In which Alison meets her worst enemy, has a mistletoe kiss, and gets a great Christmas present.
The rest of the week and the two following went fairly quietly, as far as Decepticons and drama were concerned. However, the holidays were approaching, and that meant the holiday atmosphere was palpable, both in Tranquility and at base
At Optimus's insistence, the whole base was decorated, not just for Christmas, but the other holidays that COTA members celebrated. Multi-colored strands of light alternated with blue and white on the buildings, and a large menorah was set up alongside the twenty-foot tree in HQ, while a lawn nativity was set up outside one of the barracks. There had also been a Santa and reindeer, but Skids and Mudflap had gotten into a spat and accidentally destroyed it.
Ella managed to arrange a shopping trip to a nearby mall for the bots to get presents for each other and any humans they wished. Sarah, Monique and Lizzie also used this opportunity to get their own shopping done, as well as fulfill the children's wishes to visit the mall Santa. Ella, Will, Miles, Mikaela, myself and a few other soldiers went along to help guide the 'Bots. Besides a minor commotion when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker tried to prank the mall Santa by sitting in his lap after helping the moms escort the kids to him, the trip went smoothly and successfully.
As break came closer and closer, I found myself getting more excited about having everyone I cared about in the same place for the holidays. Mom and Dad would be joining me and Mikaela in spending the whole break at base, while Miles would stay until the Christmas party, then he'd head home to spend the Day with his parents. Barricade had even been invited to join the festivities, but he declined, saying he didn't want to hang around all the bots, so he would be staying in Smithville.
It was a merry little convoy that pulled into base the Friday before Christmas, Bumblebee carrying Miles and my parents while I rode with Arcee and Mikaela. Optimus met us just inside the gate. "Hey, Optimus," I called up to him, trying to dismount Arcee without my legs giving out on me while Bee's passengers disembarked.
"Hello, Alison, Mikaela, Miles, Ron and Judy," Optimus said to us. "I had been hoping to have a quick word with you, Alison."
I looked to Mom and Dad but she waved me off. "Oh, go on and be a big girl. Bumblebee and Miles can make sure we're taken care of, right?" She looked to the two of them.
Bumblebee blinked on his holoavatar with a grin. "Right this way, Judy." He started leading them towards the barracks, his alt mode following behind with the luggage.
"Bellboy again. I feel like I should have a hat or something," Miles joked, following after.
"Arcee and I are gonna check in with Ratchet about our project," Mikaela said, not moving from her seat on Arcee's alt.
"You finally gonna tell me what you're working on?" I asked. She'd been keeping it top secret aside from the fact she was working on it for almost three weeks now, and not even my best pleading, kisses or tickle torture could pull it from her.
"Nope." She smiled and leaned over to give me kiss on the cheek. "See you later." She and Arcee rolled away, and I couldn't help watching after them.
"I believe Cupid has shot you in the face," Optimus said, kneeling down and offering a servo to me.
"How'd I get so lucky?" I asked half-rhetorically as I climbed up to his shoulder.
"A question with no true answer, only gratefulness at the fact we are." Once I was settled, Optimus started walking towards HQ, taking a leisurely pace and the back way.
"So, what'd you want to talk about?" I asked.
"A few things. Firstly, we had an unexpected change to the guest list for the Christmas party."
"Oh? Is the President coming after all?" Since the party was partially a way to show the 'Bots interacting positively with humans, invitations had been sent out to people besides those on base. Confirmed, we had General Moreshower, Sec Def Keller, Maggie, Glen and the two aides from the negotiations, Vincints and Cummings, set to come. Out of courtesy, the President was extended an invitation, but none of us were surprised when he declined it.
"No. He did, however, ask if he could pass his invitation to our new presidential liaison instead."
"He's giving us a liaison? I thought Keller was taking care of that for us."
"He was, but apparently your leadership wants a liaison whose sole responsibility is to communicate between us and them, as well as one who has an unbiased opinion of us."
"Unbiased? As in not eternally grateful that we saved the world?" That sounded a bit odd to me, but I shrugged it off. "Well, it shouldn't be so bad. We just have to wow him at the party and we'll be set."
"Then we'll do our best that the party goes well." Optimus smiled and glanced at me from the corner of his optic.
"What's the second thing?"
"Wheeljack has devised a series of tests he would like to use to determine the strength and range of your abilities from the AllSpark. He wishes to test you sometime before you return to school."
"It'd be nice to know my limits," I said. "That works for me, he just needs to let me know when."
We caught each other up on our weeks, then he dropped me off at my office so I could get a little work done before dinner. Afterwards, I spent most of it with my parents and the Base Brats, as the Epps and Meghan were called, visiting the hatchlings in the Nursery.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were on sitter duty when we got there, the yellow lamborghini sitting on the boxcar brought in for a bench while Sides was buried under a dogpile of hatchlings. "Hey, AllSpark!" he called out. "Chitters, look who it is."
The hatchlings all looked up, then charged towards us. Mom and Dad jumped back a few steps, but I just smiled and raised my arms as Escapade came in for his hug (he always was first, even if the others got to me first). "Hi Momma," he said, his English having gotten much better in the months since he and the others were found.
"Hey, big boy," I said, hugging him back.
"Momma?" Dad asked, and I had to laugh when I looked back and saw the bafflement on his face.
"Well, The AllSpark and I created them, but having them say 'Creator' everytime they see me is a bit of a mouthful," I explained, leaving out the bit of how it also made me a little uncomfortable, creator still connecting to earth robot or occasionally the geth and quarians in my head. Escapade put me down and Rascal lunged at me off his brother's shoulder, keeping most of his edges in so my clothes didn't get nicked. "Hey, Rascal, you causing trouble?"
"No," the steering wheel said.
"Don't believe him, he's a little liar," Sides said,
"What, this cutie, a liar? Never." I looked down as Rascal pushed out of my arms and went over to Mom and Dad.
"Is Rascal his name?" Mom asked, kneeling and holding a hand out to the hatchling. He looked at it, then latched himself around her bracelet. For her part, Mom didn't flinch, which made me extremely happy.
"Yup. Big boy here is Escapade then-" I was momentarily cut off as Dispensor scooped me up for his hug. "Whoa! This is Dispensor."
"And this is X-Cat!" Shaleeka held up the little X-Box, who had her motor purring like her namesake. "She likes me the best, it was like she instantly wanted to be my friend when we met."
"Rascal's my friend," Meghan said, kneeling next to Mom and carefully prying him from off her arm. He in turn swung around her to latch onto her back like a weird backpack, one of his legs reaching up to try and free her hair from it's braid. "He's always up for adventure, and likes my hair."
"And that's why they have babysitters," Sunstreaker said, finally turning to look at us. "Hello, Alison."
"Hi, Sunstreaker. You and Sides have any luck in the poker games today?"
"Well I just won almost a hundred thousand dollars, so I say yes." He nodded to Ron and Judy. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky."
"Oh, don't be so formal, call us Ron and Judy," Mom said. "We hear so much of you all from Alison, you're all practically family."
"Aww, we didn't know you cared, Alison," Sideswipe said, sitting up and crossing his legs.
"I always care, even when you're being pains in the aft," I said.
"Ron, are you going to say something?" Mom asked, and I saw Dad was still frozen in place, just looking around with that same look on his face.
He shook his head. "Sorry, it's still a bit of a shock, you know. One thing to hear about it, another to actually see it." He smiled. "Well, it's not how I expected to get grandkids, but at least I have some for certain."
"Not how I expected it either, Dad," I said, smiling back. "But I wouldn't change a thing of it."
The next few days passed fairly quickly, with me following my usual routine, adding time spent with Mom and Dad to it. Almost before I knew it, it was the Christmas Eve, and Mikaela and I were assisting the moms in getting the Base Brats dressed for the party.
"No, Aunt Sarah, the halo needs to sit up like this," Shareeka said, tilting the gold halo to stick almost completely straight off the back of her head. She and her sisters all wore white dresses and had similar halos, for they were to be the angels for the Nativity play.
Sarah smiled, though she kept her voice serious as she adjusted the halo. "Of course, Shareeka." She wore a long blue dress, cause she was going to play Mary, with Will playing Joseph and Annabelle as their stand-in baby Jesus. Fred, who I had just finished getting shoes on, Epps and a few of the other soldiers were going to take the roles of the wise men and the shepherds, while our base chaplain would read the Nativity story.
Mozambiqua, getting her hair fixed by her mom, looked over at Mikaela and I and said, "You need halos too!"
Mikaela and I looked at each other. We'd decided to match for the party and were both wearing knee length dresses with light Christmas sweaters over top, tights, and black heels. Mikaela 's dress was red, with a white sweater featuring a snowman in a Santa hat and white tights, while I had a green dress with a red sweater featuring a kitten peeking out of a gift box and red tights.
"I don't think we have any more halos," I said, but Mikaela looked thoughtful.
"No, but hold on." She turned and looked in a basket of hair accessories, stepping back with four long gold ribbons in hand. "We can braid these into crowns, will that work, Mozambiqua?"
The five year old nodded with a grin. "Now we're all angels."
"No argument there, 'Biqua," I said, pressing a quick kiss to Mikaela's cheek. We helped each other braid the ribbons into our hair, and by the time we finished, the girls were as well and Chromia popped her holoavatar into the room.
"Are you femmes coming, or are we waiting for the timing to be fashionably late?" Chromia's holo was a Latina woman with the usual Autobot blue eyes and curly dark brown hair, which was usually pulled in a bun, but she had it in a braid tonight. Her usual outfit was a blue leather jacket over a silver t-shirt with black cargo pants and boots, but tonight the 'Bots came up with a 'uniform' for the party consisting of jeans, boots and a holiday sweater of some kind. Chromia's was blue, with a crossed set of rifles and and the text "All I want for Christmas is another gun."
"Just finishing up, Chromia," Lizzie said, brushing a bit of lint off Meghan's dress before the girl went to hug the femme.
"What's the ETA of Keller and Moreshower?" I asked.
"Fifteen minutes. Enough time you can drop the angels off before meeting them."
"Well, no use standing around," Monique said, picking up Mozambiqua and leading the way out of the house.
We took the Bus and Chromia over to HQ, where we were holding the party so as to not exclude anyone, even the skeleton crew at the monitor station. Most of the day had been spent setting up by bringing chairs and tables over from the mess and recreation halls, as well as some games and the small nativity set. Optimus was waiting by the doors for us, or more specifically, me. The kids immediately ran to join Coppertone and the hatchlings in the game corner. The moms went to find their husbands or friends, and Mikaela went to find Miles and Bee after pressing a kiss on my cheek.
"So, ready for your first Christmas with the family?" I asked Optimus, smiling.
"I believe I am," Optimus said. His sweater was bright red, with a green tree surrounded by presents and the words "Merry Christmas" in cursive, with actual lights on the tree and in the letters. On someone else, it would seem tacky, but on Optimus, it worked. "Everyone is excited for the party to start."
"If that's one thing Christmas does, it gets people excited." I looked into the HQ, and the crowd of people inside. "I just hope nothing goes wrong tonight."
"I think you worry too much sometimes." Optimus placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked back at him. "This party is as much for you as it is for anyone else, so relax and enjoy yourself."
Before I could respond, we heard the sound of a plane coming in and we turned to watch it. "Let's meet the new liaison, then I'll do just that," I told him.
It wasn't long before a jet came in for a landing on the tarmac. It taxied to us, then a set of stairs was attached to the side and our guests stepped out. Maggie, Glen, Moreshower, Keller, and… No. That could not be who I thought it was, smoothing out his suit as he walked down the stairs and towards us.
"Secretary Keller, General Moreshower," Optimus said, walking out to meet them. I followed a step behind, not letting my inner thoughts bleed into my body language. Maggie, Glen and the aides smiled and nodded to us as they walked past. "Thank you for coming, It's an honor to have you here tonight."
"Thank you for inviting us," Keller said, shaking the hand Optimus offered. "Our president sends his apologies that he could not make it himself."
"We understand," I said, shaking Moreshower's hand as he offered it. "He's a busy man, I'm sure he's taking the time he has to be with his family."
"Which is why he asked I come in his stead," the third man said, slightly pushing Moreshower out of his way as he came up to me. My heart dropped to my shoes. One look at his styled thinning hair and his narrow rimmed circular glasses, and he didn't even have to open his mouth for me to know exactly who he was. "Theodore Galloway, Presidential Liaison to COTA."
"Welcome, Mr. Galloway," I said, using all my ability to keep my face from showing the background racing of my mind as I extended a hand to him. "I hope we will work well together."
"I'm sure we will," he said. His handshake was just the slightest bit too tight, and even though both our hands were dry, it still felt almost slimy, though that might have just been my imagination. He did not offer one to Optimus when he turned to face him. "I hope that we can soon have a formal meeting to discuss business. The President has much interest in what COTA plans to do in the near future."
Optimus nodded. "We were thinking of that ourselves. Perhaps on the second day of the new year?"
"That seems a fair day to me," I said, and I think I could see why Optimus chose that day. It was the day we'd decided to let Wheeljack test my AllSpark abilities, and letting Galloway, Moreshower, and Keller see them would be a sign of faith between us.
"We'll make the arrangements," Moreshower said. "But let's not talk shop all night. It's Christmas, and there's a party to be getting to."
"Right this way, gentlemen," Optimus said, leading the way into HQ.
Now that our guests had arrived, everyone who was attending the party was inside the building. The 'Bots had their bodies sitting in a corner of HQ near OP's office, but most of them were using their holoavatars to mingle, though I did notice Jazz had a couple brave souls sitting on his knees as he and Prowl talked with them. The hatchlings and the kids were playing under the watchful eye of Coppertone, who had taken it upon herself to be the babysitter so their parents could mingle, and I could just spot Mikaela and Miles talking with Bee and Arcee's holos as Optimus, the feds and I went onto the scaffolding by the 'Bots' console. A large confetti popper and a microphone had been set up by the edge of the catwalk, and I could see some people looking up at us.
"Time to start the party," I said, half to myself, before turning the microphone on and tapping my finger against it three times to get everyone's attention. "Good evening, everyone, and welcome to COTA's first annual Christmas party," I said, looking out at everyone on the floor below. "Now, I know you all are probably eager to enjoy the party, so I'll make this brief. Firstly, I would like to introduce Theodore Galloway, our new presidential liaison, and welcome him to COTA." Despite how much I want to send him back to DC in a bag and never let him return, I thought to myself as everyone clapped for Galloway. "Secondly, I want to thank everyone who helped set up for tonight. A lot of work went into this on top of everyone's other duties, and you did a fantastic job. In case you don't know where the tables are, food and drinks are in the northwestern corner of the hanger. Games to play are in the southwest corner, near the stage, and there should be plenty of other seating around the hanger. The white elephant gift exchange will begin at seven o'clock for those who are participating, and our Nativity play will be at eight o'clock, which I for one, am looking forward to." I smiled and picked up the large confetti popper. "Lastly, I want to tell everyone to have fun, and merry Christmas!" I pulled the popper and confetti shot out with a bang to accompany the cheer and applause my speech earned.
I turned back to Optimus, Keller, Morwshower and Galloway, and I couldn't help but hold myself a little straighter at the look of pride on Optimus's face. "That was good, Alison."
"You seem to have gotten your people behind you, if that response is any indication," Keller added.
"I hope that's the case, sir," I said, turning slightly to looked at the people below. "Any group is only as good as its members, and COTA's no exception."
"They're good people," Moreshower said. "I just hope they'll be just as enthusiastic after their first encounter with the Decepticons."
"We've been training, and they won't face them alone," Optimus said. "But, as you said, let's not talk shop. Let us celebrate the peace we have now while we can."
We headed down from the scaffolding, and I stayed in their group for a half hour, asking about the men's families. Keller was married with two daughters and three young grandkids, while Moreshower was married with two sons, two stepdaughters, and six grandkids. Galloway was single (shocker there), but had plans to visit his parents for the Day. Mikaela eventually wandered over and the two of us made our excuses to leave them.
"Thank you," I whispered as we walked away. "If I had to make nice with that man any longer, I might crack."
"Who, Galloway?" Mikaela asked. "You know him?"
"From before the Jump. He was a security advisor to the president, and somehow got himself put in charge of NEST and basically caused the plot of the second movie to kick off. Thing is, he wasn't supposed to get involved until September 2009. I didn't even know he was in this government, I didn't think he'd show up 'til at least the election."
"Hmm. Well, COTA is different than NEST. He's just a liaison though, so he shouldn't be too much trouble."
"Don't underestimate him." I vaguely remembered the movie comics, he could cause trouble if he really tried, and he really didn't like the 'Bots. Okay, the one set had him die trying to convince Shockwave to leave, but that was idiocy, not bravery. I shook my head to clear it. "Let's worry about him later, I want to enjoy my night."
"Agreed," Mikaela said.
We reached where Bee (wearing an almost obnoxiously yellow sweater with a dancing reindeer), Miles (in a not nearly as obnoxious light blue with snowmen) and Arcee (in a magenta one with Santa's sleigh) were waiting. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had also joined them. The twins' holos were both Japanese in appearance, with short black hair and dark blue eyes. The main physical difference between the pair was the streaks of color in their bangs that matched their paintjobs, and that Sunstreaker's hair was meticulously styled to sweep back from his face, while Sideswipe's was wild, like he'd only finger-combed through it a couple of times. Like the rest of the 'Bots, they had Christmas sweaters matching their colors, though Sunstreaker's was nowhere near ugly, as could be expected of the fancy 'Bot.
Bee gave me a hug as I came over. "Good speech," he told me as he pulled back, his hand going to my shoulder.
I smiled at her and put my hand over his. "Thanks, Bee."
"Oh yes, such a good speech," Sunstreaker said, his face still as if he was bored.
"It was dumb!" Sideswipe suddenly crowed, and I had to admit I shrank a little inside.
"It was obvious."
"It was pointless."
"It was short."
The twins looked at each other, then Sideswipe grinned while Sunstreaker smirked. "We loved it!" they said together.
I gave a bark of a laugh as I realized what they'd done. "Who let you watch Muppet Christmas Carol without me? That's my favorite holiday movie."
"Sarah and the kids put it on for movie night a couple weeks ago," Sideswipe said. "We ended up watching every version of the story put to film."
"He insisted," Sunstreaker said. "I wanted to watch some of the more interesting films, like Miracle on 34th Street."
"Original or remake?" Mikaela asked.
"Original, of course."
We started talking about the different Christmas movies we'd seen and loved, until I realized my throat was getting dry. "I'm gonna grab a drink, you want anything, Mikaela?"
"Peppermint hot chocolate, please," she said.
"Could you grab me one too, Alison?" Miles asked.
"Sure thing." I kissed Mikaela's cheek and started moving through the crowd to the refreshment tables. As I passed by one group of people, I bumped into someone's back and turned to apologize. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright. No harm done." The woman turned and for a moment, I thought I was face to face with a missing woman, before my brain caught up and realized it was Asami. She looked a dead ringer for her mother in the photo I'd found.
She was wearing a burgundy and black sweater dress with tights and boots. Her hair was loose for once and hung down in slight waves to her mid back, just a jeweled clip holding it back from her face which was made up with simple but very pretty makeup. Silver earrings hung from her ears, the same style her mother had worn in her photo.
I must have stared for a moment because Asami looked momentarily concerned. "You alright, Alison?"
"Oh yeah, sorry. You look really nice."
"Thank you. You look…." She paused a moment, eyeing my sweater, before smiling and completing her sentence. "Festive."
I smiled back, a hand reaching up to finger the collar. "Yeah, holiday tradition. Gotta keep them going, you know." I glanced over at the refreshment tables. "I was heading to grab some drinks, you wanna join me?"
"Sure. I need a refill myself." She turned her head and excused herself from the people she had been conversing with, before the two of us headed to the tables.
"So, did S7 ever have parties like this?" I asked her.
"Beta Base at the dam always had a pretty large one, but with a lot of agents out in the field, it was mostly small parties the teams held themselves. Though they did try to let those of us with families celebrate together. Dad and I always found some way to spend Christmas Day together, even if it was just through a video call."
"Oh. What will you do this year?"
Asami shrugged . "Probably not much. I got some gifts to open from some of my colleagues, and I passed a few back to them, but that's about it for plans."
I nodded with understanding. It did hurt a bit for me to think about how I wouldn't be able to see my old family for the holidays, but I shoved it down, cause I had a new family to celebrate with.
"What about you? What traditions do you have for the holidays?" she asked me.
I ended up telling her about several holiday traditions I remembered as we both got drinks (hot chocolates with various flavored creamers added) and some snacks, both from my old and new lives. How I had always been forbidden from waking my parents before seven am Christmas morning. About the one present opened before bed Christmas Eve that almost always was a pair of pjs. The one year we spent the holiday at Uncle Sparkplug's farm and Spike and Sam had "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" reenacted in their living room.
"Speaking of mistletoe, I'd keep an eye out," Asami said after the last story. "Jacobs and Altheimer got a pair of RC helicopters, tied a bunch of mistletoe on the skids, and are planning on flying them around the party to see who they can catch. They roped a couple others into taking pictures as well."
I had to laugh at that, piling some brownies onto a small plate. "That sounds like fun, though I hope they're prepared for what happens if any of the 'Bots get caught under it." I cast a glance at Ironhide and Chromia, who were sitting close to each other as they talked with some soldiers.
"They can't be that bad," Asami said. "At least, not any worse than this one couple I knew." She leaned towards me in a conspiratorial whisper. "They could barely keep their hands off each other if they were in the same room for more than ten minutes and that was while they were on duty. Drove my superior nuts."
Before I could reply with more than a laugh, Elita popped out of the crowd behind us. As a holo, Elita was tall with classical features and a figure to die for, bright pink hair styled into a bob around her head and blue eyes. Her sweater was pink cashmere with embroidered jingle bells and ribbons on the front. "There you are, Alison," she said. "Mikaela asked me to find where you went."
I blinked, then looked down at the drinks and plate I was holding. "Crap, I forgot. Now I feel like a terrible girlfriend."
"It's my fault for distracting you," Asami apologized. "I better let you get back before you fall further out of her graces." She started turning to walk away, but Elita placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Actually, Arcee mentioned she's been wanting to talk with you. I think it's about some of the fighting techniques you're teaching Alison." Elita put her arms over both our shoulders and started walking us back to the group, giving us nothing to do except go with it. Asami simply shook her head with a small smile.
I gave Mikaela her hot chocolate when we reached the group (which had grown to include Elita, Jolt and two soldiers I was not familiar with) and grovelled for her forgiveness. She accepted it, in exchange for half the brownies on the plate, and a promise of retribution later. As the party went on, our group moved and grew and shrank as people came and went, the biggest drop being when the white elephant exchange started. The only ones who stayed the whole time were Asami, Arcee, and Elita.
About fifteen minutes after the white elephant began, Mikaela suddenly leaned over and kissed my cheek. As I turned to face her, I caught a glimpse of something over our heads. I looked up to see one of the mistletoe helicopters and smiled before pulling Mikaela to me. One hand came up to cradle her face while the other I wrapped around her waist. She settled her hands on my hips, and leaned into the kiss. I just enjoyed how we fit together as I savored her taste; spearmint from her toothpaste, peppermint and chocolate from our drinks and just her own Mikaela flavor.
A flash of light caught the corner of my eye and when we ended the kiss, it was none other than Epps standing there with a camera to capture the kiss. "I want copies," was all I said as Mikaela and I parted, though keeping our arms around each other's waists.
"You'll get them, don't worry," Epps said, adjusting the terry cloth bathrobe he wore for his shepherd costume. "Heck, you'll probably get them for free. Jacobs is charging everyone else five bucks for copies."
"Would Optimus and I have to pay that fee?" Elita asked and Arcee rolled her eyes.
"Any excuse to jump Optimus's struts, I swear." The brunette elbowed her sister.
"It's taking part in a long established human tradition," Elita protested.
"Uh-huh."
"I think for you, the fee would be waived," Epps said. "Jacobs and Altheimer are up on the communications catwalk if you wanna ask 'em." He gestured and we could see the man and woman with controllers in hand.
"I believe I shall do that." Elita's holo flickered out and reappeared next to the pilots, who must have been getting used to the holos popping up as neither jumped when she did. I glanced up at her, then at her and Optimus's root modes sitting still in the 'Bots' lounge, then at the midpoint landing of the nearest catwalk.
"We gotta see this," I said, and took off for the stairs. Mikaela, Miles, Bee, Arcee, Asami and Epps all followed behind me, and we reached the landing just as Elita stood from her seat. When both mistletoe helicopters came over her and Optimus, she bent down and kissed him. Even from where we were, we could see and hear the sudden boot up of his systems as his consciousness returned to his root mode. Elita straightened and took a step back, starting to turn away with the hint of a smirk on her face. Optimus had none of that though, capturing her wrist in a servo as he stood and pulling her to him. His arms went around her back and his lipplates crashed against hers as he bent her back into a dip. Her own servos went to hold the back of his helm as she lifted a leg to better press herself against him, half wrapping it around his own.
For a moment, all was quiet except for the rev of their engines. Then someone shouted, "Now that's what I call a kiss!" and the whole HQ erupted into cheers, hoots and hollers.
"Well, they sure know how to put on a show," Mikaela commented.
"You should have seen them pre-war," Arcee said. "They were like freaking love sick teenagers, all sappy poetry and longing gazes and taking any excuse to sneak off for a rendezvous."
"I can imagine," Asami said next to me with a wistful smile.
"Think someone should dump water on them to break them apart?" Miles asked, as Optimus and Elita's kiss stretched on.
"It'd just turn to steam, how hot they're running," Bee said.
Optimus and Elita did end the kiss, after a few minutes, then Operation Mistletoe turned its attention to the other Autobots. Chromia settled herself on Ironhide's lap and dragged him to her for a kiss that rivaled the commanders. Jazz looked towards Prowl as the helicopters flew over them, and almost bounced when Prowl leaned down to give him a short kiss. After Ratchet and Wheeljack, whose kiss was short but sweet, none of the other 'Bots reacted to the plant, so the 'copters flew back to their pilots. Shortly after, Father Christopher, the base chaplain, announced the Nativity play would be starting soon. The play went well, the children and soldiers acting out their parts with the solemnity that befitted it, and hearing COTA and the 'Bots singing "Silent Night" was beautiful.
After the play, the kids and the hatchlings were sent off to bed (or else Santa wouldn't come), and the party itself started winding down. At nine thirty, Optimus gave a short speech thanking everyone for helping the 'Bots celebrate the holiday, and shortly after, Keller, Moreshower, Galloway, Maggie, Glen and the aides left to return to DC. Miles left to head home around the same time, Coppertone acting as his escort, and other COTA members started filtering back to the barracks, some to sleep, some to continue the party in their own way. By eleven thirty, the only ones still in HQ (besides the skeleton crew at the monitors) were the 'Bots, Mikaela, Will and Sarah, Ella, my parents, and myself. Simmons and Lindsey would have joined us, but the former had been dragged off by a few of the former S7s to have some drinks, and Lindsey left to video call his wife back home.
"I'd say the party was a resounding success," Ella said, a glass of scotch in her hand. We were sitting by the Christmas tree, with the 'Bots sitting on the floor to join us. The adults all had some scotch, broken out by Ella, while Mikaela and I stuck with hot chocolate. The 'Bots all had barrels of high quality oils, the closest we could get to high grade for the moment.
"I have to say I agree, Ella," Optimus said, his arm wrapped around Elita, who was cuddled against his front.
"The kids had fun," Sarah said. "And the general and Sec Def seemed to enjoy themselves."
"What about Galloway?" I asked. I had only seen him at the beginning and end of the party, and couldn't quite tell what he might have been thinking.
"He was mostly quiet," Optimus said. "Spent most of his time talking with several of the soldiers, likely to get more information for his first report."
"We talked for a little bit," Dad said. "He seemed a little squirrelly, but is very enthusiastic about his job."
"He mentioned wanting to learn everything and anything about and from our visitors," Mom said, rosy cheeked, and gave a too loud laugh. "After seeing Optimus and Elita's kiss, he then said 'Maybe not everything'."
"What, he can't wrap his processor around the idea we can love like any human?" Chromia asked.
"It's probably more the physical display of that love," I said. "But it could have been much worse."
"Let's not worry about Galloway now," Will said, looking to the tree, specifically a sack that had been placed there that morning. "I think it's time we open the first gifts while it's still Christmas Eve."
"Presents!" Mom said, making to stand, but wobbled and dropped right back down in her seat.
"Don't worry, Judy," Bee said, his holo blinking over to the tree and pulling the sack out. "We got this."
We'd all chosen the gift we wanted to open earlier, so it was simply a matter of handing them out, which was handled by Bee, Skids and Mudflap. Ella had received a silver and quartz necklace from an old friend she just smiled about when asked. Will got a set of military history dvds and Sarah a book she'd been wanting to read, both from Ironhide. My parents opened gifts from each other, a new set of landscaping tools for Dad and a box set of the "Barefoot Contessa" cooking show for Mom. Mikaela had decided to open her gift from me, and was happy to see a new set of tools personalized for her (Ratchet helped me with what she needed and I already knew red was her favorite color).
When it was my turn to open my gift, I was surprised by the flat, rather heavy rectangle I was handed. "I thought I chose the box wrapped in holly paper."
"We switched it," Bee said. "Everyone wanted to see your reaction to this gift."
I raised a brow, but tore open the wrapping, revealing a datapad as the gift. An unusual one, as the outer shell was colored pink and white. "A datapad. Thanks guys. This'll be a lot easier to carry around than my laptop."
"The real gift is what's stored on that datapad," Ratchet said, the hintings of a smile on his lipplates. "The password's 'phoenix'."
My brow rose again, but I activated the pad and typed in the password. The first file on the pad showed a double picture of myself, one of myself in civies, the other in an armor that looked scarily similar to the one my Shepard wore in- wait a minute!
My face must have lit up cause Ratchet and Wheeljack started smiling. "It's still in development," the inventor said. "It's been a little tricky creating the material for the armor plates and we need to test your abilities so we know what we need to add to it. Of course you have final say on the colors and aesthetic design."
Mikaela leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Merry Christmas, Alison."
I turned to face her. "This was the secret project you were working on?"
She nodded. "You commented while playing a few weeks ago you would love an armor like Shepard's, so I figured 'why not?'."
"It will also be invaluable for when you wish to accompany us in the field," Optimus said.
I looked around at all of them, then focused on Wheeljack and Ratchet. "Get your holos over here, I need to hug you both."
Ratchet laughed as he and Wheeljack complied, then Optimus blinked his holo to me and I hugged him too. Lastly, I turned to Mikaela and kissed her hard before wrapping her in a tight hug.
Will stood then, his drink in hand. "Now that we've opened our gifts, and it's a minute to midnight, I propose a toast. To family and friends, old and new, who are here to celebrate with us. Christmas is a time for unity and new beginnings, a time to open our hearts and let others in. Mind, I never imagined this year those others would be aliens." We all chuckled at that. "To COTA's future, and to a merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas!" we all chorused, toasting as Eve turned into the Day.
Soon after this, the humans of our group bid the 'Bots goodnight and headed to the barracks to get some sleep. As Mikaela and I cuddled in bed (after I properly thanked her for the gift with a make out session), I could honestly say it was already one of the best Christmases I'd ever had.
AN: Me IRL: Why is there Christmas stuff out before Halloween!? I hate this!
Also me: *Posts the Christmas chapter in October*
In my defense, it's just the chapter order, I can't help that.
So what'd ya'll think of Christmas with the Autobots? Anyone surprised to see Galloway? What about Alison's present? Let me know in the comments.
Guest Review Replies
Guest (CH 11): Do this, but with the DarkSpark from Transformers: Rise of the DarkSpark. I want to see Dark Energon and time manipulation
I have never played the Rise of the Dark Spark game, so I can't write a fic about it. Also I'm not sure what you mean by "do this". Give them a human bearer? Have someone make a big projection describing that portion of the War?
Guest (CH 20): Ideas for the Dark Spark: Dark emerging blasts/blades, Flight, super speed (via time manipulation), necromancy (into mindless monsters),
Honestly, those all sound like things I'd put into a Transformers Prime fic (especially cause TFP has all of those except the time manipulation in the show itself). I mean, technically Dark Spark and Prime are the same universe, the Aligned Continuity.
To the guest who send a review about someone else's comment on a previous chapter, I am not posting it because of how disparaging it is. Some people have differing levels for their suspension of disbelief, and honestly the way you reacted makes you sound like a child and a troll. If you decide to continue to act in such a way in the future, I am going to treat you like the latter and not engage with you any more. My fanfic is not a place to bash either me or any other author or reviewer, it's a place to see a girl with superpowers hanging out with giant alien robots.
I'll see you all next week, same 'Bot Time, same 'Bot Channel!
