The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 62 edited for boo boos :D
-0-Autobot City, Mars
He came through the door and was tackled by Sunspot. "ADA!"
"Hey, smiley," Ratchet said leaning down to pat Sunspot's little butt. "I have dessert."
"WHAT IS IT? IS IT GOOD?" Sunspot said smiling brilliantly.
"Dessert is ALWAYS good," Ratchet said with a grin. He walked to the table and smooched infants right and left setting the box of 'cupcakes' on the table. Grabbing a plate of dinner, he sat as the infants regrouped to finish up their meal.
"It seemed like three orns ago since this morning," Ratchet said as he moved Orion back into the center of his chair before he slid off onto the floor on his helm. He grinned at Ratchet, then went back to munching on his 'cupcake'.
"What do you think about our new aliens?" Ratchet said.
"I think they're a good fit for here," Ironhide said. "I like what I know about Larc."
Ratchet nodded. "I saw some of them walking around the city when I was coming home."
"That doesn't surprise me," Ironhide said. "I wonder about what she said to Prime."
"She's not the first brainiac we've ever ran into. The telepaths I've met wouldn't surprise me at all if they could do that. They don't have a lot of details but they have feelings."
Ratchet nodded. "I know," he said. "We'll find out when Elita and her team goes to Cybertron in a few orns."
"The playoff game is coming up this weekend," Ratchet said with a grin. "I hope slaggers keep themselves busy bothering everyone else so we can have the game uninterrupted." Ratchet smiled. "I hear there is supposed to be a great half time show."
"I wonder what its supposed to be?" Ironhide took Praxus's cupcake and broke it into pieces, placing them on a plate in front of him. The little bot smiled sweetly. "ATAR! ATAR, GOOD! I GOOD!"
Ironhide snorted. "You are."
The two of them sat grinning, then Ironhide stood up gathering dishes together. Turning to the sink, he stacked them glancing over his shoulder at Ratchet. "We have some more things to do before the apartment is finished. We have to set up the office and move some things into it."
"Your job, Ironhide. The slag part. All of your guns and slag can go in the closet so we can have the option of locking it as a gun safe."
Ironhide nodded. "Alright."
"Ada? Do you want me to put my desk in there too?" Sunspot asked.
"If you want to, Sunny. You can keep things where you want them to be if you want," Ratchet said.
"I think it might be nice to have my desk next to yours. Sort of like an office," Sunspot said licking the 'icing' on his 'cupcake'.
Ratchet grinned. "I think you deciding is going to be good for me, son." Ratchet finished his meal and sat back. "I personally think you are a good decision maker, Sunspot."
He grinned. "Thank you, Ada. Did you know that the sparklings slept with me last night?"
"I am aware," Ratchet said with a grin. "I am thinking that a big boy bed for Orion is in order."
"I have it stowed in the maintenance room at the end of the hallway," Ironhide said pausing in his clean up.
"Why don't you and Sunspot get it, Ironhide. I'll pull Orion's crib to one side and we can try this out," Ratchet said grinning at Hero who was grinning at him around her sippie cup. He picked her up and settled her on his arm watching as she tipped her cup up to drink.
"ADA! WHY ME? YOU?" Orion asked staring at Ratchet as he listened to his name being bantered about.
"We're paroling you to the big boy bed your brother had. If you don't behave, you go back into the slammer," Ratchet said.
He looked at his Ada and considered what he was saying. It made zero sense but he didn't care. He had his Ada's complete attention. He smiled ginormously. "ADA! ADA GOOD! ATAR?"
Ironhide paused on his way to the door. "What?" he asked.
"ADA GOOD! I GO YOU!?" he asked pausing in his nosh of a semi crushed cupcake.
"You have a dirty face," Ironhide said grinning.
Ratchet took a damp cloth and began to clean Orion up. He glared at his ada. "ADA! OW ME!"
"ORION! TOO BAD!" Ratchet replied with a grin. "There. You're clean and presentable. I won't have a sparkling of my own looking like a junk heap." Ratchet raised him up from his chair putting him on the floor. He looked up at Ratchet, then Ironhide, an utterly comical effect.
"ATAR! GO ME!?" he asked pointing at the door.
Ironhide grinned and nodded. "Follow me, slagger. Stay with me." With that, Ironhide walked to the door in the new part of the apartment and held it open. As he did, Orion walked boldly to him followed by a hasty Praxus and a smiling Sunspot. "I'LL COME TOO, ATAR! THIS IS FUN!" he said taking Praxus by the servo.
Ironhide snorted. "You're a good spark, Sunspot." He held the door as the three wandered out, their chatter and happy chuckles loud and merry. The door closed and Ratchet sat a moment staring at it, then turned to look at Hero. She was holding her sippie cup, her optics staring at the door. She looked at the cup, then Ratchet, then smiled.
"Well, it looks like its just you and me, baby," Ratchet said with a smile of his own.
She chuckled softly, her little blue optics beaming from the attention. "Tweet? A?"
Ratchet grinned. "Ada," he said leaning in to whisper to his daughter.
Hero smiled.
-0-A few seconds later
The door opened again as two little bots stepped back inside, then turned to watch as Ironhide entered holding a little bed and mattress set up. He paused to see where everyone was as Sunspot entered closing the door. "Lock the door, Sunny," Ironhide said looking at the little Seeker. "We want that one locked during the day whether we're here or not. We haven't decided which one will be the main door yet."
"Okay, Atar," Sunspot said pressing the button that locked the door. He turned and looked up at Ironhide. "Do you need help?"
"How about getting the sparklings out of the way. I might flatten them accidentally."
"Okay," Sunspot said walking to take the servos of both babies. They followed him as he led the way to the hallway and beyond.
Ratchet poked his helm out of Orion's room, Hero on his arm. "You made it."
"Barely," Ironhide said grinning. "I had a time prying them off the controls and equipment in the maintenance room. Slaggers."
"Servos on experiences, Ironhide. You heard Mr. Roto," Ratchet said moving back into the room to let the others in.
"Slag that," Ironhide said moving to the wall to put the little bed down. "Remember that when Orion disconnects the lights for the entire building. What do we do now?" He looked around the room. Everything was there including the crib where Orion had recharged since he was small. "This is sort of sad. Little mech is growing up. I still have his little box bed from way back when."
"I know. I saw it on the closet shelf," Ratchet said handing him Hero. He moved to make the bed with Sunspot's smaller bedding and put Orion's little bed dollies on it just so.
Orion was watching. He looked up at them and pointed. "ADA! WHAT ME? WHY?"
"Because we're crazy," Ratchet said as Ironhide grinned and nodded.
"Oh," Orion said with a giant grin. He walked to his bed and clambered up. Moving to sit, he looked at Praxus and Sunspot. "PAX! POT! COME ME?"
Sunspot grinned and walked over climbing up to sit next to Orion. Praxus ran up and with a lot of pulling he was soon on the bed with them. They sat in a row grinning up at Ironhide and Ratchet who was taking pictures.
"More pictures for your bulletin board, Sunspot," Ratchet said with a grin.
"I LIKE THAT! I like having pictures of my brothers," he said looking at both of them. They smiled at him. "Aren't they cute?"
"Won't get an argument out of us," Ironhide said with a grin.
Ratchet nodded. "No, you sure won't." Then he took more pictures.
-0-Later that night
Ratchet turned off the computer, then the lights in the office where all the furniture was finally arranged. The clothes closet aka gun safe was filled with things that went kaboom including their gear bags for emergency missions. The tiny desk and chair for Sunspot sat nearby against a wall. It looked comically cute in the room with the big desk, computer equipment, a filing cabinet and book shelf with Ratchet's stuff for work neatly filed.
Walking out, he saw that Ironhide was already in the berth. Entering the wash rack, he looked around and saw that it had a few things askew but not as much as usual. Having another wash rack for the younglings was going to be a good thing he thought as he went about his business. Shutting off the light, he walked out and flopped on his side of the big berth. It was silent a moment.
"You sleepy?"
"Sort of. You?"
"Sort of."
A quiet pause lengthened out. Then Ratchet rolled over and settled on Ironhide. He grinned and rubbed Ratchet's back gently. "How's the sparkling?"
"Doing great. How are you?"
"Antsy to fight instead of oversee but glad the mission went so well. How are the wounded?" Ironhide asked.
"The Decepticons are going to survive. A couple of them won't be fighting anymore. The civilians are pretty beat up but all of it easy fixes. The Hu An apparently cured their sick members. I was told that all of them are up and getting around."
"How? You told me that they don't have doctors and don't seem to need them," Ironhide asked.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out," Ratchet said. "I hear that they have a replicator device that can make energon in a steady supply. I hear it puts our own devices in the shade."
"I did too," Ironhide said. "If we can smuggle them onto Cybertron, it will help the food shortage problem there until we can do better."
It was silent a moment, then Ratchet snuggled closer. "Do you think we can bring Cybertron here some day?"
Ironhide thought about it. "I would hope so. They don't have the solar connection anymore. Cybertron is sort of wandering now, even if it is slow. I would like to see her here in this place, safe and rebuilt. I want our sparklings to know where they come from."
"You and me both," Ratchet said sleepily. "Some day, Ironhide," he said quietly.
"I hope so."
It was quiet.
In the other room Orion lay on his berth tucked into soft blankets, his dollies in servo. This bed was great. There were no bars, the distance between his current location and the floor was shorter and he had comfort.
A mech had to have comfort.
Looking around, he sat up. It was strange not to see bars. He looked at his crib and considered how hard it would be to crawl back into it. He would try that another time but for now he would try this one out. Laying back down, he grinned. Talking to his dollies for a while, he finally fell into recharge.
Praxus already was and he dreamed of flowers and puppies. Blue dog puppies. Pound puppies.
Little mech loved his cartoons.
Hero was lying on her back watching the lights of the air field play on her room's ceiling. They were pretty and they moved. She hugged her koala bear toy and smiled at the lights. She would fall into recharge after a while. She wouldn't remember her dreams though.
She was a still a very little femme yet.
Sunspot was recharging like a growing mech should. He would dream of flying in blue skies, his genitors flying with him. He would remember them in his dreams, their beautiful loving faces and their gentle touch. He would remember them smiling and talking to him softly. He would remember sitting in their laps listening to them sing but he wouldn't remember the ship crash that took them away from him forever. He would just remember how they loved him and he loved them. He would fly in the blue skies with them, feeling their love, their pleasure in him and feel joy.
He would not remember any of it when he awoke.
He never did.
-0-TBC
2013 (3)