Title: A Second Chance

Summary: Optimus gives Skyfire a chance to bring Starscream to the Autobots when he crashes into a mountain side. Now, Skyfire will do anything to get his friend to come back.

Author's Note: I love this pairing, so...yeah! Definitely thinking of actually completing this story...hahaha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Chapter 1: Crashed

Ouch.

That's all Skyfire could think of as metal collided with unforgiving rock and wondering – as usual, even if he didn't deserve it – if the tetrajet was okay. As an explosion followed up to the crash, Skyfire was already leaping to go and aid his once-friend from the oversight he had made while in flight. Decepticons lost in battle were being told to retreat, an obvious sign that Megatron was less reluctant to leaving his second-in-command behind. Though, naturally, the white shuttle couldn't have cared less; though he was betrayed by Starscream in the end, he would always take the chance to help him out.

"Starscream!" he gasped, rising up over the hill even when being continuously shot at and watched the jet weakly transform into his bipedal form, "Starscream, say something!"

"Something," he responded with a cough before, for a brief moment, ruby optics connected with blue and then offlined.

"Starscream!" Skyfire said again as he finally reached the smaller, putting the grey face in his large hands. "Starscream, wake up!"

"Decepticons, retreat!" Megatron barked once more previous to glaring at the shuttle – a deadly omen – and then taking off. Within moments, all seekers and ground-rovers had dispersed into the desert setting around them, leaving the Autobots to their own problems and their empty energon cargo.

Optimus Prime lowered his pistol from the fading target, glancing around to see what damage had been done. For now, it appeared that his team was pretty much unscathed except for a gash here or there, besides Red Alert who looked like he had a nasty hit to the head. Ratchet was already on him, however, persuading him to sit down as he got out his medical kit. The Autobot commander nodded briefly at his officer, knowing that relying on him would always turn out the best in the end. Ratchet never failed him.

Now, to more serious manners…

Prime placed his pistol away and began to make a tread up the unsteady mountain side, many of the rocks that lay there being larger than him and very unstable, before after a few breems managed the lip of flat plateau where Skyfire sat with Starscream. Optimus could not blame the shuttle for being worried about the Decepticon – after all, they were friends going far longer back than the war – but the fact that he was still one of the highest general's in Megatron's army made in him an invaluable hostage. For now, though, the Autobot commander would treat him as he would treat any of his men that were injured.

"Skyfire," he said steadily while kneeling on the other side of the young seeker. "Is he alive?"

"Barely," responded the white mech. "We need him in surgery right away or else he'll die from lack of energon."

Optimus regarded the seeker for a moment, notice the half-missing leg, the bent right wing, the shattered cockpit glass, all among the more minor but many gashes and bruises to his armor. A thick coating of black from the explosion clung to him like a second skin –there wasn't much of his remaining body paint that could be seen. The poor thing. How did he lose control?

"All right, pick him up and we'll roll out," Prime stated as he got to his feet.

Skyfire nodded while sliding a gentle arm beneath the seeker, curling an arm around the lower part of his leg to ensure that he did not inflame the wound there and eased him off the ground. As Optimus took the lead, Skyfire followed obediently behind and steadily, carefully went down the pool of rocks. Even from where he was, the shuttle noticed already that the Autobots were in high disapproval of bringing Starscream back to the base; in a way, Skyfire could sympathize, but if they just left him there, they wound be no better than Decepticons.

"Ah, Prime…you've gotta be kiddin'!" Ironhide groused the moment he saw the unconscious seeker.

"I'm not," responded the other immediately, "I'm not leaving him out here to be pecked by the birds."

"I don' even think birds would want that heap of wires n' bolts," Sunstreaker muttered in distaste.

"Hey," Bumblebee huffed as he walked up to Skyfire, standing in front of him with a pout, "now if we leave Starscream out here, what better will we be than Decepticons?"

The group went silent and Skyfire smiled down upon the golden Autobot, knowing full well that if anybody had someone to listen to and believe it, it'd be Bumblebee. The smaller turned back and smiled in turn, clearly happy that he could help out a friend. After a few minor grumbles and reluctant agreements, the Autobots transformed and began making their tour back to the base (since they didn't have any energy to take to Chip – a certain evil band of malicious mechs had stolen it). Bumblebee and Ratchet remained behind to walk back with Skyfire and Starscream, who's spark look ready to extinguish at any moment.

Skyfire begged to Primus that it wouldn't.

--

"Optimus?" Skyfire asked, his voice quiet as he stepped next to his commander.

"Skyfire. Hello," the other returned as he faced the white mech from staring into the surgery room thoughtfully, "I know it's hard for you. Don't worry, Ratchet won't let him die."

"I know," the shuttle murmured as he glanced down at the floor, then returned his gaze to Prime, "I have something to ask of you."

Optimus' optics ridges lifted in curiosity, cocking his head as he said, "Fire away, my friend."

"Well…" Skyfire muttered as he placed a hand behind his head, rubbing it nervously. Finally, he began: "A long time ago, probably longer for him than for me, Starscream was actually not that different from whom he is now. He…he was always full of pride, mistrustful of others…and he always had a really hard time making friends because he always feared that they would betray him for some unknown reason. I first met Starscream from him not leaving his room for weeks; some mechs had thought he had lost his CPU and locked himself in there to prevent any of his scientific ideas from being stolen."

"You were at a university? A school?" Optimus asked, filling in the holes.

"Yes…in Iacon, actually. But anyways, I was the first to knock on his door and from there, I had an unsteady interaction with him. I would say we were friends and he would say 'unwilling acquaintances'. However long it took him, though, I found myself with him more often than not and he began to finally trust me…to listen to me when I told him my worries and to be concerned about me just the same. We actually…got very close," Skyfire said with a low tone, the small perks on his back drooping from the saddened thought, "that's when we decided to start exploring planets with one another. It was our third time and we didn't have much experience, but I was hell bent on seeing what Earth was like and in the end…"

The sentence went unfinished and Prime placed a comforting hand on the large mech's shoulder, saying gently, "Skyfire…"

"But I've come to ask something of you," Skyfire stated as he stood straight again, Optimus' hand falling to his side, "I want…a second chance."

"Of getting Starscream back?" the Autobot commander questioned.

"Yes…all I ask for is a month, human time. That's all I'll need and I promise—"

"I can't afford an entire month, Skyfire—"

"But Optimus—"

Holding up his hand for silence, he stated, "I'll still give you time, but an entire month I cannot afford. Starscream is one of the highest generals in Megatron's army, and though he abandoned him today, it will be highly unlikely that Megatron will simply forget about his second considering the amount of information he holds. I will give you…two weeks. Two weeks will show whether or not Starscream is even willing to change, let alone for the better. If it works, then by Primus above I'd love to have a new recruit on our team, but if it doesn't…Skyfire—"

"I know," the shuttle said quietly, "you'll let him go."

The Autobot gave a single nod before glancing at the medical room and seeing Ratchet stand and stretch, confirming that he was done. He then put his attention back on Skyfire who looked anxious, gnawing on his lip, before saying, "The two weeks begin the moment he puts his feet on the ground. From there, he'll be yours to watch over and make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Brief me whenever you get the chance—I'll have someone else be watching over you two as you proceed, hum, on say…'Project Chance', okay?"

"Who will that be?"

"For me to know and for you to find out. It wouldn't be much of a test without some mystery, would it?" And with that, he disappeared down the corridor.

Skyfire now found himself hoping that only a compassionate mech would be put on the secret job.

--

"You're letting me go?" Starscream asked, unable to help but be surprised.

"From the surgery room, yes," Ratchet responded as he released the restraints that bound him tightly to the slab of metal beneath the too-bright lights, "not necessarily from the Autobot base, though."

"Straight to the brig then, eh?" the seeker muttered, already picturing the kind of things they would do to him for information. Right about now after hearing Megatron's abandonment, all they had to do was ask and he was willing to spill most of the bolts about Decepticon secrets – of course, after being returned, Starscream wasn't looking for the beating either way. Might as well get some revenge in before the pain.

"No," the Autobot medic stated simply.

For a moment, all Starscream could do was stare. "Wha—?"

"From now on, you're going to be under Skyfire's watch," replied Ratchet and the Decepticon had to bite back a groan, "but trust me, you're lucky. Only a handful were willing to bring you in and the rest of us wanted to leave you on the mountainside. You have Bumblebee to thank for saving your skidplate."

The bug, huh? How am I not surprised? Starscream scowled, shifting his legs over the side of the bed and as they dangled, he thought briefly that he should just stay where he was. For some reason, letting his feet touch the ground would force him to face the ghosts of his past – and he didn't want to face them. Not just yet anyways; maybe after the war, when there was nothing hanging over his shoulders…but Starscream knew that time would come later than sooner. That's why he was hesitant.

"Well, get on outta here, I gotta clean up this mess," muttered the ivory mech behind the seeker as he put his equipment away, set things to their normal physique.

Starscream gave a stout snort as a response and jumped down from the medical bed, striding over to the door. Something held him there, however, and he was unable to make himself go any further before something was settled. Barely looking over his shoulder, not even looking at Ratchet, the smaller mech mumbled a quick, "Thanks," before he finally exited the door.

"Hello Starscream," a certain, and honestly unwanted, shuttle said.

"I'm hungry," Starscream murmured as he set his gaze on the wall and kept it there.

"Let's go to the galley, then," Skyfire responded as he lifted a hand and led the way. "The Autobots are going to let me watch over you. There will be some rules, though…" the white shuttle waited for a response and when he got none, continued: "No going outside or going into the weapons room. No starting fights or damaging the property…that sort of stuff. It's pretty laid-back though."

Laid back.

Huh.

He was never one for rules.

As they walked in silence, Starscream noticed that no matter how slow the Decepticon ended up walking, Skyfire would take to that exact same pace. It seemed like the white mech was aware that he still had a duty to handle despite being "friends" with an enemy – even if Starscream didn't consider them such – and nearly surprised the seeker at the fact he was able to get his CPU out of the long, forgotten past enough to do his job. At that point, Starscream took to a normal, steady walk, half because he was far too hungry and the other half because he knew he wouldn't be able to run away if he tried.

When they arrived in the kitchen, there were a few of the Autobots, but not many. However, for who was there, Starscream wished he had shut his big mouth for once and hadn't said anything about his churning systems. Ironhide. Bluestreak. Prowl. Argh.

Three pairs of deep blue optics did not leave the Decepticon for more than a few breems, even after Skyfire had returned with a few flasks of energon for them both. From that alone, Starscream was practically writhing and besides hating being watched, it was being that he was watched by slagging Autobots. Kill me now, he groaned while downing an entire flask.

"How are you?"

The question was simple enough; who it came from, however, was what made Starscream almost choke. After coughing a few times and shaking his head, the seeker gave his "old friend" the combined nature of suspicion, wrath and hate all in the same glare. "Well, let's think," the seeker began with a sneer, "I just ran into a mountain…I was abandoned by my own faction…I got repaired by my enemy's slagging medic…and now, hum…I'm with you! How do you think I am?"

"I meant that differently," replied Skyfire coolly as always.

The sarcastic expression dropped from Starscream's face to pure distaste and he thought for a moment, attempting to look like he knew what Skyfire meant.

Luckily for him, he didn't have to. "Besides that…how are you personally?"

"Ah, now that you see fit to look into my personal life," the seeker muttered while downing another energon flask, "I don't have one."

"I see," Skyfire returned as he sipped the pink liquid timidly.

There was a pregnant pause; Starscream boiled silently in loathing at Megatron's inconsideration at his own second's fall – something that he helped do. After all, it wasn't his fault that he crashed into that mountain; after Megatron had beaten him like that, it was only expected that the seeker should slip up from internal damage. Clearly that was fixed by Ratchet's help; probably just blamed it on the collision.

"How long was it, exactly?" the white shuttle suddenly asked.

Starscream returned Skyfire with a cruel gaze before he glanced down at the table, clenching his jaw in thought before he responded, "Besides my four million year nap? About a thousand vorns on Cybertron, or eight million years on Earth. Why does it matter to you, anyways?"

"I just…wanted to see," the other murmured, rubbing the back of his neck out of a nervous habit. "How long, exactly, was I out of your life."

Starscream saw where this was going. "Hey, listen, sure, we were good buddies back then and obviously it was something to mope about when you left and I was blamed for it—"

"You were blamed for my disappearance?" Skyfire asked while his gaze shot up to meet the other's.

"—but it's not like I didn't get over it. If hadn't, I probably would be dead by now. I got new friends, a new life…" Starscream continued on vaguely with little hesitance, as if keeping it going would somehow make Skyfire forget the mistake he had made, "I got a new cause and went for that, since nothing else worked for science. It obviously wasn't something I was meant to do."

"But you had said that your spark would always rest in science," Skyfire responded quietly, still a little shocked at the confession.

"Yeah, well, it didn't rest on me," the other muttered and took Skyfire's own one-fourth empty flask and downed it as well. Damn, he was thirsty. Surgery from Hook never made him this thirsty…then again, it wasn't like Starscream had been eating properly before crashing anyways. That might've also been the reason why his systems had momentarily blacked out.

"That's why you gave up? Because of me?" the white buffoon continued on anyways, though it was a clearly touchy subject.

Starscream's crimson optics flashed dangerously, turning to face him head-on as he growled, "I didn't give up because of you. I wasn't the one who gave up. They gave up on me! They're the ones who said I had to go! Science was the only thing that was keeping me going, and they took that very thing away from me!"

"Wait, I didn't mean – Starscream, calm down," Skyfire said hastily, putting his hands up in defense.

"Don't tell me to calm down! You know what always pissed me off about you, Skyfire?! You always thought you had it good – which you did, but what's worse is that you thought you deserved it! That you thought you were so special and that you were so nice that you deserved nothing less than what you were given! That you didn't need to work hard like I had to get where I wanted to be; it was always just handed over to you! Well, y'know what?! Slag you! And slag you, too—!" he snarled, whirling a finger around to point at the three clustered together, "I hate all of you Autobot scum! Go throw yourselves into the pit and DIE!"

Oh, Primus.

Before Starscream could throw another insult, he was tackled to the ground by Bluestreak who was returning every sarcastic word with twenty of his own – you know him – even as he made way to restrain him. Skyfire smacked his helmet before he stood up, leaned over the table and growled, "Let him go! What're you doing?"

"Badmouthing against a legal officer is an offense! His superior!" Bluestreak supplied, glowering at the larger.

"He's a Decepticon!" Skyfire groaned, then regretted the moment he said it.

Starscream glared up at him with a scowl of his own, etched deep into his features, even as his optics burning the fiery wrath of his sensitive spark. Decepticon, am I? he said through those hateful orbs, well, so be it. For a moment, they simply stared at one another before, and to Skyfire's horror, Starscream kicked Bluestreak in the codpiece and fired his boosters.

There was a brief moment and then a hard boom before Starscream took off, out of the galley and down the corridor. Within the room, Skyfire stood there in shock before slumping against the table and wrapping his arms around his head. Oy vey, what was he thinking? Starscream…oh, Starscream…

There was a comforting hand on his shoulder. Probably Ironhide or someone, but it didn't make him feel any better about it.

These two weeks were going to be hell.

--

A/N: First chapter, I hoped you liked. Read and review, please. :)