Optimus wiped his mouth and groaned in misery. He stared at the Energon now staining the back of his servo with a look of disgust. The sparkling had been moving around a fair bit, and his poor abused tanks had protested in the only way they really could; ejecting the fuel Optimus had taken in. Leaving Optimus feeling sick. He leaned back against Ratchet who merely held his mate. After waiting to see if his body would stop fighting him, he stood and moved back over to the berth. Ratchet disposed of the partially digested Energon before joining Optimus. He handed his Prime a wet cloth to clean the Energon from his face and servo. "A few more days, Orion. Just a few more," Ratchet said. Optimus glanced over at him while he put the cloth on the table.

"I know..." Optimus responded. He laid down and Ratchet settled beside him. For quite some time, they rested in silence, though neither managed to fall into recharge. Optimus' tanks were still churning, and his discomfort didn't help Ratchet recharge either.

Sapphire whined in recharge and readjusted, startling Optimus and Ratchet. For a moment they didn't dare to even cycle air through their frames in fear of waking their daughter. When Sapphire stopped moving, the two Autobots were able to relax again. Optimus sighed and began to absently tap his chassis in response when the very mobile sparkling moved inside of him. He sat up, since laying down wasn't helping. Ratchet sat up too, rubbing his mate's back to try to help.

"Want to get up? We could go for a walk," Ratchet suggested. It wasn't the first time that Ratchet had offered to wander the halls with Optimus. And Optimus was sure it wouldn't be the last. He nodded, and got to his pedes, wincing at the ache that seemed to spread through his frame. Ratchet walked around the berth and gently grabbed Optimus' arm. They left the room and began to wander the eerily quiet halls.

With how quiet it was, the very second Sapphire began to cry, Optimus and Ratchet would know. Not to mention the rest of the Autobots. If the two didn't get there quickly, one of the others would tend to Sapphire for them. Thankfully, the others had been understanding and willing to help. Like the one time when Optimus had been off base for a rare meeting that he had been required to attend, and Ratchet had been busy working. Sapphire had been left in their quarters since she had had a lot of trouble recharging and finally managed to fall into recharge. Unfortunately, the sound of the welder had kept Ratchet from hearing the cries of his daughter; a sound he'd been listening for. By the time Ratchet had become worried and abandoned his work, Bumblebee had already checked on the young femme, and was rocking her when Ratchet walked in. Bumblebee had been quick to hand Sapphire over to Ratchet. It was not something Optimus and Ratchet wanted to repeat, but it was a comfort to know Sapphire would be cared for if they weren't able to respond right away.

That thought in mind, Ratchet led Optimus outside of the base. The stars were happily glittering, and the moon was casting a beautiful white glow over the bumpy surface of the land. The view was a much-needed escape from the stuffy, crowded space that served as their quarters. Having a berth large enough to fight both Optimus Prime and Ratchet meant that most of the room was already gone without the smaller berth that had been modified to work as a crib. Even Ratchet had trouble staying in that room unless he had to.

Standing on the top of the silo offered the best place to look out over the desert and its town. Optimus chuckled at the memories that being on top of the silo at night brought up for them both. From kissing for the first time on Earth, to the many sleepless nights they'd spent simply talking while the others recharged. One in particular made Optimus smile, and he could help but bring it up as Ratchet continued to lead him to where they could sit down. "Remember the time I brought you up here, just after we had finished getting the silo to the point we could actually use it as our base?" Optimus questioned quietly. Ratchet smiled. "A beautiful night like this, when the others were too tired to notice that we were up here together."

"I'd gotten away from the chaos the others managed to create."

"I found you alone, sitting with your legs dangling over the edge, looking up at the stars."

"You joined me, and we started to talk."

"After a few minutes..."

"You asked what I thought about being bonded to you. Took me way to long to get over the shock."

"After you did, you said..."

"'Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that? Frag yes, Orion. Frag yes.' And we recharged up here," Ratchet said. Optimus offered Ratchet a soft smile, and wrapped his arms around the smaller mech. For quite a while, they remained there, shining in the moonlight, listening to the soft sound of air being moved by their intakes. They then returned to their room, and recharged in each other's arms.

Ratchet was fuming. He was absolutely livid. But he was also terrified. Sapphire was missing. She was somewhere on base, since no one had left, and Optimus had locked down the base once they found that Sapphire was gone. It was times like these that Ratchet truly wished he had a bond with the sparkling, if only to know she was actually safe. There were so many ways for a sparkling to get hurt on base. Ratchet worked with dangerous tools, which she could get into. Or she could climb up using the pipes and wires and go crashing to the ground, injuring herself. Or she could bring down the entire stack of Energon cubes on her helm.

Wait... The Energon cubes. Ratchet stopped walking and thought it over. Would Sapphire head to the storage room where they put the Energon cubes? Not wanting to waste time in finding her, he ran to the Energon storage room as fast as he could.

Ratchet flicked on the light of the room. There was a cube that had been knocked over, and the Energon was spilled, staining the floor blue. Ratchet carefully stepped inside, trying not to slip. He approached the cube and gently lifted it, revealing the Energon coated sparkling. Not a single patch of her frame was clean. She cooed up at him. With a sigh of relief, Ratchet commed the others as he picked up his daughter. She squealed in delight, squirming to try to get him to play with her.

"You make a giant mess compared to how small you are, you know that?" Ratchet asked her. He stood and walked to wash racks with Sapphire settled in his arms. She chirped up at him as the medic entered the wash racks. He turned on the water, and allowed it to run over his shoulder to check the temperature. Once it was almost too cold for him to be comfortable, he went under the spray. Sapphire shrieked at first, before giggling.

"Ratch'," she called, grabbing his chest. He smiled down at her.

"Try 'Sire'," he said, rubbing at the Energon on her helm. By accident, he brushed one of her antenna. She purred at him and he smirked. "Seems your antennae are sensitive too."

He finished cleaning her, even though she squirmed and made it difficult. A towel was wrapped around her to keep her from getting too cold. Although, that was never a problem. Sapphire seemed to really like being cold. She pulled at the cloth with a giggle, bringing it up over her helm. Seconds later she dropped it, staring up at the medic with wide playful optics. "Peek!" She squeaked. Ratchet laughed and covered Sapphire's face with the towel again. He let it go and it fell. "Peek!" She called out again. Ratchet continued to play with her until her shouts became overjoyed giggles. He then picked her up and headed to their quarters, where Optimus was trying to finish the reports that had begun to pile up on him.

Optimus looked up when a wriggling metal mass was placed on the desk nearly on top of his arm. He didn't even get a chance to reply before Ratchet turned and left. Optimus gently peeled the towel off and away from Sapphire who stared up at him. The tiny sparkling twittered happily as Optimus tried to get back to work.

Sapphire, to her credit, managed to stay out of trouble for a good few minutes. But being so young, Sapphire lost interest in remaining quiet rather quickly. First, she tried chirping at Optimus to get his attention. That failed. So she decided to try more... drastic measures. She crawled over to Optimus and put her servos on his stylus. Instantly, he stopped writing and looked at her. She chirped at him again, and this time Optimus pulled her into his arms and returned to his work. Not what she wanted. She was hoping that Optimus would play with her. Not getting what she was after, she actually stole the stylus from Optimus and wrapped her arms around it, unwilling to let it go. "Sapphire," Optimus groaned, shifting his daughter's position so he could reach her easier. He tickled her chassis and her grip on the stylus loosened to the point that Optimus was able to slip it out of her servos and place it on the desk. He cradled her against his chest and stood, moving over to his berth. He put her down on it before sitting on the edge.

He played with his daughter until she fell asleep, and when Ratchet arrived a few hours later, the medic found Sapphire snuggled up against his recharging mate.