"mind if I come in?" Optimus ask.

"Ironhide tell you where to find me?" Reflect mumbles. Optimus steps in smiling a little.

"no Ratchet did. Ironhide however, told me about the sparkling." Optimus says.

"yup, surprise." Reflect mutters.

"you do not seem excited." Optimus frowns.

"maybe later." Reflect mumbles.

"does that mean you're not up for discussing building a sparkling room?" Optimus ask. Reflect looks over.

"a what?" he ask.

"forgive me, I believe humans call them nursery's. basically, since you won't be living in the medbay with Ratchet, we were looking at building a room onto yours and Ironhides room that will attach through a door in the between wall for you two to have easier access to the sparkling. the door will be, of course, locked, once they're in youngling hood." Optimus explains. Reflect sits up a little.

"uh... yeah. yeah no, I like that idea." Reflect murmurs softly.

"Ironhide thought you might be fond of the idea." Optimus chuckles softly.

"thank you." Reflect murmurs.

"you don't need to thank me for bare necessities Reflect. we will take care of everything. don't worry." Optimus assures.

"I'm hearing that a lot lately. thanks again. I know this is weird for everyone." Reflect mumbles.

"just a little." the Prime says earnestly. "but, Autobots are nothing, if not exceptionally adaptive." Optimus smiles. the medbay doors open and Reflect groans looking up.

"you actually hunted those stupid things down?" Reflect grumbles. Ratchet grins, holding up the well worn and loved toys. Reflect can't help the quiet chuckle.

"of course I did." Ratchet snorts, dropping them on his chosen berth as he walks past the mech.

"I hate everything." Reflect mumbles. Optimus chuckles.

"I don't quite remember Wheeljack going through a faze like that, I think it was you who did that Ratchet." Optimus snorts.

"all of his glitches pushed me to say that. remember the datapad he broke over my head because I rolled over on the berth?" Ratchet scoffs. Reflect winces a little.

"I don't wanna ever get that bad." Reflect mumbles.

"I'm sure you won't." Ratchet assures, walking past him into his office.

"we'll get to work on the room." Optimus smiles.

"thanks." Reflect murmurs. he watches the Prime leave, then rolls over to look at the toys Ratchet had dropped on his berth. "where'd you even find these stupid things?" Reflect asks, looking up when Ratchet comes back in.

"where ever you left them, you left them in a little pile, grouped together. I didn't go looking for them. they were in the lab, I just grabbed them on my way out." Ratchet shrugs, snorting. "besides thought they might do you some good." Ratchet adds.

"yeah, right. these things smell so bad." Reflect mutters, pulling away from them.

"well, you refused to let us wash them after we had to send the Ironhide off for three or four weeks after you purged on it. we were afraid of the tantrum that would undoubtedly be thrown." Ratchet says. "I can send them off to get cleaned if you want." Ratchet offers.

"there's not really a point, I don't need them anymore, but I appreciate the offer." Reflect mumbles, pushing them away. he catches a glances at Ratchet, who looks slightly disappointed to hear his words. Reflect frowns. "well, I guess you could have them cleaned. it'll be a while, but I bet the sparkling would love to play with them." Reflect says. Ratchet smiles a little after a moment.

"alright." Ratchet murmurs.

"besides, you'll probably be the sparklings favorite. I was only obsessed with Ironhide because we were bonded." Reflect says. "and the one of you is pretty dirty, didn't I leave it in the snow?" Reflect asks. Ratchet snorts.

"yeah you did. we spent three days looking for it." Ratchet chuckles. he coudl still remember the sparkling screaming at the top of his vocal processor until the windows shattered. Reflect goes quiet looking at the toys, before looking at Ratchet.

"thank you." Reflect murmurs softly. Ratchet looks confused.

"for what Reflect?" Ratchet asks.

"being normal, or like, not treating me like Wheeljack is or the rest of the base." Reflect murmurs. Ratchet shrugs.

"they'll get over it in a few weeks. it'll be alright. I'm just rolling with it. you already made your case three years ago. you did this to save me and Ironhide, you may be an adult, and you may really be Will under all that armor, but you're still my sparkling. this doesn't change anything. I'm not wasting the second chance I got all because I don't understand what happened, like Jack. I technically have the memories." Ratchet says, tapping the side of his head. "even if they didn't really happen. I'm not wasting that." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect huffs a laugh, looking away.

"stop, you'll make me cry." Reflect mumbles. Ratchet laughs and wraps an arm around him, pulling his face into his chestplates and squeezing him gently.

"we wouldn't want that now would we?" Ratchet murmurs. he steps away. "alright, Jack didn't have what I needed so, we're gonna have to do this the fun way. itll be a few days, but I'll write a line a code that should lessen the glitching." Ratchet assures.

"whatever works." Reflect murmurs, rubbing at his face. they both look over when the door opens. Prowl pokes in.

"I have that form you requested." Prowl says, holding up a datapad.

"that was faster than I thought." Ratchet says, walking over to him. he takes the datapad.

"also, something is burning in the lab. Inferno went to check it out but-" Prowl starts, loud boom interrupts the mech, the medbay shaking.

"damn it Wheeljack! Reflect why don't you move into my office, I'll be right back." Ratchet says, moving quickly around Prowl. Reflect watches him go, looking at Prowl.

"need my help?" Reflect ask.

"Prime has already warned me of your condition. best to stay in Ratchets office, the ventilation is better in there, you two will be safer." Prowl assures.

"oh uh yeah." Reflect murmurs, getting up and heading for Ratchets office.

your Prime has apparently told others I'm carrying!

I fail to see the problem in this. it will get out eventually.

are you fucking stupid?

I didn't realize I bonded to Ratchet, Primus.

oh suck a fucking cable. never fucking mind. sorry I fucking bothered you.

stop that, you didn't bother me.

bite me.

I don't care how angry you get at me, I will always love you Will. I know you're just glitching, but I do love you and if you don't like that Prime has told anyone, I'll tell him not to tell anyone else.

Reflect growls to himself, plopping into Ratchets chair. he leans back grumbling.

thats how Ratchet finds him when he goes to grab one of his tools. the mech is kicked back in his chair, peds propped up on his desk, sound asleep.

"well, I guess you didn't grow out of needing a nap." Ratchet snorts to himself. he walks out of the office, shutting the light off behind him.

Reflect shifts some time later, onlining his optics. his internal clock says he's been asleep for three hours. he gets up from the chair and mumbles, heading out into the medbay. Wheeljack, Inferno, Sunstreaker, and Jazz are all on berths, in various states of repair.

"hey, need help?" Reflect mutters.

"no I've got it, but you could run and get me a cube." Ratchet says. Reflect pops open his subspace, pulling the cube from earlier out. he holds it out to the medic.

"here." he mutters.

"just set it down, I'll get to it in a second." Ratchet mumbles. Reflect heads for the rec room.

Hide.

its late. you should be in stasis.

Wheeljacks lab exploded again.

Will its almost midnight. please go get some rest.

I'm horny.

your panel is stuck shut.

I know.

and I'm not there.

I can use my holoform.

that torture.

for you maybe. but I mean, it is midnight and dark.

Reflect grabs himself a cube and heads for Ironhides room, sending a teasing pulse through the bond.

you're such a fucking tease. I'm on patrol.

your holoform isn't and mine works too.

you make this very hard.

I'm just fucking hard in general Hide.

I gathered that.

I mean, if I'm bothering you, I'll just block my side.

this is unfair Will. I can feel that through the bond.

this?

his holoform runs his grip up his length, groaning. he's sitting under his and Ironhides berth, holoform naked.

yes that you fraggin tease!

I mean, nothings stopping you, like you said, its midnight. no ones around baby.

Reflect shutters, groaning. he drops his own hand. it feels like a ghost of a hand up his length.

you didn't think I was fully incapable of helping you did you?

ohhh what did you do?

its called a phantom touch, you can feel me messing with own holoform.

Reflect groans dropping his head back. he grips himself again, he doesn't want this to take too long. Ratchet'll be looking for him soon if he doesn't go back to the medbay.

you're in a rush.

I've got like three minutes before Ratchet comes looking for me, since I'm in our room. if you ruin this, I swear, there will be absolutely no interfacing until after the sparkling is like three.

I see.

he bites his lip arching up off the wall, trying to keep himself quiet. no that his bonded knows he's on an actual time crunch, he doesn't wait and take his time. Reflect hardly gets a second to think before he's coating his hand and the floor. he flushes and shakes his hand off.

now go back to the medbay.

you're no fun.

you're the one who said you only had like two minutes.

Reflect shuts his holoform off, grumbling to himself as he grabs his cube.

you better clean up the floor.

nah.

he huffs to himself and heads out of the room and to the medbay. the door opens about the same time he gets there, he's thankful he had the chance to look himself over and make sure he looked fine before leaving his and Ironhides room.

"oh, there you are." Ratchet mutters. "um, you're gonna have a sleepover buddy for the night." Ratchet says, letting him into the medbay.

"just one? they all looked pretty bad when I left." Reflect mutters, sipping his cube.

"as always, Jacks the worst." Ratchet mutters. Reflect rolls his optics. "I'll be sleeping out here, you can go curl up in mine and Jacks berth if you want." Ratchet murmurs.

"I can just sleep in our room its fine. I was... dramatic." Reflect mumbles.

"no, you're glitching. its fine. I've gotta stay and keep an optic on him." Ratchet says. "go, not the first time you've slept in that berth." Ratchet chuckles. Reflect nods a little.

"you sure?" Reflect ask.

"yeah." Ratchet assures, smiling a little. Reflect nods a little and heads for the medics berth.

he pauses as the lights come on. there on the berth, are the toys Ratchet brought him earlier. he smiles a little and curls up on the berth. he can't help himself when he reaches over and grabs the Ironhide one, curling up with it.

"stupid smelly ass doll." Reflect mumbles, hugging it tighter. "just lucky I miss Ironhide." he mumbles. he settles down for recharge.

Ratchets reading a datapad quietly, sipping his cube, and casually checking on Wheeljack. he'll have to wait until the inventor wakes up to catch some rest himself. he checks the clock, 1:30 AM. Ratchet scoffs a little.

"Ratchet."

"Ironhide? aren't you on patrol?"

"whats wrong with Reflect? he's in pain and not answering me."

"I thought he was in recharge. he's in my room. hold on I'll check on him."

"thank you."

Ratchet sets his items down and heads quickly to his room. when he gets there, all three toys are laying on the ground, as if they've been thrown. Reflects curled up as tight as he can, knee's to his chest, head in his knees, servos covering his head as if to protect it from some unseen danger. he jerks, flinching silently.

"well?"

"I believe he's having a nightmare. he's certainly not awake. I'll take care of it, don't worry."

"Reflect." Ratchet calls, walking closer. all he gets is a whimper, watching the bot curl up more. he mumbles something quietly in broken Cybertronian, digging his digits into the sides of his head. "kiddo hey, its okay." Ratchet murmurs. the other mechs system is running hard, as if he's not just scared, he's terrified. he whimpers again. "Reflect. hey, you're hurting yourself kid its okay." Ratchet murmurs, gently shaking the mechs shoulder.

"IRONHIDE!" Reflect shouts, jerking up. he screams seeing someone in front of him, not even processing its Ratchet until after he's punched the bot in his face. Ratchet stumbles back a little, shaking it off.

"easy kid. its just me." Ratchet assures. Reflect curls back up, leaning back against the wall, and letting out a quiet noise of distress. he hugs his knees back to his chest, burying his face in them, systems panting as he tries to cool and calm himself. "hey, are you okay?" Ratchet ask softly.

Ironhide?

I'm here. just on patrol. don't worry. you got'em. Sentinel is dead.

thank you....

go back into recharge.

"hey Reflect, you alright?" Ratchet ask. Reflect curls up more, fingers digging dents into his plating. "you're hurting yourself kid, you've got to stop." Ratchet says, gently reaching out. the moment his servo makes contact with the other mechs arm, he finds himself on the floor, against the wall. Reflect had thrown him. Ratchet tries to shake the dizzy away from his vision, looking up at the mech. he's curled up on the floor under his berth now, having retreated the moment Ratchet left his grasp. he looks uncomfortable under the berth, but he seems to find comfort in it.

"he threw me."

"what? who threw you Ratchet?"

"your bondmate! Reflect threw me!"

"did you touch him?"

"yes, he was hurting himself."

"turn on the light, he thinks you're Sentinel. he's going to have to calm down first before he realizes where he's at. he's stronger than he realizes."

Ratchet gets up from the floor slowly, carefully reaching over to flick the lights on, before slowly walking over to Reflect and kneeling down gently.

"Reflect, listen to me, its Ratchet. its alright." Ratchet murmurs. he doesn't reach out towards him this time. "Reflect, its alright." Ratchet says softly.

it seems to take forever, actually only 30 minutes, for Reflect to finally look up at him. tension immediately draining from his body. sure Ironhide had said Sentinel was dead, but his mind couldn't focus on that.

"Ratchet?" Reflect mumbles confused. he watches the medic, before his optics are drawn to the steadily growing puddle under the medic. "you're leaking energon." Reflect mumbles. Ratchet looks down, its not a bad leak and he can't entirely tell where its coming from. he reaches up to feel his face a little, surprised to find a gash on the left side of his face.

"I'm fine. probably got it while fixing those bots earlier. are you okay?" Ratchet ask. Reflect heaves a small sigh, before nodding.

"yeah." he mumbles.

"alright, come on out of there, I need to get you patched up." Ratchet says, standing slowly. Reflect winces, his head hurts.

"okay." he mumbles, climbing out from under the berth. he lets Ratchet help him up and out to the main medbay.

the medic makes quick work of fixing them both up, its silent between them until he finishes.

"you good?" Ratchet ask.

"yeah." Reflect mumbles softly.

"okay, ready to get back to recharge?" Ratchet ask.

"no. I'm just gonna wait for Hide to get back." Reflect mumbles.

"thats not going to do you any good." Ratchet murmurs, pulling him up from the berth. Reflect follows, letting Ratchet lead him back to his room.

the medic urges the bigger mech up onto his berth, pushing him over, before climbing up beside him.

"what are you doing?" Reflect ask confused.

"I'm going to lay here until you go back into recharge, or until Ironhide comes to get you." Ratchet says firmly.

"I don't need a friggin' babysitter." Reflect snaps. Ratchet shakes his head.

"not being a babysitter. you need someone to stay with you. to make sure you know you're okay, that Sentinel is gone, that everyone survived because of you. I'll stay here, not to be a babysitter for you, I'm being a caregiver. older or not, you're still my sparkling. there's nothing more important than you on this planet, yet. don't expect to be the most important when your sparkling gets here, you'll still rank before Wheeljack of course." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect lays quietly a moment, before finally making optic contact with the medic.

"can I cuddle up to you?" Reflect ask, hesitantly. Ratchet lifts his arm out of the way, from where it laid between them.

"sure." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect cuddles closer and curls up with him. Ratchet lets him snuggle up to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist, and curling up against him. the medic carefully drops his arm over the bigger, holding him. if he needed to curl up and cuddle for a bit to feel better, Ratchet had no problems with that. Reflect is way bigger than he used to be, but as Ratchet had said, he was still his sparkling. he'd hold him and cuddle him, make him feel better. he'd hold him until Ironhide came, like he promised. Reflect buries his face in Ratchets side. the medic rubs his side gently.

Ratchet shifts a little, when had he fallen into recharge? he attempts to move, but pauses. there's a heavy weight on his chest. he onlines his optics immediately, alarmed, but relaxes when he realizes its just Reflect resting his head on him.

"where's Reflect? I can't get him to answer me."

Ratchet grumbles to himself at the question.

"my room, using me as a pillow. he wouldn't go back into recharge until I promised to stay with him."

"yeah, he does that. I'll be there in a second."

Ratchet shifts a little, patting the bigger mechs back gently. he looks over when Ironhide walks in.

"hmm." Ironhide snorts. Ratchet huffs.

"he's crushing me." Ratchet grumbles.

"I'll get him." Ironhide assures, walking over. he carefully slips his arms under the slightly smaller mech and hefts him up gently. Reflect mumbles a little, but doesn't wake. "shhhh shhhh. I've got you." Ironhide murmurs, shifting him gently. he carries the other mech back to their shared room.

"Ironhide?" Reflect mumbles.

"yeah its me." Ironhide assures gently.

"m'kay." Reflect murmurs. he curls up happily in his bondeds arms. Ironhide chuckles a little and lets himself into their shared room. he lays the mech down and hoists himself up, laying down beside him.

"come here baby." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect cuddles up to him yawning. "you're welcome to get up whenever you want, but let me hold you for a few minutes." Ironhide murmurs.

"I'm gonna cuddle." Reflect mumbles, rubbing his chest a little.

"you okay?" Ironhide ask.

"yeah, just staying curled up with Ratchet all night was kinda painful." Reflect murmurs.

"I owe him. I'm appreciative that he laid with you despite having other things to do." Ironhide murmurs, hugging him to his side.

"he made it very clear that I'm the most important thing to him on this base until the sparkling gets here." Reflect mumbles. Ironhide snorts a little.

"wake me up if you need me." Ironhide says.

"m'fine to curl up with you for a bit." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide settles in for recharge, but Reflect doesn't. he just stays cuddled up to Ironhide while he recharges. he just wants Ironhides company, the comfort having his bonded near provides. he snuggles as close as he can. Ironhide shifts his hold just slightly, but doesn't wake.

Reflect lays with Ironhide for a few hours, before his system reminds him he needs a cube. he frowns, attempting to wiggle free from his bonded, without waking him. it doesn't work.

"where are you going?" Ironhide mumbles.

"need a cube. I'll be back." Reflect says. Ironhide shifts a little, nodding, and lets him go. the smaller carefully climbs over him and heads to the rec room. he's just grabbed a cube when he hears Bumblebee shouting just outside the base.

"leave him alone! you're going to hurt him!" Bumblebee shouts. Reflect frowns, sipping his cube and heading for the door. to his utter shock Bumblebee is desperately running back and forth between Mudflaps and Skids, who are carefully dodging him, tossing something back and forth.

"what the hell?" Reflect mumbles.

"they're tossing Sam. Bee's afraid to get too close and hurt Sam on accident." Sideswipe mutters, arms crossed over his chest as he watches. "Sunny went to get Optimus. they'll listen to him better." Sideswipe frowns.

"and you guys just left Sam at they're mercy? those two are fragging idiots!" Reflect growls. "hold this." Reflect growls, shoving his cube at Sideswipe.

"what are you doing?" Sideswipe asks. Reflect ignores him, watching the twins a moment before teleporting away. Sideswipes optic ridge shoot up in shock. Reflect lands between the twins, snatching Sam when the man flies past him.

"oh thank fuck." Sam mutters, clinging to him.

"what the hell is going on here!?" Reflect snaps.

"relax. we were just having fun." Mudflaps snorts.

"fun? fun? so causing Bumblebee to have a spark attack and Sam to probably have a heart attack is FUN?!" Reflect snaps, carefully clutching Sam in one servo. "you think tossing Sam, who doesn't have any type of protective armor, around is fragging fun!?" Reflect growls.

"we weren't doing nothing. no one was getting hurt here." Skids assures.

"no one was, are you fucking stupid!? if one of you clumsy idiots had missed you could've killed Sam!" Reflect growls. he glances over at Bumblebee, whose nervously shifting from ped to ped, fingers clenching and unclenching anxiously. the scouts optics are focused on Sam, but do glance up at him briefly, before glancing back down at Sam. he lets out a distraught click and a whine. "here. sorry Sam." Reflect murmurs, holding the man out to the scout, palm up with the man just sitting in his servo. Bumblebee snatches Sam immediately, hugging him tightly to his chest.

"thanks Reflect." Sam mumbles.

"take him to go see Ratchet. who knows what kind of internal damage they've done." Reflect says. he grabs hold of Mudflaps and Skids by the backs of their upper armor, lifting them to his faceplates. Bumblebee nods, running off with Sam. he carefully dodges past Optimus, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe but doesn't stop.

"what is going on?" Optimus asks, watching Reflect shake the twins around while screaming at them.

"Reflect didn't like they were throwing Sam around because he's squishy and they could've killed him." Sideswipe mutters.

"YOU REALLY THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY LETS SEE HOW YOU FUCKING LIKE IT!" Reflect growls. he pulls back throwing the twins hard. the slam together and tumble across the sand, yelping and cursing. "and don't let me fragging catch you tormenting Sam or Bumblebee ever again!" Reflect growls. he turns and storms back towards the base. all four are watching him. "what?" Reflect snaps, snatching his cube from Sideswipe. he sips it and storms into the base.

"Reflect." Optimus says. Reflect stops, turns, and glares at the Prime. "thank you for finding away to solve that without letting Sam get hurt." Optimus says, much to the surprise of the other four. Reflect balks, glancing to the side, before turning his gaze back to Optimus.

"yeah. sure. whatever." Reflect mumbles, walking away. he's confused at the Primes words.

"he can't go around throwing other bots Optimus." Prowl says.

"remember what we talked about Prowl?" Optimus ask.

"well, yes of course." Prowl says.

"Reflect has a glitch that Ratchets working on. until then, I think it wise not to piss him off more. besides, he got here much faster than we did and he probably saved Sam from serious injuries. if they'd dropped him, he could've been injured or killed." Optimus frowns.

"wait, whats up with him?" Sunstreaker ask.

"Ironhide and Reflect have politely ask us not to say." Optimus says. he turns back to watch Reflect head towards the medbay.

Reflect heads into the medbay. Sams settled on one of the berths with Bumblebee and Ratchet standing nearby. Wheeljack is no longer there.

"how is he?" Reflect ask.

"not bad, thanks to you I hear." Ratchet murmurs. his holoform is activated and wrapping Sams chest. the man is attempting to sit as still as possible.

"broken ribs?" Reflect ask.

"bruise and cracked. just wrapping them to be safe." Ratchet assures. Bumblebee turns around quickly and slams himself against Reflect, hugging him hard.

"thank you. I was afraid to miss and hurt him." Bumblebee says.

"easy. don't slam into me so freaking hard." Reflect grumbles.

"you're starting to sound like Ironhide." Sam snorts.

"he's glitching a little. he can't help it and he doesn't mean it." Ratchet says firmly.

"glitching?" Bumblebee ask. "because you changed from a sparkling to this?" Bumblebee asks worriedly.

"no because I'm carrying a fragging sparkling and Primus those fragging Primes didn't warm be about a damn thing!" Reflect growls. the three in the medbay stare at him.