It had snowed some time during the night, and the garage door was frozen shut. Bumblebee was jolted to reality by the grating sound of the machinery groaning and failing in its attempt to perform its designed function. Eventually, the noise shut off, and the side door was opened, searing artificial light snapped on overhead, momentarily blinding Bumblebee's vision, which was adjusted to the absolute darkness. Shifting his vision until he could see properly, Bumblebee wasn't surprised to find three people walking in from around behind the giant SUV, the man plus two younger people. The girl looked about fifteen or sixteen, the boy a little shy of eighteen maybe.

"Rick, Fina," said the man Bee had met yesterday, "This is your early Christmas present."

"Dad," said the boy, presumably Rick, "We already have cars."

"Get behind the wheel of this one once, and you'll never want to use the Jag again."

"Oh great," the girl, Fina, said as she crossed her arms, "Now he can get even bigger speeding tickets. And what do I get out of it?"

"Well, you'll never get stuck in the middle of nowhere because you forgot to gas it up."

"Why not? Does it run on fairy dust?" Fina challenged.

"Something like that," the man replied with a slight smile.

Rick had approached the driver's side, and Bumblebee felt a crawling sensation inside which made him wish he could move away. Something about the boy made him instantly wary and he didn't want that kid behind the wheel of any vehicle, let alone him. There was something dangerous in his dark eyes.

Both kids looked like their father, but Rick's hair was darker and Fina's was much longer and had been dyed green at the tips. Both had dark brown eyes and similar faces. Now he got a better look, Bee wouldn't have been surprised if they'd been twins. He realized it didn't matter. They were old enough to drive, which was the only really relevant thing from his perspective.

"I'll give you that this car looks cool," Rick said, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets "But I don't see what makes it better than the Jaguar."

Bumblebee tried not to be insulted. He'd had the option to choose a Jaguar as his vehicle mode, but what he'd picked was better and he knew it. Still, it shouldn't matter to him what this kid thought. Even so, he felt his ego take a bit of a bruising. In spite of himself, he felt a crooked hope spring up that Rick would get the chance to find out firsthand what it was to drive a car like Bee. It was a stupid hope, when he should have been wanting only to get free, but he couldn't help it, he was proud of his choice.

"It's faster," Rick's father said quickly, "Safer, more reliable and almost as close to being an all-terrain vehicle as the SUV," he nodded towards the enormous black car that sat like a sleeping leviathan, "You'll see for yourself once they clear the roads and we get the garage door de-iced."

"Oh good, now Rick can kill himself before Christmas," Fina scoffed.

"Like you care," Rick shot back, moving quickly to give his sister a shove.

"That's not funny, Fina," their father said, "Rick, don't push your sister."

It did no good, because Fina returned the shove with a slap.

"Stop that, both of you! Otherwise neither of you will get to drive this car before New Year's."

"Ooh, what a threat," Fina spat, "Guess I'll just have to drive the convertible."

"Which is currently in the repair shop after you forgot to put it in 'park' when you went shopping last week," her father said her helpfully.

"Daddy!" Fina practically yelled, but she didn't seem to have anything else to say for a moment before managing, "the SUV's still here."

"And you'll drive it over his dead body," Rick seemed to be reminding her.

Bumblebee felt slightly sick.

It was one thing to be forced to drive around under someone else's control, but these two would get him or themselves killed inside of a week if one of them got behind the wheel. He felt the fear of yesterday beginning to reassert itself. Already he was beginning to feel responsible for their lives, yet he knew there would be nothing he could do to stop them from hurting themselves. Bumblebee knew, perhaps better than anyone, that he was not indestructible.

"Now, now," the man interrupted before his kids could continue, "I do need to explain one unique feature of this car."

Only one? Bee thought, but then he understood.

"Now, on the outside this car's just like any of its model. But it does have a few quirks. All it boils down to is, if it's acting up, there's a button on the dash that should get it going right again. Just be careful you don't overuse that button or you might burn out the circuits."

Cute explanation, Bee wondered if it made any kind of actual sense. Somehow, being a car didn't exactly inspire him to know a whole lot about them, any more than being human inspired people to learn biology.

"Now, it should just be a temporary problem, and you might not encounter it at all," the man continued, "But, if you hear a buzzing noise, then you ought to push that button before the real trouble can start."

Bumblebee took that to mean that, if he attempted to actually communicate, he'd get zapped. The man had thought of everything... everything except the fact that his latest expensive gift to his kids wasn't just another thing, but actually a thing alive. Bee was going to feel it every time that button was pressed and, even though he'd just met them, he got the sense that these kids would be pressing it... possibly often. He'd never seen more immediately obviously irresponsible people in his life.

"I hope this isn't all we get for Christmas this year," Fina remarked, arms crossed again.

"Yeah, 'cause it's actually pretty lame," Rick added, "We already each have our own car. Why would we ever want to share one? Especially a yellow one?"

"Oh, like silver's better," Fina challenged.

"Silver is flashy without being eye searing," Rick told her.

"Silver is boring," Fina retorted.

"And neon pink with green trim is ostentatious."

"It says I'm unique," Fina said.

"And mine says I have taste," before Fina could argue, Rick gestured to Bumblebee, "What does this one say?"

Fina became thoughtful and slowly walked around Bumblebee, evidently looking for just the right insult. Frankly, Bumblebee could understand and agree with both of them, if it wasn't for the fact they were so set on arguing with each other about it. Bee liked to think his model and color combination was the right mix of things to make him dramatic without necessarily being overly memorable. After all, to the people of Earth, he was supposed to be just another car, and he didn't want them looking too closely at him because otherwise they'd realize he had no driver. He liked the flash, but he also needed not to be noticed as anything more than a visually striking muscle car. Yellow and black did that. Then again, he was somewhat biased. Of course he liked his own appearance, he'd chosen it for himself.

"It says..." Fina answered after circling Bumblebee and then looking at him for a long time, "that the owner of this car wishes they were a race car driver, but either doesn't have the talent or lacks the nerve."

"Now that, I actually agree with," Rick said, nodding.

"You realize you can repaint it, don't you?" their father asked, then added before either of them could answer him, "You'll thank me someday when being behind the wheel of this car saves your life."

"Oh I'm not getting behind the wheel of that thing," Rick told him.

"Fina?" their father questioned.

"Yeah, okay. I do have a party to go to tonight."

"Thank you," he turned to Rick, "Serafina is willing to at least try the car. What about you?"

"In what universe do you see me taking that-" Rick gestured contemptuously towards Bumblebee, "-over the Jag?" he waved at the sleek silver car behind him.

"Fine, I won't make you drive it," was the defeated reply, "But at least think about it."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Around the same time as Fina stops cheating on her boyfriend."

"Rick!" Fina smacked his shoulder angrily, "It was one time, and Mark and I were both drunk."

"I don't want to be hearing this," their father said, "So I'm going to leave. You two... try not to kill each other before your mom gets up."

So much for parental guidance, Bee thought.

"Ugh, that car is so going to clash with my dress," Fina said, and crossed her arms one more time.

"Maybe if you weren't dressed like a giant cupcake, it wouldn't," Rick told her.

"You're just mad because Tracy didn't invite you."

"Because I broke up with her, remember?"

"Over a text. Yeah, I remember perfectly well," Fina responded.

Are most humans like this and I just never noticed? Bumblebee wondered.

While it was true he hadn't spent a great deal of time around humans outside of the small circle that knew Autobots existed, he felt very nearly certain that he'd have noticed if people were as petty and spiteful and angry and selfish as these two seemed to be upon first inspection.

For the first time since encountering MECH, he felt shaken in his faith in humanity. Though really it was faith in Optimus, who believed in the good humanity had to offer. But if this was what the average human looked like, maybe... well... maybe Optimus was wrong. Bee wasn't ready to wonder if humanity was worth saving, but it clearly wasn't as grand a race as Optimus and the rest of them had always believed. He knew it wasn't the goodness of humanity that mattered, that their relative worth wasn't why the Autobots were standing in the way of the Decepticons. But it was difficult to see why he'd want to risk his life for either of these people... or their father for that matter.

But, if it came to it, he knew he would do exactly that. It was what Autobots did. Defending the helpless and the powerless was what they did, and that was especially true of humans who were innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of a cosmic battle between titans. If he started to pick and choose which of the defenseless he wanted to protect based on how much he liked them or what they could do for him, Bumblebee knew he wouldn't be any better than Megatron.

"I just wish it was a little less... overtly macho," Fina said, absently kicking Bee's front tire, "I mean, seriously, could this be any more of a douchy guy car?" she turned to her brother, a sarcastically sweet smile on her face, "Absolutely the perfect car for you."

"Now isn't that sexist?" Rick inquired, his sarcastic tone equal to hers.

I really don't like either of you. Please just go away, Bee thought.

As if they had read his mind, they finally turned to go and take their fight back to the house. When the door closed behind them, Bumblebee sighed with relief. He dreaded the coming evening, fearing it would bring more of the same... or perhaps something even worse. He could think of little more miserable in the world than basically being forced to eavesdrop on two strangers fighting. If he had known what was coming next, he might not have been so quick to make that judgment.

When it got late, Optimus had insisted that Raf be taken back home. Raf had protested, but he didn't really have a valid argument. He wasn't really helping to find Bumblebee, not when they'd already exhausted all the logical means of finding him. Optimus didn't seem to believe him when Raf told the Autobot leader that his family probably wouldn't miss him if he was gone all night; they were busy with holiday preparations that didn't include him.

He was right.

Raf came home to a darkened house. Everyone had gone to bed already. Because his light was out, they'd assumed Raf had gone to bed early and they simply hadn't noticed. He crept through the dark living room, not sparing the Christmas tree in the corner a glance and avoiding looking at the stockings hung on the mantel. Then into the pitch blackness of the hall, and into his bedroom. The neighbor's Christmas lights were on a timer and had been put out for the night.

Raf hadn't found sleep easily, and he was up early the next morning, using his laptop to look for anything that might potentially be an Autobot sighting.

"C'mon, Bee. The camera loves you. Someone must have seen you... somewhere."

But, for once, no phone camera, no security camera and no traffic camera had seen anything that bore even a passing resemblance to the yellow and black Autobot Scout.

Some Christmas this will be. The one person who'd never forget me is nowhere to be found.

It was selfish, and he felt instantly guilty, but Raf couldn't help but feel that way.

It seemed as if all traces of Bumblebee had been wiped from the face of the Earth.