By the time they had left the library Ratchet was both appalled and amazed by what he had researched. It was impressive how humans were able to reproduce their species; it was just the same how that came across as barbaric. Even recalling the couple on the road and the pain that the female went through did not help put the process into a positive light. But, as they were walking down the road towards the little diner that had become their main source of nourishment, he kept remembering how happy the parents were to have their child, especially the mother despite the ordeal she had gone through.

When they had walked through the doors they were greeted by a bustle of excited voices. The usual patrons that they had become accustomed to sitting around quietly in their own little groups were all surrounding the back corner. Naturally when the bell on the door chimed some of the group looked their way, but instead of the usual passing glances they had received before there was an enthusiasm as one of the men from the group spotted the pair.

"There they are!" the new father they had met on the road exclaimed as he rushed over towards them, shaking Ratchet's hand as he began to pull him over towards the group. "I'm so glad that you two were still in town. Hey, y'all. This is the pair that I've been telling you about." The new father turned an embarrassed look towards the pair, "I never got your names."

"Ariel Burns," Elita introduced herself with a bright smile before patting Ratchet on the chest, "and my flabbergasted friend here is Jeffrey Missick."

Most of the crowd took his shocked look at his female compatriot as stunned silence of her introducing him, but Ratchet was just trying to figure out exactly what she had named him. Wasn't it his place to name himself? Then again, the only human names he knew were that of those he had dealt directly with and their current predicament would not allow for them to be used safely.

He was still in his state of shock when someone had escorted him onto the bench in the circular corner booth that the crowd had gathered around. His shock ebbed away at the excited, happy voices of the women beside him. Looking over he saw Elita, who was seated beside himself, and the wife of the man that greeted him like a long lost brother as they cooed over the newborn. The child was awake, but quietly swaddled in his mother's arms. He heard Elita asking the woman all sorts of questions and the woman's replies were warm and pleasant as she passed the child over to the female Autobot's arms.

"Oh, yes. The doctor said that everything was wonderful for what had happened. He was glad that we had come across someone that had some experience."

"I'm just glad I was able to help," Elita blushed a bit as she brushed some stray hairs behind her ear while she focused down on the little boy. "Yes, I am. Have you been good for your mommy and daddy?"

Ratchet was confused as to why she was speaking to the child, the young boy only able to look up at her, but she was holding the baby's attention and the child seemed to be in pleasant spirits as he was being spoken to. The crowd that surrounded them was as happy as the parents were in celebrating the new life. Even the roughest looking farmhands and truck drivers were smiling joyfully as they congratulated the father that stood among them. Then the old Autobot was a bit surprised when the young boy's mother asked him if he wished to hold her son.

"I … wouldn't know what to do," he replied, trying to find the words to politely turn down the offer.

"Just scoop your arm around to support his head and," Elita told him gently as she moved the child over and helped Ratchet become situated to hold the boy correctly, "support his body with the rest of that arm and your other."

At first he sat ridged, fear of harming the fragile being making him so, but as he stared down into the tiny, trusting face he felt himself calm and relax. There was a joy and warmth that surge through him as he held the boy.

The little boy didn't know about hardship, that the universe could be a cruel and terrible place to live. He didn't know the pain or heartache from losing someone close to him. There was only the future for this child, one filled with love and happiness from not only his parents but the community that surrounded them. He and his parents had a fresh start to make every moment of their lives matter.

The children that had come into the Autobot's lives came to mind. Jack, Miko, and Raphael might have not exactly been welcomed by him when they first were brought into the base, but Ratchet couldn't deny the fact that they had made things better. They were young, the world not quite touching them with all of its harsh realities like it had Agent Fowler, but they were some of the best allies they had.

Slowly Ratchet recalled a few of the times that the Autobots were saved due to their optimistic bravery: the Scraplet infestation, Raphael fixing his computer system and the young man's deep care for Bumblebee, Miko's encouragement that kept Bulkhead from giving up, even Jack going to Cybertron to bring Optimus back to them.

Looking up at Elita, seeing her smiling wistfully at the little boy as she gently brushed her hand over his head, he recalled her remorse when she had fully accepted what had happened to her so long ago when she first joined them. It was all of the positive emotions and feelings that surrounded the child that made him understand her heartache. It also made him wonder why she had not tried to have children since Vector Sigma had given her her human body back. He would have to ask her about it tonight.

Tracks secured a container that had been filled with a thick, off-white liquid onto the stand at the head of the medical berth. There was already another container on the system, but the fluid was almost gone and he had to be prepared to switch over to the full one. Once the other one had emptied he would switch it out with another full one. There was a very thin tube that ran down from the bottom of both containers that connected into a single one just below the stand that allowed a smooth, automatic transition between them. The single tube ran down to the Autobot that rested on the berth below, more specifically under the blanket that was draped over Ratchet's torso. From the blanket ran another tube, this one was filled with glowing blue Energon with the other end attached to Ratchet's arm. On the other side of the table Elita's large form rested in a spare chair, actually slumped over onto Ratchet's own body with her head resting on his midsection facing towards the head of the bed.

Dimming the lights in the room, he left the pair in near darkness as he headed out to recharge his own systems. Thanks to Elita's quick thinking he was able to complete the repairs on both forms with plenty of fresh Energon. Unfortunately they had run out of the Synth-En before he had even gotten half way through Ratchet's repairs. It was the human woman, June Darby, that had come up with a solution, hence the off-white fluid that was being utilized. She had said it was the same liquid that they used to feed human patients with feeding tubes in the hospital. Tracks really didn't care, it just worked.

The acting head medic didn't even jump when he suddenly spotted Optimus Prime coming towards him in the hallway. The Autobot leader had made it a habit to check on any of his team members when they were injured, even after the Autobot was back up on their feet.

"Good evening, Tracks," Optimus greeted him.

"And good evening to you, too, Sir," Tracks greeted, any of his usual sarcastic nature diminished due to the respect his new commander showed.

"I had wished to check on Ratchet and Elita before you retired for the night," Prime informed the medic gently.

"I had suspected as much," Tracks smirked, but in a good natured way. "Ratchet, at this point in time, is fully repaired. Elita is still doing her thing. Now we are just waiting on them."

Nodding once, Optimus returned the smirk with a smile. "I see. Good job. Goodnight, Tracks."

"Goodnight, Sir."

The pair had retired to their rented room a few hours later than they had originally planned due to the unexpected celebration they had walked in on. Again, Ratchet found his companion silent and somewhat cold towards him as they slowly unloaded their belongings onto either the bed or table that they were nearby. His hand was lingering on the door key that he set on the table as he watched her pull off her overshirt and toss it onto the foot of her bed. He recognized her pensive mood from the old base, when there was something bothering her deep down.

Just as he was about to speak the cell phone rang. Elita pulled it free from her back pant pocket and glanced at it before she swiped a finger across the screen and putting it up to her ear. "Please tell me that they're about to knock on our door." Watching as her shoulders dropped further down with her tired sigh, Ratchet knew that she didn't receive the answer either of them had been hoping for. The conversation between Elita and whomever was on the other line, which he assumed was Agent Fowler, became background noise as he sat on his bed and began to pull off his own boots.

"What do you mean they can't find the road?" Elita asked, doing her best to control the tone of her voice to keep from sounding as upset as she was feeling.

"They haven't even located the campsite you had said you had made," Agent Fowler's voice sounded sympathetic.

Elita let out a long sigh as she rubbed her forehead with her empty hand. There was no real way that this rescue mission could be taking this long. Now all she wanted to do at that moment was curl up and drown her sorrows with a gigantic jar of peanut butter and a spoon. "We need to figure out how to wake up from this nightmare before the Synth-En runs out.

"Everyone here is doing the best they can, Elita. Don't give up hope. I'll call and check on you later."

"Yeah, sure. Give the kids my love."

"Will do."

As the phone went silent, Elita dropped her arm and let the phone fall to the bed beside her. Ratchet, at this point, had half turned himself to look over at her. "No closer to finding us yet?" When her only reply was to shake her head slowly a couple of times he gave a disgruntled sigh as he looked over at the wall that faced the foot of their beds. "Of course. Leave it to humans to mess up what a Cybertronain could do in only a few hours."

Elita's hands clinched into tight fists at her sides as she took several deep breaths to calm herself. If she heard one more slight out of him she was going to have to reattach his head after she knocked it off. As he continued to lament about how the Autobots would have found them by now if not hindered by the humans with them as he walked towards the bathroom Elita yanked her phone and over shirt off the bed, putting it on as she stormed over towards the door.

Ratchet just caught sight of her as she yanked it open and slammed it behind her. He could only stare at is as he wondered what she was so upset about before he shrugged it off and shut the bathroom door. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than being stuck how he was.

It was as he was preparing to wash up for the night that Ratchet realized that being human had given him a perspective that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise from just studying them. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be. Yes, there were many annoying factors he had to deal with, but there were certain charms to it that were outweighing the negative of his experience.

Like hot showers. Once he got over the mortification, and figured out about how painful it was when one got soap in their eyes, he realized that there was just something wonderful about washing the day away.

Beds were another little delight. True, his first experiences were not as pleasant as the motel bed they were utilizing now, but it was very soft compared to the recharge berths that the Autobots utilized due to their larger, metallic bodies. But if he was truly honest with himself, the most comfortable sleep he had was out in the woods. Sure, the ground was hard and uncomfortable, but there was something about sleeping with Elita curled up in his arms like she had been. There was a comfort that he never realized that he was missing, or even needing, in his life.

It wasn't only limited to that one aspect. The facts all pointed to one thing. He was begrudgingly enjoying spending this time with her. He had missed her company since she had been almost avoiding him outright, using her work between Autobots and the humans to keep herself occupied and away from him, purposely avoiding him. He had become so accustomed to her spending time with him at their old base, especially since she had not been allowed to leave before everything went crazy.

Now, it was as if he was given a chance to mend things between them from that fight that sent her off on her own before their original base had been destroyed and he was making a huge mess of things by outright complaining about the situation. He knew that she only did what she thought was the best to help save his life, giving him a temporary body while his Cybertronian form was given more time to be repaired. It was no different than when she suddenly ended up trapped in that monstrosity that they had found her in, before Vector Sigma had repaired her.

That thought made Ratchet pause in the middle of drying himself off. There wasn't really a difference between what was happening to him right now and what had brought her into his life. Both had been displaced out of their normal life thanks to M.E.C.H.. The one difference was that he could return to his old life, things would go back to normal once they were found and returned back to the base and his form restored. Elita wouldn't be able to return to how things were due to sacrificing her own Cybertronian form so his could be repaired. She was going to lose her own body again, though in this crazy circle of events she ended up back in a human form.

With his pajamas on, Ratchet walked back out into their rented room. There was just something charming about this little life on the run with her. He was enjoying things that he never thought about before in his life. He was also enjoying the little things that they had once shared before and going through bits of it again when they would just relax around one another. Things that he didn't want to lose again.

The bed caught him as he felt the ground go out from under him again as he realized that he was tempted to give it up, give up being Cybertronian again, just to stay with her. At the moment that more annoyed him than he found any comfort in.

"And it's all her fault," he snapped, quickly getting to his feet and pacing the room. "Just where did she run off to anyways? Honestly, I've never seen a Prime throw such a tantrum. Must be due to her human side, those hormones I read about."

With a frustrated sigh, Ratchet yanked the remote off the night stand between the beds and hopped onto his own, crossing his legs at the ankles as he leaned back against the pillows and headboard and began to flip through the channels.

Originally she just went for a walk to clear her head and to keep herself from knocking off Ratchet's from his body. Elita knew she had a temper; she knew how easily it could flare up and get out of control where she would say something that she would regret and could never take back. She learned that lesson after her father died when she felt like the world was against her and she was almost always angry for it. Her sharp tongue wounded deeply with how recklessly she used it and she knew that she had cost herself most, if not all, of her friends at the time. Her temper had also started to form a rift between herself and her mother before her mother got sick the first time. It was as she was sitting at her mother's beside in the hospital that she realized how she needed to change, because if she didn't she was going to end up losing everything because of her own actions.

In a way she understood Ratchet's anger over the whole issue. She had gone through it herself when their roles had more or less had been reverse and she joined their little world. The thing she was the most frustrated about was his almost constant complaint about it. It was one thing to bring attention to something that could be changed; it was another to endlessly whine about something that no one could do anything about at that moment in time. It only made the situation less bearable for everyone involved.

Elita had walked into the small grocery store, the doors closing off the sound of thunder in the distance as she looked around. There were two clerks on duty; both pleasantly greeted her as they were facing the shelves in preparation for closing. Elita returned the greeting as she pulled one of the small rolling carts free from the group it waited with and she began to walk around. She more meandered in the quiet, not in a true hurry to return to the motel room as she was enjoying her alone time. For the moment she could pretend that things were normal, that she was still all human doing very human things.

The first thing in her cart was most of the store's larger jars of peanut butter. Crunchy, creamy, honey roasted, it didn't matter; it went in. She wished that they had the larger jars she used to get, but she wouldn't really complain. They had it, she was grateful.

Walking further down the aisle she came across bags of flour and smiled. Cookies not only sounded like a wonderful idea, but it would make her look less crazy about how much peanut butter she was purchasing. Pulling some bags of flour, sugar, and some chocolate chips from the shelf, she was humming happily as she carefully set the items in the cart. Baking powder, baking soda, and some vanilla extract was next to join the other items.

Naturally she'd need milk and eggs, so she found her way to the refrigerated section of the store. It was while she was there that she had thought that maybe she should pick up things to make breakfast in the morning, since she was getting some items for it anyways. Well, while she was there at the store she might as well pick up items to make lunch as well. One meal idea led to another and another, and before she realized it Elita was checking out with a slightly overfilled cart. Honestly, that was fine by her since she thought they were exposing themselves a bit too much with going to the diner all of the time. With her left hand full of plastic bags and holding up a paper bag up to her torso with her right arm, that hand holding a good amount of bags as well, she headed out the door. It was already starting to drizzle and become harder rain so she would need to hurry and get back to their motel room.

Two men were sitting in their vehicle, sipping cups of hot coffee out of little to-go cups that the diner in town had given them before they had left. The pair couldn't believe their luck, having stopped in to grab a bite to eat and wait things out a bit since it was the only town that they had come across. It didn't take long for what they were searching for to walk into the door as they were finishing up their own meal. They had left shortly after the pair had, wanting to follow them to see where they were staying at. Unfortunately the pair had gotten into their motel room before the M.E.C.H. agents could locate what number they had come from. It was their luck that the female of their quarry had stormed out of her room and headed away; giving them the room number they were looking for.

Deciding that it would be easier to take the pair separately, they had followed her as she walked into the little grocery store just down the road. As they watched the entrance for her return the sky opened up into a little bit if a light show before it started to drizzle. No sooner had that started did she walk back out the door, carrying a massive load of bags in one hand and a paper bag in her arm with more bags in the other, which partially blocked her face.

"Run her down," the passenger ordered, to which the driver nodded as he started the car.

Ratchet sighed as he pressed the button on the remote control to turn off the T.V., tossing it onto the bed next to himself as he looked around. Idly he notice that the room key was still on the table beside the doorway, which sent an urgent surge through his body as he saw a flash of lighting around the edges of the curtains, a rumble of thunder following. She was out walking in the thunderstorm and could get herself shorted out. He rushed to redress, quickly tying his boots before he rushed out the door, grabbing the key on his way out.

Outside the drizzling rain had started to come down harder, making the dark night already hard to see despite the street lights that dotted the roadway. Ratchet looked around desperately, knowing deep down that she was in danger but not exactly as to what or why he felt that way. When he spotted a red headed woman carrying several bags heading his direction across the street from where he stood he gave a deep sigh of relief. He was apparently worried over nothing, since she was apparently safe as she looked down the street behind her before she started to cross.

Elita sighed as she had to stop in the middle of the roadway to try to regain her grip on the paper bag she was holding, the water weakening the bottom of the bag and making it harder for her to hold. Behind her she heard the squeal of tires trying to grip the wet roadway before she saw lights from a car illuminating the space around her. Elita felt something hit her before she even got a chance to turn around.

Author's Note: I don't own the show. Thanks for reading.

Ratchet's human name comes from Jeffrey Combs, who voices him in TF Prime, and Don Missick, the voice actor from the G1 run.