My apologies for the length of time between updates: writing is shunted to the side somewhat with the addition of a new baby into our household. Her name is Lucy, she's a Leonberger (canis lupus familiaris) weighing in at 15 lbs. (of the 115 lbs ish that she will likely be) and made of 100% adorable. Lucy sends her regards as I type this, or she wants out again, or both.

Probably both.

Chapter 205 – The Long Tuesday: Afternoon

(WPOV)

Will paced to the entrance bay, lips pursed in thought. Base was relatively empty today, most of the bots were out patrolling different parts of the world. Kae and Optimus were hopefully due to return soon, the directors waiting for him to call them to answer the constant questions that defined politicking.

Certainly he could have called them... twenty minutes ago... but they were out meshed together somewhere in the solar system and Primus only knew how far Optimus had gone out of his way to make sure his last leave with Sarah and Anabelle hadn't been interrupted. Not even Ironhide knew the full extent, and that was saying something. Kae had obviously had a servo in as well, because everyone knew how much of a strain it was for the mech to eject so much as a white lie...

Will checked off the logs for the 'front door' and grinned as the shift changeover double-timed it.

The Seahawks were visiting the Redskins, and the bellows of victory and mocking jealousy over ticket possession and schedules was moderately deafening. He'd been offered tickets, of course, but Will was waiting for another event, a far more important one. Termites had made their way into the farmhouse Sarah had made their home, and now his wife and daughter were going to stay on base with him until the fumigation was finished. They'd be arriving in another hour or so...

A familiar HNS chose that moment to drive down the ramps. Will straightened and beamed as his Sarah pulled into Ironhide's wall-side 'parking space.' Not that he ever stayed there for more than a few moments at a time. Really it was his personal decon stash and armoury. It just looked empty; the shelves conveniently at the eight foot height or better - you just wouldn't know it until you tried to get a ladder up to the long-dead lightbulb tucked two feet over the invisible shelf.

"Daddy!" his little Anabelle's voice called out brightly, delicate hands reaching against the constraints of the child-seat Chromia had out-logiced her into accepting. That was the pitfall of a genius toddler: it took nothing short of an auto-bot to convince her of anything. Will glanced around at their base of operations again, noting the final guards taking their places, then grinning as he opened the car door and lightly tugged his daughter out of her seat.

"Have you been behaving yourself?" Will asked gravely, lightly settling 'Belle between his chest and the crook of his arm. Ironhide had taught him that.

"Yes Daddy," Anabelle nodded just as gravely.

"If of course you don't count the attempted cake," Sarah added in an amused tone, lightly closing her door and walking into a one armed hug.

"Cake?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow, looking down at his ladies.

"Attempted cake," Anabelle stated with a moue of dissatisfaction.

"What happened?" Will asked in an amused tone.

"I had the ingredients done jus' like the book said to do it!" Anabelle grumbled irritably.

"Except I startled her and the bowl hit the floor," Sarah finished with a low chuckle, winding her arm around his waist.

"You were baking without your mum?" Will demanded worriedly.

"I a'ready know the knives are sharp an' the oven's hot an' the mixer can catch your fingers and take 'em right off," Anabelle immediately protested, snapping her fingers to emphasize the last. "An' I wasn't even p'ayin' with the knives cuz' the recipe didn't call for it."

Will took a deep breath and looked pleadingly at his wife.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Sarah informed him patiently.

"I know, wait-" Will glanced at his watch with a frown. 14:00 hours. "It's Tuesday, aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Anabelle quietly groaned and buried her face in his shoulder.

"When I dropped her off this morning, the principal called me into the office the second we got there," Sarah informed him gravely. "It seems Anabelle's teacher finally let on that 'Belle knows a few bits more than the average bear-"

"I'd sure hope so, ain't gonna outrun the bear now am I?" Anabelle muttered into his shoulder. Will promptly made a manful effort to choke back his snort of laughter.

He failed of course, but he did try.

"I thought we'd agreed that as a five year old in the first grade you'd pretend to be only marginally smarter than your classmates," Will looked down at his daughter in amusement.

"I tried," Anabelle protested irritably.

"What happened?"

"Teach' said pick a book to read..." Anabelle shrugged evasively.

"And?" Will prompted his daughter.

"And there weren't any books to read..." Anabelle waffled innocently.

"I was in that classroom, there were shelves of books," Will frowned at his daughter.

"I didn't wanna read 'See Spot Run' again!" Anabelle exploded. "There are twenty copies of seven books give or take the ones that got chewed on by Wetzel-"

"The hamster got out?"

"No the hamster's name is Hamlet, so Miz Hart said I could go to the lib'ary to find a book."

"I fail to see the problem," Will stated with a frown, looking between his wife and daughter.

"She brought Tolstoy's War and Peace back to the classroom, sat down and started reading without asking for any help with the big words. This is according to Mr. Hastings," Sarah laughed. "Miss Hart said she didn't believe 'Belle was actually reading it."

"So she made you get a different book?" Will asked curiously.

"No, I read a page out loud for her," Anabelle shrugged patiently.

"What happened to laying low 'Belle?" Will asked his daughter with a groan.

"It's boring."

Will heaved a sigh and looked around their headquarters again, just in time to watch Lena patiently striding to the ground-bridge.

"Sit Rep?" he called out curiously.

"Ironhide, Sides and Sunstreaker are reporting back in," Lena informed him over her shoulder. "Hey Sarah! Aren't you supposed to be in school for another hour Belle?"

"Principal says I'm in the wrong school," Anabelle stated gravely.

"What?" Will asked curiously, the hair on the back of his neck rising as the ground-bridge activated. He rolled his eyes and promptly covered Anabelle's ear with one hand, her opposite pressed against his chest. Two Lamborghinis rolled through, quickly driving clear and into the docks as Lena deftly recalibrated the fields.

An explosion of tightly controlled arcs flooded the clear space before snapping outward again. Inward. Will squeezed his eyes shut for a second and shook his head. Snapped outward into a tightly controlled tunnel.

In moments the massive topkick roared through, shattered and rolled, the energies of the bridge cycling down and the primary lighting coming back up again. Ironhide rose and stretched the next moment, the twins following suit as quickly.

"There's my favourite femmeling!" Ironhide called out with a broad grin, striding toward them.

"Hey Lil' Squish, how's things?" Sideswipe called out cheerfully. The next second a loud clang resounded throughout the hanger. "Oi!" Sides complained.

"Don't call the humans squishies," Sunstreaker growled softly. Will made a solid point of not staring at the golden frontliner as he nodded respectful thanks to the bot. He couldn't help but think of Jacobs in that moment, and the monumental difference the soldier had made in the mech.

"But it's true!" Sideswipe announced cheerfully, onlining his holoform the next second. Will laughed as Sideswipe lightly snagged Anabelle, the girl squealing with laughter as the holo lifted her high in the air before he pulled her into a hug. "When you hug her she goes-"

"Squish!" Anabelle ejected cheerfully, soundly hugging the holoform's neck.

"Lena could you call Kae and Optimus?" Will called over to the tech lieutenant as the bridge finally shut down entirely.

"Just a tick," Lena grinned. "Nest Base Washington to Aerial Primes, do you read me?"

"Aerial Primes responding," Optimus' voice replied patiently.

"Canna go flying now!?" Anabelle squealed cheerfully, Will jumped and glanced at his daughter curiously.

"Flying yes, up into space not quite yet," Kae's voice replied with a smile. Will shook himself slightly and straightened.

"The Directors are calling again," he called out calmly.

"We shall return planet side presently, please inform the Directors that I will be available to them in approximately twenty minutes," Optimus' voice rumbled patiently.

A minute static blitz and Lena lightly saluted him, striding back toward communications. Another glance around and Will turned back to his family.

Sideswipe grinned and smacked a kiss to Anabelle's temple as Will reached out for his daughter again.

"Now what do you mean the principal says you're in the wrong school?" Will asked with a frown, collecting Anabelle and tucking her into the crook of his arm again.

"Remember that battery of tests we weren't sure Anabelle was up for?" Sarah asked with a sigh.

"Five hours, and every topic under the sun?" Will replied with a frown.

"She did it in three. Mr. Hastings is going to call me in a couple of days with her final score, but for the questions that we did know the answers to..." Sarah sighed, then she shot a glare at Ironhide. "Our best guess right now is that Anabelle is already either smart enough to begin university or is very close to it."

Ironhide blinked.

"Why are you glaring at me?" he asked warily.

"Because she's five!" Will stated in an exasperated tone.

"But being smart is good!" Sideswipe protested in a confused tone.

Beside him, Sarah sighed again and reached out, lightly cupping Anabelle's cheek.

"But we've missed so much as a result," she murmured quietly.

"And now we need to try and find another school," Will groaned quietly.

"There's loads of schools!" Ironhide protested irritably. "Dunno why you had Anabelle in that one for so long anyway-"

"Today was her seventh day," Sarah stated flatly.

"-When she should have be in a school for gifted younglings in the first place," Ironhide finished vehemently, bringing his holoform online.

"Ironhide that was the school for gifted children," Sarah stated in an exasperated tone.

"Then what's that Wetzel kid doing there?" Sideswipe demanded.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know this kid?" Will demanded.

"Who Wetzel? You saw him, brown hair brown eyes little bit of a twitchy look about him?" Ironhide stated curiously. "You know, the one that leaks a ton."

"Wetzel Taylor, he's a high functioning autistic," Sarah informed him with a roll of her eyes.

"He chews on stuff," Anabelle stated firmly.

"He's six. He also flies through seventh grade mathematics assignments like Sentinel does multi-dimensional algorithms, and what have I told you about making fun of others?" Sarah asked sternly.

"I'm not making fun of him!" Anabelle immediately protested. "I'm stating a fact! He chews on stuff when he gets scared!"

"I know dear, I was talking to Ironhide," Sarah stated firmly, glaring at the mech.

"He leaks," Ironhide's holoform grumbled, crossing his arms.

"So do you, all over my driveway. Get over it," Sarah stated flatly as Bumblebee roared down the ramps. Will watched in amusement as the little scout transformed, grinning at the company around him as he knelt down, crawling the final couple of paces toward them.

"Hey Sarah! Aren't you supposed to be in school Belle?" he asked cheerfully.

"I got kicked out for bein' too smart," Anabelle stated proudly.

Will rolled his eyes and frowned slightly as Bumblebee's optics flicked back and forth for a moment, the bright amber that made his optics appear hazel glowing a little bit more brightly.

"Who's threads are you looking at?" he asked warily. Bumblebee jumped and looked down at him with a forced grin.

"Just following the criss-crossing," he shrugged evasively. "Chromia is north-west of Ironhide, you and Sarah are right beside each other, Jolt and Lena are across base from each other..."

"Nothing new?" Will asked patiently.

"Nope, no new ones," Bee grinned at him. Well above them the Skyris began to open, the red lights and klaxon blaring the warnings to vacate the area.

A pair of massive, gentle hands scooped him up the next moment, Sarah and Anabelle tightly beside him. Will looked up in shock as Sunstreaker of all bots cradled them protectively to his chest-plates, the steely blue optics watching the opening in the roof with wary patience.

The iris continued to open for another thirty seconds before the hissing stopped with a loud clank. The fifty-six foot form of the bound Primes dropped gracefully through the Skyris, a few puffs of booster fire slowing their drop to the point that the concrete didn't so much as chip beneath their combined weight.

The Skyris began to close and Will looked up at Sunstreaker as the mech continued to cradle them.

(MPOV)

I could feel my mate's patient eagerness to return to his natural state, I smiled and directed our body to drop a few hundred feet into the proper flight lane. Two miles ahead and three behind a pair of jumbo-jets carrying their human passengers made a beeline toward the airport.

::. DC4280 to control, another plane has entered our flightpath!.:: one of the pilots reported worriedly.

::. DC4280 is the plane ahead of you red, blue and silver and of a generally unidentifiable form?.::

::. DC4280 confirms.::

::. DC4280 don't worry about the plane in front of you, that's just Archangel Prime, if you get into trouble for some reason in this area she's the best ally you'll ever pray for.::

::. She's not one of the ones that crashes planes?.::

::. Negative DC4280, Control to Archangel Prime.::

::. Archangel receiving.:: I sent with a smile.

::. Are you landing on our runways today Kae?.::

::. Negative control, Archangel Prime is landing at NEST co-ordinates, I'll stay well out of your way DC4280.:: I replied with a low laugh.

::. DC4280 Acknowledges.::

~Do they always speak like that?~ my Optimus asked curiously.

~No, they regularly make an exception for me for some reason~ I laughed gently, lightly dipping our wings to circle lower toward NEST. ~Inter-plane communications are rare, and communications outside of flight paths and emergency declarations even more so~

Our base of operations came into view finally, I signalled the Skyris to begin opening and the alarms to warn anyone in the Entrance bay of our imminent landing. Three hundred feet above our base I directed our body to transform into bipedal form, then lightly threaded ourself feet first into the Entrance bay.

Together we looked down at Sunstreaker curiously, he had Will, Sarah and Anabelle tucked safely over his spark as he watched us right back. I tenderly caressed the spark of my mate for a moment before we mutually commanded our bodies to split and regain our individual forms.

I stretched as my component parts settled into their proper place and smiled as my mate disengaged the flight deck, lightly depositing it in his parking bay.

"Sunstreaker?" Sarah asked curiously.

Sunstreaker looked down, and Will obviously had to work very hard to not burst out laughing at the surprised look in the mech's optics.

"May we return to the ground again please?" Sarah asked the mech with smiling politeness.

"Sorry!" Sunstreaker muttered, kneeling down and gently depositing his passengers on their feet.

"Did I not fire off the klaxon with enough time to allow the humans to get clear?" I asked the frontliner worriedly.

"Of course you did," Sunstreaker muttered distractedly, rising, shaking his helm and looking down at the Colonel and his family for a moment.

"Anything interesting in Italy?" I asked the frontliner patiently.

"Nothing worth a fight," Sunstreaker shrugged, crossing his arms and turning to look at me fully.

"A couple of upgrades on our alt-modes at the factory were tempting though," Sideswipe added.

"But?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sunstreaker grunted irritably, folding his servos a bit more tightly across his chest and glancing away.

"He's worried that it's going to mess up his paint," Sideswipe grinned.

"So repaint," I shrugged patiently.

"I hate painting myself," Sunstreaker grumbled irritably.

"Since when?" Ironhide demanded with a broad grin.

"Since he's now got so many layers on his armour that it's going to take nothing short of a sand-blasting just to get back down to the primer again," Sideswipe stated cheerfully, nimbly dodging the whack Sunstreaker aimed at him.

"Ironhide, your report?" my Optimus rumbled patiently. I smiled as the spark of my mate worked to keep the powder kegs at bay; there were fragile beings around us.

"If Shockwave's hiding in the states we sure as slag can't find him," Ironhide rumbled irritably. "Wherever he is he's dug in."

"Literally," Sunstreaker grumbled, holding up a hand and examining his paintwork.

"So what new alt-mode has you so tempted?" I asked with a grin.

"I'm not tempted."

"Even if I made you a bet that I could get your paint off without a single grain of sand?" I asked cheerfully.

Sunstreaker stared at me warily for a long moment, obviously processing that.

"Annie Kae!" Anabelle called up cheerfully.

"Yes my dear?" I smiled down at her.

"Canna go flying? Please?" she asked in a beautiful, wide eyed and winsome tone.

I grinned, I couldn't help it.

"If it's okay with your daddy," I stated sweetly, then watched as Will struggled to keep a stern look on his face as his daughter purposely turned those winsome, pleading eyes on her father.

::. How do you propose to get my paint off?.:: Sunstreaker asked warily over the private comm.

::. If I lift you up into orbit and away from the planet a little ways I can skip you across the upper atmosphere so you only get enough of a burn to peel off the paint.:: I replied cheerfully.

"Don't you DARE do that with Anabelle in your cockpit!" Sideswipe snarled at me.

"I would never!" I stated in a shocked tone.

"Don't do what?" Will demanded flatly.

"Do a controlled skip-entry burn to get the layers of paint off," I stated in a defensive tone. "I'd need to be in my root mode to do that for Primus sake! There's no way I'd bring Anabelle!"

"I don't getta go to space?" Anabelle asked sadly.

"Sure you do, just not when Sunstreaker's gettin' a space-over," Ironhide rumbled cheerfully.

"What?" Sarah asked dangerously.

"For the oncoming council of the Directors," my Optimus rumbled in the placating tone that even Chromia's temper couldn't outmatch. My mate knelt slowly, gracefully to better see the humans. "It is our intention to breach the earth's atmosphere in our combined form with the Colonel, Directors and General in company. At Ironhide's behest on Anabelle's request you have both been invited to join us, Sarah Lennox."

"Pleeeaaaassseeee!?" Anabelle asked pleadingly, looking at her mother.

Sarah looked around and visibly rolled her eyes.

"Next you're going to be saying that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will be taking over your education," she stated tiredly. "Very well, what time is liftoff?"

"We were just about to nail that down, have you got the glitches worked out of the flight frame?" Will asked seriously as his daughter bounced and cheered on his chest.

"We do," Optimus nodded firmly, lightly offering his hand to the humans.

I casually watched the mechs around us as my Optimus carried the three to communications, closely followed by Ironhide.

"It was one time and I'd been shot," Ironhide grumbled mid-step.

"My point still stands," Sarah's voice stated loftily as Will laughed.

Sunstreaker watched my Optimus leaving with wary, suspicious optics, Sideswipe's own optics regularly flicking in that direction.

I caught my little-brother's optics and raised a brow ridge when he grinned, his optics flicking between my mate's path and the chest-plates of the twins.

=You should re-iterate your offer, Sunstreaker needs to get out of base for a bit longer than even he thought= Bee chirped seriously to me.

"Would you quit it with the scout already?" Sideswipe grumbled idly, still looking toward communications with Sunstreaker. The chest-plates of the twins, and...

=Anabelle!?= I chirped back to him in shock.

Bumblebee held my optics for a second then winked, picking up a meandering pace toward central. I eyed the twins for a long moment then shook my helm slightly. I'd cross-examine my little brother later.

"Shall we?" I asked cheerfully.

Sunstreaker started and looked at me for a long moment.

"Can we stop in Italy on the way back?" Sideswipe asked with a broad grin.

"We can," I nodded with a slow grin.

"Done," Sunstreaker grunted, striding toward the sunlight.