Hope those who celebrated had a wonderful 4th of July celebration. Now that the festivities are over, here's another sparkling cuteness chapter with Optimus and Elita.

a/n: italics denote comlink chatter; (italics) in parenthesis denote sparkling noises.

Optimus and Elita's quarters

Elita had no idea what to expect from a sparkling. She'd seen what younglings were fully capable of. Bumblebee, Sunny, and Sides were terrors until they matured. And even then the twins were still a handful with the pranks they loved to pull. So if Elita knew what sparkling Optimus was fully capable of she would never have left the Med Bay.

"Here you go," she smiled, setting Optimus down on his feet.

Little legs buckled and Optimus fell on his aft.

"Oops," he huffed.

"Are you ok?" she asked, lift him up and putting him on his feet again. "Maybe you weren't ready."

Again, his legs buckled and he fell backwards. It didn't seem to bother him for he just sat there. But Elita was very worried.

"Ratchet, something's wrong with Optimus' legs. He keeps falling over."

"That's because his legs aren't strong enough to walk yet. Just let him crawl around. He'll be fine."

"Crawling is good," she smirked, thinking Optimus couldn't move around as well by crawling.

Only she was so wrong! An excited whistle was her only warning. Optimus hurried across the room and climbed up onto the desk. The neatly stacked datapads were scattered all over the desk in mere astroseconds.

Wow! What are these? Optimus held a datapad up, turning it over and tried to figure what it was. He started banging it on the desk and giggle.

"No, you can't play with those," Elita insisted.

(squawk!!)

"I'm sorry, these aren't toys," she said gently as she took the datapad from him.

She was a little surprised that she had to use some strength to remove the datapad from Optimus' hand. Oh and did he look pissed when she quickly shoved all of them in a drawer before he could grab another one.

This prompted Elita to take a good look around the room.

"Ratchet, I don't think it's a good idea for Optimus to be in here. This room is far from sparkling proof!"

"You're just going to have to deal with it for now."

"But…"

"Elita, you've faced Decepticons on your own. You're fully capable of handling one little sparkling."

Optimus dove off the desk before she could reply to Ratchet. Primus, she had no idea a sparkling could move so fast! The only reason why she knew Optimus was in the large washroom was from excited beeps and whistles.

When Elita walked in she found him in the large shower stall staring up at the faucet. He beeped harshly up at it making her giggle. Then he rattled off several chirps, warbles, and clicks at her with a very serious expression on his little faceplates.

This only made Elita laugh harder. She'd seen that look on his face before quite often, just on a more mature version of his self.

A long sorrowful whistle sounded as his head and shoulders drooped. She didn't understand him.

"I'm sorry, Optimus," she chuckled, picking him up. "You just looked so adorably annoyed. You want a shower that badly? Hmm? Shame, you never seem that eager as a mature mech unless I was inviting you to join me."

He chirped reaching for the faucet. It was almost in his reach. Only the pretty femme moved away.

"You seem clean already. But I don't see the harm in a bath," she said. "You're small enough to fit in the sink. Oh wait! Is it even ok for you to have a bath?"

(beep?)

"Ratchet, this is Elita…"

"What now?"

Elita cringed slightly at his harsh response. But she honestly didn't know what to do with sparklings. Being that this was Optimus she didn't want to take any chances in him getting hurt.

"I was just wondering if I can give Optimus a bath?"

"Yes, it's fine! Ratchet out!"

Optimus beeped at the pretty femme, gently touching her face. She instantly smiled rubbing her nose against his. He didn't understand what she was telling him but could feel she was happy.

"Here, you go," she smiled, setting him in the sink. "I'll turn it on slow…"

Whoa! Shrieks echoed off the wall loudly. Tiny arms and legs thrashed about. At first Elita thought Optimus didn't like the cleaning reagent coming out of the faucet so she turned it off.

However, she quickly learned she was wrong! Optimus started beeping insistently at the faucet and even growled at it, grabbing hold of it with his hands. Again she laughed at him.

The faucet was turned back on. And Elita soon realized that it was the bubbles the cleaning agent made that Optimus was fascinated with and not the actual cleaning process. Still, she did attempt to clean him up with a cleaning rag.

Attempt was the key word. Optimus was not a calm sparkling. He was noisy and always wiggling around. So much so that Elita decided to just let the suds he splashed, swatted, and batted around do the cleaning for her.

To be honest this little sparkling was the exact opposite of the mature mech Elita was so used to. Seeing this side of Optimus made her realize that there was so much about him she didn't really know about. She never asked about his younglinghood and he never volunteered any information.

Did he have a happy younglinghood? What about his parents? He never once mentioned them to her. She only knew that Ratchet and Ironhide were his guardians. But for how long, she did not know.

She did know that one thing remained constant throughout Optimus' life. He was a mech of deep feelings. Most of them held in check or hidden by his mask during the mature portion of his life. Being the leader and the one hope of a people's survival would have broken most mechs. But not Optimus. Never Optimus.

Yes, he took so much to spark when they suffered losses. Yet, at the same time he never forgot those lost, he honors them by continuing the fight for them. It's the same with her. He never takes their love for granted. He enjoys every precious moment with her and cherishes them always.

Elita sighed loudly then smiled when Optimus looked up at her. He had one of the happiest grins ever on his face plates with soap suds on top of his head. The love she felt from him and for him filled her completely.

"I think I finally understand why you want a sparkling so much, Optimus," she said, wiping the suds off his head. "It will give you something more of me to love."

The pretty femme was smiling at him. Only Optimus couldn't tell if she was happy or sad. He didn't want her to be sad. She was too pretty for that. So, he climbed out of the bubbles so he could get closer to her and wrapped his little arms around her neck.

"You always knew when I needed a hug," she grinned, holding him close as she rose to her feet. "Thank you, Optimus." She turned and grabbed a towel off the rack. "Now, why don't we get you dried off?"

For once, Optimus remained still on the recharge bed where he was sat down. He actually liked being doted over, especially by her. The pretty femme smiled at him as she talked. Plus, it felt nice as she gently rubbed the fluffy white thing on his armor. He giggled when she rubbed his belly. Then he trilled and purred loudly when she rubbed his antennas.

"I should have known," she chuckled. "Your audio receptors and antennas have always been so sensitive. Almost as much as your chest."

Elita gently poked his chest making him giggle hysterically. She did it again this time making him roll onto his back, feet in the air, laughing out of control. Optimus screeched loudly when she blew raspberries on the bottoms of his feet.

Ratchet, who had let himself in quietly when he heard the sounds of sparkling laughter, stood and watched, smiling. Optimus was right. If given the opportunity Elita was going to make a wonderful mother.

"Hmm, when do you recharge?" Elita asked out loud.

"Whenever he feels like it," Ratchet answered startling both her and Optimus.

"Ratchet, you stupid aft!" she exclaimed, jumping up. "You practically scared Optimus and me to death!"

"I was concerned," he smirked. "You've been quiet for the last thirty minutes on the comlink. Besides, I knew with Optimus being a sparkling there'd be no interfacing or spark bonding to walk in on."

"You'll do well to remember that I never miss a target twice," she growled, making Ratchet visibly flinch.

Optimus giggled. The big mech was afraid.

"I just brought this…for Optimus," Ratchet said nervously, holding out a bottle.

Elita sighed, getting to her feet. She had to remind herself to not overreact.

"I'm sorry, Ratchet," she said, moving across the room. "It's just still all so…much to take in."

"Optimus will be back to his old self soon enough. Wheeljack has never let Optimus down yet. So first thing tomorrow, he will be in his lab working on trying to fix Optimus."

"Tomorrow?" she replied, biting her bottom lip. "He was that badly damaged?"

"That was mostly Ironhide and my doing when we realized what he'd done to Optimus. We kind of…" he chuckled. "…overreacted."

While they were talking, Optimus was looking around the room. He'd only seen part of it. There was so much fun stuff! Oh…what's that?! He turned around, his optics locked on something that sparkled up high on top of a shelving unit. It was just a tiny shiny object that stuck out over the edge.

Optimus glanced over at the pretty femme. She was still talking with the mech. He didn't think about whether or not she'd be mad at him. He just wanted to know what the sparkly thing was!

It was the high pitched happy squeal that made Elita turn around. Her optics immediately landed on the now empty recharge bed. Another squeal and they shot over and up to find Optimus sitting on top of the shelving unit, his aft at the very edge and his back facing her.

Whatever it was it was fun! It made a funny sound as he shook it. He shook it again and giggled.

"Optimus!"

"Elita, it's ok," Ratchet said calmly, gently holding her arm. "Sparklings are very good climbers."

"How are they at falling?!" she countered wrenching her arm free.

"Be calm or he will fall," the CMO insisted.

"I'm sorry," she replied, realizing she was overreacting again.

"See, you're already a good mother," he smirked. "Here, take the bottle. I'm more experience in extracting sparklings from dire situations."

"He won't just come down on his own?"

"Primus no!" he snorted, pulling a chair over so he could reach Optimus. "I've never seen a sparkling voluntarily climb down from anything unless they felt threatened and jumped down to escape! Bumblebee was notorious for climbing higher and higher each time we tried to get him when he was a sparkling. In fact, one time Jazz chased him for over an hour in the ventilation system of the base. And in the end it was Optimus that got Bumblebee to come to him. Optimus was Bee's favorite surrogate father."

"I remember that much when Bee was a youngling," she said. "He was jealous of me when Optimus and I first started dating. Each time Optimus and I tried to have a quiet moment alone in his quarters Bumblebee beat us to it by falling into recharge on Optimus' bed. What about Optimus? Did you know him when he was a sparkling?"

"Optimus was four, the late stages of sparklinghood, when Alpha Trion brought him to Sentinel."

Optimus shrieked loudly again as he giggled ending their conversation. Oh well, perhaps later Elita could ask more questions of Ratchet about Optimus.

(growling)

"Alright, Optimus. Be a good little mech. It's time to come...OW! Frag, he bites hard!" Ratchet grimaced.

(GROWLING)

"I've never had complaints," Elita couldn't resist saying, know what kind of reaction she'd get from Ratchet.

"For pits sake, that's information I didn't need to hear about femme!" Ratchet screeched, pulling down Optimus. "What you and…OW…do in the confines of…OW! You little fragger!" he pried, Optimus' mouth off his hand and sighed in relief. "What you and Optimus do in the confines of your quarters is none of my business! Please refrain from sharing any information. Bad enough I hear about how loud you two are from Ironhide."

That's it! Optimus was tired of everyone taking everything away from him. He was not going to give up this prize! His hand gripped onto it tightly and he started growling again.

Elita's optics widened at what Optimus had in his hands. She was gratefully Ratchet was more interested in checking out his bitten fingers then inspecting Optimus. She couldn't let the CMO see what Optimus was holding!

"Whoa!" she shouted, quickly pulling her hand back after Optimus growled and bit at her.

"Take if from me, you're not going to get it away from him without a fight," Ratchet snickered. "Now, let's see what he has that he doesn't want to give up."

"That's ok, I can handle it!" she blurted out.

"No, its best you let some one with experience do this part else you'll lose a finger."

"But I need to learn at some point!"

Ok, that was odd. Ratchet's never known Elita to sound desperate about anything. It's like she didn't want him to see what Optimus was holding. So of course, he looked to see what the sparkling had in his hands.

"Are those maximum security hand restraints?" he asked.

Elita said nothing but the embarrassing look on her face told him more than he wanted know!

"Here…take him!" Ratchet said, dropping the sparkling in her arms. Then he headed as fast as he could for the door. "My processor has been corrupted enough since coming in here! Primus almighty! I don't want to know what you and Optimus are doing with those!"

The door slid shut leaving Elita alone with Optimus again. He was very happy with his prize, shaking it and giggling.

"It's your reputation that's been ruined as well you know," she said to him.

(squeal!)

The restraints fell to the floor and the bottle was snatched from Elita's hand.

"Optimus! You couldn't have done that a few astroseconds earlier?" she asked with a heavy sigh.

Optimus just grinned at her while suckling on the bottle as fast as he could.

"You're so lucky you're a cute, adorable sparkling right now."

(BURP!)

Elita groaned loudly thinking about the all too familiar sound affects she's heard from her bonded mech over the years.

"Primus, please don't let the other end be as loud or as smelly," she prayed to the heavens above.

Optimus simply giggled and smiled at her.