(Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers; just Anwen, Liam, Dagny, and any other OC I've created and added into the story.)
(Authors Note: Hello again my wonderfully amazing readers, fellow writers, fangirls, fanboys, and TF fans of every genera, faction, gender, race, religion, and nationality! First off, I apologize for the delay in uploading this latest chapter, but I've been slightly under the weather and have also been rather busy writing future content. Second, if you've noticed, I've started another FF based around this particular movieverse of mine. The story is called 'A Barricade of Stone' and is centered around my OC, Dagny and the Decepticon, Barricade...yes, you read that correctly: A Decepticon is actually starring in my latest FF. Now, you may be thinking, "Girl, what the hell are you doing?" Or "OMG, yaaass!" But honestly, ever since I slipped Dagny into this FF, I've been inspired to write an entire story around her and a certain Decepticon scout ;) In truth, I've actually wanted to introduce her into this story sooner, but the timing never felt right to me. Regardless, her story takes place in the same universe as this one, so they'll tie into one another and the characters will make appearances in each others stories. Think of them like Marvel movies in which the characters have their own films, but they all come together at some point or another :) Regardless, I hope you've all been enjoying this story so far and if you're interested, feel free to check out Dagny's story as well. Also, feel free to drop a comment as I love reading your feedback and take inspiration from your kind words of encouragement. Thank you all so much for your continued patience and support. Until next time, I hope you all will continue to stay safe, stay sane, stay fabulous, and stay amazingly awesome!)
"English/French"
'Mental thoughts'
"Flashbacks"
'Sarcasm' (or emphasis)
{Cybertronian}
::Sparkbonds::
:Speaker talk:
::Comm. Link::
*:Phone calls:*
Chapter 47
-2345-
It was a quarter till midnight when Optimus Prime and Colonel Lennox finally gave the all-clear, to which the civilians were allowed to exit the safehouse bunkers and return to their homes. Thankfully, the apartment building was still intact with only minimal cosmetic damage to the outside surface. Further inspection on its interior structure and supports confirmed that it was indeed safe to enter and resume residence in, despite the minor damages it had.
Despite having received treatment for her injury, Anwen hobbled out of the bunker with Morticia in hand while Kenobi walked beside her on his leash. As soon as his paws touched the grass, he immediately headed over to a patch of foliage and peed on the nearest bush. Having been cooped up indoors for the last few hours, he hadn't been able to relieve himself since before dinner.
A frown lined the young ginger's face as she thought about poor Morticia being trapped inside her carrier for the duration of their confinement. Her first objective was to take her over to Dagny's apartment so she could use her litter box and run around. Limping into the lobby entrance with the animals in tow, Anwen and several other coworkers rode the elevator up to their designated floors and headed into their personal dwellings for the night.
Upon unlocking the door to Dagny's unit, the young ginger stepped inside and (after closing the door behind her) set the carrier upon the floor, to which she then opened it and picked Kenobi up so that Morticia could exit at her own leisure and not have to worry about an overly playful puppy blocking her escape. Said cat wasted no time in darting out of her confinement and into the bedroom area, which caused Anwen to emit a sigh: she felt bad that the little feline was so stressed, but it couldn't be helped. After tonight's events, she figured everyone was a bit on edge. 'At least she's back home,' she mentally noted.
Opting to stay with Morticia for a little bit while she settled back in, Anwen took a few minutes to walk around Dagny's living room. Granted, the layout was basically the same, but the decor was uniquely different than hers. While she too had the same gray couch and chair (as all the units did, it seemed), her pillows were forest green in color as opposed to brick red, while her coffee table appeared to be made out of black walnut instead of oak. In the center of said coffee table sat a tiny (artificial) Christmas tree with a variety of tiny ornaments, a red velvet tree skirt, and a little golden star.
Across from the coffee table was a (11inX33.5inX33in) wall mantel, smoky gray stone electric fireplace (that was obviously off at the moment), and atop its center was an antique cherry wood mantle clock. To the left of the clock was a statue of a raven perched atop a (human) skull, while to the right of the clock was a white marble bust of a veiled lady wearing a wreath of flowers on her head. In truth, both statues were rather eerie looking but stunningly beautiful nonetheless.
On the wall above the mantel was a (16inX24in (40cmX60cm)) framed canvas portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie, by Frederic Leighton. To Anwen's surprise, she couldn't help but notice how similar the lady in the painting was to Dagny: It was almost uncanny.
To the left of the fireplace was an organized crafting station, complete with a sewing machine, quilting fabrics, embroidery hoops, threads, and all sorts of bits and bobs. Beside the sewing station was a small cat condo with scratching posts for legs, and an additional cushion on top.
To the right of the fireplace was a large pair of bookcases that were similar to what Anwen had in her own apartment, except she only had one. Both were bolted to the wall (for safety) and were the same dimensions as hers; but like the coffee table, they too were made out of black walnut. Unlike her, Dagny didn't have any knickknacks, baubles or photos displayed on her bookcase shelves, but rather, they were completely filled with books (obviously). Glancing at the vast collection, she immediately noticed that they were all alphabetized by author names rather than book titles or that weird color coordination thing some people did for aesthetics. It's not that arranging books by color was bad, it was just annoying for those who liked to keep everything in alphabetical order.
"I wonder how long it took her to organize all these," she asked herself before a soft dingling sound caught her attention, indicating that Morticia was in the vicinity. Sure enough, the little black cat stepped into the living room and hopped into her cave/condo, bringing a smile to the young ginger's face.
While still holding Kenobi in her arms, Anwen walked over to the kitchen and saw several dishes in the sink, suggesting that Dagny was in the process of washing them when the air raid siren went off earlier. 'I should take Kenobi home real quick and come back to finish these dishes. Who knows how long Dagny will be in the hospital and she may need assistance when she gets discharged. She shouldn't have to worry about a sink full of dishes when she returns home.' With that in mind, Anwen left the apartment with her pup in tow and dropped him off at her own dwelling before returning to wash the dishes.
Sure, it was strange to be cleaning up someone else's mess, but she merely saw it as a way of helping out. Besides, if the roles were reversed, she would hope that someone would be kind enough to help her out with some household chores, or at least stop by to visit during recovery. As she drained the sink and replaced the water, Anwen made a mental note to visit Dagny tomorrow. 'Maybe I can bake her something,' she mentally noted with a smile as she added dish soap to the hot water and waited for the sink to fill before turning off the faucet.
As she gently scrubbed away any remaining residue from the dishes, she took a moment to glance around the kitchen and immediately noticed Dagny's large collection of fridge magnets: Some were from different countries and U.S. cities, while others were of funny quotes that had equally funny pictures associated with them. One rather dark-humored magnet had a cartoon picture of the grim reaper with a thumbs-up pose and a speech bubble that said, You can't spell Funeral without 'Fun'! At that, Anwen couldn't help but shake her head and smile.
XXXXX
Upon finishing the dishes, Anwen drained the sink and wiped the counter with a dry kitchen towel before draping it over the oven handle to air dry. Taking a moment to glance around the apartment and make sure nothing was on, she then exited Dagny's unit and locked the door behind her, to which she then headed back to her own dwelling.
After unlocking and stepping through the door, she felt a gentle warmth settle over her frame as her mates' were sending her waves of love through their shared bond. She hated that they weren't with her at the moment, but it honestly couldn't be helped: they were busy assessing the damage and scouting the island for further danger, in case another Decepticon (like Barricade) had been intentionally or unintentionally left behind, or if some of their allied enemy forces had survived the attack and had retreated into the trees for cover.
Locking the door behind her, Anwen limped over to the bedroom and stripped out of her clothes before stepping into the adjacent bathroom to bathe and wash out her hair. As she plugged the tub and turned on the water, she heard the soft *click, click, click* of Kenobi's toenails on the bathroom floor, to which she looked over to see the little pup innocently looking up at her and softly wagging his tail.
"Oh, mon petit ange (_, my little angel), do you want to stay in here with me while I bathe?"
He licked his nose and trotted over to the tub where he then laid himself down on the bathmat. Seeing this, Anwen knew he was still a bit scared from earlier and wanted to remain close to her. Of course, she couldn't blame him: it was a frightening ordeal and they were lucky to have survived. Unfortunately, others weren't so lucky.
After giving Kenobi some love and attention, Anwen adjusted the water temperature and retrieved her shampoo bar, razor, and moisturizing body soap from the hanging shower caddy before setting them along the side of the tub. While she would have preferred to shower, she couldn't get her bandaged stitches wet, so she would have to resort to bathing while propping her leg over the side of the tub.
Once the water was at her ideal temperature and level, she carefully slipped into the tub and draped her leg over the side while allowing her muscles to go lax as a comforting warmth seeped across her naked frame, causing her to emit a content sigh. As much as she loved the heat the water was emitting, Anwen wished she was wrapped in Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's warm embraces: not only were they warm, but they were also safe and strong. Plus, they smelled amazing.
As if her mind had been read, she suddenly felt them trying to reach out to her through their shared bond:
::Bonjour mes amours (Hello my loves).::
::Hello Ani. How are you feeling?::
::Je vais bien (I'm fine). My leg isn't hurting as much as it was earlier. The field medic said I should be able to have my stitches removed in about two weeks or less, but I'll probably have Ratchet remove them when the time comes.::
::Well, regardless, we're just glad you're okay.::
::Pareil ici (Same here). But what of the two of you? How are your injuries?::
::We'll survive, sparklight. Our main concern is for your well-being; but you needn't worry about us as Moonracer has done a fine job at mending our wounds.::
::I'm glad to hear that. By the way, how's everyone else?::
::They're being patched up as we speak. Almost everyone received some sort of injury, but none of them were major or near fatal.::
::Of course, we can't say the same thing for the Cons. Ratchet is currently operating on Barricade because Mirage sliced him pretty deep with those blades of his. He actually left two large gashes down his back, and apparently, he missed his spark by less than an inch. If he wasn't our enemy, I might actually feel bad for him and wish for a speedy recovery. But I don't.::
::Ouch; that's a little harsh, Sunny.::
::So? He's not our ally.::
::My dears, please don't quarrel. We've all been through a lot today and I just want to move on from all the chaos.::
::Sorry, sparklight.::
::You're forgiven. By the way, I'm exempt from coming into work tomorrow.::
::Good; because Sunny and I need to spend some quality time with you.::
::And I need to spend some quality time with the both of you.::
XXXXX
After finishing her bath, Anwen dried herself off and wrapped her hair up in the towel before adorning her robe and stepping out into the kitchen to brew herself some tea. As she filled the kettle and set it on the stove to boil, her cellphone began to ring, to which she hobbled back into the bedroom to answer it:
"Bonjour, Liam."
*:Lottie! Oh mon Dieu, I was so worried about you. Are you alright?:*
"Je vais bien (I'm fine). My wound is minor compared to some of my coworkers, but overall, it's nothing that I can't handle. By the way, did you get called out to participate in the battle? Or were you exempt?"
*:j'ai participé (I participated). My arm may still be in a cast, but that wasn't going to stop me from picking up a gun and shooting the targets.:* There was an obvious smirk in his tone, to which she couldn't help but smile and shake her head:
"I'm guessing that you were stationed with Bluestreak to take out enemies from a vantage point?"
*:Oui. Afterwards, I worked with a search team to track down any remaining enemy troops that may have fled into the jungle. By the way, in case you were wondering, Maggie was in the bunker by the barracks when the attack happened. She had decided to visit me after work and...well...you can probably guess what happened.:*
"Je sais (I know). She texted me while we were waiting for the 'all clear' from Prime. I thought you were going to stop by her apartment after work."
*:That was the original plan, but she ended up at my place instead.:*
"I'm not surprised, considering you're practically all she talks about nowadays. Regardless, I'm just glad she's okay."
*:Same here. But I'm also relieved to know that you're alright, despite being injured.:*
"Well, I'm not the only one who was wounded. My neighbor, Dagny Stone, was severely injured in the same blast that hit me and she ended up being taken to the Med Bay for further treatment."
*:I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she recovers quickly.:*
"Moi aussi (So do I)."
XXXXX
-0200-
Exhausted from the evening's chaotic events, Anwen was now peacefully lying asleep in her bed with Kenobi snuggled in the bend of her knees, and Morris (her stuffed moose) tucked under her arm. Since the adrenaline from the battle and her injury had completely zapped her of energy, she didn't even hear her sparkmates' phase their holoforms into the living room and quietly step into her bedroom.
But Kenobi did.
The young pup perked up his floppy ears and wagged his tail as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe approached the bed, to which the younger twin smiled at the little furball and scratched his chin while his brother tenderly brushed a rogue curl from Anwen's face and kissed her forehead.
Both mechs wanted nothing more than to hold her in their arms and kiss her until sunrise, but at the moment, they were content with just being in her presence. With that, they managed to silently slip underneath the covers without waking her; but as soon as their heads touched the pillows, they suddenly felt the urge to recharge. Apparently, the battle had also left them feeling physically drained and yearning for a decent night's rest. Like a weighted blanket enveloping their holoformed bodies, they allowed themselves to relax and drift to sleep after sending a gentle pulse of love to their sparkmate, who returned their kind gestures with her own response.
(Another Authors Note: Hello again dearest readers, fellow writers, and TF fans of every association! I just wanted to thank you all again for taking the time to read this latest chapter :) Thank you so, so, so much! As I mentioned, my newest FF, 'A Barricade of Stone', is set in this same universe and features my OC Dagny. Granted, Anwen and the twins will make cameo appearances, but the story is suppose to focus more on Dagny and Barricade :) Regardless, feel free to check it out if you'd like and drop a comment (no hate, please). As always, I enjoy your kind words and inspiring feedback. Thanks again! Until next time, stay amazingly awesome!)