I IN NO WAY OWN THE TRANSFORMERS, THEY BELONG TO THEIR CURRENT OWNERS SO PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME!

I IN NOW WAY OWN ANY SONGS OR MEDIA USED IN THIS STORY AS REFERENCE OR OTHERWISE I.E; NAME BRANDS, MUSIC, ANIME/MANGA REFERENCES (THERE MAY BE A FEW) OR OTHER SUCH NONESENSE! AGAIN PLEASE DONT SUE!

I do own Arabella, Tia, Kyler, the sparklings, and any other OC's I add later!

Kudos to; kirstyhough, ProfessorZoom, maria-ioanna984, Glittering-Red-Rose, xXAyula-ChanXx and Ekeifer For Following!

Kudos to; ProfessorZoom, maria-ioanna984, Cassandra98, xXAyula-ChanXxand EkeiferFor adding this story to their favorites!

TFSTARFIRE: Hello there! Thank you for the warm wishes, and sorry for such a late reply. School has been my main priority as of late. But I do hope that you and little Jessica are well!

Techna13: Hello! I agree, its always good to see them happy! But alas this chapter will have a little sadness in it. I hope you are well and that you like the chapter!

maria-ioanna984: Hello! Sorry for such a late update! I'm glad that you like the story so much, and I'm glad that you're enjoying the sequel too! I hope you like this chapter, and I hope to hear from you! I hope you are well!

Velvet Thunder: Hello there! I don't know if I should be glad or concerned that my stories are keeping you up all night, I hope that you like them! I also hope that you are well, and that your story writing is going well!


Bond conversation; ["Text"]

Scene change; XXXXX


Sunstreaker's pov

It was our worst fear. Well, maybe not our worst fear, but it was up there pretty high. As parents, having your significant other leave you to care for your child for the duration of a business trip is a challenge. However, having your sparkmate leave you to go on a mission on Cybertron, using a newly created space bridge that was so unstable as to open several portals to other dimensions only a day prior, isn't a challenge. It's a mission. Sides and I were worried about her going on long missions on earth. But when Optimus and Elita told us why Wheeljack was trying to get the bridge to work so suddenly, we nearly had spark attacks. For up to a minimum of one week, our sparkmate will be deployed to Cybertron to help rescue femmes, and re-establish radio contact with other secret colonies on other planets and moons nearby. Our sparkmate, a femme who has never seen or stepped one peede on our home planet, is going there without us and into what I'm sure is a hostile environment. The distance alone is frightening, but then you add in that this is the first time that Sides and I will have the quads all by ourselves without being able to call her back from a meeting by groundbridge if something happens. And then there's the mission its self. Cybertron was dangerous before the war, and now she's going up there…Primus. The plan is for her and the other femmes to leave at night. It's better because the sparklings won't see her leave, and because it's good for the power grid of our base.

The sparklings are not happy to say the least. Neither are Sides or I. We both know that long distances put a strain on sparks, and we know how hard it is for us to be separated for long periods of time. But not being able to see Bella for at minimum a week combined with her being so far away from us and our sparklings? That seems like torture.

"I don't like it either."

"We know."

Sides said as he hugged her tight. It isn't even time for her to leave yet. We're sitting in her garden watching the quadruplets play. She decided to bring us in here so that we could have some privacy before she had to leave. She really doesn't want to leave. We know because of the ache in our bond.

"Bae…shh. It's okay, it's gonna be okay."

I haven't seen Bella cry in so long. She really really doesn't want to go.

"No, it's not gonna be okay. What if something goes wrong? You know how Wheeljack's inventions are! What if we get stranded? Or worse?"

"Sweetspark, we know. We don't want you going to our home planet without us either. And we know how Jack's stuff is."

"But best believe me when I say that if Jack somehow messes things up, we will gladly kick his aft, and make sure he fixes it."

I said as I hugged her. It's hard letting go. She's going to our home turf without us there to protect her, or to warn her. Yeah, we don't always fight together on the battlefield but at least then Sides and I are closer to her. We always have each other's backs. We're the best fragging blades-mechs and femme this base has to offer. We're unstoppable when we work together.

I always thought that after the war, we'd take her back ourselves. Show her around the planet, go to the few places that we had happy memories of. It never occurred to either Sides or I that anybot let alone her would have to go up there for a mission.

I also think that this has a lot to do with Bella's fear of leaving her own planet. It's not something that we talk about a lot, because it upsets her, but the reality is that when this war ends, we'll all have to move on somehow. Nobody is sure if the governments will let us stay here, and that really scares her. She'd have to leave everything that she knows for good if that happened. And that would break her spark. Especially if it means that she'd have to leave all of her family and friends behind.

"Everything will be okay sweetspark. Jack won't screw things up, you'll go up, kick some aft for all of us and come back to us in one piece. And you'll come back to a really sweet sparkday too."

Sides said as he hugged her close.

"Guys I don't even know what I would want for my birthday. I have pretty much everything."

"We know. But we'll surprise you. Just watch."

We said as I joined their hug.

"Chirp!"

"Aww, hey look at them."

She cooed as our sparklings cuddled up to us trying to join our hug.

Sideswipe's pov

Sunny and I stood in the main hanger with the other bondmates as we wished the femmes good luck. All of the femmes would be leaving base for this mission, and for the umpteenth time it hit me just how fragging dangerous this mission would be. Our sparkmate among the other femmes is testing a new device, and then going on a series of rescue missions and other missions to help the remaining femmes on Cybertron. This is crazy.

"You guys sure you have everything? The code to the garden? The recordings? My parent's phone numbers, in case you need to call them?"

She asked us before we embraced her once again.

"We have everything."

I said sadly as we let go.

"We just need you to get back to us in one piece. Okay?"

"Yeah. Totally okay…"

She said as she wiped away a few stray tears and moved closer to the other femmes as the portal began to open. With a swirling green flash and a final sad goodbye our sparkmate was gone, and the portal closed.

"AGRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Twins? Twins!"

"Easy Prime."

Ratchet said before I felt a tingling sensation wash over me.

"They are okay. In pain from having their sparkmate travel so far so quickly without them present, but okay."

It felt like our bond with her was on fire! It burned worse than anything I had ever felt. After a breem we could stand again, but our bond still hurt.

"Why do I feel like my bond is getting stretched longer and longer?"

My twin asked.

"Because it is. It will feel the same as it always did before she left when she returns to earth. Right now, she is still in transit to where the other space bridge portal is. Hence the stretching feeling because she's moving farther away from you."

Ratchet said as our bond suddenly went numb.

"Wheeljack…"

Sunny said as we both took a few angry steps towards him.

"Easy you two. She just got there."

"And how do you know that?!"

I snarled right before a chime could be heard from another one of Wheeljack's machines.

"This is Elita-1 to earth. We have made it to our destination safely and with only a few minor injuries. We will establish…bzzzt…. contact…bzzt…when ready…ksshhhhh."

"Well. Now you know they made it safely."

He said chipperly.

"She said minor injuries Jack! That's not safe!"

I said as I continued to storm over to him.

"Sideswipe stand down."

"Prime- "

"I know this is hard for you two. But I would not have let them go if I did not believe that they were needed. Nor would I have let them go if they did not possess the skills they have or if the travel there would be excessively dangerous or unsafe."

He said. I'm sure that he meant to make us feel better. But he isn't the one with four sparklings. He isn't bonded to split sparked twins. It's entirely likely that if she dies we would go with her, possibly abandoning the quads, or worse taking them with us. We're unsure of what would happen to them because there have never been split sparked quadruplets before. Sunny and I risked a lot taking a sparkmate, but more so now that we have an entire family unit to worry about. Nobot else here can really truly say that except for Jolt. And he's in a form of stasis right now since the trip and the distance from Tia would not only hurt like pit, but also because it could extinguish the growing newspark in Jolt's chamber. They're supposed to find out the gender soon too. He'll stay in stasis no doubt until Tia gets back.

"Wheeljack, make no mistake- "

"If our sparkmate can't get home and it's because of you- "

"We will do everything in our power to either offline you or make your life worse than it would be if you got sent to the pit."

We said in unison as we walked out of the hanger and back up the hall to our quarters. The quadruplets were already asleep in their cribs for the night. We made sure they would be so that they wouldn't throw a tantrum when Bella left. Thankfully it looks like they're still recharging peacefully. Hopefully the same can be said for us too.

After we said our goodnights to each other, we turned in for the night.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What in the pit?! The sparklings!"

Sunny said to me as we both woke with a start. When we ran into the room the first thing to greet us was the smell of sour energon, followed by the pained wails of our quartet.

"The frag is going on?! Sunny! Turn on the lights!"

My twin did as I asked, only to swear at the sight of our sparklings. "What in the pit is wrong with them?"

He whispered in horror. The quadruplets were covered from their chins down in spilt, dry energon. Each of them were grabbing at their tummies and wailing in distress.

"I don't know."

I said as I rushed to Pulse's crib only for him to whimper before opening his mouth purging energon all over himself before he started to cry out in pain again. "They're sick!"

"I know Sideswipe! I already called Ratchet. We need to get them to the Medbay now!" He said as he picked up our daughters wile I picked up our sons.

We ran to the Medbay where First Aid and Ratchet were already setting up equipment for tests. Before we could say another word, our sparklings were taken from us as the two began to run scans on them. Much to our surprise, the two were able to draw a small amount of energon from their systems with a needle, before Ratchet gave each of them a quick shot that made them calm down.

"What's wrong with them?!"

"Yeah! What made them sick? Will they be alright?"

I asked only to be threatened with a wrench by Ratchet. "Easy! I haven't put their energon into the system yet! It'll take a breem or two to figure out if I'm right!"

He groused. In the meantime, Sunny and I picked up our sparklings and cuddled them close. Much to my own surprise, Nightsinger didn't want to be held, or at least not so closely. She like her siblings were hot to the touch, despite their cooling fans being on. This has to be one of our worst nightmares. Bella is literally light years away, and the sparklings are sick, or worse.

"Alright. I have the results."

"So, what in the pit is wrong with them?!" My twin snapped only to be greeted with a sour look from both medics.

"Your sparklings are dealing with a system upset. It is normal for their age and can occur at any time. It usually occurs in their systems when they consume under processed energon, the wrong kind of energon, or when the ratio of minerals needed within the energon is wrong. They'll feel bad for a couple of days at most, and will continue to purge the energon out of their systems until they re-set. They're also susceptible to backfiring."

Ratchet said calmly. "Will they be in pain?"

"I will give you something for them to take. Make sure they take it every two to four hours, give them a cool wash and they should be fine."

He said as he looked through the cabinets before pulling out a large bottle and a spoon for liquid medical coding. Once the sparklings saw Ratchet pouring the medicine onto the spoon, they began to whimper in protest.

"C'mon bitlets. It'll make you feel better if you take the medicine."

I said to them as Ratchet offered Nightsinger the spoon. She buried her face into my armor with a whine as we sighed.

"Please sweetspark? Take it for me? And for Sunny?"

"You don't wanna be sick, do you?"

My twin asked in a gentle chiding tone. She whimpered one more time before she faced Ratchet and the spoon.

"Open wide and say "ahh" little femme."

Nightsinger did as she was told. She didn't like the medicine, and from her gags and whines the others immediately covered their mouths with their little hands so as not to get the same treatment.

It took two hours to get Freezefire, Pulse and Maverick to take the medicine. Thankfully none of them protested as we took a cool shower to rinse off the energon they had thrown up. The only problem now is the fact that all of their cribs are a mess, meaning they would have to sleep with us. And by sleep with us, I mean that they would try to sleep, while Sunny and I watched them in shifts while the other did the necessary laundry to get their cribs, blankets and bears back to a clean state for them to sleep in later.

"Okay, I put in the first load for cleaning. Did they purge again?"

"No, they've kept their medicine down so far. But I grabbed a trash can just in case."

I said as Pulse whined in his recharge. Our sparklings are still warm to the touch. They're not hot enough for their cooling fans to be on, but they are hot enough for them to be uncomfortable.

"Daddies!"

"C'mere my little blue angel. Sides- "

"Cold compresses? Sure, I'll go get them."

I said as Sunny directed his vents onto her to cool her down.

"Mornin' Sides! Whoa, yaw alrigh'?"

"Jazz? What are you doing up?"

"Sides…Its afta five in the mornin'. Everthin' alrigh'?"

"No. No the quadruplets are sick. Tank upset. Sunny and I- "

["Sides! Cold Compresses? They're waking up!"]

"Gotta go."

I said as I trotted up the hall avoiding soldiers who were still groggy. Once I got to the wash racks, I soaked four wash cloths in cold water before I began to head back to my quarters.

"Hey there Sides!"

"Inferno! Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Do you have any nitrogen on you? I need you to chill these cloths."

"Why? What are you up to?"

"I need them for the sparklings. Their tanks are upset and they're still warm to the touch."

"Sure. Give 'em here."

He said as he put a quick chill on the wash cloths. Once I had them back, I thanked him and trotted back to our quarters.

"Siiiiides. Help."

Sunny moaned from where he lay under four very very cranky, whiny, crying sparklings.

"What is going on? How'd they all get on top of you?"

I asked as I tried to pry Pulse off my twin's chest plates. Pulse in turn began to have a meltdown as I tried to move him.

"It was like something out of a comedy. Freezefire started crying, then Nightsinger, and then it all went downhill from there."

He sighed as I moved our femmlings off him before setting them on the floor.

"I don't think I've ever seen the bitlets so upset. You think we can get them to sit still to keep the cool compresses on?"

"Doubt it. But we have to try."

He said as he gradually sat up cradling our mechlings. As soon as they curled into him I placed the cold wash cloths on their helms. They did not like it at all. Pulse screamed and Maverick wailed while my femmlings cried at my feet.

They were so loud, I couldn't even hear Sunny over our bond. Just as our sparklings were filling their air intakes to continue crying, Sunny gave a very sharp whistle that made us all collectively whine.

"No more crying! You four need to sit still with these cold cloths so that you'll get better! Do you understand me?!"

He snarled losing what was left of his temper. Our sparklings sniffled before reaching for me, bawling softly.

["Way to go. You scared them and now they think you're angry at them."]

["I am angry Sides! They won't listen and Bella's gone…"]

He trailed off realizing he had let some of his anger at the situation get directed at the sparklings.

["I know. I'm pissed too."]

I said as our sparklings successfully knocked me over so they could crawl onto me whimpering softly.

Sunny sighed before he rubbed his face vigorously. "I'm sorry for yelling bitlets. I'm not mad at you."

He apologized as the sparklings curled into me.

["At least we know they're ours."]

["What makes you say that?"]

I asked as Sunny picked up our mechlings.

"When have we ever sat still or listened to Ratchet when it came to healing?"

He said with a smirk as he tried to re-adjust them and their washcloths. Maverick chirped irritably as his wings flicked accidentally smacking Pulse on his back making him cry.

"We are sooo in over our helms."

I moaned as Sunny tried to calm down Pulse.

"We can do this. After all, they're ours."

"So?"

"So, we do for them what Bella would do for us."

"Or…what we did for her!"

I said as the realization hit me. When Bella was carrying, she had a slew of problems. One of which was being overly hot.

"Remember when all Bella wanted was a popsicle?"

"Right…was Inferno busy when you last saw him?"

"Do we care?"

"Nope!"

He said as we got up and walked out the door taking our sparklings with us. Sure enough we found Inferno sitting in the rec. room.

"Hey 'ferno! We need a favor."

I said as I put Nightsinger and Freezefire on the couch.

"What?"

"You're gonna freeze some things for us."

Sunny said as he walked into the kitchen.

Inferno gave me a wary look as I pulled out Nightsinger's blanket and Freezefire's favorite pacifier.

"Hey, since when can you freeze stuff?"

Cliffjumper asked as Sunny walked out of the kitchen with both of our mechlings under one arm and a servo full of the sparkling's favorite fruit.

"Ratchet and Wheeljack thought that the upgrade would be good for suppressing flames in cinders should a rescue be needed. I got the upgrade bout a week ago."

He said as we piled the things we wanted him to freeze on the table in front of him. "Why exactly do you want me to freeze this stuff?"

He asked as he gave us a skeptical look. Just then both of our mechlings began squalling making all of us wince. "Never mind!" Inferno shouted as he began to put a slight chill on each of the things in front of him. Once he had Nightsinger's blanket done I immediately gave it to her. She cooed softly as she snuggled it close. Before long each of our sparklings was chilling out…literally. At least we avoided one crisis. Now we just have to entertain them…

["They're asleep. The cold knocked them out."]

["What are we gonna do when they wake up? They'll have to take more medicine, and I don't know what we're gonna do to keep them busy and not fussy."]

"I think we'll do it the easy way. Trick them into taking the medicine, give them some tea to make them tired, and then curl up on the berth to watch some cartoons."

"Sounds like a good sick day to me. I loved watching cartoons with Bella when she had her tonsils and appendix out."

"Exactly."

He sighed softly as he sunk into a chair at the table and putting the other cold items in his subspace for later.

XXXXX

Thankfully, the quadruplets were out for three and a half hours. It gave Sunny and I enough time to get a cube of energon down as well as get in a really really quick nap. Once they were up, I distracted them long enough for Sunny to mix in a small amount of their medicine to the bottle already containing their energon and chamomile tea. Getting them to drink was difficult, but once they started we were able to get them to finish.

Once we got them back to our quarters they seemed to go back into a light recharge.

"At least they aren't purging their tanks anymore."

"Yeah."

I said as we both fell back into recharge on our berth.

Sunstreaker's pov

Sides and I were content to recharge with our quadruplets. And we did for about an hour before we awoke to a rather strange sound and the surprised squeak of fear from one of our sparklings.

It was Freezefire. She was looking around with wide optics and a look of concern and disgust on her face.

["What was that?"]

["I have no clue. Maybe we can get her to go back to- "]

Braaaaap!

["ohhh…"]

Sideswipe sighed over our bond as her face continued to morph into one of disgust and frustration. I gently slid Pulse off of me and began to carry her out of the room when the initial smell hit me. It certainly wasn't good.

I was able to close the door to our quarters as she began to whine.

"Shhh. I know you don't feel good sweetspark. It's okay."

Her response was another backfire that made her whine louder. Her face was twisted into one of pure disgust. Freezefire as a rule, doesn't like anything smelly, and much like her siblings she isn't overly fond of anything loud. So for her to be backfiring, although it's funny to Sides and I, is horrible to her.

"It's okay princess. You're okay."

["The others are awake and doing it too."]

["Great. Just bring them out here. I have an idea."]

I said as I lay my daughter down on her tummy and began setting up one of the toys Wheeljack had made. He made a swing set that can connect to the ceiling with enough swings for all four of our sparklings to use. He also made two sets of swings, one set that had seats that would enclose our sparklings up to their waists, and the others a simple seat that is usually found at the park. Only it was designed to hold a bot of up to Ironhide's weight.

"So, what's your idea?"

"Remember what dad said at the family reunion in Texas?"

"That he wanted to spend more time with his grandsparks?"

"Aside from that."

I said as I balanced Freezefire on her tummy on the seat of the swing.

"Ohhh. I remember. To relieve gas, hold them like a football."

"Exactly."

I said as she backfired again, this time looking more relieved. The sides of the swing would come up high enough to gently squeeze her sides to hold her in place and the bottom of the swing would put just enough pressure on her tanks to get the gas out.

Braaap!

"Ewww! Whir click chirp!'

Pulse said as he covered his little nose with his hands. Freezefire wriggled and squeaked back at him irritably as Maverick giggled and Nightsinger whined before backfiring too.

"Yucky!"

Pulse whined as I took him from Sides and laid him on his tummy in a swing next to Freezefire.

"Not yucky Pulse. Just a little smelly, and you'll start backfiring soon too."

Sideswipe said as he pat his back gently unintentionally releasing a larger backfire from him. Our eldest mechling squawked in alarm before whining and clicking as he wriggled around, making Maverick laugh even harder.

Brap Brap!

"AHAHAHA!"

"Well…at least we know he's feeling a little better." My twin said as he tried to stifle a snicker so that he wouldn't join our son's laughter at his and his siblings expense. "I'm glad he's feeling better, but do they all have to begin backfiring at once? It really is beginning to stink in here."

I said as a knock came from our door. "Great. Just what we need now that our room stinks. Visitors."

I grumbled as I answered the door.

"I've come to check on the sparklings…phew!"

"You said they'd backfire Ratchet."

"That I did. Where are they?"

"On the swings. It helps them relieve the gas build up."

I said as we walked back toward them to see Sideswipe rubbing Nightsinger's back. Her cheeks were bright blue as she grunted, trying to do something.

"Easy sweetspark. Just let it happen. Here hold my hand okay?"

Sideswipe said as she grabbed his servo and slid slightly further towards him on the swing seat.

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! BRAP! BRAP!

"See? There you go, better?"

Sideswipe asked as our eldest whimpered in what sounded like embarrassment.

"Ahem."

At the sight of Ratchet Nightsinger buried her face in Sideswipe's hand and began to cry. With a sigh Ratchet strode over to her and plucked her out of the swing before gently wiggling a digit into her tummy, making her give out a watery giggle. Ratchet was persistent in his tickling, wiggling his digit into her sides, into her neck cables and back down into her tummy before he gave her a quick medical scan.

"Very good little one! See? You're much better already!"

He cooed as he handed her back to Sides where she cooed happily before snuggling into his chest plates. We watched as Ratchet repeated the process with the rest of the sparklings leaving them happy and us confused.

"By gently probing the area near their tanks I was able to confirm that they are no longer in serious pain. Their neck cables showed me that their temperature is stabilizing which is good. They will be mildly uncomfortable if the gas is not released, but other than that, they should be back to normal by tomorrow."

"Oh…okay. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Bring them to the Medbay if anything changes."

He said as he walked out the door.

"So…what should we do now?"

"I don't know Sides. We should probably let them rest."

"Squeak click whir. Warble warble whir click."

Maverick twittered as he got his swing to swing gently. "Somehow, I don't think that's gonna happen. They've already proven that they take after us."

"True."

"I got an idea. C'mon."

He said as he took them out of their swings. "Where are we going?"

"For a walk. It always kept Bella calm when she carried, and it helped relieve her gas that one time too."

"Oh yeah. Primus that was bad. She smelt worse than our bitlets. Where to first?"

"The hills. C'mon bitlets lets go."

He said as we walked out the door. Thankfully since they still don't feel too well, they didn't go running off.

Third person's pov.

The twins decide to give the quadruplets a good foot tour of half the base. They started in the hills where Arabella initially went into labor with them. Once they got to the top they laid down in the grass and watched the clouds for a little while before they continued the tour through the dense forest before the quadruplets got hungry for dinner. When they detoured to the rec room they found that Jazz was in the middle of a conference call with three girls they hadn't seen or spoken to in a while.

"Oh, hey they jus' walked in. Yo twins, Bella's buds got questions fo' ya."

"Thanks Jazz. Hey Sides! Hey Sunstreaker!"

"Hey Terrin, Sheila, Lilith."

"Jazz told us that Ara and Tia are on a mission, and we wanted to know what you guys were gonna do for her birthday in a few days."

Sheila said as the twins corralled the sparklings into their playpen.

"We don't know. She was avoiding the subject before she left."

"Probably cause she thinks you guys won't let her celebrate her birthday."

"Terrin!"

"What? Oh, come on Sheila! It's not like she hid it from them! They can feel each other's emotions remember?"

"What would make her think that we wouldn't want her to celebrate her birthday?"

Sunstreaker asked suspiciously as he narrowed his optics at the screen. Terrin shrugged sheepishly as her friends glared at her. "Well, I mean…you guys live for a really long time…"

"And Bella thought that because of that, you guys wouldn't let her celebrate each year because it wasn't really a full Cybertronian year."

Sheila finished as Bluestreak, Wheeljack and Optimus entered the room.

"We'd let her celebrate! It's just making the time now that's the problem."

Sideswipe said in exasperation. Neither of the twins knew that Arabella felt the way she did, and it pained them to know that she didn't want to share her feelings on the matter.

"Actually, we all coul' probably use a party righ' bout now."

"Indeed. We have much to be proud of, and with the lack of Decepticon attacks recently now would be the optimal time to celebrate."

"No pun intended?"

Lilith asked innocently as her friends giggled at the double meaning of what Optimus said.

"I mean not to make a pun. I truly believe that a celebration is in order. We will host it shortly after they return."

"So how old is Arabella gonna be this year?"

Bluestreak asked innocently. "Hey Blue. Bella will be 17, and Tia 7."

"Aww! So, we can' throw her a rockin' sweet sixteen?"

"No, but really this'll be the first year in a while that she actually has a real party."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sideswipe asked.

"Ever since Ara's 12th birthday it's just been Terrin and I, then Lilith last year."

"Why?"

"Lauren." The three girls answered.

"It's actually why they hate each other."

Sheila said peaking the bot's interest.

"What happened between them that would not allow Arabella to have a "real party"?" Optimus asked confused.

"Okay, well it's a long story, but here's the short version. When Bella moved to 'Burque in 2nd grade, Lauren was the most popular girl in school, mostly because her family is rich and could throw really elaborate parties. Both Lauren and Bella's birthdays are in the summer, and school would be out so they usually had their parties during school so that our whole class could come. Bella, Lauren and I used to be close friends after Bella first moved, but when Bella threw her Birthday party the weekend after Lauren's their friendship ended because Lauren was jealous."

"Why?" Asked Bluestreak.

"Because her party was better than Laurens. You see, as a kid status equates to a few things; Who has the best toys, in some cases who has the best school supplies i.e. a six pack of roseart crayons vs the sixty-four box of Crayola crayons with a sharpener…and most of all, who has the best birthday parties."

"Really? Ya can' be serious."

"Totally Jazz. Birthday parties for kids is like the super bowl in a way. It's usually where kids measure status because the family lays all their cards on the table. What sounds cooler? A simple party at a local pizza joint, or a pool party with pizza, ice cream, burgers, a homemade three layered yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting, and edible flowers for decoration and a limo ride to see a movie?"

"Tha' seco' one soun's cooler to me, honestly."

"Exactly. A party shows the world, how much money the kid's parents are willing to spend, and the more elaborate the party the more memorable. That was Bella's first party. She threw a pool party at her house and then the class got to see a movie matinée. Bella hands down had the better party, even though it was cheaper than Lauren's. Her party the week before had been hosted at a really really fancy pizza restaurant. But everybody liked Bella's more. People talked about Bella's party until school got out, and even when we went back to school people were still talking about it."

Terrin said sounding impressed. "After that, Lauren tried to one up Bella every year until her 12th birthday."

"What happened?"

Sideswipe asked fully captured by the story. He idly noticed that the room had more bots in it and that they were listening in. "Lauren waited until after Bella handed out her invitations. Then she scheduled her party on the same day and at pretty much the same time. Our class would have to choose that year. Bella decided to do her party at a nice park. There'd be a barbeque, carnival games with prizes, a DJ and a dance floor…"

"Soun's like a good party to me!"

"Yeah well, Lauren decided to rip off one of Bella's parties. She invited everyone to her mansion, had a huge pool party with a water gun battle, a DJ and a limo ride to get ice cream. After all of that, all the girls in our class got to sleep over and the goodie bags had really nice make up in them."

There was a collective wince in the room.

"Pretty much everyone was invited, except Bella. And pretty much everyone went, except me, Sheila who had just moved to the state and another classmate of ours. But she left early to go to Lauren's party too. To further rub salt in the wound, Lauren had the limo driver drive past the park we were at, so we got to see how much fun our whole class was having without us as Lauren and a few others made fun of us as they drove by."

"That's just cruel. Like that wasn't just mean! It was really really wrong!"

Bluestreak said frustrated. "Exactly. To kind of boycott her sleepover, Sheila and I slept over that night. And even though we had a lot of fun, you can kinda guess what happened after that with our classmates."

Everybody looked at each other with sad expressions. It was no secret that Bella wasn't fond of Lauren, but now they knew the reason why.

"Terrin's right. Ever since then the three of us, four counting Lilith last year, celebrated Bella's birthday with a sleepover."

"Well we gotta fix tha'!"

"But how? I mean we don't really know what Bella wants to do anyway!"

"Let alone that Tia's birthday is the day after Bella's."

Lilith said. "We'll do a surprise party. For both of them. You guys can come, and so can mom and dad, and her extended family too!"

Sideswipe said excitedly. "You guys sure about that?"

"Bella told us who she would tell. And we'll let her tell them. But the surprise party is the best idea we have."

Sunstreaker said with a nod.

"Okay then…any objections?"

"I give my approval of this plan. I will speak to your uncle about the necessary procedures needed to make it possible."

"Thank you! Send him my love, will you?"

"I will do so."

Optimus said as the call ended. Right after the call ended the quadruplets were squeaking and clicking at the twins peedes, ready to be fed. "You four were so quiet! So quiet!" Sideswipe cooed as he picked them up.

After the twins fed the quadruplets, they continued their tour of the base, starting at the beach. They didn't get any farther than the beach because the quadruplets found the marine life fascinating. For the remaining hours of sunlight, they dug in the sand, made sand drip castles and played with the crabs that they could find. But their fun was ended with a thunderclap. A tropical storm was slowly moving in.

"Time to go inside bitlets!" Sideswipe said as and his twin picked them up and switched out their footpads for their tire skates. "Race you to the wash racks!"

Sunstreaker said competitively. "You're on!" Sideswipe replied as he sped off making the mechlings in his arms squeal with excitement. The two raced into the base, each taking a different entrance and racing through the halls before arriving at their destination at the same time. Both mechlings and femmlings were excitedly chirping and clicking at each other making their fathers chuckle as they entered the wash racks taking different stalls next to each other. Sunstreaker sat down under the warm spray of water with his daughters and smiled at them. They seemed content to cuddle into him. Both femmlings sat still as he washed the sand out of their cording purring in contentment at the helm massage.

"Ack! Hey! Hold still you two! Hey!"

Sideswipe laughed from the stall next to him. Sunstreaker peaked around the corner to see what was going on. What he found was Pulse and Maverick giggling as they rubbed the soapy cloths Sideswipe had been using to clean them across his chest and backplates.

["They thought that I needed to be washed."]

Sunstreaker simply rolled his optics as he went back to cleaning his femmlings until they too began to try and clean him. He simply sighed and sat back, he would let them clean if only to keep them happy and entertained.

XXXXX

Over the next two days the twins and the quadruplets were kept inside because of the storm. In that time the quadruplets got better, and the twins helped them create Bella's birthday gift. They were also able to get a design into Wheeljack so that he could create their birthday gift to her. It was over this time that the twins found that their sparkling began to grow more and more depressed. None more than Nightsinger. She began fighting with her siblings and isolating herself from them too. And while she wasn't crying it was obvious that she missed her mother terribly. It broke their sparks to see her so sad, but neither really knew what else to do.

Sunstreaker's pov

Bella hasn't been gone a week, and the sparklings are already depressed. I'm not surprised by this, I knew that it was going to happen. Nightsinger is taking it the hardest. While she may be a daddy's femme, she and Bella are very close. Its most likely because she takes after her. Nightsinger is very headstrong, and very adventurous much like her mother, and because she is the eldest, I fear that she is holding most of the sorrow that she and her siblings share, so that they do not feel so sad. I know the feeling because I've done the same with Sides when we were younger.

And just like her mother, Nightsinger tends to bottle up her feelings, especially sadness which causes her to go for walks at night when she should be recharging. Sideswipe found her in the rec room last night and tonight I followed her back to the rec room. She was crying softly when I picked her up. Soon after she began to sob into my chest plates.

"Shhh. Shhh. It's okay. It's okay." I said as I rocked back and forth on my foot pads. She was holding a picture, one that she drew of Bella earlier today. "You are such a brave little femme. Just like your mom. She's proud of you. Do you know that?"

I got a watery chirp as I walked back to our quarters. "Your mother is proud of you because you are so strong for a little femme. Of course, Sides and I are proud of you too."

"Whirr?"

"You act just like her sometimes. Stubborn, headstrong, and yet caring and kind at the same time."

She beeped at me curiously as I sat down in the rocking chair in their room. "How do I know? When we first met, she refused to come with us to base even though we told her it was for her safety. Heh, and then when she got there she showed us so much kindness where the other soldiers who didn't know us well yet wouldn't."

Nightsinger cooed as she curled into me. Her optic lids drooping. "Bella put herself in danger to save not only us sometimes, but she did it for Chromia, and Tia too."

"Cliiick."

"I know of another little femme and her siblings who did the same for a bunch of soldiers."

"Me, and Pulse, and Freeze and Mave?"

She asked tiredly.

"Yes. You four. You four made us so proud when we learned what you did from your uncle Kyler."

"Why mommy go bye bye? I miss her."

"She went to save others. And she would be very sad to know that you are so sad."

"No mommy. Whirr chirp sad."

"I guess. Did I ever tell you about the time we found your mother dancing for the first time at base?"

"No…"

"Well…"

I began. Once I had finished the story I found that I had put her to sleep. Gently I gathered her and her siblings in my arms and returned to my berth where Sideswipe had made a small area for them with their extra pillows and blankets. We both fell asleep curled around our sparklings, hoping that our sparkmate would be back soon.

Third person's pov

Soon after the twins fell back into recharge, the door to their quarters opened, allowing a familiar slender blue femme to enter. Arabella was exhausted from her trip. She barley had enough strength to sit through her maintenance check and was barley awake in the wash racks. When she walked into her and the twins room she nearly cooed aloud. Her two mates and her sparklings laid curled up into each other recharging peacefully. Not wanting to disturb them, she laid at the foot of their berth and fell into recharge.

They would celebrate later, for now she was just happy to be home.


A/N: Hello world! I am so sorry for not posting in so long! School and work have been a real pain! But I have good news that you all are the first to hear! By the end of August of this year, I will have my associates degree! Furthermore, I will be transferring to a university and hopefully changing my current schedule for both school and work! This will hopefully mean that I will be able to go back to a normal writing schedule!

Anywhoo, sorry about this chapter. I feel as though it is more filler than good content. I do want to do a Bella birthday chapter next, but it will be more of a throwback to Love Times Two, with more action, only now we have sparklings. It is also where I will reveal some new info on plot points.

Remember Tia and Jolt? Yeah, the sparkling will be revealed next chapter. The gender at least.

I hope that you are all well! Please Follow Favorite and Review! I miss you guys and it would be great to hear what you think!

Peace, Love, and Quadruplets!