The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 38 edited for boo-boos :D
-0-After the meeting
They wandered out, heading for wherever they were supposed to go but for the usual suspects. Prime sat grinning at Ratchet and Prowl who sat glowering comically at each other. "You two are impossible."
"You're on my side," Prowl said glancing at Prime with a gimlet optic. "Don't forget that."
"I won't," Optimus said. "What do we expect tonight? A call from the Night Watch to bail you out of the brig?"
"Maybe. Maybe not," Prowl said sitting back to stare at Ratchet pointedly. "I don't intend to get arrested."
"I don't either, Prowl, but you started every incident where I ended up in the brig so far."
Prowl looked at him for a moment, then sat back with a grin. "I did, didn't I."
Ratchet nodded. "That is why you are my hero and role model."
"You're mad, mech. If that were true you would be a model citizen," Ironhide said.
Prowl sat forward resting his elbows on the table. "You're making a mess of our ability to field medics, Ratchet. There are penalties for your insolence."
Ratchet grinned. "Do tell, Granny. As if I don't know what they are already."
"Good." Prowl looked at Ironhide. "Fork over that sparkling, soldier. Now."
Ironhide's smile faded instantly as he stared down the barrel of a very determined winger. "What sparkling?"
"If I have to go over there, Ironhide, there will be dents where the sun don't shine," Prowl said remembering dialog from an anime cartoon his infants liked to watch. He grinned inside and looked deadly serious on the outside.
Ironhide would have sighed if he could. He would have pouted and maybe even said no but he didn't. This was touchy ground and he surrendered handing over his daughter with only a minimum of grace.
"Well done, Prowl. That's probably a record," Ratchet said slipping his arm around the sagging mech of his dreams. "Buck up, big boy. We have a bun in the oven."
A flurry of up links were followed by a flurry of down links as they checked out the newest slang of the orn. Prime grinned. "Humans are nuts."
"They are." Ironhide decided to save his pout for later.
Prowl on the other servo cuddled a gigantically smiling Hero in his arms. "This is very cute," he said touching her light green Boing Boing hat, sweater, booties and blanket. "She's so little. When do they have the ability to regulate their internal temperature, Ratchet?" he asked as he settled the infant into the crook of his arm.
"It won't be for a while. In fact, Miracle and Orion can't do it yet. That's what our carry holds are for."
"We don't have them to hide snacks?" Optimus asked.
"That and sparklings. Gypsy has done a lot of research on our infant population and we're finding surprising things. Probably everything is surprising since we don't know jack yet," Ratchet said. "On Cybertron, there was heat in the core and we didn't have such extremes of temperature and weather. Here, we are being exposed to temperature swings and harsh weather. That requires that we modify our most vulnerable members in the harsher times so that they aren't harmed by this new circumstance. We have swings from sixty above to -279 below which is equal to vacuum. When the little mechs were tossed out into vacuum by Overlord's minions, they had less than a joor before they would have died from the cold."
"Frag Overlord," Prowl said darkly.
"No argument there," Ratchet said. "Gypsy is going to make a couple of television programs about this and they will be broadcast shortly. We don't know all we need to know about babies so its slower than we want it to be but it's getting there."
Optimus nodded. "Let me know what you need."
"We will," Ratchet said with a grin. "Come on, Ironhide. Get to work. Earn your keep. We need an apartment modification. You're on the clock. We have about six decaorns."
Ironhide glared at Ratchet. "I'll get it done."
"How about now?" Ratchet said. "I did my bit. Now you get to do yours."
Ironhide glanced at Prime who sat smirking at the big hulking bot. "I would do it. He has a point."
Ratchet stood and stretched. "Got work to do. See ya," he said to Prime and Ironhide. Glancing at Prowl, he nodded. "Outside Club Cybertron, sundown."
Prowl smirked and nodded curtly. "Be locked and loaded, loser."
"No problemo. I eat wingers for breakfast."
That met a load of chuckles so Ratchet turned and swished out with his helm and his freak flag held high. Prowl stood with a smirk of his own and with Hero safely tucked in his arm, he turned and walked out. "You'll get her tomorrow, Ironhide. Maybe." Then he was gone into the bowels of Ops Center.
Ironhide stared at the door, then turned to Prime. "Grabby thing, your bond."
"He is." Prime sat back to enjoy the dialog/diatribe that usually followed.
"A mech's sparkling isn't safe anymore," Ironhide said.
"No, it appears they aren't."
"A mech can be sitting with his sparkling and end up empty handed, Prime. What does that tell you about the state of things?"
"It tells me that you better get your apartment modified soon," Optimus said with a grin. "Who's going to tell the younglings they are evicted?"
"I have that in servo." Ironhide grinned.
-0-Elsewhere at the same time
A big mech walked to the door of apartment 23 on the 24th floor of a tower occupied mostly by older couples and families. Knocking, a youngling mech answered. "Hi," the big mech said. "My name is Parson from the Housing Authority and I want to talk to you about an upgrade."
The youngling mech joined by his significant other glanced at each other, then stepped back to allow Parson inside.
Ten minutes later...
A grinning pair of youngling mechs stepped into the hallway, their belongings packed and distributed over their own shoulders and the arms of Parson. Laughing together, the trio walked to the elevator nearby to 'move up'. Parson who was a field worker in the Housing Authority was the mech who would 'adjust' housing situations and problems for the city. If a mech had physical limitations, he got an apartment that accommodated them. If a new couple had a sparkling, he would make sure they had an apartment that would have space for their new addition.
If there were incompatibilities in housing between residents, he was the negotiator. Such was it then that Ironhide contacted Parson to explain their situation. Since Ironhide's family's apartment was as big as they got in the building, there were no other places to move. They both agreed that two apartments would have to be joined. They also agreed that the younglings next door would have to move. Two other families had registered complaints about noise and they were on a list of cases to be negotiated for solutions. The complainers were above and below the younglings.
A short chat and a new apartment in a youngling oriented tower in Terra was a good solution. The younglings were happy, the tenants above and below were happy and when Ironhide got the news, he was happy too.
In the here and now …
Ironhide stood and stretched. "I have to get the ball rolling. Parson at the Housing Authority let me know this morning that the apartment is open. The younglings are going to the youngling tower in Terra. It will be a better fit."
"I can see that," Optimus said as he stood as well. They walked into Ops Center where Ironhide paused long enough to see Prowl swaying with his back to them as he studied data on the monitor over the sensor station. Ironhide could see the little hat Hero wore. He vented a sigh and nodded to Prime, walking toward the door and the world beyond. Prime watched him go, then walked to Prowl who grinned up at him. "Is he gone?"
"He is."
"Good," Prowl said with a smile. "I love it when he pouts."
"I do too," Prime replied. They would spend the morning chatting, working and playing with Hero who showed them that she could sit up and tweet just like the big boys.
Atar, on the other servo …
Ironhide stood with the architect who was on staff at the Housing Authority for redesigns of existing structures and expansions. "Here are the possibilities, Ironhide," he said rolling out a datapad with the schematics of both apartments and their alignment together glowing softly on the screen. "What we can do is take out the wall between, expand your living room into this space," he said pointing to the living room of the other apartment, "and remodel the kitchen, removing it to give you the view of the outside all along the wall. The bedrooms that are actually on the other end of the apartment from yours can be modified. The little room can be used as you wish but the main berthroom can be modified to be a berthroom for say one of your older younglings. Or you can move into it and give up yours to keep them all together."
"Sunspot would have a berthroom that is bigger and has its own wash rack. That would be amazing," Ironhide said. "When can this happen and how long would it take, Razr?"
Razr considered that and did the math. "We have a unit team that is free now. The remodel will take about four or five orns. I will send the structural engineer and the site boss over now. They just finished a similar refit for a family in Terra that has ten younglings."
"They aren't Seekers?" Ironhide asked with surprise.
"Nope. They just don't know when to quit. Tell me again, how many younglings are we talking about now with you?" Razr asked with a grin.
"I lost count after the first one," Ironhide said with a grin. "Let's just say, Ratchet is a brooder."
Razr laughed. "Should I ask him?"
"Nope." Ironhide grinned. "I suppose that the interior design is sort of in your servos."
"You can tell us. We can redo the old part if you need a repaint. We are willing to accommodate ideas."
Ironhide nodded. "I'll tell old mech. Thanks, Razr. I suppose I should go home and be there when they come?"
"Good idea. I sent them a message while we talked and they just pinged back. Head on out and they'll be there when you get there."
"Thanks," Ironhide said with a nod. "I appreciate it a great deal."
"No problem," Razr said. "Glad to help."
Ironhide left the office and City Hall heading for home. By the time he stepped off his elevator, the door to the apartment next to them was open. He paused and stepped inside. He would spend three jours going over the remodel and by the time everyone left, the crew that would do the work had arrived.
-0-At the CMO's office, Autobot City Medical Center Tower
He walked in and sat putting his big old peds on the coffee table. Grinning with self satisfaction, he looked at Ratchet who had paused to get the word. "You see before yourself a bot that knows how to provide. I spark, I remodel, I am IRONHIDE! CONQUEROR OF WORLDS!"
"Do you have Hero back?" Ratchet asked with a grin.
"No," Ironhide said with a snivel.
-0-TBC For Pip
2013 (2)