Elita POV
Ratchet took his time looking Mikaela over, asking her where it hurt, how bad, and how she did it. When she told him, he started laughing.
"Good! That rotten slagger has caused nothing but trouble!" Ratchet said with a grin.
"I hope I'm there to see it when he opens his mouth too far and says something that gets him what he deserves. Maybe he'll be stupid enough to mouth off to Starscream or something." Ratchet mused. "As much as I hate Starscream… I'd still have to hold my fire so I can see what happens to the slagger!" He added with a bright smile.
"I'm surprised that Ravage didn't kill him." I exclaimed.
"I think the only reason Ravage didn't kill him right then and there is because I needed some help to get back over to Autumn. Ravage actually carried me back over to her." Mikaela said while looking over at me.
Ravage didn't give any sign that she was the topic of discussion except to snuggle closer to Autumn's chest. Autumn turned and sat down next to Mikaela on her right, hovering over the girl protectively. That was when it struck me… Autumn's strange behavior, combined with what she'd said to Mikaela, and her tragic past. All of that added up to the fact that Autumn was so desperate for companionship, that she would do anything she could to hold on to someone she trusted. By getting hurt in her defense, I have begun to strongly suspect that Mikaela has fully earned Autumn's trust.
"Well you've managed to strain the joints of both your left ankle and your left knee, although the ankle is the worst of the two. So stay off of it!" Ratchet ordered in a growl.
"Don't you snap at her!" Autumn ordered softly. "She hasn't been mean to you, so don't be mean to her!"
"Autumn… chill out a little!" Mikaela said with a frown. "That's just how Ratchet is. He's always a grouch."
"Well he needs to stop being so mean to those who don't deserve it." Autumn muttered sullenly while glaring at Ratchet.
"Just relax Autumn, and don't take it so personally. I sure don't." Mikaela said casually.
Autumn only nodded her head while watching Mikaela closely. I could tell that Autumn was ready to become very violent in Mikaela's defense if she thought that it was necessary. Even though she didn't' have any weapons, such a conflict would be dangerous because she might well be fighting to kill, while anyone in opposition to her would be trying to subdue Autumn without causing damage to her frame. That kind of thing could not be easily accomplished no matter how you looked at it.
That was when I noticed Mikaela looking at Autumn with narrowed eyes and a slight frown on her face.
"Autumn… you really do need to relax!" Mikaela said firmly.
"I… I am relaxed." Autumn tried to protest.
I knew she was lying from the position of her doorwings, and I was about to say something when Mikaela beat me to it.
"No you aren't. Don't even try to lie to me Autumn, because I'm not stupid. Normally… those doors of yours are all over the place… but right now they're sticking straight up and not even twitching! So don't tell me you're relaxed Autumn, because you aren't." Mikaela said in a firm tone but using a gentle voice and a light smile at the same time.
"Autumn… being human, Mikaela doesn't know how to read your emotions from the position of your doorwings, but even she can tell that you are tensed up. So you really do need to relax, because nothing is going to happen to you in here." I told her sincerely.
"It's not me I'm worried about!" Autumn protested quickly.
"Autumn… if I thought that anything was going to hurt me or kill me in here, do you really think I would have let you bring me here?" Mikaela asked with a disbelieving smirk on her face.
"No." Autumn admitted softly.
"Okay then. Just relax. Ratchet knows what he's doing." Mikaela replied.
"Yes I do, so I'm glad you admit that. The first thing I'm going to do is remove that cast so you can get a decent shower. Sweat, grime, and dead skin cells have accumulated beneath that cast, and that stuff needs to be removed. After you get a good shower, I'll put a new cast on your wrist and wrap your ankle for you. Besides, you're probably starting to get cold in that bikini." Ratchet groused loudly.
"Well if I can't put any weight on my ankle then it'll have to be a bath, and I'd need help getting in and out of the tub." Mikaela shot back.
"True." Ratchet admitted in a huff of annoyance.
"I… I could take her into a wash rack." Autumn said in a near whisper.
"That's fine. You need to get cleaned up too! So you can help Mikaela with whatever she needs. There's a room right through that door with a wash rack in the room beyond. Plenty of privacy for both of you." Ratchet said as he pointed out the door next to his office door and headed over to his desk.
"Mikaela, Here's your back pack with your clothes in it. Is there any thing else you need?" I asked as I pulled her back pack from a subspace compartment.
"I thought I gave it to Arcee… how did you get it?" Mikaela asked in confusion.
"Arcee gave it to me after we got back just before I met up with you in the rec room." I told her.
"Oh. Okay, thanks." Mikaela replied as she accepted the back pack with her left hand.
"Just a moment. Let me take that cast off for you." Ratchet said as he stepped over to the berth with a rotary saw that had a very small blade on it.
"This blade won't cut completely through the cast, so I'll have to break it off afterwards, but there's no chance of it cutting your skin this way, and a mere half millimeter of plaster is easily broken." Ratchet said before started to work.
I watched as Ratchet cut the cast into five sections so that it could be easily removed.
"Here, let me." Mikaela said when Ratchet finished with the saw. She brought her left fist down on top of the cast and a muted crack was heard as it broke in several places and fell off.
"Now I can get a good shower!" Mikaela said with a bright smile.
Autumn POV
I picked Mikaela up and started to walk towards the room at the back of the med bay when Ratchet stopped me.
"Here… she'll need these." Ratchet told me grouchily. I swear he doesn't know how to be nice about anything!
I looked at the stuff he put in my left servo. It was a bunch of bathing supplies, soap, body wash, shampoo, razor, things like that along with three thick fluffy towels.
"Yes!" Mikaela squealed in delight.
She seemed to be so happy about getting a shower that I couldn't help but grin with her.
"Autumn, I hope you don't mind, but I kinda plan to take a while because I haven't been able to properly wash my hair since I broke my wrist." Mikaela said hopefully as she looked up at me.
"Don't worry about it. There's lots of hot water, so we can be in there all day long… or at least until one of us gets hungry." I told her.
Mikaela started laughing. "Well I think it's time we showed them just how long a girl can take when she wants to, don't you?" She said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
I couldn't resist the giggle that burbled from me. Ratchet wasn't going to be very happy about us taking forever, but then he was never happy about anything any way. I sat Mikaela down on the bench that was big enough for me and a couple more bot my size and put the bathing supplies along with her back pack next to her. She began taking off her bikini while I started removing my armor. She got done long before I did and she was watching me strip down. That made me very nervous because I wasn't used to it.
"I've never had a chance to look at a bot without their armor before. I caught a quick glimpse of Optimus when he first landed, but was all. Except for being made out of metal and stuff, you don't look all that different. It looks like you even have some kind of metal vagina between your legs." Mikaela said as she kept looking at me.
"It… it's called a valve… and I don't pee out of it, but it still works the same for sex." I told her hesitantly.
"You can still have sex? How do you know it still works the same? What, have you actually had sex as a bot?" Mikaela demanded with wide eyes.
"Yeah… when I was spark bonded to Bluestreak we made love a few times, so that's how I know." I replied nervously.
"Way to go girl! Well? Was it good? Did you enjoy it? Don't keep me in the dark… tell me about it!" Mikaela said with a smile.
"It was really good! Bluestreak was gentle, tender, and loving. Because of our Bond, I could feel how much he loves me, and I could even feel what he did. It was incredible." I told her as I finished taking off the last of my armor.
"Wait! You could feel what he did while you were having sex with him? What was it like, and how does that work?" Mikaela asked with wide eyes as I picked her up to take her into the actual wash rack.
"I don't know how it works! All I know is that when Blue and were Bonded, I could everything he did, and he could feel everything I did. Our thoughts, memories… everything… sometimes I think I could have seen things through his optics." I answered sadly. I was still hurt that it had been taken away from me.
"So it was kinda like that Vulcan mind meld thing from Star Trek?" Mikaela asked curiously.
"Sort of… except it was all the time, not just when we were together." I explained as I turned on the water.
"Wow…" Mikaela muttered softly before she went quiet.
I got the water adjusted to the temperature that she liked and found that she liked a hot shower! Her skin started turning red immediately.
"Are you sure it's not just a little too hot? I can turn it down a bit." I asked in concern.
I admit that I was worried about her. Thanks to her, I'd gotten to do things I'd never done before. The bonfire, campout, sleeping under the stars, the Girl's Night Out… I'd never have gotten to do any of that if it weren't for her.
"Nope! Don't do anything; this is just the way I like it." Mikaela smiled.
"Besides the hot water won't last. It never does." Mikaela lamented softly.
"It will this time. They use some kind of water heater that doesn't have a tank on it, so there's always lots of hot water." I told her.
Mikaela smiled and started washing her hair. I sat down on the floor of the wash rack and placed Mikaela on my right thigh so I could start washing up too.
We spent a couple of hours under that spray of hot water. Mikaela had washed her hair, shaved her legs, and then she shaved her pubic hair off. I had heard that some women would do that, but I had never understood why, so I asked.
"Well… it feels really gross when that hair gets all sweaty and stuff, plus it means I'm a whole lot easier to clean up after Sam and I go at it. If I have pubic hair then it holds my fluids, his cum, and makes for a really big mess. If I'm bald, then I only need to use a few baby wipes and I'm good to go after a quickie." Mikaela told me honestly.
"Oh." I didn't know what to say to that. I mean, what could I say? Then I remembered the mess I'd made of myself when Blue and I had fragged.
"You don't like being a dripping mess either do you?" I asked her suddenly.
"No, I don't." Mikaela admitted. "Wait… you can still cum?" She added in surprise.
"Yeah, I think so… at least… I'm pretty sure I did. I know I had dried lubricants all down my thighs the next morning. Blue told me I needed to wash it all off so the others don't smell it." I answered.
Mikaela turned around on my thigh to face me with a conspiratorial smile. "Damn girl! Sounds like you two went at it hard, fast, and heavy!"
I nodded my head and smiled a little as I thought about it. "Yeah… I guess we did."
Mikaela started laughing merrily. "You guess huh?"
"Don't worry; I'm not going to tell anyone. That little secret stays between you, me, and the drain." Mikaela said with a smile and a wink.
I reached up to turn off the water because I really had no idea what to say. I'd never had someone that I could share a secret with before. Because I couldn't talk, I'd never been able to share a secret before! I'm pretty sure that all the other bots know that I love Bluestreak, and if bots talked the way human boys did, then all of them knew he'd fragged me several times. I haven't told the other femmes that Blue and I had fragged, so they might not know, so how could this be a secret? I wasn't sure, but I do know one thing because it's something I've always heard. Only a true friend will keep a secret!
I took Mikaela back to the dressing room I guess you'd call it, so we could dry off and get dressed… well she could get dressed, and I could put my armor back on. Since the bench was wide enough for me, I wasn't worried about her falling off, so I focused on putting my armor back on. When I turned to check on her, Mikaela was looking at me with a smirk on her face.
"At least you don't have to worry about fixing your hair, getting your make up just right, picking out your clothes, and figuring out what shoes you're going to wear… then deciding on what perfume to go with it all!" Mikaela said as I put my right servo down on the bench for her to climb on.
I had to admit that I had never really focused on any of that. I never had a reason to. Until I got here on the base, I'd never even had a friend… forget about any kind of boyfriend to dress up for… but that last thing made me think.
"I… I can still wear perfume." I protested.
Mikaela looked surprised. "You're absolutely right! You can wear perfume! Remind me to get you some tomorrow." She said seriously.
"Okay." I couldn't help but smile. I had never been able to afford any kind of perfume when I lived with my father, because I always had to spend what little money I could get my hands on for something to eat.
I grabbed all the rest of her stuff with my left servo and walked back into the med bay. Ratchet told me to place everything on his desk before looking at me hard.
"Autumn, I want you to put Mikaela down on my desk, drink a cube of energon and get some recharge… right over there!" Ratchet said while pointing at an empty berth.
I set Mikaela down on his desk like her told me to, and then I flinched away from him because his right servo came towards me fast.
"I was going to pat you on the shoulder, not rip your helm off." Ratchet said angrily.
"Could have fooled me." I muttered as I stepped away from the perpetually angry medic.
Elita handed me a cube of energon and I drank it down while I watched Ratchet put a cast back on Mikaela's right wrist and an ace bandage on her left ankle. She'd gotten hurt both times because she'd been sticking up for me. Because of that I knew that I had to do something for her, after what she did for me, I'm going to do my best to watch out for her. I have to, she's my friend.
Mikaela POV
Ratchet wrapped my ankle nice and tight, but not enough to cut off the circulation. That was a good thing because as late as it was, I knew I'd be sleeping with it on. He disappeared into his office for a minute and came back with a twin size bed.
"You'll be sleeping in here tonight so I can keep an optic on you. I know how stubborn you can be, and I'll make sure that bandage stays on all night!" He told me grouchily.
"Okay, Ratchet." I laughed.
He might act grumpy and grouchy, but I know he really cares. I saw that in Mission City when he thought Jazz was dead. I'm really glad Optimus used the last of the power that was in that splinter to revive him after Ratchet put him back together again. I started to get in bed, and saw Autumn laying down on her back with those doors spread out. Ravage jumped up on the berth for a minute and Autumn petted the metal panther.
"Good night Autumn!" I called out cheerily.
"Goodnight Mikaela, sleep well." Autumn said drowsily.
When Ravage jumped down an instant later, I knew Autumn was already asleep. I laid down and slid into downtown Snoresville myself.
I woke up to the sound of someone welding on something and not being very quiet about it. I sat up and looked around to see Autumn welding on the leg of a really big bot! I mean that thing is huge! It's almost big enough to hold Autumn like she does me! Okay, so maybe that's a bit of exaggeration, but still, that thing would be able to carry her around like a baby or something… that's how big it is!
"Autumn, what are you doing? I was having a great dream about driving a Lamborghini." I demanded sourly.
Okay, I admit it. I'm not a very nice person when I get woken up early.
"Mikaela… that isn't Autumn. We know it's her frame, but there is someone else in it that we haven't figured out yet." Arcee told me calmly.
"What? You mean she's schizo or something?" I asked in disbelief.
"That's entirely possible. Neither Prowl who has a Creator's Bond with her nor Soundwave who is a telepath can determine who it is, because Autumn is still in recharge right now." Ratchet answered.
"Put me over there! I don't believe this!" I snapped angrily.
I'm not going to just let this slide. I've seen for myself that Autumn doesn't try to start trouble, but now she's in it deep!
Arcee picked me up and started top take me over to where Autumn was working on the huge bot. I took a quick glance at it, and then did a double take. That face…
The face on that bot is the same face that Autumn built in the sand… the one she said was her mother!
"That's her mother's face!" I almost shouted.
"What?" Arcee and Ratchet demanded at the same time.
"Arcee, look at it! That's the same face she made when we were building sand castles!" I told her.
"You're right Mikaela… it is. She's had that part completed for several days now." Arcee said quietly.
"That may be, but something changed." Ratchet said quickly.
"What do you mean?" Arcee asked.
"She's not putting the same detail into the legs as she did the arms. That's why she's working on the last part now." Ratchet explained.
I could see that he was telling the truth. Autumn was closing the right leg after finishing the last part of it. The other leg was already done. That's when Autumn did something weird. She removed her chest armor and set that to one side. Then she slid open her chest and leaned in close to the bot.
At that point I was really wishing I had a good pair of dark shades, because that was bright! I scrunched up my eyes and peeked through my T-shirt, but that only helped a little. I could see a solid blast of light going from Autumn's chest into the chest of the bot still on the berth. This went on for a couple of minutes before it stopped. I saw Autumn's chest slide closed and then she collapsed! I thought she was going to fall to the floor, but the right arm of that huge bot flashed out and caught her!
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