For The Race – Prime Protector.
Chapter Twelve.
Sam's fingers returned to the window-glass - a little firmer this time - hesitated, and then trailed over to the edges of the windows, where the glass met the metal, and Optimus allowed another silent sigh to escape from his vents. He was not sure how far Sam's experiment would take her, was expecting her to pull back at some stage, embarrassed or frightened as she had done in the past, but this was still progress.
As Sam's delicate digits traced around the door edge and then trailed over his side and up his back he lifted his arm to allow her access. He felt more than saw her shuffle around behind him, then felt both sets of digits explore his back, comparing textures and examining seams, and he lowered the arm as much as for support as because there was no longer any need to hold it clear.
Any moment he was expecting a jerk back, a stammered apology, but he was pleased when it didn't come. He knew that the longer this went on, the more likely Sam was to feel nervous, but at that particular point, he didn't care, had passed caring about that a few moments ago. He'd deal with that when it happened, but until then he was going to enjoy it!
He was jerked out of his revere by a com from Ratchet. 'Not now Ratchet!' he sent back before the medic, who was by now out of his recharge and currently on duty in the main Base hub, could say anything.
'Sorry, Optimus, but Starscream is calling the Base. He's asked to speak to you,' the medic replied.
'You're the one on duty, you keep telling me to delegate, Ratchet and I'm delegating now. You deal with him, tell him I'm unavailable.'
'Certainly, Optimus,' Ratchet said, but the flash of intent curiosity he sent down the link before he closed it told Optimus that the matter was not over. He knew that Ratchet would find Optimus' lack of availability unusual for him, and that coupled with the non-visibilty of Sam in the same period would have more than just Ratchet working out the facts. However, as Sam's questing hands reached up to caress his neck seam, Optimus decided he didn't, as the humans might say, give a damn.
He let his head fall back as Sam allowed her hands to slide round his neck and flatten against his upper chest, and couldn't keep the gasp from his vocaliser as she pressed the length of her wonderfully pliant and warm body against his back.
He was used to touching back long before this point, Optimus liked to consider himself a considerate lover and none of the subjects of his liaisons, mech or femme, had ever faulted him, but he was scared of frightening Sam off by responding. He noticed that Sam's touches were no longer tentative and shy, but firm and confident, and decided to take a chance on this. After all, was Sam really expecting her touches to elicit no reaction at all? The worst that could happen would be Sam getting frightened, and Optimus hoped that if there was one thing Sam had learned, it was that Optimus wouldn't hurt her.
As Sam stood on tiptoes to reach her hands further down his chest, Optimus bent double at the waist.
Sam let out a startled cry as her feet left the berth, and another as the Prime reached his hands around to tumble her off his back and over one shoulder, catching her in his arms. He saw her look up at him, startled and a little uncertain, and quickly sought to reassure her.
"It's not fair, you're not getting anything back," he explained, closing his arms gently around her, stilling his hands as he held her to his chest lovingly. He paid close attention to the level of tension in her body, the movements of her limbs, and was relieved when Sam shifted a little in his arms. There was no sudden jerk, no thrashing, no pushing away. She was, he theorised, merely making herself more comfortable.
He felt her hands settle once again on his chest, sliding up to his neck again, then she gave a quick wriggle upwards, and he felt her hands slide up his neck and settle gently on his audios. He could not hold back a cry and a tremor that ran all through him at this, for he numbered amongst the two-thirds of his kind who had sensitive audios. He tipped his head back to find Sam regarding him with wide optics, and at first though she was going to choose that moment to startle and shy away, but then he realised that Sam may have misinterpreted his cry.
"Don't stop, Sam, it's just sensitive," he managed to say, and his guess turned out to be correct, for Sam returned to stroking his audios, and he let out a little moan of pleasure as she slid her fingers up one antenna. He found himself wondering, in the small part of his processors still capable of logical thought, why Sam had not pulled back before now, when other, much more innocent touches had sent her into a virtual panic.
He carefully shifted Sam into the crook of one arm and used his free hand to caress up and down her back, lightly brushing one shoulder and her neck with just the tips of his fingers, and she let out a happy little cry at the touch. Turning his head a little, he found her stomach just on a level with his mouth, so it was a natural thing to turn his head a little more, lean in and kiss that beautifully shaped, plated and smooth expanse, and the little twitches and gasps the contact caused made him bold, and he began bestowing tiny, gentle kisses all over her stomach.
Her back arched and she let out a keen, and Optimus decided it was time they were both in a more comfortable position, before the need arose and they were both too far gone in their pleasure. Reaching his free hand up to help balance Sam, he leaned back and then rolled smoothly onto his side, settling Sam on the berth beside him, resuming his caresses with one hand and holding Sam gently to him with the other.
Sam, after pausing at the initial movement, wiggled her legs in a most delicious way before using both hands to stroke Optimus' antennae, and Optimus continued his kissing, but worked his way down her body. When his lips began touching her crotch plate she twitched and cried out, her hands tightening involuntarily on his antennae, a touch that made him cry out in turn. As he continued to tease sensation out of the sensitive armour concealing her port, she slid her hands back down his antennae and began caressing his helm.
She was beginning to shake and her cries were coming more and more frequently, and Optimus' own optics were beginning to white out. He slid his hands down and took hold of Sam's aft, pressing her gently to him as his glossa flicked out to trace along the joints and grooves on her stomach and crotch.
For Sam, inexperienced with such techniques, it was too much: she screamed and collapsed in her second overload of the day. Her own overload was enough to tip Optimus himself over the edge: his cry followed hers and he followed her into overload. He recovered long enough afterwards to tuck her securely into his arms, resting her head against his chest, before he happily entered recharge beside her.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
He was woken, hours later, by a com from Ratchet.
'I trust I'm not interrupting anything?' he asked archly.
'No, not at all, I've just been taking a little recharge,' he replied. Ratchet's response was a pointed silence, which the medic broke with a commed sound of amusement before it had a chance to become awkward.
'Ratchet, I don't know if you can shed any light on this or not.' Optimus said. 'I'm not complaining, far from it, but Sam seemed far more receptive to my advances than I was expecting, and didn't shy away as she usually does. Can you offer any possible explanation for it?'
'Thank Primus for that, it's about slagging time!' Ratchet replied with a jubilant tone.'I was beginning to wonder if the AllSpark had forgotten her programming!'
'What do you mean?'Optimus asked.
'All femmes come, in their adult forms, equipped with programming, which includes femme-specific programming.'Ratchet explained. 'In other words, Sam's femme programming is beginning to overcome her human, learned prejudices and preconceptions. I think she's beginning to feel alright as a femme, beginning to accept her new gender. I was expecting it, but I had hoped it might manifest itself sooner.'
Optimus was about to think up a reply to that when he felt Sam stir, she was coming out of recharge. He cut Ratchet off and focused his entire attention on Sam, not sure how she would react when not curious about touch or under the influence of her charge.
She snuggled briefly closer to his chest, then unshuttered her optics. She seemed to take stock of her situation, and then pushed away from him. Optimus opened his arms a little, disappointed at her reaction but pleased to note it was a reasonably leisurely push away, not a panicked one.
"Um – Optimus, er, hi," she said. "I – um..." She ran out of words and abruptly looked away, finding something on the berth invisible to Optimus' sight suddenly absorbingly interesting. Optimus got the impression that if Sam could still blush, she'd be redder than the proverbial tomato.
"I would surmise that the experiment in touch was very successful," he replied. "You got empirical proof of how sensitive my body, at least, can be. I assure you that my reactions are a fairly good standard, I have few sensitivities not shared by most mechs."
It was an out, not a very graceful one, but Sam took it with both hands.
"Um, yeah, I guess so," she said. "Look, Bumblebee should be back from patrol, I should let him know I'm rested. Maybe we can fit in some shoulder-cannon practice."
Optimus nodded, and watched as Sam scrambled off the berth and almost ran for the door. Once the door had closed behind the femme, he sighed through his vents and sat up, re-opening the connection to Ratchet.
'Ratchet, what did Starscream want?' he asked, recalling the reason for the earlier interruption.
'He was talking about our Base defences. He didn't say so outright, but I think they've discovered the anti-warp field, because I got the impression he was fishing for information.'
'Then it must work, or we'd have found out otherwise by Skywarp turning up again,' Optimus replied, feeling a surge of both relief and disappointment. Relief because it meant Sam was safer, but disappointed because he now had no reason to suggest she recharge in his room.
Ratchet sent an assent. 'Well, my stint in here is over, Mirage has just turned up to relieve me,'he said. 'I'll advise him of Starscream's communication and what we've surmised, then I'll be heading back to the med bay, someone's bound to require my medic's skills sooner or later.' The medic broke the communication, and Optimus leaned back with a small smile on his face.
Okay, Sam had still, upon waking, responded to his human preconceptions, but Optimus remembered their overloads, and couldn't help but feel that some significant progress had been made.