Seeing him outside the workplace began due to a misunderstanding when he tipped her an amount that had been far too much for what Alexis had done. She stayed long enough to figure a few things out about the Vildan, including his name.
"Air eye?"
"Airaih," he corrected. He grabbed a tablet and drew on it. Turning it around, the device showed his name in English. That surprised her, but she didn't realize until later that he wanted her to know his name and had taken the time to learn how to write it in English.
Alexis had also thought that he was a worker like she was, but now she knew that he was a fighter like Sunstreaker. That didn't surprise her since she had embarrassingly caught herself staring at his physique on more than one occasion. Alexis didn't understand though why he came to the shop himself when he had attendants to take care of such tasks.
Alexis continued to bump into him. She didn't leave the shop much, only to frequent a restaurant she found and liked, and a small, rarely used garden on the south side of the barge that even with alien vegetation was a welcome distraction.
Airaih was always polite. And when she talked, he listened so intently that sometimes she became self-conscious. But she enjoyed his company, and kept finding herself looking forward to seeing him again.
"Greetings, Alexandra."
Alexis looked up at Airaih. As always, he was neatly dressed. Over a long-sleeved shirt and black pants, he wore a stylish dark-green jerkin that had multiple-hook eye enclosures. The colors went remarkably well with his scarlet skin and brilliant yellow eyes.
"Would you like to sit down?" she asked. He never did anything without her giving him permission first, something she had learned early on.
He never smiled, not really. But she knew he was pleased that she asked. The waiter came by, and he ordered a large cup of fruit juice. Over the month that they started talking to one another, she had read a little about his people. She still felt like she wasn't supposed to look into his eyes due to the mating thing. And again today, Alexis was having the difficulty of looking at him.
"You can look at me, Alexis. As I already told you, I know that few species outside of Renth consider eye contact from a female an overture to choosing a mate."
She blushed at his directness but then took a more careful look at him. Alexis frowned.
"You were injured." Alexis pointed at his face.
He had a gash above his left brow that had slightly healed with patches of dried bluish blood. The waiter returned with his juice.
Airaih seemed little concerned, yet appeared remarkably interested in her show of empathy. "I've been injured before. I will be injured again." He took a slow sip of his juice. "But I appreciate your concern." Airaih kept his gaze on her, tilted his head to the side and observed her. That was another thing she was learning about him, he saw and deduced things that shouldn't have been possible.
He spoke with a contemplative tone. "You're angry. No, angry at someone, and you're trying to figure out whether or not to confront that person."
She was miffed. Alexis had found out that day by accident when she went to give her creds to the debt collector that after all their time on the barge, Sunstreaker hadn't even paid of a tenth of what he owed. By the rate he was going, it would be years before they were going to be able to leave.
"I am angry, but mostly because I don't know what I am supposed to do. Although I did decide that talking to Sunstreaker wouldn't do me any good, it never does. I'm tired of arguing with him, and sick of how frustrated he makes me," Alexis found herself telling him.
She also didn't like how the Autobot brought the worst out of her, turning her into an argumentative, violent thing that she disliked intensely. Sunstreaker always managing to physically hurt her may have been another deciding factor, but she wasn't backing down, just trying to step back and figure things out.
"You're right. From what I have heard of him, speaking to him would do little good," he finally replied.
Alexis always paid attention when Airaih talked. That voice of his, the more she heard it, the more provocative it became. His voice was cultured with slightly foreign intonations that mated with his naturally silky tone. Maybe that was another reason she talked to him, not because of how he actually listened, but because she wanted to hear him speak.
Airaih's lids lowered a little, and he leaned toward the table, his fingers gripping lightly to the edge before he released his hold and took his glass in hand instead.
"He's not paying off his debt," Alexis suddenly blurted out. "I want to go home," she said with a heavy sigh. "...go back to my brother," she corrected, her hand banging gently down on the table, hard enough though that she nearly toppled her drink over. "But I am dependent on someone who..."
Alexis stopped. Suddenly, as if hit in the face, she was thinking of Timothy, who she had talked about so many things about. Who she had shared her secrets and revealed her worries to, who she had complained to, who she had cared so much about.
"I'm sorry. I can't do this." And as he looked at her with confusion and perhaps even a flicker of concern, Alexis had a wild thought that left her breathless.
They shared similarities. While Airaih wasn't exactly taciturn like Thundercracker and even Timothy had been, he also didn't speak unnecessarily. He was observant, and he was, for the most part, except for some of his culture differences, comfortable to be around. Like Timothy, he was striking in features, had a similar, although more muscular build. And he had a way of looking at her that could make her skin tingle.
Like Thundercracker.
By the time that thought came she was standing up and clutching to the table, staring down at Airaih, who looked up at her without wavering.
After paying the bill she left.
Her thoughts came with her, criticizing her carelessness and obsessed with knowing the truth. She tried to tell herself that even if the horrible suspicions were true that didn't mean they had to matter. But it did matter and always would. Because being betrayed and hurt had left her wary of a repeat occurrence.
Alexis was tugged on the back of her sleeve. Turning around, she nearly bumped into Airaih, who had stopped her. She realized then that he never touched her. He looked down at her, his yellow eyes dilated, his hand still on the cloth that rounded over her elbow. For the first time, she saw the subtle markings on his face, soft patterned lines that went from his ears to his eyes, more that lined his chin and curled out from the corners of his nose. He was hot, an unnatural heat from his body emanated and poured toward Alexis' own. They had never been this close before. And he had never looked at her like he was now, intense and fervent and...
"I'm not him," Airaih told her firmly, startling Alexis with his words. "Whoever I remind you of, whatever suddenly disturbed you, I have nothing to do with either."
"It doesn't matter," Alexis said, tugging her arm away from his hand.
He disagreed with a shake of his head. Capturing her eyes with his own and not letting go, Airaih spoke firmly, "It does. Unless you want to keep moving through life being tainted by these associations. Unless you are determined to be alone."
"Being alone would be easier." She found boldness and used it. "What exactly do you want with me?"
He answered immediately, "We are both far from home, from family, from acquaintances. You could use an ally, Alexandra, and so could I," Airaih said with sincerity.
She got into the twisted, albeit, very short relationship with Sideswipe because she had been determined to move past Timothy, no, Thundercracker. He was Thundercracker. He had always been Thundercracker. And yes, she was suspicious and cautious. She had every right to be. Because she hurt so terribly bad every time she thought about him, because she knew in some strange way that the Decepticon was still with her.
"I could use a friend," Alexis spoke honestly because she had reached a new point, not from desperation or stubbornness or just trying to prove something. But first she needed to slay her paranoia. "Will you come back to my quarters with me? I need to get something."
He followed her back to her room. She had a plan, a little simplistic, but it would work. Alexis entered her quarters and waited for him to come inside. He didn't though, only stood respectfully in front of the open door. But that was fine. Alexis found what she needed and activated the program on her tablet. She approached him.
Alexis really expected it to work, but the holo-disruptor didn't affect Airaih in the least. He wasn't repelled, nor did he flicker out of existence.
Airaih wasn't a holo-form. He wasn't Thundercracker.
He lifted a brow and spared a look at her tablet. "Are you relieved that I am of flesh and blood, or are there other tests you would like to perform?" he asked with a hint of enjoyment, unruffled by her absurd actions.
"I'm sorry," Alexis told him, once again astounded that he knew exactly what she had been up to. "I just had to know."
He didn't ask her any questions, didn't even want to know whom he had momentarily reminded her off. He just tilted his head to the side, his mouth rising ever so slightly.
"You've been asking about things that don't concern you."
She didn't want him there. Sunstreaker finding her in the little haven of the garden that she loved was an intrusion that unsettled her more than his supercilious tone of voice.
"Actually, I was accidentally told. They thought I worked for you." She put her tablet down. Alexis was just about to finish the last chapter of her novel, and it had been one she was really looking forward to.
Sunstreaker looked around and took in the plants, the flowers, the benches and the small brook of purple water that trickled down the middle. She stared at him. He had been recently cleaned and polished, his armor sparkled with a brilliant sheen.
"If you are planning on telling the others, don't bother," the Autobot told her with a tone that was highly grating. "Unlike you, they understand that it is going to take time to leave here, and that the amount that is owed is not a small one."
"You do want to leave, don't you?" Alexis had to know. Her question had his optics swinging back down toward her.
He ignored her question, backed up and sat down on a large decorative rock that looked as if it had been made for him.
"And what about you? You've been spending quite an amount of time with that Vildan. I admit his kind that do leave their homeplanet are known to be unorthodox, but you must have learned enough about his culture to understand that he is only hovering around you because he wants you around when he enters his thezde cycle.. his mating heat," he said for added effect. The Autobot chuckled at her blanched expression.
He went on, more eager than before, his optics bright, his arms wrapped loosely in front of his chassis. "They only breed twice a year, did you know that, Alexis? The Vildan males are chosen by multiple females to mate with to ensure... effectiveness. And being as how the females are separated from the males on his homeplanet, it's no wonder he is feeling so uninhibited." He paused, leaned forward and happily smirked. "So, not only have you chosen an apathetic male, but one who is incapable of performing regularly."
Some of what the Autobot said was true, at least the parts that he didn't distort with his own beliefs. She supposed that Airaih could have been physically attracted to her, but she really didn't think so. And with Airaih's direct manner, he would have definitely said something. And unlike what Sunstreaker said, the Vildans did have emotions, or so she had read. They had just taken control of them over the centuries, buried them, trained and conditioned themselves so that they were not ruled by what they felt. Airaih did not seem unfeeling or even callous. And while he was restrained in his reactions, that didn't make him seem heartless.
Sunstreaker jolted Alexis out of her internal contemplations when he began to make demands, his vocals strong and his gaze intense. "You are going to stop seeing the Vildan, Alexis. No more sitting with him, no more talking with him, no more of him scenting you or having a weapon cleaned that one of his servants could do better."
She opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her with what he said next, "You need someone to satisfy your sexual needs. And since you seem to appeal to my carnal cravings, I am willing to drive this lust you have forced upon me deep inside your human body." He cringed and visibly shuddered. "Just no more touching than necessary. I already find the prospect of sharing bio fl..."
"No," Alexis cut him off, and she would have done so sooner if not stunned out of her wits. "No, thank you," she added, too stunned to be angry but obviously not too stunned to be polite, something that should have been funny but really wasn't. "I don't want that with you."
Sunstreaker huffed at that and frightened her when he got off the rock pile and came closer. The isolated garden suddenly felt oppressive. Alexis picked up her tablet and walked away, ignoring him above her, ignoring those hard optics on her body.
He didn't try to block her, but that didn't stop his laughter from following, forcing her to pick up her pace.
If it wasn't for her job, for her own quarters and her coworkers, living on the fighting barge would have been near impossible.
Now able to communicate with her brother and the others without going through Sunstreaker, she found she had several messages waiting for her, one from her brother and three from Sideswipe.
She never read Sideswipe's. Maybe she was doing him an injustice, but she was tired of the twins and their forms of attention. Changing her mind, she sent him off a quick message, telling him as politely as she could for him to leave her alone.
Alexis missed her brother, missed Amanda, missed so many things that a melancholy came as she reclined back on her bed.
Falling asleep, she dreamed about gray eyes and soft touches that melted into burning bright optics and the rough caresses of metal. She felt no fear, only an unexpected emotion that had her moving with the touches, her body yielding against the metallic caress until that also dissolved away, her mind taking off on another path entirely.