AHAHAHA~ I'm awful. XD

I know I've been gone for a bit, but hopefully I don't think it was as long as it was last time. Also, I'm of the opinion that the cuteness and the humor at the end will make up for my awfulness.

If you have any ideas to contribute, also, that would be great! :D

Hope you all enjoy! :)

If Ironhide had his way, Rayne wouldn't have so much as touched Bumblebee's door handle. But Bumblebee offered, "Ya wanna take a spin?" and when he held her back, the little girl gave him a withering pout that would probably make Ratchet uncomfortable. Besides, if she was going to live with them from now on, she should learn early not to be afraid of riding in their alt modes. Bumblebee was the closest to her age; he would acclimate her to the rides while managing not to scare her stiff.

She wouldn't be going anywhere near Sideswipe, though, not even if she gave him that look again.

The scout knew Ironhide was watching, and took no chances regarding Rayne's safety, as he may have done with Sam or Mikaela riding in his interior. He made the child sit in the backseat, after Ironhide reminded him - in the most threatening way possible - that the warning said children under twelve years could be killed by the air bags.

Not that he thought Bumblebee would crash, of course, but... no risks. Bee strapped her in the middle of the back with both sets of seatbelts, though she protested at first. (By waving her arms and kicking the seat in front of her, since clearly she'd had enough of this talking nonsense for now.)

He then proceeded to drive around with her, doing sharp turns and donuts. He got carried away rather quickly, and Ironhide had to yell at him to "Slow the frag down, Bumblebee! And if I have to tell you one more time, I'll send you to Ratchet and he'll reformat your aft with a lugnut wrench!"

After that, the scout slowed down and eventually skidded to a stop. He was beeping and chirping sadly, in an attempt to apologize, but Ironhide wasn't going to have any of that "cute" scrap. Why should he go easy on Bumblebee just because he was still having voice problems? The younger one knew he wasn't supposed to be doing stuff like that with Rayne inside his alt mode, and he chose to disobey those rules.

When he stopped, Rayne clawed her way through the seatbelts and crawled out, shutting the door. She threw her arms out over Bumblebee's hood, trying to effectively jump up on top, though she couldn't quite make it. She even began plastering a slew of kisses against his hood, rubbing over his armor and probably trying to make him feel better.

Then she snapped her head back to look at Ironhide, and did she ever look. It was even worse than the pout she'd given him - this was a full-on glare that told him she was angry as the Pit at him. She hugged the scout even tighter and scrunched up her eyes, as if willing tears to come. "No yell a' Bumble!"

He was actually surprised by the vicious tone in her voice. She seemed to talk fine even when it hurt to do so, but it was usually quiet; never since she'd begun to speak to him had she risen her voice above a normal, conversational volume unless she was laughing about something. She was already loyal to Bumblebee, it seemed, and he guessed he should take it as a sign that she was fiercely protective of her friends.

Which looked to be a good thing on the surface, but then how was he supposed to explain to her that he'd deserved it? Rules were rules, and she had to learn that if you broke them, you had to own up to the consequences.

When he didn't say anything, just stood there staring at her - with the others staring at him - she let go of Bumblebee. She put a hand on her hip and proceeded to point at the scout as he transformed. "Say you sorry."

... Slag it all. Where was Prowl when you needed him?

Ironhide vented, but another glance at Rayne's position, staunch and unmoving, warranted a groan. He could see she wasn't going to move from that spot until he apologized, so he took a few steps toward them. Begrudgingly, he laid a servo on Bumblebee's shoulder, and decided not to make optic contact. "I am... sorry, Bumblebee."

Bumblebee chirped, and looked down at the floor. "It was me, okay? It was all me!"

Rayne ran over and clung to the scout's pede, rubbing her cheek affectionately against his armor and grinning. "Bummmmmble!" She then threw her head back and tossed her arms into the air, in his direction, then began to make urgent noises without even opening her mouth.

Ironhide was about to let the scout know that it meant she wanted to be lifted, but Bumblebee surprised him by almost immediately bending down and scooping her up in his servo. Rayne got onto her stomach and giggled, wrapping herself around one of his digits. She then proceeded to close her eyes and kick her legs contentedly, while Bumblebee stroked her back with a finger on his other servo.

"Well, I'll be fragged," Ironhide muttered, crossing his arms over his chestplates. "You actually understood her. You knew what she wanted and she didn't even have to say anything."

"Honestly, I'm not surprised," Mirage chuckled, and when Ironhide looked over he saw that the spy had a servo resting on his hip, watching the scene in amusement. "Bumblebee hasn't been talking for how many stellar cycles? He's had to communicate with body language, so I figure that it's only natural he'd pick up on hers too. Incredibile, non è vero?"

Ironhide scoffed. "I suppose it is, Mirage. Say, shouldn't you be off terrorizing some humans with your invisible antics?"

Mirage rolled his optics. "Oh, per favore, Ironhide. Even if you were invisible, I'd be able to tell how jealous you are."

"I am not jealous. I just think that too much time with Bumblebee is a bad influence."

Mirage snorted. "You don't believe that. You're jealous. Besides, I can't go anywhere. I'm on probation."

"For what?"

He raised his servos palm-out, shrugging. "It was Robert's idea, but he kept it going for longer than he should have. Galloway figured out that it was us doing the... 'ristrutturazione' of his office. So now he's watching me. I'm not allowed to use my invisibility on base unless I wanted to be barred from the missions."

"He can't do that. Honestly, who do these humans think they are?" Ironhide aimed a glance at the direction of where Galloway's office was, feeling a sudden urge to make sure his cannons were still working by using that man as a target. "He can't keep us from doing anything, and neither can the others. If they think they can restrain our free will - as the humans say, he's got another thing coming."

Mirage nodded eagerly. "Attaccare a l'uomo, fratello!"

Ironhide raised an eye ridge. "Mirage... I think you're beginning to get a little too engrossed in the human culture."

The spy laughed. "Ah, well, I've just always wanted to say that ever since I saw it on a television show. These humans, they will be entertained by anything."

"Tell me about it."

"Oh my Primus!" The doors to Med Bay opened and Ratchet came running out. "I lost her! Ironhide, I can't find Rayne! I... I should have been in Med Bay before now, but Jolt and I had a late night going over those Primus-be-slagged files. Has anyone seen her?"

At the prompt of her name, the child pushed herself up from Bumblebee's palm and smiled, blinking. "Are you the doctor?"

Ironhide offlined and onlined his optics quickly, then carefully snatched Rayne up. "Er... Ratchet, I can explain. I slept beside her last night, and when I got up this morning, it was because she was trying to wake me up. She seemed fine enough to-"

"I don't care how fine she seems, Ironhide!" Ratchet reached over and plucked the sparkling from Ironhide's servo. "Did I not tell you last night how sick she was? She doesn't look like it, I know, because she's a sparkling! Of course she doesn't want to let anyone know how bad she's feeling, she knows we'd make her get in bed! Which is precisely where she should be right now!"

"Ratchet, calm down. Get any madder and you're going to crash." Ironhide took Rayne back, holding her closer so there was no chance of the medic - or anyone else - getting her again. "The point is that she's not hurt. She's not offline. She's fine, and that's what matters, right? I did a pretty good job taking care of her, and look - nothing happened. She met Optimus, she went for a ride in Bumblebee's alt mode-"

"She WHAT?!" Ratchet's optics widened. "Her body can't take that kind of thing, Ironhide! She's not ready to even be walking! I can't believe you were so irresponsible! I - you - this is the most - you - this - I-!" Finally, a bit of smoke sparked up from Ratchet's helm, and he fell over.

Rayne crawled to the edge of Ironhide's hand and peered down at the out-of-commission medic, before looking back up at her friend. "What happened?"

Ironhide snickered, putting her back up on his shoulder, where she'd seemed most comfortable earlier. "I made Ratchet crash."

"Oh." She loosely held her tongue between her teeth, with just a bit poking out, and flung her arms up. "Do it again!"

XD I HAD TO, I HAD TO!

Italian translations, because I luvvles Mirage and can't seem to keep him out of any of my stories no matter how hard I may try.

Incredibile, non è vero? = Amazing, isn't it?

Oh, per favore = Oh, please

ristrutturazione = redecorating (*snicker* Rob and Mirage teaming up to mess with Galloway's office! I now support this situation as something that happens in the movies. XD)

Attaccare a l'uomo, fratello! = Stick it to the man, brother! (dude... just the image of Mirage saying this... just... just imagine it... 8D)

Hope you liked! Thankies for reading! ^^