AN: Graham has no first name? I can't find anything on him with a first name, so I'm just making something up. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Reviews: Hesperydes-I just wanted to let you know that yes I did have to use a translator, but I appreciate your comment very much none the less! I love all of my reviewers! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Miles wouldn't have felt so cornered while eating if he hadn't known he was being watched. He was a big boy by now, he knew how to take care of himself, and while he'd neglected to eat breakfast and lunch it wasn't like he was starving. He was underweight, but he was not starving. Of course, if he complained to Ratchet about the Medic watching him like a hawk it could cause the mech to dislike him, which wouldn't be good for Nick and Millie, and Bumblebee he needed on his side at this point, so there wasn't much the teen could do to kick up a fuss.
The teen was starting to realize the cafeteria was either always full of people and holoforms or he just managed to come in during the rush hour, because it was nearly jam packed. He'd originally sat down with Sarah, because although he didn't much enjoy her husband the woman herself was a pleasure and little Annabelle was a cutie. But the girls had left a while ago, which might have been for the best. Miles had only sat with them because that's where Millie had gravitated to the night before, he didn't actually have any urge to make friends with the woman, nor did he know what to say.
So now he sat on his own, eating slowly for once and taking the time to enjoy it. Some kind of chicken alfredo, and the teen never actually thought he'd be able to enjoy food like this again. He was almost comfortable in the chatter-filled cafeteria, a long forgotten nostalgic feeling filling him. It was just like before the infection; the chatter of a hundred people mixing into a symphony in one place.
"Between Bumblebee's and Ratchet's reactions," A man started to say as he came up to Miles' table, startling the teen momentarily. His garb instantly depicted him as a soldier and the man helped himself to a seat. "You'd have thought if you didn't eat in ten seconds you were going to keel over."
Miles eyed the man, taking another bite of his spaghetti and just shrugging in response. The man didn't seem to be anything but friendly; an open body position with a smile on his face. The teen chewed slowly, knowing so far his reception from the soldiers varied greatly. Captain Lennox might possibly hate him, but the soldiers he'd gone scavenging with had adored the shit out of him. But the man in front of him wasn't one of those men, nor was he the Captain, so Miles didn't know what to think.
"I'm Callum Graham, but I prefer just Graham." Graham grinned at him, "You've made quite a whirlwind on base, you know."
"Have I?" Miles prompted, trying to pin down where he recognized the name. It must have been used earlier but it hadn't been significant enough at the time to keep it noted.
"Oh yeah," Graham snatched the roll off of Miles' tray, taking a bite out of it. "Lennox and Ironhide are having conniptions over you not listening to them, basically all the scavengers you went out with hold you in high respect because not only did you talk your way into letting them take you along but you did really well out there and worked well with them, and you brought Bee back."
"Bumblebee was the one that brought me here," Miles pointed out.
"I don't know what happened with that mech, but I do know it's fairly obvious that you and those kids are the only reason he came back." The soldier responded, finishing off the roll in another few bites. Miles took a sip of his water, thinking about that, and then decided that the soldier was probably right. "So, I'm just going to give you my two cents. You need to get yourself in with a few of the civilians just so they know you too, you need to remind Bumblebee to make an effort to do the same with the 'bots, and you can keep pissing Will off. It's hilarious."
Miles slid some of the noodles that were left on his plate around it, "I've been used to two kids for a while now, and one of them doesn't even talk. It's a bit of a stretch to jump from that to normal adult conversation with soldiers, let alone civilians who might not have been out there long."
"Tackle the women first, then." Graham suggested, "I know for a fact Mrs. Lennox is in love with you for keeping your kids safe throughout this, which is just making Will crazier because she's taking your side. And speaking of Sarah, I believe she'd be willing to make Millie and Nick some costumes."
"Costumes?" Miles repeated with confusion.
"For Halloween. We're having a party that night and everyone's supposed to be in costume if they're going, gonna be candy and cakes and stuff. Millie and Nick are the only kids on base, but we might be able to get the mechs to give them candy if they ask nicely."
"It's… Halloween?" Miles had noticed a small change in the foliage recently, but he'd not paid all that much attention. It was just easier to not think about all the time passing, to just take the world on day by day instead of trying to move beyond that. How bad would the winter be?
"In about two weeks it will be."
"I think they'd like that, just…"
"Just?" Graham urged, raising an eyebrow.
"No zombie costumes."
Graham laughed at that, and Miles grinned, attention turning to the side where he could see Bumblebee's holoform advancing towards them. The Scout sat down just to his right, placing a roll on his tray and then smiling at the soldier.
"Thanks, mom." Miles replied with a roll of his eyes at the mech. The teen took an obliging bite out of it for the mech, and for Ratchet.
"You're welcome, son. They're with Optimus, by the way." Bumblebee quipped back while Graham snickered at them. "Graham, right?"
Miles didn't know whether to just roll his eyes again or thank the mech for real this time. He knew instantly that Bumblebee was talking about Millie and Nick because Miles didn't care about anyone else; he was trying to be kind and let them wander on their own. It was better for them if they could get by without him in a place like this where they were safer and had more active supervision, because despite some of his earlier words to Will even the teen was beginning to relax in the Autobot fortress. That didn't mean he wasn't going to keep tabs on his kids at all times, and Bumblebee was just helping him in that.
"Yeah, thought it was a damn shame that we never got to talk." The soldier held out his hand and the Scout shook it, nodding as if he agreed.
Miles just sat back and finished his roll, allowing the Scout and the soldier to finish talking. Graham was an easy man to get along with, and it allowed easy conversation to flow without too much effort on anyone's-or any mech's-part. Miles did spend some time thinking about Graham's words, though. How could he reach out to the other mechs on base, the other humans? His and Bumblebee's friendship was an odd and unstable one, and he knew that rocky stability was mostly his own feelings, but still. How many others would he be willing to get to know?
"You're doing what?"
Now, everything had already been explained to Miles, but he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the concept, and the Prime tended to use a lot of big words. The medic shot his Prime an annoyed look, but Optimus did nothing but shrug. Blaster was there as well, a mech the teen had just been introduced to. The teen wondered how he'd lost Bumblebee at some point for these three instead and if he could somehow switch back.
"We're collecting stories of how it started for everyone," Optimus explained gently, his large form moving to sit on one of the berths. "We're trying to pinpoint where it started, how far and how quickly it spread, if certain areas are worse because of population or if any areas have different Infected than what some have encountered. Usually we compile a few people's stories each day and then air it that night over a certain radio channel here, but it was unanimously decided to do a longer interview on just you. Blaster is in charge of the stories, and will be recording what goes on."
"What, do you actually think that will make a difference somehow?"
Optimus and Ratchet both said nothing to Miles' sarcastic question, and the teen realized he wasn't really being fair to them. Graham had mentioned Bumblebee getting on with the 'bots again, but he had to too, didn't he? It was commendable for the Autobots to think of and try to figure out where everything started. It might not lead to a cure, it might not lead to anything, but knowing more would comfort a lot of people. Knowing more but not knowing why would only drive the ones like him insane.
"I remember the reports," Miles said instead of apologizing. "We knew there was a disease and rioters, which I guess were the Infected, but at that time we weren't prepared. It didn't hit us first; we were one of the ones to get caught in the spread. I never really paid attention to the news, y'know, it just wasn't something I cared about. The only reason it stood out was because my mom got super worried about the Witwickys when Nevada was shut down by the government; that's when what was going on was explained to me. The next day it hit us."
"Your first encounter?" Ratchet prompted.
"That's tough…" Miles thought back to that first horrible day. "I'd stayed home from school that day because I was feeling lazy, and me and my mom were gonna paint the living room. I got a call from one of my buddies there at the school and he was hiding in the bathroom stall hysterical, saying the school was on lockdown and everyone was eating each other. I didn't believe him, then. I thought he was high or something, just tripping balls, so I ignored it. That was the first incident nearby that I actually heard of."
Miles took a deep breath, and the two Cybertronians let him continue. "The first one I actually ran into I was taking my dog for a walk. There was a girl running in front of me and this guy just came barreling out of an alleyway and just took her down. He started eating her, or trying to, but his jaw was missing… I ran. I got back home and my mom was in the kitchen crying and trying to get my dad on the phone and… God, a lot of it is just this huge blur. I know my dad was picking Millie up because they'd heard about the high school, and about attacks nearby, but I'd been sleeping most of the day and I felt horrible about not helping that jogger, so I just stood there and let her do everything. But Ma lost contact of dad at some point, and Mills too, so… She was already bitten then, and I just didn't know at that point."
"You know what happens to people when they got bit, and with her panicking so much I think it just sped up the process. Pretty soon she had a bad fever and was completely incomprehensible. I didn't know bites did anything; I still just didn't know anything at all. I just remember her dying and then coming back, and then, well…" Miles didn't have to add on the fact that his mother had tried to eat him, "I was trying to get her to the bathroom so I could lock her in it, I didn't know why she was attacking me, but I pushed her a bit too hard. I remember thinking I'd killed her, I remember crying my eyes out and leaving to go find Millie and Dad."
"Her 'death' is the only one that's actually stayed with me," Miles added. "I know there were others that day, even Dad, but… When she died I still hadn't learned to disassociate the Infected from humans. She was still my mom to me, but by the time I found Dad there'd already been a transition. I know I'd stopped caring, that I was going from set goal to set goal, and that if I would have run out of stuff to make myself do I probably would have just sat down and died. Even now, I think if I didn't have Nick and Millie to watch over I'd probably not stick around."
The teen didn't elaborate whether he just meant stick around the base or if he was referring to suicide, and neither the Prime nor the Medic asked. Blaster leaned forward, surprising Miles. He was sure the mech wasn't going to talk the whole session, apparently he'd been wrong.
"There's been talk going around some of the… more superstitious organics that you're either an angel, a demon, or a witch. Half of them are convinced to the angel side of the argument and are vouching for you and the children against those more scared of you."
"Scared of me?" Miles actually laughed at that, "All I have on my side is one good foot, an overprotective robot, and good aim. I think I'm the one that needs to be scared, here."
"As irrational as the talk is," Ratchet cut in, "Even you have to admit it is quite miraculous, yours and the children's survival."
"Indeed. God favors you, little one." The Prime added.
Miles gave them both a somewhat cross look, "Gentleme-gentlebots, had I relied on God to ensure my safety I'm positive I would be just as dead or as Infected as most of my race right now. I stopped believing in any higher power that first day, after Nick's Uncle turned on him. I did give some thought to whether it might have finally been Judgment day, but there's no way Nick and Millie could have displeased Him so much that He abandoned them."
"What would you account it to, then?" Blaster pressed.
"Myself," Miles replied, trying hard not to become annoyed. "The only thing that kept those kids safe was me. The only thing that kept myself safe was me. No higher power ever did shit to help me out. No God, any of them, did shit to help my race out when we started eating each other, and sure as shit none has helped you if you've landed on this planet and you're just as dead as us."
"You're a terrible force to be reckoned with, then." Ratchet commented, "A one man army devoted to keeping his charges safe."
"You already know I had some help in the beginning. Outside of that it's just being smart and being too stubborn to die."
"Well, how about something else for a little bit?" Blaster suggested, "What was your reaction to Bumblebee?"
"A cousin of mine was a huge alien nutcase and was all over the stuff that went down in Mission City. He sent me some of those viral videos before they were mysteriously taken down, though I guess now it really was a government cover up." Miles smirked, "Either way, there's not much left to be surprised about when you go from worrying about whether or not you remembered to do your English homework to how much ammo you have left."
"So Sam never told you about us?"
"No," Miles replied easily. "Bit awkward afterwards to realize I'd ridden in Bumblebee before, but he was good at playing a fake car."
"Did Bumblebee ever say what happened to Sam?"
That's what Blaster was really after, then. The mech wanted to know about Sam, or more importantly, about Bumblebee and Sam. The teen glanced at Ratchet and Optimus, the Prime either a master at innocent faces or truly unaware that Blaster was going to go this route, and then there was Ratchet, who was glaring right at the mech. They were all probably curious as to what had made their Scout disappear and the teen that had been his Charge, so at least one of them thought to question the teen he'd brought in Sam's place.
"No, he never did." At this point the lie came easily, though why he was doing it Miles wasn't sure. Was he trying to protect Bumblebee, and if so, what was he trying to protect the Scout from? "I assumed Sam got infected, as I'm sure you guys did, too. Otherwise I think Bumblebee would have brought him here. If Sam would have lived, though, I probably would be dead right now, and Nick and Millie through that, so…"
"You credit your rescue not just to Bumblebee but to Sam as well?"
He didn't credit a thing to Sam. He knew quite well that had his friend survived he probably would have been quite content to hole up in the Autobot city that would turn into a fortress and stay safe. Then again, he never saw himself doing everything that he's done, so maybe Sam would have changed as well. In the end it wasn't fair to the memory of his friend to assume he'd have stayed scared and helpless in this crazy world because Miles didn't, and what made him think that Sam couldn't change, too, then? He'd never know, though, because his friend's body was rotting somewhere on a stream, or in it if the boat had capsized.
He smiled, "You could say that. Bumblebee never really told me what happened to Sam and I don't think we should really add any of this stuff about him on the air tonight, or however you mechs refer to it as."
"Fair enough," Blaster seemed to agree with that, and Miles felt like he could relax a little. Even if he did play everything it wasn't like they'd have anything that they couldn't have already guessed on their own. "How about how you and Bumblebee met, then?"
"Oh, that's easy. It was right outside Mission City…"
Will looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was right at that moment and Bumblebee felt a little sympathy for the Captain. He'd helped to keep peace among the human population on the base, and everyone had been listening, up until a little teen was brought on base that pretty much openly said fuck you right to his face. He seemed torn between anger and reluctant acceptance, one of the odder expression changes the Scout had seen on a human.
The Scout took a moment to take in his surroundings. After lunch the mech had separated from his teen to go and see First Aid in the Medbay. He hadn't been separated from the Autobots for long, but a routine checkup was still in order, and any mech would be insane to turn down the gentle Medic over the rough one. Miles had been cornered for an interview by his Prime, Ratchet, and Blaster, which Bumblebee only knew about because Optimus had been thoughtful enough to contact him about the teen's location. It was a relief and an annoyance at the same time, because Bumblebee didn't want to keep tabs on the teen and the kids at all times, and yet again he did.
While he'd been in the Medbay he'd gotten a ping on his comm from Ironhide to collect Miles and meet Will in the meeting hangar. It was a good deal more impressive than the last hangar they'd had, which had been quite a joke, but it was rather sad considering there was only one Autobot and two tiny little humans in it. Originally Ironhide had been there as well, but Will had sent him off for perimeter duty.
"Miles," Will called; a tone of voice that immediately caught the teen's attention. The man's expression shifted once more, this time hardening. "I need you to tell me about an incident out there that one of my men reported to me. Smoff told me at a certain place in the city you'd asked if they'd been an earlier party through there recently. First off: how recently?"
"Uh…" Miles had to think back, the teen as openly baffled by this question as Bumblebee was. "Less than a day… I'd guess have to be over a couple hours."
"Now what made you ask that?"
"A kicked down door and a broken window that had blood near it," Miles didn't hesitate on his answer now.
"Fuck," Will cursed under his breath, "You're certain? What made you notice the door? The blood, how can you be sure it's new?"
"The infected don't kick down doors. They don't know how to open it, they relentlessly pound at it until it either cracks and they can tear their way through, or it breaks off the wall. I checked the doorknob in case it was just a weak door that gave and the dust on it and the dust on the doorknob was disturbed. Not even the smartest infected has tried a handle, not in a blood rush. And they would have had to been if it was infected, which it wasn't, because the blood inside of the room with the broken window had to be fresh. There was at least five infected milling about that room, still irritated, and old blood does not attract them. It was dried by that point, yes, but if it was older than a day it wouldn't attract them. Older than a few hours, even, I guess, I've never bothered checking."
"I'm guessing it wasn't any of your men, Will?" Bumblebee asked, optics moving between his teen and the Captain.
"From his face, I'd say he's not thinking it's just another survivor." Miles crossed his arms over his chest, staring the man down. "What's going on?"
"You just confirmed my suspicions that the Infected aren't the only ones that are hunting us out there, Miles." Will answered, the man's tone acidic. "And it certainly explains a lot."
Bumblebee shared a look with his teen, instantly knowing that Miles was getting the same exact feeling as him. This couldn't be any good. "What does it explain?"
"There's a reason we don't take any Cybertronians with us scavenging, Bumblebee." Will leaned against the wall, "We did at first, and it worked well for a while. It was always the same Autobot because my men knew what to expect from him and vice versa, but he was taken out."
"Taken out?" Miles repeated with some disbelief. Bumblebee almost wished the teen wasn't there to here this; if he knew they were just as fallible as humans then it would be even harder to earn his trust.
"We thought it was just some old members of Sector Seven roaming around still. It was a blow, yes, and we never recovered the mech, unfortunately. His name was Blurr. But we couldn't let that stop us, we needed supplies. So, despite Optimus' wishes, some of us humans snuck out and went scavenging on our own for a time. He knew it was happening but in the end he couldn't make us stop and nothing happened. We were hoping that whoever was only going to target the Cybertronians, but… You remember Bobby, Bee?"
"Robert? Of course, I was wondering where he's hiding."
"He disappeared about six weeks ago. He was leading one of the scavenging parties and an unusual amount of Infected were in one area and he and his men were taking care of it. That was the last anyone saw of him."
"How do you know one of those things just didn't get him?" Miles asked, frowning.
"All my men who go out scavenging wear a custom made tracker." Will sighed, "It was a unanimous thought that if one of us was taken by the disease we'd want found and put to rest. Bobby's tracked for about an hour before it's frequency got scrambled. I was hoping, for his sake and ours, that it wasn't an outside force messing with the tracker. Now I have to believe that it is. It's god damn fucking Murphy's law, if you ask me."
"More like O'Reilly's." Bumblebee and Miles said at the same time, both too disheartened to find any amusement in it as the teen tacked on, "Murphy was too much of a damn optimist."
Bumblebee knew what a tough spot the Captain had to be in. It was impossible for the humans on base to be able to get everything they need from within the walls, and while Wheeljack could replicate a lot of the medicine the humans used he'd first need it to know what exactly it was. They had to go out and scavenge, there was no other choice. It was a risk they had to take. They'd lost Blurr to it, one of the fastest mechs out there, and Bobby, one of the best soldiers Bumblebee had ever met. The Scout had to wonder who was hunting them; would Sector Seven really go so far at the end of the world? What would be the point? And why did Will even let Miles know, was the soldier planning something for him?
For the first time in months Miles was alone willingly, reading a book and relaxing in the armchair in the room he and the kids had been given. After Will's little talk, the teen had felt like some alone time could be used. He'd picked up a book and had been able to read a little, but in the end his mind kept wandering to other things. He knew Bumblebee had mentioned that Sector Seven somewhat, but the Scout had never gone into much teen was racking his brain for an appropriate response to the information he'd gotten. Was Will expecting him to offer something, to do something about it?
"Did Bumblebee ever say what happened to Sam?"
He'd tuned in on the radio out of curiosity more than anything, and by the time his voice came through he'd forgotten all about it. Millie and Nick had been taken by Graham to get their Halloween costumes planned out. The teen would have gone, but he realized that the two kids needed to get used to him not being around. If he were to be honest to himself, though, it was him that needed to get used to them not being around, and catching up on his nonexistent reading to actually spend the time driving himself crazy was the perfect excuse.
In the end, Miles wasn't surprised that Blaster ended up starting off the show with that. From what he gathered Sam had been a big part of making the Autobot base so human oriented, a helpful human liaison that didn't have a title tacked on already from being a soldier. Most of the humans on base would have at least heard of him at some point, and all of the mechs for sure knew about him for some reason or another. It was almost funny that Sam had his popularity now, though he couldn't be there to enjoy it.
The teen hoisted himself up out of the armchair, mildly cursing his foot. He'd done a bit too much walking on it that day but he was still too stubborn to take any medication for it. He hobbled over to the radio, deciding he didn't need to hear what would be played. There was nothing he thought he'd end up regret saying and he certainly didn't need to hear himself talk, so there was no need to listen.
"Don't."
Miles' hand froze over the dial, the teen turning with only a small amount of surprise to see Bumblebee. He was getting used to the mech's habit of just popping in, but he wasn't used to the unreadable expression on the Scout's face. After Will's little bomb the Scout had all but disappeared, and the teen could only guess at where he had gone.
"Bumblebee never really told me what happened to Sam. I assumed Sam got infected, as I'm sure you guys did, too. Otherwise I think Bumblebee would have brought him here. If Sam would have lived, though, I probably would be dead right now, and Nick and Millie through that, so… "
Bumblebee appeared momentarily confused by what he was hearing. Maybe he had actually expected Miles to tell the truth, for anyone who was listening to hear how the Scout had kept Sam's infected body locked up inside of him. The teen knew that it couldn't speak well about the Scout's mental stability if he'd done so for months and probably would have continued to do so if he hadn't come along. When it came down to it, he really didn't want to spend too much time thinking about what Bumblebee's actions meant, or how the Autobots and everyone else would have reacted to it.
"There's been talk going around some of the… more superstitious organics that you're either an angel, a demon, or a witch." In the pause Blaster played the X-files theme, and Miles might have had the time to be amused if he wasn't so focused on seemed to click for the Autobot, then, because he finally seemed to understand that Miles had lied. The Scout moved closer to the teen, barely a foot away from him, and just reached around him, turning the radio off.
He finally understood what a pregnant pause was, and here he'd thought it was just a term in his mother's romance novels.
"Why did you lie?"
Miles couldn't give Bumblebee an answer when he didn't have one himself. Was it some absurd notion of protecting the Scout, and if so from what? How could the teen assume the other Cybertronian's reactions, or that it wasn't normal Cybertronian behavior in some weird custom way that just translated oddly with the infection going on? But there was a part of him that knew it couldn't have been just some sort of off world custom, otherwise the Scout would have said something to explain himself, redeem himself. He would have said something to the Autobots.
So why would Miles lie for him? He could have tried on his own with the kids, taken it easy on his foot and pressed his luck. Gone out to a less populated area, holed up somewhere and just hunted for a bit, but he'd decided to go with the mech. He'd been tired of just the kids and just himself, hadn't he? Even if he was reluctant to trust Bumblebee completely, to care for him completely, it was a miracle that he'd decided to go this far with him, and he knew that. Bumblebee knew that. Why did it even matter? Would the Scout have been angry otherwise? Would he have yelled at him?
The teen was out of his comfort zone now, and he just wanted to grab his kids and pretend that this wasn't happening for some reason. The plague had stunted him emotionally for sure, he'd never been this afraid of stuff before it, yet look at him now. He'd reversed from a well-functioning almost adult to a shell of his former self just so he could get through the months, so he could care for Nick and Millie and make sure they stayed safe. It was easier to forget the past Miles Lancaster in order to live with the new one that had to be made, but now that he wanted him back? He hadn't expected it to be this hard.
"I don't know," Miles replied finally, honestly.
Maybe it was something in his voice, or maybe it was something Bumblebee himself needed, but the next second the Scout was hugging him and Miles still had absolutely no idea what to do. So the teen just stood there, letting the holoform of a being that was years older than him hug him for as long as he wanted, because it wasn't like he had anything better to do. It wasn't like he actually hugged him back just because it had been ages since he'd had anything besides two sets of little arms trying to cling to him at the same, or that he actually wanted to. No, he just did it for the Scout.