-The next day-

"Okay Cas, do what I do!" Breakdown said, throwing a punch forward and pretending to hit the wall. "Like that, punch my pede."

Cascade looked at his tiny fists and squeaked a war cry, running towards Breakdown's pede and punching it. There was a sound of metal on metal and Cascade fell on his bum, not liking the strange shaky feeling traveling up his arm.

"Maybe you should try a pillow first, dear." Knockout chuckled in amusement, taking a sip of warm energon from his mug.

"Yeah, hang on..." Breakdown chuckled, walking over to their berth and grabbing an old pillow. He got a few of Cascade's markers and drew a bad picture of Optimus Prime. He set the pillow down before Cascade and pointed to it. "Okay Cas, this guy is a bad guy. He's trying to hurt me and Knocky, what are you gonna do?"

"Attack him!" Cascade squeaked, going to charge at the pillow when Breakdown held him back for a second.

"Not yet! You gotta make sure he isn't looking! See?" Breakdown said, slowly turning the pillow around so the face wasn't looking at Cascade. "Now go! While he's distracted!"

Cascade squeaked again and charged out of Breakdown's grip, punching the pillow and knocking it over. He jumped on top of it and rolled around with it, muffled growling sounds coming from him.

Knockout couldn't help but laugh, almost spitting out his energon. He set the mug down on the table and sat up in his chair, watching Cascade wrestle with the pillow as if it was a wiggly creature. "He has a good technique." He chuckled, playfully punching Breakdown's shoulder.

"I taught him that." Breakdown said proudly, gently lifting Cascade by the back of his armor. "Alright buddy, I think you beat him."

"Yay! Victowy!" Cascade cheered, throwing his hands up in celebration.

"That's right! No one's gonna mess with you!" Breakdown chuckled, rubbing Cascade's helm playfully.

Knockout sighed and chuckled lightly, setting his mug down and standing up. He walked over to Breakdown and kissed him on the cheek. "Hopefully he won't get into too many fights.." he murmured, wrapping his arm around Breakdown's waist.

"Kid's gotta learn at some point that the world isn't a very nice place. When he gets older, I'm teaching him how to fire a weapon." Breakdown replied, bending down and kissing Knockout's helm.

"Let him have a childhood for a while, sweetspark. He deserves to have fun while he can." Knockout mumbled, gazing at Cascade and sighing.

-a few months later-

During the last few months, Cascade hit a growth spurt and grew until he was as tall as Breakdown's knee. He was still too small to go out on his own, but he was big enough to learn how to fend for himself.

Breakdown soon got his way and took him out to practice firing a weapon. He wanted Cascade to be able to shoot so that when the time came, he would be prepared. Knockout wasn't too pleased, but he agreed.

-the forest, just outside of Jasper Nevada-

"Okay, you see the target on that tree?" Breakdown murmured, steadying the pistol that Cascade was holding.

"Yeah.." Cascade replied, narrowing his optics and focusing on the target.

"I want you to try and aim for the dead-center. Take a deep breath and fire when you're ready." Breakdown said, letting go and stepping back a little.

"Okay sire..." Cascade mumbled, closing his left optic and focusing on the target. He took a deep breath and his finger hovered over the trigger.

In one quick movement, he pulled the trigger and sent a bullet of lead streaking towards the target. It struck just a few inches to the left of the center circle, digging into the tree behind the target.

"Hey! Not bad! That's better than last time!" Breakdown chuckled, rubbing Cascade's helm.

Cascade giggled and looked up at Breakdown, his different colored optics gleaming. "Are you proud of me?"

Breakdown grinned and pulled Cascade into a playful headlock. "Of course I am! I'll always be proud of you!" He released Cascade and sighed, glancing around.

"Hey dad?" Cascade asked, the strange term rolling off his tongue.

"Dad? Where'd you learn that term?" Breakdown replied, tilting his helm. He knew 'dad' meant 'father' in human terms, but he was so used to Cascade calling him sire that it sounded weird.

"I saw it on one of your datapads..." Cascade said, shuffling his pedes. He looked up at Breakdown and smiled. "Can I call you dad?"

"Well... sure!" Breakdown chuckled, rubbing the back of his helm.

"But what about Knocky? He's a mech too, so what do I call him?" Cascade asked curiously, tilting his helm to the side.

"You can call him dad too, I'm sure he won't mind." Breakdown answered, a smile growing on his face. Cascade was learning new things and he wasn't even teaching them to him!

"Okay! Now I have two dads!" Cascade giggled, running up and hugging Breakdown's leg. "I love you, dad."

Breakdown bent down and hugged him close. "Me too, Cas'." He closed his optics and smiled. Their life was so perfect. What could possibly go wrong?