No Rest For The Weary

Ratchet grunted, his patience with the mech and femme in front of him coming close to its breaking point. The small pliers on the end of one of his appendages freed another section of metal, the two caught together sighing as they were able to move a little more on their own. Ratchet kept going until he had only two more metal plates to free, sitting back to rest his optics. "Tell me again, how was it that you two came to be so...attached?" The two autobots glowered at Ratchet who could barely suppress the chuckles rising from his engine like someone had just filled his tanks with bubble bath.

"FeVerUstPisking..." The two crossed their arms over their chests, rolling their optics as Ratchet lost himself for a moment. The medic regained his composure and started working their faces apart.

"You could have asked any Autobot what happens when you try to do something that was meant for a being with skin." Ratchet chuckled, shaking his head. "You two are very lucky you did nothing more than lock your mouth components together. I see that I am going to have to teach the two of you how Cybertronians mate." Ratchet's mouth twitched. "Haven't had to do that since a very young Bumblebee walked in on Optimus and Elita-1." Mikaela and Sam looked at each other, surprise evident on their faces. "Yes, it took several orns, nearly a month for Bumblebee not to break down into a giggling mass of scrap metal when he saw either Optimus or Elita-1. Apparently he thought Optimus' anatomy to be funny." Ratchet shook his head. "It took a long while for Iron Hide to live down having 'lost' 'Bee for that long. He was usually good about keeping track of the little young-ling. But as children are want to do, 'Bee snook off to see Optimus and got a little more than he bargained for."

Sam waited for Ratchet to pry him from Mikaela before he asked anything else. His mouth felt a little funny and he exercised his his 'lips', watching Mikaela do the same. "So, Optimus had a...wife?"

"Bonded Mate," Ratchet corrected. "and no, nether committed to bonding their Sparks. Their work kept them apart from each other for long periods of time, so to bond themselves together would have made them subject to the pain of separation. It was no secret, so you can stop looking like you have to keep this to yourselves." Sam actually had the nerve to look abashed. "Optimus and Elita have not been near each other for the better part of two hundred vorns. Roughly sixteen thousand-eight hundred years. Elita-1 has long since taken up with a mech called Kup. He was one of the first Cybertronians ever created, even older than Iron Hide. In fact, I believe he created Iron Hide." Ratchet laughed as he examined Mikaela's mouth plates. "The mech's a pulse off of the old Spark if you ask anyone who knows the two."

"Wow, no wonder Optimus throws himself headlong into his duties." Sam sighed, suddenly feeling sorry for the Autobot leader.

"I don't think he misses Elita as much as you think he does, Sam. Besides, keeping up with the three of you over these past few months has been more than enough to distract him. And dare I say, entertaining?" Sam made a scoffing noise, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Ratchet a withering look. Mikaela, however, bit back the urge to laugh at Sam, it was never wise when he was sulking.

"Entertaining, how?" Mikaela tried not to make eye contact with Sam, knowing that if she did she would burst out laughing at him.

Ratchet smirked. "When you two tried to keep the fact that you had brought Bumblebee into your relationship a secret?" Mikaela would have blushed if she still had that ability. "As though he could ever hide anything from me or Optimus. Especially an overload. " Ratchet looked pointedly at Mikaela, one optic shuddering in a wink. "Bumblebee would have done nothing so drastic without first clearing it with Optimus or I."

"Now," Ratchet clapped his hands together, signaling his want to move on to another subject. "I suppose I could tear Bumblebee away from his duties long enough to give our three Glitch-mice an anatomy lesson." Ratchet stopped, looking around his temporary Med-bay. "Speaking of which...where is Glitch-mouse number three?"

---

Optimus Prime grunted as he pulled himself onto the ledge just below the one Ellie had perched herself on. He settled himself, glancing to his left as Ellie acknowledged him with a nod of her head. Ratchet had asked the Autobot leader to look for Ellie. He was concerned with how she had become withdrawn of late. Both looked out over the base, not knowing exactly what to say to the other to get the conversation going. Finely, Prime decided to play the Bluntness card. It always seemed to work for Ratchet, who was monitoring their conversation to get a better grasp of what was bothering Ellie.

"Ratchet is concerned with your sudden withdraw from your regular social circles." Ellie seemed to smile at this, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. She shook her head, smiling back at Prime, confusing the mech to no end. Humans, and that definition fit the woman just to his left, still puzzled him at times. Though he could see some of the humor. Ellie and Mikaela both considered the Autobot's bluntness charming. "I must admit that I also am curious as to what has caused you to shy away. I confess that Iron Hide is not the same without his," Prime searched for the appropriate word. "Surrogate Daughter there to needle him."

Ellie smiled back, leaning back on her hands as she enjoyed the afternoon sun. "It's got nothing to do with any of you, Prime. I'm just giving my parents some space while they...adjust." The way Ellie articulated the word 'adjust' caught the attention of Ratchet through the audio connection with Prime. Ellie herself had hunched over slightly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand in a gesture of emotional exhaustion. "Do you think I'm asking too much of them to understand that it's still me?" Her shoulders slumped at Prime's silence.

"I don't regret it, Optimus. But it gets hard when my own parents treat me like a..." Ellie sighed again shaking her head, disgust written all over her features. "They treat me like a mindless machine! Like their real daughter died and all I am is just an image of her. Like...I'm here to mock what I used to be." She pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her forehead against the smooth metal of her knee caps. She turned her head to Optimus, giving him her best lopsided smile. "Other than that little road bump, I'm right as...a spot free car wash."

Both shared a much needed laugh. It had been said by various philosophers that laughter cleansed the soul, and it seemed the same could be said for sparks. At least Ellie thought so. But it was not long before the silence filled the air between them again and the same bleak thoughts began to bounce around inside her head. "Give them time, Ellie." Ellie turned to face Optimus, trying her best to show him a smile. She only wished she were as sure of her parents acceptance as she thought she looked. "Besides...I think it is best we stay here for now."

Ellie cast a sidelong glance at Optimus. "Why?..."

The silence between them took on a whole new texture. "I believe that Ratchet is using Bumblebee for an anatomy lesson." The way the leader of the Autobots squirmed looked almost exactly like Sam when he was explaining why her gray car had polka-dots of missing paint. The look she gave Optimus made him feel like he had been caught sneaking a sip of medicinal grade energon...by Ratchet. "A reproductive anatomy lesson."

For a moment, the servos controlling Ellie's optical guards triggered once, twice and finely three times before the air was filled with her laughter.

---

Maggie opened her compact, checking her hair for the third time in less than an hour. Her fussing had annoyed Glenn into his PSP and Defense Secretary Keller into staring the young woman down when the glare caught him in the corner of his eye. This would then panic Maggie as she would stuff her compact back to the bottom of her bag and cross her arms over her chest, looking anywhere than at the Defense Secretary. This is exactly how they pulled up to the checkpoint that marked the boundary between the affectionately named 'Autobot City' and the rest of the United States.

The guards snapped to attention as Keller flashed his ID, and let the motorcade through. The term Autobot City had been somewhat of a misnomer. There were still several Appropriations bills to be sent through to the House and Senate to secure the funds to begin more than the restoration of electricity and water. Even the plans still had to be agreed upon as well as how to hide such a massive undertaking from the eyes of the public. There were several estimates ranging from a few billions of dollars to astronomical dollar amounts that would rival the national debt. And too there still was the number of refugees that had to be worked out. Being scattered throughout the galaxy and perhaps beyond, Optimus was only able to give a somewhat optimistic estimate of under a hundred individuals. Even less if the Decepticons had raided the nursery colonies as had been rumored. Keller turned his attention from Maggie's endless fussing to the last meeting he had had with Optimus as he pulled the lead car into its parking space. The Autobot leader's adjourning words had hung heavy in the air; "It is difficult to have hope for the future when our young are murdered before they are old enough to know what Hope means."

"Glenn...we're here."

"Uh huh..."

"Glenn..." Keller turned his head in the drivers seat, watching Glenn, his attention focused solely on his PSP, fingers flying over the controls as he licked his lips in time with the taps of his fingers. "Put that up, Glenn and get out of the car." Keller was becoming increasingly perturbed by Glenn's situational deafness. The Defense Secretary was about to pull rank, when Maggie held up her hand, pointing out the window.

"Glenn!" Maggie crowed, her eyes focused on the scene outside the driver's side window. "I think I see Jazz!" Glenn looked up from his PSP as his game ended abruptly with his character getting blown to bits by the level boss. The slack look on his face belying his confusion, though when he realized what had happened, he just rolled his eyes and stuffed his game back into his bag.

"Great, now I have to start all over again. Do you know how long it too me to get through that level? And joking about Jazz isn't funny. Maggie? Are you even listening?" The irony of the situation fell on deaf ears as Maggie scrambled out of the car, Sgt Robert Epps parking a few feet to her left, exiting much slower. "What are you looking...at?..."

Glenn clamored out of the car, his game forgotten as his face lit up. "AAAAHHHHHH!!" he shouted, running up to to the Saboteur, his right hand held out in front of him as he gripped the mech's lowered forefinger. "My brother from another mother-ship!" Jazz' face broke out into a broad grin, laughing as Glenn struggled to get several thousand questions from his brain to his mouth with little success. Maggie helped with the bottleneck by smacking Glenn on the arm, making him shy away and feign injury.

"How?" she asked, watching as Jazz stood up to his normal height, shrugging his shoulders in a human expression of not having a certain answer.

"Because someone asked nicely," the mech offered, smiling at the perplexed looks on Maggie and Glenn's faces followed by the amusement of Sgt. Epps. "You three been keeping Keller on his toes?" John answered with a derisive snort, making the Saboteur laugh even harder. "Your lucky. 'Bee has all of us and he still has the power to annoy either Ratchet or IronHide into a full processor meltdown."

"The reason for that is obvious." came the deep baritone of IronHide's voice as he strode up to the gun metal gray mech, putting his fists on his hips. "You taught him everything he knows!" The tone was not accusatory, but carried the mirth that had so often been absent from the Weapons Specialist's voice for so long. "You were the one who showed him all the secret passages, AND you were the one who gave him the pass-code to Ratchet's secret stash of High Grade." Jazz ducked his head, but his grin was ever present.

"You three should have seen the state 'Bee was in after just three sips." IronHide was saying to Maggie and Glenn. "Kid could never hold his high grade. Of course it didn't help that the stuff was for medicinal use." IronHide chuckled at the perplexed look on Keller's face. "Medical High Grade is used for dire circumstances when the patient is in danger of loosing too much energon. It's great for dying patients, but for a functioning mech it over-energizes to the point of...I believe Sam would call it 'Vegging Out'."

"Ahh," Keller seized upon the opportunity of IronHide's unintentional segway. "Where might I find the young...man?" John's slight indecision was not noticed by Glenn or Maggie, though it did give Robert pause. "You probably figured out that we are going to need these three moved into the base as soon as possible because of the recent Decepticon activity. Safety in numbers and all."

Both Jazz and IronHide seemed to visibly shrink when Keller asked about Glenn and Maggie meeting Sam. "Sure, he's in the temporary med-bay over on the southern end of the base. Him and Mikaela are helping Ratchet with something." Both mechs stayed unnaturally quiet after that, watching Keller walk with Maggie, Glenn and Sgt. Epps in tow. Only Jazz still had a smile on his face.

"Five bucks says that Glenn makes that strange squeaking sound again." IronHide turned his head slowly, staring Jazz down for nearly a minute before huffing a sigh and shaking his head.

"First of all, that is hardly worth betting over; Second, he does that all the time. And third," he stared at Jazz hard. "where on Cybertron would I keep five adult male deer?"

"Same place you keep your CPU most of the time..." Jazz laughed, walking off toward the cliffs he had seen Ellie heading toward earlier in the morning. He figured since Prime had had to leave to supervise the reintroductions, Ellie would need some company. "Right up Chromia's aft."