It was a quiet evening at the Autobot base. Raf was being entertained by Arcee who was bouncing him around and making him giggle slightly. The poor little dude had felt the pain of his friends being taken by the Decepticons. He also didn't like the thought of going through this robot baby thing alone.

"Oh, now I'm gonna have to go through changing by myself," Raf groaned to himself.

"Aw c'mon, Raf, don't start crying on me now," Arcee smiled in response to his little sad sparkling babble.

Ratchet was stood at the computer terminal with a buzzing Bumblebee tapping on his shoulders ever few seconds. The poor medic had been dealing with this for a few minutes now, and all though he could understand the scout's behaviour, Ratchet did want to be left alone to find the Nemesis' coordinates.

"Bumblebee, I know, I'm looking and I have been doing since they've been taken from us. But leaning over my shoulders isn't going to do anything," Ratchet sighed.

Bumblebee slumped, his wings dropping from there usually high perch to being completely pressed against his back as his head dipped in despair.

"I'm sorry, Ratch. I'm just really worried about Jack and Miko..."

A comforting hand was placed on the scout's shoulder, and said scout looked up to see Optimus with a sympathetic look on his face.

"As are all of us, Bumblebee. But right now it would be more fruitful to leave Ratchet to find the Nemesis whilst the rest of us patrol for any sign of Decepticon activity," and with that, Optimus transformed and began to drive from the base to begin another patrol.

"I think Optimus is feeling it more than we are," Bumblebee looked at Ratchet as the medic shook his head sadly.

"I don't blame him."

The Decepticons had been looking after the sparklings for a couple of days now, and in that time they had dedicated a room to the young ones and any activities that might be educational or fun. Breakdown had requested the room in the first place and Megatron had given him a raised eyebrow before agreeing that it would be beneficial to the new adoptive sires and the sparklings.

After being given the go ahead, Breakdown had essentially been invading Knock Out's space in the medbay so that he could use tools, scrap metal and other materials to fashion some sparkling toys. The big lug had made more than enough toys for just the two sparklings that they were catering for, but he rather enjoyed spoiling these sparklings. After all, one of them was the now adoptive son of his best friend and he didn't particularly mind Starscream either, but of course he loved the seeker's adopted seerkerling.

He was beginning to think of Onyx and Ryker as his own little adopted twins even though he wasn't put in charge of them. He still believed that he could be fully active in raising them alongside Knock Out and Starscream.

After he had constructed the toys, he ended up going through storage to find some cybertronian covers and blankets and managed to salvage a store on Earth and steal a ridiculous amount of soft things for Onyx and Ryker to rest on and bury themselves into.

And after a day of preparing, what was once just an unused room was now a nursery for the two sparklings on the Nemesis. The room was lit up by the many floor-to-ceiling windows that had the tint removed from them so that the sparklings could soak up the positive effects of natural light. Breakdown also thought that Onyx and Ryker would enjoy looking at the sky which was another benefit to these huge, clear windows. The once dark walls were now a light bluish grey and all of the computer consoles had been removed from the room. The only surfaces that existed were the changing tables, storage cupboards and a table that they would teach the little ones to draw on. The floor had been replaced with a different cybertronian element that felt softer, especially to the sensitive plating of the tiny sparklings that would be crawling around on it. Toys had been placed all around the room apart from one corner that had a baby fence and gate around it which was filled with the cushions, pillows and blankets.

Breakdown had done an amazing job at preparing this nursery, with the help of the vehicons of course. Another perk of this room was that it was only a minute down the hall from the main control room, meaning that all the officers and the adoptive sires of these sparklings could come and visit during their breaks.

At this point in time, Knock Out and Starscream, with their little ones in tow, were inspecting the room to see if it was definitely safe for them to leave their little ones here whilst they were working. Megatron and Soundwave had turned up out of curiosity to see the room and how it had turned out.

"You're sure that everything in here has been child-proofed?" Starscream looked Breakdown straight in the optics, giving him a look that hinted he would kill him is any harm, accidental or not, came to his precious little one.

"And you've double checked every single item in here to make sure that they can't accidentally hurt themselves, I don't want them choking on small parts of toys..." Knock Out added on.

"Everything in this room was made for the sparklings with their safety in mind, so you two don't have to worry at all," Breakdown reassured them.

"I'm guessing you will need someone on duty at all times," Megatron hinted, "You may use some of the vehicons and allow them to switch in between shifts. Soundwave, I want you to pick a handful that will be best suited to looking after Onyx and Ryker."

Soundwave nodded in response and turned to go back to the control room. With that Megatron watched as the two sparklings were put on the floor and allowed to rummage around in their new collection of toys. At least he knew the two future warriors would be safe and on top of that he'd have two of his officers following their regular schedule. With a nod himself, Megatron walked out of the room after expressing that he expected to see Knock Out and Starscream on their normal duty by the following day.

Starscream flicked his wings and let out a relaxed sigh as he watched the two little ones talk in sparkling babble and play happily with their new toys.

"I believe we still need to run a full check up on the sparklings and give them some vaccinations," Knock Out informed the seeker.

"Need any help?" Breakdown flashed a smile.

"Well of course, I reckon Onyx will need an extra pair of hands to keep track of her," Knock Out grinned as did Starscream at that comment.

"Yes, Onyx's wings look like they'll need to be numbed. She's been fussing with them," Starscream noticed.

With that, Starscream leaned to pick up the little seekerling and hold her gently in his arms. Miko found that as she was scooped up that she didn't want to leave this toy that she'd found. It was almost a soft toy but boy it felt good when she chewed on it. Her gums were feeling incredibly itchy...

"Oh snap," Miko shouted to Jack as she held her toy tightly in her little hands, "Dude, I think I'm teething or whatever the Cybertronian equivalent is!"

"Well, I don't know what to do, maybe just continue chewing that toy?" Jack squealed as he was picked up and the Decepticons began walking towards the medbay with their squealing little ones in their arms.

"My you're talkative aren't you," Starscream smiled at both of them earning himself a cute stare from Jack.

Starscream wasn't too lucky with his reaction from Miko as she decided to be a little mischievious and swing her drool covered chew toy at the older seeker's face. Starscream didn't even see it coming she had been that fast, and he wouldn't have minded if he hadn't heard the annoying cackles of Knock Out and Breakdown laughing at him and his rambunctious little seekerling.

"Onyx, you do not hit, and especially not me," he scolded lightly as he took the toy away from the giggling seekerling.

"Aw, dude. You're a buzzkill," she moped as Jack giggled at her shot on Starscream.

"You guys are cute when you speak in your weird little sounds, you know that right?" Breakdown laughed as the five of them reached the medbay.

"Wow, never knew Breakdown was such a big dope," Jack pointed out making Miko laugh. After all, she'd only seen the big bot when he was fighting Bulk and acting like a big macho guy.

Both sparklings had now been placed on a med berth and held in place by Starscream as he waited for Knock Out and Breakdown to prepare all of their injections that they were about to have. They didn't trust that the Autobots had vaccinated them against anything, and the Decepticons had yet to do it. Even if the Autobots had vaccinated them and there was proof that they had, there was a part of Knock Out that knew he would double check they were immunised... he was starting to like his little son and Starscream's daughter.

"Dude, get off my back!" Miko screeched at her guardian.

"She definitely needs her wings to be numbed, Knock Out, I'm barely touching her wing nubs and she's making a fuss!" Starscream called.

"Alright, Breakdown hold onto Onyx, we're going to get the energetic one out of the way first," Knock Out braced a hand on the seekerling as he gathered up a needle which had been combined with all the different nutrients and vaccinations that a sparkling would need instead of just having to do multiple.

Miko squeaked in surprise when she felt the needle gently jabbed into her and a cold feeling run through the area. Unfortunately she was met with another feeling but this time in her wing and she ended up kicking up a fuss about it and making Knock Out spray some of the anaesthetic that he wanted to empty into her wing nubs. Oh well, at least he'd gotten enough into them so that her wings would be nice and cool for a while before she began to feel uncomfortable again.

"Shh, my little one," Starscream had come to pick up his now crying sparkling and held her close to his chest, "You won't feel anything soon, just calm down."

"Alright and now time for you, Ryker," Knock Out approached the shaking sparkling that was being pinned in place by his assistant.

"No! Dude if that makes Miko cry then I don't want anything like that near me!"

"Hey, little guy, it's gonna be okay, you don't have wing nubs like Onyx," Breakdown tried to reassure him.

"Well, I suppose I had better be going, I think Onyx might need a nap if she's acting like this."

"Later," Knock Out waved dismissively as the second in command walked out of the medbay with his whimpering sparkling in tow.

"Oh man, if this hurts I swear to-"

"Told you it wouldn't hurt, Ryker," Breakdown smiled.

Jack thought he had to prove a point to these mechs, they were nice and all but they were fairly annoying. So he made his best pouting face and let loose the water works making Breakdown's smile instantly fade.

"Oh c'mon now, surely it wasn't that bad..." Knock Out rolled his eyes and cradled a now tantrumming sparkling to his chest.

"And this is what you get for kidnapping me!" Jack screeched.

"Alright, I think someone needs a nap too," the red mech had had enough of the sparkling cries and began to try and lull him to sleep.

It wasn't working. At all. It was going to be a long evening...

The doors to Starscream's quarters closed and he'd just about gotten Onyx to stop her crying but she was still struggling furiously in his arms, clearly not wanting to be held.

"Calm down, little one," Starscream cooed as he set the sparkling down on his berth with a tired huff.

"I don't know if its these meds they've given me but oh boy do I feel like a mess," Miko growned.

"You'll be fine, my little one. You just need a nap," the seeker commander smiled at his babbling sparkling and their nonsensical talk.

"No, nothing will be fine. Not while I'm here. Frag that, not even while I'm a sparkling. Never thought I'd say this but I really wish I was human right now..." Miko muttered with tears coming to her bright golden optics.

No Starscream was about to go to comfort Onyx as he saw she was on the verge of crying again whilst she spoke in her sparkling talk, however in between the sparkling talk, all he managed to make out was "frag"... that wasn't good.

"No, no, no, little one! You must never say that word!"

Miko looked the seeker in the optics confused for a hot minute. And then she realised exactly what was happening and a cheeky little grin came to her face.

"FRAG!" she grinned at her caretaker.

"No! Onyx, I said no!" Starscream scolded but it wasn't doing anything.

"Frag, frag, frag, frag, frag, frag, frag, frag!" Onyx had now begun crawling up and down the berth as if performing a march.

Suddenly a servo was put over her mouth, lifted up and given a swift smack to her aft. Miko couldn't help but look at Starscream in complete shock as she realised what had just happened to her.

"Onyx, I don't want to have to do this to you, but if you keep on saying that bad word then you will be punished," the seeker scolded as he looked his little one in the optics.

Miko whimpered and decided her fun was over, and once she was put back down on the berth she decided to bury herself in the covers and try to sleep. She was feeling a little tired after the commotion of seeing her new nursery and just being smacked by Starscream had damaged her pride just a little, no one was ever going to hear of this...

She felt a gentle hand begin to massage her wing nubs, coaxing her to sleep as well. It seemed that Starscream had als been tired out by the sparkling and wanted some peace and quiet for an hour or two whilst the seekerling slept. Miko felt her optics slowly close and in a short blur, she was in a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Starscream decided to work on some files that he had to hand in to Megatron soon.

"I wonder what he wants," Breakdown muttered.

"It can't be good if he's called all of us," came the reply of his friend, "And it better be important if the little scamp wakes up any time soon..."

The doors to the main control room opened where Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream holding a sleeping Onyx in his arms, were waiting. Once Breakdown and Knock Out had approached them, Megatron began talking to his key mechs.

Jack and Miko were slowly woken up by the powerful voice of Megatron and smiled lightly at each other when they saw they were essentially next to each other.

"I definitely could've done with a couple more z's," Jack moaned and rubbed at his optics.

"Yeah, who knew being a robot baby was tiring," Miko laughed slightly before catching Jack's eye and flashing a sly grin, "Hey, you wanna see something funny?"

"What is it...?"

"FRAAAAGGG!" Miko screamed, interrupting Megatron and drawing the attention of the 5 mechs plus all the vehicons that were present.

"Wait that's the only word that they can understand?!" Jack was almost crying with laughter, "Let me try... FRAG!"

"Ryker! No!" Knock Out scolded.

"Onyx, what did I tell you about that word?!" Starscream exclaimed.

Megatron looked unimpressed with Starscream and Knock Out. Only they could somehow get a sparkling to scream curse words...