Author's Note: Set in the movie verse, two years after Revenge of the Fallen. Annabelle is now about five years old. Ironhide is the family guardian and her favorite friend. This is NOT a pairing. Ancient alien robot and a little girl he thinks of like his own daughter / sparkling. And Optimus being a Prime and the bad guy, unintentionally. Read, enjoy and leave a review if you like. More to follow.

Boo Boo Bot Bunny

Sarah and Annabelle Lennox arrived on the Diego Garcia NEST base for a long-awaited vacation. The two weeks for spring break at her school equaling time with the Transformers. Sarah parked the car beside the designated hangar, reaching over to unbuckle her daughter from the booster seat. "Remember the rules. Don't go anywhere you don't know, stay with the Autobots, use an inside voice, and no photos can go home with us. They stay with daddy. And keep your sleeves down."

"Okay," the five-year-old answered, tugging at her white shirt, wincing as it pulled across her right arm. Long sleeved and decorated with flowers, it matched her flower shorts and shoes perfectly, but she didn't like it. "I wanted to wear my blue jumper."

"I know sweetie. But maybe tomorrow. We can wear it to the beach with daddy. Let's go"

Blonde hair moving in the tropical breezes, they got out and approached the human size door on the left. Inside, they hesitated, looking up at the Autobots assembled there. Not out of fear or surprise but to recognize old friends and greet new arrivals. Major Will Lennox and an ancient black armored warrior were watching from the side, waiting to be noticed.

"Hide!" Annabelle yelled, waving at her dad as she ran towards her favorite mech. "School was fun. I painted in art class, we got new bouncy balls to throw at recess and Carl got in trouble for hiding a garden snake in the teacher's desk. It was only a little one, but we couldn't keep it." She giggled, gesturing as Ironhide held his armored hand open, raising her up to his face.

"Don't take it personal Will," Sarah said, hugging her husband. "He's her best friend and they've been apart for a couple of months."

"He talks to her almost every night on that mini teletran. Unless on the battlefield. I don't even talk with you that much." He complained, breathing in her perfume, content with the feel of her in his arms.

"We can talk all we want. The Autobots are babysitting remember? Oh no, he noticed her scrape." She frowned. Will looked up then winced. Ironhide was practically nose to nose with the child, his blue optics focused as she kept her right arm behind her back. His stiffness reinforced by rapid venting.

"I fell at school and hurt my arm a little. Mommy gave me a boo boo bunny. Don't be mad," Annabelle pleaded. "I can still play and have fun. I missed you."

"How?" was all he asked, auto systems keeping his battle systems from on lining.

"Playing at recess." She said, not meeting his bright optics but brought her arm forward. She pulled the sleeve back, showing the damage. From the wrist back it was scraped with the worst at the elbow. The scrape was wide, discolored with bruising around the edges and scabbed over. "I fell and slid."

"Did you have help falling?" the ancient warrior asked, recognizing an impact injury caused by surprise and a forward moving force. Optics narrowed, he conferred rapidly with Ratchet long distance over internal comms.

Sarah came to the rescue of her daughter. "Ironhide, it's not broke and if you want to help, try a boo boo bunny." She held up a washrag rolled into a ball and tied with a rubber band to resemble rabbit ears. A small white puff ball had been glued at the other end to simulate a tail.

"How does that help?" He asked, lowering her back to the floor. Combat injuries he had treated on the battlefield, both human and Transformer. His processors shied away from those injuries on her. And treatment off the battlefield was not his area of expertise letting the medics clear those fit for duty to return.

"Put a ice cube inside. It's cold and makes it feel better. Haven't you ever used one? "Annabelle asked, jumping down.

"Ratchet advises time and keeping it clean. Cold was used by Sector 7 as containment, not assistance," he trailed off thoughtfully. Will and his daughter left to get the suitcases out of the car while Sarah explained about a new student that had started that week, an apparent bully. He had picked on another student and Annabelle had stepped up to challenge him, even though he was bigger and older. Appearing to back down, he had pushed her as she walked off.

"Easy there big guy!" Sarah cautioned, raising one hand while using her best I'm a mom so listen to my command voice. "She got up and tackled him, taking him down to the ground. Kept one arm pinned with her knee while punching him. I know where she learned that."

"I offline my enemies, not tackle and punch," Ironhide reminded.

"The teacher separated them. He is blocked from recess for a month and one more problem of any type and he will be expelled. Annabelle is on probation because it was self-defense. The school has a strict no violence policy. Next fight and she gets suspended for a week. Will is going to talk to her about that. But Ratchet would be proud. She took care of her arm while the school called me."

"What if the injury had been worse? Or that pit spawned secretly armed? She is not a trained medic and waiting for you to arrive from the farm is not efficient or advisable. And suspension? For protecting her spark? Or another's?" Ironhide argued then stopped when Annabelle returned, vowing to find a better way to monitor her. And train. Leaving her back plates open for attack was a rookie mistake.

Medic Assistant First Aid got an audio sensor full that night from an upset Ironhide on human's frailty and their apparent lack of concern. "No violence? Are they slagging insane? Putting up signs declaring violence free areas. No Decepticon would read them! Are they asking for trouble? They are bad as the Praxus elders, weapons forbidden and pretending evil does not exist. Megatron wiped their city!"

"Calm down before you blow another vocal processor. Humans are free to choose their own paths. I have a design that can be ready in half a Joor." the medic advised. "Ratchet and Prime are out with a NEST team but that doesn't mean your problem can't be helped." Ironhide hesitated, remembering the medic's last attempt to "help" Prowl had ended in a chase and forced capture of the mech then decided anything made could be upgraded later. His only other choice Wheeljack and his expertise needed in trackers and communication, not medical.

"Here it is," First Aid presented a small cube to him later as promised. "Hold it against a human like this," he placed it on his arm and the shape unfolded into a square bunny with moving ears. It hummed softly, little blue eyes blinking as the paws unfolded flat to rest on the arm plating. "Scanners read down to the molecular level so no needles to monitor blood, tissue or bone analysis. The humming is its processors running, and the digital extensions can seal across tissue to create a pressure bandage to prevent energon loss, err bleeding. Temperatures settings adjust automatically based on their biometrics and when done, it folds back into a cube for easy storage and transport. All data is reported immediately to the nearest medical officer. It can signal for immediate retrieval if injuries need advanced care," he pointed at the ball shape tail. "And be activated remotely and as often as needed. A boo boo bot bunny."

Sarah and Will accepted it gratefully, linking their laptops into its access program. Annabelle loved anything bot like her friends but hated it could only be used while on base. A human EMT had noticed it and requested one for his med kit. His EMT partner got two, one for med kit and one for his girlfriend. She got one for her commanding officer and one for a MP who didn't report her for sneaking back in after curfew. He used it on a solider returning from a bar fight in town, taking the man to the care center the second it reported a stab wound the man hadn't even felt, saving his life. After that, they began showing up everywhere. It was rumored one solider even slept with his, cuddling and talking to it.

Ratchet returned and found it irritating and amusing at the same time. Irritating his assistant had released advanced technology into human hands in an inferior physical form. Amusing he had access to raw data by the gazillion on humans and their physiology they would never have allowed any other way. Pentagon command worried about the data being used to created bio weapons, internal security feared it falling into enemy hands and the technology division pushed for more advanced devices. Prime finally settled the matter.

All bunny bots were recalled, cataloged and released one per medic team. Each was locked with a code to insure a complete internal meltdown should it be mishandled, lost or stolen. It was the removal of the bunny features, returning it to a square box everyone complained about.

Will saw the first sketch, sent anonymously to his e-mail and grinned. It showed a stern Optimus Prime, in his bi pedal alt form, kicking a little white bot bunny into the air. "Bunny Bot Bouncer" had been written underneath. Two days later, another sketch of the red and blue mech appeared. He was running, long rifle out, as half a dozen bot bunnies fled before him. "Save our bunnies!" was written underneath on that one.

Not wanting to create alien human conflict, Will printed the sketches for his personal library, deleted the computerized versions, and sent out an official memo reminding everyone on the rules of conduct. Someone in the computer division forwarded the memo to each staff member, with the sketches attached from their files. Including the Autobots via their internal relays. Prime was not amused. Prowl, his second in command, was furious and threatened to hunt down and brig the humans responsible. They conferred with the NEST human commanders about the situation, not understanding the attachment to the devices. Afterwards, a meeting of all major base staff was called on the main tarmac. It was the only place to hold that many humans and accommodate the alien robots.

"I will allow restoration of the animal features on two conditions," Prime said, holding up two metal jointed fingers.

"Which is?" every human in the area waited, some crossing fingers and others inhaling and holding their breath in anticipation.

"I am never to be called the bunny bot bouncer again." He folded the first finger down, his optics narrowing.

"Done! Sure! No problem! Never happen again!" Shouted agreement erupted everywhere.

"Two, you agree to leave the Lennox family alone, especially Annabelle in regards to our race. No questioning, no interference or requests for information from them in any shape, size or form. Ever. Is that clear?"

"YES!" Everyone shouted or laughed, fearing what the conditions could have been.

:: Relieved old friend?: Optimus sent to Ironhide over their internal comm link.

::If they keep their word. Their history is one of betrayal and duplicity. Promise then take away:: Ratchet

::They will keep their word:: Ironhide growled, rolling his arm cannons. ::As long as my spark burns, it will be kept:: He turned and stomped away.

::I pray nothing ever happens:: Prowl

::To Ironhide?: Optimus

::No, to Annabelle. Nowhere in the galaxy would be safe from him. Statistically there is little or no chance we could contain him if he became enraged over her or his spark mate Chromia. Not even by you Prime:: Prowl

::Then we ensure that chance never happens:: Optimus gestured to the others to follow the humans back to towards the hangars.

The suggestions to assist the Lennox family began pouring in. Offers to build a school, house and play yard on base for their exclusive use if needed.

"I will not have Annabelle raised solely on a military base, even here. I want her to grow up with other children. Children of all types in a public school for now. I may reconsider later." Sarah stated and no one argued it. Thin and attractively shaped, she posed no apparent physical threat. Yet they remembered when she had managed to put both Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus into a time out in different corners and gotten them to apologize using inside voices for rolling over her car.

Will Lennox argued against quarters on base. The family farm had been his pride and joy and while he would have traded it in a heartbeat to help his family, he saw no need to do so. "And Sara already said no to schooling. Talk to her next." They quit asking, which had been his plan all along.

Annabelle made one change they should have seen and didn't. "My bunny bot goes everywhere I go. And I promise to keep it a secret. I'm good at keeping secrets." She argued, while sitting on Ironhide's hand, up in the air. The command staff stood on the access platform, facing the assembly of Autobots and listened. Her parents and the warrior mech backing the little girl's wishes completely.

Her bot's color was changed to all black and instead of humming it growled softly. A few other general shape adjustments were made including the front feet changing to arms with two distinct round shapes on them. No one ever commented on whom it looked like, but they all knew. Ironhide loved it and her and that was all that mattered.

To be continued…