Since his separation from Alexis over a month ago, Thundercracker had not stopped searching for her. The Autobot made it easy, or so it seemed at first. Sunstreaker's acts of reprisal for what had happened to his twin left a trail of carnage and destruction that made even the Decepticons in the region, and the ones nearest it to be cautious. Many Cons even left the sector as the Autobot's vengeance held not bounds and allowed no exceptions.
It wasn't as if Sunstreaker tried to hide what he was doing, but when it came to hiding himself, and inclusion, Alexis, that was decidedly more difficult.
Thundercracker recognized the tech the Autobot was deploying almost immediately: RAY. It was a rare piece of defensive weaponry that had been thought destroyed on the planet Ythinc. And while Starscream had managed to find one of the devices intact, it was inoperable, and in effect, due to the unknown technology, unfixable.
The tech was as chaotic as its Autobot master. Leaving a trail of irrelevant clues, changing other ship's signatures to match the Autobot's, ultimate disarray for any Seeker.
After the first week went by of not finding Alexis, Thundercracker considered contacting Thinkgor, who besides his mercenary skills had a skill for finding those that didn't want to be found. But the idea of hiring the same mech who he almost had kill Alexis' mate seemed at least seven levels of wrong. So the Seeker sent word through contacts and his long loyal observers, offering Creds for any info that led to the female.
Her first sighting was on the exclusive Space Port Rhyion, which unknown to many, the Seekers actually owned. He received word immediately. But he did not arrive in time to find her. A tracking device put on the Autobot's ship didn't help either as RAY only used it to scramble the ship's signal until it disintegrated the tracking chip when out of range.
TC didn't give up. Not even when he didn't receive word from any of his contacts again. Not when he followed the Autobot's signature for the dozenth time only to find it was another sensory illusion. He ignored Starscream, ignored Skywarp and upgraded his own ship's sensors with tools he already had on board, a project he had planned but never found the time for.
And then he really focused, using tactics he hadn't needed to use since long before he became Elite Seeker. His title had never been a word though, but a designation that he had always been very, very good at. As Megatron's enemies could well account toward, any that were still alive.
He was in the right sector. He knew that. It only took TC two weeks to cross off and eliminate all the erroneous info, to come up with his own program that allowed him to halfway counteract RAY's interference.
"Someone is trying to contact you," Rivet entered the weapons room. The medic had been helpful in his pursuit for Alexis, and while not as skilled as Skywarp, able to help in the coding required to detangle the Autobot's illusionary tech.
"Busy. Leave."
Rivet didn't give up. Standing above the Seeker, he bent down, this time making optic contact. "It's someone name Josh. He says he is Alexis' brother." The medic spoke with avidity, far too interested in how he might respond.
Pausing, tools put down, he got out from under the console he had just taken apart. The Seeker directed his stiff gaze toward the doctor.
"And why didn't I receive this message myself?"
The medic shook his head, hardly affected by Thundercracker's terse intonations. "You were informed twice by Farshot, but apparently you have been occupied." He glanced at the organized mess on the floor of the weapons room. "And we both know why Farshot didn't come here himself."
"I'll take the message now."
Rivet frowned. "He's not on the line anymore, but he did give me what you need to contact him." He pointed over his shoulder panel. "I sent the info to your quarter's console. That is, if you can spare a moment." The medic's face became a contorted mess as he tried, and nearly failed, not to grin.
Thundercracker waited for the medic to leave and then transferred the provided information to a nearby console.
All the Creds he spent trying to find Alexis, and in the end, it was thanks to her brother, but mainly to her niece, that he finally located the Autobot.
Airaih, apparently, unknown to Alexis, had infused the female's conjugal band with a rare isotope that with the right equipment could be pinpointed with accuracy despite distances, and tech, despite anyone's preventive measures.
Josh wasn't happy about providing the information. But the Autobots had been unable to track the Bot, and would not have been capable of entering many of the notorious sectors that Sunstreaker was moving around and through. There was also the erratic behavior of Sunstreaker along with his disappearance and rumors of violence that didn't give Josh much choice.
"Will you find my sister and bring her back? Can I trust you?" Josh asked, leaning closer to the vid-relay as if to read the Seeker's intent, obviously not trusting him but wanting to try.
"I will find Sunstreaker. I will bring Alexis back," the Seeker replied, his vocals firm, details kept to a minimum.
The male sibling obviously wanted to say more. He was worried, anxious, hadn't heard from his sister since the disaster on the Relentless. TC could have reassured the male, informed him of what Alexis had and was going through. But Josh could hear it directly from his sister, as soon as he dealt with the Autobot.
Thundercracker had managed to get messages through before, but the Autobot blocked them. But now that he was in closer range, he finally managed to contact Alexis directly. The conversation didn't last long. He warned her to get away from the Autobot. Sunstreaker was dangerous, was disturbed and obviously tainted by the separation of his spark twin.
He knew he had to get her away from Sunstreaker. But by the time he came up with a plan to get Alexis safely away, the Autobot disappeared inside an active mine field, rendering all his tracking equipment, all his carefully made plans, null.
Many days later, Thundercracker was to see Alexis in person on board a small relay station. Tracking illusions for so long, he was sure that she was one as well. So he activated his holo-form and followed her as his systems did a scan. So engrossed by the sight of her, real or not, that when he lost her, only for her to appear in the hallway behind him, staff flying toward his head, she almost didn't miss.
"Thundercracker?" Alexis' eyes widened, attention flickering to her weapon that had been firmly caught by his right hand. The staff retracted and she put it back on a loop on her hip, covering it with a long jacket. She backed up and went back toward a pack and a small case she had been carrying. "I didn't expect to see you again," she told him, staring at him for a long time. "How exactly did you find me?"
"Your mating band." He pointed at her arm, ready to explain, but it was unnecessary.
Alexis stared at her arm and frowned softly. "Yes. I forgot about that." Her frown deepened and she bit down painfully hard on her lip. She winced. "Airaih and I were going to go traveling." Her fingers went to her arm, resting on the cloth above it. "He wanted to make sure he wouldn't lose me." She smiled softly before her mouth straightened, before her gaze flickered and stiffened on him. "Why are you here?" Her tone was strange, exhausted, working toward unkind.
TC spoke to her, his voice almost unrecognizable as he tried to soothe away whatever edge was between them. "I came for you. I thought that..."
He only made things worse.
Alexis cringed and her head shifted along her shoulders. She checked each end of the hallway to make sure they were still alone. "Really nice of you. But I am rather tired of relying on others," she said with pronounced hostility, a curling of fingers. "I will find my way back to Josh on my own. Thanks though," she told him, all the while dismissing him completely.
She picked up her stuff. He was flabbergasted. That was not how he saw the encounter at all. Alexis seemed distant, wary, even scared. He expected her to be, while not happy, at least grateful to see him again.
"Sunstreaker he..." he said the Autobot's name, terror and rage filling his processor with a malfunctioning quake.
"Was awful," Alexis said quickly, her mouth trembling with emotion, her eyes resolute and filled with something undefinable that made her appear so delicate only to strengthen with resolve. Her fingers shifted under the straps on her packs as she repositioned them on her shoulders. "And then he threw me out. I just wish I left sooner. But it seems I love to suffer." She dropped that topic. "Now, I need to go find the ship I am supposed to transfer..."
"Come with me, Alexis," Thundercracker interrupted her, managing to contain the desperation that made him want to result toward devious methods of containment. To be near her again. To be separated so soon after. He didn't think he could tolerate it.
"No." She shook her head. Stood straighter and stared him down with an air of affront. "I can take care of myself, truly," Alexis added with a softened tone as she tried to calm herself.
"I have Rivet with me, allow him to examine you at least," he recommended, managing to keep his tone in neutral, forcing himself to stay where he was and not advance on her. He was having the overwhelming inclination of grabbing to her, of taking her with him no matter what, of making her obey.
"Rivet?" She pushed her hair behind her ears, fingers struggling with the cuff on her right sleeve jacket that she finally managed to fold upward and then back down. Alexis wasn't trying to get away from him anymore, which he took as a favorable sign.
"My medic."
Her brows bunched. She looked up at him. Her gaze went up him slowly. Alexis had never examined him like that before, and as her eyes lingered on his legs and chest, then the muscled leanness of his arms before resting on his mouth and then up on his human eyes, he had forgotten that he had said anything at all when she finally responded.
"Why would I want that?"
He shifted, and his fingers twitched, his heart tapping a knowing rhythm beneath his chest. He heaved out a tight ball of air through his mouth. "It's important. Trust me."
"Not the best choice of words, TC. Not now." She jerked her body up, repositioning the bags behind her back again. Alexis once more looked around them, ready to leave.
Terror came again, of what might have been done to her, of what he had allowed by not preparing for every contingency. He could fail. But not like this, not resulting in more complications for her.
Alexis began to pass him. His restraint exploded and he grabbed to her arm, unwilling to let her leave. Alexis lifted her head, their bodies close and her skin even more chilled than he remembered. She shivered and her cheeks rushed with color. She stepped closer into his space, her hand wandering away from his to travel a short trail up his arm. Too quickly, she came to her senses and pulled away.
Leaving the Seeker breathless by what he thought he saw in her eyes.
Her hand covered her mouth and she stifled a sob. "I don't know what is wrong with me. I just feel so... strange. I thought I would feel different when I left Sunstreaker, but things are getting so much worse."
"Let me provide you with answers," he told her, forcing his hands to remain where they were, his voice deceptively unaffected. He wanted to touch her like she had touched him. Wanted to curl around her, to feel her breath against his skin.
"And after?" she asked paranoid, hesitant and maybe even scared. A sight that angered and affected him.
"You can leave. If you desire to," he told her, the cadence of his words careful and hindered minutely by his own need for her to remain.
Alexis chuckled darkly at his words. Her eyes darkened. "I desire a lot right now, too much. And therein lies one of my problems."
"You're Rivet?" Alexis sat down on the exam table, uncomfortable, and frazzled but relaxing a little when she saw the medic.
"I am."
"You helped free me last time. I never got a chance to thank you," Alexis spoke softly, a slight scratch in her voice.
Rivet's optics washed over the ridged Seeker. He opened his mouth and then shut it when the Seeker tightly shook his head.
"It was the least I could do. No one deserves being left under Starscream's care." Rivet placed some tools on a nearby stand that Alexis watched with tense suspicion.
Alexis swallowed hard, cringed tightly, then breathed out deeply. Her eyes lifted back up to the medic as if she had momentarily forgotten about him. She smiled softly, genuinely, making the Seeker ache keenly. "Well, thank you just the same."
He nodded his head and then turned to Thundercracker. "I think it is best if I am left with Alexis alone," Rivet announced firmly, motioning the Seeker toward the exit.
Thundercracker didn't move.
"It doesn't matter," Alexis spoke up. "This situation is already strange." She glanced around the medical room, the nearby equipment, the soft glow of the lights above. The human breathed in loudly, clasped her hands too tightly and returned her attention back to the nearby medic. "And he already knows what is going on with me, what Sideswipe did to me."
"What is wrong with you has nothing to do with Sideswipe, but your Vildan mate. You're, what I believe you humans call, pregnant." The medic told her with no preamble or preparation. He surprised even the Seeker that he had been able to figure that out so quickly. But medics' bio scanners were much more advanced.
Alexis choked and then laughed nervously. She stopped with the earnest expression the doctor wore. Releasing her hands, TC once again noticed the trembling. She was nervous, worse than that, frightened, and now, confused. "Not possible. The last time we were together," she paused, gave an uncomfortable glance in Thundercracker's direction and continued with hesitation, "was too long ago."
"Vildan conception is much slower than humans'."
Alexis eyes flickered back over to TC's optics then went back to staring at the medic. She didn't respond, her emotions locked up tight, her thoughts far away.
"Thundercracker..." the medic implored delicately.
The Seeker left the room, but only because looking at Alexis so uncomfortable, scared and rattled made him want to act in a way that would have only increased her discomfort, and his.
Leaving the medical quarters, his attention was taken by Terra who was barking at an exposed cable relay. A strange sound emanated from the torn open junction that had his fearless dog whimpering and backing up.
A small feline came out of the hole, tail impressively puffed up, back curled, and then the orange tabby pounced and chased after the dog. Terra ran away. Several seconds passed. The cat raced past the Seeker's pediforms, Terra now chasing the feline. Several more seconds later, the feline whizzed past him again, bending its lithe form through the crack of the medical door, finding safety.
Alexis didn't exit the medical lab until a long two hours later. In a daze, she almost tripped over the cat who had taken up residence in the front of the door. Terra and the young feline had ceased their discord as long as each stayed in their own space.
The female dropped to the floor, pulled the cat into her lap and hugged it tightly. A little too tightly for the animal squeaked and bounded away only to return, its small head rubbing against her open palm.
"I'm pregnant," Alexis said, and TC wasn't entirely sure that she was speaking to him. Her head lifted. She frowned up at him, eyes narrowing. "You knew."
He desperately wanted to lie. "Yes."
"How long?"
"Since the shower."
"You didn't say anything."
"I wasn't entirely sure."
She burst into tears at that. Terra sat up at the strange sound, a flicker of TC's wrist having the pooch settling back on the floor. Alexis curled into herself, arms wrapping around her legs.
"I didn't want children," she said, her words muffled by her legs. "Airaih knew that." She lifted her head up and stared at the wall. "God, I think he knew!" Alexis sniffled. "But I was so against it that..." Alexis dropped her head again.
She cried for some time. The feline rubbed against her arms, hands and legs. Not getting a response, it leisurely stretched out by the female, yellow eyes watching Terra with care.
"How long have you had Terra?"
"Almost two years."
The dog in question angled its head to the side, knowing she was being talked about. Whenever he was on board his ship, the dog preferred to be near him. He had trained Terra to be hostile to strangers and to attack if sensing a threat. But there were and had been exceptions, and perhaps, due to trinkets he had kept from his times with Alexis, including a jacket that had once belonged to the female that Terra somehow ended up sleeping on as a puppy, Terra did not respond as perhaps would have been dictated.
And if he didn't know better, he would say that the dog knew Alexis was carrying. Terra's treatment of Alexis was not only sensitive in nature but once more revealing an intellect that not only allowed the animal's skill to be honed far past his expectations, but for the German Shepard to make her own choices when she saw fit.
"How long have you had that feline?" He asked of her, not caring, but needing to prolong their conversation, mesmerized by the sound of her voice, of her speaking to him.
"Not very long." A flicker of something hostile flashed through her eyes, making her mouth set tightly.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to leave it behind?" He stared down at the cat in question, the furry creature playing with a wire that had come free from the cable relay it had hidden inside.
"Yes, but there was no way I was going to leave her with Sunstreaker."
"Did he hurt you?" Thundercracker asked, his voice becoming tight. Too many visions of what had happened kept flashing behind his optics, and as his imagination was far underused, it always ending up being the worst case scenario.
"You asked me that exact question regarding his brother." She lifted her head up, having difficulty swallowing the bite of her nutritional bar. She finally managed with a thick gulp. Alexis deflected the question with her own. "What exactly happened on the Relentless? How did Sunstreaker find me? How did he take me?" she asked the questions, one after another with rapid speed.
"I was unprepared," he admitted, unaccustomed to failures, but needing to own the responsibility of what had happened to her.
"It's not your fault. I don't mean to blame you, it's just..." She let out a sigh. "I really wanted to help him. But all I did was end up hating him more. And hating myself because of what I almost did, because of what I allowed." Alexis frowned at Thundercracker, eyes searching his optics. "You kept looking for me though."
"I did."
"And it was you that had Rivet release me on Earth. Why not tell me? Why hide it as if you did something abhorrent?"
The medic should have never told her. And even if Rivet did it as some sort of favor, the deed was not one he appreciated. The doctor still did not know him well enough to realize that everything he did, or didn't was with a purpose in mind, or had a valid reason. The Seeker didn't like interference from others, more so when it involved Alexis.
His limbs stiff and his mouth tight, TC's words came out disjointed with exasperation as he thought of repayment for the medic's loquaciousness. "Would my telling you really have mattered?"
Alexis bit her lip and then slowly shook her head. "On certain days, very much so." She frowned, took a drink of her water and leaned against the wall she was sitting against. The female didn't look very comfortable, but had already denied moving somewhere else twice.
So they remained in the hall outside the medical quarters. And haven't moved in well over an hour. She was still dealing with what she had been told, and since Alexis didn't ask him to leave her alone, he stayed. He tried not to allow his optics to hover. Tried not to linger on every word she said, the steady, comforting sound of her inhalation, the way her fingers slid down the small water bottle and then back up again. She made him feel euphoric, relaxed in a way he hadn't felt since before his betrayal of her.
His spark twisted when he realized that Alexis was actually waiting for him to speak. The strength of her gaze warming his circuits and making that damnable hope flicker anew.
But she was with child. And while he would have taken her just as she was, it was evident that Alexis still loved Airaih, so much so that it gave him severe pause and utter dissatisfaction. He had almost forgotten the disarray that Alexis engendered him with, the way she managed to make his systems feel aligned when she was near him, contradictions that tried to exist together only to create a feeling inside him that was bolder than both.
He spoke harshly, disconcerted from the ever present sound of two firm heartbeats coming from her tiny body, something he had heard before, but hadn't understood. And now that he did... "I didn't tell you because it didn't matter. Because it wasn't enough. Because I didn't want your appreciation. Because I think too highly of you," he told her honestly, determined to make things clear between them.
She smiled. Truly, genuinely and with readable affection. His tank bubbled, his servos coiled. His engines nearly came on-line.
"Nobody does things like you have done for me without expecting anything, unless they do care," Alexis spoke softly, continuing when he remained silent. "It's not always your words that define you, but your actions. You are not the same Decepticon who I knew on Earth. Frankly, you astound me."
Her words seemed to curl within him, an awe overtaking him. TC watched her stand up. Alexis frowned tightly, but kept her focus on his optics. He held her gaze.
She hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "Do you have somewhere I could rest for a while before I continue to Josh?"
Coming out of the daze that she had induced, he spoke, his vocals sounding overused. The way the female affected him was unparallelled, was incredibly stimulating. "You don't have to go to Josh."
Her eyes sharpened, her mouth tightened. She reached for the jacket she had taken off and slowly put it back on. The trembling had returned as if she remembered exactly where she was and who she was with. Feeling his tank sink at her exposure of fear, she spoke warily, "And why is that?"
He didn't like seeing her frightened, nor paranoid, or unhappy. And the idea that she could be terrified of him made his systems overheat, made his tank turn sour. But she had come on board his ship despite that fear, and he would not allow her choice to be a bad one.
"Because I am bringing you to Josh."
The tension evaporated from her form, her eyes softened.
"Really? No lies? No deceptions?" she asked of him, desperately wanting to believe him.
Rancor stirred toward the Autobot as he once more thought of how she must have been treated. He shook his head, vibrant green eyes not leaving his form for an instant.
At his confirmation something thick and enticing and new swirled through the air between them. Thundercracker ignored it, sure it was just him.
It would take three weeks to reach Josh. At first, Alexis remained suspicious of his intentions. But as she spoke to her family, as their trip's progress was meticulously recorded, she eased up.
She had been on board for a week now, seven days longer than he had ever believed she would. Alexis spent most of her time in her provided quarters or with the medic. Alexis enjoyed Rivet's company and care, and it was her pregnancy that probably kept her on board more than his ability of delivering her to Josh.
This was the first day Thundercracker noticed that her body was starting to show her condition. Her body was changing rapidly and now that a small bump showed, the protectiveness he had always felt for the female had become such a part of him that he no longer recognized his single-mindedness toward Alexis. He wanted to take her to the nearby storage room, lock her in with him, catalog all her body changes, not by his optics or scanners, but by touch.
He locked his joints, keeping himself in place.
Alexis still hadn't told him what had happened between her and Sunstreaker. And it was because sometimes she seemed truly embarrassed and uncommonly resentful that he didn't bring the matter up again. That and conversations between them had become... stilted. But the desire to end the Autobot, preoccupied him as much as Alexis did.
Alexis was now staring at her reflection on the glossy wall outside the medical quarters, her hand tentatively touching her belly. Both the Seeker's focuses collided, making him want to end the Autobot, making him want to make sure Sunstreaker never shared her space again. Yes, he would contact Thinkgor. As getting away himself at the moment was out of the question, not while Alexis was on board his ship and under his protection.
"I'm having a boy," Alexis told her reflection, unaware of the Seeker. "You are having a son, Airaih." Alexis whispered as if someone was staring back besides her self. "And I already love him, more than I thought possible."
"You must think me crazy," Alexis said, and it wasn't until she turned to face him that he realized she had known he was there all along. "Christians are taught not to speak to the dead. That it's wrong somehow." Her hands dropped away from her belly. "That everything happens for a reason, that Jesus has a plan and purpose for us." She cringed and scowled, her words turning bitter. "Why must it involve so much pain and suffering? Why must so much go wrong before anything goes right? And why doesn't more go right than wrong?"
She let out a small sigh, offered him an apologetic frown. "I know, complaining isn't good either. But if one didn't complain, how would we know anything was wrong? I can't remain happy through the storm. It's just..." Alexis cringed, then chuckled a little when she caught his steady gaze. "But I can believe and hope and trust." Alexis winced, took a deep breath and sighed. "I didn't mean to ramble."
"You do not require answers?"
She shook her head no, her attention lifting back up to him. Alexis gave him a wry smile. "Not today. I think I just need to take a nap or something. I will return to my room."
"And you are capable of walking there on your own?"
Her brow lifted and she gave him a strange look. "Uh, Yes."
"Do you wish for me to..."
"No," Alexis cut him off, waving her hand in the air. "I can walk, seriously, I'm pregnant, not injured, but thanks," she added. Alexis gave him one last look over, her focus drawing a slow trail along his now extended wings before she led herself away.
Desire flared and burned through his Energon at her unintentional boldness, increasing when she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him softly. It fizzled as she continued to walk away from him, dimmed when he found himself alone. And then flared up all over again when he reminded himself that he would most certainly see her again, and soon.