Author's Notes: Hi, all! Well, I asked my readers to vote between a TFP romance fic and a G1 romance fic. The winner was TFP (but seriously, who's surprised at this point?). This is a fic I've been excited to work on for quite some time! I fear the first chapter isn't all that great, but it's just a prologue. The story proper will commence after this. This chapter is just to get the events rolling. I hope this fic goes well, and that you review, favorite, and follow to see more of this story. Anyway, enough rambling. Time to dive into Can't Look Back :)

Chapter 1

Buried Memories

The Present

The ground bridge appeared on a small uninhabited island and deposited the Autobots, who had come to investigate a faint distress signal. They figured out the signal came from a derelict ship and had been activated after an earthquake shook the island where the ship had crashed several hundred thousand years ago.

Optimus Prime led the group of three Autobots, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead, as well as the group of three humans Jack, Miko, and Rafael. They had allowed the kids to come along this time because the vessel was devoid of life and therefore the threat was minimal. They only hoped the Decepticons didn't find this ship before they were done investigating.

It took only a few minutes to find the ship, mostly buried with only the rear thrusters sticking out. Bulkhead pounded on the metal until it crumbled away and allowed the group to enter the rest of the ship. They entered the opening, but Arcee stopped short.

"Optimus," Arcee called to her leader, "Look at this sigil."

"A Decepticon ship," Optimus confirmed when he saw the purple wing-like symbol of their enemies.

The team walked slowly through the pitch black halls; their only illumination from their headlights and the kids' flashlights. Rusting corpses of fallen Decepticon soldiers littered the hallways. After reading the signs on the walls for several minutes, they gathered that this ship had once been a prison transport. It was a grim find, because it was most likely that there were no survivors, and Autobots had likely died on this vessel as prisoners of war.

Bumblebee bleeped and gestured to a door on their right indicating he found something.

"What is it, Bee?" Raf asked.

Bumblebee indicated that there was still a room that had faint traces of power left, and a store of energon. That was good news. They might not be able to rescue these poor deceased Cybertronians, but at least they could gather fuel for themselves, which was running dangerously low at their base.

The Autobots went inside and started collecting the energon crystals from the cabinets. The crystals were a light shade of blue with white flecks, which meant it was medical grade that hadn't been refined yet. So, this was the medbay. A closer look around with their headlights made the place seem very creepy. There were two or three corpses lying around on the floor, a corpse lying strapped to the berth, and wreckage everywhere from where the ship had crash landed all those ages ago. Everything was covered in a layer of thick dust from the literal sands of time seeping into the ship.

As the Autobots made their second trip to get more energon, Bulkhead took a look at the berth with the unfortunate victim. He gave it a passing glance, but had to do a double take when he saw exactly who it was.

"No way…" Bulkhead muttered to himself as he drew closer to the prone form.

"Hey Bulk, what'd you find? Is it something cool?" Miko asked as she scampered over to where Bulkhead was.

Bulkhead didn't hear Miko. All he could see was her. This femme that had once been so dear to him and yet he hadn't spared a thought for in vorns...she was right there. She looked messy due to the situation, but otherwise she was the same. Same cherry red paint, same gold trim, and the same porcelain face plate. She looked so peaceful, as if she were only sleeping.

"How can she be here?" Bulkhead asked no one in particular, "How could she die in a place like this?"

"Hey, Bulkhead!" Miko yelled loudly to get the big 'Bot's attention, "Who is she?"

"Enamel," Bulkhead sighed her name as if saying it drained his very life force, "Her name is Enamel. What did the 'Cons do to her?"

"Is she an Autobot? Was she tough like you? How long has she been missing?" Miko asked a barrage of questions.

"I don't know," Bulkhead admitted, "I haven't seen her since before the war broke out. I don't even know which side she chose."

Just then Optimus Prime came over to where Bulkhead was standing and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder guard. He had overheard the conversation and gathered that this dead femme was someone Bulkhead at least knew, possibly even cared about.

"I am sorry for your loss, Bulkhead," Optimus said solemnly.

"It's weird, Optimus," Bulkhead said forlornly, "I never pictured her in the context of the war. She was from my Golden Age days. I always picture her as healthy, snarky, and beautiful. She should be yelling at me, or talking about her day, or listening to screech music on our computer console back in Tyger Pax. Now here she is, lying on a Decepticon medical berth, chained down like an animal, covered in scratches and dirt. Enamel would never allow herself to be seen this way. She came from a high caste family. They valued appearances more than anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if the 'Cons tortured her just because of her family background."

"Assuming she didn't join them," Miko pointed out, "We don't know she was a prisoner. She could've turned evil or something."

"She wasn't evil Miko, but I have to admit, she could be selfish," Bulkhead chuckled at his memories, "I'll never forget the first time we met…"

The Past

Bulkhead was exhausted after a long orn at the construction site. His formech, Scrapper, was a real piece of work, and if everything wasn't perfect it was the employees who suffered for it. Bulkhead tried to forget the rough orn as he walked home to his apartment with his friend Brawn who also lived in the same complex. For once it was a nice day. Tyger Pax usually got a lot of acid rain this time of vorn, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to walk home without waiting for a storm to clear.

"Listen Bulk, remember that femme I told you I'm dating? The receptionist?" Brawn asked as he elbowed Bulkhead's side fraternally.

"Yeah I remember," Bulkhead wondered how he could forget with Brawn constantly talking about her, "So, she finally come to her senses and leave, or did you finally propose?"

"Neither," Brawn replied without offense, "Actually, I told Switchboard all about you, and she said she knows a femme that would be willing to go on a blind date with you. I figured we could double."

"A double date?" Bulkhead asked skeptically, "I don't know. What if she's a dud?"

"In our caste, can you really afford to be picky?" Brawn asked derisively, "You know most femmes won't bond with a mech that could be dead the next day. Laborers are expendable. We're just one tier up from slaves, and the safety codes in our area aren't exactly enforced. Live for the day, Bulkhead. Who knows? You might like her. You might even get to spark her after a few dates."

"You're such a perv," Bulkhead teased his friend, "Oh, alright. What's the worst that could happen?"

...

That night Bulkhead and Brawn drove to the coordinates of the restaurant where the femmes wanted to meet them. When they got there both mechs just stood there staring, certain they had the wrong place. They were at The Electric Truffle; one of the most exclusive restaurants in Tyger Pax! Only tower mechs ate there. This had to be some kind of weird joke their dates were playing on them.

Just as they were about to turn around and go back, two cars rounded the corner and transformed in front of the mechs. The light blue femme was of course Switchboard; Brawn's long-term girlfriend. The other femme had to be Bulkhead's date, but that somehow didn't seem right. She looked beautiful. Not just beautiful like Switchboard, but expensive. Every body part and every accent on this femme looked ridiculously expensive. She couldn't be Bulkhead's date!

'Hey, Brawn," Switchboard said in a squealy yet seductive voice, "I'm sorry we're late. Traffic was terrible."

"You're never too late for me, sparkles," Brawn purred before dipping Switchboard and planting a kiss right on her lip components.

As the two lovers made out, Bulkhead and the other femme were left to stare at one another. She grimaced at the sight of him. Even though he polished himself for the evening, Bulkhead still looked big, drab, and unshapely. It was clear that she wasn't impressed by him.

"So, uh...I'm Bulkhead," Bulkhead said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his helm, "What's your name?"

"I am Enamel," The femme replied in a deep yet smoothly feminine voice, "If I may be nosy for a moment, how can someone be round and yet asymmetrical? It doesn't look possible, and yet you are."

Bulkhead growled softly to himself. How was he going to spend an entire evening with her? He wasn't even sure it was legal to date someone from a caste as high as hers. Then again, considering her attitude, maybe that was with good reason.

"So ladies," Brawn broke up the silent tension by speaking up, "Are we really supposed to eat in here?"

"Of course," Enamel replied with forced politeness, "I have a reservation for four. We will be dining on the seventh level by the window. It's a revolving room and the view is quite lovely."

"Enamel said she would pay for the whole thing," Switchboard added, "Let's go in, Brawn! I wanna see the Spires of Omega from the window!"

Brawn and his date ran inside, leaving Bulkhead and Enamel to walk slowly behind them. Both of them looked as if they were walking into a den of scraplets. Neither one wanted to be there, but they were too polite to hurt each other's feelings.

Brawn and Switchboard took both seats that were next to the window, leaving Bulkhead and Enamel to sit next to the walkway. While the long-term lovers talked easily among themselves, Bulkhead and his date were having trouble starting a conversation.

"So…" Bulkhead dragged out that word as he tried to think of how to follow it up, "How do you know Switchboard?"

"I'm her boss," Enamel replied curtly.

"Oh," Bulkhead replied; unable to think of anything else to say.

"Bulkhead? You are a laborer, are you not?" Enamel asked curiously.

"Yeah? So?" Bulkhead snapped; daring her to insult him.

"You don't intend to rob me, do you?" Enamel asked unabashedly.

"What!? How dare you?" Bulkhead shouted; causing several other diners to stare at him in derision, "You think just because I'm a low caste worker that I'm some kind of thug? Who do you think you are!?"

"I didn't mean to..." Enamel looked to be on the verge of tears, but she held them back as she composed herself, "...I'm sorry, Bulkhead. I didn't think about how that sounded. I've just never been this close to a laborer before. My father says your kind would just as soon kill a tower femme as look at them. I'm sorry. Really I am. Perhaps we can start over?"

"Sure, just as soon as the high grade gets here," Bulkhead growled, "We'll need it."

Enamel laughed despite the bite behind that statement. Her smile actually was quite enticing. Bulkhead looked at her optics, yellow with black sclera and a perfect almond shape. He could lose himself in those optics. He didn't really think anything would come of this, but she seemed truly sorry for hurting his feelings. He decided that maybe he should at least give her one more shot.

The Present

Ratchet came through the ground bridge and sent Bumblebee back to operate it from the other side. There were dozens of bodies onboard this prison ship, and if even one of them was merely in stasis lock instead of dead then it was their duty to revive them. Ratchet kind of hoped there wouldn't be any survivors. Cruel as it sounded, he didn't want them to have to deal with Decepticons when they didn't have the resources to arrest them.

While Ratchet examined the corpses the Autobots continued to transport energon through the ground bridge. This would hold them for quite a while. Even the human kids took little pieces of energon crystals back with them.

Ratchet scanned every crew member on the bridge, in the engine room, and in several rows of private quarters. Every Decepticon was dead. When he made it to the brig, he secretly hoped that some of the Autobots prisoners survive, but sadly they had not.

Ratchet finally made it to the medbay. He saved this room for last since this was where the other Autobots were working. He didn't want to get in anyone's way.

Ratchet scanned the bodies on the ground, but all were dead. It was depressing, but expected. Then he scanned the body of the femme strapped to the table, and was surprised to see a very thin pulse of spark and processor activity! She was in stasis lock, and had practically no energon left, but she was still alive!