One Week Later…

"Ah…Aaah…Achoo!"

Azura winced as she felt the heat of fire surging out of her mouth and nostrils after feeling it surging up her throat. She sniffled as she looked at Optimus with a guilty expression as Optimus now had another burn mark on his right arm. The sneezing that Azura has been having was something that has not gone away this whole week. The sneezing has been less frequent than it was, but Azura was still sick. She still had a high internal temperature and she was often purging, though the diarrhoea ended up stopping a few days ago, which everyone was happy with.

Ratchet did end up injecting medicine into Azura's body since she was purging a lot, and when he started to do that, that was when her body started to recover. It will still take a long time for her to be fully recovered, but it has made life easier for her and Optimus. Both have started to catch up on recharge, and they are both very happy about that. Optimus was definitely happy, as the lack of recharge was making him less patient with the other autobots. And Azura had been extremely grumpy too, which added onto his weary, irritated state. But Optimus still kept his composure, while Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee did give them the space needed during this time.

Azura rubbed her face as the heat of the fire was something she was getting used to, but due to the metal burns she has from it, it was still uncomfortable. "I wish this sneezing would stop. My throat and mouth hurt so much." She sniffled a little and looked at Optimus. "I wish the sneezing stopped when the diarrhoea did…it wouldn't be as bad…and now I'm only sneezing fire. I wish I was sneezing ice instead…"

Optimus smiled as he rubbed her back gently while he cradled her in his arm. He had just finished giving her a cool bath as well to help cool her internal system, and they were currently in Azura's room. He knew that she was still miserable in how she was feeling, so he was doing his best to keep her as happy as he could. "Ice would probably do the opposite within your system, Azura. While I understand the discomfort of the fire, ice could create a dangerous situation within your system as well." She rolled her optics as she doubted that. "Though given the system creating these different elements seems to only produce fire, ice, water or electricity when you are going to ignite it and release that element, I would still be concerned if it was ice instead of fire almost all the time."

"I guess…but still…it would soothe this pain…I wish the sneezing would stop so Ratchet can treat the burns." Azura sniffled a little as she was really in a lot of pain. "At least it isn't as bad as it was earlier this week. But I still hate this feeling." She was feeling hungry and sick at the same time. She has been able to ingest some low-grade energon this week, but it was a concern for all the autobots that she was not getting enough. "I am hungry, but I worry I will purge as soon as I have something."

Optimus let out a gentle chuckle and kissed the top of her head gently. "It is hard to tell what your body will do when you ingest some energon, Azura. While you might want something, I recommend that you wait. Maybe have some water. Your system does rely on water as well as energon, so that might be fine. As water doesn't seem to cause you to purge like energon does."

That was true. Azura has noticed that since she's been purging, she has been wanting water more. And that meant her system relied on water alongside energon, so she has been drinking it when she felt like she might purge, and it seems to be helping. Azura just nodded and Optimus walked over to a shelf where there were bottles of water kept to give her one. They have found it easier that way than constantly filling a cup to give to her whenever she needed water. It didn't bother Azura that much though, as the bottles can easily be refilled anyway.

Azura held onto the bottle to sip from it as Optimus gently rubbed her cheek with his index finger and walked over to her tanks. "At the very least, despite how sick you have been, your fish have been thriving." Azura looked down at her tanks and smiled. While Optimus has been busy with her, Jack, Miko, Raf and Bumblebee have taken up the responsibility of looking after the tanks. And they have been doing a rather good job too. "Jack, Miko, Raf and Bumblebee have done an excellent job maintaining them for you."

Azura watched the tanks as she was definitely happy with how cared for the fish were. And it made her very happy to see them swimming around within those tanks. "I know. When I am better, I want to find some way to thank them for it. I don't know how yet, but I will figure it out. Maybe a painting…I don't know…" She shrugged as she was not sure.

Optimus knew that she would want to do that, and it was extremely sweet of her to want to give them a gift. "I am sure they are not expecting a gift from you, Azura. Do not feel the pressure to give them something. I am sure thanking them will be more than enough. But I will not stop you if you feel that you should give them something. You are extremely sweet for wanting to do that, despite the fact you are still sick."

She giggled softly and shrugged. "Well…I just think it is good…I know I can't just go to a store to buy anything anymore, so I have to be creative." She smiled at him with a big smile. "At least we both aren't as tired, and you're able to go out of the base if needed."

"Though I have not had any reason to leave the base at this time, Azura. I believe my place here is far more important right now. After all, what kind of a carrier would I be if I were to just leave you all the time just to do things outside of the base?" She snuggled against his chassis as she fully understood what he was trying to say, and it made her feel very happy. "Until something really needs my attention, my place is here with you, Azura. Don't you ever forget it. I love you so much."

"I love you too, daddy." Azura kissed his cheek and nuzzled against his neck happily with a light yawn. "Hmm…can we go to the lobby? I know that the kids are here, and I would not mind spending time with the others for a little bit. I don't feel too tired today, so I think I can do it for a bit."

"And you are very good at letting me know when you need to recharge, Azura, so I think that is also okay. It will be good for you, and I know the others are always happy to see you." Optimus turned and walked towards the door to leave the room. "I believe Bulkhead has just returned with Miko after checking out some kind of Monster Truck rally or something."

Azura could not help but chuckle as that sounded exactly like the kind of thing those two would go and watch. "And they are probably doing Ratchet's head in by talking excitedly about it as well. I can just picture them doing that so easily. But it is amazing that those two have similar interests, but Miko was always a girl with lots of energy I guess, so that energy has rubbed off on Bulkhead a bit."

"I agree. Though Bulkhead is a lot more level headed than Miko is. He only lets off some steam and acts like a youngling when he has the time to do so, and it has been good. Despite what Ratchet believes about the humans, they have become a very involved and important part of our lives." Azura chuckled as she still thought Ratchet's thoughts on humans was silly, but there was not really much that could be done to change his mind. After all, Ratchet does have a good friendship with Jack and Raf, it was just mostly Miko who annoyed him. "But when he needs to be focused on a mission, Bulkhead does not let the team down."

"I know, and that is good." Azura sipped some more of the water as she noticed that her tank seemed to be soothing and she might be able to have some energon very shortly. "At least they will sort of change their tune when you come in, daddy. Everyone always seems to relax or change their tune when you enter the room. But I guess that's you're the leader."

Optimus smiled at her in amusement. "I suppose they do. I have not paid much attention to it. Though I would like to believe it is simply respect. Otherwise, it could potentially be seen as them trying to hide something, as I know that is unlikely to be the case. So I don't think that is really something to be concerned or focused on, Azura."

"Oh, I know. I was just noticing it, that is all." Azura giggled at him happily and looked ahead as he was approaching the lobby. "I can hear Miko's voice echoing already. Oh well, it will actually be nice to hear her speak about the rally anyway. It's always fun to watch them on the TV because of how wild the drivers are."

"I am surprised you like that."

Azura shrugged. "Well, it is always fun to watch other crazy people do things that you can't do. It's fun to watch. I bet it would be fun to do as well, but I know none of you will scan one of those vehicles, because of how easy it is for them to tip over."

"You would be correct as to the reason why we would never scan those vehicles. I still don't fully understand the attraction of them either, but it is a vehicle that the humans have created for their planet. So if they use the vehicles for such entertainment, that is their choice. I will admit though, back on Cybertron, there were similar events that took place." Azura immediately became interested, as she had not thought that was the case. She did assume that races happened, but nothing like Monster Trucks. "Though the events are similar, they are not the same by any means. I can tell you about them when you another time."

Azura wished he would tell her now though, as she really did want to know about it. But if he wanted to tell her some other time, that was fine. She wasn't going to pressure him at all. But she was also trying to picture it as well. She figured that it was an event for larger Cybertronians to race or slam into each other in their vehicle modes. She knew that it might not be there, as often Monster Trucks rallies also have tricks and such shown to the crowd.

"Hey, Azura!" Azura looked towards the platform as Optimus walked into the lobby, and she smiled when she saw Jack waving at her and Optimus with a smile. "Are you feeling a bit better today?"

"Kind of."

Jack nodded in understanding. "Ugh, it isn't so fun when you are sick for a long time, is it?" She shook her head as Optimus walked over to gently place Azura onto the platform. "But at least things are getting better for you. At least you don't have to wear a diaper now that you don't have any diarrhoea." Azura grimaced when he mentioned that, and she frowned at him, making him chuckle a little. "Look, I feel for you, Azura. I've been seriously sick before too, it is not fun. So I know how you feel completely. At least you can think of it this way, it was only for a short time."

"It was still embarrassing. And my system still feels weird since then…so I might end up back in them again." Azura did not want that to happen, but she knew she would have no choice. "Anyway, uh, do you want to do something? I don't mind just doing some drawing over on my art platform. I just want to do easy things, and not really worry about anything."

"I think that will be fine." Jack turned to Raf and Miko who were standing nearby. "Miko, show her the drawing you made of the monster trucks you saw yesterday. I am sure she would like to see them."

Miko giggled and grabbed out her sketchbook to flip through the pages. "I'm not a great artist, but I had a lot of fun drawing these…" She turned the book to show Azura what she has drawn. "So I hope it isn't too cringe."

Azura smiled as she looked at the drawing that Miko had made of the monster trucks. She flipped the page to see Miko had drawn several, including imagines of herself and Bulkhead watching the rally, which was super sweet. "I think these drawings are wonderful, Miko. Even if you aren't the best artist, the best art comes from the heart in my opinion. So these are just perfect and capture the feeling you had watching it perfectly."

Miko was really happy that Azura liked the pictures. "Aw, that is so nice. Thank you! I think we should definitely do some drawing. What do you think, Raf?" She looked down at the boy who seemed to like the idea. "We should totally just pick something random and draw it, while we talk about random things and just have a good time."

"Sounds good to me," Rafael said enthusiastically. "It will be nice to give my mind a break and not think about school, math and…"

"Optimus, you're not going to believe this." Raf paused as hearing Ratchet speak suddenly caught their attention. Optimus walked over to Ratchet upon being addressed to. "I've just pinpointed the location of the decepticon warship."

Azura was intrigued immediately and walked closer to Ratchet, looking up at the screen curiously. "Really? That's kind of cool."

Ratchet looked at the sparkling and smiled at her slightly as Optimus looked at the screen in surprise. "How did you penetrate their cloaking technology?" The leader asked curiously.

"I didn't." Azura tilts her head a little and looked at the screen to see the image of the warship in question. She hasn't seen it yet, and she was still quite curious about it as she listened to Ratchet explain how he picked up the warship. "I was experimenting with variable frequency wavelengths when I stumbled upon it. Even still…" He turned slightly to look at Optimus. "Their ship must be experiencing some kind of electromagnetic breach."

"With Megatron deceased and the element of surprise…" Azura looked at Arcee to see her lift her hands and punch her fist, to show that the femme was thinking about what damage they could do.

Even the others were thinking that too as Bulkhead smirked in agreement with Arcee. "We could cause some serious damage."

"Kind of silly if it wouldn't do anything to stop this war," Azura grumbled with a frown, making the other bots look at her. "What? Can't we stop this back and forth at some point? The decepticons will attack you when you least expect, then you go and do the same thing." She sighed a little as she rubbed her forehead. "This might be my sickness talking, but it just feels like one big circle."

"I suppose from your perspective it looks that way. But I assure you, Azura, that is not the case." Ratchet smiled at the sparkling reassuringly before looking back at the screen. "But the decepticon ship is not the only thing I've found. Also, on the same frequency, an autobot emergency beacon." Ratchet sounded surprised to pick up the signal, and Azura was as well.

"R-Really?" Azura stared at the screen in shock and turned to Ratchet. "How is it that you didn't pick it up before? Or why have the decepticons not noticed either?"

"Again, Azura, the beacon is on a different frequency. We weren't able to detect the signal until I began messing around with the frequency wavelengths and picked it up. It isn't something that I expected, Azura. None of us would have expected an autobot ship to have been here." Ratchet let out a light sigh with a smile. "Hopefully this means there will be more to join our team."

"And the decepticon warship will have to wait," Optimus said as he was concerned about who might be on the ship, and the state they would be in. "There may be autobots in distress." He looked at Azura with a slight smile. "This does require my attention, Azura. You will be fine with me going to the ship to help the autobots, won't you?" Azura nodded with a smile, happy and proud that Optimus was going to go and help the autobots who might be on the ship. Optimus was pleased with that and looked at Ratchet. "Ratchet, bring your medical kit and we will bridge to the crash site immediately."

Ratchet nodded affirmatively, and walked away quickly to grab his medical kit. Azura watched him walk away and she looked at Optimus curiously. "This is kind of exciting and worrying at the same time. We don't know how long that ship has been crash landed for." Optimus looked at his daughter and smiled as he understood her line of thinking. "And…you know…I still haven't exactly gotten over Makeshift. What if this is a trick?"

"There is always a possibility of something like this being a trick, Azura," Optimus said to his daughter in a gentle tone. "And while I understand the concern, we will go with the utmost precaution." Azura trusted him on that, but she was still uncertain. "And I know that you are still shaken up by Makeshift. Though it has been sometime since the incident, I guess the incident has left its mark on your mind. So I understand why you feel that way."

Azura smiled and walked towards the railings, holding her arms out to him, and Optimus picked her up to hug her against his chassis. "It did. Sometimes…I've had nightmares about it a few times…" Optimus softened his expression immediately upon hearing that. "I haven't forgotten. I wish that I did…but I haven't."

"I see. And I am sorry that it has affected you the way it has." Optimus kissed her cheek gently and rubbed her back to give her as much comfort as possible. "Now that I know, I hope that what we do has made it easier to forget it." She nodded as there has been a lot that has helped her to forget the Transit incident. "Good. I just want you to know that I want you to be happy. And healthy, when this illness decides to…" Optimus paused as Azura began to make faces as a sign that she was going to sneeze again. He turned Azura slightly so she would sneeze away from him, but not directly at the consoles or the kids. Azura noticed and she let herself sneeze, groaning as another burst of fire erupted from her mouth and nostrils, making her rub her throat gently. "At least they are only single sneezes, and not multiple in a row like it was a few days ago."

Azura nodded as she remembered that. When she had multiple sneezes in a row, it was really agonizing for her. Especially as it was just fire constantly, and she set off the sprinkler system again, which was rather annoying as well. But that wasn't really the worst part, as due to the amount of times she sneezed, it caused her to draw energon in her throat. And that was very unsettling for her and everyone else. Ratchet did treat it thankfully, but until her sneezes stop, Azura had to endure the pain within her throat for the time being.

Azura sniffled a little and sighed softly. "If they would just stop all together, things would be much happier for me. I wouldn't be as miserable as I am now." She looked over to Ratchet as he walked over, and Optimus placed her back down. "I hope you find survivors, daddy. It will be nice to have more family here, and boost the numbers we need to face the decepticons…hopefully."

Optimus nodded in agreement. "Keep in mind, we might not be so lucky." Optimus looked at Ratchet as the medic put the coordinates in and opened the ground bridge. "Let's roll out." Ratchet nodded as both autobots walk towards the vortex. Azura did wonder why the others did not follow, but she did not question it.

Once they went through, Azura stared at the tunnel for a moment and looked at Jack. "Come on!" She grabbed his wrist with a smile and dragged him towards the stairs. "Let's go and draw while we wait for them to come back."

Jack chuckled softly as he followed Azura. "Sounds like a plan. It's also a good idea to maybe speculate the type of autobots Optimus and Ratchet might find. If they are alive, of course."

"That's what I was thinking too!" Azura said enthusiastically with a giggle as she ran down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the other autobots. "Maybe you could tell us about other autobots. Even autobots who aren't here." Arcee grimaced and looked away from her. "I'm not asking about Tailgate, I just mean others."

Arcee did not respond, though Bulkhead stepped forward with a smile. "Well, I think there is one who you might like to learn about. His name was Ironhide, and he was the most hot headed autobot you would have ever known." Azura smiled and sat on the stairs, as did Jack, Miko and Raf as they were already intrigued by this Ironhide. "Ironhide, next to Ratchet, was one of Optimus's closest friends. He was there since the beginning, since the war, and perhaps long before that. He was even bulkier than I am."

"He sounds like he was awesome!" Miko commented excitedly.

"Oh, he was. He was the weapon specialist, and he was the best when it came to engineering the newest and best weapons there is. Not only that, he could easily put dents into Megatron's body when he needed to." Miko giggled at the very thought of that. Azura was smiling as well, as learning about a different autobot from the past was very exciting for her. "The one thing everyone knew very well, is that he didn't take orders from anyone, apart from Optimus. Not even Optimus lieutenants and generals, because Ironhide was practically seen as a commander, despite not being given the title."

"I guess he must have earned the respect if he was able to do that," Azura said with a smile before her smile faded. "So…what happened to him? Was he around when…when…" Azura looked away for a moment and looked back at them. "Was he around when I was created?"

Arcee shook her head. "I am afraid not. Ironhide has…well…we're not exactly sure what happened to Ironhide." Azura widened her optics a little as she was sad to hear that. "Optimus knows. But he won't speak of it. I believe Ratchet knows, as he too was close to Ironhide, but aside from that we do not know what happened to Ironhide."

"Well, if it was something bad enough that even Optimus will not speak of it, it must have quite the way go for him," Jack said gently as he looked at the autobots sadly. "It's nice that you knew this autobot, and that he seemed like a great guy, though I guess because of the war, it is hard to talk about them without skipping over what happened to them."

Arcee nodded. "You are right, Jack. But we should not dwell on the past. There are some autobots who we could guess might be on that ship. But I think guessing might only just bring disappointment. Especially since we don't know if there are any survivors on that ship."

Azura hummed a little as she thought about it all. "Do you know what Ironhide looked like?" The autobots all look at her in surprise. "I only ask, because I drew a picture of Cliffjumper as a way to remember what he looks like. I also want to do one of Tailgate for you, Arcee…" Arcee widened her optics in surprise before her expression softened as her spark was warmed by the kindness of the sparkling. "So I also want to do one of Ironhide. That way daddy has something to remember him by. Not by how he died, but rather his old friend before that. That's the best way to remember someone."

Bumblebee walked over to her with warm optics and picked the sparkling up. "You are honestly the sweetest little thing." She giggled as Bumblebee hugged her gently. "Ironhide was the best uncle I could have asked for. I have pictures of him stored in my memory, I can show them to you. But don't tell Optimus. Keep it as a surprise for him."

Azura beamed excitedly at the idea as she had not thought of that as a surprise gift for Optimus. "That is a great idea, Bumblebee! I could do that for him. He and Ratchet will love it, I am sure!" She squealed happily at the idea. "I will have to start the drawing or painting after I get better. Since Ratchet and daddy are not here, you could show me what Ironhide looks like now, Bumblebee. That way I can remember it too."

Bumblebee was thrilled that Azura was happy about the idea he gave her. Jack and Miko did not know what was said, but they got it when they realized that Bee suggested to Azura to create an image of Ironhide for Optimus. They all thought it was extremely sweet, and Optimus would most definitely appreciate it. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee all showed images of Ironhide for Azura, and she was very happy to see the images of him. And Bulkhead certainly was not wrong. Ironhide was definitely a lot bulkier than him, and possibly taller too.

Once she knew what he looked like, Azura began to ask other questions about Ironhide. Like his color, his personality and so on. She wanted to get to know him through the autobots, as aside from what they first told her, she felt like it would be wonderful to get to know him fully. And the autobots had no trouble telling her about him, and the stories that they had about the weapon specialist. It was absolutely wonderful to learn about him, and Azura could not wait to create the image for Optimus. They spent a whole hour telling these stories about Ironhide, and Azura and the humans enjoyed each and every one of them.

And when the autobots finish telling them about Ironhide, Azura began to feel sick again. She clutched her stomach as she felt her tank gurgle and Arcee quickly ran to grab a bucket and bring it to her. "Ugh…I had to get sick after that…" Azura whined as she hunched over the bucket and began to heave into it. She felt Jack's hand on her back, rubbing gently as she purged heavily into the bucket. "Ow…my throat…"

"It will be okay." Jack looked at the water bottle as it was half empty currently, and sighed, wishing that her tank would soothe from this illness. It wasn't healthy for her to be purging this much. "Might be a good idea to inform Optimus. I think he would like to know if she is sick."

"Good idea." Arcee turned and walked over to the console as she opened the com link. "Base to Optimus, I just want to…"

"Arcee, open the ground bridge stat!" Ratchet's voice barked over the com link, startling everyone at the panic in his voice. "Don't ask any questions, just open the bridge now!"

Azura looked up from the bucket as she stopped purging, staring at Arcee with worry as the femme pulled the lever to activate the bridge. She looked at the vortex as worry filled her mind, not knowing what has happened. Azura waited as the bots gather in front of the vortex, waiting patiently. Though no one was running into the base, which was a good thing, but that didn't mean it wasn't bad. Ratchet wouldn't have had a panicked tone otherwise.

And she soon spotted Ratchet walking in, and Azura widened her optics immediately as she saw Optimus with his arm over Ratchet's shoulders, looking extremely weak. "What happened?!" Arcee asked as she and the other bots run over in concern.

"Help me get him to the med bay, now!" Ratchet responded harshly without answering Arcee's question. Bulkhead and Bumblebee rush over to help Ratchet, being the stronger bots to get Optimus to the med bay, and Arcee ran back over to the bridge controls to shut it off. "Run ahead and get things ready, Arcee."

Azura stared as she saw that Optimus's face seemed to be pale, with what looked like rust forming around his right optic and his energon veins seemed to be infected with something due to how dark they were and how visible they were. And it looked horrible. Especially with how weak Optimus seemed to be, and it happened so fast as well! Azura felt tears filling her optics as she had not expected her father to come back sick. And he seemed to be in a worse condition than herself, and that upset her the most.

"Daddy?" Azura managed to say weakly, ignoring Jack as the boy wrapped his arm around her to hug her as a way to try and comfort her.

Optimus turned his head and looked at his daughter weakly. He smiled slightly at her. "I…I will okay, Azura…it will be okay…"

Azura did not believe him. Something told her she couldn't believe him. She shrugged Jack from his body and stood up, knocking the bucket over accidently. "But…how…why?" Azura whimpered a little as Ratchet stopped, looking at her with concern. Azura ran towards Optimus and Ratchet gestured to Bumblebee for a moment so the scout turned to pick Azura up, while Ratchet took his place in helping Optimus to the med bay. "No! Let me go! Daddy!"

"Keep a hold of her for a moment, Bumblebee." Bumblebee nodded as he held the squirming sparkling as she began to break down in tears. Ratchet looked at the sparkling sympathetically. "It will be alright, Azura. I'll explain everything when we get Optimus to the med bay. Just for the moment, keep away from Optimus."

Azura shook her head as she didn't want to be kept from him. "I want to be with him…" She hit her hands on Bee's hands to try and get him to let her go. "Please…let me go, Bee."

Bumblebee shook his head sadly at the sparkling. "I'm sorry, but you'll only get in the way. You need to stay with me so the doc can work his magic. It will be fine, Azura. Trust me. Ratchet is the best doctor there is." Azura frowned and shook her head, not wanting him to hold her. Bumblebee followed as he knew that was fine. "You and I can watch and listen. That is all we can do. But Optimus could pass what he has to you, and you are too sick as well. So please…" Before Bumblebee could say anything, Azura concentrated for a moment before she suddenly opened her mouth and Bumblebee was startled by a stream of fire flying from her mouth on his fingers, making him move his hands like he was holding something hot. "Hot, hot, hot! Wait…" Bumblebee frowned as Azura looked at him with a frown. "Did you just do that without sneezing?"

Ratchet had been watching and he frowned upon seeing what Azura had done. The sparkling nodded and sniffled, turning her head to look back at Optimus, only to lock optics with Ratchet. "Do not do that, Azura. I know you are scared, but you need to allow Bumblebee to hold you for the time being, Azura. Once I know what we are dealing with, and if it is safe, you will be allowed to sit with Optimus. Do you understand?" Azura whimpered and nodded. "Good." The sparkling began to sob louder, and she turned to hide her face in Bumblebee's chassis. Optimus turned his head slightly, wanting to hold his daughter and comfort her. "Easy, Optimus. Bumblebee has it under control."

Optimus knew that. But he felt awful. Not just physically, but emotionally he felt awful for putting Azura through this. It wasn't fair to her. However, there was nothing he could do. Not right now. Optimus groaned as each step to the med bay took a huge amount of effort. And they eventually reach the med bay, where Optimus fell onto the berth heavily with a heavy thud. That startled Azura some more, and made her even more upset. The children took position on a catwalk above the med bay to watch as Ratchet grabbed a scanner to figure out what is ailing Optimus Prime.