Author's Note: Song is What About Now by Daughtry. Thanks to Jaquiele, I Love Oc's, and Nighthawk22 for adding this fic to their favs and/or alerts!

Kae88: Lol. No, I'm afraid he's not there anymore.

Lina Marie: Good guess. But no, he'll be there next chapter. Lol.

Silvermoon sat at her desk in Prowl's office. Her optics trailed over the data pad, not taking in anything that she read. For some reason, she was out of it this morning. Prowl was sitting in his chair across from her, silently engrossed in his own data. Her optics trailed over his form as her thoughts raced a hundred miles an hour. She didn't stay focused on anything for more than a few nano-kliks.

Absentmindedly, she reached up to rub her chestplates, knowing her spark was hurting a bit, but not paying it much thought. Suddenly, it throbbed, making her drop the data. It hit the desk with a light thunk. Prowl looked up, only to see his mate clutching her chestplates with an agonized look on her faceplates. Another wave of pain washed through her and the bond, making him stand up abruptly and rush to her side.

"What's wrong?" he murmured, taking her servo. He pulled her chair out a bit, giving her some space.

"I dunno," she mumbled, convulsing again. Her servo clutched between her breastplates, giving Prowl an idea. He gently moved her servos aside and released the manual clasps to her chestplates, getting himself into her spark chamber. He peered inside and froze, optic twitching a bit before glitching.

Silvermoon let her plates slid back together, lightly getting to her pedes to haul Prowl to the berth. She had to stop and comm. Ratchet while pushing against her chest in pain. She managed to drag him over and lift him up, but then stopped for another convulsion. Letting out a short cry, Silvermoon sank to her knees, one servo holding herself up on the berth while the other frantically scraped at her chest, trying to lessen the pain in any way possible.

Ratchet shoved the door open and practically ran in the next moment. He knelt before the femme, who had pain written throughout her optics. Silvermoon allowed the medibot to push her down so she was on the floor. He had easily access her spark chamber in that position. He deftly flicked it open and searched for the problem.

Silvermoon offlined her optics and bit down on her lip plate to keep from shrieking every time Ratchet brushed against a sensitive wire. She could feel him tweak a piece here and there, and her pain suddenly vanished.

"Well," he said, backing out and closing her chestplates. "Looks like we're going to have another sparkling running around here soon."

Silvermoon's optics widened. "I'm SPARKED?!" she shrieked, feeling like joining her mate in glitching.

Ratchet nodded, wincing at her high pitch. "The newspark was nestled up against a wire in an awkward position, which was what was causing you the pain." He stood up and offered her a servo, pulling her back up on her pedes. Now that she knew what she was feeling, Silvermoon could detect the small life pulsing alongside her own spark, slowly drawing off her energy reserves.

"Now what?" she asked faintly.

"Gets lots of recharge, keep your energon levels above seventy-five percent, and don't stress yourself," Ratchet shrugged, as though it were obvious. "Oh, and stay close to Prowl later on. You will have heightened protective actions, which are natural, but it never hurts to have too much protection."

Silvermoon nodded absently and was aware of Ratchet scanning her. "I'm fine," she said.

"Alright. Call me if anything feels out of the ordinary." He made his way over to the door.

"Oh, and Ratchet? Could we keep this between us for a while?" Silvermoon inquired.

"Prime has to know. Beyond that, I won't tell anybot."

"Thanks." The door slid closed just as Prowl came back online. He sat up wearily and his optics connected to hers.

"Are you actually...?" he asked weakly.

"Sparked? Yes," she mumbled. Prowl fell back down with a groan, clutching his helm. He was fighting to stay online and not glitch again. Half a klik passed and he sat up, gesturing for her to crawl onto the berth with him. Silvermoon complied, leaning in when Prowl wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry," Prowl whispered, trying to comfort himself and his mate. "Nothing will happen to the newspark..."

Silvermoon suppressed the urge to rub at her chestplates again. The newspark wasn't aching, but it was weird to her to think about a second life force sitting next to her own. She turned the corner and entered the rec room, squinting a bit at the bright lights and loud noise. Jazz was throwing another party. This was the second one in the orn, and she was getting tired of having to put up with overcharged mechs. Last time she'd had Prowl next to her. But she wasn't too concerned. She just hoped her wiring didn't suddenly turn overprotective of the newspark...

Squeezing between Bumblebee and Perceptor, she spotted Blaster at a DJ station on one wall. Disco balls were positioned on either side of the station, projecting colorful lights around the room. A nice beat was pulsing from the oversize speakers. Chatter filled the room and high grade was passed around freely. Silvermoon went to the energon dispensers, searching for some middle grade to fill her tanks before they plummeted from the dual outputs.

Her optics narrowed when she spotted the entire table covered in nothing but high grade. Slag you, Jazz. The next astrosecond, the mech popped up at her shoulder out of nowhere. Primus had a sick sense of humor. She could detect a hint of high grade on the TIC, but he wasn't overcharged enough to be dangerous.

"'Ey, Silvamoo'. Glad ya could come. Grabe a cube o' high grade an' follah meh!"

"I'd better not," she declined, turning away from the table and starting to walk away. Then Jazz grabbed her arm and pulled her so she faced him again.

"Why not? It's ah partah! Lighten up!" Jazz frowned. She mirrored his frown. He was being persistent, and she needed to refuel soon. Without saying anything, she turned and slipped away, using her smaller size to her advantage. She could hear him calling her designation, but the femme weaved between 'bots and fairly dove out the door to get away. Taking off down the hall, she set a brisk pace for the med bay. Ratchet always kept a stock of energon. And he wasn't as annoying as Jazz.

Inside, Silvermoon had to duck to avoid a wrench that went flying over her helm. If anything, that seemed to make Ratchet angrier. "TWINS!" he roared, making the femme unconsciously flinch.

She saw an overcharged Sideswipe smirk as he stalked toward the medibot. Sunstreaker was already offline and in a heap on one berth, with a fair-sized dent in his helm.

"But Ratchet," Sideswipe whined. "Why not? You'd have a great time, I know you would!" In response, a wrench hit him right between the optics, making him fall offline immediately. Silvermoon winced in sympathy. The medic drug the red mech over to his twin and dropped him on top of Sunstreaker, ignoring his precious paint. Then Ratchet turned so fast Silvermoon thought he was going to dislocate something.

His expression softened when it fell on her, seemingly trying to force out the anger held in his frame. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need some energon. The only thing in the rec room is high grade," she responded quietly, piecing together Sideswipe's words. "Was he hitting on you?" Ratchet's scowl returned.

"Unfortunately. This isn't the first time," Ratchet growled. Silvermoon forced back a chuckle.

"Not the first time? What do you do to him afterward?" she asked, half intrigued, half horrified. Ratchet shrugged.

"He wakes up, doesn't remember, and leaves. Sunstreaker is a lot more forcing, so I usually knock him out first and then deal with his twin." As Ratchet talked, he opened a cupboard and pulled out a few cubes of medical low grade. Silvermoon accepted them gratefully and proceeded to down one slowly. She could feel Prowl looking for her through the bond, and she mentally told him that she was with Ratchet.

It drew a worried feeling form the SIC, but she soothed him and turned to Ratchet. "I'd better go. Thanks for the energon."

Ratchet nodded absently, returning to his office. Silvermoon left, only to run into Jazz in the hallway. She nearly fell, but he caught her. For being so overcharged, he was still pretty stable. She spotted another cube of high grade in his servo, and it was nearly empty.

"Why'd ya run off like tha'?" he questioned, a frown marring his faceplates. Silvermoon really didn't want to deal with an overcharged, TIC, seeing as he was normally had to deal with when sober. She sent Prowl an anxious thought for some backup and felt him speed up a bit.

"No reason," she responded vaguely. Jazz downed the rest of his cube and dropped it, placing his servos on both of her shoulders.

"Ya need ta talk ta meh. We're friends, aren't weh?" He looked her in the optics, a serious look mingling with his overcharged one. She pulled back uncomfortably, smelling the high grade on his vents of air.

"Yeah..." she trailed off, not knowing how to respond. He was weird when he was overcharged.

"Then tal'. Wassup?"

Then the sound of pedefalls hit her audios. Venting in relief, Silvermoon yanked herself out of Jazz's grip and went up to Prowl. He looked confused, but wrapped his mate in a comforting hug.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly. Jazz's voice made him look up.

"Prowler. Ah was jus' havin' a convahsation wit' 'er." Prowl could smell the high grade on him, and it made the SIC want to slap the saboteur.

"Good. But we have somewhere else to be right now." He lead Silvermoon away from the overcharged mech, drawing a relieved sigh from his mate.

"Thanks," she sighed, suddenly becoming tired.

"No problem. Why don't you go take a stasis nap? I'll finish the datas," he offered.

"Sounds good to me," she replied, stifling a yawn.

Starscream yelped, the pressure on his mind becoming harder and more painful. "I won't do it," he ground out, falling back to the floor with another pained yell.

"Starscream," sighed a femme voice. "You should no by now that resistance will get you no where. Just listen to me and we can both be happier."

"Never!" he snapped, pride winning out.

"Fine, have it your way!" Her voice held anger in it, losing the persuasive tone. There was the sound of tapping on keys, and Starscream gave his loudest yell yet. Convulsing, he lost the ability to move. He could feel her invading his consciousness will that wretched machine of Shockwave's, messing with his motor controls. Something seemed to click in his processor, and he lost all control over his frame.

It began to transform without his permission, and he couldn't even form a coherent word. His thrusters engaged at full throttle and he tore out of the cave, heading for wherever the femme told him to. Back in the cave, Arachnid stared at the screen that allowed her to see everything from Starscream's perspective. Grinning evilly, she made him set a course for the coordinates she'd taken from his mind.

A/N: So now Arachnid is in on the action. Anyone think they know her plan?