** Return to base**

"Hey Thundercracker, toss me that crate." Wheeljack caught the crate as it flew through the air, in a smooth movement, he loaded it into Powerglide.

"Come on, climb in, I'll put the handcuffs on you before we get there," Ratchet said while he waved at the open door.

Without a word, the blue mech climbed into the plane and plopped his tail down in a seat. He kept his optics on his thrusters the entire time, still somewhat in shock at how he had begged for more the night before. Had he really done that? How could he?!? But it had felt so good… What they had done to him… He'd never felt like that before… A rush of heat flowed over his systems as he remembered every touch… Every kiss…. Every sensation their hands had caused…

"Boy you guys must have really blown him outt've the sky. Never get 'ol Powerglide with a sucker shot like that!" the cocky plane snickered. "Well Thundercracker, let me show you how to reeeeeaaaaaallllyyy fly!"

"I really hate it when he does this," Wheeljack mumbled as he tightened the seatbelt. The plane was whizzing through the sky in a haphazard manner as he showed off.

"Freager ain't nothin'" Thundercracker muttered under his breath. Even if he had been impressed – he'd never have admitted it. His dislike for Powerglide wasn't really an Autobot-Decepticon thing. He just didn't like him – period. A rather sharp banking maneuver caused his helm to bang against the plane's fuselage. "When I get out of the brig, I'm so gonna shoot you down for that."

"Yeah dream on Decepticreep. You can't even hang with a flyer like me!" Powerglide bragged as he did a loop-de-loop.

"Just ruins the romantic mood, don't ya think," Wheeljack quipped. His arms were now straight up over his helm, his hands flat on the ceiling as he braced his chassis.

Ratchet just shook his head as he listened to the banter of brags and insults going back and forth between the captive Seeker and Powerglide. "Pretty much."

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you mechs – congratulations!" Powerglide quipped in between the verbal potshots he was taking at Thundercracker. He'd been surprised when the Seeker had followed the medics up to the runway to meet him. In fact, he'd been so surprised that he'd transformed and aimed his gun at him. That's when Ratchet politely informed him that the Seeker's weapon and flight systems were off lined – and he was their prisoner. All Powerglide could say was 'Send 'em out to get laid, and all they do is fish for Seekers' To be honest, he was a little amazed that the medics were completely unscathed.

Assuming that the plane was congratulating them on the 'capture' of the Seeker, Wheeljack shot Ratchet a wink as he accepted it for both of them.

Thundercracker grumbled and looked out the window. He was tired of Powerglide's insults and bragging. Tired of being a Decepticon in the company of Autobots… They were so freagin' annoyingly tolerant! He watched the clouds roll underneath them. Already longing to feel the mist under his own wings.

A ped thumping down into his lap broke into his thoughts. Pulling his optics from the window, he turned his head and met the amused optics of Ratchet. "What?"

"I've got some scuff marks from last night," the medic replied. He shoved some wax and buffing cloths into the Seeker's unhandcuffed hands.

"What do you expect me to do about that?" Thundercracker demanded to know. Even though it was obvious what the medic intended for him to do. He wasn't going to just follow his orders without being 'forced' to.

Ratchet nodded at his hands. "You know what. Or was that wrench upside the helm last night not enough to knock some common sense into your thick helm?"

"Perhaps he should stick the wrench up something else, hmmm?" Wheeljack snickered from the seat behind them. They'd actually already done that – and Thundercracker had really seemed to have enjoyed it. So it wasn't really a threat per say…

His face plate darkened as he averted his optics. The last thing he needed was for the cocky Autobot airplane to catch wind that he'd actually done something FUN with the mischievous medics. To have Powerglide insult him with that information during a conflict – would make his life a living dump back at the con base… Grinding his dental plates together, he dipped his digits into the wax and began to buff the medic's ped. Silent humiliation was far better than flapping vocalizers.

"Guess you hit him pretty hard," Powerglide snickered. He settled down and quit showing off. His unseen face plate covered in a smirk as he flew the group towards Autobot City. His internal scanners enjoying the view of the Seeker buffing the medic's peds – oh, what a beautiful bit of humiliation……

-------

They landed a little ways from base. Optimus had ordered Powerglide to do this so that the pair would have to drive up to the front gates. Then the engagement party would commence. Powerglide wasn't going to change that plan, even if he had to drag the unexpected prisoner along by his wings!

"Why didn't you just land on the pad?" Ratchet asked. Pulling his peds off of Thundercracker's lap, he cuffed the Seeker's wrists together. Procedure had to be followed, even when he knew darned well that Thundercracker couldn't go anywhere.

"We're on a high security alert, so air space is closed. Guess his gang is looking for him," Powerglide blatantly lied with a nod towards the handcuffed Seeker. It seemed like a good story.

"Thought you said they weren't," Wheeljack commented as he pushed Thundercracker to start walking in front of him.

All the Seeker did was shrug. He hadn't thought they would. Decepticons weren't known for it. But maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe – just maybe – Skywarp had felt really bad after shooting him down and come searching for him? He watched the sky as he walked, hopeful to see the purple shape of his love.

"Geese, you are so pathetically love-struck. Its gonna be the death of you," Ratchet grumbled. He pegged the Seeker on the helm as he walked by him.

"He does love me," Thundercracker shot back as he stumbled after him.

Wheeljack shoved him along. "Maybe we need to use your wrench on him again later. Change his meta about 'ol Skywarp?" he joked.

The blue Seeker clamped his mouth shut and looked down at his thrusters as the two medics laughed about their private joke. He glanced over at Powerglide, who was giving the pair a quizzical look. At least that braggart didn't know about what REALLY had happened the night before. "No, my helm still stings," he muttered.

This caused the medics to roar in laughter, Powerglide joining in now that he THOUGHT he knew what had happened, which was exactly what Thundercracker was hoping would happen. He didn't want anyone to know that his port activated at the mere mention of more wrench usage. Didn't want to admit that he actually hoped the medics would 'examine' him a few more times during his captivity….

------

"Holy scrap iron! They got themselves a Seeker!" Ironhide exclaimed as he scanned the incoming mechs with his long range sensors.

"Are you serious?!?" Bumblebee asked in disbelief. He wiggled in between the larger mechs, trying to get a look at the approaching group.

"Send 'em out to get engaged, and they come back with a new toy," the red van snickered. Transforming, he zoomed out to them. Leaving a trail of dust rising lazily into the dry desert air in his wake….

"Well congratulations ya 'ol son-of-a-motherboard!" he quipped as he transformed and slammed a hand down on Ratchet's armored shoulder.

"It was nothing," the medic replied. He wasn't used to Ironhide congratulating him for anything. In fact, he was more accustomed to the rough-neck cussing him out while he had him chained down to the repair table - than anything else.

"Ah, don't have to be humble 'bout it. Here lemme take care of ol' blue wing here. Ya don't need to be wasting ya time on him on a day cycle like today." Ironhide grabbed the Seeker's handcuffed wrists and began to drag him along. He nodded for Wheeljack to move next to Ratchet. "Ya'll lovebirds need ya're space."

The pair gave each other a bemused look, before holding hands as they walked towards the City.

"Maybe he's getting gliched like Red Alert?" Wheeljack whispered to Ratchet.

Ratchet glanced behind him. The red van was acting unusually happy, not even throwing any derogatory insults Thundercracker's way. Very strange indeed! "I sure hope not. We'd have to get Prime and Ultra Magnus to chain him down if that's the case," he whispered back.

Ironhide winked at Powerglide as they watched the pair in front of them holding hands and whispering sweet nothin's into each others audios. "Ain't that cute," the van whispered to the plane.

"Yeah, when I saw Cracker here, I was afraid he'd gone and ruined it. You know how Decepticreeps are. They ruin everything!" Powerglide whispered back.

"I don't see a ring or anything," Ironhide whispered.

The plane shrugged, "I don't think they make 'em our size."

"Wonder what he gave him then. You're supposed to give him something when you ask him – right?" Ironhide pondered quietly.

"Dunno, got me on that one. They didn't talk much about it, were too busy fussing with the new toy," Powerglide gave Thundercracker a smirk when he said that.

Ironhide glanced back at him, his optics widening a bit. "You don't think???" He glanced at Powerglide.

"Surely not. He'd have built another Dinobot or something – not caught a Seeker. Too much trouble." But the plane was beginning to wonder about it. It seemed really odd. The obvious private jokes about the various 'uses' of wrenches and such. Had Ratchet actually planned this all along?? Planned to catch Thundercracker as some kind of engagement present or something??? The medics had a pretty unusual sense of humor – but still…. A con????

Thundercracker listened silently, still not sure what this was all about and not sure that he wanted to know anyways. All he wanted was the peaceful silence of the detention cell. He could feel it's beckoning…. He had a lot of things to think about nowadays…. Wrenches…. Mischievous medics…. Angry bond mates…. Yep, plenty of things to sort through and keep his meta processor busy for CYCLES!

------

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!!" the Autobots yelled as the two medics walked through the main gates. Scooping them up, the crowd carried them on their backs above their helms. Chanting some weird human song….

The two medics looked around them in total shock as they were carried along. The city streets were over flowing with decorations. Paper signs that had their names on it were everywhere.

"What the slag?" Ratchet mouthed to Wheeljack.

The inventor shrugged. Surely this was all about them 'capturing' Thundercracker. He kind've felt bad, since they hadn't really 'captured' him at all. They'd just happened to sorta find him. But why not enjoy all of the attention for once? Speaking of whom, where was the Seeker and the two Autobots now escorting him? Wheeljack glanced around. They were nowhere to be seen. Ironhide was probably already throwing his blue tailpipes into one of the detention cells right now. Yep, Thundercracker was now watching the door slam shut and lock..

Turning his optics back around, Wheeljack scanned some of the handwritten posters they were going by. One of them caught his optic. "What in the frag did THAT mean?" he mumbled to himself. It had said something about an engagement party. What the slag was an 'engagement party'? Was it a party celebrating the Autobots winning their last engagement with the Decepticons? And just why hadn't they been informed??? They might've missed it!

Well, at least they hadn't missed it. Wheeljack was in the mood to dance. Granted, he wasn't very good at dancing, but he had been taking some lessons from Blaster as of late. So he figured he could pull it off reasonably well. And since Ratchet was in a good mood, he could probably talk him into joining him on the dance floor. He grinned over at his bond mate, his meta full of bliss. Yep, finding Thundercracker had made them remember their youth. It had really helped their relationship!

The crowd stopped in front of a large decorated area, filled with mech sized tables. Guests, both human and mech, wandered around. But then as if they had a silent command, they parted as Wheeljack and Ratchet were set back on their peds.

"Go on, you two are the guests of honor," Ultra Magnus said with a big smile as he prodded them forward.

Wheeljack and Ratchet looked at each other in amazement. All of this over finding a damaged Seeker?!? Wow!!!! Unbelievable!!! Shaking their heads in amazement, they made their way forward to the seats next to the podium. Everyone smacking them on their armor and congratulating them as they went…

Optimus Prime waited until they had sat down before he nodded for the crowd to find their seats. Clearing his vocalizer a few times, he tapped the tiny microphone in front of him to make sure it was working properly… Then he began…

….."My friends, we have gathered here to celebrate a great occasion…."

'/Geese, all we did was find Thundercracker/' Wheeljack comm'd to Ratchet.

Ratchet smiled and shrugged, '/Maybe we should do that more often?/'

… "For the first time in the history of Cybertron…"

'/You've got to be kidding me. Surely another pair of medics 'captured' some hapless con/' Wheeljack silently snorted.

'/Quit rolling your optics, everyone's staring at you. Maybe they just needed some good news for once? Not some news of Autobots being raped by cons…/' Ratchet planted a fake smile on his face plate.

… "Two of our finest, of our most honorable, of our most beloved…"

Wheeljack really wanted to roll his optics now; Optimus was laying it on a bit thick. '/You didn't tell him it was time for his exhaust line cleaning did you?/'

'/No, I know better than that. He's worse to track down than Ironhide when he's avoiding me/' Ratchet was having a hard time keeping his poker face on. He was sure that Prime was buttering him up or something.

'/Think he broke into our scheduling program?/'

'/Gotta be it. Sheesh, now it's gonna take us half a solar cycle to drag him into the bay,/' Ratchet barely stopped the internal frown from encroaching on his face plate. He hated dragging Prime in.

… "Have decided to blend our culture with those of our human friends…"

'/Do what?/' Wheeljack was glad he had a battle mask hiding his face. There's no way he could've hidden his confused frown if he hadn't had one.

Ratchet comm'd back nothing, but his poker face was breaking.

…. "and become leaders to the rest of us mechs in the area of matrimony." Optimus bent down and hugged the pair. "Congratulations on your engagement!" The crowd roared.

At this point, Ratchet exploded. "WHAT IN THE SLAG IS GOING ON!?! MATRIMONY????? ENGAGEMENT?????? WHAT THE FRAG????"

The cheering came to an immediate end. Shocked silence pervaded the party ground. A mech could've heard a pin drop from a mile away…..

Wheeljack stood up, similarly confused as his mate. But because he'd been working closely with Daniel for a while, he knew what those words meant. Were they supposed to have gotten engaged over the weekend???? Was that why Ratchet had been acting so strangely preoccupied??? But why was Ratchet acting so mad now? Why hadn't he asked him? Tears filled the inventor's optics and he ran out of the crowd towards his workshop.

Optimus stared at Ratchet, his hidden mouth opened in total shock. When Wheeljack bolted away in tears, he grabbed Ratchet's shoulder armor before the mech could do likewise. "Didn't you do it?" he asked in a worried voice.

"Do what?!?" Ratchet stared at the shocked faces which surrounded him. What the frag had he been supposed to do??? No one had told him anything! Heck, he hadn't even known he was going on a retreat until the last minute!

"Did Thundercracker interrupt you?" Arcee piped up. It made sense didn't it?

"Ah, I'm sorry bro; we ruined your surprise then." Blaster looked totally glum now as he looked down at his peds.

Prime slapped his hand onto his helm. He should've thought about that! Confirmed it with Ratchet before doing his speech… But they hadn't even thought about the Seeker's capture possibly interrupting all of Ratchet's well thought-out engagement plans. "I'm sorry Ratchet; I didn't realize you hadn't proposed to him yet."

"Proposed??? What the???" Ratchet twirled around, spying the twins he glared at them. Sure that this whole debacle was of their creation. "I'm going to pay you back you pieces of slag," he snarled. Storming off, he headed in the direction that his distraught bond mate had fled in.

-----

Ratchet's meta went into overdrive as he walked towards Wheeljack's workshop. So the twins had planned the whole thing? Had told everyone that he was going to ask Wheeljack to marry him or something…. Just what in the frag WAS marriage anyways? Apparently it was some big deal in human society…He spotted Wheeljack's little assistant jogging towards the workshop ahead of him. And idea formed in his meta…

"Uggghhhh!" The wind left Daniel's lungs in a rush as he was picked up by a large hand from behind.

"Daniel, I need to ask you something," Ratchet said as he brought the boy up to optic-level.

Daniel scooted back on his palm until his back hit his slightly upraised digits. He knew the alien was mad, and he was afraid he was mad at him. After all, he's the one who had taught the mechs what the words: marriage, engagement, matrimony and wedding were all about. "Uh, yes sir?"

"What does marriage really entail?"

The boy gulped, glancing down he got a bit dizzy when he realized just how high up he was. So he was trapped… Willing himself to stay calm, the boy answered him. "It means till death do you part."

"So life long bond mates? Is that what it means?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that. You're like promising to be each other's only mate for life." The boy's muscles were cramping now because he was so tense.

"Thank you," the medic simply said. Putting the boy down, he waved him to leave. "Leave us alone," he ordered.

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as the white ambulance went out of sight around the next corner. He darted back to the party that was currently not much of a party – but more of a group of concerned mechs talking in low tones.

-------

"Leave me alone," Wheeljack mumbled as the knock came again.

"Come on Jack, let me in," Ratchet called. He'd figured out how to work this. Since everyone assumed he'd planned the whole weekend, and now also assumed that the Seeker's appearance had interrupted his 'plans' – he'd just follow along. It made for a plausible excuse. After all, this whole 'marriage' thing was basically the same thing as the whole bond mate thing – so getting engaged wasn't a big deal to him. They were already bond mates. Who cared if you called it another name.

Wheeljack sniffed, "Leave me alone!" He couldn't believe Ratchet's reaction back there. Couldn't believe that the mech didn't want to marry him! He'd given his very spark to the mech!

Ratchet punched in his override code and stormed in.

"Get out!" Wheeljack threw a wrench at him.

If he hadn't been so focused on what he needed to do, Ratchet might've found it amusing that Wheeljack was using one of his notorious moves – against him. But he didn't notice. Striding up to the inventor, he ducked under another thrown wrench, barely avoiding a rather nasty hit to the helm. Grabbing his mate, he pinned his arms to his sides before he could punch him. "LISTEN TO ME!!!" he bellowed.

"You don't really love me," Wheeljack sobbed.

"Yes I do."

"No you don't. You've just been *sniff*sniff* using me all these cycles!"

"No I haven't."

"Yes you have *sniff*" Wheeljack turned his face plate away from him.

"I'm telling you that I love you damnit!"

The inventor pushed him. "Then why didn't you do it?!? Why'd you act so pissed back there?!? You don't love me! You never did!" He crossed his arms, now in a full pout.

"Primus Wheeljack – don't you see???"

"Of course I see! My optic circuits are 100% functional!"

"No, not that."

"Then what???? That you don't love me???"

Ratchet shook his head in dismay. When Wheeljack got in one of these moods, it was hard to break him out of it. "That I was mad that they ruined my surprise."

"*sniff*sniff* Surprise??? You could've asked me at the Beach!"

The medic gave an exaggerated sigh. "Thundercracker ruined it then," he flat-out lied. He'd get the twins back for this… Exhaust flushes every Earth month for an entire cycle!

"He did? Really?" Wheeljack was blinking back tears now. A good sign that he was coming around….

"Yes, and I was going to do it after we got him in a detention cell. But the rest of the Autobots ruined my surprise." He put some anger in his voice then, making it sound truthful. He was angry, but not over that particular thing.

"So you really *sniff*sniff* want to get married?" Wheeljack uncrossed his arms and wiping the tears from his face plate.

Ratchet got down on his knee armor. He had nothing but the wrench lying down on the floor next to him. A brand new wrench that happened to be his… How it had made its way to Wheeljack's shop was up for conjecture, but it was there none-the-less. He held up the wrench to his mate. "Will you marry me Wheeljack?" he asked as he held it out to him.

Wheeljack took off his battle mask, his tear-streaked face plate now beaming in happiness. "Yes…" he said as he took the wrench he'd 'borrowed' without asking the week before. "Yes I will!"

-----

Note: this story is now complete. Sorry it took so long. If you want to see what happens with Bluestreak and Bumblebee's relationship – you'll have to visit my AdultFanFiction stories. It went too mature for FanFic – if you know what I mean…. http : // anime . adultfanfiction . net /story .php? no = 600045692