Ohhhh boy... this is a fic I started like a few years ago? And I recently rediscovered it and am trying to make it into something good.

So! The pairing here is a Starscream/OC, but it's not completely the focus of the fic. It's more like a... side dish to complement it and make it better. :D

The main dish? Starscream redemption arc and growing friendships!

So - post-DOTM. Canon divergent. There's gonna be lots of angst, hurt/comfort, drama, and fluff. If there are any warnings that come up in each chapter (which there will be at least a few), I'll warn for it in the beginning of the chapter.

First chapter I don't think there are any warnings, but definitely let me know if I actually do need to add one.

This chapter mainly contains Starscream being a mother hen, my OC Lily trying to defuse a complicated situation between two giant robots, and Sunstreaker being an overprotective pain in the aft.

Enjoy! *heart hands*

How many times can I break till I shatter?

Over the line, can't define what I'm after

I always turn the car around

Give me a break, let me make my own pattern

All that it takes is some time, but I'm shattered

I always turn the car around

(…)

How many times can I break till I shatter?

Over the line, can't define what I'm after

I always turn the car around

All that I feel is the realness I'm faking

Taking my time, but it's time that I'm wasting

Always turn the car around…

Don't wanna turn the car around…

I gotta turn this thing around…

~"Shattered" by O.A.R.

Oh, he goes along with most of Megatron's plans.

He has to be amused at the way those cruel humans forced the Autobots onto the ship, demanding that they leave Earth. Do they really believe that by getting rid of one faction, the other will follow? The Decepticons don't just want the Autobots gone so they can destroy them, fight their war somewhere else. They want the Autobots gone so the Earth is left unguarded. The humans might be able to handle one or two of the Decepticons, but a whole army plus a space bridge transporting Cybertron distracting them? They have no chance without their precious Autobots.

He shoots down the Xantium. He leaves his clingy hatchlings, not for long, and flies up into the highest part of the Earth's atmosphere. He waits for nearly a quarter of a joor before the ship comes cruising through. That's when he springs from his hiding place and fires a few rounds at it. Doesn't take much, really, before the human-made vessel is damaged enough to crash.

He finally feels at peace; they won't be attacked at every Primus-damned turn, and the hatchlings will be safe. Cybertron will be returned, and... everything will just be normal again. He misses normal.

He returns to what has been their makeshift base, and gathers them all up, performing a quick helm check to make sure none of them have wandered off. (Sparklings are notorious for scaring the living hell out of their caregivers.) He allows them all to climb on him and attach, as would a true Seeker creator. He ignites his burners and, with all the little winglets hanging on, flies to Chicago.

He would be content to watch the space bridge bring Cybertron onto this pitiful planet. That's what he plans to do, before he sees that somehow, some way, the Autobots are back. They're back with that idiotic team of human soldiers, planning. Any Seeker would attack, which is just what Starscream does. It's difficult to leave the hatchlings again, but he hides them well, transforms, and quickly destroy a couple of V-22 Osprey jets. At least he hopes to hinder whatever they have planned. Knowing the way they set up strategies, it may even fail without the humans.

They aren't outnumbered, he knows that much, but they are outclassed. There are more humans, and while he is loath to admit anything positive about the squishies, their teamwork with the Autobots is exceptional and well-suited to their goal: taking down Decepticons.

He isn't going to risk the safety of the hatchlings. Whether they're going to become part of an army or not, the last thing they see shouldn't be a bullet headed their way.

He is stealthy about it, so Megatron doesn't see him. Megatron can rot in the Pit, for all Starscream cares, but if he's seen trying to flee, he definitely isn't leaving this battle alive. And that will leave the hatchlings without a caretaker.

He doesn't even give them a chance to latch on this time. He just picks them all up, holds them against his chestplates, and starts flying.

He isn't sure quite how far he's flown, but he doesn't stop for over two joors. He doesn't pay attention to the sky, or the landscape, or the feeling of the wind; things he normally takes pleasure in during a flight. He can't afford to get distracted, not when he has seven Seekerlings to keep safe. He has to just look out for potential threats. He doubts anything here on this pitiful planet could pose a threat to him, but that being said, there are many strange things here he doesn't understand.

He's tired when he finally stops, nearly making a crash-landing onto the grass below. The sparklings are chattering incoherently, some of them whining lowly. He vents heavily, looking down at them, because they are hungry and there is nothing he can do right now. Not until he finds some energon. That could take so long, and some of them are in terrible shape.

He's not sure they can last until he finds any energon.

Sitting here, glancing around for any signs of food and holding the winglets in his arms, it all his him now. He is alone. He'll have to raise the sparklings on his own, with no help from anybot else, and there are seven of them. Seven. He barely knows how to take care of one or two; parenting is something he's naturally inclined to, being a Seeker, but this is just ridiculous. There's no way he can possibly keep an optic on all of them at once. He only has two optics! What the Pit is he going to do now?

Out of nowhere, a screeching of tires makes him jerk his helm up. Not very far from him an automobile has stopped – a Chevy Corvette, with a sparkling gold paint job.

Slag. AUTOBOT.

Neither of them speaks for a moment, then the door of the car opens. Out steps a human femme, with dirty blonde hair, dressed in normal human garb; a pair of jeans and what he believes they refer to as a tank top. Around her waist is tied a jacket that carries the pattern of human military. She draws a small handgun and actually points it at him. "Freeze! Show me your weapons and state your business!"

The Autobot transforms, and mimics her movements… albeit with a much bigger gun. "I say we just slag him right here, Lily." His gun charges, ready to fire with just a thought. "Go on, Decepticon scum. Give us one reason why we shouldn't pump you full of bullets. You got ten seconds, so I suggest you start talking."

The girl cocks her gun, staring straight at him. Her little eyes are cold and hard... until they land on the sparklings in his arms. Her lips part in obvious surprise, and she steps back, lowering the weapon back to her side. "Sunny, wait!" she calls to her friend. "Don't shoot. I think those are babies."

The Autobot snarls, but disengages his gun anyway. "Are you serious? Slag it all – put the sparklings down, Decepticon!"

Starscream snarls right back, hugging the winglets even closer. Do they really think he would have sunk as low as kidnapping sparklings? Not even a Decepticon would stoop to such a level as taking children away from their creators. "I can't," he retorts. "They belong to me, Autobot."

The girl slips her gun back into a holster on her hip, and takes a few steps forward.

"Hey!" The Autobot reaches out and grabs her shoulder with a careful digit, but she just shakes him off. "Lily, what in the Pit are you doing? He's a Decepticon, maybe not armed but still dangerous!" Is he the girl's guardian? It would explain his admittedly well-founded concern for her safety, though he's clearly going about it the wrong way. Starscream is sure that yelling at your charge won't give you the kind of attention you want from them.

"Shut up for once, Sunny." She comes closer, and the hard look disappears from her eyes completely. She still isn't close enough to him to merit concern, but she's close enough that she has a fairly good view of the sparklings. "I think he's telling the truth."

The Autobot lets out a short, bitter laugh. "Are you kidding me?! He's a fragging Decepticon! There's no way that any word out of his mouth isn't a lie!"

The hard look returns for a moment, and she snaps at her guardian. "Sunstreaker, does yourmouth ever stop moving?! Damn it, shut up! They're his! They all look like him!"

With the gold bot in shocked silence, the human turns back toward Starscream. That hard look in her eyes is gone again, as she looks toward the Seekerlings. "Okay, listen a second, Decepticon. Just listen, okay?"

"To a human and her glitchhead of a guardian who were just pointing weapons at me?" All her words prompt him to do is hold the winglets closer to him. He's fully prepared to fly off, even though he's so exhausted he wants to just collapse into stasis.

"No," she replies softly. Another step, with her arms raised as if to show him she isn't trying to pull any tricks. "To a human and her glitchhead of a guardian who aren't going to hurt you. I'm sorry we drew our weapons, but the war is over." The words out of her mouth come slowly – giving him ample time to process everything she's saying. "Megatron and Sentinel Prime are dead. Cybertron isn't coming back. The war is over."

He wants to believe it. He wants not to believe it. Megatron, offline? Starscream saw Megatron only two joors ago. How can he be offline? How could he lose so easily? Even though Megatron had crippling flaws that likely could have led to his defeat, it couldn't have happened within only two joors.

One of the hatchlings cries out, clamping his nonexistent denta down on one of Starscream's digits. It's as if he doesn't feel it. He's numb. How can the war be over? "You lie."

The human's mouth twitches up in a half-smile. "Sometimes. But I'm not lying about this."

"The war's over with, you piece of slag," the Autobot speaks up. It looks like he's waiting for any excuse to open fire on Starscream despite the fact that he stopped when his human pointed out the sparklings. "Just come quietly."

"What is this? Some kind of trap?" Starscream hisses. "I'm not going to trust you just because you tell me what we all want to hear, scrapheap."

The human's eyes flit between Starscream and her guardian. For a long moment, everything is almost silent. Then she speaks up again. "This isn't a trap. I know me saying that isn't going to convince you–" Ah, so she's smarter than she looks. "– But listen. Please. We don't want to hurt you."

She looks toward her guardian. "Sunny. Come on. Help me out here."

The Autobot returns her gaze before offering a none-too-enthused growl. "… Okay, fine. She's right, Decepti-punk. We're not looking for casualties, and we're not gonna shoot at a bunch of sparklings." Almost in direct contradiction to his words, he glares at Starscream. "You're lucky, let me tell you that right now. If you didn't have them, with that attitude of yours, we would have taken you prisoner already."

"Sunstreaker!" The human sounds absolutely exasperated with her guardian. "You are just making this worse!" Her attention turns back toward Starscream, her expression fatigued and pleading. "The point is, we don't want to hurt you, we don't want to hurt the babies, and the war's over. Megatron and Sentinel are dead. Any Decepticons who are left on Earth are in hiding and probably not in good shape."

She steps closer, and the hatchling chewing on Starscream's digit waves his little arm at her. "You don't have to pledge loyalty to be an Autobot or anything, but if you come with us, you won't be a prisoner, and we'll help you take care of the babies."

"Sparklings," her guardian grumbles in correction. "Can you stop saying 'babies', Lily?"

One well-placed look from his charge shuts him up.

Meanwhile, Starscream is trying to keep a hold of all the little Seekerlings. As much as he hates to admit it – and he hates to admit it – he can't take care of seven hatchlings by himself. Even being a Seeker, he's not going to be able to gather enough energon to feed them all, and at least one of them is probably going to go offline regardless of what he does.

Even though most of the hatchlings like to latch on to him, there's no denying that they're curious little things. They will definitely wander, especially as they get older and more adventurous. There isn't any way on Earth, Cybertron, or any other planet that he's going to be able to handle them. Not only can he not guarantee their safety on his own, he can't feed them.

If he wants any of them to survive, he really doesn't have a choice, does he?

He takes his first step closer to the human. The fact that she and her guardian flinch when he does is something that doesn't escape his notice. It's practically impossible to make himself look nonthreatening, but being covered in hatchlings goes a long way toward it. He cycles his vents, and gives a slow nod.

"Don't take me for anything but a Decepticon," he warns in a low voice. "Just help them."