Medical Complications

"PRIMUS!"

"I didn't do it!"

"Wave, what the frag!? What's wrong!?" Fixit exclaimed in confusion as her internally-panicking bonded dragged her through the doors of Ratchet and Knock Out's (grudgingly) shared clinic. One moment the host mecha was making her see stars, the next he got a clear look at her spark and froze before utterly freaking out.

First Aid, Ratchet's Apprentice who was currently manning the desk for the clinic, jumped in shock as Soundwave stalked right past him with the bewildered Eradicon and burst into Ratchet's office.

"Fixit? What-?" Knock Out started in confusion from where he was looking over scans with Ratchet, only to be cut off by the grumpy doctor chucking a wrench at Soundwave's helm for barging in unannounced. (Said mech dodged it easily.)

"What the frag do you think you're-!?" he started. Then the host mecha shoved Fixit towards him abruptly, forcing him to catch her even as the Eradicon yelped in surprise.

"Scan her spark!" Soundwave demanded frantically, his worry evident in his voice. "Now!"

With the ease borne of long experience, the two doctors picked up on his panic and quickly became serious, ushering the Eradicon and her tense bonded into the private room down the hall so they could check over the femme.

And then things steadily got weirder for the utterly-lost Eradicon. After the initial scan of her damaged spark, both doctors froze before scanning her again.

And again.

And again.

Ratchet burst into astonished and highly-creative swearing, torn between cursing Fixit or the host mecha hovering over her, even as Knock Out continued to scan her with increasing disbelief.

"Cybertron below-"

"That's not possible-"

"How did this-"

"Shouldn't even be possible-"

"You glitched little slagger-"

"Spark's too unstable, not possible-"

"SHUT UP!" Fixit roared in their faces, flaring her wings aggressively.

They jumped, stunned into startled silence. No one but the femme noticed First Aid pop his startled helm in.

"Thank you. Now what the frag is going on!?" she hissed, thoroughly fed up with not knowing what the frag was going on.

Ratchet and Knock Out just looked at each other for a moment.

"Fixit…" KO started hesitantly before faltering, causing Ratchet to cut in.

"You're carrying," he stated bluntly.

She stared blankly at him, idly noting that First Aid (who was still eavesdropping) looked about ready to glitch. Soundwave was just frozen next to her.

"…what?" she said weakly. "But…my spark…"

"-shouldn't be stable enough to successfully spark or carry a newspark, yes. And yet…there's a new spark."

"…"

Ratchet's mouth twitched slightly. "…congratulations. You're going to have a sparkling."

Soundwave and First Aid glitched in unison. Knock Out was just moments behind them as he realized this meant he was essentially going to be a grandsire now.

Fixit numbly snapped pictures of them on instinct, even as she gaped the red and white mech. And then something occurred to her, as a now fully-fledged doctor herself.

"…I'm not going to survive this, am I?"

Ratchet's expression turned grim again. "…since you've already kindled it, your best chance of survival is to carry the newspark to term. Aborting it now would destabilize your spark even more than it already is…destabilize it too much to survive."

"…and my chances of making it to term?"

"…there is a 75% chance of one or both of you offlining before you get to term. And even if you make it that far, you're going to be so weak that the chances of either of you surviving the separation…it's less than 13%."

"…I'm gonna need a shitload of specialized high-energy medical grade energon if I'm gonna make it to even just term…I have a feeling it's just going to depress me, but…what are my chances for the best case scenario? Aka, both the newspark and I surviving?"

Ratchet shuttered his optics and grimaced. "…3%."

"…ah." Fixit fell silent, looking down at the ground.

The doctor leaned forwards and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to meet his optics. "I will do everything in my power to make sure both of you survive this, Fixit. I promise."

She nodded jerkily, her shaking servos coming up to grip his even as she rested her helm against his. And then she let out a semi-hysterical laugh that sounded more like a sob. "...c-can you…"

"I'll explain it to your bonded and the rest of your friends and family," Ratchet said reassuringly, drawing her against him in an actual hug now that he was sure she wouldn't reject it. "I'll take care of everything. Along with the rest of your legions of overprotective minions and friends once they find out," he added dryly, making her snort. "All you have to do is focus on resting and conserving energy as much as possible. We'll take care of everything else."

Fixit simply curled up further into his strong embrace as she shook slightly in shock.

KEY (for beginning quotes):

"italics" – Fixit

"bold italics" – Primus

"underlined italics" – Solus Prime

A/N: The KEY's only going to be posted once unless otherwise requested. The quotes are going to be extra important this time around.