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The weeks dragged by, eventually lengthening into a month. They went by so slowly for me, as the fever had left me unable to leave my berth. The only bots I saw during this time were Chardirakii and Ratchet. Neither would allow anyone else in to disturb me. Not that I minded. I liked the peace and quiet, but I also felt guilty for not greeting the new femme. No matter how annoying Chardirakii and Ratchet made her seem. Gradually I got better, until I could finally get back on my peds. My processor-aches had dulled and my glossa didn't feel quite so thick in my intake now. Finally, almost two months later, Ratchet helped me to my peds, declaring me almost back to full capacity. I would just have to take it easy for a few days. My first act was to greet the femme...Hexia. She and everyone else were in the main room, hanging up bright streamers and tinsel. "What is the occasion?" I asked, drawing everyone's attention. "Optimus!" ten voices chorused, including the humans. Bumblebee hugged me at once, beeping happily. Chardirakii smiled, along with Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Arcee. Ultra Magnus congratulated me on my recovery and Smokescreen looked just about ready to give me the hug of my life, only he held back. Suddenly a smaller frame whacked into my back-plates and two arms wrapped around my mid-section. "You're aliiiive!!" a femme voice squealed. "Hexia!" Ratchet scolded, pulling the femme away,"He is not yet at full capacity, you can't just go around hugging him so tightly." "Sorry," the femme replied, in a tone that was very much not-sorry. "My apologies for not properly welcoming you to the base when you arrived," I said, turning. The rest of my sentence died on my glossa. It was the femme from my fevered dream, I was certain. Same figure, same paint-job, same optics, same moveable audio fins. Hexia seemed to mistake my shock for admiration and twirled,"I'm striking. I know. No need to tell me." "ANYway," Chardirakii said, stepping up beside me and raising her voice slightly,"We were decorating for...Christy-mass?" "Christmas!" Miko exclaimed,"We were worried you were gonna miss it, Optimus." Christmas? Oh yes, the human tradition where humans received numerous gifts from family and ate a huge meal. We'd celebrated it last year, and the year before as well. My spark did a little leap of excitement as I realized this would be Ultra Magnus and Chardirakii's first one. 'Scrap! I haven't gotten any gifts for my team-mates yet!' my processors suddenly shouted. "How far away is the event?" I asked. "A couple weeks," was Arcee's reply. A couple weeks. A couple weeks to get them all gifts. Oh slaggit, I was so behind already! Why of all the times to get sick did it have to be before Christmas? "Sooo..." Hexia said, stepping in front of me and fluttering her optic-lashes,"Have you decided on a gift for me yet?" From the corner of my vision I clearly saw Chardirakii roll her optics. "Come along, Hexia. The tinsel won't hang itself," my Sparkmate said, a little too forcefully I thought. "D-did you like the cards?" Raf stammered from beside my shoulder-plate, twiddling his thumbs nervously. I smiled kindly at the sweet boy,"Very much so. Thank you again for your thoughtfulness. All of you." Raf blushed happily and Miko gave me a huge, beaming grin. Jack smiled and rubbed the back of his head, then went back to setting out the pine-scented candles. "Ratchet, would you accompany me on a quick mission?" I asked. Ratchet gave me a suspicious look. "Nothing strenuous," I assured him. "Sure. It's better than here I suppose," he grumbled. I walked over to the ground-bridge console and typed in a few coordinates before pulling the lever to activate the bridge. "Where are you going?" Hexia asked,"Can I come too?" I shook my helm,"Ratchet and I are going alone." "But where's the fun if there isn't a femme involved?" Hexia asked, batting her optic-lashes again. "Hexia, stop flirting and help me with the tinsel," Chardirakii scolded. Ratchet and I transformed and activated our holoforms before driving through the ground-bridge. We appeared on the outskirts of Jasper and drove the rest of the way. "So, why are we coming here exactly?" Ratchet asked. "Gifts," I replied simply as we parked by the small, but well-stocked shopping mall. "Ah, right," Ratchet muttered. Our holoforms got out and we walked inside. I immediately went to look for gifts, while Ratchet took one sniff, and caught the scent of hot chocolate. He may be a medic, but Ratchet loved his sweets. I went into the closest shop and began looking around, with Bulkhead in mind. Anything human-sized thing I purchased could be altered into a Cybertronian-sized item. My eyes fell on a large weight, one humans would use to strengthen their arm muscles and smiled. Perfect. So it began. This was my favorite time of year on Earth. Everyone seemed so joyful, and the atmosphere of the mall was buzzing with activity. Cries of,"Merry Christmas!" and "Happy Holidays!" and "Have a good year!" rang like bells in my ears. My spark felt at peace and an absent-minded smile flickered over my holoform's lips. As I was walking past a jewelry store on my way to find Ratchet, a specific item caught my eye. My arms were already loaded with gifts, and I had finished my shopping for everyone. Everyone except...her.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A week passed and the humans brought in a small coniferous tree and hung some brightly-colored decorations on it. We had gotten a much much bigger tree and hung those huge decorative Christmas balls on it, and a lot of lights and tinsel. It had all been finished off with a lovely silver star on top. Gifts were placed under the tree, and as the second week drew to a close, as Christmas came ever nearer, I became more and more excited to see what my team-mates' reactions would be to their gifts.
