Ironhide held the trembling form in his arms as tightly as he could. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be. Not like this. A soft whimper escaped the Femme in his arms and he drew her closer.
"It's all right," he soothed. "It's all right. I'm here. I'm not going to let anything more happen to you. I swear it."
"Ironhide?"
"Yeah," he nodded, cradling her close, "it's me, 'Mia. I'm here."
"Why is this happening?" she whispered. "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"
"I don't know why it's happening," he murmured. "But it isn't any fault of yours. You're not to blame. There's only one who deserves the blame and, believe me, I'll make sure he knows it."
He closed his optics as the reason why they were there came back to him . . .
Begin Flashback
"Ironhide! Get your aft up here!" Kup called out. "We're ready to go!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," the red Mech grumbled as he grabbed the rungs of the ladder and started to climb up. "Sheesh, don't get your gears into a twist."
As quickly as he could, Ironhide climbed out of the hatch then sealed it, three sets of optics falling on him. He duly ignored them as he finished with his duties then strode towards their transport.
"A new record, Ironhide!" Jazz chuckled as he ran to catch up with the older Mech. "I can't believe you stayed down there that long!"
"Neither can I," Prowl agreed. "What's gotten into you lately? You haven't been acting like yourself."
"It's nothing," he grumbled, folding his arms. "I just want to get the job done and get it done right. That's all."
"Of course," Jazz stated placatingly. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
They climbed into the transport and were soon on their way back to Iacon. The ride itself was silent, only interrupted by the occasional beep from the consoles. It was like no one dared to say anything . . . at least, not around Ironhide, which suited him just fine. As long as no one asked him how he was doing or how Chromia was doing, he was okay.
'Doing better than okay,' he thought somewhat remorsefully. 'I didn't think I would. I still miss her, though.'
Life had actually been getting better for the red Mech. The pain and loss of Chromia leaving him had dulled for the most part, but he knew he'd never get over her completely. There were still many things about her that he missed. He always would. She had imbedded herself deeply into his system, whether she had realized it or not.
'Probably best that she doesn't know,' he reasoned. 'No sense in causing her any more grief.'
He shook himself of his morbid thoughts and focused on bringing the transport safely back to Iacon. Within a few breems, they were in the loading bays and disembarking. Ironhide had just begun the shut down sequence when Jazz clasped his shoulder.
"Hey, Ironhide?"
"What is it, Jazz?" he asked, not even bothering to look at the Mech.
"Come out with us tonight."
"What?" he blinked, finally gazing up.
"Come out with us," Jazz repeated. "It's been a while since we've cut loose together."
"I don't know . . ." Ironhide began.
"Please? Just for one night? It'll be fun! Just you, me, and Prowl . . ."
Ironhide hesitated again. It sounded tempting. Very tempting. And Jazz was right. It had been a while since he'd spent some time with Jazz and Prowl, since he and Chromia had parted ways. Then there had been that brief stint with Dreamweaver . . .
"All right," he sighed in resignation. "But just for tonight. Got it?"
"Got it," Jazz smirked. "We'll stop by your quarters in thirty breems to pick you up."
Waving his hand, he and Prowl left the transport, Kup remaining behind. The older Mech sat next to him, his blue optics glowing in concern.
"Everything all right, lad?" came the gentle inquiry.
"Yeah," Ironhide replied absently, typing in the numbers and codes quickly. "Just fine. Why?"
"You're still throwing yourself into your work. You never obsessed like this when Dreamweaver left you . . . and it's been orns since you've been involved with the both of them."
"Because Chromia isn't like Dreamweaver," he snapped, his optics now narrowed in irritation at the aging Autobot. Then he sighed and shook his head once more. In a softer tone, he continued, "Chromia isn't like any other Femme I've ever met. I'm never going to forget her. She's in my system, too deep to ever be erased or removed."
"And you never were one to replace one Femme with another . . . Have you heard anything on how she's doing?"
"Not within the last few cycles . . . Last I knew, she'd been stationed on the borders and leading a few raids into Decepticon territory . . . That could have changed by now, though."
"Yeah, that it could have . . ." Kup paused then nodded to the cargo doors. "Go on. I can finish up here."
"You sure?" Ironhide frowned dubiously. "Because I can always . . ."
"I'm sure," the grizzled Autobot chuckled. "Go. I can manage things from here."
He started to say something more when Kup pointed in the direction Prowl and Jazz had gone.
"Go. Give yourself a chance to wind down before they drag you off to some seedy energon bar. That's an order."
"All right, I'm going," Ironhide grumbled good-naturedly, rising to his feet. "You're a pain to work with. You know that, Kup?"
"No worse than you are, Ironhide," came the laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Ironhide just smiled then exited the transport shuttle. He still had about twenty-nine breems left before Jazz and Prowl came for him so he decided to take a little bit of a walk before heading back to his quarters, a walk that would change his life forever . . .
End flashback
'When I get my hands on Techno,' he growled to himself, his grip around Chromia becoming tighter, 'he's gonna wish he'd never laid optics on her in the first place.'
After he had left Kup on the transport shuttle, Ironhide had decided to walk around the perimeter of Iacon, even going down some of the shadier alleyways. He'd just passed by the entrance to one of those alleys when a moan and a whimper caught his audio. Concerned, because it came from a Femme, Ironhide had approached with caution, his hand on his rifle. What he would see after that shocked him and angered him to no end.
Chromia lay on the ground, her body dented and lacerated in various places. Her energon had spilt onto the street and had started to gel, indicating she'd been there for some time. When he'd approached her, she whimpered even more and shied away, until he told her that it was him and not whoever had done that to her. She had started sobbing and the sound of it tore at his gears, so much so that he sent out a call for help. By the time they'd arrived, Chromia had told him who had attacked her and how, and it only made him boil more with rage.
"Ironhide . . ."
Her panicked tone brought him out of his reverie and alleviated some of his rage. He eased up his grip on her and gazed down into her optics.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, nuzzling her some. "Didn't mean to frighten you . . ."
"You were thinking about what happened, weren't you?"
'No sense in denying,' he thought. 'She could always read me better than anyone else.'
"Yes," he nodded.
"You hate me for what happened, don't you?"
"No," he blinked, the words just tumbling out of him. He felt shocked that she would ever think such a thing. "No. I don't hate you at all, Chromia. It wasn't your fault, it will never be your fault. None of it."
"Not even the miscarriage?" she whispered.
"Not even the miscarriage," he affirmed, cradling her close. "The only one I'm angry at is Techno for even thinking of touching you the way that he did."
"You never stopped caring for me . . . Did you?"
"Never," Ironhide affirmed.
"Ironhide . . ."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," Chromia smiled, leaning against him.
"You're welcome," he murmured. "Always."
Six million years later . . .
"You know," Chromia commented, smiling a little, "there are many things that I never thought I'd see . . . things I had never dreamt of."
She and Ironhide sat on one of the many rocky precipices that Earth had to offer, watching as the sun went down. Ironhide had his arms around her, despite their many attempts to tell everyone that they weren't back together and never would be.
"Oh? Like what?" he inquired.
"Like being here with you . . . and watching a sun set on a foreign planet . . . things like that. Makes me forget all of the terrible things that have happened . . . like Techno and . . . losing that child . . . Ironhide?"
"Yeah?" He noted that her tone had suddenly become shy and timid, and he gave her a gentle, reassuring hug. The memories of that time were less than pleasant and would always be so.
"Do you ever what it might have been like if . . . if I hadn't lost that first child?"
"All the time," he replied without hesitation. "All the time."
They fell silent and continued to watch the sun as it slowly disappeared into the horizon, both remembering a time when heaven had seemed so far away.
Finis