A/N: READ THIS DAMN IT. Ok, so I've had a few people comment about the "world" this takes place in. Bayverse? G1? The answer is neither. What I'm doing here is combing it all together. Elements of Bayverse and the G1 universe are gonna show up, but I'm not pulling a storyline of sorts from either. I'm making my own path here. Does that clear it up a bit? So if you like hate Bayverse or something don't freak out or whatever. Cool? Oh and also, does anyone like making covers for stories? Because I'm God awful at it and would love a cover for Small Fry and Lil'Bit. PM if you're interested.
Lastly, thanks for all the lovely reviews guys ^.^
They 100% made my day and I'm glad you guys are as pumped to read this story as I am to write it!
Chapter Two:
Twenty Years
"You're funny, and you're smart, and you may show up late, but you always show up eventually." –John Green (Paper Towns)
"What would you like me to first discuss?" Optimus asked. He sat down in the chair that Aubrey had abandoned and laced his fingers together in his lap. Ratchet continued to buzz around the IV with a frown.
I shrugged, "The beginning? That way I'd at least be able to follow along chronologically."
Optimus bobbed his head once and let his gaze fall downward in thought. Aubrey squeezed my hand reassuringly, shooting a smile in my direction. The Autobot leader lifted his gaze back to mine, "When we first arrived back in this universe it was December 2014."
"2014?" I already interrupted him. "What?"
"We had always worried how the others in this universe, our comrades, handled our absence but as it turns out we didn't have to worry about that at all."
Ratchet spoke up, "We were gone from this universe for a total of 34 Earth seconds."
I blinked in surprise, "Trippy."
"Taylor has told me that you know of everyone's condition coming through the portal." Optimus said.
"Yeah, she did", I interrupted again, "How is it that Aubrey was the only one who didn't have any side effects? Am I like her or should I expect some serious problems in the next week?"
Ratchet shook his head, "We have no way of telling if you will deteriorate over time, we just have to monitor that, but if my theory is correct then you should be just like your sister."
"Theory?"
"Both of you have those rare, incredibly short energy signatures. Remember?" Rather pressed and I nodded, "Wes had a normal human energy signature and was effected the worse. The younglings had very short signatures, but they were still longer than both your sister and yourself. They had a reaction of coming to this universe, but it wasn't as severe as Wes'. Bear, well he is of a different species all together in the same way we Cybertronians are. That's why he had a positive effect and we had none at all." He readjusted the IV then turned to face us completely, "I think…I think that somehow that short energy signature gave you an immunity to any ill effects. Why? I wouldn't know. I've had Perceptor doing most of the research into that topic during times when the war hasn't overwhelmed us."
I let that soak in and nodded, "Oh."
It wasn't just pure luck then. A thought occurred to me. The Defenders. Mysterious Asshole #1 and Mysterious Asshole #2 had talked about them when they showed up in my foyer. They had said that Aubrey and I had the genes or whatever to become one due to our family line and that the kids didn't because Wes was normal or whatever. It fit perfectly. Mysterious Asshole #2 had mentioned that the Defenders protected multiple universes or something along those lines. Did that mean crossing through and arriving at different ones? Maybe that's why Aubrey and I could handle the trip. It was something I should probably share with the class, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. I'd keep this one to myself for now.
"Would you like me to continue, Aj?" Optimus' voice broke my train of thought. I glanced around to notice all three of them were looking at me in concern.
I forced a smile and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that. I promise to try and not interrupt too."
"Interruptions are fine. Ask about your confusions as we proceed." Optimus chuckled then continued, "January of 2015, we were able to make contact with our home world of Cybertron. The war had continued there to some degree, but because the bulk of the Decepticons, this including Megatron, had been trapped dormant on Earth for so long the war had dwindled. Cybertron was mostly peaceful again with only a few Decepticon squadrons causing mayhem here and there. However, at this discovery the decepticon patches on Cybertron were…motivated to fight harder. They came out of hiding and the fight came back to life.
"That same year during June, a deal was made between the Autobots and the US Government." Optimus continued, "An alliance. Due to the creation of this alliance, a new base was created. It was named the 'Universal Humans Autobot Co-Alliance' Base, or the UHAC for short. It's where you currently are. We chose this location in Nevada because like your home, it has a pocket of special energy that we can use to grow and harvest energon crystals for fuel."
Aubrey spoke up, "We're about an hour and a half from Las Vegas. It's where the kids went to school growing up."
Las Vegas? I was an hour and a half away from the same place Morgan wanted to drag my ass to back in our universe? The irony wasn't lost on me.
"Only a human month later, the 'Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Team' was created." Optimus said.
I rolled the long ass title around in my head and my eyes widened, "NEST. NEST was formed, but I thought…"
NEST was the military group from the movie. Didn't the kids say these guys weren't from the movie? They were from the G1 series?
"How much do you remember from the movies, Aj?" Ratchet questioned. Aubrey's eyes turned questioning for a moment before they slowly widened in realization.
I shrugged, "I've only ever seen the first movie completely and that was with y'all, remember? I was sick the entire time, but I caught onto a few things here and there. Why?"
"Aspects from the movies have occurred in this universe. They have mostly been details and some were wrong entirely, but still." Ratchet replied.
Aubrey pulled my attention to her, "It's different for us here. The kids and Wes, within the first month they forgot all about the movies and cartoons and comics." My eyes widened but she continued, "They remembered coming from a place where the Cybertronians were part of a popular media and they remember being fans and having the toys, but they couldn't recall any of the movie details when the mechs asked them."
"And you?"
She shrugged, "I still remember some things, but so much time has passed that it just sort of…faded. I was able to recite most of the details for the mechs to keep a hard copy of, in case of emergencies, but now? Most of it's gone from my head."
"You think I'll be like you in that way too?"
No one really answered my question, but that didn't matter because I was already vaguely aware of what the answer would be.
Optimus cleared his throat, "Wes helped us fill the NEST ranks. His background made his opinion valuable and we trusted him unlike some of the human politicians they tried to have head the operation." I couldn't help but snort at that statement and Optimus smiled. "Two soldiers who were recruited into the program originally have grown beside us and they are now trusted as leaders of NEST."
"Lemme guess", I grinned, "Lennox and Epps. They were the two main soldiers in Transformers one, at least."
Optimus chuckled while Aubrey squirmed in her spot a bit, "You are correct. Colonel William Lennox and USAF Lieutenant Colonel Robert Epps are both heads of the division, trusted allies, and deeply regarded friends." He paused briefly before continuing, "The next few years were spent trying to build a space bridge. It was a slow process because of the materials at hand and because we needed the government's permission, but in 2018 the spacebridge was established, located between your moon and the planet Mars. This bridge was going to allow us to travel to Cybertron for supplies and for assistance on either side. At that point, leaving Earth for good was not an option because we knew Megatron and his mechs would stay behind to terrorize and colonize Earth as they saw fit."
I pressed my lips together at his words. The Megatron I had gotten to know wouldn't have done that. From the sound of it though, he had come back through and become his old self. It was disappointing to hear and I could hardly believe it.
"What we weren't aware of though was that the Decepticon forces on Cybertron were in the process of stealing the Allspark." I recognized the term and nodded, "They almost succeeded, but Autobot forces still stationed on Cybertron stopped them, however…a portion of it, a shard, was broken off and it drifted too close to the spacebridge. The energy activated the bridge, both on their side and ours, and the shard fell through. By time our radars noticed it, the shard was lost somewhere on Earth and we were thrust into a race with the Decepticons to find it."
I clicked my tongue, "A race to find the Allspark? Or piece of? That kind of sounds like-"
"The first movie." Ratchet replied gravely.
In that second, I felt my heart stop. The first movie. Megaton died in that movie, however they kept talking about the war and without Megatron the war would be over, right? However, there was another mech that died in the movie. A mech that was very important to me, one that hadn't broken Ratchet's rules and visited yet. One that no one had even mentioned to me once.
"Jazz?" I breathed in panic, "Jazz is he-?!"
"Jazz is fine, youngling." Ratchet replied, "He, like many other mechs, were injured during that time, but he wasn't offlined. Not like in the movie."
I let out a sigh of relief, "Where is he? And the twins too? I mean, I know you put a 'no visiting Aj' rule up, but if anyone was going to ignore that rule-"
Ratchet nodded, "It'd be those three." He shook his head, "Jazz and Bumblebee are both on a mission. The mission they're on requires radio silence and won't be complete for another four weeks at the most. They know you're back though, I'm sure. We can feel it."
"As for the twins", Optimus said, "They've been stationed at our base in Australia for the past two years. However, moments after you came through the portal they sent in the transfer data sheets asking to be relocated to the UHAC."
"I keep telling him to ignore their request." Ratchet scoffed.
"By feel it, do you mean the bond?" I pressed.
Ratchet nodded, "For the last twenty years, your bond has been there, but it's been distant. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable to a degree. When you showed up in Oregon though, the bond flared back to life. The first thing we could feel was your pain and confusion."
"Right." I nodded and smiled to myself. Jazz, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker were ok. They were alive. "What happened then? With the allspark shard?"
"It was found by a boy-" Ratchet began.
My eyes widened, "Oh my God, Shia LaBeouf?"
Ratchet glared at me, "His name is Samuel Witwicky."
"Same difference."
Optimus smiled and picked up the story from there telling me about how some mech named Smokescreen became the guardian for Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes. I wondered if this was because Bumblebee was so dead set on staying Taylor's guardian. Regardless, the two teens got involved in the Cybertronian mess. Peter, who was two years younger than them at 14, and the twins, who were 10, met both teens but none of them were caught up in the violence that came from the battle in Mission City for the shard. Unlike in the movie though, the shard was contained by the Autobots and shipped back to Cybertron before the government could even request tests be done. There were no Autobot casualties, but apparently three Decepticons bit the dust during the battle. Optimus said their names, Scorponok, Blackout, and Bonecrusher, but it wasn't any that I recognized. To be honest, I felt relief that none of the Decepticons I had grown to know had died.
"We had a few quiet years after that. Battles still occurred, but the Decepticons made no large movements against us or the humans." Optimus sighed, "However, in 2022 this base was attacked."
I frowned and squeezed Aubrey's hand. I had a bad feeling that I knew where this was going. This must have been the attack that Wes died during. The look Aubrey gave me confirmed this.
"We fought them off successfully, bringing in reinforcements from our Shanghai base that was recently formed, but our loss was great."
I took a shaky breath, "I know Wes died, but…did you lose…was there anyone else that I…"
Optimus shook his head, "873 humans were lost, but I believe Wes was the only one you were familiar with. Two Autobots were lost then. A Recordabot named Ramhorn and a Minibot named Cliffjumper. Both were good mechs."
I felt bad that the Autobots had lost two good friends, but still the relief I felt that it wasn't one of my mechs was damn near palpable. I shook my head, "I know what a Minibot is, like Bee, but what's a Recordabot?"
"Do you remember how Soundwave had mini-cassettes?" Ratchet asked and I nodded, "Those were the Recordacons. We have a mech here named Blaster and he has his own mini-cassettes."
"And he lost one?" I furrowed my eyebrows together as they all nodded. Geez, I couldn't imagine how bad that must have been for this Blaster mech. The way the mechs made it sound, the cassettes were like kids to Soundwave. Losing a kid? Damn.
"Tyler, Taylor, and Peter weren't there for the attack." Aubrey said, "They were in California with Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Visiting Disneyland. Wes and I were supposed to go with them, a family trip, but something came up. We didn't want to spoil their summer so we let the mechs take them."
I closed my eyes and sighed. They had come back to a broken base and a dead father. What I would've given to be there. Despite the danger, I wished I had been there for all of them. Even if it were just for moral support. The more I heard the worse I felt. I had made a promise to those kids, and despite trying my absolute best it still fell through.
"Two years later, our largest battle occurred. It was for control over the spacebridge. We move the main control base every few years to avoid attacks, but the Decepticons found out it was being moved through the city of Chicago and attacked." Optimus shook his head, "Until this point, the Government managed to keep our existence rather quiet, but that was the day it all changed. Megatron managed to gain control of the spacebridge on both sides long enough to bring reinforcements from Cybertron right into the center of Chicago.
"The battle lasted a total of three weeks and the loss of life was staggering. Much of Chicago was destroyed." Optimus rubbed his jawline with his hand, "Megatron lost many, none that you know, and so did we."
"Were there any Autobots I knew?"
Ratchet shook his head, "No, I don't think so. Grimlock told you about the dinobots though, did he not?"
"Yeah, he talked to me about them."
"We lost one of them. Snarl."
Poor Grimlock. The dinobot didn't like a lot of things, but I knew how much he cared about his fellow dinobots. Poor Wheeljack too. I knew how much the Engineer loved the dinobots. He was basically their father in a way. I glanced at Optimus, "Where is Grimlock? Is he here on base?"
"No, he's stationed at Diego Garcia with the other dinobots. It's a base we have in the middle of the Indian Ocean."
I nodded in disappointment. It made sense why the pack of dinobots were stationed at an isolated base on an island in the middle of nowhere. I could follow that reasoning.
"Then what? Any other big problems I should know about?" I asked. They hadn't mentioned anything about the drones yet so I figured that must have been a somewhat recent thing.
Optimus nodded, "For the next eight years, things were fairly silent again on the Decepticon front however now we had to deal with the backlash that came with the battle of Chicago. Many humans weren't happy and wanted us to go back to Cybertron." I frowned at and Optimus shrugged, "It was a argument that carried on for many years. It only really stopped about two years ago. Although…there is something that happened about four years ago, that I wish to ask you about."
My eyes widened in surprise, "Uh, ok? I'll try and answer, but I wouldn't get your hopes up, OP."
"The portal in Oregon opened up for the first time in four years ago during May of 2031. We knew it wasn't you, your bond was still…muted, but when we arrived to see what could've come through all we found was an arm." Optimus said.
I blinked in shock. Did he say arm? Slowly, I shook my head, "Um, wait, what? An arm? Just an arm? But…ok, what's your question?"
"We just wanted to know if you had any idea what could've happened. The energy output was the exact same as when we came through so it must have come from your original universe." Ratchet finished for Optimus. "The arm was the right arm of a male from shoulder to hand, if that helps. Caucasian. There was a tattoo located on the forearm portion."
Male, Caucasian, and a tattoo? Thinking back to the explosion, I remembered Morgan jumping on top of me to shield me from the blast. When I was falling, I could vaguely remember him still hanging on, but it wasn't for long. Oh God, had he traveled with me somehow? Just by hanging on?
"The tattoo was an eagle, with a flag, and two guns?" I asked. Ratchet and Optimus both looked surprised and that was answer enough for me.
Aubrey ran a hand through my hair, "How did you know that?"
"It was Morgan. Morgan had that tattoo and he was holding onto me when the shed exploded." I breathed. She didn't seem surprised by my words so I wondered if someone had told her my arrival story before I woke up. "I remember him letting go of me, but… why was just his arm there?"
Ratchet shrugged, "We still don't have a solid idea on how you traveled to this universe. Perhaps, the ride in was bumpier than ours. Maybe he didn't make it all the way through. Not all of him, at least."
"Oh God." I breathed in disgust. What an awful way to go. He was a total, evil dick, but I had to give him a few points for trying to shield me. Granted, he was probably just trying to protect his new merchandise, but still.
"Well, at least that mystery is solved." Aubrey hummed.
I tried to forget about Morgan and his ripped off limb, "What happened that stopped the 'send E.T. home' arguments?"
Optimus nodded, "A company was formed in the aftermath of Chicago. Making their home in one of the reconstructed portions of the city. Kinetic Solutions Incorporated, or KSI, is what they called themselves. The creator of the company was a man named Joshua Joyce. Somehow they had managed to get their servos on offlined Decepticon and began reverse engineering them. The company itself flourished in the world of technological advancements, spreading to Beijing, China, Mumbai, India, Seattle, and two other cities in the US." Optimus paused and his holoform's face looked grim and tired, "They created a new element of sorts using the bodies of our offlined, they called it Transformium." My eyes darted to Ratchet who nodded in my direction grimly, "With this element, they tried to build their own Cybertronians."
"You gotta be shitting me." I groaned. God, it just sounded like a bad idea.
"Unfortunately, I am not." Optimus replied, "In 2033, they released a line of 'Protector Bots'. They were supposed to protect the human race and put us Autobots out of a job."
I rolled my eyes, "And let me guess, the Protector Bots went all Terminator on their asses."
"The drones worked well for about a year." Ratchet replied, "Then KSI lost control of them and they decided to ravage everything they could touch. We fought them back as much as we could, but… they're hard to defeat." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. These were my unstoppable, undefeatable mechs. How could a drone even compare. He must have noticed, "The way they transform from bipedal to alt mode is in cubes which means breaking them apart doesn't do much. They have no protoform and can form back together with ease. Also, they have no spark to aim for. No matter what we hit them with, they just don't seem to stay down."
"We struck a lucky break." Optimus added, "Eventually they drew back to their main bases which happened to be the location of each one of the KSI buildings. They destroyed the surrounding area of each base though making it so no one can get near. We call these areas hives. The smallest hive is in Mumbai and has a circumference of about 50 miles. The largest is in Chicago with a circumference of about 800 miles."
I sucked in a sharp breath, "And these areas are…are dead zones? No one but the drones get in and out?"
"Yes. We haven't had a drone leave the hives for six months now, but we remain on high alert." Optimus nodded.
I thought back to that abandoned gas station and dead road, "You said I showed up in Oregon… Is there a hive near there?"
Optimus nodded, "Other than Chicago, there is a hive in Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington."
"How big is the hive in Seattle? Is it close to the portal?"
"The portal is 20 miles outside of Portland and Seattle is 174 miles from the city." Ratchet answered, "You were in the outskirts of that hive. That is why you ran across one, nearly two drones."
I nodded, "The red guy."
"KSI named that one 'Stinger'." Aubrey spoke up, "They based it off Bumblebee. They made drones based off all our mechs. Even the dinobots."
"Well that's fragging terrifying." I replied slowly. I tried to picture a drone shaped like a motherfucking dinosaur peeking through the gas station window at me and cringed. "Wait." I shook my head as I thought about Morgan again, "Could the drones have killed Morgan? I mean, I assume he came through where I did."
Optimus nodded, "Yes, he did, but the drones do not target humans. Their sole mission is to hunt and kill Cybertronians. They would only kill a human if the human was attempting to kill it."
"That doesn't mean it cares about human life though." Ratchet added, "They never avoid harming humans, they just don't care about the collateral damage." He shrugged, "Besides, if they had killed him they would've left the entire body there."
Aubrey frowned and tucked some of my hair behind my ear, "That's why I was so worried when the mechs told me you popped up out there."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Um, I'm human, Aubs. I know that's easy to forget, but-"
"No." She argued with worried features, "Not to them."
"The spark radiation, Aj." Optimus explained. Those words made realization dawn on me, slowly. "Even to our own, more advanced scanners, you, Tyler, Taylor, and Peter read as Cybertronians. When the drones see you, they see a target."
That was a scary thought. Suddenly, my worry for the kids increased. Tyler especially. Didn't he say he went out there to help save me? Why would any of the mechs let him out like that if they knew he was a target? I mean, it was possible he had some sort of energy shielding technology like I had during the night, but that didn't quiet my fears.
"Is that everything?" I asked with a sigh.
"All the big things." Aubrey replied and I tried not to show my cringe.
All the big things.
They could spark note the past twenty years as much as I wanted them to, but at the end of the day I would never be able to truly know everything. Not all the details I'd really like. I was late to the party and nothing would make up for that.
"You did amazing, Ann!" Samantha said one last time before pulling her into a tight hug.
Annabelle laughed and returned the embrace cheerily, "You did too, Sammy! I'm so proud of us. I'll see you on Monday. Don't forget to do Mr. Woodward's study guide. We need to ace that test next Wednesday!"
Sammy groaned in response and Annabelle chuckled at her friend's reaction. She said good-bye to the rest of her team and the others who stayed behind to help then turned to leave. She readjusted the jacket she wore and the bag that hung off her left shoulder. More importantly, she readjusted the gold medal that hung around her neck proudly. The competition had gone perfectly and now her and the rest of the team would be moving on to Nationals. She had been hoping the high school's soccer team would've done equally as well, but they had got bumped out during the first round of playoffs. You win some, you lose some. At least this left time for Cheerleading practice.
As she walked out of the school she noticed a large, black, familiar truck sitting by the side of the curb. Standing outside of the truck, however, was a face she hadn't seen in a week.
"Is that a gold medal around my baby's neck?" Colonel William Lennox asked loudly, with a wide grin. Annabelle let out a squeal of excitement and sprinted toward her father with open arms. He laughed and picked her up in a big, tight hug. He was still wearing his military uniform and when he set her down her eyes darted over the patch on his chest that read 'Lennox'. "So how'd you do? Did you steal the show, Annie?"
"I think I did pretty good. We all did pretty good." She motioned toward the medal, "Obviously."
Lennox grinned and walked around the black vehicle to get in the driver's side. The passenger door swung open on it's own and Annabelle climbed in, setting her book bag on the floorboard by her tennis shoes.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to watch you as I promised, Annabelle." A rough, southern voice rang out in the cab of the truck as the seatbelt wrapped around her. It gave her a quick, tight squeeze and she laughed.
"Don't worry about it, Hide. Eli recorded it all so we can watch it together at the UHAC this weekend." Ironhide pulled away from the curb and started driving away from the school. It was around 5 right now, so they wouldn't get to the UHAC until at least 6:30. Just in time for her to grab dinner in the Mess Hall. She glanced at her dad who had pulled out his phone to look at something quickly.
He noticed her gaze and glanced over with a warm smile, "So, how was school this week? You had a test in History didn't you? How'd that go?"
"I haven't got the score back yet, but I probably will on Monday. I felt pretty good about it though. Nothing eventful happened." Annabelle bit her lower lip briefly then cleared her throat, "So…?"
Lennox shook his head and worry flashed across his mind. Had he forgotten something? Things had been so crazy this week with back-to-back meetings and mountains of paperwork, he felt behind in his actual life. He shrugged, "So, I love and missed you?"
Annabelle laughed with a roll of her eyes, "I love and missed you too." He grinned at her words, but she continued, "But that's not what I was getting at."
Lennox kept the clueless look on her face and Ironhide made a sound skin to clearing his throat, "She wants to know about why we left, Lennox."
"Oh." His eyebrows shot up.
"I'm just worried is all." Annabelle replied. "Hide ran out of there like his butt was on fire and Aubrey looked so worried."
Lennox sighed. It wasn't like she wasn't going to find out about this. Sure, the news was being kept from a majority of the soldiers right now, but Annabelle was too close to what was happing to be left out of the loop.
"You can't talk about this with Eli or Lex just yet, Annie." Lennox warned.
Annabelle could feel her jaw pop open in shock. There wasn't much she ever had to keep secret from her two younger friends. They all knew about the Cybertronians, hell they grew up with them, and they were on the same level of 'need to know' material. Usually if a secret was being kept from them, it was being kept from her too. Slowly, she nodded even though she wasn't entirely comfortable with keeping something from them, "Um, ok."
"Pit, you act like she has to take it to her grave." Ironhide scoffed and Lennox rolled his eyes, "If everything I hear about the femme is true, then she won't be staying hidden for long. She probably won't even be staying in the medbay for long."
"Ratchet wants her in there for at least a month."
"I'm just saying…"
Annabelle recognized the word femme and smiled, "Is there another Cybertronian on base? Did they come through the portal?"
"How do you know someone came through the portal?" Lennox asked in surprise.
Annabelle smiled sheepishly and shrugged at her father, "I heard Hide mention it to Aubrey."
"You gossip like an old lady, Hide." Lennox scoffed and Ironhide replied in sharp Cybertronian. Annabelle laughed, but she sobered quickly when her father's gaze landed on her, "Do you remember Aubrey's sister?"
Annabelle frowned, "Dr. Bradshaw?"
Lennox tilted his head, "Er, yes, but not exactly. Aubrey's little sister is in the Medbay right now."
"What?" She shook her head. That made absolutely no sense. "Dr. Bradshaw, she…Dad, she died. How-?"
Lennox shook his own head and cut her off, "This is her actual sister. The one from the same universe as her."
Annabelle's eyes widened in surprise, "Seriously? How?"
"We don't know yet. She was in surgery earlier today, her knee was broken, but Aubrey's been with her since." Lennox replied, "Aubrey wants you and your brother to meet her, but…listen, Annie, you can't call her Dr. Bradshaw. I don't even want you mentioning anything about Dr. Bradshaw to her. Understand?"
She couldn't help but frown. As much as she loved Aubrey, she couldn't say she was the biggest fan of her sister. Dr. Bradshaw had been, well to put it simply, a royal bitch. Annabelle nodded, "Yeah, ok, Dad."
"Good. Now tell me about upcoming Nationals. When is it?"
Optimus Prime had left a couple minutes after filling me in on the last twenty years. Ratchet left around that time too, but he was constantly coming back in to check on me even though I tried to tell him that I wasn't about to suddenly drop dead.
Taylor had stopped by about ten minutes ago to bring me a tray of food from the Mess Hall before leaving again to run some errands and I was still shoveling food down my throat. I wasn't sure if I was just starving or if the food was actually this good. It was military grade food though, so wasn't it supposed to be not amazing?
"You're eating like Tyler." Aubrey said in amusement.
With a mouth full of food I replied, "Ah'm stahr-vhing."
Aubrey hadn't left my side at all since she arrived and every once in a while I could see her eyes tear up while we talked. It was just so strange to try and comprehend. For me, I had literally just hugged my sister and said good-bye less than 72 hours ago. For her though, that was twenty years ago. Twenty fucking years. I couldn't imagine having to spend that much time away from any of them now.
The sound of buzzing filled the room while I was trying to lick my plate, "What is that?"
"Oh, it's my phone." Aubrey replied and dug around in her purse on the ground. I watched as she pulled out a thin, rectangle of glass. There were no metal or plastic edges. It was literally just a pane of window. She caught my gaze and chuckled, "Technology. It's made huge leaps and bounds."
"Can I see it?" I asked.
"Sure. It's called an xScreen."
"That's a stupid name." I mumbled to myself as she handed it over. There were no buttons, wires, images, or holes to plug things in. I could see straight through the glass. "How the hell do you even work this?"
The glass started vibrating in my hands. Startled, I dropped the screen and it fell into my lap. The glass lit up a faint green and a picture popped up along with a green and red circle below it. My eyes widened at the picture. It was of the Lennox guy from the movies, but he looked exactly like Josh Duhamel, the actor who played him.
"Oh, hang on." Aubrey picked up the phone and pressed the green button before bringing it to her ears, "Hello?"
How was that even working? Where was the microphone and speaker? What sort of wizardry was this shit?
"You are? That's great." Aubrey grinned, "I'm here with Aimee right now. Just come up as soon as y'all get here…Alright, bye."
She swiped two fingers down the glass and it went back to normal. I just stared at her with questions swirling in my head. Do I ask about the weird ass phone or do I ask about the actor guy?
"I have no idea how it works. Something about clear, nanotechnology." Aubrey shrugged, "You'd have to ask Wheeljack or Perceptor."
Well since that was out of the way. I pointed at her phone, "Why were you talking to that Lennox guy and why'd you tell him to come up?"
Aubrey bit down on her lower lip, "Ratchet said I should wait to tell you, but I know me. I can't keep a secret from you, especially not this one, so I thought I would tell you now. You're strong enough to handle it and I figured since I was going to tell you about them, you might as well meet them." She was rambling. "Besides, you need to meet Will. He's the human in charge around here."
"Aubrey. What are you trying to say?"
"Will is a good man. We weren't ever really close, but then…then the attack happened and I lost Wes and I thought…I thought I'd never be able to come back from that." Aubrey shook her head, "He had lost his own wife, Sarah, a year before in a car crash. No Decepticons, no war, just a really bad accident on the one-day she wasn't riding in Ironhide. It was tragic." I could tell where this was going and my features softened as the paranoia slipped away. "He helped me get through the grieving and we became good friends."
I raised an eyebrow, "So what happened? I'm starting to get the feeling that it didn't end at good friends."
Aubrey chuckled, "Chicago happened. He got hurt pretty bad towards the end of those awful three weeks and I just…I thought I lost him and it terrified me. When he woke up in the hospital, I saw him and it…it clicked." She shrugged, "We started seeing each other about six months later. Annabelle, his daughter, was only 3 when her mom died and she was 7 when I started, well, you know, dating her father. She's an absolute sweetheart, you'll love her and I know if she gives you a chance she'll love you as an aunt."
"As an aunt?" I questioned, "So the two of you aren't just dating anymore, you're-"
Aubrey lifted her left hand to show a very nice wedding ring, "We got married about two years later and eight months after I had Lucas."
"Had Lucas where? Like to dinner?" I shook my head, "Wait, who the fuck is Lucas?"
"He's your nephew." Aubrey smiled softly. I stared at her, jaw slack, and just blinked in pure shock. She continued as if I wasn't having an aneurysm, "He's 7 years old now and is just the little adventurer. Climbs up anything he can reach, always has scuffed up knees, and is obsessed with cars."
"I have a nephew. I have a- I have a step-niece? Is that a real term? Am I a step-aunt?" I questioned in shock.
"To Annabelle, yes, but you never let anyone call you Aunt anyways, so does the proper term matter?"
"Oh my God." I covered my eyes, "I could barely keep up with three and now there's five?!"
Aubrey chuckled and pulled my hand away from my face, "You handled three very, very well. You're an amazing aunt and I'm so excited for them to come meet you."
I shook my head, "I still can't believe you popped out another kid." She rolled her eyes at me and I frowned, "I mean, damn, Aubs. This is the fourth one you've pushed out and I missed it. Again!"
"Once again, not your fault."
"Still, I feel bad. I've never gotten to hold any of them when they were cute little potato looking babies." She sent me a glare and I shrugged, "All babies look like potatoes when they first come out, let's be real now."
Aubrey chuckled, "You could always have one of your own."
I let out a loud laugh, "I don't know about that. I'm not really 'mom' material. I'm more 'cool aunt that lets you get away with shit'."
The sound of nails against tiles filled the air again and Bear slid past the archway again. I chuckled and waited for him to get his footing and rush in. I handed Aubrey my tray in anticipation and just like before he jumped onto my lap. Aubrey gasped, "Bear! Down! Be careful!"
"Oh, it's fine." I brushed off her worry and cuddled his now large body into my chest. He weighed a freaking ton, but I couldn't care less. A few seconds later, Tyler walked into view with a wide grin. "Tyler!"
"Hey, Aj." He greeted and glanced over at Aubrey, "Hey, mama."
Tyler walked over and kissed his mom on the cheek before leaning against my bed railing, "So, how's the cripple?"
"Ready to walk." I replied with a groan.
Tyler chuckled, "It's literally been less than a day since you got out of surgery. I got bad news for you on that front." I rolled my eyes and his smile grew, "Oh, I have the funniest story. Ok, so you know how all the mechs that were with us back in the old universe are bonded to us and what not?"
"Yes, I think I remember that." I scoffed.
"Anyways", He ignored my tone and continued, "Grimlock knew you were here the moment you popped up and tried to hitch a ride to the US of A. The guys at Diego Garcia wouldn't let him though. So Grimlock, being Grimlock, threw the most epic temper tantrum I've ever heard from him."
Aubrey sighed, "What's the damage?"
"Six chewed up military grade jeeps, a half burned down watch tower, and a flipped over Chinook." Tyler chuckled, "They sent us pictures of the damage."
"Isn't that stuff like expensive?"
Tyler nodded, "Oh yeah, but it's their own fault. We told them to allow him passage to the UHAC for visiting because we knew what was going to happen if they didn't. Diego Garcia is chock full of stuffy politicians right now. I kinda wish Grimlock chewed up one of them."
"Tyler Gavin Williams." Aubrey scolded.
He held his hands up, "What? I'm kidding. Mostly." He turned back to me, "Pete said he was going to try and stop by later. He's been super busy today with meetings."
"Oh, yeah sure." I replied and tried to hide the nervous tone in my voice. Peter was the only one of the three kids I hadn't seen yet, and I was most worried to see him. What if he hated me for not being there for him? All that talk and yet somehow I still ended up abandoning him. Maybe that's why he wasn't around today. He was avoiding me and using work as an excuse. I didn't blame him. Taylor, Tyler, and Aubrey hadn't said much about him to me either and that only made me more nervous.
"Will and the kids are on base." Aubrey said and I glanced over to see her looking at her phone.
Tyler chuckled, "Ooh, is Aj gonna meet the kids and my step-father?"
"Yupp." I grinned, "Back to that though, oh my God. You married Josh Duhamel, Aubs. He's fucking fine as hell."
Aubrey rolled her eyes at me, "He's William Lennox here. He isn't Josh Duhamel."
"Fergie would be so pissed at you, sis." I clucked my tongue at her.
Tyler shook his head, "I'm lost here. What?"
I smirked at him in response, "A young whippersnapper like yourself just wouldn't understand."
Tyler scoffed, "We are the same age, remember that?"
When he said the word 'same' he motioned toward the two us with the ASL sign for the word. I paused in remembrance and Tyler must have noticed my hesitance. I cleared my throat and buried my hands in Bear's fur, "Taylor told me about…"
"My hearing?" Tyler smiled, "It's no big deal, Aj. I'm used to it. Besides", He motioned toward his ears and turned his head so I could see the clear plastic nestled in his ear, "With the aides they made me, I can basically hear."
"I heard you know sign language too now."
Tyler grinned and signed to me, 'That's right, I do.'
I lifted my hands up from Bear's back and ignored his whines, 'You used to fingerspell your name with an A instead of an E, as a kid.'
Tyler laughed, "Did I?"
"Yeah. You did." I replied, "I corrected you once, but you never listened."
He chuckled and went back to signing, 'I learned from, fast'.
I narrowed my eyes at what he signed to me. Taylor had told me he learned from Sideswipe, but he hadn't finger spelled out the mech's name. I shook my head, "Was that a sign name? For Sideswipe?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah." Tyler nodded, "When I was younger, I went to a school for the deaf for a little while. To help with my signing. They gave me a sign name and then I gave one to all the mechs. It's easier than spelling out their long ass names."
"Language." Aubrey warned. She stood up and smiled at me before leaving the room.
Tyler grabbed my attention again, "Do you have a sign name? Were you ever given one?"
The thing about sign names was that you couldn't name yourself. It was one of the customs of the deaf community. A sign name had to be given to you by someone who was deaf or hard of hearing. It was usually a trait they noticed about and it was sometimes followed by the first letter of your name.
I showed him the sign name given to me during my second semester of ASL with a roll of my eyes. It was the sign for 'cute' followed quickly by a turn of the hand into the letter 'A'. Tyler chuckled when I showed it to him.
"Who gave that to you?"
I shook my head, "An old friend of mine. He always thought I was so cute and small. It was a running joke between us." I nodded toward him, "What's yours?"
He pointed one finger to his ear then brought it forward, shaking both fists for the sign of 'loud', but both fists were also making the letter 'T'.
"Cute Aj and Loud Tyler." I smiled, "Sounds fitting."
"I can't argue against it." Tyler shrugged.
"So Sideswipe's sign name is 'fast'?"
Tyler nodded with a smirk, "You wanna know Sunstreaker's?"
"You came up with it?" I clarified. He nodded in response. Tyler held a closed fist above his head then slowly opened it as he moved his hand toward his face. It was the sign for 'sunshine'. I burst into laughter, "Oh I'm sure he loved that."
"Not as much as Sideswipe did."
I was curious to know all the mech's sign names, but at this time Aubrey came back and she wasn't alone. Tyler snapped his fingers and Bear jumped off the bed to stand by him. Lennox was the easiest to recognize mostly because he looked just like he did in the movies, but maybe a little older. He looked to be in his early forties, at the most, and that made me wonder how old he was when he joined NEST. Aubrey stood beside him and I let my eyes dart to the girl who stood in front of them.
She was an older teenager. Based off the timeline in my head, she was probably like 16 or 17. She didn't look much like Lennox so I assumed she took after her mom. Not that I could remember what her mom looked like from the movies. Annabelle had long blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and grayish blue eyes. She was wearing a jacket over a red and black cheerleading uniform.
Right next to her, holding her hand tightly, was a little boy. He did look like Lennox with the same shade of brown hair and the same brown eyes. He was cute with Aubrey's face shape and light freckles over the bridge of his nose. He wore a button up shirt over khaki shorts and I could see Band-Aids covering his knees.
"Whoa! You're not old!" Lucas cried. Annabelle nudged him with the same hand that was holding his own.
"Aimee", Aubrey smiled, "This is Annabelle and Lucas. Go say hi."
The two walked closer to me and I tried to figure out something to say. I cleared my throat, "Um hi. I'm Aj and I guess I'm like your aunt... which is news for all of us I'm sure."
"Are you a doctor?" Lucas asked.
"Lucas." Aubrey said in a warning tone.
I shook my head with a smile, "Nope. Not a doctor. I probably have more in common with hobos than I do a doctor."
Annabelle cracked a smile, "It's nice to meet you, Aj."
"Yeah, ditto. Um…" I shrugged and glanced over at Tyler who was biting back laughter.
Lennox walked over to stand on the other side of Annabelle and offered his hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, Aj. I've heard good things. My name is William Lennox."
I shook his hand and nodded, "Nice to meet you too. Thanks for taking care of Aubs for me. And for looking out for the kids too."
"I'm not a kid." Tyler sung in argument.
I rolled my eyes at him, "You'll always be a damn kid to me- wait, dang!" My eyes shot to Lucas. Shit, I was already screwing up. "I said dang because- because cursing is- it's a sin. You don't do that."
Annabelle let out a chuckle that she smothered with a cough. Lennox nodded, "Well we should probably leave you to rest for now. Annie and Luke are gonna come up sometime tomorrow to keep you company."
"We are?" Annabelle asked with wide eyes. He shot her a glare and she nodded, "Right, yeah. I'm…looking forward to getting to know you, Aj."
"Can I bring my games?" Lucas asked loudly and the attention was drawn away from me as Aubrey spoke to her son. Annabelle was obviously super wary of me. Not that I blame her. Suddenly getting an aunt from a magic portal was probably weird as shit.
Tyler cleared his throat and clapped his hands, "Come on, little A and little L. Let's go steal dessert from the kitchen."
He shot me a smile that I returned quickly before leaving with the kids in tow with Bear bouncing around Lucas. Aubrey walked over, "Peter is stopping by soon so I'm gonna run downstairs with Will. Do you need anything?"
Just a time machine that would take me back twenty years.
"Nope. See you later, sis." I replied. She hugged me tightly once more before leaving the room with Lennox who gave me a quick nod of the head. I returned the small farewell and then leaned back into my bed with a sigh. That could've gone better, admittedly.
I sat in bed, bored out of mind, for about thirty minutes before the sound of someone approaching made me sit up in excitement. Bluestreak's holoform was the first I noticed and that was only because he sprinted into the room and to my bedside.
"Primus, I can't believe it's actually you, Aj!" Bluestreak pulled me into a quick hug without pausing between his words, "Tyler and I were out there to pick you up and I was fighting Stinger, but still I can barely believe it! I'm so sorry too! I fired at Stinger without even thinking about you and Ratchet says you hit your head and you have that faceplate burn because of the explosion."
Bluestreak continued to ramble, but my mind got sidetracked. Face burns? I lifted a hand to feel my face, but all I felt was soft skin. My finger brushed across a raised, too smooth patch of skin above my right eye and I recognized it as a burn mark. It wasn't large though and I didn't even realize I had it until now.
"Relax, Blue." I shook my head and grinned at him, "You saved my life is what you did. Thanks."
Bluestreak beamed at my words and sat down in the seat by my bed, "We missed you so much, Aj, and we're so glad you're here, finally. I heard the twins are coming back to base now to because of you and of course Jazz and Bee are gonna lose it when they get back from their mission!"
I chuckled at how excited Bluestreak was. Now that I had reassured him of his earlier actions, his face was split into a wide grin and he spoke a lot faster than he usually did while still using his hands to narrate his words.
"Calm down, Bluestreak. You're overwhelming her." A calm voice interrupted.
I glanced over at the door to see Prowl's holoform. Just like Blue and Optimus, he had on a military uniform. In fact, it seemed like Ratchet was the only holoform still wearing what he had on back in the house. My eyes didn't stick to the holoform for very long though because right beside him was Peter.
It was Peter. He was so different now, but I just knew it was him. I'd recognize him from a crowd easily simply because my gut pointed him out. Peter was taller than me, I could tell because he was the same height as Prowl, but he was a lot shorter than Tyler. He was also on the slim, wiry side rather than Tyler who had truly buffed out. He wore dress pants and a white button up shirt, but the shirt was wrinkled with the sleeves messily rolled up and his red tie was skewed. His light brown hair looked a shade darker. It also looked like it had been neatly brushed aside earlier in the day, but was now messy from a long day of running his hands through it. Peter's jawline was firmer and clean, making him look older, but it was him. It was Peter.
The room had grown quiet. It was only now that I realized this. Peter cleared his throat and stepped forward, Prowl walked over to stand on my right side next to Bluestreak in the chair.
"I'm so sorry." I blurted and Peter's eyebrows furrowed together. He closed the space and rested his hands on the bed railing on the left side. I could see his gray eyes now. The right one was a bit cloudy, the only evidence that he couldn't see out of it, and his left eye, like Taylor had said, had a light blue, thin ring around the iris. I shook my head, "I'm so sorry that I wasn't here. That I broke- that I broke my promise. I'm sorry-"
Peter leaned forward and reached out to pull me forward. I leaned forward and he wrapped his arms around me tightly. He squeezed me once and I could feel him shaking his head against my shoulder, "Don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for."
I pulled back with a frown, "Pete-"
"You didn't stay behind on purpose, Aj." Peter argued, "Mom told us everything when she came through the portal. I'm sorry." He shook his head once with a deep frown, "I'm sorry for leaving you."
"You didn't leave me, kid." I replied and pulled him back into a tight hug. I shut my eyes to hold back any tears that threatened to spill out.
We stayed that way for a while before Peter pulled back again, this time with a big smile, "I knew it."
"Knew what?"
"I knew I'd see you again one day." Peter laughed to himself, "I knew there was nothing that could keep my stubborn aunt from getting to us."
I cupped his face with one hand, lightly tapping his cheek twice with a smirk, "Course not." My eyes drifted over to Prowl who wore a small smile, "Hey there, Prowl. Did you miss me?"
"Indeed, I did." Prowl nodded with a firm smile, "It's good to see you again." He glanced at Bluestreak, "Come on."
"Are you leaving already?" I pressed.
"We have a meeting with Optimus and the other mechs." Bluestreak stood up, "But don't worry, we'll be back tomorrow for sure. Well, if Ratchet lets us that is. He almost didn't let us in this time."
I gave them a quick goodbye before watching both holoforms fade away from where they stood. Peter came around the bed to sit next to me, pulling the chair closer, "How do you feel? I wanted to come right after you got out of surgery, but today's been hectic."
"Don't worry about it." I replied, "I feel fine. Better than fine."
"That's just the medicine, I'm sure. You have a broken knee. You need more rest."
I rolled my eyes playfully, "Yeah, ok, Ratchet."
Peter chuckled, "I can't believe I'm sitting here with you right now….and I really can't believe you're still 26. You know, Taylor and Tyler-"
"Are also 26. I know. Tyler wouldn't shut up about it." I chuckled, "Geez, that must make you…" His birthday was in September, "29?"
Peter nodded, "Yeah. I turn the big 3-0 later this year."
"This is unbelievable." I shook my head. "You're actually older than me right now… With the twins, I'm still older since I'll turn 27 in June, but….geez."
Peter grinned and his entire face lit up, "Wanna see something that'll make me seem even older?"
"I'm afraid to say yes, but I'm way to curious to say no." I replied and Peter laughed. He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket. It took him seconds to pull a photo out of it and I took it from his outstretched hand. In the photo was the picture of a woman with fiery red hair, pale skin, and freckles all over her face. Her big, dark blue eyes were filled with laughter and she wore the brightest grin. In her arms, was a little girl with light brown hair tied into two cute pigtails. Her blue eyes matched the woman's, but her smile, the one with missing teeth, matched someone else. "Oh my God."
Peter nodded, "She's younger in that picture, but my daughter turned 4 this February."
"Oh my God." I breathed again. My eyes darted from the picture to the golden wedding band on Peter's left hand, "Oh my God."
Peter chuckled, "My wife, her name is Delilah. My daughter…her name is Amy."
My tears began to water up again as I shook my head, "Oh my God."
"Are you going to say anything other than 'Oh my God'?" Peter grinned.
I shook my head 'no' and stared back down at the picture. I forced myself to look up again at him and I motioned toward his daughter, "Amy…as in…?" I motioned toward myself.
Peter nodded with a soft smile, "Yeah, after you. It's spelled differently. A-M-Y instead of A-I-M-E-E."
He named his daughter after me.
He named this cute, precious, darling little girl after me. The woman with bruised knuckles and a bloody smile. Peter loved me enough, cared for me enough, to name his first-born child after me. It felt like my heart was going to explode inside my chest.
"I have a grand-niece." I laughed and Peter joined in with a wide smile of his own. In that moment, with my heart filled with so much love that I could barely stand it, I couldn't care less that I was twenty years in the future. Any problems that stemmed from that fact were forgotten as I sat with Peter and talked about his life. I was just honest to God beyond happy to be here now.
