A month passed.
The day was over, and SAW was supposed to be in recharge, but all he could do was lie awake and stare up at the ceiling while Frenzy and Honeydew shared space on his chest. His mind wandered to the month that had passed—it had been interesting, to say the least, but by no means very easy.
He had been visited by a worried Mikaela, who upon seeing him stared at him for several minutes before bursting into tears and hugging his leg. He had awkwardly patted her back with his fingers, trying to make her calm down. Epps, the Lennoxes, Glen, and Maggie were also shocked at his change. After the initial shock and silence, it was Annabelle who broke the silence by begging him to pick her up. SAW gladly did so, making her laugh. He himself was surprised when she said "Higher, Sammy! Higher!"; his spark warmed to know she still knew who he was.
Glen bombarded him with odd questions like what it was like to be, like, 15 feet tall, or metal, and can he make guns come out of his arms? SAW answered the best he could for about ten minutes before Maggie, God bless her soul, pulled Glen away and made him shut up.
SAW learned that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had gained a new home—("Thank Primus Almighty!" Ratchet said)—as the new cars of Tech. Sgt. Epps and his oldest daughter, Alicia. Epps was going to drive Sides, while Alicia got Sunny. Sunstreaker stopped complaining after a week, when he found that his new charge treated him like the precious jewel he thought he was—weekly waxing and all. During one of their frequent visits back to the base, they decided to name SAW as their 'honorary little bro', Sunstreaker saying that anyone who could knock him offline without denting his paintjob earned his respect, and Sideswipe just said anyone who could knock Sunny offline period earned his respect.
After his rescue, SAW found that Barricade and Bumblebee got along much better, deciding to share the responsibility of protecting him and making sure the Decepticons didn't get a hold of him again. SAW remembered what he had told Thundercracker back at the Decepticon base, and who would be the next to father the next sparkling. He didn't want to choose between the two, but Optimus, of course knowing what was going through his head, told him that he didn't have to if he didn't want to—it was his choice as the 'new Allspark', as he put it, to make the decision of spark-bearing.
It saddened him, a few weeks back, when Ratchet confirmed what Starscream told him, that Frenzy could no longer father sparklings with him. Size wasn't the only issue—the Allspark in his chest had already combined with Frenzy's own, and Honeydew was the one-time product. It would be the same for everyone else—one each, unless there were twins.
Honeydew herself had hit two years old, and stood—when she stood straight—two feet tall. Ratchet measured her rate of growth and estimated that she would probably grow a foot per year until she fully matured at age 18, like most human girls, resulting in her being, at most, 18 feet tall. SAW noticed that her body was beginning to fill out more, instead of the wiry body she was born with that closely resembled Frenzy's old body. He also began to notice what looked like microfilament-wire hair growing from her head, adding to her half-human heritage. Just last week, she said her first full sentence—or, as full as a two-year-old could get—"Ratchet big glitch." Ironhide was given a stern talking-to afterwards.
SAW discussed the option of an alt. mode after thinking about it and staring at the empty slot in his personality profile. After much consideration, he asked Optimus to sneak him out in the trailer at night to a local dealership where he scanned and hence became a Pontiac Solstice, in honor of Jazz. When he went back to the base and transformed back into robot mode, he found that his body, though still 'femme-like', as Barricade put it, was slightly fuller with even more curves (much to his embarrassment) and interesting details on his arms and head. When the twins came for a visit, Sunstreaker stared at him a majority of the time, but staying out of reaching distance, while Sideswipe refused to make optic-contact. When they left, SAW swore he heard the twins outside arguing over who had the better chance with him.
Barricade as a whole was doing much better in the base, working with Ratchet to become a true medic. He got along better with everyone, slowly coming out of his little corner and making the effort to get along with the humans. Again, it was Anna who broke the ice by asking him to pick her up. It had become a sort of right-of-passage for the Autobots—all of them had held her at least once. He had gently taken her in his hands and raised her to optic level. She stared at him before hugging his face affectionately. The air of tension had dissipated, and Barricade gently handed Annabelle back to her father, who broke his own ice with "So…you like Metallica…?"
Bumblebee became much more protective of SAW since the return, hardly ever leaving his side except when everyone went into recharge. Even then, part of the cliff behind the main base had been dug out to make more room for SAW. It wasn't much, but it was a lot better than the Decepticon base's room, in SAW's opinion. The yellow Autobot insisted on a room close to his charge's, and since space at the moment was scarce, Barricade upgraded from sleeping wherever was convenient to bunking with Bumblebee in the joined room next to SAW's. Barricade sometimes woke up early from recharge to find Bumblebee sitting up on his own recharge pad and staring through the door conjoining the two rooms at SAW, who was blissfully unaware as he snoozed away. He never really spoke of it to the Camaro, because he too felt the overprotective urge hit him every once and awhile. That, and it was difficult not to admire the attractive 'bot, sleeping or not.
Bumblebee also refused to call his charge SAW, saying that Sam would always be Sam to him. SAW understood, saying that either SAW or Sam was acceptable. Nearly everyone but Bumblebee and the twins referred to him as SAW from thereon out.
Optimus had opted to take his 'father' role seriously. He didn't insist on SAW calling him 'Dad', but knowing from observation that a father was generally a very respectable position, and that for a father to be called 'Dad', especially when not related by blood, was a hard-earned and cherishable honor indeed. Being the natural honor-upholder he was, Optimus knew that to be called Dad, he had to earn the right to keep it that way. (He found it humorous, however, when after Ratchet badgered the boy about the dangers of having a name-conforming saw like his implanted into his arm, SAW ended the conversation with "Yes, Mom…", making Bumblebee snerk and dodge a tool thrown at his head)
……SAW felt fatigue hit him suddenly as his train of thought came to a slow stop. He shifted his gaze down to Frenzy, who had opted to stay with him that night, sleeping on his chest with an arm over Honeydew, who had recently taken to sleeping with her fingers in her mouth. SAW smiled and put a hand gently over them, careful not to rouse them from their dreams. He let out a sigh and turned his head to the side and drifted off into his own much-needed recharge, his last thought bringing a light smile to his face…..
Mojo had been sniffing a little too 'interestedly' at his feet as SAW sat on a Transformer-sized couch-like-thing in the main base while the twins and Ironhide were for a visit. SAW nudged the Chihuahua away slightly. "Back off, Mojo, and don't even think about it!"
The other Autobots looked at each other, and the twins got an evil look on their faces. Quick as a flash, Sunny and Sides had their 'little bro' pinned back to the couch, effectively holding him in place.
"Guys! What the hell!?"
"This is your right of passage into the Autobots!" Sunstreaker said while trying to keep SAW from thrashing him off. The other Autobots knew what they were getting at and sat back to watch the show. "If you wanna be an Autobot, you've gotta…huh…hey, Sides, what's a good way of putting this?"
"You've gotta be baptized in the ritualistic lubricant of Mojo!" Sideswipe finished.
Ironhide burst out laughing and Bee and 'Cade had to support the other from falling down. Ratchet and Optimus just looked politely amused, thought they were busting circuits on the inside.
"Oh, fuck no! Come on, guys! Bee! Help me out here! Mojo, you get away from me right this—MOJO!!!"
ENDSuch Is Life: The Spark has come to an end. I have a sequel, though: Such Is Life: The Breed. If anyone is at all interested in the sequel, then let me know, and I'll get to writing poste haste. I hope you have enjoyed this fiction as much as I have!