Glory of Love

By: Sinead

Author’s Note: The song belongs to Peter Cetera, I fell in love with it instantly when I heard it, and I hope that you enjoy this new little songfic of mine. And this is a “Reflections of Life: Loving to Learn, Learning to Love” little extra. So I own Donovan. Na-na-nana-nah!!! And my mom’s name really isn’t Meara . . . she just lets me call her that. So that’s HER pen-name alias in a sense! Upcoming extra will be “If You’re Not the One” by Daniel Bedingfield, for Sapphire and Ajax. After, of course, the next installment of Miss Special’s series with Inferno. *sighs* I really need to crack down on a lot of unfinished stories . . .

Tonight it’s very clear
As we’re both lying here

Sighing, Sinead turned over in her bed, facing the ceiling. Her mother was at a conference, the brothers with an uncle. It was almost a shock that Meara would allow her to be alone in the house with Donovan. It was kind of odd, but . . . she guessed that meant that her mother trusted both of them at this point.

With a sigh, Sinead stood and opened her door.

There’s so many things I want to say
I will always love you
I would never leave you alone

Donovan was asleep on the pull-out couch, his breathing deep and easy. He sometimes had nightmares, reliving his Cybertronian death. She sometimes had nightmares of the same scene. It hurt, but just being able to cry in each other’s arms was a comfort that she had never felt before.

Leaning closer, reaching to touch his tanned face, she brushed a strand of red-black hair away from his cheek. His eyes opened, drawing her into the pure blue depths. His voice was soft, worried. “Are you all right?”

Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret

“Yeah. I . . . I just wanted to see you.”

“Well, you’ve seen me. Now tell me what’s got you so edgy. You’re not you.”

Sinead sighed, then sat beside him, hearing him sit up beside her, not touching her. They didn’t need to touch to feel close. “I dunno, Don. Really, I don’t. I’m not used to sleeping alone in the same house as you, I’m used to the whole parental supervision thing, and I . . .” She sighed, leaning into his side, feeling him pull her closer, a comforting arm around her shoulders.

It breaks my heart to see you crying
I don’t wanna lose you
I could never make it alone

“I know what it is.” He grinned, tickling her side. “Feminine problems, isn’t it?”

“Donovan!”

“Hah. Impending female stuff is more like it. Don’t think that I haven’t noticed how you get down for about a week, then perk back up. I’m not stupid, Shyn.” He grinned, sighing into her hair again before letting her sit upon her own. “I’ve caught onto the big bad secret.”

“You’re playful tonight. And I never said that you were stupid in the first place,” Sinead replied. She rested her head upon his shoulder. “I . . . I just guess that I can’t wait for . . .”

He chuckled. “The impending doom, eh?”

I am a man who will fight for your honor
I’ll be the hero you’re dreaming of

Sinead giggled. “You’re so mean. ‘Impending doom,’ hah! How is marriage your impending doom?”

He smiled at her. He did that a lot, lately. They’d known each other for over a year and a half, now, and she had been working wonders with him, he knew. He’d never felt so light, so . . . himself. Never had he smiled as freely as he did now. His face fell, and Sinead’s concerned frown caused his heart to flutter once before settling. He shrugged. “I just guess that I wanted someone from . . . home to see it.”

“Who? You’ve never told me this before.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. I . . . I didn’t want you to be sad about it.” He sighed. “My mother.”

We’ll live forever
Knowing together that we

Did it all for the glory of love

Sinead held onto him, not looking at his face, knowing that he didn’t want her to see how his eyes were almost about to brim over. She had gotten to him long ago, getting him over his aversion to showing emotions openly, even getting him to cry happily a few times. This time, however, those were threatening tears of an old grief. “Tell me what she’s like.”

His voice trembled at the beginning, but got stronger, slowly. “She was always patient. Always. I had my father’s temper, but she could deal with him expertly when he was still alive. I never feared anything when I was around her when I was young. She was the one who taught me about earth. She was the one who showed me the path to what I knew would lead me to more and deeper learning. I never liked studying. Never.” His small smile heartened Sinead, and he brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead tenderly. “And then I knew that I wanted to come here.”

You’ll keep me standing tall
You’ll help me through it all

“How did you learn swordfighting?”

“My father. He was a genius at it. Always knew things, tricks, moves, and taught me everything I would need to know in a certain situation. He was never pleasant to his students, but . . .” Donovan chuckled. “I think that my mother must have chewed him out more than once, so he was kind to me when I was younger. But as I was able to take more . . . well, physical training abuse, then he accelerated the training, and got me farther ahead than even his final-year students. They were sometimes over twice my age. I knew everything that he did when I was thirteen.”

“Why did he do that?”

Donovan looked elsewhere than from her deep eyes. “Because we know when we’re going to die. You remember that.”

I’m always strong when you’re beside me
I have always needed you
I could never make it alone

Sinead rested her head upon his shoulder, tangling the fingers of her left hand in his hair while her right hand took his left. Her voice was soft. “How old were you when he died?”

“Fifteen. I wanted to quit school so that I could take up where he left off, but . . .” He released a small, rueful laugh. “My mother told me that I couldn’t drop out. So she arranged for a ruthless tutor to hunt me down before, between and after my teaching the swordfighting classes. And she got me to learn by engaging my mind to work on problems upon problems upon problems.”

“How so?”

“I’d have a trouble student in the first class, a girl too young but so extremely talented she was made fun of in the second class, and then a small tutoring session, then back into teaching an advanced class, trying to figure out how to deal with the first two problems and when I’d end up doing homework, only to have a fourth problem handed to me by another student who would backtalk . . . the list never ended.”

I am a man who will fight for your honor
I’ll be the hero you’ve been dreaming of

“You did well.”

He gave her the look that asked, “How can you tell? How do you know?”

Her smile came with her answer. “Because you turned into the warring hero I fell in love with.”

Donovan sighed, standing. “Feels like we’ll be up for a while. I’ll make something to eat if you do the tea.”

“You’re getting good at making tea, though!”

“But you make it better. You always have, and you’ve the experience of making tea that I wish I could gulp down in one swig.”

“But you know better than to do that.”

“Hmph.” He imitated Sinead, teasing her. “‘Drink it slowly! Enjoy it! Don’t chug it, it’s bad for you!’ I love you, you know that?”

We’ll live forever
Knowing together that we
Did it all for the glory of love

Five minutes later, Sinead found out why he wanted her to make the tea as he pinned her against the counter and just leaned his chin upon her shoulder. “It’s been almost two years since we’ve been officially together. And I’m talking about meeting through the mirror, not with me as a human.”

“What are you thinking of doing as a celebration?”

“Well . . . something. A secret. Nothing bad, I promise.”

“Uh-huh.” She turned in his arms to face him, her hands upon his chest. “Tell me more about your mother.”

“She’s just like your mom.” He looked down again, and Sinead saw a bit of the old hurt, a bit of the old Dinobot in his eyes when he looked back at her. He sighed. “She remarried. My stepfather didn’t want me teaching, thinking that a teenager like me was dragged into doing it, that it wasn’t my choice. I finally got him to understand that I did want to teach, that it was my choice, and that I enjoyed it.” Black hair rippled as Donovan shook his head. “No idea in the least that I took my greatest pleasure in teaching the youngest ones, especially the ones who were the trouble-kids. The ones that reminded me the most of myself. I didn’t like the way he thought that I didn’t have a childhood. He never understood me.”

Just like a knight in shining armor
From a long time ago

“Smile for me, Donovan.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Sinead . . .”

“Just please . . .”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you after. Smile?”

“Not now, Shyn, please.”

He sighed, pulling her tighter, not wanting anything else but her. He felt as she wrapped her arms around his back, pulling herself tighter against him, that she only wanted the same. Her voice was soft, repenting. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t . . .”

Just in time I will save the day
Take you to my castle far away

He chuckled, holding her head against his shoulder. “Don’t apologize. I’m smiling. Tell me what you wanted to tell me.”

“I love you.”

The once-bot sighed, letting her go. She smiled, reaching up to push his hair back behind his ears. “You know, I really kinda miss seeing how you had been that big, tall ex-Pred. Your optics, especially.”

“Really.”

I am a man who will fight for your honor
I’ll be the hero you’re dreaming of

Surprising both her and himself, he kissed her, whispering, “I don’t miss that body. I can still fight in this one. And for you I would give everything up if it would mean that you would be all right.”

“You almost did,” Sinead replied, her voice quivering. “And I almost lost myself again.”

“You still hurt over it.”

“I think I will for a while more.”

We’re gonna live forever
Knowing together that we
Did it all for the glory of love

“But even if I didn’t come back . . .”

“I know, Dinobot.” Sometimes she had to just call him by his old name. It was something special between the two of them. “Love never dies.”

“Even when we do.”

We’ll live forever

Knowing together that we
Did it all for the glory of love

Pulling apart, Donovan smiled, tugging on her bangs before returning to finish the midnight snack. Sinead returned to finishing the tea, and they brought everything to the coffee-table, sitting upon the loveseat. The young man sighed. “Do you think there’s any way that I could get a message to them?”

“You’re the guy who would know of the two of us,” Sinead retorted. Stopping, holding the cup midway to her mouth, she looked at her fiancé. “You know, maybe Aje knows.”

“Aje?”

“Ajax’s new nickname. Either he or Megs, maybe even Damien knows. Or all together the four of you could figure something out.”

We did it all for love

“Or Inferno. We’re going on that trip to see both Miss Special and him in a few days, remember? Sapphire should be there in another day.” Donovan smiled, pulling Sinead to his side. “I’m looking forward to seeing the others again.”

“More like you’re looking forward to beating Ajax’s face into the dirt again.”

“That too.”

We did it all for love

“And you’re looking forward to meeting Miss Spesh.”

“She sounds like a good friend and an interesting person.”

“Not too interesting to you, I hoping.”

Donovan put both mugs back upon the coffee table and sat back, pulling his love into a warm embrace, simply cuddling with her.

We did it all for love

“When I love you more than life itself? Never.”

“I love you.”

We did it all for love