Quickshadow fell back on the medberth, chassis heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Her helm was spinning, and everything hurt.
Eight hours of labor seemed to last an eternity, and the only thing that kept her going was knowing she'd be holding her sparkling in a few more minutes.
Another contraction started, and she tuned everything out and tried to focus on the medic's voice. "Just a few more pushes."
Leaning forward, she gathered whatever strength she had left into one final push. A sharp scream ripped through her voice box and a few cheers resonated around the delivery room.
"It's a mechling!" a nurse announced, taking the newspark to the back of the room for a quick check-up. Quickshadow let herself relax. All that pushing left her feeling lightheaded and utterly spent, and it took everything in her not to pass out right then.
She lay there, waiting to hear the sparkling's cries fill the room, but the seconds passed, and they never came. In fact, the entire room had gone completely silent, and she noticed everyone's smiles had vanished.
Exhaustion was overtaking her, but she could still hear the nurses muttering incoherent words to each other, and she knew something was wrong.
Fear swelled within her, and she wanted to ask what was happening, but her voice box was sore, and she was too tired to keep her optics open any longer. As the medics rushed the newspark out of the room, she caught a glimpse of a red paint job just before everything faded into black.
Quickshadow regained consciousness a few hours later. A medic came in shortly after, and she held her breath, waiting for him to brief her on her son's condition. The grim expression on his face told her she wouldn't like what he had to say.
"He was born 2 weeks premature, and he's unstable. His chances of survival are extremely low." Her spark broke, but she found the strength to keep listening. "We'll doeverythingwe can...but it is unlikely he'll make it through the night."
Her sparkling was severely ill; that was a hard pill to swallow. She forced herself to nod and heard the medic step out of the room. As soon as the door closed, she buried her face in her servos and let herself cry.
None of this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be on Earth right now, still carrying and telling Heatwave about their new addition, not alone in an unfamiliar hospital, worrying if her sparkling would live to witness his first sunrise.
She blamed herself. She should've known Eclipse was up to something. Had she just listened and stayed put.Primus, had she only found out sooner...
"He'll be alright." She kept muttering to herself. He had to be alright; she'd never forgive herself if he didn't make it.
She awoke at around 9 am the next day, slightly dazed by the sleep medication they'd given her the previous night. Her optics focused on the ceiling light, and all of a sudden, flashes of her attempted escape came back and triggered a minor panic attack.
Her optics were trained on the door, fearing Eclipse would walk in any second. A nurse saw her freaking out and tried to calm her down.
Quickshadow pulled herself together long enough to remember she was in a hospital, safe away from that mech. But...the sparkling! Where was her sparkling? She panicked again and frantically scanned the room. The nurse fought to keep her down, telling her if she kept thrashing, she'd hurt herself even more.
Quickshadow felt her strength depleting and stopped struggling. She looked at the nurse and tried to build the courage to ask if—
"He'salive."
Her breath hitched for a second before relief washed over her.
"We don't know how, but his vitals skyrocketed in the middle of the night."
She couldn't contain her smile. "..So he'll be alright?"
"Unfortunately, it's still too soon to tell." The nurse shrugged apologetically. "But we're hoping his readings will continue to go up throughout the next few days."
"..Can I see him?" She mumbled, feeling herself start to drift off again.
"Not yet; you need to regain your strength."
Another day went by, and much to her relief, the sparkling's vitals were getting stronger. She was told he now had a 34% survival chance, and the percentage was slowly increasing.
Being stuck in a hospital room all day gave her time to plan. Now that she'd escaped, she was sure Eclipse would come after her. As soon as she and her sparkling were discharged, she would move to another city to throw Eclipse off her trail.
It was too dangerous to contact Heatwave with Eclipse keeping tabs on her. Despite having access to the space bridge in the training facility, he needed authorization from Optimus to use it. And if Eclipse got to her first and found out who Heatwave was, he wouldn't hesitate to pay him a visit.
Heatwave was the better sparrer, but Eclipse would eventually outsmart him in combat, and he particularly liked employing lethal moves on his opponents. In short, it wouldn't end well for anyone, and she didn't want to risk putting anyone else in danger.
She decided the best course of action would be to contact Optimus directly. He typically took months to reply, but she was confident she could lay low long enough to set up transportation back to Griffin Rock.
She was starting to hate this pattern. Waking up, having a panic attack, then being medicated back to recharge.
Not long after she awoke this time, the same medic that nearly gave her a heart attack the first night walked in, this time without looking so grim.
"He has a 50% chance of survival." He went straight to the point. "But it can go either way from here." He went over his clipboard while Quickshadow felt a weight fall off her shoulders.
"As for you, your readings are looking much better. You'll be able to see him tomorrow morning."
She nodded contentedly. Things were finally starting to look up, but she tried not to get her hopes up.
Early the next morning, a nurse came by to take Quickshadow to the NICU.
"We're constantly monitoring him. However, his condition hasn't changed since last night." she listened to the nurse as she led her to where they were keeping the sparkling.
They stopped in front of a large glass window, looking into a large white room with medical equipment everywhere and a single bassinet in the middle. A large monitor beside it showed his vitals and an increasing survival percentage.
Something moved inside the bassinet, and her spark skipped a beat. Two small grey servos peeked out, and she desperately wanted to hold him.
She didn't know when she started crying nor how long she had been standing there, but she couldn't bring herself to move. The nurse had long since left her alone and only came back to haul her back to her room to rest.
She'd gone back every morning to see him, and today was no different. But as she neared the room, she heard a few voices from inside and a few strangled cries.
Her spark dropped to her engine, and she ran over to see what the commotion was about.
Medics huddled around the small bassinet, inserting wire after wire into the sparkling. Her optics flicked to the monitor, and she felt the air leave her lungs. 37% and dropping. She leaned against the wall for support, not bearing to hear her sparkling's choked cries.
She felt a servo on her shoulder and looked up to see two nurses, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. They took her back to her room and gave her medication to help her calm down.
She later learned the sparkling had developed pneumonia in his right lung. The news was like a kick when she was already down; she felt numb to everything. She couldn't eat, much less recharge, and to top it all off, she was paranoid Eclipse would find them here.
In her solitude, she imagined what it would be like if Heatwave were here. He would wipe her tears, hold her and try to comfort her."He'll be fine, Shadow.He's our son; he's a fighter." Primus, she missed him. But she had to stay strong.
Her nurse later informed her they would be transferring her and the sparkling to another Hospital in another city because they didn't have the equipment necessary to treat the sparkling.
They were moved that afternoon, and the sparkling started a new treatment. It took a few more days, but the medics were finally beginning to make progress. He was getting better again.
She watched him through the glass of the NICU, spark torn, seeing all the tubes and wires attached to his tiny limbs.
Her servo slid down the glass screen, tracing down his face as if it would provide any comfort to him.
She drew in a shaky breath and leaned her forehelm on the glass. It had been over a week since he was born, and he was still fighting. Once he had an 80% survival chance, Quickshadow let herself breathe. He would be okay.
"You little show-off." She had to smile. He definitely was her son. "Your sire would be so proud of you." She whispered. Her thoughts drifted to the firebot once again.
"You showed them, huh, Champ."Heatwave would've been ecstatic."You little hotshot."
"Hotshot." She vocalized and contemplated it for a while. She'd heard Heatwave use the word before, specifically when referring to Kade or Blurr, but it had other meanings aside from flashy show-off.
It meant talented and successful, an important person who is exceptionally able. It suited the little bot, and she was sure Heatwave would approve.
"Keep fighting, my little Hotshot."