Moving on chapter 6

(Bond dream sequence)

Peaches found herself on the beach again with Optimus; she knew she shouldn't get too used to this of course since she wouldn't always share dreams and memories over her bond with him but still, it was nice to be able to communicate without worrying about Decepticons or anyone else overhearing them.

"Optimus" The red and orange Pretender wasn't sure how to start with what she wanted to say. She had so many mixed emotions all over again when going to bed; happiness for the return of her dog in her life and for Aaron being open to the idea of being in her family, sadness that she and Sideways would be living off base in at least a month regardless of whether they adopted the boy or not, being at the stage of grief where one said "I'd do anything to have this person still alive" and mistrust of everyone else new that she would encounter at some point in her long life after what Sentinel Prime had done as anyone who she had told would already know but she hadn't told anyone aside from Optimus, Elita, and Sideways. "I don't know why but I want to show you one of my memories of my life as a human, specifically the first time I made a difference in someone's life other than my human parents. Besides, it's time I took a break from thinking about what has happened recently and this is a good way of doing so."

Though he had known humans for years, civilian human life was a mystery to Optimus Prime as he had not seen it that much, only being told about it occasionally by Bumblebee or one of the human soldiers on base. Peaches had rarely told anyone of what she had gone through before realizing what she was and then, she had only told Ashley, Sideways, Jolt, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker. "Very well Peaches, whenever you are ready."

The orange and red femme sighed and said "Here goes nothing."…

(Reality, so to speak)

Sideways had gotten up to take Abby to the bathroom as well as show Aaron where it was when the human boy said that he couldn't hold it all night. Now that they had both taken care of their business, he tried to get the two humans to settle down to sleep. The human toddler settled down soon enough; the six year old was a different story.

"Dad-I mean Sideways, I don't know if I can go back to sleep." Aaron admitted sadly.

"Nervous about tomorrow and explaining why you want to be part of this family?" the ex Decepticon asked.

"Yeah; it's hard to talk about and explain." Aaron sighed.

"I know you consider yourself too old for 'lullabies' but I still think that this song will help you feel better." Sideways put on some music; the song playing was "Lullaby for a stormy night". The ex 'con thought the song was beautiful…if only more people wrote songs like that.

Aaron climbed onto the cot that had been set up for him and soon fell asleep by the time the song was over. Sideways climbed onto the berth and snuggled next to Peaches; he wasn't going to let anything else horrible happen to her or anybody else who didn't deserve it.

(Back In Peaches' and Optimus Prime's shared bond dream)

Optimus found himself walking into what humans called a "middle school", seeing it from Peaches' POV. At that point in her life, she had shorter hair and did not tie it back as she had been doing when he first met her. He knew he couldn't change this memory but still, he couldn't help but feel that it started off horribly.

A girl who had red hair was being pushed around by a blonde girl who then walked off. Optimus felt a wave of reassurance from Peaches wash over him as he experienced the next part of the memory.

"I can't believe it! Amber is such a bitch!"

The Autobot leader would have to scold the Pretender later as he listened to the redheaded girl saying "I don't get it either. I haven't done anything to her. My name's Betty."

"I'm Peaches."

Optimus was pulled out of the memory back to the beach as the orange and red femme explained the rest of it.

"I sat with Betty at lunch that day and she and I became close friends. Then I did something stupid after school." Peaches admitted, feeling ashamed of what she had done.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I got into a fight with Amber. My mom was about as angry as you were with Charlotte Mearing when she found out what I had done and my dad gave me a 2 hour lecture." She replied. "I hated it but I do realize now that I didn't have a good reason for it and after 2 years, Amber gave up on bothering us just in time to move away. She apologized before she left but I never forgave her since by that time, I had read stories about kids who committed suicide after dealing with bullying from almost everyone in their class and I couldn't imagine what Betty would have done to herself if I hadn't befriended her."

Peaches had sounded sad near the end of this and sighed. She didn't think about this particular memory as much as she used to.

"I can see why most humans dislike middle school and high school after seeing that however, it is hard for me to believe that you used profanity when I usually do not hear those terms from you." Optimus Prime couldn't help but laugh a little bit before turning serious. "The little things we do always make a difference in our lives; saving Aaron and letting him stay with you is no exception to that and neither is standing by a fellow student who needed a friend more than anything else."

"yeah I know; I'm thinking more about what's best for him and the rest of my family now rather than what just happened; Don't get me wrong; I'm still upset it's just getting easier to deal with but when I was resting earlier, I started missing Jolt all over again and imagined seeing him and talking with him. I'd do anything for anohter day with him." The Pretender had tears on her face. "I should have been there to stop Shockwave but I couldn't and while he got what was coming to him it still doesn't give me closure."

"We can never truly forget those types of events but it is true what humans say about time healing all wounds." Optimus Prime hugged her. "You will learn that soon enough."

For the rest of the night, Peaches said nothing as Optimus gave her comfort that only a parental figure could give before they both returned to reality upon waking up, and remembering what needed to be done today.

(Sideways' personal log)

Peach seems to have recharged better tonight than she was before; I'm proud of her for being so strong even if she doesn't feel like she is. She knows she needs to be for me, Aaron, Abby and Crystal. Speaking of which, the last of the kids has not figured out how to transform back into her robot mode yet but she should by the time she reaches the age of 4 in human years according to Ratchet's best guess.

Speaking of the medic, he gave Aaron a checkup this morning. I went in with the human boy who would possibly soon be the oldest child of my family while Peaches played with the girls and told them all about the hatchlings.

"Hello Sideways and you as well Aaron." Ratchet said to us. "I trust you both are well rested?"

"Yes." The blonde haired boy replied nervously.

"Aaron, Ratchet is a doctor. He's not going to hurt you although he does easily get annoyed with certain other parties pulling pranks and making mischief." I explained, referring of course to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who had remained in Chicago to continue helping with the clean up work.

"And it is a good thing that those 2 are not present right now." Ratchet gave me a small glare for reminding him but quickly turned back to Aaron and lifted him up onto the berth. The Autobot medic then scanned the small boy, who was a bit unnerved at the sensation but not in pain.

"Don't worry; you're healing like you are supposed and you will have those stitches removed whenever its deemed fit for you to have that done." Ratchet gave the human kid that my sparkmate and I had grown fond of a small Oreo cookie for behaving and set him down on the floor. "And Peaches better not give you only fast food today."

"And what's wrong with getting him a Happy Meal as long as I make him get apple slices and milk with his burger or chicken nuggets?" Peaches asked as she walked by.

I led Aaron out and couldn't help but laugh as the medic kept calm enough to say "Then you have to get yourself healthy foods as well if you're making him get some. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Peaches replied over her shoulder. Aaron and I caught up to her and the girls. Crystal was excitedly saying "Play place!"

"McDonald's!" Abby shouted.

"How about later after we see if Aaron can stay with us? If he can, we'll go there to celebrate." I said.

"Yay!" they both screamed.

Aaron's face lit up at the idea. I couldn't help but smile myself at it. As I saw it, things were getting better and would keep getting better as the day went on.

Author's note: Not the best but the writer's block is going away more or less. Hope you enjoyed it.