Sanctuary TFP/RB

Chapter 8

Jack had never considered himself a particularly outgoing person.

Not that he was anti-social by any means, but for pretty much all of his teenage life, he'd been content to sit by himself at school and hang out alone at home while his mom was at work. Which was a lot.

Spending time at the Autobot base had forced him out of his shell a little, but that hardly made him a "party animal" as Miko would say.

In other words, being a quiet single child in a small boring town had done nothing to prepare him for a few days confined to the firehouse with the Burns siblings and the four Cybertronians living just downstairs.

The place was neither small, quiet nor boring. Siblings bickered often, mostly Kade and Dani. Voices carried through both ends of the fireman's pole. Phones rang with emergency calls day and night.

Even during the occasional emergency that needed the whole team, Cody's voice could be faintly heard from the command center upstairs.

Jack huddled on the living room couch, checking his contacts for the thousandth time. He seemed to be healing nicely, to his relief. His muscles had regained enough strength for him to use the fireman pole to get to the garage and bunker. Plus his mental fog and headache had cleared.

Footsteps approached from above. Jack sighed and braced himself, pulling his blanket over his head. All of this constant action was giving him a new kind of headache.

"Kade, what on Earth is that?" Dani said as she came down the stairs, unnecessarily loudly. Was this what all homes with siblings were like?

Kade groaned. "Just let me eat."

Dani scoffed. "Someone spit in it, grumpy?"

Kade glared at her over his....whatever it was. "You try putting up with Heatwave for a day, and see how you handle it! I don't know what's gotten into that tin can. It's like his first week on Earth all over again but worse!"

Jack looked away, a knot forming in his stomach. Chief Burns had decided not to tell the rest of his family about the cause of the argument in the Sigma, but it hadn't been forgotten, especially not by Heatwave.

"Maybe he's finally gotten tired of putting up with you." Dani shot back at Kade. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing!" Kade slammed his food onto his plate with a squishy sound. "You saw him during the mission yesterday! He's been like that for days now!"

Dani paused at that.

Jack sat in silence, staring down at his lap. All of the Burnses had come home and gone straight to bed with barely a word, so he'd missed that story. But he had heard Kade's other complaints, along with Blades's. Constantly.

Apparently Heatwave had been volunteering himself and Kade for patrol and missions every chance he got, and pushed himself and everyone else to the point it was ridiculous.

The rest of his time was spent hammering away at his punching log, as if it was the one who had accused him and his team of being weak.

Graham appeared next, sniffing. "What's that smell?" He stopped when he saw Kade's food. "Oh. Never mind. I'm not sure I want to know."

Kade glared at him, picked it back up and took another huge bite.

Jack turned back to his phone, doing his best to tune out the background noise. His own unanswered texts stared back at him. No response from Arcee. Or anyone else. No word at all from home.

"Still nothing?"

Jack started as Chief Burns approached. He hadn't even heard him come down. "Nope. I mean...yes. That there's nothing, that is. I've texted everyone I have numbers for, but..."