Author's Note: Originally debuted on my Deviantart gallery. This is the sequel to my 'Rock a Bye Bot' fic. Since my first one went over so well and I started having people asking to see certain characters baby-fied, I decided to write a sequel. Unlike my first one, this one is a little bit longer and will have chapters.

The events that take place in this fic happen sometime between the episodes, 'Black Friday' and 'A Bridge Too Close part 1'. As far as I know, there shouldn't be any spoilers.

Disclaimer: I am only a fan and do not own anything of Transformers Animated!! All characters, names and anything else pertaining to Transformers Animated are owned and copyrighted by their respectful owners (Hasbro, Cartoon Network, etc). The only thing I own is the fanfic itself. This fanfic and any of my other fanfics may not be copied, altered, edited or posted elsewhere without my permission. For those of you who may speak another language please feel free to translate my story into your native language for better understanding and your personal enjoyment ONLY, or to show to a friend that may not speak English.

Rated G – All age enjoyment

The Autobots and Sari were spending a quiet evening at their automotive plant home—watching movies, playing video games, and catching up on personal work. It had been an unusually slow night for everyone, giving them much needed time to relax. While Bulkhead, Sari, and Bumblebee were heavily engaged in a movie, Ratchet, Prowl, and Optimus Prime busied themselves with checking medical equipment, working on a few glitches they found in the computers, and keeping their optics on scanners and monitors that alerted them of any activity going on in the outside world.

Everything was perfect. Nothing on earth could ruin this rare movie night with friends, Sari had thought. Soon, however, a faint sound reached the young girl's ears. She wasn't sure, but she thought it sounded like… a baby?

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Sari said, turning to Bumblebee sitting beside her.

"Hear what?" Bumblebee replied, not even bothering to take his optics off the movie playing on the huge TV screen.

"That sound," Sari turned her head to see if she could tell where the sound was coming. "It sounds like a baby crying."

"Don't be silly," Bulkhead laughed, "There aren't any babies here."

"It's probably just in the movie." Bumblebee smiled. "I believe they're called background noises or something."

Bumblebee was probably right, but Sari couldn't shake the feeling that the sound was closer than that. She hopped down off the cement couch and started walking around the room. It didn't sound like it was coming from within the plant. She turned her head toward the front door.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead!" she called, "Come here." Immediately her friends came to her side.

"What's wrong, Sari?" Bumblebee asked.

"Listen,"

Bumblebee hit the mute button on the remote he held in his hand and everyone stood still and listened.

"That's no background noise." said Bulkhead, hearing the frightened screams and crying that was coming from just outside the door.

"Bumblebee, go get Optimus," Sari whispered, a twinge of fear gripping her. Without a word, Bumblebee ran off into one of the rooms for a few minutes before returning with Optimus, Ratchet, and Prowl close behind.

"Optimus, listen," Sari said. Optimus stopped in front of the girl, his spark racing and his audio receptors working overtime.

"What the spark…?" Ratchet mumbled.

"Shh—" Optimus shushed. "Prowl, open the door." He whispered before pulling out his ion-axe and readying it just to be safe. They never had visitors, unless you count the Constructicons.

When the door was opened, everyone gasped.

"Heeeey, I've seen him before. Isn't that… Swindle?" Bumblebee scratched his head puzzlingly.

"I thought they towed him away to be stripped of parts." Bulkhead added.

"And wasn't he a lot bigger?" Prowl asked, looking down at the sight in front of him.

"Oh, no, not again," Ratchet groaned.

Swindle, who was now about the size of a three-year-old human child, shakily stumbled forward and onto his face, crying and bawling at ear-piercing levels the whole time. Sari ran to him and picked him up, cradling him soothingly in her arms. The little con artist slowed his crying and looked up into the girl's face with huge, tear-filled optics. Looking closer, Sari saw that his body was riddled with many dents, scrapes, gashes, and cuts, some of which leaked streams of pinkish-purple energon. Sari cringed at the sight, knowing the poor thing had to be in serious pain. He looked as though he had been physically abused for no apparent reason. Decepticon or not, she placed Swindle down on the floor and took her key from around her neck. She was about to place it close to the 'Con's Decepticon insignia, but Ratchet's irritated voice reached her ears.

"What do you think you're doing?" he roared.

"Healing him," the girl replied. "Look at him. He looks like he's fought Megatron himself."

"That's a Decepticon, you know."

"I know, Ratchet, but he still needs help. Besides, he's not that menacing anymore. I doubt he even remembers who we are." Sari proceeded to put the key into the hole on Swindle's stomach, allowing the Allspark energy to flow over him and heal his wounds. "There, all better." She smiled down at the baby bot. Swindle gurgled and cooed happily, never once taking his optics off the human in front of him.

"This can only mean one thing," Ratchet shook his head.

"There's another piece of the Allspark out there with the ability to turn back time." Optimus finished, bending down on one knee to get a closer look at the baby Decepticon.

"But how did Swindle get hold of it?" Prowl asked.

"I guess that's something we're gonna have to find out for ourselves." Optimus straightened back up. "Where to start is the main problem. Another question we should be asking is how did Swindle end up on our doorstep. No one knows about this place except for the Constructicons," Optimus glared in Bulkhead's direction, "and I highly doubt they would have any interest in dropping a Decepticon infant by for us to baby-sit."

"And I doubt Swindle walked here by himself." Ratchet added, calmly watching as Swindle took a few steps before falling on his skidplate, Sari picking him up and setting him back on his feet. Swindle squealed in delight and reached his tiny hands out for Sari to pick him up and hold him. Sari couldn't resist and gave in to the huge, pleading, purple optics staring back at her.

"The Elite Guard knows about this place." Bulkhead added.

"Bulkhead, they aren't here on earth anymore." said Optimus.

"Oh, yeah, right."

"Uhhh… am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?" said Bumblebee.

"Nope," Ratchet sighed. "I'm getting one now, too. Wherever there's one sparkling, there's bound to be more—or soon will be."

"It's too late to think about this tonight." Optimus sighed. "Swindle can stay here with us and tomorrow we can start searching for some answers."

The rest of the night went by without anymore interesting interruptions. Everyone finished their work and movies and whatever else they were doing and headed toward their rooms. After having to sit through and listen to a stream of angry complaints from Ratchet, Sari carried Swindle to her bedroom and placed him down on her tire bed. Bumblebee came in behind her and peered over the girl at the small Decepticon that continued to wriggle about while sucking on his thumb and making curious noises that, Sari assumed, was common baby gibberish among sparklings.

"So what are you going to do with him?" Bumblebee asked.

"Let him sleep in my bed," Sari smiled, "Just like when you were turned into a baby the last time."

"You're actually going to let that—that crooked Decepticon con artist sleep in your bed?!" Bumblebee gasped. "Sari, I know you feel sorry for him, but do you think that's a good idea?"

"Well, it's clear that he's not going to make any deals or sell me anything right now." Sari pointed in Swindle's direction. The Decepticon was contentedly lying on the bed, thumb in mouth, and optic lids slowly closing in sleep. "Besides, do you really want me to leave him in Ratchet's care?"

"Coming to think of it, Ratchet would probably take him apart and rearrange him into a vacuum cleaner."

"Exactly," Sari hopped up onto her bed and grabbed Swindle. The sparkling squeaked in glee before curling up into Sari's arms. Bumblebee smiled before leaving and starting toward his own room.

It was four o'clock in the morning when Sari was awakened by the sound of crying—an ear-piercing wailing right beside her left ear. She jolted upright and peered through the darkness at Swindle. She felt the little Decepticon thrashing about and kicking the covers in a violent fury while he continued to voice his displeasure in the highest of decibels. A human baby crying was one thing, but to hear a baby robot crying was a totally different experience and one that Sari didn't wish to go through at early hours of the morning. Not being able to make out what the problem was, she leaned over and turned on the lamp setting on her makeshift night table. Swindle continued to scream and holler at the highest level possible. Sari grimaced as she turned to pick up the sparkling.

"Swindle," Sari started, again cringing at the crying, "Swindle, it's okay, I'm right here. What's wrong?" She cradled the bot next to her, dodging Swindle's flailing arms and legs. As if she needed more problems, a slight knock was suddenly heard at the door.

"Come in." Sari called before a yawn escaped her lips. The door opened and in walked a recharge deprived Bumblebee who sleepily staggered forward.

"What's wrong?" he asked, coming up to Sari's bed.

"You heard him all the way down the hall?" the girl moved her head out of the way of one of Swindle's maddened fists.

"Sari, I think people on the other side of the world can hear him."

The girl cringed as she tried soothing Swindle's wailing, which was by now starting to get on her nerves. She bounced the infant up and down and talked to him soothingly and even forced one of her stuffed animals toward him, but no matter what she did, Swindle was not going to stop for nothing. In a fit of frustration, he violently pushed the stuffed teddy bear that Sari was holding in front of him out of the way and screamed harder and louder. Bumblebee put his hands over his audio receptors and gritted his teeth.

"I don't know what's wrong with him!" Sari shouted over the shrill crying.

"Wha?" Bumblebee took his hands away from his receptors. "I can't hear you over the air raid siren!" he shouted back.

"I said—" Sari's words were cut off when she caught sight of Ratchet coming into the room. Bumblebee followed her gaze. The old medic wore a grouchy, annoyed look on his face and he carried a small bottle in one of his hands. He walked up to Sari and handed her the bottle.

"Hurry and give it to him before we all go deaf!" Ratchet mumbled.

She took it and grabbed hold of Swindle and placed the bottle's nipple in his mouth. The sparkling immediately hushed his crying and greedily began feeding on the sweet oil that the bottle held. Everyone sighed in relief at the quietness that filled the room.

"Thank the Allspark," Ratchet breathed before turning to leave. Once the old bot was out of sight, Bumblebee turned to look at Sari and Swindle. Swindle was now contentedly curled up in Sari's arms, half dozing, as he continued to gulp down however much oil the bottle would allow.

When sunrise came, the Autobot base started stirring with action. Sari fed Swindle and then settled down in the common room in hopes of keeping the little sparkling quiet and out of everyone's way. It soon proved harder than she thought. Swindle was full of energy and curiosity and wanted to wander everywhere. It was useless to keep him contained to one spot, so Sari followed him wherever he wished to go, unless it was just too dangerous to allow him there. Then the room was filled with an outburst of screaming and crying as Sari carried a kicking sparkling back to where they were before. Once Swindle was placed on the floor again, the crying would always stop and he'd turn right back around and attempt to go in the same direction. Aside from the momentary frustrations, Sari had to admit that it was pretty easy since Swindle couldn't walk all that well and thus couldn't go too far, too fast. He would take several quick steps before staggering and falling either forward or backward.

A few hours passed by and Bumblebee came into the room. He walked over to where Sari was trying to keep Swindle entertained with some books and stuffed animals.

"Keeping the little brat out of trouble?" he asked, approaching the two.

"Bumblebee!" Sari scolded.

"Just kidding," Bumblebee reached down and playfully rubbed Swindle's cheek with one of his fingers. Swindle scrunched his face plates up in a 'not amused' way before locking teeth tightly into the yellow and black digit.

"YEEEOW!!" Bumblebee screamed while grabbing for his injured finger. "Man, what was that for?"

"Probably for when you called him a brat," Sari smiled, "He might be a baby, but he's smart."

"Yeah—smart like the scheming Decepticon he really is."

Swindle stuck his tongue out at Bumblebee before crossing his arms over his chest. Sari had to suppress a chuckle.

"What goes on in here?" said Ratchet, coming into the room. "I thought I heard a scream."

"That little Decepticon brat tried to eat me!" Bumblebee replied, pointing toward Swindle. "I barely got away alive."

"Bumblebee, he just bit your finger." Sari shook her head.

"I got bitten by a Decepticon, you mean! He probably infected me with some sort of horrible Autobot eating virus!" Bumblebee was on the verge of freaking out. "Will I live, doc?" Bumblebee stretched his wounded finger toward Ratchet, who in turn gave it a puzzled look. "I won't need shots will I? Please tell me I won't."

"Well…I…" Ratchet struggled to find words.

"I'll probably turn into something like that barnacle monster!" Bumblebee continued on.

"How can you accuse something like that of giving you a virus?" Sari gestured toward Swindle. Bumblebee and Ratchet turned to face the Decepticon sparkling, who was looking up at all of the staring faces in the most innocent way possible, his huge purple eyes filling up with tears. Ratchet sighed to himself before turning to walk off, purposely blocking out the argument and complaining that had, by now, broken out behind him.