A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, faved, and alerted this story so far! :D It means a lot.
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CHAPTER 7
Alex winced as Sunstreaker removed his shirt, and began his scans. He had never seen Sunstreaker as concerned as he was, but the mech had said he was very protective of his family. And as he had made it clear, though he found it strange, he saw him as family. Sunstreaker carefully ran his fingers along his shoulder, and scanned for infection, taking a deep breath. "Well it's not too deep, but I'm gonna still watch it." Sunstreaker moved towards the small bit of medical supplies he had gathered "Are you okay, that really scared the slag out of me." He admited.
"That was pretty awesome what you did back there." Alex admitted, he bit his lip, and eyed Sunstreaker "I didn't know you cared that much."
"You've grown on me, and I wasn't about to let that fragger hurt you." Alex winced as Sunstreaker applied rubbing alcohol to his wound "You know, if you decide to stay with me, for real, that'll happen a lot more often." Alex nodded, knowing very well about that "Why do you want to stick with me anyway? I'm not exactly role model or parental material." He noted, eying him with his optics curiously.
Alex looked down, unsure of the answer himself. He had never really gotten along well with Sunstreaker, but the last four weeks, needless to say, things had definitely changed. Sunstreaker didn't admit it, but he was a good guy. He'd not wanted to take him along, yet, he protected and took care of him. Really, Alex didn't need to be babied, he was fourteen, he just needed someone to be there for him, like Sunstreaker was. "Because you care." Alex admitted quietly, to which Sunstreaker looked more then a bit surprised "You didn't have to take me along, but you did. And you didn't have to get stuff for me to survive, or to keep warm, or be comfortable. But you did." He smiled a bit "I guess that's what I always imagined a parent to be." He admitted quietly.
Sunstreaker stared at Alex, and nodded for a moment. He could accept that, it made sense, and he didn't really mind. Sunstreaker carefully wrapped up his shoulder calmly, and nodded his head a bit. "Well, I guess Sideswipe will just have to get used to one more member of the family then." Sunstreaker smiled a bit, as Alex lit up "But I hope you know, I'm not gonna change who I am because I have a kid now. So don't expect that." He handed Alex his t-shirt and allowed him to pull it over his body "You're going to have to deal with my personality just like everyone else." He added.
"I can deal with it." Alex smiled broadly.
Sunstreaker had a feeling he was insane for doing this, after all, he had no experience raising kids. Yet he had a feeling he wouldn't regret it, he didn't know why, but something about taking the boy in seemed right. And Sunstreaker didn't feel that way about most things. "Move your arm a little for me." Alex moved it up and down calmly, then side to side "Alright, you should be fine. We just have to monitor it." He turned his optics towards the road they had been traveling on "Looks like no one's pursuing, so we should probably get going soon." He admitted.
Alex watched Sunstreaker as he seated himself down, clearly waiting to see if anyone pursued. Alex looked at the mech calmly, and leaned against his leg. It was bizarre, knowing he was now family to a mech he once couldn't stand, but he was happy to know he had a family. "Careful, I'm not exactly the softest surface, plus... You might scratch my paint job." Sunstreaker looked down to make sure none of the paint had chipped off "Phew, still there." He added calmly.
"You're way too obsessed with your paint job."
"Hey, it's CUSTOM." Sunstreaker rebutted he shook his head "And it's like a... Well I guess it's like a second child to me now!" He noted.
"I'm a sibling to a paint job? Nothing weird about that." Alex teased, causing Sunstreaker to actually chuckle a little "Hey Sunstreaker, can I ask you a question?" Sunstreaker turned to stare down, and nodded his head quietly "You really want me, right? I didn't force you into this." He questioned.
Sunstreaker at that point crouched down low, and stared him in the eyes. Of course, the one time he offered a hand in kindness it was questioned. "Listen here small fry, if I didn't want you I would say so. I'm the last person to try and do something like that to be nice. Slag, I'm hardly ever what people consider 'nice'." Sunstreaker reached a finger forward, and roughed up the human's hair a little "Don't question why I took you in, I did it because you've got guts kid. I like you, and I think you need someone to take care of you that can keep up with you." He slowly transformed, and opened up his door, lowering the passengers seat "Now, enough of this sappy melodrama, let's get going. We lost a lot of time sitting here talking, we should keep moving." He noted.
Alex nodded his head and climbed into the backseat, allowing Sunstreaker to drive. He set up his usual spot, and relaxed a bit. It had been a long day already, and he had a feeling it would be an all night drive, as who knew if they were still being pursued without even knowing it. "If you're tired you're welcome to nap, I'm not stopping, kid." Sunstreaker noted "I don't want you loosing sleep out of fear either. So relax, and nap, I know you need and most likely WANT it." He noted.
"Alright, Mom." Alex teased.
"Don't make me turn this car around young man!" Sunstreaker teased back.
Alex knew that Sunstreaker meant it though, in his own way. He was only ever blunt with him when he sincerely meant an order, carefully resting against the seats, he allowed his body to relax. It was worn out, wounded, and tired, so Alex sure didn't mind the thought of napping. Sure he did a lot of it, but it was better then staying up, worried about any Decepticons that may have been following them. He had slept for what seemed like hours when Sunstreaker shook him awake carefully. Alex groaned a bit, and saw that he had dinner, some fruit for him, it wasn't much, but it looked fresh. "Found an old Autobot Outpost, must have had humans in it for a while, because there was a lot of food. I got you enough food to last a week." He noted.
"We lucked out." Alex smiled "That means we must be close right?"
"No it means we've been going in the wrong direction." Sunstreaker admitted frustratedly, his hologram leaned back "We were nowhere near any outposts. So chances are that we should be heading in a more westerly direction. We've actually set ourselves back quite a bit." He sighed, and shook his head a bit "I think we're closer to the middle area of the states. So we're going to have to make our way further west. And hope that we're not TOO far off." He noted.
Alex nodded as they continued on off the normal road. There weren't a lot of roads anymore, especially not once a person got near the west. So he understood why they were driving off the path, because they were headed westward. "How far off do you think we are?" Alex questioned, Sunstreaker shrugged and shook his head "Why do I get the feeling they're going to find us before we find it?" He muttered.
"Hey!" Sunstreaker took firm hold of his son's arm, and stared him in the eyes "That is not going to happen. Have you seen what I'm capable of? I can kick the aft of as many stupid minions those slaggers send after us." Sunstrekaer told him, firmly and bluntly "So you get that thought out of your slagging head, you got that squirt?" He questioned, poking him in the chest, causing Alex to slowly nod his head "Good, because the second you loose faith in me, I'm booting your little butt out of me." He joked.
"You wouldn't be able to do that for more then five seconds before you turned around." Alex told him flatly, knowing it was true.
"Don't make me put that theory to the test, you might not like the results." Sunstreaker told him, Alex took it as a joke, ruining Sunstreaker's teasing easily "Primus, do you ever take my threats seriously?" The mech groaned a bit.
"You're really bad at hiding you care for someone, what can I say?" Alex shrugged.
Sunstreaker could have kicked him out right there and then, but it didn't matter to him. He supposed he had to get used to Alex knowing him, they were stuck with each other for a while. On top of that, he'd just agreed to legally adopt him once they were back at base. He had to get used to the smart-Alec child that he was no responsible for. "You're lucky I like you, you know that twerp?" He questioned, with a nudge at him "Or I can pretty much tell you, you would be out that door for being a smart-aft." He said flatly.
"Get over it, Sunstreaker, you're not the only smart-aft in your family anymore." Alex winked jokingly.
Sunstreaker smirked a bit and brought the boy into a headlock, giving him a noogie lightly. "No, but I always will be the first, and don't you forget that." He commented, his head shot to the side as if seeing something "Are those lights up ahead?" He asked questioningly "And those sure as slag aren't headlights or optic lights." He noted, his eyes becoming cross, he carefully let go of the young boy "Keep your head down, I don't know what that is." He noted.
"Nice try."
"I'm VERY serious." Sunstreaker noted as his hologram climbed into the front seat carefully and took the wheel "My name is Steven, you're my son, Alex. Remember that. Because I think we're about to find ourself in some human village." He then noted, as he turned his head towards the backseat "Wild humans." He reiterated.
Alex felt a lump in his throat at that, there'd been horror stories of them among the Decepticons. And while they were friendly when it came to other humans and the occasional Autobot, Sunstreaker wasn't so sure which side to believe, and Alex only knew the Decepticon stories. As such Sunstreaker kept his eyes on the village calmly as it came into view, and a few humans seemed to crawl out of burrows. "Yep, I was right." He muttered, turning to Alex "Pretend you're asleep, Alex. Until I know they're friendly." He noted.
As Sunstreaker pulled to a stop, and his hologram climbed out of his alt mode, Alex tensed. He was gone for close to thirty minutes, he could hear talking outside of the Lamborghini, but no raised voices. The door opened finally, and the car seat went down, Sunstreaker's hologram sticking his head in. "Come on out Alex, they're friendly." He smirked a bit, and looked at him with a nod "It would seem we've made it to a village of Autobot supporters." He noted.
Alex stepped from the car calmly, and took his first steps onto actual soil for the first time in years. Every other time it was destroyed city streets or the like, but he noted they were in a wooded area. Sunstreaker subspaced his things calmly, before transforming behind him, his hologram disappearing. Alex's eyes darted towards an elderly man of about seventy, short grey hair, and full beard held out his arms. "Welcome to the Oklahoma colony." He announced brightly.
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A/N: So we'll finally get to meet some of the 'Wild' humans next chapter. :P Including finding out what happened to a few of the canon characters. You just saw one of them. :P Reviews make my day!
