My Daydream

By: Sinead

Part Two

Dinobot blinked in the sudden light, once the CR chamber door opened. Directly in front of him was a human. She was facing away from him, looking through maps of the surrounding area. Her short auburn hair was pulled back into a tiny ponytail, with a lot of hair around her face not reaching the back of her head. The ex-Predacon decided that would be the ideal topic-starter, since he had no clue who this human girl was.

"Why the Pit would you even try to pull your hair back, even when you know that there's no chance it will all reach the same area?" he snarled irritably, walking to her left side.

She turned calmly to blink up at him, stormy blue eyes amused. "Gee. I can tell that you're a morning person."

He blinked. "You're Sinead, then."

She smiled warmly, nodding. "You recognized my voice!"

He cleared his throat, then nodded in return. "I . . . would like to thank you, for what you did for us."

Sinead's smile faded into a more subdued version, still happy, but more . . . mature, if you will. "You don't have to thank me, you know."

Dinobot looked at the map, then at the young woman before him again. "But I slagging do. That snake, the second attack . . . everything could have ended for us."

"You could have done it on your own, and that's what we were planning to let happen. But then Rhinox smelled us, and I thought that it would be better to help out, than stand by and watch." She blinked, then added, "Besides. Seeing someone in absolute misery is horrible. I had to help in some way. I'm just like that."

"You're a slagging leader, that's why," Dinobot grumbled. He reached over, and ruffled the free pieces of Sinead's hair gently, then said, "But I wanted to thank you, personally, since I was ready to give up then and there."

His hand slid to rest upon her shoulder, and she looked up into his wary face. With a smile, she replied, "Then I accept your thanks, and you're more than welcome. On the other hand, you don't have to pay me back for it."

"Why?"

"Optimus put me in your room."

"WHAT?!"

Nurannoniel glanced at Optimus, then said, "I think that Dinobot found out about the sleeping arrangements."

Footsteps steadily pounded angrily towards the control room, and Dinobot stormed in, snarling, "You're slagging right, I did! What the Pit is this slag about me sharing a room with a slagging female about?!"

Rattrap looked up from his game of cards with Sapphire. "And 'ya problem is? She's a cool kid. I offered ta share a room with 'er, but she gave me one of dose looks . . . an' den . . . uh . . . I'm sharin' a room with Sapph."

"But it's my. Slagging. ROOM!"

Sinead caught up, panting, and said, "I didn't touch anything!"

"I didn't say you did! It's the fact that you were stationed in my quarters without my permission that's slagging annoying me!" Dinobot fairly roared.

Sinead smacked his arm. "Knock it off. You're acting like a spoiled two-year-old."

The room went silent. Rattrap blinked at the girl, then looked to Sapphire, who was covering a grin, barely keeping her laughter in. Dinobot's glare down to Sinead fazed her not one bit. She just blinked up at him, saying in a dull tone, "What? You are."

"You . . ." was all that Dinobot could manage to say, before growling pure frustration and irritation, then storming back off to lock himself into this room.

Rattrap waited until he heard the door slam, then said, "Well. Dat went well."

Sapphire, StarGazer, and Cheetor burst into laughter, as Sinead winced. "I really hated saying that."

"Did you see his face?!" StarGazer asked, laughing until tears came.

Nurannoniel was biting her lip. The lift came up, with a shocked Rhinox looking at Sinead. "That was either very brave, or very stupid."

Sinead swallowed. "I'd vote for 'very stupid.' I'm used to talking to my friends like that. Bad idea talking to him like that."

Optimus shook his head. "Give him an hour to cool down, then go get your stuff. I'll see if I can find you somewhere suitable to stay."

Just to be on the safe side, Sinead went an hour-and-a-half later. Knocking upon Dinobot's door timidly, she wondered what his response would be to her coming to his door. There was no answer. She knocked again, then heard the growling sigh. "What."

"'S me. I'm getting my stuff. Optimus is looking for a spare room I can stay in."

The door opened, and Dinobot looked down his nose at her. She swallowed. "And I'm sorry about saying that to you. Bad tact and timing."

Dinobot snorted. "Slagging straight. And don't bother moving your stuff. It hardly takes up a corner. Just don't touch anything that doesn't belong to you."

Sinead looked into his room, and to the right, where she saw her cot still standing, swords still in one piece, and two books and her sketchbook without signs of teeth or talons. She blinked up at him. "Are you sure?"

He nodded, then indicated her sketchbook. "But you'd better not let the others grab hold of that."

"Why? They've all seen it."

"The last drawing, perhaps?"

"Oh, they haven't seen that one. I was on watch and got bored."

"So you drew me."

"Your face, by the best I could do by memory alone."

"Why the Pit did Optimus put you on watch duty?" Dinobot grumbled.

Sinead leaned against the doorframe, and said, "He didn't. Cheetor was falling asleep, so I took over for him."

Dinobot moved to one side, then said, "So you've seen everything in my room, hn?"

She shrugged. "Only everything that can be seen from standing in the middle of the room, and not touching anything. I told you that I didn't touch anything of yours."

Dinobot sighed. "I didn't mean to lose my temper with you. I'm sorry."

Rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment, Sinead replied, "Look, I'm not the best at keeping my own temper in line, so don't worry about it. This time." She grinned. "Or I'll draw incriminating pictures of you and hang them around the base."

The Maximal blinked at her in shock, and she grinned evilly up at him. Dropping to his beast mode, he snickered, and replied, "That so?"

Laughing, Sinead took off, reaching the command center and hiding behind StarGazer moments before Dinobot entered. StarGazer's brown eyes widened, and she hissed, "What did you do?!"

"Nothing!"

"Hah! There you are!"

Sinead switched to hide beside Rhinox. He blinked down at her, just as she was sticking her tongue out at the Raptor. Chuckling, he shook his head, and continued his conversation with Pacerpaw. Dinobot snorted, and then turned, saying over his shoulder, "You owe me a dagger for that."

"Uwaah?! Hey! You so much as glance at my daggers, you'll find yourself becoming a pincushion before you could even blink!"

"Try me, human!"

StarGazer barked a laugh. "Should we have you two on twenty-four hour supervision?"

Dinobot turned to aim a deadly glare at the blonde. Sinead punched her shoulder lightly, then said, "You are so not right in the head."

"Hey, he set himself up for that one!"

"Like I care! Will you behave?!"

"Nope!"

"Oh, you are so going down."

Dinobot opened his door, getting back to his room from his watch. He looked to the right, and saw Sinead, still sitting up with a pencil in her right hand, and her sketchbook still upon her lap. She was leaning against the wall, asleep.

With a smile, he entered and closed the door, then gently took the pencil, and placed it upon his desk. He tried to do the same with the sketchbook, but her fingers tightened, and her eyes opened with a jerk, only to see Dinobot. She let go of the book, still mainly asleep, and wrapped her arms around his neck, apparently falling back asleep. Swallowing, and without moving too much, Dinobot placed the sketchbook upon the desk as well, then carefully moved so that he could lay Sinead down without waking her up. She sighed, and tried to hold something close to her. The warrior pressed his hand gently against hers, palm against palm, and she sighed heavily, falling back into a deep rest.

Pulling his hand away, he smiled, recognizing that she most likely had a favorite toy that she would hold onto while traveling into slumber. Opening his closet door, he pulled out a human stuffed toy that had been given to him from an old romantic interest. He was lucky that he still had it after all these years.

Sinead instantly curled up around the soft-furred toy that was placed in her arms. Dinobot pulled the blanket up and around her, then laid upon his own bed and powered down.

Yawning, Sinead sat up, seeing the sun starting to rise. Scratching her hair sleepily, she looked back at the bed, debating whether or not she should fall back asleep . . . when she saw the stuffie. "A teddy bear?"

Dinobot shifted faintly in his slumber, catching Sinead's attention. She picked the stuffed animal up, hugged it close to her chest, then walked over to the sleeping Maximal. The five-foot-four-inch teenager was completely dwarfed by the nearly-eight-foot Cybertronian, and knew that with one careless move she'd find herself unintentionally knocked through a wall. So she got ready to duck or jump away if he thrashed out upon waking.

"Dinobot?"

Jumping awake, he drew a dagger and sat up in one swift, fluid movement. Seeing his new roommate, he slipped it back into its bedside scabbard, then rubbed at his forehead with the back of his hand. "Dawn already?"

Sinead nodded, then held the bear out. "Thanks. I'm used to sleeping with something."

He gently pushed the toy back at her. "I have no need for it." Looking off to one side, then back at Sinead, he said quietly, "But please don't tell anyone that I had it."

She laughed, and shook her head. "The thought didn't even cross my mind! Don't worry about it. Secrets are safe with me. Besides. I've never had a genuine teddy bear before. It's cute."

The door slammed open, and Nurannoniel turned Sinead around to face her. "Starath's here! Oh. Cute bear. Where'd you get it?"

"Starath's here?!" Sinead asked, tossing the bear to her cot, ignoring the second half of Nurannoniel's rant. "Where?"

"Tell you when you tell me about the bear."

Sinead blinked, then said, "You didn't see it in the bag I brought?"

"You didn't open your bag around any of us."

Sinead shrugged. "So I have a soft spot for teddy bears, okay?"

"Starath's outside. With Megs."

"Aah, crap!"

"He's asking for a truce. The humans can't survive in their base," Optimus said, filling Sinead in. "Right now, I'm wondering whether or not he's planning something."

Sinead looked at Dinobot, then to StarGazer and Sapphire. With a shrug, she replied, "Most likely. Who else is here? Any other names?"

"A 'Miss Special'?" Rattrap said warily. "She's slagging hanging off of Inferno."

Laughing, Sinead nodded. "Typical of her to go after a pyromaniac! Yeah, we know her."

"Wayward, who likes Waspy, an' a Darkfire who likes Terrorsaur?"

StarGazer grinned. "I've seen Wayward's artwork! She's cool. And Dark? She's insanely cool. And great. Both of them are, actually."

Sapphire looked out the window at the Predacons. "Lady Venom and Lady Scare aren't here yet, but we expected that."

"If Megs is planning something, Starath would tell us," Sinead said slowly. Sapphire just looked at her. The leader sighed. "Okay, we hope that she'll tell us, if Megatron's gotten to know her yet. If not, she would most likely listen to him, in order for him to trust her. So that places her as more than likely fiercely loyal to Barney. Can't quite understand why."

"Who'll talk to them, representing the humans?" Rhinox asked, looking at Optimus.

The Maximal leader sighed. "Sinead, you have your swords ready?"

"Only my broadsword. The katana and the wakizashi are still in Dinobot's room."

"Good enough. Come on."

Starath was bouncing from one foot to the other, barely containing her enthusiasm. The lift lowered, and she blinked at the human there, walking forward as it hit the ground. She was watching warily for any hostile movements with an experienced eye.

Starath was about to speed forward, and launch herself at Sinead for a hug when hand held her back. She sighed. "Fine, I'll stay put, Megatron."

"Good. Now, Primal, what are your conditions?"

"I'm not sure if I'm the one you should be talking to," Optimus replied. "After all, this concerns mainly the humans. And quite possibly limited space in the base. So ask Sinead."

Starath bounded towards the other human, and managed to knock her over, laughing. Optimus was about to rip her off, when he saw Sinead hugging her back, smiling. "Sis, it's been forever!"

Starath was laughing too hard to reply, so Sinead sat up, and then started laughing as well. "If you squeeze any harder, I'll pop! Starath!"

"But you said when we meet you'd give me a hug!"

Still laughing, Sinead said, "I wasn't planning upon being knocked over!"

"All the more fun!"

Optimus blinked at them in confusion, then over to Megatron, who was looking just as baffled. Sinead freed one arm to wave over at Miss Special, who called over, "How's the living space?"

"Could be better, could be worse! Don't annoy the local Raptor!"

"Dangit, but why not? It's fun annoying people!"

"I was almost killed last night, that's why!" Sinead replied, grinning. "Twice!"

Megatron walked over, then said, "Ahem, Starath . . ."

The smaller human blinked up at him guiltily. "Uh, I, uh . . . sorry."

Sinead was finally able to get to her feet, as Starath sat back. She turned, and held her hand out to the slightly-older girl, and said, "Gee, you're a party-pooper, Megatron." Starath took the outstretched hand, and was helped to her feet. Sinead turned to blink calmly up at the Predacon tyrant. "So, when's your apology . . . ?"

"Apology? What the Pit do I need an apology for?!"

Dinobot joined his leader and Sinead, but said nothing, as the others came out behind him. Sinead glanced at him, then up at Megatron, replying, "Because you ruined Starath's good mood, that's why. And if you don't apologize, I'll do many painful things to you that would make you wish that you had."

Megatron snorted, sighed, and finally growled, "Very well. I apologize. Now. About this truce, yes."

"What were your terms?" Sinead asked, all business, now.

"Cease-fire and access to come and visit our humans as often as we please."

She looked to Optimus. "You have any conditions?"

"I'd prefer if the Predacons wouldn't enter the base. That and announcing when they're coming to visit, as Megatron put it," Optimus said.

Sinead nodded, but her voice took on an even more stern note than Optimus' had. "I'll agree to that. Also, though, here are my conditions: Unless otherwise specified, if they're busy doing something or asleep, then you'll either wait, or go back to your base to visit later. Condition two: I'll not shove anyone out the door if they don't want to be. And a cease-fire upon the Predacons' behalf would be nice."

Megatron mulled this over, then nodded once. "Agreed."

Starath squeaked, and jumped to hug Sinead again, who hugged her back. "Hey, go meet the others! Nurann's ready to burst if you don't say 'hi' to her!"

Starath sped off, and Sinead's happy facade shifted suddenly to a dark, angry glare. "And if I ever hear that you've hurt her in any way, shape, or form, you'll be answering to me, and to me alone, Megatron."

Something in those dark eyes made him believe her. By Primus, did he believe her.

Sinead was out walking with Dinobot on his patrol, later that morning. He looked at her. "You scared Optimus this morning."

"Huh? How?" she asked, looking up from a flower that she had picked. It resembled a daisy.

"That mood swing. You were like a slagging child, but you turned into a murderer." Dinobot sighed, and then looked at her square in the eyes. "He wanted me to ask you how and why that happened."

Sinead answered straightforwardly. "How? Why? Simple. Megatron acts like my father in some ways. I can't stand it. I was holding my anger back, so that Starath wouldn't see how furious I really was at the fact that he had suppressed her innocent happy mood. She's like a sister to me, and I feel like I should protect her."

Dinobot sighed, then nodded. "I figured as much, and said so to Primal, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Aah, don't worry about it. I should tell him myself, really."

Nodding, Dinobot continued walking. Sinead walked beside him, feeling almost complete for the first time in months. It was a good feeling.