Author's note: Thanks again to MM for their unfailing support. Glad you enjoyed the last chapters – twists and turns! 😉
This chapter is set about a month after the events of last chapter. It is assumed that Orianna and Prime have interacted since that night and have both gotten back to how things were between them – on some level.
Wracked with guilt and indecision, Optimus indirectly seeks counsel with one of his oldest friends. They offer advice – but is it what he wants to hear?
Chapter 83: Game. Set. Match
Ironhide P.O.V
I gave a deep and frustrated grunt as I watched the last of the bots exit the training hanger. The session had been a mixture of success and disaster. ''About right when you have the twins and Sideswipe to contend with!'' I growled to the emptiness around me and moved to pack away the various equipment we had used.
The team were developing their ability to work together and ''read'' what the other might do, anticipating their next move or their needs, but they still preferred to go it alone and ''wing it''. I grunted again. /Especially Sideswipe/. I began to enter my notes for the session onto my data pad in preparation for my report to Jazz and Optimus when I heard the heavy metal door swing open.
Raising my helm I bit back a chuckle as I watched the red and blue flamed figure approach me. His gait was purposeful and his optics looked troubled even from this distance. I lowered my data pad and fixed him with a pointed stare. ''I swear you have what the humans call ESP Optimus.'' I waved my data pad at him. ''I was just preparing my notes to report back to you on the training session.''
Prime came to a stop a short distance from me, the smallest of smiles quickly playing on his dermas before disappearing again. ''Perhaps Ironhide,'' his deep voice rumbled towards me, a hint of humour carried within it. ''Or perhaps I just noted the time and cross referenced it with your schedule, not to mention I saw the procession of Autobots leaving the training hanger just now..'' His voice trailed off as he merely shrugged his broad shoulders.
I raised an optical ridge at him and snorted dismissively. ''Hunh. A fair observation.'' I brought the data pad up before me. ''Would you like me to report on the training session now and add my notes later?''
''My apologies Ironhide, I did not mean to interrupt your task,'' His optics flicked from me to the training mat in the centre of the room several metres away and back again.
I furrowed my brow. ''So, is that a no Prime?''
He exhaled and sent a tight-lipped shake of his helm at me. ''How are they progressing Ironhide?''
I stowed my data pad for the time being. ''They are taking your words of advice from a training session you um, interrupted several months ago, on board Optimus.'' The towering bot shifted on his pedes and his frame tensed, yet he simply nodded. ''They are working more cohesively as a team, learning to read and anticipate each other's moves and needs..''
''But?'' Prime folded his arms across his chest.
I ex-vented loudly as I mirrored his actions. ''There are some who prefer to go it alone – 'wing it' so to speak. And, as you can imagine, this could prove a weakness in the field when orchestrating a tactical group response to a scenario.''
Prime grunted as his gaze once more shifted around the room and he brought his servos to rest on his hips. ''Let me guess, Sideswipe and the Twins are the chief offenders?''
I nodded. ''Affirmative. But then again, you don't need ESP to work that out!''
Prime snorted wryly as he raised his arms once more, folding them across his chest. /He was unusually unsettled and uneasy/. I eyed him carefully. ''Agreed. But he is, they are battle ready, are they not?''
I burst out laughing. ''Sideswipe is ALWAYS battle ready Prime! He's a wrecker, you know that.'' I tilted my helm as I regarded my leader and friend. ''And all the other Autobots are ready any time you give the word.''
Prime nodded his helm briskly in response. He shuttered his optics and shifted on his pedes, casting his gaze around the room once more. I sighed out loud in that manner I had adopted from Lennox. ''Now, what is it you REALLY want to talk about Prime?''
His optics widened almost imperceptibly, and his stance grew even more rigid, if that were possible, yet he said nothing. I knew what weighed on his processor, but I also knew he needed to be the one to brooch the subject. /Still. I could expediate the process/. ''So,'' I asked casually as I produced my data pad and began to enter my notes, feigning interest in its contents. ''How are things going with Orianna?''
Optimus' frame seemed to bow under an invisible great weight, his shoulders slumping slightly. I pressed my luck. ''I thought you pair may have been bonded by now?'' I raised a questioning brow at him.
Prime scoffed out loud as he began to pace about before me. ''Ironhide, Orianna has commenced a romantic attachment to Major Lennox.'' He paused briefly, scowling at me. ''You know that.''
I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly as Prime began to pace about again, waves of agitation rolling off him. ''I thought it may have run its course by now and she might have come to her senses.'' I looked pointedly up at my friend. ''OR you may have finally found the ball bearings to tell her how you really feel.''
Prime froze in his pacing, he clenched his servos together tightly and turned narrowed and icy optics towards me. I ignored him. ''Like you SHOULD have done multiple times by now. Isn't that right Prime?'' It was both an accusation and a gentle tease.
Optimus glared at me, though some of the anger leeched from his visage and frame. ''I thought I was acting in the best interest of my Autobots and Orianna Ironhide, you know that.'' He snapped tersely.
''And what about you Prime? I snapped back. ''What's in the best interests for YOU?''
Prime cycled air roughly through his vents and resumed his pacing before me. He shook his helm and gave a rueful chuckle. ''It would seem I discovered too late what was in my best interests Ironhide.''
''Is it though Optimus?'' I challenged him as I once again stowed my data pad. I had more pressing matters to attend to.
Prime snorted dismissively, a servo slicing through the air to bat away the question. ''As I said,'' he ground out slowly, ''she has been in a romantic relationship with Major Lennox for several weeks now Ironhide.'' He looked away; his optics shuttering closed for a moment as his voice dropped to a lower register. ''She has been claimed by him Ironhide.'' Prime's voice was strangely emotionless and yet I could feel it bubbling away behind those damn walls of his, just waiting for the opportunity to be unleashed.
For someone who was the very definition of tenacity and persistence in and off the battlefield, Prime's defeatist attitude over this did not sit well with me. ''So!'' I barked up at him. ''Orianna may be with Lennox, but she loves you Prime.'' At the look on his face, I adjusted my tone, speaking in a surprisingly calm manner. ''I know she does.''
''No Ironhide.'' He intoned softly as he moved to fix his optics firmly on the floor. ''I do not think she does. Not anymore. And I don't blame her.'' He raised tortured optics to towards me, his dermas twisted in a wry smile. ''Rachet was right when he tried to warn me. A broken heart does not stay broken forever.''
Prime gave a low, self-deprecating chuckle the likes of which I had not heard before, nor wished to hear again. ''I pushed her away from me, denied her what she needed from me and now Orianna has found the love she wanted, the love she needed - from Major Lennox.''
I eyed my leader carefully as I shook my helm. ''I refuse to believe that Optimus.'' He raised his helm to look at me when I used his name, not his title to address him. The faintest flicker of hope shone back at me in his optics. ''Orianna just needs to know you love her too. She needs to hear those words from you.''
Prime stood still for a moment as he considered my words before he threw his servos in the air and resumed stalking. ''But that is my confliction Ironhide! I want so desperately to tell Orianna I love her, but I cannot act in a dishonorable manner towards Major Lennox.''
''What?'' I spat back. ''Like he did by falling in love with Orianna while she was in love with YOU?'' I had raised an optical ridge and folded my arms across my chest.
Prime ceased stalking, his optics taking on a distant look as he seemed to process the thought. I continued undeterred. ''Look Optimus, you know how I feel towards Lennox, but he did knowingly maneuver himself into a position to steal Orianna's heart when he, more than anyone else, knew how much she really loved you.''
Optimus' dermas parted slightly as the truth of my words resonated within him. My words held a logic to them that he had searched for, and they certainly appeased the smallest bloom of hope that had begun to take hold deep within him. He stood silently weighing the truth and the validity of the words, measuring them against his own pit spawned code of morals.
Beside him, I shifted on my pedes. Cycling air roughly through my intakes in a manner suggesting irritation tinged with sympathy, I spoke once more. ''At the very least Optimus, from this point forth in your interactions with Orianna, do not give her reason to believe you do not love her.''
Prime half turned to face me; his metallic brow arched in confusion. ''What do you mean Ironhide?
I shrugged my shoulders. ''Well, as the humans say Optimus, 'actions speak louder than words'. If you cannot bring yourself to tell Orianna directly that you love her, due to that irritating moral code of yours,'' he scowled at me though remained silent, ''then perhaps you can act in a manner that shows her how you really feel about her.''
Prime began to shake his helm even before I had finished my explanation. ''While I understand the premise and appreciate the advice Ironhide, I still do not think it appropriate to..''
''FOR PRIMUS' SAKE OPTIMUS!'' I erupted angrily as I threw my servos in the air in utter exasperation. ''Are you NOT a Prime?'' I fixed him with a steady, interrogative gaze.
Prime stared angrily back at me before he turned about to give me his full attention, raising himself to his full height. ''Ironhide,'' his voice had dropped to a low and serious tone carrying within it a warning. ''I do not see what my title has to do with this conversation, and I would remind you to maintain...''
''For pit's sake Optimus!'' I growled in reply as I strode forward towards him in a speed belying my bulky form. My right servo shot out and I drilled a digit into his chest. ''Your spark has finally acknowledged within another what it has sought for millennia!'' Though I tried to keep it in check, the slightest hint of disdain crept into my voice, ''and although that spark belongs to a human woman, it is your right as a Prime to claim Orianna - her heart - for your own.''
Prime angrily shoved my servo away from him and backed up a pace. ''We are not on Cybertron Ironhide! What is with you?'' He bit back venomously as he stalked towards the wall of the training room. ''The laws and rights of OUR race are not so easily understood or recognized here - let alone accepted.'' He leaned heavily against the wall, fighting to calm himself. ''Giving me her heart, choosing me, bonding herself to me Ironhide, MUST be a decision Orianna makes freely of her own volition.''
He turned about to look imploringly at me. I had fallen silent, a pair of glowering, narrowed optics fixed on him was the only indication I gave that I still listened. He sighed out loud. A long, weary sigh. ''I cannot use the laws and traditions of our race to force myself upon Orianna in such a manner, especially seeing she has already bonded with another.'' He exhaled roughly, his voice strained and filled with confliction. ''Even if a part of me wishes to do so.''
For Optimus to even entertain the idea of going against his own morals proved to me just how much he loved this woman. I stared blankly at him for a moment before the corners of my dermas curved into a small grin. ''And what if Orianna should be - reminded – of her feelings for you?''
Once again Optimus indicated he had not quite understood my comment. For a mech who was usually two steps ahead of everyone, it was refreshing to see him so vulnerable. ''Reminded' Ironhide?'' He tilted his helm. ''How so? And I just said I could not tell her..''
I chuckled as I walked over and reached out to place a reassuring servo on his shoulder. ''Jealousy Optimus. A base human emotion, but a very powerful one.'' I winked at him.
Prime narrowed his optics, snorting through his enstrils before he looked away, a contrite expression on his face. ''Not just in humans Ironhide, but yes.'' He placed his servos on his hips as he turned his helm towards me once more. ''Are you proposing what I think you are proposing?'' The look on his face was somewhere between shocked, repulsed and intrigued.
I patted his shoulder twice before I withdrew my servo and folded my arms across my chest. ''Well, that depends Prime.''
''On what Ironhide?'' I could hear the mounting irritation in his voice.
''On whether or not your strict moral code would allow you to use Orianna's own methods to achieve your goal and let her know – in an indirect way of course – that you have feelings for her beyond that of friendship.'' I sent him a smug grin. ''And to ascertain if Orianna still feels more for you than she cares to admit.''
/Game/.
/Set…./.
Prime stared at me, those piercing blue optics of his analyzing me, analyzing my proposal and cross checking his findings against his own deeply embedded code of honour. The smallest of smiles began to spread across his dermas as he reached out and placed a powerful servo on my shoulder. ''Perhaps there is some merit in your suggestion Ironhide.'' He gave my shoulder a brief squeeze before he removed his servo and gestured for us to leave the room. ''I shall take it into consideration.''
/Match!/.
I laughed out loud as I rumbled in reply and began to move towards the large exit. ''Of course there is Prime! Of course there is.''