there's an immediate, but stifled, excitement when Wheeljack carries the sparkling into the rec room. everyone is excited, but heeding Ratchets warning and seeing the sparkling almost asleep, they keep quiet.

"I dunno Ratch, he may not even need a cube, he may just fall into stasis." Wheeljack chuckles. the sparkling shifts a little, pulling back some to glare at Wheeljack a little. "okay, okay. I'm sorry. we're not going to make you starve. I promise you." Wheeljack assures. Ratchet passes a cube over to him.

"don't tease him Jack. he needs energon before he takes a nap." Ratchet says. Wheeljack takes the cube and settles down on the couch, to feed the sparkling. Bumblebee doesn't even attempt to hide his excitement, walking over to crouch in front of the sparkling and smile.

"welcome back little one, you even had the human soldiers worried about you." Bumblebee smiles, rubbing his cheek gently. the sparkling grabs hold of his servo, pushing it away so it doesn't bother him.

"alright youngling, leave him be." Wheeljack chuckles.

"of course. just had to let him know we love him and are glad he's back." Bumblebee smiles, walking away. he goes back over to Sam, whose watching Wheeljack and the sparkling.

"Bee's right, I'm glad he's back." Epps says. the sparkling had brought happiness to the Autobots on base after Wills death, especially to Ironhide. the mech had taken a shine to the little sparkling and had clearly improved after the arrival of the sparkling.

"its great that he's back-" Sideswipe starts.

"shut your mouthplates, everyone. he's in stasis. don't wake him." Ironhide growls lowly, looking over at the sparkling. sure enough, the sparkling is in stasis, still sucking down the cube in his mouth.

"should I take the cube away?" Wheeljack asks, looking at Ratchet.

"no, not yet. just let him drink it until he's good and in stasis." Ratchet says. Wheeljack nods and cuddles the sparkling gently. "but don't let him choke." Ratchet warns.

"I won't." Wheeljack assures gently.

once they finally take the sparklings cube away, they decide to just wait, staying in the rec room. there's a happy buzz going around the base with the sparkling returned, mostly because the medic wasn't rampaging around screaming at everyone.

they're not sure if the sparklings gonna wake up or not, he's in such a heavy stasis, but he eventually rouses about 4 hours later. he slowly sits up off Wheeljacks chest plates, looking lost and sleepy.

"hey little one." Wheeljack murmurs. the sparkling yawns at him, before looking around the room. "do you want down?" Wheeljack asks, putting the little mechling down gently. he blinks looking around, sitting quietly on his knees. he looks ready to crawl away, but instead he flops over onto his side and just whines.

"Wheeljack, why is he laying on the floor crying?" Optimus asks, looking over.

"he's not crying. he's whining." Wheeljack chuckles, sitting up. "he just woke up so he's a little sleepy." Wheeljack says, reaching for the sparkling.

"no!" the sparkling pouts.

"what? who do you want?" Wheeljack asks. "I'll take you to them." Wheeljack smiles a little, kneeling beside the sparkling. the sparkling just whines. Wheeljack frowns looking around the room. neither Ironhide nor Ratchet are in the room, so that takes out his obvious choices. "who is it sparkling? who do you want? just tell me, I'll take you to them." Wheeljack murmurs. the sparkling whines, reaching for one of the bots.

"he's so sleepy Jack. why is he on the floor?" Ratchet asks. he scoops up the sparkling.

"nooo!!" he whines, squirming.

"thats why he was on the floor." Wheeljack snorts. Ratchet glances around the room carefully.

"okay, fine, we'll find who you want." Ratchet mutters, walking towards the other bots. he carefully walks the little sparkling past all the bots until he whines. "what? you want Bumblebee?" Ratchet asks, passing the sparkling over to the scout. the sparkling huffs quietly and curls up with the scout, giving Ratchet a tired, but dirty look.

"aww hi!" Bumblebee grins, hugging the sparkling. the sparkling yawns and cuddles to him, staring down the scouts cube. "hey, I don't think he wants me, I think he wants my cube and was just hoping I'd share." Bumblebee chuckles.

"thats okay, we'll get him a cube." Wheeljack smiles, bringing a cube over to Bumblebee. the scout, of course, immediately puts his own cube down to feed the sparkling. the sparkling cuddles into the scout happily.

"I'm just glad he's back, I don't care who he wants to hold him." Ratchet murmurs, patting the little sparklings head. the sparkling gives him a sleepy look. "he fought so hard not to nap with those Decepticons." Ratchet chuckles.

"he'll wake up in a bit, or he'll fall back into stasis." Wheeljack chuckles.

"is he okay?" Bumblebee asks.

"he'll be alright Bumblebee. he was having a fit when we found him. he probably had been having the same fit since he got lost. he's overly exhausted. he'll be alright." Ratchet assures. the sparkling snuggles against Bumblebee's chest, sucking down his cube. Bumblebee nuzzles his head happily.

"he's cute. I'm glad he's back." Bumblebee murmurs. the sparkling pats his faceplates happily and the scout lights up, smiling at him. "where's Ironhide? I can't believe he came to me instead of looking for Ironhide." Bumblebee says.

"he's still sleepy Bee." Wheeljack says.

"he didn't care who he got as long as he got fed." Ratchet chuckles. the sparkling pushes the cube away after drinking half, then stretches. he wiggles free from Bumblebee's lap, looking more awake than before. "where to now sparkling?" Ratchet ask. the sparkling yawns, looking around with a pout.

"are you looking for Ironhide sparkling?" Wheeljack murmurs. the sparkling shakes his head and crawls out of the room. Wheeljack raises an optic ridge and looks at Ratchet. the medic shrugs a little and follows after the sparkling. like it or not, he still needed a tail.

"hey, who are you looking for little one?" Ratchet ask. the sparkling doesn't answer, looking around.

"oh! hey! before you wonder too far, one of the human soldiers wives made you something!" Wheeljack grins running off. the sparkling stops, confused, and watches him go. he turns back and looks back at Ratchet.

"don't ask me kiddo. come here." Ratchet murmurs, crouching down. the sparkling crawls over to him, letting Ratchet scoop him up and cuddle him. Wheeljack comes bounding back, grinning. he holds up the biggest crochet doll Wills ever seen, almost his size as a sparkling, of Ironhide. he holds it out to the sparkling, who stares at him confused. its realistically probably 4 foot tall, coming just shy of the sparklings size of 5 foot.

"here, its yours." Wheeljack smiles. the sparkling stares at Wheeljack a moment before looking at the little Ironhide replica. it has incredible detail, no doubt someone who had met Ironhide before had made this. he's even squinting his left optic like normal and has a cannon on each little perfectly crafted arm. the sparkling reaches for it silently and Wheeljack passes it to him, before grinning at Ratchet. "apparently she's working on making us as well for him, but Ironhide got finished first, obviously. best bot first right little one?" Wheeljack chuckles. the sparkling looks over the toy, before cuddling it. he looks up at Ratchet and Wheeljack almost confused. the little doll is huge even next to him. "thats fraggin' cute!" Wheeljack grins.

"what is?" Ironhide mutters, coming up behind him. Ratchet turns to show Ironhide what they're talking about. "what the fuck... thats... thats horrifying on a differently level. what the hell is that?" Ironhide asks.

"one of the human soldiers wives created this for him. isn't it cute?" Wheeljack ask.

"I dunno he looks just as uneasy about it as I am." Ironhide mutters. both look down and its true. the sparkling looks unsure and confused of the replica, despite cuddling it.

"I think its cute." Ratchet shrugs a little. Ironhide grunts, looking like he wants to say something but keeps it to himself.

"so any name ideas?" Ironhide ask.

"I was thinking Astro." Wheeljack says. the sparkling huffs.

"I don't think he likes that." Ironhide snorts.

"we're trying a couple names for him and we'll pick the one we all end up liking the best." Ratchet says, putting the sparkling down. he sits for a minute, as if debating how he's supposed to get around with the over sized plush, but eventually crawls off holding onto one of the little plushes cannons. Ratchet follows after him almost immediately.

"thats... I'm disturbed." Ironhide mutters, walking off.

"oh stop it. he loves you Hide. its cute." Wheeljack huffs.

"oh, he's cute. no doubt about that. the sparkling is cute, the doll, not so much." Ironhide mutters, heading to his room.

the sparkling drags the doll behind him, he's not entirely sure what he's supposed to do with this thing, but he certainly can't go on a bot hunt for the bot he was looking for with the doll. he's looks around and heads for Bumblebee.

"oh hey, you're back." Bumblebee chuckles. the sparling holds the toy up to the scout. "whats this?" Bumblebee asks, reaching to take it.

"Ironhide." the sparkling huffs.

"oh, where'd you get this? I'm not sure if its creepy or cute..." Bumblebee frowns.

"its cute! hey my wife made that." one of the human soldiers, Bumblebee thinks his name is Diaz or something, huffs.

"oh, uh sorry." Bumblebee says, looking over the toy. "she did great work, its just... Ironhides not supposed to be cute." Bumblebee mutters. the sparkling turns and crawls away happily. "oh, uh, sparkling! hey, come back and get your toy." Bumblebee says. the sparkling shakes his head and keep on crawling. Ratchet shakes his head, taking the toy from Bumblebee, before following the sparkling.

the sparkling seems to have a place in mind. it doesn't take Ratchet long to figure out he's heading for Wills old office.

"sparkling. you can't play in there. thats Epps' office now." Ratchet says, scooping him up. the sparkling chirps and pouts. "I know Ironhide lets you play in there, but its Epps' office now." Ratchet sighs softly. he carries the little sparkling off. "how do you feel about Api-Biru, for a name? Wheeljack likes it. its what the humans call a flame when Sulfur burns. it apparently burns and glows a bright blue, like you have tendency to do." Ratchet suggests. the sparkling glares at him.

"no." he glares.

"alright fine." Ratchet mutters. "Ironhide liked Blue Whirl." Ratchet offers. the sparkling shakes his head no. "okay, okay. we'll figure something out." Ratchet assures. he shifts the sparkling. "and I want your name to be something you like, I don't want you to hate your name. I want it to be something you like, when I was a youngling before the war I knew a mech who hated his designation." Ratchet frowns.

"huh?" the sparkling asks.

"yeah... he changed his name many years later and it took forever for bots to get it right, but Wheeljack sure is happier being Wheeljack than he was being Que." Ratchet snorts.

"Jack?" the sparkling asks. Ratchet nods.

"yeah. so we want you to have the perfect name. a name you love." Ratchet murmurs, cradling the sparkling. Ratchet carries the sparkling back to the medbay and puts him on a berth. "but don't worry squirt, we'll find a good name for you." Ratchet assures. he puts the plushie beside the sparkling, who shoots it a confused look. "its a toy, at least pretend you like it." Ratchet murmurs.

"hey, what are my two favorite bots doing?" Wheeljack smiles, walking over to them.

"he tried to go into Epps office, so I brought him in here." Ratchet says. "figured we could work on him walking again." Ratchet murmurs.

"did you ever figure out who he was heading to see?" Wheeljack ask. Ratchet shakes his head a little.

"nope, he wouldn't say anything." Ratchet murmurs. "but we've been discussing names as well. haven't found anything he likes." Ratchet huffs.

"what about Copycat? its cute and he is a little mimic." Wheeljack smiles. the sparkling shoots him a dirty look. "okay sorry." Wheeljack chuckles.

"what about Carbon squirt?" Ratchet ask.

"no." Will huffs.

"how about Mirror? its cute. you do a pretty good job of mimicking bots. that was a cute mimic you did of Ironhides alt form." Ratchet says. Will makes a face at him.

"same suggested Ditto." Wheeljack says, looking at Ratchet. Will huffs.

"Astral Copy." Ratchet suggests. "Astral for short." he adds. Will shakes his head. he'd like something that at least resembles his name. he wishes he could tell the two his name, but he remembers the words of the past Primes. he doesn't want to ruin everything for Ratchet and Wheeljack. "oh come on squirt. you need a name, we can't just call you sparkling forever." Ratchet frowns.

"well, I mean, remember that one mech in the academy? he never got a name because he never developed any powers." Wheeljack says.

"well our sparkling is a mimic and he's getting a name." Ratchet glares. Will watches them a moment before huffing.

"Powl!" he glares.

"huh?" Wheeljack ask.

"see Powl!" the sparkling says, pointing towards the doors. both look over at the doors.

"Prowl? whats up kid?" Ratchet ask. Prowl frowns at them a moment, before sighing, clearly annoyed.

"Jazz needs your help." Prowl says.

"with what?" Ratchet ask. Prowl frowns.

"apparently the stupid slagger hurt himself on the training mats outside and can't walk in here. don't ask me why he told me, but I'm not going out there." Prowl mutters.

"alright, can you stay with him while we go out there?" Ratchet ask. Prowl nods.

"yeah, no teleporting this time." Prowl frowns.

"okay Powl." the sparkling grins.

"I don't trust you." Prowl mutters.

"he didn't do it on purpose. be nice to the sparkling." Wheeljack says as he and Ratchet leave. the sparkling watches them go.

"little secret keeper." Prowl frowns. the sparkling looks around before grabbing his new toy and holding it up to Prowl. "what the...?" Prowl trails.

"Ironhide!" the sparkling grins.

"I... I see that." Prowl says, looking confused. "the sparkling and I are going to my office. you can come get him when you're done." Prowl says. he scoops up the sparkling without waiting for an answer and heads for his office.

"Ironhide!" the sparkling squeals, as they pass the weapons specialist. Ironhide looks over at them and shrugs to himself, swooping the sparkling out of Prowls arm.

"excuse me." Prowl glares. Ironhide snorts, turning around as he walks backwards. he smirks at the third in command.

"I'll take this. thanks." Ironhide smirks. he spins back around and keeps walking. the sparkling bursts into giggles cuddling to the bigger mech.

"never mind. Ironhide has the sparkling." Prowl glares after Ironhide.

"awww try not to sound so bitter." Wheeljack snorts.

"I am not bitter. I don't even like sparklings." Prowl scoffs.

"uh-huh, sure." Wheeljack snorts. Prowl huffs, turning away from Ironhide.

the black mech smirks and shifts the sparkling.

"alright squirt you and me are gonna have some fun alright? I ain't the weapons specialist for nothing. you're a weapon 'til we get those powers figured out, an I'm pretty good at figuring those out." Ironhide smirks, heading into his bedroom. he puts the little sparkling on his berth gently. "ready to let me figure you out?" Ironhide ask. the sparkling stares at him.

"no toy." the sparkling huffs after a moment. Ironhide snorts.

"I know you're not a toy kid, but your powers are." Ironhide says, crouching in front of him.

"no. walk!" the sparkling glares.

"walk? didn't Ratchet and Wheeljack say you need to wait?" Ironhide ask. the sparkling huffs annoyed. "you're not going to let me help you with your powers are you?" Ironhide frowns.

"walk." the sparkling pouts.

"if I help you relearn to walk will you let me figure out your powers?" Ironhide asks, annoyed. the sparkling seems to think it over a moment before grinning up at the mech.

"yep!" he grins.

"fine! give me your servos." Ironhide snaps. the sparkling giggles and holds up his servos. Ironhide takes them carefully and pulls him up. his little legs wobble and shake, like they never have before. Ironhide watches him carefully, scanning him over. "easy sparkling, sit back down. somethings not right here." Ironhide murmurs, lowering the sparkling back down. the sparkling whines, rubbing his little legs. "Ratchet, something is wrong with the sparkling. he attemped to stand up and for some reason couldn't. he started shaking. we all know this sparkling doesn't fear anything." Ironhide says.

"he did that when he started trying to crawl again, when we get done with Jazz, Jack and I will take a look at him." Ratchet assures.

"alright." Ironhide agrees. he frowns at the sparkling. "sorry little one. Ratchet and Wheeljack need to take a look at you before you start walking. we don't want you hurt now do we?" Ironhide asks. the sparkling chirps in agreement, rubbing his legs with a whine. "come on sparkling, lets go get you a cube, alright?" Ironhide ask, scooping him up. his want for learning what the sparklings powers is gone, he promised to help the sparkling walk and hadn't kept that promise yet.

"okay." the sparkling murmurs, cuddling up to him. Ironhide carries him off to the rec room, grabbing both of them a cube. he sits down and props the sparkling up against his chestplates so he can easily hold the sparklings cube in a way he could drink, while holding his own cube in his other servo. the sparkling leans back happily, cuddling into him and sucking down his cube.

"Ironhide? what are you doing out here? I thought you were going to the range?" Optimus asks.

"I was, then the squirt wanted to hang out, so we came to get a cube." Ironhide shrugs. Optimus smiles at the sparkling, who glares at him. he still didn't like the Prime and no one was really sure why. he snuggles back against Ironhide, before hiccuping around his cube.

"don't hurt my sparkling." Wheeljack frowns, walking over.

"he's not hurt. he just hiccuped Jack." Ironhide assures. the sparkling chirps, reaching for the inventor happily.

"we're gonna go work on his legs." Wheeljack murmurs, scooping him up gently. the sparkling cuddles him happily. "we'll bring him back out later, hopefully he'll start trying to learn to walk again when we're done without hurting himself." Wheeljack smiles.

"bye Ironhide!" the sparkling squeals, waving at him.

"bye squirt. don't be a pain to Wheeljack, but give Ratchet a hard time." Ironhide snorts at him. the sparkling laughs.

"don't you go being a pain to Ratchet. he works very very hard on making sure everyone in this base is in good condition." Wheeljack murmurs softly. "he works hard as the only trained medic on the base, so be nice to him. not that I think thats a problem for you, you're always pretty good on the table." Wheeljack murmurs.

he carries the sparkling to the medbay and put him down.

"hey sparkling. Ironhide says you can't seem to stand up, even with some help. so we're gonna try that alright?" Ratchet asks, walking over. he reaches for the sparklings little servos. the sparkling seems hesitant to cooperate.

"what? come on, we won't make you stand up long." Wheeljack murmurs, walking over. "come on now, I was just bragging about you." Wheeljack says. the sparkling shakes his head.

"if he doesn't want to stand something else is wrong here Jack." Ratchet frowns. "its alright sparkling, I just need you to stand up long enough I can see what happens." Ratchet assures.

"no." the sparkling mumbles.

"Ironhide do you have footage of the sparkling attempting to stand? he won't stand for us." Ratchet ask.

"yeah hold on, I'll send it to you." Ironhide replies.

"thanks Hide." Ratchet says. "I'm getting Ironhide to send me a clip of the sparkling standing." Ratchet says. he put the clip up on the medbay screen. Wheeljack moves over to watch with him. "there." Ratchet says, pointing.

"huh?" Wheeljack ask. Ratchet rewinds the footage and plays it again.

"there. standing up hurts him." Ratchet murmurs. "he's rubbing his legs. standing up hurts him." Ratchet frowns. he turns back to the sparkling, who pouts at him. "okay sparkling, alright. don't worry about standing up. we'll get you fixed up." Ratchet assures. the sparkling nods and watches them set up to get started on him. "go a head and put him out Jack. if it already hurts him, I don't want him awake for this." Ratchet murmurs.

"alright." Wheeljack says, walking over to the sparkling. "don't worry sparkling, we're got you." Wheeljack smiles, starting the program to knock the little sparkling out. it doesn't take long to put the sparkling in stasis. Wheeljack looks over at Ratchet. "alright Ratch, he's out." Wheeljack sighs.

"good, lets get started Jack." Ratchet smiles, walking over.