Raf awoke to the sound of a fight in the room next to him, he sat up, must be his twin BROTHERS again.
He then felt a joy come from both Optimus and Jade over the family bond, they way of saying good morning.
After Ratchet informed him and the others of Raf's spark rate, Optimus had asked Raf if he could place the parenting bond on him. Raf let him, as he wanted to get to know both Optimus and Jade better.
It was now the 21st of October, last week, at the base, the place got a little bit of PEST CONTROL with some scraplets. But now, thankfully, they were back in the arctic frozen solid.
At the time, Optimus, Cliffjumper Arcee and Diamond were in the Arctic. Raf was relieved to know that none of them were too badly damaged. The base was the main one that took the most damage.
Raf jumped off his bed and started to get ready for school.
Miko waved goodbye to her host-parents before running over to Bulkhead, he was parked on the end of the street. She jumped into the passenger and looked at the holoform beside her. Bulkhead's holoform was a 17 year old man with army green hair and electric blue eyes.
"Morning Bulk'," She greeted him. "Shall we skip school?"
"Miko," He warned.
"I'm kidding," Once Bulkhead pull out on to the road, Miko added. "Mostly."
Bulkhead sighed. "You are too much like Wheeljack."
"Who?" Miko asked.
"An old friend," He answered; he parked in the school parking lot. "Go have fun now."
Miko scoffed, "At school? Not possible." She huffed, stepping out and walking into the school.
Bulkhead watched as she walked off, Primus, she was like Wheeljack.
The bell rang signalling the end of school.
Raf walked out of the school building, once he was outside he ran over to Bumblebee. He jumped in the passenger seat and looked over at Bee's holoform, however this time Bumblebee's holoform was around the age of 18 year old, manly so the cops didn't pull him over.
(How was school?) He asked, beeping the question.
"Pretty good, I think I aced my maths test." Raf pulled the seat belt around him and clicked it in.
(Let's hope so, now I believe Optimus had a small surprise waiting for you at the base.) Bumblebee smiled.
"Really?" Raf asked. "What is it?"
"But that would spoil it," Bee winked. He pulled out of the school, followed by Bulkhead.
Arcee and Cliffjumper went in another direction, as Jade had work today.
"Thanks Ratchet," Diamond thanked the medic as she placed a few things around his room.
Diamond was living with the 'Bots as he couldn't really step back into the real world just yet. Ratchet was helping him with a few items that he couldn't really push around himself.
Ratchet didn't mind Diamond, at least he didn't make any trouble, that and the fact the first time Orion Pax and June asked for her to look after Jade while they handled some work with Megatronus, when he was a good guy.
Jade at the time was only a toddler/sparkling and she had just started to make shields. She had been practicing when she accidently hit one of Ratchet's welders causing it to set a flame to Ratchet's house.
Ratchet had spent the rest of that day trying to not strangle Jade, while she sat outside her burnt down home with the giggling fire starter on her knee.
Hopefully, June won't want any more children when she reunites with Optimus again; Ratchet was not BABYSITTING ever again.
"Ratchet," Diamond's VOICE CALLED her back to present time. "When does Raf and the others get here?"
Ratchet checked the watch on her data-pad, which she held in her hand, "Another ten minutes at least.
"Right," Diamond nodded. "I going to let the cold in,"
Ratchet nodded, "I'm heading out then, I have to check the scanners and do some research." She left Diamond's room and back to the main area.
Once Jade had arrived at base with Arcee and Cliffjumper, she was greeted with a snowball to the face. She felt Raf's laughter as her pulled a surprised look on. She looked over at Raf, who ran towards her.
It was then that Jade saw he had a snow jacket on.
"Come on, Jade." He chirped. He grabbed her hand and ran down the hallway, dragging her with him.
"Where are we going?" She questioned laughing a little. Arcee and Cliffjumper followed them.
"Optimus let Diamond have his own room, but he had to let us inside too." Raf stopped in front of a large door. He walked up to it and it opened up. Jade gasped at what she saw.
"Snow," She whispered. It looked like a winter wonderland. The ground was covered with pure white snow and there were tall ice walls that reminded Jade of valley they went to on their last mission. "Wow," She then got another snowball in the face, she whipped around to see Miko. She was also wearing snow gear.
"Oh, it is so on." Jade grabbed a pile of snow in her hand chucked it at Miko, it then turned into an all out fight between the three of them. Near the end of the day, Miko got called away to help Bulkhead with some chores. So Raf went off with Bumblebee to play some car games, while Jade went to see Optimus, who was in his room resting for a bit.
Arcee and Cliffjumper went off back to the front room, after they dropped Jade off at Optimus door.
Jade pecked inside the room, Optimus was sitting on his berth, staring at the wall, as if in deep thought.
"Optimus?" She called.
Optimus snapped out of his train of thought and looked at her. He seemed to be thinking for a few seconds before smiling at her. "Jade, good to see you." He stood up and held out his hand to her. She stepped onto it and he lifted her up to his eye level. "How was school?" He asked placing her on his shoulder and walking out the door.
"It was ok," Jade answers, placing a small strand of hair back behind her ear. "But I mainly wanted to get back here."
"Something wrong?" Optimus asked.
"Well, not with me, I was wondering if something was wrong with you,"Jade explained. "Whenever Arcee or Cliffjumper kiss me in pubic, you seem to get mad."
Optimus gave a sigh. "I do not mind Arcee and Cliffjumper being with you Jade, but it is more of the matter, that some humans do not agree with triad relationships. I just don't wish for your image of being normal, ruined."
Jade placed her hand on Optimus head. "Thanks for worrying dad. But don't; I don't need the approval of other people for my love life. In fact, I only want my family's opinion in the matter."
"Well, I am happy that you've chosen a fine set of soldiers to care for you. If anything, I couldn't think of anyone better to look after you."
They walked into the main room together and Jade flew off over to Cliff and Arcee. She then joined in their conversation.
Optimus watched them for a few moments. He mentally sighed; he had missed so much of Jade, growing up, because of the war. Not this time, once the war finished, Optimus would rebuild his family, with June by his side.
Ratchet at work on the computer when a signal went off. "Optimus," She called out to him, being the Prime back to reality. "I'm receiving a signal on a restricted band. It appears to be coming from a Starship inside this SOLAR SYSTEM." She typed a few things into the computer. "It's an Autobot identification beacon."
"Whoa, wait, there are more 'bots out there?" Miko asked, surprised. She and Bulkhead and just entered the room, their chores finished.
"The mass is scattered throughout the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark."Arcee answered, walking over to join the group with Cliffjumper and Jade following behind him. "But Con's have been known to bait traps with false beacons."
"I'll open a communication link." Ratchet muttered, typing like mad at the keyboard. Once she had it opened she nodded at Optimus, who addresses the unknown bot.
"Unknown vessel this is Autobot output Omega-One. Identify yourself."
"I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon Combat Brigades." A deep female voice came through the static filled communication link.
"Wheeljack!" Bulkhead exclaimed. Ratchet looked over her shoulder as Bulkhead walked over to stand nearer to the computer. "You old Con crusher! What are you doing all the way out here?"
Suddenly Ratchet froze, Wheeljack? No it couldn't be that Wheeljack, this one was female.
Wheeljack's' voice re-caught Ratchet's attention. "Bulkhead? That's you? What's with all the security?" She voice seemed to purr at the end.
"The rock we're on is crawling with Con's. How soon can you get here and even the odds?" Bulkhead asked, grinning.
"Sometime tomorrow, if I put metal to the petal," Wheeljack informed him.
"Another 'bot's coming here, how cool is that!" Miko grinned, she then saw the look on Bulkhead's face, and she bit her lip.
"Wheeljack." Optimus says, in thought. "I know of her by reputation only, she is a gender shifter, is she not?"
"Yep," Bulk' nodded.
"Can you verify both her female and male voice print?"
"One moment," He turned back to the computer. "Hey, Jackie, can you shift your gender for a minute, I need to check your voice print."
It was quite on the end of the line before a male voice similar to the female began to talk. "Are sure about, sounds to me that you prefer a mech's company."
"Oh, dear, that's Wheeljack, alright." Bulkhead, looked a bit embarrassed at Wheeljack's comment, but he was still happy to hear from his old friend.
Optimus nodded at Bulkheads words and turns to the computer. "We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack. Safe journey."
"See ya soon buddy! I'll make sure you get a proper welcome." Ratchet ended the link after Bulkheads words.
Ratchet was now very worried, 'Not him, I hope he doesn't remember me.'
*Flashback*
"Hey, there sweet aft," Ratchet felt her optic twitch. She turned her attention away from her work to face another Autobot, a wrecker, if she was right.
His left foot was badly damaged. "What happened?" She asked.
He gave a nod. "Ran into some 'cons, my team mates bossed me into coming; I didn't want to, but now that I see you. I wouldn't mind stopping by this medic camp more often." He winked.
Ratchet was currently helping at a medical camp; she wasn't going to be here for long though.
Ratchet smirked smugly. "Sorry, but I'm only here for a week." She helped him over to one of the medical berths.
"Shall we make the most of it then?" He asked, giving her a wink.
Ratchet grabbed a wrench from the side of the bed and hit him hard over the head. Least to say, the wrecker wouldn't be bugging her anymore.
Once she'd finished repairing his leg, she filled out a form for him. He couldn't leave the medical camp for at least another few days. Meaning Ratchet would be stuck with the guy for a while longer.
"Excuse me, medic?" Someone else had entered the med-bay. Ratchet turned to see a group of wreckers. The one that spoke held out a hand, which Ratchet took. "I'm Seaspray. How is Wheeljack." He pointed to the knocked out wrecker.
"Sleeping, but he shall be in here for a few days." Ratchet told him.
A few wreckers behind Seaspray sniggered and let off some smirks.
"Oh, boy, he is not going to like that." One of the females giggled.
"I don't care what he likes, his leg needs to recover." Ratchet stated a-matter-of-factly.
"Sweet spark,"The wreckers and Ratchet turned their attention back to Wheeljack, who was sitting up. "I didn't know you cared." He smirked, he went to stand, but Ratchet pushed him back down.
"Stay put, or you'll hurt your leg more." She warned.
"How about a kiss to make it better then?" He asked. The wreakers behind Ratchet howled with laughter. While Ratchet felt her optic twitch again for the second time that day.
*End of Flashback*
Ratchet watched as Arcee walked up to Bulkhead and asked the question. "So, who's the boyfriend?" He then paused, "Or girlfriend."
Bulkhead laughed. "Jackie's my ex," He explained. "We were part of the same war unit, the Wreckers,which means the Con's wish he had never found us."
"I'm confused." Miko muttered. "First Wheeljack's a girl then a boy? And what's a gender shifter?"
"A gender shifter is a transformer who can change their gender at will," Cliffjumper explained.
Ratchet wasn't paying the rest of the group must attention, as she felt a bit of dread in her. She had to put up with that mech for two days, and in that time he had said the most perverted stuff, then at the end of his time in the medical camp, he managed to get a kiss off Ratchet by asking her to check his neck.
She was now every much hoping that Wheeljack didn't remember her.
Bulkhead was a little worried as he took Miko home; the girl hadn't said a word since Wheeljack called.
"Bulkhead," She suddenly asked. "What was it like dating Wheeljack?"
Bulkhead went wide-eyed at this. Was that what she was worried about? He sighed, "Miko… Wheeljack and I found that we were better as friends."
"So, why did she talk like… that?" She chewed her bottom lip a bit.
"Wheeljack has a habit with flirting with everyone, the only time she doesn't is when she's dating someone."
"Oh," Miko's cheeks turned light pink as they then pulled up at her house.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He opened the door for her.
"See ya, Bulk'," Miko paused for a second, before leaning over to Bulk's holoform and kissing him on the cheek. She then ran off to her house. Leaving a stunned Bulkhead behind.