Day 1
Optimus checked the sparkling, then made a note in his journal: barely formed frame, little to no movement.
He walked out to direct patrols and visit with his team, especially the medics. He had a few questions to ask Ratchet.
"Ratchet," he greeted, sitting as casually as he could manage on the medberth. "Tell me about sparklings."
"Well..." Ratchet huffed. "For femmes, it only takes a couple days for the sparklings to develop, but for mechs, if they are sparked, takes about a week or so for the sparkling to reach full maturity. It really depends on the carrier and sire."
Optimus sighed and he looked down at his chest. "So...say, hypothetically, that a Prime was sparked."
"Oh, hypothetically it would only take a week and a half."
"And it's sire was a warlord?"
Ratchet hesitated now. "Wouldn't change..."
"A gladiator, then?"
"No change. Optimus, what is this about?"
But Optimus was already out of the MedBay and down the hall. He sent out more patrols, but gave his own patrol to Bumblebee.
Jazz drew Prowl aside. "Optimus is actin' weird, won'tcha say?"
"Well, he is a Prime with several responsibilities. No wonder he's stressed."
Optimus laid back down in his berth and pulled out a datapad, researching the developement of sparklings that were sparked. He laid his helm down on his arm as he scrolled through the article, then rubbed at his chest a bit.
He read about how the little sparkling would develop in about a week, and he closed his optics. He pictured the little sparkling, half of him and half of Megatron. He didn't know if he liked the image or not. In his mind, he pictured a mechling with red optics and blue and red armor. He sighed and sat up, pulling his chestplates back as he peeked at the sparkling.
No change.
He reached in and tickled what he thought would be the pede again, smiling behind his battle mask even as tears rolled down his cheeks.