"Finally!"

"You found it?"

"Yes, yes I did! I knew the place wouldn't be the same, but who knew I would get lost on the way to my own office?"

". . . I have so many things I could say right now."

Knockout made a face at Thunderhowl before entering his old office. To the medic, it didn't look any different. Everything's neat and tidy, and clean. Shelves lined with data pads, a table in the corner covered in empty beakers and vials full of chemicals, a large video screen, and picture frames scattered all over the place.

"Okay, I will admit, you know how to keep a place looking good," Thunderhowl admitted, wandering around the room and scanning it for their target.

"Not just places, mind you," Knockout mused, following Thunderhowl's lead in looking around.

"So, remember where you put that other Lightbender?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why are we wasting time… ah, wait, let me guess: you locked it in something and you're looking for the key?"

"No! Of course not!"

"You forgot where you put the key, didn't you?"

". . . Yes."

Knockout walked around his old desk and slammed his helm against it. The picture frame on it shuddered. He looked up at it...

"Um, excuse me, but what are you doing?"

Knockout shot up and rushed to Thunderhowl's side. Standing in the doorway was a lean, turquoise femme - about half a helm shorter than Knockout - with blue optics, clutching a data pad to her chassis. Staring at the young medic, Knockout could've sworn he felt his entire system freeze.

He knew who the femme was.

"Moonracer?"

The turquoise femme stared at the red mech for a minute. Her optics quickly alight in recognition.

"Knockout?"

silence

Suddenly, Moonracer rushed Knockout and pinned him to the ground. The femme wrapped her arms around the mech in an unbreakable hug and cried.

"Blessed be the Allspark, you're alive! I thought you were dead! I didn't think I would ever see you again!"

Knockout returns the favor, and waits patiently for Moonracer to get it all out of her system and calm down.

Moonracer eventually stops crying and gets off of Knockout.

"Sorry about that," Moonracer said, rubbing stray tears from her optics.

"It's alright," Knockout replied. "How have you been, Moonracer?"

"Good, I guess. Better than when there was a war going on, anyway. Honestly, I was more scared of you going offline than I was of, well, myself going offline."

"Thank the Primes we're both still online!"

Wish I could say the same for Breakdown… I don't think I could have handled losing another partner, Knockout thought, but didn't say. However, his body language betrayed his thoughts. Knockout noticed that Moonracer noticed, and immediately changed the subject.

"Well, it's quite a relief to see you again, Moonracer. However, my friend Thunderhowl and I have a pretty tight schedule to stick to, so if you don't mind..."

Before Knockout could get up, Moonracer shoved an object into his servos.

"I didn't think you would want anyone touching your stuff until you got back, so I held onto it for you," Moonracer explained, looking at the key in the mech's servos.

"Ah, yes… thank you, Moonracer," Knockout replied.

For the next half hour, everything was completed in silence. Knockout didn't say anything as he left a stack of finished data pads behind and swapped them for the Lightbender that was locked away. He also collected his old, incomplete data pads, and all the picture frames. He took a minute to stare at the photo on the desk before gently placing it in his supspace. Thunderhowl and Moonracer watched from the doorway.

They returned their passes to the receptionist, waved a silent goodbye to Moonracer, and drove off. By the time they reached the ship, it was nightfall. Just in time, as due to the lack of a suitable light source, the Lightbender automatically shut off. Steeljaw looked like his old, original self.

"Care to tell me what happened back there?" Steeljaw demanded, but his tone was far from harsh. It almost sounded like he was worried about Knockout.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about," Knockout replied, sounding just as tired as he looked.

"Considering how horrible you look, I highly doubt that. Besides, if it's affecting you this badly..."

"I know what you're thinking, and no, it won't impede the mission! I promise to deal with it later, when or if it does become a problem. Okay?"

Steeljaw did not look convinced.

"That's a load of scrap."

Knockout jumped back, startled by the voice. A sleek race car came to a quiet halt between the red mech and Steeljaw. It transformed into Moonracer.

"And I know you know that."

Silence fell, neither Knockout nor Moonracer's optics wavering from the other. Steeljaw didn't need to think twice, let alone be told to give them some privacy. When the door to the ship opened, Bumblebee and Starscream were standing by the entrance. They were just about to exit when Steeljaw ushered them back in and told them not to go out there. Knockout and Moonracer waited until they couldn't hear the others.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Moonracer, but what are you doing here?" Knockout asked.

"I'm coming with you guys," Moonracer answered, not skipping a beat. She didn't give the red mech a chance to deny her as she continued. "Before I left the clinic, I told my superiors that I would be taking an extended leave to travel with a patient. I didn't tell them who you are to me. They didn't ask, so I didn't tell."

"Wait, me? You're calling me a patient?"

"You mean as a fully licensed medic, I can't help my former mentor? Nice try, Knockout, but you and basically every other medic I've ever met taught me not to take scrap from anyone if it means helping them get better."

"But there's nothing wrong with me! I'm fine! Better than fine, even. I'm..."

"Breakdown."

Knockout froze. He stared at Moonracer; she stared right back, her gaze unwavering.

"Come again?"

"You heard what I said."

Moonracer vented before walking over to Knockout. The red mech took a step back, but stopped at the femme's firm yet gentle touch.

"Listen, Knockout. When you guys left for the war, I was scared… terrified… of losing both of you. When news spread of the end of the Great War, I couldn't have been happier… and then I heard about Breakdown. I don't remember hearing what happened to you. Maybe I did, but after learning about Breakdown's death… I couldn't. I was too scared to learn what became of you. I believed it would be better to think you were alive than know for certain that you were dead. I just… I couldn't handle it. I wouldn't have been able to. Breakdown was my best friend. I loved him as if he were my split-spark."

Moonracer paused for a minute before continuing.

"However, despite all my emotional pain, and trying to distance myself from it… I am not the only one."

Knockout wasn't looking, but he could feel Moonracer giving his servos a tight yet comforting squeeze, letting him know that she understood him, and that it's going to be alright, because she is there for him.

"I know what Breakdown meant to you… what he still means to you… and I couldn't possibly begin to imagine how..."

Moonracer began to choke-up. She had to compose herself and wrap this all up, not only for her sake, but Knockout's as well. She looked her former mentor in the optics, seeing the pain and agony he felt.

"I'm sorry for your loss."