As the sun came out the following morning, Will felt as if he was heading to his doom. For he had to yet to tell everyone what he had done. Will sighed as he played several conversations in his head, all of them ending terribly. It seemed to the soldier that there was no escape from either a painful death or harassment or just lectures from every single resident being in the base. Soon, he had arrived at his destination. The Pit. Otherwise known as the Rec Room. He paused at the door and took a deep breath before going inside.
"Guys, Autobots and soldiers, can I have your attention for a minute please?" Lennox said, his cheeks automatically burning as soon as silence fell upon everyone. He looked to where Optimus was standing with Ironhide and Ratchet, then over to Chloe and Jazz. He took a moment to try and come up with exactly how to broach the subject. Then, before Lennox could even say a word, one of the soldiers spoke up.
"Hey Lennox, where's Alexis?" Then everyone else started up too, all of them asking of the whereabouts of the Xyleon. Lennox looked from each of the human faces to each of the Autobot faces until his war-hardened eyes came to rest on Chloe; the girl looked away, resting her head on Jazz's helm where she was sat on his shoulder. Guilty poison began eating away at Will's insides, his stomach twisting and knotting as he grew increasingly nervous.
"Oh, crap," he whispered. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a strong voice.
"Alexis has left the base. The situation became too much for her, and she chose to move elsewhere," Optimus informed them. A stunned silence fell over them; one that lasted a good minute.
"What?" Came a more feminine voice. It was Mikaela.
"How'd she manage that?" Sam asked.
"She took a boat, Sam. How else?" Chloe cut in, her voice so bitter that it hurt Will's ears.
"So she's just gone?" Ironhide questioned softly. Jazz stroked Chloe's back to try and keep her calm.
"Yeah," Will replied.
"Why? What happened that was so bad?" Sam asked, his face echoing the confusion upon so many other faces.
"Me." Chloe said, "I happened and I got in the way." Sam only stared up at the girl as Mikaela put a hand to her mouth, gasping as she realised what the young British girl meant; everyone had had a debriefing on the past events concerning Chloe, Alexis, Jazz and Optimus but it appeared that Mikaela had been the only one listening, after all, Sam, Miles and Leo had fallen asleep.
"No, Chloe. You didn't," Will stated. Most eyes turned then to him.
"You got any proof of that?" The girl retorted as bitterly as before, "You got one shred of proof, good decent proof, of that?"
"I was the last person to see Alexis," he replied.
"So? Did she even say to you that it wasn't my fault?" Chloe said venomously, Lennox wincing at her tone.
"She did. The last thing she asked me was to make sure you're safe. The day before when she came to me she only wanted to get out of the way. She was trying to keep you and Jazz from fighting like she was with Optimus. Chloe, she was trying to take care of you in her own way," he told her. Chloe snorted, not believing the soldier for a second.
"Yeah right, she wanted to go cos of only, ONLY, her fighting with him," she said, jerking her thumb then disrespectfully towards Optimus.
"Surveillance cameras! If you don't believe me, which is obvious, you can check them. I promise you that she brought you up a lot," he stated.
"Lennox, if I may," Prowl broke in and stepped forward. He accessed the cameras and projected the video on the wall opposite Chloe. The room fell absolutely silent besides the sounds and voices that the cameras had picked up. Not even Skids or Mudflap or Sideswipe or Sunstreaker broke the quiet. They watched from when Alexis arrived at Will's office to when she took off at a run from it. The image flickered out once it had reached that point and Prowl shut it off. Silence remained hanging over the Rec Room for a solid three minutes before anyone broke it.
"Hang on... what?" Sunstreaker and Sideswipe said simultaneously, confusion possessing their faceplates.
"You two heard it, not sure I understood it though..." Ratchet nearly growled at the Twins. Lennox opened his eyes and saw calm carnage erupting all over the place. Red Alert was fritzing with Inferno trying to comfort him, Wheeljack was just stood there staring as his processor went into overdrive, Chloe had broken down into tears, Jazz had activated his holoform and was holding Chloe in a tight hug while Ironhide and the other Autobots and soldiers just stood there, internally getting angry or frustrated at either Chloe or Optimus or Alexis.
Will groaned and slumped to his knees before burying his face in his hands. That option had had the result he'd been trying to avoid. Sadly it did nothing to help the situation. Through the gaps between his fingers he saw Optimus slump against the wall and Ironhide storm from the room, probably to go blow things up. Epps approached the soldier and gave him a pat on the back. He then leaned down to speak directly into Will's ear, "I think you picked the worst option possible."
"Oh, shut it, Epps," Will growled. He stood and left the chaos of the rec room behind.
Alexis had a death grip on the strap of her bag when the soldier that had gone with her led her to William Lennox's house. He knocked on the door and a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair answered the door. Her eyes flicked over the soldier first before settling on Alexis. "And you must be Alexis, yeah?" Sarah said, "Will has told me a lot about you."
"Now I'm afraid," Alexis joked. Sarah stepped back inside the house and held the door open for Alexis who entered rather reluctantly.
"Thank you so much Mrs Lennox, I really appreciate it," Alexis said as Sarah led her to her room.
"Please, no formalities here. Just call me Sarah," Sarah laughed warmly. Sarah left Alexis to get herself settled when they heard a crash in the kitchen. Halfway muttering a comment to her guest, Sarah took off at a run towards the kitchen.
Upon arriving there, she nearly tossed herself to the ground to avoid tripping on her daughter's foot. She sighed when she looked around. The mop water was spilled across the ground. Pots and pans were scattered throughout the room in random places, pulled from their cabinet and discarded by the little girl happily looking up at her mother with innocent eyes. "Whoops. It was an acciden'!" Annabelle said to her mother. Sarah sighed in frustration.
"We have a guest over! Belle, help me clean up the mess," Sarah told the young girl. Annabelle whined, getting up from where she was seated on the ground. Together, they piled the pots and pans back up, and Sarah put them away.
"Sorry Ma..." Annabelle said sadly, fiddling with a button on her clothes guiltily. Sarah pulled her into her arms.
"It's alright... I know you didn't mean to," Sarah responded. Annabelle sniffed, wrapping her little arms around her mother's neck.
"Won' do 'gain..." She said, muffled as she buried her face in Sarah's neck.
"I know. Why don't you come and say hello to Alexis? She's going to be stay with us for a while," Sarah suggested to help her daughter feel better. Annabelle nodded, sniffing once more and turning to the older girl.
"Hiya..." Annabelle said shyly, waving slightly and smiling. Alexis, who had arrived in the kitchen only a few minutes before, returned the wave with a gentle smile. Annabelle giggled slightly and walked up to Alexis, smiling wider than earlier.
"Hello," Alexis called softly, her voice wavering more than she wanted. The younger girl just giggled again and hugged Alexis, Sarah just smiled widely.
"I think you two will get along just fine," She said gently. Alexis looked up at Sarah even as she returned the hug.
"I'm sure we will..." Alexis said.
"Yay! Play?" Annabelle chirped to her new friend, looking up at Alexis brightly. Alexis could only blink for a moment as the words clicked for her. She gave a very slight nod, suddenly feeling very uncertain. Annabelle gave a cheer and pulled Alexis by the hand to the living room, giggling happily all the way there. Sarah, who had been left by the girls, was given a moment of relief from taking care of her daughter. She smiled when giggles and laughter reached her ears, signaling that she had been correct. She left the kitchen in search of the book she'd been reading before Alexis had arrived, certain that she would be able to get a little more read before she'd be needed by anyone.
Weeks later...
"Hey Jazz, Sunny, Sides. What you guys doin'?" Chloe asked as she wandered up to the three mechs that were trying to untangle the Sunny Christmas Tree from the tinsel, her hands shoved deep in her pockets. Sunstreaker regarded her with a serious expression.
"Suffering..."
"Yeah yeah but that's only cos you and 'Sides were tryin' ta be clever and ya tripped over somethin' and got tangled up cos ya useless Sunny..." Jazz said, rolling his optics at the Troublesome Twins' actions. Chloe, however, just giggled.
"Sounds just like you two to do somethin' like that!" She laughed. Sideswipe objected instantly, stating that he would do no such thing while Sunstreaker merely glared at the shorter silver mech.
"What?" Sideswipe said, raising his hands in surrender and skating round to the other side of his yellower twin with the pre-untangled tinsel in his hands.
"You're both idiotic slaggers. There's nothin' new there," Ironhide snapped from across the room where he was busy 'glue-gunning' other decorations in place with, not a glue gun, but a small plasma cannon. Sunstreaker just snarled at Jazz when he felt the saboteur's claws scratch some of his precious paint from his chassis.
"Aw c'mon Sunflower!" Chloe jumped in to diffuse any arguments, "Leave Jazzy alone! It was an accident! Besides, it's Christmas!"
"Yeah Sunshine!" Sideswipe joined in, "T'is the season to be jolly, tra-la-la-la-la-la!" The silver mech sang, skating away out from his brother's reach and giggling deviously. Most of those present in the Rec Room muffled a laugh at the Twins' antics but the only two bonded beings just collapsed into fits of laughter.
"Grr shut up and untangle me already!" Sunstreaker yelled, death-glaring at his brother and friends, tripping over and landing on his aft in the process of his struggling against the tinsel.
"Looks like the 'Mighty Sunstreaker' has been beaten by some tinsel!" Chloe giggled, leaning against Jazz in a poor effort to calm herself down.
"Give him a break. It's Christmas," Will said, walking over to aid Sunstreaker in getting out of the tinsel.
"Aww... c'mon Lennox! Can't we have a little bit of fun with the Autobots' Sunflower?" Sideswipe whined, reluctantly helping the human soldier. Will didn't respond, instead thumping the side of his hand into the metal of Sideswipe's leg. Sideswipe, however, barely noticed. It wasn't until he received a well-aimed kick from his brother to the crotch did he yelp in pain and curl up in a ball on the floor, tears of lubricant leaking from his optics. Everyone present in the Rec Room just broke down into full-blown laughter at the Twins' antics.
"Alright, you two. I don't want to listen to Ratchet's moaning if you hurt each other, so knock it off!" Will snapped. Both Twins just stopped and looked 'hurt' by the soldier's threats, looking away guiltily before Sideswipe went back to helping his brother.
"Think they'll ever stop fighting Jazz?" Chloe asked her bondmate, sitting casually on his pede.
"Sides and Sunny? Will ole Megs grovel at Prime's pedes?" Jazz asked in response. The girl just giggled in answer.
"Good point!"
"It'd be a good Christmas present for 'im though," Epps pointed out. All three of them just laughed at that statement.
Sunstreaker got up and didn't even spare a glance for his brother who was stick curled up in pain. He stormed from the room with angry shout that he was 'done with the slagging season'.
"Aww..." Chloe whined, running after the yellow mêlée fighter, "Sunny! Wait! At least TRY and enjoy it!"
"No way in the fraggin' pit! I'm done!" Sunstreaker yelled back, heading out of the hanger. Chloe just stopped, digging her clawed right arm into her arm, needing the pain. Everything had gone wrong again. Jazz walked over to his bondmate and kneeled to be closer to her.
"Aw, don't worry 'bout it babe. He's just bein' Sunny," he told her.
"Yeah but it's Christmas!" Chloe said, drawing blood in her arm slightly. Jazz sighed.
"It's a human holiday. He just don't get it."
"He never does..." Chloe sighed too, hugging her bondmate's hand and her mini-visor flashing, "But, hey-ho, what can you do with him?"
"Nothin'!" Jazz joked with a smirk. The human techno-organic giggled at her mate's endless good humour, and hoisted herself onto his hand; just in time to see Optimus walk in with a heavy chain over his shoulder.
"Hey Prime, s'up with the chain?" Jazz said, turning at his mate's reaction to the Prime. Chloe, however, just nodded in acknowledgement; neither of the two were speaking to each other because of Alexis' sudden absence at the base.
"I just took if off of her hanger. I'm going to replace it with a new one. This one is heavily rusted," Optimus replied.
"Ahh cool..." Jazz said, slipping Chloe onto his shoulder gently.
"I thought-" Chloe started, cutting herself off quickly and wincing as soon as she realised that she had almost ruined her reputation of 'not speaking to someone if they were ticking her off big-time'. Optimus sighed and continued past them, walking over to Ironhide. The two spoke, and Ironhide took the chain, freeing Optimus who then left the room, probably to go work on some of the reports that were still unfinished. Jazz shot Chloe a glare through their bond, the latter wincing as it was received.
"You know I still hate him for what he did!" Chloe hissed in her saboteur's audio. Before Jazz could reply, Lennox spoke up with his own opinion.
"You know what would be the best gift ever, besides maybe the war being over or seeing my family? If everyone on base could stop fighting with each other." The two bondmates fell silent at the remark, both's minds thinking of ways to overcome that problem. Chloe just sighed before being hit with a rather... extravagant... idea.
"Hmm..."
"What're you plannin'? Jazz questioned his girl.
"I was thinking that we could throw a ball-like party for Christmas... with a Cybertronian twist?" Chloe replied, rubbing her arm thoughtfully.
"I don't have a problem with that. I can ask my superiors. But you'll have to get Prime to say it's alright as well," Lennox said.
"Hmm ok Will! But I ain't asking Prime!" Chloe replied quite cheerily. Jazz gave Chloe a look. "Don't look at me like that, Jazz! You know I won't talk to him!" Chloe said, glaring at her mate.
"It was your idea," Jazz pointed out, his look not softening at all.
"I'm still not asking him!"
"Then no one's askin' him. It's you or he doesn't get asked at all." Chloe growled at her mate, still glaring at him, before she crumbled.
"Fiiiiiine..." she sighed, resettling down on Jazz's shoulder.
"What're you plannin' anyways?"
"Just wanted a great big ball-like party where we all dress up in our best suits and dresses with a Cybertronian twist. Then.. well... maybe invite Alexis and Sarah over?"
"You think Alexis would even come?" Will questioned, draping the tinsel he held over the tree. Chloe just shrugged, longing hidden behind her visor.
"I hope..."
"Maybe if you asked her yourself. Last time I spoke to Sarah, she said Alexis is struggling," Will said gently. Chloe just froze, immediate concern and worry for her friend apparent in her, with or without the visor. "Chloe? You alright?" Will asked immediately in concern. He turned away from the tree and looked up at the young girl. Black Charade had become a thing of the past, but they were still very worried that the menace would return.
As if she had been submerged in ice-cold water, Chloe took a gasp of air, her lungs baying hungrily for more. It was then that she noticed she was shivering and her skin felt as if it were wet. Looking down at Will she eventually replied, "I'm fine, Will... just... fine..."
"You sure?"
"Yeah... just a bit..." Chloe shook her head quickly, clearing it of a pressure that was slowly pressing down on her mind and thoughts, affecting her free will, "I'm good."
Reluctantly, Will went back to decorating the tree; his thoughts on calling Sarah to see how the Xyleon was doing. Sarah had last reported that Alexis had fallen ill, a fact that worried Will perhaps more than it should have. A small voice then broke his trail of thoughts.
"Lennox? Is Alexis ok?" It was Chloe. Will was slow to respond.
"I'm going to call Sarah tonight. I'll let you know if there's anything wrong." Chloe nodded slowly and murmured her response, snuggling back into Jazz's neck. "You should ask Optimus today about if the ball's okay with him. Then we'll call Sarah, both of us, to check up on things and see if the girls'll go," Will said in a suggestion for Chloe to just get it over with.
"Yeah.. ok Lennox... C'mon Jazz let's go then. In a bit Will!" Chloe called back over her shoulder as Jazz left for the Prime's office. Will waved back, though he didn't turn to them fully, trying to hide the worry that was weaving its way through his heart.
The piercing sound of a phone ringing dragged Alexis out of the light sleep she'd managed to fall into. Annabelle was snuggled up against her, delighting in the heat Alexis was able to provide, though for Alexis, that was a bad sign. Her skin seemed to have a VERY slight tint of grey to it, which was normal when a Xyleon got sick. Holding a human form was fine, but Alexis couldn't maintain the colouring of a human. A fact that had a first freaked Sarah out a little bit.
"Looks like she's getting worse... I'm worried about it," Sarah said softly into the phone, highly aware of the fact that Alexis and Annabelle were trying to sleep. Unfortunately for her, Alexis was no longer asleep, and had the ability to tap into the phone; giving Alexis the chance to listen in.
"Ok, thanks hon... Chloe'll be really worried if she doesn't get any better. Plus the kid had a good idea about a ball-like Christmas party we could throw at the base." It was Will Lennox.
"Chloe? That sounds like a lot of fun. Are we army wives allowed to join in the festivities? Been a long time since we've been able to see you..." Sarah responded, twisting the cord of the phone with a finger. Alexis' optics widened at the mention of her closest friend. Will laughed on the other end.
"Yeah all the lovely military wives are allowed to join in the festivities, hon! But sadly, we gotta or rather Chloe has gotta clear it with Prime first. She didn't want to speak to him. Poor kid... she reckons it's all Prime's fault Alexis left. And, to make matters worse, Ratchet found out that Prime's personality circuit had glitched, making him go like he did to Alexis." Will said unhappily, the slight trace of happiness lost in an instant as soon as the previous events came up. Alexis choked back a sob, dropping out of the frequency for a moment or risk alerting both to the fact that she was trespassing on their privacy. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she carefully got up from the couch without waking Annabelle. She walked over to the open doorway, looking out at Sarah.
"I bet that's not true... The way Alexis has cried about what happened between her and Optimus Prime makes me think she still really loves him," Sarah said.
"Yeah but have you heard what Prime did? He hurt her badly when she was still here! And he hurt Chloe and Jazz in the process! A lot of mechs and men have taken sides with the whole thing! It's only me, Jazz and Epps who're trying to keep it neutral!" Will was beginning to sound exasperated and frustrated.
"If his personality chip glitched than it was an accident!" Alexis croaked before she could stop herself. Sarah jumped and dropped the phone, the phone bouncing on its cord having been wrapped around Sarah's wrist.
"Alexis!" Sarah exclaimed, quickly grabbing the phone and muffling it with her top. Alexis winced at the pain that flared from her underused vocaliser. She walked over to Sarah and looked into the woman's eyes.
"Is that true?" She asked, her voice rough but soft. Sarah nodded sadly, quickly saying goodbye to her husband and hanging up.
"I'm sorry.."
"D-don't be. Ratchet can repair that," Alexis said, looking away. She wrapped her arms around herself. "Primus, I'm tired..." Sarah's expression softened slightly.
"Get some more rest, sweetheart, you're tired and you need to sleep, yeah?" Alexis didn't look up, nor did she respond. Tears continued to fall, gliding over her skin to slip onto her shirt and arms. Sarah moved away from the phone and gently embraced the Xyleon, letting Alexis cry into her shirt and rubbing her back.
"I'm sorry... I make things worse all the time... I want to go home..." Alexis said softly. Sarah stroked Alexis' hair lightly, resting her chin on the girl's head.
"It's ok, you don't make things worse. Which home? Your planet? Or the base?"
Alexis giggled briefly, her breathing finally settling. "Where ever Chloe and Optimus are..."
"That'll be base then!" Sarah laughed softly, slowly releasing the Xyleon. When Alexis looked up at Sarah, the human was relieved that Alexis had seemed to brighten, even though she still looked far from healthy.
"Hey come, cup of hot cocoa will sort you out, yeah?" Alexis smiled and nodded, closing her optics briefly. She wiped away the tears that had fallen. Sarah rubbed Alexis' arm for a few seconds before going and boiling the kettle, readying three mugs for some warm hot chocolate.