Authors' Notes:

Tirya's Notes: For those of you who were left puzzled at the end of DesertCat's Christmas story, this might clear things up a little. Thank you so much to Des for letting me write this with her, I'm having a blast with both of our collabs. I hope everyone enjoys this as well.

DesCat's Notes: Finally! Me and Tirya have been working on this one for a while now and neither of us quite knew where we wanted to stop. Lucky for all of you it was on a cliffhanger… Heh, but anyway, This one takes place shortly after Beat and Rhaps came online, so they're about the equivalent of a human teenager. (Bot's grow up a whole heck of a lot faster) Thanks muchy everyone! Hope ya all like : D

Consonance

Chapter 1

Jazz sighed and stared at the closed door. For all his endless patience, this was sure wearing on him. Ratchet had been in there for what seemed like ages, though it couldn't have been more than an hour or so. Beside him, he could feel Jynx shifting uneasily.

"You ok, love?" he asked.

The femme looked back up at him and scowled. "Do I look ok?" she growled. "I can't walk, I'm tired all the time, and for all I know I could be about to keel over!"

"You'll be jus' fine," he chuckled quietly. "Ratch'll figure out what's wrong with ya and you'll be back t' work in no time!"

"Assuming he ever comes out of that room," she glared at the lab as though it was the cause of her sudden sickness. Jazz didn't say anything, but quietly he agreed with his bondmate. What could be taking so long? When the door finally did open 10 minutes later, it was to reveal a scowling CMO with Wheeljack following, his panels glowing brightly and a bounce in his step. The two waiting bots in the repair bay relaxed slightly, knowing that it couldn't be that serious. But that didn't mean they weren't still anxious for the news. Serious or not, Jynx had a problem and they were eager to learn what it was.

"What's the good word, Doc?" Jazz asked, a reassuring hand on his mate's back. "What's wrong with Jynx?"

"It's not her you should be worrying about," the medic mumbled, his right hand rubbing against his chevron as though to sooth a headache. "It's my sanity that's starting to flat line."

"Er, Ratchet?" Jazz wasn't quite following.

"Congratulations, Jynx, Jazz," Wheeljack grinned behind his faceplate. His fins glowed an excited bright blue as he patted the confused black and white on the back. "Looks like Jynx here is sparking!"

There was no sound in the room for a good minute or so after the news was delivered. Sparking? Jynx was sparking again? Neither had expected anything like this. "She's what?" Jazz asked faintly, not sure he heard correctly.

"Sparking!" Wheeljack repeated happily. "In a couple of months, there'll be another little one running around."

Ratchet groaned, images of shaving cream and confetti flashing before his optics. "Don't remind me."

"I don't see how this is your problem," Jynx scowled at him, leaning on Jazz further. "It's not your body or spark."

"Lady, every problem of every bot on base is my problem. Especially when you aren't taking enough energon in as it is." Before she could edge in a defense, he waved her away. "I'm putting you on medical leave for the rest of the week until the new shipments come from Cybertron with your sparking supplements. I suggest you rest up and get some extra energon in you if you don't want to pass out."

"I'm not going to break," she crossed her arms defensively. "I have a job to do."

"Why don't we jus' do what th' good doc says, Love," Jazz soothed her, trying to calm both medic and mate.

"That's the best thing I've heard all day," the gruff medic nodded in approval. Seeing that the pair of new parents were going to do as he told, he stalked back the way he came, muttering things about how this wasn't a sparkling facility but a military hospital, and the like. He hadn't fooled anyone by acting more grumpy than usual.

Everyone could see how relieved he was that his results were anything but terrible. A new life could only be rejoiced, especially in his line of work where he was used to losing lives much more often. He may hide it within a gruff, belligerent exterior, but one could not miss his quiet acceptance of the situation. Not that Jynx was very appreciative of his unspoken acceptance.

"Well he's just a ray of slagging sunshine, isn't he?" Wheeljack just chuckled on the way back to his workshop. "You know how Ratch is. If he can't fix something with a simple screw tightening, he gets a bit twitchy. It's his own way of wanting to keep you and the spark safe."

Jazz, having known the CMO much longer than his bondmate, nodded his head in agreement. He knew exactly how Ratchet was when it came to unexpected surprises that he couldn't solve right away, be they good or bad. But for the moment… "Um, Jack? Could we have a moment before we leave?"

He smiled apologetically. The engineer wasn't phased, however, and just nodded his head. "Take all the time you need. Oh, and congratulations you two."

"Thanks," Jynx breathed, still in shock. When the door closed behind the Lancia, leaving them alone at last, Jazz turned to his bondmate. "Jynx… we're havin' another' sparkling…"

She almost laughed at the look of complete disbelief that covered his handsome face. "Yes, Jazz, we are."

"I'm… gonna be a daddy again?"

She trailed her fingers down a cheek gently. "Do you think you can do it again?"

Then a grin lit up his face, leaving no more doubt in her mind. "'M lookin' forward t' it. How 'bout you? Y' ready t' be a mama again?"

The femme nodded shakily, putting her left hand on her abdomen where another life was already growing. "But… what should we tell the boys?"

"What else?" Jazz shrugged, putting a hand over hers gently. "They're gonna have a little bro t' teach all their tricks to. But Jay…" eyes her worriedly. "I didn' know y' cut down on your energon."

"That's the thing," she said quieter, optics getting a little wider. "I didn't. I increased it."

OOooOOooOO

"Yes! Someone else to push around who can't push back!"

"What, I'm not here?"

"No, you just push back." Offbeat ducked as Rhapsody swatted playfully at the back of his head. As much as Offbeat loved his brother- most of the time- he had to admit it would be great to have someone else around. Maybe this brother would be more like him. Someone who isn't a stick in the mud, someone he could blame things on, someone to spray repair bay with whip crème with, the list was endless. He was going to be a big brother! He'd no longer be the stupid little brother…

Rhapsody on the other hand sat back quietly, fidgeting with his hands. It wouldn't be horrible to have another brother. So long as it wasn't another Offbeat. Primus knows one Offbeat was one too many. He'd have to make sure this one didn't end up like his brother. Rhapsody was going to have to teach him from the get go- that was where he messed up with Offbeat. Of course, at the time he was only a day older so it really wasn't his fault.

"We know this wasn't expected," Jynx sat down in front of them, Jazz sitting down next to her. "But I'm depending on you two to take care of him."

Offbeat cocked his head to the side. "Where will you be?"

"I don't mean it like that." Jynx rolled her optics, "I mean you two are going to be big brothers, and it's your job to watch out for him. He's not going to have a body shell like you two did when you were first created."

"Ya mean he's gunna look like us?"

Jazz nodded, enjoying the startled looks on their young faces. Both boys had never known Cybertronian traditions, so neither of them knew most mechs were created in a "teenage" body shell similar to the shell they had just been upgraded to. "That's right, lil guy. Course, he wont be up t' the same smarts as you two." He knocked Offbeat in the side of his head, the metal ringing slightly.

Rhapsody looked up, still playing with his fingers in his lap. "When's he coming?"

"Not for a few months." Jynx sighed, reaching over to squeeze his hand. "You do know what's going to happen in a few weeks, right?"

Rhapsody nodded, although not confidently. He knew his mom was going to change, that she wasn't going to be able to do everything she could now but that was about all he knew. His dad told him a long time ago that when a femme sparks, that she will have to be bed ridden for a while, sleeping for most of the day. Jynx had had a hard enough time when they were born, but a lot of that had to do with them coming at the same time. It shouldn't be as hard on her with only one spark.

"Are you two gunna be okay with this?" Jazz leaned over. Rhapsody looked much more skeptical with the idea than Offbeat, who was currently jumping out of his plating with glee. Jazz hadn't seen him so excited before, not since that time he but super glue on Prowl's chair and the 2ic walked to repair bay to have it removed. Jazz had to admit, it was a funny sight Prowl walking with a chair stuck to his aft.

"Can I go tell Uncle Sideswipe?" The small black and white squirmed again, door wings twitching with uncontained excitement. "Please?"

Of course, Offbeat didn't wait for an answer, skittering out the door and down the hall shouting to the entire base. Rhapsody followed close behind, although not with half the excitement his brother had.

Jazz watched both of them leave, before turning back to his mate. "Y' think Rhap' took it okay? I mean-" Jazz paused as his mate suddenly fell over backward on her berth. She hadn't fallen unconscious entirely, but from the look on her face, it wouldn't be long.

"Jazz," she breathed, panting and holding a hand to her midsection.

Kneeling down at her side, he supported her shoulders, feeling his spark tighten up with worry. "Jay? Love, what's wrong?"

"I," she seemed unable to catch her breath. "I don't know. Something's wrong, Jazz."

"Can y' stand?" he asked, trying to help her to her feet. He needed to get her to Ratchet, and he needed to do it now.

When she didn't answer immediately, the saboteur's mind was made up. Picking his mate up, Jazz walked as swiftly as he could down to medical. No doubt Ratchet would be less than pleased to see them so soon, but there was no choice. He remembered the last time she had been sparking and all the trouble that it had caused. Jazz had no wish to go through that again.

"Ratchet!" he called the moment they entered the medbay doors. "Anyone home?"

The CMO looked out of his office curiously. "What's wrong now?"

"It's Jynx, she just collapsed in our room, an'…"

Ratchet took one look at the femme lying limp in Jazz's arms and all chastising comments died on his lips. "What happened?"

"I-I dunno. We were jus' talkin' an' all the' sudden she fell over. I got here as fas' as I could when she passed out. I dunno what could be wrong with her. This didn't happen las' time with 'Beat and Rhap'. I mean, not till the last few weeks, bu' that was normal. She shouldn't be doin' this now. " Jazz gently laid her down on the berth but refused to give up all contact with her, holding her head on his arms. The Porsche was visibly shaking, running his hand over her forehead repeatedly. "What could-"

"If you would give me a slagging minute, and stop running your mouth, Bluestreak, I could figure this out." The CMO growled, not bothering to look up at the panicked Porsche. "Grab those monitors and hook the power line up."

"But I talked to Jay, Ratch-"

The CMO pointed toward the back of the room. "Monitors, Jazz. Now!"

Taking that as hint enough, Jazz fled to the back of the room and wheeled the monitors back out. "But, Ratch," Jazz pleaded, "Y' don't understand. I talked t' Jay, Ratch- she didn't decrease her energon intake-"

Ratchet slammed down his tools and looked up directly into Jazz's face. "That's it! Get out right now Jazz. I can't deal with your hysterics if I'm going to help her. Get out!"

"I aint leavin' her-"

"You will, or Primus help me I'll but so many sedatives you wont wake up for three months. Now out!"

OOooOOooOO