A/N: Vorn = 28 Stellar Cycles/Years
Chapter 3: Anxiety
Only a vorn. If the fighting stayed south of our post for one more vorn we could have stayed together.
I tossed fitfully in my recharge.
The night I had to say goodbye to my Jackie was the worst of my very long life. Well maybe not THE worst, but definitely way horrible. When I think of Wheeljack, I think of his sleek white paint job. And the intrinsic red and green marks he added every time he fixed his paint. And his audio receptors blinking in time with his snores. Yes I was going to miss my little blinky keeping me up all night, fascinated by his lights.
The decaorn before my caring Jackie was sent away, we would sit up together, just listening to the bombing runs get ever closer. Wheeljack's maternal instincts (the gestational protection programs) kept him rolled into a ball on the berth, trying to protect his spark and sparkling. I always tried to make him feel better, but no matter how much I played with his winglets, or lovingly stroked his audio receptors, the most I could get him to do was move his huddled mass into my lap.
A comfortable mass pressed into my side. I reached out for it without bothering to come fully out of recharge, holding it close. I reached up to play with the audio horns I remembered so fondly. This bot did not have horizontal audio horns. This is not my beautiful Jackie. Even so, a memory came to the forefront of my mind before I could panic.
"If you have any problems, come see me. Even in the middle of the night."
"Ok." I gave the young bot a warm hug.
"Now off to berth you go. You need a good recharge."
Of course. The bot at my side was Bluestreak. I stroked his cheek, and he stiffened. "Hello Bluestreak." He relaxed into me with a half hearted smile.
"Hey Doc."
"What's wrong kid?"
"Nightmares." He said simply.
"Need someone to hold you and tell you it's alright?"
"Something like that." He bit his lip. It looked as though he had something else to say, so I just held him closer. He took an audibly shaky in cycle. "Doc, you know that you and Wheeljack are like a second set of creators to me, right?" I whispered my answer into his audio receptor.
"Of course." He shivered.
"Well, if I'm going through all this when one of you leaves, to go home no less, how must my creators feel? With me off to war and all that?"
"They're very worried by now I'm sure." He cut me off.
"By now? You mean they probably weren't worried before?"
"There's still the news kid. I'm sure there's some sort of report on where the frontline is. And they probably have a general idea where you are, so... Put two and two together, you weren't near the frontline before, and now you are..."
"Least there's only a few more stellar cycles before we get rotated home..." His voice trailed off, before catching the next train. "Doc, are you worried about Wheeljack?"
"Always."
"More now or when he was here with you?"
"More now," I confessed, "Much more now."
"Why? Now he's away from the fighting."
I nodded, conceding to that point. "But that's never what I worried about most." I took a shaky in cycle, "What I was most concerned about was his experiments. Some of my worst nightmares are centered around one of his inventions going haywire and blowing him to bits, or hacking at his spark chamber. Also I was here with him. I can fix him up when he's with me." I shivered at the thought. He slipped his servo into mine. Mine being nearly numb now, it spread pins and needles up my arm. "Here's the deal kid. We both need recharge. You can recharge here or in your own berth, I don't really care. Just get some recharge." Actually, I do care. I don't want him to move a micrometer. More for my comfort than his, I must admit. Though he seems to feel the same.
"I'd rather recharge here. If you don't mind, anyway." I pressed him to my chassis in response. I love his helm resting comfortably on my arm, even if it means I'll have to fix my wiring in the morning. It's been too long since my beloved Wheeljack has recharged beside me. I need his weight against me, I need... more than that... I need my Blinky.
A/N: Thanks for reading, please review. I know more than Ravenspark and Guest 117 have read and have an opinion about my story. I would love to hear what you ALL think!
