Heatwave's wheels grounded to a stop as he pulled up in front of the large dome-like building that was Doc Greene's laboratory.

Transforming to his robot alt mode, he took out a white box from his cabin. It contained some parts for a machine Doc had requested from Graham.

He was sent to deliver it because Chase was in the middle of a high-speed pursuit with Chief Burns.

As he walked to the entrance of the garage, he noticed the sudden presence of tiny blue flowers all over the lab's lawn.

The hue was strangely familiar, but his mind quickly reminded him why he was there, and he shifted his attention back to the delivery he had yet to complete.

He stepped over the flowers and made his way inside the lab's garage.

He immediately registered and recognized the three voices that came from the other side of the room as Doc, Frankie, and, surprisingly, Quickshadow.

Frankie had invited her over to test the new upgrades her father had added to the Stasis Machine since it was the femme's day off.

The now 16-year-old had heard many stories about Quickshadow from Cody and took interest in her occupation as a special ops agent.

Though her curiosity oftentimes got the best of her, Quickshadow enjoyed the teenager's company. She was smart, but she also had character and attitude.

Frankie landed high on the femme's 'Tolerable Humans' list.

Heatwave set the box on a nearby counter and began to walk over to greet the others.

The sound of small footsteps filled his audials and he looked to his right to see the youngest member of the Greene family running at her top speed with a familiar green stuffed frog in her small hand.

"Pasture jump!" She squealed.

The 3-year-old crouched down to the floor in a 'frog' position and began to gleefully jump around like the amphibian.

The red mech chuckled at the small girl, a small smile slipping past his usual serious expression.

His smile dropped, however, when he noticed the girl come close to hitting the table where the device Doc was modifying was placed dangerously near the edge.

"Cece, no-"

"Ouchie." The small girl rubbed her arm as she watched the red mech 'dive' in her direction.

A loud crash was heard as Heatwave landed on the ground, just feet away from Cece.

The device landed safely into the palm of his servo— half of it, at least.

The other half had rolled off the metal surface of his palm and landed on the cold hard floor, breaking in the process.

The femme and two elder Greenes turned to see what all the commotion was about, only to see a pinkish-purple beam hit Heatwave.

Frankie gasped behind her, and a familiar, "Dear me!" Left Doc's lips.

"Heatwave!" The femme called his name and watched as a blinding white light enveloped him.

She lifted her servo to shield her optics from the blinding light and faintly saw his gray silhouette slowly begin to shrink in size.

The femme and humans blinked a couple of times as the light slowly faded away and stood there, shocked at the small red mech in front of them.

Doc and Frankie ran over to him, stunned by Heatwave's new, small appearance.

Doc looked at his younger daughter standing with her stuffed frog in hand.

He waved her over, and the small girl quietly walked over to her dad.

"H-Heatwave?" Frankie called to him.

The small mech looked at the girl for a brief moment before backing away a little.

"Are you okay?" She tried again but felt her father's arm stop her from going over to the mech.

"I don't think he remembers who we are, Frankie."

Frankie looked back to Heatwave, a small frown on her face.

The red youngling frantically looked around him, optic brows furrowed confusedly.

Where was he?

Why couldn't he remember anything?

Who were these creatures who kept looking at him funny, and who was the white femme towering before him?

The small mech shifted to stand on his peds and moved away once again.

Doc looked to Quickshadow, unsure of what to do.

The femme looked at the red mech, who was still slowly backing away from them, trying to come up with something before he ran away.

"Heatwave." Her voice became incredibly soft as she called to him, surprising the two oldest humans in the room.

The small mech looked at her; big, nervous amber optics clashed with sapphire blue.

The femme kneeled to his level and reached her arms out to him, gesturing for him to come to her.

The small mech hesitated, but after the femme cast him a small reassuring smile, he slowly walked towards her arms.

"Do you know who I am?" She questioned softly, her servo resting on his small shoulder pad for comfort.

Heatwave studied her features for a few moments before concluding that he didn't recognize her.

He shook his helm.

"Do you know where you are?"

"..No." he finally spoke up.

Quickshadow nodded and rose to her peds; Heatwave nervously stood beside her.

"The ray reversed Heatwave's age and, apparently, his memories as well." Doc thought aloud. He took a step towards the red youngling, who immediately hid behind Quickshadow's right ped.

"That should be an easy fix. All we need to do is hit him with a beam from the other half, and he should return to normal- theoretically speaking." He brainstormed.

"You mean that half of the machine?" Frankie pointed to the broken piece of equipment on the floor that lay a couple of feet away from her.

"Oh my. That may be a problem. It'll take the rest of the day to fix it, that is, if I even have the parts to repair it." Doc ran a hand through his dreadlocks.

"What are we gonna do with Heatwave in the meantime?" Frankie asked, looking back at the small Cybertronian who peaked back from behind Quickshadow's ped.

"Look after him I suppose. He looks to be in what you humans call the 'Toddler Stage." Quickshadow replied.

Doc nodded. "It appears so. He seems uncomfortable around us humans; maybe you should take him back to the firehouse Quickshadow." Doc suggested.

The femme looked back at the youngling, who, in turn, looked back up at her with his big amber optics.

She nodded.

"I'll inform you as soon as I get the device fixed.

"Alright. Bye, Doc and Frankie." She waved at them.

Intrigued by this gesture, the short bot tried to mimic it to the best of his ability.

Frankie and Doc chuckled at the sight as both bots walked out the garage doors.


Quickshadow allowed a half-hearted smile to slip past her usually emotionless expression.

She watched as Heatwave glanced at his surroundings, looking down at the small town below them.

Driving was out of the question. Heatwave probably didn't even know about his firetruck alt mode, much less how to use it.

So they were walking along the cliffside road that led to the lab.

Quickshadow couldn't help but notice how calm Heatwave was.

His usual stern and bored expression were exchanged with one of pure curiosity.

'Was he like this as a youngling?' She wondered to herself.

A slight tug at her left servo pulled her out of her thoughts.

She looked back to see the red youngling pointing up at something in the sky.

Her optics traced his small digit up to find a white bird flying across the island.

"It's a bird. A seagull to be precise." Her accent laced her words.

"Birdie?" He cocked a brow up at her, intrigued by the name. "Mhm."

He smiled and waved his small servo at the feathered creature. "Bye, birdie!"

Quickshadow could feel her spark melt at the sight before her. She let out a soft chuckle as they continued their way back to the firehouse.

Not five minutes had passed when she felt another tug at her digits.

"What that?" She turned her helm to see what he was pointing to this time.

The femme saw him walk over to a small patch of blue delphiniums.

"Those are flowers." She watched him pluck the entire patch of flowers from the ground, dirt hanging from the long roots.

She watched amusedly as he slightly shook the soil off the roots and brought the fresh bouquet to his small ol' factory sensors, taking a whiff of the flowers' sweet aroma.

He suddenly pointed to her faceplates at her optics.

"Pretty optics." He innocently complimented, holding up the flowers to the side of her helm as if comparing the colors of her sapphire optics to the vibrant blue bouquet in his tiny servo.

Her jaw hung slightly ajar at his words.

The sudden compliment was unexpected, and she was caught off guard once more when he held the flowers out to her.

She looked back at the small youngling who held the tiny blue flowers in front of her, waiting for her to take them.

Finally, a smile spread on her faceplates as she accepted the bouquet. "Thank you Heatwave."

The small mech grinned and nodded. He was oblivious to the small blush that spread on the femme's metallic white faceplates.

Quickshadow gazed fondly at the flowers in her servo then back to the small red mech who had wandered off in front of her.

With the flowers secure in her gentle grip, she walked after the small bot in front of her, down the road towards the firehouse.


"It is temporary, right?" The construction bot questioned, picking up the papers he had dropped.

"Yes. Doc is trying to fix the other half of the machine as we speak." The femme nodded.

"That is relieving to hear," Chase commented, looking back at the small red mech that stood close to Quickshadow.

The femme was immediately hit by a million questions the second she stepped ped in the garage.

Blades' gasped loudly, Chase's optics widened, and Boulder dropped the papers in his servos, jaw-dropping.

In front of them stood the special ops agent with a tiny version of their leader beside her.

"H-Heatwave? What happened?" Boulder questioned

Quickshadow filled them in on the incident that occurred back at Doc's lab.

Blades ran out of the room, yelling something about his camera.

Heatwave let out a small yawn and slightly leaned on Quickshadow's ped.

"I'll take him to the lounge area. Contact Chief and the rest of the team." She ordered.

Boulder and Chase nodded, pressing their comlinks to inform the team about their current situation.


Meanwhile, Quickshadow led the small mech towards the red couch Doc had maximized for them.

Heatwave's optics widened as his peds left the ground.

Quickshadow gently sat him on the couch and turned on the TV screen before them.

He watched the strange shapes and colors move along the screen.

She felt his small servo on her arm when she landed on a war movie.

The femme looked back at the small mech whose optics were fixated on the screen in front of them.

She was surprised by his selection. She knew he liked war movies but didn't think he would enjoy them as a youngling.

She grinned as he mimicked the actors on screen, positioning his servos as if they were holding a sniper.

She couldn't help but giggle as her optics flashed, capturing an image of him.

Heatwave cast the femme a tiny version of his usual smirk as his make-believe sniper moved in her direction.

"Pew pew!"

The femme rolled her optics but decided to play along for Heatwave's sake.

With a swift movement, she rolled off the couch and moved to the left side of the sofa.

Heatwave stood on the sofa and moved around, trying to find the femme.

He caught a swift figure move in front of him and turned his helm in hopes of catching her.

As his attention was fixated in another direction, Quickshadow quietly snuck up from behind the couch.

"Caught you!"

Loud laughter and soft giggles filled the room.

Quickshadow lifted Heatwave off the sofa and began to tickle him.

"S-stop..pleasee!" He barely managed to breathe out.

Satisfied, Quickshadow ceased her tickling and set Heatwave back down on the sofa.

They sat in comfortable silence as the movie continued to play.


Not long after the movie had ended, the red elevator moved down to the bunker, doors sliding to let its passengers out.

"Where is he?" Kade pushed past his siblings and was the first one out of the elevator.

The femme and small mech looked back at them from the couch.

Kade and Cody were the first to run over to them.

"H-Heatwave?!" They synced.

"..Woah." Dani and Graham gasped at the red mech's current appearance.

Kade didn't know whether to laugh or be serious. He was shocked at the state his partner was in. Why was he- short?

"What happened?" Chief looked to Quickshadow for an explanation.

After another long explanation of the current predicament, the redhead walked up to the mech with a smirk plastered on his lips. He abruptly stopped when the small bot visibly flinched at his action and tried to hide behind Quickshadow.

Kade stood in place, dumbfounded by Heatwave's reaction.

"He's uh, not too comfortable around humans. Doc says his memory rewound along with his age." Boulder explained.

Kade stepped back, a little disappointed he couldn't poke fun at the red mech at the moment.

"Can't he just use the other half of the Stasis machine to change him back?" Cody asked.

"That half fell and broke, Doc is trying to fix it." Boulder shook his helm.

"Oh." Cody nodded his head.

"How come Kade's memories didn't rewind when he got hit with that machine?" Dani asked.

"As I said, Doc upgraded the machine with new parts." Quickshadow reminded.

"It must've been set to rewind memory as well as age," Graham added.

The femme nodded, looking back at Heatwave, who was still hiding behind her.

"He does seem uncomfortable around us. Maybe it's best if we leave." Chief suggested.

"I'll take the old swat car to run patrols. You bots watch Heatwave."

"You mechs can go; I'll stay back and watch him." Quickshadow offered.

"Are you sure, Quickshadow?" Chief asked.

"Of course." She nodded.

"Alright. Graham, you and Boulder finish your inspections of the underground tunnels. Kade, you're with me and Chase. Dani, you and Blades do your usual patrols from the air. Cody, control center. Keep an eye on the cameras."

The rest of the team nodded and began to leave.


Soon, it was just Quickshadow and Heatwave.

The femme noticed he was less tense and was calmly sitting beside her.

She checked her inner clock and wondered if the small mech was hungry.

"Would you like some Energon?" She asked.

The youngling mulled over the question for a second before nodding his helm.

"Come along then." She got off the could and walked towards the Energon storage room with Heatwave not far behind her.

"There you are." She handed him a cube filled with the bluish-green liquid and watched as he brought it up to his lip components.

By the time she was done with her cube, the small mech had set his cube on the large counter and was once again leaning on her ped.

It was obvious he was tired.

His berthroom was locked, and although she was very capable of overriding a security code, she valued and respected her teammates' privacy.

The femme led the small mech to her chambers instead.

The sofa wasn't comfortable enough to recharge on.

She set him down on her berth and placed a blue blanket over his small frame.

She leaned down to get her datapad but felt something fall from within her cabin.

She pulled out the small bouquet of blue flowers the small mech had given her and smiled fondly at the small memory.

She shook her helm and set the flowers on a nearby counter.

With her datapad in servo, the femme sat on the opposite side of the berth and began scrolling through her feed to tend to some unfinished work as she waited for Heatwave to recharge.

She felt a sudden shift at the other end of her berth and looked up from her datapad.

Heatwave was standing on the berth, amber optics looking back at her.

He bent over to pick up the blue blanket that was once covering him and waddled towards the femme.

Quickshadow raised an optic at him as he came closer to her.

Without a warning- Heatwave sat on her lap and pulled the blanket over his frame, stirring slightly until he was comfortable.

Surprised, the femme froze for a few seconds before allowing herself to relax.

She watched his big amber optics begin to shutter as his grey eyelids closed.

His small frame heaved up and down as he drifted off into recharge.

The femme ex-vented, relieved that she would at least be able to get some work done.


Time slipped by quickly as she finished most of her incomplete assignments.

A bright flash of blinding white light suddenly lit the dim room.

She blinked a few times and looked to her door, her optics slightly glowing in annoyance as they narrowed at the mech that disturbed the small bit of peace she had managed to obtain.

"Oops..forgot to turn off the flash. Sorry, Quickshadow." Blades shrugged sheepishly, silently hoping the femme wouldn't drop-kick him as she did to Blurr whenever he got on her nerves.

The femme rolled her optics and pressed a digit up to her lip components, and pointed at the small mech who was beginning to stir on her lap.

Blades shut his mouth plates and nodded.

He left, looking down at the image he had managed to capture.

A faint "Oh my gosh, awe!" came from the lounge area, no doubt Dani's voice.

Quickshadow sighed, annoyed that Blades had disrupted her concentration.

The rotary was lucky Heatwave had decided her lap was more suitable to nap on than a soft mattress. He knew she didn't like to be disturbed without a good cause.

Speaking of Heatwave, the femme looked down at the small mech who was still peacefully recharging on her lap.

A small smile crept on her faceplates.

He looked so peaceful she had to remind herself she was looking at the same stubborn Heatwave who had refused to cooperate with her the first time they met.

She checked her inner clock; it was a little after 4 p.m.

She wondered if Doc was almost done with the device.

She absentmindedly began to trace the lines on his small firefighter helmet with one of her digits.

Though she would never admit to it, she had enjoyed taking care of Heatwave.

His cute gestures, genuine smiles, and innocent compliments brought a smile to the femme's lip components when she thought back on those specific parts of their day.

"It's a shame you're going to go back to being stubborn and reserved in a while." She lightly poked his 'nose'.

The small mech stretched on her lap, optics opening to reveal a familiar pair of fiery-amber optics.

He sat up on her lap and turned to face her.

His small servo reached out to touch her cheek; his optics fixed on her dim blue optics.

"I always knew you were a big softy on the inside." She smiled down at the mech, who continued to smile up at her.

"I must admit, though; you are good at hiding it." She smiled, lightly pressing her forehelm to his.

Heatwave nuzzled his small forehelm on hers, a smile plastered on his tiny features.

The femme pulled back and patted the small mech's helmet.

'Quickshadow?' A familiar voice filled her audials from her comlink.

"Is the device fixed, Frankie?" She asked. A tiny part of her hoped it wasn't.

'Yep. Dad says you can bring Heatwave over so he can change him back to normal.'

"Alright, we'll be over in a bit."

With that, the femme turned off the comlink and looked back at Heatwave.

She picked him up and placed him on the ground.

"Come on, Heatwave."


Doc watched as the two Cybertronians he was waiting on walked through the garage door.

Quickshadow set the small mech on the ground. "He got tired halfway up here." A small chuckle left her lip components.

The small mech stood by her ped, one servo holding the femme's digits.

"He seems to have grown quite attached to you." Doc smiled.

"You've no idea." Quickshadow looked back at the youngling with a small smile.

"Well then, I fixed the other half, so if you could stand right over there, Heatwave-" he pointed to two small pieces of tape that formed an x on the floor.

Heatwave's big amber optics looked up at Quickshadow, unsure if he should do what the human ordered.

The femme simply nodded and led him by the servo over to where the tape was.

She stepped back as Heatwave began to fidget uncomfortably.

"Don't worry, Heatwave, this won't hurt a bit," Doc promised.

Another pinkish-purple beam hit the red mech, and a familiar white light enveloped him once again. The only difference was that this time he grew in size.

"Heatwave?" Quickshadow called out to him, walking over to see if he was okay.

The red mech groaned and blinked furiously.

"Where..am I?" He asked, barely above a whisper.

"My lab." Doc walked over.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Quickshadow offered him her servo to help him up.

The mech thankfully took it and rose to his peds.

"Uh...I was delivering a white box Graham sent over here."

Cece appeared out of nowhere and ran over to her dad.

"Where Pasture?" The small girl had been looking for her stuffed frog.

Doc began to help her search for the comfort toy.

Heatwave's optics widened.

"Cece..hit herself on the table and knocked the Stasis machine off. I remember catching it but that's it."

"You got turned back into a youngling," Quickshadow revealed.

"I- what?" Heatwave's expression changed to one of shock.

Quickshadow nodded. The half of the machine you caught shot a beam at you, and you essentially de-aged. Doc spent all day fixing the other half to turn you back." She explained.

Heatwave only nodded as he took in everything she had told him.

"I'm exhausted. I'll start heading back to the firehouse." The femme let out a small yawn.

"You're tired?" Heatwave cocked a brow. He had never seen the femme in a tired state.

"You try taking care of a youngling for a whole day." She playfully rolled her optics as she made her way out of the garage after saying her goodbyes.

The mech's jaw dropped slightly, and he went after the femme, quickly catching up to her since she was walking.

"You..took care of me?" He questioned. Warm Energon slightly stained his metallic faceplates.

"Mhm." Quickshadow hummed.

The mech didn't know what to say. He wanted to thank her but felt too embarrassed to say anything.

Instead, his optics roamed down to the ground as he continued to walk beside her.

His optics caught sight of a familiar patch of blue flowers.

The sun had begun to set, and the night sky had started to appear, making the flowers seem to glow.

Quickshadow tilted herself closer to him. "You have pretty optics as well." A playful smirk stretched on her faceplates, remembering the compliment the younger version of the mech beside her had given her.

Heatwave froze and turned to look at her.

"I...I said that?" His cheek plates tingled as more Energon flooded across them.

"Among other things." She teased.

Heatwave tilted his helmet down to cover his flustered faceplates.

Quickshadow had undoubtedly noticed and internally chuckled at his current state.

"Come on, Heatwave. The rest of the team is probably already back." She reminded.

She began to walk off but felt a servo catch her arm.

She looked back to see a very familiar set of orange optics looking back at her.

"Wait..-" the mech let go of her arm and scratched at his neck cables.

The femme looked back at him, curious.

"..Thanks for looking after me...I hope I wasn't too much of a pain." He let out a nervous chuckle.

The femme smiled and shook her helm. "It was no trouble at all. You were quite..adorable." She let out a halfhearted laugh.

Heatwave felt his faceplates flush once again.

He had probably looked like a blueberry if it wasn't for his red firefighter helmet.

"I've had quite enough of walking for one day." He heard her mutter.

"We walked here?" He asked, wondering if that's why his peds hurt so much.

"Iwalked here. You wouldn't stop pointing at every little thing that caught your optic." She rolled her blue orbs.

Heatwave chuckled and shook his helm, a sly idea popping into his processor.

"Then I guess I should return the favor." He teased.

Before the femme could comprehend what he was referring to, she was scooped up into his arms; a small gasp left her lip components.

She looked up at Heatwave, who only smirked at her shocked expression.

"Heatwave put me down this instant." She felt warm Energon rise to her cheek plates.

"If you say so."

The next thing she knew, she fell on a soft bed of grass with a thud.

She looked up at Heatwave, shocked that he had purposefully dropped her.

"What?" He chuckled.

"..I'll give you a ten-second head start." Her optics narrowed just slightly to emphasize her tone.

"What?" He eyed her, confused.

"Run."

"Frag.." Heatwave backed away from the femme, not wasting a moment to transform and drive off.

The femme watched amusedly as the firebot raced down the road, a small smirk adorned her mouth plates.

She was gonna enjoy drop-kicking his sorry aft.