When a Grease Monkey and A Bad Cop Fall in Love...
A/N:
~64 Drabbles centered around Barricade and Mikaela. This is set in the same verse as Pursuit. The story is told in a non-linear manner. :3
~From here: .com/profile
1. 2 a.m.
Mikaela wondered if she was going to have to find some toothpicks to hold her eyes open. The breeze was cool against her skin, and the cool night air brushed her skin. "Cade."
"Not long," her mate smiled. He turned his optics up to he sky, and watched the first of the Perseids streak across the sky.
"They are...beautiful," she declared from her perch on his shoulder, leaning her head against his. She looked up and couldn't help but marvel how sharp and crisp the stars were sprinkled against the night sky. It stretched out for what seemed like infinity, and perhaps it did.
2. metaphor
Cade watched her from across the warehouse. Watched how she moved, watched her watching him back, watched her simply to watch her. He was not entirely sure when things had changed, when they had gone awry from his original intent. But they had, and the Witwicky child was the last thing on his processor. She, however, was like an endless tune feeding through his processor. One, he was sure, he could get quite used to.
3. sky
The desert sky stretched out before them as the Saleen Mustang and his girl raced down the road. A yellow camaro trailed behind, not quite letting his engine loose yet. Dust clouds flew up behind them, wafting up and obscuring the blue stratosphere. They would race, eventually, but for now they headed towards the lake.
There would surely be photos of sea monsters on You Tube the next day. Possibly even Giant Robots as well.
4. lost scene
Barricade fled from Mission City. He raced away, sighing inside. There was no way he was going to stick around just to have his aft handed to him by a bunch of Autobots. His progenitor would most likely to be the first in line to do it.
There were somethings Barricade was willing to do. This wasn't one of them.
5. degrees
Mikaela felt as though she was going to melt into a puddle. The summer heat was overwhelming. She looked up, squinting. It had to be at least twice as hot in Autobotcity. There was no shade, no reprieve. She made her way to the bunker she shared with Cade, relieved to step back into the shadows and the cool air within.
6. seize the day
He raced through the streets of Iacon. Full throttle. So fast it made even his spark flutter with a faint trill of fear. Still he went faster, heedless of the danger. Careless. But he didn't care. He couldn't care. All he needed was this.
7. opposite
Barricade glared at his cousin across the expanse of the room. The yellow bot was everything he was not. Everything that his creator wanted, and it made Barricade bitter with it. It made Barricade feel inferior. He could not stand it.
8. passions run
Mikaela sighed, feeling spent and languid. She smiled, pleased. It was always that way. She stretched, the plating pleasantly warm against her back. "That-was wonderful." she finally laughed.
"Just wonderful?'
She chuckled, closing her eyes and enjoying the after-glow. "You know it was more than that."
9. connection
Mikaela leaned against the hot plated metal and sighed in bliss. Their bond pulling at her. His mind touched her's and she gasped.
. It ran through her like wild-fire, burning her little beating organic heart to cinders. For the life of her she never wanted to it to stop.
10. lull and storm
"No new arrivals this week."
"Thank Primus," Barricade rolled his optics.
She smiled, "Tired of explaining that?" She asked, looking at his new paint job.
"To say the least."
"That bad?"
"You really don't want to know."
"Could be worse." Mikaela said.
"How?"
"Well, you know. You could be the twins, and have to explain the paintball fiasco, and how Screwdriver got covered in pink paint."
"There is that."
11. animal
"What-is that?" Cade asked sounding horrified.
"It's a cat." Mikaela said patiently.
"Why is it here?"
"Why not? Pets are nice."
"Funny," he said, eyes still on the creature. The animal was shifty looking, not unlike Ravage.
"You're scared of it?" Mikaela laughed, and then laughed harder at the glare he gave her.
"You're scared of spiders."
"So...does that mean if it walked near you you will squeal like a little femme?"
"You are so funny, Kaela."
"And you are not denying it," she said triumphantly.
12. children
Sometimes, after the fact, she cried herself to sleep for what could have been. What had been lost. It broke his spark. Broke it into thousands of pieces. And despite himself he knew that eventually he would find a way to give her what she wanted.
It hurt her more than she would admit to him. Nearly crushed her when her body rejected it. Hope flowing away with each drop of blood.
13. we all float on
Mikaela curled up against Cade on the medical berth. It hurt.
"We will get through this," he murmured.
"Easier said than done."
"I know. Platitudes, but we really will."
"We always do," she agreed.
14. chess
Mikaela watched in disgust as Midori and Cade stared at the chessboard. They had been at it for hours, and she wished they could have found something more interesting to do with their time. Something less quiet. Less stare-y.
To her reckoning video games would have been preferable.
15. duty
Orion had always liked to lecture him about his duties to his family. He was Prime-Kin, highest of the high, and he should act it. No street racing. No being thrown in to the brig. No starting fights. He had never been very good at following any of his progenitor's rules. He didn't care to start now. To the pits with it.
16. rip
"Damn it, watch those claws."
"I didn't mean to."
Mikaela leveled him with what he termed "the evil eye." "That was my favourite shirt."
"Guess you will have to get a new favourite then, cause that one has bit the dust."
"Oh-you-you jerk. I could just smother you in your sleep."
"I don't really need to breath."
"That is beside the point."
17. missing time
Mikaela woke up and squinted in the dull light. She wasn't sure where she was, how she had got there, or even why she was there. Her eyes alighted on Barricade, obviously in recharge,and it all came flooding back to her. Most of it anyway.
18. crest
Her breath hitched. She gasped. Cried out. Felt it building until-until it pushed her over like a wave. She may have screamed, she wasn't sure. Everything went white.
And then she came to and found herself sprawled across his palm, panting. The nanites still jittering in her system, and she laughed. It was still, by far and away better than any sex she had had as a human. She knew it was partly because it was Him, and partly because he knew her body inside and out-much to her consternation at times. She stretched, still smiling. "That-was perfect."
He only chuckled.
19. itch
Cade glared out the doorway at the guards still posted there. Five days and counting. He was itching to get out without supervision. Itching to take Mikaela places that were not here. Just itching to get away.
Arcee cast him a warning glance, and he stepped back deeper into the shadows and reconciled himself to find something to while away the hours until they could finally leave.
20. explode
Cade's holoform walked hand in hand with Mikaela through the mall. He glared down the human males that gave his mate appreciative glances. He could have growled at them all. It made his processor feel as though it was going to combust.
21. rise
Mikaela cracked and eyelid open and finally sat up.
"Good morning, my little fleshling."
"Morning yourself." Mikaela said, hopping down onto the floor.
"You recharge so much."
"You recharge so little. What is your point, Cade?"
"It's boring without you."
"I can say-I feel the same."
22. crumble
Mikaela looked at the letter for one moment. She knew the address well, and she wondered for a moment how they had found her. She crumpled it in her hand, not bothering to read it and tossed it in the trashcan.
"Kaela...maybe you should call them."
"I have nothing to say to either of them." She said firmly.
"But-"
"No buts. They are not part of my life wouldn't understand this. And...I...I just don't want to deal with them."
He nodded not liking how she was running away from things. "As you wish."
23. range
Mikaela frowned, not sure who to be more annoyed with. Her earstwhile instructor, or the targets that seemed to jump out of the way of her bullets.
"I don't understand how you could be so bad at this." Barricade groused.
"Thanks for the encouragement. I love you too."
24. fight/flight
Mikaela closed her eyes tight, refusing to look at the speedometer, or the road. "Barricade, could you slow down?"
"Not yet, they might still catch us."
"They might," she agreed, "But wrecking...well I will be just as dead."
"I am not going to wreck." he said in a haughty tone, and she knew she had said the wrong thing. Had tread on his ego.
"Yeah...right. My mistake."
25. acid
Mikaela swallowed hard, fighting back panic and what felt like acid creeping up her throat. It was better some days than others. It was hard to look at the sparklings. It made her think of the blood. It had been everywhere. She touched her growing stomach. This time it would work out. Ratchet said it was healthy, and was doing better than expected. She felt a flutter, barely a kick, and could not help but smile. Life was so precious.
She could still feel the acid, but she figured eventually the morning sickness would depart.
26. color
"It looks nice." Mikaela said sitting back and admiring Cade's new paint job. "It suits you, Hellraiser."
She could feel him bristle.
"Oh, stop it. It really does look good. Red symbols suit you better. It's hot." She chuckled.
"Oh?" He finally asked transforming into his root form.
"Yes." She grinned, "But I think you are hot any which way."
27. give
"Happy birthday." He said.
She knew him well enough not to trust the gleam in his optic. "What is it."
He laughed, "Just open it."
She peeled away the tissue paper-couldn't help but wonder who had helped him wrap it-and found a datapad inside. "Oh, lovely. Just what I always wanted."
"Read it, you never know, you might like it."
"Poetry?"
"About you." he laughed.
28. needle
"It will only hurt for a moment." Ratchet said in a soothing tone. Or at least his attempt at one. It was only partly successful.
"There was so much blood." She whimpered.
"I know, sweet-spark." She was already drifting into oblivion.
"Please don't tell him yet." Her eyes drifted closed and Ratchet sighed. Scared himself for her.
29. locks
Mikaela fiddled with the lock until she heard a little click, and finally pulled the door open. She gave Cade a perturbed look. For such an advanced organism you would think he would remember the keys to the warehouse. It seemed, to Mikaela, that he forgot the keys at least once a week. "Sometimes...I think you do that on purpose."
"I might."
30. slope
Mikaela leaned back against the slope of the roof, eyes closed as she let the sun lull her into a half sleep. The desert sun beat down on her, making her skin prickle. She knew she couldn't stay up here long worshipping the sun, unless she wanted to pay the consequences.
"What are you doing up there?" Barricade asked, optics wide. His annoyance clear.
"Cooking, obviously."
31. correspondence
Mikaela picked up the sheet of paper off the table and frowned as she tried to make sense of the symbols. High autobot. It was difficult for her. Much more difficult that the fluid scrawl of the seekers. She had picked that up much like breathing. The angular written language of the autobots was a different thing entirely. She squinted at it until it finally made sense.
"Out on patrol with the Insect. Will be back before dark.
Love,
Cade.
p.s. check the datapad. "
Her lips twitched up in an amused smile. If nothing else he was a persistent teacher, and a scarily prolific poet.
32. linger
"We are going to be late." Mikaela said at last.
"I know."
"Well-stop giving me googly eyes and lets go."
He laughed, "What? I like to look at you."
"Don't I know. Look later, we're late!"
"Like Optimus is going anywhere. I think he can wait a moment."
33. charm
She opened the little box carefully. She wasn't so much scared of the contents. It wasn't as though he pranked her like the twins. She finally pulled the necklace out of the box, and blinked. "You...got me dogtags. Wow."
He laughed, "Look at them."
She flipped them over. 'Kaela' was on the first, and on the second a little autobot symbol.
"Like it?"
She beamed, slipping it over her head, "I do. I really do."
34. roads
They raced down the dirt road, dust flying behind them and Bumblebee hot on their trail. "Go! Go! Go!" Mikaela cheered from the passenger seat laughing. "We're gonna beat them!"
They roared past Arcee's place at their makeshift finish line.
"We won! Movie night is our pick!" Kaela said, giggling from the passenger seat.
"Glad you're happy about it. We'll have to listen to Bee sulk for a week." Cade would have shaken his head had he been in root form. The things they did for entertainment on the base, it was so different from being a decepticon.
35. hunger
"Are we there yet."
"No, Mikaela, we aren't there yet. Does it look like we are there yet? No, we are still in the middle of the desert."
"I was just hoping."
"That all of this was a mirage?"
"No, I was hoping to get something to eat before I shrivel up and die."
"Exageration will get you nowhere."
"So I'm learning."
36. reciprocity
Barricade looked up, a frown moving across his face plates. "I think...I love you."
"You make it sound like the worse thing in the world."
"It might be."
"I think I love you too, jerk."
37. kind
Mikaela looked at the present on the table. The wrapping looked like it was done by an uncoordinated five year old. She raised a brow, looking to Cade. "For me?"
"Just because." He shrugged looking faintly uncomfortable.
She peeled away the paper revealing a large plastic box. Mikaela frowned, opening it. Tools. Much like the ones she used when helping Ratchet, only a bit nicer. New, in fact.
"Ratchet helped me." He said sounding painfully sheepish.
"Oh, Cade." She gave him a watery smile.
38. fruity
Cade raised a brow plate, and looked from Sam to Midori, then to Mikaela, and back again. "What...is that?"
Mikaela gave him a withering look. As withering as one could get with red, wet goo dripping from her hair. "Strawberries. The blender exploded."
Cade was hard pressed not to laugh at his mate. "Ah."
"Don't you dare laugh, I will kick your aft across the base. I swear I will."
39. half-life
Barricade looked out of the hull-side port hole of Nemesis. There was so much emptiness out there. He supposed it was apt. He felt that way inside. Perhaps it would have been better had he died with Andromeda rather than have her life's liquid staining his hands.
40. comedy of errors
"Cade!" Kaela ran at him Nearly close enough to grope him when her eyes went wide, and she nearly slammed into a holo form. Her eyes widened as she realized it was not Cade. "Oh...Optimus,what are you doing here?"
41. tragedy
Barricade stared down at the bodies of his cousins,and felt the panic well up for one moment. He hid it well. They were nothing but parts now. A lifeless pile of limbs, and he had made them so. He could just as easily been one of them. So easily.
42. hope is the thing with feathers
"What does that even mean?" Barricade growled.
"What?" she asked peering at the card in his hand.
"Hope is a thing with feathers? It means hope flies, it has wings."
"So-what...it's a Seeker?"
"Sometimes-I really wonder about you."
43. empire
Barricade looked out at the shattered landscape of Iacon city. He wasn't sure if it would be for the last time or not. This was not how he wanted to remember it. The towering spire fallen, the streets blacked. Inside he cried. Outside he was blank faced. His life depended on that.
44. turpentine kisses and mistaken blows
Barricade looked down into Andromeda's face. She was already grey with death. His spark beat erratically in his chest, and not for the first time he wished he could join her in the well. If he was going to the well. More than likely he was going to the pit. It was only what he deserved.
45. rings
Mikaela looked down at the two rings encircling her finger. The diamond glinted in the light, sparkling. She didn't ask where Cade had gotten them, something were just better left unsaid.
46. dust
Barricade hated Earth. Hated the people. Hated the glaring sun that over-heated his plating. He hated the natives. The streets. The buildings. Most of all he hated the dust, and how it settled between his joints. No matter how many times he stepped into the wash-racks, it was back in a nanoclick.
He never felt clean on this dirt-ball.
47. every you, every me
He gave her a sideways was foolish, but he could not help it. He couldn't stop it. He knew he would give her anything. Anything in his power and more. Giving up his faction was easy enough, surprisingly. It was all he had for eons. All he knew, and all he remembered, but this was better.
There was just nothing else to do.
48. project
Cade looked up from the data pad for a moment and wondered if she would like it. It had been so long since he had composed anything, his processor felt sluggish about it, but the muse still beckoned him. He was nearly finished. It was nearly dawn.
49. adore
Mikaela laughed, sitting on his knee, leaning against him she had the oddest habit of moving the controller which ever way she was trying to get her cart to go on the video game. She should have been very bad, all things considered. She was very good though. So good he never won a single match.
She gave him a suspicious glance as she looked up at him, and wondered if he was letting her win.
Barricade just grinned. Love makes you do funny things.
50. murmur
"I love you."
He barely caught it, but he was on to her now. "Did you say something."
Mikaela's lips curled into a mischievous smile. "Nothing at all."
Cade gave her a sideways glance, his optics narrowing. "I love you, too."
"What was that?"
He smiled, "Nothing at all."
51. above
"So..." she looked up, watching the jets wing across the sky.
"What?"
"Megatron and..."
"Yes, I think we have established that."
"So...what...he is like your aunt?" Mikaela said in a choked voice.
"You know. He will kill you if he hears you say that."
"So, he IS like your aunt."
"Pretty much so."
52. below
Mikaela looked down at the ground and scowled. It wasn't that she was scared of heights. It wasn't that she didn't know he would catch her if she started to fall. It was just so far below to the ground.
"I'm not going to drop you," he scoffed.
"I know. It's the principle of it."
"Right. And you aren't scared of heights."
"Shove it, Cade."
"Me'thinks the Lady Doth protest too much."
"And stop fragging misquoting Shakespeare at me."
53. incalculable
She was priceless. Still he worried how long they had. It was impossible to tell. She was not aging, but she could still die. He tried not to dwell on it. Didn't talk to her about it. Because he knew what she would say. Keep on living. But he wouldn't. He couldn't. So it didn't even bare thinking about.
54. wire
She pinched the wire between her fingers and grinned when he twitched. "Pay backs are hell, my love."
He only grunted. "You never complained."
"And I'm not now," she grinned impishly, tweaking the wire again.
55. landslide
"Barricade." Mikaela screamed from under a pile of books, blankets, and things she didn't have names for. "Hell." She crawled out from under the landslide of items. This was not what she had in mind when she told him to clean up.
56. the beginning is the end is the beginning
Mikaela considered everything that had happened in the past few months. Her old life was assuredly over. Over before it even really began. Thinking on it, she was okay with that. There was just so much more now. So much more for her to do. They had forever.
57. door
There was a knock. And then another. Kaela frowned, and finally opened the door. "Ah...Alexis? What are you-"
"Where is he?"
"Where is who-Oh Warp? I don't know. What happened?"
"You mean what this time? I don't know. All I know is Prowl is looking for him,and I think he has murder on the mind."
"You make it sound like that never happens." Mikaela laughed.
"I wish it didn't."
"Good luck with that. He's probably with Screwdriver and the Twins."
"Dear lord, I hope not."
58. enemy gate
The first time rolling into the Autobots' base the gatehouse made him nervous. It was not so much that he was fearful of the Autobots. Not that he worried for Mikaela. It was ingrained after thousands of years of being at war. He wasn't sure if he would ever be comfortable with it. All he could do was try, and he was more than willing to do so for her.
59. stone
Mikaela grabbed a flat stone and threw it across the lake's flat surface. It skipped once, twice, three times before sinking out of sight. She picked up another and did the same, and smiled faintly.
"You okay?" Barricade asked from further up the shoreline.
"Yes." she said, grabbing another flat stone. It was oddly relaxing. "Just worried. That's all."
"About?"
"Sam, mostly, I guess."
The mech sighed, "He is nothing but trouble."
"I know. Don't I know."
60. bright
Mikaela squinted her eyes, looking across the expanse of desert. The sun beat down harsh and brightly. She glanced at Cade's alt form and wondered, not for the first time, how he could stand it. His plating was hot enough to burn her fingers. Yet, he would fall into recharge given half the chance.
61. stories
Mikaela sat back and watched the sparklings clamour over Barricade. She was surprised at first when he offered to help her with her spark-sitting gig. She was still more surprised with how well they took to him. Amused by their chatter and more amused by how animated he became as he told them stories of Cybertron.
62. chime
Mikaela listened to the chime, and frowned. The installation of a doorbell was brilliant. Then again, everyone was tired of walking in on them. Mikaela was REALLY tired of it.
"Come in," she yelled.
Bee peaked inside. "Oh, it is safe, great."
Mikaela just rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like that is all we do."
"Isn't it?"
"That, my dear Goldenbug, is like the pot calling the kettle black."
"I don't even know what it means."
"Not my problem, Bug."
63. laugh
Mikaela held the sparkling, rocking it. She was still amazed with how small they were at the start. So very small. She smiled down at Bliss, and the little seekerling smiled back, and giggled. Her laughter was like music to Kaela's ears.
Cade's holoform leaned over her shoulder, "Hey, beautiful," he smiled at Bliss, making the sparkling let out another peel of laughter. "She is so perfect."
"She is." Mikaela agreed. "She really is."
64. hold
"Does if hurt?" Mikaela asked, as she watched Ratchet work. She held on tightly to the finger nearest to her. Cursing their differences for once.
Ratchet sanded down the first of the brandmarks on his arm. "It doesn't feel good." Barricade admitted.
"You said you wanted to be awake." Ratchet said, and wondered if the mech had changed his mind.
"I do." Barricade said, his eyes on Mikaela. It was the last threads of his old life, and he needed to be awake to see them go.
Mikaela's lips curled into a smile, she just wished she could hold on to him.