Content/Trigger Warning: There is a graphic depcition of a stillbirth labour in this chapter.
Up became down and left became right as Cordelia's world tumbled and rocked around her.
Her stomach felt as if it had flown up into her mouth as Optimus fell toward the earth at a sickening speed, clutching the four humans safely against his broad chest.
Cordelia held onto his silver knuckles until her own were blanched white with the effort. The wind whistled deafeningly in her ears, sending her auburn hair flying in a wild scarlet torrent about her face.
Viviane had buried her face against Cade's shoulder, an arm wrapped around his neck. The inventor's face was scrunched and his eyes were tightly shut as they continued their wild free fall.
Leo grabbed Cordelia's hand and held it tightly, not letting go for one second.
Suddenly, there was a low boom as Optimus activated his rockets and slowed the rate at which he was falling. He managed to twist his enormous body into the perfect position for transforming, simultaneously tucking his passengers inside himself as he attained his vehicle form.
The Western Star truck was engulfed in the black smoke and debris from the tumbling ignition chamber. Through the dust-streaked windscreen, Cordelia could see pieces of Cybertron falling to the earth, making huge craters in the ground where they came to rest.
Optimus dodged these obstacles skilfully, and the truck bounced across the field past the rolled haylage bales in a manner not dissimilar to a tractor attending to the farm chores.
Cordelia found herself in the passenger's seat, with Leo in the driver's seat. Cade and Viviane had been bundled into the sleeper and were in a tangled heap on the bed.
It was only at that point that Cordelia caught her breath, barely allowing a disbelieving smile to slide onto her face. She leaned over the gap between the two front seats and fell into Leo's waiting embrace, wrapping both arms tightly around his neck.
Cade and Viviane were doing the same thing behind her, and she had the sneaking suspicion that there was a tentative romance beginning between the two.
Optimus slowed to a halt and clicked his doors open, waiting for his human passengers to exit.
Cordelia half stepped, half fell out of the truck's cab. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over her, and it was an effort just to remain standing on her own two unsteady legs.
She walked herself along Optimus' grill and leaned her face against the cool chrome. It felt like porcelain against her hot skin and was deliciously soothing to the flaming sensation in her flushed cheeks.
She felt the metal beneath her shift and move, and Optimus' bipedal form crouched down in front of her, catching her gently in his hand.
She collapsed into a tired heap on his palm, using her arms as a pillow.
He worried a finger over her body, going from the nape of her neck down to the base of her spine. She used his fingers to pull herself into a kneeling position and looked him drowsily in the eye.
"M'fine big guy. Just need a breather for a sec."
A dull pain was making itself known in the small of her back, along with an aching cramp sensation in the pit of her abdomen.
She fought through the mental fog in her head to bring herself back to the here and now.
The other Autobots were gathered in a small circle around the equally small group of humans who had helped to save the planet.
Optimus glanced down at Cordelia before addressing the group.
"Autobots, Knights, human comrades, I have one simple thing to say before I say anything else. Thank you. Thank you for coming together in our hour of need and lighting the way when all around us was only darkness.
"There are no words that I can say that are worthy or even comprehensible of the debt that the world owes you today. Go forth from here safe in the knowledge that you have my eternal gratitude, for deeds done here today and those that have been done in the past.
"At the heart of every legend, there is truth. A few brave souls unite to save their world. We can be heroes in our own lives, every single one of us, if we only have the courage to try. Our fates were always intertwined, but now our two worlds are joined together as one. We need to repair our planets, unite and work together, if we wish to survive. A dangerous secret is buried deep within the Earth. I am Optimus Prime, and I commend every single one of you for your actions here today."
A strange, solemn silence settled over the damp field as Autobot and human alike digested Optimus' words.
Cordelia looked up at Optimus and felt a surge of pride swell behind her sternum. Here was Optimus as a Prime. As somebody who inspired people to follow him, even though they knew it could potentially be into a death trap.
He was a mech who would not ask his Autobots to do anything that he himself would not do.
She knew that he would lay down his life for any one of his Autobots, and would not hesitate to do the same for his human allies.
She planted a shy kiss on the tip of his thumb and sat back on her haunches.
The cramping sensation in her abdomen was getting stronger by the second, growing from a dull ache to a stabbing pain that burned her insides. The pain in the small of her back was also growing to a more burning sensation, growing from a small spark into a small fireball.
The shock of it caused her to take in a sharp breath. She pressed a hand to her swollen stomach, feeling Nova begin to roll furiously.
Another stab of pain made her vision swim. The fireball grew slightly, and with the expansion came more pain. It clouded her thoughts, bringing fear and uncertainty to the forefront of her mind.
She reached blindly for Optimus' fingers, her hands faltering when she couldn't feel them.
She felt as if a belt with rusty nails attached to it had been tied around her abdomen and lower back, and some invisible force was tightening and loosening it with terrifying speed.
She tried to cast her mind back to those early conversations with Jenny and what she should expect when her time came.
"Now honey, when your time comes, the contractions will start slow and build gradually in their intensity. You'll wanna concentrate on your breathing and timing how far apart they are. They'll come in waves, and it'll probably feel like a strong period pain. They'll peak and trough, starting out sore and then petering out to almost nothing."
Cordelia tried to centre her mind on breathing in regular, steady breaths. In through her nose, and out through her mouth. She succeeded for one or two, but then the fireball inside her grew again and the pain intensified tenfold.
A warm feeling between her legs distracted her momentarily from the blinding fire inside her abdomen.
She looked down to see the green of her khaki trousers turn to a murky reddish-brown. A strong urge to empty her bladder overcame her and there was a soft popping sound and a strange feeling of release behind her pubic bone.
A rush of warm fluid seeped from inside her and down the insides of her legs, staining her trousers like blotting paper.
The fireball continued to grow and shrink, the pain matching it in perfect synchronisation. The belt around her middle tightened and loosened with each wave of fresh pain, like the tide washing in and out on the beach.
She curled herself into the foetal position, jamming her hands inside her trousers and trying to hold everything inside herself. She felt as if she was being ripped apart from the inside out. She was a piece of thread, fraying and fraying until she snapped and was broken beyond all recognition.
The sounds around her became duller and further away. She was not aware of the Autobots clustering around Optimus worriedly, or the soft touch of his index finger on her clammy cheek.
She was not aware of the faint whimpers coming from her own mouth.
All she knew was the pain and the fireball that was intent on destroying her.
It grew and shrank, each cycle getting more and more aggressive. The pain that accompanied it was phenomenal and awe-inspiring in its power. Red hot fire shot through her veins, making every cell in her body hyper-sensitive to the turmoil that was happening within her uterus.
Somehow, she found the power to speak, and she managed to weakly call out.
"Optimus…the baby…she's coming!"
She lost her last grip on the waking world and succumbed to the darkness that was so calm and so serene.
So still.
.o
Optimus looked down in horror as a steady pool of dark red blood covered his silvery palm. It showed no signs of stopping and continued to seep slowly from in between Cordelia's legs, growing so much in volume that it began to seep and drip over the edges of his palm.
Cordelia had lost consciousness, but was breathing in fast, shallow breaths.
Hound approached his leader, motioning toward a military medical tent that had been erected nearby.
"Prime, she needs to go in there. I've just taken a reading of her vitals and the baby's. Her blood pressure is dangerously low and the baby is bradyarrhythmic((query)). She will haemorrhage if we don't get her stabilised now."
Leo approached the two Autobots, his arms outstretched.
"Give her to me Optimus, I'll take her into the tent."
Optimus knelt and placed Cordelia into Leo's outstretched arms with more tenderness than he had ever handled her before.
Leo accepted her weight easily and carried her quickly into the tent.
Hound and Optimus transformed into their vehicle modes and activated their human-sized holoforms.
Optimus followed Hound into the tent, where Leo had placed Cordelia onto a medical gurney, laying her on her side.
Hound gently moved Leo out of the way and began to work on her.
Optimus took Cordelia's hand and held it fervently between his own, never taking his gaze from her.
Hound produced an oxygen mask from nowhere and manipulated it onto Cordelia's face, ensuring that it covered her mouth and nose.
"Leo? Where are you at? I need you here!"
Leo appeared at Hound's side, waiting to be directed by the green medic. "Where do you want me?"
"I need you to hold her legs on your shoulders and raise them above her head. We need to get the blood back to her head. She needs to deliver this baby now."
Leo did as he was told and carefully grasped Cordelia's legs, placing them on each of his shoulders, ensuring that they were higher than her head.
Hound worked quickly, hooking Cordelia up to a saline drip, hooking the bag of clear fluid on a makeshift wire hanger. He turned to face Optimus, his face grave.
"Boss, I'm gonna need to remove her trousers and underwear. I need to examine her and I need to see what's going on. I can't go on scans alone."
The bullet casing that served as his 'cigar' moved with each word, hanging downwards from between his mouth plates.
Optimus nodded, not taking his eyes from Cordelia. "Of course Hound, do whatever you need to do. Just don't lose her Hound, don't lose her."
Hound did not respond but began to gently remove Cordelia's trousers and underwear.
Leo shrugged off his jacket and handed it wordlessly to Hound, who had thrown the bloodstained trousers and knickers off to one side.
Hound draped the brown fleece jacket over Cordelia's hips in such a way that would preserve her dignity but would still allow him to examine her thoroughly.
Optimus watched through wary optics as Hound lubricated the fingers of his right hand with some KY Jelly.
He probed gently at her entrance before inserting two fingers inside her, being mindful not to tear the delicate skin.
Hound's optics widened as he felt the baby's head and anterior shoulder clearly presented against Cordelia's pubic bone. He lifted his head, spitting the cigar out.
"Boss, she's in transition. If this baby doesn't come out within the next twenty minutes, we risk losing them both."
Cold dread seeped through Optimus' circuitry. His Spark hummed furiously in its casing, raising his CPU temperature by a sixth of a degree. The covers on his audio receptors spun furiously and air hissed from his joints. He leaned down and pressed his mouth against Cordelia's forehead, taking a reading of her body temperature at the same time.
She was running a fever, her basal body temperature at a round figure of 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Come on little one. Nova and I need you. Come back to me little one, I'm right here. I've got you." His baritone voice sounded low in her ear. He watched as even in unconsciousness, his proximity caused tiny goosepimples to raise on her ivory skin.
The quiet thud of her heart increased in speed, coming back to a healthier rhythm.
Suddenly the oxygen mask was ripped from her face and her green eyes were open and bloodshot, her face terrified.
.o
The fireball brought her back to reality in a whirl of bright red pain, overwhelming all of her senses at once.
The stabbing sensation returned full-force to her abdomen and lower back, making her feel like she was being ripped in half, but from the inside.
Her green eyes darted wildly around, taking in the change in her surroundings.
She was in a crude medical tent, on a narrow gurney. She'd been laid on her left-hand side and something was mildly uncomfortable. She saw that Leo was holding her legs on his shoulders, but as their eyes met, he lowered them to rest on the gurney.
A strong urge to push overtook her body and she bellowed, a raw guttural sound that was animalistic in its ferocity.
Fear paralysed her, locking her limbs into place and sliding down her throat, cold and poisonous as it painted a liquid trail down into her lungs.
She struggled to sit up, pushing on her hands to get into a semi-seated position.
"Optimus? Op? Where are you?"
Servos whirred as his silver hands came down to frame her face. "Shh, I'm right here Lia. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
The fireball continued to shrink and grow with monotonous regularity, making her skin feel too tight for her pregnant bump. She felt as if all of her internal organs were going to explode with the pressure. She gulped air into her lungs, trying to remember the breathing techniques that she had read about way back when she was in her first trimester.
That all felt like a million years ago.
She reached around and grabbed onto Optimus' forearms, pulling herself closer to him.
A strong downward-tugging sensation made itself known in her uterus as Nova rolled inside her. Cordelia felt as if the pain would never leave her body; that she would spent the rest of her life birthing a baby that was destined never to emerge from within her.
"Optimus, I need to turn over, I need to be on my front!"
Optimus looked at Hound for assurance, and the gruff Autobot nodded the affirmative.
At once, Optimus supported Cordelia's weight whilst Leo helped her to turn over.
She ended up on her knees, bracing her full weight on Optimus' proffered forearms.
Being in this position gave her a perfect view of his face.
It was a picture of fear, love and worry, all rolled into one medley of emotions that showed themselves plainly on the Prime's noble visage.
The tightness in her belly eased significantly as she leaned fully on Optimus, allowing him to take the brunt of her weight.
She was vaguely aware of a stinging feeling down by her nether regions as Hound gently inserted his fingers once more to assess the position of the baby within her.
Each contraction pushed Nova down another millimetre, the fireball inside her growing ever stronger.
It pulsed like a heart, flooding her with fire and blood. She gave up fighting it and rode each wave of pain as it came.
Her spine threatened to break away from her body as the fireball turned to an inferno, the contractions taking every ounce of her concentration to stay in the moment and not surrender to the darkness that was beckoning to her seductively from the corners of her mind.
"Optimus, I don't know how much longer I can do this." She panted, gulping in huge lungfuls of air between her desperate words.
Optimus smiled at her, and it was one that she had not seen before. It was a smile of pride and reverence. Optimus looked at her as if she were the sun, and he the blind man seeing her for the very first time. He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
"My girl, you can do this. I have every faith in you. Your body was made to do this, and very soon, you shall have Nova in your arms. Each pain brings you closer to her, and I am right here, right beside you."
She fell against him, a half-sob escaping from between her clenched teeth. His words gave her renewed strength, and she bore down with all her might, willing every ounce of strength in her body to push her daughter out and into the world.
Time lost its meaning as her body settled itself into the act that millions of women had done before her. Her fight or flight instinct rose up from deep within her; a contradicting feeling to the sense of duty that was at the forefront of her mind.
Her belly hardened and softened with each contraction, keeping in perfect time with the pulsating fireball.
An immense urge to bear down overcame her, not dissimilar to the feeling of when she needed to empty her bowels. She obeyed the sensation without question, bellowing as the fireball ripped through her. She found herself lost in an ocean of red hot, searing agony. There was no rhyme or reason to anything accept to follow the guidance of her labouring body.
A sudden, ethereal sense of calm overcame her, clouding the edges of her vision with a bluish tinge. Instinctively, she knew that it would be over soon.
She clung to the blissful sense of nirvana that was caressing her psyche, using the newfound clarity to muster all her strength for the final stint of her labour.
All of a sudden, the fireball doubled in size, and the pain she had felt before paled to insignificance. Fire ripped through her body at the same time as the invisible belt tightened unbearably on her rock-hard belly.
"I need to get this baby out now!"
She felt as if she was underwater as she listened to Hound's muffled voice, trying to dissect the meaning behind his frantic words.
The fireball grew again, bringing with it a heavy pulling sensation.
She screamed for the duration of the last contraction, clinging to Optimus until her knuckle bones felt as if they were going to crack through her paper-thin skin.
In a rush of fire, blood and pain, it was over. The fireball had exploded.
Nova slipped out of her and came to rest in Hound's hands. Cordelia struggled to turn around, not caring that her nether regions were on display to all in the crude tent.
"Hound? Give her to me. Hound?!" Her voice came out shrill and high, croaky from the effort of her labour.
Hound did not respond to her but took Nova's tiny body over to a neighbouring gurney, and began to work over her.
Cordelia made to get off the gurney, determined to get to her daughter. Optimus gently restrained her, hugging her to his chest.
"Easy little one, Hound is just clearing her airways." His voice lacked its usual conviction, sounding unsure and afraid by comparison.
"Boss, she ain't breathin'. There's…there's no heartbeat."
The world seemed to fall away as Cordelia digested Hound's words.
There's no heartbeat.
Optimus made no effort to stop her this time as she flung herself over to the gurney that her daughter lay upon.
Hound stepped aside, allowing her full view of the tiny baby.
The baby before her was perfectly formed.
She was smaller than a child's doll, with perfect rosebud lips that bowed underneath a ski-jump nose. Her pale eyelids were closed, almost translucent. Her milky cheeks were round and full, framed by the tiniest ears.
Cordelia raised her hand and grazed her knuckles down the length of her daughter's tiny body. She shed silent tears as she lowered her head and pressed a tender kiss to her baby's fontanelle. The hair felt like velvet beneath her lips and she wiped away the bitter taste of salt as she withdrew.
Optimus appeared wordlessly at her side and handed her a small, white blanket. She took it from him and wrapped the baby in it, wiping away the vernix from her pale face.
She couldn't find it within herself to lift her daughter from where she lay, fearing she herself would break apart if she took her in her arms.
A warm, wet feeling between her legs momentarily distracted her, the scent of copper and iron suddenly assaulting her nostrils.
She sagged against Optimus, totally exhausted, and surrendered to the void.