A Series of Events Ch. 56

It took a little while to get things arranged for the official bonding ceremony since mostly everyone in the base had ideas on how to make it special for us, not to mention the fact that we had to have both Primes available since the elder Prime insisted the younger Prime learn how bonding ceremonies went and that led to Tetra Reris to wanting to be there to see it as well and so on until just about every Autobot and Servabot on Earth was coming to it. Shark had given up on even putting in what we wanted for the ceremony the moment the xenos got news about it. We lost total control over the entire thing and frankly I was thankful for that small miracle as I was getting closer to the day when the twins would come into the world.

Finally though our ceremony day arrived, and by some small miracle the Cons weren't going to interrupt it. I wasn't about to question why the bevy of cassettes knew that little nugget of information. The ceremony was being held outside, but within the walls of Autobot city, so the taller Bots could watch on and there was much more room to mingle. There was no 'grooms' side' nor 'brides' side' since we didn't feel that was necessary. Both Optimus and Rodimus stood at the end of a small pathway as the elder Prime asked everyone to be quiet and explained to everyone what the official bonding ceremony was about as briefly as he could. Once he was done, Shark and I were cued to walk down the pathway toward the two Primes. There was no music, and the only sound was the chirping of the local birds and the distant noise of vehicular traffic. Once we reached our spots before the two Primes, Optimus kept it short but quite official sounding. We exchanged prepared vows that moved quite a number of the femmes and even a few of the mechs to 'tears'. Optimus handed over the last bit to Rodimus, who stepped forward with this huge grin as he loudly pronounced us 'legally bonded by the sight of Primus'.

There was a series of whoops, hollers, and other raucous cheering sounds from the gathered group as we turned toward them all. This was soon drowned out by the four communications experts booming out music to dance to as a 'first dance as a couple' was insisted upon. Shark grinned and drew me in close, leading me through a slow dance. Once the song was over, Optimus wanted a dance before he returned to his office to go through 'the back log from the pit'.

I felt bad for the mech since it seemed all he did was fight and do reports with just barely enough time for himself. I was glad though the ceremony gave him some time away from the stress of being a Prime. He was content to slow dance since it gave him a chance to talk to me in low tones about how happy he was for us. I was only paying halfway attention to him though as something seemed amiss… as in there was a lot of pressure going on in my gestational sack due to the movements of the twins. The sensation of the sack tearing slightly drew a pained gasp from me and sack fluids came leaking out of it.

"Barracuda?" Optimus' voice was low in my audio.

Shark gave a shout from perhaps 20 feet away from us, "Get the medics over to Cuda now!"

I held onto Optimus with my left arm as my right arm drew away from him and I placed my hand over the lowest section of my torsal armor. Another sensation of tearing came quickly on the heels of more pressure. I gritted my denta as I heard the music stop quite suddenly, a shout to my left from Ratchet, "Outta my way!", another shout from behind Prime, "Excuse me, medic coming through!" from Gynae, a "Excuse me!" from First Aid off to the right, and from behind me was Minervas' quizzical, "She's having them now?"

Optimus held firmly yet gently onto me, "It will be all right." his tone very calm, as was his presence. Shark was behind me in moments, adding to the comfort and supporting me with Optimus.

I only barely noticed the elder Prime's trailer appearance as the two mechs guided me into it and as one got me on one of the berths within it. Then all four medics came in and as they had drilled it for some months now went into their roles as Shark took a spot by my head. Optimus retreated to the doorway of the trailer to keep onlookers from entering. By the time the medics had my torsal armor off, there was a sizable tear on one side of the sack and a second tear just beginning to form on the other side. Thankfully one of the medics thought to turn down my pain receptors.

The larger tear leaked more fluids as a tiny hand poked its way out, gripped the side of the tear, and pulled on it. A second tiny hand soon joined it. The tear doubled in size, fluids flushing out on one side. The sac drooping down until the head peaked out from the tear. Only then did Ratchet reach down to the tiny form and allowed it to grip his fingers. The second tear was working further apart as the first tiny form was removed from its sac and taken off to the side by Ratchet to get cleaned up. Gynae waited for the second form to poke its hands and head out before she let it grab her fingers so it could be removed from its sac. As the two medics were cleaning and checking over the two newborns, First Aid and Minerva tended to the sac itself as well as the mess left behind.

Shark had been mostly quiet during the proceedings, though his affection and love for me and our two newborns flowed freely from him through our bond. The odd silence was broken by one newborn clicking, joined by the second. The two clicked back and forth as the medics finished their work on them as well as myself. Ratchet and Gynae approached with their bundle of squirming newborn wrapped up neatly into thermal blankets.

"Got yourselves a healthy mech." Ratchet noted softly.

"And a healthy femme." Gynae stated with a smile.

Shark stood, making a soft crooning sound that caught both the newborns attention, silencing them momentarily before they made rapid fire clicks and whirrs. He took them both from the medics and settled down beside me, smiling at me as he clicked back at them.

"Welcome to the world Stunray and Stingray." I murmured softly, content to remain prone.

Minerva thoughtfully gave me a small energon cube to sip on as I heard Optimus' voice from the doorway call out to those outside that the twins were healthy and that they should let us be alone with them awhile so not to scare the newborns. I was thankful for his thoughtfulness, but I knew full well that his speech would not keep Tracer out… in fact I wasn't at all surprised by a voice above me murmur, "Ya did good ya two."

I peered up at the puddle of liquid metal that had a half formed face in it and offered a soft, "Thank you Depth."

He said something in return, but it was drowned up by the cheering of those outside. Optimus turned and called in, "I'll drive the trailer into med bay." Then he walked off the ramp; which closed up once he was off fully. It wasn't long before the trailer lurched slightly and swayed as it was moved with us all on board.

Ratchet and Gynae both were checking over the work of the other two medics, making sure they tended to me correctly then checking my vitals over. By the time they were done, the swaying stopped and the ramp lowered. First Aid and Minerva headed out to get a berth, wheeling it in, then the four of them lifted me onto it. As I was wheeled out, Ratchet stated that he wanted to watch over me and the newborns for a day just to make sure there were no complications. Gynae agreed. Shark carried the two newborns over, settling down beside me.

"It's been a long day Cuda. Why don't you get some recharge?" he asked softly.

I considered and then nodded, "I will. When I wake up, I get to hold them."

He grinned, "Of course."

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