When All Lights Go Out I (TFP)

Chapter 55

"Sorry, Ratchet, we didn't mean to." Raf glanced at the screen Azura was standing by. She had stopped writing down the alphabet and Raf smiled at her. "I promise we won't say anything. We just want to watch..."

"Actually..." Azura looked at them with a smile. "I did not mind that you wanted to watch before...but now..." She immediately felt bad as both Jack and Raf were immediately sad as they realized what she was saying. "I realize that I need to concentrate. And...having others watching me, aside from daddy and Ratchet..."

"I get it." Jack walked over to Saphira with a small smile and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You changed your mind because now you are here, it is a little more intimidating than you first thought." She nodded as that was very true. "Alright, Raf and I will go and do something else. We have a bit of homework to do ourselves anyway. I realized I was a bit behind, and I don't want my mother getting upset at me."

Azura was happy that he wasn't too upset, and he understood. "Thanks, Jack. I will be finished here soon, so we can do something else later."

"Sounds good to me." Jack turned away from Azura and walked over to Arcee. "Guess you were right."

"Of course, I was. I warned you that it was best to not watch Azura while she is studying." Arcee sighed and looked at Ratchet who was still unhappy that Azura had been interrupted. "I'll make sure this won't happen again."

"It has better not." Ratchet looked down and saw that Azura was going over the letters she had already written, likely to remind herself what was next. "Take your time, Azura. You have half of the alphabet written down so far."

Azura flinched a little and felt a tad irritated as Ratchet made her lose her train of thought. She heard Raf leave the room as well without saying anything, and it was just her, Ratchet and Optimus again. Azura did not want to say that Ratchet had just annoyed her, so she simply restarted as she began to go back through the letters she had already written down. She ended up singing the alphabet song in her head to help her. Once she remembered what letter was next, she finally resumed writing it down. Azura felt happy that she was able to pull herself together and proceed with writing the alphabet.

Optimus himself was happy that she was able to get herself back on track. He could tell that her processor was quick to remember and it was allowing to finish off the alphabet. He hoped that she wasn't feeling nervous now that the humans had interrupted her. She did not seem nervous from his observation, but she could be nervous internally. But from what he could see, she was getting the alphabet correct. And he knew she would likely need a confidence boost to know that she can ready the Cybertronian alphabet without the English alphabet as a guide.

Ratchet himself was very impressed with what she has written so far as well. He said nothing, or made any kind of expression other than keeping a relaxed face if Azura did look up at him. He knew she did not need to be upset if she thought she had done something wrong. At her age, she would actually be considered advanced for a sparkling. And he knew that being in human education attributed to that fact. Azura would likely have no problem learning Cybertronian math and physics when she is much older.

Azura wrote the last letter and she looked at all the letters, making sure she had them all there, and she hoped it was in the correct order too. If the alphabet was in the wrong order, she knew that Ratchet would point it out to her. But so far, it seemed fine. She looked over the alphabet a few times, making sure each letter looked correct. She felt like she was right, but she was not a hundred percent sure.

She finally looked up at Ratchet curiously. "So...uh...what...what do you think about...did I get the alphabet correct? I feel like it is, but...I am not sure..."