IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE! PLEASE READ!
Due to the recent uproar concerning sexually explicit material on the site, this story has been edited from it's original state to conform to FFnet's ToS. I hate doing this, but I like keeping my stories here. The full, unedited version of this story, as well as those I cannot post here at all, will be available shortly on my Y-Gallery account (Takashidaimao, same as on here). Those who do not have a Y-Gallery account or do not have access to the site, feel free to drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do for you. I will fix this up a little better later, so please forgive the sloppy chop job for now. If by some miracle the petitions change the site owner's mind, I will put all the good bits back in. But, until then, this is what you get for now so I don't get banned.
Also, those who have read/favorited/reviewed my oneshot "I Wanna Hear You Scream" I greatly appreciate your support, but I will be taking the story down shortly as there is no way to edit it to conform to the ToS and still have a viable story. A copy has already been posted to my Y-Gallery.
Knock Out let out a yawn, stretching across his berth as he came out of recharge. He laid an arm across where his partner usually lay, but hit only the empty spot next to him. He sat up, rubbing his optics with the back of his servo. "Breakdown?" he mumbled out groggily, looking around the room. Breakdown seemed to have left already. That was strange... Usually the doctor had to fight to get his partner out of the berth. Since when did the big mech get up before him?
Knock Out left his quarters, planning to head for the medbay, assuming that's where his partner ran off to. However, he didn't need to go all that far. The door to the room right next to his own was wide open, and the doctor couldn't help but steal a peek inside. What he saw made him smile. Both Breakdown and Megatron were sitting in the middle of the room, trying to figure out how to put together one of the cribs that Knock Out had made for the sparklings, a task they were failing miserably at. Starscream sat off to the side in what resembled a rocking chair, a mildly amused yet exhausted look on his face. Of course, that didn't stop him from teasing the two large mechs.
"Honestly, Breakdown... It's anyone's guess how you managed to become a medical assistant. How can someone trust you to help put them back together when you can't even construct a simple child's berth?" the Seeker heckled with a small smirk. Breakdown let out an aggravated growl. "Hey, I don't see you doing anything!" he grumbled back, still trying to jam two pieces together in a futile attempt to prove the commander wrong. "He doesn't need to do anything!" Megatron snapped immediately, though Knock Out couldn't tell which the warlord was more frustrated with; Breakdown's complaining or the fact that he was having just as much trouble putting the thing together himself.
Suddenly, the smile on Knock Out's face disappeared. "Wait a minute! You're not really thinking about putting the twins' room next to mine, are you?" the doctor shouted. Megatron let out a small chuckle. "'Thinking about it' implies I haven't already come to a decision. Starscream's old quarters is the closest empty room to ours, so it only made sense to put the sparklings there. It just so happens that it's right next to yours." the warlord explained with a smirk. "Besides, should something happen I'd like them in close proximity to my chief medical officer."
Knock Out let out a scoff, rolling his optics. Now he was really wishing Breakdown had taken Starscream's old room when he had the chance. Speaking of Starscream, the Seeker had quite the smug look on his face, no doubt laughing on the inside. The doctor couldn't help but feel this was all his idea. Well, he couldn't exactly get even, but he could make himself feel a little better about it. "By the way, Starscream... I seem to remember telling you to stay in bed. The twins are due any day now. You shouldn't be wandering around like that." Knock Out reminded him, making sure Megatron especially heard him.
As expected the warlord stopped what he was doing, looking back at his mate. "And when were you planning to inform me of this?" he growled out, narrowing his optics. He knew he shouldn't have let Starscream go for his last examination alone... The Seeker gave him a nervous laugh. "Well... I didn't think it would be that much of a difference if I just sat in here... I mean, it's not like I'm running around on my own." he retorted weakly, giving his mate a small smile. Megatron vented a sigh, standing up and making his way over to where Starscream sat. "Come on..." he said insistently, holding out a servo. The Seeker let out a small groan of defeat, grabbing onto the larger mech's servo and letting him pull him up to his pedes. The warlord hooked an arm around his mate's back, leading him out into the hall.
"Help Breakdown with the rest of this, since you don't seem to have anything better to do." Megatron ordered as he passed by Knock Out, earning a small grumble of complaint from the doctor. The Captain's cabin was just a short walk down the hall from Starscream's old quarters. Once there, the Seeker was immediately lead into the bedroom and helped onto the berth. "I really don't see what the difference is between me lying here and sitting in there..." the Seeker grumbled out, folding his arms across his chestplates. "Just try to get some rest. Knock Out wouldn't have told you to stay in bed without a good reason." Megatron replied softly, resting a servo on his mate's arm. Starscream vented a sigh, but gave the warlord a smile. "Oh, alright..." he gave in, though he wouldn't admit to being as tired as he was so early in the day. Megatron leaned down and kissed the Seeker. "Thank you. I'll be in to check on you shortly."
"Wait..." Starscream began as his master turned to leave. Megatron stopped immediately, turning back with a concerned look in his optics. "Is something wrong?" he asked, to which the Seeker shook his helm. "No, everything's fine. I... I was just wondering... Could you stay a while? There's something I've wanted to talk to you about..." he replied hesitantly in little more than a mumble. He was still unsure if he should bring this up or not... Megatron raised a brow plate curiously, sitting down on the edge of the berth. Starscream sat up a bit himself, despite his aching body's protests. "Well… Actually, it's about something Optimus said while I was being held at the Autobot base."
"Prime? What's he said to you?" Megatron growled out. Optimus had no right to speak to his mate! Starscream rolled his optics. "It's nothing to worry about. He… He just gave me something to think about…" he began slowly. "Do you really think we should be raising children in the middle of a war?" the Seeker asked, resting a servo against his abdomen. Megatron let out a chuckle, shaking his helm a bit. "A little late to start thinking about that, isn't it?"
"Well, no… I know we can't do anything about the twins at this point, not that I'd ever want to… But perhaps we can still do something about the war part?" Megatron gave his Second a hard look, furrowing his brow plates. "What do you mean?" he asked, a slight tone of warning in his voice. Starscream hesitated to continue. "Can't you put an end to all this fighting? You and Optimus used to be as close as brothers, didn't you? Surely the two of you can come to some sort of agreement."
Megatron looked his Seeker over for a long moment, thinking. Then, he shook his helm. "I… I can't do that! If I surrender to Optimus, everything I've done will be for nothing! What's to stop the Autobots from going right back to the way things used to be if I just gave up? They'll execute the both of us and tell our children what monsters their parents were!" Megatron growled, bearing his shark-like denta. Starscream vented a small sigh, reaching up and cradling his mate's cheek in his palm. "That won't happen, love. Those who upheld the old ways are all long dead. Optimus is the only Autobot with any real authority left, and he's opposed the Senators just as much as you had." The Seeker assured softly, smiling up at the warlord. "Besides… He's already assured me that both myself and the twins would be kept safe. He said so long as you made an effort to end the war peacefully that he'd make sure we all stayed together. I'm not sure why, but… I want to believe him. I think it's worth trying, if only for our sparklings' sakes. Will you at least consider it?"
Megatron let out a heavy sigh, placing a servo over the one on his cheek. "Alright… I'll think about it…" the warlord whispered, a small smile spreading across his lips. "But I'm afraid I've got more important things to attend to at the moment." The smile on Starscream's face instantly disappeared, his optics narrowing. "What? What in the Pit do you have to do that you can't be bothered to simply think about something for me?" the Seeker growled out, glaring up at his mate as the warlord stood up from his seat at the edge of the berth. "Your seals just broke."
"WHAT?" Starscream shouted, sitting bolt upright. He looked down at the small pool of liquid that had formed between his legs. He let out a shriek, looking back up at his master with a panicked expression. Megatron helped the Seeker up to his pedes, leading him carefully down the hall towards the medbay.
"I'm going to fragging castrate you!" Starscream screeched as another contraction hit. He laid back on the medberth as the pain slowly faded, his intake cycling heavily. He kept a tight grip on Megatron's servo, though causing his mate pain did nothing to relieve his own. The warlord cringed slightly as his servo was squeezed again as if in a vice, his Seeker's cries resounding through the medbay. Still, he resisted the urge to pull away, even risking his free servo to wipe away the streams of coolant running down the smaller mech's cheeks. It bothered him that his mate's faceplates felt so hot, despite Knock Out's insistence that overheating was to be expected. Starscream looked down to see the doctor darting back and forth just past his spread legs, checking on his progress in between barking orders at his assistant. Breakdown was all over the place, practically tripping over himself in his haste to complete his partner's tasks.
"A-aah! I can feel its helm!" the Seeker shouted, immediately pulling the doctor's divided attention completely back to him. Knock Out's optics widened, a nervous smile on his face. "Whoah! Okay, the first one's coming! Starscream, when I say push, you need to give it all you've got!" the sports car instructed, to which Starscream gave a quick nod. "Now! Push!" The Seeker immediately let out an audio-splitting screech, his claws digging into the edge of the berth hard enough to bend the metal. Megatron stifled a small yelp, as his servo suffered much the same fate. Starscream couldn't remember a time he was in so much agony. It felt like someone was tearing him apart from the inside!
He wasn't given more than a few second's time to rest before the doctor was shouting at him to push again. Knock Out cradled the infant's silver helm as the Seeker pushed as hard as he could. "C'mon, just one more." he urged. The Aston Martin helped the sparkling's wings and shoulders free on the last push, which was all it took for the child to come out all the way. The screech that came from the infant's vocalizer rivaled that of his carrier. Knock Out wasted no time cutting the energon line and handing the seekerling over to his assistant, eager to get the wailing child away from his poor audio sensors, if only a short distance.
Breakdown had barely started to clean the infant up before he heard his partner telling Starscream to start pushing again. The second one came a lot quicker than the first, a pitch black helm emerging in seconds, the wings following shortly after. "Alright, this should be the last one…" Knock Out assured, preparing to help the child out with the last push. However, when the next contraction hit, Starscream didn't push. The doctor looked up in time to see the Seeker's optics go offline, his frame collapsing back against the berth. "Starscream!" Megatron shouted as his mate's servo went limp in his own. Knock Out cursed under his breath, immediately trying to pull the infant out as carefully as he could. Luckily Starscream's body was still trying to give birth even though he'd lost consciousness. Still, it would have been easier if he was helping…
Several tense seconds later, the room was filled with an infant's crying once again. Knock Out released the intake of air he'd been holding, relieved it was all over. Well, that part at the very least. After he cut the energon line he quickly handed the child over to Breakdown, immediately wiping his servos down with a cloth before rushing over to check on Starscream. His intake was very slow and shallow, he was severely overheated, and his energy levels were far too low, but he would live. "He just passed out. He'll be fine." Knock Out explained to Megatron as he hooked the Seeker up to an energon feed. The warlord still held onto his mate's servo stubbornly, refusing to move from his side. He was so focused on Starscream he hadn't noticed Breakdown approach him from the side.
"U-umm… Lord Megatron?" he began hesitantly. The warlord turned to face the one-eyed mech, an annoyed look on his face at first. That changed in an instant as Breakdown held out a tiny silver seekerling wrapped in a cloth for him to take. The infant let out a soft whine as he was passed to his sire's arms. Megatron couldn't believe how small he was. A smile spread across his face as the child opened his optics. They were red, just like his parents. The warlord ran a digit over the light golden chevron on the infant's forehelm. He let out a chuckle as the seekerling grabbed at his digit, that tiny servo barely able to wrap halfway around. Megatron glanced up when he heard the other child's crying die down. Breakdown cradled the black mechling against his chestplates, rocking him lightly. He vented a sigh, looking down at his unconscious mate. He hoped Starscream would wake up soon. He felt a little guilty for holding one of their children before their carrier got the chance to…
Starscream let out a groan as his optics came back online. His entire body felt like he'd been torn apart and stuck back together again with duct tape. He looked around the virtually deserted medlab, catching sight of Megatron sitting next to the berth, smiling down at him. "Good, you're awake. You had me worried…" the warlord said softly, resting a servo on his mate's shoulder. Starscream smiled back at up at him. "I'm fine…" the Seeker replied weakly. "What about the twins?" he asked, his smile fading slightly. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he'd somehow hurt one of his sparklings. Megatron turned away, taking a few steps over to the small berth that had been set up nearby. He returned seconds later carrying the silver seekerling in his arms.
Starscream's face lit up the instant he saw his mate with the infant. Megatron smiled as he passed the child to his mate, watching as he held him close against his chestplates, careful not to crush his tiny wings. "They still need names." The larger mech informed, keeping his voice low as to not upset the twins. Starscream looked the tiny silver sparkling over, running a digit along some of the soft gold trim on his shoulder plating. "Dawnbreaker…" the Seeker said in little more than a whisper. Megatron let out a chuckle. It was an appropriate name for the son of a gladiator…
Suddenly, an infant's crying rang out through the medbay. Dawnbreaker was practically asleep against his carrier's chestplates, which meant it had to be his brother. Megatron quickly walked back over to the small berth, picking up the sobbing seekerling. "He looks just like Skywarp." Starscream commented happily as his mate made his way back. The two of them traded the sparklings around, the little black one grabbing onto the edge of the Seeker's chetplates as he was laid down against them, still wailing loudly. Starscream vented a small sigh, letting his abdominal plates split open. He flinched slightly as he let the infant lay on his still sore protoform. The child's crying ceased instantly as he latched onto the port just above his carrier's gestation chamber, feeding off his parent's energon. The Seeker smiled, shaking his head a bit. Well, that was easy enough. He'd just been hungry.
"You'll have to be Knightfall." Starscream whispered out with a small chuckle, rubbing the seekerling gently between his wings. He still couldn't believe how much like his brother the little mech looked. He even had Skywarp's purple markings. Megatron leaned down, placing a soft kiss against his mate's lips. "They're perfect... You've done a fantastic job, love." He said with a broad smile. The Seeker pulled the warlord down, locking lips with him again. "Well, I had plenty of help."
And just so you know... No, I don't consider the birthing scene to be in violation of the ToS. But, if you think I should take it out to be safe, I can... I really feel like I'm freakin' neutering my story...