"did you find it?" Ironhide grins. Reflect walks out with the three toys from before plus a new one made to look like him.

"she made another?" Reflect ask.

"yeah when she found out we were having a sparkling." Ironhide snorts Reflect sets all four of them on the berth and chuckles.

"thats cute. she did a good job, glad to see the other three came back from cleaning too." Reflect snorts. Remix whines reaching for one of the toys. Ironhide picks them up one at a time with his free servo, offering them towards the sparkling, until he snatches the Ratchet one.

"we have a winner." Ironhide snorts.

"I told Ratchet he was going to be a favorite." Reflect chuckles.

"she's making a couple more. she promised to make a Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and I had her husband take her an image of Barricade since Echo seems to like him." Ironhide chuckles.

"thats a lot of work Ironhide." Reflect frowns. Ironhide looks confused.

"not really. Wheeljack built her a machine. she designs the blueprints, inputs the yarn, programs where the colors go, and in 8-10 hours it creates a new one. he made that for her when you purged in Optimus' office all over the one of me." Ironhide says. Reflect looks confused, turning to look at him.

"what?" Reflect ask. Ironhides optics widen a little and he glances away. "you mean thats not the original?" Reflect ask.

"well... no." Ironhide frowns.

"what the fuck?" Reflect huffs.

"your purge ate through the material before it could get cleaned. thats why it took so long to get back. Wheeljack was building a machine in case it happened again." Ironhide says. "you didn't know?" Ironhide ask, sheepishly.

"no! I've been lied to! the equivilant of my entire sparkling hood!" Reflect huffs.

"I.. I will apologise before you get yelled at Ratchet."

"for what?"

...

"Ironhide?"

...

"Ironhide?"

"I didn't know you didn't know." Ironhide frowns.

"you LIED to me!"

"Reflect? kid whats wrong? whats the problem?"

"the 'problem' is, YOU LIED TO ME!"

"I don't understand Reflect."

"thats not the original Ironhide."

"oh Primus, Ironhide couldn't kepe his mouth shut? no, okay, its not the original. your purge ate the other one. okay? I'm sorry I lied to you."

"I'm not talking to you, liar!"

"you can't be that mad." Ironhide chuckles.

"I was lied to." Reflect huffs.

"its a toy Will. it won't hurt you." Ironhide snorts.

"I was lied to." Reflect pouts.

"I get it, you got your feelings hurt, don't pout over it, it was two years ago." Ironhide snorts. Reflect pouts at him.

"lying to a child." Reflect mutters.

"you're not a sparkling anymore, even if you still act like one." Ironhide chuckles.

"tell your creator, he's a jackass." Reflect huffs, looking down at Remix. the sparkling chirps, cuddling up to him.

"tell your creator he's childish." Ironhide snorts, reaching out with his free servo to pat the sparklings head gently. Remix chirps again, cuddling the toy happily. Reflect huffs. "don't be like that. if you're acting like this now, just imagine how you would've acted as a sparkling. you didn't need to know you would've been so upset you never touched the toy." Ironhide frowns.

"I don't care about the friggin' doll, I'm made you guys lied to me." Reflect huffs.

"how would you have reacted as a sparkling?" Ironhide ask.

"I can't answer how I would've reacted because, no matter how much I say this no one seems to believe me, I wasn't in control of this stupid body." Reflect growls.

"hey, hey, relax Reflect. look, I'm sorry we lied to you okay? we were afraid you'd have a tantrum if you found out." Ironhide says. "kind of like you're doing now." Ironhide frowns.

"I am ont having a tantrum. I've been like this for almost a year now and no one said anything about it? hell, I've talked with Ratchet about sending that damn thing into get cleaned and he never said a word, are those even the originals anymore? did you guys have her replace all of them instead of getting them cleaned?" Reflect glares.

"yes those are the originals. Wheeljack wanted to get her to make new ones and Ratchet threw a fit." Ironhide frowns. "Wheeljack wanted to keep them dirty for the memories and just make new ones, but Ratchet was insistent the sparklings have yours." Ironhide adds.

"I wanted them to have mine." Reflect huffs. "Ratchet looked so disappointed I didn't want the stupid things I told him to get them fixed up for the sparklings." Reflect mutters.

"well, he likes them. we're going to have to find a way to tell them apart for her though." Ironhide frowns.

"teach her the same way humans teach blind children. let her feel it while repeating the name of the bot she's holding." Reflect mutters. he picks up the Ironhide toy and holds it out to Echo. "take her servo and press it to the face of the toy." Reflect says.

"alright." Ironhide mutters. he does as Reflect says.

"feel that cutie? thats creator. its creator." Reflect says gently. Echo chirps confused, feeling the toys over with one servo. she reaches her other servo over and pats Ironhides chestplates, confused. "well, okay, its a toy, but its a toy version of creator." Reflect murmurs. Echo chirps and pulls the toy into her arms happily. "it'll take a while, but we can keep working with her." Reflect assures.

"they have their first real check up with Ratchet in the morning." Ironhide says.

"I know." Reflect murmurs softly. Ironhide smiles at him reassuringly.

"don't worry, I'm sure they're okay." Ironhide assures.

"I'm just worried he'll find something worse than her being blind, something the Primes didn't warn me about." Reflect says softly.

"they'll be alright. I promise." Ironhide assures. Reflect sighs softly, frowning. "look, hey, why don't you give me him, Echo has a toy now she shouldn't grab him, and go on out for a breather." Ironhide murmurs.

"I dunno Hide, you sure you want me to just leave them with you?" Reflect ask.

"they're a few days old now, its alright. they won't get upset as fast as they did the other day. they'll be fine without you for a bit." Ironhide assures, reaching for Remix.

"but will you?" Reflect ask. "I-I know just because I'm back doesn't mean the trauma goes away Hide-" Reflect starts. Ironhide reaches out and gently grabs his servo.

"shhhh. I'll be alright. as long as you promise not to go unconscious or unresponsive, I'll be okay." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect looks hesitant, but lets Ironhide take Remix from his arm. "go, relax for a little while. you haven't let yourself since you've been like this. getting sparked immediately and then sparking twins, go and relax." Ironhide says firmly. Reflect sighs and nods, heading out of the room. he grabs himself a cube from the rec room and heads outside.

its dark outside, quiet outside of the base, so Reflect doesn't go far. he sits himself down right outside of the base to the left. out of the way, but visible to patrolling bots, so they won't think him injured or an intruder.

he sits quietly in the dark of the desert and sighs quietly. he's not alone long, 10 or 15 minutes at most, before someone walks over and sits beside him.

"Reflect." Optimus says softly. Reflect looks over.

"Optimus? what are you doing out here?" Reflect asks. Optimus shrugs a little.

"paperwork is finished, Cade is on a video chat with Tessa, the base is mostly asleep, I came out to relax. you've been sitting over here for a few minutes, I figured I would come see if you were alright." Optimus murmurs.

"oh." Reflect mumbles. its quiet between them for a few minutes.

"are you alright?" Optimus asks. Reflect sighs again.

"I've read every medical datapad for sparklings I could get my servos on, even had Prowl hunt some down. I've read everything Ratchet gave me, but I still just..." Reflect trails.

"feel ready?" Optimus ask.

"don't understand." Reflect sighs, dropping his head back against the base wall. Optimus looks confused.

"whats wrong?" Optimus ask. Reflect shakes his head.

"how could she... end up blind? was it... was it me being attacked by Starscream? or Hot Rod? or Crosshairs? was it because I neglected myself in the first few weeks of carrying? what caused this?" Reflect ask. Optimus frowns a little.

"Reflect, I can't tell you anything, I have no medical knowledge... but I know its okay. Echo will be alright." Optimus assures. "but you should talk to Ratchet about this." Optimus murmurs. Reflect shakes his head.

"no, its fine." Reflect says.

"mmhmm." Optimus hums, getting up. "don't stress too much." Optimus murmurs, heading into the base.

"Ratchet, if you're not too busy, Reflect could use a little medical reassurance, wouldn't hurt to have a creators point of view either."

"something wrong?"

"he's worried about the sparklings. he's sitting outside the base stewing in it. I have very little medical information, so I figured I'd leave him and alert you."

"thanks Prime, I'll head out there shortly."

Reflect sighs to himself, sipping his cube. he looks up when he hears someone exit the base. Ratchet walks right over and plops down beside him.

"alright kid, talk." Ratchet says. Reflect tenses, looking away with a sigh.

"if theres something wrong with her, there's a 95% something is wrong with him. she's blind, whats wrong with him?" Reflect ask.

"I'll run a full diagnostic on them both tomorrow you know that." Ratchet assures. "but thats not what this is about, is it?" Ratchet ask. Reflects shoulders fall immediately.

"all the medical books I've read, none of them mentions how this happens... did I... do something wrong?" Reflect ask softly. Ratchet frowns, straightening up to reach over gently. "I must've done something. there were so many things I did wrong. was it because I was neglectful of my health in the beginning, or Starscream? is it because I kept transforming and driving? is it because we sparkbonded again before knowing i was carrying? what did I do Ratchet?" Reflect asks. Ratchet sighs and pulls Reflect to his side immediately.

"you didn't do anything Reflect, sometimes... sometimes these things just happen kid. no one knows why, thats why its not in the books. we don't have genetics or DNA the same way humans do, sparklings have been analyzed but no reason has ever been found, but this was not your or Ironhides fault." Ratchet assures.

"it has to be my fault. I did something that ruined her life-" Reflect starts.

"no, you didn't." Ratchet says firmly. Reflect goes quiet, leaning against him. "I had this same conversation with Wheeljack when Nitro was sparked... he had a twin." Ratchet says.

"I know, Ironhide told me about it." Reflect mutters.

"sometimes sparklings are sparked blind or deaf, sometimes they're not sparked at all, sometimes the spark dies out in the sparkling shell, and sometimes sparklings get sparked without a shell. not because the carriers are doing anything wrong, but because, sometimes these things just happen. we didn't have the equipment here on Earth we had on Cybertron, we couldn't tell you there was something wrong with the sparklings. we couldn't warn you to prepare for this, but thats all you can do, prepare for it and do your best to fix it. if her sight can't be fixed, we'll find away around it, we'll do something. if somethings wrong with him, we'll fix it or we'll work around it. we'll figure something out kid, they're gonna be happy sparklings either way, and why wouldn't they be? they won't even realize they're missing anything." Ratchet assures. "they won't notice because they'll have good lives, they can't miss what they never had, they can want for it, but we'll make sure they don't want for anything." he adds softly.

"I just, I feel like I could've done something to prevent this." Reflect sighs.

"no one could kid." Ratchet sighs, pulling him closer to his side. "you can't prevent something like this." Ratchet murmurs.

"I just... feel like I failed them somehow." Reflect sighs.

"you haven't." Ratchet assures. "you haven't failed them. don't ever think you have. you're doing a good job. answer me one question." Ratchet says.

"what?" Reflect mutters.

"if Annabelle had been born blind, would you have thought it your fault?" Ratchet ask. Reflect pauses a moment to think.

"yeah, mine or Sarahs, but thats different, it would have been one or both of our faults. genetics or, or something we did, something we ate, stress, something. it would've been." Reflect says.

"thats not true. you can't just blame yourself for this, okay? you go look at those two happy sparklings and tell me where you think you went wrong, I'll tell you that you're an idiot with every excuse you come up with. Reflect, please believe me. there's nothing you could've done." Ratchet soothes. "its not your fault." he murmurs. Reflect leans against him, sniffling quietly. Ratchet holds him tightly.

they sit together in the silence, Reflect trying to get a hold of himself. Ratchet holds him tightly, refusing to let go unless the mech asks him to. he needs to be curled up with someone for a little bit, someone who can help reassure him that he'd done nothing wrong.

"sorry." Reflect mumbles softly.

"for?" Ratchet asks, confused.

"I dunno, breaking down against you." Reflect mutters.

"never apologize for needing a shoulder Reflect." Ratchet murmurs softly. Reflect sighs softly, cuddling against him gently. "but next time I tell you to take some time and relax, you better do it, okay?" Ratchet ask. Reflect nods a little.

"sorry about that too." Reflect sighs. "I was afraid worse would happen if I left them for too long." Reflect sighs.

"that just makes you a great carrier Reflect. now go inside, its late, get some rest." Ratchet murmurs.

"m'kay... thank you." Reflect trails.

"always kid." Ratchet smiles.

they sit for a few moments longer, before Reflect finally finds the mental strength to head back inside. Ratchet follows him, stopping him when he gets to the door of his and Ironhides room. he gently grabs the mechs servo, making Reflect look at him confused. Ratchet smiles at him reassuringly once more, before letting him go. Reflect gives a small hesitant smile back and walks into the room.

Ironhide is sound asleep, the door to the sparkling room is open, so Reflect peeks in. Echo is curled up with the toy version of him and Remix is curled up with the toy version of Ironhide. both are in the same little sparkling berth, cuddled against each other. Reflect smiles a little, before turning and heading back over to the berth.

"you alright?" Ironhide mumbles.

"yeah." Reflect murmurs softly. Ironhide shifts on the berth and opens his arms. Reflect climbs up with him, cuddling against him. Ironhide kisses his head gently.

"I put them in their room." Ironhide murmurs.

"I saw..." Reflect trails.

"they're okay. here look." Ironhide murmurs. he get up, climbs over Reflect, walks over to the door, and types a code in. the door light flashes red, locking into place. "there, no one but Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Optimus can enter now." Ironhide murmurs.

"good. then they're safe." Reflect says. Ironhide curls back up behind him. he hugs Reflect tightly to his chest.

"I love you." Ironhide murmurs.

"I love you too. sorry about earlier." Reflect mumbles.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ironhide assures, nuzzling into his neck gently.

"they won't roll out of that thing right?" Reflect asks.

"the only sparkling I ever met to roll out of one of those things was Bumblebee." Ironhide says.

"I did." Reflect says.

"you jumped." Ironhide snorts.

"I fell." Reflect huffs.

"jumped, fell, was pushed, whats the difference?" Ironhide teases. Reflect laughs and cuddles into him, yawning. "get some rest." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect nods and curls up.

its 4 AM when a loud wail jerks them both up.

"Echo let go of your brother." ironhide mutters, jumping over Reflect. Reflect sits up, watching him head to the sparkling room. "oh I was right, you let him go." Ironhide huffs, separating the sparklings gently.

"its probably time they had a cube anyway Hide." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide nods, scooping them both up while Reflect grabs two cubes. he brings them over to the berth and sits with Reflect. they sit quietly and feed the sparklings. Remix whines and cuddles up to Ironhide, sucking his cube down. Echo shifts, still soundly in recharge, but happily drinks down her own.

"Ratchet and Wheeljack bitched about this stage with you." Ironhide snorts. Reflect frowns a little.

"I feel bad about that, but... they didn't know then what they know now... those first few weeks I was here, I'd wake up screaming in pain. when I slept, I could feel the pain your spark was in. when I was awake, I could kinda ignore it if it wasn't too bad, but when I was in recharge I couldn't. ever notice how most of the screaming stopped after you knew who I was? because your spark didn't hurt so bad, mine didn't hurt alot of the time." Reflect explains. Ironhide looks over at him.

"you felt that the whole time?" Ironhide ask. Reflect nods.

"all the time. I can honestly say I knew how you felt after I died." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide frowns and nudges him gently with his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you felt that." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect watches Echo a moment before looking over at Ironhide.

"not as sorry as I am that you felt it and I couldn't help you." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide thinks a moment, looking at Reflect, then their sparklings. his gaze drifts around the room, full of his things, Wills memories, and sparkling stuff. he shakes his head, looking at Reflect again.

"I'd do it again everytime if it gets me right back here on this berth sitting with you and two sparklings." Ironhide shrugs. Reflect snorts.

"me too." he chuckles, dropping his head onto Ironhides shoulder. Remix squirms, catching Ironhids attention. the sparkling smacks at Ironhides servo happily. Ironhide smiles at him, chuckling.

"I'm sorry little one, I should be paying attention to you shouldn't I?" Ironhide ask, rubbing the little sparklings cheek gently. he purrs quietly, staring up at Ironhide happily. Reflect sets Echos empty cube aside and cuddles her gently. he cuddles her to his chestplates until Remix is done with his cube. Ironhide gets up off the berth, scooping Echo up gently. "okay you two. come on, back to bed." Ironhide murmurs. he lays them down gently in their sparkling berth. he carefully seperates them with their chosen toys.

"don't let her get ahold of them again." Reflect says.

"I'm making sure she won't." Ironhide assures gently. Reflect lays back down, waiting for Ironhide to curl up behind him.

his bonded joins him a few minutes later, curling up behind him and wrapping his arms around him tightly.

"get some rest. I've got patrol in the morning." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect nods cuddling against him. they settle together for recharge.

Reflect wakes up to his internal alarm going off. he sits up slowly.

"hey kid, you up yet?"

"yeah."

"did you just wake up?"

"yeah sorry Ratchet. I'm getting up right now."

"I was just going to see if you needed help getting them down to the medbay."

"nah, I got them, they're still asleep. we'll be down in a few."

true to his word, Reflect walks into the medbay about two minutes later. both sparklings are still asleep and curled up in one arm, still cuddling their chosen toys.

"alrigth we're here." Reflect mutters.

"late night with the sparklings?" Ratchet snorts.

"yeah thankfully they were just hungry and not in pain." Reflect snaps. Ratchet immediately looks confused.

"what?" Ratchet ask.

"nothing, don't worry about it, here, take them. I'm going to get me a cube." Reflect says, laying them on the nearest berth and walking out. Ratchet stares after him confused. Reflect has no fear in leaving his sparklings with Ratchet, he knows the medic would care for them better than he and Ironhide.

Reflect comes back with a cube in his servo. Ratchets running diagnostics on Echo, Remix is craddled in his free arm.

"tell me about your comment earlier." Ratchet says. Reflect shakes his head.

"no, it doesn't matter. I didn't mean to snap. you'd think the sparklings would keep me awake more, but Ironhide just would not get still last night. he kept me awake too long." Reflect mutters, stretching. Ratchet frowns a little, watching Reflect plop himself onto a berth. "hows Echo?" Reflect ask.

"other than being blind, she's good. perfect health." Ratchet assures, picking the little femme up. he passes her over to Reflect and laying her twin down to start the same tests on him.

"good. I'm glad she's okay." Reflect mutters.

"actually, she's better than okay. Wheeljack is off working on something for her. she's blind in such a way he thinks he can basically build a new set of optics for her. she won't see the way we do, but she'll be able to see." Ratchet says. Reflect looks over at him and smiles a little.

"good." Reflect murmurs. he cuddles Echo gently, kissing her head. "he's the one I'm worried about." Reflect sighs.

"I know kid. where's Ironhide? he should be here for this." Ratchet frowns.

"on patrol." Reflect mutters. he glances around. "h-hey... where's Barricade?" Reflect ask.

"in Optimus' office. I sent him out, I figured you and Ironhide didn't want anyone else in here." Ratchet murmurs.

"I'm not happy Ironhide couldn't be here. he was supposed to be." Reflect mutters.

"I know." Ratchet murmurs. they sit quietly until Ratchets diagnostic machine goes off. Reflect tenses immediately. he knows that sound. Ratchet frowns and gets up, walking over to read the code.

"how bad is it...?" Reflect ask quietly. Ratchets silent for a moment, before turning to shoot Reflect a smile.

"nothing I can't fix." Ratchet assures. "I'll have to get Wheeljack to help me order some parts and come up with some blueprints, but it just looks like his vocal processor didn't finish forming before he was sparked. he's gonna be like Bumblebee for a bit, but thankfully he's a sparkling. he'll have a fully functional vocal processor by the time he starts talking." Ratchet assures. Reflect breathes a physical sigh of relief. the tension draining from his body almost immediately.

you alright? your whole side of the bond just changed.

yeah. Echos good, other than she's blind and Remix needs a vocal processor, but Ratchet can fix that.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I'm glad they're okay, I'm glad you feel better.

Reflect nuzzles Echo gently, watching Ratchet scoop Remix up. the medic smiles at the sparkling, who chirps happily, cuddling against him. Reflect watches him a moment.

"do you want to just keep them for a little while? are you busy?" Reflect ask. Ratchet looks up at him confused.

"what are you talking about?" Ratchet ask.

"well, if you're not busy, I know you'd like to spend time with a sparkling again." Reflect says. "besides, I can go curl up in your room for a nap." Reflect adds. Ratchet looks hesitant. "you don't have to. I can throw all three of us on me and Ironhides berth. they'll let me nap a little." Reflect shrugs getting up.

"I just... don't want to take time with your sparklings away from you." Ratchet says. Reflect scoffs, rolling his optics.

"you're not taking time from me. you're ensuring they have you in their lives. I'm not worried about that." Reflect says. "look in human culture, you and Wheeljack would be their grandparents and there's nothing better than grandparent time. now if you want one or both of them, say something, if you don't I can take them with me." Reflect says. Ratchet watches him a moment.

"I don't want to seperate them." Ratchet frowns, looking down at Remix.

"thats fine." Reflect shrugs. he gets up with Echo and walks over to take Remix. "I won't throw them at you." Reflect adds, taking Remix. Ratchet frowns, watching him. "we'll see you later Ratchet." Reflect waves, after tucking both sparklings into one arm.

he heads out of the medbay and back towards his and Ironhides room. he's humming to himself as he walks, intent on getting some more rest.

"so not only are you polluting us with one spawn, but two?" comes a snarky voice behind him. Reflect tenses slightly, looking down at his sparklings, before turning to Hot Rod. "polluting our ranks with your so called Prime status and our race with your spawn." he growls.

"fuck off. I promise you right now if you try anything while I have my sparklings, you will not walk away." Reflect growls.

"Ratchet I know you're busy but Hot Rod has me cornered with the sparklings and Ironhides on patrol."

"where are you?"

"just shy of our room, I can see the door."

"I'm on my way. com the twins!"

"I won't even give you a chance." Hot Rod growls.