Jamie is over the flu by the twenty-fourth. Everybot and a few humans want to do something while Jamie is here, since she won't be back until after Christmas day.
The three toddlers are happy to be getting Christmas-themed pancakes. To everyone's surprise, Cogman is making Christmas pancakes for the toddlers and regular round pancakes for everyone else. He knows how humans love bacon and makes quite a large amount. Many in the dining room question how long has Cogman been cooking? Surely he's prepared with food warmers to keep everything hot.
Drift likes how much Jamie wants to eat even though it's nine in the morning.
Since Jamie doesn't like Christmas movies, everyone has a snowball war. Some have expressed concern that Jamie will disappear again.
"There's no way to be sure," Optimus points out, "she can use that power while in the house."
"She was showing guilt before she got sick," Drift tells the worried Autobots and soldiers, "we know that doesn't mean she won't try again as with us Cybertronians."
"There's no way to keep her 100% safe, but she won't be bothered as Drift, and I try to keep her with us on our team," Crosshairs adds.
Lightning and the terror twins insist on being on the same team as Jamie and her guardians. Lily doesn't care who's team she's on as long as she's with Sunstreaker.
Three teams of fifteen require planning. Eventually, everyone decides to have players from each team fight. The game will work like dodgeball, though catching a snowball is hard. A few Autobots demanded Jamie not be allowed to use her waterbending power.
The three toddlers are not pleased they can't play, but like where they'll be watching the game.
Drift can carry Jamie the entire time. No one argues about if both are out of Jamie is hit with a snowball or not. Everyone is happy she's not questioning the rule-bending.
The two-hour game ends with Ironhide's team winning and Jamie needing a nap.
"This isn't just because she was up at nine in the morning, is it?" Sunstreaker asks Ratchet.
"No," he sighs, "I don't know what is going through her mind that fun isn't distracting her."
"I don't like this. Not even Jamie's guardians can make her happy," Sunstreaker sighs, wishing he could tell Ratchet part of the issue.
Sunstreaker sees Crosshairs and Drift packing up while Jamie is asleep. He doesn't know what to say, not like going with them will help Jamie. He leaves the room, hoping there's not too much scrap when Jamie goes home.
It tempts both Crosshairs and Drift to argue with Jamie's family that she was invited to a Christmas party. It wouldn't be a lie, but they know Jamie wouldn't relax if her family was understanding.
"More I think about it, the more I see why she wrote the last part of that note," Drift sighs, "and from what I've heard Jamie tell her mom, I fear that's how most humans think about disabled people."
Crosshairs doesn't know what to say. He feels the same way, and this is not an easy problem to fix.
"Can I come?" Lightning asks.
The two mechs always dread telling her no. Crosshairs hates telling her no after Lightning told him she feels like he's keeping her out of the loop. The two know she's worried about Jamie, but she hasn't met Jamie's family yet, and they'd rather not have her come as an unexpected guest at Christmas.
Jamie and her guardians go to her dimension just before dinner. They know Jamie's niece and nephew would be over with their dad, Jamie's older brother. The kids are happy to see the three of them. Though Jamie's nephew quickly protests eating dinner. Her two guardians want to help, especially while seeing the toddler's father struggle, but also think they'd be told not to bother.
It's seven at night when Jamie's older brother decides it's time for the cranky toddler to go to bed.
Jamie's niece sees Jamie sitting on Drift's lap, leaning on his chest, and Crosshairs next to him on the couch.
"Are you her boyfriend?" The little girl asks Drift.
Crosshairs immediately starts laughing, hearing even the young girl gets it. The three of them avoid having to explain anything as the girl goes to get a board game.
"How long before she claims you're cheating?" Crosshairs asks Jamie.
"Depending on if I win first," Jamie replies.
"At least she doesn't ask you that question every time we're here," Crosshairs whispers to Drift.
Crosshairs and Drift stay in the living room, hearing the toddler happy, thinking she'll win every game. Since it's Candy Land meant for young children, everyone knows several rounds will be played. They try not to laugh, hearing the girl's reaction to Jamie winning. The typical young child still learning about winning and losing. They watch Jamie take a picture though the girl moves, resulting in a funny picture.
The two mechs couldn't believe how long the three femmes played Candy Land while enjoying Christmas cookies or how suddenly Jamie said each little gingerbread marker was a different Autobot. Crosshairs tries not to laugh as he hears Jamie's mom call the yellow piece Bumblebutt.
"Oh, he's going to like this," Crosshairs whispers, smiling.
"Good luck explaining how you heard that name as he rages at you," Drift replies.
It's nearly eleven at night when Jamie's mom decides it's time for bed. The young girl doesn't want to stop playing, and even pointing out how she needs to go to bed for Santa to come isn't working. The two mechs watch Jamie position the wine class by the cookies and take a picture.
"Santa has a new snack," she comments.
"No, he has milk," her niece argued and puts the glass of milk back by the plate.
The two mechs figured Jamie wouldn't be looking to go to bed right now, but hope she doesn't stay up all night, knowing that her niece would be up early. Drift tries to hide his disappointment that, while he got something Jamie will love, he can give her what she wants. No matter how much he tells himself it's not a good time, he hates he can't make Jamie happy.