Maelstrom Chapter 24
Unicron PART D
Author's note: This story is part of a LONG series called Maelstrom. It is strictly Gen. 1 - sorry, but that was all that was out when I started writing back in the late 1980's. It began as a fan-publication so the first chapters are in the form of a comic book! If you have not read the nine original Maelstrom Comics and the preceding text stories, I strongly suggest you do. This is a complex universe. They can be found at http// illmatar. deviantart. com (I have put double spaces between the URL here or FF . Net eats the link.) The comics and art which accompanies this series are there...and believe me I am a better artist than writer.
This scene contains strong language and Dubious Humor. IT CONTAINS SOME MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS BETWEEN CHARACTERS BUT IS GENERALLY A FLUFF SCENE.
Most chapters of this series contain strong language and violence. Rated M for adult themes! Really! Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Critiques adored!
Maelstrom Chapter 25 Unicron: PART D
Lancer returned late that evening with KC, and was pleased to see Marissa looking and acting a little more like herself. She had her hair tied back in a simple pony-tail, and the place was still clean. The radio was on and playing, but not too loud. There was a bowl of chocolate pudding on the coffee table next to Magnus, and a nearly empty bottle of tabasco sauce. She had him dressed in boxer shorts and a robe. She greeted them with a faint, but real smile.
"How's it going?" Lancer said, giving her a hug.
"Better, I guess. I'm handling it a little better at least. Come on in KC, don't be such a stranger."
"Rodi sends his regrets. Bullshit happened, as usual. I'm supposed to fuck-up your hair but as far as I'm concerned, if he thinks that's cute, he can do it himself!" Lancer's voice held a mixture of loving amusement and exasperation.
Marissa grinned a little. "Thanks. There's a massive hair clog in my drain with his name on it, and I intend to take it out on his hide."
"Ooo! Can I stay and watch? Oo! Oo! Can I HELP?!" Lancer said, with sadistic glee.
"Sure!" Marissa smiled, comforted somehow by the fact she could still act like an idiot. Lancer smiled too, but KC didn't. The poor girl looked ready to cry. She was staring from Magnus to Marissa, and blinking rapidly.
"KC?" Marissa asked.
"I...I'm sorry Marissa," she said, choking. Somehow Marissa knew this was an apology rather than just sympathy.
"For what?"
"For l..letting Unicron knock me out. He kn..knew I could trap him and anyone he possessed. I felt it when he attacked me. If...if I'd been stronger maybe...maybe...." She turned her back on them abruptly and stood staring at the ceiling with her fists clenched. She turned back again before either of the surprised women could say anything. The tears still shone, but didn't fall. "I'm just so angry with myself, that's all. My first mission with you guys and I fuck it up! And now Magnus is...is..." She trailed off again, flushed with frustration and not knowing how to finish.
"Is a little more responsive than he was yesterday," Marissa finished for her. "It's not your fault KC. None of us knew what to do. He'll be OK."
"He's better?" Lancer said, stepping up to the couch and kneeling down in front of him again, her eyes white and scanning. "Hmmm...Things do look a little more... organized. What have you been doing?"
"Well, I thought about what you said, and decided if things were in such disarray INSIDE then I'd better kept things simple out here instead of trying to hit him with everything at once. The cacophony I started with yesterday was leaving my head a jumble. I'm trying to play songs he knows, stuff like that. There's not many of those but I'm getting more consistent responses now."
"Have you gotten him to look at you?" Lancer asked, still staring into those vacant eyes.
"Once, I think. For a moment." Marissa said.
"Really? How?" KC asked.
There was a very long pause. Lancer looked up at Marissa, who had her hand over her face and then at a very confused looking KC. Marissa dropped her hand, opened her mouth, and then hid her face again.
"Ahh," Lancer said. "I was wondering if I should have suggested that this morning, but I see you thought of it on your own."
Marissa dropped her hand again and glared suspiciously at Lancer, unsure of whether she was being ridiculed or not. Lancer seemed quite sincere. KC, still somehow revering her superiors as completely professional and therefore asexual beings, hadn't quite caught on yet.
"What?" she asked.
Marissa turned to her, opened her mouth and put out her hand to speak, and then flushed.
KC's eyes widened. "Oh," she said, blushing also.
Lancer smiled, "I'm surprised at you Marissa. You're the one who grabbed him by the nuts at the mall when he wasn't cooperating trying things on!"
Marissa sighed, and flopped down on the couch next to her silent mate. "I know. I...I guess it's just because...well. It was so strange, and I felt so..so perverse doing it."
"He responded though."
"Well, his body did anyway and I did get that one look out of him, but it was almost..." she sighed, and shook her head. "It was like making love to an inanimate object. Like he was one of those dolls people buy. I couldn't bring myself to do it more than once but when it was over, for just one second, he looked at me. And I had this thought that... that maybe he even knew who I was."
"Maybe you should try it again," KC said, and then covered her mouth with her hand, as if she couldn't believe what she just said. Marissa couldn't help but smile at her a little.
"Well, it worked for Rodimus," Lancer said with a faintly smug smile.
"Rodimus?" Marissa said, "You mean after he was tortured? You never said anything before."
"Yeah, well. I was never sure I did the right thing before. It worked, but I thought maybe that was part of what made our link unbreakable."
"Rodimus was catatonic?" KC asked.
"More like apathetic. Sometimes I think he was truly catatonic especially at first, but later on it wasn't that he didn't know who or where he was, he just didn't give a shit. If I had left him to die, it would have been hunky-dorrey with him."
"Sex changed that?" Marissa mused.
"Let's just say it was the final step. There was also a lot of screaming and ass-kicking to go around."
Marissa looked thoughtful and smiled a little to herself. "Someday, when this is over, you are going to have to tell me everything."
Lancer smiled and felt Rodimus' frantic protests in the back of her mind. "It's a deal."
"Rodimus doesn't mind?" KC asked in disbelief.
"Of course he minds! So what? I can gossip about my mate if I want to. The only difference between me and any other woman is that he ends up hearing what I've said through the link. The way I see it he has an advantage over other men, not some right to deny me the pleasure of talking about him behind his back!"
"Lancer you're impossible," Marissa said.
"But...but....." KC said, "You can't just...just ignore his wishes that way. He's a PRIME."
"No he's not. He's Rodi! At least to me he's Rodi. The man I potty trained. The man I force fed for months. He's my friend, my lover, and a great big pain in the ass. The one thing he is not is my superior. You need to start thinking of him that way too, KC. With the possible exception of the lover part." Lancer leered a little.
KC shook her head. "I can't get used to this."
"You will eventually," Marissa said, picking up Magnus' hand and lacing her fingers into it. His hand tightened around hers and KC looked up in hopeful surprise.
"It always does that," Marissa said, shaking her head at KC's excitement.
"You're getting some kind of feedback though," Lancer said. "He feels it, a least a little."
"Really?" Marissa asked, now mirroring KC's enthusiasm. She looked into Magnus' eyes and tried not to be disappointed when she saw no recognition. She sank back into the couch, and sighed.
"Be patient, Marissa. I think you've made remarkable progress already. Give him time."
"I know. I've just never been very good at waiting." She sighed again, trying to dissolve the lump which threatened to close off her throat. "You want to know the worst part? The worst part is I need him to help me cope with this. I need him to hold me and tell me it's going to be fine. When did I stop being self-reliant? When did I start to NEED him?"
Lancer patted her knee and stood up. "Probably the same exact instant you fell in love with him. We are leaving. Call whenever for whatever, you got that?"
"You told me that yesterday." Marissa said.
"And I'm telling you again today. I'll tell you again tomorrow too because I know for a fact you have no intention of calling me for anything."
"You may be surprised," Marissa said with resignation.
"Good. Come on KC."
"Bye Marissa. Good luck!" KC said, as Lancer swiftly took her by the hand out the door.
"Well, that was abrupt!" Marissa said. "OK, Big Guy. You stink. Let's go for that shower, shall we?" She was somewhat encouraged by the fact Lancer had been thinking of suggesting sex. It made her feel a little less like some kind of rapist, although she had to concentrate hard to keep from imagining what her mother would say.
X
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X
She led him to the bathroom, undressed him, and stood him in front of the toilet. She was grateful that at least she didn't have to put him in diapers but wondered what was in there prompting him to use it. On a hunch, she removed the picture she had hanging over the toilet and was not surprised when he stopped. She sighed, and returned the picture to the wall. He was like an amoeba, responding to certain stimuli out of instinct, and as soon as the picture was back in his line of vision he began urinating again.
Undaunted, she waited for him to finish, and then guided him towards the shower. She stood there a long moment trying to figure out how she was going to get him into the tub without tipping him over. She wasn't sure he would balance himself if she lifted his legs one at a time, and there was sure no way she could just lift him! She smiled grimly to herself and opened the curtain. Lifting his left arm, she placed it palm flat against the wall. Then she started with his right leg. As expected, his stiff arm kept him from falling as she struggled to get his heavy limb over the high sides of her tub. It was the first time she'd ever regretted not having a simple shower stall.
"OK Mags! Left arm down! Right arm up! Hey! It's aerobics! Oooff! Left.. leg... up... aaand OVER! Ungh! Shit! That's tough to move! Right arm down! Water on! No that's too cold! It takes forever for this thing to adjust! You promised to take care of that for me! You said you were going to knock some heads and get this stuff running efficiently! You getting soft in your old age? OK. It's finally ready. Shower on! Here we go! And...OOH!"
Marissa turned around and happened to glance at Magnus' face, not really expecting to find anything.
He was looking at her. He was looking AT her!
"Magnus?! Magnus?!" she cried. She threw herself against his body. He twitched, but didn't move to touch her, and his eyes showed no real recognition - just a vague confusion. The water splattered up to his face occasionally, and he blinked. He blinked again when she touched his face.
"Magnus?" she whispered, running her shaking fingers over his chin and up the side of his jaw. "Magnus?" she cried again. "Can you answer me? Do you know who I am?" He followed her with his eyes a minute more.
Then he was gone again.
She called to him a few more times, brushing her fingers all over his bland face and kissing him desperately. "Magnus," she finally moaned in defeat, her arms wrapped loosely around his neck, the top of her head bowed to rest against his chest. She might as well have been leaning on a tree. Why did this make her feel worse? Why couldn't she take it as a good sign?
"You're such a stubborn bastard," she finally said. "Oh shit. Forgot the wash-cloths." Out she went to the linen closet, leaving a trail of wet foot prints on the wood. Special privilege. Having a wood floor on Cybertron. Came from having friends in high places. Lucky girl, that Marissa. Back into the shower with the now literal pillar of his community. Pour on the soap and get scrubbing. Oo looky! An erection! Well, some of the synapses are still firing anyway. Better wash that too. Mr. City Commander may still use the bathroom like a pro, but he wasn't too careful about cleaning up after now was he?
Marissa looked up at his face again. Nothing.
"Great. You sure know how to make a girl feel special Mags," she said facetiously. It bothered her to have to do this to him, but she wanted him back. At least yesterday there had been that moment he seemed to have KNOWN her. It hadn't lasted as long as today's little awakening, but it had seemed more real. Like HE had been there. She would do whatever it took to make that permanent.
But what should that be exactly? Did it matter? What gave him the most pleasure anyway? Her mouth? Her body on his? She didn't know. She'd never asked him. Why hadn't she ever asked him?! She tried to think back, but she still didn't know how to judge. She'd been content to know she'd pleased him and that he pleased her. She thought back on the last time they'd been together. It had been right here in the shower, just after the party. Magnus couldn't get everyone out the door fast enough. She'd mumbled about two seconds of protest around the kiss he'd given her right there at the door. Something about the dishes needing done. His hands on her breasts had convinced her the dishes could wait. The next thing she'd known they were at the shower, having managed to strip each other on the way without ever breaking their kiss. She'd fumbled for the faucets one handed while the other was...occupied. It had been Magnus' turn to mumble complaints while she'd gnawed on his lips and fought with the temperature. He'd cursed the incompetent bastards who'd installed the water system and vowed to make them suffer. The instant she'd had it ready they were inside, the water making their bodies slick. His hands had seemed to be everywhere, and she pushed him (with his compliance) against the back wall, and straddled him. He'd held her aloft while she drove herself into a frenzy on his shaft, groaning and smiling when she came, and then he'd turned around, put HER back to the wall, and ridden her hard....
Suddenly back in the present, she wondered if she should try to recreate that experience for him. The thought left her cold. She didn't want to, not for her own sake anyway. A few days ago, the water had seemed like an incredible aphrodisiac. Now it was just a shower. As for his erection.. well.
"I guess this lays to rest any doubts I only love you for your body, Magnus. I love you. I want YOU. You've got a gorgeous body but I don't care if you aren't with me. Come back to me." She took his penis in her hands, and used the washcloth to stimulate it, keeping her eyes locked on his face the whole time as she had the night before. It was the same as the previous night. His body twitched occasionally, but he showed no overt signs of pleasure. He was silent, unheard of for him. His face remained still right up to the point of orgasm. Just before he came, his eyes shut, his back arched a little, and then he ejaculated.
Marissa's eyes jerked down to the semen that stained the cloth in her hands. She should have mounted him! She should have taken that into herself! Maybe she could have gotten pregnant so that if he never came back she could still have a part of him.... She had a flare of painful insight. She knew now why in spite of all the pain and fear Lancer suffered being pregnant alone that she had been unable to abort that baby... She understood their agony now. Their minds so close, but unable to touch.... There, but not there! She shuddered, and fell to her knees. She didn't want to understand them! Not like this!
She heard a faint moan, and thought it was herself. Then his hand touched the back of her neck. She was too startled to even scream. She turned her eyes slowly upward. Another false alarm, surely. His eyes met hers when she finally got them up to his face.
"Mm..Ma..riss..ssa," he whispered.
"Magnus..?" she said, feeling her blood-pressure drop as she stood. There was no hysterical excitement this time. Just fear, and a sad certainty this wouldn't last. They were like people on separate little boats...drifting close enough to touch now and then, but soon to drift apart. She took his hands and held tight.
"W..what....?" Magnus whispered. His voice sounded so far away.
"Don't you remember? Do you know who I am?"
"Yes....no."
"Magnus? Magnus? Do you know who I am?" Her calm voice shocked her.
He said something that might have been her name, but faded off before he finished.
She wrapped her arms around him. "I miss you," she whispered soundlessly. It didn't matter. He wouldn't hear her anyway.
That night, when she managed to arouse him again, she rode him until he came within her. She felt nothing though and he didn't snap out of it. Not even for a minute.
X
X
X
Her life took on a certain regularity. Long periods of fighting to bring him around, punctuated with a few brief occasions of success - giving her just enough hope to really hurt.
Lancer, Rodimus, Jazz, and KC visited as often as they could. They brought her meals she often forgot to eat, until even Rodimus was chastising her about it. They bought her new bottles of tabasco sauce. Jazz showed off for her. KC chattered off the latest news and gossip from EDC and Marissa knew this took special effort on KC's part since she usually secluded herself from such things in Perceptor's lab. Rodimus would be all concerned attention for her one minute, and insulting "Major General Mags" the next. He and Jazz must have stayed up all night coming up with some of the things they taunted her mate with. Once they even got a brief, surly glare from their catatonic victim. It only spurred them to new heights. Lancer scanned Magnus regularly, and claimed things were settling down. She was forced to admit though (after an increasingly cynical Marissa hounded her about it) that she didn't know if that meant he was improving or leaving them altogether.
Elita and Optimus had paid a few awkward visits, but somehow she sensed that the fact they hadn't been there left a gulf that couldn't be breached that wasn't there with the others who had been present. She couldn't describe Unicron's horrendous mental intrusion to Elita and Optimus; and with those that had been there she didn't need to. It was the same with Spike and Carli, her long time friends, and yet their words of comfort seemed so hollow, in spite of the fact that those words were nearly identical to what KC and Lancer often told her. Spike and Carli meant well and they tried to understand, but they didn't KNOW. Acree and Springer came by a couple of times, but they seemed so lost and confused Marissa felt like she needed to be consoling them. She wondered if she looked so miserable when she looked at the motionless form of their City Commander.
Her parents called from Earth more and more frequently, first asking, then demanding to know what was wrong.
What could she tell them? They didn't know about Ultra Magnus, not as her lover anyway. She couldn't tell them she was sleeping with an Autobot, now a catatonic, probably dying Autobot, and that she was making every effort to get pregnant by him. She couldn't deal with the fall out. She just blandly repeated that nothing was wrong, not even caring that they didn't believe her. Rodimus made sure that when they used their connections to check on her that the records showed her still on duty as usual. She supposed she should be grateful but it was getting harder and harder to care.
Magnus hadn't spoken to her since the shower and she was starting to seriously believe she'd dreamt the whole thing. Even if she hadn't, it was probably just another reflexive response to call her name when he came, just like he would urinate if you put him in front of the toilet. Force of habit, nothing more. She was starting, just a little, to hate him for it.
To be honest, she was also starting to feel like she was about to join him. Her quarters had become an isolation tank of a kind, and she found she didn't much care. Her hopes had been raised and dropped, raised and dropped so frequently that it seemed much more sensible to not even hope.
Rodimus apparently found this attitude even more upsetting than Magnus' condition.
"He WILL be back Marissa, and he's going to need you there when it happens." Rodimus said one night. It was almost three weeks since she'd shut her shades on the moon.
"Sure. He'll be back." She sounded listless even to herself.
"I had to let Lancer go off to die before I got her back Marissa. I had to wait all this time for her to really accept US. It was worth it. SHE is worth it. Magnus deserves his time to heal too! He deserves you to wait for him a little longer than a few weeks."
Marissa hadn't answered Rodimus. He was right. She knew he was right and she did make the effort. It was just hard crying herself to sleep in the arms of the man she loved every night, wishing, just once, that they would close around her.
Some days she even managed to be cheerful, talking to Magnus as if he could hear her and teasing him the way Jazz and Rodimus did. The music played, she sang along, took his hands, and danced in front of him. She did stupid things to keep busy. She tried all the recipes people had given to her when she left for the academy that she'd never looked at since. One even got a bigger expression of disgust out of Magnus than the tabasco sauce. Figures it was one of the few she actually liked. She gave him lots of it. Then she rearranged everything in her rooms so efficiently that the Major General himself couldn't have surpassed it, although she did dare him to try. They watched a lot of TV together until Marissa decided it was probably making things worse.
Through it all, Magnus would flirt with consciousness a dozen times a day and then vanish into whatever hell he was inhabiting. Maybe that was why she felt such anguish every time he came around. The look in his eyes was always that of hopeless suffering. Somewhere within that skull Ultra Magnus was trapped in some terrible cycle of pain. It made her crazy. The ticking of the clock became a form of torture on its own. On at least two occasions she'd taken her laser and stood before him - her arm stretched to its fullest extent with the sights between his eyes.
"Do it!" his vacant eyes seemed to tell her. "Do it! Blow the back of my head off and let me out of here! Set me free!"
They'd find her body next to his, if only she could just squeeze that finger a little tighter......
In the end though, Rodi's words always came back to her. "Magnus deserves his time to heal too!" He did deserve it. He deserved a chance. But what if he didn't want it? What then?
She always ended up curled up around her gun, sobbing and quaking with indecision.
X
X
X
Finally, in the fifth week, he spoke again.
"I'm thirsty," he said.
Marissa screamed. She'd been changing his shorts to get him ready for bed, and the strange voice in the room had taken her completely off guard.
"I'm thirsty," he repeated. At the moment, he didn't remember anything that had happened, but it was vitally important to him to convey that message. His tongue was rubber, and he felt very ill over all.
"Magnus? Magnus can you hear me? Do you know who I am?" Marissa asked. Now why the hell was she crying?
"Marissa? I'm thirsty." That seemed simple enough to understand. He was obviously sick. His limbs felt like solid lead.
"Magnus? You DO know me! Oh! Thank God!" She threw her arms around his neck. Very nice, but that wasn't what he wanted from her. Obviously they were having trouble communicating.
"I'm thirsty."
"You're thirsty? You are? You are! That's wonderful!" Marissa said, smiling and crying all at once. Someone around here plainly needed a vacation.
"I'm thirsty." It took real effort to put those two words together, couldn't she see that? Didn't she know he was sick?
"I'll go get you some water. D..Don't go away! Promise me! Don't go away!" she said, scurrying backwards towards the bathroom, without taking her eyes off of him. Where the hell was he going to go? He could hardly move. What had happened to him anyway? The last thing he remembered clearly was the party...and something about Lancer....Lancer and the moon....
Marissa rushed back into her room and froze. The glass fell unheeded from her fingers. He had left her. He had left her again.
"no. NoNoNONONO!!!" She started screaming the word over and over. "NO! You bastard! YOUGODDAMNEDFUCKING AUTOBOT ASSHOLE! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!" She rushed him with an incoherent shriek and started pounding on his immobile knees, his arms, and his chest. Screaming and crying hysterically, she didn't notice when her flailing arms connected with his nose and lips, bloodying both slightly.
She did notice when he caught her hands.
"Marissa? You've really lost it!"
"Oh you BASTARD!" she roared. Her hands pulled free and he had a stunning vision of her as she drew her right fist back.
Nice form he thought, even as her knuckles torpedoed straight for his face.
She had her hands over her mouth in purest shock by the time he hit the bed. He lay there a moment, looking at the ceiling, and tasting the blood in his mouth. Some of his front teeth were a little loose, but it was admiration which held him speechless. What a hit! How did she get a hit like that out of that cute little body? It didn't seem possible! It also didn't seem possible that one person could laugh and cry hysterically all at the same time, but then Marissa was an exceptional person.
"Marissa?" Magnus said, sitting up VERY carefully. "Why..why did you hit me?"
"Do you have any idea of what you've put me through you asshole? Do you have any idea?! And you..you accuse ME of losing it! Of course I'm losing it! I love you you bastard, and you're breaking my heart!"
He looked at her in innocent confusion.
"You don't remember anything?" she asked, sitting beside him on the bed and taking his hand. He didn't know why she should stare so hard at his fingers as they curled around hers automatically. He didn't know why she was crying. He shook his head uncertainly.
"I don't know if I should remind you," she said nervously.
"Have I been sick?" Magnus asked.
"You...you were..hurt," Marissa said. "Badly, badly hurt."
"Where?" he said, looking down at his body. He felt sluggish but no pain except for where she'd hit him.
She hesitated. "Here," she said finally, touching his temple.
"I got hit on the head? Did Rodi do it?"
"No! Of course Rodi didn't do it!" Marissa said with a half laugh. She knew he wasn't serious. "And you didn't get hit ON the head....You got hit..in your head."
"IN my head?" Magnus asked, a little amused, but also suddenly frightened. Something was rising in him. Some memory. Slowly coming to the surface like a pale white corpse in dark water. His mouth opened to ask what she was talking about and remained open in a perfect O of horror.
"Magnus? MAGNUS!" Marissa cried, although he could barely hear her over his own screams. He wailed in anguish as he relived, in totality, Unicron's violating invasion. Curling up on his side he screamed and screamed, vocalizing all the terror he had felt but been unable to release when Unicron had control of his body.
"NO! Magnus! I'm sorry! Magnus I'm here! Please! PLEASE don't leave me again! Magnus! I'm here! I'm here!" She had her arms around his quaking body as far as they would go. She sobbed with him, rocked him, and covered his face with kisses. "I love you. Let me help you! Let me be WITH you! Don't leave me behind again!" She went on and on that way while he let the pain out in a violent rush. It wasn't long before his body, long in disuse, exhausted itself on his terror. He let her hold him the whole time while he tried to cope with what had happened to him. He stared into space, trying to make sense of it all. This terrified Marissa.
"Magnus!" she cried, disengaging and scrambling to the floor to stare into his eyes. "MAGNUS! Oh, answer me PLEASE!"
"Marissa...Unicron....he...he"
"He's dead Magnus! You defeated him! You threw him out! And Rodimus and Lancer destroyed him for good! Do you remember that?"
"No..yes. I'm not sure. Everything's so confused." He looked at her and wept silently, not moving out of the fetal position he had taken.
"I know. I know. Lancer said it would be. She said Unicron stirred up your memories and that it would take a while for them to settle." Marissa tried to sound reassuring.
"I feel so weak."
"You've been catatonic for over a month now." Marissa told him.
Magnus stared at her. That wasn't what he'd meant but the news shocked him. "A month?" he whispered, his eyes dilating. "A month!"
She nodded and sniffled, unconsciously wiping her nose with the back of her hand like a child. She looked utterly vulnerable in that instant - a forlorn, fragile young girl with eyes entirely too big for her thin, pale face.
"Oh. Oh no, Marissa. I'm sorry." Magnus said, and she leaned forward to rest her forehead next to his on the bed. He put his arm over her shoulder, and she wrapped hers around him again. He felt her shaking with silent tears and felt guilty somehow in having put her through this. It wasn't right that she should suffer because he didn't know how to defend himself. He had to do something to reassure her so that she wouldn't have to worry anymore.
"It will be alright Marissa," he said. "Everything will be fine." He didn't believe it either , but he was still surprised when this undid her completely. She sobbed, and choked, and laughed aloud, and the tremors in her body increased by a factor of ten. For crying out loud, he knew it was a lame reassurance but this was ridiculous! He sat up a little in her arms with a clear expression of consternation.
She leaned back on her knees and wiped her nose with her arm again. She stopped half-way and he saw her realized what she was doing. Her eyes glistened with tears and a little mischief. She was giggling. Obviously, he was missing something.
"What's funny? What's so damned funny?" he demanded.
She quit giggling and started really laughing.
He sat up the rest of the way and gawked at her. What a mess she was. Blotchy face. Running nose. Dumb, messed up pony-tail. Baggy "slob clothes" as she called them. She was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen as she sat on the floor laughing at him for no apparent reason. He was still trying to figure her out when she launched herself at his face to kiss him passionately.
"YEE-OOWWCH!"
"Magnus?! Are you OK?!"
"No I'm not OK! My nose is bleeding, my lips are bleeding, and my whole jaw hurts! What did you expect?! You punched me in the face!" he cried indignantly. "Look! Blood!" he went on, wiping his nose off and presenting her his fingers. "Ow," he added, just for emphasis, as he gingerly explored his face for damage.
She started giggling again. He threw her a withering stare.
"I've really missed you," she said, still giggling.
"You have a funny way of showing it," he said peevishly, baring his sore teeth and feeling around them with his tongue.
"Marry me," she said.
"WHAT?!" he shrieked. She was trying to kill him. That was it.
"Marry me," she said again. So he HAD heard her right the first time.
"Marissa! You can't be serious!" Either that or she had just lost her mind. He looked at her face. She was serious. Great Cybertron! She really loved him! How astonishing!
"You are serious," he said. "Marissa why? What brought this on?" Not that he couldn't guess.
"Lots of things, but mostly the realization that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to make it official so that you won't be so quick to run out on me again." She giggled a little more, and then grew still again - her eyes brimming with a thousand unnameable emotions.
"I don't know what to say," he said. Why did she always spring stuff on him when he was confused and off-balance? Probably so he would do what she wanted. Hmm...good strategy.
"Say yes," she said. Oh sure. Like THAT was going to happen!
"uh...Yes," he heard himself say. NONONO! Damn! She did it again!
She tackled him, laughing. (Of course she was laughing! She just got her way again!) She had him pushed back down on the bed before he knew what she was doing, only then noticing his shorts (Boxers? Uggh!) had been down around his ankles this whole time.
"Ouch! Ow! Owmmmppff! HEY! Oh! Marissa! Take it easyeeEEE!" Then again, maybe he should just get used to letting her have her way all the time. It wasn't so bad after all.
Continued In Unicron: Part E