Wow, didn't think this story would get so much so attention :) And to ratchetxme, I would never hate on Miko. I love her, and don't get why people hate on her. She makes the show more interesting, if it were just Jack and Raf, not much would happen :P But anyway, Chapter 2!
Optimus cocked his head to the side at the medic, noticing he wasn't transforming. "Ratchet, is everything alright?" He questioned, and looked to Bumblebee and Arcee, who had transformed already. "What is wrong with Ratchet?" When neither Arcee nor Bumblebee answered, Optimus looked back down at Ratchet, who had gone oddly silent. "Ratchet?"
The medic slowly opened his door, and everyone starred as a four year old hopped out of his cab, eyes looking straight at Optimus. "Wow, your big." She said. Jack had dropped his remote. Raf had kept his remote in his hand, but his jaw had slacked down it looked ready to fall off. Miko starred wide eyed, leaning against Bulkheads shoulder. Arcee and Bumblebee simply looked to Optimus, who starred calmly down at the child. Ratchet transformed, shame in his optics as he looked down at the ground. This would just cause Optimus more trouble, and he never wanted to give his leader more things to worry about with a war on his hands.
But, much to Ratchets surprise, Optimus was not angry, or frustrated, but bent down, and smiled at the girl, who walked up to him, eyes wide and full of curiosity. "Yes, I am quite big, aren't I?" He said kindly. "My name is Optimus. Now little one, now that you know who I am, do you know what I am?" Sophie looked at him, and rocked on her heels.
"Uh, a robot." She said, looking back to Ratchet for a moment before looking back to Optimus.
Optimus let out a small chuckle, and shook his head. "I am an Autobot, or as you said, a living robot." He explained. Optimus knew he couldn't explain it to her like he had to the others, her small mind couldn't handle it, and she would probably barely understand half a word he had said. "But I am a very special robot. I am a, 'alien', as you Humans call it." Sophie's eyes went wide at this. She'd watched E.T. several times, and knew that aliens were from another planet. And knew what people did to aliens. But she had always shielded her eyes when they were examining his body, all grey and wrinkled. The first time she'd watched the movie, she had had nightmares about that part.
"You're an E.T?" Sophie said in disbelief. Optimus cocked his head to the side at this, and looked up to see Miko rolling her eyes.
"It's this old movie about an alien." She explained, and Optimus nodded, quickly searching up the movie. Once done, he looked down to see the Human youngling no longer in front of him, but walking up to Miko, who simply crossed her arms. "And they're not E.T.'s, they're Autobots. Alien robots from another planet." Sophie simply blinked. "Say it with me. AU-TO-BOT." Miko said slowly. "They're aliens. Like, aliens, not from Earth." Miko knew she wasn't getting it, but tried. She sighed, walking back towards Bulkhead. "Never mind."
Sophie simply shrugged slightly, and walked back to Optimus. "Now that you know about us youngling," Optimus began. "You cannot tell anyone." Sophie nodded, though slightly confused. Why couldn't she tell someone? She saw nothing wrong with them, why'd she have to keep a secret. "Do you promise?" Optimus snapped her out of her thoughts, and she smiled.
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Sophie said, making an X right across her heart. She was little, but she could keep secrets. The older kids always gossiped, and she would always keep the secret, but naturally, the so called 'secrets', would get around. Optimus smiled, and stood up, looking to Ratchet who had gone to check the screens. Optimus carefully stepped over the girl, and walked towards Ratchet, placing a servo on his shoulder.
"Ratchet, she will now be your charge." Ratchet simply grunted in response, clearly annoyed by the statement. "Come now Ratchet, it won't be that bad. The rest of the Autobots have their own charges, it will make no difference if you get one." Optimus chuckled, patting as his shoulder as he walked away. "It could do you some good old friend, you could learn a thing or two from a Human."
Ratchet didn't want to say anything but he secretly wished that Optimus could take the child instead of himself. Ratchet simply groaned, trying hard to ignore the child at his feet. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the three Guardians leaving with their charges. Ratchet turned, hands on his metal hips. "And where exactly are you going?"
"Out to do stuff. Me and Bulk are going to driving around." Miko said, legs dangling as she sat on Bulkheads shoulder. Ratchet rolled his optics at the girl, knowing the phrase, 'driving around', meant doing dangerous stunts, and coming back with dents and scratches.
"Me and Bee are going back down towards town to check out the new release of this game." Raf said, excitement in his, and Bumblebees eyes.
"Gotta go to work." Ratchet nodded towards Jack, seeing a good, responsible reason for him to leave. Ratchet turned back to the screen, and heard them leave. Ratchet looked down to see Sophie, poking his foot curiously. "Okay, let's get some things straight." Ratchet bent down, picking her up by the scruff of the neck. "No sneezing, no poking, no talking, no humming, no wriggling, no asking me questions, no sighing, no moaning, no whining, and most important, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!" With that, Ratchet set her down on the couch in the corner, getting back to work.
Sophie looked at Ratchet for a moment, cocking her head to the side. Why was he so mean? She hadn't done anything wrong. Had she? Shuffling around, she got off the couch, and walked towards the edge of the metal balcony, looking at a very focused Ratchet. "Ratchet." The medic simply grunted in response. "Are you mad at me?" Now Ratchet looked down at her.
"No, I am not mad at you, I simply don't like Humans." He said, looking back to the screen. "They usually give me headaches." Sophie looked down, and sat down, watching Ratchets fingers as he typed. She looked up to the screens to see wavy things on there, and that reminded her of the ocean, and the ocean reminded her of water, and water reminded her of…..
"Watchet I gotta go potty!" Ratchet jumped in alarm at the voice, and looked at Sophie to see her crossing her legs, wriggling around as she bit her lip. "I REALLY gotta go potty Watchet!" She squirming even harder. Ratchet looked at Sophie for a moment, and blinked. What did, 'potty', even mean?
"What's a, 'potty'?" He questioned, and Sophie let out a whine.
"I gotta pee! I'm gonna explode!" Sophie cried. Ratchets optics widened in realization. He knew what she meant now. But explode? Could Humans actually do that? Shaking off the thoughts, he picked her up, and quickly ran towards the Humans bathroom, fearing that she would lubricate on his servo, dropping her off at the bathroom door, she ran in, and slammed the door shut. Ratchet shook his head, and stood at the entrance, tapping his foot impatiently. He heard a flush, and the click of the lock unlocking, and out came a relieved looking Sophie.
"Now, are you finished?" He said, and Sophie nodded with a smile. Her constant smiling was starting to irk him, and he was suddenly wondering if Miko was right when she said he hated everything happy. Maybe that was true…But, he couldn't bother thinking about it right now. The alarms had suddenly gone off, and had scared Sophie so bad she looked ready to wet her pants. She flung herself onto Ratchet leg, though the medic almost threw her off as he ran towards the scanner, and groaned. His worst nightmare.
Agent Fowler had just arrived.
Ratchet looked down at Sophie. "Don't move, and keep quite." He ordered, and Sophie nodded, clinging harder to his ankle. Ratchet watched as the black man came from the elevator, looking frustrated and tired as usual. He leaned against the railing, and opened his mouth to speak. "I'm sorry Agent Fowler, but Optimus is currently on patrol." Ratchet said before the man could speak.
Fowler looked at Ratchet a moment longer, and grumbled under his breath. "Does he know what's been going on in Pennsylvania? While he's been lazing around, the 'Cons have been stealing priceless relics? They stole the Liberty Bell! How are we supposed to cover up that?" Fowler demanded, pounding his fist against the rails.
"I will inform Optimus of this information." Ratchet said as calmly as he could. Sophie was starting to squirm on his ankle, and he felt the sweat forming on her small hands. Fowler starred at him suspiciously, but turned his back on the mech, walking back towards the elevator. Ratchet stood there until he knew the Human was gone, he lifted his foot, Sophie dropping right onto the ground on her bottom. Ratchet scanned his ankle, and saw that none of her sweat had gotten onto his armor. Good.
Sophie looked at Ratchet, then to the elevator, then back at Ratchet. "Who was that man? What was he talking about? Where's Pennsylvania? What's a 'Con? Who's-?"
"Did your parents ever tell you you ask too many questions?" Ratchet said, optics narrowing at her. But Sophie shook her head. "They should." He grunted, and looked back to the scanner.
"But they can't." Ratchet looked away from the scanner for a moment, and looked down to Sophie.
"And why is that?"
"Because they went up to Heaven."
Ratchets optics widened at that, and looked down at the girl, who sat cross legged, and simply looked at Ratchet without sadness. Ratchet knew what Heaven was, which made him shocked by her facial expression. It was where Humans supposedly went when they offlined, died. Miko had her host parents, and real parents in Japan, Jack had his mother, and Raf had his rather large family, but Ratchet didn't know how to respond to that.
"The big kids at the orphanage said that Heavens all the way up there, and that they have birdy wings so they can fly." She said, and Ratchet simply shuddered his optics. "My daddy liked robots, he was a, a mechna….mechnic….." Sophie searched for the word.
"Mechanic." Ratchet said, voice sounding a bit distant.
"Yeah, that. He would have liked to see you Watchet." She said, and touched his foot again, though Ratchet didn't say a word. "Mommy didn't have no job though, she always stayed at home with me. Then, when daddy went to work, me and my mommy were at home, mommy got really scared 'cause it was getting dark, so she went over to daddy's shop." Sophie paused for a second, looking at the ground. "She left me at home, and I waited at home a long time, until these big police men came." She explained. "They said my mommy wasn't coming home, said she was going away up to Heaven for a long time."
Ratchet cocked his head to the side slightly. Did she not understand they were dead? He now knew her parents had been murdered in some sort of way, but it seemed she didn't get that her parents were never coming home. Ratchet felt his spark soften for her, and bent down, gently picking her up in his servos. "Sophie," She looked him right in the optics. "I don't think their ever going to come home." The girl just blinked at him, and walked over to the edge of his servos, touching his faceplate.
"Then will you be my daddy?"
Those words hit Ratchet right in the processer, and a voice in the back of his head was going, "Go dump her back over to whatever orphanage she came from, and forget this day ever happened!" But, he and Optimus had raised Bumblebee back on Cybertron, and the same thing had happened to him. The little yellow Sparkling that once was Bumblebee had asked him the same question when they told him his creators had died. But Ratchet snapped back to reality, and shook his head. "No, I cannot be your, 'daddy'. I am simply your Guardian Sophie." He stated, and Sophie blinked at him.
"Okay Watchet." She said, giving him a smile. "I like you as a Guardian." Ratchet simply rolled his optics at her, and heard the sound of tires. The medic looked over his shoulder to see Optimus walking towards him. Sophie waved at him. "Hi Otmus!" The Prime simply smiled at the name, and looked to Ratchet.
"Optimus, we need to talk." Ratchet said, and set Sophie down on the ground, shooing her off to wherever else there was to go. Once alone, Ratchet sighed. "Optimus, I found, interesting news about Sophie." He said, looking away from his leader. "It appears that her parents were murdered." Ratchet flicked his optics towards Optimus, who's optics had gone slightly wide, then away again. "I do not know how long ago, but I don't think it was recently. But don't say anything, she doesn't exactly know that their dead." Optimus cocked an optic ridge at him, but nodded. Ratchet nodded towards him, not saying a word about her asking him to be her father. He would tell him later, but not right now.
Optimus turned, and walked towards Sophie, who sat on the couch as she reached her hand in through the cracks of the cushions. Optimus reached the railing, and Sophie looked back at him, and jumped off the couch, running over to meet his face. "Sophie, it appears that you will be staying with us until we get everything figured out." Ratchets jaw dropped as Sophie looked overjoyed. He thought they were just going to take her back, not keep her here! He couldn't take a Human being here 24 hours a day! He could barely take them if they stayed for more than one hour! She would be here all day, seven days a week, too much for the medic. And worst of all, she was getting attached to him, and he feared he would get attached to her.
"But Optimus-" Ratchet cut himself off, not wanting to say anything against his leader. Primes word was law, and Ratchet lived by that. The medic simply turned back to the controls, wishing, hoping, that Fowler wouldn't be coming anytime soon. Then he would be getting his aft whooped. But, as long as the Human Sparkling was here, he would be nice. Or at least try.
