Chapter 2

-0-At the base on Diego Garcia, confabbing ...

"Thing? What thing, William Lennox?" Ironhide asked, more than just a little aware of what the soldier was trying to find out. He would make them work for it, the slaggers. THEY WERE ALIENS! NOT HUMANS! THEIR WIRING WAS DIFFERENT!

Mostly.

Will shrugged. "I was wondering ... I heard a few of the men talking about you and Ratchet and I was wondering ... that is, I was wanting to know ... " He glanced at Epps who blinked with elevated stress levels as he watched Lennox before glancing away. He frowned slightly. "That is, *Epps* was wondering. Ask him, Bobby."

Epps glanced sharply at Lennox, his eyes round with surprise and fear. "You're the leader. *Lead*."

Lennox put his hands on his hips as he glared at someone who was supposed to be a close and dear friend and brother. "You brought the question to me."

Ironhide glanced from one to the other as they argued, mildly amused at the fuss but concerned at the same time. They were getting closer to details that meant nothing among the bots but were flash points in some if not all the human cultures. No one among the organics knew much about the personal relationships among the Autobots and they kept it that way. Most of them like his own with Ratchet were not exactly welcomed in their society, especially among the military. "Is there a question?"

They glared at each other then looked up at Ironhide parsing his face as they searched for anything that would indicate amusement or at the very least a lack of irritation.

Lennox sighed as defeat settled on his fine features. "I would like to know if you're willing to tell me about the relationship you have with Ratchet. What I'm wanting to know … not for prurient reasons you understand ... I know when something's not my business. I'm just wanting to know … for myself that is, so that I can be more … efficient. Yes, efficient in my leadership. Of men. The men." He stumbled to the end oozing angst as he sighed deeply in his embarrassment.

"My relationship with Ratchet," Ironhide said musing on the millenniums of time that encompassed. "What part of my relationship do you wish to know? He's our chief medic, our comrade-at-arms. There's many sides to our relationship." He was going to make them work for it.

Will rubbed his face with his hands, his normally even complexion paling under the stress of the moment. "I guess, Ironhide, what I'm asking is if you and Ratchet, that is, you and Ratchet … are you in a personal relationship?"

Ironhide looked at them for a moment, his expression one of thoughtfulness. "Yes."

The two men considered that reply silently. Then they both released the breath they were holding. "Well, that's … that's all, I guess. Thank you, Ironhide."

Ironhide looked at them a moment without expression finding in their unease both a sense of amusement and irritation. For a moment he considered walking away, then he changed his mind. They were small and young. It was time that the elders of their profession taught them a lesson. "May I ask why you're interested in this, Will Lennox?"

Will shrugged then brought his hands up slightly defensively, his expression one of embarrassed confusion. "Actually, Ironhide, the men are talking about it. They're curious. I want to make sure that respect is maintained between you and us, that's all."

Ironhide shook his head as he pondered the U.S. military's lack of maturity in the area of certain personal relationships as he considered his options. He could school them on the lack of gender hang ups the Transformers had acquired over millions of years, multiple non-sexual manners of reproduction and the severe scarcity of femmes making such concerns moot, the lack of a defining gender among them at all ... or he could kick their afts. He chose the latter. "Ratchet and I are in a bonded relationship. There's more I could tell you, things that are intensely important but I don't know that you'd be able to keep the secret. That's how important it is."

Will nodded. "I understand."

"We keep a lot of secrets, Ironhide," Bobby Epps said biting the bait, glancing at Will as he spoke.

Will's expression turned downward at the exact moment Epps went up.

Epps smiled at Ironhide. "I don't expect you to tell us anything, Ironhide, but I want you to know that if you ever have to confide, your secrets go to the grave with us."

Ironhide pretended to mull this over, turning his head this way and that as if deep in thought. Then he nodded. "That's good to know, Sergeant Epps. The burdens are heavy. Perhaps ... "

Lennox who was bursting at the seams to ask dozens and dozens of his own questions made one more trip to the well of his conscience and took a deep gulp. "You aren't under any obligation, Ironhide, to breach a confidence or to confide in us."

"I realize that but I'm swayed by Sergeant Epps. Mech can talk." He straightened up to look around with a conspiratorial glance, then bent down at last to put his big servo out. They startled, then moved forward to sit on it as Ironhide arose, then walked out of the doorway and across the tarmac to an empty hangar. He looked this way and that as if seeking spies.

By the time they reached the hangar the rain was falling again slightly, the hammering of it on the tin roof pleasant to ears and audials alike. Ironhide put them down, then walked to the door peering out dramatically this way and that. Then he turned back to them regarding the two men quietly. Moving toward them, he hunkered down, looking at both with a solemn optic. "You must swear never to breathe a word I tell you to anyone."

They both nodded, Epps and Lennox crossing their hearts, heads bobbing in agreement as they shifted back and forth on their feet in nervous agitation. Their eyes never left Ironhide's face and it was with effort that Ironhide controlled his mirth. "Well then. I'll tell you what you must never transmit to another living soul, that's how important to everyone's security that what I tell you is."

They nodded again nearly bursting at the seams with nervous energy.

"Ratchet and I are bonded. Have been forever since Primus was a pup. What most people don't know ... what no one really knows ... " He looked around again, then fixed a steady optic on the two men. "Optimus Prime is our son."

The room was silent as the two men froze, their jaws falling open in surprise. They stood like statues, then Will swallowed hard. "Your son? You and Ratchet? You have a *son*?*Optimus*?"

Ironhide straightened, then turned away for a moment making an effort to control himself as he pretended to look around for spies. Then he turned back again hunkering down on a knee assembly. "Yes," he said considering his joke. "We actually have several kids."

"You *do*?" Will asked blinking with surprise. "More than*one*?"

"Sure," Ironhide said pausing to consider how big his court-martial charges would be if he included grandchildren. "Ratchet, he's quite the brooder."

Epps gasped then put his hand over his face to cover his eyes.

Will swallowed hard as he nodded. "Well, thank you, Ironhide. We'll keep your secret, I promise you."

"I knew you would, William. I'm sure that Optimus and Bumblebee would be glad to know that you're keeping the family secret."

"Bumblebee?" Epps asked looking up with startled surprise.

"Grandchildren," Ironhide replied with a proud smile.

The two men stared at him, then made their excuses, slipping out of the hangar together.

Ironhide walked to the door to watch them go as the rain began to fall harder as they fled. Then he walked back inside and laughed himself half to death.

-0-Med Bay, later on

"You said *what*?" Ratchet stared at him, his optics wide, his mouth hanging open.

"You heard me." Ironhide smirked, feeling pretty well pleased with himself. It had been a prank worthy of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. And the best part of it all was they were sworn to keep the 'secret'.

Of course being the contrarian that he was and bearing a healthy dosage of propriety, Ratchet was scandalized.

That he hadn't thought of it himself.

"You told him that Optimus was our son and that Bumblebee was our … what's the word you said?"

"Grandchild."

"Grandchild?" Ratchet said looking at him with astonishment. "We don't even have children let alone grandchildren."

"We didn't before but we do now. I told them we have several."

Ratchet stared at him as visions of courts-martial hearings and summary executions flitting across his processor. Then his expression changed as other images filled his thoughts as well. "We don't have children, Ironhide. We don't have them or grandchildren and at this rate we never will."

The change in atmosphere almost wrenched Ironhide's head off. He looked up at Ratchet, putting down the incomprehensible tool he'd picked up that was lying on a table near Ratchet's desk. Staring at the medic more closely, he tried to decipher Ratchet's expression. He was gazing at Ironhide with a mix of sadness and something else. Then it changed to one more familiar. He shifted to face Ratchet in a more defensive posture, his optics wary and the urge to flee rising in him. "Ratchet? You have that look."

"What look?" Ratchet asked as a thin humorless smile formed on his lips. "Actually, Ironhide, you fill me with ideas."

"Oh, no you don't," he said turning to walk to the door. A wench flying silently through the air clanked on his shoulder. He turned back to face a fully roused medic.

"Oh, yes, Ironhide. You brought it up. You have to deal."

With that the big front liner fled like the wind.

-0-Late that evening outside the hangar gazing at the stars

"You are still up?"

The deep sonorous tenor of Optimus Prime jolted Ironhide out of his thoughts. He turned to Prime as he schooled his face not to grin then nodded. "Can't recharge."

"That is where I am heading," Optimus said pausing to stare at the night sky again. "More are coming."

"I know. I'm pleased," Ironhide said. "Feels more like home when they come."

"It would feel more like home with children," Optimus proffered, his gaze fixed on the break in the clouds and the light of a big full moon.

Ironhide glanced at Optimus with startled optics. "Children? What have you heard about them?"

Optimus glanced at Ironhide as a strange look came over his face. "Nothing. What have you heard?"

"Nothing," Ironhide said turning to gaze at the moon. "Nice moon."

Optimus glanced at Ironhide wondering what was going through that mech's processor. Then he turned back to the scene ahead of him and grinned slightly. "Home is where your family is. Our family is coming, Ironhide."

Ironhide smiled and nodded, unaware how true those innocent words of encouragement actually were.

Optimus nodded then moved off to walk toward the hangar where home and berth were. "Good night, Optimus."

"Goodnight, Ironhide."

The night was quiet and the moon was full as Ironhide stood by the door watching the sky. The rain was finally stopping.