Ok, sorry! My muse changed her mind again. This is a transition chapter. I needed to get an Elita and Optimus scene in there. Plus, I felt there needed to be more reactions to Optimus' current state of mind. This chapter also sets up playtime with the sparklings in the next chapter. Then the chapter after that, 35, will be all the twins and Optimus.
"Are you done yet?" Optimus asked sounding quite annoyed.
"No and if you ask one more time I'm going to weld your mouth shut!" Ratchet snarled, holding up a readied blow torch.
Prowl and Chromia stared in disbelief from the doorway. They couldn't believe what Magnus just told them. Their leader, though he looked to be fully mature had the mind of a…youngling, worse a teenager.
"Needless to say, we won't be putting Jazz and Ironhide in there until Skyfire and Wheeljack figure out what went wrong," Magnus said.
"And when will that be?" Prowl asked. He was actually glad there was a legitimate excuse for not having Jazz turned back into his mature self. But at the same time Prowl wasn't happy about what happened to Optimus.
The three of them glanced over to where Wheeljack and Skyfire lay, heavily sedated until Ratchet can get to them.
"Judging from the scorch marks and dents, after a day in the med bay," Chromia surmised having done worse damage than that to Ironhide on a number of occasions when he pissed her off.
"That was a good idea having her sparkling sit," Magnus told Chromia. "Seemed to calm her down right away."
"After what happened before when she blew up finding out about Optimus, she realized not to ever to that sort of thing near sparklings," the femme answered. "She still feels guilty making him cry the way he did."
"Jazz really took to her," Prowl grinned proudly.
"Jazz always took to the femmes…until he fell for you," Magnus smirked.
Prowl narrowed his optics slightly at the City Commander.
"How's Grimlock by the way?" Prowl asked, tactfully changing the subject.
"Depressed and sulking in his quarters," the City Commander frowned. After tracking down Optimus trying to break into the armory to get a weapon to defend himself and escorting him to the Med Bay, Magnus had to track down a dejected Grimlock. "I'm not sure he understands what's going on."
"BE STILL!"
"You can't order me around if I'm Prime!" Optimus countered, glaring defiantly at Ratchet.
"Actually, I'm the only one who CAN order you around! Now keep still or I will weld your interface panel shut!!"
"You wouldn't dare."
"Don't tempt me!"
Optimus back down first and flung himself back down on the bed, glaring at the ceiling. This was ridiculous. He felt fine.
"Well, I've had enough excitement for one day and its past Hide's recharge time. I'll see everyone in the morning," Chromia said then walked off before the real fireworks started. It was enough for her to get Elita to calm down. No way did she want to hang around if Ratchet followed through on his threat.
"What are we going to do about Optimus?" Prowl asked.
"I don't know," Magnus answered as Ratchet came over to them. "Elita's not happy about this and to be honest, neither am I."
"We're all gonna be unhappy a bit longer," Ratchet sighed after coming over to them. "I can't find anything wrong with the lugnut. And until I have a chance to go over the data with Skyfire and Wheeljack, I'm afraid Optimus is stuck like this for now."
"That's not the news I was hoping for," Elita said from behind Prowl and Magnus.
They turned to see her standing there with a yawning Jazz in her arms. It was way past recharge time and the tiny mech was shaking his head, trying to stay awake. His dimmed optics locked on Prowl and he whimpered, reaching for the mech.
"None of us are," Prowl said, taking Jazz into his arms. The little sparkling immediately nestled up close to Prowl's chassis and drifted into recharge, content to be near a such a loving spark.
"Well, there's nothing more we can do tonight," Ratchet said. "I suggest everyone get a good night's recharge. I'll get Skyfire and Wheeljack on their feet by noon tomorrow. They're wounds are superficial…painful but nothing major damaged."
"Recharge is a good idea," Magnus agreed. "It's been a long day."
Elita nodded in agreement and looked to her bonded.
"Optimus, let's go," Elita ordered.
"Ah, no offense femme, but no way!" Optimus said adamantly. "I'm not stupid. I know you did that damage to those two mechs over there. I am not spending the night alone with you!"
"Get your aft over here now!" she ordered, pointing to the ground in front of her.
Optimus looked to his best friend for a little help here controlling the femme. Honestly, did they expect him to take orders from her too?
"She's your femme, Optimus…good luck," Magnus smirked and walked off towards the command center. He learned long ago to never get involved in a bonded couple's problems.
"Goodnight, Optimus," Prowl smiled and headed to his and Jazz's quarters.
"Get out of my med bay!" Ratchet said, holding up that blow torch again and kicking Optimus a good kick in the aft to get him moving.
Optimus' shoulders sagged and he reluctantly followed the femme. It seemed like he had no choice in the matter. His best friend even left him to fend for himself with this…femme.
She was pretty, he'll give her that much. His optics couldn't help but watch her form as he followed her through the halls. The curvy legs, slender arms and petite waist…and that aft! She was hot!
But his spark cringed at how much damage one small femme could do to two better than average size mechs. He was afraid of what she might do to him, alone and behind a closed door. Interfacing was not the first thing on his processor.
"We'll get this mess straightened out, Optimus," she said as she punched in a code on a door, presumably to their quarters.
The door opened and when he followed her in he immediately noticed one rather…large detail.
"Uh…where's my recharge bed?" he asked, staring at the single largest recharge bed he'd ever seen.
"We're bonded, we share the bed," she answered, looking a bit tired.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," he replied nervously, staying near the door as she moved across the room. "I mean…I can't remember you. It wouldn't be right for me to…recharge with you. I'm just a youngling. Well, in my head I'm still a youngling. A pretty femme like you deserves better than me anyway…so…I'll just find somewhere else to recharge."
Before Elita could respond, Optimus backed out the door and ran. Only, instead of chasing after him, she lay down and curled up. Tears filled her optics. She wasn't sure how much more of this her spark could take. She missed her Optimus desperately. Having either a sparkling Optimus or this mature Optimus with only half his wits was torture for her spark.
What if they couldn't get her Optimus back?
Elita only wept harder at that thought until she fell into recharge.
Meanwhile, Optimus was going through his own spark ache as he found his way to the recreation room. It seemed as good a place as any to recharge even though the couch, was too small for him. He laid there in the darkness, feeling the sadness within his spark from the femme. He knew it was because of him, just like Grimlock was upset because of him.
Only Optimus didn't know what to do about the femme. Femmes were a complete mystery to him. And his processor was all messed up, he couldn't think straight. So he blocked the feeling and decided to recharge.
Perhaps things would be better in the morning.
The following morning
It was early morning when Prowl walked into the recreation room with Jazz in his arms. Both stared down at the mech recharging on his stomach, one arm on the floor, both big feet hanging well over the arm of the couch, head buried in the other corner of the couch.
"Some questions are better left unasked," Prowl mentioned to Jazz.
"Oppy?" Jazz questioned, pointing at the big red, blue and silvered mech.
"You recognize him?"
Jazz nodded.
"Yes, that's Optimus," he answered heading over to get Jazz a bottle.
Like yesterday morning, Prowl set Jazz on the center of the table with his bottle then went to get himself some energon. Jazz was well behaved…yesterday. This morning when Prowl turned his back, Jazz set his bottle down and climbed off the table, heading across the floor straight for Optimus.
"Psst! Jazz! No!" Prowl spoke softly, not wanting to wake Optimus. Primus knows the mech probably needed a good recharge.
Jazz shook his head no and patted Optimus' hand. It twitched, making Jazz giggle.
"Get back here!" Prowl insisted.
(raspberry!)
Prowl's mouth dropped open. Jazz never defied him like that, not even as a mature mech!
"Get that pint sized aft over here, now!" Prowl ordered, his tone indicating that he wasn't messing around.
The tiny silver mech giggled hysterically, thinking this was so fun, and climbed up Optimus' dangling arm and onto his back. Optimus jerked awake at the sudden sensations of something on his back. And in the commotion of Optimus turning to get up, Jazz slipped off and hit the floor.
(wails)
Optimus sighed wearily, looking down at the balling sparkling on the floor. Great someone else he made cry. Bending down, he picked up the tiny sparkling, instinctively cradling him close.
"Shh! I'm sorry little one. I didn't mean it."
"I think you startled him more than anything," Prowl said, noticing how Jazz immediately calmed down. "Sparklings can take a short fall like that."
"What…did you drop him?" Optimus giggled.
"Actually, I dropped you…on your head," he smirked, taking Jazz back and putting him on the table and sitting down. "It was your fault too. You wouldn't keep still and kicked your legs a lot harder than I was ready for. But you didn't cry when you hit the floor. You crawled away giggling."
"Sounds like me," he grinned proudly, sitting down. Jazz scooted over with his bottle to be in front of Optimus. "Ironhide said I was as tough as him and could take the dings and dents."
"You remember a lot about Ironhide," Prowl commented, watching as Optimus helped Jazz hold his bottle.
"Well, Sentinel may have been my adopted father but he was always so busy and Ironhide always seemed to be there when I needed someone. I remember you too."
"This can't be good."
"Are you still a tight aft?"
Now it was Optimus who was smirking.
"I don't recall you being this obnoxious the first time around as a teenager."
"I wasn't fully mature then. Now I am."
"Primus help us," Prowl muttered wishing for high grade instead of energon.
"Morning," Chromia smiled, walking in with a groggy Ironhide in her arms.
His head rested on her shoulder and he seemed intent on going back into recharge. But once he saw Jazz sitting on the table with an energon bottle he perked up.
"Hello," Optimus smiled warmly as the femme sat beside him.
"Don't get your hopes up," she replied, recognizing that look on a mech's face. "I'm bonded to Ironhide."
"Ironhide bonded…." Optimus said and then burst into laughter.
"What's so funny about that?" she growled.
"He frags just about any femme he can and told me he was never going to bond with one. When I asked him why, he said it was because he'd never find a femme as crazy as him."
"Well, that was until he met me."
"Oh, you like blowing stuff up too?
"Ka-boom!" Hide cheered, raising his arms in the air.
"Sounds like Hide," Optimus chuckled, poking the sparkling in the belling making him giggle. "Magnus explained to me about the accident and that it happened to Hide and Jazz too. I guess I'm glad they tried to bring me back first. This way they can figure out what went wrong before bringing Hide and Jazz back."
"That sounds more like the Optimus we're all so used to," Magnus commented from behind. Prowl shook his head indicating that Optimus still wasn't himself.
"That was so not cool of you, Magnus ditching me like that last night! I thought you were my best friend!" Optimus growled, getting right into Magnus' face.
"I left because the last time I tried to help Elita nearly blew my head off. There was no way in pit I was going to do that again. And sit down!"
Optimus narrowed his optics at Magnus. He didn't like it that everyone was ordering him around. He was Prime, wasn't he?
"Why were you recharging in the recreation room?" Prowl asked, breaking the silence as the two large mechs stared at each other.
"Because…it wasn't right for me to be in there with her," Optimus answered, dropping back into his chair. His attention focused back on the sparklings. "If I'm not all there in the CPU then I shouldn't be there to remind her of…what she's missing."
"Nice to know you kept your smarts," Magnus snorted. "Anyway, I'm heading off to recharge now and will be around noon. Elita and Blurr are out on reconnaissance. Bumblebee is out with Grimlock, keeping the big mech busy and his processor distracted. The twins have the day off since they're working the night shift tonight. So the Command Center is all yours, Prowl."
"Understood," Prowl acknowledged.
"Wait…what about me?" Optimus asked when Magnus was near the door.
Magnus didn't know what to do with Optimus. There was no way the mech was ready for duty. He was too old for a sparkling sitter.
"Why don't you help me with the sparklings?" Chromia smiled, noticing how Hide and Jazz took to Optimus. "Hide is an armful and Jazz as energy to spare. I could use the help."
"I don't know," Optimus sighed. "Sparkling duty is for femmes."
Chromia smacked him on the back of the head for that comment. It was all she dared do. If it was Ironhide, she'd have done a lot more.
"On the other hand…" Optimus quickly said, rubbing his aching head. "They are kind of cute."
"It's settled then. I'll see everyone later," Magnus said then left.
"What do sparklings do?" Optimus asked.
"Play, eat, and recharge," Chromia answered.
Jazz suddenly ejected some partially digested energon straight towards Optimus. Luckily, he was quick enough to move away before it splattered onto the table and chair.
"Oh, and that too," she said.
"Oops, sorry, too much to drink," Prowl grinned sheepishly. He grabbed a towel and wiped Jazz's face. "His tank isn't as big as Ironhide's."
"They don't give you any warning before they spew?"
"No," Chromia laughed at Optimus. "You just have to go with it."
"Here, take him," Prowl ordered, holding up Jazz to Optimus.
Optimus shook his head. Pit no! What if more came out?!
"He's not going to spit up anymore, I promise. That was just the excess. He'll recharge now for a little while then wake up to play."
"Oppy," Jazz grinned, reaching for the big mech. When he didn't get what he wanted, tears filled his optics and he started whimpering.
It was with some reluctance, a look that could kill from Prowl, but mainly because he didn't want Jazz to cry again, that made Optimus take hold of the little mech. But he held the tiny silver sparkling as far away from his chassis as possible. He wasn't taking any chances!
Jazz, on the other hand, thought Oppy was funny and kept giggling at him as they made their way through the base. Optimus even relaxed and started making faces at Jazz which only made him laugh harder. Even Ironhide, who was curious as to why Jazz was laughing, watched over Chromia's shoulder and giggled at the funny faces.
Chromia glanced back to see what was so funny as they entered the play room. It was just Optimus, looking normal as could be. But the moment she turned back, he made another face that sent both sparklings into wild giggle fits.
"You're a natural with sparklings," Chromia commented setting Hide on the floor with his bottle. "They don't laugh for everyone."
"Nah, I'm just more in touch with my younglinghood," he replied, putting Jazz on the floor next to Hide, watching him closely. "Literally."
Jazz crawled over to where some of the toys were laying and started playing with them.
"Do I do anything with him?"
"No, just leave them alone," she answered. "They'll fall into recharge in a few minutes."
Optimus sat down in a chair, watching Jazz pound a toy on the ground, making sparkling noises as loud as he could. He seemed to have more energy than Ironhide who opted to lie on his back while drinking down his bottle of energon, his optics already dimmed slightly as if heading into recharge.
"Then what happens?" Optimus asked.
"Oh, you'll see," she smirked.
Up next: Optimus and the sparklings have play time.