The Parting Glass

Minus Three and a Half

"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.