The Diego Diaries: Cloudy With Kids (dd7 368)

=0=That night at home

He sat on a chair on the veranda staring at the heavens above. It was velvety dark with a smear of stars across the vastness of space. There was light here from the colony casting 'noise' into the skies so they weren't as clear to him as they would be on the TransWorld Highway where it was dark as the bottom of a well. He could adjust the view with his optics so he did. They were a marvel, the Cybertronian people, and the envy of all who viewed them.

As tech.

A door sliding open could be heard nearby, then the soft treads of Prowl as he walked to where Orion sat, pausing by the banister that ran all around the building, one with a clear barrier to prevent falls Orion had considered. He glanced up at the white face and deeply blue optics of the handsome winger. Prowl was tense. "Why not take a chair and join me?" he asked.

Prowl glanced at him, then moved to a chair nearby. Pulling it over, he sat. It was silent a moment, then Prowl said, "I love this view. I've been on a lot of planets, many more gifted and various than this one but I love this place. Our children were born here. Our children were rescued here. Its home to me."

Orion considered that. "I am glad they came home today."

Prowl glanced at him, then nodded. "They are as well. They're the happiest they are when they're home with us."

Orion nodded. It had been interesting when the children came through the door …

^..^

"ATAR!"

A tall child ran to him, one that was still very small to Orion and hugged his leg. Others ran over as well including a toddler that his ada had put down on the ground. Orion stared at them, then knelt. He touched them gently with his giant servos. "How are you?" he asked.

"Glad to be home," the one he would learn was T-Bar said with a giant smile. "I don't like it when we aren't home. It feels weird."

"Its fun with Ammas and Appas," the one called Rambler said. "He didn't mean it that way."

"We know," Kestrel said with a chuckle.

"Why not put things away and play for a while. We're going to have dinner shortly," Prowl said.

The kids hugged Orion, then ran off down the hallway to their rooms. It was noisy a moment, then it wasn't.

Orion looked to get up but halted when he noticed the smallest of them staring at him with a big smile. He was the spitting image of himself. "Hello," he said gently.

"Atar. You home?" Possibility asked.

Prime studied him, this child that was his own. "I am."

Possibility hugged him and Orion hugged back. Then he ran for the hallway after the others.

Orion watched him go, then rose. "They are very beautiful."

"They are. They're yours," Prowl said. "All of them. Yours. Mine," he said as he glanced at Tagg and Kestrel, "and ours."

^..^

It was quiet as they watched ships come and go at the airports nearby. The cold was negligible to them but it was -100 degrees Fahrenheit. Prowl glanced at Prime, at the profile of the handsome stranger beside him. "How do you feel about all of this? This is a lot to take in."

Orion nodded. "It is but it is ..." He glanced at Prowl. "You tell me this is all mine, this life and the family but I do not have a recollection of it. It feels like I'm watching someone else's life."

Prowl resisted the urge to take Orion's servo. "I know. Its going to be reversed. You'll have your life again."

"And if it fails?" Orion asked.

Prowl stared at him as ice flowed through his lines. "I don't contemplate such an outcome."

"Contemplate or concede?" Orion asked.

Prowl watched a ship leave slowly heading for a forward base. "I've had to steel myself and my will to many things over the vorns. Sometimes it helps make things happen, the will you put forth. I don't contemplate other than that."

Orion stared at him, then the ship as it reached Trigger One. He didn't know that the big bridge mechanism had been returned to the colony a few orns before from duty aligning planets and that there were actually four Triggers in the arsenal of his government. "It is a help to me that my genitors are here. This would be more difficult otherwise."

"Your genitors are wonderful. They're just wonderful," Prowl said.

"They feel the same for you," Orion said.

"I'm glad. My own family had the usual high caste hangups. When I want to feel what unconditional love is, I spend time with Kestrel and Tagg." He looked at Orion. "My family has changed, most of them. They're not the same and that's good. I want them to be more than they were raised to become and they feel the same. We live in a new paradigm. They understand that, all but two. You won't be meeting them anytime soon."

"Why?" Orion asked.

Prowl glanced at Prime. "Because no one will ever hurt you while I live."

Prime considered that. "Thank you then."

Prowl's expression gentled as he stared at the only mech who would ever mean anything to him in the most personal and intimate ways. "No. Thank you," he said quietly.

They would sit on the balcony talking together before retiring for the night. Prowl would rest against Prime in his arms.

=0=Down below

Ratchet walked out of the wash rack pausing at the foot of the berth.

Ironhide was sitting on his side looking at a picture datapad. He glanced up, lingering on the figure before him. "You're a looker, I'll hand it to ya."

Ratchet grinned. "You like me for my chassis?" he asked as he batted his optical ridges.

"I won't say no," Ironhide said as he put the datapad back on the dresser. He looked at Ratchet, then smoldered almost involuntarily. "So ..."

"I'm taking it that you wanna frag," Ratchet said matter-of-factly.

Ironhide blinked at the directness of Ratchet's remarks, then grinned. "I won't say no."

Ratchet grinned. "Maybe I would." He walked to his side, then lay back. Taking the remote, he dialed up the windows so the room would be lit by light from outside. It would still be dark but not jet black. He grinned over his shoulder. "You going to sit there all night?"

Ironhide leaned back, then relaxed.

It was silent a moment.

"Ratchet."

"What? I'm recharging."

[Grin] "You're fast. I didn't hear a whistle."

Ratchet grinned, then turned his helm to let out a huge whistle that reverberated around the room he had soundproofed as well.

Just in case.

Ironhide winced, then turned his helm to glare at Ratchet. "That was low."

"Actually, it was. Shall I whistle higher?" [Gigantic enormous zillion watt smile]

Ironhide stared at the smile bedazzled a moment, then remembered to frown. "No."

It became silent again.

"So … what do you do around here at night anyway?" Ironhide asked with all the suavity of a young mech with 'needs'.

Ratchet grinned. Ironhide was as subtle at this moment as he was when Ratchet decided to make him work for it through the audition process. Coming from a show biz family, Ironhide shouldn't have been as shocked as he was but that's show business for ya. "Well, My Ironhide and I frag. A lot. He likes my legs … my long legs."

Ironhide flipped to night vision and raised his helm to take a look. He liked Ratchet's legs, too. "Sounds like fun."

"It is," Ratchet said. "We frag a lot. All over the place. Here and there. Up and down. All around. Under the table, on the table, on Prowl's desk-"

"You do?" Ironhide asked. "I hear its a rite of passage."

Ratchet laughed. "It is. We were going for the gold … Prime's office but you're a wuss."

[Slight frown] "Me? I'm not afraid of anything."

[Grin] "Is that so?"

"Yep." [Big self satisfied grin]

"Okay. Let's go frag on Prime's desk."

Ironhide felt his throat clutch with surprise. He glanced at Ratchet with night vision. Even then, this mech was hotness personified. "Just like that."

"Yep."

"Prowl would have my carcass tacked to his wall if I did something like that," Ironhide said. "You're insane, mech."

"All my mechs say that," Ratchet said with a smug tone.

[Frown] "So … you're a cheater?"

"Only at cards. Keep up, Ironhide."

Ironhide grinned. This mech was good at batting the ball around. He considered his own hand, then folded. "You aren't going to frag then."

"Probably not. I might get arrested for molesting minors," Ratchet replied.

[Frown] "I'm not a kid."

A soft whistle greeted that.

Ironhide grinned. He wasn't going to get laid tonight but he did have a few laughs. Maybe it wasn't a loss after all, this moment.

=0=Morning

"ADA!"

"WHAT!?"

"I DOIN'!? GOIN' LOU!?"

Ratchet looked down at the imp. He smiled brilliantly up. "Go ask your other pa."

Orion skippity hopped to Ironhide who was sitting in his chair with three babies on his lap. "ATAR!"

Ironhide looked down at him. "What?"

"I GOIN' LOU!?"

Ironhide grinned at him. "Go ask your other pa."

Orion skippity hopped back to Ratchet. "ADA! I GOIN' WIF LOU?!"

"Go ask your other pa."

This would go on for some time.

=0=Up there

"Then we need to do this," Rambler said as he explained a science project to Orion.

Orion listened intently. "That sounds interesting."

"I think so. By the way, will we get to work on the trains tonight?" Rambler asked as Spirit and T-Bar glanced their way hopefully.

Orion glanced at Prowl, then the children. "I think that would be wonderful."

The kids squealed, hugged him and ran off to get their gear.

Orion glanced up at Prowl.

Prowl grinned at him. "We have a staff meeting today. Its a closed military meeting at The Fortress."

Orion nodded, then rose to stand. A flock of infants, tiny femmes and mechs were standing around his giant peds. "All right," he said as he bent down to pick up the tiny children. He turned to Prowl. "Lead away," he said.

He would.

=0=TBC 9-1-2020 edited

Short one tonight. Long day. Nighty-night. :D:D:D