I just saw Bumblebee and it was BEAUTIFUL ! i loved it so much omg it was so sweet and funny! anyway i'm v v sorry for the lateness of this, things have been wild!

Six months of the same unchanging scenery of the medbay was slowly driving me crazy. I quickly came to understand that Ratchet was the busiest person in the entire base, second only to Optimus. Not only did he have his hands full of ailments and injuries from the Autobots on base, but he also assisted many of the human soldiers who came to see him with their own injuries as a sign of goodwill.

Ratchet was a busy mech, which meant that he was rarely anywhere but the medbay and our quarters. As a result, I was rarely anywhere but the medbay and our quarters. Which was fine; Ratchet was an incredible caretaker, and I could see better than anyone just how much he cared about all his peers. But still; it was pretty monotonous.

When Bluestreak poked his head into the medbay one Tuesday afternoon, I barely took notice. I was too busy marching myself in a steady circle around one of the mech-sized medical berths, practicing my walking. My mobility had improved drastically, a fact I was innumerably pleased with. It wasn't technically walking (truth be told, it was more of a waddle) but progress was progress, and I could tell Ratchet was proud. However, sometimes I caught him looking at me when he thought I wouldn't see, and the concern shining his his eyes was unmistakable.

"Bluestreak," Ratchet greeted, setting down a patient file and peering at him. "I didn't receive a comm saying you were coming."

"I didn't send one!" Bluestreak said, smiling sheepishly. "There's nothing wrong with me, don't worry! I was actually wondering if Molly wanted to spend the afternoon with me? I wasn't gonna do anything big, just wander around the base and maybe go for a little drive! But," his smile faltered and his tone became unsure, "If that's not okay, that's fine! Maybe she doesn't want to. I didn't really consider that. I just thought it might be nice for her to see outside!"

I could feel my eyes (optics? Robo-eyes? I was still unsure on the proper terms for my mecha anatomy) widen with every word Bluestreak spoke. I spun around on my unsteady legs, wobbled for a brief moment, and then looked at Ratchet imploringly.

"I don't know…" Ratchet began hesitantly.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease, I pushed through the bond in an emphatic mixture of mental impressions and emotional echoes. Even as I widened my eyes further, I wondered if a puppy dog expression would work properly with a face made of metal.

Apparently, it did. Ratchet held out for almost twenty three seconds before gesturing unnecessarily with the file in his hands. "Fine. Fine! Stop looking at me like that!" he turned to Bluestreak then with a formidable scowl. "Do not take your eyes off her, do you hear me? Stay out of trouble, don't take any risks, and don't go far. If she comes back with so much as a scratch, there will be consequences." Bluestreak, to his credit, nodded patiently and earnestly along with everything Ratchet said. That seemed to put my caregiver at ease, because he backed off then and crouched down in front of me. "You behave, starshine. Bluestreak is in charge when you're with him, okay?"

I nodded, trying not to look too impatient. It mustn't have worked, because Ratchet rolled his eyes before patting me on the head and returning to his desk. I quickly toddled over to Bluestreak, my face lit up with a grin. He shot me a matching smile and added a thumbs up, and scooped me up into his arms when I got close enough.

We started down the hall, but Bluestreak waited for the medbay door to slide shut before he spoke to me. "Sorry for showing up out of nowhere, Molly! But Jazz was just saying the other day about how we don't see you that often, and I guess that makes sense because I know that Ratchet is protective and he wants to keep you safe so he keeps you with him and he's always busy so I guess you're always busy too-"

I shifted in his grip to get comfortable; I was perched on his forearm, with my hands clasped tightly around the seam of his bumper at the top of his chest. The base was busy; humans sped by on what looked like military golf carts, and Bluestreak was being obviously very careful about where he placed his feet as he walked. I was getting a fair share of stares; despite my presence at the base for just over half a year now, being holed up with Ratchet so often meant that many of these humans would never have laid eyes upon me. I was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that maybe that was why so many humans were turning up in Ratchet's medbay instead of going to their own human medics.

"-and since the base is on an island, I thought we could take a drive to the beach to see the scenery! Would you like that? I'd bet you've never seen a beach before! Or the sea! The sea on Earth is just beautiful, we have nothing like it on Cybertron-"

The base was on an island? That was news to me. I cooed at Bluestreak, who brightened up at the sound of approval. The thought freaked me out a little; I had been there all that time and hadn't realised I was sitting in the middle of the ocean. For the first time in a long while, it occurred to me that I really didn't know just where exactly I was. The thought was a daunting one.

I had curled into Bluestreak in an attempt to avoid the stares from the humans from down below, and as a result I didn't realise when we had emerged from the base into the outside until I felt the sudden warmth of the sun on my back. I turned outwards again quickly, ignoring Bluestreak's hand as it frantically flew to my stomach to keep me from toppling out of his arms. There wasn't much to see, truthfully. It was a military base, after all. A long strip of road stretched way out into the distance, curving around a large thicket of evergreen trees. That must have been the woods that the twins had found me in.

"This is Diego Garcia!" Bluestreak gestured grandly at the barren scenery.

"Ah." I beamed, turning my face into the sun. It was hot out, and the sky was beautifully blue. It felt like paradise.

Bluestreak allowed me a moment to bask in the warmth of the natural air (a beautiful contrast to the regulated air conditioning inside), before he set me down on the ground and transformed into his alt mode. The transformation was impressive to watch, even after so many times witnessing it. "In you get!" he chirped.

After I crawled in, the drive to the beach was short. It really was a small island. Climbing out of Bluestreak took a little more effort than crawling in had (I had grown quite a lot, really), but once my feet touched the ground I turned towards the beach we had arrived at. It was beautiful. Truly stunning. I had never seen the ocean, in either of my lifetimes. I hadn't known that such a shade of blue could exist naturally. While Bluestreak was in mid-transformation, I took off toward the water.

Soft golden sand sprayed into the air as I waddled swiftly to the sea. I heard an alarmed exclamation from behind me before the tell-tale heavy thuds of large footsteps as Bluestreak hurried after me. "Molly, wait!"

"Sea!" I warbled, struggling to go as fast as I could over the uneven surface of the beach.

"You'll rust!" Bluestreak wailed. "Ratchet will kill me!"

My stubby legs were powered by nothing but determination and spite, and within seconds I was toppling headfirst into the water. A small wave crested over the top of my head, and my vocaliser let out a staticky shriek of delight. The water was cool, and felt amazing against my sun-heated metal plating. I stuck my hand out towards Bluestreak and made grabby motions, trying to convince him to join me.

He hesitated, visibly torn. It took another moment before he vented a heavy blast of air and took a hesitant step into the water. The waves lapped around us as he crouched down so he could sit next to me. "This is pretty nice," he confessed, although his gaze was darting rapidly at the water all around us. "Can I tell you something? I think you probably wouldn't tell anyone if I do, because it's kind of embarrassing and I can just imagine Sideswipe and Sunstreaker trying to play some awful prank on me if they found out!"

Wondering if Bluestreak realised that he was confiding in a literal baby, I shrugged and blinked my eyes up at him. My vocal processors had improved quite a bit in the past few months, but I was still only able to say a few words at a time. I wasn't sure who he was worried I might spill to.

"Well," he cast another shifty look at the waves wobbling around his legs, "Major Epps commissioned one of those screens that humans use for entertainment, but this one is really big so that us Cybertronians can watch things on it! It hasn't arrived yet, but Major Lennox has been insisting that we all watch this thing called Planet Earth, because it's important that we're educated on life on this planet! Because we're still waiting on the big screens, I've been watching it on one of the little human ones-"

I splashed absently in the water, keeping half my attention on Bluestreak's rambling and half my attention on the horizon. When I turned my head to look back at him, I caught a flash of colour on the beach just behind us. Red and yellow.

"-but anyway, what I realised when I was watching one of these documentaries was that there are really scary things in the ocean!" Bluestreak continued, oblivious to the new presence just behind us. "So basically what I mean is, I'm pretty scared of fish-"

I wasn't even given enough time to fully process what he had said before Sideswipe was dropping down behind us, cackling with laughter. "Afraid of fish!"

Poor Bluestreak jerked in fright, displacing water and splashing me heavily. He yelped, both in fright and in dismay at having soaked me. "What are you doing here!" he yelled, pulling me up out of the water to settle against his legs.

"We decided to go for a nice little walk, to stretch our legs." Sideswipe grinned, shaking droplets of seawater off himself. "So, tell me more about the fish."

Bluestreak looked torn between crying and swearing at him. "You're awful!". I slipped off his lap and back into the water while he was distracted, figuring this was my best chance to do a little bit of ocean exploring. Sideswipe turned and called for Sunstreaker to enter the water, and while he was being rebuffed I turned and dived under.

It had been a long time since I swam, but I used to be pretty good at it. Nothing too special, but the feeling of being suspended in water was one thing that was always guaranteed to relax me. I wasn't sure how this Cybertronian body would compare, but I guess once you learn to swim it stays ingrained in you; while heavier, I was still able to cut through the water with relative ease. It was even better, in some ways, than swimming as a human; I had no ears to get clogged with water, and I could keep my eyes wide open and see everything around me without the slightest blur. In fact, I found myself more mobile in water than I was walking on land. My weak little toddler legs didn't have to struggle to keep my whole body upright, as the water was doing that for me. I was moving easily for the first time since I had been deposited into this body.

Swimming in pools didn't even compare to swimming in the ocean. The sand on the ocean floor shone silvery, and the water around me seemed to shimmer with the sunlight from above. Not too far away, a little red fish darted through a little crop of seaweed. I hoped it wouldn't come too close to Bluestreak, and then kicked my feet and returned to the surface of the water. As air began to cycle through my vents again, I turned and was greeted with the sight of Bluestreak losing his mind.

"Ratchet is going to take me apart and sell me as scrap metal!" he was bleating, splashing through the water. "I'm so dead! I can't believe I lost his daughter in the ocean, oh Primus. You two could at least help me!"

"What if a fish got her?" Sideswipe asked, just to be a dick.

Bluestreak moaned, low and horrified. "Don't joke about that. Help me find her! Where-"

"Here!" I called, kicking my legs and splashing water towards him. I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of me at the sight of Bluestreak's almost comical relief; he looked as though he were about to fall over.

Sideswipe cackled, before wading over and hoisting me up on his hip. "You escaped the clutches of those evil slimy fish!" he tickled me. I giggled, even as Bluestreak scowled fiercely - it was reminiscent of a particularly ferocious pomeranian.

"I should get her back to base now." Bluestreak said primly, clearly annoyed about the teasing.

"Sure," Sideswipe said absently, looking me over as I twisted in his arms to avoid the tickles.

Sunstreaker voiced what his twin appeared to be thinking, "She's grown."

That's what babies do, I thought with a scowl. I for one was pleased with my progress.

"Ratchet said she's growing at a rapid rate." Bluestreak's voice had lost its edge of annoyance. It was calm now; too calm. I twisted in Sideswipe's arms so I could squint at him; both the twins had Bluestreak were sharing significant looks.

"Wha'?" I asked, feeling left out.

"Nothing at all!" Sideswipe grinned. Then, without so much as a whisper of warning, he flung me straight up into the air. I squealed in shock as I soared at least fifteen feet into the air before plummeting right back down towards the sea. Sideswipe caught me easily, and then tossed me right back up again, easily ignoring Bluestreak's startled squawk of protest.

If he had been trying to distract me, it worked beautifully. Soon the beach was echoing with my delighted shrieks and Sideswipe's laughter, occasionally interspersed with a grumpy comment from Sunstreaker or a plea from Bluestreak to be careful.

"We should go back now," Bluestreak said after a few moments of watching me being flung into the air over their heads with all the grace of a sack of potatoes, "She needs to refuel."

I landed in Sideswipe's arms for the last time and he passed me off to Bluestreak, still giggling. My spark was thrumming from the excitement; I wondered if there was a robot form of adrenaline. Sideswipe snickered when he saw my face; I imagined it was probably split with an excited grin. "Yeah, we'd better head back too," he said, stretching his arms overhead and glancing at his brother. "We only came out because we wanted to see the sparkling."

"You wanted to see the sparkling." Sunstreaker corrected instantly.

"Whatever."

We all headed back to base together, on foot this time. The length of the walk allowed the hot sun to dry most of the seawater on my plating, and I basked in the warmth even as Bluestreak fretted over the risk of rusting. Once inside, I was subjected to the same curious stares as before, and I hid my face in Bluestreak's chest plating until we reached the rec room.

Thankfully, the rec room was practically empty. I was placed carefully on the floor as Bluestreak shuffled over to the energon dispenser to fill my special bottle, so I took the opportunity to survey just who was in the room; Jazz was poring over a datapad in the corner, and occasionally turned to Prowl who was sitting beside him for advice or an opinion on whatever he was reading. Ironhide sat alone in the corner, but was swiftly ambushed by the twins once they noticed him. That left one other mech on the other side of the room, and I took it upon myself to heave myself up and waddle over.

Optimus' seat at the very edge of the room almost hid him from view, and from the looks of it that was what he was hoping for. His shoulders were slumped and his optics were dimmed just slightly; a half empty energon ration was held limply in his left hand. His right hand propped his chin up as he stared into space. I felt almost bad interrupting him, as he obviously wanted to be alone, but he didn't look as though he should be alone.

I almost tripped on my unsteady legs right as I reached him, and had to clutch at his knee to stop myself from toppling right over. He glanced down at me, obviously startled, and I beamed, "Hi."

"Molly." he said after a moment's recovery. He paused for a moment, then set aside his energon and reached down to pick me up. Once I was settled on his knee, he murmured, "Why are you wet?"

"Go swim." I told him. My voice was still high and babyish, but I could swear I could hear it maturing as the weeks went on.

"Ah."

"Okay?" I asked, poking at his cheek instinctively. He looked at me bemusedly, and I realised cheek-poking probably wasn't a respectful way to communicate with the leader of the Autobots.

"Fine," he said, and then paused. Whatever he was thinking of caused him to heave a sigh, and he lifted me into a standing position with one foot on each of his thighs. His hands held mine, to keep me steady. We could see each other better like this, and he looked me in the eye as he spoke, "The war takes a toll on us all."

I nodded, somewhat unnerved by the sombreness of his mood. "Somet'n happ'n?"

"No, nothing like that." he assured me. I could almost swear the rumbling timbre of his voice was vibrating in my chest. "It can just be difficult, sometimes, to step back and remove yourself mentally from the headspace that is necessary for war."

I couldn't really understand where he was coming from, but my chest ached for him all the same. I couldn't imagine what it must feel like to have your entire planet torn apart by a bitter civil war, and to be haunted by that same war for thousands of years with no end in sight. It was a horrifying thought.

"Well," said Optimus, but this time there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, "I shouldn't be burdening you with this. You're only a child, after all."

I scowled furiously at him, and sucked in an offended little gasp. "Am not." I was a grown woman, damn it! It wasn't my fault I was stuck in baby's body.

Optimus boomed with laughter, the last bit of his melancholy mood slipping away like smoke. "Apologies, dear one," he said, trying to smother his chortles, "But the look on your face is nothing short of hilarious."

When Bluestreak arrived with my energon a few moments later and led me across the room to an empty couch, I looked back across the room at Optimus and watched him turn speculative once more. I couldn't help but wonder about what exactly it was that had him so melancholy. I wondered if their war would ever be over, and I wondered what exactly it would mean for me in the future.