195

The rest of the day went on in a somewhat uneventful way. Sam showed me to my guest room, telling me that if I needed anything, all I could do was ask. After he left, I looked around the room. Saoirse and Eden seemed to like the room, running around excitedly as they took in every little detail they saw. I sat on the foot of the bed, sighing deeply.

It was nice of Sam to let me stay here, I thought solemnly. I'll have to repay him, somehow.

Saoirse and Eden scrambled up next to me, telling me how excited they were in their new environment. I gave them a small smile, feeling a spark of relief at their enthusiasm. I listened to them chatter, nodding and listening intently. They both seemed to really like Sam and Carly, I reminded them that they met the couple when they were practically babies.

Later that night, after Sam went and spent some time with Carly in their bedroom, he came down and spent a few minutes with me. I had placed the girls in bed over an hour ago, spending most of our time in a relaxed silence.

"Carly's gotten better since you showed up," Sam said. He took a bottle of beer out of the fridge, taking small sips of it throughout the evening.

"Really?" I asked.

Sam nodded, taking a long sip of his beer. Taking a deep breath, he leaned back against the couch. A deep frown set on his face, and it looked like he was deep in thought.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong," he answered.

"Sam, you can tell me," I said. Seeing him look almost troubled bothered me. He simply shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm just trying to get used to everything now," he said. "I almost forgot how it felt to have you around." He shot me an apologetic look. I knew he didn't mean anything offensive, he was just telling me how he honestly felt. He set his half-full beer bottle on the coffee table in front of him, his eyes looking at me solemnly. "Why don't you try calling Ma and Dad tomorrow?" he suggested. "They'll be happy to know you're safe."

Was it too soon to call them? I didn't want them to overreact - certainly Judy would. I didn't want them to overreact, it would be unnecessary to cause such chaos. If I called them, they'd find themselves at Sam's house in no time.

"I don't want them to overreact," I murmured. "Isn't it too soon to call them?"

Sam picked his beer up, sipping it as he absorbed my words. Rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand in slight frustration, before he gave me a slightly defeated look.

"It'll be better if they know now than later," he sighed. "If we wait too long, they'll overreact even more."

It makes sense, I thought wearily. If I wait too long, they'll be even more emotional. I wouldn't be able to stand that. But it still feels like it'll be too soon. I tried to shake the doubt and uncertainty from my mind. It wouldn't do any good to argue with Sam. He was right. If I waited any longer to tell Ron and Judy, they'd be even more emotionally unstable than I probably guessed they were at the moment. You're not on the run anymore, you need to learn to trust others again. If you don't, how can you expect to adjust to society again? I chewed on my bottom lip. Cemetery Wind had been settled, Attinger and Savoy were killed - I had to keep reminding myself that. We were no longer being hunted by Lockdown or the government - the Autobots weren't being killed and hauled off as parts for those prototypes - as far as I knew, that was finished.

We had Joshua with us, the man who was in charge of KSI. If he had learned anything during our time together, it was that what he'd done was beyond acceptable. If he had learned anything, he'd tell his old employees to stop all the building of the prototypes and (hopefully) help us with any prosecution or whatever would come in the future to put an end to the government's onslaught of alien hunting.

Sam's just trying to help you. Listen to him! You're not on survival mode anymore. It's no use trying to be so stubborn or frightened all the time.

I glanced at Sam, who looked exhausted. I sighed. "I'll call them in the morning," I said flatly.

Sam gave me a look, his lips pursed. "You will?" I nodded. "OK. Thanks."

I nodded wordlessly. I felt butterflies in my stomach. I was terrified.

Blossom POV

Blossom and the others weren't staying at the hotel anymore, since Sam and Desirée had left. The Yeagers were generous people, that much was true. They gave the company a place to stay until they find a home to call their home.

The Autobots were anxious with Desirée gone - they wanted to know if she was OK. Blossom and the others tried assuring them that the young woman would be just fine, she'd be with Sam and any enemies had been killed back in China.

"Galvatron hadn't been taken down," Sideswipe reminded them.

It bothered the pink haired woman that all the Autobots were so anxious and unsettled by Desirée's absence. She tried to keep herself calm, spending as much time with her daughter as she could.

"Sideswipe?" Blossom asked carefully. The Holoform of the Corvette Autobot looked at Blossom. "Spend time with Musa."

He seemed slightly taken aback by the demand, but nodded firmly. Sideswipe had been so distracted lately that he hadn't been spending as much time as he could have with his family.

"I'm sorry for not being there as often," he murmured, sitting beside her. Musa was playing with Alec and Athena, but when she saw her father, a bright smile on her face. Blossom watched as Musa and Sideswipe interacted. She had almost forgotten that he was such a wonderful father. He didn't get enough credit for the kind of father he was. In Blossom's eyes, it felt like people didn't take Sideswipe's fatherly side seriously, that he was only doing it as a front.

"You don't need to say sorry," she said with a smirk. "We're not on the run anymore. I wanted you to spend time with us, that's all."

Sideswipe sent a smirk Blossom's way. "I almost forgot how nice it is to be normal," he said.

Blossom shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not that hard to get used to," she responded.

"Yeah," he murmured. He pursed his lips. "Do you think Optimus is going to come back at all?"

Blossom rested her head on Sideswipe's shoulder, frowning. "You're asking the wrong person," she answered. "Desirée may have a better answer than me. When she gets back, you could ask her."

The Holoform nodded wordlessly. Was Desiree having fun with Sam? Was she safe? Since Optimus was currently unavailable, Desirée was the temporary Prime. They all knew that Prime's Sparkmate didn't like having any sort of authority over them.

"This is going to be a long week, isn't it?" he sighed.

After a moment of silence, Blossom gave a hum, agreeing with him. Sideswipe wrapped an arm around Blossom's shoulders. They both watched Musa in silence, their minds wandering.

Desirée POV

The next morning, I was awoken to the feeling of Saoirse moving around on the bed. Opening my eyes, I saw Saoirse trying to climb over Eden and climb off the bed.

"Saoirse, stop it," I grumbled tiredly. My little girl's big blue eyes looked at me, freezing in her spot. Eden eventually woke up to Saoirse's movements.

"Mama! I wanna spend time with Uncle Sam!" Saoirse exclaimed. I gave a slight chuckle at her enthusiasm. Slowly stretching and getting out of bed, I put Eden on the ground and watched as the two of them ran as fast as they could to their uncle's bedroom. I had told Sam before I went to bed that he should probably close the door for the night; the girls were a bundle of energy and it'd be good to have his bedroom remain private.

He chuckled and said he'd keep that in mind.

Walking out of the bedroom, I saw Sam open his bedroom door and scoop the girls in his arms.

Sam chuckled at the excitement on his niece's faces. When he saw me, a slight smirk came across his face.

"Remember to call Ma and Dad today," Sam said.

A slight grimace came across my face. I wanted to enjoy the calm before the storm.

QUICKY A/N:

HELLO, EVERYONE! I HOPE YOU'RE ALL HAVNG A WONDERFUL WEEK SO FAR. I'M SORRY THIS UPDATE TOOK SO LONG TO GET PUT UP, BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!

YOU GUYS KNOW THAT I DON'T OWN THE TRANSFORMERS STUFF AND I ALSO DON'T OWN THE FOUR OC'S! I ONLY OWN MY CHARACTERS AND MY FILLERS.

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK, EVERYONE! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING PEOPLE!

THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL.

READ, REVIEW, ENJOY!

YOURS TRULY,

~SMITHY