As soon as he woke up, he knew that something was wrong.
It was easy to figure out that something had happened, since one, he wasn't in his bed like he last remembered. And two,
The others wouldn't be huddled around him like they were if everything was ok.
He wouldn't feel so bad if everything was okay.
He snapped awake with a gasp, sitting straight up on the trailer. His head was aching, his left arm had been pinned to his chest. His head was throbbing horribly, and he was so confused. It took him a few moments that the force that was pushing him back down into the trailer, was the hands of his concerned teammates. All of whom were trying to get him to lie down before he hurt himself.
"Woah woah, Bee!" Sideswipe realized that their leader was stronger than he thought. Thus, making it much harder to get him to lie down.
Strongarm was also struggling to get him to lie back down," Lieutenant! It's okay!"
When they saw him open his mouth, they knew it was going to go down the drain from there.
They saw his lips moving, but no sound came out, only the sound of wind could be heard.
His eyes widened, and his face became one of horror as his hand shot up to hold his throat. The shock was enough to finally let them lie him back down onto the trailer, taking care to support his descent back down. They settled him back onto the trailer, keeping their hands on his body until they were sure that he wasn't going to try and get back up.
Sideswipe and Strongarm exchanged looks.
The look they had seen on their leader's face made them feel beyond guilty.
It had been a routine mission to capture one of the runaway prisoners. It was a pair of Decepticons that Strongarm didn't even bother learning their names. It was supposed to be quick.
Only the cons were smarter than Strongarm gave them credit for. She had been chasing them down in the forest, with her lieutenant right by her side as they swerved around the trees.
They must have set a trap beforehand because while she hadn't seen the wire that had been strung across two trees right at neck height, Bumblebee had. And in a way that was very admirable, he had thrown his own body in front of her own to stop her from decapitating herself.
It had worked.
At the expense of her leader's gauntlets being sliced open by the wire and slicing open a portion of his neck.
It had been horrifying, to hear the sound of metal being cut apart and the strangled gasp of pain that came from Bumblebee right before they were both tackled by one of the Decepticons that had ambushed them.
The impact had dislocated Bumblebees shoulder with a disturbing pop and pushed the wire that remained further into his neck.
It had been a miracle that Strongarm had managed to drag him back to base with his spark still going.
Fixit looked forlorn as he quietly informed the Bumblebee of his injuries," Lieutenant, along with your dislocated arm and concussion, I…" Bumblebee looked up at Fixit from his position, and he felt horrible.
He had never seen the lieutenant look so young.
Granted, the leader was already young, very young if you accounted for his experience and part in the war. But with the way, he was looking up at the mini-con, with his eyes that looked so scared. His eyes showed fear and anxiety. It looked like he was a young bot once again.
It was almost a relief when Bumblebee quietly mouthed, "It's gone?"
He sighed in defeat, and confirmed the bots worst fears," Yes, Lieutenant...Your voice modulator was too damaged for me to repair it." The look of pure disappointment and despair made all of them feel horrible.
He clenched his jaw tightly, closing his eyes just as tight. He took a few grounding breathes, trying his best to stay calm. But yet, he couldn't help but lightly tap the back of his head against the trailer he was on in frustration and sadness.
Fixit continued in hopes of making their leader feel better," Fortunately, I was able to remove it intact," It had been the only way to save the organ," and the moment we encounter a medic. They will be able to repair your voice modulator and restore your ability to talk."
Even though the others looked ecstatic at the news, Bumblebee didn't show that he had heard what Fixit had said and just lay there, his thumb gently rubbing his throat as if that would fix everything.
They exchanged looks at his silence.
Sideswipe gently put his hand on the bot's shoulder," Bee? Did you hear him?"
He got the smallest of nods.
They were all taken aback when Bumblebee's helmet covered his face and he forced himself to get up.
They couldn't even tell if he was in pain or not, and he couldn't tell them even if he wanted to.
His actions flustered their mini-con, "Nonono wait!" He shook off their hands and got to his feet," Please Lieutenant, at least let me fix your shoulder and ease the pain!"
He rounded on all of them, beeping furiously at them and moving his free hand around in a way that told him that he was mad. Trying his best to communicate with them through his morse code and incomplete sign language that was butchered with his free hand.
Fixit knew that their leader was using a type of morse code, as the humans would say it. He knew that he was using a morse code that was frequently used during the time of the war. Fixit had done some studies when he was bored while traveling. So he knew what Bumblebee was doing.
But that didn't mean that they were able to understand him.
They couldn't understand him.
Only people who served in the war and survived would have been able to understand him, and unfortunately, he was the only one who lived during the war. They were too young to know such a code.
It was a different type of pain when Bumblebee realized that they couldn't understand him. At least when it first happened, people were able to understand him when he had recovered. And based on the way they were all staring at him with blank faces. With blank faces that showed that they were worried about him, but they didn't understand him in the slightest bit.
That made him feel all the more alone in his struggle. In his struggle that was far too old for his taste.
Now it was just him and his unspoken thoughts.
It was very clear that the second loss of his voice had made Bumblebee depressed. They were sure that their inability to understand anything he said didn't make it any better. He couldn't even describe his feelings to them.
It was concerning.
The first few days when Bumblebee didn't leave his makeshift bedroom until well into the afternoon, even so, he only did it to refuel and check on their progress. Fixit had reassured them that it was due to his injuries and that he would remain like that until he was completely healed. And once Bumblebee finally let Fixit complete his treatment for his shoulder, he did stop sleeping in late.
Only he isolated himself.
It was understandable since he couldn't actively part take in the conversation, nor laugh, nor smile. Not with the way he kept his faceplate up all the time. They had a hard time reading his emotions and what little thoughts he unconsciously showed on his face.
There were a few times when he would start using the morse code again, mostly when he was agitated or excited. And they had no choice but to let him go on until he remembered that they were too young to know the morse code he was using and stopped.
The few times his teammates had tried to speak with him, he had tried to use the radio to communicate as he did in the past. Only now, he had discovered that there's not a lot of people on the radio anymore, and it was hard to find the proper phrases on the radio where his teammates wouldn't be confused by the slang.
It didn't work.
Every time he tried, his teammates made some sorry excuse about having to go and could walk out more confused than they had entered. Fixit did help, they had conversations in the mornings, a little bit after Bumblebee woke up. It was moments like that, that made him feel a little bit better since Fixit would take the time to have a half conversation with him just for the sake of talking.
Denny and Russel also helped, but after a while of communicating with the radio, they had to take a break since the constant screeching and switching of his radio would give them a nasty headache. And he understood, he really did, he was out of practice with the radio so that was expected.
But after Sideswipe and Strongarm got into a small argument over what he meant. After they ignored his attempts to clarify, he stormed off in a huff.
He was done.
Fixit quietly rolled up to Bumblebee's room, planning to check in on the bot like he did every morning after everyone else in the scrapyard had left to go and do their duties.
They were the only ones left in the scrapyard. Giving plenty of time to have their small one-sided conversation that both parties looked forward to so much.
"Lieutenant?" he knocked quietly on the side, listening for any type of movement inside the room.
He frowned when he heard nothing. Most of the time, Bumblebee would knock back, letting the small bot know that he could come in and they could have their daily conversation. Fixit knew just how important their little conversations were to their leader since it was one of the few times, he could let down his faceplate to let Fixit see his mouth. They had grown unexpectedly close since he failed to repair the bot's voice box. It was nice.
"Lieutenant?" He slowly peeked his head around the corner, his spark leaping up into his throat when he saw that it was empty, with only a single note left in the middle of the room.
He damn near dove for the note, his eyebrows raising when he saw 'Don't know when I'll be back, won't take long' that was written on the piece of scrap metal.
A recent memory of Denny detailing the importance of the fellow bots keeping an eye on Bumblebee came to mind. The story of Denny, telling them that the people of his species, a decent amount of them were war veterans, much like Bumblebee was, and struggled with their experiences. And it was horrifying to hear that those veterans sometimes lost the battle with their mental scars and would offline themselves.
They understood that Bumblebee was at a higher risk of such a mindset, due to the fact that his wartime injury had happened once again, and he was quite literally left to his thoughts that he couldn't let out even if he wanted to. Denny had advised them to keep an eye on the Lieutenant, which only made Fixit look forward to their morning conversations even more.
He paced in the room back and forth.
Recently, he had walked in on Bumblebee multiple times trying to hide something, beeping nervously as he waved his hands around. Never giving up information even when Fixit tried to get it out of him.
He started to connect the dots, between the depression he's had after losing his voice, his isolation, his suspicious behavior, and the note.
The fact that he found a note and no Bumblebee, made Fixit fear for the worst.
He rose his brow when he saw a car go through the gates, even more so when the car gave off a ping that was undeniably the signal for their young scout.
It was weird, but he wasn't going to question it.
It was always nice to have visitors.
He let the door open, and by the time it was open, Bumblebee was already standing at the door, a cold-looking box being held in his hands.
"Bumblebee," Ratchet greeted quietly. It had been a long time since he had seen the younger bot," what a surprise it is to see you."
Ratchet frowned when he saw the way Bumblebee wasn't putting down his faceplate, or the way he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Hey Ratchet…" He frowned further at the way the bot didn't use his words. He loved using his voice, after being mute for so long, he loved speaking, "Think you can remind me why you're my favorite medic?"
Now that almost offended him, and he almost rolled his eyes as he motioned for the bot to come," I'm your only medic Bumblebee. Come here," he patted on the medical table that was nearby," I'll run a diagnostic and see what's wrong."
He was facing the computer when he heard a small sniffle come from the bot, but he didn't question it. It wasn't until he heard the metallic tap of something much lighter than the body of a bot being placed down that he started to question things.
When he saw the box on the medical table, he rose his brow," Just tell me if you can save it ," he looked up at Bumblebee, who looked to be extremely stressed in all sorts of ways," please."
Merely grunting out an answer, he opened the box.
It was only the years of experience that kept him from making a noise of surprise.
It was the voice modulator of Bumblebee himself. He had stared at it and scans of it when the scout had been initially injured for hours and hours. He learned the mechanics of it inside and out and if he was right, Bumblebee's voice modulator had a slight abnormality in the upper left corner.
He gently picked up the voice modulator, taking note of the damage that had been inflicted on it. Some of the metal had been broken, right at the seal where it would reconnect with the rest of the body to function properly. It was clear that there had been an attempt to repair it by inexperienced servos. Thankfully, there hadn't been any further damage. He turned it over and hummed happily when he saw the condition of the modulator.
It was Bumblebees.
"Go ahead and fuel up," he gently placed the modulator back into the box. At least whoever removed it, had enough sense to place the voice box into cryogenic storage to preserve it." I'll have you back on your feet within two earth days. Its go- "a pair of arms wrapped firmly around him, and a head was tucked under his jaw.
He was bigger.
He didn't fit under his jaw perfectly like he used to, now the scout had to bend down a little bit to put his head where he wanted to.
He had gotten reframed while on their home planet. He was just one reframing away before he was a full-grown cybertronian.
Good.
Bumblebee had desperately needed a reframing from his pre-teen frame to teen frame not long after he finished his training and it had been difficult to find the parts needed to create a new frame for the scout.
It was good to see that their youngest member had been thriving the short time he had been home.
He should have stayed home. But it was too late now.
He wasn't one for physical touch, but with the way, Bumblebee was trembling, and there was a wet feeling on his chest, he knew that it would be cruel to push him away.
Ratchet couldn't begin to imagine the anxiety Bumblebee might have felt at that moment. Waiting to find out if he was going to be mute again.
"Oh Bumblebee," he wrapped his arms around the younger bot, rubbing on his back in a comforting manner," you are not a sparkling anymore."
The bot's chest moved up and down in a way that had to be a short laugh ," sorry," Ratchet was sure that if Bumblebee had let down his plate, there would have been a grin on his face," I'm just relieved I won't lose my voice again. And that someone can understand me again."
That made Ratchet pause and break the hug," How long has your voice modulator been like this?"
Bumblebee ducked his head down. Seeing the bot like that brought back memories of him scolding the scout for a few pranks back in their days in Jasper," Almost three earth months." That sounded horrible ," None of my new teammates could understand me so I had a hard time finding you."
Ratchets jaw dropped open," You haven't been able to talk to anybot for the past three months!?"
He shook his head, he looked just as upset as Ratchet felt," No. all of the other members of my team are too young to know the morse code we used in the war, so they weren't able to understand me. Even when I used the radio because they don't understand human slang. "
Ratchet scrunched up his nose and directed Bumblebee to go to the other room by pushing at his shoulders from behind," I will have none of that. Go and fuel up. Find something for you to do for the next few hours, I'll call you in when I'm ready."
Bumblebee let out what was his equivalent of a snicker and looked over his shoulder with a bright smile on his face.
Bumblebee finally put down his faceplate.
He had forgotten how nice it was to see the young scout smile.
" Thank you, Ratchet, you're the best!"
He waved off the compliment," Yeah yeah, get out of here youngling."
He couldn't help but smile at what the scout said.
It was almost endearing to see Bumblebee acting like a sparkling as he came out of the statis that Ratchet had put him into for the reinstalment for his voice box.
Sometimes it was like Bumblebee was still the sparkling that Optimus met all those years ago.
The operation had gone perfectly, only Bumblebee always had the tendency to be disorientated and confused when he came out of statis. Especially when he came out of operations like this.
He wasn't acting like a total fool. But he would be embarrassed to find out that in his disorientation, he would freak out whenever Ratchet would leave his side.
Ratchet was resigned to his fate, and he let Bumblebee hang onto his hand as he waited for the bot to wake up with his head straight. He was doing work on a tablet anyway and it was no trouble for him.
The bot had always been like that. After his original injury, they had taken shifts of sitting with Bumblebee as he recovered. So their scout had gotten used to having a presence next to him, even as he was in stasis.
Not that Ratchet was complaining.
It was thanks to his tablet that he was able to pull up the cameras to see a pair of bots exiting a ground bridge portal. And they both looked extremely panicked and scared out of their minds.
The bot in the red, sports car type, was frantically looking around. The femme was almost rolling her eyes and barked out something to her companion.
What were the chances that those bots were the very same one's Bumblebee had been muttering under his breathe the few times while he was sleeping?
He turned on the audio and listened.
...Yep, that was the Sideswipe and Strongarm he had been muttering about.
With a quiet frustrated groan, he opened the door, allowing them all access.
Someone had to go and greet them. That someone being him.
He stood up from his chair, and gently pulled his hand from Bumblebees. The reaction was immediate. The scout frowned in his sleep, a small moan coming from his lips as his hand started to frisk around the bed.
Rachet let out a huff. The sparkling clearly never broke that habit, "I'll be right back," He patted Bumblebees' forearm in a comforting manner," I won't take long." That seemed to calm the bot, quickly falling back to sleep. But based on the way his eyebrows and face were still scrunched up, he wouldn't be able to leave him alone for a long time.
Quietly closing the door behind him, he let his presence be known to the guests.
He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed," If you're looking for Bumblebee," they snapped to attention, even more so when he said the scout's name," He's in the other room resting."
He was confused at the way they gasped. Even more so when they rushed him.
"Is he ok?!"
"What did he do!?"
"Is he going to make it?!"
And the questions kept on going until he yelled," Enough!" he used the mean medic voice that he has used on others before. It was enough to stun them into silence," What are you rambling on about?! Bumblebee is ok! The operation was successful and he's going to make a full recovery!"
The femme looked confused and slowly said,"...So he didn't try to...?"
"Didn't try to what?" he grounded out.
The red bot pursed his lips and quietly answered," He didn't try to...offline himself?"
Rachet was horrified. Horrified that they just tried to suggest that the bot that came to him for help, the same one that was almost crying at the news of getting his voice modulator repaired, would try to offline himself.
"No!" he probably said that louder than necessary, but he needed to be firm with those younglings," No! Bumblebee came to me to get his voice modulator repaired! He didn't try to offline himself! why would you ever think that!?"
The pair exchanged looks and diverted their gaze to the floor,"...The Lieutenant had been depressed since he lost his voice," Rachet didn't doubt that. Bumblebee had been depressed when he first lost his voice," It didn't help that we couldn't understand him."
Ah.
These were the teammates that couldn't understand his scout.
Well, they definitely were too young to know the morse code that was used during the war. They were probably approaching the age where they would have to be reframed two more times before they were full-grown bots.
But what did Bumblebee do where they thought he was going to offline himself?
He wasn't even going to ask.
Ratchet rubbed at his face and sighed heavily," Okay," He said in resignation," Well that didn't happen. Bumblebees' operation was a success and is recovering now. I'll send him home tomorrow."
The look of relief was palpable on the bot's faces," Can we see him?"
"No." he could tell that he just stamped out their hope. But his patients were his top priority, especially since it was Bumblebee," He needs all the rest he can get, and I don't need the two of you stressing him out. Go home. I need to keep an eye on him."
Sideswipe looked like he was going to protest the fact that they weren't allowed to visit their leader, but a solid elbow from Strongarm was enough to shut him up.
"I understand," Ratchet was relieved to see that one of them was levelheaded. The Femme looked at him hopefully," May we wait here until the Lieutenant comes out of statis?"
He had to resist the urge to huff in annoyance.
"Very well," They lit up at his acceptance. But he was quick to sternly tell them," But I will not accept any funny business. If I have to come out here to settle you down more than once. I will be kicking you out!" They nodded seriously at his words.
At their understanding, he turned on his heel and entered the room, making sure that he closed the door right behind him.
He rose a brow when he saw that in his stasis, the scout had turned onto his side, facing the chair where Ratchet had been sitting previously. As comfortable as he looked, it wasn't wise for him to be on his side like that. With a huff, he gently nudged him back onto his back, accepting his fate in only having one free hand until the scout woke up.
He didn't mind.
The feeling of something being pulled out of his hand made him jerk awake.
As soon as his eyes were open, he scrunched them back closed, the light was far too bright of his liking.
"Ah," Ratchets voice made him wake up a little bit more," And the sparkling is awake." He scrunched up his nose.
Even in his half-asleep daze, he tiredly grumbled out," Not a sparklin' anymore."
The sound of his voice made him wake up completely.
He sat up straight up, grateful that Ratchet had the insight to keep him from falling off the table with a steadying arm on his shoulder. Ratchet laughed at his reaction," Well you seem like you're still the little sparkling that Optimus dragged in all those years ago. How do you feel?"
At that moment, that had to be the dumbest question he had ever heard from his medic and climbed off the table.
He let out a giddy laugh and picked up Ratchet like he did when he originally regained his voice," Are you kidding me! You gave me my pipes back!" Ratchet grunted with the way he was still behind held up in the air. He always forgot Bumblebee was stronger than he looked.
"Thank you! I don't know what to say!"
"Well," Ratchet grunted out," You could put me down to start."
"Oh." He felt his face warming up and gingerly put down the medic," Sorry,"
The sound of the door opening made him look over at it, and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face when he saw Sideswipe and Strongarm peaking their heads in.
They yelped at the way he picked them both up in a hug," I got my voice back!" Strongarm froze up at the contact, while Sideswipe laughed heartily.
"Awesome!"
Bumblebee put them back down and let Sideswipe roughhouse with him a little bit.
Rachet watched with a grin as the light and airy laughter of Bumblebee echoed around the room.
He forgot what a nice laugh the scout had.