Home ❀ Ironhide

- 24. ironhide -

I was almost at Macey's room when I noticed she wasn't following behind me.

"Stubbs? You there?" I called out, hoping that she was hiding behind a corner or something and trying to scare me, revenge for the countless time I did it to her. When there was no response heard, I was staring to get worried. Right on que, a scream was heard - her scream.

I started making my way towards the source of the noise as fast as I could. There was something wrong. I could hear the panic in her voice. Frag it, I never should have left her alone for this stupid race. This is all my fault.

      I quickly turned down a dimly lit hallway to see her there. Pressed against a wall, very close to a man. The mans back was facing me, so I couldn't tell who it was. I advanced towards him and pulled him away from Macey, carefully enough not to hurt her but strong enough to tell this man, this boy, that I was making a point.

      He stumbled back and landed against a wall. I took in Macey's appearance. From what I could tell, she had no flesh wounds, but by the way that her whole body was shaking and her wide, tear full eyes, I knew she had mental wounds from this. A rage bubbled in my Spark. Making my way over to the man, I grabbed the cloth of his shirt and pushed him roughly against the wall.

"Who the frag are are and what did you do to her?" My voice was dark and threatening. It took everything in my body to keep myself from not killing this human right here.

"Look man-"

"What did you do to her?!" I shifted my weight on my legs. This human was not helping his cause at all.

"Look, may I speak?" I didn't reply, just glaring into his eyes, "Macey and I, well," he chuckled. "We were just catching up, right baby?"

"Don't you dare call her that. I will end you."

He ignored me and shifted his bored gaze over to Macey, who was still trying to hide behind me from his sight. When he noticed she wasn't going to look at him, he looked back at me. "And who would you be exactly?"

"Well, I'm her bondmate, and what are you?"

"Oh buddy, I'm her ex-boyfriend. Glad to meet you here. Would you mind if you know, put me down." I pushed him against the wall harder.

"Yes, I would mind. I'm going to ask you one last time: what did you do to Macey?"

"Sweetie, should I tell him or you?" This seemed to get Macey's attention. Was there something going on between them? I felt Macey grab at the material of my shirt, attempting to pull me away from him. I didn't. I just looked back at her. She shook her head at me, silently telling me this isn't worth it. I could tell that if she spoke, her voice would shake and she would most likely break down into tears. My expression softened and I let the man down, harshly.

Macey didn't look into his eyes, but he was staring right at her with a very strange expression. I stepped in front of her and made him look at me.

In my slightly calm state, I took in his appearance. He was dressed in military clothing and had nothing special about his exterior features that stood out. I knew this man.

He was someone who I trained nearly a year ago when he went into a dark place mentally. Apparently, he originally was fighting in Afghanistan but got moved to NEST when he came back. He had horrible PTSD from combat over there, but that wasn't why he trained with me. On the first day he was back, he went to his fiancées apartment for the night and broke off their engagement, thinking she was somehow working for the enemy. I never met the girl, but I've heard others talk about how she'd said he was a changed man and was not the man she fell in love with, hoping to marry soon.

Then, everything clicked in my head. Her scared expression. The nicknames from him. How she wouldn't look at him in the eye. She wasn't scared of him, no, she was scared of me and what I would say. That reality hit me so hard that I had to move away from her and almost fell to the ground. He was the fiancée everyone talked about.

"You okay, dude?"

"It's sir to you, Kelly, what don't remember me? It's Ironhide." His eyes widened, realized all of the things he had not only said to me, but also to Macey, were going to be reprimanded for. "Leave us alone now."

"Yes, sir, uh, right away," he then moved away as fast as he could without running. When I was sure that he was out of hearing distance, I looked back over to Macey, my Spark clenched. She wouldn't look up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. I cautiously made my way over to her and slowly lifted her chin up to look at me.

The moment her eyes met mine, they started filling up with that fluid again. Before I knew it, she had her arms wrapped around my torso and was crying into my chest.

"Hey, hey, Stubbs, look at me," she slowly looked up at me, "we don't have to talk right now. Let's just head back to your room, alright?"

She nodded, "alright." I was going to wait for her to make the first step forward, but when I noticed she wasn't going to step forward anytime soon, I bent down in front of her with my back facing her.

"C'mon, Stubbs," she just stood there. I huffed and moved her on top of my back and started walking down the hallway towards her room.

       My hands were hooked around the back of her knees and her head was resting on my shoulder. I could feel her starting to relax a little bit against me. There were no words spoken from the time I picked her up to the time we got to her room, none needed to be said. I could tell she was physically exhausted from packing all day and mentally exhausted from getting the news of moving and then the fact she ran into the man she once hoped to marry.

       By the time I reached around to grab the keys to her room, she was fast asleep against me. The sight made me smile and my Spark warm with joy. She finally looked peaceful. I grabbed her keys, careful not to wake her, and opened the door silently. I placed her down on the bed and took her shoes off for her. Since we were packing, she had comfortable enough clothing on to sleep in.

       Once I was sure that she was not going to wake anytime soon, I started the one thing I really didn't want to do: packing for her. Tomorrow, I was going to allow her to sleep as much as she needed, it was the original plan after all.

•••

       After almost three hours, I'd managed to pack her whole room for her and it was finally time to rest. Macey hasn't woken up once and all, barely moving at all this whole time.

        I fell onto the bed next to the sleeping Stubbs on the bed. I moved over and positioned myself so my body was wrapped around hers. I could feel her moving in her sleep to get closer to the newly arrived heat in the bed.

         With everything finally done, I allowed my optics to close and rest against the body of my love.