Sunstreaker and Sideswipe tensed up. "I'm so glad you're the one here, you slagger. I'm going to kick your aft to the matrix for what you did," Sunstreaker growled darkly. Barricade took a battle-ready position and two cannons came out of his arms.

"Bumblebee! Get Wheeljack and the kid out of here!" Jazz shouted. Bumblebee looked reluctant to leave the fight but concern for those that couldn't defend themselves won out. He scooped up Lily and the protoform and ran up the stairs.

When they got to the ground floor, Bumblebee turned into a yellow Camaro and Lily jumped in. Bumblebee sped through the halls so quickly Lily was curious as to why he hadn't smashed into one of the walls by now.

"What did that giant Decepticon do?" Lily asked.

"You mean what did he do to get Sunny so angry?" Bumblebee let out a mechanical sigh. "There was another one of us. Our medic, Ratchet. Barricade caught him when he was alone a killed him; we can't find his body."

Lily was silent. "And, if you haven't found his body, how do you know he's gone?" she asked.

"Barricade told us with no small amount of glee. And we haven't gotten a transmission from him ever since the day Barricade said that he was killed. Barricade really doesn't have reason to lie. I'm just not looking forward to telling Wheeljack, he and Ratchet were very good friends," Bumblebee said sadly. Lily slowly contemplated how she was going to tell him.

"Er, Bumblebee… You won't have to tell Wheeljack. Ratchet's not dead."

"How would you know?" he asked. Lily let a smile slink on to her face.

"My mommy and I were in the forest Barricade beat Ratchet up in. We found him before he died, and mommy fixed him best she could. His legs weren't connected, though and he couldn't call you because of some… I don't really know, maybe the Decepticon took out his antenna…? I don't know how robot bodies are made. Anyway, he used his hologram to walk around for a while, but he and mommy couldn't fix his legs, so they waited and Wheeljack fell from the sky. Wheeljack and Ratchet together were able to fix his body and we went to the base and you can guess what happens next," she said. There was a pause and then she felt Bumblebee shudder under her happily.

"Then he's alive! I knew it would take more than Barricade to keep Ratchet down!" he said. Lily could imagine that if he wasn't a car, he would be grinning from audio to audio.

"Well, you can be happy about it later, Ratchet is just like Wheeljack. He is… how did you say it?... Oh, he's a sparklying," Lily said, messing up the pronunciation a bit.

"That should be fine. Don't tell the others around the Decepticons, though. Barricade thinks he did away with Ratch, and it's in our favor if they think he's dead," Bumblebee said.

Lily turned in her seat and saw two Lamborghinis, a Pontiac Solstice, and a GMC Topkick driving towards them.

"That bitch aint gettin' up any time soon," Jazz said.

"Where's you're mother going to be?" Bee asked the small girl.

"She's probably outside now. Come on, I hear jets!" she sounded scared.

"The seekers. Primus I wish I could slag those little fraggers," Ironhide growled.

"Not when we 'ave a kid wit' us. Come on!" Jazz said. The twins grumbled and followed the Camaro and the Solstice reluctantly through the twisting halls.

"Awww, are you leaving so soon?" a mocking voice said. A black and purple F-22 turned into their hallway and started speeding towards them.

"Skywarp. Listen, Lily, there's a small plasma gun on my seat. Do you think you can try to shoot him?" Bumblebee asked. Lily's eyes went wide at the prospect of shooting anything, and she quickly shook her head side to side.

"Okay, hang tight then!" Guns slid from Bumblebee's sides and started shooting at the jet. Skywarp, being who he was, swerved out of the way but the shots hit the ceiling, causing bits of metal and debris to crash onto his cock pit.

"Hey! Watch the glass, Autobot!" Skywarp shouted. During his brief distraction Ironhide swiftly transformed and shot the jet square in the snout. Lily whimpered and buried her face into Bumblebee's leather to avoid looking at the wreckage. Skywarp let out an ear-splitting scream and the little girl started clawing at her own ears in a vain attempt to expel the sound.

Bumblebee started murmuring words of comfort for the distressed girl, but Lily never took the time to interpret them. She only hung on to the tone of voice, the tone that said that it was okay. She risked a glance up and saw Ironhide back in his alt mode and driving behind him and a beaten up but still swearing Skywarp was lying twisted on the floor. Sheer speed on the Autobots' part had the jet out of sight in a matter of seconds. Lily tightened her grip on Wheeljack's inert form and buried her face into his shoulder.

"I wish you were awake," she whispered. She couldn't shake the child-like notion that if Wheeljack was awake he'd be able to make all the terrible images of Skywarp's mutilated body go away and he'd know how to make her feel better. But he wasn't awake, so she was going to have to stay strong.

The metallic screech of tires turning sharply on the floor of the Decepticon base turned quiet and Lily realized that they were outside. She barely noticed Bumblebee stop for someone to come in with her; only after a moment did she realize that the new ones were her mother and the unconscious form of Ratchet. She didn't really notice the twins ask who the other protoform was, and she didn't notice the semi-loud cheers that erupted from the cars when Bumblebee told them. Stacey hugged her daughter reassuringly, and the familiar smell of lavender on her reassured Lily that it was okay. The demons of Skywarp's screams retreated, if only for now.

"We have to hurry to Wheeljack's and Ratchet's bodies. Ratchet said he wasn't sure what would happen if they stayed out of them too long," Stacey said.

"How did ya get their sparks in ah sparkling form in ta' first place? Ah know tha' dey can't really do dat unless dey found some way ta convince the spark dat nothings happenin'," Jazz said.

"Lily and I did it," Stacey said.

"Ol' Hatchet let you near his spark? He must really like you," Sideswipe said.

"It doesn't really mean anything with someone outside your species. Ratchet said that the sparks shouldn't react to organics," Stacey said, blushing a little.

"Sure it means somethin'. Ratch's aint the most trustin'. He doesn't let anyone near 'is spark, organic or not. It's personal," Jazz said.

"And Wheeljack let your daughter hold his?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yes, he did," Stacey said, glad for the slight change in topic.

"…Is that really child-friendly?" Sideswipe asked after a beat.

"I don't see why. We aren't of the same species," Stacey said, suddenly not so glad.

"Well, isn't that really interspecies sex?" he asked bluntly.

"Sides, that is not something you ask someone," Jazz said warningly.

"Really, isn't it?" Sideswipe asked.

"If it was, wouldn't that make Wheeljack a pedophile?" Bumblebee wondered aloud.

"… As soon as we get to the base I'm cleaning my CPU with clorox," Sideswipe deadpanned.

"Guys!" Jazz exclaimed.

"We are not having this discussion," Stacey said with a tone of finality and a dark look in her eye. The rest of the ride was quiet, and everyone sped up a little.

Bumblebee stopped smoothly just inside of Hoover's Dam, and Stacey hurried out of his seat with Ratchet and Lily didn't seem entirely there as she slid off the leather seats with Wheeljack.

"When they wake up, they're going to need a lot of rest. Don't come in until tomorrow, 'kay?" Stacey said. Some of the hardened warriors grumbled but they all agreed.

Stacey and Lily entered the separate rooms, and Lily stared at Wheeljack's true body for a moment. She gently laid the protoform on the ground and opened up his spark chamber.

The now-familiar spark was beating there invitingly. Lily held it carefully and pulled it from the chamber. Maybe it was because she was expecting it, or maybe she had done it before, but the experience of touching Wheeljack's spark wasn't as raw and radical as it was before. It still gave her that odd feeling, but it felt more like greeting an old friend than being enveloped in ice cold water. She felt her energy draining into the spark somehow, and at the same time a different energy was being given to her. Whatever was happening was making her want to curl up and fall asleep…

No. Not yet. Fix Wheeljack first, and then sleep.

Lily crawled up Wheeljack's arm and carefully climbed to his still-open spark chamber. She eased the spark in to the chamber… And Wheeljack convulsed unconsciously, causing her to lose her grip and fall.

She landed with a soft plop in the palm of Wheeljack's hand. Lily blearily looked up to meet his concerned optics.

"Are you alright, Lily?" he asked. Lily pressed her forehead against the cool armor of her friend. Tears leaked from her eyes and splashed onto Wheeljack's hand steadily.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. Wheeljack didn't seem quite sure how to handle this situation so he settled for running a finger through her hair as a gesture of comfort.

"What happened?" he asked.

"This big jet, Skywarp, he was chasing us and Bumblebee shot him and he couldn't see where he was going Ironhide shot him and he screamed… Oh, he had the worst scream. I-I don't think that I ever heard something like that. I saw him on the floor all twisted and… Oh God it was terrible," she whimpered. Wheeljack's optics softened with sympathy. Now he understood.

"Was he talking after he got hit?" he asked.

"Yeah, very loudly," Lily said.

"He's fine, then. Skywarp's been shot millions of times, and he's always come back. He's hard to kill as a cockroach," he joked. Lily looked up at him and smile through her tears.

"I shouldn't feel badly then, right?" she asked hopefully. Wheeljack covered her with his warm fingers.

"Of course not. You didn't hurt him, and Skywarp should be fine. All you were was an observer," he said comfortingly. He noticed dark circles under Lily's eyes and she curled up in his hands against his closed spark chamber.

"I love you, Wheeljack. You're like the big brother I never had," she murmured. Wheeljack looked down at the little girl in surprise. Humans had such a way with Cybertronians, it seemed. After only a few days this little girl and wiggled her way into his spark, and he found that he indeed saw her as the human equivalent of a little sister.

"I love you too, Amaranth."

Satisfied, Lily closed her eyes and her breathing became even and gentle. Soon, Wheeljack followed suit.

---

Stacey carefully watched as Ratchet's optics came online. A raspy sound came out of his vocal processor and his optics flickered.

"You okay?" Stacey asked tiredly. Ratchet took a moment to process he was being spoken to.

"Disorientated," he grunted finally.

"Good. You need to sleep, and disorientation will keep you off your feet," Stacey said. She kneeled on his chest so they were both face to face, errant strands of hair that escaped from her bun framing her face.

"Are you okay? I don't remember what happened while I was outside my body very well…" Ratchet asked.

"I'm fine. Just… tired," Stacey murmured.

"Then sleep. And… I have a question," Ratchet said.

"Shoot." Stacey curled up on his chest and closed her eyes.

"What the slag was that just before you took my spark out?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, smiling a little.

"Your lips were against mine," Ratchet clarified.

"Oh, that. It's called a kiss."

"But isn't that something humans do to each other as a sign of sexual desire?" he asked bluntly.

"It isn't necessarily sexual. Family kiss each other, friends kiss each other," she paused due to a yawn. "But when you kiss someone of the opposite sex on the lips it's a sign of romantic feelings."

"That would imply that you have such feelings for me."

"I would've thought that was obvious. 'Night."

She fell asleep, leaving a thoroughly confused Ratchet for the world of dreams.

A/N

I'm SO SORRY about how long it took! My computer crashed and I couldn't write for several days and then there was an email problem so I couldn't send it to my beta, Maieve Avvi, (by the way, we all owe Maieve applause for editing. Thank you!) and it was all the computer conspiring against me. Anyway, hope this met your expectations, and review, please!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!