A/N: So, for those looking forward to the "mission", I have moved that back a chapter. In favor of showing a chapter focusing on Trevor and the other 'Bots. Then next chapter will also focus solely on Bee. Just for a change of pace. :)

...

CHAPTER 33
Down Time and Decisions

Trevor couldn't believe the separation anxiety he felt over the past week. It had been the Autobots first long-term mission, one which had only left Elita, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Jazz (who was soon to leave for the Witwicky's) behind at the moment. And though it had only been a week, and Bumblebee called him over their bond every day, he couldn't help but feel a little lonely. Though he didn't mind being around the six Autobots he was with at all, with being under mostly Elita's care proving to be especially fun. Though during the day, he spent most of his time with Jazz, who continued to be a good friend, and somewhat mentor to him. He hated the idea that the mech was leaving soon, but knew that it was more important that he protect Sam's family. Besides, he promised to keep in contact as much as possible, which is what mattered in the scheme of things.

For now, however, he was mostly admiring the work Ratchet had done on his new prosthetic leg. It was a cool, sleek silver, and ran the length of his own leg. A small Autobot shield was imbedded in the side, and there were some blue streaks on it. To his surprise, it moved much smoother than either of his previous ones, and seemed to be more snug and comfortable. "Wow Ratchet," Trevor muttered. "You did awesome."

Ratchet gave a prideful smile, and a shrug. "You expected anything less?" He questioned. "Now like I said it IS near-indestructible," Ratchet told him politely. "But it can still be removed with ease and works the same as your old ones. It's just better made." He explained, tapping the side of his new leg. "Well then? Stand up, give it a go!" He added.

Trevor stood, slowly, steadily, beginning to walk in it. He was amazed at how easy walking with the new leg was, almost like putting on a new glove. Though the same issues remained, the new leg seemed to make movements smoother at least. "It works great, Ratch," Trevor put his hands on his hips with a wide grin. "It feels so real too, which is kinda awesome."

"It looks awesome!"

Trevor turned with a grin as Jazz entered the med bay, staring down at him with a smile. The mech looked over him, and over the leg carefully before giving a thumbs up. "It's all nice and spiffy. Ya look like a badaft," He crouched, and held out his fist, which Trevor gently pounded. "So what do ya say shorty? Ya got the day off and ah have a few hours off. Let's go start up that PS3."

"Jazz, hold your horses," Ratchet held up a hand. "I still need to go over some more scans. I don't want the leg malfunctioning, for example," He then added. "Trevor, sit back down on the berth so I can make sure all is perfectly in order."

Trevor did as he was told with another groan, though he reminded himself it was only because Ratchet cared that he did this. The mech finally nodded, and waved Trevor off as the boy stepped down. "Alright, it should stay stable," Ratchet told him. "If you have any complications with it though, you are to come and see me at once," He then stared at Jazz. "Have you heard anything from the others yet?"

"Nada, doc bot," Jazz shook his head. "Epps heard from the rest of the troops though. Says they were scouting ahead, so they had to drop communication relays for a while," He shrugged. "Ya ready to go have some fun buddy? Ah got a few other ideas if the PS3 don't suit ya fancy," He then added. "Maybe we can join the twins for a prank."

"Jazz!" Ratchet snapped. "You're being a terrible influence on the grandcreation of your Prime by suggesting that," He gave a scolding look that told Trevor that it was most likely not going to happen. "Primus, I swear, I'm going to end up being driven more insane than I was when Bee, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker were being raised." He grumbled.

Jazz scooped up the young human with a grin. He chuckled quietly, probably because he was younger Autobot himself, and looked at Ratchet. "Aw come on, Ratch. The kid only gets one childhood," He snorted. "If he doesn't live it now, he neva will," Ratchet made a face at that, clearly still not pleased. "Eh, we'll ignore the stiff for the day," He explained flatly.

"I heard that!" Ratchet's wrench barely missed Jazz's helm. "If you had any sense you'd hand the boy over to someone responsible! Primus help me, if that boy doesn't have his homework done due to your shennanigans with him-!"

Jazz had walked out and closed the door before Ratchet finished his sentence. Shaking his head, he rubbed the back of his neck, and peered over at the young human before depositing it on his shoulder. "Primus, that mech needs to take a chill pill," He grunted as he crossed his arms. "Yer sixteen, ya should be getting wild and acting up! I swear, ya'd think he'd neva had a sparklinhood!"

"Maybe he didn't," Trevor shook his head. "Does anybody even know his past?"

"Not exactly," Jazz shook his head. "The doc bot mostly keeps to himself about that stuff," He admitted as he started across the main hangar. "Ah know he was once a senator, but that's it," He admitted.

Trevor nodded, having a feeling that there was a reason for that. But he was definitely not about to ask about it, not at the moment at least. For now, he had a bad feeling that would get a wrench thrown at him. They found Sideswipe and Sunstreaker near a hallway, standing on either side of the entrance. "Aw man, please tell me you're here to witness history!" Sideswipe spoke up. "Or at least help us out."

Trevor allowed Jazz to set him on the ground, as he looked up at the twins. Jazz, however, looked between them with a lopsided smirk. "What did ya two aftheads do this time?" He questioned, putting his hands on his hips. "Ah hope ya didn't put laxatives into all the bottled drinks on base again. Because slag if ah'm covering ya a second time."

"That was you two?" Trevor asked, to which the twins nodded. "Oh man, that was priceless! You two rock."

Sunstreaker grinned widely, a twinkle in his optics. "Thanks kid, but we already knew that," He tilted his head a bit. "You know, I bet the squishy-," He noticed the glare that Trevor gave him. "Human," He begrudgingly corrected himself. "Might be a good plan of action Sides. If he's willing to possibly get in trouble with his grandcarrier."

"Is this going to get me grounded?"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at each other with a thoughtful frown. "Well," Sideswipe finally spoke, looking down at the mech. "That depends on if you get caught. And if they could prove you did anything..." He shook his head a little bit. "Which with us," He tried to dodge the rest of the statement.

"Is very likely," Sunstreaker finished. "Look don't whimp out on us, Trevor," He managed. "If I have to put up with a human in such a high standing, it'd better be one I like."

Trevor chewed his lip, uncertain of what to say. Did he really want to risk getting into trouble? And besides, maybe the prank they were intending to pull would be fun. "Alright," Trevor finally managed. "My dad probably would be helping if he were here anyway," Jazz nodded in agreement there. "What exactly do you two want me to do?"

"You know that fragger, Galloway, right?" Sideswipe asked, and Trevor nodded. "We've rigged the intercom system on the base to send out anything from his office. That is, when we press a certain button," He explained. "But, we need someone to go in there to make him trigger our... Little surprises we've hidden around," Sunstreaker gave a small snicker at the mention of that. "And being he hates us 'Bots."

"He hates me too," Trevor told him.

"Who cares?" Sunstreaker noted. "He'd sooner let a human inside. So you're going to be the lucky human who makes this whole fragging thing possible," He then added. "Come on, kid, are you going to let us tell you what we want you to do, or not?" He questioned.

Trevor only grinned a little, a mischievous gleam in his own eyes.

...

"So, do I even need to ask whose idea this was?"

Trevor looked between his three co-conspirators quietly. Over the intercom, the results of their prank was still playing on a loop. With the recorded message on the device they'd super-glued in Galloway's desk repeating: "My name is Theodore Galloway, and I am a stupid man with really bad gas.". A message which was done in a mock-version of Galloway's voice, which was accomplished by a feature on the Autobots themselves. Over top of the message, repeated "farting" sounds from the second device, which they'd super glued in a second drawer sounded out loudly.

Galloway had tried for several minutes to get it to work, but the twins were smart. Enough so that Ratchet now had to work on it himself while Trevor, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Jazz all stood before Elita. "Come on, Elita," Sideswipe whined. "The jerk totally had it coming and you know it! He humiliates us on a daily basis. He totally deserved a little public humiliation himself."

"So you decided to drag my grandcreation into this insanity?"

Sunstreaker snorted, and looked at her with a smirk. "Your grandcreation was a willing participant," Sunstreaker told her as Elita made optic contact with him. "Kid hates Galloway and thought it was the best thing he'd ever heard," That time, she didn't look happy, at all. "Can you blame him? I mean seriously, Trevor's sixteen, not forty-six."

Trevor shook his head, knowing that the mech made a point. This had made him feel like the kid he was in a lot of ways, even if it had gotten them in trouble. "Sometimes I wish I could forget you're both mechs," She commented bluntly. "And as for you, young man," She turned to Trevor and crossed her arms. "Can I just say how disappointed I am in you?"

Trevor stared up at her, but then averted his gaze. Getting the feeling this was nothing to be happy or proud of, at least right now. He whistled slightly, swaying back and forth. "To be fair grandma, he's right, I am sixteen," He shook his head. "And Galloway's been mocking me for as long as I've been here. Making fun of my leg and everything," He then added. "He kinda deserved it."

"He did WHAT now?" Elita questioned, pausing a moment. "I think we'll be talking about that later. But that doesn't exactly make what you did any better," She sighed, and rubbed her forehelm. "With that bit of information, I'm not sure I want to ground you though," She looked between the four of them. "All I know is that between the four of you, there are a lot of chores around base you can do to make up for it," There was a collective groan. "Don't give me that, you had this one coming. And Ratchet would kill me if I let it go."

"So," Jazz began. "Ah guess it wouldn't help if ah said ah really didn't do anything."

"Including try and stop it," Elita noted. "Now we're going to be listening to this for at least another three hours."

Trevor cringed, he wasn't sure how much he liked the sound of that. "So, extra chores?" He asked.

"Starting tomorrow," Trevor was at least relieved at that. "You can all report to Ratchet for your assignment in the morning," She shook her head slowly. "Now go on, all of you," She waved them off. "You three had better be at your stations in time too. Because at this point, you'd only cause more trouble for yourselves," She added. "Trevor, at four o'clock, I have you. So come see me in my office."

"Yes, m'am."

"Yes Grandma."

As Elita left shaking her head, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker gave themselves a lopsided grin and a fist bump. Trevor didn't understand why, after all, they had gotten in trouble. "So, you guys are okay that we got in trouble?" Trevor asked with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, we have extra chores for a week. Worse for me if dad isn't happy about it."

Sideswipe shrugged his shoulders, rolling up beside Trevor. "Listen, kid," Sideswipe began. "I get you have to act a little grown up since your Prime's grandkid and all," He told him. "But sometimes you gotta learn to live a little. I mean, look at your sire, he's totally as goofy as they come. And like you said before, he'd probably have helped if he was here."

Sunstreaker rolled up on the other side, smirking a bit. "Yeah, don't become a stick in the mud yet, squishy," Trevor tried to ignore the returned use of the term. "I was just starting to think you might not be so bad to have around," He snorted, putting a hand on his left hip. "Seeing as it took guts going in there and pulling that slag on a government official."

"You think that might mean you'll stop calling me "squishy"?" Trevor questioned.

"Don't push your luck," Sunstreaker replied bluntly. "The word "human" still sounds weird," He admitted. "Now, if Chromia asks, Sides and I went out for a... Very long drive," Trevor smirked a little bit. "I don't mind pulling pranks, but our carrier's wrath is not one I'd like to face," He then added. "Even on a good day."

"I heard that," Sideswipe nodded. "We'll catch you both later."

Trevor watched as the twins rolled away, frowning a bit. He crossed his arms, and looked up at Jazz. "Those two really are the definition of "troublemakers", aren't they?" Jazz nodded in agreement. "So, what do you figure Aunt Chromia's going to do to them when she gets her hands on them?" He questioned.

Jazz could only laugh a little at that, the mental image shooting over his processor. It was definitely going to be amusing if that was anything to go by, or so he figured. "Just be glad that ya were adopted into the family of her sister," Jazz replied honestly. "The twins and ah grew up together. Chromia's a lovin' femme, but she's as tough as they come." He explained. "And he's liable to make a new toaster oven out of their armor plating."

Trevor snorted, definitely thankful for what Jazz said if that were the case. "If only dad were here to see this," Trevor explained. "He would have loved it, even if he did have to punish me afterward," Jazz, yet again, nodded in agreement. "I hope he's back soon," He admitted.

Jazz noticed the sadness in Trevor's eyes with a small frown. He knew it wasn't because of how they were taking care of him, but he did understand. Trevor hadn't been apart from his adoptive father this long before, after all. And given their bond was still new, for example, he was surely feeling a little empty without him. "Don't worry short stack," Jazz nudged him gently with his foot. "I know your sire's missing you too, y'know," He explained. "But you'll be back together soon enough."

"I hope so," Trevor nodded slowly. "Hey Jazz?" Jazz looked down at him. "I'm gonna miss you too when you leave."

Jazz's optic ridge furrowed, knowing inside that he'd miss Trevor too. The boy had grown to be a bit of a surrogate little brother to him. And now that he'd be gone, they'd not get to see each other as much. But he felt that at the very least, he'd passed on enough advice and friendship to him for him to not feel too terrible. "Ah know, it sucks," Jazz replied. "But yer friend Sam and his family really do need protection. Especially with the Decepticons convergin' on America like they are."

"But dad says if I go to college, I'll need a guardian then," Trevor paused a moment. "I just... Wish it could be you, y'know?" Jazz nodded slowly in response. "Isn't there some way? I mean, the twins or-."

"You really think that the twins would make good guardians?" Jazz snorted.

"Maybe?" Trevor asked.

Jazz looked down at him, taking a deep breath. He definitely wouldn't have minded going with Trevor to college, but he'd already made a commitment. "Maybe there is some way," Jazz explained. "Another 'Bots supposed to be makin' planetfall within the next week," Trevor perked up. "I'll tell ya what, if we can talk 'em into protectin' the Witwicky's? I'll stick around and come with ya to college," He then added. "Slag, I'll just be ya guardian and car if ya want."

"Really?" Trevor asked.

"Yeah, yer my buddy, and ya got me excited now." Jazz replied.

"But what if the other 'Bot doesn't... Y'know, agree to it?" Trevor asked.

Jazz smirked a bit and crossed his arms, looking down at him. "We know who it is this time, and trust the Jazz-man," He explained. "And trust me when ah say, he'll welcome the action," He explained. "He's kinda a 'Bot of action."

Trevor smiled a little bit, hopeful that Jazz would end up being right. He could already imagine how awesome this arrangement would be, especially given how much he liked Jazz. And from the looks of it, as far as he could tell, Jazz felt the same way.

...

A/N: That's right, I won't be putting Jazz with the Witwicky's after all. Frankly, I've come to enjoy Jazz and Trevor's friendship a bit too much to do that. I thought they would be a great Guardian/Charge paring personally. And yes, this also means there will be no "Freshman can't have cars" thing in ROTF either. ;) As for the other 'Bot, they won't play a big role obviously, but we will still meet them.