Loyalty is but a flower (Bayverse Drift x OC love story)

What it means to be family

For the first time in what felt like forever Penelope's heart felt happier and lighter as she walked alongside her Uncle Optimus as they recounted the good old times as well as fond memories when all had been—or so it had seemed to have been— right with their world.

In fact throughout most of their uncle-niece bonding time Penelope actually laughed and smiled to the point where her cheeks began to ache as she struggled to breath properly without bursting into another fit of giggles.

Unfortunately the happy moment was only broken all too soon when the sound of angry beeping and shouts echoed through the air causing the humanized prime to pinch the bridge of his nose and groan in exasperation. "Please excuse me Penelope while I go and sort those two out before they wind up causing any damage."

"No worries Uncle Optimus and thanks for spending some with me I really enjoyed it."

The corners of his lips twitched upward into a sad smile. "As did I Penelope." As the loud beeping noises started escalating, Optimus shakes his head with a sigh before breaking away to stop whatever quarrel had started between her brother figure Bee and Crosshairs.

Despite the interruption, Penelope didn't let it bring her down as she was just happy to finally be back with what was left of her family again. Though a part of her will always miss her parents she felt determined to avenge them and protect the remaining autobots— even at the cost of her own life!

"You really care for them don't you?"

Glancing behind her Penelope looked to see Cade Yeager observing her curiously. "More than you'll ever know." She replied watching as he moved to stand beside her in the same spot where Uncle Optimus had previously stood.

"Just out of curiosity how exactly did you wind up being adopted by a cybertronian in the first place?" He asked crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his back against the wall.

"Well— it all happened a long time ago. I don't remember what had happened to my biological parents or what they even looked like, however from what I do know is that my adoptive father Preceptor and my adoptive mother had found me as a baby. Abandoned, cold and dirty. They took pity on me and took me under their wings and raised me as if I were their own."

Incredulous Cade's eyebrows flew up to his hairline. "Wow—! You know I'm still learning all about cybertronians, but honestly I didn't think cybertronians could— or would— actually adopt a human kid."

Seeing his disbelief Penelope had to bit down on her lip to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside her again. "Well for one thing he went through the adoption process in his holo-form and—" "I'm sorry his what?"

Blinking owlishly at him Penelope paused before realization dawned upon her. "Oh! That's right you probably haven't seen any of them do it before." Clearing her throat she went on to explain. "Mr. Yeager are you aware of how holograms work?"

"Of course I do; a hologram is just a flimsy projection of anyone or thing created from a three dimension image using a laser."

"Correct; holo-forms are essentially like that except they're more solid. Meaning instead of your hand going through it like you would with any ordinary hologram, your hand would actually touch solid matter—" as an example she lightly tapped her hand on Cade shoulder. "As if it were real. Not only do holo-forms project a solid matter based appearance of a human, but it also allows a cybertronian to blend in better amongst the humans as well as experience normal everyday stuff that we from: eating, drinking, going out to whichever place they fancy and—should they choose to— even date human women."