"You miss him, don't you?"

Smokescreen rolled his eyes upon hearing Arcee's voice and kept his gaze on the camp entrance. "Who, Ratchet? Psh, no! I don't miss that old grump or his dumb rules." He huffed.

Arcee sat down beside the youngling. "Ratchet only wants to do what's best for you, and sometimes that means tough love. I know his methods are a little... outdated, but he means well."

"I miss him." Bumblebee mumbled dejectedly. He sat back on his haunches between the two and whined softly. "They've been gone for a while. Do you think they're okay?"

"Optimus and Ratchet know how to take care of each other. They've been alone before. I'm sure they'll be back soon, Bee." Arcee said. She wrapped her tail around him to provide comfort.

Not even five minutes later, Bulkhead came barreling through the entrance. Considering the urgency in his movements, Arcee would've thought they were about to be attacked.

"We've got company!" The hulking green dragon cheered, lashing his tail excitedly.

Arcee was immediately on her paws, pushing the young ones behind her. "Woah there, Bulk! What kind of company?"

"The good kind." Bulkhead said with a grin. He stepped aside to reveal Optimus and Ratchet entering the camp.

Arcee's eyes lit up. "Optimus!"

"They're back! I knew they'd come back!" Bumblebee exclaimed, pushing past Arcee to greet the older dragons.

Optimus smiled as he teammates gathered around to greet him. Ratchet sidled up beside him and allowed Taylor to hop off.

"Taylor!" Smokescreen immediately tackled her.

Taylor wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled. "Good to see you too, Smokes."

"We return with troubling news." Optimus said once everyone had quieted down. "The Decepticons are trying to reach the human-place. For what reason, I do not know, but Megatron was using Taylor to achieve it. I fear that humankind is in more danger than we thought."

"What does that have to do with us? We have enough problems in our own territory as it is, we can't be in two places at once." Arcee said with a frown. "Besides, how are we supposed to help the humans if we barely know anything about them?"

Taylor rose to her feet with a nervous chuckle. "We uh... brought some friends who might be able to help with that."

Rafael slid down Ratchet's side, flashing a sheepish smile and a friendly wave. Optimus had to crouch so that Jack and Miko could safely get down. Jack looked frightened by so many dragons staring at him, while Miko's grin only grew wider.

"This is the best day ever! We get to hang with real dragons!" Miko exclaimed.

"Whose idea was it to bring more mouths to feed?" Ultra Magnus asked, lowering his head to study the children with a scrutinizing gaze.

Wheeljack scoffed. "Aw c'mon, Magnus. Look at 'em! They won't eat much." He said with a chuckle.

"I tried to convince them to stay." Ratchet muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"The children will only stay with us for a short while. I will return them to their home when the time comes, but for now, they are under our protection." Optimus stated.

"Greeeat, more things for me to avoid stepping on." Bulkhead groaned dramatically.

"Alright, enough talking." Ratchet said as he stepped away. He gestured for Optimus to follow him with his tail. "Come on, Optimus. No more procrastinating. I'm going to get those wounds properly treated."

Taylor watched as Ratchet disappeared into his den with Optimus, longing to go with him. But, part of her felt that she should stick with the others until they were settled in. She hadn't seen them in a while, after all. Additionally, it would take a good bit of time to explain the situation thoroughly enough so that everyone understood.

*
*
*

"Tell us another story about the human-place!" Smokescreen exclaimed. He was barely able to contain himself in the presence of three new human friends.

Arcee chuckled and rolled her eyes. "But they've already told you five." She said, adjusting her position as she lounged across Bulkhead's back.

"Oh, come on, 'Cee. The more they learn, the better." Bulkhead said while parting his jaws in a yawn.

"That may be true, but there are some things they don't need to learn about humans." Arcee replied in a hushed voice. "Like how they used to burn down our forests to make room for their dens and steal our prey so that we were starving in the winter."

"Yeah! Tell us a scary story this time!" Bumblebee chimed in.

"Ooh, I've got one!" Miko said with a grin. "There once was a little dragon who loved to explore." She began in quiet storytelling tone.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen listened intently, their eyes wide with curiosity. Even Bulkhead seemed interested in the tale.

"Each day, he would wander further and further in search of new things to discover, but he always returned home before dark. However, one day he did not return."

Bumblebee let out a small gasp and shuffled closer to Smokescreen.

"The little dragon had found something fun to play with. But whenever he tried to catch it, it was always just out of reach. He chased this mysterious creature deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees around him suddenly became tall and spooky, their branches hanging down like arms trying to grab him. He saw piercing red eyes in the dark watching his every move. And just as he was about to turn and run..."

Taylor had to hide her smile when she noticed Arcee sliding down to sneak up behind Smokescreen and Bumblebee.

"...something grabbed him and yanked him into the darkness, never to be seen again!"

Right on cue, Arcee pinned their tails underneath her front paws with a loud roar.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen both shrieked and bumped into each other trying to run away. Everyone burst into laughter.

"That was a good one!" Taylor laughed, wiping her eyes free of tears.

Jack shook his head, still smiling. "I can't believe you got them to fall for that."

"What can I say? Scaring people is my specialty." Miko stated proudly.

Once Arcee had gathered her composure, she rounded up the two younglings with her tail. "Alright, that's enough stories for tonight. It's time for bed."

"But 'Ceee!" Smokescreen whined.

"No buts. Forward march straight to the den, let's move it!" Arcee ordered with a flick of her tail.

"Thank you for the stories! See you guys in the morning!" Bumblebee waved goodbye with his paw as he was herded towards one of the dens along with Smokescreen.

"Goodnight, Bee!" Rafael waved back to the black and yellow youngling. He then yawned and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "Man, I'm tired."

"Me too." Jack said as he stretched his arms.

Taylor pushed herself to her feet and brushed her pants off. "You guys can sleep with Bulkhead if you want. I promise he won't crush you, he's a sound sleeper." She chuckled.

"Sounds good to me!" Miko exclaimed, already on her feet. "Lead the way, big guy!"

Bulkhead chuckled a bit and turned his head towards Taylor. "You turning in for the night?" He asked her.

She scratched the back of her head with one hand. "Yeah. I want to catch Optimus before he leaves Ratchet's den."

"Alright. Goodnight."

"Night, Bulk."

Bulkhead trailed after Arcee with the kids in tow, starting up another conversation with Miko in the process.

Taylor watched them go with a sigh, then made her way towards the medicine den. She wanted to speak with Ratchet and Optimus alone.

———

Hello!! I'm SO SO sorry for not updating this book in so long! I've been obsessed with Star Wars (as you can probably tell), so my Transformers fics have been put on the back burner.

I just got some new ideas for this book, though, so hopefully that means I'll be able to update it more often.

Again, so sorry for the wait! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!