Here's chapter 24 everyone! Some cute moments with the twins and Prowl and Jazz. Aquafire opening up more to the twins about her past :D
All of my reviewers have been so very helpful! All of your reviews just make me want to keep writing! My brain twin Mercedes Wolfcry is especially helpful!
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, it belongs to HasTak. I claim only Aquafire, her trine, Wildfire, Skyblitz, Lightning Bolt and the unborn sparklings.
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"My Creators told me that when I first met my wing mates, I pushed them over and sat on them," Aquafire told the twins. She was opening up to them more, telling them things that she had previously kept to herself for fear of falling back into depression.
"I can see that," Sideswipe laughed. "You're such a bossy femme. Who do you get it from?"
"My Carrier, Skyblitz," She smiled weakly. "Papa used to tell me that when he first met Sire, he would always bully him and start fights with him."
"Because he liked him?" Sunstreaker asked with a small smirk.
"That's what he told me," She shrugged. "I never knew their third wing, apparently he found some nice femme before I was born and just... left."
"Is that possible?" Sideswipe tilted his helm, stroking her back a bit.
"The bond was still there between them but he just left," She told him. "It's not like a sparkmate bond, so it can be broken but it still hurts." The twins nodded and fell silent. "You two would have gotten along great with my wing mates," She told them softly. "I mean, you've met them before but that was only in battle."
"They seemed like decent mechs," Sunstreaker hummed.
"They were," Aquafire smiled. "Primus, they were the best wing mates a Seeker could ask for. When Storm Ridge wasn't being quiet and all, he was planning pranks with Frenzy and Rumble, and so was I."
"You?" The twins gave her a look. "Pulling pranks?"
"When Hook takes you off active duty, you get bored," She shrugged. "It was fun to frag off Starscream and the other Seekers. Mainly because we could all hide behind Soundwave if we got caught."
"Soundwave?" Again with the looks.
"He was my friend... kind of," She sighed softly. "His cassettes liked me well enough, especially Ravage. Took a while to gain Frenzy and Rumble's trust. I was upset with them for attacking Bolt but we made up."
"Good," Sunstreaker grunted. "If they hadn't apologized, I would have slagged them both."
"And have a pissed off Soundwave after us? No thank you," Sideswipe snorted. Aquafire snorted and flicked her wings, feeling better than she had been earlier in the day.
"We'll be back in a bit, we need to exact some revenge on Ironhide," Sunstreaker suddenly sat up, scowling.
"If I find you two in the med bay, I'm leaving you both there," She scowled at them. The twins only grinned as they kissed her and ducked out of the room. Aquafire rolled her optics and settled into the berth, covering herself with the warm thermal blanket. She stroked her abdominal plating softly and left her servo over it protectively as she slipped into a well needed recharge.
-X-X-X-
"Ah'm back~" Jazz announced as he walked into his and Prowl's quarters. His mate was sitting at his desk, looking over a small stack of datapads as always when he walked in. Jazz smiled endearingly at this and walked towards the Praxian silently, dropping a kiss onto his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around the mech. "Ah thought ya said ya weren't gonna do any work while Ah was gone?"
"I may have been taken off the duty roster but I am still allowed to do small amounts of work," He sighed softly. "And I needed something to do as I was unable to rest." Jazz nodded and snatched the datapad from his mate's servos, setting it aside as he pulled the chair back. He quickly grabbed Prowl and took his seat, settling the startled SIC in his lap afterwords.
"Somethin' botherin' ya?" Jazz nuzzled against his throat softly.
"My tanks were upset is all," Prowl sighed a bit. "They've settled now but I'm no longer tired."
"Ah could think o' a few things that might tire ya out," Jazz grinned. Prowl was not amused by this as he glared at his mate. "Jus' kiddin'."
"The sparkling is growing stronger every day," Prowl rested a servo over his stomach plating with a soft smile. Jazz covered his hand with his own and smiled. He still couldn't believe that he and Prowl were going to be Creators at long last. "Have you ever seen a Seeker when they are near a carrying bot or sparkling?"
"If ya count 'Fire, then nah, Ah haven't," Jazz chuckled. "Why?"
"It is a rather stunning sight," Prowl told him. "You remember how Aquafire reacted when the cassettes attacked Bolt?"
"Yeah," He nodded.
"Seekers were known for protecting and rearing sparklings back during the Golden Age," Prowl continued on. "Fiercely protective, to the point that they would nearly offline a bot if they believed them to be a great enough threat. Seekers have been known to shadow other carrying Seekers and bots to ensure their safety. A self assigned guardian if you will."
"Eh, what 'bout ya, Prowler?" Jazz kissed his cheek. "Yer Praxian, cousin ta th' Seekers."
"We are not as overly protective as our Seeker cousins," He leaned into him. "We still feel the need to protect and nurture though. So when the sparklings are born, it will be either Aquafire or myself that care for them when others cannot. I personally would not trust any others to care for my sparkling, as they don't have the kind of protocols that Aquafire, myself and my brothers do."
"Ah see yer point," Jazz hummed. "Ah can live with that. How da ya think Skyfire's gonna react once he find's out fer sure?"
"Like any other Seeker would," Prowl hummed. "He'll probably want to start sparkling proofing the base and making things for the sparklings."
"Ah hope it dun tip anyone off 'bout Aquafire bein' sparked," Jazz grimaced, knowing the femme was keeping it a secret from everyone and that those who knew were under strict orders from Optimus to remain silent about it until she was ready to announce the pregnancy.
"Seekers are quite discreet and are very good about not letting information like that slip," Prowl told him. "The secret would be safe with him. I just hope Bluestreak doesn't find out." Prowl knew his baby brother had a bad habit of blurting out secrets if he wasn't careful and it always ended badly.
"If ya say so," Jazz smiled and kissed his bondmate. Prowl eagerly kissed back, shifting to wrap his arms around the saboteur as he straddled his hips. "Mm, ya want somethin'?" Jazz purred softly.
"Yes, I want you to make love to me," Prowl murmured.
"As ya wish," Jazz purred.
-X-X-X-
"Sparklings in the middle of a war," Optimus mused to himself yet again.
"Optimus, you make it sound like the sparklings will cause us to lose," Elita frowned at her mate.
"That is not what I mean," He rumbled. "And you know it."
"Having sparklings around will not be so bad," Elita insisted. "In fact, it may even bring about the end of the war."
"Elita, you and I both know that the chances of that happening are very slim," Optimus drew the rosy femme into his lap. "Megatron will not end the war just for the sake of three sparklings born into our ranks."
"No, but the Seekers would," Elita gave him a pointed look. "We both know how protective Seekers are of sparklings and if they were to find out..." Optimus knew what his mate was getting at and gave a thoughtful hum.
"We shall see, my love," He rumbled softly. Elita pecked his cheek with a kind smile and settled into his embrace.
"Honestly though, when are we going to have a sparkling?" Elita asked him, tracing a digit down his chestplates.
"When we are no longer in danger of being wiped out by the Decepticons," Optimus replied softly. He could not bear the thought of putting Elita in danger because she was carrying his child.
"You've been saying that for years," Elita sighed. "One of these days, we will have peace and you will not be able to hide behind that excuse anymore."
"I don't intend to," He chuckled, retracting his facial mask to kiss his mate.
-X-X-X-
A few days passed and as Aquafire was roaming the halls, she was spotted by none other than Skyfire. The large shuttle had already tracked down Jazz and Prowl to confirm which of them was carrying and now had his sights set on the femme Seeker.
"Aquafire," He approached her slowly, knowing how skittish she was when cornered.
"Skyfire," She flicked her wings, conveying how nervous she was.
"I would like to speak with you, if that's alright?" He gazed down at her with soft optics, knowing she would appreciate speaking in a more private setting. Aquafire knew there was no way to get out of it and sighed, nodding. She knew it was inevitable and that Skyfire would have found out anyway. The scientist led her down to the labs and into his private office away from Wheeljack and Perceptor. "I've already spoken with Jazz and Prowl," He started. "I know that Prowl is sparked and I already have their permission to begin constructing things for the sparkling. But my question is, are you indeed sparked? I've been sensing two other spark signatures along with your own for some time now."
"Yes, I am," She whispered softly. "You cannot tell anyone else."
"I won't tell anyone unless I have your permission," He smiled gently.
"Thank you," She nodded and left, feeling the tension leave her frame as she did so. She bumped into Prowl as she exited Skyfire's office and fluttered her wings in surprise as she regained her footing.
"I assume Skyfire spoke with you?" He flicked his doorwings and relaxed them.
"Yes," She nodded. "I-" She didn't get to finish as an explosion in the lab went off. Neither had ever seen Skyfire move so fast as he practically rocketed out of his office to cover the two carrying bots from the second, more dangerous explosion as it went off.
The alarms could barely be heard because of how badly their audios were ringing and no one could see anything because of how dense the smoke was.
"We're over here!" They heard Skyfire's muffled shout as he tried to direct the apparent rescue crew to their location.
"Are you injured? What happened?" They heard First Aid asking.
"I'm fine," He responded. The shuttle slowly sat back, revealing the two forms he'd been protecting. Prowl and Aquafire slowly untangled from one another and sat up, checking themselves for injury. Before either of them could protest, they were being whisked off to the med bay so Ratchet could look them over.
"We're fine," Aquafire insisted as Ratchet ran scan after scan on them.
"What in Primus' name possessed either of you to be in the labs?" He demanded, looking between them both. Aside from some scratches and soot covered plating, they were absolutely fine and so were the sparklings. But one could never be too careful considering it was a Wheeljack explosion.
"I was speaking with Skyfire," Aquafire muttered.
"I went to find Aquafire to make sure everything was alright," Prowl crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. Before anymore could be said, three bots rushed into the med bay. Two went straight for Aquafire and started checking her over while the third ran up and pulled Prowl into an embrace. The two carrying bots managed to squirm out of the embraces and waspishly told them they were fine and there was no reason to panic.
"Someone needs to ban Wheeljack from the labs!" Sunstreaker growled angrily.
"Ah agree," Jazz was scowling, something new to Aquafire as she only ever saw him smiling.
"Or, those two should just avoid going down that hallway," Ratchet muttered, scowling at all of them. They all muttered and came to a silent agreement to not go down near the science wing of the base. Ratchet seemed satisfied with this as he handed both Carrier's full cubes of medical grade. "Drink all of it," He snapped when he saw them trying to get away with only drinking half, like they were used to doing. They grumbled and finished the rest of their cubes before they were allowed to leave.
The twins carted Aquafire off to their quarters, which was a little surprising as they rarely ever went to their room. They forced her to sit down before they inspected her frame thoroughly and found her to be perfectly fine. Sunstreaker however, stepped back and frowned at her appearance. Her usually shining blue armor was filthy and he would not stand for such a thing, especially in his quarters.
"Washracks. Now." He grabbed Aquafire and dragged her into their private washracks. The femme squawked and protested though it got her nowhere as she was shoved inside and under the spray of solvent laced water. Sunstreaker immediately set to work washing her, grumbling about how dirty she was as he did so. He let out a purr when he finally finished and stepped back to inspect her now sparkling frame.
"Happy?" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes," He rumbled. He reached behind her and shut off the water just as he leaned in for a kiss. Aquafire returned it with a soft smile before they both stepped out and dried off. Sideswipe helped to apply a new coat wax to her armor and buffed it to a shine. The twins placed loving kisses to her stomach as they murmured softly and held her, nuzzling against the plating lovingly.
"Our femme," They purred against her canopy. Aquafire squirmed at the feeling and stroked their helms gently, smiling.
"My twins," She whispered. The two frontliners grinned at this and tightened their holds on her. Aquafire smiled and relaxed into them as she drifted into recharge.