4. THE TIES THAT BIND
--Three months ago--
Tailgate awoke to find a blinding light shooting right at him. He immediately let out a yelp and shielded himself from it.
"No one told me the Afterspark was gonna be so bright," he muttered.
"Tailgate?" The light instantly went away and Tailgate found First Aid staring down at him. "Are you awake?"
"Er, I guess? I mean, I'm here talking to you, aren't I?"
If First Aid had a mouth, he would have beamed. "You certainly are. You had us all worried though."
"What do you mean? What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything," First Aid said. "When we got Vector Sigma to cure your cybercrosis, you went into stasis lock to let your systems fully recover. Ambulon had estimated that it would only take two months at most, but when it got to be longer... we were all on the edge of our seats."
"Oh. Well... sorry for keeping you in suspense."
"Hey, don't worry about it. All that matters now is that you're awake and healthy." As First Aid started to detach the life support systems Tailgate had been hooked up to, the medic glanced towards the door. "There's gonna be someone who wants to see you. I'll just warn you now and say that they may give you an excited welcome."
"Oh?" Tailgate tilted his head. "Who?"
First Aid said nothing until he got to the door. "I'll leave it to her to tell you."
He pressed the control panel and the door slide open to unleash a blue blur. It shot towards Tailgate's recharge slab and seized the white and blue Autobot, holding him tightly.
"Tailgate, if you ever scare me like that again, I'm going to kill you," Glyph said, her voice trembling.
"Um, okay," Tailgate squeaked from under her grip. "Sorry... about... that."
"Glyph, if you squeeze him anymore, you might do just that," First Aid admonished her. Once Glyph had relaxed her hold on Tailgate, leaving them in a more peaceful embrace, the medic said, "If anyone needs me, I'll be... out here. Helping other patients... that need me. Just... don't mind me."
The doctor slipped out of the medibay and the door closed behind him. Glyph then looked back at Tailgate and he immediately noticed something different about her.
"You changed your face," he said. "I mean, now you... actually have a face."
Glyph giggled as she smiled with her newly-placed mouth. "Yup. Skids suggested that I get rid of my visor and mouthplate because it made me look unapproachable."
"I've got a mouthplate and visor..." Tailgate said quietly.
Glyph's optics went wide, realizing what she had just said. "No, no! I didn't mean... I think he was just talking about how it fitted me."
Tailgate looked at her with a down-turned visor. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, trust me. I almost always show my love for archaeology and with that plus my old look, people basically mistook me for a miniature Mainframe, and he's not necessarily the most sociable of 'bots."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tailgate murmured. "But does that mean I should...?"
"No, silly," Glyph giggled (an act which made Tailgate's spark miss a pulse). "You have the most personable and adorable face I know."
It wasn't until now that Tailgate realized how close his and Glyph's faces were. They were close enough that he could see just how blue her optics were, just how gold her face plating was....
"Tailgate," she whispered, snapping him from his trance. "I... I was afraid I would never get the chance to say this when I thought you were... when I thought I would lose you, but...."
"Yes?" Tailgate asked when she hesitated.
She cupped his face with her hands and brought it closer to her face. She then pressed her lips against his mouthplate and he felt an arc of energy pass between them. His visor flared slightly and he pulled away from her, blabbering as his head spun.
Glyph held a hand up to her mouth as she giggled again. "I guess you've never been kissed before, huh?"
"Wuz... was that what that was?"
"Yes. It's a practice amongst organics-- particularly Nebulans-- to express their love between each other."
Tailgate finally gathered his senses gain and looked at her. "So... when you kissed me just now, you were telling me that...."
"That I love you, yes."
"As if we didn't see that one coming."
The two lovebirds spun around to see that the medibay's door was open and that Swerve and Rewind were standing in the doorway.
And Rewind's camera light was on.
The archivist held up his hands defensively as Glyph stormed up to him, anger slowly etching out on her face. "Look, I'm sorry. Swerve told me that there would be something interesting in the medibay and that I absolutely needed to record it and I had no idea you would be here and I didn't think you would be kissing--"
Tailgate made a mental note to never get on Glyph's bad side as he watched his new girlfriend pursue the two mechs down the corridor.
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