"Uncia," Onca said, her lower lip trembling. "Please stay."

Uncia sighed. "I can't."

"You don't have to leave," Onca said, sitting on her bed. "You can stay with us. Just because you're not going into the field to fight the Decepticons doesn't mean that you have to move from our headquarters."

Quickshadow stopped. "What if the Decepticons find out where the Panthera Project is housed? Then they'd come back for me. I can't defend myself with one arm! I can't defend myself if I'm afraid of my attackers and having panic attacks! I need to be somewhere I can recover and learn how to live with one arm. Ratchet promises a prosthetic at some point, but Megatron knows where the Plasma Energy Chamber is, so it's only a matter of time before he poisons our planet with Dark Energon. Optimus Prime already has plans to evacuate the planet and eject the Allspark into space. I'm not getting a prosthetic arm anytime soon, so I might as well learn to live without."

"Then let us help you," Onca pleaded. "We can help you out around the house, we can help you find new ways to do things. Please let us help you."

"That's the other thing," Quickshadow said hollowly. "I do not want to live with bots I don't trust."

"Unci," Onca said, a drip of coolant dripping down her face. "You can trust us. We aren't going to hurt you. Pardus was a b**tleg, okay? He was in it for himself. He was in it for the fame and glory. That's not us. You can trust us. Please."

Quickshadow's blank face twisted in sorrow. "I'm sorry. You've done nothing wrong to deserve this. But Pardus's betrayal has made me question everyone. I don't want to trust anyone anymore. If someone as close as Pardus could betray me, it's hard to put faith in others. I'm sorry. I just don't trust you anymore."

"Let us regain your trust, Uncia," Onca said. "I know that, in time, we can show you how good bots can be."

"Maybe after the war," Quickshadow said, beginning to pack again.

Quickshadow lets a small tear fall down her cheek as she packs a survival bag. When she first left her team, she was afraid of them. Now she was leaving because she was afraid for them. Years ago, she had wanted to leave. She didn't want to trust anyone ever again. But since she met the Rescue Bots, she had opened up. Now it was hard to leave without her spark aching.

Turning to her nightstand, she picks up a picture frame. Cody and Frankie had made it for her and Heatwave. Frankie had designed the metal frame while Cody had designed the small metal flowers and crystals embedded in the frame. They said that they put their jewelry making skills to work. It was a wedding gift they had given to them.

Inside the picture frame was her and Heatwave on their wedding day. Quickshadow traces her sparkmates face with her finger. They had been so happy that day. Everyone was happy. There was no pain, no fear of Fracture…

Quickshadow places it back on her nightstand. She would not bring it along with her on her journey. It would be too painful to look at. She wasn't coming back, even if she did survive the fight with Fracture. There was no way. It was better if she could forget about them. It would make things less painful.

Plus, maybe Heatwave would want to hang on to it. Although it would be better if he forgot about her. It would be better for everyone to forget about her. They loved her, but for their sakes, she wished she could erase every memory they had of her. It would break Cody's heart when she left. It would break Heatwave when she ignored his attempts to talk through their sparkbond. But she had to do it, for their safety.

Quickshadow sits down on her bed, slides her bag underneath the bed, and cries. She cries for Cody and Heatwave and for the rest of the team. She cries for herself. She cries for the family she never had. Her and Heatwave had planned on having sparklings. They were so excited about the idea of becoming creators. They were excited to see Chase's face when he became an uncle. She wanted to see Kade and Hayley's child. She wanted to see Cody get married. There was so much she never got to do!

The door opens and Heatwave comes into their room. He watches her with pained optics before sitting down on the bed next to her. Quickshadow could see in his eyes; he knew she was going to leave.

Heatwave sighs. He had never been one for words. The firebot was always quick to blow a fuse and apologize afterwards. Quickshadow was the more level-headed one in their relationship, always smooth with her words and able to read the situation correctly. But Heatwave's usual approach to the situation—arguing—didn't work out so well before. So he had to try a different approach; a gentler approach. "Uncia, you have no idea how much I love you. I can't tell you with words. It's indescribable. I would never hurt you in a million years. You're my sparkmate. I would never do anything bad to you."

Quickshadow looks down at her servos, fidgeting with her digits.

"I know you have trust issues," Heatwave continues. "Severe trust issues. And I get why you have them. It would be hard to trust my team if one of them did what Fracture did. But if you open up to us, we can show how to love again. We've tried everything to give you faith in us. We want to help you. I want to help you."

"I do trust you," Quickshadow says. "I trust all of you. And I love all of you. That's why I can't stay. Fracture told me that he wants to destroy me. Killing me isn't enough. He will kill all of you slowly, in ways that you fear. He wants you and Cody to watch with me. Then he shall kill you two. He won't stop until everyone I love is dead. I don't want to lose any of you. Not because of me. I have to leave."

"Quickshadow, you're—" Heatwave stops himself from finishing the sentence. You're not thinking straight? You're crazy and need to calm down? He couldn't say those things to her even on a good day. Every male knew you never told a woman—human or Cybertronian, sane or not—to calm down. He sighs and takes a different approach. "Do you think I would ever let Fracture harm you or anyone else? I might come off as gruff and grumpy sometimes, but if anyone—and I mean anyone—messes with my family, they'll have to answer to me. And I'm not nice if you hurt one of my loved ones. All bets are off once you've betrayed my family. I almost went to jail trying to protect Chase. I'm not going to let Fracture harm you or anyone else."

"You almost went to jail?" Quickshadow asks, a smile creeping onto her face despite her depressed mood.

"Some crazy punks were beating up Chase," Heatwave says, waving it off. "So I went after them with a sledgehammer. Took some time in court to determine it was defense with no malicious intent. Although, they were messing with my brother, so I can assure you that I was totally going to kill them if I could."

Quickshadow starts laughing.

"My point is," Heatwave chuckles, "that you can trust me to protect my family no matter what I have to do. I'm a Rescue Bot, but if Fracture touches any of you, I'll hit first and repent later. He's not getting through me, and he'll die trying."

"It's not just Fracture," Quickshadow says, getting serious. "I'm a danger to you as well. If I have flashbacks at the wrong time, I could seriously injure you. I might even kill you! I don't want to hurt any of you. I can't live with the fact that my flashbacks could make me a monster at any point."

"And what if Chase has a flashback while driving?" Heatwave asks. "What if he remembers his crash while driving? He could be a danger, but should we force him to not drive? No, we trust him. There's a possibility that he could go wild, but we'll deal with it if he does. It's the same with you. If you go crazy, we'll protect the humans and stop you. It's not like you're intentionally trying to hurt us."

"I hate the fact that there's a possibility, though," Quickshadow sighs. "Even if I didn't mean to, to harm one of you when I've gone mad…"

"There's a possibility that we could all go mad," Heatwave says. "We all dealt with traumatic things back on Cybertron. We've all had flashbacks at some point or another. But that doesn't stop us from rescuing others and loving our family."

Quickshadow turns away.

"I know you want to protect us," Heatwave says, his face contorting in sadness, "but leaving isn't going to help anything. Please, Quickshadow. Stay."

"I…" the white femme hesitates.

"Don't leave," Heatwave pleads, scooting up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "I will help you. I won't let Fracture harm you or Cody or anyone else. Neither will Chase and Boulder and Onca and everyone else! We're here for you, Quickshadow. Please stay. I love you."

Quickshadow holds onto Heatwave's arms.

"Remember the family we planned on having?" Heatwave asks. "Our beautiful sparklings running around with the humans? Our first child being friends with Kade and Hayley's kid? Chase and Boulder and Blades being the eccentric uncles/adoptive uncles? We haven't even had sparklings yet and I already miss them."

Quickshadow lets a tear fall. She missed her non-existent sparklings, too. She turns her head to look at Heatwave. "Please stay," he says.

Quickshadow kisses him. The two share a passionate kiss. As they lay down to recharge for the night, Quickshadow begins to contemplate staying. Heatwave wouldn't let Fracture harm anyone and Optimus Prime would certainly come to their rescue. Bumblebee and his team would, too. Team Prime would arrive if Optimus ordered it. They would come even if he didn't. Arcee and Quickshadow had gotten along the couple times they met. Leo wouldn't allow anyone to hurt her, even if it was Pardus…

There were so many bots and humans that would come to her rescue if she was in danger, and they would certainly rescue any of her loved ones. If the humans were in danger, Fracture would be as good as dead.

Then Quickshadow remembers why she wanted to leave. Fracture's little monologue came to mind. "I know how much you care about your precious Rescue Bots," Fracture sneered, "and your fragile humans. They mean the world to you. I'm going to slowly kill them in all the ways that they fear. That helicopter bot? Maybe I'll drop him from the mountain and let him die upon impact. That arrogant human? The redhead? Maybe my minicons will pretend to be clowns. He seems to hate those freaky humans."

Quickshadow shudders at the idea. She'd hate to watch them be tortured. She'd hate to watch anyone be tortured!

Fracture and his Decepticon friends had attacked the town before. They had caused the team a lot of trouble and almost destroyed the town with the tsunami generator they stole from Doc with the help of Evan and Myles. The Bee Team had difficulty taking them down in Griffin Rock, and they dealt with most of the criminals on a regular basis. What if they helped Fracture harm the Rescue Bots? How would they be able to stop them? What if the entire island of Griffin Rock was slaughtered because of her?

Quickshadow sits up in her bed. There was no way she would allow that. Her original plan was the best idea. Leave and draw him away. Fracture wouldn't allow his prey to leave. He was a bounty hunter now. There was no bounty on her head, but he wouldn't allow her to disappear. Then again, he would try to draw her out by hurting her loved ones. He wasn't above using immoral traps or techniques…

Heatwave was right, he would protect his family. If Fracture attacked, he would defend at all costs. Fracture was a formidable opponent though. He had put up a good fight against the Bee Team and her, and they were in a whole other league when it came to fighting. The Rescue Bots wouldn't be able to compete with him…

She had to leave and stay away from them. Even if Fracture was defeated, she was a danger to her own family. Quickshadow looks over at Heatwave. Memories of kneeing him and shoving him remind her of what she could do. In a panic mode, she could destroy her own team. She could easily step on one of the humans if she got spooked. She was too dangerous to stay in Griffin Rock. There was no way she could live with the flashbacks and be harmless!

"I can't stay! I can't stay! I can't stay! I can't stay!" the thought rolls around in her head on a continuous loop. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

As Heatwave snored in recharge, Quickshadow packed the rest of her survival bag. Once packed, she sits down next to him and gently strokes his faceplates as he snores. Quickshadow giggles. "I will never forget you, Heatwave. Thank you for everything you've done. I will miss you."

Heatwave lets out a particularly loud grunt. "I won't miss your snoring, though," she chuckles. "Primus knows how I recharged through your racket."

He quiets down to a little rumble. Quickshadow leans over and gives him a kiss on the lips. "I love you. Don't forget that. That is why I'm leaving."

With that, Quickshadow slings her bag over her shoulder and leaves their room.

Next chapter: Would It Matter