Raf coughed and spluttered as his little intakes struggled to clear themselves. He was currently cradled in Ratchet's arms as he was sat on a crate. Said medic was trying to feed the little mech but he just wouldn't take it.

"Come on, Rafael. You need this if you want any chance of getting better," he said softly as he pressed the tip of the bottle to the sparkling's mouth.

Ratchet sighed loudly when Raf turned his head away and cried out weakly. He tried to bat the bottle away but found himself too weak to do so and instead just went limp in the arms around him.

"Ratchet, why don't you let me try then you can get on with your worK?" Bumblebee offered when he saw the older mech's exasperated expression.

"Go ahead, but I'll tell you now; he's not going to take that energon," he sighed as he passed the sparkling and bottle over to the young scout.

"Well, I can still try," Bumblebee buzzed with a light expression as he began to head over to the seating area near the play pen so he could sit down.

"Oh and Bumblebee, don't take him out of this room. I need him close to the medbay."

Bumblebee nodded and sat down, holding the sickly sparkling in his lap. He lightly tickled him and let out a small laugh when Raf giggled and started wiggling. After a few minutes of that, Raf found himself cradled to yellow chest plates and soon the tip of the bottle was pressed to his mouth again. Bumblebee was looking at him hopefully and Raf was getting quite hungry so he opened his mouth and began suckling on the bottle.

Arcee came and sat next to the scout as he fed Raf. In her arms were Miko and Jack, both batting at each other and giggling happily.

"How is he?" she looked at the suckling sparkling.

"Well, he's feeding now and Ratchet said he wouldn't. So I guess thats a good sign, right?" he whirred.

"Seems so. He looks healthier than when Ratchet diagnosed him yesterday as well. Is he sure its cyberflu because if so then he is recovering quite quickly for a sparkling," she pointed out.

"I was wondering that myself but hey, if he is recovering faster then I'm not complaining!" the yellow bot had a warm hopeful look in his optics and Arcee smiled at him.

"Yeah it'll be good when he's back to his normal self again," she paused, "I say normal as if these guys are gonna remain sparklings forever..." she said sadly.

"It is nice having cute little sparklings around the base," he sighed as he looked down at the wide eyed form of Raf as he suckled happily and then to the two sparklings play fighting in his friend's arms.

"Optimus was saying only a few hours ago that Agent Fowler had asked him about the whereabouts of Jack, Miko and Raf. Apparently the police are out looking for them, their parents are worried," she sighed.

"And what did Optimus say?"

"I think he tried to avoid telling Fowler about the fact that they aren't humans right now. Unfortunately Optimus realised he couldn't just lie so I believe he told him exactly what happened to the kids."

"Wait, so... Fowler is probably gonna burst in here and demand to see them?"

Arcee nodded, "Yep. And then he'll probably scream at Optimus, demanding to know how this could have possibly happened," she smiled.

Bumblebee whirred in amusement and looked back down at Raf who was now asleep in his arms. It was such a realistic notion as well. Ha, to be honest he thought Agent Fowler might just blow a fuse and faint like he's done many times before. He turned his attention to one of the passages leading to the deeper parts of the base as he heard heavy yet soft footsteps of their leader.

Optimus smiled slightly at his soldiers with the sparklings. All the big mech could feel right now was pride for his little "family" that he had seemingly stumbled into.

Bumblebee and Arcee smiled at Optimus upon his entry and he nodded to them both in acknowledgment. His previous smile returned to his face as Jack and Miko began wiggling in excitement when they saw him as well, clearly showing their happiness.

Optimus walked over to them and patted each of the sparklings on their little helms. He planned on walking over to a computer terminal to go through reports of the most recent battles and get some extra work done in countless other files. However, he planned on going to check on what Ratchet had to say about Raf's recovery. Before he could even properly turn around to walk in the other direction, he felt two little hands clamp onto his hand and try to stop him from walking away. Optimus turned and looked at the little sparkling holding onto him for dear life from Arcee's arms.

"No!" a squeaky voice shouted.

"Miko, I must go and check on what Ratchet has gathered on Rafael and if he has improved, and then get some work done," he told her softly as he knelt down next to Arcee to look the little sparkling in the optics.

Milo's only response was a coo and she moved her little hands to his face. She pulled his helm closer and nuzzled his face with her own with a cute chirp.

"Cute," Bumblebee buzzed as Arcee smiled with a slight smirk.

"Milo what are you doing?" Jack asked but to the bots it came out as a squeak.

Miko chirped her response at him, "Hey, don't start judging me, Optimus is a lot more lenient than Arcee."

"Ah okay so you're using Optimus to get your way all the time..."

"No it's just more fun when you have less rules!" She beamed.

Optimus looked at his Autobots and tried to pry Miko from his face out of embarrassment from the completely out of character moment.

"Optimus its fine, just take her," Arcee smiled as she held out Miko him.

Miko stuck her glossa out at Jack as he giggled at her, none of the bots seemed to notice this. Jack's face scrunched up and he started whining and reaching towards Miko.

"Miko, I decided I wanna come with!" he whined as Miko giggled at him cheekily as if to say 'I told you so'.

"I suppose she needs her wings to be checked on," Optimus stated as he took the squealing and giggling sparkling. She was clearly happy that she was getting what she wanted. But her face changed as soon as she saw Optimus turn to the medbay..

Arcee held Jack tighter as he kept on wiggling, "Jack, as far as I'm concerned the only thing that needs sorting out with you is your mom's worrying," she sighed.

"Agent Fowler is currently assisting us with the situation and so far it seems he is building a strong argument," Optimus assured Arcee.

Miko sat up as she was cradled against the Prime's red chest as he started walking towards the medbay. Her face scrunched up at this, she didn't want to go in there! She'd been in there quite a lot and it was getting quite boring. And, she realised, she liked Optimus but she really wanted to be with Bulk. It made her wonder why the Prime was being so protective of her and wanting to spend every waking moment with her, he didn't seem to do it with Jack and Raf.

Thinking about all this annoyed her and Optimus noticed her facial expression. The red and blue mech bounced her in his arms a little bit but her expression didn't change one bit. He raised an optic ridge in confusion at this.

"Miko, what is wrong?" he asked.

"No!" she squeaked at him as she pointed to the medbay.

He grasped onto her meaning quickly and smiled slightly.

"Yes, Miko. We have to make sure Rafael is recovering and help Ratchet if he needs anything," Miko softened a bit at this, "And, we have to see if your wings are developing correctly"

Miko's helm titled in confusion when suddenly a lightbulb clicked on over her head. She had completely forgotten that she was a flier!

"Opmus!" she squealed happily as she tried to turn and look at her tiny wing nubs and began stretching her arms over her shoulders to try and touch them.

Optimus' optics widened in delight at her second word, his name. Well, what she could manage to call him anyway. Aside from that, it seemed Miko was a lot more intelligent than she let on.

"Yes, those will be your wings once they have grown, little one," he said with a smile as he gently stroked the nubs.

Miko squealed once again in happiness at the news and pressed her back into Optimus' hand as they entered the medbay.

"Ratchet, how are Rafael's vitals from when you last scanned him?"

The medic turned his attention to Optimus and the happy sparkling rubbing her wing nubs against his giant hands.

"It seems he's getting better much quicker than anticipated. The cyberflu has barely even affected him more than it would have with any other sparkling."

"Is there any reason why?" the Prime inquired.

"I'm suspecting its the fact that they were once humans. As humans they must have gotten illnesses similar to this at some point in their lives. This could mean that their bodies, despite being changed, will already have developed antibodies to know how to quickly deal with the virus."

Optimus nodded as he took in the information. It sounded like a reasonable thesis, however they knew they couldn't be certain unless they had further evidence produced by Jack and Miko. But, Optimus knew that he would try and keep them out of harms way as much as he could, that included trying to stop them from getting ill. He'd allowed it to happen to Raf and he regretted that he hadn't taken into consideration that the sparklings could easily become ill.

"I'm guessing you decided now was a good time to check up on Miko's wing growth?" Ratchet said as he took the sparkling from his arms.

"Indeed, considering she didn't seem to want to let me leave her," he smiled as Miko looked at Ratchet with wide optics.

She was placed down on the berth on her stomach. She whined and began trying to wiggle and crawl away but Ratchet's hand kept her securely pinned to the surface.

"Miko, the more you struggle, the longer this check up will last" he told her smoothly as he felt the area around her wing nubs.

"Why you gotta do it like this?!" She demanded and Ratchet chuckled at her cute squeals before continuing.

It was only when he lightly pinched the wing nubs that she began to wriggle even more which made the medic smile in success.

"Well, their growth is noticeable. Her wing nubs are much bigger than three days ago. I'd say another few days until they fully come through. They also seem to be functioning correctly as they are very sensitive but gaining resistance against casual movements," Ratchet smirked as he let the seekerling sit up and watched as she batted at his hand and hissed at him.

"I can see that they are quite sensitive," Prime let out a small, rare chuckle as he watched the small assault on his old friend's hand.

"Is Bumblebee still in the main room with Raf?" he asked his leader as he passed the armful of excited Miko to him.

"Yes and by the looks of it he has gotten him to feed," he began rocking Miko in his arms slightly as she stuck a few of her fingers in her mouth and drooled all over them.

"Bu- How- Wha- Well I never... I was trying to get that little mechling to feed for ages and then suddenly Bumblebee can do it in less that five minutes? Are you sure you think Bumblebee is incapable of looking after Rafael?" Ratchet knew he was pushing Optimus for an answer which he didn't really have to give, but honestly the medic thought that the scout was smart enough to care for a sparkling, he just thought he was a bit young. But hey, he knew that Bumblebee would catch on easy despite his youth.

However Optimus completely ignored his last question. Hmph, he forgot how stubborn that damn mech could be.

"Has Miko had any energon yet?"

"No, I don't believe so," Ratchet went to the storage area and pulled out two bottles, "One is for Jack."

And with that, Ratchet left the medbay with Optimus following closely behind. The medic walked up to a computer terminal and began to try to trace any form of energon signal, be it a mine or a life signal.

Optimus continued walking towards where Bumblebee and Arcee were sat with Jack and Raf and passed Arcee one of the bottles. The Prime and Arcee began to feed the two sparklings who eagerly suckled on the bottles. Raf was now awake and looking slightly woozy but better than he was before. He was sat upright on Bee's lap as the yellow scout allowed him to push one of his race cars around on his abdomen and arms.

Just on time to see the residents of the base in the same room together, Bulkhead zoomed back into the base having finished his patrol shift. He transformed back into his bi-pedal mode and crashed his fists together.

Miko sat up in Optimus' arms excitedly and spat out her energon, getting it over the big mech's arms and servos and reached towards Bulkhead with a big smile.

Bumblebee erupted in laughter, "I think someone's excited," he bleeped.

"Opmus no!" She squealed as she pushed herself away from his chest and continued reaching for Bulkhead.

"Hey Miko, how're you doing?" The wrecker chuckled and smiled as he took her from the Prime's energon covered he received an excited shriek as a reply, "Guess who came back to visit?"

Ratchet looked up, optics wide, "No, don't tell me that- that- rodent is back..."

"Missed you too, Doc!" Wheeljack smiled as he walked in, "Hey Mi- Wait... You called a sparkling after your human friend? Why do you even have a sparkling?"

"Well this is Miko, long story. And over there, that's Jack and Raf" Bulkhead explained.

"You guys certainly find ways of keeping yourselves busy" the race car scoffed entertained.

Optimus subspaced a rag and began to wipe up the spat up energon from his arms. He then passed the unfinished sparkling bottle to Bulkhead so that Miko could continue to feed before walking to a terminal next to Ratchet and staring his work.

"C'mon, Miko. You gotta eat," Bulkhead urged his charge to take her bottle but she was too busy wiggling around in his arms from excitement.

"Awwww but Bulk, I missed you! Optimus has been acting real possessive but you're my one and only partner!" Miko squealed in her sparkling babble as she tried to climb onto his shoulder.

"Miko, if you want your wings to grow then you gotta have your energon." he tried enticing her.

"Wait, now you're telling me that your human partner that is now a sparkling is also a seekerling? Woah, kid's gonna have a story to tell," Wheeljack smiled at Miko as she reached out for him from her guardian's shoulder, "Drink, kid. Or your wings won't exist," he teased her.

Miko's eyes widened with slight fear until her normal mind caught onto a bluff. She laughed at him and took the bottle from Bulkhead and held it herself for a second before throwing it at Wheeljack and hitting him square in the face.

"Ah, Miko..." Bulkhead groaned as he turned to his friend, "Sorry, Jackie..."

Wheeljack chuckled as he rubbed the spot where the sparkling bottle hit him, "Don't sweat in, Bulk. Kid's got fire, I'd say if she stays Cybertronian then she's a future wrecker."

Wheel jack then turned to the other sparklings, now interested in seeing the transformation of the other human children.

"Hey, Bee, why does your one look like its half dead?" Wheeljack joked not realising the severity of what he just said.

Bumblebee let out a string of beeps and warbles of complete anger and worry that Raf actually looked that bad.

"You'll be surprised to know, Wheeljack, that Raf here looks like that because he is ill with cyberflu," ratchet snapped from the computer terminal he was working from.

"Oh, well slag. I'm sorry, Bee, you too Raf."

Wheeljack's attention soon turned to Jack when said sparkling started squealing and reaching out towards him. Arcee smiled and moved Jack from where he was cradled against her chest plates to sitting on her lap as he continued squeaking a speech at the wrecker. Wheeljack just smiled at the little squeaker and walked up to Ratchet and Optimus.

"Optimus would you mind if I take some energon to pump into my ship? Not gonna need much but if I wanna stop it from rusting then it needs at least a cube or two."

"Help yourself, Wheeljack. We recently acquired a significant stockpile," Optimus confirmed as the wrecker nodded in thanks.

"And, Doc. Could I borrow some of your tools?" he said with a grin.

Ratchet snorted and huffed as he waved his hand and muttered something along the lines of "fine, fine".

"Thanks, Doc," Wheeljack smirked and with that he called Bulkhead over to take some tools while he carried some energon cubes.

Soon enough, Bulkhead, Miko, Jack and Wheeljack were inside the crashed form of the Jackhammer. Jack had been allowed to join them after he seemed desperate to join Miko in whatever she was doing. And now, Jack and Miko had been placed in the captain's seat just to keep them interested enough in the ship and to make sure they stayed put whilst the two mechs repaired the ship. However, their interest in the flickering lights in front of them was becoming weaker and weaker as time passed and eventually it got to a point where Miko turned her attention on the control panel in front of them. She reached out and grabbed the control handle and pulled herself up onto her legs.

Jack smacked her leg and squealed in protest, "Miko! Stop! You might press something important!"

"Oh, please. Nothing bad will happen," she scoffed at her friend as she started climbing up the control panel.

Jack craned his neck just in time to see Miko step on the most dangerous looking button she could and he flinched in anticipation of what was to come... but nothing happened.

"See, what'd I tell you," she rolled her eyes at her friend's shaky behaviour.

"Okay, sorry. I know I'm freaking out quite a lot but I feel even more vulnerable than when we were humans. Heck, Miko we can't even feed ourselves and our parents don't even know where we are!"

"I get it, dude. But honestly, just enjoy it while you can; no school, no peer pressure, no financial problems... It's like a vacation!" She smiled at him. Jack gave her a smile of his own, it wasn't really reassuring for him but she knew she was trying.

"Yeah, I guess so..." he looked down as he played with his fingers, "Hey! Where are you going?!" he demanded as he looked up only to see Miko had climbed down from the control panel and was now scaling her way down the captain's seat.

"A little bit of outdoor exploration, inside is boring now," she told him as he followed suit and began climbing down.

"Miko, it could be dangerous!" He shouted at her as he hurried to keep up with his hyperactive friend.

"Well if you think so then you don't have you don't have to follow me. Doiii!" she shouted back.

"I just wanna make sure your safe!" he squealed at her as they passed the two distracted and arguing mechs and began to make their way down the ship's ramp and back onto the sandy desert floor.

"Dude, we've had this conversation before... You. Aren't. Optimus. You're a year older than me and honestly we didn't even know of each other's existence until we met the Autobots," she was beginning to get annoyed.

They continued crawling around the perimeter of the ship and were so caught up arguing that they didn't hear the roar of an engine approaching them.

"This has nothing to do with how long we've know each other, Miko! I care because you're my friend- one of my best friends!"

"Look, Jack," Miko turned to him to continue, "I get it-" she froze.

"What?" Jack stared at her with an optic ridge raised.

"Run!"

"We can't!"

"Well then crawl!" she cried loudly as they began heading towards the back of the ship. Jack took a chance and looked behind him and saw- of all Cybertronians- Knock Out and Breakdown walking up to them with interested smiles on their faces.

Luckily for the two little ones, Bulkhead and Wheeljack heard the sparkling squeals from outside the ship and headed out just to see Knock Out scoop Jack and Miko up into his arms and Breakdown taking the offensive.

"Whats wrong, Bulkhead? Regretting letting them roll around in the dirt?" Breakdown laughed as he charged at the two wreckers. Knock Out took this as a cue to laugh wickedly and transform, locking the sparklings safely inside him with the seatbelts wrapped around them.

The two captured sparklings could see the brawl out of the windows and noticed that they were getting further from it. Knock Out was driving away. They were captured by a Con. Both of them found themselves crying loudly with tears coating their faceplates.

"Lord Megatron, I have interesting news," they could hear the smirk in his voice.

"What is it, Knock Out?" came the rasp of Megatron's voice.

"I have found two sparklings that were in the Autobots' care."

Megatron's laugh sounded, "Excellent work, Knock Out. Return to base immediately."

A ground bridge appeared in front of the cherry red sports car and he was about to drive through it when two large black servos picked up Knock Out's entire form. Jack and Miko, looked through the windscreen to see Optimus as he bent open one of Knock Out's doors. The aston martin screamed in pain as Optimus was about to pull out the two sparklings when a sudden force hit him and made him drop the Decepticon medic's alt form, allowing him to drive through the ground bridge.

Optimus groaned in pain as he turned to see what had hit him and saw Breakdown stood a few meters away from him with a smoking missile canon.

"What's wrong, Prime? Gonna miss your precious sparklings? Because they're sparklings of the Decepticons now!" He laughed as he saw the two ex-wreckers approaching him and decided it was a good time to follow his partner through the bridge.

Bulkhead roared in anger and punched a nearby rock with his wrecking ball fists.

Two out of three of their charges had been taken by the Cons. And one happened to be one that Optimus was indeed very protective of.

Optimus' battle mask slid back and revealed a furious expression. His optics flashed slightly as he swore to himself he would get those sparklings- his sparklings- back, no matter what.

.....

On the Nemesis, Knock Out had been bridged straight to the helm where Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream were waiting. Soundwave and Starscream were not yet aware that the medic and his partner would be returning with sparklings.

Knock Out drove through carefully with Breakdown running through after him. The medic's door was quickly bent back into place by Breakdown before he could transform and when he did so he had s sparkling cradled in each arm, both were in a light recharge. The stress that had been placed on their systems had made them tired and they'd fallen asleep very easily.

Megatron smiled evilly when he laid his optics on the sparklings his medic held whilst Starscream and Soundwave were visibly shocked. Both went to stand right by Megatron's side as Knock Out approached their leader with the sparklings.

"Sparklings? Where did you find sparklings?" Starscream demanded.

"With the Autobots, it looked like they were repairing one of their ships and had lost track of these two," Breakdown answered.

"And honestly, I couldn't bear to see such young plating crawling around in all that dust. Wouldn't want to ruin such fine new plating," he purred as he stroked a digit across their faceplates. That alone was enough to wake them up from their light slumber.

Immediately, both looked at the Cons surrounding them and the room they were in. Both looked slightly confused until everything clicked in and they started to wail and struggle in the medic's arms. All the Decepticons present watched with smirks as the sparklings fought against Knock Out by punching him, but it was only when Miko turned around to face Knock Out to kick and push at his chest, her back facing Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave, that the three aforementioned Cons had their smirks wiped completely off their faces. Megatron's optics widened in shock, Soundwave was visibly taken back and Starscream smiled uncharacteristically as his wings twitched in excitement. Megatron and Soundwave looked at Soundwave before Megatron turned back to Knock Out with a smirk and took Miko into his own arms.

The Decepticon Lord lifted Miko up to his face and was shocked and pleased with her courageousness when she tried to bat at his face. He smiled as he brought her back down the rest against his chest where she continued to struggle the same way she had when Knock Out had been holding her.

"A seekerling," he smirked as Miko continued crying as she gave up on her attack against him, "I take it you would like to be the one caring for this particular sparkling, wouldn't you, Starscream?" Megatron asked with an evil grin as the seekerling now started biting one of his digits.

"Y-yes, Master," his wings quivered as he took the seekerling out of Megatron's hold. He could feel his protocols coming to life as he held her against his chest and began to rub soothing circles on her wing nubs. Miko settled instantly as he began doing this and slumped against him and listened to his surprisingly soothing spark beat.

Jack was still crying and had begun squealing and reaching out for Miko, not knowing what Starscream had done to her to make her quieten down that quickly.

"Knock Out, you will take care of the other one," Megatron decide, looking both sparklings over once more before turning back to what he was originally doing with Soundwave.

Starscream looked down at the tiny seekerling against his chest as he heard Breakdown teasing his partner about having to look after the sparkling. Meanwhile, he dismissed himself and returned to his quarters, still massaging the wing nubs carefully. He sat down on his berth carefully with his precious cargo.

"My little seekerling," he whispered as he leaned down to lightly kiss Miko on the head resulting in her whimpering. Starscream was now completely enthralled with her and there was nothing she could do about it.