All the different colors

Six orbital cycles! (Months)

That is how long Sideswipe and his twin had been on this aft cracking mission, not that he usual minded the action, but this had been a pretty dull mission. If there was one thing, he liked it was action, that and to have something to do or plan an epic prank. Sides had never been like his brother, who could sit for hours and paint, turn out everything around him, or do something small like tinkering with his stuff. No, he liked the speed and to be where everything happened, to do something with his brain processor.

There was a time where Sunny would tease him and say that he should go and learn some tactic or strategy from Prowl. Whatever he meant with that. Planning and performing a well-executed prank and seeing the result was probably among the best things that existed. The punishment that often came from it was well worth it, and it was almost a rule to drag his brother down with him in that kind of situation; it was glorious!

On the other hand...It was also six orbital cycles since the event with the sparkling in Prowls office. Right after that event, Optimus had talked to them and explained the whole situation, and they had been sent out on a mission until it would calm down. How in the pits' name could they have known that there was a sparkling on the ship? They had never been in contact with something younger than Bumblebee, and even then, they were close in age with each other, and it did not count. Although it had been a mission that already had been planned for them to take, they were just sent a little bit early to it. What irritated him the most was that it didn't give them a chance to meet the petite femme and apologize for their behavior.

After the first shock, after seeing the sparkling settles, his curiosity started to grow. Not only was it the first sparkling online in eons, but Luna had also been sparked by Ironhide and Ratchet nonetheless!. That was blowing his processor away; he had not even known that they were bonded or doing something that intimate. No! He would not let his processor go there; it would only be giving him lousy memory flux. He did know that Bee had been the last one to be created from the Allspark, and Bee had already been a youngling when they first meet in the army, so he did not count in the aspect of meeting a sparkling. But this sparkling was different in every way and everything possible, and that made him even more curious over the fact that she was also online.

What's more and probably the most important part right now, the sparkling must be terrified of them, Sides mused silently for himself. The sparkling must be thinking the worse of them and never going to let them near her again. Scrap, it never had been his intention to scare the femme, but how could they have known? They could not have known!. Yepp, they were doomed; why did they even return to the ship? They should turn around, find another space station and another crew. But this crew was the closest thing they had to a family, not that they ever have had a real family; it always had been just the two of them.

"Stop it! You give me a processor ache," An irritating voice warned him from his right. The rambling had been going on for too long, and Sunstreaker had had enough of this pity ride his brother was hanging on to again. He heard it all in his processor, and the vast amount of feelings his brother felt was broadcasting over their shared bond.

It was frustrating and irritating.

"Oh, come on now, Sunny, I know you too feel terrible for scaring the sparkling half to the pit and back!" Sides said and threw up his arms in the air dramatically.

That was true; he felt a little bit guilty over the whole thing, but not that much, honestly. Sunstreaker looked irritated at his brother again as he was going to start ranting on the matter -again-.

"No, actually, I don't," he said as he vented out his frustration. His muscles cables were tense and rigid as a spring in his frame, and the only thing he wanted right now was to get up and take a hot oil bath. Not listening to his rambling brother over something none of them could have controlled in the first place. If someone was to blame, it was Prime and the others for not telling them sooner that there was a sparkling onboard the ship and not a scraplet. She evidently had been small like one, but she did not have the dentas to chew them up with.

"What happened, happened, and I will not bend my back structure over the matter. The sparkling survived, and I don't care whatever happens to it in the future," Sunstreaker told him

"Liar," Sides chuckled and earned a loud, irritated growl from his brother; his red twin was pushing his boundaries.

Even if that was true, and Sunstreaker really felt guilty about scaring the sparkling, and maybe a little for pointing his weapon against her, but he would never emit it out aloud. He didn't want anything to do with the sparkling; they leaked fluids from everywhere and were loud, obnoxious, and craved closeness. They were soft and easy to hurt. Everything that he hated. Honestly, Sunstreaker would be happy if the sparkling would stay the pit away from him and Primus help the sparkling if she would come closer. It was Sides thing to talk and make friends with everything that moved and be the social and touching one. He will certainly not care about it, not like his brother was doing right now over the fact that they had scared the sparkling.

"Keep your thought to yourself. I don't want to hear it," he huffed, annoyed when he realized that his thought was starting to rant in his processor. He growled in frustration, Sides was sending him these feelings and thoughts over their bond, and it had begun to affect him too against his own will. Sides looked at him and grinned when he felt his brother finally started to think about the situation.

"Do you think she like the present we found for her?" Sides suddenly asked his brother; his mood take a total turn around. With 'we' he meant only 'him,' of course, Sunny was not going to feel sorry about the sparklings misfortune, just because it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes his brother was way too stubborn for his good, or perhaps he was only slightly dense in the processor; the line between the two is fragile. Weeljack is living proof of that. But did Sides seriously think that Ratchet or even Ironhide would let them get even close to their sparkling after what had happened last time? Yes, he did.

Sideswipe grinned like a youngling that just gets upgraded over the thought about the gift he had found on their last mission, what sparkling did not like present?. Now, if they could persuade Ratchet and Ironhide to allow them close to the sparkling so that he actually could give her the gift, it would be great. Sides had found this present near the end of their mission, and he took it back with him from the small planet in the HTGX sector of the galaxy. It was not much, but it had cost him quite some credits to get it, so he hoped that it was going to act like a little peace-offering to the sparkling.

Sunny grunted, irritated when his brother just kept going with his thoughts and did not listen to him at all. They had landed on the ship just a few beems ago, and they had already left their reports to both the Prime and Prowl about what little they found out. It had been mostly some rumors and small talk, even if it had taken them some time to get it. Sunstreaker had also put in the Decepticons' activity in it; they had not been fighting too much to get this information out from the Decepticons in questions. They tried to walk slower to win sometime, but they knew that they had to face their fate sooner or later. After all, they were walking toward their early doom and the room of horror.

The Med-bay.

The check-up was everything that stood between them and a warm oil bath and a good recharge. There was only one thing left that they had to do before they could relax and catch up on some recharging time, which was to meet the Hatchet. It will not be pleasant, not after their last time onboard, and that event involved Ratchet and Ironhide's sparkling. Sides gave up a complaining moaning again; why had Prime made it an order for them to go to the med-bay? If he had not done that, they could have skipped it and avoid to meet their doom. Optimus did know them very well, and it was.

Therefore, he had made it an order, and an Autobots could not ignore a Primes order. Their systems were in top conditions, Sunny was shinier and prettier than ever, and he was the most handsome mech on the ship. They had not gotten any injuries or anything from this mission; in fact, it had been booring as it could be. Soon they arriver outside the med-bay; there was no sound from the inside, and Sides could not help to feel slightly nervous about it and looked over at Sunny.

"Preparer for permanent dysfunctions?" Sides joked

The yellow brother looked at him with a deadpan look in his optics as he pushed the button to open the med-bay. The door opened with a soft sound, and they walked into the med-bay that was dimmed and no one around.

"Huh, what do you know, no one here, so let's go," Sides said as he turned around on his pedes, but his brother's hand on his neck structure stopped him dead in the track "aww bolts," he vented out dramatically.

"Ratchet? are you in here, " Sunny asked as he looked around in the medics room before they both come to a complete halt right where they were standing. "Prime sent us to you, so if you would please just clear us for duty, and we will be going."

"See, I told you that he was not in, so let's go. I want to check out if there any oil cake left in the storage before we hit the wash rack," Sides said and grinned over tower his brother. But Sunny does not seem to care about his words, and when Sides looked over at his brother to tell him again that they should go, he stopped. A suddenly strange feeling came from the twin bond, and it made Sides followed Sunny's line of sight. It led him to a tiny white frame of cords and soft protecting plates on one of the medical benches, half hid under a crystal blanket.

Luna had come online from her light recharge as soon the door had opened, and the light from the corridor had come into the room. At first, she had believed that it was her carrier that was back with refuel he had promised to pick up, but as she looked up at the shadows in the door, she could see that it was not her carrier. In the doorway stood two, not so unknown bot's this time, and they were talking against themselves and had not seen her yet.

Her optics widen in fear as she met the yellow twin's optics, and her frame stiffened as she could feel his optics on her. There was something in his blue optics that could only be read as a surprise or even shocked look, but it soon turned cold and hard. As she felt his attitude change, she did what every sparkling in her place would do in the face of danger. Hence, as fast as she could, she draws up her blankets over her frame and hides underneath them as they would not see here. She started to pray to Primus as she had heard many bots do as they would be dragged away by her Carrier or Sire. But as she thought about it, it had not helped them.

~Carrierr! s'ary bots 'ere!~

~What?~ Ratchet asked her in surprise, and Luna sends him a mental image to him of the intruders.

~T'eeem!!~ Luna could feel her carriers calming emotions sweeping over her, telling her that he was on his way and the bots were not so dangerous.

"Uhm, Hatchet? You here?" Sides tore his gaze from the sparkling that went under her blankets to hide from there, and he looked around nervously for Ratchet. Sideswipe looked over to his brother that shrugged. Suddenly the red twin started to grin; the sparkling was here, right in front of them! Now maybe he could apologize? No time like the present.

"We should leave," Sunstreaker said and turned around from the door, "the femme is scared of us."

Sides huffed slightly at his brother, okay, so he would not get any help from him, but he was right. If Ratchet came back in here and saw them alone with his creation, he would certainly not hesitate to blow them both a new exhaust port.

"No, Leave the sparkling alone," Sunstreaker warned his brother when he felt what Sides wanted to do, and he disapproved of the action. So, of course, Sides would completely ignore him.

Sides looked at his brother and smiled; he had to do it fast if he was doing this now. Sideswipe ignored his brother's warning and walked forward slowly to the bench where the sparkling was trying to hide from them. But how could he make the sparkling to come out?

"Hey, little sparkling," Sides tried and got a twitch under the blanket, and his smile grew; she was listing all right, maybe if he softened his voice a little bit more?

"Can't you come out so we can meet? you don't have to be afraid of the Sunshine here; he is not as scary as he is trying to be all the time," he said in a smooth voice and grinned when his brother sends him an irritated look. "It is only on his bad orns he can be a real pain in the rear, and when I think about it, it is a bad orn for him almost every day."

"Don't. Call. Me. That" Sunstreaker growled but went quiet as the sparkling yelped in fear under her blanket as he growled, and she curled tighter into a ball. Frag it all to the pit and back; Ratchet is going to offline both of them. No scratch that, he would pick them apart and use their parts for repairs on teletran or the energon dispenser.

Way to go, dumb aft! You are scaring her even more; surely she has called the Hatchet by now" Sides growled back low to his brother.

"We'll let the sparkling do that; we will be gone when he comes anyway," Sunstreaker said as he stood against the door on his way to leave again. Why did he not go and let his brother handle the sparkling and Hatchet on his own? That was a good idea.

"But I want to give her the present," Sideswipe said in a slightly whining voice now when Sunny was on his way to leave him here alone, that only earned him an irritated feeling again from his brother. "and if the Hatchets is here, then he won't allow it."

"Then give the present to it now before he comes; I have heard that Carriers are protective over their creations. If Ratchet is coming, I let it be only your aft thrown into the brig, or even better, out in space. I believe that Ratchet would love that after your last prank on him," Sunstreaker said to his brother that just huffed and looked down to where sparkling was hiding. Sides rubbed his helm's back and was thinking how to do this before he brought out the packet he had from a subspace. His brother was right; Ratchet on a protecting warpath was not a situation anyone would want to stand in his way for.

"Little sparkling?" Sides asked as he now stood closer to here, and he tried to sound softer on his voice, he had no idea of what he would do, but it always worked on older femmes. The only thing he was now not trying to do was to scare the little sparkling anymore.

"ehm, Lunastorm, was it?" Sides asked and smiled as he saw soft movements under the blanket. He took it as an affirmative, okay; then he had remembered it right from Primes explanation. Now to get the sparkling out from her hiding place without freighting her any more than they had already done.

"If you come out, I have a surprise for you, and we want to apologize for the last time we meet you. It was not our intention to scare you," Sides said low to her as she seems to react on the voice level positive; it must be a femme thing.

"We are promising that we will not do anything to scare you, alright?" he asked and lowered himself a bit down so that he was in optic level with the sparklings hiding place as he saw the slow movements under the blanket come closer to the edge. Luna was on her way out from the small rug, and Sides smiled successfully.

"And did a say that I had a present for you?" he prompted, smiling as that had caught her attention.

The sparkling had now started to slowly crawl under the blanket until she was at the end of it, with the blanket still over her helm and the rest of her frame under its protection. Only her small face structure was in view as she looked uneasy at the giant red bot that talked to her. Luna was studying him for one klik and then looked over to the yellow one already at the door but had stopped there. Still, the yellow one did not look at her, just plain ignoring them. Luna was still mostly hiding under her soft blanket, it was safe under there, but she let her optics land on the packet that the red bot had in his servo. The small sparkling looked up again to him hesitatingly and then back again.

"Mine?" she asked hesitantly as she started to come out more and more from her hiding place slowly.

"Yes, it's for you," the red mech smiled down at her and let the packet land on the bench with a heavy clinking sound, which brought her curiosity out completely.

What was it in the box?

She rose slowly upon her peds and strolled forward to the packet, still with a cautious glance two larger bots so that they would not do anything again. Sides smiled as the sparkling started to poke the package with one of her tiny digits, and then when she decided it was safe, she tried to bring it up in her servos, but it was too heavy to do that. So she let it be on the bench and started also looked it over before she tried to find a way to open it up. It was like a fun game to see how long it took to open it, and soon she found an opening and started to tear the lid so she could see inside. When she saw what the mech had brought her, she let out a surprised gasp before she looked up at the bigger red bots face that still was lowered down.

" fo' me? Really?" she asked, and Side nodded, glad that she seems to like it.

"Yes, only for you, Princess," he grinned and looked over to Sunny that was putting up an act to ignore them, but Sides know that his attention was on the sparkling reaction too.

Luna falls on her knee joints before the box. As she brought front the things inside one by one, she brought them up, and when Luna saw it more clearly, it was different paint colors. The packaged was full of painting colors and a particular paper metal that she could paint on. It was not a datapad or anything, but this one she could feel the soft texture under her digits and some brushes and pencils.

"I have no idea what all colors are, but I thought that if I take a different one so that you could blend them and create some more colors," He explained his thoughts about the present, " Do you like it?" Sides asked her carefully, and she nodded, still amazed that the mech gave it to her; maybe the bot was not so scary and horrible as she first thought.

"Good," he said smoothly and looked satisfied, and his brother only huffed in the doorway, still not going to lose up to the sparkling.

After a klik, she looked up from her new present and looked at the bot before her "Uhm" the sparkling then said slightly unsure "what you'... de…..ign'm…action?" she tried to form the word, but it was so hard, she could not make correctly vocal some of the sounds.

"My designation?" he asked and got an affirmative nod from the femme with a tiny smile of her own.

"Well, sweet spark, I'm Sideswipe, the awesome one, but you can call me Sides, everyone does, and the grumpy one over there in the corner is my dear twin Sunstreaker. Also known as Sunny or Sunshine to me because of his wonderful personality," He twinkling with amusement at her.

"Don't call me that!" said twin growled dangerously low; why did he have to go around and tell everyone that horrible nickname, and could they not go yet?.

~She has got her present now, let's go~

~Not yet, please Sunny, just a klik more~

Luna looked up at it uncertainly after the yellow twins clearly showed their displeasure with her, and that low growling sound was terrifying. That bad temper was something she had never seen before; maybe he had not recharged well? Her creators always said that she got grumpy when she had too little recharge, not noticing that. Also, why did he not like his name? She gave away a small giggling sound at that; she loved it! It was colorful and fitted his color, but not his manners.

"Don't think 'eh like it," she whispered to the red twin, Sides. The red one was not so bad, and the yellow one was tough for her sparkling mind to read. Luna suddenly smiled brightly up at both of them; all fear suddenly despaired from her.

"But ah like it! Ides and Unny!" she chipper as Sides laughed out loud at the statement.

"Well, Princess, good for you because you are too cute for him to get angry at for calling him that" he grinned at her as Luna looked down at her present again, happily smiling. Who had thought it would be so easy to get the sparkling to lose up and giggle some? It was the softest and most beautiful sound Sides had heard in a long time. Still, he could see that she was tense and anxious for him to be near here, but at the same time, she got so happy at present he had given her, so it was a small step.

"So little Princess, have you seen your, ehm, Creator?" Sides then suddenly asked, wow, that felt weird to call Ratchet a Creator!

Luna nodded at his question "aah, 'coming soon," she said and started to open the paint up to look at its color more closely, and Sides looked over to what she had been doing before she had gone in to recharge, and they had come in. She had been trying to write different things on her small datapad, and from the look of it, she had tried to spell some of the crew's designation and a lot of other different things. How old was Luna again? She could not be more than a deca-cycle old, and she was already writing, even if it was a lot of wrong spelling, and the only one she had written correctly was Jazz's name.

But one thing was for sure; Luna was a smart little sparkling. Maybe it was not so strange that she was so advanced if he thought about it. He did not want to more than he had to, Ratchet was one of her creators after all, and even if Ironhide was a massive piece of walking metal that also was called weapons, well, Ironhide had a processor that he sometimes used. Not that the twin would ever tell the weapon specialist that.

"Well, when he comes back, say hello from us," Sides said then and started to walk back tower his twin in the doorway.

Sunny gave away a snorting sound. "Or not; I would like to live, come on now, let's go," he said and looked over to his brother as he walked away. There was a slightly sly grin on his twin's lip plates that only told him one thing; his brother was up to something.

"Use your paint well now, sweet spark, surprise your Carrier with something colorful, and we will see you soon," Sides said as he took his brother's servos and dragged him out the last meter throw the door under loud protest from the yellow one about watching his paint.

Luna blinked in surprise by the fast turn of the event but shrugged it away and started to look at her new painting things in front of her and wondered what she could paint with them. It was an incredible variety of shades and colors. She wanted to paint something for her carrier this time, but what? Luna looked down at the blank metallic paper in her servos; it was too tiny, and she wanted to do something big that he could see all the time and be happy.

Luna looked up and around the gray and white room that held a lot of equipment and machinery. The med-bay was too dark and dreary, so maybe she could do something here for him? Luna looked around her, and her optics stuck on the perfect thing. With a huge smile, Luna decided what she should do. Her carrier would not come here for a while or so anyway, and she could paint fast! She was good at it. Luna giggled as she took some of the paint and walked tower her new goal, it was perfect, and everyone would like it. She was sure of that.

~*`--'*~

When Luna first had contacted him and said that the scary bots were back, he almost had thrown a fit right where he was standing and had started almost to run again. That was until Luna suddenly asked him to wait a little longer, and he could feel the happiness in the bond, and he had been surprised and slightly shocked over the feeling he got from her. She was not afraid anymore, but what was she doing?

Even if Ratchet wanted to run over to his med-bay and beat the two slagging excuses of twins into oblivion for also be near his sparkling again, mostly when she was all alone in the med-bay, but he slowed his speed down for her. Whatever the sparkling was doing, she wanted to surprise him, and it had suddenly nothing to do with the twins, so he played her game and was walking slower. The bond was wide open, letting him feel the sparklings' emotions, and Luna was now happily humming along with whatever she was doing. And she was doing something that she really thought would make him happy.

So when Ratchet comes into his med-bay, he was met by, to his surprise, not his usual white sparkling. No, her frame was unexplainably painted in all the universe different colors, from her helm to her lowest pedes point, but she was grinning as she was having the best time of her existence. He could feel it throw the bond, and as soon she saw him, Luna started to jump up and down on the bench happily.

"Caaarieer~!" Luna cheered as he comes in; she had missed him even if he only had been gone for a bream.

"Why are you covered in paint, sparklett?" Ratchet asked, his sparkling as he put down the energon on the bench and studied the happy sparkling in front of him.

"A biggie sup'ise!" she chirped happily as she jumped up and down before Luna runs to what she had painted on.

"Loki, Loki Carrier, 'is Carrier tojs! Ah, kno' carrier like his tojs an ot'er bot too like em so Luna help and paint em! " she said and smiled brightly up at him.

Ratchet looked down at what she was talking about, and his optics went wide in shock. He didn't know what to think or do when he saw what she had been painting on before he had come in. The colored sparkling jumped up and down in pure blitz over her achievements, and she was so happy that she had been finished in time before he had come in. But the paint was still fresh, and how in the name of the Allspark did she paint them so fast? And herself in the process so thoroughly.

Ratchet walked over to his tools and looked down at his special wrenches in all different colors and had different things on them. Some had small servos printed on them, other dots and stripes. Some were just a big messy blend of color. Luna jumped up and down on her pedes as she showed him what she had done and was drilling the whole time happily.

When her carrier did not respond immediately to her surprise and present, she started to slow down, looked at the tools again, and then back up at him, and soon her happiness turned to unease as he did not react at all. Why was he quiet? Did he not like it? She could only feel a numb feeling over their bond.

"Carrier?" she asked suddenly with a low, trembling voice, trying to make him look at her, but Ratchet only stared in shock at his wrenches and tools. Suddenly Luna started to whimpered lowly she did not like her carrier's lack of response. Had it been a bad thing to do? Was he going to be mad at her? She just wanted to make him happy.

Ratchet was still looking over the wrenches completely in chock and tried to restart his processor again; this he had not waited to see as a surprise from the sparkling. He could see that she had written something on some of the wrenches; he blinked then in shock when he connected things and started to read what she had written on it. She still had not gotten their names right but was close to most of them.

One wrench that was blue and red had the designation Optimus written on it, and then there was a dark red one with Ironhide on, a yellow with Bumblebee on, white and red for First-aid, white and black for Jazz. The dark gray with white and red spots was for Prowl, yellow for Sunstreaker, red almost against the pink Side for Sideswipe and a yellow-green one was on his and then a white and light blue one with Luna's designation on to.

Luna looked up at her carrier again when he only stared down at the wrenches without saying anything or looking at her. She had tried to paint them in all different colors and paint other things on them. They looked so much better right now than before. The sadness and fear of the adverse reaction her carrier was giving her present was welling up inside of her. Luna started to shake in her tiny frame as she curled down and energon lubricate, suddenly welling up in her optics; she had thought that it was a good idea. She had been a lousy sparkling, a bad sparkling, and her carrier was broken maybe as broken Prowl had become when she had been a lousy sparkling at that time too.

When Luna started to leak energon and give away, sad clicking noise, Ratchet snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at his distress and sad sparkling, cursed left his system. He had let his processor freeze, so he had not heard his sparkling, and now he could feel how scared she suddenly was of his reaction on her present

"ooh, little sparkling, don't leak," he said in a low, soothing voice as he picked her up in his servo and gave away a soft chuckling sound at the situation. He bent his helm down so he could meet her helm and nuzzled her face against his as he smiles at her. "I love it, Luna, it is not a bad thing," he said soothingly to the sparkling that clicked in sadness and was still leaking lubricate from her optics.

"I was just surprised, that's all," he said as Luna gave away more small, sad clicks and sound, and he hugged her closer to his face structure "hush my little sparkling, I'm sorry that I scared you," he whispered and let his sparks humming rate increase so she would have a chance to calm down with it. It was a smart idea for her to do this, and he knows that she did only want to make him happy. Ratchet grinned slightly at the thought that every bot on this ship now had their very own wrench he could use when they did not do as told or got broken, again. Or did something idiotic, and he loves it; he loved his sparkling to pieces. Ratchet cooed softly to Luna when she had started to calm down, and he tugged slightly on her left side, so she began to give away a suddenly clicking laughter instead of the sad ones she had emitted before.

"Cheer up, love of my spark," Ratchet hummed to her, and he could feel that he was forgiven and looked down at the painted sparkling and chuckled again at sight. "One question, no make that two," he said to her as Luna now had calmed down completely. "First, why is mine wrench green and yellow?" he asked her, curious of the color she had chosen.

"Aid is white an' red," Luna said slowly as she was thinking of the colors she loved the most " ah like te g'een an 'ellow best, love 'em! " she said low, and Ratchet smiled and kept on nuzzled her against his face structure to comfort her as she clicked softly. "Okay, sparkling, I can understand that; the second question, where did you find the color?"

"Ides and Unni!" she now said a little more happily than before and cuddled her creator back with a twittering sound to follow.

Ratchet could not help that his engines growled low in discomfort over that the twins had been so nearer his sparkling again. He had only been away for a bream or two, nothing more, and the sparkling had kept on talking with him over the bond as they had been there, so he knows what happened. Ratchet vented; as much he wanted to get protective over his sparkling, he also knows the terror twins would not deliberately hurt her. He would have to schedule an examination with them, the first thing he did the next pass. And the colors had been spot on for the sparkling as she loved to paint with bright colors. Perhaps he could forgive them sooner than he thought before.

"Alright, sparkling," he told her as she now had calm down, and his blue optic took in her whole frame. "Let's get you clean up, alright?" he said as he started to walk out from his med-bay with the multi-colored sparkling in his servos now happily twittering.

" 'lean? Bath'?" she asked with big optics as she looked up at him and started to giggle suddenly, and Ratchet looked down at her, wondering what it was this time she found so amusing.

"Carrier mah' 'olors," she said and tapped her servo against his white chassis, and he looked down at her and then his frame that, as she had said, now had a lot of other colors on it in the form of a small hand clapped all around it.

Luna giggled in his grip as she did it again but now whit both of her servos, "Carrier bath too!" she said joyously as she would now have a shower partner; she loved it when her creators were in the bath with her! It was so much funnier.

Ratchet looked down at her and then the servo prints on him and smiled then, she was right; after her little stunt, he needed to clean himself.

"Yes, sparkling, I must take a bath too," he said and looked forward to where he was going. It had been some time since he had been in the cleaning tub anyway.

Soon they were in the washing racket, but they were not alone as Ratchet had hope for. Bumblebee was in there too, and when he saw Ratchet and the sparkling come in, he gave away a surprise and amused clicking sound at sight in front of him. The before white sparkling was now in a multi-colored frame, and Ratchet had both colors on his faceplates as proof that he had to nuzzle the sparkling and then the small handprints on his chassis. As the sparkling had heard Bee's chipping, she quickly answered him back with her clicking sound. Even if she had no idea what he said, she could understand a bit by the sound of the noise. She is giggling as Ratchet huffed at the younger one's reactions.

"She had a little fun with the paint, that is all," he answered the yellow youngling as he went to one free wash rank and put Luna down on one of the benches that were there with a smaller tub for her to play in, but she did not want the small one.

"Carrieeerr~!" she said in her singing voice, "Big tub, Big tub!"

Ratchet looked down at her. "In the big tub?" why not? It had been awhile he had the time to sit and let the clearing lubricate work in his cables and joints. He then nodded and let the sparkling climb on his servo again as he walked into the oversized tub.

"Beee to'!" she sheered happily and climbed up against her carrier's arms, it was hard, but she had trained on climbing things all day before. Her sire was her grand adventure when she was bored, and now she was on her carrier's shoulder joint and looked down at the yellow mech that had followed behind them. She loved the yellow bot like a big brother, and Bumblebee saw her as a little sister too. Before she could jump down from Ratchets form, he reached up a hand to catch her.

Luna giggled happily as Bee had grabbed her and threw her up slightly in the air only to capture the multi-colored squealing sparkling with an amusing clicking by his own. Ratchet went down in the tub before they and Bee climbed down to with the sparkling now standing on his shoulder joints as she looked at his back wings, trying to reach them. Both Bee and Prowl had so pretty big wings, in Luna's opinion, but Prowls was the biggest and the most beautiful thing Luna had ever seen. She understood why Jazz loved them, but she never goes any chance to touch them, and anybody other than Jazz that tried was met by a hard optic stare or an avoiding motion from the mech.

"Come here now sparkling," Ratchet said as he took up Luna in her scuffle before she could jump on the younglings sensitive wings, and he brought her into his hand as he lowered it down in the cleaning lubricate. Luna gave away an irritated chip. First, she had been so close to catching them!. But her tone soon changes as she notices that she had lubricated up to her skins, and she looked down at the lubricant and gave away a happy squeal instead. She started to splash around with her legs, making lubricate fly everywhere, and Ratchet began to drop a little over her helm, making her squeal in joy as she tried to climb away from the falling lubricate.

"Be still now sparkling," Ratchet said as he tried to clean her, but she took it as a new game and started to avoid his digits that wanted to clean her; it was in moments like this they had to have patience and only enjoy the moment. Bee laughed at the game Ratchet, and the sparkling was doing as it did not go as Ratchet had wanted it to, but soon enough, the sparkling was sitting on her rear and happily splashing lubricate all over herself, cleaning of the color with great amusement.

She then gets up again to now try and clean the color that Ratchet had on his chassis. "Carrier 'lene to!" she said in a singing voice as she started to hum and click as she tried to get the paint away from the white chassis. Ratchet rose his hand slightly so she could help him get the color out, even if it had gone much faster if he had done it himself.

"Bee 'elp meh too!" the sparkling then said and smiled up against her big brother that was laughing and shocked his helm, she did it so well by herself so why did she need his help?. Bee sinks deeper down in the lubricate with a satisfying noise.

Luna looked up at her carrier smiling as he let her clean him, and soon he was all white again, but as soon she stopped with what she was doing, she started to shiver slightly. She was still a tiny sparkling, and she had not developed a fully functional heat or cooling system yet. So she began to get cold fast and easily if she did not move around. Even if Luna tried to ignore it because she wanted to play more with Bee and his wings, Ratchet decided it was time to get up and get dry. He walked up from the tub with lubricate running down his big frame as he took out a big crystalline towel and started to dry off the sparkling that cooed happily when the cloth was around her and began to bury herself in the clean towel.

"Bee 'oming too?" the sparkling asked as she looked over at the younger bot as he too started to rise from the bathtub after them.

Bee laughed low and let one digit tickle her Side and nodded as she let out a happy squeal and try to dig further down the blanket to get away from his digit. She laughed as he was now playing a new game with her, and Ratchet looked at them both and shook his helm.

"Alright, youngling, let the sparkling dry of now, and you too, I don't want any of you to catch a virus," he scuffed, and Bee smiled and nodded as Ratchet took up the sparkling and started to dry her off completely. He let the towel land in a big containment that would clean it for the next user; he felt better now after the bath and looked down at the sparkling that he holds close to his warm chassis.

Luna looked up now with her optics slightly dimmed, she was exhausted after all the fun games she had played, and she vented out. Soon she was placed in the sparkling chamber and was in only a few kliks in deeply satisfying recharge.

Ratchet looked down at his sparkling and put her nestled in his carrying hole where she could recharge for some time.

:: Ratchet, we approaching the ship, First-Aid asks for your immediate help, it is worse than we thought::

~*`--'*~

"We approach the ship. Ratchets standby"

"Docking in 5, 4, 3, 2, "

Rubble in the ship's systems was heard "1, docking complete."

Ratchet ran up to the docking station's door and opened it as soon as it was safe, there was a hurt bot inside the ship, and by the file he had gotten from his apprentice First Aid it was terrible. The young medic had been sent out early to meet up with the ship and try to stable the injured bot, and he had done all that he could; they had been too long away. But Cliffjumper had a severe wound in his chassis and lower abdomen and was in the static lock. As soon he came in, he was met by the smaller white and red medic in training with two bots after him and an injured one in their grasps. They put down the red horned Autobot as Ratchet started to look over the wound.

"I tried Ratchet, the main energon line was nicked, and the leek was big. He still with us, but his spark is failing."

" You did good, Aid," Ratchet said as he started to weld a leaking pipe together. "Bring him to the Med-bay and fast; he is fading"

They moved quickly to the Med-bay; as soon as they're had stepped inside, Ratchet was in full medic mode, and First Aid assisted him as well as he could. No one talked; they work quickly in the pattern that they had created after several years of work side by Side. But the wound was too deep, and the injury rate too high and severe to his system. So that night was one in sorry as a brave warrior had to travel to the well of Allspark.

It was this that happened in a war, but it didn't make things any easier. Ratchet knows that he can't save everyone, but he had become a doctor just because he wanted to make a difference in others' life. The only thing Ratchet had wished to in the beginning was to save lives, not see them disappear in front of his optics. He did know that it would happen now and then because it was inevitable, and his patients would get hurt or lose a limb or two, but he would do everything he could to fix them.

Some would call him cold sparked over his behavior and how he raved, hitting, and even threatened his peers. Decades ago, there had been a rumor on one of the academies he had been working for at that time. He would fit in nicely with the Decepticons if he did not have a place among the highly ranked Autobots. He ignores the rumors, of course. There had been rumors of the horrible twins as well, and it was utterly false, even if Sunstreaker had the temper and manners that was used to describe a Decepticons.

But he was not; the twins had a complicated younglingshood, especially Sunstreaker. It didn't matter who believed in the rumors or not, just that those in their immediate vicinity realized the falsehood in words. But that rumors had been silenced by both Ironhide and Optimus at some point. Ratchet had been putting together most of the ship members so many times that he could do it in his recharge. And he hated when they injured themselves in conflict or pure foolhardy, but how much he still bitched and complained he always fixes them. Always. It had now been several decades since Ratchet lost a spark in his med-bay, now he had lost Cliffjumper. Despite Aids quick jobs and that they gave it everything they couldn't do. His spark was extinguished.

The morning came too quickly, and with it the ceremony of the lost; Ratchet had not recharged at all, staying in his Med-bay with the body of Clifjumper in front of him. Luna had been distressed sometimes when he had lost Cliffjumper spark; she had been scared for him, that something had happened to her carrier. Thank Primus that Ironhide had been there for the sparkling, and he had felt a little bad for letting Ironhide explain to the sparkling what had happened.