A/N: Hello, people of Earth! Hope things are going well for you crazy kids. Anyways, here it is, the next Chapter of "Two Worlds, One Family"! Yay. We're doing a bit of a time skip to a few days after the last Chapter. Delta is still with his family (as that's basically the whole point of this story) and since last Chapter we had a bit of brotherly bonding between Solarstrike and your's truly, I decided it would be good to have some bonding between father and son. So, this Chapter. I might have some mother-son bonding time in another Chapter, but I'll just have to figure out how to fit it into the story. So, as always, on with the Chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers in any shape or form. I only own the story and any and all OCs in said story. If there's someone you're not familiar with, it's probably an OC.

PLEASE COMMENT! I NEED CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM TO MAKE MY STORIES (PRESENT, FUTURE, OR OTHERWISE) BETTER!


He shoots up, vents ragged. The nightmares still running rampant through his mind, the dark room is suddenly looming around him, suffocating him.

Stumbling off of the berth, he somehow manages to make it to the door, manages to make it down the hallway in his disoriented state.

He blinks.

Suddenly, his surroundings come into focus. Somehow, in his terrified state, he'd somehow gotten onto the roof, the bright stars shining above him. Taking a deep, shaking vent, Delta closes his optics.

It's been four days since he'd reunited with his family. After the first day, he'd contacted his team, letting them know he might be a few days. Of course, they were all understanding, telling him to take as much time as he wanted—they could manage getting the base established for a while without him.

But now…he was starting to regret it. I mean, yeah, it was great to see his parents again, and get to know Sol, but…he could tell.

He could tell that his parents were struggling to deal with everything that was different about him—he was still struggling too. There were times where one of them would come up behind him, touch him without warning. He would flinch away, try to keep himself from lashing out at the possibility of a threat. He would feel guilty after at the sight of the pain in their optics. His nightmares would wake him every night, and he always somehow managed to keep from screaming, from waking any of them up.

He wanted to trust them, but…he couldn't. And it was tearing him apart.

He stays out until the sun starts to appear over the horizon. Taking a deep vent, Delta slides down the roof, landing on the ground with a solid thump. He goes back inside, walking down the short hallway to his room. Opening the door, he smiles at the sight of Talon curled up in the center of the berth where he'd been, the spot still warm.

He steps inside, the door closing behind him. Talon's optics open, the dark red comforting. Delta steps forward, only for his chest to tighten. Wincing, a servo goes to his chest, his vents catching slightly. His optics widen.

"T-Talon…" he manages, the panther getting to his paws.

"G-Get help."

Darkness fills his vision.


"Dusk…"

"-usksho-…"

"DELTA!"

His optics crack open, the ceiling slowly coming into focus. There's a figure above him, relief in the red optics.

"D-Dad…?"

Barricade sighs, shoulders slumping.

"Primus, Mechling. You scared all of us. Talon came running into our room—he said something about you collapsing, and when I got here, you were on the ground and not responding."

Delta groans, slowly sitting up.

"I-I…I'm fine. I guess I need a new dosage. The Docs said that might happen."

He manages to get onto the berth, sighing as he leans against the wall. Talon climbs into his lap, chin resting on his chest and optics staring into his. The weight of the panther helps calm him, Delta taking another deep vent.

"I was wondering when that would happen again—it's been a while since last time and-"

"Dammit, youngling I HAVE HAD IT!"

Jumping, Delta stares wide-eyed at his Sire, the black-and-white form in front of him snarling.

"I know scrap has happened to you, and I have tried to be understanding of it, but this ends now! You may have told us lots of things, but you are still hiding things from us and I am done trying to wait for you to open up."

Done with his rant, Barricade takes a deep vent, optics closing as he tries to reign in his temper. He felt like such a hypocrite—here he had been, telling Dawnstrike that they needed to be patient with their son, and his own patience was now non-existent.

"Do you know how terrified we'd been, when we first lost you? No one but us remembered you—not even Skylancer, your best friend. You got hurt, and we couldn't even know if you would be alright. Then when this stupid War happened, we almost gave up ever seeing you again. It broke both our sparks, especially when Sol was born. We felt like we were replacing you. Then you finally show up after all these years later, and you're…you're so different, and we're still scared that we've lost the young Mechling we loved so much." He ends quietly.

Delta lowers his helm in shame. He knew he was still keeping things from his family—like what exactly the medication he took everyday was for. He told them he got hurt, but never how bad it was. How he'd almost died. How Unicron had infected his spark with Dark Energon during their last fight, and he'd willingly stepped into the Well, almost dying a second time.

A servo on his shoulder brings his attention to his father, Barricade no longer angry, but worried.

"I know I can't force you to trust us, but…I hope you can eventually."

Delta sighs, lifting a servo and placing it on his dad's.

"I…I want to tell you everything—and I mean everything. But I…I'm just not ready."

"Then just tell me one thing."

He looks up, meeting his father's gaze. Those optics were filled with patience, and he's instantly taken back to his childhood, when his Father would stop whatever he was doing and give him that look, waiting for him to tell him what bothered him. That looked never wavered, even if it was something kind of stupid that worried him. It would always be there, and would stay there until he was finished, then his father would gather him up in a bone-crushing hug and hold him until he calmed down. Then, he would tell him exactly what he needed to hear.

Delta takes a deep vent.

"Alright. I…I guess I can do that. I might as well tell you about the whole…collapsing thing and needing medication for it."

Barricade nods and sits down on the berth, resting his servos on his knees. He's quiet, waiting for Delta to speak.

"Do you know what Rapid System Lock is?"

Barricade hums.

"Not fully. I know it's some kind of glitch in coding, right?"

Delta nods, "Yeah, sort of. I know a kid who had that kind until his second upgrade, but there's another version. One that come from suffering a massive amount of trauma."

Red optics widen in understanding.

"The explosion? It…"

He nods, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees.

"Yeah. It almost killed me, but the Rapid System Lock didn't come up until almost six months after it happened. 'Bout near gave the Doc a Spark-Attack when it happened. Luckily a teammate of mine is the Sire of the kid I know, so he knew exactly what to do when it happened. The medicine helps, but I still have episodes—they're just not as bad. Usually. I guess the stress of all this happening pushed it over the edge."

Barricade is quiet, taking in this information. While he was elated that the turquoise Mech had enough trust to share that with him, he knew there was still things he was keeping. But, this time, he could be patient enough.

"Thank you for telling me, son. I know it was hard for you."

Delta chuckles, "Yeah, but…I actually feel kind of…better."

Barricade gets to his peds.

"Then, how about this—starting today, whether it's me or your mom, you tell one of us one thing you've been keeping from us. There'll be no judging, no sympathetic stares, no dancing around the subject discussed, just plain truthfulness. Deal?"

Delta blinks before smiling. He gets to his peds, gripping the offered servo.

"Deal."

Barricade smiles, pulling him into a hug.

"Guess I should probably tell you I've been teaching Solarstrike some self-defense stuff, huh?"

Optics widening, Barricade pushes him away, keeping him at arm's length.

"Wait…you're doing what-now?"