Reflect frowns and lets the Prime grab him a cube and carry him to his office. he gives a soft sigh and Optimus looks down at him.

"its alright little one. Ironhide is just having a hard time. Ratchet and Wheeljack will help him, I promise. " Optimus assures. he carries the sparkling to his office, sitting at his desk quietly.

"I help." the sparkling demans, sitting up.

"no, not this time. its dangerous alright?" Optimus ask.

"I want help!" Reflect glares.

"you cannont help Ironhide right now, he is not here sparkling." Optimus frowns.

"but I want help." Reflect whines.

"I know, but you can help by staying here and being safe alright? just stay with me for now." Optimus murmurs.

the sparkling is almost finished with his cube and half asleep when Optimus gets a com.

"Prime we need help. we were talking with Ironhide and Decepticons attacked! send help! Ironhide and Wheeljack have already been hit! I can't keep up fire by myself! Wheeljacks down and Ironhides trying but he's got a huge whole in his chest!"

Optimus remains calm, but gets up out of his chair, shifting the sparkling gently. Reflect whines at being moved, he'd been comfortable. he squirms a little to get comfortable again, making the Prime look down at him.

"absolutely I'll leave the sparkling with Sideswipe and I'll grab a few others, we'll be there shortly, send me your coordinates. remain calm Ratchet, help is on the way, keep up fire we will be there shortly."

Optimus heads out of his office, cradling the sparkling gently. he doesn't want to alert the sparkling, gently rocking him. Reflect yawns, he's ready for a nap and wishes the Prime would jsut sit down so he could.

"Sideswipe, I need to you take the sparkling for a bit please." Optimus murmurs. Sideswipe stands and takes the sparkling gently, cuddling him.

"of course Prime. hey Reflect." Sideswipe smiles, cuddling the little mechling. Reflect yawns and curls up in his arm happily.

"Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Hound, Jazz, please come with me." Optimus says. the four look confused, but follow him immediately. Reflect yawns a little and looks over at the five retreating bots. Bumblebee pats the bots head as they walk by, smiling, before following Optimus quickly.

"come on little one." Sideswipe murmurs, heading for his and Sunnys room. Reflect cuddles his Ironhide toy and lets Sideswipe carry him off. "we'll go curl up for a nap alright?" Sideswipe smiles. Reflect gives him a sleepy look. "sorry, you were probably already in a nap before Prime woke you, hmm?" Sideswipe chuckles softly, nuzzling the little mechlings head. Reflect stretches and yawns, curling up quietly against Sideswipes chest plates. "thats right you take a nap and keep us both out of trouble." Sideswipe murmurs. he lays on his berth, cuddling Reflect gently. the sparkling purrs quietly and cuddles up to him.

when the sparkling wakes up, he's curled up beside Bumblebee on a medical berth. Ratchets standing over Ironhide, staring at part of the mechs chest plate.

"what the hell is this?" Ratchet mutters, looking confused. he's got a small part of Ironhides plating in his servo, staring at the piece. Ratchet runs a scan over it carefully, looking for answers. he immediately stiffens after a minute, looking almost horrified, quickly putting the mechs chest plate back together. how could he be so stupid? so nosey? how could he have gotten in Ironhides business like that? "he put his spark in danger for this." Ratchet murmurs quietly. he frowns to himself, before shaking his head. suddenly Ironhide not wanting Wheeljack to open his chest plates a few weeks ago made since, he'd literally protect the handprint with his life and not care if he died. he didn't want the inventor to know his secret. he didn't want anyone to know his secret and Ratchet doesn't seem to mind.

he silently moves on to work on the other bots, not paying the sparkling any attention. he pays no attention to anything, seemly on autopilot.

Reflect watches Ratchet work. he looks lost in thought and worried.

Ratchet works silently for hours, until Ironhide groans quietly. the medic immediately looks over, watching Ironhides servo immediately fly up to the spot he's just discovered on the inside of the mechs plating. the medic remembers seeing him do that often since Wills death, and now that he's found Wills hand print on the inside of the mechs armor, he understands. the mech must be assuring himself its still there, that he's managed to keep it safe once again, like he was unable to do for Will himself. the black mech gives a quiet sigh, looking almost relieved.

"shit that was fucking close." Ironhide mutters quietly to himself. he shakes his head and sighs again.

Ironhide looks over at Ratchet almost confused, until he notices the medic staring at his servo over Wills hand print. immediately Ironhide removes his servo, staring Ratchet down silently. its an almost nervous look, but Ironhide keeps his face. Ratchet knows, he knows about Wills handprint, and he knows Ironhide knows he knows. the two stare silently at each other a moment, before Ratchet quickly glances down at the mechs chest, then back up at Ironhide with a silent nod. a silent promise. a visible wave of relief washes over Ironhide, Ratchet will stay silent about it but continues to offer his silent support.

the medics attention is drawn by Bumblebee when he groans a little, making the sparkling shift and chirp. Ratchet turns immediately to the scout and his sparkling. Reflect pats Bumblebee's face, making the scout smile a little.

"hey Reflect." Bumblebee murmurs.

"you're free to go now Ironhide." Ratchet assures. the weapons specialist gets up slowly, lost in thought.

"Ironhide?" Reflect chirps quietly. its just loud enough to catch the mechs attention. Ironhide looks over immediately.

"just sit there sparkling. let me get Bumblebee up." Ratchet murmurs, patting the sparklings head gently.

"its fine I got him." Ironhide mutters, scooping the sparkling up. he curls up, almost protectively, in front of the hand print on the chest plate, glaring Ratchet down. it occurs to the medic, that the sparkling already knew about the hand print. the medic hadn't expected that, but wasn't entirely surprized. the sparkling had spent a lot of time with Ironhide.

"Wheeljacks in the rec room if you just want to drop him off with him. he was getting the sparkling a cube after helping Jazz back to his own room. he was a little loopy." Ratchet says. Ironhide nods.

"yeah sure." he mutters walking out.

Reflect curls up to him, dropping his head on the mechs chest plate.

"you alright? you didn't get hurt right?" Ironhide ask.

"okay." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide nods.

"I was sure they wouldn't take you out to the battle, but I never really know." Ironhide murmurs.

"Hide okay?" Reflect asks.

"yeah, I'm good sparkling." Ironhide murmurs. the sparkling pats Ironhides chest where the hand print would be. Ironhide frowns, placing his free servo over the sparklings gently. "don't worry sparkling. I'm okay. I promise." Ironhide assures. "I can't believe Ratchet knows now.... he'll probably make me get ride of it." Ironhide sighs.

"no." the sparkling murmurs. Ironhide sighs at him, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry little one, this is not your problem." Ironhide murmurs. "I'm going to leave you with Wheeljack, then I've got to go." Ironhide murmurs.

"no! go with! please! go with!" Reflect whines.

"Reflect I can't take you with me." Ironhide frowns. the sparkling grips his armor hard.

"go with!" Reflect glares. he whines softly, cuddling to him. "please?" Reflect asks, whining softly. Ironhide sighs slightly.

"your sparkling wants to come with me to the farm."

its quiet from the medic for a few mintues.

"I trust you to protect him. just be careful and don't leave him alone. Decepticons are still out there."

Ironhide nods a little.

"okay. Ratchet says you can come with." Ironhide murmurs.

"can go?" Reflect asks.

"yes little one. you can go with me." Ironhide murmurs softly. he takes the sparkling out and transforms around him. "come on little one. I've brought you out there before, you should nap, it'll be a long trip." Ironhide murmurs says. Reflect nods a little curling up in his seat.

Ironhide rolls up to the house and sits silently for a few minutes, before he sighs and wakes the sparkling. Reflect chirps quietly and stretches.

"Hide?" Reflect yawns.

"we're here little one. do you know how to activate your holoform little one?" Ironhide ask.

"yeah! Jack show!" Reflect assures.

"alright. activate it." Ironhide murmurs activating his own, standing outside his alt mode. it takes the sparkling a few minutes, but he does activate his own. the boy looks up at Ironhide quietly. he reaches up for Ironhide.

"carry?" Reflect asks. Ironhide smiles a little and scoops him up.

"alright sure kiddo." Ironhide murmurs. "I want to show you something." Ironhide murmurs.

"house." Reflect says.

"yes. house. this was Wills hosue. I lived here one and off with Will... I haven't been in here in a while." Ironhide murmurs, carrying the sparkling to the door. he uses the keys Will left him to open the door. "Will always hated it when I just appeared with my holoform. so I always use the key... even now that he's gone." Ironhide sighs softly.

"wow." Reflect murmurs as they walk in.

"Reflect, I wish you could've met him I really do." Ironhide sighs softly, putting the sparkling down. "him and his little girl. Annabell was as amazing as her father." Ironhide murmurs, heading up the stairs. Reflect follows quickly, stumbling up the stairs. Ironhide heads down the hallway to the room he and Will once shared, Reflect following behind him quickly. he stands in the doorway and stares, holoform almost tearful. "I miss you so much. god Will, I miss you." Ironhide murmurs.

Reflect watches him silently.

he needs another visit tonight.

"Hide...?" Reflect asks, walking into the room after Ironhide. the holoform doesn't respond, so the sparkling explores quietly. Ironhide doesn't move the whole time, but his holoform does start fizzling.

when Ironhide finally comes back to himself, his holoform finally becoming solid again, the sparkling has a couple items around him. some toy Ironhide remembers giving Will on a 'date', as the man had called it. there's a also a picture frame and a book.

"what've you got there Reflect?" Ironhide asks, walking over.

"stuff." Reflect murmurs.

"I see that." Ironhide chokes. he crouches down beside the sparkling. the picture is of him a Will, taken once by Sam, sitting outside. Wills on his hood leaning against his windshield, his holoform is smirking happily beside him, leaned against the Captain, who is laughing about something Ironhide can't remember having been too lost in the mans happiness.. the book is an picture book. its a book of pictures Will took after every mission he'd done ever since he'd met Ironhide. every mission the two had done together. Ironhide recognizes it immediately.

"Hide okay...?" Reflect asks, hesitantly.

"yeah. c'mon. we're gonna take this stuff back to the base. but we're not leaving yet." Ironhide murmurs. he grabs the items and heads to take them to his alt. Reflect attempts to follow after him, but whimpers when he gets to the stairs. "hold on Reflect. I'm coming back for you." Ironhide assures.

once Ironhide comes back he brings the sparkling downstairs. Ironhide wonders the house, dragging his hand slowly over everything. the sparkling sits on the couch, watching him. the holoform has a small sad smile on his face. Reflect watches him just for a second, before getting up and heading upstairs.

he can't remember the house very well and he wants to explore, Ironhide seems busy anyway. he won't notice. he heads down the hall, looking around.

"Reflect? sparkling? hey where did you go?" Ironhide frowns, shaking his head and looking around. "hey should shouldn't be upstairs without me. if you fall Ratchets going to kill me and Wheeljack will turn me into a toaster." Ironhide mutters, heading up the stairs. he scans the hosue and follows the sparklings signature. "why are you in that closet?" Ironhide frowns, opening the closet door.

the sparkling is sitting on the floor a box of some old Christmas decorations tipped over from a shelf onto him. he looks up at Ironhide sheepishly.

"I see you're making a mess, having fun?" Ironhide asks, frowning.

"oops." Reflect murmurs.

"mmhmm." Ironhide mutters, crouching to get the little sparkling untangled from the tensil. "what were you doing in here?" Ironhide frowns.

"looking." the sparkling mutters.

"yeah, well try not to get hurt while looking alright?" Ironhide says, pulling him free. the sparkling hugs his neck and cuddles him.

"sorry." Reflect mumbles.

"its alright. you're just curious sparkling I know, but please, this place means a lot to me. this hosue and all the items in it mean a lot to me." Ironhide murmurs softly. Reflect nods, hugging his neck.

"I sorry." he murmurs.

"no little one its alright." Ironhide assures gently, rubbing his back a little. Reflect drops his head on the biggers shoulder, hugging his neck. "what have you found here kid?" Ironhide asks, crouching down. he doesn't put the little boy down, but picks an item up off the floor. its a Christmas tree decoration, he must've knocked it out of the box as well. Ironhide flips it over and for a minute it feels like his spark stalls. its a picture of Will and Annabell, along with Ironhide himself, playing in the snow. all there are all grinning, the two humans have red faces from how cold it is. Sarah had taken the picture and as far as Ironhides aware, its the only picture left of Annabell. Sarah had taken, what she thought, all of the pictures to hurt Will more.

Reflect looks at Ironhides face, looking at him.

"Hide... Hide okay....?" he asks. Ironhide nods a little at him.

"yeah kiddo, I'm okay." Ironhide says, standing with the ornament. "good job Reflect. thank you for finding this." Ironhide murmurs. he closes the door and carries Reflect back down stairs. he sits on the couch silently for a minute, Reflect sitting on his lap. the sparkling leans against him quietly before squirming free. Ironhide lets him go, watching him walk over to the tv. "what are you doing Reflect?" Ironhide asks.

"what this?" Reflect asks, pulling out a VHS tape.

"oh Will was, what the humans call, old school. he didn't like DVDs, he likes VHS tapes. they're a more primitive option, but Will liked them." Ironhide murmurs, getting up to crouch beside him. he picks up a tape and smiles. "Major Payne. he liked this one. if he was having a bad day he would watch this and just about cry laughing." Ironhide murmurs. he looks through the tapes. "oh this was Anna's favorite movie. I have no idea why. its about fictional monsters that scare children to power a city. I found it boring but Anna loved it." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect looks at it then turns back to keep looking at the others.

"watch?" Reflect asks.

"no little one. we can't. Wills tape player broke a few days before he died... we were going to get it fixed but he was gone before we could." Ironhide frowns.

"where Hide sleep?" Reflect asks. Ironhide smiles a little and gets up, scoops him up gently.

"I stayed in the garage little one." Ironhide murmurs, carrying him towards the garage. "Will had it built after I was assigned to be his guardian, originally. its tall enough I can transform and sit in it." Ironhide says, opening the garage. its warm and cozy, the government had let Will order and build it however he and Ironhide wanted it, and paid for it all. it was nice and roomy. Ironhide loved the garage, but he loved staying in the house more with Will.

"pretty!" Reflect grins, looking at the garage.

"Will always made sure I was comfortable." Ironhide chuckles a little. he looks around happily. "I loved him so much... and he loved me so much for a human. he actually loved me and I appreciate it, I miss him." Ironhide murmurs, looking around. "I haven't been in here since before Will died." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect hugs his neck gently. Ironhide hugs him tightly.

"Hide okay?" Reflect ask.

"oh yeah buddy, I'm okay. you ready to go back to the base?" Ironhide ask. the sparkling shakes his head.

"watch movie?" Reflect ask.

"a movie? Reflect the VHS tape player is broken." Ironhide chuckles.

"fix!" Reflect chirps.

"I... I can try." Ironhide murmurs. he carries the sparkling back to the living room and sets him on the couch. he sits on the floor and starts working.

"Ironhide?" Reflect asks.

"yes little one?" Ironhide answers.

"do you ever see again?" Reflect ask.

"huh? will I see Will again?" Ironhide asks. "of course. I see him all the time in my dreams little one. I see him in my memories." Ironhide murmurs. "but Will is gone and I'll see him again in the well of Allsparks." Ironhide assures. Reflect nods a little.

"Ironhide please return Reflect to the base."

"what? I thought you said he was safe with me Ratchet."

Ironhides angry now.

"he is, but we've finished his one year update and we have a surprise for him."

Ironhide gruns.

"Hide...?" Reflect asks.

"I have just fixed Wills VHS tape player, he wanted to watch a movie. is this urgent?"

its quiet a moment.

"I'm okay sparkling. just working on the player." Ironhide assures gently.

"I guess not. we can save it for later."

Ironhide looks back at the sparkling.

"alright little one, can you read English?" Ironhide ask.

"read?" the sparkling asks.

"guess not. here, pick a pretty cover." Ironhide says, showing him a few options. Reflect points at a movie and Ironhide pops it in, sitting on the couch with him. he knows the sparkling doesn't have enough reserve energy to keep the holoform up for much longer and will probably fall asleep so he'll take the sparkling back once he falls asleep.

they only make it about 20 minutes in to the Rugrat movie Reflect chose, before Ironhide loads the sparkling up and takes him home. the sparkling sleeps the entire way back to the base.

Ironhide transforms and gently carries the sparkling into the base.

"there you two are." Wheeljack smiles, walking over.

"don't wake him." Irnohide mutters.

"I won't. we want him asleep for this anyway." Wheeljack murmurs, cuddling the sparkling gently. Reflect chirps quietly, curling up happily. he turns and carries the sparkling to the medbay.

Reflect shifts when they're almost there, sitting up slowly.

"no no, you need to be asleep." Wheeljack murmurs. the sparkling whines, his tanks mumbling loudly.

"need cube." Reflect argues.

"okay we'll get you one but then you have to go back to sleep okay?" Wheeljack frowns. Reflect nods as they walk into the medbay.

"there you, why is he awake?" Ratchet frowns.

"he's hungry. guess Ironhdie didn't feed him." Wheeljack frowns.

"well grab a cube from my office, then put him abck to sleep." Ratchet murmurs, rubbing the sparklings cheek. Reflect swats at his servo, glaring.

"just relax, we're going to get you a cube alright?" Wheeljack ask. he carries the sparkling to Ratchets office and grabs him a cube, happily feeding their beloved sparkling. he barely makes it through half a cube before falling asleep.

~~

Will shakes his head slowly sitting up and looking around.

"what? I'm back here?" Will asks.

"hello little one, we've called for you, don't worry. you're not in danger."

Will looks up.

"yeah? okay, well... whats up?"

"once your one year updates are done, it will be the time to finally reveal yourself Captain Lennox. you will continue as is for the rest of the day, but tomorrow, when you wake, you will be Captain Lennox once more. but do not forget you will have to 'injure' yourself to do this."

Will looks slightly relieved.

"really? yes! finally! thats great! oh... wait..."

"whats wrong little one? you're not as excited as we'd thought."

Will frowns a little and looks up at them.

"but... what about Wheeljack and Ratchet? the whole point of not tell them who I was, is to help them.... whats going to happen to them?"

the Prime frowns.

"well, sparkling, they will be alright. I thought you wanted to go back to Ironhide?"

"well..... yeah I do..... but not at the expense of the two bots who have been caring for me... I love Ironhide, don't get me wrong, but if I reveal myself now I'm just going to screw Ratchet and Wheeljack over and I... I'm not sure how to do this..." Will admits, sighing.

the Primes look between each other.

"are you saying you don't want to be revealed?"

Will frowns.

"I'm saying I don't know.... what if I get out there and decide Ironhide is fine without me, but Ratchet and Wheeljack won't be...?"

the Primes look between one another once more.

"what if we allow you to reveal yourself and make you decision, then come back and tell us how you would like this to be?"

WIll nods.

"yes. please. thank you... god this is.... I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, if I fuck all this up is Ironhide going to die or anything...? I don't know what I'm doing, how do I make the correct choice here?"

Will sighs, looking utterly defeated.

"I don't know how to make the right choice here, either way someone here is going to get hurt and thats definately not what I want. I don't want any of them hurt."

"we will come up with a way to help you, no matter which choice you make, we did not realize this would be so hard on you sparkling."

"I.. I didn't either. I thought when the time came the choice would be super easy... that I'd just chose Ironhide and move on, but thats not fair to Ratchet and Wheeljack... its not fair they're suddenly losing the sparkling they've cared for, for over a year now... someone is going to end up hurt." Will sighs.

"we see that and have decided on a solution. please, have a seat and we will explain everything."

~~

Reflect groans sitting up slowly.

"easy little one. you might get sick, can't have you purging yoru tanks everywhere." Ratchet murmurs, gently pushing the little sparkling to lay back down.

"he's awake?" Wheeljack asks. the sparkling looks over at him.

"yeah. he's awake." Ratchet smiles.

"how do you feel sparkling?" Wheeljack smiles.

"dizzy." Reflect murmurs.

"it'll go away shortly squirt." Ratchet assures gently, helping him sit up slowly. Reflect rubs his head.

"its done?" Reflect murmurs.

"yup and it sounds like it downloading properly." Ratchet smiles at him.

"I speak much gooder." Reflect says. he pauses looking confused and slightly upset by his own sentence.

"relax little one." Wheeljack laughs.

"once it finishes downloading you'll speak better." Ratchet assures.

"I'm gonna speak soda." the sparkling grins. he immediately frowns. Ratchet glares at Wheeljack. "huh?" Reflect asks.

"well I said that there was a small chance he'd have side effects. its been a while since I wrote code like that. he might say a few wrong words." Wheeljack mutters.

"I didn't see any bugs in the code though." Ratchet mutters. "try again." Ratchet says, watching the sparkling. Reflect frowns to himself, opening and closing his mouth once or twice before looking up at Ratchet.

"I speak much more worser." Reflect frowns.

"it'll be alright. just a small side effect okay? just a few hours." Ratchet assures gently, scooping him.

"I speak stupid." Reflect huffs.

"see that was almost better." Wheeljack smiles.

"no, my sentence right. I speak stupid. sound dummy." Reflect huffs.

"its okay Reflect. its alright. look, why don't you go on and find Ironhide, see if he'll get you a cube okay?" Ratchet ask, putting him on the ground.

"Hide gonna stand." Reflect says. he huffs a little, looking annoyed. "Hide gonna... Hide go think... I dumb!" Reflect squeals angrily.

"no you're not, Ironhide is not going to think you're stupid or you're dumb." Ratchet soothes. "its alright. I already warned everyone your new update is buggy okay? you're going to be alright." Ratchet assures.

"said word everything bad!" Reflect whines.

"I know sometimes you say the wrong word and you say the words wrong, but its okay. it'll be alright. I promise." Ratchet assures gently, patting the sparklings head. Reflect whines, but heads out of the medbay.

he doesn't make it far out of the medbay, when he's scooped up.

"hey cutie! don't worry its just me." Bumblebee assures, cuddling him. Reflect looks up at him, cuddling into him. "now you don't have to talk, its alright, okay? but Ironhide ask me to come get you and give you a cube cause he's a little busy." Bumblebee smiles. Reflect nods at him. snuggling against his chestplate. "you're so cute." Bumblebee grins. Reflect purrs happily.

"hey Bee, you got Reflect, hey Reflect. whats up?" Sam smiles, looking up as they walk over.

"Reflect is having issues speaking due to a new update, so he's not talking." Bumblebee smiles, grabbing the sparkling cube. he hands it to Reflect, who snatches it to drink. "aww he's gotten so big he holds his own cube and I'm gonna cry." Bumblebee pouts, hugging the sparkling. Reflect growls in warning. "okay, okay, I'm sorry." Bumblebee murmurs, putting him down gently. Reflect immediately whines, looking up at the scout.

"Bee I think he wants you to hold him." Sam chuckles.

"he seemed unhappy, so I put him down." Bumblebee frowns.