Bond talk
Com chatter.

it's been two weeks since Reflect revealed himself. he'd spent every moment he could with Ironhide, when the mech wasn't on patrol, and any free time reading Ratchets old medical books.

Reflect had attempted to talk to Wheeljack, but the inventor ignored him. Ratchet didn't. the medic had been overjoyed to wake up and find the note Reflect had left him :

Ratchet,
I borrowed your datapads, please don't be too mad. even if you don't see me as your sparkling anymore, I do want to be a medic still, Jack seems to hate my existence, but I won't give up being an inventor either. I hadn't finished studying yet, so I just, borrowed these. I'll bring them back I promise, when I'm done. thanks,
Reflect.

Ironhide and Reflect had spent every freaking moment together, basically going back and forth between having sex with their holoforms and interfacing, which is what they were currently trying to do, except, Reflects panel won't open.

"I don't get it. I can't open it, you can't open it. its like its locked." Reflect mutters. Ironhide raises an optic ridge at him, sitting back on his haunches.

"are you getting any warnings?" Ironhide ask.

"I got one but assumed it was just the usual and, well, dismissed it." Reflect grumbles. Ironhide hums in thought a moment.

"maybe we've taxed your system. its possible. we'll give it a few days. you skipped youngling hood which is were the majority of stamina build is, maybe your bodys just tired. I mean... it has been two weeks of us only stopping when I have patrol." Ironhide shrugs getting up off the berth and bonded. Reflect sits up, getting off their berth with a frown, heading for his medical datapads.

"no somethings not right here, I've read about it. I know I have." Reflect frowns. Ironhide looks at him confused.

"okay, well, if you figure it out, make sure you let me know alright? I gotta get to my patrol." Ironhide murmurs gently, kissing him. Reflect kisses him happily, pulling back a little. he smiles.

"I will, I promise. maybe is a panel jam, I've read about those recently." Reflect murmurs.

"is that something we can fix ourselves?" Ironhide ask.

"maybe, just have to get it back on track if thats what it is." Reflect shrugs at him. he turns and watches Ironhide walk out, then picks up his datapads. he knew that somewhere in the datapads was a chapter about interface circuitry, he just needed to find it.

he spends nearly two hours searching, before he finally stumbles upon it.

"Notice young medics, there are few things that can cause an interface circuitry protective panel to jam or lock!

1.Rough interfacing can cause the panel to lock if the bots system believes its being assaulted. this is easily fixed with a small override code.

2.The panel could easily get bumped during interfacing, causing it to jam shut when it closes. a quick adjustment and the bot will be just fine, notice this generally does not cuse any discomfort, the mech or femme may not even notice until they attempt to interface again.

3.The bot is NOT old enough to be interfacing. contact authorities, no excuses. you as medics are required to report abuse of younglings and/or sparklings. (See Sparkling fights as reason for why)

4.The bot is carrying. congrats! the panel will lock only if the bots body senses danger.
interfacing while carrying is safe, unless you repeatedly sparkbond. the extra energy it can cause the little sparkling spark to die out, the sparkling will protect itself by causing the bots body to lock the panel.

Reflect reads it over and over and over,. he before getting up. he needs to talk to someone, there's really only one option. he needs to talk to someone, anyone! someone other than Ratchet or Ironhide. someone who can tell him for sure!

Reflect runs straight to the lab and he knocks carefully. Wheeljack is the only mech he knows on base thats ever carried and he needs help now. Wheeljack calls for him to enter. Reflect immediately rushes in, letting the door close behind him.

"what can I... oh..." Wheeljack trails, turning to look at him. he pauses a moment. he still hadn't gotten over everything and wasn't happy with the mech.

"look, I know you hate me and there's nothing I can do about that but I really need your help Wheeljack." Reflect says. Wheeljack shrugs and turns back to his project.

"go on." Wheeljack mutters.

"I think I'm carrying and you're the only mech on base I know of that knows-" Reflect starts.

"no, I said, go on, as in get out of my lab." Wheeljack snaps.

"but.. I really need your help." Reflect says, confused.

"get out of my lab Will." Wheeljack snaps. "I don't want to talk to you." Wheeljack growls.

"you are such a bastard!" Reflect growls.

"me!? you pretended to be our fragging sparkling! you lied to us! I don't care what stupid mess you've gotten yourself into, you're not my sparkling and not my problem!" Wheeljack snaps. Reflect stares at him a moment before letting out a strangled and frustrated scream.

"you think I fragging ask for this?!" Reflect growls. "I'm tired of your shit! I didn't ask to be reincarnated as your sparkling! Primus! Ratchet still cares! I shouldn't really be surprised though. you treat Ratchet like shit these days too. what a fraggin pathetic asshole! I'm glad you don't see me as your sparkling! I'm glad I'm not your sparkling! you're such a disgusting bot you don't deserve a fragging sparkling!" Reflect shouts, turning and storming out of the lab. he winces and heads down the hall to the rec room, he needs a cube.

"Reflect." Optimus greets. he frowns a little. "Reflect you don't look so good." Optimus frowns.

"I don't feel so good." Reflect mutters, rubbing his head. he shakes his head a little, trying to will away the dizziness.

"sit down." Optimus frowns. Reflect nods sitting on the nearest seat he can, he rubs his chestplate.

"Ironhides spark must be acting up again or something." Reflect assures the Prime. Optimus frowns.

"sit here and don't move." Optimus murmurs, heading to get the mech a cube.

Hide? are you alright?

I'm fine, why wouldn't I be Will?

my chest just hurts, like it did whenever your spark hurt.

wait... you felt that as a sparkling?

you didn't honestly think it was a coincidence I had a full on melt down everytime your spark hurt, did you?

I never really paid attention to it. no my spark feels fine. go see Ratchet and bring up your panel while you're in there. caregiver or not, Ratchets a medic he'll fix you up.

alright, thanks Hide.

when he looks up Optimus is waiting patiently.

"you alright?" Optimus ask.

"I was just... asking if Ironhides spark hurt today. he says it doesn't." Reflect murmurs.

"would you like me to get Ratchet?" Optimus asks, offering the mecha cube. Reflect takes it, shaking his head. he sips the cube and smiles at the Prime slightly.

"no. m'okay. just... dizzy." Reflect mutters, getting up. his words suddenly jumble and he stumbles a little, before all out falling flat against Optimus. the cube shatters when it hits the ground and the Prime is quick to catch him. the smaller mech is clearly unconscious. he's quick to lay him down gently on the floor.

"Ratchet. Reflect just passed out."

"where? I'll be right there!"

"Rec room."

Optimus kneels gently beside the mech.

"Reflect. can you hear me?" Optimus ask.

"move!" Ratchet snaps, shoving the Prime out of the way. he checks him over quickly, but can't find any obvious signs for anything wrong. "pick him up. come on." Ratchet says, getting up. Optimus scoops the unconscious mech up and carries him out of the rec room, straight to the medbay.

"Ironhide."

"Ratchet? what do you want?"

"do not panic, Optimus is sending Bumblebee out to replace you on patrol-"

"is Reflect alright?"

"he is currently unconscious in the medbay. I haven't found anything obviously wrong, but I'm still running tests."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

Ratchet frowns, watching over Reflect. every test he did came up with nothing. he looked the mech over from helm to ped and found nothing. he looks up hearing thundering footsteps, racing down the hall. Ironhide runs in quickly.

"what happened?" Ironhide ask.

"I'm not sure. I've done everything I can think of. I just... I can't come up with a reason. has he been recharging just fine?" Ratchet ask. Ironhide frowns.

"not really. this whole situation with Wheeljack has him up and studying those damn datapads most the night." Ironhide grumbles.

"I know why he passed out." Wheeljack mutters, walking in.

"what did you do?" Ratchet demands.

"I didn't do anything. I just kicked him out of the lab." Wheeljack huffs. "he came to me and told me a couple of things, but I was busy so I kicked him out." Wheeljack explains. Ratchet looks immediately inraged.

"I get you got your stupid feelings hurt by Reflect being Will, but get over yourself. maybe you should take into account that he literally gave up time with Ironhide to be a sparkling with us just a little longer so we didn't have to give up the sparkling we'd just gotten." Ratchet snaps. he growls and shakes his head. "get the hell out of my medbay." Ratchet snaps. Wheeljack frowns, but turns and leaves quietly.

"fine but he told me he thought he was carrying."

Ratchet looks up at the closed doors, before back down at Reflect quickly.

"surely not." Ratchet mutters. Ironhide looks confused.

"stress could've caused this right?" Ironhide ask, watching Ratchet walk over to Reflect. the medic taps his chin a moment, before popping open Reflects chestplates. he takes a small scan of the mechs spark, before pausing. "well? you know whats wrong?" Ironhide ask. Ratchet looks up at him looking pissed.

"you" Ratchet snaps. Ironhide looks confused.

"me? what did I do? Wheeljack caused it." Ironhide ask.

"you sparked my sparkling!" Ratchet snaps, pulling back and throwing a datapad at the mech.

"I did what?!" Ironhide ask, ducking out of the way. "first of all, he was my bonded long before he was your sparkling, and second, I did what?!" Ironhide asks, staring at him. Reflect groans quietly, shifting.

"why s'everyone yellin'?" Reflect mumbles, chestplates shutting. he reaches up to rub his head.

"you thought you were carrying and didn't tell me?" Ironhide frowns. Reflect winces.

"if you're going to talk to me, LOWER YOUR FRAGGIN VOICE!" Reflect snaps. both of the other mechs wince.

"sorry. we didn't know your head hurt, we were actually yelling a moment ago." Ironhide murmurs softly. he takes the smaller servo gently in his own. Reflect grumbles to himself.

"but the question still stands, if you thought you were carrying, why didn't you tell Ironhide, or me, we would've been better than Wheeljack." Ratchet asks the mech, voice just as low as Ironhides.

"because I wasn't sure. I just wanted to ask the bastard a question." Reflect mumbles, sitting up slowly. he immediately looks like he's going to purge and calls backwards. Ironhide quickly manages to slip his free servo undert he mechs head so it doesn't thunk too hard on the berth. Reflect mumbles and Ironhide pulls his servo free gently.

"whats causing that?" Ironhide frowns.

"well.... Jack spent the whole time dizzy and purging. could be that." Ratchet frowns. Ironhide shakes his head a little, stumbling himself. "but not that." Ratchet says, walking over quickly when the mech hits the ground.

"Ironhide?" Reflect mutters, looking over the side of his berth.

"he'll be alright. relax Reflect." Ratchet assures gently, patting his servo gently as he kneels beside Ironhide. he frowns and looks the mech over. he comes up with nothing again and, deciding it couldn't hurt, pops Ironhides chestplates over. what he sees is not at all what he was expecting. "I don't think the sparkling is what caused you to pass out." Ratchet murmurs.

"please don't tell me the hole in his spark is getting bigger..." Reflect says nervously.

"no, smaller actually, I've never seen this before." Ratchet murmurs. "like its healing right before my optics." Ratchet adds. it takes him a few minutes, but he manages to get Ironhide up on a seperate berth.

Wheeljack walks back in slowly, metaphorical tail tucked between his legs, but ready to help like Ratchet demanded.

"get Ironhide hooked up now, I need to keep an optic on his spark." Ratchet orders. Wheeljack nods and immediately gets to work, while Ratchet walks over to Reflect. he subpaces a cube of medical grade energon and holds it out to the mech. Reflect takes it slowly. "alright, come on, slowly sit up." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect looks hesitantly, but lets Ratchet help him sit up. "easy, you feel dizzy?" Ratchet ask.

"I feel pain. between my head, chest, and spark, I don't know whats mine and whats his." Reflect murmurs.

"thats alright. when we get Ironhide numbed and take care of whatever is left on you in just a few minutes, okay?" Ratchet assures gently.

"okay." Reflect murmurs gently, sipping his cube. he watches them work on Ironhide quietly. he's not sure what to do, his processor is racing. he and Ironhide were going to have a sparkling and the hole in Ironhides spark was healing? he's feeling a little lost. Ratchet steps back from Ironhide, looking at the monitor.

"spark beats good and strong. spark is strong." Ratchet murmurs. "nothing unusual, except the obvious." Ratchet adds.

"he's numbed up, shouldn't feel a thing." Wheeljack mumbles. Ratchet looks over at Reflect.

"what pain has stayed?" Ratchet asks.

"just my head." Reflect mumbles.

"I can fix that too." Ratchet assures, walking over to the medbay doors. he shuts the lights off and walks back over to Reflect. "the medical cube should help with that." Ratchet assures.

"its probably from hitting my head when I hit the floor." Reflect mumbles.

"Prime caught you, you didn't hit the ground." Ratchet assures.

"guess I owe him some thanks." Reflect murmurs.

"you owe me some answers." Ratchet frowns, arms crossed over his chest. Reflect looks over at him.

"yeah?" he ask.

"why didn't you come to me when you thought you were carrying?" Ratchet ask, waving Wheeljack off, this wasn't important to him. Reflect frowns a little.

"well, I thought you'd kill Ironhide, honestly." Reflect mutters. he gives a small chuckle. "I didn't even tell him, as a matter of fact, I had just gotten to that part in the datapads, so I assumed I was overreacting." Reflect adds. Ratchet nods a little.

when he'd been studying, he'd also just gotten to the part about sparklings when Wheeljack had shown signs of carrying. he had thought for weeks he was simply being paranoid. until Jack had come back one day, bouncing excitedly with a loud exclamation of we're gonna be creators! I'm carrying!

Ratchet nods.

"okay." Ratchet says.

"please don't take offense to that. I'm sorry. it was a stupid choice to go to someone other than you and I get that now. probably could've passed out here in the medbay instead of in the rec room." Reflect snorts a little.

"no, I don't take offense, its fine. you were human at one point. humans have a tendency to avoid medical professionals as long as possible. like that time when you broke your foot." Ratchet snorts. Reflect snorts a little.

"yeah in all reality, I should've assumed it was more than just bruised after Ironhide ran it over." Reflect chuckles softly. Wheeljacks still in the room, but Reflect is purposefully ignoring him. the mech didn't want to be in his life anymore? that was fine. Reflect wouldn't pay any attention to him would treat him as simply just another Autobot.

"well, judging by the size of the little spark and how long you've been on base.I'd say you conceived the very day you woke up after the battle." Ratchet says, snorting. "you two did not waste time." Ratchet snorts.

"making up for lost time sometimes has consequences." Reflect shrugs a little. Ratchet rolls his optics.

"I got warned." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect looks confused. Ironhide had already explained to Ratchet that Reflect had absolutely no recollection of anything that had previously happened in dreams.

"huh? warned?" Reflect ask.

"you came to me, just days before the battle and told me to expect something unexpected and that has to be the most unexpected thing I've experienced in many years. back when the battle raged on Cybertron, medics were ordered to put in a blocker to all bots or cons, to prevent sparklings. no one wanted a sparkling born into a war. it didn't always work but, other than the obvious, there hasn't been a sparkling in thousands of years.

"well, guess I'm special for not having the block." Reflect snorts. Ratchet chuckles a little.

"yep. I thought about installing it into you, but something told me not to. in the back of my processor, I figured, if we could raise you in the middle of the war, what was stopping you from having a sparkling in the future. sure things happened, you got run over by Sunstreaker and the ceiling collapsed on you." Ratchet says.

"oh and those soldiers that destroyed my optic." Reflect huffs.

"and lets not forget about Starscream dropping you when Ironhide shot him." Ratchet says. Reflect winces.

"my body hurt for days." Reflect mutters, rubbing his arm a little. he'd landed right on it in the most painful way.

"but you came out of this mostly okay, once you got armor. figured it would be up to you if you wanted the block or not." Ratchet murmurs.

"its a little late for that." Reflect chuckles. Ratchet nods.

"it is now." Ratchet chuckles. "well one day you're a sparkling and the next you're having one." Ratchet mutters.

"circle of life." Reflect snorts. he's taking this better than Ratchet thought he would. he's making jokes, though he's probably semi in shock and semi numbed. "think I'm good to get up?" Reflect ask.

"you should be." Ratchet murmurs, helping him up off the berth. "your head feel alright?" Ratchet ask.

"yeah, I'm good. hows Ironhide?" Reflect asks, walking over to his unconscious bonded.

"he's alright. I'll keep him for a few hours just to make sure. go do whatever it is you do when you're not fragging him." Ratchet smirks, waving him off.

"haha. I spend more time studying those datapads than I do with Ironhide since he started back on active duty." Reflect mutters, rolling his optics. he heads out of the medbay, careful to avoid Wheeljack. the mechs been silent the whole time and Reflect doesn't feel like making polite conversation.

"hey, what causes spark failure again?" Ratchet ask.

"a lot of things cause spark failure. major damage from battle and severe energon leaks and the loss of a bonded... I hate when you do that." Reflect huffs, turning to face the grinning medic.

"just checking you're actually learning." Ratchet murmurs.

Reflect chuckles and heads out of the medbay. he knows he should share the news with Optimus, but he wants to wait and chat with Ironhide first, so he heads for the rec room. medical grade never kept anyone running for long, it wasn't meant to unless they were constantly fed it, so his system is still screaming for a cube.

he grabs himself one and has a seat, sighing as he shuts his optics off. he and Ironhide were actually going to have a sparkling. the Primes hadn't lied, he should've been more careful.

"are you alright?" Optimus' voice drifts in from his left side. Reflect onlines his optics quickly, sitting up.

"oh yeah I'm fine. adverse reaction to Ironhides spark healing itself. all good now that his side of the bond is pretty numb." Reflect explains.

"is Ironhide alright?" Optimus frowns.

"yes, Ratchet says he's all good. he'll be in the medbay for a bit, but he'll be alright." Reflect assures. "and I'm fine too. just a little achey." Reflect adds.

"well I'm glad to see you're alright." Optimus smiles. Reflect nods once at him, looking around.

"so hows Cade?" Reflect asks, prodding gently. Optimus smiles.

"he's currently visiting his daughter at college. I'm set to pick him up tomorrow. it was supposed to be today but I have a couple humans coming to talk to me today." Optimus frowns.

"Mearing?" Reflect ask. Optimus nods. "thank Primus its you and not me. I was ready to snap the little bitch in half." Reflect grumbles. Optimus chuckles softly.

"I know that." Optimus murmurs. Reflect checks his internal clock.

"wait, I thought Cade was coming back by airplane?" Reflect ask.

"yes... he was not excited to find he'd be at the airport all night." Optimus frowns.

"well hell Optimus, I'll go get him. I know where the airport is." Reflect assures.

"I can't ask you to do that." Optimus says.

"you're not I'm offering. I remember sleeping in airports when flights were delayed with my unit, its not comfortable or comforting. you're on edge the whole time, trying to keep an eye on your stuff and other people." Reflect frowns.

"well.... if you could, it would be nice." Optimus says hesitantly.

"sure. I'll get him." Reflect assures, getting up.

"thank you Reflect." Optimus murmurs, looking a little relieved.

"no worries... um does he know what my holoform looks like?" Reflect ask.

"probably not, but I'll let him know you're coming to get him." Optimus assures gently.

"sure then, no problem." Reflect smiles, downing his cube.

"you could... text him." Optimus says. Reflect raises an eye brow. "his phone is connect to com, I'll give you his frequency so you can message him when you get there." Optimus assures.

"alright sounds good." Reflect smiles. he heads outside and transforms. it gets a com from Optimus with, what he assumes is Cades frequency, so he coms it.

"Cade Yeager?"

"uh, yeah?"

"its Reflect, I'm coming to get you from the airport, Optimus' is busy and gave me the information I needed to contact you. ETA is one hour."

"uh... thanks."

he's honestly surprised to beat the GPS time by 20 minutes and jumps out of his cab with his holoform. he heads hesitantly into the airport, this was the first real human interaction since that first family day, his holoform had had.

"okay Cade, where are you hiding?" Reflect mumbles. he uses Cades frequency to hunt him down, in the airport, but finds the man is in the bathroom, so he heads to sit with Cades stuff.

Cade heads out of the bathroom and freezes when he sees someone sitting by his stuff.

"hey! excuse me! thats my- oh..." Cade trails. he recognizes the blue eyes as a holoform.

"oh hey Cade. sorry I know you haven't technically met me, but I'm Reflect." Reflect assures, getting up. "sorry, I didn't want to take your stuff to my alt and uh, you think it was stolen." Reflect adds awkwardly. "Hide used to do that stuff to me thinking it was funny." Reflect mutters.

"no its cool... so Optimus sent you?" Cade ask.

"I volunteered. he's got a meeting with Charlotte Mearing and I've slept in an airport before. so I figured I'd come get you." Reflect shrugs. he grabs the inventors bags. "ready to go?" Reflect ask.

"mind if I eat first? didn't expect a ride so I didn't eat." Cade frowns.

"no problem we can hit a drive through, airport foods expensive." Reflect shrugs.

"you... you're gonna let me eat in your alt?" Cade ask, shocked.

"Optimus says you're very polite and careful." Reflect assures. Cade nods and lets Reflect lead him out of the airport.

the ride back to the base, after stopping for food, is awkward. Cade is quiet, but respectful with his eating. not a single crumb hits his seat and the mans half asleep by the time they get there.

Reflect comes to a stop, and opens the door for him.

"sorry, I haven't transformed with a human in my alt before, I don't want to squish you." Reflect says.

"no thats fine." Cade says, jumping out with his suitcases. "uh, thanks for the ride..." Cade mutters.

"you're confused." Reflect chuckles, transforming. "don't be afraid to ask questions Cade, Optimus says you're full of them, you don't have to ask him questions about me. he comes to me for the answers anyway." Reflect chuckles, heading into the base.

"Cade has arrived on base. he's heading inside."

"thank you Reflect, I really appreciate it.

"no problem Optimus."

Reflect heads back towards his and Ironhides room, but pauses coming across Sideswipe.

"oh, hey." Sideswipe waves.