Author's Note:

SO SO SO SO SORRY! I know it's been a really long time since I've updated, I just . . . had SEIROUS battles with writer's block for weeks, and then when I tried to write this I didn't like anything I wrote. I've rewritten this several times because I didn't like it, flipping ideas since I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with this story anymore . . . ^^ Anyway, I kinda liked this latest try at writing the next chapter, so I said to myself, "This is probably the best it'll get," and am uploading it before angry fans claw me to death through the computer.

Honestly, the song of inspiration for this chapter was "History" by EXO-K. Just open a tab to youtube and look it up, Fanfiction always slams and messes up links and even if you write it out it crops it up to impossible . . .

Hope you guys will forgive me for being so lax, but here's the next chapter and I hope you like it!

(ps, if anyone has ideas for what can happen, feel free to tell me! I may or may not use it, but lots of times other people's ideas help jumpstart mine!)

"What are you doing this time?"

Wheeljack carefully froze, glancing up to Miko on the other side of the base. "It's a surprise," he told her, refocusing down on the tiny capsule. Using a pair of tweezers to hook important cords together, he heard Miko scoff.

"Seriously? What is that, a grenade? You might want to make it, what, ten times bigger if YOU'RE wanting to throw it." She snorted again. "Seriously."

"You'll see," was all he would tell her.

The damn thing had already misfired three times and forced him to start from scratch, and Ratchet hadn't been happy. The stubborn Doc kept saying it was a waste of parts to repair Wheeljack . . . And in a way, it was, considering how many times he had hurt himself already. Another optic, two fingers, and an audio receptor were his latest fixings from the LAST times this item had blown up in his face . . . He wouldn't get started on things that had blown up before this endeavor.

Wheeljack zoomed an optic in on the tiny contraption, keeping meticulous care not to do anything stupid again. Faintly, he heard Miko hooking up her guitar, and the thought made his lips twitch into a combination of a grimace and smile. He was grateful to the big Prime for allowing him to stay despite his misgivings, and he was happy to see Miko happy . . . but by Primus her music choice was awful!

Wheeljack breathed a sigh when he FINALLY got the irritating contraption finished, and he set his tools down. Now, for a test run. Sliding the latch that would start the countdown, a premature explosion shocked straight up his suspension. Howling in pain when he felt his hand shatter open and energon gush out, Wheeljack slapped a palm to cover the bleeding wound.

"Wheeljack!"

Miko's screech was a combination of livid and worried, but after how many times he had detonated himself she was finally getting the hang of not letting it get to her.

"What the heck are you doing?"

Wheeljack chuckled at her indignation. "Don't worry about it, Babe." Touching his audio receptor, Wheeljack told a no doubt fuming Ratchet, "Don't you worry about me, Doc, you've wasted enough time. I'll handle myself this time."

An extremely fed up medic exclaimed, "My name is not DOC!" before he quickly terminated the line.

Wheeljack chuckled at how easily perturbed he was before making a face. Getting back up to his feet, he walked to the back for the medical equipment, and he was a little more than surprised to have Miko trailing him like a faithful puppy.

"You can do it yourself?" she asked.

Wheeljack laughed then. "Miko, from being alone all the time, I learned to take care of myself. 'Course I can do it myself."

"That's cool," she said. "Can I watch?"

Wheeljack felt his mouth pull into a smirk. "Sure thing. But, I didn't think you interested in that medical stuff."

He pulled his hand forward to keep his energon from dripping on her head as she walked next to him. "THAT'S because Ratch doesn't let me get close. He wants me to sit and listen to a lecture." She snorted at that.

Wheeljack waggled his eyebrows at her and gave a secretive wink as he pushed the large door open for her. "Interactive learning."

Miko blushed sky high. "No—it's not!" She then rushed into the room much faster than Wheeljack, leaving the Wrecker to silently laugh at her.

Grabbing the medical supplies and getting straight to the point, Wheeljack sat down and got his hand low so Miko could see.

Frowning at the damage, Wheeljack picked up a fine-tuned welder. "Well, first I'm gonna stop all this bleeding before I can do anything," he told her, and he watched her hop up on her toes to get a better look as he fished around and found the tubes that were the culprits of draining his energy. Then, trading for tweezers again, he said, "Now I get to pinch these wires back together so they'll hold and recover."

As he did so, clenching his jaw tight from the pain that induced, Miko perked up, watching as he did so. "You can do that? You don't have to replace them?"

Refusing to hiss from pain, Wheeljack muttered tightly, "Yeah . . . They're part bio mechanics. It's gonna be uncomfortable and feel stiff the rest of the day, but once I get a good recharge, the recovery cycle should kick in. They'll fuse back together and heal over, but my hand is going to be sore as hell tomorrow."

Miko rolled her eyes at the explicative, and Wheeljack had to silently remind himself not to do that. Peering at his fingers, he was glad to see they had escaped most of the damage, and he saved them for later. Shifting his hand over so the rest of the free energon would drain out and give him a clear view, he grunted in approval.

"Good. None of the base struts were broken or damaged."

Walking around, uncaring that she was stepping in the energon that pooled on the floor, Miko gazed down at the open wound. "What're those?"

"They're like my bones," he said. "Those would have been a bit trickier to remove and get fixed and a pain in my afterburner. Now, as for plating to cover up my now blasted open hand . . ."

Rummaging in a kit of extra parts, Wheeljack searched for the right part. A prod at his gaping wound make him make a small half-growl half-gasp of pain, and he twitched his hand away from the offending human.

"Hey! What're you doing?"

"Investigating," she said, leaning over so her face was almost inside the hole. "Did that really hurt?"

Wheeljack rolled his optics, groaning. "Like a high grade hangover. What did you expect? How about I go putting MY hand in yours?"

Miko poked out her tongue, waggling her fingers up at him. "Sorry. I doubt they'd fit."

Wheeljack grumbled, returning to his scavenger hunt. "Yeah, well, I'd find SOMETHING to fit . . ." Suddenly, he felt his fingers brush over exactly what he was looking for. "Aha! Here we are." Pulling out the metal piece, he pulled scraps of the old pieces loose and fitted the new part over it. "Then, we screw it in here . . . not too tight so you can still move . . ." Doing so, making quick time, he picked up the welder again. "Weld the edges shut to keep it on . . ." He did that too, making sure Miko was well away so the light and sparks wouldn't hurt her eyes or irritate her skin.

"Last but not least," he told her, picking up the wrench. He waved it threateningly at her, making her snicker at the silent pun on the master-mind of wrench hitting (it was unsaid that it was Ratchet), "I'll tighten my fingers up 'cause that blast rattled them loose." Doing so until his fingers worked properly, Wheeljack tossed the wrench aside and held out his appendage for Miko to see. He wiggled and flexed every finger, rotating his undamaged wrist. "Viola! Like brand new."

Miko grinned, brown eyes twinkling up at him. "That is sick! Maybe you could do open spark surgery on Ratchet. I'd love to watch that!"

Laughing warmly, Wheeljack picked up his charge and set her on his shoulder. Shoving the medical kit together in no particular order—a gesture that would tax Ratchet's patience even more—Wheeljack told her, "Give me just a second more to clean up that energon. Then we'll head back."

Miko huffed a dramatic sigh. "Seriously? I hate cleaning up."

Wheeljack chuckled, washing away the old energon. "Well, if one thing I WILL clean up, it's energon. It'll end up stinking up the place."

Miko held on to his audio receptor to keep her balance, and surprise flashed across her face. "Really? I didn't know energon smells." She took an overly exhuberant deep breath, and she frowned. "I don't smell anything."

Wheeljack frowned with her. How to explain . . . ? He grunted. "Well, it's kinda like the smell of blood, only . . . different. It's a lot more subtle. That's probably why you can't smell it. If it gets REALLY strong it smells kinda like a burned-out socket that's been fried. And with that, the same smell that blood has that makes your stomach roll."

Miko wrinkled her nose at the description. "Ugh, that's disgusting! I bet that means you'll be cleaning up the mess you made in that training room, too."

"You got that right." Wheeljack chuckled, letting her off his shoulder. "If you wanna scram to the training room again, go ahead."

She snapped her fingers and pointed her index at him. "NO problem. Enjoy yourself, Cinderella."

Wheeljack frowned as she left, the name "Cinderella" really throwing him off guard. Looking her up, he grunted in slight amusement at her pun on Cinderella cleaning for the evil step-mother and step-sisters.

"Only Doc's no evil step-mother," Wheeljack muttered as he cleaned up the energon. Primus knew the Doc was much worse than that, though it was fun to push his buttons.

After cleaning up all the energon, Wheeljack began to work on his little invention again. Double checking everything, he found the idiotic mistake and rerouted the wiring from the detonator to the timer, praying that this time it would work properly. Sliding the latch, Wheeljack let out a breath when it began the countdown correctly this time. Sliding the latch back into place, the countdown stopped. After waiting several excruciatingly long seconds, it didn't blow. A grin split Wheeljack's face.

"Hey, Miko!"

She stopped her jamming to look up at him, and he waved a hand. "Stay right there! I'll be right back—I'm going on a test run!"

Her eyes popped. She began to take off her guitar. "Wait—I'm coming with you!"

Wheeljack shook his head, pointing at her, "Stay right there! I'll be back before you know it!"

Chuckling to himself in excitement, Wheeljack hurried back to the front, transformed down, and left the silo. Ratchet burst out asking where he was going, but Wheeljack didn't grace him with a response he was so eager to see this work. Going several miles out from the silo, far away from the interstate roads, Wheeljack transformed up again, grinning to himself.

He pulled out the tiny grenade, so small he could barely hold it. Sliding the latch again, he meticulously counted the five seconds, throwing the grenade far away from him. It exploded miraculously in the hot air of the desert, causing a fountain of sands to spurt up.

Wheeljack laughed, long and clear.

Heading back inside and brushing off both an irritated Ratchet and then an irritated Miko, he created the grenade twice over, twice over checking it for flaws and danger. When it worked perfectly for the third time in a row, he knew it was safe.

Miko pointed ignored him the next time he came in, but Wheeljack just chuckled to himself, knowing she was going to be thrilled with this. Making the human-sized grenade once more, he squatted in front of Miko.

"Hey, Babe, I've got something for you!"

She slammed her fingers down on her guitar strings really hard, causing Wheeljack to wince at the loud sound coming from the amp. She cocked an eyebrow at him, and as the guitar strum faded, said, "So NOW you'll talk to me?"

"I was busy," he said with an easy wave of his hand, for once not letting her spite get to him. He handed her the tiny grenade. "Check it out."

She took one look and her eyes popped. "Wheeljack!" she hissed, looking left and right for the others. "That's a grenade! Are you crazy? Optimus would kill you!"

When she still hesitated to take it from his hands, Wheeljack pushed it towards her. "Then Optimus doesn't have to know," he said cheekily, winking at her.

Miko crossed her arms, glaring up at him. "Wheeljack. I break rules. But even I know when not to push Optimus. You'll get yourself kicked out of here for sure! A grenade? Seriously—a grenade? Wheeljack, I'd blow myself up!"

Wheeljack rolled his optics patiently. "That's why this one doesn't detonate on impact," he informed her. He held it closer. "You just slide the latch here—" Miko squealed, backing away and throwing up her arms, "and it'll detonate in five seconds." He slid the latch back. "Push the latch back in place, and the detonation sequence terminates. That way if it was just a false alarm you won't be blowing anything up." He grinned.

Miko stared wide eyed at the grenade he was offering her. It was completely against Autobot regulations though Wheeljack himself didn't seem to have a problem breaking those. It also posed incredible danger to Miko if she accidentally did something stupid with it. Not to mention Ratchet would finally have a cow and beat Wheeljack to scrap with a wrench and this time refuse to fix him when he was done.

The small human looked at the grenade warily and looked up at her new guardian. "Wheeljack? Why?"

He suddenly looked away. "Well, um . . ." It wasn't that he hadn't expected her to ask, it was more that he hadn't really thought about how he was going to explain himself. Small prickles of imaginary pain began to chase up his back. He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Well, just in case. I mean—I'm not going to do anything stupid, I just . . . just in case, you know, something happens, and for some reason I'm not there . . ." Wheeljack grasped behind his neck a bit awkwardly, wondering if he was going over the top with this protection thing, but by Primus he wanted this girl safe. He scowled and shoved the grenade into her hands before she could say anything more. "Just take the slagging thing already!" At least if he couldn't protect her, she could protect herself.

Miko fumbled it a moment before holding the hand-held grenade. Wheeljack was still looking away uncertainly, and as she stared at the shiny silver sphere, she felt her heart flip.

I can protect Wheeljack with this.

"Okay," she finally said, shoving it into her backpack. Wheeljack seemed surprised at her sudden agreement, but he didn't pursue it—it made it easier for him to brush it under the rug. Miko faced him again and arched an eyebrow. "We're not telling anyone about this," she said strictly, and Wheeljack had to resist the urge to chuckle at her seriousness. "Our secret."

"What secret?"

Miko yelped, whirling around in shock when Jack waltzed into the training room. "Jack!" she shrieked. She clenched her hands, brown eyes flashing daggers at the boy. "What the heck is your problem? At least warn us that you're going to sneak up on us!"

"I wasn't sneaking!" he defended himself. He frowned. "Besides, if it was sneaking, of course I wouldn't tell you." Then, Jack grinned minutely, leaning towards her, and waggled his eyebrows. "So, come on, tell me the secret."

Miko blushed sky high. "There is no secret!" she yelled at him, but Jack was undeterred.

"Well, judging by the guilty blush plastered over your face," he said cheekily, "I'd bet my life savings on a big secret. Come on, Miko, fess up!"

Wheeljack waved a hand nonchalantly, saving Miko from this awkward mess. "She just doesn't want me to tell anyone she has a crush on you."

Jack's eyes popped. Miko's jaw slacked as her own eyes widened rounder than saucers, and then, the pitch at which she shrieked nearly disabled Wheeljack's audio receptors.

"WHEELJACK!"

It only made it twice as worse for the punk girl when Jack laughed with sudden confidence, tossing a lock of hair. "Well, I knew I was good looking, but this is a surprise, Miko. I should have known!"

Miko whirled on Jack so fast Wheeljack almost pitied him—but then, he began to pity himself—there was no telling what horrors Miko would spring on him for even suggesting it, but as he looked on her face so red . . . he had a hunch he had been right.

"Let's get something straight, Jack!" she yelled at him, so furious that her nose was wrinkling. "I DO NOT like you! Wheeljack's just being stupid again!"

Jack just laughed comfortably, crossing his arms. He leaned close to her face with cocky superiority, sneering, "Oh, is that right? Then why are you blushing?"

The slap! rang out before Wheeljack saw Miko's hand move and Jack recoiled with an angry shout. "Just what was that for?"

"For being a cocksure prick!" she hollered at the top of her lungs before stalking past him, face so red Wheeljack was sure she was going to pop a blood vessel.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, following her angrily, her handprint pulsing bright red on his white skin. "Get back here and stop acting like a spoiled brat!"

"Oh yeah?" she shot back. She didn't stop her angry march from the room. "Just because you're Optimus's teacher's pet doesn't mean I care!"

An incredulous look crossed over Jack's face before it was replaced with anger. "Miko!" he shouted, running after her. "Stop! I can't believe you're being so . . . Grow up! Miko—!"

Wheeljack chuckled to himself at the sight of them, hearing their bickering back and forth. They argued like a married couple! Since he could still hear the reverb of Miko's guitar, he turned off her amp and nearly sighed as the sound quite pounding on his audio receptors.

He frowned to himself. Maybe teasing her like that hadn't been a good idea. Who knows what would happen to Jack before this day was over, and . . .

Wheeljack shuddered. He'd have to keep an extra eye on Miko for whenever she decided to extract her revenge on him for humiliating her.