A/N: Yeah, long delay. Yay uni. I hope you all like this one. It's kinda fluffy, but more about Harmony's wonder about seeing the femmes.
Disclaimer: No, TF's not mine.
Family is Forever – Chapter 21 – The femmes
"Papa! Is that them, is that them?"
Seeing where his femmeling was pointing at a little dot in the sky, Jazz re-calibrated his visor to give him a closer view. He grinned and hoisted the white youngling onto his shoulder, nodding. "Good optics sweetspark. That's the femmes ship."
Only a few mechs had been permitted outside of the Ark for when the femmes touched down.
There would have been a stampede otherwise.
Prowl and Jazz stood together, Harmony on Jazz's shoulder with her doorwings twitching in anticipation. Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet and Red Alert were there as well, although Red Alert looked considerably nervous. He kept muttering, 'out and exposed, what if they were imposters? What if…what if…'
A faint whine carried on the wind as the lithe silver space ship flew closer and closer to the Ark, before making a smooth touchdown in front of the mechs. Nothing moved for a few moments, before a panel popped open on the side of the ship and a speaker extended. Out of it flowed a smooth female voice, like liquid honey. "Permission to disembark on Earth?"
"Granted," called out Optimus, smiling underneath his battlemask at the sound of his sparkmate's voice.
A door on the side opened, a ladder extending. The mechs (and little femme) waited with bated intake for the femmes to appear. A tall, graceful frame moved into view, revealing the ethereal form of the Autobot Femme Commander, Elita-1. Her pink plating shone in the light of the day, and her optics were bright and warm from seeing her most trusted friends and equals again. She stepped down the ramp, full of confidence, smiling.
"Wow," whispered Harmony, optics practically bugging out of her helm. "She's so pretty. Will I ever be as pretty as that Father?"
Leaning over to whisper in his daughter's audial, Prowl replied, "Yes, and even more."
Elita, however, only had optics for Optimus and she stood before him, her brilliant smile saying it all.
"Sir."
"Ma'am."
Elita canted her helm to the side before she turned around and called out behind her, "Femmes, disembark!"
Out of the ramp came four other femmes. Chromia, strutting down with her guns in her hands, smirking at her own mate, Ironhide. Moonracer, looking around with curious blue optics. Firestar, spotting Red Alert and waving at her fellow fire rescue mech. And Arcee, who squealed excitedly upon setting her first pede on Earth.
"Welcome, femmes, to Earth," greeted Prowl, offering a tiny smile in greeting while the rest of the mechs beamed at the small contingent.
Harmony was silent, gazing at the femmes. They looked like her! Kinda. The same sort of frame which made them different from mechs. She couldn't help her youngling awe and she stared at them. They were so pretty, and in all different colours too! The way they moved was so graceful.
Elita quickly went over some intel and official Autobot business when a small touch on her arm drove her attention away from Optimus. She saw it was Prowl and she moved away, noticing for the first time the little youngling sitting on Jazz's shoulder. Her optics widened but she stayed silent as they moved away from the small gathering to ensure privacy. The pink femme smiled at her friends, glad to see them well. "Prowl, Jazz…so very pleasing to see you both alive and functional. Although I must ask…how long have you been bonded?"
Jazz chuckled and patted his still quiet daughters leg. "Since Harmony here was online. Ah had a heat cycle…and well…one thing led to another. So…Elita-1, meet our daughter Harmony, Harmony, meet Elita-1."
Prowl and Jazz watched as Harmony seemed to come out of her trance and she flicked her doorwings uncertainly before reaching out a little hand just like her creators had taught her to.
Elita smiled reassuringly at the little youngling, grasping the smaller hand gently in hers. "Why hello there. It's so nice to meet a youngling, and a femme at that," she cooed, feeling a carrier like instinct click on within her. She marvelled at the young being before her, the way her little doorwings wiggled and she looked so curious! She had Jazz's build in a femme frame, and Prowl's doorwings.
She was gorgeous.
Harmony smiled back, a little shy. The pretty femme was talking to her!
Prowl shared a look with Jazz. They knew that Harmony really needed to spend time with the femmes. As much as they did as creators, Harmony needed to see society from the perspective of her own frame type. Thinking quickly, the Praxian frowned and said to Elita, "My apologies Elita, but it seems there is an urgent matter with the twins for Jazz and I to take care of. Would you mind looking after Harmony for us for a little while?"
"Of course," the pink femme said graciously, taking the white femme from Jazz arms as the two black and white mechs left, telling the others where they were going.
Harmony shifted uncomfortably. She didn't know Elita at all, and although she seemed nice, she didn't know for sure.
But then again, Father had said that Elita was Uncle Optimus's bondmate. And Uncle Optimus wouldn't have chosen a mean sparkmate.
The Femme Commander seemed to pick up on this and she gently turned the younglings helm to look at her. "Why are you so nervous, young one? I don't bite," she asked.
The white youngling blushed a little, but she answered boldly, "I never knew how different I really was until I saw you all…and you're all so pretty and shiny. Not like the mechs on the Ark."
Elita smile turned sad. She wished she could bring her femmes down here to live on Earth, if only so that she and her femmes would be able to interact with this youngling, but it wouldn't be fair on Ultra Magnus to leave Cybertron for him to handle. Sighing, she replied, "We are different. But it is in being different that we are strong. Mechs have their strengths and weaknesses, as do femmes depending on frame type. As for me being pretty, why thank you. You are very pretty as well. I can tell you have such fine creators and they have raised you well."
That one comment made Harmony beam proudly, and she leaded back in the Femme Commanders arms to look at the other femmes who were mingling with the other officers.
Well, Arcee, Moonracer and Firestar were mingling with Ratchet, Optimus and Red Alert. If Elita wasn't mistaken, Chromia had dragged Ironhide away into the Ark for some private time.
"Would you like to meet the other femmes?" she asked Harmony.
"Yes please," answered Harmony, curiosity back in full force.
Arcee turned first and cooed at Harmony, coming up and stroking her helm. "Oh my Primus! You are so cute! Isn't she cute Moonie?"
Moonracer smiled as she stepped forward, less exuberant than the younger pink femme as she looked at Harmony. "She is. You can definitely tell who her creators are. It's about time those two stubborn mechs got together."
Firestar laughed, coming over and also looking at Harmony, who was feeling more than a bit shy, surrounded by the femmes. She curled into Elita's hold at the strange faces.
"Ease, femmes," admonished Elita lightly, "She's been around mechs her whole life."
Firestar laughed once more, and promised, "Don't worry, once our week is up here on Earth, lil' Harmony will know all about being a femme."
A week later
Harmony giggled as Elita tickled her, blowing air over her abdomen. She then shrieked her laughter as slim fingers tickled her vents. Firestar tackled her commander, yelling, "Run! Harmony, run away!"
Jumping up, the white youngling dashed towards the 'safe zone' as the other femmes had called it, giving a high-five to Chromia who winked at her and ran out to join in the light-hearted brawl that had started between the femmes. Harmony watched, just like Aunt Elita had told her to, to see how they got out of each other's hold, becoming as slippery as the eels Hound had shown her once, and how to defend from certain attacks.
Watching with keen optics, Harmony watched in awe as Elita shook off Firestar, ducked under Moonracer and jumped over a charging Chromia to meet her in the safe zone.
"What have you learned today?" the pink femme asked as she panted slightly from her exertions.
"Use your smaller size to escape as well as speed and better flexibility?" Harmony put forward carefully.
Elita nodded. "Very good."
"I echo that praise," came Prowl's voice as he strolled in, kneeling and letting his daughter run into his arms happily, cooing at him. He stood, youngling firmly in his arms as he asked her, "Did you have fun?"
"Yes! Aunty Elita is so good at getting out of things!" chirped Harmony, proud of herself. "Moonracer said I'm also running faster. Oh! And Chromia taught me that it's important to kick mech's afts to keep them in line."
Prowl frowned at the blue femme who smirked at him as she polished her guns. Shaking his helm, he said to his daughter, "That's only because Chromia has a mech she has to control."
"Hey!"
"Oooh," murmured the white femme. "So…I can't kick Track's aft when he's mean to me?"
"Oh dear Primus you all have corrupted her," the tactician deadpanned, although he inwardly granted his daughters wish. Not only that, but seeing Harmony interacting with the femmes, those who could, in some ways, understand her more than he or Jazz could, was spark-warming. He made a soft hum as Harmony suddenly yawned and rubbed her tired optics. He kissed her helm before addressing Elita.
"You have my thanks. I appreciate you spending time with her before you leave," the Praxian said appreciatively.
Elita smiled. "It was a pleasure." Her expression turned tender as she went on, "It was good to see a youngling again. To see the innocence we are fighting for."
Prowl smiled, thanking all the femmes once again before leaving, cradling his sleepy daughter close.
That night
A pair of lips met in a slow, soft kiss.
It was like rain on a parched desert procured by drought. They hadn't seen each other in so long, hadn't touched, hadn't kissed, hadn't loved, separated by the time and difference of two separate worlds.
"Optimus," murmured Elita, looping her arms around her bondmate's neck as he kissed over her cheeks, peppering them on her neck lines.
"I love you," rumbled the big mech, holding the lithe pink frame close.
"I love you too, my beloved," replied the femme breathlessly, thrilled at feeling her eternal love in her arms. The feeling growing in her spark ever since she had arrived here on Earth solidified, and she whispered, "I want your sparkling. I want a piece of you with me, even if I have to fight to protect him or her. I want a future, Orion."
Optimus halted his ministrations. He murmured, "Are you sure?"
Elita smirked. "If Prowl and Jazz can do it, why can't we?"
There were no more words said that night apart from the soft litanies of love as they created a being forged in the power and love of one of the strongest sparkbonds in Cybertrons history.
A/N: Wow. Another long-ish one.
I hope you liked this. Reviews are definitely loved.
And yes, I do love the pairing of OP/Elita…I love the femmes in general, but they weren't given enough development in G1 at all. (And, seemingly, in every other verse but TF:Prime.)