Chapter 3

Praxians Panic and Other Things

While Prowl seems calm as they walk to Optimus's office, Auri senses him grow more tense as they approach the door to the Autobot leader's private working space, and she keeps her hand securely holding his to reassure him.

"Optimus said it wasn't anything to be apprehensive of," Auri reminds her mech gently.

He shifts a wing in silence, and while he had never been very talkative, it makes Auri's spark ache to see him so terribly quiet –almost mute- under stress. He hadn't been like that before Megatron hurt him.

"I know you can't help worrying," she says, "But I can help a little, can't I?"

He nods. "You do help," he murmurs, making an effort for her.

Auri stops and makes him stop and face her. "Remember that you trust Optimus," she says, taking both his hands in hers and caressing them softly with her thumbs. "You even told me this morning that you trust him. So if he says it's nothing to worry about, then you don't need to worry."

He nods his agreement, but his wings tell her he's still tense. Her optics rest on his face, searching for some answer, but she can't think of anything else to tell him, so she kisses his cheek softly.

"What shall I do with you?" she asks.

"You could take me home…" he murmurs, but they both know he would never go. He is not a quitter.

She kisses his hand and leads him gently onward. "Take you home and then what?" she prompts, hoping to distract him somehow.

"…and kiss me," he says.

Her optics twinkle. "How about a compromise? After this, I'll take you back to your office and kiss you."

They stop at Optimus's door.

"There are a bunch of reports to read," she says. "But, I think I could fit a kiss between each report. -to keep track of my reading progress, you know."

Prowl shifts a wing. "That would hardly be an even way of tracking… some of the reports are long while others are short."

"I think we can work something out," she says. She gives him another kiss. "But we have to talk to Optimus first."

Prowl shifts a wing and puts his hand against the door. He's about to open it, but he freezes as he realizes that he almost forgot to knock. Auri suppresses a giggle as his optics widen in mild alarm at what she considers a rather small thing; Optimus wouldn't be bothered if they didn't knock, but Prowl would never open a door without knocking.

He shakes his helm slightly at her and knocks on the door.

"Come in," Optimus calls a second later, and Prowl nudges to door open.

Elita is standing by the Prime's desk looking as poised and cool as ever, and Auri smiles at she meets the femme commander's optics. She had idolized the tall femme at first, but that had since grown to a deep respect as well as a good friendship.

Prowl's wings shift, and Auri slips her hand back into his to reassure him as Optimus says "Good morning" to them.

"Good morning, sir," Auri answers while Prowl dips his helm.

"Lock the door, please," Optimus says with a hint of a smile. "We have secrets to discuss."

"Are they about our house?" Auri asks eagerly as Prowl steps back and locks and checks door.

"They are indeed," Optimus says.

"See?" she says to Prowl with a happy smile. "I was right!"

Prowl halfway smiles back at her, but Elita has raised an optic ridge.

"Be careful with those words, Auri," the older femme says with tinge of surprised concern. "Exulting over being right isn't known for causing good feelings between two bots."

"Oh! No, ma'am, I wasn't exulting over my Prowl-" Auri hugs her formally stiff mech quickly to reinforce her care for him. "He agreed with me on my guess that we'd be talking about our home, and I was being happy for both of us. –if that makes sense."

Elita's optics rest on Prowl for a moment, and then she nods. "I understand now."

"I could never be too sassy to Commander Prowl, anyway," Auri adds with a little dip of her wings and an adoring smile at her mech. Then they gather around Optimus's desk.

"Well, your home is almost complete," the Prime says, a data-pad in his hands. "We just have a few details we need to work out."

Prowl nods in his helm in acknowledgement while Auri's wings flick in excitement.

Prime goes on, "We will need to move your current furniture into the new dwelling, but I want the transition to be as least disruptive as possible for all four of you. Therefore, I need to know if you two want to move into the new dwelling after the bond ceremony and then have Praxus and Starlight join you after the sweet days. Or if it would work better for Prowl to move in with Praxus and Starlight upon completion of the house, and then have Auri join the household after the bond ceremony. Or if there is a third option you are interested in."

Auri looks to Prowl, trying to read his careful face. "I like the sound of the first option," she says to him after a few moments, "But the second one seems like it would be less disruptive for everybody."

"The second one is better," he murmurs. "But… what appeals to you about the first?"

A self-conscious look steals over Auri's face and warms her cheeks. "Having… er, having the whole house to ourselves…."

"Oh." Prowl's wings shift slightly as he realizes they haven't filled out these details enough. "Both options will have that. We will have Praxus and Starlight go visit the twins or someone; we will certainly have our sweet days alone."

"Ah! Okay!" Auri grins. "In that case, option two should definitely be the choice."

Optimus makes a note on his data-pad. "Good," he says. "Now… I can easily guess that Prowl would not like a large housewarming party, but would a very small one be tolerable?"

"How small?" Auri asks, knowing Prowl wants to know this but doesn't want to ask.

"You four and about nine or ten other bots… your closest friends, of course, not just a random nine or ten."

Auri looks to Prowl, and he gives a small nod of assent, not because he really wants a party, but because he knows Auri and Praxus and Starlight will love one. They like their parties.

Then Optimus wants to know if they want their walls plain or if they want to transfer the holographic wall décor that Sunny and Sides had put up in Prowl's quarters so long ago.

"The walls wouldn't seem right without it," Auri says, meeting Prowl's optics to see what he thinks, and Prowl halfway smiles as he nods in agreement. The twins had slipped the soothing blue gradient wall coloring holograph into Prowl's quarters during a trying time, and he'd left it there ever since because it felt right.

They sort out a few more details, and then Optimus asks Prowl if he would be interested in moving earlier than in two weeks. Prowl's wings keep still, but Auri knows he's somewhat surprised at this question. She slips her hand into his as he considers the potential change of plans.

"It would be good to move earlier," he decides presently.

"So, like tomorrow?" Auri asks, halfway teasing and entirely curious.

"Any day after two days' time would be acceptable," Prowl answers, being sensible.

"We were thinking Monday of next week at the earliest," Elita says with a smile.

After a little inspection and shifting of schedules and discussion of moving items, the bots settle on Tuesday as the moving day, and Optimus wraps up the meeting after they figure out how to work the surprise move around Praxus and bring him and Starlight to the new house.

"Next week!" Auri says excitedly to Prowl once they're out of the Prime's office and on their way back to Prowl's. "It's exciting! So exciting!"

"It is," Prowl agrees, warming up considerably now that he isn't in the presence of other bots. "And Praxus is going to be so surprised," he adds with a soft chuckle.

They walk rather than drive, enjoying the sunlight on their wings and the intimacy of holding hands, and while it takes longer to reach their destination, they don't mind the delay. Praxus would say they don't even notice it because they're paying so much attention to each other.

Once they reach Prowl's office and go in, they share their promised kisses. Then Prowl's optics catch sight of the torn bag of confetti and its slightly spilled contents. Auri follows his look and giggles.

"I forgot about that."

"As did I…" Prowl shifts a wing.

"We'd better clean it up before anything else happens," Auri decides. She gets the broom and dustpan to sweep up the scattered confetti, and Prowl tapes the torn parts of the bag. He holds it open while she dumps the confetti in, and then he knots it loosely. Slightly bent over as Prowl is, Auri can hardly resist giving his after-plating a smack with the broom.

"Hey," he chuckles, straightening. "What were you saying earlier about not being too sassy?"

"I haven't a clue," she giggles, dashing off to return the broom and pan to the closet; she entirely misses Prowl brushing a cloth over his backside to make sure no dust from the broom had left a dusty mark on his armor. She comes back to find him starting toward his desk.

"What shall we do with the bag?" she asks.

"Simply leave it. Sides will certainly be along at some point this morning to-" He breaks off as the mech of topic sticks his helm in the office.

Auri suppresses a grin down to a smile.

"Good morning, Sideswipe," Prowl says with remarkable smoothness.

"Good… morning…" Sides answers, gazing at the confetti bag with a baffled look. Praxus should have taken the bag with him after tossing the confetti, but there it is. "Uh…"

"I was actually just telling Auri that you would probably be by to claim that," Prowl says, a tiny twinkle not quite visible in his optics. Auri reads his wings and keeps a straight face and offers no explanation to the twin.

"Right!" Sides says, still looking a bit confused.

"It's all yours," Prowl says, motioning him blandly toward the bag.

Sides looks suddenly doubtful. He knows Prowl well enough to know that the Enforcer has a mischievous streak in him. Suspicion rises. Suspicion rises easily in light of Prowl's lack of rebuke for the confetti.

Prowl smiles mildly at Auri and moves toward his desk like an innocent mech would. Optics twinkling, Auri goes to her desk as well. Sides is usually the prankster, but Prowl has flipped the tables on him now. The bag, sitting there taped up with all the confetti still in it, does seem a little questionable. Anything could be hidden in the confetti. Auri and Prowl both know this has crossed Sideswipe's clever processor.

Sides folds his arms casually as he takes a step slightly toward the bag. "So, how are things going this morning?" he asks, opting for small talk while he continues to assess the potential situation.

"Fairly well," Prowl answers from his desk. "Things have been quiet. As we like them."

"That's good…"

"And Praxus's banner looks nice, I think," Prowl adds. "It's cheery."

Sideswipes nods, watching Prowl carefully. Prowl isn't known for adding to small talk, and that gives the red twin more reason to suspect that Prowl is returning his prank somehow.

The bag has cleared his scan, though.

"Well, have a good day," Sides says, taking the bag with measured care and nonchalance. "See you around."

"Definitely," Prowl says with a somewhat meaningful tone, and Sides gets out of there quickly.

The door shuts, and Prowl meets Auri's twinkling optics with a chuckle.

OoOoO

I love being in med-bay and doing things here. Sometimes Ratchet gets exasperated at me and says, "Praxus, Praxling, what are you doing?" or "Why do I even let you in here?" But mostly I don't cause him much trouble. I still worry Jolt and First Aid, though. I drugged them both once, and I guess they never forgot about that even though it's been about an earth year since that happened. It was for a good reason, but they weren't happy with me. I also bit Jolt when I was new to the Autobot base, and I think he remembers that when I have breakdowns and panics. I don't blame him, though. He's a good friend when he's not thinking about the bad things I've done, which is most of the time.

He's off duty this morning, though. And I don't know where First Aid is. Maybe still asleep. Ratchet is the only actual doctor around. I'm a pretend one sometimes. It's easier to study stuff when you're a pretend doctor instead of a doctor's student. Ratchet gives me data-pads that can be hard to read, and I pretend like I'm reading it like a doctor doing important researches so I can save somebody's life. But mostly the data-pads are about our muscles and muscle groups and how they work and shift and stuff like that. It makes my helm achy sometimes. And there is some stuff about how to work with patients. But I'm pretty beguiling, so I don't have to worry a whole lot about that.

Uplink doesn't let me beguile her much, though. She mostly raises an optic-ridge at me and questions me, and if I don't have a really good answer, I have to go look it up in a data-pad or ask Ratchet. She's good and nice to me, but I feel like she's always testing me when I'm trying to slip something past her. No one can slip anything past her. Not even Ratchet, and he's tried. I bet even Optimus couldn't slip something past her. Not that he would even try, though. He's too good to do that.

I'm pretty good, mostly.

Ratchet says my moral compass is skewed, but considering that I was raised from a petri dish with some Megatron DNA, given a virus in my processor, and conditioned to kill bots, I think it's pretty remarkable that I have a moral compass at all, even if it is skewed. I could be a lot worse.

A whole lot worse.

Lots and lots.

I'm okay.

I am okay.

I'm not doing anything very important right now, unless someone thinks folding towels is very important. I was studying, but my processor stressed out, and I threw the data-pad at Ratchet's pedes and screamed about all the words. I'm not usually like that. It just happens sometimes. Ratchet helped me calm down, and then he gave me this chore because I'm good at it and I needed something to do that I'm good at. I'm good at helping in med-bay, but not good at reading difficult things. Ratchet often reads the lessons to me, but today he had to work on a thing for a little while too much and left me to read to myself too long. He was sorry when he came back. He didn't know that would happen. I didn't know that would happen either.

It might be one of those rough days for me. I have them sometimes, and we started this morning off with a stupid panic over Auri's evil lip gloss.

Everyone will look after me, though. They always do. I'll be okay.

I finish folding the towels, and then I think about going back to the data-pad that I threw earlier.

I shake my helm.

I'm not ready to read it myself again.

I'll find something else to do. Maybe…

I hear Sideswipe's pede-falls coming up the hallway. I wonder what he's doing in med-bay, and then I remember what I did with his bag of confetti when I put my nicely-made banner in Prowl's office. That makes me smile. I was clever there.

Sides peeks in to see if I'm here.

"Hi, Sides," I say to him, still smiling. "Your timing is bad. I just finished folding all these towels and you could have helped me."

He chuckles. "In that case, I'd say my timing is good," he says.

I snicker back. "Lazy-aft."

He puts his hands palm up innocently. "Hey, I do enough chores at my place without doing chores in med-bay, too."

"Not to mention a bit of community service, too, huh?" I tease, since that happens sometimes.

He rolls his optics, but he's still amused. Then he looks kinda sideways at me. "Speaking of… service… what did you do with that bag of confetti I gave you to decorate Prowl's office with?"

"I threw it in his office," I say simply. "Why?"

He looks a bit skeptical, an optic-ridge going up. "What did you do with the bag itself, though?"

"I threw it in his office," I say just a simply as before.

He looks at me kinda baffled. "So… you threw the confetti and the bag in his office?"

This is fun. I gaze innocently at him. "I threw the confetti in the bag in his office."

He blinks. "You left the confetti in the bag…?"

"Uh-huh!" I say cheerfully. "Just chucked the whole bag in."

"Praxus…" He sighs. "That is not what I meant when I gave you the bag and said to throw in it Prowl's office."

I chuckle. "I know that. I thought it would be funnier this way."

Sides raises an optic-ridge very high. "Um… how?"

I beam, chuckling. "Instead of Prowl walking in and finding a huge mess to get mad about, he walks in and finds just this random bag sitting in the middle of the floor, and he gets all weirded out. Then he sees the note that I wrote and put on the bag, and he laughs because I'm funny. Much better, I think, than him getting mad at both of us."

Sides isn't totally convinced.

"I was doing you a favor," I explain. "And Prowl a favor. And Auri, too. And… me. Basically I just did us all a favor. Did you want Prowl to start the day in his office in a bad mood?"

Sides looks a little annoyed, but then he shifts a shoulder and accepts the fact that I'm right. "Okay," he says. "You have a point."

"Of course I do," I say. "I'm an upcoming genius."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Of course you wouldn't, sweet Sideswipe; you're already a genius," I say, smiling, and Sides chuckles at me gently. Most bots in my place would have said "of course not because you're not an upcoming genius, Sides." But I think it's more fun to tease nicely. Especially when he actually meant I wasn't an upcoming genius.

I know I'm not. I could be, though. Maybe.

Anyway, next I say, "And since you're so brilliant, you should use your cleverness to figure out how to put these towels all away."

His optics twinkle. "Uh, carry them in the basket," he says.

"You should try that hypothesis out," I say. "You know, before subjecting an innocent non-genius to a potentially hazardous situation."

He chuckles. "Hazardous?"

"I might strain a muscle," I say, looking very simple and innocent. "And that wouldn't do. My body is an artwork of time and biology, and it needs to be protected."

"An artwork of time and biology?"

I pause. "A glorious artwork of time and biology," I amend.

He tilts his helm. "Uh… Okay," he says, probably because he can't find a suitable response for that bit of nonsense. "But you have to help."

"Alright," I say, perfectly happy. I quit being silly and start helping stack all the neatly folded towels tidily back into the basket. "Did you really come to med-bay only to ask me about the confetti?" I ask.

He pauses. "Yeah…" he says. "Prowl had it just sitting in the middle of the floor, and it was… weird. And he was acting a little… oddly about it. So I needed to ask you about it."

I think about this. "I'm glad things are quiet enough around here that that sort of thing it what gets priority in your life," I muse aloud after a little bit.

He looks at me like I'm strange. This is a look I've gotten a million times from various bots. But he follows it with lopsided smile. "Hey," he says. "You know what? I'm glad, too." Then he pauses. "Let's hope it stays that way."

OoOoO

Lunchtime rolls around, and Prowl cycles a sigh of relief through his system. They've made it through a significant portion of the work day without any glitches and his helm has only a slight ache.

Auri, leaving her work, comes over to Prowl's side of his desk and sits on it, facing him and taking his hand in hers.

"I think things have gone well so far today," she says, her optics meeting his, studying his face to see how he feels.

He nods with a hint of a smile. "Yes. They have. It is the rest of the day that gives me concern. We are used to working half-days. Not whole days."

Gently, she begins to massage his hand and fingers. He used to type so quickly. "Well… we'll take a long lunch and then pretend we're just working another half-day," she says.

"That might strain my imagination," Prowl says dryly, but Auri can tell from the tilt of his wings that he's fairly content.

"Your imagination is better than you let on, and we both know it," she says with a gentle teasing tone.

"I cannot imagine what you mean," he replies, but his optics twinkle as she laughs.

"My silly Prowl." She bends her helm and kisses his hand.

He halfway smiles and relaxes some more, and contentment fills Auri's spark. She loves being with him, laughing with him, making him smile.

"I love you," he says, his optics resting on her face.

"Oh…?" she says, smiling and giving him a mild inquiring look to tease him. At that, he pulls his hand slowly from hers and places both hands on her waist to draw her carefully off the desk and gently sideways onto his lap. Her spark pulses faster and her cheeks warm shyly as she feels the armor of his thighs and pelvis against the armor of her aft and hip, a new intimacy. He slides one hand from her waist to her back, and his other hand he removes to place against her cheek in a tender caress.

"Very much, I love you," he whispers.

"I think that's good," she whispers back, cuddling against his chest, more armor against armor. "Because I love you, too, very much."

A soft purr of contentment vibrates from his chest, and she kisses his throat, pleased. He snuggles her, and his fingers find little ways to delight her without crossing propriety. She puts a hand on his chest and caresses gently, tracing the edges of its armor and the ridges of its chrome. She thinks of how much they could misbehave and nobody would know, and how sweet it is to not misbehave because of how much respect they have for each other.

A sigh of contentment cycles through her system, and she shuts her optics, feeling blissfully sleepy against the heat of Prowl's frame. How nice, she muses, it will be to sleep beside him every night, to snuggle in his warmth and wake up to his kisses. Or wake him up with kisses.

She feels his shift slightly a second before the door to his office opens, and she puts her helm up to see Praxus come in, Starlight in one arm, a takeout box in the other.

"Special deliv…. Ewwww, really?" Praxus says. "I bring you food, and you're there being mushy!"

Auri smiles as she feels Prowl's frame shake with a chuckle. Both of them know Praxus doesn't actually mind.

"It wasn't too much mushiness, Praxling," Prowl answers. Auri hears the smile in his tone. "All snuggles and a few kisses. You could have come in to worse."

"I suppose so," Praxus says, twitching a wing.

"We bringed noodles!" Starlight announces, not interested in the goings-on of her elders at the moment.

"Noodles!" Prowl echoes, truly pleased.

"S'prise!" Starlight chirps.

"That is a wonderful surprise," Prowl says. Knowing that snuggle time is over and lunchtime is now, Auri climbs off his lap and goes to fetch a mat for their meal.

"Oodles of noodles," Starlight giggles as Praxus sets the box on Prowl's desk. "An mixed up energons. Hey, I need mine wings itched, please!" she yelps, shifting her wings with a sudden little scowl of discomfort.

Praxus seats her on Prowl's desk and begins to rub his knuckles against her wings to ease their itching.

"They're still itchy," she complains, pushing back against Praxus's fingers. "Pwaaaax. Ugh!"

Prowl sends Praxus a sympathetic look. "Come over here," he says to Starlight, but she bursts into tears at his gentle command.

"I not twying to be mean to Pwax," she wails as she crawls toward him. "I jus don't feel good."

"I know," Prowl soothes. "I know that. I called you over here so I could show Praxus how to rub your wings to making the itching stop, not to scold you for being rude to him."

"oh." She sniffles, and her cooling system gives a tiny hitch. She sits up in front of Prowl and rubs her little fists in her optics.

Prowl repositions her facing away from him, and then he shows Praxus how to rub her wings to ease the pre-upgrade itchiness, stroking firmly with his fingertips and running a tiny disruptive current of energy through them.

Starlight sniffles and stops crying, calming down as Prowl's touch brings her relief. She watches as Auri rolls the mat out on the floor, and Praxus takes the box of lunch to the mat, kneeling on the mat to unpack the box's contents.

"Does that feel better?" Prowl asks.

Starlight nods, wiping away the last of her tears. "Thank ya," she murmurs.

"You're welcome," he answers. "I know how uncomfortable wings can get before one's upgrade. Mine made me a bit cranky when I was little. And Bumblebee's wings did the same to him, and Auri's were just as itchy as well. And her back gave her some little aches, too."

Auri smiles over at him, remembering the kindness of his fingers on her back before her final upgrade. It had been feeling so tight and sore and uncomfortable. She'd been stressed out at the time, too, and he'd calmed her with his words while his fingers eased her pain. He is so good with things like that.

"I not get aches in my back," Starlight says with relief. "Jus in my legs."

"That happens sometimes, too," Prowl tells her. "It's different for different bots."

"Where did ya get aches, Pwax?" Starlight asks, curious about her brother's upgrade.

Praxus has his face turned away from Starlight and Prowl at that moment, but Auri sees his optics widen and flicker with sudden pain and fear. He works to keep from biting his lip in stress.

"Oh," he says, shifting his wings nonchalantly, "In my legs, just like you, but also in my back, like Auri. It wasn't fun."

Starlight considers this. "Were ya wings itchy, too?"

"Yeah."

"Are you ready for lunch?" Auri ask her, hoping this will lead her away from the topic that is clearly paining Praxus.

"Yeah!" Starlight bounces.

Prowl brings her over and seats himself on the mat, setting her down between himself and Praxus.

"Noodles, noodles, noodles!" Starlight chirps, reaching hurriedly for the dish that Praxus is starting to pass toward her.

"Patience and manners, Little Star," Prowl reminds her gently, and she puts her palms together and tries to look patient and mannerly.

"There you go," Praxus says.

"Thank ya!" Her little wings flick with delight as she takes the bowl in one hand and the fork in her other. "I loves noodles! Even if… they messy…" she adds as she tries in to get a decent amount on her fork.

"I agree," Auri says with a laugh.

"Yeah. Pwax says you yike noodles even if they get cold!"

Prowl shoots Praxus a sideways glance in rebuke as he and Auri both remember a couple times Prowl distracted her from her noodles.

Starlight gasps in excitement with a sudden idea. "May I have noodles at my party?!"

"Oh, Starlight," Praxus says, wincing a little at having to deny her. "I'm sorry… but noodles take a whole lot of work to make… lots and lots of work. To make noodles for all the bots on base would be too much work."

Starlight lowers her optics to her little bowl of noodles, thinking about this. Then she looks up at her brother. "I could help make'em," she offers.

"It's a grownup job," Praxus says softly. "It's nice of you to offer, though."

"You could have noodles if you had a smaller party," Prowl points out.

Starlight's wings flick, and she looks outraged. "No! I never choose noodles over bots! Pruddle!"

"Oh-! Here, I meant no offence," Prowl says, actually looking a rather abashed. "I apologize."

Starlight looks at him and decides that he's sincere. "It okay…" she says.

Prowl then motions to her bowl. "You'd best attend that, or you'll find out what cold noodles taste like."

"Or Auri might take them," Starlight teases, giggling, starting in with her fork.

"Prowl might take them, too," Auri adds with twinkling optics.

"Anybody might take 'em," Starlight says, pointing at Praxus.

"They won't be safe until they're in your belly," Praxus her, chuckling at the look on her face.

"I'll safe 'em," Starlight says firmly. "Jus stop makin me talk."

Auri muffles a giggle, and Praxus, while amused at the blame, opens his mouth to contend. Prowl, with better judgment, makes a shushing motion at him, though, as Starlight stuffs some of the noodles in her mouth. Once Starlight is fully occupied with her noodles, Prowl asks Praxus how his morning in med-bay was, and the adult bots weave a conversation around their food. Praxus tells about his studies and his stress panic and his talk with Sideswipe, and Auri fills him in on what they did about the confetti, Prowl keeping mostly quiet but adding a little thing here and there.

They are the picture of Praxian contentment at lunch, sharing their mixed energons, exchanging pieces of alloy pretzels and pinches of tin curls, their wings relaxed and communicative, optics glowing softly. It's during times like these that they could almost forget about the war and their struggles and the quiet threat of Decepticons. When they are so at peace with each other, strife seems almost distant, but there are still little reminders, the ache in Auri's leg and the pain Prowl hides behind the love in his optics, and the moments where Praxus gets quiet and looks wistful for a few seconds. Starlight doesn't notice most of this, nor would she understand if she did. She knows some mean bots from a different base hurt Prowl and Auri a while ago when they went exploring off base, but she doesn't know anything beyond that. All she knows is that she loves these three bots the most and they love her and she is happiest with them. And that her brother is silly sometimes, and Prowl doesn't like certain things, and Auri can always be counted on to cheer anybody up.

All four pairs of wings flick in surprise when the phone rings, and Prowl's pin back and down with displeasure.

"No worries," Auri tells him, getting to her pedes as the phone rings a second time.

"Why do you even have a phone on your desk if you never touch it?" Praxus whispers to Prowl as Auri hurries over and picks up said phone.

"Prowl's office, Auri speaking. How may I be of service?" she says. Prowl, his attention on her, doesn't answer Praxus's question. She makes a small motion with her wings as the human caller indentifies himself, and Prowl's wings give an additional twitch of displeasure as he guesses which human it is. After another few seconds, Auri says, "Certainly. Prowl is here at the moment. What do you wish discuss?" she queries as Prowl dutifully gets to his pedes.

As she listens to the answer, one corner of her mouth turns downward, as does one wing. "Prowl does not use phones, as we have said before," she answers firmly yet politely. Prowl stops in front of her and gives the phone a look of disapproval. While most of the humans have accepted him no longer even touching a phone, this human had yet to stop pressing the matter.

"I understand," she says after a moment of listening. "But Prowl does not take phone calls." Her wings flinch at something the human says, and she frowns. "That is a personal matter that we will not discuss with you. We-" She breaks off, interrupted.

Prowl rolls a stylus anxiously in his fingers while Auri listens further to the human on the phone.

"No," she says, her wings shifting with exasperation as a look of annoyance crosses her face. She speaks patiently, however, and keeps a respectful tone. "Sir, each living being is different, and what does not bother one being can greatly disrupt another. Prowl does not use phones for a-"

Auri runs cool air through her system as the human talks some more. She's getting frustrated. Very frustrated. Finally there is a break in the human's berating words and she says, "Your argumentation at this point is wasting the very time you say you don't have time to waste; please move on to the subject of importance."

Another flick of her wings follows, and she grimaces as she looks to Prowl and his downcast optics.

She covers the receiver on the phone.

"Prowl…" she whispers. He meets her optics unhappily. "He won't cooperate."

He writes on the data-pad that lies beside the phone.

Auri reads his words and then nods. "Look, sir," she says. "If you won't cooperate with our communication system, I will have to ask you to speak with someone else. Ultra Magnus, perhaps. I can transfer the call for-" Her wings stiffen as the caller interrupts her again with many more harsh words. She listens and lowers her optics. Then, presently, she looks at Prowl again.

"Prowl," she whispers, her hand covering the receiver again. "Can you try-?"

He looks at her, his optics widening in shock, his whole frame tensing up. "No-" he hisses. A trembling starts in his wings.

"Sir," Auri says into the phone, "It's not-"

Her wings flick at what the human says. And flick again.

Prowl writes, "Transfer the call."

Auri whispers desperately, "Please, Prowl, can't you try just for-"

He puts his hand against her cheek so she can feel how badly it's trembling and how much negative energy is tearing through his system as is threatens to crush him in a panic attack. She freezes at his pain.

"Your call is being transferred," she says quietly. She ignores the human's words and presses a button and then several others. She listens for a ring, and then she puts the phone back in its place.

Prowl takes his hand from her face, and she softly rubs her cheek to diffuse the painful energy.

"I'm sorry, Prowl," she says softly, tears welling up in her optics. "I shouldn't have… even thought about asking you."

Prowl clasps his shaking hands together, one thumb rubbing at the other in anxiety. "I do not blame you," he murmurs, slightly choked. "And you did not think about it; that is you why you asked."

A little sob breaks from Auri's vocs.

Prowl puts his arms around her and cradles her gently, taking care to direct the negative energy away from her.

"He was getting so mean," she whispers. "And threatening…"

"I am sorry," Prowl murmurs. "I should not have permitted that man to continue working with us after he proved argumentative about our system. I should not have made you have to put up with him. It is my fault. He stressed you out to the point you could not-"

The phone rings again, and Auri looks at it, but Prowl jerks the cord from its port, and it doesn't ring again.

"That was Elita, though," Auri says slowly.

Prowl looks at the phone.

"Oh…" he says, looking mildly confused at himself.

Auri halfway smiles at his rueful look.

"Logic and panic attacks are not a good… combination…" he murmurs, looking at the cord in his hand.

Gently, Auri takes the cord, checks the little plugin piece and then sticks it back into the phone.

"Did I break it…?" Prowl asks, clearly abashed.

"I don't think so," Auri answers, picking up the handset. "There's a dial tone at least." She dials Elita's number, and Prowl stands very still to keep from pacing anxiously. "Hi, Elita," she says presently. She listens and then says, "I know. There… uh, was an issue that happened. Anyway, what were you calling about?"

She writes on the data-pad as she listens to Elita, and Prowl reads silently. Elita just has a few questions she needs answered. Auri writes them down, and Prowl writes the answers, and Auri relays them back to Elita. It's the system they developed once they discovered that Prowl's deep dislike of phone calls had morphed into a full phobia through some part of Megatron's torture.

Once Elita's questions are all answered and the call is over with, Auri puts the phone back and leads Prowl away from his desk and back to their picnic. He sits on the blanket and hugs his knees to his chest and hides his face. Auri rubs his back softly, and Starlight crawls over to pat his leg sympathetically. Praxus, too, offers comfort by way of scooting over and putting a hand on Prowl's helm.

"Why ya upsetted Prowl wi th phone, Auri?" Starlight asks in a sad little voice.

Auri sniffles. "The human was being very cranky and mean," she answers softly. "He stressed me out, and part of me forgot… forgot that even if Prowl wanted to, it would be extremely difficult for him to handle a phone call."

Starlight frowns. "That not a nice huenam."

"No," Auri sighs. "He's not. But we need help from him on a project we're working on."

Starlight makes a confused face. "But… they… some couple billion huenams on this pwanet. Ya can't find nobody cept that mean one who can th thing? Out of a couple billion?"

"Eight billion, actually," Praxus says.

Starlight throws her hands up. "That a lot! An ya can't find nobody nice who can do th thing?"

Prowl lifts his helm slightly and looks at Starlight.

"Can't ya?" she asks earnestly.

"I… we… we simply settled with certain ones a while ago…" he says slowly, his processor starting to work out the possibilities that Starlight has opened up with her simple, uncomplicated thinking. "But I'm sure there are other options…" He looks to Auri. "We'd have to look into them and… more paperwork… and stuff, but…" He starts to halfway smile. He turns back to Starlight and scoops her up to hug. "Thank you!"

"I helped?" Starlight asks with delight.

"You helped immensely."

"Wait, you can just dump certain humans and find new ones to work with?" Praxus asks, amazed.

Prowl smiles. "While I would advise loyalty and commitment, certain people should not be tolerated. And Starlight is right. There are billions of people out there. And we are powerful enough financially that we don't have to settle with just anyone as we did when we first came to earth."

"We don't have t' take that slag!" Starlight cheers happily, putting a triumphant fist in the air.

The adults look at her.

"Starlight…" Praxus starts. "We don't use certain words,"

"Oh…!" Starlight says. "But Sunny…" She breaks off and dips her wings respectfully. "I mean, yes, Praxus."

Prowl rubs her helm gently.

"Can I tran'form into a truck when I up-gwade?" she asks.

"Well, that's changing the subject," Praxus says, rather startled. Usually he is the one abruptly changing topics when nobody is expecting it.

"My system wants t' tran'form, an I wanna be a truck yike Ultra Magnus. Can I?"

"Your system wants to transform?" Prowl asks gently, looking at her, thinking about the signs of an imminent upgrade.

She nods. "Can I tran'form into a truck?"

"You would be a very little truck, but I think we should be able to help you make a code for that," he answers.

"Yay!" she squeals, optics lighting up with delight. "Like a very little Ultra Magnus!" She's squirming so much that Prowl sets her gently on the mat.

"Like Magnus or Optimus?" Praxus asks curiously as she dashes around excitedly.

"Magnus!" she answers. "Cause he cool! An when he gets a stop sign, his engine goes 'ruh-ruh-ruhhh-ruhhh-ruhhhhh'!" she says, imitating the sound of engine braking as she slows down. "An when he scolds bots, they really haveta listen t' him. Optimus-" She loses her balance and plops down on her rump, but she's too excited to be annoyed by her limitations. "Optimus jus looks at bots when they bad," she finishes.

Prowl halfway smiles inwardly, and Auri reflects that anyone on the base would rather get scolded twice by Ultra Magnus than get even one look of disappointment from Optimus Prime. Praxus's thoughts run along Auri's, and he holds back a chuckle.

"So you think Magnus is pretty impressive?" he asks.

Starlight nods. "Yeah! An he nice, too."

"I'm sure he'll be honored to share an alt-mode style with you," Prowl says.

"But I will still be a Pwaxian, right?" she asks.

"Absolutely. You will be a Praxian no matter what alt-mode you take."

"Okay." With her questions answered, Starlight gets distracted by a dish of tin curls and sets about eating them.

Praxus watches her for a minute and then shifts his attention to Prowl and Auri. "Are you okay now?" he asks gently, looking for any remaining traces of Prowl's near panic attack.

Prowl slips an arm around Auri, and she cuddles against him.

"I think so," Prowl answers.

"Again, I'm sorry about that," Auri says softly.

He kisses her helm. "I know. It's okay. Like I said, you were stressed out, and we make errors when we're too stressed."

"Such an error, though… I-"

"Auri." Prowl shifts and puts a finger under her chin to make her look at him. "You listen to me, my femme," he says, and she halfway smiles, reflecting that Starlight isn't the only femme in the room impressed by firm words. "I love you. I love you unconditionally. Mistakes and errors on your part will not lessen my love for you. –Deliberate cruelty would, of course, but you would never be deliberately cruel. You are going to make mistakes, and I am going to make mistakes… I shudder to calculate how many mistakes I could make. But I will always love you and never give up on you. You made a mistake, but you didn't mean to, and I do not want you to let an awful five minutes bring a cloud to your day. You… you usually see the best in everybody, and you always try to give your best. I might be nearly incapable of seeing the best in others, but I am able to see the best in you, my spark. Let go what happened and remember that I love you."

Riveted to the deep intensity of his optics and his words, Auri falters at finding a verbal answer though her lips part.

"And now comes the mushy part," Praxus says.

"Oh, Praxus," Auri says, but she kisses Prowl once and then twice. "Yes, sir," she says, caressing his cheek.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement and reviews. It all means a lot to me, and especially during the rough times. I have found a potential new house close to my job (currently 1 hour 10-15 minutes away), but I'm feeling terribly anxious about leaving my darling apartment that I've had for six years now and moving to some house in a strange city, and winter is coming to make the roads bad, and I struggled with some mild depression most of October, among other things, so it's been rough for me. So, thank you again.

~Cairi