Author's Note: Here is another chapter for you fine people. I had to cut it in half because it got a little long for my liking so I'm gonna post it as two seperate chaps. Thats why it ends kinda in a weird spot. I'll post the rest when I get a chance. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: Ummm...no...what makes you think I own 'em?
It was morning by the time Ironhide and Revecca had finally given up on their cleaning efforts, finally coming to the conclusion that the room was as clean as it was ever going to be. They had decided to rest a bit. Ironhide had lowered himself into a sitting position leaning against one of the walls, while Revecca sat cross-legged on top of a desk next to him. They spoke to each other tentatively at first. Eventually, as each became more comfortable in the other's presence, the conversation began to flow more freely and take on a familiar feel.
Revecca scooted backwards on the desk until her back could lean against the wall and stretched her legs out in front of herself. She turned her head a bit so she could look up at Ironhide, who was busy trying to blow some of the dust out of a port on his cannon. "So...what exactly are you guys doing here? I mean...If it's some top secret, you'll have to kill me if you tell me, type thing then I'd rather not know..."
Ironhide stopped what he was doing to look at Revecca. One of his faceplates twitched upwards in what looked like a lopsided grin. "Nah, its nothin' like that. We just came here to find the Allspark and ended up stayin'." He shrugged as if it weren't really that big of a deal for giant alien robots to be hanging out on Earth.
Revecca cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Find the what?"
Ironhide looked at her expression, the plates that made up his face moving to form a smile. "It's kinda a long story."
Revecca sat forward a bit and turned fully toward him. "Dude...according to your boss-man, I'm not going anywhere for a while. I got nothing but time." Revecca looked at him expectantly.
He gazed back at her. "What do ya wanna know?"
"Everything...whatever you want to tell me."
Ironhide regarded her for a moment. One hand unconsciously moved to his face and touched the spot where Revecca had kissed him. The memory of the contact replayed in his processor causing a slight current to run through his systems. His optics dimmed for a split second before brightening again. "Well, if ya really wanna know..."
"Yay!" Revecca scooted to the edge of the desk closest to Ironhide and crossed her legs, looking up at him with her chin cupped in her hands like an excited child. "Story time with Uncle Ironhide!"
Ironhide snorted in amusement at her excitement. "Uncle Ironhide?"
Revecca gave him a devilish grin. "For the intents and purposes of story time, yes."
Ironhide shook his head as he chuckled softly. "Humans..." He stretched one hand out toward Revecca. "Get on."
Revecca's grin faded slightly. "What for?"
"Cause you're gonna damage your neck if ya keep lookin' up at me like that. Ratchet would bust a gasket, I'm sure. C'mon, get on." Ironhide watched her look at his outstretched hand warily before hesitantly seating herself in his palm. He slid down the wall a bit into more of a reclining position and gently placed Revecca onto his chest armor making them almost eye to eye. "Better?"
Revecca nodded as she looked around herself. "Uh...yeah." She felt a little uncomfortable sitting on him but carefully seated herself in the center of his chest anyway. Under her she could feel the pulsing hum of what she assumed was whatever was keeping the alien she was sitting on alive. Her eyebrows drew together slightly in a look of concentration as she curiously pressed her hands flat against the surface under her. She felt the pulsing quicken slightly under her touch. It almost reminded her of a heart beat, but she sensed it was much more than that. She ran the tips of her fingers softly over the warm armor under her, slightly amazed that something made out of metal could feel so alive. She felt the pulsing quicken even more as her fingers skimmed over the surface.
Revecca was startled out of her thoughts as Ironhide made a deep rumbling sound, almost like a purr. She quickly jerked her hands away from his chest and clasped them together tightly in her lap. Her head jerked up and her eyes met his optics. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to...uh...I'm just...sorry."
Ironhide cleared his vocal processor. "No, it's...alright." He was a bit embarrassed about the way he had responded to her touch and that it had startled her. He knew she was just being curious. She had no clue that she was caressing the metal right above his sensitive spark chamber. He knew humans were extremely tactile creatures. They assimilated a great deal of information through touch. He had learned this from observing Captain Lennox's young daughter interact with her environment. Still, that didn't take away the fact that he had found the contact rather stimulating, or that he felt that strange sense of familiarity at the touch.
"So?" Revecca was looking at him expectantly again, seemingly oblivious to the feelings she had stirred up in the mech. "On with the show?"
Ironhide took a brief moment to get some of his more rebellious systems under control before he began the tale of how the Autobots had come to be on Earth and the events leading up to their arrival. Revecca watched him as he spoke with a look of awe on her face. He was extremely pleased with himself that he was able to command her complete attention. He found he rather enjoyed just having her near and speaking to her.
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Two Hours Later
"Wow..." Revecca couldn't think of a suitable word to describe the story that Ironhide had just told her. Of all the things she expected him to tell her, she hadn't expected to hear about two opposing factions of alien robots locked in some kind of civil war that had spilled over onto Earth. "That is just...wow. I honestly don't even know how to respond to that. If I wasn't sitting here looking at you, I wouldn't believe it."
Ironhide nodded in understanding. He was sure it was a bit much for one to absorb, especially humans as they were so limited in their knowledge of the universe. He studied her for a moment. He wanted to lighten the mood a bit after so much talk of destruction and loss. He looked her up and down and then smirked. "Y'know...you're filthy."
"Ugh!" Revecca looked down at herself and frowned. She was covered in dirt from cleaning and still had blood on her clothes from earlier. "You don't have to remind me. No one is more aware of that than I am. I feel like I've crawled out of a dumpster." She looked back up at him and grinned. "Actually, since we're on the subject, you're not so clean yourself." She reached out and ran one finger down the part of his face that she could reach. It left a grimy film on her finger that she showed him. "See."
Eyeing the dirt on her finger, Ironhide shot a heated glance at the vacuum cleaner sitting in the corner. "Piece of slag..." He growled at the vacuum before turning back to Revecca. "We should get cleaned up."
Revecca looked at him questioningly. "And how do you suppose I'm gonna do that?"
It suddenly dawned on Ironhide. His optics went wide. "You don't have any of your things."
Revecca sighed. "Nope. I was hoping eventually that I would become so disgusting that you all wouldn't be able to stand it and send me home."
Ironhide snorted. "I'll tell ya what..." He wrapped one hand securely around Revecca's back to keep her in place against his chest as he pushed himself into a standing position. "Lemme get some of this grit off before it works its way down into my servos, and then I'll take ya to your house so you can get some of your things. Alright?"
Revecca brightened at the idea of going home again, even if just for a little while to get some of her stuff. She nodded. "Okay.'Cause I'm starting to actually gross myself out a little..."
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Ironhide strolled into the med bay with Revecca clutched to his chest in one large hand. "Hey, Ratchet! Where are ya?!"
The medic poked his head around the corner. "I'm here. Have you seen...Ah! There you are, Revecca!" Ratchet watched as Ironhide sat her down on the counter and then glared at him. "I have been looking everywhere for her. You could have told me that she was with you. I was beginning to worry."
Ironhide dismissed Ratchet with a shrug. "We were busy."
Ratchet raised an optic ridge as he examined the two. "Really? Doing what? Rolling around outside in the dirt?" He gestured toward Revecca. "This is completely unhygienic. She has open abrasions which can very easily become infected and..."
"Which is why we're here, doc." Ironhide cut him off before he could finish. "I figured you could check her out real quick before I take her home so she can get some of her stuff and get cleaned up."
Ratchet eyed Ironhide suspiciously. "I suppose." He looked at Revecca and let out a sigh. "I think that's actually probably a very good idea. Lack of adequate hygiene can have adverse effects on humans."
"Thanks Ratchet." Ironhide pounded him on the back a couple times causing him to sputter before he turned to Revecca. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Revecca nodded as she watched him leave the med bay. She felt the eyes of the other robot on her. She looked up at him. "Umm...listen...I'm, I'm sorry about that whole throwing my boot at your head thing. I kinda panicked. It's just...most of the time, when a girl wakes up in a strange place without her pants...it usually means something really bad has happened to her. So, I just wanted to apologize and also say thanks for...umm...stitching me up." Revecca managed a nervous smile.
Ratchet's stern countenance softened a bit as the corners of his mouth hitched up into a smile. "Think nothing of it. I understand." He scanned her quickly. "I think your just fine. You may want to ingest something soon, though. Your blood glucose level has dropped to 70 milligrams per deciliter."
Revecca looked at him strangely. "Say what?"
"The amount of sugar transported in your blood stream and utilized as fuel by your muscles is becoming rather low. You will need to eat something in order to bring it back to up optimum levels." He looked at her as if waiting for her to acknowledge that she understood what he had told her.
Revecca looked at him dumbfounded. "No...I know what you said, but...How do you know that?"
"Ah..." Ratchet nodded his head in understanding. "I am equipped with bioscanners which enable me to run diagnostics on your systems."
"Oh." Revecca seemed to ponder that for a moment. She looked back up at him and grinned. "Cool! So what else can you tell from your bioscans?"
"Well..." Ratchet straightened himself up proudly as he began to rattle off her vital statistics and a breakdown of the status of all her systems. It wasn't often someone ASKED him to tell them what he knew about them, especially one of their human friends. They seemed to be very hung up on privacy, something he really didn't understand. "Overall, Revecca, I would have to say that you are in perfect health."
Revecca looked at him blankly for a second after he finished before she spoke. "That...was...fucking awesome! You are like a hundred times better than my doctor...and he went to medical school at Harvard, which is supposed to be like, the shit."
Ratchet laughed. "Why thank you. It isn't often that I am complimented by one of my patients. They're usually more interested in getting out of here and reinjuring themselves." Feeling slightly encouraged, Ratchet continued. "I have to say, it isn't often that I am given the opportunity to examine a human femme. Would you be terribly offended if I asked you a question?"
Revecca looked at him a bit uneasily. "Uh, no...I suppose not. Go ahead."
"I have determined that it isn't detrimental to your wellbeing, so you shouldn't be overly concerned, but are you aware that your reproductive cycle has been chemically interrupted?" Ratchet looked at her with a raised optic ridge.
"Huh?" Revecca almost fell out laughing when she realized what he was referring to. "Uh, yeah. I know that. It's supposed to be that way."
"You have purposely disabled your ability to create?" Ratchet seemed rather appalled at the idea. "Why ever would you do that?"
Revecca realizing how concerned he was did her best to keep a straight face. "It's called birth control." Although she found it rather odd to be discussing contraception with a robot doctor as big as a small house, she did her best to explain the concept behind using it.
Ratchet looked at her seriously after she was done speaking. "So, if I understand correctly, you wish to mate with members of the opposite sex, but you do not wish to reproduce. Is that accurate?"
"Uh...not exactly...but that is the basic idea, yeah. I mean…I'm not mating with anyone, but…it's sort of a…um…precaution, should anything…you know…occur." Revecca fidgeted with the hem of her shirt uncomfortably for a moment. The last thing she wanted was to give an enormous robot the impression that she made a habit out of "mating" with any male she happened to come into contact with.
Ratchet rubbed his chin with one hand. "Fascinating. Although I don't understand the desire to prevent the creation of new life, it is an interesting subject. I will have to look into this further. Your species has such interesting customs surrounding the reproductive process."
"If you say so." Revecca looked at her watch. She was starting to get a little tired. A yawn escaped her before she could stop it.
"Did you not sleep well last night?" He turned an inquisitive optic in her direction.
"I don't..." Before she could finish, the med bay doors banged open and a much, much cleaner Ironhide strolled in looking very pleased with himself.
"She ready to go, doc?" Ironhide practically strutted into the med bay.
Ratchet looked him up and down. "Ironhide, you're very...shiny."
Ironhide looked down at himself and shrugged. "Eh..." He looked at Revecca and offered her his hand to help her to the ground. "Is she good ta go or what, doc?"
"Oh, she's fine..." Ratchet didn't have time to comment further as Ironhide transformed back into the Topkick and threw open his passenger door for Revecca to climb inside. As Ironhide pulled out of the med bay Ratchet shook his head as he emitted a sharp laugh. "She isn't the one I'm worried about..."
End of Chapter 11
Alrighty...'Hide is about to take Rev home and maybe learn a little bit more about why our car thief had to pull that last job...The plot is about to thicken! Read and Review!
