NOTE: All characters are the property of Hasbro, any other material or references used belongs to Disney, Warner Bros and the like. Anyway, this short story started out as a 'what if' idea, after going back and forth I decided to write it down. This was an alternate ending for C.O.D. (short for Collect on Delivery) for those who haven't read that story, I recommend checking it out.

Anyway…read on!

Friday-3:30pm...

As usual, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were waiting for their human friends to get out of school. One member of their group was missing, a certain cobalt blue motorcycle. The bell rang and the students exited the building shortly after. Miko got in on the passenger side, tossed her backpack in the backseat and shut the door.

"Glad to be out of there!" she sighed.

"Rough day?" Bulkhead asked.

"That's putting it mildly, today we had a pop quiz." Miko answered.

"Yikes! That has to be better than sitting at the DMV for three hours." Said Bulkhead, regarding what happened to him last week.

"I guess so…" Miko replied.

She looked out the window for a few minutes and didn't say anything until they got to a traffic light.

"So, how's Arcee been doing?"

"All right, I guess…she's been workin' a lot more." Bulkhead answered.

"Guess she hasn't been the same since Crimson left." Miko concluded.

Bulkhead exhaled loudly which sounded like a sigh.

"Nope…she and Ratchet got a call to pick up a package for Heatwave's team."

"And that's why she's not here?" Miko asked.

"Right, the job is going to take a couple of days, it's some construction equipment that was supposed to be sent in Maine but there was a mix up and it wound up in California." Bulkhead explained.

"Doesn't sound so bad," said Miko.

"Eh, not really…should be a walk in the park." Bulkhead replied.

Wrong!

Big Sur, California…

"Pick up the crate at the train station, they said…it'll be easy they said…shouldn't take no more than a couple of days to get it from California to Maine…nobody said anything about a thunder storm!" said Ratchet.

"Will you cut it out?! The sooner we get this done the sooner we can call it a day." Arcee told him, hearing him talk about their current assignment for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

The two of them were currently trying to get to San Francisco but got turned around on Highway One. It was known for its scenic views of the Pacific Ocean along the California coastline, but on a stormy day it was anything but enjoyable.

"Listen, this can wait, right now we've got to get out of this rain." Said Ratchet.

"Ok, you made your point." Arcee agreed.

Both of them took refuge in a rust colored boxcar that had been left on some train tracks not too far from what looked like old beach house. Arcee and Ratchet shook off the excess water before going in. There was only enough room for them to sit, turn out or stretch out but not to stand up. The two bots sat there, it only took a few minutes for them to dry off. The interior of the boxcar wasn't much to write home about. The floor was covered in hay and sawdust. The only light was a small battery operated lantern hanging from the ceiling. On a bale of hay was a stack of plaid horse blankets. It was obvious at some point the boxcar had been used for transporting livestock. Outside, the sky was covered with dark gray storm clouds. There was also thunder and the occasional bolt of lightning, just a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm.

"So, what now?" Arcee asked.

Ratchet shrugged his shoulders.

"Just wait until the storm is over, I suppose."

Arcee nodded, she then nuzzled Ratchet before resting her head on his right shoulder. It wasn't long before Arcee dosed off. An hour later, Arcee woke up, she noticed Ratchet was awake, watching the clouds in the sky.

"Still raining?" the cobalt blue femme asked.

"It hasn't let up at all." Ratchet answered.

"Guess that means we're stuck here." Arcee concluded.

Not that she didn't mind, a few months ago Arcee became Ratchet's mate though it was still taking some getting used to. She stretched her limbs and went over to Ratchet. He was taken aback by her nuzzling his cheek and purring softly. Arcee then yelped when she felt a pain in her lower back.

"What is it?!" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know," Arcee replied.

"Let me take a look," Ratchet offered.

Arcee stretched out and allowed him to examine her, she yelled when he pressed his right hand on her stomach.

"I don't believe this!" the orange and white mech exclaimed.

"What?" Arcee asked.

Ratchet glanced at her nervously.

"I don't know how to put this…but…it looks like…you're pregnant."

Arcee's jaw dropped.

"Wha…no, it can't be, there's no way." She sputtered.

After a moment of silence, Arcee spoke.

"How…far along?"

"From the looks of it, the sparkling will be here soon…sometime today." Ratchet explained.

It was then Arcee realized the pain in her back was the result of contractions.

"That would explain a lot," she concluded.

Lately, Arcee had been feeling tired and pretty much ate everything in sight. Then there was her mood swings and gradual weight gain in addition to feeling nauseous. She didn't think much of it until now. Arcee flinched when she felt another contraction.

"So…what now?" she asked.

"We just wait," Ratchet answered.

Arcee swallowed hard and laid there, this whole time she didn't know she was pregnant and now she was about to give birth. Glancing at her stomach, The female autobot froze when she saw and felt it move slightly.

"Looks like you'll be out soon; huh, Little one?" she said quietly.

Arcee leaned over towards Ratchet and pressed her cheek against the right side of his face before laying back down. Sometime later, the pain became more frequent, Arcee was now in labor. She clenched her dental plates, this was too much!

"Almost there," said Ratchet.

"Out!" Arcee growled.

Ratchet nearly fell over.

"What?!"

"Ratchet, please…leave me alone." Said Arcee.

"You sure about this?" Ratchet asked.

Arcee nodded.

"All right," Ratchet sighed and moved over to the other side of the boxcar to give Arcee some space. He knew femmes often needed help during this time but then there were some who looked for a quiet place where they could be left alone and have their sparklings. At the same time, he hated to leave her like this. Arcee yelped in pain, sweat like coolant dripped from the palms of her hands and soles of her feet. After one last push, the pain was gone! Once she got herself together, Arcee slowly sat up, leaning against a bale of hay for support.

"Ratchet, I need your help." She called.

The orange and white mech snapped out of watching the rain and went over to Arcee. He then noticed something small resting at her feet.

"Is that?" he started to say.

"I think so." Was Arcee's reply.

Taking out the first aid kit, he had brought with him, Ratchet got to work. His eyes bucked when he saw the small sac move. Taking a razor blade he carefully cut it open, sure enough there was a tiny sparkling inside the paper thin sac. Ratchet smiled as he looked at the newborn.

"She's all right." He announced.

Arcee tilted her head.

"She?"

Ratchet nodded.

The little femme whimpered loudly at being outside. After getting over the initial shock, Ratchet then cleaned her off and examined the newborn sparkling. Arcee watched, not sure how to react. She snapped out of her thought when she heard the little one cry.

"I'm sorry, girl." Ratchet apologized after tying off the umbilical cord and cutting it.

Her cries were quickly reduced to a whimper. Ratchet then wrapped her up in a white towel.

"Here she is," said he said, handing the newborn to her mother.

Arcee sat there, still stunned, she had no idea what to do, the sparkling on the other hand, kept whimpering, the outside world was cold, nothing like the warmth she was used to in the womb. After a minute or two, Arcee looked at the sparkling. Wasn't long before she shook off being in shock. Arcee pulled the newborn close and tried to warm her up. The sparkling calmed down but was still vocal with a series of squeaks. Ratchet moved closer to get a better look.

"This is our daughter," he said.

"She's so little," Arcee pointed out.

Ratchet nodded, it was true because Arcee wasn't aware she was pregnant and didn't make the changes necessary to accommodate a developing infant. As a result, the sparkling didn't get as much nutrients and was slightly underweight but was considered full term and healthy.
She relaxed at hearing her mother's spark-beat.

"Ratchet, what if she doesn't like us?" Arcee asked.

"Only one way to find out," said Ratchet, he pointed at the sparkling who started to open her eyes.

The very first thing she saw was her parents.

"Hello, little one." Ratchet greeted her.

The moment Arcee made eye contact with the sparkling; that was it.

"Hi,"

The newborn looked at her parents and blinked a couple times.

"We weren't expecting you…but we're glad you're here." Said Arcee.

The sparkling glanced over at Ratchet and squeaked.

"That's your Dad…" Arcee told her, the tiny femme then looked away.

"I'm your mother and…you're…our daughter."

The sparkling yelped at hearing the thunder outside.

"Whoa! Relax," said Arcee.

"Take it easy," Ratchet assured his daughter and rubbed her head.

It didn't take long for her to stop whimpering and shaking.

"Look at that…" Arcee told Ratchet.

"She knows our voices," he pointed out.

Arcee purred softly, both she and Ratchet nuzzled the sparkling.

"And…she looks like you," he said.

"That she does," Arcee agreed.

The sparkling was cobalt blue like Arcee but instead of pink markings on her wrists and legs, they were light blue. Her shoulders were white like Ratchet's. She also inherited his sterling silver metallic skin tone. Her eye color however, was light teal with a ring of lilac around the pupils, a mixture of Ratchet's aqua and Arcee's sky blue eye colors.

"You want to hold her?" Arcee asked.

"Well…I...I don't know." Ratchet stuttered.

The sparkling whined as she watched her Sire.

"Oh, how can I say no?" Ratchet wondered.

He gently picked up his daughter and held her. She purred for the first time, resting her head on his chest.

"You know who she reminds me of?" Arcee asked.

"Crimson?" Ratchet answered.

Arcee nodded.

The sparkling looked up at Ratchet, squeaking curiously.

"Hello again…We've never been parents before…then again, you've never been a daughter before. How about this? We'll learn together." Said Ratchet.

His daughter smiled and wrapped her tiny left hand around Ratchet's index finger.

1 hour later…

Ratchet looked outside, it was still raining but the storm seemed to have lightened up somewhat. Arcee on the other hand, was resting but took a moment to feed her daughter. The newborn yawned after nursing for the past thirty minutes. Arcee noticed and lowered her left chest plate.

"I hope this makes up for when I was carrying you four months ago."

She knew the little one would have to be fed every two hours but for now, she had a full stomach. Ratchet looked over at his mate who was obviously exhausted.

Both of them had gotten rid of any evidence of Arcee giving birth. The last thing they needed was any Decepticons picking up the scent of a young Cybertronian. But there was one thing left to do before Ratchet and Arcee could call it a day.

"We really should think of a name for her." Ratchet pointed out.

"I already took care of that," Arcee announced.

"You did?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah," Arcee replied.

"Well, then let's hear it." Said Ratchet.

Arcee glanced at the sparkling then her mate.

"I was thinking of calling her…Darcy."

Ratchet tilted his head.

"Darcy?"

"Yes, it's one of my favorite names." Said Arcee.

Ratchet smiled.

"I like that,"

Arcee glanced at her daughter for a minute.

"What do you think, girl?"

The sparkling yelped playfully, making her parents laugh.

"Think she likes it?" Arcee asked.

"I'd say so." Ratchet said with a smile.

He noticed Arcee trying to stay awake.

"You can relax, she's not going anywhere."

"Sorry, I can't help it." Said Arcee.

The only thing she wanted to do right now was comfort and protect her daughter. Said sparkling looked at her parents nervously.

"It's all right, Little one, we'll be here when you wake up." Arcee assured her.

"Not taking her eyes off of us, is she?" Ratchet asked.

"Nope, can't blame her…she was just born, the outside world is going to take some getting used to." Arcee answered.

She and Ratchet nuzzled Darcy once more, she curled up in a ball and looked at them for a second before closing her eyes.

"She really loves us, doesn't she?" Arcee asked.

"Yes, she does." Ratchet answered.

When the team had found Crimson's parents, Arcee had been heartbroken after the little femme left. Now, she and Ratchet had their own sparkling to care for. The two of them watched her as she slept. Arcee found it hard to believe that all this time she was pregnant and didn't know. Now, she had given birth to this…tiny creature that was currently resting next to her. The extra weight Arcee gained wasn't exactly enough for her or even Ratchet to suspect she was carrying a sparkling. Arcee was also surprised she didn't feel her daughter kicking either. She found out earlier from Ratchet that depending on what positions Darcy had been in during the pregnancy, it was possible that the semi-thick interior of the womb had blocked out her movements. Anything Arcee may have felt was probably minimal or she might have thought it was something else and did not consider it was a growing sparkling. After a moment, Arcee allowed herself to relax. She smiled at Ratchet and looked outside for a minute.

"Any idea how we're going to explain this to the others?" Arcee asked.

"Eh, we'll figure that out later." Said Ratchet.

It didn't take him long to notice Arcee had fallen asleep, her arms were wrapped around Darcy. Ratchet rubbed Arcee's back, which made the older femme loosen her grip. He looked around making sure no one was around, aside from the cars and trucks on the highway, there weren't any humans nearby. The orange and white bot stayed up for another half hour. Both Autobot and Decepticon mechs were extremely protective of femmes, especially those that were their mates. Relatives and friends were also on that list. Seeing that they were alone made Ratchet feel better, at the same time he never had a mate or offspring to look out for. He noticed Arcee was shivering slightly. Grabbing one of the horse blankets he covered her up. Arcee opened her eyes briefly, she glanced at the blanket then Ratchet before dosing off. Although Ratchet was tired, he made a few attempts to shake off the feeling. Eventually, it got the better of him and Ratchet was asleep within seconds.

About five hours later, he woke up and looked over at Darcy who was whimpering. Ratchet frowned, wondering why the newborn femme was awake, she couldn't have been hungry since her mother got up to feed her not too long ago. It was around ten 'o clock and dark outside with the exception of headlights on the road. He quickly realized Arcee had moved over, Ratchet gently picked up the sparkling and placed her next to her mother. As soon as Darcy felt warmth, she calmed down and went back to sleep. Until she could regulate her body temperature, sparklings depended on their parents or some other heat source to keep them warm for the first three weeks of their lives. Ratchet stretched out next to Arcee watching her and Darcy before going back to sleep.

The next day…

A drop of rain on the roof of the boxcar fell and landed on Ratchet's face. He slowly opened his eyes and saw it was daytime. It had stopped raining at some point during the night. Taking a look, he could see the storm clouds off in the distance a few rays of sunlight were shining through them as well as something else.

"Wake up!" Ratchet exclaimed.

He nudged Arcee, trying to get her attention. The cobalt blue femme yawned and opened her eyes.

"Huh? What is it?" she asked in a drowsy tone.

"You've got to see this," said Ratchet.

Arcee got up and went over to the entrance of the boxcar. Her jaw dropped at what she saw, just up ahead, in front of the clouds was a rainbow! While it looked somewhat far away, Ratchet and Arcee could easily see each color. That wasn't the only thing the two bots noticed, their audio receptors picked up the sound of seagulls and waves coming from Pfeiffer beach which was within walking distance. The air smelled like a mixture of rain, salt water and dirt.

"Now I get why you woke me up." Arcee confessed.

She nuzzled Ratchet leaning next to him as they looked at the view. A few feet from the boxcar were some Roosevelt Elk. Ratchet and Arcee had recognized them from a photo in one of the text books Jack, Miko and Raf brought from school. The elk were part of a subspecies that lived in Northern California. With the help conservation efforts, their numbers were back up and kept the group of Cervidae from going extinct. Currently, it was three Elk grazing near the boxcar, a bull, a cow and their calf. The two adults spotted Ratchet and Arcee, and froze. Seeing that the Cybertronians weren't Mountain lions or Coyotes, they went back to grazing. The calf however, spotted a Cabbage white butterfly and started to chase it. Ratchet snickered, the scene reminded him of one of the Disney movies the kids often watched. He and Arcee looked at Darcy who was now awake and taking in the different sights and smells. Arcee grinned as she watched the bull elk and cow nuzzle and lick their calf. Her carmel brown fur with white spots was different from her parents' dark chocolate and cream coats.

"Ya know, they remind me of something." Said Arcee.

"Us?" Ratchet asked.

"You got it," Arcee answered.

"I guess we better get going," Ratchet concluded.

"You're probably right." Arcee agreed.

The two of them decided to rest a bit longer before they left. Ratchet scanned Arcee and checked Darcy as well. Despite being sore from giving birth, Arcee was able to walk and could still switch to vehicle-mode. One by one, she and Ratchet stepped out of the boxcar. As they made their exit, they saw the elk were moving on as well. The two families made eye contact with one another before going their separate ways.

Heading in the direction towards the highway, Arcee and Ratchet thought of something.

"We still didn't figure out how we're going to tell everyone what happened." Arcee pointed out.

Ratchet smiled when he saw a sign near the road, it was clearly marked showing the next town had a truck stop.

"I got an idea."

Later that day…back in Jasper.

"They should've called us by now." Said Bulkead.

"Isn't Highway One a spot where their comm-links drop out?" Raf asked.

"Yeah, you're right." Bulkhead replied.

The rest of the team had been waiting for Arcee and Ratchet to call them, so far they hadn't heard from them at all. Seconds later, that all changed. Bulkhead typed in the access code on the keyboard, to answer a video phone call. Looking at the area code it was from Maine. Bulkhead raised an eyebrow at the red bot on screen.

"Heatwave?"

"No, it's Terry Crews, of course it's me!" Heatwave replied.

"Any word from Ratchet or Arcee?" Bulkhead asked.

"Actually, yeah they stopped by a moment ago and dropped off the stuff we need to fix the ceiling at the natural history museum." Heatwave explained.

"Did they say when they when they'd be coming back to Jasper?" Bulkhead continued.

"Just caught the last ferry back to the mainland…oh and they wanted me to tell you they picked up a little something on the way to San Francisco." Heatwave explained.

Bulkhead tilted his head at this.

"And that would be…?"

"You don't know?!" Heatwave exclaimed.

"Know what?" Bulkhead asked.

"Never mind, I don't want to ruin it for you, anyway I gotta get back to work, see ya." Said Heatwave and with that, he hung up.

"That was weird," Bulkhead said to himself.

"So, what's the deal?" Jack asked putting down the video game control.

"That was Heatwave, he said Ratchet and Arcee are on their way back from Maine, they're also bringing something from California, didn't say what it was.' Bulkhead explained.

"Eh, it could be a souvenir." Miko concluded.

"Yeah, guess we'll find out when they get back." Raf sighed.

"Most likely, whatever it is." Bulkhead agreed.

Meanwhile…

"So, what'd you tell 'em?" Boulder asked.

"Nothing," said Heatwave.

"Hold up, you mean they don't know about the spark…?" Kade was interrupted.

"Not a clue." Heatwave answered.

"This oughta be good," said Graham.

"I hope Miko gets a picture of the looks on their faces," Dani said with a smile.

"Knowing her, she probably will." Cody concluded.

"You think we should have told them what Ratchet and Arcee were bringing back?" Frankie asked.

Everyone, human and rescue bot paused and looked at each other.

"Nah!"

Seconds later the group started laughing, knowing the shock their friends in Nevada were in for later that Saturday afternoon . One thing was for sure, they'd more than likely hear about it the next day...

END…

And that's a wrap! This story took me literally two days to write. Just to clear things up, this is an alternate ending for my other story, C.O.D. which is short for 'Collect on Delivery. The title for this story is from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode: 'A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.'
There's also a reference from said episode as well as the Family Episode: "Son" as well as the movie Beethoven's 3rd and the Discovery channel documentary series: 'I didn't know I was pregnant'. If anyone asks, Darcy's name is Irish and translated in English means: "Dark one" which fits considering that she was born on a rainy day, I also have Irish in my family. Cervidae is also the scientific name for deer, this includes, Elk, Reindeer, Moose, White tailed deer and many others. Highway One and Big Sur are well known areas in California. Its 120 miles South of San Francisco and 330 miles North of Los Angeles. Pfeiffer beach is also part of Big Sur. It's known for its two toned sand which is pink and purple. I've only seen photos but I'm hoping for a road trip on Highway One as part of a vacation. It's a long drive but I've heard it's worth it. Anyway, this is the first full length story written from my replacement laptop.

Anyhow…I will be updating my other Transformers stories soon, until then, feel free to read what I've written so far.

Thanks for stopping by!