Note: Ok, here's my try at a seeker christmas fluff. I hope I can do as well as what I did last year! Everyone seemed to like this one, including myself lol. Anyway, here it is...

Warning: Will contains reference to abuse and rape and MPreg. You have been warned. Dark themes...

Rating: NC17/M

A little miracle

The night was still and the silence was deep in the desert, the rocky cliffs and duty plains looking like it were in a deep slumber in those deepest, darkest hours of the night. In the distance, very far away, the very faint sounds of engines in an highway could be heard, but those alien sounds, unfit to this calm, wild landscapes, didn't disturbed the peace. After a few more moments, small white snowflakes started to slowly, lightly fall from the heavens covering the ground in a white, cold shroud that seemed to put everything in an even deeper slumber.

Nothing, it appears, would even dare to disturb this peaceful place. Until...

Whit a roar of tortured engine, a jet plummeted from the sky at high speed. Trailing behind it was a trail of black, thick smoke and soon, a loud crash could be heard. Everything seemed to freeze, waiting, watching as the fallen jet stopped to an alt against a boulder and then, after one last explosion of sparks and fire, stopped moving. Yet again, peace and silence shrouded the area and the snow, undisturbed, continued to fall, slowly covering the fallen form of the dark jet that crashed so unceremoniously only moments before. Pings and creaks of cooling metal could be heard, and small hiss and puffs of vapor were seen rising from the twisted frame. Anyone seeing this mess would've thought that the pilot had either left the falling plane before it crashed, or died upon crashing... But there were no pilot to worry about here. Only a fallen jet that was slowly fading into nothingness. And he would, if no one found him in a very brief period of time.

But, fortunately for the jet, this little incident hadn't gone unnoticed.

oOo

December 24, 21h32, Control room, the Ark

It was Sideswipe on monitor duty that night and he was bored out of his mind. If there was something he hated more the being cooped up in the medbay for a long period of time, it was probably spending hours to end in front of a screen watching in case of a hypothetical threat. The red twin was already half-dozing on his chair, but the worst wasn't even it. no, it was that he could hear the sounds from the celebrations coming from the rec room, and as a punishment duty, he had to stay here, locked in that fragging, pit-forsaken control room while everyone else INCLUDING his brother were having fun. He could already hear him rubbing it in for weeks to come. Sunstreaker could be SUCH an aft sometimes...

SIdeswipe didn't really understands the concept behind the celebration of the human holidays but, since their human friend insisted that they all learned a little bit about their traditions and customs, Optimus had indulged Spike and his dad by taking time to listen to their stories and explanations about Christmas and its meaning for the humans. And somehow, the Autobot leader had been positively impressed by this holiday that was basically a celebration of good will and charity, and peace for all sentient being on Earth. And why not on all the Universe? The kind Leader had taken this to heart and had taken time studying it more closely. And so it had lead to tonight's celebrations in the rec. room, and a order from Prime to 'spread the valor's of Christmas' to his troops for the next two weeks, until the Holydays were over.

Though it had became a tradition since they were on Earth. It had been more than twenty years by now, but every single year, the Holidays were also a time for celebration and charity towards anyone needing it for the Autobots. It had not only made their integration into Earth customs easier, it had also greatly increased the Autobots' public image to the humans. The Earthlings were very glad to see them so eager to follow one of their strongest tradition and takes it to heart like that. Well, Optimus, and many others, did at least. But not everyone... Sideswipe was one of those who never understood, along with his brother. And some others like the rough Weapon Specialist and the twitchy Red Alert. But Optimus's orders and his example were law around here so...

Well, that was all good and well, but the red twin didn't really see the point. And the Decepticons would certainly /never/ agree to a 'Season ceasefire'... SO here he was, on Christmas Eve, sitting on his aft on the control room watching screens where nothing would happens. Oddly, the Decepticons never attacks at this time of the year, and it certainly have nothing to do with some kind of 'good will' for the Season. SIdeswipe tried to bit back another yawn, but he was completely unsuccessful and ended up yawning for a good two minutes.

Until one of the screen beeped loudly and wrenched him out of his half-asleep slumber. He sat upright and looked at the concerned screen. There was a decepticon signature in the vicinity! Damnit, the guy chose his moment to show up... Who was the fragger? He looked closely and saw that there was no other signatures, only one, and faint too. As if the mech was severely wounded and almost about to offline. And indeed, a few moments later, the signal seemed to almost vanish and came to a halt a few miles away from the Ark.

Maybe it was dead... If it was the case, Sideswipe wouldn't even bother to tell anyone until after the party. But it was his duty to inform his superiors of this, and he really not wanted to have another duty shift on New Years Eve so, he pinged Prowl and quickly got an answer.

"Report." Was the sharp, curt command and Sideswipe quickly said.

"A decepticon energy signature just popped on one of the screen, and vanished a few moments later. It was already faint, and it disappeared from the radar a few miles from the Ark. Seemed like the guy was injured to me, signal was very faint."

There was a brief silence, as if Prowl was telling something to another bot, then the precise, sharp voice spoke up again.

"Acknowledged. We will investigate. Coordinates?"

Sideswipe databursted him the coordinates and a received ping was sent back to him when the datas were received. Prowl sounded slightly annoyed when he said, almost making the red twin cringe.

"Those Decepticons really have no respects for customs... Meet me and Ironhide at the base's entrance. Bumblebee will take over monitor duty for the rest of the evening."

Sideswipe almost let out a cheerfull 'woohoo' at being relieved from monitor duty but manage to hold it back and replied in a tune that was clearly saying he was grinning goofily.

"Be right there, Boss!"

oOo

Two hours later, Ark Medbay

The purple and black seeker was lying on the med berth, motionless, and he looked peaceful, but Ratchet knew that it was only an appearance. Ratchet sighed deeply and shook his head, having now finished his initial diagnostics and repairs on the broken seeker, and he looked at the still form with a deeply concerned frown.

They had brought him in a little more than one hour ago, and Ratchet could already tell that, whatever happened, it was bad. Really really bad... Apart from the broken limbs, internal injuries and major energon loss, two things were even more worrying for the medic. The first and most important was the head injuries that Skywarp seemed to have endured, and by the look of it, it had probably been caused by the crash. And honestly, Ratchet had rarely seen a mech with such extensive processor damage still function after more than two hours. SO the seeker's time was ticking, and he probably didn't have much more time before him.

But still, the medic had to fight with him to keep him unconscious and maybe save his life, even if it would be at the cost of parts of his motor and processing functions. But the seeker was fighting against the sedative, trying to online and forcing Ratchet to forcefully keep him in stasis lock. Because... The second most worrying thing about Skywarp right at the moment were the sparklings he was carrying.

Ratchet had been shocked when Prowl and Ironhide, with Sideswipe following, had dragged the unconscious and seriously damaged seeker into his medbay more than an hour previously, but he hadn't immediately noticed that the seeker was carrying. He had been more concerned with his head trauma and other life threatening injuries... But when he had to remove the plating on his abdomen and chest in order to mend and repair internal injuries and leaks that he had sustained in that part of his body, he had blinked and stared. The seeker was carrying, and probably far along. How he managed to keep this a secret was above the medic... Because he had obviously been hiding it.

And he had been for the beginning. The sparklings, upon examination, appeared malnourished and smaller then they should. Skywarp had been hiding it and therefore had never sought help. Why he did this and how he managed not to be discovered were questions that would probably never be answered...

A loud beeping wrought Ratchet out of his musing, and he saw Skywarp twitching and faintly moving, about to wake up yet again. He swore and reached for the seeker's emergency shutdown switch to put him back into stasis for the tenth time since he got there. Stubborn slagger... Cant his systems understands that they /have/ to stay in stasis in order to heal? But then something else caught his attention...

"Ho frag! First, Aid, bring me the emergency c-section equipment NOW!" he shouted over his shoulder, seeing the seeker's port seals had broken and they were leaking lubricant, preparing for the sparklings' arrival.

No, no, NO! That wasn't good! Skywarp was in such a terrible condition still that giving birth will kill him for sure! First Aid hadn't asked any question and ran to a storage room to quickly come back with the requested equipment. He set it up beside Skywarp's berth and started to prepare it for the incoming birth. He looked at the seeker's red optics, blinking between online-offline status, until the settled in a faint online light. A low pained moan escaped the vocalizer and Ratchet immediately injected him something for the pain that won't hurt the sparklings.

"Zzt- frrzzggzzt.. Ha-zzztFRzzZZt."

Statice was coming out of the seeker's vocal processor as he was obviously trying to voice something. Ratchet took a look at the medbay chronometer and saw 11h42. fraggit, the seeker was going to wake up and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't sedate him again and he had to keep focused on the labor that had just started, preparing for the emergency c-section. First Aid placed a soft hand on the seeker's forehead and said gently.

"Don't try to talk, your vocal processor had been severely damaged. Please, relax, and don't try to move."

But the seeker was stubborn and another burst of static came out of his vocal processor, until something almost comprehensible could be heard.

"ZZt-Sspar-ZZtzzt-My sparzztgfrrrzt-klingzzztzz."

The young Medic and Ratchet shared a look, compassion and painful realization between them. Skywarp was well aware of what was going on apparently... he wasn't as damaged as Ratchet had thought. First Aid said soothingly, trying to reassure the upset and pained seeker.

"They are alive, and they are coming now. We will not let them die, I assure you."

A low burst of static answered him, sounding a little less panicked this time, and the seeker laid still yet again, his dim optics starring at the ceiling without seeing it. But soon he let out another moan as another contraction hit and Ratchet had to quickly finish preparing. When he was ready and about to cut the soft dermaplating to take the sparklings out, his comlink pinged. He almost hissed in frustration and thought about not answering but it was Prime pinging him... WIth a slight movement of his head he activated it.

"What? I'm busy so it better be important!"

"We have two seekers in detention right at the moment. Starscream and Thundercracker surrendered themselves ten minutes ago and had been brought to the brig." There was a pause during which Ratchet tried to process it, but Optimus spoke again. "I granted them temporary amnesty, Ratchet. They are demanding to see Skywarp, they know he's here. I didn't had to tell them anything they already knew..."

The surgeon was silent for a moment, merely noticing the time on the clock. 23h49. Only five minutes since the beginning of this crisis... Oddly, he thought that it would be Christmas in ten minutes too... What a present, he thought ironically, three seekers including a dying one and race against time to save twin sparklings that haven't even seen the light of day yet.

"I'm busy! I don't need anyone getting under my pedes while I try to SAVE THEIR WINGMATE'S LIFE!"

he then cut the comm and started to delicate work of cutting through dermaplating to push it open and uncover the gestation chamber that was still protecting the sparklings. He was halfway through removing the first one when the door of the medbay where roughly opened and a screechy voice could be heard, a very recognizable screechy voice that made ratchet cringe and still his movements.

"I want to see him! Where...?" Starscream stopped dead in his track when his optics laid upon the still, unconscious and cut open seeker on the medberth. "Skywarp..." His optics shone with anger, pain and relief and he tried to walk closer, but was forcefully restrained by Ironhide whom had entered behind him.

Thundercracker was following but in a calmer pace even if his optics alone were telling how upset, angry and worried he was. He was firmly held back by none other then Prime, and he shared a concerned look with his medic when their optics met. Starscream stopped hissing and spitting and became still, he had obviously caught the gravity of the situation. He gulped and asked in an almost inaudible voice.

"How is he?"

Ratchet resumed his work, then, cutting the line that was wrapped around the little one and pulling him delicately out of the abdominal cavity, answering as he worked.

"He's bad, I won't lie to you. There is a 89% chances that he do not survive this operation, but the sparklings... will live. I am positive about it."

And as if to answer his statement, loud wails could be heard then and First Aid was gently cleaning and wrapping the wailing sparkling in a blanket. For what they could see from their position at the door, the sparkling was gunmetal grey with hints of purple and red, and his helm was very similar to another mech they know so very well.

Starscream hissed and his optics darkened. He knew it! He knew that something awful was going on with Skywarp! That slagger... he'll kill him, he'll tear him apart, shred him to pieces! Skywarp had become so secretive, silent and sad over the course of the last year... It had to be something terrible to change the dark seeker's cheerful, playful personality so much!

Megatron... So HE was the problem. He knew something was going on with his trinemate but he had never thought... He thought that there was merely because of the way Megatron had been treating Skywarp more... harshly, then usual. Not very openly but Starscream was used to decipher the tyrant's moods. But this...

Megatron had abused and raped their trinemates for an entire year and they never ever suspected it. He felt guilt and rage swell inside him. They were a trine! They were supposed to protect one another! And he was their trine Leader... it was his duty to protect them! ANd he failed... Skywarp was dying and it was all because of him and his blindness!

Starscream was cut from his thoughts when a second wailing could be heard, and he saw a second sparkling, this one looking a lot more like Skywarp, but with grey wings and stripes on his limbs, being wapped in a blanket as well. They were both placed in a special premature crib because they were so small and underdeveloped. Painfully so... Starscream felt a lump in his throat and felt Thundercracker's hand on his shoulder, his deep, soothing voice speaking in his audio.

"It's not your fault Star. Don't blame yourself. It's Megatron's fault, and no one else..." He almost hissed the last words in his deep barytone voice and added. "We'll take care of those sparkling for Warp, that's what he would've wanted..."

Ratchet looked at them with sadness. he would've loved to be able to tell them that their trinemate would live but he wouldn't lie to his closest 'family'. A sudden and loud beeing from the life-support machine wrought him back from his musing and he swore loudly. He looked at the reading and swore again. NO! Skywarp's spark was fading quickly! He grabbed the reanimation equipment and worked at waking the seeker back on, trying to jump-start his spark back on.

"come on, come on! Come back to me!" He pleaded and tried again, for many long minutes. Until it was clear that there was nothing more he could do. The damages were just too extensive... "I'm sorry..." He said with real pain and sorrow. Losing a patient was his worst nightmare and it didn't matter if it was a Decepticon.

Starscream's eyes shot wide open and he wailed in agony, having felt their trine's spark fade before the medic told them. Thundercracker was just as shocked and pain was written all over his features. He let out a low rumbling keen of similar pain and watched as Starscream threw himself at their mate's gray body and tried to wake him, screaming at him to come back.

"No, no NO! Skywarp, come back! Come back, you can't leave us! Not like that, not like that! Please! PLEASE!" He wailed and hugged him tightly, nuzzling and crying into his chest with a pain so deep that it was almost unbearable to witness.

Thundercracker felt it then, the pull at his spark, familiar yet alien. He looked around the room, and his expression turned confused and slightly hopeful. he looked at Skywarp's shell and knew it wasn't coming from there. Skywarp was still in the room, though... And he felt Starscream reacting as well after a moment. A trine bond was so strong, some had said that it could cross through death... And this was Skywarp they were feeling. His love and mischievous presence... He was trying to reassure them, tell them everything was going to be alright.

"Skywarp..." Starscream sighed and there was a faint smile on his lips. "Please be safe..." He leaned on TC whom wrapped his arms around him and rested his helm against his. "We'll see you again..."

Then it was the sparklings reacting to something and reaching out with clicks and coos. They were apparently being touched as well. This was like a miracle... A Christmas miracle, and Starscream, whom had never really cared for this, suddenly felt like there were thrust behind the beliefs of this Season. They says Christmas is the best time of year for Miracles...

They had just witnessed one.

oOo

Skywarp's POV

Everything was so dark and cold... Where was he? He wanted to go home... to be with his trinemates and protected by them, like ever... He was lost and couldn't find his way back! And he was terrified.

Pain... He could feel pain, but it was far away and very faint.

And voices, yeah voices, all around him, talking, but he couldn't make out the words. Like they were speaking in a foreign language...

What was happening to him? Why was he so cold, and feeling so lost and empty? He tried to reach for his mates through the bond they shared but it was hard... he could feel them, faintly, but he couldn't do anything else. He couldn't tell them he was there and needed their help. He had flashes of his last flight, and the crash, and cringed.

Then he remembered why he had flew off the Nemesis. Megatron's beatings, his abuses and... the sparklings... The sparklings! He tried to reach for them but they were gone! He felt panic starting to rise. Where they dead? Did they die in the crash? He tried to speak, but something was wrong with his vocaliser. Around him were blurry forms and shadows.

Someone answered him in a soothing voice, he didn't know who they were or what they were saying. The tune managed to calm him down a bit though. Some time passed and pain rise again, the forms moved again around him faster and he felt that he was proded and the pain fadded some.

Wails, sparkling wails. He heard them wail. They were alive, they were his little miracles, alive and they would live! He felt his mate's pain and sorrow, faintly, and tried to sent them his love and reassurance that all was good and was as it should be.

Skywarp was one of the few on the Nemesis that had taken time to learn about human traditions and customs, and he had always thought that Christmas was their most interesting celebration. Every year he would carefully prepare and execute some christmas-themed pranks and try to make a little bit of the season's spirit enter the Decepticon's warship.

And he had somehow understood the spirit of Christmas. He knew that the greater gift someone could give another was life. The miracle of live, or one forfeiting his/her life to give another a chance to live... At that very moment, he understood the true meaning of those words. he would give his life so his sparklings will live. He was ready and willing to do it. he was too damaged... he couldn't think properly or even speak or see. And he couldn't move... His CPU send him error messages every times he was trying to send his limbs order to move. he was paralyzed, maybe permanently disabled.

His spark was faintly pulsing, he knew it was fading... He slipped into darkness, barely hearing the shouts of many voices around him as he felt his spark leave his body and float away. He could see the room under him now, and Ratchet working on his limp, grayish body to try and jumpstarts his spark back online. Starscream was there too, and Thundercracker, and he saw them, after a few minutes, when ratchet shook his head sadly and stepped away from the berth, launch themselves at him and try to shake him, slapping him to wake him up.

But he wouldn't wake back up...

Starscream was wailing over him now and TC looked blank and shocked. He turned away from them, unable to see their pain. But maybe... He tried to reach for them one last time, and TC was the first to react, looking around with a confused expression. The Starscream reacted too and looked at the spot where he was floating, disincarnated, and his mouth opened in what was probably shock and sadness too, but also relief. He said something but in his current state Skywarp couldn't hear. He came closer and brushed against their sparks, sending them all the love and reassurance he could, he wanted them to know it wasn't their fault...

They shared a look and seemed to relax, calming and smiling faintly. The other mechs in the room just looked puzzled at their sudden change on behaviour...

After that, Skywarp turned to his sparklings and looked at them. They looked back and reached for him, trying to touch his disincarnated spark. They were so cute... They'll live and this was the most important, even if he felt pain and sadness at leaving them. He brushed against their sparks too and they cooed, trying to grab him again. He would've loved to kiss then and hold them but he had to go... The pull was becoming too hard to ignore...

Turning away from them all he saw a warm light calling for him and he went to it, leaving behind the ones he loved but that he knew he would see again someday. This was his gift his little miracle, for Christmas.

Because life is the greater gift one can give.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Note: Well, I hope you have some tissues in hands cause I bet you need them right now... I cried writing this. Bwaaaaaa!