The aquarium was done, a coral reef placed in it, ocean water was already circulating in via pumps to the outside of the base. I had added fish and was feeding them, which meant I was standing on a step stool and vending over the edge to get the food spread evenly. There is a knock at the door.

"Come in." I say.

Door opens and in steps Barracuda who I certainly didn't expect up and around. I'm so caught off guard I lose my balance off my rather precarious position and end up dunking half my body in the water. When I manage to pull myself out, what I hear has me gaping at Barracuda. She was giggling!

"Uhm.." I say, "..welcome to the Shark Dunk Tank?"

Barracuda full on laughs now, trying to stifle it in with her hands and failing miserably.

I get off the stool, "Next week watch for me starring in Tanks of Mishaps."

She manages to chortle out, 'S-Stop.. stop.. no more jokes nod, looking down at the mess of fish food and seaweed sticking against my chest. "So.. what brings you by?"

Recovering a bit from her fit of laughter, smiling warmly at me, Barracuda says, "Well, I was wondering if you weren't busy if we could go out to Point No Point and talk?"

That has me pause a moment, "I'm no busy, but I am curious as to why out there?"

"Because Shark I want us to talk in private. And I like it there." She explains, "The sun would be setting and it brings me a sense of peace."

Frankly I'm a little surprised, but considering what Smokescreen told me earlier.. well, I'll have to see where she's going with this request. "Okay. Are you medically cleared to do that now?"

She pauses, "Well no." a slight frown, "But how about we go to the holo room and set it up for location and time?"

I nod, "Sounds good. After you."

So we head over to the holo room, she sets it up and we step into a simulated Point No Point near dusk. It's quite real, the sounds, the smell, even the feel of a slight fog rolling in.

She sits near the edge of the water and pats the spot next to her. "Sit."

I do as asked, trying to looked relaxed even if I'm nervous.

"I suspect Smokescreen told you what happened?" she asks.

I nod, "Yeah, he did."

"he's a good mech, treated me in a way I didn't expect. A polar opposite to how the Quints treated us." She says.

I nod, but say nothing. Barracuda continues, "From what Tracer told me, you showed a side of yourself that surprised her. Yet, she was impressed too." She glances at me.

"Oh?" I ask, not liking where this may go.

"She told me what happened between you two when she was in cyber estress."

That makes me wince, I cannot look at her now as I say, "She needed my help cuz she trusted me."

Barracuda nods, "She trusts you more than you will ever know. Has for a long time." A little smile, "If not for Smokescreen stepping up and sweeping her off her feet, I think perhaps she would have been your bond mate."

I snap my head toward her to stare at her in shock, a shake of my head, "I don't think of tracer that way. Even now I don't. I care for her, but just.. I don't know.. I guess our sparks don't synch in that way."

She smiles and says, "I know." Sounding a bit mysterious there.

Not knowing what to say to that I look at the holo ocean. We sit there quietly for several minutes.

"Shark?" Barracuda asks softly.

I turn my head toward her, optics having to adjust to her very close proximity which becomes even closer as she gives me this soft, hesitant kiss. It's then I realize kiss number one that first year of kiss a stranger was her.

Barracuda remains close, staring into my optics like she was looking for something. I lick my lips, looking right back and realizing that my spark is fluttering. My circuits are surging to life in a way I'm surprised by since of all the femmes I've known in this new life, and even in my old one, none made me feel like this. She cups my face with her hands, holding me there so lightly. I cannot move because I simply don't want to as she closes the gap and kisses me again. More assured and firm are those lips upon mine. For a short moment I take it in, then join in by kiss back. That causes a slight tilt of her head so our lips join more firmly still. Her mouth opening a little bit at a time as the kiss evolves. In the back of my head there's that nagging voice of 'it's a dream'. I hate that voice! Nuisance of self doubt!

Barracuda pulls back just a bit, one hand on my chest now, one on my face, she whispers, "Do you feel your spark, Shark?"

I nod, whispering, "Yes."

"Listen to it. Tell me what it says." She says.

I honestly never had purposefully paid attention to my spark until that fluttering happened. "I'll try, but I'm not sure how." I admit.

"Close your optics, turn off all your thoughts, all physical sensation, then when you feel the warmth of your spark and hear the whisper you'll know."

"Okay." I tell her, optics off first, physical sensation next, then quieting my thoughts. It takes a few minutes but I get there. And by the pit I feel warmth. Then I hear the whisper. Faint at first. But as I really tune into it, it becomes louder. I'm so shocked by what it says that all that I had shut down powers back on. I stare at her. "My spark said 'she's the half to make you whole.'"

Barracuda smiles warmly, "Mind said that about you, Shark."

Before we could continue, my radio goes off, "Shark, you are needed at launch tube one."

Barracuda hmms a little, "We'll talk more later."

I get up and smile down at her. "Yes, we will."

We talked as I had the free time to do so over the course of the next few weeks. At times such talks were disrupted by my radio going off or on or more of the other base staff. One disruption was the tap guardian Bebop, who I like just fine, but at times was just out there with his speech - out there as in rapped.. constantly. Unlike his inspiration – humans that were rappers- he wasn't given to violent rap or rap that discussed females in a bad way. So when he walks up and doesn't rap, you know he's being serious about something. Taking me off to another room, he begins, "Shark, you are like a brother to me, so I wanted to talk to you about something."

I nod, "Sure thing, beat box poet."

Bebop grins a bit, then gets this really scary serious look on his face. "My girls," he begins, "I feel like we aren't connecting like Soundwave does with his boys."

The way he says it is all concern, like a protector should sound I reason, "I hear you there, something going on between them."

Bebop nods, whispering, "I got to get that connection. I cannot be a good guardian if I don't know how they are doing in battles."

"Well Bebop, only thing I know to suggest is some sort of spark bond." I tell him, "Maybe the docs will know for sure."

Bebop gives me a big grin and slaps me on the back." Righteous suggestion. Thank you."

I cuff him slightly in the shoulder, "What's a brother for eh?"

Bebop nods, "I'll go talk with the docs. Chat later."

"All right." I say and watch him head off.

Bebop was excited and a bit scared as he waited for the cassettes to return from a routine patrol. His talk with Shark had emboldened him, Still though, he wasn't sure how they would take it. The door to their shared room opened and in the four entered. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing that they were unscathed. He been thinking on what to say as he sat upon his berth. Now he just had to say it. The four picked up on his silence as they jumped or climbed up onto the berth.

"Something wrong?" Vixica asked.

Naturally she would, the vixen was a robophyscologist and a darn good at it too. As usual she sat just off his hip, paws coming to rest on his thigh. Ursa Thylar lumbered up onto his lower leg and laid down. Austera laid down by his knee, head resting upon it. Struthia plopped herself squarely in between the two, taking a spot high up on the lower leg, nearly on the knee. He smiled at them, giving Vixica a reassuring stroke on her back.

"Nothing wrong. Just I got something to say," he explains.

"Go on." Vixica urged.

"I've been your guardian for some years now. I've watched you all develop you skills and learn about yourselves as well as each other." He paused, seeing them raptly listening. He touched a hand to his chest, his spark already anticipating what he wanted, "You have shown me great loyalty, devotion, and even affection. I am so honored to be your guardian. But I feel I am not doing enough."

This met with three of them speaking over each other until Struthia squawked over them all, "Let him finish!"

The three were stunned into silence by this. The ostrich rarely spoke.

Bebop favored her with a smile, fingers curling against his chest to trigger the compartment to open, "I think you all notice how close Soundwave is with his tapes. I want the same with you four. I need to know that you are safe or if you need help." His chest folded back, spark chamber opening, the cool blue sphere exposed to their sight, "I wish you to merge just enough with my spark so I can be the best guardian I can be. Think about it." Then he laid back flat on the berth, allowing his spark to resettle into the chamber.

Struthia moved first, perching just on the edge of his open chest toward the shoulder. Austera was next, taking a lower corner of this chest. Ursa was right on her hooves, taking the other corner. Vixica leapt up to take the other upper corner. "Decided already?" he asks. They exchange glances between each other and as one they nod Each one opening their own chests and spark chambers. Bebop felt even more honored, then pushed his spark up as far as he could. Each of the tapes moved in as close as they could then touched their spark to his. The sensation was awe inspiring. He kept the connection with them until he had a connection with all four and they with him as well as each other. Then his spark resettled and he sighed a soft. "Rest."

It was a few days later when I saw Bebop again. He was practically glowing – seriously you could visually see it.

"Shark you old salt you!" he yells with a grin, he gives me a hug that rivals some from Cons that meant to crush me to death.

"Oof! Easy! Why you so hug crazy all the sudden?" I ask.

Bebop released me and keeps on grinning, "My girls influence. I did it, Shark, did a partial spark bond with all four of them at once."

"All four of them at once." I repeat, "Okay, so its them that just hugged me not you?"

"All of us just hugged you in appreciation cuz you my main mech are a clever fish bot." Bebop states.

I smile a hint, "Not been called fish bot in ages." Then I offer him a hand, "Congrats on that connection."

He takes my hand above the wrist, releases, slides the flat of his palm against mine, then bumps a loose fist against my hand. "Thank you. Check you later."

I nod and smile a bit more, that mech is way too up to date on his human hand shakes.