Jasmine hummed along with the radio beside her bathtub, after a long day working. Her head bobbed with the rhythm and a few stray strands of red hair escaped from the bun on the back of her head.
Her muscles ached from the gym, and her legs ached from the runway casting, and her brain was tired from putting on and taking off clothes, but all in all, Jazz was satisfied.
However, the calendar shoot from the other day was still bothering her. It was odd, flashes of the base's hallways kept flashing up before her eyes...although, the model had clearly not been down those halls, and they seemed to be from a shorter height than her own.
The cars too, felt odd. Jasmine had sworn she'd seen the green Beat cruising around the city with no driver, but Nikki assured her it was just her imagination, and he had asked how much sleep she'd gotten the night before.
Jasmine sighed, the upbeat tune from the music player not having the full affect as Jasmine thought more about yesterday.
The shoot had gone fairly well; she and the photographer had excellent electricity, which was good, because if made everyone's lives easier. She had changed her outfits half a dozen times at least, all matching the cars in one way or another.
The Search and Rescue Hummer had been paired with a short nurse's outfit and a lollipop stuck between her bright lips. The Corvette had been paired with a strapless number that swept to the floor, coloured a shimmery plum. The big black truck, the Topkick, had been numbered with a pair of military print shorts and a tight tanktop, along with a very nice gun.
The Peterbilt had been skinny jeans and a loose t-shirt. The red Trax had been a pair of pants, and a jacket, along with a matching Santa Hat and boots, all green.
The green Beat had been paired with a hose and a red bikini. She'd wore a tight race suit with the Ferrari, a nice black dress for the Camaro, which she'd been half laying in on a pile of white fur rugs.
But there had been a whispering in the back of Jasmine's mind, one which no matter how hard she concentrated on, she could never figure out the whisper's words. They came from the vehicles; at least, that's what Jazz thought.
She slapped her cheeks and grumbled, good mood ruined as she climbed from the now draining bath and switched off the radio. The redhead towelled herself dry and strode to her room buck naked.
There was no risk in the neighbours seeing her, as Jasmine's blinds were shut.
She paused a moment beside her beside table and smiled at the picture holding a lovely blond woman and a redheaded man with blue eyes.
She was broken from her thoughts by the phone ringing, and she made a beeline to make Katy Perry's Hot n' Cold stop playing.
"Hello?"
"Jazzy? It's Nikki." The redhead rolled her eyes. "I've just been invited to go to a barbeque at the Lennox's, and they told me to invite you! How exciting! So clear your schedule, girl. We'll be gone all day. And they live on a farm, so don't wear heels! Ta-ta! I'll pick you up tomorrow!"
Jasmine didn't get time to say anything and she gave her phone an odd look as the dial tone buzzed from it's speaker.
"That was strange."
When morning came, Jazz waited a few minutes for Nikki to call and yell at her, before she remembered she had the morning off. The model grinned as she rushed into the living room in her pajamas, jumping on the couch to watch some Dexter.
It was possibly her favourite TV series. Dexter was about a serial killer, who worked as a blood-splatter analyst. It was better than it sounded.
By eleven, Jasmine had watched three hour-long episodes before scurrying back to her room to change.
Simple jeans in military patterned black found their way onto her body, and it was followed by a loose t-shirt with a large wolf on the front. Her hair was thrown up into a ponytail, and her worn converse found her feet just as Nikki was ringing the doorbell.
Jasmine opened it with a grin, grabbed her hoodie from the closet beside the door and picked up her purse as she followed Nikki to his bright orange Jaguar.
"You'll love the Lennox's farm." He babbled at her, glancing over occasionally before returning his eyes to the road. "It's so big, and there is so much space, you could run for ages. It makes me feel alive! Not like this cooped up city. If I didn't have a great job, and hated long commutes, I'd by a country home too."
"Wonderful." Jasmine chuckled, watching several trees pass by before they turned onto a bumpy, but paved, road.
"And their daughter, I've heard, is the sweetest thing! She's four; blond and green eyes and smiles like the sun! Her name is Annabell. You met Will the other day, and I can't remember if you've ever met Sarah..."
"I don't think I have."
"Look! Look! We're here!" The male squealed, throwing his car into park and leaping out at the friendly looking woman with a little girl beside her. "Sarah!"
Jasmine shook her head and meandered over, one hand on her bag.
Will smiled as she stopped before him.
"Nice to see you again, Miss Volkov."
"You too, Major Lennox." She nodded, smiling slightly.
"Call me Will. Everyone else does. Besides, I'm not on duty today." He laughed, and the smile lit up his face.
"Alright. Then call me Jasmine, or Jazz, if you prefer." A sad look passed over Will's face but it returned to it's happy expression in seconds, leaving Jasmine to wonder if she had seen it at all.
"We'll be firing up the grill around four, if that's okay?" Sarah turned to Will and lifted an eyebrow. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Jazz, this is my lovely wife, Sarah, and our daughter, Annabell."
Jasmine shook hands with the pretty woman and knelt to say hello to Annabell, who was peering from behind her mother's leg.
"Hello, Annabell."
"You're pretty."
Jasmine cooed, and smiled at the girl who pranced from behind her ma's leg and grabbed Jasmine's hand.
"Come see da horsies." The little girl dragged the young woman away.
"Alright."
"There's Zipper; he's the polka-dotted one. And Maria, the brown one. She's a mare. Least, that's what daddy says. And the grey one is Pasta. And the yellow one is Buttercup; he's my favourite. Daddy says he's really old." Anna grinned up at her new friend.
"I rode a horse once; his name was Duncan." The model pet Buttercup's nose as he nickered. "He was old too."
"How old are you?" Annabell suddenly asked.
"I'm twenty-one."
"What's your job?" She began pulling Jazz out of the stable and towards the child's swingset.
"I'm a model."
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a doctor. So I can help the people Daddy says get hurt when he fights. He brings me back cool stuff when he comes back from fighting. Will you push me on the swing?"
The barbeque was rather pleasant and Jazz found that she liked the Lennox's, and their farm. Annabell seemed very keen on showing her everything.
One thing stuck out to the model, and it made her paranoid throughout the meal; it was the black Topkick parked within viewing distance of the picnic table, the Topkick that had the same license plate number as the one at base, Irnhide.
She was constantly looking out the corner of her eye and it, and her suspicions that the base's vehicles were alive grew, because that Topkick was most definitely watching them.
::Ironhide to Optimus:: -Ironhide
::Yes, Ironhide? What's your status?:: -Optimus
::The girl from that thing yesterday is having lunch with the Lennox's and an extremely obnoxious male. Can I terminate him?:: -Ironhide
::Ironhide...:: -Optimus
::Just kidding. The red-haired femme keeps looking at me, but hasn't made any moves. Shall I follow her cellphone signal to her housing unit and watch her for 'Con activity?:: -Ironhide
::Negative. The femme is most likely thinking of how familiar you look.:: -Optimus
::Copy that, Prime.:: -Ironhide
The weapons specialist turned his audio receptors and his hidden optics to the young femme and Annabell as they said goodbye to one another.
The obnoxious male was call out to Will and Sarah as he stood half in his car and half out. Annabell planted a kiss on the femme's check before running inside their housing unit and the two visitors peeled down the road.
Sunstreaker grimaced, shaking rocks off his scraped up paint in annoyance before transforming into the alt mode he had picked out. It was some expensive car called a Lamborghini, and the model was one of the most popular.
The mech roared forward, growling as the dust flew around him. His complaints ceased the moment his wheels touched the pavement of a highway. They started up again not even half a breem later when his HUD announced his lack of both Energon and recharge.
It was not his solar cycle.
The yellow mech accessed his GPS system, finding a nice set of suburban housing units with sub-units the organics called garages. They were quite spacious and not far from where he was.
He peeled off the highway onto and exit ramp and tore down the roads to one such of these houses. The garage door opened about halfway down the street and he eased himself in. Seconds later the golden mech was parked comfortably and deep in recharge.
Jasmine hummed as she fumbled with her keys, opening the door and giving a backwards wave to Nikki, who had already driven off.
She kicked off her sneakers into a heap on the floor and shuffled into the kitchen, when the partially open door to the garage caught her eye. Slinking forward, she kicked it open and blinked. There was nothing there.
The garage was empty...except for tire marks on the floor, which Jasmine was positive she hadn't made. However, she had left the door to the garage open, now that she thought about it, so she wasn't too worried. She was probably just stressed and imagining things.
The model shut and locked the door, before continuing upstairs to her bath.