soon enough, she could hear it ring around in her head.
"So… why the eyepatch Aria?"
"That's not my eye, it's Wren's…"
"Oh, right, so, why the eyepatch Wren?"
"A… test went wrong…"
"...Oh…" 'At least you're still alive…'
"Hey Kia?"
"Yeah Aria?"
"Thanks for believing us… It… it means a lot that… you do..."
"You're the second person to believe us…"
She'd always assumed the first person was maybe one of the staff that their mother had looking after them.
Now, with new context… she realised that she was the first living thing to believe them, that wasn't a voice in their own shared head…
And now she was stuck reflecting on her oldest friendship while Ira slept on her.
Now she wanted to pace.
The Bath Switzerland
The cold air was a jarring relief from the heat of the cave, and as Megatronus stepped back out into the alpine mountain side, he noted a thin layer of frost on the ground, this mountain, unlike the others, had an internal temperature that prevented large amounts of snow forming, but some frost did persist.
It was a non issue for his pedes.
His thoughts were disrupted by the horrid sound his sisters back made as it made contact with the cave's mouth as they shuffled back out to join them.
Even in the darkness of the now wee hours of the morning, with the sun just starting to show it's glow on the eastern horizon in front of them, they looked a lot better to him now, the dried energon long since evaporated away.
What chemical reaction caused energon to react as such was an investigation for a later date.
"Better?" He enquired, moving to sit and hang his legs off the edge of the sheer cliff face.
They hummed, and went into a full body shake, flaring out their wings when they had the room to try and shake the lingering moisture from their feathers. "Much, the baths were a blessing of a discovery when we found them." Wren answered, and noted his seating position.
They took a tentative step closer, and as he watched, they slowly eased themselves down to sit behind him, their legs to their side and hanging off the cliff face as well, while Aria's wing strut rested on the ground to their side.
The position had them leaning sharply into the left wing as they hunched over closer. "What about you?" Wren enquired.
He looked himself over for a moment. "There was little to clean besides whatever you had left over in your mouth when you picked me up." He remarked.
"She meant, how are you holding up?" Aria spoke. "In general… it's been… hectic the last 24 hours hmm?"
He snorted and looked down into the valley below, no human habitation, no lights, just a near black abyss long cut by glaciers and rivers that flowed from them. "I experienced death, came back to life, nearly got sliced into pieces by Estrada-" "Kia." "- Kia, discovered that the two living beings in the universe I'd come to care for, despite everything, had not only been stolen from their fate but turned into… into…"
"If you want to say abominations, we won't be insulted, we see ourselves as the same, but… we prefer Harpy… it's most fitting based on our current anatomy and mythology…"
He tried not to tense as Wren spoke. "I'm not disgusted by you, never you… just… what has been done to you…"
"We've been… managing." Aria tried to placate as Wren reached her wing out over the void before them. "There are some benefits to being able to fly ourselves, no needing to wait at airports if we want to go somewhere…"
He looked at the wing, the white and black under feathers displayed. "And what of losing all the dexterity that your hands provided you? I can hardly see you weilding a rifle like this Wren."
"That is what the holoforms and Hera are for, we already demonstrated her latching feature."
"You mean the fact that you were provided with a placebo set of arms that require you re-aligning your internal structure whenever you wish to use their dexterity?"
"I have a feeling you're trying to pick at our situation to find problems, and in doing so, you're forgetting something." Aria interrupted.
He looked at them incredulously.
Wren answered the unspoken question. "We are managing, you raised us to be adaptable, and so we have adapted to this, we will make the most of… this… that is what we have been doing, and you have to accept, like we have, that in all likelihood we will never be fully human again, and it is better that we focus on the good while we can, because who knows what's heading at us with the force of a freight train."
Megatronus began to let his thoughts wander, and nudged the bond open a bit wider on his side.
They reciprocated, and they let their thought processes brush.
He expressed his fascination at the split lines that flowed against his, distinct in ways that made them uniquely one of the twins over the other.
Aria was focusing on the view, keeping watch for any humans that may be out at this early hour hiking, mostly calm and somewhat distracted by a craving for something she seemed to want to sink her teeth in, a pork dish he figured.
Wren seemed to have fallen into her own thoughts, there was a timeline, a complicated one, with notes tagged everywhere and attached to the timeline with connection points that caused his processor to ache trying to keep track of all of them.
Didn't help him that Wren's internal writing was in cursive shorthand, lucky him he'd actually bothered to pay attention as well during those lessons, unlike Aria who had the handicap of not having the dominant hand, and so simply ignored such teachings when they did not apply to her.
He felt her direct him to something that seemed to weigh heavily on her on the timeline, and soon enough his minds optic landed on it, a designation.
Sentinel Prime - Current Location, Moon, condition, coma?
He snapped his side of the bond shut, he didn't want them to see the memories of that monster that suddenly rushed back too him.
They noticed of course, both jerking from the reaction. "V-M-Brother?" Aria mumbled as they leaned back closer. "We figured you knew of him… but by your reaction, I'm assuming it's more… personal?"
He bowed his helm. "He… He… The list of things he did, that I feel very justified letting a single scraplet work it's way through his worthless living frame is a list I'd rather not speak of…"
Wren's wing raised a bit higher, and with a good bit of care, carefully rested her flight feathers on his shoulder. "Please, just one from the list?"
His memory banks practically burst open, a scream he'd not heard in eons the first to emerge, Orion begging on his knees for it to stop, the broken sounds of Nebular choking on her own energon as it oozed out of the gaps in that horrid mask…
"... He raped Nebularburst right in front of Orion… Laughed in their faces as he smashed hers into the pillar he had her pinned against..."
He still remembered Orion crashing into his quarters in the Pits of Kaon, beside himself as he blabbered incoherently about how he should never have said anything, never tried to 'rock the ship' so hard… Primus it wasn't until Dust had commed him to inform him Neb had made it through the reconstructive surgery that he learned in full what had happened… Dust hadn't sugar coated it, and the imagery had formed a visceral memory as he'd tried to console Orion.
The twins didn't reply, but Wren's feathers pressed a bit heavier on his shoulder as they twisted their helm 180 to look behind themselves, over the mountain peaks to where the moon was heading for the horizon, as if galled that Sentinel was running away from them.
"It would seem then, that our next course of action, is finding a way to the Moon."
"I vote we get Optimus in on this." Aria added. "I have a hunch he'd rather enjoy dealing out some penance."
He snorted out a huff at that. "And I have a feeling your hunch is rather accurate."
Rome 7am
In any other situation Maggie would have laughed at how 'human' Jazz looked right now, reading a 'report' on the tablet Ira had given him, like he sometimes did when he wanted to keep up on international news.
Normally he had an upbeat, bubbly personality that just made everything shine a bit brighter… but now…
Now it was quite obvious something in the report was troubling him.
Scitter, down from her ear to nibble on his tiny cube of energon that Jazz had taken out of his subspace, looked between her and Jazz, and chirped up at her, wanting to know what was up with his papa as much as she did.
Jazz was a nail biter, not a bad one, he was just gnawing on his free thumb while the other slowly scrolled down the report, eyes flying across the written alien text at a speed abjectly above human capability.
Glen, who was snacking on a piece of jam covered toast on the sofa, glanced over from where he was trying to make sense of the morning news, though he still only had a limited grasp on Italian.
She turned back long enough to flip the pancake she was making at the time, and that was all the time needed for the clatter of the tablet hitting the table, as Jazz tossed it down.
Maggie took the pan off the heat, if the pancake burned it burned, something was up...
"Jazz? What's wrong?" She asked, moving around the kitchen island to rest a hand on his shoulder.
"Megatron's back."
They knew the name, it was that one they saw the head of laying on the floor while the rest of him was molten down into a puddle, it had been quite a light show.
"Oh… I was fairly certain he was… you know… dead?" Maggie tried, she wasn't really sure how to progress with this, Jazz hadn't told her much about the war, he wanted to keep her as far from it as possible, and she respected that wish.
"Kia took the helm… and practiced using the Allspark on it… And now he's apparently… Primus I'm going to translate this to English and just let you read it." He muttered, picking up the tablet, hitting a few keys before passing it to her, he got up then, and moved to the oven to move the pancake onto the plate for her, wanting to do something with his hands before the urge to smash something became any more inviting.
So Maggie took his seat, and started to read, Glen getting up to read over her shoulder while Jazz distracted himself by playing with Scitter, who was more than happy to play with his pappa's digits.
Jazz noted the little bitlit was starting to get bigger, his limited plating covering less… they'd have to find him something new to scan soon, but that would be something he'd have to address Ira about…
He stalled, frowned, and then made a decision. "Maggie, I'm going to Monaco."
Maggie jerked up from the tablet to look at him, and then quickly rose. "I'm going too. I know that tone Jazz."
Jazz cursed himself internally a little bit. "Maggie, ah ain't lettin' no Con Warlord know ah got a soft spot… ah can't risk that…"
Maggie tried not to scowl, she really did. "Soft spot? Is that what you see me as? Some chink in your armour?!"
Glen, realising where this was likely going, made as stealthy an exit as he could, and moved to crank up some music and drone them out via headphones, he was not getting between Maggie and Jazz's first spat.
Jazz seemed to realise he'd somewhat fucked up. "What no! Ah don' see you nothin' like that Maggie! Ah just don't want to see you gettin' hurt!"
Maggie huffed. "Jazz, read what Optimus sent you! You trust Optimus right?!"
"With my life!"
"Then why don't you trust his words that Megatron is safe?! It looks like some real heavy stuff has happened and he's gone straight now!"
"Maggie! Ah bot like Megatron don' just, go 'straight'! He's ah monster!"
"Optimus says they're giving him a chance! He's apparently the one who raised Aria and Wren!"
"That doesn' mean he's good! It explains why they're such-!"
"Such what?!"
Jazz threw his hands up over his head. "I don't know! I don't know slag an' ah don't want you caught in the cross fire if slag hits the fan!"
"Oh and you expect me to just sit pretty here and Rome and find out later if something bad happened?! No way! I am going with you!"
Jazz had her by shoulders then. "You ain't coming with me!"
"Why not?! I am not sitting back and letting you do this alone!"
"Because ah love you too much to lose you slaggit!"
Maggie was thrown off for all of a second before she nearly roared back. "And I love you too! And I refuse to just sit on the sidelines! We go together or you don't go at all!"
Primus he loved this woman, he really did.
He pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her in as tight of a hug as he would allow.
She hugged him back even tighter. "We're in this together, have been since the dam… I am not bowing out now, besides, he's just a bit bigger than a human now, you could probably punt him like a football if you wanted to."
He snorted into her shoulder at that, that was an image he wasn't getting out of his helm any time soon. "Yah right Maggie, you're right… How about this, you eat up, and then we head for Monaco…" He looked to Scitter. "Should we take the bitlit too?"
"He cries when one of us isn't in the same room as him, so… yeah… he'll stay tucked up in my ear." She looked to Scitter, who had somehow completely ignored their little spat and was now half way done with the tiny cube on the counter, more focused on eating than the rest of the world.
Jazz nodded, let her go so she could get back to the pancakes, and moved to take Glens vacated spot on the sofa to watch the news.
He wasn't 100% on this, he didn't want to risk her getting hurt, but he knew Maggie, she was tenacious, for pits sake Scitter sliced half her ear off and she loves the little bugger like her own flesh and blood. And she took the whole 'Alien robots in disguise' thing better than any of them expected.
The fact they've had to replace the bed twice was testament enough to that…
Monaco around the same time in the morning
Prowl was pacing.
Specifically he was pacing in the arrivals area of the Monaco Heliport.
He had his phone in hand, and was periodically turning it on and off to re-check the last text message Annie had sent him. 'Landed in Nice, getting to the helicopter now'. That was just over an hour ago.
He'd raced as fast as the local speed laws allowed him to get to the Heliport, and now he was just, waiting.
He was honestly surprised with himself he hadn't gotten lost in his haste.
Some of the other people standing around, likely waiting to pick up wealthy patrons to take to the casinos or hotels in the cities, side eyed him as he continued to pace back and forth, back and forth.
The arrival doors swung open and the voice of his beloved wife called out. "Prowl!"
He ignored the other people who flinched at how quickly his neck snapped around. "Annie!"
He rushed forwards and swept her up into his arms and spun once before setting her down and just, smushing his face into hers, not even bothering to try and line up his lips to hers, he just wanted to be as close as humanly possible.
Annie laughed, there was still a couple patches of guaze on her face and arms in places he knew to have the worst of the burns, but she looked way, way better than the last time he got to see her.
Once Annie had her feet back on the ground, she reached up and pushed his face to the side and down. "Prowl, meet Rafeal, or Raf for short."
The boy, no older than nine, with gravity defying hair, one he remembered vividly from the Esquival case, gave him a timid wave. "H-hi…"
Prowl moved one of his hands to take Annies, and pulled away from his wife enough to go to his knees to be the same level as the young boy. "Hiya Raf… so… I hear I'm you're new dad right? I want you to know, here and now, I don't expect you to jump right into calling me 'dad' or 'pop' or anything else, hell you can never see me as you're dad in anything but legal documents and I'll be just fine with that, we're gonna do all of this at you're pace now, as much as we can, sound good to you?"
Raf nodded, took two steps forwards and threw both his good and cast covered arms around Prowl's neck. "Thanks pa…"
Oh… oh there went Prowl's spark, he carefully wrapped his arms around the boy and pulled him closer. "I'm gonna be the best pa in the world for you, I promise, okay?"
Raf nodded into his shoulder.
Annie watched this all with a hand over her heart, the first meeting really couldn't have gone better… She rested her hand on Prowl's shoulder to get his attention. "I believe you're Pa's friends have a few rooms set aside for us, how about we get going so we don't end up being late."
Prowl perked up. "Right! Right! I'm parked right outside, c'mon. Up we go!" He made a show of grunting when he hefted Raf up so the boy could keep his hug going a bit longer, with both arms occupied, Annie hooked her arm with his, and they made their way out to the car park.
Once they had Raf buckled in in his back seat, and they'd pulled out into the morning rush hour traffic, Annie turned back to loom at Raf. "Okay, Raf, there's something that we need to tell you before we get to Prowl's friends place, I need you to keep an open mind okay?"
The boy nodded. "Sure ma, what's the thing?"
Annie smiled, such a well behaved boy. "We're part of a rather big secret… One we're gonna need you to keep with us now, okay?"
Raf nodded.
Annie glanced to Prowl, who took a breath and took over. "I'm… an Alien… Cybertronian to be exact… I came to Monaco to follow a lead that others of my kind were here… the lead was true… and now, you're gonna get to meet them all, okay?"
Raf was quiet for about a minute before he spoke. "I knew Aliens existed… this… this is so cool!" Suddenly there was a lot more energy in the boy and he threw his arms up and cheered. "My new pa is an alien! WOO!"
Annie threw her head back and laughed. They couldn't have hoped for a better reaction! "Ha! Alright Raf, but remember, this is a very big secret okay? Not many people know about it and we want to keep it that way, okay?"
Raf nodded, beamed, and then his stomach rumbled. "Umm… I'm hungry?"
Annie reached back to ruffle his hair. "Yeah, I am too hon, that was a long flight."
Prowl beamed. "I can safely say, you won't be hungry long kiddo, Aria's a mean cook, just point at your stomach and she'll have a five course dinner ready for you."
Raf perked up. "Does she do barbecue?"
Prowl beamed, and sent a com ahead asking Optimus to ask for him. "Just asking now."
Raf's eyes widened. "You have telepathy?"
Prowl chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, got a phone built into my head. Close though."
"Wicked…" Raf mumbled.
A few moments later Optimus sent a reply of 'Given she's pulled on an apron that read's 'kiss the cook' and what I have been informed is a 'raclette' was just carried out to the fire pit on the back patio, I'd say yes, Aria can cook barbecue, and already is… she just yelled at me to call everyone to invite them… Kia has just informed me that Barricade and Frenzy will be joining us as well… are you alright with that?'
He didn't mind honestly, so long as they weren't a danger to his family, he was fine, he sent as much back to Optimus before turning back to Raf and beaming. "We've got a yes on the barbecue Raf!"
Raf cheered again from the back seat. "Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hot dogs!"
Annie laughed and joined in the chant. "Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hot dogs!"
'Tell Aria she's got orders for hot dogs.'
'Hot… what?!'
'Just tell her, Raf and Annie want hot dogs, she's human, she'll understand.'
'Very... well…"'
Prowl focused back on the traffic, and let Annie and Raf have their bonding moment.
Today had barely started, and he was loving it.
"Hey, pa?"
"Yeah kiddo?"
"What do you look like really?"
Prowl chuckled. "Well I happen to look like a nice black Mercedes."
Raf looked around the car he was currently sitting in, his eyes going wide. "Woah… alien car… I'm in an alien car…"
Annie chuckled. "Nah hon, you're in a giant alien robot who can turn into a car."
Raf's expression shifted to what one would see on a child who'd just found a mountain of presents they wanted on their birthday, jaw dropped yet smiling wide enough that it probably hurt.
"Really?!"
"Ha! Yes really! Just like the rest of his friends!"
Prowl beamed, Raf really was taking this well.
This time it was Annie's stomach that rumbled, he glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, she just chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. "Airplane food ain't the best."
Prowl just chuckled and shook his helm, they were through the worst of the traffic now, and were heading up into the hills leading to the manor. "Twenty minutes and you'll be stuffing you're faces with some of the best food you've ever tasted… don't tell Narisa or Molly I said that. They'd skin me alive."
Raf and Annie alike made a motion of zipping their mouths shut and tossing the key.
God he loved his family.
Can you tell that I love writing Prowl, Annie and Raf? They're a wonderful palate cleanser for all the drama.
Thanks so much for reading!
Moon.
