Aria, the Janitor

…

The weeks passed by as Aria adjusted to her new life. She now had crutches mastered and could tackle the stairs in her new house with ease. At first, she spent most of her time watching movies and documentaries, but that got old fairly quickly.

Ironhide had long since healed and was subsequently sent out on missions with the rest of the Autobots. He didn't tell her details, but it was obvious they were upping their Decepticon search efforts.

Still, he'd been gone for almost a month now.

Before he left, he took her to visit Azimuth and Zenith at the boarding stable. Both horses ran up to her from the back of their paddock, whinnying with excitement. Instead of reaching out to them, she began to sob. Not tears of sadness, but of joy. Ironhide gave them each a pat while she wiped her eyes.

Not long after that, reports of lights in the sky off the coast of Mexico dominated the media. From the blurred footage online, it looked to be another wave of Cybertronians. When she called Will that night, he only grumbled and told her his personal phone was for emergencies only and hung up. So they were probably Autobots.

And then there was the unemployment issue.

"Wait, that was your house?" Mark had responded.

She held the phone further from her ear. "Yeah, I just got out of the hospital for a broken leg. Wanted to let you know I probably won't be able to work for a while."

There was a huff before he replied in his usual customer service voice. "I'll get Eli to cover for you, then. Can't risk losing my best janitor."

"I was wondering…" No, too soft. "When I come back, I want a raise." Yes! That was it. "And I want to be a tour guide."

A snort came from the other end of the line. "I didn't realize it was the annual ask to get promoted time already. No, Aria, you're an invaluable member of our custodial staff. I couldn't risk losing you."

"Then I'm done." She went to hang up but paused, then brought the phone back to her ear. "Find someone else to walk all over!" That time, she did hang up on him. For good.

Currently, she sat on a comfy chair by the large living room window with a book in her lap. It was an autobiography titled Code-Name: Hero written by Seymour Simmons, one of the people in the group that broke into the museum. It wasn't horrible per se, but it was excessively melodramatic. And that was saying something.

She rested her chin in her hand and looked out the window for what felt like the umpteenth time. Will was coming over in less than half an hour to discuss going back the base. She had called and texted the man almost every day until he finally relented.

Her eyes settled on a car parking on the street below. A man got out of the driver side and ran around to the passenger door, opening it for a woman. He helped her out of the vehicle before closing the door behind her. The couple then walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand.

"What are you smiling at?"

Aria dropped the book on the floor. Ironhide stood beside her chair, his eyes fixed on the couple with a grin on his face.

"Ironhide, you're back!" She used her arms and good leg to stand from the chair.

He held on to her arm. "Careful, punk. Don't hurt yourself on my behalf."

"What are you doing here? Will is coming over any minute now."

Ironhide helped her back into the chair, then kneeled beside her. He picked op the book and placed it on the small coffee table.

"It's not my fault I'm faster."

"You do have an unfair advantage."

He grinned. "How's your leg?"

"Better. How was the mission?"

"That's classified."

"I asked how was it, not what you were doing."

"Nothing critical to report."

"That's…good." Nothing eventful meant no one got hurt. It also meant they didn't find anything. "You think Starscream is still alive?"

"He wasn't at the crash sight. Damn Seekers," he growled.

"Do you think he'll come after me again?"

"Not even Starscream is stupid enough to attack so close to the base."

Would he though? He was so fast. He could simply fly over and destroy half the block.

"We've set up Energon detectors all around the perimeter of the city." He took her hand. "The second one gets set off, I will be here."

She looked back out the window. "What if you're on a mission?"

"Then one of us will."

"How do you know?"

"Because I asked them to."

She twisted her hand to better hold his. About to thank him, she was cut off by a knock at the door.

"One second!" she yelled down to the main level before turning back to Ironhide. "Are you coming back later?"

He nodded, brought the back of her hand to his lips, and disappeared.

"Huh?" Where did he learn that?

She shook her head. "Coming!"

She limped down the stairs with decent speed and opened the door.

"Hey, girly! You're looking…rosy. Did you run a marathon or something?"

"Oh, well—uh, lots of stairs, you know?" She moved to the side to let him in.

They went to the dining room on the main level. She was about to pull out a chair from the table, but Will got to it first, pulling it out for her.

She thanked him and sat down, lacing then unlacing her fingers on her lap. "So?"

"So—" He started at the same time.

They both stopped talking. Will let out a huff of laughter before trying again.

"I have good news and bad news."

Of course. It could never be just the good news, could it? She leaned in. "Good news first please."

"You can come back to the base."

"YES!" Finally! After so long, it was happening! "Thank you so much Lennox—I mean Will. Or do I call you Colonel again at the base?"

He waved her off. "Course not. Unless other higher ups are around, but you won't be there when they are anyway." He adjusted in his seat. "Which brings me to the bad news."

"What? I can only come once a week? Only half an hour visits?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. You can pretty much be there full time if you want."

"Full time? Like a job? What is it?" He didn't answer. "Will?"

His shoulders dropped. "It was the only way we could get you in. I swear I looked for any other opportunity, but there's none."

Oh. So that's where this is going. "I'm going to work at the secret base…as a janitor?"

He gave a slow nod, lips pulled tight.

She flopped back in her chair with a sigh. "And here I thought this could at least be an opportunity to do something better with my life."

"It'll only be temporary. Until we find you a better position. And you don't even have to take it."

"No, I'll do it. At least it'll be a lot less crowded."

"You still have time to think about it. What, about a month till you're on your feet again?"

"Something like that."

"You'll have full access to the training facilities for any extra physiotherapy you want to do."

"I've never worked out a day in my life. Thanks for the offer, though."

"It's never too late to start. Weight training, sparring, it can be pretty fun sometimes."

"Getting punched in the face? Sounds fun all right. I've had enough action for a lifetime."

"I'm just saying, Aria. It doesn't hurt to prepare yourself in case something happens again. There's a reason for all the paperwork, you know. You've put yourself in the middle of an alien war twice now. Don't expect it to suddenly stop just because Ironhide took down Starscream. There's a lot more Decepticons out there, and none of them will stop at anything to get to the Autobots."

"So you got mad at me when you found out I shot Starscream, and now you want me to train to defend myself?"

"No, not to fight them. To run, to be prepared for anything. I still can't figure out why they attacked you months after we cut off contact, but you're a target now and that's not about to change. Part of protecting you is teaching you to protect yourself." He leaned in. "Now, I can't do that officially, but with access to the base, there's nothing saying you can't learn off the books."

She only swallowed. Maybe he was right. "I'll think about it."

Will stayed for another half hour to chat. He mostly went over aspects of the job and some people she'd be working with. Officially, she'd be working as a custodian for the Health and Human Services building, and that was fine. She would be closer to the Autobots, closer to Ironhide. Closer to safety.

And Will did make training sound kind of fun.

It was about an hour after he left when Ironhide appeared once again. "It's me," he called from the front entry way.

She leaned in her chair towards the stairway. "Come in. I'm upstairs."

"How did your meeting go with William?"

She couldn't help but giggle. One casual meeting and now Ironhide was calling the Colonel by his full first name.

"What?" Ironhide said as he sat on the chair beside her. For some reason, he always sat incredibly awkwardly on soft couches and chairs.

"Nothing." She bit her lip in attempt to stop smiling. "It went well, I guess. I get to come back, but as a stupid janitor again. My therapist says to try and look at this as a new chapter of my life and do all the things I didn't let myself before, and here I am, doing it again. Same shit, different day."

"No one is telling you to do it."

"It's the only way I'm ever going to see you again."

He tilted his head. "I'm right here."

"No you're not. You're at the base. This is just," she waved a hand, "a projection."

"If you think my holoform is just a projection, you are mistaken. I am just as real as you."

"But this isn't your body, its just an image with your voice and personality. Sure it's real, but it's not the real you."

"Which is it then? You said you preferred me like this."

When had she said that? Oh no. Back when he took her to go shopping. He took it the wrong way.

"That's not what I meant. The only reason I prefer you like this is because it's the only way I can see you at all." She took a breath as his face remained impassive. "I know you're the same Autobot in both forms, but in my mind it's like you're two different entities. There's the Autobot, Ironhide, and the human, John. And I'm constantly reminding myself that you're a holoform, that you're Ironhide."

He didn't respond. His neutral expression bordered on something else. The way his brows pulled together and how his lips frowned more than usual. Almost like he was…hurt.

She opened her mouth to try again. To take back the words she'd said. But he beat her to it.

"Is seeing me worth doing something you don't want to?"

Did he not get it? It wasn't long ago, she'd admitted to go through everything again just to see him. Egypt, the ship, even the destruction of her home were insignificant compared to him. Did he not get that? Did he not understand how much he meant to her?

"I don't know, do you like using your holoform to see me?" Came from her mouth instead.

He looked away.

"Then it's only fair for it to be my turn." She stretched out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Plus, I'll finally get to see the others!"

She was met with his lop sided grin. "They'll be happy to see you too."

Relaxing back in her chair, she let out a sigh. In front of them, on the coffee table was the now dried rose he had picked from her garden. The pale pink petals now a feint shade of copper.

Ironhide must have followed her gaze. "You still have it?"

"It's the only thing left."

They fell into silence.

"I never did thank you."

She looked back at him.

"You risked your life for me."

"Will told me you were mad about that."

"I was." He crossed his arms. "But I also recognize what you did for me, and for that I thank you for. Just promise me, you'll never do it again."

She raised her brows. "Why, were you intimidated by my prowess?"

Ironhide grinned. "I can assure you, Starscream was."

"Good. Because next time I shoot him, it's going to be in the eye."

Ironhide gave her a look.

"…In self defence, of course."

"Hm."

…

Later that night, Aria sat at the table, chewing on the last of her supper. The townhouse was silent besides the occasional noises through the walls from the neighbors. She would do anything to hear Wheelie make a sarcastic comment, or even hear him yell at the TV when a character did something stupid.

But that would change soon. She'd go to the base and see Ironhide and the Autobots almost everyday. So what if she was a janitor again. This time she chose to do it. And hopefully her new boss would be better than Mark.

Poor Eli was stuck picking up all her shifts until Mark found some other sucker to take her place. How was Eli doing anyway?

She picked up her cell phone and opened the contact list. Only two were programmed in. Colonel Lennox and Colonel Lennox Home—Emergency. She clicked off the screen.

Wait, she knew Eli's number. It was only one digit off hers. They'd joked about it back when they exchanged them months ago. She typed it in and stared at the blank message screen.

Would he even want to talk to her? She no longer had her job. Would it be weird to reach out now?

No, he came to her place once. That had been fine, so texting was probably okay.

She typed in a casual message as if she didn't mysteriously stop showing up to work. Almost immediately her phone buzzed with a notification. Eli was quick to respond, like usual. From what she knew, he didn't go out much.

Wow, Aria! I was starting to think you died! I heard about your house. I tried calling you, but I guess you got a new phone.

Yeah, I'm just thankful I was outside and no one else got hurt. Sorry about all the extra shifts by the way!

Oh I quit the second Marky-poo tried dumping extra hours on me. Got to go back to school soon anyway.

Oh yeah, he was still a student. Perfect timing then! Maybe Mark will have to pick up some slack then.

I hope so. Karma's a bitch!

She sat at the table for a while longer texting back and forth with Eli. It was good to hear from him. No talk about Autobots or Decepticons, missions, or wars. Just casual catching up like two regular people.

After the sun set, she got up with one crutch and carried her plate to the kitchen. Instead of going upstairs to bed, she sat back on the chair to resume Simmons' book.

She only got through a paragraph before dropping it on her lap and looking out the window. Past the street and the buildings, past the trees and the bridge, to the sliver of grey brick wall of the secret base.

…