I did this story for EmeraldMoonGreen's contest on DA. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!

Eclipse belongs to EmeraldMoonGreen and Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing!

Always My Daughter

Eclipse came flying back into the base after a while, a little out of breath from practicing her speed flying, but her spark felt a little heavy with uncertainty.

The reason she was uncertain was because one question had been nagging her since seeing a movie about a child being adopted into a loving family. The girl had looked nothing like her new parents in the movie, but they loved her all the same. It made Eclipse wonder if Ratchet felt the same way.

She didn't look a bit like him and he had taken her in along with the other Autobots. She liked to get into mischief, but only to have fun, and she also noticed Ratchet never raised a hand to hurt her. He was gentle with her and due to her past, his gentleness was a bit foreign to her, but she also found it comforting, especially if she had a nightmare. In fact, the other night, when she had another nightmare, he had held her and gently stroked her cat ears. It had not only calmed her, but made her feel loved.

Then another thought came to her. Because of her past, did Ratchet regret taking her in? She hoped not, but the question wouldn't go away and she was scared to ask Ratchet.

"Well, this is different," said the medic that she had just been thinking about.

Startled, the black and gray armored femme jumped and shifted to her Night Fury mode in a flash, turning to see Ratchet behind her, an amused smile on his face, but also looking a bit concerned.

"Ratchet," she whined. "I was in the middle of thinking."

"So you were," he said, still smiling as he placed his hands on her shoulders after she transformed back to her bipedal form. "What were you thinking about that it's made you sit still for longer than five minutes?"

She would have given him a playful comeback normally, but she just sighed. "Ratchet…um, do you…um," she tried to ask him.

The medic was now a little worried as Eclipse seemed hesitant to ask him something. "Do I what, Eclipse?" he asked.

She looked at him. "Do you regret…taking me in? Adopting me?"

Ratchet froze in shock and saw Eclipse pull herself into a ball, her tail laying limply down and she had tears in her eyes. He picked her up and held her in one arm as he gently cupped one side of her face in his hand. "What in the world happened that you would even think that, little one?" he asked.

Leaning her head into his shoulder, she told him about the movie she had watched. "The parents loved her very much, even though she was adopted and I guess I was wondering if you…felt the same way."

Ratchet, still holding her, carried her to her quarters and sat down on her bed, rubbing her helm with a gentle hand. She snuggled into his hug as she enjoyed the gentle, calming gesture.

"Eclipse, you may not look like me or have any of my personality, but that doesn't matter to me," he said. "What matters is that you are now safe and I won't let any monster hurt you."

She looked up at him. "But, do you regret taking me in?" she asked again.

"Never," he said firmly. "My little Eclipse, no matter what and regardless of what you look like, you'll always be my daughter."

She sniffled a little. "Even if I have green optics instead of blue optics?" she asked.

"Yes," Ratchet replied.

"Even though my armor is just black and gray?"

"Yes."

"Even though I have a tail and transform into a Night Fury dragon instead of a car?"

"Yes."

"Even though…EEK! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ratchet smiled as he held Eclipse in a gentle, loving bear hug and tickled her sides and stomach, making her laugh soundly. One thing she hadn't done much growing up was laughing, and she hadn't been tickled much, so Ratchet felt she needed some tickles right then, for both reassurance and for affection.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! RATCHET! AHAHAHAHAHA! DADDY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Eclipse tried to beg him to stop, but her laughter made it difficult to do so.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle! My little daughter needs tickles!" Ratchet teased her as he then went and tickled Eclipse's wings gently. That made her squeal loudly as her wings were super sensitive before the medic playfully pinned her to the berth and trapped her ankles by wrapping an arm around them and tickled her feet.

Besides her wings, her feet were her other very sensitive spot and Eclipse began laughing her hardest and squirming, tears starting to run down her face.

Ratchet felt his spark warm at the sight of his daughter laughing cutely and when she had called him 'Daddy'. He now smiled and let her recover from the tickle torture and she sat up and hugged him, snuggling into his hug.

They were silent for a bit as Ratchet rocked her comfortingly and kissed her helm. "I'll never regret adopting you as my daughter," he promised her. "Never forget that."

"Okay," she said. "I love you, Daddy. And…thank you."

"I love you too, my little Eclipse. And you're welcome."

The movie mentioned is "The Rescuers", which belongs to Disney.

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GoldGuardian2418