After a moment of awkward silence, Ratchet knew he had to for lack of better words, face the music. He sighed loudly and looked at the teammates. It was easy to see that they had heard about his recent blackout episode and came to check on him.
"There's something Arcee and I have to tell you." He said.
"If has something to do about that ticket I got last week for going over the speed limit in a school zone. I'm sorry." Wheeljack apologized.
"It's not that, you dim bulb." Said Arcee.
"Then…what is it?" Smokescreen asked.
"Arcee is…she's sparked." Ratchet announced finally glad to have said it.
"And that means what exactly?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, is Arcee sick or something?" Raf asked.
Ratchet flinched nervously.
"Well, it means that…"
Arcee shook her head, letting out a small growl frustration.
"Oh for… what Ratchet means is…I'm pregnant."
At that moment everyone in the room was quiet but only for about five seconds. Both Arcee and Ratchet had expected to their friends and teammates to ask questions or congratulate them, instead all they heard was laughter with the exception of Optimus who simply frowned.
"That's a good one." Said Jack.
"Yeah, you really got us this time." Bulkhead agreed.
"Sure did, can you imagine those two having kids?" Miko asked.
Ratchet narrowed his eyes, having heard enough.
"This isn't a joke." He said firmly.
Despite that, the others just kept laughing. Arcee had it with her friends not taking she and her mate seriously.
"Guys, knock it off…this is serious, I really am going to have a sparkling."
Bulkhead was the first to stop laughing followed by everyone else.
"So…you weren't kidding?" he asked.
"If we were, don't you think Arcee and I would be laughing too?" Ratchet replied.
"Good point." Said Bulkhead.
"Wow, first you said you two were mates…now this." Wheeljack said, once he got himself together.
Arcee then turned to Ratchet.
"How far along am I?"
"Only two weeks." Was Ratchet's reply.
"Guess this means we'll have to change things up around here." Wheeljack concluded.
"Right you are, Wheeljack…" Optimus agreed. He looked over at Ratchet.
"I am happy for you, Old friend."
"So are we…" said Bulkhead.
Bumblebee nodded in agreement.
"You do realize this will most likely be the first sparkling born outside our home galaxy." Optimus pointed out.
"I haven't thought of that." Ratchet confessed.
"Neither did I, but he's right…" said Arcee.
"Well, this isn't so bad, guys… I mean, we got nine months…" Jack trailed off when he heard Arcee laugh.
"Actually, Jack…that's not even close."
"Ok, so what is it, eight months?" Jack asked.
"No," Ratchet answered.
"Six?" Miko guessed.
"Not even close," said Arcee.
"Then…how long?" Raf asked.
"Three months…"
"Three months?!" the kids exclaimed.
"Right, twelve weeks…that's ninety days." Arcee explained.
"O…k." was Jack's surprise.
"Phew, at least that's over…" Ratchet sighed.
"Yeah, though I can't help but think you guys forgot someone." Said Smokescreen.
"Who could we forget?" Arcee asked.
"Prime!" a familiar voice rang out.
Arcee groaned and pinched the space between her eyes.
"Now I remember."
"Ya might as well get it over with." Bulkhead pointed out.
"Great idea, Bulk…" Arcee replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"I'm sure he'll get a kick out of this." Said Wheeljack.
They stepped out of the medical bay and in the main room. Standing there was Agent Fowler and Ultra Magnus.
"Where have you been? We've been trying to contact you for last fifteen minutes!" Fowler exclaimed.
"Agent Fowler, I apologize, we had received some rather surprising news and were distracted for a moment." Optimus explained. He and the others had forgotten that Agent Fowler and Ultra Magnus were paying them a visit regarding a follow up regarding the Decepticon sightings near an Alaskan oil rig.
"What kind of news?" Ultra Magnus asked.
"It has to do with…my condition." Arcee answered nervously.
Fowler and Ultra Magnus looked at each other then at Arcee. It didn't take long for them to figure out what she meant.
"Wait a minute…" Fowler sputtered.
"You don't mean…?" Ultra Magnus started to say.
Arcee nodded in reply.
"Well…can't say I expected this to be the first thing I heard when I arrived." Ultra Magnus admitted.
"Me either," said Fowler.
"So…how 'bout those Chicago Bulls?" Bulkhead asked after a moment.
Everyone then gave him an odd look.
"Ok, never mind." He said.
About an hour after Arcee and Ratchet's big announcement, the kids and other autobots couldn't help but talk about it.
"I can't believe Arcee's gonna be a Mom." Said Miko.
"Me either," Jack confessed.
He knew Arcee was a lot of things, Cybertronian, an Autobot, Femme but a Mom? …that title was going to take some getting used to.
"To tell you the truth guys, I'm looking forward to seeing a sparkling around here, I'll be able to teach it stuff like big brothers do." said Smokescreen.
Both Bumblebee and Raf suppressed a laugh.
"What'd I say?" Smokescreen laugh.
"That's really nice of you, Smokescreen but…I don't think Ratchet will let you." Said Raf.
"I doubt Arcee with either." Bulkhead agreed.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you how protective femmes are around newborns?" Wheeljack asked.
"Uh…no, not really." Smokescreen said, grinning sheepishly.
"Oy…well, kid you're about to learn. Once that sparkling gets here, you can forget about going anywhere near it." Said Bulkhead.
"Aw, I was kinda lookin' forward to showin' the little guy around." Smokescreen confessed.
"Guy? Dude Arcee's only two weeks along..." Miko pointed out.
"Actually, it'd be nice if she had a girl…there's not too many around here."
"That's true." Jack agreed.
"Wait a minute you guys, this is Arcee and Ratchet's kid we're talking about. What if it ends up being like them?" Bulkhead asked.
The group of friends all looked at one another for a minute.
"Nah!"
(Later that day)
After giving Jack a ride home, Arcee decided to spend the night in the garage. While in bot-mode, the place was rather small, but Arcee managed. She couldn't help but stare at her stomach; the female autobot still found it hard to believe that she had life inside of her. After all she had endured, Arcee was glad to have some joy in her life…for once. She nearly jumped out of her metallic skin when she heard the door open.
"Oh, it's you." She said.
"Sorry, guess I should've knocked." June apologized; she had arrived home from work not that long ago. Currently she was standing in the doorway.
"Jack, told me about you and Ratchet, this is so exciting."
"I know, but to be honest June…I'm sort of nervous." Arcee confessed.
"That's understandable for a first time mother. I was the same way with Jack, I didn't think I would be able to handle that sort of responsibility but…I got over it, eventually." Said June.
"Then you see that innocent little face and realize all that pain was worth it." Arcee concluded.
"Uh…sure." June sputtered.
Arcee blinked her eyes twice, feeling tired.
"You should get some rest." June suggested.
Arcee nodded.
"See you tomorrow."
"Same to you, Arcee." Said June before she left shutting the door behind her.
"Oh, she has no idea."
(A few weeks later)
It had been over a month, since Arcee had found out she was pregnant. Now her sparkling was developed enough that it would show up in an ultrasound. She was currently in the med-bay while Ratchet examined her now somewhat distended stomach.
"I can't believe today we'll finally get to see what our little one looks like." She confessed.
"We've been talking about it for weeks, now it's official." Said Ratchet.
Arcee chuckled.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked.
"Oh nothing," Arcee answered.
She flinched when she felt Ratchet place some clear gel on her stomach.
"Sorry," Ratchet apologized.
He then moved the paddle around and looked at the screen.
"There it is,"
Arcee glanced in the direction he was pointing and saw a small silhouette
"That's it?" she asked.
Ratchet nodded.
The two of them smiled at the sight of seeing their unborn sparkling but then Ratchet froze when he saw something…unusual.
"What is it, Ratchet?" Arcee asked, sounding concerned.
"There's something different about this sparkling." Ratchet replied.
As he took a closer look his jaw dropped.
"Is it all right?" Arcee continued to ask.
"Everything's normal…but if I didn't know better, it looks like you're carrying twins." Said Ratchet.
Arcee gasped.
"Twins?!"
Ratchet nodded.
Arcee looked at the screen; sure enough next to the sparkling was another silhouette. Both of them were obviously moving but were still too small for Arcee to feel anything. She looked over at Ratchet who seemed stunned.
"You ok?"
"Me? Oh sure…just peachy…" was Ratchet's reply.
He glanced at the sparklings on the ultrasound screen and nearly fell over.
'Not two of them!' thought Ratchet.
Later that afternoon, he told the other autobots the news as well as the humans.
"Twins?" Miko asked in shock.
"As in, two sparklings?" Smokescreen said with a raised eyebrow.
"That's right." Ratchet answered with a nod.
"This'll be great." Said Bulkhead.
"Yeah sure, if you don't count that it'll be twice the work." Wheeljack told him.
Bulkhead rolled his eyes.
"Jackie, come 'on twins aren't that bad."
"Pfft… sure…" Wheeljack scoffed.
Ratchet thought about it, Wheeljack did have a point. He had been shocked when he learned Arcee was going to have one sparkling; now they learned she was carrying twins. Immediately Ratchet realized that was another mouth to feed, even though Arcee would be handling that. The two of them learned Cybertronians had quite a few things in common with mammals, one of them being that mothers nursed their offspring. While twins weren't uncommon among their kind, Ratchet shuddered at the thought of raising two sparklings. One set of twins that came to mind was a certain barn red mech and his lemon yellow sibling. Ratchet tried to shake off that thought.
"You all right, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked.
"Sure thing, I just…need a break for a while." Ratchet answered before he walked out.
A moment later, he went into the room he and Arcee had shared. He smiled seeing her asleep on the berth with a teal colored blanket over her. She then slowly woke up, stretching her limbs in the process.
"Hey," Arcee greeted him and nuzzled his cheek. She stopped when she noticed Ratchet was just standing there.
"Something wrong?"
"To tell you the truth, Arcee…I'm not so sure about taking care of another sparkling." Ratchet confessed.
"Oh, it can't be that bad...it just means I'll be having two little ones." Said Arcee.
"That's my point, how are we going to handle it?" Ratchet asked.
"Listen, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I grew up with two sisters and look at me now." Said Arcee.
"That's great," Ratchet said in a dull tone.
"Trust me, Ratchet…it wasn't that bad, that was actually one of the best parts of my life." Arcee confessed as she thought about her sisters.
"So, why didn't you stay together?" Ratchet asked.
"Well, when we got older we all went our separate ways…most siblings do, but it was always nice when we saw each other again." Said Arcee.
"Maybe I am blowing this way out of proportion." Ratchet admitted.
Arcee laughed.
"Uh, yeah…I'd say so."
The two nuzzled and kissed, though seconds later, Arcee pulled away.
"What?" Ratchet asked, sounding worried.
"Something moved," Arcee answered.
She placed her hand on her stomach; sure enough Arcee could feel some faint yet strong movement. She took Ratchet's left hand and placed it next to hers. He grinned at Arcee.
"Still having doubts about twins now?" she asked.
"What was that?" Ratchet replied.
Arcee laughed, she then moved close and nuzzled him.
The two of them were interrupted by a 'click' followed by a flash.
"Got it!"
"Miko!" Arcee and Ratchet shouted.
The young girl took off down the hallway before they could do anything. She smiled as she looked at the photo she had just taken.
"This is so going in my photo album!"