Guys! I'm sooooooo sorry for being so late to update! Things have been super crazy lately, with final exams and projects and stuff. Please forgive me! And don't worry, when Summer Vacation comes 'round, the chapters will be flowing in like a river! A RIVER BABY! WOOOOOO!

Anyways...

Okay, now, I'd like to-

Ratchet: Ugh, again with these things?

Me: Let me finish! Ratchetsfangirl, Sophie will be getting better soon, and-

Ratchet: Thank Primus!

Me: Shushies! Anyway, after that rude interuptment, *glares at Ratchet*, and Arcee's story was kind of depressing to write. But, that story will not go unused! It will come up sooner or later, when I feel it needs to come up, and-

Arcee: Wait, is Ratchet going to tell everyone about it? *Points at Ratchet* You better not!

Ratchet: I wasn't going to! I swear! It's that Human and her keyboard!

Me*Grabs computer* LEAVE BESSY OUT OF THIS!

Ratchet: O-O...Bessy...?

Me: It's...It's my computers pet name!

Arcee: Okay...this is weird...

Me: Yeah...so...let's get on with the disclaimer, shall we?

Ratchet: That would be for the best.

Me: TheChippedCup owns a chipped cup, a gluestick, a computer named Bessy, a pencil sharpener, and a Little Mermaid mechanical pencil. She does own Transformers.

Ratchet: I thought we already went over this femme!

Me*Shrugs* I just couldn't help myself.

Ratchet*Grabs wrench* I'll give you a five second start.

Me*Runs for my life* OPTIMUS! HELP MEE!

Arcee*watches Optimus try to catch Ratchet as he chases me* TheChippedCup doesn't own Transformers. Or the Little Mermaid. She only owns her OC's.

Ratchets spark stopped. No...no, no, no, no! Fowler couldn't have...not so soon! It had barely been two months, not even that long! She didn't need a fragging Foster Home! She had the Base! She didn't need a fragging Foster Family! She had the Autobots! She didn'tneed a fragging Foster Father! She had him. Ratchet hadn't thought of his conversation, or rather, argument with Fowler in a long time, he'd almost forgot about it. But now that was being made real, and he felt fright prick and nibble at him. Sophie would be taken away from him, and he wouldn't be able to see her. Sure, he could try to follow her, but the government would not allow him to do so for a long time. Ratchet shook his head in disbelief. "No..." His voice was lower than a whisper. He could barely keep himself from falling to his knees. He looked up at Optimus with heavy sadness, shaking his head still. The large mech sighed, placing a servo on Ratchets shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"I managed to convince him to postpone the Foster Family taking Sophie. They will be taking her by the end of the Summer." Optimus explained, and bowed his head. "I'm sorry." He said. Ratchet tried to look him in the optics, tried to stay strong, but it just wouldn't work. Spring was barely beginning, and though Summer lasted for several months, it didn't seem like that long to Ratchet. A few months were like a blink of an optic to Cybertronians. And he didn't just want to spend a few months with her, he wanted to spend his entire life with her! Or, he wanted to be with her for her entire life time. He kept forgetting he would live for eons after she died. But he shook the thought away. He couldn't think of this right now, not now, when this was happening. The kids had said they were extremely excited about Summer, when they got off school and there was no work for them to do. Ratchet had been extremely frightened by such a thing. Humans at the Base. All the time. It sounded like an absolute nightmare. But now, he was absolutely dreading the long holiday. He sighed. If this was it, if the Humans were truly going to take her away, then he would have to try make the best of his time with Sophie. He would start right now!

A sneeze erupted from the hallway, and a sniffly "Sorry!" followed it.

Well, he would start after her sickness.

XXX

Three more days and three billion more complaints, and Sophie was skipping around Base, feeling as fresh as a daisy. And the best of all, it was a long weekend for the trio! Spring was ending, Easter coming up in a few days, and only a few more weeks of school! Perfect! The Asian girl was currently throwing unsigned tests into the air, ripping them apart and laughing like a crazy person, and the raven haired boy was watching her do so with a cocked eyebrow and a horrified expression. Raf was chatting with 'Bee about all the new remote control race cars he'd seen on commercials, and the scout listened excitedly. Bulkhead had no idea what Miko was doing, so just left it alone, not really wanting to know what she was ripping apart and threatening to set on fire. Arcee crossed her arms, watching with the same cocked optic ridge as Jack, except without the horrified expression. Ironhide was complaining about how when he was on patrol a Human canine had leaked lubricants all over his tire as Prowl vaguely listened to him, sitting around, looking a bit bored. And Optimus was checking out the monitors, as usual. All was as it should be. Except for Ratchet. He sat in the corner, servo holding up his head and elbow against his knee. He watched Sophie with a sad sigh. She was so happy, so unknowing of the horrible news. They hadn't told her, not wanting to scare her. He would tell her sooner or later, just not now, when everyone was there to hear.

But what was he to do? He wanted to make this Spring the best one in her entire life, but he didn't exactly know how. He didn't know what Humans did for Spring, he'd never thought to even bother to ask. But now that it was the only time he had with his little one, he would figure it out. What did Humans do when it was hot? Well, they changed their types of clothes. Miko no longer wore her striped purple leggings, and had exchanged her clunky rocker boots for purple sandals. Her shorts stayed the same, and so did her two shirts. Jack wore a barely sleeved gray shirt, changing his baggy pants for jeans that came up to his knees. Raf had also changed his own jeans for capris, but his usual white and orange gym shoes. Though his sweater vest was now gone, replaced by a short sleeved orange t-shirt. But what did the Humans do? Something fun and having nothing to do with school for several weeks, he knew that. As Miko screamed the word "SPRING!" after finally ripping apart the papers, Ratchet listened in on her conversation.

"Yeah 'Bulk! We'll do everything this spring! We'll go to all the concerts, and Slash Monkey's touring America this year!" Ratchet rolled his optics. He was definitely not doing that. He listened on. "Yeah, and we can go to the water park, and go for ice cream, but Dairy Queen is the best! Oh, and we can go to the beach! The beach is the best place ever!" Miko squealed, throwing her hands up in the air. Bulkhead cocked his head to the side, and Miko deflated a bit. "You've never been to the beach?" The burly green mech shook his head. "You guys never really get out, do you?" She teased. "But the beach is awsome! You can play frisbee, and jump in the waves. Plus, me and you can get a tan, because frankly," She looked over Bulkhead. "I think you're becoming a light green, if you know what I mean." Miko nudged him and whispered. "And we can make sand castles, and I can show off my new bathing suit!"

Hmm...All of those sounded quite fun...

Ratchet stood up, going towards the groundbridge panel. Everyone looked at him, then at eachother. Ratchet tapped several keys, stroking his chin. Bulkhead was the first to speak. "Um...'Doc 'Bot? What are you doing there?" The green mech questioned, the Humans giving one another questioning looks. Ratchet didn't answer, was thinking some more. His processer raced through several websites of beaches, and found they would need a few things to go, and a very secluded and not so often visited beach. He quickly made a list of the things they would need. Beach towels, an umbrella, a swim suit for Sophie, a tent, sunscreen, buckets, shovels, and a few fun beach items. They had the money, that was for sure. Agent Fowler had left them with an emergency credit card, and this was a definite emergency. Ratchet turned away from the panel, walking towards the exit. Bulkhead stopped him quickly, grabbing one of his shoulder plates. "Hey, Ratchet," The medic turned with a slightly blank expression towards the ex-wrecker. "If this is one of your, 'soul-searchy' things where you go out for a drive the entire day, tell me first." The wrecker said with a small smile.

Ratchet returned it with his own tiny smile, and shook his head, sweeping Bulkheads servo off his shoulder. "No, that was a one time thing. I need to go to a store." Ratchet said calmly. Bulkhead's optics widened in shock, and everyone stared at Ratchet in surprise. Ratchet never ever ever went somewhere that...that Human filled! He barely went out of Base, only when he was needed for battle or to pick up one of the kids from school if their guardians were out in battle. And now, out of no where, he wanted to go to a store? The medic, had gone completely bonkers. "I need Miko, Raf, Jack, and Sophie to assist me with this." He said as he transformed down. "Oh, and I need you to carry the rest of the Humans."

Bulkhead looked at Ratchet for a moment, and opened his mouth to speak, but was interupted by Miko, who sprinted up to her gaurdian. "Let's go 'Bulk! Rathets gotta have something big planned if he's actually going out!" Ratchet snorted at that, and Bulkhead went down into his alt mode as well, opening his door for the girl. She happily hopped on, Jack climbing in after her, and Raf following behind him. Sophie looked at them go, and looked over to Ratchet with a wide smile. She always liked riding with him. Walking over to him, Ratchet opened his car door, and she scrambled into his cab. Ratchet felt her shift around in his seats, rubbing them gently. How many more times would she be able to do this? How many more times would he be able to feel her rub his seat, to feel her small form on the leather. He held back a sigh, and rode out of Base, Bulkhead right behind him. How many more times would he be able to pull out of Base with a passenger who chatted to him about the most ridiculous things like what his favorite color was, or what My Little Pony he liked best. He would always answer for the color question, "Red", and the My Little Pony question, "The one with a tail". He never did watch her shows, but when she made him, he would blank for the entire thing.

"So Watchet, where we goin'?" Sophie questioned as she looked out the window with a smile. Ratchet remained silent, the rumble of his engine the only sound he made. "You okay Watchet?" She looked towards the dashboard. "You're never so...quiet." She hesitated with the word quiet, and Ratchet didn't know exactly why. Well, he could think of a few reasons. Quiet, was the last word anyone would use to describe him. If you looked up the word 'grumpy', one of the synonyms would be 'Ratchet'. He could be quiet, yes, but that was only when, you know, it was serious stuff that was happening. "Well, anyway, you wanna hear the story Bee Bee told me?" Before Ratchet could even answer, in which he was going to say no, she started. "So, Bee Bee was once just driving around, minding his own business, when this big band of 'Cons come up and chase him!" She said. Ratchet smiled and mentally rolled his optics. Oh yes, he'd heard this story many times before. "So Bee Bee toke off, the 'Cons on his tail! And then they started using their shooter thingies, and they went all "POW! POW, POW, POW!" She said, raising her hands in the air. "And, and then there was this giant explosion like, "KABOOM"! And then Bee Be drove them into this giant mountain thingy! And it...it was really cool to hear." She said with a large smile. Ratchet chuckled. She was a strange little one. He loved that about her.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it must have been very cool." Ratchet said. "Now, as for your question to where we are going, we are going to a store to buy things for the beach, and-"

Ratchet had barely finished his sentence as Sophie's face lit up with absolute excitement. "THE BEACH! We're going to the beach! Oh my Goodies! We're going to the beach! I love the beach! Full of the sand and ocean and stuff! We can do everything there! I once collected a bunch of seashells with my mommy and daddy! There was a big blue one, oh, and a really nice pretty pink one! You could hear the ocean in them and everything! We can build sand castles also! I bet you could build a really super duper high one! That's be super-uper-duper cool! And we can go surfing, and I've never done it before, but it sure looks fun! Though you'll have to get a really big board. And we can play in the waves, and camp out on the sand!" Sophie gasped for breath from her giant blabbering excitement, and bounced up and down in her seat. "Oh! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!" Ratchet tuned out the rest of her excited chirps through the rest of the ride, a thing he had learned to do a while ago. As they reached the store, Ratchet saw Bulkhead ride up against him, and Miko rolled down her window to wave at the ambulance. Ratchet blinked his headlights in response, and rolled down Sophie's window so the two younglings could wave to eachother excitedly.

"MIKO!" Sophie cried towards the green car. "Ratchet's taking us to the beach!"

And then, Miko totally flipped out.

Miko looked at Sophie for about a second before jumping out the window of the car. Jumping out of a moving vehicle? That was a check on the 'life accomplishment' list. Miko sprinted towards Ratchet, who had come to an immediate stop when Miko had thrown herself out of Bulkhead. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Miko cried in excitement. "I love the beach! In Japan, there was a bunch of beaches, but they weren't all very nice though. Oh my God, could you bridge us to Hawaii? That would be so sick!" Almost everyone in the parking lot was staring at Miko as though she had just gone totally insane. Well, who could blame them? She'd just jumped out of a window and was talking non-stop to a four year old in an ambulance. Bulkhead stopped in his tires, and Jack got out of the car by opening the door, stomping over towards Miko with an aggrivated expression. The things he had to put up with. He stopped Miko in mid-sentence by grabbing her ear. He pulled her back to the car like a mother who was pulling her wailing child out a toy store. But Miko wasn't wailing. She was complaining. "God Jack! Ow! Hey, don't pull so hard! I just wanted to-OW! What the heck Jack?" Miko snarled.

Jack kept his annoyed expression as he forced Miko back into the car, the window immediatley rolling up and the lock clicking shut. Jack grumbled something as he jumped back in the car. Bulkhead took a few moment to regain himsel before going to find a suitable parking spot and probably scolding Miko at the same time. Ratchet could only chuckle. "Sophie, promise me you'll never be that crazy." Ratchet said. If he did somehow get to keep her, although unlikely, he didn't want to deal with a crazed teenager.

Sophie crossed her arms over her chest with a mischevious smile. "I can't make any promises." Ratchet sighed. Now he was a bit glad he wouldn't be there for her teenage years. Parking next to Bulkhead, where he could see Miko and Jack bickering with eachother like an old couple, he allowed Sophie to hop out of his cab. As the trio exited Bulkhead, Ratchet cringed at the noise that was coming out of the teenagers mouths. Raf had hurried over to Sophie to cover her ears as they said some, 'not-so-pleasant' words that she shouldn't ever hear. The boys hands remained cupped over the four year olds ears as they entered the store, where the two teenagers had stopped their fighting, Miko now pouting and Jack giving her a cold glare. Raf had uncupped his hands from her ears, looking around. He'd never seen a Target this big. Aisles and aisles of things lay ahead of them, people pushing shopping carts weaving through them, and with an experienced hand, pushed things into bags and carts. "Wow..." Sophie said quietly. If things looked big to Raf, things looked enormous to her.

Miko grabbed Jack's hand, who grabbed Rafs, who grabbed Sophies, and pulled them into the clothes aisle. She looked through the clothes, ripping them from their places and messily putting them back. Miko brushed her fingers against several shirts, making a face. "Pink. Ew. Purple. Maybe. Pink and purple. Trash." Miko brightened up almost immediately, grabbing one of the hangers. A purple, black, and green tank-top was on it, and Miko hugged the shirt. "Pit yeah!" She said, punching the air. Jack rolled his eyes at her, crossing over towards the boys aisle with Raf. They didn't need to see all this girl stuff, and Jack was tempted to cover Raf's eyes as they passed the womens underwear section. Sophie looked through the things as she tried to find at least something that was her size. Sure, Fowler had been providing her with clothes, but she never said she LIKED those clothes. Going towards clothes that were more her age, she looked through things. Okay, there was some pink, then some more pink, a nice shade of pink over there, some pinkie-pink, and wait, was that red? Nope, it was pink. Where was the purple or blue?

Grumbling to herself, she looked around some more. Didn't people realize that not all girls her age liked pink all so much. Sophie was more of a purple kind of person, maybe a nice baby blue once in a while. But she did like the princess stuff on some of the clothes, that was a nice touch. Looking over to Miko, the Asian girl looking through more clothes, she looked back to her own. She gently pulled out a t-shirt, placing it over herself. She had finally found a blue t-shirt, light blue to be correct, with white stripes on it and short sleeves. Perfect. With a smile, she placed it on the ground next to her, looking through some more clothes. Her pile on the ground grew, and a light purple shirt with flowers on it, a yellow polka-dotted top with buttons, a violet shirt with white swirly designs on the front and back, and a light green shirt with dark green splotches on it. With her arms full of clothes and hangers, she hurried to Miko, who probably had double what she had. Seeing Sophie was done with finding shirts, Miko raised an arm in the air, almost dropping all the clothes on the floor. "To the swim suits!" She cried dramatically.

Miko and Sophie weaved in an out of the aisles, looking for the swim suits. The two stopped after running around the large store for about a minute, and Sophie looked around curiously. Okay, there was a few kids toys over in the aisle to their left, and a couple CD and DVD players to their right, but where was the swim suits? Miko gasped, pointing her finger out towards the front. "THERE!" Miko shouted. Sophie looked to where her finger pointed, and perked up at what she saw. Bathing suits galore was laid out in front of them, goign from the lightest pink to a full out rainbow color. Sophie and Miko walked over to it, placing the suits on their bodies. Sophie brought out two tankini's, a red one with white marks here and there, and a light blue one with a floral design on it. Miko looked at the two, one eye closed and tongue sticking out as Sophie held them up to her. "Hmmm...The blue one." Miko said with a nod. Miko pulled out several suits of her own, a white bikini with paint splotches of green, and a tye-dye purple one.

Miko held them out to Sophie, and the young girl tapped her chin in thought. After about five seconds, maybe even less, of thinking, Sophie pointed to the splotched green one. Miko nodded hapily along, placing it in the bundle of clothes on the floor next to them. Miko and Sophie each took their fair share of the pile in their arms when they were done, and began to walk down the aisles, not really knowing where to go.

"Hey Michelle!"

Miko froze at the voice, her features turning down into a scowl. Though as Miko turned to see the one who had 'called' her, she kept a neutral face. "It's Miko." She corrected. Sierra looked a bit surprised for a moment, before giving an apologetic smile.

"Oh, sorry." She said in that, 'I'm-a-little-angel' voice that Miko loathed. She truly did hate Sierra, with all her little rock star heart. She had no idea why Jack was just so in love with her, almost drooling over her. No scratch that, actually drooling over her. Miko had seen it when they were leaving school. She had been where her usual spot was as they waited for their guardians to pick them up, sitting up on the brick ledge with her sketch book and doodling away. She had looked up to see Jack leaning against the wall, a bit of drool hanging down from the corner of his mouth as he stared at Sierra as she made her way out of school. Disgusting. Miko didn't hate her because of that, Jack could like whoever he wanted to. She hated her because she was just so perfect. A cheerleader, popular, invited to every party, a very large social life. Miko hated thos people who acted like they were oh se perfect, that's usually why she hated Jack when he acted like the 'goody-two-shoes'. But he had his flaws, which made her like him most of the time. But Sierra, she had no flaws. Well, none that Miko knew of.

Miko didn't deny it, she had many flaws. She wasn't perfect, and didn't want to be. That's why she wouldn't change just so others would like her. She didn't want to be some perfect person who always did everything right, she wanted to be Miko, a person who usually did many things wrong, but while doing it, had an excellent time. She was Miko who was from Japan, who loved to rock out, who didn't care what anyone said, who had a few problems, who had gotten involved in something most couldn't even dream of because, well, she had been Miko. Reckless, careless, loud, and perky. And she was proud of who she was. But as Sierra came closer, Miko could barely keep away the scowl. She wanted to tell that girl off for getting her name wrong, but she couldn't and wouldn't. She knew that their guardians were watching them, and she would probably get another lecture from Bulkhead. Oh how she hated the lectures. Sophie though, was more ecstatic about seeing the ginger haired girl. "Hi Sierra!" Sophie said with a broad smile and a giant wave. "I didn't know you were here too! Oh, 'Jackies here as well! Did I tell you he really likes you? He say's your eyes sparkle like the stars themselves!" Sophie exclaimed.

Miko wanted to laugh and facepalm at the same time. Sierra blushed, her cheeks turning pitch red. Sophie smiled broadly, oblivious to the awkwardness of the moment. "O-Oh, Um..." Sierra began, rubbing her arm. Many boys hit on her, and usually only said, "Oh, you're so hot" or "You wanna come over to my 'crib sometime 'babe?" No one had ever said something like that, so well thought and not just something stupid like other boys. She'd never really seen anything in Jack before-Well, actually, she'd seen nothing in Jack before that interested her. But he really liked her that much? A slight pang of guilt pricked at her for all those times she had been mean to him. Almost on cue, Jack popped his head out from an aisle behind Miko, and began to walk towards them. "Oh...Jack..." Sierra said quietly, trying very hard to not blush as hard as she had before.

The raven haired boy paused, finally realizing she was there. "S-Sierra?" He stuttered. "Wha-What...uh...what are you doing here?" He questioned, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. What are you doing here? Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Jack wanted to seriously smack his forehead repeatedly, but managed to remain calm for Sierra. And when he said 'calm', he meant totally freaking out on the inside while on the outside he was blushing madly, eyes wide as they looked to different places, and legs and arms twitching. Smooth, real smooth. Miko held her mouth in her hand, trying hard to not burst into laughter. Sophie stood, still totally oblivious to the awkwardness between the two. She rocked on her heels, waiting for the two teens to say something to eachother. But all they did was...well, all they did was stare. And stare. Maybe a little mumble. More staring. Okay, this was getting a bit boring now.

"Uh...Jack..." Sierra began looking down. "Your cousin...she, uh...she told me...about what you said." Jack's face turned pitch red, eyes widening. "That was really sweet of you, you know." She said with a small smile. Jack was frigid, still, and absolutely silent. His eye twitched slightly, but nothing else moved. Sierra opened her mouth to speak, when someone cried her name from across the store. "Um...I have to get going." She started walking off down the aisle, looking back at Jack with lightly blushing cheeks. "So...I'll see you later?" Jack barely responded, only nodded slightly. When she turned 'round the corner, Miko lost it, and burst into laughter. She pointed at Jack, then to where Sierra had left, then at Sophie, and just laughed even harder. Miko clutched her sides, and fell over on the floor, lying on her back as she rolled around.

Jack shot a look towards Sophie, who simply smiled at him. "What did you say to her?" He questioned, his blushing going down a bit now.

Sophie just shrugged. "I told her what you said. 'You eyes sparkle like the stars themselves'." She quoted. Jack slapped his palm against his forehead, leaving a red mark on his face that looked exactly like a hand. Sophie cocked her head to the side. "What?" She questioned as Jack ran away from them, going into some random aisle. Sophie looked to Miko, who was slowly calming down. "What did I say?"

Miko burst into more giggling fits, leaving Sophie extremely confused.

Hello! This is the same Dom from Chapter 17...I think. =D I am going to shamelessly type an entire paragraph in my friend's fanfiction. If you haven't read it yet (which I doubt since this is chapter 25), READ IT NOW! I command you. I will find you if you don't. Love you, 'Chip.

And that was my friend :3 She's actually very nice. She also writes fanfictions as well, on Fimfiction! It's about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! It's an awsome show! Full of ponies, and friendship, and rainbows, and EPICNESS! Yeah, you should go watch it X)