It was one of those rare days off where we just had nothing to do. There were no missions going on so no check ups to set up, no lessons from Optimus or Lennox, no more fitness with Epps thank god though I did sometimes join him for a gym session when I was really determined to have a good workout...if I was honest I just ran on the treadmill and did a light circuit with Jimmy most of the time in an effort to save myself days of aches and pains. Just as Arcee had promised, her sisters had shown up a few weeks after we'd met her - Chromia and Flare Up were just as hardcore as she was, built for speed and yet completely brutal due to training with Ironhide. However, as the only girls on base (even if three of them were robots) we got along pretty well, something which didn't fail to amuse Jazz. Speaking of, my favourite autobot was currently letting me shred his tyres on the airstrip. I was doing donuts and fishtailing just to see if I could regain control afterwards, turning 180 at the end of the runway and flying back towards the hangar with the windows down and the air blowing through viciously just for an adrenaline rush. Whooping with joy I pulled to a halt, sitting back in the seat and closing my eyes as Jazz revved the engine. He'd enjoyed it just as much as me apparently. I didn't get as much free time to spend with him as I'd like but after six months we'd adapted to it pretty well, just spending time together when we could and setting aside days off (like today) for us to spend together.
"I'm getting out and going up okay pal?" I asked, running my hand over the dashboard.
Jazz opened the drivers side door, letting me out so I could hop up on his hood and lay back, head resting on the windshield as we just relaxed, letting the sun seep into our skin; well, into my skin and into Jazz's paintwork. It was so warm here and I was glad to finally get a chance to wear my shorts again, top up my tan a bit. My body was splayed on the hood and I probably looked like he'd ran me over but nobody would comment, they knew us too well by now. Bending one knee I threw my arm over my eyes, shielding them from the sunlight and smiling up at the sky as Jazz began playing the radio softly in the background. We were near one of the supply hangars, far on the left of the base but able to get back within a moments notice if my radio went off. We sat in companiable silence, the radio playing between us as we soaked up the sun together. My mind was reminiscing over the past six months. It'd been a whirl wind of missions, training and four phone calls home to a still upset mother and an excited Sam who wanted to see if I had a gun. Lennox had promised me that we could actually do some firearms training next month since the hand to hand combat had been going great; I may not have been Jackie Chan standard but I could certainly kick ass, and after some intensive training sessions me and Lennox were now sparring partners more often than not...after I'd gotten over my little staring problem that was. A sigh escaped my lips before I could think to swallow it and I grimaced, knowing Jazz would hear. Just as I suspected, the radio clicked as it changed channel,
"I want to change the world, walk again." it sang. Trying not to groan, I reluctantly sat up and slid off of the hood, letting him transform from his alt mode.
The grating and clicking of sliding metal I had become so familiar with filled my ears and before I knew it I was sitting in his hands, leaning against one of his large fingers and swinging my leg back and forth as he leaned back against the hangar wall,
"Better now you're stretching your legs?" I asked teasingly. Jazz's deep chuckle made me smile as I closed my eyes and turned my face to the sun, determined to catch as many rays as I could before I had to put that uniform back on again tomorrow.
"Cute. Now why the sigh sugar?" Jazz asked, rumbling voice soothing my nerves. I had been stupid to think that he wouldn't notice but now all of the troubling thoughts I had tried to avoid came rushing back. Inhaling deeply, I let the salty ocean breeze roll over me and organised my thoughts. They were all about Lennox and Jazz guessed it, because the next words out of his mouth were, "This about a certain major?" Chuckling mirthlessly I nodded once,
"Good guess." I sighed. It was all about Major William Lennox, him and his killer good looks and stupid brown eyes and stomach fluttering smirk and impish grin and ridiculously infectious playful manner and-
"Are you gonna talk about it or are you just gonna sit and sulk?" Jazz queried, nudging me with his thumb. Grabbing onto his finger I squealed like a little girl when I fell to the side. Jazz chuckled slightly and I noticed his other hand had come up to box me in, there was no way he would let me fall. Jazz might not be the best person to talk about boy issues with though...maybe Flare Up or one of the girls...but I didn't trust them half as much as I trusted Jazz and even if he just grunted and told me to get over myself I'd still have gotten it off my chest.
Sitting up I swung my legs back up into his palm, stretching them out infront of me as I leaned back against his index finger - it was like an extremely hard reclining chair but I was so used to it now it didn't bother me. Jazz mimicked my position, sitting on the floor and resting his hand on his knee so he didn't have to hold up his hand anymore.
"He's gotten under my skin Jazz, he's always in the back of my mind and it's...it's infuriating." I groaned, running my hand through my hair as I pulled it out of it's messy bun to braid it.
"He irritates you? I thought you liked him?" Jazz sounded confused and blinked at me in such an innocent way that I had to smile. Shaking my head I twsited my hair therapeutically in my hands,
"No no no, well, yes, maybe...I don't know. That's kind of the point!" I huffed frustratedly and snapped my hair tie into place, my hands drumming out a pattern on my thighs to keep busy. "He's good looking, I'm not going to deny that anymore alright? He's very easy on the eyes and sometimes it's distracting but he's more than just looks, you know? He's got this whole other personality. If he's not throwing around orders and being all commanding then he's this laid back funny guy and...I know that I want to get to know that given half the chance but he's my boss, you know? It's like Arcee hooking up with Optimus or something." I grumbled, hugging my knees to my chest and waiting to see how Jazz would reply.
His head tilted slightly, blue eyes blinking slowly at me as he nudged my legs gently with a thumb,
"You know Arcee gets around too much for Optimus right?" he asked in that unique way of his. Bursting into a fit of giggles I shook my head fondly, resting my head against the metal behind me; I hadn't expected Doctor Phil standard replies so I took what he offered without complaint. Lennox was a problem I encountered everytime I had a spare moment to think. The thing was I sensed it wasn't one sided, because some of the things that he said to me were definitely classed as flirtatious, some of the looks I caught him sending me were clearly very appreciative of what he saw (and I was an adult woman who could admit she was both flattered and confused in what he was seeing that I wasn't) and the few times he'd caught my stealthy glances he hadn't seemed offended - actually Lennox had seemed to be just as smug as I felt when the situation was reversed. "When have you ever cared what anyone else thinks anyway?" Jazz asked suddenly, "If you like him why does it matter what anyone thinks about you liking him?" Humming under my breath I turned to look out over the base, seeing the scurrying dots of soldiers playing a game of basketball near the autobots hangar.
It was quite peaceful so far away from everyone else with nothing but the warm breeze caressing my cheeks and the occasional lick of metal as Jazz shifted.
"Jazz I'm the only woman here, human woman I mean-" I tried to explain with a shake of my head, "-and if I did end up getting anything serious with him, which I'm not even sure would happen or that I want it to, the last thing I need is people thinking I got the job because I slept with the boss." Jazz chuckled, his rumbling voice vibrating through my bones in a comfortingly familiar way,
"You proved yourself more than enough the past six months sugar, they know you're not like that. Besides, there's gonna be a beat down on any punk bad mouthing you." Jazz reminded me. Smiling, I patted his hand affectionately,
"Thanks Jazz." I chuckled. Though it didn't help me in the slightest I did feel better for getting it off of my chest. I was about to say something else when my radio went off, one of the twins calling me by the nickname that had caught on like wildfire among my team when (unfortunately) they'd found out my full name,
"EJ come in." Kyle (or was it Kane?) spoke, sounding excited. My eyes rolled a bit as I picked the radio out of my pocket and responded with a slightly grumpy 'what' - how we'd gone six months with this troublesome pair without being able to tell them apart I didn't know.
Jazz got to his feet, setting me on mine first before he transformed back into his alt mode. My little Pontiac Solstice was already opening it's doors for me and I ran my hand over the hood of the car fondly,
"You better not be giving me any of your paperwork, I've only just finished mine." I warned him. The Owens twins were almost as bad as Skids and Mudflap, though they weren't fighting all the time they could be mean if they ganged up on you and tended to be unable to work together very well.
"I'm not I'm not!" he replied hastily, "But I do have exciting news. You know we was working on that prank for Ray? We have a way to do it!" a devillish grin lit up my features and I scrambled into the drivers seat, patting the dashboard and sending Jazz racing off up the runway back towards the autobots hangar,
"I'm on my way back now." I informed them. The twins were already waiting for me just inside the autobots hangar, eyes riveted on the basketball game going on across from us. I could recognise the blue and gold shorts from here, and watched in awe as Lennox swung around another player and took a shot, jumping slightly as he did so and extending his arms as the ball sailed into the net. My eyes lingered on him for a moment and as if he sensed my gaze he turned and gave me a nod of acknowledgement, slapping a high five with his team mate before heading back to his half of the quart and squatting down to ready himself to go again. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the twins to plan out the prank we'd been planning for ages...let's just say that when Ray found us in fits of laughter three hours later, he wasn't all that happy that we'd used a laser cutter and a spray gun to dye his underwear a vibrant shade of hot pink.
"EJ you and Kane are on this shift." Jimmy ordered.
"I was on the last one!" Kane protested as Kyle grinned impishly. It was the one time we could tell them apart, even after being together for almost nine months.
"Fine! EJ and Kyle then!" Jimmy huffed, looking tired and frustrated. He shoved the last of his shirts into his duffel bag and zipped it up, looking at me pointedly with an expression that said keep them in line while I'm gone. Noding my head I climbed to my feet, motioning for Kyle to do the same. Jimmy was off for a week back to San Diego to see his little girl, which meant it was up to me to keep the team running in his absence. Since he was the eldest out of all of us Jimmy had become a sort of unofficial leader, with me as his unofficial second in command. The autobots had had a mission after energon detectors had gone off and tracked a Decepticon back to the Alps, more specifically Switzerland. They were currently somewhere cold and dangerous and though I wouldn't admit it outloud my stomach had been in knots since they'd gotten the call almost several hours ago. I hadn't ate much for dinner as a result of the sickening feeling in my gut but under Jimmy's watchful gaze I'd forced myself to eat something. I pulled Jimmy into a hug, having to go up onto my tiptoes to rest my chin on his shoulder,
"Try and have a good time, yeah?" I murmered in his ear as I pulled away. He grunted in acknowledgement, sour expression ever present on his face but the gratitude he felt showing in his eyes.
Jerking my thumb over my shoulder towards the door, I gave Kyle the hurry up signal and headed out. Night had fallen and the air was crisp and cool, the sky was an inky black colour but the floodlights that lit up the hangars and runways caused so much light pollution you couldn't see the stars. That was one of the main things I had missed about being at home, I'd always had a good view of the stars but now they just weren't anywhere to be seen. The thing I did miss most was missing out on my brothers life. Last time I'd seen him on video chat he'd had a busted up lip thanks to that dirt bag Trent, and I had so badly wanted to go back home just so I could fight back on Sam's behalf but knew I couldn't - I was pretty sure I could sweet talk Lennox into letting me take a glock with me too if I wanted to. Firearms training was one of the highlights of my week. I could not only strip it down and put it back together (something that the good Major had insisted I learn how to do just incase) but I could reload with my eyes closed and could hit the close up targets nine out of ten. I still had a few issues with long range shooting but we were working on that. Kyle had fallen into step beside me and we walked in companiable silence, nodding at the skeleton crew manning the communications stations in the autobots hangar as we took up residence in our own little corner. There was a large metal cabinet for all of our engineering equipment and we'd saved as a team for weeks to be able to pay for a tatty sofa and arm chair. The team often arrived back later than they said they would and we had little sideprojects we liked to work on in our spare time, so the sofa was a great brainstorm team place.
I plopped back into the armchair and swung my feet up over the arm, resting awkwardly and closing my eyes while I twiddled my thumbs and tried push the worrisome thoughts away.
"Communications team said they're about two hours out now." Kyle informed me, "So enough time to look over the specs for the plasma rifle." he added eagerly, and I could hear the metal cabinet creaking open. Lots of car manufacturing companies had plasma cutters to help with the bodywork of their cars, but what we wanted to do was essentially down size it. We'd only started wokring on it last week but it was already proving difficult. We had to shrink down all the inner workings (batteries, wires, the works) but the problem was it was not only hard to shrink but we lost a lot of power when we had to shrink the battery. Losing power made it essentially useless if we wanted to use it as a weapon against the decepticons. Closing my eyes, I merely hummed in agreement to whatever Kyle was mumbling about and intead tried to clear my mind and prepare for the autobots and the guys to return. "EJ are you even listening?" Kyle asked exasperatedly.
"Yeah yeah." I mumbled casually. Kyle went back to grumbling under his breath and with not much else other than the tapping of computer keys behind us it was easy to fall asleep in the tattered old armchair.
Lennox's Point of View:
I was cold, hungry, dirty and it all had made for one irritated Major. Epps was sitting resolutely beside me, not caring that my slighty sour mood had made for a bad atmosphere that most of the team were avoiding. The Decepticon had gone down alright, but he'd put up a hell of a fight before he did so, setting off an avalanche that had buried half of our guys. The autobots had made short work of getting us out but I was still cold to the bone and in need of a hot shower...and soon. We were damn lucky that the worst of our injuries was a concussion for poor Biggs, and that had weighed heavily on me. The autobots were back in their alt modes and waiting patiently for the plane to land so we could all just go home. The Arcee sisters sat together, bodywork glistening in the harsh lighting of the cargo plane interior and Jazz was sitting quietly beside them, playing his tunes softly as was sort of his custom on missions now. When we finally landed, I ordered the boys to hit the showers and warm themselves up before following Epps to the autobots hangar. It was a bit of a paternal instinct to see them all safely back in the hangar getting their checkovers, but when we arrived the engineering team were nowhere to be seen. We'd only taken the Arcee sisters and Jazz but we still neded someone here. Glancing at my watch I noticed the time - 2:04AM. Grimacing a bit I realised we were two hours overdue, and suddenly didn't blame them if they'd packed up for the night. However, when we looked towards their corner we spotted two of them.
One of the twins was sprawled out on the sofa, his face covered by some sort of blueprint and his arm dangling limply over the edge; a notepad and pen had hit the floor at somepoint. The other was...well it brought a smile to my face. Ellie was curled up in the armchair, legs dangling over the arm and her head cradled between the arm and the back of the chair. Her lips were parted and she was snoring softly, one arm hanging over the arm of the chair and the other lieing between her legs, holding her calf. Chuckling to myself, I nudged Epps to see if he was seeing it too. Epps snorted quietly as I walked over and kicked the twin kid awake. He was startled and shot up, blueprints falling away and fluttering to the floor like leaves as he let out a startled cry of,
"Shit! I didn't do it!" Ellie was awake in seconds and one her feet, eyes darting round wildly before resting on my laughing face with a bewildered and slightly dazed look in them. "What...what the?" the kid stammered, rubbing his face with a yawn.
"What did you do?" she asked him suspiciously, stretching out her body as various things cracked and popped. Me and Epps were still laughing heartily, the expressions on their faces pushing us over the edge.
"I didn't do anything!" the kid protested. Ellie frowned a bit,
"You're always doing something." she replied, eyes looking around cautiously as the kid got to his feet and glared at her slightly,
"Not this time, I swear!" he vowed defensively. Ellie looked him over, humming under her breath before she seemed to relax,
"I swear to god if Kane jumps out from somewhere I'm gonna kick you so hard your future kids will feel it." she threatened.
By now, Epps and me were grinning at one another knowingly, my bad mood forgotten in the wake of the amusing scene. Ellie looked us both over, her eyes lingering on me the longest before she rolled those green eyes and ran her hand through my hair, ruffling it and sighing to herself as she grumbled about unacceptable hours and stupid soldiers. The remains of little snowflakes fell from my hair and I smiled slightly,
"Thanks. Sorry to wake you up." I apologised, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. Ellie waved it off and slapped her cheeks lightly,
"No problem, I'm awake." she said, but I thought she was trying to convince herself more than me, "But I can go to bed after this right?" she asked, her green doe-like eyes staring up at me with such innocence I couldn't help but smirk. Even as dishevelled as she looked working the late shift she was still radiant.
"Yes, you can go to bed after this." I chuckled, squeezing her shoulder absent mindedly and marvelling in the all to familiar electrcity that passed between us. I watched her slap the kid into gear and grab her tool belt from the cabinet, seeing her eyes sparkle with that glimmer of excitement she always got when she was working on the autobots. It was her passion and it showed whenever she got the chance to work.
"EJ you want to take your guy?" the kid asked. Ellie snorted slightly,
"Considering the sisters are the closest you'll ever get to touching a woman I say go for it." she retorted with an impish grin.
All traces of tiredness were lost as they got to work, the shop talk flying back and forth was lost on me but it was fascinating to watch them work. Ellie was in her element and within fifteen minutes all the autobots were signed off as fit for duty. The kid was still clearly tired though, looking dead on his feet as he threw his stuff in the cabinet, Ellie smiled slightly and flicked his ear,
"Get to bed Kyle, I can clean this up." she gave him a slight push to the door and he staggered that way, sighing and yawning as he made his way to his bed. I was half tempted to join him but then my eyes landed on the extraordinairy woman infront of me and I suddenly didn't want to leave. She was methodical in the way she worked, making sure everything was in its place and nothing was outstanding. Her eyes flickered up and glanced at me as she hooked the toolbelt up on the peg, "You know...you've been staring for quite a while. Do I have something on my face?" she asked quietly, rising to her full height and looking up at me inquisitively. Blinking in suprise, I slowly shook my head. Dammit, she'd caught me. In the last nine months I'd become increasingly aware of her and staring was becoming a bit of a bad habit.
Stifling a yawn, I looked at the floor in an effort to find something to say in my defense but I knew there wasn't one. I settled on the truth instead,
"I just find it fascinating to watch you work." I confessed. Her light laugh made me smile, the sound never failing to coax a grin out of me. My eyes roamed over her as they so often did, drinking in every detail. Mesmerising green eyes were locked on me and as they looked me over I could see the relief in them, the tension that was fading from her shoulders and the tired smile that played on her lips. Suddenly she was frowning, and I was quizzically raising an eyebrow back at her,
"You're telling me you don't feel that? You haven't gotten that seen to yet?" she asked incredulously, pointing at my jaw. My eyebrows furrowed a bit and I shook my head,
"My face is a little numb, it's cold in the Alps you know." I brushed it off but she was having none of it, concern flooding her expression like she'd spotted me with a knife in my stomach,
"Just how cold are you?" she asked suspiciously, hand reaching out and making me shiver when her palm hit my forehead, the burning heat radiating through me as she gasped, "Jesus Will you're frozen! Come on, you need a hot shower right now!" she ordered, eyes narrowing on me accusingly.
My eybrows rose, amusement dancing across my features as she dragged me out of the hangar by the hand, completely ignoring the fact that I was still in my heavy duty snow gear,
"Ellie I think I can get back to my quarters on my own alright." I chuckled, though the idea of taking her with me was more than appealing. Ellie had shown me a whole other side of her in the last nine months yet still there was always something else that she was revealing to me, she was an ever changing mystery that was evolving everytime that I discovered something new. She could be playful, she could be sweet, she could be a viper if you riled her up enough though and she'd proved she was incredibly driven and not afraid to get down and dirty with the boys. Her team loved her to bits and I understood why perfectly. Ellie huffed slightly, still dragging me forward and glancing up at me accusingly,
"Can you? Because you let yourself freeze for the past half an hour since you landed." she retorted stubbornly. Being Head of Operations here meant that I got to live a little more privately with Epps of course as my roommate. How she knew her way here I didn't quite know but I let her drag me inside, aware that I could already hear Epps snoring and wondered when he'd snuck away. She pushed me into my room and gave me a very pointed look that I recognised well. It'd been the expression she'd worn all the way through the Mission City battle, the expression she'd worn when arguing with me about whether softball was better than basketball during combat training that one time, it was her stubborn expression and I knew that meant that there was no getting rid of her now. "Get in that shower and don't come out for at least twenty minutes." she ordered, closing the door behind her.
Shaking my head bemusedly, I stripped off and grabbed my towel, doing just as she asked. It had definitely taken the twenty minutes she'd put me in here for and then some to get the feeling back into my skin, I didn't realise just how cold I had been until I'd let the hot water cascade over me, soothing my suddenly aching muscles and washing away all bad feelings from the mission to prepare for a new day tomorrow. That was when my jaw began to hurt, and in the warm shower my chin began to bleed again. Cursing under my breath I grimaced at the sting as I tried to just wash it out but it wouldn't work. The water was making it bleed even worse and I had to get out, pressing a towel against the wound as I wrapped one around my waist and took a look in the mirror. There was a nice looking cut on my chin, not too deep but aggravated by the shower by the looks of it. Groaning quietly, I slipped out of the bathroom and past Epps door, suprised to find Ellie sitting back on my bed and twisting her thumbs in an effort to keep herself awake.
"What are you still doing here?" I asked, bewildered. Ellie looked up, face slightly paler than usual due to her lack of sleep but her eyes still as determined as ever.
"Put some pants on." she said, ignoring me completely and tossing me a pair of black sweats I'd left out that I usually slept in. She turned around to give me the privacy I needed but it was a struggle to pull on sweatpants one handedly while clutching your chin with the other. She'd already got a first aid kit prepared and I felt a rush of affection - She was willing to lose sleep just to make sure I was cleaned up properly.
Finally, I'd managed to pull my sweat pants on and gave her the all clear, wandering over to my bed and sitting down on it,
"You know that there's medics on base that can do this for me, right?" I questioned, "You need to sleep." Ellie waved me off with a sigh of frustration as she sat beside me. Moving the towel, she gently turned my face towards her and unapologetically cleaned the cut with an anti-bacterial wipe, ignoring my occasional wince when the sting was too much for my tired body to handle.
"I'll sleep better knowing you're patched up." she mumbled, her touch feather light as she pulled up a packet of butterfly stitches.
"You sure I don't need real stitches doctor?" I teased lightly, watching her glance up unamusedly. She couldn't hold the look though and dissolved into a smile, making me wince a bit since I had involuntarily smiled back.
"It's less than five centimeters, clean and dry and it's not all that deep." she said absentmindedly. Her warm fingertips were carefully tugging the skin into place as she applied the butterfly stitches. Though it made my chin ache and made me wince I let her get on with it. Was she really that worried about me? Her thumb gently brushed over my jaw and she sighed slightly, shaking her head as she packed up the kit with a yawn.
"Hey, you want to crash here? I can sleep in the chair." I offered, partially unsure she'd make it back to her own bed and partially unsure whether or not I wanted her to leave. My jaw was still tingling from her touch and I couldn't get her out of my head; I had to do something about that and soon.
Those green eyes were turned on me again, the full force of their power unleashed on me,
"That's sweet...I'll be okay to make it back though, thank you." she said, voice quiet and calming. "You need to sleep though, you've had a long day." she added, wagging a finger at me almost accusingly. Nodding my head slightly I stood up and walked her to the door, of my room, pointing out the bathroom so she could wash her hands even though she most likely already knew where it was. Our uniform wasn't supposed to be flattering, yet somehow she still managed to make it look like something extravagant. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep after she left, the imprint of her fingertips on my skin would be too distracting, my thoughts were keep spiralling to what would have happened if I made her stay. Ellie hummed under her breath, thanking me quietly and turning to walk away before I grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "What is it?" she asked, preplexed by my sudden action. If I was honest so was I but I had to do something to keep her here, even if just for a little while longer. "Will are you okay?" she frowned, concern colouring her tone.
"Thank you." I said softly, realising I hadn't said it yet. Ellie rolled her eyes a bit, laughing lightly,
"You're welcome." she answered, and before I could think of a good enough reason to get her to stay the night she was gone. Although, when I came down with a cold a few days later she was the first one that came walking in with a hot bowl of soup for me and an extra blanket from storage.