Thank you to everyone who has got this far in the fic. :)

Updates will be a bit slower for awhile, as I need to get back to school work.

Also there are links to art related to the Fractured Alliances AU on my profile here, more to come!

"I see" Optimus replied as he got up from his desk and put his hand on his forlorn friend's back guiding him towards the door "Let's go get a drink". Ultra Magnus smiled softly "Thanks, I could use a drink, hopefully the twins didn't finish all the high grade". Optimus laughed at this as they walked towards the rec room.

"You know, about a meta-cycle ago Sideswipe got himself towed after crashing into a human telephone poll because he had consumed too much high grade". He turned to Ultra Magnus "Try explaining why he was driving while intoxicated to human officials" Magnus shuttered his optics and placed the palm of his hand over his face. He lifted his head back up and looked at Optimus while chuckling and shaking his head "I don't envy you at all".

They continued walking. "The human officials can be vicious….. Rodimus had a difficult time dealing with them" the sub-commander slumped his head and shoulders as he spoke. Optimus rubbed his hand on Magnus's back "well he did have you to support him, I'm sure it made things easier for him".

The corners of Magnus's lips curved up slightly giving Optimus a small smile and thanked him for his kind words. As they turned the corner to the hallway that led to the rec room, they could see two mechs standing outside the doors.

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Before he knew what was happening, someone grabbed his arm and he was being pulled along. Surprised he managed to vocalize "uhh Ratchet?" to the red and white CMO as he was he was being dragged out of the rec room, and willingly followed.

He glanced over to his Kup and his friends and they were either too immersed in their card game or pretending to be to notice them as they passed by.

Once outside the door Ratchet turned and faced Rodimus, giving him a glare that could scare Unicron himself. Unfazed by the look, Rodimus shook his arm out of Ratchet's grip "What in the pit did you drag me out here for?" Rodimus was now matching the medic's stare, the corners of his lips were down and the brow about him optics scrunched and turned inward. The two just stared at each other before Ratchet finally spoke. "So how are you?" he said in all too pleasant tone. "You dragged me out here just to ask me that?!" Rodimus seethed hands waving in the air.

The CMO did not falter, his gaze remaining still and he asked with a bit of anger in his tone now "How have you been feeling?" drawing out the last word with a bit more edge to it.

The commander's face was no longer showing signs of hostility instead his expression looked almost ashamed. He looked down at the ground, honestly Ratchet was the last bot he want to tell how he was feeling to.

He would have gone to First Aid on Cybertron but the Protectobots has been on Junk for the last deca-cycle collecting supplies and spare parts with the help of the Junkions.

But apparently Earth's CMO had found him out and he looked angry. Ratchet vented air out of his vocalizer "Rodimus how many timed do you need to be reminded of your position? If you knew something was wrong with your systems, you should have had them checked right away. Please be more responsible, you are Cybertron's commander. And your team is worried about you".

The medic placed a hand on Rod's shoulder and Rodimus looked him in the optics. Ratchet's seemingly angry expression disappeared "oh and congratulations you're carrying a sparkling."

Suddenly there was a loud clank and both bots turned to see the form of Ultra Magnus fall backwards, to be caught by Optimus's arms before he could hit the ground.

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"Soundwave, I haven't been able to contact Shockwave for meta-cycles, have Rumble and Frenzy go with Astrotrain and find out why I can't contact him!" Megatron barked as he paced back and forth through the control room of the Nemesis.

"And send Ravage to find out why Rodimus brought so many of his crew through the space bridge as Buzzsaw reported."

"As you command, Megatron"