Author's Note: This fanfic short originally debuted on my Deviantart gallery a couple of weeks ago. At first I wasn't going to upload it here, but I decided to go ahead and do it. Everyone loves it over at Deviantart, so I thought I'd give readers here (who might not be on DA) a chance to enjoy it too. Already, I've had one reader to draw fan art of it.

Later on, I might take this short and make a longer version of it. However, I have no idea when that will be. For now, this is the complete story.

Disclaimer: I am only a fan and do not own anything of Transformers Animated!! All characters, names and anything else pertaining to Transformers Animated are owned and copyrighted by their respectful owners (Hasbro, Cartoon Network, etc). The only thing I own is the fanfic itself. This fanfic and any of my other fanfics may not be copied, altered, edited or posted elsewhere without my permission. For those of you who may speak another language please feel free to translate my story into your native language for better understanding and your personal enjoyment ONLY, or to show to a friend that may not speak English.

Rated G – All age enjoyment

Spoiler Warning: This story takes place sometime during season 2 of Transformers Animated and may contain spoilers. If you have never seen Transformers Animated, then I suggest that you don't read this fic. That is, unless you don't mind spoilers.

Optimus Prime gave his grappling cord a yank, sending Blitzwing falling and screaming into the vat of cake batter below. It had been a hard fight, but it was finally over—or so they thought. While Lugnut busied himself with trying to get his partner out, the Autobots set themselves to work trying to clean up the mess they had just made of the bakery. Bumblebee wiped off the remaining batter that splattered all over him during the struggle, and Optimus Prime started picking up pieces of the robots that attacked them earlier while putting out small fires with his built-in extinguisher. Just as expected, an Allspark fragment had to be pried loose from the mechanical mechanisms of a nearby bakery's robotics. The piece somehow wedged itself into the main systems and caused the robots to develop a mind of their own and go completely out of control, spewing cake batter and other ingredients all over. When it looked like it couldn't possibly get any worse, Lugnut and Blitzwing just happened to show up in the middle of it to cause more problems.

Sari got through lifting the Allspark fragment out of the works with her special key when the Autobots regrouped and walked up to her side. Like being drawn to a magnet, the fragment loosened and fell to the floor with a tinkling sound. Bumblebee was the first one to pick up the shiny, crystal fragment who then handed it to Prowl, who handed it to Optimus. In the distance, the sound of approaching sirens could be heard, announcing that Captain Fanzone was coming to the scene.

"Good work, Autobots." Optimus congratulated his comrades.

"Those things get stuck in the weirdest places." Bumblebee said, scraping more cake batter from his armored arm. "Where are we gonna find one next?—stuck in Fanzone's car?"

"For all our sakes, I hope not." Prowl muttered. "That's all you need: a twin who is equally annoying."

"Heeeeeey," Bumblebee scowled. "I'm not THAT bad, am I?"

Prowl only stared in the young Autobot's direction. Optimus smiled at the jesting before turning his optics toward the piece of Allspark in his hand. It was truly a job well done. Now it was a matter of getting the piece home and stored away in its box where it belonged without attracting the attention of the Decepticons. The Decepticons! Optimus suddenly turned his attention toward where Blitzwing had disappeared in the vat. There was no trace of either of the two Decepticons.

"Where'd they go?" Bulkhead asked, scratching his head.

"I—I don't know." Optimus and the others stepped closer to the metal railing and peered over the side and down into the batter vats.

"Peek-a-boo!" Blitzwing's Random face said, taking everyone by surprise from behind. He reached around Optimus's arm and snatched the Allspark fragment and took off running and laughing like a maniac. Optimus shot out his grappling hook and tangled it around Blitzwing's legs and gave it a hard tug.

"Oh, slag!" Blitzwing mumbled as he lost his footing and fell sprawling onto the floor. The Allspark piece flew out of his batter covered hands and slid away. Prowl ran to snatch it up before Blitzwing got his second wind, or before Lugnut came out of nowhere for another surprise attack.

"Come on," shouted Optimus, untangling his cord, "let's transform and go home!" Quick as he said it, everyone turned and ran for the exit.

"You juzt vait, Autobotz. I'll get you yet!" Blitzwing's Icy face screamed as Lugnut came walking up beside him.

The ride home was quiet. Sari sat in the driver's seat of Bumblebee while sleepily watching as the streetlights passed by in a drowsy, almost hypnotic, manner. She yawned and turned over the other way before sighing aloud. It had been a long night for everyone and she couldn't wait to get in bed (after a movie, of course), even if her bed was now a huge tire. Tears came to her eyes after remembering that she now lived at the plant. Don't get her wrong, she loved living there with her Autobot friends, but she worried about her father—and her future. Would she ever have a real home again? And more importantly, would she ever see her father again? More tears streamed down her face and she tried desperately to hold them back for fear of Bumblebee noticing. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

"What's wrong, Sari?" Bumblebee asked, breaking the silence.

"N—nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"Because you haven't spoken a word since we left the bakery."

Sari's head drooped. "I was just thinking about my dad. I was wondering if I'll ever see him again."

"Of course you'll see him again. Don't you worry."

Sari smiled through her tears.

When the Autobots reached the door of their home, they immediately transformed back into their robot modes. Optimus Prime, without hesitating, went straight toward the box where the Allspark fragments were closed up tight. Before he could make it there, however, Bumblebee came speeding out of nowhere and slammed into the Autobot leader, causing them both to fall to the floor.

"Umph! Bumblebee! What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry, Boss Bot. I didn't mean to. I just couldn't stop." Bumblebee got up and slunk away.

"Be careful next time." Optimus warned, picking himself up off the floor. "Now where is that Allspark fragment?"

"Here it is, right here." said Bulkhead, carefully picking it up with his huge fingers and handing it to Prime. Without another word, Optimus disappeared from the room.

"So who wants to watch a movie before bed?" Sari smiled.

"Oh, oh! Me!!" Bumblebee raised his hands.

"Count me in too." Bulkhead added.

"If it's okay with you, I'm going to pass on it tonight." said Prowl, leaving the room. Ratchet followed him, apparently uninterested as well.

"So what do we watch?" Bumblebee asked eagerly.

"How about something scary?" Sari grinned while thumbing through the DVDs laying spread out on the coffee table.

An hour or two later found Sari lying awake in her tire bed. She was starting to regret watching a scary movie right before going to sleep. Every sound made her jump. And living in an old automotive plant didn't help any. It was spooky and there were noises she had never heard before. She felt like screaming a few times but she tried to keep herself under control. Maybe if she closed her eyes and thought about something cheerful she would drift off to sleep.

The next thing Sari knew was being awakened by the sound of a metallic crying. She didn't know what time it was or how long she had been asleep, and at first she thought she had been dreaming. But she heard it again, only louder. By this time she was completely startled and lifted her head for better listening. Sure enough, it sounded like a baby—a baby?—here? It was impossible. There were no babies in the plant. She quickly threw her cover off and ran, in her sock feet, to the door. Opening it, she was stricken with shock at what she saw on the floor in front of her. It looked like Bumblebee, only he was a lot smaller and chubbier than she remembered him being. He was about the size of a two or three-year-old human child and lay on his back, bawling his optics out. Sari was unable to move for a few minutes. But she finally got her sense back and bent over and scooped up her friend, gently cradling him in her arms. Surprisingly he wasn't all that heavy, considering the fact that his body was metal.

"Bumblebee, what's happened to you?" Sari asked, as if the little bot in her arms could understand. Bumblebee didn't answer but instead cooed and gurgled and reached his hands up to feel of Sari's face. "He's a baby! He's turned into a little baby!" Sari still couldn't believe it. "Oh man, I didn't know watching a scary movie would do this to you!"

Bumblebee started crying again and Sari held him closer to her. Once she succeeded in quieting him down, Sari heard more crying coming from somewhere within the plant. Her heart almost sank within her chest. Getting up enough nerve, she proceeded down the hall toward where the crying sound was coming. When she entered the common room, she gasped. Lying around on the floor were more baby bots, these having the resemblance of Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Bulkhead. Sari hurried over to where Prowl was inches away from sticking his finger in an electrical outlet and quickly snatched him up and away from danger. Not realizing she had saved him, Prowl started bawling as hard as he could. Bumblebee started crying as well, for no apparent reason other than it was because the rest of his companions were crying.

Sari placed Prowl down on the floor and put Bumblebee beside him. The little girl then walked over and picked up Bulkhead and Prime, gently kissing each one on the head as she made her way to Prowl and Bumble.

"For Allspark's sake, what is going on in here? I haven't heard crying like that since—" Ratchet's sentence was cut short when he stepped into the doorway of the common room. The old bot's optics widened and his mouth gaped open. He watched in silence as Sari struggled to keep the baby Autobots within her sight and reach, grabbing hold of Prowl's left leg and pulling him back toward her. She was highly relieved when she saw that Ratchet was still his normal self. At least she wouldn't have to deal with the interesting problem alone.

"Ratchet, what's wrong with them? Why have they all turned into babies?" Sari was trying to hold back the panic and trying to hold on to all of the baby bots at once. Ratchet still couldn't speak as he slowly approached the pile of baby bots on the floor. Bumblebee giggled and rolled around, bumping into Bulkhead and Prowl. Ratchet reached and lifted Optimus up and held him at eye level. The once powerful and strong Autobot leader oozed oily drool down the sides of his mouth as he gummed and sucked on his fingers and smiled. Ratchet cringed inside when the drool dripped onto his hand. Quickly he placed him down next to the others.

"I—I don't know, Sari." Ratchet finally answered. He looked down at feeling something touch his foot. His optics met a smiling Bulkhead who peered up at him in an innocent baby-like manner.

"Prowl! No!" Sari scolded as she ran to catch Prowl who had wandered off to another part of the room when she wasn't looking. She snatched him up yet again and carried him back to where he belonged. "You stay there and be a good boy."

Prowl giggled and smiled at the girl.

"There's got to be an explanation for this." Ratchet mumbled. "Too bad I don't know what that explanation is."

"I'm just glad you aren't down here with them!" said Sari.

"That makes two of us, kid. I would never wish to be that young again."

"So what do we do?" Sari was getting frustrated with trying to keep the babies still. She snatched up Bumblebee and held him close to her and was tempted to tie Prowl to something just to keep him from wandering off. Optimus was actually sitting still—about to drown in his own drool. Bulkhead was being good too and looked as though he could fall asleep any minute.

"I think the best thing to do would be to get them all to sleep and deal with this in the morning. Maybe we'll discover it's nothing more than a nightmare." Ratchet picked up Optimus and Bulkhead and then reached to pick up Prowl. "I'll take them with me and find them a safe place to sleep so you won't have to worry with them." He was about to reach for Bumblebee, but Sari held him close to her and shook her head.

"I want Bumblebee to stay with me." she said.

"Suit yourself." Ratchet sighed. "Just don't come crying to me when he leaks oil in yer bed. Baby bots are known to do that."

Ratchet left the room, leaving Sari alone with a squirming baby Bumblebee in her arms. Even as a baby he was full of energy. When not being able to succeed in escaping Sari's hold, Bumblebee started crying and squirming harder.

"Bumblebee, be still." Sari grunted, switching the little bot to her other arm. Bumblebee kicked his legs and squirmed the whole time. "I'm beginning to feel sorry for your real mother."

"Here," Ratchet's voice suddenly came to Sari over Bumblebee's crying. She looked up to see the old medical bot standing in front of her, a baby bottle in his hand.

"What's that?" Sari asked, wrinkling her nose.

"It's filled with oil, in case you need to quiet him."

"Oil?"

"Don't worry; it's the kind all little bots drink at that age."

Sari took the bottle from Ratchet's hand and put it under her arm before she had to struggle with Bumblebee again, who, by this time, was becoming unbearably fussy.

"Thanks." she finally managed to get out.

"You're welcome." Ratchet had to hide a chuckle. He knew how baby bots could be—Sari didn't.

"Time for you to get in bed," Sari lifted herself off the floor and walked to her room the best she could without dropping her friend. Bumblebee cried all the way, even after Sari closed the door and placed him in her bed. The young girl looked bewildered and not knowing what to do. She wanted to go back to sleep herself and Bumblebee was not helping at all. She sighed and covered her ears, and then she remembered the bottle still tucked under her arm. She took it and placed the nipple in Bumblebee's mouth. Immediately he stopped crying and gladly accepted the pleasant treat. He wrapped both arms around it and brought his feet up to support it as if he feared someone was going to take it away from him. Sari sighed as she watched Bumblebee drink himself into a slumber. A few minutes passed, and when Bumblebee was finally fast asleep the girl gently took the bottle out of his hands and set it on the floor before sliding into bed next to her little friend. She had no idea how to be a mother, but she heard somewhere that you had to burp babies after feeding them. Gently, without waking him, Sari turned Bumblebee over on his stomach and began patting him on his back until she heard a robot version of a burp. She then reached and pulled Bumblebee close to her and kissed his head. In return, Bumblebee nuzzled close and put his thumb in his mouth, hiccupping once. It was weird, but the little Autobot didn't feel cold. Instead, there was a warmth to his body, and Sari wasn't sure but she thought she could hear a soft beating coming from within his chest. Funny, she had never noticed before. Then again, Bumblebee could never sit still long enough to tell anything about him anyway, so there was no surprise there. She lay there and listened closer in the stillness of the room. Yes, she could hear a beating—the pulsating rhythm of his spark. Sari smiled and pushed her face closer to Bumblebee's head and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning found the Autobot base in an uproar. Ratchet woke up earlier than usual and went straight to work on trying to find out the cause of the others turning into infants—and trying to find if there was a cure. At the same time, he tried to keep the little bots as quiet as he could so they wouldn't wake up Sari. He had almost forgotten what it was like to care for little bots. Already he was fast losing his temper. Bulkhead needed to be changed… again; Optimus broke out of the makeshift crib Ratchet threw together the night before and started crying and now Prowl was missing. Ratchet looked all over the medical bay before he finally found Prowl hiding under some of the medical equipment, giggling and laughing as if the whole incident had been a fun game. Ratchet said nothing as he grabbed up the ninja-bot and placed him inside his crib again. Who knew Prowl could be so troublesome.

Much to Ratchet's relief, Sari entered the medical bay at this time, yawning and carrying a half-asleep Bumblebee in her arms.

"You should be glad yers isn't crying and carryin' on."

"What?" Sari sleepily mumbled.

"The babies—I've been tryin' to keep them calm an' quiet for three hours! And at the same time I've been tryin' my best to see what caused all of this."

"I'll take them off your hands if you want."

"Thank the Allspark!" Ratchet breathed. He reached and lifted Prowl out of the crib and handed him to Sari before turning to get Optimus and Bulkhead. Sari took her friends by the hand and led (more like herded) them all to the common room where she placed them all down on the floor and turned on the TV. The morning news was on and for some reason she felt that she needed to see what was going on. Her feelings had been right. There on the huge screen TV was the image of Lugnut standing in the middle of confused early morning traffic in downtown Detroit. The bulky and clanking Decepticon overturned cars and scattered terrified bystanders. The news man standing in front of the camera was saying something, but Sari didn't have to hear what he was saying to know what was happening. She immediately ran out of the room, forgetting the babies, and yelled for Ratchet.

"Ratchet, we've got problems—BIG problems!"

"I'm almost afraid to ask." said the old bot, turning around to face the child. "What could possibly be worse than what's already happened?"

"Lugnut is causing a disturbance down town! I just saw it on the morning news."

"Oh great," Ratchet groaned. "We're in trouble. I don't think it's gonna look good fer us to appear there with four baby Autobots who can't even transform into their vehicle modes, let alone fight. The best they could do to Lugnut would be to drool him to death."

"You and I will have to take him down by ourselves! It's the only way!"

"Now, hold on a nano click. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, but I've gotta do something."

The baby Autobots, still in the common room, started wailing and Sari turned to face that direction. Ratchet shook his head and sighed wearily. He was too old for this. Could the day possibly get any worse?

"C'mon, let's get goin'." Ratchet put down the tools he was holding. "But we're not leaving those babies here by themselves. They'll have to ride in the back of me."

Sari kept her eyes on the baby Autobots in the back of Ratchet as they sped down the street toward the area Lugnut was. For now, everyone was silent as they felt Ratchet's ambulance mode roughly make its way over the pavement. Sari happened to think that this was probably the first time that either of the bots had actually 'ridden' inside a car instead of changing into one themselves.

Ratchet soon pulled to a screeching halt near the confused area where Lugnut was standing. There were dozens of overturned cars scattered as far as the eye could see, and crowds of terror stricken people stood on the sidewalks. Lugnut turned around at hearing Ratchet's squealing tires and started coming toward the old Autobot. Sari jumped out of Ratchet and stood to face the huge bot, not really sure what she would do if he became hostile. For now, Lugnut didn't seem like he wanted to harm anyone and even carried something in one of his hands. Sari thought it might have been a captive human child. If it was, she had no idea how she was going to go about saving it. Lugnut didn't say a word as he came up to Sari but instead placed what he held in his hands down on the ground at Sari's feet.

"Will you help him?" Lugnut said, pulling his hand away. Sari looked down at the small bundle below her. It moved and looked up at her. She fought back a gasp as she looked into the eyes of Blitzwing, who was now suffering from the same 'baby-fied' state as her friends.

"Uh—sure," Sari picked Blitzwing up, "I'll take him with us until we can find a cure. Then I'll give him back to you." She couldn't believe what she was saying.

Lugnut turned and walked away. Sari stood in the same place a moment, not really sure what had just happened. She then ran around to the back of Ratchet, opened his double doors, and placed the baby Blitzwing in the midst of the other infants. She was about to close the doors when a small voice made her jump.

"Kitty!"

Sari turned her head toward Prowl. The former ninja-bot was smiling gleefully and pointing at something behind Sari. She turned and saw a tiny white kitten standing on the sidewalk. Prowl was about to crawl out of Ratchet in hopes of catching the animal, but Sari caught him just in time and put him back, only to have him burst out in a flow of tears. Sighing, Sari quickly ran and grabbed up the kitten and placed it in Prowl's hands. Baby Prowl squealed in delight and hugged the white fluff ball as if it was the best thing in the world. Sari couldn't help but smile as she fastened the doors closed.

"Sari," Ratchet's angry voice called to her as she made her way to the driver's seat. "Do you realize what you've done? That's a Decepticon you just put inside me!"

"I know, but I didn't know what else to do." Sari buckled her seatbelt. "Can you imagine what Lugnut would have done if I refused? With more than half of our team down right now, we can't do anything that would cause Lugnut to lose his temper. What's the harm in taking in a baby Decepticon, anyway? All we have to do is turn him back to normal and let him go. There's nothing that says we have to like him."

"I still don't like it. All I see is trouble written all over it." Ratchet griped. "If Optimus were here, I can jus' hear what he'd have to say about it."

"Well, Optimus isn't here—uh, I mean, he is here, but as you know he's not exactly himself this morning." Sari peeked through the divider window at the baby bots. Optimus was calmly sitting by himself in one of the corners, watching his companions as they roughhoused and played with each other—except for Prowl who was content to sit off to the side with his new kitten.

"A Decepticon! We're playin' nursemaid to a Decepticon! This can only end in disaster." Ratchet groaned aloud.

When Ratchet pulled up to the front door of the plant, Sari jumped out and started taking the baby bots out one by one. Once they were released from Ratchet, Blitzwing came out fighting with a vengeance. He tumbled over Bulkhead and Prowl (still holding his prized kitten), grabbed Bumblebee and put him in a headlock while sitting on Optimus Prime's back, pinning him to the floor. Bumblebee started crying as Blitzwing tightened his grip on the little yellow bot.

"Hey! You cut that out!" Sari yelled at the tiny Decepticon. "Those are my friends!" She ran up to Blitzwing and pried his hands away from Bumblebee and snatched him up. Blitzwing squirmed and kicked as Sari placed him under one arm and firmly smacked his bottom a couple of times.

"Naughty Decepticon!" she scolded. Little Blitzwing started crying—and so did Sari, when she suddenly remembered that bots are covered in metal plating. "OW!" she yelped and grabbed her throbbing hand. Poor Blitzwing fell to the floor with a hard clank. He turned and looked up at the young girl as if he didn't know what had happened. Ratchet shook his head and walked toward the medical bay, hoping he could find a cure for the madness. After Sari got her hand to stop hurting, she turned to Blitzwing.

"Go over there and stand in the corner!" she sternly told him. Blitzwing cowered and did as he was told. "And just to let you know, I'm keeping my eyes on you. You'd better not burn up or freeze anything, you hear?" Sari warned. She turned to pick up the screaming Bumblebee that lay at her feet. "Awww, did that nasty Blitzwing hurt you? There, there, it's okay." she patted Bumblebee on his back and hugged him close. She felt a slight tug at her dress. Looking down, she smiled at seeing Optimus—his huge, sad, innocent looking optics staring back at her and his bottom lip quivering. Sari bent over and picked him up with her free arm and hugged him close to her. She was beginning to like having the Autobots small and huggable.

The little girl carried the two bots over to where Bulkhead and Prowl were sitting. Prowl still had tight hold of his kitten while Bulkhead sat silently, staring at nothing in particular.

"What's wrong, Bulkhead?"

The round, green bot looked up at Sari with sad optics. She knelt beside him and patted him on the back. Seeing that his friend wasn't in the best spirits, Prowl kindly offered to share his kitten. Bulkhead refused, though, and big, oily tears started forming in his optics. Sari pulled him close to her and hugged him.

Standing in the corner, Blitzwing turned to see if Sari was watching him and when he saw that she wasn't, he crept off and through one of the doorways leading to another part of the plant. It was a dark room that was filled with boxes and oil drums. The only light the room had was what came in through the doorway Blitzwing passed through. He quickly ducked behind a box when he heard Sari's voice come near the room.

"Blitzwing!" Sari called as she frantically searched for the missing Decepticon. "Blitzwing, where are you?"

Blitzwing's face turned into Random and he giggled as he watched Sari come to the doorway and then turn to walk away. After making sure Sari was gone, Blitzwing tumbled out of his hiding place and fell to the floor. Lifting himself up, his optics caught sight of a blue, white glowing piece of something in front of him. Curious, he shakily made his way toward it, as fast as his little legs could carry him, and was about to pick it up when he was suddenly snatched from behind.

"Ah-hah!" Sari said triumphantly. "Thought you could outsmart me, huh?"

Not wanting to spend a second round under Sari's arm, Blitzwing's Random side started crying and squirming in the most eerie way, hoping the girl would put him down.

"An Allspark fragment?" said Sari, seeing the glow for the first time. "How did that get out here?" She bent over, the best she could while holding the wiggling Blitzwing, and prepared to pick it up when Ratchet came bursting into the room.

"Sari!!" he ran toward the girl. "Don't touch it!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Call me crazy, but I think this is the cause of our problems." The medical bot peered down at the glowing fragment to study it.

"Wha?" Sari blinked in confusion. "How can the Allspark turn everyone into babies?"

"It gives life, doesn't it? Besides, it's the only explanation I have. I've been doing some thinkin', and the Allspark fragment we found at the bakery last night is the only thing everyone has come in contact with between then and the time Prime and the rest turned into infants. Something must have gone horribly wrong with this piece after it was dispersed." Ratchet pulled a huge medical glove over his hand and picked the Allspark piece up to examine it closer.

"You know, I think you're right." Sari shifted Blitzwing in her arms. The Decepticon's face turned back to Icy. "Everyone who is now a baby touched it at some point, except for me, you, and Lugnut!"

"Uh—huh," Ratchet continued to eye the fragment.

"So how do we turn everyone back to normal?"

"I wish I knew." Ratchet reached and unlocked the Allspark's box. "But one thing's for sure, we'd better put this thing away before it causes anymore trouble."

Everything happened so fast. The box was opened, and a bright burst of light filled the room. The Allspark fragments that were already in the box pulled on the piece that Ratchet held until it came loose and was sucked into the box. The old bot staggered backwards, startled at the sudden display. Sari backed up too as she continued to hold on to Blitzwing. By now, the other baby bots were coming into the room and gathering around Sari. Bumblebee grabbed the little girl's hand and snuggled close to her. A few minutes passed and the box threw the Allspark fragment back out and shut itself. Everyone stared in awe.

"Well, that was different." Ratchet finally said, breaking the long silence. He made his way over to where the fragment lay on the floor. "I wonder why it threw it out."

"Maybe it fixed it." Sari walked up to Ratchet. "Let me see it."

"No way. I'm not gonna let you touch this thing. Who knows what it'll do to a human."

"Trust me,"

Ratchet hesitated but he knew he was beaten. He sighed and dropped the fragment into Sari's opened hand. The girl looked it over carefully and shrugged. She turned to Bumblebee beside her and offered it to him. He curiously took it and grasped it tightly in his hand.

"You'd better be careful. If he gets any younger he won't exist anymore." Ratchet pointed a finger in Bumble's direction.

"Oh, stop your worrying, Ratchet. Everything will be okay."

Sari and Ratchet watched as Bumblebee ran off with the Allspark fragment and joined the others. It was going just as Sari planned. She smiled to herself as she saw Bumblebee hand it to one of the other bots. Blitzwing brought her back to attention when he began squirming in her arms. She had almost forgotten that she was holding him.

"Why don't you put that thing down?" Ratchet huffed, eyeing Blitzwing. He was tempted to make the most out of this opportunity—Blitzwing being small and vulnerable. But he held back. Even though Blitzwing was a Decepticon, he was still a little kid right now. Ratchet couldn't bring himself to harm something so small and… innocent.

"Not just yet. We can't let him get hold of that Allspark fragment. If it does succeed in turning everyone back to normal, we need to get Blitzwing as far away from here as possible before we turn him back. This is the secret Autobot hideout, remember? Decepticons aren't supposed to know about it."

Ratchet sighed. "I suppose yer're right. I fergot about that part."

"Sari?" It sounded like Bumblebee's voice.

Ratchet and Sari looked at each other before running toward the common room where the voice had come from. Both of them stopped in the doorway and peered around the room. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, and Bulkhead were all their normal sizes again. The Autobots looked at each other in a dazed and confused way.

"Wh—what happened?" Bulkhead asked dumbly. "I feel like I've been in stasis lock or—or something."

"And why am I holding a cat?" Prowl looked at the white kitten in his hands—although it didn't matter to him. He gently and lovingly caressed it without another word.

"You mean, you guys don't remember anything that's happened?" Sari walked up to Bumblebee and Optimus.

"No, we don't." Optimus replied, getting up off the floor.

"Probably fer the best," Ratchet walked into the room, "But it was rather interesting to find out you used to be a drooler in your earlier days."

Sari had to keep from giggling. Optimus gave a puzzled look toward the older bot before his optics went down to the Decepticon Sari was holding. Blitzwing, by now, was perfectly still and had one thumb stuck in his mouth, appearing to be falling asleep.

"Is… that… Blitzwing?" Optimus had to fight to get the words out.

"Yep—the same thing happened to you too."

"He's a baby." Bumblebee breathed, looking at Blitzwing with widened optics. "You mean to tell me all of us got turned into babies?!"

"Fascinating," Prowl added.

"How is this possible?" Optimus came closer to Blitzwing.

"That Allspark fragment we found at the bakery last night is the cause fer all of this." Ratchet crossed his arms. "It might have seemed like a normal piece at the time, but late last night, Sari and I could easily tell who had touched it."

"But where did Blitzwing come from?" Bulkhead asked. "I thought we left him at the bakery"

"It's kind of a long story." Sari grinned sheepishly. "I'll tell you later. Right now we've got to get him out of here."

"I'll take care of this." Ratchet reached and lifted Blitzwing out of Sari's arms. The little Decepticon quickly woke up and started squirming and whining. He reached out to Sari in hopes she'd take him back and hold him. Sari never thought she'd see herself feeling this way, but she was almost saddened to see Blitzwing leave them. He was pretty sweet when he wasn't causing havoc. Perhaps there was an innocent side to him… somewhere. And maybe there was good deep inside him.

"Ratchet," Sari called after the old bot. Ratchet stopped and turned around. "Don't hurt him."

Ratchet grunted before bending over to pick up the Allspark fragment. "He's a Decepticon."

"I know," Sari looked at Blitzwing, who was tearfully looking back at her, "but he still has a spark."

The room was quiet and Ratchet said nothing. He turned and slowly walked out of the room.

Later that same day, Ratchet finally returned to the plant. Sari jumped off the back of the cement couch and ran to him. Bumblebee came up to her side.

"Funny thing happened to me," he started in his 'grandfather story-telling' voice, "I was going down town, but before I could make it, Blitzwing turned back to his normal self and escaped. I'm sorry. I guess when I transformed into vehicle mode the Allspark fragment ended up in the back of me along with Blitzwing." He looked down at the fragment in his hand.

Sari and Bumblebee both smiled. Ratchet gently put his hand on Sari's head before leaving the room.

"You know, I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us later." said Bumblebee nervously.

- End