Muffled voices acted as Miracle's alarm clock as she was rudely awoken very early in the morning. The purple walls around her seemed to pulsate, causing a dull ache in her head. While she attempted to fall back asleep, frankly being far too tired to care about what the topic of loud conversation was, she quickly found that simple task to be nearly impossible. The distinct rumble of the voices of Optimus, Bulkhead, and especially Wheeljack caused her bed to shake and her curiosity to be tickled.

Miracle slid off of her berth and after a second thought grabbed her plushie that rested near her pillow. She clutched it close to her chest and opened her door. The voices instantly became clearer as her sliding door disappeared into the wall.

"...and we should be looking after our own, Ratchet! Not harboring some...spy!"

"Spy? I swear to Primus Wheeljack if I could I'd impale you with your own swords!"

"Why are you defending her anyways? Aren't you usually the one to push everybody away?"

"Jackie, that was a little below the belt…c'mon man...just...let it go…"

"No, Bulk, let him finish. Then I'll feel much less guilty for committing murder."

"Arcee!"

"Shut up, Optimus!"

"Wheeljack, you're being completely ludicrous! She is far from being a spy. I checked her myself when she arrived, if there were any weapons or questionable technology on her person I would've detected it. Her results came back clean! She is one-hundred percent trustworthy! And, might I add, she is a child!"

Miracle started walking down the hall towards the main control room. They had to have been talking about her! How many other children were in the base? But they sounded very mad, Wheeljack especially. Had she done something bad? Miracle cringed. Maybe Wheeljack was mad at her for hurting Arcee. But Arcee had forgiven her; it was behind them.

She thought back to the day before, when Ratchet detected Wheeljack's signal aboard his ship the Jackhammer. Though Ratchet had been less than thrilled to see the white wrecker, Bulkhead had practically recounted Wheeljack's entire war story repertoire to Miracle in sheer excitement to see his old comrade again. Of course, the original stories of Wheeljack's part in the war were…not exactly PG...so he had to gloss over some of the more gory details. Miracle was nonetheless eager to meet this Wheeljack person.

Two hours later the wrecker in question all but sauntered into the base via the groundbridge. Bulkhead immediately enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug while Miko pounded her fist against his leg in some kind of welcome. However when Miracle approached him, he only gave her a sidelong glance with a frown plastered on his cracked face.

"What's with the kid?" he asked, quite rudely at that. Miracle felt slightly offended but kept it hidden.

"I'm new, mister. I came here not too long ago."

Instead of answering her, Wheeljack turned his back to her to face Ratchet.

"Are you sure we can trust this thing? I mean, she could be…"

"Wheeljack!" Ratchet hissed. He took the wrecker by the arm and took him into a different room and out of Miracle's sight. She couldn't fathom why this new bot didn't like her. What's not to like?

This feeling of hesitation rose to the forefront of her mind as she stopped just short of the command centre. She hid behind a large metallic pipe, most likely used for ventilation, and brought her plushie back up to her chest. Not wanting to disturb the already disturbed, she peered around the pipe, just enough for her left eye and her ear to process what was happening in front of her.

Ratchet and Wheeljack were in a standoff position. Both of the mechs were leaning forward, deep into an intense argument. Bulkhead had both of his arms on Wheeljack's chest as he was trying desperately to stop his friend from brutally attacking the medic. Bumblebee mirrored Bulkhead's position as Ratchet aggressively threw insults at Wheeljack. Optimus tried his best to act as a mediator, standing in between the two mechs, but to little avail as they continued to go at each other's necks. Arcee, using two massive metallic crutches to hold herself upright, stood awkwardly to Ratchet's free side to help him scold Wheeljack. Miracle noted that she still wore the brace on her leg as a result from the damage she sustained from her battle with Dreadwing not too long ago.

"I swear to Primus, Wheeljack. You say one more word against her and I will personally extinguish your spark," Arcee threatened, "painfully," she added.

"Arcee, stand down. That is an order," Optimus rumbled dangerously. Arcee simply shot him an ice-cold glare but headed his command. He turned his attention to Wheeljack and Ratchet once again.

"Ratchet, that is enough! Equally so for you, Wheeljack! You two are acting like sparklings. It is important to keep our heads cool during times like these. If we do not, we are no better than the Decepticons; than Megatron."

"BUT MIRACLE IS A DECEPTICON!"

"...what?" a weak voice whispered. All of the heads in the room spun to see Miracle who had cautiously stepped out from her hiding place, her plushie dropped on the ground, seemingly forgotten. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sniffled. Everyone went silent.

"What do you mean? I'm not a bad guy," she pressed on. Miracle searched for any hint of a lie in the eyes of the assembled team, finding none. She let a single tear roll down her cheek. Seeking comfort, her first instinct was to run into Arcee's arms, but she quickly decided against that. She was a decepticon; she would just hurt anyone she got close to.

It was in her nature after all.

Miracle reached down and grabbed her plushie just as Ratchet broke free of Bumblebee's hold. He approached her without fear, a fact that surprised her if she was being honest, and knelt before her.

"Is it true?" she asked him. She silently begged that this was just some gross joke.

"Yes," Ratchet revealed regretfully, "you are indeed Decepticon."

"Part! She's only part Decepticon!" Arcee yelled from the other end of the room. She managed to hobble over to Ratchet and Miracle.

"You're only part Decepticon, sweetspark. But according to Ratchet, your mother was fully Autobot." She exchanged a knowing look with Ratchet. Arcee was actually the one who originally told Ratchet that she was part 'con, but it wasn't the time to tell Miracle about her full parentage. Not yet.

Arcee bent down to the best of her ability and uncharacteristically spread her arms open to provide as much comfort for the girl as she possibly could. She had originally expected her daughter to come running into her arms, akin to the first time Miracle arrived at the base, but to her shock, Miracle began to cry and pulled away as fast and aggressively as she could. She shook her head as if to say, "don't touch me."

"Miracle…what's wrong?" Arcee asked, hurt evident in her tone.

"Don't touch me! I'll just hurt you again!" Miracle cried, hugging her plushie close and sobbing into it. It was physically impossible to get her arms any closer to her person. Arcee tried to reach out to her again, only to have Miracle back away again.

"Please, stay away from me! I don't want you to get hurt again…I don't like seeing you hurt. I don't like to see anybody hurt," she gestured to the assembled bots, "and I'm sorry. I'll just go now…" With that, Miracle turned on her heel and ran back to her room. Her small feet made an echo in the giant grey hallway. With each step, Arcee's spark sank deeper into her chest. She had no idea what to do. Sure, she was a parent, but that didn't mean that she knew how to handle children that young.

Arcee managed to stand up with some assistance from Ratchet. The heavy feeling in her spark instantly turned to rage as soon as she spun around to face Wheeljack.

And he could tell she was pissed.

She made good time on her crutches. She was on top of Wheeljack within seconds spewing some choice words at him.

"I can't believe you, Wheeljack! How dare you say those things about her! I don't want you to go anywhere near her! You ass! She's just a child! Sure, she might be part 'con, but that wasn't her choice!" Large tears slid out of the corner of Arcee's eyes now. "You don't know her like I do! Answer me this, moron: if she was a 'con, why hasn't she hurt any of us yet? Huh? Huh?"

"How could you possibly know for sure? The only bots that might know would be Megatron and her parents. And guess what, Arcee? You aren't either of them!"

Before anyone could register what was happening, Arcee let out a cry of fury and slapped Wheeljack across the face. Hard.

All eyes were on the pair on the floor. Arcee still had her hand raised, tears streaming down her cheeks. Wheeljack on the other hand, frozen from shock, lay down ridgid as a wooden board, eyes wide. Though the slap didn't hurt, he was surprised that she had actually hit him.

Arcee got off of him, angrily wiped her eyes, and glared furiously at every member in the room.

"What?" she demanded, her tone like ice. The mechs avoided her gaze. One thing they had all learned was to give Arcee space when she got like this. She whipped around and started off down the hall, presumably to either her room or Miracle's room.

The second her footsteps died away, Bulkhead helped Wheeljack up off the floor. He immediately opted to smack him upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing the sore spot of the back of his head.

"You really don't know when to quit, do you?" Wheeljack was taken aback. He wasn't used to this accusing side of Bulkhead. Usually the big lug was pretty agreeable.

"Pardon me?"

"You don't know when to quit. Couldn't you see that Arcee was bothered by something? Piece of advice, buddy: don't...ever...push Arcee to her limits. It will escalate, and you will end up losing. Got it?" Bulkhead warned. Wheeljack, too proud to admit defeat, spun and went up to the lift to the roof. It was clear that he would promptly be leaving. Bulkhead sighed and retreated to his own room with a meek,

"I gotta get some rest."

Bumblebee followed Bulkhead, running to catch up to him. Soon Ratchet and Optimus were the only ones in the command centre.

"Ratchet," Optimus started, "do you have any clue as to why Arcee acted so brashly? I am aware that she can be...trying...when she gets angry, but that was uncalled for. Do you think it has anything to do with Miracle?"

"U-uh, well...she hasn't said anything recently." Technically that was true, since she told him about Miracle a month or so ago. He briefly considered telling Optimus the truth, but then he remembered back to when he promised Arcee he wouldn't tell anyone, and the look on her face, pleading him not to tell. Now was not the time.

"I think her irrationality might be caused by carrier instincts. All femmes have them, naturally. A femme might become protective when cares for a child that isn't hers, and that protective instinct could take the form of a nurturing demeanor, or in Arcee's case, an aggressive one. It varies from femme to femme, so there isn't any concrete way to predict how they will react to taking care of a child. Arcee has also been tasked with a lot as she must perform her duties and look after Miracle. There could also be a stress factor that could be influencing…" Ratchet stopped himself. He was rambling on, after all. Optimus had a bemused look on his face with his arms crossed.

"If you say so, Ratchet," he said simply. He turned to head into the hallway and stopped. He glanced back over his massive shoulder.

"For the record, I know you and Arcee are keeping something from us. What that is I am sure I will find out in due time. Until then...have a good night." With that, Optimus left Ratchet to his own thoughts.

Ratchet scoffed sarcastically, "A good night, indeed."

XXX

Oh my gosh it's been a long time! How long has it been?

I just checked...it's been a YEAR?

Wow...how time flies I guess?

I am SO SORRY for not posting sooner. I wish I had a better excuse than "I didn't feel like it," but honestly I don't. I had no idea what to do after the last chapter ended plot-wise. Thank GOD for my friend, Alex (you know who you are) for basically writing the entire chapter for me! Seriously, she gave me all the major plot points for this chapter and the next (which hopefully will be out before April 13, 2019). I'll do my best to update as soon as I can! But with my track record, honestly, who knows when I'm gonna post next. Although I do have the plot points for the next chapter...hmmmm…

Thank you all SO MUCH for sticking with me and this story! It really means a lot to me!