You Can't Break Love Chapter 3
Sarah gazed out her window and at beings spread out across her front yard. Despite the wind that was threatening to tangle both their legs in her loose skirt, Will was giving Brea a rifle lesson. And Sunstreaker, true to his name, was naught more than a gold blur shooting in and out of the trees while Brea tried to hit him. Sarah had to wonder how the three managed to ignore the fact that, ten feet away, two giant robots were shouting at each other loud enough to make the windows rattle.
"Is it really that hard for you to follow a simple order?" Ironhide was shouting, "Twelve years! We thought you'd been killed!"
"You try looking for anything when you've gotta baby-sit that!" Sideswipe snapped, pointing at Brea as he did so.
"And why," Ironhide asked slowly, "did you have to baby-sit a pair of teenage humans?"
Sarah got the distinct feeling that Sideswipe was avoiding the slightly trigger-happy robot's gaze, "I..."
"Sideswipe," Ironhide's voice was low and threatening, "Give me one good reason for you two not being there when we fought Megatron."
Sunstreaker's breaks screeched and he quite suddenly darted out of the trees, placing himself stubborn between the two (much larger) robots before he was even done transforming. The gold plated robot barely came up to Ironhide's chest, but there was something about the small 'bot that made Ironhide take a step back. "Our reasons are our own, Ironhide," he growled, "We wanted off of Cybertron, not to be continually dragged into the war." His voice softened considerably and he knelt down, scooping up Brea in his hand. She looked like a doll in his grip, hands rested lightly on one of his huge fingers and apparently entirely unconcerned by his actions. "You could never understand the bond we have with our humans, Ironhide, nor the power they exert over us simply by existing, by being what they are."
Ironhide gave what could be interpreted as a bemused look, "What about you, Sideswipe? Do you feel the same way?" Sideswipe nodded curtly over his brother's head, but remained silent. Finally, Ironhide turned his optics down to the blond human who gazed calmly back at him, "And you?"
She turned her head to address Sunstreaker, "He wouldn' get it, woulde'?"
"Most wouldn't," Sideswipe answered, "We didn't even get it until we met the two of you."
Ironhide gave an irritated grunt. Brea turned back to him, "Brothers are complicated things." She wriggled out of Sunstreaker's hand and climbed with practiced ease up his arm to sit on his shoulder, "Until ya can understand that, ya can't understand anythin'."
On the ground, Will dissolved into peals of laughter. Ironhide shot him a dark look. Back in the house, Brennan emerged from the bathroom, drying his dark red hair and asked Sarah, "What'd I miss?"
Sarah couldn't help it. She broke down laughing as well.
The call came at two in the morning three weeks later, when Brea was in the back alleys of Las Vegas fighting while she and Sunstreaker waited for Brennan to finish his job interview and Ironhide and Sideswipe debated over the future. Sarah and baby Annabelle slept right through it. For a long time, William Lennox simply sat at the kitchen counter, staring at a steadily cooling mug of coffee. Even if he had known that, hundreds of miles away, his best friend was sitting in the same position brooding over the same problem and another mug of coffee, Will probably would not have taken much comfort in it. He would have much preferred to know that Reaver was sleeping through the night and he would be there when Will finally picked up the phone to call him and ask for what would have been the biggest favor of his life. Instead, he waited for Reaver's twins to come home so he could send them away again.
In a few hours, he would call Sam and Mikaela and ask them to meet him at the Outlook. Most likely, Ironhide would contact the rest of the Autobots, but Bumblebee and Sam were the ones he was most concerned with. He honestly doubted the two could exist without each other anymore, which was exactly what could happen if they were not careful. Even Reaver's far reach and limitless funds could not protect the kids now, no more than Will's love and compassion for them could.
The twins would be alright. The only thing that came more naturally to them than fighting was keeping under the radar until they needed to kick somebody's ass. The duets could bare to split up if they had to, if they were separated. Bee and Sam... Sunstreaker had said it best: you can't break love, only lovers. That's what scared him the most.
The door slammed. Without looking up, Will knew the two figures standing in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak, to tell them something, anything. "You're back early."
"Bad feeling."
Brennan fell into a chair and cradled his head in his hands. Brea rested her elbows on the counter's edge and placed her forehead on the marble countertop. Will wordlessly passed his mug to the nearest twin. He drained half the cold coffee before handing it to Brea, who finished it before returning to her hunched over position.
"When do you leave?" Brennan asked.
"Tomorrow. Two P.M."
They sat in silence for several minutes. He could almost hear the gears in Brea's mind clicking and grinding. The duo had been raised for power and brilliance, beauty and ability. They were everything their father had expected and so much more, a perfect match for the Cybertronian twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, if what Ironhide had said about their previous hellraising was true. Will had little doubt that Reaver had orchestrated the happy little coincidence of the duo buying that specific car and motorcycle. When the day came that Brea and Brennan were dragged into the war, Will almost pitied the fools who had to face the two sets of twins. Brilliance was their greatest gift and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker brought all the power they could possibly need to the table.
"We'll look after them, Will," Brea finally told him, snapping Will out of his thoughts with an almost audible pop.
It was the last thing William wanted to hear, a promise from what some considered to be the Devil given form. Brea never made promises, only deals. And Will didn't need to ask to know what the conditions were for this deal: the life, and the past, of the man that she called father. He had to find out how Reaver Orren was tied to the Transformers, and keep the pilot-come-sniper from getting killed when they both knew that the military would be doing their damndest to get him killed in combat, him and every Decepticon, Autobot, and Neutral they could find. So strange how a single, stunned look from the man had turned his daughter in such a strange direction.
Brea, Brennan, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe would protect Sam and Bumblebee and keep them together with all of their terrifying power and limitless resources as long as Brea knew that her father was alive.
"Why would you do that?" Will asked slowly, "You don't make bets that you don't know you'll win. This is a deal that you might not survive."
Brea turned her head and, just for a moment, Will swore he could see the cruel, twisted spark in her eyes that he'd seen in her father years ago. The eyes of a raptor, bloodthirsty and powerful and terrifyingly intelligent gazed back at him. "Who says I don't know?" And, just as suddenly, she was a child. For the first time in her sixteen years, Brea looked her age, bright and defiant and terrified. "Daddy told me once that your life means nothing until you find something worth sacrificing yourself for." Will knew that, he'd heard Reaver say it a thousand times. Reaver sacrificed himself, in more ways than Will could ever imagine, to protect the planet and mankind for reason he would probably never comprehend. "I think love's a good place to start."
Will couldn't help it. He laughed, in shock, in relief, in fear. With a sudden surge of relief, he picked up the kitchen phone to call Sam. He was terrified, uncertain, but he was still hopeful. At two o'clock tomorrow afternoon he would fly back to Qatar and catch Scorponok and begin hunting the now dozens of Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon alike, hidden around the world, probably with Reaver not far behind. Blackmail was a wicked thing. At the same time he would be leaving Sam and Bumblebee, who had become brothers, sons, and friends to him, along with his own wife and daughter, to the care and protection of two teenagers that were, at best, psychotic, at worst homicidal and sadistic.
One 'o clock found Will and Sarah climbing out of Ironhide's front seat, Brea (Annabelle in her arms) and Brennan from the back. A moment later, Sam and Mikaela climbed from Bumblebee's from seat. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were making plans.
"How dare they?" Sarah snarled, "How dare they make you go back?"
"Sarah..." this argument had carried since six in the morning, when Will had finally broken the news to her.
Brea gave an exasperated sigh and shifted Annabelle's weight. The baby was quite happily chewing on the beads at the end of one of her cornrows. Sam's eyes shifted from Will and Sarah to the almost frighteningly tall young woman.
"So..." he held out his hand, "You're Brea, right?" Lennox had explained the situation over the phone. He agreed, if only because they had already been attacked twice and he did not want to put his family in danger.
"And you're Sam," Brea offered a small smile and took the offered hand, "Will spoke insanely highly of you, though I can't for the life of me see why."
Bumblebee's engine gave a threatening rev and Sam glared at her. "What gives you the right to say that?" Mikaela asked furiously, "He saved the world, what have you done lately?"
Brea's eyes narrowed, "Hiding behind your girlfriend's skirt?" Her smile turned to a sneer, "For someone who helped trounce Megatron, ya don't have much in the way of balls, do ya?"
Will's hands stopped Sam from launching himself at the smirking blond, "Brea, stop antagonizing him."
Brennan rolled his eyes and offered Mikaela an apologetic smile, "Sorry 'bout her. My sister's not exactly the socialite Granmama wanted her to be." He offered Mikaela his hand, "Name's Brennan."
"Mikaela," she smiled, "Glad one of you has some manners."
"Raptor Red," Will gave her a warning look, "I want Sam in one piece, mentally and physically when I get back."
Brea put hands up in mock surrender, "Alright, alright, you win. I'll look after the stupid boy."
"Behave," Will warned, "all of you," he shot Bumblebee a look. Ironhide had warned him that the yellow Autobot hadn't gotten along will with the twins.
"Better get going," Sarah whispered, "You don't want to make them angry."
Will nodded and held her tightly, giving her a soft parting kiss, "I love you, baby."
Sarah nodded, "I love you, too, Will. Come home to me safely."
"Ironhide and the twins will look after you," Will whispered. He turned his attention to Brea and gave her a hug before she had time to protest, "You know I love you, too, right? You better come back safe, too."
"Sure," Brea muttered, returning the hug a lot tighter than she meant to, "take care, Will."
He next moved to Brennan. With another hug he warned him to keep an eye on his sister, keep her from torturing Sam and Bumblebee too much. Mikaela was given a very similar warning.
"Sam," Will said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, "look, I know Brea's a handful and she'll probably try to shoot someone before too long, but she's damn smart and she'll protect you. She doesn't back out on her deals and she's good enough to get out of whatever gets thrown at you. If anyone can get you all through this, it's her and Brennan. We're gonna have one hell of a war on our hands, right?"
"Alright," Sam muttered, glaring out of the corner of his eye at Brea. He grinned at Will, "Bring the rain, right?"
Will smiled and hugged him, "Bring the rain."
Pausing to give his daughter and wife one last kiss, Will walked across the tarmac to where a cargo plane was waiting for him. "Aren't you going to say goodbye?" he asked the shadow leaning against one of the plane's wheels.
Reaver snorted, "Good riddance."
Will rolled his eyes, "They're your children, Reaver."
"They've got you," Reaver replied tonelessly, "You're the one who wants them."
Will swore he could hear the barest hint of envy in the pilot's voice, "Well, Raptor, shall we?"
Reaver watched over his old friend's shoulder. Brea was having an argument with a violently yellow Camaro and something squirmed in the pit of his stomach. "William."
Will stopped, "Yeah?"
Reaver reached into his jacket and withdrew a rounded pendant the size of a quarter with a red symbol that vaguely resembled a lupine face emblazoned on it. With a sigh he removed it and set it in Will's hands, "Give her this." His other hand reached into his pocket and withdrew a shard of something gold that might have once had something engraved on it, "And give him this."
Will shot him a curious look, but turned back as he was told. Brea and Brennan, if they were at all perturbed by his behavior, said nothing.
Dedicated to my best friends
The ones who suffered through the years with me,
All the quirks
The 2am phone calls,
The bad ideas,
The learning to write,
The fights, the tears and fears,
The hopes and dreams,
The ones who took care of me because I wouldn't admit I was sick,
The ones who cried even before I did the day my dad died.
"Is it really that hard for you to follow a simple order?" Ironhide was shouting, "Twelve years! We thought you'd been killed!"
"You try looking for anything when you've gotta baby-sit that!" Sideswipe snapped, pointing at Brea as he did so.
"And why," Ironhide asked slowly, "did you have to baby-sit a pair of teenage humans?"
Sarah got the distinct feeling that Sideswipe was avoiding the slightly trigger-happy robot's gaze, "I..."
"Sideswipe," Ironhide's voice was low and threatening, "Give me one good reason for you two not being there when we fought Megatron."
Sunstreaker's breaks screeched and he quite suddenly darted out of the trees, placing himself stubborn between the two (much larger) robots before he was even done transforming. The gold plated robot barely came up to Ironhide's chest, but there was something about the small 'bot that made Ironhide take a step back. "Our reasons are our own, Ironhide," he growled, "We wanted off of Cybertron, not to be continually dragged into the war." His voice softened considerably and he knelt down, scooping up Brea in his hand. She looked like a doll in his grip, hands rested lightly on one of his huge fingers and apparently entirely unconcerned by his actions. "You could never understand the bond we have with our humans, Ironhide, nor the power they exert over us simply by existing, by being what they are."
Ironhide gave what could be interpreted as a bemused look, "What about you, Sideswipe? Do you feel the same way?" Sideswipe nodded curtly over his brother's head, but remained silent. Finally, Ironhide turned his optics down to the blond human who gazed calmly back at him, "And you?"
She turned her head to address Sunstreaker, "He wouldn' get it, woulde'?"
"Most wouldn't," Sideswipe answered, "We didn't even get it until we met the two of you."
Ironhide gave an irritated grunt. Brea turned back to him, "Brothers are complicated things." She wriggled out of Sunstreaker's hand and climbed with practiced ease up his arm to sit on his shoulder, "Until ya can understand that, ya can't understand anythin'."
On the ground, Will dissolved into peals of laughter. Ironhide shot him a dark look. Back in the house, Brennan emerged from the bathroom, drying his dark red hair and asked Sarah, "What'd I miss?"
Sarah couldn't help it. She broke down laughing as well.
The call came at two in the morning three weeks later, when Brea was in the back alleys of Las Vegas fighting while she and Sunstreaker waited for Brennan to finish his job interview and Ironhide and Sideswipe debated over the future. Sarah and baby Annabelle slept right through it. For a long time, William Lennox simply sat at the kitchen counter, staring at a steadily cooling mug of coffee. Even if he had known that, hundreds of miles away, his best friend was sitting in the same position brooding over the same problem and another mug of coffee, Will probably would not have taken much comfort in it. He would have much preferred to know that Reaver was sleeping through the night and he would be there when Will finally picked up the phone to call him and ask for what would have been the biggest favor of his life. Instead, he waited for Reaver's twins to come home so he could send them away again.
In a few hours, he would call Sam and Mikaela and ask them to meet him at the Outlook. Most likely, Ironhide would contact the rest of the Autobots, but Bumblebee and Sam were the ones he was most concerned with. He honestly doubted the two could exist without each other anymore, which was exactly what could happen if they were not careful. Even Reaver's far reach and limitless funds could not protect the kids now, no more than Will's love and compassion for them could.
The twins would be alright. The only thing that came more naturally to them than fighting was keeping under the radar until they needed to kick somebody's ass. The duets could bare to split up if they had to, if they were separated. Bee and Sam... Sunstreaker had said it best: you can't break love, only lovers. That's what scared him the most.
The door slammed. Without looking up, Will knew the two figures standing in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak, to tell them something, anything. "You're back early."
"Bad feeling."
Brennan fell into a chair and cradled his head in his hands. Brea rested her elbows on the counter's edge and placed her forehead on the marble countertop. Will wordlessly passed his mug to the nearest twin. He drained half the cold coffee before handing it to Brea, who finished it before returning to her hunched over position.
"When do you leave?" Brennan asked.
"Tomorrow. Two P.M."
They sat in silence for several minutes. He could almost hear the gears in Brea's mind clicking and grinding. The duo had been raised for power and brilliance, beauty and ability. They were everything their father had expected and so much more, a perfect match for the Cybertronian twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, if what Ironhide had said about their previous hellraising was true. Will had little doubt that Reaver had orchestrated the happy little coincidence of the duo buying that specific car and motorcycle. When the day came that Brea and Brennan were dragged into the war, Will almost pitied the fools who had to face the two sets of twins. Brilliance was their greatest gift and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker brought all the power they could possibly need to the table.
"We'll look after them, Will," Brea finally told him, snapping Will out of his thoughts with an almost audible pop.
It was the last thing William wanted to hear, a promise from what some considered to be the Devil given form. Brea never made promises, only deals. And Will didn't need to ask to know what the conditions were for this deal: the life, and the past, of the man that she called father. He had to find out how Reaver Orren was tied to the Transformers, and keep the pilot-come-sniper from getting killed when they both knew that the military would be doing their damndest to get him killed in combat, him and every Decepticon, Autobot, and Neutral they could find. So strange how a single, stunned look from the man had turned his daughter in such a strange direction.
Brea, Brennan, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe would protect Sam and Bumblebee and keep them together with all of their terrifying power and limitless resources as long as Brea knew that her father was alive.
"Why would you do that?" Will asked slowly, "You don't make bets that you don't know you'll win. This is a deal that you might not survive."
Brea turned her head and, just for a moment, Will swore he could see the cruel, twisted spark in her eyes that he'd seen in her father years ago. The eyes of a raptor, bloodthirsty and powerful and terrifyingly intelligent gazed back at him. "Who says I don't know?" And, just as suddenly, she was a child. For the first time in her sixteen years, Brea looked her age, bright and defiant and terrified. "Daddy told me once that your life means nothing until you find something worth sacrificing yourself for." Will knew that, he'd heard Reaver say it a thousand times. Reaver sacrificed himself, in more ways than Will could ever imagine, to protect the planet and mankind for reason he would probably never comprehend. "I think love's a good place to start."
Will couldn't help it. He laughed, in shock, in relief, in fear. With a sudden surge of relief, he picked up the kitchen phone to call Sam. He was terrified, uncertain, but he was still hopeful. At two o'clock tomorrow afternoon he would fly back to Qatar and catch Scorponok and begin hunting the now dozens of Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon alike, hidden around the world, probably with Reaver not far behind. Blackmail was a wicked thing. At the same time he would be leaving Sam and Bumblebee, who had become brothers, sons, and friends to him, along with his own wife and daughter, to the care and protection of two teenagers that were, at best, psychotic, at worst homicidal and sadistic.
One 'o clock found Will and Sarah climbing out of Ironhide's front seat, Brea (Annabelle in her arms) and Brennan from the back. A moment later, Sam and Mikaela climbed from Bumblebee's from seat. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were making plans.
"How dare they?" Sarah snarled, "How dare they make you go back?"
"Sarah..." this argument had carried since six in the morning, when Will had finally broken the news to her.
Brea gave an exasperated sigh and shifted Annabelle's weight. The baby was quite happily chewing on the beads at the end of one of her cornrows. Sam's eyes shifted from Will and Sarah to the almost frighteningly tall young woman.
"So..." he held out his hand, "You're Brea, right?" Lennox had explained the situation over the phone. He agreed, if only because they had already been attacked twice and he did not want to put his family in danger.
"And you're Sam," Brea offered a small smile and took the offered hand, "Will spoke insanely highly of you, though I can't for the life of me see why."
Bumblebee's engine gave a threatening rev and Sam glared at her. "What gives you the right to say that?" Mikaela asked furiously, "He saved the world, what have you done lately?"
Brea's eyes narrowed, "Hiding behind your girlfriend's skirt?" Her smile turned to a sneer, "For someone who helped trounce Megatron, ya don't have much in the way of balls, do ya?"
Will's hands stopped Sam from launching himself at the smirking blond, "Brea, stop antagonizing him."
Brennan rolled his eyes and offered Mikaela an apologetic smile, "Sorry 'bout her. My sister's not exactly the socialite Granmama wanted her to be." He offered Mikaela his hand, "Name's Brennan."
"Mikaela," she smiled, "Glad one of you has some manners."
"Raptor Red," Will gave her a warning look, "I want Sam in one piece, mentally and physically when I get back."
Brea put hands up in mock surrender, "Alright, alright, you win. I'll look after the stupid boy."
"Behave," Will warned, "all of you," he shot Bumblebee a look. Ironhide had warned him that the yellow Autobot hadn't gotten along will with the twins.
"Better get going," Sarah whispered, "You don't want to make them angry."
Will nodded and held her tightly, giving her a soft parting kiss, "I love you, baby."
Sarah nodded, "I love you, too, Will. Come home to me safely."
"Ironhide and the twins will look after you," Will whispered. He turned his attention to Brea and gave her a hug before she had time to protest, "You know I love you, too, right? You better come back safe, too."
"Sure," Brea muttered, returning the hug a lot tighter than she meant to, "take care, Will."
He next moved to Brennan. With another hug he warned him to keep an eye on his sister, keep her from torturing Sam and Bumblebee too much. Mikaela was given a very similar warning.
"Sam," Will said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, "look, I know Brea's a handful and she'll probably try to shoot someone before too long, but she's damn smart and she'll protect you. She doesn't back out on her deals and she's good enough to get out of whatever gets thrown at you. If anyone can get you all through this, it's her and Brennan. We're gonna have one hell of a war on our hands, right?"
"Alright," Sam muttered, glaring out of the corner of his eye at Brea. He grinned at Will, "Bring the rain, right?"
Will smiled and hugged him, "Bring the rain."
Pausing to give his daughter and wife one last kiss, Will walked across the tarmac to where a cargo plane was waiting for him. "Aren't you going to say goodbye?" he asked the shadow leaning against one of the plane's wheels.
Reaver snorted, "Good riddance."
Will rolled his eyes, "They're your children, Reaver."
"They've got you," Reaver replied tonelessly, "You're the one who wants them."
Will swore he could hear the barest hint of envy in the pilot's voice, "Well, Raptor, shall we?"
Reaver watched over his old friend's shoulder. Brea was having an argument with a violently yellow Camaro and something squirmed in the pit of his stomach. "William."
Will stopped, "Yeah?"
Reaver reached into his jacket and withdrew a rounded pendant the size of a quarter with a red symbol that vaguely resembled a lupine face emblazoned on it. With a sigh he removed it and set it in Will's hands, "Give her this." His other hand reached into his pocket and withdrew a shard of something gold that might have once had something engraved on it, "And give him this."
Will shot him a curious look, but turned back as he was told. Brea and Brennan, if they were at all perturbed by his behavior, said nothing.
Dedicated to my best friends
The ones who suffered through the years with me,
All the quirks
The 2am phone calls,
The bad ideas,
The learning to write,
The fights, the tears and fears,
The hopes and dreams,
The ones who took care of me because I wouldn't admit I was sick,
The ones who cried even before I did the day my dad died.