CHAPTER 2
Adjusting

Ironhide heard the door slowly open at nearly four in the morning. Immediately he was on red alert, he quickly scanned every room, the master bedroom, the living room, everywhere, even the boy, Tony's room. Yet, to his surprise, he didn't find Tony in his room, rather he found him stepping out of the home. What he was doing in his pajamas and a robe in the dead of winter could only be Ironhide's guess. Yet, as much as he didn't like anyone replacing Annabelle, as he saw it, he carefully inched forward from his parking spot to watch the boy.

He'd half expected the boy to run away in fear, of him, or perhaps, the home. But rather than that, Tony simply made his way to a stump near the front door, and seated himself there. He watched the boy, curiously, cautiously, but the boy did little more than sit on the stump, and stare up into the sky, hugging the robe to his body. Slowly transforming, Ironhide stepped forward, Tony's head jerked over at the somewhat-loud sound as the robot stood up straight. "If yer cold, I'd take advantage of the HOME you've been provided." Ironhide noted, he crossed his arms "Why are you out so late, Anthony?" He questioned.

"I've told you already, it's Tony." Tony tried to convince him.

"I'm sticking to Anthony unless I change my mind."

Tony shifted uneasily, feeling as though Ironhide saw him as an imposing force for one reason or another. Yet he sighed a bit, and looked up at the mech, showing no ounce of fear. After all he was the Lennox Family guardian. Perhaps he had just scared him when he hadn't been in his room. "To be honest?" Tony began, taking a deep breath "The first night is always the hardest, Ironhide. It's odd sleeping in a new bed, in a new house. I usually just go somewhere for alone time, somewhere quiet." He then added "This seemed like as good a place as any." He noted.

"Not in nearly freezing temperatures. William nor Sarah would approve." Ironhide noted "On top of this, you need to check with me before you go anywhere, kid. I'm not psychic, I can't look out for you if I have no idea where you are." He sighed "You should know, Anthony, that anything could happen. Especially if I am in stasis, or as you would put it "asleep"." He then added "If you leave the room and don't check in with me before doing so again-" He began.

"I get it, Ironhide, I apologize, I'll keep it in mind." Tony replied.

Ironhide sighed, he took a seat beside Tony, figuring he may as well. The kid seemed like the type who wouldn't budge, he seemed stubborn, and perhaps lonely. Not unlike a young Ironhide had once been. "They're good people, y'know. You have no reason to fear sleep." Ironhide told him, in an attempt to get the boy out of the freezing cold "Primus knows they raised their daughter into quite the fine young lady. And whether I agree with this whole thing or not, I will tell you that yer in good hands." He noted.

"Can I ask what you have against me?" Tony asked.

"Nothing personal, kid. I'm weary of anyone I don't know." Ironhide tilted his head a bit "Believe me, I want you to prove me wrong. I like kids, so gaining my trust should be easy, so long as you don't step out of line." He looked down at him slowly "I hope I didn't scare you TOO much." He noted "I simply wanted to be sure you understood how protective I am of Will and his wife." He stared at Tony "I guess of you too now, even if I don't trust you completely, it's still my job to protect all of the Lennox family." He added.

"So you're protecting me, from me." Tony half-joked.

"Don't be a smart-ass, boy." Ironhide turned to Tony, leaned forward, and stared him square in the eyes "Jokes like that will get you nowhere with me. You want to get on my good side? Want to be my pal? Don't joke about my job." Tony gulped a bit "Being a Guardian ain't easy, and it ain't all fun. But I take it very seriously and I expect you to do the same, understood?" He asked.

"Yes sir."

Ironhide eyed the boy with his optics a bit, wondering if he may have been too harsh to the boy. But quickly wrote it off, this wasn't Annabelle, a child he had known for all her life, this was some child he had never met before that day. He had every right to be suspicious of the boy, and there was no law that said he had to warm up to him right away. "But I will try and be a little... Nicer." Ironhide told him, albeit, inside he wished he hadn't "But first, you need to get inside, it's freezing, you've had enough time out, right?" He asked.

"I'm not sure I'm ready-"

"At least go out and get some warm clothing." Ironhide noted.

Tony sighed, he had a feeling that the two of them would be clashing like this for a very long time. Whether or not he was correct remained to be seen, but he hoped he was wrong. After all, he wanted to cause no trouble at his new Foster Home. "Fine, fine. I'll go inside." Tony groaned, he looked up at the large mech as he stood up "Are you going to nag me every single day?" He asked.

"Depends on if you're going to be a pain in my aft every single day." Ironhide grunted.

Tony smirked, Ironhide smirked back. Clearly these two were without a doubt, the perfect foils for one-another. Now the problem would be getting along, and getting through this initial hostility. To Tony, that would be easy, he always had that one person at his new home. It was a given, he'd just get to know him, talk to him a bit, enjoy himself.

What he didn't realize was that getting along with Ironhide was not going to be that easy.

...

Sarah took the day off that morning so that she, Tony, and Will could get to know each other better. Of course, that day, Tony was going to get his first experience on life on the farm. They didn't have it just for show, after all, the farm had belonged to Will's family. It was big, with lots of open spaces. Will stared over at Tony, who seemed to eye Ironhide from afar, watching him carefully. "Don't worry too much about him." Will noted, Tony turned to him "That old war bot is all bark and no bite, honest." he added.

"If the way he acts towards me is his bark... I'm glad he doesn't have a bite." Tony replied, he stared at Will "I really don't think he likes me much. I went out for fresh air last night and he acted like I had just killed the cat." He added, Will chuckled slightly "What? What's so funny?" He asked.

Will shook his head slightly, staring at Tony. "Nothing, he just probably thought you were running away. Bell tried it twice." Will replied, Tony cocked an eyebrow slightly "Mine and Sarah's daughter, they had a close bond. So you can only IMAGINE if you have it that bad, how bad she had it." He then added, rather amused "Especially when she went into her rebellious phase. Which was when she tried to run away with her boyfriend at the time." He added.

"What did Ironhide do?" Tony asked.

"Followed their car, grabbed the bumper, and dragged it all the way back." Will held up three fingers "On three separate occasions." He added.

Tony laughed a little, amusement in his features. Though he now knew that there was no possible way he was going to run away from the home now. He'd done so before, but he had a feeling this time, Ironhide wouldn't allow it. Sure, he didn't like him, but he'd probably not expect some kid he didn't know rejecting the Lennox's in such a manner. "So, do you ever think he'll like me? Or am I going to spend my entire time here dodging his half-protectiveness, and half-"I hate your guts" attitude?" He asked.

"He's still getting used to Belle being out of state. Don't take it personally." Will explained, putting a hand on his shoulder "Trust me, Tony, Ironhide will get to liking you eventually. Just give him time." He added, than nodded "Now come on, bud. Get those buckets. I know it sucks, but if you live here, we do live on a farm, a WORKING farm." Tony nodded his head a bit "I'm not going to ask you to do much. And you probably won't be doing this. But in case you have no choice, I need to teach you to milk our cow." He added.

Tony smiled, and nodded. "To tell you the truth, I've always been curious as to how you do that." Tony replied, a bit excited "Just, don't be surprised if I take a while to figure it out." He then admitted "I hope they told you about my non-verbal. It makes learning things a little harder." He explained.

Will nodded, they hadn't told him about that, but now that he knew, he'd definitely keep it in mind. He'd have to do some research on it with Sarah, obviously if this kid had a disability, they could handle it. But they'd have to know what they were going to have to handle at least. "They didn't. But don't worry, I'll take it slow on you. Then we'll head over to the stables." Tony seemed to brighten up a bit "Do you ride?" He asked.

"No, but I've always wanted to learn that too." Tony admitted.

"Well then, Sarah can give you a short first lesson today." Will replied, nodding his head "I ride a little, but she's much better at it. Trust me, kid, you don't want to learn from me." Tony laughed a little as Will put his arm around him "Come on, the barn is this way." He noted.

Ironhide watched from a distance, sinking down on his tires at the sight. Will had stated that this boy was not there to replace Annabelle. Yet, as he watched the two, he couldn't help but think of her, Will treated him no different than he had treated her. How in the world was this not replacing Annabelle? He sighed, and drove back slowly, convinced not to say anything unless this boy really started to just get too close.

After all, it was temporary, they had no intentions of keeping the kid. He could deal with a temporary replacement, he told himself. Or at least, he hoped it would be temporary.