The Diego Diaries: "Hey, Ratchet?" (dd6 146)
-0-In a crowded hallway
Rap-rap-rap.
Silence.
"Ratchet? Open the door." Ironhide listened to the silence.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Silence.
"Ratchet … open the door," Ironhide said as he stood beside Alor and the others. Some held infants and others didn't but all of them were gathered at the berth room door to Ratchet and Ironhide's room which was locked. "Open the door, Ratchet."
A siren went off, one that rattled through everyone's processor for a moment, then died.
Alor grinned. "Slagger. OPEN THE DOOR, RATCHET!"
A horn honked loudly and long, then died.
Silence.
"Ratchet, this is Ada. Open the door, Sonny." Ravel listened, then looked up at Ironhide with a slightly anxious expression.
"How about everyone going back out to eat dinner and I'll get him out of there," Alor said with a grin. They looked at him, then each other. "Finish the dinner and I'll get him out."
They hesitated, then all of them walked out to get things finished, plated and on the road. Alor watched them go, then turned to the door. Transforming a finger to a tool that he used to break and/or pick locks, he let himself inside. Ratchet was laying sprawled across the berth in a darkened room. Alor paused, then walked around the berth to sit down. He sat a moment, then leaned back to lie next to Ratchet. "Are you going to beat us up? If you are, I'm first."
Ratchet sounded his horn, then it fell silent. Outside, everyone froze, turned toward the berth room to stare, then glanced at Ironhide. "I'm glad I'm not you," Sunstreaker said with a grin.
"Frag all of you," Ironhide said with a grin. "He'll get over it. Maybe."
-0-Berth Room
"That was loud."
"You have no idea," Ratchet said tartly.
"I'm sorry the turkey fell. I'm sorry that Dawg got a hold of it. Bulldogs don't let go easily. I'm sorry that all your work sort of got slagged but it smelled good," Alor said with a grin.
"Frag all of you," Ratchet said.
"We got the turkey back. 'Jack is cutting it up. Everyone's getting dinner together. Come and eat. You know ya wanna." Alor grinned.
"Frag you," Ratchet said.
Alor sat up, then stared down at his drinking buddy, running partner and full time babysitter of his one and only (until lately) most precious and onliest son. "You were hilarious. Your dinner is ready. Come out and help us eat it."
"I THOUGHT I'D WAIT FOR DESSERT!" Ratchet replied.
"You know, Ratchet … we didn't bring them because we don't like your cooking. We brought them because we don't like you to do all the work."
Ratchet turned his helm to look at Alor. "That's almost perfect. You had just the right amount of emotion in your voice to make it almost believable."
Alor grinned. "I try."
Ratchet stared at the ceiling again with a stony expression. Alor grinned. "Come out to eat or I'm going to drag you. Your kids are waiting."
"I'm sure you can manage them," Ratchet said with more aggravation than even he could believe.
Alor stared at him. "Don't be mad. We love you. You're the tent pole for this circus. When you aren't happy, no one is."
"You know, Alor … I know there are things I can do really well and some that are just so-so. Cooking is one. I never went to school and I never learned how to cook. Sometimes, it was debatable whether I would even eat that orn. I never cared, mostly. I did okay. This just hit me wrong."
Alor lay back. "I'm sorry. I hate to think about you and your family struggling. I never allowed it in the ranks. We made sure families ate, too, but there was so much poverty." He looked at Ratchet. "You do cook what you cook awfully well. I love your prime rib. I know you put your spark into things and I appreciate that. We don't want to hurt your feelings."
"You did," Ratchet said surprising himself. He looked at Alor. "I have always felt inadequate about cooking. It may be a small thing but its true. Most of the time, I don't care but this was awful. You were all watching waiting for failure and I didn't let you down. I think it made me nervous when I saw all the desserts."
Alor sat up with a serious expression on his face as he stared at Ratchet. "We didn't intend for you to feel that way. We were always taught to help at dinners and things. It was the ..." He paused as a cold expression crossed his handsome face. "It was always the high caste way. You didn't want help with the dinner so we helped with the dessert."
Ratchet shook his helm. "We lived in two different worlds, Alie."
Alor lay back. "I know. I hated it and so did the family. Even me in the mid castes. The Elites were always caught between two worlds and were rather inadequate in both." He looked at Ratchet. "You do know we all love you. We wouldn't hurt your feelings on purpose, Ratchet. Mostly."
Ratchet glanced at him. "I don't want to go out there. I don't want their pity or whatever."
"You don't have it." Alor sat up, then stood. "Come on. You better hurry. Prime and the others will eat all the potatoes and buns."
Ratchet stared at him, then the ceiling. "I don't know. I don't want … I don't like conflict among those I care about."
"Neither do I," Alor said gripping Ratchet's servo. "Come on. There's a lot of good dessert out there, too." He pulled Ratchet who stood up, then stared at the door. "Follow me," he said. "You'll feel better in a moment."
"I doubt it," Ratchet said stonily as he followed Alor.
The group had gotten things ready and fed the kids. The conversation which was low halted a moment as Ratchet walked into the room behind Alor. Ratchet paused a moment to stare at everyone stonily, then he walked to the table to check the kids. Everyone stared at him without a word, then glanced at each other. The conversation began again. Cybertronian football was a good way to start.
When the kids were fine to his satisfaction, Ratchet took a plate, got his food, then walked to his chair to sit and eat. A beer was handed to him and he took it. The conversation lagged, then began again. Ratchet ate without a word, something that was unbelievably different. As he did, he felt the weirdness too. He looked at the group. "You're all fraggers, everyone of you. Fraggers."
The conversation stopped, then Prime glanced at Prowl. Prowl being socially inept shrugged. "Ratchet … this dinner is good and a kindness. We are sorry if we made you feel poorly about anything."
Ratchet glanced at Prime. "You did."
Everyone halted their food but the kids who were chatting together about this and that. They glanced at each other, then looked at Ratchet again. "We're sorry, son," Ravel said. "We didn't mean to hurt your feelings. We know how hard you work at this kind of nice thing."
"I suck at cooking but I think you could try harder to hide what you think about it," Ratchet said. "That would help worlds."
Everyone looked at Ratchet, at the uncharacteristic turn to him. Prowl who had no idea how to make this better leaned forward slightly. "We will."
Ratchet stared at him, at a mech he loved like a brother who had no idea how to make a thing like this better, then laughed. He sat back for a moment. "You're a hoot, Prowler. Never change."
Everyone looked at each other, then Ironhide turned slightly toward Ratchet. "Are you still mad?"
"No," Ratchet said truthfully. "I'm disgusted. That's still operational."
"Oh," Ironhide said as he struggled himself. "If you want to punch me, you can."
"I told him you'd have to stand in line behind me," Alor said with a grin.
It was silent a moment, then Ratchet grinned slightly. "Dessert, huh … what kinds?"
They began to tell him, hurriedly describing what they had picked up, then Ravel stared at his son with a frown. "If you would let us help you with these dinners, Sonny, you wouldn't feel so badly. We wanted to help you so we got desserts. It wasn't to make you feel badly. That turkey wasn't planned to fall and the dogs, bug and cats were just there doing what they do. If you would let us help you, it might be easier on you."
Ratchet stared at his ada having a snit. It was hilarious. Ravel would always be his gentle little ada with a golden spark. "Where would be the fun in that?" he asked.
It was like the sky had opened and the sun was shining again. Everyone would have exhaled if they could. Eating took off right away around the room. Ratchet who was eating, too, marveled at the hold he held on the crowd. The thunderclouds passed and the skies were blue again.
"ADA!"
"What?" Ratchet answered.
"I doing this?" he asked as he pointed to the pile of dessert boxes.
"Eat your dinner first." Ratchet glanced at Ironhide. "You too."
Ironhide grinned, then complied. So did everyone else.
-0-During desserts
"Then they said they would stay through Second Sunday. Aunt Lissie is there with them," Alor said as he explained the text update that he had just received from her out at the Valles. "Everyone is having a great time."
"They have a medic, right?" Ratchet said as he savored pie and cake.
"They do," Alor replied. "First Aid is there with Bee."
"Good. They're going to need the hangover cures," Ironhide said. He glanced at Scout who was bringing pie and cake to Trooper. "What's the word on the opening of the Center, Amma?"
Scout sat, then grinned. "By Martian Wednesday, the final sign offs will be complete, then everyone will move in. The orchestra is already housed there and we're working on a performance schedule for it and two plays we're staging. The acting school has been open for a week and the design studios are working on the plays.
"The rehearsal halls are booked, the talent is practicing and we're in talks with IntraCom to broadcast live performances and to begin an anthology series for some of our short stories for a regular broadcast schedule, like a television series. We write the scripts of the stories, then produce them as part of a anthology. No one story will be the same but all of them will be produced under a working title until we name it properly."
"I want to see the plays," Alor said. "Let me know about music or whatever. If you need me, I'm there."
"We will," Trooper said with a grin as he fed Hero a bite. They were standing in a circle around the two of them, the smallest kids in the room.
"We can broadcast them to Cybertron on the system there," Prime said as Scout nodded. "What comforts we can give our people, we will."
"What do you hear about the gathering Dai Atlas is doing out at the rendezvous point at the nebula?" Raptor asked. "I meant to check on that. Are we going to start taking them in by bridge or what?"
Prime glanced at him. "That's on the agenda for Cybertron tomorrow. We need to call him and get the ball rolling. Magnus will have to give me the final readout for their housing. The entire Crater District is now the end of the line for the rescues. We can place nearly six million there while the new development gets going."
"That would make a lot of things easier," Ratchet said. "They're in pretty good shape from the reports I'm getting. Supporting them out there and taking care to bring them back to health is paying off."
"What about Lucien and Laslo? Their kids are coming along. What about them?" Prowl asked.
Ratchet considered that a moment, then grinned. "They're not having a good time but that's part of changing. When they find out that the other two joined the Home Guard, then we'll know. Partition told me that they were going to do that."
"They seem like good workable kids," Prime said. "That makes me feel a lot better. Lucien is the stumbling block. Laslo always managed to make a life in whatever circumstances presented."
Ratchet nodded. "I know."
They chatted, laughed, drank beer, cleaned up, were reminded of the staff meeting, then finally broke up. The kids were dragging but were put to bed. The house was quiet without the big kids and Partition but they would be coming eventually, the big kids, anyway. They would sneak in and go to bed as quietly as big kids could.
When all was well, Ratchet walked into the berth room and collapsed on the berth. Ironhide entered, then closed the door. He turned to Ratchet and stared at him. "Are you mad at me?"
"I was."
"And the others?"
"Them, too."
It was silent again, then Ironhide sat on the berth. "We never fight. We never argue. We get along. Remember when Appa used to ask us when we were going to have a fight?"
Ratchet grinned. "I remember. Raptor used to ask that often."
"We never have. Have we?" Ironhide asked as he glanced down at Ratchet.
"Nope," Ratchet said after thinking a moment. "Prank wars don't count."
"No," Ironhide said. "They don't. But they're fun."
Ratchet grinned. "They are."
"Does this count as a fight?" Ironhide asked.
Ratchet thought a moment. "I think it does."
Ironhide nodded, then lay back. "First time in nine million years or so."
Ratchet nodded. "Yes."
Ironhide glanced at Ratchet. "I don't like it when you're mad at me. I don't know how to fix it."
"No one did," Ratchet said with a smirk. "I have powers I didn't know I had."
"You do," Ironhide said. "You're a good sparked mech taking care of everyone and no one wanted to hurt your feelings but no one knew how to tell you."
"I know," Ratchet said with a slight grin.
It was silent a moment.
"You still mad?"
"Nope."
"Good."
Silence a moment.
"Ratchet?"
"What?"
"I love ya."
Silence.
(grin) "I love ya back."
Silence.
"Those potatoes and gravy were good. So were the buns. You make the best buns."
(grin) "Thanks, Ironhide."
Silence.
"You make great prime rib too. I love your prime rib."
(grin) "Thanks, Ironhide."
Silence.
"You do a great job with the sparklings. You make the house home. You do your job as a doctor and you fight, too. You raise a pile of younglings up who need a home and you're a good old mech."
Ratchet rolled over and hugged Ironhide as he snuggled. "You're the best old mech ever. I gave your face to a pile of those infants for a reason."
Ironhide relaxed to a ridiculous degree, then grinned. "You did. I sorta see myself coming and going."
Ratchet grinned. "You do. What a pack of good looking infants."
Ironhide grinned. "You're not mad, then."
"Not anymore. I was. You're all lucky I didn't grab my big frying pan."
Ironhide nodded. "I know."
It was silent a moment, then Ironhide grinned. "Good night, Ratchet."
Ratchet grinned. "Good night, Ironhide."
-0-Around the may pole
"Ratchet was lit."
"Deservedly so," Alor said as he tucked Scout in. They both walked out, then turned out the berth room's light. "It just hit Ratchet the wrong way. No more slag about cooking again."
Blackjack nodded. "Ditto."
-0-Ammas and Appas
"Our Sonny sure was angry," Corr said. "That youngling will be the death of me."
"No. He's going to be the death of Ironhide," Appa Ratchet said with a grin.
Huge laughter.
-0-Up in the clouds
"What an evening."
"I know. I will say, Prowl, that when Ratchet honked, it was all I could do to stand up," Optimus said with a chuckle. "That mech is hilarious."
"He is," Prowl said with a grin. "It was … humorous when Dawg got the turkey. I never knew that a bulldog can lock their jaws like that." He glanced at Optimus with a grin. "You holding the turkey and dog off the ground while a bug crawled up your leg was a truly inspirational sight."
"Inspirational?" Optimus asked as he walked out of the wash room.
"Yes. It inspired me to never have a dinner party again," Prowl said.
-0-Kes and Tagg
"Poor Ratchet," Kes said as he stretched out on his berth. "He means so well."
Tagg lay down, then shut off the lights. "You know what the humans say, Kes. The road to The Pit is lined with good intentions."
It was silent a moment, then Kes glanced at Tagg. "I don't think they say it like that, Tagg."
Tagg grinned for a long time."
-0-TBC 10-03-17 edited 10-04-17
This would be longer but I took a flying trip to Anchorage this morning and drove nearly 360 miles round trip. I am so pooped. :D Take care out there. Anyone in harms way or suffering a disaster, you are in my heart and prayers tonight. Know you are loved.
PS The line about never fighting was something my grandpa would ask my mom and me. "Have you had a fight yet?" We never did. My mom was my soul mate and we never in 54 years ever had a fight. Sometimes you get lucky. Like me, with you. Nighty-night. :D