Shadowstrike was content to let Ratchet look him over again, sitting still and not protesting it in any way. He could feel how much his Guardians wanted to be absolutely certain he was alright before any decisions were made, and he could tell how much it helped Ratchet to make sure his work was still holding.
The Bond between himself and the twins had gotten stronger and deeper as the days since his awakening passed. He couldn't explain what it meant to him to have people he knew without any shadow of a doubt would love and support and help him at any given moment. He couldn't explain what it meant that he could feel that willingness, and the deep endless well of acceptance and affection the two mechs had for him. So if it comforted the mechs to have another scan run over him, to let Ratchet check him over, Strike would sit still and allow another check.
The twins were perfectly aware that Shadowstrike was only sitting still and allowing the endless checks and rechecks over his frame and processor because they wanted it, and they rewarded this behavior with endless swells of pride-gratitude-happiness over their bond with the seek-ling.
O~O~O~
Ratchet pulled back from the sparkling, quite proud that the twins didn't watch his every move anymore. They still watched him of course, but their optics were no longer glued to his every vent, nor did the twin not holding the sparkling move to his blind-spot to better offline him if the need arose. He was not quite labeled 'safe' by the twins' Guardian Protocols yet, but he was well on his way.
(That may have something to do with the mega-cycles he had spent locked in the med bay with the twins watching his every move while he cared for the sparkling.)
"He is as well as he can be for the moment. Regular checkups will be required of course, but for the moment I can do nothing else to improve his health."
The twins nodded in synch, Sunstreaker speaking for both of them as he replied "Thank you Ratchet- we will make sure to bring him in for all of his checkups."
Ratchet spent a moment appreciating the spoken gratitude before he set it aside. Most bots didn't say thank you verbally to Ratchet. He knew they were thankful of course, but speaking of it didn't happen. Instead most bots showed their gratitude to Ratchet through their actions.
(Things like protecting him out in the battlefield, protecting his patients on the battlefield, or getting him wrenches, or bringing him Energon, making sure he stopped his work often enough to take care of himself, covering a shift or two for him, helping with the paperwork…things of that nature)
But every once in a while, Ratchet appreciated hearing the words.
"You are welcome."
There was a moment of silence as the mechs in the room stared at each other.
O~O~O~
Sunstreaker looked around the room for a moment before he vented heavily. Ratchet, his twin, and the sparkling had been in this section of the med bay for two mega-cycles with Protocol 9-8-3 in full effect for the duration of the time.
The first mega-cycle had been nothing but repair as Ratchet worked to fix the worst of the damages on the sparkling, the second had been fine-tuning those repairs, and rechecking them constantly for any signs of rejection or relapse on Shadowstrike's part. It had also been used to deepen and strengthen the Guardian Bond between the twins and the sparkling, while allowing Strike to settle into a Bond that didn't hurt him without all the bots that would come to see the sparkling crowding him.
Which they would and then the twins would maim them which would cause Ratchet's workload to triple at the very least because the twins were Gladiators and they would be creatively vindictive about it.
There was still much to do, much ground to cover in regards to helping the sparkling recover, but Sunstreaker thought maybe it would be alright to loosen Protocol 9-8-3 and allow certain bots to know about the little one.
Not everyone- neither the twins nor Strike was ready for everyone to know- but certain bots…the twins thought might be alright.
O~O~O~
"I think" Sunstreaker began "I am ready to begin introductions with certain bots" his optics darted to Sideswipe and back to Ratchet "I have discussed this with Sideswipe as well and I am willing to loosen Protocol 9-8-3. I do not want the Base to know of Shadowstrike's presence yet, but…"
Sideswipe picked up where his twin left off "Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide and Bumblebee would be alright to begin with. Not all at once- we don't think our Guardian Protocols would be able to take even these bots at the same time, but one at a time…we think it will be alright."
O~O~O~
Strike had no idea who Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide or Bumblebee were, but he wouldn't mind meeting new people.
The twins felt nervous and a bit anxious about showing him to anyone, but Shadowstrike could feel how much these particular mechs were trusted by his Guardians even past the jitters that came from introducing him to more bots, so he wasn't too against meeting them.
O~O~O~
Ratchet nodded at the list of bots, expecting the names he was given. It was a good start to introductions despite not being everyone.
Optimus was an obvious choice. Prowl, despite being the mech that most often busted the twins for pranks, was actually a trusted friend and-despite neither the twins nor Prowl admitting it- both saw the pranks as a challenge to each other (Could Prowl catch them? Could they pull the prank off before he did, or even get away with it completely? How long could they last before he caught them?) they were close for all that they seemed to clash. Jazz was their friend and a partner in pranking. Many a time the three of them would cover for each other, providing alibis for each other. The humans had called them the Three Musketeers more than once, and it was often the twins that went in to clear the way for Jazz to pull the more behind the scenes work. Ironhide was a trusted elder and mentor, someone they could go to when they couldn't find the answers on their own. He had taught them many things over the many, mega-vorns they had known each other and Ratchet could understand why the twins would want to bring their trusted mentor into their little secret. Bumblebee was the little brother they had never had, someone they considered family- much as they considered the other named bots- and Ratchet also knew they were taking into account that keeping a secret like this would hurt the little scout.
That wasn't even considering the fact that Optimus was their leader and would need to know, Prowl was the Head Tactician and would most likely put everything together on his own and he would need to know for strategies, Jazz was their best friend and head of Special Ops and would most likely figure them out within a cycle without any input what so ever from anyone. Ironhide would just know somehow- in that way all authority figures seemed to just know what had happened to their charges, or he would see all the signs of Active Guardian Protocols and confront them which would be messy. Bumblebee would weasel his way into knowing everything anyway- being one of Special Ops Elite Spy-Scouts and very, very good at getting bots to slip and spill things to him. He looked so very innocent after all- what would be the harm in telling the scout?
The fact that each of these bots considered each other and the twins to be close family meant that none of them would rest until they had figured out what had changed anyway, and it would be better in the long run for everyone to just bring them in from the start anyway. The twins' views on family would demand they tell them anyway. One did not lie about large things like taking a sparkling into their midst when speaking to family.
As Gladiators all they had had was family. Credits were very limited and material things meant nothing and so were not gathered or kept. Family though- that had been everything. When the credits had been short, and the lunar cycle long, when they had been injured or hungry with no way to fix the issue all they had had was each other. Family was sacred.
"I can inform them to come to the med bay now?" Ratchet offered, knowing better than to call in any bot without informing the twins about it at this stage in their Guardian Protocols. They had just activated two mega-cycles ago and none of the bots in question had seen the bots since then much less been designated 'safe' at this point by said Protocols.
Inviting any bot in unannounced at this point would likely get said bots offline or mauled.
There was silence for a klick before the twins looked at one another and back to Ratchet nodding once.
"Go ahead."
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
TIME MEASUREMENTS:
Astrosecond: .5 seconds
Nano-klik: 1 second
Klik: 1 minute
Breem: 8 minutes
Cycle: 24 hours (one day)
Deca-cycle: 4 weeks (one month)
Mega-cycle: 96 hours (four days)
Meta-cycle: 12 months (one year)
Stellar Cycle: 6 months
Vorn: 83 years
Mega-vorn: 83,000 years (1000 vorns)
60 mega-vorns: 4,980,000years