Chapter 33:

By Transformersnewfan

It was around two in the morning when Gravechaser continued his relentless campaign of terror against the pregnant Seeker.

The closet door opened, creaking loudly, CREEEEK.

Skywarp stirred but didn't wake up.

In Skywarp's Dream:

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Skywarp awoke slowly, looking around and not knowing what time it was.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Someone was knocking at their berthroom door.

The dark Seeker was petrified; someone was in their living room!

"Thundercracker," he whispered, shaking him.

TC woke up just as the berthroom doorknob began rattling, at first a little, but then getting more aggressive.

"Wait here," the blue Seeker told his brother in a hushed tone. He slowly reached down and took his gun out from between the mattresses.

As he got up and approached the door, the knob was shaking violently.

Thundercracker grabbed the knob. And everything stopped.

Almost instantly, the banging shifted to their front door, and a vocal, "Vosian Police! Open up!"

The two brothers looked at each other in total puzzlement.

TC slowly opened the berthroom door and peeked out, seeing no one.

"T-Teecee," Skywarp begged, "D-Don't go out there…"

The blue Seeker didn't listen; he opened the door and stepped into the living room.

"Y-You saw the k-knob," Skywarp was crying now, scared out of his processor and clutching his stomach, "D-Don't…"

And again, the loud banging at their door: BAM! BAM!

"Open the door!" the policemech shouted, "We just want the sparkling."

"Fuck you will," Thundercracker hissed in response.

Skywarp backed up in the tangled covers, the words freezing his very spark. Why did the police want his unborn daughter?!

The blue Seeker took the safety off his pistol, rushing the door, and flinging it open.

The policemech, a Vehicon named Steve, burst into their quarters. And Thundercracker shot him point blank in the chestplates, killing him instantly!

Another policemech was behind the first, and Thundercracker killed that one just as brutally.

End of Skywarp's Dream:

"NNOOO!" Skywarp bolted awake, hyperventilating, he flipped over onto his back suddenly, hands grasping up at the air, while his elbows remained on the berth.

Then he saw Gravechaser standing in front of his closet, staring him down.

"AAUUUUGGGGHHHH!" Skywarp howled in fear, waking his older brother up with a start, and Gravechaser vanished like a flick of a light switch.

Poor Thundercracker was still half asleep, looking around their berthroom and seeing nothing, "W-What?"

The Nightmare. The nightmare had been so real to the pregnant flyer that he thought he had smelled the gunpowder; that he had seen the policemech's chestplates blown apart; that he saw the rage on his brother's faceplates…

"TEECEE!" Skywarp sobbed, both brokenly and hysterically, "Teecee, you killed Steve!"

Okay, that was a new one, "Wha?"

"W-Why, Thundercracker?!" Skywarp truly believed what he had just 'seen,' "Why'd you kill Steve?!"

"Warp…" TC rubbed his optics, shifting under the blankets, his vocals had static from still being asleep, "What are you talking about?"

Skywarp was fully awake though, "HE WAS JUST DOING THIS JOB, TC!" screaming now, "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HIM! AND THE OTHER GUY WAS JUST STANDING THERE!"

The blue Seeker turned over, "Skywarp, I'm right here," he couldn't understand what Warp was referring to, "I haven't moved."

The black and purple Seeker, his internal fans whirling, trying to calm himself, looked around at the two of them. He and his brother were indeed fully under the covers as they had been when they went to bed. There was no shooting.

"It was a nightmare," TC whispered, trying over and hugging his sibling, hoping they could fall back into recharge.

Skywarp sunk into Thundercracker chestplates, still crying, "I-It was real…I-I know it was REAL!" the visions traumatized the pregnant Jet; he couldn't calm himself now; the hyperventilating got worse. Finally, the combination of hysterics and fear made his fuel tanks twist, causing him to howl out in pain, "OOOWWW!"

The poor Jet was in terrible abdominal pain; the Energon-quesadillas was still processing in his systems, and his still-very full fuel tanks were bloated from the gasses fomenting inside his increasingly limited space in his belly. His expanded gestating chamber was slowing everything down internally. He could have been able to sleep through his systems' slow processing of the foods, but the nightmare visions and being terrified caused his chassis to rebel on him.

Which is exactly what Gravechaser intended.

"Skywarp is so predictable," the ghost chuckled to himself from the attic now, "Just like his Mother."

"NUHH," the black and purple Seeker keened, half-climbing, half-falling out of the berth—covers around his chassis in a tangled mess—crawling on the floor to the waste can; he stuck his digits down his vocal processor, trying to purge up his dinner. But nothing was coming up. He was crying and keening now.

Thundercracker was fully online now, "Warp," he got down on the floor with him, wrapping his arms around him, trying to comfort his little brother, "What is it?"

Skywarp didn't answer; still gagging.

"Is it the baby? What is it?" TC tried again, holding the other's stomach.

The younger flyer, sick, shook his helm, :No, I'm sick,: he couldn't speak, he could only talk through their Trine Bond, :TC…I was eating Energon-quesadillas tonight…Now I wanna purge my tanks…It hurts.: He was secreting coolant now, and he was trembling all over.

Thundercracker was a bit miffed at him for giving in to his overindulgence, giving him a glare; but his feelings to comfort and protect his little brother were stronger than his anger for him, "Alright, come on," he carefully lifted Skywarp off the floor, adjusting the blanket around his wings, "let's go in the living room."

"N-NAHNOOOO!" Skywarp sobbed, switching back and forth between his vocalizer and their Bond, :Steve's chassis is still on the floor in there!:

"No, no," TC whispered, "it's okay…" his arms wrapping around his little brother protectively, "Come on, I'll show you." He led the other out of the berthroom and into the living room. Skywarp was scared to look, burying his faceplates against the blue Seeker's shoulder, whimpering.

Thundercracker turned the lights on: There was nothing amiss. He set Skywarp down on the sofa and went to look outside. He moved the file cabinet, opened their front door, and looked out into the hallway.

Brake lights on, there was no one around.

So, TC quickly relocked the door and slid the cabinet back, and got on his Comm.-Link, "Control Room?"

Spyglass was on duty, "Yes Lieutenant?"

TC: "Was there anything trying to break in tonight?"

Spyglass: "Negative."

TC: "Do we have any visiting soldiers on Base?"

Spyglass: "Negative again, Sir."

"Sorry to bother you," the blue Seeker sighed before closing the connection, leaning against the cabinet, "He didn't see nothing, Warp."

The pregnant flyer just continued sobbing, "I-I saw it, TC…I-I saw t-the Energon-blood…all over the r-r-rug…"

A policemech's blood all over the rug. Thundercracker's Energon ran cold as a long-buried memory file came to the surface. He quickly blocked it out, not wanting to think about it again. Not after twenty years.

But they both forgot about it quickly as Skywarp winced in pain again, holding his pregnant belly. TC rushed over to him, "I'm taking you to the Med-Bay."

"I-I don't wanna," the younger Seeker whined again.

"It could be your sparkling," TC insisted.

"D-Doesn't feel like it," he was, actually, holding the upper part of his abdomen, right below his canopy glass, which pointed more towards indigestion; his gestation chamber was closer to his lower abdomen.

"Okay," Thundercracker nodded, wrapping another blanket his little brother's back and wings, and getting him to lay on the sofa, "I'll be right back."

The blue Seeker went to their wash racks; he got a washcloth, wet it with cool water, and washed the sweat off the other's faceplates with it. Then he started looking in the medicine cabinet for something that would help.

Unfortunately, all of the bicarbonate products had warning labels advising against taking while pregnant. "Slag," he mumbled to himself, "Nothing I can give him." So, he went to his computer tablet, looking for a more organic method.

Skywarp was curled into himself around his hurting stomach; the gas pains still intense, making his unborn sparkling kick at him, she didn't like the tighter space. He was keening, "Auuhhhh, Auuhhhh," in discomfort.

"How many of those things did you eat, anyway?" TC asked, sitting next to him, optics still searching his tablet.

"Um, sixteen," the pregnant jet admitted sheepishly.

"Skywarp!" TC was furious, "What are you trying to do, kill yourself?!"

The younger gasped between keens, upset by his brother's tone. He shook his helm no.

"Okay, okay," Thundercracker didn't want to scare him, "just relax…I'll take care of you." He kept searching; finally, he found some helpful tips.

The blue Seeker retrieved a hot water bottle and filled it; the heat was pretty hot still, so he wrapped it in a towel. By the time he held it next to Skywarp's aching belly, the younger flyer had been in so much gastritis pain; he was almost too weak to move.

"Can you lay on your right side?" TC asked.

Skywarp had his optics closed, "N-No…"

"I read laying that way is supposed to help you digest," TC tried again softly.

"H-Hurts…too…much…" was all the sick flyer could muster. He let his brother assume it was the same pains he was talking about.

So Thundercracker gathered him in his arms and held him, holding the hot water bottle to his tummy and letting Skywarp's helm rest against his shoulder, and rubbing his wings and back, trying to comfort him as best he could. TC wished he could do more; he was wishing he could give him back his sparklinghood Huggy Android; he adjusted Skywarp's legs so that his little sibling was laying in his lap fully; he rocked Skywarp in his arms.

All the while, Gravechaser watched them from the attic, baffled by his son's devotion to the object of his scorn.

Skywarp's belly pains died down; at least enough that he could hold the hot water bottle himself, anyways. His baby absolutely loved the external warmth coming from the medical device. He sighed, not yet feeling strong enough to talk, used their Trine Bond instead, :Why do you put up with me, TC?:

:Why?: the blue Seeker smiled, :You're my baby brother.:

:That doesn't mean you have to put up with me though,: the pregnant flyer kept his optics shuttered, :Starscream's stopped putting up with me.:

:You're my best friend, is why,: he answered back, hugging his younger sibling, :You feeling any better?:

:Uh huh…: Skywarp was still moaning though, and still feeling uncomfortable.

Thundercracker thought of something else, :How about I make you some tea?: he gently laid him on the pillows, so that his upper chassis was elevated and covered him up to his chin, before getting up to make the Energon-tea.

"We don't have to sit in the dark, y'know," the blue Seeker tried to be upbeat, "We could watch television or a movie or something." He flipped it on and skimmed through the channels before finding the returns of a human sitcom, "Emm, it's a distraction," he shrugged before heading for their small kitchen.

Skywarp looked up at the ceiling now, trying to relax; his fuel processors were still clogged up with goopy, rich, Energon-quesadillas. His belly was very heavy tonight. He felt powerless against his urges to eat so much, "I…think…I'm a food-a-holic or something."

When his older brother came back with the Energon-tea, Skywarp figured it was time to tell him, "I saw the shadows again today, TC," he began, "and I heard somebody w-walking."

"Oh god," the blue Seeker didn't know what to say. He had to think, "in front of Soundwave even?"

"I wasn't with him…" he sputtered between sips of the tea, "I-I was with Star…in the mass hall."

TC: "Did he see it?"

Skywarp shook his helm no, "N-Nobody did…"

"I'll talk to him today," Thundercracker whispered lowly, "maybe he saw something and won't admit it. You know how he gets."

"I-I don't w-wanna sleep in t-there…" the pregnant flyer sobbed, "D-Don't l-leave…"

TC nodded, he understood completely, "We'll sleep here." He was scared too; he went to retrieve his comforter from their berthroom, but then stopped himself in the doorway. No; he didn't want to risk going into the berthroom and having the door slam shut behind him. Separating the two brothers would be just what this THING would want to do! They would just have to share whatever blankets they had.

When Skywarp felt he could get up, Thundercracker opened the sofa bed and again made sure the pregnant Seeker was again propped up on pillows and wrapped in the two blankets. He could tell that his brother was weakened by the gastritis pains, knocking all the strength out of him.

"Slagging Combaticons and their Mexican-fusion dinners," he muttered, pulling his little brother into his arms, "Who do they think they are, the Food Network?!"

"…They didn't force…me…" the carrying Jet rasped out, "I was…nervous." He held the hot water bottle to his belly again, "…it's my fault."

Thundercracker got him to lay on his shoulder, and the two were quiet for a while. They watched an old human Christmas movie on television, A Christmas Carole.

Skywarp was fighting to stay online now; it was nearly three-thirty in the morning, but he was determined not to fall asleep, "I don't wanna dream…" He kept replaying his bad recharge file in his processor, "it was bad…it was so bad…"

TC: "Do you remember anything?"

"Um, there was somebody in our quarters," the pregnant Jet began, "…said he wanted my sparkling."

TC: "Geez…"

"Then you killed Steve," Skywarp suddenly felt like crying again, "W-Why'd you…Why'd you kill Steve?"

"I didn't do anything, Warp," he was paying more attention to the movie at that point, "it was just a nightmare."

"NO! IT WAS REAL, TC! I'M TELLING YOU, IT WAS REAL!" Skywarp turned and rested on his knees and wrists, "I-I-I'M…I'm telling you, Steve died in our living room!"

Thundercracker figured he would let his brother get whatever emotional meltdown out, and just listened.

"I-I smelled the gunpowder, TC," Skywarp insisted; coolant tears were pooling in his optics, "It was real, like I feel like, like I'm grieving for him or something."

"Warp, I didn't shoot anybody," Thundercracker sat up, taking the distress very seriously, seeing the hurt on his brother's faceplates, "I don't know anybody named Steve."

Skywarp felt like he was trying to solve a puzzle through a haze; partially due to having a 'pregnant processor,' and the other due to his lack of using his teleportation drive, "W-What's Shockwave's bodyguard's name?"

TC: "George."

Warp shook his helm; not him. He knew in his spark though that it had something to do with Gravechaser, "W-Well…Who is he?"

Thundercracker, still unaware of the connection, tried to think of a plausible explanation, "Maybe…Joey killed somebody once, and that's why something's after you?"

The defensiveness for his 'mate' suddenly boiled to the surface, making the hormonal Seeker forget about the haunting, "D-Don't talk about Joey like that, TC! I LOVE HIM!"

The statement completely broke the building sense of dread in the room, and Thundercracker burst out laughing, "AHAHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"

Skywarp folded his arms over his enlarged belly, pouting.

"AHHHAA, oh…I'm sorry," the blue Seeker tried to stop himself from laughing, "you're serious."

"Joey gave me my daughter…" Warp sniffled, "Wonder if he thinks about me."

Thundercracker, smiling, debated telling him that Joey was the new Bachelor, "I'm sure he's happy for you."

Skywarp: "W-What did you think of h-him?"

"Ah, he wasn't home when I went there," TC shrugged, "thought you were drooling over Soundwave, ya little tramp."

Soundwave?

"I forget about this," he admitted, laying back down, "he wants me to spend Christmas break with him. But…" frowning now, "I miss when the three of us would go home."

Their Trine would always travel to Vos and spend Christmas with their Creators. After Bonding, Starscream would go with Megatron's side of the family to Tarn. The two brothers still went back to their parents.

"I miss when we were kids, TC," Skywarp mused, "I miss sleeping in our old room."

"You know what we could do?" Thundercracker smiled, "When your sparkling arrives, we could go back there for a while. Bet Mom would love doting on her new granddaughter."

If only, Skywarp wanted to cry again, if only they could all go back and be safe.

"Skywarp, Mom and Dad wanna come here," TC tried to reason with him, "they know you can't travel, so they wanna come to Earth."

"N-No," he sobbed again; he couldn't seem to stop crying tonight, "you go there."

"I'm NOT, going to Vos and leave my carrying brother alone," Thundercracker was firm on this, "now don't be stubborn."

The black and purple Seeker shook his helm as his older brother continued, "They really wanna see you. You won't come to the phone; you won't let them visit—"

"I'm being HAUNTED, remember?!" Skywarp cut him off, "Y-You think I want Momma to be attacked by this monster with the red claws?!"

Gravechaser had to control the hate he was feeling at the moment for his former mate's spawn.

"I was…kinda hoping we'd catch this fragger before that," Thundercracker confided, "we need to tell the others."

"How TC, HUH?!" Skywarp shrieked, "How do we get rid of a slagging ghost, HUH?!"

"It might still be the Autobots," Thundercracker put on hands on the other's shoulders gently, "or an alien or something." He made his little brother look at him in the optics, "Skywarp, we have to protect Crystal. We need to get Soundwave involved. He can detach things we can't. You spend all this time with him, Warp, why haven't you told him yet?"

The pregnant flyer leaned his forehelm against his brother's forehelm, and spoke through their Bond, :Because…The ghost says things…He says things that make me feel like this is all my fault, TC. It feels like…like I brought a…plague on our family. Like I'm a jinx. I-I…S-Starscream…He'll be so angry…he'll never let me near the babies again. And Megatron'll probably kick me outta here…Soundwave will hate me…I-I don't want…I don't want you to hate me.:

:I could never hate you, Skywarp, never,: Thundercracker pulled his little sibling into a tight hug, letting the other's belly nestle between them, :Listen to me, there's nothing you could ever do to make me hate you, brother. And you do NOT deserve being hurt by this fragger. Understood?:

It was unendingly frustrating for Gravechaser to be unable to hear what they were talking about.

His older brother always knew how to comfort him. Skywarp leaned against TC's shoulder, debating…debating with himself if he should come clean, and tell his brother…his beloved brother that always protected him; that he could go to for anything; that he idolized and adored…how could he tell him? Just blurt it out? That the ghost of his deceased Sire had returned from the dead to destroy him? How?

He glanced at the bookcase and thought of something…