He was built for war. Not just small little skirmishes or one of those security bots that can take some punishment. He was built for WAR. His armor was some of the thickest of the planet and could withstand heavy damage before his protoform underneath was in danger. His weaponry, two massive cannons that he took care of like they were sparklings, made scrap metal out of his enemies. On top of that but his training and experience made him the most feared, and hated, mech amongst the Decepticons but the one of the best of the Autobots. He was the epitome of the perfect soldier.

But Ironhide's job was rather different. He was on the front lines a lot but his main job, first and foremost, was bodyguard to the Prime. He was a guardian mech, one of the few left, with a natural instinct to protect and heavily programmed to ensure he would give his life for his Prime. That programming was why there were few guardians left. The programming dictated that he could never ever raise a weapon to the Prime, even to protect himself. A Prime could kill him without any resistance. It also dictated that, should the enemy ever capture him, he simply could not speak of his job, nor the secrets he knew about the Prime nor the secrets of his faction. Should the enemy try to hack him for that information, a failsafe would kick on and he would offline…permanently.

But this was all voluntary. Ironhide had wanted this. This was something he did on his own…the programming simply backed up his natural inclination. Sentinel Prime was a big imposing mech that commanded respect but wherever he went there was a black shadow in his wake, one that made mechs stand up straighter and mind their manners. Ironhide was a bodyguard and he took any and all threats very seriously. But there was one other aspect to his job, one other mech Ironhide looked after.

Orion.

Orion was Sentinel's youngling, already tall and gangly in a second frame. His carrier had given her life sparking him, such was the way of Primes sometimes unfortunately and Sentinel was extremely busy so the job of raising the young prime, as was tradition, fell to Ironhide.

"Hide can we go see the towers again?" Orion squeaked, pouncing on the black mech as he walked in the room.

"You saw those last orn." Ironhide argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Please?!" Orion turned big pleading optics on his guardian. The giant black mech might act like a hard aft but in all honesty, he was absolute putty underneath. A big giant softy. Orion could get away with just about anything if he gave a big innocent smile and said "I love you" to Ironhide. Melted his armor each and every time.

"No, stop it. Quit giving me that look." Ironhide groaned, uncrossing his arms, "I told you last orn that today we have to go see Ratchet."

"Are you going to…" Orion's little face screwed up as he tried to remember something, "Tie Ratchet to a berth and-"

"Where did you hear THAT?!" Ironhide's optics widened, flashing a moment in utter shock and horror, "NO! Primus don't ever repeat that. I don't know where you heard that but that is NOT for little ones to know…or anyone else for that matter."

"But you said it…"

"I say a lot of things but that doesn't mean YOU need to say them…or hear them for that matter. Now come on. Eavesdropping is NOT behavior fit for a young primeling." Ironhide herded his charge out, "Need to start making sure you REALLY are in recharge from now on."

"But…"

Ironhide stopped and crouched down in front of Orion "Listen…that sort of thing is between two bots and no one else. It's not nice to spread that sort of thing around. One day you'll full understand but for now, if you don't say anything, I'll take you to play in the Helix gardens…at night when it's all glowing."

"Ok!"

The youngling's reply was so cheerful and agreeable that Ironhide suddenly realized he had just been duped by the youngling…again.

Ironhide DID have right to lecture him; Orion had a memory bank like a hellhound's jaws. Once something was stored, he never forgot it. But this also worked in Ironhide's favor. If he could get the youngling to promise something, he rarely forgot it. So he only had to tense a little as they made their way out into Iacon…but Orion never let on he ever knew about a raunchy conversation between the bodyguard and the medic.

XxXxXx

Usually when the Prime or his family (which was rather few in number now unfortunately) went out into the city, there were plenty of escorts, Ironhide among them, to protect him. Generally it irritated Ironhide. He could take on just about anything that could threaten Sentinel by himself and he thought that such a large retinue would attract far more attention then just two mechs walking alone. Granted it was hard to NOT notice Sentinel but it was far easier to slip away unnoticed than with a crowd of mechs. So when he was looking after Orion, he never took more than just himself and the youngling. No need to scare the bitlet into thinking he could never go anywhere without his safety in question…not this young at least. He still had such an innocent outlook on life. So innocent that it made Ironhide's spark ache with the thought that one day he would see different, that he would always have a wary view in this war-torn world. For now, at least, he could give him as normal a younglinghood as he possibly could, the longer the better. Besides, Orion had a thing for the public transport system. The train system that traversed the city always made his blue optics go wide and his mouth drop open whenever it passed by.

"Want to take the transport to see Ratch?" Ironhide grinned, knowing the response.

"Can we?!" Orion reverted to babyhood clicks and squeals in his excitement, "Can we sit by a window? I want to go by the towers again! I want to see all the big buildings! And all the other things!" he was bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Easy there you, you keep up that bouncing you won't have any energy left for the ride. We can see all that after we leave the medcenter ok?"

Any compromise would do when it came to the trains and Orion squealed and jumped on Ironhide's leg, hugging him tight.

XxXxXx

Orion might not have been tired at the end of the ride but Ironhide felt like HE was. Keeping an excited sparkling in one place was not easy and it had taken all his concentration on keeping him close and keeping watch for any threat. Most mechs had chuckled to themselves seeing the huge scarred warrior struggle with the bouncy sparkling who had plastered himself on a window and left them alone, which suited Ironhide just fine.

But now Orion plastered himself against Ironhide's leg at the sight of the central medcenter. He liked Ratchet well enough but the medcenter always meant check-ups and shots and poking and prodding and he didn't like that, not one little bit.

"C'mon now it's not that bad." Ironhide picked the red and blue youngling up and carried him inside, "Be a brave little warrior."

Being brave was not on Orion's list of things to do in here and he whimpered as they went in, hiding his face in the space between the armor on Ironhide's shoulder and neck. Several medics, recognizing the pair, greeted them but the youngling refused to look up, instead trying to hide even more so that no one could see him.

"Easy my little one." Ironhide said softly, his other hand rubbed Orion's head in a rare moment of open affection, "You know perfectly well that I won't let anything happen to you. We're just here to make sure you ain't growing out of your plating. Pit you grow like a rust stain."

Orion finally giggled a little at that. "I'm not rust."

"I hope not! You're on my shooting arm! Can't have rust on that."

"You shoot with both arms!"

"Yeah but I need both!"

"You're silly."

"I am huh?" Always amused Ironhide that the things this sparkling called him was the LAST thing most others would call him, "How's this for silly?"

He poked Orion in the back of the knee and braced himself. Sure enough, the youngling shrieked and laughed and started kicking and flailing. He kept making him laugh all the way to the exam room, distracting him from his fears nicely for a while.

"Now this is for the records. The great and feared Ironhide…making a sparkling laugh."

Ironhide looked up sharply and relaxed when he saw Ratchet leaning against the doorframe, grinning at him mischievously.

"Aw can it. You got enough 'records' of me with this too-tall bitlet that whatever reputation I got is sla-"

"Language!" Ratchet warned, his grin quickly turning into his trademark scowl, "Really Ironhide…I'm going to put a language filter in you. If we end up with a foul-mouthed Prime we'll know who to blame."

As soon as he heard Ratchet Orion quit laughing and hid himself in Ironhide's armor once again.

"Aw Optimus…no need to be scared. No shots this time I promise." Ratchet's gruff tone turned gentle as he went to the youngling, "I just need to look at you."

Orion whimpers turned to shrieks when Ironhide started to pull him off. He clamped on like a scraplet and refused to let go.

"Orion! What's gotten into you!" Ironhide said.

"NO!" Orion screamed, then burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Ratchet asked, exchanging a perplexed look with Ironhide, "You weren't scared last time."

"I…I…I don-don't want a…a st-ab-laser." Orion hiccupped.

"A what?"

"A stab-lizer."

"A stabilizer?"

Orion shrieked and hid again, howling and sobbing into Ironhide's neck.

"Where did he get that idea?" Ratchet asked privately over a comm. line.

"I have no idea. He hears and sees things that I didn't realize he heard or saw." Ironhide commed back, "He wasn't around injured mechs."

"Orion, where did you hear that?" Ratchet switched back to the sobbing baby.

"Did it to Hide."

"To Iron…oh…OH!" Ratchet's optics widened, "Orion what were you doing there for that?"

"I wanted to see him. I heard shouting…someone spilled energon everywhere." Orion said, peeking one blue optic out at Ratchet, "Hide was taking a nap on the floor. Other bots were running around. It looked like a fun game. I was hiding behind the door. No one found me. Then you screamed for a stab-lizer. Everyone was yelling and I got scared. I saw a mech with red optics."

Ratchet and Ironhide went very still. Several dozen orns ago, a Decepticon assassin had managed to get into the hall where Sentinel was going over attack plans. Ironhide happened to see him an instant before he fired a shot. He hadn't even been able to shout a warning before he had placed himself between the threat and his Prime…and took the shot directly in the chest. It had been utter chaos with mechs running all over the place, catching the assassin and demanding to know what security system had failed. In the middle of it all, Ironhide lay leaking vital energon. The shot had ricocheted off his spark casing, leaving his spark exposed. Sentinel had stayed with his downed bodyguard, trying to keep him alive until a medic could get there. Through sheer luck Ratchet happened to be there to give updates on supplies needed and on injured warriors. It was something he liked to do personally instead of sending a datapad or a student just in case he had to argue for something he particularly wanted. Had he not been there at that moment, there was a very real chance they could have lost Ironhide. No one knew that Orion had seen that unpleasant scene.

"Orion…Ironhide had gotten hurt very badly. I used a stabilizer to make him better." Ratchet explained, not saying that he used it to keep the warrior's spark lit and to keep him alive, "I don't have to use one on you. I know it looked scary but everything is all right now. I don't want you to worry about that and I don't want you to worry about the mech with the red optics."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Slowly Optimus crawled out and allowed Ratchet to take him and hold him as he got everything he needed to perform the exam.

Ironhide stepped back and stayed out of the way, watching but at the same time he was rattled. He had no idea Orion had gotten away from his tutors, which was where he was supposed to be at that time. He was going to have to have a word with them. But more than that, the idyllic view of the world was starting to shatter for the little sparkling. He didn't understand what had happened then, thank primus, but he had seen enough. For now Ironhide would leave it alone…but if the topic ever arised again or if something else happened, they would have a long talk.

"Everything is going smoothly. His joints and plating are keeping up with his rapid growth." Ratchet announced, handing the happily clicking youngling back to his guardian, "Though if he keeps this up he'll be in third frame sooner than expected. Just keep watch on him for sore joints and any strain on his frame. Other than that I'll see you again in a few months."

Ironhide nodded and turned to go.

"Oh and Hide…" the black mech stopped and looked over his shoulder, suddenly suspicious, "You have a maintenance that's way over-due. Need I remind you that you are technically still recovering from that…incident. If I have to, I WILL tell Sentinel to order you here."

"Yeah, yeah Hatchet I'll be here…"

"And tie him to a berth!" Orion proclaimed proudly.

"Time to go!" Ironhide said loudly and bolted, shoving the laughing youngling into the crook of his elbow joint, the chartreuse medic sputtering and cursing in their wake.

XxXxXx

Later that evening Ironhide carried an exhausted Orion back home, the blue and red youngling sprawled over his shoulder, clicking in exhaustion.

"Sorry I got you in trouble, Hide." Orion muttered.

"Eh, don't worry kid. I can handle the Hatchet." Ironhide grinned at his own double meaning, "Let's get you to your berth."

"Hide?"

"What?"

"Are you my creator?"

That simple question was like a static bomb. Ironhide nearly fell flat on his face but he didn't want to jostle Orion. He had never known his own creators. Kup had raised him since he was a newspark. He had grown up longing for more though. He loved the old mech and there was a definite adoptive bond there but he had always craved a stronger bond. As he got older though, the craving changed into wanting a family of his own. But the war and his job got in the way of that dream. Taking place in that dream now was him raising Orion. Many nights he had lay awake, wishing with his entire spark that Orion had actually been his. He felt slightly traitorous thinking that but he was with Orion more than Sentinel was. In a sense…he was more creator than the Prime. But he couldn't forget his place or his job. He was to protect the Prime and his family at all costs. He was a frontliner in the war against the Decepticons. But he was also charged with raising this one little sparkling into a mech. His job ended when he grew into a full-grown mech. Supposedly at least.

But that couldn't stop him from loving this sparkling like he was his own. He might end up swearing loyalty to him on one knee one day, but it would never change what they had now.

"No…I'm not." Ironhide said, a hint of sadness in his voice, "But I get to raise you. I'm here now. Whether I'm your creator or not…I'm still here."

His only response was a tiny snore as Orion fell into full recharge on his shoulder. Ironhide just grinned.

He was the most feared and respected Autobot in the ranks, built for war, built for taking huge amounts of damage, programmed to protect his Prime and equipped for causing destruction among his enemies. Perhaps one day he would have a family of his own…but for now, Orion served as his first sparkling.

XxXxXx

A/N: NOT the requests I have but this one was yelling at me. I just love baby Optimus. I saw Age of Extinction (I liked it but there was no Ironhide and there were several things that really upset me…If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about) and all I could think of was "Optimus REALLY needed Ironhide…"