There are two versions of Nemesis that I write about. Either he's his own bot, or he's stuck in Optimus' head. If you ask me, I like when the brothers fight over one body, one identity. Optimus gets most of the control, but Nemesis wants to fight for it, and he tries to take it over every chance he gets.

Optimus was determined not to wake up in Arcee's quarters again. So he busied himself with work, and forced his optics to stay wide open. But, Nemesis coaxed him to fall asleep.

He walked into his mate's quarters and he stopped at her fearful optics.

"I'm carrying," she mumbled. Tears were forming in her optics. "I thought I couldn't carry...I told Cliffjumper I couldn't...but I could...I can..." She was holding the blankets over herself, so Nemesis couldn't see if she was serious or not.

And then the blankets twitched, and he walked closer after shutting the door. He pulled the blankets back and smiled at her belly.

It was rounded perfectly. She must have gotten carrying when he first fragged her, which was wonderful. That meant his brother's body wasn't sterile after all, and he could stop teasing him.

He sat beside her. "That's wonderful...I mean, sad that you didn't frag with Cliffjumper when you had the chance, but you're carrying now, I mean..." He pulled her to her pedes. "Wonderful..."

He stroked her belly, expecting to just feel one, but instead he felt two pairs of pedes and four servos pressing against his own. He looked at her with wide optics.

"What's wrong?" She clutched her belly.

"Well..." He stood slowly. "Either our child is horribly, horribly defected, or we have twins."

"Split-sparks?"

"Arcee, don't be silly." He smiled and he kissed her. "No, not split-sparks. Just twins. Regular, ordinary twins."

She purred gently and pushed back at his chest. "Not ordinary."

Nemesis smiled, and then his optics shorted out as Optimus took over. He had woken up, and was secretly worming back into his body. The last step was to force his brother back, and once that was complete, he got his body back.

He saw Arcee's belly and he wailed, backing up. "Look what I have done to you..."

Arcee scoffed. "You didn't. Nemesis did."

He whimpered gently and he touched her belly, feeling the twins. Optimus felt like getting sick, but he held his Energon in his tank and he fell to his knees. "Forgive me. I should have had Ratchet zap him out or something...look at you, Arcee!"

"I'm carrying. It's not like it's a curse."

"You are carrying my sparklings!"

"You aren't." Arcee grabbed his face. "Nemesis sired them, and Nemesis and I can take care of them. You just have to let him out during the night."

Optimus gaped at her. "It is not like I can let him out. He takes control. Have you ever been in a fishbowl? It is like you are there, mostly. You can hear and see, but you cannot feel. Nemesis feels like he is in a fishbowl in the morning, and I feel like I am sleeping in a fishbowl at night. It is not a pleasant feeling."

Arcee opened her mouth to apologize, but then Nemesis took control.

"Sorry about that," he said as he locked his brother away. "He can be a strutless baby sometimes."

Arcee nodded and she laid down in her berth, coaxing him to lay down beside her.

They laid like for as long as possible, and then Optimus bolted, but it was later than the last time.

Nemesis was getting better at keeping his brother under control, and it scared Optimus.

Would there be a day when Optimus barely saw light?