Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers

Therapist

Author's Note: A G1 Au verse. Pure, but hidden, crack.

Main pairing: Inferno & Red Alert.

"Hey, Rung. You in the mood to play some Black Jack before your next meeting?"

Rung approached the Praxian who was leaning back in a chair, front legs coming up off the ground, pedes up on the table top, right next to a stack of playing cards. Rung glanced at his chronometer, "I really shouldn't. He'll be here any moment."

Smokescreen flicked his doorwings. "It's Red Alert, right?"

Rung nodded his head. "He likes to be early."

"One of the few who insists on being a whole joor early." Smokescreen mused, "Yet you let him get away with it." He then grabbed his cards off the table and began to shuffle, a thoughtful look on his face. "How about the two of you join me?"

"No. I don't think he knows how to play cards." Rung paused, going over his schedule. "How about I join you later on today?"

"Sure." Smokescreen waited for Rung to scurry off to his office before smirking, muttering to the now vacant room, "He has much to learn."

Rung got situated with a datapad and stylist, as Red Alert got comfortable on his couch. "So what would you like to talk about today? Is there anything that's been bothering you?"

"Well… There isn't much new, but I'd like to talk about my family." Red Alert glanced over at Rung before shifting his gaze back to the plain white ceiling. "I trust you. You're practically apart of the family already."

"I'm honored that you think so highly of me." Rung muttered assuredly. He had never heard Red Alert mention his family with the exception of the occasional mentioning of his bondmate, Inferno.

"It all started long ago. Inferno and I had been bonded for a few vorns and we wanted to start a family of our own. Inferno came from a household with a handful of siblings whereas I was an only creation. I always wanted to have a big family…"

-A long, long, long time ago-

Inferno gave his bondmate's servo a reassuring squeeze. Everything was going to be alright. There was no need to worry, freak out or…

"INFERNO, YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

That.

"Red, it's going to be okay. There's no need to scream." Inferno tried to sooth his riled up bondmate to no avail. "It's going to be over in just a little while."

"YOU SAID THAT A JOOR AGO!" Red Alert yelled to the chagrin of all those in the medbay, not just the delivery room.

"Once this is over, we'll have a sparkling of our own. We always wanted to have a big family." Inferno twitched, trying to deal with the sudden pain as something in his servo broke and not too gently at that.

With one last push, the rather large sparkling was in the arms of the medic who checked to make sure it was functioning properly before handing him to the assistant who took it to get cleaned up.

Red Alert warily looked up at Inferno, content that the sparkling was just fine. "You're having the next one."

Inferno smiled comfortingly, trying to ignore his aching servo. "Whatever you say, Red." The assistant handed Inferno the sparkling. "Red, he has my optics." The sparkling cooed softly, wanting to go to recharge.

Inferno was about to give the sparkling to Red Alert when the medic intervened. "You don't want to do that just yet."

The two averted their attention to the medic. "Why?" Red Alert slowly questioned, thinking that there was some kind of trick lying just out of reach.

"I hope you have a large crib or four more." The medic patted Red Alert reassuringly on the ped. "You're going to need it."

Red Alert looked back to Inferno, optics wide with disbelief. It was then that Red Alert felt a shift inside of him and with a few, relatively painless pushes, the next sparkling, much smaller than the first, was out. The other three were born in a similar fashion and Inferno found that he was having great difficulty holding them all as Red Alert had fallen into a deep recharge shortly after they had been given their names.

-Back to the present-

"Those were some very long decacycles of poor recharge and soothing our adorable little sparklings." Red Alert mused, a soft grin on his face at the memories that he had grown so fond of as time passed.

"Did Inferno ever carry sparklings?" Rung questioned, completely fascinated by this new side of Red Alert that he had never heard about. He never really asked about Red's family, with the exception of how Inferno was doing.

"Primus no. We were too busy taking care of the five we had." Red Alert chuckled, "They're gestalt you know."

"How long have you and Inferno been bonded?" Rung asked, trying to figure out roughly how old Red Alert actually was. It was something that the head of security didn't talk about much, as if he thought that the knowledge could be used against him.

"Since the first vorn of the Golden Age. It was a time of great peace, and still is for that matter." Red Alert glanced over at Rung, having a feeling at what Rung was trying to figure out. "I'm a lot older than I look."

"Apparently so." Rung mumbled, looking over the notes that he had taken. "So what were the names of the sparklings?"

Red Alert looked back to the ceiling, shifting slightly to find a more comfortable position. "They decided that they wanted to work to promote the safety of Iacon, just as Inferno and I do, but in a more direct approach. While I'm the security director and Inferno's my bodyguard, well… They do what they can."

Rung gave Red Alert a questioning look, trying to piece together everything that Red Alert was talking about.

"The oldest we named Hot Spot who became a firefighter. The second oldest was Streetwise who became an enforcer. Blades became a rescue copter while First Aid is a skilled medic. The youngest, Groove, is a messenger." A glimmer of amusement flashed in Red Alert's optics. "They call themselves the Protectobots and are formed Iacon's City Response Team which they're still apart of. I assume you've heard of them."

"They're your sparklings? I knew they've been around for a while, but not that long. The Protectobots are some of the most well respected bots in all of Iacon."

"Of course they're my sparklings! How else could have been created?"

"I see you're very… um… motherly towards them." Rung remarked.

"I am to all of our descendants." Red quickly replied. "Inferno spoils the family so much. I'm afraid even scraplets wouldn't want to eat them which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Inferno's a very devoted sire. I couldn't have asked for a better bondmate."