3. Family (A TFP Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

The light of the GroundBridge flickered away with a familiar popping sound, forcing me to blink a few times from the bright flash it always ended with. My vision cleared quickly and I leaned forward from where I sat, gripping my seat belt nervously as I eagerly looked out Ratchet's front window. My heart and my spark pattered heavily when I saw Optimus, standing at the control monitors, glancing down at us. He had some sort of curiosity in his optics, which surprised me. What was he so curious about? Bumblebee, Arcee, Smokescreen, and Ultra Magnus were all standing in different areas of the base, but their gazes had all turned to us when we arrive, their expressions each very similar. 

"Ratch, there you are!"

I turned my head quickly when Bulkhead walked over from around the corner, looking at the medic, who was still holding me in his vehicle mode. Wheeljack was behind him, curiosity in his optics as well. Meanwhile, Miko sat atop Bulkhead's shoulder, looking every bit as confused as her guardian did. My head was overrun by questions. Why was everyone acting this way?

"Where did you go, Docbot?" Miko asked loudly, frowning. "You just up and left earlier this morning and didn't tell us what was going on!"

"You didn't tell them?!" I blurted from inside his vehicle mode before I could think. I slapped a hand over my mouth quickly when his rearview mirror turned to meet me. Had he meant it to be a surprise? 

Ratchet sighed loudly, making me feel a little bad. Before I could apologize, however, I was suddenly thrust into the air, surrounded my moving figures of metal and cogs. My breath was caught up in my throat and everything flew by so fast I could not register what was really happening for a moment. Before I knew it, I was sitting in Ratchet's palm as he held me out in front of the others. My expression of surprise was met with blank ones; everyone was obviously shocked. I was, too.

"I was gathering Taylor," Ratchet said calmly, like he had told my grandmother what already seemed lik ages ago. I glanced back at him and his easily neutral expression in jealousy. How could he do it? I could already feel my neck heating up.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud cry from Bulkhead. I turned my head sharply to see that Miko was trying to slide down from her guardian's shoulder plate. Bulkhead quickly caught her in his servos as gently as he could, looking like he was about ready to have a spark attack. Miko looked like she was extremely determined to reach the floor and run off somewhere. I was wondering why when I realized that Ratchet was lowering me down to the ground. I glanced up at him for a moment, finding his expression gentler, before I felt his digits gently brush the floor. He lifted his palm slightly, causing me to slide forward. My feet instinctively reached out, my toes tapping the floor first before I pushed myself onto my feet. Bulkhead was now setting Miko down on the floor, too, and I could hear two other pairs of feet running this way.

"TAYLOR!!" Miko suddenly cried loudly, jumping out of Bulkhead's servo before he had even reached the floor. I jumped, but before I had a chance to react, she bounded over to me and crushed me in a hug, actually lifting me off the ground. "You're back!!" she squealed cheerfully.

Once more, before I could make any kind of reply, I realized who the other two feet patterns belonged to. Jack and Raf were also hurrying in our direction, the little one leading the way. Miko let me down, though still kept her arms around me, and the younger boy hugged me tightly as well from below. I felt Jack's hand rest on my shoulder and turned to look at him.

"We missed you!" he said, a bright smile on his face. Miko let one arm loose and snatched him up, pulling him into the hug with a smirk. She squeezed all three of us tightly, her face glowing.

"We all missed our girl!" she cried aloud again. Despite us all being mushed together, her hazel eyes met mine, twinkling with joy. 

I felt like I was frozen for a time. The other kids all continued to embrace me happily, while I was stuck in the middle. For a minute, all I could do was blink a few times, before it felt like my heart burst open. Happy laughter bubbled from my mouth suddenly and a pulled my arms free to hug them back. My head rested on Miko's shoulder while my arms wrapped around the two boys. Despite the fact that none of us had a spark connection like me and Ratchet did, I could still feel the warm sensation of love and acceptance generating from all four of us. I sighed happily and closed my eyes as I hugged them all tighter.