"I'm starting to think that the Carrying is making you even more stubborn..." Chief muttered, "What were you thinking...!?"

Heatwave shrugged, "I dunno." He admitted, "...I just...Did it."

"I saw that... I might just have High Tide stay here to keep an eye on you from now on." Chief Burns glared at the firetruck for several moments, and then relaxed with a hard sigh. "...But since you rescued Chase, I'm going to let this one time slide."

Heatwave looked to Chase as he laid on the medical table, Blades running a scanner over him. The police bot had passed out again a few minutes after Heatwave had gotten him back to the Firehouse, and while Blades had determined the cause was repairable, it was going to take a day or two of healing stasis and he wanted to check for other hidden damage.

"That was rather reckless," Boulder agreed as he patted the leader's shoulder, "but I'd expect nothing less from you. You've been that way as long as we've known you."

"I remember that day..." Blades murmured with reminiscence, "...He nearly ran me over coming into class late."

"And the professor told me that if I was going to make being late a habit, to just hang up my training badge." Heatwave added, "I was never late again. Even showed up early most sessions."

"So that's where you get your impatience..." Kade teased, getting a glare from his partner. "Hey, I'm guilty of it too."

Dani let out a huge gasp, grabbing her older brother's arm. "You admit to it? Who are you and what have you done with my brother!? Has Haley infected you!?"

"I think it's the other way around, or else she wouldn't be marrying him." Blurr mocked, getting a playful whack in the helm by Salvage. "Ouch."

"Ooh! Speaking of marriage, I got started working on a holoform for it." Boulder announced. "I'd show you, but the clothing part is still a work in progress."

"Me too!" Blurr informed, "I can't decide between a typical racer's uniform or something more casual."

"I don't think it matters," Heatwave narrowed his optics with a grin, "Yours is gonna look weird either way...!"

"Ah! That hurts!"

Kade shook his head, "I...Think I missed something. Holoforms?"

"We'll explain later, Kade." Graham promised, "Right now we need to discuss what we're gonna do about your... digging problem."

Heatwave looked at Cody, who waved his arms and shook his head. "...You know about that?"

"Uh...Yeah." Salvage smirked as he looked at his best friend, "One second Blurr is next to me, the next he's a good six feet or so shorter and face-down in the dirt."

"Oh, well that's not bad."

"Not bad!?" Blurr started, but was stopped by Salvage putting a hand over his mouth.

Heatwave sighed, "Fine. So I've been digging. What's the problem?"

"Um, how about the fact that the tunnels are flooding with rainwater and you keep going out there to dig pits, probably to give birth or lay an egg in? That can't be a good mix."

Heatwave sighed, "I guess we should consider that..."

"Sandbox."

The family turned to Cody as he spoke up from where he'd been doodling on a notepad. "What?" Kade questioned.

Cody held up an image of a large rectangle. "We build a giant sandbox and then put it somewhere private, like maybe that garage under Doc Greene's lab, and then Heatwave has something to dig in that won't be flooded."

Graham and Boulder looked at one another and then back to the team as they spoke in unison. "Piece of cake."

Chief's eyebrows furrowed as he pointed a finger at Heatwave. "Heatwave, I do not want you leaving this Firehouse unless I give you specific permission until further notice, understood?"

Heatwave hesitated only a moment before nodding slowly. "Understood, Chief..."

"Good. Now that that's been solved..." Chief rubbed his neck, "...I'm going to call the Chiropractor. That fall did a number on my back, and I'm not as young as I once was..."

The humans all left the bots to head upstairs, and Blades placed a hand on the leader's shoulder. "...You don't know if you can keep that promise to the Chief, do you...?" He whispered.

Heatwave shook his head, "I...I really don't remember going down there. I just remember suddenly being there and making the best of it... It has me concerned if possibly entire hours of my memory banks is just gone."

"It'll be okay, Heatwave. And you know you can talk to us about anything."

"Yeah...I know..."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Heatwave didn't leave the Firehouse, just like the Chief had ordered; in fact, he hardly left his quarters. When he did, it was only for brief periods to refuel on energon and perhaps check on what had happened that day. Nobody mentioned how fatigued he looked, or how with each passing day, his chassis was beginning to warp outward.

He was well aware of how tired he was; the sparkling barely paused movement for very long, but after one particularly painful shift where he literally felt them turn around, there had been barely a kick.

But it was only twenty-four hours later when the Sandbox was put into use. It had been built with plenty of room for him to both dig and to shift position so he wasn't stuck standing in one place the whole time; which turned out to be handy, because even after the contractions started, it was several hours before there was any real action.

It was almost 2 AM, but all of the humans were settled down in the garage under the Lab; none of them wanted to miss this birth. They had decided on having it at the lab to minimize the townsfolk overhearing anything and getting overly curious. Not even Huxley knew anything about where they were. Boulder and Salvage had offered to stay back at the Firehouse to keep an eye on things and watch Snowblast, who Blades had deemed too little to experience this just yet.

The firebot had dug out a pit just like before, and had been pacing back and forth for quite some time, loud creaking sounds coming from his chassis as it squeezed and tightened. He'd occasionally give grunts with a pained expression, but otherwise it was a long, tense silence that filled the space.

Blades was there with medical tools, standing back for now but ready for the moment he might need to assist. "Just take it at your own pace..." He encouraged.

Kade was sitting on a crate, wringing his hands and wincing every time his partner was in pain. He was just like an impatient father, waiting for the big news to be announced.

"T-Thanks for the peptalk, Blades..." Heatwave hissed, before his face twisted again and his back legs bent closer to the ground for a moment. "Ah...! Ah, that one...! A-Also...I take back every time I called you a wimp...! You did this without any painkillers...!"

"That's right...I did." Blades murmured with a confident grin, looking down when Dani smacked his shin with a towel.

Heatwave's face twisted up even more and he bent down, giving grunts as he pushed. "Okay...Okay, almost there...!" He whispered to himself, "...Gah, Primus...!"

"Actually Heatwave, I don't see-"

"SHUT UP BLURR!"

Cody stroked the firebot's muzzle, "You're doing great... Just hang in there..."

Heatwave relaxed after a few seconds, and then after a minute passed was back at it, his optics shifting between their regular blue and the feral greenish-yellow they'd known Blades to take on during his budding. Cody shifted position so he could see, and saw a head and two front legs protruding...Then as soon as the shoulders were free, the sparkling broke free and crashed down into the sand. "It's out!"

Heatwave was on it in a millisecond. He turned around, spraying sand out of the box a little in his haste and then bent his head down to nudge the shape squirming in the slippery soil.

They were in the form of a brachiosaurus, just like Heatwave, and were silvery like Snowblast had been, but a darker shade, and their colorless optics were wide open and looking back at Heatwave as he gave a low rumbling sound. They responded with a squeak, their long neck reaching up until their muzzles touched.

"We got ourselves a femme...!" Blades cooed as he came over with a towel, helping wipe energon and other fluids off of her.

"Another girl...!" Dani cooed, "She's so cute!"

And strong, apparently. Within a few wobbly moments, the new member was pulling herself up onto her feet, her fire-hose of a tail swishing back and forth as she chattered to Heatwave, who murmured back.

"Look at her...!" Kade whispered, his eyes widening a little as she looked in his direction and hissed a little. "Ooh...Fiesty, are we?"

Heatwave nudged his daughter, and then stepped out of the sandbox. The little bot scrambled to join him, but slipped in the sand and dropped back down.

"You're probably better off in there for now..." Heatwave assured. She cried for him and he bent down, nuzzling her helm. "I'm not going anywhere..."

Chief Burns smirked, and then placed a hand on Kade and Dani's shoulders. "Let's leave them to bond...I think Heatwave can handle her for the rest of the night."

Heatwave nodded in agreement, looking up to his teammates. "I'll be back at the Firehouse as soon as I can."

"We know..." Kade teased, "...You can't stay away from the job for very long if you can help it."

Heatwave grinned, and then watched the group head for the exit. He turned back to the little bot still trying to escape the slippery sandbox and failing. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out eventually...And that kind of worries me..."