Chapter 3
Author's note: This chapter homages Botosphere's work because their stories are awesome and even though I've only read a few of them, I plan to read the other ones ASAP.
It was later that same night when Peaches woke up crying. She had been having nightmares of the last few nights of generic Decepticons having killed all of her friends, her sparkmate, her children, her dog, and Aaron. The orange Pretender would then hear evil laughter and then wake up.
She immediately got up and started walking around the block, pacing back and forth in an attempt to tire herself out again.
"Peaches, will you please go back into recharge?" someone asked her.
Peaches turned and saw Ratchet. She didn't want to say anything about her nightmare and would rather let Optimus and Elita One rest for a while instead of talking to them. She was still confused about what she would do about the situation with Aaron and more or less, and after nearly 2 days of shock and denial, was at the 2nd stage of grief, that being anger.
"What does it look like I'm trying to do?" Peaches almost shouted. "I can't get back to sleep. I feel the need to adopt that kid that I rescued, I want revenge, and I had food thrown at me yesterday along with numerous other things while trying to help out! Those humans were lucky that Leadfoot and Roadbuster stopped me before I went after them!"
"Frankly, I'm shocked that they were the ones to do so." Ratchet replied calmly. "Regardless of that, taking everything out on the humans who hate us isn't going to fix anything."
"Surprise, surprise, Mr. 'You break it, I'll remake it'. It's easier for you to deal with death than it is for me since I've seen less of it!" The Pretender stated, the first sentence being sarcastic.
"That's not necessarily true and you know it!" the Autobot medic was trying to keep himself calm and barely succeeding at doing so.
Peaches stomped off saying "Don't you dare follow me!", walking off in another direction.
Ratchet shook his head sadly; he had been trying to tell Optimus to get her and her family away from Chicago in order to help them with moving past all of this but he knew that wasn't going to change Peaches' memories of everything. He remembered her reaction when Ironhide had been executed…
(Flashback)
Peaches couldn't even cry when she saw Sentinel shoot Ironhide and the latter of the two mechs rusting away instantly. She then picked up one of her own rifles and one of Sideways' blades. She started running towards the turncoat Prime.
"Sentinel Prime, you jerk! How could you do that to Optimus? Working with the 'cons like that and making a-a deal of all things!" she shouted as she ran towards him.
"Is it not that different then Sideways betraying the Decepticons to be with you?" he asked.
"Leave me out of this and it is different!" Sideways quickly came to her defense. "I love Peaches and my kids more than the universe itself! Optimus Prime and the other Autobots are like our family and we will fight to protect them whether it's against humans, Decepticons or traitors, especially you!"
"Sideways get the girls out of here!" Peaches ordered him.
The ex-Decepticon did so, and Ratchet could swear he was hearing Crystal yell "Tunnel bad boy!" and that didn't even begin describe everything that the Prime had turned out to be.
Peaches lunged herself at Sentinel, opting to go for hand to hand combat instead of using weapons. The fight lasted about 3 minutes, ending when the orange and red femme was knocked to the ground and unable to get up.
Ratchet took it upon himself to take the Pretender to the medbay. As he did so, he heard her scream "You'll pay for this dick!"
"Peaches please calm down." The medic said, as he got her onto the examination table.
"How the hell am I supposed to calm down? One of Optimus Prime's relatives betrays us, kills Ironhide, Skids and Mudflap, and is being worse than a jerk! How can anyone remain calm in the midst of all of that?" she screamed, letting her anger overtake her. She also had a few tears streaming down her face.
Ratchet sighed. He wasn't sure how to answer that question.
(End flashback)
Ratchet went after Peaches and grabbed her. "You are not going off anywhere by yourself as long as I'm here."
"I'm not talking to you!" she shouted, as she tried to get free from his grasp.
Topspin had heard the commotion and assisted the medic with getting the Pretender off of the street, although she had managed to smash whatever glass windows had not been shattered while swinging her fists. Ratchet then gave Peaches a sedative and within a couple of seconds, she was out of it.
"How long should that last?" Topspin asked.
"At least until 8:00 a.m." Ratchet replied. "Hopefully, she will talk about whatever's been keeping her awake soon."
They didn't know it but Peaches was about to get some help that very night…
The orange and red femme found herself in a place that was a bit like where Sam found himself when he "died" in Egypt. Only it wasn't ancient Primes that she was seeing. Am I dead, Peaches thought, not liking the idea as she knew of several people who needed her.
"What's going on here? Is any of this real?" she asked, covering up her fear with anger.
"Paige Kathleen Smith come over here. You are not offline." someone said.
The Pretender was doubtful about everything but still seemed to feel the need to listen. She turned to see who it was and was a bit surprised. "Optimus! What are you doing in my dream?" She was now more surprised and had forgotten most of her anger from earlier. "Did Ratchet tell you-"
"He did tell me what happened earlier." Optimus replied. "Regardless of whether this is a dream or not, there are some very real things that you have to be told."
Peaches backed away and let anger overtake her again. "I can't listen Optimus; I don't want to trust anybody else besides those people that I've already known for sometime! Nothing's going to make me feel better!"
"And does the list of people you've known for sometime not include myself?" he asked. The Autobot leader walked over to the Pretender and put his hand on her shoulder, as he had done numerous times when she needed comfort.
It did include him; the orange and red femme realized this. "I just don't know what to think of Primes in general anymore after the Fallen and Sentinel having both turned to the dark side. I still trust you Optimus, it's just that-it's more complicated than you think!"
"Sideways already told me about Aaron." Optimus Prime explained. "I would not mind letting you adopt him although the humans would probably think otherwise."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you! I don't trust humans as much since some of them were working with the 'cons, like Carly's boss Mr. Gould; Sam explained everything to me and what he did to that guy. I know Ashley would never do anything wrong to me, neither would my human relatives or most of the other human NEST members and that Abby's just a toddler. I know Aaron's just a kid too but I still don't know whether I should take him in. I can't tell him 'no, I'm not taking care of you' but at the same time, I don't want him to feel horrible about not having a 'normal family' or the Decepticons that are remaining to have another reason to target my loved ones." Peaches sighed. "What if someone was working for them and had to kidnap him or Abby and that someone was someone i happened to know? I don't think I can handle it. And what would Jolt think of me acting like this? Heck, how are you even talking to me like this? It's got to be the sedative Ratchet gave me!"
(Optimus Prime's POV)
The Autobot leader wasn't sure how to explain how Cybertronian bonds worked but decided he would do so anyways to calm the Pretender down. Sure, he didn't play favorites but still, he couldn't help but think of Peaches as a daughter as she thought of him as a father figure. When he was done, Peaches asked something that he wasn't expecting.
"Can a person adopted by a Cybertronian have the same parent/child bond that anyone who was 'biologically' his/her child would have?"
"No, it is an entirely differrent bond but a bond nonetheless." Optimus explained. "In a sense, you were adopted by me when your human parents agreed with your decision to join NEST and I have yet to break my promise to them of keeping you safe."
"So that's how you're doing this! Have you always known what my dreams were or what?" Peaches was now confused.
"Unintetionally, as you have yet to learn to block your end of the bond but with time you will be able to." he answered. "If you wish to talk verbally instead, I will do so. I would never intentionally invade your privacy for any reason."
"Well, I can't stand the idea and it's going to take me time to get used to it. As for an unrelated issue, I suppose I can ask Aaron whether he wants to stay with Sideways and I and then I'll make my decision depending on the answer." the Pretender sighed sadly. "Still, that stupid nightmare...may as well show it to you since I can't use words to describe it."
Soon enough, the orange and red femme took Optimus Prime's hand and both seemed to "disappear" into a storm. Peaches was in fact right; no words could describe what was being shown. He had his own anger at the idea of any remaining 'cons killing everyone the Pretender cared about but sent a wave of reassurance to her over the bond. They soon appeared again in the same place that they were before.
"There you have it." Peaches was now crying all over again. "I can't believe how strong this bond actually is...thanks Optimus for letting me show you that. You've been there more times than I can count on one hand; the day my human parents died, the day I found out who my Cybertronian parents were, when Crystal was kidnapped by the 'Cons...so many examples that I can't list them all."
"You are very welcome Peaches; we will get through everything we're going to face the next few days, weeks, and perhaps months ahead even though it will not be overnight." Optimus couldn't help but smile.
He seemed to "leave" her there and was soon "back in the real world" so to speak.
"Is she all right now?" Elita asked.
"For the time being, she will be fine." he replied. "I don't know if I can say the same thing about anyone else..."
Author's note: Yeah, you'll know next chapter whether Peaches gets to adopt Aaron or not...don't know when I'll get to that though.