Yay! New chapters! The workload from school has let up a bit, considering I'm on fall break. Anyway, in this chap Optimus gets a little time with Arcee and the kids.
This starts off in Optimus's POV. I don't own nothin' and I ain't making a profit off this.
Let's light this candle!
I heard a loud voice as I was being fed by Ratchet. I jolted and looked down at the source of the voice. Before I could recognize exactly who it was, my energon went down too swiftly, causing me to cough loudly. The coughing grew harder as I felt my entire frame shake with each one. My throat began to burn. I was quickly taken from Ratchet's arms and held by someone else, my coughing hard enough to force my optics to tear up, blurring my vision. I felt a servo lightly pat my back, successfully slowing the coughing. A single tear flowed down my faceplates but was speedily wiped away by a black servo. I rubbed my optics and looked up to see Bumblebee's large blue optics staring down at me, full of careful concern.
"You okay, Optimus?" The scout buzzed. I nodded, failing to find my voice in a timely manner. Relieved, he looked back up at the rest of the bots. My instincts temporarily took control as I reached towards the cube in Ratchet's servo, making small grabbing motions with my little servos. My throat felt raw from the coughing, but I was in need of refueling. The medic chuckled and took me from Bumblebee's arms. I nestled into the crook of his arm and grabbed the sides of the energon cube again, pulling it closer to my mouth. Ratchet slowly tilted the cube as the same voice from before sounded.
"How in George Washington's name did that even happen?" I vaguely recognized the voice, but my attention was focused on refueling.
"One of Wheeljack's inventions blew and Optimus was caught in the blast." My tanks were now very close to being full and I allowed myself to center my attention elsewhere. I let go of the cube and looked down to see Jack trying to explain my current condition to Agent Fowler. I blinked down at the human when he looked up at me.
"Well, regardless of how it happened, we still have a serious problem. If the Cons find out about what happened to Prime-" Agent Fowler glared at the rest of the bots.
"They won't find out." Arcee said firmly.
"Let's hope they don't. If they get past you bots, who knows what they'll do to the little guy. And I highly doubt he can defend himself." I frowned at Agent Fowler's statement. I know that I am a sparkling, but I still have my T-Cog. After more thought, I realized that even though I still have my T-Cog, it was more than likely that my repair systems reverted the organ back to the underdeveloped state of a sparkling's. With an undeveloped T-Cog, I could no longer transform or activate my weapons system.
I was completely helpless.
"Agent Fowler, I'm going to ask you to keep Optimus's current… condition hidden from your human leaders." Ratchet asked the man in a serious tone. He had a right to be concerned. If the humans' leaders learn of my transformation, they may believe that the Autobots were completely leaderless and feel that they need to take military actions against Decepticons for us. That scenario will only result in widespread human casualties and the exposure of the presence of Cybertronians on Earth. The human arched an eyebrow.
"I wasn't planning on it. The higher-ups don't need to know everything about you bots. "
"Thank you, Agent Fowler. I take it you came here for a report. Well, thus far, the Cons have been relatively quiet. I have detected slightly less activity from them. However, we will remain on edge." Ratchet replied, placing the small energon cube I had finished drinking from onto a nearby workbench.
"Is he still, you know, there?" Fowler asked, looking me in the optics. I silently blinked back at him.
Arcee answered first. "Yeah, he's still there. Optimus recognized us when we first found his like this." Fowler seemed relieved at her words.
"Good. The last thing we need is Prime losing his memories again. I need to go and report back to General Bryce. I'll see you bots around." The human gave me a small smile before heading over to the elevator. After Agent Fowler left, Ratchet turned to Arcee.
"I have repairs to make on the Ground Bridge's central operating systems. You will have to watch over Optimus for the time being." With that, he handed me to the blue femme. Arcee held me at her hip and watched Ratchet take a few tools and a datapad off his workbench and walk over to the Ground Bridge. What exactly did they have planned for me to do? I doubt Arcee would allow me to operate the monitor and scan over the Iacon Database. Miko walked to stand next to Arcee's pede.
"So, what now?"
…Arcee's POV…
Miko stood next to my pede as I held Optimus closer to my chassis. I had never imagined the largest bot on our team to be so small and helpless as a sparkling. I can't help but feel protective over him, as I had for other sparklings in my family during the Great War. When the sparklings were around in my family, I was too young to take full responsibility in caring for them, but I liked being around them. Sparklings give me a sort of peace of mind that nothing else has been able to provide. For a long time, I had dreamed of having my own after the war. To stop fighting and settle down would be nice.
But now is not the time to think about stuff like that. Right now, I need to watch over Optimus. As a sparkling, he was very quiet. But when he was sleeping, he was rather chatty. He kept me up at night with his clicking and chirping. I wonder what he was dreaming about. Last night, he had curled up in the fetal position, occasionally twitching. He never said anything about it this morning, but I doubt he remembers it, whatever it was.
Suddenly, Optimus started to squirm uncomfortably next to me. I looked at him, concerned. "What's wrong, Optimus?" He had this almost desperate look on his face as he glanced between me and the kids. I'm really starting to get concerned. Optimus never looked this distressed, regardless of what situation he was in.
Then, it all came together. I smiled in relief.
I know what's bothering him.
…Optimus's POV…
This is very embarrassing.
I was being held by my femme teammate and I was beginning to get an intense and uncomfortable sensation in my waste tank. I know I drank quite a bit of energon for my size today and yesterday but I did not realize how quickly it would pass through my systems. I had no idea how to tell Arcee where I needed go without making a fool of myself.
I opted to squirm in her grip, concerning Arcee. She raced down the halls towards the waste disposal rooms, leaving the children to wonder what was wrong.
Once we reached our destination, she swiftly laid me down on my back on a metal table and I felt her loosen the plating on my lower body. I could feel my faceplates begin to burn furiously. I would have been much more comfortable with Ratchet doing this. He is our medic, as well as a close friend of mine, and does not make me nearly as nervous in situations regarding… close contact with my frame. Arcee is a friend as well, but I know she prefers little physical contact from others. Her willingness to do this is, for a reason I could not name, disconcerting.
But, she may have some experience with sparklings. She and I both know that sparklings flush waste from their systems when their frames feel the need to, not when they feel the need to. That realization eased my tension somewhat and I relaxed under Arcee's servos. Once she was done shifting the plating out of the way, she held me over one of the waste tanks and told me to 'let it out'. I complied, though my faceplates heated again once I made optic contact with the blue femme while I was expelling the waste from my frame in an extremely undignified spray.
Once I was finished relieving myself, Arcee cleaned me off and put my plating back in place. That had gone much better than I expected. I called her name, making sure that I spoke in English as she carried me back to the main control room. She gave me a warm sideways look.
"'Arshee'? That was so cute."
I turned away from her, reminded yet again of the glitch in my CPU. Arcee chuckled as she stepped into the light of the main control room. Ratchet turned around to face the two of us, a concerned expression on his faceplates.
"What was wrong?" Arcee shrugged.
"He just needed to expel the waste from his tanks." The heat in my faceplates flared up again. Must she be so blunt in a situation like this? The longer I stay in this form, the less control I have over the dignity I lose.
"Ah. Well, at least he's flushing his tanks properly. I beginning to wonder when he would, seeing how much energon he drank yesterday and today." Ratchet mused thoughtfully, gaining an amused expression as I tried to glare at him. The look most likely ended up appearing as if I was scrunching up my face. Growing tired of being held, I asked Arcee to put me down.
"Ratchet, can I borrow a few tools? I'm going to make a few toys for the new sparkling." Ratchet nodded once and handed her a few tools that I could not make out from my current seat on the floor. Before headed back down the halls, Arcee turned and looked back at me, a very tern look in her optics.
"You be good." I crossed my arms over my chest and ventilated, allowing myself to act like a child. I may be a sparkling, but I do know how to properly behave. I heard someone walk towards me as I began to stand shakily on my pedes. I was still having difficulties with my balance. Before I fell back down on my behind, I felt a warm soft hand grab my servo. My large optics widened as I looked up to see Jack looking down at me. He gave me a friendly smile and spoke in an equally friendly tone.
"Wouldn't want you falling again." I merely blinked at the human. Even at my current height, I was still shorter than Jack. I adjusted my grip on his hand, so I would not crush it. Jack moved to lead me up the stairs and I followed along. Rafael and Miko were waiting, sitting on the couch Bulkhead had found in one of the many storage rooms of the silo for the children. Once we made it over to the couch and sat down (with Jack's assistance), Miko began chattering on about which rock song she should play for me. I was never fond of that particular style of Earth music that Miko liked. I preferred the slower, gentler music of their planet. Somehow sensing that I did not want to listen to Miko's choice in music, Jack stepped in.
"How about we do something other than listen to rock music? Even when Optimus was a grown bot, he never seemed to like your Bulgarian shriek metal."
Miko pouted, clearly deflated. "Well, what can we do with Lil Boss Bot? He certainly isn't saying anything about what he wants to do."
I honestly have no idea as to what I wanted to do at the moment, so I will let them decide. Rafael suddenly jumped up and walked over to me.
"I remember playing a game when I was little with my sister, Pilar. Here, hold your hands up, Optimus." He held his own hands up, palms facing me. I mimicked his motions, my palms facing his.
"It's an old nursery rhyme game. What you do is clap your hands together and clap your hand with mine according to the pace of the game. How about we start off slow?" I nodded, earning an excited look from the boy standing in front of me. "Okay, let's get started!" Rafael cleared his throat and started the chant-like rhyme.
"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother
for fifteen cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high
He reached the sky, sky, sky
He never came back, back, back
Till the 4th of July, ly, ly!"
Before long I found myself almost singing the rhyme, all of us giggling and laughing at the occasional mistakes. The three children began naming more and more old nursery rhymes they learned from relatives when they were little. What I thought would be a short game lasted a very long time. Not caring how long I was with the young humans, I kept on, enjoying this moment of play. It has been a very long time since I felt so light in my spark. It is almost sad that I have become used to the heaviness the war has put on my frame. Feeling so free should not be such a shock, but it is.
Arcee had returned, but did not disturb us, probably not wanting to disrupt the fun I as having with the children. I vaguely noticed her hand something to Ratchet and lean against the frame of the hallway, protectively watching over me. I could have sworn I saw my carrier in her optics.
Before long, the children had to return to their respective homes, leaving me alone in the base with Ratchet. It had grown dark quickly and I could hear the calm shushing sound of the rain.
"Here; Arcee made this for you." Ratchet reached into his subspace and handed me a home-made toy. I had to hold onto it with both serovs. It looked much like what the humans call actions figures. It was a green and blue mech with motor wings and blue tinted optics that seemed to shine in the shadow. There was an extraordinary amount of detail in the figure. I will remember to thank Arcee for the effort she put into this once she returns to base. Ratchet chuckled at my admiration of the figure.
"I see you like it. Don't get too excited, though. You still need to get you recharge." I narrowed my optics in confusion. Recharge? It was not that late in the day yet… but I could feel myself beginning to tire. I allowed myself to be picked up and carried down the hall by my old friend. I held my new toy close to my spark and I nestled into the crook of Ratchet's arm. The storm outside was growing worse and I could already feel the temperature in the base dropping ever so slightly.
Suddenly there was a loud boom of thunder and I couldn't suppress the frightened whimper that escaped me. Ratchet looked down at me, silently reassuring me that there was nothing to be scared of. I took comfort in the look in his optics and tired to calm myself. I shut my optics and listened to Ratchet's strong spark beat, feeling his comforting warmth. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Right?
Uh, oh. Optimus is gonna run into a fear every little kid has dealt with. Lightning storms and thunder. How will he handle it?
I credit the bathroom moment with Arcee and Optimus to IBrokeTheFourthWall. Thanks for the idea. By the way, I'm sorry but your username is too awesome for you to not have a profile picture.
Have any ideas for the next chapter? Don't be shy! Anybody remember that nursery rhyme I used? I remember playing it a lot when I was little with my mother and my sister.
In some parts, Optimus sounds slightly out of character. I did that to show that the reawakened child in him is starting to show mentally.
Have any ideas for future chapters? Don't be shy!
I want the thank all those who review the previous chapter and I will see you in the next one!