Protector pt XXVII

Kory woke to find that, wherever she was, she was comfortably warm. A soft blanket rubbed against her cheek. So that's why I'm so comfy. Half of her debated whether to wake up, or to simply roll back over and go back to sleep. The first half won. Sighing, the brown haired teen reached up and rubbed the sleep from her dark blue eyes. Her hand then trailed to the bandaged that was still on her head and she frowned. Too bad it wasn't just a messed up dream, she thought as she sat up. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting, but when they did she found that she was on the recharge berth in Ironhide's personal quarters. Said mech was sitting at his desk currently engrossed in scanning data pads.

Sitting up the rest of the way, Kory took a moment to take in the battle worn visage of the weapons specialist. Not much of his body could be seen, his black armor blended in with the shadows, but the soft light from the data pad in his hand illuminated the details in his face. Ironhide's optics that was damaged faced the wall so she couldn't make it out. However she could see the various scrapes and small dents in his facial armor along with a few on his chassis. It was strange, Kory sometimes thought, that the two of them were so different and yet they were drawn to each other.

The ancient mech sighed and rubbed his optics tiredly. Leaning back in his chair, it was then that his scanners picked up on, the now awake, Kory. Turning he looked at the small human on his recharge berth and let a small smile grace his normally stern features.

"How's your head?" the black mech ask as he got to his feet and made his way over to where she was sitting.

"It's ok," she said softly. "I'm sorry about…you know what happened earlier." Ironhide sat on the berth, making sure to be careful of Kory, and sighed.

"Why would you cause yourself physical harm because of someone's death?" he asked in a slightly soft tone. The blue eyed teen flinched slightly at the question and she instinctively reached for her bandaged arm.

"It's…hard to explain," she said after a pause. "It's almost like…the physical pain helps me deal with the emotional pain." The young woman said, struggling to find the right words. Ironhide thought about this but still didn't understand.

"I fail to see how that would help," the black mech said lowly as he moved onto the berth more and laid on his side, resting his helm in one hand.

"Like I said, it's hard to explain," Kory said with a sigh as she leaned against the hulking black mech's arm that was holding up his head. Ironhide's optics dimmed slightly at the sad tone in her voice.

"It's late, you should get some rest," he said as he, carefully, moved to lie on his back.

"'Hide I just woke up from a four hour nap," the blue eyed teen said with a 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' expression. The look on the young woman's face caused a small smile to tug at the corner of his mouth.

"Then how about I tell you a story?" the weapons specialist ventured. Kory turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a little old for bedtime stories Ironhide," she said with a small laugh. "But I guess that's not going to stop you from telling it is it?" The answer Kory got was the weapons specialist moving the hand that had been propping head up and offering it for her to climb into. Accepting the invitation she clung to one of his large fingers as he rolled onto his back and got himself comfortable. Upon doing so he rested her on his chassis right over his spark, but not before handing her the blanket that she had been using earlier. Kory wrapped the blanket around herself and curled up on the warm armor that protected the old mech's powerful spark.

As the black mech began his story, Kory couldn't help but smile slightly. Ever since the first day they met she couldn't help but feel safe around him. The blue eyed teen's eyelids started to droop and she let them close, completely content listening to Ironhide's deep gravelly voice wash over her.

Ironhide wasn't surprised when Kory fell asleep a little over a breem into the story. A small smile spread across the old mech's face as he gently ran a finger down the young woman's back lovingly. Focusing his optics on her he found that she had a small smile on her face as she slept. Ironhide longed to see his Kory smile more and he hoped that whatever Ratchet and Wheeljack were planning would help with that.

Ratchet contacted the scientist shortly after 'the incident' had happened. The grey and white mech gave the CMO a long detailed list of supplies that he would need and what preparations needed to be made. Barricade and Ratchet had been making a lot of trips out to abandoned scrap yards and to the military base that was close by.

Originally, Ratchet didn't want the former Decepticon's help on the project. That was until he saw just how depressed the black and white mech was. Knowing an idle processor is a dangerous processor, he decided to let the cop car help him.

The old mech let out a sigh and rested his hand over the young woman to keep her warm, even though she had a blanket. Leaning his head back he then shuttered his optics and shut down for the night, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.

Ironhide's internal alarm went off at 7:30 the next morning. On lining his optics he was surprised to find that Kory was already awake and was entertaining herself by examining one of his hands. Her touches were soft, almost hesitant, so unlike the firm and sometimes irritated hands of the Autobot CMO Ratchet. Not making any outwardly noticeable signals that he was awake, he let her continue.

Despite living with the Autobots and being around them every day, the young woman never really had the chance to truly look at any of them. It blew her mind how humanoid they were and yet so alien at the same time. She was particularly interested in their hands, mostly because that was how she was carried by most of them.

Ironhide was content to let Kory continued to examine his hand, he could use a few more breems of recharge, but he received a personal message from Optimus. Upon further inspection he found that it had also been sent to the rest of the Autobot's on base. It was a short message saying that Wheeljack was to arrive in approximately two cycles and listed the coordinates of where the inventor would be landing. The black mech sighed inwardly. So much for some spending some time together, he thought as he turned the rest of his minor systems on.

The soft hum of the rest of his systems booting up, alerted Kory that the weapons specialist was coming online. Ceasing her examination of his hand, she got to her feet and ran her hands through her hair as she stretched her back. As soon as she had woken up she removed the bandages Ratchet had meticulously wrapped around her head so only a few butterfly clips were there.

"Morning sleepy head," the blue eyed woman said with a small smile as she watched Ironhide prop himself up on one elbow.

"You been awake long?" he asked.

"Long enough," she replied with a grin. Ironhide rolled his optics at her and got up from his berth, stretching his stiff joints once standing. This caused Kory to let out a small laugh. When the weapons specialist looked over his shoudler and raised an optic ridge at the blue eyed teen, she smiled widely. It had been far too long since he had seen her smile like that.

"You sound like an old man," was her simple response. The old warrior rolled his optics at her and offered his hand for her to climb into.

"Better then being a youngling like you," he retorted with a small smirk as the young woman climbed into his hand. Kory snorted in response.

"You know you love me," was her quick reply.

"That I do," Ironhide replied softly as the two of them made their way down the hall to Kory's room so she could change into some clean clothes.

(A/N: -is shot by the readers- yah yah I know lame chapter is lame and I haven't updated in YEARS, but life was being a little bitch and my muse just decided to die in a corner suddenly, fun stuff. But YES this story IS ongoing just…very VERY slowly)