I do not own Transformers or any of its content. I am making no money off this story or any of its chapters, nor do I intend to.

A/N: Finally got another chapter up! Yay! A few things about this chapter itself; there is some strong language. Also, no offense was intended toward anyone of any faith/religion. It's just my warped, twisted sense of humor, I suppose.

Well, enough of that! Enjoy!

Chapter 6: An Uninvited Guest

Elaine spent the next day trying to immerse herself in relatively normal activities to make her feel a bit better about her strange predicament. Just because there were huge robots in the barn, didn't necessarily mean she couldn't take some time for her own needs. Starscream had not made any move to find her, nor did his two trine mates, so she assumed they weren't in need of her help at the moment.

Laundry was the first thing on the list; she had an overabundance of filthy, gas and oil stained clothing and a shortage of nice, clean garments to wear. Luckily, she managed to pull together a shirt and jeans that were decent enough for the remainder of the day. She lifted a garish, ugly fluorescent yellow shirt from the heap of shirts in her living room. As soon as she brought it up to her face, she cringed and let out a yell.

"Titan! Why? Why would you do this? This is why I can't have nice things!" She raged.

Titan just scoffed at her from the other room. Nice? Hardly. That was the ugliest outer covering in the house. Fluorescent yellow was not an appropriate color to wear with her complexion; it made her look sickly and weak. On the upside, that was the last unsightly shirt to be dealt with on the entire property. His work in the clothing department was done; he'd have to move on to the ugly furniture if she didn't replace a couple of those stupid looking chairs soon. And the mismatched end tables? They would go shortly after…

Elaine continued with the laundry after throwing the shirt with the offending odor away, muttering the entire time about dogs pissing on things they weren't supposed to and ways to possibly re-home said animals. She hoped she didn't get any calls to tow or fix anything, although the past couple of days had been mercifully quiet. The only event on her calendar this week was putting new tires on her friend's Chevy Avalanche. She was grateful that it was only tires this time; that vehicle was notorious for being a pain in the ass for no apparent reason. Things would go horribly, horribly wrong with it at the worst time, and in the wierdest way. Elaine begged her friend, Serah, to get rid of it and find something else to drive, but the stubborn woman always refused. She loved her truck and would likely drive it until it was irreparable. Hopefully, the gregarious woman would stay away for a while. Serah was the last person Elaine needed to visit at a time like this. Luckily, she called a majority of the time before she stopped in, so Elaine wasn't all too worried about any unexpected guests. She went about her chores and attempted to have a decent, normal day.

"Titan! Get the fuck away from my recliner!"

Serah Calder was trying to have a good day. Really, really trying. And if it weren't for all the other idiots she had run into along the way, she might have succeeded. But, sadly, every moron in the town seemed to be out and about today, so she was out of luck. All she wanted to do was run her errands, pick up her groceries, and go the hell home. Every task she attempted to complete was met with some sort of delay or aggravation. At the moment, she was trying to get her smokes at the local gas station. There was a line; almost all the way out the front door. Because some asshat had to pay for a bag of chips with a credit card. And for some ungodly reason, it wasn't being accepted so the man was having a fit. Obviously, he wasn't from around here. People around here just didn't use silly things like credit cards. The man was lucky they even started accepting them out here in the middle of absofuckinglutely nowhere. Serah shook her head and tried not to cause a public disturbance. She would have no trouble attracting attention to herself if she did, but today she didn't want to make a scene.

Calder was a tall woman, about 6'2, with a muscular build. She had dark red hair, bright blue eyes, and skin that was dark tan from working out outside so much. She was intimidating to some people, and she knew it. Her attitude and intolerance for others didn't help her socialize much either. Currently, she was glaring at a woman who was standing at the entrance of the gas station, off to the side, spewing nonsense and holding up a sign with a cross on it. The man behind Serah, another local whom she actually got along with, was glaring at the same woman. Religion wasn't ever a problem in their small town, and despite their small population and backwoods attitude, most people were very accepting. The locals had no problem with it and most of them attended a church of some sort. People of multiple faiths had settled down here. This, however, was a ridiculous, almost daily occurrence that everyone of every faith had come to hate.

"Praise Jesus!" The woman shouted. "You won't be saved without Jesus! You need to start believing in Jesus to be saved! Jesus will always be there for you!"

"Jesus." The local behind Serah groaned.

"Yeah, you ain't kidding." Serah answered.

"Would it be so awful if we just...ran her out of town or something? She's here every day."

"Nah." Serah chuckled. "Jesus will save her."

The man started laughing.

Serah sighed and lit up another cigarette. She was going to finish her entire pack of smokes and have to buy two by the time this crap ended. A thought occurred to her while she was waiting in line; she hadn't seen Elaine in a couple of weeks. She needed to get her tires replaced anyway, but stopping by just to visit someone sane for a couple of hours didn't sound so bad either. Besides, she wanted to check on her friend and make sure she was okay; the dark haired, quiet woman had been a little more quiet than usual, and Serah knew that it was a bad time of year for her.

The man at the counter insisted that the cashier call the bank. The poor, nervous teenager eyed the crowd warily and picked up the phone. Serah and the other customers lost what little patience they had left.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

The crazy woman perked right up.

"That's the spirit, everyone!"

Starscream was out in the field, feeling the warmth of the sun on his wings. His wingmates were equally happy to be out of the confined space of the barn now that Thundercracker was up and moving around steadily. The trine leader had been trying to let them enjoy what little peace they had while making some sort of plan. It wasn't often that the seekers were able to relax a bit.

The three had agreed that contacting the Autobots at some point was their best option, but they would need to do it discreetly and from an anonymous location over a secure link. There was always the possibility that the faction, however soft-sparked they seemed, could prove hostile, and Starscream didn't want to take a chance of endangering them all. Recent events, mainly the offlining of the other seeker trine, had made him tense and cautious. He didn't know who to trust other than the small woman they had met a couple of days ago, and her reasons for helping them were unfathomable, as they had wrecked her equipment and brought chaos into her seemingly peaceful life.

The red seeker glanced overhead at the passing clouds in the sky. He then looked behind him to see Thundercracker sitting on a boulder, conversing with Skywarp. Well, not so much conversing; scolding was a better word. The purple seeker had already managed to find some form of trouble and it wasn't even that late in the day yet. They'd have to explain to Elaine why there were suds all over the barn floor and her tools. She wasn't kidding when she said 'a little bit of that soap goes a long way'.

Starscream looked to the sky once again. Seeing the wind move the cloud formations was soothing to him. His wings itched slightly, but they couldn't risk taking a flight and had to stay grounded for now; the wind across them would have to do and he hoped the breeze would stick around for a while. As he watched the sky, a thought occurred to him. Skyfire was with the Autobots, acting as a neutral and presumably working in the labs on the Ark. He still had his ex-partner's old comm frequency and it was a heavily secured one due to the nature of their conversations. If it still worked, he might be able to speak to the shuttle before resorting to speaking to the Prime himself. It was a risky idea; they had not parted on good terms. Skyfire was gentle though, and reasonable. If Starscream explained exactly what happened the day he rescued his friend from the ice, he might be able to get through to the large mech. It was better to talk to someone he was familiar with rather than risk getting his aft handed to him by the Autobot commander and the frontline soldiers.

A loud, angry voice jarred him from his thought process.

"Titan! Get back here! I loved that chair more than you! Dammit, I will replace you! You can easily be replaced!"

Apparently, Elaine was awake and already milling around. Starscream smirked. She wasn't that awful, for a weak organic creature.

After finally getting the hell out of the store with her smokes and finishing up everything else on her lengthy list of things to do, Serah arrived home. Dropping everything onto the counter, she went to answer the phone that conveniently started ringing the second she walked into her home.

"Hey."

"Well, that's a charming way to answer the phone." The slightly shrill female voice on the other end stated. "I need a favor."

"I'm not lifting anything else in your cruddy basement, so forget it." Serah growled.

"No, I don't give a shit about the basement. That's old news. I need a babysitter for Alexis. I'm leaving town for a week."

"Are you serious?…" Was Serah's deadpan reply. "You call up someone who is notoriously ill-tempered and ask them to watch your kid? For a week? Are you out of your damned mind? Most people in town wouldn't even trust me with a pet rat for a few minutes. I'm not exactly babysitter material."

"No one else will watch her. No one likes me up here, except you."

"I don't like you at all. I tolerate you because you pay me to do work for you."

"Thanks a lot! I'll drop her off in 20 minutes!"

"Wait! I never said I'd take your damn kid for a week!"

The call was cut short before Serah could finish her sentence. She let out a frustrated shout. Well, this sort of interfered with the rest of her week, but she would somehow manage. She wasn't that good with kids, but Alexis was sweet and seemed to be really well-behaved, which was odd if you took into consideration the mannerisms of her alcoholic, irresponsible mother, who was gifted with all the decency and intelligence of a bloodsucking, hungry flea. If someone threw bad parenting, liquor, and insensitivity into one big pot, then took the conscience out of said pot, you'd end up with Jess Thi Dang. The woman was an idiot, plain and simple, who didn't particularly want to take care of her daughter or even acknowledge her gentle presence. It made Serah's blood boil every time she saw Jess drinking herself stupid with innocent, five year old Alexis watching mournfully. The child didn't deserve to pay for her mother's mistakes in life.

The redhead went about putting her groceries away and reorganizing a bit. Alexis' mother wouldn't really care if her house was dirty, but the child herself might want something a bit nicer to stay in for a week. She just hoped Elaine wouldn't mind a kid running around her property when she dropped in for a visit later on. Elaine was a tad bit abrasive herself at times, but she didn't seem to mind kids, and children of all ages definitely warmed up to her quite quickly.

Back at the farmland, Elaine was eyeing all the suds in her barn and all over her equipment with a little bit of distress. She looked at the purple seeker next to her.

"And...well, how did this happen again? Because I can understand how you managed to spill a little bit of soap; I get it. Happens to everyone once in awhile. But...I really don't get how it ended up everywhere." She tried to contain her outrage around Skywarp.

"Well…" The questioned flier began, sheepish expression on his faceplates. "There may have been a teleporting accident with the soap...And it fell...more than once."

On second thought, Elaine didn't want to know. She just wanted it cleaned up.

"Gonna be a hell of a job to get this straightened out. There are quite a bit of bubbles on everything in just about the entire barn." She sighed. "We're gonna have to clean this up before it dries and becomes disgusting. And go tell Starscream he can help too."

"But, why Starscream? He's not going to help. Why not Thundercracker?"

"Well, if Starscream doesn't help, then fine, but I'm going to give him one hell of an earful later for leaving you to your own devices around my tools. And I feel sorry for Thundercracker still, so he gets a break."

With that, Skywarp and Elaine reluctantly set out to clean the building. It was going to be another long day...

About 3 hours later, now that she was covered in grime and some water, Elaine surveyed her barn. On the upside, everything looked clean and organized to perfection. On the downside, she and Skywarp were kind of tired, grimy, and had just done a lot of work to get it to look that way. It didn't help that Starscream came in to laugh at them and proceeded to get his dirty footprints everywhere. Thundercracker, thankfully, was nice enough to stay outside away from the project. The two looked at each other for a moment.

"Did you hear that?" Skywarp asked.

"Sounded like a vehicle." Elaine said. "Tell Thundercracker and Starscream to get in the barn and stay here until I say otherwise. I'll go check it out."

The seekers proceeded to file into the building and hid, much to Starscream's disdain, while Elaine started running up the field toward the house. She was not at all pleased to see a red Avalanche in her driveway. She was less pleased to see a brown-haired little girl stumble out of the large vehicle and follow Serah towards the porch.

Elaine got about 10 feet away from the porch when she caught Serah's attention. The redhead grinned at her friend, but quickly frowned when she noticed the other woman scowling at her and the kid. Before she had a chance to speak up, the brunette did first.

"Don't you ever call first?"

"Well...not always. You've been a bit quiet lately. Figured I'd stop up and see ya, maybe get the tires put on the truck. Make sure you're not dead or something like that."

"Touching. Really. I'm glad I have a friend like you."

"You should be. You're lucky. I hate almost everyone else." Serah went back to grinning. "So, you seem jumpy. Everything okay?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe you..."

In the midst of their bickering, neither women noticed the small girl wandering to the barn out of curiosity. It looked like there were lights and movement in said building. Alexis, being an inquisitive kid, decided to venture out there and take a look. She had made it all the way to the barn and around the building's corner before anyone noticed anything amiss.

Alexis stared up at the huge machines that were looking down at her. They had all gone completely silent and watched her through their bright red optics. Were they Elaine's helpers? Serah had told her once that Elaine had a bunch of big machines laying around. Maybe Elaine built them because she needed friends. Aunt Serah was always talking about how Miss Elaine was all by herself all the time. She decided after about five minutes or so to introduce herself since the robots weren't saying a word.

"Hi." She said, looking up at the giants. "I'm Alexis. Who are you? Why are you in Miss Elaine's barn? Are you her helpers?"

Thundercracker was the first to say anything.

"Hello youngling." His voice startled her a little, soft as he tried to keep it. "Why are you out here? Where are your creators?"

"What are creators?" The little girl asked.

"He means your parents. That's what humans call their creators, right?" Skywarp cut in.

"My daddy's gone. He's a soldier. He's not back yet." Her eyes got a little teary as she looked up at them. "Momma...gave me to Aunt Serah. She said she was going somewhere and I couldn't go with her. She said she wasn't gonna come back because she doesn't want me anymore."

Alexis, being reminded of her predicament and what had happened that morning, began to cry. She was a strong girl, but having to deal with being separated from the only parent she ever knew, permanently, broke her heart. At her young age, it was a very difficult ordeal to cope with. Tears ran down her tiny face and she clutched the only possession she had, a small stuffed dog resembling a german shepard, to her chest.

Starscream panicked as long-hidden seeker protocols kicked in. Seekers were designed first as protectors and caregivers to the sparklings and younglings of Vos. Many knew that the fliers-turned-war builds made the best caretakers and sitters. Without any sparklings around due to the war, Starscream and Thundercracker found said programs responding to the little girl in front of them. Despite trying to override said protocols, they were too deeply ingrained in their processors and sparks to ignore. Skywarp, being much younger, still had the same protocols, but they didn't react as strongly. Instead, he looked helplessly to his two trinemates, then back to the crying child.

Being unable to resist the programming any longer and being uncomfortable with the shrill crying that was hurting his processor, Starscream gently moved forward and lifted the tiny human being into his palm, cradling her close to his cockpit.

"Shh, calm down youngling." He began attempting to comfort her. "You are safe right now and crying won't do you any good. It'll only make you sick."

Thundercracker began speaking to her in seekercant, which was almost unheard of now. The language hadn't been spoken much among their kind since the beginning of the war; most grounders considered it threatening and had never heard it used in such a gentle manner. Skywarp edged closer to look at the human and settled near Starscream quietly. After a few moments, Alexis began to calm down and settle into Starscream's hand.

At that moment, Elaine came running around the corner of the barn in a state of panic, Serah close behind her.

"What the big deal if she wants to play in the barn? Not like she's gonna hurt your damn tools or anythi-" The redhead stopped mid-sentence as she looked into the barn.

Starscream glared at Elaine with an expression that clearly read 'See what you've reduced me to?' before looking down at the now sleeping child once again. The two other seekers just continued to dote over the tiny girl.

"Elaine, what the hell have you been up to?!" Serah finally shouted. "You know what those things are, don't you? You can't keep them in your barn! It's not like they're a litter of kittens or something! They're Decepticons! I know you're lonely, but this is ridiculous! You could've found some more ideal friends!"

"Hey lady, shut up. We just got her to stop crying and recharge. You're going to wake her up." Skywarp said to the shouting, angry woman.

"Seriously? Are you kidding me, Elaine? Did you hear how he just spoke to me? Hey, answer me! Don't just stand there like a moron. Do something!"

But Elaine was just standing there with her head in her hands, muttering something about stupid friends, stupid robots, and needing more coffee from the store.

"And rope." She muttered. "Some rope to hang myself with would be delightful."

Serah was now speaking angrily to Skywarp.

"Give her back! You can't keep her! I was asked to watch her, and I'll be damned if three freaks from another planet kidnap someone else's kid."

"Frag you, lady! And who are you calling freaks? If you were asked to watch her, then you're doing a terrible job anyway! I don't think we should give her back to you if you can't keep a better eye on her."

"Are you fricken' kidding me?! Elaine, do something! They can't keep Jess' kid!"

"Silence, human." Starscream growled. "If you wake her and I have to hear that pit-damned crying again, I'll step on you."

Serah paled and looked helplessly at her friend, who was still shaking her head and trying to figure out a way to disappear off the face of the Earth entirely. Elaine finally looked up at her.

"Where did you find them? And why haven't they killed you yet?"

"Well…" Elaine began. "They crashed here when their leader tried to kill them, so technically they're not Decepticons anymore. They were all hurt, so I let them stay for a little while. You know, they're really not that bad when they're not causing mischief and destroying my equipment."

"Hey! You're still hung up on that thing? C'mon!" Skywarp groaned.

Serah shook her head and looked back at the three machines. Thundercracker spoke up once he was sure that the child was fast asleep.

"What kind of carrier abandons their own creation to strangers?"

"Wait, what do you mean?" Serah was confused. "You mean her mother?"

Skywarp nodded.

"I'm just watching her for a week. She'll come back..."

"That's not what the youngling said." Skywarp replied. "Her 'mother' told her she wasn't coming back. She told the kid she didn't want her anymore."

Serah's brief look of surprise turned to rage instantly. Elaine's face twisted into an ugly grimace and she growled. All three mechs looked at them with concern.

"Did she say where she was going?" Elaine asked. "Because if you know, I'll retrieve her and inform her that abandoning a child is unacceptable."

"Oh, not if I get to her first!" Serah seethed.

Serah looked up at the mechs.

"We've gotta go find the wretch responsible for this. Hand me Alexis and I'll have her stay here with Elaine and Titan until I sort this out."

Starscream held her a bit closer to his chest, an offended expression crossing his face.

"We're perfectly capable of watching her ourselves. We were the ones that took care of her when she was distressed. You are the dimwit that lost track of her and let her run off by herself. Why should we give her back to you? Seekers are the best caregivers on Cybertron, warbuilds included."

Elaine took over before Serah could say anything potentially rude.

"Starscream, I trust you with her, but Serah doesn't know you at all and has no reason to trust you yet. I will personally see to it that she's safe in my home while we figure out where her mother went. I'll have Titan guard her. He may look tiny to you, but he's no slouch."

Serah cut in.

"That's Starscream? Elaine, I've read about him in the news! Good God, what is wrong with you?!" She looked at the red mech, who was still glaring at her.

"I'll give her to you, Elaine, but only because you're a better choice than your idiot friend." Starscream smirked. "Don't drop her."

The seeker handed Alexis off gently to the farm owner. The tiny girl only stirred for a moment before falling back asleep in Elaine's strong arms, her stuffed dog still clutched to her chest. Titan had wandered over and stood protectively in front of both of them, a silent promise to protect his owner and the little girl.

"Watch over the youngling, fleabag."

The red doberman sneezed at Starscream before brushing up against his owner's side.

Serah flipped all three mechs off before walking out of the barn.

"I don't know what that means, but I don't like it." Thundercracker mumbled.

"You'll like it even less when I tell you what it actually entails." Elaine muttered. "I'll be back down in a little while...Thanks, for taking care of her. You're the last ones I'd ever hand a child over to, but I appreciate the three of you not stepping on her or something…"

Starscream scoffed at her while Thundercracker looked horrified at her statement. Skywarp just frowned down at the woman, obviously hurt that she'd ever think such a thing.

"Like we'd ever step on a sparkling!" Thundercracker raged. "What is wrong with you, woman?!"

Elaine had already walked out of the barn and towards the house to catch up with her swearing friend, Titan following close behind her.

"Calm down, Thundercracker." Starscream said. "It's not her fault that her entire race is composed of absolute morons. She doesn't know any better."

"I think we should've kept the sparkling. What if it gets hurt?" The blue flier looked worried.

"Stop being so soft about it! It's not even one of our kind! Who the hell would even want such a squishy, disgusting little thing like that anyway?!"

"Sure, Screamer. Whatever you say...Not like you were holding her a few minutes ago like a worried carrier or anything…" Skywarp grinned.

"Shut up, you annoying teleporting afthole!"

"For once, he's got a good point."

"Frag off, Thundercracker! No one asked you!"

"Can we get one? I want a sparkling."

Thundercracker and Starscream stared back at Skywarp with mortified looks on their faceplates.

"NO!" Came the simultaneous answer.

Elaine had Alexis settled into the soft cushions of the cabin, blanket draped over her small form. Titan was settled beside her, keeping her safe and warm while Elaine started a fire in the living room fireplace. Serah was talking furiously to someone on the phone.

"What do you mean, 'gone'? People don't just disappear!" She snapped.

The lady on the other end of the line answered her.

"Wait...she's dead? What the hell happened?..." Serah face had visibly paled. "Figures it'd be an overdose. What about her kid? You said she didn't have any family left. Her father's gone too?..."

Elaine looked at her friend, then back to the child. She wasn't happy about the entire situation. She was even less pleased that she couldn't drag the mother kicking and screaming back to her home.

"That's a damn shame. She's a ward of the state now, right? Well, I'm her babysitter...I may not be much, but the kid knows me." Serah began. "Any possible way I'd be able to...adopt her?"

Elaine's head snapped up in surprise. She looked to her friend, mouth agape.

"I'm already on the paperwork as her guardian?...When did the papers get signed?...Oh, no! Not at all, just don't remember when they were dated for, that's all!...A couple months ago? Sounds about right. Yep, sure. That's my signature!"

Serah looked to Elaine and shook her head.

"Well, I'll pick up the papers and sign whatever you need if you'll fax them over to me...Yep, the County Clerk's office right in town….Yeah, that's right….Great, I'll get her enrolled in school next week….Of course. Thank you, ma'am. You have a nice night too."

Serah hung up the phone. Elaine looked a bit confused.

"Well, apparently I wasn't signing a contract for babysitting her kid…"

"You signed guardianship papers and didn't notice?"

"I was really busy that day!"

"You're an idiot…" Elaine brushed her hair out of her eyes. "So, the kid stays with you?"

"Yep, I guess. She needs a home. Who else is gonna take her? No one liked her Mama."

"That's true. Well, if you need any help, you can always leave her here, or call me. I'll watch her for you."

"And risk having Starscream watch her? No, I don't think so. She's staying home with me. I'll come over to visit once in awhile, but you should seriously think about getting those robots out of your barn. I don't care how lonely you are; they're not good company. You're going to get yourself killed."

"Serah, you can't say a word. It'll put everyone in danger…"

"Oh, I won't. But hear me out; you can't be so trusting. I've seen the damage they can do. Maybe they're not Decepticons anymore, but until they've got a red symbol on their armor instead of that nasty purple sign, I don't trust 'em."

Elaine supposed that was as far as she'd get for the time being. She trusted Serah not to say anything; they'd been friends for years. She was a bit surprised that her gruff friend took the girl in though, but there was always a reason behind everything Serah did. Sooner or later she supposed she'd find out the why of the situation.

"So…" Serah started. "I know it's been a busy week and all, but can I still get those tires changed around?"

Elaine glared at her friend and walked away while Serah stood there grinning. Tomorrow would surely be as interesting as today; that much was guaranteed.