It was at that moment that Will Lennox chose to rush into the med-bay as he slid to a halt and Ratchet shot him an odd look.
"Are you quite alright Major?" He asks and Will holds up a hand, evidently a little out of breath before regaining his senses and looking up at them.
"I'm all good. I've just been given permission to go home." He says and Ratchet nods seemingly pleased for him.
"Congratulations." He states as he lifted Will up to the berth where Phoenix was so Will was next to her. "You have not been home for a while now if I am correct." Ratchet adds and Will nods rapidly as though he is distracted as he turns to Phoenix.
"Yeah, I haven't. Point is, I need to talk to you Phoenix and I've been planning to do so for a few days now it's just I haven't got round to it." Will says rapidly and Phoenix frowns, wondering what he could possibly want her for.
"Okay?" She asks and Will sighs heavily before beginning.
"So, you know I am registered as your guardian yeah?" Will asks and Phoenix nods slowly, not knowing what this has to do with anything yet.
"Yes."
"I was wondering if…. You'd like to come home with me to meet my wife Sarah and Daughter Annabelle. You don't have to, but Annie's always wanted a sister and Sarah is delighted at the idea of having you. Is that okay? Ratchet can come too if he needs to watch you after that allspark stuff and Jazz is welcome too." Will says anxiously and Phoenix digests the information in shock.
"You mean you want me to go to your house?" Phoenix asks and Will nods seriously.
"Only if you want to though." He says, seeing her face. "Really, if you don't want to then…"
"No I do… it's just… you actually want me?" She asks hopefully and Will looks confused.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" He asks and Phoenix grins as she throws her arms around him which surprises both him and her as he pats her lightly, although he does seem pleased.
"Just reasons I guess, but I'll definitely come if that's okay with you Ratchet?" Phoenix asks and the medic snorts as he begins to pack various tools.
"Fine with me, but I'm coming and Jazz will want to as well before this new mission next week or whatever the pit it is." Ratchet grumbles and Phoenix frowns. A new mission for Jazz? She doesn't like the sound of that as her guardian is still repairing himself and he might get injured again.
"Get Prime to debrief you later." Will says seriously before turning to Phoenix. "I doubt you have much to pack, but if there's anything you want to grab then go and get it before meeting Ratchet back here and we'll get going soon. I've got until the day before the mission next week." He says gleefully and Phoenix nods, knowing she doesn't have anything to pack anyway. Will then gives Ratchet the times and location to meet him for leaving before running off to pack his own things.
A few hours later.
Phoenix had chosen to go with Will and Ironhide for the journey so that maybe she could get to know Will a little bit better and was sitting in the passenger seat with Will in the driver's seat. Thing is, she hadn't actually spoken to him once yet as she was pretty nervous about going. Would Sarah and Annabelle like her? What would happen if they didn't? Would she be able to stay with the Autobots then? All these questions in her head and no answers.
"Yah should try an' talk to 'im." Jazz commented through the bond and she resisted the urge to frown in annoyance in case Will noticed.
"I wouldn't know what to say." Phoenix replied and she got the impression of Jazz thinking through various topics.
"Ask 'im 'bout Annie an' Sarah?" Jazz suggested and Phoenix thought it over.
"Alright." She replied before turning to Will.
"What is Annabelle like?" She asked curiously and Will gave a small laugh.
"She's about this high." He said, indicating with his hand how tall she was. "With Sarah's blond hair and my eyes and she's quite the little Madam. Basically rules the roost and also has Ironhide under her thumb." Will said which was met by an indignant snort from Ironhide.
"She does not!" Ironhide protested but it sounded only half-hearted to Phoenix and it must have done to Will as well because he patted the steering wheel in reassurance.
"Whatever you say 'Hide." Will said and Phoenix grinned an annoyed sound came from the engine. Phoenix could also feel Jazz's laughter over the bond as he was listening in on the conversation through Phoenix's ears and found it highly amusing. "She also likes painting, mud and water." Will said in a long-suffering manner and Ironhide groaned.
"Tell me about it. If she gets paint in my gears again, you owe me a wash Will." Ironhide snarked and Phoenix asked Jazz what the story was and received an image of Ironhide covered in a multitude of different colours in his truck form with a very proud looking toddler who was also covered in paint standing next to him.
"I can imagine that." She laughed and Will grinned at her whilst Ironhide just snorted again.
"Sure, you can imagine it." Ironhide replied sarcastically, and at the next turn deliberately moved towards the side of the muddy country road and ended up spraying Jazz with mud. There was a loud shriek from over the bond before a message came over the radio.
"Wha' was tha' for?!" Jazz asked indignantly and both Phoenix and Will turned to see Jazz's alt mode covered in mud.
"You showed Phoenix a picture of it." Ironhide said and Phoenix wondered how he could have known that, but guessed it must be some kind of sixth sense the topkick had.
"Ah didn'!" Jazz protested before Ironhide turned off the radio.
"Yah owe meh ah wash." Jazz said sulkily through the bond.
"I do not! You showed me, I only asked for the story!" She protested smugly before a thought came to mind. "Besides, can't you just use a car wash?" Phoenix pointed out and was sent an awful sensation of cold prickling water and fluff stuck in internals.
"Tha's wha' ah car wash feels like an' sides Lennox lives in tah middle o' nowhere." Jazz replied and Phoenix finally took pity on him.
"Fine. I'll wash you but only if you don't whine about the mud." She warned him.
"Done!" Jazz replied and Phoenix sighed heavily.
"What's the matter?" Will asked seriously and Phoenix chuckled at how worried he seemed.
"Jazz just persuaded me to give him a wash because he's afraid of the car wash." Phoenix replied and although a splutter of protests stirred up across the bond, Phoenix ignored it as Will laughed. Ironhide merely gave another snort.
"Wash him with cold water." Ironhide suggested with an evil undertone to his words and Phoenix exchanged a grin with Will.
"I might just do that." She replied and Jazz gave another shriek in her head that made her brain hurt so she blocked it partially until Jazz had stopped freaking out.
"Oh relax, I didn't mean it but I will if you don't stop that awful noise." She told him and Jazz instantly stopped moaning about it lest Phoenix should make good on her threat.
After that, Phoenix turned back to watching the countryside roll past outside of the window as the roads they went down got muddier and smaller. Finally, they turned to go up an old, beaten dirt track which led to a cheerful red-bricked farmhouse surrounded by various barns and cattle fields sprawled around it.
"Wow." Phoenix stated and Will chuckled at her.
"I take it you like it then?" He asked and Phoenix nodded eagerly, pressing her hands up against the window. It was one of the greenest and prettiest places she had ever seen, with lots of animals in the various fields including horses and cows. She liked the look of the farmhouse too – much better than those grey, dirt covered buildings she was used to.
"Absolutely." Phoenix replied with a grin. Will nodded in response, looking pleased that she liked it as he chuckled.
"Wait until you see the inside them. Sarah is a great decorator." Will said and Phoenix's heart skipped a beat as the nerves came back. Would Sarah like her? Would Annabelle? What would happen if they didn't?
"Calm down there lil' lady. They'll love yah." Jazz chuckled over the bond and Phoenix sighed as they pulled up in front of the house.
"I hope so." Phoenix sighed as Will got out first just as the farmhouse door opened and a brightly smiling woman came out of the house before clapping her hand to her mouth.
"Will?!" Sarah gasped out and Will ran to her, grabbing her in a hug. He too, was smiling wider than Phoenix had ever seen him smile before. She hung back by Ironhide's door as the two reunited, not wanting to intrude on their first time together in what must be months judging by the look of things. Finally, Sarah noticed her and Will gestured for her to come over. Phoenix did so and held out her hand to Sarah who shook it kindly.
"Hello, I'm Phoenix. Thank you for allowing me to stay." Phoenix said shyly and Sarah smiled down at her.
"It's not a problem to have you here. I see you've brought someone new – another Autobot I presume?" Sarah asked Will who nodded.
"Yeah. You know Ironhide and Ratchet obviously, but that one there is Jazz, Prime's TIC and Head of Special Operations. He's also Phoenix's guardian. You can transform now guys." Will said to them and the three Autobots did so, Jazz coming forward to kneel on the ground and offer his index digit to Sarah which she politely shook.
"As Will said, mah designation is Jazz. It's ah honour tah meet Will's sparkmate." Jazz told Sarah who smiled back at him.
"The honour is mine." She replied as Jazz pulled away and stood up. Phoenix watched in interest as Sarah frowned up at Jazz, glancing at Ironhide and Ratchet as she did so. "I have a question if that's alright?" Sarah asked Jazz and he waved a servo at her with a grin.
"Shoot." He replied.
"You're pretty short compared to them aren't you? I thought you were all about the same size." Sarah said in confusion and Phoenix burst out laughing, causing both 'bots and humans alike to shoot her an odd look. Still giggling, Phoenix pulled herself together long enough to point up at Jazz in delight.
"She's calling you short!" Phoenix laughed and a frown passed over Jazz's faceplate as she continued laughing. "She wants to know why you are so tiny." Phoenix added helpfully, and Ironhide snorted as he and Ratchet stepped forward, the latter to offer an explanation.
"To answer your question Sarah, Cybertronians all have height variations just like humans do – the reason you would not have known that before now is that Ironhide and I are almost the same height and we are the only ones you have seen. Although, Jazz is admittedly rather small even for a Cybertronian as he isn't actually a minibot frame and therefore should be taller." Ratchet explained gleefully, causing Ironhide to break out in laughter along with Phoenix at the last part. Jazz just glared, servos on hips as he muttered insults in Cybertronian that Phoenix did not understand but got the impression they were quite rude.
"I see." Sarah said, clearly trying not to laugh as well.
"Ah ain't shor'." Jazz protested which only caused Ratchet to snort as he looked him over.
"You're right Jazz, and I'm sorry. You're not short." Ratchet said seriously and Jazz grinned only to scowl in the next moment as Ratchet finished his sentence. "You're really short." Ratchet added and Phoenix almost fell over laughing as did Ironhide.
At that moment, a human toddler who was looked to be around 3 or 4 years old came running out of the house and launched herself at Will whilst also crowing at Ironhide.
"Dadda! 'Hide!" Annabelle grinned as Will picked her up and swung her around, Sarah laughing with him as Annie squealed with delight. Then she ran over to Ironhide who picked her up gently in one servo, bringing her up to his optic level.
"Uncle 'Hide!" Annabelle called up to him.
"Hello there little one." Ironhide rumbled down at her and Annabelle smile at her guardian as she looked over the edge of his hand, thrilled at being so high up. "Have you been good for your Mother?" He asked seriously and she nodded rapidly.
"Yeah." She answered as he placed her back down to go to Will. However, instead of going back to her Father Phoenix was surprised when Annabelle ran up to her and looked up at her curiously, standing on tiptoes to get a better look.
"'Oo you?" Annabelle asked curiosly and Phoenix knelt down in front of the girl so as to be closer to her level.
"I'm Phoenix and my friend Jazz and I are coming to stay for a while." Phoenix answered, gesturing to Jazz as she did so. At her words, Annabelle grinned in delight before turning back to her parents.
"Dadda brought me a sister Mommy!" Annabelle crowed before launching herself at Phoenix with surprised Phoenix as she ended up with arms full of excitable toddler. "I'm gonna luv 'oo forev'a!" Annabelle declared before pulling away and going back to her Father, who picked her up as he and Sarah laughed at her antics.
"Would you all like to come in for dinner?" Sarah asked and the 'bots exchanged glances before transforming and activating their holoforms.
"Ah think weh woul'. Thank yah." Jazz said as he followed them indoors, stopping at Phoenix to clap her on the shoulder and lean forward next to her ear. "Ah tol' yah they'd love yah!" He said in delight and as he pulled away she rolled her eyes at him as they followed Sarah into the spacious Kitchen complete with a large dining table enough to seat all of them.
"Yeah, yeah. I wasn't nervous anyway." Phoenix protested and it was Jazz's turn to roll his eyes at her.
"Sure." Jazz snorted.
"You're still short by the way." Phoenix promptly returned, changing the subject in the hopes it would distract her guardian which it did as Jazz scowled again.
"Ah am not shor'!" Jazz protested loud enough for everyone to hear and laugh again as they all took their seats around the table.
"Are too." Ironhide said promptly and Annabelle looked over from where she was sitting on a booster seat to inspect Jazz.
"Y'huh. He's short Dadda. Annabelle said dubiously and Jazz turned to stare open mouthed at her before throwing his hands up and taking a seat beside Phoenix who snickered at him along with Ratchet who was next to her.
"Ah give up." Jazz grumbled in annoyance, but even he had to perk up when Sarah started serving out the food and placed a plate in front of him. "Phoenix look!" Jazz exclaimed as he looked at the food. "Pasta and…"
"Meatballs." Phoenix finished for him as everyone began to eat and she stared in surprise as she realised it was even better than the ones they had eaten in the Restaurant. This definitely took the prize for the best thing she had ever eaten. Period.
Realising everyone was giving them an odd look, Phoenix waved her hand at them.
"Jazz took me to a Restaurant and we had pasta and meatballs." She explained and Ratchet vented heavily.
"Forbidden no doubt." Ratchet grumbled half-sparkedly.
"Shut it Ratch', she's here now and you like her, admit it." Ironhide rumbled and Ratchet protested again, even though it was obvious he didn't really mind having her around in the med-bay most of the time. Phoenix wasn't complaining – she liked N.E.S.T base and the various 'bots she had seen so far.
"So Phoenix, tell me about yourself?" Sarah asked kindly and Phoenix looked down as she thought it over.
"There isn't much to tell really. Standard care home kid with no parents and a history of bad foster homes until they were dumped as a teen when they got too old for people to be interested, and who always seems to find trouble even when actively trying to avoid it." Phoenix snorted, and Will grinned at her ruefully.
"Yeah I get that a lot too. I got mixed up with 'cons on a routine mission." Will sighed heavily and Sarah patted his arm reassuringly as she smiled.
"And now you wouldn't have it any other way." She said and Will nodded, agreeing with her before Sarah turned back to Phoenix.
"The past week has been the most interesting one of my life by far though." Phoenix said with a smile, beginning to think over all that had happened. She didn't want to explain the whole allspark-bonding thing yet, but she could tell Sarah some stuff about the base that probably wouldn't be classified. Will would stop her if it was anyway. "I mean, I've met some really awesome aliens other than Jazz and married Prime and Ratchet for starters." Phoenix grinned and Will, Ironhide and Jazz laughed as Ratchet glared.
"Must you bring that up youngling?" Ratchet grumbled and Sarah shook her head in bemusement.
"You'll have to tell me that story later." Sarah chuckled as Phoenix continued.
"I think I'm also the first human to have a cyber-arm which is basically the same as my old one only a lot cooler and comes with the bonus of no broken bones ever, as well as having actual alien glyphs on it." Phoenix said, rolling up her sleeve so Sarah could see said glyphs. Sarah inspected them with interest.
"That is good, although you might have to be careful in public with those." Sarah said seriously and Will rubbed his hair in frustration.
"Hadn't thought of that." He said, sounding slightly annoyed with himself. Phoenix waved it off.
"I'll figure out something and it's cold now anyway so I'll be wearing long sleeves." She told him so as to ease his worry. Phoenix didn't want him to make too much fuss over her – he was being kind enough to her as it was.
"What do they say anyway?" Sarah asked curiously and Phoenix looked over to Jazz and Ratchet for an explanation.
"It's ah name-glyph. Weh all 'ave one." Jazz explained, extending his holoform's arm across the table and causing the skin to have an odd ripple effect to display his name glyph. Phoenix frowned.
"How come it isn't on your armour?" She asked and Jazz grinned at her.
"Protoform. Can' see tha' beneath tah armour." He explained. "But yeah, Phoenix has one which is 'er Cybertronian designation." Jazz told Sarah who nodded thoughtfully as she digested the information. Annabelle jumped up excitedly.
"I wanna get one!" She crowed and everyone laughed at her eagerness.
"Maybe not yet sparklet." Ironhide chuckled at her and she pouted with the most adorable expression Phoenix had ever seen.
"Awww." Annabelle protested.
"How did you and Jazz meet anyway? Glitch still hasn't got round to telling us." Ironhide rumbled and Jazz and Phoenix exchanged identical grins.
"Do yah wanna explain?" Jazz asked her over the bond.
"Yep." Phoenix replied and started her story.
"So, it began on a normal morning when I went for a walk in the woods…."
Later on, they were all sitting in the living room except Annabelle who had gone to bed and the Autobots had agreed to tell various stories after Phoenix had finished hers. Some were from the war and others were not, but all of them had a humorous twist that Phoenix was quite enjoying. Currently, Jazz was telling them about the time he had met Prowl which Phoenix was enjoying immensely as were Jazz and Ratchet even though they had been there.
"So here ah am standin' in tah meetin' room havin' been promoted tah TIC an' ah'm 'bout tah meet all o' tah mechs in tah Iacon base fer tah first time havin' just been transferred from Polyhex an' in walks this Praxian with 'is doorwings held high an' struttin' roun' like he owns tah place. Weh 'ave introductions an' 'e introduces 'imself an' ah'm thinkin' he's full o' it if yah know wha' ah mean. Anyway, weh 'ave introductions an' 'e starts ramblin' 'bout this stupid-aft plan ah hated." Jazz began cheerfully.
"So being the slagger he is, he stands up and tells Prowl exactly what he thinks of his plan." Ironhide snorted gleefully, remembering the event. "And he says…"
"Tha's ah dumb-aft plan only ah scrappin' glitch-head wit' an' offline wish woul' use." Jazz announced cheerfully to the meeting room, interrupting Prowl mid-sentence. Every single set of optics in the room turned to him with a mixture of shock, horror and sheer delight.
"Prowl's just standing there, back to Jazz as he's still in shock, but then he turns around to face Jazz head on and he says…" Ratchet added with a chuckle.
"Excuse me, but could you please repeat that?" The tactician asked him coldly and Jazz grinned even wider.
"Like tah cheerful spark ah am, ah say…"
"Sure mah mech! Ah said tha's ah dumb-aft plan only ah scrappin' glitch-head wit' an' offline wish woul' use." Jazz told him happily and the tactician stared for a few moments in shock before recovering.
"Why? My calculations dictate that…"
"Calculations?! Listen mah mech, nev'a use ah computer tah determine ah spec. ops mission plan, there are tah maneh unknown vari'ahbles. Now sit down o'va there an' let tah Jazzman 'ere help yah out." Jazz grinned kindly at the mech who still looked taken aback, but took a seat nonetheless.
Jazz explained his plan fully to the mechs gathered..
"Prowl looked like he been forced to eat sludge!" Ratchet hooted with laughter and Phoenix started laughing at the idea too. "It wasn't the fact that he had been interrupted so rudely, that he could have dealt with although his pride might have suffered a little. It was the fact that Jazz's plan was actually better than his and that Jaz pointed out all the flaws in his plan to the point is was evidently a failure!" Ratchet added and everyone, including Will and Sarah fell about laughing at the idea.
"So at tah end 'e says…"
"Thank you Jazz. If nobody has any objections I believe we will be using this new plan? No? Then this meeting is over." Prowl said sharply before turning on his ped to stalk out. Jazz snorted – this one was worse than Mirage and Primus knew that mech had been a servoful.
"Righ' ray o' sunshine ain't 'e." Jazz shouted with a wide grin to the surprise of the meeting room who stared before beginning to fall about laughing.
"Meetings were very interesting from then on to say the least as Prowl absolutely hated Jazz." Ironhide chuckled and Phoenix grinned as Jazz sent her various memories of meetings where he had purposefully riled up Prowl beyond belief.
"Ah did it 'cause ah 'ated 'im as well. Ah though' 'e was full 'o 'imself." Jazz said fondly as he no doubt remembered a time where he hadn't like Prowl, not even a little bit. "Ah woul' go outta mah way tah annoy 'im by makin' 'im refuel, naggin' 'im tah recharge or go fer ah check-up or even tah get time off. Ah made mah reports awful an' bribed others tah do tah same an' generally made 'is life Pit." Jazz grinned at them.
"What happened?" Sarah asked curiously as she shook with laughter.
"Prowl lost it." Ratchet said seriously before dissolving into another fit of laughing that shook his holoform from head to toe.
"Tell us!" Phoenix demanded and Jazz grinned at her before doing just that.
Jazz raised a servo to interrupt Prowl for the seventh time in the past few breems making the mech whirl on him with distaste.
"Yes. Jazz." Prowl growled at him and Jazz jumped up, using the tone he knew would annoy the SIC most of all.
"Yah are wrong again Prowler!" Jazz said in his sing-song tone as Prowl glared at him with a ferocity that would have melted any other 'bot's circuits but Jazz was Jazz and no stuffy, know-it-all tactician with a stick up his aft the size of Cybertron was going to scare him.
"I fail to see how." Prowl said in a low tone and Jazz grinned as he moved forward to wipe the large holoscreen clear of Prowl's plan. "I-You.." Prowl stuttered at Jazz in disbelief. "I can't believe you!" The tactician snapped and a silence followed after so much so that Jazz could hear the very humming of the sparks in the room.
"Meh neither. Ah'm a righ' pain in tah aft." Jazz said cheerfully and Prowl stared open-mouthed at him.
"You mean you did that on purpose?!" Prowl stated and Jazz nodded in response, still keeping his biggest grin on his faceplate as many in the room began to shake with laughter, Prime slipping his battle mask on.
"Yup."
"You are a glitching, no-good, scrapping pain in the aft!" Prowl roared at him and Jazz shrugged.
"True." He admitted. "But then yah 'ave ah stick up yah aft tah size o' Cybertron an' constantly look like yah were forced tah interface wit' Megatron last nigh'." Jazz returned easily as he met Prowl's stunned optics as the mech fought back the desire to slap him.
"I… you… little pit-spawn." Prowl growled before looking around at the assembled mechs and femmes and deciding it was best to leave. "Permission to take a break Sir?" Prowl practically snarled at Optimus who suspiciously had his battle-mask up and was shaking with what seemed to be laughter.
"Permission g-granted." Prime said, stumbling a little over the words. Prowl left the room, and Optimus made his way out after him. Everyone else exchanged momentary glances before bursting out into laughter like they had not done for vorns.
"I thought I was going to offline I was laughing so hard." Ratchet got out as everyone laughed along with him as soon as Jazz had finished, Phoenix most of all as she was privy to Jazz's experience of the memory and exact feelings. When they had finished, Phoenix sat up and looked at her guardian with interest.
"So how did you become friends?" She asked and Jazz smiled.
"Long story, but as weh were forced tah work togeth'a weh learned tah put up wit' each other an' he realised ah wasn' such ah glitch an' ah reliased 'e wasn' such ah tight-aft. Weh learned tah like each other eventually."
"They became inseparable after Jazz saved Prowl's aft a few times as Prowl then realised Jazz didn't actually hate him. Although, we still don't know who asked who to bond but it was Jazz because Prowl would never do such a thing." Ratchet said easily and Ironhide nodded in agreement as Jazz shrugged.
"Was it?" Phoenix asked him.
"Not tellin'." Jazz replied easily with a hint of mischief and she stared at him in disbelief.
"It wasn't you?! Prowl asked?!" She exclaimed inwardly.
"Ssh. Don' look so surprised or ah'll nev'a live it down."
"Wait why you would never li….. you crashed?!" Phoenix exclaimed and Jazz sent confirmation through the bond that had her laughing inwardly. Prowl had crashed Jazz. Well, at least he had gotten revenge of a sort.
"Mean." Jazz stated grumpily as he caught her train of thought.
"It's true though and besides he did deserve revenge after all that tormenting. Admit it."
"Fine." Jazz replied reluctantly as they returned their attention to the conversation at hand.
"You 'bots certainly have some interesting stories." Sarah laughed before looking over at Phoenix and checking her watch as Phoenix yawned. "Would you like to go to bed?" She asked kindly and Phoenix nodded as Sarah stood up and came over to where she was.
"Yes please." Phoenix answered.
"I'll show you upstairs." Sarah offered and Phoenix followed her after saying goodnight to the 'bots and Will.
The room she was shown to was larger than any she had ever stayed in, with a tree outside the window that looked pretty good for climbing and some clothes and books already laid out for her as well as a matching dressing gown and slippers.
"We had to guess your size but I hope you like them." Sarah said, patting Phoenix on the shoulder. Phoenix turned to give her a grateful smile.
"I love them. Thank you, really." She said honestly and Sarah smiled at her.
"No problem. I'll leave you to it then." Sarah said before leaving Phoenix alone to get changed and jump into bed. Phoenix lay that way for a few minutes as she tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. It was no use.
For the past few days she'd always recharged in the presence of another spark and now the room sounded too empty for her to get used to even though she'd slept alone for years now. Annoyed, she sat up and went over to the window, pulling back the curtains to look at the view.
Only to be surprised when Jazz's grinning faceplate appeared and she stumbled backwards in surprise.
"Primus Jazz!" She hissed at him, having got over her shock as her guardian laughed at her. "Don't do that!" Phoenix grumbled half-heartedly as Jazz grinned wickedly at her before offering her a hand for her to climb into as she opened the window and did just that, curling up in his palm.
"Can't sleep?" He asked, stroking a servo down her back lightly as she relaxed into the warm, soothing metal of his servo.
"No. I've been sleeping in med-bay for most of the week and it feels weird not to be on base. I'm also a little worried I guess." Phoenix admitted to him and Jazz cocked his helm at her as he sat down on the grass after carrying her a short distance away from the house.
"Why lil' lady?" He asked, using his new favourite nickname for her.
"Will's got some kind of mission and I don't know what it is but you're going on it and Ratchet will be as well probably." Phoenix sighed heavily and Jazz nodded seriously.
"Yeah. Gotta go tah someplace called Chernobyl an' check out an' 'alien artefact' accordin' tah yah government an' Will. Ah'm goin', Prowler's goin' an' Prime, Bee an' Ratch' are goin'." Jazz explained and Phoenix frowned as she thought of something.
"Can I come?" She asked hopefully although she knew it was useless. As expected, Jazz shook his head at her.
"Nah, yah ain' allowed. Yah've seen enough fightin' alreadeh an' ah wouldn' want yah tah get hurt no more." Jazz explained before a thought crossed his processor and he snorted. "Besides, ah even think 'bout takin' yah an' Ratchet'll kick mah aft tah Pit personally." Jazz laughed and Phoenix laughed with him for a moment before frowning up at him.
"Will it be dangerous?" She asked seriously.
"Shouldn' be, but yah nev'a know wit' tah 'cons. Don' worreh 'bout meh though, ah'll be back before yah know it. An' yah shouldn' worreh yahself 'bout it alreadeh, it's next week anyway." Jazz said, waving a servo dismissively. Somehow, that thought did not make Phoenix worry any less.
"Alright." She sighed, still unhappy with the fact that Jazz was leaving her even if it was only for a short time. "Can you teach me some more constellations?" Phoenix asked as Jazz lay down with her on top of his chassis.
"Sure. Tha' one is tah big dipper, an' tha' one is tah little dipper…" Jazz began as he pointed to each constellation and explained how to find them separately. Despite her worry, Phoenix soon found herself falling fast asleep, still curled up on Jazz's chassis above his sparkchamber with his servos resting over her small form protectively.