I am planning for this to be the final chapter- thank you to everyone who read and reviewed :)

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Dreadwing counted the third hour he'd been kept outside the medbay with an impatience that was starting to ingrain itself into the cracks of his faceplate. The only one allowed near Arcee was the Autobot's medic, who only showed slightly more contempt for the Seeker than for his long-term teammates. Not even the beloved Optimus Prime himself was permitted a glimpse at the miracle.

Eight months now Dreadwing had spent with these Autobots, and they still threw him scraps of scowls whenever they thought Arcee or their leader wouldn't notice. In that time he'd managed to carve out a niche for himself, though aerial reconnaissance was a far cry from the responsibilities he had as the Decepticon's second-in-command. Demotion as well as betrayal weighed his wings down. Still, he made do and earned his energon. At least Arcee gave him a reason to stay.

Another tug on his spark almost pushed him onto his peds, the bond with her thrumming even through the walls separating them. His chamber was already a frenzy of crackling and buzzing, and as his twins slowly arrived his spark tried to push towards them, burning against his chest. He hissed, balled his digits and kept himself bolted to his seat- even when he heard newborn cries just a few feet away. It was another half hour before the medic finally inched himself around the closed screen of the medbay. Cleanser slickened his hands as he rubbed them together, and he cast a cautious look upwards at Dreadwing. He frowned, as always, but jerked his helm towards where Arcee was waiting. Dreadwing forced himself to rise slowly, nodding to the orange mech and trying not to run towards his mate.

Arcee lay like a slab on the medical berth, shiny with coolant under the bright lights. Her chest, carefully pieced back together over her spark, jumped up with her steady breaths as they rattled past her vents. Though her optics were closed, blue light started to bleed out from tiny slits as she noticed the new presence.

"Dreadwing?" Her voice was a whisper, as if this was still a secret between the two of them.

"I'm here... Arcee." One of her servos was draped limply over the berth, and he took it gently in his hand. His thumb pressed into her palm, slowly stroking the damp metal, and a smile seeped into her faceplate. He knelt down to better see her, tilting his wings up to stop the tips scraping on the floor.

"Are you alright?" he asked, with wary glances at the fresh weld marks on her chest armour. She nodded, tilting her helm sideways towards him and lifting up her other servo placed over her abdomen. Her hand went for his faceplate, and he helped press it against the warmth of his cheek.

"I'm not the only one who... wanted to see you." Her optics shifted, looking over his shoulder, and he turned to follow their light. A small tray on a table sat behind them, glowing with tiny sparks inside them.

Reluctant as he was to leave Arcee, Dreadwing pushed himself up and treaded slowly towards the makeshift cot. The frames inside were barely bigger than his hand, blue protoforms wrapped in energon-stained blankets. Though they'd stopped crying, their mouths wobbled with mewls.

The tray was disturbingly light in his hands as he picked it up, cradling both sparklings in his arms. "A... mech and femme?"

As he turned towards Arcee, she nodded, holding out one servo to him. Gently he transferred his burden to her, helping her sit up to look properly at the newborns. Her digits hovered over their tiny faces peering out of the blankets, and they tried to burrow into their mother's phantom touch. The femme managed to catch Arcee's thumb, nuzzling her dark faceplate into it while her brother laid his helm in her palm.

Dreadwing fought back pangs of longing as his spark swelled. "Have you thought of names?" he asked.

Arcee took a few more moments with her children before answering. "I want to call the femme Shadow."

Dreadwing nodded. "Fitting." Their bond flared with their sparks so close together, and the sparklings seemed to feel it from how their mouths popped open in yawns. Arcee scooped each one from the tray, cushioning them both gingerly against her chest.

"You can name the son... if you want to," she said, soft optics shedding light over the mech's faceplate. He made a small whimper, a surprisingly deep noise, but his closed eyes adjusted quickly. It reminded Dreadwing of a sound that often occupied his storm vigils.

"Thunder," he decided.

Arcee's smile bloomed wider. "It's lovely." Newly-christened Shadow started drooling on her armour, trying to wedge her gums around the metal, but Arcee didn't seem to have the spark to stop her. All she did was hold them, rocking each sparkling gently in the ebbing warmth of her spark. And Dreadwing watched, wondering how on this strange dirt planet he managed to make a family in the Autobots.

Arcee's voice soon interrupted his disbelief, though. "Don't you want to hold them?"
He blinked, hands clenching together as they rested on his knees. "I... I might hurt-"

She was already rolling her optics. "Don't be ridiculous, Dread. Here." She handed over the nearest sparkling, Thunder, into his arms before he could object. The mech immediately nestled near his elbow joint, turned towards his chest and started nibbling on his accents. Of all the things in the universe, it tickled him, and he was smiling before he could stop himself.

"They are so small..." he muttered, carefully placing a digit astride his son. Just one joint was bigger than the sparkling's whole body. It was Arcee's turn to watch as sirehood started to overcome the surly Seeker.

"Don't worry," she said, pressing Shadow closer in her grip. "They get bigger eventually."

Dreadwing couldn't help laughing, a small huff of air through his vents, though he'd almost forgotten what it sounded like by now. Thunder's olfactories flared as he tried to copy his sire, wriggling in his tight swaddling and curling against the thinnest patch of plating between sparkling and buzzing spark chamber. The medic might have returned at some point, but Arcee shooed him away with a sharp glance as she cradled Shadow. All in all, Dreadwing lost count of how long he spent there just holding the newborns, and thanking Primus for them.