Alrighty, at long last: the side story I promised. The plan is a chapter in Martha's Vineyard, a chapter in Boston, a chapter or two in Salem, and I'm not sure how many in Griffin Rock. Hope ya'll like it (and I hope this chapter actually shows up; my doc manager was being a pain in the ass) .

I don't own Transformers

"Vacation, all I ever wanted

Vacation, had to get away

Vacation, meant to be spent alone."

I smiled down at Rhapsody, the little pixie-pod was twittering happily on top of Mom's beach bag. Today was the second day of our family vacation. We were currently staying in a little beachside motel on Martha's Vineyard. Yesterday was spent exploring the island; now we were just enjoying the sun, sand, and surf. And silence, I especially loved the silence. Sure there were the distant shouts and conversations of the other beachgoers, but it all faded against the gentle lapping of the waves. There were no Decepticons to deal with, no monsters to beat, no M.E.C.H. agents to chase down, and no Zig-zag or Lola to bug me. I loved my friends, really I did, but sometimes I just wanted to strangle them like Homer Simpson strangles Bart. So, yeah, I was thrilled at this chance to just spend time with Mom and Jack, the more sane members of my seemingly constantly growing family.

A muffled ringtone sounded from the beach bag. I glanced over at Mom; she was snoozing peacefully in her wooden beach chair, a floppy sun hat casting a shadow across her face. I reached into the bag and grabbed the phone, groaning when I recognized the number.

Hesitantly I hit the "accept" button. "Hello?"

"Why didn't you take the bikini I packed for you?"

I sighed. "Well hello, Lola. Nice to hear from you. And how did you get my mom's cell number?"

"Well you shut off your comm. link, so I had to find a way to contact you."

"You know, the whole point of shutting off my comm. was so I wouldn't be bothered." By you, I added in my head. "And that black and white polka dot eyesore is not a bathing suit; it's just several triangles sewn together with pieces of lace; it would probably disintegrate as soon as I jumped in the water."

I could practically feel Lola roll her eyes. "Well duh, it's not for swimming. It's for tanning and luring in guys."

"First off: I can't tan. Second: I don't want to lure in guys. The one "guy" that I would actually want to get the attention of isn't even here some the point is moot."

"Fine. But could you at least pick something other than a one-piece bathing suit and swim trunk combo? Why are you even wearing swim trunks?"

"They've got pockets and—hang on," I bolted upright glancing down the beach. "How do you know what I'm wearing?"

"Uh…"

My eyes narrowed. "Is Ziggy there?"

"H-hey Val." Came his timid reply from the other end of the line.

"Zig-zag, did you hack into a military satellite again?" I asked, glaring up at the sky.

"…Define hack."

"ZIG-ZAG!"

Mom started a little in her sleep then shifted, settling into a more comfortable position. I took a deep breath then started to talk again, keeping my voice low. "I'm not going to deal with this right now; it's my vacation. So Zig-zag, you're going to get out of whatever poor satellite you've commandeered, and you, Lola, are going to hang up and not call again unless it's a dire emergency. And when I say emergency I mean either one or both of you are dead. Goodbye now." With that I clicked the phone off and tossed it back into Mom's bag.

I shifted on my beach chair, burying my feet into the warm sand. The salty tang of the ocean drifted past me on a breeze. A gulled cried overhead. Further along the beach, two little kids chattered to each other as they built a somewhat lopsided sand castle. An old couple walked hand in hand along shore. I sighed contentedly, this was so relaxing. With my eyes drifting shut, I was on the verge of a nice nap when loud giggles drew me from my pleasant stupor. A group of bikini-clad teenage girls were huddled together talking quietly but laughing loudly. They'd look up every so often and glance down towards the water then quickly turn back to each other and begin chatting with renewed fervor. I followed their line of sight and smirked: the girls were going goo-goo eyed over my little brother.

Jack was walking along the surf, gazing out at the ocean while the girls were gazing at him. Soon a dark blonde was selected from the bunch and practically shoved toward him. The girl walked up to him, nervously glancing back at her friends. They waved her on eagerly, not at all subtle. The girl turned back, bouncing on the balls of her feet, and greeted Jack. He looked surprised but returned the greeting with a bashful smile. They started talking; if I tried hard enough I could probably listen in, but it was fun enough to just watch. The girl gestured over to her friends, undoubtedly asking Jack to join them, but dear baby Brother just blushed, shook his head, politely said goodbye, and all but ran back to where Mom and I were sitting. He sat down next to me and became fascinated in drawing patterns in the sand.

"They still looking over here?" he asked in a whisper.

I looked over at the pack of girls, all of them staring at Jack's back. "Yep." I grinned when Jack tensed. "Aww, ain't that cute? My little brother is shy—"

"Put a sock in it." Jack grumbled.

"You really should go over and talk to them, they don't look that terrifying. At least, they're less scary than the sharks."

"Sharks?"

"Yeah, the great white population has been booming in this region."

"And that fact doesn't bother you?" he asked.

I shrugged "I grew up on the west coast; you just learn to deal with them. Heck, after awhile you kinda get a little blasé about it. Five footer: eh, it's just a baby. Ten footer: maybe we should stick to waist deep water. Fifteen footer: we'll just stay on the beach, thank you."

Jack stared at me in disbelief. "You're not serious, are you?"

I snorted "Hell no, if there's a shark in the water then I'm out of it."

"I don't know, trying to make friends with a shark sounds like something you'd do."

"Hey," I pointed at him. "just remember that you and I both come from the same tree: you might just end up as crazy as me one day."

Jack rolled his eyes. "That, I seriously doubt."

"Whatever." I smirked. "So are you gonna go talk to those girls?"

"Nope."

I leaned over and flicked his ear. "Idiot."

"What was that for?

"You're a teenage boy aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then get your ass over there and talk to them, it's probably asking too much for you to flirt, but the least you could do is try to hold a conversation." I huffed crossing my arms.

Jack gave me a dubious look. "And how many guys did you flirt with when you were my age?"

Oh, ouch, he got me there. I stuck my tongue out at him. "None, 'cause no guy wanted to date a girl who got caught ʻtalking to herselfʼ on several occasions."

He grimaced in sympathy. "Yeah, I'm guessing the ghost thing didn't help."

"Nope."

"And I don't see how you could ever possibly go on a date with Optimus; that would kinda draw some unwanted attention."

"Yeah well—whoa, wait a minute." I sat up straight so fast my sunglasses almost fell off. "How do you know about that?" Most of the Autobots knew about my chasing after their leader, but I'd thought the kids at least were in the dark about it.

"Val, everyone knows that you and Optimus have some sort of thing going on." Jack rolled his eyes. "Even Fowler. I think the only person that doesn't know is Mom, but that's only because she hasn't spent as much time around the base, and I also think she's in a bit of denial."

"Denial?"

"Yeah, how would you feel if your kid was trying to go out with the leader of a warring alien race?"

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Oh, I guess I can see where the denial would come from then."

Jack nodded. "I'm ok with it, by the way, you know, you and Optimus."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Well once you find out you have an older sister who's been transmogrified into a robotic dragon that sees ghosts, everything else seems a bit superfluous."

"Ooh, big words there." I teased

"Been hanging out with Perceptor." Jack deadpanned. "My vocabulary has seriously improved because of it." He stood and stretched.

"Where you heading off to?" I asked.

"I'm going to take my chances with the sharks, might be safer." He called back, walking towards the water.

I rolled my eyes but leaned back in my beach chair. The sky above me was littered with dozens of white, puffy clouds. As I once again began to drift off, my mind started to form images from the clouds. One became a little coyote pup. Another was an armadillo. And one rather resembled the Loch Ness monster; I chuckled at that one. My eyes slid shut and I started to happily succumb to a light nap.

Until I got that distinct impression that there was someone beside me.

I cracked one eye open to see a man in his mid to late twenties sitting in the spot that Jack had recently vacated. His hair was a rusty reddish-brown and his eyes were the same sandy color as the beach. He wore jeans and a plain black t-shirt covered by a brown leather jacket. My inspection went unnoticed for some time as his gaze was focused on the water, eyes seeming to convey a soft sadness as he watched the foaming waves break along the shore. I cleared my throat and he gave a start, turning to face me.

He smiled apologetically at me. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's fine." I sighed. Honestly, it wasn't like I really wanted that nap.

The guy rubbed the back of his head absentmindedly "So I suppose you're a tourist."

"Yep. You?"

"I've lived here all my life." He said.

"Not a bad place to live. Certainly different from where I come from."

"Where are you from anyway?" he asked. "Oh I'm Ian by the way."

"I'm Val. And I'm from Nevada."

Ian raised his eyebrows. "Yikes, not much water out there."

I nodded in agreement. "Especially the part where I'm from."

"I don't think I could bear being so far from the ocean." He sighed. "It's all I've ever known."

"I can sympathize with that." I said. "I've actually spent most of my life in Seattle; I often find myself missing the water."

Ian smiled. "And how do the east coast waters compare to the west?"

I tilted my head to the side and stared out at the waves, thinking. "Older, and somewhat calmer but still just as dangerous and just as beautiful."

He nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

We slipped into silence until I shifted in my chair.

"So what is it that you need from me?" I asked, a spirit was still a spirit and they only came to my kind for one thing, and it wasn't to hold idle conversation. How did I know this guy was a ghost? His movements lacked sound, he left no impression on the sand, and he had no shadow even though the sun was blazing overhead.

Ian jumped a bit then looked contrite. "I am truly sorry for disturbing you on your vacation, but you're the first person to see me in months and I'm running out of time. I'll understand if you refuse to help but—"

I cut him off. "You're one of the few spirits I've met that actually just talked to me instead of demanding I help them. So I'm feeling more inclined to be helpful. Now what's keeping you here?"

"Well, you see there's this girl—"

"Whom you never got the chance to swear your undying love to before you kicked the bucket?" I finished blandly, I hated it when the spooks asked me to do love confessions from beyond the grave, way too awkward.

"Not exactly, Laura and I have been together most of our lives, best friends as children and high school sweethearts." Ian explained. "We grew up together on this island. We stuck together through the hardest of times. Even when her family was having money issues and almost had to move. They had to sell off some of their family heirlooms to keep afloat, including Laura's grandmother's ring." His eyes grew distant. "She loved that ring, her grandmother had left it for her; it was a perfect fit."

"So what exactly does this have to do with your dilemma?" I asked.

"Everything. Four months ago was our ten year anniversary as an official couple. I was going to ask her to marry me." His lips parted in a sad smile. "I had told Laura to meet me at the old rock jetty just outside of Edgartown; we used to play there as kids. It took me over a year to find it, but I had bought back her grandmother's ring and was going to propose with it." His eyes clouded over. "But that day the wind and surf were too strong, kicking up rather large waves, but still I wanted to go through with it. Foolish mistake on my part. I was waiting on the jetty when a massive breaker knocked me over. I cracked my head against the rocks, fell into the water unconscious, and drowned. They found my body a few hours later. They thought I had committed suicide." Ian choked up a bit. "Oh god, Laura was so devastated. And the ring, I dropped the ring among the rocks, it's still there."

"So what is it you need me to do?"

He turned to me, desperation in his eyes. "Please, Laura is leaving today; she's moving to the mainland. Please, please find the ring and return it to her."

I sat up straight. "Whoa, wait, she's leaving today?"

"This afternoon on the three o'clock ferry."

I checked Mom's cell for the time: it was twelve forty-eight now. Well, it wasn't like I had anything planned for the day. "So all I gotta do is find the ring and get it too her before she leaves?"

Ian nodded.

"Easiest damn thing any ghost has asked me to do."

"So you'll help me?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I'll help you out."

I stood and waved Jack over.

"What's up?" he asked jogging up.

"I gotta go help a ghostie out for a bit. Mind letting Mom know where I've gone." I paused and turned to Ian. "By the way, how far is Edgartown from here?"

"About a twenty minute bike ride from here." He said.

There was a bike rental shack right by our motel.

"Alright then, I'm off." I leaned down to grab my sneakers from where I'd placed them on the sand.

"Hold up." Jack said.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, can I come with?" he asked.

Surprised, I stared at him. "You really want to come along?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure, why not? I've never been on any of your missions so I'm curious to see what it is you do. Besides, you're just helping a spirit out, so there's not going to be much danger right?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Well unless you consider getting chased down alleys by a pack of angry Jack Russell terriers to be dangerous."

My brother stared at me. "You were chased by a pack of Jack Russells?"

I waved away his disturbed look, and started pushing him back towards the motel. "Ziggy pissed them off. But nothing really bad has ever happened when I've helped a spirit. Well except for that one time in Los Angeles, and that other time in Denver. And there was that one incident in El Paso, but thankfully the old lady fell and bumped her head and forgot the whole thing."

"We're going to be banned from Massachusetts, aren't we?." Jack groaned.

So what was supposed to be only a twenty minute bike trip ended up taking twice as long. Why? Because we got lost and argued over which way it was to Edgartown (our first sibling fight ever, yippee). And then we discovered that there were actually four jetties in and around Edgartown. We had visited two before I finally gained some common sense and stopped to ask Ian exactly which one it was (so sue me, I'm on vacation). By the time we got to the right jetty it was one thirty-four.

"So we're supposed to find a ring in that mess?" Jack asked, eying the pile of large rocks that stretched out several hundred yards into the water.

"Like looking for a servo in a scrapheap." I grumbled.

"If it helps, the ring is in a little wooden box." Ian said.

"No that's not much of a help." I sighed. "Just tell us where you fell and we'll work from there."

I followed Ian to a spot that was several yards out into the water; Jack stuck close behind me. We picked our way over the rocks, jumping over the gaps between boulders. Thankfully the weather was calm and the waves were few and small.

Finally we reached the spot. "So here's where you fell?"

Ian nodded. "The ring is somewhere around here. I don't think it fell into the water though."

"Well that's a small relief." I turned to Jack. "Alright, start looking for a small brown box."

We scoured over every nook and cranny in that area. Minutes quickly ticked by.

"How do we know some tourist didn't find the ring and take it?" Jack called from his spot.

"We don't." I said, reaching my hand far into a crevice. "We just gotta keep—yow!" I jerked my right hand back to reveal a crap holding onto my fingers with a rather large claw. Cursing, I shook my hand furiously. The crustacean finally took the hint and let go, soaring through the air until it landed in the water with a splash. I gripped my throbbing fingers. "I hope you get steamed and served with a side of fries and tartar sauce, you jerk!"

Jack snorted. "My brave big sister beaten by Mr. Krabbs of Bikini-Bottom."

"Hardy-har." I snapped. "Just get back to searching."

Several more minutes passed, thankfully without any more run-ins with cranky crustaceans, before Jack called out: "I think I've found it!"

He was sprawled out on his stomach, half hanging over the edge of a rock to reach into a partially submerged gap. A second later he pulled out a damp, slightly moldy wooden box, a victorious grin on his sunburned face.

"And the youngest Darby gets the point." I said, high-fiving him.

He opened the lid and let out a whistled. "Not bad."

On a silver band sat a beautiful dark opal. The bands of color flashed in the sunlight and on either side of the stone sat a small diamond.

"Damn, no wonder Laura would be upset to lose this thing." I said. "I'd be bawling my eyes out."

"Thank you, thank you for finding it." Ian said.

"Well, we're not done yet. What time did you say that ferry left?" I asked.

"Three o'clock."

I fished Mom's cell, which I'd sort of borrowed, from the pocket of my swim trunks. The time read two twenty-six. Crap. "What port is she leaving from?"

"Oak Bluffs."

"Oak Bluffs? That's a good half-hour from here!" I turned to Jack. "We need to book-it out of here."

It's a good thing Martha's Vineyard is so bike friendly. The bike paths ran right along the roadways with very little detours which allowed us an almost straight shot to the port. The bad news was that Martha's Vineyard is very bike friendly so those bike paths were full of other cyclists.

And some of them had quite the potty mouths when they were cut off.

Sorry, but we were in a hurry.

We arrived just as the three o'clock ferry was shipping off. And I mean just as it was shipping off. Jack tossed me the box as I hopped of my bike. I ducked and wove between station wagons and pickups, a minivan with New Jersey plates nearly ran me over. I reached the loading platform just as the ship cast off. With a burst of speed I made a running leap onto the ferry. I couldn't check my speed and ended up smacking into a shiny new Mercedes from Rhode Island.

Owie.

"You ok?" one of the crew members asked.

"I'm good." I gasped, clutching my side and staggering towards the stairs. The ferry had three levels; the first held all the vehicles from bikes to semis, the second was a waiting area and snack bar for the passengers, and the third was an open observation deck. There had to have been over several hundred people on board.

And I didn't even know what Laura looked like.

Turned out, I didn't need to 'cause right then Ian showed. "I've found her she's on the third level."

"Lead the way." I sighed.

I followed him up to the observation deck, past the crowds of tourists and daily commuters. We reached the back of the ferry when Ian pointed her out. Laura stood staring back at Martha's Vineyard, her posture emanating grief but her eyes shed no tears. They looked too tired to cry anymore. I approached her slowly, thinking of the best way to bring up the subject.

I took up a spot along the railing beside her and gazed out at the slowly shrinking shoreline. "Beautiful isn't it? Such a shame to leave a place like that."

Laura was silent.

"I mean, if I lived in a place like that I wouldn't—"

"I'm sorry but I'm not up for any small talk with strangers right now." She said. "Please leave me alone." She turned and walked along the deck, keeping one hand on the railing. Ian motioned wildly for me to follow her.

Ah, hell there was no nice way to do this, might as well get it done and over with. "Hey wait up!" I called, walking quickly to catch up.

"I asked you to leave me alone."

I swung up onto the railing, perching on the metal beside her. "He didn't commit suicide."

Laura stopped short, eyes wide and staring straight forward.

"Ian didn't kill himself. He loved you too much to ever even think the subject." I said. I looked up and saw Ian nodding encouragingly.

Laura slowly turned to face me. "W-what…how do you even know about that?"

"You won't believe me if I told you, trust me." I brought out the box. "He didn't go to that jetty to kill himself, he went there to propose to you." I lifted the lid and showed the ring. "With this."

Laura placed a hand over her mouth and started to shake. "No, that's not, that can't be…"

"Your grandmother's ring." I finished for her. "He found it and bought it back as a surprise for you."

She began to cry as she took the ring and slid it on her ring finger of her left hand. "Ian…what am I supposed to do now?"

I looked back at Ian. "Tell her to live her life; to enjoy every moment and to love to the fullest." Ian instructed. "And tell her not to worry over me anymore, I'm just glad to know she's alright."

I relayed his message, feeling like a corny psychic from one of those sappy romance movies.

Laura gave me a watery smile. "Thank you, whoever you are."

I sighed. "I'm just someone who came to help." I glanced back at the distant port of the Oak Bluffs and froze. "And I'm also someone who should be sleeping on a beach chair on that island right now! Crap! How do you turn this thing around?"

"You can't you'll just have to wait until we make port and buy another ticket."

"Ticket? I don't have any money! Hell, I jumped ship just to get here! How am I supposed to get back?" I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

Yeah, I really needed to watch what I say, ʼcause fate really likes to prank me.

Figures, not a second after those words left my mouth, a strong sea breeze rocked the ship, knocking me off balance. With my arms wind-milling through the air in a pathetic attempt to keep my balance, I slipped off the railing. My last thought as I went overboard was: man, I hope it's not jellyfish season.

"I'm not talking to you for the rest of the trip!" I grumped as I walked, still soaked, back to our motel room.

"Aw, c'mon Val, it wasn't that bad." Jack said, though he failed to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Not talking!"

After I'd managed to swim back to shore (thankfully with no encounters with any of Jaw's relatives), I'd staggered back onto land and tracked down my brother. Good news was that I was wearing my swimming suit so it didn't matter that I was wet. Bad news was I had also been wearing my sneakers, which weren't so waterproof; in fact I had lost one. So what did Jack do when I had finally met up with him? Did he ask if I was ok? No! The idiot whipped out his phone, which I didn't even know he had with him, took a picture of me water-logged with seaweed in my hair and missing a shoe, and sent it to everyone back home. If that's what little brothers were about then I wasn't sure I wanted one.

"You know, if I wasn't human I could've been seriously hurt." I snapped at him as we stopped in front of our door.

"But you're not so I didn't need to worry." Jack pointed out. "And I though you weren't talking to me?"

I glared at him and went to open the door, but it swung open before I could touch the handle. Mom took in the sight of us and breathed a sigh of relief. Rhapsody was perched on her shoulder, giggling as the pixie-pod had no doubt gotten the picture as well.

"I was getting worried, I was sure you were off exploring but I couldn't find my cell to get in contact with you two."

I stiffened then slowly reached into the pocket of my swim trunks. Grimacing, I brought out a fritzing cell phone that was more soaked than I was. "Ah yeah, I can replace that."

Jack burst out into another round of laughter as Mom just stared at me with a confused look.

I really hoped the rest of the vacation was easier than this.

Oh Val, if only you knew. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I'm thinking maybe, MAYBE, I'll have the next one up by Saturday (but you know the whole end-of-the-world thing might get in the way, plus I have a ton of last minute Christmas shopping to do.

Best wishes,

Wolfwitch