Wheeljack sped to base and ignored the contractions. He arrived at base and transformed. He saw Ratchet and Ellie around Bulkhead.

"What's the damage doc?"

"Bulkhead suffered massive trauma to his central neural conduits," Ratchet informed.

"I've watched you work you're a maestro." Wheeljack walked over to him.

"The Tox-en exposure has caused system wide damage on a sub micronic level. I can't even begin to operate until Bulkhead regains some strength." Wheeljack frowned and turned to Prime.

"You gonna tell me who did this to him?"

"Right now I think it is best to focus our attention on Bulkhead's recovery rather than revenge." The white wrecker looked at Bulkhead.

"You do that." He walked, transformed, and sped quickly out of the base. Ironelle's optics widened.

"Jackie!" She transformed and going after Wheeljack.

"No way tiny!"

"Wheeljack! You'd better let me come along! What about you and Bulk's sparkling!? You're in labor and you're going to get revenge! You're going to kill your sparkling!"

"Nah. I won't." He gasped and almost collapsed against the Jackhammer, and Ironelle put her servo on his arm.

"Easy." Wheeljack looked at her.

"You look exhausted."

"Yeah yeah. You coming?" Wheeljack and Ironelle climbed in the Jackhammer and took off. The small screen beeped as Wheeljack stared and messed with it. Ironelle reached over and grabbed his servo. He looked at her.

"Bulkhead's going to be alright. I promise."

"I know that." Something rattled in the back; they got out their weapons, and aimed it at the back. It was Miko.

"Miko?!" exclaimed Ironelle as she put away her blaster.

"What are you doing here?"

"Going after the Con who hurt Bulkhead." She walked towards them.

"You two in?" Wheeljack looked at her.

"We're taking you back." His gun went back into his servo and he sat back down.

"No! Wait!" said Miko.

"Kid I get it you want payback. All three of us do." She climbed in the other seat beside Ironelle.

"Bulkhead's my partner too!"

"Trust me when we figure out which one of Megatron's goons jumped our boy We'll take care of it our way."

"Since nobody is even going to bother doing this." Miko looked at them.

"I know who did it." They both turned and looked at the human.

"Who?"

"Take me and I'll tell you."

"All right. Ellie you'd better keep an optic on her." Wheeljack turned to the controls and sighed.

"Fine." She put Miko on her leg. Wheeljack vented sharply and Ironelle looked up at him quickly.

"Jackie."

"I'm fine. Stop being a mother hen."

Miko sat beside Ironelle on the other seat of the Jackhammer.

"Nice place you got here Megatron. Although technically you could say it's under new management."

"Wheeljack the one who enjoys explosive devices." Miko and Ironelle stifled chuckles.

"What can I say chief I'm uncouth and right now I'm sitting on top of one of your big juicy mining ops."

"The loss of one asset is hardly a blow to the Decepticon cause."

"Maybe but I'm going to keep on hitting them one by one until you give me what I want."

"And what pray tell would that be?" asked Megatron.

"The Insecticon scum who tried to frag Bulkhead."

"Tried?! Are you saying the Autobot lives?"

"He is bluffing!" exclaimed Hardshell.

"I wouldn't bet on it." replied Wheeljack.

"So here's the deal. I'm going to transmit the coordinates of my next target. If Hardshell cares to meet me there maybe he can save you from another loss. And Megatron just in case you ever wondered what 3 tons of exploding energon sound like." Wheeljack pressed a button on the screen and it sent out missiles that blew up the energon mine they were at. He took off.

Miko laid against Ironelle's chest and struggled to keep awake. She yawned.

"Maybe you ought to power down for a while," said Wheeljack.

"You sound tired Miko," said Ironelle.

"I'm good." She replied.

"He's going to make it. Right?"

"No question kid. Bulkhead's the toughest wrecking ball I've ever known and Ratchet's a great doc. The best."

"He's...sort of been in tougher places than this. Trust us Miko. Bulkhead survived countless, very dangerous missions."

"Yeah. You're right. There's no way Bulk would miss all the stuff we had planned. Car sledding, worldwide smash-a-thon, we been making a list." Wheeljack held back the tears growing in his optics as he spoke again.

"Like I said Bulkhead's too stubborn not to pull through. I know it, Ellie knows it and I bet you do too."

Wheeljack looked at the two and saw Miko was asleep and Ironelle with her optics closed. The wrecker smiled before a strong contraction hit. He groaned. Ironelle's optics shot open and she stared at Wheeljack. Miko's head shot up and she saw Wheeljack optics closed, dentals gritted and servos gripped tightly on the steering controls.

"Wheeljack what's wrong?" asked Miko, worriedly.

"Wheeljack are you ok?" Ironelle grabbed his servo.

"No."

"What's the matter?" Miko jumped out of Ironelle's seat and went over to his.

"Get back in your seat kid. It's fine." He pushed her back on the seat.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. It's just..." He put one of his servos over the bulge in his armor.

"What's wrong?" Wheeljack held his servo over his abdomen.

"I'm having a sparkling."

"You're going to have a baby?"

"Yeah. Bulkhead's sparkling too."

"Bulkhead's a dad?"

"Yeah."

"OMG! You're in labor aren't you!? We need to get back to base! You can't be out here if you're in labor you could hurt yourself and the baby!"

"Kid look—" he started.

"Wheeljack we need to get you back to base!"

"Stop arguing with him Miko. I already tried." She frowned and stared at him.

"Don't look at me like that."

"You need to go back to base!"

"Miko I'm not even close to being able to deliver it. The contractions are at least still 20 minutes apart and besides I got enough armor to protect it from things like blaster fire."

"Fine!" Miko crossed her arms and turned her back to him as climbed into Ironelle's lap. She fell asleep a few minutes later.

"Jackie?"

"What?!" he spat.

"On a scale from one to ten how bad did the last one hurt?" He sighed.

"About a seven."

"That's bad Jackie. You've been in labor for hours. You could be close."

"Don't you think I know that?!" he spat again.

"I know you know that. And I know that you want the sparkling to survive and that you want Bulkhead to see you and me again. Online. That you want Bulkhead to see the sparkling alive and well." He sighed again and out on the Autopilot. Tears ran down his face.

"You're right. But I've got to get revenge on that bug. For hurting my bondmate and putting me in pain." Ironelle gently slid Miko off her leg and she stood up and hugged Wheeljack. He hugged her back and held her close.

Wheeljack landed the Jackhammer and Miko shot up again.

"I'm up! What's the plan?" Wheeljack and Ironelle looked at her.

"Kid if anything happens to us press this." He pointed to the blue button on his screen with three circles.

"I've preset the autopilot to get you back to Prime's base."

"What? No way! We had a deal! You said I could help!" she yelled at the expecting mech and the jade green femme.

"And you did." They stood up.

"But it ends here."

"This is my fight too!"

"It's too dangerous Miko," Ironelle said quietly.

"Sorry kid but Bulkhead's gonna wake up and he'll file off our rivets if you're not there when he does." they walked past the controls towards the back.

"If I don't make it there's something that I want you to tell him when he wakes up. That I love him."

"Wheeljack! Ironelle!" They went outside, transformed, and sped away. When they reached the mine, they stopped.

Wheeljack and Ironelle laid on the ground and Hardshell towering above them.

"Your sparks will now belong to Megatron." Wheeljack grabbed Ironelle's servo and held it. Ironelle sobbed a little before falling unconscious. The Jackhammer flew up and shot missiles. They blew up Hardshell. Wheeljack stood up pulled off a piece of Hardshell's armor retracted his facemask and fell back down.

"Nice work kid." He smiled in the direction of the Jackhammer. A swarm of Insecticons formed at the edges of the cliff. Wheeljack stood up, grabbed Ironelle's unconscious body and walked as fast as he could towards the Jackhammer. The Insecticons started coming at him. Miko jumped as Wheeljack came in. He set Ironelle in the seat before sitting down into the other seat.

"I thought I told you to hit Autopilot." She looked down.

"Bad things happen to bots when I leave their side. Are you ok? Is the sparkling alive? What's wrong with Ironelle?"

"I can't tell. Tiny is unconscious Hardshell knocked her out of it. She'll wake up in a few minutes." They took off Insecticons fallowing them.

"Too many to pick off. I need something with a wider blast radius." He set Autopilot, stood up and went to his grenade storage.

"But I thought you—"

"I only carry one at a time." He got the ladder down and the top opened. He climbed up and grabbed one then stopped. Wheeljack replaced the grenade, chunked the box and shot one of them to make them explode. The wrecker came back.

"Welcome to the wreckers kid. You did Bulkhead, me and Ellie proud." He smiled at her.

"Then why don't I feel any different?" Wheeljack sat back and he groaned. Miko looked at him worriedly.

"Wheeljack?"

"Just a contraction Miko." Tears fell from the corners of his optics. There was a light groan from the back and Ironelle sat up.

"Careful Tiny. Hardshell hit you hard." Wheeljack went in the back to help the femme. He helped her up and helped her sit beside Miko.

"How are you feeling Tiny?"

"My processor is a little foggy. It'll clear soon."

At the base...

"Thanks for saving our chasses kid," said Wheeljack.

"Yeah...thanks Miko."

"You welcome." They walked inside Wheeljack still limping and holding his arm, Miko dragging her feet, and Ironelle limping as well with a crack on her back wing. All the Autobots looked at Wheeljack and Ironelle. Arcee knelt down to Miko and out a servo on her shoulder.

"Miko you ok?" Optimus knelt behind Arcee.

"She's fine kid's a pro," said Wheeljack.

"She saved us," said Ironelle.

"I wasn't talking to you two glitches." Miko looked at the others.

"How is he?" Bumblebee buzzed sadly.

"Bulkhead will survive. He may never be fully functional again." Tears welled in Miko's eyes, she ran to the med-bay, and Ironelle followed her.

"Miko, Ironelle I don't think it's wise for you two to—" Optimus stopped him. Wheeljack limped over to see Miko climb on top of Bulkhead's chassis and Ironelle brush the back of her servo against Bulkhead's cheek plate. Then he turned to the others.

"I'm not sure I want to see Bulk right now. Not like this." He turned to walk away.

"But Wheeljack what about—"

"I'm leaving Tiny." He transformed and drove out. The others looked at Bulkhead and heard Miko say, "I'm never leaving you again," and start crying. Ironelle held Bulkhead's servo and tried to make herself stop crying. Ratchet walked over to her and put a servo on her shoulder.

"Let's get you repaired." He picked her up and laid her on the other berth.

Ironelle ran into the hanger. Wheeljack was resting against the Jackhammer.

"Jackie!" She ran over. He looked up at her.

"Wheeljack please! Come back inside! You two need to be checked on! Please!"

"Tiny I-" Wheeljack gasped and clutched his bump. A pool of energon and other fluids appeared under him.

"No. No arguing anymore! You're coming and you're going to deliver your sparkling and Ratchet is going to help!" Ironelle put his arm around her shoulder and pulled him up.

::Ratchet!::

::*groan* What is it Ironelle?::

::Emergency.::

::What kind of emergency now?::

::Get the med-bay ready for a sparkling.::

::W-What?::

::Just do it!:: Ironelle helped Wheeljack down into the main base and to the med-bay.

"What is going on Ironelle!?"

"Jackie is in labor!" Ratchet's optics widened in rage and shock.

"What?! Get him to a berth!"

The 5 hours later...

"One more push Wheeljack!" The white mech groaned and cursed.

"Now!" He pushed and Ironelle held his servo. A sparkling's weak crying filled the room and Wheeljack vented hard. Ratchet cut the line and wrapped the sparkling up.

"It's a femme." She cried and didn't stop. Ratchet gently laid her on Wheeljack's chest and he supported her gently. He looked down at her tiredly. The sparkling stopped crying and looked up at her carrier.

"Hey beautiful…" the white wrecker whispered softly to the sparkling. She yawned and closed her optics.

"I'm tired too. It's been quite the few days huh?" he said softly. Wheeljack stroked her cheek softly and then gently held her tiny servo. She wrapped her servo around his finger tightly..

"She's beautiful Jackie."

"Thanks." Ellie kissed his helm softly.

"What is her name going to be?"

"Shadow."

"Jackie get some rest," said Ellie.

"I will. Eventually." His spark ached and he tried to ignore it. Wheeljack stroked Shadow's small palm as she lay in the bassinet. She twitched and he pulled his servo away in fear of waking her up.

"I'm going to recharge if something goes wrong with Shadow, Bulkhead, or yourself you comm me right away," said Ratchet.

"All right." Ratchet walked out of the room but Ironelle lingered.

"Do you want me to stay with you for tonight Jackie?"

"If you don't mind. I'd rather not be alone." Ironelle held his servo.

"I'll stay here then."

A Few Days later…

"Jackie are you spark feeding her yet?"

"Yeah Ellie. Calm down." Ironelle walked over to him and scanned Bulkhead for the second or third time that morning.

"Seriously. Calm down Ellie. That's what the 5th time you've scanned Bulk?"

"I just…He was moving earlier and I'm hoping he will wake up."

"He will eventually Tiny. Just give him time…Hatchet said he was in pretty bad shape." Shadow whined softly. Wheeljack looked at her.

"Hey sweetspark what's wrong?" She whined more. Ratchet walked in.

"Wheeljack what are you doing to make her whine?" Wheeljack looked at the medic.

"Doc she's shaking! What's wrong with her?" Ratchet walked over and scanned her. He blinked and took Shadow from him quickly.

"What are you doing?"

"Her spark is failing! She's going to go offline if I don't get her on spark support!" Ironelle looked up quickly. Shadow cried. Wheeljack watched Ratchet in shock. Ratchet put the spark support on her and wrapped her up. Wheeljack was in shock.

"Doc why did that happen?"

"Premature and late sparklings are at a risk of going offline." Wheeljack looked at her and she weakly looked up at him.

"I'm sorry Shadow..."