-1Holy cow, this update took longer than I thought…

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The miffed security officer had offered her a moment's amusement, but that was all as she turned uncaringly back to her beloved. Laying her hand upon his cheek, she helped him raise his head long enough for a brief yet undeniably passionate kiss. So great, in fact, was the passion behind that short, chaste kiss that all present immediately looked away, feeling as though they were intruding upon the most intimate of moments. Each and every person in the group taking part in the triumphant return to their home city could just about feel the love each had for the other; not mere quiet affection but the fiercest, most fiery cascade of emotions any of them could imagine. Here was a pair who would accept no other… indeed, who could accept no other. No one could come between them; they would love none save each other as long as they both lived. And when one died, the other would without a doubt follow swiftly.

"DADDY!" A high-pitched squeal of utter delight filled the room as they entered, heralding the swift arrival of a small blue-armored child sprinting as fast as his little legs could take him. "Galvie," Megatron managed as the young Decepticon did his level best to catapult himself onto his father's lap. Scooping him out of midair, Zephyr caught him in her arms. "Not now, little one. Daddy needs to sleep," she said to the angrily squalling child. Galvie, for his part, couldn't have cared less if he tried. No, he wanted to see his father, and he wanted to see him now.

Galvie tried to sneak into the repair bay almost constantly after that, and no one could get him to stop. Time and again Ratchet would remove him, only to have him turn right around and try again. Even locking the doors didn't stop him. Everyone involved lost count of the number of tries around fifty, and would have marveled at the child's tenacity had they not been so frustrated with him. It didn't help much that Zephyr was in there too, leaving the kid with his increasingly exasperated uncle, who was trying everything he could think of to distract the kid from the fact that he wasn't where his parents were.

Fully repaired or not, it was clear to all that Megatron would need a fairly significant amount of time to recover fully. Repairs could only do so much and the effects of severe energon deprivation couldn't be repaired anyway. Lacking the strength to do much else and not exactly in the best shape anyway, Megatron would spend the first night or so in the repair bay, wired to a fair-sized array of machines to monitor his vital functions. Energon deprivation as severe as what he had suffered wasn't easily shrugged off, after all. His systems had been pushed to the brink of total collapse, and he was still in great danger. That fact mattered little to Megatron himself, and to Zephyr. They had all the time in the world, in their minds. All that mattered was that they were both safe, and they were together again. She'd pulled up a seat beside the bed where he rested, refusing to leave his side for so much as a moment no matter how tired she was, and she was very tired.

Ratchet, for his part, was downright irritated at Zephyr's stubborn refusal to leave her beloved's side for any reason. It wasn't as if she was doing herself any favors, after all. "For crying out loud, Zephyr, go sleep!" His glare was returned with equal intensity. "I won't leave him!" Frustrated enough to go into an arm-waving conniption fit, he all but barked at her. "There's a bed over there, on the other side of the room. If anything happens, you'll be just a few steps away from him, tops. I'm not in the mood to deal with two patients right now, so go sleep!" Though he was smaller than her, the force of his anger took her aback as it always did. No one pissed off the medic. It just wasn't done… not by anyone remotely sane, anyway. Not bothering to protest, she stood and headed for the bed he had indicated, obediently lying down. In no time at all she was fast asleep, finally getting some decent rest. Ratchet turned his attention to Megatron. "And you, quit squirming. Don't make me sedate you because, believe me, I will." The Decepticon simply nodded. He knew Ratchet would do it if he felt he had to. Turning away, the medic quietly grumbled to himself. Maybe now he could get some sleep.

Zephyr dreamed, and her dreams were a turbulent jumble of memories, thoughts and feelings concerning the whole ordeal she and her beloved had been put through, and concerning the preceding day in particular. So much had happened… So many horrible things had come to pass, but were finally finished… She had him back, and that was all that mattered, yet still the thought of what had happened troubled her greatly. How could anyone be that cruel? That thought quickly left her mind, chased away by her changing dreams… She dreamed of a body sliding into bed beside her, of warm arms encircling her and gentle fingers reaching up to the inhibitor she wore, removing it. Then he was there, in her mind and spark, eagerly reaching out, soaking in her presence as parched earth would soak up rain. So too did she bask in his, and both felt as though they were coming back to life. /'Zephyr, I…'/ She hushed him like a mother soothing a frightened child. /'It's all right. I'm here now.'/ Greatly calmed by her words, he mentally snuggled up closer to her. /'…I missed you.'/ Accepting his love, she showered him with her own. /'I missed you too.'/ Happy and content, both of them settled down for a nice long rest.

The sound of blaring alarms, audible only to him, awakened Ratchet with a violent start as he practically levitated straight up out of his bed. Those alarms were only meant to go off if the patient they were connected to suffered the most catastrophic of system failures. Why? Why had he gone off to sleep when he was still needed so badly? Immediately vowing to make up for that and then some, he bolted out of his room and ran back to the repair bay just as fast as his legs could take him. Throwing the door open, tripping through and practically landing on his face in his hurry, he looked to where Megatron had been lying. It was then that he saw that the alarms on the monitors were going off for good reason… they were no longer connected to anything. "That little… Where did he go?"

A moment of looking around revealed the answer, for he saw that there were two people in Zephyr's bed. Stepping closer, he saw that Zephyr was lying on her back, much as he had left her, but at some point Megatron had joined her. Now the Decepticon lay with his head nestled against her shoulder, one arm draped across her chest as he clasped her other shoulder and held her to him. Weak as his fingers may have been, there was no mistaking a death grip, and… was he trembling? A closer look revealed that he was indeed trembling like a frightened child as he clung to his beloved. What came next was natural… he went and got a blanket, then spread it over the two of them. A smile crossed his face when he saw Megatron relax, his nightmares banished by the comforting warmth, and it only grew when a scan revealed that the Decepticon's previously erratic vitals were better than ever. In that moment, he decided not to scold him for his actions when he woke up. He wouldn't disturb the two, either. Megatron was right where he needed to be, after all. Turning away, he left the room to head back to bed. All was well, he was sure of it.

He didn't see the pair of eyes that watched him leave, or the shadowy form that quietly snuck in behind him. Silent and stealthy as could be, the intruder entered the repair bay and looked around before spotting the reason he had come… the two lovers snuggled on the bed over in the corner. Slow, careful footsteps brought him closer to the pair, both of whom were completely oblivious. There was nothing to stop him as he drew closer to his goal. This was going to be good, so good… He'd waited so long, and now his reluctant patience and cunning were going to pay off. A grin crossed his face, and then he struck. Two startled yelps later, Galvie cooed happily as he snuggled up to his parents.

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Fear the cute! Fear it, I say!