Ratchet and Wheeljack spent hours working on the sparkling, with Ironhide not far away. he refuses to leave the room because if they lose this sparkling too, someone has to be there to stop Ratchet and Wheeljack from killing Sunstreaker. Ironhide wanted to kill him too, but Jazz had sent him the video of what happened. the sparkling seemed to simply teleport behind Sunstreaker, turning around in time to see the mech hit him. the sparkling didn't even have time to react, seeming confused as to how he'd gotten there.

that had been two week ago.

two weeks

the sparkling hadn't regained consciousness yet. Ratchet and Wheeljack had done everything they could think of, but the sparkling simply needed time to heal. they'd had to basically put a new head on the little mech, having replaced almost every part in his head. they'd even had to remove a lot of his memory as it had been crushed and damaged, though Ratchet had been surprised and super confused to find several bright blue glowing memory files in his head. he hadn't been able to remove them or anything, they'd also remained completely undamaged.

the medbay is silent, utterly silent. no one speaks and no one dares make a sound. its almost as if the sparkling is sound asleep on the berth and everyone is desperately attempting not to wake him, but they know this is not the case.

Ironhides silently watching them from across the room, optics carefully glancing over the other three occupants of the room. Wheeljacks sitting at their workbench, hunched over some project or another, attempting to keep himself busy and distracted. he can't help but turn every now and then to not only glance over at his sparkling but to also glance over at his bondmate, who sits still as a board. Ironhide glances over at him for a moment, before turning back to Ratchet. the medic has taken it hard. he sits beside the sparklings berth, staring at the sparkling, looking lost.

Ratchet has the same awful crushed and forlorn look on his faceplates that he did Ironhide found him in the rubble, clutching Nitro to his chest as his little spark faded out. the look brings back memories. awful memories, but Ironhide pushes them away. memories like those bring back the memory of watching Starscream stomp on Will, the awful pop and crunching sound haunts him. Ironhide suppresses a shutter at the thought of the sound, glancing at the sparkling once more.

the silence has rang over the medbay for more than three days now and finally, Ironhide can't take it anymore. the silence huts his old war torn mind, forcing him to remember friends and family he's lost, so he shifts on his seat.

"Ratch...?" Ironhide says softly. its silent for a few minutes and Ironhides about to repeat himself, when Ratchet shutters his optics in a mock blink and turns to look at Ironhide slightly. he doesn't turn completely away from the sparkling and he doesn't completely face Ironhide. he keeps an optic on both.

"yeah Hide?" Ratchet asks, quietly.

"I'm gonna go get me a cube alright? do you want one too?" Ironhide ask.

"no." Ratchet says immediately.

"I'm bringing you and Jack one anyway, okay? com me if anything changes with the sparkling, yeah?" Ironhide ask. Ratchet turns back forwards the unconscious sparkling.

"promise." Ratchet murmurs. Ironhide nods and heads out of the medbay. Ratchet reaches up and gently caresses the sparklings helm.

"do you think... do you think he'll wake up?" Wheeljack asks, softly.

"I can't bare to think we failed another sparkling... another innocent little life..." Ratchet heaves a sigh, dropping his head down on the berth. Wheeljack sighs softly, looking away. "we were in here talking about our offlined sparkling... and our living sparkling gets run over." Ratchet murmurs. Wheeljack looks over at him.

"I... I'm sorry Ratchet. I really am... I never meant for Nitro to get hurt and I really never meant for this sparkling to get hurt too." Wheeljack sighs.

"this wasn't your fault Jack... I never should've let him walk out of here... we got too comfortable with the idea that he was on base, that he was here with soldiers. bots who care about him and would protect him, we didn't think anyone would hurt him." Ratchet sighs, looking at the little sparkling. Ironhide walks in, passing a cube to the other two mechs.

"here, you guys need this." Ironhide murmurs. Ratchet sips it, but doesn't take his optics off the sparkling. "what about his vocalizer?" Ironhide ask. Ratchet immediately looks confused.

"huh?" Ratchet asks, looking over.

"you said you had to reset his vocalizer and manually program the words he knew into it so he could keep his speech. did it work?" Ironhide asks. Ratchet shakes his head.

"I couldn't reprogram the words in... I had to set it to late stage sparkling.... he'll be able to speak a lot more words, but full sentences will be a learning process still, so he'll be saying random words attempting to put things together... well, if he ever wakes up that is." Ratchet sighs quietly, before bowing his head.

"he will. you're the best medic in the universe Ratch. you're the youngest Cybertronian medic to ever graduate, the youngest field medic to ever save a life, you had the record on Cybertron for most sparklings saved before even graduating, you're the only Cybertronian medic to repair a spark to ever be nearly slashed in half, you're the only medic in history to ever pull a live bomb from the spark of a mech without offlining him, which I thank you for by the way. that bomb could've killed us both but that didn't stop you." Ironhide says. Ratchet gives a slight smile, but its gone immediately. "he'll be alright Ratch. I know he will. you're the best medic in the universe. he'll be alright. he'll wake up." Ironhide murmurs softly, resting a servo on the medics shoulder. Ratchet sighs and looks at the sparkling silently.

"and if he doesn't?" Ratchet asks. Ironhidce frowns, shaking his head.

"he will. he's stubborn, you know that." Ironhide assures. "he didn't survive a war zone just to offline so easily Ratchet." Ironhide adds.

"I hope you're right." Ratchet murmurs.

it takes another three weeks for the sparkling to shift, but when he does its like the world starts spinning again. he groans softly and Ratchets head immediately snaps up. the little sparkling whines, shifting and slowly onlining his optics. just like that, the world comes back to Ratchet.

"sparkling?" Ratchet ask.

"Ra-Ratchet?" he groans quietly. the medic slowly breaks out into a smile,

"oh thank Primus." Ratchet murmurs, walking over and scooping him up gently.

"feel weird weird..." he says, looking up at the medic.

"do you remember anything sparkling?" Ratchet ask. the sparkling shakes his head.

"no." he mumbles. Ratchet nods a little. the sparkling looks a little confused though. "can talk?" the sparkling asks.

"yeah. you had a pretty bad accident little one. I couldn't fix your vocalizer properly... I had to reset it, so you can speak a lot better now." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling nods a little, he has bits and pieces of memories, mostly including things around the base. "we got lucky with you." Ratchet murmurs, smiling a little. the sparkling cuddles into him.

"Ratchet, I brought you a cube- sparkling!" Wheeljack shouts, dropping both his and Ratchets cubes. the glass shatters immediately, but he pays it no mind. Wheeljack walks over quickly and snatches the sparkling from Ratchets arms, cuddling him tightly to his chest. "oh sparkling! I can't believe it! why didn't you tell me he was awake?" Wheeljack glares at Ratchet.

"he just woke up. he had questions. I was explaining things to him... still can't believe he woke up." Ratchet murmurs. Wheeljack grabs Ratchet and pulls him close, holding their family tightly.

"you need to tell Ironhide, now." Wheeljack murmurs.

"Ironhide, come to the medbay immediately." Ratchet coms. he hugs the two tightly. "I did. I comed him. he's on his way." Ratchet murmurs, stepping back from them. he looks at the sparkling.

"do you remember Wheeljack sparkling?" Ratchet ask. the sparkling looks up at the inventor, confused a moment.

"come on little one, surely you remember me." Wheeljack murmurs, his headfins flashing a bright and excited blue.

"Jack...?" he asks. Wheeljack grins, hugging him tightly.

"Primus kid! I can't believe you're awake." Wheeljack murmurs. Ironhide bursts into the medbay, his optics immediately going to the empty berth where the sparkling had once laid. Ratchet hadn't said anything but the urgency in his voice, Ironhdie assumed the worse.

"where's the sparkling?" Ironhide ask, optics landing on Ratchet. theres a worry, a fear, on the black mechs face. had the sparkling offlined while he was away long enough to recharge? theres a slight panic creeping up over him. the sparkling peeks up over Wheeljacks shoulder, squealing.

"Ironhide!" he shouts. just like that the panic is gone and the big black mech immediately looks relieved.

"holy Primus kid." Ironhide grins, walking over and taking the sparkling. "when did he wake up?" Ironhide ask.

"not long about, 5 or 10 minutes ago." Ratchet murmurs.

"glad to see you squirt. up and talking. I told you he'd make it." Ironhide snorts, handing the sparkling back over.

"we're going to keep him in here for a bit, just to make sure he's okay." Ratchet says, holding his sparkling tightly. the sparkling cuddles up to him. "we'll probably end up having to teach him how to walk again... but in due time." Ratchet murmurs, laying the sparkling down gently. the little sparkling struggles, but manages to sit up after a few tries, carefully holding himself up. sitting up hadn't been this much of a struggle since he'd first started sitting up. he wobbles a little, but Wheeljacks quick to put a servo on his back and keep him up.

"guess its back to crawling, huh sparkling?" Wheeljack smiles a little.

"stupid."

chirp.

the sparkling looks annoyed.

"don't pick on him Jack." Ratchet mutters, shoving his bonded gently. "this is got to be pretty confusing and hard for him. he doesn't understand." Ratchet adds.

"don't worry sparkling, you'll be up and walking or running very soon." Ironhide says, patting the sparklings head gently. the sparkling huffs, crossing his arms over his chestplates, since Wheeljacks holding him up, he doesn't have to worry about falling over.

"I know squirt. it sucks, but I did the best I could." Ratchet says softly. the sparkling can't be angry towards Ratchet, knowing the medic had tried his hardest to fix him, but that doesn't mean he can't pout.

"you guys should get him named soon." Ironhide says, smiling at the sparkling. Ratchet nods.

"we will." Ratchet assures.

"I'll see you guys later." Ironhide smiles. he walks out of the medbay, the sparkling turning to watch him leave. he immediately falls onto his face with a screech. Ratchet reaches over and sits him back up.

"don't worry sparkling, you'll get your abilities back. it may just take a few days." Ratchet assures. the sparkling nods a little and lets the medic scoop him up. "you'll have to relearn them, but we'll help." Ratchet assures.

"okay Ratchet." the sparkling mumbles. the medic smiles at him, clearly relieved and holds him gently.

"Primus sparkling, you don't understand how relieved and happy we are that you woke up." Ratchet murmurs. "come on little one, I'm going to get you a cube. we're going to sit in the rec room." Ratchet says. he snatches a cube and carries the little bot to the Autobot rec room.

he settles himself down, the sparkling in his lap sucking the cube down hungrily. its only silent for a few minutes, most mechs are attempting to avoid looking at Ratchet, they don't want to see the broken look on the medics face, but Bumblebee can't help himself. he needs to know if his friend is alright. he starts walking over, system nearly crashing when he realizes the sparklings in Ratchets lap.

"sparkling! you're awake!" Bumblebee grins, rushing over and crouching down to see the sparkling. the sparkling waves a little, clicking around his cube. "I can't believe you're actually awake.... welcome back." Bumblebee smiles, patting his head gently.

"don't make him choke." Ratchet warns.

"I won't I'm sorry." Bumblebee murmurs. he rubs the little sparklings cheek gently. "welcome back little one." Bumblebee smiles, walking away.

the sparkling watches him go. had they really missed him? how long had he been out? he can't remember. he spent so much time with the past Primes... but he's not sure how much time he'd spent with them. the little sparkling looks up at Ratchet around his cube.

"they care about you sparkling. everyone's missed you." Ratchet murmurs softly, smiling at him. the sparkling smiles around the cube at him and continues looking around the room.

"hey! the squirts back!" Hound shouts, making both Ratchet and the sparkling jump.

"hey! little dude." Jazz grins happily.

"thank Primus." Sideswipe murmurs. "I'm glad you woke up kid... maybe Sunny will finally leave the room again." Sideswipe adds.

"keep him away from my sparkling." Ratchet snaps.

"oh come on it was an accident." Sideswipe frowns.

"he ran over my sparkling! he almost killed him!" Ratchet snaps.

"you know he came out of no where. you've seen the footage Ratchet, you know it was an accident. knock it off. I get it, he accident ran over you're sparkling and you're angry, I would be too. who knows, maybe I'd never forgive someone who ran over my own sparkling if I had one, but you've seen the footage. you've seen the video, you've seen Sunny, you've saved your sparkling! you know how guilty Sunstreaker is! he would've sat outside the medbay until the sparkling woke up if he wasn't feeling so damn guilty he doesn't want to get off the berth. though he's come close to coming out so you and Wheeljack could beat the frag out of him like he's pretty sure he deserves. hell, maybe he does, but it was an accident!" Sideswipe growls lowly, before storming off. the sparkling turns away from his cube to watch Sideswipe go.

"slag!" Ratchet frowns, pulling the cube back quickly. he groans and looks at the energon spilt over him and the sparkling. Ratchet sighs a little at the sparkling, who looks up at him sheepishly. "you know you could just push the cube away right? you don't have to just turn away." Ratchet says.

"sorry." the sparkling says. Ratchet sits him up gently.

"its alright. you okay sparkling?" Ratchet asks, looking at him. the sparkling nods at him a little, cuddling to him. "we're going to get you up and crawling around as fast as possible, okay?" Ratchet asks, sitting up to put the sparkling on the floor. the sparkling immediately tries to sit himself up. "it might take you a bit to get sitting up again and don't rush or hurt yourself." Ratchet smiles a little. the sparkling grunts trying to sit himself up.

"he kinda looks like a turtle stuck on his back." Sam grins, walking over.

"don't make fun of him Sam. I had to replace a lot. he doesn't remember how to sit up or anything. give him a break. he didn't ask to be run over." Ratchet frowns.

"I know, I know. I just didn't realize he couldn't sit up. I thought he was being goofy." Sam says, apologetically.

"no. he's learning again." Ratchet says.

"don't you guys have some sort of physical therapy or like, rehab kinda thing to help him?" Sam asks curiously.

"well, if he was older yes, we'd do something similar to a physical therapy, but he's still small enough he can relearn. I hoping it won't take him too long, I could have physically reprogrammed being able to sit up back into him, but I'm not sure how well it would work, its better he just relearns it." Ratchet explains.

"you guys don't have muscles to build up, so once he sits up once he should be okay right?" Sam asks, confused.

"he'll have to do it a few times. we don't have muscles per se, but its a little difficult to explain. he'll have to build up... basically like muscle memory in a way I guess." Ratchet explains. Sam nods a little watching the sparkling finally sit himself up with a mock sigh of relief. the sparkling looks up at Ratchet. "good job sparkling." Ratchet smiles, patting his head.

"are you guys gonna name him soon?" Sam asks.

"my name is Will."

chirp click.

"we will shortly." Ratchet assures.

"what? can't you guys understand me? its Will! hey! guys! I already have a name!"

chirp? click? twitter! chirp! chirp! click!

"take it easy sparkling its alright." Ratchet assures gently, picking him up.

"glad to see him up and talking though..." Sam smiles a little.

"stupid!" the sparkling growls angrily. both Sam and Ratchet look at him.

"uh, is he okay?" Sam asks.

"I'm not sure. whats wrong sparkling?" Ratchet asks.

"stupid! my name is WillLennox! can't you understand me!?" he shouts.

"maybe somethings wrong. I'll take him back to the medbay. he shouldn't be having this many issues talking. I thought I'd fixed that. we'll see you later Sam. come on sparkling." Ratchet murmurs, scooping him.

"my name is Captain William David Lennox! Ratchet hey! come on! surely you can understand me! you've been able to all day! its me! its Will! come on guys! please don't pretend you can't understand me!"

chirp! chirp! click! chirp! twitter! twitter chirp! click!

"its okay sparkling. hold on. lets go figure out whats happening with you." Ratchet assures gently.

he's quick to carry the sparkling to the medbay, setting him on a berth.

"whats going on?" Wheeljack asks, looking over. Ratchet lays the sparkling back and looks him over carefully.

"his vocal processor reset itself for some reason. he's back to nothing but sparkling chatter for some reason." Ratchet frowns. "hold on sparkling this might be uncomfortable." Ratchet says, patting the sparklings head gently. the sparkling squirms some, but does his absolute best to stay still. Wheeljack walks over and pats the little bots servo.

"its alright squirt. I know its pretty uncomfortable, but its alright." Wheeljack assures.

"hmm it has reset itself. thats odd." Ratchet mutters, setting the sparklings vocal processor again. "alright sparkling, there you go." Ratchet says, pulling back. the sparkling lets out a cough, rubbing at his throat. Wheeljack carefully sits him up.

"alright sparkling give it a try, okay?" Wheeljack asks.

"that weird." the sparkling mumbles.

"yeah but things happen sparkling." Ratchet murmurs. the sparkling swats at the servo on his back, an attempt to get Wheeljack to take his servo off.

"move!" the sparkling pouts, shoving at his servo.

"sorry." Wheeljack chuckles, pulling his servo back. the sparkling wobbles and immediately puts his arms out to balance himself.

"alright sparkling, I've upgraded the plating on your helm, okay? you're going to be a little hard headed from now on." Ratchet snorts, watching the sparkling keep himself in an up right position.

"we should get to work on getting him crawling again." Wheeljack says.

"no he needs time to work on sitting up again. if we rush him, we may find something we messed up trying to fix him, don't you think?" Ratchet ask, frowning at Wheeljack. the inventor nods a little at him.

"yeah, I didn't think about that." Wheeljack frowning.

"we'll take this slow until we're sure he's fine." Ratchet frowns. "sparklings are so delicate... and he was run over. if he's got damage we didn't get fixed properly, or worse, didn't even notice because there was so much damage, we could end up hurting him far worse." Ratchet explains.

"I get it Ratchet. I understand. I'm worried about the same things. we'll help him but we won't push him to hard too fast." Wheeljack assures gently. he smiles at the sparkling. "right sparkling? we've got you. we'll get you back up and walking in a while." Wheeljack smiles, patting the little bots head gently. the sparkling grunts a little.

he's already gotten himself sitting up pretty good at sitting up again and, despite the words of his two caretakers, isn't willing to waste anytime not being mobile again. he struggles a minute but manages to get up onto his knees. neither of his caregivers are paying him any attention, but he manages to get up and ready to crawl without making a sound.

there's a rattling sound and both Ratchet and Wheeljack look over. the sparkling is shaking, nearly vibrating, on his servos and knees. he's shaking hard enough to almost shake the berth he's sitting on.

"hey easy there sparkling. you alright?" Ratchet frowns, walking over. the sparkling looks up at them, looking nervous.

"shaking." he mumbles.

"I see that." Ratchet frowns a little. he reaches for the sparkling, scooping him up gently. "its okay sparkling, its okay. I've got you." Ratchet murmurs, rubbing the little mechlings cheek. "see? this is why I didn't want him trying to move so fast." Ratchet frowns.

"he could've just been scared Ratch." Wheeljack says, walking over to them.

"scared? Wheeljack he runs headfirst, full speed, into literally everything. he doesn't get scared." Ratchet frowns.

"well, what else would cause him to shake like that?" Wheeljack frowns.

"you know there's a list three miles long of shift that could cause this." Ratchet mutters looking the sparkling over.

it takes a litttle working but after an hour, Ratchet figures out he's put the sparklings casing back on wrong, meaning the shaking was caused when the sparklings arm rubbed against it, trying to force it out of the way.

"just sit back for a little while sparkling, we should run a few tests on you to make sure everything is fine now. you had a lot of damage. we're great medics but we're not perfect. we could've missed something else. messing up something as simple as sparkling casing is a rookie mistake, we can't afford to have made anymore on you." Ratchet murmurs softly. the sparkling nods at him a little. Ratchet and Wheeljack would get him back to walking soon enough.