Decisions

Bumblebee treaded cautiously, carefully trying to avoid waking his human charges. Sam and his parents had retired into the house to sleep after their Independence Day celebration was over. The Autobots couldn't truly understand the emotion behind the holiday but they had enjoyed watching the fireworks, Ironhide especially. After noticing the disappointment on Ron Witwicky's face after the last firework had sizzled out, Ironhide had fired a small missile from one of the cannons on his arm. The resulting explosion had been spectacular, although it temporarily blinded the humans. Optimus wasn't amused but the cheers from Ron and Sam convinced him that no harm was done.

Bumblebee slowly advanced into the forest, doing his best to avoid making too much noise. He arrived into a small clearing. The blue optics of the other Autobots stared back at him.

"Bumblebee, 'bout time he showed up," Ironhide growled. Bumblebee responded with several clicks of annoyance.

"Yes, I can now fully examine his functions," Ratchet replied. He raised his arm and fired a red beam at Bumblebee's vocal processors. Bumblebee squeaked and grabbed for his throat.

"Ratchet, I hate it when you do that!" Ratchet responded by giving Bumblebee a look so severe, Bumblebee was afraid the doctor's systems would overheat from annoyance. The Autobot sighed and allowed Ratchet to finish his work.

"All of your systems check out Bumblebee. Your repaired legs work better than I had anticipated. I am still worried about you vocal processors. I managed to fix them, but I do not know if it will be permanent. If we were on Cybertron I could easily fix the problem, but since we are not…"

"We will worry about that if it comes to it. We might never need to worry about it," Bumblebee replied. Ratchet nodded, though it was clear that he was still worried.

"How does Sam do emotionally?" Optimus asked.

"Good," Bumblebee replied, "although I have noticed that he has bad dreams every once and awhile. He does seem most happy whenever Mikaela is around."

"Good, it is important that he tries to live a normal life. Does he know how much danger he is in?"

"I don't think he fully understands. Speaking of danger…"

"The Decepticons on this planet are few and scattered," Ratchet said.

"We know the Decepticon punk Starscream has left the planet," Ironhide added.

"There is no reason of course to believe that he won't return," Optimus replied. "The Decepticons will want to take revenge on this planet."

"Don't know why," Ironhide replied, "Megatron snuffing it was probably the best thing to happen to Starscream. We all know he only groveled to Megatron in order to gain power."

"Yes, but I sensed that Megatron served a power that was greater than himself," Optimus muttered. "We did not have enough power to defeat Megatron."

"Megatron was entombed in ice for many years," Ratchet said reasonably, "He was not traversing the universe like we were. He was 'resting' for lack of a better word."

"Hmm…" Optimus replied. The Autobots fell into silence. "We should return to the humans," Optimus said, breaking the silence. The other Autobots nodded.

***

The next day Sam and his family prepared to return to their house. Bumblebee gave the other Autobots a heartfelt goodbye. As they watched the other Autobots retreat into the woods Sam felt that he had to say something.

"You know, you could go with them. You don't need to stay here with me. All of you could be hunting Decepticons. Surely that is more fun than staying here with me?"

Bumblebee blinked at the young human. "I want to stay with my friend," he said simply, "my best friend." Sam's lower lip trembled and he nodded to the Autobot, to overcome with emotion to respond.

The group began the journey home, taking to the highway as the humans called it. Halfway through the journey home Bumblebee spoke.

"Sam, friends do things for each other right?"

"Sure."

"I need to be washed. This journey has gotten dust all over my paint. I am filthy."

"I'll wash you when I get home."

"There is a carwash that a group of humans set up a few miles from here. They are trying to raise money for an event. We should go there."

"I don't want to pay money for something I can do for free."

"Well, if you wait until we get home," Bumblebee replied, choosing his words carefully, "everyone will see that you drive a dirty car. It might damage your reputation…"

Bumblebee had said the magic words. Sam eyes had gotten wide and he sat up perfectly straight in his seat. "You're right! Get to that car wash!"

As they got closer to their destination they saw carwash signs along the highway.

"Bumblebee," Sam said in an odd voice. "You didn't tell me who would be washing you."

"Is it a problem?"

"No, not at all," Sam replied in a dreamy voice. They took an exit and emerged into a small city. Bumblebee followed the signs that told where the carwash was. He entered into a line of cars that were waiting to be washed. Sam nervously checked his reflection in the rearview mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair than peered out the window.

The line moved quickly and soon it was Bumblebee's turn to be washed. One of the washers approached Sam. She was a human female around Sam's age. What Bumblebee found interesting about her was the fact that she wore very little clothing. Small pieces of cloth had been tied around her chest and the area where her legs joined her body. Sam shifted in his seat and without scanning the boy Bumblebee sensed that his pheromone levels were wild. Bumblebee thought back to that fateful night when Sam had met the Autobots and concluded what Ratchet had concluded; Sam wanted to mate with this female.

"Hey, baby," the bikini clad girl said. "You want us to wash your car?"

"Yeah you can wash me, I mean wash the car," Sam stuttered.

"It will be five dollars," the girl said. "All the money goes to the football team. We are trying to raise enough money to send them to the state finals."

"That's great," Sam replied, smiling stupidly. Bumblebee doubted Sam heard a word the girl said. The girl motioned and about twenty other girls that were dressed like her ran over to Bumblebee and Sam, carrying with them several buckets of soapy water. Sam turned bright red as the girls went to work. Bumblebee was pleased. The girls did an excellent job cleaning him. They even made sure they got his roof. Sam had turned even redder at this point, a feat that Bumblebee hadn't thought possible.

The girls worked quickly and efficiently. Bumblebee was soon gleaming in the sun. In less than ten minutes the girl who had spoken to Sam returned for payment.

"Here you go," Sam said, handing her five dollars, "plus a little extra for doing an excellent job." This time twenty dollars was handed over.

"Thanks," the girl said, and she leaned over and kissed Sam lightly on the cheek. Sam once again turned red and Bumblebee drove away.

Bumblebee got back onto the highway. Sam just sat silently, his hand pressed to his cheek where the girl had kissed him.

"Bumblebee, since we are friends you have to do something for me," Sam said suddenly.

"What?"

"You're a guy right? Well, if you were human I think you would be a guy. Now friends, who are guys, have something called 'guy time.' This is something that they do together that they don't tell their girlfriends exactly what they did. We just had guy time."

"So we don't tell Mikaela I was washed?"

"No, we do. We just tell her that a bunch of hairy old men did it."

"I see." Bumblebee would have smiled if his current form had a mouth. Guy time. He liked it.