Natural

A/N: Title was actually a synonym for the word 'spontaneous', thank you Microsoft Office 2003. However I thought it would work better, considering everything else that's standing in the way. Sorry about the long wait but I was trying to string everything together into some kind of plot when I went back over my notes and realized something; this was never meant to be anything more than random plot bunny attacks. Random is good. Random is me.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Natural is not just that of being organic. It is a state of being...like a zit on an otherwise perfect face. In other words, it makes things a bit more interesting for the audience.
Disclaimers: Transformers is the property of Hasbro and any canon characters included in this work are not mine. This piece was made only for enjoyment, not for credit or monetary goals.

Astoria's second abduction was far quieter then the first. In fact, Astoria didn't even know it herself until she was gently nudged awake with the smell of warm metal and grass all around her. Opening her eyes, she gapped at Powerglide looming over her, optics glowing in the darkness of the night. They narrowed in such a way she couldn't help but think he was smiling.

"Hi." He said almost sheepishly and it dawned on her that she was in his lap, his hands under her shoulders and legs.

"Powerglide, why am I outside?" she asked quietly before looking around and noticing that she couldn't even see anything man made, much less her bed. All she could come up with for her unusual state of calm was that she was in shock. Only shock would allow her to ignore the fact that Powerglide was seeing her in her favorite pajamas; the ones that were old and had little yellow stars.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"And you couldn't wait until morning?" she smiled back at him. A tiny flutter worked its way just behind her sternum at the thought that he couldn't wait until morning.

"No, I just got off patrol. And then I had to get here. Then you weren't at the company..."

"Alright, alright I get it!" she giggled at him, waving her hands in defeat. "So...like what do you want to talk about then?"

"Well...us; I wanna talk about us." his optics flickered and she heard him 'inhale' air through vents she couldn't see. "Yeah. Us." He shifted and she slid closer against him.

"Well?" Folding her arms across her middle she tried to ignore how sweaty her palms were and that nothing was wrong. That an alien from another planet holding her like a baby was a normal experience and that it was nothing to worry about.

"Keep your wings in place, I'm gettin' to it." He snapped but it didn't have any real bite to it so Astoria only shrugged.

"I just hope you spit it out before I turn all wrinkly and senile."

It was the wrong thing to say apparently. The moment those words left her mouth he tensed; every joint stiffened and the comforting sounds of his internals seemed to all but stop.

"What did I say?" she asked, confused.

"That's right. You will die one day won't you?" Powerglide murmured, almost to himself.

"Well yeah, but not like right now. Not this instant anyway. And I didn't exactly say 'die'."

He shook his head slightly. "But you will die and to me it'll seem like an instant." His tone reminded Astoria more of a child then a powerful, nearly immortal being.

"I'm not dead yet am I?" she asked.

"You don't..."

"Haven't you even heard of the saying 'It is better to have loved and lost, then never having loved at all.' Powerglide? I think Harrison told that to me one time." She didn't add that Harrison had finished the divorce papers with his third wife when he had said it. She didn't think it would have been helpful and besides, the moment she had said 'love', Powerglide's internal sounds seemed to speed up a bit.

"What does that have to do with anything here? I'm trying to get it through your skull that you'll grow and I won't." he grumbled while his hands twitched, holding her just a bit tighter. But she didn't mind, not a bit. As subtly as she could Astoria snuggled just little closer in his grasp.

"Oh you'll grow alright. At least I hope so, you have to be the most immature person, er, robot I know which is saying something. And besides...you came back."

He gave a snort while his optics narrowed. "Of course I came back for you, you little glitch. What kind of Autobot would I be if I left somebody to those slag heaps?"

"So...you would have done that for anyone?" That flutter became a lead weight, sinking into her belly with an unpleasant feeling.

He paused in his ranting and stared at her in shock. She counted the seconds from her thudding heart while she listened to his 'breathing'. It was a comforting 'whoosh, swoosh' sound that matched the humming emitting from deep inside him.

"I wouldn't have done it the same way for anyone else." He finally answered carefully. Something inside her cracked and flew at the same time. Obviously Powerglide noticed because his optics noticeably darkened.

Ahhh...he's blushing. Astoria didn't dare snicker otherwise whatever was happening might simple break apart. Instead she reached up and touched his mask, fingers moving upwards lightly to trace one optic before tracing the other.

"Astoria? Wh-what are ya doing?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." His voice was a faint whisper as his fingers twitched around her waist.

"So was this the only reason why you came? To grouse over the fact that I'll die before you? Please. Come on 'Glides, its only natural for humans to kick the bucket one day." Astoria drawled with a grin.

His optics narrowed, or rather, seemed to scrunch a bit in confusion. " 'Glides'?"

"You're interrupting me. Shush." In reality she had the feeling that if she didn't say it now she'd probably never would. He wasn't the only one blushing at the moment.

"Yes ma'am."

She ignored the comment, regulating his response to something Harrison would have called 'a wise-ass yes'. "What I was trying to say is that this is natural. Just 'cause I'll die doesn't mean it'll be meaningless. I loved my Father. I still do, but he's dead. How do you think I feel about this anyway? Like, I have a giant robot holding me like a teddy bear for crying out loud!" she bit her lip before going on quickly. "But, like, the only thing I'm feelin' is that it isn't bad. It feels right. You know?"

"Right? Astoria if you haven't guessed I'm metal. You're organic. Some things just...well...they just won't...Primus." His optics, surprisingly, darkened even more and he looked away, shifting nervously as he did so. "What I mean to say…"

"Plug A can't fit into Slot B?" Astoria smirked wickedly up at him. She only hoped he didn't see just how red she was about saying it. Was there a medical term for a permanent blush?

Sputtering, Powerglide's optics turned back to her, widening in shock. "Astoria!"

"What? You were thinking it." You had to have been thinking it.

"But...but... that's not the point!"

She snorted, before shifting in his grasp to move to where she could be almost eye-to-optic with him. "For an alien, you don't know much do ya?" she giggled, feeling a weird mix of glee and embarrassment in her chest as she let her fingers run over his optic ridge again. This time she could almost feel the metal beneath give a slight quake. Powerglide's optics turned a slightly different shade of the deep azure, shifting to an indigo and there was something about that shift that made Astoria want to curl her toes. Her fingers skimmed down the part of the mask where his mouth would have been. She tapped the metal playfully, if only to hear the light clink it made against her fingernails." Can't you take that thing off or is it permanent?"

Evidently he hadn't been expecting that question, his startled jerk almost sent Astoria into another fit of giggles. "Why...? Astoria what...?"

"Love isn't about being predictable. Like I know I don't know much about a lot of things but I do know that love just doesn't go the way you want it too. It's just so crazy. It can hit you like a ton of bricks and the most you can do is like just surrender." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "So what if you're metal. So what if I'm a pile of flesh. Mind you, I think I'm the cutest pile of flesh around here. But still, so what if we're so different? So…I'm asking again; can you take that off?"

Was he trembling or was it just her frazzled mind playing tricks on her? It had to have been her mind playing tricks on her because this couldn't be real. The fact that his optics darkened even further also had to be a trick of the darkness. And his fingers where moving slightly around her waist. That had to be a trick of her mind. But then if it was then she would happily let her mind do all it wanted.

"There's a manual switch, just under the throat." Powerglide mumbled before shifting a bit so one of his hands wrapped around her waist so he could use his other hand. Fingers that were similar but completely different to her own came up and wrapped around her own hand, guiding her down from the mask itself to his throat. The metal was so warm from the energy and circuitry residing just underneath. Her fingers followed his lead before she felt a switch right behind a small niche of metal, it wasn't made for human hands but she managed to push it finally. She heard a click and gasped when the mask split in two, folds of it reverting back until the mask had vanished somewhere just where a human's ears might have been.

Now why in the world would you want to hide something like that? She mused through the shock. "Hi." The word came out as nothing more than a tiny squeak and she felt her ears burn at the sound.

"Hi." Powerglide looked similar to the other mechs she had seen but when he smiled she was certain her heart was flipping around in her rib cage. Without the mask, his voice seemed clearer, his strangely sounding northeastern twang resounding in the night air.

"So that's what you've been hiding. Not too bad." Astoria commented, hoping to save some of her face though from the way Powerglide cocked an eyebrow, she doubted it was working.

"Not too bad? I'll have you know I've had femmes flock to me just to get a glimpse of this!"

"Right. Like I believe that." she giggled as he frowned. Without his mask it dawned on her just how expressive his optics really were. "I bet they were all over that one guy, the golden one."

"Sunstreaker? He couldn't keep a femme if he tried." Powerglide groused. "He's better off going on a date with any kind of reflective surface."

"One of those? I thought only humans had that problem." Astoria replied before looking at him seriously. Even if he had opened up to her both emotionally and physically, she had a feeling he was still thinking about the differences in their life spans. "Look, Powerglide, the reason why I'm not so upset is probably cause I'm being selfish. And don't say a single word until I'm done." She glared at him while he gave her his best innocent look. Taking a deep breath she went on.

"What I'm saying is that when I die, you'll still be around, it won't hurt as much. And when we die, don't we all kind of come together at the end? I mean, you all must have a soul or something."

Powerglide smiled gently. "Its called a spark." His fingers were moving around her waist. She yelped a bit he gave her a tiny squeeze. His smile widened into something just a bit more devious but she ignored it. Tried to anyway.

"Sparks? Nifty name." I'm starting to ramble. Oh this is bad, I am rambling. "But if you have a spark then I'll see you again one day. You're trying to come up with excuses now and I can't stand that."

"Astoria…" his voice seemed more like a rumbling engine now though it was no where near as deafening. One finger slipped just enough so it touched the skin of her waist and it was all she could do not to bite her tongue at the contact.

"No! I know you're just going to come up with something else and I so don't want to hear it." Stop. Rambling. Now! "I love you and if you think you spouting about ages is gonna change what I feel then you've got oil clogged somewhere in your head!"

When her father had been alive, he had told her stories about the giants of Ireland. Some of them had been wonderful stories filled with adventure and romance while others had made her want to hide under her sheets. She had always wondered how a giant could kiss an ordinary woman and had even thought that it would be hard to do, if not impossible.

It wasn't hard. It wasn't impossible.

It was heaven.