THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED, LIKED, AND FOLLOWED IT'S CONTINUALLY PUSHING ME FORWARD WITH THE VAST SUPPORT. X)
Once Derek was comfortably splayed in the backseats of his alt, Smokescreen walked around to the driver side door and entered the seemingly dormant alt. For the sake of laying low the mech kept his holoform projected to not bring any attention to himself. If he got on the highway driver-less that would bring mass amounts of unwanted paparazzi. Primus knew that those kinds of humans were everywhere just itching at the chance to get one memorable photo for the front page of the News. Smokescreen wouldn't have that, especially with his Godson comfortably snoozing away in his seats. The very thought of humans hounding the young male with a staggering amount of queries made Smokescreen's protective programming come into play. The boy had been through enough as it is, he didn't need anymore drama to bear on his shoulders. That much Smokescreen was sure of.
The vehicle smoothly pulled out of it's parked place before heading out toward the airport. The C-17 should be ready for departure when he got there but, just in case he Commed the pilot of their ETA. The mech would like to leave as soon as possible and get Derek on base quickly. The less time they spent here the better.
While waiting in the slow moving traffic of the busy highway Smokescreen made mental preparations for there arrival in Diego Garcia. First and foremost, he would have to get Derek settled into the human proportioned berthroom that was connected to his quarters. Every Autobot's room had a stationary human room built into it. They were for precautionary reasons and were rarely used due to the fact that none of the humans ever had a reason to bunk in with a Autobot. This case was different, Smokescreen had a vacant room and he wouldn't stand for Derek being placed with a complete stranger. After being situated Smokescreen would have to fill in Optimus on the details. Being the kind and reasonable leader that he was he would most likely see no trouble with Derek on the base. He would however, probably be reprimanded for not notifying him in the first place. The young warrior didn't have time to tell anyone about his little outing being that he was in a hurry and it was still the dead middle of the night. One bot that came to his processor gave him fearful shivers. Ratchet. The CMO would surely barrage him with wrenches and tell him how much of an annoying pit spawned sparkling he was for thinking he could handle the raising of a youngling all on his own. He would have to physically prepare for that encounter.
Smokescreen was pulled from his thoughts by the sudden shift from his backseat. He was finally awake, the mech only hoped that this would go well and the fourteen year old wouldn't have a spark-attack seeing as he was in an unknown vehicle being driven to Primus knows where. The question the came from the boy made relief wash over his spark.
"So I'm guessing you're Smokescreen?" Again, his voice was hoarse but them mech could care less about how he spoke. He just cared that he had said something in the first place.
Giving a cheery grin Smokescreen adjusted the rearview so he could get a better look at the male. "You got that right lil' D. Hope you don't mind the nickname, I kinda just came up with it off the top of my helm." The teen just shook his head saying that he didn't mind the name. It stunned the young warrior how well he was taking all of this. "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you know that I was Smokescreen and not some stranger human who just happened to pick you up. Not saying that I am, trust me lil' D I'm one thousand percent your Godfather!" He quickly added, "It's just you didn't seem to freak out at all." The mech didn't want to barrage him with too many questions so he just stuck to what was important at the time.
The teen shrugged before quickly answering, "Wasn't hard. There's an Autobot insignia on your steering wheel, which I doubt any other human has, and you moved the mirror without so much as laying a hand on it. From what I can tell from the make and model of the alt this is not one of those cars." Derek quickly fell into silence yet again with a awestruck Smokescreen at the wheel.
Derek was extremely resourceful for his age and used context clues to figure out just where he was. "Derek, has anyone ever told you that you're the smartest little youngling I have ever met in my life span?" And he meant each and every word of what he said. He had never meant a human his age that was that insightful.
Again, Derek just shook his head and stared out of the window. The only person who showed him any kindness was his grandfather and that was sometime ago and the feeling that bubbled inside was slightly familiar but, it was still foreign in some cases.
"Well take it from me lil' D you're quite the- what's that human word- Oh yea, detective." Smokescreen swore he saw a ghost of a smile on the boy's face before it disappeared and turned back to his stoic look. The mech wanted to break down his walls little by little. Even if it took weeks, months even. He would wait patiently and when the time was right Derek would feel the need to open up. He just had to give him a encouraging shove in the right direction.
Before the quiet got too awkward Smokescreen thought he would make small talk, ya know, play a little catch up with his Godson, "I'm guessing you don't remember me at all, huh?" Derek merely shook his head and looked toward the rearview mirror with a steely gaze. Optics inherited from his mother. "It's okay if you don't. You were still just a sparkling and I wasn't really around all the time either. Being the super cool Autobot that I am means I still hold a lot of responsibilities. And as of right now you're my main one." He wanted to make it subtly clear that he was his main concern from this point onward and that he didn't have to be so quiet around him. "When you were just a kid I remember the time we did spend together and I'll tell you one thing. Those were probably the best days of my life. We did loads of stuff together, well stuff that kids in your age group did, like going down by your community lake, hanging out at the local park, and well ya know just enjoying each others company." The young warrior sighed softly. Although he had been on earth for about a human decade, the time framed here were nothing compared to time zones back on Cybertron. Three hundred and sixty five days seemed so short compared to their solar cycles. Smokescreen vaguely wondered if he would age faster on this planet. That would be a question for Ratchet to answer.
What came out of the boys mouth next made Smokescreen almost slam his brakes, "Did-Did my parents hate me for some reason?" It was a legitimate question in Derek's mind, and he believe since Smokescreen had been in his life that much then he would at least know best of how to answer.
"Did your sire and carrier hate you? Primus no. Derek they adored you with every once in their very being. I could tell from the way they held you on your first day on earth. The complete acceptance and love they gave you was second to none. I know they just...turned out missing before but I'm completely sure that they had a good reason." Derek just let out a soft sigh and nodded. If they loved him so much, why on earth did they just give him up?
When they finally made it to the airport through all of the traffic Derek expected Smokescreen to stop so that he could get out. When he didn't expect were workers with flashing guidance beams, leading the alt around back. Seeming to read his mind the holoform spoke, "This is first class lil' D. The military does have it's perks."
They kept driving until the reached the tail of a giant cargo plane. The door for him opened and the boy quickly got out while grabbing his bag. Derek just stared in awe at the massive size of the plane while not noticing the Autobot taking his bipedal mode next to him, but a good distance away for safety measures. "Pretty big isn't it?" Derek turned expecting to see the same car, however, not a feet away was an Autobot that seemed around 25 feet tall. He was just eyeballing that guess, he wasn't all that great with estimation.
"Woah.." Was all the boy could say at the moment. He had seen Autobots on T.V. but to be standing right next to one proved that everything you see on television should not be taken to heart. The mech had a base color scheme of cobalt, silver, and what seemed to be dark grey. His noticeable doorwings twitched slightly as if acting like antennae, and lastly the part the stuck out to Derek the most was the Autobot insignia that shown proudly in the middle of his ches-er chassis.
"Cool huh? Yeah, I get that a lot. Let's get you on the plane and to Diego Garcia, from your scanning's you're still suffering from fatigue. You can catch some recharge on the plane ride back, it'll take a few hours and from my experience, jetlag is not the best feeling in the world." Derek was surprised at the way Smokescreen took careful consideration. Usually with the Gilberts they would just tell him to- No. This was not about that dysfunctional, to say the least, family right now. " Derek was taken out of his thoughts when he was settled in what seemed to be Smokescreens hand. "Sorry bud, I kinda lost you there for a second and I didn't wanna pull you from your thoughts. The prying Godfather comes out later when he's had recharge for at least more than four of your human hours. As of right now we need to get you some sleep. Sound good?" Derek silently nodded as he was carried toward the cabin of the plane.
Once they had been settled Smokescreen set Derek down gently so that he revert back to his alt mode. Derek climbed into the back seat once the door was opened and lied himself down on the leather material. "Goodnight lil' D, I love yah." The mech knew that he wouldn't repeat the words but the hum in acknowledgment was enough for him. THe young warrior waited for a few minutes for Derek's breathing to even out. Once it did the mech sagged on his axles and let his systems power down for a deserved recharge, knowing the his Godson was near made the process much smoother.
Woo! And we are done! Again, Thanks for the wonderful reviews and favs. I don't know what those things are the workers at airports use to guide the planes so I just made up my own word. XD. Also, Derek will be arriving and meeting everyone on base next chapter! So keep your eyes peeled. I was thinking, should Smokescreen have another nickname for Derek other than 'Lil' D'? Let me know! Bai!