Hello! Happy 2019! I'm all moved into my new house but still trying to find stuff in boxes. There are a lot of good things about being in this new place, but I've been feeling pretty down and tired. Moving is hard, you guys. Anyway… this chapter is a bit short, but today seems like the sort of day to post it. January-February is such a bleh time that I can imagine that at least a few of you could use a bit of Transformers fluff, and I know could really use all your wonderful comments and reactions and support.

By the way, I definitely recommend the Bumblebee movie! It's really good on so many levels, and it doesn't have the nasty stuff that the Bay movies had in them.

Chapter 4

Cozy Evening

Snuggled up against Prowl on the couch in his quarters, Auri is completely happy and relaxed. Prowl's frame is warm and pleasant as she rests her helm on his shoulder, and his arm is around her, his fingers lightly caressing her armor now and then to let her know that he's mindful of her despite the data-pad he is reading.

He's reading aloud, but not really for her. It's for Praxus's benefit. Praxus is a snuggled on the other side of Prowl, and the data-pad is one of his study data-pads, one of the ones that explains biology and sensors and various other workings of the Cybertronian body. Auri listens with her optics halfway closed, listening with contentment to Prowl's voice and deriving enjoyment the tones of his voice and the small inflections of his words. The content of the data-pad is mostly babble to her since they picked up somewhere in the middle, and she has no foundation in the topic, but she could listen to Prowl's voice for hours, the way he pauses and the tones he uses. She loves hearing the smile in his voice. It's happiness for her.

Starlight is fast asleep, a cozy bundle of heat on her lap. Auri's certain the soothing nature of Prowl's voice must have something to do with that because it's hardly close to the tiny winger's bedtime, though they've already had dinner.

It was a good dinner. Simple, but good, and Praxus kept them entertained with his perspectives on the happenings of the day while Prowl kept her smiling with loving looks and little caresses and comments of his own. Starlight had just wanted to eat. Her upgrade would be very, very soon, they could tell.

Touching Starlight's helm softly with reflection, Auri smiles. Arcee and Flareup had invited her to a spur of the moment gathering with a couple of the other femmes that evening, but she'd declined, having these plans already. Arcee had been dubious about how romantic it would be.

"There's no way dinner with Prowl plus Praxus could possibly be very romantic," the older pink femme had said with dry smirk. "Nothing against Praxus, cause he's sweet, but he's too quirky and sassy for me imagine any setting with him in it being anywhere close to dreamy."

Auri had smiled at that. Then she'd tried to explain that Praxus was a lot less quirky and sassy when he was with just her and Prowl and Starlight. He was sweeter and more tender. And anyway, the dinner wasn't for romance. It was for sharing and enjoying their familial bond and their love for each other as family members. And while it was very delightful to enjoy Prowl's love for her, there was something almost equally fulfilling about having not only Prowl's love for her but Praxus's love for her, Praxus's love for Prowl, and Praxus's love for her and Prowl as a couple. Then there was all the love going to and coming from Starlight. And there was Prowl's love for Praxus, too. She adored Prowl's love for Praxus; because the mechling could be a challenge at times, Auri found Prowl's great patience with him one of the most loving things about him.

Reading the study data-pad aloud to Praxus was a loving thing.

Noticing when Praxus was starting to have enough of reading, that was love, too. Praxus himself probably didn't know that he'd reached his limit for words, but Prowl picked up on the tiny cues. The increased wing moment. The increased interruptions for questions and not-so-relevant comments.

"I think we're done reading for now," Prowl says gently.

"What-? Nooo… we're not at the end of the chapter," Praxus objects. "Go to the end of the chapter, Prowl. End of the chapter. No stopping in the middle of the chapter."

Auri peeps up at Prowl.

"Did you notice your tone of voice, Praxling?" Prowl asks, his own tone kind.

"No, I just notice you stopping in the middle of the chapter," Praxus says argumentatively. He pauses, optics lowering and flickering a little as he thinks.

"Are you noticing now?" Prowl asks.

Praxus shifts a wing. "Guess so…" he murmurs. "Guess you're right to stop reading."

Prowl hands him the data-pad, and he slips it into subspace.

"I just wanted to get the whole chapter finished…" Praxus says softly with another sigh.

"It seemed like it was a pretty long chapter, Prax," Auri says. "I think we got a good amount read."

Praxus says a soft "thanks" and reaches across Prowl to touch Auri's hand. She turns her hand and catches his to give a little squeeze.

"Besides, you can only learn so much at one time, and that sounded like some pretty heavy reading," she says to encourage him.

"Yeah…" he says, still sounding somewhat disappointed, but he peeks around Prowl to give her an appreciative smile.

"Auri makes a good point," Prowl tells him. "You'll remember better if you don't try to cram too much new information in at once."

Auri, watching Praxus, sees a little twinkle of mischief his optics as he slips his hand from hers.

"Yeah," Praxus says. "Like I remember which sensors run through here-" He runs a tickling current of energy over Prowl's belly armor. Prowl neither flinches nor smiles.

"That's good that you remember," he says.

Praxus looks mildly annoyed and looks over at Auri to see if she sees how annoying Prowl is for not responding properly. She gives him a sympathetic look.

"Do you remember what sensors run through here?" Prowl asks, tickling Praxus's side.

Praxus squirms instantly and laughs as he imprisons Prowl's fingers in his hand. "That's not fair," he chortles. "Tickling me when you refuse to be tickled." He tries to tickle Prowl's side in revenge, thinking maybe Prowl targeted his side because that was a more sensitive area on Prowl's body, but Prowl's reaction, or lack thereof, was the same. "Aw, Prowl."

"What?" Prowl asks, slipping his fingers to Auri's side. At the slight threat of being tickled, she finds herself smiling.

"Double not fair," Praxus says when he sees Auri's smile and Prowl's hint of a smirk. "It's not fair when you won't be tickled. Prowl."

At Praxus's tone, Prowl runs a soothing energy through his fingers against Praxus's back. "Put your helm down, Praxus," he directs gently. "I'll be fair."

Praxus puts his helm against Prowl's shoulder for a couple moments, but then he shifts away and lies down on the couch, curled up with his wings to the back of the couch and his helm on Prowl's lap. He reaches up for Auri, and she clasps his hand gently, their hands resting on her leg near Starlight.

"Are you stressed about extra things, Prax?" Auri asks.

"It's just been a very Monday sort of Monday," he answers. "And Prowl's been twitchy and semi-cross all day, and that gets to me."

"Ww…" Prowl looks startled and sorry. "I… I realized that I have been on edge most of the day, but I did not realize I was cross with you, Praxus. I apologize."

"I guess you weren't that cross," Praxus says. "It's okay. There were other things, too. Chromia and Ratchet had a big yelling match. They've been trying to get along so well for so many months, I guess they had to let out a few feelings. And of course, that made Uplink mad, so she had words at them, and Chromia yelled back. I'm sure Uplink would have yelled if she had more of a voice."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Auri says softly as Prowl rubs Praxus's neck gently.

"I'll get over it."

"Anything else?" Prowl asks.

Praxus shifts a wing and then shifts onto his back so he's looking up at Prowl and Auri. "Maybe I'm a little worried about the changes that will happen when you two bond."

"We'll still love you, Prax," Auri says. "And spend time with you."

"I… I know. I still worry a little. And I worry about these quarters being too small. Prowl and I talked about it last week, but he's not said anything since then."

"Oh…" says Prowl, looking a little guilty.

"You forgot?" Praxus asks, a little dismayed, seeing the look before Prowl can hide it.

"I forgot to tell you," Prowl says, his cheeks warming, and Auri wonders what he'll say. He absolutely hates lying, and she's never heard him tell a straight out lie. How can he possibly hide their surprise about the new quarters without prevaricating a bit? His wings shift. "I… talked with Prime about modifying these quarters and putting an addition onto them so we'll have more space, and he said he would handle our housing for us."

"Oh!" Relief sweeps over Praxus's face, and he smiles. "That's good, Prowl. I'm glad about that."

"I am, too," Prowl says, his look of relief mirroring Praxus's though it's for a different reason.

"We'll have a nice home, I think," Auri adds, smiling at her Prowl.

"I like the sound of that." Praxus's optics twinkle a little more. "I still think it's not fair that Prowl won't be tickled, though," he says, poking Prowl's belly armor.

Prowl admits half a smile to his face. "My work and career have rather required me to be unresponsive to physical stimuli to a certain degree. It's a long standing habit at this point."

"What does that even mean?" Praxus asks, still poking, searching for a sensitive area.

"It means… When I was an Enforcer back on Cybertron, and I was dealing with a difficult bot, for instance, someone who wanted to get away from me, I had to not flinch at getting knocked on the side and kicked in the leg. If I flinched and let go, that would lead to a getaway and chase, and who knows what else. It would not be good."

"Oh."

"And serving in the war, I had to deal with getting shot at and getting hit with shrapnel. Also not a good situation to flinch in."

"I get the point," Praxus says.

"So, you can stop poking him because it is not going to cause a reaction," Auri says, amused at the fact that Praxus is still poking Prowl.

Praxus meets Auri's optics with a twinkle before grinning up at Prowl. "I don't know. It might not cause a physical reaction, but it might elicit an emotional one if it gets annoying."

"I am very patient, you know," Prowl says, shaking his helm with a slight smile. "Not to mention logical."

Praxus pauses. "I hope you're not entire unresponsive to all physical stimuli," he says, looking mildly troubled.

"Well, no."

"Because if you're going to make sparklings,"

"Oh," Prowl interrupts. "Praxus. You- no- w- I'll- it'll be fine."

"I hope so," Praxus says. "You can't add to the population if your sparkling-maker doesn't-" Prowl's hand clamps over his mouth even as Auri covers her own mouth to keep from giggling at the disconcerted look on Prowl's face. Praxus gently pulls Prowl's hand down from his mouth. "-respond to-"

"N-no," Prowl splutters, putting his hand back over Praxus's mouth. "Hush. Shush."

Praxus looks baffled and pulls Prowl's hand down again. "What? Why? You just said it would be fine, so you don't have to be embarrassed. And Auri's practically your spark-mate already, so it's not like it's inappropriate to discuss-" Prowl's hand covers his mouth again. Praxus thinks for a couple seconds and then pulls Prowl's hand down a third time. "Was it my word choice?"

Prowl opens his mouth but no words come out.

"Prowl, there are worse word choices for-" Praxus finds Prowl's hand over his mouth a fourth time. Praxus thinks again and decides to stop talking for a little while. He rests his hand on top of Prowl's, keeping it secure.

Prowl blows air through his system. He glances sideways at Auri, and she tries to look sober, but that fails. At her suppressed mirth, he can't help but halfway smile.

"Well," he says after a few moments.

"I think tomorrow should be a better day than today was," Auri says, deciding that changing the subject would be helpful.

"We have fewer meetings scheduled, thus I imagine so," Prowl says. He thinks about the small party that will be held at their new quarters, though, and hopes it won't add to his stress levels. Then he thinks back to today. He meets Auri's optics. "I hope you didn't find me cross today as Praxus did…" he says softly.

"I got the idea that you were a little preoccupied with things, but you didn't trouble or offend me," she answers.

Prowl processes this. The move and the new quarters were on his processor a great deal that day, but he hadn't realized to what extent until now. He trusted Prime regarding their quarters, but changes… changes could be hard or at least a little stressful. The energon cupboard will be in a different place. His desk will go somewhere else. Prax will have his own room instead of constantly coming in from the couch and snuggling up to him like a cyber-kitten.

"I guess I was a bit preoccupied," he says. "It's nice we have tomorrow, though. I can try again."

Gently, Praxus moves Prowl's hand from his mouth. "You weren't that bad today," he says, his purple optics caring on Prowl's face.

"Thank you, Praxus."

Praxus puts Prowl's hand back over his mouth.

Prowl taps the mechling's cheek gently with his fingertips and then takes his hand away. "I think I can trust you with your words for now."

Praxus smiles shyly. "You do know I wouldn't talk as much if I liked you less."

This makes Prowl and Auri both smile.

"I know," Prowl says.

"You should still get tickled," Praxus says, giving him a little poke. "Auri, you try."

Auri's optics twinkle. "No… I'm afraid to. If I try, he'll surely tickle back, and I'm pretty susceptible to getting tickled, and Starlight would get woken up."

"I a'ready woken," Starlight murmurs, turning her helm a little.

"Starlight!" Praxus says, surprised. Usually it was readily clear the second Starlight woke up. Here, she'd been awake and hadn't given them a hint of it. "Why didn't you move when you woke up?"

"I was dweamin 'bout tran'formin, an I jus wanted t'keep dweamin bout it," she explains. "So I twied t'not wake up."

"You'll be able to transform soon," Auri says, rubbing Starlight's back.

"I know," Starlight says. "I thought 'bout it all the whole day. It's not hard t'do," she adds with certainty.

Prowl looks at her. "You… do you know how?" he asks.

She nods. "I realized how t'do it this afternoon. I just didn't try because I was busy."

Praxus sits up.

"If you know how, you should be able to do it," Prowl says.

Starlight pops up, sitting up as her wings flick in excitement. "Really?! I can? Like, now?!"

Prowl nods. "Yes. But I think we'd all like a hug first, before you upgrade."

Starlight hugs Auri's middle, and then Auri picks her and to cuddle. "One last tiny sparkling hug," she says.

Starlight giggles and then reaches for Prowl. He snuggles her fondly and then passes her on to Praxus, knowing that she's excited to try out her new ability and not aware of her elders' feelings. Of course they're glad that she is upgrading and growing as a healthy sparkling should, but they will miss her being so tiny.

Praxus snuggles her, his hands tenderly cradling her to his chest as he puts his cheek lightly against one of the tiny wings. He purses his lips, his lower lip pouting a little. He doesn't want so many changes, but Starlight squirms eagerly.

"I gotta tran-form!" she says.

Prowl rubs Praxus's arm gently, his fingers reassuring the younger mech, and Praxus reluctantly hands her back to Prowl.

Prowl eases himself to the floor and sets Starlight on her little pedes, watching with Praxus and Auri as she wanders away from him with a contemplative look on her face.

She pauses. "Does it always work th'first time?" she asks, tilting her helm with curiosity.

"Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn't," Prowl answers. "It's different for different bots."

Starlight thinks about this and then dashes part way across the room. Then she stops and thinks. "I can't do that yet," she says.

"No," Prowl confirms. "Your system won't let you transform while you're moving quickly. In time, however, you will be able to do that."

"I'll be a police twuck an go down th' road wif my siwens," she says, dashing back to Prowl. "An then I'll tran-form! Whooop! An… wite 'em a ticket."

"That sounds like a plan," Prowl says, his optics twinkling fondly.

Starlight wanders a few steps away, and then she stretches, reaching up and out, and shuts her optics. "There th' code!" she says with triumph. She opens her optics and then transforms down into a little car. "Did it work?! Am I a twuck now?!" she asks with excitement.

Prowl glances up at the two on the couch, his expression full of delight. Praxus is looking conflicted, but Auri is beaming with joy

"You transformed perfectly," Prowl says. "You'll be a truck once we get the truck code for you. Right now you're a wonderful little car."

She shifts her little side mirrors with curiosity, feeling out how it is to be in car mode.

"It different…" she says with awe.

"It is different at first, but we've all gotten used to it," Prowl says, watching as she finds her steering system and turns her tires slightly to the right and then slightly to the left.

"Where my engine…?" she mutters to herself.

"You'll find it," Prowl says, settling back against the couch to watch, his wing brushing against Auri's leg.

"Well, I know where it is, I jus can't…" She bounces on her tires. "… can't fine th' starty code."

Prowl reaches over and gives her a gentle little push on the bumper, sending her forward. She chirps with delight at that, and then she slams on her brakes to avoid the hand that Prowl puts in front of her.

"Pruwol!"

"It's important to know how to stop before you really get started," Prowl says, holding back a chuckle at her admonishing tone.

Parked, she's quiet for a few seconds, and then she says, "Oh, yeah… I could really run into somefing an get hurt if I didn't know how t' stop."

"It is always very important to drive safely, especially when you are little," Prowl says.

"Push me again, please! I fink I might figure out how t'go," Starlight chirps eagerly.

"Um, more about driving safely," Praxus says.

"But I can't even dwive yet, Pwax," she giggles. "I tryna figure out how."

Praxus looks like he wants to argue, but Auri puts her hand in his and smiles at him.

"It will okay, Praxus," Prowl says. "I know you are worried about Starlight, but we will all work to keep her safe and make sure she learns how to drive safely."

"I still goin' nowhere, see…?" Starlight says, bouncing on her tires.

Prowl can't help but smile at her, and then he gives her the push that she asked for, a stronger one than the first one he gave her, and he doesn't put a hand in front of her to make her stop. She goes rolling across the floor with a happy sound, and then –just as she starts to lose momentum- she finds her ignition, and her engine kicks on with a baby rev.

"Yeeeeee!" she squeals with delight as Auri laughs with joy. She takes off across the floor, zipping toward the table and then looping back toward the couch. "I drivin!" she squeals, making a lopsided circle. "Pwaaaax! See me?!"

"I see you," he says, smiling now despite himself.

"Won't I make a fan-tatic police twuck!?"

"You'll make a very fantastic police truck," Praxus says, trying to sound enthusiastic, but he's worried that she's going to run into the table or Prowl or the couch or even the wall. Her steering is a little clumsy and not terribly accurate.

Prowl lets her zip around for a little while, however, and Praxus, watching her closely, is amazed to find that her steering gets better in a matter of minutes.

"Come on back and transform," Prowl directs gently after a few more minutes. "You'll probably get tired pretty soon, and it's harder to transform when you're tired."

Starlight comes zipping obediently back, but she says, "I not even close t' tired; I all 'cited bout drivin!"

"I know," Prowl says with sympathy. "But I also know how things go; tiredness will come suddenly. It's best for you to transform now before there's a higher risk of you getting tired if you keep driving."

"Okay, Pruddle." She turns her wheels slightly where she is parked before the older Praxian. Then she crouches a little on her suspension. She pauses and shifts forward slightly and then backwards. She revs her engine and opens her doors halfway. Then she shuts them and turns off her idling engine. For a solid minute, she sits parked in silence, and Prowl waits for her to process. Her door locks make a tiny click-click sound as she locks and then unlocks them. "I don't fink I know how t'stand up…" she says, sounding a little baffled. "It's not the same as goin' into car form… I… I thought I knew how…"

"Transforming into bipedal mode is a little harder to do at first," Prowl says sympathetically. "Roll a little closer."

Starlight creeps up to his leg, not certain enough of her braking ability to pull forward with assurance.

With very gentle touches, Prowl does a light scan of her system.

"Is there a mawcompton?" she asks.

"No malfunction," Prowl reassures her. "It just a code you're not used to running. Try again. I'll give you a nudge here or there to help you up."

"Okay. Thanks, Pruddle."

"You are welcome," he says with a bit of a smile. She tries again, shifting a little, and Prowl gives her fenders a gentle push and tug. With a chirp of delight, she finds her hands and plants them on the floor to help press herself up. Prowl's fingers start toward her bumper, but then she opens her doors and wags them in vain.

"Wings-!" she grunts, sounding a slightly frustrated, and Prowl gently pulls on her doors as she gets her pedes in form and pushes herself up to stand.

She shifts in her newly reformatted armor and then flops down on Prowl's lap. "That was a lot of work," she comments, amazed, her system gusting from the effort. "An ya do that all th' time?!"

"It becomes much, much easier with practice," Prowl says, rubbing her back.

She makes a little sleepy sound. "I forgot t'check… Am I taller?"

"You are indeed. Just about the height I thought you would be."

She purrs with contentment and doesn't seem to have any more questions for the time being, so Prowl gently picks her up and gets back onto the couch. Ever her brother's sister, she reaches for Praxus as Prowl settles beside him. Prowl gently shifts her onto Praxus's lap, and she snuggles as the dark winger cradles her softly, purple optics wide in awe, a contrast to her blinking drowsy ones. She murmurs "Love you," and then her system sighs as she drops into recharge.

Prowl and Auri are watching, but Prowl studies Praxus's conflicted expression more while Auri marvels silently over Starlight's upgrade.

"I think I want to sleep, too," Praxus says softly and a little unsteadily after a few minutes.

"Some extra rest will be good for you," Prowl answers gently. "It's been a rough day for you."

Praxus nods. He rests his helm against Prowl's for a few moments when Prowl embraces him in a one-armed hug, and then he gets to his pedes, lifting Starlight with an infinite amount of caution.

"Sweet dreams, Praxus," Auri tells him, rising from the couch to give him a hug.

"Good night," he murmurs, slipping away to Prowl's room.

Auri settles back on the couch, cuddling against Prowl.

"Will he be okay, you think?" she asks once Praxus has shut the door.

"I'm certain he will," Prowl answers, caressing her fingers with his. "He's overwhelmed, but he'll get over it as he always does with anything new."

"You should have seen his face when she started zipping around. He was sure she was going to wreck."

A soft chuckle rumbles up from Prowl's vocs at that.

"It's not funny," Auri reproaches. "He was really worried."

"No, I wasn't laughing about him," Prowl says, controlling his bit of a smile. "I was remembering Ironhide when Jazz and I first started driving. Poor mech. I think he scolded us about fourteen times a day out of plain worry that we were going to run into something, but we almost never did. And then when Bee started driving, he ran air through his system and told Streamline that adopting anymore pre-driving sparklets was out of the question because he couldn't take the stress of worrying about them wrecking once they started on their wheels."

Auri smiles, easily picturing her dear guardian doing this. "What did Streamline say?"

"'How many times did you wreck when you were little, Ironhide?'" Prowl answered with a smile and a light lilt in his words as he copied his femme guardian's accent. "'And how bad was it?' To which Ironhide grumbled a little and said, 'hardly ever, but it's different…'" Prowl chuckles at the memory. "How she grinned at him then…! He tried to grumble a bit more, but her smile won him over. I believe then was the first time I wondered why they hadn't made themselves spark-mates…"

"It always does sound like they had a certain chemistry," Auri muses, wishing she could have met this femme.

"Ironhide wouldn't have been available for Chromia, though," Prowl states. "And I wouldn't have Chromia and Ironhide apart."

"Of course not," Auri agrees.

A soft sigh runs through Prowl's system, and he snuggles Auri a little closer. She rests against him, reassuring him with her presence as she senses the wistfulness in his spark. Not sure what to say, or if she should even ask anything, she keeps quiet and folds her hand over his. Prowl dwells in other times for a few minutes, and then he shifts to the present and the future and finds a smile.

"I'm sure we'll worry over our little ones the same way when the time comes," he says.

"Your logical won't preserve you from any of that worry?" Auri asks, teasing just a hint as her optics glow at the prospect of their sparklings.

"Only a small fraction, I think," Prowl answers.

"We'll see," Auri says, smiling with contentment.