New Dimensions Ch. 4

When Lareina came out of her room the next morning she found Starscream asleep on the floor with both cubs curled up asleep against his sides. She couldn't help smiling, he really was adorable with them. Deciding to let them sleep she quietly put on her rain coat and slipped outside to do her morning chores.

By the time she got back inside Starscream was awake and giving the cubs their bottles, "You're really good with them," Lareina said as she hung up her coat.

"I'm just doing what you told me to," Starscream replied dismissively.

"Right, I'm sure that's all it is," Lareina said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Starscream asked.

"I think it's more than just doing what I told you to, I think you really enjoy taking care of them," Lareina told him as she got her breakfast.

Starscream hesitated a moment before finally admitting, "They remind of some of the pets my sister and I had when I was a sparkling. Before the war we had zoos similar to those here on earth, only the animals came from different planets. During a battle the zoo was destroyed and the animals all escaped, my sister and I caught some of them and kept them as pets."

"Where's your sister now?" Lareina asked.

"She and my mother were killed in a battle, we lived in a neutral town, but that didn't stop Megatron from attacking it or the Autobots from fighting there. Megatron had attacked before, if they had just left him alone he would have stopped the attack before getting near where we lived, but once the Autobots started fighting him the battle spread through the whole town and killed almost everyone," Starscream said.

"If Megatron started the attack and you blame the Autobots for it spreading why did you join Megatron? Why not just stay neutral if you thought both sides were responsible?" Lareina asked.

"I didn't have a choice, Megatron found me after the battle and told me I could join him and he'd make sure I got medical care. It certainly wasn't  what I wanted, my father was a scientist and Megatron attacked the lab he worked at and killed him, but I would have died from my wounds. I agreed to join Megatron so that I would live to avenge my family. I would fight the Autobots along side Megatron while plotting to kill him, take control of the Decepticons, crush the Autobots and end the war," Starscream told her.

"So you didn't like how either side was being run so you were just going to take over and deal with both? You're certainly ambitious," Lareina said as she finished her breakfast and put her dishes in the sink, "Well since it's still raining I guess it's time to get these out," she said as she pulled a pile of DVDs out of a cupboard.

"What's that?" Starscream asked.

"It's Transformers Cybertron, your show. I picked them up when I flew into town the other day, I figured we could see how accurate it is," Lareina replied, "Since it's raining, we have all day to watch them."

"Don't you have to have an electrical device to play those on?" Starscream asked.

"Yep," Lareina replied as she walked over to what looked like a wardrobe along the wall of the living room and opened it to reveal a TV, DVD player and a couple of shelves of DVDs, "I have solar panels on the roof and large batteries in the basement that they charge, we should have enough electricity to last about  fifteen hours, longer if the sun comes out at all."

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"So how did you go from being smart enough to notice when you were being lead into a trap, blocked and not just fighting and defeating Megatron without him having a clue what you were up to, to being stupid enough to attack your own creator?" Lareina asked that evening between episodes, "What did you plan to do if you had destroyed him?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Starscream replied not looking at her and seeming to sink farther down into the cushions of the couch.

"You know I'm not going to stop asking until you tell me why you did it? I mean in a way the reasons you joined Megatron made sense, but I just can't think of any possible reason, no matter how insane that it would make sense to attack your own creator," Lareina said.

"You know, I could just shoot you and not have to deal with your questions," Starscream replied.

"Sure you would," Lareina said sarcastically as she turned to face him, leaning her back against the arm of the couch and propping her feet in his lap, "I might believe that if I didn't know you any better, but I know you're really just a big softy and wouldn't hurt anyone who was drastically weaker than you."

"I tried to kill those humans that always hung out with the Autobots," Starscream pointed out.

"Only to get what you wanted and you knew they wouldn't be hurt because the Autobots would protect them," Lareina said, "You might as well just tell me, I'm not going to stop asking and if you did kill me I'd come back and haunt you forever."

Starscream looked her for a moment then said, "Oh for Primus sake, you really would if you could, wouldn't you?"

Lareina grinned evilly at him, "Most definitely. You would be trying to sleep and I'd be hovering around you asking you why you attacked Primus and in general making your life miserable for killing me."

"You are either the bravest or stupidest, but definitely the most annoying human I have ever dealt with," Starscream told her then sighing in resignation said, "I don't know what I was thinking, it's like all that power just made feel invincible, made me want to prove that and take on the biggest challenge I could find, which turned out to be Primus himself. It was stupid, the only explanation I can come up with for my behavior was that it-," he hesitated a moment then looking rather embarrassed he reluctantly admitted, "it was too much power for me to handle and it just scrambled my circuits to the point that I was acting without thinking or using any common sense."

Lareina couldn't help smiling, "Don't look so embarrassed, it takes a great and intelligent man to admit when he 's wrong or can't handle something," she told him.

"You really think that?" Starscream asked.

"Absolutely," Lareina replied.

"So you think I'm great and intelligent?" Starscream asked smiling.

Lareina hesitated a moment, she was use to his cocky smirk, but had never seen him smile, not a real, honest to goodness happy smile, it made her heart skip a beat and she couldn't deny that he looked quite handsome. Praying that he couldn't tell she was blushing slightly she pulled her feet away and stood up, "Well at least more intelligent than the other versions of you that I've heard of," she said dismissively as she grabbed her dinner dishes and took them to the kitchen.


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Later that night once Lareina was sure Starscream was asleep and it had stopped raining she snuck out her bedroom window to avoid waking him and headed to the cave.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I couldn't sleep," Lareina replied.

"Why not? Did Starscream do something? Did he threaten or hurt you?"

"Yes, no. He didn't threaten or hurt me, I just feel like I'm going crazy being around him," Lareina told him.

"He's disrupting your peace and quite? It seems we Cybertronians are getting quite good at that," he said chuckling.

"No, it's not that, it's completely the opposite, I'm actually enjoying having him around, usually I can't stand having people around for very long, especially men, but with him the longer he's around the more comfortable and relaxed I feel with him. And he get's my sense of humor and my sarcasm, we spent most of the day yesterday playing a game with almost constant friendly sarcastic bantering going on, back in the orphanage they never got me, they always overreacted and took my sarcasm too seriously. And he's so good with the  cubs and absolutely adorable with them when he doesn't know I'm watching. Then there's his smile, I don't think I'd ever seen a real happy smile from him before and-" Lareina stopped blushing as she realized how much she had said.

"You're falling in love with him, aren't you?"

"I think so. I'm going crazy aren't I?" Lareina asked.

"No, but do you think you could truly be happy with him, since he's not human?"

"I gave up hope of ever finding a man I could love a long time ago, if there's any chance for me to find love I'm not going to be picky about what the guy is as long he's sentient, but do you think there's any chance he could ever feel the same way about me?" she asked.

"I don't know. Before he showed up here I would have said it was impossible, but back then I would have said he'd let those cubs die before he'd help care for any organic and clearly he's more than just willing to help care for them, from what you've told me and showed me he seems to have become quite fond of them, so anything is possible. Just be patient and give him time, I'm sure if he does feel the same way about you it'll take him time to accept it. I'd say he's probably spent a long time looking down on anyone smaller and weaker than he is, so to accept that he's romantically interested in you may not be easy for him. All you can do is wait and see what happens, but I don't think it's impossible," he told her.

"Thank you," Lareina said hugging his arm, "Good night,"

"Good night, and try not to worry too much," he told her.

"Okay, I'll try," Lareina said before heading home.