Meanwhile back in the desert, Bulkhead and Miko were settling in. Miko was almost finished with setting all her stuff up. The beach chair was up and so was the beach umbrella and she had found the perfect way to chill and enjoy the sun. Of course Bulkhead made sure that she was careful.
"Miko, be sure to put your suntan lotion on. I don't want you to have a sunburn." Bulkhead reminded her as she grabbed some beach wear to change into.
"Yeah, I know. Just give me a moment. I gotta finish setting my stuff. How about some music, dude?" Miko said as she stood up with the change of clothes in her arms.
"Good idea. Wanna hear track 7? Track 8? Track 17?" Bulkhead asked as Miko shook her head with a laugh.
"No, Bulk. When you're enjoying a beach day, you need a beach day song. Something cheesy yet enjoyable." Miko said as Bulkhead looked confused.
"And what did you have in mind?" He asked as Miko grinned.
"You'll see. But first I gotta change." Miko said.
"You sure it's a good idea? You might get bitten by a bug or a venomous snake." Bulkhead said as he was worried about her.
Miko, who had found some bushes to hide, began changing into something a bit more comfortable just in case she decided to have a swim.
"Relax, Bulkhead, there's no bugs or venomous snakes around here. Stop worrying so much. Just keep an eye out." Miko said as her head was only visible and she seemed to have let her hair down from her usual pigtails.
"Right." Bulkhead said and turned his back to her to give her privacy.
Bulkhead looked around him as if he was guarding something. It was a bit hard for him to stay and do nothing but he knew Miko wanted some privacy to change and he had to respect that.
"Uh, is everything going okay there?" He asked after a few moments.
"It's fine. I'm almost done. Just give me a moment and stop asking. You're distracting me." Miko told him.
"Sorry. Just tell me when you're done." Bulkhead said sheepishly.
"Okay. I'm almost there. Just a second. There. All done." Miko said with a grin as she came out of the bushes.
"I'm done. So what do you think?" Miko said excitedly while fixing something on her head.
Bulkhead turned around and saw that Miko had put on her bathing suit. With some cute panda sandals and a very cute beach hat and had some shades on which she lifted it up to reveal her hazel brown eyes twinkling excitedly.
"Not bad. Ready to have some fun now?" Bulkhead gave her a thumbs up.
"Sure am. But first. We need a jam." Miko said as she went to where her bluetooth speaker is but Bulkhead stopped her since she forgot something.
"Not so fast, young lady. First things first. You need to put on your sun tan." Bulkhead said sternly as Miko puffs her cheeks at him.
"Uh, Bulkhead, I'm in the shadows. What are you worried about?" She said as Bulkhead gave her the look like any parent.
"Miko." He said in a tone which made Miko sigh in defeat.
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll put my suntan on. Just do me a favor and don't start taking that big daddy voice with me." Miko pouted.
Miko took out her suntan lotion from her duffle bag and started to put it on every part of her skin that was exposed even her face so that way Bulkhead would be reassured and she would not get a sunburn which was a painful experience. After a certain moment, she was done with the suntan as she put her hands on her hips.
"Happy?" She questioned him after putting the suntan lotion away.
"Don't take that tone with me, young lady. I got half a mind to bring you back home." Bulkhead warned her.
"Very interesting, daddy-o, considering the fact that Ratchet said that the ground bridge wouldn't work for a while. So how are you gonna bring us home?" Miko said and grinned that she was able to outsmart Bulkhead.
"Uh..." Bulkhead was a little lost. Frag, he forgot about that.
"There you have it now. Less talk, more fun. You cannot have fun without good music." Miko said enthusiastically.
"I sure hope things at the base aren't as hard as here." Bulkhead said as Miko started to search for the bluetooth speaker she put in her duffel bag.
Meanwhile back at the base, Raf decided to ask Ratchet if they could put on some music to liven things up a bit.
"Hey, Ratchet. Mind if we put on some music?" Raf asked curiously as Ratchet look up from what he was doing.
"Some music? This is serious work, Rafael." Ratchet said sternly but Arcee stepped in. Maybe some music might liven things up.
"Let the kids enjoy it a bit." Arcee said.
"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having some music. Earth music is kind of good." Cliffjumper agreed with her.
"Come on, doc. We could use some music around." Smokescreen insisted.
Seeing how everyone wanted to have some music around to work a bit better, Ratchet had no other choice but to agree to their terms.
"Very well then." He said after deciding a few seconds.
"Cool, thanks, Ratchet." Raf smiled excitedly and went to where his bag was.
Since Ratchet had agreed to let everyone hear some music, Raf grabbed his computer from his bag and began to turn it on. He searched on YouTube for a good work song.
Back at the desert, Miko had found the perfect song for a beach day.
Both kids, without knowing it, played the song Can't Stop The Feeling from Ed Sheeran at the same time, but in different places and just like that both sides started to enjoy themselves. However, Ratchet started to regret agreeing to it since he likes the silence as he let out a sigh.
"Primus, please give me strength." He muttered to himself.
Emily was really enjoying the song, so was Jack. The kids and the bots were able to work with a bit more to the rhythm of the song. To teach Optimus how to mop the floor without breaking the mop again, Emily had dropped some water on the floor and taught him how to use the mop without applying too much pressure on it. So far the lesson was going well and Optimus seemed to enjoy learning and Emily enjoyed teaching him.
To teach him a little better, Emily had put her soft hand into Optimus servo which were cold as metal and yet for her it felt warm and soothing and as crazy as it sounds, she didn't blush or have any sort of nervous reactions this time but that didn't last very long when they both started to look each other. Emily looked around and blushed a bit more than before.
While teaching Optimus how to handle the mop, she had accidentally stepped in some of the water and began slipping but luckily Optimus was able to break her fall and make her land on his servo.
After getting caught by Optimus, she rubbed her head and opened her eyes before looking up and she saw Optimus' blue optics looking down at her in concern. He saw that she was okay and gave her a warm smile and that made her nervous as she began to blush a lot and it seemed steam was coming out of her ears from how much she was blushing. She got up very quickly and when she did, she stepped on the water again and fell flat on her back but for some reason the fall made her start to laugh.
Jack and Raf began laughing as well when poor Jack stepped on the water and slipped and Raf slipped right after him with a yelp of surprise. When they looked at each other, they began laughing and just like that cleaning duty was starting to be fun.
Ratchet was busy working on the ground bridge and saw how they laughed in enjoyment. He didn't quite get why but for some reason he couldn't resist but to smile at their antics to liven up the situation.
He finally understood what Optimus had meant earlier. Sometimes a team is some people who work and smile together. The battles take a heavy toll on them but no matter what they face, as long as they can keep smiling and have each other's back, everything's gonna alright in the end.
Arcee, who saw him smiling, asked him why he was smiling since he never smiled without reason.
"Did I see you smile right now?" Arcee asked him and made him snap out of his small daze.
Ratchet was surprised by Arcee since he didn't even see her there.
"What? No, I'm not… I don't see what you're talking about." Ratchet denied it as it made Arcee smirk a little.
"Tough as always, I see. Even so, that smile looked good on you." Arcee said as Ratchet grumbled.
"Just… get back to work." He said as Arcee just chuckled.
"Okay, tough guy." Arcee said with a small smirk before she returned to work.
Even though he wouldn't admit what happened earlier because of his legendary Cybertronian Pride let him admit that he smiled. He then resumed his work just like the others.
Meanwhile back in the desert, after she had changed her clothes, Miko had decided to take a tiny nap under her umbrella while sitting down in her beach chair. Bulkhead wanted to try something more fun. He wanted to get in the water but was scared that it would have salt in it and that it would burn like some sort of acid. So before going in, he first decided to try the water with his pedes.
He touched it real quick and when he realized that it didn't hurt or anything. He stepped his foot on the water. After putting one foot pede, he put the other one. He couldn't believe it, the freshness of the water was very relaxing. Much more than an oil bath.
He sat down on the water and let it cool down on him. He used both of his hands to make the water course from his head and straight down to his body. Suddenly he realized that water was kind of fun and he took it a wee bit too far. He soaked himself with it so much that he accidentally had soaked Miko who jolted up in a sitting position.
"Hey, watch it!" Miko told him as Bulkhead chuckled.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you can't handle water, miss kitty cat." Bulkhead jokes.
"Is that so?" Miko started to grin as she stood up.
After doing so she takes off her sandals and goes running toward the water and makes a jump to the water.
"What do you think of Miss kitty cat now?" Miko teases playfully.
Bulkhead doesn't give Miko a straight answer and instead he throws water at her and she squeals to avoid getting hit by the water.
"I think that you know what this means." Bulkhead said with a grin.
"I sure do." Miko said with a matching grin.
"WATER FIGHT!!!" Both of them shouted.
Both Bulkhead and Miko started throwing water at each other. Miko threw as much as she could. However Bulkhead had the advantage. The big guy made a big wave that dragged Miko back to land. Even though getting wiped out was the worst, she couldn't help but to laugh at it and Bulkhead laughed too.