Ratchets mind slowly began to form complete thoughts

."Drop your weapons." Was what Ratchets semiconscious self could hear. Scuffling of feet, and clicking of amour was distinct in the background. Or was it the foreground? Ratchet was so low on power he couldn't switch on his optics. His mind began to sink back into stasis. He couldn't fight it; his energon levels were well below the 50 percent line. Warnings flashed across his vision, informing him of the fact that he was dying. He was already half dead as it was, with the treat of the unknown enemy added to the equation, Ratchets hope of living became dimmer by the minute.

The last thing Ratchet heard was a gun fire.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

'Black…'

Ratchets mind slowly began to form complete thoughts. The fact that he had conscious thought in death baffled him. It struck him as being odd that he would be self-aware when he was one with Primus.

Ratchets optics flickered on. They weren't met with darkness, or the sight of earth on top of him, but instead were met with the familiar sight of the med bay ceiling. 'Well then, I guess that explains having conscious thoughts…I'm not deceased.' He thought, happy relief conquered his mind as the situation unfolded. Then Bluestreak dominated his view.

"Hey, your awake!" He sounded more like he was singing then talking. Ratchet, meanwhile, just stared at the gunner with a totally vacant expression on his face.

"Ummm… Ratchet? Are you feeling well? Well, actually that's a stupid question if you think about it, cause you are in the med bay and are hurt and all… Ok, let me rephrase that, so it's not stupid… Oh, and so it makes more sense, seeing as your hurt and most probably tired, which would make it hard for you to answer hard questions. Not that I am saying your stupid when you are tired, I am just saying that, if I just woke up for being in recharge for almost a week, I wouldn't want to answer big questions either… Ummm…er… So how are you feeling? I mean we--" Bluestreak rambled happily on, well Ratchet sat himself up on the table and turned to face the young bot.

"Bluestreak"

"Ya Ratchet?"

"Shut up…"

"Oh… Oh! I'm sorry I was rambling wasn't I… I mean I didn't mean to, I am just so happy to see that your ok and--" Bluestreak began on yet another roving outburst of words.

'And he's off ladies and gentleman!' Ratchet thought derisively, as his optics begun to wander about the med bay. It was untidy and unorganized, which wasn't the way he remembered leaving it. Ratchet was a clean freak, and the med bay was far from well kept at this point, which meant…

"Wheeljacks been running the med bay!" He blurted out angrily. He wasn't mad that Wheeljack had taking control of the med bay in his absence-- no, he expected the inventor to take over the med bay if there ever was a need for it, and was appreciative that he did. The thing that irritated the medic was the fact that for the next week or so he wouldn't be able to find anything he was looking for, because no doubt Wheeljack had moved his tools or used them and didn't put them back where he had gotten them. Ratchet was organized, to the point of obsession some would say, and he hated when people used his things and didn't put them back exactly where they had gotten them. In fact, it grinded his gears just to think about someone making a mess of his med bay.

"Hello Ratchet… Cybertron to Ratchet… Anyone in there?" Ratchet turned his attention back to the nattering gunner.

"Why are you in here, Bluestreak?" He asked dryly.

"In here? Oh you mean in the med bay… of course, what else would you mean, shesh… I… Ummm… I come in here to visit Hound, he was injured in a battle this morning and I thought it would be nice to come and see him… But when I got here he was in recharge, and I figured it probably wasn't a good idea to wake an injured mech, so I was just going to go and try again later, when you woke up… I was really worried about you too, even though I came in here to see Hound and not you… I mean I want to see you too… But… Ummm… Any-ways, I am happy you're all right…" Bluestreak had a genuinely innocent smile on his face, and it made him look like a tot to Ratchet.

'Primus, how am I support to be mad, when he acts so… so… childishly cute?' Ratchet snickered to himself.

"Ok, where is Wheeljack?" The medic inquired.

"Where indeed." Wheeljacks voice called from behind the two mechs. Ratchet and Bluestreak jumped in surprise and turned to the owner of the voice.

"Hey Ratchet, nice to see your beautiful optics put to work…" Wheeljack teased playfully.

"Shut up, Wheeljack…" Ratchet retorted huffishly.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The rec room was unusually quite for that time of day. There were a few mechs chatting, but most of the occupants of the room were thoroughly distracted by a movie that the twins had been watching. The movie featured an abnormally famous Cowboy by the name of Chuck Norris and Sideswipe greatly amused the mechs sitting around him with ridiculous facts on said actor. The atmosphere of the room was peaceful— Peaceful that is, until Bluestreak flew into the room, flail his arms like a crazed fan girl at a rock concert. He ran up to the rather large group of bots sitting around the TV. Everyone's heads darted up at him, except Sideswipe who took his time shifting his gaze from the TV to the gunner.

"Hey, Bluestreak… What's the best part of the waking up?" Sideswipe chirped before the overly exited gunner could get a word out.

"Wha?… I mean what is it…?" Bluestreak was totally thrown off by that question and it served to momentarily sidetrack the Datsun from his urgent news.

"The best part of waking up isn't Folgers in your cup. Its Knowing Chuck Norris didn't kill you in your sleep." Sideswipe answered gleefully.

"What's coffee? What's a Chuck Norris?" There was a long moment of silence after Bluestreaks reply to the joke, and then the group erupted into a paroxysmal of laughter.

"WHAT!?" Blue felt partly hurt, partly confused. Once the laughter dead down Sunstreaker asked what Bluestreak had been so worked up about when he had entered.

"Ratchets awake!" He sang joyfully.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Explain."

Wheeljack blinded in confusion. "What?"

"Explain. How did I get here? How long was I out? What did you do to my med bay? Last I remember I was offlining, while being buried underneath half a slagging cliff. Explain it, the whole story, beginning to end… Now." Ratchet stated clearly and calmly.

"Hummm…. Lets see… Now keep in mind this is mostly what I heard because I wasn't actually there when you were rescued. Ok, as far as I was told, you guys were ambushed by Decepticons seekers, who backed you into a cliff and buried you there. I heard that Sideswipe had to patch you up because—"

"Because I had a leak in my energon pump…" Ratchet cut in. "Its coming back now, I can sort of remember being in a small rock chamber with Sideswipe, and I can remember him giving me the CPU gel… But then it's all fussy…"

"Well, that is how CPU gel works… Any-who, are you going to let me tell the story?" Wheeljack tried his best to sound serious, but failed when a hint of amusement snuck into him tone.

"Go on…"

"Ok… Here was I? Oh yes! You had an energon leak, and yes, Sideswipe did patch it up. In fact he did a good job of patching it up. While all of you were trapped underneath the rubble, Ironhide managed to escape and fight off the Decepticon jets until backup arrived. Shortly after the Autobots arrived, the Decepticons retreated. After that, the rescue team, which was made up of Optimus, Hoist, Inferno and Grapple, went to work on digging you guys out. Apparently when the rescue team finally broke into your little rock hole, all the mechs with you in the rock chamber were up and had their weapons brawn; ready to fight. Everyone, that is, except Sideswipe, who was clinging to you. You here lifted out of the hole and whisked back here for emergency medical treatment…" Wheeljack paused in his story when he noticed the far off look on Ratchets face. "You still with me Ratchet?"

"Humm…? Oh, yes…I was just thinking… Keep going…" Ratchets reply was but a whisper.

"Oh no you don't. I know something up. I have only seen that expression on your face a couple of times, but I know that when you get that look, you are withholding important information. Now spill, or I wont finish the story." Wheeljack grinned under his mask when Ratchet sighed heavily.

"Its none of your business…" Ratchet frowned. "I remember bits and pieces after the CPU gel was inserted into my neck…"

Wheeljack thought there might be more to the explanation, but after a few moments of silence he couldn't wait any longer. "Like what?"

"Like Sideswipe… Sideswipe telling me that he loved me with all his spark… And kissing me…" Ratchet ducked him head in embarrassment.

"Really?! That great!" Wheeljack responded enthusiastically.

"Great? How is that great? If anything it just makes the whole situation more confusing!" Ratchet protested. Wheeljack could only snicker at his friend.

"Poor naïve Ratchet." He cooed, as he sat next to the medic on the berth and patted him on the back. "Its great, because that was the first move. Now you know where they stand. Its all smooth sailing from there."

"How so?" Ratchet seemed generally confused with what Wheeljack was implying.

"Well, now that you all know where you stand on the subject, starting a relationship would be the next step, I mean—"

"A Relationship?!!" Ratchet choked out.

"Yes, a re·la·tion·ship." Wheeljack replied mockingly.

"Why? Isn't that a little fast?"

"Look, its not like I told you to bond with them, I just said you should start a relationship. I believe the humans call it dating. If it isn't right then just break it off. Simple as that." Wheeljack answered calmly.

"So should I go talk to them? But then how would that work… I mean, I cant just walk on up to them and say 'Hey you guys wanna interface?' But then again, they are young bots, and that might work…" Ratchet trailed off into thought yet again.

"Listen, you should go talk to them, but don't be so blunt… It'll make you sound desperate—"

"Desperate!?" Ratchet cut in yet again, and now Wheeljack was beginning to get annoyed.

"Yes desperate."

"I am not desperate!" Ratchet retorted somewhat desperately.

"Really?" Wheeljack stated in a mockingly calm manner.

"Yes really! Who died and made you the dating guru?!" Ratchet was obviously beginning to get worked up and the last thing Wheeljack wanted was Ratchet to start hurling objects at his head.

"Calm down. If you don't want my help then I wont give it…"

"Fine, then just keep going with the story."

"Fine… I completely last my spot. Oh well, I'll just start from were the rescue party drilled into your rock prison. When the team did finally get into your hole Jazz, Sunstreaker and Smokescreen all had their weapons drawn. I heard that Optimus all most fell over out of surprise; apparently the whole rescue team hadn't expected anyone in the hole to be up and about. Oh, and Smokescreen accidentally fired at Optimus in all the confusion… Said he thought it was Megatron, not Optimus… "

"And then we were brought back here." Ratchet finished.

"Yes… And to answer your question about how long you were out, I completely rebuilt your arm and fixed all the other bots before you came out of recharge."

Ratchet looked down at his new arm, that work was impeccable and he was immensely grateful. "Thanks Jack…" He said shyly.

Silence spread across the room, as both bots felt inexplicable embarrassed. Wheeljack was about to say something to break the silence when, what sounded like a stampede in the hall caught their attention. The med bay doors crashed upon, and emitted the overly excited crowd of mechs, who flocked to where Wheeljack and Ratchet were sitting. The whole group was yammering in blissful relief at the sight of their fully recovered CMO. Wheeljack and Ratchet glanced over at each other in dismay.

"Bluestreak…" They muttered in unison.