A/N: This story is set in season 2, somewhere between "Operation: Bumblebee" and "Nemesis Prime"

As usual, I'm going to say this story is probably AU, though not intentionally so. As always, this story is completely written. As per usual, I will upload one chapter per day (Barring anything out of the ordinary. I will attempt to give readers a head's up via A/N). This was written for my entertainment, and is being published for yours. If you find yourself not enjoying it, then you should feel perfectly free to stop reading.

Heap praise or criticism upon it, whichever may suit you best. Or say nothing about it at all, if you would prefer. Do feel free to point out typos; I check my stories before publishing, but I admit my imperfection and would welcome the opportunity to correct any mistakes I may have made.

Snow lay like a cloud come to Earth, shimmering in the bright, cold mid-morning sunlight. It was a very beautiful sight, one Bumblebee was unable to appreciate as he drove along the uncleared road, repeatedly sinking into the snow and getting stuck in deep drifts, sometimes for minutes at a time until he was able to thrash his way free of them. Patrolling in the snow, he had discovered, was no fun.

Neither was patrolling alone, especially when he would otherwise have been picking Raf up from school. But the kids got time off for some Earth holiday, and that left Bumblebee free to patrol. Or investigate, as was most certainly the case in this particular instance.

For it was not idly that Bumblebee had been sent to this cold region where the roads often went without being cleared for days or even weeks at a time in the dead of winter. No. There had been signs of Decepticon activity, but nothing definite.

Optimus Prime had wisely decided to send his Scout to check it out before committing the majority of his forces to a battle which might not be forthcoming, or not worth fighting if it was. The other Autobots were not without tasks of their own to accomplish. All of them were investigating signs, to try and find out what the Decepticons were doing- and stop them.

Bumblebee couldn't help feeling he'd gotten the short end of the stick this time though. Not that he was complaining or feeling especially sorry for himself. It was a fact of life as an Autobot that sometimes you would be asked to do things you didn't want to do, or things which didn't at first make sense.

Still, he couldn't help but feel just a little bit displeased about mucking around in deep snow. It wasn't dangerously cold for him, but it was unpleasant nonetheless, and snow was finding its way into some very sensitive places where it then melted into icy water.

More out of need for distraction than anything, Bumblebee decided to tune in to Earth's radio stations. The first one he located was no help at all, because it was playing a song about letting it snow. Annoyed, he changed to another station, only to find another song pertaining to snow and cold and someone called Jack Frost nipping people's noses (which hardly seemed cause for song writing). After a couple more tries, he gave up. A distraction was probably a bad idea anyway, assuming there were really Decepticons somewhere in the vicinity.

Still, he wondered about the apparent world wide preoccupation with snow that had descended without apparent cause a few weeks ago. He'd been just as deeply baffled by the earlier concept of dressing up in costume and alternately throwing theme parties and going up to strangers and demanding candy. He wasn't sure which perplexed him more, but he was completely certain that the trigger for beginning the almost obsessive talking and decorating was an invisible one, just as whatever signaled the end of it all.

In a way, he understood this holiday even less than the other, because the obsession with snow seemed to exist in parts of the world where there was never any snow, and in the places where there was snow it hardly seemed a cause for celebration. Besides which, the snow had appeared long before the colored lights and men in red suits and all the other baffling things which Raf said accompanied this time of year. It simply didn't make a bit of sense to Bumblebee, but in that he knew he was not alone. None of the other Autobots understood it either.

But perhaps the thing he liked least about whatever was going on with humanity was what it seemed to be doing to Raf. The boy seemed sad, and perhaps even disappointed by Bee's lack of familiarity with the holiday. He had verbally assured Bee that it was alright, and he'd even changed the subject when the Scout had asked him what it was all about and how it worked, but Bumblebee knew there was something... painful about this time of year, but it seemed to only pain Raf and he wasn't sure why.

Bumblebee had noticed that the radio, television and internet had all become alive with references to the holiday season, which seemed more than a little misleading because he knew for a fact that Earth celebrated many holidays throughout the year, and it was very peculiar to have an entire season celebrating celebrations that happened at all times of the year. But Raf didn't explain it. He just turned off the radio, changed the TV channel and scrolled rapidly past any holiday posts online. Miko had lately taken to calling Raf 'Scrooge', but Jack had scolded her for it. Raf ignored her mostly, but Bee got the impression the monicker hurt his feelings, though it was unclear why.

Bumblebee realized that it was strange for him to be thinking of Raf while busy plowing through the snow in search of proof (or at least strong evidence) of Decepticon activity. He didn't typically allow his attention to be divided that way. It occurred to him that his focus was wavering, had been all day. And he knew why. Yesterday, when Raf had said goodbye, he'd reminded Bee that he wouldn't need to be picked up from school for awhile, and that it was unlikely the two of them would even see one another until after the holidays.

It wasn't habit that made him think of Raf now, but a sort of knowing without knowing. Something was wrong. But it wasn't Decepticon activity out here in the snow-driven landscape he was struggling to push through. He knew, with abrupt clarity, that he should go back. He shouldn't be out here, he should be back home with Raf. A feeling of dread crept across his consciousness, but he wasn't sure whether it was that he should not be here or that Raf should not be without his guardian. Either way, the feeling was enough to stop Bee in his tracks.

It was instinct, honed to a razor sharp edge by a lifetime of war, but he didn't listen to it soon enough. From somewhere off to his left came a bright flash, and he had no time to react before it overtook him. He felt the spark of electric impulse alien to his own beginning to interact with his systems, and then an abrupt surge that overloaded his systems. And then he knew nothing more.

As usual, the halls were decked, classical Christmas music emanated from the speakers in the living room and the smell of cookies baking wafted through the house. It was all very hard to ignore, especially the icicle lights on the neighbor's house Raf could see from his window. If he turned directly away from them, he would notice that they sprayed color across the wall of his room with the closet. Inside the closet was worse, his mother and both grandmothers insisted on knitting sweaters and scarves for him and all his siblings every year, and he was the unwilling recipient of the hand-me-downs in addition to the unwonted collection of his own.

It wasn't that he didn't like colored lights, or good Christmas music, or cookies. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the effort it took to knit a sweater (though he was beginning to think it couldn't be too difficult, otherwise how would three women find the time to knit at least one for each child every year, often adding a scarf or pair of socks in with that?). It wasn't that he didn't enjoy getting presents. In fact, he loved everything about Christmas. Except for the fact that, in this time of togetherness, he always found himself alone.

He was too small to help with the lights, the kitchen too small and crowded to allow another person besides his mother and sisters to bake and decorate cookies, and nobody ever let him pick which Christmas CD was played next. His mother was possessive of the Christmas shopping, allowing not even her husband to aid her in gift selection for anyone, not even for the neighbors or his work friends. The irony of someone being so controlling and selfish about giving gifts was not lost on Raf.

As the youngest in the family, Raf wound up being the last to get to taste any of the cookies, and the last to get a mug of cocoa (whenever the month-long cookie baking project could be pushed aside enough to make room for cocoa making. It was a small kitchen, and a lot of cookies; most of which would be given as gifts). If there was a cookie that was just not as nice as the others, Raf wound up with it. And the last of the cocoa was just never quite as well stirred and he'd wind up with powdery chunks of chocolate in the bottom of his mug. And there were never enough marshmallows left for him.

Basically, Raf's only complaint about Christmas centered on his not being allowed to actually participate, or being the last one anyone considered, if they had the time left after having considered everybody else. He didn't think it was too selfish to want to not be the last one on the list sometimes.

Over the years, he'd just gotten tired of hearing all this great stuff about giving and togetherness when he knew that none of that was for him. He could be good at gift giving, if someone would just give him the chance to try. He knew how to find anything anyone could possibly want online. And maybe he'd be good at cookie decorating too... if he ever got the chance. And would it kill anybody to listen to the Christmas music he liked for once? After all, the classical music playing now was his mother's preference, but all the people involved in the cookie making would get to take a turn, and they all had different taste in music.

Somehow, Raf had just gotten tired of watching Christmas happen without him, and it had finally gotten to the point that even the sight of Christmas lights sickened him because they just reminded him of how left out he felt, how ignored, how forgotten.

He wouldn't want to lose any of his family members or trade them in, but he still wished his family were smaller somehow. Everyone with smaller families seemed to get to actually enjoy the holiday with their family, instead of being shunted off to his room where he would be 'out of the way'. Somehow, it just wasn't enough to get to open a few presents on Christmas. He wanted the rest of Christmas, as everyone else seemed to experience it, instead of being on the outside looking in.

But, apparently, that was too much to ask.

Raf almost envied the Autobots their ignorance. In fact, he'd been sort of hoping that Bee would pick up on his misery and offer to hang out with him during Christmas break. But, perceptive as the Autobot Scout was, this seemed beyond his ability to understand. Maybe Raf should have explained Christmas to Bumblebee, then maybe the Scout would understand why the holiday made him sad.

After all, Bumblebee always listened, always cared, but still he wasn't psychic or human. It was definitely too much to ask him to be either of those things.

Ratchet was the first of the Autobots to become aware that Bumblebee was missing.

The first indication of something wrong was that the Scout missed his scheduled radio check in. Ratchet didn't immediately become alarmed. As good as Bumblebee was about checking in, there were sometimes extenuating circumstances which prevented an Autobot in the field from being on time, especially when they were looking into possible Decepticon activity.

But minutes ticked away without the Scout's checking in. Rather than call him, potentially making a noise which could expose Bumblebee if he was hiding for some reason, such as if he were spying on Decepticons, Ratchet checked the GPS. It was then that he found out that, while Bumblebee's life signal was coming in strong and steady, his location registered as unknown. His GPS system must have been disabled, because there was no place on Earth Ratchet couldn't track him.

It was time to call Optimus and let him know their Scout was missing, and very probably in trouble.

A/N:

As with my Christmas fics the past two years, all the chapter titles are taken from lyrics of Christmas songs. If you want to know what one is, feel free to ask, as many of them have to be a little vague in order to apply to the story as well as avoid using the same song twice. So far, I haven't had to repeat, but if a yearly Christmas fic becomes tradition, it'll happen sooner or later. There's only so many Christmas songs out there :P

I usually start these in October because November is a bit busy for writing and I want to be finished by December. This year, October was pretty hectic, so if the story gets a little wibbly in places, that would be why and I apologize, but I feel I've done the best I could.