Chapter 34
New Things
Bumblebee's expression was more thoughtful than usual as he walked back from battle practice. The practice had gone well and all, but he couldn't stop thinking about what Auri had said about swings. That conversation had taken place two days ago now, but it still kept coming back to him.
She had never been on a swing, never at all, she'd said. To him, that was sad. He'd been through wars and battles and suffered at Megatron's cruel hands, but he could still be touched by small things… and Auri's simple words had certainly touched him. 'Was it fun while it lasted?' She'd asked. She had no idea.
Bee shook his head. Some of his best childhood memories involved the park and swing-set.
He hurried in the bathhouse to get clean so he could go on with the next part of his day. He had the whole afternoon free to do as he pleased, and he knew what he was going to do.
About an hour and a half later, Bee was standing beside Hoist, one of the construction Autobots. They were at one of the construction areas, and the steel frame of a partially done hanger rose up around them. The funding for this particular building had been cut off last year; it had never been completed. The bots had been planning to reuse the steel at some point, but red tape kept getting in the way; thus the frame had never been dismantled.
Bee and Hoist had been working on something, and it was done now. Twin cables hung over a rafter; they were twisted around each other separately, and the ends of each with secured to either end of a short piece of steel beam from the scrapheap.
Bee was grinning in delight.
"Well," said Hoist, pleased with the outcome, "It certainly looks like a swing."
Bee nodded enthusiastically, looking over the swing with eager optics.
"Go for it." Hoist said, patting Bee on the shoulder. "I'm a too big to fit well."
Bee scampered over to the swing and got on to the seat, shuffled backwards, then kicked off. How fun it was to be on a swing again! He pumped hard and sent himself higher.
"Nice!" Hoist said, scanning the frame and the swing, making sure nothing was being strained too much. All of it was fine.
Bee swung higher and higher, absolutely thrilled that the swing worked so well. Then he tucked his door-wings well back and jumped. He landed perfectly, posing as he did so.
Hoist chuckled.
"'It's working! It's working!'" Bee cheered. "'Thank-you very much!'"
"You are welcome, Bumblebee." Hoist replied, smiling at the youngest mech on base. "I'll see you later. I've got some other things to work on."
Bee nodded and thanked him again before waving good-bye. Then he caught the swing and got back on. There was something else he wanted to try. He got the swing going up quite high again, and then he jumped off again. But, this time he tucked and spun, intending to do a flip mid-air.
The ground came up too fast though.
WHAM!
Bee winced as he lay on his back. His door wings hurt.
"Ow…" Bee moaned, rolling over. 'Way to go.' He thought. "Ow…" He got up. 'At least Hoist wasn't here to see that.'
Bee sighed and headed to go see Ratchet. He wasn't seriously hurt, but door-wings were delicate.
He gave the swing a regretful but determined looked. He was going to come back and master jumping off and doing a flip. He had been able to do it perfectly on Cybertron.
Med-Bay was empty of patients, and Ratchet was busy looking through some old medical reports. He looked up when Bee came in. "Hello, little bot." he said, glad to see the young scout.
"Hi," Bee said softly. "Erm…" It was actually embarrassing to admit that he'd fallen off a swing, especially at his age.
::What's going on?:: Ratchet asked over the comm. as he moved towards Bee.
::I tried a little stunt that I could do well on Cybertron, but the different gravity here was against me.:: Bee replied sheepishly.
"Ah," Ratchet said; by now he'd lightly scanned Bee and knew that he'd bruised and strained his wing-connectors rather badly and dinged his wings. "Hop up," he patted a low berth, "And lie down."
Bee did as bidden. Ratchet injected a localized pain-killer, and then he gently tended to Bee's wings.
"You weren't showing off for anybody, by some chance?" Ratchet asked, getting a sudden idea.
::Nope.:: Bee replied over the comm., shaking his head. ::I was just making sure I could still do the stunt… which I couldn't.::
"I suppose you're going to go back and try again once I'm done with these little repairs?" Ratchet said drily. He was slightly disappointed by Bee's answer.
"Uh-huh," Bee replied in the affirmative.
"Well, be more careful next time." Ratchet ordered sternly.
Bee nodded, smiling as his was face down. He knew that Ratchet cared deeply for him, like he was Ratchet's own sparkling, and that the old medic was just hiding his care under stern front.
No more questions were asked, and presently Ratchet patted his back. "All done, Bee. You can go now."
Bee thanked him then headed back to the swing again.
OoOOooOooOOoO
Auri slipped quietly out Prowl's office door; her shift there was done, but Prowl still had the rest of the day with the harassing liaison. Poor Prowl.
She gave the liaison's shiny red sports-car a dark look. "I wish I had let the twins flip you over." She muttered aloud to it.
"Well, how do you think I would have felt about it!" the car growled, breaking up into a transform.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEE-!" Auri squealed and started to bolt away in fright. Then she stopped and turned around. "SIDESWIPE!"
"Yeah?" The car said, grinning.
"Don't DO that to me! You scared me." She reproached.
"I'm sorry," Sides said, hanging his head a little. "I didn't mean to. Just when you spoke to the car, I couldn't help making it talk back."
She smiled up at him. "I understand," she said. Then she frowned. "I don't want to know what you were planning to do when Agent Scales came out."
Sides grinned.
"Where's the actual car?" Auri asked, looking around.
"Sunny and I pushed it up the block a little and put a holograph emitter over it to hide it."
"Mm." she didn't feel like defending the liaison. She sighed and rubbed her head. She did have to protect her commander from the liaison's complaints, though. "Put everything back the way it was," she said tiredly.
Sides was instantly sensitive to her feelings. "Hey, we're sorry, Aurilaze," he said earnestly, "We didn't intend to make things worse for you," he told her sympathetically as Sunny came over and hugged her.
"It's alright." She said.
Sunny let her go and rubbed her shoulder. "We'll behave for the rest of the day." He promised. "Ah, actually, we'll promise to not prank or bother this liaison for the rest of his visit this time." By saying that, he and Sunny could prank the liaison next visit without breaking the promise.
"Okay." Auri said, perking up. It was a short term promise, but short-term was all she needed at the moment.
"After we put everything back, would you like to go to the pub for something cool and sweet?" Sides asked. He could tell that the little femme needed some cheering up, and they usually had a good time at the pub.
"Aw, thanks, mech, I'd like that a whole lot," she said, brightening. "But Bee has already has my time. He's taking me to see something that he thinks I'll like; he's coming in just a couple moments."
"Oh. Well, okay. Maybe later?" Sunny asked.
Auri nodded as a yellow Camaro came around the corner. Bee pulled up and transformed. "Ready?" he asked.
Auri nodded.
"What are you taking her to see?" Sides asked.
"It's a surprise." Auri told them. Bee nodded.
"How you get so dinged up?" Sunny asked, noticing a few small dents on the other yellow-armored mech.
Bee grinned. The twins were jealous because she was going with him instead of them. He touched her arm and motioned "let's go" with his hand.
"See you two later." Auri promised.
"Hmphf." Sides muttered, but Sunny waved pleasantly, calling, "Have fun!"
Bee transformed. Auri transformed as well and followed him as he drove out to the middle of nowhere.
"What are we going to go see?" Auri asked, slowing down, feeling a little apprehensive about being so far away from the places she usually was around.
"'Almost there…'" Bee told her.
"Okay." She said. They topped the little hill, and then she saw the abandoned hanger frame.
Bee transformed and Auri followed suit. "An abandoned hanger frame?" she asked uncertainly.
Bee led her closer, watching her face, waiting for the moment when she realized what it was. He was not disappointed.
"Ooooo! Bee!" She squealed, her face lighting up, "It's a swing-set!" She couldn't have been happier.
The two small winged bots ran the rest of the way, stopping only once they reached the swing.
"Is it safe?" Auri asked.
Bee nodded confidently, but she hung back, still a little uncertain. Then he realized that she wasn't sure what to do. He climbed on and pushed off. "Like this!" he said. He pumped and gained a little altitude, and then he tucked his wings back and jumped off, landing perfectly.
Auri watched, delighted and fascinated at the same time.
"Come on," Bee motioned, taking her by the arm. {No jumping}, he warned. He held the swing still while she scooted on, and then he pulled it back and let go, giving her a little push.
Auri thoroughly her very first swing ride. It was almost a little frightening, and the motion was a bit strange, making her systems jump sometimes. It was quite thrilling.
"Oh, Bee, this is very fun!" she said happily.
He grinned back at her, more than content with the result.
He pushed her for a while, and then she wanted him to swing some, to share. He complied willingly. He took his turn, and then he tucked his wings and jumped off again, this time doing a wonderful flip and landing perfectly.
Auri clapped her hands. "That was great, Bee! Do it again!"
Bee ducked his head, terribly pleased, and went to do it again. It had been challenging and painful practicing the flip, but now every bit of it was worth it. He did the flip again, to Auri's delight, and then he helped her back on the swing.
By now she'd figured out how to pump and make herself swing without help. Bee climbed on the frame and hung upside down by his legs, making her giggle at him as she swung.
'Now we just need a slide and some 'monkey-bars,' as the humans call them.' Bee thought to himself.
"Hey, can I jump off?" Auri asked. Bee nodded. It was perfectly simple, jumping off. He hopped to the ground to stand and watch.
Auri waited for the swing to reach the right place, and then she jumped.
"OOOOW!" she screamed in pain as the swing jerked her back by the wings and slammed her into the ground. "Oohhhh…!"
Bee was horrified. He ran over and put an arm around her, helping her up and gently guiding her wings clear of the swing.
"Owwww…" she whimpered, trying to not cry.
"I'm sorry," Bee whispered. "I didn't think about that…" he hugged her to comfort her.
She sniffed and put her head against her shoulder. "It hurts," she whimpered.
"I know; I did it once." He gently rubbed her back, "Let's go to Ratchet, okay?"
"Mm-hm…"
He led her slowly towards Med-Bay. When they finally reached Med-Bay, Bee slid the door back for her and tenderly ushered her in.
"Nnnnyah! RATCHET!" Chromia was yelling. She was prone on a berth and strapped down. Ironhide was right beside her.
"Sh-sh." Ironhide coaxed, "It's fine."
"Owwwwww! It's not FINE!"
"I think we came at a bad time." Auri said softly to Bee. He twisted his mouth to the side.
Ratchet came over from his fifth cabinet, holding an instrument. "It will be fine in a little bit." He told Chromia. "You should be more careful out on the practice battle field. Oh." He said, seeing the two little bots.
"What happened?" Auri asked, concerned.
"She twisted and strained part of her arm." Ratchet said, "Just snapped a couple wires and… ahm, it will be fine shortly."
"Poor Chromia," Auri murmured.
"Why are you little bots in here?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge. Bee and Auri, here together…?
"I jumped off the new swing," Auri said, "But I didn't know to tuck my wings back… so I got caught, and it hurts." she started to tear up.
"Aw, there-there," Ratchet crouched down beside her to rub her shoulder. "I've taken care of lots of door-wings in my time," he said, "I'll have you feeling fine in sooner than it takes to explain. Okay?"
"Okay…" she murmured, slipping away from Bee to hug to old medic.
"I'll give you something to ease the pain," he said, "But then I need you to sit quietly and wait while I look after Chromia, since she's more seriously damaged. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes, sir." Auri said, nodding seriously. "But my rump is sore from falling."
"We'll take care of that." He sat, rising. He went and got something like an ice-pack that glowed a little bit. He set it down on a low berth, and then he motioned Auri over. He picked her up and seated her gently on the pack. "Alright?" he asked her. She nodded. "Okay, and this is for your wings; hold still." She flinched a little when he injected the pain-killer. "There." He said, "Now wait for me like a good little bot, and I'll be back to take care of you as soon as I'm done with Chromia."
Auri nodded and settled to wait patiently. Bee came over and climbed up to sit beside her.
{Sorry about this}, he signed.
{It's okay. Mostly my fault}, she signed back. {It was fun while it lasted}, she added with a smile. Bee grinned back at her.
::So, you weren't showing off, you were just practicing for it.:: Ratchet sent over the comm. to just Bee.
::I hadn't been on a swing for a long time.:: Bee protested.
::But you were showing off.::
Bee looked cross-eyed for a moment. ::Why don't you get yourself a femme before for you start teasing me about one.:: he sent back.
Ratchet paused and looked over at Bee briefly before turning back to his work. ::I already have my sights on one, youngling.::
::So? Where is she?::
::None of your business.:: Ratchet replied curtly.
Bee smiled. The femme had to be on base. ::What's your holdup then?:: he asked.
::She's a sniper, and I'm a medic, and there's a war going on. We need to defeat the Cons before we can get together.::
::MOONRACER?::
"Who on earth are you intercomming with?" Auri asked Bee, giggling. She'd seen the variety of expressions going across his face. It had to be interesting conversation.
Bee gestured to Ratchet then signed. {I'd intercom with you if your com-system wasn't down}.
"It's down again?" Auri asked, checking. "Arg. This system has serious problems." She said, aggravated. "Ratchet…! My intercom is down again."
"I'll just have to fix it again." Ratchet said patiently.
"Okay." Auri said, calming down, a little embarrassed about her outburst. It was frustrating, though; her intercom seemed to be down about half the time. She shrugged and then she and Bee sat patiently and played hand charades.
Ratchet kept hearing quiet giggles and soft chuckles from the two little bots as they played. Normally he had no tolerance for noisy bots, but since these two were the only two younglings he had on this whole planet, and they did belong to two of his closest friends, he let them carry on without shushing them.
By and by he finished with Chromia. He slipped her armoring back over her arm and released the restraining straps. "Okay," he said, rubbing her shoulder, "All done. Be more careful next time, will you?"
"Eh, not yikely." Chromia murmured as he helped her sit up. "I waza Con in the simulation, and they's crazy."
Auri stared at her femme guardian. Bee said, 'oh.'
"Sedatives." Ratchet explained to the younglings.
"Lotsa sedadives," Chromia slipped off the berth and leaned on Ironhide. "You'r gonna haveta carry me home, My'Ide." She slurred. "But… I'll reward you,"
Ironhide picked her up gently, a smile creeping onto his face. Chromia put her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly.
"Erm," Bee looked away.
"Smooch patrol, smooch patrol!" Auri called, covering her optics.
Ironhide chuckled at his little femme-ling. "You've seen more than this before, calm down."
"Bee and RATCHET are here!" Auri protested, waving blindly at the room with one hand.
"Oh, yeah, the chief medical officer knows nothing about mech and femme relations." Ironhide teased.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Stop it!" Auri squealed.
Ironhide stopped teasing but kept grinning. "Alright, alright. We'll go now. Thanks as always, Ratchet."
"Yeah, yeah." Ratchet said, waving him out, "Go on." A moment later he chuckled. "Okay, younglings, you can look now."
Bee looked around, and Auri uncovered her optics. "Those two are crazy." Auri said, shaking her head.
Ratchet knew otherwise, but he kept his knowledge to himself and merely smiled. "Let's see to your little door-wings now." He said.
"Okay. They still hurt even though you gave me pain-killers."
He nodded. That was often the case, sorry to say. He worked as carefully and as gently as he could, but he couldn't help but hurt her a little now and then.
"You really dinged you wings up badly." He commented, stepping back to frown thoughtfully.
"I didn't mean to," she said, her fists pressed against her optics.
"I know, I know, sweet-spark." He said gently, rubbing her shoulder. "I'll let you be for a few minutes now while I get a different tool, okay?"
She nodded. Bee rubbed her arm and coaxed a smile out of her.
"I'm inclined to smack the next little door-winger who comes in with wing damages." Ratchet muttered. "It's high time they learn to be more careful."
"It was an accident." Auri protested.
"That's what I'm tired of, 'it was an accident'; if Bots would be more careful, we wouldn't have so many accidents." Ratchet said.
Bee gave Auri an exasperated look. Now she'd done it; she'd started him on one of his rants.
'Oh,' Auri mouthed, 'Sorry.' Bee nodded: he forgave her, and it was okay.
Ratchet went on. "Time and time again I have… ah, hello Prowl."
"Hello." Prowl said flatly from the doorway.
"Don't tell me that you've jumped off a swing and injured yourself, too." Ratchet said.
Auri and Bee stifled giggles down, but Prowl looked slightly annoyed and perplexed.
"I will not, for I have not." Prowl said, looking rather cross. "Nor could I; we have no swings."
"We do now." Ratchet said with a sage air.
"Oh."
"Why are you here, Prowl?" Ratchet asked, seeing that Prowl was in a terrible mood.
Prowl lifted a hand in a motion towards his wings, "My…"
Ratchet smacked him upside the head.
"What. Was. That. For." Prowl demanded.
"I said I was going to smack the next little door-winger who came in with wing damages."
"I have no wing damages." Prowl said reproachfully, "My shoulders and back are sore."
"Ah." Said Ratchet. "Sorry for smacking you then."
"Mphf."
"Take a seat." Ratchet said patiently, and Prowl went and sat. Ratchet shook his head and went back to Auri and her delicate door-wings. He gave her a little more painkiller then paused. She looked questioningly over her shoulder at him. "Just a moment." He said; he'd had inspiration.
He went over and opened a drawer and pulled out a relatively small box with a round lid. He carried it back to Auri's berth and opened it, stuck his hand in, and then drew it out again, presenting her with a piece of copper-candy on a stick. It was much like the lollipops that humans gave their kids to rot their teeth while keeping them quiet.
Auri took it and looked at it curiously. "Thank-you…?" she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with this thing.
Bee gaped at her, his optics wide. Prowl stared. "It's candy, Aurion!" he was astonished.
"Oh!" she sat up straighter at the sound of Prowl's voice. "I've never had candy." She said, looking at it.
Bee buzzed in wonder. Prowl raised his optic ridges.
"Well, put it in your mouth." Ratchet said, pretending like he wasn't completely bewildered and distressed.
"Yes, sir." She complied, and then a smile light up her face. "Mmm!" she pulled the candy out to speak. "It's good!"
"Uh-huh." Ratchet took her hand by the wrist and made her put the candy back in her mouth. Then he went back to work. She squeaked once, but she couldn't very well wail or fuss with her mouth occupied.
"Issa twick." She commented around the candy. Prowl twitched his wings.
"Come again?" Ratchet asked.
Auri pulled the candy out so she could speak clearly. "It's a trick."
"Yes, it is." Ratchet admitted frankly.
{Well, I didn't get any when I came in}, Bee signed, much amused.
"You weren't fussing like a little sparkling." Ratchet said. Then he chuckled. "Oh, here." He said, playfully offering the open box to the little scout, "For being such a brave little bot."
Bee laughed, but he took a candy, happy to do it. He'd not had candy in a long time. He smiled as he put it in his mouth and the good taste swept over his mouth sensors.
"Prowl?" Ratchet offered the box to the cranky Commander.
"No, thank-you." Prowl said. He only wanted the liaison and the pain gone.
"Have some anyway." Ratchet said, mercilessly shoving a piece into the smaller bot's mouth. Prowl glared at him and jerked it out. Ratchet raised an optic-ridge. "Don't defy your medic, now." He warned.
Prowl sighed and slipped the candy back in. There was no winning today, was there. Mm, he'd forgotten how delicious copper-candy was...
Ratchet went back to Auri.
"I yike iss be'er 'n 'weet E'rgon," She said happily, smiling around the stick that held the candy.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Ratchet told her.
The candy came out for a moment. "Yes, sir." It went back in.
Ratchet finished up with her wings soon after that, and then he set her on her feet. "There you go, little one." He said, patting her.
"Thank-you for looking after me," she said, reaching up to hug him. He allowed himself to be hugged for a moment.
"Tuck your wings well back next time you jump." He said.
"Yes, sir; I will!" she replied emphatically.
"Good."
"Okay, Bee, shall we go back?" Auri asked, "Do you still have free time?"
Bee nodded, delighted that she wanted to go back.
"It will be even more awesome this time!" Auri said, grinning as she headed towards the door with him. "Yeah!"
Out the door they went, and a moment later Ratchet heard them rev their engines in car-mode and drive away."
"Go, go, go, crash, hop up, and go, go, go some more." Ratchet said to himself. "Little bots…" he shook his head. Little bots were marvelous.