TF-Cold

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers, or any of the song/movie quotes used in this story.  However, the idea for this story does, indeed, belong to me.

HERE'S YOUR TRADITIONAL, FRIENDLY NEIGHBOORHOOD REMINDER THIS IS NOT A SLASH FIC.

Writing Prompt #18/50
Title: Cold
Rating: T (just to be safe)
Words: 998
Characters: Sam, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Jolt, Ironhide (mentioned only)
Pairings: None
Takes Place: Approx. One Month after Revenge of the Fallen
Spoiler Warnings: Reading the novels/comics/seeing the movies helps.
Other Warnings: Sam gets panicky.  AGAIN.  Also, Ratchet yells.
Teaser: In today's exciting episode, Bumblebee learns why he should be more careful when downloading from "teh interwebz".

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SAM HAD LONG AGO ACCEPTED THE FACT that he would never stop being surprised about what happened around his Autobot friends, especially when said friends were mixed with things that humans had created.  Case in point?

He'd never known that Autobots could get sick.  Hurt, yes.  Sick? No.  He'd never even thought about something like that happening.  They were giant robots-how could a ROBOT get sick?

Sam was about to find out.

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"Morning, Bee!" Sam greeted his friend cheerfully.  "What do you say to exploring around the island a bit?"

Bumblebee remained in his Camaro form, making a noise that sounded like "Nu-uh."

"Why not?  You were just saying yesterday how you never got to look around the place last time you were here, and I haven't either."

"But Mommy, I don't feel good!" A small child's voiced whined from Bumblebee's radio.

"You don't feel good?" Sam questioned, feeling confused.  This was a first.  Bumblebee had never complained about something like this before.  "What'd you mean? Are you sick?"

Bumblebee's response to that question was a mechanical whine followed by a sudden "bzz-snk" that sounded almost like a...

"Whoa, Bee…did you just sneeze?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Uh…yes?"

"Geez, that is NOT good.  Can't be, never heard you make that sound before.  Didn't even know you COULD.  Come on, you should probably see Ratchet."

"No, no, no, no NOOO!" bzz-snk. "I need some sleep-I'm sure it'll be fine by morning-no, no, anything but that!" bzz-snk.

"No choice, buddy," Sam said firmly.  "If you don't come with me, I'll get Ironhide to come and DRAG you there."  Sam knew that threat would get Bumblebee to cooperate; Ironhide had told him of the many times he'd had to do just that to get a younger and smaller Bumblebee to his routine check-ups with Ratchet and Sam had no doubt Ironhide would hesitate to do so now, especially if he knew his adopted son was sick and refusing to go.

"Okay, okay," Casper's voice grumbled from out of Bee's radio.  He did not feel like facing down his guardian right now.

He initiated his transform sequence, and Sam noticed it took longer than usual.  When he was finished, he looked down at Sam.  "Let's do this-get the cheese to sickbay."

Although Sam smiled at Bumblebee's chosen quote, he couldn't help feeling worried as he followed Bee to the medbay.  Bee's normally bright blue optics were dim, and there was a definite droop to his door-wings and antennae.

'Whatever's wrong,' Sam thought, 'I hope Ratchet can fix it.'

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"All right, let's see what the damage is."  Ratchet rested one hand on Bumblebee's head, monitoring his processor temperature while using the sensors in his other hand to scan Bumblebee's systems to find the reason the youngest Autobot wasn't feeling well.  It didn't take the medic very long to find the problem.

"You need to check things from the internet more carefully before you download them, Bumblebee.  You've managed to get a computer virus into your system."

Sam looked from Ratchet to Bumblebee, panicking.  "What-a virus? Is he gonna be okay?" He turned to Bumblebee.  "Bee, I'm sorry! This is my fault! I knew downloading the entire first season of The Big Bang Theory was wrong, I shouldn't have asked you to do it, even though it's one of the funniest shows ever and it's my fault you got sick so-"

"Sam!" Ratchet growled while Bee made a desperate motion signaling to Sam that it was all right.  "Calm down. Bumblebee will be fine.  No computer virus here is capable of severely damaging our systems.  Humans won't be able to make a computer virus even remotely complex and advanced enough for that for at least two more centuries."  He returned his attention to his patient.  "The viruses humans make now are nothing more than minor annoyances to us if they manage to get into our systems, like certain types of human illness."

"So…" Sam had recovered from his panic and now looked mildly confused. "You're saying that Bee has a cold?"

"More or less."  Ratchet turned to Jolt, who had been watching the goings-on in the medbay with a mixture of amusement and worry for his younger friend.  "Jolt, I need you to start work on a patch for Bumblebee."

Jolt nodded and headed over to one side of the medbay to begin his work.

"I'm going to give you a patch that will help your systems purge the virus quicker," Ratchet told Bumblebee.  "Meanwhile, you should take it easy, and NO MORE DOWLOADING.  You'll be fine by tomorrow."

Bumblebee nodded gratefully, and then turned his attention to Sam, who still obviously felt guilty about the whole thing.

"Sorry, Bee," Sam muttered.  "I didn't know you guys could get viruses."

"I-it's al-alright," Bumblebee managed to say without his radio, perking up when he saw Sam look relieved at his reply, but he quickly flinched when Ratchet rounded on him.

"NO USING YOUR VOCAL CAPACITOR! How many times do I have to tell you? It may be getting better but you have to REST it or it won't heal properly!"

"Sorry, sorry, it won't happen again," Bumblebee hurriedly apologized with his radio.

"You're slagging right it won't," Ratchet grumbled, though he didn't look anywhere as near as mad as he sounded.  "I don't need to repair your vocals as well as your processing systems today." He went over to help Jolt work on the patch.

Sam looked up at Bumblebee, and lowered his voice so that Ratchet could (hopefully) not hear him, whispering, "Well, since you have to rest…what do you say to a Big Bang Theory marathon?"

Bumblebee nodded cheerfully before adding in his opinion. "Bazinga!"

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After that incident, Bumblebee was extra-careful about whatever he downloaded from the internet, scanning ever bit of data thoroughly.

And as for Sam?

Well, he learned that yes, robots could get sick.

And that Antivirus software might be something Bee would appreciate as a Christmas present.