Back To You

Chapter 8: Hotshot

Quickshadow fell back on the medberth, chassis heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Her helm was spinning, and everything hurt.

Eight hours of labor seemed to last an eternity, and the only thing that kept her going was knowing she'd be holding her sparkling in a few more minutes.

Another contraction started, and she tuned everything out and tried to focus on the medic's voice. "Just a few more pushes."

Leaning forward, she gathered whatever strength she had left into one final push. A sharp scream ripped through her voice box and a few cheers resonated around the delivery room.

"It's a mechling!" a nurse announced, taking the newspark to the back of the room for a quick check-up. Quickshadow let herself relax. All that pushing left her feeling lightheaded and utterly spent, and it took everything in her not to pass out right then.

She lay there, waiting to hear the sparkling's cries fill the room, but the seconds passed, and they never came. In fact, the entire room had gone completely silent, and she noticed everyone's smiles had vanished.

Exhaustion was overtaking her, but she could still hear the nurses muttering incoherent words to each other, and she knew something was wrong.

Fear swelled within her, and she wanted to ask what was happening, but her voice box was sore, and she was too tired to keep her optics open any longer. As the medics rushed the newspark out of the room, she caught a glimpse of a red paint job just before everything faded into black.

—

Quickshadow regained consciousness a few hours later. A medic came in shortly after, and she held her breath, waiting for him to brief her on her son's condition. The grim expression on his face told her she wouldn't like what he had to say.

"He was born 2 weeks premature, and he's unstable. His chances of survival are extremely low." Her spark broke, but she found the strength to keep listening. "We'll do everything we can...but it is unlikely he'll make it through the night."

Her sparkling was severely ill; that was a hard pill to swallow. She forced herself to nod and heard the medic step out of the room. As soon as the door closed, she buried her face in her servos and let herself cry.

None of this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be on Earth right now, still carrying and telling Heatwave about their new addition, not alone in an unfamiliar hospital, worrying if her sparkling would live to witness his first sunrise.

She blamed herself. She should've known Eclipse was up to something. Had she just listened and stayed put. Primus, had she only found out sooner...

"He'll be alright." She kept muttering to herself. He had to be alright; she'd never forgive herself if he didn't make it.

—

She awoke at around 9 am the next day, slightly dazed by the sleep medication they'd given her the previous night. Her optics focused on the ceiling light, and all of a sudden, flashes of her attempted escape came back and triggered a minor panic attack.

Her optics were trained on the door, fearing Eclipse would walk in any second. A nurse saw her freaking out and tried to calm her down.

Quickshadow pulled herself together long enough to remember she was in a hospital, safe away from that mech. But...the sparkling! Where was her sparkling? She panicked again and frantically scanned the room. The nurse fought to keep her down, telling her if she kept thrashing, she'd hurt herself even more.

Quickshadow felt her strength depleting and stopped struggling. She looked at the nurse and tried to build the courage to ask if—

"He's alive."