Moving on

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers; just Peaches, Abby, Crystal and any other characters that are my OCs. I also do not own the songs that Peach sings

Peaches had returned to Chicago after getting Abby and Crystal from Ashley. She and Sideways had driven a considerable distance to get back there; the latter had to watch the two little girls, one human and one Cybertronian, and keep them out of everyone's hair while the former had decided to get food and drink for the human volunteers who were working with the Autobots to clean up and rebuild after that last battle.

Walking through the mess, she couldn't help but shed a few tears for the civilians who had lost their lives. If anybody was buried under that rubble, there was no way they could have made it out of there alive. Peaches then saw something moving under a pile of debris; she immediately started digging through it and found a six year old redheaded boy, who had green eyes and a few freckles. His clothes, a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans, were dusty and he had a few cuts on his arms. His sandals looked like they were falling apart, even before had been trapped, and he had a look of wonder on his face as the red and orange Autobot carefully lifted him out, then called for a medic.

"Thanks Miss, Miss-what's your name?" he asked.

"Peaches" She replied.

"I'm Aaron." The small boy told his rescuer.

Aaron was soon taken away to be treated by the human emergency workers and Peaches continued on toward a still-partially intact Wal-Mart. She transformed into her human mode and started looking for non-perishable foods to feed the volunteers; she wasn't the only one who had this idea, as a few other humans, most of them employees of the store, had returned as well.

The Pretender was surprised to find out that the store being reconstructed was not going to happen just yet but the canned food she had found would be enough for about 10-20 humans to snack on after it was cooked. She had also put boxes of cereal into the cart she had, as well as a still-intact bag of potato chips that just needed the dust brushed off of it. Peaches went off, leaving the money that would have been paid to an actual cashier at this point with a former employee of the store who hadn't done that job before.

Carrying the groceries towards a medical tent and struggling not to drop anything, Peaches finally got into said tent offering the food to the volunteers. Among the volunteers was Robert Epps.

"Thanks Peaches" he said, a bit surprised as he had not seen her during the battle even though she was there.

"You're welcome." Peaches put the food down and had just turned around to leave when she heard her name being called.

"Peaches?" one of the human medics asked.

"Yes, I'm the only person nicknamed Peaches who is an Autobot who turns into a human." She replied.

The nurse led her to where Aaron was being bathed and cleaned up. He had gotten lucky; he had only two gashes despite the fact that it had looked like there were more and had both of these stitched up. He also had an oxygen tank.

"He'll wake up soon" was what was told to the Pretender. "We heard him say he wanted 'Miss Peaches' to visit him before he was given the anesthetic and the stitches."

Peaches was surprised; this kid, who she had just met and was tempted to forget about after he had been put in safe hands wanted to see his rescuer to thank her at the very least. She wasn't even sure how to explain this to Optimus Prime but honestly hoped that he would understand.

Peaches stayed, and then looked away as Aaron was covered with a blanket. She looked again an hour later as he asked "What's going to happen to me now?"

The Pretender wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't know." She replied.

Her phone rang. "Please excuse me." She said, then went outside and answered the phone "Hello?"

"Peaches, we need your help." Optimus said over the phone, and then gave her his coordinates.

"All right; I'm coming." Peaches said. She hung up the phone and bid Aaron goodbye. She was then driven by Bumblebee over to where the Decepticons' ship had crashed into the river. She immediately stripped down to her underwear and dove in, convinced that Wheelie and Brains were still alive.

"Peaches, don't-"Ratchet started to say but the Pretender was now swimming underwater.

Optimus waited but only for 5 minutes as Peaches was a fast swimmer and didn't actually need to breathe as a real human would have to. She resurfaced and handed the unconscious but still alive ex-Decepticon drones to Ratchet. She then transformed into her robot mode and sat down.

"Optimus, I don't know what to do now…" the orange and red femme sighed.

The last Prime put one hand on her shoulder and handed the Pretender a data pad that had several pages with the other hand; his arm that had come off had been reattached by Ratchet earlier and he was now allowed to move it. "This was left in the rubble; I can only assume Sentinel wrote it since it does not match the penmanship of any of the Decepticons. It is addressed to you."

Peaches took it and started reading it, surprised that Sentinel would think anything of her since Sideways had mentioned that when the renegade Prime had been keeping him prisoner, there were several insults towards her. Those included "just some soldier", "glitch", "unworthy", etc. She expected it to be full of those and similar insults but as it turned out, it wasn't:

Dear Peaches,

I know you and Optimus can never forgive me for what I've done and I understand that. It's hard to explain why I did this but I hope that after reading what I have to say here, you'll understand it better. I assume you survived the battle if you are indeed taking the time to look at this.

If it seems like I really think those things that I've told Sideways, it was a staged thing. The truth is, I am a bit jealous. I know what you're thinking: "Optimus was never jealous of anybody and neither were some of the other Primes, except of course for the Fallen. How can you be jealous of me when I'm not high-ranking and am almost nothing in your optics?" The only simple answer is that you have been fortunate to not have known the horrors of war when you were first sparked. You've lived in a mostly peaceful time and thought of yourself as one of the "90s kids" as the humans who were raised during that time period nicknamed themselves. I can't confirm it for sure but I can only say that the humans who raised you rubbed off on you enough so that you could be sympathetic to others and ignorant of what your programming could have been. Yes, I do think Abigail and Crystal are cute. That is not sarcasm, it is the truth, as is the fact that they have been able to live together despite humans having hostility to all Cybertronians thanks to you teaching them not to see differences but similarities. You have had things that I could only dream of having; a family of your own, success in getting a Decepticon to join the Autobots' side of the war, and the nuts and bolts to defend your unusual kin when the humans you grew up with insulted them and wanted to take Abigail away. Consider yourself fortunate and be thankful for what you have, even if it's not a lot.

You mentioned your dreams of taking in human children who have not been as fortunate as you and giving them a place to call home and if possible, taking in sparklings as well. I would have thought that ridiculous if you had not told me the story of the human known as Walt Disney and how he kept working even when all of the odds were against him to make films to be enjoyed by all audiences. That being said, my last request is that you follow that dream even with the hostilities that humans may have after all of this is over.

Music is another thing entirely; I heard you singing along with the radio while Optimus and you were showing me around Earth. Needless to say, you really bring out the emotion that the songwriters were hoping to convey if any. One of those songs is "Iridescent"; I encourage you to listen to it again because you're going to have to let go of what has happened eventually. I asked why you didn't want to be a human celebrity with as good of a voice as that and you responded that you did not want to have the same stage name as another artist and that you would rather keep your private life out of public eyes.

At this point, Peaches started having a flashback to that day.

(3 days ago)

Optimus Prime had insisted that Peaches come with him to show Sentinel around Earth, at least some of the part they were on anyways. Needless to say, the 3rd of them was surprised but relented due to Peaches living there the longest. Hence, the Pretender was now in Sentinel Prime's cab in her human form and singing along with the radio

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?

You build up hope but failure's all you've known

Remember all the sadness and frustration and let it go

Let it go

The red Autobot didn't get it; was this normal for Peaches to do? When he asked, she answered yes it was and how the song related to her life and why she did not want to be a human celebrity but rather an Autobot.

"I know that Starscream will get what's coming to him one of these days, whether or not it's by my servos." The Pretender explained, trying not to let the sadness show on her face. "I could forgive Sideways for whatever he did but that's because he's my sparkmate. Whether I forgive anybody else is another story entirely."

Sentinel changed the subject by asking about any other songs Peaches liked; she switched the station and began singing along with the song "What a wonderful world" and began looking out of the cab windows at everything passing by, just appreciating the beauty of everything there. She was crying by the end of the song.

"Look at me, most people listen to that song without a 2nd thought but-well, I don't' know what I look like but it's not like a good soldier of Optimus Prime's crying like this." She said through tears.

"Anybody can cry, even me." Optimus said over the comlink.

Peaches sobbed into the seat, not that Sentinel minded. He searched the human website "Yahoo" and saw several answers as to whether crying was a sign of weakness. He quoted one of the answers a user had posted to that question '"Crying is a strength when you feel better after doing it"'.

(End flashback)

Peaches continued reading the letter, even though she was now getting emotional all over again.

No words can describe how you made me feel; a little reluctant about going through with the deal with Megatron and more so guilty about what I was about to do doesn't even begin to describe it. I know "I'm sorry" will not cut it in this case. We need more Cybertronians and humans who care as much as you do and I honestly think that you could be as influential as Optimus even without being a Prime.

I still find it hard to believe that you could try to take me on in a one on one fight after I told everyone the truth, even though it was a losing battle. I don't blame you for wanting to do any crazy thing to protect everybody else, even if it meant leaving everyone behind. I can't even imagine how you feel/felt about Abby and Crystal not growing up knowing their true origins as had to be done to Optimus Prime to protect him from the Fallen. Yet in this brief time that I've been able to be around you, I feel respect for you for you wanting to follow your gut feeling instead of orders as well as an appreciation for your compassion to those who have less than you.

I have to ask you though; if you were in my position, would you understand how hard of a decision it was for me to make that deal? I won't be surprised if you'd answer "no" as you have not been to Cybertron. There are a lot who do the wrong things for the right reasons, one example being a human in the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and how he commits evil in the name of God. You could have chosen to join the Decepticons and yet you joined the Autobots and their human allies, even with the threat of death to you, Crystal, Sideways and possibly others close to you from Megatron. As it is, I am pretty sure that Starscream will soon get his comeuppance before the day is over.

If there's anything I want you to remember, it's these 3 things. 1, wherever you hid Abby and Crystal, they're safe and the Decepticons can't hurt them. 2, Optimus learned a lot from me before this whole mess so long ago and only the "good" traits and 3, any songs that talk about forgiveness and moving on after all of this is over, finished. Feel free to show Optimus this letter as he needs to see it too. Since "I'm sorry" doesn't cut it, I don't know what else to say to you after all I've done. It hurts me to write this but I do it because I want you to know these things and that I actually think highly of you despite your place in life.

Sincerely,

Sentinel Prime

P.S. Here's a quote that I think will help: "You can't always choose what happens to you but you can choose what you make of it"-Solus Prime

Peaches didn't know what to make of this. She asked Optimus "1, who was Solus Prime and 2, why did Sentinel write this to me and not to you?"

"Solus Prime was the first female Cybertronian as well as a member of the Dynasty of Primes." Optimus Prime explained, a bit guilty after killing a surrendering enemy. "I do not know the answer to the 2nd question you have but it has to have been a specific reason."

"Peaches, Prime, I've got good news for you; Wheelie and Brains are in fact functioning." Ratchet said.

The two Autobots then went over to the medic and saw the two drones, now stabilized and having all of the water drained out of them. They would not wake up until later that night though, according to Ratchet's best guess.

"Phew." Peaches started smiling a little bit, glad for just a little bit more good news in an aftermath of a horrible battle. "Thank God we still have some hope for better times ahead after hearing this."

Optimus looked at the letter then found something else attached to it, addressed to him:

Should you return, these are the coordinates for several surviving hatchlings who were meant to be activated by Megatron but weren't for lack of time. If you come into possession of them, please take care of them.

The Autobot leader read the coordinates and immediately went with the Wreckers and Elita to see the hatchlings for themselves. Bumblebee was currently with Sam and Carly although what they were doing and where they were no one knew. Peaches remained behind to continue doing whatever rescue work needed to be done. She shed tears for Ironhide, Wheeljack, the humans, and even Skids and Mudflap, who had given up their own lives to protect Bumblebee. She even found herself shedding tears for Sentinel despite her hostility towards the corrupt Prime. "I can't take it anymore!" she shouted. "Why, Sentinel, why write that letter to me? You know I'm not going to believe anything you said much less consider forgiving you! You're lucky Optimus got to you before I did! I'll never trust anybody else besides my current teammates again!"

Peaches transformed into her human mode and ran into a porter-potty to change into dry clothes that she had with her. After doing so, she came out, sat down on the ground and buried her face into her hands. She was soon picked up by someone familiar; it was Sunstreaker who did so and let her bury her face into his shoulder.

"Sunny." Sideswipe started to say.

"I don't care about Peaches ruining my paint job; that can be replaced while certain other things and our comrades can't be." The yellow mech said sadly.

Sideswipe then took Peaches from his brother and gave her a hug as well. "Let it out Peach; we'll get the other 'cons that are still scattered all over the world and beat the pulp out of them since Optimus already got Megatron and Sentinel."

Peaches didn't say anything as she hadn't been listening but little did she know that things would soon get better, bit by bit.