Optimus watched his mate sleep and he stroked his helm and face, tracing his mouth, and smiling when Ratchet's lips twitched up at the corners. The sun had begun to shine and rise itself, but he could not bear to wake his mate from such a deep and pleasant sleep.
He had not had the same success in sleeping.
He heard his team stir and wake and walk outside his quarters, and he gently shook Ratchet's shoulder. "Ratchet," he murmured. He shook him harder when he did not wake. "Ratchet," he insisted.
"What, Optimus?" Ratchet's dim optics opened and he blinked slowly at the Prime. "What is the matter?"
"It is time to wake," he purred gently, relieved. He had feared that Ratchet was no longer with him, or well. He needed his mate active. "We need to go and greet the team."
Ratchet scoffed and buried his face in Optimus' chest, pulling the warm sheets back over them. For a moment, Optimus was tempted to curl back around his mate and protect him from the Decepticons, but he would not be doing his job, not completely.
"What of the relics?" He pulled the sheets back to reveal his mate's face. "We need to get those, you know?" He smiled when his mate grumbled and rolled over so his back was pressed against his chest.
"The others can get them," he groaned.
He chuckled in amusement, then he ripped the sheets off of him. "Come on, dearest one. If you stand in the next five minutes, I will reward you."
The medic's optics widened and he jumped up, purring up at his mate when the Prime stood slowly.
He kissed him gently, touching his cheek as he did. He rubbed his back with the other servo, and it made his mate tremble in delight. "Come, love. It is time to see the others. I will send out teams of Autobots to retrieve the relics."
When Optimus joined up with the Autobots, Ratchet was hanging onto his servo as if he still needed support like a sparkling. Their adopted daughter, Kayla, was eating on the catwalk with her legs crossed. She smiled at her parents.
"You two finally got up?" She stood up with her cereal bowl in her hands and she smiled more at Ratchet's mutterings and mumblings, though he didn't mean half of what he complained about. "You know you love humans, carrier." She reached out to rub his helm fondly as he walked by and he leaned into her touch.
Optimus tapped on his computer keyboard, pulling up a map. "I have the coordinates for the teams to go. I want Bumblebee to go with Arcee and the humans to the subway tunnels." He opened a GroundBridge for them and he kept his daughter from running out to join them. "You will remain here."
"You can't keep me safe forever," she protested (sort of teasingly). "I'll get out there eventually to see my sire and carrier in action."
Optimus shuddered and sighed. "Not while my spark still pulses," he vowed.
Ratchet and Kayla snorted in amusement at the same time, and Optimus smiled. They were so much alike.
He tapped the keys, purring gently. "Ratchet, I have your GroundBridge coordinates ready, my dearest love."
"Who am I to go with?" He frowned as he looked around. He knew he wasn't going to go with Optimus. The Prime would never allow such an opportunity for the Decepticons to harm him.
"I have already contacted Wheeljack."
Kayla snickered as she climbed up the catwalk stares. She was young (almost ten), but she knew that her carrier and her "uncle" didn't enjoy each other. She heard rumors that the two dated (far briefer than her carrier and sire had) "Have fun, Momma."
"Wheeljack? He is insubordinate. Plus, he's Bulkhead's partner. Why isn't he going with Wheeljack?"
"You will be wise to embrace this temporary alliance," Optimus said gently. He kissed his forehelm. "But I have warned him to keep his servos and rude comments to himself, or I will practice dissection on him."
Ratchet gave a weak sigh, knowing that he would not win this fight, and he walked to the GroundBridge. "Keep Kayla out of trouble, if you return before me?"
"Of course," Optimus smiled as he watched his mate go.
Bulkhead walked up behind him. "You got him to go with Wheeljack?" He sounded disappointed.
"Indeed." The Prime turned to him. "You owe me two Energon candies."
"You bet on my carrier!?" Kayla stood on the catwalk railing. "And you didn't get me into that bet!?"
Ratchet waited for Wheeljack, and he groaned when the Wrecker showed up. He uncrossed his arms and walked to him. "I thought you weren't going to show up."
"Of course I'd show up to keep the Prime's mate out of trouble. He still think you need a baby-sitter?"
"If you must know, he thought you needed supervision."
Wheeljack smiled and nodded, but it was obvious he didn't believe him at all. "Whatever you say, doc."
Ratchet growled. "My name is not 'doc'." He started walking to the ship, which the Wrecker affectionately called the Jackhammer. He thought he won that argument.
He should have known better.
"Whatever you say, Sunshine," the Wrecker cooed. He snickered when the medic's shoulders went up.
"Sunshine" had been Ratchet's pet name while they dated, and he had worked hard to pretend he never had one. He had swatted Optimus for calling him that, but the Prime didn't know that Wheeljack had called him that.
He growled lowly at the Wrecker, then he walked onto the Jackhammer with Wheeljack nearly bumping into his aft.
Optimus walked through the snow, reminded of the snow globe he had given to his daughter one Christmas. He held out a servo to catch a delicate flake and he scanned it, saving the image to his databanks so that he could show his daughter later. He dropped his servo when he heard the angry voices of Dreadwing and Starscream. He smirked.
He remembered when Starscream was a little sparkling, and he quickened his pace. He knew that Dreadwing and Starscream disliked each other. He would not miss a chance at seeing the two Decepticons climbing down each other's throats.
Two dominate mechs did not work well together. He knew from experience.
He had dated Dreadwing once, but that was many, many moons ago. He was not disappointed, and he would not go back and change who he had dated. It had felt like love while they were together, but when war comes and sides have to be picked, you will see who your mate truly is.
He had lost his love to Megatron's views.
He saw Dreadwing lift Starscream by the throat and he frowned. He intervened before it could get any worse than it was already. "Dreadwing," he greeted.
Dreadwing threw Starscream aside. "Optimus, surrender the relic!"
Optimus smiled behind his mask. At least Dreadwing had not changed entirely. The purple mech was still demanding and to the point. "I was about to ask the same of you, Dreadwing."
The mech roared in anger and he pulled his cannons out.
Optimus did the same as he smiled more. He knew the mech wanted to play, not fight. Dreadwing could have extinguished his spark any time before now.
But he didn't. That said something about their love.
They fought, neither one hitting their mark, whether by choice or by accident, until Dreadwing became bored.
He was always quickly bored.
Optimus met his former lover with his sword drawn and he blocked Dreadwing's attacks until the mech pulled away and lifted his fists.
The Prime smiled and raised his own, shifting slightly in a taunt to get the mech to actually do something.
It worked. Dreadwing tackled him, and over the angry growls and roars of the new second-in-command of the Decepticons, Starscream heard the laughter of Optimus, and his optics widened.
Ratchet growled when the Jackhammer crashed due to Soundwave and Lazerbeak's surprise attack. He looked at him. "That was terrific!"
Wheeljack chuckled as he examined the damage. "Glad you think so," he purred. "Because I wasn't too thrilled with that ride, but as long as you had fun…"
"I was being sarcastic!"
"That must be your second language," Wheeljack chuckled. "Or is it your third? Cybertronian, English, Sarcasm…"
The medic turned away and he growled lowly. "I thought Optimus told you to behave yourself around me."
Wheeljack smirked as he looked back at him. "He did, but I'm choosing to ignore him in favor of antagonizing my former mate."
"Wonderful."
Wheeljack patted the side of the Jackhammer. "Well, we're not going anywhere any time soon. I'll go hunt for the relic." He looked over at where Lazerbeak laid on the ground. "You tinker with the little toy, okay? I'll see you later."
Ratchet watched him leave as he sighed, then he turned to do what he had planned: infect the component of Soundwave with a virus, and then give Lazerbeak back to Soundwave, so that they could get the entire Iacon data.
Optimus walked with Starscream in front of him, pushing him occasionally to keep him moving. "Keep walking," he murmured. He hated pushing the Seeker, but he knew that he would not respond any other way.
"It's so cold!"
"It will only cause discomfort, not pain. Yet."
"Yet!?"
"Did I not previously tell you to keep quiet and keep walking?"
"Is this the way you treat all your prisoners?" Starscream looked back at him. "Don't you remember everything that I've done for the Autobots?"
"You are not loyal to either side permanently. You change your mind repeatedly from Autobots to Decepticons and back again. It all depends on who will give you the better reward."
Starscream remained quiet for a moment, then, "It's so cold!"
Optimus grumbled and he pushed Starscream forward again. He hoped Ratchet was in a better position than he was.
Afterwards:
Optimus smiled as his mate crawled into the berth. "Did you enjoy your time with Wheeljack?"
Ratchet shot him a glare, shoving a pillow at his chest, but the smile just grew on his faceplates. "Yes, it was terrific how you locked us into a little starship and expected us to play nice. That was very wise of you, Prime. How was the Artic?"
"Cold. Windy." He laid down beside his mate as he purrs. "I teamed up with Dreadwing and together we defeated Starscream, but we lost the Apex Armor to him."
"Optimus…we needed that!"
"Yes, and we needed the relic you were after!" He scoffed as he flicked Ratchet's shoulder playfully. "Did I mention I adore it when you say you need something?"
"I need you to go to bed before I do something stupid."
Optimus smiled more. "And what stupid thing might that be?"
"Kiss you," he murmured as he rested his forehelm on his mate's. Their lips touched, then they smiled together when they heard a squeal from their daughter as she woke up and sat up in her bed that was located on Optimus' desk.
"Ewwww, sire! Carrier!"
Optimus pulled Ratchet closer by his aft. "Someday, you will have your own mate, and then you will give us permission to make disgusted noises."
She scoffed and rolled over, watching them. "I will never give that permission to you guys. You'd do something weird."
Ratchet laughed as he turned on the nightlight for his daughter. "Good night, Kayla…"
Optimus laid his mate down and he kissed his helm and face until the medic's optics closed, then he looked over at his daughter.
He remembered when he first found her and he purred gently.
He considered finding another daughter.
Or a son.
He smirked down at his mate.
I wonder what Ratchet would think of that…