Transformed (#Watty's2016)

Chapter 17

Ratchet's POV

"I've finally finished the counter formula. The cure, if you will." I say. It's now in a liquid form, ready to be applied to return us to our normal states. Everyone but Optimus cheers. I smile. I am so ready to go back to my real body. Too many crazy things have happened as humans and I don't want to be one anymore. Just the feeling of their flesh where my plating should be makes my wires crawl. "Okay, you're all going to take a bit from the jar and rub it on your arms and face. Then, in the morning you should be back to normal." I instruct them. They all do as told and Optimus makes sure I get some before he takes any. We all go to bed later and when we wake up, we're all back to normal. I am so happy, you don't even know. Bumblebee runs out of his berth room screaming something about being able to talk again. Or at least, beep. As I walk into the control room, Optimus pats my shoulder. "You've done well, old friend." He says as we watch Arcee and Bumblebee punch in some coordinates to the groundbridge and leave. I just smile. One of my very rare moments, but, I do smile anyways. I'm glad to see them happy and I'm glad to be back to normal. I wonder where they're going...

Arcee's POV

Bumblebee covers my optics as we walk out of the groundbridge. As he pulls away, a magnificent place comes into view. It's a lake, with tall grass surrounding us. The glow of the stars in the night sky reflect off of the water and there are little glowing bugs flying everywhere. Fireflies, I think is what Jack said they were called. I can be very grumpy at times and really not care about anything but, this is just absolutely gorgeous. I turn towards Bumblebee who is just looking at me. Even though his mouth guard is up, I can tell he's smiling. He's always smiling. That's one of the things I love about him. Even though these are dark times, he's able to stay happy and make everyone else around him happy. For the most part anyways... "So, what do you think?" He asks me. I smile at him. What can I say? He's really gotten good at figuring out what everyone loves. "It's perfect." I say as I walk towards him. We embrace and he begins to rub my back. As he does so though, he accidentally rubs underneath my back tire. "Ah, Bee... That- that tickles." I say. His face brightens up and I can tell he's smirking. Oh no. "Does it now?" He says and I can clearly hear the smirk in his voice. Even if it just comes out in beeps. "Well then," he continues, "maybe I should continue..." He says as he begins to reach to start rubbing there even more. I back away and he follows. I'm almost laughing now as I start to run from him. I feel like a sparkling, running around like this but it's fun when it's with him. He catches up to me and tackles us both to the ground. We lay there laughing, as we stare up into the sky, watching the stars and thinking about when this war will end. I'm snuggled up against Bee's shoulder plating, looking up at the sky when I hear and feel him sigh. "I'm glad I'm myself again. I don't have to communicate through my thoughts anymore. It's kind of nice." He says. I chuckle a little. "Yeah, I'm glad I'm myself too. I don't have to worry about any flesh being easy to cut through. My plating will protect me better." I say. Bee's head turns towards me. He kisses the top of my helm. "Hey, Cee. Raf told me about the human constellations. Want to look for them?" He asks me. I smile. "Sure." I say. A few minutes later we spotted the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, Orion and his belt (who we'd decided reminded us of Optimus) and Cassiopia. We were busy looking for Aquarius when we were commed back to base. We both sigh. It was fun with him. We both stand up and wait for a bridge. "I had fun tonight." I tell him. He looks to me and smiles. "Good. I'm glad you had fun. Would you want to do something similar again?" He asks. I smile and move towards him. Instead of answering, I kiss him. It was just as great as the first time, but a bit more passionate. We only broke apart because the bridge arrived. Reluctantly, we both walk through and end our date. Though I would never say it out loud, if I could have stood there kissing Bee for the rest of the night, I probably would have. But like I said, I'd never say it out loud.

Bumblebee's POV

I was slightly out of it for the rest of the day. I was not expecting that kiss. But, I'll just say this much: it was amazing. I'm really looking forward to the next time I can take her somewhere. I must've started thinking about it again, because suddenly Bulkhead was saying my name really loudly. I shake my head slightly and look at him. "Yes?" I respond. He just shakes his head. "Uh, Bee? Bucket head isn't occupying your mind again is he? Because you seem very distant today..." He says. I give him a slight glare and say "No, Megatron is not in my head again. I'm just thinking is all." He nods. "Uh huh? Thinking is all, okay." He says with a tone that implies he's not buying it. I just roll my optics. I look around. Ratchet and Optimus are studying the relic, Arcee is nowhere to be seen, Bulkhead is talking with Miko and I'm kind of just sitting on a block. I look around for Raf and find him playing a video game. I decide to play with him. We both win an equal amount of times before the kids have to go home. As I drive Raf home, he asks me a question. "Where did you go with Arcee today?" He asks. I think for a moment about how to answer. "I, uh, took her to a nice place so we could uh... Hangout." I say. Although I'm really good with deception and lies, I always find it hard to lie to Raf. He just laughs. "Are you sure that it wasn't a date?" He asks. I laugh. "Okay, okay you got me... I asked her out so we went out." I reply. I see him smile in my rear view mirror. "You love her don't you?" He asks me. I rev my engine in response. Right after that we arrive at his house. He hops out and I make sure he gets inside before I take my leave. That night as I close my optics, the last thing I think about, is the past few days, all that's happened during that time, how much I love Arcee and that's when it hit me. As living beings, over the past few days, we really did grow into better people. You could almost say we all transformed.