the sparkling runs out of the medbay and straight into another bots leg.

"oh slag, sorry little one." Hot Rod frowns, bending down to pick him up. Reflect looks up, from where he's now on the floor, and screams. he grabs his items and scrambles up, running off.

"NO TOUCH REFLECT!!!! STANGER DANGER!" Reflect screams. Hot Rod watches after him, confused as hell. "STANGER DANGER!!" Reflect screams. "NO TOUCH REFLECT!" he screams.

"what in the hell?" Epps frowns, watching the sparkling run past, bright blue blanket fluttering behind him. "something is wrong with that sparkling." Epps mutters.

Reflect screams, running into Ironhides room. the mech surely heard him coming as the door opens immediately for him, slamming shut behind him. he stops and looks up at Ironhide. Ironhide, sitting on his berth cleaning his canons, looks at him with a raised optic ridge.

"what do you want? could've heard you screamin' on Cybertron squirt, whats got you all riled?" Ironhide ask. Reflect drops his blanket to hold up his toy.

"Ironhide!" Reflect squeals, waving it around by its arm. Ironhide raises an optic ridge, amused.

"I see. its back." Ironhide snorts. "whats that behind you?" Ironhide ask.

"daddy Jack make blanket!" Reflect squeals, reaching behind him with one servo to grab his blanket and hold it up for Ironhide to see. "soft! keep Reflect warm!" Reflect squeals, wrapping the blanket around himself again.

"good. I'm glad you're warm." Ironhide chuckles softly.

"hold me?" Reflect pouts up at the mech.

"okay, but be good and sit still. I'm cleaning my canons. don't touch any of the cleaning stuff alright?" Ironhide ask.

"okay." Reflect nods, walking closer happily. Ironhide snorts and picks him up, settling the sparkling in his lap.

Reflect sits quietly in Ironhides lap, snuggling into his blanket. he's cuddling his Ironhide toy, fingers in his mouth, blanket pulled around him tightly. the silence only lasts thirty minutes, but thats longer than Ironhide honestly expected it would last. the sparkling, like Will, could never stay too silent for too long.

"Ironhide?" Reflect ask.

"yes little one?" Ironhide asks, glancing over from his canon.

"Will story?" Reflect asks.

"sure what kind?" Ironhide ask.

"funny." Reflect says.

"a funny story? hmmm..." Ironhide thinks a moment. "how about I tell you about the time... no that doesn't end appropriately." Ironhide frowns. the particular story he'd been thinking about had ended with a knife in Wills hand when the man was horsing around with it. it had also ended with Ironhide rushing him to the hospital, then later bleaching blood from his floorboards. "hmmm, I think I'm running out of stories sparkling, which should be impossible, but not a lot of our stories are sparkling safe to hear." Ironhide frowns.

"no story?" Reflect pouts.

"no I'll come up with a story, just give me a few minutes to think." Ironhide frowns. "oh! how about the time Will and Epps fell out of my alt mode?" Ironhide ask.

"huh?" Reflect asks.

"okay so we were practicing, thats alot of what human soldiers do, practice and train. well, I was... feeling a little goofy. I was tired and angry, and ready to be done training. well, there's a bunch of soldiers in the bed of my alt, hunkered down trying to remain 'hidden'." Ironhide snorts. "well then Epps made a comment about me slowing down. I'm an old mech. give me a break i was tired. well I decided to make Epps eat his words, a figure of speech humans use that means to make someone regret their words. I took off at a higher speed than I should have and we hit a bump. there was a kid leaning against my tailgate and I wasn't paying attention. I was angry. he pulled the latch and the frigging tailgate went down. when I hit the next bump all the soldiers went flying out. all seven of them." Ironhide snorts. he'd immediately driven off, tired and annoyed, and he could still hear Will, and the other soldiers, cursing him at the top of their lungs and running after him. "I woke up pink the next morning. almost killed all of them." Ironhide grumbles. Reflect giggles.

"Ironhide pink, that silly." he giggles. Ironhide smiles at him.

"yeah it is pretty silly isn't it?" Ironhide chuckles.

"Ironhide?" Reflect ask.

"yeah?" Ironhide ask.

"why clean canon? why not wash rack?" Reflect asks.

"well, because they have to be cleaned with special items, or they'll rust." Ironhide says. Reflect shutters.

"rust is icky." Reflect frowns. the bigger mech snorts.

"yeah, rust is icky." Ironhide snorts.

"how come Mud and Skid rusty?" Reflect ask.

"because they don't take care of themselves like they should. they're what humans refer to as white trash or hillbilly, I believe is what Will used to call them." Ironhide says.

"they dirty." Reflect says.

"yeah." Ironhide agrees.

"more story?" Reflect asks, tilting his head back to look up at Ironhide.

"how about the time I pulled a prank on Will?" Ironhide ask.

"yes!" Reflect giggles.

"well, after he helped paint me pink over night, I was pretty bitter. so you know those fibers on top of human heads?" Ironhide ask.

"yes." Reflect nods.

"well those are called hair, head hair. humans can grow it all over, but this hair is specifically called head hair. I had seen some other humans change the color of their hair by using chemicals. so, I went to Wheeljack and together we mixed chemicals into Wills soap. it took us a few days because I demanded that Will not be injured just embarrassed." Ironhide grins.

"Ironhide color Will hair?" Reflect giggles. Ironhide nods.

"yup, he got up, took a shower, and washed his hair. when he came out, his hair was fine, but as we drove to the base, I made sure to take my time. I wanted his hair fully colored by the time we got to the base. Will thought I was taking him for a scenic drive, but I was really just giving the chemicals time to work. I never said a word to him, just transformed after letting him out and walked off." Ironhide snorts. "I wish I could've seen his face when he ran to the bathroom after someone commented on his hair. I can still hear him screaming." Ironhide chuckles.

"IIIIIIIIRRRRRROOOOONNNNNHHHHIIIIDDDDDEEEEEE!!! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!!!"

Ironhide snorts.

"what color?" Reflect ask.

"purple. I thought it fit with the pink they'd painted me." Ironhide snorts.

"did it?" Reflect ask.

"yes, very nicely." Ironhide smirks. Reflect giggles. "of course then I took a trip through the racks and the paint washed off and I felt guilty because it took 3 months to wash the dye from Wills hair." Ironhide snorts.

"Will angry?" Reflect asks.

"very" Ironhide chuckles softly. Will had made him sleep outside of the garage until the hair dye ran out, threatening to tear it down if he tried to sleep in it before then. Ironhide hadn't tried, of course, feeling for once the punishment was worth the crime.

"you love Will. always happy when talk about." Reflect says. Ironhide nods a little at him.

"yeah." he sighs. "I'll always love Will." Ironhide assures. he sighs happily, smiling down at Reflect. "I still see him in my dreams." Ironhide adds. he puts his cleaning stuff away, before sitting back and cuddling Reflect.

"I love Ironhide." Reflect says, snuggling up to the bigger mech. Ironhide tucks the blanket around him gently.

"I love you too." Ironhide assures gently. Reflect curls into his blanket, yawning quietly.

"warm, sleepy." Reflect mumbles.

"thats fine. you just curl up and sleep. hell, I might get a nap too. it is a little cold." Ironhide frowns.

"Ironhide need blanket?" Reflect ask.

"no." Ironhide snorts. "you use your blanket and stay warm." Ironhide murmurs, laying back. he lets the sparkling curl up on his chest, then takes the blanket and carefully tucks it around the sparkling and his toy. Reflect purrs happily, cuddling against him with a yawn. "hmm. Jack should make you an over sized set of PJs." Ironhide snorts. the sparkling tilts his head back to look at Ironhides face.

"huh?" Reflect asks confused.

"pajamas. the clothes humans sleep in at night to stay warm." Ironhide says. Reflect sits up immediately and jumps down, running off. "uh, okay, bye." Ironhide frowns watching him go. Ironhide shrugs and lays back down.

Reflect, holding his blanket and toy tightly, runs to the lab, knocking on the door carefully. he's learned if he knocks too hard, things explode. when things explode, Wheeljack is always injured.

"daddy Jack?" Reflect calls. he can hear Wheeljack set some tools down. he walks over and opens the door, crouching down.

"hi little one. do you like your blanket?" Wheeljack smiles, headfins flashing. Reflect chirps and nods happily.

"yes! very much! warm and soft." Reflect giggles happily, cuddling into his blanket.

"I'm glad, what can I do for you little one?" Wheeljack ask.

"make PJs!" Reflect says. Wheeljack looks confused, he's heard the term before. he looks it up and tilts his head, looking at the sparkling.

"uh, what do you want PJs for?" Wheeljack asks confused.

"Ironhide say warm for sleep!" Reflect squeals. Wheeljack chuckles softly.

"I'll look into it alright?" Wheeljack ask.

"daddy Jack say snow. PJ keep warm from snow!" Reflect says.

"that is a very very good point little one. I'll work on it." Wheeljack assures, patting his head gently.

"thank you!" Reflect giggles, running off. Wheeljack shakes his head.

"your sparkling wants me to make him a set of 'pajamas' to, and I quote, 'keep warm from snow'."

"well, he is a smart sparkling. sounds like a good idea. where'd he come up with that?"

"Ironhide. I guess he was telling stories about Will again or something. he told Reflect about PJs being for sleep, that humans use them. he wants me to make some for him."

"well, are you busy?"

"not really. nothing to do until I get the material in for his 'pretty blanket' so I can make another."

"then order more fabric and just turn a blanket into a set of PJs for him. it won't hurt him. let me know when the material comes in, I'll come help make it."

"okay, I guess I'm actually making him PJs then. thanks for volunteering me."

"you're welcome."

"don't be so smug. its a bad look on you."

"you can't even see my face, suck a cable Jack."

"anytime, anywhere baby~"

it goes quiet for a minute.

"Ratchet?"

the inventor snorts after a minute. Ratchets just going to keep ignoring him now.

Reflect runs off to Ironhides room, climbing back onto the mechs berth. he curls up on the mechs chest, engine purring quietly and falls asleep.

when the sparkling wakes, Ironhide is gone. Reflect sits up, giving a quiet confused chirp.

"Hide?" Reflect asks. he grabs his blanket, carefully leaving his Ironhide toy on the mechs berth, and climbs down carefully. he runs out of Ironhides room, confused. "Hide? Ironhide!" Reflect calls, looking around. the sparkling whines.

"hey are you okay?" a voice ask. Reflect turns around, Cade is standing behind him. Reflect immediately screams as loud as he can, dropping his blanket, running off as quickly as he can.

"CREATOR!!! DADDY JACK!!!!" Reflect screams running off. Cade stares after him confused.

Reflect runs as quickly as he can to the medbay, but its empty. the sparkling lets out a quiet cry and turns, running for Optimus' office. he doesn't knock, running straight in with a sob. Optimus jumps.

"Reflect? what happened are you alright?" Optimus ask, turning from his desk, picking him up gently. the sparkling sobs clinging to him.

"no Ironhide! no Ratchet! no Jack! bump into human! have nightmare! lose blanket-" Reflect rambles tearfully.

"take it easy. its alright little one. Ironhide is outside, Ratchet is in the rec room, and Wheeljack is in his lab. its alright." Optimus assures, getting up from his chair. "which human did you bump into?" Optimus ask, cradling him gently.

"new one." he whimpers.

"Cade? you ran into Cade?" Optimus ask. Reflect nods. "okay and you lost your blanket?" Optimus ask. Reflect nods again, sniffling.

"have scary nightmare. no Ironhide. Ironhide gone. no Ratchet, no Wheeljack, medbay empty. Reflect run into scary him and, and lose blanket-" Reflect starts, getting worked up again.

"shhhh. little one its alright. its alright." Optimus murmurs gently. "Ironhide is sitting outside like I said, Ratchet is in the rec room and Wheeljack is in his lab. come on. where did you see Cade? did you lose your blanket when you saw him?" Optimus ask softly. Reflect nods, sniffling. the little sparkling is trembling but the Prime can't tell if its because he's cold, scared, or both. "don't worry. we'll go find your blanket then I'll take you to Ratchet, okay?" Optimus murmurs gently.

"okay." Reflect whimpers, quietly. the sparkling is gripping part of Optimus' chest armor tightly. Optimus rubs his cheek gently with his thumb.

"don't worry Reflect. don't worry. its alright." Optimus assures. "where did you lose your blanket?" Optimus ask.

"Ironhide room." Reflect whimpers. Optimus nods a little and heads for Ironhides room. the hallway was empty, however. the sparkling immediately starts wailing, looking up at Optimus, while pointing to the floor and blubbering tearfully.

"blanket right there! right there! blanket right there! not there anymore! but left right there!!!" Reflect sobs.

"its alright. maybe Cade has it. maybe he took it to Ratchet?" Optimus offers. he carries the upset sparkling towards the rec room, but bumps into the exact human he'd been looking for, talking to Sam.

"oh, hey Optimus, whats wrong with Reflect?" Sam ask.

"hey big rig." Cade waves. Optimus frowns a little, carefully crouching in front of the two.

"Cade when Reflect ran into you, did you happen to see his blanket?" Optimus frowns. Cade frowns, looking down in thought.

"he had this big blue towel thing on his shoulders, he dropped it. guess I scared him, I moved it over to Ironhides door, but I didn't pick it up." Cade shrugs. Optimus frowns and stands up.

"alright thank you anyway." Optimus frowns.

"hey is he okay?" Sam asks.

"he is very distraught. he had a bad dream and could not find Ironhide, Ratchet, or Wheeljack. he bumped into Cade and dropped his blanket. he is distraught we cannot find it." Optimus frown.

"oh... well, good luck OP." Sam frowns a little.

"see ya later big rig." Cade waves. Optimus sighs a little and carries the sobbing sparkling into the rec room, where Ratchet is sitting quietly drinking a cube. he immediately prickles hearing his sparklings wails.

"what happened?" Ratchet growls, getting up. he sets his cube down angrily as he walks over.

"he apparently had a nightmare and woke up without Ironhide. when he ran out of the room he bumped into Cade Yeager and lost his blanket. he was very upset not to find neither you nor Wheeljack in the medbay so he ran to me." Optimus explains. "when we went back for his blanket it was gone, we thought Cade might've taken it and brought it to you, but he says he didn't pick it up. did anyone bring it to you?" Optimus ask. Ratchet shakes his head, taking Reflect gently. the sparkling clings to him immediately. the medic squeezes him gently, hoping to soothe the sparkling.

"no. he didn't bring it here." Ratchet frowns. Reflect sobs against Ratchets neck, blubbering and clicking, utterly distressed. "it can't have gone far Reflect. its okay we'll fine it." Ratchet assures gently.

"I will continue to look for it, please alert me if you find it." Optimus says. Ratchet nods a little.

"thanks Prime." Ratchet murmurs. he heads out of the rec room, carefully searching for Reflects blanket. he rubs the sparklings back gently. "don't worry, we'll find it." Ratchet assures.

"Jack? did anyone bring you Reflect blanket? he lost it in a fit of fear."

"no, the lab door is locked. can't bring anything in here. need me to come help find it?"

"nah, we'll find it. one of the humans probably grabbed it or something."

Ratchet frowns, looking around the base. he swears he and Reflect spend an hour searching for the blanket before Ironhide coms him.

"uh, wanna tell me why the humans are using Reflects blanket to clean up an oil spill on the N.E.S.T. base?"

"you better be joking."

"I regret that I'm not."

"GET IT FROM THEM YOU IDIOT!"

Ratchet frowns immediately, heading for the lab. he knocks hard on the door.

"huh..?" Wheeljack asks, opening the door. "Ratch-" Wheeljack starts.

"take the sparkling." Ratchet snaps. Wheeljack looks confused, but takes Reflect.

"I can't work in here with him." Wheeljack frowns. "did you find his blanket?" Wheeljack asks.

"unfortunately Ironhide thinks he did, being used as a towel by human soldiers."

Wheeljack winces a little, hugging Reflect tightly. he hopes its not too damaged. he doesn't have enough of the fabric to make another one big enough to cover the sparkling, or even come close to it. he'd almost not gotten enough fabric.

"no. I'm going to go look without him. hold him." Ratchet snaps. he storms off. Reflect whimpers, clinging to Wheeljack.

"its okay little one." Wheeljack murmurs.

"no! cold! scared! need cube!" Reflect whimpers.

"okay well, I can help with all of that. you know I'll keep you warm. me and Ratchet will always protect you." Wheeljack murmurs. "lets go get you a cube and you can tell me why you're scared." Wheeljack adds. he carries the sparkling out of the lab to the rec room. he kisses the sparklings head and nuzzling him gently.

he grabs the little sparkling a cube and sits down in the rec room. he settles Reflect into his lap gently.

"now can you tell daddy Jack why you're scared?" Jack murmurs gently.

"had nightmare and woke up, Ironhide missing. went looking, ran into human, lost blanket. no find Ratchet. no find Wheeljack. no find anyone. scarier." Reflect whimpers.

"I see. well... don't worry. we'll get your blanket back. Ironhide isn't missing and neither am I nor Ratchet." Wheeljack assures. "as for your nightmare, would you like to discuss it?" Wheeljack asks. Reflect shakes his head.

"no. scary." Reflect mumbles.

"thats alright. nothing can hurt you in your dreams little one. it'll be alright." Wheeljack assures gently, squeezing him carefully, before handing the sparkling his cube. Reflect sniffles and sips the cube.

"hey any luck?" Sam asks, walking over quickly. Wheeljack shakes his head a little.

"not really. Ratchet brought him to me so I can keep him warm." Wheeljack says.

"yeah, it is getting pretty cool outside for someone whose never really experienced temperatures below 100 degrees. it didn't get all that cold last year." Sam frowns. Wheeljack nods a little, rubbing Reflects back. the sparkling sniffles around his cube, still looking utterly distraught. there's still a slight tremor to his frame, but its unknown to the other two present if its fear or chill. the sparkling looks ready to start sobbing again at any moment though, so Sam assumes its fear. "he was pretty scared when Optimus ran into Cade and I... he was shaking pretty hard. I know he was cold, but I've spent a time or two in close proximity to Optimus, I know he's pretty warm, so I don't think it was that." Sam frowns a little.

"he'll be alright Sam. he's a sparkling. sometimes things seem scarier to him than they really are. he'll be alright though, I promise." Wheeljack assures. Sam nods a little, looking at Reflect. the sparklings trembling has lessened, if even just slightly, but he's still shaking enough to cause a metal on metal vibrating sound between his armor and Wheeljacks armor. it doesn't seem to bother the inventor one bit, nor the sparkling. Sam smiles at Reflect, hoping the sparkling will react in one way or another, but Reflect doesn't even seem to notice.

he's curled against the inventors chestplates, head dropped against his shoulder, but tucked up under his chin ever so slightly. he's slowly drinking his cube, but there's definitely more dribbling from his mouth and down Wheeljacks armor, than there is going into the sparkling. Wheeljack doesn't comment on it though. Ratchet too sometimes had a habit of dribbling when he got lot in thought.

"uh, isn't that... gonna get sticky?" Sam asks, looking up at Wheeljack. the mech nods a little, but squeezes his sparkling gently.

"thats fine, I can go for a wash later." Wheeljack assures. they both look up when Ratchet walks in, looking irritated.

"that can't be good." Sam frowns. Wheeljack frowns and sighs, knowing the human is right.

"Ratchet?" Wheeljack asks, slightly hopeful. maybe he just had to yell at some humans, he could hope right? Ratchet holds up an object, both Wheeljack and Sam assume was once Reflects blanket. the bright baby blue blanket was now a dull and disgusting black. dripping with a thick black substance and wadded up into a disgusting looking ball. Sam scrunches his nose, he can smell it from here. its running all over the medics servos, down one arm, splattered down his side and leg, dripping all over his peds and the floor. Ratchets almost as coated as the blanket.

"I'm gonna see if I can get this stuff out, but they used it like a towel." Ratchet grumbles, heading for the medbay. Reflect shifts a little, lifting his head and watching the medic leave, but his attention is immediately drawn by Ironhide poking into the room. his gaze searches the room, before his optics land on Reflect.

"there you are squirt. I leave for three minutes to calibrate my cannons and you run off." Ironhide smirks, walking over. Reflect looks up at him, but drops his head back down onto Wheeljacks chest quietly. Ironhide frowns a little, crouching down in front of the sparkling gently. the sparklings on edge, he's trying to be careful and gentle. he'll be easy to startle in the upset state he's already in. Ironhide doesn't want to make him more upset than he already is. "you just wanna stay with Jack for a bit squirt?" Ironhide ask softly. Reflect whines, curling up.

"he's fine with me Ironhide." Wheeljack assures gently, rubbing the little sparklings hip with his thumb. Ironhide nods and stands.

"alright well, when you get tired of him, you know where to find me." Ironhide murmurs, gently patting the sparklings head. Reflect jerks his head away, bumping his face against the cube Wheeljack had propped carefully up on his chestplates, and knocking it down. it spills onto the inventor some, before he manages to grab it. he shoots a dirty look at Ironhide.

"gee thanks." Wheeljack grumbles.

"eh, you needed a wash anyway. I can smell the soot from here." Ironhide smirks. Wheeljack wants to snap back at the weapons specialist that he had just washed this morning, but Ironhides comment gets a soft quiet giggle from the sparkling, before he curls back up. the comment dies immediately, a small smile coming to his face. at least the sparkling was giggling a little. Ironhide smiles a little and turns, walking off.

"that was... weird. Ironhide was definitely weird there, right? it wasn't just me?" Sam asks, confused. he looks up at Wheeljack, who snorts.

"not really. treats Reflect the same way he used to treat..." Wheeljack trails, the small smile falling from his face. Sam knows immediately who he's talking about.

"yeah, he kinda does. he is pretty gentle with the sparkling." Sam agrees a little. its quiet a moment, before Reflect shifts and looks up at Wheeljack with a quiet whine.