Emberwing knocked on Arcee and Wheeljack's door, waiting for one of them to answer. Seajumper answered, "Emberwing!"

"Hi, Seajumper. Do you and Nightback want to play? Papa said it was okay."

"He did? You bet we do! Come in," he says as he makes room for her to enter.

Emberwing made her way in, saying hello to Wheeljack and Arcee. Once they were in Seajumper's room, Emberwing was greeted by Nightback, "Your father said you can play with us again?"

"Yeah, I was going to wake up Oka-san but Papa stopped me before I could knock on the door. He said that Oka-san needed to rest because she was still exhausted from yesterday," she replied as she sat on the floor.

"Why? What happened?" Nightback asked.

"They fought some Decepticons. When Bumblebee took me to see them they looked... funny."

"Funny how?"

"Oka-san looked sad. Also, I got up to get some Energon last night and saw Papa sleeping on the couch."

"Wonder why your dad was sleeping on the couch. Hope everything is okay with your parents," Nightback says to Emberwing.

"I hope so too."

"I walked in on my parents kissing earlier, again."

Seajumper sounded disgusted while Emberwing giggled, "You seem to do that a lot."

"Yes, I do."

"How is your mom doing?" Seajumper asked Nightback.

"She seems to be doing better."

"What happened to your mom?" Emberwing asked.

"She got really sick last night and Dad had to take her to Med Bay," Nightback replied.

"Bumblebee came back after dropping you off and I overheard him and my parents talking about your mom and dad. He said they were both poisoned but your mom got the worst of it, he said it was so bad she almost died," Seajumper added.

"Oh man," Emberwing gasped quietly, "Did he say how they got poisoned?"

"That femme they brought in had put poison somewhere on Steeljaw's body and Strongarm got it somehow and got sick."

"I saw two Wolf-Cons yesterday, they put one of them in the stasis pod but the other one was giving Sideswipe a hard time," Emberwing stated, "Do you think they know the femme?"

"I heard the grown-ups say they were all related," Nightback replied.

The three went quiet when they heard a knock at the door, they heard the door open and Nightback heard his dad's voice. He runs out to greet him, "Hi, Dad. Is Mom okay?"

"She is but I need you to go watch over her for a bit while I go for a drive, I need to talk to Thunderhoof but I don't feel comfortable leaving your mother alone in her condition. I want you to watch over her and get her anything she might need as she's too weak to walk and get stuff herself at the moment."

"OK, I'll see you guys later!" Nightback called to his friends as he ran back home to look after his mother.

The two wave at him as he runs off and Steeljaw chuckles, "Alright, I'll see you guys later," he says as he heads out to find Thunderhoof.

Nightback gets home and goes to his parent's room where he finds his mom asleep, he goes in and climbs up onto the berth, laying next to her. Strongarm wakes up and looks at him, "Nightback, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Seajumper."

"I was but Dad didn't want you to be by yourself. He said to help you if you need anything."

"Your dad can get a bit overprotective at times, but you know I always enjoy your company," she says as she taps her finger on his nose. Nightback giggles as he hugs his mother, "So, what shall we do?" Strongarm asked him.

Nightback thought momentarily, "I can show you this neat card trick Bumblebee showed me the other day."

"Sure, I would like to see that."

"I'll go get them," he said as he raced to his room. He comes back and shows her the trick.

Steeljaw quickly catches up to Thunderhoof, "Hey, is everything alright?"

"How would you feel if you found out your mate allowed two other mechs to frag her?"

"I would be pissed. I wouldn't know what to do."

"Exactly!" He shouts as he transforms, "I thought Wolf-Cons can have only one mate. I'm supposed to be the only mech she can frag and have as a mate. But I saw her in the cave hugging that Wolf-Con while he fragged her, she wasn't even fighting it."

Steeljaw transforms as he thinks of what to say, "I know it had to hurt seeing that. But it could be that it was because Saborfang was in heat. Some male Wolf-Cons can send out really strong waves of their heat to draw in a female Wolf-Con to come to them and help them find relief. It's not supposed to affect a femme that's already mated unless they're not strong enough to resist it."

"I would think that Metalsound would be strong enough to resist something like that. I think she wanted to have sex with a mech that's her own kind."

"You might be right. Or maybe she's not as strong as she should be when resisting a male Wolf-Con in heat. She's probably never been around a male Wolf-Con in heat before so she doesn't know how to resist them. But I have no doubts that she really does love you."

"I'll have to talk to her and find out. Did you know that she actually believed them when they told her I was dead?"

"She did? That's strange, she should have sensed you through the bond."

"She closed off the bond while she was with them and didn't bother to open it to see if I was really dead." Thunderhoof paused for a moment, "Come to think of it, she's been really off lately. We couldn't even fully enjoy our anniversary date, she cut it short because she wanted to be alone and while we were together she didn't seem to be all there."

"I heard she had a run-in with Saborfang and Razorclaw that day before your anniversary date. Grimlock told me that she told them to let them go when they tried to chase after them after they ran off."

"That's odd, she's usually the main one to chase after a criminal to take them in. All this is just adding to my suspicions. I better go talk to her," Thunderhoof says as he transforms.

Steeljaw transforms as well, "We better head back, I need to check on Strongarm," he says as they drive off.

"Oh yeah, I heard about what happened last night. How is she?"

"She's doing better, she's resting right now."

"I'm glad she's doing better."

Metalsound made her way outside, instantly closing her optics to shield them from the bright sun. After a moment she opens them again to see Thunderhoof driving toward her, she turns to run off because she doesn't want to talk to him right now, at least not until she can come up with a good way to explain her actions. Thunderhoof quickly transforms and grabs her arm before she can get too far, "Hold up, Metalsound. We need to talk."

Metalsound started panicking and she released a bolt of electricity, shocking Thunderhoof who quickly let her go while screaming in pain. "I'm sorry," she said with guilt evident in her tone.

"I guess hurting me emotionally wasn't enough for you. We need to talk this out, Metalsound."

"I'm sorry, it was instinct."

"Tell me, was it because Saborfang was in heat, or did you want to have sex with them?"

"It was because Saborfang was in heat. It was as though his heat was clouding my processor."

"And why did you not want to chase after them the first time you encountered them? Were you thinking about them during our anniversary date? Was that why you cut it short to go be alone?"

"Yes, they kept crossing my processor. But everything that happened that day was on my processor which was why I needed to be alone for a bit, I needed to think."

"You also had an attraction to them because they were Wolf-Cons, I know you did."

Metalsound was quiet for a moment before speaking, "Yes, I had a slight attraction and I think part of me wanted to frag them. I wanted to see what it was like to have sex with a Wolf-Con, to see how different it was, and it felt really good. I couldn't help but enjoy it. I feel really bad about it and I'm sorry."

"You feel bad? You're sorry? You shouldn't have even thought about trying it when you already have a mate! Get out of my sight, I can't look at you right now," he says as he storms off.

Metalsound placed her servos on her helm as lubricant filled her optics, she really screwed up.