Hey guys! Happy delayed Thanksgiving to the Americans! Everyone else… Sorry, got nuthin'. Except for the next chapter :3
I know it's a bit early for Christmas, but seriously, hibernation is BORING! So I skipped a little and will probably do it again for over the New Year, and most of January.
sweettea1 – Thanks :3 Glad you liked it
Sunstreaker's Squishy – There is method to the madness, don't you worry ;)
I'm still looking for a Beta. People are just saying they are busy :P . Anyway, if I owned the Transformers franchise, which I don't, I'd be rich, RICH! Muhahaha! But I don't, so, here I am. ONWARDS WITH THE CHAPTER!
They had been boxed in for weeks already. A few of the air vents had gotten clogged up, but most of them were still working fine. The caves were snug themselves, the heat evenly distributed overall. There was a portable furnace in the main cavern, occasionally lit to help warm things up a bit. The weeks had been relatively uneventful. It was relaxing to Will; he for the first time in years was not required to haul heavy crates of goodness knows what for mercilessly long hours while keeping an eye on your back to not get killed. You could say there was still a bit of that paranoia still in his systems, but it had been mostly worked off by now.
Will woke slowly, sweet sounds drifting through the edge of his consciousness as he tried to swim his way out of the lethargy that still sat on his mind. His slow brain finally made the connection that the sounds were music and someone singing. He snuggled a bit deeper into the mattress, intent on getting as much sleep as he could before he had to get up and face the day.
Wait. Music and singing.
He bolted upright, the speed of his soldier mind kicking in. Kicking off the covers, he moved into the main cavern, and his jaw dropped to the floor.
There was tinsel everywhere, with glass ornaments hanging from various nooks and crannies on the walls. Arabella was standing on a stepladder, singing softly as she continued hanging the ornaments.
"Deck the hall with boughs of holly, falalalala, lalalaway…" It was a Neil Diamond Christmas carol album that was playing. Will stood speechless, gazing with wide eyes around the room.
"Wha… Wha…" Will's brain had officially stopped working. Arabella heard him, turning to him with a wide smile.
"Morning Will! Merry Christmas!" She cheered merrily, tossing her arms slightly in the air. She noticed the dumbstruck look on his face. "I don't normally do much for Christmas, but hey, I've got you around, so, heck I thought, 'why not?'" She turned back to hanging the decorations. "So, anyway, today is the 20th of December, so that gives you four days to Christmas eve. I usually just stuff my face, but we could do presents if you want. Also, I," she turned to look at him, and stopped. "Will? What's wrong?"
The tears were streaming down his face, his body shaking in silent sobs. She hopped off the ladder and came to stand in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders, peering into his unfocused eyes.
"Mom… M-Mom used t-to listen to N-Neil Diamond as sh-she put up the… the decorat-tions an-and Dad w-would set up the Chr-istmas tree. M-My sisters w-would come with th-their hus-bands and k-kids an-and we'd have this h-huge f-feast on Chr-Christmas day." He sputtered out between the sobs. Arabella understood and pulled him into a hug.
He was homesick for a family he would never see again, for traditions he would never truly be able to repeat. She just held him until he finally calmed down.
"If the memories hurt, I could take them down, if you want." She offered softly. He shook his teary eyed head.
"No. I want to have a Christmas, even if it's just sitting in this boring old cave with you." She laughed at him.
"Hey! Don't hate on the cave! She's what's keeping you safe right now!" They shared a laugh and internally Arabella was relieved that the tension was broken. "Come on now. We're putting up the rest of the decorations and then it's business as usual, 'kay?" He nodded in reply. "Good! Now hop to it, soldier! We have business to attend to! Diiiiiismissed!" He smiled and gave a mock salute.
"Sir, yes, sir!" She patted him on his cheek before going back to the ladder, now humming along Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
The next couple of days flew by. Will was racing to get his gift done in time, but he managed. The day finally came, and boy was it glorious. With some crates and an old door, they had made a dining room table. Arabella had dug into her special linen cupboard and had pulled out a red tablecloth and white serviettes. She had also had managed to pull out some wine glasses and a bottled of apple cider. When he asked where she got it, the only reply was:
"My secret."
Food wise, they had slow roasted deer shoulder with a can of sweet corn and a can of peas. For dessert, they had custard and jelly. It was nowhere near to the lavish meals they had had when they had been growing up, but it was their little slice of heaven. After the meal, they started putting everything away. Will had started carrying everything back to the miraculous storeroom, but did notice Arabella grab something looking suspiciously like a DVD player.
His suspicions were correct.
When he had returned, she had set up the DVD player along with a projector and some speakers. Against the one wall a white sheet hung down from the ceiling. He could not believe what he was seeing.
"Are we… are we going to be watching a movie?"
"Bet your sweet ass we are." She smirked, looking up to the simple joy that lit up his expression.
"How are you powering this?"
"Simple, really. I turned off half of the ventilation systems to redirect the electricity to here. When we start watching, I'll turn of these lights, and then everything should be good to go." She jammed a cable into place. "That should do it. But, there are more important things to be done first." She turned from him and walked to the crooked closet.
"And what, might that be?" Will asked, adding a bit of a posh accent for the fun of it.
"PRESENTS!" Arabella called out, turned with a wide smile holding a cloth wrapped object in her hands. She mentioned him to sit on the bed as she held the gift on her lap.
"Well, since you insist." He landed on the bed next to her, pulling out a small, also cloth wrapped package. They sat for a moment, slightly awkward.
"You first." She pushed her present over to him. After a moment of hesitation, he took it, and untied the thin leather tie that had kept it all together. In his hands, he held a hand sewn leather bag made from the hide of one of the deer Arabelle had caught earlier that year. It was the size of a laptop bag, with a long, wide leather shoulder strap. Will smirked at her.
"You know, this will go fabulously with those leather boots of mine." He stated in a rather feminine voice. Arabella laughed.
"Dude, too close." Will's smile turned to a flat line.
"Yeah…" he paused for a moment, reflecting on how gay he had sounded. He shook the thought from his mind. "Here." He handed the small parcel over to her. She took it gingerly and unwrapped it. Inside was a carefully and beautifully carved wooden whistle.
"Nice." She took a sharp breathe, blew as hard as she could and regretted it instantly. "Well, at least we know it works." She stated as she tried to rub the high pitched ringing noise from her ears.
"What did you say about orcs?" Will asked, also trying to regain his hearing. She slapped the back of his head.
"I SAID AT LEAST WE KNOW IT WORKS!"
"Ah, right." They sat for a moment longer. "Thanks for the bag. I really appreciate it."
"Glad you like it. And I can officially state that your carving skills are better than mine." She replied, still inspecting the whistle.
"Sooo… What are we watching?"
"BACK TO THE FUTURE MARATHON!" She shouted happily. Will could not believe his ears.
"No, way. Seriously?!" She pulled out the DVD set that she had found during one of her outings and put it in his hands. He nearly squealed like a school girl. No, scratch that. He did, squeal like a school girl. Arabelle snatched the box set back.
"Give me that! I will not waste my one day of indulgence on pointless high pitched noises! Now get comfortable while I get this up and running!" She hopped of the bed. "Actually, you get it up and running. I have to make a quick stop at the kitchen." She disappeared before he could say anything. He shrugged. He made sure everything was set up correctly and fiddled around with the display setting a little.
"I'm back! Press the play button already!" He turned and nearly had a heart attack when he saw what she had been carrying in her arms.
The biggest bucket of popcorn he had seen in his life. Tears started leaking from the corners of his eyes. She saw what he was staring at and she decided to tease him.
"Get your own darn popcorn." His lip curled and his tears of joy had turned to ones of sadness. Well, they were still threatening to spill. She huffed dramatically. "Fine. We can share the bucket of popcorn." He bounded over happily, settling next to her on the bed. He reached over, grabbed a fistful, and tasted heaven. He groaned in ecstasy. "Glad to see you like it." Arabella remarked, non-plussed. "Now, let the games begin!"
She leaned forward, hit the play button and flipped off the lights as the intro music started to play.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
Eight hours with lots of laughs later, the credits of the third film finally started rolling. Arabella stretched, yawning as she did. She finished the yawn with a couple of smacking sounds, scratching at a spot on her stomach. She turned to look at Will in the light of the credits. He was out cold, a small line of saliva dribbling out of his mouth. She smiled contentedly.
After the years alone, she never truly realized how much she missed having someone around to help her out and keep her company. She lit a nearby lantern, one of the many in case the power fails. The soft light lit the cavern sufficiently. She got up, shifting Will around for a while before he was nicely tucked into her bed. She slid over to a panel in the wall, putting all the correct wires back so that the emergency lights were on. They would not be bright enough to wake him, but they lit the rest of the cave system so she did not need the lantern anymore.
She would never admit it, but she felt like a mother taking care of child, teaching him the ways of the world. Too bad her "child" was 15 odd years older than she was. She softly stalked through the room, putting everything away. She walked through to the kitchen and sighed softly. She put the large camping kettle to boil and prepared to start the dishes.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
Almost an hour later, she crawled into the infirmary's bed. She pulled a small book out of her pocket and with a pencil, started writing.
Dear diary
Today was Christmas with Will. We had deer, corn and peas. I pulled out some apple cider too. It keeps on surprising me how much more the little things meant to Will. I guess the slavery must have been worse than I have imagined.
I'm glad I didn't let the bear finish Will off, but I must admit, I am still a little weary. I know, we've been together for about four months already and I think I'm acting like I used to, but still. I really hope I didn't make a mistake.
He still wants to go on an expedition to Smithers to join up with the Autobots. I'll have to check my stores to see if I have the supplies to pull a stunt like that. But honestly, I don't know if we should. If we get there and there's nothing there, it will be wasted fuel. I have a feeling everything over there would have evaporated by now. And if they are there, what then? Do I join them, and live in even more fear of being taken by the Decepticons, help them if it's necessary, or simply come back and be alone again? I don't know!
She paused for a moment, sighing, before writing further.
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Besides, we're still going to be stuck in here until mid Feb, so I still have some time to think it over. I do hope for his sake that if we go and we get there, we do find something and that he finds his wife and daughter.
Speaking of which, he's losing muscle mass. I guess we will just have to step up the exercises then. Hehehe.
'Til the next big event
Arabella
She closed the book, slipped it underneath her pillow and promptly fell asleep.
There we go guys! :3 I added the diary entry to give us a view of the world through Arabella's eyes. Hope it explains the character changes that had been occurring. Anyhoo, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend. See you all next week! :)