I have a poll on my profile page asking a question I really want to have answered. I'm trying to get as many answers as I can, and very few people visit my profile. I've gotten literally one answer in a week, and that's sad. Please answer, and be honest about it.


I only own my OC's!


~If I Never Knew You…~

I wake up at around noon the next day, since I don't have class, and roll over before smiling at the dash. "Good morning."

"Afternoon." He chuckles softly. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, surprisingly." I sit up and sigh as I rub my forehead. I get feelings like this sometimes, but this time, I don't have to put coolant into my Dodge just to go. "Ratchet…"

"What's wrong, Youngling?"

I sigh heavily. I have no idea how to explain all this to him without talking for an hour. "Could you take me to Plymouth?"

"What about going to the college?"

"We can go later. I…" I look at my hands. "I can't explain it, but…I need to go "home"."

"Home?"

I open my mouth, close it, and open it again, though I still can't find the words. I sigh softly before trying again. "I—" I shake my head. "It's a long story, Doc."

"We have time."

"I have to get dressed."

"I can shut down my sensors without shutting down my audios. Go ahead." I pull a pair of blue pants, a red T-shirt, and black socks out of the bag, along with clean underwear, which I change into before pulling on the pants. "Well… I never told you this, but I used to be an EMT…" I sigh softly as I pull on the T-shirt. "And I did my Clinicals with Plymouth Fire."

"Really?"

"Yep." I pop the 'P' before smiling at the dash as I settle on the cot to put my socks and shoes on. "I don't know when it happened, because it always felt that way, but…that place came to be more of a home to me than this place ever was, especially with my narcissistic birthdad around."

"Interesting." He sighs. "So you want me to take you to the fire station?"

"Please?"

He sighs. "What are you planning to do while we're there?"

"If the garage is open, sit on a fire truck and…relish the feeling of home."

"Anywhere else you want to go, besides the college?"

"I may pop into the library so I can check my Email…"

"You have a laptop…and Wi-Fi…"

"It's close to "home"."

"Oh…" I'm sure he'd be smirking if he were in his robot form. "And could this reason be the same one that led you to find me?"

I shrug. "I have no idea. I just…had to help you…"

"Anyway, do you have your backpack?"

"Yep."

"Laptop?"

"Check." I settle into the airway seat of his vehicle mode, almost having a flashback to my first EMS call ever.

"Buckle up. We're about to leave." I zip my suitcase, grab my fleece blanket, and slip the lap belt on before patting the side of the hummer.


I climb out and pat the side of the neon green Hummer H2 Search and Rescue ambulance with a smile before turning to the sidewalk. We're about a block from the library, and across the street from the fire station. "I'll be back in a few, all right?"

"If you take longer than thirty minutes, I'll come over in holoform."

"Gotcha. I should be back before then." I run across the street—barely remembering to look—before grinning. Not only do they have the bay doors open, they have Medic 1 out on the sidewalk. Instead of trying to take pictures like I usually do, I simply run to the ambulance and run a hand over it. "Hey… It's been a while…" I sigh. "I know, you can't hear me, but…but it doesn't matter. I miss rolling to the rescue with you, and…and I wish I was getting a school check so I could take the class again…on my own dime this time…" I stop on the side facing the medic and step up on the silver step before patting the side of the red rig. "I wonder if they ever got that damage from the ditch fixed…" I sigh softly. "Well, I'm going over to Fire now, but I'll be back, okay?"


RATCHET'S POV

I watch the youngling for a few minutes. She seems to be talking with the ambulance…which is unusual for most humans, but…she is used to talking with me, and I would imagine she does this with other machines as well. It reminds me of my apprentice, who we lost several years back, along with his brothers and sister. It's hard, to see her so much like First Aid that she talks with inanimate objects, but…it takes me back to the early days, before I was his teacher, I was one of the Protectobots' creators, along with Wheeljack and Perceptor, with Ironhide as their protector and bodyguard.

It startles me slightly when she leaves the ambulance and runs just out of my sight. Contrary to what she believes, her tiny spark only reads as a 4-vorn-old's, and she doesn't know any more than that she has a spark, and I don't think she listened that day—she still thinks she's an adult and wants a relationship with me, after all…while I'm taking a guardian role that will probably end once she learns more of who she really is… She's still so young…


NORMAL POV

I step into the fire bay with a relieved sigh. That weird feeling in my chest is gone now that I'm here. "Hey, there." I hop up onto the front bumper of their new Engine 7—the back's got a step now, and it's not really useable as a chair anymore—before cuddling into the truck as well as I can. "I missed you…" I sigh heavily. I know it's weird to miss a FIRE TRUCK, after all, and I'm hoping no one can hear me, with as quiet as I'm talking. "I know it's been a while. I wish I could tell you I was coming back for training, but I don't have the money, and I know Culver won't sponsor me again…"

"Sheyenne, what are you doing?"

I pop my head up and hop off the fire truck so fast you'd think it had just burned me. "Sorry!"

The man holds out his hands placatingly. "It's me. you're fine."

"Ratch?"

"Yeah. What were you doing?"

"Um…" I rub the back of my neck. "Nothing."

"You are acting gestalt."

"Acting gestalt?" I didn't know that was a thing.

He steps over and lays a hand on my shoulder. "Why were you cuddling a fire truck?"

"Home."

"Home?"

I nod. "Home." I hop back onto the fire truck, listening for the signal that I have to abandon perch—the emergency tones. "It's home."

"The truck is…" He gives me a weird look, causing me to raise an eyebrow, but rather than question the look, I turn to the truck with my own look, then lay my flat palm on the hood and close my eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for a life—"

"Sheyenne?"

I shake my head, trying to clear out the image of a blue robot and fire truck that looks just like the one in front of me otherwise. That was really weird—almost like when I checked Culver 2 for one and saw the mech I'm talking to now. "Checking for a life force." I hop off the truck and walk back over to the ambulance with him following me like a lost puppy. I ignore him for the moment, though, and do the same thing I had done to the fire truck. This time, I see a red and white mech with a matching ambulance—a little more white, a little less red.

"Sheyenne, what are you doing?"

I sigh and turn to him, trying to shake off this weird feeling that I've just made a really important discovery. "Ratch, I can read life forces—I'm psychic, and I have been since I was 17." I turn back to the ambulance, trying to resist the growing urge to try and hug the thing in front of everyone on the roads.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What did you see?"

"Can I have a moment? I'm still making connections here…"

"I'll be with my v-mode."

"Thank you." I turn back to the truck, hands on my hips, and wait a moment to make sure Ratchet's out of auditory range. "Hot Spot." I grin. "You're Hot Spot!" I pat the still-silent fire truck. "God, I was wondering…" I sigh heavily. "You know, you're making me feel really silly, making me look like I'm talking to a non-living fire truck…"

"Cover."

"That's better, but keep it down and you'll keep your cover." I resume my seat on his bumper and lean back into him. "How's it going?"

"Wish I didn't have to stay put…"

"But cover, right?"

"Yep. Was that Ratchet?"

"Yep." I nuzzle into the fire truck. "Why do you feel like home?"

"Why do I feel like what?"

"Home. Safe. Love."

"You're techno-organic."

"That's what Ratchet said. So why?"

He sighs. "We chose you."

I lean back, almost falling off the bumper. "You what?"

"We chose you."

I look down at my hands, now sitting straight up, barely touching the mech. "Why would you want crap?"

"You're not crap, Little One…"

"They fired me…"

"Who did?"

"Culver…I don't even have my cert anymore…and why would you want a second-rate basic EMT who had to have remedial training because she couldn't even pass her practical exam?"

"Don't talk like that… We need you…"

"Primus, Spot…" I turn to the fire engine with a shocked look. "You need me?"

"We've been through a lot. You bring joy back to us."

"You realize Ratchet's going to have to know, right?"

"You can tell him, but don't feel like you have to right now, okay?"

"All right…" I sigh heavily, not wanting to leave even though the half hour's almost up. "I'll have to go now, or he'll come back over…" I nuzzle back into the truck. "But I don't want to…"

"It'll be okay. We'll always be with you."

"Hot Spot…"

"Just make sure you say goodbye to Aid before you leave…"

My eyes widen, and I grin. "All right." I slide off and pat the fire engine's bumper gently. "I'll be back, though—trust me Big Brother…"

"I will. You've never failed to visit before."

I give the truck one more pat, run past Medic one with a pat and a wave, and clamber into the Hummer ambulance. "What did you see?" He sighs. "Or do you not want to talk about it right now?"

"Later…" I lean back into the passenger seat and grin, even though I feel like I'm breaking inside—I hate goodbyes, even if they're still alive.

"Are you okay?"

"Don't wanna leave…" I sigh and sit up straighter. "But I have to."

"Sheyenne…"

"'Fensor…"

"Come again?"

I turn to face the window. "I said 'Fensor…"

"Holy Primus… Defensor?"

"That's the one…"

"They're—"

"In Plymouth. Home."

"Hom—Mariposa Prime, you're telling me you were visiting Hot Spot?"

"Ever since I did my clinicals… I just found out…"

"Wow…"

I blink. "Come again?"

"What?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Mariposa Prime. That's your real name."

"Oh…" This is just too much, and I slide out of the chair before curling up on the cot in the back.

"What did I say? Mari?"

"Too much…"

"You're in shock." I nod weakly. "Easy, Little One." He—obviously in holoform—pulls a blanket up over me. "Rest. I'll tell you more when you wake up."

"But my homework—"

"Can wait until tomorrow. You've had a lot of newness today."

"Otay…"

"Rest. I'll be right here." I feel a hand lay on my sensitive back lightly. "I'll be right here."


RATCHET'S POV

I turn my holoform to look out the window at the red and white ambulance sitting innocently outside the Fire Station with a small smile. She found Defensor…she really is our Star Healer… Our princess. We'd been looking for Defensor for almost 40 earth years now, and she finds them so easily…I can only imagine how many more are out there, that she could find.