AN: Taken from TFbunnyfarm, given by conure_herder. A mother-hen Barricade was a hilarious image in my head. And an egg warmer Sam!
Plot: What if Transformers laid eggs?
Keeping Warm
"Sam, listen to me, I want you to stay here. Stay hidden."
Sam had nodded dumbly, watching as Bumblebee had then transformed and chased Barricade. This had not been how he had planned to spend his night, not at all. Originally he was supposed to go to the movies with Mikaela, but when the girl canceled he had invited Miles instead.
On the way to pick up his best friend Bumblebee had gotten a comm from Optimus. The Prime had told them that a gas station camera had caught Barricade siphoning some of the gas, and they had been able to pin point his general location to an abandoned warehouse. He had ordered Bumblebee after the rogue Decepticon, telling the Scout to locate him and give him a choice. Join the Autobots or be taken out as a potential threat.
And of course Bumblebee would never take Sam near danger if he could help it. The Scout hadn't gotten anywhere near the abandoned warehouse before Barricade was out of it and racing away. Bumblebee only paused to set Sam inside the warehouse and tell him to stay hidden before he was tearing after the Decepticon.
Now Sam was on his own, glancing around the warehouse with nothing else to do. He wandered further inside and could see signs of Barricade's stay there, claw marks on the walls or burn marks on the floor in the form of tire treds. A few empty gas containers, and even one or two of what Sam recognized as empty Energon cubes. Whatever it had been used for before it no longer held any hints to, but Sam could clearly follow around Barricade's mess as if it was a trail. It eventually led him to the only room that had any sort of light coming out of it, and when he went in he stopped dead in his tracks.
In the middle of the room was only something that could be called a nest, no other name for it really what with the huge egg sitting in it, laying on it's side. The nest itself seemed to be made out of sheets. Sam moved closer to the nest in shocked awe, and when he got close enough he put a hand on the egg gently.
The egg itself was a dull grey, and when Sam touched it he realized it was metal. It was also about a head taller than him, and if he tried he only would have been able to wrap his arms around up to half of it.
He also realized it could only be Barricade's, that holy shit Cybertroians laid eggs, and that it seemed rather cold. Weren't eggs supposed to be kept warm? He remembered watching March of the Penguins and seeing how imperative it was for the flightless birds to keep their eggs warm. Logically, it only made sense that all eggs, even giant metal ones, would need to be kept warm.
He hated Barricade, but the thought that Bumblebee wouldn't hesitate to kill the 'con if he refused to join the Autobots, or got in a fight with the Scout, made him sad. It meant that whatever was inside of the egg would never have a parent, could possibly die without one for all Sam knew, could possibly die without heat.
Sam bunched the sheets up closer to the egg and then sat down, doing his best to wrap himself around it as much as he could.
Sam jerked awake when he heard the sound of heavy ped falls, and the teen realized he was sore, arms and legs not used to the kind of position he had been sitting in in his attempt to keep the egg warm.. He didn't have any time at all to hide before Barricade barged in to the room. The Decepticon froze, staring down at the organic, and Sam couldn't do anything but stare back. Absentmindedly he was happy to note that Barricade only had one scratch on him, not even leaking Energon anymore. But what really bothered him was the fact that meant he had either hurt Bumblebee enough to make him unable to continue, or had managed to lose the Scout at some point.
"I just- I just wanted to keep it warm!" Sam blurted, sounding desperate to his own ears, because really Barricade could probably kill him with a well-aimed flick of the claw.
And then the Decepticon was moving, walking over to the nest and then stopping. With two claws he picked Sam up by the back of his shirt, and for one horrible moment Sam thought he'd be tossed against a wall, but no, he was set down gently instead. In shock, Sam watched Barricade as the Decepticon went about checking his egg.
Barricade sat down, picked up the egg gently in clawed servos, and cradled it to his chassis, directly over what Sam knew to be the Spark chamber. A low rumbling started, and Sam was surprised when he realized it sounded like Barricade was purring.
He really needed to get out of there. A purring Decepticon, a giant metal egg, and the fact that he wasn't freaking out about either of those wasn't good. He really needed to find Bumblebee and just tell the Scout to leave, forget the fact that Barricade ever existed. A glance at the only door out and Sam took a step towards it, only for Barricade to growl.
"Stay." Barricade demanded, red optics looking up from the egg to glare at Sam.
Sam stopped immediately, ears straining to pick up any signs of his Guardian coming to his rescue, but he couldn't hear anything besides Barricade.
The Decepticon replaced his egg in the nest so that it laid on it's side, before bunching the sheets up around it once more. Then he grabbed the organic, ignoring the startled and undignified squawk that Sam let out, and positioned the human on top of it. The color seemed to drain out of Sam's face as he stared at the Decepticon, but he made no attempts to get off the egg. He only moved so he could lie down and curl up on the large egg, much like a cat would, red optics watching his every move. When he was done Barricade's engine revved, and Sam took it to be a sound of approval.
I'm being used as a Decepticon egg warmer, Sam couldn't help but think a bit hysterically.
As soon as Bumblebee realized that Barricade had managed to shake him off he was racing back to the warehouse, desperate to get there and get Sam in case the Decepticon had decided to go back to it. And when Bumblebee pulled up, scanning the base, his Spark sank as he picked up the Decepticon's Spark signature and the familiar heat signature of his organic Charge. They were in the same room, and Bumblebee felt his Spark sink a little.
Years of being in the Great War had taught him to be cautious, even if Sam was in danger. If he could manage to sneak in and surprise the Decepticon he would have an easier time of taking back his Charge. So the Scout transformed into his bipedal mode, slipping into the warehouse as silently as possible and taking care to avoid the random litter that Barricade had left lying around. He even stilled his ventilation system, making it to the room where he picked up both Barricade and Sam, pressing up against the side of the door frame as silently as he could. And then he peered around it into the room.
There was Barricade and there was Sam, just like his scan had told him. What his scan hadn't told him was the fact that his Charge was curled up on an egg, obviously Barricade's. Sam had propped an elbow on the egg and was leaning his head in his hand, looking up at the Decepticon as Barricade looked down at both the egg and the organic. Something in his processor brought to Bumblebee's attention that Sam didn't look distressed at all, instead he looked… happy. Excited.
"Sing it again!" Sam demanded eagerly, "I felt it move!"
Barricade chuckled warmly, "The Sparkling is a mech, organic."
"Shut up and sing already!"
Years of being in the Great War had not prepared Bumblebee for this. His felt his processor start to freeze up, and when Barricade started to sing a Cybertronian lullaby it froze up completely. A few moments later Bumblebee crashed.
