Chapter 51
-0-Med Bay on a couch
They stared at each other as Ironhide's servos gripped Ratchet's arms to hold him as if he couldn't let go. He couldn't. He stared at Ratchet as all sorts of thoughts traveled through his processor.
/... Oh, Primus! I'm a genitor... what do I do now? this is so new. .../
Then he figured out what he had to do. He hugged Ratchet again. He held him like he was solid platinum. To Ironhide at that moment, Ratchet was.
"This is nice."
The voice behind him pierced the intensity of Ironhide's emotions as he look at the big smile and comforting presence of Optimus Prime. He grinned. "I'm a genitor. Ratchet sparked."
Prime's smile was impossibly big as the emotion of the moment overwhelmed nearly everyone. Prowl who was standing just behind Prime in the narrow corridor squeezed past to hug Ratchet holding him for a moment to savor the miracle.
They all knew it, the importance of this singular event and the change for all of them that it could signify. They might not go extinct now. There could be a future for their race because of this.
Ironhide smiled as the internal emotional storm subsided a bit. "A sparkling. The first one. Ours."
"I hope it is the start of more," Prime said gripping Ironhide's arm. "More children for Autobot City and our people."
Ironhide nodded. "I agree." He glanced at Prowl, then Prime with a grin. "So when can we expect yours?"
Prime laughed.
Prowl shook his head as a smirk formed on his face. "He laughs," Prowl said grinning slightly. "Now."
Prime looked at Prowl with a wary optic as Ironhide laughed. "Maybe we should give them the rule book, Ratchet."
Prowl grinned.
Prime didn't.
-0-Bluestreak and Sunstreaker
Sunstreaker sat beside Bluestreak during the operation, his shoulder leaning against Blue's thigh. Blue had rested his servo on Sunny's shoulder but he hadn't spoken to him, a record of some sorts for the usually babbling Praxian gunner. Sunny who was uncertain about what it meant stayed by him ignoring his own rules and discomfort regarding public displays of affection.
By the time the event was over and the team was flying back home, Blue was uneasy. He stood up to walk away, hurrying out the door with unsettled feelings. He walked past the throng of mechs who were relieved and had gathered together to discuss the battles that had taken place, wishing they were there to be a part of it.
Blue hurried to the Rec Room wondering which way to go.
Sunstreaker who was hurrying along behind him stopped at the door to watch Blue turn this way and that.
Blue spotted Sunny there, then walked to a table to sit. He rested his elbows on the surface, his wings raised high with tension.
Sunstreaker, hesitating, walked over to sit beside him, scooting his chair next to Blue. He slipped his arm around the back of Blue's chair and leaned in close. Around them talking with relief and professional interest in the outcome were other mechs who were oblivious to the drama between the two. More were drifting in to sit and wait for Silverbolt to return. "Bluestreak, we have to talk."
"What about, Sunny? About this … prank? Is this a prank because I've seen you two compete and I don't like it a bit," Blue said as the anxiety on his face matched that in his voice. He clasped his digits, staring at them, then Sunstreaker. "What do you want, Sunny?"
"I want to talk to you. About things," Sunstreaker stammered, internally sighing as the usual bumbling came upon him when it came to disclosure. It shouldn't be this hard. It wasn't just 'someone'. It was Bluestreak. "I'd like to talk to you about things some place else. This isn't a good place."
Blue looked around, then at Sunstreaker. "I don't mind."
Sunstreaker, thwarted, rubbed his face with a servo. "Blue, I was just reading a story that Sideswipe found on a website. People write stories about us. They make things up and they tell stuff that they like. It's … its called fan fiction or something. It doesn't mean it applies to us. It's just for fun."
Blue looked at him a moment studying his expression, trying to gleam from his face what he really meant given their long history together, his understanding of the twins and their infernal competition and pranking. "Do you want a trine? You know what Prowl feels about tradition and stuff. I'm Praxian, too, Sunstreaker. It means something in Praxian families to have stable bonds."
Sunny sat back as confusion filled him. He felt the presence of Sideswipe in his processor, ever present even when he wasn't. "I don't know. I never thought about it until now. It was just you and me and I liked it. But you know how it is with Sideswipe and me, Bluestreak. I never hid from you how we're wired."
"Then you want a trine and this isn't some kind of joke. You want a trine with Sideswipe." Bluestreak looked at him with unwavering optics.
"I didn't say that," Sunny said shaking his head in frustration. "You're reading things into this that I didn't say."
"Then tell me, Sunny, what you mean," Blue said leaning closer, imploring him with a soft pleading tone. "I don't know what you want."
"Not here, Blue," he said glancing around. "Some place else. We can talk there."
"And Sideswipe? What about him? Does he have a say? Should he be there, too?" Blue whispered.
Sunstreaker stared at Bluestreak with his processor clouded with confusion and astonishment that his life could hit such a skid so quickly.
Blue shook his head, rose, then leaned down toward Sunstreaker. "Let me know when you figure it out. I'm not another one of your fragging partners. I'm not going to be a football in a game between you and Sideswipe. Hear me on this, Sunstreaker." Then he hurried away toward Ops Center and Med Bay.
Sunstreaker watching him rush away felt an irritation filling him. Rising himself, he walked to the hangar door to wait for Silverbolt and the return of his brother.
-0-Sideswipe
He rolled off the plane watching the stretcher bearing Jazz disappear into the hangar door. He was revved and the aftermath of combat still clung to him. He traded quips with the mechs congregating around the jet, joining them a moment to kid and joke around. As he did he searched the crowd for Sunstreaker and Bluestreak. Neither of them were here.
Not a good sign.
The strangeness of Sunny's mood since he left the island was on his processor, a moody uncertainty that was hard to quantify. It floated to him over their link and he didn't know what to make of it. He rolled inside slapping servos and trading insults, heading toward the shared quarters that he had with Sunstreaker.
-0-Med Bay
First Aid took control of the patient, trading information with Ratchet until Ratchet felt that he could leave. Nearby, waiting stoically to all but Ratchet's trained optic, Ironhide leaned on the doorjamb. He wanted to leave. Prime and Prowl had left, the bantering more than delightful. Those two were prime subjects to learn the Tao of Prank Warfare from the masters and he made a mental note to enjoy the hilarity of Prime's predicament with Prowl the Relentless.
Ironhide watched Ratchet, his optics never leaving him. He didn't look different, just the same actually as Ironhide realized he didn't know a slagging thing about sparklings except that they were cute, Primus given and one would be his. He felt a swell of emotion filling him, the idea of a little mech looking up at him with tiny blue optics, expecting his genitor, him, Ironhide to move the stars and the moon for him.
He would.
He would try.
He would be the best genitor that ever lived and this sparkling would be the most loved sparkling that ever lived.
Ratchet turned to leave, a smile forming on his lips as he walked toward Ironhide who took his servo. They left Med Bay together.
First Aid watched them go. "Finally, you glitch heads." Then he turned back to his job again.
-0-Sideswipe
He entered the room to see Sunstreaker sitting on his berth with a foul expression on his face. "Sunny?"
Sunstreaker arose and spun to grab Sideswipe by the arms. Spinning again, he tossed Sideswipe toward the door, jumping after him as he crashed through it and out into the asphalt drive that ran through the underground facility and all its side roadways.
Sideswipe fell, skidding on his back a distance before Sunstreaker was on top of him pounding with his fists.
Shouts rang out, footfalls came running and still they wrestled.
Sideswipe blindsided, rallied then rolled Sunstreaker to pin his arms over his head. He straddled his brother struggling to hold him down. "What the frag are you doing, Sunny?" Sideswipe yelled just before Sunstreaker bucked his body throwing Sideswipe over his head and upside down into the wall across from their space.
It cracked as Sideswipe slid down landing in a heap. Rolling, he rose in time to meet Sunstreaker's headlong charge, the two twisting and turning this way and that as they tugged and pushed. The full fire of fury blazed on both their faces.
Ironhide and Ratchet who were walking together toward their quarters paused to take in the mayhem. Then Ironhide dropped Ratchet's servo to charge into the melee to grab each of the twins by their necks. He pulled them apart as the air filled with cursing and shouts, then held them fast. "ENOUGH!" he bellowed as he dropped Sideswipe to the ground. He then began to pull Sunstreaker away, tossing him to Kup and Springer who had come running at the sound of the fight.
Sideswipe jumped up to roll forward trying to get past Ironhide but the big mech pushed him back pointing a digit in the younger mech's face. "Enough," he said, his voice low and menacing.
Sunstreaker ceasing his struggling in the combined grasp of Kup and Springer glared at Sideswipe.
Ironhide turning from one to the other shook his head. "What's the matter with you two? You're brothers for Primus sake! Brothers!"
It became quiet as the two glared at each other. They were held back from each other by imposing mechs standing between them. Neither spoke.
Sunstreaker then relaxed a bit, his eyes averted and his arms crossed in his fury.
Sideswipe wiping at a split lip that oozed energon stared at the floor. "I just walked into the room. He jumped me. I don't know what the frag he's mad at."
Sunstreaker glared at him. "Think about it a little, Sideswipe."
"Frag you, Sunny," Sideswipe said hotly. "I don't know what the frag you're talking about, so frag you."
Sunstreaker jumped for Sideswipe as Kup and Springer moved to restrain him.
Ironhide stepping in front of Sideswipe looked at both of them, at the mechs gathered solemn faced and quiet and at Bluestreak who had just arrived stricken in expression.
He shoved Sideswipe back glaring at him. Then he walked to Sunstreaker moving him back with the intensity of his anger and clenched fists. "You're brothers. What would the rest of us give to say that? We are one. All of us. One. Today is the human's holiday. They call it Thanksgiving. They give thanks for what they have and for each other. Today is Thanksgiving." He looked at Ratchet who stood nearby watching him with emotional optics. The medico nodded as a slight smile formed on his lips.
Ironhide turned back to look at Sunstreaker, then Sideswipe. He shook his head. "Ratchet and I have good news and this day, Thanksgiving, is a perfect day to learn it. Ratchet is sparked."
The crowd was silent a moment, then murmurs arose out of the shock. Ironhide looked at Ratchet then the crowd. "We're going to witness a new birth of our people, the first sparkling to be born among us since before I can remember. How many of you have even seen one? Too many of you haven't. That's the shame of it, isn't it? The lasting sadness of war and homelessness makes us forget who and what we are. But now ... now we're on the edge of renewal. We have a new home, new allies and hope." He looked at the twins, both of them looking at him with unreadable expressions. "You're brothers. You're Autobots. We are one." He looked at Springer and Kup. "Throw them in the brig."
Kup nodded then gripped Sunstreaker's arm to pull him away. Sideswipe, his gaze lowered glanced at Bluestreak as he rolled past as Springer took hold of his arm. Then they were gone and the crowd silent and uncertain at last moved, walking forward to congratulate Ironhide and Ratchet.
Bluestreak looking wretched walked quietly toward the brig.