Alexis straightened up the table, singing to herself as she did so. It wasn't that she was trying to be domestic; rather, she
was trying to keep herself from getting too agitated. Rad would be home soon, and it wouldn't do for her to be in a panic.
She looked at the calendar on the wall, and then looked at the sparse Christmas tree in the living room. Today was the
twenty-first, the winter solstice. That the sky was rapidly growing dark seemed fitting in regards to her mood. There was
something serious that she needed to talk with Rad about when he got back, something that she didn't quite know how to raise.
The truth of the matter was, they were broke. She had just paid the last of the month's bills, and so knew full well how
little liquid money they had left. For the short term, they would be fine. Tomorrow night was a social at the base. They'd
spend the twenty-third with her cousin. Christmas Eve would be spent with Rad's family, while Christmas Day would be spent with family. This would save quite significantly on the food and entertainment expenses for the next few days. But even for the intermediate term, their budget was shot. And if she was right, things would be getting a lot more expensive.
According to the last accounting statements, she still had the bulk of what her parents left her when they passed away. In that sense, she was rather well-off. That they had also left her the house and the furnishings gave them a little more slack, as they didn't have to worry about a mortgage payment or anything else. If she could just tap at least a little of that money, then all would be well in the world. Rad, however, was insistent that they leave it alone. As much as she hated that
notion, he was right; a soldier's life isn't an easy one, and so Alexis would need that money in case something happened to
him.
At the moment, Rad was still relatively low on the totem pole. As a corporal, he was just barely making enough for them to
get by on. Fortunately, he was able to draw just enough in the way of benefits and allowances for them to both finish
college. On top of that, he had told her that he'd officially be starting into ROTC in the spring; this way, he could honestly say he received his commission on his own merit instead of through the intervention of her step-father. He'd get a little extra money from it, enough to hopefully keep them until he could finish his degree and thus get his commission. She had once upon a time contemplated leaving school after getting her associate's so that she could work full-time at the boutique instead of just part-time, but Rad wouldn't hear of it; she was going to get a degree as well, end of discussion.
She walked over to the Christmas tree and looked it over. It was the same old artificial tree that her parents had gotten for
her when she was a girl, complete with the same cheap plastic ball ornaments and cheap plastic star; she and Rad had to replace the lights owing to a close call she'd rather forget about, but otherwise it was all the same. He did, however, insist on each of them - her, him, Theline, and Wierdwolf - getting an ornament apiece to help shape things up. They really didn't have the money for it, but they did it anyway.
In a way, she found herself wondering what her life would be like had she never encountered the Autobots or the Decepticons. On one hand, perhaps she'd have lived a far more peaceful life. No "getting caught in the middle of a battlefield." No "giant robots traipsing around." No "living in a perpetual war zone." She'd have been able to lead a normal life, and in that sense might have known a degree of happiness.
But on the other hand, how truly happy would she have been? She never really did have all that many friends until she met the Autobots, and neither she nor Rad would have ever confessed to one another either. She wouldn't have ended up in space. And she wouldn't have ended up with her stepsister. In short, while she may have been alive, she wouldn't have really lived.
She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of her cell phone going off. She checked the display, and noted that it was Rad calling her. "Hello?" she asked as she answered it.
"No need to worry about dinner tonight," he replied. "I picked something up. I'll be home shortly."
"You picked something up?" Alexis asked, surprised. While she enjoyed not having to make something with such little time, she also found herself wondering just what he got and how they could afford it. "What?"
"Beef, potatoes, and pie."
She paused, trying to process it. "You hit McDonald's again, didn't you?" she asked.
"Yeah."
She found herself trying not to laugh. "All right, then. See you soon." She hung up the phone right after he did, then set it
down. If Hilde knew just how much fast-food they were eating versus regular cooking, she'd have a royal fit; even then, a
normal dinner tended to consist of things like spaghetti or fried rice. But, it was what they could afford to do.
She walked over to the hall closet and opened the door. She reached in and grabbed her basket and her needlepoint. She'd become somewhat interested in it after seeing Hilde work some, and so briefly toyed with it a little; she quickly decided that it was more for Sara than her, and so lost interest. Despite this, however, someone got her a kit as a wedding gift anyway. She'd been poking and prodding at it for a week or so now, but her progress was painfully slow to say the least. But if nothing else, she was proud of what she had thus far accomplished, and fully intended to frame it once she was done.
She sat down in the living room, turned on an all-music channel, and went to work. Once upon a time she enjoyed watching the afternoon news. However, she found in short order that Rad didn't; he'd watch the local report, but wouldn't stay around for the national report. It didn't take her long to figure out why: he dealt with politics and other problems all day long as a soldier,and simply didn't want to deal with it first-thing after getting home. And so as a compromise, she kept her laptop on a news website; all she had to do was hit the "refresh" button every few minutes and the page would give her the latest.
She soon became so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't even realize Rad had come home until he walked through the front door. Sure enough, he had some bags in his hands. She set aside the needlepoint and took the bags from his hands. He kissed her briefly, and then they both turned away. While she set the bags on the table and extracted the food, he went back to his jeep in order to get his gear. As he'd said, he did indeed pick up some burgers, fries, and pie bits. It was a modest meal, but modest was what they had gotten used to.
"Cross your fingers," Rad said as he came back in.
"For what?"
"The weather guy on the radio said that we've got a slim chance of snow for Christmas."
"So do you want it or do you not?" Alexis needled.
"Your van isn't set up to actually handle ice or snow on the road; if something happens, we'll need my jeep."
"Do you have to report for duty on Christmas?"
The question momentarily hung in the air. As a soldier, it was always a real possibility that he'd have to pull duty on one
holiday or another. "Not this year; we got enough volunteers to cover the vital functions. I am on call, though, in case
anything happens. However, Derek is going to have to put in at least some sort of showing; he's the commander and so he's pretty well obligated to do so. You should know that already."
Alexis paused, weighing her emotions. On one hand, that meant she could indeed spend Christmas with Rad. But on the other
hand, it meant that her step-father might be gone most of the day, if not all of it. It made the mood bittersweet to say the
least.
Rad, sensing her mood, went into the back in order to give her time. He set his gear down, cleaned himself up a little, and
then made it back into the kitchen. After a short prayer, he passed around the food while Alexis got some water. Milk and
juice were for breakfast and cooking only; it was too expensive for any other meal or use. "Has Optimus said what will be
happening at the ship?" she asked. "I know that he was hoping to do some sort of get-together."
"Not a clue. If anything, I figured that you'd be first to know." Rad slumped down in his seat, tired from yet another long
day. "You're usually more up on these things than I am. If he's not doing anything for Christmas, then New Year's perhaps?"
"Maybe." Alexis sat down and poured some glasses. "How was work?"
"Brutal. That Guard unit who's been training at the base the past two weeks? Remember them?"
"Yeah; aren't they slated to go home tomorrow?"
"That, for us, will be a base-wide Christmas gift. At least a good half the unit is so green that it doesn't actually know
what it's doing, and to make matters worse their officer team includes the reincarnations of George Custer, Bernard
Montgomery, and Kara Hultgreen." Alexis winced when she heard the names; being the stepdaughter of a career Army man, she
knew all too well who they were. "We were supposed to have one last live-fire exercise to finish their training off, except
they somehow managed to fry the fire control computers in two of their tanks; I had to spend all day helping the maintenance
people try to figure out what the heck they did and how. M1s are totally wasted on a unit like that."
"So what - they need to have the old M60s back?"
"At this point, I don't think they'd know what to do with a horse-drawn cannon, let alone a main battle tank of any sort."
Alexis laughed. Rad tried to, but was visibly exhausted. Regardless of how tired they each were, they both made it a point to
go to bed at the same time - usually after the evening news - unless something urgent required one of them to remain awake.
Once in bed, they'd have a few precious moments of total candor with each other before they both fell asleep.
Some nights, however, one of them would be tired to the point of wanting to call it earlier than normal. This would result in
the other lying in bed awake for the sake of keeping the other company. Other nights, they'd both end up lying awake, either
because they were simply too tired to actually fall asleep or they both had something on their mind. Not a lot of talking
took place then. Fearing that it was going to be one of those nights, she mustered up as much courage as she could get
together; if she was going to tell him, it would have to be now.
"Rad?"
"Yes?"
"There's a kinda-sorta, slim chance that I'm...."
"Yes?"
"Pregnant."
"Hence why I got you some extra pies."
Alexis looked down and, sure enough, Rad had given her two extra fried pies. "You already guessed?"
"We've known each other how long? Since we were kids? Remember; we can pretty well read each other."
"True." She paused, taking a deep breath. "So what are we going to do?"
"Short term? Saturday I'm going to the bank if it's open and let them know I'm looking to cash in some savings bonds I have; I've got about a thousand dollars' worth. Do you have to work next Friday?"
"No; I'm scheduled to do a full shift for the day after Christmas, and so I got that day off in exchange."
"Good. You're going to the doctor to make sure one way or another."
"And what about the long term? We can barely afford to keep ourselves alive."
"If you are, I can see about getting my benefits adjusted accordingly. Beyond that? I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"I guess."
Warmth In The Cold by Firestorm
Story Notes:
Although the story itself is canon to Man and Machine, it happens several months in advance of where the plot is now.
You see, around Christmas time I try to do at least one winter- or Christmas-themed fic. Problem is, neither RiD or Armada are anywheres near Christmas right now (in fact, time-line wise both are still in the summer). Hence, my having to skip ahead a little.
But again - it's all official.