Fandom: Transformers G1
Pairing: Elita-1/Optimus Prime, Jazz/Blaster, Skywarp/Ezara
Rating: R for M/F, NC-17 for M/M
Codes: Het, Slash
Summary: When Ezara returns to Earth, she brings many surprises, but the biggest one comes in the form of an ambush why she's supposed to be relaxing over the Middle East.


Wanderer's Home 25: First Steps


It was quite probably the longest twenty-three joor in most of their lives, but every single bot in the small, cramped alien ship found that the conditions, literally standing room only, to be the least of the difficulties. Excitement about seeing the new world, loved ones thought lost, getting into battle when there was a real chance of making progress all played into it ... but the hardest part for everyone was the subtle tension that still existed between Elita-1 and Ezara, and to a much lesser extent, between Blaster and Ezara.

Their pilot was quiet, absorbed by whatever thoughts occupied her. While Ezara was willing to answer questions, polite about it and occasionally excited, it had quickly become clear to everyone that she wanted to be left to her thoughts. Between the situations with her lovers and the two stasis-locked Decepticons shoved into a box mean to hold her, no one could be all that surprised by the time it had all come out.

Especially the part about the stasis-box being meant to hold her. No one misinterpreted the tone in her voice; that it wasn't for travel, but to keep her prisoner.

No one dared asked how she ended up with the ship belonging to her enemy.

So most of the twenty-three joor was spent in tense, physically uncomfortable silence until the comm panel beeped for attention.

"Hey, hot stuff," Jazz's voice was warm and happy as he greeted Ezara. "How'd thin's go?"

"Besides what you know about, not bad," Ezara admitted. "Just please tell me Prowl found something for me to do for a few joor."

"Oh ya'," his voice grinned over the comm. "Your favorite pilot's even in it. Ta keep ya good'n busy."

Ezara actually chuckled lightly. "I owe him one."

"I heard that," Prowl's voice was even.

"And I expect you'll hold me to it when it's most annoying for me," she chuckled. "Coming in for planetary approach," she said before signing off. "Elita-1, Blaster, humor me and wait to come out until after I get in the air, okay?"

"Agreed," Elita-1 nodded, sure she knew exactly why, and why there was a combat mission waiting for the warrior as soon as they touched down. They both knew Optiums wasn't likely to be with her again and she wasn't happy about it, for all she'd accepted it.

Blaster glanced at Elita-1, and nodded himself. "Sure thing. You know you don't hav'ta go," he said. "I, we'd...."

"Blaster, you two haven't seen each other in four ganon," Ezara said smoothly as she guided the ship in towards the west coast of the smaller northern continent. "At least give him a chance to have you all to himself."

The Autobot communications officer nodded again, still uneasy about having her go off to battle, but out of ideas on how to stop her.

"She's a warrior," Elita-1 told him softly as the ship set down and she and Blaster shifted away from the hatch so they could leave last. "That is what'll make her feel better."

"She does have that right," Ezara nodded as she maneuvered towards the hatch to be first out. Optimus was there to greet her, as was Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet and Wheeljack.

Ezara took one step out and found herself wrapped in Jazz's arms. Tracks couldn't help but chuckle at her startled response and judged it safe to emerge when she kissed the shorter white mech.

"Welcome to Earth," Optimus Prime greeted Tracks, Beachcomber and Seaspray when they emerged.

"Glad to be on a world with water," Seaspray grinned at him. "And to see how well your mission went."

"Save it, thief," Ezara's tone was teasing as she pulled away from Jazz.

"I'm a saboteur," he countered as he let her go, watching with evident concern as she took off and transformed to jet mode. It wasn't until she'd powered her engines to full and vanished from sight that he turned his attention to the meet and greet going on.

"Hey there," Blaster's voice was music to his audio receptors as Jazz turned to greet his long-time lover. "You sure know how to pick'm."

"Ya have no idea," Jazz grinned, placing his hands on Blaster's shoulders and bowing his head slightly to touch foreheads. "It's good to see you again," he murmured.

"Ditto," Blaster's voice was softer, more level, than usual. Suddenly he stiffened. "You didn't!"

Jazz couldn't help but chuckle. "Was't mah idea," he protested his innocence, which caught Optimus' attention.

"Problem?" he asked.

"No, just a surprise," Jazz said. "And why Ezara took off so fast."

"Hello, Optimus," Elita-1 said as she stepped into the sunlight and took in the barren land, the state of the Ark, but mostly the shocked expression on her life-long lover.

"You're ... you're a...live?.... I ...." he stammered, stunned moment, involuntarily gravitating forward to embrace her. "How... why ... why didn't somebody tell me before now?

"We decided for the surprise," she smiled and wrapped her arms around her neck, meeting his lowered forehead. "There is so much we need to talk about."

"Like what you've been up to for the last four ganon," he agreed, hugging her tightly. ~I never thought I'd see you again,~ he told her silently and felt her welcome him, wrapping her processors around his for the first time in far too long. ~Why didn't you find Ultra Magnus?~

"I thought you were dead," she whispered between their minds, the full pain of it equal to his own. "The Decepticons thought we were dead. We could do so much more when they weren't looking for us."

"My quarters?" he offered, hoping to find somewhere more private for them to catch up.

"Yes," she nodded as she stepped back slightly. "Wheeljack, Ezara left you a gift in the stasis chamber."

"A gift?" the engineer looked confused.

"Two Decepticons that have been through the Forge," she explained. "Captured on the rescue mission."

"I'll get Caurun to remove them safely, and Perceptor to help me look through their heads," Wheeljack nodded. "Anybody I know?" He asked her, turning to get the other two mechs.

"Hopefully not in person," Blaster couldn't quite suppress the shudder. "Hotspike and Coldspike."

"Come on," Jazz squeezed him gently. "Let's party at ma place. Get that image outa ya head."

"It'll be my pleasure," Blaster agreed, following him inside. "It's been a rough few orn ... I should probably let Ratchet check me out later."

"Rescue mission?" Optimus looked down at Elita-1 as they entered the Ark and made their way to his quarters.

"Blaster was captured shortly before Ezara arrived on Cybertron. Once she made the energon drop, she took Hot Rod and Kup to break him out. They found and pulled Moonracer out while they were there. Which lead to my being here, since our survival was no longer a secret to either side," she explained briefly.

"Makes sense," he said, opening the door to his quarters and closing it behind them. "I'll need some details on what's happened ... but that can wait," he said, taking her hand and pressing against her, savoring the contact and opening his mind to her.

"It's been too long," Elita-1 moaned into the touch and extended herself to intertwine their processors to the point no one could tell where one began and the other ended. "Ezara...." she tried to form the thoughts, to finish business before they became too lost in each other and the pleasure of joining.

"Isn't you," he promised her, everything he was behind the statement. "Even if she wants to keep our relationship going, you were first ... and she's hardly lacking for other attention," he explained. "What do you want?"

"I want this alliance strong," she managed to pull her thoughts together enough. "A handful of metacycles of sharing you, even her full lifetime, is nothing compared to what we will receive in return. I know you love me completely, no matter what you share with her. It is enough."

"Thank you for understanding," he murmured into their contact, grateful they had come to the same conclusion for the same reasons. "If you're sure, I'll let her know - later though. For now, it's just the two of us."

"Yes," she moaned, her processors shivering with the near-overload from simply being with him again after so long.


Optimus Prime's entire body went rigid as the klaxon blared. He felt Elita-1's do the same just before they were both on their feet. The conversations, memories and pleasure they were sharing were already left behind as they rushed to the control room just in time to hear Ezara's agonized scream over Teletraan-1's speakers. Prowl was working furiously at the powerful computer's controls.

Jazz and Blaster arrived just as Optimus began to demand what was going on.

"I'm still working on that," Prowl admitted. "She's over Iran and taking damage," he said what he knew.

A string of cursing in a dozen languages, human and other, that soon issued from Teletraan-1's speakers made Jazz wince.

"Decepticons?" Optimus asked, taking in what little tactical information he had. Realistically, it was the only likely answer. Nothing native to this world could come close damaging her enough to piss her off, much less prompt her to call for help.

"Yes!" Ezara snarled over the open comm link. "Stay still and die, damn you!" she snarled at someone in the Decepticon dialect of Cybertron. "No, get the frag out of here!" she called to someone else in English, all the while feeding every scrap of data she could to Teletraan-1.

"What is going on?" Optimus demanded.

"I listen to you too much," she snapped just before the transmission crackled and she yelped in pain. "Damnit! I can't protect you and fight," she barked in English. "Get your friggin tails out of here."

"Details," Optimus demanded, even as he sent Ratchet, Wheeljack, Caurun, Ironhide and several others ahead to try and help with the battle and piece together whoever needed it.

"Six seekers, nine USAF fighters and me," Ezara said tersely, most of her focus on a combination of staying alive and protecting the humans in the air with her. "Deceps jumped us."

The Autobots watched, disturbed, as Teletraan-1 finally tracked her down well enough to display the location. Even for a purely aerial battle, it was moving across the landscape fast. The human jets were trying to retreat, the six Decepticon jets were trying to shoot them down, and Ezara was doing her best to protect the humans between shooting back, taking strikes meant for them and making herself too dangerous to be ignored.

"Return to base," he ordered her, putting every scrap of authority his status and experience gave him behind the words. "NOW."

"When they're clear," she refused outright, though there wasn't a single Autobot that could object to her reasoning this time. "I'll live," she grunted at Ramjet crashed into her, knocking her towards the ground hard even as she nearly cleaved him in two with her much harder, and sharper, frame.

"Now!" Optimus Prime ordered, this time in her native Tezita, as she regained flight control. He could see they were about to come within range of the Navy fighters rushing to help them from the gulf.

They watched her continue to fight, and knew the instant she was aware of the other fighters entering range. Without so much as a word she suddenly powered her engines to full and hit the upper atmosphere and towards the Ark. Even Starscream seemed startled by the sudden shift in tactics and how fast she escaped their range; right before a missile caught him square in the side and he realized that his forces were now outnumbered to the point it wasn't worth it.

"Call back the team," Optimus ordered quietly. "Prowl...."

"I don't know why they were in the area," his SiC said, not showing how shaken he was that the mission he'd put together to be a nice distraction for her had turned into such a mess. "That should have been a simple skirmish or two with Iranian forces. Something she can do in recharge mode without the USAF fighters. It's all that's gone on in the area for metacycles."

"They might have followed her," Elita-1 suggested. "I understand that she has made quite an enemy in Starscream."

"It's way mutual," Jazz spoke up as he tried to hail Ezara with Teletraan-1. "Ya okay, babe?"

"You two and your morals are going to be the death of me," she grumbled, though there wasn't any real anger behind her words. "I can fly, it just hurts."

"Ya want'n energon bath ready?" he offered, sure she was downplaying her damages a lot. "Or just a warm berth?"

"I'll settle for not getting yelled at," she answered quietly, her defiance already shifting to dread. "I was just protectin'm."

"I know, babe," Jazz tried to reassure her as Blaster stood behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "So does Prime," Jazz looked at his leader, silently pleading for him to back the statement up. "You did it for the right reason."

"I will not encourage this behavior," Optimus Prime told her, his tone even for all he really was furious, though not entirely at her.

"I'm not so thrilled myself," she cut him off, a bit of her fire coming back with the change in who she was addressing. "It's not like I went looking for them," she pointed out. "I protected my unit when we were ambushed. I will not apologize for that."

Optimus Prime sighed deeply. She was right, for all he hated to admit that anything that damaged her was the right thing to do.

"Optimus, she's a warrior to her very core programming," Elita-1 told him silently with a touch. "You can't protect her against everything. She'll turn on you if you try. She needs to fight."

"I can't let her be killed, either," he responded over the touch-link. "Too much is at stake. When did you become an expert on her?"

"Since our little chat on Cybertron. She let me touch her. Love, she did the right thing," Elita-1 reminded him, sure she'd gotten through this time. "Don't punish her for it."

"You don't need to," Optimus told Ezara out loud. "You're right, you made the correct choice in protecting your team. Come home and see to your repairs. The humans made it back to their base safely."

There was a lingering silence before she responded. "Good," the single word carried both the weight of her honest relief and how much pain she was in.

Optimus motioned Jazz to follow him out of the control room so there was no chance she could overhear them.

"When did she become so interested in protecting humans?" he fixed the bot who understood her better than any with a concerned gaze.

"It's not all humans, not yet," Jazz told him. "That ... had nothin' ta do with humans. She was just protectin' her team. It's still a lot that she's acceptin' humans as teammates, and that she's fond of the leader of that wing...."

"She knows the human pilot?" Prime stopped him.

"Chance meeting, th' first time," Jazz said. "He fought well. Understood when sh' asked ta play. Prowl 'n I've tried ta send her ta 'relax' with his wing when sh' wants ta play."

"I ... see," Optimus said, considering how much had happened he was apparently unaware of. "How will Blaster being here affect your time with Ezara?"

"Very little, Prime," Jazz grinned up at him. "He likes'r, sh's okay with'im."

"Good," Optimus decided. "Unless she asks for me, I'll leave her to you. I want to know why the Seekers were there," he added before turning to collect Elita-1 and return to his quarters with her.

"So do I," Jazz said to himself as he returned to the control room to talk to Prowl and try to work out what had gone wrong.

They both took pause when a Seeker appear near her, but once they saw it was just Skywarp, they both relaxed. Prowl moved make her conversation audible, but Jazz stopped him.

"I'll hear it soon 'nuf," he pointed out. "Long as she's headed 're, let 'er be."

Despite his misgivings, Prowl nodded and left her that small measure of privacy with her enemy lover.


Jazz was alone when he greeted Ezara at the entrance of the Ark. Even before she landed, he could tell it was a good idea. It was a subtle shift in her battered frame when she saw he was the only one there, but he saw it.

Relief.

As she transformed to land, he took note that she was in better shape than he'd expected too, given what he'd heard. Scorched and battered, dried energon and lubricants from bullet holes scattered about her frame, but no real chunks were missing. Her self-repair systems should be able to handle it in an orn or three of rest.

"Come on, you ain't in any trouble," he assured as he slid an arm around her waist and guided her inside.

"Just need to zone for a couple days," she moved her chin up slightly in acceptance. "I can see myself to my quarters," she said, making it an offer.

"Now what kinda mech would I be if I let ya do that?" Jazz looked up at her to take the sting out of it.

"One who hasn't seen his life-lover in an insanely long time," she murmured as it registered he was guiding her to his quarters. "But Blaster."

"Would love t' warm yer other side," Jazz smiled up at her. "Come on, let us show ya a good time."

"I'm ... not sure I'm in the mood," she admitted quietly, though she didn't resist his direction either.

"Ya want ta just rest?" his smile turned understanding.

"Yeah," Ezara murmured. "At least for now. It hasn't been a great decaorn. I miss the down-time a bit."

"All right," he nodded reluctantly, though he still walked her to her barren quarters.

As he let her go, she turned and kissed him lightly. "Thank you," she whispered before she disappeared into the basically empty room.

Jazz made a mental note to check on her in four joor and returned to his lifelong lover and his quarters.

"She make it back okay?" Blaster looked at Jazz in concern when the white mech entered alone.

"Yeah, she's fine," Jazz said as he closed the distance between them and claimed a heated kiss, their processors entwining without hesitation or effort. "Just wanted ta be alone f'r'a bit."

"Can't say I can blame her," Blaster murmured across their minds as they moved to Jazz's berth and relaxed, as much of their bodies in contact as they could. "You're surprised she was trying to keep the humans safe," he observed.

"I'za new behavior," he nodded, the physical world abandoned for the cyber they created for themselves. "A good one, bu' new. 'Specially with Screamer on the field."

"She really has it in for him, huh?" Blaster chuckled, embracing his lover's human form, his own lean body pressing up against Jazz's. "How hot are things between you two?" He asked curiously.

"Hot 'nough not ta last," Jazz kissed him, both their moans captured by the other's mouth as hands explored forms both familiar and new. "She's not into the exclusive thing at'll. Think ya'll like her."

"Sounds good - glad she's giving us some alone time first though," he added, kissing Jazz heatedly. "Been way too long."

"I'm surprised," Jazz didn't hide his gratitude in the least as he pulled Blaster onto a large, soft bed. "All three of her lovers are off-limits today. She canna be happy, even if she suggested it."

"You, Prime and...." Blaster asked as be rolled Jazz to his back and began kissing his way down the human's neck.

"Skywarp," Jazz groaned, willingly letting Blaster pin his wrists to the bed as they rubbed sensitive skin against sensitive skin and made out. "Wonder who she's going to drag inta bed."

"Whoever knocks first," Blaster guessed with a chuckle.

"Poor Prowl," Jazz couldn't stop the riotous laughter that bubbled up.

"Hey, he could use somebody pulling the rod out of his tailpipe," Blaster smirked, kissing Jazz's neck. "I like this look for you," he added approvingly.

"Good," Jazz smiled and repaid the attention by tipping his head back, exposing his throat, and spreading his legs to bring them up and rub them along his long-time lover's. The beat of the music that never stilled in their of their minds began to mingle, forming a new song that was both of them.

"Hungry little DJ," Blaster grinned down at him.

"Always," Jazz grinned back, thrusting his hips up to rub their erections against each other.

"Oh, Baby," Blaster moaned as he sank his erection into Jazz's body, his lover taking him to the hilt as their mouths locked. Motions they had both learned through trial and error, then by watching bios, came naturally, instinctively, now.


Ezara hated the lie she'd just told, hated even more that Jazz knew it for the lie it was. She couldn't help but whisper a nearly silent thanks to him in her dark quarters for letting her have that small lie. The truth they both knew was that she very much wanted company, very much wanted someone to touch her and make her forget the beating she'd just taken from inferior mechs to protect some fleshling creatures that wouldn't survive a vorn at most.

By the grace of whatever made him special, he'd also realized that there was no one on Earth, or quite probably anywhere, that could really do that.

By the grace of all creators, her mental co-habitations also seemed to see fit to leave her be on this one.

"Some lessons must be learned, not taught," she sighed the familiar phrase and lay down on her berth to mull over what had possessed her, and why part of her was still quite willing to shout Prime down in front of his troops if she had to over it. She'd done the right thing and she knew it.

With a half-disgruntled, half-resigned sound she powered her optics off and allowed her mind to drift. A detailed list of what needed to be done to meet her suitors properly. What needed to be done before the challenge. Check on Prowl, make sure he wasn't in trouble over her fight. A list of supplies and time needed to built the power station that Mitrix had dumped in her memory.

She truly despised transitions. They were nothing but pain and suspicious feelings all around until she proved she'd settled completely into the new mores and wasn't faking.

Why, why did the Decepticons have to be so inappropriate as rulers? She got along with them so much better. Crude, brutal, violent and not a little crazy, but it was what she knew from her earliest days and it still came easier than this civilized stuff everyone wanted of her.

Ezara's entire body ached, inside and out, but in a very different way than usual. Alone with only herself, she had a rare opportunity to really look at her existence through her own optics and desires uncolored by her duties or predecessors. There was no desperate longing for a Si'Kae, much less one that was so calm. Little attraction to authority or power, other than as a way to prove her superiority and protect herself. The hungers in her were simple again; energy, pleasure, violence, victory ... and the one she did her best to deny; to feel protected, to be safe fro harm.

Yet she could feel it shifting, even as the basic core held steady. It wasn't much of a stretch to go from gladiator to defender, and that was the nature this time and place demanded of her for her survival.

Another disgruntled sound escaped her.

"Guess it could be worse," she muttered and willed herself into a deep stasis to let her processors continue to integrate the change without thinking about it. While still enough on-line to respond to the outside if needed, it would still her thoughts until she was fit again.


Prowl knocked on Ezara's door lightly. He didn't want to disturb her if she was resting, but the promptly door slid open to a dark room.

"Please tell me Prime doesn't want to see me yet," her voice was low, tired, with just a traced of resigned dread in it.

"No," he answered, surprised that that was what came to her mind first. He stepped inside, letting the door slide shut behind him. It left them both in complete darkness, but he knew where she was from when she'd spoken. "You aren't in trouble," he told her as he walked to her berth and sat down on the edge. "He's like that when someone he cares about is in danger."

"I wasn't in that much danger," she objected. "Megatron wasn't on the field."

"You were taking damage," Prowl pointed out. "That's enough. I came to see if you were okay."

"Getting there," she told him, reaching out towards his voice to put a hand on his leg. "Self-repair won't take much longer. An orn or two and I'll be fit again. Are you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Prowl only just controlled the surprise in his tone, though he was sure she felt it through the light touch on his leg.

"He was angry, you were there and planned the mission," she said before her voice drifted off.

"Prime's not like that," he told her firmly. "You know that."

"I know, but he was so angry," she murmured.

"He was scared for you," Prowl corrected her calmly even as he noted that her fingers were playing along the smooth metal of his upper leg, though she didn't reach out through the connection he knew she could create so easily over it. "That's all."

"He ... does he care about me, or what I represent?" she finally asked in the darkness.

Prowl sighed to himself. "You've been far deeper in his mind that I will ever be. I believe he cares about you," he paused as he felt her extend a gentle tendril of awareness into his circuits, asking for admittance ... and the attention she usually got from others. In the background, his processors informed him that he was the only Autobot she hadn't shared pleasure with yet. He couldn't help but wonder if that was her interest in him now.

Deep inside, he hoped he was making the correct tactical choice, but he needed to go with what he believed in.

"No," he told her gently, blocking her contact and removing her hand. "I'd be happy to pass on your request to anyone who is off duty and not otherwise occupied."

He caught the briefest flicker of disappointment from her before he let her hand go, and allowed the silence to drag on.

"I'm sorry," Ezara eventually said, her tone honest. "You're just here."

"I understand," Prowl said as he stood. "Would you like someone?"

"If Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are available...." she said after a moment.

"I believe they are," Prowl nodded, though she couldn't see it, and left her quarters to inform the twins of her request. He had no doubt they'd jump at the opportunity, and probably be out of commission for an orn when she was done with them.