Rebirth

Chapter Forty Eight

The Big Question


"No!"

Jaden fought hard to figure out whether he wanted to grin or frown at the sight before him. On one hand, it was hilarious to watch Sal cling to the railing leading down in to the water; on the other, it was a little disturbing to see how honestly terrified the six year old was to let the water get any higher than his waist. If he had been in Annalise's place, he would have likely caved in by now and let the boy forever stay on those pool steps.

"Come on, sweetie," Annalise said, her soft voice barely audible over the happy shouts of the pool's other occupants. She gently swiped her hand along the surface of the water, but the only response she received from Sal was a glare and his arms tightening around the rail as much as they could. The floaties on the upper part of his arms weren't much help when it came to clinging to things. "It's fun to get out in the water!"

Sal vehemently shook his head, cheeks being squished by the floating devices on his arms. Annalise sighed and turned to where Jaden was sitting on the edge of a pool chair, grinning at them. "Jaden, come help me! He's never going to get off the steps with just me in here."

Jaden glanced over at Bluestreak lounging in the chair beside him. "But Blue needs me too. Who's gonna roll 'im over an' ensure a perfect tan?"

The mech in disguise, who for intents and purposes had appeared to be peacefully napping, burst into a fit of giggles. However, Annalise found little amusement in the man's joke and automatically lurched forward when a more rowdy child almost bumped into Sal on his way into the pool. Sal scowled and attempted to kick at the boy swimming away, but his arms gripped the rail even tighter when he nearly slipped. "Jaden."

"Wha' d'ya want me ta do?" Jaden insisted, an unfamiliar feeling creeping up on him. It made him feel slightly nauseous, but it wasn't often that he felt embarrassed over something. "You know as well as Ah do that if he don't wanna do somethin', he aint gonna do it."

Annalise didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she waded back over to the steps and sat down beside the boy. "Will you get in if daddy does?"

Sal paused, and Jaden's grin wobbled with the strained hope that his son would stick to his original denials. His prayers were painfully shot down at the hesitant nod from Sal. "Maybe."

"You heard him, Jaden. He'll get in if you do too."

"I said maybe!"

Jaden gave a shaky laugh and looked out at the other people splashing around in the pool. A lot of people were using foam pool noodles to stay afloat in the deeper end, their feet kicking beneath them in the crystalline water. He unconsciously swallowed at the sight, pretending that it was the highly concentrated smell of chlorine and sunscreen that was twisting his stomach. His summers on the Lennox farm had never involved a pool that he couldn't stand up in. "What's wrong with sittin' on the steps?"

Bluestreak snickered at the pointed glare that Annalise sent her fiancé and went back to "sunbathing." Jaden gave him a brief scowl before standing up and walking over to where the two were sitting. He carefully stepped down to sit on the same step and felt a slight relief from the summer heat when the cool water was submerged to his chest. Sal stared at him for a moment before quickly ducking under the rail to cling to him.

"Come on!" Jaden teased with a comforting pat to the boy's tiny back. "You gonna get scared 'bout a li'l water?"

"That's a lot of water."

"It's just like a tub."

"Tubs have bubbles; this has screaming kids pushing each other underwater. It's not like a tub."

Jaden lightly chuckled at the bland—but true—statement. He looked to Annalise for some kind of inspiration, but the woman could only shake her head. She had used all of her ideas up in the first half hour of trying to get Sal into the pool, and Bluestreak was just as stumped. Large puddles of water weren't really an issue where he came from. "What you scared of?"

Sal watched a pair of teenagers begin slapping each other with their pool noodles before leaning in closer to his father's ear. "I can't swim."

Jaden mimicked Sal and whispered, "What if Ah told ya Ah can't either?"

The surprise that took over the boy's expression was priceless, and Annalise leaned closer in an attempt to hear them. "That's not true! You can do anything."

Jaden's grin softened, and he felt a little flutter of joy take over the nausea of previous embarrassment. "Ah can't swim. Ah spent my summers in a pool that all Ah had ta do was walk around in. The only thing Ah learned was ta dog paddle and float backwards."

"But…why'd you get in if you can't swim?"

"'Cause ya needed my help. A li'l fear can't keep me from comin' ta help my boy." Jaden gave Sal a small wink and lifted a finger to cover his mouth. He scooted away when Annalise managed to get on their side of the railing and leaned down further to whisper in the boy's ear. "Don't tell ya mama though. Ah made her think Ah could, an' the last thing Ah wanna do is let 'er know that the deep end's scarin' me silly. Why don't you come help me get over that?"

The severe frown on Sal's face made it obvious that he knew what Jaden was doing, but after a moment of deep thought, he nodded and clung to Jaden's neck as the man slipped away from the steps. He grunted as they began to walk further out into the water, and he sent a withering glare towards the screaming child that splashed them, gripping Jaden's neck even tighter.

Jaden paused right before the bottom of the pool dipped into deeper waters and grinned. "See? It aint so bad right here."

Sal didn't appear very convinced and made sure that both his legs and his arms were still tightly wrapped around the man. "Don't go deeper."

"Ah won't."

Annalise floated over to them with a smile and playfully splashed water in their direction. Sal automatically shouted in displeasure, but Jaden was pleased to also see him retaliate with a mighty splash. A small water fight commenced between the two, and even the occasional direct hit couldn't wipe the grin off Jaden's face as he gradually loosened his hold on the thrashing boy. His grin reached its peak when he gently floated away, watching his son viciously kick at the water to propel himself towards his mother. "Man, Sal! You a better swimmer than me."

Sal paused his attacks on Annalise and allowed his arm floaties to carry his weight through the moving water. Instead of throwing a fit for being let go, Sal cheerfully laughed and began to kick towards the edge of the pool with his parents protecting him from any of the other rowdy swimmers. He grasped the edge and attempted to lift himself up to see the mech still sitting at the set of chairs the small family had claimed. "Blue, Blue! Look at me—I'm swimming!"

Jaden's hearty chuckles died when he noticed the rigid posture the mech had now, his face disturbingly blank and unhuman like. Annalise seemed to notice at the same time and floated over to hoist herself up on the ledge beside Sal. "Bluestreak? Are you okay?"

The avatar's head suddenly snapped towards them, spooking the couple that had been staring at him as they walked past, and plastered an empty smile on his face. "Yeah! Sorry about that. Wow, Sal! I didn't think you were planning on leaving the steps, let alone start swimming on your own. I wish I could get in there with you guys, but holoforms don't really mix well with water. They tend to short-circuit, and we already had a pretty big commotion over people recognizing me as an Autobot in the parking lot. Let's see how quick you can swim from one side or the other; I'll keep track of time. Ready? Set…go!"

Fortunately, the boy's pride for his recent success and the introduction to a challenge was enough to keep him from noticing Bluestreak's strange behavior. He pushed off the wall to happily kick through the water, staying away from the invisible line that separated the deep and shallow ends of the pool while his arms comically swung above his head and his feet erratically kicked up water behind him. Annalise floated after him, but Jaden stayed by the edge, frowning at his professed Guardian. "You sure you okay, man?"

"Oh, yeah! You guys just go have fun. That's why we came today."

Jaden made a noise in the back of his throat. "We brought you ta do the same, Blue. It's a family outin'—you family too. Just 'cause ya can't jump in with us don't make it any less true."

Bluestreak's forced smile slightly melted into a genuine one, but the lack of expression in his imitated blue eyes revealed the stress still there. "Thanks, Jaden. Really. Now go catch Sal before he decides to try swimming underwater. He'll have a lot of new ideas for painting when we…when you get back home."

Jaden stared at the mech for a moment, his mind instantly cataloguing the strange change in pronouns and assessing the significance behind it. When he was unable to decipher the hidden meaning, he propelled himself from the edge of the pool to meet Annalise and Sal on the other end. He tried his hardest to enjoy the rest of their time at the pool, but even as he was carrying Sal around on his shoulders, he immediately noticed when Bluestreak abruptly stood up from his chair to retreat back to the parking lot.

What was meant to be a family outing to help Bluestreak relax had been an utter failure.

~:0:~

"Didn't take him long to conk out."

Jaden smiled and squeezed Annalise's hand while he used Bluestreak's rearview mirror to sneak a peek at the softly snoring boy behind them. Sal's head bobbed to the side before he jerked back up, not even opening his eyes as he snuggled in to the seatbelt that kept him from falling over. The young couple had never seen the boy play as hard as he had at the pool, and as exhausting as it had been to chase the six year old around, they were pleased by the results. Even after almost two years of being off the streets and in a loving home, Sal still had a little bit of a difficult time relaxing enough to enjoy having "fun" outside of his usual pencils and sketchbooks.

"What d'ya expect?" Jaden replied, chuckling at the sight of the seatbelt adjusting to keep Sal's head from falling over again. "Kid did 'bout ten laps 'round the entire pool. Then Ah got tired o' countin'!"

"I think he's starting to pick up on your enthusiasm," Annalise said with a grin, her cheeks a brighter hue than usual thanks to the extended sun exposure. She leaned over to playfully bump Jaden's shoulder, having no fear of jostling the man's hand from the steering wheel that smoothly slid from his grasp to stay on course. "Why didn't you just tell me you couldn't swim? I thought you said you used to spend the summers in your friend Annabelle's pool."

"Ah did! It was an aboveground enclosure o' water that was the same depth all around. By the time Ah graduated from clingin' ta inner tubes, Ah could walk across the bottom, no sweat!"

Jaden gave his fiancé a big grin as she playfully rolled her eyes at him and shifted in her seat when Bluestreak pulled up outside of their apartment. Annalise leaned over to give him a quick peck on the lips before unbuckling herself. "Well, I guess we know who will be taking those swimming lessons with Sal now. I'll get the pool things from the back if you get Sal. It was nice having you with us today, Blue, even if you couldn't get in the pool with us."

A hum escaped the speaker as the mech politely swung his door open for the woman and popped his trunk for her to get their things. Jaden moved to follow her example before realizing his door was still locked. He glanced back at Annalise pulling out their bag and towels and Sal soundly snoozing before addressing the mech. "What happened?"

"Optimus called." The brief explanation sounded much graver coming from the normally happy mech, and it was clearly enough to make him briefly pause. "He wants all of the Autobots to return to the base out in Colorado."

"Everyone?"

"Even Guardians."

Jaden frowned. Over the past few months, he had slowly begun to understand the severity of Bluestreak accepting the role as his Guardian from both Bluestreak and Jazz. A mech didn't just agree to Guardianship all willy-nilly, which was what made the fact that a good number of Autobots were beginning to take human Charges even more significant. They were friends, and they were protectors. Even if he had only been aware of Bluestreak's existence for a year and some odd months, that didn't lessen the mech's strong sense of responsibility towards his Charge (and subsequently those associated to him), and Jaden had quickly accepted the Autobot into his inner circle of friends and family. There may have still been a few things for him to learn about being a Guardian, but he had been aware of the importance of the role after Bluestreak's official introduction.

It didn't sit well for Jaden to hear that his Guardian and friend was being called back to the main base, especially after being pretty much left alone for the last six or so years. "Why?"

"He wants us all there in case the next few days go…bad."

Jaden frowned even further. "He expectin' it to?"

"He honestly doesn't know, but he's not really the one demanding we return. He'd rather have everyone off base stay where they are. After all, some of us actually do have jobs now. The government just wants us all in a convenient place. Optimus didn't say anything like that, but I could hear it in his voice."

Now Jaden scowled. He didn't like the sound of all the Autobots being uprooted from where they were comfortable for the government's "convenience." He didn't care what began tomorrow—none of it sat well with him. Like the politicians in DC were expecting to be running the Autobots out now that they were unwilling to sit back and be used. But he forced himself to pat the mech's steering wheel, lending the comfort and support he knew his alien friend needed. Orders were orders, and as much as he knew Bluestreak wanted to fight against them, both him and Jazz knew the mech wouldn't go against a direct order from Optimus, no matter how badly he might have wanted to. "S'all gonna be good, Blue. Ah promise not ta start no fight while ya gone."

A forced laugh escaped Bluestreak before the lock on his door sprung up. "You better not. I can't shoo unruly customers away from the other side of the country. And take care of Sal. Tell him I…I honestly plan to be back before his birthday, but if something happens—"

"Ya gonna be back," Jaden asserted. "An' we'll be here waitin'."

Bluestreak's engine purred in appreciation while Jaden slid out of the front seat. He patted Bluestreak's hood and moved to extract the six year old from the mech's backseat. He joined Annalise on the sidewalk where they watched the Autobot's headlights flicker before he pulled away from the curb. If Annalise noticed that the mech turned around to drive in the opposite direction of the garage he usually stayed in, she did well to her hide her confusion as Jaden stoically unlocked the café to let them in.

They were silent as they traveled upstairs to the apartment, and it wasn't until Jaden had gently tucked Sal into bed that Annalise reached out to carefully wrap her arms around the man's waist. He returned the gesture and rested his face in her still damp hair, smelling the scent of chlorine and sunscreen that had clung to them all day. "Everything will turn out fine. You'll see."

Jaden snorted at that but otherwise didn't move. "Ah'm usually the one bein' optimistic."

"You don't always have to be the happy one. I'll take that burden every once in a while."

The man hummed and released Annalise to push her in the direction of the bathroom, ignoring the brief flash of longing that escaped Jazz before the mech retreated once more. "You shower first, an' Ah'll start somethin' fo' supper."

"Are you saying I stink more?"

Jaden chucked, and it only got louder at the squeak that escaped from his fiancé when he lightly smacked her rear. While she retreated to the bathroom, he moved in the direction of the kitchen, briefly stopping to turn on the TV and raise the volume to fill the silence in the apartment while he began searching the cabinets for a quick meal. He tried not to flinch at the news story he heard being addressed, regretting not paying attention to what channel had come on with the TV.

"—opening tomorrow at 8 A.M. The polls will be running from July 20 to August 4, giving the American people plenty of time to cast their vote. According to our various sources, the Autobots have been asked to return to an unspecified location to avoid any allegations of fraud concerning the polls. While the outcome of what has become this century's biggest controversy is only just beginning to reach its climax, the biggest question for the next month is simple: will the Autobots be permitted to stay or be forced to leave?"

Jaden hoped there was enough people out there with enough sense to make the former possibility prevail.