For milliways_bar

[not_toothfairy]

After returning from the other end of the space bridge, and after the initial round of repairs, Ironhide was ordered to STAY WHERE HE WAS for a while. Ratchet's work was good, but the medic had no desire to press the interim fixes any further than he absolutely had to while he was modding up the rest of Ironhide's replacement parts. Since one of the very few things in the world that could put fear into Ironhide's processor was the prospect of the medic in a truly angry mod, he obeyed.

It's the equivalent of medical bed rest, even if no active healing is involved- and anyone who's ever had to endure that can tell you it gets boring pretty slagging quickly. Company? Company's good.

Comments

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

As soon as Ratchet allows, Lissar heads into the medic area and toward Ironhide's head. She's digging for a greeting that doesn't involve the words Oh, Primus, how hurt you are!

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

Ironhide glances sideways and comes as close to smiling as he ever does. "Hey," he offers in greeting, and reaches out to Lissar with one hand.

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

That'll do. Lissar steps into the hand, resting both of hers on it, and says, "Hey." softly in return, followed by "I knew you would return."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Ironhide agrees. "Say, 'm I supposed to keep that favor of yours, or do I give it back? I dunno how this works."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"It was simply what I had. Usually a knight keeps his lady's favor, but if you would wish to, I can make you one that suits you better than a length of veiling." Lissar's hands run across his, reassuring herself that at least this part of the big black 'bot is still in one piece.

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep it, then," decides Ironhide. "You're gonna have to tie it around the rear-view mirror for me. I've seen worse things hanging from humans' mirrors."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"I can do that." Lissar says, offering a small smile up at him, "My apologies for being hysterical upon your return. You have pieces missing."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Eh, you're a human," says Ironhide, shrugging. "You're not used to seeing things that can be replaced. I've had worse, believe me."

He means that to be reassuring; he's still here, after all. Right?

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

Yes, he is still here. Lissar is going to look at him in horror for a second anyway, and after a moment say, "Oh, beloved. I do not think I will ever become used to it."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Sorry." Ironhide smiles a little- well, maybe he does. It's hard to say. "Didn't plan on spooking you."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"You are in pain." Lissar points out, stepping out from his hand to move up to his face and rest her hands there instead, "How could I not be upset? You are in pain, and there is nothing I can do about it. I would share the burden of it if I could."

And then, because she worries, "Know that I do not regret you went, I know you are a warrior and such is your life, I would never think to say do not go. I shall worry anyway."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Pain's all part of the job," Ironhide says. "It hurts, but I can take it. Better me than somebody who can't, or wasn't ready for it."

That... may explain a lot, really. About a lot of things.

"I'm just gonna have to get better at fighting, then," he says. "So I can finish these things before I get hurt."

To him it makes perfect sense, honestly.

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

It does, and if it weren't for the fact that Lissar's face is almost always open and soft around him it could be said that her expression softens. She does stroke his cheek, gently, and murmur, "Such a hero, beloved, and in all ways a knight true. What can I do to help you?"

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"I don't get to go anywhere until Ratchet gives me the all clear," says Ironhide. "Keep me company? Bumblebee's the one who likes rooting around in the Internet, not me."

... well, except for his Netflix subscription. They've never seen anyone go through Clint Eastwood's body of work so fast.

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"Of course." Lissar's voice is a little astounded, and she continues, "I have already arranged that someone will watch the dogs, and my bedroll is just outside. I am at your beck and call."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," says Ironhide. "If you weren't around, I'd probably try rigging my laser for short-range fire. I don't think Ratchet wants me using random room debris for target practice."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"No, beloved, I do not think that is the way to avoid the bunny decals." Lissar agrees with a helpless laugh. "If you wish, I can ask someone to bring the gaming system here, and we could play Halo instead."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"I could go for that," Ironhide says, brightening. "I got a few smackdowns to lay, that's for sure."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"One moment, then." Lissar slides out of the room again, and returns shortly, "Sergent Epps will be bringing it. Did you wish to tell me what happened out there?"

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Nemesis Breaker," answers Ironhide with some disgust. "One of the Nullspark's minions. His alt form's this... giant cat thing, like a lion with no mane, or something."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"Thus the claw-marks." Lissar says, slowly, nodding, "Why did you need to get so close?"

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"The cannons weren't doing much good at range," says Ironhide. "And they-"

He stops, realizing Lissar's not gonna get his next reference. Or at least he thinks she's not.

"Question. You know what 'zero gravity' is?"

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

There is a long moment where Lissar attempts to dig the reference out of her mind, but it simply isn't there to get. So she shakes her head, "I have not learned that yet."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

Ironhide nods. "Okay. Remember when I told you that stars're so big you could fall down towards 'em, or start circling around 'em? If you get far enough from the stars, or from a planet, you don't feel like it's pulling on you any more. That pull is gravity. Get far enough out, and there's zero gravity- no up, no down, nothing. If you drop something, it doesn't fall, and if you kick something, it flies in a straight line- and so do you, because there's nothing to hold you in place. With me so far?"

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

Lissar frowns slightly while thinking, then says, "The spaces between planets and stars are so empty that even direction loses its meaning is what I think you are saying."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much," says Ironhide, who's not a science instructor unless the science is ballistics. "In space, even the recoil of a gun is enough to set you moving. You go in the opposite direction of whatever you're firing."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"So each shot you took moved you, making them less effective?" Lissar asks as she runs her fingers along his cheek again. It's reassuring.

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"Yup," says Ironhide. "So I had to get in close to do anything at all. I came at him feet first 'cause 'down' isn't more than a word in space, and that presented the smallest attack surface for him."

He gives a dark little chuckle as he adds, "When he got his claws in my legs, that was just about the best thing I coulda asked for. Hurt like blazes, but it meant I could shoot him in the face and not go flying off without him."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

Lissar keeps her face still, and only a little noise to show just how much she doesn't agree with claws in his legs being a good thing. "You won." of course; he's alive.

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"I achieved my objective," corrects Ironhide. "We got Jetfire and Silverbolt in without anyone being destroyed. I didn't get to slag that bucket of bolts- he just wouldn't die. Rad and me knocked him into stasis lock before he could hurt anyone else, though. And I'm pretty sure that weird energy discharge he gave off was him leaving our universe."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"Ah." Lissar says, softly. She leans up against his head, resting her own against him, and says, "I hope that it was, and that he never returns. There is enough to fear with standard Decepticons."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

Ironhide nods. "I've kind of had enough of him and his boss myself," he admits quietly. "Not that it wasn't a nice little fight, but I could do without another."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"I have no wish to see you like this again soon." Lissar agrees, "I have managed to avoid that One since the last time I mentioned him to you. Joining the world has...when I lived in the woods, I was safe but for the wolves during the moon."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

"World's a dangerous place," Ironhide says, glancing her way. "But it's worth being part of."

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

"It is." Lissar agrees, tilting her head back to look up into his nearer optic, "I would not trade, you know. I would not go back to the safety of emptiness, I would not even trade my encounters with that One, if it meant losing you. That would be harder by far than merely living."

[not-toothfairy.livejournal.com]

One wouldn't have thought that such an enormous hand could run so very lightly over a human being's hair, but if Prime can pick up a pair of glasses by one earpiece without damaging them... well, then, the hair thing's not all that hard to accomplish, now is it.

[lissla-lissar.livejournal.com]

Not at all, and Lissar is perfectly relaxed as he does it. She has no fear that he'd ever harm her, even by accident.

"I love my dogs." her voice is soft, eyes closed as she enjoys the hand on her hair, "I love the Grey Wolf and his family. I love Optimus, and Bumblebee, and Ratchet. But never have I felt belonging as I have with you. We are not the same, you and I, but we fit together well; a very old mech and a very young organic."