It was a typical Saturday morning in Jasper, Navada. A car came racing into the base before skidding to a stop. Jack, Miko, and Raf hopped out and Bulk transformed back to himself. "Good morning everyone!" Miko shouted. "Ugh, did the children have to come here today?" Ratchet groaned holding his head. "The last time they spent the weekend we didn't get one second of sleep for the entire two days!" Jack half laughed scratching his head. "Yeah sorry about that. We hadn't done an all nighter for a while." He said walking over to where Arcee was. "Glad you missed us Doc." Miko said sarcastically. "What are we going to be doing today?" Raf asked. "Training. And lots of it." Arcee said.
"Yes so why don't you children run along and leave us to do our business. You wouldn't want to get squashed." Ratchet said picking up the three kids and sat them on the couch. "Watch some tv, food is in the fridge. Don't bother us!" The three watched as Ratchet pushed the other bots out to train. "Well someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Miko muttered.
"Ratch, what's wrong?" Bee asked once they were out of the view of the kids. "Need I remind you by this time next week we will be back home? In our home. Cybertron. We won't have kids there! They will be here! The more time you spend with them now, the harder it will be to say goodbye." Ratchet said rubbing his optics. "But I don't want to go. I've got used to kids being around. Weekends aren't the same without the three of them. Even week days." Bulk said crossing his arms. "It won't be the same without them." Ratchet slapped him and Bulk glared at him. "We don't have a choice! We have to return home."
Bee peered out the door at the three kids. "But, if this is one of the last times we'll get with them, can't we spend the day with them?" He asked softly. "I would highly advise against that." Ratchet said. "Shouldn't we let the big guy make the choice?" Arcee said putting her hands on her hips. "Optimus!" Bee and Bulk yelled out before Ratchet could say otherwise.
The sound of his heavy footsteps echoed through the base, slowly getting louder as he got closer. Optimus walked up to his team, followed by Knockout and Smokescreen. "What seems to be the matter?" Optimus asked. "We wanna spend time with the kids but Ratch won't let us!" Bulk said. "He said we need to leave them alone so we don't get more attached before we leave." Bee added. "What?! But they're on school holidays! We'd get a whole week with them!" Smokescreen said crossing his arms.
"While I agree with what Ratchet says, those children have become a big part of our lives and we theirs. We should honor our time with them and spend this week with them." Optimus said as Bulk, Bee and Smokescreen high fived. The three of them ran out to the kids and Ratchet looked at Arcee. "Oh c'mon Ratch. We know you'll miss them and that's why you don't want us to spend time with them. But Optimus has given his advice." She said pulling him out.
"Alright so what are we going to do first today?" Bee asked turning the tv off. "We should go for a picnic!" Miko said. The Autobots looked at Miko utterly confused. "A what?" Knockout asked. "You guys don't have picnics in Cybertron?!" she asked and they all shook their heads. "Y'know, you put a blanket on the ground, have food in a basket with some drinks, play games and run around in the open." She said.
"We only have Energon as food…" Bee said scratching his head. "Well then we'll go on a picnic today and you'll see how fun it can be." Miko said jumping up. "We have this whole week!" "What about going home and sleeping?" Bulk asked. "Nah, we got permission to sleepover at Jack's place so we're sleeping over here." Raf said walking over to the fridge where they kept their own food.
"Okay you guys go and grab some Energon and meets us back here." Miko said. The bots walked off to the storage room and grabbed a few Energon cubes and loaded them up into the box trailer that Optimus would haul. The kids made up some sandwiches and put them into a basket with some drinks. Miko grabbed her backpack and pulled it on. "Well we have the food, drinks and toys. Now all we need is to find a place to have a picnic." She said. "What about the forest? It's a nice place to spend some time." Raf said and they all agreed.
The Autobots transformed and the kids went with their respective partners, Ratchet, Smokescreen and Knockout got in the trailer as Optimus hooked up to it and drove out with the others.
They stopped once they had reached the forest and the Autobots transformed back to their normal selves. The kids lay out the blanket and set the basket in the middle before they began pulling the food out and setting it around the blanket. Arcee and Bulk went to the trailer and began pulling the Energon cubes out of it and handing one to each of their team mates. They then all sat down around the blanket.
Miko sat down on Bulk's lap leaning against his upper body as she put her hands behind her head. "And this is a picnic." She said smiling. Bee was sitting cross legged with Raf in the middle of his lap. "I don't see the point of it…" Arcee said as Jack sat beside her. "It's just something fun to do. It's relaxing." He said. "We don't normally do relaxing…" Ratchet commented. "Well now you are so enjoy it!" Miko half snapped glaring at him. "Have fun, I command you!" Ratchet looked at the small human girl and raised one metal eyebrow. "You command me?" he said before he laughed. "And here I was thinking you weren't funny."
Optimus half shook his head at the two of them. "Okay that is enough." He said as Arcee passed him an Energon cube. "We will follow what you say we should do for this." Miko smiled proudly as Bulk rubbed her hair gently.
They all sat there for a while eating and watching as the animals moved around them in the forest. After they'd eaten a little, Miko grabbed a Frisbee out of her backpack. "Let's play for a while." She said jumping up. "Wait for me!" Bee called running after his friends with Smokescreen following just behind him. "You've got to be kidding me! I'm not getting this finish damaged!" Knockout said brushing his paintwork off. "Whimp." Bulk muttered following the kids.
Arcee rolled her optics as she got up and grabbed Knockout's arm. "C'mon you lazy fragging bot." she said dragging him off with Knockout scrambling to get to his feet before his paint was scratched. Bee then marched back over to Ratchet and grabbed him. "You're coming too Ratch!" He said pushing him over to the clear opening where they were going to play.
Optimus half smiled before a small hand appeared in his sight. "C'mon Prime, you coming to join the fun?" Optimus looked up at his smallest warrior. "I fear I may not be built best for this game." He said but Arcee wasn't taking no for an answer. She grabbed his much larger hand and pulled on his arm till he stood up. "Let's just go with it anyway. The kids want all of us." She said tugging a little on his arm.
Optimus looked at her as she held his hand with both of hers. "Will you just move it?! I can't pull you there!" she snapped and he chuckled as he slowly walked towards the clearing allowing her to walk beside him. "And don't you dare fragging say that's because I'm short because I'll frag you up if you do!" Optimus glanced down at her as she looked at him realizing that it probably wasn't the best thing in the world to say to her leader. "I'll frag you up…sir?"