Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs.

Chapter 27

Peaking around the imposing forms of two snarling static-hound pups Bumblebee blinked warily up at the forms in the doorway. He didn't seem to be the only one severely confused as to what was going on here either. First Aid was still trying to get his feet under him while the twins were caught somewhere between tensing and gawking behind his place on the medical berth.

It was a palpable silence that suffocated the bay for a long dozen or so klicks before First Aid found his vocal processor.

"Umm,"

Yeah.

Unfortunately, that was all he had at the moment.

But Optimus was nothing if not a gifted with a skill for words.

"Yeah."

Expect now.

Apparently, even he was having a hard time with this one.

First Aid lifted a finger pointing at the three femmes as if trying to figure out if they were really there. The mesmerized look he shot them was dismissed when Arcee smiled to the mech she'd known while he was much younger then the grown medic that stood in front of her now.

"It's good to see you again, Aid." Cee smiled fondly at him.

The mech blinked before a slow smile finally crept up his faceplate. A quiet chuckle followed the ever growing grin on the younger mech lips as he leaned back against the table behind him. "Back at ya, Cee."

A sharp snort and Sunstreaker drew all optics toward him. His own dark blue optics locked on the three femmes standing there among his family, not because he didn't know them, but because they had his tiny youngest brother hiding on the berth behind his hounds and the damn glitches Optimus and Ironhide were doing nothing about it.

Well if they wouldn't.

He would.

"If you don't mind me asking, bots, who the pit are you?"

He expected . . . well . . . he wasn't really sure what he expected, but First Aid lifting a finger and waving it at the three femmes while he murmured. "That's their mates." Wasn't it.

Sideswipe almost fell on his aft from how quickly he reeled back as he jaw dropped open alongside his brother's while Bee titled his tiny little head to the side at the words he didn't quite know what meant and his hounds kept on growling.

"M-m-mates?" Sideswipe stuttered, his optics wide.

"As in your dead mates!?" Sunstreaker breathed.

Jazz all but snickered evilly. "I'm guessing Mirage didn't come by here first, did he?"

"MIRAGE!?" The three mechs yelled.

Bee blinked. Huh?

"Wha-wh-what . . . ." It wasn't often Sideswipe was rendered speechless. Hardly ever actually, his quick tongue was something the red mech prized. He had a comeback for just about everything. It was just his thing.

Sparkmates coming back from the dead though . . . .

That one he couldn't figure out how to touch.

If he wasn't so busy bobbing his jaw up and down like a slim-eel he might have been a bit pissed off.

"I know this is a lot to take in, mechs, but just calm down." Optimus tried to relax the two very strung mechs that seemed to be winding themselves even tighter. The twins hadn't ever really handled change all that well, but the look in their optics was nothing compare to the one in Bee's as he peaked around his still bristled pups. Optimus couldn't address it yet, however, for the twins weren't done.

"I thought they were dead!" Sunstreaker barked.

"And what do you mean Mirage didn't come by here? Mirage is back!?" Sideswipe's voice wasn't much lower than his brother's.

"He brought them back." Optimus told them simply.

"And then there's Scorn." Jazz put in oh so helpfully.

Just because the silver mech was still very unsure out all this himself didn't mean he wasn't going to have fun watching the twins twitch about it. Prowl was on his feet again, so that glitch he didn't have to worry about. Getting the twins to drop, well now that might just be the icing on the energon cake for this orn.

Not that Ratchet wouldn't nail him for it. Quite literately possibly. Most likely to the wall.

He could live with that though.

"Who the pit is Scorn?" They snapped together.

"The giant ancient femme that is outside with Grimlock." Prowl answered in his ever even tone. The sudden presence of which had Jazz doubling over with laughter. For he figured they might as well all laugh, all this was too fraggin' nuts not to laugh at.

"You're joking." First Aid mumbled, his optics wide in shock.

"Nope." Jazz chocked around his laughter.

"I—" The younger twin tried, but after a moment he just sighed. "Yeah. I got nothing."

"Cee," Ratchet spoke up, his optics shifting from the pale pink femme to the two very confused looking bright warriors. "This is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, and well . . . you can feel what they are."

And that she certainly could.

The flared back to life connection between herself and her sparkmate allowing her every access to all the mech's bounds. At first she'd not noticed the bright place in which it seemed these two mechs lived, a bit too distracted by the brilliant burning light that was Bumblebee and simply being able to feel her mate again. Now though, she had a pair of faceplates to put with the glowing warmth in Ratchet's spark that felt like something she'd never known. Never had the chance to.

A creator's love for a youngling.

Not unlike the way the medic felt about a tiny yellow ball of protoform, but it was more than a little bit surprising to feel what Ratchet felt for those two grown mechs. Just how much he felt for them. She couldn't stop the smile that worked its way up her lips as they shifted uneasily staring at her until the red one spoke up.

"You're Arcee?"

She smirked. "Yes."

The brothers blinked in unison before they shared a mumble. "Hi."

Because what else were they supposed to say?

"Hello." She replied, almost as equally confused as they were it seemed. Though far less hesitant. If they meant as much to Ratchet as it seemed then she intended to find out why. In no way ever would she question it.

"And is that . . . ?" Chromia trailed off a little unsure, her optics drifting between Ironhide and the tiny yellow thing on the medical berth.

"Yes," Hide rumbled. "That's Bumblebee."

The mechling squeaked at being mentioned and sank down lower behind the wall of black plating between himself and them. Echo and Scout took that as a sign to growl a little bit louder at the strangers.

"And those are his static-hound pups." Hide went on with a bit of annoyance and a harsh look toward Jazz. "Scout and Echo."

"You gave a youngling static-hounds?" Elita turned her gaze up the towering form of her mate making Optimus shift under the glare that was suddenly lurking in those orbs.

"No." He defended, in a bit of a rush. "Jazz did."

"Hey!" The silver mech all but yelped when three sets of bright femme optics were turned on him, and they didn't seem all that thrilled. "Way to throw somebot under the transport, Prime!"

"Well you did." The commander shrugged, more than a little bit glad even as sparkling-ish as it might be that his mate wasn't glaring at him now.

"Yeah but—I was—mean it to be—at the time see—he lov—they're not so—oh what the pit ever! Aid! Why the pit is Bee down here anyway!?" Jazz stammered on until he finally just threw his hands up in the air and fled the only way he could. Diversion. You know, him being a master spy and all that he was supposed to be rather good at it.

And because of that he was content to just go on pretending that wasn't him rambling on like an idiot under the glare of bots shorter or just as tall as him.

It was smooth.

Oh so very smooth.

Jazz smooth.

Yep.

Not panicked at all.

Aid—who had let to take his optics off the femmes for more than a few nano-klicks—just kind of shrugged and answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Though that might have been because he was in a bit of a daze. "He's growing doorwings."

The daze was snapped pretty fast though.

"HE'S WHAT?"

Ironhide, Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, and Ratchet all spun on the younger mech in less than a blink making Aid stumble back just a bit before he could only shrug again.

"He's . . . growing doorwings. Two sets apparently. Figured it out while you were gone. That's where Fire went. To get some minerals so we can start a new mix for him. I already got him on sedatives, it's probably why we had no warning you were all back. He can't feel you at the moment. Not clearly at least."

"Two sets of . . . ." Ratchet turned to focus in on the tiny mech hiding behind his hounds.

Hiding . . . .

Behind his static-hounds.

He was on sedatives.

He had no fraggin' idea what was going on.

The CMO figured that out about the same time the guardian did.

"Bumblebee," Ironhide murmured lowly, watching his son's antennas flicker to the low sound but he didn't really come out from behind Echo. Only a tiny peak. Big baby blue optics staring at the three femmes until their gazes met his and then with a squeak he snapped back behind the wall of protective black metal.

He was . . . afraid?

Oh damn, he was on sedatives. He couldn't feel the sparks. When Bee couldn't feel what was going on around him he reacted in only one of two ways. Either turn into a grouchy little pain in Hide's aft or he balled in on himself and hid. Seemed like it was the latter option as of the moment. Likely to become the former at any time though.

A questioning pulse radiated from Chromia as Hide watched his mechling, but a comm going off in his and all the others on the Autobot channel distracted him.

"Umm . . . Optimus?" Red Alert didn't seem to care much that he was broadcasting over the open channel for the whole faction. He probably was doing it on purpose.

The high commander turned his focus inward. "Yes Red?"

"Are you aware that Mirage is currently making out with Quickfire on our ship's first floor?"

A whole jumble of voices rang out over the faction shouting a good many different things until Optimus snorted.

"I'm aware he's here if that's what you are asking, but no I didn't know where he went. However, I did have a pretty good-" He was cut off though by a not so thrilled Quickfire.

"MIND YOUR OWN FRAGGIN' BUSINESS, RED ALERT!" Fire's squeal nearly blew half of their audios out. The chorus of groans over the line was proof enough of that.

"What happens on this ship is my business." Red shot back.

"Pervert."

"HEY!"

Rolling his optics Optimus pinched the bridge of his noseplate only to look up in surprise when Elita started giggling at him for it. The pulse she sent him via the bound was a fond sort of 'you still do that' and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"He's not the only one that's back, Red." That was Inferno, his voice slightly surprising.

"What do you mean he's not the only one back?" There might have been a bit of a hitch in the security monitor's voice. Not that the closest mech too him needed to hear it to know he was on the verge of glitching out. That might have been why Inferno had already left his post outside Eternity to head toward the smaller mech's office. This was really going to screw him up in the processor.

"Didn't you notice, Red? Elita, Chromia, and Arcee are back too. Not to mention the giant ancient femme outside with Grimlock." Now Jazz might have just been being the slightest bit mean, but he far too much enjoyed hearing Red freak out to just let it go.

There was a moment of silence, a burst of static, and then once again nothing. Well nothing that is until Inferno growled across the comm.

"You are a sick twisted bastard you know that, Jazz?"

Jazz might have giggled. "I can be."

"What the pit was that even for!?" The large mech snarled. "Now I have to deal with him when he wakes up!"

"That, dear friend of mine, was for busting me last cycle with the highgrade."

"You are a petty, petty mech."

"Again. I can be."

"Jazz, stop making this harder on bots' logic chips then all this already is." Optimus sighed. "We have other issues to deal with right now."

"But he's so much fun to mess with." Jazz chuckled.

"Well now he's passed out on the floor of his office. So you've messed enough." Inferno snapped.

"How about we focus back on the fact that the mechling is scared at the moment." Prowl rolled his optics speaking to the room.

"Prowler's right." Jazz nodded.

"You just don't wanna be in trouble with Inferno since he's the only mech in this place that has ever stood a chance against you in C-Ball." Sides lifted an optic ridge.

"Also true."

"Jolt you listening?" Optimus asked over the open channel, letting it go for now.

"I'm almost there. I'll help get him back on his feet." The bright blue medic answered.

"Well now that that's all settled. How about somebot tell me what the frag is going on?" Hot Rod's voice echoed over the comm line.

"I'm a little curious as well." Ultra Magnus' deep tone joined.

"We'll talk later." Optimus assured them before he muted his comm, turning his attention back to the medical bay around him and the tiny youngling still peaking around his hounds.

The mechling couldn't feel the connections flared back to life before him. He had no idea what he was looking at. Add that on to how Bee had reacted to Quickfire the first time he saw her, the timid looked was not all that unreasonable.

How to go about explaining all this to a twelve vorn old youngling however, that was going to be interesting. There was no way to know how he was going to react. Sure it was Bumblebee, and he would be as sweet and as innocent as ever, but there was one thing above all others that Bee prided himself in.

And that was his bonds.

They were his bonds.

This was his family.

They were all that he had.

The simple truth of it all was the little mech was a tad possessive, and he had every right to be. He'd lost everything else. He loved all of them for all of their insanity, and he clung to them truly terrified that he'd be left alone again.

They all knew that.

They all knew how he reacted when he felt like he was in the way, or had been forgotten. Bumblebee didn't always understand that they were never going to forget him, or stop loving him. They tried to convince him that wasn't the case. However, arguing with a youngling wasn't always black and white.

And now they were about to shove three sparkmates into this complicated picture.

A bit of unease prickled through both the Prime and the Weapons Specialist.

The mechling's Carrier had been lost to him long ago, and it was a wound that they all knew had never truly gone away. That was an ache inside him they couldn't fix. Just like Risk. They could try all they wanted, but they were never going to be that femme.

They shouldn't try to be.

Then there was the other side of the creator card. He'd never known his biological Sire—at least he didn't remember him—and with what they knew now there was no way to truly put into words the relief that swelled in the two might-as-well-be Sires' of his because of that fact. The ugly truth of it all though was. They hadn't seemed like replacements to a young and confused spark when they'd taken him back with them from a battleground. They had been new, something he'd never had before. It wasn't hard to fill a place that had never been known.

This was a different though.

These femmes were their mates.

And there was no way in pit they had any idea how Bumblebee was going to react to that fact.

Those wide, unsure blue orbs were painting enough of a prologue for the coming event though. Perhaps this would be better done in sparkling-steps. Which is just what Optimus murmured when he glanced at Ironhide.

The big black mech nodded. "You might be right."

That also might have been an understatement.

As quickly as they all appeared into the bay they were gone again.

Well, mostly.

Now Bee was left between a still prickled Scout and Echo staring at Ironhide and the stranger that was tucked to his side.

Bee wasn't all that sure how he felt about that.

He couldn't stand that he couldn't just reach out and feel what was going on, and these stupid pointless wings he was growing had been the cause for the meds in his veins at the moment that kept him from being able to understand. It had him on edge, something Echo and Scout could feel as easy as they could feel his plating against their own. It was why when Ironhide tried to step closer to the medical berth once they were alone Scout let out such a sound that had Bumblebee clamping his hands over his audios.

Bee chirped loudly at the pup and the sound quickly came to an end. Scout shirking back and spinning around, sinking low as he went to sniffing and nuzzling at the mechling. He hadn't meant to hurt his audios. With a narrow glare though Bee just huffed at him. Not meaning to didn't mean it didn't happen. Echo relaxed the slightest bit while he glared, looking back to make sure their brother was alright before all three sets of optics, both black and blue, turned back to the massive ebony form of Ironhide and the blue femme beside him.

A soft whirl kind of noise left the youngling as he stared up at his guardian who was now standing beside the berth. When Hide reached out a hand to cup his tiny faceplate Bee leaned into the familiar motion though his optics kept drifting back to the bright femme still a few steps away. Those dark yet vividly bright optics of hers watching him with a look he didn't quite know what to make of. Her curiosity and wariness almost matched his own, and he could tell all that without even being able to feel her.

However, he shrunk away from the look. He couldn't feel who she was. Not really, and he didn't understand why she seemed so close to his Sire.

He didn't really get any of this, and he was about ready for somebot to explain it to him. That or Scout was gonna start biting bots.

"Hi Hide," He chirped.

A smile graced the big mech as he rubbed at the little one's antennas. "How is it no matter what I leave to do I come back and you've gone and gotten yourself into something, again?"

A silly little shrug. "Don't know."

"Wings? Really? You're growing doorwings?" Hide tilted his head, checking and finding the tell-tale graying patches on his youngling's back. Aid wasn't kidding. The mechling was growing doorwings.

Well, their immediate future just got a bit more complicated.

He'd watched doorwings grown in once a good long time ago. With Smokescreen. It was the first time in his life he'd ever felt truly completely useless. Though that was nothing to watching Prowl fuss over the tiny mechling. It had been the only time in the whole span that he knew the Praxian that he left work for an extended period of time. For he would not leave his little brother alone with anyone while he was doped up on meds and had protoform pushing out through his back.

Hide remembered it well—as did Mia—and her first sighting of the little mechling that had stolen the massive mech's spark was going to be a grumpy confused little mess. Somehow though, that seemed to fit.

"Don't want 'em." He gave a little whine as he stared up at the bigger mech. "Pointless. Can't fly."

Hide chuckled. "You and the airborne dreams. What am I going to do with you, little mech?"

He was gifted a smile in return only to watch it fade away again when Mia shifted behind him and the youngling's gaze snapped back to her. Ironhide followed his gaze then returned those dark optics of his mechling.

"Bee," He said softly getting his attention again while the pups shifted around him glaring at his femme. "There's somebot I want you to meet."

Bumblebee flicked his antennas, but said nothing. Just watched.

"Come here, Mia." Hide said gently over the returned bond, revealing more than a little bit in the feeling of being able to call out of her and then here her answer.

"I don't want to upset him, Hide." Chromia never took her optics off that brilliant blue orbs that stared up at her. It had been so long. So damn long.

And she'd never thought she'd see something like him ever again. Yet there he sat. Wrapped in a pile of static-hounds that wanted to chew her arms off really was the tiniest youngling she'd ever seen. With the sight of him, the connect she could feel burning inside her mate, and what little bit she could feel of a med deluded spark caught the bright femme in a place she'd also never thought she'd be again. Falling head over heels for the tiny creature she hadn't even spoken too yet.

Call it Carrier instinct, call it a femme who had lost her own, call it a desperate need to see one after being there to hear the fiery deaths of so many, call it whatever you like but in all reality it was a burning in her spark that came from not being able to know the bond that belonged to her sparkmate.

She didn't know Bumblebee, he didn't know her, but already her spark was crying out to try and be included. To know this spark that Ironhide's own core adored so. The spark that had carved out a place for itself in a spark she could feel had grown quite cold after she and their sparkling vanished for him. They still had a lot to talk about, and figured out, and to reconnect between them. Three of them now. First however, the mechling had at accept her.

Her.

A femme he knew nothing about, that only knew the little Mirage had said added on to what she'd heard between them all earlier. They were strangers.

The sparkmate of the mech that had adopted him as his own.

They were complete strangers.

It was a new level of cruel for both her and Hide's spark.

Ironhide knew how bright, bubbly, welcoming, warm, clever, caring, loyal, and loving his tiny mechling was, but he also knew that with his spark clouded all Bee saw was a stranger that just strolled into his perfect little world. Five strangers if one wanted to get technical, but there were going to take this all one step at a time. Everything was about to change. And there was nothing Ironhide could do about that. He didn't really want too, and maybe that was selfish of him, but Mia was back and while nothing would ever truly fill the place in his spark that Whiteout had once been there was a new brightness that lived there, had carved out its own place to belong.

Bumblebee.

Now he just had to prove to said brightness that this was okay.

"He's not afraid, he's shy. Always has been around femmes." Ironhide explained. "Well at least with Quickfire, since she's the only femme here."

"His Carrier wasn't a femme?"

"She was, but she was gone before we found him though. I have no idea what his life was like before we found him. If Mirage is right though . . . ." Then he didn't want too.

"He can't tell what I am to you. Not if Aid has him drugged up."

"It'll be okay, Mia." Hide almost purred. "Just come here. He won't know anything about you besides you're a stranger if you don't come closer."

"Hide . . . ." Mia had never been a timid bot. Quite the opposite really. She'd never shied, swayed, or slipped away from anything. She was the outspoken sister. Elita was the gifted diplomat and Cee was the healer, but Mia had always been the more . . . explosive of the three. Chromia had never been a timid spark. She was vibrant and at times she was downright violent. She was a warrior by nature and a damn good one to be true.

It hadn't been until she figured out she was sparked with Whiteout what felt like forever ago that the femme even considered carrying. Before then she'd never thought she was the type. Sparkmates and sparklings, it all seemed like something far more suited to her sisters then herself. Then she'd met Ironhide that night the Guard combined their battalions to raid a mountain tribe. The night she saved his stupid frame.

It still amazed her how stuff like that worked out. She'd hated the big mech the first time she met him. He and his cockiness had rubbed her every wrong way possible, and after that she'd been content to never see the big aft again. Until he walked in at her sister's new mech-friend's shoulder half a vorn later at the Prime's ball.

He'd changed so much in her life once she let him in, given her so much she'd never thought she'd needed.

And now here he stood with this tiny bundle of protoform who he shared such a bond with and was offering him and his bond up. The same old Ironhide. Hard on the outside, gooey on the inside. Not so much unlike herself.

With a breath to calm her racing spark the blue femme stepped forward to tuck into Hide's side again smiling softly at the tiny creature draped in pups that glared and murmured low growls up at her.

When she was close to the medical berth and his pups glared up at her, Bee wiggled a little closer to Echo, his optics drifting between Hide and this femme, before he let out a shy squeak.

"Hi."

And then he proceeded to hide in Scout's shoulder. He was half wonder-struck, half unsure. He'd never seen her before, and with the meds he couldn't feel her. Not to mention those bright optics of hers had him sinking shyly into his pups' hides. They struck his memory in a way he couldn't quite make sense of, but whatever the reason was it pulled at his spark. It almost hurt, but whether that was because he was trying so hard to reach out and understand what and why this femme was or some other reason he didn't know.

Mia couldn't help the growing smile when the little mechling burrowed into his protective pet and then peaked back out at her through the shifting panels of the mech pup's shoulder.

"Hello little one,"

Another peak while Scout snarled and Echo curled tighter.

"Bee," Ironhide rumbled a deep purr reaching around the curled black metal, thumping Scout between the audios when he snapped at him, and pulled his little Bee up from the medical berth and into his arms. Bumblebee didn't need to be given the offer twice. Once wrapped snugly in his guardian's arms he burrowed into the massive mech's thick chest so that he could feel his powerful spark thud against its casing. It wasn't as good as his bond, but it was close enough. It made him feel better all the same as he tucked his little self against the thick armor. Then he glanced back up around the bulky arms to see the femme again.

His antennas flicked out of their grooves in his curiosity, but snap back down after a moment. He was still more than a little unsure about all this.

"Mechling," Hide rumbled again to reclaim his attention, smiling when his little head snapped back to bring those big blue optics to his. "This is Chromia."

Bee's head tilted to the side as his antennas flicked up again. "Chr-mi-mi-mi . . . ." He gave an annoyed little rumble more at his own vocal processor than anything else before with a snort tried again. "M-i-Mia."

She couldn't stop her giggle at the stumbled over syllables. Every part of her wanted to reach out and stroked those short flicking antennas that twitched up and down atop his little head. He was just so fraggin' cute she couldn't stand it, and wrapped up there in her sparkmate's arms it had her own spark wanting to desperately know this little light. Never would her spark forget the mechling that had been stolen from it, and up until this moment she never thought she'd ever know how to let somebot into that place he had been ever again, but staring down into those bright orbs she felt something long since cold and empty flare with warmth again.

"Mia works just fine, little one."

"Mia." Bee repeated softly with a small beep while he rolled the name around in his processor. As he did with every name he learned. He'd been doing it for as long as he could remember. Maybe because there wasn't much else he could remember about his carrier, or maybe just because it seemed to work. Whatever the reason though, Bee held the name in his processor and in his spark. Thinking it over and wondering about it until he decided that he liked the name. He liked the picture it painted in his spark.

So he would like this femme, but he still wanted to know who she was.

"Hi." He mumbled again making her smile even more before he turned his gaze back up to the deep, dark blue optics of his Hide. With another slight tilt of his head he whispered. "Who she?"

Ironhide chuckled. "She's Mia."

Bee just glared.

He'd already figured that much out, thanks very much.

Rolling his optics dramatically the little mech reached up and poked the big mech between his optics making Hide snap his head back with a snort and a fake glare of his own as Bee giggled and tucked himself back into his chest before mumbling around the armor surrounding him. "Mean in here." He poked the mech in the area above his spark.

He might be on meds that clouded him, but Bumblebee didn't need his spark to see the connect between his femme and his Sire. He could see it in Hide's optics. It was a joy like the mechling had never really seen. It had been in Optimus' and Ratchet's optics as well—and he still wanted to know who the others were as well but for now he wanted to know what was going on with his guardian—and he was going to be told why it was there, or there would be a fit to be heard of it.

Ironhide shifted his thick arms as he gazed down at the youngling in slight confusion. "Can you feel her?"

That miniature head shook against his chest as the optics slid back up to his. "Stupid meds. Doesn't mean can't notice though." And he pointed his tiny pointer finger up to the mechs optics. "Hide happy. Really happy. Why? Who she?"

It was true. He was really happy, and he wanted his little Bee to be happy with him. He desperately wanted Bee to accept it, but he couldn't—wouldn't—force him too.

"She's my sparkmate, Bee." He answered honestly in a low tone so that the mechling would feel the sound rumble though his tiny frame and hopefully that would make up for not being able to feel what that meant to Hide through the bond that linked them. He wasn't even sure if Bumblebee knew what that meant. He couldn't recall every having explained what mates were to him. He was almost positive that conversation had never once came up. For there were no bonds around here that would require that explanation. Well, besides the twins, but the twin thing was a whole different ball game all together.

And judging by the confused blink he was given in response he had just about all the answer he needed.

"You have no idea what that means do you?" He lifted an optic ridge.

"Nope." He popped the 'p' with another flicking of antennas.

Huh.

How exactly did one explain sparkmates?

Damn. This would be so much easier if he could just feel the bond between Hide and Mia for himself.

"Well she's . . . sparkmates are . . . well . . . I love her, mechling. We're bonded because of it." There. That was a simple way of putting it.

Another few slow blinks before Bee looked toward the bright blue femme as she stood there only a few inches away watching them both with warmth in her optics. When she caught his gaze she offered the tiny youngling another small smile. "And I love him."

He shifted against his Sire's chest then turned to stare at him once again. "Like me love you, Hide?"

The weapons specialist snorted a laugh. "Not exactly."

Well now he was confused again. "But me loves you, and you loves me. We has bond."

Right?

"Yes I know," Hide leaned down to nuzzle the bundle of yellow protoform and wires. "But it's a different kind of bond, Bumblebee."

"How different if it there 'cuz of love?" He didn't get it.

"When you can feel it after the meds are done you'll understand." Hide straightened from the nuzzle, trying to figure out how to explain what else what Mia was meant. "You and I have a creation, creator bond. Do you understand that?"

"You is my Sire." Bee nodded.

The words brought up a purr before Hide could stop it even if he didn't want too. "Yes. As long as you want me to be I am. But my point was the bond Mia and I have is not like that. Sparkmates, well they're mates, mechling. Does that make sense?"

Actually no.

No it really didn't.

He had no idea what mates were, but really that wasn't what he was most wondering over at the moment. He'd already gathered something was between the two. He simply wanted to know what it meant. Though maybe he was going to have to understand what mates were to understand that.

Unsure of what else to do he quickly shook his head back and forth.

Hide let out an uncertain breath before glancing toward Chromia. How did one put the definition of mates on a youngling level of processing?

Her slight shrug wasn't all that much help. He snorted at her while she just grinned.

"Well," Hide turned it over in his processor before the explanation suddenly clicked. "It's a commitment, Bee. All bots form bonds; with friends and family, but a sparkmate is a promise. A promise between bots to be more than just friends and family. Forever. Sparkmates are partners, committed to each other, and to whatever family they might start together."

Mulling that over for a few nanos Bee's antennas flicked back and forth as he thought before he glanced between the much larger bots. "Family." He started. "Like our family . . . but not at same time. Sparkmates . . . that mean they is pair. Share . . . family, but not like all you mechs brothers and friends."

Ironhide nodded slowly. "Yes."

"So . . . ." Bee bit his bottom lip as his bright optics locked on Mia again. "If she is your mate . . . that mean . . . since you is my Sire . . . she supposed to be my Carrier?"

Ideally, yes, but Ironhide wasn't going to tell Bumblebee that Chromia had to be anything to him. That had to be his choice. He wouldn't force a bond upon his mechling. He loved him too much to demand something like accepting something he might not want. No matter how much he loved Mia, and how much he desperately wanted to share the brightness that was Bumblebee with her. Who the mechling bonded with was his choice. And as long as Ironhide breathed it would remain as such. In every respect of the action.

"Only," Mia started, holding the little one's optics. She needed him to understand, she wasn't trying to destroy everything he knew. Ever carrier instinct in her coding—and what she remembered about her own late sparkling—was telling her just how much patterns and rhythm meant to younglings. They were creatures of habit. They needed steady and steadfast. Too much change too quickly could not only make them sick, but it could hinder their development. Youngling health was not a thing to be taken lightly. They broke easy. Both emotionally and physically, and harming the little one in anyway was the last thing in the universe Chromia wanted.

She wanted to get to know him. She wanted the chance to be let into this brightness that owned her big mech like only she'd ever known herself and their creation to do.

This little mechling had stolen the closed mech's spark. Opened it in a time in which even he had lost touch with it. And Mia knew better than anybot, just how hard it was to be allowed into that spark that had learned far too young that letting others in only lead to pain.

Hide had changed so much since those vorns in his tribe, but every now and again in the time that Mia had been at his side she knew the past came back to bare its fangs to the massive ebony mech. Hide was course and confrontational because it was how he had to be to keep himself and his tiny sparkling brother alive in a world that wanted to gut them and feed them to scraplets. It was not an easy feat to be accepted into his spark.

And yet here was this tiny creature that had not only him, but it seemed every other spark in this faction, wrapped around his tiny little fingers.

"Only if you want, mechling. We don't know each other. Not yet, but I can feel how much you mean to this big lug. It takes quite the spark to work its way into Ironhide's, and you're burrowed more than just deep. I have to admit I'm impressed. I'd like to get to know you, to be something to you, if you'd like. But in the end that's your choice, Bumblebee."

Bee shifted uneasily against his Sire's chest while he watched her and her bright optics. Those optics that were so bright, so bold. They intrigued him, and she seemed to mean more than a great deal to his massive guardian. She seemed nice, and very interesting. He wanted to get to know her. If for no other reason than how happy Ironhide looked . . . but . . . he'd already had one carrier. He wasn't sure if he could have another.

He'd never had anything like a Sire before Ironhide, so the prospect of not only having him but Optimus and Ratchet and the others didn't even give him pause.

And inside, deep inside, he knew that his carrier was never coming back . . . but he'd had one. She'd loved him, she'd taken care of him, she'd saved him from that dark place and those dark optics.

Was he allowed to try and have another one?

Snuggling deeper into the thick armor that surrounded him Bumblebee tired to keep his voice clear, but uncertainly had clicks taking more than a few bits of words as he forced them out. "But me . . . had Carrier."

Hide's spark hit his toes and Mia deflated more than just a little bit.

Bee wasn't finished yet though, even if the words made him droop in Hide's arms as he went to pulling at his fingers again while anxiety rolled through his chest. "But she gone. Never gonna come back, me know that. Said she would . . . but she not." His dimmed optics drifted up to Chromia's again. "You want mechling that already had Carrier? Want me?"

Both Ironhide and Chromia perked back up as Hide snuggled the suddenly anxious little bundle to his spark, rumbling a purr simply because once again Bee was just, well Bee.

His adorable little sweetspark.

Mia was purring in response even before she realized that she was as she gazed at the little mech while a love she hadn't felt in vorns swirled back to life inside her spark, and with it came another emotion she'd almost forgotten while she was locked away in the bowels of pit itself.

Hope.

"You have no idea just how much, Bumblebee." She whispered. "No idea."

Her soft words snapped Bee back up with a giddy little giggle.

He couldn't believe it.

She wanted him!

He was gonna have another Carrier!

A happy click left him before the tiny mechling wiggled just enough to get Hide to lighten his grip so that Bee was able to gather his self and spring from his Sire's thick arms and land in Mia suddenly scrambled forward ones. Out of sheer instinct the femme snatched him up and cradled him against her chest, her spark thudding from the nano of panic he'd caused her until it started thudding all over again, but now from the will to reach out to the tiny mechling and have him reach back. Even if she knew that at the moment he couldn't. That didn't matter though. All that matter to the bright blue and highlighted white femme was that there was a giggling mess of yellow protoform snuggling his way into her chest armor while he tipped his tiny head back and smiled up at her like a billion burning suns.

"We be family then!"

His family was awesome, and he's share especially if it meant Hide would look as happy as he did right then more often and if he got another shot at knowing a carrier. He missed his every orn, and maybe now . . . maybe some of that hurt would go away, and he could possibly have another.

The booming laugh that erupted from Hide had Bee snickering and burrowing even more when the massive mech threw his arms around both Mia and Bumblebee, yanking them up and crushing them to his chest, rocking them all back and forth steadily as he nuzzled both the mechling and femme with coolant burning the edges of his optics as well as Mia's all the while Bee giggled and purred.

Now that, that might have been the cutest thing I've ever written. If you only knew how much I was grinning like an idiot while I wrote this chapter. Wow.

I love it so much.

I hope you guys did too.

Again, thank you all so much for the reviews. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about this one.

-Jaycee