A few more weeks had gone by, now Arcee was in the second month of her pregnancy. While Cybertronian femmes didn't show as human females, it was somewhat easy to see Arcee had changed. During one of her weekly exams, she and Ratchet found out something else about their unborn offspring.

"Looks normal..." he said, glancing at the ultrasound screen. Both twins were now starting to look more and more like newborns.

"And one of them is a mech,"

Arcee grinned briefly.

"What about the other one?" She asked.

Ratchet looked at the screen, while twins were usually the same size at birth, mechs were often larger than femmes. He tried to get a closer look at the other sparkling who was slightly blocked from view by it's sibling. Ratchet smiled when he saw the second twin.

"It looks like our son has a sister." He announced.

Arcee nearly fell over but was happy. She liked the thought of having a son and daughter.

"Think we should let everyone know?" She asked.

"Might as well, it'll be easier to pick out names." said Ratchet.

Arcee nodded, she looked over at the screen, noticing the twins were curled up next to each other. She saw their arms and legs twitch for a moment. Their eyes were also closed. It was easy to see the two of them were asleep.

Ratchet couldn't help but grin at the sight, he had heard twins were usually close and it seemed as if the two siblings were inseparable already. Arcee had also found out her estimated date was some in March. In most cases it was normal for femmes to give birth in the spring. Arcee snickered for a minute.

"What is it?" Ratchet asked.

"Just making a note to tell Miko to have her camera phone ready when we break the news." said Arcee.

Ratchet frowned.

"Why?"

"I want to remember the look on the guys' faces when we tell them that one of our twins is a girl." Arcee answered.

Ratchet thought about it for a second and looked away from Arcee trying not to laugh.

Once the exam was finished, They headed to the main room where the others were.

"Hey Ratch! Arcee!" Smokescreen greeted.

"Can we pick names now? Please?"

Arcee shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't see why not."

"Awesome!" said Smokescreen.

For the next twenty minutes, everyone wrote down their suggestions. Once they were done, Arcee and Ratchet then went on to sort through list.

Arcee picked up a piece of paper with Smokescreen's handwriting and read the names.

"Hotshot and Hotrod?"

"Why not?" Smokescreen asked, smiling.

Ratchet shook his head.

"Hey Miko, got your camera?" Arcee asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Miko asked, pulling out her phone.

"Have it ready." Arcee replied. Miko nodded.

"I don't get it, those are cool names." said Smokescreen.

"About that..." Arcee started to say.

Ratchet sighed.

"One of the twins is a femme." He told them. They all looked shocked, none of them heard the 'click' from Miko's camera, a moment later she showed Arcee the photo.

Wheeljack's jaw had dropped, Bee and Bulkhead looked shocked, Optimus raised both eyebrows slightly, Jack and Raf looked happy and stunned at the same time, and Smokescreen had a look of disbelief on his face with his right eye twitching. The others eventually snapped out of their initial shock. Optimus put a hand on Ratchet's shoulder.

"Congratulations old friend." He said and hugged Arcee but was careful because of the sparklings.

"Congrats Doc!" Wheeljack said. Bulkhead gave Ratchet a hug which nearly crushed the mech's spine and Bee beeped in agreement.

"Please, don't call me Doc!" Ratchet growled.

"Whatever… Sunshine." Wheeljack joked. He yelped in surprise as he dodged a head on collision with one of Ratchet's tools.

"So you're really having a girl? Yes!" Miko cheered.

"No!" Smokescreen yelled.

The others laughed except Optimus and Ratchet.

Smokescreen looked at the two parents-to-be.

"Is it true; is one of them really a femme?" He asked. Arcee and Ratchet nodded.

They then went back to picking out names.

"Skyjack? Who wrote this one?" Arcee wondered.

"Yeah, that sounds a lot like your name, Wheeljack." Said Miko looking towards the mech in question.

"Uh…let's move on," he said nervously.

"Comet?" Ratchet asked, reading off the next name.

"What? It was all I could think of." Said Miko.

"Pass!" Arcee and Ratchet said at the same time.

Ratchet then looked at another one of the names.

"Scooter?"

Both Raf and Bumblebee just smiled sheepishly.

Ratchet groaned and pinched the space between his eyes.

He let Arcee read Bulkhead's suggestion.

"Sunset? How'd you come up with that one?"

"Well, if the femme has a mix of you and Ratchet's colors, it'd look sort of like a sunset."

Ratchet looked at Optimus and Jack.

"Any suggestions?" He asked.

The two of them shrugged their shoulders.

Arcee let out a loud sigh. She thought of some names but they just didn't seem right. Already she had promised herself she wouldn't name her son after Cliffjumper. He was her friend, plus given her and Ratchet's genetic backgrounds, it was highly unlikely that their son would have any red coloring.

"This is getting us nowhere." The blue femme admitted.

"Can you think of anything?" she asked Ratchet.

He was quiet for a moment then spoke up.

"I had thought about Diesel. He was my cousin, we grew up together…I haven't seen him since I graduated from medical school."

"Sounds like you guys were close." Said Arcee.

"Yes," Ratchet replied, he sniffled and looked at the floor at the thought of his cousin.

"We were."

"I think that's good name for our son," Arcee admitted.

Everyone else added their input and apparently agreed with the name.

"All right, that's one…now what are we going to name our daughter?" Arcee wondered.

"What about Runner?" Jack suggested.

Arcee raised an eyebrow.

"Nevermind," he said.

The female autobot glanced her stomach, then at the ceiling.

'What am I going to call you?' she thought.

That's when Arcee had an idea.

"I've got it," she said, snapping her fingers.

"Well, all right," Ratchet said with a smile.

"Yeah, let's hear it." Bulkhead insisted, eager to hear what she had to say.

"What about… Stella?" Arcee suggested.

"Where'd you get that from?" Ratchet asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was reading through one of Jack's text books, Stella is the Latin word for star." Arcee explained.

"I like that one," said Miko.

"Me too, a whole lot better than Sunset." Bulkhead agreed.

"What do you think?" Arcee asked, turning to Ratchet.

"I like it too." He said.

"Glad that's over," Wheeljack admitted.

"So, what do you guys think they'll look like?" Raf asked, regarding the twins.

"It could go either way, one of them could be like me…or Ratchet." Said Arcee.

"Or a mix, Arcee's color is more dominant than mine." Ratchet explained.

"It is?" Smokescreen asked, frowning a bit.

"Yes, blue is a primary color but also a dominant one," Arcee answered.

"Orange is secondary and can be recessive, but just because a certain color is dominant or recessive doesn't mean much, the twins could end up with colors and markings that are entirely different." Ratchet pointed out.

"Exactly," said Arcee.

"So, in short there's really no way to tell what they'll look like." Jack concluded.

"Pretty much, but the ultrasound does show certain facial features but that's about it." Arcee explained.

"But you know what?" Arcee asked, looking at Ratchet.

"What?" he answered.

"I hope our son, looks exactly like you." Arcee confessed. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips, which at the moment was pretty awkward to anyone watching.

"Hey, hey! We're still here." Bulkhead reminded them.

"Oh!" Arcee yelped in surprise.

"S-sorry," Ratchet stuttered.

Bulkhead looked at Jack, Miko and Raf.

"That was awkward…" he said to them.

"Hey!" Arcee shouted.

"We heard that," said Ratchet.

"Busted," the kids said in unison.

(Later)

"Need anything?" Ratchet asked.

"No, I'm fine…really." Arcee answered.

Currently, she and Ratchet were in their room. Bulkhead and the others had left after hearing from Ultra Magnus about seeing Dreadwing and a few Vehicons a few miles north of Jasper.

"Just thought I'd ask…you are eating for three, you know." Ratchet pointed out.

Arcee snickered.

"I've been aware of that for a while now."

She glanced at her stomach, affectionately.

"It's official, you two have names now."

Arcee smiled when she felt the twins' movement. Ratchet placed an audio receptor on her stomach, listening to their little ones' spark-beats. It was easy to tell the difference, Arcee's was much slower, while the sparklings' were faster due to them being the size of a tennis ball.

"It won't be long," said Arcee.

Ratchet sat up and looked at his mate.

"You're right," he said.

Arcee nuzzled his cheek.

"You're sure you don't need anything?" Ratchet asked.

"Ratchet, I'm fine…I'd probably feel better if you'd let me get some sleep." Arcee answered.

"I understand," he sighed.

Ratchet was about to kiss her but stopped and looked around.

Arcee giggled.

"Relax, Jack and the others have homework, it's just us."

"Doesn't hurt to check." Said Ratchet.

Arcee shook her head, one thing she loved about him was he could be funny without trying too hard.

"I hope you're not like this once Diesel and Stella are born." She said before letting out a yawn.

"What makes you say that?" Ratchet asked.

"Arcee? Arcee?"

All he got was silence.

Turning around he noticed her stretched out on the berth, her eyes were closed.

"Wha?…nobody falls asleep that fast." He sputtered.

He couldn't help but smile as he watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful and relaxed. Putting a blanket over her, Ratchet then started to leave. He turned around looking at Arcee one last time before closing the door.

(The next day.)

"I'll be back soon." said Arcee.

"Where are you going?" Ratchet asked, looking away from the computer screen.

"To the school, I need to get Jack." Arcee explained.

"Did you forget you're carrying sparklings?" Ratchet pointed out.

"Ratchet, I'm ok, these sparklings aren't coming anytime soon." Arcee assured him.

"I suppose you have a point." Ratchet sighed.

"And if I need any help, I'll call you." Arcee promised before she transforms into her vehicle mode and drives off.

Arcee was on her way to pick up Jack from school. She was still in the desert when she heard a jet fly over. The blue femme didn't think much of it until she noticed that it seemed to be following her. After getting a good look, she realized who it was.

"What's he doing here?!" She growled. The jet transformed and landed in her path, she hit the brakes and switched to bot mode.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Arcee, funny running into you here." Starscream said.

"I'm not in the mood today, Starscream." She snarled.

Arcee tried to go around him but he kept blocking her exit. Seconds later, he lunged, Arcee jumped over him and started to run. As she did so, she tried to call for help.

"I need assistance immediately! It's Starscream!" She yelled into the comm. Before Starscream came at her again. She turned to face him and managed to knock him out of the way. Arcee nearly yelped when she felt a small but strong kick from one of the sparklings. The movement reminding her she was pregnant. She tried to defend herself but wasn't having much success.

"Where is everybody?" She wondered.

At the school, Jack was sitting on the curb, waiting.

"She could be running late," said Miko.

"I doubt that, it's not like her to be late unless it's something serious." Jack told her.

"She'll show up, you'll see." said Raf, trying to sound encouraging.

Arcee did her best to protect the developing sparklings, but Starscream pushed her further. After a while dodging him, he pinned her to the ground. Starscream noticed Arcee was getting tired and had slowed down. Starscream stopped what he was doing when his comm beeped.

"What is it?" He growled.

"Starscream, you were supposed to meet me in the Canyon half an hour ago. What is taking you so long?" Dreadwing asked.

"I haven't forgotten our assignment from Megatron, however I did capture the autobot, Arcee." Starscream explained.

"Forget her, Starscream. Locating spare parts to repair the ship is our current task." Dreadwing told him.

"Do you hear me? I'm not joking.. "

Having heard enough, Starscream hung up.

"Now, you're coming with me." He said to Arcee

"Not if I can help it!" Ratchet yelled as he drove up and knocked the silver Decepticon off of Arcee.

"Leave her alone." Ratchet growled.

Starscream didn't have to be told twice as he stood up.

"This isn't over!" Starscream snarled and flew off. Ratchet hurried to Arcee's side, she looked bad. Several cuts where Starscream had scratched her arms and shoulders were bleeding.

"You'll be all right ." He said softly before om picking her up. She nodded weakly before closing her eyes. A short time later, Ratchet rushed in and headed for the med-bay.

"Ratchet, what's wrong?" Jack asked.

"Can't talk now, Jack. Arcee is hurt." Ratchet answered.

The team stood there, completely shocked.

Ratchet set Arcee down and scanned her.

"Stay with me, please!" He said as she closed her eyes again. Ratchet quickly got out his tools and got to work. It took him a while but he stopped the bleeding and bandaged her cuts. He scanned her again to make sure the sparklings were okay. He let out a sigh of relief to find they were.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you go out there alone." Ratchet apologized.

He waited for Arcee to wake up, tears were in his eyes. Suddenly, she came around.

"You're awake!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"Ratchet, I..." Arcee trailed off when her mate spoke.

"No need to say anything, I'm just glad you're all right."

He kissed her cheek and brought Arcee close to him.

"And the sparklings?" She asked.

"They're fine, I was so worried that I would have to do a C-section but I don't." Ratchet answered.

"You should get some rest,"

Arcee nodded, she stood up and limped out of the medical bay. Ratchet quickly went to help her and walked her to their bedroom.

After settling in, Arcee fell asleep. Ratchet left for a minute and told everyone what happened. Later he went back to Arcee and laid next to her.

Optimus smiled at the sight and left them alone. After all Arcee had been through she couldn't have found a better mate to look out for her.

"I won't let this happen again. I promise." Ratchet whispered before falling asleep..