Chapter 160 – Spring in the Air
(MPOV)
I smiled and walked back to the med-bay. One bot down, seventeen to go.
Ratchet was already at his workbench, looking grumpy.
"What?" I asked with a laugh.
"Servo work," he grumbled.
"You hate servo work," I nodded calmly. "You take care of the lubricants and conversion matrixes, and whatever else you feel like, I'll do the servos?"
"It's nice to have a nurse again," Ratchet murmured musingly.
::. Arcee?.:: I sent over the femme's channel.
::. Kae?.::
::. You wanna come blow Ratchet's processors so I can run his maintenance?.:: I asked cheerfully.
::. On my way.:: my sister laughed.
"Jolt managed to hide just long enough that he's on duty," Ratchet added grumpily.
"That's alright, I've already finished re-aligning his legs," I giggled. "Turns out if you sweet talk him enough, he lets you take his servos, so long as he doesn't have to watch you fixing them he's good."
Ratchet stared at me and burst out laughing.
"Well then, favourite assistant," he grinned. "What's next on the menu?"
"Ratchet!" Arcee called out sweetly. Ratchet turned automatically. I looked over and snorted. Naked Arcee. "Sleep sweet prince," Arcee purred, shooting him her patented circuit blowing gaze.
"Oh," Ratchet stated musingly, just as his processors clicked out.
I idly caught him from falling and laid him out on the berth.
My Optimus strode past, humming softly to himself and idly settling his armour in place. He glanced into the med-bay and turned, smirking at Ratchet's semi-conscious form and Arcee as she stood, proudly smirking at me.
I laughed at the both of them and calmly began running Ratchet's maintenance, not that there was much to do on my spark-father, but there were a couple of overtaxed circuits here and there. It was an easy fix, especially with him laying so cheerfully down for the count.
My Optimus gently wound his arms around my waist, pressing a gentle kiss to my neck struts as I worked.
"Thank you," he rumbled gently.
"For?" I asked in amusement.
"For loving us," he murmured, nuzzling at my neck for a moment.
I reached up and gently stroked his cheek with my fingertips before continuing with my work.
"And what am I to say to that?" I asked gently.
"Mmm... 'just for that I'll let you leave the med-bay and return for your maintenance later?'" he rumbled curiously.
I began laughing softly, even as I gently closed Ratchet's systems up and lightly tapped on his helm.
"I'll make you a deal, you get Ironhide in here and I'll do your maintenance tonight, while you're dozing in your automatic recharge," I murmured with a smirk.
"Done!" my Optimus rumbled with a broad grin, straightening and striding toward the doors. Sentinel strode in, the two of them touching hands for a second as they passed each other. He sat down beside me, even as Ratchet rolled to his feet, shooting me a wry glare. Of course that most certainly didn't stop me from giving him an urbanely cheerful grin, just as he went after his femme.
Arcee was laughing gleefully, high-tailing it out of the med-bay with a horny Ratchet chasing after her.
Sentinel snorted softly beside me. I turned to look at him calmly, recognizing the pensive hum of his spark, so much like my Optimus'.
"Penny for your process?" I asked him with a smile.
(SePOV)
Sentinel smiled at his young friend, the grin on Optimus' face was infectious as he wandered out toward the central.
He had the step of a bot on a well-received mission. They touched hands for a moment, recognition of each other without the necessity of words.
Sentinel sat beside his new pupil, watching with amusement as Ratchet shot a wry, amused glare at Kae before chasing after Arcee.
It didn't take a genius to know what had happened.
Especially with the way Ratchet was chasing after Arcee. Their newly bonded status had to be the worst kept secret in base, they weren't even trying!
"Penny for your process?" Kae asked him gently.
Sentinel hummed pensively, gathering his thoughts. Kae waited for him, the dear, patient femme.
"I do not know how best to begin," Sentinel began pensively.
"From the beginning?" Kae murmured teasingly.
Sentinel snorted.
"What are the methods of the teachers on this planet?" he rumbled curiously. Kae pursed her lips somewhat then smirked.
"You know," she chuckled. "I only ever managed to stay for a quarter of my first class in advanced learning."
Sentinel stared at the femme with a frown.
"Optimus did not allow-" he rumbled indignantly.
"No, Mico didn't really allow me to remain in university," Mikaela chuckled. "I don't really mind, the courses I was to take have already become redundant by your presence alone."
That made him feel somewhat better.
"So what did you observe of your first teacher?" Sentinel asked curiously.
Mikaela snorted, glanced at him and burst out laughing.
"Here," she gasped, sending him her memory. Sentinel viewed it curiously, feeling first amusement, then indignation that that creature was a teacher.
Mind...
"Optimus has informed me that you are remarkably talented when it comes to turning out a statement," Sentinel stated cheerfully.
"When it comes to making speeches? I will admit some talent in that area, yes," Mikaela murmured humbly. She shot a cheerful glance at him. "Mind, I do not believe you will need much in the way of assistance."
Sentinel snorted.
"Regardless will you go over my syllabi with me?" he rumbled curiously.
"I was rather hoping you would say that, the humans wish an outline so that the schedules for your classes can be nailed down," Kae stated with a smile. "A moment..." she looked into the distance, comming someone.
She smiled slightly and looked at him.
"If you don't mind me multi-tasking?" she added cheerfully.
Sentinel chuckled and leaned back, watching as Optimus strode patiently back into the med-bay, leading a wary looking Ironhide.
"What am I supposed to see?" Ironhide growled, he sounded like he had asked that question multiple times.
"Me!" Chromia called out cheerfully behind him.
Ironhide turned, an automatic function to see Chromia beaming at him, stark naked and climbing up her intended's chest the next moment.
"Sleep my vengeful angel," Chromia purred, right into Ironhide's audio receptors.
Ironhide grinned at her, his processors clicking out as Optimus lightly caught his old weapons master, laying him on the berth for his mate.
"Thank you, my love," Mikaela smiled up at him, reaching up somewhat for a kiss.
She dug her fingers into his armour for a moment.
"You promised," Optimus rumbled into her receptors.
"Mm, I did," Mikaela murmured. "But does a promise that I won't pop your processors 'till later preclude me from touching you now?"
Sentinel grinned as Optimus pulled back somewhat, casting a mockingly reproving glare at his mate.
Completely nullified by the smug satisfaction humming from his spark.
"I will see you later," Mikaela informed her bot in a sultry, commanding tone.
Optimus grinned, the expression of an infatuated mech as he strode back out of the med-bay again. Sentinel had absolutely no doubt that that expression would remain plastered there for some time. Mikaela turned and began tweaking and repairing the Weapons Master's systems as Chromia lounged against his side.
"Now then," Kae stated cheerfully, removing one of Ironhide's legs. Sentinel glanced at it and noted several struts showing a great deal of fatigue. "You have absolutely no problem catering to the dramatic, what are you worried about?" She rose and picked out several parts, returning and settling beside him again.
Sentinel couldn't hold back a chuckle, lounging beside the femme as she worked.
"Will you be there with me?" he asked instead.
"Of course I am!" she grinned. "Not only to monitor the humans' stress levels in the mindspace either, I wanna hear your lectures," she grinned up at him.
Sentinel couldn't help but laugh.
"You have Mico's knowledge already," he informed the femme mildly.
"But I have thirty six times the memory space that I did as a human, I can actually comprehend mathematics now, for once I'll actually enjoy being in school," Mikaela chuckled. "You think I'm going to pass up the chance to be one of the number attending the symposium hosted by the Great Sentinel Prime?"
Sentinel laughed, giving the femme a light, teasing shove.
"Brat," he told her with a snort.
Chromia was giggling the next second, she caught his optics and burst out laughing, draped over her bot's chest.
"What?" Ironhide mumbled groggily.
"Sentinel just called Kae a brat," Chromia gasped before she was laughing again.
Ironhide was snorting back a hearty guffaw the next moment.
"You know you didn't have to knock me out, I knew Kae was gonna take my leg," Ironhide rumbled comfortably, winding Chromia a bit more tightly against his chest.
"But it's so much fun," Chromia giggled, pecking a kiss to his jaw.
Ironhide hummed and stretched.
"For you maybe," he grumbled contentedly.
"Have a nice nap uncle?" Kae asked innocently. "Leg going back on by the way."
"An excellent nap, I dreamt Chromia was su-" Ironhide started cheerfully.
"Hide!" Chromia protested immediately, Ironhide just grinned at her, the two of them reading each other's optics. "Later," she smirked.
"Do Chrome next so it can turn into sooner," Ironhide commanded his niece with a broad grin. Mikaela laughed and held her arms out for Chromia.
"Anything glitching?" Kae asked with a smile, delicately depositing Chromia on another berth and sitting beside her.
"Yeah, lateral stabilizer is starting to act up," Chromia shrugged, laying on her side and presenting the part. Mikaela scanned it idly and nodded.
"Yep, that's the problem with wheeling about at high speed, it's getting quite worn," Kae murmured, delicately touching the part and observing as the nanites regenerated the metals around it. "I'm going to have to build you a new one Chrome, but I think that should hold you for now, take it easy?"
"Gotcha," Chromia snorted. She looked over. "Hide! Come!"
Ironhide rose, and Sentinel shot him an incredulous look.
"Come off it, are you going to disobey an order to go interface a gorgeous femme?" Ironhide snorted gleefully, striding after Chromia.
"Don't take it to spark," Mikaela murmured with a low laugh, lightly touching his shoulder. "It's a running joke between the two of them."
"Ah," Sentinel nodded musingly. "So on the battlefield?"
"They're both still forces to be reckoned with, and Chromia instantly snaps to attention if 'Hide gives her an order. They were doing that routine long before you arrived," Kae chuckled.
Sentinel grinned, leaning back on the bench he'd claimed and smiling as she sat down beside him. Her optics dimmed as she commed someone, then brightened as she looked at him again.
"Now then, what are you worrying over?" she asked gently.
Sentinel frowned somewhat, and sent her his sylabi, she scanned it for a long moment.
Then smiled.
"That looks absolutely perfect," she informed him gently.
"But the..." he started.
"Mindspace?" she asked with a smile. "I told you Sentinel, that's my job, all you need to worry about is teaching us little brats – hey!"
Sentinel couldn't help but laugh as Mikaela squeaked indignantly, as a teacher, it was entirely his right to chastise smart-afted pupils: and a gentle cuff upside the helm was nothing.
(MPOV)
Director Mearing showed up at midnight, Wheeljack was admiring the repair I'd accomplished on his hands, striding toward the doors.
"'Jack!" I called out quickly, he froze, looking at me.
"Mind the humans," I told him with a tolerant smile, he looked down and noted Mearing standing where his next step would have been.
"Oops! Sorry, proximity sensors back online," the bot stated immediately, stepping around the human.
"Director," I smiled at the woman. "You seem to be missing an entourage this... morning."
Mearing shrugged, striding toward me again.
"My aid outdid herself today," she stated patiently. "She's in bed."
I nodded and offered the woman my hand, which she took rather hesitantly, allowing me to lift her to my workbench.
"You have chairs on your desk?" she asked with a frown.
"I tend to prefer sitting when discussing things," I shrugged, calmly continuing to work on my final project of the day. "It would be incredibly rude for me to not allow others the option, they don't take up that much space."
"Mmn. Right, well, the Brotherhood is getting quite strong, Archangel," Director Mearing began with a frown, settling herself into one of the chairs.
"So I have noticed, do you feel they will cause any trouble with the symposiums?"
"There's been chatter to that effect."
"Oh. Great." I groaned, reaching up and rubbing my forehead, I could feel a processor ache beginning to grow in my emotional centres.
"I need to know your stance on it," Mearing added calmly, looking at me with a frown. "Is there something wrong with your head?"
"Ugh, I honestly thought when I became a bot that I'd be leaving headache's behind me." I snorted irritably. "As it turns out, my head is now simply far bigger, and I can pinpoint which processors are aching."
"You still get headaches?" the woman demanded incredulously.
"Rather large ones," I nodded.
The Director made a face and nodded.
"Do you need my personal stance, or the Auto-bot one?"
"I need your stance, Archangel," Mearing stated flatly. I frowned and leaned back somewhat.
"Personally, I think they're a bunch of bigoted idiots, they're after my blood because I was a human, and fell in love with my Optimus. In this day and age we're supposed to have the right to love whomever we wish. If what I'm told is true, the main thing that they have against me, is that I chose to follow the path that gave me true happiness."
"You tried to kill yourself four months ago," Mearing stated flatly.
I looked down at her calmly for a long moment, and onlined my holoform.
"Please," I stated gently, settling my holoform into one of the chairs. "Sit."
Mearing looked at my holoform incredulously. I smiled at her.
"This is how I grew up, Director," I stated gently, indicating my form. "This is who I was, who I still am. It's not simply the CIA Red baby that sees your desire to question me, it's the woman as well."
Mearing sat down and stared at me.
"You're so young!" she stated incredulously. I laughed softly.
"Everybody says that," I chuckled. "Bearing in processor... mind... that I was just shy of twenty when I changed, and now I'm two annum sorry... years old in a body that will last for centuries supposing that I'm not killed before then. My Optimus is millennia older than I am. But by their reckoning, he's about Colonel Lennox's age. Age is simply a number, Director."
Director Mearing shook her head incredulously.
"You're damn near eternal now, why would you want to kill yourself?" she demanded in a stunned tone. I looked at her for a long moment.
"May I show you something?" I asked gently, making my holoform rise and walk toward my body.
"I suppose..."
I nodded and leaned forward, opening my chest plates and baring my chamber to her.
"This is my spark-chamber, Director Mearing," I stated gently. "For a Cybertronian, we don't have a heart, not in the sense of humans, the closest parallel is a lubricant pump, and I have a few of them. But the soul... as a human I often speculated that my training, my acts in life stripped my soul from me. You've read my files, you know who I was. But this is my soul, Director, a tangible, touchable thing that I can scan, I can tell you precisely what my soul requires to continue to burn, to survive. It's what animates my body, it's the centre of my emotion, my thoughts, the extra processors are simply that, processors that I use to increase my intellect. My body is just that, my body, the housing of my spark that allows me to be autonomous."
I reached with my holoform's hand and lightly took hers.
"May I show you?" I asked gently.
"Show me what?" Mearing asked curiously.
"Why I would kill myself," I stated softly.
Mearing nodded, and I gently guided her hand toward my spark.
"You're not going to electrocute me?" she asked warily, I gently released her hand, allowing her to move of her own accord.
"No, and I promise you, I will show you no more than your mind can process," I informed her gently.
Mearing nodded and lightly reached out again.
I reached with my spark and wound a small tendril around her hand.
...
We watched as Charlotte Mearing opened her eyes in the mindspace.
"Welcome to the mindspace, Director," my Optimus rumbled gently.
"When did you get here!?" Mearing demanded incredulously.
"He is always here," I laughed gently. "Director Mearing our Sparks are bound, he is my husband, my mate, when humans call their spouse their other half, it is a figure of speech. For us, it is a literal binding, half of my spark remains with him."
"When two are bound, often we cannot be more than a few of your miles apart at first," my Optimus rumbled gently. "Physical separation is an incredibly difficult thing at times, and it is tempered only by the knowledge that no matter the distance, we are always together."
"In life and death," I added softly. "Director Mearing-"
"Charlotte," Mearing stated softly. "At this point, you should probably just call me Charlotte."
I smiled at her.
"Charlotte, I didn't fall in love with a truck, it had nothing to do with the adoration of a mechanic for a robot, I fell in love with an open, honest and gentle soul that saw my shortcomings and looked past them. He was torn away from me, Charlotte, we needed to lure the Decepticons out, but necessity didn't make it hurt any less."
"To lure the Decepticons, they needed to believe me dead, we were given no other option," my Optimus rumbled gently. "My Kae and I could not risk communications, the frequencies were being watched."
"But as a result I could not tell if my Optimus was alive and blocking his signal, or dead and reaching for me from the well," I murmured gently.
"The well?"
"The Well of All-sparks," Optimus rumbled gently. "The dimension that your cultures would refer to as the afterlife. The place our sparks return to when we offline."
"There's no such thing as an afterlife," Director Mearing frowned.
"I beg to differ," Optimus rumbled with a low laugh. "I have been there, Director, when my first mate passed..."
Charlotte Mearing watched in awe as the incredibly masculine soul began to resonate with a different sound, one that sounded vaguely like... pain.
That is, until the feminine one pulled him somewhat closer.
"I will wait for you," Archangel's voice whispered. The sound lessened and Optimus' presence straightened.
"I stayed for approximately one of your weeks, my spark stretched between my body and the Well, begging Elita to allow me to follow her," Optimus rumbled softly. "She denied me that right, and the half of my spark that had remained with her returned to me, just as hers left."
We spent a couple of hours, conversing with the Director, feeling her awe at the witness of our true presences. When we finally separated, the woman looked absolutely exhausted.
"How did you arrive, Director?" Optimus rumbled gently, his body striding into the med-bay, and his holoform winking online beside mine to gently take the woman's elbow.
"Drove," she murmured.
"Come, I will take you home, and one of the soldiers will bring your vehicle to you in the morning if you do not wish to remain in the guest quarters this evening."
I smiled at the look of stunned gratitude on the woman's face as my Optimus offered her his hand.
(LPOV)
Lena woke up at three in the morning. She was curled against her Jolt's spark-chamber, her bot down for the count. She took a deep breath and nodded to herself. It was three in the morning, Kae would be awake still... if nothing else, she could ask the human-turned-bot femme how the hell she knew Lena desperately needed to talk to her.
One on one.
Lena nodded to herself again and glanced at her pyjamas.
Kae wouldn't care what she was wearing.
Lena gently climbed from her Jolt's chest and smiled when he half onlined an optic to look at her curiously.
He had such gentle optics.
"I just need to go talk to Kae," Lena murmured gently. "I'll be back soon."
"I'm not going anywhere," Jolt murmured with a drowsy smile, gently stroking her back.
That had become their habit since Chicago... she didn't even like thinking about what had happened. The day they'd returned to base, and she'd gone to the bathroom, she'd come back to a panicking Jolt.
Now. Now even when she was going to be gone for two minutes, anytime they were apart, they told each other precisely what they were doing.
When she had been younger, she would have resented it.
Now. She was grateful every time her Jolt earnestly murmured that he would be right back.
Because to be honest, when she'd looked around and found him gone, even when he'd told her he'd be right back she'd still be riddled with anxiety. It was still kind of weird that she didn't resent the loss of privacy though... somehow she didn't really notice it gone.
Lena walked out of their quarters and toward the med-bay, just in time to watch Optimus gently set Director Mearing down and transform.
It was kind of weird that she then climbed up into his cab, Optimus didn't usually drive people around. The nice way to put it was that he was so large it was damned hard to find him a place to park. That Kae drove around with people was less weird, she went stretch-hummer-limo when she needed to.
But somehow the Primes just seemed too... noble to be somebody's personal vehicle.
Lena shook herself somewhat and tentatively poked her head into the med-bay.
Kae was there, sitting patiently and looking right back at her.
"You're right on time Lena," she murmured with a small smile.
"Where's Optimus going with Director Mearing?" Lena asked curiously, walking into the med-bay and sitting on the hand Kae offered.
"Director Mearing joined us in the mindspace," Kae murmured with a low laugh. "She was rather exhausted when we finished speaking there, so my Optimus is taking her home rather than her having to drive."
"He's bloody obstinate sometimes, but you sure as hell can't fault him on courtesy," Lena snorted.
"And then people wonder why I fell in love with him," Kae chuckled in return, gently settling her onto the workbench beside the chairs.
"It's never going to cease to amuse me that you have a lazyboy on your workbench," Lena giggled, plopping down into it as Kae's holoform settled into it's partner. "Now the first question, is how the heck you knew I needed to talk to you."
"When I made the transformation," Kae murmured gently. "I had Mico to guide me, to tell me how and why. Some of our most animated conversations were in my dreams, yes, but they were conversations I sorely needed, and I have no doubt of the same for you."
Lena nodded musingly.
"Is it gonna hurt?" she asked shyly.
Kae smiled at her somewhat.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Lena, yes it does hurt. When my body was being converted into energon it was cold, I felt as though I were frozen in ice. Everything ached as though I'd been battered. But when I was cast, at first I only registered a dim burning, all I could focus on was the sudden warmth and bizarre feeling that I no longer had flesh, that I was made purely of energy. I only felt the burning of the casting for a few moments, and those few moments were because I chose to, my body was registering that I was cast, and that an energon surge would quickly cool my frame. I chose to continue to remain hot, because it tempered my frame. I'm stronger as a result."
That was a relief. Lena sat back and nodded calmly. She'd been beaten that night... had damn near died, it had been sheer force of will that had dragged her from the bushes to the freeway. She'd laid on the road for an hour before someone had stopped.
Pain was not alien to her. She could withstand it.
"What's it like?" Lena asked softly. That was her biggest fear, that she wouldn't be able to cope with the size difference, that her mind would reject it's loss of flesh.
"It's strange sometimes," Kae laughed softly, her true form raised a hand and looked at it. "My Optimus frequently laughs that I look at my hands and start that I'm no longer fleshy. But then most of the time when I do that he's there to distract me from the fact that I'm now far bigger than I was. The sensation is the same, Lena, the feeling of his hands feels the same as a human lover. With the strength of these metals, his frame feels almost soft beneath my hands. The only difference is the shape of his body compared to a human male's."
"They look better that way," Lena smirked to herself. Kae grinned at her.
"Fair warning however, once you're a bot Arcee, Chromia and Flareup fully intend on taking you under their wing. Arcee is adamant that any femme that crosses her path be trained properly."
"Trained how?" Lena asked warily.
"How best to cope with size difference between our bots, where they're most sensitive, how your own body functions and of course the look," Kae chuckled softly. "She is incredibly proud of the processor popping gaze."
Lena couldn't help but make something of a face, she wasn't entirely fond of the idea of popping her Jolt's processors and leaving him to fall.
"Have you ever seen me allow my Optimus to fall?" Mikaela chuckled the next second.
That was true. Memories crossed and Lena sagged into herself.
When Kae had been cast, there had been a time when Optimus was giving all appearance of having rejected her. She wasn't certain she could handle Jolt rejecting her...
"What's wrong?" Kae asked softly, her holoform rose and reached out, gently wrapping Lena in a hug.
"What if... what if he doesn't like me anymore?" Lena asked softly.
"He's going to adore you just as much as he does now, Lena, my Optimus never once stopped loving me."
"But..."
"I outranked him, Lena, he got it into his processors that I wouldn't want him, so he backed away to give me my space, my privacy. If Jolt does the same Optimus already has it set in his processors that he's going to drag him into the med-bay and make you both declare your intentions again."
"I will not have the same spark-ache I experienced and inflicted upon my Kae occur again simply because I was too much of a glitch to have simply said it aloud." Optimus' voice rumbled gently. Lena jumped in surprise and turned to look at him. "My apologies for startling you," he rumbled with a small smile. "However my beloved mate speaks the truth. Lena, your sparks have chosen each other, just as ours did. With that knowledge, we are better capable of not making the same mistakes, and guiding others away from those mistakes. Had I not been such a glitch, my Kae would never have had to suffer such humi-"
"It is in the past, my beloved," Kae interrupted him with a small smile. "We sorted it out, eventually."
Optimus smiled somewhat, settling down beside Kae and winding his arms around her waist, lightly pressing his face into her neck.
"You are too tolerant of my mistakes," he rumbled softly.
"What's it like being bound?" Lena asked softly, already, she could feel the anxiety of being separate from her Jolt beginning to creep up on her again.
"No matter the distance," Optimus rumbled softly. "She is always with me, her patience my own, her instincts the protection against the flaws of my training."
"He is the half of me that was missing, the one filling the void that had ached so long I'd never noticed." Kae murmured in counterpart. She looked at Lena for a long moment and reached with her holoform. "May I show you?" she asked softly.
Immediately, Lena was on edge, the only spark she'd touched was Jolt's...
But then, as though he'd sensed her thoughts, Jolt strode into the med-bay, his optics holding her own in seconds.
"Only if you want to, Lena," he murmured, smiling at her.
"And he'll be right beside you, if you wish it," Optimus added gently.
Lena nodded and allowed Kae's holoform to gently guide her into her hand. It was a surprise then, when the three bots all made their way to the Prime's quarters.
"It's..." Jolt started hesitantly. Optimus laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Lena, it's easier for me to do this when..."
"When we have some privacy," Lena murmured with a smile. Her Jolt was an incredibly private bot a lot of the time. Which was fine. With the exception of having practically attached herself to Jolt, she was an incredibly private human.
The second they reached the Prime quarters, Optimus was shrugged out of his armour and sitting comfortably on the berth.
"Showoff," Kae murmured above her. Lena looked up to see Kae looking at her mate with loving amusement. Optimus just shot an innocent look at his mate. The next surprise, was when Mikaela gently set Lena down on her mate's chest, shrugging out of her own armour the next moment. "Sorry," she murmured in amusement, evidently noting Lena's shock. "I detest recharging in my armour."
That made more sense. Lena smiled as her Jolt squirmed onto the berth, shooting a wry smile at Optimus as the bot tucked him under an arm.
"Comfortable?" Lena teased her bot gently as Jolt automatically cuddled against Optimus' side, the Prime's shoulder shifting ever so slightly to pillow the smaller's helm.
"Bizarrely so," Jolt snorted. "I always thought his frame would be harder."
Beneath her hands, Optimus' spark-chamber opened.
A bi-coloured spark reached for her, which surprised her somewhat.
"People don't often see that," Jolt murmured, Lena glanced around and noted with surprise that Jolt had extended a cable into a coupling in Optimus' side. "The dual tones, I mean, more often than not the sparks integrate absolutely until it's a blending of the two tones."
Hesitantly, Lena reached out and touched the spark-tendril offering itself to her and closed her eyes.
...
Surrounded by the light, we watched as Lena opened her eyes, we felt the start the humans often experienced when surrounded by entirely different surroundings when one hadn't moved. Less so, she had on occasion entered into Jolt's mindspace, after all.
Kae smiled at her Optimus' amusement and pressed herself somewhat more tightly against him, making him hum with the pleasure inherent to the closeness.
Jolt reached out and lightly caught his Lena's hands, his familiar presence somewhat overriding the stunning amount of information intrinsic of being in another's mindspace.
~So this...~ Lena thought in awe.
~Is the combined mindspace of myself and my Kae~ Optimus murmured gently. ~We two have a mindspace separate from each other, but often I remain within our combined mind, our joined thoughts making what decisions need be made far easier to comprehend~
Lena cuddled herself against Jolt, looking at the bound Prime sparks in awe. So close, she could feel their adoration for each other, their love for those who surrounded them. As though they could sense her curiosity – which they could she reminded herself; to their amusement – The Prime sparks allowed her to feel their separate impressions of their bond.
It was an eternally new sensation for Kae, the feeling of having another so intrinsically close, more often than not she would rouse, sense his presence so deeply close to her own and be astonished by it. Optimus always enjoyed her astonishment, it was not a new sensation for him, he had grown knowing that someday he would have a bonded mate, it was a cultural commonality. Rather, every moment that he remained conscious was filled with spark-deep love, a love that he was conscious of, that he was determined to never once take for granted, despite his mate's amusement and gentle attestation that her love was the one thing that he could take for granted.
But it was a love that left no doubt, there was absolutely no uncertainty between the two.
Because above all else, they were together, they would remain together eternally and through that time, bypassing time, come pitfire or ice-tempest each would always know the other absolutely.
But to understand their togetherness, was to feel her own loneliness.
Until her Jolt gently touched her hand.
It was entirely her own selfishness that made her want to change, despite her Jolt's attestation that she was unselfish.
~The point stands~ Lena murmured to her Jolt.
~How?~ he asked in amusement.
~I am not selfless enough to share you~
~Good~
~Good?~
~Because I very much doubt my ability to share you either~ her Jolt murmured with a small smile, shyly reaching out and taking her hands.
Fond amusement surrounded them as Optimus and Kae pressed somewhat more tightly together.
~Young love~ Optimus' voice murmured gently.
~Would you have it any other way?~ Kae asked her mate in amusement.
~Only when I am so old as to not keep up with you~ Optimus snorted.
~Decrepit~
~Hatchling~
Lena cuddled all the more against her Jolt as the two techs laughed at the bonded Primes.