pullmeoutalive | log > what is wrong with us THE SEQUEL

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log > what is wrong with us THE SEQUEL

It was hard to believe that only three hours ago, she and Jolt had been bar-hopping (with the best of intentions, of course) and now Naomi was soaring over a dense forest, zipping out of the way of a few directed lightning strikes, courtesy of one of Black Phantom's puppets.

She had bigger things to worry about, though. More specifically, she had one big thing who had somehow disappeared from the battle. It had been only a few minutes of leaving him to take down the other side's psychokinetic, but when she'd returned, Jolt had vanished. Hatsune and Akira were fighting on the ground, both too distracted to take the time to sniff him out. Sakaki was on hand in a nearby helicopter, but it had been made to land out of concern that the lightning would strike it. The Children could have helped, but they needed to stay together for Kaoru's cleansing ability to function properly.

That left a very frantic Naomi flying about in the hopes of locating one errant Autobot. The one controlling the other espers hadn't been very comforting, having glanced in the girl's direction earlier.

"Worried about your friend? You should thank me. I've taken good care of him."

She'd hardly been reassured-- if anything, Naomi's ire and worry had only tripled, until she'd not only knocked out the esper manipulating the lightning but picked up her speed. The fight was nearly over; she could see the bright light from The Children's area now, but she wouldn't be relieved until she knew her Autobot friend was safe.

"Jolt-san!!" She called now, skimming the tops of the trees and then flying a little lower. "Please, answer me!"

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She had been asleep, peacefully so, but she'd also been trained to react to the slightest indication of a disturbance. The increased warmth of something nearby only nudged her further towards awakening.

The grogginess with which she regarded Jolt vanished abruptly when Naomi took a closer look. He was shivering, but the temperature in the medical ward hadn't changed at all. Resting the back of her hand against his forehead verified her suspicion: the fever had struck.

Her first impulse was to call for Sakaki, but it was late, and he was probably dead to the world. That, and he'd told them both that this would happen, which in his own way meant that he would be leaving Naomi in charge if it just happened to occur now.

Water was the top priority; it was evident that Jolt's dreams weren't pleasant ones, but jarring a feverish person awake was never a good idea. So, reluctantly, the esper slipped free from his side and floated off the bed to gather the necessary things nearby.

"Naomi..." it was mumbled and barely coherent, but it was her name all the same. He was still dreaming, still calling for her, and some of that had bubbled its way to the waking world.

Naomi very nearly dropped the glass she was filling. Luckily, she managed to maintain her grip on it, but decided not to tempt things and set it down on the nightstand.

Logically, she knew the fever was due by the human body adjusting to powers and abilities that, by normal rights, a human wasn't meant to possess, and she also knew that Jolt would have to endure it, as they all had, but that didn't make it any easier to watch.

And especially not when he was saying her name.

Against her better judgment, she took a step forward, drawing closer to the dreamer.

She was here. She had to be here- he had seen her go in the building, and even if it cost him his life, he was going to see to it that she got out.

"Naomi-" It came again, a little clearer, a little more desperate.

What on earth was he dreaming about? Unless he'd somehow woken up-- but no, his eyes were still closed, and he hadn't responded when she moved, so...

This time Naomi seated herself on the edge of the bed, watching his face with no small amount of concern. "I'm right here," she told him quietly, not sure that he'd even be able to hear her.

He heard her- her voice puncturing the edges of the dream- and he seemed to calm down a little, at least outwardly.

But he was still in that building and it was still burning, but he had heard her. She was around here somewhere. He just- There was a groan of wood, and pieces of the ceiling began plummeting down around him. The building was falling down, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he had to get out of there- but Naomi. He couldn't leave without her.

There was a deafening crash, and a swell of flames-

And suddenly Jolt was sitting bolt upright in a bed in B.A.B.E.L.'s medical ward. There were a few dizzying seconds where he couldn't quite recall where he was or why, but the figure of Naomi seated on the edge of the bed came into focus, and he stared at her with a look that had never before crossed the Autobot's face- he was absolutely terrified.

The sudden and abrupt movement made Naomi jump a little herself, eyes just as wide but certainly not as frightened. She'd never seen Jolt look so terrified in all of the time that she'd known him-- perhaps because his faceplates couldn't properly form the expression, but mostly because he was fearless.

The fact that something had scared him almost scared her.

"You were dreaming," she said softly, cautiously. "Your fever set in at some point."

Jolt blinked once. Twice. And then visibly relaxed, slumping over with a sigh and burying his face in his hands for a brief moment.

"That was..." he said, but trailed off for lack of knowing what it indeed was. "I've never dreamt before." If they were all like that, he wasn't sure he wanted to ever again.

Naomi nodded sympathetically, adjusting her position to rub his back in much the way her mother had when she'd been very young and had a nightmare. These days, she didn't have anyone to do that, and would have been horribly embarrassed if they had, but there were times when she didn't mind doing it for someone else.

"There are good dreams, and there are bad dreams-- nightmares," she explained. "Sometimes they're... very odd, sometimes they're memories. Those can be the most painful."

All the remaining tension eased from him, then. The ability humans had to feel never ceased to amaze him, and it was amazing what a simple touch could do.

"It wasn't-" he frowned. "It wasn't a memory, exactly. More like something I was afraid of."

"... Did you want to talk about it?" She reached for the glass of water she'd poured earlier and offered it to him, expecting he'd know what to do with it by now. Ideally, he should be sleeping, but as one who'd only recently stopped having nightmares, she knew sleep wasn't the easiest thing to return to.

He took the glass with a small nod of thanks, and drained it quickly. The Autobot remained quiet for a long moment as the images from his dream ran through his head- some of them were as clear as day, others he'd forgotten completely. It was weird, having gaps in your memory. Fuzzy spots where only moments before there had been a vivid image.

The feeling, however, was one he couldn't forget.

"I thought I'd lost you." His voice was small, barely audible, and he didn't dare take his eyes off of the empty glass in his hand.

Logically speaking, that made sense. It explained why he'd been calling her name, at least. But all Naomi could manage was a quiet, surprised choking noise that made her cough until she could speak again.

"Me?"

In retrospect, she thought, if she was going to take that long to say something that idiotic, she would have been better off keeping her mouth shut.

He regarded her with a concerned expression for a moment- Jolt didn't think whatever was wrong with him was catching, but that didn't explain Naomi's sudden coughing fit.

"Yeah. You-" there was a pause, and he frowned. The whole incident was likely still a sensitive subject for Naomi, and the last thing he wanted to do was worry her. So, contrary to is usual line of thinking, he chose his words carefully. "There was an accident. I couldn't find you- I just kept looking and looking and-- I've never been so scared in my life."

He'd been scared-- not for himself, but for her? She knew she'd caused him worry the few times they'd been separated into different tasks during the mission, and she knew she'd panicked when he'd disappeared this time, but she'd never known that he'd have nightmares about it.

Because Cybertronians didn't dream, most likely. But humans did.

Naomi exhaled softly, reaching out to take the glass from him. "I can understand that. Losing someone during a crisis... that would terrify anyone."

Jolt caught her hand instead, casting the glass aside, and pulled her into an embrace, burying his face in her hair. He wasn't sure why- maybe for his own peace of mind. She was here, real and solid, and she wasn't going anywhere.

"No," he said, voice muffled. "Not "someone". Not anyone. You. I don't ever want to lose you." Maybe he was rambling, but he didn't care- he was too tired and feverish and shaken to care.

"Wh--" She scarcely had enough time to gasp before she found herself pulled against him, automatically catching onto his shoulders as he held onto her. He was feverish, and had been jarred from a nightmare, but there was a ring of sincerity in his words when he spoke, and Naomi quieted.

"Jolt-san..." Once she made sure she was steady enough, she lifted a hand, smoothing down his hair, stroking as gently as she did when she washed his alt mode. "You won't. The last thing I want to do is lose you, either." She hesitated, this time willingly drawing in memories of her failed mission. "That's why I came back."

He wasn't- he still didn't exactly know what he was doing, in part from the fever, in part from the strange whirlwind of emotion he was feeling, and in part again from the alien body he was suddenly inhabiting.

But she was there, close, with her hand on his face and in his hair, and he was there, holding her, and he just did the first thing that came to mind.

With a dip of his head, he kissed her. It was a little awkward, and fleeting, but he kissed her all the same.

Three things simultaneously struck the esper the minute his lips touched hers. The first thought was that her alien robot ally turned friend turned something was kissing her. The second thought was that her supervisor was going to have more than just a conniption if he found out about this.

The third thought was, quite simply and succinctly, Oh. There was a tingling warmth emanating from the point of contact, and for someone who'd never been kissed before, she couldn't help but vaguely wonder why they hadn't done this sooner.

Naomi realized that she hadn't quite responded by the time he started to pull away, and sought to remedy that by tilting her head up and kissing him again. This one was slower, more hesitant, as though she wanted to make sure he had time to consider this all one huge mistake and move away.

Kissing was purely a human thing, but Jolt was quickly discovering why they enjoyed it so much. Even that brief contact of the initial kiss had felt so- he didn't have a word for it, but it was good and warm and he, too, was wondering why they hadn't done this sooner.

And she was kissing him back. A little thrill ran through him and he responded in kind.

She was trembling-- not from cold or fright, but the sensations were making it hard to form coherent thoughts. Jolt was the only thing on her mind, and she wanted to stay like this.

But logic did indeed prevail in the end (as did an annoying need to breathe), and she slowly pulled back, one hand still in his hair and now looking somewhat flustered and disheveled.

"I think I've been an idiot," she whispered.

He looked a little lost when she pulled away, not wanting this- whatever it was- to end, but only then did he realize just how out of breath he was.

And then he frowned, wondering for a panicked moment if maybe he'd gone too far, if maybe he'd done something wrong. "What?"

Immediately recognizing the look on his face, Naomi shook her head and sought to clarify her statement with a reassuring-- if highly embarrassed-- smile. She would just say it now, and hope that the fever would make him forget most of it by morning, in case the awkwardness was too much.

"I didn't want to admit it-- more that I was afraid to-- that I felt this way about you. I wasn't sure what would happen if I felt anything differently, and said something about it... so I tried very hard not to see you as anything other than a friend." She sighed, adding ruefully, "I'm pretty sure that didn't work."

The frown gave way to a smile that was somehow simultaneously relieved and warm and sincere. One hand cupped the side of her face, still with the deliberate gentleness he would have used were he ten times his current size. "I suppose that makes two of us."

Surprise and relief lit up her eyes, and Naomi allowed herself to relax and lean into his touch. This was bound to complicate things tenfold, especially when the higher-ups on both sides found out, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. The fever, however, still had her concerned.

"You know," she mumbled. "You should still be resting. At least lying down, if not sleeping."

log > what is wrong with us THE SEQUEL

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