In the Baines' clan, birthdays were a handful of presents, your choice of entree for dinner, and cake from a box mix with some ice cream for dessert. Pretty standard, straight-forward stuff.

The Witwickys – or Judy, at least – treated birthdays as an Event, and you never knew exactly how she'd handle it. In high school, she had me come over to start the day right with strawberry crepes. (By sophomore year in college, Sam and I were both getting IHOP gift cards for our birthday breakfasts.) Usually there were movie tickets on my birthday, because there was always some summer blockbuster Sam and I wanted to see. Sam got tickets, too, if there was something good in the theaters, but both his Junior and Senior year of college, she got him a light-hearted audio book for day-of entertainment, since February wasn't as awesome for movies and he had to squeeze anything like that in around studying.

Like the Baines, the Witwicky's also let the birthday girl (or boy) choose dinner, but Judy usually invested in a cake from one of the better grocery bakeries in town while we were in high school. During college, she left Sam's cake for Optimus to manage, and she made sure I had a gift card for cupcakes on my birthday no matter if I was in California or back East.

So I kind of expected Friday morning to be a bit out of the ordinary. Like usual, I was the first one awake, so I went for a jog. As I returned to the R.V., I noticed Sam lounging against RaFly's altform.

"Just let me take a quick rinse-off shower, and we can head out for breakfast," I said as I approached for a fly-by kiss.

"No rush," Sam's voice said from inside the R.V.

I stumbled slightly, and the outside-Sam caught my arm to steady me. I didn't kiss him.

Thankfully.

Because that Sam said in RaFly's voice, "While Prowl's regulations forbid the use of holoforms for impersonating specific humans, Optimus suggested that an exception was appropriate for today. He also says, 'Happy birthday!'"

"And I owe him," the inside-Sam said, coming down the steps of the R.V.

"You're the real Sam?" I ventured.

"In the flesh," he answered with a wink. "For your birthday, I get to play hooky from the Salvation Army. RaFly is my stand-in. She's been watching and learning for the last week."

This time I did follow through with a quick kiss. "All the more reason to get this show on the road." Turning to RaFly, and I said, "Better get your voice figured out before Sam's supposed to show up to work. And thank you!"

Since all four of us couldn't fit on my motorcycle and our usual sedan was currently performing community service, we took the R.V. into town and Wheelie tagged along as our security detail. Before we disembarked in Mission City, though, Sam bowed and handed me a wrapped package, saying, "My lady."

"Okay?"

"Just open it."

Inside was a freaking tiara and scepter. "Really?"

"You're the queen of my heart," he sappily declared.

I started sniggering, thinking, Or some part of you, anyway. "You're as bad as your mom when it comes to bling," I said, but I looked in the mirror as I put on the tiara. It was silly and chintzy with a pink heart-shaped "gem" in the middle and it made me feel completely self-conscious, but it was also probably my ticket to as many free desserts as I wanted today. Resting the scepter (which also had a glittery pink heart) in the crook of my arm, I turned to Ron, Judy, and Sam. Faking my best British accent, I said, "Very well, peasants, let us sup."

"Really no," Judy giggled, while Ron said, "If I get punched by some British tourist over that accent…"

"Not to worry," I regally said (but dropping the fake accent), "Sir Sam has all the bad luck when it comes to random acts of violence."

He winced slightly, muttering, "True that." Catching himself, he bowed again and more-loudly said, "Anything for you, my lady. Shall we?" And he offered me his arm. I took it and nodded, consenting to the silliness of the whole thing.

With a satisfied grin, Judy locked arms with Ron and led the way out.

Breakfast was at this little place in a strip mall called "Bread and Jamming" that was surprisingly good. The strawberry crepes had actual, fresh strawberries in them, and the bacon slices were thick enough to make Ron swoon. And the tiara earned me a free mochachino and a "Happy Birthday" serenade.

After we'd eaten our fill and Ron had asked for the check, Judy handed me a silvery envelope. "Go ahead, open it."

Inside was a card that talked about how grateful she was for me as a daughter-in-law and while it was jumping the gun a little, it did make me get all teared up. As I expected, there were also a couple of movie tickets inside. They were for the 3 pm showing of the latest The Fast and the Furious film. (Sam knew I loved to tear those films to bits over what could and could not actually be done with cars that weren't aliens.)

"Between now and then," Judy said, "I'd like to take your highness on a quest. There are some amazing little boutiques downtown and together I bet we can both find the perfect blouse."

I knew those kinds of boutiques because my friends in high school would invite me to them. I went just often enough to be clearly with the 'in' crowd, but I never bought more than a hair bow or lotion or something. I couldn't afford a whole lot more.

"My treat," Judy clarified. "It's your birthday present from me and Ron."

I managed a smile. "Sounds great."

"If you don't mind," Ron said, accepting the little black folder and signing the slip inside, "Sam and I will leave you two to your quest and then join you for lunch."

"That works," I readily agreed, mildly horrified at the thought of Ron in one of those shops.

"And we should figure out a time to go dress shopping," Judy added to me.

"Yes," I agreed.

We rode together in the R.V. even deeper into the downtown (with only a couple nail-biter left turns) until Ron found a place to pull out of traffic for a minute. Sam unbuckled himself and bowed again, kissing my hand. "Until we meet again, fair maiden."

"Get a room," Ron hollered from the driver's seat.

"Working on it," Sam grumbled back (totally breaking character).

"Have fun, boys," Judy said as she breezed past them both and out onto the sidewalk. "Come on, Princess Mikaela! Adventure awaits!"

Rolling with the Autobots was adventure. This was shopping, but it was still its own kind of fun. "Until we meet again, gallant knight," I promised Sam with a wink, and then I joined Judy in the sun.

We visited a few boutiques, mostly window shopping and chatting, until Judy stopped in at one of her favorite chain stores. It was full of the fun skirts and floral tops that were her personal uniform and I found myself slightly amazed that I spotted several things that I could see myself wearing. After trying on a few, I decided on a sleeveless eyelet lace top in purple that I could use for a girl's day out or a hot summer day's walk on the beach with my man. I'd wear it with comfortable jeans, but I felt like I could channel Judy easily in that top and that felt pretty great.

We nailed down a few more specifics of what I wanted my bouquet to include (since I didn't need Sam's input on that) while we walked from store to store.

The guys met back up with us for a light lunch at a soup and sandwich shop. Upon seeing my tiara the cashier had thrown in an extra chocolate covered strawberry. When Judy started talking about what to do for the afternoon until the two of us went off to the movie, I caught Sam's eye and gave him a nod.

He cleared his throat, "Actually, Mom, we had an idea." He reached into his wallet and pulled out a printed sheet and passed it over for both his parents to see.

Ron looked over and read aloud, "Awesome Driver Course, 1 Hour Driving Appointment...Hey," he broke off indignantly, "Is this a comment on my driving?"

Sam let out a laugh, "No! It's a place where you can drive a high-end car on a closed track. This one specifically is for 1:30 PM, 1 hour, two guests, with your choice of a Lamborghini, Aston Martin or Ferrari."

"Sam! It's Mikaela's birthday, what are you doing spending money like this on us?" Judy scolded.

It was my turn to laugh, "No, this was actually Bumblebee's gift to me but I would rather do something like that with 'Bee. I feel like we'd both just miss him instead of enjoying it." I smiled remembering the time a few years ago when Sam had given 'Bee a permit for a day at the Bonneville Salt Flats as a gift. 'Bee had taken Sam with him (of course) and they had both invited me – it had been memorable, and as much as I appreciated the thought 'Bee put into his gift to me, an hour on a closed course with a non-sentient car could not possibly compare to that day.

"Oh, so we're just getting second hand goods..." Ron started to tease good-naturedly but Judy elbowed him and he trailed off.

"Well what will you do then?" Judy asked concerned.

Sam smirked, "We'll drop you off and take the R.V. and have a little privacy."

Ron and Judy both let out a laugh and agreed.

...

RaFly's shift as Sam was over by the time we went to the movie, so she could drive us, leaving the R.V. with Ron and Judy. Because the Fast & Furious 6 had been out for a few months already, and it was the middle of the afternoon on a Friday, the theater was pretty empty. Which was a good thing because I went on a few different rants about "cars can't do that" which Sam thought was hilarious. The one other guy in the auditorium kept glancing at us and slightly glared when I burst out laughing at what was supposed to be a pretty dramatic moment. But, really, it was my birthday and I was going to enjoy this movie the way I wanted to. Besides, with my tiara still in place, he didn't dare piss off someone of my stature.

We then met back up with Judy and Ron for dinner, this time at an upscale bistro, where I did not don the tiara again but still scored a free chocolate lava cake for dessert.

"So speaking of dessert," Judy said, fork in hand, "have you made any decisions about the wedding cake?"

An idea occurred to me. "Sam, why don't you and your dad go on a bakery crawl while your mom and I go dress shopping? You can eliminate the first round of contenders for us."

"Except Dad's not allowed to help with the cake planning." Sam glared at Ron who snorted.

"Maybe Miles could go with you instead," I suggested. It would be good to really reconnect with our old friends.

"I think you'll probably take twice as long as we would, even if Miles can come along," Sam said.

"You might be surprised with all the interesting flavorings," Judy interjected. "They're a lot more creative with additives than they were in our day. 'Exciting' marzipan, my fanny."

"Marzipan isn't a flavoring, it's a…" Sam shook his head. "Never mind, I bet you have a part of the Binder about that."

"Only two pages," she said. "I was hoping for your input."

"And I don't know what 'additives' you're talking about, but if I can't find it in a grocery store, it's probably not my thing…" Sam froze like he suddenly remembered something. "You totally knew those were pot brownies when you and dad dropped me off at college, didn't you?!"

Judy swallowed her cake and smirked as she replied, "It was my cheat day. I could eat whatever I wanted."

Sam's eyes rolled back and he grumbled, "Okay, both of you are banned from any cake- or dessert-related wedding decisions."

Ron good-naturedly said, "But the BBQ Chicken Wings cake was awesome!"

Sam ignored him, instead talking to his mom. "I knew you grew up on a commune and I figured you'd experimented with at least a few questionable substances, but I had no idea Nana and Gramps had you cultivating while you were still in elementary school."

"I was homeschooled," she pointed out as she took another bite of cake. "It was my earth science course."

I hid my smile behind a napkin.

"But in my defense," Judy said, "my parents grew heirloom marijuana. The GMO-pot those young bucks were peddling must have had an artificially-high THC content, because I usually just get a little mellow on pot brownies."

"Okay, we are done with this conversation," Sam declared. Changing the subject, he turned to me. "Mikaela, what else would it take to make this your best birthday ever?"

I grinned. "A second helping of lava cake?"

"Done!"

It was a bit rich, so I only made it about halfway through before I had to give up and ask for a to-go box. While we were waiting for it, Sam pulled a gift-wrapped jewelry box from his pocket and offered it to me, saying, "Now that it won't clash with the tiara…"

I already had an engagement ring, so I rather curiously untied the ribbon. Inside was a beautiful set of earrings. They were silver studs with a subtle garnet inset and a natural-pearl dangle. "I guess we have at least one wedding color now. Autobot red?"

"For my favorite femme commander," he said with a wink.

"Primus, don't you start, too," I grumbled and he laughed. Taking off the diamond studs I'd worn today, I held the box out to him and said, "Here, help me put these on."

He did, his fingers lingering to caress my ear and make me grin at both the memories and the promise his touch implied.

Oblivious, Ron and Judy both gushed about the driving course and going so fast it would make 'Bee nervous, and I smiled as I relaxed back into the dining chair. It was beyond pleasant to just sit and enjoy the end of a really great day.

As long as it was with Sam (and the fam), I decided getting older wasn't half bad.

I hated Instagram. Everyone used it (including me), but it was more fake than Bumblebee's VIN. Still, it was cheaper and easier to announce our wedding there than to track down everyone's actual, physical mailing address and send them paper announcements via snail mail.

As luck would have it, Alison had taken a great picture of me and Sam at St. Ferdinand's back when we had our announcement party in Tranquility. I was even wearing red – one of our wedding colors – even though I didn't know at the time that it would be. She'd texted the photo to me, and it made a perfect image for our Insta announcement, but designing it raised another potentially-thorny question we hadn't talked about yet.

"So…" Sam asked, looking up from his laptop. "How do we want to word this?"

"How is it usually worded?" I wondered. He Googled it, and the pit of my stomach got cold.

In a mocking voice, I read, "Mr. and Mrs. Perfect are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Jane to…"

"Yeah, not doing that," Sam agreed. "Let's see if we can find a better template." We scrolled through dozens of them, but they all were in flowery script about parents giving away their daughters.

"None of these are going to work," I flat-out said. "My dad doesn't get a say in anything about us."

"Mom has to have thought of this," Sam said. Ron and Judy were on a walk, so, pulling out his phone, he texted her, asking where The Binder was. It was in their bedroom here in the RV, and so Sam retrieved it and brought it to the kitchen table. We flipped to the right section, and I sighed in relief. Yes, bless her heart, Judy had planned for this.

Sam read aloud, "[Bride] and [Groom] are pleased to announce that they will be married on [date] at [venue]. They and their families cordially invite you to the wedding and a reception in their honor."

"That works. Just no middle names or initials," I said. He glanced up at me, and I explained, "My middle name is Consuela."

"Ah," he said, nodding in understanding. "Well, in that case, we've got three out of four of these fill-in-the-blanks figured out. But we really need to work on the venue."

"Just leave it out for now. We'll post a follow-up one with the place when we get it figured out. That's one of the benefits of doing this digitally."

"No joke," he agreed. "It does make me wonder, though…"

He trailed off, so I asked, "Yes?"

Still intently studying the computer screen, he asked, "What do you plan to do about your name?"

I hadn't thought about that either. "I dunno. What do you think?"

He half-laughed. "Uh-uh, that's one of those questions that, no matter how I answer it, it's gonna come back to bite me. That one's entirely yours."

I smiled. "Huh. Nice, feminist answer. I'm impressed."

He grinned up at me and winked. "Yeah, I'm all kinds of impressive."

I snorted a laugh and he gestured at the announcement on the screen. "Good to post?"

"Good to post."

Before Ron and Judy got back from their walk, I knew the answer to Sam's question, but I decided all three of them deserved to hear it. While Ron pulled his shoes off and Judy got herself a drink of water, I said, "I think I want to take your last name, Sam. I'll drop my middle name and just go by 'Mikaela Baines Witwicky' when I'm feeling formal. Otherwise, my initials will be MW. I'll be able to have a lot of fun with those letters in a logo for a repair shop or whatever I end up doing."

Sam had this goofy grin like I just agreed a second time to marry him and Judy caught me in a huge hug. "Yay! My daughter Mikaela!"

Laughing, I hugged her back.

Before we went to bed for the night, our wedding announcement post had a half-dozen comments pointing out that we'd forgotten to announce the venue. I replied that it was going to be a destination wedding, but we were still narrowing down our options there. But I promised an updated announcement pic when we knew for sure.

As I climbed under the covers next to Sam, I said, "Prowl had better get the venue figured out soon!"