Ratchet drops the sparkling off with Ironhide and just walks off. Ironhide looks down at Reflect.

"ready for recharge?" he asks.

"okay." Reflect agrees. he curls up in the bigger mechs arm quietly. Ironhide lays on his berth silently, shutting his optics off and settling in for recharge.

~~

Ironhide groans and shoots up, looking around.

"holoform... where am I?" he mutters, getting up and looking around. he almost freezes. "the farm... Will." Ironhide says, running from the room and quickly into the house. this must be another dream. he bursts through the door, frantic. "Will! hey! you here?! William!" Ironhide shouts, looking around. the home looks empty, no Will in sight, and it bothers him.

"no need to shout." Will chuckles, walking down the stairs of the house. he grins at Ironhide. "hey Hide." Will grins, walking up behind the couch.

"what are we doing here?" Ironhide ask. Will looks around.

"sorry... its been a while since I've been to the house... I had to kinda go through your memory files a little... I can change the location if you want." Will assures.

"no, I mean, another dream. why are we here?" Ironhide ask, confused.

"oh! I got to peek in on what happened today and figured we could talk a little. that sparkling is getting attached to Barricade." Will murmurs, walking closer. "I... I can leave though if you don't want to see me...?" Will says. Ironhide shakes his head quickly and hugs the man tightly.

"I would never turn down the opportunity to see you." Ironhide says, holding him tightly.

"I don't understand Hide..." Will says confused.

"well... the last time you appeared I was having issues with my spark and then the sparkling nearly offlined." Ironhide says. "I was just worried something else was going to be happening..." Ironhide frowns.

"oh no! no! sorry. uh, wow this isn't what I wanted.... what I meant... I didn't mean to give you a bad feeling every time I appeared. I mean, I appeared because of your spark, I had nothing to do with the sparkling." Will says. "but I can leave if you want me too. if that would make things easier I can just end the dream early, no problem." Will assures.

"no its okay. sorry." Ironhide murmurs, hugging the smaller man. "don't leave. I'm sorry." Ironhide murmurs. Will nods, wrapping his arms tightly around Ironhide. "why do you like me like this?" Ironhide ask. "in my holoform I mean." he adds. Will lays his head on the bigger mans chest, letting out a quiet sigh, a small happy smile on his face.

"because, I can modify you in your dreams. I can give your holoform a heart beat and listen to it in here... I've never really heard your spark, so I kinda just, like to assure myself that you're still alive, just in my own way." Will murmurs quietly. Ironhide smiles a little, hugging him tightly to his chest.

"okay. I don't mind. I just had to know." Ironhide murmurs. he reaches up and runs his fingers through Wills hair gently. "I can feel a little better with it in here..." Ironhide says, holding Wills face gently with one hand. "wait, the sparkling is forming an attachment to Barricade?" Ironhide ask, confused. Will nods, pulling back some.

"yeah. god I hope I didn't break any rules by saying that." Will frowns. he shakes his head. "but don't look into it or anything. he's not like imprinting on the Con or anything, he just wants Barricade to be his friend." Will assures. Ironhide nods a little.

"something important in the future I'm not allowed to know?" Ironhide ask. Will shakes his head.

"no not really. not sure why, but Barricade and the little guy become pretty good friends., even if he is just a sparkling." Will shrugs. Ironhide nods a little.

"alright. I assume then he doesn't mean any harm to the sparkling?" Ironhide ask.

"not as far as I'm aware. I don't know everything about it though." Will shrugs. he cuddles against the bigger man. "it'll be a while until I can come back. I wasn't even supposed to be here tonight but, I had to tell you at least that I wouldn't be able to come back for a bit." Will murmurs. Ironhide kissed his head and holds him tightly.

"come on." Ironhide mutters, picking him up and walking them over to the couch. he lays them both down, letting Will rest on him. the man cuddles up to him, smiling a little.

"got tired of standing?" Will ask.

"its better to hold you like this." Ironhide mutters. Will grins at him and holds tighter. "I can hold you and just lay here." Ironhide murmurs. Will smiles and cuddles him happily. he sighs happily, cuddling to the bigger man.

"hey Hide?" Will ask.

"hmm?" Ironhide ask.

"I love you so much. I'm glad I found a way to see you." Will murmurs, cuddling him.

"love you too Will." Ironhide murmurs, holding him. Will cuddles as close as he can to him, holding tightly.

"I'm sorry I left you the way I did that day.... I never thought... I know what happens with soldiers. we die in the line of fire, but being stomped on by Starscream? completely unexpected." Will murmurs.

"the life of a soldier... it was never your fault Will." Ironhide murmurs. "you were... dying anyway. the Allspark energy was killing you." Ironhide adds. Will nods slightly, cuddling him.

"yeah, but being crushed to death is not the best way to go." Will snorts.

"I don't really want to talk about yoru death Will. as a soldier, and a being thousands of years older, I have seen more death in my life time than you." Ironhide murmurs.

"sorry Hide." Will murmurs. "we have a bit of time is there any thing you'd like to do? I can control all of this." Will says, motioning around the room.

"no Will. I don't need to do anything. I don't need anything but you. thats all I need." Ironhide murmurs, squeezing him gently. he doesn't need anything other than Will. he's got all he needs, even if its only a dream.

"thats okay Hide. I'll stay and lay here as long as I can." Will murmurs.

it goes silent between the two for a bit, before Ironhdie suddenly tightens his hold almost painful, Will is sure if he had been alive before the hug, he wouldn't be anymore after it.

"I've missed you.... I still miss you." Ironhide sighs quietly. Will holds him tighter.

"don't worry Hide, its not forever. I promise, your pain goes away." Will assures gently.

"yeah, sure. thats what I keep being told." Ironhide murmurs. Will drops his head on the bigger mans chest silently.

he curls up with the man in silence for a little while longer, before he sits up. Ironhide lets him, watching him turn to look at something behind him. Will sighs a little.

"Will?" Ironhide ask softly. a depressive mood sets over the two, Will slowly turning to look back at him.

"looks like its time to go, but don't worry, I'll see you again soon." Will assures, getting up off the couch. Ironhide nods and watches him go.

"I love you." Ironhide murmurs. Will turns giving a sad smile to the man.

"love you too Hide." Will murmurs. he walks through something Ironhide can't see and just vanishes.

~~

Ironhide shifts and mutters, slowly sitting up. a chirp catches his attention and he looks down.

"Reflect? hey squirt. almost forgot you were here.... how long have you been up?" Ironhide mutters, patting the sparklings head. the sparkling yawns and curls up beside him to go back to sleep. "not ready to be up yet sparkling?" Ironhide chuckles softly.

"no." Relfect mumbles, sleepily. Ironhide snorts a little, getting up.

"thats okay, we'll get you a cube and you can go back into recharge. okay?" Ironhide ask. "I can hear your tanks rumbling." Ironhide murmurs.

"okay." Reflect yawns. Ironhide gets up and heads out of his room, almost bumping into Bumblebee.

"oh! hey sparkling!" Bumblebee grins reaching to take the sparkling from Ironhide.

"fuck off, he's still sleepy." Ironhide frowns. the sparkling watches Bumblebee pout and mumbles, reaching for him. "traitor." Ironhide mutters, passing the sparkling to Bumblebee. Bumblebee grins and hugs him tightly. "he needs a cube." Ironhide says, walking off.

"alright cutie! lets get you a cube." Bumblebee smiles, heading for the rec room. the sparkling snuggles against him, yawning.

"Bumblebee, I'm still waiting on your debrief report from that last- oh, hello sparkling," Prowl says.

"I'll get the report done today, no problem. Sam's in class today, I'll have the chance to get it finished after I get Reflect a cube." Bumblebee assures.

"alright." Prowl nods. he pats the sparklings head and walks off.

"cube." Reglect reminds.

"right of course little one. cube." Bumblebee smiles. he grabs the sparkling a cube and feeds it to him as he walks out of the rec room, the sparkling cuddled to his chestplates happily. he perks up a little seeing Ratchet walk over to them.

"hey Scout, I'm taking the squirt from you." Ratchet says, taking the sparkling. Bumblebee pouts at him.

"but why?" he frowns.

"because we finally got the parts in and finished his T-cog this morning, so we're going to put it in." Ratchet says, cuddling the sparkling. Reflect hardly pays him any mind, focused on his cube, he's felt like he's starving for a few days now. he's been abandoning his cubes, or flat out not getting them, for different reasons and is starving.

"okay. well... good luck guys." Bumblebee frowns. "do you guys even have optins for him to download?" he asks.

"the humans ordered some sort of vehicle called.... a powerwheel, whatever the hell that is." Ratchet shrugs. "but Epps and Sam said it would probably be the perfect size for him, so they ordered a bunch so he could have options." Ratchet shrugs.

"alright, well.... good luck! bye sparkling!" Bumblebee waves. the sparkling looks over at him but doesn't stop drinking his cube. he cuddles to Ratchet, one of his legs handing over Ratchets arm. he's ready to finish this cube and get on with whatever Ratchet wants with him.

the medic turns with him in his arms and heads for the medbay, taking his time. he wants Reflect to be able to finish his cube first. he rubs the sparklings cheek gently, chuckling when the sparkling pushes his servo away.

"no." he mumbles, pulling the cube back to his mouth. he sucks the cube down happily.

"we're going to get you a T-cog before you even turn an Earth year old, though we're barely making it. you only have about a week and a half left. sorry it took us so long." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling looks up at him, finally pushing the empty cube away and squirming in his arms. "where are you trying to go?" Ratchet chuckles, carefully holding him. Reflect chirps at him, "its okay sparkling, we're just gonna put a T-cog in you and then you'll be good to go, its just a little bit of surgery." Ratchet murmurs.

"no!" Reflect pouts.

"its okay." Ratchet assures gently.

"no!" he argues.

"this is the last surgery you're going to need for a while. I promise. we'll even put you into stasis for it, alright?" Ratchet ask.

"no!!" Reflect whines.

"its okay Reflect. you'll be asleep through it all, its okay. its okay." Ratchet assures cuddling the sparkling. "you'll go to sleep and when you wake up, you'll never even notice anything has happened. I have to repair these all the time sparkling. I just recently took Wheeljacks out and repaired it and put it back in." Ratchet assures. "and you napped through the whole thing. you never even woke up and noticed. this will be the same thing." Ratchet assures. the sparkling whines at him. "its okay. its okay." Ratchet assures, carrying him into the medbay. Wheeljacks already standing there, cog in servo.

"hey I just finished testing it. it works." Wheeljack smiles.

"of course it works. I built the fragging thing," Ratchet snorts. he lays the sparkling on the berth gently. "alright sparkling. just relax, its okay." Ratchet assures gently, rubbing his cheek.

"here, have your Ironhide toy. just relax. its okay." Wheeljack murmurs, laying the toy next to the sparkling.

"its alright Reflect its okay." Ratchet assures softly. Ratchet pats his head gently. "once you wake back up, everything will be alright." Ratchet smiles at him. everything goes black for the sparkling.

when he wakes back up, he's cuddled up to someone. he shirps and curls up, whining, before onlining his optics. he's curled up in Ratchets arm, the medic is rocking him slightly, looking up at a screen. he looks down at the sparkling a smile a little.

"hey squirt, glad you're awake." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect whines sluggishly, trying to sit up. "its okay. just lay back." Ratchet says softly.

why is he holding me? how come I'm not laying down...?

"he's awake?" Wheeljack ask.

"I'm not talking to you." Ratchet glares him down. the sparkling whines a little.

"but it was an accident." Wheeljack says.

"you're an idiot." Ratchet glares. "I told you not to go experimenting with shit while the sparkling was unconscious!" Ratchet glares.

"I didn't think it would explode." Wheeljack defend.

"if your lab had exploded any further you would've hurt the sparkling." Ratchet glares.

"can you two not argue right now?" Ironhide mutters. the sparkling shifts and realizes he's not actually in Ratchets arm, he's in some kind of sling type thing attached to the medic. it confuses him, until the medic turns around. there's mechs on berths everywhere, so the medic holding him out of the way makes a little more sense now.

"right. sorry." Ratchet mutters. Ironhide mutters to himself, laying on a berth, he's rubbbing his chest plates again, though there appears to be no damage near it. his abdomen is sparking and producing cracks of electricity. Reflect looks around. Bumblebee, Ironhide, Hound, Sunstreaker, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Prowl are all on berths. each have varying levels of damage, though Wheeljack looks as though he's been crushed. no on elooks too critical other than him though.

"huh...?" Reflect asks.

"shhh sparkling, just relax. you lot stay here, i've gotta meet Prime and get him to take the sparkling so he doesn't get hurt in here." Ratchet says. he'd gone through and did basic repairs, but with the sparkling having to stay with him instead of being able to lay him down, he couldn't do full repairs.

Optimus meets him right outside the medbay, they'd just been waiting for him to wake up. the hallway has a burnt smell to it and Reflect catches a glance of whats left of the hallway leading to Wheeljacks lab. its black and crumbling apart, those who aren't in the medbay are trying to clean up the mess. the sparkling cuddles Ratchet, looking around.

"he's sleepy, so just let him lay in your arm." Ratchet murmurs. Optimus nods, reaches for the sparkling. he adjusts the sparkling and lays him on his stomach across his arm. Reflect shifts a little, but doesn't seem to mind, though he does whine and reach out for the medic sleepily with one servo.

"come on little one. Ratchet has to work." Optimus murmurs softly, rubbing his back gently. the sparkling whines, cheek laying against the Primes arm. his sleepy optics rest on the medic, silently pleading to go with him. Ratchet gives him a small smile, reaching out and rubbing his cheek.

"stay with Optimus. just relax and go back to sleep little one." Ratchet assures. he looks at Optimus. "I had to sedate him for the procedure, so he'll probably sleep most the time. he'll probably need a cube go a head and let him drink as much as he can before falling back to sleep. if he doesn't wake back up feed him in his recharge, if you don't know how to do that, take him to Sideswipe, he does it a lot. thanks Prime." Ratchet mutters, turning to walk back into the medbay.

"Ratchet, please relax. I will take great care of Reflect and I know you will take great care of our friends, please do not stress yourself more than necessary, okay?" Optimus says. Ratchet turns and flashes him a smile, before walking into the medbay. Reflect whimpers watching him go. "don't worry little one, just relax. Ratchet has to work, but he will come get you later." Optimus murmurs, heading for the rec room. he grabs a cube for the sparkling attempting to sooth him the whole way there, but the little bot just whines, hugging the arm he's laying on.

"Ratchet." the sparkling whines.

"I know Reflect, but Ratchet is busy." Optimus murmurs. "its okay sparkling." Optimus assures him.

"no." the sparkling whines.

"its alright. we'll get you a cube and go sit in my office alright? its okay, Ratchet will be done shortly." Optimus assures, gently, rubbing one of his little cheeks. "its alright. I promise you. we'll get you a cube okay? you can take a little nap and once you wake up, Ratchet or Wheeljack should be backa nd ready to hold you. okay?" Optimus ask. the sparkling whines quietly and nods a little, laying on the Primes arm.

Optimus grabs the sparkling a cube from the rec room and carries the sparkling off to his office, where he rolls the sparkling off his belly to lean against his chest with his back. the sparklings sucks the cube down silently.

"see Reflect, its alright, just think, when you wake up your caregivers can help you pick an alt mode, running from us will be much more effecient that way." Optimus snorts. Reflect gives him a sad look aroudn his cube, dropping his head against the Primes chest. "just rest little one." Optimus murmurs.

Reflect shifts a little and onlines his optics. he blinks a little and yawns.

"hey little one." Ratchet smiles. the sparkling blinks at him and snuggles up to his chest, looking ready to go back into recharge for a moment. Ratchet chuckles as the sparkling sits up suddenly with a squeal.

"Ratchet!" he grins.

"hey little one." Ratchet laughs, holding him. the sparkling is quick to hug his neck. "hello little one. its alright. I'm sure Optimus took care of you." Ratchet chuckles softly. the sparkling pouts and cuddles closer, hugging the medics neck. "alright. alright." Ratchet chuckles, hugging him gently.

"hey, what about me?" Wheeljack chuckles, watching them. the sparkling pulls back and immediately jumps to the inventor with a squeal.

"Jack!" he grins. the inventor welcomes him with open arms, hugging him as tight as he can. the sparkling hugs his neck happily.

"isn't that cute, now I'm sure you're having fun hugging Jack, but come on kiddo, we have a surprise for you." Ratchet snorts. the sparkling doesn't seem to care, cuddled up happily to his caregiver. Wheeljack grins happily, nuzzling the little sparkling happily.

"he's so cute." Wheeljack chuckles.

"you're both cute, now come on." Ratchet says, heading down the hallway. Wheeljack follows him, absolutely buzzing with happiness.

"you're cute little one." Wheeljack murmurs, rubbing his head gently. "so little one we put in your t-cog today, we've had the humans ordering some little vehicles for you." Wheeljack smiles.

"unfortunately we're not on Cybertron, whereyou basically got to design your own on a medical computer. so we;re doing the best we can with human children vehicles." Ratchet explains. "but you will still be able to costumise yoruself, so it'll be alright." Ratchet assures.

"you get to pick yoru first vehicle mode." Wheeljack murmurs, hugging the sparkling tightly.

"don't start crying Jack. don't be so emotional." Ratchet mutters.

"but our sparkling is gettnig his first vehicle mode Ratchet." Wheeljack pouts.

"I know but you can't be like that." Ratchet chuckles softly. Wheeljack huffs, cuddling the sparkling. he sighs and puts the little sparkling down gently. Reflect looks up confused.

"its okay. come on, we're going to let you walk." Wheeljack murmurs, taking his servo. the sparkling nods, holding onto his servo tightly. he looks over at Ratchet and reaches for his servo with a chirp. the medic smiles and takes his servo.

"come on Reflect.'' Ratchet murmurs.

together the two walk the sparkling to the hanger, where a couple of the other Autobots are mingling. the sparkling isn't sure if they're waiting for him or not, but he knows the area covered in a sheet is probably for him.

"look, there you are kid." Ratchet smiles. Reflect squeals, letting the bigger bots to lead him over. Wheeljack lets him go and pulls the cover off the tiny cars.

"oh shit, is the sparkling picking his first alt?" Jazz asks, walking over.

"yup. unfortunately human vehicles are a little too big, these are childrens toys. the humans ordered them." Wheeljack frowns. there's about 10 different options for the sparkling, who stands staring. the vehicles were modified and customised to have full cabs instead of the usual convertable style.

"alright squirt, we uploaded the program while you were asleep earlier. all you have to do is walk over, pick a vehicle you like, and start up the program to download the altmode. once you've downloaded and are in vehicle form you'll be able to change and customised it until you like it, alright?" Ratchet ask.

"okay." he agrees, though he sounds slightly unsure. Ratchet nods and lets go of his servo.

"alright, go look. if you don't find one you like, we'll get them to swap these for different ones until you do find one you like." Ratchet assures. the sparkling walks off after a few moments towards the vehicles. both caregivers are afraid for a few moments when the sparkling just stands in front of the vehicles, staring at them. Ratchet snorts and grins, when the sparkling becomes a little model GMC truck, like Ironhide, although it was a bright blue. "good job sparkling." Ratchet chuckles.

"awwww he's so cute!" Wheeljack grins at him. the sparkling sits silently a moment, before his alt turns a dark gray with a black trim. a big black grill appears on the front of the little truck with flashign red and blue lights, the sparkling probably scanned them off the tiny cop car near by. after a few seconds, a light bar appears on the top of the cab, flashing red and white. neither Ratchet nor Wheeljack know where it came from, but the inventor notices that it looks a lot like the lights on the top of Ratchets alt mode.

"hey looks great!" Jazz grins, watching the sparkling transform. he's changed his transformation sequence as well. his doors have changed to a wing-esk style, like Bumblebee and Prowl have, only his are shaped more like the spoiler wings on Wheeljacks back. Reflect looks down, looking himself over.

wow, this armor is great... I look great!

"good job sparkling, do you like it?" Ratchet smiles.

"yeah!" Reflect squeals.

"you look great Reflect." Wheeljack grins, scooping him up.