"Ironhide?" Reflect asks.

"yes?" Ironhide grumbles.

"why save Ratchet stuff if angry?" Reflect ask.

"it wasn't for Ratchet little one. it wasn't for him." Ironhide murmurs gently.

"Ironhide." Prowl growls, warning. the bigger mech stops and turns to glare at him. "you can't just-" Prowl starts.

"save it." Ironhide snaps. he shakes his head. "you would've taken forever to find that shit. I wasn't just going to let those stupid twins ruin one of the only things Wheeljack and Ratchet have left of their offlined sparkling." Ironhide glares. Prowl frowns, going silent a moment. he sighs a little.

"I get that, but you can't go around threatening higher ranking officers. Jazz-" Prowl starts.

"can suck my fragging cable, got it?" Ironhide snaps, glaring. Prowls sighs quietly.

"Ironhide, I get it. I promise." Prowl sighs softly. "and you know I'm on your side, alright? as far as Primes concerned this didn't happen alright. don't let it happen again." Prowl adds. Ironhide straightens a little.

"deal." Ironhide mutters, walking off.

"bye bye Powl!" Reflect waves. Prowl waves at him quietly.

"Prowl." Ironhide corrects gently. "with an 'r'." Ironhide says. Reflect goes quiet for a moment.

"Po... Prowl?" Reflect asks.

"good job squirt." Ironhide mutters. he storms into the rec room silently fuming. Reflect squirms free from his hold to run over to Bumblebee. whose happily chatting with Inferno.

"Bee! Bee!" Reflect squeals reaching for him. Bumblebee laughs and scoops him up.

"hey Reflect." Bumblebee smiles, cuddling him. "can you tell Inferno hi?" Bumblebee asks. Reflect leans around him to look Inferno up and down again, like he had when he'd first med the mech.

"Bee trust Ferno?" Reflect asks, watching the mech warily.

"well, sure! I was about your age when I met him." Bumblebee laughs. Reflect looks him over one more time.

"hi." Reflect mumbles, hugging Bumblebees neck

"he's really sweet when you get to know him." Bumblebee assures, looking at Inferno.

"you were the same way when Ironhide introduced you to me." Inferno snorts.

"he's not shy, he's judgmental." Bumblebee snorts.

"oh a judgey sparkling? he really does belong to Ratchet and Wheeljack." Inferno snorts.

"everyone says that." Bumblebee chuckles. "you gonna talk to him Reflect?" Bumblebee asks.

"what Ferno do?" Reflect asks.

"I put out fires." Inferno smiles.

"he starts fires just so he can put them out." Bumblebee grins.

"I do not! are you the one who started that on Iacon?" Inferno huffs.

"nah, that started before I was sparked." Bumblebee grins. Reflect pauses and turns, looking at a new human as he walks by. Reflect squeals, tugging on Bumblebee.

"who that! who that!?" Reflect screams. Bumblebee leans away from him, confused.

"easy easy. who little one?" Bumblebee ask.

"that one!" Reflect glares pointing. Bumblebee raises an optic ridge, turning around to look. he smiles.

"oh! thats Cade Yeager. there was a few problems that went down while you and Ironhide were in stasis lock. he fixed Optimus when he got hurt and Ratchet couldn't get to him. so the N.E.S.T. team brought him on as a field mechanic to help Ratchet and Wheeljack." Bumblebee smiles at him. Reflect frowns looking the man over before he grins, giggling to himself. his Prime mark is flashing.

"Optimus!" Reflect giggles, pushing away from Bumblebee.

"okay bye." Bumblebee says, looking confused, watching the sparkling run off. he runs past Cade, who jerks away, looking confused.

"holy shit these things come in all sizes." He mutters, watching Reflect go.

Reflect races to Optimus office, running in. Jazz, Prowl, and Optimus are in there talking. all three look up at the sparkling, who climbs Optimus' desk, giggling like he knows a secret.

"hello." Optimus smiles.

"who Cade?" Reflect ask.

"huh?" Optimus ask.

"Cade. new human!" Reflect says.

"Reflect, man, we're having a meeting, can you come back in a bit?" Jazz chuckles. Reflect whips around, glaring at Jazz.

"no. shut up. not talk to Jazz. Jazz make Ratchet upset." Reflect glares, turning back to Optimus.

"Reflect be nice. if you're that curious about Cade, go talk to him." Optimus frowns. Reflect huffs, stomping his foot.

"need Sam!" Reflect snaps, jumping off the Primes desk. Jazz immediately reaches to catch him, but the sparkling lands on his feet and runs off. making them all sigh a little.

"forget how big he's gotten." Jazz murmurs.

Reflect runs as fast as he can down the hallway, intent on finding Bumblebee, or better Sam, but slams into someones leg. usually the other bots are prepared for such things and catch themselves, laughing, but this bot falls over just like Reflect. the sparkling chirps, shaking his head and looking confused.

"you should watch where you're going. you're getting a little big to be running into bots." Sideswipe mutters, getting up from the floor slowly. Reflect looks at him.

"sorry Sides... where Sam?" Reflect ask. Sideswipe frowns.

"I think he's in the medbay. he was talking to Ratchet or something." Sideswipe mumbles. Reflect gets up off the floor quickly, running off for the medbay. "watch where you're going!" Sideswipe shouts after him.

Reflect bounds into the medbay, squealing excitedly.

"SSSAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!" Reflect squeals. the man jumps, both he and Ratchet looking over.

"Reflect?" Sam asks confused.

"Sam! Sam! Reflect have drink!" Reflect squeals. Sam looks confused.

"drink?" Sam ask.

"yes! drink! Reflect have to tell Sam something!" Reflect giggles. Sam laughs.

"do you mean you have some juicy secrets?" Sam chuckles.

"yes! drink!" Reflect squeals. Ratchet chuckles softly.

"I was finished with you anyway Sam." Ratchet says, putting him on the ground. Reflect runs over to him, standing in front of the man.

"Reflect pick up?" Reflect ask.

"uh, sure, as long as you don't drop me." Sam shrugs. Reflect nods.

"promise no drop." Reflect says, wrapping his arms around Sam and carrying him off. Ratchet snorts.

"so what did you need to share with me?" Sam asks, smiling.

"Reflect see something." Reflect grins, putting him down outside the medbay.

"see what?" Sam asks, confused.

"Reflect see secrets. Optimus don't know I know, but do know." Reflect grins. Sam looks confused.

"what Reflect?" Sam ask. Reflect giggles, shifting from foot to foot excitedly.

"see future." Reflect giggles, pointing at his Prime mark. Sam looks more confused.

"whose future?" Sam ask.

"Optimus future." Reflect giggles.

"do you want to tell me what you saw?" Sam ask. Reflect balks at his question, looking confused.

"no, is secret." Reflect huffs, as though it was obvious.

"well, why did you tell me you knew a secret?" Sam ask.

"because Reflect excited. Sam not?" Reflect ask.

"uh sure. I'm glad you've seen the future." Sam chuckles softly. Reflect nods excitedly, running off. Sam shakes his head looking confused, but shrugs.

Reflect bounds down the hallway to Ironhides room. he runs in, but Ironhide isn't there.

"Ironhide?" Reflect asks, looking around. he frowns a little, before his attention is drawn to the picture he'd painted on the floor. its scuffed from Ironhide and himself walking on it, so Reflect grabs the paint to fix it.

Ironhide grumbles walking into his room, looking utterly annoyed. Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz collectively decided that, since he wasn't on active duty, his punishment for attacking other Autobots was to be off active duty even longer. Ironhide hated down time. he'd rather be out fighting or patrolling.

he pauses immediately as the door shuts behind him and the light comes on in his room. Reflect is laying on the floor, covered in paint, and snoring. his picture is, thankfully, not messed up, but the paint is coming close to the edge of ruining it. Ironhide shutters his optics in a mock blink, before sighing.

"Reflect." Ironhide frowns. Reflect shifts, whining. his body is the only thing holding the dumped paint away from the picture so Ironhide frowns. he makes quick work of drying the extra paint, what he should've done before attempting to wake Reflect, before trying to wake him again. "Reflect. hey." Ironhide says. Reflect whines, sitting up slowly.

"Hide...?" Reflect mumbles quietly.

"yeah its me. why are you in my floor covered in paint?" Ironhide frowns.

"picture scratched... I fall asleep while fixing." Reflect mumbles, rubbing his face.

"don't do that, you're already... ugh." Ironhide sighs, walking over to pick him up. he holds the sparkling, dripping with paint, at arms length and carries him out.

"Ratchet, I'm bringing you your sparkling."

"you sound pissed. what happened?"

"you'll see."

Ironhide carries the paint covered sparkling down to the medbay, its not his job to clean the rainbow mess from the dirty sparkling. he pushes the medbay doors open with his back, turning to hold the dirty sparkling out.

"holy Primus." Ratchet frowns.

"it was you!" Wheeljack huffs. Reflect whines.

"he just woke up, be quieter." Ironhide grumbles.

"someone want to tell me why my sparkling is covered in frigging paint?" Ratchet snaps.

"ummm I had paints go missing while you and Prime were in space..." Wheeljack says hesitantly. "I assumed the twins stole it, not Reflect....." Wheeljack trails.

"he painted my floor and fell asleep in it while I was in a meeting with Prime." Ironhide growls. Reflect whines rubbing at his face with one paint covered servo and reaching for Ratchet with the other. "and he's not my sparkling, not my problem." Ironhide grumbles, shoving the sparkling at Ratchet. he turns and walks out, holding his servos away from his body to prevent paint from getting everywhere.

Reflect whines, clinging to Ratchet.

"Reflect don't do that, its... you're getting paint everywhere." Ratchet mutters. Reflect whines and cuddles him sleepily. "fine, I guess I need a wash now too." Ratchet grumbles, carrying Reflect to the wash racks.

it takes Ratchet an hour to get the paint off both of them and he looks tired when he finally comes out. Reflect yawns, head on Ratchets shoulder.

"you're just going to stay with us tonight alright?" Ratchet ask. Reflect yawns and cuddles up to him.

"sounds like he likes that idea... been a while since we curled up." Wheeljack says. Ratchet nods, rubbing Reflects back gently.

"Prime wants us to go a head and wake Perceptor and Hot Rod without waiting, so if you get up and I'm not there, he's decided to go through with it." Ratchet says. Wheeljack nods a little, walking over to them. he wraps his arms around both of them tightly, dropping his head on Ratchets other shoulder gently. Reflect whines, but gets quiet, snuggling between them. his engine purring quietly.

"he's using us for warmth." Wheeljack chuckles softly.

"are you surprised? its normally over a 100 degrees and its dropped to 80 over night." Ratchet murmurs. "he's freezing, right little one?" Ratchet ask. Reflect whimpers and nods, snuggling up to them. "yeah." Ratchet murmurs softly.

"he was so full of energy this morning." Wheeljack frowns.

"then his body realized how cold it was to him. he'll sleep for a bit until he gets used to the temperature, you know that. he still can't regulate his body temp Jack." Ratchet frowns a little.

"I know." Wheeljack murmurs. "this weather will be good for him. it'll teach him how to regulate." Wheeljack says, smiling.

"hopefully. I still remember Optimus having to have that program forcefully installed because his body refused to regulate well into youngling hood." Ratchet frowns.

"yeah, but they discovered that his was damaged from the sparkling battles didn't they?" Wheeljack ask.

"thats not the point." Ratchet frowns. "they didn't know that for years after." Ratchet mutters. "And he was always sick because he couldn't regulate temperature and keep himself warm or cool in bad weather." Ratchet adds. Wheeljack nods a little. its quiet for a few minutes before Wheeljack pulls back to grin at him.

"too bad the sparklings gonna be with us tonight. its getting chilly. we could've... cuddled." Wheeljack teases. Ratchet huffs, pulling away from him.

"if you think for one nanoclick I'd even think about touching, let alone 'facing, with you when the sparkling is with us, you're an idiot." Ratchet glares. Wheeljack rolls his optics.

"relax. I was teasing." Wheeljack chuckles. "maybe." he mutters, heading for their room. Ratchet frowns after him, following him to their room. he shifts Reflect on his hip. its a little early for them to turn in, they'll end up waking up early because of the sparkling, but Ratchet feels as though the day has been waaaaayyyy too long. he felt exhausted, and probably wouldn't have taken Wheeljack up on the offer even if Reflect hadn't been with them. it was feeling a little cold to him as well, mostly because he was purposefully not adjusting his temperature. he wanted to know when it got too cold for Reflect, so he could turn the temperature up in the medbay to compensate for the sparkling.

Ratchet lays down, holding the sparkling tightly. Wheeljack shifts beside him, frowning.

"you're cooler than normal." Wheeljack frowns.

"I'm keeping myself the same temperature as the sparkling, so I know if it gets too cold for him." Ratchet mutters.

"don't do that. you know just as well as I do that if you get sick the whole base will be screwed." Wheeljack frowns. he curls up hugging the medics back against his chest. the inventor is warm enough to keep them all warm, he always runs warmer than others.

"don't need to keep myself warm, you do that just fine. I have my systems set to auto adjust when I lay with you. have for years. gets too hot if I don't." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect whines and squirms free from Ratchet, before wiggling his way between the two.

"cold." Reflect whines quietly.

"thats okay, lay with us then little one." Wheeljack murmurs, kissing his head gently. "didn't realize I kept you that warm." Wheeljack murmurs, grinning.

"Jack, you could single handedly warm the whole base." Ratchet mutters. Wheeljack chuckles softly, cuddling closer.

"someone has to keep you warm or you're gonna be grumpy and cold and tired." Wheeljack frowns. Ratchet snorts, curling up.

"good night Wheeljack." Ratchet mutters. Reflects already snoring between them.

Wheeljack shifts, mumbling and its up.

"Ratchet? Reflect?" the inventor mumbles. the berth is empty, its only 3AM. Wheeljack frowns and gets up.

"Ratch?"

"in the hanger."

"where's Reflect?"

"here. Primes holding him. he cried when I got up, didn't want to wake you."

"I'll be there in a few."

Reflect shifts, cuddled up to Optimus' chestplates. he was no where near as warm as Wheeljack, but warm enough to keep him from getting too cold.

"Wheeljacks on his way." Ratchet mutters.

"thats fine, maybe he'll take Reflect with him." Optimus frowns watching Ratchet work.

"no, stupid. stay Ratchet." Reflect mumbles.

"Reflect don't call Optimus stupid, Prime stop pissing him off." Ratchet mutters.

"I still can't believe you and Jack had a sparkling." Hot Rod mutters.

"we did not have a sparkling. he's allsparked. now sit still before I decide its not worth it to put your arm back on." Ratchet snaps. they hadn't run scans on these bots, just assumed they were okay. Hot Rods arm had rusted through the inside and was basically falling apart. something Ratchet hadn't concidered a possibility for anyone but Perceptor.

"the organic life of this planet is facinating!" Perceptor grins, watching the few soldiers who were awake, walk around the hanger.

"Perceptor, sit your aft down until I get done with Hot Rod!" Ratchet snaps.

"I am sitting." Perceptor frowns. Ratchet shoots him a nasty glare and he goes quiet. its only quiet for a few more minutes before Reflect squeals and points.

"daddy Jack!" Reflect squeals. Optimus and Ratchet both turn to look. WHeeljack smiles and waves.

"what was that he called Wheeljack?" Hot Rod asks curiously.

"I believe its the human equivalent of creator." Optimus says, raising an optic ridge.

"he's never called me that before." Wheeljack grins, reaching to take him. "what does that make Ratchet?" Wheeljack asks.

"creator." Reflect says, looking at Wheeljack as though that should be obvious.

"he's been calling me that for a while, when you're not arround. his logic is, you didn't carry him and there for are not 'carrier' he's been looking for something to call you for a while now. guess he learned that from Sam." Ratchet shrugs. Wheeljack grins hugging the sparkling tightly. Reflect growls lowly. and Wheeljack chuckles, loosening his hold.

"why are you waking them this early?" Wheeljack asks.

"Decpeticons show signs they're getting ready to mobilize and we need more help." Ratchet mutters. Wheeljack frowns, nodding.

"alright... well, good to see you Perceptor, Hot Rod. I'm gonna take off with Reflect. come on little one I've got something for you." Wheeljack smiles.

"try to get him to go back into stasis or he'll be grumpy." Ratchet frowns.

Wheeljack nods a little happily carrying the sparkling back to the base.

"no sleep." Reflect pouts.

"don't worry. I've got something better planned. remember when I told you I was working on a treat for you?" Wheeljack asks.

"laser?" Reflect asks excitedly.

"no, Primus no. Ratchet would kill me, if Prowl and Prime didn't first." Wheeljack snorts. Reflect pouts. "something better. something I used to make on CYbertron for Ratchet." Wheeljack smiles. Reflect tilts his head curiously.

"better than laser?" Reflect asks.

"yes and you're not getting one of those, so stop asking. we all saw how you did with a laser pointer, you almost blinded Prowl." Wheeljack frowns.

"Prowl stupid." Reflect huffs.

"be that as it may, I will not be building nor giving you, a laser." Wheeljack frowns firmly.

"slagger." Reflect pouts. Wheeljack snorts a little, carrying the sparkling into the medbay.

"stay right here, I don't want to take you into the lab right now." Wheeljack says, putting the sparkling on the berth. Reflect pouts quietly, waiting for Wheeljack to return. the inventor comes back after a moment with a plate of tiny blue glowing items. Reflect looks confused.

"what that?" he asks.

"these are little energon goodies. I started making them when me and Ratchet were younglings... I haven't made any since Nitro offlined, but they should taste good anyway. couldn't try one because they're sparkling grade, so tell me if you like them alright?" Wheeljack smiles, putting the plate down. Reflect looks at the plate then at Wheeljack.

"will explode?" Reflect asks. Wheeljack huffs.

"no." he grumbles. Reflect hesitantly reaches out and grabs one, before putting it in his mouth. after a moment he squeaks and jumps, looking up at Wheeljack with wide optics.

"gone!" Reflect squeals. Wheeljack chuckles.

"well, they're still fresh, so they melt in your little mouth." Wheeljack smiles at him. Reflect jumps up and down excitedly, giggling, before reaching for the plate. he pauses and looks at Wheeljack. "go a head." he chuckles. Reflect squeals shoving another into his mouth excitedly.

"yummy!" Reflect squeals happily. Wheeljack chuckles.

"Jack! get over here now with my welder!"

Wheeljack jumps at the surprisingly loud com.

"oh, stay here sparkling and don't eat all of those at once, you're tank will hurt." Wheeljack frowns, grabbing Ratchets welder and running off. Reflect watches him go before grabbing another happily.

in the end, Ratchet and Wheeljack end up carrying Hot Rod into the medbay, finding more rust than they realized. Wheeljack absentmindedly notices the empty goodie plate, but is too busy to really take notice. its nearing 8AM by this time and more of the base is awake, so if the sparkling is a little hyper, at least everyones already awake.

Reflect screams at the top of his voice box, giggling and bouncing around. he'd been watching Jazz breakdance for the past 20 minutes and was finally getting a chance to try.

"show me your best moves squirt." Jazz grins. Reflect bounces happily, going over the moves he's seen Jazz do, in his head, before carefully getting himself into a handstand. "hey thats pretty good." Jazz smiles.

"not done!" Reflect snaps. he drops himself into a headspin, something he's seen Bumblebee do before. the sparklings giggling the whole time as his headspin slowl slips into a flare, then a windmill, and ends with the sparkling doing a backspin. when he finally comes to a stop he's giggling and wobbling, grinning at Jazz.

"hell yeah! what else you got?" Jazz grins crouching down. "can you do a Track?" Jazz grins. Reflect looks confused, so Jazz steps back and demonstrates his favorite move to the sparkling.

"yes! can do! can do!" Reflect giggles, copying the slightly bigger mech. he pauses, immediately distracted when Sunstreaker walks by, and takes off running out of the room screaming happily.

"bye! be careful!" Jazz chuckles. the little sparkling is so full of energy Jazz wouldn't have been able to keep up with im much longer anyway.

Reflect bounds down the hallway, nearly running into the bot he'd been running after.

"Sun-Sun!" Reflect screams. the yellow winces and turns around, shooting the sparkling a nasty look.

"screw off you little fragger. I've got a processor ache!" Sunstreaker snaps, storming off. Reflect doesn't take offense, sometimes Sunstreaker has moods, like Ironhide.
he bounds off down the hallway.

"Autobots! be on the look out! Reflect is lose and probably on a sugar high! someone gave him energon goodies!"

Ratchets voice explodes over the PA system, with a quiet sorry from Wheeljack just barely audible.

Ironhide groans quietly and gets up off his berth, he'd better find the sparkling before he gets hurt, or worse, hurts someone else. he sighs and walks towards the rec room, silently hoping the sparkling is in there drawing.

he walks in, looking around, frowning. he can hear Reflect squealing.

"Reflect?" Ironhide asks.

"Ironhide!" Reflect squeals.

"where are you?" Ironhide ask. Bumblebee sighs a little, pointing up to the rafters when Ironhide makes optic contact. Ironhide looks confused, tilting his head to the side a little before looking up. "what the fuck!? Reflect! what the fuck are you doing?! HOW DID YOU GET UP THERE!" Ironhide snaps.

"remember how Optimus taught him to use his jets so Wheeljack built him a jetpack?" Bumblebee ask. "he flew up there and has been hanging by his knees in the rafters since then." Bumblebee sighs.

"get down from there!" Ironhide orders.

"suck cable!" Reflect laughs, grinning at the mech.

"excuse you!?" Ironhide snaps.

"thats what he says when we tell him to get down." Bumblebee sighs. "when asked where he learned that, he told us you." Bumblebee glares.

"he probably did." Ironhide grumbles. "get your little fragging aft down here right now!" Ironhide snaps.

"no! stay here!" Reflect laughs, swinging his upper body happily.

"stop! don't do that! you're gonna fall and crush your head in! get down here!" Ironhide snaps. Reflect squeals, before pausing and looking up. his legs are slipping. the sparkling immediately screams trying to sit up, but his legs slip from the rafters the moment he moves to pull himself up. in his panic of falling, the sparkling forgets he can fly with his jetpack. "you fragging idiot!" Ironhide snaps moving to catch the sparkling quickly.

Ironhide lands on his back on the ground, Reflect on his chestplates, and sighs dropping his head onto the floor. this sparkling was going to be the end of him.

"nice catch Ironhide!" Bumblebee shouts, running over. Reflect scrambles up and off of Ironhide quickly, running off as fast as he can screaming. Bumblebee reaches a servo out to pull the bigger mech up.

"thanks I guess." Ironhide grumbles, letting Bumblebee pull him up. he frowns trying to stretch the kinks and pain out of his back from landing on it so hard. "he didn't even say thank you, fragging slagger." Ironhide grumbles.

Reflect screams, running down the hallway as fast as he can. he barrels into Prowl, but doesn't stop, even when Prowl hits the ground and groans.