Annabelle

Secret Not So Secret

“Hey Bells,” Ironhide greeted me as I staggered into the hangar, half asleep and still in my marvel superhero pajama pants.

“Morning, I-hide,” I groaned, stretching my arms above my head and yawning.

“What are you doing up at this hour?” he asked, turning his attention back to the autobot-sized videogame that I had bought for these guys forever ago.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I replied, climbing into the chair beside him. “Jacob’s snoring again,”

He laughed, turning his attention back to his game. He was playing Mario Kart, and he was Yoshi. I laughed.

“What’s so funny, human?” Ironhide growled as he fell off of Rainbow Road. Again.

“Do you not remember the first time we played this game?”

“Oh, I remember.”

“I kicked your ass.”

The black warrior glared down at me. “No you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I’m, pretty sure I did.”

I smiled up at the bot who had reached over beside him. When he came back, he had a human sized control in his hand. “Here child,” he said, already restarting to the main menu. “Rematch. Now,”

“Oh, it’s on.”

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When Jacob woke up, he reached over searching for the girl he knew was there. He patted around, looking for her. When he didn’t feel her, he grumbled and opened his eyes, sitting up. He couldn’t see her in the bed, and he couldn’t see her anywhere else in the room.

“Bells?” he called out cautiously. No reply. “I’m not playing Bells, where are you?” Nothing.

Jacob was furious. He was worried, he was scared, but mainly furious. Maybe she just went out into the hangar. He thought. He hoped she was, for her sake.

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“And Annabelle Lynn wins again!”

Ironhide grumbled to himself, letting the bot sized remote clatter to the floor. He threw his head in his hands, watching as the human child jumped up and down, laughing and pointing at him.

“Rematch,” he ordered, grabbing the remote off the floor and already selecting Play Again.

“You old mech,” Bells teased “You really think that a seventh time is going to have a different outcome?”

Ironhide growled softly, leaning down to the human’s face, staring deeply into her eyes. “Re. Match.”

Bells shrugged. “All the more reason to kick your ass again.”

They started another round of Rainbow Road, and in short time had Bells in first and Ironhide following close behind. They were close to finishing their second lap, when -

“ANNABELLE!”

Bells froze where she were, causing Ironhide’s character to crash into hers, sending them both over the edge and plummeting into the earth below.

“Bells, what was that-”

“Annabelle Lynn!”

Bells immediately hopped to the ground, dropping the remote breaking it and sending the different batteries flying in all directions. Ironhide watched, completely forgetting about the game that had started up again, as she ran to the source of the noise. Jacob.

“Jacob please,” she whispered so softly that Ironhide almost blew a gasket trying to hear. “Jacob please, calm down,”

“CALM DOWN!?” the human yelled. “Are you seriously telling me to ‘calm down’ right now?”

“Please, Jacob,” the girl begged. “Not with Ironhide..”

“What? You don’t want him to listen to our conversation?” Bells slowly shook her head no. “Well I think I decide who listens to and who doesn’t listen to our conversations, Annabelle. Do you know how worried I have been? I had no idea where you were.”

“We’re on the autobot’s base..” Bells said softly. “Where’d you think I was?”

When the sound of skin on skin filtered through his audio receptors, Ironhide immediatly turned to the two humans. Bells was mid air, falling suddenly to the floor, clutching her face with tears forming in her eyes. Jacob stood above her, his face red as he slowly bent down to her level.

“Don’t you ever-”

“Hey!” Ironhide interrupted, causing Bells to flinch and Jacob to look up at him. “Did you just hit her?”

Jacob froze as the autobot weapons specialist rose to his full height, towering over the tiny human at his feet. Ironhide was furious. Sure, he didn’t see it, but he heard the slap and saw Bells fall to the floor. Bells, whom he had sworn to care for. Whom he had laid awake with many nights as she fought night terrors.

“Ironhide,” Bells struggled to get up, and looked at the bot. “He didn’t. It just was something we do. We act out like he did. Jacob would never hurt me,”

“Don’t bother lying to me, femme,” Ironhide said, trying to be as gentle as he could. “I see the red mark growing on your face,”

“Ironhide please,” the femme begged with such urgency causing the mech’s optics to trail back to her. “Please, please. He didn’t hit me,” Bells looked up at the mech, with tears in her eyes. As a protector, Ironhide could feel the fear, and the hurt that she was feeling. He could feel her wanting protection, but he could also feel her needing her to believe this lie.

Ironhide sighed as he turned around, leaving the femme and mech to do whatever it is they did after he left. He set out on one mission, his pistons raging as he fumed with such anger that he hadn’t felt in years. He needed to find Optimus.

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