"hey, hey, who hurt my sparkling?" Wheeljack frowns, running over and snatching him from Jazz.

"he's not hurt. he's tired and no one will let him nap because Ratchet wants him to sleep tonight." Jazz frowns.

"well Ratchet can suck a cable. come on little one. I'll get you a cube and we'll get you settled down. its pretty late so you'll probably sleep the rest of the night." Wheeljack murmurs. he grabs two sparkling cubes, just in case, and heads for the medbay. he sets one cube down on the counter before giving Reflect the other one. "its okay little one. its okay." Wheeljack murmurs, cuddling him.

"hey, he alright?" Ratchet ask, walking over. Reflect latches onto the cube cuddling up to Wheeljack.

"he hasn't been allowed to nap today." Wheeljack glares.

"I want him to sleep through the night. I don't want him walking in on that poker game. this is the first time we've participated since we got him and I don't want to risk him going out there." Ratchet frowns.

"I know you're worried about him coming out there and seeing things he shouldn't see, like the time Jazz got a little too buzzed on high grade and just about fragged with the twins there at the table, but I'm sure he'll be fine." Wheeljack assures. Reflect leans against him sleepily, sucking his cube down happily. Ratchet walks over and takes Reflect carefully, kissing his head gently.

"alright. you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ratchet sighs quietly. "I'm doing that helicopter parent crap again. I'm worried he's going to see something or get hurt..." Ratchet sighs.

"I know Ratch. its okay. I love you, so does Reflect. its okay." Wheeljack murmurs softly. he smiles at Ratchet and kisses his cheek. "you're cute when your worried over our sparkling." he smiles. Ratchet rolls his optics, looking annoyed.

"get off me idiot." Ratchet mutters. Wheeljack laughs and nuzzles Reflect gently.

"right? my little mechling? you think he's cute too?" Wheeljack teases, rubbing Reflects cheek. the sparkling growls, annoyed, and smacks his servo away. he pushes the cube back gently, before screaming as loud as he can in Wheeljacks face.

"Jack, he's exhausted. leave him be." Ratchet frowns. "Reflect, hey its alright. come on, drink your cube." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect grabs the cube, glaring at Wheeljack. its only quiet for a few moments until he kicks the empty cube away and screams.

"hold on, hold on. I got you a second cube." Wheeljack assures. Reflect turns his head away, nearly kicking the new cube from his servo.

"he doesn't want that. he just needs some rest." Ratchet mutters. Wheeljack shrugs and sets it on the counter. "you go help them get set up for the game, I'll put him to bed and grab the high grade." Ratchet assures. Wheeljack nods a little and pats Reflects head before heading out

it doesn't take long for him to get the sparkling to sleep, carefully laying him on a berth with his toys. Ratchet nods to himself before turning and grabbing the high grade cubes from the counter and carrying them out to the main room.

four and a half hours later, Reflect wakes, in desperate need of energon. he looks around sleepily before spotting the cube Wheeljack had left for him earlier, on the counter. he yawns a little before making his way over to the cube. he can physically hold it by himself, he just prefers someone else to hold it while he eats. he spoiled, just as Ironhide always claimed.

Reflect grumbles but makes his way over to the cube, picking it up carefully. he downs it immediately and heads back his berth to lay down. he frowns a little looking up at the berth and deciding, he just doesn't feel good. he whines a little to himself and heads out of the medbay. he remembers Ratchet referring repeatedly about a game night. he just hopes its in the main rec room.

he makes it almost to the rec room when he bumps into Sideswipe, whose sitting on the floor half asleep and apparently on sparkling watch.

"took you longer than I thought." he snorts, getting up and scooping Reflect up with him.

"Side put down. Reflect need Ratchet." Reflect mumbles.

"nope. Reflect needs to go back to bed." Sideswipe frowns. "Ratchet and Wheeljack make the game interesting and harder, both have poker faces to hell that could break a rock, but they haven't gotten to play since you showed up. we'll we're going to keep you out of there and let them have some fun tonight. besides, everyone basically bribed me to miss the game and make sure you didn't interrupt it." Sideswipe snorts. he carries the sparkling into the medbay, lays him on the berth and gives him his toys. "now stay here." Sideswipe smiles a little.

"no, Reflect need Ratchet." Reflect mumbles, moving to get up.

"no Reflect. you're going to stay here." Sideswipe says firmly, before walking out of the medbay.

it doesn't take long for Sideswipe to get back into his position, right outside the rec room door, where Ratchet and Wheeljack can't see him, but the others can tell if he's gotten up to put the sparkling to bed.

Sideswipe sighs and smiles to himself, but it falls off his face immediately. no sooner than he's sat down, does the sparkling come toddling into view, clutching his Ironhide toy and whining.

"need see Ratchet." Reflect whines.

"Ratchet is busy. bed time." Sideswipe frowns, picking him up. he sighs and makes his way back to the medbay.

he decides its best just to sit in the medbay with the sparkling, so he doesn't have to keep walking back and forth.

"Reflect need Ratchet." Reflect says, looking at Sideswipe.

"I know you want Ratchet, but you get me instead." Sideswipe smiles. "now go back to sleep." he murmurs. Reflect immediately screams so Sideswipe scoops him up gently. "hey, hey. shhhh." Sideswipe murmurs gently. "just please go back to sleep little one. I'm tired too, okay? once you get to sleep, I can sleep." Sideswipe murmurs. Reflect sniffles at him and gets quiet, leaning against him.

"want Ratchet." Reflect murmurs.

"I know." Sideswipe sighs, laying him on the berth. "just go to sleep, when you wake up again, Ratchet and Wheeljack will be back okay?" Sideswipe ask. Reflect whines and clutches his Ironhide toy, curling up around it. he shuts his optics off and goes quiet. Sideswipe sighs a little and smiles.

it only takes five minutes for Reflect to hear Sideswipe go into recharge. he immediately sits up.

never reveal your secrets to a sparkling.

he climbs off the berth and heads for the rec room.

"you're bluffin'." Ironhide grumbles.

"am I?" Ratchet ask, stone faced.

"yeah. no way you've got another flush. you're bluffin'." Ironhide scoffs. he pushes a few chips forward. "I'm not gullible like Jazz." he huffs.

"I didn't say you were." Ratchet snorts, looking down at his cards.

"oh come on. there's no way he's bluffing." Sunstreaker mutters. "I fold." he huffs.

"Ratchet?" Reflect murmurs, stumbling over to the medic. everyone looks over. he's carrying his Ironhide toy and looks exhausted.

"what in Cybertron are you doing up?" Wheeljack frowns.

"Reflect need Ratchet." Reflect mumbles, walking over to the medic. Ratchet frowns and scoops him up.

"whats wrong?" Prowl asks, looking over. Ratchets got an odd look on his face, feeling the little sparklings side, then face gently.

"his systems are running hotter than normal." Ratchet frowns. the sparkling nods a little and buries his face into the medics neck.

"Reflect hot. don't feel good. need Ratchet." Reflect mumbles. Ratchet holds him carefully, rubbing his back gently.

"his antivirus must be fighting something off." Ratchet mutters, leaning back in his chair.

"does that mean you're out?" Jazz frowns.

"nah. hand me my cards. it ain't over yet." Ratchet smirks. Optimus immediately reaches forwards and grabs Ratchets cards, passing them to the medic.

"you sure he's alright?" Ironhide ask, looking over at the sparkling. everyones worried about the little mechling, his health is more important than a game.

"yeah, if he's just got a fever, Ratchets probably right. his antivirus is active. he just wants cuddles. he'll be fine. he'll curl back up and sleep with Ratchet for the rest of the game." Wheeljack assures. "I call." he adds. Prowl looks at his cards and shakes his head.

"I call." Prowl says.

"uh-oh Prowlers in." Jazz grins. Prowl shrugs.

"statistically speaking, even though we've started a whole new round and redelt cards, Ratchets already had a straight flush, he chances are, he didn't get another. the micro movements of his facial plates say he doesn't have another." Prowl says, shaking his head. Ratchet rolls his optics and watches the others decide their fates. when it gets quiet, everyone eventually looks over at Ratchet.

"y'know Prowl, I'm impressed you caught that. you're right, I don't have another straight flush." Ratchet mutters, sitting forward a little. Prowl smirks at him a little. "I have a royal flush." Ratchet grins, laying his cards on the table.

"un-fucking-believable." Ironhide grumbles.

"damn it Prowl." Drift mutters. Prowls shrugs a little.

"I wasn't technically wrong. I just made the wrong call." Prowl frowns. "it won't happen again." he assures. Ratchet laughs and leans back in his chair, before pausing. the smirk drops off his face as he catches a whiff of something.

"Ratchet are you alright?" Optimus ask. the medic looks confused, lifting the sparkling up a little to smell him.

"what the hell are you doing?" Sunstreaker ask.

"why are you smelling my sparkling?" Wheeljack asks.

"oh my Primus." Ratchet mutters. he turns to glare at Wheeljack. "did you leave a high grade cube in his reach!?" Ratchet snaps.

"wh-what? no! I'd never!" Wheeljack assures, quickly jumping up.

"huh? whats wrong Ratchet?" Ironhide ask.

"Reflect just purged on me and it smells like high grade! he's a sparkling! his systems can't handle that!" Ratchet snaps.

"I didn't leave a high grade cube in his reach! I left a sparkling cube on the counter of the medbay, just for him!" Wheeljack assures. Ratchets optic twitches as he glares Wheeljack down.

"do you mean the same counter, THAT I LEFT THE HIGH GRADE ON?!" Ratchet snaps. Wheeljack steps back, looking nervous,.

"w-well I didn't think about it! I-I didn't set it close enough to get mixed in... I thought..." Wheeljack trails.

"you fragging idiot! you're lucky-" Ratchet snaps.

"wait!" Wheeljack shouts. everyone looks at the inventor. he looks nervous, before glancing at the high grade in the middle of the table.

"who won the last round?" Wheeljack ask. everyone immediately looks over at Prowl, whose staring at the open energon cube in front of him. he sighs a little.

"and this is why we can't have nice things." Prowl mutters, grabbing his cube and getting up.

"alright gather up the damn high grade and bring it to the medbay. keep track of how many cubes everyone had. everyone will get their stuff back and make sure you grab that stash everyone was making for Bumblebee too! Prowl come on, we need to get you tested to make sure you haven't drank the fragging sparkling cube!" Ratchet snaps. Prowl nods immediately and follows Ratchet towards the medbay.

"how bad is Reflect going to react to high grade?" Prowl ask.

"no where near as bad as your systems would react to sparkling grade. he'll be purging and sick with a fever, but he'll be alright. you, however, if you drank the sparkling grade, will have systems shutting down almost immediately, but with actual high grade in your system it'll be harder to- what the frag is Sideswipe doing, y'know what never mind, get on a berth." Ratchet mutters. Prowl nods and climbs up quickly. "you drank the whole cube Reflect?" Ratchet asks. Reflect whines and curls up.

"don't be too upset with him." Prowl frowns.

"I'm not upset with him. being upset or angry with him would be the same as being upset or angry with you. neither of you knew. I'm pissed at Wheeljack." Ratchet mutters. he lays Reflect down gently and quickly starts scanning Prowl. "just relax. I'm not going to let you go down because of a mistake." Ratchet assures.

"I feel fine if that counts for anything." Prowl frowns.

"how much high grade did you drink?" Ratchet ask.

"I had one cube of high grade." Prowl mutters.

"not enough to get you buzzed. maybe there's nothing wrong with you. with any luck the sparkling cube was still in the middle of the table or something." Ratchet murmurs. "but I have to find out. if I can't figure it out, we're pumping your tank." Ratchet frowns.

"sounds like a party. glad I didn't miss it." Ironhide snorts, walking in.

"what are you doing?" Ratchet frowns.

"helping Wheeljack carry it all in here. just in case someone else made an accident, we've brought all the high grade that was out there, not just the second batch you guys had for the middle." Ironhide says. Reflect sits up and whines, reaching for Ironhide.

"Hide...." Reflect whines.

"he safe to pick up?" Ironhide ask.

"as long as you don't mind purge, he's safe." Ratchet assures. Ironhide carefully picks up gently.

"hey its okay." Ironhide murmurs gently, cuddling him. Reflect sniffles and cuddles him, dropping his head on Ironhides shoulder. "so he's not sick, he's buzzed." Ironhide says.

"oh no he's going to be sick, but his systems aren't in danger like Prowl." Ratchet mutters. "purging, dizziness, he might stumble around." he adds.

"Reflect want Ratchet..." Reflect whimpers. Ratchet turns only long enough to pat his head, before getting back to Prowl.

"yeah I know little one. I know, but just hang with Ironhide right now." Ratchet murmurs.

"you can come here little one." Wheeljack murmurs, reaching for him gently.

"no. want Ratchet." Reflect mumbles quietly.

"how about me? you okay to stay with me?" Ironhide asks, nuzzling the little sparkling gently. Reflect lurches a little and whimpers.

"tank hurt." Reflect mumbles.

"yeah, you're not meant to have high grade until your late youngling stages kiddo. your system isn't meant for it." Ratchet frowns. Ironhide cuddles him gently, pulling him off his shoulder to cradle him.

"come on. you need to lay back down and go back to stasis." Ironhide murmurs.

"sit him back up." Ratchet says, finally turning from Prowl. "Prowl didn't drink it. go on Prowl." Ratchet mutters. Prowl sits up. Ironhide sits Reflect back up gently.

"need help going through all these cubes?" Prowl ask.

"no. just go let everyone know you're okay." Ratchet says. "you want to take Reflect with you for a bit? we've got to go through every cube until we get the singular one we need." Ratchet mutters.

"yeah. come on kiddo, pretty sure the games off until we find that cube, so you come lay with me alright?" Ironhide murmurs.

"don't lay him flat. he drank an entire cube of high grade, he'll probably spend most the night purging." Ratchet mumbles. "and get an actual sparkling cube for him." Ratchet adds.

"alright." Ironhide says, carrying Reflect out of the medbay. he grabs a sparkling cube on the way to his room. Reflect buries his face into Ironhides neck, whimpering. "yeah Reflect, I know. I know." Ironhide soothes gently, rubbing his back.

"Reflect want Ratchet." Reflect mumbles, leaning back away from Ironhide. the weapons specialist is quick to turn the sparkling around quickly, getting him to purge on the floor instead of him.

"Ratchets busy, but how about we go sit in the wash racks?" Ironhide asks, turning to head for the washracks. it'd be easier to clean him that way, and he knows Will always prefered to sit in the shower when sick. it made him feel better.

"I don't want wash." Reflect whimpers. he immediately starts crying.

"hey don't do that. don't do that. gonna make yourself sick. I promise you, we'll put some warm water on and we'll rest there until Ratchet can come get you okay?" Ironhide ask. Reflect nods and curls up.

Ironhide carries the sparkling to the washrack and sits with him in the warm water, like he used to do so often with Will when he was sick. he unblocks his side of the bond just to feel and remind himself, Reflect is Will. he smiles a little to himself and blocks it again. he just wants to remember that Will may be gone, but he has Reflect.

he sits silently on the floor of the washracks, the sparkling cradled in his lap gently.

"its okay Reflect. its alright. we'll sit here for a bit, okay? I promise this'll make you feel better." Ironhide murmurs gently, rubbing his cheek with his thumb.

"Reflect hurt." Reflect mumbles.

"yeah I know kiddo, but its okay. I'm here and as soon as Ratchets done with the high grade, he'll come and get you and he'll make it all better. I promise." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect hiccups a little leaning back against him. Ironhide smiles a little leaning back. "this is what the humans call, drunk." Ironhide murmurs.

"Will ever drunk?" Reflect mumbles. Ironhide snorts.

"oh yeah. he wasn't afraid to drink, especially since I could drive and he didn't have to." Ironhide murmurs. Ironhide smiles a little. "after his daughter was taken by his exwife.... he got drunk. real drunk. his blood alcohol level was almost lethal. I didn't want to crowd him, so I dropped him off at the bar and told him all he had to do was call me when he was done." Ironhide murmurs. he shifts the sparkling when he purges onto the floor. "well I drove around a bit... feeling like the biggest idiot because I left my charge alone in a bar. it was probably three hours later when he called me, sobbing. he needed my help, locked in a bathroom stall. he couldn't walk and some guy was trying to beat him. so I showed up and activated my holoform. I beat the other guy and carried Will out of there, because he couldn't walk at all... that was the first night he told me he loved me. I didn't believe him." Ironhide murmurs.

"Ironhide say back?" Reflect mumbles.

"no little one. I didn't." Ironhide sighs.

"why? Hide love Will. why Hide no say?" Reflect ask.

"because. Will was drunk. humans cannot function properly with alcohol. I thought he was saying he loved me for saving him. it took another year for me to say it back." Ironhide murmurs.

"why?" Reflect mumbles.

"because I didn't think he'd love me back." Ironhide murmurs softly. "I was his guardian for Primus sake. it was stupid, but I don't regret him being my bonded Reflect. I could never regret that." he frowns. Reflect leans against him quietly, before purging into the wash rack floor again. its almost immediately washed down the drain.

"Reflect hurt." Reflect mumbles.

"sparklings aren't meant to drink high grade squirt. your system can't process it. it'll try but the more it tries the more it hurts and the more you drink the more you purge." Ironhide frowns. "you're gonna purge up an entire cube and then some, so you'll be hurting for a bit, but Ratchet will make it better. just give him time." Ironhide assures gently.

"but Reflect want now. want Ratchet." he whines.

"just relax it'll be okay Reflect." Ironhide murmurs, holding him gently. he rubs the sparklings back gently, watching him purge into the floor again. he leans back against Ironhide and whines.

"want Ratchet..." Reflect mumbles. "get out, get Ratchet toy?" Reflect asks.

"is that what you'd like little one?" Ironhide ask. Reflect nods a little, curling up. "then yes, we can do that." Ironhide murmurs, getting up and shutting the water off. he dries the sparkling gently and carries him out of the washracks.

"Ironhide, how is Reflect?" Optimus asks, walking over.

"still dizzy and sick. he's been purging every now and then, he wants Ratchet, but he's busy. we're looking for his toys, you seen them?" Ironhide ask.