A/N: Yay another chapter. Let me know what you think. I loved all the feedback I got last time, let's do it again! (:


Chapter Five:

Waiting List


"I believe certain people cross your life as guardian angels. Some connections can't be explained off words alone. It's a soul thing, a feeling." –unknown


Jazz had so many questions. His processor was spinning with them, in fact. As a trained saboteur that was damn good at his job, with plenty of experience as well, one would think that he'd be able to actually focus on the task at hand. Typically, Jazz was good at that; he was usually very good about pushing aside specific things to think about something else. This was not that case.

There was a bond in his chassis, buzzing with life, and for the life of him he could not push it aside. He could not focus on his mission a single bit. She had come back almost two earth weeks ago and her arrival had nearly gotten him killed. Bumblebee and him had been staking out a drone hive when it happened. The bond flashed to life and suddenly filled with pain. Jazz had nearly fallen from his precarious hiding spot right in front of a wanna-be Ratchet drone.

She was back though.

Aj was back and boy did Jazz have a pit of a lot of questions for her. The radio silence held between them and the base kept him in the dark and left him wondering. How did she get here? What had she been doing for the past twenty Earth years? Was she ok? Was she… Was she still herself or had the time alone changed her? Had Aj slipped back into her old life routine without the mechs or kids around to keep her afloat?

Movement caught Jazz's attention and he watched as Bumblebee quietly repositioned himself for a better view of the hive they've been studying. Jazz shook his helm once and tried to regain his focus.

One more week.

Just one more lousy Earth week and he'd see her again.


"You can just go fuck yourself."

"Aj, come on now."

"No. Just no. I'm done. We're done."

"You can't get rid of me. You know that."

"You know what I know? I know that you're the fragging devil and you can go straight to hell you pit spawned-"

Seth ignored my spew of insults and tapped me once on the thigh, "One more. You can do it. Come on."

I gritted my teeth and bent my right, injured knee to do a slight step up on low stool in front of me. Sweat dripped from my hairline, my muscles screamed in exhaustion, and my entire body shook as I forced myself to straighten my right leg all the way on the stool. I held it for a second before stepping back down and shifting my weight back to my left leg.

"See! I told you. I knew you could do it." Seth grinned and offered me his arm.

I hooked my arm through his and let him lead me over to the bench where I could sit, "You're the devil."

Seth chuckled and handed me a clean towel to wipe away my sweat. This was my fifth day of physical therapy with Seth Bradford and unsurprisingly I still hated it. I know I shouldn't. Not only was it helping me regain function in my right leg, but it also allowed me to get up and actually move myself rather than being carted around by anyone who wasn't too busy. Still though, I wasn't a fan.

After wiping away all the excess sweat, I tossed the towel aside and looked over at Seth. He was in his Army combat uniform, but his sleeves were rolled up as he typed something out at his computer off to the side. His light blond hair was still messy from when he was wearing his hat earlier. Seth was an Army physical therapist that worked directly on base in the medical wing. The physical therapy room wasn't overly large, but it was well supplied with weights and stools and all sorts of various other torture devices.

"Where's my favorite cripple?"

My attention snapped away from Seth to see Tyler standing at the doorway with a shit-eating grin on his face. He was in civilian clothes, but during my time here I realized Tyler almost always wore the same thing. A plain t-shirt, sometimes colored, sometimes white, and usually v-neck with jeans or khakis. If he was feeling really adventurous he'd throw a leather jacket over it all.

"You know, I think you're just a little too snarky." I bit back at him with a narrowed glare.

Tyler waltzed over and pulled one hand out from behind his back to reveal a pint of ice cream and spoon, "I blame my aunt. She was incredibly sarcastic during an important period of my development."

"Just hand me the ice cream." I replied and reached for the chocolate chip goodness. It had kind of become a tradition. Whichever poor soul that picked me up from physical therapy also brought me ice cream. Sideswipe started it.

Tyler handed me the ice cream and I didn't hesitate to dig in. Ice cream made everything better. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms with a smirk, "What do you say to Seth?"

I frowned and turned back to look at the physical therapist with a cheek full of ice cream, "Sorry for being a bitch. I don't want you to go to hell. You're actually a really cool guy."

Seth chuckled and walked over with my brace, "I know. Your colorful vocabulary doesn't really surprise me anymore."

I continued to eat as Seth latched my brace onto my leg. It was officially two weeks since my surgery. That meant not only was I in physical therapy, but I was also allowed to get around with crutches rather than a wheelchair. The new brace Wheeljack was making for me was supposed to be done any day now too so I had that to look forward to.

"Hurry up and eat your ice cream so we can go." Tyler said and lightly shook my shoulder as I tried to shove another bite of ice cream into my mouth.

I glared up at him, "Lemme eat my ice cream in peace. What's your rush?"

"I just want to hang out with my lovely aunt, is that such a crime?" He replied without missing a beat. I rolled my eyes at him and focused once again on the dessert in hand. It wasn't like I had any plans for the rest of today. This weekend was supposed to be the weekend that Peter brought his wife and child on base for me to meet. I had basically been holding my breath for the moment. However, Peter's wife's uncle was in the hospital and apparently they had been close, so Delilah and little Amy had driven out to Texas to visit him. The damn uncle just had to go and have a heart attack. What a jerk.

Tyler groaned, "God, you eat so slow."

I scooped the last of the ice cream onto my spoon, shoved it into my mouth, capped the empty tub, and then threw it and the spoon at him. He laughed but picked up the items to throw them away.

"Hey I have a question about Prowl." I said while slowly standing up. Seth, who had moved on to other things, came back and handed me my crutches. I quickly thanked him and readjusted them under my arms, "I mean, how is he allowed to just go on a road trip with Delilah and Amy?"

Tyler didn't reply. He turned back around from the trash to look at me with a casual look. I narrowed my eyes at him and my gaze drifted to his ears to notice they were rather bare.

"Where the hell are your hearing aids?"

Tyler shrugged, "Dunno. Couldn't find them this morning. Jackie's working on a new pair though so I'll be fine."

My nephew was amazing at reading lips and that worked in his favor, but it still made me uncomfortable to know he was walking around a military base without one of his senses. I pulled my hands away from the crutches to sign the word 'stupid' at him. Tyler just grinned at me in response.

"Doesn't Prowl have work at the base?" I went back to my initial question, "How was he allowed to leave with Delilah?"

Tyler nodded and held the door open as I slowly passed through with one final goodbye to Seth thrown over my shoulder.

"Of course he has work. Prowl's one of the busiest mechs on base." Tyler replied as the two of us walked down the hallway. "But he can do a lot over datapads. Plus, ever since Sarah Lennox died the mechs don't like us driving on our own."

It made sense. Sort of. Sarah Lennox had died in a routine car accident. Something that never would happen with any Cybertronian. Not only would they be able to avoid wrecks, but also they were made of sturdier stuff.

"And they're heading to Texas which isn't bad in itself, but there's a hive around there. Pete didn't even have to ask for Prowl to tag along, the mech offered." Tyler continued. "Not that that's surprising. Pete jokes that Prowl loves Amy more than him, which probably isn't very wrong. Prowl loves that little girl and Amy adores him."

It took longer to get to the main hanger because of my slow pace, but we eventually made it to the side of the base where Cybertronians could travel. It was easy to tell when you got to that area just because the hallways became large enough for cars to drive down.

We greeted anyone who passed us and I realized it still felt strange to have some refer to me by name. Most everyone on base was vaguely aware of my presence. I hadn't exactly made any new friends among the humans that lived here, but I was now recognizable to most. It was made easier by the fact that I was the only cripple on base being doted on by some big ass Cybertronians.

As we entered one of the many hangers my eyes were drawn to Smokescreen who was standing at full height talking to someone on the above railings. When he noticed our entrance he quickly said goodbye and turned to us.

"Well lookie what the cybercat dragged in." He grinned impishly.

"Tyler isn't wearing his hearing aids." I called back up to him as Tyler tapped his ears. As good as Tyler was at reading lips, he still couldn't read the Cybertronians' lips. Part of it was because of the distance from the ground to their face, but according to Tyler they moved their mouths weirdly. It was hard for him to differentiate between words. I never noticed it, most people didn't, but then again most of us weren't trying to read their words.

"Oh." Smokescreen said and quickly knelt down in front of us. Most of the Cybertronians on base knew at least some ASL which I thought was incredible. It was harder for some of them to learn than others just because they didn't have a program to just translate it for them. They had to actually learn it. Plus, some had hands and fingers that just didn't make the shapes they needed to. He used his hands to sign, 'Where are your aids?'

Tyler shrugged, "Good question. I got no idea."

I turned my head to stare at Tyler as I spoke so I knew Tyler would be able to understand what I said, "The idiot lost them."

"That's hurtful." Tyler replied and turned to Smokescreen. He used Smokescreen's sign name, which was basically the word 'smokes'. Tyler just tapped his lips with his pointer finger and middle finger in the shape of a 'V'. Which I thought was a not very creative sign name, but Tyler had been a kid when he picked these. Tyler continued with ASL, 'My aunt is bullying me. Where's my guardian when I need him?'

I caught his attention with my hand and when his eyes were on me I spoke, "We all know Bluestreak wouldn't do a damn thing to me."

Smokescreen nodded and signed, 'That's accurate.'

"Both of you are jerks." Tyler crossed his arms, but there was a grin hanging from his features. The sound of buzzing filled the air and I watched as Tyler reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. It reminded me that I had left my phone in the med bay where I was currently living. Ratchet said they were setting up an apartment for me on base, but I was pretty positive he just didn't want me to stray to far from his watchful eyes. "Hey can we hang out later? I gotta go do something."

"Do what?" I pressed in curiosity.

Tyler smirked, "My girlfriend."

I blanched at his innuendo and resisted the urge to whack him with my crutch as Smokescreen chuckled in amusement. It was moments like this that I couldn't believe this was the same Tyler who inhaled his chicken nuggets and fought me tooth and nail over bath time.

"Get out of here. Tell Riley I said hi." I had met his girlfriend once a few days ago, but apparently this girlfriend was a brand new thing. They had started dating last weekend and based on the way Taylor rolled her eyes when he announced it, she didn't expect the whole Riley/Tyler thing to last very long. Riley seemed like a sweet girl though. She worked in communications here.

Tyler quickly signed something to Smokescreen, but since I hadn't been paying close attention I missed most of it. Smokescreen nodded and transformed down into his alt mode as Tyler jogged away with one last grin in my direction. Smokescreen's holoform appeared wearing his military uniform with the sleeves rolled up. He held the passenger door open for me with a smirk, "After you, milady."

"Aren't you just a regular gentlemech, Smokes." I chuckled and limped over. Smokescreen took the crutches from me and closed the door. I kept my knee stretched out, and my hands folded in my lap. Honest to God, it was still weird as hell to sit inside one of them. Maybe it was because for a while I only knew them in their bipedal modes. Back in our universe there was no getting a ride from one of them. Now it felt more than strange to catch a ride. It was even weirder sitting in Sideswipe or Sunstreaker. Just the sentence of that thought was weird. I was sitting inside them. What the fuck?

"You alright there, Aj?" Smokescreen asked as he drove ahead. I nodded knowing he'd somehow see the movement. Somehow. Did I mention this was weird?

"Peachy." I smiled, "Where are we heading?"

"Oh, I was gonna take you to the break room. Ours." He replied and headed toward the elevator. "Flare-Up, Sides, and Blaster are down there. I gotta head back to work, but I don't think any of them would complain about your presence."

I nodded again and just sat patiently in my seat as Smokescreen began to tell the story of how his morning has been going. Not that I didn't like talking to Smokescreen, in fact I loved it, but this time I couldn't help my mind from wandering away. The incredulous amount of joy I had felt most of last week slowly died down until I was at a normal level of happy. I was happy. Despite the whole 'broken knee' hiccup, this was a best-case scenario for me. I was with my family, my mechs, and I was meeting more people that I truly enjoyed being around. Annabelle was a super cool teen. She was bubbly, energetic, and could talk for hours on end about anything. Luke was a riot to be around and the kid amused me to no end. Lennox seemed like a really nice dude, too. Granted, the only times I ever talked to him was while he was working and so our relationship still seemed almost professional rather than him being my brother-in-law.

Damn, that was still a weird thought. Will Lennox was my brother-in-law.

Regardless, my point was, that for the first time in a long time I wasn't just befriending a group of aliens, but I was also befriending actual functioning human beings. I even met Epps and we got along for the whole ten minutes I talked to him. If Ratchet and Lennox and Optimus and all of them actually let me socialize outside of the medbay without a chaperone I might make more friends. Go figure.

Still, I couldn't help but miss a good number of others.

I missed Granny and Josh, no doubt, but I knew they were sitting happy back in our old universe. I missed Grimlock. Luckily, they had pulled him up on a video chat of sorts in one of the hangers so I could talk to him. It felt good to see the dinobot again. The conversation consisted mostly of him demanding I come to him so the other dinobots could meet their human 'pet' and me begging him to stop throwing temper tantrums around the base he was at.

I missed Bumblebee. I couldn't wait to see the black and yellow scout. Taylor said he had actually changed alt modes in this universe so he'd be a Camaro. In order for him to get the alt mode he wanted exactly it required the installation of door wings much to Ratchet's chagrin. Apparently, Bumblebee really liked how much the door wings helped him in the field though so there was that plus.

Lastly, I missed Jazz. I missed him a lot. There were days when I'd think of something and look to share it with my knee-high, visored friend only to realize he wasn't around. Not to mention he wasn't gonna be knee high the next time I saw him.

"Aj?" Smokescreen cut through my line of thought.

I blinked and turned my head to the radio, "Huh?"

"We're here." He replied. I glanced out the window again to see the feet of Flare-Up and Blaster. Sideswipe had knelt down enough that I could see his face staring in my direction with worry on his features. Smokescreen had tinted windows so I knew he couldn't actually see my face. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry, Smokes. I didn't mean to zone out on you." I apologized.

"Hey, no worries. As long as you're ok…."

I watched as Sideswipe transformed and his holoform appeared. It was even easier to see the worry on his holoform's face. Sideswipe ran a hand through the longer dirty blond hair on top his head so it was pushed back and out of his face. He wore a long sleeve navy shirt with the three buttons at his neckline undone and khaki pants. I wondered if it was his day off or if he had to work later.

Smokescreen opened the side door as I reached for the handle and I chuckled in response. Sideswipe had jogged around the side and held his arms out toward me. He pulled me out of the car and before I could adjust myself he scooped me up with ease.

"What's up, babe?" Sideswipe questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing." I replied as my eyes took in all of his face, scar and all, "Where's your brother?"

Sideswipe started to walk towards the large, Cybertronian sized table, "He's working. We have opposite shifts today."

"Aj!" Blaster chirped as we got closer. Flare-Up reached down from the large seat she sat in and offered her hand. Sideswipe set me on her palm and she lifted me to the table. The sound of Sideswipe and Smokescreen transforming filled the room. "What's hanging, little lady?"

I grinned and made myself comfortable on the table, right leg stretched out, "Just looking for someone to hang out with. Smokes is abandoning me."

"Aw, don't be like that. Tyler abandoned you first!" Smokescreen replied. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see him set my crutches down in front of Sideswipe.

Flare-Up scoffed with a smirk, "Sure, blame the mech who isn't here to defend himself."

"I take the opportunities as I see them." Smokescreen shot back, "Later guys, I got work to do."

Blaster laughed, "Don't you mean work to put off?"

Smokescreen made the very human gesture of flipping them all off with a smirk before walking out of the room. I glanced over at Sideswipe who was seated at the table again, but still looking at me in concern. I shot him a smile.

"So how was physical therapy today, Aj?" Flare-Up asked.

"Same as always. Awful, but I got ice cream." I shrugged and leaned back on my hands. Blaster lifted a hand, as if pausing the conversation, and I watched as his chest transformed out and Steeljaw leaped out onto the table. After I took my first shower and stopped smelling like blood and death, Steeljaw seemed to like me. He was a lion mech of not many words though. He didn't talk often, but when he did it was either damn near inspirational or a blunt, bored insult. There really was no in between. He walked across the table and laid down behind me so I could lean against his side.

Blaster and Flare-Up restarted whatever conversation they must have been having before I showed up, but now they did so in English so I could follow along. However, my mind started to drift again as my fingers absentmindedly played with the metal twists of Steeljaw's mane.

I missed Bear. Maybe that's what had me feeling so off tilter. My pup was around, but he like had a legit job now. He mostly did missions with Tyler, but this week some other platoon had taken him out on a routine mission. I was very unhappy with the whole thing, but I couldn't stop it. My Bear had a job to do. That was better than my unemployed, broken ass.

It could also be the fact that I hadn't seen the outside world in two weeks. I kind of missed the sky. The only windows were in Ratchet's upper level medbay and the physical therapy room. My part of the room was too far to really see out Ratchet's window and Seth had me too busy to window gaze.

Flare-Up laughed and my focus snapped back to where it probably should be. She shook her head once, "Humans are so entertaining."

"What can I say, we try." I joked in return. She glanced at me in brief confusion before her eyes brightened like she just remembered something.

She smiled, "That you do. I just don't understand why some humans can be so careless out in the field."

"Says the femme who nearly blows herself to the pit every other battle." Sideswipe cut in, "You're the only Autobot that can compete with Wheeljack's number of explosions."

Flare-Up smirked, "I'm a demolitions expert. It's my job to blow things to pit."

"Including yourself?" Blaster chuckled.

Flare-Up replied sharply in cybertronian and Blaster laughed even louder. The femme was always so fired up and excited. Talking to her could always lighten my mood.

I stayed sitting at the table for maybe an hour talking with them before I started to get hungry. This morning, despite Ratchet's orders, I had skipped breakfast. The moment I started to sit up Sideswipe's eyes snapped to me.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting up." I replied and Steeljaw stood with me so I could use his back as a handrail of sorts. "I'm starving."

Sideswipe scooped up my crutches, dropping them in his subspace, and held his hand out, "I'll take you."

"You sure?" I questioned and Sideswipe rolled his eyes at me. With a chuckle, I sat down on the edge of his hand and scooted back. My eyes shot over to Blaster and Flare-Up, "Bye guys. I'll see you later?"

"Course." Blaster replied with a wave.

"Text me when you're done eating and we can hang out more. I'm done working for the day and I'm sick of these bolt headed mechs." Flare-Up grinned at me.

Blaster shook his head with mock hurt, "Femme, I thought you loved me?"

"Bye, Steeljaw. Thanks for being my pillow." I said as Sideswipe slowly started to lift me up while standing himself. Steeljaw nodded in reply before walking back over to Blaster who was talking in Cybertronian to Flare-Up.

Sideswipe held the hand I was in next to his chest and kept his other hand hovering close. I smiled up at the red mech, "You know I'm not gonna spontaneously fling myself off your hand."

"Rather safe than sorry." Sideswipe replied with a smile of his own, "I'm not about to take any risks with you."

"And here I thought you lived to take risks."

Sideswipe chuckled at my comment and continued down the hall. The walk to the main hanger was taking a bit longer than normal and Sideswipe took a few turns I wasn't entirely certain of. Admittedly, I wasn't very good at navigating the base yet. For all I knew this could be a shortcut.

The mech took another right turn and I suddenly became aware that this was not a shortcut.

"Why are you taking me to the medbay?" I pressed with furrowed brow.

"Huh?" Sideswipe replied like he didn't understand my question.

I narrowed my eyes at him as we walked through the door. Ratchet was sitting at his desk in the back working.

"Sideswipe." I pressed again as he set me down on one of the raised up berths. Even if I wasn't a cripple right now, I wouldn't be able to run from this place. Ratchet had risen from his desk and was on his way over. As the medic got closer I looked over at him, "What is going on?"

"Sideswipe said you were acting strange and distracted." Ratchet replied and I could feel him scanning me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at them. "How do you feel?"

I glared at Sideswipe who shrugged, "Come on, babe. I just wanna make sure you're a-ok."

"Snitches get stitches, you know." I retorted.

Sideswipe chuckled. Ratchet turned to him and said something quickly in their own language. The red mech nodded once, replied, and then looked back to me, "I'm gonna head out. I'll come back soon though and we can get food."

I very maturely stuck my tongue out him and crossed my arms. Sideswipe laughed and blew me a kiss before leaving out the door he came in. Ratchet mumbled to himself as he scanned me again and went over the newly gained information on the datapad in his hands.

"Did you do anything different today?"

"I cartwheeled from Physical Therapy to the hanger."

"Go anywhere new?"

"Thailand."

"Do you feel any pain?"

"Emotional or physical?"

Ratchet glared at me and I gave him a cheesy grin in response. He huffed in annoyance, "Perhaps its just your body readjusting to the lack of medicine. I'd give you a little bit more, but I don't want to back track the progress we've already made."

He continued on the same line of thought, but my mind drifted away again. He could be right. Wasn't Ratchet always right? Maybe I just needed time to get used to the lack of miracle medicine pumping through my system. He had taken me off a few days ago because it was starting to disrupt my sleeping cycle, which was a common side effect. That meant I had to go back to ignoring the dull ache surrounding my knee. Luckily, the injury hadn't damaged my ability to ignore problems both emotional and physical.

Honestly speaking, the best thing for me right now would probably be to go out for a drive. Just a little alone time tearing up some desert roads. It'd be a great way to clear my mind considering I couldn't go distract myself with a punching bag at the moment. It'd be damn near impossible to convince Ratchet and the others of that though. They'd either never let me out or refuse for me to go alone which kind of defeats the entire purpose. I didn't even have my driver's license with-

"I miss him." I mumbled in sudden realization. It was the oddest reminder, but my train of thought had crashed right into memories of Thundercracker and I going for drives. I hadn't thought of the mech since I came. How had he slipped my mind so easily? I didn't even know what condition he was in after the fight with that drone.

The room grew quiet meaning Ratchet was done rambling about my health for the moment. I looked at him and he spoke, "Jazz?"

"Well…yeah, but that's not who I was…" I shook my head, "I miss TC." Ratchet looked taken aback for a minute and his mouth fell open to speak, but I didn't give him the chance. "I miss TC and I miss Skywarp. I miss Soundwave and I even miss Starscream…I-I kind of miss Megatron, Ratchet."

There was silence between us as Ratchet vented out a very human like sigh. He stepped away to grab a chair against the wall and brought it over for him to sit. Now his face level was only a little above mine.

"I don't really miss Barricade. He was an asshole." I sighed.

"I know this is hard for you, but the decepticons-"

"Are bonded to me." I interrupted him, "Just like you guys. How can…How does that work? Y'all would never hurt us. Could they-"

Ratchet shook his head, "We thought for a while that the peace would continue. The 'cons laid low for a while, but then they came back full force. You didn't change them. I don't think anything could."

"Megatron was getting better. He was…good. He was good back in our world." I argued. "Or…Or he was getting there, at least."

"I'm sorry, Aj." Ratchet replied, "I know you had grown close to Thundercracker. I think it'd be best though if you let this drop. Don't bring it up."

I let my hand trace the edge of my knee brace, "But maybe…couldn't we do something? The kids and I could talk to them. If we convinced them of peace once-?"

"Do not talk to the younglings about this." Ratchet said firmly. "Tyler, Taylor, or Peter."

"Ratchet-"

"The trine killed Wes, Aj." Ratchet blurted and I could feel my stomach drop. What? I had known it was a decepticon attack. I had known that, but in my mind it was some nameless decepticon asshole. Someone we didn't know. Someone who didn't know us. That was the only thing that made sense because our 'cons wouldn't ever- couldn't ever…

I blinked once and let out a breath of air I hadn't even realized I was holding, "W-What?"

"We don't know which of them." Ratchet shook his head, "It happened too quickly, but we know one of them shot the missile into the hanger he was taking shelter in. The entire building came down." Ratchet reached out his hand and let it rest beside me, "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. Before my mind could fully wrap around those words, before I started picturing the battle, I cleared my throat and spoke, "I won't bring it up again."

"Aj-"

"Don't worry, Ratch." I gave him a firm smile that I knew didn't reach my eyes, "Consider it officially dropped."

Ratchet hummed once in thought before nodding, "I contacted Sideswipe to come get you. You need lunch."

"Thanks." I leaned against his hand lazily.

He nodded and shifted in his seat in a way that made him look almost nervous. Before I could question the change of atmosphere he spoke, "There is something I've been meaning to discuss with you. You are aware that officially Prowl has been assigned as Peter and his family's guardian just like Bumblebee is guardian for Taylor and Bluestreak for Tyler?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Ratchet stood and moved the chair away. He fidgeted with a tray of tools by the bed, a nervous tick of his I had noticed, as he continued, "Optimus is looking to file away the information into the corresponding datapad for your official guardian. Despite what your government thinks, the guardian-ward decision is larger than just pairing a human with a Cybertronian and we take your opinion into the decision as well." He cleared his throat, "Now, the list of those who would be willing to be assigned as your guardian is quite long. The twins obviously signed up for the job, and if Jazz were able we all know he would. Wheeljack signed up, and even Flare-Up did. Grimlock as well, but we don't think that'd be a very good idea."

"Ok, so what are you getting at Ratchet?" I pressed.

"Prowl and Optimus offered the first spot on the 'waiting' list of sorts to me. For me to be your guardian and you my ward. Now if you're ok with that…" Ratchet's voice trailed off as he looked at me expectantly. My eyebrows furrowed briefly in confusion as I took in all his words. Ratchet let out a coughing sound and shook his head, "Of course, if you refuse that would be perfectly fine. It is vastly important for a guardian and ward to be-"

"Ratchet, Ratchet." I made him stop talking, "Of course I'm not saying no. I just…" I shrugged and Ratchet stared at me curiously, "I sort of thought you already were my guardian and I was already your ward."

There was a pause of silence before a small smile grew on Ratchet's face. He chuckled and nodded once, "I will let Optimus know."

Ratchet turned and continued working on the tools. No matter how much I missed certain people in my life, I knew that I still had so many in my life that would have my back no matter what. These were people I could count on with anything. People I'd do anything to protect and who would do the same for me. I think a part of me, since the very beginning, always knew that Ratchet was one of those people.

"Does this mean I can call you 'Dad' now?"

"Get out."


The guy who said 'practice makes perfect' was an asshole and a liar. If that saying had been even remotely true then by now I would've been at least half decent at working these damn crutches. Yet, here I was still nearly tripping over them.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to be meeting them?" I asked loudly while trailing behind Annabelle who was leading the way. Being that it was Saturday, she was on base and twenty minutes ago she stole me away from Aubrey under the pretense of 'Auntie-Niece bonding time'. However, now I was being ushered away to meet the infamous Lex and Eli I had heard so much about. The crutch under my left arm wobbled again and I cursed under my breath.

"Yeah, totally." Annabelle glanced back with a smile. The smile faltered for a second and she nodded, "But maybe you wanna walk a little faster?"

"Trust me, I'm trying." I replied.

The hallways she was leading me down were mostly clear. There were a few soldiers here and there that we passed, but they paid us no mind. My eyes darted around and I wondered if this was a new area I was in or if I was just mixing up the various hallways I had traveled down. They all looked alike. Concrete walls, fluorescent lighting, and no interior décor.

Annabelle jogged ahead, her blonde braid bouncing against her back, and opened the double doors for me. I worked my way through and realized this was in fact a new area. The large room I was now in was a mechanic bay of sorts. The far left wall consisted of large open garage doors. There were various military grade jeeps and trucks in various conditions with men and women walking around in gray jumpsuits or standard mechanic shirts. The room was loud, hot, and filled with sparking metal and dangerous tools.

"Ratchet is going to murder me for being here." I mumbled.

"Come on, they should be this way." Annabelle pointed to the right and I started to follow her again, sticking close to the wall.

I glanced around best I could while still keeping an eye where I put my left foot and the ends of my crutches. With my luck I'd fall in here and impale myself on a wrench.

"Do you and your friends hang out in a working mechanic bay often?" I questioned skeptically. Neither of us were dressed to be in a room like this. I wore black gym shorts and a plain, baggy shirt with my hair hanging down around my face. Annabelle wore distressed, light jean shorts and a dark green tank top with sandals of all things. We were literally the walking poster of 'Do not look like this in here'.

"We have to cut through here to get to where we usually hang out. Lex's mom works in here. You haven't met her yet have you?" She asked but left me no time to answer, "It won't be that big of a deal if she sees us, but we still need to avoid her because she might tell Lennox or-"

Annabelle came to a screeching stop and I nearly toppled over with my crutches. It took me a second to readjust myself in a comfortable, stable stance. I looked over Annabelle's shoulder to see a man standing in front of us. He looked just as out of place in his black suit and light blue shirt with matching tie. His curly hair was short and close to his head, but he had a rather thick, neat beard starting from his sideburns. The guy looked to be around mid-thirties and he had light skin and hazel eyes and looked oh-so familiar. Did I meet him before?"

"Sam!" Annabelle cried in surprise. She quickly readjusted her tense stance and let out a light laugh, "What are you doing here?"

"I was visiting Mikaela." He replied and his eyes glanced over at me. They widened slightly and I finally recognized him. Sam, as in Sam Witwicky, was from the movies. He looked like…like…like that actor, guy. Damn, what was his name? Aubrey had been right in the sense that the longer I stayed here the more the trivial stuff started to slip away. "What are you doing in here?"

Annabelle shrugged, "Just giving Aj a tour."

"A Ratchet approved one?" Sam asked with a slight smile. Annabelle let out a nervous light chuckle and I smirked in amusement. Sam stepped to the side and offered me hand as Annabelle stepped to the side and turned to face us both, "Hi, I don't think we've officially met. My name is Sam Witwicky, I'm the Autobot assigned liaison."

I shook his hand, with much struggle, and nodded, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Witwicky. I'm Aj. Aubrey's younger sister."

"You can just call me Sam." He smiled, "I've heard a lot about you."

"Yeah, apparently I'm a hot topic around here."

Annabelle cut in, "Sam, do you know if Lex and Eli are in the break room?"

Sam glanced at her, "Lex is still, but Eli left. His mom needed him so I guess he's in the apartment area?"

"Great. Thanks Sam!" Annabelle chirped before motioning for me to follow after her. Her quick pace left me no choice in the matter so I gave the familiar looking Sam Witwicky a big smile, questioned my sanity for a brief moment again, and then went back to struggling with my crutches.

Luckily for me, the break room Annabelle was talking about wasn't much further. She led me to the back of the room where an elevator sat. As we got in she pressed down the down button.

"There's no up button." I said aloud.

She nodded, "Yeah, ground level is the only upper floor. Then we have one floor below it at basement level. That's where a lot of break rooms are. They double as bunkers in case of an emergency."

"Convenient." I mumbled. It was little moments like that that reminded me that I was on an actual, functioning military base.

The doors opened into a bleak hallway that Annabelle turned right at. She opened a bright red door at the end of the small hallway and I limped my way in. The room was rather small with just a few circular tables spread apart with matching plastic chairs and a long couch pushed against the left wall. There was a kitchen area complete with counters, sink, and even a microwave and fridge.

My eyes went back to the couch where a young girl sat criss cross in the middle. Her attention fell to me as well and her dark grayish eyes widened a bit in surprise. This girl looked nothing like Sam Witwicky, but the train of thought that followed her genes went array as I remembered Annabelle had explained this earlier to me. She had been adopted as a young kid.

She had light brown skin and dark hair that fell a little past her shoulders. I could see a streak of blue peeking out from the underside of her hair. She had on light jeans that had scuff marks and black oil stains in the shapes of finger smears. As if she had rubbed her hand across her thigh absentmindedly. Her shirt, which was a light blue work shirt I had seen some others in the mechanic bay wearing, was in similar shape.

"Hey, AB." She said though her eyes didn't leave from my features, "This is…"

"This is my aunt." Annabelle introduced and I had to keep myself from smiling like a total idiot at the title. It was one thing for me to mentally consider myself family, but another for her to announce it. "Her name is Aj. Aj this is Lex."

Lex remained skeptical, "Her name is Aj?"

"It stands for Aimee Jane." I spoke up then pressed my lips together nervously. Maybe it was pathetic of me, but I really wanted this 15, maybe 16, year old girl to like me. She was important to Annabelle after all. "It's nice to finally meet you, Lex. I've heard a lot."

Lex finally tore her eyes away from me to stare at Annabelle questioningly. Was there something on my face? Annabelle cleared her throat and pulled out a chair for me to sit down in. I didn't hesitate to drop down into the seat.

"Lex gets a bit lightheaded when she stays in the shop too long. Give her a minute to get on the same page as us."

"Uh, sure thing?" I replied with a shrug.

Lex shook her head, "Sorry, it is nice to meet you. AB… told me about you she just forgot to mention something."

I pretended to ignore the pointed look Lex shot towards my niece, "What'd she forget?"

"Just how young you are." Annabelle smiled, "I didn't think it was that big of a deal though."

"Kind of is." Lex argued.

I clapped my hand once with a sheepish grin, "Well, now that we're past that whole thing…" The air was still tense and I tried to think of something to move the conversation along, "So do you work here? I know you go to school in Vegas."

"My mom is one of the head mechanics here. She lets me help sometimes." Lex answered warily. She seemed to get more comfortable as the sentence continued though, "It's not as fun as when I get to help out Taylor, but I like it."

I grinned as we entered familiar territory, "Oh, I should've known that you and Taylor knew each other. Uh, Smokes is your guardian, right?"

Lex's face broke out in a small smile as she chuckled, "Smokes? So you're the one calling him that?"

"Is that wrong?" I asked curiously. Smokescreen seemed like he was ok with the nickname.

Lex shook her head, "Nah, I've just always called him Smokey and about a week ago he said I should start calling him 'Smokes' because it makes him sound more mature and sophisticated."

"Really?" I let out a laugh, "I guess that doesn't really surprise me. I just started calling him that because of his sign name. The one Tyler gave him. It's literally the sign for 'smokes'."

"That makes sense." Lex replied, "Tyler taught me a few signs. He's showed all of us a few things actually. Eli's the only who really picked it up, but he has trouble keeping up in actual, fast conversations. Do you sign?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I learned in college. It was the only foreign language class I was remotely interested in."

Annabelle bounced in place, "I knew you two would get along perfectly."

"We've said like two sentences to each other." Lex raised an eyebrow at the girl.

Annabelle scoffed, "Please, you know I have a sense about these things."

The conversation continued and it remained light for the most part. Annabelle was the lead conversation holder, but as time passed Lex obviously grew more comfortable with having me around. I still wondered what exactly had the girl so wary to begin with, but I figured that would be a question for another day. Regardless of what it was, we were getting along fine now.

It was really neat to see Annabelle and Lex interact only because it was blatantly obvious that the two of them were very close. I wondered how'd it be if the other kid was here too, Eli.

About thirty minutes after we had first come in, the break room door opened again. Familiarity washed over me again as my eyes landed on the lightly tanned woman standing in the doorway. She had a gray jumpsuit on, but the upper half was off with the sleeves tied around her waist so you could see the white tank top she wore under it. Her dark hair was tied up into a messy bun and a pair of goggles hung around her neck. She was really pretty with light freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheekbones. Even with the smudges of grease on the edge of her oval shaped face. Her blues eyes were filled with warmth and amusement despite the exhaustion in her stance.

"Hey mom." Lex greeted.

"Oh, hi Mikaela!" Annabelle added.

Mikaela smiled and her eyes darted toward me, "I was coming to ask why a pissed off medic was on his way over, but I think I can take a pretty good guess now."

I nodded, "Yupp, that's probably for me."

"I'm Mikaela Witwicky." She crossed the room and offered a hand for me to shake. "Aj, right?"

"That's me. It's nice to meet you. I met your husband on our way in." I replied.

She nodded, "Good! That means you know the entire Witwicky family here on base now." Mikaela glanced over at Lex, "Lex, honey, do you think you can help the guys out on the jeeps?"

"Sure, mom." Lex stood up and looked over at me, "Nice to meet you, Aj."

"You too." I replied and waved to them both. Mikaela gave me one last smile as Lex quickly tied her hair up into a matching messy bun. They may not have looked anything alike by physical traits, but they were very similar in the way they moved and held themselves.

Both left and the red door closed behind them. I looked over to Annabelle, "You think we can get out of here before Ratchet shows up?"

The sound of a holoform filled the air and suddenly Ratchet was standing by the fridge with a frown on his features and his arms crossed tightly. Annabelle clicked her tongue once, "I don't think so, no."


Lex walked beside her mother who didn't say a word about the obvious thing that needed to be discussed. She kept her staring at her, hoping she'd turn and offer an explanation of some kind. No luck.

"Alright." Her mom said as the elevator doors opened, "John and Henry need an extra pair of hands on the jeep with the-"

"Mom, what the heck?" Lex blurted. Since playing the sly and patient game wasn't working, she'd have to go for the direct approach, "I mean…what the heck?"

Her mom sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. She glanced around briefly before stepping off to the side, pulling Lex with her, "You need to keep this to yourself, Lex."

"Mom, that was Dr. Stick-In-The-Mud." Lex replied in a hushed tone. Not that a hushed tone was really needed in a garage as loud as the one they were in. "Except it wasn't! She was funny and nice and- and not evil. Plus, she was probably only like 23 or 24!"

Her mom sighed, "26 actually." Lex motioned with her hands that her point was correct. "She's Aubrey's real sister, Lex. The one from her own universe."

Lex blinked once in surprise. Not many people knew about the whole different universes thing, and technically speaking she only knew by default. Because her family was so involved with the Cybertronians and so involved with Aubrey, Tyler, Taylor, and Peter, she got to know the big secret. She was one of few.

"She's the one who came through the portal that day." Lex mumbled in realization. The clues had all been there. Annabelle's secrecy, the news of the portal opening, Aubrey's giddiness. It just took a while for Lex to connect it all in her mind.

"If anyone asks she's Dr. Bradshaw's daughter."

"Dr. Bradshaw didn't have any kids and she was far from motherly." Lex argued.

"I know that and so do you, but most people don't. Dr. Bradshaw was distant and…"

"Cold? Unfriendly? Mean?"

Her mom gave her a pointed look, "She was private. She didn't share information about her life with others so Lennox thinks we can get away with this."

"Does Aj know the cover story? That's she's her own mother?" Lex asked.

Her mom shook her head, "No. There's a reason why Ratchet and the others are trying to keep her restricted to the medbay or separated from the bulk of the base. She's only been interacting with people who know the truth."

"That's insane, mom." Lex said softly. She crossed her arms, "Dr. Bradshaw is dead but now-"

"I know, I know." She tried to reassure her distressed daughter. "It'll work out though. I know it will."

The tone in her mother's voice and the look in her eyes told Lex that she wasn't entirely sure of all this either. Lex nodded once and turned to head toward the jeep that needed her help. She wasn't a fan of Dr. Bradshaw, hell no one really was, but this Aj person seemed different. Technically they were the same though, right? Still, Lex had kind of enjoyed the relaxed, funny conversation they shared and Annabelle seemed to really like her. Even if Lex still wasn't sure about Aj overall, she knew how much she cared for Annabelle, Aubrey, Tyler, Taylor, and Peter. If going along with this train wreck of a plan helped them then Lex was all for it.


Taylor's job was kind of a weird thing. For the most part, she had a regular schedule. Ratchet would send appointments to her datapad and she would know to be in his medbay an hour early to prep for whatever needed work. Most appointments didn't get put on Sundays, let alone Sunday evenings, but emergencies happened. Sometimes they came from battle and sometimes they came from mistakes.

Stupid mistakes.

Some here on base would argue that king of these stupid mistakes was none other than their resident chief engineer. As much as Taylor loved Wheeljack, she was inclined to agree based on the mountains of evidence she's seen. As she stepped into the ground level medbay she could hear the arguments already.

"You've managed to mangle your entire servo! The joints are shredded with shrapnel, what the frag were you even doing?!"

"Ratchet, I'm sorry- Stop hitting me!" Wheeljack cried as Ratchet tried to reach around Wheeljack's good arm to whack him across the head. Taylor chuckled to herself at the familiar sight and her eyes glanced over to see Aj sitting on a berth to the right with her leg stretched out. "It was a simple crossed wire, I got overly excited!"

Aj chirped up, "My only concern is that you blew yourself up while working on my knee brace." She laced her fingers together, "Be honest with me, should I be worried about spontaneously catching fire?"

"Yes." Ratchet snapped while Wheeljack shook his head and said, "No."

The two glanced at each other, Wheeljack with a skeptical stare and Ratchet with a hardened glare. The engineer shrugged and turned back to Aj, "Uh, maybe."

"You know what?" Aj smirked, "I'll take my chances. When do I get to try this on?"

"Hush you." Ratchet replied as Wheeljack began to assure Aj that all the bugs would be worked out in due time. The medic turned to her, "Will you suit up? I need someone to start working on armor repairs while I check to see if his protoform has healed right."

Taylor bobbed her head, "Sure thing."

That's usually how it worked. Her job was to work on the mechanical side of things while Ratchet took care of the more biological stuff. Granted, it could be argued that their biology was mechanical, but it still differed. She knew how to fix their armor. She knew where each wire went, how each part connected to each other, and how it all meshed with their protoform. Hell, Ratchet had even shown her a few protoform fixes, but he still worried her suit wouldn't be enough to protect her from the spilled energon.

Taylor crossed the room to a cabinet that stored her working suit. Wheeljack had made it for her after Ratchet had designed it. She turned around so her back was to the open cabinet and took a step into the metal boots. After they clicked and sealed, the rest of the suit started to fold around her. It was Cybertronian metal, just because it was the only material that could withstand energon, and slim fitting so she could get into hard to reach places if needed. It covered every inch of her skin and had a helmet as well. The helmet was like a slimmer motorcycle helmet, one that connected with the neck piece, and the glass over her face was an information portal that scanned and showed her data on the current patient.

Taylor activated the suit making the metal grow infinitely lighter. She took a step away from the cabinet and activated the jet pack on her back. It was similar in design to Sideswipe's. It just allowed her to move about the room without Ratchet having to carry her to each spot. It came in handy when they were doing a two man job.

"Whoa!" Aj's voice called out as Taylor landed on the berth behind her. She shifted in her seat with wide eyes, "I want a Power Ranger suit too!"

Taylor laughed, "I am not a Power Ranger."

"Oh, please. Paint the light gray metal to a pretty shade of pink and you 100 percent would be one." Aj argued with a grin.

"What are you doing here anyways? I thought you'd be out hanging with…well, anyone."

"Typically, yes, however I have been grounded by the world's angriest, strictest medic." Aj let her gaze drift over to Ratchet with a pout.

Ratchet scoffed and didn't spare her a glance, "You brought this on yourself."

"Did not." Aj mumbled quietly.

Taylor laughed again as Wheeljack took a seat on the berth to their left. He placed his arm on a table that Ratchet brought over. The armor on his hand was black and jagged and had stains of energon here and there, "Well now you get to see me work!"

"I know, I'm excited." Aj replied, "What are you gonna do?"

Taylor turned to Aj as Wheeljack and Ratchet worked on removing his hand from the torn up armor, "I'm just gonna repair the damage on Jackie's servo armor. From here it doesn't look like it'll be too hard of a fix. Just some patch jobs."

This was a routine fix really, but Taylor felt damn near giddy about it. She was excited for Aj to watch her do what she does. A lot of decisions she made stemmed from Aj being her inspiration. It was amazing that her inspiration could now see her work. She just prayed she didn't screw it up today of all days.

"The suit protects you from energon right?" Aj asked with a skeptical, worried gaze.

"Completely." Taylor answered, "It also helps me work. See, I have magnets at all my joints that I can activate to say attach myself to one spot and free up my hands. Oh! I also have tools hidden in the folds of my arm." Taylor reached out and motioned toward her forearms, "And you saw the jetpack of course."

"Taylor." Ratchet called for her.

Taylor gave Aj a wave before flying over to the broken armor.

It was game time now. She had to focus on the task at hand and not on the person sitting on the opposite bench watching her in fascination. It'd be difficult, but Taylor lived for challenges these days.

"So about trying on that knee brace…" Aj's voice spoke up.

"Stop talking, youngling."