Not sorry there's a big gap, I simply didn't have anymore ideas to add to this short story. However there was some mild interest in seeing a bit of romance, so I've chewed on the idea to see if I was brave enough to do it. We'll see. This is just what I came up with as a filler. Hope you enjoy! :)

The heat turned up when the race for energon turned into a battle royale for ancient relics long lost to Cybertron. Team Prime would come back battered and demoralized more often than not at first. They defended each of their zones as best they could but they were only a small squad compared to the army that floated in the sky.

The kids made themselves useful even when they weren't allowed to go on missions (Miko of course usually being the driving factor of them going out on missions). They would help Ratchet around the base especially when it came to areas his big chassis simply couldn't reach. Rafael was becoming especially handy with the Cybertronian technology even if it was just rudimentary things. Jack did his best to understand it but he was more worried about making sure everyone was safe while Miko did everything she could to be apart of the action. When she wasn't sneaking out with Bulkhead or Wheeljack she appointed herself Morale Chief Advisor. Music was at the top of the list (until Ratchet unplugged the power) and she even got Cheetor to wear a fancy spiked collar at one point, although the beast bot seemed less than pleased that the others had seen him with it. Jack was sure it had been discarded somewhere on base.

It was winter in the valley and the clouds were curling up into thunder heads all around the desert as they collided with fronts. June actually had the day off and drove the kids from school to the hidden base.

Jack busied himself watching the clouds do their dance in the sky. The sun was setting, stretching its long arms underneath the clouds in one last defiant act before being obscured for the night. Miko and Rafael were playing on his laptop in the back, the exchange student was yelling something about not going to lose while Raf was simply giggling at her hysterics.

"Is everything OK, Jack?"

"Huh? Oh... yeah, just wondering."

"About what?" June asked.

"If the Autobots will ever catch a break. I mean yeah we got a lot of relics this past week, but from what it sounds like it's just a small win."

His mother gave him a small side glance before returning to the road, "Gotta take the small victories when you can, sport. Make sure to to be happy for their victories, they hold your opinion in rather high regard."

"Yeah... yeah you're right." Jack stared back outside. He felt his mother's slim fingers clasp his hand.

"It's ok to worry, but not too much or you'll get worry warts all over your face."

"Eww mom!" Jack finally cracked a smile.

"Jack has warts?! What'd you do... kiss a frog?" Miko yelled from the back.

"No! I don't have warts!"

"Jack has warts!" Rafael pitched in.

"Heyyy!" Jack reached around and tried to reach his friends and an epic sissy slap fight ensued with Jack being outnumbered.

Inside the base they were greeted by Ratchet and Smokescreen. The medic was tinkering with something at the console, always trying to make things either just work or work slightly better.

"Well hey guys!" Smokescreen exclaimed as he knelt to get more at their level.

"Good evening children, June." Ratchet added, for once not being so focused on his task, "I thought tonight was a school night."

"Three day weekend! So we got parental approval to come down." Miko replied as she hopped out of the car.

"What's a three day weekend?" Smokescreen asked.

"It's a holiday attached to their normal rest days." Ratchet explained.

"Oohh that's pretty sweet!"

"Where is everyone?" Jack asked.

"Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead are out on an investigation, Arcee is helping Wheeljack set up another vault for whenever we get the next relic."

"And Cheetor?" Rafael piped up as he helped June pull out some bags of food from the car.

"Scouting, he should be reporting in soon. Last jump he did was into your Amazonian forests."

June made a face, "Those forests aren't very friendly even to organics."

"Yes but he's got four feet and we got four wheels." Smokescreen pointed out.

"He's also not a native cat." Miko countered.

"He'll manage better than the rest of us." Ratchet huffed.

"So long as he's safe." June added her two cents without looking up. Although she still didn't care for the kids to be involved in the Autobots war, her concern soon spread to all of them. War was nothing new to their species either.

It was a few hours later after June had put together lunch for the kids that the ground bridge computer beeped for attention. Ratchet checked the credentials to be sure who it was before opening the portal through space and time.

The shadow that phased through the end of the tunnel was small loping figure that kicked up his pace, claws tapping loudly against the concrete. When he reached the edge of the tunnel and the portal collapsed, Cheetor halted and gave a nice satisfying shake that shed all of the water from his fur.

"Hey watch it!" Jack exclaimed, having been pulled in front of Miko who'd seen the wet cat bot coming.

Cheetor chittered a chuckle before transforming to his biped mode, "Sorry kid," he said while still wiping some dampness from behind his ears, "When Ratchet said rainforest I took for granted the 'rain' bit."

"Surprised you didn't come back immediately, the neighborhood cat on Raf's street runs at the first sight of a ... what's it called... sprinkler? Yeah sprinkler." Smokescreen seemed proud to remember the earth item.

Ratchet stepped forward with a data pad, "Anything?"

"A few energon pockets, but they're not strong enough to warrant showing up with a mining squad." he absentmindedly plucked some leaves that had found their way between his shoulder joints.

"We'll mark it as least likely." Ratchet muttered, going over some more numbers.

Cheetor nodded toward June before moving along to get some energon for himself. Jack rolled his eyes but his mother simply smiled.

"Why does Cheetor treat you with the head nod thingie?" Jack asked his mother.

"Probably because I helped save him from his rather organic wounds. Or maybe he respects elders I don't know." she pinched her sons cheek just to be obnoxious.

It was a long drive back to the city, almost an hours worth of time. So June decided to stay until the children were ready to go to bed.

For the most part she stayed out of their way, only talking when spoken to. It was still a tad bit of a shock that she was around big metal aliens. Even after being kidnapped by Knockout with Agent Fowler, it all still felt like a dream. Sure it wasn't like she'd imagined such a thing happening. But reality had this funny thing about how you reacted to it actually happening.

Miko had fallen asleep watching TV while Rafael was studying a piece of software Ratchet gave him. Jack had gone off somewhere but June wasn't familiar enough with the base to understand where he'd gone.

June noticed Cheetor (now dry) was wandering around Arcee. Literally in the sense, he had no reason to be around the feminine Autobot but that's what he was doing. Not in his humanoid form but in his cat form. June would've considered him a pet if he hadn't proven himself a very intelligent being. Arcee didn't seem to mind his proximity, in fact it seemed to please her. Perhaps being around such large compatriots all the time gave her just as many dings and cuts as fighting a Decepticon.

The nurse looked up when Wheeljack came in, he went straight to Arcee and spoke to her but June wasn't listening to their conversation, she was more interesting in Cheetor's behavior. While he did nothing, his posture said everything. The cat was standing between the two but closer to Arcee, head low, ears pointed and tail twitching from side to side. June narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering if Cheetor did this consciously or if it was a side effect of the DNA he'd scanned. Wheeljack stepped away, mentioning something about recharging. Cheetor left the same way after a minute or two, Arcee was first on shift for the night.

"You're still here, Mom?" Jack exclaimed as he climbed up the nearby ladder.

"Yeah, don't worry I'm not staying the whole weekend, I was just sitting and thinking."

Jack followed his mother's gaze to his partner who was setting up some programs at the main console, "About what?"

She shrugged, "Just curious."

"About?" Jack pressed.

"Robotic birds and the bees." she laughed when Jack flushed red and pinched his cheeks, "Ok ok I'm going! Behave!" she said before heading to her car.

"Be safe!" Jack replied back as his mother started up the engines and drove off into the night.

"Robotic birds and the bees? What?" Miko moaned from where she was stretching awake on the couch, "Who's dating who around here?"

"No one, Mom's just... being Mom." Jack waved the subject off as he moved his friends feet over so he could sit down.

"Do robots even have the birds and the bees talk?" Rafael asked.

"No!"

"Maybe?"

Jack and Miko looked at each other.

"What it's not like we've exactly asked if they do or don't, they've been too busy kicking butt all over the planet to get all lovey dovey." Miko batted her eyelashes and pursed her lips to make her point. This made Rafael giggle and blush while Jack just blushed and frowned.

He plucked some chips from a bowl, "Either way it's not like it's our business what they... do for relationships."

"Oh come on aren't you even a little curious? Let's go ask Arcee!"

"No! We're not gonna ask for a robot sex ed class."

"Ewww not sex ed, I hate that class." Rafael made a face.

Miko rolled her eyes, "Not sex ed! Doofuses, I just mean what makes a femme and a mech... more than friends."

"Oh... that." Jack crunched on a couple of chips to hide his embarrassment, "But we're still not asking Arcee!"

"Whyy not she's right over there."

"Because we're just not, let's go find someone else to ask."

Just before Miko could protest Arcee pulled a few levers down and the ground bridge burst open, Optimus and his scouting team rolled on in transforming just as they exited the green swirling light. Bumblebee was plucking bits of sticks and leaves from in between his joints and armored plating, mud caked to his outer shell. He looked less than amused.

"Bee! What happened?" Rafael tried to hold back his laugh as his guardian twittered and whooped through his story with a few wild gestures suggesting something about tripping down a very steep hill.

"Very graceful, Bee." Arcee chuckled.

The main hub buzzed with reports and Ratchet returning from his room to make sure no injuries or contaminants were inflicted upon the bots. Short of bruised pride, everyone was fine so he cleared them off for the night and went back to his quarters. Rafael went to help Bee clean out all of the foliage from his chassis, Bulkhead remained with Miko to recount the stories of the day.

The question of the robotic birds and the bees fell to the way side for the rest of the evening since the kids were excited to spend time with their guardians without running for their lives. It was a rare moment when all of the Autobots were in base. It was a time of security and peace, everyone was accounted for and not out risking their lives for a cube or two of energon.

Quiet conversation quickly turned to mischief as the bots and humans exchanged knowledge of games, adapting them to include both of the species. The current game was hide and go seek.

Hearing the soft pitter patter of feet caused Cheetor to come out of his hiding place. He found the main hub empty except for Arcee at the main console.

"In peace, ever vigilant." he said.

"Yup." Arcee sighed, "I thought you were playing with the kids."

"No I just woke up."

"You take more stasis naps than Ratchet."

Cheetor chuckled as he leaned against the nearby railing, "You should try it sometime, it's quite nice to go idle, don't burn up so much energy just sitting there staring at the ceiling."

"I can think of a few nicer things than naps." Arcee smiled. Cheetor raised an eye ridge at her but didn't comment.

A moment of silence.

Cheetor found being in the femme's presence very comforting. Over the past few months their interactions ranged from light hearted banter to deep philosophical discussion to simple just... sitting with each other.

"How've you been?"

Arcee looked up, the glow of the computer making her face soft, "What do you mean?"

"This race for relics seems to have everyone on edge. I mean I understand their importance, they could tip the balance. I'm just worried."

She smiled, "I'm doing fine, Cheetor. Thanks for asking."

He nodded, he couldn't think of anything else to say so he turned to leave. Maybe even spook the kids since he'd heard a clash of something dropping and a howl of laughter. They seemed to be having a good time.

"Want to go check something out with me?"

The bot stopped and glanced back at her, "What? I mean... you found something?"

"A big enough signature that it warrants a physical investigation, and since the Nemesis is currently sniffing around in Iceland and this is in back in South America. Before you ask, even further south than where you were looking." Arcee added quickly.

"Sure, I'll go get someone to man the bridge."

The two bots jumped when Miko screeched, "Where are you guys going?" she was out of breath, as if she'd been running from someone.

"Just to check something out." Cheetor responded.

"All alone again huh?"

"No I'm going with Arcee."

Miko straightened up at this news, "Really?"

Cheetor flattened his ears, "Yes...?"

"Can you man the bridge in case we run into trouble, Miko?" Arcee interjected, "Or can you at least go get Bulkhead or Rafael?"

"You got it sister!" Miko ran off.

Cheetor chuckled, "Well that was... oddly smooth."

"Yeah... let's go before she does something stupid like tag along." she took a running start before leaping into her vehicle mode and speeding off.

"Arcee wait!" Cheetor transformed as well and took off after her.

The portal folded inwards and swirled shut with a pop.

Jack came running into the main hub having heard the portal, "Hey... where'd everyone go?"

"To South America." Miko said from where she was climbing up the ladders."

"Wait... Arcee left without me?"

"She did didn't she." Miko giggled as Jack flushed with confusion.

"What's going on? Is this the safe area?" Rafael asked quietly. He'd lost Bumblebee somewhere in section 3 of the base.

"No we're not playing anymore, why did Arcee leave alone?" Jack demanded as he joined Miko on the platform that allowed them access to the ground bridge controls. He looked up at the map that was automatically brought up when someone bridged out. Instead of seeing just Arcee's number, Cheetor's was their along side the signal.

The young teen looked at Miko who had the most mischievous look on her face.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"That look on your face like you know something's going on. They're not going out."

"She didn't say that." Rafael said.

"Yeah I didn't. You're jealous!"

"I'm not jealous! I'm... concerned! Yeah that's it, concerned." Jack pushed Miko aside so he could get a closer look at the map, "Besides, robots don't need to date."

"You don't know that." Miko leaned casually against the console and folded her arms.

"Yeah well... shut up." Jack glared at his friend.

"Come on let's go see what they're up to! Operation Love Birds! Or... is it... robots in this case?"

"No!" Jack protested. Whether it was to leaving the base or referring to Arcee and Cheetor as love birds it wasn't quite clear.

"We can't leave the base, Miko!" Rafael exclaimed.

"Since when has that ever stopped me? Look, if you scaredy cats don't want to go then just let me and say I went to go get sodas."

"Even if that excuse worked a third time they just went to the Amazonian jungle, we'd get lost." Jack retorted.

Miko snorted and looked like she was giving up the topic which made Jack breath a sigh of relief. He was a bit cold so he went to go get his jacket off the couch.

"Jack, you're such an idiot."

He stopped and looked back at her, "Excuse me?"

"Arcee is out there, all alone, without her partner. She's been leaving you behind more and more, do you think maybe she's replacing you with some... bot more suited to her needs?"

"She would never replace me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"One hundred and twelve percent positive?"

Jack looked away form his friends where the ground bridge currently sat, cooling from disuse.

"Boy you suck Miko."

The wild child smirked in victory.