AN: Okay, so the story has barely been up for a day and I've gotten fantastic feedback already! I'm so happy people like it. You people who added to alerts should come out and say hello! I'm flattered you like it enough to add it, so I won't bite. I promise. I know Sides is a little out of character right now, but he has reasons, which are hinted at in this chapter. This is pre-war, if I'm not being clear enough on that. Sunstreaker will be in the next chapter, finally. I don't expect being able to do daily updates, but I'll update as often as I can. I'm going to try to make the chapters a little bit longer next time around.
I know, I still didn't say who the sparkling was. But maybe someone can guess this time around, hm? Internet cookies if you can guess it right.
Disclaimer: I don't own, much to my dismay.
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"Put it down on the table," Ratchet said. He gave the sparkling a quick look over while Sideswipe was holding him. That gash looked nasty.
"Him," Sideswipe said. He moved over to the table and gently lowered the sparkling to the table top. The sparkling clutched at him for a moment but let Sideswipe set him down without fuss.
"Him, it, right now I don't care." Ratchet was careful to keep his tone soft. He didn't mind ripping Sideswipe and that Pit-born twin of his a new one, but sparklings got much gentler treatment from the medic. He moved slowly around the skittish little one, scanning more than physically exploring the wounds. Sideswipe wisely moved out of the way. Both older mechs noticed the sparkling's optics follow Sideswipe and made a note of it.
Body scans of the sparkling turned up relatively okay. Something that Ratchet was greatly thankful for. That gash had rust on it, and that was dangerous for anyone, let alone a sparkling this young. Ratchet didn't bother asking how the sparkling had gotten it. Sideswipe wouldn't have known, and Ratchet didn't want to pry into the darker aspects of the twins' exploits anyway.
Ratchet reached out and touched the area around the gash on the sparkling's head. He couldn't help but give a sympathy wince. The pain receptors had been disabled, probably to keep him from crying out, so it wasn't directly hurting him. Other systems would start getting painful if…
"Slag," Ratchet swore. He quickly but softly initiated the sparkling's temporary stasis lock.
"What? What's wrong?" Sideswipe asked.
Ratchet was grabbing for his tools. "The rust is in his CPU. Some of his chips are corrupted by it." He started scraping at the brown spots. "In the cabinet there should be some rust remover."
Sideswipe didn't ask any more questions, just grabbed the remover and passed it on.
--
It took Ratchet a few hours to be satisfied with the sparkling's conditions. He covered the gash with a flexi-seal.
"How is he?" Sideswipe asked.
"The rust didn't spread any further than there, but there's nothing I can do about the corrupted chips," Ratchet answered. "He's going to have a glitch."
Sideswipe grimaced. "How bad?"
Ratchet shook his head. "I don't know. Sparkling's heal fast and better than younglings and adults. It won't ever go completely away, but he should be able to function on a normal level." Sideswipe nodded. Ratchet watched him for a long moment. "Why did you bring him to me?"
"Because you're the best medic I know. And you wouldn't ask questions or anything like that."
"What are you going to do with him?"
"I don't know. I didn't really think that far. I couldn't leave him there." Sideswipe shook his head and looked up at Ratchet. Ratchet could see the anger burning in the red twin's optics. Ratchet stared back until Sideswipe looked away again. "I'm not going to let that kind of thing happen while I can stop it. Having a third mech in the apartment won't be so hard. I mean, Sunny will just have to move his art stuff or something."
"You're going to keep him?" Ratchet asked, disbelief coloring his voice. "How do you intend to do that? You and Sunstreaker are barely supporting yourselves."
"We'll figure something out, Ratchet. Besides, didn't you and 'Jack always tell us we should give what we get? You and 'Jack gave me and Sunny a place, so I'm going to give back."
Ratchet shook his head, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. "You pick the strangest times to listen to things I said vorns ago." He reached up and gave Sideswipe a soft knock on the head. "I'll give you the data uploads of sparkling care."
"How long until he comes out of stasis?"
"I'll bring him up out of it in a few joors. Give some time for that flexi-seal to take good hold."
"How are things at the Academy?"
"Fair. The higher ups are getting edgy about something, but no one really knows what yet." Ratchet sifted through databanks on his terminal. "You have any insight into it?"
"Nothing concrete. There's rumors flying around about some mech causing a stir over in Kaon. It's been awhile since I've been over there, so I haven't seen him myself."
"You better not be planning on going back there. I'll have your processor as an ornament if I find either of you thinking about it."
"Nah, we aren't going back to there. We're not quite that stupid." Or desperate, Sideswipe thought to himself.
"With you two, one can never tell." Ratchet flicked open the upload port. "There's the files you'll need."
Sideswipe reached out a hand, data cable unfurling from under his wrist. He plugged into the port and downloaded the information. "Yikes."
"It ain't so easy to keep a sparkling."
"Nope, but we'll figure something out."
"Why don't you take him to someone? You and Sunstreaker..."
"Because he's mine now. You know how much I like to share. Besides, I gave up good credits for the little squirt." Sideswipe disconnected his cable and looked back at the sparkling. "Can I give him a bath here? Sunshine will have a fit if I get the apartment dirty."
"Yeah, just don't get and cleaner in that gash. I'll pull him out of stasis once you're done. Don't need him flailing while you're cleaning him."
Ratchet turned back to his terminal, reading up on some new medical texts from the CMO of the Academy. Sideswipe filled a container big enough for the sparkling to sit in with warm water and grabbed a bottle of cleanser. He carefully scooped up the sparkling and held it in the container, keeping its head out of the water. Washing proved to be a little challenging with one hand. When he said as much, Ratchet just smirked back at him in an irritating smug way.
"All clean. All dry." Sideswipe settled the little mech back on the table, keeping the towel underneath of him. Ratchet came over and looked the sparkling over. He nodded, satisfied with Sideswipe's wash job, and gently brought the sparkling out of stasis.
The sparkling's optics onlined immediately. His intakes took in a sharp breath of air as he looked around. When he caught sight of Sideswipe, he calmed marginally. "Well, at least we know he likes you. Now get out before that thing starts whining for energon. I've got reading to do."
Sideswipe smiled and gave Ratchet a mock salute. "I owe you, as always. I'll probably owe you more by the end of the orn. I was supposed to pick up some supplies for Sunny with the credits I would have gotten."
"You really are askin' for trouble today."
"It would be a boring day if I didn't."
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Hope ya'll liked the chapter. I'm going to work on some more today, so hopefully I'll be able to get more up soon.