Finding Home
Chapter 28
By Voodoo Queen
XXXXXXXXXX
Author's Note: Hello, Dear Readers! I thought we were due for some romance-y stuff, especially since the twins will be leaving on business for a few days. Fluff. Physical affection. No smut, but may get them to thinking. I don't write a lot of risqué stuff so I hope it meets your high expectations. If human/non-human displays of affection turn you off, you can probably safely skip this chapter and wait for the next one to post. Thank you so much to everyone who has added this story to your follows and favorites. I'm so happy to have you here! Extra special thanks to my reviewers for keeping me motivated! Annie, TerrorTwinEpicness, adelphe24, , YaoiPrincess12, ElleGirl19, sakurawriter, Autobot-Bre-Lightblast, Tonythecool, Pixiekatt, rileyraph'sgirl
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, just my own original characters and plot.
XXXXXXXXXX
The previous day had been somewhat bittersweet. After several days of barely getting to see the pair face-to-face, it had been a treat for Amy to be able to spend some uninterrupted time with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The happiness was somewhat tempered by the fact that they would be leaving her in less than twenty four hours time. The twins had been racking their brains/processors trying to find a way they could occupy that small amount of time before their departure. It had taken some convincing but Amy had finally managed to get through to them that they didn't need to keep her entertained every single moment they were together. She was happy just to be able to see them before they left.
This revelation seemed to both surprise and please the pair for some reason.
After tying up some loose ends and Amy grabbing some lunch, they'd eventually ended up back in the twins' room where they'd be free of prying eyes and wild speculation. Conversation flowed easily between them as it always seemed to. The twins had done their best to sate Amy's curiosity about the Allspark and why a small sliver of it was so important. What she'd drawn from the conversation was that they weren't even sure what the Allspark really was, where it had come from, who had created it, or why. What they did know was that it contained restorative properties that could have theoretically been used to save their dying planet. More disturbingly, it also had the ability to breathe unnatural, new life into mechanical beings. That is why they fought for it, to prevent Megatron and his Decepticons from using it to create untold legions of new soldiers with which to expand their conflict and wreak havoc on the galaxy. It was sobering to think about, at the very least.
Not wanting to let their time together end on a down note, they'd moved on to lighter subjects. Given that Amy had seemed to have taken an instant liking to Bumblebee, the twins had decided to regale her with some amusing stories and anecdotes, mostly at the poor scout's expense, which only served to make him even more endearing in the woman's mind. Amy, in turn, contributed by deciding to share the awkwardly strange conversation she'd had with the computer tech as she was waiting in the hangar for Jazz to show up.
Sunstreaker seemed to know exactly who she was talking about and looked mildly disgusted. "The one with red hair and glasses?"
"That's the one," Amy chuckled.
His faceplates scrunched up. "Stay away from her, Squishie. She's fragging weird...even for a fleshy. It's my understanding that she got banished to the main hangar so Lennox could keep an eye on her."
"Yeah," Sides laughed. "It was before we arrived but we heard that she got in trouble for, uh, inappropriately touching Mirage."
"What?" Amy's eyes widened comically. "No! You're kidding! Seriously?"
Sunny smirked, "Probably the most action that miswired trinket has seen in vorns."
Sideswipe grinned. "You don't believe us, ask Jazz. He's the one that warned us away from her when we got here. Apparently, she's some kind of raging mechanophile and doesn't know how to take 'no' for answer."
Amy raised a brow, "What in the world is a mechanophile?"
Sides winked, "You, if Sunny and I play our cards right."
"The point is," Sunstreaker gave his brother a pointed look, "She's fragging glitched, Squishie. Steer clear of her. We don't need you picking up any bad habits."
"Although," Sides added in a teasing tone. "She does have good taste. If you haven't already noticed, I do have a really nice aft..."
Amy rolled her eyes.
The rest of the evening followed a similar amiable pattern as they did there best not to focus on the fact that they'd be separated come dawn. As 0530 finally rolled around they were still trying to squeeze in all the time together that they could, foregoing sleep and recharge in favor of each other. The lack of rest wasn't really a big change for Amy who barely got any quality sleep as it was between her strange dreams and inexplicable restlessness. The twins were more important than her nearly nonexistent sleep, at least in her tired mind.
She hadn't been sure what Jazz had meant about 'wanting this time' when he'd dismissed her from duty early the previous day but as the clock ticked closer and closer to the time of their departure, she was definitely starting to get the gist of it. As she sat cross legged atop Sideswipe's berth, watching while the brothers gathered last minute odds and ends they would need for the trip, she already felt the throb of loneliness forming itself behind her breast bone at the thought of them not being around for a few days. At some point, she wasn't sure when, she'd become reliant on their presence. She was going to miss them, she realized with a start. Terribly so.
"We'll call you when we get there," Sideswipe promised as he packed away a couple data pads to take along for the trip. "We'll check in when we can throughout the day and call you every evening before you go to bed to say goodnight."
"If you need us for any reason, you call us. Understand?" Sunstreaker added, "Our contact information is programmed into your phone. It doesn't matter what time it is."
"Okay," Amy chuckled in amusement. "I promise, but I don't know how much help you'd be almost ten thousand miles away. If something catastrophic did happen, I'd be shriveled up and dead by the time you got back here."
Sunstreaker glared at the woman, "That's not even remotely funny, Squishie."
"Seriously," Sides shook his head. "Don't even joke like that, Ames. We're having a hard enough time with this as it is. You're not helping."
"Sorry," Amy apologized. She had a bad habit of trying to make light of things when she found herself in a situation beyond her control. It was a coping mechanism, one of many she'd developed over the course of her life. "You guys know it's only for three or four days, right?"
"Yes," Sunny grit. "You know we share spark energy, right?"
"Believe me, I am very aware," Amy nodded. "So?"
"So," Sides answered, "This isn't going to be very pleasant for any of us, and until we can see you again with our own optics and know you're safe and sound, we're going to worry about you. That's just how it is. It can't be helped. It's all a part of the package."
Amy sighed. This whole energy swap thing seemed to be getting more and more complicated as time went on. It was nearly enough to make her head spin. She wasn't feeling too keen on this whole separation, either. "So, feeling like I want to break down and bawl my eyes out is normal?"
Sunny confirmed, "Afraid so, Squishie, and we haven't even left yet."
"Well," Amy mulled that over for a moment. "This is really going to suck, isn't it?"
Sunstreaker smirked, "Just now figuring that out, are you?"
"But," Sideswipe reminded, "Like you said, it's only for three or four days. We'll be back before you know it."
"Right," Amy agreed but didn't sound terribly convinced. She glanced at her watch and frowned. "You're absolutely right. It'll be a piece of cake."
She said the words but, honestly, she didn't know what she was going to do with herself. She'd never been emotionally attached to anyone before. There were times that she'd actually doubted that she was capable of that kind of closeness with anyone. She'd actually gone through a phase when she was younger where she'd had a legitimate fear of ending up like one of those ignored, dysfunctional children who were raised in overcrowded orphanages overseas and never developed the ability to relate to other people. She now knew that certainly wasn't the case. She surprised herself by how deeply she'd come to care for the twins in a short amount of time. She didn't know if she could call it love, but it was definitely significant, more so than in any relationship she'd had previous. Which, of course, wasn't saying much given her relative lack of experience in such matters.
"Hey, Ames?"
"Hmm?" She blinked, dispelling the wayward thoughts from her mind, instead focusing her attention on Sideswipe. "Sorry," she smiled. "I kind of zoned out there for a second. What did you say?"
"I was just thinking is all..." the mech suddenly looked a little anxious. "Since we're going to be gone for a few days and we won't get to see each other, I was wondering..."
Amy raised a brow in curiosity as the mech trailed off. "You were wondering what?"
"It's just..." He glanced over toward his brother who had stopped what he was doing to watch what was happening, and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I mean, I know we agreed to see how this whole thing would work out but we haven't really talked about how it was going to actually work. You're not, you know, curious?"
"Uh," Amy's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure I'm following."
Sideswipe asked, "You trust us, right?"
"Yes," Amy agreed with a nod of her head. "Of course I trust you. Why?"
"Do you mind if I..." Sides asked, "If I try something that I've kind of been thinking a lot about lately?"
Amy gave him a strange look. "Something like...?"
He shot another furtive glance in Sunny's direction, getting an almost imperceptible nod in return. He smiled softly at the woman, "Just trust me, ok? It's nothing bad, I promise. I'd just like to give you a proper goodbye before we have to head out, that's all."
She felt a nervous fluttering in her stomach as the mech drew nearer where she sat atop his berth but nodded in agreement anyway. "Oh...s-sure...yeah, okay. I mean, if you want to."
Sideswipe gazed down at her in quiet appreciation for a moment. Even in her elevated position, he still towered over her much more petite form. What she lacked in size, though, she made up for in spirit. He reached out, gently skimming his fingers over the side of her face. She was soft and smooth, and pliant...things he would have never thought he'd find even remotely attractive or appealing until he met her. Then again, there were quite a few things he and Sunny had never thought too much about until they met her. Like how before they never would have thought twice about heading out on a mission, dangerous or not, if asked. Now that they had someone waiting for them at home, though, that was a whole different story. They hadn't known it would be so hard.
They were here now, though, and they still had a little time before they had to be on the tarmac. He was going to make it count and, hopefully, give their femme something to think about a bit while they were gone.
"Stand up for me, sweet spark," he rumbled.
"Okay," Amy barely whispered in response. Her heart pounded and the warmth in her chest bloomed in a strange sort of anticipation as she moved to comply with the mech's request. When she finally stood on shaking knees, she looked to him for further instruction on what it was she was supposed to be doing.
"That's better," he smiled softly. "I can work with this."
"What-"
"Shh..." Sideswipe pressed the tip of his index finger against her lips, silencing her. He gave her an imploring look. "Be very still, alright?"
Amy nodded.
"Alright," he murmured. His fingers moved beneath her jaw, angling her face towards his as he bent his head towards her. He felt her nervous breath upon his faceplates as he lightly rested his forehead against her's. He nuzzled her gently, brushing his nasal plates against her nose in a comforting gesture before tilting his head slightly to bring her soft, full, human lips to press against his more rigid mouth. A sound, somewhere between a surprised moan and a gasp, managed to slip from his vocalizer at the contact and it took every ounce of willpower he had to remain stock still and contain his impulse to kiss her with everything he had so as not to hurt/frighten her.
Amy inhaled sharply when Sideswipe's mouth touched her own. She felt as if a mild electric current was running all throughout her entire body. All of her nerve endings felt like they were firing off at the same time in some sort of euphoric celebration. It should have been an extremely awkward and cumbersome arrangement. It wasn't...at least not significantly enough to matter. If the pounding of her heart and the near jubilant sensation wrapped around it was anything to go by, it felt amazing. She made a soft noise, her eyes fluttering shut, as she lifted her hands to press her fingers to the mech's faceplates.
That was all the encouragement he needed.
Sideswipe shifted his stance slightly, allowing him to press the woman closer by curving one hand around her shoulders. He brushed his mouth against her's, enjoying the softness and gaining a new appreciation for the malleability and adaptability of the human body. He soaked up the sounds she made, tiny noises of surprise but also of wonder and enjoyment. Mindful of their significant difference in size, he carefully nipped at her full lower lip, drawing a surprised gasp from her. Not one to let an opportunity pass him by, the very tip of his glossa slipped from his mouth and laved soothingly over the same spot, this time earning himself an appreciative moan. As her lips parted ever so slightly, he prodded her gently, he was under no delusion that he'd be able to kiss her properly given their respective sizes despite how badly he wished it were possible, but he still wanted to taste her more than anything at that very moment.
Amy could count on a couple fingers the number of people she'd kissed in her lifetime and they certainly hadn't made her feel like this. She felt as though she were drowning in sensation. When his tongue, or whatever he possessed in place of one, urged her to open her mouth wider, she only hesitated for a moment. Curiously, she let her tongue slip out and tentatively touch his. He tasted of metal, but not overwhelmingly so. It was a peculiar tang on the tip of her tongue that was complimented by the slightly sweet taste of what she assumed was some kind of lubricant that kept all of his oral components all working smoothly. For a brief second she feared that she may be ingesting antifreeze or something similar, but the worry of being poisoned fled her mind instantly as he slid his glossa sensually against her tongue in a way that would have made her knees buckle if he hadn't been holding her up.
God, but he was good at this.
"Ames...," he moaned against her mouth as his cooling system inevitably kicked on. Reluctantly, before things could progress any further, he pulled back from the woman only to press his forehead against her's once again, his optics closed tight as he tried to regain his equilibrium. "That was really...not what I was expecting."
"Me neither..." Amy confessed in a voice just above a whisper.
He lifted his head just enough to look her in the eye and asked hesitantly, "It...wasn't too weird for you, was it?"
Amy blinked up at the mech with her mind still reeling and her chest still heaving as she tried to catch her breath. He'd kissed her. She'd kissed him back. More importantly, she'd enjoyed every second of it. She shook her head and answered honestly, "No. It-it wasn't weird at all."
"Thank, Primus," he breathed as he leaned back into her. "Because I'd really like to do it again. If...if that's okay..."
A short nod and a breathless, "Yes..."
He was more comfortable this time, more at ease. He wasn't quite as cautious but kept her fragility in comparison to his own rigidity in the back of his processor as he claimed her mouth once more. He had a better understanding now of what made her moan and tremble and he wasted no time in applying that newfound knowledge in a way that soon had her panting for breath and gasping his name. Now that he knew what it was like to touch her like this, he realized that it could quickly become an addictive new pass time.
As he kissed her, he had half a processor to comm Prime, or Prowl, or Jazz, or whoever the bit brain was that had come up with the bright idea of sending the two of them to the other side of the planet after a ridiculous piece of space junk and tell them to go jump in a smelter. This was where he wanted to be and it was, at least in his thought process, infinitely more important than a shard of the ruined Allspark.
As he contemplated the repercussions of carrying out such an action, Sideswipe felt his brother's hand descend upon his shoulder and squeeze. Sunstreaker, up until this point, had been more than patient in allowing him to guide this situation. He knew he was being selfish, greedy even, and judging from the feelings bleeding through their bond, it was easy for him to deduce that his brother had had quite enough of just standing back and watching the show. Sunny was nothing if not a mech of action.
"Sunny needs you, too, sweet spark..." Sideswipe murmured the words against her lips as he reluctantly pulled away and released her.
Before she could formulate an articulate response, she found herself pressed into a broad, yellow chest. Insistent fingers glided down her back, perhaps lingering a moment too long on her ass, before traveling back up to tangle in her hair which had slipped free from its confines sometime over the course of the previous night. A tug, gentle yet demanding, had her craning her neck back to look up into Sunstreaker's smoldering optics. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Okay?" He asked the question, a single word, in a rough voice as he studied her intensely.
She swallowed hard, the movement seeming to catch the mech's attention. She nodded, a difficult feat in her position, "Yes...It's okay..."
Sunstreaker growled, his grip tightening in the femme's hair slightly, forcing her to have to crane her head back even farther and fully exposing the column of her throat. He hesitated only a moment before bending to nip at her chin and then focused his attention on her neck. He could feel her pulse pounding against his mouth plates as he pressed openmouthed kisses along the line of her jaw, down the side of her neck, to the junction of her shoulder, tugging the annoying clothing that she wore aside to accommodate his passage as he went.
Amy whimpered at the feel of the mech's glossa gliding along the edge of her collar bone, leaving a damp trail behind. Sunstreaker wasn't nearly as easy or gentle with her as Sideswipe had been but he still had her quivering under his touch. He was certainly the more commanding of the two and seemed to know exactly what it was he wanted and how to get it...even at the expense of her uniform which she was sure he'd stretched well beyond its capacity to do so in order to bare her shoulder for his exploration. She could feel by the tenseness in his frame, though, that he was holding himself carefully in check so as not to hurt her.
"Primus," he murmured in a ragged voice as he worked his way back up the way he came to finally press his mouth plates against her lips and kiss her. He'd somehow managed to slip two of his fingers up the back of her shirt, beneath her undershirt, which had come untucked from her pants somehow. He flexed them, stretching the fabric taught as he tried to touch more of her skin. "You're so soft everywhere..."
She shivered, her back arching against the cool metal of his digits as they skimmed along the dip of her spine. Her breath rushed from her in a shaky gasp of his name, "Sunstreaker..."
The mech responded by burying what he could of his face in the crook of her neck and softly muttering something in his native language that she couldn't even begin to understand or comprehend.
"He said you're beautiful."
Amy turned her head to find Sideswipe watching with bright optics.
An affectionate smile tugged at Sides' mouth and he reached out to caress her face with the backs of his fingers. "He's right, you know."
A sudden pounding on the door seemed to make time freeze inside the room for an agonizing moment.
Sunstreaker raised his head and cursed eloquently, gathering the femme to his chest protectively. He barked, "What the frag do you want?"
The voice of the Second in Command filtered through the thick, metal door. "You two have ten minutes to be on the tarmac. The plane is refueling first and then they'll be ready to depart. Make sure you have all of your gear together." A brief pause and the mech added, "Miss Doe, you're more than welcome to accompany them and see them off if you'd like."
"Oh, my God..." Amy tried to hide her face in Sunny's chest plates as a wave of embarrassment crashed over her.
Sideswipe chuckled, stroked Amy's cheek once again, and called back, "Don't get your tailpipe twisted, Prowl. We'll be there."
Sunstreaker rumbled in amusement and ran his fingers through the woman's hair in a pacifying gesture. As the sound of the SIC's footsteps faded off down the hall, he looked down at her with a raised brow. "Well, Squishie," he smirked, "Are you going to see us off or what?"
XXXXXXXXXX
It was immediately apparent to Amy why the twins wanted to say their goodbyes in the safety and privacy of their quarters. She was sure their particular form of farewell wouldn't have been well received by the current audience. Aside from the bots themselves, the tarmac was crawling with military brass and lower ranking personnel running to and fro getting things ready to move as well as various government representatives, including Advisor Galloway who had once again cornered Prowl regarding some trivial matter or another.
Apparently, there were a lot of diplomatic and military concerns that needed to be addressed any time the Autobots traveled outside of what was considered an 'approved area'. Amy hadn't realized that relocating the bots, even for such a short amount of time was such a huge deal. It angered her that they seemed to be treated more like a strategic commodity than real, actual people. She bit her tongue, though. There was a time and a place for everything but this wasn't it.
She had moved off to the side off to the side in an attempt at being inconspicuous, the twins had followed closely. She was wondering whether or not coming here with them had been a good idea. It wasn't that she didn't want to see them off, she most certainly did. It was just that she knew she looked a hot mess and hadn't had any time to properly square herself away before Sideswipe had scooped her up and they'd been on their way. She'd straightened her uniform as best she could and tried to coil her hair back up into a bun on the ride over but without a brush and proper mirror it was a questionable effort, at best. Sunstreaker had actually managed to pop the top two buttons off of her uniform shirt, something she hadn't even noticed in the heat of the moment, and the collar of her undershirt hung loosely around her neck where it had been stretched far beyond its capacity to snap back into shape. Everyone that passed by seem to take notice of her rough looks, as well. She figured the only reason no one said anything was due to the death glare Sunstreaker gave anyone that wandered too close.
The twins didn't seem to mind that she was little unkempt at the moment. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say the were actually a bit smug about it. It was like some invisible barrier had been torn down between them. Whereas before they'd kept a respectful distance, at least for the most part, they stood closer to her now, brushing against her subtly as they moved about. To an outsider these seemingly accidental touches would seem trivial and unintentional. For Amy, who's lips still tingled and who's stomach still fluttered at the memory of what they'd shared in their berthing only minutes ago, these touches carried more than a little significance. It excited but also frightened her to an extent and she wondered how this would change the dynamics of their relationship. She'd have days to mull it over and worry until they returned, she reminded herself.
A happy chirp pulled the woman from her worried musings as the newly arrived scout quite literally danced over to where the three of them were waiting. Lyrics from a song she recognized from the musical 'Singin' In The Rain' were blasting from his speakers. Amy couldn't help but laugh and instantly felt a bit better.
Bumblebee waved, "Good Morning! Good Morning! We've talked the whole night through! Good Morning! Good Morning to you!"
"Bee's a morning person," Sideswipe explained with an amused grin.
"I can tell," Amy smiled and waved back. "Good morning."
"It's too early for that slag," Sunny rolled his optics at the younger mech. "Squelch it, Bee."
Bee made a disappointed sound but did as he was asked.
Amy chuckled, "Looks like you're excited to get the show on the road."
Bumblebee nodded emphatically and bounced on his toes. Spongebob's voice played on a loop over and over, "I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!"
"Primus," Sunstreaker muttered as he ran a hand down his face plates. "It's going to be a long trip."
Amy snorted in amusement.
Bumblebee pointed at Amy, then to the plane, and back to Amy again.
"Uh..." Amy looked to the other two mechs for help.
"He wants to know if you're coming with us," Sunny clarified. "No, Bee. She's staying here. She's got her own job to do while we're gone."
Bee looked surprised. He pressed a hand over his chest plates then gestured toward the trio and shrugged.
"Yeah," Sideswipe vented. "That's what we said, too, but we're not in charge as they like to keep reminding us."
"I'm sorry..." A woman's voice crooned as Bee made what could only be described as 'puppy dog eyes' at Amy. "So sorry...please accept...my apology..."
"It's fine, Bumblebee." Amy giggled, "I'm sure I'll manage to survive somehow."
Bee nodded and gently patted the woman on the head.
"Alright, you lubricant leaking cogsuckers," Ironhide bellowed as he stomped across the tarmac, "Muster up!"
Sunstreaker grunted, "Alright, let's get this slag over with." He shot Amy an appreciative look, "Don't run off, Squishie."
"Yeah," Sides agreed. "Wait here, Ames. We'll be back."
"Sure, no problem. I'm not going anywhere." She waved to Bumblebee and watched from the sidelines as the three made their way over to be briefed by the weapon specialist.
Ironhide laid into them immediately, "The first rule of this mission is that you do what I say, when I say, and how I say it. I'm not gonna be your fraggin' spark sitter..."
"Jesus," Amy chuckled. She'd heard that Ironhide was a hard ass, a soldier from way back, even before the war. Watching him bark out orders, she could certainly believe it. She'd served under Master Chiefs who'd spent their entire lives shipboard who were less salty than he seemed to be. It made her all the more thankful that she'd been paired with Jazz.
"OS2!"
Amy started at the sound of her title. She looked over her shoulder to see the Chief Master Sergeant making a beeline for her.
"Hey," Epps greeted the woman as he strolled up beside her. "I didn't expect to see you out here."
"Good morning," she greeted with a smile. "Yeah, uh, I just wanted to say goodbye to the twins before they left."
"The twins, huh?" Epps gave her a curious look. "I didn't know you guys were friendly. Hell," he laughed, "I didn't think Sunstreaker liked humans, period."
Amy couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Honestly? I don't think he does very much. He says we're too greasy and leaky."
"That sounds about right," Epps grinned. "At any rate, I guess it's good that they're socializing with someone besides each other for a change. Get them out of their little 'twin bubble', as Ratchet calls it."
"Yeah," Amy sighed. "I guess so. Are...you going, too?"
"Me?" Epps shook his head. "Nah, no need. They're just going there grabbing the shard and coming straight back. In and out. What's the status on containment?"
"Uh," Amy felt herself blush. "I, uh, I'm not actually sure. I haven't talked to Jazz since yesterday around lunch time. He cut me loose early. He was going to make arrangements for this trip and then he and Prowl were going to speak with the engineers." She quickly added, "I'm heading right there after I leave here to get caught up."
"No worries," Epps reassured. "I'm sure they've got it handled. Hey, uh," he gave the woman a strange look. "Are you alright? What happened to your neck?"
"My neck?" Amy's eyes widened and she rubbed a hand over the area Sunstreaker had seemed so interested in earlier. "N-nothing, why?"
"You've got some, uh, some marks there." Epps reached out and poked the side of Amy's neck with his pointer finger. "And there. They're red. Does that hurt?"
"N-no," Amy denied. She cut a glance over to where Sunstreaker was to find the mech smirking back at her with a satisfied look on on his faceplates. A sudden thought struck her, "He did that on purpose..."
"Who did what on purpose?"
"Nothing!" Amy backpedaled, "No one! I, uh, it's probably an allergy or something. I changed laundry detergent..."
"Ah," Epps nodded. "Well, you might want to get that checked out if it doesn't go away."
"Yeah," Amy nodded. "I'll do that. Thanks."
"No problem." Epps observed Captain Lennox hustling toward the tarmac along with Prime. "I gotta go, there's Will. It was good seeing you."
"You, too." Amy bid the man farewell and watched as he disappeared into the crowd of bodies around the plane.
"What did he want?"
Amy turned to find the twins were done with their briefing and had returned. She shook her head and answered Sideswipe's question, "Nothing, just saying hi." She pointed to her neck, leveling her gaze on the yellow front liner. "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing," Sunny smirked, "Just gave you a little something to remember us by while we're gone."
Amy pressed a hand to her forehead. "I can't walk around here looking like...like a..." She sighed. They were getting ready to leave and she didn't want to argue. "You know what? Just...never mind. Be honest, how does it look? Is it bad?"
Sunny raised a brow plate. "Honestly? It looks like you belong to a couple mechs who have trouble keeping their hands and their mouths to themselves."
"In other words," Sides answered with a lopsided grin. "You look great."
"I, uh, well then." Amy stuttered, "Th-thanks. I-I think..."
"I hate to do this, Squishie." Sunstreaker vented. "They want us to go ahead and load up." He gave her an unreadable look. "Do us a favor and stick close to Jazz while we're gone, alright? He may not be in the best shape right now but he cares a lot about you. He'll make sure you're taken care of till we get back."
"I've told you," Amy protested, "I can take care of myself."
"We know, Ames," Sideswipe soothed. "Just humor us...please."
"Okay," Amy relented. "Fine. I will. I promise."
"Thank you," the mech smiled.
"Let's go!" Ironhide yelled from somewhere behind them. "Get your afts in gear and get on the slaggin' plane!"
"We have to go," Sunstreaker rumbled. He opened his mouth to say more but seemed to think better of it. He shook his head and instead informed her that, "We'll call you when we get there."
"Be safe. I'll be here when you guys get back."
"We'll make this up to you, Ames," Sides assured. "We promise."
"I know you will." Amy watched with a heavy heart as the pair gave her one last lingering look before turning to jog off in the direction of the cargo plane. As they disappeared inside, she felt a strong tugging sensation in her chest. Frowning, she pressed her palm to her sternum to try to relieve the discomfort. She knew then that it was going to be a long few days without them.
"They'll be back soon."
Amy turned her head to find the SIC standing there with his hands clasped behind his back and his doorwings held high. She hadn't even heard him approach but found that she was thankful for his reassuring presence just the same. She sighed, "I know."
The pair stood in silence for a moment, watching the plane as it took off and grew smaller and smaller before it finally disappeared altogether into the sky.
It was Prowl who finally spoke first. "Are you going to be alright?"
"Me?" Amy nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I'm always fine."
"Mmm..." The mech looked down at the woman and hummed in quiet contemplation. Then, "Miss Doe, may I be so bold as to make a suggestion?"
"Sure," she agreed. "I'm always open to suggestions."
"You may want to swing by your room and tidy yourself up a bit before you report for duty. You look a bit," Prowl cleared his vocal processor, "Tousled."
Amy felt her face heat as she remembered how she'd gotten in such a state. "Yes," she croaked, her voice choked with embarrassment. "That's probably a good idea. I'll do that."
The SIC gave a satisfied nod. "I'm free for the next hour," he informed. "I'd be happy to escort you over to the barracks and then drop you at the bunker."
"That's okay," Amy declined. "I can take the shuttle. Don't put yourself out on my account,"
"Nonsense. I insist." The mech transformed down into the shape of a Dodge Charger police car and popped the driver's side door open. "Please, get in. It's the least I can do."
Amy thought it over a moment, then conceded, "Thank you, Prowl. I really appreciate it."
"No," he corrected. "Thank you."
End of Chapter 28
