"Momma!" Arreis shouted toddling towards me when I came into the main room, and she was much taller and slimmer too. "She's walking already? It's not even been a month!"

"Being in stasis for so long, has paused her growth. Now that she is no longer in it, Arreis is catching up to her proper age. By my calculations. In another week and she will be as tall as your knee joint and more slender." Ratchet handed me a datapad with the information.

"Damn." I vented reading over what he just told me. "Also, it appears that Arreis is taking after Ariel currently."

"I have noticed that as well. How did you know that was Elita's designation before the war?" Ratchet looked at me while stopping in the medbay entrance.

"Because I knew one back home." I deadpanned picking up my step-daughter after subspacing the datapad.

"Right." I had a sheepish look of forgetting before going into the medbay to most likely give Ultra Magnus physical therapy.

"BEEBEE!" Arreis squealed when she spotted the black and yellow scout. He looked upset and I knew why.

~Hey, little Arry!~ Bee tried to put on a happy expression. But the hurt was evident in his large optics. ~Look how big you already are!~

"Why you sad?" she tilted her helm and reached down to the mech. He took her from my arms. A sad smile was on my face as I clicked my radio on in place of my vocalizer and played Black and Yellow to try and cheer him up.

~Really? That song?~ he gave me a blank look.

"Worth a... shot... Champ." I replied using radio clips.

"Momma has radio voice!" Arreis cheered clapping her servos. Bee looked at the femmling before I took that distraction as my chance to attack his sides. His buzz of surprise as I began tickling him drew the others attention as Arreis and I both managed to get him to the ground.

~Stop!~ he whirred in laughter while trying to get away.

"Don't let him escape Commander Arreis!" I winked at the sparkling and she caught on.

"Yor undwer awest, Decptecwon!" She did a mock heroic pose before flopping onto Bee's chassis and everyone burst into laughter.

"What is going on?" Optimus entered the main room and stopped when he saw Arreis, Bee, and I on the floor.

"Pwime! I cawt da Decptecwon Beebee!" Arreis smiled up at her father while I sat there filming through my optics and cracking up.

"I can see that." Optimus was trying his hardest to not smile or laugh till a sound from the squirming and laughing scout made everyone lose it.

"When did Cybertronians learn to fart?!" I fell back rolling and laughing my ass off till I couldn't vent or move. "Oh, we needed that."

"I haven't seen Optimus laugh like that ever." Bulkhead wiped coolant from his optics while holding his middle.

"No seriously, have you guys always been able to fart, of was that just his engine backfiring and it came out his exhaust." I sat up, only for Arreis to jump into my lap.

"It was just his engine." Ratchet entered the room with a smile in our direction. "I hope to see the video you captured."

~You took a video?~ Bee whined.

"And I'm gonna save it to show to all future spouses and sparklings." I stood up with Arreis in my arms and left the room.

~I wish I could tackle you.~ he beeped in annoyance.

"But you can't!" I teased.

Time Skip: Week Later...

"Primes, we have trouble brewing. The Decepticons just staged a smash and dash at the Los Alamos nuclear plant last night, and made off with twenty tons of control rods." Fowler came running into the main room of the smaller base. We had been staying here, while Ironhide and the Twins were doing upgrades and repairs that had been put off.

"This is on you. Chernobyl was one nuclear plant too many." I gave Optimus a pat on his knight like shoulder plating before stalking off with Arreis in my arms.

"Momma, what happened there?" the sparkling looked up at me with her inquisitive optics.

"Scary things involving our enemies the Decepticons. Only in my home dimension. Sides and Sunny were there, while Grimy and the ship were still in space." I replied entering our family's temporary quarters. "But that is a story for when you're older. It's nap time."

"Awe." She pouted as I placed her on her 'toddler' berth and covered her up.

"Want mommy to sing you a lullaby?" I offered. She nodded and I sat on the floor next to her. While she snuggled into her blanket, I began to softly sing Fields of Gold by Celtic Woman. Little did I know, carrying and raising an energetic sparkling toddler had wore me out as well and I ended up falling asleep with my upper body draped across my step-daughter's berth.

     A few hours later, I was shaken awake by a hungry Arreis. Groggily, I stood up and held her on my hip as I walked to the main part of the temporary base. I was completely oblivious to being watched by the team and a certain masked Decepticon. When I had finally given my step-daughter her 'sippy cup' of energon, was when I noticed the faceless 'con. A scream escaped me as I drew the Primax blade and hid Arreis from view as I pointed the weapon at Soundwave. My white optics were wide as I began to shake in fear. Arcee stepped closer to me and Arreis reached for her. The blue femme said she would watch Arreis, since as a Prime, I should be there during the interrogation. I went to protest, because of Orion, but she assured me that he wouldn't be able to get free. Eventually, I caved and she went and put Arreis back down for the rest of her nap.

"I'll be back in once this is over." I said as she left the room. Optimus asked the masked mech questions, but only received a remix in response.

"Woah. Optimus Prime, the remix." Miko breathed.

"Oh yeah, how about I wipe that smile off your face!" Bulkhead offered transforming his servo into his wrecking ball.

"Easy." I warned making the stand-down motion with my blade.

"You're armed." he huffed.

"Soundwave, we have treated you fairly. For the sake of the natives of this planet, tell us what Megatron is attempting to build. Before we are forced to rely upon less civil methods of interrogation." Optimus made a slight gesture towards me as I twirled the Primax Blade in one servo, expertly.

"I spent a lot of time with the Ratchet back home, and the Ironhide. Even the Megatron back home feared me, after I ripped his Decepticons apart when I was still human." I examined the small spots of paint I put at the tips of my digits to simulate nail polish. "Even that spider bitch ain't got nothin' on me."

A shrill sound echoed around base, causing the others to hold their helms in pain. I fell to the ground, not holding my audio receptors, but my abdomen. When the sound died down, Optimus help me back up and Ratchet threw his servos in the air.

"Scrap this. Soundwave is no ordinary Cybertronian, inside or out. So I would strongly suggest opening him up so we can have a first hand look at the information recorded on his drives." Ratchet growled. Everyone was taken aback. Including me.

"Damn. Pops only beat the shit out everyone with Wrenches. Maybe Ironass with the wielder, but not this type of sadistic shit." I muttered while holding onto Optimus' arm.

"Uh oh." Arcee said entering the room and seeing writing on the silent mech's visor.

"Alright. He's downloading data!" Bulkhead cheered.

"No. He's deleting it!" I shouted clutching my mate's arm tightly. Soundwave looked at us, me specifically.

"Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior." Came a raspy voice from him before he powered down.

"I... I... I..." was all I managed before darkness clouded my vision and my legs went limp.

"Mommy!" A tiny voice whispered. I opened my optics with a groan and saw a scare Arreis on my chassis.

"What's wrong? How did I get in the room?" I looked around confused.

"Decptecwons are here." it was then I noticed a scratch on her arm and she was shaking. That woke me up good and I jumped to my peds while hiding my relics in my subspace.

"Mommy is gonna put you in her chassis where the sparkling hold is and I need you to stay very still." I instructed as I opened my chestplates and then a small compartment below my crystalized spark. Arreis wordlessly nodded and curled up as I placed her tiny form in the hold. "I'll protect you."

Sounds of combat came from the main room as I barged in with my cannons humming dangerously.

"Avalon, you and Arreis need to get back the your ship!" Ratchet shouted as Laserbeak attached to Soundwave. The silent mech onlined and knocked a charging Bulkhead back.

"He needs to be stopped." I argued as Smokescreen, Bulkhead, and Fowler were knocked out. Soundwave advanced on us and tazed Ratchet while he showed an image of Arreis then a binky while pointing to my midsection.

"Classified." I snarled getting ready to fire my cannons. A sharp pain in the back of my helm caused my body to go limp and I fell into Soundwave's arms. "Damn it."