Title: Keep It Together

Author: DeviousGypsy

Summary: Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.

Warnings: Slash, mech-preg, the like :P

Pairings: Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp

Chapter: II

Notes: Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! I hope this chapter is to your liking as well, as the feedback helped me to throw this out quicker than I probably would have. Slightly shorter than I'd have liked but the next chapter will get more into where the plot is. Enjoy!

Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute

Surprisingly, when Starscream did enter the Command Centre, he didn't seem furious at all. In fact, if Megatron had to five the Seeker's attitude a description, he'd have to say that Starscream was nothing if not a little bewildered. Megatron decided it would probably prove to be in his best interest if he didn't question the Seeker's attitude at all, passing it off as Starscream being surprised at waking up seemingly out of his heat cycle. Unfortunately that was not Starscream's thoughts, at least not completely.

Knowing there was only one reason for him to come out of heat this early, Starscream was a little more than bewildered. Terrified seemed a little more appropriate word. Terrified of the possibility of Megatron finding out that Starscream was potentially carrying his heir. He couldn't even begin to imagine Megatron's reaction. Immediate deactivation of the new spark. A beating that could surely deactivate Starscream himself. No outcome he could come up with sounded pleasant, and he wasn't willing to have any of it.

So, the only option Starscream could think of was to keep the sparklet a secret from the silver warlord. Seeker protocols that made them well known for carrying and raising sparklings before the way, prevented any thought of deactivating the sparkling himself before Megatron could even think to put the pieces together. He tried to completely ignore the linger question of what he was going to do with the sparkling after it was out, knowing that he'd be unable to hide a sparkling successfully within the Nemesis without someone finding out.

On the other servo, Starscream couldn't bring himself to deny the fact that he was rather revealed at the fact that it was Megatron-out of any other Decepticon on base-that found him in the state that he had been in. Megatron was strong enough to lead the Decepticons, and his spark had obviously felt that Megatron's coding was potent enough to spark him. Had it been anyone else on the Nemesis-protocols be damned-he would have ripped the damn thing out of his chassis still pulsing.

Starscream seemed to be completely lost in thought, and though Megatron felt comfortable now that he wasn't working with a Starscream painted Skywarp, he couldn't help but admit that he was starting to miss the Seeker's voice. The cocky and boisterous Air Commander seemed to have taken a vacation and left nothing but the thoughtful scientist behind. As unsettling as it was, he was simply grateful that whatever had possessed Starscream to go into heat was gone and his SIC could return to his duties.

Starscream's shift seemed to pass by without him even knowing, Soundwave having to pull Starscream from whatever trance seemed to have captivated him so that Starscream could leave his shift and let the next 'Con on. Shaking his helm slightly as if to clear his processor, Starscream walked out of the Command Centre, noticing that neither Skywarp nor Thundercracker were there. Deciding to make a short stop by his trine mate's quarters before he retired to either his own quarters or the rec room-he was still debating-he turned himself in that direction.

If there was by chance an infant spark taking refuge in his spark chamber, he could count on his trine mates to either confirm or deny and to keep their mouths shut about the whole ordeal. He attempted his normal strut down the corridors, walk usually filled with an air of command and superiority, yet it was more difficult with the fear weighting him down, thoughts seeming to drag his optics to the floor. He passed the rec room, looking in to see how many bots were occupying said room. There weren't too many, but for now more than he felt comfortable with.

Upon reaching his trine's quarters, Starscream didn't bother knocking or buzzing in, Starscream had the codes to their room and they had the codes to his. Starscream had walked in on them in more than a few awkward situations, and after the fourth or fifth time he stopped being surprised. Luckily though he seemed to have come at the choice time, Thundercracker seated at the desk looking over a few data pads scattered around him while Skywarp sat on the berth cleaning his null ray.

Both Seekers looked towards the door when they heard it opening, slightly surprised to find their Air Commander standing there. Skywarp was the first to movie, launching himself at the red and white mech. "Starscream! I was so worried about you!" Skywarp cried, slightly surprised that he wasn't immediately thrown off. "I'm so sorry," he added, "Megatron didn't beat the slag out of you too much right?" Looking his trine leader over Skywarp scoffed, "Hook must have done a good job, I don't see any fresh weld marks anywhere!"

Shrugging Skywarp off, Starscream moved closer to the berth, sitting on it while Skywarp followed and Thundercracker turning in his chair, watching Starscream with scrutinizing optics. Shaking his helm, Thundercracker moved his optics to Skywarp, "No, you idiot. Megatron didn't beat Starscream," he informed his rather unobservant bond mate.

Optics brightening in realization Skywarp's shock wore off to a coy smile. "Finally got fragged, Screamer?"

Starscream's crimson optics turned to glare at Skywarp, "Yeah," he hissed, "Fragged enough to knock me out of my heat cycle." Optics widening in realization, Skywarp's mouth slightly dropped open. "Got it now?"

Thundercracker sighed, standing from his seat to walk towards Starscream. "Alright, did you spark merge while interfacing?"

Heaving a cycle of air out of his vents Starscream threw his servo out. "I don't remember, I was completely out of it at that point." Shaking his helm, he off-lined his optics, "I'd assume so, it was all instinctual, I wasn't thinking at all." Pausing long enough to breath out a dry laugh. "I'm willing to guess he wasn't either."

Skywarp, draping himself over Starscream's back while running soothing fingers over his leader's delicate wings, informed him, "It's your scent, it stimulates the frame and dulls the CPU."

Thundercracker moved towards the desk again, opening one of the draws and pulling out a monitor used for checking the spark and determining if one had been sparked. Looking at Thundercracker with a rather confused expression, Starscream asked; "Why in the Pit do you have that just casually in your desk draw?"

Rubbing the white wings in a soft circular motion, as Skywarp knew the motion made Thundercracker relax even in the most stressful of times, Skywarp leaned closer to Starscream, his chassis flush against Starscream's wings so that he could see what Thundercracker was doing. "Oh, I warped in the med bay and stole it from Hook when I was worried TC'd gotten me sparked. We've kept it around just in case."

"Open up," Thundercracker told Starscream, bending to one knee in order to be optic level with Starscream's spark. Doing as Thundercracker asked, he bared his spark, casting Thundercracker in a blue glow. Thundercracker pressed the monitor close to the pulsing spark, flicking it on as it diagnosed the status of Starscream's spark. About a breem later the device beeped quietly and began humming, Thundercracker pulled it away, Starscream closing his chassis as the blue mech stepped away.

"Well, what does it say?" Starscream asked, spark pulsing slightly faster in anticipation.

"Hold on, the results are being gathered," Thundercracker explained, "It's not like the Decepticons ever had to worry about someone getting sparked, so they don't exactly have the greatest technology to locate a new spark." Again the device beeped, the humming stopping and enveloping the room in silence, save for Skywarp's fingers caressing Starscream's wings. The blunt fact that Starscream had yet to push Skywarp off proving how completely absorbed in the situation in front of him he was. "Well, it's a really light mark but it's there."

"So," Starscream started, optics brightening, "I'm sparked?"

Handing the device over to Starscream, Thundercracker pointed out the occasional blip in the readings. "That's when the new spark crosses in front of the device," Thundercracker told him, "So yes, you're sparked."

Dropping his optics to the floor, his head fell in exasperation. "Slag," he muttered, wings drooping as Skywarp stopped his kneading.

"Come on, 'Screamer!" Skywarp said, trying to bring Starscream out of whatever state of depression the SIC had fallen into. "A sparkling is something to celebrate, not to be sad about."

Starscream flicked his wings, causing Skywarp to slid off of him. "Not when the sparkling's Megatron's and produced by an interface that wasn't even supposed to happen." Starscream sighed, "You two cannot tell Megatron about this."

Skywarp let out a small whine, "Why not? He's the creator, he should be told about his own sparkling don't you think."

This time it was Thundercracker who sighed, "And how are you going to hide a sparkling on the Nemesis?"

"I'm not telling Megatron because that afthead would have us both offlined!" He informed them, throwing his servos in the air helplessly. "He doesn't like anything that's weak," the seeker muttered, optics dimming. "He'd destroy it before even thinking about it."

Seeing his trine leader fall deeper into the hole of depression, Skywarp frowned. "Hey, 'Screamer," he murmured, capturing the multi colored Seeker's attention. "TC and I'll help ya hide the sparkling."

Blinking Thundercracker asked, "We will?" at the same time Starscream asked, "You will?"

Smiling again, Skywarp laughed. "Of course we will! I'll just act like I'm carrying, besides I'm amazing at avoiding Hook, he won't even have to look at me. Then when you spark the little thing, TC and I'll pretend it's ours around people, but you can have your carrier time with it in your quarters and our quarters. Easy stuff." The two other Seekers sat there, staring stupidly at Skywarp, making the teleporting mech feel rather uncomfortable. "What?"

Thundercracker smiled slightly while turning to face Starscream, "Holy slag, did Skywarp just come up with a plan that actually made sense?"

Skywarp pouted, "That's not fair."

About to add in something, Starscream was interrupted by a ping, a com sent by Megatron flashing it's importance. Connecting with the com, Starscream responded; "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"Starscream," Megatron greeted, if one could call it that. "Get you and your trine to the Command Centre, we're discussing battle plans."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Starscream ended the com, beating Megatron to it and maintaining his cocky attitude around the silver warlord so as to not seem suspicious. "Megatron wants us in the Command Centre to discuss battle plans that I'm sure will fail." Frowning at the idea of Starscream in battle while carrying, he reluctantly stood, following Starscream out of the quarters he shared with Thundercracker.