Okay, lets do this...

To Awwwwwwww. Ratchet and Sophie asks, "Why the frag did they give Joseph Santos?"

My answer: By 'they', I'm guessing you mean the government or whatever else there is. The answer is, They didn't. Joseph stole it. Killed the guy who actually owned it, pretended like the guy had retired and given the place to him because he had thought he was a "good person", and scared the kids in there to death and threatened them, like he did to Sophie, to be quiet.

Also from Awwwwwwwww. Ratchet and Sophie, "What are the parents names?"

My answer: Okay, for starters, Sophie's actual last name is Crawford. I know, weird last name. Just remember it because it will only be mentioned just a few times in this fic. Her mothers name is Emily, and her fathers name is Alexander. Their names names will be mentioned, at least when they figure out what their names are. And dont go saying, "Oh, but Sophie can tell them!" No, she can't. To her, her parents names her Mommy and Daddy. Simple as that.

To Merchant Navy Cadet: AAAHHHH! It's that again! I'm so sorry! I'll make sure to check that out every time! I swear! I'm currently slapping myself on the head for my stupid mistakes...Man...It's turning red now :( Merchant, I swear on...on Optimus' pureness! That's right, I went there!

And a shout out to all of those people who now have a burning hatred for people named Joseph, as I said in the last chapter in the A/N...

HE. WILL. DIE. O_O

Now...LALALALALA HAHAHAHAHA! Hehehehehehe...

Ratchet grumbled under his breath, using his fingers to connect several different wires, carefully welded metal together. Ratchet had told Optimus about his rather...disturbing experience, and for a moment, Optimus had refused to believe his medic. But, the great mech soon realized his actions were foolish, and accepted the truth. Some Humans were not as good as he wished they could be. But as a form of punishment for making him make up an excuse for Ratchet, he had ordered him to go through with the excuse. Make the groundbridge go farther into space. Which seemed nearly impossible by now. He was in a small crevice by the groundbridge entrance, working on it carefully. Of course, he had his own little helper. Ratchet held out his servo, the other working on the groundbridge. "Laser sealer."

Sophie looked around at the many tools, all of which were at least twice her size. Walking over to a large cylinder shaped one, she grabbed it between her arms, dragging it to Ratchet awaiting servo. Huffing and heaving, after about a minute, made it to his servo. "Laser sealer." She grunted as she pushed the tool into his servo. Ratchet used it for something that she couldn't see. He held out his servo again. "Drill compacter." Sophie dragged herself towards the pile of tools once again, sighing as she saw the size of the one he had asked for. It was huge! No, that was an understatement. It was was gigantic! Sophie went to the other side of the object Ratchet had requested, and tried pushing it. It barely moved an inch. She went to the other side, and began to try to pull it. Useless. So she went at the middle of the strange looking device, and tried to roll it. Nada. She didn't give up though. Putting her shoulder against the large thingamabob, she pushed against it to get it to roll over somehow, but her shoulder began to ache, so she tried pushing it against her back. After several minutes of trying to push it, she slid down against the metal, breathing heavily. "Drill compacter!" Ratchet said a little louder then the last time.

Sophie glared at the servo, which was inching closer, and kicked his digit. "It's too heavy!" She whined, kicking his digit again. Ratchet poked his head out of his small crevice, looking at her with a stern glare. "It's true Watchet! It's too heavy!" She said in a sharp tone. She had been lifting and carrying tools all day long. She was tired, and extremely cranky. She looked over to see Raf talking with Bumblebee. "Raf!" The spiky haired boy looked at her, straightening his glasses as he always did. "Raf, come try to push this!" Raf looked at Bumblebee with a quirked eyebrow, but the yellow scout simply shrugged. Putting his servo to the ground, Raf hopped off, and walked towards Sophie with his same confused expression. Raf stopped as he came just a few inches away from the large device, and looked to Sophie. She nodded, and motioned her head to it. "Try and push it. Tell me if it's too heavy." Her head snapped towards Ratchet, glaring at him. "'Cause Watchet's being a big fat meanie and is yelling at me to push it!"

Raf looked at the two, both the same sleep deprived look in their eyes and optics, and sighed. He really didn't have a choice. Sophie would force him into it again if he said he didn't want to. Putting his hands against the metal, he tried to push. Yet, even when Raf pushed it, it didn't barely even move. Raf gritted his teeth, and pushed harder. But his pushing and panting and heaving was no use. Giving up early, he slid down the side of the metal object, face red as he breathed heavily. Sophie looked to Ratchet, pointing to Raf. "See?" She crossed her arms, nodding her head. "Too heavy." Ratchet rolled his optics at the two, and grabbed the tool away from the two, going back to working. Sophie looked at Ratchet for a moment, then at Raf with an instant smile. "Raf! Can you believe it?" Sophie stood up, jumping up and down. "It's almost Easter!"

Ratchet poked his head up once again, stopping his working. Easter? What in the name of Primus was that? He'd never heard of it before. Wait, did Easter mean Birthday? Raf had said, at least when he was eavesdropping, that Sophie's birthday was coming up soon. Looking to the two, he lowered his head back down, pretending to work. "I know. I saw my parents stashing away some chocolates bunnies already!" Chocolate bunnies? Was that some kind of Human ritual for birthdays? Ratchet was getting the strange feeling this wasn't a brithday thing. So, what was it? "My sister already bought some Peeps! I already had one." Peeps? Now Ratchet was getting confused. Chocolate bunnies? Were they actual rabbits covered in chocolate? And Humans ate them? Ratchet let a shiver go down his spine. That would be disgusting...

"I love Peeps! I already got my Easter planned! Miko helped me! First we're gonna paint Easter eggs, and then go on the Easter egg hunt, then have Peeps! And then chocolate bunnies!" Sophie said a bit too fast. Easter eggs? Humans painted eggs, and then hunted them? What was the point of that? it was useless really, they could easily eat the eggs, and they weren't much of a challenge to catch. They didn't have any legs. And what was going on with these so called 'Peeps' and 'chocolate bunnies' they kept mentioning? Ratchet shook his head. Humans were too confusing. Going back to actual work, he managed to hear Sophie's last sentence beyond the sound of his drill compacter.

"Me and Ratchet are gonna have so much fun!"

Wait...he, of all the mechs in the universe, was supposed to participate in these silly games? But, Ratchet knew he could not say no. Sophie had been through so much already, she deserved a little fun. The last game they had played a game, Arachnid had attacked her and she had been hurried to the Hospital. Speaking of which, her cast had finally been taken off her leg, freeing it. Ratchet still kept a careful watch on it, making sure it was alright. Miko had been if a huff because her Godzilla's had been all over it, and she had been proud of her work. Of course, she had tried to get Jack to break his arm again so she could doodle on it. Arcee had, 'spoke', to Miko, and now the Asian girl would barely stand near Jack, more or less try to break his arm again.

But he was getting away from the subject again. If Sophie wanted him to go on one of these..."Easter egg hunts", he would try his best to have a good time with her. Ratchet felt something suddenly fall on top of his head, though it didn't actual hurt, and looked up to see Sophie sliding down his helm to meet his optics. "Hi Watchet!" She waved to him, one hand grasping his metal, red eyebrows. "I just wanted to say sorry for kicking you." She gave him a worried look. "I hope I didn't hurt you."

Ratchet chuckled, and carefully plucked Sophie off of his head and into his palm. "No Sophie, you didn't hurt me." He looked at her for a moment, and she looked at him with a broad smile. "Sophie, can I ask you...what is Easter?" Sophie's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She looked at Ratchet as though he had just grown a second head, maybe even double that by the way she was staring at him.

"You guys don't know what Easter is?"

The voice didn't come from Sophie's mouth, but instead, it came from above. Looking up, Ratchet and Sophie saw Miko looking at them with shock. Ratchet brought Sophie back up from the crevice, letting her slide off of servo. Ratchet carefully got out himself, looking at Miko with a quirked optic ridge as she had a spaz. "Bulk, you never told me you guys didn't have Easter?" Bulkhead couldn't even answer before she went on. "Do you guys even have holidays? How could you live without holidays? They're like the best thing since four day weekends! Or Slash Monkey!" She cried. "Why-?"

"Miko! Calm down!" Bulkhead said over her loud voice. Miko looked at him with surprise for stopping her rant. "I think you did have holidays on Cybertron..." Bulkhead scratched his head for a moment. Everyone's head turned to ratchet as he let out a heavy sigh. "Something wrong 'Ratch?" Bulkhead questioned.

Ratchet looked to the ground, shaking his head. "Sometimes I just forget how old I am..." Ratchet looked up at them now. "Unlike Bulkhead," Ratchet shot the burly green mech a glare. "I know that Cybertron did celebrate many Holidays," Ratchet looked away for a moment. "At least, that was before the war..." his voice became quiet for a moment, and Bulkhead a distant look in his optics. Ratchet broke the silence as he cleared his throat. "On Cybertron we had many holidays and celebrations and festivals. Such as the Festival of Bonding. We would all bond together as one being with our planets core." Ratchet explained. It had been a thing that Cybertronians had looked forward to each year, or used to look forward to. It would be a moment of silence, all spark beats as one, as they listened to the quiet hum of their creator, their god. Lights would be hung everywhere, in the streets, on houses, in the towns and cities and neighborhoods. Everywhere, there would be light. On the Festival of Bonding, Cybertron would look like a star it would shine so bright. They would all join servo's, every single Cybertronian. Rich or poor, young and old. They would mold into eachother, forming long lines around the planet. The veins of Primus would show, gleaming bright as people turned off their lights. Ratchet remembered the first time he had experienced this. He had been with his creator, his servo's molded into her's. He had watched in awe as their planets core lit up and everyone joined together. That was the Golden Age, when everyone was connected, when everyone was the same being. When everyone cared...

"Yeah, what are some others?"

Ratchet looked down to see Miko sitting, looking up at him expectantly. Sophie sat next to her, looking completely enthralled. "Well...there was Primus Day, when we celebrate a Human equivalent to Christmas." Ratchet said as Bulkhead nodded along. "There was Iacon Remembrance Day, when we remember the great Autobot capitol that fell to the hands of the Decepticons." There was an anger note on the edge of Ratchets voice, and everyone could see the look of discomfort on Bulkheads face as he turned his head away. He'd seen Iacon after all the fighting, seen the gory aftermath. The once proud Autobot capitol had been shattered, buildings toppled over, the streets cracked, with large craters and burn marks from bombs. The city had been painted with energon, both Autobot and Decepticon. He and Wheeljack had been assigned to check out if there was any survivors, since no one else had volunteered to do it. At first, neither Wrecker had understood why no one would. Bulkhead now knew, and he was sure that Wheeljack knew too. Ratchet flicked his optics to his right to see Ironhide standing behind him, listening intently. He noticed Prowl had walked up behind Bulkhead, looking at Ratchet with an expectant look. He wanted him to go on. Prowl wanted the Humans to know what had happened to Iacon.

But...why?

The story was a bit too sad for Human sparklings. Primus, not even Cybertronian sparklings liked to hear the story. So why would Prowl choose to tell them? Ratchet sighed, and walked over to a small metal 'bench' like structure. "Would you...like to know the story of Iacon?" Miko probably already knew there was going to be action in it, and nodded excitedly along with Sophie. Ratchet watched as Jack slowly walked past Bulkhead, and watched him as he stared at Miko and Sophie. He opened his mouth to say something, but Miko put her finger to her lips, hushing him with a hiss of silence. Jack rolled his eyes, and Miko patted the ground next to her, showing him to sit down. Raf trailed behind Jack, though he sat down next to Sophie. Ratchet sighed, and looked at the ground for a moment. Then, he looked at the four Human children. Miko stared at him with excitement, Sophie with curiosity, Raf with a very interested look, and Jack who simply waited silently and patiently for Ratchet to begin. "Iacon...Iacon was sometimes viewed as the capitol of Cybertron. It used to be the Council of Autobot Elders long before my time. Though when the war started, it became the Autobot capitol and headquarters. When Optimus and a few chosen others went to go find scattered Autobots, the our cause suddenly fell into disarray...but Iacon remained strong, a symbol of hope for other Autobots." Ratchet looked to the distant, and breathed out deeply.

"But Megatron did not want us to feel this sort of hope. He gathered his troops and besieged the city. But the Autobots in Iacon were a tough bunch, and did not surrender easily. Megatron tried time and time again to capture the city, the battle to take the city for either Autobot or Decepticon went on for thousands of years." Ratchet's optics flicked downwards. "But, as time went on, the Decepticons soon gained total control of Cybertron. Except Iacon. By that time, Megatron decided it was not worth trying to capture it. Autobot refugees came to the city, but by the time Optimus and his crew had returned from their quest, Iacon was in ruins, barely anyone alive except the refugees." Ratchet looked up. "But, the we maintained our presence in the city, if only a small resistance bases in the ruins themselves. The old Autobot Base was located there at one point in time, and the Wreckers," Ratchet flicked his optics towards Bulkhead. "Operated from the Base, conducting strikes and raids on Decepticon holdings for many years." Ratchet explained.

"Yeah, we beat those 'Cons good!" Bulkhead said, pounding his fists together. Miko shot up, looking at Bulkhead with excitement.

"Tell me everything 'Bulk!" She exclaimed. Bulkhead began telling his own stories of destruction, which he seemed very proud of, and Raf, Jack, and Sophie, sat with Miko, listening intently. Prowl stood beside Ratchet as Ironhide stood next to Bulkhead, putting in a small comment of his own once in a while. Iacon...so many died...so many they knew...so many innocents dead. All because of war. War, a thing that brought sacrifice, grief, rage, and death. So much death. It ravaged the most purest of souls, creating a dark thing beyond recognition. Warriors, their warriors, had taken cities, overthrew rulers, faced monsters, nightmares, explosions, everything. Ratchet had seen far worse. Being a medic was the toughest part of war. Trying to heal those who who had been rushed in, limbs lost, energon pouring out of their wounds. Watching as those you could not save slowly die. Simply watching as color faded away from their bodies, the light in their optics diminished, their bodies go limp. And finally, hearing as their sparks stopped that strange thumping and humming they made. Ratchet had tried to save so many...and to no prevail. Looking to Prowl, the white and black mech looked off into the distant, a seemingly vacant look in his optics. He was thinking about it too. The looses they had experienced. The tragedy of their past.

Ratchet shook his head. Why was he thinking like this? Getting up, he looked at Bulkhead as he told a story of how the once raided the city of Kaon. Miko listened with interest and excitement, Jack had much interest in what he was saying, but wasn't exactly as excited as Miko, and Raf was sitting quietly, simply listening as he always did. Ratchet's optics searched around there for a moment, and nervousness welled inside him. Sophie wasn't with them. Just as he was about to go around and getting together a search party as he had when Sophie went missing when she was playing 'Hide and Seek', he moved his foot forwards and heard a small grunt underneath him. Looking down, he saw Sophie clinging onto his foot, looking up at him. Today, for some reason, she seemed to want to climb all over him.

"Hey Watchet!" Sophie said, jumping off of his foot. She stood next to him, and rocked on her heels as she usually did. "Did you save lots of people in that story?" She questioned curiously. Ratchet looked at her for a moment, then suddenly looked away to the ground. Sophie looked at him, slightly understanding what his silence meant. Knowing this, she quickly changed the subject. "Watchet, can you tell me more about Cyber...Cyberon..." Sophie thought for a moment, mouthing the word several times. "Cybertron!" She said with a broad smile. Ratchet looked at her with a small smile, rolled his optics a bit, and sat down on the metal ground as Bulkhead had. Sophie sat in front of him, looking at him with excitement.

"Well..." Ratchet smiled, shaking his head. "Where do I begin? Cybertron...Cybertron was a beautiful planet, well, it was before the war. I will never find a planet that could ever compare to it's beauty, and I've traveled many galaxies in my life time." Ratchet explained. "Cybertron was completely made of metal, it's core our god, Primus. Now, Primus wasn't always our planets core. He used to fight Unicron, the bringer of choas. They battled on, though neither won because they were an equal match for one another. So Primus created the first thirteen original Primes, and they helped defeat Unicron, casting him away into space." Ratchet said, and Sophie leaned in with extreme interest. "Primus then became one with the planets core, and life went on. More Cybertronians were created, cities were built, and we thrived on the planet that our ancestors named, Cybertron."

"Cybertron used to be a peaceful planet, no war, no hatred." Ratchet sighed happily, remembering the days of his sparklinghood. "There were gladiator rings though, in which mechs and femmes would fight ferocious creatures and beasts that inhabitated our planet." Sophie gasped, putting her hands up to her mouth. Ratchet chuckled, and her hair gently. "No one actually got hurt during these, it was all for show really. Though you had to be very fit to fight there though." Ratchet explained. "But Cybertron was my home. Our home." Ratchet said, a sad note at the end of his voice. Sophie looked at Ratchet curiously as he slumped over a little. Why was he so sad? He was just talking about how great Cybertron was, and was now staring off into the distance, an ancient and sad look in his optics. If Cybertron was the Autobots home, why couldn't they go back? Surely once in a while they got homesick. Sophie knew when she was away from home for a long time, she got a little homesick as well. But she just couldn't understand the source of his sadness. Ratchet gave one last heavy sigh before standing up. "Why don't you...Why don't you just go play with Bumblebee, alright Sophie?" He said.

The small Human looked at him for a moment, as though examining him, with a quizzical stare. But she smiled and nodded, standing up and running towards the yellow scout who was currently listening to Bulkheads story. Ratchet sighed, looking to the ground with tired optics. Cybertron...it was hard to even think about. His thoughts always became blurry with sadness, thinking about it. How he wished he could return there, rebuild their once beautiful home. Ratchet shook his head. He could never return there, not now. If he were to leave, he would leave Earth behind. He would leave Sophie behind. Thinking of leaving all this behind was foolishness. Ratchet tensed as he felt a pair of eyes burning through his metal hide. In the corner of his optic, he would see Optimus standing in the hallway, looking at his friend with concern. Optimus always knew what someone was thinking, it got extremely annoying most of the time. Ratchet turned to Optimus, no longer hanging his head. He raised it high, and with hard optics, and nodded to their leader. Optimus only gave a deeper look of concern, and Ratchet put a cap on a bottle filled with sadness inside of him, inside the dormant place of grief that was slowly being filled with bottles of different emotions.

Ratchet turned, showing no sadness, no anger, no grief. A empty look filled his look as he made his way to the exit. Transforming down into his vehicle mode, he drove out of Base, leaving Optimus and the others behind. Dirt was carried up in clouds behind him as he drove on the deserted desert road. He'd taken drives alone before, most of those times was when he needed to fume about Bulkhead breaking something of his, but this wasn't that. This drive was filled with many different thoughts and emotions. Ratchet could build a ground bridge to possibly transport them to Cybertron, though it would take much work. If it meant they could rebuild their home, he was up for it, and he was sure the others would be too. But another side collided with that part of him that desperately wanted to go back. It told him that he couldn't leave, not now while he had so many things to look after here. He had to make sure Miko didn't mess with any of their stuff, he had barely begun to teach Raf about Cybertronian technology, and was giving Jack some unwanted help for the next science fair. But, he had to ask, would the others be willing to go, leaving their charges, their friends, behind them? No, Ratchet had to ask himself that question. Could he willingly leave Sophie? Two parts of him said no. The reasons? Number one: He'd feel as though a giant hole had been blown into his stomach from the guilt, and number two: Their bond probably wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.

Ratchet had already been over this with himself. If Sophie and himself were to be separated in such a way, that they were several planets away, the consequences would possibly be fatal. Cybertronians could endure such a thing, but her small heart would barely be able to handle it for even a minute. So going back...now it was impossible. No matter what he did, how hard he tried to figure out some scientific way to figure out how to be apart from her, it wouldn't work. On Cybertron, most of their scientist's couldn't even figure out how bonds were formed. No one understood what Ratchet was going through. The clashing battles fought inside himself, how he was only payed for his kindness to Sophie by agonizing pain and torture. He supposed Arcee would understand in some way. So many people she had kept close to her spark had died by the hands of Decepticons. But she hadn't been bonded with them. This was so much different. But Ratchet had to ask himself one question. Was this, such a small, young being involved in such a gory war...wrong? She deserved so much better then this...then the life that Ratchet would provide her. She shouldn't be involved in something like this..something so violent. She should be living a normal life, with a normal Human family. Not stuck with him, in this war, nonded with...with an alien, a beast. That was what he was. A monster.

If he raised a single finger, she could so easily be hurt. He had to be so cautious around her, all of them did. A poke too hard, a slip of a servo, the misplacement of a pede, and she could so easily die. So many bad things had happened to her with Ratchet...so many life threatening things...things that no child her age should ever have to go through. For Ratchet, it used to be just another day in the life they lived in. Just another day in their endless war. But no, it wasn't that anymore...it was more personal. Ratchet had tried so hard to keep her safe, to shelter her from every danger, but no. It seemed whoever was up there wanted to see him in pain, to see them both in pain. He didn't know what to do anymore, it seemed like everything was rushing past him, the present blurry and too fast for him to examine the situation, to compute what was going on. It was all a mixture of different paints. A splatter of blue, to represent Arcee as she found Jack. A faded mixture of red and silver to represent Cliffjumper, who had lost his life. A dark purple diamond to represent the dark energon that Megatron had forged. A silver figure to represent Starscream, who had detached himself from the Decepticons. A large blotch of green to represent Bulkhead, who had declined the invitation from Wheeljack to join him on his journey in space. Dots of black and yellow to represent Bumblebee as he fought for control over his body from Megatron. Lines of blue and red to represent Optimus, who had given up the Matrix of Leadership to save Earth from Unicron. And a smeared picture of red and white to represent Ratchet, who had battled Megatron while Optimus regained his memories.

Ratchet saw the colors fade, new ones appearing, and fading again. But it was all going by so fast. Battle cries sounded from the colors that went past him, screams, crying wails. The past a shadow casting behind him, the present slipping away from his grip like sand, and the future a silvery mist that he could not see past. The past he felt guilt, the present he felt confusion and anger, the future, he felt dread. The mist veiled what lay ahead of them, the many struggles they would have to go through, the enemies they would have to battle, the friends they would meet, the allies they would loose. So many things he could not see, so many tragedies he could not prevent. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why couldn't he just, for once, do something right? Why couldn't he and Sophie simply be with one another? It was all so complicated! It all so hard!

It was all for love...

XXX

A roll of thunder echoed in the Base, and the sound to return it was a frightened squeak. Sophie trembled on the couch, body covered in a blue blanket. Her head peeked out of the blanket, Woobie's head also slightly coming out as well. Lightning storms, the thing she was most scared of. A streak of lightning could be seen from the entrance from the Base, and Sophie let out a small shriek of terror, bringing her head back the blanket. She shivered as she trembled, desperately trying to get some warmth from the blanket she had covered herself in. It was so cold at night in the Base. She'd never really noticed, because she'd always fall asleep in the crook of Ratchets arm. It was always so warm there, and she wished she could be laying there right now. But Ratchet had been out for hours now. Jack, Raf, and Miko had already left because they had school tomorrow, and Arcee, Prowl, and Bumblebee were out patrolling for the rest of the night. So it was just Bulkhead, Optimus, herself, and Ironhide on Base currently. Peeking out of the covers, she looked to the entrance cautiously, feeling even colder at the sight of the vacant tunnel. Where was Ratchet?

Sniffling, she shakily brought her feet, her right one with a sock on it, the left bare, on the cold metal ground. She knew she couldn't be the only one who was afraid of the storm. Optimus or Bulkhead or Ironhide could also be afraid as well. She needed to see if they were okay. The blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her Woobie clutched in her right hand, she made her way down the metal stairs. Jumping off the last step, she jumped with fright as another lightning bolt flashed in the entrance, and bolted down the hallway. After she knew she wouldn't be able to see the lightning anymore, she stopped in the hallway. Her teeth chattered as she walked along, looking for at least one of the Autobots. Another boom of thunder, and she let out another shriek, though this one did not go unheard. Ironhide jumped out of a large metal doorway, cannons online as his optics searched for any danger. When they came to lay upon a shivering Sophie, he snarled, and retracted his weapons. "Oh, it's you." Sophie barely noticed the way he said the word "you". It sounded as though he had just found a bug on his windshield. Sophie walked up to him, but he backed away into the room he had jumped out of. This must have been his quarters, because they were all different types of guns and things in there. But they didn't look like guns, so Sophie didn't take notice of them either.

Ironhide looked down at Sophie as she trailed behind him. Bending down, he took his servo and swept her away from him. "Don't you have something else to do besides annoy me?" She snarled. "What did you scream about anyway?" A boom of thunder answered his question as Sophie squeaked, an ran towards his leg, clinging onto it. Ironhide rolled his optics, and brushed her off of his pede. "Are you serious youngling? Your afraid of that? I've fought creatures who make noises louder than that!" Ironhide turned his back on Sophie, climbing into his berth. "Now go away and bother someone else." Ironhide said as he offlined his optics. Sophie sighed, and slowly walked out of his quarters. Well, Ironhide was off the list of people who were afraid of the storm. Going on with her journey, she walked back out into the hallway, looking around with sleepy eyes. The only thing keeping her up was Ratchets absence and the coldness. Bringing her Woobie to her chest, she looked around, trying to locate where she was. She jumped, but not from the thunder, and she heard several tiny tapping noises coming from the end of the hallway. Cautiously, she made her way up to the corner, peeking her head over the side. A room was at the end of the corridor, a light shining through the doorway.

Eyes filled with curiosity, she scrambled towards the door, poking her head in. Optimus sat on the edge of a berth, reading a data pad with some strange writing she couldn't read. As she stepped forward, the blue blanket she held tucked under her foot, making her fall over. Optimus' head turned away from the data pad, and he put it down as he saw Sophie tripping over herself with the blanket. Quickly making his way towards her, he carefully picked up the mess of blanket and child with his servos, bringing her up off the ground. Sophie struggled with the blanket, and pushed her way out only to be met by Optimus' shining blue optics. "Oh, hi Otmus." She said, sitting herself in down in his servo's. "I was looking for you." She said, bringing the blanket around her shoulders again, placing her Woobie in her lap. "Woobie was afraid of the storm, and wanted to know if everyone was okay." She said innocently. Optimus let the corners of his metallic lips curve upwards as she cuddled the stuffed rabbit to her small chest. But Optimus' small smile faded as she saw her body shiver, teeth chattering ever so slightly.

Bringing back the smile he brought her down to his spark chamber. "Oh yes, I'm sure Woobie was very worried." Sophie could hear Optimus' voice rumbling within his large metal chest as warmth emitted off of him in strong waves. Snuggling herself onto the smooth metal, she looked up at him with interest shining in her round green eyes. "Now, I heard you saw that he was afraid of the storm." Sophie smiled slightly, and nodded. "That's not good. Would you two like to join me on my reading?" Sophie sat herself down, and smiled broadly as she vigorously shook her head. Optimus chuckled, and walked back to the berth he had been on. Seating himself back down, he used one servo to cup Sophie against his chest, and the other to hold up the data pad. Sophie was barely prepared for when Optimus suddenly brought her up onto his shoulder, letting her settle herself as he did something with the data pad. Sophie watched as several pictures passed by on the screen. Optimus stopped as he came upon lots of gibberish like words and letters that Sophie still didn't know what to make of.

"Now, do you know what this is?" Optimus turned his head towards her, and she shook her head. "It's Cybertronian, our native language. This...This is one of the stories we used to tell sparklings, our children." Optimus explained. "Would you like to hear it?"

Sophie put her finger to her chin, tapping it gently. "First I gotta ask Woobie." She said. Lifting up the stuffed rabbit, she placed it's mouth next to her ear. Nodding several times, she placed Woobie back in her lap, and smiled. "Yep, he want's to hear it too." She said with a final nod.

Optimus smiled, and looked at the data pad. "Once there was a little mech..."

XXX

Optimus had almost been near the end of the Cybertronian fairy tale when he had felt Sophie breathing softly, snuggling deep into the crook of his neck. He had brought her next to his spark chamber, where she clung onto the red armor. Optimus looked down at the sleeping child, but his concentration was not on her. It was nearly one in the morning, and Ratchet still had not returned from his drive. Ratchet never went out this long. Optimus worried that his friend was doing what he thought he was doing. Something foolish. Ratchet was not the kind do to anything stupid, but Optimus feared that after everything he had been through the in past weeks, Ratchet had now become unpredictable. But what exactly was he doing was Optimus' question. He suddenly noticed Sophie's eyebrows furrow, body tensing. She turned away from Optimus, back facing his spark chamber, and reached out for something, but all she got was air. She shook her head faintly, and a tear managed to escape her tightly closed eyelids.

Optimus guessed this was one of the nightmares that kept Ratchet up at night. She began to whimper, and those soft whimpers turned to moans, and those moans quickly turned into terrified shrieks. Optimus gently rubbed Sophie's back in panic, not knowing what to do. It worked, but only for a second. The shrieks returned, and she clawed the air, seeming to attack something invisible to his optics. "Sophie." Optimus said, voice full of concern. She wrestled the thing even harder, tears pouring out of her eyes. "Sophie!" Optimus said in a louder tone. She slowly opened her eyes, body still tense as she looked around. Optimus gently rubbed the thick of her back with a digit, and she leaned into it, tears dripping off her chin. Her breath quivered, body trembling along with it. "It is alright Sophie," Optimus said softly. "It was simply a nightmare."

Sophie looked up at him, fear and sadness in her large green eyes. Shaking her head, she clasped the digit that had been rubbing her back. "Otmus...he was there again..." She whispered. Optimus looked down at her with deep concern and sadness. His spark reached out for her, it really did. He was once an orphan himself when he was a sparkling, but he had not watched his own creators die. He could barely imagine the pain she had felt then. And then being abused by that monster Joseph. It wasn't fair such a young being, so full of life and happiness, would have to endure such horrors. Bringing her even closer to him, he sighed, but did not say anything. How he wished Ratchet was here right now. Could he feel Sophie's pain right now? Hopefully he would, and come back. Sophie grasped his armor tightly within her small hand, placing her head against Optimus' chest. "He was there..."

Her sobs became quieter and quieter, till there was no sound to be heard from her but her small breaths. Optimus knew she was gone to sleep now, but how she had saddened him. Crying herself to sleep, it was the worst way to do it. Large footsteps alerted him, and he looked to the door, hoping to see Ratchet. Instead, he saw the large green body of Bulkhead come by the doorway. He passed by a very tired Optimus, and was almost out of his sight when Bulkhead did a double take. The wrecker looked at Optimus in surprise, looked around for a second, and entered the room. Optimus watched him silently, fearing that if he spoke he would awake Sophie and she would begin to cry again. Bulkhead looked at Optimus, optics flicking to Sophie. Optimus looked down at Sophie for a second, sighed, and looked back up to Bulkhead. "She's been having nightmares." He explained. "They seem to be getting worse each night..."

"Oh...well, is Ratchet back yet? I've been getting this weird twitch in my servo, it's kinda freaking me out." Bulkhead said, motioning towards his glitching servo.

Optimus shook his head. "No, Ratchet has not returned. Do you know if Arcee, Bumblebee, or Prowl are back from their patrol?" Optimus questioned to the green mech. Bulkhead shook his helm as well, and Optimus looked down. Not at Sophie, just the floor. He felt Bulkhead stare at him, and he felt Sophie tremble in his servo. All was not well, he could feel it in his metal bones. Where was Ratchet? He didn't know. When was he coming back? He didn't know that either. What was he doing? Thinking. Ratchet always thought about things. He was driving, and he was thinking. Optimus didn't know what he was thinking about, but he knew he was thinking. Maybe about Cybertron, maybe about Sophie, maybe about both, but Optimus knew he was thinking. Looking things over, trying to find out what he wanted to do, what he could do, and what he needed to do. Optimus simply wished he could do all his thinking faster, because he really needed him right now. Bulkhead needed him.

But Sophie needed him the most. Optimus could feel her small body tense again, and gave Bulkhead a warning stare for him to leave. The nightmare was starting again.