***I asked around for ideas on how this story was to proceed and got several requests for this particular topic. Soooo...yeah, tried my best to fit it in. Not entirely happy with it, but that'll do pig, that'll do.***

Chapter – Fear

"You know, you never did tell me why you wanted to trade shifts."

"I just wanted to try something different" Joe replied without looking up from her datapad.

"Uh huh, annnnd how long are you gonna work this shift?"

"I dunno."

"That's an interesting translation for until I stop actin' like a youngling."

Joe sighed in exasperation and finally looked up at Wheeljack. "I'm not in the mood Jack."

"So sorry, but last I checked I outrank you; so answer the question." Joe smirked and went back to her datapad. Wheeljack grinned and grabbed the datapad out from under her.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"Not 'til you start bein' honest with me. Now why are you avoiding Ratchet?"

"I'm not, I've just been busy. Will you please give me my datapad back? I have studying to do."

"Yer gonna have to give a better answer than that" Wheeljack replied waving the datapad out of Joe's reach. He leaped back and moved to the other side of a repair berth when Joe stood up.

"Come on Jack, this is stupid."

"So glad we agree. I'll stop actin' like a youngling when you do." He yelped and ran for the supply closet when Joe jumped onto the repair berth he was using as a shield. He dodged around various shelves in the large closet and stopped short when he came to a dead end. Joe skid around some shelves and smirked at seeing Wheeljack trapped. Wheeljack threw the datapad at Joe and ran past as she moved to catch her prize.

Joe checked her datapad for damage then turned to leave. Wheeljack stood in the closet doorway and waved at her before shutting the door. "He wouldn't…" She rushed to the door and attempted to open it only to find it locked. "Yeah, yeah he would" she muttered. "Jack! Open the damn door!"

Wheeljack leaned his back against the door and listened to Joe yell and pound on the door. This isn't exactly what he had planned. "Ratchet is gonna kill me when he finds out." His voice indicators suddenly lit up excitedly when a new idea popped into his processor. He waited for Joe to stop yelling then opened a comm. line with Ratchet. "Hey Ratch, you awake?"

"Yeah, I still can't recharge."

'Poor mech; well hopefully this will solve the problem' Wheeljack thought to himself. "I got somethin' really neat to show ya in the med bay."

"Fine, be there in a moment."

"Heya Ratch" Wheeljack chirped happily when the CMO entered the med bay.

Ratchet eyed his overly happy friend curiously. "What?"

Wheeljack walked over and placed an arm around Ratchet's shoulders. "I found it in the supply closet; it's the strangest thing" he replied as he guided his friend towards the closet. He stepped aside letting Ratchet open the door and then shoved the CMO inside.

Joe looked up from where she was seated against a shelf when the door opened. Ratchet appeared in the doorframe with Wheeljack moving behind him. "Ratchet! Don't let the door…!"

SLAM!

"…close." Joe shuttered her optics and banged the back of her head against the shelf.

Ratchet regained his balance from being shoved inside the supply closet and looked down at Joe in surprise. He looked back at the closed door and put the pieces together. With a frown he turned to the door and tried to open it. "Wheeljack! Open the fraggin' door you aft headed slagger!"

"I already tried that approach" Joe muttered.

Ratchet grumbled then sat down on the floor opposite Joe. He studied the motionless femme across from him and felt his spark flutter. There were a thousand things he wanted to say to her, but he didn't know how to go about saying them.

"You look tired."

Ratchet blinked and realized that Joe had unshuttered her optics and was looking at him. "I haven't been able to recharge much lately. You look kind of tired yourself." Actually, she looked flat out exhausted. Joe shrugged but said nothing in reply. "How long has Jack had you locked up in here?"

"Not long."

"Just so you know, I had nothing to do with this."

"No, this has crackpot Wheeljack plan written all over it."

"He's just trying to help in his own glitched way. But since he's managed to pin us both in here, want to tell me what's been bothering you?" Ratchet instantly regretted asking his concern right out like that when Joe stood and tried playing with the door lock. She smacked the door hard with her palm in frustration and flinched back cradling her hand. Ratchet stood and gently took Joe's hand in his own to check it. "You need to be careful with your hands, they are sensitive."

"So I've been told."

Deciding that Joe's hand was not seriously damaged Ratchet looked up into her optics but maintained his hold on her hand caressing it slightly. "Why do you run from me Joe?" he asked quietly. "Have I done something wrong? Please, tell me; my spark cannot take this."

Joe glanced at the door wishing it would suddenly open. There would be no escape this time; no running from what she had been so afraid of confronting. "I am a coward, that's what's wrong."

"You are many things; but coward is hardly one of them. Do…do I scare you?" It hurt him to ask that, but he had to get to the bottom of this.

Joe swallowed and tried to ignore the sensations Ratchet was causing as he caressed her hand. "It is your response to something that I fear."

"Response to what? There is nothing you can do or tell me that could ever make me turn from you."

Ratchet inched closer and looked down at her with those beautiful optics of his. All Autobots (except her of course) had blue optics; but each had a slightly different shade of blue from Bumblebee's pale sky blue to Hound's dark twilight blue. Joe wondered if Ratchet had any idea what affect his piercing blue optics had on her. A warning flashed in her processor breaking her trance. She placed her other hand to her head and blinked. "Tell you what; get us out of here before I drop into stasis lock from low energon and I will show you what I've been avoiding."

Concern flashed across Ratchet's faceplates and he quickly approached the door. As a necessity for flight, Joe was a lightweight for a medic. Most medics were constructed more like Ratchet; capable of great strength, able to carry mechs several times their own size off the battle field. Ratchet put all of that strength to use as he slammed his shoulder against the door sending it bowing outwards. What was left of the door came free of the frame easily with a tug. Ratchet helped Joe to a repair berth then went to the dispenser to retrieve an energon cube. "No sign of Jack. The fragger must have taken off in case we got out" he said as he returned.

"Smartest move he's made yet" Joe replied half heartedly as she worked with the scanner next to her repair berth. She accepted the energon cube Ratchet offered and sipped it while continuing with the scanner. "I nearly went into stasis twice from low energon levels during the special ops mission despite taking in my usual amount."

Ratchet's optic ridges lowered as he frowned. "It might have been nice to know that before. Did you check for leaks?"

"Give me a little credit. You are the one who trained me after all. Of course I checked for leaks."

"Are there any other symptoms? Perhaps…"

"I already know what's wrong; I just don't know what to do about it."

Ratchet smiled playfully as he climbed onto the berth to sit behind Joe and leaned in close as if to tell her a secret. "This may come as a surprise, but I happen to be the Chief Medical Officer" he whispered. "If you ask really nice and tell me what you know I might just be able to help."

Joe glanced back at Ratchet with a raised optic ridge. "You are a real piece of work you know that?" She sighed when he just smiled and shrugged. Turning back to the scanner she turned on the monitor so Ratchet could see what she had uploaded. "I am no Chief Medical Officer, at least not yet, but I am pretty sure I know what that is."

Ratchet looked at where Joe was pointing on the display and felt his fuel pump stall briefly in shock. He reached past her and adjusted the settings on the monitor to enhance and sharpen a portion of the image. He stared at the monitor for a long time unable to look away. After awhile he pulled his gaze away to look at Joe who had her optics shuttered tight. She flinched slightly as he pulled her back against his chest and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Open your optics Joe."

"No."

"Please?" She unshuttered her optics and looked up at the monitor. Ratchet pressed his cheek against hers and placed his hands over her abdomen. "You know what that is." Joe nodded and tensed in his arms. "Primus has blessed us with a sparkling. You have given me a great gift beloved."

Joe looked at Ratchet out of the corner of her optics. "I…I don't understand. I thought you would be upset with me."

"Why?"

"When I found out what was going on I did some investigating. I read that sparklings were practically forbidden during the war."

"Frowned upon, yes; forbidden, not exactly. The Allspark can spark life into a shell with a command; but to spark a life within a life, you must ask the Allspark. It won't grant the request to just anyone. When the war broke out the first option was the preferred choice due to the immediate need for mechs and femmes on the battlefield. Actual sparklings require time to be born and grow; much like humans."

"That is the other reason I was afraid…I did not ask the Allspark Ratchet."

Ratchet jerked back with a gasp. "What?!"

Joe hunched in on herself. "I didn't ask" she whispered.

Ratchet stared at Joe in disbelief. He reached out to her with shaking hands and turned her around so that she was sitting facing him. "Human" he whispered in awe as he looked her over. "One of your human traits; it has to be. The ability to procreate without the use of an Allspark followed you into your cybertronian body." Joe shuddered and looked on the verge of crying though their race could not produce tears. He wrapped her up in his arms and rocked on the repair berth. "Shhhh, it's alright. There is no need to be scared." The sound of someone clearing their throat made him raise his optics to the med bay doorway.

"Sorry Ratch; I wouldn't have come back so soon but I need the repair kit for Cliffjumper. He has a burned out relay in his leg" Wheeljack said quietly.

Ratchet lifted his head and smiled at his friend. "Come here Jack. It's my turn to show you something neat."

"Does it involve beating me senseless for the closet thing?"

"No" Ratchet chuckled. Wheeljack cautiously approached and frowned in concern at seeing Joe's current state. "Look" Ratchet whispered indicating the monitor next to the berth.

Wheeljack glanced over at the monitor and gasped. "Primus" he whispered as he leaned in closer to the image of the sparkling. It was still in it's early stages and so still lacked a frame; but it's spark had stabilized and shone brightly. "Primus! Congratulations just don't seem to do the occasion justice!" He looked down at Joe and raised an optic ridge to Ratchet in silent question.

"See Joe? I am not upset and neither is Jack" Ratchet said softly. She looked up at him through half shuttered optics and managed a weak smile. "You are in some desperate need of some serious recharge aren't you?"

"I'd say you both are" Wheeljack added.

The initial euphoria of discovering he was a creator had masked his exhaustion from earlier but now Ratchet could feel it creeping back up on him. He shifted his arms to carry Joe and slipped off the repair berth. He glanced back at the monitor one last time and smiled.

Wheeljack patted Ratchet's shoulder and gave him a little shove in the direction of the med bay doors. "You look like yer gonna fall into recharge standing there starin' at the monitor. You have plenty of time to see your sparkling when you wake up. Now off with you. Take your mate and go recharge."

Ratchet grinned evilly at Wheeljack as he stepped through the doors. "Thanks Jack, but for the record, I'm still going to laugh when Joe kicks your aft for earlier."