Chapter 103

-0-In the rec room

Ratchet sat sipping his morning energon as Ironhide watched him with one optic even as he read the datapad in his servo. "A carrier may appear irrational, even bossy but that's to be expected. You as partner should be completely understanding and supportive because of the fragility of the carrier at this time. Tears are possible including stamping of peds and a general need to punch something big and black- ..."

Ironhide looked at the statement again. Then he looked at Ratchet. Then the statement. Then Ratchet. Then he got it. Crushing a smirk that started at the back of his aft and ended somewhere around the vicinity of Alpha Centauri, he looked at his Only One with the deepest most profound admiration. For three solar cycles he'd been tippy-toeing around his bond watching every single thing. He continued to read.

"... punch something big and black named Ironhide. Someone who's completely awesome but such a slow reader that I predict that it'll take about five solar cycles to reach this part. Boo, Ironhide!"

He put the data pad down and considered his options. Part of what he read was true, that was obvious. Part was smart aft slag from the Master™. But what was slag and what wasn't? He didn't really know. And to make it all go Ratchet's way, First Aid was on Mars and he was the only one with the kind of skills to sort the wheat from the chaff. So he would have to wing it.

Somehow.

"Ratchet, how do you feel?" Ironhide asked with his optical ridges crunched just so with deep profound concern.

Ratchet looking at him with puzzlement for a moment remembered. "Uh, I'm having a bit of anxiety but nothing more, Ironhide. You look worried. Are you alright?"

Ironhide looked away to hide his growing hilarity behind a mask of near tears. "I … I just think about what a hero you are to me that's all."

Ratchet looked at him seeking the telltale signs. His helm was turned away so it was hard but it appeared that Ironhide was slipping into a maudlin state.

In the middle of the rec room.

In front of mechs.

Being a fragger in the rec room was his thing. /... what are you up to, Ironhide? … / "Do you want to sit on my lap?"

Ironhide looked at Ratchet pulling every skill he had to school a broken-hearted expression on his face. His little pug nose even quivered. Along with his lips. Along with his deeply controlled funny bone. "You're making fun of me? You aren't the only one afraid here, Ratchet. I feel fear, too."

Ratchet looked at him then reached for his servo but Ironhide jerked it away and stood up. He walked away without a word. He didn't look up, he didn't pause, he walked right out the hangar door and crossed the tarmac. He continued to the fence, stepped over it and walked to the rocks at the beach. Then he bent over and laughed his aft off.

-0-Ratchet

He looked at the door as a feeling of unease swished through his tanks. He considered that he'd misread Ironhide. He shrank back into his seat and considered astonishingly that this was perhaps the first emotional spat that they'd ever had. They didn't fight. They sparred and argued together but making it personal and emotional, no. They didn't fight.

Perhaps they just did, Ratchet thought. Maybe he'd hurt Ironhide when he was sad and worried. They weren't exactly working on their fifth sparkling here. This was all new territory and Ironhide was scared. He'd misread the big lug. He'd taunted his fears. He felt suddenly as wretched as he ever had as he rose. Standing beside the table uncertainly for a moment, he hurried forward. Before he could leave the hangar Bumblebee ran up and handed him the data pad Ironhide had been reading.

Ratchet took it and thanked Bee, then walked outside looking around for Ironhide. A femme was outside talking to another so he walked to them asking after Ironhide. They pointed to the beach and he thanked them. Walking swiftly toward the fence and the ocean beyond, he began to run. As he did he started to subspace the data pad. Then he looked at it. Then he halted.

"Boo, Ironhide!"

Ratchet stared at it with a grin. Then he chuckled; then guffawed. Then he stopped altogether. He considered his next move. Subspacing the data pad, he walked after Ironhide to find him standing on the beach looking out to sea. Catching up to him he paused beside him contrite and sorrowful as he slipped his arms around Ironhide's broad chassis.

Ironhide shrugged to step away, holding his head down as if tears were going to fall. They stood together silently and calculatingly, one sure he had the other and the other sure he was had. Neither were entirely sure.

I'm sure.

Then Ratchet burst into tears, crying loudly into his servos.

Ironhide jumped as the sound startled him, then turned to stare at Ratchet with shock and surprise. He rushed to Ratchet to gather him up in his arms. He held Ratchet tightly, pulling his peds off the ground.

Ratchet for his part was enjoying Ironhide's sweetness and concern so he continued to wail, suppressing with effort his overpowering need to chuckle.

Ironhide swayed as he patted Ratchet's back.

It was at impasse.

-0-Wheeljack

He peered out of his quarters looking this way and that, then ran down the corridor to enter another lab where Perceptor was working. "Psst."

Perceptor looked up and around. "Wheeljack?"

"Percy? Can I speak with you a moment?"

"Of course, Wheeljack. Come in."

And he did.

-0-On the beach

Ratchet sat on a boulder with Ironhide next to him, his arm around Ratchet's shoulders. They sat together as Ratchet wailed.

Ironhide was clearly out of his element. He looked at Ratchet, at the forlorn medico of his dreams and realized he'd never had a fight with him. Ratchet and Ironhide didn't fight. They sparred, they played, they argued but they'd never in all the eons of their partnership had a real fight. He felt as wretched as he ever had before and he didn't know what to do. "Ratchet?"

Ratchet wailed on.

"Ratchet, don't cry. I'm sorry." He thought a moment. What was he sorry for? He didn't know. He just knew he was. "Don't cry. You're my hero, you know."

Ratchet looked at Ironhide, sniffling a bit. "And you're mine."

Ironhide as an 'awwww' moment overtook him leaned in to kissed Ratchet softly. As he did, someone took his picture. Then he kissed Ratchet again. Then again and again. Then he sat back stymied.

Ratchet smiled as he looked at him. "You're a great kisser."

"I know," Ironhide said grinning slightly. "You better?"

Ratchet nodded. Then he smiled. "Boo, Ironhide."

Ironhide looked at him, stared at him for a moment, then the sea, then glanced back at him again. Ironhide felt the smile begin in his aft and work its way to the top of his finials. He felt it rise above him and orbit his head. Then he rose and offered his servo to Ratchet. "You are my hero."

Ratchet stood, looking up at him with a soft expression of love that he gave only Ironhide. "And you are mine."

They walked toward the fence and the hangar beyond. As they were crossing the tarmac, Ironhide paid attention at last to his internal sensors. That was when he registered that their moment of fun and make up kissing was not a private one.

-0-Perceptor's office

"And that's why I'm so frightened."

Perceptor stared at Wheeljack with sympathy, feeling his pain. He'd been warned by Ironhide that Ratchet had 'lost his marbles' and that since he was a single non-aligned mech that Ratchet would probably be slagging out wedding bells in the smelter out back if he didn't watch out. His solution was to hide in his quarters and lab with his sensors at full blast. Apparently, he wasn't going down the alphabet because Wheeljack had the first measure of Ratchet's do-goodism. "I can see that, Wheeljack. What are you going to do?"

Wheeljack's finials flashed a pale pink as he considered what he would say and then he did.

Perceptor considered Wheeljack's finials and was glad he didn't have them, handsome as they were. He flashed pink internally but agreed. It was the only way to survive a full on press of Ratchet's do-goodism. So they agreed.

-0-Prime

Ironhide walked into Prime's office with metaphorical smoke coming out of his audials.

Ratchet walking behind him leaned on the doorjamb with concern on his face.

"Prime, we have a problem," Ironhide said.

Prime looked up at him, considered having him take a number, then sat back to fold his arms over his chassis in an unconscious display of self protection. His optics were divided. One was on the raging black inferno in front of him and the other was on the emotionally unstable medico standing beside him. "Do tell," Prime said weakly as he braced himself for anything.

-0-Lennox, Epps and Graham

They came when called and arrived by hummer, stepping out in front of the conference room to walk inside. Ironhide sat in his usual place with Ratchet standing behind him rubbing his shoulders.

Prowl slid the ladder over for them to climb, then sat down beside Optimus to wait for them to traverse the table and sit on their benches. Ratchet had taken them down from the shelf where they were stored along with other furniture for other humans when they came and at last, everyone was seated.

Lennox shifted uneasily as he looked at their grim faces. "What's up?"

Prime leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "We have a problem," he began.

-0-Lawrence

He hurried away from the beach running as fast as he could go and when he reached the four wheeler that he'd ridden over on, the only one they had left of the two they started with thanks to Springer, he drove madly to the barracks. Walking inside, he went to his quarters and took down the suitcase that he kept on a shelf in the closet.

Sitting down to review the quality of the photos, he smiled then reached into his suitcase to pull out a thick book. He'd brought it along for just such an opportunity knowing the retail value of intimate photos of the robot monsters that the world was going to be seeing. It had taken a lot of time and a lot of balls but he got his money shot. Opening the book, he inserted the camera into it, the space that he'd carved out before he'd even arrived. Then he closed it, patting it with a smile.

A phone call to the company and he'd have a ride out, taking with him all his photos and the Holy Bible that they were currently resting in. Putting the book back into his suitcase, he put it on the closet shelf and walked to the kitchen to get a beer. His heart was racing and his smile was continuous as he considered his future and its much, much greener hue.

-0-Lennox, Epps and Graham, Conference Room

"Holy crap."

Prime leaned back. "Concise and to the point."

They sat a moment in appalled silence, then Lennox shifted a bit with the feeling of pain between his eyes. "May I ask a few things without causing offense? I hope you know what you mean to the three of us but there's a few things I'd like to ask? If you don't mind."

Prime looked at Ironhide who looked up at Ratchet who shrugged. "Ask."

Lennox nodded. "You know we're aware of relationships among you. We don't have a problem with them that some do among us. You aren't us. What you are and who you are to each other is the way it's supposed to be, right?"

Prime nodded.

"But I have to ask something... you kiss?" Lennox asked as he looked at Ironhide who began to frown deeply.

Ratchet smirked and began to knead his shoulders harder.

"Yeah, some of us. Most of us. We do." Ironhide frowned with a gathering look of disgust. "Ratchet told me about what you and your femmes do together. Can't say I get it. Can't say it doesn't make me wince myself."

Lennox nodded. "I know Ratchet is going to have a sparkling in a couple of weeks. By the way we're just thrilled to know and will keep the secret. But it's … strange."

Ironhide leaned forward. "Not for us."

Lennox nodded. "I know. Our people are going to freak out, some of them. Some won't. They know you're not humans and you have your own ways but this will be all over the place and it won't be good. Did you see anything at all that might help figure out who this might be?"

"Hound is tracking the culprit," Prime said. "When we know that we can do something about this. I do not want it to leave the island before we nail the one responsible. I've asked Air Command to hold all flights out of here for a couple of hours and they have agreed unless there's an emergency."

"You know it was a merc," Epps said.

Graham nodded. "Who else?"

Prime nodded. "Who else indeed?"

-0-Hound and Trailbreaker

They stood at the cliff side overlooking the beach where the Autobot youngling soldiers have most of their parties. It wasn't too hard to track because the spy didn't try to hide their traces. They walked toward the base following first footsteps, then the tracks of a four wheeler. By the time they reached the Administration Building for the base the traces were gone. But the modus operandi was clear. It was a four wheeler.

Trace that, get the culprit.

They stared in the direction the tracks had led. They stared at the merc barracks. Then they walked back to the Autobot hangar and Prime.