The Diego Diaries: Rocco's Turn (dd7 248)
=0=At a clinic in the Children's Clinic
The tech walked out with Tika and handed her to Rocco. He held her in his arms as she stared around the waiting room. "Tika is doing a great job regenerating her protoform," he said. "Both her and Boo are showing a lot of progress."
"That's good. I had a good report about Siphon at the Closter Clinic yesterday," Rocco replied.
"They're getting great care, Rocco," the tech said. "Go through there and the doctor will tell you what you need to know and do further. See you in a decaorn."
"Thanks, Jon," Rocco said as he walked out to the hallway from Jon-B's office to the examination room nearby. He entered as Doc Hal-20 was checking Tika's data.
Hal glanced up, then grinned. "Hi. Good stuff with Tika," he said as Tika stared at him with her unblinking amber optics. She was holding her white bear and sitting on Rocco's arms in a light pink onesie and cap.
"That's good," Rocco said with relief. "We're following the directions. They also do that at the school and at their care center."
"That's good. I'm cutting her supplements down and you can get the right dosage with this script," he said as he handed Rocco a data wafer. "The others are going to hold and when they come in next we can see if they need a lighter dose. I think they will if they continue forward this way. Keep the schedule … counseling, coming here every decaorn for a while more, then we can see what's going on."
"Thanks," Rocco said. They chatted a moment, then Rocco slid Tika into his hold where Boo sat with his bear and favorite little truck. He settled them, then the hold slid shut. Gathering his stuff, he took his leave, walked to the elevator, then began to descend from the At-Risk Children's Clinic on the 25th floor of the Autobot City Medical Center. He would stop at the pharmacy on the ground floor, get the prescriptions, then head for Helex where the two babies were due for school.
It had been a while since they'd settled in from the chaos of their repatriation and even though it was still a learning curve, it had surprised him how easily he'd fit into the pace and scope of life here. Home Healthcare and the three techs who had first worked with Siphon over his adoption status still came by or they met elsewhere to see to the kids. He'd learned hard and fast how to take care of them and he did it. It surprised him how much he wanted to do it.
They'd finalized the children's adoption a few orns past and he was now their legal atar. It didn't usually take very long to make that happen. Children needed settled, new genitors needed supported and families needed protected and made. He considered his life now and juxtaposed it against the one he'd lived not so long ago. He was a marauder, a hard aft, a former Decepticon fleeing the faction with a lot of other slaggers who'd fallen in with two of the worst individuals that Cybertron had ever produced.
Cassio and Ebio Imperialis were in the prison and he was here shepherding three little kids into a new life, living in a spectacular apartment in a high up tower in a city that was his. He had a schedule of care for them, of learning and training and working for himself and he had finished his 'refit' from Decepticon marauder to on-call Autobot soldier with Commander Lissie of Iacon. Because he was a single parent, he'd be last call up in order to protect his family from the unthinkable.
Family. He had one.
He remembered his genitors as he rode down the elevator and came to the lobby. He thought about them as he continued to the pharmacy, waited for the little jars of supplements, then headed for the doors. He walked to the sidewalk, then looked around. Everywhere he looked he saw power. Prime's power. The power of their people to create wonderful things out of nothing. Then he thought about himself.
He had always dreamed of working in electronics. He loved solving puzzles. He was smarter than the average 'Con soldier, someone who liked to read and had learned on his own because it mattered to him to know what a page was saying. He knew he had to have that ability if he would ever get the chance to work in electronics and make complex things work.
Now he was in the training school where he was half time in class building things and half on the job in City 4 of Crater District 5. He was part of a team as an electrical apprentice working with journeyman electricians who were training him in real time. Half day there and half in the Learning Annex in Terra was spent learning to build, design and understand the things that made him think hard and work to a level of perfection never expected of him before.
It was exhilarating.
Their schedule was precise now except for moments like this when his kids needed something.
His kids.
HIS KIDS.
He remembered when it came to him that they were. The big mechs on the job were waiting for something to arrive and one of them showed pictures of his kids. They were cute, doing cute things and it made everyone happy to look at them. Everyone wanted everyone to see their kids doing great things, going to school, playing and living well.
One of them had asked him if he had kids of his own and it occurred to him that he did. He showed them his few pictures and they'd exclaimed over them, too. They'd asked him about their lives and he had a few good things to say. It had felt good to do so. He had made more pictures of them doing things and liked to show them. "These are my kids doing kid stuff," he'd say. It was weird how much he liked doing that.
He felt like he belonged here at last. It was a different sort of belonging, too. It wasn't based on the negativity of a faction. It was something better, something like it was when he was home with his family and the war wasn't going madly and badly for everyone. He was hanging out with mechs he liked just shooting the shit.
It was great.
He walked to the Metro station nearby and caught a Blue Line that would cut across the colony toward Helex. Taking a seat, he surged warmth to the kids who paused their playing to feel it. He could feel their auras surge with happiness, something he did with his genitors and friends but had forgotten for eons. Now he felt their tiny auras and felt warmth himself. They were well in his hold, secure, feeling warm and safe as they played with their toys and each other.
They were doing a lot better. They were sleeping through the night. So was Siphon. He considered the older child …
"You're going to be okay," Rocco said gruffly. "This school is going to get you ready to go to the big school. I'll help you with home work and stuff."
Siphon had looked up at him with anxious optics. He wanted to go here and be in school. He had talked about it constantly for orns. They'd gone to different stores to get his supplies and needs met for class. A nice backpack with his name on it was sitting on the floor beside him. The usual supplies for school, three data pads, all manner of things on the list were there. So was a little snack holder with his name on it written laboriously by himself which held his favorite cookies. He had all he needed but confidence. "You'll come get me?"
"When school is out, I will be here. I set a timer. You don't have permission to go without me. Okay?" Rocco asked as he patted Siphon on the shoulder.
Siphon nodded.
A teacher had stepped out of the door of the room that would be Siphon's class. He was tested and found to be lacking in a lot of things, high needs in others but capable. He would get one-on-one instruction and care here. There would only be ten other kids and no more would be added. His personal plan was worked out and he would be in a class with a wealth of specialists working with him and three aides to assist him and his teacher, Mr. Belli. It was designed for his success. "Siphon, we're so glad you made it," Mr. Belli said with a smile.
Siphon stared up at him, then Rocco.
Rocco nodded. "Time to go to school to learn. You're going to be a champion, Siphon. I'll be here to have you tell me everything you did and learned today."
Siphon stared at him anxiously, then picked up his backpack. He held it like a shield in front of himself as he turned to go. Glancing back at Rocco, he entered the room and the door closed.
Rocco stared at it, feeling a flood of anxious emotions for the little hapless infant. This was his kid, his son. The paperwork for all three had been returned to him and all the databases registered the changes. He felt a flutter in his spark as he thought about Siphon's great overpowering desire to belong and his fear of rejection. He understood the little mech completely.
Turning to go reluctantly, he headed toward a school in Helex that specialized in traumatized and special needs infants. The ride would be short, the school would be gentle with him and the two little babies that he was enrolling there. They would be taking care of Boo and Tika so they could eventually be admitted to a Sparkling Day school. They were going to The Circle of Light Center for Children. All of the children there would be like Tika and Boo, slight, fragile, needy, deprived, traumatized and sick.
There was a doctor on staff, counselors, techs, specialists of all manner and shape and lots of children, mostly refugee and war zone infants who weren't ready to enter the less protected and unpadded world of the regular school district. The district had designed with The Circle of Light a number of schools where such children of all ages could be able to come into their own without the trauma of 'normal' school.
He'd left them that first orn, a very emotional thing for all three, but when he came to get them they were doing pretty good. They'd wailed when they saw him but they'd settled quickly. Given enough time, they would probably not do that anymore. Now he had to leave them again and he dreaded it.
The school was beautiful, big and had a lot to do. Today, they would go to The Temple by bus to see things, bask in the light of the Allspark which sometimes sent it to them and sit on the steps in the classroom to hear stories by Lady Sela about who they were, why they were loved and how good life was and would ever be for them now.
Rocco appreciated that. His own genitors were religious and tried to instill in him that part of their identity. He was a smart aft and took it with a grain of salt. Now he was glad they tried and he would, too. If they had really followed the path laid down by their beliefs, they'd never have come to this. His kids would feel the grace of their identity and when the Festival of Primus came in four months, he'd make sure they were there to get the blessings first hand. It would be his first time, too.
He entered the building, walked to their classroom, then opened his hold. Boo and Tika crumpled up in tears until Rocco set them down with other kids. He handed them their bears, then walked to a chair nearby to sit and watch them. Boo was comforted by it, then began to look at the toys and kids playing. Tika would lean on him a moment, then go reluctantly to play with Boo. Rocco would slip out unnoticed.
He walked out feeling slightly better. His kids' ups and downs affected him more than he thought it would.
His kids.
HIS kids.
It was still a new world.
He walked to the Metro, took a train to his school and walked in to sit. Today, Wirelite would come and show them a few things. He was in awe of her and the others of the Weaver's Guild. He wanted to do what they did. He wanted the knowledge. It seemed like sacred stuff to him and when she and the others walked in he stood with the others for her. She was an Immortal. She had been intensely brave and now she was teaching her nearly dead skills to them. He would listen, learn, ask questions and feel humbled at her abilities.
When it was time, he would leave to work on the construction site, then later on to get HIS kids, take them home and hear their stories as they waited for dinner to come from The Catering Place. When all was cleared away, they would all watch Siphon labor over his simple home work from school. When that was over, they would run to the train set up near the window and play happily together, one larger child and two tiny ones. When they did, their dad would lie on the floor near them to watch and hand over this and that toy for their games.
Rocco the Marauder, Rocco the Decepticon who survived a decimation by being number nine out of his row of ten, Rocco who watched his best friend get murdered next to him for being number ten, Rocco who had shattered every preconception, idea and loyalty he thought he ever had at the moment he saw his friend's optics go dark now lay on the floor playing with his children as outside in the harsh world the lights of their city began to come on.
All was well in his world.
=0=TBC 4-5-2020 4-27-2020
Be well and know you're loved.