Chapter Text
Slowly but surely, Eclipse was losing the battle to stay awake.
This did not surprise Roxanne, who had been sitting on a stool at the table behind him, pretending to mind her business, for nearly half an hour. She'd been able to tell how exhausted he was from the moment he'd uploaded the kids to the computer. Before then, actually, but she'd known better than to tell him to rest again when he was so close to getting them back. As soon as he knew they were safe, though, she'd watched the fight leave him, the energy visibly draining from him.
She'd made an attempt, then, to coax him into another nap, but he'd stubbornly gone right to work on his old blueprints, dismissing her concern with a flippant wave of his hand. He didn't need a nap, he'd said, because he'd just slept a few days ago, and his battery was fine.
Explaining the difference between recharging just his physical frame and allowing both his mind and body to recharge and reset gradually was not something Roxanne had the patience for, currently. So, she'd elected to let him learn on his own, through experience. All she had to do was wait.
Sure enough, even with his charger plugged in and his battery slowly refilling, he was growing sluggish. He'd been nodding off and jerking his head back up for a bit, now, and seemed to have completely forgotten she'd told him she was staying. That was intentional.
The clunk of metal on metal drew her from her thoughts, and she glanced up to find Eclipse face-down on his desk. Oops. She'd been meaning to stand and try to catch him so the impact didn't startle him back into awareness, but he appeared to be so far gone that bonking his head on the metal counter top hadn't even phased him.
Roxy gave it a few more minutes, just to be safe. When she was sure he was out, she stood and made her way over to the desk, careful of her footsteps, which weren't muffled by cloth like a DCA model's would be. She laid her hand gently on his shoulder, and, when he didn't stir, concluded that it was probably safe to move him.
Maneuvering his gangly, floppy limbs took a bit of readjustment, but eventually she managed to get one arm beneath his back and the other around his legs. The extra strength provided by her bulkier Glamrock frame came in handy when she hauled him up into a bridal carry and started down the hall to her room.
She settled him on the bed as gently as she could, but the motion was still enough to rouse him. Eclipse pried one heavy optic open and regarded her with confusion.
"R'xnne?"
"Yeah, s'me," she assured him. "I'm just helping you get plugged in for a nap."
He huffed out a disgruntled noise as she pulled off his boots and socks and set them on the floor by the nightstand like she'd found them last time. His feet were smaller and more intricate than her own, sleek ebony construction designed for speed and flexibility rather than to carry the weight of reinforced servos. His toes were orange.
"I w's w'rking," he grumbled, tone bordering on petulant.
Roxy hummed, reaching up to set a hand on his head, smushing his top ray in and leaving only the secondaries extended, like two little horns. "You can work tomorrow," she told him, biting back a smile.
He was starting grow more coherent, clawing his way back to awareness. "Jake and Andy—"
"Are safe," she soothed. "Because of you. You did it, Eclipse. You can finally rest, now."
Eclipse was still for a moment, processing her words in tense silence. Then, like a switch had been flipped, his expression crumpled, his rough exterior cracking to reveal relief, exhaustion, and, most concerningly, pain.
Alarmed, Roxy scanned him for any injuries she'd missed and came up empty. Before she could say anything, though, Eclipse rolled onto his side, baring the back of his faceplate and the vulnerable wires there in an obvious request. She scrambled to oblige him, grabbing the charging chord from her nightstand and leaning forward to plug it in as carefully as possible, suddenly excruciatingly aware of how thick and clumsy her fingers were.
Eclipse gave a little huff of satisfaction and squirmed to the far end of the bed, where he burrowed under her pink duvet and nuzzled into one of her pillows. Roxy couldn't stop herself from smiling as she turned to switch the lamp off, already looking forward to sneaking into one of the spare Glamrock chargers before she found a place to settle down for the night.
"Roxanne?"
She turned to find him watching her, holding the blanket to the side in obvious invitation. Stunned, she wondered briefly if there was something sinister afoot. Maybe the mimic had gotten him again, somehow, but no, she'd seen the top of the scarring on his back earlier, peaking out of the neckline of his shirt—the result of his casings being pried open and resealed by Puppet's magic.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
He scoffed, like the question was immensely stupid, and rolled to face away from her, pointedly making room. Yep, definitely the real Eclipse.
Still reeling, Roxy climbed in to join him and tugged the free end of the blanket over herself. After debating with herself for a solid minute, she threw caution to the wind and said, "Goodnight, Eclipse."
"Mm," he replied, already returning to sleep mode now that he was cozy and charging.
Roxy didn't bother to conceal the fondness in her expression, since he was facing away and fading fast. She reached over to turn off the lamp, and allowed herself to drift off to join him.