the moment the sparkling takes a step, Ratchet loses his ever loving mind. he's more excited than Wills ever seen.

"I can't believe you!" Ratchet grins immediately scooping up the sparkling and hugging him tightly. Will squeals angrily and struggles, trying to push away. "don't you dare ever run from me. I swear." Ratchet warns, pulling him back slightly.

"you are the only bot on this base I'd never run from. I owe it to you. you came back for me. you're the only person to ever do that."

chirp chirp click twitter chirp click.

"you better not." Ratchet warns, before hugging him. the sparkling squirms trying to get free.

"lemme go! you're squishing me!"

chirp! twitter!

"okay, okay I'm sorry. I just got excited." Ratchet murmurs, putting the sparkling down gently on his feet. the sparkling immediately flails, trying to get his balance back, Ratchet immediately puts a servo on his back gently. "easy, I've got you." Ratchet assures. the sparkling huffs up at the medic with a pout. "go on. do it again." Ratchet grins. Will huffs a little, turning around to toddle away.

"hey when did he start walking?" Jazz grins, watching the sparkling.

"about five minutes ago." Ratchet says. Will grunts a little as he walks. learning to walk is so much easier like this, but its still a learning process. he's not sure where to walk, but once he sets his sights on Bumblebee, he decides thats the bot he wants to go to. thankfully, the little scouts doorwings are hidden. for some unfortunate reason, anytime the sparkling spotted the scout, he'd have his own set of doorwings pop out on his back. he wasn't sure he could walk with thiose on his back yet. "don't move scout." Ratchet warns. Bumblebee looks over immediately.

"huh?" Bumblebee asks.

"don' move lil Bee. the sparklings heading that way." Jazz chuckles. Bumblebee looks down at the floor. to his utter surprise the sparkling is heading his way with pure determination. unforunately, his wings perk up out of curiosity. immediately, as soon as he sees them, a set of wings pop out on the sparklings back.

"someone catch him!" Ratchet hisses, getting up quickly as the sparkling flails before falling backwards. he lands with a soft thump. it doesn't hurt and he doesn't scream. he looks up to spot Optimus, the bigger bot had managed to get his foot under the sparklings upper body, catching the sparkling by his doorwings.

"easy there little one." Optimus chuckles. the sparkling huffs a little and flails, trying to get up.

"hold on little one, don't panic. if you relax they'll go away." Ratchet assures, calmly. he's more relaxed now, the sparkling has taken so many hits to the head in his few short weeks, Ratchet was panicked. if he kept going he might get a serious head injury before he even managed to hit youngling hood. Ratchet wasn't sure he'd be able to get the parts he'd need to carefully replace everything he'd need to. it made him nervous to think about.

"he needs some kind of helmet now that he's walking." Jazz says.

"I can't help but agree. too bad I'm still not talking to Wheeljack." Ratchet huffs. "I'll make him one." Ratchet adds. he gets up and crouches down, standing the sparkling up gently. he looks up at Ratchet quietly. "don't panic." Ratchet murmurs gently. the sparkling stares at Ratchet until the wings vanish. "see, good job." Ratchet smiles, patting his head.

"thanks."

chirp.

Ratchet smiles and gets up.

"just be careful sparkling." Ratchet murmurs. "keep hurting your head and I may not be able to fix you." Ratchet says softly. the sparkling nods once at him, before smiling and heading off again. Ratchet nods and watches him go a moment, before heading back to the medbay to work on a helmet for the sparkling.

Will barely notices him leaving, he's still determined to get to Bumblebee, without looking at his wings. Bumblebee does his best to hide his wings from the sparkling, grinning at him.

"come here." Bumblebee grins crouching down.

"I'm working on it!"

squeal!

the scout immediately scoops the sparkling up the second he gets to him.

"good job!" Bumblebee grins, hugging him tightly to his chest plates.

"thats cute and all, but we're going to have to start closing the big gate at the front of the base. he's gonna take off and start running soon." Sideswipe snorts. "and he'll be learning to transform in a few months." Sideswipe adds. Bumblebee stands up straight, still cradling the sparkling.

"he's right Prime and its not like we can set up some sort of, 'baby gate' as the humans use for their sparklings. the soldiers would never be able to step over it." Bumblebee explains, frowning.

"humans on base can just start using the human enterances, we might have to start blocking those off too." Jazz frowns, reaching to pat the sparklings head. Bumblebee puts him down gently and watches him toddle off as fast as he can. he has a bot in mind and he's pretty sure everyone already knows that.

he almost to Ironhides room when he spots Sunstreaker. the golden twin raises an optic ridge at the sparkling.

"you started walking? well, Ironhide's not in there squirt. he's in the medbay." Sunstreaker says, motioning behind him. "Ratchets gotta fix his cannon." he adds.

"thanks Sunny!"

chirp!

the words don't stop him, he's immediately heading for the medbay. thankfully the medbay doors always open for him, Wheeljack had made sure back when humans started wondering the base more that the medbay doors would open to any weight over a hundred pounds, so the doors always opened for the sparkling. he wastes no time walking into the medbay.

"look at you sparkling! when did you start walking? I missed it?" Wheeljack asks, watching him. he sounds hurt, but Ratchet clearly still hadn't forgiven him, if he hadn't even told Wheeljack their sparkling was walking. Ironhide looks over at his words, careful not to move since Ratchets working on his cannon.

"look at you squirt." Ironhide smiles a little. "little hell bringer. he's going to start running soon." Ironhide snorts a little. he watches the little sparkling walk over to him. he's still stumbling a little, so the weapons specialist is careful to put his foot out and catch him when he stumbles. "easy there. Ratchets already working on one bot, he doesn't need to work on you too." Ironhide snorts. Will pushes himself up carefully and grins up at him.

"we're going to have to start blocking off doors and shit. we don't need him walking off base." Ratchet says, not looking up from his work.

"and he'll be learning transform here in a few months." Wheeljack frowns. Ratchet only converses with him about the sparkling these days, so he immediately answers.

"he doesn't have a transformation cog. he's an Allspark sparkling. we'll have to make him one." Ratchet explains. Wheeljack looks confused.

"wait what? he doesn't have a cog?" Wheeljack asks. "he did on his scans from the day I found him." he adds. Ratchet pauses and looks over.

"no he didn't." he frowns looking confused.

"yeah he did. I saw it on the scans." Wheeljack says.

"I don't remember seeing one." Ratchet frowns. "I'll pull up scans later, but he's not supposed to have one. if he does, he's not an Allspark sparkling like we thought. he's got creators out there somewhere." Ratchet frowns. he turns back to Ironhide and keeps working. Wheeljack watches him a moment.

"you're never going to forgive me are you?" Wheeljack asks.

"not unless you can find a way to physically go back in time and change your idiot choice. attempting to make me give up the sparkling. idiot. obviously he doesn't forgive you either, whens the last time he actually let you pick him up or anything? hmm? the day you tried to make me give him up hmm? maybe you should work on getting him to forgive you first." Ratchet snaps. Wheeljack looks over to the sparkling, who is purposefully ignore him and trying to climb up Ironhides leg.

"give it up little one. you're not going to make it up here." Ironhide snorts.

"he'll do it Hide. just give him a few minutes." Ratchet snorts. Ironhide reaches his free servo down towards the sparkling.

"come on. come here. take my servo. I'll pull you up here squirt." Ironhide assures. the sparkling immediately reaches up with both servos to hold onto Ironhides servo. the big black mech lifts him up onto the berth. "there see? I've got you." Ironhide chuckles. the sparkling chirps and climbs over him to get to Ratchet. "excuse you. you used me." Ironhide huffs.

"hey there sparkling." Ratchet chuckles, reaching over to pat his head. "don't fall sparkling. I need to make you a helmet." Ratchet adds.

"you gonna be naming him soon?" Ironhide asks, picking up the sparkling with his free servo gently to move him out of Ratchets way. "stay out of the way sparkling. Ratchets got a soldering gun. you don't want to touch that. it'll be hot, it'll hurt." Ironhide says. the sparkling sits silently, but happily, in his lap.

"I was hoping to wait a little longer, until he starts talking. Jack and I threw a couple of names out here and there and he refused all of them. stubborn little mech." Ratchet huffs. Ironhide snorts.

"you can say that again. stubborn slagger. takes after his caretaker." Ironhide snorts.

"I will weld you to this berth." Ratchet glares.

"hey you can't do that. that would require moving the sparkling thats currently taking a nap." Ironhide huffs. Ratchet looks over and sure enough, the sparklings passed out face first in the berth and his waist down sprawled on Ironhides leg. its craning his neck, definately doesn't look comfortable, but the sparklings snoring.

"wow, sparklings really can just nap anywhere." Ratchet mutters, looking at the sparkling. "all the more reason to weld you to the berth." Ratchet says, grinning at Ironhide. Ironhide huffs at him annoyed.

"not going to hurt him to lay like this is it?" Ironhide ask.

"not for a few minutes. we'll move him once he's good and in stasis." Ratchet says. "just leave him until I'm done here. shouldn't take more than a few minutes." Ratchet adds. Ironhide nods and leaves the little sparkling be.

when the sparkling wakes a few hours later, he refuses to sit down, unless Ratchet says it. he can't run and he's definately not as fast walking as he is crawling, but he sure could move. it was exhausting to his current caretaker, Sideswipe, but Ratchet found it amusing. the sparkling would immediately drop and sit down anytime Ratchet came into the room, not often since he was working on a helmet for the sparkling, he wouldn't move until Ratchet went away. he had agreed, though the medic hadn't understood him, not to run from Ratchet and he wouldn't. if the medic wanted to catch him, he'd make it easy. if anyone else wanted to catch him, he wouldn't let them.

Sideswipe sighs a little, watching him.

"Primus you're lucky you're cute. come on sparkling, I don't wanna play another game of 'catch the sparkling'. can't we sit down for a few minutes?" Sideswipe asks.

"no way! are you kidding? I haven't been able to walk in weeks! I'm going wherever I-"

chirp chirp click chirp twitter-

he comes to an immediate stop, almost walking straight into Sam. he stares at the 27 year old man, who stares directly back at him. they stare at each other quietly for a few minutes.

"uh, hi there." Sam says awkwardly. th esparkling shutters his optics in a mock blink, before turning his head to look at Sideswipe confused.

"finally you... oh, hey Sam. whats up?" Sideswipe smiles. the sparkling turns back to look at Sam. he knows he should remember the man, he gets the same feeling around the human they call 'Epps', but he can't remember why. he doesn't like the feeling, it makes him nervous. he takes a step back and chirps up at Sideswipe nervouly. "don't be like that sparkling. its just Sam." Sideswipe assures, scooping him up. "whats up Sam? I didn't know you were on base today." he smiles.

"oh yeah, Bumblebee just picked me up and brought me out here. I'm spending the weekend on base." Sam smiles a little. "I haven't been on base for longer than a few hours since... well y'know. I don't wanna say his name in case Hides around." Sam frowns. Sideswipe nods.

"yeah I understand. no worries though, he's in his room having a depression fit.... you know who has a birthday coming up and one of the soldiers wanted to have a party for him.... Ironhide appreciated it but it hurts." Sideswipe sighs. Sam nods once.

"I'm... I'm gonna go talk to him, I have an idea for him that he might like." Sam says, heading off to talk to Ironhide quickly.

"alright bye Sam, be careful." Sideswipe says. he carries the sparkling off, he always gets oddly quiet when he bumps into a human. "you're going to have to get used to humans little one." Sideswipe murmurs. the sparkling looks up at him, before squirming to get free. Sideswipe puts him down gently and the sparkling immediately follows after Sam. Sideswipe sighs and follows after him.

the sparkling toddles into Ironhide's leg. he chirps in surprise and lands on his butt. Ironhide looks down in shock.

"oh slag, sorry sparkling.... I'm... distracted." Ironhide mutters, scooping him up gently. Sideswipe looks at Ironhide.

"oh hey, you wanna keep him for a bit? you heading out to the range?" Sideswipe asks.

"no, I'm heading out to the house..." Ironhide frowns.

"oh well, I can take him with me." Sideswipe says, reaching for the sparkling. he squeals angrily at Sideswipe and clings to Ironhide. "come on sparkling, you can't stay with Ironhide. he's leaving." Sideswipe murmurs. the sparkling growls in warning, snapping at his servo.

"take it easy Sideswipe. I'll take him with me. he doesn't want to let go and it might do me some good to take him with me." Ironhide says. "just don't let Ratchet know I've taken him off base." Ironhide says. Sideswipe seems hesitant.

"okay.... alright. just be safe, don't let him get hurt." Sideswipe sighs. Ironhide nods.

"I know." Ironhide murmurs, carrying the sparkling away. he's careful when he transforms around the sparkling. the sparkling lands in the passenger seat of the top kick.

"wow.... its been so long... whats this....?"

chirp.... twitter... twitter...?

there's a handprint burnt into the mechs dashboard. Will leans forward and puts his servo on the handprint. Ironhide pulls him back quickly with a seatbelt.

"don't touch that." Ironhide says, sounding harsh. he sighs softly. "thats special to me sparkling. I don't want it ruined. I took me forever to get that on there.... no one knows its there, well except you now." Ironhide says almost fondly.

"is... is that my handprint Hide?"

chirp?

"its Wills, that human friend of mine I lost. thats where he used to put his hand right there when I drove too fast. he'd smack my dash and laugh while holding onto the door... I miss him... so much sparkling. I really miss him." Ironhide sighs softly. the sparkling doesn't hesitate to put his opposite servo across from his old handprint on the dash, before looking at the steering wheel like he used to. "he used to do that... you remind me a lot of him sometimes sparkling... I do not believe in 'blessings' as humans call them, but I do believe you could not have come into our lives at a better time." Ironhide murmurs. "sorry, I hate to keep dropping all this stuff on you." Ironhide sighs.

"and I hate you can't understand me."

twitter click.

"its stupid, but I feel I can talk to you, mostly because you can't tell anyone anything I say." Ironhide admits. the sparkling pats the dash gently, careful not to touch the handprint. he doesn't want to upset Ironhide. "you've done me good sparkling... not just me, but everyone on base. all the Autobots. you've brought us joy, mostly Ratchet. him and Wheeljack had a sparkling back on Cybertron, but he was very young when the war started. he was injured in a Decepticon raid... they raided a care center. Ratchet couldn't save him... he and Wheeljack were still pretty young back then, we all were. not too young, but we'd just gotten out of our youngling stages... I found him in the rubble cradling his lifeless sparkling, I carried them both away from the rubble, I've never seen Ratchet look so lost. I've certainly never had to carry an offlined sparkling before...." Ironhide explains. "that was the day Ratchet pledged allegience to the Autobots and Wheeljack followed after. thats why he's so over protective of you. Wheeljack swore off ever having anymore sparklings ever and I've never heard Ratchet say another word about it." Ironhide murmurs.

"they... lost their kid?"

chirp?

"yeah, so try not to be so hard on Jack. I know thats why Ratch's upset, but Jack...I can't imagine how hard it is to lose the sparkling you carried before they even learn to walk. I see it sometimes when he looks at you, he takes it hard, so don't hate on him too much. he still feels like he failed his last sparkling." Ironhide murmurs. the sparkling doesn't answer, simply cuddling into the seat to think over Ironhides words.

the rest of the trip to the Lennox farm is quiet. Ironhide doesn't activate his holoform once they get there, he just sits in the driveway silently with the sparkling for hours, until it gets dark and the sparklings is half asleep. only once Ironhide realizes they've been there for 7 hours does he turn and head back to the base. its nearing early morning hours and several bots have attempted to contact him, but he hasn't answered other than to assure Ratchet he had the sparkling safe and sound in his passenger seat.

"Ironhide you need to hurry up. its past his freaking bed time. come on you frag head! I can't go into stasis without my fragging sparkling here safe and sound!" Ratchet snaps.

"Ratchet, please stop. I've got the sparkling. he's safe and sound right here in my passenger seat. he's already in stasis. we're 45 minutes from the base. I promise you, the only other bot on the planet, besides you, that this sparkling is safe with would be me. you know I'd never let anything happen to your sparkling. I'd never let anything happen to him." Ironhide assures.

"Ironhide you slaghead! thats my fragging sparklign! where the hell did you take him!?" Ratchet shouts. Ironhides quiet a moment before he sighs over the com.

"I took him out to the farm." Ironhide finally admits. this time, Ratchet goes quiet. "Sam started talking about Wills birthday and... he gave me the idea to drive out to the house. I was leaving and the sparkling ran into me. Sideswipe thought it might be a good idea to take him with me, so I did. he enjoyed the drive actually..." Ironhide murmurs. the medic is quiet a few moments longer.

"I... Ironhide I'm sorry. you know.... I don't like the sparkling going too far without me, but I guess you're right. you're the next best and safest bot for him besides me. just be safe with him please." Ratchet says softly.

"we'll be back at the base here shortly. I'll drop him off in the medbay. I promise Ratchet, I'll never let harm come to your sparkling." Ironhide murmurs reassuringly.

the medics quiet and Ironhide knows he's sitting there waiting at the front door for the recharging sparkling. he's careful, but he's fast. the moment he reaches the base he transforms with the sparkling landing in his arm. he's surprised not to see Ratchet, but he heads for the medbay. Ratchets quietly waiting in the medbay when he gets there.

"hey Ratchet. here, I promise he's okay, he's in stasis though." Ironhide murmurs, passing the recharging sparkling over to Ratchet.

"alright, next time you go to take him with you, just let me know so I don't panic." Ratchet murmurs, shifting the sparkling. Ironhide nods at him and turns, leaving silently. Ratchet shifts the sparkling gently. "come on sparkling. its better to have you here. now I recharge peacefully." Ratchet murmurs, carrying him off.

when the sparkling wakes up the next morning, he doesn't take off like normally. he sticks around in the medbay, cuddled up to Ratchet. he cuddles into the medics arms until Wheeljack walks in. the moment he walks in, the sparkling squirms free from Ratchet and walks over to the inventor as fast as possible. it surprises both of the bigger mechs. he throws his arms up and chirps, waiting for Wheeljack to pick him up. the inventor scoops him up gently and holds him tightly.

"hello there sparkling." Wheeljack murmurs, hugging him. "does this mean I'm forgiven sparkling?" Wheeljack asks. the sparkling cuddles closer to him. Wheeljack smiles and hugs him gently. "does this mean you've forgiven me too?" Wheeljack asks softly, looking at Ratchet. the medic huffs at him annoyed, ignoring him. "Ratchet, please..." Wheeljack trails softly.

"if you.... I swear if you ever try to make me leave my sparkling again, it will be the absolute end of everything. bonded or not. I'll throw you out of our shared room. I'll throw you out of my medbay. I'll take the sparkling and block the bond. I'll abandon you like you attempted to do to him." Ratchet snaps, glaring over at the inventor. Wheeljack shakes his head a little, clutching the sparkling gently.

"never again. I made the wrong choice Ratchet, I won't do that ever again." Wheeljack says softly, taking a few hesitant steps over towards him.

"fine." Ratchet murmurs, staring at the project in front of him.

"Ratch, does that mean I can finally hold you again?" Wheeljack asks softly. "please?" he asks, shifting the sparkling. Ratchet tenses up, refusing to look over. of course he wants to forgive his bondmate, it just hurts to think about.

"come on! I didn't do this so you could be stubborn."

the sparklings chastising clicks finally get Ratchets attention. the medic gets up and walks over, hugging them both. the sparkling snuggles between them happily. of course they've squished him and it hurts, but he refuses to break the hug up. the two need it and Will is willing to suffer getting a little squished for a bit.

"so you forgive me? I'm so sorry... I'll never make that awful mistake ever again.... I won't do that ever again. you two are way too important." Wheeljack murmurs softly, holding Ratchet tighter.

"I'll work on it. I will forgive you, eventually, but I won't forget." Ratchet warns. Wheeljack nods, finally stepping back. the sparkling squirms a little, glad to finally not be squished.

"now that you're finally talking to me again, did you happen to record his first steps so I could see them?" Wheeljack asks hopefully. Ratchet nods.

"yeah. I've got it saved and I'll put it on a datapad for you." Ratchet assures. Wheeljack looks relieved and turn to the sparkling, hugging him tightly.

"thank Primus you forgave me sparkling... I just wasn't sure I was ready, but it doesn't mean I should just suggest we find you a different caregiver. I'll never do it ever again. I promise sparkling." Wheeljack murmurs, nuzzling him gently. he puts the sparkling down gently on the floor. "go on, go strengthen your legs little one. you're never going to get away from anyone walking like that." Wheeljack murmurs, nudging the sparkling gently. Ratchet snorts a little and watches the little sparkling stumble off. the medic smiles after him, it was amazing. he was finally getting a second chance.