Optimus brought Alana to her room and told her to get dressed for outside. Alana wondering what he was up to complied with out question and pulled on her boots and coat. Once she had on her things Optimus picked her up and took her outside, as he walked past the med bay Alana gave one last glance towards the door where Ironhide and Ratchet were sticking out their heads looking at her nervously. Optimus ignored them and walked outside where the frigid air came to greet them. Alana shivered and tried to catch Optimus' optic, but he looked straight ahead and trudged through the snow.
Optimus walked until they were a good ways away from the base, once he had found a clearing where he could sit down did he stop. Silently he sat down and made himself comfortable in the snow, he leaned against a tree and set Alana down on the ground in front of him. He crossed his arms and looked at her intently.
"Tell me what happened" he said.
Alana frowned "But you said Ironhide told you what happened…"
"I know Alana" Optimus sighed "I want to hear you tell it" he said.
"Oh…" Alana shrugged "Ok." She paused and frowned, she wasn't sure how to start.
"Why did you hit Mabel?" Optimus asked trying to give her a place to start.
"She took my hat!" Alana told him.
"So you hit her just because she took your hat?" Optimus asked.
"No…" Alana shook her head.
"What else happened to make you so angry?" Optimus asked.
Alana took in a deep breath "She called Ratchet stupid, and she ignored me when I asked her to get off my scarf, and she threw snowballs at me, and she brought in a cooler show and tell gift, and I always get blamed for what she does!" she ended on an angry yell, her fists were at her side. Alana felt the need to kick something, so she aimed a kick at the snow and watched as it flew in the air. Pleased with the results she kicked the snow again. Optimus watched the small girl, he made no move to stop her venting knowing she needed it.
After a moment she sat down in a huff and looked up at him with angry eyes, "I hate Mabel!" she told him.
Optimus frowned "Hate is a strong word" he said.
Alan looked shocked for a moment "I thought only mom's said that sort of stuff" she said thoughtfully.
Optimus frowned "Who told you that?" he asked.
"David. His mom tells him that stuff" Alana told him. She tilted her head "He says I can come over sometime" she said in an after thought.
Optimus smiled "It's great that you made a friend Alana, but this isn't what we are here to talk about" he said.
Alana sighed, "I know…" she murmured.
"Lets start with you telling her about Ratchet" Optimus said.
Alana shook her head "No!" she shouted trying to defend herself "I didn't tell her about Ratchet, I just said his name" she told him "I swear! I didn't talk about you guys! I swear!"
Optimus held up his hand "Calm down Alana" he said gently. Alana took a few heaving breaths but managed to get her temper under control, she put her hands on her head and looked up at Optimus. "I believe you didn't say anything about us and I am grateful for that, but you have to understand that you could have put yourself and us in danger"
Alana moaned "I'm sorry Optimus. I won't ever do it again! I promise!"
Optimus nodded accepting her apology "Don't worry Alana" he suddenly felt compelled to comfort her so he leaned forward and picked her up. He cradled her against his chest and she gave off a great big sigh. "Now what about that show and tell thing?" Optimus asked. "What is show and tell?" he asked in an after thought.
Alana giggled and began her explanation "Show and tell is 'when you bring in an item which means something to you' Miss S said that" she said.
"I see" Optimus said. "And what did Mabel bring?" he asked.
"Her puppy Oliver" Alana said grumpily. She gave off a yawn before talking again "He gots really soft fur and his nose is really wet. Oliver likes to give kisses" Alana said.
Optimus frowned "Why did this make you angry?" he asked thinking that a dog was a strange thing to get mad over.
"Her show and tell item is better than mine" Alana said.
"Did the class think the dog was better too?" Optimus asked.
"I didn't show my item. I lied… Said I forgot it" Alana told him. "I'm sorry for lying" she said after a moments pause.
"Optimus frowned "Why did you say you forgot it?" he asked utterly confused.
"Because Mabel's was better than mine" Alana told him.
"How do you know that?" Optimus asked "The class didn't even get to see it, just because the class reacted strongly to her item doesn't mean they wouldn't react to yours just the same."
Alana blinked a few times "huh?" she said.
Optimus sighed "You can't say that hers was better" he told her.
"But it is" she protested.
"How do you know that? You didn't give the class a chance to see it"
"I just know" Alana told him stubbornly.
Optimus then realized something "What were you going to show the class anyway Alana?"
Alana shook her head "It's dumb" she told him.
"Would it have been dumb if Mabel hadn't brought in her dog?" Optimus asked.
Alana shrugged and yawned again "Dunno" she said sleepily, the day was catching up with her.
Optimus looked at the small sleep deprived child in his hand, with a soft smile he stroked her back, "Sleep Alana" he said- and Alana did just that.
Optimus walked back into the base and tucked Alana into bed, he was thankful it was weekend, this way Alana could sleep in. He was about to walk out when he saw her backpack. He knew her show and tell item was still in there and he curiously picked it up and walked out of her room. He made his way to the lounge where he saw Ratchet, Ironhide and Bumblebee. They were lazing about watching NASCAR, but then he came in the T.V was turned off and all headed were aimed at him. Optimus looked at them with an amused look.
"She's sleeping" he told them.
"That's good" Ratchet said, "She was up all night working on something" he said.
"What was she working on?" Bumblebee asked.
Optimus looked down at the backpack in his hands "Her show and tell item" he said.
"What's show and tell?" Ironhide asked. Optimus explained and they listened.
"So what did the class think of her item?" Ratchet asked.
"She didn't show it to them" Optimus said sitting down on a chair next to Ironhide.
"What! Why not?" Bumblebee frowned.
"She didn't think it was good enough" Optimus said.
"What was it?" Ratchet asked.
"Lets find out" Optimus said, he expertly unzipped the backpack with his large fingers and brought out a small bundled blanket.
"Is that it?" Bumblebee asked.
"No, she just wrapped it up with the blanket" Ratchet told him giving him a light shove. The backpack was put down and the blanket was carefully unwrapped.
Ironhide let out a low whistle "Damn that girl is good with LEGO" he said.
Ratchet smiled "And she thought it wasn't good" he let out a laugh. "She could sell that and make millions" he said. Optimus just stared at the creation with a look of shock; there in his hand was a miniature version of himself. Alana hadn't even used a reference and it looked extremely accurate. After a moment he broke out into a smile, he looked up and saw the others staring at him.
"What?" he asked.
Ironhide frowned "How come she made you?" he asked.
Ratchet also frowned "I wonder if I can get her to make one of me" he said thoughtfully.
Optimus let out a low laugh "Jealous?" he asked.
Bumblebee nodded "Very… I've always wanted my own action figure" he said. Optimus laughed again, he then began to wrap up the LEGO creation of him with the blanket and placed it carefully back into the backpack. The Autobots knew it was her creation and she could do with it as she pleased, if it was her decision to give it to Optimus then she would.
The backpack was placed back in Alana's room and everyone settled down for the night. Had anyone looked outside they would have seen a single falling star.
The next morning Alana got up later then usual but the sleep in had improved her mood; she was happy again and seemed to have forgotten her fight with Mabel. She had walked into the kitchen cheerily and had begun to make herself some toaster waffles. She was humming to herself while she got out a plate, fork knife and most importantly the maple syrup. Once she had it set up Fireflight had walked in.
"Ooh! What are you doing Alana?" he asked crouching down.
"Making breakfast" Alana heard the pop of the toaster signaling it was done and she got out her toaster waffles and placed them on her plate.
"Fascinating" Fireflight said as he watched the young girl pile on the maple syrup.
Alana looked up and regarded him thoughtfully "do you want to try some?" she asked.
Fireflight nodded eagerly "Please" he said.
Alana gestured towards her toaster waffle "turn on your holoform and try it" she told him. Fireflight did as he was told and activated his holoform, he then moved to sit in front of her. Alana used her fork and knife to cut away a piece of the waffle and handed the fork to him. Fireflight studied it for a moment and then popped it into his mouth.
"Hey!" he said after a moment "That's really good…" he stared at his fork and then at the waffle and then moved his gaze over to Alana, his eyes pleading. Alana caught in and pushed the plate towards him and went off to make herself another waffle. Fireflight ate the waffle ravenously and was finished it just as Alana had put another waffle in the toaster. She took one look at his hungry expression and put another waffle in the other slot of the toaster.
They ate breakfast together, Alana had to defend her waffle against Fireflight's prying fork but she managed to get two down. After that she offered him some orange juice and he drank the whole bottle.
"Amazing!" he said as he threw the empty orange juice container over his shoulder "You humans have really tasty fuel"
"Fuel?" Alana tilted her head "Don't you mean food?"
"Yeah that" Fireflight waved his hand and opened the fridge. After a moment he pulled out an egg he studied it for a moment and then bit on it. Alana watched disgusted as he retched up the egg "Ewww!" Fireflight spat on the floor. "Gross!" he threw the remains of the egg on the floor. Alana sat herself on the kitchen table and watched the show. After the egg Fireflight found the carrots, he took one out of the bag and bit down on it. He chewed, "Yum" he bit down on another carrot "Crunchy!" he said happily. He studied the remains of the carrot he had bitten into "Orange" he said. After a moment he was through with the carrots as well, he threw them over his shoulder and Alana caught the bag. She dug her hand into it and dug out a carrot and bit into it.
Next Fireflight found the butter, he unwrapped it and bit into the yellowish mass. He chewed for a moment and tilted his head "Mmm" he said. Alana watched as he took another bite of the slab of butter.
"Try the cheese" Alana told him.
"Ok!" the butter was dropped to the floor and Fireflight dug around for the cheese, he found it and tried it as well. "Good" he said through a mouthful of cheese.
Alana nodded "Yup" she said as she ate another carrot. Fireflight was digging through the fridge again when Sam came in, he was wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of boxers, and he looked like he was just out of bed.
"Morning, Alana" Sam took a seat next to her on the table. He took a carrot and regarded Fireflight with sleepy eyes. "What's Fireflight doing?" he asked munching on the carrot.
"He's trying food" Alana told him gesturing to the mass of food on the floor.
Sam snorted "That's healthy food" he said "Fireflight if you want real food go into the freezer and grab a tub of ice-cream"
"Ice-cream!" Alana nodded "That's gooood!" she told him.
"Ok!" Fireflight opened the freezer and found the ice-cream, he pried of the lid and stuck his hand into the ice-cream and brought out a bunch. He licked his hand and his eyes widened at the taste "Ice-cream…" he said its name in a half whisper, like he was in awe.
Sam nodded approvingly of Fireflight's reaction "see" he said "Now that is food"
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Ratchet's voice suddenly came from the door, he sounded surprised. He stepped in and looked at the mess on the floor "What the hell happened?" he asked angrily.
Sam pointed to Fireflight and Alana smiled "Fireflight is trying food, that's what the hell is happening" she told him.
Ratchet frowned "Don't say that Alana." He said sternly.
"But you said it" Alana told him.
"I know and that was bad, I'm not going to say it again" Ratchet told her, he sounded frustrated.
Alana sighed, and pouted "no fun" she said.
Sam nudged her "Pass me a carrot" he said. Alana did as she was told and helped herself to one as well. Then the two humans sat back and watched as Ratchet turned to face Fireflight, the annoyance clear on his face.
"Fireflight…" Ratchet said trying to remain civil, the kitchen was a mess and the food was scattered all over the floor, it was probably no good anymore.
Fireflight's holoform turned to look at him, his face was smeared with the Thousand Island ranch dressing he had been sampling, he broke out into a smile "Hey Ratchet" his holoform dissolved out of sight and his robot body came back to life. "This human fuel is really great, have you tried it?" he asked excitedly.
Ratchet looked at him blankly and then growled "You…" Ratchet shook his head growled again "You ruined most of the food!" he half yelled.
"I was just trying some…" Fireflight said sounding somewhat sad.
"Yeah well your sampling got rid of most of our food supplies!" Ratchet yelled. Sam sniggered and Ratchet turned to him "You!" he shouted and Sam cowered "You should have stopped him! You're a responsible human; you could have stopped him but no! You just had to sit back and watch!"
Sam stared at him with narrowed eyes "my fault!" he shouted.
"Yeah you!" Ratchet said.
"Well you know what-" Sam was cut off as Ironhide entered the room.
"What's going on?" he asked. They all reacted simultaneously, Ratchet pointed to Fireflight and Sam pointed to Ratchet, and Fireflight who felt the need to point at someone as well pointed at Sam; meanwhile Alana munched on her carrots happily.
Then together they shouted "him!"
Ratchet growled "Fireflight at most of the food!" he shouted "Look at the mess he made!"
Sam was next to shout "Sure Fireflight made a mess but Ratchet was being all pissy and blamed me!" he yelled "Not my fault man!"
Fireflight waited for a moment and Ironhide looked at him expectantly. Fireflight shrugged and said "I just felt like pointing at Sam, though he did recommend that I eat the ice-cream" he said. "It was really good!"
"See!" Ratchet shouted.
Ironhide frowned, he then pointed to Ratchet "You, lighten up" he pointed to Sam "you, big trouble" he then pointed to Fireflight "You, go outside" Fireflight complied and snuck past the group and walked outside.
Once Fireflight was out Ironhide gave them a smile, "Ok," he said "Get cleaning" he looked pointedly at human and robot.
Ratchet and Sam looked outraged "What!"
Ironhide shrugged "Come on, Fireflight couldn't clean this up and you two seem like the perfect ones for the job" he said with a mischievous smile.
Sam growled but did as he was told, he got up from the table and began to pick up the half eaten food and put it in the garbage. Ratchet sighed and closed the fridge and began to help as well. Alana watched them for a moment and then she saw the discarded container of ice-cream which was still filled with steadily melting ice-cream. With a small smile she got off the table and grabbed it. She was about to dig in when Ironhide's voice stopped her.
"And what are you doing missy?" Ironhide asked.
Alana smiled her best smile "Eating ice-cream!" She told him.
"I don't think so" Ironhide took the bucket and put it in the garbage, "It's only nine in the morning" he told her.
"So?" Alana asked looking at the ice-cream in the garbage sadly.
"Did you have breakfast yet?" Ironhide asked.
"Yup!" Alana told him proudly "Waffles" she held up two of her fingers and beamed up at him "Two!" she told him.
Ironhide nodded in approval "Alright then. You go get dressed" he gave her a small nudge and Alana made her way towards the exit and left for her room.
Alana chose a pair of army pants and a heavy hoodie which was way to big for her the end reached her knees and the hood when on hung at her nose. After she gave her curly brown hair a quick brush she stuck on her hat and began to brush her teeth. Then she pulled on her runners and walked outside, and walked into Sam's legs.
"Woah, steady Alana" Sam had reacted quickly bending down to grab her shoulders before she stumbled backwards.
"Sorry Sam…" Alana said once she was steady again.
Sam shrugged :its no big" he told her.
Alana nodded "Kay!" she was about to walk away but paused and tilted her head all the way up so that she could look at Sam. "What are we doing today?" she asked.
Sam frowned "dunno" he said "It's my day off for work." He knelt down and gave her a smile "What say you and me go and hit the movie rental store grab a bunch of flicks and watch them back here at the base while we gorge ourselves with popcorn and pop?" he asked.
Alana's eyes went wide with the prospect and she felt like cheering but she wanted to try something that she had seen some of the boys do at school, so she gave him a thumb's up and said "Duuude!"
Sam threw back his head and laughed "Alrighty then just let me get changed and we can get Bumblebee to drive us"
"Ok!" Alana nodded enthusiastically.
"You go get Bee and I'll meet you at the front" Sam told her, he stood up and gave her head an affectionate pat and headed for his room.
Alana then turned to the task at hand, finding Bumblebee. It wasn't that hard, he was in the lounge watching TV looking bored. When Alana came in his dull blue optics lightened a bit at the possible prospect of entertainment from Alana.
"Hey Alana…" he said sitting up from his position on the couch.
Alana waved up at him and gave him a big toothed grin "Bumblebee!" she said excitedly "Guess what!" she giggled.
"What?" Bumblebee asked, he held out his hand and the little girl climbed on.
"Guess!" she laughed.
"You painted Ratchet pink?" Bumblebee asked.
"Nooo!" Alana shook her head her brown hair flying all over the place.
"You have discovered a rare breed of dog and have decided to name it after me?" Bumblebee asked.
"Nooo!" Alana said again.
"You made me an action figure?" he asked hopefully.
"Nooo!" Alana laughed "Your not good at the game Bumblebee" she told him somberly.
Bumblebee sighed dramatically "I know" he said, he put the beck of his hand against his forehead in what Alana knew was a very dramatic pose "Its my curse" he said. Alana laughed and Bumblebee gave off a small titter of a laugh. "So what do you want to tell me?" he asked.
"Wellll…." Alana said "Me and Sam wanna go to the movie rental store so that we can get lots of movies and watch them here while we eat popcorn and pop!" she told him "You need to drive us" she said.
Bumblebee nodded "sure" he said "Sound like fun. I wanna pick a few movies too" he said.
"Yay!" Alana pumped a fist into the air. Bumblebee shut off the TV and put Alana on his shoulder, he then walked out and found Sam waiting for them at the entrance. Bumblebee transformed and then they headed off towards the movie store.
Once there Sam, Bumblebee and Alana went loose they browsed taking all the time they needed. Alana wound her way down an aisle filled with many movie covers. She saw one that looked interesting and walked towards it.
She sounded the name of the movie out loud, "Ro… bots" she said. she immediately liked the name knowing it had something to do with robots made her want to watch it, so she picked it off the shelve and continued her way down to look at other movies. She found another one and sounded it out loud again "I… Ro…. Bot!" she giggled at the prospect of finding another movie that had to do with robots and plucked it off the shelve.
She walked down another aisle and saw a cover with a robot on it, interested she saw that there was a boxy looking robot and he was holding a plant. "Wa…ll-…e?" she frowned, well it had a robot on the front it had to be interesting. After five minutes Alana had a good stack of movies, Sam had an armful as did Bumblebee, Sam regarded their piles of movies and grinned,
"I don't think we will have any plans for sleeping this weekend" he said. they ran their movies up to the store clerk and once their rented movies were put into bags they quickly rushed back home eager to begin the movie fest.
Once there they got into a fight over which movie they were to watch first. Bumblebee had a Star Trek movie while Sam held onto Ghost Rider and Alana held a Bionicle movie.
Bumblebee was shaking his head at Sam "Look its Star Trek, you can't beat Star Trek"
Sam shook his head "But the special effects are so cheesy!" he groaned "Skull-man from hell is so much better!" he insisted. Alana watched as the two argued, and sensing no end to the argument she took things into her own hands. Quietly she turned on the TV and the D.V.D machine. Then she popped in her Bionicle movie and pressed play. Bumblebee and Sam only realized that neither of their picks were going to go fist when the heard the beginnings of a movie. They both sighed and sat down on the couch conceding defeat.
After the first movie was done Alana went off to make popcorn while Bumblebee and Sam argued over which movie was to be watched next. They were still going strong when Alana came back with a tray filled with popcorn and drinks, she set it down and looked at Autobot and human with her hands on her hips shaking her head.
"Do rock paper scissors" she told them after a moment.
"Huh?" Sam and Bumblebee turned their head to look at her.
"Rock paper scissors!" she repeated "do it" she insisted.
Sam bit his bottom lip "Winner gets to choose next movie" he said.
"Agreed" Bumblebee nodded. They held out their fists and after the count of three Bumblebee produced a rock and Sam paper. Sam looked shocked for a moment and then let out a whoop.
"Oh yeah!" he shouted "Who beat a giant robot? Me!" he shouted again.
Bumblebee growled "Just stick the movie in"
Sam paused wishing to rub it in "Wait a moment…." He held up his hand and the room felt silent Bumblebee and Alana watched him expectantly. "I hear the people wanting something" he said. Alana looked around the room, what people? She thought. Bumblebee groaned as Sam threw up his hands and shouted "ME!" Sam did another victory dance and let out another whoop of joy. Bumblebee sat himself down and grabbed Alana he set her on his knee and Sam finally put the movie in.
During the movie Alana tilted her head as Nicholas Cage began to burn up and his skin began to melt away. She 'oohed' when he beat the crap out of the bad guy and at the end she was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of the movie.
"My turn" Bumblebee said happily. He got up and put the Star Trek movie in. It was an old Captain Kirk movie, one about whales. Alana found herself jealous of Spock's ability to lift one eyebrow and look extremely cool doing it. She tried to lift on eyebrow but it was hard. After five minutes she gave up.
After that movie it was Alana's turn again, she choose the I, Robot movie and 'ooohh'ed at Sunny when he joined with Detective Spooner and beat up all of the other Robots. By the time it was Sam's turn Ironhide had walked in and joined them. He had taken Alana off Bumblebee's knee and set her on his own as they sat down to watch the Rock in the movie Rundown.
By three in the afternoon the rest of the Autobots had joined them on the couch and together they sat watching Star Wars 3. Alana's favorite bad guy had been Grievous, she had been disappointed that her favorite good guy Obi Wan had killed him though she had enjoyed the movie anyhow.
It was around four in the morning when Sam and Alana finally drifted off to sleep during another one of Bee's Star Trek movies. Alana had wanted to see if the search for Spock had been successful but her heavy eyes would not allow her to watch a moment longer. And so she slept in Ironhide's hand. After the movie the Autbots felt no need to get up and go to their own rooms for the night, it felt nice to just sit there silently observing their humans. After a while Ironhide drifted off into stasis and the others followed suit and the couch group was resting peacefully on the couch unaware of the growing danger right outside of the town of Grand Cache