That night, I almost cried myself to sleep. After Ratchet had laid me down on his berth and wandered off to do something, all my emotions seemed to catch up to me all at once. Within minutes, sobs were tearing through my body with such force that my body physically rocked. All I could think of was how much my life had changed in the past 24 hours; I had lost my husband, my best friend, my home, my baby, my life. Not that I wasn't incredibly grateful for the second chance I had been granted, but I had lost everything all at once and so much had happened since that I hadn't even had a chance to process my feelings. I didn't expect tears to leak from my optics either, but thick fat droplets began to drip down my cheeks as I shook.

"Oh dear," Ratchet's voice rang out from behind, and his weight settled on the berth beside where I was curled up. He murmured softly to me as he picked me up, and then sighed heavily as he gazed at my face. Concern and curiosity pulsed through the sparkbond, even as he said, "What's wrong, hm?"

It was like his worry was the last straw, because the dam broke. A shrieking wail broke out of me, and I curled towards him desperately. I had obviously startled him, but his hands curled around me protectively and held me closer. Wanting to offer at least some kind of explanation for why I was caterwauling uncontrollably, I pushed my main emotions towards him; grief, terror, loneliness. How was I going to fit in amongst the bots that had taken me in? I was an anomaly - even though I was part of their race now, I'd never really be one of them.

I could feel his confusion, but Ratchet was still nothing but soothing. He sent warm pulses of comfort, cooing intermittently, until my sobs had calmed into the odd mechanical hiccup. Once I had quietened a little, he began sending little bundles of acceptance and warmth to me. "It's going to be just fine," he murmured. Held as I was to his chest, I could feel the low thrumming of life from his spark within. It was soothing, and I relaxed further as the rumbling picked up in intensity, "Everyone is going to do their utmost to look after you. And don't mind Red Alert, he's a bit of a dolt." I gave a choked up little giggle, and Ratchet's face broke into a relieved little smile at the sound of it. I felt a little guilty at having caused him to worry - although at the same time, the fact that he worried at all made my chest feel warm.

Heaving a sigh out of his air vents in a warm gust, Ratchet lay back on the berth and tucked me into the nook between his arm and chest. It was warm and comfortable, and the knot of grief in my throat was eased by the feeling of calm and companionship vibrating down the bond. In my new position, I was asleep in minutes.

The next day, I was embarrassed by my behaviour. Just because I was in the body of a baby robot, didn't mean I had to act like one. Thankfully, Ratchet said nothing when he scooped me up and carried me back to the big room we had met all the bots in the day before. It was empty, so he took the opportunity to whip out the makeshift baby bottle he had fed me with before. There was no warnings about low fuel levels today, but I accepted the funny pink fluid anyways. I was halfway through the bottle when the doors to the room slid open, and the two bots that had found me in the wood strolled in, bickering. Above me, Ratchet sighed and pulled the bottle away from my mouth. A brief sense of irritation, nuisances, twins flashed through the bond, and I glanced at the red and yellow mechs and wondered absently how robots could be twins.

The red one, Sideswipe, I remembered, abandoned the good-natured ribbing of his brother and focused on Ratchet, grinning with bright optics. "Hey, Ratchet the Hatchet!"

"Leave." Ratchet said bluntly, pointedly not looking up.

However, Sideswipe's optics had caught on me and he came closer. "She's pretty small, huh? Is that normal?"

Sunstreaker peered over his brother's shoulder, his expression a torn mixture of curiosity and scorn. "She's puny."

"She is slightly underdeveloped," Ratchet confessed, shifting his grip on me so that my bottom was sitting in his hand, his other hand cupping around my stomach area. "It's difficult to tell if her size is due to her lack of proper nourishment, or if she''s just a small sparkling."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sideswipe nodded along, clearly not listening, "Hey, can I hold her?"

Ratchet actually looked affronted. "Of course not."

"What? Why not?"

"I don't trust you not to drop her."

"I found her!" Sideswipe pouted, "C'mon, I've the steadiest hands in the business!"

"He's just going to keep pestering until you say yes." Sunstreaker said irritably, folding his arms and scowling.

Ratchet's optics dimmed, and I could feel his chest expand as he took a deep intake of air. I got the distinct impression he was praying for patience. "If you drop her, I will weld you both to Ironhide's ceiling and let him use you as punching bags."

Sideswipe's reaching hands hesitated for half a second, but then he grinned cheerfully, "I won't drop her!". His grin widened even further when Ratchet carefully deposited me in his arms. He cooed at me, his voice vibrating delightedly. Unsure how to react to this turn of events, I glanced over at Ratchet. His optics were narrowed, and he was watching Sideswipe's every move like a hawk. Oblivious, Sideswipe kept rocking me back and forth. "Look, Sunny! Isn't she cute!"

"Stop calling me that," Sunstreaker muttered, before shrugging. "She's alright." That statement gained a look of pure offence from Ratchet, but I didn't mind too much - Sideswipe's steady rocking motions were soothing enough to send me into a semi-doze. I must have been more tired than I had originally thought from my night of unsettled sleep, because when I next onlined my optics and HUD, I saw that I had been offline for close to three hours. Startled, I tried to sit up only to nearly overbalance over the edge of Sideswipe's arm. Cursing colourfully, he managed to catch me just before I toppled to the floor.

"Sidesw-"

"It wasn't my fault!" Sideswipe yelled over Ratchet's furious exclamation, "She just moved really suddenly!"

Too late, I realised we were no longer alone in the big room - a metal balcony sort of thing stretched along the wall, and there was a collection of humans standing and watching us. The balcony was raised to Sideswipe's chest level, so it was almost uncomfortably easy for them to stare at me. Their attention was diverted from me to Ratchet as he marched over and extracted me from Sideswipe's arms, before tucking me into his own chest. "She could have been hurt!"

"But she wasn't-!"

I gurgled uncomfortably as Ratchet raised his fist, and he froze mid-motion to glance down at me then back at our human audience. They hadn't so much as blinked (although one dark-skinned man had rolled his eyes in exasperation), so I assumed this was a common enough occurrence. "If I wasn't holding a sparkling, I'd-"

A harsh metallic grinding cut Ratchet off mid-threat, and I craned my head around to see Optimus standing next to the balcony of humans. He was frowning, and I realised that the grinding sound had been his attempt at emulating a cough. "Perhaps we could get back to the matter at hand?"

Chastened, both Sideswipe and Ratchet stepped back and fell quiet. Ratchet began fussing softly over me, checking for non-existent scuffs and chattering quietly. I trilled back, and earned a pleased smile in response. When I turned my attention to what Optimus and the humans were discussing, however, it became clear that the matter at hand was me.

"-didn't agree to this." an officious looking man in a suit was saying, his face screwed up in distaste. "When we allowed you to stay on our planet, you said nothing about breeding."

"I understand that, Director. However, you must understand that our discovery of this sparkling was without precedent. We have not seen nor heard of a sparkling in many thousands of years; you must understand our own surprise at the discovery."

"You must understand the security risk that this thing poses to the United States and the world! If your kind can breed, then how long will it be until your population begins to grow enough that our species cannot sustainably co-habitate the planet? Will you leave peacefully, or will you colonise?"

Ratchet's fingers twitched around my stomach and Sideswipe emitted a soft growl of irritation, but Optimus appeared unmoved by the human's harsh tone. "Director Galloway, I assure you that your fears are unfounded. Molly may be the first sparkling seen in a long time, but it is my understanding that her existence is an anomaly. We have no intention of colonising your planet - we only wish to protect it and prevent the destruction wreaked on Cybertron by the Decepticons from befalling your planet as well. I have reiterated this many times."

A man in a white coat stepped forward, gaze intent upon me. He hardly glanced at Optimus, even as he addressed him. "If she is an anomaly, as you say, then we would be very interested in running some.. tests. The concept of metal beings growing-"

"No." Ratchet snarled, taking a step back and hiking me up protectively. His engine was roaring its displeasure, and some of the humans on the catwalk took a few nervous steps backwards.

The man remained unfazed. "We are still seeking to understand your kind. Running some experiments on a child of your species may assist in our technological advances-"

Optimus held up a hand in an attempt to placate Ratchet as he took another step back, hissing. "No, I will not be allowing that. Ratchet, I think it may be best if you and Sideswipe return to the recreation room."

I could feel Ratchet's whole-hearted agreement with Optimus' decision even as he whirled around and marched out of the room. The man began to speak again, but his voice was drowned out by Sideswipe's heavy footsteps as he actively put in effort to catch up with us. Once we were out in the hallway and the door had slid closed behind us, Ratchet let out a harsh, angry ventilation. "How dare they! What gives them the right to think that they could- that they might try to- experiment on my sparkling?"

"Um." Sideswipe's optics shuttered and unshuttered in a parody of a blink, clearly uncertain as to whether or not Ratchet actually expected an answer.

"My little girl!"

Sideswipe glanced at me nervously, as though hoping I could give him some sort of hint as to how to respond. I shrugged as best as I could with my tiny shoulders, and he turned back to Ratchet. "Yes." he said decisively.

Apparently taking Sideswipe's response as validation for his argument, Ratchet continued at a louder volume. "Sharing portions of our technology and weapons isn't enough for them anymore? Now they want to take pieces of infants?" He set off down the hall at a swift pace, Sideswipe stumbling to keep up. "The unbelievable nerve of them-!"

"Unbelievable." Sideswipe parroted.

Ratchet continued in that vein until we reached the big double doors of the rec room, which slid open to reveal a number of bots lounging within. They all glanced up, startled, as Ratchet stormed in, still ranting. There were a few faces I recognised from the day before, but some were unfamiliar. Sunstreaker was sprawled alone on one of the Cybertronian-sized couches, and raised an optic ridge as Ratchet grumbled and snarled to himself while seating himself in an armchair. He arranged me carefully on his knee, his gentle hands a contrast to his irate aura.

Across the room, Jazz shared a significant glance with Ironhide before casually sauntering over. "Hey mech, what's got yer panties all in a bunch?"

Suprisingly, Ratchet didn't take the opportunity to launch into another tirade. Instead, he remained quiet, choosing to cradle me close to his chest. The proximity to his spark was soothing, and I found myself drifting into a doze despite my best efforts. It was Sideswipe who ultimately answered Jazz's question after it became clear that Ratchet had no intention to speak up. "Just came from Prime's meeting with the humans. One of their scientists asked if they could run some experiments on her."

Jazz's mouth went tight, but he nodded in understanding. "I see." he said calmly, coming over and perching on the arm of the chair Ratchet had commandeered so he could peer into my face. "Issa good job she has the whole lot o' us to protect her then, ain't it?"

Ratchet's EM field relaxed marginally, and he sat back in the chair. "I suppose so, yes." he said gruffly, stroking at the top of my spine.

I clenched my hands around an armor plate in one of his arms, unsure how to even begin to respond. All I could do was push gratitude down the bond and hope he would understand the unspoken apology for being a burden.

Ratchet paused, and then frowned lightly at me. Instead of communicating his feelings in return through the bond, he murmured, "You have absolutely nothing to apologise for, little one. You are not being any sort of burden at all; we would never allow them to experiment on you."

Sideswipe glanced between the two of us, startled, and Jazz's expression softened completely as he leaned in even further. "Ah, li'l lady, you're already part o' the family, ay?" he tickled me under the chin, enticing a tiny little giggle out of my vocaliser.

Ratchet began to push feelings of comfort and safety down the bond, and I relaxed into his chest and offlined my optics. I dozed to the sounds of Jazz laughing at a joke from Sideswipe and the steady thrumming of Ratchet's spark, and fell asleep to the realisation that I hadn't felt as safe and wanted as I did in that minute in a long, long time.

If there's any chance that anyone remembers details/events about the early parts of the story, I'd love to hear from you !