Arcee walked into her quarters and slammed the door behind her, enraged. Her thoughts shifted back to Cliffjumper and the happy moments they had before she lost him. "Why?" she thought to herself, letting her guilt and pain over her lost partners come to the surface. "Everyone close to me gets pulled away somehow" she said aloud. She was now leaning against a wall gritting her teeth at the thought of Flareup winning over Jack, a human that was closer to her than Cliffjumper or Tailgate had been. "I swear to Primus that I will murder that bitch if she touches him". Her anger at her sister was real and she didn't mind it either. She had become used to feeling anger and pain after she lost her last partner. Jack was different. He was young, needed protecting and could read her like nobody else could. She felt differently for her human partner than Bulkhead or Bee felt about theirs, she was certain about that.
Flareup cried, holding on to a metal pipe that ran along the silo wall. The situation that unfolded seconds before upset her. She and Arcee grew up together on Cybertron and were close in their earlier years but as the cycles wore on the two bots changed. Arcee was more serious, older, more jaded by the war and, of course, the loss of her partners. Flareup had never known loss like Arcee had. She wiped her eyes and looked over at the other Autobots as Bulkhead walked up to her and tried to smile. "Don't let it bother you" he said. "Sometimes me and Jacky get into physical fights" said bulkhead and to his shock Flareup exploded. "You don't hit humans do you?!" she yelled, not knowing that Bulkhead was referring to Wheeljack. "N….no no I'm sorry I'm not talking about Jack" Bulkhead stammered. "I have an Autobot buddy named Wheeljack, we go way back" said Bulkhead banging his fists together. Flareup laughed and slapped Bulkhead across his chest. Everyone in the room was, once again, amazed on the sudden change in mood and Bulkhead just smiled. "Maybe you should go talk to Arcee, patch things up" he said. Flareup just shook her head. "I'll let her blow off steam" she said. She looked over to where Jack was standing, a neutral expression on his face. "Hey Jack feel like a drive?" she asked without flirting this time. "I need someone to show me your world" she said smiling. Jack didn't know what to do, he wanted to be helpful but he was afraid of what Arcee would think if he went out with Flareup after their fight. "Thank you but I'm going to pass" said Jack. Flareup frowned and looked around the room with her hands on her hips. "Well?" she said looking at the other Cybertronians standing in front of her. "I'll go!" yelled Miko to Flareup, running up to her. Bulkhead's eyes grew wide, like he had just seen a scraplet. "NO" said Bulkhead reaching down and blocking the young Asian girl. "Bulk you're so mean!" said Miko, punching Bulkhead in the foot. Flareup turned to Ratchet who had his back to her fiddling with a console and slapped him on the back. "How about it then old man?!" she said to the medic. "Wanna show this girl a good time?" Ratchet turned to her. "Paaleeeeese" he said frowning. "I'm not a baby sitter or a tour guide" he said, annoyed. Flareup just laughed and turned around to look at the other Autobots. Optimus Prime was lost in thought and everyone else was just wondering around doing their own thing. Miko and returned to playing video games by herself and Raff was on his laptop. She continued to look around and noticed Jack walking down the hallway towards Arcee's quarters. Flareup had her suspicions about Jack and Arcee but she just shook off the thought. "Nah couldn't be" she thought to herself.
Someone knocked on her door and snapped Arcee out of her thoughts. She walked over to the door and flung it open, still angry. Jack stood on the other side looking up at her. "Arcee are you ok" asked Jack, trying to smile up at her with a fake smile. Arcee looked at him and saw concern but something else as well. She saw fear, maybe fear of her. "Come in Jack" she said. Jack walked in and looked behind him to make sure nobody was ease dropping. "Jack I'm so sorry you met another one of my demons today" said Arcee holding her hand over her face, ashamed. Jack walked up and placed his hand on her leg. "Arcee I forgive you" is all he said. For many awkward moments Jack stood with his hand on Arcee's leg hoping she would climb out of her dark pit she often found herself in. Jack thought back to when Arcee had drove him home for the first time. "What could you possibly know about loss?" rang through his head and he felt a tiny amount of pain that he imagined was only the tip of a very large iceberg that Arcee had to live with. He never knew Tailgate or Cliffjumper but he tried, however futile, to feel some amount of her loss. Ever since he met her Jack tried to understand Arcee but unbeknownst to him her former partners were much more than just partners to Arcee. Much more than friends. "Jack I care about you" said Arcee finally looking down at her human partner. She laid a hand on top of Jack's head, playing with his hair. She rarely did this and Jack just took it as a sign of innocent affection. He smiled and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Arcee I care about you too and nothing or nobody will come between that" he said smiling up at his guardian that towered over him. "Jack…" began Arcee. "I don't want to lose you to my sister" said Arcee looking away from Jack. "She is a lot younger than me and probably has more in common with you" she added. Arcee suddenly changed the subject. "Do you ever get lonely Jack?" asked Arcee, not meeting Jacks gaze. Jack was very nervous now as he had enough sense, even at his age, to know where the conversation was headed. "Was it even possible?" he thought to himself, entertaining the thought of being more than simple friends with an 18 foot tall alien warrior woman. Jack started to blush and Arcee picked up on this, not by sight but by touch alone. Her hand was still playing with his hair and she was able to read jacks vitals, among other things, just by touch alone. Jack swallowed hard as he organized his response. "Yeah sometimes Arcee" he said. "Sometimes I think of Sierra". Arcee pursued the matter further. "In what way?" she asked, now smiling down at her human partner. "Well, she is pretty and I like her" said Jack. "Does Flareup remind you of Sierra?" asked Arcee, picking up a change in Jack's pulse. Jack was afraid to answer. In the 5 minutes he had known Flareup it was clear she was closer to a teenage girl than Arcee was. Her joyful smile, her energy, her positive attitude…And she was red. "Arcee I just met your sister, I don't know" he lied and, somewhere in Arcee's spark, she knew he was lying. The small spike in blood pressure, rise in pulse and his change in breathing gave him away that no human woman could have picked up on so easily.