"Normal Talk"
"Bee's Talk"
"Bee's Talk Holoform"
"Bee's Talk to Text"
"Other Side Over the Phone (Comms)"
'Thoughts'
~Bond communication~
~Telepathic communication~
Flower Girl Part 1
2:00 pm, Ratchet's POV
I wake up before Mariposa does, and quickly get myself a cube before she wakes up. While that usually doesn't happen, I don't think there's anything to worry about. She's had quite a hard day already, and it's nowhere near over. I smile as I start getting her lunch—both of us were far too tired for lunch when we got home. I'm starting to learn about what happened while she was with her old parents. While that's good for me, I can't imagine talking about it does anything but bring back old memories.
I hear something stirring on my regulation berth-pad, and smile when I see Mariposa watching me. "Dada?"
I walk over and pick her up with one hand. "Did you have a good nap?"
She nods. "Up now!"
I smile down at her. "Want your lunch?"
"Me ea'?" She nods excitedly.
I activate my holoform and set her in her high chair before setting the beef and tomato ravioli container and her bottle of juice on the tray. Once she's eating, I turn back to gathering her outfit for tonight. She'll need a bath in a few hours, and we have to be there at five. With any luck, she'll be just as cheerful as she is now, and no more tantrums or panic attacks.
She looks up at me suddenly, a huge smile on her broth-covered face. "P'ay me?"
"For a little bit, once you're changed." I get a washcloth and wash her face off before setting her on the changing table. After changing her, I set her into her fence.
"P'ay now?"
I sigh heavily. "After I get this all cleaned up."
She whimpers softly as she looks up at me. "P'ay now?"
I sigh heavily before throwing the diaper and her food tray away, then set her juice bottle in the bin I keep on hand for her dishes—it's not always easy—or possible—to get them to the sink right away—before pulling out one of her ready-made energon bottles from the fridge and handing it to her.
"P'ay now?"
I smile down at her. "Yes, we can play now." She squeals and, once I'm in holoform, hands me one of her blocks—she's been asking me to play with them with her since we got them from Agent Fowler a week ago. I nod, and start stacking them, knowing full well she's going to knock it down before it's finished.
As expected, she knocks it over within a minute, right into my lap as usual, then giggles as if the surprised look I know I have to be giving her is the most hilarious thing she's seen to date. I sigh before setting the blocks in my lap to the side, and crawl over to her before tickling her. She squeals louder before giggling harder and kicking her little feet at my hands.
I stop after a minute, not wanting to make her purge, before moving back over to the blocks. "No."
I look down at her. "Then what's next?"
"Baby." She pulls out the doll her grandmother sent her. "P'ay baby."
I nod and start picking up the blocks before she hurts herself on one. "You're going to need a bath soon, Little One."
"No."
"Yes." I shake my head. Sparklings… "We have to go somewhere tonight, and you have to be clean."
"No baff. P'ay baby."
"You can play in the tub."
"No baff." She cuddles the soft doll to her chest. "Baby."
I rest a hand on my forehead and shake my head sadly. It's not that she hasn't been cranky before—because she has—but never so much that it actually tries my patience like this. 'Are all human children like this at her age?' "You can play with it after your bath."
"Baff… Baby? Baby baff?"
I shake my head. "You can't take it with you. It'll get ruined."
"Baby baff."
"It'll break."
"B'eak?"
I nod. "And you don't want it to break, right?"
"No b'eak. Wan' baby…" She sets it aside and reaches up to me. "Okay baff."
'Thank Primus she listens to reason…' I kneel and pick her up before taking her into her bathroom and filling the tub. "You ready?"
She giggles. "Baff! Baff!"
I can't help but shake my head. 'She didn't want it a minite ago, now she can't wait to get in… Sparklings… I swear… If I didn't love her so much, I'd have lost my temper with her a long time ago…' It's not that I'd abuse a youngling, because I'd never harm a child of any race willingly, but…children her age have agrivated me for eons—even those of our race. It's almost like they're constantly on some kind of energy-based sugar rush, to put it in human terms, and Mariposa's no different some days. It's still too early for the usual "terrible twos", as the humans call the first strike of independence, but somehow she still manages to be a handful—allbeit an adorable one.
I pull off her clothes before setting her into the tub. She squeals before grabbing her rubber duck set, and waves the red duck before slapping the water with it. I barely manage to dodge before getting splashed—not that getting wet would cause any trouble with the holoform program, but I really don't want to get soaked this close to our needing to leave for the rehearsal in Las Vegas. "Ducky!" She looks up at me and holds it up. "Ducky?"
"Yes, that's a duck."
She waves the yellow one in her other hand. "An' ducky?"
"Yes, that too." I lean her back, trying to get her hair wet as she picks up the white swan.
"An' s'an?"
"Yep. That's a swan."
She pocks up an orange pelican. "Ducky?"
"Pelican."
"'Ican." She holds up a pink octopus. "Wha'?"
"Octopus."
"'Pus."
I shrug. "Close enough…" She holds up a pink starfish. "Starfish."
"S'a'fi'."
"Good." I sigh softly. "You're learning so fast, Little One." She splashes again, this time soaking me. "Ugh…" I shake my head. "I'm not the one who needs a bath, Little One."
"Dada baff!" She splashes me again.
I shake my head, exasperated, but still amused. Sparklings are nothing if not entertaining. "But I may need one before you are clean…" I quickly finish with her hair while she's entertained, then start washing her body and rinsing her before lifting her out of the tub in a white strawberry towel.
"Dada nee' baff?"
I sigh heavily as I dry her off, then put her diaper on before dressing her in a short sleeved light pink onesie with "I don't know if you know this but I am a pretty big deal around here! I am the flower girl!", a light blue tutu with attached light blue leggings, light pink socks, and pink light up, glittery Velcro tennis shoes with butterflies on the soles. "I believe I do."
"Me go?"
"No." I reach up to my comm. "Bumblebee, would you come sit with your sister?"
"Where are you going?"
I sigh heavily. "Washracks. We've got that wedding rehearsal in a little over an hour, and I can't justify using the energon to bridge there. We barely have enough as-is."
"I'm coming." He sighs. "We do have enough—"
"We're not going to run out tomorrow, and Arcee and Cliffjumper are scouting a potential mine as we speak. Let the adults worry about the energon supply."
"Am I going tomorrow?"
I can't help but sigh. "Izzy doesn't know I adopted you, and I'm not going to sneak you in under her nose." I smile, even though he can't see me. "I've arranged for a one-on-one training session with Optimus, that should take place over most of the morning, and June has agreed to an afternoon playdate before school starts. Jack is going into the third grade this year…"
"You didn't ask—"
"No, no, no. I wouldn't do that, Bee." I sigh softly. "She asked if you and Mari wanted to come over for a last-day-of-summer thing she's doing with her younglings, and I mentioned that I had to take Mari to the wedding, but that the bride didn't know I'd taken you in."
Bumblebee steps in before looking up at me with a curious look. "I assume it's rude…taking someone not invited?"
"I guess… I'm not well-versed in human conduct, Bee. I wouldn't know, but from June's behavior, I have to assume it is."
"I think I'd have more fun with Jack anyway…" He shifts into holoform and turns to Mariposa with a smile. "Wanna play?"
"P'ay baby?"
He nods. "We can play with your doll…"
"P'ay baby!"
I nod before leaving the room. She's in good hands—and I'm glad she's finally accepting bots older than she is again. I have to admit I was more than a little nervous about her behavior involving the rest of the team. Now I'm sure she'll be back to toddling after Arcee and Optimus in no time.
Mariposa's POV
I look up from my baby to Bumbee. He looks sad… "Bumbee okay?"
He looks down at me. "Yeah… Why?"
I huff. I hate not being able to talk. I make a face like I'm gonna cry.
"Don't cry, Mari. Bee's here…" I shake my head, then point to him. "Oh… I look sad?" I nod. "I'm not sad, Mari. I'm just…" He sighs. "I guess I am a little upset, but it's not because of Ratch. It's just been a hard day for all of us… I've got two days before I'm gonna be away from you all day, and I'm not sure I can handle it…"
I pat his foot. "Be okay."
He smiles down at me. "Thanks, Mari…" He picks me up before hugging me, then sets me back down by baby. "Now…"
I squeal. Sad time's over, and it's playtime again! "P'ay baby!"
"Yep! It's time to play!"
Ratchet's POV, 10 Minutes Later
I step back into my berth room and let Bumblebee leave before shifting to holoform. I quickly adjust my holoform to something suitable, then pack Mariposa's diaper bag and gather a few toys. She'll more than likely be the youngest child at the rehearsal, so I need to make sure she behaves herself after the rather cranky day she's had.
"Me go?"
I nod. "We're ready to go."
"'Inky?"
I slip the new sunset-colored, personalized pacifier into her mouth, then return to my normal form and pick her up before starting into the main room. Once there, I set her down so I can transform, then, after double-checking to make sure she's got a pacifier and something to play with, re-activate my holoform and get her settled in the rear-facing child seat before deactivating it and starting out the door.
Las Vegas
Mariposa does quite well on the nearly hour-long trip, and soon I'm pulling up to the golf course in Las Vegas, where the wedding is to be held. I quickly activate my holoform before climbing out through the back with Mariposa and her diaper bag.
Izzy walks over the second she sees us, wearing a cap sleeved white dress and matching heels. "Glad you could make it, Ratchet." I look around nervously. "They're on the other side of the building, don't worry. They can't hear me." She smiles down at Mariposa. "Hey there, Little One."
I sigh softly. "She's been kind of cranky today… None of us have really had the best day. Mari had what I assume was a flashback at the mall, triggered by a character off a children's show." I rub the back of my neck with my free hand. "Apparently her old family is obsessed with it."
She, thankfully, shrugs it off. "Try dealing with relatives and last-minute wedding details, then talk to me about cranky."
I nod. "I'd have to assume the stress level is beyond anything an old field medic has to deal with?"
She smirks. "More than the old field medic's put up with, even with a traumatized baby."
'Thank Primus she's military.' I nod, then sigh heavily as Mariposa tries to get down. "Not yet, Little One."
"Wan' dow'!"
I sigh heavily. "I've been dealing with this all day. First it's Elmo—"
She stops trying to get down so she can cling to me. "No 'Mo, Dada!"
I nod toward her. "That, then she didn't want to take her bath…" I sigh heavily as she starts fighting to get down again. "And now she wants down…"
"Then I'll take you around to where we're doing the ceremony tomorrow. The rest of the family's back there." She leads me through the building to the back, where they've got several chairs set up, and a small group of people are waiting. "This is my Mom, Ivy, my Dad, Bob, my sisters, Melody and Amy—Melody's the Maid of Honor—my brother Eric, his wife Kate, and and their son Benny. That's my fiancé Jackson, his brother Zachary, and his parents: Emily and Chris." She turns to them. "Guys, this is my friend Rick. We met in the army." She shrugs off a look from her fiancé. "He's not that kind of friend. It's strictly business." She glances at me. "He's a medic." I nod slightly. "And he's agreed to let his new daughter be our flower girl."
"So that's Mari?"
She nods before reaching over for her. Mariposa hesitates for a moment—which I'm not too surprised about, because I'd expected her to be anxious about new people after being kidnapped. What surprises me is when, instead of a full-out toddler meltdown, she reaches over to her. "Hi!"
"Hey, Mari. I'm Izzy."
"'Zy?"
She smiles at her. "Yep!" She turns to a woman wearing jean shorts and a T-shirt—it's not really a formal event right now, just a practice, so it's not really out-of-place. "This is Madison. She's our wedding planner. She'll make sure someone's always watching Mari and Benny tomorrow, so you can enjoy yourself."
I rub the back of my neck. "She'll be more secure with me…" I sigh heavily bfore turning to explain the situation to Izzy's family. "She was kidnapped last month, while we were on vacation. We didn't get her back for a week, and she still barely lets me out of her sight."
6:00 pm
The rehearsal goes well, and we're all gathered in the parking lot an hour later. Mariposa's about to drift off on my shoulder. She's been shockingly well behaved, for being off her schedule and being in a new place. Benny, however, has been a holy terror, and is now covered in dirt from his escapade to one of the sand pits on the golf course.
Izzy sighs softly. "We're going out to eat, if you want to come with us…"
I shake my head. "I need to get Mari home so she can sleep. She's been having nightmares, and they're unpredictable…" I shrug. "We've been running on three hours a night."
"Must be hard…" I give Bob a look. "Being a military medic, and a father to a traumatized child." He smiles slightly. "Izzy told us about her once her tour ended. Said Mari was her first official case. I'm glad to see it's working out…" He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Well…"
"As well as it can be, and thank you." I glance over to where Mariposa's head is resting on my shoulder, sound asleep. "I really need to get her home."
"See you tomorrow!"
I smile and nod. "You too, Izzy."
"We're starting with pictures at ten…" she sighs softy. "And the wedding at noon. She'll have time for a nap, same as Benny—"
"No nap!"
She sighs heavier. "While we're doing the bride and groom, and family pictures. After that, we'll have the reception, starting with introductions, and our first dance, then the toasts followed by dinner. After that, we'll have dancing, then cut the cake." She shrugs. "I'm not having anything alcoholic, so you won't have to worry about Mari being hurt by a drunk guest."
"But your toast—"
"Will be white sparkling grape juice, Mom. It's safe for the kids, and will keep the parents from getting too drunk to watch their kids, too."
"Wait…I thought—"
"My family only has Benny. Our friends have kids, but none of them would behave well enough to be the flower girl. Mari is my first, and only, choice."
