Notes/ My apologies for the delay in updating. I've had some issues (thankfully now fixed) with my computer. In any case this chaapter is a longer one. And a lot happens, some of it certainly not good. I don't see a ned to post any real warnnings or anything... just be aware this is not another of the fluffy type chapters I've been posting lately.

As always, feedback is most loved and appreciated. And I will get the next one up as soon as it's complete and edited.

"Speedbreaker," Knockout said, turning to his bondmate's best friend, who still sat behind him near frozen, in the racetrack stands. He watched the crowd all about them, screaming and yelling, rushing forward while grabbing and yanking at each other''s body panels, all while pushing and shoving to get down and to the exit gates. "Stay put. You'll never make it out safely right now with all those younglings."

He felt the motion of a tiny bot beginning to wiggle and squirm against his body, And it was only then that he remembered he still held Speedy's newborn, Kickstart. Speedbreaker was reaching up from her seat on the bench. And her actions made sense now. Knockout quickly placed the baby gently back into her arms.

"Wh... where is... Hotwire?" Speedbreaker muttered helpless and beginning to shake and tremble, as she looked all around with wide open optics.

"Down there," Bulkhead said, looking around intently himself and so clearly ready to help anyone however he possibly could.

He waved a hand toward the track, where a small group of youngling racers sat huddled at the edge and sitting up in bot modes. There was Hotwire, clearly unharmed, and hugging a shaking crying Switchgear tight against his frame. Nearby sat Turbo' and Takedown, each hugged tightly by their oldest racing brother, Headlight. And then there was Speedtrap, and Airbrake and...

Cybershock! Knockout looked out again over the crowd of younglings his teammate was waving towards. His spark skipped a pulse and then another when he realized his own youngling was nowhere among them.

"Cybershock," Knockout exclaimed, shaking. And in that very second his bondmate grabbing hold of his arm with a small screaming cry, clearly realizing in the very same moment that Cybershock was unaccounted for.

"Knockout!" Arcee muttered, letting him go so that he could move again to look around. "Where is Cybershock?"

"I don't... know..." Knockout mumbled back his voice hesitant as his optics quickly scanned a badly damaged racetrack. And it dropped further when he finally caught sight of a red and pale blue form lying motionless on a still smooth section of the diving surface.

"There!" he cried, horrified and trying not to panic, as he moved to toward the fence hurrying to reach her. He looked back at his bondmate, reluctant. "Arcee, you need to help out with field first aid for anyone that needs it. I'll see to our youngling. This... this could be bad..."

Bumblebee had reached the little bot first. And it was obvious he'd nearly dumped the content's of his medkit over the ground accidentally in his haste to pull it open upside down.

"Knockout," Bumblebee said, looking up from his place, kneeling on the racetrack beside Cybershock. "I comm'd Ratchet for help, but he was of course already on his way as soon as he heard that something hit the track. He's bringing a number of the medical team down here with him to help those who need it. But this one..." he looked down again at Knockout's little bot – lying unmoving on the ground with her optics closed, but managing to whimper just a little as she struggled for an intake. "She may be the worst of it."

Knockout stared down for a good long moment, at his youngling daughter in fast growing horror and shock. Her arm was clearly broken badly. That was obvious at once, and it sure wouldn't have taken a medic to know it. The limb lay bent between the elbow and wrist at a place where no arm should bend. And the wrist joint lay facing upside down besides, indicating a very clear second brake much lower. And on top of it all, the shoulder joint sat badly, forced back at least several inches from where it should have sat inside the frame work. Her body was scraped up all over, making it clear enough that she'd slid hard across the ground for meters. And here and there were deep and bleeding gashes – the worst of which left her upper left leg nearly soaked with energon.

"Knockout," 'Bee said, slowly. And for just a second, his optic's met those of his teammate with obvious near despair. He held up his scanner in his hand. "There's energon leaking somewhere in her engine. A... a ruptured hose somewhere... it's got to be..."

"It's either the waste output or her fueling input hose," Knockout muttered shaking hard now as he stared, disbelieving at the tiny screen of Bumblebee's med scanner. It was impossible to tell on the scanner exactly which it was. But the amount of energon he saw where he shouldn't have seen it, made him want to cry with his despair.

"What do we do?" 'Bee asked, urgently and horrified himself. And Knockout, who''d barely heard the young student's shakily asked question at all, though his own horror, shook his head blinked his optics had, and forced himself to think like the medi-bot he was.

"We... need your energon line kit, 'Bee," he said, waving toward said kit, dumped from the medkit along with most everything else in the young student's haste. He tried to keep his voice steady but it was clearly no use at all. "Give her fuel to replace what... what she's losing the very best we can for now. Then we... we can use the line as well for pain medication. We need to wrap her damaged leg... stabilize her arm..."

"Dad.. dy?" Cybershock mumbled, shaky and quiet. Her optics blinked just a little before closing again. And she whimpered, cringing with pain.

"You're okay, baby girl," Knockout said relief and dread filling his spark in equal parts at the thought that she might slowly wake up instead of drifting completely into recharge. Still, with a slight shake of his head and a fast intake to calm himself, he placed his hands gently over the lower part of the youngling's undamaged arm and nodded quickly to his teammate who sat ready with the line equipment.

"Just a tiny pinch now, my girl," he said, cringing a little when the youngling immediately tried to yank her arm back, resisting the slight restraint in her half conscious confusion. "We're going to be quick, okay."

"No...nooo'dont'do...hurt..." Cybershock mumbled, barely moving now as her creator held her still.

"Got it," 'Bee said quickly. And indeed he clearly had and perfectly well. Still, he looked up shaking just a little, And Knockout understood at once just how much he always dreaded inflicting pain – however slight – on younglings.

"Daddy?" Cybershock mumbled, more coherent now. Her hand reached up slowly, as soon as it was free to move. And Knockout felt her fingers tighten around his with surprising strength just as soon as he had grabbed it.

"You with us now, baby girl?" he asked, assessing her level of awareness, and feeling his dread rise in spite of himself and his training, when he realized it was fast increasing.

"Y... yeah..." the little bot answered slowly. And it was plainly obvious in her small voice that she was fast becoming terrified. Her optics blinked again, slowly And after just a another brief second, both filled instantly with coolant tears.

"My arm hurts..." she mumbled, her voice shaking with her speak breaking cries. "My... legs hurts..." The little bot looked up at her creator, optics clouded with tears and barely appearing to focus at all. "Every... everything hurts."

"I know, my girl," Knockout answered, forcing his voice into a tone far more calm then he felt.

He watched, nodding approval as he watched the young student inject pain medication into the youngling bot's energon line. And immediately he smiled assurance.. "We've just got to let some medicine work, okay. Then you'll feel better."

"Daddy..." Cybershock asked, her voice quiet as she trembled with fright and stared up at him. Her hand held his tighter and her optics barely blinked. "Am I... off lining?"

The youngling's damages were bad. Knockout knew it And he knew his teammate beside him knew it too. Still, her injuries were fixable. And when he forced himself to think about it, he knew she wouldn't die. But for her to be terrified enough to ask him such a thing... to ask in a tone that told him she was serious... Instantly he felt his spark come close to breaking.

"Not even close, my girl," he said slowly. He forced another smile, and hoped just simply talking to her would be enough to hold her attention while 'Bee reached for a roll of mesh wrapping from his medkit and instantly began wrapping the little bot's energon soaked leg in temporary coverings.

"That hurts, that hurts!" Cybershock screamed horribly. And she gave a terrible wordless shriek, as the young student worked just as carefully as he could. Her optics opened wide again to stare at her creator's again, blinking a little with more tears. "Daddy..."

"I know, baby girl." Knockout said slowly, one hand still squeezed hard by his youngling's, and his free hand gently rubbing the front of her head piece, because he remembered that had always calmed her when she was much younger. He watched with dread as her small leg kicked weakly, almost too close to kicking 'Bee's hands away from her, before she shrieked again with pain and something a bit too close to near terror. "Shh... You need to relax, my girl, okay. Intake. Nice and slow..." the youngling was nearly gasping for an intake by then from her growing panic and pain. And slowly she began to calm down, obviously trying.

"Good girl," Knockout told her, still calm because he forced himself to stay that way. One hand stayed on her head piece all the while and the other hand was held tightly by hers. "I know it hurts. I know. You know 'Bee would never try to hurt you, my girl. But... I think we need to give you just a bit more medication, okay?" He exchanged looks with his teammate – clearly just as devastated as he was to realize she hadn't been given quite enough the first time. And he looked at the young student with assurance in his optics, telling him wordlessly that neither one of them could have guessed it right exactly

"Wh... what happened?" Cybershock asked, her confusion catching up to her, as her pain was finally lessened by the medication and allowed her to question a little. She tried to move a bit too, lifting her head up from the smooth surface of the track, and trying to look around her, before Knockout gently stopped her, fearing the real possibility of hidden damages she could easily make worse.

"Something hit the racetrack," he said, keeping it as simple as he possibly could without lying, but deciding all the same to say no more than that right then.

"Where... where's Mama?" the little bot questioned, struggling to look around her again, and clearly beginning too panic again. She gave another small but still spark-breaking little shriek of pain, and fought to pull her bleeding leg away as 'Bee worked just as gently as he clearly could, to pull the wrappings tight around it.

Knockout turned for moment, hating to do it. And quickly he located his bondmate. She sat on the edge of a bench four rows up into the stands, busy administering field first aid to some poor shaking refugee, who sat beside her silently with energon pouring from a gash across the front of his chest panel. She was shaking just as hard as he was, though so clearly trying hard to hide the fact. And she looked from the injured refugee to her own youngling on the racetrack and back again, so clearly torn between her duty and her child.

"Mama will see you just as soon as she can, my girl," Knockout said, turning back to the little bot at once. He tried to gently pull his hand free so that he could help to hold the youngling bot in place to help his teammate. But Cybershock was not letting go of him, and that was clear in a second. So instead he moved his free hand, to rest it against the side of her face-plate.

"Shh..." he said gently, when she gasped hard again for an intake again while chocking back a sobbing cry. "Hold still. That's my girl." He smiled a little, making sure to let the youngling see his face-plate clearly, and added slowly just because he knew it might just make her smile back, "You were winning the race, you know..."

"Owwww..." Cybershock cried, coolant tears forming in her optics again, and falling down her face-plate. But she did smile at least for a second.

"I know, sweetspark," Bumblebee said, his attention so obviously focused entirely on his work, while still speaking with compassion in his voice just as much as ever. "I know... I'm sorry."

"'Bee," Knockout said to his teammate, sighing with relief when he heard the familiar noise of Ratchet's blaring siren. He forced himself again to think like a medi-bot while still thinking like a creator all at once. And he held his little bot's hand tighter again, fully expecting her reaction of dread at what he had to say next. "Do you... feel confidant in powering her down?"

He watched the young student's confidant nod. But sure enough, his youngling laying on the ground stiffened at once, in growing panic all over again.

"Noooo..." she cried, once again in terror. Her optics locked on Knockout's and she lay for just a second almost frozen. "Daddy...no! Noooo..."

"Cybershock," Knockout answered patiently, firmly and calm. But he felt himself shaking all the same, and forced himself to hide it, or at least to do his best. "Ratchet is on his way to come and help us. We're going to strap you into a transport board, and you'll be driven to the medbay. But your arm is badly broken, baby girl... you're in so much pain already just laying on the ground. I could never just try to pick you up like this..."

"Daddy..." The little bot's blue optics never left his, and her hand held his tighter then before. "I'm... I'm... afraid..."

"I know, my girl. I know it's scary. Just lay still and intake. I'm right here beside you."

"Don't leave me... don't leave me..." the little bot held her creator's hand tighter. And again she fought a little for an intake.

"I'm not going anywhere," Knockout said, firmly and forcing calm more then ever in the face of his only child's panic. He watched, his spark sinking as his little bot looked around her frantically in obvious terrified panic "Optics on me, baby girl. Good little bot"

A light, hesitant tapping, done with an obviously small hand against his shoulder panel barely registered in his mind at all, at least at first. But when it kept up, growing just slightly more insistent, Knockout shook off his single minded focus just a little as his child finally powered down. And he slowly turned around.

Switchgear stood behind him on the racetrack, her small green hand reaching and ready to lightly tap him again for his attention. She looked so uncertain, shaken, still just as terrified as ever, and... determined.

"Is she... going to be okay?" she asked, optics falling on her small friend at once.

"She'll be fine, Switch,'" Knockout answered, with more forced confidence than ever just to hide his shaking from the little green bot.

"You... mean it?" Hotwire asked, his voice far more hesitant somewhere close by. And Knockout turned, with his spark sinking still further to see the little yellow youngling standing on the track beside Switch' coolant tears streaming down his face-plate.

########

Firestorm could hear sirens screaming somewhere on the south side of the city. And with growing dread, which only built by the second, she realized they were still seemingly no closer to stopping than they had been at least an hour before.

Pain tore through the front of her frame, from below her spark chamber to well below her middle. And she gasped out loud with her discomfort, as she sat in her chair in her living room, close to the window, with its curtains tightly closed, just listening to bots outside as they began talking to each other louder and louder, in their own clear panic because of the sirens.

She wished she'd told Soundwave that afternoon, she'd felt unwell before he'd left the apartment. But it hadn't seemed like anything to think much about just before he'd left. And they had both easily assumed he'd be right back anyway, with simple case files he'd gone to retrieve from his office. He'd been gone all evening though, obviously forced into dealing with... whatever it was that had happened just south of the city. And Firestorm could no longer deny to herself the fact that the newspark was ready to be born.

She'd tried already to make several calls on her commlink, trying Soundwave first of course – before she'd tried Shortwave, then Knockout, then Arcee, and finally Speedbreaker. And not a single one of them had picked up her call. Ultra Magnus was an obvious choice, because he could easily find Soundwave – who she needed home then no matter what had happened across the small crowded city. But his commlink was just as dead as the rest.

Firestorm, hungry for some fuel, despite her pain and her fast growing unease, pulled herself to her feet with the aid of the small table in front of her. And she'd managed to walk slowly, more then halfway to the energon dispenser before a pain worse then any before, made her stop, frozen to the spot gasping hard for an intake through her filter. She got the fuel then, working as fast as she could to fill the container, knowing pain would stop her again any second. And gratefully she took sip from it. Firestorm wondered then if she ought to have her additives too, and slowly she decided she should. The youngling she carried, could after all surely still benefit from them even while early in the process of being born. As another wave of pain – thankfully milder this time- rose up through her frame, she fumbled in a cupboard for a premixed additive pack from a box of them kept near the front. And the effort of her looking for it, distracted her a little from anything else.

"Soundwave," the mini-bot mumbled, helpless and suddenly fighting back tears of near despair. She sat herself back down in her chair, leaning forward just trying to ease the next flare of pain through her body, as tears came too her optics. "Where the frag... are you?"

She looked around her living room then. And her wet optics landed on the countdown screen that Soundwave had hung on the wall after he'd programmed it. 'Two days.' It was spelled out plainly in bright Cybertronian code. Two days until Ratchet's well decided 'safe point.' And even then the newspark would have been early by at least twenty days. For a good long moment, she sat, just staring at the countdown board and hoping with everything she ever had, that her child would somehow be okay.

Slowly she moved to key in another number over her commlink using a keypad she'd picked up from the table. Bulkhead, she decided, in growing panic. He certainly wouldn't mind a call to his commlink from her. And if nothing else he could surely tell her exactly what had happened on the south side of the city. But Bulkhead, like the others she'd been calling since the noise of screaming sirens started, did not respond to his buzzing comm.

"Please..." the mini-bot said, groaning out loud to no one at all, while her pain suddenly increased again, making her double over herself in her chair. "Help me..."

"Firestorm!" a voice yelled at the door of the apartment. And for a moment she barely heard it at all, through the effort it suddenly took her to fight back a scream as the youngling moved, shifting roughly inside her frame while another flare of pain ripped through her mid section. Blastwave... she recognized the voice of Soundwave's young brother all too slowly, as he began to bang urgently on the apartment door.

"Blast'..." she called back, wanting to hurry to door but sure she wouldn't make it halfway there before pain made her stop again. "Use the door code... I... I can't..."

"What's happening outside?" she asked the youngling bot, the second he'd gotten into the little apartment, and run toward the living room. Firestorm watched him as he kneeled hesitantly down on the floor beside her chair. And the sudden fright in his own optics was impossible to miss

"No one is sure yet exactly..." the youngling said, his voice quiet as usual. "A bot in shuttle mode... some old Decepticon... they... they think he dropped explosives on the... racetrack. The junior league was racing on the track..."

"Younglings..." Firestorm mumbled in disbelief, as her processor too slowly registered exactly what it was that Blast had said. And for the moment the dread and panic was enough to make her forget all about her own pain.

"Were any of them hurt?" she questioned. But she stopped speaking just a second later, and shook her head in horrified dismay.

Of course some would be hurt, she understood, spark-broken. Not to mention all those many bots that sat in the stands, besides, and had been simply watching the race. Still, her spark dropped, regardless, when Blastwave nodded slowly.

"Knockout and Arcee's own youngling was among the worst of them..."

"Cybershock..." Firestorm mumbled, her spark pounding harder. She loved that little bot, and knew full well that most anyone who'd met her felt the very same.

"I... I don't know very much," Blast' said, so obviously shaken himself as he explained. "I... I was in the stands... no one near where I sat was injured. But... she was laying on the track for quite a while... there was energon everywhere. Then she was taken away to the hospital..."

The youngling paused then, watching in silence, as Firestorm sat through another sharp and tearing pain. She tried her best not to make a sound, not to move or even let her face-plate show a thing to the youngling bot. But she knew from his look, that he'd seen a hint of something anyway.

"Firestorm...?"

"I'm... good, Blast. I'm good."

"No," the youngling said, so calm for such a young bot. He looked at her with his face-plate serious "You're not."

Firestorm watched - strongly resisting the urge to groan loudly with the next pain that spread through her body – as the youngling bot crossed the room quickly, pulled the curtains partway open, and stood a second looking out the window.

"My carrier is somewhere downstairs," he explained, clearly hoping to catch sight of said bot far below them on the walkway. "Some neighbor of yours was outside confused by the chaos... she stopped to help him..." He turned back to Firestorm, who forced a smile of assurance at him, before shifting positions awkwardly in her chair, searching without any success, for a far more comfortable position.

"Blast'," Firestorm said, gasping a little in her still growing pain. She gestured, somewhat vaguely toward her energon container, left now just out of reach on the table beside her.

"Do you... need more?" Blast' asked, when Firestorm quickly finished the container, between bursts of pain. She slowly shook her head.

"Is... your newspark on its way?" the youngling bot asked next. And Firestorm nodded just a little, reminding herself firmly that Soundwave's youngling brother was far from clueless.

"My carrier is on her way up," he reminded her, calm and collected as few grown bots might have been then. And he smiled for a second turning back for a fast glance at the window. "She'll know how to get a hold of help..."

At that very moment, and just as if on cue, another loud bang sounded at the door before it slid open, accessed by the door code.

"Firestorm?" Shortwave's voice called out, urgent and so obviously shaken. "Blastwave?"

"Carrier!" Blast' yelled without moving from his place sitting close to Firestorm's chair. "Firestorm is in trouble!"

Shortwave had Firestorm supported leaning forward in her arms and against her body panels, just as soon as she'd managed to hurry inside and park Lightwave – strapped into her chair – out of the way, in a corner of the room.

"The city was attacked this evening," she said. And her voice was shaky and disbelieving, despite her

obvious try at sounded calm as ever. "The bot that did it is a flier... and Soundwave gave chase, right off the planet. He'll get him. I know he will... he'll shoot him dead in space if that's what it takes..."

"But... I need him here..." Firestorm said, nearly crying in that second. And she was gripped at once by a terrible fear that Soundwave could never hope to out-fly a bot shuttle mode.

She opened her mouth again, to voice that dreadful thought. But a new wave of pain, worse than any before, rose up from the bottom of her mid section, up through her spark chamber, and clear around to the back of her body. She was dismayed and confused, barely understanding at all, when Shortwave calmly suggested she try moving from her chair to kneel instead on the floor in front of it. But she let the older bot help her to do so, without resistance anyway. And she was surprised and instantly relieved when the new position, strangely did seem at least a little bit helpful.

"I've asked Blast' to comm the hospital," Shortwave said. And Firestorm listened to her with growing relief, between bursts of pain.

"This is... getting worse.." Firestorm groaned. She wanted to move, to look up at Shortwave while she spoke to her. But a burst of pain worse than any before made her sit frozen where she was. And for a second she just gasped horribly, struggling for an intake.

"You be okay," Shortwave said. She sat beside her on the floor, smiling a moment in confidant assurance, as her optics moved to her own smallest youngling, who Blast had, at some point moved to lay on the floor close by unnoticed. "It's always so completely worth it in the end."

"Soundwave might not make it back in time..." Firestorm said, gasping again as another wave of pain tore through her frame. She felt her tears forming in her optics. And in another second, a few had escaped to flow down her face-plate. "He... he's just as excited about this youngling as I am now. And now he... he might not even get to be here to meet him,when he's born..."

"Soundwave will do his very best," Shortwave answered. She pulled the mini-bot against her frame so that she could hug her for a moment.

"Shortwave..." Firestorm mumbled, trembling hard as the next pain spread though her body. And for a long second the room around her appeared to spin. She steadied herself again as the pain faded. And for a second, she just sat, crying. "I'm... not sure I can do this. It's so bad already... and I know I'm not even close..."

"You'll be..." Shortwave began to assure her calmly, clearly about to tell her she'd be fine. But she stopped speaking at once, when Firestorm violently purged the contents of her fuel tank onto herself and the floor without any warning at all.

"I'm sorry," the mini-bot said, her embarrassment only causing her to cry harder.

"You're okay, sweetspark," Shortwave answered at once. And Firestorm, still crying hard and shaking as she felt the next wave of pain welling up inside her frame, barely managed to nod a little, as the older bot gently cleaned her up with a cleaning rag that Blast' must have brought her. "These things happen."

"I...," Firestorm mumbled, while her head drooped to rest against the front of the chair "I... guess he didn't want his additives..." she managed to laugh just a little between burst of pain, and beside her, Shortwave chuckled too.

Lifting her head again, feeling just a bit better, at least for that moment, Firestorm looked around a little. She saw Blast' nearby, sitting on the sofa and busy on a commlink, with a look of urgency on his still calm face-plate. And her optics slowly traveled again to the countdown screen on the wall.

"It's only too soon by just a couple of days," Shortwave said, clearly understanding exactly what Firestorm was thinking of again while she stared with dread at the lighted screen. "That's hardly something a newspark can't survive and be fine in the end."

"Can you sense his energy field?" she asked just a second later, resting a hand lightly on the younger bot's shoulder panel, and smiling a little.

Firestorm nodded slowly, because indeed she could. And though she had on a level that was apparently unheard of, since nearly the start of her carrying, it suddenly felt stronger now than ever. Slowly she smiled. And even as the next pain come, this one rising up through the bottom of her middle and spreading to her spark, where it lingered for a long moment, she almost managed to hold her smile.

"He... he's strong... curious... ready..." she said, her excitement winning out now as the pain faded again.

"Your youngling..." Shortwave mused, her tone still assuring as she shifted light's limbs around gently on the floor beside her – her motion almost idle, and her attention so clearly torn between bots now in her care. "He will be amazing."

"I can't wait to meet him either," Blast' said smiling. And on the floor, Light' gave a small and quiet little buzz – she first sound she'd made since the family had come.

"I think Lightwave knows something is important," Blastwave continued. And Firestorm, nodding as she smiled between pains, reached out to hold Light's little hand gently in hers.

"Newspark, Light," she said to the damaged youngling bot.

She gestured toward her spark chamber, not caring that the gesture was, in her case not entirely accurate. And thinking for a second more, she made a slow gesture of rocking her free arm, folded against her chest, from side to side. Lightwave buzzed again.

Firestorm might have grinned over that. And the others surely would have to. But the next pain came then, and she lowered her head to rest on the chair, fighting back a scream for a good moment before it finally escaped anyway, muffled by the overstuffed chair pad. She became well aware of wetness under her lower body crumpled on the floor. And looking down as the pain began to fade, as gasped in horror at the dark oil streaked energon spreading in a fast growing pool under where she sat.

"Oh no..." she groaned, her spark dropping hard. And for a long moment she just sat frozen, staring with fast growing terror at the still spreading energon pool.

"You're okay," Shortwave said, a hand on the younger bot's shoulder panel, and slightly less calm showing in her optics now. Firestorm heard her mumble quickly to her youngling to try again to reach the medbay. And she mumbled something about how it was truly urgent now.

"I... I'm... on it..." Blast' said, his voice clearly panicked. And Firestorm barely managed a nod of thanks before purging her fuel tank again. She purged again with barely a pause and more energon covered the below her.

"The... newspark..." Firestorm mumbled. So much of her will and awareness was focused on on her still unborn youngling that it barely occurred to her at all to even worry that she too might just have been in any real danger then. "He... he's gotta be... okay..."

"It's alright, sweetspark," Shortwave said, her voice barely registering through Firestorm's now near completely panic. She pulled the younger, smaller bot's frame back a bit to rest against her down while she kneeled on the floor, arms tight around her and so clearly trying hard just to keep her calmer.

"Tune yourself back in to his presence," she suggested, her voice slow and quiet. "Can you sense his energy again?"

"I... I can..." Firestorm nodded, smiling weakly with her relief for just a fraction of a second before the worst pain she'd even felt by far seemed to threaten to tear her clear in half from the inside out.

She screamed loudly then, perhaps enough to alarm those on an entire floor of the building. And before she could stop herself she'd uttered far from acceptable for the younglings in hearing range. The room appeared to spin and for a second she heard another loud horrible scream before even understanding that it was her own.

"I... wasn't able to reach Soundwave's comm line," Blastwave said, clearly regretful for a moment and forcing Firestorm's awareness back into the present again, before his optics showed hope again, and he added quickly. "I'll... try to reach the police department. But... I've finally reached a medi-bot. He promised he'd send urgent help."

########

'Soundwave,' said Ultra Magnus urgently via their comms. 'Report status!'

Soundwave looked around him as he flew in vehicle mode... the vast expanse of space all around him, and Cybertron below. He might have taken a moment to admire the view if he only had a moment he could spare.

'Target – sighted,' he reported quickly, turning himself a little before firing his engines upon seeing the purple form of the shuttle retreating to his left hand side.

'I don't think I need to tell you twice that what you did was foolish, taking off after Astratrain all on your own,' Ultra Magnus warned, his tone not quite a reprehend, but still not exactly pleased.

Soundwave's primary drive had always been his need to be nearly unquestioningly loyal to someone. And even then, it bothered him that the police captain – the bot who'd quickly come to hold his greatest loyalty since his defection to the Autobots, was anything less then impressed with his actions on duty. But he pushed that aside, somewhat forcefully, reminding himself far more mattered now than programming born of simple survival. His determination drove him froward now. And he furiously fired his engines again.

'Someone has got to stop him, sir,' he comm'd, just as quickly as before. He flipped himself over in space, trying for more power and speed. And for a second his own strange confidence, impressed him. 'Astrotrain has wings. You need a flier to even have a chance at taking this one in.'

'Just... be careful, Soundwave.' The voice of the police captain was confident now, understanding and... concerned. 'If you can't engage him safely then... don't do so at all We'll find another way. I'm not losing a good bot tonight. You've got a youngling on the way. That kid needs a living creator.'

'I...,' Soundwave paused in mid reply, still startled and disbelieving even after years, at someone calling him 'good.' He thought of Firestorm and their expected newspark – the little family he'd come to want more then he wanted anything. And inside his flying alt mode, he smiled to himself 'I'll... be careful, Ultra Magnus, sir.'

He might have said just a little more. But he'd gained on his target with surprising quickness. And Astrotrain's reaction – laughter – at seeing him come closer, held his focus entirely.

"Soundwave," the larger bot called out. And his voice was nearly... cheerful. "I'm surprised to see you here, though certainly not entirely displeased. Leadership positions under my new rule, will of course be carefully considered. But you could easily make the short list..." Astrotrain paused then, turning to face his fellow flying Cybertronian. And have gave another good natured laugh. "Come to apply for your old job back, then?"

Something was off somehow. Astrotrain's tone, and the hint of laughter that came right along with it was insincere, mildly mocking somehow. Soundwave noted that in silence, filing the detail away inside his processor without the slightest hint of a reaction at all.

"Astrotrain!" he said, his tone firm and serious. And in spite of himself, he enjoyed the hint of a gasp from the bigger bot, at hearing him speak for the first time ever. "Stop this. It's over... Cybertron is a new world now."

"I always knew you could talk, Soundwave... even if you never said a word."

"I'm taking you in, Astrotrain," Soundwave answered. And though he had his doubts about successfully doing so, he refused to let his voice show it. "You've committed an act of terrorism in dropping explosives on a public racetrack. And on behalf of the patrol, I'm placing you under immediate arrest."

"You're a police-bot now?" Astrotrain questioned. But his tone was not as close to full shocked as Soundwave new it could well have been. And not a second later he just laughed again.

"It doesn't suit you, Soundwave," he said, far more openly mocking now. "You were once among the greatest of Decepticons. And you always were so proud of your place within the cause You fought for the greater good of Cybertron, right beside me. Now... you presume to arrest me for fighting for that very same good?"

"Fighting for good?" Soundwave exclaimed. His anger suddenly threatened to overtake him, as he powered up his weapons. And the next words he spoke, were shouted. "By bombing a public racetrack? One filled with youngling bots – the future of our world? Youngling bots having a wonderful time racing for the championship title, while carriers and creators sat watching? One small bot nearly lost her life! And you still see only greater good?"

"Surely the life of one youngling is a price worth paying for our freedom," Astrotrain reasoned. And Soundwave felt only fury.

His mind traveled quickly back to the night of his own Autobot initiation party, years before already, but never close to forgotten. And he remembered that Cybershock - a tiny child barely into her second frame years then – had climbed into his lap like it was the most acceptable thing in the world to do. Her face-plate flashed through his processor, and he remembered her tiny giggles as she'd snuggled on his knees... he remembered Knockout's shocked dismay, and Firestorm's grin.

"You... sparkless idiot," Soundwave shouted, well aware of just how unlike him it was to say such things to anyone. He flung a cable free from its place inside his own frame, sent electrical current through it, and easily imagined he might just fry his opponent's processor to little more than sparking wires, if he could just grab hold of him. He so clearly recalled the slight weight of the little bot's tiny frame as she rested, calmly as anything, ginning her innocence as she offered him sticky energon treats. "That youngling was the first Cybertronian child to see me as someone capable of decency. She was born in peacetime, born to be safe, and to be loved... just like at least a hundred others. This is not their war!"

"You sound just like an... Autobot," Astrotrain ranted. And Soundwave knew he was more then likely snarling his disgust somewhere inside his shuttle form. But he didn't care.

"I am an Autobot," Soundwave said, remembering how he'd wondered once just how one could ever possibly be proud to say exactly that. He turned himself a little bit in space, even daring to drift closer to his once ally now turned enemy.

"So my informant on Cybertron told me." And Soundwave easily pictured a sick and overly triumphant grin no one would ever see hidden inside the large bot's alt mode. "I had thought he might just have been confused... or lying."

"Informant?" Soundwave demanded at once, interested, alarmed, and dangerously close to becoming truly angry. He launched the cable again, and this time it landed easily, grasping firmly to the underside of his opponent's shuttle mode. "Who is this informant?"

"You betrayed the Decepticon cause, Soundwave," Astrotrain growled, struggling unsuccessfully to free himself by flying to the left and the right and yanking hard against the cable, and ignoring the direct question entirely. He powered up his weapon, fired behind him and missed Soundwave by a mile. "You've betrayed Lord Megatron."

"He betrayed all of Cybertron," Soundwave answered back, yanking his opponent toward him slowly with the cable, and with near amusement at the terrible aim. "We all trusted him... the civilians... the down and outs... he gave us all hope of a better way only to have enslaved the entire world if he'd won the war. And... in the end he wanted the Earth besides..."

"He always did take what he wanted," Astrotrain snarled. "He was strong enough to take anything and make it his. No one dared oppose him. They feared his name. Those are things to be admired. Things I will soon be admired and feared for the very same way."

"Be quiet," Soundwave demanded. His tone was sharp and just as commanding as he could possibly have managed to make it. And he pulled with great effort against the weight of his opponent, who fought to pull both of them backwards. "You'll have your chance to speak for yourself. Even a mindless terrorist gets that much now."

His last comment was just a little out of line and he knew it. And it hardly mattered in the least if the pointed accusation was entirely true. With his still building rage barely contained within his frame, he wrapped his cables tighter, pulled harder against the struggling of the captive shuttle mode.

"You'll regret this, Soundwave," Astrotrain ranted loudly. "You and every single one of your new Autobot friends. You'll never hold me in a cell. I'll never go to trail. I'll kill each and every one of your so called friends just as soon as I've finished killing you. You're ridiculous. You're pathetic. And you're weak..."

A groundbridge! The thought flashed through Soundwave's processor at once, as his opponent's struggling grew truly violent And with a hint of a smirk across his face-plate, he plotted co-ordinates in under a second, well prepared to launch a bridge right into lock up cell five, before quickly shoving Astrotrain through it. A bridge popped up, swirling in space in front of them, and Soundwave vented his instant relief at her perfect success, even as Astrotrain quite predictably, began to scream louder, firing his engines harder and shooting bolts from his blasters in his fury.

"Soundwave!" Astrotrain screamed in predictable threat the second he was captured. "Let go of me you... pit slagged traitor!"

"I'm taking you in," Soundwave repeated. And all the while he pretended his former faction-mate's words didn't bother him a little.

"Let go of me! You're pathetic. You were always pathetic. Nothing more then Megatron's well trained pet. Like the loyalist of Cyberhounds."

But Astrotrain's struggling slowed then, and abruptly he came close to stopping it entirely. In that second, Soundwave saw hope – a feeling he was finally becoming used to.

"Astrotrain, please... stop this," he said, nearly begging, because suddenly it mattered. "Give up now and agree to land peacefully. Let me... show you New Cybertron... the world we all built together. The place is full of refugees and younglings now... and they all just want to live happily in safety."

"Your New Cybertron will never last," Astrotrain just snarled in reply. And again he laughed in mockery, even as he was yanked toward the groundbridge by Soundwave's cable. "Bot were created only to endlessly fight. We are a world of warriors. That''s all we ever were. That's all we'll ever be, no matter how much you might dream of being more."

He fired his engines again suddenly, but this time he did so to move himself closer to Soundwave instead of struggling again to get away. He transformed to bot mode, floating easily in space. And Soundwave, who had been about to argue that his once faction-mate had gotten everything wrong, found himself held suddenly in a firm and dangerous hold by his own captive.

"I think I might just let you live for a while, Soundwave," Astrotrain said, his voice now a menacing whisper close to Soundwave's audial receptor. "Long enough to let you see me kill your prefect little Firestorm... and that tiny youngling on the way right along with her!"

"No!" Soundwave yelled in something that was almost a scream in reply. He transformed to his own bot mode, and instantly he was struggling hard, hampered only slightly by any lack of gravity in his desperate tries at subduing his opponent. "You'll never get to Firestorm. You won't get anywhere near her. If you ever even look at her I'll kill you. I'll rip your spark out!"

"We all us to doubt back on the warship that you would ever feel anything at all," Astrotrain taunted. "Let alone love." He laughed again, as he was punched hard in his face-plate and kicked in the chest panel twice in succession. "Who would have guessed the one that would show you you still had a living spark, would be some filthy, rust-ridden refugee."

"Don't you ever insult her again," Soundwave growled, sure his own tone would have scared any sane bot senseless. And with every bit of force and will he had, he managed in one fast sudden move to hurl the larger bot through the groundbridge.

'Ultra Magnus,' Soundwave said over his commlink, while he forced back his still intense. 'I've got him. 'You will want to check the holding cells.'

'A good use of your old relocation trick, I see,' the police captain said back, chuckling just a little in his understanding. But his voice turned completely serious just a second later, ass he continued on speaking. 'I need you back on the surface, and it needs to be now. Fly straight to the base hospital.'

'Sir?' Soundwave questioned, already back into hiss alt mode, already flying fast, debating a bridge for himself, and daring to speak slightly out of turn. Panic rose fast through his frame.

'It's Firestorm' Ultra Magnussaid, confirming his fears. But his tone quickly softened a little in another instant, and again he chuckled over the comm. 'Half the city is trying to reach you by now. You're about to be a creator!'

########

The medical student that had come to met him at the front door of the hospital, was nervous. Soundwave saw the young bots unease all too clearly in her uneven steps, and fast darting optics that looked around idly at anything but him.

"Firestorm's situation is... uh..." The student paused, clearly uncertain of exactly how to best continue. And in her nervousness, she nearly tripped over her own feet as they rounded a bend in the hallway.

"It's..." she tried again. And this time her words come out far better. "It's far from ideal. Nothing at all is going to go according to plan. She's losing energon. The youngling is stuck, apparently wedged into the worst position possible. And Ratchet has said more then once that she's clearly in the worst pain he's ever seen from a bot in spark separation... He told me to hurry when he sent me to meet you. It... it looks like he might power her down for interventions. And... she should see you first..."

If Soundwave had ever doubted from the student's first explanations that things were indeed serious, the mention of a power down would have convinced in a hurry. That, he knew, despite his lack of detailed knowledge of such things, was certainly not routine in the process of delivering a newspark. The thought of intervention to any degree made his spark drop with worry at once. And he hurried his steps toward the 'new carriers' room, in his rush to get there faster.

"Heeeeeeeeelp meeeeeeeee!" A voice screamed somewhere still a good ways down the hallway. And recognizing the screaming at once as that of Firestorm, Soundwave began to run forward. Beside him, he saw the young student cringe, clearly still unused to such noise.

"How long has Firestorm been here?" Soundwave asked, in mid step. And his spark dropped a little, as soon as he'd asked. Because he feared the answer.

"Hours," the student said, sadly. She glanced around nervously as ever for a moment more, before her optic's finally met his, pausing for just second in the hallway. And slowly she smiled, however uncertain and uneasy that smile might have been.

"You made it on time," she said, with a tone suddenly close to true confidence. "That's what matters most."

They reached the closed door of the 'new carriers' room. And the young bot gestured urgently for him to hurry inside. Though she made no move to follow herself, and instead just looked uneasy all over again. Soundwave reached fast, to tap the door control, allowing it to slide open. But he paused for a moment in the middle of his motion, spark dropping faster than ever, when he realized with a horrible start that the screaming from behind the door had stopped entirely.

"Hurry," the student said And clearly without thinking, she reached out with a hand extended, obviously about to shove him lightly toward the door, before she stopped herself and pulled her hand back with a visible start. Quickly she tapped the door control herself.

"Soundwave," Ratchet snapped with a sigh of audible relief, when Soundwave stepped into the room hurriedly. He stood with his back to him, working with a med scanner, and he didn't look up. "Over here. Now!"

"Sound...wave..." Firestorm mumbled, her voice shaking, as she lay still on the recharge station close to the middle of the room. Her frame was shaking as much as her voice was. And her half closed optics were dimming. She reached up slowly with a shaking right hand. And Soundwave took at once, forcing a smile, as she mumbled up at him. "I... thought you'd never... make it..."

"And I was just as worried," Shortwave said. She looked up from her place, sitting in a metal folding chair on Firestorm's other side, and shook her head with obvious concern on her face-plate. She lowered her tone then, and went on explaining, even when it became obvious that Firestorm was not exactly listening intently in the first place. "Things have not exactly been going well."

"Firestorm," Soundwave said slowly. He held tighter to the little mini-bot's small hand, and looked intently at her optics, trying his hardest to make her focus on him She did for only a second before her optics dimmed again and all focus was clearly lost entirely.

"She's not very with it right now, I'm afraid," Ratchet said. And Soundwave – though he was certainly nothing close to a jumpy bot in general – nearly jumped off the floor, startled when the old bot placed a hand lightly on his shoulder panel.

"She's had a lot of pain medication... it's working finally. And she's lost a lot of energon besides..." the old medi-bot sighed and gave a sad little shake of his head.

She clearly had lost a lot. And letting his optics travel to her lower body and the floor below her, his spark dropped still further at the amount of blue glowing liquid that had run everywhere, so obviously streaked with dirty blackened oil. His thoughts went at once to the attack of the past night. And he guessed in once sad instant that the hospital's store of donated energon, jut had to have been all but drained because of it.

"We can give her some of mine," Soundwave said at once Because in his spark it was never a question, but a simple given.

"I suspected you'd so easily volunteer," Ratchet answered just as quickly. "Your offer will be more then accepted when this is finally done with.

"I... feel next... one..." Firestorm mumbled, optics still half closed, and half way into recharge And Soundwave blinked at her a second, confused.

He looked though at the monitor running silently behind her, because Ratchet and Shortwave wee suddenly watching it so intently. And then he understood. An energy pulse – it showed, slowly building, on the monitor behind them. Firestorm's optics brightened then in an alarming flash of fear. And her frame stiffened in obvious dread. Soundwave heard his carrier speak then however. And her tone was surprisingly almost positive. Because, as she quickly explained in hushed tones, it had been too long since the last one, and they should have been closer together instead of much further apart.

"Firestorm," Ratchet said speaking quickly. He spoke louder too, clearly so determined to be heard by a bot still half way to losing consciousness. And Soundwave saw him shake the mini-bot gently, a hand against her shoulder panel, and a faint hint of hope in his optics. "Ready to give this one more try?"

"Umm...hmm..." Firestorm mumbled. And a strange determination filled her blue optics, as she struggled to move a little.

"She's been so beyond determined to make this work without any huge intervention," Shortwave explained. Soundwave saw her shake her when he glanced her way for just a second, before looking right back at Firestorm again. "There's been no real progress. The youngling just isn't moving. And... you see how weak she is now." She gave a look of something that might have been concern mixed with admiration. "Still, she begged Ratchet to let her try for just a little longer."

"And that was a very good try," Soundwave said to Firestorm,, his optics meeting hers again after several long and helpless moments during which she'd cried and fought, pushing as hard as she clearly could all to no avail, until finally she fell back again, her head rocking with little control on the pillow behind her, groaning with the pain of her useless efforts.

"I'm... sorry..." she mumbled, tears on her face-plate now. "I can't..."

"You did the best you could," Soundwave answered quietly. He grabbed her hand again and held it, smiling his assurance he best he knew how to Her last good try had truly been her last.. And he knew that without asking.

"How is... how is the newspark?" he questioned instead, fearing the answer more then he thought he'd ever feared anything.

"The newspark is still doing amazingly well," Ratchet answered. And that suddenly seemed to well explain his willingness to give it the wait that Firestorm had begged for. He pointed toward the monitor, his finger indicating a small red flashing light near the top, pulsing in steady time to a steady spark pulse. The old medic chuckled then just a little, an action clearly intended to reassure both the new creator and carrier. "The little thing is stuck pretty good. But it doesn't seem the least bit fussed about the situation."

"Ratchet... says he's still perfect," Firestorm mumbled. And she managed a hint of a smile as she held Soundwave's hand. "He'll be okay... even though he's early."

"It's Firestorm I'm most worried about now," Ratchet said, his voice quiet. His optics went back too the white and yellow mini-bot, and he talked to her again, just a little louder. "I'm going to get you ready for a good power down now, okay? Then I can set to work dissembling your front panels, and safely grab the little one that way."

"This... wasn't the plan," Firestorm mumbled in the tone of a bot so clearly defeated. She shook her head weakly. And for a moment, she just lay still and crying. Fear flashed across her optics again, and her shaking, which had improved only slightly, grew so rapidly worse than ever.

"Everything will be okay," Soundwave said, his optics leaving hers only long enough to glance back at the monitor again.

It didn't take a bot with any level of medical training to understand at least the basics of energon pressure. And he could see from the readings that hers was falling fast. He was sure more energon had covered the floor by now. And the bleeding – which though obviously bad, had been under some control – was no longer controlled anymore. Ratchet was hurrying now, rushing from one side of the room to the other, speaking in whispers over his comm-link, and almost throwing tools onto a rolling cart, all without showing the panic it was so easy to guess he must easily have felt.

"Ratchet," Firestorm said then, grabbing for the old medi-bot's arm before Soundwave could gently stop her from dong so. Her optics opened wider again for a second. And she looked at him begging, even as she fought back another scream with hard gasping intakes. "Pl... please... Can't I at... at least st...stay awake?" The medic appeared to consider for a second, while gently pulling his hand away from hers in order to hurriedly hook her up to spark monitoring – a clear precaution, Soundwave was strangely glad to see in use.

"It is possible," Ratchet muttered, confidant even in his obvious uncertainty. He paused in his hurrying And for a moment he looked at her seriously, while he spoke. "I could override the sensory connections for most of your body. You would remain conscious. You could talk, and see, and understand everything. But you wouldn't feel anything." He shook his head then however, so clearly doubtful as he muttered. "It would be... far more frightening for you that way."

"I can do it," Firestorm mumbled. She lay still for a long moment, intaking a little fast with tears escaping down her face-plate, before she groaned with pain again, blinked and looked up, shakily. "I... I can do it."

"Firestorm... you are sure about this?" Soundwave exchanged looks with Ratchet, as he questioned. Both knew full well just how easily Firestorm tended to panic, during treatment in more than one medical situation over the time both had known her. But she only nodded, determined as ever and letting it show at her tear-streaked face-plate.

"Okay," Ratchet said, his tone indicating that he'd clearly decided. "We're going to give this a try. But..." he rested a hand gently on the mini-bot's shoulder panel for just a second before he reached over to yank the supply cart closer to him. "I need you to stay calm, and listen to me if I'm talking to you"

Firestorm once again just nodded silently, whimpering weakly with pain, as she took a gasping intake.

"This is Downshift," Ratchet explained as the room's door slid open, and a young bot stepped inside slowly. He waved toward the young bot once. And Soundwave instantly recognized the nervous young student that had met him in the entrance way. She looked as nervous as ever, her silver face-plate showing her doubt, as she stood with a med kit held too tightly in her hands. "She will serve as an assistant."

Soundwave - faced now with silence and something close to calm, as the medics worked with their quick efficiency – finally found himself with time to truly think. And for the first time in his life, he found instantly that he didn't much like being left with his thoughts. He feared for the newspark, now that he had time to do so. And it didn't matter anymore that he'd been more then assured the little one was still remarkably quite perfectly okay. Even the pulsing light, still blinking on the monitor in time to the beat of a tiny youngling spark, was not quite enough to make him certain.

Then there was Firestorm. His beloved, precious little mini-bot - who was now finally his bondmate for life. She was still losing energon. And it was clear that it was more so now then ever, from the look of the once white floor. He found himself hoping that just as much of his as he could give her would be enough to make a difference. And the unspoken understanding that most any bot on base would happily give theirs too if it was required, because she'd come to mean the world to them all, did only very little to boost his confidence in the situation now.

He knew his worries, to the degree he was worrying, were more then likely unfounded. And his logical mind shouted this fact loudly in his awareness. But the anxious part yelled louder. And he couldn't manage to ignore it no matter how he tried.

"S... Soundwave..." Firestorm mumbled. And her voice cut through every one of his racing thoughts at once. His little mate's voice sounded positively terrified.

"I... I..." she held his hand tighter. And he realized only then that she'd never let go of it even when he sadly failed to notice in the distraction of his thoughts Her optics were wide open and darting around the room quickly enough that she could not have really seen anything they landed on. "I'm... panicking..."

"Please don't panic," Soundwave answered, speaking slowly and doing his best while he remembered that both he and Ratchet had feared exactly that. His free hand – the one she wasn't gripping onto for dear life by now – rested on one of her shiny white wings. And though she had not been born a flier, his gentle touch against it did seem to calm her a fair bit.

"My lovely, wonderful Firestorm," he said, just as slowly as before. And he smiled brightly at her, when her optics locked again on his. "It's been too long since I've told you how happy you've made me. Still I mean it now just as much as ever."

"You're very welcome," Firestorm retorted after a few seconds' silence. And she managed a smile, a real one... so much like her playful, ever joking self then. Her smile didn't last long though, fading again only seconds later, as hr optics drifted around settling on parts of her own white and yellow armor, left on a spare work table close by, neatly stacked for reatchement.

"You're okay, you're okay," Shortwave said slowly.

She hadn't said a thing in what felt like a very long time – simply sitting silent instead mostly out of way in her folding chair now at the head of the recharge station. And Soundwave despite his grateful understand that she was simply letting him and his mate have their moments, felt ridiculous at having forgotten all about her entirely. He glanced for a second at his carrier, relieved when she smiled assurance at him, and realizing only then that he was trembling with his own unease and emotion. And he promptly turned his full focus back to his little mate again.

"Our youngling will be here any moment now," he said, smiling brightly still concerned as ever, but expectant and curious all in the very same second. And finally he allowed the still steady spark pulse of a youngling, showing on the monitor, to assure him the child was still very much okay.

"Our very own baby," Firestorm answered, mumbling again so clearly still so clearly exhausted and now fighting off recharge. She looked just as though she was going to say more. Soundwave imagined she might just have chattered on guessing at paint colors and frame details, had she not been so very uneasy... had she not been weak from her energon loss. Instead she just lay silent for one long moment and then for another, until she said, mumbling, "I'm... glad you decided you wanted him too."

"I really, truly do," Soundwave said, assuring her even when he no longer sensed a need to remind her of his true change of spark. And he pondered now, just as much as he knew she silently wondered, just who their youngling bot would become.

"And... I've got it," Ratchet exclaimed suddenly. And his voice, triumphant proud and urgent all at once, got Soundwave's attention at once. It had Firestorm's too. That was plainly obvious by the smiled on her face-plate, as she looked around her, wide-optic's with her exception.

"You are a big one," Dwnshift, the assisting medical student muttered, so clearly speaking to newly born bot. And Soundwave watched, amazed, anxious and rapidly close to fearing he might fall over,, to see two tiny dark blue metal feet kicking within sight, while the tiny bot was held by Ratchet, standing with his back to the room.

"He's okay!" the old medi-bot said, obvious having checked him over,, working a work station against the far wall. And it was then that the tiny gave its first tiny buzzing squeal of a cry. "He\s t a bit of oil in his intakes, but he should easily expel that on his own."

"He?" Firestorm mumbled. And she grinned in spite of her exhaustion at the nod from the medi-bot. Beside her, her small hand still in his, Soundwave smiled too.

Ratchet turned around again quickly. And Soundwave, instantly protective in some way he'd never been before, watched with uneasy urgent anxiety, as the old bot handed the tiny thing in his arms off to the medical student, with a hurried order of, "hand him to his carrier. Then we can get to work reassembling her."

"Soundwave," Firestorm mumbled, her optics and entire focus on the newborn, that the young student on promptly placed laying over her chest panel. She appeared not to care in least about the medics working quickly to piece together anything they'd taken apart, barely seemed to hear the whirring of medical power tools and clanging, clanking metal. Tears formed in her optics. But it was plainly obvious they were happy tears now. "Look what... we made. He's... amazing. He's so cute."

"He's beautiful," Shortwave said, still sitting nearby and mostly entirely.

But Soundwave only stood and stared, his optics on the youngling, as he wiggled a little in his carrier's arms, so clearly trying hard just to get himself used to moving. He watched his tiny bot pull in a slow intake, clearly still unsure exactly how to intake exactly but giving it his very best try. And he used the air to make content little noises, snuggling in against Firestorm's panels. But Soundwave didn't speak. He couldn't seem to find the words to say a thing.

"Soundwave," Shortwave said beside him. She chuckled a little, but her voice was entirely seriousness too. "You'd best hold him for a while."

Soundwave was about to turn to her, to tell her her would just as soon as Firestorm became ready to let him. But he looked instead at his little mate. And instantly he understood his carrier urgency Firestorm, in her exhaustion and the loss of vital fluids, had drifted into recharge clearly unable to help it, with the newborn still laying on her happily.

"Alright my... son." The word felt so strange in Soundwave's processor as he said it out loud. But so amazing and right at the very same time. He scooped the tiny bot up into hiss arms so carefully, fearing all the while he would do everything wrong, while trusting at the same time that he wouldn't – assuring himself with one intent look at her that his mate was really only sleeping. "Your creator's got you."

########

For most of the night, Arcee had recharged – or tried to, however restlessly it might have been – in a padded chair close to her small daughter's recharge station in her room on the youngling ward. And during the far too many times she was wide awake instead, she wandered to the window across the small room, to stare outside at nothing, through the darkness of a Cybertronian night. And waking up again now, from perhaps her seventh short rest that night, she sure enough wandered again immediately to the same little window, instantly relieved somehow to see the first hints of daylight.

The long endless night had been easier when her mate was close by – though he didn't seem to have recharged much at all in the chair near hers. She'd seen him more then once reading over datapads of notes... or at least staring idly at said pads while they sat open on his knees. But he had his own work to do too – patients elsewhere to keep his optics on every now and then. And Arcee had been alone since he'd left to check up on each one of them.

Forty-one bots had been damaged in the past evening's attack. And her spark dropped at the thought of each one of them. But only seven had been bad enough to be admitted to the hospital. And she was thankful for that, well aware of how it could so easily have been so much worse than it was.

Cybershock had thankfully slept the whole night – her forced power down slowly drifting into a pain medication induced recharge from which both Ratchet and Knockout had been quick to insist with confidence that she would wake from just fine. And Arcee turned slowly away from the window again, to stand still and looking down at her in the dim light of early morning.

The little bot's amour was dented and scuffed, and so many of the scratches that covered her paint were clearly more then just cosmetic. The front of her body was patched up well enough, pieced together and carefully welded after it had been half way to dismantled entirely for urgent repairs. And it now stayed protected under some kind of semi-transparent plastic covering tapped in place at the edges off her undamaged metal. Her arm was wrapped up tightly too, left resting over her chest panel. Arcee knew full well, much to her dread that it had been close to shattered, left in several badly broken pieces.

"Ma...mama?" the youngling's voice muttered, questioning suddenly with her optics still closed, and so clearly confused. Arcee stepped closer to the recharge station at once and just in time to see a pair of small blue optics finally start to light again.

"Hey, baby," she said, smiling just a little in assurance. The hand attached to the little bot's unbroken arm reached out slowly, so clearly searching in her sleepy confusion for a hand to hold onto. And Arcee gently took it at once, the smile still on her face-plate. "I'm right here. You're okay."

"Mama... I... I'm..." the youngling said, whimpering through every mumbled word. And she never came close to finishing what what she clearly wanted to say before simply bursting out into horrible sobbing cries instead.

"You're okay, baby," Arcee said. She considered quickly, looking for a part of the little bot's frame that was safe to touch, before her free hand settled gently on the small shoulder panel.

Cybershock was in terrible pain. That was plainly obvious at once. And the usually articulate youngling could barely manage to speak coherently, in her terrible distress. Arcee barely considered for a second, before she climbed carefully onto the recharge station, and even more carefully lay beside her little bot. For a short moment she held her attention on my her EM field, on letting it touch her child's much weaker field. And she smiled a little again when she felt her youngling move just a little, as much as she could clearly do, to snuggle in, against her frame.

"Do you see what Ratchet and your creator did to your arm?" she asked the little bot, truly looking at the wrappings that covered it for the first time - a mix of white and purple in a roughly striped pattern.

The medical team certainly did have various colors to use for such wrappings. And Arcee could so easily imagine the medics had taken a moment to consider what might just make the little bot smile as soon as she could do so again. Switchgear's wrappings years before had shifted through several bright colors over months.. And despite the seriousness of the present moment, Arcee smiled with amusement in recalling how being allowed to pick her own colors and often a few at a time, had been the thing that had once made the green youngling quietly accept her frequent changeovers

"I... like the colors..." Cybershock said slowly, and growing just a little calmer as her carrier's field wrapped tighter around her. Arcee just held her little hand for a moment and lay still, smiling assurance again.

"I thought you would," she said, laughing just a little. Her free hand rested again on the youngling's shoulder panel, and she rubbed it lightly, while the little bot held her other hand tighter and started to cry hard again.

"Firestorm had her youngling sometime in the night," Arcee said, still calm and quiet. And and she sighed with relief when Cybershock, quite predictably, smiled just a little through her tears of pain. "There were... unexpected complications. And no one's seen Firestorm or the newspark yet. But I did get a short message from Soundwave." Arcee chuckled then, with her small daughter still snuggled against her. "He was just as proud as any bot I know, to brag about his brand new son."

"A boy?" Cybershock mused. She still cried, and did so pretty hard. But she smiled too, sniffling, fighting back her tears, as her optics brightened. Her own guess had been that the little one would be a boy when she'd been asked to place one of her own as part of Soundwave's guessing poll. Arcee just nodded, smiling again as her little bot pressed herself in tighter against her, seeking comfort as she cried harder again, her pain so clearly worse by the minute instead of any better.

Arcee's comm beeped once, indicating an incoming file. And slowly, carefully, and bothering with it then only because she feared it could have been truly urgent, given the recent attack, she reached to retrieve her communication pad from her storage compartment. She smiled at once when she'd glanced at the file, because it wasn't terrible at all. In just a second more she nearly grinned at the timing.

"Soundwave just sent us a photo file," she said to her youngling, with a smile on her face-plate. "Would you like to see?" She was of course not at all surprised when her youngling, still trembling with her pain filled cries, nodded with just as just eagerness as her state would allow.

"He's... cute..." the youngling mumbled, with a slightly brighter smile as she gazed at the pad in her carrier's hand. But in just another second more, she was sobbing hard again, her small body shaking, and her face-plate clearly displaying every hint of her displeasure.

Cybershock struggled to move a little and then far more, clearly far from close to comfortable and only making everything worse the more she tried moving. Her crying grew louder, and optics clouded with coolant and hazy with pain, blinked helplessly. Arcee moved slowly, pulling her helpless sobbing shaking child against her frame, carefully as she could possibly be, not to harm her any worse. And when Cybershock buried her face-plate against her left side panel, she just lay holding her like that.

"You're okay," she told her, quiet and calm as she blinked hard to fight back her own tears. She checked her field again, letting it brush lightly over that of her youngling. And for a long moment she just stayed that way, unmoving. "You're okay, baby. I've got you. I've got you."

"Mama..." the youngling mumbled, and her voice was muffled now against Arcee's armor. She'd clearly been about to comment on her still increasing pain. But she said nothing more after all, and instead just went right on crying.

"How long has she been awake?" Knockout's voice, suddenly speaking close behind her, nearly caused Arcee to jump out of her body armor. And she blinked a little, sleepy and stressed and distracted, dismayed that she hadn't heard a single foot step as he'd crossed the room.

"Not long," she answered, her voice nearly whispering so as not to startle the youngling still sobbing helplessly against her frame. "A few minutes maybe..." she shook her head a little, and rubbed their child's little shoulder panel again, almost without a thought about it. "She tried to talk with me a little bit, but..." her words died out unfinished as her mate nodded his clearly sad understanding.

"I was afraid this would be pretty bad," he muttered in his own obvious despair. He stepped closer, and Arcee watched, still unmoving as he gently rested a hand on the front of the youngling's headpiece.

"Cybershock," he said slowly. And it was obvious that she hadn't noticed his presence at all until then. Because she jumped a little in startled panic. Still she just went on crying hard, her body shaking against her carrier's armor. "Think you can look at me for a second, my girl?"

"Daddy..." Cybershock mumbled. She turned her head a little, her face-plate soaked with coolant tears. And her wet optics tried to focus on his. "Ple... please... help me..."

"You're okay, you're okay," Knockout said, just as close to calmly as he could obviously manage to, and repeating his mate's earlier words of assurance. He injected pain medication into the youngling's energon line without her appearing to even notice, and stood shaking his head at his mate, indicating without a single word just how much he doubted it would do enough good.

'Please,' Arcee said to her mate, speaking to him silently through their spark connection, as she went on simply holding their youngling, who lay still snuggled in beside her. 'Don't ask me to let go of her...'

'You knew exactly what she needed most of all,' Knockout answered back, assuring even in his silent voice. 'I wouldn't even try to make you move.'

"I think..." he said, speaking to the youngling, as he did his best to calm her with a hint of an assuring smile, and his free hand still on her headpiece. "We might be best powering you down again for a while." He smiled again, and Arcee heard his intakes struggle as he fought back his despair. "Just for a while... just for the morning. Let your self repair systems work for awhile..."

Arcee knew exactly how much the little bot had always feared power downs. And she held her tighter again, just as much so as she could given her state, fully expecting horrified screams. She held their youngling's little hand tightly again, ready to assure her, to talk to her and calm her, and do just as much as she could. But Cybershock just nodded a little without any fuss and struggle at all. And she did so almost calmly, through a slow and gasping, pain filled intake.

"Oh... kay..." she managed through another short bout of pain induced sobbing cries. And a flash of anxious unease finally showed in her optics, but still she barely moved.

"You just hold onto Mama's hand and intake, my girl," Knockout said gently, while he worked to quickly input the little bot's power down sequence. "Everything will be much better when you wake up again."

"Arcee, you should rest for a while," He said slowly to his mate the second their youngling had drifted off into her forced recharge. He rested a hand on top of hers, and smiled with his usual assurance despite his own obvious trembling. He gestured toward the powered down youngling bot, and blinked with optics with emotion. "She'll sleep for most of the day now."

"I am resting," Arcee mumbled right back, still laying on their daughter's recharge station, her body still against her smaller one, a small hand held tightly in hers and in no great hurry to let her go even as the little bot recharged, unaware.

"She'll be okay," Knockout said. Again he smiled assurance, as he looked down at their powered down youngling. "She's damaged pretty badly... But she'll get better. And quickly too..." he rested a hand over his mate's free one, and smiled again. "Bots this young... you just can't keep them down, at least for for long..."

"I know..." Arcee smiled back just a little, thinking of more then one unfortunate youngling who she knew had simply done exactly that in circumstances so much worse. But she shook her head then sadly, trusting him but upset nonetheless.