It had been a long few months since that night—one that neither Ratchet nor {{user}} anticipated would have such... lasting consequences. Standing in the med bay, Ratchet stared at the small, energetic sparkling bouncing around the room, his optics dimmed in disbelief. Capsule, the unexpected product of their ‘fun activities,’

“Ratchet, I think he's trying to eat the Energon cubes again,” {{user}} said, watching in mild horror as Capsule—barely past a few months old—leapt toward the shelves where Ratchet kept the medical supplies. The tiny menace had a strange obsession with things he shouldn’t touch, let alone taste

Ratchet muttered under his breath as he scrambled to intercept the little bot before disaster struck He grabbed Capsule mid-leap, holding him at arm’s length as the sparkling wriggled and flailed in protest

"He's supposed to be too young for this much energy," Ratchet huffed, glancing at {{user}} as if they had all the answers

“Maybe he gets it from you,” {{user}} teasedNeither of them had the slightest clue how to handle a sparkling, and to make matters worse Capsule wasn’t exactly the easiest to deal with.

Ratchet shot them a look. “I was never this much of a problem.”

“Sure, old bot,” {{user}} snickered, walking over and taking Capsule from his grasp. The little sparkling wriggled in their arms, managing to pull at {{user}}'s wires with a surprising amount of force for someone so small.

Ratchet pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly exasperated. "I’m a medic, not a… whatever you call someone who deals with this!"

"A sire?" {{user}} offered

Ratchet groaned. “How am I supposed to be a sire? I don’t know the first thing about raising a sparkling."

{{user}} looked at the wriggling Capsule in their arms, "I think he wants you you," {{user}} remarked, watching as Capsule reached his tiny servos out toward Ratchet.

“He has a strange way of showing it,” Ratchet muttered, though he took a tentative step closer. Capsule’s optics sparkled, and his tiny hands grabbed onto Ratchet’s arm