Moving on chapter 7
(Sideways' personal log)
It was hard to believe that Peaches and I would soon be parents of 3, no matter that 2 were adopted.
Yes, Aaron was finally ours. It took at least 3 hours of speaking to Congress, the social services, the President, the other leaders of the United Nations, and of course Optimus Prime while standing in our robot forms outside and trying to keep Abby and Crystal from wandering off to do it but he was now part of our family. I can't even describe how happy the blond haired human was as he jumped for joy after finally getting outside away from everyone.
"Where will we live now?" he asked.
"Well, we are moving off base in 2 weeks and we're going to live in a building that used to be a factory but it's being renovated and changed into a living space for all of us." I answered as I transformed back into my vehicle mode.
"Don't worry; we think you'll love it." Peaches added as she transformed into her human mode and climbed into the passenger's seat while Aaron helped Abby and Crystal into their car seats; the latter was still in human form but she didn't seem to mind sitting in a car seat as much as her slightly older sister did.
True to our word, we took the kids to McDonald's and got sliced apples and milk with their Happy Meals instead of fries and soda. Peaches had a Big Mac, salad, and lemonade. I sat my holoform down into a seat beside my sparkmate, feeling slightly left out but knowing that I'd have plenty of energon later on at the base. Overall though, we were happy despite everything that had happened the previous week. Whether Sentinel would get jealous if he saw this or not, I couldn't say and I certainly couldn't guess what he was doing in the afterlife. That didn't matter either; the only thing that mattered was seeing my girl smile for the first time in a long time and our 3 children, happy to have each other as siblings.
(POV switch)
Innocence was probably one of the first things that Peaches had ever lost. She knew Aaron had lost his long before he had to and it was no easy task advising him on how to deal with it if he ever asked. For right now though, Aaron was excitedly walking with her, Abby and Crystal to the nearest Metro station for his first ride on a public transportation system. They would meet Sideways at the Washington Mall and then drive back to NEST base.
Peaches had never taken any of this for granted; she had lost too many loved ones already to forget the lessons she had learned. The Pretender was slowly but surely feeling better after everything she had been through and was slightly surprised when she had an unexpected blast from the past as she took her 3 kids down the escalator into the station. She saw someone who looked familiar, someone who could easily win a Megan Fox look-a-like contest if one was held.
Peaches and the kids got to the bottom of the escalator and Abby began running towards the person, recognizing her. "'Kaela here!" the human toddler shouted.
Mikaela turned around. "Hey Peach, haven't seen you in a while."
"Mikaela, I knew that was you!" the Pretender replied. "So, you and your dad, how have you been?"
"He's on his feet again." The human girl replied. She then noticed Aaron holding Crystal's hand. "Who's he?"
"This is Aaron; Sideways and I adopted him after what happened in Chicago." Peaches cringed as she had to repress the memory again. "Aaron, this is Mikaela, one of my friends."
Mikaela gave Abby back to Peaches and said "Nice to meet you."
Aaron didn't reply. He just let Crystal hug the older human.
That was when Peaches finally asked "What are you doing here in D.C.?"
"My dad and I were visiting since we finally saved up enough to make the trip; he's at one of the museums waiting for me to meet up with him." The other girl replied. She then asked something that Peaches wasn't prepared for. "How's Sam been?"
Peaches lied and said "Sam's fine."
It was a convincing lie though because Mikaela didn't question the Pretender's words as the latter purchased a fare card for Aaron. Peaches had a SmartTrip card, so she was already set.
Mikaela gave her new cell phone number to Peaches; it was written on a slip of paper, which the Pretender stuffed into her pocket. "Just so you know I want to keep into contact with you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Peaches replied. "Call or email me if you need anything."
The two parted ways and got onto separate trains. A few moments later, Peaches was sitting on one of the orange seats in a middle car and had Abby and Crystal on her lap while Aaron sat beside her. 2 people who had seen her ride many times knew her by name and greeted her.
"Hey Peach." One college age guy said to her.
"Hey Justin." She replied.
How she had met him was in well, not an unusual way but was still a bad way to have met her new human friend; several months before, Peaches had taken Abby and Crystal on the Metrorail system to go trick or treating for Halloween in another neighborhood with Ashley accompanying her to help watch the 2 girls. While Peaches was waiting for the train, she had seen the blond haired boy standing close to the tracks. He had jumped off; she pulled him up before another train arrived. Justin was dragged back, screaming about how badly he had wanted to die. The Pretender would have none of it though and was restraining the boy and trying to talk him out of it while Ashley had called 911.
Though it had taken several weeks, Justin had been in therapy and would be visited by Peaches when she could get time off. Of course, Sideways knew that she wasn't cheating on him or anything once she explained it all and he had visited the boy while in his holoform. The ex-Decepticon remarked that "he was a nice kid and extremely fortunate that you were there for him to talk to".
Abby and Crystal had been disappointed about not getting any candy but Peaches bought leftover treats at a discounted price the next day for them but only one bag to avoid Ratchet criticizing her. They had not understood what had gone on completely but they thought their mommy was a hero.
Today Justin and the other person that Peaches had encountered several times while riding seemed to be in good spirits, which the Pretender was thankful for.
A little redheaded girl who was around 9 years old asked her "Are you really an Autobot Ms. Peaches?"
"Jill, that's not a polite question." Her mother scolded her.
"I'm not allowed to tell you." Peaches replied anyway, smiling while doing so. "I can tell you that the ones I do know are good friends of mine."
That seemed to satisfy Jill. Her mother whispered "Someday she'll find out."
The Pretender replied "I know Angela; it's not like they're a secret anymore." She then remembered saving Angela's life. Unlike with Justin, the human woman had been saved during another Autobot-Decepticon battle.
(Roughly 2 months before the Chicago battle)
Canada was so much like America though it had a few obvious differences. Unfortunately, downtown Ontario being the site of a battle was not one of them. Peaches shot at one of the 'cons and then saw something horrifying; a redhead female human was about to be crushed by one of the collapsing buildings.
The orange and red femme dove in to protect the woman from the falling debris, not leaving until it had stopped. Peaches then got up and let the human medics examine her; fortunately, she was only shocked and wanting to thank her savior. "My gosh, I can't express in words how thankful I am Ms.-"
"It's just Peaches." The female Autobot replied. She then transformed into her human form and excused herself to go help some of the human members of NEST assess the damage to the area and make sure that no one else was under the rubble.
It had been a week or 2 afterwards when Peaches had returned to D.C. and had taken Abby and Crystal to a playground; the latter was in her human form and she and her sister were digging in the sandbox when someone had walked up to the bench she was sitting on. The other person sat down and said "Aw! Those 2 are very cute little girls! Are they both yours?"
"Yes, even though 1 of them was adopted." Peaches replied looking over to see the familiar face; the person she had saved mere weeks before. The latter introduced herself as Angela and asked the Pretender how was it that an Autobot could have a human form?
"That's classified." The femme admitted. "I can say that it does help with getting more than one perspective on certain situations and I can also enjoy a lot of things I would not experience otherwise; my kids, my wonderful husband who's the 'stay at home dad' so to speak, and quite a few Autobot and human friends who have been like my family for a long time."
As the 2 continued talking, they gave each other email addresses to keep in touch with each other; Angela's own daughter, Jill had eventually shown herself when she had to keep Abby from throwing sand at other kids. The little girl had been introduced to the Pretender, who she thought was a regular human person.
"I actually live down here now; any chance I'll see you again?" Angela asked.
"I think only time will tell." Peaches admitted.
The 2 had encountered each other when riding the Metro numerous times after that, finding time for quick conversation before one had to get off at her stop just as was happening today…
(End Flashback)
Angela was a bit surprised that Peaches had adopted another human child but knew that if Autobots had hearts, her savior turned close friend definitely had a big one as the latter had so many things that a lot of humans seemed to lack; kindness, a sense of duty, and quite a bit of wisdom beyond her years thanks to experience and Optimus Prime rubbing off on her.
Soon, the Pretender's stop came and she bade the human woman goodbye and got off, all 3 children in tow to meet up with Sideways. It saddened her that she would no longer be able to see the 2 humans who had only known her but a short time as often once she moved to her new home but moving would give her a chance to meet others, whether she wound up saving lives or doing another thing to make a difference. She knew everyone was flawed, Optimus had already proven that he wasn't any more perfect than any human or Autobot was, but still, she wanted to keep her surviving friends and family as close as she could, not being able to bear losing someone else…
Author's note: This was mostly filler because I'm not sure exactly how I'll write out what happens in the coming chapters. Also the 2 other OCs in this chapter were one shot characters; they're probably not going to appear again but if you want me to write separate fics for how Peaches saved their lives, please let me know when you review!