A couple of days later, New Year's Eve…

So finally, I was going to get over with this year. Goodbye and good riddance if you ask me. It had been very painful.

Right now, I was telling Annabelle, who was now in her terrible two's, a story about Santa Claus, about who he was and what he did. She knew how to talk, or at least, knew to say something. We were in the living room on the couch and Annabelle was in my lap, playing with a strand of my hair.

"So Santa comes every year and visits only the good kids and gives them presents. Were you good this year? An-no, don't put that in your mouth." I took the spitted strand of hair away. I might have to be more careful with what she puts in her mouth. "Were you good this year, Annie?" I asked her. She hugged my neck, out of the blue.

"Yea! Yea!" She squealed.

"Good." I brought her up as Sarah approached. "Now, tell your mommy what I told you, okay?"

"Mommy!" She took her arms away from me as I handed her to her mom. She hugged her mom's neck now.

"Thanks, Melissa. I'm going to put her to bed, she already put the star on the tree. It's way past her bedtime. Thanks for looking out for her." I smiled and nodded at her. I looked at the tree in our living room. It was grandiose, beautifully decorated by Le Moi, with the helping hand of Ron, since we didn't have a ladder. Yeah, surprisingly, his shoulders can hold a lot of weight, ever being the holoform that he is. I almost fell from his shoulder, though. When he wants to he can be quick as lightning.

I really didn't know if we needed the Christmas tree for New Year's but, hell, it looked too good for anyone to be bothered taking it down.

As I looked at the clock in the kitchen, saying it was about 11 pm, way after Annabelle's bed time, I don't even know how she managed to stay up this late. Even I should be going to sleep.

Will, Sarah and I were the only ones awake, so we started our little gathering and started to clean the house for a bit. We had an hour to waste until the end of the year.

"I'll go call Ron, he might need to see this." I said as I got out and went to the truck. "Hey Ironhide, wanna see what a New Year's countdown looks like?"

A few seconds passed as Ron came out of nowhere, startling me in the dark.

"Dude, you gotta stop doing that. You're going to give me a heart attack." I said as I brought a hand to my chest.

"My apologies. Let's go inside, this temperature isn't good for your body."

"Temperature isn't good for your body, my ass." I whispered to myself in a mocking, high-pitched tone. I also made a grimace, which made Ron chuckle. I rolled my eyes as we entered the house.

Sarah put up some confetti on the table while Will blew air into balloons. Sarah took a camera out of nowhere and started to take pictures of uncle blowing air into the balloons and of me fighting with Ron.

Apparently, he didn't like the idea of Santa invading our house in the middle of the night. Even though I told him the character was fictional.

"Santa doesn't exist, Ron. He's a made up character." I assured him.

"You told Annabelle otherwise."

"Annabelle's a child."

"So are you."

"I'm a woman, Ron. Shut up."

How did he even hear me talking to Annabelle? He wasn't even there.

"Mel, wanna help me with this?" Sarah said as she handed me a bag of balloons. I nodded and the three of us began our 'heavy duty' work.

"What in the name of Primus are you doing?" Ron said, arching an eyebrow as he looked at the three of us.

"We're blowing balloons, genius, what does it look like we're doing?" I retorted immediately. "And who's Primus?"

"Who's Primus, my aft." He said in the same voice I had, not so long ago. He really liked to imitate me, which drove me crazy.

"Shut up." I resounded, earning a good laugh from my uncle and aunt. After about twenty minutes, we finished blowing the balloons and now it was mayhem in the living room. Balloons were everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I like balloons, I just hate it when they pop, which I had a feeling they would. I looked to the clock once again and we had about forty more minutes left until a new year began. I told Will and Sarah that I would be going upstairs to 'check on something', when really I just wanted to get some privacy for what I was about to do. Once I settled myself in my room, I took out a piece of paper from my notebook. I drew some faces, resembling my mother and father and me. My tears fell on the paper, making small, wet wrinkles on it.

I didn't color it, no, I didn't have the time, so I just wrote. 'I love you.' On the paper and folded it and put it under my pillow. I collected myself and put a smile on my face as Sarah called for me.

"Mel! You've got a minute left!" She hollered. I was surprised Annabelle didn't wake up. Then again, she was a very heavy sleeper. A herd of horses galloping wouldn't wake her up. I ran downstairs, as the TV was turned on. There was a timer set, 45 seconds were remaining.

"Oh God, I can't believe this year is going to end in just half a minute!" I exclaimed and I was really excited! Grieving for my parents could come later tonight, but not now.

"It's been a hell of a year." Uncle said as he stood next to the tree. Sarah was on the other side of the room, next to the TV, counting the seconds 'till the end. I was standing next to Will and Ron was standing in front of the couch.

"Annie's learned to walk, talk… I'm so proud of her." Sarah said as she sniffed. I gave her a hug.

"Ten!" Uncle yelled. The countdown had started. Sarah and I broke the hug as we turned towards the TV. The whole screen was a timer now.

"Nine, eight, seven!" The three of us yelled. Ron stood aside, just watching us.

"Six, five, four!" I caught his 'I'm not a part of this' stance, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards us three.

"Join the fun!" I said, letting go of his hand. "Three! Two! One!"

The TV stopped at 00:00 and the title of 'Happy New Year' flashed across the screen.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" We all yelled. I hugged my uncle and then my aunt. Will kissed Sarah on the lips as Ron just stood and watched. I jumped at him and gave him a hug, too.

"Happy New Year, Ironhide!" I said. He seemed to be stiff at my sudden reaction, but relaxed soon.

"Erm… Thank you, Melissa. Likewise." He said, but didn't return the gesture. I let go of him, as this must have been very uncomfortable for him. Why's he such an ass sometimes? Whoops, all the time?

I honestly felt a bit hurt because he didn't return the gesture, but my uncle, being the genius that he is, stepped in. "Come on, Ironhide, give her a hug. It's New Year's." He said. Ron seemed to think about it for a moment and then he opened his arms.

I ran onto him and this time, he hugged me back. My feet weren't on the ground as he spun me around, just a bit. "Happy New Year, Mel." He said into my ear, his warm breath caressing my cheek. He put me on the ground and let go. We both smiled as uncle, once again, spoke up.

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it big guy?" Uncle said, clapping him on the shoulder once. Ron shook his head in a 'no' motion. He enjoyed it as much as I did, but he didn't dare show it. Both of us knew there was something between the two of us, and it was only confirmed once his eyes locked on mine inadvertently and stayed there.

A month later…

I haven't heard from Amanda in a month, which got me worried. Though this time every year she goes with her parents hiking or something like that. Not that she likes it, but still. It's not like she's making the decisions. Perhaps that was the reason why she didn't call?

Besides that, I've only seen Ironhide twice in his real form. A month ago and just a couple of days ago. There were many Decepticon false alarms and I still hadn't the chance to meet the whole team personally. Sometimes, Ron would come to my room and tell me the basics, like what Decepticons were, for instance.

Right now, I was at the base and I really didn't know what to do. Then I spotted Ironhide in his truck form in the main hangar and I walked over to him, giving him a gentle pat on his hood. "Big guy, you wanna introduce me to the team? I have been waiting for a month, you know." Ron's holoform appeared beside me.

"Of course. You're not afraid to see my real form again, are you?" I shook my head in response as Ron's holoform disappeared. Ironhide rolled out of the main hangar towards somewhere, leaving me alone in the big hangar.

Soon, Optimus Prime, the truck, and behind him the rest of the Autobots rolled into the main hangar, all in their vehicle forms. The truck stopped in front of me.

"Ironhide has informed me of your request. Are you certain of your wish?" His voice said from inside the truck. I nodded and waited. I didn't have to wait long, as the grill began to shift and disappear somewhere, the long nose of the truck started to unfold itself as two legs from behind emerged. The torso flipped and a horned head emerged. When he finished transforming, the slight sound of screeching tires and gears falling into correct place faded away, as he kneeled before me. I could only gasp as my breath caught. My God, these beings were so entrancing.

I put a hand to my chest as I looked at him. "Hi." I muttered.

"Hello Melissa." His deep, proud voice said. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Are you ready to meet the rest of the team?" Sure, I knew who was what, I think, but hearing their names from their voices was great. I nodded in approval and the Hummer came first and started transformed. The front started to shift as the back of the car was already transformed, the front wheels bounced off the ground as two arms and a head emerged and rotated a 180, clicking when they situated on the torso.

"I am Chief Medical Officer, Ratchet." He said, putting his hand on the ground. I merely patted it, as in greeting. These guys had the same voices from the holoforms. Well, they are the holoforms. Why couldn't my brain just connect that?

Bumblebee transformed quickly and with him, the rest of the team did. It was majestic to watch all of these beings in front of me transforming into something sentient and robotic. They looked so much like humans, I mean, with the same limbs and all, if you looked at it from the scientific side.

They all, in the end, stood around me, eyeing me. I felt scanned so many times.

"This is Bumblebee, Ironhide and Skids and Mudflap." Optimus said as I backed up at the thought of Skids and Mudflap almost killing me. All the robots were standing, so I scurried to Ironhide's feet, and propped myself up on his foot. All of the robots looked at me strangely, but I felt safe on his foot. I wasn't going to move from there lest Skids and Mudflap would do something.

"Hi." I waved at all of them. Bumblebee came closer to me and glanced up at Ironhide, who I presumed nodded along with his grunt. Bumblebee's soft blue eyes met mine as he pointed a finger towards me. I took the finger and shook it gently. Bumblebee clicked and whirred happily as he stood back. No wonder Nicole fell for him. He really was cute and quite gentle around humans.

Next up, Skids and Mudflap approached. I gripped Ironhide's black plating.

"She is traumatized. Don't you dare touch her." Ironhide threatened and I could hear the whirring of his cannons. I felt odd warmth in my stomach, probably the feeling of being protected soothed me. The twins, since they looked almost the same just with different body colors, took a couple of steps back and just waved.

"Hey lil' mama." They said in sync. I waved back as Optimus continued.

"Arcee, Chromia, Elita One and Sideswipe." The three smallest of the robots, they were just a foot or so lower than Skids and Mudflap, came towards me. Elita and Arcee came first and we managed to shake hands, even though their hands were about three to four times larger than mine.

Chromia came and put her hand in front of me and then formed into a fist. Ironhide moved his foot back gently, so I didn't fall. "I heard this was a human custom, Ironhide. I mean no harm to her." She said. Human custom? Oh, she's talking about fist bumping. I guess Ironhide thought she was going to punch me, which would have ended rather badly. I put my fist up as well and we fist bumped gently and she seemed pleased. "We will talk later." She said to me as she backed up. Talk later about what?

The silver robot, also known as Sideswipe, approached me, but just looked at me. He crouched and muttered something about nasty organics and how Ironhide could stand them without glitching or something. I looked up at him as he earned a growl from Ironhide. Sideswipe didn't dare touch me. He moved out somewhere as I patted Ironhide's plating, gaining his attention. "He doesn't like humans?" I asked him. He did as much as shake his head in response. Figures why Sideswipe didn't touch me.

Now they all stood in front of me, looking at me. Some smiling, some praying to whatever deity to just leave.

"It's an honor to meet you." I said out loud looking at all of them. Some smiled even more and I felt proud of myself for saying something as noble as that. Hell, even Sideswipe turned to me and his eyes weren't showing disgust. "I'm happy that I met the whole team. It's… amazing to see you all like this. It's really fascinating."

"Of course." Sideswipe snorted, crossing his arms. All of the robots seemed to have their eyes dimmed, but after a few seconds they just said things like, "Gotcha Prime." and "Sure thing, Optimus." Were they talking with their minds of something? Who knows, Ratchet did say they were an advanced race. In the end, all of them scattered and left somewhere, leaving me with Ironhide.

"I see you like resting on my foot." He commented.

"Shut up."

"I simply stated a fact."

"Jeez, relax, I was just playing with you." He scooped me up with his hand and I didn't do as much as flinch. "You know, this is actually enjoyable, being held like an ant in a giant hand." He brought me up to chest level, so I had to tilt my head a bit upwards to see his blue eyes. "Wanna spar?" That seemed to make him tick. I was in the mood to kick robot butt.

"Always." We moved out into the first hangar, which served as the Recreation Room or Rec Room, for short.

"Be careful." I said as his holofrom appeared. He seemed to be hyped. I could tell he lovedto spar. And I learned that he had a huge love for weapons.

"There's no 'be careful' when you are about to engage with someone." We got on the blue mat as he took a fighting stance and I did likewise.

Ron had already taught me how to attack, I was a natural at dodging, so next he had to make me improve my reflexes. Ron flung a couple of punches in the air, near my head, but it was obvious he didn't want to hurt me. I punched him in the abdomen, causing him to bend over, but just slightly.

Soon, we were in a real battle across the mat and we caught the attention of few a soldiers. In one swift move, he pinned me to the ground. I was on my back, his knees beside my waist, his arms on mine, situating my hands behind my head.

"Ready to give up?" He smirked. I learned a trick or two from him and I was going to use it to my full advantage. He did make me do strange workouts with my legs to improve my muscle structure or something like that.

"Never!" I fake screamed as I pulled my legs up to my chest and pushed them onto his abdomen. He flew backwards as my hands clasped his wrists and now I was on top of him, in the same position he was on me, just a few moments ago. I held his arms pinned on the mat beneath us. I heard laughs to my left.

"A little aggressive aren't we, Mel?" Uncle came out of nowhere, with his laughs as well.

"Nah, just sparring with Ron." I snickered. Ron took the opportunity to fling me to the side and now he was on top of me. Again.

"Never take your eyes off an opponent." He smirked, though there was a small tone of seriousness in his voice. He was right.

"Shut up and let me go." I mocked.

"Never." He smirked.

"You jerk." I smiled despite myself.

"Oy!" He made a face that made me laugh my ass off as he lost his grip on me. I was laughing on the mat, keeling from mirth while Ron was standing and laughing in his own way. After a minute or two of trying to calm myself down, he offered his hand for me to get up. I took it and he hefted me up to my feet. "Need a break?" He asked.

"Nah, I'll fight 'till the end." I smirked and jumped on him, though again, with his ass-kicking moves, I was on the ground, roughly landing on my side and cringing. "Aw, now you've done it." I said as I kept charging at him and batting with my hands, but seeing it got me absolutely nowhere, I started punching, landing a small amount on his chest.

Who knows how much time has passed, but my uncle came and hollered across the base for me and Ron to break it up and go home. We did as told and got in his truck. I had a feeling I was going to be in bruises when I got home.