Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers

Time remaining: 4 months

Magnia was in the Autobot base having no idea how she had gotten there, or even how she could possibly be there, since the base had been burnt to the ground. But nevertheless, there she was, watching Bumblebee talking happily with his fellow Autobots; he didn't seem to notice her.

Suddenly a small sparkling ran into the room, a yellow and black femme, and leapt into Bumblebee's arms, squealing happily.

Bee grinned and began to tickle the little femme, making her laugh. "Daddy no stop!" she giggled.

"Not 'till…you say…uncle," Bee laughed, tickling her harder.

"Uncle, uncle!" she cried, and Bumblebee released her.

"Ok…you win…go bug…Uncle…Ratchet," Bee gave her a kiss on the helm and she ran off happily.

Magnia watched jealously and once the sparkling was out of audio range, walked over to Bumblebee.

"So, whose is she?" Magnia asked, struggling to keep her temper in check. "Arcee's?"

Bee grinned at her, "What are you…talking about? She's…ours."

Magnia's optics widened as she looked at the little femme, busy bothering Ratchet. Her optics, Magnia thought dizzily. They weren't an Autobot blue, but purple, just a shade lighter than her own.

As Magnia's thoughts swirled, the little femme skipped over to her and threw her arms around her waist. "Hi Mommy," the sparkling giggled and Magnia stared at her.

"Um, hi?" Magnia said, her thoughts still spinning. She awkwardly patted the femme on the back. Bumblebee had disappeared and Magnia was alone with her.

"Mommy?" the femme asked her seriously.

"Yes, little one?"

"Do you love Daddy?"

Magnia closed her optics, wishing everyone would stop asking her this. She didn't want to love him, but she couldn't seem to help herself. But looking at this little femme, optics so worried, she couldn't say that.

Magnia sighed and said reluctantly, "Yes I suppose I do."

The sparkling became happy again, "Oh good! Because if you don't love Daddy then I won't be real. And you love me right?"

Magnia smiled, "Of course, little one."

Suddenly they weren't in the base anymore, but at the top of Darkmount. Bumblebee was kneeling on the ground, cradling something in his arms, as Megatron cackled maniacally. The little femme was nowhere to be seen.

"I have taken much from you, haven't I, scout?" Megatron addressed Bumblebee, and Magnia realized that Bee was sobbing silently. "Your voice, your sparkling, and soon…your life."

His sparkling? Magnia thought wildly. What is he talking about? But then she finally saw what Bumblebee held in his arms and her spark dropped. It was the body of the little femme.

No! Magnia tried to shout, but found she had no voice. Bumblebee, run! But Bumblebee stayed where he was, hugging the little body of their sparkling and crying, until Megatron acted. He drew his wicked blade with an audible hiss, and in one swift motion, stabbed Bumblebee in the spark.

"NO!" Magnia screamed as Bee fell over and turned to dust, Megatron's laugh echoing in her processor.

And then she woke up.

Tears streamed down her faceplates, as she shook, trying to calm her body by wrapping her arms around herself. It had only been a dream, thank Primus.

What scared her most was how easily that dream could become a reality. Megatron could offline Bumblebee anytime he wanted to and she couldn't say anything about it, without being a traitor to the Decepticons.

She hugged her knees to her chassis, wiping away some of the tears. Being the sparkmate of an Autobot sucked. She could never love him, never be with him unless the war was over. But it would never be over; it had been going on for centuries, with no end in sight. So she had to keep hurting him by pushing him away, all the while trying to deny her feelings to herself. The best part of that dream, her sparkling, could never happen either. A child could not be raised in war.

Magnia hadn't seen Bumblebee since he had been on his way to destroy the fusion cannons almost two months ago. Her systems were failing more often, because of the Sparkmate's Disease, and the other Decepticons on the ship had begun to notice. Just the other day she had been sparring with Barricade for practice, and he had taken her down easily. This left him confused, because Magnia always kicked his aft.

Magnia sighed and flopped back onto her berth, trying to return to recharge, and resolving to just keep trying to ignore the problem.

Bumblebee also found himself awake that night for a different reason. He stared at his ceiling, wishing for Magnia. His spark ached for her, to kiss her lips, or hold her servo, or see her smile. Oh, that beautiful smile! It wasn't just her mouth, her optics smiled with it, and her faceplates lit up.

He wondered if she even thought about him at all. He knew she cared about him a little, but she probably wasn't falling in love with him the way he was with her.

Then Bumblebee groaned, remembering what Ratchet had said. He was going to tell Optimus about the Sparkmate's Disease at eight months, and it had been eight months already! What was Optimus going to say? There wasn't much Bee could do about it, however Optimus took it. The best he could do would be to remind Optimus that he couldn't choose his own sparkmate, so it wasn't his fault entirely.

Maybe Ratchet wouldn't remember to tell him? But Ratchet had the memory of an elephant, and even if he didn't, Bumblebee's system failures would surely remind him. The pain from the Sparkmate's Disease had increased rapidly, to the point where Bee was losing every single one of his weekly training bouts with Jazz. So every time Jazz beat him, Bee had to be taken to the Medbay, it hurt so bad, which always reminded Ratchet of his condition.

Bee sighed, shaking his helm, and wondering what in Pit he was going to do. Optimus would find out one way or another, and Bumblebee hated disappointing him with all his spark.

Optimus had been like a father to him, ever since he had found him on a battlefield as a small sparkling. His creators had been offlined, and Bee remembered huddling next to their cold forms, crying energon tears, until Optimus had appeared. He had seemed surprised to see a sparkling in such a horrible place, but he had quickly picked him up and comforted him with a hug. Bee had cried himself to sleep in his arms, as Optimus had carried him to safety, and he had cared for and trained the young bot ever since.

I need to talk to Magnia, he reasoned. Maybe if I can convince her to meet Optimus, he'll see she's not so bad.

He tested their connection and was surprised to find she was awake. "Mags?" he asked tentatively.

"What, Bumble?" she sighed.

Hearing her voice made him suddenly want to pour out all of his feelings and emotions to her, to tell her how much he missed her, but he quickly shook those thoughts out of his helm. "I need to see you," he said instead.

"No, I can't."

"Please?"

"Bumblebee, I said no!"

she said angrily, and Bee could feel her frustration through the bond. He frowned; she was feeling something else…scared? And shaky too.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Why?"

"You feel scared; I can tell. Was it something I said?"

"No,"

she sighed. "Look, I just had a bad dream, alright? I don't really want to talk about it."

"Fine."

There was a pause before he added, "You know I'm just gonna keep bugging you until you agree to see me, right?" When this was met with silence, he begged, "Please? It's really important."

"Bumblebee!"

she growled, then sighed."Fine. I will give you exactly twenty minutes of my time. Where are we meeting?"

"You wanna meet now?"

Bee asked, incredulous. "It's the middle of the night!"

"Yes now,"

she said, exasperated. "It's a little harder to sneak off the Nemesis in broad daylight, Bee."

"Ok, ok,"

Bee grinned. "I know a great place; I'll send you the coordinates."He sent her the coordinates, and she snuck carefully out of the ship, hoping no one had noticed her. But someone had.

Two silhouettes stood watching from the ship as Magnia flew away, one bulky, the other thin.

"Follow her," Megatron growled. "But follow only! Do not attack her."

Soundwave nodded silently, and took off in his jet form after the unsuspecting femme.