These Paths We Tread (Autobot x OC)

XXIX. Monday Monday

**Some lanaguge in this chapter and from here on out~

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The months that had passed by so quickly essentially came to a crashing halt. Or, that’s how it felt to Catherine, and that was just fine by her.

Granted, sometimes it made her days as a liaison pretty long, which meant reading paper after paper until she could finally burst through the door shouting “freedom” in such a way that Mel Gibson could only be more proud of if she’d worn a kilt and blue face paint. Unfortunately, the Autobots didn’t always understand, and she was often left alone to take humor in her antics. Her human companions were a bit better and even joined in some times, which helped make it feel like she was finally able to spend more time with them.

It was a shame that today wasn’t going to be one of those days, though. No; today, unfortunately, was paper duty day, and she had a larger load than usual. She had the new Autobots to blame—their arrival called for much paperwork and letters to government people about their skills, who they would work with, and all kinds of crap she didn’t really want to deal with, but she would. She did technically need official “approval” from the President for the grouping, although she had pretty good idea it was really the Self Defense blokes who dealt with and the President signed it without reading. Thankfully, General Morshower was one of those “blokes”, and usually kept things going smoothly. “Usually”, being the imperative word.

“Marissa, one of these days you’re going to have to tell me how in the hell you didn’t go crazy doing all this,” Catherine sighed as she flipped her finished page over. She had completed her main report on the teams, and was just checking for errors or anything to be added, but it was still a pain.

Across from her in a chair, the brunette chuckled, “It gets easier the more you do it, especially once you show them they can’t push you around. They’re still testing you right now, but poke a little back and they’ll back off quite a bit.”

“Huh. I’ll remember that. I’m expecting them to call any day now, anyways,” the redhead snorted, glancing over at her actual business phone. She refused to let anyone use Teletraan to call her except the Autobots, Lennox, or Sam.

“Did I miss out on something?” Marissa inquired, glancing up from her own paper with a raised brow. Catherine leaned back, meeting the woman’s brown eyes. She was glad Marissa was her fellow liaison in this, although that time was soon to be over. She was intelligent, funny, and didn’t take crap from anyone around here. Granted, neither did Catherine, but she had to be less upfront about it since not everyone liked the Autobots, and therefore her. Marissa, on the other hand, was well known and could act as much like a matriarch dictator as she wanted. Catherine really wished the day she had to leave would never come.

“Not exactly. I think,” the redhead frowned. “There have just been questions about some of the materials ordered, and I happened to mention Ratchet was working on something to help out around here, and they’re taking it completely out of proportion.”

“Ah. Yes, they tend to do that. No doubt a ploy to get Autobot technology, I’m sure,” she hummed, returning to her work.

“Of course, and the answer will always be 'no'. For one, Ratchet’s just trying to make something to turn Earth metal into Cybertronian so their repairs will be better, and then he needs an easier way to make anti-rust thanks to all the sand and moisture around here.”

“Do you need any help? I can talk to a few people and see if the General can help, too.”

Catherine waved it off, “No. I’ve got this one. It’s just another basic ‘read-the-agreement-you-ninnies’ kind of thing. Minus the ‘ninnies’ part, of course.”