Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Here's a happy Labor Day update for ya!

It was difficult to say who was more upset, Grimlock or the sparklings. The big Dinobot was in tears too when it was the designated nap time for all three sparklings. It took Ultra Magnus several hours to console Grimlock and explain to him that the sparklings needed to recharge so that they could play later. And the sparklings cried themselves right into recharge.

Bumblebee, who'd been recharging all morning and into the afternoon and thus missed Grimlock's breakdown as well as Blurr's arrival, woke to find the base very quiet.

Wheeljack and Skyfire had locked themselves in the new lab. Grimlock was grumbling and whining about the thorough maintenance check up he had to endure at the hands of Ratchet in the Med Bay. Sunny and Sides were actually being good in the Command Center with Magnus.

With everyone seemingly busy, Bee headed into the play room to get some sparkling quality time. First thing he did upon walking in was giggle to himself. Elita and Chromia looked exhausted, recharging in relaxed sitting positions on the couch. Prowl looked as if he passed out from too much high grade with his head resting on his arms there were on the table he was sitting at.

The scout quietly crossed the room, careful to not disturb them as he knew all too well how exhausting tending to over energetic sparklings. Inside the recharge crib was exactly the opposite. Optimus, adorable as ever recharging with his aft in the air, Ironhide flat on his back snoring as usual, and Jazz curled up in a small bundle of cuteness.

Prowl's systems alerted him to a new presence in the room, pulling him from his recharge nap. He stood up, finding Bumblebee silently observing the sparklings as they recharged. The black and white mech hadn't realized how exhausting one tiny sparkling could be. Yet, Prowl enjoyed every astrosecond of it.

"I must say, this will be one experience none of us will ever forget," he spoke softly, standing beside Bumblebee.

"I know. How will we ever look up to Optimus again, after seeing him like this?"

"We all started out this way, Bee. Optimus wasn't spawned by Primus himself as a fully mature mech. He earned his place as Prime, remember that."

Bumblebee nodded.

Optimus suddenly turned over and sat up. He yawned wide, rubbing his optics with balled fists. Then he whimpered as his tank gurgled. He was hungry.

"Seeing them and being able to play with them, makes me want one," the scout smiled, reaching in and lifting up Optimus.

"I know what you mean," Prowl sighed, his optics locked on Jazz, his hand affectionately caressing the tiny silver mech's head.

"You'd make a good father, Prowl," Bee complimented grabbing one of the prepared bottles off the table. He set Optimus on the floor and handed it to him. Optimus eagerly sucked on the bottle.

"We'll never know that for sure. But I'll gladly settle for being an uncle once Elita and Optimus' sparkling arrives." He gently lifted Jazz up into his arms, careful to not wake him. He couldn't help it. Jazz was too cute. He sat back down at the table, content to watching Jazz recharge. "In the meantime, I'll just have to enjoy this time as a surrogate father for as long as I can."

"Oh, Primus…that is just not right!" Bee suddenly gagged and stumbled backwards.

Prowl gave Bumblebee a puzzled looked. A moment later the smell hit his intakes. He had to agree. He still couldn't believe anything could smell so foul!

It was too much for Bee. The poor mech crashed loudly to the floor waking both the femmes. Elita jumped up to see Optimus was happily suckling away on his bottle sitting on the floor near Prowl's feet. Chromia woke up, rolling her optics at everyone's reactions.

Jazz was jolted awake instantly from the sound of the crash and immediately started crying. He didn't cry for long, realizing he was in the safest place he could be. Once calm, Prowl set him on the floor next to Optimus with his own bottle and then went to attend to Bumblebee.

"For frags sake, it's a smell. It's not going to kill you," she huffed, getting to her feet and heading to the recharge crib. Hide was slowly waking up as she looked down at him. She didn't hesitate to pick him up.

"Iheardacrash!WhathappenedtoBumblebee?Isheok?" Blurr asked as he shot into the play room.

"He's fine," Prowl said, slapping Bee on the faceplates.

"Istillcan'tbelievehowcutetheyare!CanIholdonenow?YousaidIcouldlater.CanI?CanI?"

"Here you can hold, Hide," Chromia said, seeing that Prowl and Elita were a bit reluctant with their sparkmates. Over protective fraggers. "Just don't talk so fast to him. I think you about fried their processors this morning."

"I honestly thought their heads were going to pop off with as fast as Blurr kept moving around them and them trying to keep up by turning their heads to follow him," Elita said, moving across the room. She grabbed the last bottle and handed it to Chromia.

Bumblebee groaned as he sat up.

"Bumblebee,you'reawake!Howareyoudoing?"

"Blurr? When did you show up?"

"Theoneandonly!YouwereinrechargewhenIarrived.SunnyandSidessaidnottowakeyou.Arentthesparklingscute?"

"Blurr!" Chromia snapped, smacking him on the head.

Ironhide giggled, "Ka-boom!"

"If he keeps it up then I will shoot him, Hide," she smiled, patting Hide's head.

Blurr muted it, looking worried. He wasn't going to risk Chromia shooting him. Even if he was holding Hide, she might still do it. She had an accurate shot to pull it off.

The room suddenly started shaking.

"Oh no," Elita moaned, covering her optics with her hand.

"We did say he could come back once they were awake," Prowl said, helping Bee up and into the nearest chair.

"There are going to be rules around my sparkling," the femme commander insisted.

"Agreed," Prowl said. "But at least we'll have Optimus back to control Grimlock. You know I won't hesitate to toss the twins in the brig. Anything to keep the sparkling's processor from being corrupted."

"GRIMLOCK!" both Optimus and Jazz cheered, chucking their bottles aside.

"Optimus! Jazz!" Prowl and Elita shouted but it was too late.

The two little bots zipped across the floor as Grimlock came stomping in, in his alt mode which the sparklings loved. Honestly, it was difficult to tell who was more excited – the sparklings or the big bot. It was a miracle the tiny bots didn't get crushed beneath the big feet of Grimlock as he bounced around them.

Elita, Prowl and Chromia didn't even have a chance to try to rescue the two over excited sparklings as they were too busy dodging Grimlock's tail each time they tried to get close. Then the unimaginable happened. Somehow, Optimus and Jazz got on Grimlock's feet.

"Grimlock! NO!" Elita shouted in a panic.

Grimlock didn't like getting yelled at by the femme commander and did what he always did – he ran. Besides, the sparklings like it as they were giggling wildly, their small hands clinging to his ankles. The more they laughed the faster he ran. He managed to make it a long ways down the hallway, with two frantic sparkmates in hot pursuit.

Magnus happened to be headed towards the stomping and the giggling that echoed down the hallway. He stopped, watching them racing towards him, praying he didn't get trampled over. He couldn't wait for Optimus to be returned to normal. Magnus could only control Grimlock so much.

"Grimlock, stop!" he ordered, making his frame as big as it could get, blocking the way. To his surprise the Dinobot did as he was told a few feet from Magnus. "You can't run around like that with sparklings on your feet. It can be dangerous for them. And dangerous for you if you upset the femmes."

The City Commander bent down and plucked up the two little bots. Tears instantly erupted. Two relieved sparkmates arrived, both deciding it best to not be angry. It never bode well to get mad at a Dinobot unless you wanted the base to be wrecked. Besides, Elita and Prowl were more scared than anything and just relieved the sparklings were safe now.

"Me Grimlock sorry," he big bot sniffled, hanging his head down. "Having too much fun. Like to play with sparklings."

"We know big guy," Magnus sighed. "You have to remember to be careful is all."

Optimus warbled softly at Grimlock, his small hand patting the big bot gently on the head. Even Jazz offered some comfort by hugging the Dinobots snout and purring.

"We need to designate a play time for Grimlock too," Elita smiled. "He's like an oversized teddy bear to them."

"Or an oversized sparkling," Magnus chuckled. He recalled that Optimus often commented that he felt like a father and not a leader to the Dinobots.

"Regardless, his spark is in the right place," Prowl added, taking Jazz into his arms. "With some guidance I'm sure he'll make an excellent sparkling sitter."

Grimlock nodded his head enthusiastically, "Me Grimlock want to be a sparkling sitter!"

"We'll see what we can do," Elita smiled.

Up next: Wheeljack and Skyfire figure out how to reverse what's been done. Optimus gets a new perspective on things.

a/n: Sorry, I can't keep this going forever. It does have to end eventually. But the next chapter is not the last.