Hope's Return

Bittersweet Reunion

Bumblebee woke to bright sunlight glaring off his optics. Groaning a little, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and rubbed his temples.

"Helmache?"

The unexpected voice had his helm shooting up, causing pain to flare through his whole frame. Groaning again, he slid back down on the berth and closed his optics. The cool servo running over his helm made him open them again and stare up at his adopted carrier.

"Sweet Solus Prime, what happened to me? It feels like Grimlock used me for smashing practice."

"So...you don't remember anything that happened yesterday?"

"Just that we were in the middle of chasing a  rouge Decepticon."

"Well, the good news is that your team captured him."

Bumblebee lifted up blurry optics to hers.

"And the bad news?"

"You got blasted with his quills resulting in you regressing to a sparkling mentality and running amok."

He groaned and covered his optics once more. He was not looking forward to facing his team.

"Let's do something about that helmache."

He felt a warm burst of energy flow through him and slowly the pain receded until he could see clearly and move without pain.

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome. I rather enjoyed taking care of a sparkling again."

At his blush, she merely laughed and pulled him to his peds.

"Come on. Your team is probably still worried and wondering how you're doing."

Clasping his servo's in hers, she pulled him out into the salvage yard where the rest of the team had gathered. Sideswipe sent her a silent inquiry and she nodded in response.  Heaving a vent of relief, he waved Bumblebee over.

"Hey Bee, good to see that you're feeling better."

"Was I that big of a problem?"

Strongarm and Sideswipe glanced at each other before hastily shaking their helms.

"No sir, not at all."

"Of course not Bee."

Grimlock looked between the two of them before shaking his helm in confusion 

"I thought you hated all those pranks he played and didn't you say that you had changed your mind about ever wanting to have sparklings?"

Strongarm's face plate flushed in embarrassment.

"I...well...but...ugh!"

Hope stepped up and patted her on the shoulder plate.

"Don't worry about it. Optimus practically raised him and I heard stories that would make yesterday seem like a walk in the park."

Smiling back at Bumblebee to soften her words, she continued.

"But I for one am thankful to have been able to see my adopted son as a sparkling, even if it was only for a short while."

Bumblebee shuffled his peds before squaring his shoulders. Clearing his voice box, he attempted to regain control of the conversation.

"I'm  glad that I could make this a learning experience for you but for now, it's good to be back to normal. Congratulations team on a successful mission."

Sideswipe snickered at Strongarm's salute and thank you but stopped when she glared at him. Hope turned to Bee to ask a question when she was interrupted by a blue pickup pulling into the yard.