Author's Note: Haha—dang you guys. That's a lot of freaking reviews! Sorry for the long update! I've been busy drawing my baby Starscream, if you'd like to see, I'm Oleatus at DeviantArt. There will be more of Skywarp and him, too, in the near future. Well, please enjoy this chapter! And thanks every single one of you for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Chapter 6: Sewing the Family

Thundercracker groaned.

"Silence your complaining!" Megatron barked, throwing something obscure at his last Seeker of the trio. "I'm going to get those children if it's the last thing I do!"

Then I supposed getting energon doesn't matter to you, does it? Thundercracker muttered to himself, but refrained from getting himself in anymore trouble. It had almost become an obsession with the silver tyrant—Get. The. Children. It seemed his mainframe was wrapped around that single goal and that alone, and nothing else mattered. Not even throwing his soldiers' lives at the cause. It was starting to get ridiculous and the sapphire one was beginning to lose not only his patience, but his respect for Megatron's authority as of late. No wonder he was acting more and more like his younger brother with each passing breem.

"They're going to Arizona to aid a human scientist to use solar panels for energy," the Decepticon leader continued, rising from his throne. "It'll be a perfect opportunity to use the environment to our advantage. There are several rock structures around a lake there that will offer protection against our adversary."

As well as them, Thundercracker thought.

"From this, we'll take Skywarp and Starscream for our own," Megatron continued as he walked down from the podium before suddenly turning, facing his Seeker as he growled, "And think not of disobeying me."

Thundercracker merely returned with his chin up in mock respect, pursing his lips somewhat. "We don't even know how they—"

"It has no matter," the ancient mech interrupted, facing his back the other as he stalked out of the room. "It has no matter whatsoever…"

"Yeah, well, see what happens when you get turned into a baby-bot," Thundercracker grumbled under his breath, crossing his arms in defiance while refusing to move for a moment. Even with his fellow Decepticons' threats to get his aft in gear, he still chose to deny what was going on. But he couldn't help it—after all, it took so much care and goodness to bring Starscream back from what he had turned to after that slagging youngling eater, walking tin-can, son-of-a-glitch had done to him. It took…so long.

"Let's go, Thundercracker," Hook murmured. "Quit your whining and we can get some good Autobot aft-kicking in."

"So long, indeed…" he whispered.

--

"Me?" Sunstreaker asked, cocking his head. "Why do I have to do it?!"

"Because you're the only one whom Skywarp listens to anymore," Optimus replied smoothly, "Just as Starscream retrieves the greatest trust from your brother, Skywarp looks up most to you."

The golden Autobot completely lost his cool—he'd had enough of the little ball of energy before; he didn't need to it to become a daily routine. Throwing his arms in the air, he growled, "He does to you, too!"

"Yes, but I'm leader," the other murmured, pure amusement written across his face, "I have to watch over everybody—I don't think I could watch over two children as well, besides my cohorts. Don't worry, my friend, you'll do fine."

With that, the red-and-blue mech deposited the temporarily relaxed, somewhat sleepy mini Decepticon (due to Prime's cooing) into Sunstreaker's hold. "He's your charge, now, personally appointed by me. Enjoy it while you can, all right?"

The yellow cohort gave his leader an infuriating stare, silently boiling but replied with nothing as to so humor Prime's wishes. Of course, it wouldn't nearly be such a difficult task if they weren't out in the wide open. But naturally, everything was placed on his shoulders with the little twerp, especially in the worst of times. Who did the Autobots think he was? He wasn't good with younglings, no matter the race, and definitely not his own! Besides, it wasn't like Mirage or Raindance weren't the most primary choice, either. Grumbling to himself about unfairness and obscenities, he placed the sleepy-from-the-sun Skywarp on his shoulder. What exactly was he supposed to do if the Decepticons were supposed to come around? It wasn't like they were exactly interested in getting energon or beating the crap out of Autobots anymore; they wanted the kids. Big time.

Sunstreaker sighed.

But, for all his complaining, he realized one thing: might as well spend his time doing something resourceful—at least in Skywarp's standards.

As Optimus patted his shoulder affectionately and his eyes clearly showed gratitude, he then shifted and started walking back towards the human's science center to aid Ratchet and Wheeljack and everybody else with the solar panels. Also parting ways, Sunstreaker strode over to his brother who was throwing Starscream up and down in the air, making obscene noises as he did so. His twin rolled his optics while walking over to the water, knowing that at least the cool liquid could help the little one not get overheated and lead the way to a very miserable time. Kneeling down on the red and white combination of smooth rock, Sunstreaker skidded out a little and let the water rise to his calves. Bending over, then, he let the now fully awake and gleeful Skywarp into the pool.

"There ya go, kiddo," Sunstreaker murmured with a grin, cupping his hand to pour water over the little one's head. "Get all cooled off…"

Suddenly, however, the golden Autobot flew head over heels and was thrown into the water, a cackling sounding before his body hit the water and he went under. Already, however, Sunstreaker knew what had happened and was prepared to kill something that distinctly looked red and white with a stupid grin on his face. Growling, the twin pushed against the bottom of the pool and surfaced again, the thought of murder on his mind as he noticed his brother snickering profusely at his victory. Starscream was at the base of his feet, balance between one leg and the other because the surface area of the rock being so hot.

"If you would stop your stupidity for once," Sunstreaker grunted, crossing his arms, "You'd realize your charge's feet are burning."

Sideswipe's cackling hitched in his throat before he glanced down and noticed his mistake, scooping the little one up before anymore damage could be done. Cooing gently, probably without noticing it, the crimson twin then stepped into the water as well, nuzzling Starscream in attempts for apology. As always, the passive miniature Decepticon seemed pleased that the elder had simply noticed his distress and took it away from him, as well as enjoying the attention. Much like their bath time rituals, Sideswipe then kept the little one to his chest as he immersed himself in the cool liquid before swimming out a distance, Starscream still clutching it him. It appeared that over the last several weeks, especially after the Decepticon raid to gain the younglings, the ivory Seeker's trust in Sideswipe only strengthened, much to the level of Optimus, the more things he did with him. Bath times were only pleasant when Sideswipe was around—along with anything that dealt with water, heights or anything else Starscream was afraid of.

And how I ended up with Skywarp, I'll never know, Sunstreaker grumbled to himself as he circled the little one, making air bubbles from his mouth as he went.

A happy squeal was rewarded for the action, Skywarp extremely thrilled at what his elder was doing. Sunstreaker then stopped, smiling smugly just underneath the surface of the lake before earning a pout from the youngling, an upturned lip showing his displeasure. Clicking angrily, Skywarp cupped two hands together to shove a wall of water at the other, for what intentions Sunstreaker did not know of other than to try to make the older mech continue. Naturally, he was only amused by the action.

"What's wrong?" he asked underneath the lake, earning more bubbles. "You want something?"

Skywarp giggled after his surprise passed before dipping his own mouth to the water and blowing. Little bubbles resulted, Sunstreaker responding by his own. Suddenly, it was war. Even as Sideswipe floated past with Starscream humming softly on his chest, the red twin noticed the two going at with as many bubbles as possible. Rolling his optics, he simply drifted on through the bay, basking somewhat in the midday sun. Luckily that they did not have skin, otherwise they would certainly have been burnt by now, especially in this one-hundred and fifteen degree weather, but their external shells still heated up, proved by Starscream's example. Since younglings were incapable of controlling their body/core temperatures, just the rocks alone were enough to cause damage to their feet or anywhere else. Thus, they had to wait till evening to spend time on the rocks or even the sand, since that, too, rose to ridiculous temperatures.

Suddenly, Sideswipe's thoughts were cut short when three figures leapt in the air and blocked the sun briefly before descending to the waters below, shouts prominent as the red twin attempted to removed himself from the area.

When they collided and a tidal wave of water consumed Sideswipe's form (Starscream staying above the ruckus because of the joker's outstretched arms), accompanied by soft rain just from the wave itself. Once over with, Sideswipe resurfaced before glaring at the offenders, snarling, "Watch where you're diving, you tin-head, megalomaniac slaggers!"

"Sideswipe, watch your language!" Wheeljack snapped from the edge of the cliff on the other side of the bay, just a distance away from the science clinic.

The twin flinched. He's after me every single time, I swear—

"Sorry 'bout that!" Bumblebee said with apology written across his tone, swimming away awkwardly as his body adjusted to its surroundings.

"Say that when Starscream eats it cause you guys were idiots!" Sideswipe snarled, keeping his profanity tame.

It wasn't good enough.

"Sideswipe! What did I just tell you!?" the inventor continued to rant, turning from his conversation with Ratchet.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"I think he's a bad influence…" Jazz murmured as he floated past, casting a funny glance towards the twin. It was understandable that he should be doing that, after all, he had grown attached to Starscream earlier when they were just getting used to having the kids around. The special OPS thought it was discretely unfair that Sideswipe should overtake Starscream's life when it was up to the entire team to make him feel at home. He'd almost become jealous (before punching out Cliffjumper's lights for suggesting such a thing and stomping off), before it had become his mission to make Sideswipe's life miserable trying to care for the youngling. "All that bad language is going to get stuck in his processor."

"And like you're any better," Sideswipe muttered non-too-gently whist easing back into the water.

What he realized, and to his horror, however, was that there was a certain mini-Con missing when he did so. "Starscream!?" he gasped, glancing about.

"You two need to chill," Ironhide said quietly while drifting away on his belly while a trembling Starscream clutched his back. "Your anger will get stuck in processor just as much if you don't attempt to get along."

"But it's not fair!" Jazz finally blurted, heaving himself to his feet while stabbing a finger towards the crimson twin, "He gets to spend time constantly with Starscream while none of us have the chance to do so! Eventually the little bot is going to see us as nothing but a load of stranger's under Prime's command!"

"And what's the problem with that?!" Sideswipe countered, throwing his arms into the air, "Just 'cause I get to spend a bit more time with Starscream, you go psycho! He trusts me—why shouldn't he be with a person he trusts?!"

"'Cause it doesn't give him a chance to trust us!" Jazz retorted, his stance turning defensive. "What's he going to do when you're not around and we're all in trouble!? He might end up hesitating and it'll get him killed!"

As the two proceeded to go at it, a bit calmer Starscream heaved himself higher on Ironhide's back and whispered into his receivers, "Why are they fighting…?"

"You're very special," the weapons specialist replied gently, nuzzling him with a finger on a free hand, "Everyone wants to spend time with you."

"With me? Why me?" Starscream asked, seemingly perplexed by their actions.

Ironhide paused a moment to come up with the right words, having to avoid giving the whole you're-not-really-a-fresh-sparkling away while keeping it simple enough for him to understand. "We all love you so much," he finally said, the mere words bringing a smile to the little one's worried features, "We're like your family…your brothers. Optimus is like our dad, too, and you're the littlest of our brothers, along with Skywarp. We just want to all spend time with you."

"Skywarp's a little crazy, though," Starscream admitted, a smug grin coming across his face. It held hints of his previous personality with it—pride. He knew this, he'd seen it before. And Ironhide had a distinct feeling that wouldn't be the last time he saw it.

"Yeah, for Primus-know's-why," Ironhide grumbled.

"He told me he lived in an orphanage before here," the ivory one suddenly mentioned, making the weapons specialist twitch in surprise, "And so they all had to fight for attention. That was before his cousin came and got him."

"His cousin? Who wa—is his cousin?" Ironhide asked, being aware to keep things in the present-tense.

"Dunno," the youngling replied, "But he was big. And he could fly."

Well, that depletes about two thirds of the population, water and earth-bound, the body guard mused to himself, now only to figure out the mass population of Seekers, helicopters and space-oriented fliers…if he's not dead yet, of course.

"I see, well that makes sense," Ironhide murmured, knowing that this valuable piece of information would be extremely useful to Optimus and Sunstreaker (who seemed to be his new guardian, since everybody else was afraid waking up spray-painted in the human color spectrum), "Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else he said to you?"

"He says Sunstreaker is not like his cousin," Starscream added, encouraged from the positive reaction of Ironhide, "His cousin was kind and gentle. And he was strong and fast and he punched the orphanage leader. Skywarp also says he misses him a lot…he doesn't know where he went, so also why he's acting crazy."

"Wow," Ironhide muttered aloud, unable to help himself. "So if we find this miracle-worker, Skywarp will chill out, huh?"

"Yeah," Starscream said, grinning profusely as the violet ball of energy shot across the surface of the water with the aid of his underdeveloped boosters, even at Sunstreaker's attempts to restrain him, "But he likes Sunny 'cause he's like his best buddy. They get along 'cause they act the same way."

Ironhide smirked, noticing the proof as the yellow twin let out a string of soft-worded curses (gaining a glare from Wheeljack nevertheless) before leaping out into the water to chase after his charge. "You can say that again. Why does he keep tackling you, though?"

"Tackling?" Starscream asked, cocking his head, "He doesn't tackle me."

"Then what does he do when he rams into you like he does?"

"That's how he hugs others."

…

"Oh."

Ironhide fell silent, trying to imagine the blurry picture of linking such a hard tackle with something soft and affectionate, like hugging. Skywarp, however, was an extremist—it was obvious in his previous personality, so why should it change here? Oh, yes, because Starscream's personality was basically the bi of what it was before…so then why did Skywarp act the same?

"When did you meet Skywarp?" Ironhide decided to ask, just because he doubted that he would hold Starscream at such a length beyond this conversation.

"…When…uh…" Starscream began, gnawing at his thumb, "When…when you wanted me to fly and Skyfire took me…that's the first time I saw him. I don't really understand what happened, though."

Uh-oh. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Ironhide suddenly felt a spurt of lack of common sense at his action, realizing that the little bot might attempt to question what had gone on, also revealing what happened to him. He had to fix this—fast. "That reminds me," he began, feeling his spark pulse beat quick, "Why are you afraid of heights?"

Starscream twitched at the question, glancing away in an emotion Ironhide silently cursed himself for (again)—shame. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said to make up the loss.

"I…I want Optimus," the little one whispered, ducking his head into the crevice of the weapons specialist's neck. "Please…"

"All right," Ironhide murmured, easing Starscream from his shoulder and standing up from kneeling in the water, putting him into the crook of the elder's arm. "We'll go and see him. You want to go and watch the holovid, too?"

Glancing up, optics somewhat watery, the mini-Decepticon nodded while wrapping an arm around his thick neck, relaxed in the strength of his powerful arms. Ironhide spared himself a smile despite the situation, feeling the warmth of love at just the fact Starscream spared the older mech some of his trust. It was honestly a great honor—Starscream wasn't one to leave his good-will in the hands of others, especially when it came to strangers. But, from this action alone, Ironhide felt content in knowing that he was no longer a stranger to his little friend.

They would all, eventually, be like his family.

"Eat plasma, you sorry excuse for a tin can!" snarled Sideswipe as he raised his missile launcher, having finally enough of the argument to verbally take it on anymore. "We'll see who's the one most worthy of Starscream now!"

"Bite me, you slagger!" Jazz threw back, heaving his own, smaller cannon towards the other in a positive response to the other's challenge.

If they could just learn to be a family in themselves.

--

"If I ever hear you two say such words in front of those younglings again," Wheeljack stated dangerously after the severe beating he had given the silver OPS agent and jouster twin, "I swear I'll take you two apart and make you into toaster ovens, after I discharge you from the Caretaker Assignment! Skywarp and Starscream are not toys or weapons you two can simply bicker over—they're living mechs that deserve the support of all the Autobots. Now, Prime, Ratchet and I will decide alone who the two will stay with; with or without your ridiculous comments, understood!?"

Two ducked heads nodded, hands nursing their dented armor from the aftereffects of Wheeljack's wrath. Boy, that guy certain had a bark, but the two never knew until now how strong his bite actually was—and it was painful.

"I still think it's unfair," Jazz muttered.

"Well, you certainly could've told us this without your colorful vocabulary and in front of Starscream himself—now he's blaming himself for the situation you put yourselves in!" Wheeljack snapped, shaking his head. "The poor thing…you do realize that whenever he's feeling guilty, that he doesn't eat?"

"He doesn't?!" Sideswipe exclaimed, pure worry consuming his tone and his expression. "Why not?"

"Why do you think? If he feels guilty for make you two fight, then he obviously feels like he doesn't deserve the nourishment he needs," the other retorted, crossing his arms. "Now go and aid Bumblebee with the solar panels. They're not done yet—they won't be for another couple hours, and we need all the help we can get."

The pair sighed while rising to their feet from sitting, doing as they were told. Both seemed to be sluggish and tired, however, after all their fighting and bickering, as it seemed to only worsened the situation. Wheeljack appeared to see this. That's why he had used the guilt trip to its full advantage—because if he did not, they both knew, the two would probably go at it again. For Prime, Ironhide and Sunstreaker whom were sitting with the kids in living space of the science laboratory, they all had a strange feeling it wouldn't be the last time the Autobots would have arguments about the younglings. They were just too big in their lives at this point; Megatron seemed to have abandoned his attempts on gaining energon, leading him away from humans and towards the Autobots. Thus, there were no more threats to life on the land.

It was like a very bad omen.

Without his concentration on anything else, Wheeljack then mused to himself, scowling, it'll be like we're at war only for the sparklings, and nothing else. They have now become the ultimate prize, even against our failing planet. What could Megatron be thinking at this point? Was he too enveloped in Starscream's rebelliousness to ignore the Seeker's missing presence beyond this point? Oh, Primus…give us guidance and protect us if that's the case.

The inventor's deep thoughts were suppressed and interrupted, however, when he, along with the rest of the squad, heard the most distinct thing—soft, gentle, and utterly beautiful.

"Do you hear that…?" asked Hoist who had stopped from his work to listen.

"Sh!" Sideswipe interrupted.

All the mechs (and humans) currently in the science room—which was everyone, save Optimus, Ironhide and Sunny—halted to listen to the entrancing sound, a few even shuttering their optics to concentrate better. It was the lightest thing; barely audible to human ears, Spike's, Sparkplug's and Chris's, but it was strong and nearly spark-tugging to the Autobots. Wheeljack felt overwhelmed; it was in a Transformer's accent, but in French words. They were fast-paced, but thick in beauty and in perfection; whoever was singing was striking them all:

Vois sur ton chemin

Gamins oubliés égarés

Donne leur la main

Pour les mener

Vers d'autres lendemains

"Is that Starscream?" Sideswipe suddenly piped up, glancing about before bolting from the room.

Wheeljack groaned, refraining from smacking his face against the computer consol in front of him. That blasted, ignorant dolt…sighing nevertheless, he himself couldn't deny the curiosity the mere sound had brought about and followed the impatient crimson twin towards the rec room. Lights above their heads abruptly flickered, brightening and then dimming excessively, nearly making the line of alien robots behind the inventor run into him. Confused mumbles dominated for a brief moment before the song shorted out. It happened before they arrived, but was quickly replaced by another: this time in English. The lyrics were like silk, almost, starlight and pretty candles at night. At least, whenever he heard such a voice, that's what the silver mech thought he saw.

Dancing bears,

Painted wings,

Things I almost remember,

And a song someone sings

Once upon a December.

Having quite enough, Wheeljack pushed Sideswipe from the lead and took it up himself, opening the door to the rec room before his optics truly held a sight: Starscream sat on Optimus's knee, several pairs of gazes held, captivated, upon his tiny figure. Skywarp, who should've either been knocking his Seeker brother over or somehow else making a havoc, was utterly silent as he made strange movements with his body. They were wonderfully fluid—like water. Violet and obsidian water, original in every way, but capturing a strange sense of nostalgia. When Wheeljack backed the others out of the room, however, keeping them hushed as they left the song-filled area before being discovered by the children, was that he was dancing to Starscream's voice.

"What's going on?" Sideswipe whispered impatiently, wanting desperately to see his charge.

The florescent lights once again blinked on and off, growing almost blindly bright before dimming annoyingly. Wheeljack ignored them. "You saw it; Starscream was singing and Skywarp and dancing in rhythm."

There was a ripple of gasps that was sent through humans and mechs alike with one thing on their processors; how in the world did this happen?

"Why do the lights keep flickering?" Jazz snapped with just as much irritation as the ivory inventor was feeling at that point.

Wheeljack held still for a moment, briefly glancing up as if accepting the problem before bringing his gaze back down and, scanning over the crowd, muttered, "Stay."

What reciprocated was several 'boo's and groans together in chorus, but he quickly overlooked them, slipping into the room while shutting the door quietly behind him. Starscream was still there, singing gently while keeping his optics lingering on Skywarp and, every time the little purple one could spare it, also gave a glance towards his brother. The balance of beauty, quietness and utter hauntingly softness of the words to the symmetric moves was nearly frightening to Wheeljack—how long had he heard a child sing? Never, in all honesty, had he truly gotten the opportunity to partake such a colossal event. He knew why the lights were flickering.

The song then ended, Skywarp ending with a graceful finale before settling just under the place where Starscream sat, bowing deeply. Their audience clapped politely, the ivory mini-Con also showing his gratitude by lowering his body and smiling. Wheeljack joined while casting an odd glance to Optimus: he also knew what this was.

Because children had neither strong armor or even developed weaponry or escape systems (tires, exhaust, booster, etc.), they were forced to use other methods, often extremely powerful ones, for the sake of their survivals. It usually wasn't similar between one child or the other how this power was transfixed; and, sometimes, it became so diverse that while one child could produce energy, one would have to control it. It appeared that Starscream's voice was this case: while the young one was able to create power from simply the electrons in the air around him, he wasn't able to become mobile in order to control it…which brought Skywarp into the picture. His dance moves was able to harbor the energy and either break it down again, or simply disperse it entirely. If he truly was threatened, however, he could possibly use that energy in a form of attack…perhaps even a lethal one.

"That was beautiful, Starscream," Optimus said with a soft expression, rubbing his back affectionately. "As were you, Skywarp. Your performances were most spark-warming."

"Thank you," Starscream replied graciously, bowing once more.

"Tank ya!" Skywarp added.

Prime, Wheeljack stated through the comm. link, giving him a knowing gaze.

I know, but not right now…it makes sense, though, that Starscream should be taught to remain silent because of this ability as a child, Optimus mused, using his thick fingers to smooth over the sensitive circuits of his back, sparklings often grow out of these abilities, too…I'm surprised he hasn't already.

Well, that doesn't matter right now…we'll find out sooner or later anyways. But we need to test the capacity of this. I don't want to end up being a crumpled mess after Starscream gets threatened and Skywarp comes to his rescue, Wheeljack reminded him, his expression turning pained for a moment. Such energy could easily crush our thick armor.

Prime said nothing to that, merely keeping his gentle gaze on Starscream. The little one smiled and bobbed his legs, utterly content with the consistent massage he was receiving. He then stopped, his features turning from passive to terrified all in one swoop, his body twitching harshly towards the direction of the east. Skywarp, in noticing the other's fright, leaped upon Optimus's leg before planting himself firmly in Starscream's lap and hugging the other's arms around him. For the larger, however, he kept trained yet petrified optics towards a single place. He obviously was hearing and seeing something the other's couldn't.

"What is it, Starscream?" Optimus asked gently.

The ivory one didn't move, however, he stood stock-still and then murmured, almost inaudibly, "Megatron is outside."

--

A/N: Hahaha! You'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see what's gonna happen next! For some reason, I didn't like this chapter as much as the last one. It didn't seem to have as much flow…I dunno. (shrugs)

Read and review, please.