Chapter 5: Joyride

In the desert of Jasper, Nevada, Arcee and Miko were out having a good time driving. "Hey, Mom, can you go any faster?. You're driving like Ratchet," said Miko, grinning as she knew that she was challenging her mom's speed.

"Okay, sweetie, you asked for it. Hold on," said Arcee with a smile as she kicked up her speed.

"Awesome!" Miko screamed in excitement, holding on as they raced down the road.

They drove into town and parked at the burger joint to pick up Jack, since his shift was over. Miko, feeling hungry, was about to go and order some food when she came to a sudden stop as she saw the school's star football player in his car with his friends and they were making fun of Jack's job.

This made Miko very angry since she had a crush on Jack ever since the day they met and she hated bullies. Arcee saw her daughter get mad and knew why.

"Honey, why don't you drive us over there, and you can back up Jack?" The Cybertronian suggested.

"Sure, Mom," Miko said, driving up, ready to put the bullies in their place.

"Man, Darby, I feel so sorry that you have to work at a sorry job like this," the jock said as he and his friends started laughing

"Haha, that's so funny," Jack answered sarcastically.

Miko came up right then. "Well. at least his not a freeloader bum like you," she retorted, knowing the bully was exactly that, a freeloader.

"Oh, look at this, boys. If it ain't Darby's friend. Hey, why don't you cry to your mom. Oh wait, I forgot, you don't have no parents!" The Jock and his cronies started laughing again, which was making Arcee mad.

"For your information, stupid, I do have a Mom," Miko said, defending her mom with her head held high.

"Girl, stop lying. Everyone knows that you are an orphan child," he said, still bullying Miko.

Jack spoke up, having had enough. "She does have a mom, stupid. So if you would excuse us, we're leaving," he said firmly.

Jack hopped on Arcee's bike mode with Miko and getting ready to take off when the jock spoke up. "Oh, really? Then tell me, where is she?" He sneered.

Miko smirked, her head held high again. "My mom is working and she has one awesome job," she said, making Arcee smile while still in her bike form.

When they drove off, Arcee spoke up. "Thank you, sweetie, for standing up for Jack and me. I'm very proud of you," she said.

"Yeah, thanks, Miko. I owe you a milkshake for doing that," Jack said, smiling.

"No problem, Jack. What are friends for?" Miko asked before perking up. "Hey, Mom, can you drive us back to the base on a fun short cut?" She asked hopefully. Jack looked hopeful too, which made the femme smile and give in.

"Alright then, you two just hold on tight. It's going to be a bit bumpy," she said as she drove fast and then went for the fun short cut, which was a few rocks that some would say were made for extreme biking and thrills.

Gunning her engine, Arcee drove fast and caught some big air before landing nicely on the road, making sure her passengers were okay as they headed straight to the base.

"That was so awesome, Mom! Thanks!" Miko said, grinning hugely.

"Yeah, thanks, Arcee. I need some fun every now and then," Jack admitted, also smiling.

"No problem, you two. But remember, don't tell Optimus about it. He had rules about this," Arcee said. She didn't like going against her leader's rules, but sometimes she would bend them a bit to make her human partner and her daughter smile, as she was fond of them both.

"My lips are sealed, Mom," Miko promised, smiling happily.

"Same with mine, Arcee," Jack replied.

But little did they know, Optimus was on the cliff and had watched the whole thing. However, he just smiled. "I'm going to let this one slide. Just for you, Arcee, just for you," he said softly as he headed back into the base.

Back inside the base...

Arcee was cooking while Miko was doing some homework. "Hey Mom, me, Jack, and Raf have a science fair project coming up and I want to do our solar system," she said.

"That's good, honey. Do you need help with it?" Arcee asked while putting chopped carrots in the pot and then walking over to her daughter.

"Well yeah, and Bulkhead offered to help me," the teenager said. "Is...Is that okay?"

"Of course, honey," Arcee said with smile.

Jack and Raf then came in. "Yeah, and Bee offered to help with my project," Raf said.

"Arcee, would you help me put together a motorcycle?" Jack asked. "I've never done it before and need a little help."

"Sure Jack. Putting a bike together couldn't be that hard," Arcee said with a smile, happy to help him out. "When are the projects due?"

"In a couple of weeks," Raf answered.

"That'll give us a few days to get the stuff we need so we can get started," Miko said excitedly.

After eating dinner, Miko was at main room talking to Ratchet about the solar system and the medic gladly called up a star chart of the Milky Way Galaxy for her. "If I was teaching you kids about the solar system, you would know everything about it, so much it would put your human teacher to shame and make the education they're teaching you look like a joke," said Ratchet as he chuckled on his last comment and went back to typing on the computer.

"That would be nice, having you as a teacher," Raf said while playing video games with Jack.

I agree," Jack said. "I'd never be bored with a Cybertronian for a teacher."

That made Ratchet smile before he saw Arcee and Bulkhead walk in.

"Okay, Ratchet, we're ready to go and do a scout read on a energon mine," Arcee said.

Ratchet nodded and opened the ground bridge. "Alright, be careful, you two," he said.

"Miko, stay out of trouble, okay?" Bulkhead said gently.

"No problem, Bulk. And if you see some Cons, make sure you get them the beating of a life time," Miko said with a smile.

"I promise. After all, that is my profession," said Bulkhead as he walked through the bridge.

"Mama will be back, sweetie. And when I come back, we can have some girl time, okay?" Arcee said, smiling as she placed a gentle kiss on Miko's head.

"Okay, bye, Mom. Love you," the young girl said.

"Love you too, sweetheart."

As they made it to their destination, Bulkhead smiled. "You and Miko are getting along well," he said.

"Of course, Bulk. She's my sparkling. She is the only reason why I keep going," Arcee said with a smile.

"Well, if I didn't say it then, congrats on being a mom, Arcee" The big green Autobot said.

"Thanks, Bulk. Now let's go find some energon quickly, so I can spend time with my little sparkling," the femme said, leading the way.

Bulkhead chuckled."Cybertronian moms. They get so attached to their sparklings. So attached that they completely forget about their husbands."

He sighed lightly. "I miss those good old times back on Cybertron. And my wife," he said softly with a smile before going to join his best friend in the hunt, hoping they'd find a good load of Energon to bring back to the base.

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