"Thinking/Bumblebee's Radio"
:Comm. Talk:
~Bond Speech~

Time Units
Decivorn: 8.3 years
Vorn: 83 years
Orbital Cycle: 1 month
Stellar Cycle: ~7.5 months

A New Version of Reality

Chapter Twenty Three

Of Sparklings, Seekers, and AllSparks

"I don' wanna go!"

Victoria rolled her eyes at the way her brother looked at her with big misty grey eyes. He had been whining non-stop since they had woken up that morning. First it was about the cheap instant noodles he had been forced to buy the night before when he had been told by Smokescreen that using a credit card would make it easier for them to be found. Then it was about how all the warm water had been used to wash sparklings and Wheeljack, whom Ratchet had worked on the night before to make him more presentable for the trip. Then he'd stubbed his toe on something and whined about that a little, and now he was trying to whine his way out of the trip they had planned last night.

Not gonna happen.

"Why can't you go?" Eric argued when he realized his pleas fell on deaf ears. It was worth a shot. "I can stay behind and take care of the babies. They love me!"

"Recall?" The sparkling that clung to Victoria's hand looked up at her and buzzed in response. "Who do you want to stay? Uncle Eric or mommy?"

"Mommy!"

"You cheated. He would've said me if you hadn't called yourself 'mommy.' I call that a conflict of interest!"

"Alright." Victoria turned to her other side where Swoop stood, swinging their linked hands without a care in the world. "What about you Swoop?"

The Dinobot looked up at her with his wide, dark blue optics. The innocent twinkle in those optics didn't disguise the teasing grin that swept across his face. "Me Swoop want him Wheeljack, but you Vicky good too."

"The masses have spoken." Victoria kicked a tuft of grass towards her brother, and Recall mimicked her with a giggle. "Get in the truck and go."

"No!" Eric dramatically jumped away from their grass and made a beeline for where Wheeljack was sitting in the driveway, looking almost in pristine shape save for the ugly patches that still needed to be buffed and painted over. "I'm taking the coolest car here. No offense super awesome Ironhide."

Ironhide's headlights flashed from where he sat in his vehicle mode, but Smokescreen, who had yet to transform from his bipedal form after speaking to Jazz, looked offended by the man's statement. "And what am I? Just a throwaway now?"

"It's not your fault that you're so two days ago…wait, yes it is. Transform into something cooler and then we'll talk."

Smokescreen shook his head and transformed into the new blue Nissan model he had adopted over the past week. Eric stuck his tongue out at the car and turned to Victoria in one last ditch effort to weasel his way out of the trip. His exaggerated puppy dog eyes were met by a pair of utterly unmoved orbs, and he groaned in defeat. "What'd you want me to get from the house?"

"There's a basket of toys in the living room," Victoria reiterated as her glare vanished. "And on the table in the living room is a stack of books—get those too. Also, get whatever you can from the kitchen. Me and Sam will go out and buy whatever we can with the loose cash we have on us, but with that, we won't have to worry about food for a while."

"What makes you think you have enough to feed us all?"

"Because Bluestreak had his own stash…he tended to buy a lot. Oh, and you need to keep Wheeljack on track with what he's looking for. I'm sure Ironhide and Smokescreen will do that too, but Wheeljack can get really distracted when he's left alone in his barn. It'll take you guys a constant day of driving to get there, so try not to waste much time. Bumblebee's starting to miss his legs."

Eric looked confused as to why a robot would want human food but eventually shrugged. Half of the stuff he had to deal with for the past week had made less sense. "So, toys for the babies; food for all of us; and making sure the robot gets the robot things. Anything specific you want me to pick up for you? Like your favorite pillow or the naughty romance novels hidden under your bed?"

The woman's glare returned in full force, and Eric had to duck into the Autobot he had chosen to ride with in order to avoid any repercussions. His effective attempt at escape was foiled since Wheeljack kept his door open to speak to Victoria. "Take care of my mechlings while I'm gone. And make sure Grimlock doesn't eat too many gummies, or Snarl doesn't try chewing on the TV wires again; and that they don't-"

"Primus," Ratchet complained as he came around the house. "Are you not gone yet? By the time you get back, I'll have already made the materials I need!"

"Me Swoop help you with that!"

Victoria watched the two sparklings that had been holding her hands dash over to the medic, Recall happily giggling behind Swoop. The medic huffed, attempting to keep a tight hold on his annoyance, but it was hard to stay mad when Swoop was readily listing the supplies in that adorable squeaky voice of his while Recall buzzed, chirped, and mimicked random words the other sparkling said. Jazz must have been on that side of the house teasing Ratchet because he turned to glare in that direction

Ironhide's window slid down as the medic stomped back behind the house, and his gruff voice could be heard through the radio. "You got lucky 'Jack. If those sparklings weren't here, he would've probably melted a hole through your hood with that glare."

"Eh, I've been subjected to worse." Eric yelped as the car he was leaning out of quickly rolled back and forth on its wheels. "What's the hold up anyway? I thought we were leaving an hour ago."

"Mikaela's just getting ready," Victoria answered. Her eyes narrowed at the audible sighs that came from the Autobots and the eye roll she caught her brother doing. "What? I don't blame her. She's gonna be stuck in a car for half a day."

"Exactly. No one's gonna care how pretty she looks 'cause no one's gonna see!"

"At least she'll be comfortable."

Eric rolled his eyes again and fell back his seat as Ironhide said, with a tinge of humor, "Femmes. Doesn't matter what race they might be, they all act the same."

"And I could say the same for men."

"Burn!"

Smokescreen's engine stuttered as a sign of repressed laughter, and Ironhide sighed at Wheeljack's exuberant cry. It was nothing new, but it was still somehow deemed sigh-worthy. It was easy to understand why Ratchet had skipped over the sighing stage and gone straight to the beating stage when it came to the engineer.

"Oh lookie!" Eric's yelp could barely be heard after Wheeljack's door sharply closed on him. "We can leave now."

The man didn't look very happy when the window rolled down a second later, but he was ignored as his sister turned her attention to the front porch. Poor Sam looked completely flustered as Mikaela leaned over to give him a brief peck on the cheek before striding down the stairs and towards the Autobots, her pocketbook swinging at her side. She paused long enough to assess Eric leaning out of Wheeljack before continuing towards Ironhide. "Good, the truck suits me better anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eric demanded, leaning out of the window to glare after her. He watched her step up into Ironhide's cab and continued to huff when the window on the truck rolled down for them to communicate.

"It means tiny little cars seem to suit your more."

"Eric," Victoria started as Ironhide chuckled and Smokescreen's engine growled in offense. Wheeljack was the only one left both unamused and unoffended as he began to make a list of the things they needed out loud. "It's too early to start things."

"But…I didn't…she started it!"

"That's a great excuse for the apparent 'adult' here to say."

Victoria shook her head as the glaring contest between the two started up. At this point there was no attempting to stop the two from butting heads. It had only been a day, and it was already a lost cause. "At least respect the fact that you're traveling inside an alien robot. I'm pretty sure they don't want to listen to you two bicker across the radio for the whole ride."

"Oh! And we need to make a quick stop at a pet store or something. Giving Grimlock a chew toy is way more preferable to him chewing on the side of the couch."

Ironhide's hearty laughter faded out as he rolled his window up on the smirking teenager. Eric was confused for a moment before shrugging and leaning over to grab his sketchbook and pencil case from the seat beside him. He nonchalantly flipped through the first few pages of the new book as Wheeljack broke off from his ramblings to address Victoria again. "Take care of my bitlets. That goes for Recall and Topaz too. And Bluestreak."

Victoria gave him a small smile at the unpleasant reminder of why Bluestreak's end of the bond was so unnaturally numb. The bitterness and healthy dose of amusement from Skywarp's side could only distract her from it for so long, and she didn't even want to know why she could fell the faint twinges of euphoria from Sideswipe's end. With the tiny AllSpark tucked away in the pocket of her of cargo pants, the connections she had were easier to access at certain times. It wasn't nearly as powerful as it had been when she held the whole AllSpark back in Mission City, but it was strong enough.

Sam came to stand beside the woman as Smokescreen took the rear of the small Autobot troupe heading towards the rising sun. If all went according to plan, they'd be rolling back up into the driveway by ten tomorrow night at the earliest. The two stood together at the end of the driveway until Smokescreen's blue rear disappeared. Sam released a gush of air and lifted his arms to rub at the back of his head. "How long do you think they're gonna last before leaving Eric and Mikaela on the side of the road?"

Victoria snorted and turned back to the house. The sounds of Recall squealing in the backyard was a good indication that he had found Jazz, and an even better indication of their mischievousness was the sound of Ratchet's wrench echoing through the still morning air. "You'd be surprised at how much their arguing wouldn't bother them. Smokescreen's use to it all after living with Eric; Ironhide's had to deal with far worse; and Wheeljack will be the one who'd encourage it all. All in all, I think Optimus chose the best team to go—just the right balance between serious, joking, and not caring."

Sam nodded and absently tugged on the green shirt Eric had let him borrow. He was having to get used to the slightly baggier clothes since the older man was bigger than him, but it was better than having to wear his dirty clothes three days in a row. He continued to tug on the shirt until they made it to the first step on the porch and suddenly whipped his hand out to grasp Victoria's arm. He retracted it just as quickly when he realized he had grabbed her casted wrist, making her flinch, and nervously dragged a hand through his curly hair. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"About the…you know what."

The AllSpark silently throbbed, and Victoria unconsciously reached down to place a hand over it. "What about it?"

Sam seemed embarrassed if the lack of eye contact and nervous fidgeting said anything. The young woman patiently waited for him to continue, silently praying that the rest of the sparklings wouldn't wake up until she was back inside. Something told her that despite the protective attitudes Rumble and Frenzy displayed for their sister, it wouldn't carry over to a trio of crying and hungry sparklings that had just woken up from recharge. They were already going to have their hands full when Grimlock and Snarl realized their daddy wasn't around; there was no need to stack more problems on top of that.

"I don't think it likes me." Victoria tilted her head in question, a few strands of hair falling from the messy bun she had hastily constructed an hour before. A blush flourished on the teenager's face, and he uneasily shuffled from one foot to the other. "It still won't do the shrinky-dink thing like it did with you. How am I supposed to keep it hidden when it won't cooperate? Keeping it under my jacket is only gonna help until one of those babies gets curious and pulls it off. You saw what happened last night!"

Victoria nodded at the memory of Sam and Grimlock being locked in a serious game of tug-o-war with the brunet's jacket. Everyone had found Sam's desperate attempts to keep his jacket funny, but Optimus had soon come to the boy's rescue at the sound of the cloth ripping under Grimlock's strong jaw. The goal of keeping the split AllSpark a secret had almost been revealed through that small act, and the Prime had quietly—and patiently—ordered Sam to find a way to hide it more effectively.

Obviously that hadn't been achieved yet.

"Did you apologize for kicking it?" Sam sputtered at the question before reluctantly shaking his head. "Well then. Step one to making a shrinky-dink Cube: apologize for abusing it."

"You can't be serious," Sam said with a nervous chuckle. The sound came to an abrupt end when Victoria just stared at him. "Seriously? I admit, the AllSpark's pretty special—I mean, it makes babies. But it's still just a block of metal. Very hard metal, might I add."

Victoria shrugged and walked up the porch to the screen door. Sam hurried after her, and they stepped into the dimly lit foyer. "If you say so. I think that's exactly what Sector 7's thought process was, and look at where that got them. The AllSpark had enough sense to make drones to protect itself rather than producing sparklings for them to dissect."

Sam had a thoughtful look in his eye as he continued on through the hallway to the closet he had stashed his AllSpark cube in last night. Victoria shook her head at his retreating back and detoured to the living room. She was just in time to run into Rumble as he was prepared to walk out. The Dino-sparklings were still sound asleep on the pallet that had been arranged for them last night, cutely tangled up together in their dinosaur forms, and Frenzy was tending to Laserbeak as she hopped around the floor in search for adventure.

Topaz, however, was looking very grumpy as Rumble awkwardly held her facing out in front of him while his arms were wrapped around her tiny chest. Her legs wildly kicked at the air, and she released an annoyed whine when she saw Victoria. The woman sighed as Rumble immediately stuck the sparkling out while Topaz simultaneously reached out for her. Victoria complied with both of their silent commands, and the femmeling snuggled up to her chest, sending glares at the Cassette as she mouthed on her fist. "Rumble, that's not how you hold a baby."

"Whatever. She was getting whiny."

Victoria grabbed the red Cassette's wrist before he could take off and forced his spindly arms into a cradling position. Topaz squeakily protested as she was transferred from her warm, soft, and preferred cradle to the cold, hard, and undesired cradle of Rumble's arms. The former Decepticon didn't know how to react to the sudden hand off and stiffly stood as he awkwardly held the wiggling mass of protoform. Victoria nodded in satisfaction and turned towards the kitchen.

"Wait a minute!" Rumble shouted as he snapped out of his stupor. He hurried after the human, and Topaz instinctively gripped his rigid arm to keep from bouncing around. "I don't wanna hold her!"

A faint sense of déjà vu washed over her as Victoria maneuvered around the kitchen to collect bottles and sparkling grade Energon. She silently counted off the few bottles they had and carefully divvied up the remainder of the Energon contained within a pitcher for easy access. Only a thin film of the pink liquid remained at the bottom when she was done. Just another thing to add to her To Do List: ask Ratchet to blend more Energon. As if the poor medic didn't have enough on his plate.

"I can't make bottles and hold a sparkling at the same time," Victoria finally answered as she screwed on the tops of the bottles. She handed one to Topaz for the femmeling to suck on and carefully picked up three of the four remaining bottles. She left the last bottle and the open cup for Recall and Swoop to collect later and walked back to the living room with Rumble closely following behind. "I'm not that skilled of a caretaker yet."

"Then put her on the couch! Or the blanket, or…something. Don't just hand her to me."

"But you looked so eager to help."

Rumble snorted at the fake innocence and unknowingly jiggled the femmeling in his arms while Victoria intercepted Laserbeak in her quest to find the most obscure hiding place to escape her overbearing brother. The miniature Cassette chirped with gratitude and allowed Frenzy to pick her up so that she could consume her meal. It was awkward to feed the small bird from a bottle, but until a better means of feeding her was found, she was stuck with it.

The easier task complete, Victoria turned to the tiny bundle of Dinobots and sighed when she found Grimlock wiggling around, his dark blue optics flickering on the edge of wakefulness. She didn't know exactly know how they would react to Wheeljack's absence, but she had a pretty good feeling that they wouldn't be all that happy to begin with. It would probably be best to have Swoop in here to help just in case.

She glanced over at how well Rumble was adjusting to holding Topaz and placed the bottles she held on the ground next to the pallet. Rumble almost panicked when he watched her walk back out of the room and towards the back of the house. "Hold up! What am I supposed to do with her?"

"Just hold her until she finishes her bottle. Like you do with Laserbeak. If she starts looking constipated, then rub her back until she's okay. It's not that hard Rumble."

The Cassette felt offended by the teasing tone the woman adopted and glared over at his brother as Frenzy snickered. He finally glanced down at the femmeling in his arms and found her glaring back up at him with her golden optics, the edge of which were tinged an odd green thanks to the glow of her spark. He gave her a hard look in return, and she warily returned to sucking on her bottle, still watching him with careful optics.

"You think I wanted this brat? I never get anything but trouble from little sparks."

Topaz gave him an annoyed growl and continued to glare up at him. Rumble tried to hold onto the irritation he displayed towards the sparklings, but the wary glare that burned into the side of his face reminded him of the false promise he had made to another naïve spark. He should've stuck with the Decepticons because being around the Auto-butts was making him go soft.

)II(

"Bumblebee, if you don't sit still I'll…!"

Optimus could hear the yellow scout bleep out an apologetic noise as the medic's threat trailed off. He glanced into the designated medical tent and saw the young Autobot propped up against a mound of boxes as their medic was finally able to start on his repairs. His legs would have to wait until Wheeljack's party returned with the proper supplies, but in the meanwhile, the minor injuries were finally getting attended to. Ratchet had been spending the majority of his time for the past day and a half working on making the others look more presentable to drive around without attracting unwanted attention, attempting to gather usable supplies, and keeping Bluestreak from panicking that both Bumblebee and Jazz's minor wounds had inadvertently been ignored.

"Not that either of them have complained about it," Optimus thought with an amused smirk as Bumblebee winced in time with the armor on his shoulder being popped back out. No one could deny Ratchet's skills as a medic; his work had gone unparalleled since the war had begun. His bedside manner on the other hand…well, that still remained unmatched as well.

"Fraggit 'Bee! These wires should've been replaced decivorns ago. What possesses any of you to put this type of maintenance off is beyond me. Hold still!"

A comical cry came from Bumblebee's radio, making Ratchet snort as he unceremoniously pulled at the frayed wires located in the bend of the scout's elbow. "Watch it there skippy…I'm sensitive!"

"Sensitive my aft. And you need to start using that new voice box of yours. The AllSpark may have healed it, but you've got to use it in order for it to fully integrate with your systems. Remember, it hasn't been online for a vorn or two now."

A small chuckle escaped from the Prime, and Bumblebee's big optics snapped up, visibly cycling through settings to focus on the mech standing outside in the midday sun. The scout voiced a pathetic, sparkling-like warble, and Ratchet automatically whacked him across the head with the back of his fingers. "Making sparkling noises isn't going to help."

Optimus shook his head and continued past the tent. On the other side of the blue mass of tarp, he found Jazz leaning up against the mound of boxes that Ratchet had pointedly kicked out of his tent. The saboteur flashed him smirk with a twinkle in his optic band that Optimus had not seen for a while now. The mech brought one finger up to his lip to signal the Prime to remain quiet and pointed down to where his feet sat. The commander followed the finger, and a genuine smile relaxed his face.

Far below where he stood, all of the sparklings were sprawled out on the thin blanket that Victoria had laid out. Even Swoop, who Optimus had been sure was within the tent helping Ratchet, was sitting and laughing with the others as the woman sang them silly songs.

"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

"Toes!"

"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

"Toes!" Swoop shouted along with Recall as Laserbeak did a little dance around the circle.

"And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and…nose!" A new round of laughter burst from the group as Victoria reached out to tweak Recall's nose. "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes!"

The sparklings cheered, and Recall jumped to his feet to hop around with Laserbeak, shouting, "Again, again, again!" Topaz snorted as she napped beside Victoria, and Grimlock stared at them from the corner of the blanket he pouted on. The Dinobot hadn't been interested in joining in on the fun like his two brothers had, opting to sit alone until Wheeljack returned. He had not been very happy to discover the engineer was gone.

"Again?" Victoria repeated the sparkling with a smile, and her audience enthusiastically voiced their approval. Snarl even bobbed his head up and down as he awkwardly scuttled closer on his stubby legs. "How about we see if someone else wants to sing? What about you Rumble?"

Optimus turned in the direction Victoria shouted and watched Rumble stiffen on the porch step he sat on. Frenzy manically cackled as his brother abruptly stood up to retreat into the house, but his snickers died just as quickly when Victoria made the same suggestion for him. Laserbeak shook her head as her brothers cowardly hid in the house, and she happily twittered when Victoria ran a gentle finger along her beak. "I guess they don't enjoy singing as much as you do. What a shame—I kind of expected more from a pair of Cassettes."

Jazz laughed at her play on words, and the woman looked up at them, seeming surprised to see that Optimus had joined the saboteur. "What about you two? I imagine you have a wonderful voice Optimus."

It wasn't easy to catch the Prime off guard, but her assumption nearly managed to do so. Luckily for him, he had anticipated such a reaction after watching her address the twins and handled the teasing with ease. "I have been known to carry a tune or two. I would, however, refrain from encouraging Jazz to join you. I am afraid that his singing is not quite on par with all of yours."

"Hey!" Jazz protested mid-chuckle. "Ah'll have you know Ah'm a great singer!"

"Jazz, when Prowl is the one who suggests we use your voice as a weapon against the Decepticons, you are not a good singer."

Victoria laughed at Jazz's offended protests and turned back to the sparklings, who were noisily attempting to regain her attention. She proceeded to sing a new song that attempted to mimic animal sounds for an old man's farm, sending the sparkling into another round of laughter as they sang along with her.

As they began to mimic the common livestock found on such a farm, Optimus heard the familiar the clinks and grinds of someone transforming and automatically looked down at Jazz. His lieutenant did the same and shrugged, glancing towards where the Cassettes had been before looking back down at the blanket. The singing had ceased, and a new sparkling was stomping between everyone to stand in front of Victoria, his fists propped on his hips as he stood over a head taller than her. His dark grey armor glinted in the sun as he stomped his little foot. "Toes!"

Victoria blinked with surprise until Swoop stepped up to the taller sparkling. "You Grimlock have to wait! We singing other song now."

Grimlock made a snarling noise that had lost any of its "intimidation" with his transformation. Swoop almost backed down simply from memories of what would normally happen when a bot tried to oppose his bigger brother before realizing that this wasn't the same Grimlock. This was sparkling Grimlock, and Wheeljack had told him the day before that he was technically the bigger brother now. So, the miniature pterodactyl threw his shoulders back and held his head high as he said, "No! You Grimlock wait turn. We singing McDonald now."

The Dinobot took a step towards Swoop, a nasty snarl fixed below his dark visor, but Victoria had finally snapped out of her stupor and reached out to stop the bigger sparkling. "We'll sing the toes song again after we finish this one, okay? Then we'll sing more songs, so that way everyone can find a favorite."

The scowl vanished, and Grimlock seemed appeased for the time being as he shuffled over to sit next to Snarl, who was looking at him with amazed optics. He pursed his lips as Recall inadvertently showed off his own transforming abilities with a giggle, and Laserbeak followed suit just for the fun of it. "Me Grimlock better!"

"Oh boy," Jazz said with a chuckle as sparklings began to transform back and forth. Victoria just sighed as Snarl eventually managed to perform his own transformation, the kibble sticking out of the back of his shoulders proving to be fairly hazardous as he ran around the circle at a much faster speed. "It's times like these dat Ah appreciate da fact dat mechlings dat grow up ta have a vehicular mode usually can't transform at this age."

"Indeed," Optimus agreed, though he was smiling in amusement as a bipedal Snarl chased after a little boy with bouncy orange curls. Swoop was now hopping around in his dinosaur alt-mode with Laserbeak, and Grimlock had successfully managed to get Victoria to sing his favorite song earlier than expected. "Perhaps that is why Topaz is the only sparkling we have at the moment that will have to wait until she is older."

"That's just da kinda luck we got."

Optimus chuckled and turned away with the anticipation of returning to Ratchet's tent and checking on Bluestreak's current status when a familiar sound reached his audials. Jazz was instantly on his feet, all the previous good humor he had displayed being replaced by the hard mask of a Special Ops mech. The sparklings—undisturbed by the sound they could not hear—continued to play around their feet, and Victoria was too busy teaching Grimlock the hand motions to his song to notice the stiff posture the mechs had assumed.

The drone of jet turbines had been putting Autobots on edge since nearly the very beginning of the war. When the force they were fighting against had a large, strong aerial fleet backing them up, a soldier on the ground learned to listen for signs of them. A sudden attack from above could completely devastate a unit. That had been learned in a very unforgettable way.

It took a while for the physical image of the jet to catch up to the sound, but a tiny speck was soon visible on the horizon, growing bigger as it approached them at a rapid pace. Both Autobots remained tense, optics firmly locked on the object as Ratchet came out to stiffly stand beside them.

"Looks like we got company," Jazz said, his fist automatically clenching in preparation of becoming a weapon. "Friendly?"

"If it is, then someone needs to teach them a few manners," Ratchet huffed as he took a step back towards the tent. He had two patients that required his attention. "Flying at us with not even a warning in advance? He's lucky I don't have any long range weapons that could hit him."

"I do. Ya want me ta send 'im a present from da Hatchet?"

"Jazz," Optimus warned in a tired voice. He shook his head as the saboteur sent him an "innocent" grin. "I would prefer not to make an enemy out of our new ally so quickly."

"But we don't know if dat's him! It could very well be anotha' Seeker or the humans dat are after us. They got jets too."

Optimus had known Jazz long enough to pick up on when he was lying through his denta (at least, when Jazz allowed him to pick up on it), and the Cheshire grin that went along with his logical assumption was more than enough to prove it. He felt sorry for Thundercracker and his trine for whatever the saboteur had up his sleeve for them. "Thundercracker was not informed that he would have to announce his arrivals. This is a process that has never been attempted since the beginning of the war, and we are learning as we progress."

"Then we've learned that you need to be more thorough in your negotiations!"

Jazz snickered at the Prime's expense, and Optimus simply sighed at Ratchet's cranky accusation. He needed to make sure the medic powered down tonight; Ratchet sometimes forgot to do that when he was busy and inadvertently became more irritable than usual. Unless the Twins were around. No amount of rest could take care of that grouchiness. "Thank you Ratchet."

"It's what I'm here for. Besides piecing you slaggers back together."

Optimus grinned at his officer's retort and turned back to face the direction in which the jet was approaching them. At this point, it was much closer than it had been, and he adjusted his optics enough to be able to pick up on the cyan paintjob the aircraft sported. So, it was in fact Thundercracker. He briefly wondered where the Seeker's trine mate was when an alert popped up in the corner of his HUD. He accepted the incoming message.

"Jazz, stand down," Optimus ordered, and Jazz pouted. "Gather the sparklings so that Thundercracker may land without fear of harming them."

The lieutenant immediately perked up again and snatched up the first sparkling that ran past him. Recall shrieked with laughter, and his playmate down below began to whine, jumping up and down and demanding to be picked up. Jazz scooped up Snarl and moved on to collect Grimlock, Swoop, and Laserbeak. Both hands were soon filled with squirming and shouting sparklings, and Jazz proudly held them out for Optimus to see. "The Jazz-man: sparkling wrangler extraordinaire."

Optimus almost smiled before lurching forward. He could feel his spark erratically pulsing within his chassis as he cradled the sparkling that attempted to jump out of Jazz's hand. Recall innocently giggled as if he hadn't almost fallen to his death. The Prime looked down at Jazz's bright visor, and the saboteur sheepishly smiled. "Perhaps you should practice actually keeping them contained after wrangling them up."

"In his defense, Wheeljack's the one that taught Recall to do that," Victoria said as she came to stand beside them, with Topaz cradled in her arms. Optimus was much more attentive to the Pretender that climbed around his hand like a little monkey and made sure that he wouldn't jump off again. "Why are you collecting the sparklings anyway? Ratchet's not doing more scans is he?"

"Fortunately, no." Jazz chuckled at the relief even Optimus held for that truth. "But Thundercracker is paying us a visit. This was merely to assure no accidents occurred."

"Good because if one of the Dinobots is squished, I don't think anyone would be left to explain what happened."

"Shoot, 'Jackie'd pro'bly blow da whole planet up." Jazz jiggled his hands, sending the sparklings into more fits of laughter. All except for Laserbeak, who annoyingly pecked at his finger. The little Cassette was done playing sparkling for the day. The saboteur's grin fell a fraction as the sound of the Seeker became audible for the human. "Here comes company…"

"You sound like you're signing your own death warrant."

"Same thing."

Thundercracker performed a flyby high above their heads and proceeded to circle around the property once, twice, three times before descending. Optimus stepped forward as the mech gracefully transformed while he still hovered far above the ground, using the thrusters on his heels to gently float down. The cyan mech stiffly stood a couple of feet away, watching Jazz in the same wary way the silver mech watched him.

"Thundercracker." The Seeker's vermilion optics snapped towards Optimus. "I must say that it is quite a surprise to see you visiting so soon."

"Ever heard of calling in advance?"

Thundercracker looked slightly embarrassed from Ratchet's sarcastic jibe from the tent but quickly regained his composure to address Optimus. "My understanding was that my trine and I were allowed to visit anytime we liked. Also, if I'm not mistaken, I did send a message to your Prime."

"Yeah, right before we was about ta shoot ya down."

"Don't listen to him," Victoria said as Thundercracker's frown deepened from Jazz's dry humor. The Seeker looked down as the woman stepped up to him, stopping just short of where the Prime stood. He took special note of the bundle of soft metal looking up at him with wide, bright yellow optics from the woman's arms. "It's good to see you again so soon."

Thundercracker nodded in acknowledgement of her sincerity and turned back to Optimus. The permanent frown on his face deepened as he spotted the little being clinging to the mech's huge finger. "These must be the other sparklings Star spoke of. Recall and Topaz, if I remember correctly."

Recall perked up from where he had been hiding and hummed up at the big mech. He was even bigger than Op'mus! He had red eyes too, but they weren't as scary as the little robots that were mommy's size. They were light and sparkly like Starry's. Maybe he knew where Starry was!

"Birdie!"

Optimus chuckled at the sparkling's severe misconception, and Thundercracker's wings drooped a fraction. It was the only outward sign of his offense since his face stayed as stoic as it had been since he had landed. "I am not a 'birdie.'"

"Birdie."

"No."

"…birdie?"

"No."

"No birdie?"

"Yes."

"Birdie!"

"No."

But the damage had already been done. Recall wasn't aware of what a Seeker was nor had he ever paid attention to the documentaries on flying aircrafts that Star had liked to watch. For the moment, the only object that the sparkling knew could fly was a bird, and his sparkling innocence had immediately made that connection the moment he had watched the Seeker circle above them with awe. On top of that Thundercracker was blue, a very common color for the birds Recall had seen in his cartoons.

A sneer made a brief appearance on the Seeker's face as the Pretender began to "tweet" and flap his arms like wings. The situation wasn't helped as Jazz laughed in the background, and both Optimus and Victoria amicably attempted to repress their own amusement for the sparkling. Then there was a recorded sound of bird from within the blue tent behind him, and Thundercracker felt his engine rumble in annoyance. This was a terrible first impression with his new "allies," and nothing could possibly make it any worse…

"Hey! You seen a 'putty tat' lately Tweety Bird?"

…until Rumble comes along to make obscure references to human entertainment. He turned his head to see both of the Cassette twins standing on the last step the porch—Frenzy cackling like the maniac he had heard the symbiote had become and Rumble standing beside him, horrifically pantomiming what must have been cat ears with his hands. The twins' laughter increased in response to the hefty glare he directed towards them.

"I am not a bird!"

Recall's tweets abruptly came to an end, and he softly whistled in fear as he backed away from the angry Seeker, seeking refuge behind Optimus' fingers once more. The laughter fizzled away just as quickly, and Jazz was back to directing wary glares at him while the true sparklings in his hands hid like Recall had. Rumble finished his teasing and stomped over to the bigger mech with a glare that could have melted metal.

"See wha'cha did bird brain?" the symbiote accused with a gesture towards the cowering sparklings. "Can't you egotistical retrorats with wings even take a joke? Ya scaring the li'l sparks!"

"Rumble," Victoria mumbled as the Cassette attempted to stomp past her. She reached one hand out to grab Rumble by the shoulder and pull him back. The Cassette's angry growl seamlessly blended with the growl that was coming from the femmeling in her arms. "Don't start something."

"What? Cloudhugger there needs to learn some common manners." Rumble huffed when Victoria shook her head and settled for sneering up at the Seeker as his brother hurried over to join him. "You better be glad the Boss aint here; he'd have your aft handed to ya for the way you scared them sparklings!"

Thundercracker wasn't as surprised as he should have been when Frenzy readily agreed with his brother. With the way Soundwave had silently dished out punishment when he felt his Cassettes had been wrongly treated by the Decepticon crew, it wouldn't have been surprising to see him react to how a sparkling was wrongly treated. Thundercracker had always imagined the emotionless telepath had a creator complex for anything that could fit in his hand.

He glanced back up at the sparkling and instantly felt a ball of guilt settle in his tank from the way Recall flinched under his stare. This was why he disliked sparklings: they did something annoying and then turned around and did something like that to make a mech feel like the biggest jerk in the cosmos. He was never having kids. Period.

"I apologize for any offense you may have felt Thundercracker," Optimus said in the diplomatic tone he had used the day before during their negotiations. Gone were the relaxed and familiar inflections he had exhibited when the Seeker had landed, and in his place was the unapproachable leader of the Autobots. Optimus refused to even look at the Seeker as he carefully lowered himself to allow the sparkling to hop off his hand and hide behind Victoria. "None of it was intended."

"I apologize for my reaction," Thundercracker reluctantly muttered after a moment of silence. The heated stares that he felt coming from all directions was a stark difference from what he had imagined this encounter going. At least the one with the huge guns wasn't around to shoot him. "It's…been a rough few days."

Optimus nodded in understanding, though Thundercracker noted that he still wasn't as relaxed as before, and Jazz's stare didn't waver at all. The only one who seemed to have gotten over it was Victoria as she petted the springs that covered Recall's head. "That's okay. Recall's never seen a full grown Seeker before. It's just something new for him to learn, and he's a very quick learner. Right Recall?"

Recall chirruped from where his face was pressed into her thigh before releasing her and running over to Jazz, who finally let up on his glare to bend down and happily greet the sparkling. Thundercracker would have missed the little speck that dove off of the Autobot's hand once it was closer to the ground if wasn't for the bigger sparkling that hopped down after it. This sparkling didn't appear as wild and child-like as the others, and it showed in the way he bent down to pick the tiny bird up in his hand and met a frantic Frenzy halfway as he walked towards Victoria. "Her Laserbeak okay. She just no wanna play no more."

Thundercracker's wings twitched in surprise, but he was prevented from saying anything as Optimus asked, "Have you come for a casual visit, or is there something more specific that you needed?"

"Both."

"Where's Skywarp and Star then?" Victoria asked soon after the Seeker's confirmation. She unconsciously shifted the sparkling in her hand, and Thundercracker felt a little more at ease when he realized that Topaz was no longer glaring at him. Instead she seemed fairly intent on chewing on her fist at the moment. "No offense, but I don't really take you as the 'casual visit' kind of mech."

Thundercracker's wings twitched in the resemblance of a shrug, and unlike the bird comments from earlier, he couldn't bring himself to feel offended. After all, he wasn't the type of mech who went out of his way to visit others without a specific reason. "Skywarp's a little…tied up at the moment. He had a…rough night, and is recharging as his systems adjust to all the Energon he consumed. However, I did bring Star along."

The Seeker almost smirked as he heard Jazz's audibly gasp when he reached up to manually separate his chest armor. Thanks to Rumble, the cyan Seeker had learned how to access the small sparkling hold located next his spark without revealing any other sensitive parts of his inner workings. After having to deal with the non-stop teasing from Skywarp, it was amusing to see even Optimus have a look of embarrassment on his face as he watched the mech dig around inside his chassis. "He fell asleep in my sparkling hold on the way here."

"Sparking hold?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Rumble explained to the confused human. He snickered along with Frenzy at the looks the Autobots had on their faces. "Every mech and femme is created with one, whether they know it or not."

Now Jazz was staring down at the grill and headlights that comprised his chest, as if waiting for something to suddenly pop out of it. As amusing as it was, Thundercracker highly doubted that a mech as informed as the saboteur really had no idea that he possessed a small hold. If Optimus knew—as he was led to believe by the dawning look of understanding on the Prime's face—then Jazz definitely knew. It must have just been for the amusement of the sparklings, who were giggling as the official SIC on earth did a little dance.

"It's like a little carrier," Victoria said, drawing Thundercracker's attention back to her as he finally found where Star had curled up in his hold. She looked very intrigued by the new information she was learning. "Like the ones people can get that strap onto their back or chest. That's really cool, but I wonder why Wheeljack didn't tell me about that before…"

Her thoughts were interrupted as Topaz removed her fist from her mouth long enough to squeal at the sight of Star when Thundercracker knelt down with the Seekerlet in his hand. The femmeling instantly recognized the other sparkling and reached out for him when the bigger Seeker began to poke his side. Star moaned and twisted around in the Seeker's hand, instinctively rolling away from what disturbed his sleep; he whined when Thundercracker wouldn't let up and finally jerked upward to sleepily glare at his trine brother. "What!"

The high-pitched screech caught the attention of Recall, and as much as the sparkling had grown to adore Jazz, he instantly abandoned the Autobot to race back over to where the Seeker knelt. He caught sight of Star's helm barely peeking over the mech's hand and sped up with a joyous yell. "Starry!"

Star looked over at the yell and rolled out of Thundercracker's hand without another disgruntled word. His feet had barely touched the ground when the smaller sparkling tackled him, happily whistling at the return of his bestest friend in the whole wide world. This completely made up for his broken bunny!

Star attempted to scowl at the younger mechling as he waddled over to Victoria, but the happy twitches of his wing nubs gave him away. "You're not supposed to be talking; you're too little!"

Recall just buzzed and twittered as he stood on top of the Seekerlet's feet, squeezing his mid-section as they slowly reached Victoria, who was happily smiling at the cute reunion. Topaz reached out to grab the tiny vents that poked out of Star's round head, ignoring his dissatisfied growl as her tiny engine purred. Victoria laughed and accepted the awkward hug that Star had been looking for, leaving Recall and Topaz to be squished between them. "Have you been good for your brothers?"

"Uh huh! TC lets me do what I want, and we have lots fun of with 'Warp! I can draw you pictures of what we did, so you can hang them on the refrigerator, and you'll never forget of how silly he looks."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Victoria agreed, missing the humorous smirk on Thundercracker's face as he felt the devious eagerness flow from Star. It must not have been strong enough to reach the woman because she didn't react to it. "I've got your coloring pad sitting on the table inside, but Wheeljack still has your crayons with him. Or maybe he put them in one of those boxes when he clearing his subspace for Ratchet."

"Where's Wheeljack?" Star questioned as he ignored everyone else watching them. He didn't care—this was his time with Victoria. "He owes me gummies 'cause I won the game fair and square!"

"So I've heard. He had to run an errand for someone else, but he'll be back by tomorrow night. In the meantime, why don't you play with his sparklings?"

It was then that Star managed to look past her and spot the two little mechlings that had followed behind Recall. The smaller of the two looked ungainly in his light blue and bright red armor, and the ugly yellow things sticking out of his shoulders didn't help. His dark blue optics peaked out from behind the bigger sparkling, who stood proudly with his chest poking out and head held up high. The dark grey kibble sticking out of his shoulders didn't look that bad, but Star still wasn't impressed by it. It didn't matter how others might try to mimic them—Seeker wings were the best.

The bigger sparkling's dark visor glinted as Star stared down at him with narrowed optics, and his upper lip lifted in a snarl. "Me Grimlock the best!"

"Nu uh. I'm the best 'cause I'm bigger."

"Nu uh! Me Grimlock better!"

"Prove it."

Grimlock growled and shoved Snarl away. The Dinobot gritted his denta as he intensely concentrated, clenching his fists with a whine as he bent over. Star was about to dismiss the other sparkling with a snort when the armor on the mechling began to converge and shift. Grimlock gave a "mighty" roar as he managed to transform into his dinosaur alt-mode, prancing about the Seekerlet to show off. Recall let go of his friend long enough to applaud the mechling's success since the Dinobot had been the only one not able to figure out how to transform back into his alt-mode

Star, on the other hand, looked absolutely furious. "How come he can transform but I can't?"

"You're not big enough to transform yet," Victoria answered, attempting to keep the Seekerlet calm. Rumble took one look at the mechling and made the wise decision to silently join his brother and sister where they stood with Swoop, Laserbeak twittering down at the Dinobot as he responded like he knew what she was saying. Jazz took a little step closer to them, one audial on the conversation going on between Optimus and Thundercracker while the other was honed in on the sparklings and their human caretaker.

"I'm bigger than him!" Star screeched as Grimlock gloated with a happy little tail wag.

"The Dinobots are a special kind of sparkling, like how Recall's a Pretender. Remember when we talked about that?"

"But I'm special too. I'm gonna be a Seeker when I grow up!"

Victoria sighed, at a total lost for how to explain to Star why he couldn't transform yet. She glanced up at Jazz, who shook his head with a little smirk and fully turned to the other two mechs. She frowned as Recall unintentionally made the situation worse with his sporadic transforming. "Star…"

"Get away from me slagger!"

The woman's lips thinned in response to the Seekerlet's language, and Thundercracker's head snapped towards him, a look of immense surprise flickering across his face. Jazz and the Cassettes began to snicker before suddenly stopping and looking towards the tent. A loud bang came from within, and Bumblebee's whirrs of confusion were nearly drowned out by the angry stomps that came their way. Ratchet burst through the tents flimsy "doors" and glared in the direction of the sparklings, who automatically huddled up behind Victoria. Even Grimlock whined at the look they were receiving and ducked behind Star.

"Which one of you sparklings just used that language?"

Swoop automatically pointed towards Star when the medic looked to him for answers, and Star's stubborn composure faltered a bit as the medic stomped in his direction. The Seekerlet puffed up and attempted to look bigger than he actually was, but Ratchet had come across bigger mechs who had attempted to do the same and miserably failed. Thundercracker took a step towards where the medic now towered over the Seekerlet but was prevented from moving any further by Optimus. The Seeker turned a glare on the Prime—acknowledging the fear from Star as a sign that his trine mate was in danger—but Optimus simply shook his head and held the Seeker back.

"Are you the one using such vulgar language?" Ratchet looked away from Star long enough to count off the sparklings that were gathered around before turning back to the Seekerlet. "And saying it around the younger sparklings as well? You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

"Who asked you?" Star yelled up at the Autobot, placing his fists on his hips in a stance of defiance. Ratchet harrumphed at the Seekerlet's rude behavior. "You're not the boss of me."

"Watch who you're speaking to youngling. You may be too young for my usual methods, but I can handle mechlings just as well as adult mechs. I have a very special method when dealing with potty mouths like yours."

"You can't do a slagging thing to me!"

"That's enough Star," Victoria interceded. Unlike Ratchet's harsh glare, Star flinched at the sound of the woman's hard voice and looked at her with bright red optics. "Ratchet's right: you should be ashamed for using that type of language, especially since you know Wheeljack got in trouble for using it around you. You're a smart Seekerlet who should've realized that it was bad. Not only that, but you're being absolutely rude to your elders. As the oldest, you're a role model to the younger sparklings. What are they learning when they watch you behave like this?"

Star's haughty posture instantly deflated, and he looked surprisingly apologetic for his actions. "I'm sorry Vivi. I won't do it anymore…but Skywarp said it was okay."

Just as quickly as his protective instincts had kicked in, they vanished, and Thundercracker felt like facepalming. There was no way—no way!—that had all been a clever little ruse to jibe their brother and make him look bad to Victoria. And yet, the giddy little feeling of success was all but tangible within their bond, and even Victoria furrowed her brow at the sensation of it. "I'll have to talk to Skywarp about that then."

"You should! And don't be afraid to punish him for it either. He's kinda dense, but he's still my brother, and I want what's best for him. He needs to learn that what he does is bad."

Yep, there was no doubt now. Star was a clever and sneaky little Seekerlet if there ever was one. But all actions had consequences, and Star had attracted the attention of the biggest one of all. Ratchet didn't have any problems with reaching down to grasp the tiny Seekerlet, and he openly ignored the mechling's screeches of surprise as he walked over to Optimus and Thundercracker with a line of curious sparklings coming after him. He looked the blue Seeker up and down with a hum. "Part of your deal with Optimus was resource gathering, correct?"

"Yes," Thundercracker answered after a moment of staring at Star struggle in the mech's hand. The medic's dexterous hands had no problem conforming to the Seekerlet's motions, and for the first time in a very long time, Thundercracker took a moment to wonder what an Autobot had done before the war. "That was one of the reasons why I came today. Our only source of Energon is currently dependent on you Autobots, and I don't wish to be scouring this planet at the last minute for what you use to make it. I would rather start stockpiling it now while we still have enough to make it through the next orbital cycle or two."

"Good. I have a list of other materials I wish for you to collect, but first…" Thundercracker jumped as the medic reached out and caught his right arm. The medic shuffled the sparkling in his hand to Optimus without a second thought and deftly pushed aside the armor covering his wrist to reveal the miniscule medical ports that were located underneath. He yelped as the Autobot curtly connected to the port without any word of approval.

Star, sensing his brother's discomfort, paused in his attempt to escape and glared at the medic. "What are you doing? Leave my brother alone, you big meanie!"

"I've been called worse," Ratchet said offhandedly as streams of data flooded his HUD. He carefully shuffled the majority of the information into a designated file and focused on the more immediate concerns. "Primus! Apparently Decepticons and Autobots aren't nearly as different as we originally supposed. And how long has it been since you had a simple maintenance check?"

"A couple of stellar cycles I suppose." Thundercracker yelped as a hand was swatted across the side of his head, and the sparklings that gathered around the medic's feet giggled at the sound. Even Star giggled a bit before putting his best scowl on his face. "What was that for?"

"'A couple of stellar cycles' he says," Ratchet mumbled to himself, disconnecting from the medical port and carelessly replacing the armor. He turned and took Star from Optimus' hand as he headed back towards the tent. "More like an entire vorn! I want to perform a more in-depth check-up when you return. It looks like a few of your systems are in need of a dire tune-up…and stop that giggling Jazz! Once I'm done with 'Bee you're next."

The saboteur smile immediately turned into a gulp of apprehension as he watched the medic disappear into the tent, gently shooing away the mechlings that continued to follow him. They ran back over to Victoria when she called them inside for their lunch. Rumble and Frenzy followed her with Laserbeak, and the mechs were left outside to entertain themselves. Thundercracker wasn't eager to bond with the Autobots today, so he wasted little time addressing the Prime once more. "I'll start looking for this…oil I believe you said it was? Is that all that is required?"

"Yes. Wheeljack can convert the oil to the gasoline used by the humans and convert it into Energon from there. He said to give you this in order to collect the oil you found; by placing it on the spot you believe an oil reserve to be, it will burrow into the ground and collect enough for a short supply of Energon. However, be wary of the amount you carry at one time. Wheeljack cautioned that it may become volatile if it is contained within a subspace for too long."

Thundercracker held out a hand to accept the bundle of orbs Optimus had retrieved from his subspace and looked them over. They looked like simple balls of smooth silver and barely weighed anything in his hand. He used his thumb and forefinger to pick one of them up and dropped it onto the ground between them. The orb instantly began to expand, forming a large cylindrical shaped tubed with a pointed drill on the bottom of it. It whirred to life and vanished within seconds into the soft earth beneath.

"Wha' happens if it don't find any oil?" Jazz asked, having been eavesdropping on their conversation since he had nothing better to do. His question was answered a few minutes later as the transforming machine resurfaced beside the hole it had created and collapsed back into a ball. The saboteur gave a long whistle as Thundercracker collected it. "Can't say Ah'm surprised. 'Jackie always manages ta make da coolest things outta next ta nothin'."

"Cool or not, it gets the easy part," Thundercracker muttered, and Jazz snorted in appreciation of former Decepticon's sarcasm. He stored them in his subspace and looked at the Prime once more. "Have your medic send me the list of things he was in need of, and I'll do my best to collect them. Star already knows that I'll be back later tonight to collect him, but can you please inform him once more when your medic is done?"

Optimus nodded and reached out to stop the Seeker before he could fly away. The Autobot commander stared up at the Seeker, and Thundercracker felt as if it should be him looking up at the Prime instead. "I am sure that this does not need to be said, but I need you to be aware that if any humans are disturbed by you or your brother's hand, the agreement between us will be terminated."

Thundercracker casually shrugged the hand off and looked between the two Autobots. Optimus looked at him with severity but also hope that the alliance between them would succeed. Jazz, on the other hand, stared at him with the carefully blank expression of someone who hoped like his commander, but also as a soldier who anticipated the failure.

The former Decepticon wasn't about to fulfill the mech's doubts. Thundercracker was going to make this work, if only to give his smallest trine mate a better environment to flourish in. They had all been flung into a new world—one that was only flecked with tiny reminders of their home—but Starscream had been the only one give a true second chance.

Thundercracker wasn't about to spoil that for Star, and he wouldn't let Skywarp ruin it either.

"I won't harm the humans," Thundercracker assured the Autobots. To the untrained eye (or someone who just wasn't paying attention), Optimus' relaxing shoulders would have gone unnoticed. Jazz's expression didn't falter in any visible way. "But if the humans provoke us in some way, I'm defending my trine before allowing any harm to come to them."

Optimus nodded in understanding. "That is understandable, but hopefully that will not be a problem for very long."

Thundercracker shrugged. He didn't care what the Autobots did with the humans. As long as they stayed on good terms, the Seekers would assist the Autobots in exchange for what they were promised. The blue mech took a running leap into the air, transforming mid-jump to fly away as quickly as he had come.

Optimus and Jazz stared at the retreating Seeker, watching long after his form had vanished. Once they could no longer hear the mech's turbines, Jazz turned to Optimus. "Ya really think this's gonna work?"

The bigger mech looked down at his lieutenant, his optics bright with an optimism that had shone in the optics of the mech he once was before becoming a Prime. "I believe that Thundercracker is the best mech we could have ever started with. Do you doubt my decision?"

"You know me O.P. Ah'm a mech o' action. 'Til Ah see some progress, Ah aint gonna judge. Ah can't give ya all da fancy numbers o' success or failure like Prowl can. All Ah can do is be prepared fo' any outcome."

Optimus nodded, not at all surprised by the mech's ambiguous answer. He looked around the backyard, focusing on the sounds coming from the house and the angry screeches that came from the tent behind them. "If it succeeds?"

"Ah'll be happy an' start workin' with Skywarp. Mech's like da Twins when it comes ta prankin'. Somethin' Ah can respect."

"And if it fails?"

"Vicky's gonna 'ave an upset sparklin' she's gonna be takin' care of."

The sincerity in Jazz's voice reigned true for each statement, and Optimus knew his oldest friend well enough to know that he would go through with both outcomes. He was all for peace, but he wasn't about to risk his comrades. "Thank you for your honesty."

Jazz smiled, his optics brightening behind his visor. "In all honesty mech, Ah'm hopin' fo' da best here. Ah'm tired o' all this fightin' day in an' day out, an' Ah've had some close calls before, but goin' up 'gainst ol' Megsy's gotta be da closest Ah ever had! Ah wanna place fo' these sparks ta grow up happy an' someplace where mo'e new families can start, but Ah gotta be prepared fo' some disappointment here. There aint no doubt dat mo'e people gonna die before this is all set in stone, an' not all o' us is gonna be able ta forgive an' forget like you ready to. You're pro'bly right when ya say startin' with 'Cracker's da best bet. But, my mech, it can't just stop with 'im."

Optimus contemplated Jazz's statement and nodded. "You are right. This will have to be an active and collaborative effort for all of us—Autobot and Decepticon alike. And it will take time. We have been fighting a civil war for centuries now; it will not end simply because we declare it is. Unfortunately, there are few that will never accept peace again, but I believe that the majority will work to rebuild Cybertron when the time comes for us to return."

Jazz looked surprised by the notion, having lost hope of ever returning their home to its former glory after seeing it devastated by the same war twice, and searched for any deceit in the Prime's face. Once his efforts turned up nothing, he took a step back and stared at the mech with bewilderment. "Ya seriously think that's possible? Like seriously?"

"I am beginning to believe that it is a possibility." The saboteur frowned at the mech's cryptic tone and watched Optimus slowly wander towards the front of the house. "We have been brought here for a reason; perhaps that it why. Would you like to join me for a drive?"

"Su-"

Jazz glanced over to where Star came screeching out of the tent, saying ugly things about Ratchet all the way up the porch and into the house. Ratchet stepped out soon after that, looking huffier than he had before. His optics caught the silver mech's, and Jazz gulped at the ominous finger that lifted to point at him. "Jazz. You're next."

"But…Ah was just…Optimus needs mah help!"

"Optimus isn't here." Jazz's head whipped around to see the Prime already cruising down the dirt driveway connected to the house. "No more excuses! Get your aft over for a long overdue maintenance check."

Jazz whimpered as a dark shadow fell over him. Something was wrong when a mech would rather go up against Megatron than face his own medic.

)II(

"Me Grimlock do it!"

"No, I'm doing it!"

"Me Grimlock do it better!"

"But Vivi said I could it, so nyah!"

Victoria shook her head as Star childishly stuck his glossa out at the miniature Dinobot, making the sparkling growl. His dark blue visor flashed, and Grimlock would have retaliated with his own glossa, but the poor mechling still hadn't figured out how to retract the little mask that had slid across his face an hour ago. Wheeljack had spared no expense on the "oldest" Dinobot, but those little add-ons that he must have been proud of were causing Grimlock the most grief. The Dino-sparkling's stubborn pride wouldn't even allow Swoop to help him.

Speaking of Swoop, Victoria leaned back from the sink as her pot filled with water to sneak a peek into the living room. Recall was happily rolling around on the blankets that had been thrown to the floor, his big blue optics locked onto the TV screen as he occasionally paused to cheer with Rumble and Frenzy. The Cassettes were laid up on the couch, reminiscent of the times they had spent in the cabin, and were in control of the TV. They had been expressively forbidden to watch anything with gore, violence, sex, excessive language, and pretty much anything else they used to label a movie "good" while the sparklings were in there with them, which left them with only one thing to get into: Spanish soccer. She was starting to think it was just an excuse to yell "Goal!" every five seconds.

Swoop wasn't as into the game as the others were and was busily putting together a device that Ratchet had asked him to fix. According to him, it was an old medical scanner, one that Ratchet always carried around and refused to get rid of despite the many other scanners that Wheeljack had "updated" for him. To be given the responsibility of fixing one of Ratchet's most prized equipment was a great honor for the mechling, and he had sworn up and down to do his best. Laserbeak sat beside the mechling as he muttered to himself and fitted his tools into the scanner. She occasionally chirped and poked at something for Swoop to focus on, but other than that, she silently watched.

A little whine and a tug on Victoria's pants made her look down as she shut the water off. Snarl stood below her, looking up at with her with his innocent blue optics, and he stretched his arms up with another whine. Snarl was the most adorable Dinobot with the way he acted. He didn't talk, and he didn't outright cry about anything; he just made the cute little whining noises when he wanted someone's attention and snuggled up to the first person who picked him up. He was like a little puppy.

"What's the matter sweetie?" Victoria cooed as she bent down to comply to his demands. She winced when one of the plates on his shoulders smacked her against the chin, but let it slide as the mechling snuggled into her neck. She could feel him stick to her skin thanks to the little gummy treats she had been divvying out to keep the sparklings full until their evening bottle and simply noted that more bathes were scheduled for the near future. The gummies were saving them some valuable low-grade, but they weren't exactly the cleanest alternative. "Are you ready for your bottle?"

Snarl whined with a nod, and he reluctantly sat in the chair that Victoria deposited him in. Topaz briefly looked up from her car seat before going back to smacking the little toys that dangled from the handle above her. The little chiming ladybug and octopus must have been bought by her brother and Smokescreen when they were babysitting because Victoria didn't remember them being on there before. However, the femmeling still clung to her favorite baby doll, so the dangling toys must not have impressed her very much.

"Give me back the noodles!"

Grimlock cackled as he clutched two bags of ramen noodles to his chest, but his cackling soon transformed into a squeal as Victoria twirled around to catch him as he ran past. She shook her head as her twirl-and-grab method gave her a small case of dizziness, but the motion was a small victory in itself. A week ago, Grimlock would've been able to run right past her and disappear into the house; her success proved that she was beginning to learn how to handle the energetic sparklings.

"Where do you think you're going with those?" the woman chided, tapping a finger against Grimlock's mask as she put him down beside his brother. The mask slid back with an audible click, and Grimlock squeaked, reaching up to feel if the mask was really gone. "If you take our noodles, me and Sam won't be able to eat tonight."

Grimlock huffed as the noodles were placed back into Star's protective custody, and the mechling was finally able to stick his dark glossa out at the Seekerlet. The bigger sparkling retaliated in a similar way, and they proceeded to try and outdo each other—Grimlock climbing up into his chair, and then the table in an attempt to make himself taller while Star slowly stood up on the tips of his bird-like feet. The showdown was cut short by a stuffed doll being thrown at the Seekerlet's head. "Ow!"

"You tell them how you feel Topaz," Victoria said as she reached into the refrigerator to grab some of the bottles she had prepared earlier and placed them on the table before putting the pot of water she had prepared on the stove. She turned up the heat for the eye and turned to the table to help Snarl reach his bottle and give one to Topaz. "You two have been fighting with each other all day. Why don't you just sit down and drink your Energon until the water starts boiling?"

Both of the mechlings sat down with a huffy expression, and Grimlock stretched across the table to take his bottle when he paused. "Me Grimlock big boy too!"

"Nu uh. That's why you still drink from a bottle and I don't."

"Me Grimlock not want bottle! Want big cup too."

Snarl's optic's danced back and forth between the mechlings as he contently drank from the bottle he had been given. Topaz sighed along with Victoria as the battle for who's better started back up between Star and Grimlock. For a pair of sparklings, their egos were bigger than any mech's she had ever seen, though in Star's defense he was still part Starscream. It was inevitable that the previous SIC's mannerisms would pop up in the sparkling.

"Okay, you two just argue for a bit," Victoria said as she tiredly walked out of the kitchen. She paused in the hallway and looked into the living room for the Cassettes. "Rumble, Frenzy, can you two keep eye on the sparklings for a bit? I need to check on Sam."

"Yeah, sure."

"Whatever."

Victoria shook her head at the automatic responses and walked further down the hallway to where the bedrooms were located. With Eric and Mikaela gone for the next day or so, the two remaining humans had immediately called dibs on the vacated bedrooms. Sam had taken the bedroom that Eric had been sleeping in, leaving Mikaela's room to Victoria and the sparklings, though with all of the sparklings that were now running around the house, it might just be easier to stay in the living room where they all had room on the floor.

The brunette stopped outside of Sam's room and carefully knocked on the door. "Sam, are you okay? You've been in there all day."

Victoria yelped as the door suddenly flung open, and she was roughly dragged into the room by her arm. She stumbled until she found her balance, and by then the door had been firmly shut behind her and Sam was shuffling back towards the bed. The AllSpark cube that had been assigned to him innocently sat in the middle of the ruffled sheets, and Victoria felt her small cube throb in time with it.

"I can't get it to shrink!" Sam said, flailing his hands all around the Cube. It continued to flash in almost an amusing way. "I apologized to it like you said; I pleaded with it; I bargained with it; I did everything I could! You know what it did? It made that!"

Victoria followed Sam's finger towards the dresser and balked at the little insect-like robot scuttling around the glass dome Sam had captured it in. It twirled around in a circle on its spindly little legs and stopped when its bright green optics caught them starring. A whirring noise came from it as it bent forward, sticking its wagging butt into the air. It leaped towards them and sadly whined when it was knocked back by the glass.

"What is it?" Victoria asked after a moment of silence.

"I think it used to be the alarm clock," Sam answered, vaguely pointing towards the bare nightstand. He flinched as the new robot lunged at him again. "It came to life during the bargaining stage. I just stuck it in there in case it tried to kill me."

"Has it?"

"…no, but I'm taking any chances. I survived Megatron. Little crab-bot over there isn't doing me in."

Victoria watched the robot scuttle around, doing flips when its thin legs got caught beneath it. Her pocket heated up as the AllSpark reacted to it, and the brunette took the risk of stepping closer. The robot saw her and grew excited, attempting to climb up the side of its prison and wagging its behind like crazy. Sam stuttered as she carefully lifted the glass container.

They didn't need to wait long for the former alarm clock to react. It dove off of dresser with a little cry of excitement and landed beside Victoria's feet in a little of pile of twitching limbs. It immediately popped back up and scuttled at amazing speeds towards Sam, who yelped and dove onto the bed to get away. The bed proved to be the last place he should have gone, and the scuttle-bug agilely climbed up the sheet that hung off the edge of the bed. The AllSpark brightly lit up beside Sam while the teenager panicked as the robot crawled up his chest. It ominously hovered above his face, clinking its front legs together, before suddenly squealing and diving for the boy's neck.

Victoria tilted her head as she watched the robot cuddle up to Sam's chin while Sam stayed perfectly still—afraid that one little twitch would set the robot off and attack him. The heat of the Cube in her pocket faded, but the AllSpark sitting next to Sam continued to flash in definitive patterns. "I think it likes you."

"Well that's just great," Sam grumbled, and he flinched as one of the pointy legs jabbed into his neck. "Exactly what I wanted: a crazy little robot bug. Is it another sparkling or what?"

"I don't know," Victoria answered. She watched the robot back away from the teenager's neck and jump around on his chest before burrowing into the blankets. At this point, she didn't know what the AllSpark could create. "It doesn't really act like a sparkling. It's more like a dog or something."

"Great, a robot dog." Sam sat up, making the robot grow excited again and jump around the bed. He turned to look at the AllSpark and annoyingly waved his hand above. "Can you please shrink now?"

They watched the Cube do as it was asked without pause. It broke apart in chunks and shrunk down until it was perfectly nestled within the folds of the sheets. Sam sighed in relief and reached down to pick it up when his new robot sprang up, catching it between its front limbs and taking off across the bed. It made a yelling noise as it dove off the bed without a second thought and dashed across the room, stopping about halfway in the middle of the room to turn around and look at the boy with an air of expectancy.

Sam gapped at it and looked up to Victoria for any sign of help, but the woman only shrugged. "I think the AllSpark has a sense of humor."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Victoria snickered as Sam's robot took off when he stood up, weaving left and right as the teenager chased after it. The miniature AllSpark still glowed between his pointy arms, and Victoria made a careful note to tell Optimus that the AllSpark wasn't something to mess with. From killer drones to wacky little bug creatures: it had a form of revenge for every situation.

The amusement from watching Sam chase the robotic insect around quickly died as a shrill beeping came from the kitchen. Victoria left Sam to catch the robot on his own and ran from the room, heading towards the kitchen where the beeping came from. A thin cloud of smoke hovered between the kitchen and living room, and Victoria could hear the sounds of little coughs coming from where it originated. Rumble and Swoop were running out of the living room just as she reached it, and Victoria paused long enough to gap at the charred pot that still sat on top of the equally charred stove.

"What the frag happened?" Rumble shouted as he quickly plucked Topaz and Snarl from the table. The femmeling was coughing the most, and Rumble looked terrified when she didn't stop after being cleared of the smoke. "Why won't she stop?"

"Take her to Ratchet," Victoria ordered as the coughing got worse and a quiet drone began to emit from her vents. The sparkling's premature systems had handled some tough dust and overexertion before, but the smoke that billowed out of the kitchen was too much for her. "Keep her outside with him until we can air out the house."

Rumble nodded and left without another word, dragging Snarl along with him without realizing it. Victoria waved the smoke away from her face and searched for the source of the fire. The stove was almost brand new and would not have suddenly gone up flames, and there wasn't anything sitting around it that would have caught on fire. In fact, the scorch marks looked as if the fire had started below the top of the appliance and worked its way up.

Frenzy looked just as stumped as he chattered around the stove, a little glass of water prepared to put out any flame he saw. Swoop stood beside the table with a proud Grimlock and startled Star. Victoria covered her nose as the stench of the smoke finally reached her, and she stepped into the kitchen to join them. "What happened?"

Star immediately pointed down at Grimlock, taking a frightened step away from the Dinobot to cling to her arm. A jagged grin stretched across the T-rex's face, and he proudly pointed towards the blackened stove. "Me Grimlock cook faster! Better than him Star."

Swoop shook his head as he figured out what his brother had done. "No, him Grimlock not use flamethrower inside. Outside only."

"Flamethrower?"

"Yes," Swoop answered, looking up at Victoria with surprise at the squeaky voice she had used. "All Dinobots have flamethrowers. It make Dinobots cool."

"…Swoop, we're gonna have a long talk with your father when he gets back."

)II(

~You awake yet Skywarp?~

~I hate you.~

~We had lotsa fun with Vivi today!~

~I hate you both.~

~We couldn't wake you up this morning, so we had to leave without you. Hope you didn't mind.~

~Oh, I wonder why I wouldn't wake up. Did it have anything to do with overriding my commands and putting me in stasis for the entire fragging day?~

~Language Skywarp.~

~Yeah! You got in trouble with Vivi for using it around me.~

~I wasn't even there!~

~You still got in trouble for it.~

~You needed the rest Skywarp. We're on our way back, but you can visit tomorrow before we head out to find more resources.~

~Resources? I don't wanna do that!~

~If you want to see Victoria, then you'll have to do it. Sometimes you have to do what you don't want to in order to be rewarded.~

~Fine. Just come get me outta this fragging hole you put me in!~

~We had to make sure no one would disturb you while we were gone.~

~You like it? I'm the one that picked it out!~

~Star…you're way to devious to be a sparkling.~

~Thank you!~

AN: I'm so mean to Skywarp. But I can't help it; that's just how it always comes out for him :P. Next chapter's gonna take a small break from sparkling cuteness to focus on Wheeljack's group with a potential dash of actual plot on the side :D.

Also, those who also follow Rebirth or just peek in on my profile from time to time already know this, but I have recently gotten a Tumblr. It's main function is to let you guys know when I'm not going to be able to update, but it'll serve as a place to catch sneak peeks of future chapters when I can't post, ask questions that you might not get answered as an anonymous reviewer, and whatever else comes along for me to us it for. So if you're interested, go check it out :).

See you next update :D