Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers
Ratchet steered Ultra Magnus' ship carefully into the docking area and the two friends exited the craft.
"Did anything happen while I was away Prowl?" Optimus asked, and his second in command squirmed uncomfortably.
"Nothing of importance."
Optimus nodded and began heading towards his office, anticipating a pile-up of datapads.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Ratchet said, halting the Prime in his tracks.
"To...my office?"
"You just had a seizure not two hours ago," the medic raised an optic ridge. "You're not going anywhere except the Medbay, where I can keep an optic on you until I finish the Allspark container."
"But-" Optimus sighed; his friend had that look on his faceplates that could not be argued with. "Fine. But only if I am permitted to continue my duties from there."
"Alright, but I suppose I shall have to make sure you don't overwork," Ratchet said reluctantly.
"And I you," Optimus raised an optic ridge.
"You are both notorious for working yourselves too hard," Prowl grinned. "Do you want me to get your things from your office, Prime?"
"Yes, thank you, Prowl."
The tactician bot nodded and vanished, and Optimus followed Ratchet to the Medbay.
"Bumblebee did not come to greet me," Optimus muttered distantly. "He used to..."
"Yes, I remember when he used to bug the Pit out of me about when exactly you were going to be back," Ratchet turned, saw how his friend was sitting dejectedly on a medical berth and added, "Prime, you know he hasn't been a sparkling for a while now? But you can't forget that he still cares about you very much, even if he doesn't act like a sparkling when you return."
"I suppose," Optimus sighed.
A femme's voice called out from the front of the Medbay, "Dad?", and a radio announcer said, "...Optimus?"
"See?" Ratchet smiled. "He did come to greet you."
Magnia and Bumblebee rounded the corner, holding servos and smiling. Optimus narrowed his optics, and Bumblebee caught his look.
"...What? Not allowed...to hold...servos now?"
Magnia glanced at him, and the two shared a private bond message before the scout sighed.
"It's good...to have you back...Optimus," he grinned, and Optimus thawed a little.
"Thank you, Bumblebee," the Prime smiled. He peered at the scout's mate, who was hugging her father, wondering what she had said to him.
"I'm glad you're safe," Magnia said happily, and glanced at Optimus. "Both of you."
She sighed when Optimus didn't respond and asked her father, "Do you mind if I look through your medical datapads? I never got a very good look at them."
"Of course," he gestured to the shelf. "I wasn't aware you were interested."
"I suppose I should be," she smiled a little. "Seeing as both my creators were medics."
Ratchet chuckled and waited until she and Bumblebee were across the room and out of audio range before hissing at Optimus, "Okay, what is your deal?"
The Prime blinked, "My...deal?"
"Your problem, what is your problem with her, huh?" Ratchet waved his servos. "She is trying so hard to be nice to you, which is a feat in itself considering hot-temperedness runs in her energon, and you are still being a prick!"
Optimus sighed, "I still do not trust her, Ratchet. You know how I am about Decepticons." He added hastily, "Former Decepticons," seeing his friend's face beginning to turn a rageful blue.
"Okay, so when are you going to trust her, Optimus?" Ratchet crossed his arms. "When she's succeeded in winning the sparks of everyone in the base? I mean, she is already the daughter of your best friend, and is bonded to your son. What more do you need? Plus, she can't possibly have any secret agendas, because if she did, Bumblebee would know about it through their bond, and he would have told you!"
"I fear she may have compromised him," Optimus eyed the femme across the room, giggling at Bumblebee balancing a stack of datapads on his helm.
"You can't be serious," the medic tossed his servos in the air. "Stubborn mech...let's talk about something else."
Across the room, Magnia was intrigued by a fascinating diagram in one of Ratchet's medical datapads, while Bumblebee kept trying to distract her.
"Hey nerdy babe," he grinned when her helm shot up.
"What?" she frowned. "And I'm not a nerd. I could clean your cogs out in about ten seconds and don't you forget it."
"Mags, it was a compliment," he smiled cheekily. "Nerdy babes are hot."
"Oh," she reconsidered. "Well then...jocky mech, stop distracting me."
" 'Jocky mech'?" he scoffed. "Pretty sure jocky isn't a word. And I'm not a jock anyways."
She chuckled, "Please. You are the very definition of a jock." He started to protest, but she shushed him, having just caught a snippet of Optimus and Ratchet's conversation.
"...In the Pits of Kaon?" Ratchet whispered. "What was he doing down there anyways?"
"He used to be a gladiator there," Optimus said quietly. "It is the only home he has left."
Magnia knew immediately who they were talking about; Megatron had been a gladiator in the Pits of Kaon. "He's living down in those dark, deserted Pits all alone?" she thought unhappily. "My father..."
"Mags," Bee wrapped her in a hug, hearing everything she was thinking. "He'll be okay. He's a tough mech.."
"I'm not worried about his safety," Magnia messaged sadly. "I'm worried about him."
Ratchet noticed Bumblebee hugging Magnia across the room, remembering how Megatron had challenged him to ask her who she felt her true father was.
"Magnia?" he called hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"Can I talk to you?"
She blinked at him, "Sure." She followed him into his office, leaving Bumblebee and Optimus outside.
"Magnia, I..." he trailed off. "I have to ask you something. I am almost certain it will upset you, but I must know."
"What is it?" she frowned.
Ratchet sighed, "Do you still consider Megatron your father?"
She exhaled, "I was worried you might ask me that. Do you want the truth?" He nodded and she said quietly, "I do"
Ratchet took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, "That's okay, I just-" And his composure cracked, "No, you know what, it's not okay. How can you still care for him, when he offlined your mother? He took her from us, and he took you from me, and you just don't care?!"
"I do not think I will ever forgive him for that," she sighed. "But I cannot just completely forget all the years he spent taking care of me, looking out for me. We had a complicated and sometimes abusive relationship, and there were times when I believed he didn't care about me at all. But then somehow he would show that he cared for me."
Ratchet growled, "How can you be so calm about this? He murdered Crossblade! How is it that you get fired up about everything else, but not this?"
"Because I know not to lose my temper with someone I care about," she gazed at him, and he took a few deep breaths. "You realize that even though I may still consider him my father, you have been more fatherly in the past few months than he has been all my life?"
"Flattery will get you nowhere," he huffed, beginning to calm down.
Magnia smiled wanly, "It isn't flattery if it's true. One of the major reasons I want to be an Autobot is because you're one."
"Really?" Ratchet mumbled, "I thought it was because of Bumblebee."
"He was the other reason," Magnia nodded. "That and I didn't want Starscream as a leader. Even though Optimus is a prick sometimes, he's not a bad bot."
Ratchet sighed, "Fine. Although I will make it perfectly clear that I despise that bot, and I think he's the scum of Cybertron, I suppose you are entitled to think what you want."
"Thanks Dad," she hugged him and he smiled a little.
"I guess we're both lucky you don't have as much of a temper as I do."
"That's because I'm half Mom," Magnia grinned cheekily. "She mellows me out."
They exited Ratchet's office to find the Medbay in complete turmoil.