Author's Notes: The last part of this chapter will most likely slag a LOT of readers off, but the end of this chapter? THAT will most like blow a few processors! Leave a review, and tell me what you think. Go ahead and say what's on your mind…

I TRIPLE DOG DARE YA!

Elita POV

I left the hangar and strode to the quarters where Arcee and Chromia were getting to know Autumn. My spark was heavy as I processed the data I'd received. I entered the quarters which were to be assigned to Arcee, since Chromia and I both had spark mates that we would share with.

Autumn didn't appear to have calmed down much from when I'd first seen her. At least now I understood why she was so… so… skittish! Hopefully, that could be changed.

"Go ahead and take a treat Autumn. Jazz supplied those strictly for you, so they're all yours." I instructed gently.

"She doesn't seem to like the treats." Arcee began.

"What? Why ever not?" I demanded while looking at Autumn in disbelief.

"They… they taste like… like white chocolate… and I never liked that stuff." Autumn answered hesitantly.

"You do like the mineral wafers though… don't you?" I asked.

Autumn simply nodded her helm.

"Then I want you to eat as many of them as you can." I replied with a smile.

"What… what if I eat the whole pile?" Autumn asked nervously.

"You'd probably make Jazz laugh about it." Arcee said quickly.

"He might try to tease her a bit for it though, so if that happens Autumn, I want you to tell one of us so we can put a stop to it." Chromia added seriously.

Autumn looked shocked at that. It was as if she didn't expect anyone to help her in any way. There was so much to be fragged off about when it came to Autumn, but there was no use in it. The cause of her problems had offlined himself. It left us to clean up the total mess he'd made by somehow building a sense of self worth in Autumn. Such a thing would not be easily accomplished, but I knew that it was possible.

"Autumn, these are for you. Jazz made sure that you received them. Now if you don't like the treats, that is perfectly acceptable. However… since you like the wafers, I want you to eat as many of those as you comfortably can. If you don't eat them all, or if you do, it's fine either way. Understand?" I instructed her in a gentle but firm tone.

Autumn nodded her helm and took another wafer almost guiltily, before she looked at each of us. "Aren't you going to eat some?"

"If you would like us to, then yes, we will. However, these are for you Autumn, not us. Since you don't like the treats and we do, then we'll eat those, while you enjoy the wafers." I answered with a light smile.

I sat down next to her on the couch, and began to softly stroke her back and doorwings. As I understood the situation, Autumn was a mere sparkling, but in an adult frame. It would easily cause others mistake her for an adult, as well as expect adult actions and responses from her. That was going to be corrected. I knew without a doubt that Chromia would be the first to defend and help Autumn in any circumstances. The sparkling chatter that Autumn had used earlier guaranteed that. Chromia was one of the few bots who was still able to communicate with sparklings after gaining her adult frame, and she was good with them as well. Her knowledge and skills were going to be invaluable with Autumn.

I quickly sent them everything I had learned about Autumn, and it was a good thing that the young femme was looking down at that moment, because both Arcee and Chromia went stiff in anger as they processed the information.

Jazz POV

I walked in the quarters that Arcee had been assigned with five cubes of energon. None of them had any additives in them because Autumn had already gotten plenty, so these were just regular mid-grade. I knew that Autumn had already had four cubes, but given the way she wasn't refueling or recharging properly, she needed it. She'd probably be active for a good long while after this one, but her developing systems needed the fuel.

"Hey dere Lil Lady! How ya doin?" I asked her grinning.

:Hang tight and let me talk ta her for a minute or two. Ah'll see if Ah can get her ta loosen up some.: I sent to the three femmes.

They didn't say anything in response but I did get back three silent acknowledgments.

"Okay so far. They want me to eat all these cracker looking things that Optimus brought in. He said that you sent them, and… and now they want me to eat all of it." Autumn said nervously with a couple of gestures at the three femmes.

"Well Ah did send em in for ya. Ya like em don't ya?" I asked her nicely.

"These are great…" She said holding up one of the wafers. "but those other ones taste like white chocolate… and… and I don't… don't like white chocolate." She finished almost in a whisper.

"Well, now Ah know how 'white chocolate' tastes. Ya like tha wafers though, right? What do they taste like?"

"Sort of like banana pudding with coconut in it. Those are good." Autumn answered with a shrug.

"Well if they're so good then why do ya gotta problem eatin all of em like these ladies want ya to?"

"Because they're yours. I'd get in trouble for being greedy." Autumn answered plaintively.

"Nah! Dey ain't mine no more. I gave those to ya, so ya'd be able ta enjoy em." I said smiling.

"This is… this is Arcee, Chromia, and Elita… can… can I share these with them?" Autumn asked hesitantly.

I just had to laugh. "Lil Lady… Ah've known these three longer than ya can imagine. They been friends o mine for thousands o years… hundreds o vorn as a matter o fact. So Ah got no problem with ya sharing with em." I told her easily.

I watched as Autumn divided the treats into four piles and then added some wafers to those piles. She kept some of the wafers for herself, but none of the treats.

"Autumn… that is not how you share!" Elita said sternly as she reached out and moved some of the wafers back to Autumn's pile. She took some from each of the piles until they all had the same number of goodies in them. Except the ones in front of Autumn were all wafers. "You may not like the treats, but we do, so don't think that you are giving us something that isn't as good as what you are keeping for yourself, because the opposite is actually true. Anyone else would try to keep all the treats for themselves."

"But… but… I don't like those." Autumn tried to protest.

"Autumn, mineral wafers are very common to us, because they are easy to make. Energon treats are not so easy to manufacture, so they are much more valuable and expensive. You have given us something better than what you are keeping for yourself." Arcee told her gently.

"Are… are you sure?" Autumn still tried to protest.

"Look Lil Lady… ya might think ya got tha better end o tha deal, but ain't no other bot gonna think that. Ya just gave us tha good stuff while ya kept the dregs for yaself. At least, thas how any other bot is gonna see it." I told her seriously.

"You need to relax Autumn, and stop being so nervous around us." Arcee said lightly.

"I brought ya some more energon ta wash them things down with. Even brung some for tha rest of us too." I said in my typical easy going tone.

It was almost uncanny to see her brighten up the way she did. I guess seeing someone she knew and liked helped her a bit. That was something I'd be sure to remember, because it'd be a good way to get Autumn to spend time with other bots.

"Thank you." Autumn answered with a nervous glance at the femmes.

I passed out the cubes with a grin, before taking one myself. I grabbed a chair from the table and sat down in it with the back facing the small group. I leaned forward, put my arms on the back of it, and smiled over at Autumn.

"So Lil Lady… what do ya think o mah friends?" I asked her.

"They seem like nice bots." She said quietly.

"Give em a bit o time. They just got here, so they ain't had a chance ta get settled in yet." I told her.

"I certainly wasn't expecting to meet someone so young when we arrived, so that's a surprise, but it's a very good surprise if you ask me." Arcee with a smile at Autumn.

Autumn POV

These three femmes were a lot different from the others I had met. They seemed nice and friendly like Jazz. I'm not sure why, but I think I'm going to like them. Jazz liked them, and he even said that they were good friends of his.

I felt my wings telling me that the door moved, and I looked over to see Ironhide walk in with a big grin on his faceplates. I couldn't help but remember the last time I'd had to deal with him. I wound up in surgery, and Blue got thrown in the brig. I shrank back in fear because I knew that there was no way I could fight him.

That's when the one called Chromia got up. Her optics were almost white, and she looked so fragged off that it scared the slag out of me. She stepped over to the big black mech and slugged him… hard! He hit the ground with a huge crash, and then she pulled him to his pedes before she hit him again. He flew back and hit the floor so hard I felt the couch shake!

Then Chromia pulled Ironhide to his pedes again and growled at him. If they hadn't been between me and the door I would have run, but I couldn't. I was trapped!

"Autumn… I'm sorry. I didn't know that you are as young as you are, but that isn't an excuse for what I did. I shouldn't have put you in an ambush situation without finding out what you know about fighting first. I was wrong, and I'm sorry." Ironhide said to me before he turned and left the room.

All I could do was gape at the closing door where he had been. I guess I looked like a gold fish with my optics as wide as they'd go, and my mouth opening and closing because I couldn't figure out what to say as I looked over at Chromia.

"Whether you accept his apology or not, doesn't matter, because I will make sure that he never does anything like that to you or anyone else again!" Chromia said angrily before she sat back down in her chair.

I pulled my legs back up on the couch and put my helm on my knees. "I'm sorry."

I looked up as my doorwings pinged, just in time to see Chromia lunge up out of her chair to grab my helm and hold it so that I was looking in her optics.

"Understand one thing here Autumn… you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for! You did as you were told, and you did your best. You are not to blame for his actions… he is! I know that Hide loves sparklings and younglings. He loves interacting with them and even playing with them. If he had stopped for one instant and thought about things, then he would have realized how young you are, and he wouldn't even have thought of doing what he did! He had his chance, and he blew it. That's why Jazz is teaching you now… and if you like we can show you a few things too." Chromia said sternly but she finished in a nice voice.

That's when I felt my wings getting rubbed, and it felt wonderful! I looked over to see that Elita was doing it.

"We may not have known that you would be here Autumn, but that doesn't mean that we aren't going to watch over you. You deserve a chance to be happy… all bots your age do! We aren't your carrier, and we will not try to take her place in your spark, but we will try to take care of you just as she would do if she were here." Elita told me softly.

I couldn't help it; I started crying. Elita pulled me closer and let me cry on her frame. Arcee and Chromia started rubbing my back and wings while I cried. I don't know how long they held me while I was having a sob fest, but I was pretty sure that it was more than a couple of bream before I stopped.

"Come on. Let's go back to the main hangar and see if the tarmac is free. If it is, you can show us what the twins taught you this morning." Elita told me.

I nodded my helm and got up and left with them.

Galloway POV

I'd been informed that afternoon that three more of those damned robots had arrived on Earth. That meant that almost two dozen of those things were now here on Earth. Oh, I knew very well where this was going. They were planning to take control of this planet with a slow and subtle invasion. That isn't going to fly… not on my watch, and not while I have anything to say about it! This is exactly the reason that I pushed to get assigned to this position. These alien robots think they can do whatever they want just because some of them have been around longer than our civilization. They come to our planet, bringing their war which has already destroyed their world, and now they come here to threaten our lives while planning to do the same to our world! Well that's not going to happen!

They are robots; machines, and if they think they are getting away with this, they're dead wrong. I know what they're up to, and I will put a stop to it. They want to come to this planet, fine; but if they think for one split second that any of them are getting a free ride, they have another thing coming! Just like every other stupid machine on this planet, they will do as they are told, or they can be broken up and melted down for scrap!

I requisitioned a chopper to take me to Diego Garcia where their so called 'base' was located. That was my doing actually. It's not a base, it's really just a big prison to keep those damned robots in one place where they can be wiped out at a moment's notice. An isolated island out in the middle of nowhere, and all it would take is one nuke. There won't be enough left of those stupid things to fill a coffee mug.

These things may have managed to ingratiate themselves into being granted asylum, but I'm not fooled one bit! Inhabitable planets are few and far between, which means that these things are here for one reason… Earth! Not if I can help it. I will treat these stupid things exactly like what they are… simple minded machines that can't really think for themselves. All they have is some very sophisticated operating systems and advanced technology, but that won't do them one bit of good because I can and will stop them in their tracks!

As soon as the chopper touched down on the tarmac, I was out of it, and heading for the hangar that was so graciously donated for them to live in. That wasn't good enough for them. Oh no… they have to have special quarters and furniture along with a lot of other specially built items. It's ridiculous! They are machines! Give them a damned tune up and be done with it!

I walked in to the hangar to see some of those idiotic robots standing around talking. Like they have anything to say that's worth listening to. I climbed the stairs that have to be used in order to speak to these stupid things face to face, and turned to face their so called 'leader'.

"It seems that you have more of your robots coming to Earth. Well where are they? They need to be catalogued and documented for the records. I don't know how you ran things on your planet, but it obviously failed because you are now on ours!" I told it flatly.

That thing had the gall to put its hands on its hips like it was actually running things!

"The three femmes who arrived today are currently spending time with Autumn." It told me. "I believe that they will be here soon."

"What's a 'femme'?" I demanded.

"A femme is the equivalent of one of your females." It said.

"Look… let's get one thing straight. You are allowed to stay on this planet to kill the Decepticons, not to raise a family! Do I make myself clear?" I said as I started getting angry.

"Your position on matters is perfectly clear Director." It replied.

Just then, four of the robots walked in. All I had to do was look at them and I could tell that these were the so called 'femmes' who would probably start spitting out little machines any minute now. Then I recognized one of them.

"What the hell is that still doing here?" I bellowed pointing at the green robot. "That thing was supposed to be disposed of!" I yelled before turning to face that robot.

"You can forget any plans you might have because as of right now, your free ride is over! You are going to start pulling your weight around here or you can be broken down into spare parts… is that clear?"

I had a lot more to say to that bastardized offspring of a moronic toaster oven, but I didn't get the chance. It burst out crying like it actually had emotions and feelings, which everyone knows is a huge load of bull! Then that thing ran out of the hangar, transformed into some kind of sports car and took off.

I bolted down the catwalk and jumped in a car that these robots were using for their scans. This one was just like the one that the robot was using so I knew I could keep up with it. I wasn't finished with what I had to say, and that damned thing was going to listen to me or it could be melted down.

I chased that thing out past the edge of the tarmac, and up to the bluffs where it finally transformed and stood staring at me with an expression of fear on its metal face. Like that was going to stop me. I got out of the car, ignoring the sounds of various Hummers and other vehicles sliding to a stop nearby, and began storming up to this idiotic waste of metal.

Before I could say anything, a large dark purple colored robot with a strange purple insignia emblazoned on its chest stood in front of me with some kind of glowing cannons on its arms pointing at me. There were two robotic birds of some kind glaring at me from its shoulders, and a huge robotic panther in between it and the one I intended to berate.

"I don't know who you are, and I don't care! Get out of my way now! That thing is going to do as it is told or get melted down…" I began before I was yanked backwards by the collar of my suit jacket.

"Director, I strongly suggest that you shut up before you get a funeral; which will have to be a closed casket because there won't be anything left of you to put in it!" Captain Lennox whispered urgently. "That is a Decepticon!"

"Designation; Soundwave. Protection of Autobot Autumn; paramount!"