Chapter Text
When I Grow Up
Mrs. Johnson was slowly working her way down the tables, asking one person at a time what they wished to be when they grew up. Annabelle listened half-heartedly as her classmates listed doctors, astronauts, and baseball players as their dream jobs. Several girls just said they wanted to be mommies. Many kids also wanted to do whatever job their parents did. Carl, who had been moved across the room from Annabelle after the "incident," said he wanted to be a government agent. This earned him a glare from the girl, but it did send her pondering.
Most of the jobs that had been named so far either belonged to a family member or was just a cool job. But they didn't really consider their options carefully. Annabelle had gone through a stage where she wanted to be a princess and a movie star. But now she didn't know what she wanted to be.
She might be a mommy like hers someday. But what else? Daddy and Ironhide would go away for long periods of time for their job. Sometimes up to a week or more. Mommy would be worried the whole time they were gone and would be so happy when they came back. Annabelle knew what they were doing.
They were stopping bad guys. Ironhide had finally explained that there were good robots, like him and Bumblebee, and bad ones. Him and Daddy would go out and stop the bad ones form hurting people. According to Ironhide, "No Decepticon scum could take them."
And that was true. Daddy was Daddy and Ironhide was Ironhide. It was impossible for bad guys to beat them. Mommy was always worried when they left, but Annabelle wasn't. Daddy would protect Ironhide, just like Ironhide would protect Daddy. Nothing bad could happen to them.
They would save lots of people. Daddy and Ironhide had an important job. Just because lots of people didn't know about it didn't mean it wasn't important. It was just secret. It almost became not a secret once, Mommy and Daddy said, but the world thought it was just a trick. One of the bad robots had been on TV, but not everything on TV was real. So people thought it was all fake. It was easier for people to believe that than to believe the truth. So Daddy and Ironhide's job was still secret.
Sometimes they would come back laughing, talking about what great shots they were. At those times, she would try to talk them into telling about it. They wouldn't always, because Daddy didn't want her to have nightmares. Ironhide could sometimes be convinced to share part of it, if she caught him alone.
Other times, they would come back mad. The bad guys sometimes get away. Then she would cheer them up. Annabelle would tell them they would find them again and Ironhide would shoot them with his cannon. She would then pretend to be a mean Decepticon, begging for mercy and to be rescued from "awesome Ironhide and the great Lennox." She didn't stop until she had them laughing.
And sometimes they would come back sad. Daddy would hug Mommy really tight. The bad guys would sometimes hurt Daddy and Ironhide's friends. When that happened, they would be quiet and sad for a while. She would give Daddy lots of kisses and hugs until Mommy said she wanted to talk with him privately. Then, Annabelle would make sure Ironhide would be okay. Those times, Annabelle would just end up curled up in Ironhide's cab. Just like Mommy stayed close to Daddy when he was very sad, the girl couldn't leave her best friend alone. So she would sit with him and was silently glad that nothing bad could ever happen to him or Daddy.
Her classmates kept naming jobs. Some were pretty amazing. President, pilot, and ballerina were all chosen. Finally, next to Annabelle, Suzie decided on being a vet. She always did love animals.
"And what about you, Annabelle? What do you want to be when you grow up?" asked Mrs. Johnson.
The young child considered. Of all the things she could do, what did she really want? She wanted to make a difference to the world. Just like Daddy and Ironhide when they went out to protect people from the bad guys.
"I want to be a hero, Mrs. Johnson."