Chapter 21: Carrying Part 6: New Year's Eve and January

December 29

"Optimus," Starscream began as his mate continued to lead him, "Where are you taking me?" The mech was behind Starscream, his hands over his optics.

"You'll see Star. You remember that surprise baby shower we threw for Prowl and Bumblebee a few months ago?"

How could the Seeker forget? When Sari mentioned it, the Autobots called Bumblebee and Prowl's parents, brought them to Earth, and threw them a surprise baby shower.

Bumblebee's parents were nice, however, Yellow-jacket, Bumblebee's father, wouldn't stop giving Prowl the evil optic. Queenbee, the young bot's mother, made her son fall over from embarrassment when she asked, "Isn't that ninja-bot a little old for my cutsey-wusty Bumbles?" It also had the whole team laughing.

Prowl's parents welcomed Bumblebee into their family, blessed their grandchildren, and wished them happy lives. It was a pretty fun day.

"Yes," Starscream finally answered, "Why?"

Optimus sighed and finally stopped. Then he whispered in his mate's audio, "I'm sorry, and remember; I love you."

He uncovered Starscream's optics and the Seeker was ready to scream with rage. They were throwing him a surprise baby shower, if the decorated room and the big banner that read, "It's A Girl!" was any indicator.

"OPTIMUS!!!" the Seeker screeched, "You know I hate surprises!!"

Everyone winced at Starscream's voice and offered Optimus a look of sympathy; no way were they going to mess with a pissed off Seeker. Optimus backed away slowly and said, "I know. I tried to convince them not to do it. But……they're really clever."

The sparkling picked the perfect moment to nudge her carrier's spark in confusion and amusement. She didn't know why her carrier was screaming and wanted to know why, and she thought her father's predicament was quite amusing. Not for him of course.

Starscream heard a familiar laugh that snapped him out of his rage and distracted him from his sparkling's nudging.

"You were the same way as a sparkling," Silverstar began as he walked towards his son and son-in-law, "Never wanted any surprises parties of any kind."

"Father!"

"Hey Screamer."

The older Seeker hugged his son and said, "And when were you planning on telling me I was going to be a grandfather?" Starscream returned the embrace, then rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Wasn't sure how you would react hearing that I was carrying only a few weeks after I saw you last."

"I would've been surprised, but pleased. Now I have a request."

"What?"

"Send me pictures of my grand-daughter. And let her visit me so I can spoil her." Starscream and Optimus laughed, "Of course Father."

The sparkling nudged his spark questioningly. Starscream chuckled. "What's so funny?" Silverstar asked. The younger Seeker answered, "She wants to know who I'm talking to."

"She's that aware of everything?"

"Yes, I found it a little odd at first; to know she's that aware of me and those around me. But it just makes me hope that she will be very strong as she grows."

Silverstar smiled, "She's something special, I can feel it. She's going to do great things!"

Starscream smiled, "I hope so."

Optimus put his hand on Starscream's shoulder and asked, "You still mad?" The seeker sighed, "No Optimus, I'm not mad."

"Then could you try to meet my mother?"

"Of course. But where's your father?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you…didn't I?"

"Tell me what?"

Optimus sighed, "Father……died in the first stages of the war."

"How?" Starscream kicked himself inwardly, "I mean you don't have to tell me."

"It's okay Star……Megatron…ripped out his spark chamber and crushed it." Starscream flinched at the thought. "I'm sorry Optimus." The mech gave the Seeker a small smile then hugged him. "It's okay," he whispered, "I know he wouldn't want me to linger in the past. He would have wanted me to keep living."

Starscream returned the embrace. Then he was dragged to a femme.

She had the same helm that Optimus had and was colored yellow and silver with a few splashes of gold here and there. She was very thin and barely came to Optimus' shoulder. She had bright azure, round optics and a kind looking face. She was beautiful.

"Starscream," Optimus began, "This is my mother Windstreak. Mother this is my bondmate."

Windstreak smiled, "I remember you. You used to be that adorable little seekerling that played with my Optimus. My goodness, you've grown into a handsome Seeker now."

Starscream chuckled, then smiled, "Thank you. And I remember you. You were the nice femme who always let me stay over whenever me and Father were arguing and you always made those energon sweets."

Windstreak smiled and giggled, "Yes that was me." Several great memories of Windstreak and sleep-overs at Optimus' house returned to Starscream's memory.

"Bluefire would've been so pleased to see you and know Optimus finally had someone to love and was having a family of his own."

"Wish he could be here," Starscream stated. "So do I," the femme began, "But we're not here to talk about or morn my late bondmate, we're here to celebrate the new life growing within you. Welcome to the family, Starscream."

The femme hugged her new son-in-law and he returned the embrace. Windstreak, when they had released each other asked, "Now that that's cleared up, how about we have some fun?"

***

December 31

Starscream was walking toward his old room, now turned into the baby room. He and Optimus had received many gifts that were needed to take care of their sparkling. The baby shower was nice and Sari got lot of pictures for Starscream's photo-album. The only thing the Seeker hated about it, was that it had been a surprise; he hated surprises.

He shook it off as he entered his daughter's room. In a corner there was a toy-box filled with things for his little one to play with. There was a crib for her to recharge in, of course she would be recharging with him and Optimus until she was a few weeks, maybe a month, old. There were also blankets, bottles, everything that he and Optimus needed was in here.

Starscream went to his daughter's crib and took a blanket from its place. The fabric was fairly old, but still good. Very soft and very warm. The Seeker remembered the blanket.

He traced the shooting stars and the full moons with one clawed finger. This had been his blanket when he was a sparkling. Firecomet, when she realized that she was carrying, began working on a blanket for her infant. This was the very same blanket she had made for him all those years ago.

He couldn't help but smile at the memories and at the fact that his father had kept it all these years. Just in case. Now it would belong to his daughter. He put the blanket back in the crib and put his hand over his spark.

She was beginning to wake from her nap. She nudged his spark sleepily and lovingly, and he sent her loving pulses.

Optimus walked into the room, shivering. "St-Starsc-scream," he stuttered, "Wh-When are you go-going to c-close the windows and t-turn the heating unit ba-back on?"

"As soon as it feels like Bumblebee and I aren't over-heating."

That phase still hadn't worn off. Optimus wrapped his arms around the Seeker from behind and held the warmer body close to his own. "Yo-You're l-lucky I lo-love you s-so much." The Seeker chuckled as the mech rubbed his cockpit and laid his head on his shoulder.

Starscream moved his head slightly to make himself and Optimus more comfortable. Optimus sighed, "Much better." After a moment the Seeker spoke, "Sari said something about today being New Year's Eve?"

"Yes, and?"

"What do they celebrate today?"

"Humans stay up late midnight, throwing parties, celebrating the New Year."

"Interesting…What's Sari planning for us?"

"Just a small party with the team, nothing big."

"Hm…I might not be able to stay up long though."

"It's okay, you're carrying. It'll take a lot out of you, from what Rachet's told me." Optimus' hand stopped rubbing the cockpit and rested it above his mate's spark. He could feel both his mate's and daughter's spark pulses. "How's our little one?"

"She's developing. She'll be with us soon." She nudged her carrier's spark again. He knew what this nudge meant, she wanted to be in the air. She was defiantly a Star and she would most likely be a seekerling. "I've gotta go," Starscream said, leaving his mate's embrace.

"She wants to go flying."

"Alright," Optimus began skeptically, "Just-"

"Be careful. I know Optimus." The Seeker left the base and began his daily flight.

***

January 14

Starscream was sitting on the couch, watching T.V. Optimus was out on patrol. Bumblebee was recharging with Prowl, Rachet was working on something in his infirmary, Bulkhead was working on an art project, and the Seeker had no idea what Sari was doing. But he began to wonder, since the base was hardly ever this quiet.

He heard Sari's voice then, "Hey Star!"

"Hello Sari."

"What you watchin'?"

"Nothing, just channel hoping right now."

"Oh. How's the sparkling?" Starscream smiled as Sari took her usual seat on his shoulder. "She's recharging."

"Again? That's all she ever does."

"Who wouldn't? It's nice, warm, quiet, your carrier's sending you loving pulses, it's dark, and you can only hear the soft pulsing of your carrier's spark. I remember when I was sharing my mother's spark chamber. I spent most of the time recharging."

"You remember being inside your mother?"

"Yes, don't humans remember their time being one with their carrier?"

"No we don't. You see, humans don't have very good memories. We don't remember our time in the womb, we don't remember our toddler years, and we can barely remember our child-hood."

"What horrible memory capabilities. The only time a Transformer doesn't remember is when they don't want to remember."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Transformers have the ability to block certain memories. A perfect example; because it was causing very vivid nightmares for me, I blocked off the memory where Megatron reprogrammed me and changed my personality."

"Oh, that would be pretty cool if a human could do that." Starscream chuckled as he continued to channel surf. "Star," Sari began, "What's carrying like?"

"It's a little strange sometimes. You can be all by yourself in a room, but you know you're not truly alone. You can always feel your sparkling and you're always aware of them. But when I feel her nudge my spark, something amazing flows throughout my body. Feelings of pride, happiness, and joy."

"Oh, that sounds amazing. How are you aware of the sparkling?"

"No one really knows how that works. But the main belief is that it has something to do with the fact that she is connected to me."

"Connected to you? Are you talking metaphorically or physically?"

"Physically. My sparkling's spark is connected to my spark. Just as I am aware of her, she is aware of me."

"So, just like you can feel what she feels, since what she doing, she can feel what you feel and since what you're doing?"

"Yes. It's called the Creator and Creation bond."

"Is it anything like a bondmate bond?"

"It's something like that. When she's born, the Creator and Creation bond will still be open. She will still be able to since my thoughts and feelings and I hers. The bond will remain open until she reaches at least a hundred stellar-cycles."

"A hundred years!?"

"Yes, that's only about…six years in Transformer years."

"Whoa. How many stellar-cycles are you?"

"I'm about seventy-two million stellar-cycles old. Only about twenty-five or twenty-six in Transformer years."

"Wow. How long do you think I'll live?"

"I don't really know. There aren't really that many techno-organics on Cybertron. But I would wager you'd live long enough to see my grandchildren have children. But that's only a very rough estimate."

"So…long after the people in this city die, we'll still be alive?"

"Yes. We'll probably even outlast Earth. But in my spark, I hope we'll find a way to keep this planet alive, long after dead and gone."

"Well, we certainly have the tech on Cybertron to try." Starscream chuckled. Then he yawned. As much as he liked explaining things to Sari, it did get tiring sometimes. "Here, the T.V.'s yours." He handed her the remote, then got up to leave. "Where are ya going?"

"To my room to recharge for a few mega-cycles."

"Have a nice nap." Starscream smiled, then continued to his room.

Told ya I'd get another chapter up today, just took longer than I thought it did. Enjoy this chap, and you'll definatly have another one tomorrow! :)