Chapter 3
Replacing The Missing Role
Ratchet has been checking on Prowl very often since he was brought into the medbay by Optimus Prime. His depression became extremely severe, he was forced put into emergency stasis lock for a while until he would regain his consciousness and stabilizing his processor. It seems the grieving father has finally recharging peacefully after going through rough weeks since the passing of his bondmate. As for his newborn sparkling, however, Ratchet is making sure once Jetfire will be arriving to Earth soon, he will be helping her to activate the carrier's protocol system so she'll be able to produce and nursing to Prowl's sparkling. He believed this is very important since Bumblebee is no longer there, caring for her sparkling since her passing.
Sighing after checking on Prowl's system, he decides to leave the medbay patient's room and enters his other room to do some datapad readings. He is still wondering and sparkbroken as knowing what went wrong when Bumblebee was birthing her only sparkling with Prowl. She had been there to all the appointments with him and making sure both she and her sparkling were perfectly healthy until the day of her son was born. The old medic is still not satisfied with the final report from Wheeljack and Red Alert. He still believe there's more than just 'Abnormal Energon Line Explosion'. He thought it may had something to do with Bumblebee's past event.
I'm not sure what it is. But my spark is telling me something. He thought.
Maybe I should contact Red Alert first and begin asking her some questions.
Suddenly, the door is knocking and Ratchet's processor is interrupt. He got up from his chair of his desk and walking towards to the door so he can check of who it is. Once he open the door after checking, he is very surprised of who is here. It's Jetfire; with her soft, warm smile on her faceplate.
"Hello, Ratchet." She greets to the old medic.
"Well, hello there, Jetfire! I'm glad you've finally come to our base since the last time we spoke. Please, come in."
Ratchet give a warm hug to Jetfire as the orange Elite Guard returns her hug to him. It's been a while for the both of them to see each other once again since she visited the last time with her twin brother, Jetstorm. The old medic is glad she is online and well after surviving from a spark attack, thanks to the spark transplant. She looks very healthy within her system and thankfully, her new spark hasn't rejected from her system just yet. However, Ratchet still want to check on her later, just to be safe and making sure she is healthy.
"I know. It's been a while since then." She says. "I believe it's too soon to ask you, though. However, I would like to know how's Prowl and his sparkling were been doing."
Ratchet nodded with concern as he's willing to answer Jetfire's question. He would be gladly to inform her with the grieving father's status of his system since he is still recovering from the tragedy. He is also letting her know for the sparkling's well-being since his mother passed away. The old medic trust Jetfire with all his spark, knowing she would be a good stepmother towards the little sparkling with love and tenderness. If only Prowl is ready to accepts once he would be back online very soon as he thought about it.
"I bet Jazz had already explained to you of what happened with Prowl's state. It turns out he's getting better since I put him an emergency stasis lock. Although he's not online yet, his processor is beginning to calm for now."
"So, Prowl was in stasis lock?"
The old medic never realize that Jetfire seems worry and concern for Prowl's health. Of course, she is not bonded with him but imagine if she were, she wanted to make sure he's alright. However, he smiles as he's reassuring her that the black and gold cyberninja will turnout to be ok.
"Don't worry, he should be back online sometime by tomorrow. As for his sparkling, however, he is recharging with Sari right now. She has been watching him every evening from now on since Elita had to leave with a different team for a while. She trusted her to take care of Prowl's sparkling until you join us to the base."
"Oh, how lovely that she is taking care of her best friend's sparkling. I can feel she must've missed Bumblebee a lot."
Ratchet nodded with sadness. He wished Bumblebee was online and caring for her sparkling as a first-time mother. However, he is grateful for a precious fond memories of her, despite the old medic always getting after her in the early days when they first met. Of course, she was always been a mischievous bot all the time especially playing tricks on Prowl. But everything changed when she began to fall for the black and gold after earning his respect with love and happily bonded together. Unfortunately, their bonding had ended tragically when Bee died and Prowl is alone in despair as he is still struggling raising his newborn sparkling without his bondmate. And he isn't the only bot who misses her very dearly to his spark. Sari misses her best friend a lot as well and she was devastated after finding out about Bee's passing. As Ratchet thought, she only wish the yellow carrier was still online and helping her with her 'little brother'. The old medic sighs as he wanted to check on her later with the help from Jetfire.
"She sure have." He said while frowning on his faceplate with sadness.
"When Bumblebee was online, she refused to leave that little girl out of sight. She always been protecting her since they met on the first day. She'd even been treated her like her own daughter and hanging out together all the time even before bonded with Prowl."
Jetfire remembered the fondness friendship between Sari and Bumblebee. She is still wondering how the techno-organic teen been doing since losing her best friend. Of course, it must been hard for her to cope while grieving. But she still want to check as making sure Bumblebee's organic best friend is alright and not confined like Prowl did after the tragedy. Jetfire decides to ask an important question to Ratchet about Sari's reaction.
"How did she reacted to the news of Bumblebee's passing?" She asks.
Ratchet thought for a moment as he did remembered few weeks ago on the day of Bee's passing. He wish not to remember nor discuss about Sari's reaction to the yellow carrier's death. Since Jetfire is concern and a soon-to-be stepmother to Prowl's sparkling, it's the best for the old medic to explain some details with her. He didn't want to but he have to as a way to getting rid of the painful memory that he had been holding for a longtime.
"Her reaction to Bumblebee's death was devastated and she had refused to leave the medbay berth by the carrier's side. She was constantly asked me why it happened. I didn't have a answer for that moment because I wanted to know as well why it happened. However, she managed pulling through two days later with the help from Jazz and Bulkhead. She had finally accepted her best friend's fate as she did when her pet died." He explains.
"From the beginning since the next day after Prowl's sparkling was born, she was at first having a hard time accepting Bumblebee's death. She won't believed it and she had begged me through her tears that it's just only a dream. She even used to blamed the newborn sparkling for what she thought, killing his own mother. Well, same thing goes with Prowl, unfortunately. Except he doesn't blamed it on his son for the tragedy. But rather he refused to look at or holding him until Jazz came to help him through. It was tough at first but he was finally able to hold his son for the first time, even without his son's mother."
Ratchet still doesn't want to talk about the tragic event. Of course, he is a medic; he was considered require to face the tragedy of his teammate even if there's no way to save a life. He already talked with Optimus Prime about it when the leader asked for the grieving father's well-being. The both of them were still concerned for sparkling's needs without his mother during the few days of his new life. Until he remembered when Bumblebee told Prowl of her final wish right before she was dying in that moment, she wanted her bondmate to take care of their sparkling and raising with Jetfire. The old medic wasn't sure if Prowl would accept Jetfire as a stepmother to the little sparkling as he overheard it before the birth of their little one. However, without hesitation, Ratchet would be gladly honoring Bumblebee's wish for the sake of the sparkling's well-being. That's when he had a serious conversation with Sentinel Prime as the leader of the Elite Guard had finally accepted his former student's final request.
Jetfire, however, wasn't there when her friend died, due to being in stasis lock after having a spark attack. After receiving the tragic news, she was glad to accept the offer as honoring her friend's wish and she is determined to raise and taking care of the little sparkling. Whether Prowl is okay with it or not, she is only cares about the sparkling's needs and resolving the conflict with the cyberninja later, whenever he is ready without grief. She hopes if her passing bondmate is watching over her, he doesn't mind for her to taking care of Prowl's sparkling in the time of need.
"I hope your team need some of my help while coping with the loss." Jetfire offers.
"It must be hard going through when a teammate died."
Ratchet nodded with agreement.
"Well, sure it is hard. Especially way before they were bonded, we thought we lost Prowl for good after the final battle. And Bumblebee didn't found out at all until we were able to resurrected him and put him in emergency stasis lock. So we had to lied to her while she didn't know Prowl had died for a while until he went back to online once again."
"Did she knew he was dead for entire time?"
Ratchet chuckles as he remembered the time that Prowl was resurrected and the cyberninja ended up told his future bondmate.
"I told Prowl as a warning don't tell Bee that he was dead. Unfortunately, he told her anyway because he hate lying and she came to me with screaming. You know, worst as her carrying cycle's symptoms. And I've never seen her that mad before, especially she had an attitude problem in the past."
Jetfire laughs playfully after listening. She remembered when she was around with Bumblebee during patrol duty, the yellow scout was sometimes having a attitude problem like she's ready to pick a fight with someone, whoever messes with her or her friends. She was managed to controlled it after Optimus Prime lecturing her for two hours and ended up being punished by doing some of the monitor duty for a week or two. She hated that kind of punishment and thought it was not fair. However, she sort of did learned her lesson and ended up apologized to Boss-bot for her behavior.
Way before she was bonded and became carrying with her first sparkling, she used to be a mischievous bot who refused to listen any bot (except Bulkhead, of course, because they're were best friends) and she was often irresponsible sometimes. She was always playing her favorite video games, watching the television all day, or hanging out with Sari without permission to leave the base during monitor duty. Prowl used to hate her a lot in the past because of her actions and not being productive like Bulkhead. She used to sneaked up on him everytime he was doing mediation in his room or doing some combat training. She had always pulling pranks on him and sometimes ended up getting hit on her helm by the cyberninja, for playing tricks on him. From time to time, Prowl was often impatient with her along with the sparkling acts and always loud as she was refused to be silent. She even acted like a sparkling sometimes, driving Prowl's processor crazy.
Meanwhile, Ratchet thought of something that he would never forget. He remembered that Prowl was suddenly had a changed of spark after saving Bumblebee from falling off the cliff during the camping trip with Sari and Jazz. He is not sure how the story goes or why it did happened. However, he believed that it was the beginning of their love story since Bumblebee had changed her mischievous behavior, probably developed feelings towards the cyberninja. They were dating for a while until Prowl proposed her to be his bondmate and hoping for happily ever after in their future.
And you know where the story goes: they got bonded, they're were expecting their first sparkling, and their bond had tragically ended when Bumblebee died of giving birth. Pretty much Ratchet doesn't like the ending of their love story, especially for Prowl who is now alone with a sparkling to care for. But that is not a happily ever after story supposed to end. He is attempting to repair the love story by honoring Bumblebee's wish and invited Jetfire to raise and taking care of her sparkling as a replacing role. The only thing he wanted to add to that story is Prowl's support. Hopefully for the cyberninja, he would at least allow her to raise his newborn sparkling while he is still coping with the loss.
On the contrast, however, he really want the cyberninja to be there with Jetfire once he will be online very soon. He doesn't have to fall in love with her immediately after the passing of his bondmate. He just want for Prowl is be patient with her and stays with her while caring for his sparkling until he is ready to move on. He notices as Jetfire is suddenly begin to yawn, seeing how dark is it by looking outside from the medic's window. It's late and Ratchet wants to make sure the orange Elite Guard to get some rest.
"I think you should recharge right now." He suggest.
"You've seems exhausted since you got here. Especially it's almost late and I have to comm. link Sari's dad to pick her up since she has the big test tomorrow."
"I am fine, Ratchet." She reassure the old medic. However, Ratchet insist as for the sake of her health and her spark.
"Listen, Jetfire. I want you to recharge fully tonight because tomorrow morning, I will activate your system with the carrier's protocol."
"Carrier's protocol?" Jetfire is suddenly questioning by surprise.
"Why would you want me to activate my system with the carrier's protocol?" She ask.
Ratchet nodded as Jetfire is asking a concern question. He would be glad to explain it to her as he wanted her to be ready with.
"It's very simple. All I need to do is examining your spark from your spark chamber and checking to make sure your spark and its signature is healthy and strong enough. Next, I will have to check your energon cell count by connecting onto your medical port; located from the side of your chassis; so I can see if there's enough flows from your system with the help of the scanner."
Jetfire nodded as she is continue to listen the very important information from Ratchet before the tomorrow's appointment.
"And finally, once finishing scanning your entire frame for the energon flows, I can finally begin processing the activation by connecting your medical port with a very special machine. The special machine that I will show you tomorrow is the one that it will activate."
"What it will happen at the time of the activation?"
"During the activation, the carrier's protocol system will begin to response immediately through your HUD system. Even though you've never been carrying or unable to have a sparkling at all, the carrier's protocol shouldn't have any issues with glitches or errors from within your system."
"That sounds kind of scary." She worries.
"It is scary at first if you have never heard of. However, you should be fine once you'll get over it through the activation." He reassure her.
"And besides, you really need it since you will be nursing Prowl's sparkling."
"Nursing?"
Not sure if it's a good idea for Jetfire. She wonders why the old medic wanted her to feed Prowl's sparkling through her chassis. Of course, her yellow friend's newborn sparkling need to be refuel constantly during the first year of his life. She wonders if Prowl don't mind that she will be nursing his sparkling. If he does, then how his sparkling will be refuel without energon milk?
Ratchet notices Jetfire's worrisome on her faceplate. He would do his best to comfort her during the process. However, he wanted to continue for further explaining by a reason why it is very important for the little sparkling to be nurse by her.
"After Bumblebee's death, I was very concerned for Prowl as how he was going to able to feed his newborn son without energon milk from his bondmate. Luckily, he still has some of the supplies of them when Bumblebee was still online during her carrying cycle. She used to filled the containers about at least few weeks after she past her due date, due to the early activation of carrier's protocol."
"It was already activated early before she gave birth?"
"She was one of the few with rare cases. Normally it won't activate on its own until the sparkling is born. But somehow, her frame respond it a little bit too early before her son was born. Alright, enough explaining. You need to recharge and I have to contact Professor Sumdac to pick up his daughter. "
Jetfire nodded, stretching her arms as she is getting ready for a stasis night. Before saying goodbye to the old medic, she want to ask him with permission before going to recharge.
"It would be fine if may I have a look at his sparkling?" She ask.
"I would like to see how he's doing since there's many of you taking care of him since Bumblebee passed away."
Ratchet took a moment after Jetfire acknowledge him and his team for taking care of Prowl's sparkling. For what she had mentioned for the concern of the newborn sparkling, it touches his spark very dearly. Rest assured, she would be a good mother to the little sparkling and he hopes one day the little one would thank her for being there. He smiles as she waited patiently for an answer.
"Of course, Jetfire." He says.
"However, I still want you to get some rest for tomorrow's appointment. I will let Optimus know as a reminder for you." He says.
"Okay." She agrees.
As Jetfire is about to leave the medbay office, Ratchet wanted to letting her know.
"While you're checking on the sparkling, can you wake Sari up for me, please? I'm going to comm. link her dad right now."
"Of course."
She smiles as she is waving a goodnight to the old medic before leaving his office. Ratchet smile back and watches her as she leaves. He trust her that she will be taking really good care of Prowl's sparkling as honoring Bumblebee's final wish. He hopes the yellow carrier is watching them from the Well of All Sparks, knowing how much they really misses her, especially for Prowl. He is sure that Prowl would accept Jetfire as the carrier of his sparkling and maybe one day, he might accept her to enter his life. He hopes one day it would come very soon.
Meanwhile, Jetfire has finally got out of Ratchet's office. She tries to remember where is the sparkling's room as she wanted to check on him. She hopes she remembered the last time when she was at the base. She was helping Bumblebee and Sari preparing and decorating the room for the new arrival during her visit. They had worked very hard even before Bumblebee found out she was expecting a mech. Prowl was there too sometimes, helping her with bigger items during his bondmate's carrying cycle. She was unable to do a lot of things for her son's room due to the restriction. So she relied on her friends and her bondmate's help before her son was born.
The orange Elite Guard isn't sure if the sparkling's room was completed before Bee's passing. She was supposed to be there for the yellow carrier during the final month of carrying. However, the unexpected event occurred and she wasn't there when her friend's son was born. It still breaks her spark every time she thought of Bumblebee. She would've been a good mother for her son, raising him with love and care that he truly needs during the first year.
As walking through the hallway, searching for the sparkling's room; Jetfire almost passing by the door of the room that is open. She isn't sure why there's a room with wide open door as no bot wasn't there. Perhaps one of the teammates were gone somewhere and later will return to the room for a long stasis night. However, it doesn't seems like some bot went out recently at all and she is suddenly curious about it.
Wouldn't hurt to take a peek, she thought.
So she decides to walk back to the room that she just pass and check. By standing the front door of the room, she won't believe her optics. That room with wide open door was actually belonged to Bumblebee, before bonding with Prowl. Everything she is looking at it was untouched and slightly unorganized, except for the berth. It looks like some bot had visited her room recently and took a stasis nap. Then she remembered during her last visit to Earth, Bumblebee liked to spend some time alone in her room, either reading a comic book or playing her favorite video game. She occasionally stayed in her room whenever her bondmate or her friends were busy. She did tried her best not to be loud by staying in her room until one of the teammates needed her.
Without hesitations, Jetfire walks slowly into her yellow friend's room and begin to look around. As she thought about it before, everything is untouched except the berth. Her game console that Sari brought for her was still on the ground, close to the bookshelf. The bookshelf itself is full of mix between comics and video game cases. It looks unorganized but it seems it was easier that way for her yellow friend. And finally, on the top of the bookshelf, there was a picture frame of Prowl and Bumblebee. Because the frame was in her room, the photo of them was probably taken placed before bonded. They looked at each other's with their optics offline as they were very close to their faceplates, smiling while holding their servos romantically.
It was probably their engagement photo as what the organics called, Jetfire thought with a smile.
While she continues looking around, she notices there is a pair of stingers on the top of the desk that used to wore by Bumblebee, before she was carrying. She went to pick it up and take a look at it. The orange Elite Guard remembered when Bumblebee told her once that her stingers was removed immediately after the old medic told the unexpected news to her and Prowl. It was meant for safety reasons for the carrier and her unborn sparkling during the carrying cycle.
It still has a good shape, she thought as she inspects the battle grade weapon.
But why her stingers is in her room if it was removed by Ratchet?
"It's because it supposed to comfort his grievance."
Suddenly, Jetfire just startled with a familiar voice. She looks behind as she want to check of who it is. It's no other than Optimus Prime himself and he had read her processor thought while standing by the door with his arms crossed his chassis.
"How did you read my question even though I didn't even say out loud?" She asks.
Optimus sighs as he begin to walk towards to the room inside to meet Jetfire. He then decide to gently takes the stingers off from her as he is about to explain how did he knew her question.
"Everytime I passed by this room, Prowl was there. Lying on the berth and hugging her stingers, everyday since her untimely death." He says.
"It was meant to return back to Bumblebee after her sparkling was born. However, she didn't survived and ended up belonging to Prowl from now on. Ratchet thought he may needed since he's been going through stress since her passing. This is considered a way to cope with his grieving."
Jetfire becomes speechless after hearing of what the leader just said. She never realized of what is going on with Prowl as being sentimental to his bondmate's stingers as for comfort. She wants to understand as knowing what the black and gold cyberninja been going through after the loss.
He kept the stingers as a keepsake as if she is still here with him, she thought.
"Optimus, do you think Prowl would be alright despite the loss of his bondmate?" She asks with concerns.
Optimus shakes his helm with sadness.
"I am afraid not, Jetfire." He says, still looking at Bee's stringers while holding it.
"It's going to take longer than the first year since all the stress he'd been going through."
The orange Elite Guard had never seen Optimus with the expression of sadness before. He's usually a strong mech who is willing to help out the team and sometimes managed to ignored Sentinel's constant rant as he doesn't care of what he had said. He is considered the father of his team as he did his best to protect and giving them some advice to live by. Of course, he's sometimes strict when it come to ordering them to do their job and expect his team to follow the rules.
However, the red and blue leader had tone down of being strict after his team, specifically Prowl; were coping with the loss of their yellow friend since the birth of her sparkling. He had managed to moved on by raising Bumblebee's sparkling with his bondmate Elita for a while and helping Prowl while coping with grief. He just hopes if there is a way to take away the pain, after losing a teammate who was supposed to be a mother to her sparkling. Unfortunately, she was unable to become one and her sparkling is motherless.
Optimus Prime decides to put away Bumblebee's stinger after he took a moment to look at it. He make sure the carrier's stingers is stay in place, just in case if Prowl would be back online without worrying about losing something precious to him. He sighs again and looking into Jetfire's optics as wondering how would she's going to recharge tonight.
"If you want, you may recharge in this room for tonight until I'll find a room for you." He says.
"Thank you, Optimus. I really appreciate for this kind offer." She says.
"However, I don't think it's a good idea for me to recharge in her room since her passing. And besides, I must find her son's room and letting Sari know that her father is on his way."
"If you're looking for Sari and Prowl's son, I could show you where is the room at. It must have been a very long time for you since the last time you visited."
"Please."
With a friendly nod, the red and blue leader is happy to show the sparkling's room to Jetfire so she can finally meet him for the first time since his birth. The orange Elite Guard is excited to see the little spark but nervous at the same time due to taking over Bumblebee's role as being a mother. She will do her to raise the yellow carrier's sparkling very well as a mother would want for her young one to be healthy and strong.
Optimus Prime is showing Jetfire the direction to the sparkling's room after leaving Bumblebee's former room. She follow him as he guide her, searching for the room where Prowl's sparkling and Sari are currently at. From there, they just pass from Bulkhead's to Prowl's room; a room that they used to shared before her death. Everything is still the same and the sparkling's room is not far from a distance between Prowl's and Optimus' room.
"There's his son's room." He says, "Just make sure try not to wake the little one up. It took me for at least two cycles for him to recharge and Sari is there to watch him while I'm busy with the paperwork for Captain Fanzone. If you need anything, I'll be at the control room."
"Don't worry, Optimus. I will be careful and making sure he is recharging."
Optimus smile at Jetfire as he's confident that she'll going to take care of Prowl's sparkling while carefully wake Sari from her nap. He hopes once Prowl will be online by tomorrow, he believe the black and gold cyberninja wouldn't mind at for her to take care of his sparkling in his bondmate's place. Before he leaves from the hallway, the red and blue leader want to make a reminder to the stepmother.
"I'm not sure if you're aware but Ratchet had already explained to me about your appointment tomorrow. He want me to make sure I'll remind you the first thing by dawn."
"I am aware of that."
"Perfect. Then I'll see you the next morning. Comm. link me if you anything and make you recharge at Bumblebee's room as you wish. You'll need some rest."
"Thank you, Optimus."
He smiles with a nod and left as he's heading out towards to the control room to finish some work. Jetfire is standing by the door of the sparkling's room and staring at it for a while. It's been a very long time since she left Earth before suffered from a spark attack.
I wonder what he looks like, she thought, before thinking about opening the door.
The orange Elite Guard is hesitate opening the door of the sparkling's room. She worries if she going to open the door, the sparkling would be online and cry. However, Sari is inside the sparkling's room, watching him while the little one is recharging. She then remembered what Ratchet said about Sari. The techno-organic teen had been a huge help a lot since the passing of her best friend. He thought she want to take care of him after his mother took care of her. It is something special with a bond between these two before the tragedy.
Well, I'm going in, she thought nervously.
Jetfire begin opening the door of the sparkling's room. As she finally open the door softly, she is awe of what she is seeing. The room of the little sparkling is very bright and colorful. All the paintings of organic landscapes on the wall were made by Bulkhead are hanging perfectly. The color of the wall is pastel blue with a little shade of yellow and pink like a morning sky. The bookshelf that contains plush toys for the sparkling is neatly arranged along with datapads, fills with Cybertronian story tales. Underneath the shelf, there is a basket that filled with folded thermal blankets, just in case if it becomes cold for the little one. Next to the bookshelf, there's a rocking chair with Sari, sleeping while there are scattered books all over the floor. Probably she was studying for her big test as Ratchet mentioned earlier. And next to her, there's a crib. A crib is where the newborn sparkling is recharging.
Jetfire begin to walk slowly into Prowl's sparkling room. As she enters, she notices a small picture frame of Bumblebee, on the wall, closer to the crib where the sparkling is currently at. From there, she comes closer to the crib where his sparkling is recharging in deep stasis. The little sparkling of Prowl and Bumblebee is recharging peacefully as his belly tank laid on the top of the berth. She smile softly as she watches the sparkling resting his deep stasis nap.
"He seems very calm, especially recharging very deeply." She whispers to herself as she begin to stroke the newborn's tiny horn from his helm.
"You'd actually look like your mother, sweetspark. And you had your father's colors, too."
She continue to stroke the little sparkling's back helm until she hear a moan. It appears Sari begin to be awaken from her sleep as she begin to stretch her arms, while sitting on the rocking chair.
"J-Jetfire, is that you?" The techno-organic teen asks, rubbing her eyes.
Jetfire slowly stop stroking the little sparkling's helm after hearing her name. She smile after watching the newborn in stasis and walk towards to the rocking chair where Sari sat.
"Yes, it's me," she answers, "I came just to check on you and the sparkling. I just wanted to make sure you two are okay and I'm sorry if I have awaken you."
"Oh, it's okay, Jetfire. I ended up sleeping while watching my little brother." She says.
"While watching him, I was studied my books for the test and I got tired of it after reading couple of pages. So, I went to sleep."
"I can tell that."
The orange Elite Guard begin to look around with scattered books all over the floor once again. She begins to pick up some books from the floor and giving to Sari as she grabs her backpack with wide open so she can put it away. The techno-organic teen then closes her backpack after putting away her books and her school supplies as she is already prepared for tomorrow's test. She suddenly begin to hug Jetfire by surprise as a way of saying 'thank you' for helping her. Jetfire smile as it warms her spark.
"She may no longer here but I'm still here if you need anything." She says, referring to Bumblebee.
"I'm glad you're still alive, Jetfire. I just wish Bumblebee is still here." She says sadly.
Sari knew what happened to Jetfire after being informed the death of her yellow friend. She cannot afford to lose her friends like Optimus or Prowl whom almost died from the beginning or during the final battle. She even wish she still had her Allsparks Key to revive Bumblebee, after dying of giving birth. However, it became useless after using upon herself to upgrade long time ago and she regretted that decision, nearly killed her best friend. Jetfire becomes worry for Sari as she is looking at the young girl's eyes, fill with tears. She then pull out a clean cloth from her compartment and begin to clean her tears with gentle care.
"Thanks, Jetfire. I really need it." Sari smile at the orange femme.
"With pleasure." She says with a smile.
After wiping Sari's tears, Jetfire has something to say to the techno-organic teen before going to recharge tonight.
"By the way, Sari. Ratchet wanted me to inform you that your father is on his way to pick you up."
"Oh, really? Did the grumpy bot already called my dad?"
Jetfire chuckles at Sari's nickname for Ratchet. To tell the truth, she was right about Ratchet for being grumpy sometimes especially when he occasionally pulled his wrench and hit on the top of some bot's helm, particularly Bumblebee; for not following direction or just being annoying. Well, the old medic is just getting older and growing tired for the next century of his life.
"Yes, he already did called your father for you." She answers.
"Okay! Then might as well I should be waiting at the main room." Sari says.
She put her backpack on and getting ready to leave from the abandoned factory base as she'll be waiting for her father to pick her up. Jetfire follow her as she takes a last look at Prowl's sparkling, recharging peacefully. She smiles after gazing at the newborn sparkling as she slowly closing the door of his room but decide to leave a little crack open without making a noise. She took a moment to look at the door before leaving.
I will be back soon, sweetspark, she says in her thoughts.
It won't be long. I promise.
A promise indeed, Jetfire has finally return back to the sparkling's room one hour later after spending time with Sari. She hanged out with her so she wouldn't have to be lonely while waiting on her dad to pick her up. She want to make sure Sari is okay before leaving the base and wishes her the best of luck for upcoming test. She sure the techno-organic teen would do great on her education performance and going forth for her future planning. She is looking forward watching her to succeed once she will finish high school soon in several months. However, what she is not looking forward is substituting Bumblebee's place. Of course, she is more than happy to taking care of Prowl's sparkling and making sure the little one meet his needs. But what she has been holding her back is how to take care of him as his new mother. She is never been experienced as a parent before and she didn't got a chance to become one after her bondmate's death. However, she won't allow her doubts to interfering her role as a mother for the little sparkling.
As she puts her thoughts to aside, Jetfire decide to take one last look at Prowl's sparkling before recharging for a stasis night. The little one is still recharging very deeply and she is glad that he is resting and well fed, despite Bumblebee is not there to care for him as she was supposed to. He may still need his mother on the daily basis during the first few months after birth. However, Jetfire is there to watch him and she is planning to stay in his room for a night until Optimus finds a room for her. She decided not to recharge in Bumblebee's room, thinking it's very inappropriate especially she had passed away one month ago after her son was born. She rather to honor her memory by not recharging inside her room. It's for the better good and keep her memories alive.
After watching the newborn sparkling recharging, Jetfire walks to the rocking chair and sit on it to get comfortable before recharging into stasis. She yawns as she begin to rock the chair slowly, looking at the paintings that Bulkhead had made for the bonded couple's son. She then suddenly looking at the picture frame of Bumblebee on the wall, closer to the crib. She isn't sure why the picture of Bumblebee is in her son's room. One thing for sure, however, the orange femme believe his carrier is watching him over from above of the Well of All Sparks. She had trusted Jetfire to raise him and taking care of him in her place. She is also trusted her to be there for her surviving bondmate for comfort his grief, for what he had lost and never been found. The orange Elite Guard is willing doing her best to help Prowl so he won't be alone without his bondmate.
After watching the wall picture frame of his late mother, Jetfire has finally allow her optics to shut as she begins to recharge. Slowly stop rocking the chair, she can finally fall into stasis for a night and looking forward for tomorrow. She hopes she will start a new day as a stepmother of the sparkling who lost his mother after birth. She will do everything she can just being there for the little one and the grieving father. They need her.
Upon until the next morning, Optimus Prime walks into the sparkling's room and tries waking Jetfire from her stasis. He is glad she'd recharged through the night while staying with Prowl's sparkling. However, he still want her to have her own room so she can recharge more comfortably. Unfortunately, he is unable to find a room for her to stay with him and the team while caring for the newborn sparkling. He has no choice but he would have to convince her to spend every night at Bumblebee's room from now on until he finds a way to find a room for her or to create one instead. But it's going to take a while for him to create a room just for her since he's busy with work and dealing with more paperwork than usual. He just need to make time so he can start creating a room for her.
As he approach to the orange femme, Optimus gently awake Jetfire by shaking her shoulder. He make sure to remind her before missing an important appointment with Ratchet.
"Jetfire, wake up." Optimus whispering softly to her. Jetfire is beginning onlining her optics from stasis.
"Get yourself ready because you'll have an appointment with Ratchet."
Jetfire nodded as she's tries to awaken herself after recharging from the rocking chair. Optimus help her by lifting her from the chair so she won't fall from it. As she got up from the chair, she notice the sparkling isn't inside the crib. She begin to worry as she was promise to take care of him.
"Optimus, where is Prowl's son?" Jetfire asks with worrisome on faceplate. Optimus smile for reassurance.
"He's with Jazz right now." He says.
"He just feeding the sparkling for the morning breakfast."
"With what?"
"With some last leftover energon milk from Bumblebee before her passing."
Jetfire is relieved, knowing that Jazz is still here after arriving Earth yesterday evening. He must be taking care of his best friend's sparkling for now until she is finish the appointment with Ratchet. However, what she is concern right now is the low supply of the energon milk that Bumblebee had been saving before given birth to her sparkling. Maybe this is the reason Ratchet wanted her to activate the carrier's protocol so the sparkling is well fed during the first year of his life.
Before leaving the sparkling's room with Optimus, Jetfire want to ask the leader with a question. However, she isn't sure if it's a right moment to ask him, though. But she will ask him anyway since she is concern.
"By the way, Optimus. Has Prowl finally awakened from stasis lock?"
As the two got out from the sparkling's room, Optimus stay quiet for a moment as they walk through the hallway before heading to the medbay. He finally answers her question as he stop by the door of another room.
"Not yet but he's in this room now." He pointed to that door.
"If you want, you may see him immediately. However, make sure not to disturb him while recharging. Otherwise, he would be extremely upset." He warn her.
"Are you sure if it's okay for me to see him?" She ask. Optimus nodded.
"You have my permission to see him since Ratchet had allowed me to placed Prowl back to his room. It's better that way for him since you may need some privacy during the activation." Optimus says.
"I will let Ratchet know that you're on your way to meet him. In the meantime, you may see him now but not too long." He continue.
The orange femme nodded as she understands and Optimus smiles once again. He give her a friendly pat on her shoulder and left as he is going to let Ratchet know before the old medic would be upset with her. She wave the leader goodbye as she is still standing by the door of Prowl's room. She is going in as carefully as possible without waking Prowl from his stasis.
As Jetfire decides to check on Prowl before meeting with Ratchet, she wants to make sure that he is okay after he'd been going through a lot of stress since the passing of his beloved bondmate. She hopes and pray to Primus that Prowl would accept her as his son's new mother. She wanted to honor Bumblebee's memory as making sure her sparkling is being raised healthy with love and care.
As she slowly walks into his room, she notice the cyberninja had finally calmed while recharging of his relieved. Although there were still some sadness on his faceplate, she found him very peaceful yet beautifully while recharge his processor. Of course, it's not appropriate to use the term 'beautiful' on a mech, especially he was bonded with Bumblebee. However, she adores every moment of peace and calming for him as he's in deep stasis.
She walks closer to the berth and gently sitting on the side of the berth next to him, without waking him up. She takes moment for awhile as making sure he's alright since going through the struggle. She then carefully lean to the upper helm of the cyberninja and kiss him gently. This is not her intention of doing so. She is not sure why she did that, however, she may want to show affection towards him as a caring bot.
"Please forgive me, Prowl." She says softly while Prowl is still recharging.
"I didn't mean to kiss you on your helm. It was my spark that told me to do so."
She begins to stroke Prowl's faceplate from her servo and notices as she touches him, his cheek area is warm. Very warm, indeed. She tries her best not to wake him up as it's too early to be online, even though he is not ready to be online just yet. He need some rest for now until he is ready to be awake so he would see his sparkling again for the first time since being stasis lock.
As she stop stroking his faceplate, Jetfire decide to leave at his berthside by carefully lift herself from the berth. She takes one last look before leaving his room, by the door, making sure Prowl isn't awake. She must leave for now before Ratchet would be wondering where is she. She promise to Optimus Prime that she won't be staying too long at his room since the cyberninja will soon be online. She then gently closes the door of his room and walk away, heading towards to the medbay for her appointment. She hopes she will see Prowl again and talk to him, whenever he is ready, without suffering his loss. She wants to help him through.
Less than moments later after Jetfire left, Prowl has suddenly awakened from his stasis as his optics are finally back online. He is not sure how he feels at the moment nor why his spark was shocked with mixed emotion. As he is trying to fix himself from the berth, the first thing he notice is he's not inside his bondmate's room.
Where am I? He ask himself through his thoughts.
I was at Bumblebee's room before. And now I am inside my room. Why I am here? And where is my son?
Suddenly, the door is open and Prowl got out from the berth quickly as he is ready to meet. It's his teammate Bulkhead and he just came to pay a visit.
"Prowl! You're awake!" Bulkhead happily exclaims.
Prowl is receiving a gentle hug by Bulkhead as the green wrecker glad his friend is online and well. Without a smile with some confusion, the cyberninja hugs back to him as he is appreciating of him for the visit. They've been getting along in their good terms for very long time since they worked together for the Dinobot Island, way before Prowl was bonded with Bee. Before her untimely death, both she and Bulkhead were best friends since they met at the boot camp before meeting with Optimus and his team. Eventually, both of them are more like as the organics called 'brother and sister relationship', in which most siblings would get along very well. However, as much as Prowl is, Bulkhead still misses his little buddy or sometimes referring to her as 'little sister' very dearly to his spark. He wishes her death had never happened at all and hate seeing Prowl going through the struggle with a sparkling that he is caring for.
After hugging the the grieving father, Bulkhead wanted to make sure that he is okay after coming out from stasis lock. He is still concerns for his well-being and wanted him to get back on his pedes.
"How are feeling after taking long stasis?" Bulkhead ask.
"To be honest with you, I'm not sure exactly." Prowl admitted.
"I cannot say I'm better right now because I'm not over my bondmate's passing just yet. Would you care to explain why I've returned back to my berthroom?"
Bulkhead worries for Prowl's mental state as the cyberninja is wondering why he ended up at his room. Apparently, he had already spend too much time at Bumblebee's room since she passed away. As the Prowl admitted, he's still misses his beloved bondmate and wishes her to be with him and raising their sparkling together. However, she is not there anymore and he is alone, raising his son without its mother.
"You don't realize you were brought here by Optimus, right?" He ask.
Prowl shook his helm as he doesn't remembered anything of what is going on, other than the day of his bondmate's death.
"The reason you were brought here is because you've been crying a lot since Bumblebee's gone. Doc-bot said you were refused to leave her room while your sparkling was being care by Boss-bot. They worried you were going to hurt yourself."
"Why would they think I want to hurt myself?" Prowl suddenly ask Bulkhead a question as the cyberninja is shock. Bulkhead becomes silence as he is trying to explain why Optimus and Ratchet were worried about the grieving father.
"This is absurd, Bulkhead." He continues while being upset without receiving a answer from Bulkhead.
"They know I have a sparkling to raise and I cannot just abandon him by hurting myself. I would never doing this to myself except I had sacrificed long time ago during the final battle before being resurrected."
Bulkhead remembered when Prowl did died during the final battle as he'd gave up his spark in order to save the world. He doesn't remembered exactly how long did the cyberninja been offline way before he was finally being revived. However, he does remembered when Jazz came to talked to Bumblebee by lying to her that Prowl was fine and he went into full stasis lock, before found a way to resurrected him. There was also a special memory that Bulkhead would revisit when Prowl was finally resurrected; asking Bumblebee to be his bondmate and he became the first bot as being told the good news by his little buddy after she accepted the bonding proposal. That was the happiest moments ever after going through the darkest day of the final battle.
Unfortunately, there was the saddest moments especially recently after the birth of their sparkling. Bumblebee never gotten a chance see her son born as she passed away. And it devastated Prowl a lot since he and his bondmate were looking forward to have a family together. He'd finally had a sparkling but as a single father. He might have to live and raise his newborn son on his own without his beloved bondmate. He has to be there for him, for Bumblebee's wish.
Bulkhead becomes worrying as if he made Prowl upset. He didn't mean it to upset him since he's been going through a lot of stress lately. He just need to be careful of what to say next time; since he and Prowl were gotten trouble by Optimus Prime long time ago, for keeping a secret of protecting the Dinobots from a different location without his leader's knowledge.
"Listen, Prowl. I didn't mean to upset you if that's what you were thinking." Bulkhead worries.
"I'm not, Bulkhead. Just shock. That is all. I'm sorry if you thought it that way." He says.
"I think I'm going out right now. I need some time to clear my processor."
"Are you sure, Prowl?"
Prowl nodded with emotionless expression on his faceplate. Bulkhead smile with sadness and giving another gentle hug before leaving his room.
"If you need anything, Prowl, just let me know. I will be watching the monitor."
With that said, Bulkhead left Prowl's room and heading to the control room, beginning watching the monitor. Prowl got of his room and left the base after ending the conversation with Bulkhead before returning back to the monitor duty. He is finally outside and decides to take a moment to view the outside world before transforming. It seems everything is still the same especially before the birth of his son. However, it won't be the same without his beloved bondmate. She is not there as the view is perfect in the near-ending summer morning skies on a Friday. He used to take Bumblebee out for a date with him very often before they were bonded. They've never gone to any special or fancy places other than spending time in the woods at night.
In his shameful feeling, however, he sometimes made intensely love with her in the woods without being seen by others. Bumblebee sometimes insisted the cyberninja to make love harder with her before bonded and made their passionate moment lasts before returning back to the base. He sometime reluctant to do so with her before bonding; thinking it was wrong as the same practice as the organic couples believed. However, he didn't want his yellow beetle to be upset back then during their relationship. Kissing was fine but making love before bonding it seems wrong. Luckily for her, she didn't became carrying at all while dating him since she knew when was the right moment before getting started. He believed she doesn't want to get into much trouble with Optimus or Ratchet. Otherwise, she would have been punished for being careless with him.
Sighing as he transforms into a motorcycle mode with a hologram of an organic officer, Prowl decides to take a stroll around the town and begin driving. While looking around the town, he notices a familiar car that looks like Bumblebee's vehicle mode, with her signature black stripe on it. He won't believe his optics. Is Bumblebee alive for entire time? If she is, then why she is on patrol duty right now, a month after giving birth to their sparkling? She should be resting while caring for her son as it supposed to, right?
Sighing as he come closer to that vehicle, Prowl transforms and walk up to her as he misses her a lot since her passing. He is hoping she would talk to him right now as he misses her beautiful voice. However, it's not Bumblebee at all. As the driver's side of the window rolls down, Prowl immediately recognize the organic driver. It's his close friend Captain Fanzone and he must be doing some patrol duty right now.
"Prowl! Long time, no see!" Captain Fanzone says.
"I haven't seen you since for a least a month! Where have you been?"
Before Prowl can answer to his question, Captain Fanzone wanted to acknowledge his wise robot friend to congratulate him on the new arrival. He is currently unaware of what's going on with Prowl and his team since he had been away from them for a least two months, out of town with the local politicians in Washington, D.C. He got a word from Professor Sumdac that Bumblebee had given birth and he wanted to know if the mother and her newborn are doing well. He already aware that Prowl and Bumblebee are married, since he was invited to their bonding ceremony few years ago.
"By the way, I want to congrats for having your first child. I know you and Bumblebee would be great parents to the little guy of yours." He smiles. Prowl remains silence without showing his expression.
"If you or Bumblebee need anything, you can always let me know. I might stop by tomorrow to drop off some paperwork for Optimus."
"That won't be necessary." Prowl has finally broke his silence. Captain Fanzone looked puzzled, as wanted to know why the cyberninja looked tired with sadness. Probably the first month as being a parent must be hard at first.
"Why would you say that? I'm sure you guys need something from me with some help." He says.
"I even got this comic book for Bumblebee as a gift for her. I know she will be busy caring for her young one, however, I think she may wanted this since she's gonna at the base for a while without being bored." He smiles again, handing over the comic book to Prowl.
I don't think she won't be needing this anymore, Prowl thought, fearing to hurt his organic friend's feelings if he doesn't accept a gift for Bumblebee.
"Thank you." Prowl forcibly smile without breaking down.
"Anytime." He says.
"Well, I'll better get going. I have to drive the other side of town and meeting with school children. I will see you tomorrow, Prowl."
He starts the car and drive as Captain Fanzone waving goodbye to the cyberninja. Prowl is just standing there, watching the yellow mini compact car drives as it reminded him of Bumblebee. Instead of transforming, he decides to walk back to the base while holding the comic book that it supposedly be a gift for his bondmate. Unfortunately, the gift is useless but he didn't want to throw it away. It's not his organic friend's fault for not knowing the passing of his bondmate. He hasn't visited the base for longest time, before his son was born. Maybe tomorrow, Optimus Prime would explain the situation to him before meeting once again.
Prowl has finally return back to the base after talking with his good friend Captain Fanzone. As he's walk through the hallway, the first thing he want to check is his newborn son. He haven't seen him since he went into stasis lock. And now that he got out of it, he can finally seeing his sparkling again. He has to since Bumblebee passed away and she's no longer there to see their sparkling or to be with her bondmate.
As he's finally made it through the hallway, Prowl stop by his son's room and check as he is about to open the door. Slowly opening the door, he notices some bot is sitting on the rocking chair and cradling. He stood by as he watches her rocking his sparkling, nursing him as he's sucking from her chassis. Prowl is confused and wonders who is that bot and why she is nursing his sparkling. Jazz notice Prowl is standing by the door of the sparkling's room and decide to walk up to him with a smile.
"In case you don't remember, Prowl, that's Jetfire." Jazz is letting his friend know.
"Why she is in my son's room? Is she feeding him through her chassis?"
As Prowl is beginning to upset with some confusion, Jazz tries to explain the best as he can before it's too late.
"Apparently, we'd just runnin' out of energon milk that Bee saved for your sparklin'. So, Ratchet decided to activated the carrier's protocol from her system so she feed your son."
Prowl stare at Jazz for a moment with silence. He then decided to walk away from him without saying a word to his old friend. Jazz is confused and wondering if Prowl is upset. He hopes the black and gold cyberninja is alright and believing it's going take a while for him to getting over the grieving and the sadness. He hopes the grieving father would accept Jetfire as the carrier, replacing Bumblebee's role.
Still holding the comic book, Prowl enters the room and decides to putting away on the top of the desk. He realize that he is not at his room but rather at his bondmate's former room. This is his intention because he missed her a lot since her soul had disappeared after her son was born. As the comic book is lying on the desk, Prowl takes Bumblebee's stringers off from desk and begin to holding it to his chassis. He then begins to cry quietly as his spark is broken.
I love you, Bumblebee, Prowl tearfully thought as he's holding her stringers very tightly to his spark.
And always will, forevermore...
Author's Note
Hello and thank you for reading chapter three of this story. Please keep in mind if you haven't read Always Will, written by user, Mesmorelda; you can read it as it's under Favorite Stories on my profile. It's best to read that first before reading the prologue and the first three chapters of this story. It will also make sense as you read.
Anyway, I have some issue about writing this chapter and upcoming chapter four. But I think chapter four will be the hardest chapter to write due to severe writer's block. I did had some writer's block in this chapter. However, I took some break by writing the chapter contents as brainstorming and match the story based on Always Will. I like to take my time and read it over like at least several times during the writer's block phase until the idea comes up. If I am unable to come up with an idea, I sometimes took another long break for a day or two before returning back to the story. My brain was being overload and I need to relax my thoughts before moving on. Maybe it's worth it to take a break until getting back to the chapter.
I have nothing else to say about this chapter other than apologizing for a very long delay and changing the gender of Jetfire and Bumblebee. In my opinion, it makes sense for a femme when it comes to taking care of a sparkling after giving birth. And yes, I have read some stories, particularly Bumblebee is involved, the part where a mech is carrying and then giving birth to a sparkling. It just it doesn't make no sense at all but hey, it's fan fiction and some stories are actually good!
Once again, thank you for reading this chapter and feel free to leave a review, follow, or favorite this story as you wish. You don't have to unless you want to. The next chapter will be out very soon by the end of this month (as of May 2018) and it would be focusing on the final moments between Sari and Bumblebee. I won't tell you anymore, otherwise I'm just giving it away.
Thank you again for reading this story and as of May 13, 2018, Happy Mother's Day. Cherish the memories with her on this day and everyday and my thoughts with prayers are for those whose mother is no longer around. She is still in your heart and forevermore. Keep her memory alive.
Note: Please remember, Transformers Animated is owned by Hasbro and Takara. The original story of Always Will is written by Mesmorelda.