Garnak. 3

Days, Months, or Years

Characters: Garnak, Wheelie, Rodimus

Pairing: Garnak x Rodimus, sort of.

Notes: Takes place between Rodimus & Crew taking off from Wheelie's planet, and them landing on Cybertron, during IDW's Transformers (OnGoing, Vol. 5)

Summary: Rodimus is unconscious for a long time. Garnak worries, and Wheelie pilots.

Jangle Man was more careful than Garnak'd ever seen lifting the pretty bauble out of Sir's chest. There was a spark of something between the red robot and the bauble as they separated, but the connections to the engine held. The absence of the bauble left a worrying opening in Sir's chest.

Garnak stared down into the opening, and he wasn't sure what he had been expecting. Flesh and blood under the metal armor, maybe? It was always an option Jangle Man and Sir were just wearing fancy armor. But no—it was more metal. Moving bits of silver and dark black, going this way and that. There was a glow in the center though, the same color as the bauble. Bright and shining, and Garnak couldn't help but reach toward it.

Jangle Man grabbed his hand and squeezed hard enough to bruise and grind bone together. Jangle Man's eyes were narrowed, and he hissed, "Must not touch, leave it as such!"

Garnak yanked his hand away, rubbing the sore skin where Jangle Man had hurt him. Don't touch the shining light. Got it. Garnak glanced back down at Sir. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Just a sec, let me check," Jangle Man said, voice calming from his earlier anger. The little orange robot got down on his knees and reached inside Sir's chest. He tapped a thing here, and pulled on a thing there—always keeping far away from the glowing bit in the center. He nodded once, and looked up at Garnak. "Everything looks tight, I think he'll be alright."

"That's good," Garnak said. The dimmed eyes of Sir were starting to bother Garnak though. Despite the tiny moving bits inside, the rest of him was as still as the dead. Garnak tapped Sir's shoulder. "When ya' think he'll be up, then?"

Jangle Man picked up a piece of metal, and pulled out a torch from no where. Without answering, he fit it around Sir's shoulders and covered up the hole where the bauble had been. He sealed it tight with the torch against Sir's armor, and bit his lip. "I think it best, we let him rest."

Jangle Man directed him to pick up Sir off the floor, so he did so. Sir was fairly light for a man made of metal, but that didn't mean he wanted to carry him around for the whole trip. Garnak headed for the back where he knew there was a table he could rest on until he woke.

Garnak set Sir down gently, and stepped back as Jangle Man knelt near and listened to something on his chest. "He is going to wake up, right?"

"Matrix fixed him right up then, but the time to wake I don't know when," Jangle Man said. He smiled brightly though, and pet the top of Sir's head. "In the Matrix we can trust, so be patient we must."

"Right," Garnak said, sighing at Jangle Man's way of talking. It wasn't always the clearest thing to understand. "He'll come around on his own, I have that right?"

"More or less, is my best guess," Jangle Man said. He patted the table-top next to Sir, and headed back to the front of the ship.

Garnak sat down on a box next to the man who'd gotten him off that rock of a planet. Unlike the Admiral and Codder, this one'd actually came through with his word. Though it looked like he may have paid too much for accomplishing that goal. Sir stayed still, eyes open but dull and grey. He looked dead, no matter how you put it.

Garnak touched the side of his helm, relieved at the warmth of the metal under the tips of his stubby fingers. Sir looked dead, but there was life there. Garnak hoped he'd wake soon.

Soon, turned out to be far longer than Garnak had hoped.

Time passed in the way that it does, their ship on the way to where Jangle Man and Sir claimed 'Home.' A conversation here or there with Jangle Man kept Garnak from going stir crazy, but he spent most of his time to himself. Talking to Sir.

Sir didn't say much back, being unconscious and all, but he was a good listener.

Garnak told him about his own home, and his old job. He'd demonstrate the best sweeping techniques he'd learned in his time as a janitor. Sir would never be impressed if he was awake, no one ever was, but asleep as he was, it didn't matter much.

Garnak did wish Sir would wake, though. Even if it was just to laugh at his job as a janitor. Wasn't right seeing Sir this way. Garnak touched him ever so often, just to double check the metal was warm. Never hot to the touch, always warm—like an engine that was half-cooled after a shut down. Garnak was a little scared one day he'd touch the side of Sir's cheek and it'd be cold.

"Still not waking today, Sir?" Garnak asked, arms crossed on the berth. He could hear Jangle Man singing up front, and it was always best to avoid Jangle Man when he was singing. There was something not quite right with that one, even Garnak could tell. "I know you need your rest and all, Sir, but it's been quite a while. I'm starting to think you might be just be lazy."

Sir stayed still, like always. Garnak pressed his knuckle's up against Sir's smooth cheek. He flicked his thumb out and rubbed a circle. "If you don't wake up soon, I think you're going to make a liar out of Jangle Man. You don't want to do that, do you, Sir?"

Garnak shook his head, and shook Sir's shoulder once. "Or maybe you do, and maybe you don't. Either way, I hope you wake up soon, Sir."

Time continued to pass as it did. Days, months, or years, Garnak couldn't say. He wasn't sure how Jangle Man and Sir counted them, and trying to figure it out was maddening when Jangle Man couldn't put a simple sentence together without rhyming. What Garnak did know, was it had been far too long to hear nothing but his own Voice and Jangle Man.

"Almost home! Landing soon! Look at that! We passed the moon!" Jangle Man said, ducking his head into the back room. He grinned at Garnak, and waved to Sir, before popping back up to the front. "Can not wait! This'll be great!"

"Good to hear, I think," Garnak said. He looked around the scattered mess in the back room and huffed. Well, if they were going to land and see Jangle Man and Sir's peers soon, he might as well clean up. No sense in them thinking their ship was a wreck. That would make Sir look as bad as Garnak, and there was no need for that. Garnak huffed, looking around the mess of a storage room. "Time to get to work, sir."

Sir kept on in his way, mimicking the dead.

"Or time for me to get to work," Garnak said. He looked both ways and leaned down near Sir's head. He held a hand up and whispered, "You really are, lazy, aren't you? But that's okay. Sir's allowed to be lazy."

Garnak chuckled to himself, pressing his hand over Sir's forehead to share the heat. He nodded once, and picked up his mop. Sirs might be allowed to be lazy, but Garnak certainly was not! Work was good for the soul.

He started with the loose bits, shoving the excess parts and metal things to the corners. Garnak hummed as he went, planning ahead for how long it would take to mop up after the clutter was cleared. Sir stayed as he was, listening. Garnak shook his head. After being asleep this long, why would a little thing like landing be the ticket to waking him?

Sir moaned.

Garnak froze, jerking his head over. He couldn't help the smile as he watched a finger twitch and Sir's head turn. His eyes flickered once, then twice—that same bright blue he'd been missing to see for so long.

Maybe landing at home was the ticket to getting Sir up and about!

Garnak couldn't really blame him after thinking about it. As lonely as Sir had left Garnak, he'd probably want to sleep the whole way home, too.

Garnak tried to keep his voice steady as he spoke. No need to make Sir, worry. It's not like he knew how long he'd been out! Garnak smiled, hands tight around his broom. "Ah sir! Good to see you up and around!"