Endlessly, She Said

Transformers FanFic

SideswipexOC

Chapter Two

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Alaina cursed the weather as she slowly walked her way back to Arty's. What was once nice, cool weather with a slight breeze was now in the upper 80s, with no breeze to speak of. She had already shed her top two layers, tying them around her waist and leaving her in a dirty white tank-top. She wiped sweat out of her eyes as she finally turned down the street that Arty's restaurant was located on. Hoping that he was in a generous mood, Alaina knocked on the back door warily.

"Oi, get the hell away from here, hobo!" The main cook yelled angrily at her after opening the door. Seeing the still sizzling frying pan that hung in his hand, Alaina decided it wouldn't be wise to stick around any longer and quickly hauled ass away from the shop.

"Well, that sure put a damper on my plans…" She muttered, glaring over her shoulder. "Now I gotta go searching." She said angrily. Searching was when she would scour the local streets for any and all loose change she could find, hoping to scrounge up enough to buy something she needed.

Straightening her clothing up as much as was possible for her, she strode down the street, keeping an eye open for spare change and 'Help Wanted' signs. Unfortunately for her, no one wanted to hire a homeless person to work in their shop. Frustrated, she glared at the fourth shop owner to deny her that day and stormed out.

"God." She groaned. "Alaina, why do you even bother with trying to find a freaking job? No one is going to hire someone that's homeless! But without a job, I can't even begin to think about getting a house!" She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, attempting to disentangle some of the knots. "And now you're talking to yourself. First sign of insanity…" She muttered.

Giving up on her job search, and with $2.08 in her pockets, Alaina decided to head over to the Community Center downtown. Many of the local homeless congregated there for a dry place to sleep and hang out. Entering, she lowered her eyes in depression as she saw how many young people were crowding the Center, talking and laughing with each other. With her entrance, a group of young children, mostly the kids of the other homeless, ran up to her.

"Alaina, Alaina!" A small girl, about nine years old, tugged on her floppy jacket.

"Yeah, Kelsey?" Alaina kneeled down to eye-level.

"Would you tell us a story again?" Kelsey asked, her large brown doe eyes begging the older woman to say yes.

"Sure." She laughed, plopping down crossed-legged onto the floor.

"Yay!" The young girl shouted. "Hey guys, Alaina said that she'll tell us a story!" She told the other Community Center residents. As a result, a heard of about five other children ran to sit in front of her, all girls.

"So…What story do you kids wanna hear?" Alaina asked, although she already knew what the answer would be. It was the same one every time.

"Cinderella!" Was the unanimous exclamation.

"How'd I know that?" She laughed quietly. The children especially liked the tale of rags-to-riches because they could relate frighteningly well with poor Cinderella.

"Mmkay, you guys listening?" She was answered with excited girls nodding their heads, not a peep coming from any of them. "Alright, here goes…"

0_0_0

The children listened with rapt attention as she told the tale, aww-ing and gasping in all of the right places.

"And the prince and his new princess lived happily ever after. The end." Alaina finished, smiling gently.

"Oh~ I love that story!" Kelsey said, swooning. "I wonder what my prince charming will look like?"

As the girls walked away, talking about what their very own prince would look like, Alaina sighed and stood up. Seeing that it was nearing dusk, she left the Community Center after giving her remaining apples to an elderly man who needed them a lot more than she did. Sighing wearily, she made her way to the park.

'Sometimes I wish I had my very own savior.' She thought somberly, taking a seat on a bench towards the back of the park. 'Someone to get me out of this mess.' As she lay down to take a short power nap, she had one last melancholy thought.

'Too bad that'll never happen.'

0_0_0

Bumblebee crawled to a stop in the street across from the park where Alaina slept. He had been fascinated with this femme, and took to following her while on his patrol duty. He almost wish that Sam was with him, but the boy was back at the base with Mikaela, working on his homework because his grades has started to slip.

The yellow Autobot had detoured back to the base and gotten a set of military issue clothes – a black t-shirt and khaki cargos – after hearing Alaina say that she wanted a pair of clean clothes to wear. It just seemed like the nice, proper thing to do. And 'Bee liked being nice to humans, at least the ones that deserved it.

He activated his holo-form – a young male in his early 20s with black hair that faded into blonde, innocent blue eyes and that stood about 5'10" tall – and gathered the outfit into his arms. Exiting his real body, he cautiously walked towards the homeless girl, not wanting to wake her up. After laying the articles of clothing down in front of her so that she would see them as soon as she woke up, he quickly retreated. It was time for him to head back to base.

0_0_0

A short while later, Alaina drifted into consciousness. Upon seeing what the 'bot had left, unbeknownst to her, her face broke out into a wide grin. Snatching up the clothes, she hurriedly hid in one of the playgrounds tunnels to change, finding the clothes to be a bit large, but well-fitting enough. Rolling up her nasty, old clothes, she dumped them into the nearest trash can. They were totally unsalvageable. And smelly.

Wrapping her jacket around her waist, she started off towards Arty's, digging her hands into the pockets of her new pants. Feeling something crinkle beneath her fingers, she pulled her hand out to find a $10 bill clutched in her fingers. Shocked as hell, she gleefully shoved the money back into her pocket. She needed tampons soon.

0_0_0

Optimus Prime had seen and heard quite a bit in his many centuries of life. But when Bumblebee had returned from patrol and asked to speak with him about a homeless femme he was concerned with, the Autobot's leader didn't know what to say, or think for that matter.

"So, you are asking if we could house this femme, so that she is not out on the streets?" He asked, just to be sure his audio processors were functioning correctly. The youngest 'bot nodded his head.

"Yeah!" He said. Ratchet had fixed what vocal problems he had, and he was extremely happy to finally be able to communicate normally again. "She's out there all alone, Optimus. Isn't it our job to protect the humans?"

"Yes. But why this particular femme? There are many, many humans out there without homes. Why pick this one?" He asked, trying to figure out why, in Primus' name, the scout wanted to house this particular human so much.

"I dunno." Bumblebee shrugged. "Something just tells me too."

"Very well." Optimus conceded. "If she wishes, you may bring her here; but be careful with what you reveal, we cannot let more humans in on our secret." He warned. The happy youngling nodded erratically.

"Of course, sir!" He said. "Can she come tonight?"

"Yes. I will tell the others." Optimus sighed.

Ratchet was going to throw a fit. Not all of them had their holo-form programs installed.

A/N: So yeah. Here's chapter two. I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you to all who reviewed! I already have 6 reviews, just for the first chapter! You guys make me happy. Please, review and tell me what you think, or if there is an idea you think would be good for this story. I LOVE YOU ALL!

-ZH