Mechanical love

Chapter Twenty-one

"How could you be so reckless?" Lennox bellowed, pacing back and forth in front of the mechanic with his hand on his head in frustration.

Carolina, who was seated on a metalwork chair; was quick to agree with him, but he didn't want to hear it. "I know, Lennox. I already-"

"You could've lost your hand; or your arm! Hell Tess, you could've killed yourself!"

"I know! I'm-OW DAMMIT!" she hissed harshly at the medic who was currently kneeling beside her trying to gently suture her gash; it had been deep enough to require stitches.

She was still annoyed at herself, and in all honesty, she didn't blame him for being angry with her; it had been a stupid move on her part.

"Sorry..." the medic mumbled as he dabbed a little more numbing antiseptic onto the wound. It dulled the pain, but she could still feel the needle threading through her skin.

Her age-old disgust at the human body was amplified by watching her flesh be pulled together in neat little rows and she couldn't look at it; so she turned back to Lennox.

"Look, Will; I know it was stupid! Nobody is more annoyed about it than I am, believe me-"

Lennox cut her off with a raise of his hand, an exhausted and irritated look on his face. "I doubt that, Carolina! You're just lucky Optimus didn't find out yet!"

"Didn't find out what?" came Epps' voice from the doorway of the hangar. They turned to see him and to Carolina's distress.

Optimus was standing behind the dark-skinned soldier. He looked worried and confused, obviously having walked in on the wrong end of the conversation.

Shit! Carolina thought once again, Double, triple, double, double, quadruple shit!

Lennox had a look of stress on his face, obviously trying to find the right way to word the situation to Optimus; he knew the Autobot leader would be horrified to hear about Carolina's little "mishap" with the cutting saw.

However, not wanting her friend to be the one to face the music; Tess waved her free hand for everyone's attention.

"Everything's okay Chief, I just had a little accident." She said, trying not to look at the medic officer who was just about finished sewing her up like a ragdoll, "Nothing to worry about."

Epps looked up at Optimus, and then over at her in concern, "If...if it was nothing to worry about..." he looked over at Lennox who was rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his forefinger, "...then why is there a medical officer sitting next to you with your arm in his lap?"

Will gave an annoyed, frustrated growl and pointed at Carolina. "Because someone sliced their arm open on a power saw!"

Epps' eyes widened in surprise, "What? But how; what about the protective gear?"

The lighter-haired soldier rolled his eyes before turning to her with a look that said 'Spill it or you'll be in big trouble' before she sighed in defeat and answered; looking from Epps to Optimus.

"I...might...not have been wearing it..." she murmured, cringing at how annoyed at herself the statement made her feel; at just how utterly stupid she had been.

"What?" Epps exclaimed worriedly. He looked up to see Optimus step right over the top of him, kneeling on his leg so that he was at eye level with Carolina, his expression one of concern and disturbance.

She resisted the urge to laugh as she felt the medic tense next to her, quickly finishing off the stitches as Optimus watched him do so.

Then he quickly packed up his things, muttered something incoherent, and stumbled out of the hangar; intimidated by the massive alien robot who had been staring at him.