Hope's Return

Settling In

"Where are you headed next?

Hope looked up at Starscream who joined her at the window. Studying him for a moment,  she noted the stress marks were fading and his stance was more relaxed then the last time they had met.

"I'll be heading to Bumblebee's base in the morning and then back to home base. Why? Is something wrong?"

"No...I was just curious if we would be ever welcome to join you."

Puzzled, she took in his hesitant expression and chose her words carefully. 

"I would ensure that you were allowed on base but it may take a while for the rest of the bots to warm up to you. Some have long memories sadly."

"Was Soundwave welcomed?"

"Not at first but his cassettes charmed most of the base personnel with the exception of a few. We have a human official who dislikes all Cybertronians but he's been banished to the far side of the humans part of the base."

"Do you want me to squish him?"

Her laughter was instant and warmed the room. Starscream smiled ruefully and gave a dry chuckle in response.

"Oh, I wish you could but no, he's just a yapping dog. No need to give him any more attention then neccessary to get the job done."

"So, maybe a trial visit to test the waters?"

"I'd like that. Just give me a comm signal and I'll open a portal."

"Wouldn't want to set off any alarms by flying in. Are you taking Knockout with you tomorrow?"

"He said something about waiting a little bit but to go on ahead and he'd visit Bumblebee in a few weeks..."

Her voice trailed off as she realized she had inadvertently let Bee's name slip. The seeker just made an irritated noise and waved off her confusion. 

"Great. Now we get to spend the next three weeks listening to him gripe that his paint job isn't shiny enough."

"You knew?"

"It's hard to miss him sighing everytime his name gets brought up. You'd be doing us a favor by taking him with you. I'm tempted to kidnap him and drop him on Bumblebee just to shut him up."

At the seekers exasperated look, she suppressed a laugh and put her servo on his shoulder.

"Comm me if it gets that bad and I'll do it myself."

"Deal. Don't wait to long to come back. We all missed you."

"I'll come back soon. Champions honor. "

*******************

The rest of the visit went by swiftly as they caught up on the past few months. Soundwave had explained the new living arrangements to the cassettes who were eagerly exploring their new home. Hope winced at the sound of metal hitting the floor as the twins wrestled a bit to roughly.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Breakdown just shrugged.

"It can't be worse then the time Screamer had enough of Knockout's buffer and threw it out the window. That fight lasted a week and half the bunker was destroyed before Knockout gave up and locked up his buffer collection."

She glanced over at Knockout who was giving Starscream a dirty look. Megatron simply raised a brow plate and Knockout quickly schooled his expression.

"It appears everything is under control then."

Ducking her helm to hide her smile, she reflected on how far they all had come. They truly had become her family.

Sighing a little, she thought of Ratchet back at home base. She hoped he wasn't over working again in her absence. Sending a warm pulse through their bond, she smiled when she received a loving one in return. Returning to the conversation at hand, she mused to herself that she'd see him soon enough and that would have to do for now.

**************************

The next morning was a study on deju vu. Once again Knockout was fussing around her and as usual she waited for him to stop. She watched as Soundwave approached,  cassettes in tow to say goodbye.  Already in dragon form, she simply knelt down and allowed the mini bots to climb up and over her scales. After a few minutes they responded to Soundwave's command and groaning climbed down.

"Hope...not a playground. Say goodbye."

She scooped all of them up in a gentle embrace before giving them back to Soundwave.

"Behave yourselves and I'll be back to visit soon. You're always welcome to come visit me too."

Megatron and Starscream joined the small group with Breakdown not far behind. He gave Hope a box of energon candies for the trip before telling Knockout to stop his fussing. Megatron just shook his helm at his former medics antics before addressing Hope.

"We'll consider a visit to base soon. Perhaps it's time to renew our alliance. "

Nuzzling his helm with her jaw, Hope smiled at him.

"Just send me a comm message and I'll prepare as many berth rooms as you need."

"Thank you my lady."

Stepping back, he watched as she turned in a large circle before launching herself off the ground and into the air. Flaring out her wings, she formed a portal. Then, with a final fiery salute, she darted through, the portal closing behind her.

"Show off."

The halfhearted grumble from Knockout broke the awed silence.  When all optics turned on him, he merely shrugged and grinned.

"What?"

Breakdown just cuffed him upside the audio fin as they followed the rest back to the bunker bickering playfully. It wasn't a quiet life but with friends like these, it would never be boring.