A/N: It says chapter 8, but if you wanna get technical it's actually the rest of chapter 7 lol. Thanks so much for all the great feedback guys, it means a bunch. Please keep it up! The newest TF movie was amazing (IMO) and Lennox was back in it which was the beeeeeesssssst. Send me messages and we can talk about it or anything, kay? Kay.
ALSO ALSO ALSO, I had like the greatest idea guys. Will those of you who write do it for me? Pretty please? Like, write a drabble or oneshot about your fav character related to this story! We did it before with Small Fry and I wanna do it again now! I just figured it be fun to see y'all write about grown up Tyler, Taylor, and Peter. Plus, all the new characters I've slowly been introducing.
I'm gonna write a oneshot too (TF of course) but it won't be related to this story. So keep an eye out for that y'all! Thanks peeps, you the best.
Chapter Eight:
Guilt Trip
"You wear guilt like shackles, like a halo in reverse." –Depeche Mode
A laugh bubbled from my lips in amusement and mingled with the deeper sound of Wheeljack laughing. The mech had successfully lightened my sour mood. As he got closer and closer to taking my brace off the more gloomy I had gotten. I had really gotten used to walking around again and now I was going to be back on crutches. Wheeljack had noticed this and somehow managed to make me feel better. Even with my now useless brace sitting on the lab bench off to the side.
"As much as I would love to have you, I don't think that would be the greatest of ideas, Aj." Wheeljack chuckled. His holoform vanished and his bipedal rose up from the floor. "Here allow me."
Wheeljack reached forward and carefully scooped me up and then set me on the floor. As that occurred, the lab doors opened and Ratchet breezed in. The mech glanced at both of us, "I could hear you two laughing from down the hall."
"We were talking about me getting a job." I replied with a knowing smirk.
Ratchet chuckled, "That is an amusing concept."
"I said I wanted to work here in the lab as Jackie's assistant."
Ratchet's slight smile immediately fell, "No. Don't you cause me enough stress as is?"
Wheeljack and I laughed again. The whole joke had been about the cow Ratchet would have at the thought of me working side by side in Wheeljack's lab. Needless to say, we had both accurately predicted Ratchet's reaction.
"Did you bring my crutches?"
Ratchet bent down by me with hands outstretched. I reached forward to receive my crutches only to be caught off guard when Ratchet scooped me up into his hands and brought me to his chest.
"Whoa, hey. You can't just go grabbing people off the floor, Ratchet."
"To quote one particularly annoying youngling, I just didn't want you around my feet like a 'yapping ankle biter'." He replied before walking me out of the room. I narrowed my eyes at him and didn't offer a response. I was too impressed he remembered that comment I made ages ago.
"So are you sure your knee is doing alright?"
I nodded and readjusted my leg, it was propped up on the chair beside me, "It's fine, really, Bee."
Bumblebee's holoform pushed off the back of his chair to lean against the table with his arms. His lips twisted in a pout of worry, "I can take you to the medbay to rest if you need it."
"That is the last thing I want or need." I argued and let out a sigh. The twins had gotten pulled aside on an unexpected shift, Jazz was debriefing with Prowl who had just gotten back an hour ago, and the other bots were scrambling around working on various things. It seemed like something was happening that I wasn't privy too, but I wasn't overly concerned. None of the soldiers were up in arms. The only mech who wasn't working was Bumblebee so he had been assigned as my current babysitter. It was good to catch up with the mech though so I didn't argue against it much. "So we talked about how you've been, you wanna talk about your last mission?"
Bumblebee's eyes widened slightly, "The one with Jazz and I?" I nodded and he rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly, "There isn't much to discuss. We were just monitoring the activities of one of the hives."
"Right." I mumbled, "That's where the drones are, huh?"
"The report said you had a run in with Stinger." Bumblebee said. His lips turned down in a sneer at the mention of the drone's codename. "I hate that scrap of a drone."
I couldn't help but chuckle, "I can't imagine why." Bumblebee stuck his lower lip out in a mock pout and I grinned, "You're way more badass than that piece of shit wanna be Cybertronian."
Bumblebee's face broke out in wide smile as he relaxed in his chair again. He casually draped his arm across the back of my chair. The mech's holoform's eyes darted across the room as someone approached.
"Aj, I heard you were back on the crutches. You good?" Joey came over and sat down. Bumblebee gave him a wary glance, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
I nodded at the Italian man, "I'm good, Moretti. What's going on around base?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
He lifted his hands in mock surrender, "Really, I got no answers for you, wifey."
Bumblebee's wariness turned to confusion. He leaned over a whispered, "Did he call you wifey?"
"Ignore him." I replied to Bumblebee with a roll of my eyes. "He suffers from some sort of brain trauma."
"Ah, there's that humor I love." Joey grinned and looked over at Bumblebee, "And hey, it's good to see you back, Bee. We missed you around here!"
Bumblebee smiled at him, "Thanks, I'm glad the mission is over too."
The three of us casually talked about basically nothing. It was the epitome of small talk. Peter was the one to break up the small talk as he waltzed in the room wearing his business casual work clothes.
"Pete!" I greeted happily. Out of all the kids, it seemed like Peter was the busiest of them. He was always in meetings doing something or another and I rarely got to sit down and hang out with him. "I heard Prowl got back so does that mean…?"
Peter sat down across from Bumblebee and I, next to Joey, with a nod, "Delilah and Amy are home safe and sound, and…" He paused as his smile grew, "You'll get to meet them this weekend."
I immediately sat up from my slouched position with wide eyes, "Seriously!?"
"Since Jazz and Bee are finally back, we've decided to have your 'welcome home' party."
My heart warmed at his words and I was certain I had a goofy smile on my face, "Welcome home party?"
"We've been planning it since you got here. We're gonna have a barbecue at the big house in Vegas." Peter explained, "You're invited too, Joey."
"Hell yeah!" Joey pumped his fist in excitement, "Monique is cooking, right?"
"Of course." Peter scoffed.
I chuckled, "She a good cook or something?"
Joey leaned across the table and shook his head, "Listen, I would go head to head with Megatron himself for just a taste of Monique's barbecue chicken. It's to die for."
"Awesome. You bringing any Italian cuisine for me, Moretti?" I tilted my head with a smirk.
Joey faltered, "Uh, well…you see- hey, hey! Who all is coming, huh?"
He had turned the conversation to Peter again at my words. Peter chuckled, "The usual."
Bumblebee leaned toward me, "The younglings, the Lennox's, the Witwicky's, the Epps family of course…um, I'm not sure on which Autobots will get to go yet. It depends on who has to stay behind to hold up the base."
"A few other soldiers I don't think you've met yet come too." Peter added, "I know Hemi Kang is coming, you know Joey, and I think a few others maybe."
Joey snapped his fingers, "Your mom used to come anytime we had these get togethers before. Sometimes."
I blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Your mom." Joey repeated. "She wasn't a huge fan of our parties though. You probably could've guessed that."
For a moment, I thought Joey was just mixing me up with someone else, but when I glanced over at Peter and Bumblebee I knew that couldn't be it. Both of them were staring at each other with a deer caught in the headlight look. Joey wasn't the one lost in this conversation. I was.
"My mom." I repeated. "My mom?"
Peter cleared his throat, "I totally forgot. Ratchet needed to see Aj. We should get going."
Joey slowly stood up. His eyes darted back and forth between all of us before nodding. He could tell something was off. I could see it on his face. He shrugged, "Sure. See you guys later."
As soon as he was out of earshot I opened my mouth only to be cut off by Bumblebee, "I commed Ratchet and…well, everyone else too. We need to head to his medbay. The downstairs one."
"Damn right we do." I struggled to get up and I only let Bumblebee help me when I almost tumbled over to the ground. "It's time we have a family meeting."
Ratchet had his entire downstairs medbay lit up. Usually only a few lights were on, but right now the entire room was painfully bright. His medbay was also filled to the brim. Ratchet himself stood outside his office with his arms crossed, Bumblebee and Bluestreak were both leaning against the same berth, Sideswipe was sitting on the berth beside theirs with Sunstreaker casually leaning against the corner of it, Prowl and Jazz stood side by side closer to the door leading out to the hall, Wheeljack was fidgeting in place not far from where Ratchet was, and Optimus stood directly in front of the berth I sat on. That's how the room was split. All the mechs stood on one said of the medbay, the path between the lines of berths separated us, and the humans stood on the other side.
I was sitting in a chair with my leg up. The humans with me on the same berth were Aubrey, Tyler, Taylor, Peter, and Lennox. All of them stood in front of me with their backs to the mechs. This made the separation seem even more severe. It was me going head to head with all of them.
"Well now that the whole party is here, should we get started?" I threw aside the crutches I had still been holding and crossed my arms. "Now where to start? Wow, this is a tough decision."
"Aimee-" Aubrey sighed.
"Oh, I know!" I interrupted, "How about the whole mom thing? What the fuck is up with that?"
Lennox stepped forward, setting his hand on Aubrey's shoulder, "Maybe I should start, Aj."
"You should start? You should start?" I laughed bitterly. There was a frustration building in my gut, threatening to boil over. "Why the hell are you even here, dude?" Lennox pursed his lips and I briefly felt bad for snapping at him. I wasn't angry at Lennox. Much. Granted, I was a little pissed at him, I was a little pissed at the world, but compared to the others in the room he was pretty low on my shit list. "And why in the world does Lennox think he owes me an explanation?"
Optimus stepped forward and knelt down in front of the berth. The kids took a step back, as did Lennox and Aubrey, so no one stood in front of my line of vision of him.
"Aj, our intention wasn't to cause you distress." Prime's deep voice tried to reassure me. This was the first time I've talked to Optimus in nearly two weeks. He was a busy guy, but apparently not busy enough to stay away from secrets.
"Why does Joey think he knows my mom?" I asked with steel in my voice.
"He doesn't know your mother. He knew Dr. Aimee Jane Bradshaw." I heard Optimus' voice, but there was no way I heard what he said correctly. It didn't make sense. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand what exactly they were getting at, but the dots weren't connecting. "Wheeljack?"
"Right, Prime." Wheeljack stepped forward, but Optimus remained kneeling. Wheeljack's fins lit up as he began to elaborate, "There is no easy way to put this and though it may alarm you we-"
"Oh my God." I blurted as the connection hit me hard, "Is there-? Is there another me? Does this universe have another version of us?"
Wheeljack's head tilted slightly and he let out a hum, "Maybe there is an easy way to put this."
"There was a version of all of us in this universe." Aubrey spoke up. Her arms were crossed tightly in a way that made her look like she was trying to hold herself together. The worry on her face made my own anger falter. "We found out when the mechs got involved with the military. They tried to run a background check on us and found…well…us."
Another version of us existed in this universe. Another Aubrey. Another Tyler, Taylor, and Peter. Another me. Oh God, as if one of me wasn't enough.
"Wh-Where are they?"
"The Williams family was located in Alabama for an extended period of time, but they moved up to Chicago in 2020." Lennox answered.
I shook my head, "Wait, Chicago? Why would they go to Chicago and- and…." My words slowed as another realization came to me, "There was an attack there. In Chicago, right?"
Lennox nodded, "They did not survive the 2024 attack of Chicago."
My hand shot up to cover my mouth and I could feel my shoulders slump. It hadn't been my kids, my sister, my family, but the thought of any version of them… the thought of… I closed my eyes and tried to get rid of the sick feeling that washed over me.
"This universe's version of you invited them to live in Chicago with her. She was doing well, working as a resident in one of the local hospitals there." Lennox continued.
I opened my eyes, "You said…She's a doctor?" There were too many gaps in the story for me to wrap my head around it like I wanted to. I took a shaky breath and motioned toward them, "I want to know from the beginning. If Joey knew her then you guys did too. How did you meet her? Did you meet the others too?"
"I found 'er." Jazz spoke up for the first time since we entered. Gazes shot over to him as he continued, "Sweetspark, you gotta understand…this universe's version of you was followin' the same life. I couldn' save you so I thought... I tried to save 'er."
Sunstreaker scoffed, "He gave her money."
"I got Boss locked up and I made sure she had an option other than fightin'." Jazz shot back, his gaze focused on the frontliner, "I didn't want 'er out there fightin'."
Sideswipe shrugged nonchalantly, "The real Aj didn't do what you wanted so you tried to get a new one. We get it."
Four things happened then. Ratchet cursed, Optimus hung his head in defeat, Bumblebee and Bluestreak tensed, and Jazz lunged across the room.
Sunstreaker rose to his full height with his shoulders back, but Prowl managed to get a hold of Jazz before an actual fight ensued. That didn't stop Jazz from barking at the twins in Cybertronian and the twins barked right back. Optimus snapped his head to the side, yelling out an order, and the chaos immediately stopped.
There was a tense silence before Jazz snapped his gaze to me, "She wasn't a replacement. The two of you were as different as night and day. You-"
"I know." I said quickly. "From what I've heard so far, I'm sure."
"How?" Prowl questioned.
Now all eyes were on me and I suddenly wish I hadn't said anything at all. The gazes didn't wander so I let out a sigh and rolled my shoulders, "I don't think y'all know how much I owe you." I tried to put myself in the shoes of the other me, and it wasn't very hard. What would I have done if some stranger had locked up Boss and offered me tons of money? "I am who I am today because I reconnected with Aubrey. Because I met the kids and I made amends with Wes. All of that brought me back to some resemblance of who I used to be before I really lost myself. When I got that letter from Aubrey asking me to come visit…"
My gaze fell as I relived the moment I pulled that crisp letter out of my beat up mailbox. It had been tucked between two bills and one pointless flyer. She had been smart enough to leave the envelope unnamed so I had to open it up first to figure out who it was from. I could still picture myself in that moment.
"I was in a dark place. If I had gotten that letter six months earlier I would've tossed it in the trash without a second thought. I was… I wasn't suicidal, I swear." I laced my fingers together pushed my right thumb against my left palm as hard as I could. "I didn't want to die, but I was…I was careless. I was careless in fights, in life, and…. I didn't want to die, but I didn't care what happened to me." I finally lifted my gaze to see a collection of saddened, pained looks staring back at me. I offered them a tight smile, "Y'all fixed that. You fixed me. Through trial and error, a hell of a lot of it too, I figured out that I wasn't as broken as I thought I was. That's why I'm the cheery asshole you know and love today."
That lessened the solemn mood that had filled the room at my words. Taylor quickly crossed the berth to lean over and wrap me in a tight hug. I chuckled and pat her back lightly.
"This world's you?" Ratchet pressed.
I nodded and Taylor pulled away, but lingered by my side, "In her darkest moment, you gave her a way out." I glanced over at Jazz, "Even if she still had gotten a letter from Aubrey, she would've picked the option you gave her over them. As much as I hate to admit it, I chose to go to Alabama because it was the only choice I had."
"She didn' get in contact with 'em until after medical school." Jazz mumbled.
"You saved her life, Jazz. Of that, I have no doubt." I said sincerely, "But she never learned her lesson. She's what I would be without y'all."
Tyler cleared his throat, "Well, was."
"Was?" I raised an eyebrow. There was a beat before it hit me and my jaw fell limp, "Was?! I'm dead too?!"
Bluestreak shook his head, "She's dead, but I'm not sure any of us like you referring to it that way because you're not dead, thank Primus."
"Did Doctor me die in Chicago too?"
Optimus answered me, "She came to work with us on base as a doctor after Chicago. We lost her a little over a year ago in a drone attack."
"Damn. That blows." I replied. There was a pause of silence before my original questions came flooding back alongside my annoyance, "Let's get back to the whole mom thing. Why the hell does Joey think this world's version of me is my mother?"
Prowl stepped forward, "The truth of the portals remains a secret to a large number of soldiers and officials. We couldn't tell them the truth of your origin or that you are actually a different version of Dr. Bradshaw. So instead we stated that you were her daughter and that you came to live with your aunt."
At the word aunt, Prowl motioned toward Aubrey who smiled slightly and offered me a little wave. How messed up was that? According to official government files, I was a cousin to my niece and nephews and the niece of my sister. Like, what the fuck?
"And is there a reason why I didn't know about this until now?"
"We thought it would be easier-" Ratchet began.
I scoffed, "Oh, I get it. It was for my own good? My own good right?" Optimus frowned and I continued, "It makes sense now. The fact that y'all were always clearing the rooms I was in and making me avoid other soldiers. The looks I got! The looks I got from other soldiers! God, I can't believe you did this! Again!" I pointed at Optimus, "We've been here before. We talked about this. Optimus Prime, you promised me this wouldn't happen again."
There was regret in Optimus' eyes, "I am sorry, Aj. This shouldn't have happened. You are always nothing but honest with us and we should be the same."
I opened my mouth to only falter. Have I been only honest with them? There was one big secret I hadn't mentioned to anyone yet. One that could potentially be pretty important. The whole mysterious assholes that sent me here. That was something they might want to be aware of. I cleared my throat, "Well, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on y'all. What with your- with your good intentions and all."
"I gave you my word, and I sincerely apologize for not sticking to it." Optimus said with a sigh. There was so much sincerity and regret in his voice. Now I was starting to feel like the asshole.
"Let's just- I think we should let it go. Forget about it."
"You have to keep pretending, Aj." Lennox stepped forward again, "No one can know that you are who you are. We worked a deal with the government about Aubrey, Wes, and the kids. They're clear, mostly, but if they were to find out you came through the portal too we'd be in a world of hurt."
Peter added more, "There's this liaison coming soon. It'll actually be the day before your birthday."
"Happy birthday to me." I mumbled.
He continued, "He's the main person we need to keep this from."
"Yeah, 'cause he's a huge dick." Tyler crossed his arms and the annoyance was clear on his face. It matched the rest of the room too. Apparently no one liked this liaison guy. Had he been in the only Transformers movie I watched? I only remembered a few things from it now and he wasn't one of them. It still scared me a little how quickly some of those memories were fading. Granted, it wasn't like they were overly important, but losing memories period can cause a bit of alarm.
"Pretend to be my own mother. Got it." I nodded, "For reference, what was she like?"
Lennox cleared his throat, "She was... difficult at times. Very professional. Kind of…solemn."
"She was a total bitch." Sideswipe called out. Ratchet threw something at him, it looked like a screw, and the piece of metal bounced off the red mech's head, "Ow! It's true!"
I chuckled and sunk down in my seat. Aubrey took this as a sign that I was still annoyed and walked toward me, "Aimee, we swear that's it. No more secrets between all of us. We're so sorry."
"It's ok. I forgive y'all." I gave them a small smile as the guilt in my stomach grew. There was still one secret between us, but it was the kind I wasn't sure I ever wanted in the open.
There was nothing Annabelle loved more than the feeling of the sunlight kissing her skin. It's one of the many reasons why she loved living in Nevada. The sunny days were endless and she had the opportunity to spend most of the year out and about.
She tapped her bare feet together happily and leaned back against the hot glass she sat on. The shiny, black metal she sat on should've been burning her bare thighs and calves, but miraculously the metal stayed cool enough to sit on. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was best friends with said black metal and he knew how much she loved sitting on his hood.
"Ironhide, how far out are they?"
"About thirty minutes." He answered gruffly. Annabelle moved her sunglasses from the top of her head to her eyes then opened them to find her guardian's holoform leaning against the side of the hood with his arms crossed, "Smokescreen is speeding though so he'll probably be here sooner. The glitch."
Annabelle chuckled, "I'm so excited for Monique to meet Aj! Plus, I'll be out of school next week and I'll get to be on base all the time. Do you think Aj will wanna go on vacation with me?"
Ironhide turn to look at her with skepticism, "Vacation? To where, sparkling?"
"I don't know." Annabelle paused in thought. Where could they go? The Autobots always took her, Lex, and Eli to a fun place over the summer. Maybe Aj would want to go with them this year. Taylor and Tyler stopped going with them a while back because they got busy with their jobs, but maybe they could go too. Disneyland would be fun or… "Oh! I want to go to Universal Studios! The one in Florida!"
Ironhide scoffed and shook his head, "There is suspected drone activity in Florida. You will not visit that state."
Annabelle smirked to herself, but didn't argue. It would be pointless. Ironhide always won those. She pushed off the glass and wrapped her arms around Ironhide's neck while resting her own head on his shoulder, "You like Aj, don't you Hide?" He grunted in response and she jut her lip out in a pout, "Ironhide, come on."
"I think she's a bad influence."
She couldn't help but chuckle, "She's a good person. I can tell, and everyone at base who knows her adores her. That's a sign right?"
"I think she's trouble."
"Trouble can be fun." Annabelle replied.
Ironhide scoffed at her again, but didn't comment. The front door to the house opened and they both looked over to see Eli standing at the door. He wore swim shorts and a plain tank top, "Hey AB, my mom needs help in the kitchen and she asked me to come get you. Apparently, I'm not good enough."
"That's because you suck at cooking, E." Annabelle giggled and shifted to the side of the hood. Ironhide instinctively knew where this was going and grabbed her legs piggy back style. He didn't hesitate to carry her toward the house, "You've burned cereal before."
Eli smiled briefly before putting on a look of mock hurt, "That was one time and one time alone."
Seeing Aubrey's house for the first in Alabama had been impressive as hell, but the house sitting at the end of the driveway from me was gorgeous. It was the kind of house you saw in magazines for crying out loud. It was the kind with a long ass, sprawling stone driveway and a fancy garden out front.
It seemed like everyone else had already beaten us there, but that wasn't surprising. Jazz had driven like a damn grandpa. It had given us a good time to catch up though. Plus, it delayed the inevitable which was me walking into that beautiful house.
"You ready, sweetspark?" Jazz's holoform questioned from the driver's seat.
"Um. No." I mumbled and stared out the window. The driveway was filled with mechs. Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Ironhide, the twins, and Hound were here, but the other Autobots had to stay at base for security reasons. There was also a normal jeep parked on the side of the road that a few soldiers probably came in.
There was a hand on my shoulder that made me glance over to see Jazz's worry, "No?"
"I'm just… Pete texted me. Apparently, Hound went and picked up Delilah and Amy and since he's parked right there that means…"
"They're 'ere." Jazz finished, "I thought you wanted to meet 'em."
I sighed and leaned back in his seat, "Of course I do, but I have never been good at first impressions."
Jazz shook his head, "What are you talkin' 'bout?"
I rolled my eyes and stared at him for a moment. When his look of confusion didn't disappear I scoffed, "Oh please. What if they meet me and don't like me? What will I do?"
"Don't be crazy, girl." Jazz chuckled, "They're gonna love ya."
"You don't know that. You don't know how many first introductions I've messed up." I replied thinking back of my days in New York. Sure, I avoided relationships to avoid pain, but the few ones I did manage to have were with people who could get past my lousy first impression.
Jazz held up a hand with one finger, the universal wait sign, before physically opening the driver's door and getting out. Considering we were in a neighborhood with civilians he couldn't just pop over to my side. They weren't a secret, but being discreet was still key. He opened the door and knelt down so we were face to face.
"I think you're crazy."
"Well thanks."
Jazz chuckled, "I think you're crazy 'cause my first impression of you was nothin' but amazin'."
I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion, "The first time we met I thought I was insane. I crushed Starscream with a baseball bat and-"
"You impressed the pit outta me." Jazz interrupted. "All I saw was a femme who cared for her younglings. Someone, who in the face of insanity, stepped up and bravely handled the situation. You're a keeper, sweetspark, and Delilah and Amy are gonna love you."
I twisted my lips and shrugged, "That was some pep-talk."
Jazz quickly grabbed my crutches from the backseat and helped me out of my seat. I let out an unhappy sigh and made my way across the yard with Jazz hovering beside me. He walked with one hand hovering over my lower back in case I went sprawling.
As I walked past Bumblebee, who was parked closest to the door, his radio suddenly went off and a part of a song blasted through his open windows, "Hello beautiful, it's been a long time."
"That's because Jazz drove like an old grandpa." I replied.
"Hey now." Jazz argued.
The front door opened and I recognized Hound's holoform. He was a large man in both height and size and had a thick, full beard and matching head of long hair that was tied back in a bun. He grinned broadly at the sight of me, "It's about damn time. We were starting to think Jazz man got lost."
"Hi Hound." I returned his bright smile. He helped me up the few steps connected to the porch and into the house. The door led into a small, open foyer area that was connected directly to the large living room where a set of couches sat opposite of a large fireplace.
Sideswipe was sitting on the couch with Tyler and an Asian woman I didn't recognize. There was more noise coming from the kitchen so I assumed the bulk of the party was in there. As if on cue, Aubrey came waltzing out of an open doorway with a laugh lingering on her lips, "Aimee! You're finally here!"
"Took you long enough." Tyler called out.
The woman beside him laughed, "You got a wrench in your engine, Jazz?"
"Sometimes you just gotta enjoy the ride." Jazz shrugged and walked into the kitchen area.
Sideswipe got up and motioned behind him, "Have you met Kang?"
"No, I haven't. Hi, I'm Aj." I waved with a small smile.
The woman raised the beer in her hand, "I'm Hemi Kang. Nice to finally meet you. You're kinda famous around base, you know."
"Oh I do. It blows." I replied and she laughed.
Aubrey set her hand on my shoulder, "Come here."
With a nod, I limped after Aubrey who led me to the back where a sliding screen door led out into the backyard. There was a patio table where Taylor was sitting next to Smokescreen's holoform talking. Lennox and Epps were grilling off to the side and both of them wore casual clothes which as weird as hell to see. I kind of thought Lennox lived and slept in his military uniform.
The backyard also had a giant pool complete with a slide and small waterfall. The government really spared no expenses when it came to financing this place. In the pool were many familiar faces. Annabelle was lounging on a floating pool chair in a floral patterned bikini. Eli and Lex looked like they were racing across the pool with Bumblebee's holoform. Sunstreaker laid out on a lounge chair in red swim shorts with his hands behind his head and a pair of sunglasses on.
My eyes landed on my eldest nephew though. He wore his bathing suit and stood in the shallow end of the pool by a woman who sat on the edge in a sun hat with her legs in the water. In Peter's arm was a little girl wearing floaties and goggles on her head. She kept trying to lean over and grab the water.
"I'm gonna have a fucking aneurysm." I muttered under my breath. "I'm too sober for this."
"Would you rather meet them after a few drinks?" Aubrey asked skeptically.
I paused in thought before shaking my head, "Yeah, no. That's a bad idea. Let's go."
Aubrey waved her hand forward and I sighed in annoyance. I said a quick hello to Taylor and Smokescreen before moving toward the pool. The first person to notice me was Annabelle who threw her arms up without spilling the cup in her hand, "Aj!"
"Hey, Ann." I replied and my eyes darted to Peter and his family who were now looking at me. The little girl was still too preoccupied with catching water to care about my presence.
Delilah quickly stood and adjusted the short, gym shorts she wore and the large straw hat over her eyes. She came over with a cute smile, "Hi, my name is Delilah."
"Uh hey there." I grinned and offered her my hand, which she shook, "So you married that dork huh?"
"Hey." Peter called back while walking out of the pool to meet us.
Delilah shrugged, "What can I say? He's my favorite dork."
Peter stood by her side and bounced his daughter in his arms, "Hey Amy, can you say hello? This is Aj."
"Hi." She gave me a small wave before burying the side of her head onto her father's shoulder. She pointed to me, "What are those?"
I lifted the crutches slightly, "These are called crutches. They help me walk because I hurt my leg."
"Is that a band-aid?" She pointed to my human made knee brace, "I have a band-aid. See."
Amy pulled up the sleeve of her swim shirt to show me a waterproof band-aid on her elbow. I chuckled, "Kind of."
"Can you swim? I can swim."
"If I go swimming I think Ratchet would ki- um, yell at me."
Amy smiled brightly, "I love Dr. Rat."
My eyes widened slightly as a smile formed on my lips, "Dr. Rat?"
Peter chuckled, "She has trouble with his name sometimes."
"Oh my God that's so cute." I cooed and shook my head, "Plus, I'm never calling him Ratchet again now."
"Down down down." Amy squirmed in Peter's arm. He set her down and she immediately raced toward the edge of the pool. Even with her floaties on, I panicked at the sight and began to reach for her. She jumped, but before her feet hit the water Bumblebee was already there to catch her before her head went under. She laughed and cupped his face with her hands, "Bee bee! I love Bee bee."
"Aw, I love you too, Amy." Bumblebee laughed between squished cheeks.
"Slide!" She yelled and Bumblebee swam away with her.
Delilah chuckled, "She loves water. It's kind of scary how much she loves it. I mean, she has no fear."
"Kind of like someone else I know." Peter smirked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him skeptically, but said nothing.
Delilah pointed at me, "Have you met Monique yet?"
"Uh no. I haven't." I shrugged.
"Well come on then." She motioned for me to walk with her.
I nodded and followed her to a pair of double doors over by the grill. Lennox and Epps were lightly arguing about something between laughs. Epps glanced over at me, "Aj, nice to see you here!"
"Good to be here. Your base is pretty Lennox, but I was going stir crazy. A few more days and I might've burned it down."
Lennox laughed surprisingly and nodded, "It can be rough if you're not used to that kind of life."
"Hey", Epps pointed at us, "Before you go in, settle a debate for us."
Delilah shrugged, "What is it?"
Epps smirked, "What's worse, being stranded in a desert with no food or water and no escape in sight or listening to Ratchet rant about the dangers of processed junk food?"
"As much as I love Ratchet, he can rant for a little too long." Delilah said nicely.
Lennox motioned toward me with his spatula. I scoffed, "Put me in the fucking desert. Pit, put me on the fucking moon."
Epps and Lennox roared in laughter and Delilah led me into the kitchen. Aubrey was tossing a salad off to the side with a pretty, dark skinned woman. Wheeljack was leaning against the counter toying with a toaster for some reason while Hound held a tray that Monique was putting slowly putting uncooked kebabs onto. Joey was also in the kitchen drinking a beer next to Jazz and Ironhide's holoform.
Monique, I assumed, glanced over her shoulder and smiled, "Oh there you are. I've heard so much about you, Aj!"
"Same." I nodded at her.
Joey pointed at me, "Wifey! You wanna drink?"
"Very much, yes." I answered.
Monique came over and gave me a quick hug that was hindered by my stupid crutches. She didn't let that stop her though, "We'll start eating soon. Sam and Mikaela should be here any minute now."
"The wiring in this is all burned out. I can fix it quite easily, Monique." Wheeljack chirped and set down the machine with a smile.
Jazz came over and motioned me toward a large dining table off to the side, "Let's get you sittin'."
"I think I want to sit outside. Soak up the sun before they drag me back to base." I shrugged.
Hemi Kang walked into the kitchen and nodded, "Mind if I join? I can use some sun."
"Sure." I said as Joey came over with my beer. She snatched it from his hand, ignoring his whines, and led me outside. I waved at the people in the kitchen before going. Hemi wore a tank top and shorts and she had an entire sleeve of tattoos on her left arm. It was a collection of geometric shapes, flowers, and bright colors along with words written in Korean. At least, I was pretty positive it was Korean. "I like your tattoos."
She smirked, "Thanks, you got any?"
"I want some, but I never really got around to it. I'm too indecisive."
She nodded toward the chairs where Sunstreaker was still lounging, "Man, those holoforms are something else. You could cut glass with those abs."
"Yeah, he's something else alright." I replied and watched as Sunstreaker's lips twitched up in the corner. That smug ass bastard heard every word and loved it. We walked over, "These seats taken, Sunshine?"
Hemi's eyes widened at my words and they only got wider when Sunstreaker pushed his sunglasses into his hair and sat up. He carefully helped me into my seat before going back to lounging. She shot me a curious glance and I shrugged.
The two of us talked for some time while I sipped on my beer. Beer tasted like shit, but alcohol was alcohol. About twenty minutes had passed before Lex came rushing over in a blue one piece and her hands behind her back. She was dripping wet and wore a mischievous smirk. Hemi pointed at her, "Don't start a war you can't finish, Witwicky."
Lex threw a water balloon at the soldier without hesitation and then took off. Hemi ripped off her wet tank top, leaving her in jean shorts, and then raced after the younger girl with a laugh.
I turned my head and looked at Sunstreaker. My eyes traced the tattoo of his spark spatter with a smile. He pulled his sunglasses off and grinned at me in a way that reminded me of Sideswipe in a way, "Enjoying the view?"
"Meh." I replied and he frowned at me. "Just kidding. You're very pretty, Sunflower."
He rolled his eyes and snatched the glasses out of his hand and put them on my face. Sunstreaker chuckled to himself and shook his head. I watched curiously as he grabbed my crutches and set it under his chair.
"Hi, babe."
I turned my head to see Sideswipe standing at the end of my chair. He had his spark spatter showing as well, but wore yellow swim shorts. I chuckled, "Aw, you guys are matching. Ketchup and Mustard to the end of the line."
Sideswipe smirked at Sunstreaker who nodded, "Alright, I take back what I said. Do your bad idea, glitch."
"What bad idea?" I asked as Sideswipe scooped me out the chair, "What are you doing!?"
"Don't worry, babe. I talked to Jackie about this and he said it's totally fine."
"You were an asshole to Jackie, dickhead." I pointed at him.
He nodded, "I know, but I apologized. We're good now."
I smiled, "What did Jackie say was fine?"
"Your brace. It's waterproof."
My eyes widened and I quickly shook my head, "No, no, no. Don't you dare, Sides!"
"Do it!" Annabelle cheered from the pool.
"Can you swim? If you can't feel free to cling to me really, really hard." Sideswipe winked.
"No!" I yelled again as he took off for the pool. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held my breath. We were in the air and the new were at the bottom of the pool. The sunglasses had flown off and I opened my eyes when I realized we weren't floating up. Sideswipe was grinning at me impishly. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against my nose before pushing us back up for air.
We breached the surface to cheers from the others in the pool. I shook my head with a laugh and splashed Sideswipe in the face. This was one hell of a welcome home party and it was the kind of life I could easily get used to.
The welcome home barbecue had been beyond fun. Everyone there was fun, Amy was literally the epitome of cute, and like Joey had said the food had been to die for. I would arm wrestle a drone for more of Monique's cooking.
As fun as it had been though it had to come to an end. I was back on base and the sun had fallen hours and hours ago. In fact, according to my phone it was almost 3 in the morning, but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't close my eyes without guilt eating away at me. I had put it off long enough, but it reared its ugly head again.
So much trust had been given to me. I lectured a room full of people I love about being honest and hiding things only to do exactly what they had done to me.
I stopped in front of the impossibly large door and pulled out my phone to look for a code I hadn't used yet. Still, it was easy enough to find and the moment I pressed it I could hear the slight beep from behind the wall. Quickly, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and thanked the Lord no one had found me yet. This wasn't something I wanted to explain to anyone but the mech behind the door.
At that moment, the door slid open and the mech I was looking for slowly knelt down with a questioning look.
"Aj." Optimus spoke slowly. "Is everything alright? Why are you here?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and sucked in a sharp breath, "Are you busy, OP? I don't mean to bother you."
"Of course not. What can I help you with?"
"I have something to talk to you about and it's- it's kind of important. I think."
Optimus paused in thought before unfolding his hand before me. I nodded and carefully stepped onto his palm. Once there, I sat down and set my crutches aside as Optimus stared down at me in concern.
His room wasn't much bigger than Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's and was less decorated. He had a berth and a desk and a doorway I assume led to a washroom. He set me on his desk and sat down in his seat, "What is the matter, Aj?"
"I'm a lot of things, OP." I started slowly, "But a hypocrite isn't one of them. At least, not anymore."
"I'm afraid I do not follow."
I sighed, "I don't… I don't know how I got here exactly, but I do- I do have a pretty educated guess."
Optimus looked taken a back for a brief moment before his features steeled, "And that is?"
"I think… I think I made a deal with the devil."
