Chapter 26

Demona watched with a subtle sense of pride as Gears met the bright red optics of her sparkling.

She had pressed both hands against the window by then, and was leaning forward, organic optics wide. She whispered, "This...this is your baby?"

"Yes," Demona answered without hesitation, "she is my creation."

"'She'?"

She nodded her holoform's head, and turned her optics towards Sundance when she pulled herself up to the window to get a better look, squeaking and clicking away in curiosity. Gears tore her eyes away from the sparkling to stare at Demona, "This...she's...she's real."

Again, Demona nodded. She let her eyes soften, placing her hand beside Gears' on the glass. Sundance knew the holoform was her femme creator as well, and squealed happily, trying to grab her fake fingers through the window.

"Is she..." Gears looked back down, "She looks like my..."

"Yes," Demona clarified, "the All Spark shard fell on your sculpture, but your work was meant to be immobile...so when she came to life, her first hours were spent in agony because her spark could not control her body, and she had no energon running through her."

"Is that what you meant when you said you didn't have a choice but to claim her? So she could lean on your spark, right? Like what Prime did for you?"

"...Before I realized this, she was already pushing to make the bond. In her optics, I was already her 'mother'...I was late returning to the hospital because I was working to save her body."

"Geez, Demona..." Gears dropped a hand to open the door, but stopped to cast a suddenly hopeful look at her, "Can I see her?"

"Go around to the other side," Demona instructed, "she's been looking for attention all day."

She smiled when the woman shot around and slipped inside her alternate, shutting the door softly. Demona transferred her holoform to her back seat, watching as Sundance sang in joy, scrambling in her haste to get to Gears. The little red dragon spilled out into her lap cheerfully, reaching up with small claws to wrap around organic hands with a surprising gentleness.

"Oh, Dem," Gears whispered, eyes wide as Sundance continued to explore, "she's...She's gorgeous."

Demona leaned her holoform body closer, reaching forward to run her fingers down the smooth plates of red armor that protected her back, "Are you angry with me?"

"God, no," Gears used her free hand to brush over the little femme's horns, which matched Demona's in shape, "she's..."

"Her name is Sundance," Demona informed quietly, smile growing as her creation purred, "and she is your grand-daughter...I think that is the correct term."

Gears sent her a smile that was brighter than the sun, tears glistening in her organic green optics, "Thank you, babe."

"...For what?"

Sundance freed one of her tiny hands and reached out for Demona. Demona shifted her projected form so that she was nestled between the two front seats, leaning on the passenger one. Sundance reached out and wove her claws around her hand. She shifted her tail so that it was laying over both of them, a soft, beautiful hum leaving her body as she sunk into them.

"For giving me a cute little red grand-baby to cuddle," Gears said with a soft laugh. She pushed a hand through Demona's dark hair, "you're going to be an amazing mother, Demona. I know it."

As if in complete agreement, Sundance sent her a big wave of adoration. She squeaked and curled up between them, falling back into recharge with a smile on her face.

"...Okay, mom, it's like you got a botox while we weren't looking...what the hell is going on?"

Gears leaned back in the hospital bed. Somehow, all three human members of the James family had managed to cram in that little bed, and none of them were the least bit uncomfortable. Rex was off raiding the cafeteria, as he had taken to doing once Pockets was well on his way to recovery.

"Yeah, what are you so happy about?" Critter asked, lifting his head from his brother's chest. Gears closed her eyes, and saw the intricate details of that precious face, the rose red horns that looked like her momma's and that strong little tail...her grand-baby.

How many proud grandmas can say that they're little bundle of joy is a baby red robot dragon? Just one! She grinned, "Demona showed me something last night."

"Like...?"

Gears turned her head and let the grin fall back into a sweet smile, "How do you like 'Uncle Pockets'?"

He stared at her like she had grown horns until it seemed to sink in, and his eyes just about fell out of his head. He tensed, "No way..."

Gears turned on her side and poked him in the nose, "you two have a little red niece..."

Critter spoke up, voice full of excitement, "You mean sissy's a momma?"

"That's right," Gears laughed when her oldest almost sputtered, "What!"

"I don't exactly understand how it happened," she explained, "but she's the cutest little creature I've ever seen..."

"So she's already born?" Critter continued, a big silly grin on his face, "and she's red, like sis?"

"Same exact red. Her name is Sundance."

"Wow..." He whispered. Pockets finally managed to get a hold of himself, "You're serious? Because if this is a joke, it's not funny."

Gears nodded, "I freaked out when she told me, I thought some hot-shot autobot got in her pants and got her pregnant...but it wasn't like that at all. Something about that All Spark thing...like it gave Sundance her life, not Demona."

"What does she look like?"

"She's a little dragon," Gears began softly, "and she's small enough to hold. She's got horns like her momma, and red eyes like her...and she loves to cuddle. She's a very happy baby, the entire time I was with her she was just running her little mouth..."

"That's insane..." Pockets muttered, "life just keeps throwing us those curve balls..."

"Good thing this is a cute one."

8D She was all excited about it when she got over her shock...that's so cute...

I think that's all for tonight... O.O Love to the readers!

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