~Star Light, Star Bright~

Chapter Twelve: Troubled Thoughts

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The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

-Terry Pratchett

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The brusque red head stared at the blank space where moments before a man had stood, then rubbed her eyes. When the empty air before her didn't change, Macy couldn't help the whine that escaped her. She was way too tired to deal with this supernatural bullshit.

She sagged down and rubbed her forehead as Cody gave her a slightly worried and puzzled look.

"Uh, Auntie? Are you okay?"

Macy waved a hand flippantly at Cody and yawned. "I'm fine midget, just seeing things cause of how tired I am. Go ahead and go back to sleep." Cody gave his babysitter a look, then slowly nodded and settled back down in his blankets, albeit much slower than necessary. Noticing his concern, Macy sighed.

"Really, Cody, I'm fine." She paused for a moment. "If it'll help, you can sleep with me if you want."

She gave a tired chuckle when the little boy perked up and quickly scrambled up onto her cot next to her, snuggling into her arms with a happy murmur. It didn't surprise her at all when he fell asleep within a matter of moments, despite the lack of room.

Just when she herself was about to fall back into a much welcomed slumber, the soft whirr of mechanisms made her eyes snap open, coming face to face with Ratchet's bright optics.

"Need something doc bot?" Macy whispered quietly, amused when the medic blinked at the nickname.

"I was merely curious as to why you had awoken, but it seems that Cody merely couldn't keep his distance?" While Ratchet kept his voice just as quite as she had, his tone was obviously curious. Macy yawned, and waved him away.

"Yeah, you can say that-" A yawn broke her off, and a deep rumble came from Ratchet. Macy blinked. What had that been? "Sorry Ratch', can we talk about it in th-" Another yawn cut her off, this one so big it brought tears to her eyes.

Ratchet made another rumbling noise, and nodded. "Very well. Rest well, Miss Macy."

The Autobot's loud steps faded away, along with the click of the door. Macy slumped back down on the stiff cot, feeling very warm from the little boy curled up alongside her, and come to an insight just as her eyes fluttered shut.

That old medic had been laughing at her.

Ratchet was currently an awkward mix of relieved and alarmed.

The night shift of humans watched him with a wary eye as the grumpy mech stomped past, recognizing him as 'the angry medic you can't mess with without thrown wrenches' and naturally attempted to stay out of sight. Said angry medic didn't even notice them, far too absorbed with the new facts the encounter with Macy just minutes before had given him.

On one servo, Macy hadn't been telling the complete truth just moments before. Ratchet wasn't really worried about that, it was probably something personal, and it was none of his business. The poor femme was without a doubt stressed after so many strange and life altering events. But there was an actual problem with this; it meant his scans worked just fine. And that meant…

He knew it was stupid, but he just hadn't quite accepted that the two little humans had come from an alternate world. However, with this proof, it showed that his scans weren't broken, and Macy wasn't trained in lying and espionage.

They really were from an alternate dimension or universe or some other slag Ratchet couldn't bother remembering.

"Primus, I'm too OLD to deal with this scrap! ….I'll just tell the other's in the morning. I'm gonna recharge and hope this is all just a bad memory cycle…" Ratchet sighed and rubbed his helm. "If only."

And with that the alien went on his way to his new berth, rather oblivious to the strange looks he was receiving from the few humans around him.

Ironhide wasn't sure what to think.

A human femme and little organic sparkling were now in the care of the Autobots, and he didn't know if he liked the idea.

The little sparkling, Cody, was so so TINY. He had been afraid of hurting Bumblebee when he had been a sparkling, and now with a microscopic human? The kid was fragile beyond belief, all soft flesh and weak bones. It made Ironhide absolutely terrified the he would accidentally hurt him. And considering the sheer energy the sparkling had shown when he had seen the Autobots spoke volumes on how he would want to be constantly near and around him.

The sheer risk for the tiny boy in this base was so high Ironhide felt as if he would pull a Prowl and glitch. Ugh.

Oh, and there was the slagging babysitter.

Lucky for her he was positive now she wasn't a threat to the kid or the Autobots, though he still didn't trust her simply because the war had raised his paranoia to levels that Red Alert would be proud of. But thinking back to when he had first seen her, he now recognized the fear in her eyes when he had snarled at her. His cannons certainly hadn't helped the situation, and yet…

The human had stood up to him. She had snarled right back at him, had stood her ground. For the tiny bitlet she had cradled in her arms. For him she had been snarky and ridiculously rude to a millennium old war machine that could kill her with flick of a digit, because he had been too loud and the kid needed his fragging sleep.

He groaned and resumed rubbing his cannons with the tiny oil-stained rag he had acquired from the human staff.

She was going to be a pain in his aft, he just knew it.

"Ironhide."

Ironhide swore that he could feel another hundred vorns of his life vanish from the sudden voiced behind him. He whirled around to face a rather solemn looking Ratchet.

"Slag it all Hatchet did yah fraggin' hafta sneak up on me like that? Primus ...mah spark..."

"Stop calling me that and it's your fault for not hearing the damn door open." Ratchet paused. "Are we sharing a room?" Ironhide nodded and watched the medic give a sparse glance over the two berths that lay at either end of the room. It wasn't much, but it was a vast improvement on the stasis pods they had crash-landed on Earth in. Besides, one couldn't really be picky during a war.

"They haven't finished building the base, so we're bunking together for now."

"Just like old times, eh 'Hide?" Ratchet mused, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.

Ironhide rumbled a laugh in response and settled down to recharge. "That indeed old mech, that indeed. Now, let's get some recharge. Gonna be a long day tomorrow."

Ratchet grumbled as Ironhide's optics dimmed with out another word, and slowly made his way to the remaining berth. Despite all the troubling thoughts he had, he knew the weapon specialist was right about getting some recharge; tomorrow was going to be a long day for everyone.

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End—Chapter Twelve: Troubled Thoughts

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Bonus Facts_#1: Names

So I've gotten at least one reviewer asking about the names of the characters in the past, so here ya go! Also, it gives a big insight to each of the characters roles in this story, especially one in particular. -coughs-includescluestothelastchapter-coughs-

Avidan: Is a Hebrew baby name meaning "God is just; father". Pronounced AA-Viy-Dae-N.

Macy: enduring; happy and upbeat (American); weapon (from the French word for mace); pronounced MAY-see.

Cody: Derived from the Irish Gaelic surname Mac Óda (son of Odo), a name thought to date to the 13th century. Odo is an obsolete name meaning "wealthy." Pronounced KOH-dee.

Noatok: Meaning "river that feeds the people" or "river that gives life to the people" in Inuit. Pronounced NOH-ah-TOK.

Xtar: Pronounced Star. Cody's grandparents on his father's side had traveled to the states long before their son was ever born, young and looking for a new life in California. However, once arriving in the bay area, they were forced to change their last name for a more 'Christian' one. A kind sailor helped them write it out, swapping the 's' for a 'x' so they wouldn't entirely loose their former name. Cody doesn't know this, but his father always felt rather ashamed of this fact, and thus never told his only heir, robbing Cody of yet another thing that should have been his.

Authors Notes: Also, I created a blog for the story! :D (( shine like a star flicker like a candle . tumblr )) just add a . and a com at the end there and wahla! A blog just for Star Light, Star Bright.

You might want to check out the Charater Page, you'll learn a lot more about the cast. c:

Consider this all an apology for the long writers block! TTuTT

R&R!