Okay, so this is another way they could have discovered that Barricade had triplets. For this story I am starting shortly after rescue
Barricade was back in his quarters after being medically cleared by Ratchet, having just been rescued from his abductors and experimenters. For two weeks he thought everything was fine when he suddenly felt pain in his chest, he thought he would go to Ratchet or First Aid but it passed so suddenly that he thought nothing of it at first. A month later though after getting sick for the fourth day in a row he decided to sneak into Wheeljack's lab and do some tests on himself, and that's when he discovered that he was carrying a sparkling (the equipment couldn't tell him how many or how long he had been carrying, just that he was carrying). He decided though not to tell anyone, not because he thought he and the sparkling would be hurt, but because he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him if he lost the sparkling during the carrying period. When he reached his third month he was suddenly grateful that he had equipment that hid his actual frame because he was starting to show that he was carrying, having realized that the experiments meant he might have an abnormal carrying period on top of being abnormal that he was carrying in the first place. In his fourth month he felt his bond to his sparkling for the first time and realized that he was carrying triplets. In his seventh month he suddenly felt uncomfortable in regards to his chest and when he checked in the privacy of his quarters he discovered sacs of Energon and realized that he would be feeding his sparklings himself. The rest of the time he made sure to act as normal as possible when finally nine months after his rescue he suddenly woke up from a nap to pain and the feeling of something wet and sticky between his legs and realized that he was in labor. He messaged the Primes and Galvatron that he was taking a few of his saved personal days and then locked and soundproofed his quarters knowing he was in for a painful and potentially long period of time. Ten and a half hours later he had given birth and fed his triplets who were now sleeping
"Now then...what to call you three...I know, Lua, Twilight, and Dawnbreaker, my three little ones, I love you so much...now I need to decide when and if I am going to reveal you three"
Two weeks later Barricade was still secretly taking care of his triplets knowing that he would have to reveal their presence soon when while he was checking on them during a short break from paperwork (he fed them every one to two hours and decided that he would simply watch his sparklings sleep the last five minutes before feeding time this time since he hadn't had any time to simply watch them sleep after they turned five days old and he started working again) he realized that one of his triplets was having a hard time breathing...and when he touched his sparkling it felt too hot to the touch and he knew that he could no longer take care of them in secret and as such knew it was time to reveal their presence to his three leaders and to Ratchet
::Ratchet, Primes, Galvatron, can you come to my quarters? I have something urgent I need to talk to you about::
Ten minutes later all four of them informed him that they were in front of his quarters and so he let them in, having already known he would be feeding his triplets late that day due to the situation he was now currently in
"What's wrong Barricade?"
"Can you come with me?...and please be quiet, I don't want to wake them"
"Them?"
"Just...just follow me"
Barricade showed them to his blocked off section of his quarters and when he removed the curtain the four were shocked to see the triplets in their sleeping boxes
"Barricade...how old are they?"
"Two weeks, can we continue this in medbay?, one of them is sick"
"Of course"
Fifteen minutes later the four of them were in the medbay and Ratchet had finished his checks on the triplets
"Well...all three are malnourished and the sick one also picked up a virus...Barricade where are you getting sparkling grade Energon?, because that's the only thing keeping them alive even if the amount they're getting isn't actually enough to properly sustain them for very long"
"About that, there's something else you need to know about those three and that's..."
Suddenly the two healthy sparklings started crying, insistent on letting Barricade know that he was extremely late in regards to feeding them by this point, and thus they were now extremely hungry, and the three leaders and Ratchet were initially confused about it, since Barricade suddenly stopped mid sentence, until he picked the two up into his arms and opened his chest plate revealing the Energon sacs to the four of them. As soon as the sparklings were against the sacs they started sucking on them and the three leaders and one medic suddenly realized the connection between Barricade and the sparklings
"Barricade...did you...is it possible that the experiments you told me about...are the triplets yours Barricade?"
"Yes...it's why I asked for as much desk duty as possible and why I suddenly asked for several days off two weeks ago, that's when I delivered these guys after just over ten hours of labor"
Ratchet suddenly scans Barricade and swears softly
"I'm surprised you're conscious much less coherent...Primes, Galvatron almost everything that Barricade takes in goes to his triplets, he's severely malnourished, worse than the sparklings if I'm going to be honest and the triplets are pretty bad off"
"I had no choice...I didn't want anyone to know about them in case I lost them during the carrying period, I've managed to sneak in supplements on occasion and have compensated for the rest by learning how to make snacks and make sure they last"
"Understood Barricade...Ratchet how bad off is the sick sparkling?"
"Very sick, I need to keep him here for treatment"
"Very well, Barricade, due to the fact that they are your sparklings you can decide when and if the base should know about them and the fact that they're yours"
"When we know...one way or another...when we know you can reveal the presence of the sparklings, as for the fact that they're mine...that part I don't know yet"
"Understood"
"Come Barricade, let's get you four settled since I want you and his siblings to remain with him, it could help, and besides you need supplemental Energon for the moment to get your energy and nutrient levels back up, I'm willing to bet that not only has almost everything been going to the triplets but you yourself have forced your body somehow to make sure that even if you haven't taken in much Energon your body still produces what it can for the triplets to feed from you"
"One thing Ratchet, Barricade how much longer were you thinking of keeping the triplets a secret?"
"Not much longer to be honest, I was starting to reach the point of realizing that I needed help with my triplets yesterday, before Dawnbreaker got sick, and Ratchet you're right in that I made a program that forced my body to make Energon for the triplets shortly before I gave birth to them"
For the next three days Ratchet checked on Barricade and his triplets every two hours, and while the sick triplet wasn't getting any worse it also wasn't getting any better, Barricade had been unable to feed him since that day due to all the equipment the sparkling was attached to, thus the reason it was being fed through a feeding tube, as for the two healthy sparklings Barricade had gotten down a new routine where he fed them every two to three hours now instead of every one to two, and Barricade himself was off the Energon drip Ratchet hooked up to him the first day and a half of being secluded in the medbay with his ill and potentially dying sparkling, willingly waking up in the middle of the night to do so. Ratchet was working on Prowl who had wrenched his when suddenly an hour before his regular checks on Barricade's sick triplet he heard the door to the private area burst open and then Barricade's voice in a panic, along with alarms
"RATCHET!"
"First Aid take over, I'm needed to help Barricade with something"
Ratchet rushes to the private area to discover that Barricade's sick triplet had suddenly crashed...hard and started doing what he could to save the sparklings life. An hour later though he would stop all attempts due to Barricade himself, after his fifth time bringing the sparkling back to life
"Ratchet...stop"
"Barricade..."
"He's suffering Ratchet...I can feel his pain...he's hurting every time you bring him back, I...I don't want to prolong his suffering any longer, I have to admit it's time to let him go, that he's simply too sick to come back to me and his siblings, that...that he's actually been dying for three days and I wouldn't let him go sooner in a selfish wish that he would get better"
"As you wish"
"Can I...can I hold him?...I want him to die in his carrier's arms, feed him one last time"
"Yes...you can hold him, feed him again, though I must warn you that he might not actually feed from you, that he might simply be too weak at this point"
Ratchet unhooks everything but the spark monitor and hands Barricade his dying sparkling, Barricade opens his chest plate to reveal he still had one full sac of Energon and puts his sparkling against the sac, allowing the sparkling to feed from his carrier one last time if possible, and even though the sparkling didn't actually finish the Energon, being too weak to do so, he did have some from Barricade one last time. Fifteen minutes after he handed Barricade his sparkling, Ratchet, who had deliberately kept as much distance as possible, knew it was finally over when he heard Barricade give out a weak sob, having disconnected the spark monitor when it was barely able to detect the sparkling's spark signature as it slowed down, he had also turned his back so as to give the illusion of privacy in those last moments, admitting to himself that he didn't want to see the gray form of the sparkling when the time came, Barricade's sob was the signal that the bond between carrier and sparkling had broken, that and Barricade spoke up, soft though it was
"It's...it's over...he's finally at peace"
Ratchet partially turns to Barricade but studiously keeps his optics from looking at the deceased sparkling for the moment knowing that eventually he would be forced to do so for the autopsy, but he wanted to wait for that for as long as possible
"Do you wish for me to be the ones to inform the Primes and Galvatron?"
"No...no I will be the one to do that" (comms) ::Primes, Galvatron you...you can reveal the presence of the sparklings now, also...also inform them that I was the one to give birth to them and that I wish to mourn the loss of one of my triplets in private for the moment::
::Understood Barricade...we're sorry for your loss::
As soon as Barricade nods to Ratchet that he informed the leaders Ratchet quietly leaves and then locks and soundproofs the door, as soon as Barricade knew he was alone with complete privacy he finally allowed himself to break down and cry. Five minutes later while Barricade was still out of it in grief the rest of the base was informed of both the fact that Barricade had given birth to triplets in secret two weeks earlier and that he was now mourning the loss of one in private for a time. The three leaders and Ratchet ensured that Barricade's wishes were respected publicly while the seven warriors who had a family bond did what they could to help privately, sneaking Energon past Ratchet (or at least the illusion of sneaking Energon past Ratchet, he was fully aware of what the seven were doing and approved of it), making sure that the hallways were completely clear when Barricade and his remaining sparklings were discharged three days after the death of one of the triplets, forcing him to eat occasionally and when he was finally ready to do so, even if only barely, helped him plan his sparkling's funeral. Two weeks after his loss, just over a month after Barricade went into labor and gave birth to his triplets in secret, he was publicly saying goodbye to one of them with the rest of the base giving him time to say his goodbyes in private before finally burying the sparkling per Barricade's decision to have a human funeral. Barricade, having left the remaining two sparklings in the care of Prowl very temporarily, leaned over and kisses his deceased sparkling on the forehead and then whispered these final words to his sparkling
"Goodbye my little Dawnbreaker, I will always miss you and I will never forget you either"
With that he takes back his remaining sparklings and gives the signal that it was time to lower the casket and bury his sparkling. Ratchet having completed the autopsy soon after discharging the remaining three family members wrote his final report which stated that the sparkling had died from a virus that was known to kill sparklings that caught it, that the virus ultimately caused the sparkling to overheat and be unable to properly process Energon in regards to actually getting the necessary nutrients, the sparkling had basically starved to death while hooked up to a feeding tube and the final overheating was what finished the process, his systems unable to handle the sudden rise in temperature, or the desperate measures to cool him back down to hopefully give the antivirus just a little longer to actually work. Ratchet also discovered that Barricade had been correct that they had been causing the sparkling suffering for three days, that if he hadn't medically intervened the sparkling would have died only three hours after being admitted to medbay relatively pain free since overheating in sparklings always caused said sparkling pain for some reason, but it would have been over quickly instead of the long drawn out process over three days. Barricade had subconsciously been feeling his sparkling's pain the entire time he was blocking his remaining triplets from what was happening to their ill and dying sibling, when Barricade finally let go of his sparkling the end had been swift and painless, the sparkling already having endured all the pain it would face after Ratchet's last success in bringing him back. Six months later Ratchet was having an important meeting with the three leaders about Barricade's health
"It's not good Primes, Galvatron...since losing one of his triplets Barricade has kept his remaining two attached to him at the hip. He's also now completely paranoid in regards to their health. When he brought them in yesterday I discreetly ran a scan on him...he's tired, stressed, malnourished even worse than when he was secretly carrying and then taking care of the triplets himself, and has strengthened the carrier bond to levels that honestly have me worried"
"What do you mean?"
"There's no doubt that we need to confront him, the problem is what happens when we do so, one of two things could happen, either he collapses from his physical and mental condition and we separate him from his sparklings temporarily, forcing him to understand that he needs to accept help after six months on his own, or he could collapse and take himself and his sparklings with him to their death. Primes, Galvatron, Barricade needs help and soon before it's too late, by this point in time a normal carrier would allow friends and family help in the care of the sparklings, but Barricade won't even let someone watch them for five minutes while he takes care of his own personal needs, and as for that...he actually has to be forced to eat occasionally, by Prowl of all people, and the only way he even succeeds is by telling Barricade that he needs the Energon himself to produce Energon for his sparklings, that we aren't able to feed his little ones ourselves...and it's true, they won't take Energon from a cube whenever he brings them to me for the tiniest little thing and I try and feed them"
"Very well, where do you want this to happen?"
"Here...in the office"
Five minutes later Barricade shows up and just like what Ratchet mentioned the sparklings were with him despite having been told that this meeting wasn't for sparklings
"Barricade...Ratchet is concerned for your health and the health of your sparklings and as such have asked us to intervene"
"I'm fine Ratchet"
"No Barricade, you're not, you're tired, stressed, malnourished and are completely paranoid when it comes to your sparklings, Prowl has even reported having to force you to eat on occasion, look I know it's only been six months since you lost one of your triplets but..."
Suddenly without warning Barricade's systems finally snap at the mention of his deceased sparkling and he attacks Ratchet, who is forced to use medical codes to knock him unconscious once the Primes succeed in holding him down long enough for Ratchet to do so
"Well I didn't predict this outcome"
"What now?"
"Now...now I take his sparklings to the medbay, after which I need to do a complete medical check on Barricade"
Two minutes later Inferno and Prowl are at the door since Galvatron had called security
"You wished to see us Galvatron?"
"Yes, I need you two to take Barricade to the brig, Ratchet will be looking at him after he delivers the two sparklings to the safety of the medbay"
"Charges?"
"Now that I don't know...there's a good possibility that Ratchet will be forced to deem Barricade medically unfit to face any charges, but until then it's safest if he's in the cell"
Two hours later Ratchet was back in the office with the three leaders and Prowl and Inferno waiting for him
"How is he Ratchet?"
(Sighs) "Remember how I said I hadn't predicted the outcome that we had when we confronted him?"
"Yes"
"I should have predicted it...he has all the classic signs that I somehow missed, even with Prowl's report"
"What classic signs? And for what?"
"Carrier mourning protocols, they're still completely active, during the day he subconsciously thinks about what he could have done differently that might have saved his sparkling, during recharge or when he's unconscious his mind is stuck in a loop on his sparkling's last moments with him, normally either Barricade himself would have realized that he's still mourning the loss of his sparkling to the point that he still can't work or others including me would have noticed and done something about it. However he never remembers what he's dreaming about when he wakes up, as for during the day he hasn't let it affect his work to the point that we would take notice. However there are other signs that were missed"
"Like what?"
"It's harder when there aren't multiples, but when there are...unusual clinginess to the sparkling(s), mood swings, the paranoia I mentioned earlier...when it's just the one sparkling it's hardly ever noticed until it's too late since the carrier basically forgets to even refuel, as for multiples he's forcing himself to refuel so that he can feed them, but only just and as Prowl himself told me has actually needed outside forces to tell him to refuel for the sake of his sparklings a few times. As such in my medical opinion Barricade is not medically able to face assault charges, and for those who are too dense, or for Barricade who will more than likely feel duty bound to face the consequences I am hereby submitting a formal written statement that I am refusing to press charges"
"Understood Ratchet...what about the loop you've discovered?"
"I've temporarily broken it with medical codes but...I don't currently have a permanent solution, without that we might still lose Barricade and his remaining sparklings too most likely"
"Let us know when you do Ratchet"
"Will do"
"Primes, Galvatron there's two other things you should know, the first is that we're very lucky and unlucky at the same time that his mind has blocked the memories of the three days after the death of his sparkling, the second you should know is that I have yet to tell Barricade what caused his sparkling's death...or the fact that two days ago I finally found a cure to the virus that killed his sparkling"
"Ratchet you will tell him about the cause of death and the cure when you feel he's ready, as for the first point, how are we lucky?"
"If his mind hadn't blocked the three days after the death of his sparkling we might have already lost him, the problem is that without those memories if I do succeed in breaking the loop permanently we could lost him to those three days, I will tell him eventually but for the moment I hope he doesn't remember once the loop is broken permanently"
"We need to know what exactly you did do for him during those three days"
"For the first day and a half after his sparkling died I kept him hooked up to an Energon line and the sparkling's hooked up to a feeding tube for a little less time, since all he did was hold Dawnbreaker in his arms for the first twenty-four hours after death, the remaining twelve was to keep his body from going into shock when he started feeding himself and his sparklings again, as for the remaining day and a half I helped his body safely reabsorb excess Energon and helped his systems adapt to needing to only feed two sparklings instead of three. On a side note if Mirage is rescued and this happens to him he might be in the same state, just don't know for sure though"
"Understood Ratchet"
Two days later Barricade was in medbay again, both so that Ratchet could check on his sparklings to ensure that they weren't harmed from the prolonged separation from their carrier and for other reasons as well, he had yet to be told though that he would not be facing charges, the first day was because he was still mentally and emotionally unable to comprehend anything he was told, the second day was because he was resting and focusing on his remaining sparklings and their health from the separation which lasted almost a full day, Ratchet having to feed them through a feeding tube until Barricade came to take custody of his children again after being released from the brig (he was only in there for his own safety after Ratchet gave his report and written statement). Ten minutes later Ratchet was finished with his sparklings
"Everything checks out Barricade, you can take them home"
"Thanks Ratchet...um...Ratchet...there's...there's one more thing I need to discuss with you"
"What is it?"
"Could you put me back on medical leave and give me a formal reference for Rung?"
"Yes...what do you want me to put on your chart and what do you want me to tell Rung?"
"Put Psychiatric care on my medical charts, as for Rung...tell him I am asking for help with my carrier mourning protocols...when I woke up today I remembered being stuck in a loop with my sparkling's last moments being that loop"
"I didn't think that would happen for some time...I had yet to find a solution"
"The day you broke the loop is what did it...the medical codes just needed time to fully integrate into my systems"
"Very well, that's what we'll do then"
"Oh...and Ratchet...I...I have requested a meeting with the Primes and Galvatron, I need to leave my sparklings in your care again while I submit to and face the consequences of assault charges for attacking you the other day"
"Barricade..."
Barricade leaves though before Ratchet could even tell him that he wasn't going to be facing any assault charges. Ten minutes later he's in front of the Primes office and soon let in
"You wished to see the three of us?"
"Yes, I need to speak with you about an important matter"
Barricade suddenly drops to one knee, has one hand in a fist on the ground, the other hand was also in a fist but over his chest and his head was bowed, and when he spoke up again it was in a formal tone
"Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Lord Galvatron, I hereby submit myself into your custody formally to face the charges of assault on Officer Ratchet, Chief Medical Officer of the Cybertronian Army, an unarmed combatant on a secured base in a time of peace"
"You are hereby cleared of all charges Barricade and will face no punishment for what you have done, you are a bereaved parent still mourning the loss of your child"
Barricade's head suddenly shoots up and his voice takes on a harsh self incriminating tone
"That is no excuse!"
"Correction Barricade, Ratchet himself was the one to declare you medically unfit to face assault charges, he has also formally submitted a written statement that he is not going to press charges himself knowing that your mourning protocols are still fully active even now"
Barricade doesn't initially believe his leaders but is then shown the written statement by Ratchet and realizes that they were telling the truth, while he felt he should be punished his mental and emotional condition and Ratchet himself absolved him of the crime and he wasn't being punished, he further found out that he had only in the brig for as long as he was for his own safety. Once he was finished with the meeting with his leaders he went back to the medbay to talk to Ratchet again and pick up his sparklings
"Ratchet...I know you stated that my mourning protocols make me medically unfit to face assault charges on you but...but why didn't you press charges yourself...you were well in your right to do so despite my medical status"
"Yes and no Barricade...technically even with your mental and emotional condition I might have been able to press charges, but those in the past have rarely been won, it's clearly documented that a grieving carrier can become confrontational when confronted with their grief, even more so if they don't even realize they are still in the midst of full blown mourning protocols. The other reason I didn't press charges is because I have been through this before, when I was a medical student in the last of the Golden Age. A carrier had just lost their sparkling in an accident and I was the one doing the surgery to save the sparkling's life, unfortunately the injuries were just too severe even for the most skilled medic in the hospital. I told the family that the sparkling didn't make it and led them to where they had just finished cleaning him up so that the parents could say goodbye, when they saw their sparkling's lifeless body...the carrier suddenly lost all emotional control and attacked me in their grief. Once the attack stopped and the parents left alone I was taken to the side and had things explained to me about mourning protocols in carriers and how it makes them react in various ways that I would be unable to know until it finally happened. There's also the fact that I was with you when he died...I was right by your side as you held your sparkling for the last fifteen minutes of his short life, even while giving you the illusion of privacy in his last moments, when I discovered you were in the loop while in recharge or when I forced you unconscious I knew that it wouldn't be right to press charges for something I was there for. Now then take your sparklings home, I am putting you under medical leave effective immediately and Rung should contact you in a day or so to start therapy sessions"
Barricade does leave the medbay, but instead of going back to his quarters he forced himself to take his Energon in the rec room and stay there for a few hours watching shows on the channel Animal Planet, naturally keeping his sparklings by his side the entire time. Six months later Rung allowed Barricade back on light duty seeing as how he had made excellent progress in such a short amount of time, that day Ratchet finally told him both what caused his sparkling's death and the fact that there was now a cure, and while there was a minor setback it wasn't as severe as it could have been, and then a year to the day since Barricade had started sessions he was discharged from Rung's care and allowed back on full duty dependent on how much his sparklings still needed him to care for them. Several months later Mirage was rescued having been captured on a mission the day Barricade was secretly in labor for ten hours giving birth to his triplets and was discovered to be three months into a nine month carrying period. Six months later Mirage would deliver twins and be rushed into surgery immediately afterwords. Five hours later Ratchet and First Aid succeeded in saving Mirage's life...unfortunately the smaller of the twins would be unable to survive the strain of the temporary breaking of the carrier bond when Mirage was legally deceased for half an hour and would die at only two days old, Ratchet and Mirage having tried everything including Mirage creating the carrier bond again only hours after surgery. Barricade would ultimately be the one who helped Mirage through his loss, and quicker than expected. Two days after one twin dies and four days after twins birth
"Hey Mirage how are you feeling?"
"Okay...Ratchet is still keeping a close eye on me since there was so much strain on my body right after I gave birth to...to my twins"
"Now that's a lie Mirage and you know it"
"Then what would you have me say...that I want to die but won't allow myself? That it hurts still physically where there should be a second sparkling in my spark in the form of a carrier bond?, you don't know what it's like Barricade, you don't know how it feels to carrying a sparkling for nine months inside your body and then to successfully deliver them only to lose one two days after giving birth!...YOU DON'T KNOW!"
"Nine months, two weeks and three days"
(Softly) "what?"
"Nine months, two weeks and three days...that's how long I had all three of my triplets with me"
"Triplets? You...you carried and gave birth to triplets?"
"Yeah...I was captured and experimented on as well, two weeks after my rescue I felt pain in my chest and thought nothing of it, a month later after being sick four days in a row I snuck into Wheeljack's lab and discovered I was with spark, I kept the fact that I was carrying a secret the entire carrying period, I also gave birth to my triplets in secret, going through just over ten hours of labor to do so, and I'll admit that I was scared when the time came, if anything had gone wrong I knew no one would know until it was too late for anything to be done for me or my triplets. But fortunately I managed to deliver them safely and then I decided to keep them secret for another two weeks...then one of my triplets got sick and I was forced to reveal their presence to the three leaders and Ratchet. Three days later my sparkling, who while not getting better also hadn't gotten any worse suddenly went down hill too fast for me to be able to do anything but call Ratchet unlike a couple of other times when he was starting to overheat and Ratchet had already given me instructions on what to do. An hour later I forced Ratchet to end life saving procedures not wanting to prolong his suffering anymore, he died in my arms only fifteen minutes later. So yeah I get it Mirage...it hurts, it's going to hurt for a long time and even to this day I miss him, some days I miss him so much that I don't even want to get out of bed, but I do so because I still have two sparklings I need to take care of. It's not going to be easy, and will definitely take time, but eventually you'll be able to think about the loss of your sparkling and the thoughts of what could have been and not hurt so much on most days, and I'll be by your side every step of the way, be your sounding board on days it's too hard not to do anything but think about your lost sparkling, babysit your little one while you give yourself some alone time to mourn and pull yourself back together for another day, yell at you on days you tell me you just want to either go to sleep and never wake up or end it all just to meet your lost sparkling once more, and one day...when the time comes if you wish I will be by your side the day you explain to your sparkling that it had a twin, just like one day I'm going to explain to my sparklings that they had another sibling, that they were triplets"
"I think...I would like to be there to support you on that day...either that or we can tell them together, but for now...for now can I meet your sparklings?"
"Yes...let me call Jazz and Prowl"
Ten minutes later Jazz and Prowl showed up with Barricade's remaining sparklings
"Mirage, meet Lua and Twilight"
"Hello you two...Barricade, Lua, Twilight, say hello to Silverstreak"
Suddenly Silverstreak started to cry and Mirage realized that it was feeding time, Barricade left to give Mirage privacy and because it was time for his own sparklings to have their Energon, but by this point they were taking their Energon from a cube, while as for Mirage's sparkling Mirage was feeding the sparkling himself, having the same modifications that Barricade had in regards to that. Five years later Mirage and Barricade were fast friends with a common bond when they and Inferno were captured by Quintessons, the Quintessons discovered that Mirage and Barricade were able to carry sparklings and through the same procedure as their original captors ensured that Barricade and Mirage were carrying again. A month later the three were rescued and that's when Mirage and Barricade discovered that they were carrying sparklings again. Mirage would ultimately have another set of twins while Barricade would only be carrying a single sparkling. Over the next eight months the two had regular check ups and still cared for their other sparklings, but ultimately had to turn over a lot of their care to others as their due dates came closer. One day Mirage was simply watching some TV in the rec room when suddenly he felt the first signs of labor and headed to the medbay. Two hours later he was holding and feeding his twins
"Well, due to last time I want to keep you in here for observation for a few days"
"No problem Ratchet...Ratchet how's Barricade?"
"He hasn't come in yet, that simply means his body isn't ready to deliver his sparkling...unless he decided to hide that fact from me again though I warned him of the consequences of doing so this time since I have been aware of his carrying from the beginning this time"
Three hours later though Ratchet was doing some checks when suddenly the door opened and Barricade walked in and spoke out in pain
"Ratchet...I think it's time"
"Come over here and I'll check"
Before he makes it to the bed though his water breaks thus having Ratchet declare Barricade in labor. An hour and a half after that Barricade was holding his sparkling in his arms and feeding him
"Congratulations Barricade"
"You too Mirage, you too"
Two weeks later first Mirage and then Barricade underwent surgery that would prevent them from every carrying sparklings again, Ratchet had finally perfected the method while they were both still carrying their newest sparklings and as such had to wait until they were born to give the two the necessary procedure. Mirage's second set of twins and Barricade's single sparkling would grow up into fine adults and join their older siblings in the military when the time came. As for their older siblings the younger siblings knew that they occasionally thought about their deceased sibling from time to time, even though they never truly remembered them
The day the truth was revealed
"What do you mean we had a triplet?!"
"And what do you mean I had a twin?!"
"Exactly that Lua, Twilight, you were never twins like you were raised through omission to believe, I gave birth to triplets, you two and Dawnbreaker...you three were my little miracles due to the fact that you already know that if not for the fact that I was experimented on I would have never carried you to term, much less actually given birth since only females are able to have children normally, what you don't know is that I gave birth to the three of you in secret, no one even knew I was carrying you the entire time, and the day I went into labor I locked myself in my quarters and then also made sure it was soundproofed so that no one would hear me giving birth to you three. I later realized just how stupid that was since if anything had gone wrong it would have been too late, but it is what it is, it's amazing that everything went smoothly and there were no complications that forced me to call for Ratchet or First Aid. Two weeks after I gave birth you three were still my little secret when Dawnbreaker got sick with a virus, a common virus for sparklings and younglings but potentially dangerous if not taken care of, and so I finally revealed your presence to my three leaders and Ratchet the Chief Medical Officer. Initially they wondered where you three came from when you two insisted on alerting us to the fact that I was late feeding you and so I fed you, that's when they realized I had carried and delivered you three in secret myself. As for Dawnbreaker, like I said he was sick, so Ratchet hooked him up to all sorts of medical devices while combating the virus, those three days that we fought for your brothers life were hard for me, the four of us were kept in a secret area of the medbay since I wanted to keep you guys secret until we knew one way or another if your brother was going to make it. After three days of no real change either good or bad...your brother suddenly crashed, having me call for Ratchet to try and save his life. An hour later though I was the one who gave the order to stop life saving procedures, he...he was suffering, I could feel his pain and weakness over the bond and knew it was time to stop keeping him in this world, that we were only prolonging his death making it that much worse, I finally had to admit I had been losing your brother for three days. I held your brother in my arms for the last fifteen minutes of his young life, shielding you from the breaking of the sibling bond, though you were unaware of that. Ratchet though confronted me later and I admitted to doing so, and that I wanted to keep your sibling a secret from you since you were so young you wouldn't even remember the bond, everyone agreed once they understood my reasoning's, but they also made sure that I understood that they wouldn't lie if you ever asked if you had any other siblings that you were unaware of"
"Why didn't you tell us any of this sooner?"
"Two reasons...the first was that it took me a long time to get over your brother's death, I almost went insane between protocols that were constantly running without my knowledge and feeling protective of you to the point where I was a detriment to my own health, the second reason is because I wanted to make sure you were old enough to handle both my emotions and yours without the consequences that I faced when I lost your brother"
"What about me...why didn't you tell me I had a twin sooner?"
"My reasons are different admittedly, the first was because you actually felt your bond with your twin break, you were only two days old at the time and I was still weak from a combination of just recently undergoing life saving surgery and trying to keep your brother in this world by reestablishing the carrier bond which had broken when I died for half an hour in surgery. You were strong enough to last until I could reestablish the bond, weak though it initially was, but your brother was smaller and weaker and despite our best efforts Ratchet and I failed to keep your brother in this world, I...I felt his death not long after I reestablished the bond, according to Ratchet the backlash between the bond breaking and feeling your emotions knocked me unconscious for four hours. You see while I was working to keep him in this world through the bond Ratchet was doing what he could on the medical side to strengthen your brother so that he would hopefully survive long enough for the carrier bond to strengthen to the point that it's currently at, but between his small size and Ratchet's suspicions that the fact that he was second which meant he was in my body slightly longer, we failed. As for the second reason I wanted to wait until Barricade was strong enough to tell his children about their triplet, be his support just like he has supported me over the years"
"How so?"
"He's kept me on this side of life more times than I can count Silverstreak, when I lost Silverarrow Barricade was the one who told me he'd be by my side while I mourned and started my life with you, I initially tried to push him away when he first came to see me and confronted me on my lie, I told him he had no clue what I had been through, that's when he revealed to me his triplets, I was unaware of the sparklings because initially he had them during my period of captivity, after my rescue I stayed pretty much to myself in my quarters or in the medbay so never saw Lua and Twilight, not even for their check ups somehow"
"Timing, and a few times I had Ratchet do it in our quarters...I...I couldn't face you initially and by the time you were seven months along I realized it was better for your health that I kept my sparklings away until you had delivered yours"
"I was pretty unstable for a while at that point so I don't blame you. Anyhow, he told me the same story he just told you three, how he had carried and given birth to the triplets in secret, caring for them himself for two weeks on his own until Dawnbreaker got sick, how he held his sparkling in his arms the last fifteen minutes of his life when he finally had to release his child from it's pain. After that we became close and he kept his word, on days that I could do nothing but think about your deceased twin he allowed me to simply talk about him and how I wished he was experiencing the same things you were, there were days when I simply showed up to his door and when he opened it I handed you to him and left you in his care while I had alone time to mourn and then pull myself back together for another day of taking care of you, yelled at me more times than I can count at the beginning when I frequently mentioned just wanting to go to sleep and never waking up again to see my lost sparkling, sometimes I even talked about killing myself, he...he pulled the knife from me sixty times and my gun at least fifty on days I was missing your brother so much and so tired that I was just going to end it all, he pulled me back from Energon poisoning a few times as well. Once I was on active duty he stayed by my bedside whenever I came back from my missions or a battle injured, talking me back to pain and to you, and I did the same thing a few times whenever he was injured badly enough that I wasn't sure he would make it, and when we discovered we were carrying your younger siblings we helped each other through morning sickness, exhaustion, mood swings, days of feeling helpless when we were stuck on base while everyone else left to fight and we wanted in on it, especially days they fought Quintessons whom we now had a personal vendetta against, and when I gave birth to my second set of twins and Barricade gave birth to his third sparkling they were only hours apart from each other, and we leaned on each other even more heavily in the early days of leave and then slowly getting back to work"
"Two things, first off, kids, Mirage did the same thing for me that I did for him, granted he needed my support more frequently since I had more time to heal, but on days that I didn't want to see Rung or things weren't seeming to get better even with his help I leaned on Mirage for an ear to lend to and someone to take care of my sparklings while I pulled myself back together, and during our period of captivity by the Quintessons he kept me stable on the days I was swearing blood oaths and doing my best to kill myself from Energon loss trying to escape my chains. Mirage you're wrong about how many times I kept you from killing yourself, I pulled the knife from you eighty times those first two years while I either hid your gun or took it away from you a hundred and thirty times during the first two years of your sparkling's life, and that's because you attempted one or both several times in one day occasionally. Twenty of those times were in the medbay with you under Rung's care having broken restraints and already attempted suicide at least once either earlier in the day or just the day before in Rung's office...wait, once you were found in your quarters by Jazz after you attempted to hang yourself and once you made an attempt in the rec room, Prowl was the one to pull the knife from you that time, but only after you succeeded in cutting both your wrists and had started on your neck. I won more days than not but still...you made several attempts in the early days of your sparkling's death. I think the Primes and Galvatron were getting close to removing Silverstreak from your custody temporarily a few times and one time...one time your suicide attempt was bad...you...you almost took half the base with you in your grief fill rage and while Silverstreak was never in danger of being harmed by you in your attempts that was the day they actually honestly considered removing Silverstreak from your custody permanently and having me adopt him. Rung and Ratchet were the only reason you kept Silverstreak...and part of that was because you had somehow been exposed to a virus which affected your memory coding and it was discovered just in time that your memory of the loss of your sparkling was mixing with the memory of a really bad mission where you lost your entire squad while Jazz was the only survivor in his and it was a close call for Jazz. When that was discovered the leaders forced Rung and Ratchet to patch up the memory coding and then ensure that something like that never happened again"
"I think...I think I actually remember that incident...I was simply watching Silverstreak in the rec room when I turned around just a moment to tell Blaster that I needed to go and have you watch over my sparkling because I was suddenly missing my deceased sparkling to the point that I knew I was unable to properly take care of him. When I turned around though he was suddenly not where I had left him, I was just about to ask the entire room if they had seen where he had wondered off when a smell triggered the mission memory...I...I thought my only remaining sparkling was dead, killed with my comrades on the mission, that somehow the mission had been to rescue Silverstreak and that Jazz and his team had failed on his own mission and was in critical condition. When I came to Ratchet and Rung asked me what I remembered and I told them the last thing I remembered was watching Silverstreak in the rec room, they explained to me about the corrupted memory coding, though not the exact details, and also mentioned that you were watching my sparkling for me while I was in their care again, also telling me that Silverstreak had gone to the other end of the room to look at what was playing on the TV"
"Yeah...I was downloading children shows for my own sparklings who had been sick for the last few days and were missing their cartoons and noticed him, so I decided to stay with him and make sure it stayed on the children's channel when you suddenly snapped. I immediately took Silverstreak to my quarters and then locked the four of us in their until I received the all clear from the Primes, Galvatron and Jazz"
"And then waited for word if you were to get custody of my child"
"Yes...I didn't want that to be the case but I also knew you would want me to be the one to take care of Silverstreak if it had come down to it"
"Yes...it was actually in my will that you become Silverstreak's guardian if anything happened to me, same with my younger twins when they arrived"
"I had my will state that Prowl and Jazz would be my children's primary guardian with the rest of the family secondary guardians"
"That's because you knew how dangerous my missions could be so that's understandable"
"Korra was never an option, no matter how many times she helped"
"True...part of that was the fact that she refused such an honor stating that since she was human and the de facto leader if we lost the three primary leaders she couldn't handle additional responsibilities like that"
"Korra?"
"Our adopted human daughter"
"Oh yeah...you've told us stories about her, and we watch her descendants"
"Exactly...now then any other questions about your siblings you were unaware of until today?"
The three ultimately didn't have any questions that day and would go on to live the same lives as before, just with the knowledge of deceased siblings and the occasional thought of what if...and for Silverstreak once he was reminded about the bond he felt the emptiness of his missing half, but knew he was stronger for having survived the breaking of two bonds, even if one was reestablished, however a few days later Lua and Twilight realized that they did have a question about what had happened they day they were born so as to understand what Barricade might have gone through that day
"Carrier? We know you gave us the basics, but what exactly did happen the day you gave birth to us?"
"You know, I'm also curious now that I think about it, I never asked you before since once you gave the the basics in regards to your triplets I respected your privacy but..."
"Okay, I'll tell the story, I never told the two of you since I didn't think you were old enough, as for Mirage like you said you never asked"
The day the triplets arrived, hour one
Barricade was simply taking a nap before going on duty when suddenly he woke up to a sharp feeling of pain and when he moved he felt something wet and sticky between his legs, having done research he realized what was going on instantly
"Okay...okay you're coming, time to request a few days off and then make sure I have complete privacy with you guys"
Barricade first writes the message to his leaders and then makes sure that the door is locked and soundproofed so that no one would hear his screams from giving birth, having a feeling it would potentially be a long and very painful process, all of that took fifteen minutes to do and the rest of the hour was spent waiting for word on approval of leave and walking around to hopefully speed up the process, by the time a half hour had passed he had received approval for some time off and then continued walking for a bit
Hour two
Barricade was lying down on his bed deciding that if they hadn't arrived yet they might not for a while and simply decided to distract himself with reading...which wasn't entirely successful but it helped slightly, the contractions were also slightly stronger which he knew meant he was that much closer to giving birth to his sparklings
Hour three
Barricade went into his private wash-rack to take care of personal business and then decided to simply walk around a bit more seeing as how he was feeling stiff from the hour he was in bed reading
"Oh...now I get why research said it could take a while...and why most have painkillers, but that's okay, everything will turn out fine"
Hours four through seven
For the next three hours Barricade's body rotated between fifteen minutes of rest and fifteen minutes of waking which didn't disturb Barricade at all since he was starting to feel a bit tired from the labor process
Hour eight
Barricade spent an hour cleaning his already clean quarters and once again making sure that everything in the space he had cordoned off for his sparklings was completely ready, while he wasn't sure why he was doing it he felt he had to so he did so
Hour nine
Barricade checked the time and discovered he had already been in labor for nine hours and twelve minutes, he briefly contemplated calling in Ratchet when suddenly he felt the need to push. Instinctively knowing that it wasn't a good idea to be lying flat on his bed he quickly grabbed the three boxes he had created as a place for his sparklings to sleep in safely, however before he could head to the wash-rack he was hit with a powerful contraction that caused him to gasp in pain and his hand went to his abdomen as well, his position slightly bent due to the pain he was in
"I know little ones...I know...you want out...just...just a few moments longer...need...need to get myself into position"
Once in the wash-rack he ensured that the position he sat in would allow him to catch his sparklings in his arms, sitting with his legs apart and his knees bent, back flat against the wall and arms between his legs with his hands in the position where the sparklings would come out of his body, and then took a deep breath both to calm himself and as a means to breath through the pain since he wasn't quite ready to actually start pushing despite the fact that his body was telling him he was, however he wanted one last moment to himself actually acknowledging the impending arrival of his sparklings out loud before he was in too much pain for anything other than screaming
"Okay...time to bring my sparklings into the world...finally I get to meet them"
With that Barricade starts pushing, working with his contractions right as he hit the nine hours and fifteen minutes mark in the point of his labor, though he was unaware of that since his internal chronometer stopped keeping time when he finally gave into his body's need to bring his sparklings into the world
Ten minutes later
"AHHH, NOW I WISH I HAD TOLD RATCHET...OR THOUGHT OF PAINKILLERS...THIS HURTS...SO MUCH!"
Suddenly though Barricade feels something in his hands and when he looks down he sees his sparkling's head and realizes that he was almost done giving birth to his first triplet, two good pushes later and he was holding them against his chest seeing that it was a boy
"Hello...welcome to the world little one"
He suddenly feels familiar pressure and knew he had to push again
"Looks like your sibling is eager to come...time for round two"
He puts his son in one of the boxes knowing that it was safest for them until his other two were out in the world and once he was back into position he started pushing again
Twenty minutes later
Barricade was breathing harshly trying to catch his breath, feeling completely exhausted yet knowing that he wasn't finished yet, that he still needed to bring two more sparklings into the world safely when another contraction hit letting him know that it was time to push again
"I AM GOING TO KILL MY CAPTORS MYSELF WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM...NOT SURE...HOW MUCH LONGER...I CAN LAST...THIS FEELS...LIKE I'M TEARING MYSELF APART...OH MAN...WHY DOES THIS HURT SO MUCH?...I JUST WANT THEM OUT NOW!"
Once more he suddenly feels something in his hands and looks down to see his second sparkling's head, this time it took another three pushes for his sparkling to finish coming into the world, but part of that was because his second push was weaker than the first due to sheer exhaustion by that point, when he caught them in his arms and brought them to his chest he discovered that it was a girl
"A girl...my little girl, it's been a long time coming for me to meet you"
His body would allow him three minutes of rest this time before he felt the familiar sensation once more and just like with his first child put his daughter into the box he had brought with him and focused on delivering his final sparkling into the world
Fifteen minutes later
Barricade was still pushing, going with the ebb and flow of his contractions, his body having caught a second wind with the three minute break between his second sparkling and the third, but he was still exhausted, in pain, and currently unable to catch his breath between contractions which was making the situation with his exhaustion worse, he was currently feeling like he would pass out soon and was hoping he would give birth to his final triplet before that happened
"GAHHH, THIS HURTS! I WISH IT WAS OVER ALREADY! BEFORE I PASS OUT!"
Moments later while still screaming in pain he caught his sparkling in his arms and breathed heavily, slightly surprised that this one came out all in one push not knowing that his final push lasted longer than normal and thus was the reason why he had only needed one good push to bring his sparkling into the world, when he brought the sparkling to his chest he discovered that it was also a boy, letting him know he had just delivered two boys and a girl into the world
"Hello there little one...oh man was this painful...but you three are well worth the pain I just went through. Now all that's left is the afterbirth and once that's done I can take you to the main living area and feed you three"
Barricade then put his final triplet into a box waiting for the last part of the birthing process, four minutes later he had finished expelling the afterbirth, once that was done he slowly and one at a time brought his sparklings to his bed over a period of eight minutes, not wanting to feed them inside the wash-rack and also using that time to bring his breathing back to normal and regain just enough strength to be awake for their first feeding. Once all three were safely by his bedside he put himself in a slightly reclined position and opened his chest plate in order to feed his triplets, starting with his two sons and then feeding his daughter over a period of fifteen minutes, checking his chronometer (which had turned itself back on once he had finished giving birth to his final triplet) and discovering that he had ultimately been in labor for ten very long and painful hours and three minutes (he didn't count the afterbirth as part of the labor process since once his final triplet was out he considered himself out of active labor). Once he named them he simply spent the rest of day listening to his body, alternating between sleeping, feeding his triplets and taking care of his personal needs, including eating so that he in turn could feed his sparklings. The next day Barricade continued the recovery process from giving birth by staying in bed except at need for the most part, though he did also spend a half hour cleaning the wash-rack from the aftermath of giving birth in there, finally having just enough energy to do so
"Wow...didn't realize it would be so messy...well time to clean my mess up...even if the ultimate result was a welcome one"
By his second full day post delivery he knew he was running out of time to figure out what to do since he said he would be back on duty by the end of five days, and including the day he gave birth it had already been three, so he set his mind to figure out his dilemma and came up blank, fortunately by the end of his third full day post delivery he had started to set things in motion so that he could do his job from his quarters, knowing that eventually he would not only have to actually be seen out in public, but that he would also need to reveal his triplets, but for the moment he wasn't ready for either and he knew it. The rest of the first two weeks of his triplets lives were spent working, with two very brief trips to the office for paperwork, but otherwise he did his paperwork in his quarters feeding his sparklings during frequent breaks or occasionally doing paperwork while feeding one of his sparklings
Present
"And you know the story from there"
"Dawnbreaker got sick forcing you to reveal our presence before you were truly ready and then he died three days later despite Ratchet's best efforts"
"Yes, later...much later I might add, he told me that I got lucky that the two of you stayed healthy the entire time since the four of us were all in a small room while he...while he was fighting for his life, he also mentioned that not only had Dawnbreaker caught a common childhood virus but that one out of fifty who catch the virus tend to die each year, or at least he guessed that was the average, but wasn't entirely sure, he also informed me that the virus ultimately caused your brother to starve to death even while he was hooked up to a feeding tube, between that and the overheating his body was simply unable to cope with Ratchet's attempts to keep him alive long enough for the antivirus to work and make him healthy again"
"When did you realize that you had been scared during the time you were secretly in labor?"
"The day after Dawnbreaker was admitted to the medbay, I had just finished your regular feeding and was looking at Dawnbreaker hoping for a sign that he was starting to get better when it suddenly hit me just how scared I was to lose you three during the delivery process had something gone terribly wrong. It was subconscious, but I think it hit me full force while I was giving birth to you Lua, but I shoved it to the back of my mind fully concentrating on making sure I was pushing you and soon afterwords your brother out of my body to give you the best chance at survival, at least temporarily, because if anything had happened to me during the delivery process at least Twilight would have died while still in my body, you might have died as well Lua, as for Dawnbreaker he would have starved to death, and no one would have been aware of what had happened until it was too late"
"I'm glad nothing went wrong then, but still...what made you think that keeping us secret was a good idea in the first place?"
"Now that I have an answer for, initially I was scared of losing you during the carrying process, as for when the time came for me to actually deliver you three...I think protocols had gone into overdrive making me decide it was still a good idea to keep you secret...though I think I was also beginning to break the protocols just as you three decided it was finally time to join the world, thus having me decide not to ultimately call Ratchet"
What Barricade didn't know was that Ratchet knew exactly what would have happened if things had gone wrong, because he ran simulations of the delivery after getting readings from Barricade that included the day he went into labor and gave birth to his triplets in secret. Dawnbreaker would have died from the carrier and sibling bond breaking during the delivery process. As for Barricade, Lua and Twilight, what Barricade didn't know was that while he was giving birth to Lua his systems temporarily started to fade, had that actually happened completely Barricade would have died soon after and both Lua and Twilight would have been stillbirths, his delivery protocols forcing his body to finish giving birth even though Barricade himself and the two remaining sparklings were already dead. The rest of the base wouldn't have found out until five days had passed since that was how long he had requested time off, Ratchet knowing that a security team would have been the first to set foot in his quarters and discover the bodies of Barricade and his triplets in the wash-rack. Once the discovery would have been made they would have called Ratchet who would have then been forced to inform the three leaders that Barricade had died in childbirth five days earlier with two of them being stillbirths and one dying from the breaking of the carrier bond only minutes old. Fortunately nothing had gone wrong, but there had been a lot of yelling when Ratchet realized what Barricade had done, and when he was carrying a second time due to Quintessons Ratchet made sure that Barricade understood that he was to be in the medbay for the delivery this time around, or at least in a public place understanding that sometimes things moved too fast for a human to make it to a hospital and that with Mirage and Barricade having similar carrying protocols and procedures there might not be time to come to the medbay. As for the day he gave birth a second time, once his sparkling was settled temporarily after feeding Barricade would reveal that he had been in the rec room having Energon when the first warnings of possible labor showed up and so knowing how Ratchet was quickly headed to the medbay in case he actually was in labor. Meanwhile back with Barricade and his sparklings, they had realized that they did have another question for their carrier, but also knew that there was a chance he wouldn't answer
"Carrier...if this hurts you too much you don't have to answer but...what did happen the day Dawnbreaker died?"
"Now then before I tell you, you have to understand that I got this information from Ratchet, but all things considered it's probably a good thing that my memories never came back in regards to that time period"
Day of Dawnbreaker's death
As soon as Barricade nods to Ratchet that he informed the leaders Ratchet quietly leaves and then locks and soundproofs the door, as soon as Barricade knew he was alone with complete privacy he finally allowed himself to break down and cry. Barricade would cry for a solid fifteen minutes before his mind went completely blank making him unable to care for either himself or his remaining sparklings. Ratchet came back to check on him after giving Barricade an hour to himself to grieve and immediately saw that Barricade was in no state to take of either himself or his sparklings and so he quickly put Barricade on an Energon line and a feeding tube into Lua and Twilight in order to keep them healthy, he also deliberately left Dawnbreaker in Barricade's arms already knowing that you don't try and remove a deceased sparkling from a carrier that was unaware of their surroundings. Once that was done he quietly slipped out of the room and saw First Aid waiting for him
"How is he?"
"Not good, I'm going to have to do hourly checks on him, and he and the sparklings are being given Energon either through a line or a feeding tube"
For the first twenty-four hours after the sparkling's death Ratchet only ever did a quick head poke into the room on an hourly basis and saw that Barricade was the same as the last check. However twenty-four hours after Dawnbreaker died, right after Ratchet's hourly check Barricade finally twitched...it wasn't much movement but it was the start of Barricade coming back to the land of the living. By the time a half hour had passed he had put Dawnbreaker back into the box he had been kept in while he and Ratchet had fought for his young life and was sitting by Lua and Twilight's boxes, having noticed the Energon lines and feeding tubes when he was ready to feed himself and his sparklings, but he also knew better than to mess with Ratchet's equipment, both in fear of doing something wrong that would harm his sparklings and also in fear of Ratchet since no one who wasn't a medically trained person was allowed to touch Ratchet's equipment. Half an hour later Ratchet came in to do his hourly checks and noticed that Dawnbreaker was in his box and Barricade next to his two living sparklings
"Hey Barricade...how are you feeling?"
"Numb...can you take the drip out and also let me feed my sparklings?"
"As for the Energon drip I want it in for another twelve hours to ensure that your body doesn't go into shock from you ingesting Energon yourself for the first time in twenty-four hours and also feeding your sparklings for the first time in the same amount of time, as for the sparklings you may feed them. Now then I know that feeding time is private for you but I must insist on being here for the moment since they are on their own restrictions, no more than half a sac every half hour until I give the word, I am going to remain during feeding to ensure that the restrictions are followed properly"
Fortunately for both Ratchet and Barricade's peace of minds the sparklings were off restrictions within three hours, as for Barricade he did indeed remain on the Energon line for the remaining period of Ratchet's instructions but was then able to handle Energon himself. The rest of the time spent in medbay Ratchet helped Barricade absorb the excess Energon his body was still producing until his systems had adapted to the fact that it was now only feeding two sparklings instead of three. Ratchet also allowed Barricade to hold his deceased sparkling one last time for a few hours before discharging him. Prowl was by Barricade's side the entire time and helped him hand Dawnbreaker over to Ratchet when the time came to leave the medbay. Ratchet waited until Barricade was truly gone before doing his autopsy and discovering what caused the sparkling's death in the first place. Once he found out he would work for the next six months to finally have a cure to the virus that had killed Dawnbreaker and so many other sparklings before the war, and when the time was right told Barricade that he would never lose his remaining sparklings to that virus because of said cure that had eluded the medical community for so long, after teasing them with a cure for the same amount of time
Barricade and his two oldest sparklings
"And that's basically the story, I didn't know it at the time but I would be in full blown mourning protocols for six months before intervention happened, six months after that was when I was told what killed Dawnbreaker and the fact that there was now a cure"
"I wish he hadn't died but...but at least something good came out of his death"
"Yes...it took me some time to come to terms with that but I eventually did and was glad that if I had to lose one of my sparkling's at least no one in the future would lose theirs to the same thing"