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He had started talking to himself again, Bumblebee realized, the rest of his words trailing mutely out of his mouth. This had become a habit of his ever since he’d regained his voice, but it was times like these, patrolling the newly rejuvenated streets of Cybertron, that he wished he had a companion.Today it was stronger than usual; it had been accumulating more and more every time he found himself looking at the space bridge.Raf…Small, loving, loyal Raf, his closest human friend. The last time Bumblebee had seen him, Raf had looked at him with admiration and grief so perfectly mingled that he still remembered his last words to him.Bumblebee hurried to his quarters, completely willing to spend the energy of his long-range computer systems. He needed to call. He wasn’t sure exactly what the time difference was between Earth and Cybertron, but hopefully Ratchet would be out of recharge and would answer the computer.The street officer’s prayers were answered. “Bumblebee?” Ratchet’s voice was surprised but pleased. “We haven’t heard from you in diuns!”Bee smiled at the sudden shriek in the background, no doubt belonging to Miko. “I missed you guys and decided it was about time I called. Can we establish visual contact?” He waited patiently through the concentrating mutters and clicking of keys before the slightly fuzzy image appeared.“Good to see you,” Ratchet greeted warmly, startled into a frown when a body practically flew onto his shoulder. “Miko—”“I wanted to see him,” Miko cut off the impending rant, waving spastically at Bee through the camera and not seeming to care that she could fall off Ratchet’s shoulder at any moment. “Hey, Bee! How’s life in the big city treatin’ you?”Bumblebee eyed her with a touch of amazement. Bulkhead hadn’t exaggerated the change he’d described in her from his own communications. She was taller and her frame, her overall appearance, had changed. That hair…“Life’s pretty good,” Bee replied at last. “You?”“Eh,” Miko shrugged, wrinkling her nose. “It’s weird living back in Japan, but I’m really glad you called while I’m visiting! Too bad Jack’s missing this; he’s in a briefing with Fowler and the rest.”“And what about—” Bumblebee started.“Bee!”If he hadn’t mentally balanced the voice against his processor’s past recordings, Bumblebee wouldn’t have recognized it. A hand reached out from off-screen and Miko snatched it, pulling its owner into sight with a grumbling bit of assistance from Ratchet.Once he was seated in view of the camera, Raf ducked his head a bit shyly, but he was grinning behind his four-o’clock-shadow.“Hi, Bee.”Bumblebee stared mutely for a few kliks before commenting, “You’ve grown.”Raf laughed a little, twisting the hem of the t-shirt he wore beneath his open collar shirt. It prompted Bee to laugh too, studying the words printed on it: Space Case? Been There, Done That. For some reason the words made Bumblebee’s spark sink a little.“We’ll let you two reminisce,” Miko declared, prompting Ratchet to set Raf on the edge of the platform where the camera sat.He and Raf made some solid conversation, though it was mostly technical talk on Raf’s end, missions he had been assigned by Agent Fowler in his new role as an analyst. Finally Bee admitted, “I need to save the charge on my comm. unit, Raf; I gotta go.” He winced internally. That sounded like a lame excuse, even to him.Raf looked surprised for a moment and then shrugged, smiling again and waving. “Alright, Bee. Call again soon.”As soon as he hung up, Bumblebee released all of his vents, unsure of when he’d first contracted them. Somehow he had expected Raf to be impervious to their years apart.“I should’ve known better,” he muttered, Ratchet’s long-ago words echoing in his CPU: “They have no protective shell.”Their talk had just seemed…impersonal by their old standards. Bumblebee could tell that Raf enjoyed his job, but it just wasn’t the trusting type of conversation he was used to from the Spanish boy. The only real victory Bumblebee had felt had been Raf’s very brief admission that he had an interest in someone. He had been hesitant to share and in fact it was Miko, eavesdropping on the conversation, who had inserted herself and blurted out that it was Sierra.“Since I’m with Jack—we have a long-distance thing, you understand—he won’t get jealous if Raf asks Sierra out,” Miko explained before Raf waved her away. From there it returned to impersonal.Bumblebee stared at the dark screen for an amount of time he didn’t track, wondering who on Earth was left for him. After a breem of considering, Bumblebee startled. Cody Burns. How could he forget Cody?!The computer powered back on and was making the call even before Bumblebee had stopped berating himself. It was the police Bot, Chase, who answered the call.“Sigma-17 Rescue Team to Cybertron—I hear you.” Chase’s green optics cycled wide for a long moment. “Bumblebee! It’s a pleasure to hear from you again.” A nanoklik passed and then Chase snapped a salute. “Thank you for your service.”Bumblebee was a bit embarrassed; he’d often heard this from awed Cybertronians who found out he had slayed Megatron. “Thank you,” he replied out of habit.Chase nodded, launching into an official tone. “What is the purpose of your call? Do you have a mission for us?”“No, no, no. I’m a street officer now; I don’t give orders,” Bumblebee explained.Chase’s eyebrows rose in interest. “While I believe you ought to be honored with a higher role, I can’t help but be excited that you’ve chosen an office so similar to mine! How does an officer function on New Cybertron?”“That would be a long story, Chase,” Bumblebee admitted, “and I was kind of hoping I could talk to Cody.”Very briefly Chase looked disappointed before he acknowledged, “Very well. I’ll summon Chief Burns for you.”“Chief—? I said ‘Cody’,” Bumblebee called, but Chase was already disappearing from view. Sighing, he leaned his chin into one hand and waited patiently.“Hi, Bumblebee!”Bee jumped when he heard the voice from the computer. When his optics found the speaker, he realized that Chase had made no mistake. Cody was…“It’s great to see you,” the adult continued, striding closer. “How have you been?”Bumblebee almost wanted to cry, but now that he’d made this call it was too late to back out. “I’ve been okay,” he managed. “Missing all my friends on Earth.”He was momentarily miffed when Cody laughed, but then the human explained, “It’s really cool to hear you speak English, Bee.”This was the first time today that he’d felt appreciated, Bumblebee discovered. “Thanks. Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m talking like this.”“Yeah, but missing your friends, that makes sense,” Cody sympathized. “Still, Chase was telling me about your new job! That sounds pretty cool.”“And I see you have a new job too.”Cody grinned, his moustache curving with it. “Yeah, Dad’s retired now. Not to say that he isn’t active! He loves babysitting.”“Babysitting…?” Bumblebee echoed dumbly.“Wait here,” Cody urged, hurrying out of sight and returning after a few minutes with two little bundles. Bumblebee sat up a little straighter.“Cody! Are those—”“My own,” Cody finished proudly. “Bumblebee, meet the twins! This one is the boy—” He lifted the bundle on the right slightly. “—and we named him Archie. This one—” He nodded to the bundle on the left. “—is my little girl, Carly.”Bumblebee leaned in, somewhat awed. “They’re adorable, Cody.” As the girl’s name sank in, Bee had a rousing suspicion and asked, “Are they named after anyone?”Beaming, the new father proclaimed, “We named Carly after my grandma on my mom’s side and we named Archie after Archibald…” Cody hesitated, looking sheepish as he admitted, “I can’t remember his last name. Wit—something. He was an Arctic explorer further back in our ancestry. I’m pretty sure Grandma Carly’s husband, Spike, was one of Archibald’s two great-great-grandsons.”His spark aching with pride and grief at the same time, Bumblebee nodded. “That’s probably right.”Cody seemed to notice the change in Bee’s tone. Studying him thoughtfully, Cody added, “Hey, Bee? It’d be awesome if you could meet these two in person…The holidays are coming up. Would you like to come for Christmas?”“That would be great,” Bumblebee agreed softly, just before the comm. system ran out of charge.