"if you're looking for Ironhide, he's unconscious in the medbay." Reflect frowns.

"actually I was looking for you." Sideswipe says. Reflect looks shocked. not a lot of bots had talked to him since they found out who he was.

"me?" Reflect ask.

"yes. I was looking for you." Sideswipe mumbles. Reflect stares a moment before nodding.

"yeah, sure, come on in." Reflect says, letting Sideswipe into the room. Sideswipe looks around a moment. despite Reflects protests. Ironhide had taken a lot of the 'shrine' down, but there were still pictures of Will, Ironhide, and even some with Annabelle around the room. "so whats up?" Reflect ask.

"you're really Will then?" Sideswipe ask.

"I was. then I died. now I'm Reflect." Reflect murmurs. Sideswipe frowns.

"so you weren't really a sparkling? you were just acting?" Sideswipe ask.

"not really. I was technically in this body the whole time, but the Primes controlled me. I couldn't do anything. they spoke for me and everything. it was like... I was kinda haunting the body or something. I could see everything but that was it. they controlled everything else. if I tried to talk, they shut off my vocal processor and Ratchet would have to reset it." Reflect mutters. "but I've got control now... and I really wish I didn't." Reflect mumbles.

"why?" Sideswipe ask.

"I didn't want any of this. Ratchet and Wheeljack aren't even talking anymore and everyone stares at me like I'm a Decepticon in disguise. this isn't what I thought was going to happen. the Primes said everything would be okay, but it's been two weeks and you're the first bot besides Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet to talk to me." Reflect mutters.

"we're confused." Sideswipe says.

"I know and I'm trying to be patient but I... dunno. they brought me back for Ironhide, but is it really worth it if everyone treats me like the enemy?" Reflect ask. he shakes his head a little. "sorry, didn't mean to dump on you like that.... did you have more questions?" Reflect ask, looking up.

"no thats it. thanks." Sideswipe mutters, leaving the room. Reflect curls up on his side, rubbing his chestplate gently. its numb but the pain is not what he's focusing on. everyone hates him, treats him like a traitor, even Wheeljack... and now he was going to have a sparkling? how would they treat the sparkling? would they treat it the same as him? or accept the sparkling and reject him? would they take the sparkling away from him?

I would never let that happen.

Reflect jumps a little when Ironhides voice flows through him, something he still hadn't gotten used to.

Hide?

yeah. m'sorta awake. don't worry 'bout all that shit Will. the others will accept you eventually and the sparkling will be just fine. I would never let them take the sparkling from us.

I didn't mean to... you weren't supposed to hear that stuff.

then I can pretend I didn't, but you're worrying so bad over this I can hear you over the bond. rest assured, I will not let anyone take the sparkling.

"okay... thanks Ironhide.

don't worry about it Will. everything will be alright.

Reflect nods to himself, patting his chest.

"okay, Ironhides right. everythings okay." Reflect murmrus.

why don't you come on down to the medbay and curl up with me?

would Ratchet appreciate that?

do I sound like I care? come down here and curl up with me.

okay.

Reflect gets up and heads down the hallway. he's almost there when he hears Ratchet shouting. he and Wheeljack are arguing in the lab. he winces a little. he knows they're arguing about him, they have been for the past two weeks. he sighs and heads into the medbay.

"come here." Ironhide murmurs.

"I feel stupid." Reflect mutters.

"you're not. you're just worried. stress kills." Ironhide mumbles. Reflect smiles at him.

"you stole that from me." Reflect murmurs, climbing up with him. Ironhide snorts, wrapping him in his arms gently.

"I did." Ironhide murmurs, kissing his head gently. "don't worry. everything will be alright." Ironhide murmurs softly. "but the question I have is, why didn't you tell me?" Ironhide ask.

"about what?" Reflect ask.

"you thought you were carrying. you had suspicions. why didn't you tell me?" Ironhide ask.

"I didn't. I thought I was overreacting. I was reading about sparklings and carrying in the medical datapads and.... I just thought I was being stupid. thats why I wanted to talk to Wheeljack. I wasn't gonna do anything but talk to him about thinking I was paranoid, but I don't know what I did to him." Reflect mumbles.

"it honestly explains why you've been so, horny, for lack of better words." Ironhide snorts. Reflect huffs. "you didn't do anything, Will. he's a slaghead." Ironhide adds.

"whose a slaghead?" Ratchet ask, walking back in.

"Jack." Ironhide mutters, tilting his head back to look at Ratchet.

"yeah he sure is." Ratchet mutters. he walks over to them and checks the monitor connected to Ironhides spark. "Reflect you feel anything from his spark?" Ratchet ask.

"just numbness. its kinda tingly." Reflect mumbles.

"yeah thats how it feels." Ironhide mutters.

"anything is better than the pain." Ratchet mutters. "alright seperate. you can curl back up in a minute, I need to check Ironhides spark." Ratchet says. Reflect nods, getting up carefully, watching Ratchet. "did you want to learn a little?" Ratchet ask, looking behind him. Reflect shakes his head a little, stepping back.

"sure he does. c'mon not like you haven't seen my spark before." Ironhide mutters. Reflect looks hesitant, but walks around Ironhides other side and peers over.

"notice how I've connected his nodes to different places than the datapads said to do?" Ratchet ask. sparks had covered the first four data pads, so Reflect nods.

"yeah and you've used three more than the book said to do." Reflect says, meeting Ratchetts gaze.

"thats because I've learned more than those datapads could teach and they don't go over cracked, shattered, or damaged sparks. if I had hooked the nodes up like the datapads had said, I would've gotten an abnormal reading because the tear that was in his spark." Ratchet explains. Reflect nods and Ironhide rolls his optics, dropping his head back a little, a small smirk on his face. Reflect wants to learn and Ironhide won't stop him, he was glad to help.

"you said you've never seen this happen before. a spark healing itself...." Reflect says.

"I haven't. I feel like it has something to do with you being his original bonded." Ratchet says, pulling the nodes from Ironhides spark chamber carefully. "don't ever let the nodes touch a spark. don't let anything touch a spark." Ratchet warns.

"I know." Reflect murmurs, stepping back. Ironhide shuts his plates and looks at Ratchet.

"so whats this mean?" Ironhide ask.

"no cracks, no tears. your spark looks as though it was never ripped from another." Ratchet says. "I've never seen it before Ironhide. I can't tell you whats going to happen." Ratchet adds.

"but it shouldn't hurt him right?" Reflect ask. Ratchet shakes his head.

"no, it really shouldn't it could even make him stronger, but like I said I don't know. I don't want you on patrol until at least tomorrow night." Ratchet frowns.

"thats fine. Bumblebee's out there for me now." Ironhide assures.

"and if anything happens, you let me know. either of you." Ratchet warns.

"this has never happened before anything that happens could be important." Reflect nods. Ratchet nods.

"well, I'll let you two get on out of here, its getting a little late and I have paperwork to do." Ratchet nods. Ironhide gets up off the berth and heads out, Reflect following behind. the smaller pauses and turns to Ratchet with a dirty look.

"you better have a cube in your office, I haven't seen you have one today." Reflect warns. Ratchet snorts. older or not, he still has the same glare.

"I will go get myself a cube now." Ratchet assures, following after them.

"you better damn it. I don't have enough knowledge to be the only functional medic on base." Reflect grumbles under his breath following after Ironhide. he catches up to Ironhide and cuddles up to his side. Ironhide wraps an arm around him gently, trying not to lean on him too hard. "you alright?" Reflect ask.

"m'fine. lets just get to sleep." Ironhide murmurs. he leads Reflect to their shared room and climbs up onto the berth. he rolls onto his side and watches Reflect. "don't you even think about picking up those stupid datapads. you'll have plenty of time to read those later." Ironhide warns. Reflect pouts, but curls up with him, putting his back to Ironhides chest. "don't pout." Ironhide mumbles.

"I can pout all I want." Reflect grumbles. Ironhide snorts, wrapping his arms around him, the same way he has been doing since Reflect revealed himself as Will. one around his waist and the other wrapped around his upper torslo, servo coming to rest right over his spark, like he's reassuring himself through the night that Will is still technically alive and save, just in a different body.

surprisingly, when he wakes up the next morning, Ironhide is still curled up snoring behind him. usually the mechs already up and gone by that point, but Reflect suspects Ratchet gave the black mech a light sedative. he probably had, or its possible numbing his spark made him tired, it happened.

the smaller rolls over to face Ironhide, who doesn't even seem to notice, before cuddling up to him. Reflect wraps his arms as tightly around Ironhide as he dares, snuggling in. he's content to fall back into stasis, snuggled into his bondeds chest, but it seems Ironhide has other ideas the mech jerks up, grumbling.

"Hide?" Reflect ask.

"Primes comming me." Ironhide mumbles, sitting up. "I'll be back. go get you a cube." Ironhide mumbles, climbing over him. Reflect nods and watches him go, before getting up.

he's disppointed at the loss of his cuddle time, but is in need of a cube, so he doesn't argue. Reflect grumbles to himself, grabbing a cube, he feels unusually grumpy this morning, maybe he didn't get enough recharge. he settles down and sighs.

"hey!" Cade shouts, running over to him. Reflect looks down.

"Cade? whats up?" Reflect ask, getting down in the floor to talk with the man. he hadn't picked up any humans yet and didn't want to risk dropping one.

"you said I could ask questions right?" Cade ask.

"totally." Reflect assures.

"how did you come back as a sparkling after you died?" Cade ask.

"I had a lot of Allspark energy, have they told you about that?" Reflect ask. Cade nods, hauling himself up onto Reflects knee.

"yeah." Cade nods.

"well for some reason the energy split between me and Sam, 80/20. I got the majority. when I died the Primes thought it was a waste, so they used the energy I absorbed to recreate a body for me. I'm not sure why I had to come back as a sparkling, maybe there wasn't enough energy to send me back like this, who knows." Reflect shrugs. "but I didn't have any control of my body... lot of the bots around here feel betrayed. like chose this purposefully and lied to them, but I didn't. I didn't get a choice." Reflect mutters. he shakes his head head. "sorry, did I answer your question?" Reflect ask.

"sort of, another thing is, you're bonded to Ironhide right?" Cade ask.

"yes. I am." Reflect nods.

"well, how come he didn't know you were alive?" Cade ask.

"the Primes blocked it. they didn't want anyone to know. it could risk everything." Reflect frowns. Cade nods a little.

"one more, you knew something was up with Sentinel, why didn't you say anything?" Cade ask.

"I tried. I really did. in the end it was save Ironhide and Ratchet or stand by and watch them die, so the Primes let me reveal myself. I was actually supposed to die, but Ratchet is the best medic in the whole universe." Reflect says.

"and don't you forget it squirt." Ratchet says, patting the mechs head as he walks by to grab himself a cube. Reflect smiles up at him, before looking back down at Cade.

"anymore questions?" Reflect ask.

"no, thats all. thanks." Cade mutters, getting up. Reflects careful when he he grabs the man. he doesn't know his strength very well and doesn't want to hurt him.

"please don't jump off of me." Reflect murmurs, setting him on the ground.

"afraid of smudges?" Cade snorts.

"I'm afraid of you falling and busting your face like Sam did last week jumping off Bumblebee's leg." Reflect frowns. Cade winces. the younger man had given himself a concussion and a bloody nose.

"fair point. thanks." Cade says, walking off.

"alright kid, come on." Ratchet says. Reflect looks up confused.

"huh?" Reflect ask.

"medbay. we've gotta talk about your spark." Ratchet says pointedly. Reflect nods a little getting up. he follows the medic down to the medbay where, surprisingly, Wheeljack is waiting.

"I'm not interested in coming in here and being ignored by him."

"he promised to be on his best behavior."

Reflect nods slightly to himself.

"okay." he mumbles.

"but I understand, if Wheeljack acts up, I'll throw him out and we'll talk mech to mech."

Reflect relaxes a little at the medics words.

"so... whats up?" Reflect ask.

"its come to my attention you left the base yesterday without an escort." Ratchet says.

"oh please. you can't keep me on base anymore." Reflect snaps. he covers his mouth immediately. "I am so sorry. I have no idea where that came from." he murmurs.

"its glitching in your programming, which is why I don't want you off base without another bot. you're carrying, glitches are going to happen, some worse than others. you didn't know about it and of course, we're not angry, I'm not angry, just worried." Ratchet assures. Reflect nods a little, letting his servos drop from his mouth.

"I really didn't mean to snap at you though." Reflect murmurs.

"don't worry about it. you have a datapad from a medics point of view on carrying, but we have another one for you. its written by carriers, for carriers." Ratchet assures, handing a datapad over. Reflect takes it and looks at it.

"alright." he murmurs.

"now give me your arm, I'm gonna run a couple diagnostics on the sparkling and upload a couple lines of code, while Wheeljack, politely" Ratchet growls, glaring the inventor downs. "tells you some things you could expect." Ratchet says. Wheeljack frowns a little and Reflect meets his gaze.

"you didn't tell me this is what I was here for." Wheeljack mutters.

"knock your shit off. damn Jack, you're acting like I did this shit on purpose." Reflect snaps. he doesn't bother to cover his mouth this time, he'd ment his words.

"be nice Reflect." Ratchet says gently, plugging into his arm.

"I have projects in my lab, you said you needed help with something important." Wheeljack frowns at Ratchet.

"whatever, if he doesn't want to help, I'll figure it out myself." Reflect mutters.

"oh yeah? you really think you can do it without me and my support? my knowledge?" Wheeljack scoffs.

"why not, I've been doing it for two weeks now Jack. you want into a room and immediately leave if you see me. you refuse to talk to me or even look at me and don't even get me started on yesterday." Reflect glares. "and support? what support could you possibly mean? you don't have any support for me. you haven't since I revealed myself which, by the way, was to save both of our bondmates. what the hell happened to you? originally Ratchet was the one acting like this. you were all for it and now, the roles have swapped. if you don't want to be part of my life, just leave." Reflect scoffs

"Reflect, take it easy." Ratchet soothes gently.

"no, y'know what? how about I just leave. thats all anyone on this fragging base wants anyway." Reflect snaps, ripping the medical cable from his arm. he jumps up off the berth he sat on and storms out. the doors slam behind him and Ratchet turns to glare at Wheeljack.

"oh nice job Jack." Ratchet huffs, going after Reflect.

"me? what the frag did I do?" Wheeljack frowns.

Reflect stops long enough to grab himself another cube, then transforms and speeds off.

Will? are you alright?

fuck off.

what happened?

just leave me the hell alone Ironhide.

Reflect growls to himself, blocking his side of the bond. he doesn't want to be chased down and he doesn't want to be found.

what was happening to him? why were all these words slipping out when he didn't want them to? sure it could be the glitch Ratchet was talking about, but he'd never meant to say words like that to Wheeljack. he still cared for the inventor who obviously didn't care for him anymore. he parks and transforms, burying his face in his servos.

"I just want Ironhide." he mutters.

I'm sorry.

don't be. where are you? Ratchets worried. he said you took off.

the beach.

I'll be there in a few minutes.

true to his word, Reflects only along for about ten minutes. Ironhide pulls up and transforms.

"whats wrong?" Ironhide ask.

"I exploded on Wheeljack." Reflect mumbles, not removing his face from his servos. Ironhide walks over and sits with him.

"its okay. he deserved it." Ironhide murmurs.

"no he didn't." Reflect mumbles.

"yes he did Will." Ironhide assures. "he's been an aft to you, it was about time you finally told him how him treating you actually hurt you Will." Ironhide murmurs gently.

"but I didn't mean to!" Reflect cries. Ironhide frowns and wraps his arms around him gently.

"okay, you didn't mean to. its alright. accidents happen. don't get so worked up over it. Wheeljacks not worth that." Ironhide murmurs softly. Reflect grumbles, sniffling. he wipes at his face.

"stupid." Reflect mumbles.

"yeah he is." Ironhide murmurs.

"I meant me." Reflect grumbles.

"no you aren't." Ironhide huffs.

"I ripped wires out while Ratchet was writing code." Reflect grumbles.

"okay, yeah, that wasn't the smartest idea, but you're not the first mech to do that, trust me. come on. lets go back to the base so Ratchet can finish what he started." Ironhide murmurs, getting up. Reflect looks up when Ironhide offers him a servo.

"I don't want to." Reflect mumbles.

"you can't just sit out here and pout." Ironhide chuckles.

"yes I can." Reflect argues.

"okay what if Ratchet worked on you here?" Ironhide ask.

"okay, whatever." Reflect mumbles. Ironhide nods.

"okay Ratchet, come on. he's not going back to the base anytime soon."

"I figured. I'm about three minutes out."

"understood."

Ironhide sits back down with him.

"okay baby. we'll sit here as long as you want." Ironhide assures, pulling him to his side. "and don't waste your time being upset. talk to me, thats why I'm here." Ironhide murmurs.

"I wish I hadn't revealed myself. wish I hadn't been given this stupid second chance." Reflect mutters.

"why? because of Wheeljack, I told you he's not worth-" Ironhide ask.

"its not just Wheeljack." Reflect mumbles.

"then who?" Ironhide ask.

"everyone. tell me why I can't walk through the base without being looked at like a friggin' Con! I don't want to be on that stupid base anymore. I'm not going back tonight." Reflect snaps.

"I have patrol tonight I can't stay with you at the farm. please just stay at the base tonight and we'll spend tomorrow at the farm, okay?" Ironhide murmurs.

"I don't want to be in that stupid base." Reflect repeats.

"stay in the medbay." Ratchet says, transforming. both look over.

"no. first thats still on base and second I don't want another run in with Wheeljack." Reflect mutters, letting Ratchet plug back into a medical port.

"you think I allow him to sleep in the medbay? you're wrong." Ratchet frowns, kneeling down.

"great and I ruined Wheeljack and Ratchets relationship. yeah I think I'll just stay on the farm." Reflect snaps. "won't hurt me to stay in that old house myself. I've done it before." Reflect mutters.

"you didn't do anything. our relationship has been rocky for months." Ratchet mutters. "all that shit with Sentinel, plus other things. we've been fighting long before you revealed yourself, we just didn't show you because we thought you were a sparkling. probably wouldn't have shown you anyway. he's stupid bastard." Ratchet mutters. "but you're always welcome in the medbay. especially since you're studying my old datapads, and it'll make the medbay a little less quiet." Ratchet adds. Reflect glares Ironhide down.

"I didn't do it." Ironhide mutters.

"fine. I'll stay in your stupid medbay." Reflect mutters.

"you used to love sleepovers." Ratchet snorts.

"I'm feeling pissy as fucking hell today and I'm seriously ready to beat someones ass." Reflect growls at him.

"I can see that. thats just part of the glitches. you'll get to that section soon in the datapads. its part of carrying. I can fix that." Ratchet assures.

"why the hell are they kicking now?" Reflect glares.

"that I don't have an answer for. they can kick in anytime. starting, generally, three days after conception." Ratchet explains. "but given the fact you're stressed, and angry, and tried, I'd say thats why." Ratchet frowns.

"I told you, you needed more stasis." Ironhide mutters. Reflect whips around growling.

"I swear keep talking and you're gonna meet Primus." Reflect snaps.

"easy easy." Ratchet murmurs, pulling the cable from the mechs office. "okay come on, Ironhide has a shift, lets go back to the medbay and I'll work on an old recipe I used to use for Wheeljack." Ratchet assures.

"fine." Reflect mumbles, getting up.

"I'll see you in the morning. be good, I have to go take over for Hound." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect grumbles and transforms. Ratchet transforms with him and they head off to the base.

"I don't want to be on this stupid base. everyone looks at me like a damn Decepticon." Reflect mumbles.

"I'll take care of that." Ratchet assures gently. "don't worry, this will all blow over in a few weeks." Ratchet adds. "have you told Optimus about the sparkling yet?" Ratchet ask.

"no I meant to talk to Ironhide about it." Reflect mumbles.

have you told Optimus about the sparkling?

yes. don't worry. I've taken care of it.

thanks...

"nevermind he already told Optimus." Reflect mumbles.

Ratchet tries to hold a conversation with the other mech, but Reflect doesn't join the conversation. he drives quietly. its not until they pull up to the base that he speaks again.

"sorry you and Jack are fight again." Reflect mutters.

"no worries. we've done a lot more fighting since we landed on Earth, long before you died, you just got a more unfortunate up close and personal view." Ratchet frowns. he leads the mech to his medbay. "none of that is your fault. so don't worry about it. alright?" Ratchet murmurs. Reflect shrugs a little.

they walk silently into the medbay, Reflect plopping himself onto a berth. the mech looks ready to cry and Ratchets really not sure what to say, so he attempts to make the mech laugh.

"would it help if I dug out that blanket you used to carry about? made you feel better before." Ratchet ask. Reflect scoffs a small laugh and the medic smiles.

"yeah guess being a sparkling made a blanket fix everything." Reflect mutters.

"and those toys." Ratchet grins. Reflect grimaces.

"god those things are creepy as hell." Reflect mumbles, a small smile on his face.

"hang here, I'll be right back. gotta weasel the recipe from Jack." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect nods a little, laying down. he heaves a sigh. its only quiet a moment, before theres a knock and Optimus leans in.