"What the fuck is that?" she asked, clutching her hands to her ears.
"Proximity alert," Jolt said seriously before zooming off towards the hangar. He skid to a stop, dropping her off in the fastest transformation he'd ever made before he was back in car form.
"Stay. I mean it," he said firmly and then he was gone, squealing tires and all.
Ironhide came roaring up and without a word, unfolded just enough to snag her with his hand before depositing her into his cab. She was without her chair which felt weird.
The whole thing felt weird.
"What should I do?" she asked softly.
"Stay put," Ironhide said, tense.
"Not like I could roll far without my chair," she said dryly.
He snorted at her but otherwise didn't say anything.
There was a burst of movement on the base. Everyone was gearing up and getting ready for something. For what she didn't know. The roar of the plane getting ready to take them somewhere was obvious.
"Shouldn't you be with them?" she asked curiously, peering out at the scene through his windshield.
"I'm staying behind to guard the base," he said gruffly. The unspoken and you was obvious. Great. She was wasting resources.
"I'll be fine-"
"Not up for discussion, fish bait," Ironhide said roughly, cutting her off.
Just as fast as the flurry was there, it was gone. The base felt creepy being so empty. She didn't like it. It tickled the ominous sensors.
They sat there for what felt like an eternity. Just vibing to the pending terror of what the fuck happened.
She eventually got bored with sitting and started tapping a rhythm on Ironhide's steering wheel.
"Knock it off, kid. I'm scanning," he said grumpily. She pouted. She wanted to have fun. She wanted to do something.
"What's even going on really? Is there an attack or some shit?" she asked, knowing her voice was carrying probably more than a tick of a whine.
"Yes. There was an attack in Mexico. They're dealing with it," he said gruffly, locking the doors.
"Hey!" she protested. She wasn't going to be able to go anywhere anyway.
"I'm just trying to be safe," Ironhide said, she definitely knew there was amusement in his damn tone. The fucker.
"Well turn on the radio or something I'm bored as fuck," she whined, knowing it was a whine this time.
He turned on the radio and to oldies, of course he did. What an old man.
The group eventually returned and she felt relief seeing Jolt coming down off the plane. He was limping which pissed her off but at least he was alive an intact.
"Ok fish bait, let's get you back into your chair," he said shifting and snagging her with his hand while he changed.
He placed her gently in her chair and she immediately tore the hell out of there. She had to check on Jolt. He was limping after all.
She was halfway across the tarmac before Ironhide's long strides caught up to her.
"Easy kid. They just saw battle." She wasn't particularly well versed in PTSD but it really didn't matter. She wanted to see Jolt, dammit.
"Hey Katie," Jolt said tiredly before sinking down to the ground with a groan.
"You better be ok you big blue asshole," she said, feeling the tickling of a lump in her throat.
"I'm fine. Just pooped," he said, laying his head down on the tarmac.
"This is not a napping place," Ratchet said as he zoomed past, clearly intent on setting up his lab to deal with the wounded.
From what she could tell, Jolt was the only one that was really wounded.
"What the fuck? You're the only one that's hurt? What's that about?" she asked, starting to get a little heated.
"He took him head on on his own. Dumb move if you ask me," Sideswipe said as he slid by. She grumbled, frowning at Jolt's unmoving frame.
"You dick. Get help in a fight, dammit," she said before rolling forward and smacking him.
"Ok ok. Could I have gotten help? Probably. But I was right in the position to take him head on," he whined out, rolling his head over to look at her.
"Well at least your punishment is Ratchet," she said smugly.
Sure enough, there was a loud bang coming from the hangar.
"You better hurry so he doesn't get pissed off," she said tauntingly before pulling back as Jolt slowly rose up.
He made the fuck you whistle before heading towards the hangar. It just served to make her cackle.
Ironhide escorted her back to the dorm, knowing she would need the boost. She wasn't exactly thrilled with it. She wanted to go check on Jolt, dammit.
"Ratchet will kick you out faster than you can say Doc, kid. Just go sleep it off and check on him in the morning."
She didn't sleep all that well. In fact she barely slept at all. Just worrying in her head about Jolt. She didn't think he was seriously injured but what did she know about Autobot injuries.
The morning she was met with Jolt in his usual spot.
"So you're good then?" she asked, wheeling up to him.
"Yep. Good as new!" he said with a cheeky grin.
"Can you change into car mode?" she asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.
He groaned, throwing his head back. He did the fuck you whistle loud and clear on that one. That's what she got, she guessed. She snorted before slowly rolling towards the general area. She needed breakfast before she could do anything else.
She ate breakfast and came out to see Jolt in the exact same place that she left him. No surprise.
She followed him lazily towards the hangar. Normally she would head towards Ironhide but she had a conversation to have with Ratchet.
Ratchet was grumpily typing something on what looked like a giant iPad.
"What?" he asked, not bothering with niceties.
"I need to be useful. Teach me some basic first aid." She knew she was demanding and probably should be a little nicer about how she asked but she wanted to learn, dammit.
"Why?" Ratchet asked curiously, peering over his pad at her.
"Because I should know it. It gives me something to do and makes me useful," she said tartly. She wasn't going to play any games with him. She wanted to learn dammit.
"You realize your mobility will make this a struggle," he said, setting the pad down to put his full attention on her.
"I realize this and think the challenge would be good for you," she said, flashing him a cheeky smile.
He hmphed in response and turned away, grabbing another one of those pads.
"This is loaded with basic first aid. It's something I make all the soldiers working with us read. Read this and then get back to me," he said, handing over the pad.
It was lighter than she thought. She clicked the button on the top and the screen lit up. It looked like some kind of medical book. Great. Finally something to read and it's the driest thing she could think of.
"I'll do it," she said determinedly with a nod before turning back and heading out towards the range.
She read that afternoon, lounging by Jolt as he lazily threw rocks.
"You know you're going to hit someone at some point," she pointed out, barely looking up from her reading.
"Eh," he said in reply, chucking a rock further.
"Are you bored?" she teased, finally setting the pad down.
"You're ignoring me to do boring things like read," Jolt said with a pout.
She laughed, tapping his leg with her fingers.
"I'm trying to learn how to heal you, you dumbass," she said, waving the pad at him.
He scoffed, waving away her words.
"You can't heal me. That's the doc only," he said, as if he truly believed it. What a dork.
"And what if Ratchet is busy? Or missing? Then what?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and settling in for the conversation.
"Where the fuck would Ratchet be?" he asked, lazily throwing another rock.
"Well what if someone is more injured? Or maybe Ratchet is the one that's injured. What then?" Jolt paused his rock throwing to look down at her.
"Ratchet can't get injured," he said, clearly genuinely confused.
She tilted her head, her brows furrowing.
"Of course he can, Jolt. He's a bot just like the rest of you all," she said quietly. Jolt fell back, staring up at the sky.
"I guess it makes sense but it also doesn't," he said softly.
"We're all mortal even if you're aliens that are far older than me," she said, looking up at the sky herself.
Jolt snorted before sitting back up.
"Stop being so wise. I hate it. Be stupid," he said bluntly, chucking another rock out.
"Help Jolt I don't know what to do my legs won't work," she called out in a high voice.
"Not that stupid, 'fuck head'" he said, being sure to throw in the whistle to really piss her off. She shoved at him before heading towards the dorm.
"When can you change?" she asked over her shoulder.
"A week," he called back.
The next week was hard on her arms. She had to get everywhere herself and she wasn't really fond of it. She wanted to be driven around, dammit. Or drive at the very least. Using her arms was no bueno. She wasn't in near enough shape for it.
When Jolt was finally waiting for her in car form, she nearly cheered. It was great to see. She missed him.
He folded around her without a word and they drove around all day. Ironhide didn't even track them down to yell at her about missing work on the range. They were left alone to just enjoy the day.
The next day Ironhide got her back by making her clean, load, and unload every gun she knew how to shoot.
The following week marked her one year since the accident. It was an odd anniversary to celebrate so she didn't. The base celebrated a different anniversary. Very loudly.
"Why the fireworks?" she grumbled, leaning her head against Jolt's door.
"Because they are crazy and happy and want to celebrate," Jolt said, taking her seriously like the dork that he was.
"Yeah ok but don't they all have PTSD?" she whined, watching as yet another mortar went off high in the sky.
"You would think," Jolt said with amusement.
Ironhide came their way not long after, looking decidedly not amused.
"What's wrong? Wouldn't let you fire your special cannon into the sky?" she asked. He sent her a hot glare.
"Watch it, fish bait," he grumbled, walking past them. She snorted. That was definitely why he was in a sour mood.
She ignored him in favor of just watching the damn fireworks. They sucked. She wanted to not see explosions that day, thank you very much.
"So," Jolt started, shifting slowly beneath her shoulder back into his bipedal form.
"How has a year been in the chair?" he asked, flashing her a nervous smile. So he connected the dots. Lovely.
She sighed, leaning back into her chair.
"I guess I've adjusted as much as I'll be able to. I miss things all the time and there are certain things I don't think I'll ever get used to. But it is what it is." She shrugged, looking up at him.
"There's nothing that can be done about it. I just have to live with it. I'm making due. I just wish I could get off this damn base," she said grumpily. He snorted at her. What a bastard.
"I'll get you off the base someday," he said vaguely, flashing her a wink when she looked up at him questioningly.
She guessed that was that. There wasn't much else to it.