A series of bright lights turned on the moment Heatwave stepped ped into the room the Ground Bridge was stationed in.

"Elma," he called out to nothing in particular. The figure of Griffin Rock's first female scientist manifested before him, awaiting orders.

"Set the ground bridge's coordinates for Griffin Rock."

The hologram gave a curt nod before disappearing into thin air. The ground bridge locked into place and a familiar green vortex appeared just as the sound of a door opening caught his attention. He turned his helm to see Blades holding a few papers.

"..You're going to the firehouse?" The rotary asked from the doorway. Heatwave only nodded and began to make his way towards the green portal.

"I was gonna go see Quickshadow, but since you're already going- could you tell her she can start doing lite workouts?" The firebot nodded again before he stepped through the portal. "Nothing that strains her shoulder or side though!" Blade's voice faintly called out as he walked through the other side of the bright green mass.

He looked around him, taking in his new surroundings. It had been quite a while since his last visit to the firehouse. A new coat of white paint covered the walls that surrounded the ground bridge, the tiles were polished. He stood in place for a few seconds, trying to remind himself why he was here.

It had been a few days since the 'Incident' and since he had woken up alone on Quickshadow's med-berth. Heatwave ran into Boulder, who told him Blades had sent Quickshadow to the firehouse for the next two weeks so she could fully recover.

He had wanted to visit her that afternoon, but something made him change his mind at the last second, and he turned around and walked back to his office.

The following day he found himself surrounded with a pile of unfinished assignments, all relating to the preparation of the academy. He spent the day tending to his tasks and was able to finish late that night. Seeing his schedule clear up on the third day, he felt the urge to check up on her.

The muffled voices coming from the bunker shook him out of his trance. Taking a deep breath, he walked out of the room in the direction of the muffled voices.

"Uh..that's way too much glue."

"..You're getting glitter everywhere!"

Cody and Frankie's voices immediately registered in the mech's processor.

"..Perhaps we should move onto the next activity." Heatwave flinched at Quickshadow's voice. Turning the corner, he found the femme sitting on the red couch with Cody and Frankie standing around a small table infront of her. The two teens were covered with the shiny substance humans called 'glitter'.

He froze in place and simply observed the three 'till a pair of sapphire optics looked up and met his gaze.

"Good afternoon, Heatwave." The agent's tone was nonchalant. Cody and Frankie looked up and noticed him standing at the entrance of the bunker.

"Hey Heatwave!" Cody greeted while Frankie smiled and gave a small wave.

The mech was slightly startled but quickly collected himself and greeted the three. "Hey, guys..Quickshadow." He cocked an optic ridge at the sparkly mess Cody and Frankie were covered in. "We were showing Quickshadow how to use glitter." Frankie held up a small container filled with the shiny substance.

"I don't see the appeal. That stuff gets everywhere." The mech stated. He wasn't very fond of things that made 'hard-to-clean' messes.

"It is rather hard to clean." Quickshadow agreed with his opinion, attempting to wipe off a few specs of glitter from her arm.

As the two bots made small talk on the pros and cons of glitter- Frankie saw an opportunity to push them together a little more and discreetly nudged Cody's arm.

"Let's clean up here and send them someplace else." She whispered. Cody nodded and turned to the two bots.

"We'll start cleaning up here, why don't you two talk in the lounge or something?" The boy did his best to not sound too obvious.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" The agent offered.

"We'll take care of it, I don't think your size will help much." Frankie gave Cody a lint roller and the two began cleaning the table and floor.

Quickshadow nodded and made her way towards the lounge area. Heatwave hesitated for a moment but followed her anyway.

"You haven't come here to keep urging me to rest have you?" The question was supposed to hold a teasing edge, but Quickshadow's nonchalant tone failed to communicate that to Heatwave.

"..No..just uh- to check up on you." He shifted uncomfortably in his spot.

Quickshadow leaned against the bookshelf, careful not to hurt her shoulder in the process. "Well.. I'm doing quite alright." She answered before he could properly ask.

Heatwave only nodded. She did indeed seem to be fine, he couldn't find any signs of strain.

"Blades gave the okay to allow you to do lite workouts." He emphasized the word 'Lite'

Quickshadow suppressed the small smile she felt tugging at her dermas and simply nodded her thanks. Being forced to sit out on her daily routines of training and workouts had been torture. She barely had anything to keep her processor occupied. Cody and Frankie's company was nice, but she couldn't exactly use that to vent.

"He said to try not to use your arm too much so I'd suggest basic stretches or yoga, but if you can do one arm push ups, by all means." He continued, trying to ignore his pounding spark.

Quickshadow merely nodded, not quite meeting his optics. With the way her spark was beating, there was a 50% chance that she wouldn't be able to look away if she looked into his amber optics.

Heatwave sensed the lingering awkwardness between them and struggled to come up with something to say. "..Want a sparring partner?"

Quickshadow was undoubtedly tempted to accept his offer. They were long due for a rematch and she had been bored out of her processor but she didn't allow herself to cave.

"..Perhaps another time" she finally met his optics but held herself back from getting lost in their fiery glow.

Heatwave hadn't expected her to turn down his offer and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, however, he didn't push his offer, instead he took note of her fidgeting with the hem of her cast. She seemed tense.

"What's wrong?"

She cocked an optic ridge at him, then realised she had been playing with her cast again and slowly lowered her arm to her side.

"It's nothing really."

His stern look told her he wasn't buying a single word, however she was in no mood to discuss her flurry of feelings for him at the moment.

"Quickshadow." Her name was accompanied with a frustrated sigh, however the femme didn't utter another word.

Her blank stare told him he wouldn't get anything out of her. And so, they stood in silence, neither broke eye contact— as if they were in some kind of staring contest.

"..You really should head back to the training center-" she finally spoke up. Heatwave kept his stone gaze on her, barely making out the quiver of hesitation in her voice.

"I'm sure you have some work that needs your attention." Her frame shifted in the other direction, indicating she was about to take her leave.

There was a nagging feeling that urged the firebot forward, to grab her by the servo and stop her before she walked out, however he couldn't find the strength to oblige and stiffly watched as she strode towards the sleeping chambers.

He stared at the now vacant hallway, his servo clenching and unclenching at the small ripples of pain being emitted from within his spark. He hadn't heard the two sets of footsteps that came from behind him.

Fortunately, the stoic expression the mech wore didn't betray his inner turmoil of feelings when Cody and Frankie walked in. They scanned the room and looked to Heatwave for an explanation of the femme's absence.

"Where's Quickshadow?" Frankie's left brow arched at the mech.

"In her chambers." He replied simply, not meeting their eyes for the fear that they would see the light blush that had managed to tint his cheek plates.

The teens looked at each other then to the retreating mech who was already exiting the lounge room. "I'll check in later, contact me, Blades or Boulder if anything happens." He didn't leave any room for discussion and continued to make his way towards the ground bridge.

A moment of silence came over the brunette and blonde. Neither had expected things to go south. "What do you think happened?" Frankie's inquiry shattered the silent void, following Cody into the red elevator.

"I'm not sure, but I doubt either want to talk about it." Cody programmed the lift to take them to the garage.

"We could try asking Quickshadow later." He suggested, leaning her outside through Chase's exit. He stopped in his tracks, narrowly avoiding running into his sister who was walking in.

"Dani? What are you doing here?" He was surprised to see her. "Chase dropped by the training center to ask about a few 'Earth sayings' he was confused about. I took the ground bridge here to see how everyone was doing."

"We're doing good." Cody answered the unasked question. "Good to hear. Blades told me Quickshadow was staying here until her arm fully healed. Where is she?"

"Heatwave said she'd gone to her room." Frankie spoke up. "He was here?" The EMT's eyes widened. "Yeah, he came by to check up on Quickshadow." The girl nodded.

"Really? Where is he now?"

"He went back to the Training Center, we're pretty sure something happened between them. Where's Chase?" Cody asked.

"Redirecting traffic while Dad fixes a broken traffic light on Main Street. What happened?" Her brows furrowed in concern. "We don't know. Frankie and I were gonna talk to Quickshadow later."

Dani took his words into consideration and slowly shook her head. "I'll go talk to her."


A low groan reverberated from the mech's voice box as he rubbed the sides of his helm in an effort to regain focus at the task at hand. Papers were messily scattered across his desk, a few had fallen on the floor.

His spark was pounding within his chassis, each beat sent warm energon right to his cheek plates. He inhaled deeply a few times but nothing he tried could get his mind offher.

He glared at the paper in his servos, his dim optics traced each and every word but their meaning never registered in his processor.

"Perhaps another time." Her voice rang through his helm. He felt the lingering sting of rejection slightly intensify at the recollection of her words.

At first, he had tried to dismiss her dejection as a sign of exhaustion. 'She wasn't in the mood.' He tried to convince himself. But he saw the glint in her optics when he told her she had the liberty train again. His processor nagged that it was something else. There was more to her nonchalant act than she let on.

He grunted in frustration at the little progress he had made in filling out the forms in front of him and wearily set the stack down before getting up. Perhaps recharge would do him some good.


"Quickshadow?" Three soft knocks captured the femme's attention. Quickshadow lifted herself off the floor and went for the door, not before discarding the book she was flipping through in a half closed drawer.

"Dani?" She greeted the EMT who she thought was still in Faxian with HighTide.

"I came a few hours after the accident, I've been bridging back and forth for a few days now." she explained before she had the chance to ask.

Not expecting the sudden briefing of events, Quickshadow only nodded.

"How are you feeling?" she looked from the scar along her side to her arm and shoulder pad. "I'm fine. Only a few minor injuries." The agent assured her.

"I hear Blades and Boulder have you cooped up her for the next two weeks." She cocked a brow, becoming slightly amused when the femme rolled her optics.

"Yes." She sighed. "I appreciate their concern but I think one week is more than enough."

"Who knows? You're arm might heal fast and you'll be discharged sooner." Dani shrugged.

Quickshadow nodded and the two were silent for a minute before Dani spoke up again.

"Heatwave came earlier, didn't he?"

Quickshadow froze at the question. 'Primus, must everyone bring him up?'

"..He did." she answered bluntly, not leaving any room for lingering sentiment.

Dani noticed her discomfort in the subject and didn't know whether to keep the subject or change it. "Did something happen between you guys?" She cautiously approached the topic.

"Not at all. He came to let me know I was allowed to train again." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Quickshadow suppressed the urge to fiddle with the hem of her cast and concentrated on being as nonchalant as possible.

Dani nodded but she knew there was more to Heatwave's visit than the femme let on. She didn't push the limit, she knew well how distant Quickshadow could be. No one on the team knew much about her background but they didn't dwell on it, knowing she would share if she wanted to.

"At least you have something to keep your mind off your injuries." Dani smiled, checking the time on her phone. "I have to get back to Faxian, I'm glad your injuries are healing well, try not to strain your arm too much." She gave a small wave before turning on her heel and heading down the hall.

The door slid shut and Quickshadow returned to her berth. Heatwave's visit had caught her off guard and had made it that much harder to ignore her jumbled feelings. She hadn't had the chance to go to the small training area on the other side of the bunker as she had been trying to collect herself in her room before Dani showed up. Quickshadow made up her mind to go train in hopes that she could drown the swirling thoughts clouding her processor.

The firehouse wasn't equipped with training simulations like the ones she had access to in Faxian. That being said, there weren't many options suitable for a one armed bot. She was about to take Heatwave's suggestion of doing one arm pushups when a dark shadow overhead caught her optic.

She glanced up at the elevated platform where an all too familiar tree trunk stood idly still and motionless. The agent debated whether or not it would do her side any good if she threw a few punches at the wooden target. Her fists were begging to hit something—anything.

"Quickshadow?" A voice interrupted her before she could step onto the elevated platform. She turned to find Chase standing a few meters away from her.

"Will you be joining us to run patrols tonight?" His question suddenly made her aware of the time. It was nearly 7 p.m.

She gave a silent nod, not feeling the need to verbally confirm the invite. Chase noticed her look back at Heatwave's wooden dummy before following behind him.


A black silhouette sat at the edge of the water, staring out into the sunset. Quickshadow had been awfully quiet all throughout their patrol. Chase assumed something happened to her and set out to find her after dropping off the Chief at the firehouse.

He approached her with caution, not wanting to startle her.

"You don't have to sneak around like that, Chase. I won't bite." She sensed his ped steps behind her but kept her gaze on the dimming sky.

Chase stood awkwardly for a moment but eventually sat down next to her and looked out upon the waters.

His processor recalled the conversation he had with Heatwave the day of the incident. Not understanding the terms the red mech had used in depth, Chase had gone to Dani to ask what 'One sided feelings' meant. The burnette had raised her brow at his unusual inquiry but assumed he had stumbled upon it in one of his books and didn't look too deep into it.

With Dani's insight, he understood what Heatwave had told him. Apparently he did like Quickshadow, but he didn't know if his feelings were reciprocated.

A flashback to the time he and the others tried to set them up on a date suddenly came to mind. The little date seemed to have had the opposite effect on Heatwave and Quickshadow as they had avoided each other for a couple weeks after the unexpected events. Did he really want to intervene in his leader's love life?He ex-vented internally.

Deciding to play Cupid- Chase first wanted to hear Quickshadow's perspective on what she felt towards Heatwave. He spared her a glance and finally noticed how relaxed she looked. Her shoulder pads weren't tense and her optic lids were closed as she focused on the soft sound of crashing waves. This seemed like the best opportunity to find out what she felt towards the fire bot.

Chase began collecting his thoughts but before he could figure out how he would get her to open up, Quickshadow's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"There's nothing quite like this on Cybertron, isn't there?" It was more of a statement than a question, one that took Chase by surprise.

"..No, not that I recall." He managed to answer.

Quickshadow hummed in response, still not taking her optics off the clear waters.

"Your injuries seem to be healing much faster than Boulder had anticipated." He broke the peaceful silence again.

"Perhaps if I were to ask nicely they'd let me head back to my post and fulfill my duties." Her optics lifted in a half eye roll.

"Maybe." Chase shrugged, slightly amused with her sarcastic comment.

"I told them I'd be fine." She muttered, recalling seeing their worried expressions through half lidded optics.

"Everyone was still worried." Chase turned to look at her.

Quickshadow only nodded. The entire team had been on edge those couple hours she had been unstable.

As if he was reading her mind, he met her arctic blue optics with an unreadable gaze.

"..Heatwave, most of all."

Quickshadow internally facepalmed herself. Of course he would mention Heatwave. She really didn't need this right now.

Chase noticed her shoulder pads tensed and her pupils dilated at the mere mention of his name. She definitely held some sort of lingering sentiment towards him. All he needed to do was press the right buttons and maybe she'd shed a light on her own emotions.

He felt her optics on him and looked up to see glowing blue staring back at him, as if she was trying to read him.

"..He told you, didn't he?" he cocked a brow, waiting for her to emphasize. "That he..likes me." His optics slightly widened and his confused look turned into one of bewilderment.

"How did-?" Quickshadow didn't let him utter another word and turned to look back over the receding sun. "He was talking in his recharge." she answered bluntly. Chase didn't question her, his silence told her to continue.

"I've known for a while now..he's not too good with hiding emotion."

"So..you don't reciprocate his sentiments?" Chase was pushing her barriers but Quickshadow only sighed in response.

"..It's...complicated." Chase could tell she was biting back what she wanted to say, she opened her dermas to say something but quickly closed them and began to stand up.

Chase didn't try to stop her. He knew he had pried a bit too much, she needed some space.

He watched as she turned on her heel and walked off.

"He's better off without me..and I'm better off alone."