A Story Of Sparklings

Of Bots and Babysitters

Burns from oldest to youngest.

Chief Charles Garret "Charlie" Burns: police officer

Kaden Michael "Kade" Burns: firefighter

Danielle Faith "Dani" Burns: helicopter pilot, first aid

Graham Alexander Burns: engineer

Cody Kevin Burns: command center (future police officer)

Now onto our regularly scheduled program.

When Boulder called for Graham to come down to the underground bunker underneath the Burns' firehouse home, he was expecting Boulder to asked for a bolt to be tightened or an explanation for a picture in a book he'd found. He was not expecting to see four small green-and-black, red-and-black, yellow-and-white, and blue-and-white robots Heatwave had explained where sparklings. "Um..." he said, gaining the attention of the four Cybertronian bots in the room.

Heatwave narrowed his optics. "Don't. You. Dare." He growled at the second youngest Burns child.

Graham nodded, leaning down to pick up Boulder, who'd stumbled over a toy and fallen at Graham's feet, and held him out at arm's length. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?'

Blades shrugged. "We aren't really sure. That box that Cody brought home, the one that belonged to Doctor Greene?"

"Yeah, the one that had the old ray guns and gadgets Dr. Greene said didn't work." Graham replied, pulling Boulder closer and holding him similarly to a mother holding a new-born baby.

"One of the gadgets started beeping and vibrating and suddenly we were sparklings again." Blades told him.

Graham walked over to the cardboard box and peered in. Blades climbed up on his back, but the young engineer payed no mind, used to this kind of behavior from when Cody was younger. "Do any of you remember which one it was?" he asked.

Chase, Blades, and Heatwave shook their heads, but Boulder pointed to a grey-and-pale green device that looked suspiciously like a baby bottle. "That one." He told his partner.

Graham nodded and pulled it out of the box setting it on the table to be examined. "I'll ask Dr. Greene about it later, in the meantime, we should probably tell Dad, Kade, Dani, and Cody."

Chase looked at Graham. "Where are the others?" he asked.

Graham put one hand under Blades' robotic leg to keep him from falling, the other still holding Boulder safely against his chest. "Well, Dad and Cody went camping yesterday and will be back by tomorrow, Kade's at the movies with Haley, and Dani's helping her friend get over a bad breakup, I think she was planning on spending the night, she asked me to make sure Blades was washed."

Heatwave tugged on the cuffs to Graham's jeans to get his attention. Once he had the young engineer's full attention, he crossed his arms over his chest plate. "How come you're so good with sparklings?" he asked hotly.

Graham's eyes scrunched up in confusion. "What do you-? Oh! Well, Boulder and Blades aren't acting any different from any other human child. When Cody was younger, he wanted piggy-back rides and to be held all the time."

Chase and Heatwave looked at each other, then back at Graham. "Do Chief Burns, Kade, or Dani have this knowledge?" Chase asked.

Graham scratched his head, shrugging. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Kade was always busy with football or trying to impress Haley and Dani was running around with her friends all the time. It was usually Dad and I taking care of Cody when I wasn't doing homework and/or Dad wasn't on patrol." He grimaced when Blades caught a bit of his hair in his hands and tugged. Hard. "Ow. Blades can you loosen your grip? You're pulling my hair." He asked the helicopter bot.