Chapter Text
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Filly tossed and turned in her recharge as her spark was trying to reach out for her Carrier and Sire, even though both of her creators were offline and had been for vorns. This sudden behavior meant that she was trying to form a bond with another pair in the hope that it would fill the void in her spark and bring some form of comfort to her fragile processor. With a tired huff, she groggily kicked off the thermal blanket and slipped out of the berth before sluggishly dragging herself out of the Med Bay.
For the next several minutes, the tiny femme sleepily stumbled through the Ark until she finally made her way over to the barracks, where she soon stopped in front of one of the rooms. With a large amount of effort, Filly somehow opened the door and wobbled into the dark room. The outline of two figures asleep on a nearby berth caused her spark to hum in recognition before she quietly walked over and climbed atop the large berth, where she then crawled underneath the thermal blanket and up towards the head of the berth.
Meanwhile, Prowl was comfortably recharging with Jazz snuggled against him; however, his rest was suddenly interrupted when he felt movement at the foot of the berth and underneath the blanket. Using his night vision and thermal imaging, he realized that Filly had somehow wandered out of the Med Bay, found their room and let herself in. He also noticed that she didn't seem entirely awake, so he refrained from speaking so as to not startle her.
Seeking comfort and warmth, the tiny femme crawled underneath Jazz's arm and wedged herself in between the two mechs before drifting off to recharge. At that, Prowl tenderly smiled and gently tucked some of the blanket around her frame. Afterwards, he closed his optics and fell back into recharge.
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-The next morning-
With a content 'Hmm', Jazz awoke to a warm feeling in his spark and a small pressure against his chassis. He slowly opened his optics to see Filly lying in between him and his sparkmate: Her optics were closed, indicating that she was still recharging, but her face was relaxed, meaning that all was peaceful. Seeing this, the TIC gently poked his sparkmate and spoke through a private Comm. so as to not wake the little femme. ::Prowl..Prowler…::
Upon hearing his mate's voice through the Comm. link, the SIC opened one of his optics and smiled at his beloved, ::Yes, Jazz?::
::Look who's here,:: he gestured towards the tiny femme in between them, to which he glanced down at Filly and smiled:
::I know. I saw her crawl into the berth with us last night...almost as if she sought us out.::
At that, Jazz felt his spark instinctively reach out towards Filly's in hopes that she would accept the bond. With a sleepy whimper, the youngling immediately reached over to him, where she then placed her little servo atop his chassis and spoke in a sleepy voice, {...Carrier…}
Hearing this, the saboteur felt his optics starting to mist over with joy: she called him Carrier! He looked over at Prowl, who was grinning from audio receptor to audio receptor. ::Did you hear that, Prowler? She called me Carrier!::
::I heard,:: he softly chuckled and kissed his forehead.
::Dearspark, reach out to her. See if she'll bond with you as well.::
He nodded before sending gentle pulses through his spark, hoping to reach hers and form a creator bond with her. As a result, the tiny femme hummed in her recharge before turning over and facing him. Though she wasn't awake, Filly instinctively reached over and placed her servo on his chassis and mumbled, {...Sire…}
Prowl happily smiled at the tiny femme while his sparkmate joined him in their newfound joy. Jazz looked at his beloved and asked, ::Should we try speaking to her through the bond? Maybe explain everything leading to this moment?::
He nodded and focused on their newly established bond, reaching out to Filly. Though she was recharging, the tiny femme suddenly felt a warm, familiar presence in her spark. She instantly recognized it as a creator bond, but she knew this couldn't be the case, seeing as how her creators were offline. ::Who's there,:: she asked in a confused, little voice.
::It's okay, Filly. We're here for you.::
::Jazz? How are you speaking to me?::
::You reached out and formed a creator bond with us, sweetspark,:: he answered with a smile in his voice.
::Us,:: she asked confused.
::Us, as in Jazz and I,:: another familiar voice chimed in.
::Prowl? You're here too?::
He softly chuckled, ::Of course! Jazz is my sparkmate. When you formed a Carrier bond with him, you then established a Sire bond with me.:: His voice was reassuring and supportive, ::Your spark must have been trying to call out to us last night because you wandered into our room and climbed into the berth with us.::
::I'm sorry...I guess I just missed the feeling of having creators to love and protect me.::
Jazz's soothing voice chimed in and comforted her, ::Sweetspark, you needn't feel sorry for wanting to feel safe. You can rest assured that Prowl and I will do our best to love and care for you.::
::Even though I just met you both yesterday, you're willing to take me in,:: she tearfully asked.
::Of course,:: Prowl answered. ::The moment we saw you, we felt a connection towards you and knew we wanted to care for you. Now, I may not be your biological Sire, but I will do my best to raise you as my own creation.::
::And I know I'll never replace your birth Carrier...but I hope you'll see me as a decent alternative,:: Jazz warmly added with a smile in his tone.
In response, Filly sent them loving vibes through their bond, to which she suddenly stirred awake and hugged her new creators, who in turn, held her close and warmly embraced her. Both Jazz and Prowl peppered her helm and cheeks with kisses as she too returned their affections.
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-Later-
Filly was currently sitting in the Med Bay while Ratchet examined her. She smiled at her adoptive creators before the CMO spoke up, "Well, your systems are now at 52% recovery. How are you feeling, little one?"
A loud growling sound was suddenly heard, to which she held her abdominal plates and blushed, "Hungry…"
"I can see that," he chuckled and handed her a cube of med-grade energon before approaching Jazz and Prowl, to which he spoke to them through a private Comm. link, ::Her condition hasn't improved much since yesterday, which means her systems are struggling to repair themselves. I recommend that she refrain from browsing the internet for the next week or two. In her weakened state, she could easily contract a virus and fall ill, which would prospone her recovery even further.::
At his advice, both mechs nodded in agreement before approaching their little femme. "Hey, sparklet, would you like to have your frame touched up? Sunstreaker is the best painter in the galaxy: he'll make sure you look fabulous," Jazz added and gave a wink from underneath his visor, to which Filly happily nodded:
"Oh, yes, please! Can we go now? I want to look pretty before I meet the rest of the Autobots."
Prowl gently rubbed her helm and smiled, "You're already beautiful, sweetspark. Know that no matter what your appearance might be, we will always love you."
She immediately hugged him in response, to which his spark sent an array of comforting vibes to hers. Prowl the gently picked her up and carried her out of the Med Bay with Jazz following alongside them.
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Meanwhile, Sunstreaker was finishing up buffing his arm when a knock at the door caught his attention. "Sideswipe, will you answer that? I'm almost done polishing my frame."
"Sure thing, Sunny," the red mech smirked before opening their berthroom door, revealing the SIC, TIC and the young femmling. "It's Prowl, Jazz and Filly."
"Alright, let them in," the yellow mech stated as he finished up his polishing.
Sideswipe motioned for the three of them to enter, to which Filly was placed on the floor where she smiled up at the frontliner, "Hi, Sideswipe! How are you today?"
He chuckled at her adorableness, "I'm well, thank you! Sunny and I have been touching up our paint and waxing our frames." A knowing smile crossed his face, "I take it that you're here for a touch up? Sunny is the best when it comes to paint and perfection."
His twin made a slight smirk in agreement before glancing over at the trio, "Well, of course I am! Someone on this base has to be. Now, would you like to select a new color scheme or stick to your current one?"
She blushed and looked at the faded color on her peds, "If possible, I'd like to find a color similar to my original."
"Hmm, I might have some orange paint lying around here somewhere," he then got up from his workbench and went over to a Cybertronian-sized storage chest where he rummaged through it for a few minutes before returning with a can of orange paint in his servo, "Would this work for you? The color is similar to your original...at least from what I can tell."
She studied the color for a moment before happily nodding, "Yea, it'll work! Plus, I like the name of the color: Apricot. Is that a human term for energon?"
Jazz chuckled and shook his helm, "No, sweetspark. Apricots are a type of fruit."
Not knowing she wasn't supposed to be online, Filly quickly looked up what an apricot was, as well as what fruit is. She lost her concentration when Sideswipe asked, "So, how are you adjusting?"
At his question, she smiled up at him, "I think I'm adapting fine. Jazz and Prowl formed a creator bond with me earlier this morning."
"Really? That's great! I know they'll take good care of you."
Prowl held his doorwings high in pride, "Indeed we will. Jazz and I are currently in the process of rearranging our room to accommodate her."
Sunstreaker prepped his painting tools while giving them a knowing smirk, "Better divide up the room and make hers soundproof while your at it."
In response, the SIC gave him a warning glare before Filly tilted her helm and asked in a curious voice, "Why would I need a soundproof room?"
Sideswipe was about to speak when Jazz immediately cut him off, knowing he'd probably say something inappropriate. "Well, sparklet, sometimes yer Sire and I can be rather vocal when we're 'together' in a personal way…"
"Oh, you mean when you interphase?"
All four mechs stared at her with wide optics before the twins snickered and struggled not to laugh. Ignoring them, Prowl cleared his vocalizer and asked, "How do you know about interphasing?
She looked at him with innocent optics and smiled, "My Carrier told me about it when I asked her where sparklings come from. Of course, she didn't go into too much detail, seeing as how I was only four vorns old at the time, but I think I get the gist of it."
*Ahem* "Well, alright then." Not wanting to continue this subject, Prowl glanced over at Sunstreaker and asked, "Are you ready for her?"
Regaining his composure, he nodded, "Yea. Just have her sit on the stool for me."
With a flit of his doorwings, Prowl picked up his adopted daughter and placed her on the metal stool, "Okay, sweetspark, Sunstreaker is going to paint you now, so you'll have to remain still for him, alright?"
She nodded and smiled, "Okay, Papa."
A warm smile appeared on his face at the appointed title, "Where did that term come from?"
"Shortly after we formed a bond," she admitted with a blush. "I wanted to find appropriate titles to call you and Jazz besides Sire and Carrier, since those belonged to my birth creators. Is 'Papa' okay?"
He rubbed her helm and gave a nod, "It's perfect. Thank you, sweetspark."
"Now, just out of curiosity," Jazz warmly smiled at the tiny femme, "What's my new title?"
"Well, at first I wanted to call you 'Mama', but that's a title usually given to femmes. I looked up other human terms for 'Papa' on the internet and found one that suits you perfectly: What do you think of 'Baba'?"
At that, Jazz felt his spark swell with pride, "I love it! Thank you, lil' spark!" He then placed a kiss upon her cheek and moved aside so Sunstreaker could work on her paint.
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-Two hours later-
"Alright, you're almost done. Just a few more kliks and then you're all dry," the yellow frontliner smiled as he applied the last smidge of paint on Filly's helm, to which the tiny femme emitted a giggle as he unknowingly tickled her audio receptor:
"I can't wait to see what I look like! From what I can see now, I'm so pretty. You're a wonderful painter, Sunny."
He emitted a 'hmm' sound at the use of his nickname. While he didn't care for it, he had to admit that it sounded adorable coming from her. "Alright, you're all done." He then gestured towards the full-length mirror on the wall, "Go take a look at yourself and tell me what you think."
Without hesitation, she hopped down from the stool and stood in front of the mirror with an adorable gap-toothed smile on her face,"I love it…" She fluttered her winglets and happily looked herself over in the mirror, "I love it! I love it! I love it! Thank you, Sunny!" She then ran over and hugged the yellow frontliner, who in turn, returned the sweet gesture.
Sideswipe sat on the edge of his berth and smiled, "You look amazing, Filly. Sunny, you did a great job on her paint."
He nodded in agreement before gently prying the tiny femme off, "Alright, I think your creators want to introduce you to some of the others. But if you ever want to visit Sideswipe and I, you know where to find us."
"Okay," she happily smiled and ran over to hug Sideswipe before leaving the room with her Papa and Baba.