"Put A Ring On It"

"You two are 'together' now, right?" Pockets asked, green eyes focusing on Demona's holoform, which was crouching beside him. She worked without pause, pale, small hands attaching the feathers to the frame.

It had been Critter's idea to make a pair of big ass wings to hang on one of the walls to their mom's new shop. It had been last minute, so the two of them, and Jolt, of course, had been rushing to put the damn thing together before they left to go pick up his mother.

Demona seemed to sift through her thoughts. After a moment she answered, "We are not just 'together'. We are bonded."

"That's like your version of marriage, right?" He continued, glancing up when Jolt's holoform walked into the new shop.

"In a way."

"What do you mean?"

Demona finally stopped working, hands resting on her knees as she turned to him. Her eyes were red, he could tell because she was sitting right beside him. They were a dark red, almost like dried blood, appearing black or brown from a distance. She studied him for a second, "When a mech and a femme bonds, there is no such thing as 'divorce' or 'separation'. A bond is for life, brother. We don't choose who we love-our sparks do."

He blinked, "And your spark chose him."

"It did." She went back to work when Jolt came over to stand over her, watching.

Pockets looked back and forth between the two then said, "You should get rings."

Again she stopped, looking at him. Her eyes seemed a little brighter, understanding exactly what he meant. Jolt, however, was clueless. He said, "Why would we need rings?"

"Just for you holoforms," Pockets pointed at Demona's ring-finger, "so if you're ever out and about and some guy tries to hit on her, all she has to do is flash him the ring and he'll back off. It's like...staking a claim on her, 'she's mine, don't touch', and vice versa."

"I don't see how a ring..."

"It's a public display of marriage," Demona explained, taking his left hand to show him, "or bonding, in our case. When a man asks a woman to be his mate, he gives her a ring to wear, a ring only meant for her. During the wedding, they both receive rings to wear."

His optics seemed to dim slightly, like he was thinking, "I see."

Demona turned back to Pockets, "All it would take is a minor adjustment to our holoforms."

"I don't know if it's necessary," Jolt said slowly, "we are bonded now. I don't need a ring to prove how much I love you."

Pockets shrugged, "Just a suggestion." God, please don't start sucking face.

"Why are we here?"

Demona cast her mate a glance, "The shop needs to be furnished."

Jolt's holoform stood close behind her, hands stuffed in his pockets in a surprisingly human manner. He looked at her with bright blue fake optics, "I've never seen such loud humans before."

She gave him a look, "Jolt. You have met Rex, haven't you?"

"Primus, there's so many..." He muttered quietly. Demona watched him with soft optics for a moment. He seemed completely focused on the mass of humans all around them, bustling about as they went from shop to shop. It must have been the first time he'd ever been inside a mall.

She pressed a hand to his arm and guided him towards one of the stores, "This way, love."

"I've seen entire medical wings smaller than this on Cybertron last night," Jolt continued, letting her lead him, "just how many humans can fit in here?"

"Enough," Demona cast him a light smile.

Once inside, she stepped away from him just for a moment, scanning the counters and aisles, searching for pieces of furniture and décor. Pockets had made a list for her. She'd memorized them before they left the junk yard, and was now sifting through them in her processor.

Jolt stayed where he was a few feet behind her, looking extremely awkward.

Minutes passed as she looked for things. Her search led her further down the aisle and therefore further away from him. By the time her arms were filled with things, she heard the tell-tale sound of giggling girls. Demona tensed, spark flaring slightly. She dropped to a crouch and set everything on the floor before taking off.

Sure enough, there was a trio of high school girls standing around Jolt, almost trapping him in like a pack of predators. Clueless and still so very awkward, Jolt did his best to keep up with all of their questions and hints. He has no idea, her thoughts snarled.

Part of her, the most rational piece of her processor, was telling her to slow down and back off. They were just humans, and they couldn't do any harm. Just stupid fragging human teenagers...

Then there was the much stronger roar in her spark, outraged that any female, no matter the species, would dare make a move on her mech.

The conflict in her processor made her hesitate for just a moment. Then she saw the tallest of the three raise a hand and curled her delicate fingers around his shoulder. The rational voice silenced in an instant, and she moved forward.

Jolt looked over his shoulder when he sensed her approach from behind, confused blue optics brightening when she put herself between him and the tall blonde, breaking the contact and looping an arm around his back almost protectively.

The blonde looked appalled, "Who the hell do you think you are!"

"I'm his wife," Demona answered, smoothly reverting to human customs. Their eyes widened and the smallest one, a petite little brunette, stepped back.

"S-Sorry," She stuttered quietly, "Alli, let's go."

The third one joined in, pulling at both girls' jackets. 'Alli', the blonde, didn't budge.

"Back off." Demona growled low in her throat, using the tone that had often scared the pit out of the smaller twins. Unfortunately, it seemed to have no affect on the human.

Jolt, in the meantime, was quiet, studying the situation carefully. He'd tensed slightly in reaction to Demona's sudden protection and rage, but said nothing.

Alli smirked, "Excuse me, princess, but if he's yours, maybe you should keep an eye on him." She then proceeded to rake her organic optics up and down his form, "a man like him is just asking to be ravaged."

Demona went rigid and started forward with the intentions of rearranging her face when Jolt's fake, but still strong, arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back. He anchored her to his side, and looked at the girl as she tossed back her head and laughed before allowing herself to be herded away by her friends.

Jolt watched them go for looking down at her. Demona was staring after them, making damn slagging sure that they were well on their way. Jolt lifted a hand to press to her face, "Primus, femme, your sparks in a rage."

She abruptly twisted out of his hold in an almost elegant turn and stormed back to the pile of things she'd left on the floor.

"Demona?"

Demona rolled her optics, slagging clueless. She ignored him and started to pick everything back up. Jolt followed her this time, crouching down beside her to take some of the burden himself. He looked confused, "Did I do something?"

"Primus!" Demona hissed, "why didn't you walk away from them?"

He blinked at her, "I don't understand."

"Fragging humans..." She ranted, standing up abruptly when the had everything, "I can't leave you alone for half a minute before-"

"You're jealous."

Demona stopped and snapped a narrow-eyed look at him. A sudden understanding was filling his eyes and he raised a hand to dust at his shoulder like he was brushing away the girl's hand. Demona rolled her optics when he looked at her, expression suddenly bright and amused.

He thinks it's funny. The sudden urge to smack him hit her like, as Gears said it, 'a bag of bricks'.

"Of a human, Demona?" He pushed, following her faithfully as she made her way to the counter. He kept at it, "...You weren't protecting me from enemies, you were protecting me from-"

She shut him up by dumping the things in her arms and into his. He took the hint and moved ahead, carefully laying everything out on the counter.

"-Other females," He finished, a bewildered look filling his face as he turned completely to her.

Demona leaned against the counter as the guy behind it started ringing things up. She crossed her arms over her chest and clenched her jaws shut. She wouldn't meet his gaze.

Jolt tried to coax her into talking to him with his spark, wrapping her up in sweet, warm love like a thick blanket. Her spark was still hot with anger though, so she ignored it easily.

"Is that all?" The cashier asked. Demona gave a stiff nod then handed over the card Pockets had given to her. As soon as it was all paid for and she had the card back, she grabbed a handful of bags and started out. Jolt swept up the remaining bags and hurried after her like a happy little sparkling.

"Please talk to me, femme."

Demona vented sharply, feeling his real body edge closer to her's in the parking lot outside. She shoved it aside, "Why didn't you walk away?" She snapped, not caring if she was repeating herself.

"They're harmless-"

"I know that!"

"You really are jealous!"

She whirled on him them, both stopping in the middle of the mall. She was so close she could feel the projected heat from his body, smell something the humans called 'after-shave'. Ratchet seriously went all-out on these holoforms. They were unbelievably realistic.

Although they were about the same height in their true forms, he was a head taller holoform-wise, so she had to tilt her head back to look into his optics. She raised her free hand and poked him in the chest, "I swear to Primus, if I catch you letting those stupid fragging humans put their hands all over you again I'll-"

A big, irresistible smile spread across his face, one that made her spark warm. She forgot what she was going to say, so she poked him again and said, "What the frag are you smiling about?"

He leaned down until their foreheads were touching, "Nothing, femme," he said cheerily.

Demona raised an eyebrow at him, "There is nothing amusing about this."

"Of course not."

"I could have easily crushed that stupid female."

"There's no doubt in my processor."

"If I was still a decepticon I'd have-"

He covered her mouth with a hand, still grinning. She almost smacked him, but he used his other arm to wrap around her and pull her closer until their bodies were pressed together. She glared at him, but he was completely unfazed as he whispered, "You are so jealous."

She somehow still managed to cross her arms. He laughed softly, "I love you, Demona."

I love you, too, but if you don't let me go I will beat the flaming pit out of you. Demona loosened her posture and he slowly let her go. He kept his arm around her but lowered his hand from her face.

She said, "We're putting rings on our holoforms."

"I still don't see a need to."

"Primus, Jolt, unless you want me to beat the slag out of any female-" Again, he covered her mouth. He leaned down and pressed unbelievably soft lips to her forehead, something he'd never be able to do in their true forms. The touch was awkward but nice at the same time, and she felt her anger drain out of her in one big rush. She closed her fake optics and smiled softly. She eased in his hold, almost completely relaxing against him.

"No rings."

She vented sharply and waited until he was turned away before she made an exaggerated motion like she was going to slap him in the back of the head.

"You like it, don't you?"

His femme asked, sending him a sideways look as he threaded his hologram fingers through the long, soft hair spilling over her shoulders. His spark was humming in pure content, overjoyed just to be near her. He still had a smile on his face from what happened earlier inside the mall. Now they were standing outside as Demona mad a show out of pulling out her 'cell phone' and making a 'call' to Pockets to let him know they were on their way back.

He answered, "I love it, because it's a part of you."

Her expression softened ever so slightly, telling him that he had spoken wisely. He fell quiet as she started talking to her adopted human brother, voice smooth and lovely. He continued to run his fingers through the thick curls of dark red hair on her head. His processor turned elsewhere, going back to earlier events.

He had felt so awkward and out of place when the human females noticed him and hustled on over to him. He'd been so busy watching everyone pass by that he hadn't noticed Demona had wandered off. Jolt had known that she was still nearby, simply out of sight. And he had desperately wanted her to come help him with these three humans who seemed comfortable to stare him down like he was a slab of meat.

The tallest one had touched him. It had only been a subtle brush of fingers before she was almost shoved back by his mate.

He'd never seen the expression that was on the femmes face before, the dark hatred in her fake optics. She'd posted herself close beside him and curled an arm around his back, fingers clenching around his side almost tightly, like she was ready to jump out and protect him from trigger-happy decepticons.

And he had almost thought that they were under attack...but no. Demona had been jealous. Jealous, of all things. Protecting him fearlessly as a mate instead of a comrade in battle, ready to beat the frag out of any female that dare make an advance on him.

Jolt was smiling because it was an odd, but amazing feeling. To know that she loved him that much, that she was openly stating their relationship and defending it. He'd never felt it before.

There had been the passion-fueled burn when a bond had torn open between them, when her emotions had flooded through him in a great wave, the way how her spark whispered to his for the very first time. Nothing would ever compare to that moment, or the more intimate ones he'd shared with her, but this was close.

When he had been a younger mech, he'd watched the femmes from a distance, often wondering if he'd ever settle down with one and then wondering just which would be the one. Obviously, he'd never spark-bonded with any of them, but he'd never known what it felt like to have such a beautiful femme jealous over him of all bots. He'd seen femmes argue and spit and fight over a mech, who'd just sit back and watch while he stroked his ego over it, but it'd never happened to him.

And months ago I'd given up on ever finding a femme to bond with.

"Let's go," Demona said, interrupting his thoughts. A small hand slipped into his, fingers lacing together. They started walking towards their real bodies, some ways into the parking lot. They passed by several packs of humans.

"I still think we should have rings."

Jolt blinked, glancing down at her. Again with the rings...

"It would take time, which we don't have. You and the humans are planning on having everything done by tomorrow."

"Excuses," She joked.

He rolled his optics, both real and fake, "Hard headed femme."

She squeezed his hand gently before letting go to 'enter' her powerful alternate. Jolt walked around, trailing his hand over her hood gently. He felt the heat of her armor pulse in reaction. He opened his own door and dropped his holoform inside. Once the door was shut, he let the projection fizzle out and die, choosing to tint his windows instead. Demona did the same.

Jolt was about to pull out of the parking lot when he heard a low whistle of appreciation from Demona's parking space. Blinking, he turned his hidden optics to her.

Demona's frame was slightly tense, just enough for him to notice. A group of high school boys were standing around her, organic optics round. The one that had whistled walked around her form slowly, lowering a hand to drag over her smooth red armor.

Jolt's spark nearly exploded with rage. Clear thoughts fled as the urge to transform and step on them built up inside. He forced himself to sit still, though. The last thing they needed was to blow their cover.

Don't, He snarled in his processor like the human boy could hear. The human kept walking, hand trailing over the same path he'd made over her hood before passing her sides. He bumped into one of her side mirrors by accident but didn't stop. Only Jolt saw her twitch the mirror almost painfully. He snarled internally. Her mirrors were over-sensitive, mostly because they'd been torn off too many times to count by Megatron and other decepticons that made the mistake of attacking her.

The femme held her ground though, refusing to budge, even when the slagger paused to rub at an old scar on one of her doors. He gave up with a shrug before stopping at her rear door, leaning his entire body against her to fold his arms over the roof and grin wickedly at his friends. He said, "Now this is a kick ass ride."

"Freakin' sexy ass car," Another agreed, joining the other as he made a trip around her. The glanced around real quick to make sure no one was watching before the second let out a big laugh, "call me twisted, but I'd rape the shit out of this thing."

Jolt went rigid. The anger inside spread into an all-out blazing rage. His processor seemed to shut down.

The boy walked around to her rear and took two big handfuls of her aft before grinding his hips against her.

The mech lost it, engine coming to life in a roar that shook the earth and set off several car alarms throughout the parking lot. The boys scattered like chickens, screaming and cursing, and took off like Unicron was on their afts. Other humans walking around jumped about a foot in the air and stared with wide, frightened eyes.

He revved his engine louder before lowering it to a rolling snarl. Demona was still tense beside him. He had enough sense to probe at the bond, checking on her. His femme was fine outside of her own anger.

Jolt pulled out after making sure she was fine, waiting just long enough for her to follow before he shot down the road, disregarding the human laws and speed limits. Demona stayed right behind him.

They arrived at the shop shortly after. He sat and idled angrily in the unfurnished shop while Demona retrieved the bags of items and handed them over to Pockets. She started to go help, but Jolt stopped her with a sharply spoken, "Wait."

He unfolded rapidly, transforming. Before his armor even settled, he had a hand formed into the set of tools he needed. Demona transformed slowly, focused on him. He studied her carefully for a moment, turning the events of the day over in his processor. They said that rings served a purpose-a claim made on a mate for the public to see. If they would help keep her from being handled like again...

He stepped towards her, "Rings it is."

Some cutesy fun stuff.

One of my readers mentioned writing a one-shot specifically for a scene in 'The Last Flight', where Demona pops up her holoform and shows her 'ring finger' to a couple of guys groping her and Paradox's real forms. He suggested writing a one-shot based on how they decided to get them...I think I had way too much fun with this one...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.

Demona and her family and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.