Chapter 13

Gears crossed her arms, leaning against her truck, "Are you okay?"

"I talked to Alex last night."

The woman took on a saddened expression, "How did that go?"

"Not well," Demona turned her optics down towards Sundance. She was in her natural form, sitting inside the shop. Her sparkling was curled up on her leg, nose tucked into a plate of her armor and optics half-shuttered. She was fighting recharge since she'd woken up early in the morning because of a nightmare. She was determined to stay awake for the rest of the day, and was refusing to leave Demona's side.

Gears pushed a hand through her thick red hair, "I was hoping to hear better...but I'm not surprised."

"I think..." Demona lowered a hand and ran her fingers down her young's spine, "...that he has been having nightmares."

"Yeah," Gears nodded, "sometimes he wakes up screaming, I sleep with the doors open now so I can get to him sooner."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Between keeping tabs on Jo and keeping Rex busy...I guess all of us are a bit too busy for our own good, with Alec and his schooling and you and you're life-saving. I just never had the chance to."

"I hate the way things are," Demona said softly, "we're all so far apart from each other. It feels as though things are collapsing all around us..."

Gears straightened and walked over. She leaned over Demona's leg opposite of Sundance and stared up at her, "Oh, Dem...do you remember the first battle, when we thought we'd lost you? And all those days spent, thinking that you, after finding you and loving you, had left us...Do you remember what I told you when you woke up?"

"I remember a good scolding on your part," Demona answered, "how could I forget? I thought you were going to beat me."

Gears grinned at her, "I was ready to...until you just thanked me. Out of the freaking blue, after I'd sat there and yelled at you, you just thanked me. Why did you?"

"Because you were the first one to believe in me, it was you who first saved me."

"That's right." The woman stood then climbed her way up Demona's armor to stretch out over her thigh on her back. She closed her green optics, "Please believe in us, Dem. I know things are bad right now, but no matter what, we're a family, and that's never going to change. Someday we'll all be together again. Who knows? Maybe you and Jolt and Sundance and your little Jolt-juniors can move out here when things calm down."

"You're really pushing for that sparkling, aren't you?" Demona sent her a look. Gears smiled innocently.

Unfortunately, the word 'sparkling' didn't escape Sundance, and the little dragon knew they weren't talking about her. She lifted her head and tilted it, "Momma, what sparkling?"

Demona turned her attention to the younger femme. There was a bright hope in Sundance's optics, all weariness gone. The smaller shifted, straightening up a little. She pushed, "What sparkling, momma? I know you're not talking about me!"

"Oops, guess you can't avoid it now..." Gears chimed in cheerfully.

Fragging red headed woman...Demona picked a branch out of Sundance's metal feathers, "Your father wants a sparkling-"

And just like that, Sundance's day was suddenly wonderful. She made that soft song-like hum she made when she was happy. She interrupted, "A sparkling? Like a brother or sister? I'm going to be a sister!"

"-But we're still not certain," Demona continued, "so you're not quite a-"

The singing grew, and the little dragon hopped down with a flutter of her wings. She moved away. Sundance tensed her wings like she was about to fly, but couldn't because they were surrounded by four walls. So she pranced circles instead, repeating the words over and over again. Jolt wasn't joking when he said she wanted a sibling, she thought. Sundance had never quite asked them, but she had felt her want for a brother or sister more than once. It usually happened when she was around the twins.

Demona watched, spark warming despite last night's conversation with Critter. She finished quietly, "-Sister, yet..."

"Now how could you say no to her?" Gears asked, "look at her, babe. When's the last time you saw her dance like that?"

Sundance bounced back over and leaped up, latching on to Demona's chest armor. She quickly climbed her way up to her shoulders. The sparkling dropped her head and nuzzled into Demona's throat cables, "I'm so happy, momma. When can I see it?"

Don't have much of a choice now, do I? Demona wrapped her fingers around her daughter's body and lifted her. Sundance wiggled a little, spreading her wings to balance. She seemed to glow, "Tell me, momma!"

Demona hesitated. The fear of loosing her young coursing through her still. Yet the words of her adopted mother wrapped around her spark and squeezed, reminding her that she was far from being alone. Shes right...Jolt wouldn't ask if he hadn't thought it through first...

As if to prove it, Jolt chose that moment to check on her, reaching through and tugging lovingly at her spark. She felt him become distracted for a moment but he came right back, and with questions, 'What are you two doing over there? Sundance hasn't been this happy since the first time she successfully jumped Ironhide...'

In front of her, Sundance was getting impatient. She vented, "Momma!"

Primus, she thought tiredly. Demona shot a half-hearted glare down at Gears who was whistling, still playing the innocent one in the mix, "You knew this would happen."

"Nah," the woman answered, "I had no idea..."

"Is it a mech or a femme?" Sundance kept at it, pulling her wings in, "you have to tell me something!"

'Demona...?' Jolt tugged at her again. Demona pulled back with a soft vent, 'She's happy because she found out that she's going to be a sister...'

'A sister?' She tried not to snort at the clueless, awkward tone. She counted the seconds in her processor before it finally dawned on him just what she was talking about. A flood of warm emotions came through and wrapped around her tightly. He whispered, 'A sparkling?'

Demona let Sundance squeeze out of her hands to settled back on her shoulder, humming quietly. She reached back through the bond and answered him with her own round of feelings, including her fears. He made a silent promise that he would protect them until his spark ran cold and continued to surround her like a warm blanket. Protected, safe.

There was no hesitation this time. Her spark took over her processor before she could back out. She answered, 'Yes, Jolt.'

Okay, if you see mistakes I'm sorry. I don't have a beta reader(and I don't want one) and I don't get around to writing these until early morning or late evening, so I'm sorry. I can't catch everything in every chapter, but I do try, so if you see anything just bear with me. I've been getting remarks on it lately, and, again, I'm sorry. I'm usually tired when I do these and this story is thoroughly kicking my ass so far...I'm very stressed out over getting it done, and top it all off with college.

Anyway, after a depressing-ish opening, Gears and Sundance kinda ganged up on her until she gave Jolt an answer. Kinda corny, but oh well. It's 1:20 AM and I've been listening to 80's cartoons for the past hour. Sorry, this is all you get.

And I got like fifteen reviews one right after another today...I'll get around to those tomorrow, when my brain isn't sludge.

Demona and her family and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.