Here's the next chapter of the story. I actually got it done and updated sooner than I thought.

Units of time as I use them:

Astrosecond= .273 seconds

Klik= 1 minute

Joor= 3 hours

Cycle= 1 day

Breem= 1 week

Groon= 1 month

Stellar cycle= year

Meta cycle= 5 years

Deca cycle= 10 years

Orn= century

Vorn= 5 centuries

:underline:- spark twins talking

:bold:- bonded mechs talking

:italics:- comm link

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any affiliated characters. All I own is the plot and any OCs I added.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14

When Optimus came out of recharge the next morning, he saw that First Aid was in the room beside Ratchet, who was still in recharge. He also noted that First Aid was holding Rescue, who was squirming. "First Aid?"

First Aid turned to look at Optimus. "Morning, Prime. I hope I didn't bring you out of recharge too early."

"Is everything all right?" The Prime stood and reached over Ratchet to take Rescue from First Aid.

First Aid willingly handed the little femme over to her sire.

Rescue wasn't too thrilled to be held by her sire, either, and she clicked angrily at him to let him know it. She wanted her carrier!

"I just needed to check on Ratchet's systems, but I needed her off of him to do it. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled." First Aid stated before turning his attention to Ratchet.

"Was she already up?" Optimus asked.

"Yes. She was just sitting on Ratchet's chest plates looking at him." First Aid replied as he started running full diagnostics on the medic's systems.

Optimus settled back in his chair and set Rescue in his lap.

Rescue reached her arms out toward her carrier.

"I know you want your carrier, Rescue. Once First Aid finishes, you can go back to him." Optimus told her.

Rescue still wasn't happy about it as she continued reaching for her carrier and clicking at the Prime angrily as she did so.

Optimus sighed. He could easily see that Recue was going to be a lot like Hot Rod and Silverstreak had been. Glued to Ratchet's hip struts as a sparkling. He then looked up at First Aid. "How is he?"

"I'm fine." Ratchet grumbled.

"How are you feeling?" First Aid asked. He then added as an afterthought, "And be honest with me."

Ratchet onlined his optics. "I don't deny that my chest hurts. Considering I was blasted in the chest, I'm not surprised. And I'm still a bit tired." He reached up and rubbed his helm. "And my processors are killing me."

First Aid nodded. "Well, all your vitals are good. And luckily, your carrier protocols have been active and have prevented all the medications I have been given you to affect the sparkling energon in your systems, so you'll be able to feed Rescue. It'll be better for her."

"I know, First Aid." Ratchet stated. He was annoyed that he was being told what was the best thing to do for how own daughter.

First Aid knew that he was treading on thin ice. "Now, would you like me to let your family know you're awake?"

"Give me a joor to prepare for that." Ratchet stated.

First Aid nodded. He left only to return with a cube of medical grade energon. "Drink this and then feed Rescue." He left before he could be glared at.

Ratchet growled.

"He's only saying the very things that you would have told a carrier who was your patient and had been through what you have." Optimus reminded him.

Ratchet glared at him.

Optimus knew that he was in a load of slag at that moment.

Once Ratchet finished the cube of energon, Optimus helped Ratchet sit up before he handed Rescue over to her carrier.

Rescue released a squeal of delight at finally being able to be in her carrier's arms again. It's what she had been wanting for the last little bit.

Ratchet then opened his chest plates and settled Rescue near his spark.

It took Rescue only a few moments to latched onto the nubs connected to the sparkling energon lines and start drinking energon.

Optimus sat back and watched his mate with their daughter. He had always enjoyed these quiet moments like this. They were the memories that he cherished more than anything.

After a few moments, Ratchet asked the question that had been weighing on his processors. But he chose to ask it through their bond. :Why did Needlenose attack me?:

Optimus met his mate's optics. :I don't know, Ratchet. I haven't questioned him, but Jazz and Ultra Magnus I know have. Ironhide probably has as well. From what they have reported to me, Needlenose refuses to talk.:

Ratchet nodded.

:Don't worry, Ratchet. He won't get away with this. We're going to deal with Needlenose. He'll be held to the same laws that he helped enact.: Optimus assured him.

:What do the humans say about this?: Ratchet asked.

:Since it was a Cybertronian attacking another Cybertronian, the humans have given us free reign to deal with him as we see fit. And he will be held to those laws.: Optimus answered, a hint of anger to his voice.
Ratchet knew what the sentence was. Anybot who attacked a sparked bot was to be given an immediate death sentence. In addition, it was an immediate death sentence for anybot who attempted to assassinate or did assassinate the mate of the Prime.

:You don't have to worry, though. You won't be forced to deal with him.: Optimus assured him.

Ratchet nodded.

Soon, Rescue was finished with her energon and started chirping at Ratchet.

Ratchet shifted her and closed his chest plates. "Settle down, little one. I'm right here."

Optimus moved a little closer to them. "She just missed you, Ratchet."

"I know." Ratchet looked at him. "I know that this wasn't easy on you, either."

Optimus smiled. "Don't worry about that, Ratchet. It's in the past. All that matters is that you're awake and going to be fine."

Ratchet nodded in agreement. He then looked down at Rescue again. "At least she doesn't look like him."

Optimus chuckled. "No, she doesn't. And I think that all of the Autobots have already fallen in love with her. I can hardly keep her to myself. And my creators have turned into the typical grand-creators."

"Spoil her and send her back." Ratchet mused.

Optimus nodded. "Starlight and Swiftwind are acting the same way."

Ratchet was surprised by that one. "They are?"

Optimus nodded. "They don't have any grand-creations of their own, and I know they both love sparklings."

Ratchet looked down at Rescue once more. He considered not even saying it, but decided he might as well voice what most others would be thinking. "Are they all right? Considering the fact that Rescue looks like Swiftlight?"

"You noticed." Optimus murmured, looking down at their daughter.

"Hard not to." Ratchet glanced up. "I know that can't be easy on either one of them."

"No, but they'll be fine, Ratchet." Optimus looked at his mate. "Granted, Starlight would love nothing more than to murder Needlenose with her own hands."

"Just tell the Dinobots what he did and throw them to him." Ratchet stated. "They'll deal with him their way."

Optimus looked shocked. "Do you have any idea what Grimlock and the others would do?"

"Of course I do. That's why I suggested it." Ratchet replied.

Optimus had to admit that it didn't seem like a bad idea. It might even be the best idea that he had heard in a while.

The moment that all of Ratchet's creations, minus the Dinobots, had heard that he was awake and doing fine, they had all made a beeline for the medbay so that they could see him. Hearing that their carrier was awake was one thing. Seeing him awake and talking to him was another.

Hot Rod, always a bit energetic, burst into the back medbay room where his carrier was.

Rescue, who had been recharging soundly on her carrier's chest plates, was startled awake by the sudden loud sound. And immediately started crying.

Ratchet immediately started rocking her in his arms and trying to sooth her through their bond. He then glared at his adult son. "Hot Rod! Be careful! Sparklings do not like loud noises!" Ratchet's voice was even and stern, but he never yelled.

Hot Rod nodded meekly. "Sorry, Carrier. I just wanted to see you."

Nova walked up and tapped her twin in the back of the helm. "Nice work, scrap for brains." She walked over and hugged her carrier. "We're just all glad to see that you're awake, Carrier. We were worried."

"Especially since we were told that you might not ever wake up." Barricade added, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He acted distant, but he was thrilled that his carrier was awake.

"The only absolute is when you offline permanently, Barricade. Medics can guess what may happen with a bot based on a diagnosis, but it's not absolute. Bots will react differently." Ratchet stated.

"Especially one as stubborn as you." Silverstreak chirped in.

Ratchet glared lightly at his son.

Silverstreak grinned. "Come on, Carrier. You know that you're stubborn. Probably the most stubborn bot that was ever created."

Optimus chuckled.

Ratchet's glare shifted to his mate, and the glare had intensified. "Would you like to start recharging in your office for a while?"

Optimus smiled. "I'll be recharging in here until First Aid gives you the okay to return to our quarters."

"Rescue looks comfortable." Smokescreen stated. He walked over and knelt down so that he was lever with Rescue. "You missed your carrier, didn't you?"

Recue looked at Smokescreen, having calmed down, and smiled.

Smokescreen reached toward her, but Rescue instantly latched onto her carrier, refusing to be taken from him.

"Attached to you, I see." Smokescreen commented.

"Well, she spent two breem separated from me. It's natural for a sparkling who was separated from her carrier right after being born to be clingy to their carrier for a while." Ratchet stated.

"If you ignore the fact that all your creations seem to cling to you when they are sparklings." Optimus commented.

"It is good to see you awake and doing well, Carrier. We were all worried that we might not be able to talk to you again." Prowl stated, sounding a bit too formal.

Nova rolled her optics and shoved Prowl forward a step. "For the love of Primus, Prowl! Stop being so formal. He's your carrier, so act like you care."

Prowl glared at her.

"Nova, knock it off. I know Prowl cares. And you know he, like me, does not show public emotions that often." Ratchet reminded her.

"Yeah, but only family is here now." Nova replied.

Barricade smirked. "You know that Prowlie has never been the touchy-feely kind of mech. Except where Jazz is concerned."

"Barricade." Prowl said his twin's designation as a growl.

"It's true. You don't mind it with Jazz." Barricade retorted, the smirk never leaving his faceplates.

Hot Rod rolled his optics. "Come on, you two. Stop fighting." He walked over and hugged his carrier. "We're all just glad we still get to have you around."

Ratchet snorted. "It'll take more than Needlenose to put an end to me."

"A lot more." Smokescreen agreed.

Prowl glanced at Optimus before motioning to the door with his helm.

Optimus understood that it meant the mech wanted to speak with him outside the room. He decided that he could do that since there were others with him. He stood up. "I'll be back in a moment, Ratchet."

Ratchet waved at him to go on.

Optimus and Prowl headed out the door.

Barricade rolled his optics. "Can't take a few moments to just enjoy the family. Has to get back to work. Work, work, work. That's all Prowl does."

Ratchet froze as a sudden image flashed in his processors.

"Work, work, work. That's all Orion does nowacycles!" Starlight exclaimed before collapsing onto the couch beside her son.

Swiftlight looked up from the datapad he was reading and cast a glance at his carrier. "Come on, Carrier. Orion is the Prime. He has duties to fulfill."

Starlight snorted. "He also has duties toward his mate. You've barely seen him in the last few breem. You deserve to be treated better."

"Carrier, Orion does make time for me. Maybe not as much as he would like, but we have spent time together." Swiftlight assured her, used to how over protective his carrier could be.

Starlight glanced at her son and sighed. "I'm sorry, Swiftlight. It's just that I feel that a mech needs to spend more time with his mate, particularly when they're sparked."

Swiftlight wrapped an arm around her. "Don't worry, Carrier. Orion makes as much time for us as he can. He has a lot of responsibility placed on him, though, so he can't spend every astrosecond around me." He snickered. "If I had to spend every astrosecond of the cycle with Orion, I might commit murder."

Starlight laughed. "I suppose so."

"Carrier-"

"Carrier!"

Ratchet shook his helm as he tried to clear it from the fog.

"Carrier!"

"Optimus, you know that I would rather celebrate the fact that Carrier is back online and with no damage, but-" Prowl trailed off.

"What is it, Prowl?" Optimus asked.

"Needlenose." Prowl watched the Prime's faceplates darken. "He's driving us all out of our processors. He honestly believes that you're not going to do anything to him. And he's virtually demanding to be released." It was Prowl's faceplates that darkened this time. "And he keeps saying he was doing what was best for us all by killing Carrier and Rescue."

Optimus vented slowly trying to keep himself calm. "I will deal with him soon, Prowl."

Prowl nodded, his doorwings stiff. "You might want it to be one of your top priorities. We only have a few of the best guarding him because we don't want him talking one of the younger bots into releasing him, and well, Jazz has nearly snapped Primus knows how many times."

Optimus nodded. "I understand. I'll deal with him within-"

"Carrier!"

Both mechs heard the word come from inside the room, and both practically ran into the room, despite the fact they weren't that far at all.

Optimus noticed that Ratchet seemed to be a bit out of it as the chartreuse mech shook his helm. The Prime took Rescue from Ratchet, who promptly started crying at being taken from her carrier. Optimus handed Rescue over to Prowl before turning his attention back to Ratchet. "Ratchet, are you all right?" He reached out and placed his hand on Ratchet's back.

Another image played out in Ratchet's processor.

Swiftlight was hunched over the waste basket as he purged his tanks for the third morning in a row. He didn't know what kind of virus he had, but a part of him wished that Primus would just take him then.

A gentle hand was placed on his back and rubbed his backstrusts gently. "Swiftlight?"

Swiftlight groaned before leaning against the larger form of his mate. "Just kill me already."

Optimus chuckled as he continued to rub his mate's back soothingly. "Not a chance, Swiftlight. We'll go see Blue Cross. I'm sure she can tell us why you are so sick."

Swiftlight sighed. "It needs to wait. Primus knows I'll be in here one or two more times."

Optimus gently lifted his mate into his arms. "I'll stay with you."

"But-" Swiftlight started to protest.

"My mate is much more important than anything else at the moment. And my not working for one cycle is not going to bring Cybertron to its knees, Swiftlight." The Prime smiled. "Besides, I think Megatron can deal with things for one cycle. Primus knows he's taken more than one of them for Starscream."

Swiftlight sighed, knowing he probably wasn't changing his mate's processors. "Oh, all right."

Optimus set Swiftlight down on the berth. "I'll get energon." He then left.

Swiftlight supposed it was pointless to tell his mate he would simply purge the energon from his systems again shortly.

"Ratchet!"

Ratchet finally snapped out of the daze he had been in to find himself looking into his mate's worried blue optics. He also noticed that Optimus and First Aid were the only two in the room. "Where's Rescue?"

"She's fine. Prowl has her outside." Optimus assured him.

As if to let her carrier know it, Rescue started screaming.

Optimus winced. "She's not happy."

"I noticed." Ratchet reached up and rubbed between his optics. Primus, what was wrong with him?! Why did he keep having these visions of Swiftlight?! For one, he had never even met the mech before! Two, why the slag would he be seeing memories that clearly were Swiftlight's memories?! After all, he had had one vision before bonding with Optimus, and one hadn't even involved Optimus.

First Aid walked over and moved Optimus out of the way. "Ratchet, what happened?"

"I-I don't know, First Aid. Perhaps I'm not as undamaged as I thought I was." Ratchet said.

Those words worried Optimus. Was there damage that First Aid and Perceptor had missed?

First Aid frowned before turning to Optimus. "Prime, could you let me have a few moments to examine him? It's hard to concentrate when others are in the room as well."

Optimus nodded and left.

First Aid then turned his attention back to Ratchet and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now what really happened?"

Ratchet looked up at him. "Aid, I-"

"There was no damage, Ratchet. I should know. I took enough scans to know that. There is something else going on. Now what is it?" First Aid demanded.

Ratchet hesitated before admitting he truth. "Something isn't right with me, First Aid. And it has nothing to do with my injuries."

First Aid sat in the chair beside Ratchet's berth. "What's going on?"

"Before I was injured, I had these-visions-, I suppose." Ratchet started.

"About what?" First Aid asked.

Ratchet glanced at his protégé wearily. "They were memories. Of Swiftlight."

"That could be from the bond with Optimus." First Aid pointed out.

Ratchet shook his helm. "No. One happened before we bonded. And you know spark merges without a bond only relay feelings, not memories."

"And just now?" First Aid asked.

"I had two consecutive visions. One involved Swiftlight and Starlight. The other Optimus and Swiftlight." Ratchet shook his helm. "I don't understand why this is happening. I never met Swiftlight before."

First Aid feared he had the answer. "Don't worry, Ratchet. We'll find the answer." He stood.

Ratchet glanced at him. "Don't tell Optimus. This involves Swiftlight, and I don't want to hurt Optimus until I know what is going on."

First Aid nodded his helm. "Don't worry, Ratchet. I won't. Just rest. You still need to regain your strength."

Ratchet nodded, realizing he hadn't heard Rescue screaming anymore.

Once Optimus stepped out of the back room in the medbay, he went over to Prowl and took Rescue from him since she was still screaming.

Rescue clearly wasn't much happier being with her sire, but she did calm down some.

"Sire, what's going on?" Silverstreak asked.

"I'm not sure. First Aid is examining him now." Optimus looked at his creations and step-creations. "Just what happened?"

"We don't know. We were just talking and the next thing we know, he's zoned out." Hot Rod replied.

Optimus vaguely noted that Hot Rod had already taken to some of the slang that humans used. "That's odd."

"I hope he's going to be okay." Nova stated, her hands clasped together in front of her.

Smokescreen slung an arm around Nova. "I wouldn't worry about our carrier, Nova. He'll be just fine. Just give him a few cycles to get his processors straightened out."

Optimus hoped that Smokescreen was right.

A few moments later, First Aid walked out.

"Is he all right, First Aid?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, he's fine. I'd say he's still just overly tired. He needs time to rest and recuperate." The medic looked around at all of them. "No offense, but I think he needs only one or two visitors at a time for a bit."

"We understand. As long as Carrier will be okay." Prowl stated.

First Aid nodded his helm. "He'll be fine. He just needs more rest."
"So there's-" Optimus started.

First Aid saw where the Prime was heading. "No, there was no damage that I missed. He's just overly tired and needs rest." He smiled ironically. "He won't get much here in medbay. With any luck, I'll be able to let him go back to your quarters tomorrow morning."

Optimus nodded, relieved to hear that.

"Well, we'll let Carrier rest then." Barricade stated.

Nova turned to look at her sire. "Do you need us to watch over Rescue for you?"

"No." Optimus looked down at Rescue, who he could tell from the bond was not happy. "I don't think Rescue will be happy with that."

Rescue was glaring at them all with a very Ratchet-like glare.

Silverstreak snickered. "Well, she's glaring like Carrier."

"Primus, don't let us have another Ratchet on our hands." Hot Rod muttered.

Optimus shook his helm. "Never say that in front of him."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Hot Rod replied before leaving.

The rest of them soon followed.

Optimus went back into the room with Ratchet.

The moment Rescue saw her carrier, she started fussing and squirming in her sire's arms, wanting to get back to her carrier.

Ratchet reached out and took Rescue, who happily cuddled up against her carrier's chest plates.

"How are you feeling, Ratchet?" Optimus asked gently.

"I'll be fine, Orion. Just tired is all." Ratchet replied.

Optimus was startled. That was the second time Ratchet had called him Orion. What was the deal? "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I just need some rest." Ratchet glanced at him. "Why don't you go and take care of your work? You can't leave it all to Prowl, and Ironhide will end up shooting every bureaucratic human around." Ratchet stated.

"I can stay. Ultra Magnus is here, and Jazz and my sire have been helping as well." Optimus replied.

Ratchet snorted. "Jazz doing paperwork? I don't believe it."

Optimus knew that that was true.

Ratchet waved the Prime off. "Go on. I'm going to recharge, and I'm sure Rescue is, too."

Optimus was hesitant, but realized that Ratchet was right. "All right. Contact me if you need anything."

"I will." Ratchet replied.

Optimus leaned over and kissed Ratchet gently before kissing Rescue's helm. "I'll come back and check on you later."

Ratchet nodded.

Optimus turned and left.
Ratchet settled back down on the berth and noticed that Rescue was halfway into recharge already. He smiled. "It looks like we both need rest." He reached up and stroked down between her doorwings, watching as her doorwings fluttered. He knew she looked a great deal like Swiftlight, but why? Was it-?

Ratchet shook his helm. No. He would not even entertain that possibility. There was no reason to. He needed to recharge. Then he would be thinking clearer. He settled down and tried to allow himself to slip into recharge as well, holding his daughter.

First Aid paced back and forth in Perceptor's lab. "Of all the things I had expected, this was not it. I mean, knowing what may have been done to Ratchet is one thing, but knowing who he might be is too much." The medic turned to face the scientist. "Perceptor, what do you think?"

Perceptor tapped his chin thoughtfully before he stood up and went to a holographic board he used for planning experiments. He cleared the board before setting himself up at the console. "Let's discuss what we know is fact and what we are theorizing."

First Aid nodded. "We know that Ratchet had a spark suppressor installed in his spark chamber. We also know that there is a memory inhibitor installed in his processors."

Perceptor inputted the information onto the board. "We also know that Ratchet had been having odd visions that all involve Swiftlight."

First Aid nodded. "We also know that Needlenose, who has no apparent history with Ratchet, decided to try to kill Ratchet, saying that Ratchet was a threat to us."

Perceptor also input that information.

"As for our theories, they are that Ratchet was somebot else before he became a medic. The presence of a spark suppressor and a memory inhibitor seem to support that conclusion."

"Considering Needlenose's attempt on Ratchet's life, we can also theorize that Needlenose may have some kind of connection to what happened to Ratchet." Perceptor stated.

"I suppose." First Aid sighed. "Considering Ratchet is having visions of memories from Swiftlight's, we can also theorize that there is a possibility that Ratchet is a mech who had interactions with Swiftlight."

Perceptor turned to him. "No, First Aid. We can theorize that Ratchet IS Swiftlight."

First Aid looked troubled. "Swiftlight was assassinated. We know that for a fact."

"No. We know what the former Senate told us, and we know that some of those senators were crooked." Perceptor stated.

"Crooked enough to cover up an assassination attempt on the Prime's mate?" First Aid asked.

"Consider other things they have done." Perceptor pointed out.

First Aid had to admit that Perceptor was right. In the early cycles of the war, a lot of the Senate's illegal activities came to light, including having those murdered who knew about some of their activities. So why wouldn't they try to kill the Prime's mate?

"First Aid?" Perceptor prodded.

First Aid looked at him. "We are going to figure out if we're right before we even mention this to Prime."

Perceptor nodded. "What about Ratchet?"

First Aid sighed. "I don't know. I honestly don't know if I should tell him." He then remembered the way Ratchet had reacted. "He might want to know, though. Ratchet is going crazy not understanding why he is having these visions."

Perceptor nodded. "Agreed. We investigate this more before we inform anybot of what we have found." He looked up at the board. "But it does make me wonder why the Senate would have done this. What did they gain from this?"

"I don't know." First Aid looked around. "What I do know is that if we're right, then we're about to turn this entire base upside down with what we know."

Perceptor nodded in agreement. "And Ratchet's world will be the one that is the most affected by this."

Ratchet found that he was unable to slip into recharge. The visions that he had been having kept him from recharging. He was continually going over them and trying to figure out just what the frag it all meant. He had his suspicions, but he didn't even want to consider it.

Rescue had had no such problems in recharging. She was still in recharge curled up on her carrier's chest with a blanket over her.

Ratchet looked down at his doorwinged daughter and wondered what this all meant. He reached out and gently stroked down his daughter's back, smiling when her small doorwings fluttered in response.

Why was Ratchet having these visions of Swiftlight? He just didn't have an answer to that.

And why the Pit did his daughter look exactly like Swiftlight?

Let me know what you thought.

I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.