A/N: Oh yeah! Another drabble. This one will make number thirty and that means I'm more than half way done! Woohoo! Let's hope it won't take me forever and a day to reach fifty. XD R&R. Enjoy!

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Stepdad

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"Hey! Tessa! Long time no see," Katie, one of Tessa's friends from high school came running up to her, all smiles and laughter, truly happy to see her friend after a semester away from home.

Tessa was in the grocery store, shopping with Optimus, who had wandered off in search of eggs – it was the holiday season and Tessa always made the cookies – so she was just standing with the cart, going over what they still needed. She smiled brightly when Katie came up to her. It had been quite some time since Tessa had seen any of her friends. College kept her busy and now that she was home for winter break, she still had plenty to do (baking, shopping for gifts, wrapping said gifts, making sure Dad ate, etc.), so it was amazing to get to bump into her friend like this.

"Hey, Katie! How have you been?" Tessa asked her, turning to face her and putting her list down on the kid's seat of the cart.

"Busy! Classes have been keeping me loaded with work. It gets annoying, but what can ya do?" Katie told her, laughing. "What about you?"

"It's been the same for me. I'm so glad the first semester is over and it's break time. I need a few weeks to recuperate after those finals," Tessa said, shaking her head, but smiling all the same.

"Oh, my God. Do not even get me started on finals," Katie said and was about to say something else when Optimus came up. She shut her mouth and stared at him with wide eyes as he placed four cartons of eggs in the cart.

"Tessa, is there anything else that you need from the aisles that we have already visited?" Optimus asked her.

Tessa had been super glad and super impressed that he and his Autobots had holoforms; it made shopping with them so much easier. And today, it was just her and Optimus since everyone else was busy. She was glad for it, though. It wasn't often she got alone time with her…er…stepdad. Is that what Optimus technically was? Could transformers even get married on Earth? Was that a legal thing now? It didn't matter; she was just glad she had an extra set of hands to help her carry the bags into the house when all was said and done.

"Um, yeah. I need two more bags of flour and sugar. I forgot that the bake sale for the community center is next week and I'll need a lot more cookies," she replied with a quick look at her list.

"I shall return shortly," Optimus told her and then he left, leaving Tessa and Katie alone.

"So…did something happen with you and Shane?" Katie asked her. Tessa's head snapped up and she looked at her friend.

"No. We're doing just fine. Why?"

"Well…I just…I was… Uh, who was that guy?" Katie asked, looking embarrassed. Tessa gave her a reassuring smile.

"Oh, that was my stepdad," Tessa answered.

"Stepdad?! For real? I thought your dad liked girls," Katie said, dropping her voice to a whisper so the other shoppers in the store couldn't hear then. Tessa leaned in and replied.

"So did I, but you should definitely see them together, Kate. They're, like, a perfect fit for each other. They get along better than Dad and Mom used to." At that, Katie's eyes got real big.

"Really? Wow. That must be something," she said. And then she smiled. "It's good to hear your dad's found someone else."

"Yeah, it is. I was afraid that he'd be alone for the rest of his life. Now, I don't have to worry about that," she said.

"Is he nice to you and your dad? I mean, I would think he is, but you never know," Katie asked, looking concerned.

"Oh, he's super nice. Kind of shy, though. But he's a great guy and he makes Dad very happy. Plus, he's really good with…cars and trucks and computers," Tessa said.

"Wow. He's like a perfect match for your dad, then," Katie said.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" Tessa replied. Optimus came up and put the bags of flour and sugar into the cart, mindful of the eggs.

"Is there anything else we forgot, or shall we continue with our shopping?" he asked Tessa.

"I think that's it! Well, we gotta go. See ya, Katie," Tessa said and gave her high school friend a hug before she pushed the cart into the next aisle.

That was not the first time she had to explain to someone who Optimus was, but it was definitely the easiest and comfortable experience she's had so far.

Most people, when Tessa told them what Optimus was to her and her dad, would either look slightly put off by it or shocked. Cade Yeager, the maniac inventor whose wife had passed away, was seeing a man? Cade Yeager, the black sheep of the town, was actually dating someone? Those were the questions Tessa received the most and, for the most part, they annoyed and offended her. Her dad wasn't ugly or stupid or anything like that; he was very smart and knew his way around robotics and computers and had managed to create some pretty epic stuff over the past few years.

And after all he had been through, he deserved to be happy, didn't he? Who were these people to judge him for loving a man? Or for finally dating someone? Tessa shock her head. She didn't understand people, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that her dad was happy and that she had a pretty cool stepdad to boot, along with a few other family members. That was all she really needed and no one was going to make her or her dad feel bad about that. Not if she could help it.