Watching Ratchet pore over some technological this-or-that was boring. Even more so when one had a heavily weighted conscience. With Optimus and Bumblebee out training, and Jack and Arcee out doing who knew what, Miko was glad to have Bulkhead and Raf to keep her company. That was, until Raf's mother called to reveal a surprise dentist appointment (apparently she'd forgotten about it and only just remembered) and Bulkhead volunteered to drive him home.

Raf's mom reminded Miko of her dad, he was like that; always forgetting things and, worse yet, insisting he write and speak to her in English, which often caused a great deal of confusion between them. Dear old dad never seemed to catch on, though, even after she would reply in Japanese.

Miko smiled a little, thinking of her parents. And then her heart leapt into her throat as Ratchet dropped something big and metallic. Rolling her eyes to the ceiling and stifling a sigh so much so that it was only half as annoying as usual, she gripped the metal stair railing tightly and leaned back, lazily stretching her legs.

"You don't need to be here, you know," Ratchet bluntly reminded, focusing on, for what must have been the thousandth time, the Land Bridge. "You could have easily accompanied Bulkhead and Rafael."

Ignoring his snippiness, Miko said with forced enthusiasm, "Are you kiddin'? I love…whatever it is you're doing."

A bark of sinister laughter escaped Ratchet. "You couldn't even begin to understand what it is I am doing," he told her. "Even if you had a billion megacycles to learn. It is far too complicated for your kind."

"Egocentric much?" Miko said, making a face similar to what eating a lemon would evoke. She rolled her eyes and hopped down from the railing.

"Merely stating a fact." Ratchet's expression was blank as he turned away, but Miko didn't need one to know just what he meant; she knew him too well.

To busy herself until Bulkhead returned, she considered doing a solo race on the game console, but quickly decided against it. Instead, she casually walked up beside Ratchet, resting her elbows on a control panel, which he swatted away with a giant finger. "Off," he commanded.

"Aw, come on. Anything I can do to help?"

"You may assist me by sitting quietly in a corner somewhere."

Hint ignored, Miko reached for a few spare wires and held them out of his way. "What's got you in such a good mood?" Ratchet only snorted in reply; how she wasn't exactly sure. "Well, if you won't talk- can I ask you something?"

"I know little of human anatomy," Ratchet said automatically in a bored monotone. "If you're malfunctioning, you should take it upon yourself to see a human medic."

"It's not about that!"

Heaving a great sigh, Ratchet's large metallic shoulders slumped. "Miko, can't you see that I'm working? This is very important."

"Well, so is this," she told him, facial features settled in a look of offense. She held her palm in the air high above her head for him to see. "Five seconds! Come on!"

"Fine. What is it?" He paused, his optics narrowing and zooming in on her face. Whether he genuinely cared or was only feigning it to get her to leave him alone, it did not matter. The fact that he was listening was amazing enough.

Miko suddenly felt extremely foolish. She lowered her eyes to the ground, her stance becoming unsure. "Well…It's Bulkhead. All of you, really; but mainly the big guy. I was thinking, the other night, while eating dinner with my host family…"

"Does this story have a point?" Ratchet grumbled.

"If-" When, she told herself. "When, I go back to Tokyo, d'you think he'll be okay?"

And before properly processing his words, he replied, "okay? He's an autobot for scraps sake. He'll soldier on." Only when he picked up his tools again did he seem to make the connection; her shocked and then sad eyes, and the moody, un-Miko-like silence that followed. He stiffened up, listening to her retreating footsteps. "Ahem."

"What?" she asked, the life zapped from her voice.

"What I said-may not have been received correctly."

"Or maybe you just said it wrong," she suggested.

"No, no," he stammered, growing more irate with each passing klik. His words came halted and rough. "I didn't intend-you have obviously left a mark on Bulkhead, and without you I don't think he would be the same."

The change in her entire attitude was instantaneous; ridiculous, really. She practically threw herself at his foot, smudging her greasy little human hands all over his paint. His first instinct was to back away, but for fear of accidentally squishing her (Bulkhead would never forgive him), he remained motionless. "Aw, that's so sweet, doc. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do when I'm done here you know? Say goodbye and go home forever, or come back and stay here? Actually, I'm still not sure what I want to do. But you guys are just so cool. I don't think I could say goodbye forever. I think I'd die!"

Mustering up all the indifference he could, Ratchet asked, "Are you through yet?"

"You guys are like family."

He gazed down at her. "Miko, this was much longer than five seconds."

Miko cleared her throat and backed away, hands at her hips. She raised an eyebrow at him as he resumed work, a smirk in the corner of her mouth. "You know, usually when someone says something like that, you're supposed to say something nice back."

"You will never leave me in peace, will you?" Ratchet turned to her, a peculiar tone to his voice that sounded very much like a whine. Miko stood her ground; hip jutted out and foot tapping. He decided to work on something else. "You…" He frantically searched for words of some sense. "Are very annoying!"

Before she could reply, Jack and Arcee sped up the tunnel, followed by Bulkhead. She waved to Jack as he dismounted Arcee and she transformed. "Don't say anything to Bulkhead, okay? I don't want him to worry." She looked over her shoulder while on her way to join them. "Oh, and I'd miss you, too."

Ratchet sighed and pretended to ignore her. It was all he could do to keep from lobbing something at her. He looked pointedly at Bulkhead, who flinched at his voice. "Good, you're back. Take her and go somewhere, preferably somewhere far, far away! Humans. So unnecessarily emotional and needy."

I am an official Transformers noob. I saw the movies, got hooked, and decided to start on Transformers Prime, since it's the most recent 'toon. In case you couldn't tell, I absolutely love Ratchet, he's one of my top favorites (at least this version). He reminds me a lot of DeForest Kelley's Leonard McCoy, all crotchety-like and yet adorable at the same time. Hopefully I haven't butchered anything too badly, and if you'll have me, TFP fandom, I'd like to eventually write a few more fics.