Deep in the con base, Starscream had been locked away in a room. His defiance was the reason he was locked in here. His brothers Skywarp and Thundercracker couldn't even visit him. Megatron had threatened to offline them if they helped their brother. At this point, neither was willing to risk being offlined to help their brother out. They hated it, but having seen how Megatron killed others, they figured they had better fall in line. Megatron was pleased that for now, Starscream wouldn't be causing problems. Megatron continued to make his move to conquer Cybertron. The only thing standing in his way was the Autobots and it infuriated him to no end.

Elsewhere, in the base of the Autobots, Orion and Hide watched as young Bee carefully napped with his nephews. Even though only days old, it was already obvious that the two bigger ones were careful to guard the smaller bot. Orion smiled. Hide hugged his mate gently. Orion purred into the hug. This was what he had truly longed for – a loving family of his own. HE was just sad it took a civil war to bring this change about.

"So, you been ta Ratchet yet?" Hide asked softly, having been concerned with Orion throwing up every morning. Hide suspected what the truth might be, but he wanted to see if his guess was actually correct.

"Well, I went to the med bay, but I saw First Aid instead of Ratchet, as Ratchet was off duty after binging on high grade" Orion said, toying with his mate a bit.

Hide chuckled a bit at that. "Good ol' Ratchet. When he gets stressed, he goes right for the high grade. But anyway, what did Aid have ta say?" Hide asked. He knew he would have to tease Ratchet later about it, as he always did.

"We're going to be parents…. again" Orion replied, seeing if the old weapon's specialist could figure it out.

Hide smiled a huge smile. "You sparked?"

"Yes…. With just one" Orion said, hoping he didn't disappoint his mate. He looked to his mate, hoping Hide was happy.

"AS long as the sparkling and mother are healthy, I don't care about numbers" Hide replied, making Orion feel better. Hide kissed his mate softly.

Orion was truly relieved. "Thanks, that means so much."

"Hey, I have an idea. How's bout I take these three to Jazz and then I can allow you to show me just how much it means to ya" Hide said, a mischievous sparkle in his optic. He wanted to have some private berth time with his mate.

"Alright…. Baby doll" Orion replied, already priming for what was to come once the little ones were safely elsewhere. Hide took off as only he could and brought the three little ones to Jazz. Jazz readily accepted the little ones. And while Jazz commed Mirage to alert the bot about the little ones being moved, Hide headed home. He wanted to give his mate a true chance to show his happiness.

At home, Orion was already prepared and had even brought out a few old things from when he had been a pleasure bot, hoping that Hide would be willing to let the old pleasure bot play his former role. Orion was trying not to touch himself as he anxiously awaited the return of his mate. It was difficult but somehow he managed to do it.

Hide moved as fast as his bad hip allowed him to. The story that had led to his bad hip injury was one he never forgot. He had been cleaning a weapon one time when he was young and it accidentally went off and hit his hip joint. All Ratchet could do was basically reset it each time it failed. Because of Hide's unique build and the war, a replacement was hard to come by and so Hide just worked around his bad hip and didn't let it stop him. He soon made it to the door of his quarters and went inside, closing the door behind him.

He headed straight for their berth room, knowing his mate would be there and ready for him. Once he went in, he was surprised to see Orion positioned just so on the berth. "Hey baby…see something you like?" Orion asked in his most sensual pleasure bot voice, moving his body sensually as well. Hide was shocked at first. He hadn't quite expected this, but then he realized what was going on. Orion planned to show his mate his happiness by this time acting like the pleasure bot he used to be. The only difference was that this time, the only bot Orion planned to seduce was his mate. Ironhide let Orion do as he wanted. Orion was so happy and both enjoyed the berth time.

After coming down from overload and with cooling fans kicking on, Orion softly nuzzled his mate. "See how happy I am that not only am I you mate, but also that you'd be willing to have a family with me?"

Hide nuzzled back. "I do, my love, I do." And with that, the two snuggled up close and fell into a peaceful recharge. Orion was a little worried about how Optimus would react to the news, as adopting bee was one thing. Orion could only pray that Optimus would be happy with having more siblings.

Meanwhile, in the Prime's office, Optimus sat at the desk, studying plans that had come from spies who had gotten information about Con movements. Optimus didn't realize that some of these plans had been obtained by his mate and his mate's twin, as they had the advantage of illusionary abilities. Had Optimus known, he would have been more careful about sending the bots on missions. So far, during the missions, Mirage had remained unhurt, so Optimus had no clue. Optimus was not yet feeling the effects of what had happened when he and his mate last spark merged. He felt like his normal self, at least for now.