Arcee awoke alone in her bed. She remembered Optimus coming to bed last night, way too late, and pulling her into his arms. She wondered how much sleep he had actually gotten before he had to go back to work.

Something in her body was off. It almost reminded her of…...but no, that couldn't be. With peace among their species now, she and Optimus had not been preventing the creation of another sparkling, but it had taken so long to create Hope that they didn't believe it would actually happen anytime soon, if ever. They weren't stressing over it - another child would be welcomed and loved, but if Hope was meant to be their only, they were ok with that too.

She couldn't shake the feeling. It couldn't hurt to run the scan, right? She still had the scanner, somewhere. She found it quickly in the desk, and ran the scan. She stared at the results, then ran it again. And again.

She was sitting down, staring unbelievingly at the results of her 5th scan when Hope walked into the room. "What's wrong, mom?" She was not accustomed to anything surprising her mother as much as what she was sensing in the bond they shared.

"Nothing, sweetspark. Come on, we need to find your father."

They found him easily enough, sitting in his office, surrounded by datapads, all needing his immediate attention. He put down whatever he was working on when his sparkmate and daughter entered the room. He had expected Arcee to be upset with him for working so late and getting up so early. Instead, she was shocked, surprised, and happy. He could not come up with anything that would cause such emotions in her.

She handed him a medical scanner.

He looked at the readout, then dropped it in shock. It shattered.

He looked into her optics. "Really?"

She grinned at him. "Unless that scanner was broken before you dropped it."

Thank you for reading, and thanks to my husband for beta-ing! I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

I have to put writing away for awhile; I might get to have free time again next summer. I have three ideas that have started turning into stories in my documents, but I doubt I'll get to finish them anytime soon.