Gift fic for IDoNotSpeakSportsCar, who is a great reviewer of my "Guardians of Life" story. She requested a Ratchet/Mikaela friendship/humor/fluff fic.

I'll admit I had trouble writing this, but eventually the inspiration came! Hopefully its good enough lol

Yeah, yeah, *glares at copyright people* I don't own them, okay?

Ratchet let out a sigh as he settled himself into a chair. He had just finished cleaning his medical equipment and berths to a pristine shine. "Now if they could stay that way for more than a few hours, I'd be a very happy medic…" he thought, smiling. A knock at the door shook him out of his daydream.

"Um…Ratchet?" Mikaela asked, peering into the medbay. "Hey! I was wondering if you needed any help cleaning up."

"Thank you, but I just finished," he answered gesturing towards all the shining equipment. "But knowing these Autobots like I do, if you ask again in a few hours I'm sure I'll need the help." He forced a smile after thinking about his pristine room being utterly destroyed and shook his head. "I'm sure the Twins will pull some stunt that will trash my medbay soon, some way or another."

Mikaela winced as she heard a distant crash, followed by a loud cheer. "I think you're right," she said, closing the door behind her.

Ratchet sighed. "It's the life of a medic," he said, watching Mikaela carefully climb to the top of a berth to be closer to eye level with him. "Actually, that's not true," he corrected, laughing to himself. "None of my training prepared me for this particular group."

"What do you mean?" Mikaela asked, looking up at him. Even from here, he was still a good ten feet above her head.

"My training prepared me for tough situations. For perfectly repairing just about any injury imaginable in the middle of a battlefield with Decepticons just feet away from you. It didn't prepare me for the…craziness…of this group. Sometimes, I'm still not entirely prepared for it. All the strange situations we've been in…"

Mikaela could understand that. It was a crazy group, after all. "Just how long have you worked with them, exactly?"

Ratchet rubbed the plates above his optics. "Let's see…It was about eight, no, nine million years ago I finished my training. I was assigned as Optimus's medical officer right after, and that was before he was the leader of all Autobots, mind you. I had dreams of working with the best of the best, being the medic of a top-notch team that would be feared by every Decepticon. But instead I got this crew…An overly optimistic First Lieutenant, a trigger-happy Weapons Specialist, a Scout that talks in song lyrics, and two complete menaces to civilization, all under the command of a leader that somehow tolerates all of it." He laughed again. "Nothing against them in the slightest. I know they all label me as 'the grumpy medic,' and they're all great mechs that I'm glad I had the chance to work with…but they're far from the dream team I thought I would work with for nine million years."

Mikaela stared at him, confused. "Is everything okay, Ratchet? You seem like you have something on your mind."

Ratchet settled farther into his chair, thinking to himself for a moment. Then he replied, "I got an invitation from Ultra Magnus to join his team. I'm tempted to take it…I mean, I enjoy working with these mechs, but sometimes I think I've been with them for too long. With Ultra Magnus I wouldn't have--"

The medic was interrupted by a loud crashing noise at the door, causing Mikaela to jump slightly. Ratchet, on the other hand, was used to these random loud interruptions and merely looked up, snorting slightly.

"Frag, I forgot it opens the other way," Sideswipe said, cursing himself. Then he pulled the door open so hard he ripped it off its hinges. "Ratchet! I have a problem!"

"--mechs ripping the doors off my medbay and barging in unannounced," Ratchet finished flatly, turning to the bot that sprinted into the room. "You mean besides the fact that you don't remember how the medbay doors open, despite how you're in here at least three times a week?" he added to Sideswipe sarcastically, standing up.

The insult slid off of the red mech easier than Ironhide trying to find a way to use his cannons. "My left arm blade is stuck!" he whined, plopping down on an empty berth. The blade in question stuck out at an odd angle.

"Oh, fine, let me see," the CMO replied, taking Sideswipe's arm tenderly despite his annoyance.

"Oww, owww! Don't touch it!!" Sideswipe whimpered, trying to pull his arm away. Mikaela giggled to herself and watched him try to push Ratchet away, throwing the robot equivalent of a fit. Sideswipe could take a direct hit from a Decepticon and brush it off, but a little thing like a stuck blade caused him to squirm like a Sparkling.

Ratchet held on and swapped his other hand away. "Sideswipe, do uncooperative bots get suckers?"

Sideswipe stopped struggling and sniffed. "Nooo…"

"And do you want one?"

"…Yes…"

"Then behave," Ratchet ordered, taking a closer look at his arm. "How did this happen, anyway?" he asked, noting the several light scratches and dings on his upper body.

"Well, I was in combat practice--"

"Sides! Is your arm going to be okay? Can Ratchet fix it?" Sunstreaker asked, flying into the room. "I didn't think you'd actually take my dare!" He looked up at Ratchet. "You should've seen him! He went flying off the cliff and he almost made it, but he totally faceplanted into the other side--"

Ratchet cut him off with a wave of his hand and turned back to a cowering Sideswipe. "Busted."

Sideswipe practically melted under Ratchet's angry glare. "Okay…so…I tried to jump the canyon behind base…and…I didn't exactly make it…but it's not my fault! Sunny dared me to and--" he stopped suddenly as the CMO's glare intensified.

Ratchet pointed to a list on the remaining door to the medbay. "'Being dared' is number six on the list of excuses I don't accept, remember?"

"Yeah…"

"And you remember that 'I dare you' is number three on the list of things you're not allowed to say anymore, right?" he added to Sunstreaker, pointing to the list below the first.

"Yes…" he replied, looking away. Sunstreaker managed to catch Mikaela's eye and mouthed the words "Help me please!" with wide optics. Ratchet was getting ready to start one of his rants.

Mikaela smiled slightly before saying, "Um, Ratchet, I know I'm not a giant alien robot, but I really think Sideswipe's arm hurts a lot, just from looking at it."

Ratchet sighed again. She was right. And as a medic he disliked when any Autobot was in pain. Unless he caused it himself. That was entirely different.

He muttered something about how he was getting to old to deal with such Sparkling-like behavior before going back to work on Sideswipe's arm blade. Sunstreaker sat down with relief and mouthed the words "Thank you!" to Mikaela. He was free from Ratchet's wrath for the moment.

"Alright, looks like it just bent a little, no larger damage done," Ratchet said after a few minutes. "Now, this might hurt some…"

"OUCH! That fragging hurt like the Pit, Ratch!" Sideswipe yelled, yanking his arm back and rubbing it tenderly.

"Well maybe you'll think twice about pulling a stunt like that again. You're lucky you weren't hurt worse than that!" Ratchet shook his head. "Can you retract it now?"

Sideswipe hesitantly pulled his blade back in, wincing as he expected pain. But when none came, he looked up at Ratchet and exclaimed happily, "Yeah! It works great now! Thanks!"

The CMO rolled his optics to himself and walked over to a cabinet. Sideswipe knew that to be the cabinet where he held all of his briberies for mechs to behave when he was examining them. He had a different bribe for each member of the team, including Optimus. Even renown Autobot leaders fear their checkups.

"I want a--" Sideswipe began, anxiously awaiting his reward and swinging his feet back and forth.

"Red sucker," Ratchet finished for him. "I know." He reached into the jar labeled "Sideswipe", which was filled with red energon lollipops.

"Yay!" Sideswipe clapped, receiving his sucker. "Thanks, Ratchet!" He happily sucked on it as he left the room, Sunny right behind him. Neither bot wanted Ratchet to start yelling at them again.

Ratchet fell into his chair after they left. "Sometimes I think they purposely cause me trouble," he said, looking over at Mikaela.

"Aww, I think its cute!" she replied, then, noticing Ratchet's incredulous look, quickly added, "I mean, I think they look up to you, from how they acted in here."

The medic snorted, disbelieving her statement. "Yeah? Then why do they always cause me so much trouble?"

"Well, its like when a human kid likes another kid, they'll be really mean to them," Mikaela answered.

"That doesn't make any sense at all."

Mikaela shrugged. "I don't understand some of you guys either."

Ratchet was silent for a moment, thinking. "I'm seriously thinking about taking the offer Ultra Magnus has given me. I'd have state of the art equipment, assistants to help me…its every medic's dream."

Mikaela was unhappy to hear him say that. "What will happen if you do get reassigned?" she asked sadly.

"Well…A new medic will be sent to Earth and I'll be sent off to Ultra Magnus."

"But won't you miss us?"

Ratchet looked down at the human female, surprised by her tone of voice. She sounded upset. She would miss him? She didn't know much about him. But before he could answer her, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe sprinted into the room, followed by Jolt, Bumblebee, Sam, Jazz, Ironhide, and Optimus.

"Ratchet!" Jazz wailed, tackle-hugging the surprised medic. "You can't leave!!!"

"What the…" Ratchet started to say, confused.

"Yeah, Ratch! You can't leave us!" Sunstreaker and Sideswipe added. Both mechs stared at Ratchet with wide optics and a frown.

"We overheard you talking to Mikaela," Optimus started, stepping forward. "And we wanted to let you know how much we appreciate you on our team."

"Didn't anyone teach you its impolite to eavesdrop?" Ratchet asked wryly, prying Jazz off of himself and standing up. "And this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"But wouldn't you get bored without us and our expertise at barging in at the most inconceivable times?" Sideswipe asked, optics still wide.

Ratchet thought for a moment. Well, he did have a point. There was never a dull moment around here…

"And who else would know how to clean my cannons, or fix them if they break down? You built them from scratch!" Ironhide added. "No one else could build anything like these, and I wouldn't trust any other mech with fixing them!"

Ratchet looked away. He was the only one who knew what components were used in his cannons…

"No one else would ever tolerate me and Sides's antics! They'd just stop repairing us!" Sunstreaker whined, pouting.

Now that was true. Any other medic would have given up on them a long time ago…

"And you're the only medic in the universe that would have tried to put me back together! And the only one who was good enough to do it!" Jazz yelled, once again hugging Ratchet around the middle. The medic blushed slightly at this compliment, because he was pretty sure no other medic would ever think about taking on such a challenge as it was to bring back Jazz…

"In cards and flowers on your window, your friends all plead for you to stay/ Kudos my hero leaving all the best/ Remember all the good times that we've had?"

Ratchet smiled at Bumblebee's choice of lyrics. And he was right…the group may be crazy, but they sure did have fun…

Sam had climbed up next to Mikaela. "Yeah, Ratchet. You can't leave us like this! I wouldn't be here if you hadn't saved me," he said, pleading.

"You've saved all of us at least once, old friend," Optimus finally said, stepping closer. "We all owe our lives to you."

Ratchet couldn't help but smile now, remembering why he loved this team so much. It was his team, the team that he grew so attached to, even if it wasn't the perfect team he always dreamed about.

Almost as if she read his mind, Mikaela said, "Maybe you've been with your perfect team all along."

He chuckled. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, you bots would fall apart without me if I left for even a day!"

"You mean you're staying?" the Twins echoed, looking hopeful.

Sighing, Ratchet replied, "I can't believe I'm turning down this one time offer…but yes. I'm staying."

"YEAH!"

Instantly, Ratchet was bombarded with flying hugs from Jazz, Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe. Even Ironhide and Optimus joined the group, patting their medic on the back and laughing with everyone.

"We'll make this 'Ratchet Appreciation Day!'" Sunstreaker stated happily.

"Uh…Ratchet…" Jazz started, his voice muffled from being buried under Sideswipe. "I don't think my arm is supposed to bend this way…"

Sam and Mikaela laughed loudly while Ratchet rolled his optics from underneath the pile of happy mechs. "Just another day…"

I know I ask for this in all my fics but still, I feel like I need to remind people how much reviews make me happy. *hint hint wink wink*