The Littlest Caretakers

*A cute picture of Izzy! Love her character!*

It was instantaneous.

As if Penny had shot off a bullet inside the house, all the optics of her children had turned on the second she mentioned Izzy's babysitting tryout started. The pinkette herself couldn't believe how quickly the kitchen filled up as tons of robotic children scurried in. Some of them gave her frightened looks while others just was curious. Knockout went and hugged on her leg, happy to see his crush again.

Izzy blinked down at the cherry mech and smiled. "I thought Cherry wasn't a hugger?"

"I thought he wasn't either. Guess that shows what I know about my kids." Penny said, but she knew why he was hugging her so hard. "Well let me put the cookies in the oven. In the meantime, take the rest of them to the living room and pull a book from the shelf. It's their reading time after all."

Some bots, like Bulkhead, whined at the prospect of silent reading. This was part of their punishment for running off the other day. Penny insisted that maybe if they read books, some of their energy would be spent on imagination instead of mischief. Optimus had no problem with grabbing a book from the shelf and reading it, since he wasn't included in the punishment himself. Izzy walked into the living room with the sparklings in tow. They watched her gently pry Knockout off her leg and place him next to Breakdown. Scanning the bookshelf, her eyes landed on a familiar book that she loved reading ever since she was little. She was surprised to find that Penny still kept the book in good condition.

"Read this one to me!" A smaller Izzy with her pink hair in a high ponytail squeaked. Penny was watching her and her brother while their parents were at work. The young girl smiled as Penny lifted her up and sat her down on her lap. Her brother, Daniel, came from the bathroom and plopped himself next to the young teen. His face was blushing hard as she smiled at him. Izzy stuck her tongue out at him, making him growl at her.

"Are you sure you want me to read this one? This is a rather old story with hardly any pictures at all." Penny said, looking at the novel in her hands. "Plus this was a book for one of my projects on Shakespeare."

"But I wanna read it! The title looks cool!"

"Fine...but don't come crying to me that it is the most boring book you've ever read."

"Romeo and Juliet seems like the perfect book to read to you guys!" Izzy said, getting the dusty book from the shelf. She blew the cover, making dust rain from the edges of the books. Bee coughed as some landed on his face. Izzy sat down on the long couch and patted the ends to signal the others. They gave her a hesitant look before sitting down next around her. Bee and Starscream sat on either side of her, Knockout sitting directly on her lap. Breakdown sat by her right leg, keeping his one eye on Knockout. Arcee snuggled deeply into the pillow at one end of the couch while Ratchet snuggled on the other pillow on the other side. Dreadwing got his blanket and dragged it under the couch, poking his little helm out from the bottom. Optimus rested himself in front of her along with Bulkhead. Izzy smiled widely as she opened the battered book to reveal the yellow pages within. She wondered if Slendy and Grumpy Leader were going to join in on the story time, but figured they would be baking with Penny.

"Alright, so the story begins a long time ago in the countryside of fair Verona..."

"Slendy, can you check the timer to see if the cookies are done yet?"

Soundwave peeled away from the oven just long enough to see the timer on the countertop. He motioned Lazerbeak to fly up and check it for him, the little drone chirping with glee. Then he turned back towards Penny and displayed the time to her. Penny nodded at him and went back to the project at hand. The numbers had gone up on the house and she was afraid she was running out of time. Megatron was coloring with his crayons while watching her pay the bills. He leaned forward to see what she was writing. Penny noticed this and covered the papers with her hands. She didn't want them to notice, nor did she want them to see that she was worried for their safety. If she couldn't pay for the house by the end of the month, then they would all be on the streets. Not only would they be on the streets, but she would lose her kids as well. The thought of losing the most precious things in the world to her made her realize how serious the situation was. She would have to go back to school on Monday to teach her class once more along with extra shifts at the diner. Izzy could watch the kids if she could pass this trial run of hers. All she needed was a little more time...

The oven dinged loudly, signalling the end of the baking. Soundwave used his tentacles to reach for the handle on the oven, Lazerbeak flying to Penny to tell her that it was all ready. The orange haired woman patted his helm and got up from the chair to help Soundwave get the cookies from the oven. Black circles were around her eyes as she yawned. Taking her oven mitts, she gently took the numerous trays out the oven to let the cookies cool off. Megatron saw her swaying a bit, redness covering her face. He gave a worried beep and got out of his chair. Soundwave noticed this too, hopping up on the countertop to ask her what's wrong. Penny was about to tell them that she was okay when suddenly she started to see spots dancing in her eyes. Her legs gave out, making her body tumble to the floor.

This made Megatron and Soundwave freak out. Exclamation points danced on Soundwave's faceplate while Megatron huddled over his carrier. He placed a clawed servo on her forehead, only for him to withdraw his servo in shock. She was burning hot, her breathing was fast and frantic. He had never seen her do this before nor did he like it one bit.

"Soundwave, get the medics and bring them in here! We have to save her, we need her!" He commanded, scared out of his wits. His sparkling processor couldn't handle all this sadness, the sight of his carrier being ill made him want to growl. There was nothing he could do in this form to help her, and there was nothing he could do to save her.

Soundwave nodded, hurrying into the living room to find Izzy reading the book to his brethren. They all seemed enthralled at the way she was reading, her eyes full of life and arms waving dramatically. It would appear that they were finally calm around her babysitting them. He tugged her leg, making her stop from having to describe the elusive ballroom setting that the two heroes had found themselves in.

"What is it Slendy? Is there something wrong?" She asked, not seeing any emotion on his faceplate. "Do you need something? Are you hurt?"

He shook his head before displaying the picture of the fatigued Penny on his screen. Izzy gasped and got up from the chair. The rest of the sparklings saw the picture and promptly freaked out themselves. Izzy could've smacked herself at the moment. She was the babysitter, and she had to remain calm in order to keep the kids calm. She took a deep breath and put on a serious face. It was time to be mature.

"Slendy, take me to the kitchen. Doc, go grab the First Aid kit. I'm sure you know where that is. Cherry go and help him. Speedy I need you and Goldie to go into the bathroom and fetch me a wet washcloth. Make sure the water is cold. Small Leader go get me her blanket on her bed. Eyeball and Greenie get me the white bottle from the cabinet in her bedroom. Bee, Wings, and Lil Lady, go and gather the pillows so that we can make a makeshift bed on this couch." Izzy clapped her hands as the bots and cons stared at her in awe. She had a great sense of leadership that made them all admire her. Seeing that they hadn't moved, Izzy said. "Get going, we don't have much time! If she doesn't cool down and take her medicine, she's going to flatline on us!"

That seemed to spark them as all the bots dispersed to do their jobs. They all had one thing that ran throughout their processors.

Hang in there Carrier...

So the Babysitter Arc is coming to an end soon. What's going to happen to Penny? Will she make it through?

Be ready for the next arc, Back to School!

Until then: What color backpacks would each bot have?