An unexpected surprise

Sparkling care

Ratchet sighed, stepping into the break room and rubbing his optics. It was pretty early in the morning and most of the younger bots were still in recharge thankfully. The only bots that were awake at the moment were Prowl, Optimus, Ironhide, and Kup.

As he drowsily poured the low grade into a bottle for Athena, he heard Ironhide talking to Optimus as they approached the break room. He ignored them and poured two more cups of energon, one for himself and the other for Wheeljack. He was about to leave when Ironhide asked him a question.

"Hey, how's yer sparkling doin'? I heard that Wheeljack was carrying it." Ironhide said in a rough voice, scratching his chin as he got his cup of bitter energon.

"It just emerged this morning and I'm getting it some energon." Ratchet replied, not looking up from trying to balance the cups between his two hands.

"Is it a mech or a femme? If you are comfortable with me asking." Optimus chimed in with his deep monotone voice.

Ratchet decided to put the bottle in the crook of his arm and hold the two cups of energon in both hands. He turned around to face Optimus and put on a smile. "It's a femme. We named her Athena."

"Athena... what a lovely name. Congratulations to you both." Optimus nodded, smiling under his plate.

"Thank you, Optimus." Ratchet said, turning to leave.

"Have fun caring for that sparkling! They can be a handful!" Ironhide called to him as he left.

"Yeah, no question about it." Ratchet grumbled, walking all the way back to the Medbay where Wheeljack was waiting.

His mood lightened when he entered the Medbay, far away from anyone else who wanted to strike up a conversation. He looked around for Wheeljack, confused at first.

"Wheeljack? I've got the energon." He said, his optics scanning the dimly lit room.

He spotted Wheeljack slumped in a chair, deep in recharge. He smiled and walked over to him, lightly tapping him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, must've dozed off..." Wheeljack mumbled, yawning.

Athena was still fiddling with Wheeljack's fingers with fascination until she spotted the bottle that Ratchet was holding. She chirped loudly, reaching for the bottle.

"Hold on, little one. Energon is on the way." Ratchet chuckled, handing Wheeljack his cup before taking out Athena's bottle. "Here, I'll give you a break and feed her." He said, gently lifting Athena up into his arms and cradling her on her back.

"Thanks Ratch, my arms were falling asleep." Wheeljack chuckled, removing his plate and starting to drink his energon.

Ratchet set his cup down and held the bottle up to Athena's mouth, watching as she eagerly grabbed it and started sucking on it. "Don't drink too fast or you'll get a tummy ache, dear."

Athena only stared at Ratchet for a moment, her wide optics filled with curiosity. Then she went back to drinking her energon, finishing the bottle soon after. Ratchet took the bottle from her and wiped her mouth clean, smiling when she giggled at him and tried to grab his finger.

Wheeljack downed his cup of energon and yawned again, standing up and stretching his arms.

"Hey Wheeljack, I've got work to do in the Medbay. Do you mind watching Athena? I promise I'll watch her tonight." Ratchet asked, feeling bad for his sparkmate.

"Yeah, sure sunshine. She shouldn't be that much of a handful." Wheeljack grinned, taking Athena into his arms and kissing Ratchet on the cheek. He left the Medbay and went down the hall to his workshop.

Ratchet sighed, flicking on the lights and starting his day by cleaning his medical instruments.

-Wheeljack's workshop-

"Alright Athena, I have to work on a few invention plans so I need you to be good." Wheeljack said, glancing down at Athena as he walked over to his desk.

"Bah Bah!" Athena giggled, holding her hands up.

"Here we go, cutie. You can play here until I'm done." Wheeljack chuckled, placing Athena in a makeshift playpen filled with toys and outdated datapads.

"Wheeldack!" Athena yelled, bouncing up and down.

Wheeljack froze, a wide smile forming on his face. "Did you- did you just try to say my name?" He asked, bending down and looking at Athena.

Athena nodded her head and repeated what she said. "Wheeldack!"

"You are just too precious. Can you say Ratchet?"

"W-W-Watchet!" Athena said proudly, giggling and clapping her hands.

"I guess you can't say your R's yet, huh? That's okay, you did great sweetheart." Wheeljack smiled, rubbing Athena on the head.

Athena laughed some more, watching Wheeljack walk over to his work table and begin working on a project.

Soon she got bored and decided to look around. She saw a couple blocks on the floor nearby and crawled over to them, looking at them curiously.

She started to stack them up in a tower, giggling when they fell over. Wheeljack glanced over every once and a while, smiling while watching her play.

Then she gained interest in the datapads. She took one in her small hand, flipping it over and examining it. She put it in her mouth and spat it out, deciding that it didn't taste good.

She got bored again and tried to climb out of the playpen to reach Wheeljack. She was wondering what he was doing until something scared her out of her wits.

It was Wheeljack, but he was groaning in pain. Athena didn't like that and started to cry. She didn't understand that his hand was accidentally cut off while he was working