Unexpected help

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or Tai, Sparrow and Techno. I only own Peaches, Abby, Snowball, Crystal and Ashley.

Ashley Martin didn't see as much of the craziness on NEST base as others did due to her being a civilian employee but that did not mean that the brunette 19 year old wasn't aware of what went on; since helping Sideways prepare his gift for Peaches, the Cybertronian couple would sometimes take their 2 daughters to see what she was doing outside.

Today was different; Ashley didn't want to see anybody. To say she was pissed off would be an understatement. She stared off at the ocean into the distance.

"Anything wrong?" someone asked.

Ashley turned to see Peaches and Sideways carrying both Abby and Crystal, with their dog Snowball running behind them. It had been the Pretender who asked that question.

"No." the human, who was slightly older than Peaches in human years, lied.

"I know you're lying." Sideways stated in slight annoyance at the person who had been of assistance to him once about two days before the current date on the Earth calendar, April 22 to be exact.

"Do you really want to hear this?" Ashley asked.

"Yes; we're here to listen if you need to tell us anything." Peaches said, as she and her family sat down on the sand and Snowball came up to Ashley and licked her face.

"All right, here goes nothing." The human girl replied reluctantly. "These friends of mine I can't call my friends anymore. They've been sending harmful messages to me and each other full of lies about what I actually do here and what I'm like. "

"You're being cyber bullied or rather the adult equivalent?" Peaches gasped in shock. She had heard stories of the teens who had gotten bullied both online and in real life to the point where they couldn't take it anymore and their lives were cut short. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since I came here in March they've been doing that." Ashley said sadly. "I've blocked them, threatened legal action and actually wanted to kill them but the latter two would cost me my job here. I'm not sure that anyone is going to take this seriously if I tell them."

Sideways was outraged; of all the ways for humans to have justified him destroying them if he were still a Decepticon, this was right up there with the various other tragedies that Peaches had told him about as the number one reason. "I can't stand that! I owe you for helping me with something and-"

"Sideways, don't kill them! Optimus is going to kick you off base if you do!" Peaches interrupted, very worried about what he was going to do.

"I'm not going to kill anyone; too much time and effort to find them." The ex-Decepticon pointed out. "NEST does have a way for any human employee, whether a civilian or a soldier, to make complaints about being targeted via cyber bullying, whether by a fellow employee or someone off the base. Also, if it gets to the point where that person is actually trying to find where we are, then we have to charge them with trespassing as well and the punishment's pretty harsh but not too harsh since Optimus Prime had a say in coming up with it."

Ashley was now letting tears stream down her face. "I can't believe what they did. I thought they were my friends." She said sadly.

Sideways picked up Ashley and said "I know that feeling." He was remembering getting separated from Demolisher in Shanghai. "Peaches and I will stick by you no matter what; we're not a thing like them." He gave her a hug, then Crystal put up her arms, wanting to be picked up and hugged as well. Why was her daddy hugging some strange thing anyways?

"All right, come on you." The ex-Decepticon picked up Crystal as well, and the orange and blue sparkling sighed and beeped with contentment.

It was a good moment in the midst of a bad time,, just as Crystal's "birth" was a good thing in the middle of the destruction of the worst and only war that Sideways had ever seen.

A day later, there were reports that two human females had been attempting to get to Diego Garcia; one of them had died by drowning, the other had been arrested for trespassing. The latter happened to be the main person behind the cyber defamation of Ashley Martin, who would not forgive her.

"So, what's the story with that?" Sideways asked later that evening, as Peaches sat nearby, playing in the sand with Crystal and Abby.

"She wasn't that sincere with her apology." Ashley explained. "Also, she gave away the names of others who were spreading those rumors about me. It's going to be a just humans case since it didn't involve you or any other robots on this island. Peach has to come and be in her human form though since she's considered a witness in the case. It isn't going to trial until next year though. Kind of sucks but that's how life is."

"I can tell you this; none of those things that they said about you are true. I personally think you're better than most humans." The ex-con explained. "Not perfect but better. Didn't you say you were doing this for your little sister?"

"I got this job for my little sister and the rest of my family." the human woman replied. "My mother recently lost her job and I send part of my paycheck to her and my father so that they can homeschool my said little sister; Tanya may be paralyzed from her hips down for her whole life but that doesn't mean that she can't do other things; let's just say she's multitalented and leave it at that."

Sideways sat down and heard Ashley talk about her family life, and soon Peaches was listening as well, with Abby and Crystal now falling asleep on her lap. Things could only get better from here...