To all of my dear, wonderful readers and reviewers my sincerest apologies. A Single Change is going to have to go on hiatus for a while, I'm not certain how long, hopefully a short one, anyway. To be perfectly honest in the wake of yet another failure at maintaining a relationship, my writing has reached a point of... well, drivel really, I re-read my past three chapters and managed to spot any number of plot-holes for future chapters, in truth the only reason this chapter and the past two have been posted? I didn't have the heart to leave you on a cliffhanger. As for my relationships? Let's just say that a while ago I met a guy whom had the potential to be my Optimus, only to find he was yet another Galloway. Yeah.

Anyway, grammar is one thing, I live and breath english literature (Canadian spelling btw, write like you were taught *shrug*) however plot bunnies go through stages: Stage one: multiply like bunnies. Stage two: play lemmings in a minefield. Hence the plot-holes, which will be filled in.

Right as soon as I can drag myself out of them.

But to all of my readers, reviewers, friends. I will finish this story.

Promise.

Chapter 186 - Symphony

(SwPOV)

Her eyes were white.

Soundwave had expected that, Symphony was blind after all. What he had not expected was the way her eyes flashed a hidden blue in the bright sunlight. The way she walked with confidence, a hand lightly resting on Wingnut's arm as the young Wrecker Femme guided her human friend.

Wingnut was staring at him, Bumblebee was staring at Wingnut.

But Soundwave paid no heed to them, his optics, both those of his true form and his holoform belonged solely to the femme now standing still, a questioning hand reaching toward Wingnut.

"Wing? What is it?" Symphony murmured. Her voice was soft, as melodic as her name.

"Sim, you remember what I told you about scouts?" Wingnut murmured quietly.

"=You speak scout!?=" Bumblebee demanded the next second. In scout.

"Wing what is it? What was that?" Symphony asked in a frightened tone.

"I'm sorry," Bumblebee immediately stated. Another holoform came online, the young scout himself, striding forward in human form toward Symphony and Wingnut. "Nobody told me there was another scout on Earth!"

"I do speak scout," Wingnut stated in a wary tone. "What are you doing here?"

But Soundwave paid them no heed, Symphony was still afraid, but he didn't know what to do.

"We followed the thread," Bumblebee stated simply.

Dead silence.

"Is he here?" Symphony asked softly.

Wingnut and Bumblebee promptly began staring at the femme, but Soundwave had beaten them to it.

She was beautiful in her own right, not a classic beauty by the standards of the humans, but Soundwave couldn't help but note the characteristics of the femme his spark called to. Her skin was practically untouched by the sun, very little of the melanin pigments had developed in her derma, and because of it Soundwave could clearly see the pathways of her blood as it coursed through the shallower of her veins, the deep maroon shining a deceptive blue through her skin.

It was a fascinating colour variation.

"Wingnut who's there?" Symphony asked somewhat more loudly.

"Uh..."

"I'm Bumblebee!" Bee stated cheerfully.

"You're a scout," Symphony stated patiently. She didn't look at Bumblebee's holoform, or even toward his voice. Her face moved, however, as though she were seeking something else.

"Yep," Bumblebee stated in that same cheerful tone.

"Wingnut he followed the thread you told me about, who's here?" Symphony demanded. Her hand reached out, questing, looking for something.

But for the life of him, Soundwave couldn't move.

So Symphony did, releasing her hold on Wingnut's arm and walking down her garden path with some confidence. For good reason, it was a familiar place to her, no doubt she had walked that path countless times.

But the way she walked...

She was graceful, Soundwave had not expected that. Her body moved with the grace and fluidity of a song, a hand lightly following the contours of the faded picket fence that guarded her front garden.

Before he knew it, the young femme walked hesitantly toward him.

"I hear your spark," she informed him quietly. "I heard you some time ago, can you speak?"

"Affirmative." Soundwave stated patiently. He never failed to answer a direct question.

"Wingnut told me that your people find their mates at the other end of a spark-thread. Are you the one at the other end of my thread?"

"Affirmative." Soundwave stated quietly. For the first time in vorns, Soundwave stood in fear, he had no data to input into his battle computer. The femme at the other end of his spark-thread stood before him, and the only thing between them was her acceptance or denial of him.

"What is your name?" Symphony asked quietly.

"Designation: Soundwave."

"Do you always talk like that?"

"Vocal pattern... most of the time..." Soundwave stated somewhat haltingly, correcting himself. He didn't want to give the femme the impression of an unemotional husk!

"May I see you?" Symphony asked quietly, her hand reached up, toward him. Automatic function – one which was new to him – guided the hand of his holoform to catch the delicate hand of the femme, gently guiding it to his face. It was a new sensation altogether, her hands were warm as they mapped the face of his holoform, learning his appearance by touch. For the first time, he noted just how deeply sensual the human race was.

Symphony was silent as she learned what he looked like, it was an excellent excuse to return to his contemplation of her own face. Her features were softly angular, the zygomatic arches high and well defined. Some few, almost invisible freckles dusted their way over the bridge of her nose and across those arches. Her helm... hair, the humans termed it - was of a medium length, lightly brushing her shoulders and the colour of the sun-bleached grasslands of Africa.

"Why do you look like a human?" Symphony asked him curiously.

"Holoform: Newly acquired. Appearance: can be changed to your preference." Soundwave informed his femme worriedly, then inwardly kicked himself.

He wasn't speaking properly, he almost wished the Weapons Master had accompanied them, to remind him when he slipped into his customary speech patterns.

"I like your face," Symphony informed him quietly. "Your face is strong, even though it's so thin. Not many people who let me see them have faces like yours."

The femme smiled at him, and Soundwave felt his priorities shift. It wasn't a large shift, the universe did not shake, nor planets alter their motions.

But Symphony smiled at him, the fates twined their threads, and Soundwave knew without hesitation that his universe would henceforth revolve around her.

It was only logical, after all. She was his spark-mate.

(MPOV)

I was exhausted. Between dealing with the fliers, flying into space, resuming orbit, flying into space again, making re-entry without burning my paint off, flying back and forth between Nevada, Washington, Geneva, back to Nevada. Then Air-scout duty.

Not because we were short handed by any means, the President just wanted me to attend air-scout duty, he knew me, so he trusted me. It was incredibly tempting to fly the man to Nevada and introduce him to the Command trine, or to Thrust and his trine. Then to top things off, Sentinel had bridged Ratchet, the twins, Bumblebee, Soundwave with his femme concealed in his cabin and I from Nevada to here. It was fast, and required very little energy expenditure on my part, but it still scrambled my systems to no end.

But I was home, finally. Nevada base had quarters for me, and I'd caught a quick recharge there, but home is where the heart is, and my spark was finally sitting beside me in the central.

Sentinel was glaring at me somewhat, I glared right back at him. Central was silent as a result, watching the primely glaring contest.

"I hope you do not intend to sit thus at every opportunity," Sentinel finally growled at me.

I rolled my optics.

"Precisely what is your problem with me plastering myself to my mate?" I asked innocently. It was undignified of course, the fact that I was almost literally welded to my mate. Certainly we were going to have to be careful as we stood up, one of the hoses in my side was caught on my mate's hip strut. I knew I was making a spectacle of myself, my legs slung over my mate's, his arm wound tightly around my waist and my helm resting over his chest.

But to be perfectly honest I didn't give a flying frag what we looked like when I was plastered against my Optimus, Silvermoon was in precisely the same position with Prowl. Arcee and Chromia weren't even bothering to pretend some semblance of dignity, not a single digit belonging to the femmes touched a bench. Besides, we were still waiting for the rest of the bots to arrive.

There was nobot in central but the extended family, and even then we were a few sparks short.

::. Bumblebee to Primes.:: my little brother sent cheerfully. Think of the brat.

::. Kae receiving.:: I sent with a smile.

::. Soundwave and I are hiding in his quarters, how late are we gonna be?.:: my brother sent with a snort.

::. Not too terribly, you're missing Sentinel scolding the femmes for being undignified while we await the rest of the units to arrive.:: my Optimus sent with a smirk.

My little brother was chirping with laughter at that, I could feel his amusement across our sibling bond.

::. Well what's going to happen when we bring Soundwave's sparkmate into the central?.::

::. She's going to see a ton of auto-bots crammed into the central.:: Sunstreaker stated with a snort.

::. And she's gonna hear a bunch of mechs throwing jibes at whomever has won the bet.:: Sideswipe added cheerfully. Sentinel rolled his optics finally, relaxing his rigid stance.

I grinned at him and squirmed somewhat, unhooking the exposed hose in my side from my mate's struts as Auto-bots began filtering in in earnest. Flareup was in her element at the moment, flirting with every mech that so much as looked at her.

Jazz was starting to look rather twitchy about it, I frowned inwardly about that and resolved to mention his twitchiness to Flare. The mech she was determinedly wrapping around her fingers was going to need his processors about him, and soon.

My grandfather strode in that moment, shaking his helm and snorting his amusement as he settled down beside Sentinel.

"Jetfire," Sentinel murmured respectfully.

"Sentinel," my grandfather murmured in return, nodding to the Prime. "What is the universe coming tae? I'd always assumed yeh expected more discipline from th' younglin's around yeh."

"We are outnumbered," Sentinel rumbled irritably, shooting another glare at me.

"Ne'er thought we'd see th' day," Jetfire snorted.

"See the day o' what?" Lugnut demanded, leading the wreckers into Central.

"We're outnumbered by younglin's," Jetfire informed the Wrecker cheerfully. "Always figured I'd be dead an' rustin' away on some strange planet by now. Instead I'm settin' beside me mortal enemy of several hundred vorn and plotting against me original faction tae return Cybertron tae her glory."

Lugnut rolled his optics as I turned my face into my mate's chestplates, hiding my laughter from the older bots the way Sentinel wished me to before I straightened somewhat. Simply because I was lounging on my Optimus before the council certainly didn't mean I was going to behave so rudely during it.

Mind...

"Point eight Joor," I murmured. My Optimus looked down at me curiously. "Point eight joor and I'm going to have you pinned down in our berth," I smirked at my mate, relishing the sound of his processors popping as his body slumped down and back. A few places down Lena was giggling softly, tucked under Jolt's arm. Arcee was shooting me an approving, benevolent smile.

Sentinel just looked resigned.

::. Are they there yet?.:: my little brother demanded impatiently.

I glanced around and smiled, lightly tapping my mate's helm as Magnus nodded approvingly, as though I had eased some worry that I would leave my mate insensate.

::. Come on in, little brother, we're waiting for you.:: I sent to him gently.

The last to arrive, Soundwave followed Bee, bearing his newly found spark-mate in extraordinarily careful hands. Every bot in the central turned to look, half to see whom had won the bet, and half to see what kind of femme the eldest bot in the Auto-bot ranks went for.

Personally, I looked to see whom the next potential human turned bot femme would be, my optics greeting a rather frail, wispy little thing.

Pretty though.

"Soundwave: Proud to introduce guardian-reliant. Designation: Symphony Alexandria O'Niel." Soundwave immediately stated. I could practically feel the bot beaming behind his visor.

"Great. You found a femme and you still can't talk properly," Ironhide immediately growled. "You're gonna scare her off Soundwave!"

"Soundwave can speak however he wishes," Symphony immediately responded. I felt my brow ridges rise somewhat. For such a frail seeming little femme, she had a great deal of restrained power behind her voice.

"Sim!?" Lugnut demanded the next second.

"Lugnut?" Symphony asked curiously.

I watched with no little amusement as Lugnut heaved himself to his feet, crossing the central to glare Soundwave in the visor. The silence held for several minutes.

"If you don't take care of that little femme your helm is mine, Soundwave." Lugnut finally growled.

"Gratitude, Wrecker Lugnut," Soundwave replied patiently. Beside me, my Optimus smiled, pulling me somewhat closer.

"It's good to hear your spark again, Lugnut," Symphony added, matching her guardian's patient tone. I smiled to see the old Wrecker beam at the little femme. That would simplify things immensely.

"It's nice to see you out of that ridiculous excuse of a city, Sim," Lugnut informed Soundwave's new femme with a smile.

"Soundwave: Discuss Symphony quarters with Lady High Protector at earliest convenience." Soundwave added, turning to look at me.

"After the council, before I recharge," I smiled at my advisor. "Symphony, do you wish to remain during the council or would you like one of the soldiers to give you a tour of the base?"

"I don't have much time before my guardian has to return to a planet that I can't survive on," Symphony stated with blunt patience, surprising any number of the bots in the central. "I should prefer to remain with my spark-mate."

I cycled my optics in the silence.

"Wingnut's been gossiping with you, hasn't she," Lugnut stated in a neutral tone.

"No," Symphony stated calmly.

Silence.

"Inquiry: how does Symphony know Soundwave's schedule without having received direct information?" Soundwave asked curiously.

"You're important enough in the ranks that a full scout could be spared to follow your spark-thread in the middle of a civil war," Symphony stated patiently. "If you lot are grouping together and holding a council at a point where you're capable of bridging to Cybertron again it means that you're important enough to go back. Soon. It's only logical."

"I like that femme," my Grandfather commented cheerfully.

"Agreed," Sentinel rumbled gravely. "Tell me young femme, have you any sisters?"

(SyPOV)

Symphony rested in her guardian's hands. She hadn't seen him yet, she couldn't, really. But by the feel of his hands alone as he cradled her over his spark, Ace was rather enormous.

Everyone called her guardian Soundwave. Wingnut was really respectful of his name, Bumblebee called him Soundie, although Symphony was positive it was just the scout testing her guardian.

Symphony had decided to call him Ace though, and her guardian had laughed at her reasoning. Which was nice, Soundwave had a fascinating kind of laugh. It was soft, gentle. Symphony had never truly been fond of laughter until she'd heard his, laughter was generally the result of the pranks the children had played on her.

She didn't typically feel sorry for herself, Symphony couldn't really remember ever having seen, although before they'd disappeared her parents had told her that she'd had her sight until the age of two.

But then her eyes had simply turned white, whatever that meant, and her world had gone dark.

Symphony couldn't remember seeing, so she didn't really miss it. Not really.

It was annoying sometimes, listening to others as they described what they saw, it was then that Symphony envied them, sometimes.

But not really, her world was filled with sound and touch. Sound in particular, she loved sound. Sound made echos, created pictures of her world. Sound was filled with emotion, with life.

Now, cradled in her guardian's hands, Symphony listened to the sound of a multitude of Cybertronian sparks in an enclosed area. It was a fascinating sound, soft, metallic-but-not humming, echoing throughout a room that seemed to be somewhat circular. Only a circular room allowed for such soft sounds to remain so sharply individual from each other. She had answered the questions put to her, no, she didn't have any sisters, or family anymore. Yes, there was in fact something wrong with her eyes, she couldn't see out of them.

The sounds after that question had been rather amusing, metal on metal, as though someone had struck the questioner. Then to her surprise, a voice with gruff, kind but irritable tones described precisely what was wrong with her eyes, and had proceeded to inform her that he expected her to report to the med-bay for a physical examination.

Nobody had dared to interrupt that voice, either, so Symphony had agreed. Then to her relief, the attention had drifted away from her and to the topic at hand.

The battle that she had predicted her guardian was to be a part of. So Symphony sat comfortably in Ace's hands and used the time to reflect on the past several months of her life.

It'd been an accident, her coming across the Cybertronians at Jackson's farm. Lugnut hadn't known that he was supposed to be hiding from her, and had been her attentive audience for several hours before striking up a conversation with his childish vocabulary. Before she met Longbolt and Wingnut, she hadn't believed Lugnut's attestation that he was a 'full grown Wrecker bot that made her look like a tiny shrimp'. She hadn't believed him until his children arrived and threw a fit about him talking to her.

But the secret was out, and Wingnut was the first Cybertronian Symphony had ever seen. That had upset Mr. Jackson somewhat, but Lester Jackson had always been kind to her, his family incredibly patient and frequently offering the spare room in their farmhouse for her use. They were all the family she had, and truly, all the family she had ever needed.

But the home Symphony had grown up in was in town, it was situated where she could remain relatively self-sufficient. She could retrieve her own food. Her home was quite large, but that didn't really matter, she'd only used three of it's rooms. The kitchen, bathroom and her living quarters, situated in the 'living room' of the house. That was according to the people that came into her house sometimes.

According to those people, the 'social services' people, if she would just move into the 'master bedroom' she could rent the rest of the house out to other people and make money that way.

But Symphony had never been into her parent's room, she had remained in the same three rooms.

Other places in the world didn't bother her like that, and Symphony frequently wondered at herself for that behaviour, but she didn't feel like correcting it within herself. This was a radical change for her, but Symphony was strangely comfortable with it. Yesterday she was in the same place she had always been, visiting with Wingnut the only truly new thing in her life. She had a friend outside of the Jackson family.

Sort of. Lugnut, Wingnut and Longbolt would always be a part of the Jackson family, now.

Today, she had travelled across the country in a matter of seconds, and sat comfortably protected in the hands of her guardian. She had a guardian, a mech some forty times her size who according to Wingnut, was now devoted to caring for her for the rest of her life.

To be perfectly honest, Symphony was still working her way through that one. She was going to cross examine Ace when he came back from Cybertron.

Not before. He already had enough on his processors without his reliant demanding answers.

Actually...

Half of Symphony's mind listened to the conversations around her pertaining to tactics and landmarks. The tactics sounded logical, but places like Iacon, Kaon and the Guardian's Falls meant nothing to her. Somehow, she got the sense that they would in time.

But for now, Symphony devoted her thoughts to cataloguing the list of questions she was going to wheedle the answers to out of Wingnut.