Chapter 10 - Reunions

Thumper groaned as he slowly became aware.

"Thumper... Oh god... "

Memory of what had happened returned. Then the pain hit. Overwhelming pain.

"Ratchet is on his way, you must try to stay calm."

He struggled against the darkness that was wrapped around his mind. He had to wake up. He couldn't break down now. Mollie needed him. He had to...

"You will live New Spark."

That voice. The voice he had heard on the day of his creation. Yes. That voice had promised him that he would be able to take away her sorrow. Not create more. He was going to kick that voice's ass. Just as soon as he figured out how.

"This is your fault!"

The voice sighed. "No, this is all your fault. Why did you lie to the child about the Autobots?"

"To keep her safe."

"From the only beings on this planet other then you that would give their lives to protect her?"

"They want to use her..."

"To save their people from extinction. How can you deny them that? You know as well as I do that she wouldn't. She was chosen her courage and the compassion in her heart."

Thumper felt a twang of guilt. "But.."

"You want to keep her safe. To keep her safe, you must trust the Autobots. They will protect her when you cannot."

"Primus... Can she do this?"

"Yes. Now rest. You must heal if you are to keep your end of our deal. Mollie will not be happy if you die."

Thumper tried to speak again, but found himself consumed by cool darkness that drown everything out, pulling him into oblivion.

Mollie opened her eyes, to find herself face to face with a familiar robot. The same tow truck that had saved. Thumper. But something had changed. The robot's abdomen was distended, almost grotesquely. To her horror, she lifted her head, dim blue optics flickering as it's mouth curved downwards in a soft frown, before twisting into a grimace as she threw it's head back, grunting with muffled pain. The robot gasped, slumping as the pain subsided. Mollie felt guilt wash over her as she realized the robot was probably this way because of what she had done to her. She decided to try talking...

"What happened to you?"

The robot looked up at her and smiled softly. "Something miraculous... Are you alright?"

Mollie hung her head. "I'm sorry... I can't control my powers... I didn't mean to hurt you..."

The robot snorted.

"Nonsense. You have given me the greatest gift imaginable. If you had not reformatted me, this never would have happened... You have given us something we had thought was lost forever. Hope for the future... Thumper didn't tell you?"

Mollie frowned. "He told me you wanted to use my power to enslave the human race..."

To her surprise, the robot laughed. "Did Bee ever tell you how he and Sam came to be together?"

"No.."

"Three years ago, we followed the signal of the all spark, the artifact that is responsible for the creation of our race, to earth. We had hope that we could keep it from the clutches of the decepticons, who had already destroyed our world and wanted to use it to destroy yours. Without Sam and Bumblebee's help, we never would have found it... Unnng..."

Mollie panicked as the robot tightened her hands into fists, her head tilting back as she shuddered with pain. Mollie knew enough about how babies were born to know what was happening. "Your having your baby aren't you?"

"Trying... Not to... He's not... Listening."

Mollie got up, cautiously approaching the laboring robot. "Why would you want to stop it?"

"I do not want to have my sparkling... Without his father present..."

Mollie's heart caught in her throat as her eyes rested on a still form in the corner. A lump in her throat, she approached the seemingly lifeless blue and white robot that had once been her car. He rested beside the still form of the white robot that had tried to save them. His massive metal body was littered with dents and scrapes, a patch of dented dull gray metal had been welded across his abdomen. His face was still, motionless, his optics dark and empty as they stared at the ceiling sightlessly. Tears falling, she reached out and touched his dented arm. There was no response.

"Thumper..."

The robot lowered her head. "He's in stasis. I'm afraid I'm not at my best... The pain makes my hands shake... But I managed to patch his major systems...Hopefully, he'll live..."

With that, she grunted as another contraction hit, so hard she audibly cried out, her optics flickering and dimming as her back arched in agony. Mollie bit her lip as she watched the robot struggling against the pain. Cautiously she approached. "Thank you... Are you going to be ok?"

"I...Should...Be...Help is... On the way..."

Ratchet gently ran a hand along her bulging chrome belly, before another wave of pain hit, causing her to cry out. This time blue liquid gushed down her legs, pooling on the ground beneath her as she fell to her knee's, propping herself up with her hands as she grunted, trying to stay online.