-2 earth months later-
"How big of a family did you have dad?" Ratchet turned around to look at his son.
"What do you mean?"
"Well did you have any siblings or aunts and uncles or grandcreators?"
"Well I had my sister, Echo. My sire, First Aid, was an orphan so I don't know my grandcreators from that side of my family but I had four uncles. My carrier, Red Alert, had a sister, my aunt, Athena, and my grandcreators were medics."
"Athena? Where have I heard that name before?" Redcord hummed in thought and sat down beside Ratchet's desk.
"You've probably heard Optimus or Blue Spark say that name before. Athena was their carrier."
"Wait so you and Optimus are related?!" The smaller mech stared at his sire. Ratchet laughed and patted his helm.
"Yes. Optimus is my cousin. Our carriers were brother and sister."
"Why didn't you ever tell us!?"
"It's never needed to be brought up." Redcord stared at his sire. Ratchet went back to his work.
"What about your uncles?" The young mech heard his sire groan. He got excited and giggled a bit.
"What were their names?" He sighed.
"Their names were Hot Spot, Streetwise, Blades, and Groove. Then my sire was the youngest. Hot Spot and Streetwise were the oldest twins, then Blades and Groove. My sire was last. They were all so different it was hard to believe that they were siblings."
"Why did you groan when I asked?"
"They were loud." Another giggle came from Red.
"You don't like noise much."
"No. I don't," his sire grumbled. Red hugged Ratchet's arm and rested his cheek plate on his shoulder. Ratchet stroked his helm.
"I love you, dad."
"I love you too, Red."
Ratchet looked over his shoulder when he felt servos touch his back. Ironelle stood with her helm against the armor of his back.
"What's wrong Ellie?" She mumbled a reply he couldn't understand. He frowned a bit and turned around to face her. She kept her helm down and leaned against him. He put an arm on her waist and lifted her chin.
"I just miss you…a lot…I don't like being alone…it makes me scared…I feel like my sire will come out of the shadows and try to hurt me again…" she mumbled. He hugged her close and held her.
"Oh Ellie. Don't worry. I won't let him hurt you. I promise. You trust me right?" She nodded into the crook of his neck and he reached over and turned the light above his desk off before picking her up. Ironelle flinched.
"Easy." Ratchet left his office and walked down the hall to their quarters. Ironelle closed her optics and sighed.
"What if he comes back?"
"Hm?" The red and white mech looked down at his mate as he sat her down on her side of the berth. She turned on the small lamp beside her and looked up at him.
"What if he comes back to get me?"
"I'm sure he has offlined by now Ellie."
"No Ratchet! You don't understand! He would still be alive! He manages to survive! I don't know how but he does! He survived the fire he caused in our house…when he burned my mom to death…he survived getting his helm bashed in by Tailgate's sire…and I saw him run away after he was stabbed in the spark by Impactor…He'd still be alive Ratchet…I don't know how but he would." Ironelle shook and she whimpered in fear. Ratchet sat on his side of the berth and turned to face her. She looked at him.
"Ellie, trust me when I say this. I'll protect you. I won't let anyone harm you as long as I'm here." She curled up against his chest and pulled the recharge blanket up to her shoulders.
"Do you trust me Ellie?" She nodded and moved closer to her mate. Ratchet stared at her.
"If you try to get any closer to me and you'll be underneath me."
"Don't care. Cold." He put a servo to her helm. Ironelle grabbed his servo and placed it around her. A chuckle escaped his lip plates.
"Ok ok. I get it. You want me to hold you."
"Took you long enough to get the hint, old mech," she grumbled. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Old mech huh?"
"Yes."
"Well this old mech doesn't have to hold you." She clung to him sleepily.
"No! Don't go Ratchet. I love you." Ratchet laughed and held her close.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." Ironelle started drifting into recharge and Ratchet stroked her helm gently.
"You don't have to worry about your sire getting you ever again. I'll protect you Ellie. I promise." Ratchet reached up and turned off the light before settling down on the berth.
"I love you too much to let you get hurt."
-2 weeks later-
"The ship crashed? How many bots were on board?" asked Ratchet. He looked at Prowl.
"Three. One femme and two mechs. All online and are being tended to in the medical office."
"How did they crash?"
"The ship ran out of energon." Prowl sighed and looked at Ratchet. He walked to the office in the docking station and heard yelling from inside.
"I'm a medic! I know I'm fine! Let me tend to my patients!" The door slid open as he approached and he walked in. A red and grey femme was arguing with the nurse. Ratchet recognized her immediately.
"Echo?!" Ratchet rushed over and grabbed the femme's shoulders and looked over her. She blinked.
"Is it really you? You were the femme in the crash?! Are you sure you're not injured?! No broken struts or armor? Twisted limbs? Broken energon lines? Punctu-" he was interrupted by her covering his mouth with her servos. She smiled.
"Ratchet?" He hugged her and picked her up.
"Oh thank Primus! Echo you're alive! I thought you were killed in the hospital explosion!" Echo hugged her brother back and giggled.
"No. I wasn't even at the hospital."
"Then…" Her face fell and she looked down.
"I thought you would know if they survived."
"No. I don't."
"So we don't know if mama and papa are offline," she said sadly. She sighed and stepped away from her brother.
"Well. I should really check over my patients." Ratchet looked at the two mechs sitting on a berth, not too far away. They were immersed in their own conversation, not paying attention to the siblings.
"Alright. One last question Echo."
"Hm?" She looked over her servo at him.
"Are you still working on your research?"
"Of course!" She grinned before walking over to the mechs.
Ratchet sat in his office in Iacon's rebuilt hospital. Echo was sitting beside them. They were going over notes about rebuilding the medical system to Cybertron. He felt someone tap on his shoulder. He turned around and Bumblebee waved.
"Hello Ratchet!"
"Bumblebee? What are you doing here?"
"Wait is this Honey Bee's little spark?" Bumblebee looked at Echo.
"You knew my mom?" She smiled.
"Yeah. I knew her when she used to hang out with us. Before she started hanging out with that mech anyways." Echo mumbled the last part quietly.
"What mech?" he asked, helm tilting in curiosity. Ratchet glared at Echo and she covered her mouth, knowing she said too much. Bumblebee looked at Ratchet.
"She's…talking about your sire, Bumblebee."
"My sire?" His optics widened.
"So you guys knew him? What was he like? Was mom telling the truth when she said he was busy fighting in the early days of the war? Please tell me." The young mech looked at Ratchet and Echo. They looked at each other and Ratchet put a servo on Bumblebee's shoulder.
"Bumblebee…your sire…he…" Ratchet sighed.
"There's no easy way to say this Bumblebee. Your sire was a Decepticon." Bumblebee's optics widened.
"R-Ratchet this is no time for jokes. I'm being serious…" Echo put her servo on his other shoulder.
"He's not joking. Your sire was a Decepticon seeker." Bumblebee frowned and looked down.
"So…she was lying to me whenever she said he was a good mech…he really wasn't." The older mech sighed and looked at Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee she didn't want you to be upset by the fact. She was trying to protect you."
"It doesn't make it hurt any less Ratchet…I love my mom and I miss her but it hurts that she didn't tell me."
A/N: Hello readers. Thank you for being so patient with me. I need to explain my absence. My mom got married and we moved into a new house but we don't have internet and I couldn't update at my dad's because he has a tracker on the wifi. I'm going to try and find a way to keep updating. I have at least 2 more chapters written and ready to be posted. Thank you for sticking with me thus far and I appreciate it. I will be posting the other chapters I have soon.