Culture Shock.

Chapter Eleven.

A/N: 1 joor = 6.5 hours. Okay, I know the ending for this is rushed and less than ideal, but I ran out of ideas, will, and inspiration on this one. If a better idea for an ending presents itself, I will happily adapt the chapter, or add a suitable epilogue. Until then, this story is over.

Working out the arrangements for the bonding had been somewhat tricky, as it was a marriage of Cybertronian inhabitants on human soil. Who would conduct the ceremony was decided by invoking Cybertronian law, meaning anybody chosen by those involved in the bonding could be trusted, plus rotating the people who would perform the bonding ceremony. However, as it was on American soil, it had to be valid under American law also.

The bonding was in four parts. First, Optimus and Elita's bonding to each other was conducted by Starscream, and this should be acceptable under both Human and Cybertronian law, as Starscream, also being Cybertronian but being head of a different group, counted as the head of a nation, who, under Earth law, could oversee a marriage. Similarly, Optimus presided over the bonding of Elita and Starscream, valid under Earth law for, as the leader of the Autobots, Optimus was a valid conductor of the bonding for the same reasons. Then it was the turn of Starscream and Optimus to bond, and then the three reaffirmed the commitment to each other this bonding would require.

The U.S. President, for various reasons, could not attend, however several officials from different departments attended on his behalf. For the bonding of Starscream and Optimus, and the three-way affirmation, Captain Lennox was asked to preside. Okay, his rank was not a naval one, but as he was a human, who was already in the know, the two Cybertronian faction leaders chose him to conduct the ceremony, with a written translation. Neither Leader thought that it might be a problem, but if it was, they were happy to re-do that part of the bonding ceremony presided by whoever they humans wanted and as often as it took to keep the humans happy: Starscream had agreed, as part of the ceremony, to broker peace between his forces with both the Autobots and the American Government.

It had not been as hard a job as Starscream had expected to get his mechs to agree to the peace, at least not once the rest of Elita's team had gotten involved. They had promised that they would be happy to consider any offer of interface from any Decepticon as long as peace was achieved, and that maybe, in time, sparklings could also be considered.

With Elita involved as well, that made six femmes potentially willing to bear sparklings for any member of their side as well as the Autobots. However, this was with the proviso that the younglings would not be forced or encouraged to fight against either one of their Creators, so when talks moved beyond cease-fire, and into the territory of alliance, the talk was of custody time, care-rotas, and play dates, instead of nigglings over boundaries, area, and what certain phrases meant at the military and legal level.

Elita had chosen to bear the first sparkling with Optimus, with a promise to Starscream that she would bear one for him next.

"Is that all?" he'd asked, hurt and disappointment evident in his voice. "What about your youngling? Can I not help look after him or her? Can my trine and I not have any involvement with your little one? This is a three-way bonding, so don't I get any input?"

"Well, if you want to, of course you can help look after them," Optimus had said, genuinely surprised, while Elita nodded her agreement too. "Elita and I may both need to be absent, or need a break, or be unavailable for other reasons. We did not realise that you would wish to help, and apologise for the oversight. If you and your trine are willing to help, we would be grateful for it."

"Thank you!" Starscream said, comming his trine to tell them, and doing a strange little dance on the spot. "I'm sorry if you seem surprised, perhaps we should have told you," he continued. "Before the war, the three of us were each employed part-time as Seeker-guardians for some rich Autobot families. Even though some of us were not that well treated, we endured it because we love little ones. When the war broke out, we made sure none of the younglings was harmed, even though their Creators were not always so fortunate. We do not blame the young for the crime of their elders."

Optimus and Elita looked at each other, Elita comming Optimus that maybe they knew all they needed to know about the last two statements made by the Seeker. They had a fragile peace and were looking to the future, so there was little point, in many cases, of harking back to the past. Optimus commed back his agreement as he turned to Starscream and said "Well, then, we shall accept your offer of help and be grateful for it."

For the benefit of the humans, after the bonding ceremonies there was then a reception with drinks and refreshments available. The three newly-bonded had to control their feelings and circulate and be gracious hosts, for on Cybertron such bondings usually involved those bonded immediately retreating to a private room and not being disturbed for at least twenty-five joors, or five days in human time. However, as Optimus noted, (thankfully before the bonding) they were in North America on Earth, not Iacon on Cybertron, so should abide by local custom. "In human 'marriage' on this continent, the mainstram view is that it is acceptable for the couple to leave the reception early," Optimus observed. "If we circulate for a joor or two, that should be acceptable, then we can politely leave."

Of course, the Cybertronian sense of time as compared to the human one worked for the bond-trine, for even the most eager Government agent was leaving after eight hours. This meant that the new trio could go to the big berth Ratchet had specially installed in Optimus' room, without risking offending any of the humans, to finalise their bonding with a three-way Sparkmerge. Ratchet had made it very clear to all the humans in communication with the Autobots that after that time, the three would be unavailable for anything but the most dire of emergencies for the next week.

"But what if we need the help of the Autobots with anything else?" one general had asked. "Have we got to hope that none of the issues you can help us with happen in this week?"

"Not at all," Ratchet had replied. "There are three of us here with the rank of Captain, we are all eminently capable of command. You can still call on the Autobots for help, but led by someone other than the Prime for a week. We can operate independently of the Prime, and if we feel he's needed, we will contact him." The humans were a lot less twitchy when reminded that the Decepticons were under ceasefire, and had so far honoured it.

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The ceremony went without a hitch, and the humans seemed to know to leave earlier than the Autobots expected. Sam explained that as humans needed more time to recharge, the humans had chosen to leave at the time expected for human joining. It meant that Starscream , Elita, and Optimus could start their five days of seclusion early, and it seemed that even the Decepticons respected this, for nothing was heard of them for a week.

Both faction leaders, upon exiting, seemed very pleased with themselves, and it was clear, even to the humans, that the bonded trine were far more relaxed than before they were bonded. It was not only they who had relaxed either, for Moonracer had disappeared into a room with both Thundercracker and Skywarp, and after three days Ratchet had gone into the room to check on them, and found all three in deep recharge.

Judging by the sounds that had come from the room for the first two and a half days it was not difficult to guess what they had been doing to sleep so deeply, although Ratchet had elected to keep that knowledge to himself, lock the room, and leave them to sleep it off. Although he complained to all who would listen that he had more work during truces than in combat, everybody knew that Ratchet was only happy when he had non-combat injuries to tend to.

For the rest of the Base an uneasy truce between Autobot and Decepticon was in place, and just as the Autobots did much to accommodate the Decepticons, most of the Decepticons chose to make things as awkward as possible. However, as time moved on, and Autobots and Decepticons engaged in debate (and the odd argument) in the Rec-room, opinions were expressed and sometimes taken on board by the opposite party. The truce became extended first by weeks, then by months, as Autobots, Humans, and Decepticons debated issues, and came to a compromise. It turned out that many of the issues brought up were important to all sides, and that each group could help by bringing to the table anything they could do to make the situation less difficult.

It wasn't too long before Optimus and Elita's sparkling was born, and in deference to their new home they called her 'Terra Prima' which translated as 'First of Earth.' Even the non-flying Decepticons seemed to accept her, for which the Prime, Elita, and the other Autobots were grateful.

It came as a surprise to the other Autobots, and the grounder Decepticons, when the Seekers began visiting the Autobot Base fairly regularly, more often than not taking one of the grounder Decepticons with them. It soon became apparent why the Seekers were taking one of the grounders, when the tank-mech, Wreckage came one day, became totally enchanted upon seeing and holding the little one, and began talking about wanting one of his own one day. It was quite obvious to all nearby that when he returned to the Decepticon Base, Wreckage would likely regale the other grounders with stories about Terra Prima, how cute and tiny and adorable she was. This, of course, could only encourage the others to keep to the peace. This was consolidated by Arcee reminding the big mech that the Autobot femmes were happy to accept Decepticon suitors.

As Optimus moved forwards to meet another grounder who was accompanying Starscream, and lowered his sleeping sparkling into the cautiously-extended hands, he reflected that Elita's kidnapping, in the end, had led to a good end result for all involved parties.

Even if they had all received a kind of culture shock along the way.