Ellie hated being left behind while her uncles and best friend went on a trip to Europe. And to make matters worse, they had taken Bee and Mirage with them and there was no way she was hanging out with the Twins.
Which left her on her own, wandering down the hall in a smoldering rage that seemed to project off of her so much everybody steered clear of her, either by turning and fleeing or plastering themselves to the walls.
In some sort of sick twisted way, the mocha woman hoped Leon would maul Will and Robert. Ellie didn't blame Leon.
No, not at all.
She had seen Will and Epps dragging her off in a pair of handcuffs. The brunette had managed to make a break for it, but Epps had managed to grab her at the last second and sling Leon over his shoulder. Leon had taken her teeth, and years of practice, to start gnawing at his shoulder. By the time they had vanished around the corner, Ellie though she could see faint amounts of blood soaking her uncle's tab shirt.
But the trio, plus Luke and the Autobots, were long gone and she was left to mope on her bed for several hours until the phone rang.
"Hello!?"
"Ellie? Hiya!" Ellie facepalmed. Her friend was piss drunk. "OhmyPrimus! The hotel is fucking awesome! The bath tub is like, a swimming pool! Just for me!"
"Leon,"
"Will's nursing a broken nose again. And someone left me a pair of funky handcuffs! Kinky right! I can't believe they're gonna make me wear a dress!"
"Leon,"
"Oh! Hey, did you ever notice how good-looking Sunny and Sides are?" The mechanic was quiet a moment.
"What are you, carsexual and drunk!?" Ellie shook her head.
"That matter is to be debated," She could almost sense Leon grinning through the phone. "But, the alcoholic beverages here are very very good! I have my pinky up, you know. Manners and all that shit."
"Leon, when you're drunk, you don't have manners."
"Hey! I do so! I have more manners than the couple having sex in the pool and the guys in black with cameras taking pictures of them from the bushes."
"Oh god." Ellie moaned. "Where the hell are you?!"
"Sicily, Italy." The mechanic chirped, clattering coming from her end of the line. "Guess what I found!? Rum! And vodka!"
"I wouldn't want to be you in the morning." Ellie muttered.
"I have the cure for hangovers too! You sleep in the bathroom and drink more alcohol! Nothing better to fight it off!"
"You'd know. Why are you this intoxicated anyway?"
"Jet lag!"
"Normal people sleep when they have jet lag."
"We've already proven I'm anything but normal. Hang on."
Muttering came from the other side and then Leon returned.
"Sorry, Luke wanted a chat about tomorrow's party wear."
"Leon, please tell me you weren't in your underwear."
"Okay. But then I'd be lying. I'm not in my-"
"Leon, you just showed the NEST liaison your underwear and bra!"
"So? He seemed to like them. They're the lacy black pair you got me for my nineteenth birthday."
"Of course he liked them, you nitwit! He's a male!" Ellie yelled. Silence came from the other end.
"Leon?"
"Leon?"
"LEON!?"
Ellie snapped her phone shut.
"She passed out on me. Bitch."
Leon clutched her head, hands blindly searching through the bag of toiletries she had put in the bathroom before exploring interesting combinations of alcoholic beverages. She made a triumphant noise, popping the Aspirin lid and swallowed one dry, gagging slightly as she did.
Leon pressed her forehead to the cool floor of the bathroom, sighing in relief until someone began hammering on the door.
She snarled, one hand clutching her head in pain and the other pushing her up so her feet could carry her to the door.
"What?" She scowled at her uncle, who stood with an obnoxiously bright smile plastered on his annoying face, which was only marred by the swelling in his nose, and that made her slightly satisfied.
"Leon-"
"Whisper or I swear to Primus you're never having kids again."
Will paled, hand twitching as he lowered his volume.
"Leon, we're going shopping for your dresses later." He breathed, sliding towards the safety of his own room.
"Ugh, dresses." The mechanic spat, eyes narrowed both from pain and dislike of the cursed clothing. "I'm going to get rid of this hangover."
Leon glared at everything that moved, and her eyes were very nearly shut even behind the mirrored glasses on her face.
Bee made a worried noise through his radio and she patted his dash.
"It'll go away, Bee. Don't worry about me. Do you guys have something that makes you drunk?"
"High grade Energon."
"Huh. Have you ever gotten drunk, Bee?"
"Whaddya take me for, little lass?" The yellow bot sounded offended. "A wee lad? Nay, I drink it by the gallon."
"And then he promptly tips over, offlined." Ironhide snorted over the comm open to the three.
"Hey!"
"And you, Ironhide?"
"Don't ask Ironhide about drinking. Nothing ends well of you do." Will warned through Mirage's end.
"Hide, we're going to see who's the better drinker when we get back to NEST."
"You're going down, femme."
"We're here." Mirage stated, pulling to a stop in front of a small strip mall.
"No! Don't make me do it!" Leon wailed.
It was nearly three hours later when Luke, Epps and Will managed to haul their asses out of the dress shop after purchasing a bright blue, sleeveless, thigh-length dress with the breast area decorated in silver rhinestones and sequins. Leon was out of the shop within seconds of their purchase of the 'monstrosity' and its matching shoes.
She was seated in Bee, complaining when the men strode out, and Leon cast a savage glare at the three before promptly ignoring them.
"Well," Will clapped his hands as he tossed the dress into Ironhide's backseat and then got in Mirage. "She's pissed. Epps, my dear best friend, it's your turn to have your nose broken."
"Why me!?" The black man protested from Ironhide's driver's seat.
"Because if she punches me again, my nose will always be crooked."
"Dude, you're on your own." Epps snorted.
"I'm not coming out." The mechanic protested, leaning against the door in her monstrosity. The door was locked and she was leaning against it for added safety.
"Leon Lennox, so help me Primus," Will growled. "If you do not come out, we are coming in."
"I'm not moving."
"Leon,"
"No. I'm hideous." She hissed. "I want my cargo pants and high-tops back."
Unfortunately, Will had been smart enough to phone ahead to the hotel and ask them to remove all the clothing from Leon's room except her underwear.
"Leon, please come out. We don't want to be late." Luke tried to reason, hair combed back and straighten his tie. Will ran a hand through his hair.
"I want to be late. Actually, I don't want to go!"
"Chika,"
"Who the hell are you!?"
Will tensed, reaching for the gun on his hip.
"Mirage."
"What the hell!? Don't do that!"
"Chika, I do not see what you are complaining about."
"Humph. You just want to go show off your alt mode."
"And the blue of your dress goes rather well with my paint, does it not?"
"I guess. It goes better with 'Hide."
"You wound me, Lion."
"What is with everyone calling me that, anyway?"
"Ah, if I tell you, will you go outside to your uncle and the liaison. It's supposed to be a big secret. I'm risking my aft for you."
"...Fine."
Will gaped, opening and closing his mouth several times before the door opened and a faintly amused, but still pissed Leon appeared as Mirage's holoform vanished into sparks.
"Let's fucking get this over with." Leon growled, slamming shut her door.
Ellie was rather startled when her phone buzzed. So startled, in fact, that she fell off the chair she was sitting on while having a rather nice nap in the Med-bay while she was supposed to be working.
The phone buzzed again and she picked it up hesitantly, holding it carefully as though it would bite her. She glared at it a moment, before seeing who the heck was contacting her.
It was Epps; he had sent a message and a picture.
Ellie frowned, flicking open the message.
'Leon's in a dress. She looks pretty. I took it ninja style! But don't tell her I told you!'
And then she flipped to the picture. Ellie blinked.
Leon looked rather cocky in the picture, obviously having told an amusing joke to one of the men around her and her eyes were on Epps, who had taken the picture with the skill of a ninja.
Her long legs, which were usually covered by baggy cargo pants stained with grease and other stuff, were exposed up to the edge of the skirt portion of her bright blue dress. It was slightly poofy and the bodice sparkled. Her feet, which were either bare or in sneakers, had high heels, actual heels, in a very nice silver.
Leon's long chocolate hair was pulled into a bun, and she had little earrings on, which were shaped like the Autobot symbol.
Ellie snickered, and on a whim, scrolled through her contacts and forwarded it to Prowl, Blurr, the Twins, and the Tiny Twins.
It wasn't long until she heard the sound of Prowl collapsing in the next room over; he had sprained one of his doorwings while training earlier and was in the Med-bay for that reason.
Ellie quickly received another text, from the last person she expected, although the mocha skinned woman should have seen it coming.
'Care to tell me why Prime's Second-in-Command just glitched?'
She sent the picture to Ratchet, and then returned to her work.
Leon had enjoyed herself up until the point she remembered she was wearing a dress, and that Luke was holding her waist, almost possessively.
She dragged his arm off, fixed him with a 'touch-me-again-and-I'll-murder-you' glare, and stomped over to her uncle who was having a conversation about the Autobots with a liaison from England and Ireland.
"Just the girl I needed." Will held out his arm. "Gentlemen, this is my niece, Leon Lennox."
"A pleasure." The British one nodded his head. "Your uncle was attempting to explain how the Autobots pulled out their weapons."
"Aye! He wasn't doin' a good job 'hough!" The Irish man laughed, patting his large stomach as he munched on a finger sandwich.
"Well, then." Leon cuffed her uncle over the head. "You're horrible at explaining things. The Autobots use what's called sub-space."
"Sub-space?"
"Yes. It's kind of like a little dimension they can reach. The put their weapons into it, and can pulled them out at will."
"Ya see, Willi'm!" The Irish man chuckled. "She explain'd what ya could not in 'bout ten seconds."
"Show off." The Major shook his head.
"I told you you're horrible at explaining things. Especially when it comes to mechanical things." The brunette crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Stick to your drills and your guns."
"Yes, ma'am."
"May I ask, William, about what happened to your nose?" The British liaison asked, cocking and eyebrow as he sipped a champagne.
"Well..."
"I punched him in the face because he made me go on a plane. "
"You 'ave quite an arm, lass."
"Thank you."
"Do you not like planes?"
"I hate them. My brother died on a plane."
"That's tragic. My condolences."
"Uh...Thanks."
Will checked his watched, grabbed Epps to stop him making a fool of himself, and announced that the two military men and his niece would be leaving. Luke was staying, but he was obviously bored out of his skull, though he tried not to show it.
"My hero." Leon grinned as they exited to Mirage, who was waiting with Bee.
"I know!"
"Not you. Bumblebee. It means I don't have to ride with you in Mirage and suffer through Epps. No offence, Mirage."
"Non taken."
Epps began to speak, and Leon vaguely made out booze and vomit through his slurring before he sprinted to the bushes to do just that.