"Raf?"

A hum was all the acknowledgement she gained from the computer-absorbed pre-teen gave.

"They're late." She stated, resting her head in her hand. Her eyes gazed over the mini parking lot long since emptied. The sun was as blazingly hot as expected. The concrete stairs they sat on radiated the heat more.

"Yup," Raf mumbled, typing away on his laptop. Peering over his shoulder, she looked upon a complex string of numbers she had no idea what to do.

"I'm going to call them." She said, perking up as she focused on picking Bulks numbers.

Tapping her foot, she swayed, waiting for the dial tone to connect.

It was long before Bulk's sheepish voice came over her phone's beat-up speaker. Some would think taking it on this many alien missions would make it more durable, but no, it was practically a miracle it still works, or that's what Raf often complained about.

"Hey Miko, listen, I'm heading over to pick you up now. Something..."

The pause and frantic voice were strange.

"... let's say you'll like the surprise." Came his confident, cheerful voice.

Miko opened her mouth to question the sudden good mood; none of them had been happy for weeks. The cloud of their friend hung over them. The call clicked off in her ear. She looked baffled at her phone. Shaking her head, she sometimes wondered if that's how her call usually goes, leaving the other end confused and slightly frustrated. It would explain all the time Jack yelled at her...

Miko pursed her lips before sliding back to rest more firmly with the searing steps behind her.

Raf's typing hadn't even stalled during the whole conversation.

Leaning back, she observed the blue sky, cloudless and ever-expanding to her eye. It was a day they would normally spend getting ice cream using Jack's money, considering he was the only one with a job or had a job.

The teen was stingy with his money, and Miko had to perfect the art of begging to get him to agree. He was surprisingly stubborn and hard to convince, but they always got their way when Raf joined in her begging.

They had a weak spot for the youngest of their group. Raf never asked for anything, so he often got it when he did. Miko learned early to use that against Jack.

A frown furrowed her face. The grief was still intense.

Technically, Jack could be alive. Technically, he wasn't dead. Technically, the grave in Jaspers cemetery was empty and forever will be.

Technically,... She lost her friend in the eyes of the public.

She hates technicalities. All she had heard for a while was how this was the most logical solution. This was the best choice. This will keep him safe.

Fowler didn't think about the consequences, the bots didn't either, and even if they did, they wouldn't understand. Not like how they did. They were living with the looks, the whispers, the constant looks of pity.

It was suffocating, and Miko was feeling homesick.

She may not have the best relationship with her family, but now she was treated like an alien in a town she chose to visit. She was acutely aching for the familiar acceptance of her parent's embrace.

The funny part is she knew aliens; it didn't make any sense that now she would feel more outcast than before when she was keeping a government-sized secret.

Raf hadn't had it much better either; he was probably the one worst off with Jack's supposed death.

Jack had become a shield for both of them. He redirected Vince's anger away from them even without asking for help. They were never more acutely aware of how much Jack did than now.

Growling, she ran her fingers along her braid. She honestly didn't know how Jack did it. Vince was so annoying recently she had been sent to the office for fighting at least once a day.

Vince just opened his big fat mouth, and she had the urge to pop him in his face.

Raf confirming he was like that since they met didn't help. If anything, it made her realize this was one of the first times Raf had anyone protecting him when bullies came.

It was strange to think about.

Miko has never taken anything without giving as good as she got; whether fighting or smack talk, she always had the confidence to fight back.

Jack was similar but different at the same time. He would stand his ground but never raise a finger unless needed. In the months she met him, she has never seen him even punch another.

If Miko had met Jack normally, without all the alien robots, she would assume he was a coward or a pacifist.

If she hadn't seen him face down alien robots trying to kill them on their first mission. If she hadn't seen him save her and Raf from being a splatter of red, most would assume the same.

Raf wasn't the same. He was probably the most passive person in the whole group.

He was small and hadn't fully grown yet. He didn't have the strength and height Jack did. He wasn't like Miko. She knew that Jack was too smart to act like her. He was his person.

She heard a familiar rumble that shocked her out of the more introspective turn her thoughts took.

'Jack would be proud.' He was constantly haggling with her about thinking things through, and now that he wasn't even here to see, she finally did. Very ironic.

Tapping Rafs shoulder, she started towards the green Autobot with a bouncy in her step she didn't feel.

All she knew was that Bulk better have an interesting story for why they forgot about them. It was the least her guardian could do to take her mind away from real human life.


"Arcee, put me down. I am fine." Jack groaned from his prison. Arcee squished him in a solid metal hug that left him feeling nothing but the pressure. It was disconcerting how he didn't need to breathe, but a small part of his mind whispered he never needed to. He had been resoundingly ignoring that voice since he didn't want to face any more scrap at the time. Finding out he just happened to be a mech from Cybertron was enough for him. That didn't include the pile of other issues linked to that very bug topic. He was not touching that with a ten-foot pole until he saw his mom.

'Carrier,' his mind helpfully supplied in a voice more profound and metallic than his.

He felt a flicker go through him as he yelled at the voice that was very much not him. He refused. Jack could be stubborn when needed, and now was the time he took a stand.

Truthfully Jack knew he just needed time. Just like Crossroads implied, it was okay not to be okay, and Jack was the furthest from it even if he did have a breakdown in his mind.

Yeah, he just needed a break.

"Fine..." A reluctant Arcee slowly lowered him to the ground. She didn't need to be careful with him; Jack knew that much thanks to Ratchet supplying the information to him and all the bots last night. In every way, his body was nothing more than the solidified light particles, which is how he remembers what Ratchet explains. When Jack was listening to the bots, his family celebrated his waking and remembering what he missed. It was an exciting reunion.

Shaking out the static that stuck to his fake skin, Jack looked fondly upon his guardian and unofficial older sister.

Her optics were light, and her body shifted with the energy he knew was caused by her emotions overflowing. They were left alone when Bumblebee and Bulkhead drove Miko and Raf to school. Now that it was the afternoon, they were out once more to bring them back.

They almost forgot the time if it hadn't been for Jack asking when Miko and Raf would be there.

The anticipation of seeing his friends once more was buzzing around him. He would have seen his mom soon if Arcee hadn't told him she was resting at home. It was the first time she had off work in a week, and Ratchet convinced her to sleep and take care of herself.

Jack knew his mom would be pissed that she wasn't there immediately, but he also knew she needed her sleep. The bota reassured him that she was fine, if not a little scraped up from her imprisonment. The niggling worry was still pushing down on him and will till he saw her once more.

His eyes alighted on the ground bridge; he heard talk about a mission later when everyone was back on base. For some reason, his body had tensed when he heard parts of Optimus and Ratchet's conversation.

His mind kept repeating a name since then, the word popping up randomly to make him never forget.

'Iacon'

Jack forced his face to smooth over before facing Arcee again; a smile full of hidden mischief directed her way.

"Hey, want to go on patrol?" He asked, happiness filling him.

The smug grin was all the answer he got before she transformed. A familiar blue and pink motorcycle takes her place.

He rushed over, his jacket's bright blue catching his eyes again. His new outfit was another thing he pushed to the back, near a box that practically screamed 'issues.'

"Let's get going, partner." The familiar leather and grips were just what he needed to get back to a better state. The rev of her engines vibrated beneath him as they exited the base.

Closing his eyes, he just let himself feel. Something he never knew he took for granted.

Sun. Wind. Dust. Freedom.

'Peace.' The hidden part he refused to call himself sighed in satisfaction so deep Jack couldn't help but understand.


Those eyes. They haunted June's night. The memory of his claws hovering above her was something she never would forget. Her skin shivered as she remembered the gentle ministrations he had done to her before precisely cutting. The bored expression told her she was nothing more than an insect he was observing.

The grip on cool porcelain tightened. June's knuckles were shaking with pressure. Sweat beaded on her forehead, dampening her hair into an unpleasant mess.

June looked at her clouded eyes, pupils wide with fear from the nightmare she had earlier.

She got to sleep and ate as Arcee suggested. June was shocked she slept for eighteen hours, but in hindsight, she should have expected that.

Everyone at work had been worried, suggesting she took the offered days off to mourn. She refused; Jack wasn't dead. She had to keep working. The routine was the only thing keeping her together.

Work and visit Jack. She slept for a few hours, then ate when she could remember. It worked.

Jack would have been mad if he had ever found out. He would admonish her and then make food to fatten her up. He was a mother hen, and that was coming from his mother.

Banging her head against the cool porcelain, June contemplated skipping work. She didn't feel up to going in. The pity was so palpable it was practically stifling. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the cool sink.

A loud ringing caught her attention. Slowly she meandered to the house phone. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that June didn't notice the phone was in her hand.

"June." Her voice is monotone.

The phone was silent, irritation spiking in her with the lack of a response. She found it when a choked sob came over the phone. It was quiet but almost gut-wrenching to her.

"...mom." Tears pricked her eyes, her breath hitched, her heart pounding.

Licking her lips, her whole body was trembling.

"..Jack," her voice was like a prayer she hadn't ever said aloud. The name was full of certainty, her gut telling her this was real.

The small warm chuckle from the phone caused the tears to pour down her face.

"Yeah, mom. Yah... Scrap, you're okay." Laughter periodically split his sentence, causing a watery smile to consume her face.

"I think that should be my line. Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry... If only I weren't so scared if I just told you the truth. I'm so sorry..." She cried into the cold phone; tears continued to blur her sight.

"Mom..." There was a long pause; June knew her son was genuinely thinking his answer through like he always did. "Can you come to the base? I'd rather talk in person?"

It was a request she could never deny him. After everything she did, June knew it would take some time to fix everything.

Another glaring fact was everything was forever changed. Jackson Darby was dead in every form of the human condition. She would never have her son living with her, working to help, arguing about school again. That crushing guilt caused her head to nod.

"Of course, I will see you soon. Love you."

"See you soon." Then the line clicked off, leaving June with the cold realization. He didn't say I love you; that meant one thing, Jack was mad.


He watched from a distance. Miko and young Raf smother Jack in hugs and sobs. It was a spark warming to see the happiness back within their charge's eyes. They buzzed with energy. Miko hoped from place to place to retell what the oldest missed. Raf clung tightly to Jack like he feared his friend would disappear. His bots were watching with found optics, bumbling each other with knowing looks while discreetly passing credits, long since worthless for anything but bets.

Ratchet stood by the monitors, glancing at the children with warm but guarded optics. The atmosphere in the base was full of joy and relief.

When he felt intense emotions of guilt and joy, a strange combination filled his spark he froze. They were confused since they didn't belong to him. His optic shifted to Jack, watching how he looked worriedly at the youngest clinging to him, a sad smile covering his holo form.

Worry filled his spark, an emotion he constantly felt since finding the mechling on Megatron's ship.

War wasn't the time for this.

Pushing the bond deep within his spark, he made a note to talk to Ratchet at a later time.

The matrix gave a sharp plus, disapproving strongly of the Primes decision, as it sought out the bond and pulled it to the front. Optimus stood still in shock. The matrix brushed against the bond in a gentle caress, whispering something he knew should be a blessing, a gift from Primus, if only the bond were created in a different time, with another bot that wouldn't bring danger to the young one.

'Sparkling..' It gently stated, stubborn in keeping the bond open a bright in his spark.

Possessiveness shifted through him. The feeling took a firm grip over his judgment. Protocols override his logic in clicks.

His large servos gently caressed his chassis, right over where his spark pluses with relief, only fueled by the matrix's smug satisfaction.

Optimus always wanted a sparkling. That dream died with Elita One on Cybertron. He now took pride in watching Bumblebee grow, one of the youngest sparks left. Sharing victory with his soldiers and serving on a unique planet they grew to know.

He never thought he would gain a sparkling, even if they are almost grown. The fact the bond formed meant countless things, but the weight of the bond meant a lot.

Walking out of the main room, he found himself in Ratchet's medical and lab space. The one that held part of the source of his bond.

The mechlings' faceplates were lax in stasis lock. The spark monitor was beating steadily. He touched the warm metal of the younglings' shoulder plating. The thick metal was in better condition thanks to Ratchet's meticulous work.

A spark of blue energy leaped to his sparkling metal form, causing a content feeling to pulse through their bond.

He smiled softly, optics practically burning with the joy he had been pushing away. Ducking his helm, he whispered thanks to Primus; if he thought he deserved to bond this late one, he would do his best after everything he's done.

'I wish you could have seen this, Ariel.'