-1Sweet Child of Mine - 5

Bumblebee had taken Storm to the lookout early that morning, hoping they would catch the sunrise. Another few months had passed now and the twins were fairly reasonable when it came to Storm spending time with some of the other mechs. So long as she didn't go near Red Alert, almost anyone else was fine. She spent time learning how to shoot when she was with Ironhide; Ratchet taught her about medical information, giving her basic medical manuals to study in her spare time. She patrolled with Sunstreaker and Prowl during the days and with Sideswipe and Jazz in the evenings.

Her free time, though, was spent with Bumblebee, either at the lookout, racing through the canyons or hanging out at the lake. Bumblebee had become her best friend aside from her fathers. Like him, she was a scout model so time spent with Bumblebee meant she also got to learn things from him. He was also the one who first introduced her to their human allies. Storm had liked both Sam and Mikaela and had really enjoyed meeting Will Lennox and his family as well.

This morning, however, there were no plans for either of them. Bumblebee had simply wanted to show her the sunrise and Storm had been more than happy to join him. Her fathers had been arguing the night before and when she'd woken, Sunstreaker had been painting in holoform, his protoform was pretty banged up and his holoform was sporting bruises along his arms and just below the collar of his shirt. She hadn't said anything to him about them and he'd kissed her, told her he loved her and to have fun. Sideswipe was nowhere to be seen.

"This is beautiful, Bee," she said softly as they sat there, their protoform gleaming as the sun came over the canyons. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"My pleasure, Storm. Figured you could use the quiet." Storm nodded slowly. "Everything okay?"

"I'm worried about my fathers," she said softly. "They were arguing again last night and then this morning Sideswipe was gone and Sunstreaker's holoform had bruises again. He was painting and he didn't say much, except that he loved me and to have fun." Bumblebee nodded, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"Their fights were legendary before you came along but they always made up for it with each other and everything would be fine. Sounds like things have changed." Storm nodded slowly.

"I think a lot of it has to do with Sideswipe's friendship with Mirage. I mean, I don't see why Sunny has a problem with 'Raj. He's pretty cool if you ask me. He can be invisible and he's pretty funny at times. Sides said that Sunny was jealous of Mirage but I don't know why."

Bumblebee knew… he knew the whole story, all of it. He couldn't tell that to Storm, though. He didn't want to cause her to feel as if she had to choose sides between her fathers.

"Sideswipe's known Mirage a really long time, Storm. Sometimes, Sunstreaker worries that Sideswipe might get in trouble and he won't be there to take care of him." It was the only think Bee could think of to say without worrying the femme at his side.

"I guess you're right," she said quietly with a smile. After a moment she turned and kissed him on the cheek. "You taking me racing today or swimming?" Bumblebee grinned and helped her up off the ground.

"Wherever you want to go, sweetheart. I'm all yours today…"

Sunstreaker had finished working on the latest canvas while in holoform and stepped back, looking at it, his head tilted slightly as he did so. It wasn't his best work but it would suffice for now. He quickly allowed his holoform to dissolve back into his protoform before leaving his quarters and heading down to Prowl's office. He wanted to check the rosters for the coming week and talk to Prowl about taking more time with Stormfire if possible.

He knocked on Prowl's door and waited until he heard the sub commander's voice calling him inside. The door opened and he stepped inside, glancing around. He didn't see Prowl right away and stepped further into the office.

"Uhm… Prowl?"

"One second." Sunstreaker nodded to himself and looked around the office slowly with a small grin. Prowl had four of his smaller paintings hanging in the room and a couple of pictures Stormfire had drawn for him. Sunstreaker moved closer to one of them and traced a finger over it. She'd drawn herself with her fathers and Sunstreaker traced a finger across her drawing of Sideswipe. Where had he gone wrong…

"Hey," Prowl said as he appeared behind the yellow mech and Sunstreaker quickly turned around. "She'll be as good as you one of these days." Sunstreaker smiled and moved over to one of the chairs as Prowl moved around his desk to his own chair.

"For all we know she'll be better than me one day," Sunstreaker said with a grin. "Listen, I wanted to talk with you about next week's rosters." Prowl nodded and turned to pull data pads off his desk when he noticed the dent just beneath Sunstreaker's jaw and frowned slightly. Standing slowly, he moved around to the front of the desk, leaning against it, looking at the younger mech intently. He reached out and brushed one finger down Sunny's jaw to where the dent began. Sunstreaker flinched and turned his head away from the sub commander.

"Want to tell me what happened?" Prowl asked quietly.

"It was an accident, nothing more," Sunstreaker answered quietly. Prowl leaned back against the desk, watching him a moment longer.

"You've been having an awful lot of accidents lately, Sunny. You know, you can tell me anything and it will stay between you and me and in this office. He doesn't have to know you've talked to me."

"Prowl, there's nothing to talk about. Seriously. I'm just… I moved things around in our quarters the other day and I wasn't paying attention last night when I went to bed and I tripped, hit myself on a table. I'll be fine." Sunstreaker gave him a quick smile and Prowl nodded slowly. He'd talk to Prime later.

"All right then. But just so you know, if you need to talk, my door is open." Sunstreaker nodded and Prowl moved back behind his desk, picking up data pads as he did so. "So… next week you and Sides are back on patrol together and I'll put Storm with myself or Jazz a couple of those mornings. I've also got her patrolling with you both one day next week. I figured it'd be good for her."

"Thanks," Sunstreaker said quietly. "The opposite schedules are killing Sides and me. We barely see each other and when we do… well, we argue way too much. I don't want it to bother Storm." Prowl nodded.

"I understand. It's a change when there's a child around, but you know we're all here to help. Right?"

"I know," Sunstreaker said quietly. "Thank you, Prowl." Prowl nodded.

"No problem. All right, don't you have patrol in like half an hour?" Sunstreaker stood and nodded.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks. See you later tonight." Sunstreaker turned and walked out of Prowl's office, headed for the entrance of the base. He passed Prime's office and thought he heard Sideswipe's voice inside but shook it off for now. He'd talk to his twin later when he got back from patrol. Stepping outside, he quickly transformed and headed off to his sector for patrol.

Sideswipe came in from patrol half an hour later than he'd planned but it couldn't be helped. There had been traffic and he and Jazz had been caught behind a huge wreck and had offered to help. Now, back on base, he was hoping to find Mirage before Sunstreaker found him. He knew Stormfire was out with Ironhide who had taken her to meet the Lennox family. He walked into the main part of the base, through the office hallway and headed for the section that housed everyone's living quarters

Prime had been waiting for Sideswipe's return, as he wanted to talk to the red twin. The Autobot leader was bothered by how often Sunstreaker had been injured lately, and figured that if anyone knew, it would be his brother. He was informed when Sideswipe came onto the base, and quickly sent him a comm.

Sideswipe, if you could come to my office, please.

Sideswipe sighed heavily and answered the comm.

On my way, Prime.

Not what he'd been looking forward to; not at all. He knew there'd been whispers around the base and he knew what most of them were saying. He also knew Sunstreaker wouldn't have talked to Prime. His brother was still afraid of their leader even if he was slowly coming around. He turned and walked towards the offices, finding Prime's office and knocking on the door. The door slid open and Sideswipe walked inside, brushing a hand over his red armor.

"You wanted to see me?"

Prime watched Sideswipe, motioning for him to sit. Prime was still behind the desk, and he met Sideswipe's gaze. "I did. I wanted to speak to you about Sunstreaker." Prime paused. This was a delicate situation, and there really was no right way to ask Sideswipe about it. He shook his head. "Like others on base, I find myself concerned about him, and how many injuries he has lately." He left it open for Sideswipe to say anything, if he chose to.

Sideswipe raised a brow slightly as Prime began to speak. He hadn't been prepared to hear all of this. He didn't think Prime would ever come to him with all this. He wondered if Prime had just heard things around base or if someone had specifically come to the leader. He slowly shook his head.

"I haven't noticed that much, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of it. I know he's been putting in a lot of hours and he's been tired a lot lately. There are nights when he shuts out the lights and stumbles into things, his canvases... things like that..." Prime nodded, not convinced, but if he came out and accused Sideswipe, he would only protest.

"What about Stormfire?" Prime asked it softly, quickly continuing. "When she notices, and when she asks you and Sunstreaker, what then?" If Sideswipe would not give a more concrete answer for his daughter, then he would do it for no one. Sideswipe shifted slightly in the chair, frowning for a moment.

"Sunstreaker tells her what ever has happened. For instance, last night, we argued over my schedule and when I walked towards Storm's room to tell her goodnight, Sunstreaker tripped over his easel land fell, hitting one of the tables in the main room of our quarters. He banged himself up pretty good. I assume he told her the truth of that if she asked." Sideswipe's gaze narrowed just a little. He had a feeling Prime wasn't buying what he said, but so far, Prime hadn't outright asked anything more incriminating. Prime leaned forward, tensing.

"I see." There was a pause, tight and awkward. "Understand this, Sideswipe. Stormfire is under my protection as well. If anything, or anyone, is a danger to her, physically or mentally, I will remove them from her presence. I will also be watching over Sunstreaker more closely to insure his safety." His voice was even, low, deadly calm. "If you have nothing to add, then we are finished for now." He leaned backwards, still tense, his optics never leaving Sideswipe. Sideswipe watched him for a moment, listening to what his leader said and he gave a short smile that bordered on a smirk as he leaned forward in the chair where he sat.

"I can assure you that if I thought my daughter or my brother were in danger, I would do everything in my power to keep them safe. I can't imagine why you'd feel the need to pull me in here to simply reinforce what I already know. Is there, perhaps, something you know that maybe you'd like to share with me since, I mean, we are talking about my bondmate and my child." He was interested in seeing if Prime would actually come out and accuse him of something or if Prime was merely just making blind accusations based on rumors.

"Your answers to my questions match what someone in an abusive relationship would say. How would you describe your relationship with Sunstreaker at this point in time?" Prime relaxed a bit, now that the issue was out in the open. "Because I have been keeping an eye on both of you, and I have to say that what I find is... disturbing."

He had noticed that Sunstreaker did seem to get injured in their quarters - and only when Sideswipe was also there. While he would never invade the privacy of their quarters, he did keep track of the activity in the hallways. Going over the security tapes… Prime shook his head. And the way Sideswipe avoided his questions seemed to confirm it. "Are you arguing more lately?" Sideswipe's gaze narrowed slightly and he leaned back in his chair, regarding the older mech quietly for a moment.

"We've argued. We've even fought once or twice but it's not what you're making it out to be." He looked away a moment then turned back slowly. "Sunstreaker doesn't understand my relationship with Mirage, he no longer approves and he wants me to end it. I've told him I can't... I can't walk away from that, not after all this time. You know we've always fought or argued. You've never been so... concerned before. Why now all of a sudden?" No... Sideswipe knew it was worse than normal, but he felt justified in his actions... "If Sunstreaker would stop arguing with me, none of this would happen."

"I'm aware of your arguments." He paused. "If Sunstreaker would stop arguing, none of what would happen?" Prime studied Sideswipe, wondering if Ironhide had had a chance to speak to either of the twins. If not, Prime would suggest that he do so, with either of them, or even better, both of them.

"Nothing," Sideswipe said quietly. "Can I go now? I've been on patrol all night. I'd like to see Sunstreaker before he leaves for patrol. These opposite shifts aren't helping matters between us any...it's making things worse if you want the truth. He accuses me of doing things I'm not doing. He gets angry... we argue... we fight... he knows I don't mean it and he knows I'd never hurt him on purpose. Now. Are we done?"

Prime sighed, but nodded. "Go, and I'll see what I can do about getting you some overlapping shifts. I know Ironhide would like to spend more time with Stormfire, so maybe times when he is free." He would talk to Prowl about it later. Maybe Stormfire would be willing to talk about what was going on if she was away from her creators. Sideswipe stood slowly and turned to leave. At the door, he stopped and turned back slowly.

"I know you think things are worse than I'm letting on about them being, but it'll be fine. I've been reading about what human parents go through when they first have a child and it's nothing different than what Sunny and I are going through. It's a big change for us both. It just takes time. You have to trust us to work this out for ourselves. You can't fix everything."

"And I was simply offering to arrange for you and Sunstreaker to have some time together, since you said that spending time apart was making things worse." Prime studied Sideswipe once again. Sideswipe nodded slowly.

"Understood. I'll talk to Sunstreaker later today when he gets back from patrol. Oh, and Prime? I would think you'd have better things to do than listen to rumors especially since you know how much some of our faction has never much liked Sunstreaker or myself... just... you know... think about it. I mean, seriously, do you honestly think I'd hurt my own bondmate?" He shrugged and turned to go, walking out of the office and headed for his quarters, passing Prowl in the hallway as he did.

Prowl watched Sideswipe walk past his and Sunny's quarters and head for Mirage's instead. He watched as Sideswipe unlocked the door and walked inside. Frowning slightly, he turned and walked into Prime's office, closing the door behind him.

"I think we have a problem." Prime looked up when he entered and nodded slowly, motioning him to come closer.

"I think you may be right," Prime answered quietly. "I just talked with Sideswipe and some of his answers - well, all of his answers bothered me a great deal. Now, I value personal privacy as much as anyone else, but I think we may need to start reviewing the security tapes from their room." Prowl nodded slowly.

"I just saw Sunstreaker before he left for patrol. He's got new dents just below his jaw. I asked him what happened and he told me he fell into a table."

"That's at least consistent with what Sideswipe told me earlier." Prime leaned back in his chair as Prowl sat down across from him. "Are we wrong, do you think? Is it possible that the twins are just having trouble adjusting to being parents and the fighting between them has just gotten more noticeable than before?" Prowl shrugged.

"Anything's possible I guess. Sideswipe's continued relationship with Mirage isn't helping matters any, though. I just saw him go into Mirage's quarters on my way here. Didn't even stop at his quarters." Prime frowned slightly.

"Where's Storm?" he asked quietly.

"She's out with Bumblebee today," Prowl answered with a smile. "She and the Bee have become very good friends as of late and I think she enjoys spending time with him. He's good for her. Even Sunstreaker approves of it and sometimes, whenever Sideswipe isn't around, he goes out with them."

"Speaking of which," Prime said, leaning forward, "I'd like to put the twins on overlapping schedules if we can. Maybe giving them more time off together will help settle things between them. I'll talk to Ironhide too and see if he can talk with them and find out anything from them." Prowl nodded in agreement.

"I'd already adjusted their schedules for next week and I think talking to Ironhide is a good idea." He stood slowly and gave Prime a curious glance. "Do you really think… I mean, do you believe Sideswipe could really hurt Sunstreaker just for the hell of hurting him?"

"I hope not," Prime answered softly, "but I won't know for sure until we look at those security tapes." Prowl nodded.

"I'll bring them by later," the sub commander said quietly as he turned and walked out of the office. Prime watched him go then leaned back in his chair, hoping to think of a solution before things got worse…

Bumblebee had taken Storm to the lake once they'd left the lookout and now, as their alt forms were parked in the sun, their holoforms were busy swimming in the lake. Bumblebee's holoform had on dark blue swimming trunks over tanned skin. His dark blond locks were soaked and sticking to his face, partially hiding baby blue eyes. Storm's holoform was a little shorter than Bee's with tanned skin, a dark orange two piece bathing suit, blue eyes and shoulder length hair that was streaked blond and auburn. Storm looked to be about sixteen years old and Bee's holoform looked to be in his early twenties. So far, none of the other humans presence had seemed to notice or care.

As they came out of the lake and back onto land, it was slowly approaching late afternoon and most of the other humans had left. One or two remained but they were in the lake or on the other side from where Bee and Storm had parked. They walked towards the blanket Storm had brought with them and they both sat down then lay back, just letting the afternoon sun warm their cooling skin.

After a few minutes, Storm shifted to her side, watching Bumblebee quietly. Bee knew she was looking at him and turned to watch her as well.

"You okay?" he asked softly, reaching out to brush a lock of hair from her face.

"Yeah," she answered quietly, shifting again until she could lay closer to him. He turned onto his back once more and pulled her against his chest, letting her rest her head just between his chest and shoulder. She draped an arm across him and closed her eyes.

"You know, we have to go back soon. Your fathers are going to be looking for you."

"I know. Just… a few more minutes, okay?"

"Okay," Bee said quietly, closing his own eyes as well.

They lay there, the breeze blowing around them, enjoying the quiet of the area…

…or at least he was until he heard the familiar scream of turbine engines growing closer and the sound of a police siren that he knew didn't belong to Prowl. Pulling Storm with him he moved quickly.

"Get back into your protoform. Now!" Storm did as he told her, the McLaren F1 firing up it's engines. Bumblebee dissolved back into the Camero and he burned rubber against the grass turning and trying to stay as close to Storm as he could. The F-22 got closer and he knew the Saleen Mustang wasn't far behind.

"Bumblebee to base. We're under attack. I repeat, we are at the lake and we are under attack…"

Explosions rocked the ground around them and Storm skidded out Bumblebee following her as Barricade came around a corner, transforming before he even came to a complete stop. Bumblebee followed suit, blocking Barricade's shot at Storm, catching the Decepticon in the leg as he did so.

Overhead, Starscream came closer and Bumblebee noticed another jet with him. Had to be Thundercracker. He tried sending another message but the jets were blocking him. He turned to see Storm had transformed and had her cannons online aimed at the Seekers above them.

"Who are they?" she yelled at Bee.

"Deceptions. We have to try and hold them off until the others arrive." He turned his own cannons onto Barricade, silently praying that he could hold them off and keep Storm safe…

It took fifteen minutes before Sunstreaker managed to track down Bumblebee's first signal… but his arrival was too late.

Prowl was close behind along with Prime, Ratchet and Bluestreak. They found Sunstreaker kneeling on the ground, hands brushing over scorch marks on the street, one hand clutching two pieces of metal.. .one orange and one yellow. Prowl came to him and knelt next to him, carefully setting on hand on Sunstreaker's shoulder.

"We'll find them, Sunny. I promise you, we'll find them…"