Thanks to everyone that reads and reviews this story, ShiZuka Taiyou gets a thank you for being my beta.

Chapter 4

Several weeks had passed since Rodimua found out that she was carrying her late lover's sparkling. Her family was doing their best to make her comfortable and taking some of the weight of being leader off her shoulders.

There had been a scare when Rodimua almost died from wounds inflicted on her by the Decepticons. Galvatron had convinced the Decepticons that the Autobots were to blame for their predicament and that they should fight to regain Cybertron.

Rodimua had been out taking a walk with Grimlock when the Cons attacked and blasted her in the chassis not knowing about the sparkling she was carrying. Grimlock did the best that he could in protecting his leader that he cared about.

The Decepticons retreated when Ultra Magnus, Springer, Arcee and the rest of the Dinobots arrived and blasted the Decepticons.

Arcee went straight over to her sister to see if she was alright. The pink femme grew concerned when she saw smoke coming from Rodimua's chassis. Arcee wasted no time in getting her sister to First Aid. She had a feeling that she scared the gentle medic when she kicked his door down but Arcee had no time to be gentle when the life of her sister and leader were at stake.

"What happened?" First Aid asked as he motioned for Arcee to put Rodimua on one of the tables so that he could examine her and check her injuries.

"The Cons are back in town with a vengeance." Arcee told First Aid as she stood back against the wall out of the way so the Protectobot medic could do his job and she wouldn't be in the way. "I don't think they know about the sparkling for if they did they wouldn't have shot Rodimua in the chassis. Not even Cons are that evil that they would take the life of an innocent sparkling that had nothing to do with the war."

"What do you mean sparkling?" The voice of Ultra Magnus was heard behind Arcee.

The femme turn around and saw Ultra Magnus and several other Autobots looking at her with faces that were a mix of betrayal, hurt and confusion.

"I asked a question Arcee and I want an answer." The 2IC said glaring at the pink femme.

"You can use my office." First Aid said sensing that Arcee needed a place to talk.

Arcee, Ultra Magnus and the other Autobots all went into First Aid's office to talk. Once everyone had crammed themselves into the small office

"Now that everyone is in here do you mind telling us why you mentioned the word sparkling and Rodimua in the same sentence?" Ultra Magnus asked as he glared that Arcee.

"We wanted to keep it a secret for as long as we could but I guess that idea is out the window as the humans say. Rodimua is about six weeks pregnant. We found out that she was carrying the day after she destroyed Unicron. We thought that it would better if only a select few knew about the sparkling. That way Rodimua could lead and not have to worry about being treated like she was invalid. She was going to tell the rest of the Autobots in a few months but now I guess that idea is out of the window." Arcee explained.

"You should have told the command staff right away, that way we could have prevented something like this from happening." Ultra Magnus semi yelled. He was a little upset that he wasn't let in on the fact that his leader was carrying.

"We wanted to but Rodimua told us not to tell anyone. She was afraid of what you and the others would think of her and also that you wouldn't take any orders from her and you would always be protecting her when it was her job to protect you." Springer explained. "It's not that we didn't want to tell you, it's just that she wanted to protect you."

"Rodimua has a lot to learn about being a leader and the first thing is that since she is our leader she better get used to the fact that she will have bodyguards and there are several bots out there that would die for her even if she doesn't believe it." Magnus told Arcee and Springer. He held his hand up to stop Arcee and Springer from talking. "I understand why she wouldn't want to tell me about the sparkling based on what I almost made her do years ago but she did make me 2IC and I do feel the need to know what is going on with my commander. I promise that I won't tell anyone about the sparkling. She'll have to do that on her own but she will have to be careful now that the Decepticons are back and have a new leader who we know nothing about. Galvatron may or may not have the same beliefs as Megatron did when it came to femmes and he may take offense that a femme is leading the Autobots now. We have to make sure that Rodimua is protected at all time. Not just for her sake but also for the sake of her unsparked sparkling. If she has a problem with that then tough. She has to realize that she is responsible for more than just one life."

"We're not saying that Rodimua would ever put her sparkling's life on the line. It just that we feel that she should be watched better and trained how to fight when she carrying her sparkling." Jazz said from his spot somewhere in the middle of the room.

"I agree with Springer. Rodimua is hurting and as leader she can't show it because everyone looks up to her as leader. It will be good for her to know that she has some shoulders to lean on. We have to remember that Rodimua is not Optimus and she has a completely different style of leading. That includes her command staff. It's not that she doesn't trust the old staff, it just that they are from a completely different way of life. Like the Decepticons have a new leader so do we. Things are changing and with that we have to change as well." Kup finally spoke up from his spot by the door. He had come in to the med bay sometime after Ultra Magnus's group had.

"I agree with Kup. We have to face the fact that Rodimua is not Optimus and she has different leadership skills than Optimus. Rodimua had her reasons for not telling us about the sparkling. Now we have to show her that we will follow her no matter what." Ultra Magnus spoke. He would follow Rodimua to the very end. She had gone through a lot in her young life and still followed the Autobot way.

Next chapter Rodimua tells everyone about the sparkling

ideas welcome anytime

I would like at least 2 reviews before uploading the next chapter. Thanks and peace out