Thank you to everyone who add this story to their favs. I'm glad people are enjoying it. Anyway here's the next chapter. Don't expect updates this quickly, I have maybe two more chapters pre-written so these will probably be uploaded over the next week.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine, Cahira is mine.

Chapter 2

Cahira was not sure how long she slept, but when she woke it was light out, if the red tinge to her eyelids was anything to go by, and there were footsteps. She tensed her hand slipping into her bag, her hand closing around the butterfly knife she kept for defense.

"Looks like she made it alright, Sarah. Should we wake her up for breakfast?" A male voice said; it was familiar.

"No let her sleep. If I know her like I think I do, she hasn't slept in a while." Sarah's voice drifted over Cahira, allowing her to relax.

Cahira slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see two males and Sarah off to the side. She knew the one who had spoken was Will, the fact that he was wearing a shirt with a military designation on it helped. The other male had a cowboy look to him, about 30, rugged features, boots, blue jeans, and t-shirt.

"She got in at 3:17 this morning. But she was tense and she knew there was something watching her."

"What do you mean, 'Hide?" Will asked.

"She looked around and before she entered the house took another glance at the backyard as if looking for something out of place."

He was what I felt last night, Cahira thought, her eyes narrowed and studied the male closely. There was a faint energy about him, like he was not real. Slowly sitting up she removed her hand from her bag leaving the knife, if the man was a threat, Sarah would not be so trusting around him, right? Cahira waited to see how long it would take for the three to notice her.

Just as she thought, the unknown man was the first to notice. He jumped as he saw her sitting up, and then glanced, unsure, at Sarah and Will. Will gave the other man a quick nod, turning to Cahira.

"Dunno if you remember me but…"

"You're Will, Sarah's husband." Cahira said. "You, I remember. Him," she jabbed her thumb in the man called 'Hide's direction, "I don't know."

"This is 'Hide. He's…my partner."Will replied. Cahira noted the hesitance. She felt an energy flow over her.

As Cahira stood up, Sarah came over to her. Giving her a critical look asked, "Why are you wearing long sleeves and jeans when it's almost 90 degrees out?" Her face became hard. "He got physical." It was a statement, not a question. She noticed 'Hide slip out. Sarah seemed to take Cahira's silence as conformation. Sarah grabbed her arm and dragged her down the hall to what appeared to be a guest bedroom. "Shirt off. I want to see the damage."

Cahira stared at Sarah as if deciding if she was serious. After a moment Cahira apparently came to a decision and gingerly removed her shirt, revealing a myriad of bruises. Some seemed big enough to indicate internal damage. Sarah noticed her wince as she raised her arms above her head. This was worse than anything Sarah had imagined. Cahira looked away in shame.

"It wasn't your fault, Cay. Look at me." Sarah grabbed Cahira's chin, forcing her to face Sarah. "How long?"

"Since mom died." Cahira said in a tiny voice.

Sarah looked at her. "That long? Your mom died almost eight years ago. Why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you tell me?"

Cahira put her shirt back on. "Because, I didn't know how. And I was afraid of how people would react." She would not look at Sarah. "I was 11 and didn't know any better. What was I supposed to do? He was my dad and then this." She gestured to herself.

Sarah sighed, "Let's go make breakfast. Actually I'll be cooking, you go back to bed. You only had about three or four hours of sleep." She left the room, Cahira trailing behind her.

"I'm awake now. I'm used to little sleep. I'll help make breakfast. Besides I think Will wants to interrogate me, and I believe that 'Hide man wanted to ask some questions too. He's not…normal, er, what passes as normal anyway, is he?" Cahira asked, remembering the strange energy.

"What do you mean?"

"There is this weird energy around him, like he's not real or something. I dunno how to explain it." Cay sighed. "It's like the energy around him is charged or something. I'm not explaining this right. But he's not like you and Will is he?"

Sarah didn't answer as they entered the kitchen, where Will and 'Hide were sitting at the table, talking in low tones. Cahira gave a quick glance at them, their sudden silence made her believe they were talking about her. Sarah refused to let her help and told her to sit at the table. Cahira felt like she was being thrown to the wolves. "Traitor," she muttered, and made her way to an empty chair. Noticing the booster seat in one, wondered where the owner of said chair was, as most children, especially young ones, were up before their parents. As if summoned by her thoughts a three year old girl came running into the room.

"Mama, Daddy, Unca 'Hide, I wanna watch cartoons." Cahira sidestepped the bundle of energy. The girl slid to a stop upon seeing Cahira. "Who you?"

Cahira knelt down and said, "I'm Cay. A friend of your Mama's."

The girl tilted her head to the side, then seemed to come to a decision, "I Bella, are you like Unca 'Hide?"

Will laughed, although it seemed a bit forced, and said, "No she's not like Uncle 'Hide. But she will be staying here a while."

Cahira looked out the kitchen window, and then checked her pocket. Yep, keys were still there, so why was she seeing her truck in the backyard when she clearly remembered parking next to the Topkick over by the barn. Looking out another window she saw the corner of the barn. She walked over to the door and outside. Walking around the house to where she thought she left her truck she saw her footprints in the dirt but no other footprints leading to the area. So how did her truck get over there?

"What are you looking for?" Will had apparently followed her out, Bella tottering behind him.

"Well, I parked my truck over here last night, but now it's over there and I've still got the keys. I'm trying to figure out how it happened."

Bella tottered up to Cahira and put her arms in the air. Cahira automatically picked her up and placed Bella on her hip. Will looked confused at the action, but did not say anything about it.

"Maybe you parked it over there? I mean you got in late last night and you didn't get much sleep, maybe you don't remember."

"I have a semi-photographic memory, Will. And my footprints lead from here to the house. Not from where the truck is currently parked. In fact there are no footprints over there. It's like my truck moved itself, but that can't be right." Bella laid her head on Cahira's shoulder and began sucking her thumb. Confused, Cahira made her way back to the house, Will behind her with a worried look on his face.

As she entered the house she saw Sarah studying 'Hide. 'Hide looked unnerved by the action.

"What are you doing, Sarah?" Will asked, confused at his wife's behavior.

"Trying to figure out what energy Cay felt around 'Hide." Was Sarah's reply.

Will and 'Hide shared an unreadable look and went outside. Cahira just sat at the table, Bella in her lap.

"Well, at least Annabelle likes you." Sarah said, finally noticing her daughter in Cahira's arms. She began placing food on the table. When she was done she went to the back door and yelled outside that breakfast was ready. Sarah came back to the table and tried to persuade Bella to move to her booster seat. Cahira said she was fine on her lap, if it was ok with Sarah.

"If you're sure?" Cahira nodded. "Alright."

The two men walked back in the door, steely determination on their faces. Cahira was immediately on guard. Bella did not notice a thing and tried to grab some eggs. Cahira served her a child's portion. Watching the two men out of the corner of her eyes, Cahira grabbed a bit of food for herself. The meal was eaten in a tense silence. Cahira noticed 'Hide watching her closely without trying to be too obvious, he wasn't eating. After they were finished eating, Will and 'Hide stood up.

"Cay, there is something you need to see." Will said as the two men walked out the door. The indication that she should follow was implied. Sarah nodded to her and went to grab Bella from her, but Bella clung to Cahira. They walked out the door and she wondered where 'Hide went, as she could only see Will and the Topkick which had moved since she had been out there earlier, which was odd as she had not heard an engine start up.

"What's going on?" She asked, wary of what she might be told.

Sarah answered her, "You know how you said you felt an energy around 'Hide and asked me if he was normal? Well, you were right, he isn't. Meet the real 'Hide, or rather his name is Ironhide."

Cahira looked as Sarah, "Ironhide?" then she heard a strange whirring and clicking, and caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively, her grip on Bella tightened. She stared at where the Topkick once was, in its place was a 25 foot tall robot with the same coloring. She blinked and muttered. "I must still be asleep. 'Cause there's no way I just saw a Topkick turn into a giant robot." Will laughed, and so did the robot. The voice was similar to 'Hide's.

"You're not dreaming, little human. I am real." The robot, Ironhide, crouched down and Bella squealed. Cahira knew she was not dreaming, because her right ear was now ringing. She put Bella down and remained tense as the little girl ran up to the robot.

"Up, Unca 'Hide, up." The robot picked the two year old up gently and held her in his giant hand. Bella squealing in delight the entire time. Ironhide placed the little girl back on the ground.

"Okay."

The married couple and Ironhide looked at her, confused expressions on their faces. "Okay?" Ironhide asked.

"Okay. Sarah trusts you, and the way you were with Bella convinced me you won't hurt us." She cocked her head to the side. "The energy around you feels similar to my truck." She said turning to look at her charcoal grey 2004 Chevy Silverado quad cab, heavy duty.

Ironhide looked uncomfortable. "Your truck is a Cybertronian, Autobot as far as I know." He stopped as Cahira started laughing. "What is funny?"

Cahira sobered up enough to say, "I guess the guy sort of right. The truck isn't possessed though; she's just an alien robot. The guy I bought her from." She clarified breaking down in hysterical laughter again.

"She?" Will inquired.

"Well my truck always gave me the impression of a female personality. She's certainly temperamental enough."

Even though she was expecting it, seeing her truck turn into a robot was still somewhat shocking. The robot stood about 23 feet tall and had a more feminine appearance than Ironhide.

"Chromia." Ironhide said.

"Hello Ironhide. And yes you are correct, Cahira, I am a femme. One of a few left. My trajectory was off when I entered the atmosphere, and I crash landed in Wyoming. The man who found me took me and was brutal on me. I had luckily scanned an alt mode and I started acting up on him. I was glad when you purchased me from him. Although seeing what your male creator did to you, almost made me transform and shoot him." Her voice took on a hard edge at the end. "You should call Ratchet, my internal comm is down and Cahira needs to be scanned. I am sure she has a broken rib or two, as well as some other injuries."

"Your father did that to you?" Will asked, turning to Cahira, "those injuries that Ironhide told me about?"

Cahira sighed, and gave a tight nod. The fact that she was in the presence of two alien robots hadn't fully set in yet. She would freak out later.

Cahira excused herself after the two robots explained about their war and why they were here. She walked out of sight around the house. As soon as she was sure she could not be seen she took off running. She needed to figure this out. Her truck was an alien robot fighting a war against other alien robots hell bent on the annihilation of the human race. Her feet took her out to the back of the property, where a tall tree stood, with branches that made it perfect for climbing. Even with the way her rib hurt, she decided to climb it anyway. Making her way up she stopped about 30 feet up and leaned against the trunk of the tree. Her thoughts running at light speed through her mind, as she sorted everything out. She was not quite sure how long she sat there, but found herself coming out of her thoughts to the sounds of multiple robotic footsteps, more than the two she had already met.

"She should be around here somewhere." Cahira heard Chromia say. She looked down and noticed Sarah looking up into the tree. She flattened herself against the tree.

"Cay! I know you're up there!" Sarah called. "Come on down. Ratchet wants to make sure you're alright!" Cahira sighed; Sarah really did know her too well.

"Where is she?" Cahira heard an unknown male voice say, she assumed it was another robot as there was a metallic hint to it. That and it seemed to come from in front of her instead of below.

"Right here." Cahira said, walking along the branch to catch a glimpse of the other robots, Autobots, she reminded herself. She saw two yellow looking ones, a silver one, and one with a blue and red color scheme in addition to Ironhide and Chromia. The blue and red one turned to the tree and his face seemed to show confusion. It was an oddly human expression on a mechanical face, although she had to remind herself that they were living beings, not simply some AI project.

"Optimus, could you bring her down. I don't want her doing more damage to herself by trying to climb down." One of the yellow ones said, this one more of a greenish yellow, and it had lights on it, making her think it was an emergency vehicle.

The blue and red one lifted his hand and put it next to the branch she was on. Cahira hesitated for a moment, a 30 foot fall would not kill her, but it would hurt. Taking a deep breath she stepped onto the hand. She caught her balance on the robot's, Optimus, if she heard correctly, thumb as the hand started to move. Optimus brought her over to the robot that spoke before; she thought this one might be Ratchet, if this was the one Chromia asked about earlier. The one she thought was Ratchet put his hand out as Optimus brought her closer. She tentatively stepped from Optimus's hand to Ratchet's.

"Ah, man, can't you speed it up a little Ratchet?" the silver one said, sounding like a gangster.

Chromia hit him upside the head. "Jazz, that's s human who somehow managed to climb that tree with a broken rib and a sprained ankle, if Ironhide and my scanners are correct. And that is not even the extent of her injuries."

"Mah bad. I didn' know Chromia. Don' hit meh!" he said, ducking another swipe of Chromia's hand. Cahira giggled lightly at their antics.

"Knock it off you two." Ratchet said. Cahira felt an energy pass over her, similar to what she felt Ironhide do to her earlier, only more extensive. She shuddered at the feel of it, it did not hurt, it was just…different. Ratchet startled her when he began growling.

"What is it Ratchet?" Chromia asked, worried.

"She shouldn't even be standing. The girl has internal injuries, two broken ribs, a sprained ankle and a cracked skull, and that's just the beginning." Ratchet replied and the other's started growling as well. "Sarah, I must request that I be allowed to take her to my med bay to treat her." Ratchet said looking at Sarah. Ironhide picked up Will and Sarah and began the trek back to the house.

"Ask Cay, Ratchet. She's an adult, much as I hate to admit it." Sarah told him.

Ratchet turned his head to look at the human standing in his hand. "I thought humans needed to be 18 years of age to be an adult? Regardless, I request that you come to my med bay so I can treat you properly."

"I'll be 19 next month." Cahira said, glaring up at Ratchet, and then seemed to think better of it. He was carrying her after all. "And where is this med bay of yours?"

Ratchet looked at Will. "It's near here. If you want I'll go with." Will told her, sitting comfortably in Ironhide's hand.

"Nah, that's alright." She looked up at the mech holding her, "I'll go to your med bay." Turning back to Will she winced and asked, "Where's Annabelle?"

"With Sam and Mikaela. Bumblebee is Sam's guardian." Will explained, "Bumblebee is the yellow and black mech over there." Cahira nodded, not really understanding. She sat down in Ratchet's hand, taking shallow breaths.

Ratchet was concerned about the human in his hand, she had to be in pain, and she was moving way too much for his liking. One of her broken ribs was close to puncturing her lung. When she sat down on his hand he ran another scan on her. His findings were not to his liking. He began walking faster; he wanted this human in his med bay as soon as possible. He already liked her; she was not intimidated by them, or, at least, she was not afraid to speak her mind. As Ratchet got to the road, Cahira skin had taken on a grayish color and she was having a hard time breathing. It looked as if that rib punctured her lung. Ratchet turned to Jazz, who had ran after Ratchet, and gingerly set Cahira in his hand. Ratchet transformed into his alt form and instructed Jazz to place Cahira in the back.

As soon as Cahira was secure Ratchet took off, tires squealing. Jazz transformed and took off after him. Wondering why this human affected him so; Jazz just hoped the Hatchet could fix her so he could get answers.

The others were left to stare after the rescue Hummer and the Solstice speeding off. Soon they began to trail behind at a slower pace, Bumblebee picking up Sam and Mikaela and Ironhide taking Will, Sarah and Annabelle, Sarah relenting for once about Annabelle's car seat.

Cahira hurt, it was hard to breath. It should not have been that hard. She did not think yelling at a 20 foot robot would hurt as bad as it did. The jarring of the road they were on did not help much. She moaned. There was that strange energy again. Then she heard Ratchet's voice.

"Stay still, you've punctured a lung. We're almost there." She felt the vehicle shift dangerously as it took a hard left, and ground her teeth to keep from crying out. "Sorry." The vehicle slowed to a stop, she heard another vehicle pull up. Cahira concentrated on keeping the encroaching blackness at bay, she knew what a punctured lung meant and she was not going to pass out. She lost track of time and her whereabouts and the next thing she knew Cahira was on a table with Ratchet standing over her.

"How are you feeling, little human?" There was concern in the tone, something that seemed to contradict to words used. It sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie, which, she supposed, is pretty much what I'm now living in. At that moment it hit her how absurd the reality of her situation was. If someone had told her two days ago that her car was an alien robot and that said alien race was more concerned about her after meeting her all of ten minutes than her own father was, she would have directed them to the nearest mental facility for a psych evaluation. Cahira burst out in hysterical laughter. Ratchet looked confused and apprehensive, questioning her mental stability.

Cahira saw the look on his face and calmed herself, shaking her head. "I'm fine. I'm just as sane as I was before I met you guys, which I suppose isn't all that much, but hey, life goes on." She twisted after realizing she had no pain after her outburst of laughter, there was still no pain. "How long was I out for? Broken bones take weeks to heal…" she trailed off, looking at Ratchet for an explanation.

Ratchet's optics seemed to dim for a moment. "You were 'out' for about six hours. Your human medicine is so primitive." Cahira raised an eyebrow, she knew that the regeneration of cells required to heal a bone took weeks to occur. She had her share of broken bones over the years and then some.

"Six hours?" the skepticism in her voice was apparent.

Ratchet looked at the little human, she was small for her age, probably from the malnourishment he found evidence of, and there was evidence of untreated injuries sustained in the past. He concluded she was neglected as a child and quite possibly beaten. Her mental stability worried him though. She took finding out about them too well in his opinion, and her response that 'life goes on' made him wonder what exactly this child had been put through to give her such a defeatist attitude.

"Do you want me to explain exactly how I forced your cells to regenerate? Or how I had to perform surgery to repair your lung? You humans have so much blood; it is amazing how you survive at all. You are far too delicate and…"

"Okay! Okay, I believe you. Spare me the technical jargon, please. And I am not delicate. By the way my name is Cahira. Cay for short. So stop calling me little human and the like." She half glared up at him. "When can I get out of here? Sorry, but right now everything feels so surreal and having everything seem like it's taken out of the fourth world of Super Mario 3 isn't helping any."

Ratchet put his hand next to the edge of the table she was on. "You may leave now, but I want to you stay near a bot for a while. In case I missed something, they have a way of contacting me as quick as possible." Cahira stepped onto his hand and Ratchet walked out the door.

Cahira was never as glad as she was then that she had not inherited her mother's fear of heights. It was odd. She had not known the Autobots for even a day and she felt more attachment to them than her own flesh and blood. Maybe it was the fact that they actually seemed to care, but she was going to stay on guard, she had been fooled before and was not going to fall for a trick again. She did not think her heart could handle it.

As the two entered what seemed to be a common area, Cahira was later informed it was the rec room, everyone seemed to drop what they were doing to stare at Ratchet. Then, as if by some unheard cue, everyone started asking questions. The noise was deafening.

"How is she-?"

"Is she alright-"

"Ratchet, what is the status of the human femme?"

The silver bot, Jazz, if she remembered correctly was the only one to notice her presence and held his hand to her. Cahira stepped onto his hand without thinking. No one seemed to notice. She began to climb up his arm, and sat on his shoulder.

"Sorry, but do you think we can split? They're giving me a headache, and I really don't want to be fed to the lions yet." Cahira asked him. He nodded and they left the room Cahira still on his shoulder.

Cahira waited until they were out of the building before speaking. "I don't know if anyone told you but my name is Cahira, Cay for short. You probably were able to figure that out but it makes me feel less like an asshole if I actually introduce myself. And I'm rambling now, okay, I'm just going to shut up now."

Jazz chuckled lightly. "I know who you are. Kinda hard not to when Sarah was that hysterical. I'm Jazz."

"I know. Chromia said your name when she was chewing you out earlier. You're talking different," she tilted her head to the side trying to figure out the difference, "not like a wanna-be gangster anymore." She began laughing at his indignant expression, and had to quickly grab on to his armor as he shifted abruptly."Hey, human sitting on shoulder, watch it."

"Yeh won' fall, little bitch. I'll catch ya if ya do." Jazz replied.

She slapped his faceplate lightly, aware that he was made of metal and she had no desire to explain to Ratchet how she broke her hand on Jazz's face. "Don't call me a bitch; even if I can be one at times, it just isn't nice. And I think I liked it better when you weren't acting like a hard ass."

"Why would I be acting like a hard donkey?" Jazz asked, thoroughly confused, especially when Cay started laughing again.

"Never mind. Just look up hard ass on urban dictionary when you get a chance." Cay paused and looked out at the twilight landscape. She noticed Jazz's optics dim for a moment. "It's funny, everything here looks so peaceful, but it's just another day. Maybe I'm just sentimental after another brush with death. I finally get away from him and he still finds a way to hurt me." Jazz lifted her off his shoulder and sat near a tree, placing Cay on his lap.

"Who?"

Cay did not know why she was telling this being she just met her life story but her instincts told her she could trust him. They had not let her down yet and so she continued. "My father, although he's more of a sperm donor than anything."

Jazz growled, "You mean to say that the one who hurt you was your male creator?"

"Yeah," Cay replied, unnerved at his anger.

"Why? How could anyone do that to a sparkling? Least of all their own? Humans are very strange. How could anyone hurt you? From what I've seen you are very easy to get along with and are relatively harmless."

Cay laughed, "I am definitely not harmless, especially if I get mad. And the main reason was I reminded him of my mother." Seeing his incomprehension she added, "She died when I was 10. Car accident, she was hit by a drunk driver. Ironically, he started drinking after that. I look like her, and he didn't like the reminder that I was a mini-Clarisse, so he decided if he couldn't change my looks, he was going to make sure I didn't act like her. Mom was a spitfire, true to the redhead stereotype. He tried to make me submissive and it worked for a while. Actually it worked up until a week ago when I decided to up and leave."

Jazz took time to study the femme. She was short, about 5', had deep auburn hair, and blue-green eyes. She was thinner than he thought she should be, but according to the internet she was very pretty. He vaguely wondered if she had this anorexia that seemed to plague teenage girls, but she did not seem to be the type of girl to intentionally starve to look pretty.

Cay noticed his optics dim, and wondered what caused it; she had a short internal debate and decided to ask the mech in front of her. "Hey Jazz? Can I ask you something?"

Jazz disconnected from the internet and looked at the little femme. She was curled up around herself, as if warding off something. It hurt his spark to see this femme go from full of energy and life, to being afraid. The fact that it was him she was afraid of made it even worse. "Sure." He replied softly, bringing up a hand to rub her back. He almost stopped upon seeing her flinch, but continued to lightly pet the femme trying to get her to relax.

"Why do your optics dim like that?" She asked in a small voice, still tense.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like you space out." His optics dimmed as he accessed the internet to find out what 'space out' meant. "Like that."

"Oh, I was just accessing the world wide web for some information." His fingertip continued its trail up and down her back. He heard and felt her relax and giggle slightly. "What?"

"You can call it the internet or the web, if you want. Most people do."

Jazz hated how the little femme in his lap was so distant now. He did not know what caused her to retreat into herself but he was determined to get her to open up again. He may have succeeded had 'Bee and 'Hide not come up to them, carrying their respective charges. Chromia and Ratchet were trailing along behind them.

Cay slid off Jazz's leg, startling him, he reached out a hand to catch her but he knew he would not be able to catch her; she just bent her knees as she hit the ground softening the impact and looked up at him confused. "What?" she looked around. The other bots were looking at her, as well as the two in Bumblebee's hand and Will. Sarah was far too used to her 'reckless acts' to bat an eye at the display but still worried as she had just recovered from a punctured lung and a sprained ankle.

As soon as Ironhide set Sarah down she was running to check Cay over. Will had Annabelle in his arms. Cay tried to ward off her friend, but she was unsuccessful. "I'm fine, Sarah. Ratchet patched my up better than new."

"You need to be more careful. You're going to get seriously hurt one of these days." Sarah said, after ascertaining that she really was all in one piece with no lingering injuries. "Besides I don't want you to teach Annabelle to do the things you do."

"Aww, but I wanted to be the cool aunt who did all the stuff you were afraid to do with her." Cay mock whined.

"Don't you dare. I had enough near heart attacks being your friend with the stunts you pulled as a kid. I don't want know what our mothers went through with your antics, no thank you."

Cay felt Ratchet scan her again. Turning to look up at him she said, "So what's the verdict doc, did I do any damage?"

"Only you, Cay." Sarah muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cay demanded, overplaying the childish act just like when they were kids.

"Only you could be so comfortable around giant alien robots who could squish you if they misstep after knowing them less than a day. You do realize they are three to six times your height and God only knows how much weight they have on you."

The bots were confused at the conversation and Will had rarely seen this side of his wife, the other two humans were fighting laughter as they had never seen someone disarm mamma bear Sarah Lennox so easily.

Jazz watched in amusement as his little femme brightened again. And she was able to take on Sarah Lennox and win was amazing, Ironhide could not do that and he usually shot anything that disagreed with him, or at least threatened to do so.

Annabelle squirmed in her Daddy's arms. She wanted to be put down. Her new Auntie was over there and she wanted to be in Auntie's arms. She knew something was wrong with Auntie when everyone rushed to see her, and Momma was acting like she did when Daddy and Unca 'Hide did something silly. Once her Daddy put her down she ran as fast as she could to Auntie.

Cay saw Bella running toward her and scooped her up before Annabelle ran into her, automatically settling the toddler on her hip. Sarah gave Cay a look.

"Why are you so comfortable with Bella? You shouldn't be instinctively picking her up and anticipating the things she will do." Sarah fixed Cay with a stare that would have made even Ironhide flinch. Cay did not even blink.

"I used to babysit for the people down the street for some extra cash until I got a real job. They had twin toddlers. Bella is a cake walk compared to those little heathens." The bots looked at the humans. Were human femmes not preprogrammed to deal with offspring?

Cay began walking back to the base; well she assumed it was a base, although it looked abandoned, with Bella sitting contently on her hip. It did not take long for Bella to fall asleep against her. She heard one of the bots come up near her. She looked to the right to see a silver Solstice with no driver. Based on the coloring she guessed this was Jazz. It was confirmed as his voice flowed over to her.

"Wanna ride? Pretty little thing like you shouldn't be walking by herself. Somethin' migh' happ'n to ya."

Cay rolled her eyes and muttered "Lady-killer," but got in the passenger seat, shifting Bella to her lap, careful not to wake her up.

"You walk fast for a human, and you have a sparkling to carry." Jazz said, breaking the silence.

"She's light, besides I'm stronger than I look. You don't have to sound so surprised."

Jazz went quiet for the rest of the ride back to base. He decided to observe the femme for a while to find out more about her. She obviously knew Sarah Lennox for a while, given her level of comfort around the older femme. She also was broken, or at least very close to it. Her spirit was making a valiant effort to stay whole, but Jazz wanted to know what caused the damage in the first place. He watched how careful she was with the little sparkling as she got out of him, gave a small wave and walked into the base.