She didn't sleep very well at night anymore. It wasn't the many cats keeping her up. The dog was asleep somewhere, probably with Urunyan. Yuuta was out for a night shift with Deckerd. She was alone, it was quiet, it was two in the morning, and yet Regina still couldn't sleep. It wasn't that she couldn't fall asleep; rather that she couldn't stay asleep. Being pregnant was about ten times more of a sleepless nightmare than she had thought it would be, upon finding out it was twins and that they enjoyed kicking. She suspected Drill Boy was cursing her, his dreams of a soccer team and all.

Yuuta wouldn't be back until much later to bother; while she could radio him, Regina didn't necessarily want to subject Deckerd to the torture of "if you were a robot I'd rewire you to carry them" threats. That left taking it out on the cats with a laser pointer, crushing the dog like a teddy bear, or visiting Duke in the garage. Deciding that she was in no mood to mess with feisty cats or a tired dog, she stood slowly and made her way out of the room and down the hall. She stepped over a cat and made her way to the underground garage. The old house had been Saejima's, unnecessarily large and oddly empty. When the former commissioner had retired, he had left Yuuta the house to spend time living a regular life. His helper robots had accompanied him, leaving the house virtually to the younger man and Regina. Her name was on the documentation; they had the feeling this had been planned since they were children. Deckerd and Duke usually recharged together in the lower level car port, alongside their combiners. It was cute of them really, and hardly a surprise. Well. The first time had been some surprise, more on Yuuta's part.

Deckerd was out with Yuuta, however, and so it wouldn't seem like she was walking in on anything. She didn't need to call if there was no one there, right? Opening the door, Regina walked into the cool garage, seeing the outside view at the other end. No one needed guard dogs at the front door with giant robots sleeping under the house. The moon outside cast the place in an eerie glow, making everything just visible enough to see. As the young woman moved to where her mech was usually recharging, she was met with a shocking realization.

Duke wasn't green.

It wasn't altogether rare for Gunmax to sleep in the garage; he, Duke, and Deckerd had been a popular "item," something they had initially concluded was a result of their combined fusion in battle. It was more that Gunmax was rarely in the country. He traveled back and forth from America, training units there and working here. Like Regina with her Scotland Yard mecha team, he was between the countries often working hard to make everything work out. Thinking on it, Gunmax was due back recently. It's possible that Duke had taken his late patrol so the biker could have gotten some recharge.

How very… inconvenient.

His back was turned. She might get out of this without having to deal with the tired, and no doubt grumpy, robot. Regina had begun to turn around, interested in resuming an attempt at sleep, but as she shifted Gunmax did too. The mech uncurled from himself, rolling over to look at her. He didn't really say much at first, but rolled onto his front and propped himself on his elbows. His scanners were no doubt reading her. She was in a tank top and loose pants, not to mention pregnant, in front of a two-story, arrogant robot that was apparently incapable of saying hello.

"Whatever you're x-raying, you can knock it off," Regina growled, quirking a brow. Her arms crossed over his chest and he grimaced, caught. "I get enough of those in doctor's visits lately."

"I've heard." The mech retorted, though he looked down. "Can't help it. Never seen one up close."

She blinked at him, but stayed in her spot. "One?"

"Err… carrying humans?" The green mech shrugged, frowning. His english was shotty, but he was trying for some reason. He usually refused to do such in front of her, too much teasing and correction on her part.

"Expecting?"

Gunmax nodded, flexing his servos. "Yes. That." His fidgeting betrayed that he wanted to ask more, but didn't know how to go about it. He didn't want to get into an argument with Duke or Deckerd about causing the boss' pregnant wife to get a headache. Regina tapped her foot on the ground, eyeing the mech. This was new. Gunmax usually wasn't as approachable as this. It wasn't an unwanted attitude though. He was acting as most of them did, like a curious child.

"Lift me?" Regina piped up, motioning to the berth. It was basically just a giant, thick yoga mat. That would be comfy.

Gunmax stared, helm cocked to the side. "Wha—"

"I'm not going to stand here and be examined by a coworker," she replied flatly. "So lift me up there, slowly, and we'll talk." She softened her stance and dropped her arms, waiting.

"Uwah? So demanding." He held his hand out, sighing exasperatedly.

"Oh good, you're still you." Regina sneered, but stepped onto his palm. "I was about to call Duke and tell him a mech was impersonating you."

"Can't a guy be nice? And shouldn't you be recharging? I thought minikids were tiring." Gunmax lifted her up to the edge of the berth, waiting as she got off of his hand. He watched her take, optics flickering. "And who said I wanted to talk?"

"Your scanners were on high the moment I stepped in here, you could have ignored me and let me walk back into the house, and yet you clearly didn't." Regina sat with her legs crossed, leaning back on her palms. "You forget, I've run maintenance procedures on you. I can tell when you want to ask something and yet you're too stubborn to say it.

"… You're more Duke than Duke is."

"I need to be," Regina stated, shifting uncomfortably. "Stop staring. It's irritating."

Gunmax scoffed, tired of getting caught, but did as he was told. "So there's… minibosses in there, right?" One of his servos twitch, indicating he had intended to point at her stomach but had recalled some of his manners.

The blonde nodded, looking down at herself. "Yes. They enjoy kicking, much to Drill Boy's enjoyment but not to mine." She watched Gunmax whistle in surprise, and tilted her head. "Hmm?"

"They can move? In there?"

"Quite. It shows how healthy they are, the more they move."

Gunmax made an "oh" face before tapping his hand. "That sounds creepy."

"They like to listen to talking…" Regina trailed off. "Actually, I came here looking for Duke—"

"Duh—"

She continued, ignoring the jab."—because they enjoy hearing him talk."

"…why, they kick more to stop him from talking about whales?" He was covering up his amazement. It was hard to notice, but it was there, in the pause.

"The opposite. They stop kicking and settle down." She rested a hand on her midriff, leaving it there for a moment. She frowned, lifting a brow. "Hmm. Interesting…"

The mech shifted, aggravatingly trying to mask his interest in the whole matter and failing. "What?"

Regina looked up at him. "Give me your hand."

"What."

She held out the hand that had just been over her stomach. "Right servo, now. One finger"

The robot fidgeted again, but obediently held out his hand, index digit pointed out. Regina took the giant finger in her hand and placed it against her stomach, clicking her tongue. She moved it slightly, never too much pressure, but seemed to find a good spot.

"Curious," she observed, still keeping hold of the digit. "Very curious."

Gunmax was frozen, what if he moved and flicked her into the wall? Pregnant people might look heavier but what if her belly was just full of air and she floated away- "W-what?" he coughed out, servo tense.

"They aren't moving now!" Regina made a strangled whine, furrowing her brow. "They have kicked me awake for the past 4 hours, I come down here to my last resort that isn't even around, and somehow the hellions just calm down in the presence of another hellion? Do you know how frustratingly easy this would have been if I had just come down here sooner-"

Gunmax's optics flashed in the dark, his shoulders lifting. "They're not moving? Oh shit—" That was a bad thing right, they moved when they're healthy so… automatically, Gunmax panicked. "I broke them- I didn't mean to I swear—" he started, earning a fit of laughter from the young woman.

"You're kidding, right?" Regina wheezed, tired and entirely too amused by Gunmax's frantic reaction. "You fixed my problem, and you're acting like you broke—oh calm down, I swear, they're fine." She shook her head at his wide eyes. "Dial the tactile sensors on your fingerpads up if you don't believe me. You should feel the heartbeats."

Gunmax got a hold of himself long enough to try her suggestion, and to his relief, he did indeed feel a soft beat. How weird. Small bosses. Small, safe, living minibosses. He focused curiously on the sensation, before he heard Regina speak again, over her laughing fit.

"How about we make a deal, Gunmax?" her tone was soft. "If you keep talking, and I don't care how, you can ask me questions, I'll answer until I get some peaceful sleep."

The mech nodded, but paused in his approval of the agreement. "What do I get out of it?" he asked, withdrawing his hand.

"As many answers to any questions you want," Regina grinned. "And I won't tell anyone about your impromptu panic attack just now. Wouldn't want to let slip to your trainees that you thought you 'broke' a pregnant woman."

"…Any questions?"

"Any. You're not stupid enough to ask me about details about a romantic standpoint anyway—"

"Eww, stop stop. Why do you want me to talk?"

Regina settled to lie down on her side, curling as much as possible. It wasn't cold in here at all, the mat wasn't so uncomfortable and nothing was kicking her. Perfect. "So that they stay asleep and hopefully I will too," she answered. "So, shoot."

Gunmax stared, but chuckled and made himself comfortable again. "Whatever." He took a moment to think of a question. "What's the most embarrassing thing you've witnessed Duke doing?"

The woman grinned, eyes closed. "You?"

It was a horrible joke but he could see where Duke's humor came from now.