"Ironhide, you down to stop by Sams house for a minute? they're bugging him about seeing the sparkling." Bumblebee mutters. Reflect looks at the radio when Bumblebees voice filters in. the holoform looks annoyed.

"as long as they annoy him and not me, I don't care." Ironhide mutters.

"alright, Sam told them no." Bumblebee says. the scout doesn't seem to care either, he didn't really like Sams parents though.

"window?" Reflect asks.

"hmm?" Ironhide ask.

"window!" Reflect squeals, standing in the seat. Ironhide shrugs and rolls the window down, his seatbelt immediately wrapping around the sparklings holoforms leg. if the holoform got hurt, Reflect would be as well. that would be very bad since Ratchet was in space and not on the planet to help the sparkling.

"don't fall out." Ironhide mutters.

"music!" Reflect squeals, turning to Ironhides holoform, grinning. Ironhide rolls his eyes but cranks up the music. one of Wills favorite bands, Nickelback. Reflect giggles happily, waving at Sam in Bumblebee's alt. Sam smiles and waves back at him.

as they park in the store parkling lot, Ironhide remembers he hates shopping. Will would convince him to go in with his holform sometimes, giving the smaller man an excuse to hold the holoforms hand and grin, leaning against him. but Ironhide always hated shopping, he only went along to make Will happy.

"ooohhhhh...." Reflect squeals, looking around.

"he's never been to a human store?" Bumblebee ask.

"no. you know how Ratchet is." Ironhide mutters, holoform jumping out of the truck. he grabs Reflects holoform and throws him up onto his shoulders. "stay up there and out of trouble." Ironhide says. Reflect giggles happily, hugging the holoforms head and playing with Ironhides holoforms hair. "don't pull my hair." Ironhide grumbles.

"no hurt Ironhide, Reflect promise." Reflect assures, hugging his head.

"are they gonna update his holoform to make him look older?" Sam asks.

"I have no idea." Ironhide mutters.

"what are we doing at a craft store?" Bumblebee asks, looking around.

"I told you, I needed to get something." Ironhide grumbles.

"Ironhide need photo book." Reflect says, looking at Bumblebee.

"this is where Will got the first one. he made me come with him when he got it." Ironhide grumbles, looking around.

"what that?" Reflect ask, pointing.

"don't know." Ironhide says, ducking to walk into the store without knocking Reflects head on the door frame.

"what that?" Reflect ask.

"no idea." Ironhide mutters, glancing over the store. "we're just here for a photo album Reflect. nothing else." Ironhide adds.

"okay." Reflect chirps happily. "why Reflect up here?" Reflect ask.

"because you don't like people. I put you on my shoulders so no one could touch you and so you wouldn't run off." Ironhide mutters. Reflect nods happily, kicking his feet. they may not have updated the sparklings age, but they did update his clothing. long gone was the dinosaur clothing, replaced with army themed childrens clothing and a pair of black and white sneakers, with red and blue LED lights that light up everytime he moved his feet. in very small detail, there's an Autobot symbol on each shoe, hidden in the design.

"Ironhide?" Reflect ask.

"yes little one?" Ironhide ask.

"look there. book." Reflect says, pointing. Ironhide looks up.

"wrong kind of book kiddo, but nice try." Ironhide murmurs, patting his leg.

"oh." Reflect frowns.

"hey Sam, look. you wanted some things to put up in your college dorm, there's some posters." Bumblebee says.

"sure lets go see." Sam smiles, following after him. Ironhide watches them go and pauses a moment. using his scanners, he easily locates the books and heads on his way.

"Ironhide find?" Reflect ask.

"yep. c'mon squirt." Ironhide says.

"look!" Reflect squeals, pointing. Ironhide pauses, looking up at the sparkling, then following his finger. "its Ironhide!" he giggles. Ironhide raises an eye brow, before his eyes settle on a little GMC topkick model truck. its black like Ironhides own alt, and the sparkling clearly finds it amusing. "its you!" Reflect giggles, leaning around to look at Ironhides face with a grin.

"yup it is." Ironhide snorts, shaking his head amused.

"I'm sorry did you just confirm to that child that you are a truck?" a voice asks from behind. Ironhide raises an eyebrow, turning around, ready to snap at who ever dare talk to him, but instead he rolls his eyes.

"Epps don't sneak up on me like that." Ironhide grumbles. Epps laughs a little, waving at Reflect. "what the frag are you doing here?" he frowns, looking around.

"oh uh, someone stole some important paint this morning," Epps frowns, looking up at Reflect. the sparkling grins. "and I'm here to replace it." Epps adds.

"Reflect, you told me you got that paint from Wheeljack." Ironhide frowns, attempting to look up at the sparkling.

"did." Reflect giggles.

"oh he did." Epps frowns. "unfortunately Wheeljack needs it and doesn't realize it was Reflect who took it, so he's pretty upset." Epps adds.

"I can let him know." Ironhide assures.

"no big deal, we'll be fine. bigger question is, what are you doing here?" Epps ask, looking behind Ironhide. the mech had finally located what they were there for.

"photo album. the one Will gave me got damaged." Ironhide mutters, reaching up to grab the sparklings leg when Reflect leans to look at something. Epps nods a little.

"well, if you don't find one to fit your needs, let me know, I'll order one off the internet." Epps assures.

"nah, I've got it. thanks." Ironhide says, turning to look at the albums. he grabs one of the bigger sized books, hoping it'll fit in his servo better and hold all of the pictures. "you seen Sam or Bee? they came with and walked off." Ironhide frowns.

"yeah a few isles over." Epps snorts, shaking his head and walking around Ironhide. "have fun guys." Epps smiles. Ironhide nods.

"thanks." he says. "come on squirt." Ironhide mutters, heading out of the isle.

"don't drop." Reflect whines.

"I'm not going to drop you, relax. have I ever dropped you?" Ironhide ask.

"no." Reflect mumbles, hugging Ironhides head. Ironhide nods and walks over to the next isle.

"hey you two, ready to go?" Ironhide ask.

"yup. ready when you are." Sam says. the four make their way quickly through the check out and head back out to their alts. they load everything up and head out for Wills old farm.

when they finally get to the farm, Reflect jumps out happily, not even using his holoform. he didn't have to out here. Ironhide snorts at him and walks over to the mail box. he opens it and can't help the smile crossing his face. he reaches in and pulls out the package, there's a small hope that the pictures are okay, they'd been in there over a year, but he'd take them anyway, just in case. he tosses the box into his alt.

"you two keep an eye on him, I've gotta run inside." Ironhide mutters, heading inside.

"sure no problem Hide." Sam murmurs. Ironhide heads inside, looking around.

"okay Will lets see what you're hiding." Ironhide murmurs softly. he heads upstairs and towards Wills bedroom, standing silently in the door way once he gets there. he looks around a moment, before heading over to the dresser. he can't remember if Will told him which drawer it was, so he just starts opening drawers and digging through them. he not expecting the overwhelming scent of Will and his laundry detergent to hit him in the face the way it does. it causes him to stutter in his search briefly, but he's immediately searching again for the pictures Will told him about.

"Ironhide are you alright?" Bumblebee ask.

"you're supposed to be watching Reflect." Ironhide mutters, digging through the drawers.

"he's driving around with Sam." Bumblebee murmurs. "you looking for something?" Bumblebee ask.

"I had a dream where Will told me about some pictures he hid in here, but he didn't tell me which dresser or which drawer, so I'm hunting." Ironhide mutters.

"want help?" Bumblebee ask.

"I have no idea what these pictures are Bumblebee." Ironhide deadpans, turning to look at the younger. "no idea. keeping in mind that Will was my bonded, you sure you want to help?" Ironhide ask. Bumblebee nods and smiles a little.

"yeah sure." Bumblebee murmurs.

"alright." Ironhide says, motioning to the other dresser. "thanks." he mutters.

"no problem. bondmate or not, losing Will hurt you, if it helps you, I've got no problems with it." Bumblebee assures gently, opening the first drawer he gets too. Ironhide goes quiet, but doesn't stop searching. "any idea how many we're looking for?" Bumblebee ask.

"no. no idea if they're really hidden either, just know they're in here. he's told me about it several time, never told me where they were. just told me they were his favorites." Ironhide mutters. "and try not to make a mess of his clothes or anything. he'd be fragging pissed if he saw it messed up, especially since he'd just cleaned up two days before he died." Ironhide grumbles. Bumblebee nods.

"I'll make sure to search thoroughly but not destroy anything. promise." Bumblebee assures gently. Ironhide nods and closes the drawer, opening the next. they search quietly for a few minutes, before Bumblebee stumbles on a small box. "hey Hide, got something." Bumblebee murmurs. Ironhide looks over, reaching for the box. he takes it and opens it, looking through it.

"s'his dog tags. letters from Annie while he was over seas." Ironhide murmurs, closing the box and putting it on top of the dresser to take with him. he goes back to searching.

"found his old wedding ring." Bumblebee murmurs.

"yep. he threw that in yard after Sarah left. then he cried and spent two days looking for it. took me thirty minutes to find it, he threw it in the dresser after cleaning it off. he was angry, but he still loved her." Ironhide mutters, dropping down to keep searching drawers.

"you find anything?" Bumblebee ask.

"not yet." Ironhide mumbles. "wait, got them." Ironhide murmurs pulling out a stack of photos. its more than Ironhide thought and they were wrapped in a piece of paper with a rubber band holding the paper around it.

"gotta be 20-30 pictures there Hide." Bumblebee says. Ironhide shrugs a little, pulling the rubber band off to go through the photos. as soon as he sees the first picture he stills.

its a picture of his holoform and Will sitting at the top of the ferris wheel on their, technically, first real date. the lights are pretty, but the pictures a little blurry. Ironhide remembers purposefully rocking their seat and grinning. Will is clinging to Ironhide, clutching his phone, and laughing.

Ironhide had wondered where this picture went after Will'd had it printed. the picture makes him smile, slowly getting up out of the floor.

"they what you thought they would be?" Bumblebee asks, curiously.

"no." Ironhide mutters, flipping to the next picture. these must all be pictures of the dates Will always insisted they go on, unlike the pictures in the book mostly being after missions. "they're better." Ironhide says, putting the pictures on top of the box Bumblebee had found, then picked both up.

"is that everything?" Bumblebee ask. Ironhide nods a little.

"yeah." Ironhide mutters, heading out of the house. Bumblebee follows after him. they step outside in time to see Reflect race past their alt modes, in his own, with Sam clinging to the bed of his alt and laughing. "Reflect! be careful with him!" Ironhide snaps. Reflect skids to a stop giggling, letting Sam jump out of his bed. he transforms and bounces happily, running over to Ironhides holoform.

"am being careful." Reflect says.

"you're covered in dirt, did you run through the field again?" Ironhide ask. Reflect shakes his head.

"we went throught he corn, it was really dusty." Sam snorts, dusting himself off. Bumblebee chuckles. "find what you were looking for?" Sam asks.

"yeah." Ironhide says. "ready to leave when you are." Ironhide shrugs.

"okay. well, if you guys are ready, lets head back to the base." Sam smiles. Bumblebee nods and shuts his holoform off. they load up and head back to the base, though Ironhide is far quieter than before. he's not blasting music or letting Reflects holoform hang out the window.

Reflects losing his mind, bouncing with energy, but trying not to bother Ironhide. he can tell Ironhides not in the mood. the moment Ironhide transforms and puts him down, Reflects screaming and running inside with pent up energy, that usually comes right before he crashes for a nap.

"is he okay?" Sam asks, looking up at Ironhide and Bumblebee.

"yeah, just got a little too much energy." Bumblebee assures, watching Ironhide head inside. he's got more important things to do right now than to worry about the sparkling. Reflect runs over to Bumblebee.

"see Bari! want see Bari! Bumblebee take see Bari!" Reflect shouts, bouncing up and down excitedly. "please? I have picture for Bari!" Reflect pouts.

"um... I can find out." Bumblebee says.

"Barricade?"

"what you stupid slagger?"

"Reflect wants to see you."

"not today."

"he's going to cry."

"do I sound like a fragging care? I said no!"

"oh come on."

"fuck off scout. todays not a good day, unless you want to end up offline, shut the frag up."

"suck my fragging cable jerk."

"sorry Reflect, Barricades busy, he doesn't want to see you today." Bumblebee frowns. Reflect whines.

"but want see Bari." Reflect pouts.

"he doesn't care today, he's not in a good mood. I'm sorry." Bumblebee sighs. Reflect pouts and stomps off angrily.

Reflect looks up bumping into Jazz.

"hey kid, whats up?" Jazz smiles.

"where Ratchet?" Reflect asks. Jazz frowns.

"not here right now." Jazz says.

"want Ratchet." Reflect says.

"well, I'm sorry, how about Wheeljack?" Jazz asks. Reflect scoffs and storms off to Wheeljacks lab. he pushes the door open, Wheeljacks welding something.

"Jack!" Reflect shouts. the inventor jumps and turns.

"Reflect? you can't be in here little one." Wheeljack frowns, shutting his welder off. the sparkling stomps at him throwing his arms up and glaring at him. "I can't right now." Wheeljack frowns. Reflect drops his arms.

"Ratchet!" Reflect orders.

"he's not here right now sparkling. he'll be back later." Wheeljack assures. Reflect screams at him and the inventor sighs a little.

"I can't hold you right now." Wheeljack murmurs.

"stupid!" Reflect screams, stomping off. he stomps off screaming for Ratchet.

"whats up with the sparkling?"

"nothing Sideswipe, he cna't help it. he's just realizing he can't sense Ratchet and wants him. sparklings do that, we may not have an actual physical bond with him, but we do have a bond. he can tell that Ratchets not on base or any where near by, so he's upset. try to keep him distracted."

Reflect stomps down towards Optimus office, catching Prowls attention.

"and just where are you going?" Prowl asks.

"Opmis!" Reflect screams.

"Optimus isn't here." Prowl frowns, walking over to pick the sparkling up. definitely not as easy as it was when he first met the sparkling, but he still manages. "Optimus and Ratchet went on a mission. they'll be back later." Prowl assures. Reflect screams in his face, Prowl pulling back little. "alright, how about we find someone to play with you?" Prowl asks, carrying him off. Reflect whines quietly, dropping his head on to Prowls shoulder, but lets him carry him away.

"I've got a very upset sparkling here, anyone wanna take a chance to distract him.?"

Prowl leaves the come open, he wants everyone to hear.

"no dice Prowler, he refused me."

"thanks anyway Jazz."

"I'm out on the range but I can take him."

"I think not Hound. Ratchet would kill you if anything happened to him."

Prowl shifts the sparkling.

"Ironhide?"

"busy."

Prowl frowns a little.

"I'll come get him."

"where are you Sunstreaker, I can bring him to you."

"my room."

"we'll be right there."

"come on, I found someone who can watch you." Prowl murmurs, carrying Reflect off. the sparkling growls a little, but isn't screaming in his face anymore, so Prowl considers it progress.

he carries the sparkling to Sunstreaker and Sideswipes room, knocking on the door. it flies open immediately. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are both sitting on their own berth.

"just drop him off." Sunstreaker shrugs.

"come here squirt want to draw?" Sideswipe asks. Prowl sets Reflect down, letting the door shut behind him as he walks back towards his office.

"no! want Ratchet!" Reflect screams, stomping his foot.

"yeah I know, but he's gone for a while." Sideswipe says.

"Ratchet'll be back later, how about you draw him a picture to give him when he gets back?" Sunstreaker mutters.

"no. stupid." Reflect huffs.

"I bet it would make him really happy to come home and you give him a picture." Sunstreaker says, sitting up on his berth to raise an optic ridge at the sparkling. "you don't want him to be sad do you?" he ask.

"no." Reflect mumbles. Sideswipe chuckles and gets up.

"stay here with Sunny and I'll go get yoru stuff so you can draw him a picture." Sideswipe murmurs.

"cube." Reflect growls.

"sure. Sunny you need one too?" Sideswipe ask.

"don't fragging call me Sunny." Sunstreaker growls. "sure." he mumbles.

"cool I'll be right back." Sideswipe smiles.

"are you okay?" Sunstreaker asks.

"want Ratchet." Reflect whimpers, walking over to Sunstreakers berth. he reaches up for the bright yellow twin. "Sun-Sun hold Reflect?" Reflect whimpers.

"sure." Sunstreaker mutters, pull him up to sit in his lap. "its okay I promise. Ratchet and Optimus will be back later. you'll be asleep when they come back. okay?" Sunstreaker ask. Reflect whines, but hugs his neck.

"Sun-Sun sure...?" Reflect asks quietly. Sunstreaker frowns a little, hugging the sparkling tightly.

"yeah, I'm sure. they'll be back Reflect. I promise." Sunstreaker murmurs softly. Reflect whines, hugging tighter.

"no say goodbye." Reflect whimpers.

"you were still asleep this morning when they left." Sunstreaker mutters.

"Uncle Sides is back!" Sideswipe grins walking back in. "awww Sunny you're taking all the cuddles." he pouts.

"shut up idiot. he misses Ratchet." Sunstreaker snaps, cuddling Reflect.

"Reflect go back Ironhide." Reflect whimpers.

"in a little bit. how about you draw Ratchet a picture, then you go to Ironhide, okay?" Sunstreaker murmurs.

"m'kay." Reflect mumbles.

he sits with the twins for a few hours, drawing and coloring, even downing the cube he was given. its getting late and he's begun to get grumpy when Sunstreaker finally drops him off with Ironhide.

the mech looks up from the photo album he's finished putting together, confused.

"why are you in my room?" Ironhide snaps.

"bringing you Reflect. he wants you." Sunstreaker mutters. Reflect whines, reaching for Ironhide. he takes him immediately, settling the sparkling in his lap.

"alright, come on. you can look at these pictures with me." Ironhide murmurs. he waves Sunstreaker off, leaning back some.

"want Ratchet." Reflect whimpers.

"yeah I know, but he'll be back in the morning. I just heard okay?" Ironhide ask.

"be there when get back?" Reflect asks.

"yeah, I'll get you up so you can be there when he gets back, I promise." Ironhide murmurs, looking down at his picture book.

"that Will." Reflect says, pointing at him in a picture.

"sure is." Ironhide murmurs.

"what doing?" Reflect asks, tilting his head.

"he was being an idiot." Ironhide snorts. "he jumped off a building trying to avoid Starscream. I took that when I went to catch him. he knew I would. he knew I'd always catch him. he loved it. thought it was funny. don't get me wrong, he was scared out of his mind, but he told me he liked the feeling of the wind in his hair... Sarah and Annie had just... he told me he was smiling because for a brief second he wanted to hit the ground, but then he saw me and knew I wouldn't let him die." Ironhide murmurs, rubbing the picture gently. "I had it printed for him." he murmurs.

"Will want die...?" Reflect ask.

"he did... sometimes, but here, look at this." Ironhide murmurs, turning the page in the book. he points at another picture and smiles. "Sam and Bumblebee sneaked up on us and took this one." Ironhide murmurs. his holoform and Will are laying on the hood of his alt. the sun is setting around them, creating a beautiful ray of oranges, reds, and yellows cast over them. Ironhides holoform is laying on his back, legs hanging limply off the edge of his hood, one arm firmly around Will, the other over his stomach. Will is laying on his right side, facing away from Ironhides holoform, curled up, drooling on the mechs hood. "and this one." Ironhide chuckles. the next picture is similar to the first, expect Ironhides holoform is awake, eyes narrowed up at Bumblebee, but he's unable to get up and move since Will is still curled up and peacefully sleeping, cuddled against him. Ironhide looks utterly pissed and Will is still curled up snoring quietly. there's a third picture similar to the other two, though Ironhides head has dropped back onto his hood and he's flipping the scout off with a scowl on his face.

"Will sleepy." Reflect giggles.