Chapter Text
“Gah!”
Sari broke up to the surface, coughing and spluttering. She tried to shout but all that came out were panicked grunts. Optimus looked up from his deck chair (which was clearly meant for a human) and immediately abandoned his relaxing set up and bolted towards the lake. This caught the attention of all the others. Bumblebee dropped his cup and mini umbrella in shock,
“SARI’S DYING!” he cried. He quickly adjusted his armbands and followed Optimus into the water, diving helm first just as he did. They both knocked into each other with a clang before they fell in. Bobbing up, the Prime rubbed his helm and groaned before giving Bumblebee a stern talk.
“Bumblebee! That was a reckless thing you just did, you could have hurt somebot!” But he wasn't paying attention, he was too busy looking out into the water. Optimus followed his gaze and realised that Sari was no longer there.
“I WAS TOO LATE!” He pulled Optimus into a tight hug and cried into his shoulder plate. “I could have saved her, but now she’s offline! Its all my fault! What a cruel world we live in! I’ll avenge you!” He shouted and weakly punched the water. “Why, why, why-!!”
“Ahem.” Both mechs looked up. Sari was being lifted into the air by a bright pink ray by Ratchet, who was rocking some sunglasses which had been created by Bulkhead. She seemed perfectly okay despite the fact she was now coughing because she had the giggles.
“Sari!” A light pink blush fell onto Bumblebee’s cheeks. Before the humiliation could go on any further he pushed a surprised Optimus away and down under the water. “You’re not offline!”
The old medic huffed, “Yes, she had to go through many check ups and tests to make sure she- of course she's not offline! Sometimes I wonder if you even have optics.”
Optimus remerged from the water and both him and Bumblebee swam after Sari as she was moved across and gently placed onto the ground. She shook her head like a wet dog, letting flecks of water land onto the grass and the surrounding mechs.
“Ugh, thanks guys. I thought I was goner.” She gave them one of her signature smiles.
Bulkhead slowly approached the group, taking off his flower necklace as he knelt down. “Well, I thought you said this ‘summer vacation’ was going to be safe.” he said glumly. Sari didn't seem to enjoy the big guys dampened mood, so she held up his necklace to him. Or she tried too. Like Ratchet's sunglasses, the necklace was also a DIY project, with melded chunks of scrap metal painted in floral pastels.
“It is!” She augured and he hesitantly picked it back up again, “If it wasn't for that spooky-” she suddenly gasped, “The spooky face! In the water!"
All the Autobots looked quizzically at each other. Bumblebee shuffled his stabilising servos.
"You guys don't believe me?"
Optimus sighed and sent a look of sympathy towards the small human.
"It's not that we don't believe you. We just think it's.. okay if you.. accidently nearly drowned." He rushed the last part. "Not all of us are that great of swimmers."
"No!" The fire truck's antenna drooped down at her sudden shout. She awkwardly let out a small cough before explaining herself, "No, I really did see something down there."
"It's quite dark down there. How could you have seen anything without headlights?" She turned to Prowl, who had just joined the circle around her. He was using a challenging sort of tone, optics shining with confidence behind his visor. But it was hard to take him seriously with the inflatable duck wrapped around his slim frame.
Sari grinned. "Well.." she walked right past him to towards the edge of Lake Erie.
"You could say I have my own sort of headlights."
She turned around and the key around her neck was suddenly alight, the metal tugging at the chain towards the water.