The ride home mostly consisted of Will napping in the back of Ironhide and Ron interrogating me what I learned today. It wasn't quiet inside the cab because after Ron yelled at me for not paying enough attention to his lessons and my temper got the best of me, so I yelled back at him, my uncle had to step in. Ron wasn't really yelling at me, just scolding me loudly. But I didn't back down, instead I talked back. But it was enough to wake up Will from his peaceful nap.

After Will gave us, well, mostly me, a good lecture, he laid back on the seat. It was silent in the car for some time until I began to smile despite myself. I looked at Ron and he looked much the same like me - like he was ready to burst out laughing any second. And when he looked at me, we both laughed so hard I thought even Ironhide shared a good laugh. Will wrapped his arms around his head and groaned in the back, making us laugh even more.

"You're lucky Ironhide's a sentient being otherwise we would've crashed into something by now." I said, giggling. Ron smiled, but soon returned to his old self, gruff and buff as always. We got home and Will was muttering about not getting enough sleep when he really needed it, while Ron and I wordlessly got out of Ironhide.

It was really cold outside and dark. I yawned and got inside the house, making my way through the snow on the ground. And it was still snowing when we came home.

As I got inside the house, the first thing that greeted me was the warmth and then the mouthwatering smell of Sarah's cooking. I inhaled the smell and took off my jacket. I slowly took off my sneakers and sat on the table, where everything was already set up.

A delicious soup, some chicken and an hour later, I felt like I was going to burst. Sarah's cooking was so good, I didn't know when to stop. My stomach bloated a little from eating too much, so I got in my room slowly and closed the door behind me. I looked around and plopped on my bed, closing my eyes.

I think a good half an hour passed, but I couldn't sleep. I got off the bed and got to the window and looked out. The sky was dark and starry, beautiful, but just out of reach. I felt the emptiness inside me rise again and could feel my lips trembling. I missed them so much. My parents were always in my head. I bowed my head down as a tear formed and fell on the ground. It wasn't long before I saw Ironhide parked in the driveway. Had I not known better, I would have thought he was just an ordinary truck, which at first I did.

I took my robe and put on my boots, though I was still in my training suit. I snuck downstairs and exited the house quietly.

Making my way through the ever growing amount of snow, a thought crossed my mind. It was like Ironhide seemed to never sleep, and that was seconded when I approached the truck and he opened his back door for me and I got in. His cab was always warm and somehow, I felt another tear slip my eye without me even knowing it. I just felt it spill over my cheek. I wiped it away with my hand and sniffed.

It was damn cold outside.

"Hey, Ironhide, hope I'm not interrupting… something?" I sheepishly said. Because I seriously didn't know what I could interrupt.

"Naw, ma darlin'… What's with the crocodile tears?" An old lady's voice said through the radio.

"Oh… you know." I said as I sniffed. Ironhide would know about my parents' demise. After all, when I told all about it to Ron, it had been inside Ironhide, which at the moment was unbeknownst to me.

"Parents?"

I nodded in response and covered my eyes. "Please, don't call Ron. I need to stop with this incessant crying."

"A fresh wound caused by... Won't heal on its own." He switched between science channels.

"Right, and everyone says 'time will heal'. Well, guess what, I doesn't!" I whined.

"It's too early to tell." He replied in a quiet tone. Faces of my parents rattled around my head, appearing behind the eyelids of my closed eyes. If I opened my eyes, my vision would be blurry and my eyes would sting, if I didn't, just more tears would form and that wouldn't make anything easier. The radio continued on, quietly as a whisper. "It's just a matter of time, I'm sure. But time takes time..."

"Ironhide, do you have tissues?" I asked. After replaying the sentence in my mind, I wanted to laugh. I did chuckle, but you know… These things are hard. A click towards the front of the vehicle got my attention. The glove box clicked open. I moved my way towards the front and opened it and I found a box of unused tissues.

Sarah must have bought them.

I got tissue after tissue out, not being able to stop myself. Maybe if I cried it out, it'd hurt less. Except it didn't. My nose was going numb and I could feel my eyes being red and swollen. I don't know where all the tissues went, but after my throwing around, I mentally promised to definitely clean his cab for Christmas.

"The things you go through for me…" I mumbled. "Why does this happen to me?" I blew my nose. "Everything is just so hard, I don't know if…" I gave a low sigh. "Maybe I should just end my life. If I did, maybe I'd be with them in heaven…" I wiped a tear with my pinky finger.

"NONSENSE!" The radio blasted almost immediately, catching me off guard and making me flinch. As much as I wanted to yell at him, he was right. I couldn't… Could I?

"Sorry… It's the influence of tears, right now. Just… why me?" I moaned and cried some more, until my head began to hurt and my chest with it. Ironhide played a song.

"I know sometimes things may not always make sense to you, right now. But hey, what'd daddy always tell you? Straighten up little soldier, stiffen up that upper lip. What you crying about? You got me."

I knew which song that was, half of the world did. I don't know why, but he chose these songs so perfectly it made me cry even more. I whined and dug my face into my hands and sobbed as I listened to the lyrics.

"I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad – I can see you sad even when you smile, even when you laugh. I can see it in your eyes, deep inside, you wanna cry, 'cause you're scared - Daddy's with you in your prayers, no more crying, wipe them tears, daddy's here no more nightmares. We gon' pull together through it, we gon' do it."

I sniffed and got in the drivers' seat. I wiped my eyes again. I think he tried to comfort me, but got the opposite effect. I tapped the top of the steering wheel. "Ironhide, I know you're trying to comfort me-"

"It seems the harder that I try to do it, the more it backfires on me."

I put my hands on the lower part of the steering wheel. I slid my hand across the horn buttons and soon, my cheek met the steering wheel gently. I couldn't stop myself, this was too much and as much as he wanted to make it easier for me, it didn't help at all.

"Now, hush little baby don't you cry, everything's gonna be alright. Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya, daddy's here to hold ya through the night."

I managed to make a weak smile. He was referring 'daddy' to himself, I guess. I got my face off the steering wheel. The seat lowered itself, so that it was in a bed-like position.

"I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why we feel how we feel inside. It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby, but I promise momma's gon' be alright."

"Thanks Ironhide... It means a lot to me. I guess I just needed to hear that." I patted the seat and the air conditioning turned on, keeping me warm inside. I laid down on the black leather seat and wiped my eyes feverously as they started to sting badly. I didn't know these seats were so comfortable.

I gave out a long and tired sigh.

"Sometimes I wish you were a person, Ironhide. You're so caring." I said through sniffles. "You'd be like the most romantic and smart person." I caressed the seat beneath me. How did this truck know how to do all the right things? Was it positive that it wasn't manmade?

"And if you ask me to, daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird. Imma give you the world. Imma buy a diamond ring for you, I would sing for you, I'd do anything for you to see you smile. "

I didn't know if Ironhide really meant it, but next thing I knew, I kissed the top of the seat and muttered a 'thanks' before I went to sleep. For something made of metal, it was very soft on the inside.

Next day…

I woke up with dry eyes, dry lips and a dry throat, feeling like I cried through the whole night. But that's because I did. It seemed that Ironhide was awake, because when I stood up from the seat, he greeted me with a 'good morning' from the radio. I groaned in response for my head was dizzy. My vision cleared and I looked at the display on the dash. It was 10 in the morning, December 25th.

Wait a second… Wasn't I supposed to be in training right now? And isn't today Christmas?

I opened the door and got out of the truck. Outside, it wasn't snowing, but it was cold. Whatever the reason, I was feeling mischievous today as I made my way through the unclear path of snow, and I got inside the house.

I could hear Will and Sarah playing with Annabelle upstairs in her room. I got in mine and dressed into different clothes, putting on my thick leggings, a jumper and I packed myself with gloves, a scarf and a woolen hat. I peeked into Belle's room and told Will and Sarah that I would be playing in the snow.

Easily, I got out of the house and into the broad daylight. The whiteness outside was blinding my eyes, but I adjusted quite quickly. I took the snow from the ground and started forming snowballs. It was the perfect kind of snow, the one that wouldn't fall apart while shaping it, which was great. I had a snowball in my hand, but what should I use as a target? I looked around and the first thing I spotted was Ironhide. Though I doubt he'd like to be used as target practice and I could just see him chasing me down the street for throwing a snowball at him.

Not a chance I was willing to take.

I threw the snowball from one hand onto the other and spotted a tree in the front yard. It had a huge tree trunk and barely any leaves left on it, so it was perfect for target practice. I took a couple of steps back and took a shot. The snowball hit the tree and dispersed all around.

Score!

I over-exaggerated as I jumped in the air and started wooing all over the yard. I ran around crazily just for the love of the season. Being well rested and happy were feelings I wouldn't let go of any time soon. I took more snow from the ground and made a couple of snowballs, only this time, I went further away from the tree, which was a distance of about 30 feet.

The two snowballs I threw first were completely off course, but the third one hit the branches. Not much of a victory, but better something than nothing.

"Remind me to never trust my life in your aim." Ron's voice said from behind me. When I turned around, I saw him leaning on the black truck.

"Hey, you." I greeted him.

"What are you doing anyway?" He arched an eyebrow.

"I tried hitting the tree with a snowball, but I found a new target."

"Oh yeah? What?" He crossed his arms.

"Better say who, 'cause it's you!" I whirred my hand and took a shot with my snowball. He evaded it almost absent-mindedly. The snowball hit Ironhide's window, which was not my intention. I just hope he wouldn't eat me for that.

"Predictable." He commented and I rolled my eyes. I bent down and started gathering snow and he followed suit. Before I knew it, I was snow fighting with Ron. He managed to hit me almost every time, but me? I couldn't hit him for the life of me. I started running away from him to hide behind the tree. "Ah, you challenge my 'Mel catching' abilities? Challenge accepted." He said with a smirk.

He said it in a way that made me bend over laughing. Just as I bent I found another opportunity to gather snow. I made a snowball and waited for the perfect moment to throw it at him. We've been circling around that tree and when I moved away from it, I saw the opportunity to hit him. I was still laughing.

Just as he turned his head in my direction, he saw the snowball heading for his head and he ducked so quickly, I thought it looked un-human. He shot me a look and then he smirked. I backed up and he moved away from the tree, forming another snowball. His snowballs were at least twice the size than my own.

"No fair, Ron! You have the advantage here!" I whined.

"How's that?" He crossed his arms. The snowball was in his hand, and I really wondered how he manage to hold it like it didn't freeze his hand at all.

"Uh, you're more skilled? You're stronger?" I fished.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Though, he did smile. "You have ten seconds to seek cover." He smirked. "One…"

I looked at my options. "Two…" I didn't have many, anyway. "Three…" I couldn't reach the house in seven seconds. "Four…" No matter how fast I sprinted. "Five…" The tree had already been used and, "Six…" Wouldn't provide much cover. "Seven…" Leaving me with Ironhide. "Eight…" Well, two seconds are all I need, I'm standing next to him. "Nine…" I opened the passenger door and got in. Just as he said "Ten." I was already in the truck, tucked safely away from him.

I struck my tongue out at him from the inside. He made fake shocked face, until Ironhide burst the door open and lowered himself. I'm guessing he didn't want me to have the upper hand. I had to exit the truck, but as I tried to leave, my foot got caught up in a mechanism between the door and the seat, and I was about to fall flat on my face on the ground. That is, until Ron stood between the ground and well… me. I flung my arms in front of me, which managed to catch Ron's immensely huge shoulders.

Thanks to gravity, while I was falling, our cheeks brushed against each other, causing mine to blare with heat. His skin was so soft with such a nice stubble. He put his hands on my waist and got me out of the truck and onto the ground safely. I must have been shaking, because he stood perfectly still.

My arms were still around his neck, as his were around my waist. I gazed at him and before I knew it, everything became so blurry, because the next thing I knew I was on the ground and Ron was above me, smirking evilly. It was a good idea I had my beige woolen hat on me, otherwise Will would have kicked Ron's butt if he saw me on the snow and Ron not helping me get up.

"What was that for?" I whined from my position on the ground as I looked at him. For some reason, he looked really sexy from this angle. He was just so tall and strong.

"Just 'cause." He smiled one of his grins. I gazed upon him as my hormones started reacting again. I desperately wanted to kiss him, as the thought of that couldn't get out of my head. I already kissed him accidentally once, but now... Damn you, hormones! I couldn't fight them, the sensation was so strong!

I motioned my index finger at him, curling it for him to come closer. He took the hint and came closer, kneeling down on one knee as I sat up, and motioned again. He came even closer, to the point where he was only inches from my face. Something about this closeness was so entrancing and captivating. His hand found his way around my waist as I naturally perked my chest out. I didn't know what was going on with me, but this consuming feeling of having him close took every ounce of self-control away from me.

Our chests almost touched and a strong tingling sensation within my chest made my heart beat faster with thrilling excitement. I wanted to get even closer. I couldn't take my eyes off of his entrancingly blue ones. The distance between our faces was closing by the second. Our chests were touched as the tingle within my chest was so strong I felt it pulsing, from my chest to my heart and my veins. It was all-encompassing, completely mind and body consuming. The feeling was so strong it started to sting, as if there was too much electricity between us, and my whole body went through a kind of light electrical shock of some sort. My eyes closed themselves shut.

Ron jerked away from me and the shock disappeared. I put my hand over my chest, or rather my heart to be exact, and opened my eyes. I saw that Ron did the same thing, looking at me confusedly and almost disbelievingly. What just happened?

"You felt that?" I asked him. He nodded and seemed to look into the distance. It was like he knew what this was about, but didn't want to admit it at the same time. I certainly never felt this kind of connection, chemistry, electricity or whatever you wanted to name it, with someone. Then, Ron started talking.

"I'll be taking… Ironhide, with me. Stay indoors, unless your uncle gives you permission to leave." He commanded and got into Ironhide. I wanted to retort, but he sped off with Ironhide in the direction of the base, leaving me to get up and brush the snow from myself.

"But where are you going?" I asked confusedly, scratching the back of my head. Of course, my question fell on deaf ears.

Did I do something wrong?

Ironhide's POV

After I gave Mel the luxury of having ten seconds to seek cover from my snowball attack, I was surprised she didn't move until the 8th second. But it was funny how she frantically looked around for hiding places, I must admit. Even when she got directly into my alternate form, I refused to give her the benefit of it. I got by the passenger door and waited for her in my holoform, but when she didn't come out, I opened my door and leaned on my two right side wheels, making it easier for her to leave my alt mode.

She tried to exit, but stumbled. Out of reflex, I stood in her way and reached for her as she flung her arms around me. I had no other option but to grab her by the waist and put her gently to the ground. She was shaking oddly, though most of it was from fear of falling. I looked at her and all sign of fear vanished from her chocolate brown eyes.

She stared at me for too long and I saw an opportunity. I smirked as I swerved her around and put her on the snow on her back. I was now on top of her and I could feel her hormone levels rising through the scanning I was secretly performing on her. She motioned her index finger at me, as if telling me to come closer. I did, for I felt the excitement in my spark as well. She moved her finger again and I complied. Our chests leaned against each other and I could feel a tingle of some sort, through the holoform and it was directly affecting my own spark. This was the first time it ever happened to me, to feel this odd sensation of electrical connectivity. The tingle was getting stronger and I could feel through my spark with the same intensity. It soon became a shock of unknown source and I jerked away.

My chest stopped paining as I looked over at Mel. She was holding her hand on her chest, as well. Had I hurt her?

"You felt that?" She asked. Of course, I felt it. In my spark. But why?

I nodded and immediately opened an emergency link towards Ratchet. Something was wrong with my spark and was affecting her for unknown reasons. I couldn't have her getting hurt because of a holoform malfunction, or whatever this was.

"Ratchet, I need you to meet me on the outskirts of the base. Something happened."

Ratchet replied instantly. "What happened? Your life signal is perfectly fine."

"Frag Ratchet, I don't know what happened! Get your aft on these coordinates and hurry up!"

I closed the link and got into my alternate mode, extinguishing the holoform and driving towards the coordinates. The drive took a lot less than usual as I was speeding through the limit.

Why did my spark tingle? My spark?! Even with Chromia, I never felt this. What was going on with me?

I met with Ratchet as we both safely transformed into our bipedal forms near a forest.

"Fraggit Ironhide, I was working! Next time you talk to me like that, you'll be your own medic. Now, tell me what happened? I sensed a panic note in your vocal-" Ratchet started talking, but I had to shut him up. My spark was beating faster because of a genuine fear that I could hurt Melissa this way.

"Put a gear in it, Ratchet and listen up! Something's wrong with me. My inner frame. Fix it." I commanded him quickly. He found a rock foundation that looked somewhat similar to his medical berth on the base and he made me lie down on it.

"Fine. Open your chest plates, please." I did as told and opened my chest plates to give him access to inspect the area. Ratchet dug into my inner frame and looked around. Maybe I had a leak somewhere that I didn't know about? "What seems to be the malfunction?" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know."

"Did anything provoke it?"

"All that happened was that Mel and I were… exploring the cold, white Earthly precipitation on the ground and…" His face was devastated. "and…"

"And what?"

"Our chests touched."

Ratchet almost gave a laugh upon hearing that, but seeing that it was important to me, he decided to be professional. He looked around my spark chamber, eventually opening it, and the gentle blue light of my spark caressed his yellowish green helm. He closed the spark chamber and I closed my chest plates.

" What's happening?" I asked, the tension in my frame rising. I whirred my cannons as I stood up.

"I can't fix this." He sighed, staring at me in the optics.

"What do you mean 'you can't fix this'? You're Ratchet! You can fix anything!" I grew angrier with every astro-second. How dare he tell me that the best medic probably in this whole damned universe couldn't help me understand why my spark was actually hurting Melissa with small electrical shocks?

"Ironhide, I cannot fix this." He said it in a way that made me furious. I'm not a sparkling to be spoken to like that! "It is a matter of the spark and it has to do with finding the on-"

I couldn't hold my temper any longer, and I blasted from my cannon, making an enormous hole in the ground, though quite away from us.

"It must be a spark glitch or something." I muttered, feeling eased upon shooting the stress out, but just a little.

"Sparks don't glitch, dumbaft, there's nothing wrong with you." Ratchet snorted. "You can return to the Lennox family." I turned around and transformed. "And Ironhide?" I turned around to face him. "The soldiers in the base are 'decorating' it in random circular objects. They will be dressed in regular, civilian clothing next week."

"Why am I supposed to know this?" I rolled my optics at him. It's not like that meant slag to me.

Ratchet decided to be wise and gentle. "A word of caution, is all. Humans have strange traditions we still have to get used to."

I snorted and turned around, returning to the Lennox family unit.

I still thought it was a spark glitch.

Melissa's POV

During my time of playing around in the snow after Ron drove away with the truck, I thought about what happened between me and Ron. I've never felt before… this kind of electrical shock. Could I have been electrocuted somehow? Impossible, I had no electricity contact. This was all too weird. I saw Ron and the truck pulling back into the driveway.

Will came out of the house, all dressed up in festive clothing. The first thing my eyes caught was the crimson colored jumper with white snowflakes and green Christmas trees. I looked at him as he had a smile on his face.

"Mel, are you busy? I'm thinking of a surprise for Sarah and Annabelle."

"I'm in." I immediately complied. "Feeling festive today, Will?"

He chuckled. "All in the spirit of the upcoming Christmas." He ruffled my hair lightly. "Come on, you're going with Ron."

"Um…" I mumbled. Was that such a good idea?

Will walked with me to the truck, where I saw that Ron never got out of it, and he opened the door for me to get in the passenger seat. Ron didn't even look at me, it was almost like he was afraid. Once I got in, Will stood by the door and the window lowered itself on its own. Will leaned in. "So here's the deal: Sarah loves the whole Christmas festivities and all, so instead of this year where we were supposed to celebrate in our house, we're celebrating at the base. I hope you're okay with that, Mel?"

"Yeah, sure." I positively said.

"I'm going to give you some money, you are going to use it at the mall and buy yourself whatever you wish." Will said, digging around in his pocket.

"Will, I can't use your mon-"

"No, Mel, I don't wanna hear it."

"But, Will-"

"Think of it as if you're doing me a favor: I send you to buy Christmas presents."

"Well, it does sound better that way." I said, giving up.

"Good. I'm going to leave you with Ironhide and Ron. If you need any help with carrying things, Ron will help you." I looked at Ron. His 'muscles of steel' would surely come in handy. "Okay, Ron?" He looked at him.

Ron gave a quiet nod.

"Cool." I said and my lovely uncle smiled and nodded. I looked at the amount of money that he gave me, and boy, there was a lot of money. I guess the military paid well. Ron was silent and shot me an occasional glance every now and then as we started driving towards the town. Whatever his thoughts were, he was keeping them to himself. I saw the mall as Ron parked Ironhide in the parking lot.

Wordlessly, Ron and I got out of the truck and into the mall. I saw a couple of my female friends from my high school sitting in a café inside the mall. I waved at them shortly and they waved back, but once they saw Ron walking behind me, their hands froze and slowly fell to their sides as their eyes glued to him.

I looked behind me to look at Ron. The way he walked and looked so muscular, so proud and confident… Well, in all honesty, I'd be all over him too.

Gah, what is it with me?! Stay focused, Melissa. I was here for… uh…

"What are these 'Christmas presents'?" Ron said as he walked behind me. Oh, right, that's what we were here for in the first place. We got on the escalator and ascended slowly to the first floor.

"You seriously don't know what Christmas presents are?" I turned my head around to deadpan at him. "Ron, where do you come from?" He didn't respond, so I sighed. Who knew where he came from.

As we got off the escalator we made our way towards the shops, which were half-empty, which I found to be weird. But, then again, this town didn't have that many people and folks must have already bought half the Christmas stocks.

"First of all, Christmas is a holiday. Usually, people don't go to work when it takes place, but I guess my uncle has to celebrate it on the base this year." I started explaining to Ron.

"Which would mean Sarah and Annabelle will come too." He finished. "What else can you inform me about Christmas?"

Why did he always have to be so formal? I went over his overly formal remark and continued on. "Yeah. Christmas is the shortened version of 'Christ's Mass', and back then it was believed that December 25th was the birth day of Jesus, though now, we have scientifically proven it's not like that." I said as we entered a nearby shop.

"Then why is it still called Christmas if this Jesus was not born on the 25th?" Ron asked as he followed me to a nearby store. Did the guy never hear about Christianity? Was he living under a rock since his birth?

"I'm not the one who set up the rules, I just abide them." I told him. "Come with me." I said as I spotted a beautiful Santa Girl dress. It was sparkly, hot red in color and had fluffy, soft white cotton on the ends.

"Is that all there is to this Christmas? I thought there was more to it, since it was so important." He said offhandedly.

I started recalling some of my history class from high school so that I wouldn't be an idiot for not knowing how to explain Christmas to someone who obviously hadn't heard of it. "Christmas celebrates the feeling and thought of family and their reunification. It's a time for family to get together and celebrate just… being together." I said as I got to a rack of clothing and looked through it thoroughly, since I found what kind of dress I wanted to wear for tonight. I was sure there would be a nice Christmas party at the base.

"So what do these 'Christmas presents' do?" He asked. "And more importantly, what are you doing?" Ron looked at me oddly.

"I'm trying to find myself a dress, thank you very much." I wanted to say, thank you very much, Sherlock, though, I doubt he'd get it. Maybe he would, but that train was already long gone. "As for the present, it doesn't really matter, because it's not the type of gift you bring that matters. The type of gift is really immaterial."

"Elaborate." He said as I looked through dress sizes on the rack.

I continued while checking which dress size would fit me. "The gift should be abstract, like feelings of love, friendship, trust. Sure, material things are always nice, but the immaterial ones are those that you always remember. In the end, you should feel good for giving and not for taking." I finally found the dress in the size that I wanted, so I summed it up really fast. "It's all about the feelings of love and joy with the ones you love and care about. That's the biggest gift of all." I put the dress in front of myself and Ron saw it. Though I didn't really care if he liked it, I knew this was the dress for me. "Do you want to buy this for me? Here's the money and there's the cash register." He groaned in response. I found it funny as I returned to looking over the shoe racks. Of course, I needed something to match the sparkly red dress.

There wasn't anything else that caught my interest in the store, so this was a gift from my uncle to me. I got to the cash register and stood beside Ron, on his left. I saw that the shop assistant already started a conversation with him.

"You have excellent choice, sir." She said to him as she scanned the price tag of the dress. Then she spotted me and looked at the two of us. "Is this for your girlfriend?"

Songs:

Eminem - Mockingbird