The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Returns 7 (249) edited for boo boos :D
-0-That morning at the hospital in Autobot City, Mars
They sat up in their berths sipping energon, the sunlight streaming in the big windows while Optimus sat with them on a berth nearby. They were more clear helmed and aware even though their energy levels and overall health was low and slowly rising. It was quiet in their room but in the corridor there was activity with patients checking in for this and that. A big city hospital is seldom a quiet place.
"The energon you're drinking is very high grade," Optimus said. "We found this planet is nearly half Class A and A- energon."
The cubes paused in their servos as they looked at him. "How?" Kestrel asked.
"Drone Seekers seeding planets in the past. This planet had a lot of geothermic activity. It grew unabated because no one lived here. It was fortuitous."
Kestrel nodded. "That's so. You chose this planet?"
"We were living on the next planet over, Ada. We were starting to get refugees and soldiers. I called them to come and they did. We needed a place to live where we could protect our people and be who we were intended to be. That meant leaving the world of our allies and coming here."
"I see," Tagg said nodding. "Your allies … they are good and dependable?"
"They are steadfast," Optimus said. "There are a few still trying to assimilate the idea that aliens exist but by and far, they are our good friends," Optimus said.
"Good," Tagg said nodding. "I am tired of watching you be betrayed. You were a mech of your word, Orion. We raised you to believe that your word mattered. I don't want you hurt."
Optimus looked at his father and smiled slightly. "I am a big mech, Atar. Besides, I had good teachers."
They looked at him and for a moment they were the only mechs in the universe. Then Kestrel looked at the door. "That youngling, Prowl … he is your bond?"
"He is," Optimus said nodding. "We finally figured it out."
Kestrel smirked, an odd sight given the stranger's face he wore. "I knew it."
Optimus snorted. He grinned at his genitors. "You have grandchildren. You have great grandchildren."
They looked at him a moment, then Kestrel sat straighter. "You have infants? Orion, that is wonderful. I had nightmares all the orns of our separation that you never had hope or love. That you never would know the comfort of a home and a partner." Tagg nodded too.
Optimus squeezed his ada's servo. "I have been blessed. You will have to meet them. They are pretty wonderful. Prowl had a son, an orphan he raised named Bluestreak. He is in a trine bond and they have three infants. Prowl and I adopted three little mechs who are orphans and we have a son together."
They listened and nodded, glancing at each other. "Tagg, this is wonderful. Orion has a family."
Tagg nodded. "I would like to see them, Orion, when we can."
Optimus nodded and sent a message to Prowl. Sitting straighter, straightening the bed covers of his ada, Prime nodded. "They will come."
-0-Prowl
He walked out of Ops Center heading for the schools. He crossed the courtyard and reached the underground station outside of the Fortress. It was a short ride to the school station and a shorter ride upward to the Sparkling Day School. Walking inside, he caught Laret's optics. A short conversation led to the release of three little babies, all of them happy to sit in Granny's carry hold and grin at each other.
With a nod and thanks, Prowl turned and reversed his journey, heading out on the train that would take him to the Hospital/School Tower station. The traffic was relatively light as the work orn was well underway and school letting out was some time later. The little mechs walked home to their apartment when someone was there and recently began walking to the Fortress and Ops Center when no was.
Prowl walked to the surface and headed for the hospital tower taking an elevator up to the ward floor, stepping out with an orderly and two nurses. He nodded to the duty officer at the nurse's station and walked briskly to the room at the end of the corridor where everyone was visiting. He paused behind Ironhide and Jetta, who himself knew the pair as a child growing up with Orion Pax in the Jumble. Elita and Springer were there giving sass and guff to the pair as they sat sipping their energon, their overall affect improving.
Optimus spotting Prowl arose and waited as that worthy navigated to stand beside him. He looked at Prowl with an expression of emotion that would stay with Prowl forever. Prowl opened his hold and withdrew Miracle. That little bot smiled at both of his genitors as he sat on his father's servo. Optimus turned to his parents and felt incredible emotion overcome him. He stood a moment, then nodded. "This is Miracle."
He held his servo out and they both sat up straighter to look at him, the infant who was their grandson. He looked at them, then his parents. He smiled brilliantly because his nature was gentle and happy. That much exposure as a pure spark to the Matrix wasn't lost on him.
"May I hold him?" Kestrel asked with emotion. He turned and placed his cube on the table next to his berth.
Optimus held him out and Kestrel took him holding the infant up to look at him. Kestrel smiled. "He looks like you. The same paint scheme. I am thinking this other color is for you, Prowl?"
Prowl nodded. "It is." He grinned. "I wanted him to look like Optimus. This is the first Prime sparkling in the history of Cybertron. I don't want anyone mistaking who his atar is."
Ironhide snorted. "And you laugh at Ratchet and me."
"That's because you and Ratchet are out of your processors," Prowl said smoothly, smugly. "This is historical. Yours is hysterical."
"Good one, Prowler," Ratchet said walking in to pause beside Tagg.
Prowl grinned and pulled out the twinnies who had crawled to the door and were looking down at the floor. Holding one in each servo, he handed Iacon to Optimus. "These are our twin granddaughters. They are the trine's youngest infants. They have a son who is older as well."
Optimus leaned slightly and handed Iacon to Tagg who took her with a smile. "Hello, baby," Tagg said. "You don't know me but you will." He looked at his son. "We will be part of their lives, son?"
Everyone looked at them, then Prime and Prowl. Prime swallowed hard and nodded. "That is a given, Atar. We're an anomaly. Few families are as lucky as us. Both of Prowl's genitors are here and now you. They also have Ratchet and Ironhide as well as both of their genitors. There is a lot of extended family here and we all owe these infants our time and attention. I expect that you two will be very important in the lives of our infants."
"That would be wonderful," Kestrel said laying Miracle against his shoulder. The baby curled up cuddling with him. Kestrel patted him and smiled at Optimus and Prowl. "They are so beautiful. I've never seen twins before."
"You will have to see their genitors. You will see why they are beautiful. They are the infants of the only split spark twins in our history for a very long time. I will call them to meet you when you are up to it, Kestrel," Ratchet said.
"We're up to it now aren't we, Tagg?" Kestrel asked looking at his bond with a smile. "I think we have to catch up."
Prime looked at Ratchet who shrugged. "If you are up to it, Kestrel and Tagg, I can call them."
They nodded. "We would like to meet them. We would like to see them," Tagg said as Iacon patted his face, her usual gigantic smile firmly in place on her own. He smiled at her then reached for Uraya. She was set onto his servo and he brought her close, kissing her fore helm. "What a lovely baby you are."
Chat was had, then the sound of peds in the corridor drew attention. Bluestreak stepped in with a big smile. "Hi. They're awake?"
"They are," Prowl said with a grin. "They want to meet you."
Bluestreak looked at them, smiling. "Hi. I'm Bluestreak, Prowl's youngling and I suppose Optimus's youngling too because he's my sort of step atar because of Prowl. I have been waiting so long for you to be found and brought here. We can help you get on your peds. We can help you with appointments and Sunstreaker can do the detailing of your armor. It looks like you have had such a hard time and we all want you to get better." He paused and looked at everyone, their smiles a signal. "Oops." He grinned.
Leaning on the doorjamb, Sideswipe shook his helm. "You did it again, Babe."
Bluestreak turned and tugged him inside. "This is Sideswipe, one of my bonds. He's a split spark twin like the girls. Say hello, Sideswipe."
Sideswipe grinned. "Hello."
Chuckles greeted that. Blue reached through and tugged Sunstreaker into the room. He was holding Kaon. They had detoured to bring him along. Behind them standing quietly, three little mechs waited for whatever it was that got them out of science. "This is Sunstreaker. He has our son, Kaon. And these three," Bluestreak said leaning out to signal the little mechs to come, "these are Rambler, T-Bar and Spirit. They're Prime and Prowl's sons too."
The little mechs stepped in and looked at the strangers holding their nieces. Rambler looked at Optimus, then stepped closer. "Hi, Grand-ada and atar," he said with a grin.
Kestrel looked at Prime, then the infants. "Four more."
"What handsome boys you four are," Tagg said glancing at all of the infants in the doorway.
"Are you our grand-atar and ada?" Spirit said moving to the foot of Tagg's berth.
"I think we are," Tagg replied with a smile of delight.
Spirit looked up at Prime and Prowl. "How many more are coming, Ada?" he asked to the general amusement of everyone in the room.
Moments later
They stood in the corridor with the infants, all of whom were chewing on rust sticks. Ratchet's candy stash fed all the infants including Ironhide. Inside the room, the sparklings were being held and exclaimed over as two very delighted grandparents examined them with razor sharp optics.
"There are so many infants. I am so happy," Kestrel said as Miracle and Kaon sat on his lap playing patty cake together. The twins were sitting on Tagg's lap watching everyone with big smiles.
"That makes me happy, Ada," Optimus said with a light spark. Burdens of sorrow and worry were melting away in the loving glow of infant therapy.
"What do we do now?" Kestrel asked.
Ratchet found himself the focus of the room. Suppressing an intense urge to preen and sass, he considered that. "We have a number of surgeries that have to be done for both of you. Your joints are worn out and there are a few internal things that need replacing or boosting. Your repair systems are just about shot from the burden of caring for you without proper attention medically all of this long time.
"You will need a rework of your surface armor. Its very worn but an easy fix. Its cosmetic really. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will repair your color when you help us know its patterns. We can map it on a computer model and they can detail you until you see your own face in the reflection.
"That leads us to your faces. I am sure you want to see your own features again," Ratchet posed.
"I would, though I am not sure I really remember what they are," Kestrel said nodding.
"They were beautiful, Kes," Tagg interjected. "You must restore him because he was beautiful."
An awww moment made the rounds, then Ratchet nodded. "I will do that. We have the best reconstructive surgeons anywhere living and working here. All of this can be done as soon as you reach standard optimal. That's the lowest I will allow before things happen. You will overnight with the replacement joints, then outpatient for therapy and recovery. After that, we can work on your armor and features. I want you mobile before we do the reconstruction work."
Kestrel nodded, then glanced at Tagg. "We will have to find a place to live. Then jobs, Tagg. We have to pay our way."
A knife pierced the sparks of everyone in the room, half remembered comments from Ravel and Tie Down worming their way into everyone's consciousness. Optimus knelt beside his ada. "You will be staying with us in the Residence of the Primes. You will stay with us until you decide to live alone. We have so much space and the infants will want to have you around."
They both looked from him to Prowl who nodded emphatically. "We don't want to impose, Orion," Kestrel began before Prime cut him off.
"We're not going through this again, Ada. You both are staying with us." Prime rose up and looked down at them sternly. "I will brook no further comments."
They both looked at him, then each other. Tagg looked up at his son. "Alright, Orion."
For a moment it was silent. The sound of his agreement was off and it became clear that eons of doing what they were told, not having choices and defeated obedience was a part of his reply. Optimus took his Ada's servo into his own. Sitting on the edge of the berth, he looked at his parents. "You do understand that part of my honor is caring for those who need me. It is what you told me to do as a youngling. 'Orion, always try and help others. It is what an honorable mech does'. You remember telling me that don't you?"
They both nodded as they looked at him silently.
"Well, I have to take care of you. You took care of me all those vorns. It's my turn. What kind of mech and Prime … what sort of son would I be if I didn't?" He looked at them with emotional optics.
"You are a good son, Orion. We will go with you. I hope you will let us help you though. You know we always try to do that wherever we are," Kestrel said nodding.
"I know. Just having you here, just being able to help you and take care of you, it really means a lot to me," Optimus replied.
They glanced at each other, then nodded at him. "We are glad, son," Tagg said.
Optimus relaxed and the conversation continued for a bit longer before Ratchet threw everyone out. They stepped out making plans to come back later. Walking to the waiting room of the ward, they waited for Ratchet who checked this and that, fluffed the pillows and helped them settle into a nap time. Walking down the corridor, he met them and they all turned to him.
"What's the plan then, Ratchet?" Prowl asked for all of them.
"I have surgeries planned for them tomorrow that will replace Kestrel's knee assemblies and his hip. All of the rest of the stuff planned after that short of reconstructive surgery on their faces will be outpatient. Tagg will get new knees and a shoulder. They aren't too badly off for bots that haven't seen a doctor in nine million years and labored their afts off for a tyrant," he said with heat. He vented a sigh. "We can do that and they can stay over one more night. Then they will have to have therapy on their joints. Because of the hip and shoulder, they will have to be adjusted and it might take a few times to get it right. All of it will take about four orns."
Prime nodded. "They can come home tomorrow or the next orn?"
"The next orn. The surgeries will take place tomorrow morning when the orthopedic team is together. We're going to do it together. I will be supervising them and helping."
"That gives me comfort, Ratchet," Prime said nodding.
Ratchet grinned. "I wouldn't let them go in alone but I am 100% behind my team. They should reach standard optimal about lunchtime. They're reviving rather quickly with the A Class energon we have been feeding them both orally and intravenously. They are rather in shape to do this. If you want to be there, I can make sure you get the news right away."
"We will be there," Prowl said nodding.
Jetta smiled. "It's so good to see them. I remember them in the old orns when we were younglings. They always were good to us even when we were ornery."
Optimus grinned. "They were."
They continued to chat, then broke up, sparklings and younglings heading back to school as the adults walked back to their jobs. The twins followed Ratchet into his office as he and Ironhide ambled back to the CMO's office.
Ratchet sprawled in his chair and watched with amusement as the others did too. He reached into his desk drawer pulling out a box filled with candy that was his private stash. Taking a few for himself, he handed it to Sideswipe who passed it on when he had gotten his handful. They sat eating candy as they wound down.
"I'm happy for Prime. This is going to be an interesting life," Ironhide said.
Ratchet snorted. "As if it isn't already," he said with a grin.
-0-TBC
2013 (3)