His Decision

…

Spring slowly made its appearance over the snowy landscape. The days of Sirius frolicking in the snow were once again replaced with rolling in the fresh grass.

It didn't take long for Wheelie to settle into her house. He claimed the guest bedroom as his. Aria helped him redecorate the room by pulling the mattress off the box spring and laying it directly on the floor for easier access.

For Christmas she bought him a bunch of posters she thought he would like and let him put them on the walls. She also dusted off her old laptop for him and bought a small used TV and a PS2 so he could keep himself occupied while she was at work.

In exchange, she gave him a chore list that consisted of cleaning the floors and laundry. At first, she was embarrassed by him constantly bringing up her underwear choices and almost changed her mind, but the convenience of not doing any laundry won her internal struggle by a landslide. It was now a regular occurrence to throw clean laundry at each other.

At least once a day Aria would practice singing. Now that she was finally rehearsing for the song she would sing in the Opera, she had to add practicing French to her routine as well. Wheelie got a kick out of it. It was easy to tell when she got a word wrong thanks to that annoying snicker of his.

Aria pulled on all her winter gear and went outside with Wheelie to do the morning chores. It was another above average day. Birds chirped and there was the constant sound of water dripping off the trees. Oh, and Wheelie's ever constant criticism.

"L'heure bénie où je puis lire dans le c'ur toujours fermé de Lakmé," Aria annunciated.

"No no, how many times do I have to tell you it's toujours, not whatever noise you just made."

Ugh, she could never get it right. "Toujours. C'ur toujours."

"C'ur toujours."

Aria stopped on the makeshift path Wheelie had made through the snow. "That's what I said!"

"Come on slow poke!"

Aria half heartedly glared down at him. "Your show doesn't start for another twenty minutes, relax."

"It's time for chores, not butchering French."

"I'm not butchering it." Aria glared down at Wheelie as he transformed and drove down the little pathway.

When they reached the fence, she grabbed the pitchfork by the stack of square bails. She piled the hay neatly into the box of the little robot truck. Once Wheelie decided he was carrying enough, he drove under the fence where Azimuth and Zenith were eagerly waiting. He dumped the hay out and back for a second round.

Honestly, he wasn't really that much help with this particular task, but the company was nice. Ironhide only came on Sundays and the other Autobots even less so.

Wheelie transformed and gestured over her shoulder. "Hey look who's here."

Aria swiveled around, her eyes landing on a particular red and blue Peterbilt turning into the driveway. She looked back at Wheelie and mirrored his confused expression. This was the first time Optimus came by since he and Lennox made Wheelie her appointed guardian.

Optimus rolled off the driveway and onto the grass. He transformed in front of her, sending the two horses to the other side of the pasture.

"Ms. Normandy," Optimus greeted, kneeling down before her. "Wheelie," he acknowledged the Cybertonian with a nod.

Aria took a step back. "Oh, hey."

Something must be up for him to come. His expression was neutral bordering on stern, not that dissimilar to Ironhide.

Wheelie was also uncharacteristically quiet. Or was he just scared?

"I'm afraid I bring bad news."

The breakfast in her stomach turned to stone. What was bad enough that Optimus himself showed up to break the news? Was she going to the base? Did Lennox even know about this visit?

Her mind raced for answers. Nothing she'd done seemed to warrant punishment. Wheelie stayed with her like he was supposed to. She didn't tell anyone about him, about any of them.

So if it wasn't because of her… was it something else?

She searched his eyes. Was everyone okay? When was the last time she saw Ironhide? Four, five days ago?

"Aria," He began, catching her attention. "You have become a friend to us, one of few humans to do so since we came to earth. However, being our friend and ally is a dangerous position for anyone to be in, human and Cybertonian alike."

Dangerous. As in the… "Decepticons?"

Optimus faintly nodded. "The Decepticons are clever, and will look for any advantage against us, no matter how petty."

Was he implying she was a liability to them? Wasn't that the whole point to having Wheelie?

Optimus leaned back slightly, distancing himself from her. "For your own safety, Aria, I hereby cut off all communication between you and the Autobots."

And just like that, he took everything she worked for away. She'd done nothing, yet she was being punished.

"W-What about Wheelie?" She meant to speak louder, but her throat was too tight.

"Wheelie will stay with you and will also be cut off from all communications unless an emergency situation arises, in which case he will contact the nearest Autobot. The military will also keep this area under surveillance." Primes face remained impassive.

Her legs quaked. Taking a few steps back, she numbly sat on a bale of hay. "Why are you doing this?"

"Aria, we-"

She cut him off. "How do you know I'm not already being watched? What if your presence is the only thing keeping them away?"

Optimus stood up to his full intimidating height. "My decision is final, Aria. I will not debate this further."

"Can I at least say goodbye?"

Optimus made a sound akin to a sigh. "I will come back this time tomorrow to take you to the base to say your farewells, will this suffice?"

"…yes," she replied.

"I apologize Aria, it is the best I can do to ensure your safety."

Optimus gave her a final nod and a terse goodbye. She watched the semi disappear behind the trees through blurry eyes.

She didn't go inside. The walk was too far right now, she had no energy left. She kept wiping the tears from under her eyes, but they would not stop.

Wheelie was still there, head tilted downward.

Stupid Decepticons. Weren't they all dead by now? There hadn't been a single sign of them since Egypt. Ironhide said so himself, not that long ago. Had he'd been lying?

No, he wouldn't lie. If anything, he was brutally honest.

And now she would never see him again.

A sob left her.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

Aria hastily tried to wipe her tears and compose herself. There was no need to embarrass herself further. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Wheelie looked at her sceptically. "Uh huh." He gestured back to the house. "Come on, you still gotta get ready for work."

Aria slowly followed him back to the house.

"Don't worry kid, at least you still got this salvage scrap drone to look out for ya." He gave her a little nudge on the leg.

Inside the house, Aria took off the layers of outerwear and trudged up the stars to her room. She heavily sat down on her bed, hay falling onto the white sheets.

Optimus couldn't just do that. He couldn't take it all away. Did he tell the others?

Did Ironhide know? Surely he would disagree. He would convince Optimus to change his mind.

Optimus had no proof. He didn't say anything about the Decepticons being active. Just cutting her off without any evidence.

…Being proactive.

She groaned, falling back onto her bed.

Even if the Decepticons were up to something, couldn't they just come by more often? For as well as she knew Ironhide, he would love any excuse to leave the base. Any of them would.

She could have a form of protection, and they would have a form of freedom. Even Skidz and Mudflap deserved off base time.

…And probably draw too much attention. It was bad enough the neighbours were all ready asking about the influx of visitors.

Damn rational thought.

Why did Optimus have to be right?

It wasn't until half an hour later that she forced herself up and got ready for work. She put on the first shirt and pair of pants she found, then brushed her teeth and hair. Her reflection stared back at her sadly.

Back downstairs she put her coat and boots back on and grabbed her bag. She glanced over at Wheelie on the couch half heartily watching a documentary on penguins. Sirius was lying on the floor by the base of the couch Wheelie occupied.

"See you later, Wheelie," Aria said.

Wheelie glanced over at her. "See ya."

The bus ride was long and boring as it usually was. Aria leaned her head against the window staring out at the city. Better get used to it.

She dug through her bag for headphones, only to stop when her finger brushed past the cover of the poetry book inside. She pulled her hand back out. Music wasn't worth it.

She glared out the window.

Work dragged on forever, though it always did. She mopped the floors, dusted aircrafts, picked up garbage after disgusting people that didn't have the capacity to throw out their own trash.

Mark was off training a new employee, which means soon she would have to meet a new person. Today of all days.

From what she could tell from the distance, the new employee was some lanky teenage boy. Probably annoying and awkward and a half ass cleaner. Most of them were.

Sure enough, a couple hours later her boss and the new kid walked over. She took another one of many deep breaths that day and straightened herself up to greet them in a professional manner. She strained her face, forming a fake smile.

"Hey Aria, how's my favorite janitor today?" Mark grinned far too pleasantly at her. His charming act.

"I'm good Mark," Aria turned to face the teenager. "Nice to meet you, I'm Aria." She reached out and shook his hand. It was surprising firm.

"Elijah, nice to meet you as well." He replied with a much more genuine smile.

Eli was tall, taller than Mark even. He had a slim physique emphasized by his black dress shirt tucked into his dark wash fitted jeans. His face was slender with dark brown eyes and hair that was nicely styled. Overall, he was a pretty nice looking guy. He may actually be around her age, though it was hard to tell.

"Eli here is going to be shadowing you for the next week or so to get a feel for everything, so don't be too hard on him."

Aria's eyes snapped back to meet Mark's, but she managed to keep her smile. "Of course, Mark."

He seemed to take the hint. "All right then, I'll be in my office if you need anything." He put his hand on Eli's shoulder. "Good luck," he said with a final grin and walked off.

Eli gave her an easy smile. "Well that guy is weird."

Aria couldn't help but let out an amused huff. "Don't worry, you don't have to talk to him too often."

"Thank god," Eli said with a chuckle.

Maybe Eli wasn't so bad, after all. Anyone who thought Mark was weird was good enough for her.

"Come on, I'll show you where the supply closet is. Grab the cart and follow me."

Aria showed Eli around the supply closet, where he could find the brooms and chemicals he could use for specific things. He acknowledged everything she told him with a smile or a nod. Finally, someone competent.

"So, what do you do for fun?" Eli asked as they exited the closet.

"Eh, nothing really," she replied. Singing in the Opera wasn't the coolest hobby to tell everyone about. "Ride horses, I guess. You?"

"You can ride a horse? That's cool." Eli looked ahead embarrassed, "I just play video games and stuff."

Aria laughed. "Well if it makes you feel better, I suck at video games." She decided to change the topic. "Are you going to school?"

"Saving up, I want to be a computer programmer. What about you?"

Aria grimaced. "I finished school already."

They walked side by side through the space exhibits. Eli looked surprised. "What did you study?"

"Astronomy. Kind of a dumb choice in retrospect."

"As in you're a janitor instead of a scientist at NASA?"

Aria looked around at all the displays. They were currently surrounded by different pieces of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Each and every piece endured the hostile environment of space and made it back to earth after serving its purpose, and she was lucky enough to touch it.

"Oh..you like it here," Eli said from beside her.

"Yeah, my dream job is to be a tour guide." Aria turned back to him.

Eli nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I can see it."

She continued to show him the ropes for the rest of their shift. Maybe the world wasn't ending. Eli could be a chance at a human friend, one she could try to put more effort into, like she had the Autobots.

That evening Aria returned home to a bowl of lasagna sitting on the table. Sure, it was readymade, but it was a very sweet gesture coming from Wheelie.

"Merci Monsieur," Aria said, trying to get the accent perfect.

Wheelie did his best imitation of an eye roll. "Almost."

And she still had Wheelie too.

…