Jasmine screamed, gripping the edges of the water-filled tub as she fought the pain the contractions brought on. She fought with the contractions to bring her children into the world safely. Angel knelt at the other end of the large tub, her hands ready for the children, not even so much as wincing when the water started being tinged red and blue.

“All right, Jazz . . . We’re getting somewhere . . . Fight the pain. They’ll be more than worth it. You can do this, Jazz.” Angel was doing her best to be encouraging, and Jasmine groaned, tensing as another round of contractions shot through her body.

It hurt like hell.

And Optimus wasn’t here. He should be here. They’d dreamed of this moment and yet-.

“Jasmine . . .” It was the slightest whisper, and nearly made her jump out of her skin within the water. She hadn’t been expecting his voice. And she knew it wasn’t that of the medic’s holoform, standing dutifully to the side should his assistance be needed, and to hold the first child after it was birthed. They certainly wouldn’t be giving that task to Sunny, who sat outside the room with Daniel.

Gritting her teeth, Jasmine forced her eyes and looked to her side. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Optimus was crouching at the side of the tub, transparent as he was before when he’d appeared to her atop the cafe’s roof. The pain had occupied so much of her, Jasmine had noticed him return from recharge. She could specifically spot bruises on his skin, but he gave her a smile. “You’ve never looked so beautiful, Maiden . . .”

She let out a groan, tensing. Angel said something, but Jasmine didn’t listen much to what she had to say. ‘I’m going to kick someone’s ass, Optimus. Where the hell are you?’ Another scream escaped her and she curled her toes, fighting the discomfort the best she could. It was distracting, to say the least, to see her husband, her bondmate, here, but not here, and bruised. Someone had not only taken him, but hurt him. He’d been abused since he’d vanished, and she was more than a tad bit frustrated with that. Not to mention ready to rip someone’s throat out.

She winced as she stared at him, and he placed a hand on her bare shoulder. “I apologize, Maiden . . . You need to conserve your energy at the moment . . . I’ll explain the specifics later . . .”

‘The hell you will!’ Her lips curled back in a scowl, but not because of her displeasure with him. It was from the pain that was shooting back and forth through her and her immense concern for him. It took all of her self control to keep from yelling. The last thing she needed was for Ratchet and Angel to question her sanity while she was in labor. Of course, Jasmine was fairly certain that Angel already knew  exactly what was going on, since the only way this worked was through the UP.

“Maiden, please . . .” He murmured, cupping her face in one hand, turning her so she looked at him. It was an unusual sort of thing, and if she had truly resisted the motion, it wouldn’t have worked, but as he was her bondmate, Jasmine didn’t mind the little things. He would never do anything to hurt her. She knew as much. But she was worried sick about him, and the labor wasn’t helping anything. Except to get the babies out.

Optimus was attempting to send a wave of calm through himself and into Jasmine, but it wasn’t that easy to calm down a hormonal femme in heaps of pain and struggling with the fact that on the eve of her labor, her bondmate had vanished without a trace. ‘I’m going to find you, Optimus,’ Jasmine thought, lowering her volume. ‘And I’m going to kick someone’s backside into next week. You should be here. You should be with us. You’re SUPPOSED to be with us! You’re my mate and I love you and you should be here, frag it! Where-.’ She didn’t finish. She stopped to let out another scream. Absently, she heard Angel shout, but again, she didn’t pay attention.

She could feel Optimus grip her hand, even though his form was hardly as solid as it should be. It was invisible to Ratchet, and Angel was likely ignoring it the best she could. “These are our babies, Maiden . . . I apologize that this is the best I could do for this precious moment . . . Please continue to do your best for them . . .”

‘I . . . Am . . . Doing . . . My . . . Best . . . Slag it!’ She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as she pushed again. This felt entirely endless. It had been hours since she’d entered labor. The sun was already setting. Or perhaps it already had set. Jasmine was having issues keeping track of time at the moment. She hadn’t even been deemed dilated enough until just recently, when they’d drawn the bath for her to give birth in. She absolutely refused to have a needle in her back, especially by a Cybertronian medic. While human, techno organic and Cybertronian anatomy were similar, she didn’t trust the differences not to play a part in this.

So here she was. In a tub of what was now lukewarm water, pushing for what felt like eternity, without the mech she’d wanted here more than anything actually here. A transparent figure didn’t stand up to the reality. She was going to make someone pay for it, too. They’d been a fool to take him and think there wouldn’t be some serious consequences for it. Whoever it had been, they obviously didn’t know what kind of firepower was waiting if anything happened to him. Optimus might be the typical ‘sweet, calm Prime’, but his bondmate was a hell of a firestarter. And she was going to burn down city blocks to find him.

He could feel her passion spilling over through the bond, and he gave a gentle smile. “Calm yourself, Maiden . . . I’ll be all right . . . Just focus on the children . . . Focus on making them better . . . Focus on getting them here safe . . .”

‘Oh, trust me . . .’ She let out a groan, squeezing the sides of the tub. ‘They’ll be safe. Your captor? Not so much . . .’

Optimus let out a breath gently. “Promise me you’ll give yourself time to recover before you do anything strenuous. You need to take care of the babies, as well, before you start doing something else. Promise me you’ll take care of them first, Maiden . . .”

She made a sharp inhale as the pain spiked again. ‘I . . . I can’t . . . It’s not a real family without you, Optimus . . . They’ll know it, too . . . It’s not the same with their father missing . . .’ She winced, shuddering as a bit of pressure shifted inside her. She could hear the wail of a child and she let her head rest against the wall of the tub for a moment, breathing heavily as she tried to regain herself. She had over-the-counter painkillers to help her through the pain of childbirth and nothing more. Needless to say, it wasn’t helping much.

“You’re doing wonderfully, Maiden,” he murmured near her, knowing full well what a toll this had to be taking on her physically and emotionally. He knew just as much that his absence wasn’t helping. He could easily feel the worry about his condition spilling over. He was honestly doing his best to ignore where he was physically at the moment, and focus only on what, where he should be. She needed him. It didn’t matter outside of this moment. He’d missed it the first time, and no matter how tragic it had been, he wouldn’t miss it again.

With a groan, Jasmine tensed again slightly. ‘Easy for you to say. You’re not in a bathtub laced with blood and energon, hoping desperately you’ll have a full family at the end of all of this . . . You actually know where you’re at . . . I’m stuck wondering.’

Optimus sighed gently, kissing her forehead during this brief reprieve between births. “I apologize for my absence, Maiden . . . I know you’re struggling with this . . . I promise I’m here . . . Not perfectly but I’m focusing everything I’ve got to be here. I’m not going to miss this again. Perhaps I cannot hold our children just yet, but I will hold them soon enough. And I will hold them with you, loving every moment we have as a family. You’re a beautiful, strong femme, Maiden. You look absolutely lovely right now.”

She groaned, shifting her weight slightly in an attempt to relieve a bit of pain. ‘You are so full of crap,’ she thought bitterly, her anger stemming from her confusion and pain. ‘I look like hell right now and you know it.’

He chuckled gently and cradled her head softly against his chest. “You look beautiful because you’re my wife, Maiden. And you are doing one of the most wonderful things I could ever ask of you. You are giving birth to our children, who you’re going to love and feed, and take care of, even though I’m not there right now.”

Her breath came in staggered spurts as the second baby began to push it’s way out. She could still faintly hear the first’s cries. ‘No way in hell is it going to stay that way. I am bringing you home, Optimus slagging Prime. You are meeting our babies and they’re going to be damn adorable and you’re going to love them and you’re going to protect them even more than you did me. Got it?’

He gave a small smile, kissing the top of her head, even though it was only a ghost of a touch. “I understand, Maiden . . . Just allow yourself time to heal and relax . . . Stressing yourself over this, either now or too soon after birth, won’t help anyone. Take care of Scarlett and Ashton . . . They need you, Maiden . . . The carrier provides the nutrition and care. The creator merely provides the genetics. I plan on providing much more than just the basics, but you need to think of them and be careful. Please, Maiden . . .”

Taking a deep breath, Jasmine nodded briefly. ‘Fine . . . But only because it’s you. If you were anyone else, I’d probably knock you out.’

He smiled, kissing her temple. “Bring our babies home, Maiden . . .”

She nodded again, gripping the sides of the tub again, pushing hard to expel the second of their twins. It wasn’t until after midnight that Scarlett Jade joined her brother on the outside world.

If she hadn’t passed seconds after she’d passed the placenta, Jasmine would’ve set out to hunt down Optimus right then. It was hard enough feeding the twins with assistance, much less getting cleaned off from the residue of blood and energon that lingered on her skin. Angel had helped for much of that, and had helped Jasmine back into her bed, settling the now-sleeping twins into two bassinets next to the bed.

Their sleeping forms were the last thing Jasmine saw before she lost herself to the darkness of night again. However, it wasn’t exactly quiet. She saw Optimus there. And while her aches were carried over from the physical world, she did her best to ignore them as she threw her arms around him, burying her face against his chest, whispering against the fabric of his shirt.

“Where are you . . .?”