waking up takes longer than Ratchet and Wheeljack would like, but the sparkling doesn't seem to be in a rush. he blinks a little and sits up, looking around.

"hey there sparkling." Ratchet murmurs, scooping him up. the sparkling cuddles to him before looking around. "what are you looking for little one? Wheeljacks over there." Ratchet murmurs, pointing to the inventor. the sparkling shakes his head.

"oh, not looking for me?" Wheeljack teases walking over. "looking for this?" he grins, holding out the crochet Ironhide toy.

"where the hell did you find that?" Ratchet snorts, watching the sparkling take it.

"remember when I went to get us all cubes? well Ironhide stopped me and said the sparkling had left it in his room, so I've been holding it." Wheeljack explains. Ratchet nods and watches the sparkling cuddle the toy.

"he seems happy with it." Ratchet shrugs a little.

"he likes it." Wheeljack smiles, walking over to take the sparkling. the sparkling is quiet and doesn't object, still sleepy.

"speaking of liking things." Ratchet snorts, walking over. "we have decided on a name for you." Ratchet murmurs, rubbing the little sparklings cheek. the sparkling looks up at him.

"you're name is Reflect sparkling." Wheeljack says. the sparkling furrows his optic ridges a moment before nodding a little. he snuggles against Wheeljack yawning.

"I'm not sure if he's too tired to argue or if he actually likes it." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling shifts a little and cuddles his Ironhide toy. "once he wakes up a little more, we'll try getting him to walk." Ratchet says, reaching over to take the sparkling. Wheeljack immediately passes him over.

"do you want a cube?" Wheeljack asks, holding a cube out to the sparkling. the sparkling nods a little. Ratchet chuckles a little, taking the cube and giving it to the sparkling.

"he's too concerned with holding his toy to hold the cube Jack." Ratchet snorts. the sparkling sucks down the cube silently, looking between the two.

"I'm sorry." Wheeljack murmurs, leaning down to kiss the sparklings head. the sparkling growls at him in warning. "sorry." he chuckles, pulling back. the sparkling cuddles against Ratchet, before pushing the cube away.

"there's no way you're done." Ratchet snorts, pulling the cube away. the sparkling gives him a dirty look before stretching out. "hey now, easy. you've gotta warn me. I don't want to drop you." Ratchet snorts a little, shifting the sparkling a little.

"don't stretch to hard." Wheeljack chuckles. "so, you're sure you want to call him Reflect?" Wheeljack ask.

"you're having doubts? I thought you liked that name?" Ratchet frowns.

"no I love it. I'm just making sure before we set it in stone, as the humans would say." Wheeljack murmurs.

"as long as he likes it, then I like it." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling squirms, trying to get free. he wasn't to test his legs immediately. Ratchet puts him down after a few minutes and the little bot immediately pulls himself up using Ratchets leg armor. "better?" Ratchet snorts.

"no shaking or vibrating and he's not immediately sitting down in pain." Wheeljack says.

"alright squirt. I think you're good to start walking again." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling hugs his leg. "how do you feel about the name we picked?" Ratchet ask. the sparkling makes a face.

"Efect." the sparkling mutters. he huffs. "Efect!" he glares at the medic.

"Reflect." Ratchet corrects.

"okay." the sparkling agrees.

"okay? we have a winner?" Wheeljack grins, leaning against Ratchets side to look down at the sparkling. the sparkling nods happily, looking up at both of them.

"finally." Ratchet snorts, scooping the little sparkling up again. the medic cuddles the little sparkling.

"you know, eventually we're gonna have to let him scan an alt mode or something, and let him pick a color so he's not this boring gray." Wheeljack says. Ratchet chuckles.

"gotta get him a transformation cog made first." Ratchet says.

"I've got the supplies ordered to make one." Wheeljack murmurs. Ratchet nods.

"good. come on squirt. lets go get you a cube alright?" Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling nods and nuzzles against him. Ratchet nods and puts the sparkling down, grabbing his servos. "come on, I'll walk with you." Ratchet says. the sparkling nods and holds tightly to the medics servos.

it takes longer with the sparkling attempting to walk with Ratchet, but once they finally get to the rec room, the sparkling sits down. he pulls his servos free from the medics and plops down, tired. he tilts his head back and pouts up at Ratchet.

"come on. just a little further." Ratchet says. the sparkling huffs at him. "okay okay, fine." Ratchet chuckles, scooping him up. he grabs the sparkling a cube and carries him over to the couch. he plops down and gives the sparkling his cube.

"any news on the sparkling? Optimus asks, walking over to them. both of them look up.

"oh hey Prime. we've got him fixed up and he's relearning to walk again. oh and we've got a designation for him." Ratchet says.

"oh?" Optimus ask.

"yes, we've settled on Reflect." Ratchet says. Optimus smiles.

"well its nice to finally have a name to call you, I'm sure Reflect is the perfect name for him." Optimus smiles.

"we should be able to get him up and running again in a few days." Ratchet says. Optimus nods.

"good, well, I'm glad. I will leave you two alone." Optimus smiles, before walking off.

"so you did name him then?" Bumblebee asks, walking over. Ratchet nods.

"Reflect." Ratchet says.

"Reflect, hmm? well cutie, it suits you. Jazz said the other day they were playing a game and he mimicked a plant. Jazz spent an hour trying to figure out which one he was." Bumblebee laughs. Ratchet snorts.

"yeah I heard about that." Ratchet mutters. the sparkling huffs around his cube, then starts coughing. "hey! what did I say about choking?" Ratchet glares, pulling the cube back quickly. he sits the sparkling up gently, watching the little sparkling cough energon up and onto both of their laps.

"I didn't mean to make him choke!" Bumblebee whines.

"he's okay scout." Ratchet assures. "right?" Ratchet smiles at the sparkling. he gets a dirty glare back and Ratchet chuckles. "don't glare at me, you're the one who choked I had nothing to do with it squirt." Ratchet snorts.

"slagger." he huffs.

"don't." Ratchet frowns in warning.

"so you guys excited for tomorrow?" Bumblebee ask. Ratchet and the sparkling look up confused.

"tomorrow?" Ratchet ask. "whats tomorrow?" Ratchet frowns. Bumblebee raises an eye brow.

"uh, we're supposed to all head to some military family day for the human soldiers. Prime thought it'd be a good experience for everyone. we're supposed to use our holoforms to hang out with the humans. they don't have to wear their uniforms, so we'll all just kinda blend." Bumblebee reminds him. "and there's gonna be human kids there, so we all just assumed you guys would put a holoform on the- Reflect, gotta get used to that, we all figured you'd put a holoform on him so he could play with the human kids." Bumblebee says. the sparkling looks disgusted.

"oh shit." Ratchet mutters, getting up quickly with the sparkling and running off. the sparkling whining in his arm.

"stop!" he whines as Ratchet runs into the medbay. he drops the sparkling onto one of the berths and runs off.

"Jack watch the sparkling I don't want to argue with Prime in front of him!" Ratchet snaps, storming out of the medbay. Will watches him go with a huff, before climbing off the berth. if there's some stupid get together for human soldiers and their families, he wants to be with the one Autobot on base Optimus probably won't force to join, Ironhide. he's finally been released for active duty, but he hasn't been forced to interact with humans more then necessary since Will died.

the sparkling is careful, he doesn't want anyone to grab him and take him to the medbay or worse, Ratchet. he crawls as fast as he can to a vent that he knows will take him to Ironhides room. Ironhide leaves it open specifically for him.

"what are you doing squirt?" Ironhides amused voice filters into the vent. the sparkling pauses and looks a head. Ironhdie had started turning up his audio receptors so he could hear when the sparkling was coming through the vent. it had its disadvantages, but it was nice not to get startled by the sparkling every time he appeared. "I can hear you in the vent, Reflect. come on out." Ironhide snorts. he grins and crawls out of the vent, crawling out from under the Weapons Specialists berth.

"Ironhide!" he grins, looking up at him.

"hey squirt. what are you doing?" Ironhide ask. the sparkling giggles at him. "I heard your name, Wheeljacks so excited he told everyone on base." Ironhide snorts. "how do you feel about it? hmm? Reflect. not what I would've chosen, but I guess it suits you." Ironhide says. the sparkling grins up at him.

"Efect." he grins.

"close enough." Ironhide snorts, scooping him up and putting him on the berth beside him. its quiet between the two a moment, before Ironhide sighs a little.

chirp?

"I'm not excited for tomorrow. Primes making me go. he thinks it'll be good for me or whatever. I tried to pull a favor with Ratchet and it didn't work. he wouldn't keep me on leave for just another few days so I wouldn't have to go. guess he thinks it'll be good for me too." Ironhide grumbles. he huffs. "once Wills family died in a Decepticon attack, he stopped going and we'd take rides instead. I hate these stupid things, so did he." Ironhide grumbles quietly. he sighs and shakes his head, leaning back against the wall behind his berth. "Reflect, if you could've met him, I think he would've really liked you. I know Sam would if you've stop being so weird around humans, hey maybe tomorrow will be good for you." Ironhide snorts a little. he looks down at the sparkling with a small smile.

the sparkling doesn't smile back, he looks almost sad, leaning against forward to rest his chin on Ironhide's leg.

"look, I know I got all depressing on you, but you don't need to be sad squirt." Ironhide murmurs, picking him up gently. he sits the sparkling in his lap gently.

"I sorry Hide." he mumbles. Ironhide frowns and picks up the sparkling, holding him up to his faceplates.

"don't be sorry sparkling. I am sorry. I need to stop doing this to you. you are a very happy and innocent sparkling, I do not want to ruin that. you make the whole base happy. you bring joy to everyone, but you do scare the humans a little. you should try and spend a little time with them." Ironhide murmurs. the sparkling watches him.

"is Reflect with you?" Wheeljacks voice filters in over the room. Ironhide never keeps his com on silent in his bedroom. the sparkling grins at him and Ironhide smiles, putting him back down on the berth.

"yeah Jack, I got'em." Ironhide responds.

"alright, you in your room? if Ratchet comes back to the medbay and realizes I was never in the medbay and couldn't watch the sparkling I'm pretty sure I'll get blamed for that."

Ironhide chuckles.

"he's a bit of a mother hen but I don't blame him, this sparkling has a tendency to disappear." Ironhide snorts.

"I'll be there shortly. please don't lose him." Wheeljack murmurs.

"no promises Jack." Ironhide snorts. the sparkling laughs a little and cuddles into the bigger mech. "he might be in stasis when you get here." Ironhide adds.

"well it is getting a little late. if he sleeps now we'll have a chance to make him a solid holoform for tomorrow."

Ironhide shrugs a little and cuddles the sparkling.

"I guess I'll let him go into stasis then." Ironhide says, shifting him. the sparkling grunts, pouting up at him. "don't pout at me, you heard Wheeljack. you really wanna be awake while they work on you?" Ironhide ask.

"no." the sparkling mumbles, pouting. he curls up against Ironhide, holding onto part of his chest armor.

the sparkling sleeps straight through the night and into the morning. he chirps and stretches, slowly sitting up as he onlines his optics, looking around. he looks around, his optics landing on two humans that he thinks are familiar, but he's not sure,

"oh hey Reflect. we weren't sure if you were gonna wake up on time. thought we'd have to carry you there while you were still in stasis. that wouldn't be any fun for you." one of them chuckles walking over to him.

despite having been human at one put, humans freak him out now. he's not sure why, but they absolutely terrify him, maybe because he used to be a human. he hates it when they get too close and immediately screams, scrambling off the berth and falling onto his back, barely missing cracking his head on the floor.

"oh shit! hold on it's okay! its okay sparkling its us! I promise!" the other says walking over quickly. that does nothing to calm the sparkling down and he screams again, getting up as fast as he can on his hands and knees to crawl off as fast as he can.

"hold on Reflect! hold on! its okay!"

the sparkling doesn't stop until he slams head first into someone while looking behind him. he looks up quickly and screams, throwing his arms up and absolutely startling the crap out of Optimus. the sparkling doesn't care at all, reaching up for Optimus desperately.

"woah, hold on Reflect. whats happened?" Optimus asks, confused. he scoops the little bot up. the sparkling clings to him, holding onto him as tightly as he can. he whimpers and clings to the Prime.

"Prime!" Ratchet shouts running over. he lets out a sigh, reaching for the sparkling, Wheeljack isn't far behind. both of them look worried and it confuses the Prime.

"what happened Ratchet?" Optimus ask.

"he was in stasis and woke up while we were updating our holoforms." Ratchet explains.

"our holoforms freaked him out." Wheeljack frowns, walking over. the sparkling cuddles to Ratchet, nervously. the inventor gently rubs the mechlings cheek. "its alright Reflect, its okay." Wheeljack soothes.

"its alright sparkling, it was just us. I promise." Ratchet assures. the sparkling whine.

"his holoform looks pretty nice, you guys put a lot of time into it." Optimus says.

"well its not like he could design his own, we put a lot of thought into his then kinda modeled it between ours so he looks a little like us." Wheeljack smiles. the sparkling tenses, like he realizes what Optimus had said.

"huh?" the sparkling ask. he looks down at himself and is utterly horrified to find a human baby hand attached to his arm. immediately the sparkling screams, throwing himself backwards out of Ratchets arm.

"shit! hey!" Ratchet yelps, quickly grabbing the sparklings ankle. it leaves the sparkling dangling upside down and screaming.

"easy. easy. its okay Reflect. its okay. its just a holoform." Wheeljack assures, walking over to them.

"I don't know if he's ready for something like this Optimus." Ratchet frowns, turning Reflect right side up and cradling him. the sparkling is still freaking out so Ratchet passes him to Wheeljack.

"this would be a good experience for him if you think he can do it." Optimus murmurs softly.

"I think he'll be okay, we just have to show him that its a holoform and carefully introduce him to the holoforms of the others before we leave. I want him to know who he can run to if anything happens." Ratchet says. Optimus nods.

"agreed." Optimus says.

"its alright sparkling. come on." Wheeljack murmurs, carrying him to the medbay.

the sparkling is still nervous over an hour later, even after meeting the other holoforms. he squirms in Ratchets front passenger seat, mostly because the medic has made him sit in a carseat and its uncomfortable.

"its alright sparkling. there will be a lot of humans, but it will be okay." Ratchet assures.

"Ironhide." he pouts.

"Ironhide is behind us. he has to come with as well." Ratchet says.

"no! Ironhide!" the sparkling glares, holding out his empty hand.

"you couldn't bring the toy with you. if you lost it or it got damaged in anyway, you'd be super upset. you'll be okay without it Reflect. try and make friends." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling whines. "I'm sorry." Ratchet sighs. the sparkling blows a raspberry at the dash, glaring. he refuses to look at or interact with the holoforms unless he has to.

"he alright Ratch?"

"not really Jack. he's anxious and he's scared. this maybe a bad idea. maybe we should take him back to the base. humans seem to scare him."

"we had to try Ratch, he's so scared of humans he avoids them on base. look, we'll leave when he gets ready for a nap."

"alright, I can agree to that. just keep an eye on him Jack. I'm not sure how well this will go. he doesn't know how to even pretend to be human."

"everythings gonna be fine Ratch, don't worry. he's going to be okay. everyone on base knows what his holoform looks like and will be watching out for him."

Ratchet frowns to himself, but he knows Wheeljacks right, he's just worried, like always. Ratchets holoform leans over gently and pats the sparklings head. the sparkling pulls away whining quietly.

"its okay Reflect." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling whines.

"no!" he pouts, kicking at the dash. his little legs don't reach but Ratchet gets the point.

"its just for a little while." Ratchet assures. "why are you so grumpy?" Ratchet frowns. the sparkling glares at him, pouting.

"Ironhide." the sparkling glares.

"no sparkling, we didn't bring the toy with us, but Wheeljack probably has a toy or two you can't play with." Ratchet assures.

"slagger." the sparkling pouts. Ratchet sighs a little shaking his head.

"look, you might even enjoy this a little." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling glares at him.

"no walk!" he reminds the medic.

"right you can't walk like you could before, but you can still walk a little squirt. Wheeljack adn I wouldn't leave you stranded like that. you'll be able to walk a bit, like a human child, but it won't be like you did before. you can walk, you'll be able to jump a little, and maybe even run a little. you may stumble a bit, but you'll be alright." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling pouts. "Jack, please tell me you brought some kind of toy for him. he's getting grumpy."

Wheeljacks amused chuckle annoys him for a brief moment.

"yeah Ratch, I've got a couple toys. he'll be alright." Wheeljack chuckles.

""good. thanks." Ratchet murmurs. "hey, come on squirt. its okay. you've met the others holoforms, you're going to be okay." Ratchet assures.

Ratchet and the other Autobots park in a shaded area, but they spread out a little so they can keep a better eye on everything. Ratchet hops out of his alt mode and walks over, to the other side, getting the sparkling out of his carseat. the sparkling tenses, he still doesn't like the holoforms. he's still afraid of the humans, but he knows this is Ratchet, and holds tightly to his holoform.

"I know you don't like this, but its going to be okay." Ratchet murmurs softly. he walks around the front of his alt and nearly straight into Wheeljack. "shit, Jack, almost ran right into you." Ratchet mutters.

"sorry Ratch." Wheeljack smiles. "but I brought toys." he adds. Ratchet raises an eye brow before looking at the backpack in Wheeljacks hands. the inventor opens it up and Ratchet rolls his eyes.

"y'know, now I'm the bad guy, I told him we didn't bring that so it wouldn't get broke, damaged, or left behind." Ratchet frowns, watching Wheeljack pull out the Ironhide themed toy the sparkling had been asking for the whole ride." Ratchet frowns.

"well I'm sorry you lied to him." Wheeljack shrugs, reaching for the sparkling. "Reflect, come here." Wheeljack murmurs. the sparkling pulls his face from Ratchets neck to look at him. Wheeljack smiles and holds up the toy. immediately, he jumps straight to Wheeljacks arms. it startles them both a little, but Wheeljack easily catches the mechling and hands him the toy. he snatches it and curls up in Wheeljacks arms, glaring daggers at Ratchet.

"look, I didn't know." Ratchet frowns.

"are you three okay?" Optimus' holoform walks over to join them.

"he's pretty scared Prime." Wheeljack frowns a little.

"you don't have to be an Autobot to see the unease rolling off him, even with his holoform on." Ratchet frowns.

"just relax. we've already discussed that once he gets ready for a nap, that you three can leave." Optimus assures. he looks around, frowning. "have you seen Ironhide?" Optimus ask.

"he parked over in the parking lot with the humans, I assume to blend in and make sure you don't come talk to him." Wheeljack shrugs. "he's pretty insistent that he doesn't need to be here." he shrugs. he shifts the sparkling carefully and frowns.

"hey!" Epps calls, running over. the sparkling tenses and holds tighter to Wheeljack.

"hey Epps, where's your children?" Optimus ask.

"they're over there playing some games. is that the sparkling? he looks great, almost cute as a kid." Epps grins. he gets a glare in response from the mechling.

"he's always cute, but for now he has a human holoform." Ratchet glares. Epps grins.

"yeah sure, listen I know humans scare him and make him nervous, but he's about the size of a toddler, he could fit in a bounce house or something. there's not a lot of people here yet so if you take him and get him to play on one comfortably he might play with the other kids." Epps explains, motioning to one of the empty bounce houses. none of the three say anything and Epps knows they're looking it up, and Ratchet is most likely running the risks of his sparkling playing in the thing.

"I mean it should be pretty safe. he might have fun. he does like to jump." Wheeljack says, looking over at Ratchet. the medic still seems to be mulling it over. eventually he shrugs.

"yeah, go ahead. to him to one." Ratchet shrugs. Wheeljack smiles and puts the sparkling down.

"come on Reflect." Wheeljack smiles, taking the little holoforms hands and walking with him.