Author's Notes - Dear lord has it been awhile since my last update, but I blame the show for taking so long to air the next season of Transformers Prime. And now that its FINALLY come on, my writer's block is all in the past...sorta. I'm hoping this chapter lives up to what you guys were expecting. Probably not after waiting so long, but here's hoping.

By the way, I put an easter egg in this chapter dedicated to my friend spiritsl. If you or anyone else can find it, then you'll all get some delicious internet cookies. (This is mainly for anyone who's read her AMAZING Bayformers story 'Rekindling the Spark'. If you haven't read it yet, then go do so now).

As always, review and enjoy the last part of this here story!

Arcee woke up after what seemed like an eternity of stasis lock and checked her systems before onlining her optics. All the readings checked out as normal, and her energon reserves were full once again. But since the energon in her systems wasn't being recycled to her spark chamber, that could only mean one thing;

She had given birth to the sparkling during her time in stasis lock.

Onlining her optics, she expected to see Knockout or Ratchet smiling down at her with the newborn sparkling safely nestled in thermal blankets. She even expected to see her entire team, humans included, surrounding and congratulating her on the first Cybertronian birth in over a millenia.

What she saw was a darkened room, void of all signs of life, both old and new.

When she tried sitting up, she found that her upper chassis, arms, and legs were strapped down to a medical berth, and all she could do was move her head around to try and determine where she was.

Panic and dread found its way to her voice as she called out, "Knockout? Ratchet? What happened? Where is everyone?"

"I'm afraid your friends didn't make it in time to save you. But rest assured, we have what we came for, so you're of no use to us any longer. You'll be leaving soon...to the scrap yard."

Arcee swiveled her head in every direction, but she couldn't place where the M.E.C.H leaders voice was coming from. But what worried her most was what she had just heard him say.

"Wait, what do you mean you have what you came for?"

She heard his smug chuckle from somewhere in the darkness directly ahead. Lifting her head up, all she saw was his evil eyes looming down at her, glistening in triumph.

"Why, we captured you to extract your sparkling. And now that we have it, you are of no more use to us. Goodbye robot."

"NO! Where is my sparkling? What have you done with it?" Arcee felt herself getting weaker the more she struggled against her binds. Her energon reserves might have been full, but that didn't mean she was back to being in perfect health immediately after giving birth.

"You want to meet it? Well then, here it is!"

At the snap of his fingers, a white light exploded to life and left Arcee momentarily blinded. When her vision finally adjusted though, the sight before her made her wish she had never opened her optics to begin with.

Right in front of her in a giant examination tube and surrounded by countless M.E.C.H scientists, was her sparkling. The pulsating orb, not yet given a frame to call its own, was being suspended in the tube by various wires, while the scientists analyzed the readings they were getting from the spark beats it made.

Arcee cried out, both in despair and anger. She had tried so hard to hold on to the sparkling for however long it took until her sparkmate and her friends arrived to save her. Now, it seemed all that fighting to stay online, all that backtalk to the humans holding her captive...it was all for naught.

She had failed to save her sparkling. Just as she had failed to save Tailgate and Cliffjumper. Another life taken from her, right before her optics and all she could do was lie there mourning. It just wasn't fair.

"Arcee!"

She shook her head, wanting so badly to just lose herself and enter stasis lock again. But a persistent voice was keeping her online.

"Arcee! Can you hear me?"

'...Knockout?'

"Arcee, I need you to wake up! Charge your systems and online for me, for us. Can you do that?"

"But...the sparkling...where-"

"She's here Arcee, and she's safe. Now please, would you online your systems so I can be positive that you're alright?"

She...her sparkling was a femme. But if her sparkling was with Knockout and the others, then that would mean...

This was just one messed up nightmare.

Slowly, the image of her sparkling in the examination tube faded away, her bindings slid off her frame, and Silas's laughter grew to be nothing more than an echo in the back of her processor. She willed her systems to charge up one at a time, pacing herself so as to not get disoriented upon coming online. Soon, the darkened room disappeared completely and the rock walls of their hideout came into view. Stretching to sit up, she paused when a servo kept her laying down.

"Easy Arcee, you've been through quite the ordeal. You're body needs time to rejuvenate and refuel from all the energon loss and from whatever else those humans put you through."

Arcee gave into Ratchet's orders immediately and relaxed on the berth, sighing in relief that her friends had indeed managed to save her in time. Flashes of the humans ripping open her armor quickly drew her out of her revere and she looked down to see what kind of damage they had caused to her chassis.

Surprisingly, she found her armor fully intact with no indication that it had been pried open mere hours before. Running her servos over her chassis, she felt no dents, scratches, or tears of any kind.

"You were pretty beat up when we found you Arcee. You're actually quite lucky your sparkmate has a thing for cosmetics."

Hearing the mention of Knockout brought another smile to Arcee's face. "He really is something isn't he? Speaking of which, where is he? I heard him talking to me before I onlined."

A puzzled look crossed Ratchet's faceplates. "He was talking to you? Are you sure it wasn't through your sparkbond? Because he hasn't been in here since fixing up your chassis."

Now it was Arcee's turn to be skeptical. "I didn't feel him through my spark. I was certain he was standing right next to me, guiding me out of my nightmares. He really wasn't in here? But then, what happened to my sparkling?"

"Well, once we got you back here and stabilized your overworked systems, we had to make a decision. Either wait for you to come back online and then have the sparkling, or induce the sparkling's birth regardless of your condition." Ratchet's features morphed into a frown as he continued, "It was a difficult decision to make, and an even harder procedure to attempt considering how great the risks were. But both of us had come to the conclusion that you would heal faster if the sparkling wasn't continuously siphoning your energon supply, so we went forward with the latter procedure."

Under different circumstances, Arcee would have been irked at the doctor for not waiting for her approval or asking permission to go digging around in her chassis. But this time was different, and she understood that it hadn't been just her life on the line; the safety of her sparkling had been a top priority as well.

"Does Knockout have the sparkling with him?"

Ratchet began unhooking various energon lines from Arcee's vital points as he answered, "Yeah, he took the sparkling into the main room, possibly to show off to everyone. I must say Arcee, red and blue make some interesting color combinations."

Gingerly climbing off the berth, Arcee made her way to the main rooms entrance, but not before asking one last question. "Did...he name the sparkling yet?"

"I told him that he should wait until you onlined before he gave the sparkling a permanent designation, but..." Ratchet gave the retreating femme a small genuine smile, "...I think you'll like the name he chose."

Returning the smile, she walked through the doors and into the main area, where she was greeted by a barrage of voices from her teammates, her human friends, and even Agent Fowler.

After surviving two frame-crushing hugs from both Bulkhead and Breakdown (the latter still a little embarrassed after seeing her unarmored), dodging the merciless amount of questions being thrown at her courtesy of the kids, and listening to a minor lecture from Agent Fowler regarding 'unauthorized breeding', Arcee was finally able to approach Knockout leaning up against the far wall in relative peace. Wrapped up in thermal blankets and cradled in the nook of his elbow joints was her sparkling. Their sparkling.

Leaning up against her sparkmate, she was finally able to look at her sparkling for the first time. Ratchet hadn't been lying when he said their colors made an interesting combination. It was almost uncanny how much the sparkling looked like both parents.

When Knockout silently unwrapped the blanket, she saw that the sparkling had his silvery white protoform and his crimson red paint job. Though the ends of its servos and pedes had a bluish tinge to them that made it look purple in the right light. The frame itself looked more like her sleek build, while the helm resembled Knockout's, complete with 'elf ears' as Miko had once called them. It was a perfect mix of both Arcee and Knockout.

"She had her optics open earlier. They look exactly like mine, but with a bluish lining on the outer lens, much like yours."

Arcee almost couldn't believe it was Knockout when he spoke. He sounded so reserved, and appeared to be much calmer than he had been the night she had been diagnosed as sparked. Taking her eyes off the sleeping form, she glanced up to see the same loving gaze Knockout normally only reserved for her being directed to the sparkling.

"You'll make an excellent father Knockout. Don't let the past tell you otherwise."

Finally drawing his gaze towards his sparkmate, he let all of his emotions flood into their bond instead of speaking them, wanting her to truly feel how much he cared for both of them.

Returning the feelings, Arcee drew closer and leaned in so she could be sure only he would hear her when she spoke. "You spoke to me in a nightmare I was having before I onlined, you guided me away from the darkness and took me out of stasis lock. I can never thank you enough for rescuing me."

"I am pretty amazing, aren't I? Rescuing femmes from the clutches of terrorists, fixing up their appearance and helping with the birthing process of a sparkling a millenia in the making...all in a days work."

Anyone else might have been offended by Knockout's vain attitude, but underneath that teasing voice, Arcee knew this was his special way of saying 'You're welcome'. Leaning up to give him a quick peck on the cheek, she diverted her gaze back down to her sparkling.

"So, Ratchet told me you gave her a name already. What is it?"

Carefully handing the sparkling over to its mother without waking her, Knockout folded his servos across his chassis and started with as much pride as he could muster, "You'll like this name, I guarantee it. After a lot of deliberation, I've decided on the name-"

"Hey! You didn't answer any of my questions! Like, how bad did you kick those bad guys butts, or, where exactly did that sparkling come from anyway? Did you have to build the frame or was it already like that?"

Leave it to Miko to ruin the moment of peace.

Arcee simply laughed and nodded her head in Miko's direction when Knockout gave her a pleading look of 'Do I have to?'.

'Might as well get the questions over with.'

'Doesn't mean I have to like it.'

Surprised that Knockout answered her, she looked over only to see him wink before walking away with Miko hot on his heels.

"Now, you wanted to know where the sparkling came from? Well, when a mech and a femme love each other very much..."

THE END.

Author's Notes - That's right people, THIS IS THE END. Again, sorry if its not what you expected at all, but this is for the best. After such a long wait, this story seemed to be holding me back from other things I wanted to start on, and now that its finished, I feel as if a weight has finally been lifted off my shoulders.

To be honest, I don't know where I was going with the whole Arcee/Knockout sparkbond nightmare thing, but I guess you can relate it to love saving you from even your worst nightmares...or something like that. You guys can make your own assumptions.

Oh silly me. Did I not write the sparklings name down? Well, I had a name planned, but...I kinda forgot what it was in this long absence of mine. Shame on me. So, I guess you'll just have to create names for this sparkling yourselves. If you leave any good name suggestions in your reviews, I might be inclined to re-edit the story and include it.

Til next time people!
-RulerofFire