AN: I didn't realize that I had used this prompt in the original Drone until I had use it today :O

A Drone Named Jeffrey

Chapter Sixteen

Rainbow

"Have you ever thought about trying a different color?"

My engine hummed at the abrupt question. Riley barely looked up from the car she had been tasked to replace the radiator. From across her dad's garage came a cacophony of laughter as the other medics took their breaks, and none of them paid any attention to Riley. Most had grown used to the young medic, and the few creeps that tried to come too close had learned that strange things happened when her vehicle was in the immediate area.

While I wasn't necessarily comfortable with seeming like more than an ordinary car when others were close by, I decided that the men weren't close enough to notice anything and rolled my window down to answer her. "No, not really."

"Are you sure?" Riley straightened and reached for the hand towel hanging from the car's hood. She began wiping oil from her fingers, paying closer attention to her stained hands than usual. "I mean, I can change it if you want me too. Maybe a bright red or a dark blue."

"It's fine the way it is." I paused before subtly rolling closer. I stopped the moment I thought one of the guys was looking in our direction. "Are you getting bored with my optic-searing green?"

"Of course not!" Riley picked at the grime under her nails. "I was just…thinking."

"Oooh. Be careful there—you remember the last migraine you got from thinking."

The kick to my front tire was expected. "Shut up!"

"What? I'm just being concerned."

Riley clicked her tongue—something she had apparently started doing to replace her "I'm annoyed with you" squeal. "I'm being serious right now!"

"So am I."

She stuck her tongue out at me before flinging her dirty towel towards me. I would have jerked back and avoided the towel landing on my hood had there been no witnesses to notice. Which Riley knew, and that was why she had done it. "Riley."

"Jeffrey." My engine softly growled at the smile Riley gave me. "That's what you get for turning my concern into a joke."

"Concern? Over my paint? Why?"

Riley's smile fell, and she began to chew on her bottom lip. "I was thinking…"

"About changing my color?"

"No." She paused. "Yes. Sorta. I was just thinking about the fact that I never really gave you any choice about it because, well, I thought you were just an ordinary car then."

I took a moment before answering. "So you were thinking about giving me a choice now?"

"Yeah." Riley reached up to adjust her cap, another nervous tick I had learned to pick up on. "I mean, it's a little long overdue, but if you wanted to choose another color, I would do it for you."

I couldn't help but feel something unfamiliar swell inside me. Even after six months of living with this human, the thought of actually having a choice in what I do now was still a new concept I was trying to grasp. Sometimes I even forgot that it was possible and went along with whatever Riley wanted me to do, albeit the terrible idea of going mud bogging after a rare rain was a lot different than being forced to sacrifice yourself for a cause that had long lost its initial drive.

Sometimes I thought it was a little sad that I felt freer with little aliens than with my own kind.

"I like my color." Riley relaxed a little and smiled at my admission. "It's grown on me…and I don't want to go through the experience of you peeling it off again."

"Understood." I rumbled my engine when Riley lightly patted my hood. "But if you ever feel like changing it, let me know. Or if you want to change anything else I did without permission."

"Well, since we're on the subject, I would love for you to take that bumper sticker that was conveniently put on at an angle I can't reach while I was recharging off my aft."

"Not a chance. Your aft saying 'I Stop for Squirrels' is just too funny."