Fragile: Keeping A Secret

_{53. Keeping A Secret}

How they were managing to keep this 'baby shower' a secret from Prowl, Ratchet didn't know. If the trained ninja-bot did know, he hadn't given any indication of the sort. The red and white sincerely hoped not. All the efforts they'd gone through just to make it a surprise would go to waste if Prowl had figured it out.

They all had their jobs to do to get ready for the sparkling. Ratchet was building her armour using a metal not that different from protoform plating which would expand as she grew until around her 1,200th stellar cycle online, the time she would get her first upgrade. Optimus was in charge of making sure the invited guests got here on time with the gifts.

Bulkhead put his artistry to work, painting pictures for the sparkling's room. Simple things that were considered normal by both Cybertronian and Earth culture. An organic yellow pup with large blue eyes and a cartoonish, open smile with its tongue lolling out of his mouth. A glitch mouse gnawing on an energon goodie with pale gray backgrounds.

A black and white cat that the green wrecker had noticed followed Prowl around now and again, sneaking up on a bird with a playful glint in the green eyes. To top off the small gathering of paintings, Bulkhead had done a portrait of Prowl and Bee underneath the large tree in their room. He did the two mechs by memory; the rest by a data-shot he'd snapped of the room once Prowl was gone.

When it came to the actual sparkling's room, they worked together on it. The unused spare room next to Prowl's was an ideal place for it. The walls were solid and uncracked despite the large organic growth next door; it was close enough that if any problems came up, they wouldn't have to go far to check on her, and it was easier than most of the base had been when it came to rewiring for electricity.

To allow for more work time, Optimus occasionally ordered the two out of base, giving Bumblebee the stress relief he needed and keeping Prowl from discovering what they were doing. Just like today for example. Optimus had ordered Prowl to take the young mech out somewhere to keep him from feeling cooped up and to keep the rest of them from feeling the said bot's temper should he have a mood swing.

While they were gone, Optimus and Bulkhead planned to do some fixing up on the room. They'd moved out whatever boxes and crates were in there, swept and cleaned, and made minor repairs when needed. Now, they were filling in cracks in the concrete floor which they later planned to cover with a soft silcone material.

At the moment, Bulkhead was filling in the last crack while Optimus was fixing up the last of the wiring, testing the lights to make sure they worked. Once he was sure all the connections were sound, he insulated the wires and began sealing up the wall. Bulkhead had used a quick drying solution and with kliks, he was smoothing out the little bumps that had managed to escape his notice before.

"Well, it looks like Prowl and Bumblebee will be off to a great start with this room." Optimus stated, the wall sealed.

"Yeah. They're gonna like it..."

"Optimus! Prowl and Bee are pulling into base." Sari's voice rang out over his comm. link. Whenever Optimus sent out the couple for a date, he'd call in Sari to come and keep a look-out for them while they worked. They really didn't need Prowl discovering what they were up to, and so far the techo-organic had proven herself capable.

Both mechs hurried out of the room and closed the door, Bulkhead lumbering off to his room to get rid of the leftover solution and clean himself off. Optimus hadn't gotten a speck of dirt on himself and decided it was best if he greeted the two himself if only to seem less suspicious. Sari came running into base and hopped up on the couch, grabbing the game console and pressing the start button to unpause the game she'd started, making it look like she'd come over not too long ago.

Barely a nanosec later, Prowl and Bumblebee rolled in through the entrance and transformed, the yellow mech immediately noticing Sari and racing over to the couch. It was no problem for the red-head to start the game over and set it to two player. Prowl sighed good naturedly and walked over to Optimus.

"Any problems while we were gone?"

"Prowl, I've told you before, you don't have to worry that kind of stuff while Bumblebee's carrying. It's more important that you're there for him." The black and gold mech gave Optimus a grateful smile and nodded, leaving Bumblebee to play with Sari while he headed for the medbay. It was about time he checked on the the progress of his sparkling's armour.

Ratchet seemed to be expecting him, looking up when his door hissed open, Prowl walking in a lot calmer than he'd been when he left. The medic smirked, knowing that look all too well by now.

"So... Bumblebee got in the mood huh?" Prowl's saunter gained an unsual stumble, the dark gray faceplates heating to a dull red.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about my 'face life so casually." Ratchet chuckled, turning back to his work, hammering out the metal for the second arm guard.

"Sorry, Prowl. You've just become a different bot ever since you found out you're a father. It's refreshing, when ya look at how you used to be. A stiff, uptight, snobbish..."

"I wasn't a snob." Prowl cut-over him, scowling. Ratchet shrugged, passing the metal through a blow-torch in order to bend it.

"Could have fooled us. Anyway, I'm just sayin' it's great to see how much a sparkling can change things." Looking back at how much Bumblebee had changed, Prowl couldn't help but agree. The dark mech strode over to Ratchet's work table, picking up the semi-finished helm piece for his sparkling. She was certainly going to look more like Bumblebee with it, even having the same black line and arrow-point on top.

There was a knotch in the back for the attachment that looked like what the humans called a 'ponytail'. The attachment itself would be hollow and absorb the impact of any blow she happened to take to the back.

None of it was painted yet, but that could wait for awhile.

Giving the armour one last look over, Prowl nodded and smiled, a sight that was becoming more and more frequent as the days went on. "It looks great, Ratchet. Thank you for all your trouble."

"Aw, don't worry about it, kid. She was gonna need armour whether she came with it or had to be made. Now, you go and meditate or some other cyber-ninja slag that you do, and I'll let ya know when I'm ready to paint it." The good-natured send off was the only hint Prowl needed to know Ratchet didn't want to be disturbed anymore than was necessary.

He gave Ratchet a friendly nod and left just as quietly as he had come in. The medic drew a long cycle of air that turned into a sigh, carefully bending the metal into the shape of a small cyclinder, welding the ends together, one end tapering to a medium gap. This would be one of the arm guards by the time he was through with it.

Ratchet still had another month of work ahead of him considering the metal for the armour had only just arrived two weeks before. The armour was the only thing Prowl actually knew about and actively looked over. The rest of the base wanted the sparkling's room and the party (baby shower, as Sari had called it) to be a surprise.

The red and white mech did  a quick count-up of Bumblebee's months and figured out exactly when he was due. Nearing the middle of his third orbital cycle, the scout still had another seven weeks by human standards. Three weeks before that was the planned party, on Christmas, making the sparkling's birth date at the first of the month called January. They were still in November.

Keeping it from being discovered was the greatest challenge they'd ever had.

Ratchet grumbled to himself as the cycle ticked away, "Slag it all, I'm getting too old to be worried about keeping secrets."