HA! I have returned!

Here's the last chapter.

Once the door to the quarters closed behind him, Starscream wandered towards a crib that was put at the end of the berth. Since Cloudwing was already in a deep recharge, he gently and carefully lowered the small Seeker into the crib so he didn't wake her. She was laid down on her front and the ex-Commander draped a small blanket over her that was already in the crib.

After tucking the sides under her so she would stay nice and warm, he took that moment to just watch her in content silence.

He smiled, watching her frame rise and fall ever so slightly. He still couldn't believe that the small red and white Seeker femme before him was his. Made up of both Knock Out's and his own CNA.

It wasn't hard to notice either that she belonged to them. Seeker model like himself, frame is in the same colour range as Knock Out's, frame has some similar characteristics that you would see on both her creators.

She was perfect in the ex-Commander's optics.

Starscream let out a tired sigh, feeling his exhaustion trying to grab at him. He wandered around the crib to walk up beside his and Knock Out's shared berth. He was about to plop himself in it but stopped himself at the last minute. He didn't know if the motion would wake Cloudwing or not so he settled himself down carefully before laying on his side.

He looked over at Knock Out's side of the berth. Its been almost a week now since the delivery and in that time the red medic had to stay in the med. bay to recharge so he could recover. The nights were getting rather lonely lately for the Seeker without the red mech's company.

He closed his optics so he could fall into recharge, hoping that Knock Out was well enough to leave the med. bay by tomorrow morning.

Starscream was abruptly wakened by a loud cry. He groaned, rolling over and covering his audios to drone out the noise. He checked his chronometer for a second, seeing that he had only gotten a few hours of recharge.

He swore the cry was growing louder. Who could be crying at this hour of the night?

After a second, Starscream's optics flew open and he got to his pedes quickly. He got to the end of the berth and looked in the crib, seeing Cloudwing squirming and crying. He instantly took her out of the crib and held her close to his frame, finding that her own frame was rather cold.

As he held her to keep her warm, he glanced into the crib. He saw that the blanket was at the end of the crib. He shook his helm, bouncing her lightly to help her calm down, "You knocked the blanket off yourself in your recharge. No wonder you're cold."

He walked over to a nearby table, removing another small blanket from the top of it. He went back to the crib and tossed it in. He then began to pace back and forth in front of the crib, shushing Cloudwing softly.

Her cries settled down to the point that she was making hiccuping noises every couple seconds.

Starscream smiled, shaking his helm. He reached up to her faceplate with a digit and wiped her tears from her cheeks. Her optics opened after and she looked up at him, still making hiccuping noises.

"Its okay, you're fine now," the ex-Decepticon said softly to her.

Cloudwing's wing nubs twitched and she stuck her thumb-digit in her mouth.

"No, don't do that," Starscream said and tugged on her servo just enough so her thumb-digit was removed from her mouth. She instantly began to whine after.

Starscream went into his subspace after, removing something just to stick it into the small Seeker's mouth.

Cloudwing sucked on the soother that she was given and soon enough her optics began to droop tiredly.

Starscream nodded to himself, feeling like he accomplished a mission as he reached into the crib. He took out the new blanket, which was thicker than the other, before wrapping it around the small Seeker's frame enough so there would be no way that she could remove it off herself as he laid her back into the crib.

He watched her until she fell into recharge. Feeling satisfied, he wandered back to his berth, laying down. He let out a tired sigh and closed his optics. Wondering if this would happen every night.

He settled with 'not every night' before falling into recharge again.

Starscream almost swore loudly when Cloudwing began crying again. As he got to his pedes, he checked his chronometer. Last time he only got about three hours of recharge. This time it was only two.

He took Cloudwing out of the crib, "What's the matter?" he asked, not really expecting her to actually answer.

All she did though was to continue to cry, even as he bounced her. He picked up the soother that she must have spitted out just before she started crying and put it back into her mouth. Once it was in her mouth, her cries stopped.

Starscream let out a relieved sigh.

Cloudwing sucked on it a couple times before whining, spitting it out to cry louder.

The ex-Commander winced from the crying. Now what could be the problem this time?

He reached up to wipe her tears away but stopped when she managed to get one of her arms loose from the blanket to grab onto one of his digits. She then proceeded to clamp her mouth on it.

Starscream chuckled softly when she sucked on his digit but then began whining after, "So that's what you want."

He went into his subspace and took out the sparkling bottle that still had energon in it. He looked in it, seeing that the left over energon in it was still good. He brought it up to the small red and white Seeker, waiting for her to clamp her mouth on the end before tipping it.

As she began sucking on it, he paced back and forth as she drank. Just as the bottle was finished of the last of the energon that was in it, Cloudwing's optics began to lower.

Starscream removed the bottle from her mouth without a fight, subspacing it after. He stopped pacing, rubbing the side of her helm to coax her back into recharge. Soon enough, she did.

After fixing the blanket that was still around her, he lowered her back into the crib. Once she was settled, he tried not to plop on the berth as he laid back down. He didn't bother to move or think about anything before falling almost immediately into recharge.

"Oh for the love of..." Starscream growled, being wakened, once again, by Cloudwing's cries. He had no doubt that every night was going to be like this as he checked his chronometer, seeing that this time he had only an hour of recharge.

During each time he got woken up, his Seeker protocols would scream at him to care for her. This time, his frame decided to protest and he had to force himself to sit up, get out of berth, get to his pedes, and walk over to the crib at the end of the berth.

Once again he looked in the crib, seeing Cloudwing squirming around as she cried.

He rubbed at his optics tiredly, "What is it this time?" he asked, reaching into the crib to pick her up. He held her close and bounced her, her crying stopping almost immediately before her frame began to relax.

Starscream was confused this time, settling her back into the crib.

Before he got a chance to sit down on his berth, he heard Cloudwing whining. He rolled his optics, going back over to pick her up and hold her close.

Once he had her comfortably against his frame, her whining stopped and she started to drift back into recharge.

He tried to lower her back into the crib but she would stir, stopping him from doing that. He walked to his berth and sat down, holding her close as she began recharging again. He could only guess that she wanted to be held this time as she recharged.

Starscream's optics blinked slowly, his frame and optics growing heavy from exhaustion. He really needed his own recharge but he couldn't do it with her in his arms.

His optics drifted close and he had to shake himself to keep himself awake. He knew that taking care of a sparkling was hard work but he didn't think it would be this hard, where you end up losing quite a few hours of much needed recharge.

He rubbed at his optics before deciding to lay on his side for a bit, propping himself up with his elbow and resting his helm in the palm of his servo. He laid Cloudwing on the berth in front of him, keeping a servo on her so she knew that he was there and so she wouldn't wake again.

As he watched her, his optics became heavy and he let them drift close this time. He guessed that it wouldn't hurt if he rested for a couple minutes.

Knock Out walked down the hall towards his and Starscream's shared quarters. He was just recently relieved from the med. bay by Ratchet and he spent the last hour waiting for Starscream to show up with Cloudwing. When he never showed up, he decided to make his way to their shared quarters on his own.

After stopping at the break room to get some much needed energon and chatting a bit with the other bots, he made his way down the hall where all the quarters resided. He mentally thanked Primus for the fact that his frame had went back to its original shape and didn't leave any permanent damage like warped plating from when his abdomen grew. Even Arcee had commented on how well he looked.

He grinned to himself. The praise from the two-wheeler gave him the much needed boost to go on his day. Boosted his pride quite a bit as well. Probably ended up stroking his ego too.

He took a minute to look down at the Megatron/Megatronus plushie that he had in his servo. He shook his helm as he got to the door, putting in the code to let the door slide open.

"Starscream, Ratchet forgot to give you the Megatron doll that was left in the recovery chamber. I don't think Cloudwing would have wanted to recharge without..." he stopped in the middle of the quarters, seeing the sight on the berth.

He walked closer and couldn't help but smile.

Starscream was in a deep recharge, his helm laying on his arm while his other arm laid limply and rather protectively around Cloudwing.

Knock Out could only guess that the ex-Commander was up all night taking care of the small red and white Seeker.

He reached out to Cloudwing so he could rest a servo on her helm. After feeling her squirm, he carefully removed her from Starscream's protective hold. He held her close and she looked up at him with wide optics, making chirping noises.

Just by how lively she looked right now, the red medic could tell that she had been awake for awhile now. He was rather surprised that she didn't wake the Seeker. He could only guess that she felt rather content being in the ex-Commander's hold.

Knock Out smiled down at her, holding up the Megatron plushie. Seeing the rather excited look go across the small Seeker's face made the red mech chuckle lightly. She began reaching for it and he brought it close enough to her so she could grab it and hug it. A muffled squeak came from the doll.

Knock Out looked over at Starscream then, seeing that he didn't wake from his recharge yet. He smiled and leaned forward, planting a light kiss against the Seeker's forehelm before getting to his pedes, wandering back towards the door.

"I think its time to let your Sire recharge in peace while I take you to meet the others," Knock Out said rather happily just as the door slid close behind him. Cloudwing chirped, another squeak coming from the Megatron doll as she hugged it.

It'll be awhile before I start posting "It's Not Always Easy" because I want to type up at least the first ten chapters before I do that. In the meantime though, I'll be posting "First Time For Everything"