Gemstone was lying in the guest room bed, curled up in Thundercracker's arms. Never before had she experienced the true love of a mech—obviously, her father never knew her, much less loved her, and she had slept with thousands of mechs, but she never knew their names. Sometimes she hadn't even seen their faces.
When she first slept with Thundercracker, he had been no different…but then he had taken her home with him. To her surprise, he treated her like an actual sentient being, rather than the filthy half-breed she sometimes felt like. She knew that she was only pretending to be Thundercracker's girlfriend, that it was just a hoax to make that bitch Moonbeam jealous, but over time Gemstone had fallen in love. The feeling was so unfamiliar, yet so heavenly. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, ever.
Thundercracker felt a similar way. All his life he had wanted a femme to love, to take care of; but every relationship seemed to end messily and consist mainly of 'facing, anyway. The femmes he met were too weak, or too shallow, or too bitchy, too…perfect. Gemstone was different. Gemstone was real. There were vulnerabilities she could not do away with, but she was funny and kind and tough and showed Thundercracker who Moonbeam really was.
"That really was a good idea of yours, Gemstone," Thundercracker whispered.
"What?" asked Gemstone.
"The sparkling," Thundercracker replied. "You know, Stardust."
"Oh right," said Gemstone, smiling. "Do you think Skywarp will ever figure out that we had her on purpose?"
"Nah, I doubt it," said Thundercracker. "Skywarp's not really that bright, to be honest, but at least he's harmless."
"It's just…poor 'Warp was so lonely," Gemstone told him. "After he broke up with that horrible Moonbeam, he didn't have a mate or a sparkling. I knew he desperately wanted a sparkling, so I wondered if I could give birth to one, and he could adopt it."
"As long as you pretended it was an accident." Thundercracker laughed.
"I think the little twins were an accident for sure," said Gemstone. "Megatron kind of scares me, though."
"That's what he likes to do," said Thundercracker. "Scare people."
Gemstone remembered the time when Megatron had offered her a job as a warrior-in-training. That had been so exciting. Even though she thought his strong, manly handshake was going to rip her hand off when they finalized the deal, he had readily agreed. Of course, she couldn't become a warrior right away, because she was carrying and any kind of battle would hurt an unborn sparkling, but, Gemstone figured, now that Stardust was born, who knows what she could accomplish?
Gemstone stared into her mate's eyes, remembering the night they'd met. She began to stroke his wings with one finger, grinning when she felt him shiver with pleasure.
"How to start a Seeker," she purred.
"I don't know how you do it, Gemstone," Thundercracker told her, rubbing up against her. "I've never felt like this before about anyone."
"Same-same," Gemstone said. "No mech has ever truly loved me."
Thundercracker cuddled her. "I love you."
Since Gemstone had just had a sparkling several days ago, they were forbidden to do anything frisky until she recovered, but they still liked to stay in bed together, talking; Thundercracker loved the way she whispered in the dark, how she stroked his wings, how he could always be himself around her, no matter what. Of course, he never mentioned how she had accidentally slugged him in the face.
"All that time," said Gemstone, "I thought you were in love with Moonbeam. I never thought you saw me as anything more than a friend…even though to be honest, I fell right in love with you."
"I was in love with you," said Thundercracker. "It's just…I didn't know it, not truly. I should have, but I didn't really understand the feeling. I thought I'd been in love with Moonbeam, and that she'd be better off with me than with 'Warp, but she doesn't really deserve a mate at all, to be honest."
"From the moment we met, I hated her," said Gemstone. "I could tell that she was shallow, and mean. I was kind of jealous in a way, though. Not of her. Just of how lucky she was, and how she could take it all for granted—she got to grow up in Vos, the Seeker capital, rich, and I'll admit she was a great medic. But mostly, I was sad because I thought your spark belonged to another femme. I always had a feeling nobody would love me, nobody could love me."
"I think those mechs who slept with you just weren't prepared for that much awesomeness," Thundercracker said back.
"Thank you, TC," said Gemstone. "Anyway, I wanted to ask, is Stardust wearing that bib your mother knitted?"
"Yes," said Thundercracker. "Skywarp said he thought it was adorable and he had Stardust wear it."
"At least it'll protect her finish," Gemstone said. "And the little twins look so cute in those scarves, too."
"My mother can be a little…protective," said Thundercracker, searching for the right words. "I mean, she has the best of intentions, but she can sometimes be embarrassing. Like, this one time when I was still in Seeker School, she left this huge kissy mark on my forehead before we left, and Skywarp and Starscream apparently thought it would be funny to not tell me."
"What did the other students do?" Gemstone asked.
"Well, I was known as 'Momma's Boy' for the next week," Thundercracker told her unhappily.
Gemstone giggled. "I probably would have called you that, too."
"Did you go to school?" Thundercracker looked curious.
"No," said Gemstone. "Not a lot of young 'bots went to school in Kaon. I wasn't the only femme who became a hooker—actually, a lot of us did. Generally, the femmes became prostitutes, and the mechs went to prison. Besides, the school routes weren't safe anyway. Lots of students were killed, damaged, and/or assaulted."
"Well, that certainly puts my 'Mamma's Boy' incident into perspective," Thundercracker muttered.
"As long as I'm away from my old life, it doesn't matter," Gemstone reassured him calmly. "Now I have a boyfriend, a niece, and two nephews—well, I think they're my nephews, anyway. I'm not sure how this family tree stuff works. If I'm dating their uncle, can I still be their aunt, even if I'm not related to them?"
"I think so," said Thundercracker.
"Even if I wasn't, I would still love them," said Gemstone, lying on her back and sighing happily. "Life is good, isn't it, TC?"
"It sure is, my angel," said Thundercracker, kissing Gemstone on the lips and drawing her into a hug. "It sure is."