A/N: Wow, so many new faves and follows last chapter! Thanks guys! It means a lot! :D

...

CHAPTER 12
Learning

The next three weeks went by with relative ease on the Lennox farm. Bumblebee had stated his learning with the help of Lennox, and his wife, Sarah. While Trevor had settled into life in a different town and state. Lennox enrolled him in a high school a town away, and much to Bumblebee's disappointment drove him to and from school. But Bumblebee understood why, they had to keep up the ruse that they were his foster parents, and they couldn't do that if he didn't drive a Camaro. And all things considered, given where Diego Garcia was, Trevor probably wouldn't be going to school at the end of six months. Rather, they were discussing options when it came to possible private tutors for him. A fact which Bumblebee could relate to, as he went through the same thing in Optimus, and his mate, Elita's care.

Learning to care for a human was not difficult in some ways, and very much so in others. On one hand, Trevor was not unlike a youngling. But when they got to the grand scheme of things, between his dietary needs and other small factors it was harder. On the flip side, the fact that they were quite a ways out of the actual town the Lennox's called "home" helped him to spend more time with Trevor. He was easily able to transform unnoticed to come out after Trevor got home from school, and inquire about his day, just the way Lennox had showed him. As most teenage humans had twice the angst their kind had, they often needed to talk something out. As a point, Lennox had proceeded to then teach him how to properly zone out when it got annoying.

The worst part, however, was the homework. If Bumblebee was going to be perfectly honest, he'd been the complete opposite of a model student. His tutors had often caught him dozing off during their lectures, and he often crammed for tests and homework. Trevor, by contrast, took school very seriously, and while extremely bright, struggled in some of his subjects. As Bumblebee learned, Trevor suffered from non-verbal learning disorder, a disability that, among other things, made it very hard to do math. And as a result, he quickly learned that math was a struggle. (As well as body language, something that the disability made extremely hard to read as well)

To say the least, it was a lot of information to process, and by now, had gone on an internal list.

But there were bright sides to being a father too. At night, before Trevor would climb into bed for the evening, Bumblebee would take him out for an evening drive. They always ended up in the same place: a large hill overlooking the scenery and the farmlands. It was a beautiful sight which Bumblebee came to love in their nightly drives. And there, he would tell Trevor about Cybertron, everything from things about his sparklinghood, to stories of his conquests in battle. Trevor relished in the stories, and Bumblebee enjoyed finally having a "creation" of his own to pass them onto.

"Wait so he ripped your voice box out?" Trevor asked, and Bumblebee nodded down at the boy. "How the heck can you still talk then? Isn't that the same as ripping someone's vocal chords out?"

Bumblebee chuckled, resting his arms on his knees. Trevor was definitely a curious one when it came to their anatomy. And though at one time, his time without a voice would be hard to speak about. But now, he'd grown past it, and learned to let the past be the past. "I couldn't talk again until just before I came to Earth," Bumblebee explained. "One of our friends was gravely injured, he knew he wouldn't make it. So he asked Ratchet to perform a surgery to give me his functioning voice box."

"So you have his voice?" Trevor asked.

"No, just the box, my voice is mine," Bumblebee replied with a smirk. "Cliffjumper was a good friend, though. We'd been close since, well, we were around the equivalence of your age." He looked over at Trevor, who nodded his head slowly. "Died the way he lived, though. Kicking Decepticon aft." Bumblebee threw punches at the air. "So, erm, math. Uh, how is that going for you?"

Trevor chuckled lightly, starting up at him. "Bee, we're not with the others. You don't have to ask about that stuff," Trevor waved him off a little. "I really don't even want to talk about my first pop quiz in math," He then added. "I'm pretty sure the numbers on my paper would scare Megatron."

Bumblebee snorted, and picked the young human up. He shook his head, and held him near his spark, smiling. It was true, after all, when they were alone there was no pressure on him. He could just sit there and enjoy time with the boy he hoped, someday soon, that he'd be able to call his son. "Eh, I guess you're right," Bumblebee pouted a bit. "I guess I'm just getting used to this whole parenting thing a little too easily."

Trevor smirked at the amusing cockiness that Bumblebee exhibited. He had to get used to that, as he was still young as well. He still had that youthful exuberance that Trevor had come to enjoy. It was one of the few things that was keeping him happy despite the fact that he had lost his parents. He sighed, his parents, the same ones that in less than a week they'd be returning to Tranquility to lay to rest. "Sure, that's it," Trevor teased him as best as he could. "You do make a pretty awesome dad, though. At least from what I've seen so far," He paused. "I'm just not sure..."

"I'm not trying to replace him, Trev," Bumblebee assured him gently. "Just picking up where he left off, and keeping my promise to him." Trevor nodded as Bumblebee ran circles around his back gently with his thumb. "Thinking about the funeral again, aren't you?" Once again, the boy nodded absently. "If you don't want to go-."

"I want to," Trevor muttered. "I want to say goodbye, I have to say goodbye."

Bumblebee nodded his head, and then looked out at the landscape. After a moment of seeing his charge sulk however, he began to rub his ribs, gently first, but then faster, and faster. Until the boy was in a fit of giggles. "Bee! What are you doing?" Trevor shouted between his giggling, squirming a little. "Bee! Bee! That tickles!" He hollered.

"Oh, now, does it," Bumblebee began playfully, falling back against the grass, and continuing to tickle the young human. "I hadn't noticed! Is that why you're squirming around like a little bug? Huh? Is it Trev?"

He watched as Trevor's expression seemed to turn into that of delight with a great amount of relief. Only letting up after a few moments as he held Trevor close to his chest plate. The boy's smile sent his spark pulsating, realizing Trevor looked like nothing more weighed heavily on his mind. Yes, there were days when learning to take care of him seemed hard. But then there were moments like these to remind him why he went through this, why he wanted to be a dad in the first place. To share moments like these with somebody. To watch that somebody find happiness with him, and in turn, to find a certain happiness of his own with them.

"You know, we should probably get back to the Lennox's," Trevor told him.

Bumblebee shrugged, and pouted before playing a radio clip. "Awwww, just five more minutes, mom," A childish voice replied as the mech smirked, allowing Trevor to lean against his chest plate.

But as usual, he knew that five minutes would become two hours. And two hours would go into Trevor's sleep schedule, causing him to fall asleep, and him to have to deposit him into his bed. None of which, the scout would say, bothered him in the least.

...

Bumblebee was also surprised to discover what a natural Trevor was with kids. He, and the Lennox's four month old daughter, Annabelle had made fast friends of one-another. He often allowed the curious little human to examine his prosthetic leg, and played games with her. Everything from the normal "peek-a-boo" to some of the baby toys that she had. Will and Sarah seemed somewhat grateful about this, given it gave them time to relax, and just some time away from Annabelle when it was needed.

For their part, the Lennox's had embraced Trevor quite openly. Sarah often commenting on his willingness to pull his weight around the farm, and moreso, his kindness to them. Though they were not without their arguments, Trevor had made it a point to show a great deal of respect to his current host family. Shown at the moment, in fact, by the way he was playing with Annabelle on their front patio while Sarah chatted on the phone. "You sure you want this one, Bee?" Bumblebee turned, pulled out of his thoughts as Lennox spoke up. "I think the way this is going, we might want to steal him from you by the end of six months."

Bumblebee smirked, resting a hand against the farm house. "I'll fight you for him, if you'd like," Bumblebee teased, looking down at the human man calmly. "Just so you know though, Ratchet isn't done with our human cloaking tech yet... So, you'll be fighting me in this form," He then added. "So you might want to just back down from that."

"I'll just go grab a few sabot rounds," Lennox joked back. "How is that going, by the way? Ironhide was telling me about those. Something about a solid hologram for you guys to use? Make you look and seem human?"

Bumblebee nodded, but put a finger to his lips before pointing at Trevor. Lennox raised an eyebrow at that. Did Trevor not know that this was something that Ratchet was working on? "It should be done in time for the funeral," Bumblebee explained quietly. "I want to surprise him when I can actually be at it, and hug him, and let him know that everything is gonna be okay."

Lennox nodded, understanding that. It would be the first time Bumblebee would be able to give the kid a proper hug after all. And to him, that must have been a rather big deal. "You got it, mech," Lennox finally replied with a wide smile on his face. "Kid'll flip when you do that, you know that, right?" Bumblebee nodded his head. "Not that you're not doing a great job by just being you, that is."

"You think I'm doing okay?" Bumblebee asked.

Lennox nodded, standing beside the mech and putting his hands in his pockets. It made Bumblebee relieved to know that at least one person though so. "You're doing a good job just by trying to learn," Lennox told him honestly. "I mean honestly, it's gotta be a lot of work, and learning. And then once you have that new tech, they're going to put you in parenting classes on top of it," He then explained. "Or at least that's what Ironhide told me Keller said."

"Yeah, they think it will also prove to help me learn," Bumblebee crossed his arms now. "I can handle it, it's only a series of weeks. And honestly, I am curious to learn even more as far as human parenting is concerned." He admitted, his optics lowering to look at Lennox. "It'll all be worth it when I can look at Trevor and tell him he won't have to worry about not having a home."

Lennox nodded, it was certainly the right way of thinking. "Those classes are tough, though," Lennox warned him. "We took them on top of our foster parenting classes. Since we've been thinking about adopting for years now," He explained, looking over at Trevor. "You'll learn a lot more than you will just watching us, and mimicking. But I hope you're ready to feel exhausted after every class."

"That bad, huh?" Bumblebee questioned.

Lennox only nodded, making Bumblebee stiffen for a moment. But he quickly relaxed himself, rather than feel worried about something that he wasn't even in yet. "I think the hardest part of this," Bumblebee began with a chuckle. "Is going to be when he grows up and has kids of his own. I don't age like your human years, so imagine explaining to your kids," He continued to chuckle. "That their grandsire is thirty-four years old essentially."

"Well the whole situation isn't normal to begin with," Lennox nudged the mech a bit. "And from what I've seen, after he's done growing up? You'll probably end up feeling like an old mech by the time he's old enough anyway." Bumblebee laughed a little, but knew that Lennox might have been making a point. "Can't even imagine how old it makes someone like Ironhide feel that you have a kid now."

Bumblebee nodded, knowing that was the truth. Ironhide already complained that he was making him feel like a real old timer, even if he wasn't officially a "dad" yet. And he could only imagine how Optimus, who was only fourteen vorns older than he was, felt about it all. "At least we're probably several decades from that," Bumblebee explained. "Because if he had a kid before he was in his mid-20s at the earliest I would ground him for life."

"I've already decided Anna can't even date until she's thirty," Lennox laughed.

Bumblebee chuckled, hoping in some ways that he could convince Trevor of that. He was definitely not ready to have him bringing any girls around yet, he was too young for that. "Thank Primus he hasn't even started talking femmes yet," Bumblebee's doorwings twitched a bit. "With all this I have going already, I might go insane if you throw dating in there too."

"Brace yourself," Lennox pointed at Bumblebee. "Because if he's anything like me, it won't be long."

Bumblebee held back a sarcastic "thanks" for the vote of confidence. "Uh, Will?" Trevor stood up, holding Annabelle out a bit. "She's getting a little fussy. I tried a lot of stuff, but... I think she wants you or Sarah," He grinned nervously. "So maybe you should come over here?"

Lennox sighed, and nodded. "I'll be right over," Lennox chuckled, then looked up at Bumblebee. "Just be glad you don't have to deal with this stuff, Bee. Dirty diapers, formula feeding, fussing? Those are the things that are the real pain in the neck," Bumblebee chuckled at the commented, but nodded in agreement. "God I love my baby girl, but every day I dread what might be waiting for me down there."

"I'll try not to be sad that I missed that part of Trevor's life," Bumblebee snorted.

As Lennox went off to attend to his daughter, Bumblebee sighed. He really hoped the parenting class that Lennox was talking about would not be hard. Because he certainly wasn't sure that he could handle anything especially hard. And yet, he reminded himself, he would, and the reason was headed his way. "Hey Bee," Trevor looked up. "My friend Rudy wants to pick me up for a movie tonight," He commented. "Can I go?"

"What movie?"

"Bee, I'm fifteen, I can handle just about anything," Trevor replied.

"Fair point," Bumblebee shrugged. "I don't see why not, as long as you're back before eleven. You know I usually recharge around then," He explained, giving a smirk. "And I'd hate to have to hunt you down because you were cutting into my recharge time."

Trevor only laughed at that, then looked up at Bumblebee. "Don't worry, Bee, I'll be back," Trevor grinned back. "I'm sure it won't run over too long."

...

Bumblebee experienced his first brush with panic when, at twelve o'clock, Trevor was not home. It felt like an eternity had passed since he left, and with each passing moment, he grew more panicked. What if Barricade had found him? No, he figured Barricade would have made demands by now if that was the case. What if there had been a car accident? No, Lennox would have come out to warn him if that were the case. Yet he couldn't stop worrying, no matter how hard he tried. At the same time, he felt a tinge of guilt over the fact he knew he had done this to Optimus on occasion.

"Will you calm down?" Ironhide muttered as he shifted beside him, half in recharge. "Kids do this all the time, including you. I remember when Optimus did this same thing when you were his age, and you had just gotten your first alt mode..."

Bumblebee revved his engine in annoyance, grunting. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?" He asked haughtily. "If something happened to him, and I wasn't there," Bumblebee shuddered a little. "It's just getting too late, 'Hide. I'm looking up the local theater as we speak. If he's not here in forty minutes, I'm going down there, and..."

"Ruin your cover?" Ironhide commented, amused. "That's a great idea, Bumblebee. They'll definitely give you custody of him if you do that."

Bumblebee nearly transformed in order to slam a fist on his hood when headlights showed up. The mech stiffened, immediately making sure that no one noticed he had been moving. He'd wait, maybe this was Barricade with his demands. Or maybe, this was the cops telling him that they... Wait a minute, was that Trevor? Did he hear laughing? He resisted the urge to rev his engine again as Trevor climbed from a car, laughing and exchanging pleasantries. After a long moment, the car drove away, leaving him waving.

Bumblebee waited until they were a far distance away before he spoke up. "Where the pit have you been!?" Bumblebee shouted as he transformed up in front of Trevor. "Do you realize how worried I've been? Do you even know what time it is?" Trevor looked stunned at the way Bumblebee reacted, his eyes bulging. "I told you to be home by eleven!"

"Bee, we met some guys on the way home..."

"And you didn't think to call me?" Bumblebee asked in frustration.

"I thought you wouldn't mind," Trevor shook his head. "You're younger, right? It's not like I expect you to hark on me about curfew or rules."

Bumblebee looked at Trevor as if he might have been tempted to smack him. Yet he drew in a breath, and revved his engines slightly. He supposed that in Trevor's position, he might have thought the same thing. After all, he was young, and he did act youthful. "Trevor, I may be young," Bumblebee began calmly. "But I want more respect from you than that," He explained, rather bluntly. "I'm going to be your father if all goes well, kid. And as your father if you pull stunts like this, I will worry. Or are you forgetting Barricade and Starscream are both still out there?"

Trevor frowned, having never thought of it that way. But he knew that in the grand scheme of things, Bumblebee was an adult. And what was more, he would most likely be his legal guardian. He did deserve more respect, in fact, he deserved the same respect his biological father got from him. "I'm sorry, Bee," Trevor told him quietly. "I didn't think you'd actually worry about me. I mean, you talk about being crazy and rebellious all the time."

Bumblebee shrugged, he supposed that was true. "Yeah, I know that, and hey I make those mistakes too," Bumblebee told him, sighing, and rubbing the back of his neck. "And I'm going to have more of those moments because I'm young too," He admitted. "But that doesn't mean I'm not scared when you're not where you're supposed to be." He explained. "It would destroy me if I lost you."

Trevor sighed, nodding his head slightly. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Trevor asked innocently.

Bumblebee looked down at him for a moment, then back at Ironhide. The mech had now transformed, and was watching from a bit of a distance. The large burly mech looked at him, but then turned on his comm link. :You have no idea what to do in this situation, do ye?: Ironhide chuckled.

:Do I ground him? Or maybe a warning?:

:Start small, since he's going through a rough time.: Ironhide offered a bit of his advice. :Take away a privilege. Maybe the cell phone that he carries around. Just for the day. And no friends for the rest of the weekend.: Bumblebee nodded his head slowly. :Next time he does it, you can worry about more serious punishments.:

Bumblebee turned back to Trevor with a look of nervousness. He'd never punished anyone before, and this had to be the first time he had to? Over an offense that he had done before? Heck, he had done worse! And yet, he knew this was something he had to do, and had to get used to. Enforcing discipline was a major part of being a parent. "Alright," Bumblebee crouched down. "Will is still up, so you go and bring him your cell phone. You've lost that privilege for the day," He explained. "And I'll watch to make sure you do it too." He added. "And no friends for the rest of the weekend either. "We'll see if you can handle my rules next weekend a little bit better."

"But Bee!" Trevor groaned.

"Sorry, Trevor," Bumblebee shook his head. "That's it though, it's not that bad a punishment." Trevor hung his arms in frustration. "Go on, give Will your phone and head up to bed." He then added, making sure that Trevor knew that he still cared about him. "I'll be there to tuck you in in a minute."

After a moment, Trevor nodded his head slowly, and walked off towards the front door. Much to Bumblebee's relief, he watched the boy give Lennox his cell phone, and say a few words before walking out of sight of the large window on the first floor. He sighed a bit, hating having to do that. A hand fell on his shoulder, and he turned to see Ironhide. "I know, that's the worst part of being a parent," Ironhide shook his head. "I hated punishing the twins while you lot were growing up. But it has to be done," He then paused a moment. "Just be a little more strong about it next time. You did fine, but you can't hesitate like that."

"Don't hesitate," Bumblebee sighed. "Got it."

He'd just add it to the list of things that he still had to learn about being a parent. "Go on, get him into bed so we can get some recharge," Ironhide grunted, smirking a bit. "Always good to let 'em know you still care, especially when they've been displaced."

Bumblebee nodded, quietly approaching the home, and going around the side. There, he found Trevor dressed in his pajamas, and carefully climbing under the covers of the bed in the guest bedroom. Carefully, Trevor pushed open the window for Bumblebee and poked his head out. "What are you doing here?" Trevor asked timidly. "Aren't you mad?"

"Not anymore," Bumblebee shrugged. "Besides, I said I'd tuck you in, didn't I?"

"I'm fifteen, you don't have to." Trevor replied.

But Bumblebee only smiled, pulling the set of sheets and blankets up to Trevor's chin. "I know," Bumblebee shrugged. "But I want to, and I like to." He gently ran a finger along the boy's side. "Goodnight, Trev," He told him gently. "You have some good dreams tonight, alright?"

"No nightmares, I promise," Trevor muttered tiredly.

"I'll be right here if they show up again," Bumblebee replied. "Promise."

"And you know, I like it when you tuck me in too," Trevor admitted with a smile. "Night, Bee."

As he carefully helped to close the window, Bumblebee sighed, transforming down. Only three weeks in, and he already knew that he had so much more to learn. But in the end, he knew it would all be worth it.

...

A/N: Ah, that was a fun chapter to write! Next chapter is the one I'm dreading having to write because of the sad subject matter: the funeral. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this first look into Bee's first steps into parenting.