Just another crazy thing that came into my head a little while ago. I hope you enjoy it!
This takes place sometime around the episodes 'New Recruit' and 'Human Factor'.
June, being a nurse, and a single mother, tends to worry too much whenever Jack is involved; especially when he's involved in an alien war. But, after she decides to casually drop by the base, just to check on her son, Mrs. Darby realizes that there is another 'single parent' looking after the teenager and his friends...
Warning: English isn't my mother language, so there might be some grammar mistakes in here.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers Prime, nor its characters. It is a registered trademark of Hasbro.
MY JOB NEVER ENDS
A revving engine made June Darby jolt in her bed, before realizing what just happened. "Arcee…" She thought, sighing to calm down her heartbeat, and passing a hand through her tangled hair. At the lack of response, the Autobot that the single mother had on her garage honked her horn; and, in no time, the woman heard her son falling off his bed, while assuring his guardian that he was up. Just another normal Saturday morning at the Darbys' place since the blue two-wheeler appeared in their lives…
The nurse chuckled and slid her legs off her covers. "Too silent next door…" June thought, walking out of her bedroom. The woman knew her son well enough to tell that Jack was probably asleep again ―only that on the floor instead of the mattress. It wouldn't be the first time… When he was little, he hated to be waken up in the mornings to attend school. Plenty times, June ended up literally dragging him into the car so he wouldn't miss his classes ―let's not even mention the wars they held when it was time to visit the doctor…
Shaking her head amusedly at the memories, the nurse knocked at her child's bedroom's door while softly calling for him. Since there was no response, she opened it and walked inside. Of course that the place was a mess… Jack was a teenager, he tended to be messy with his stuff; but, the moment June almost tripped over a t-shirt that was lying around, her mother voice came out.
"Jackson Samuel Darby!" She called.
"M-mom! W-w-what…?!" Like magic, he was fully awake, only to find himself on his room's wooden floor, and wondering how the scrap did he get there.
"Look at your room!" The adult woman kept going, while gesturing to the surroundings, where the furniture and floor were covered in clothes that accumulated over the week; not to mention the CDs that were spread out on the corner, near the small TV that Jack had on his room… plus some forgotten soda cups and, maybe, some chinese food and pizza boxes. "I believe I told you to clean this up yesterday."
"But, mom…! I came back late yesterday! I went to school, then my job, and then the bots had this battle over an Energon mine; and Arcee…!"
"Don't mingle me in your problems, partner!" The Autobot's voice rang in the distance, making both humans look in the garage's direction.
"Ratchet had to scan her all over, 'cuz she got caught in crossfire. We couldn't leave until almost midnight!" Jack kept justifying himself.
"Well, now you're not leaving your room until it's clean." June retorted, crossing her arms and frowning, before turn on her heels to leave. "If you want to go with the bots today, I suggest you to start right now." She added before disappear from the room, right on time to hear Jack groaning in the background.
Of course her son did clean up his room as fast as he could, so he could go with his guardian. June sighed at the memory of her teenage son, leaving in company of an eight feet large alien, towards a former silo that was filled with even larger beings.
And Jack didn't want her to worry…
As careful as the bots were around the kids, they were still soldiers fighting a war; what if something went wrong? What if one of the children got hurt? She was aware that Bulkhead had trouble making Miko stay put at the base whenever he was called into battle. What if the next time was the time? Besides, Jack mentioned something about a new bot, some hyperactive rookie called Smokescreen, who was yet adapting to the team's ways. What if he, by mistake of course, ended up hurting the kids?
No, no… She shouldn't think like that. They were fine. After all, Optimus wouldn't allow the kids to get hurt. "Although… A quick visit wouldn't hurt, right?" She ended up thinking, while attending some patients.
Later, almost at sunset, June found herself driving toward the old silo. The road, as usual, was empty; the gate opened as the proximity sensor went active, and the large tunnel that connected to the control room as perfectly illuminated by the giant ceiling lights, while the floor was decorated with tire-marks. However there was something unusual that day: even from the entrance, she was able to hear half dozen of voices mixed up. "Wait, are those… the bots?" Indeed, when she exited the tunnel, the first thing she saw was the whole team engaged in a heated argument. Everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs, while gesturing frantically.
Almost incapable to believe it, June went to the children's area looking for her son, who was sitting on the couch with Rafael ―Miko was too busy recording the whole fight. Still startled, she walked up to the two boys.
"Oh! Hey, mom!" Jack greeted her happily, while pausing their videogame.
"Hello, Mrs. Darby!" Rafael said, waving at her.
"Hi. Um… What's… going on over there?" She asked, pointing at the arguing aliens.
"Well… Bulkhead was refusing to keep going with his therapy exercises; so Smokescreen wanted to help, but said something that might've been out of place. So, Bulk pounced on Smokey, and Bumblebee got in between, trying to stop the fight; which resulted in him almost getting crushed by the other two. Then, Arcee tried to rescue Bee from being turned into a tortilla, but all she got was a punch to the tank; and, that's pretty much how she ended up joining the fight. At some point Ratchet returned from the storage room, complaining for the noise; that's when he saw the fight and tried to split the others up. Now it's a Bulkhead vs. Smokescreen vs. Arcee vs. Ratchet." The older teenager tried to explain, while scratching his head.
"And Bumblebee?" June wondered.
"He's still trapped in between…" Rafael admitted, feeling bad for his guardian, especially because he couldn't help him.
"And Optimus?" The woman asked, looking around.
"He's out on patrol."
The shouts were starting to become even louder, meaning that the fight was about to become worse; so, by instinct, June started to tell the kids that they needed to get out of the base before things escalated any further. In fact, it looked like some of the bots were about to grab their weapons when…
"ENOUGH!" A deep, baritone voice overcame the ones of the team and echoed through the compounds.
And, finally, the room was filled by deafening silence.
There, standing at the base's entrance, was Optimus Prime; and, despite of him being known for keeping his emotions in check, there was no question that he seemed immensely pissed… if not a little disappointed. But the frown in his face seemed to do the trick, as the whole team lowered its head in clear shame for their immature behavior.
The Prime let out a sigh.
"Ratchet, return to your duties." He ordered, and the medic hurried to his workstation under the red and blue bot's intense watch. "Arcee, patrol." The femme walked up to the exit, muttering an apology as Optimus moved so she could leave. "Smokescreen, Bumblebee, training room." Before the new recruit could even think of an excuse for what happened, the scout grabbed him by the arm and dragged his teammate toward the back. "Bulkhead, street duty."
"What?!" The Wrecker jerked, protesting. It was a rookie's assignment! "But, I…!"
"If you're in conditions to participate in a fight, then you're in conditions to resume duty." Optimus interrupted him, crossing his arms and straightening his back to stress his dominance.
Unnoticed to the team, June's eyes widened in recognition. She had to bite her lip not to laugh.
Sighing, the green mech limped towards the exit before transform into his vehicle mode and roll out.
Within seconds, the base was back to normal. Only then, the Autobots' leader realized that they had one more human within their compounds that day; so, recovering his polite kind eyes, he greeted June, while apologizing for his team's behavior. Also, he asked the children if the three of them were unharmed, and a sincere smile made its way towards his face when Jack and the others assured him that they were fine.
One last nod of approval, and Optimus excused himself before disappearing in the back rooms. Rafael mentioned that the training room was that way, meaning that he was going to check on the Elite Guard and the scout.
"Wow… I think this is the first time I see the Big Guy acting like that…" Miko commented, while saving the footage she got during the fight.
"Well, it's the first time he surprises the team behaving like this." Jack shrugged.
June on the other hand was trying her best not to laugh, for she recognized that kind of look and behavior far too well… "Optimus Prime… Part-time job: military chief. Full-time job: single father of five." She thought, chuckling a little bit.
Let's just say that all her worries vanished, knowing that her son was in company of, at least, one responsible adult…
Whenever the bots and/or the children says that the team has become a family, I pretty much imagine Optimus enduring situations such as this one, given that he would most certainly be the 'father'.
A/N [added like half hour after publishing]: I do not know why, but I decided to give Jack a middle name... It just suits him. *Shrugs*
Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!
See ya!