I only own Marianne!

Meeting Carrier

The Next morning, August 5th

"Mari, wake up."

I stir before climbing out of my bed with my stuffed butterfly, Flutter, my old blankie, and my new blankie. Sire used a human form and helped me put it together before bed last night. It's my first full day on the base, and I have lots of new outfits and toys. "What's wrong, Sire?"

"Nothin's wrong, Girly. Prime said there's more Autobots 'bou' ta land. Ah've gotta go with them, since Ah'm an officer. Ah can' leave ya here alone. Besides, ya'r Carrier may be with them." He hands me an outfit.

"Carrier?" I change into a white tank top with dark pink and white polka-dot bows on the shoulders and a purple and pink butterfly graphic, a lavender tutu with dark pink and white polka-dot trim and bow on the waist, white cropped leggings, and pink strappy flats. I feel a little exposed, since I don't usually get to wear tutu's in public, and I never usually wore tank tops back with my human family because Dad hated my birthmarks.

Sire kneels and hands me a pink butterfly print hoodie before slipping a silver tiara with a butterfly and hook swirls leading from the bottom wings to the tiara frame, with four large amethyst stones inside the wings into my braided hair. We'd braided it into one French braid, and it looks real pretty.

"Why?"

He smiles before kneeling to me. "Ya're the Star Healer, Girly. Tha' means ya're a princess."

"Can I take Flutter?"

He sighs. "She migh' ge' dirty, Sweetspark."

"Okay. She' stay here wif Blankie. It' safer." I smile up at him, then wait for him to transform before climbing into the front seat. He fastens my seatbelt before taking off. I squirm before moving my braid over my shoulder. "Sire?"

"What's wrong, Sweetspark?"

"My braid hurts."

"Di' Ah do i' too tigh'?"

I shake my head. "Hurts my back."

"Ahh. Ah ge' i' now."

"What is it?"

"Ah'll tell ya later, Mari."

We pull up to a clearing in the woods. Sire lets me out before transforming, then steps in front of me. "If anythin' happens, Ah wan' ya to run, okay? Ah'll fin' ya."

"Why?"

He sighs heavily. "The cons may have tracked their signals. Ah can' le' ya ge' hur'. Ya're all we go'."

I smile up at him, only to flinch when the pods crash to the earth. Sire stands above me with a dangerous look, almost like he's guarding me. A moment later, he changes position to where he's smiling. I'm glad. He was scaring me before.

He retracts his visor before running to the silver mech in front of us. He's got large wings on his back. If he weren't silver, I'd think he was an angel. "Prowler!"

"How many times have I told you that my designation is Prowl?" He glances to me. I can see a flash of something in his optics before he turns to glare at Jazz. "And why would you bring a human sparkling to the landing zone?"

"Prowler, i's Mari! Remember?"

Prowl's POV, Flashback

I look down at the tiny yellow, pink, and pale blue Praxian femme. We have no choice but to send her away. My bondmate and I are officers in a war, and it would be illogical to endanger our new daughter in such a way. I have sent Jazz to find a safe planet so we may design a holoform to help her fit in. I only hope she will have more of Jazz's traits than she will of mine. With my logic glitch, I was always an outcast as a youngling. Jazz has always been outgoing, and is quite friendly, if highly emotional.

Jazz steps back in, and we add the program to her processor before activating it. She looks organic now. Jazz tells me the race is human. She still has her bright blue optics, though they, too, look organic, and she has pink streaks in her blonde hair. Her armor has become cloth, and covers her pedes—Jazz has stated they are called clothes—but is still predominately yellow, with pink hearts printed on and pale blue trim.

Jazz takes her from me and slips her into an escape pod. I stare after the pod as it disappears to the planet below. I may never get to see my little femme again.

Normal POV

He looks closer at me before turning to Sire. "That makes it even more foolish, Jazz. You endangered our sparkling, when I could have reunited with her at the base."

"Prowler!" Sire sighs. "Ah didn' have anyone ta watch 'er! We were all comin' here!"

"And where is Bumblebee? He is not an officer."

"'E's with 'is charge." The new mech gives Sire a look. "He's protectin' a human from the cons. They'll come around later today. Lennox said 'e's tryin' ta fin' us a home off-base so Mari can brin' friends home."

"That would not be safe, Jazz."

Sire rolls his optics. "Prowler, listen ta reason! 'E's tryin' ta ge' us a place near where 'e lives. 'E has a sparklin' himself, and 'e's teamed up with Hide!"

"I assume you have found such a place?"

Sire rubs the back of his neck. "No' ye', bu' I'm goin' with Lennox later today. 'E's go' a place 'e wan's meh ta see."

"Jazz, the femme barely knows me. How am I supposed to care for her properly?"

Sire shrugs. "We've only been together for four days, and she's accepted meh."

He sighs. "You are more likeable than I am, Jazz. I am far too emotionless to know what a sparkling needs—especially a sparkling femme."

"Jus' give 'er a chance, Prowler. Ya carried 'er, after all." The two walk over to me. "Prowler, mee' Mari."

The winged mech kneels in front of me. "Are you an angel?" He gets this strange look in his optics.

Sire kneels to me. "Where didya ge' tha' Prowler was an angel?"

I look up to his wings before pointing at them. "Cause he's got wings, and angels gots wings…"

"Sparkling logic." The new mech smiles slightly. "No, Little One. I am not an angel. I am Praxian." He reaches out for me slightly before resting a hand on the ground. "May I?"

I look up to Sire. "This is mah bondmate, Sweetspark." He smiles at me. "Ya'r Carrier."

I look up at the new mech again before climbing into his hand. "Carrier." He looks surprised that I've taken to him so well.

"She likes meetin' new bots. She really took ta Optimus, too."

"That is good, considering he is her Guardian." He sighs. "Have you been able to get her into school? I believe they may be starting soon, and I want her to get an education, even if it is from humans. I will be able to teach her of our culture."

"Ya mean Praxus?" Sire sighs. "I don' think I wan' mah femme learnin' of—"

"Our femme, Jazz, and I do not plan on teaching her the more upsetting parts about my homeland until she is much older." Carrier sighs. "We need to get to the base, if you have to meet one of the humans at this new house."

"Righ'. I sen' ya the coordinates." He kneels to me. "Be good for ya Carrier, all righ'?"

"Okay." I reach over and hug his hand. "Love ya, Sire."

"Ya're gonna need tha'." He points to the booster Lennox got me. "Change 'er braid. I' hurts 'er back." Sire then transforms and speeds away.

Carrier sighs before carrying me the short distance to the road. "What is that accent?"

I shrug. "Used to live in the country. My human great grandmother was a hillbilly—"

"A what?"

"She was born and raised in the mountains in Kentucky. I kinda… picked up on her accent." I shrug. "Why does Sire talk like the gangsters in Grammy's medical show?"

"Gangsters?"

"Street kids? Don' have a home?"

"Ah." He sighs. "Jazz grew up in Polyhex. It was not a very good place to live, but it was better than where I started out. He moved to Iacon before he started at the youth center."

"Tell me?"

Carrier shrugs. "It will keep until we return to the base." He sets me down and scans a Mustang police car, then opens the door. I sit on the front seat and slip off my shoes to dump the sand out. "Back seat. Your booster is already back there."

"I know. Sire doesn't have one, so I had to ride in the front."

"I shall bring that up with him once I see him. Until then, we will return to the base."

Base

"So, where'd you grow up?"

He sighs from Ratchet's medical bed. "This can wait until we get into our berth room, Sweetspark."

"But Carrier—"

"I do not want my past to be known throughout the base, Mariposa. You will wait until we have energized, and have returned to our berth room."

"How long will that be?"

"It will be longer if you do not allow Ratchet to finish his medical exam."

"But Carrier!"

"No. You need to learn patience."

Ratchet sighs. "Give the femme a break, Prowl. She is only six." He steps back. "You can go." He glances to me. "Spend some time with your femme, Prowl. She has not gotten to see you since she was a newspark."

"I am aware, Ratchet."

Berth Room

"So…"

Carrier sets his cube down and turns to me. I'm holding a silver stainless steel water bottle with a pink gripper with a butterfly graphic and a blue lid, with a pink wrist strap. It's full of energon. I've never had it before, but Carrier and Ratchet insist that I need it to reach my normal form again. Carrier had given me a little cube like his, but I dropped it, covering my pretty tutu outfit and the floor in energon. "Mariposa, trust me. My past is not something you want to hear."

"But it's your life, an' I just met you. I wanna know."

He sighs heavily. "Okay." He sets me beside him on the berth. "I was sparked in Praxus, and sent to a sparkling center—"

"What's that?"

He's quiet for a moment. "Like an orphanage." He sighs. "I was four vorns before I was adopted, and taken to Iacon. The mech treated me as if I was not there but for his pleasure and amusement, and barely took care of me."

"You got 'bused?" I look down. "Me too…"

"I am sorry you had to go through that, Sweetspark. It was never my wish." He sighs before going back to the story. "However, that is where I met Jazz. His family rescued me a few orns after that."

"Orns?"

He falls silent again. "Months." He glances back to me. "I moved in with Optimus for a time, and finally got adopted by a caring Praxian couple with two sons of their own. They have come to be like brothers to me."

"Can I meet them?"

Carrier nods. "One has come with me, while the other one is still in space. I hope that he will be able to move with us, as he cannot be alone since the start of the war. He was only a few vorns older than you, and it has traumatized him."

"How old is he? Can I meet him?"

Carrier smiles slightly. "He is fifteen vorns, and of course you may." I look up when I hear a beep. "But it will have to wait. Jazz? What—"

"Can ya brin' Mari an' mee' meh a' mah coordinates?"

"Jazz—"

"Just ge' here, an' brin' Mari."

Carrier sighs heavily. "She has got dirt, energon, and Primus knows what else on her clothing. At least give her a chance to change first."

"Make i' quick. Ah can' keep Lennox and the femme here forever."

"Femme?"

"A realtor, apparently."

"Jazz—"

"Ah'm in holoform, Prowler. She doesn' know. She thinks ah'm on the phone with mah spouse."

"Does she know I am a mech? I have heard that humans are quite against same gender couples."

"She knows. Lennox mentioned i' before ah got here."

"Good. I must go. I need to get Mariposa ready."

"Jus' hurry, Prowler."