Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Transformers or Bumblebee or Optimus or Elita or any of the other characters.


Optimus let out a sigh as he felt the small form between himself and Elita on the berth pat at his arm. He turned his head to see Bumblebee looking at him with frightened optics and he could hear small whimpers escaping his vocal processor – the telltale signs that he was unable to recharge. Again. For the past two orns every time Bumblebee recharged he was plagued with nightmares and after he woke up from one of his nightmares he would flat out refuse to go back to recharge, keeping Optimus and Elita from recharging as well. Optimus sat up and lifted Bumblebee up to his chest before glancing over at Elita. She was still in recharge and he wasn't going to wake her. At least one of them should be able to recharge. He stood up and walked out of the room and towards the rec room with Bumblebee.

When they arrived in the rec room, Optimus sat down and looked at his sparkling. Bumblebee was still awake and was holding on to Optimus' armor as if he expected to be taken away from him at any moment.

"Why can you not recharge little one?" Optimus asked gently rubbing Bumblebee's head.

"Bad ones come take away," Bumblebee whispered. "Bee no want leave Op and Lita."

"You know I will not let anyone take you away from us again Bumblebee. Now you need to recharge."

"No!"

"Bumblebee…"

"Scary," Bumblebee whimpered. "No like."

"I know little one," Optimus soothed, "but the nightmares will not last forever. You have to recharge though Bumblebee. Nothing is going to harm you."

Optimus shifted Bumblebee to where his head was against his spark – remembering that Ratchet had told him and Elita that a close proximity to their sparks might help calm Bumblebee when he was distressed and having trouble recharging. He watched as Bumblebee snuggled closer and eventually closed his optics. Once he was sure that his son was in recharge Optimus headed back to his room. If it weren't for the fact that Bumblebee was near exhaustion, Optimus knew that he would have put up more of a fuss before finally recharging.

"Another nightmare?"

"Yes," Optimus said as he sat next to Elita. "I wish there was some way I could get rid of them for him."

"I wish there was too. He's also terrified about being away from you Optimus. When you were in a meeting the other orn he was crying for you. I think he thinks that something bad will happen if you are not in the room with him. I don't know what to do."

"We will figure something out Elita. I will keep him with me tomorrow."

"Don't you have another meeting?"

"Perhaps he will recharge through it."


"No Bumblebee today?" Chromia asked as Elita walked into the room alone.

"Optimus is watching him today," Elita explained as she sat down beside her sister. "Where's Arcee?"

"Here! I was just picking up these two from Ratchet," she said, motioning the twins into the room. "You two go play with your toys."

"You sure do like watching them don't you 'Cee? Or is it that you like someone else more?" Chromia teased.

"Oh please 'Mia, I just like taking care of the younglings, that's all. Maybe you should watch them sometime."

"I would but-"

"We annoy Ironhide," Sideswipe grinned, finishing Chromia's sentence.

"Maybe if you two weren't so mischievous you wouldn't annoy Ironhide as much," Elita smiled.

"But annoying Ironhide is fun."

The three sisters all laughed at the youngling's statement.

"You're lucky that you're a youngling Sideswipe, because when you're older you won't be saying that it's fun," Chromia said.

"Why not?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Because then you can't play the cute youngling card," the blue femme replied.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker just stared at her for a moment as if they had no clue what she was talking about before deciding to go back to playing instead.

"Is Bumblebee recharging any better?" Arcee asked Elita.

"No," Elita sighed. "Optimus got him to recharge a little, but not enough. Neither of us know what to do. Optimus is going to take him to Ratchet to see if he has any ideas."


Ratchet looked over the small sparkling to see if he could find anything wrong. He knew that Bumblebee was most likely still traumatized by what had happened when he had been sparklingnapped by the Decepticons, just like he had told Optimus he would be, but he also knew that his friend would not feel better until he knew for sure that was the only problem with his son. After a few more scans he was done.

"Like I told you before Optimus, he's physically fine," Ratchet said handing his leader the sparkling. "Sparklings, just like younglings and fully grown Cybertronians, have trouble overcoming trauma."

"He will not recharge until he is exhausted Ratchet, I know that is not good for him."

"And he has separation anxiety being away from you. I know all of that Optimus. You're just going to have to give him time. I can give him a mild sedative to help him recharge if you would like. I won't do that every orn though because I don't want him to become dependent on that for recharge, but it should help him a little."

"If it will help him please do it. But what of his separation anxiety?"

"The best way would be to show him that nothing bad will happen if he is away from you, and probably Elita as well. Keep him with the two of you for the rest of the orn since I'm giving him the sedative, but tomorrow have him stay with someone else and neither you nor Elita should have any contact with him then. Bumblebee won't like it, but it will show him that he will be fine if you're not in the room with him and it should help."

Optimus gazed down at the sparkling in his arms. Bumblebee was resting his head against his shoulder and paying no mind to the conversation going on around him. He wasn't going to be the only one who wouldn't like Ratchet's idea. Optimus did not like the idea of spending an entire orn away from his son either, especially after all that had happened, but he trusted Ratchet's judgment. If Ratchet thought it would help Bumblebee, then Optimus would go along with it. He wanted Bumblebee to be back to his usual happy, perky self.

"Alright we will do that. Who will watch him?"

"I would suggest either Arcee or Ironhide and Chromia. I imagine that you and Elita would prefer him to stay with a relative and since you both mentioned that if something should happen to the two of you one of them would become Bumblebee's guardian, it would be good for him to stay with one of them so they could get used to caring for him should the worst happen – which I hope never does."

Optimus nodded in agreement, "I will inform Elita and we will decide on who should watch him."


"An entire orn away from us? I don't know Optimus…"

"I know that you don't like it Elita, and neither do I, but if it will help him like Ratchet thinks it will I think we should do it."

Elita remained silent for a moment thinking about it. She really did hate the idea of not being able to see her son for an entire orn. She had spent several orns away from him when he had been at the Youth Sectors, and after that he had still been with Optimus, but he hadn't been forcibly taken away from her before at that time.

"I really don't like it Optimus, but if you think it's a good idea then I will go along with it. I do want to suggest that we have Chromia and Ironhide watch him though. While I know Arcee can take care of younglings since she's been watching the twins some for Ratchet, neither of them has and I think it would be a good opportunity for them to get a chance to practice taking care of him. Plus I don't think Bumblebee will purposely try to annoy Ironhide like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker do."