Sunstreaker's Charge ✔️

Ch. 16 Dinner and a Dream

Sunstreaker's P.O.V.
Crosshairs and Drift went back to Lily and Sideswipe. They told me to get dinner at five. I don't know why I'm troubled that I found out what Lily likes from McDonald's from them. This is strange feeling disappointed that the little girl who was obsessed with me is terrified of me.
I walk into the lounge room with everyone's dinner in two bags. Lily is having fun with Sideswipe, and I dread killing her happy mood. Sideswipe sees me but continues to play the game. We know the smell of food might get these two to stop, but I'm told to stay. I quietly sit beside Crosshairs, watching Sideswipe and Lily play a racing video game.

"Do you smell that, Sideswipe?" Lily asks.
"Dinner's here."
Lily's smile fades the second she sees me. Geez, even while we're in the lounge room at the base with my brother and two other mechs.
"You're ok," Sideswipe assures her, "you think my brother would poison me or these two?"
Lily struggles to relax, but she doesn't avoid eating the food. Drift pays close attention to her in case I need to leave. Though it seems watching T.V. while eating is a good distraction. 

Drift tells me I can stay as Lily and Sideswipe go back to playing video games until eight when he suggests Lily goes to bed so she can take a sleep aid and be up at a good time to work on schoolwork.

I wait with the other three mechs out in the hallway as Lily gets changed for bed. It hurts watching Lily walk out of the room to let Sideswipe know he can come in and say good night to Crosshairs and Drift. I can't demand they go back to their charge. Lily needs them. I fear these two and Sideswipe are the only Autobot friends she has. I think she's afraid to go to the medbay with so much unknown about her transformation. Ratchet would probably insist on doing tests. Strangely, Jasmine and Jolt aren't interacting with Lily. Even the femmes avoid her. What a fragging disaster.

Crosshairs, Drift, and I wait for Lily to fall asleep. She's out within ten minutes, and at least she'll be asleep all night. Hopefully, having good dreams.
"Hopefully, this is a good step," Drift comments, "but there's a lot of work to be done."
The two walk down the hall. I can't believe they're willing to help me. Even if they'll refuse to let me near Jamie when she comes here, I know they wouldn't help me if they thought I shouldn't be near Lily. That doesn't mean they don't think Lily will be in danger being around me. I go back into the room and kiss Lily's forehead.
"You like her, don't you?" Sideswipe smiles.
"Does it matter? She's afraid of me and too young."

Lily's P.O.V. 
Sunstreaker wants to sketch me even though I'm a skinny kid. My mom freaked out when she heard what he wanted to do. It was funny seeing Sunstreaker defend himself, saying he would not have me nude, but mom disagrees with even a two-piece bathing suit.
I couldn't keep myself from laughing.
"Oh, you think it's funny?!" Sunstreaker asks as he tosses me on my bed and starts tickling me.
"Ok, fine, let's start an art project together," Sunstreaker suggests.
He shows me a photo he took, a beautiful view from the mountains.

"Lily?"
I wake up, realizing it was a dream. I hate feeling this way, and I didn't know I was crying until Sideswipe handed me a tissue. He then sits on the bed and hugs me, and I can't keep myself from crying.
The door opens, revealing Sunstreaker. He wants to run over to comfort me but thinks he needs to leave.
"You didn't tell me she'd be up early today," he points out.
"Sorry, I didn't know she'd wake up like this either."
Sunstreaker got breakfast again. He puts it on the desk and walks backward out of the room, closing the door slowly. 
"It's ok. It's going to take time."
Sideswipe waits a few minutes before suggesting I go take a shower.

I walk out of the bathroom to Sideswipe, talking to Crosshairs and Drift. There's nothing they can do but tell me this will take time. After my nightmares stop, I'm going home and never returning here. I noticed no other Autobot wants to bother with me. I'd leave now, but I think Ratchet wants to monitor how often I have nightmares and is still checking my health. I think I'm still going through a transformation which is creepy to think about. I hug Drift and cry again.

Sideswipe's P.O.V.
This is too much for a twelve-year-old, and she doesn't even know how she ended up with Energon in her blood. Though she seems less concerned about that than her uncertainty about Sunstreaker. Would she be anxious about discovering she's a hybrid if she wasn't distracted? I doubt she'd have nightmares if she was only dealing with the sudden discovery that she's a hybrid. Hard to say if she'd be any happier.
Did she still end up having a nightmare? Sunstreaker asks through the bond.
No, I think the sleep aid and possibly the nanobots helped her have a good dream about you, but the problem is she's still terrified of you and feeling confused.
So these nanobots are causing more problems!
I feel Sunstreaker become angry.
It's going to take time. You heard Ratchet as he read Fred's notes. Either he's helping, and Lily will be obsessed with you by the time the nanobots are offline compared to who knows how long she'd take without them, but it is experimental. I'm sorry to point out that we'd likely see her upset without her seeing you kill, and I think she's distracted and not fully processing that she's a hybrid.
Sunstreaker rarely tells me he hates there's nothing he can do to help. He's selective when he'll help me, but concern for a human seemed nonexistent until now. I'm a little concerned he's getting angry at Crosshairs and Drift for being involved and will tell them to back off, but Lily needs all the support she can get. I do not like the others avoiding her, and I hope they think she needs space rather than every Autobot around her. Though Ironhide already told me, he's choosing to avoid Lily. It's only been four days since her rescue. Even so, I hope they're not considering avoiding her for good.
I dread hearing Lily say the others have been avoiding her. Crosshairs, Drift, and I look at each other with uncertainty. We worried she'd notice; now, what do we do?