The end for now
Jolt came out of recharge to find Peaches sitting beside the berth he was on. "Hey Peach, I'm all right."
Peaches burst into tears of happiness as she hugged her friend. "I was so worried! By the way, it's 4:00 p.m. here, just so you know."
The Pretender turned to see the familiar alternate mode of Sideways being worked on by Ratchet.
"Don't worry, he'll be all right too." The medic said.
"Oh thank the AllSpark!" Peaches replied, as she was able to calm down. "I'm going to go take care of Abby and Crystal by myself for a while; I'll visit them tomorrow."
As she walked out the medbay towards her room, her headache now gone, the orange and red femme sighed and wondered what would have happened had Crystal and Sparrow not been saved? What if Sideways had been caught and executed for being a traitor to the Decepticons?…she shuddered at the thoughts.
"Hello Peaches." A familiar voice said.
Peaches turned around. "Hello Optimus." She replied nervously. "Thanks for what you did."
"You are very welcome." Optimus Prime replied. "Ashley is currently keeping an eye on Abigail and Crystal; they should be waking up from their 'naps' as humans call them very soon."
"Great." Peaches looked down at her feet sadly.
"What is the matter?" the Autobot leader asked.
"I just don't feel like a good Autobot anymore; I couldn't keep those two from getting captured to begin with and I was doing everything I could-"
"Sometimes there is not a lot you can do and I do not blame you for what happened." Optimus said as he put a hand on the Pretender's shoulder. "Ratchet has informed me that both Sideways and Jolt will be out of the medbay next week and you do not need to feel guilt over their injuries."
Peaches smiled a little bit, then she heard the familiar barking of Snowball the collie. She then picked up the small dog as the latter ran towards her. "You got out again didn't you?" the Pretender asked. "Come on, time for some food for you." She then turned to Optimus. "Thanks for talking to me; you do so much for everybody on this team and I don't know how you handle the stress but you do a great job."
Optimus Prime began laughing at that. "You're welcome my friend. The worst is over for right now."
Peaches immediately put Snowball back down and the two went off to their quarters to take over watching the human infant and Cybertronian sparkling….
A week later, the first Monday of May, Jolt and Sideways walked out of the medical bay and Peaches hugged them both when they came into the rec room. Then Abby started waving at them while Crystal crawled over to Jolt and pulled on him.
"You want me to hold you." Jolt smiled as he said this and picked up his best friend's second child. "All right, I can do that. Peaches, if you'll give us a minute please, Sideways and I need to talk."
Peaches immediately took Abby to where the latter's toys were while Sideways said "Listen, I just have to ask if anything happens to me, will you take care of Peaches and the girls?"
"Of course I will, why do you ask?" Jolt replied.
"If I'm caught by Megatron and executed for treachery, I need to know that they will be safe and that someone will be there to support them; Peaches is strong mentally and physically no doubt about that but it's hard to take care of children on one's own, especially since one of them is a human and not physically like us." The ex-Decepticon said. "Just keep a watch over them if that happens, please? You're one of Peaches' closest friends and she definitely will need someone like you."
"I promise that I will take care of your sparkmate and sparklings should anything happen to you." The blue Autobot said as he gave the ex-villain a handshake.
Sideways took Crystal, who was reaching for him, and went outside; once again, Peaches and Abby were on the beach, playing on a blanket and waiting for him to join them. He did so and put Crystal down. The latter started crawling toward the waves but went back just as one started coming towards her.
"Don't go into that water" Peaches scolded her youngest as she pulled Crystal back over to where Abby was lying down on her front side, attempting to crawl as her sister could.
Sideways smiled as he enjoyed the scene; family togetherness was one of the things that had made him the happiest Cybertronian in recent months. The Decepticons would be back and another big battle would happen soon, possibly involving Sam Witwicky again, but for now, he would relax for he knew that his family would face it together when it happened.
Author's note: Might work on one shots soon, might not, I don't know yet. One final paper to finish and then I'm done with my schoolwork for this semester!