Starscream wouldn't stop looking at her. Alexis refused to look at Starscream. The tensity between Starscream and Alexis was making a dark, uncomfortable feeling crawl inside TC's bones, rendering him with a vindictiveness that left him feeling estranged.
And when Alexis fell back during one of their breaks, walking to Starscream and talking to him, that feeling that was related to jealously but far more dominant would not allow him to leave the two alone for long.
Starscream was looking at Alexis, amused but with a flicker of obvious offense. Alexis was speaking to the Supreme Air Commander, looking uncomfortable, defensive, her fingertips resting on the top of her holstered hand gun that was wound around her right thigh.
"There is no need for you to continue with us. We have almost reached my parents and…"
Starscream cut her off, his tone turning chiding and abrasive. "You prefer them not to meet me. To know that I helped you."
Moving beside her, some of that unforeseen stress dissolved, but not enough. TC's feelings slipped through his facade of calm, causing him to glare openly at Starscream, some threats slipping through their link. Starscream didn't budge. But the side of his mouth curled in a manner that tried to convey that something had occurred between him and the female that he wanted Thundercracker to be aware of.
Thundercracker took Alexis' hand. A show of his intent, letting Screamer know that whatever it was, didn't matter. Alexis may have been tolerating the Seeker, but she did not like him.
Starscream's eyes narrowed sharply at his deliberate contact with the female. His mouth crashed down.
"You will get nothing from her," he told Starscream through their internal communication line.
"I almost did last night," Starscream gloated and began to smile all over again, even with it forced, and strained, surprisingly desperate. "She really is quite the varninial wild cat, is she not?" Screamer's brows lifted, then fell down with disappointment. The amusement he displayed in his words was a cover up for something that thoroughly stressed him. Starscream crossed his arms over his chest, widened his stance and rolled his head to the side, covering up his unease with practiced expertise. "No threats? Perhaps I have overestimated your interest for this female."
Starscream wanted to fight, craved violence and greatly wanted a confrontation. It was a residual inclination that made the Supreme Air Commander careless and highly dangerous.
That didn't stop TC though.
"She can take care of herself. But I will rip off your wings, crush your fuel tank and leave you at Megatron's peds with detailed information of your past, and current deeds, if you ever distress her again."
"That is more like it." The threat calmed his wingmate. His eyes flickered toward Alexis, then down at his own hands that suddenly seemed fascinating, no offensive. "And may be worth it."
"You don't stand a chance."
"And you do?"
TC squeezed Alexis' hand, his thumb caressing her knuckles. Alexis looked up at him, her attention completely focused on him now. Starscream sneered, huffed out loudly and then crashed between the two, making sure to tear apart their hands.
"I am not going anywhere," he told the female as he stopped for a moment, looking at her over his shoulder. "However, if you would like to try to convince me otherwise, in private this time," he gave TC a dismissive glance, a sneer of his mouth, "just let me know." He chuckled at his own words, the sound of his laughter trailing the Seeker's departing steps.
"I guess I knew that he would, well, act like he did," Alexis told TC. "I really don't like him."
"Shall we continue?" Thundercracker held his hand out to her, needing her to take it. He was troubled, but not just because of Starscream's shows of rising interest. That unsettling feeling had come upon him all over again, making his breath shallow and his needs rise. He needed Alexis to understand him in totality. No doubts between them, no misinterpretations of intent, just a clear revelation of whom he was, of what he had done, of what he was going to do.
But he could not discharge his own doubts. The idea of rejection, or worse, revulsion, left him unresolved and inwardly spiteful.
His hand now holding hers, the two walked slowly, and it wasn't until several minutes later that he realized exactly what he'd been doing, oddly enough, without him even realizing.
"Uh, TC, you are…" Her words were ragged and soft, enunciating the flow of his energy that was escaping and trickling through their contact. The female wriggled her hand out of his, color budding in her cheeks with embarrassment. She looked down at the ground. With him watching her, Alexis became fidgety, her fingers curling, only for her to wrap her arms around her chest and then drop them to her side.
But then one of her hands unexpectedly lifted up and tugged down on his shoulder, gripping firmly to his shirt. She looked in his eyes, then shut her own, her mouth moved close to his. Alexis pulled back, then advanced even closer, her mouth ghosting over his and then pulling sharply back.
Alexis really did over think some things. And he despised indecisiveness, especially with her, like this.
His mouth followed hers. His hand made its way behind her back in order to secure her. He'd been allowing her to set her boundaries, dictate what he did, or didn't do, and while there was definite soundness in such a tactic, it was not one he could fully commit to any longer.
Thundercracker's mouth dropped firmly against hers, his knuckles pressing into her lower spine, urging her closer. She wrapped her other hand up and behind his neck, bringing them together. For a nonoclick his mind sharpened into a white landscape before his remote processor took off in a race of cataloging that identified the pressure of her body against his own, the softness of her curves that gave way to his firmness, how quickly her heart raced. He tried to figure out why her fingers pressing behind his neck made his flesh ignite, why her soft innocent lips made him heady and restless and desperate to the point of extreme inclinations that made him want to pull her back to the small alcove they had just walked by and lay claim.
But as abruptly as the contact began, it ended when her brother called out her name, wondering where the two were.
He didn't need to breathe, but it was a natural expectation from all humans, and one of the first protocols he had integrated in his holo-form along with blinking and standard heart rates. No need to go around without a pulse.
But even if Thundercracker didn't need to, he couldn't stop the quick breaths that scratched through his throat, nor the racing of his pseudo heart that made his chest cavity resound with the feeling of abandonment and loss.
Walking beside her, ignoring the two that were a good distance off and in front of them, he watched her fidget all over again, this time with a wayward strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail.
Alexis was attracted to him. TC knew that with no doubt. She wanted him, not Starscream, not anyone else. And even as her life organ slowed and her steps became more solid, he had not doubt of his effect on her.
But that wasn't enough.
Twenty minutes later, two hours before reaching her waiting parents, Alexis spoke up, her voice was contemplative, "Nothing ever lasts."
The way her forehead wrinkled and her pace slowed was a clear giveaway that he wasn't going to want to hear what she was about to say. TC waited for her to continue on her line of thought, stopping the impulse to cover her mouth with his hand. He wouldn't silence her.
Alexis frowned, bit her lip, sighed softly. "I mean it can become so consuming, so… powerful, but it fades, or it… dies, or it changes into something that while nice, familiar and secure, just isn't the same."
"You speak of love."
"Or passion."
He still didn't know where she was going. Dread filled the hollow of his bones, making his plasma push thickly through his life cavity.
Thundercracker's gut dropped away at her next words.
"We are good friends, don't you think?" She scrunched her nose and bit her lip again. Waiting for a moment for him to say something. She continued when he remained silent, her words quicker. "Passion can also screw things up, divide people, tear them apart."
He suddenly didn't care what she was trying to say. He was willing to give everything to her. But that would do no good with her lack of understanding.
"You underestimate my regard for you."
"And you look at me with too much familiarity," she spoke in a hush. Proving rather quickly that she understood his intentions quite well. Alexis wiped her eyes off, more distressed than he had realized. Her words were quiet and full of anxiety, of blame. "I don't think you understand what you are expressing in the way that you look at me."
"I do."
"Thundercracker, I…"
He grabbed to her shoulders, pushed her away from the path they had been on, his internal sensors sounding off several alarms. A group of Autobots was about to converge on their position, a hoard of Decepticon forces trailing after the invading Bots.
"What is it?"
"We need to…"
His words crashed away when he felt her hand brush down his face. Once more, but with more conviction, Alexis leaned into him, her hands wrapped around his waist, holding on tightly. This wasn't just a hug, but something different, a contact that could have led to more. He could have surrendered, could have easily slipped away into the close bodied sensations, but Alexis' words and her actions weren't lining up, and his analytical mind wouldn't stand for it.
The Seeker pulled away from her. He felt warm and unsteady and the way she looked at him was causing further disarrangement of self, but that didn't mollify the annoyance.
"You are vacillating, Alexis."
Her flesh paled at his accusation. A flicker of hurt washed through her expressive eyes.
"Do you wish to protect me, Alexis?"
Her brows lifted in confusion, she breathed in sharply. "Me, protect you?" she asked in a whisper.
He took her hand in his, brushed it below his chin, along his lips, then held it firmly in front of his chest before letting go. "From the despair of being without you. As in, you have intentions to be with me, permanently."
Her eyes widened, emotions washing over her face of guilt, confusion, of longing. He felt his remote spark swell within its chamber, causing the flow of his human blood to race through his puny veins, the synergy of sensations creating a sense of euphoria. Alexis' eyes held his own. Her fingers came up and fell down his arm, holding onto the bottom of his sleeve. He bit back a shiver.
The Seeker didn't understand human intimacy, only the basics. But there was no mistaking her capacity to incite his mating protocols with the smallest gesture to a simple shared gazed. His body felt strange and foreign, despite the identified desire. Added discipline kept him in place.
She stepped nearer, but didn't move close enough. Alexis smelled clean, and pure, the scent of her skin sending his male body into further disarray that he diverted to his prone Cybertronian form, creating a loop of pleasure and denial that was making his spark chamber pressurize.
"I won't lie to you, Thundercracker. I like being with you so much, but…" Alexis hesitated.
"You don't trust yourself with me," he spoke, his tone plagued with dark agitation. The desire turned to something entirely unhealthy. He didn't want to hurt her, but he did want to confine her, press against her, taste that flesh of hers that called to him louder than any siren call. She would fight him. But he knew she wouldn't struggle for long.
Alexis flinched at his tone. She shook her head. Even took a step away from him that he felt as if a kick in the gut that made his earlier ponderings turn toward self-disgust for thinking of such a thing, for not acting on it.
TC's head pinched with pain from his own indecisiveness, from what he wanted from her but wasn't resigned to force. He rubbed his temple and pushed his thoughts back, suddenly unable to process the female.
"There are so many things to consider and…" Alexis' words dropped when Josh and Starscream came walking quickly toward them, interrupting a conversation that would need to be continued. By then, TC vowed to himself, he would be prepared.
Starscream smiled wide. His eyes darted between the two with keen examination, reveling in Thundercracker's distress. "So what scheme have you for us this time, TC? Or shall we just kill them all, as we have done before?"
He didn't look at Alexis, didn't look at the brother. He could feel their targeted disturbance from Starscream's expertly chosen words.
"We will avoid them."
"Avoid them!?" Starscream repeated as if he didn't hear him right. "That's dull." Screamer put weight on the word, emphasizing a point, trying to convey the hardly subtle message to the female.
Thundercracker lowered his voice, tried to keep the agitation away and failed. "We will find their parents. We will get off this rock. And if you heed my instructions well, we will even do so without interfering with either of the engaged forces."
Starscream couldn't afford to have attention from either of the groups, and despite his bravado attitude, he also wouldn't risk being seen by them.
"Now, I suggest we turn around and go down the east corridor…"
He told them his plan, feeling everyone's eyes on him. But it was only one pair that he felt the most. He ignored Alexis, ignored everything she caused to fester inside him and focused on what needed to be done.
They arrived late but safely. The storage room where the sibling's parents were waiting for them had a dented door, but it appeared to have been made long before the present skirmish.
Josh took Alexis' hand and led her inside. Ten minutes later, the small group reappeared, what was two humans, now turning into seven. He hadn't planned on the number. But as there were only two newly added adults, the rest children, it wasn't hard to decipher which were the parental units, not with the way the siblings were held onto and hugged, not with the affection that they were spoken with.
"We need to leave, now," Thundercracker spoke up, interrupting the reunion that needed to be postponed.
The chattering stopped. Alexis offered him a small, sad smile, and then introduced him to her parents, rather cleverly, as TC so as not to instigate unneeded questions. He nodded curtly, intent on them moving forward.
"Is this your husband, Alexis?" the mother asked of her daughter.
Thundercracker's limbs went stiff, realizing that the parents wouldn't have minded. All the benefit that did him. He anticipated when they were told exactly whom he was. He was human for Alexis. He would have stayed human for Alexis. But he was suddenly craving his own flesh, the weight of his wings on his back, the clarity and extra sensory input that he had lacked for far too long. Yes, let them see him as he was, and then see how obliging they were.
The conversation with Alexis had left him grim and unsympathetic. Not entirely from what was said, but because there was no getting around what he was going to have to do if he wanted to remain with Alexis. Which could also lead to everything between them being severed.
The idea of not being near her was too much to fathom. Made him feel vindictive and cruel, made him want to revert to lies and buried truths, to avoidance and trickery. But while he could divert or put off, he was not a coward. And if they were together, it would be with full disclosure. If she chose him, it would be with the knowledge of whom he had been and what he had done. He would not hide his spark from her. Nor would Thundercracker think of the bitter irony that would plague him if she had already decided to refuse him.
They were friends, and perhaps she could fool herself into believing that was all they were, but he could not.
"My husband is dead," Alexis answered in a small tone, letting the Seeker know yet again how little the siblings had revealed to their parents. They were obviously waiting until they saw them before telling them anything important.
"We have a lot to catch up on," their father spoke up in a sympathetic tone, giving his daughter another quick hug. He looked at Thundercracker while he spoke, devoid of suspicion.
Motioning for the small group to follow him, they were on the shuttle twenty minutes later, all unharmed, all safe.
And even if Starscream fell back long before they met up with the parents and then disappeared, the siblings felt no need to mention it, probably not doubting that he would show himself soon enough. Or more than likely, hoping he wouldn't.
