A/N: turns out this chapter is fairly short. But the next one really needs to stand for itself... I might keep to my twice-a-week publishing for a few more chapters to make up for the shortness of them.
Disclaimer: I own things. Stuff. Ya know.
The days at Diego Garcia started pretty good. Bumblebee was gone most of the day, as Lennox had warned her about, but Mattie waited for him at the hangar when he came back each night, so they had some time together. She was happy to find that there was an indoor pool in one of the buildings set aside for the soldiers, and she was welcome to use it. She'd even spent a whole day exploring the island with Charger, who was getting so big that she'd soon have to use a ladder to get on him.
All in all, the days would have been pleasant enough. If it hadn't been for Quinn.
Mattie was pretty sure he wasn't following her around – at least, she thought not. But she kept running into him everywhere she was going, and he never let her pass without a snide comment or leer. The comments got worse and worse, and after the third day, she sought refuge in Cade's workshop all day (really hangar four, but it was Cade's workshop for all intents and purposes) except for her morning swim. That, she pushed to early enough in the morning that the sun was barely up, and the soldiers certainly weren't.
So now, she spent her days talking with the Autobots in recovery, reading, and listening to the playful banter going between the hangar's residents. Drift was still without function in his left arm, though Cade said he would have that sorted soon, and Hot Rod was missing an optic and couldn't unclench his right hand. Hound was off his feet, as neither ped worked as it should after Skywarp had messed them up. Add to that the invalids that had been brought from the Burton estate, and the workshop was really quite crowded.
She was finishing up a game of chess with Drift when Cade came over and stood next to her, arms crossed. Games with Drift took forever, because of his methodic playing style – they'd been going on this one since she arrived that morning.
"Check," Drift said, looking down on the board.
Mattie looked at her pieces. "And mate in another three moves," she nodded. "I admit defeat." She looked up at Cade. "Can I help you with something?"
"You can tell me why you're hanging around here instead of roaming around outside," Cade replied. "This is the fourth day you've been in here all day. Now, I know for a fact that there are lots of other things you can do, and both Viv and Izzy have tried to get you to join them, but you say no. Why is that?"
Mattie looked up at Drift. "Please excuse us." She rose and, grabbing hold of Cade's sleeve, pulled him along to the far corner of the workshop.
"So? Spill." Cade looked at her.
Mattie sighed. "It's Quinn. Whenever I see him, he's – rude." Understatement of the year.
Cade frowned. "Rude how?"
Mattie sat down on a crate. "Just – rude. He calls me things. He leers at me."
Cade sat down next to her. "Tell him to back off."
Mattie snorted. "Like I haven't tried that. Not that politely, either."
"What does he say?"
"Mean things. Calls me a glitch, or a freak. Bumblebee's little plaything. Motor whore, or alien lover. That it's a good thing Bee and I can't breed, because I shouldn't. That I should swim in the ocean instead of the pool, because then I might drown. That no one would miss me much if I did, since I'm so obviously a dead end." Despite her best efforts, she could feel the tears pushing behind her eyelids.
Cade stared at her. "Mattie, that's not rude. That's horrible. Have you told Bee?"
Mattie chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, because that would help. Then Quinn would be so much mess on the tarmac, and Bee would be in a lot of trouble."
"But you can't let him do this to you, Mattie," Cade insisted. "You have to tell someone. He's not going to stop unless you do."
Mattie silently shook her head.
Cade heaved an exasperated sigh. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "He'll get bored and give up eventually. I don't want to cause problems."
Cade just shook his head at her.
In the end, though, she didn't really need to tell anyone. When she left the workshop that night to go back to Bumblebee, Quinn was waiting outside the hangar.
"Hey, freak," he sneered. "Headed back to your master?"
"Leave me alone, Quinn," Mattie replied quietly. "Go away."
"But you haven't understood yet," he complained, falling into step next to her. "I can't stop explaining until you understand. You do realize they only tolerate you, don't you? You're not of any practical use to them."
Mattie shook her head. "Just – just shut up." She knew he was wrong, but it was too scarily easy to believe those words.
He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, so she was facing him. "You're a joke," he said, enunciating each word carefully. "You shouldn't be here. In fact, you should have died when Cybertron flattened your building."
"QUINN!"
He dropped her shoulder as if he'd been burned, and turned towards where the voice was coming from. Lieutenant Hadley was walking towards them, a furious expression on his face. When he got to them, he lifted his hand and pointed a finger straight in Quinn's face. "Report. To the brig. Now," he growled.
"Sir." Quinn snapped a salute, and turned on his heel. Soon he had disappeared into the rain and shadows.
Hadley looked at her. "I heard that. How long had this been going on?"
Mattie looked down. "Since we got here," she murmured. "I kept hoping he would get bored of it and leave me alone."
"Instead, it's gotten worse, hasn't it?" Hadley asked. "He's not letting up, he's become a bigger asshole."
Mattie just nodded.
Hadley sighed. "It's just so – so Quinn. He can be such an utter dickhead. I'm so sorry about this, Mattie. Ryan!"
The lanky, blond soldier swerved in his path and walked over to them. "Sir?"
"Follow Quinn, see he goes to the brig," Hadley said. Ryan saluted sharply, and turned in the direction Hadley pointed.
Hadley looked at Mattie again. "Hopefully, a few days in there will straighten him out, if not we'll have to think of something else. I'd hate to lose him, he's a good soldier."
"I don't want to cause any trouble," Mattie said.
The lieutenant shot her a small smile. "You didn't, honey. He did. And now he'll pay for that. You're going to hangar one, aren't you? Come on, I'll walk you there."
"So what did Quinn actually say to you?" Ryan asked.
"A lot of venom and bile, nothing worth repeating," Mattie said. "Here, hand me that tuning fork."
Being stuck on base doing nothing while her mate was working constantly was a lot less tedious when there was someone else around who was as keenly into music as her. Granted, Ryan's tastes ran more to country/western and such than her own did, but that didn't matter. He was fun to hang out with.
"Ah don't know what's gotten into him," Ryan frowned, bending low over his own Grace. His long, ashen-blonde fringe hung into his eyes, and he shook his head irritably. "Ah mean, he can be a moron, but he's never been cruel. Ah've been stationed with him for two years now."
Mattie looked up from Johnnie's tuning pegs and grinned. There was something in that tone. "You like him, don't you?"
Ryan flashed her a look, and grinned. "Ah think he's hot."
Mattie considered that for a moment. "Yeah, you're not wrong." She smirked. "Though totally not my type."
"Nah, you landed yourself an Autobot, regular guys are beneath you now," Ryan chuckled. Unlike if Quinn had said something similar, there was no malice in Ryan's statement. "Speakin' of which, where is he tonight?"
Mattie shrugged. "I have no idea." She looked around, checking who else was hanging around in the workshop. "Izzy's here and not Jack, and since he's not with me that means he's with Prime. That means Prime isn't in a strategic meeting or some such, which means that Bee's probably – "
"- trainin' with Heimling's squad," Ryan nodded. "Ah think you're right. Borrow the tunin' fork?"
Mattie handed it to him. "Hey Ryan, what does T. stand for?"
He looked up at her, his fringe in his eyes again. "Huh?"
"T." She pointed at his uniform tag, where 'T. Ryan' was marked in large letters.
"Oh." He smiled and reddened slightly, but still met her eyes. "Thaddeus. Thaddeus John Ryan. Ah'm named for my great-grandfathers. Ah've told my parents off for that more times than Ah can count."
Mattie grinned and stretched out her hand. "Marie-Thérèse Saint-Édain. Named for the chick in West Side Story and the saint of the local pond. Nice to meet you."
"You too." He grinned. "An' if you ever call me Thaddeus Ah'll cheerfully strangle you with a steel guitar string."
"Noted."
"Playing without me?"
Mattie turned, looking up at Bumblebee. He was dripping wet, and looked a bit like a kicked puppy. "Aw Bee, you're adorable when you're pouting," she grinned. "You wouldn't want to record this anyway, we're just working on the tuning."
Bee sat down next to her, and she leaned up against him gratefully. I don't even care if he's wet, I'm staying right here. She twisted slightly and placed a kiss on his chest armor.
"Have you been here all day today too?" Bee asked, nuzzling at her hair.
Mattie shook her head, grinning. "Nope. Quinn's in the brig for another day, so I got a welcome respite." It seemed like once Quinn had been thrown in the brig, everyone discovered why, so there had been no keeping it from Bumblebee. Thankfully, he hadn't gone completely mad. Only slightly.
"Ah'll talk to him," Ryan said, frowning. "He has to stop this."
"I still don't know why you didn't tell me," Bumblebee grunted.
Mattie put Johnnie down and snuck into his lap, and he put his arms around her carefully. "Because you would have made a ruckus," she said, leaning into his chest. "And I didn't want that."
"Ruckus," Bee repeated, looking down at her. "Ryan's rubbing off on you."
"Then Ah'm doin' some good," the blond soldier grinned. "Ah'm gonna pack up now, Mattie. See you around?"
"Definitely," she nodded. "Thanks for hanging with me."
"Anytime you like," he grinned. "You're fun. Bye, Bee."
The Autobot lifted one hand and waved at him, not taking his eyes off Mattie. Ryan chuckled as he walked away.
"I missed you," Mattie whispered, lifting a hand to stroke the sensitive wiring in Bee's neck. "Are you going to be this busy all the time?"
"I don't know," he sighed, leaning down and kissing her head. "So I've come to steal you. With Hound and Hot Rod still stuck here, and Drift and Crosshairs running night-ops with Anderson's squad, I've got the hangar to myself all night."
Mattie looked up at him, thrilled at his words. "I get to stay with you tonight?"
"If you want to," he nodded, grinning at the look on her face. Then he leaned in. "To be honest, I already fetched your things."
Mattie giggled. "Perfect."
