Moving on chapter 12

There is nothing like a mother who will do anything to protect their children. The orange and red femme who was always meant to be an Autobot fits that description perfectly. I see Peaches as she goes with her sparkmate and her fellow Autobots to rescue the 3 children from Mindwipe. They arrive at the location, energon cubes stacked in their arms and Sideways and Peaches being the only ones in sight.

Soon they become surrounded by drones as they hand the cubes over to the Decepticon. Enraged, Peaches attacks several of them while Sideways gets the 2 human children and one sparkling to safety. The other Autobots soon come to assist her; the Pretender then turns her attention to Mindwipe and begins battle with him. He tries to hypnotize her into stopping but Optimus Prime my descendant has given her the immunity he has to those powers so she is unable to follow the Decepticon's "suggestion". After 20 minutes, both have seriously wounded each other, and are unable to get up.

"You can kill me now." Mindwipe tells her.

Peach refuses to do so, saying "No; it would be the easy way out and would not give me satisfaction. You don't deserve it."

Mindwipe then perishes and his spark fades out, his drones destroyed and his captives freed. His threat has ended but Peaches may not make it. She is taken by Ratchet back to the base, her family and teammates following and waiting to hear any news of her prognosis.

It is not Peaches' time yet; she was meant to survive and continue caring for young ones, human and Cybertronian alike thus I must ensure that she does-Vector Prime

(Switch to Peaches' POV)

She wasn't quite sure where she was but she saw several friends and a few enemies surrounding her.

"Peach, you did it." Jolt said to her. "You didn't lose yourself completely even though you were close to it"

"What do you mean?" Peaches asked.

"What we mean is that you didn't make the same mistake he did." An older mech was saying; the Pretender presumed this was Jetfire and she could see that he was referring to Sentinel Prime.

"You're really something soldier and a real Autobot." Ironhide added.

"Pretender: has obtained my respect" Soundwave said.

The orange and red femme looked at Sentinel Prime. "I just did something I could never have done if I hadn't learned a lot from Optimus as he once learned from you." She told him. "Even if you didn't turn out so great in the end, it was a good reminder that no one will ever be perfect and that there are a lot who have good intentions, just horrible ways of carrying them out. What I do not understand is why you didn't kill me after you got rid of Ironhide."

"You were not considered a threat." Sentinel Prime explained. "Unfortunately, you've proved me wrong tonight and were quite impressive."

Peaches smirked. "I may as well say this now that I have a chance to; I've forgiven you for being stupid and a jerk. Am I really dead or just not there yet though?"

"Peaches, you are not meant to be here yet." Wheeljack explained.

"What?"

It seemed that her friends and enemies had now disappeared and the Pretender was now seeing 12 of the ancient Primes, at least she guessed that was who they were.

"It was not supposed to be your time tonight." One of them said. "Your children and other young ones still need you to help them. Sideways needs you as well."

"I know." Peaches replied. "I need to teach them what I have learned."

"Though you aren't one of our own you are still important." A femme, presumably Solus Prime, was saying to the Pretender. "We are as proud of you as Optimus Prime is. Return to them."

They seemed to disappear. Peaches looked around again; she was in the medical bay and Optimus and Sideways were sitting next to the berth.

"My love you've returned!" Sideways nearly shouted in surprise at the realization of this and nearly fell out of his chair.

"I could have sworn I had declared you dead almost 2 seconds ago." Ratchet added, equally surprised at the resilience of his patient. "You're going to have to be here for a while though."

"I know." Peaches replied, and then began to become worried. "What about my kids?"

"They are all safe and had only minor injuries." Optimus Prime explained gently.

"Optimus, thanks for keeping me from acting like you had before." The Pretender said, not liking that she was mentioning those events again. "That disturbed me; I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think I had actually seen all of what had happened. I'm sorry."

The Autobot leader realized what she was referring to. "There is no need to be sorry Peaches; you and Sideways could not help that you both were there at the same time Sentinel and I were. Perhaps someday I will be able to forgive what our enemies did to us as you were able to."

"I really hope so." Peaches yawned.

"It's about time that you rested my dear." Ratchet told her. "You have a very long recovery ahead of you."

Sideways bid everyone good night and went to sleep with Aaron, Abby and Crystal while Optimus remained by Peaches' bedside, ready to share a bond dream with her…

She found herself seemingly alone on the beach again, yet she really wasn't. The femme heard him call out "My adopted daughter, come here. You will never be alone."

Peaches ran over to Optimus and told him "Is there a good memory of yours that you wouldn't mind sharing with me?"

"Indeed there is." The Autobot leader replied smiling.

(2 years before)

The memory Optimus had chosen was the first time he had driven Peaches anywhere. Specifically that had been when she had briefly had to do some training on American soil. When another truck passed by, the femme made a motion with her hand to get the other driver to honk his horn, which he did.

Optimus had been caught off guard. "May I ask what that was?"

"Something pointless that a lot of humans do for fun; I know I'm not really-" Peaches immediately stopped.

"There is no need to be ashamed of living among a different species." the Autobot leader told her. "I must admit that you would possibly make a good ninja since you surprised me like that."

"I don't want to be a ninja Optimus; Autobots are much cooler!" the then 17 year old Pretender insisted.

If he could have smiled in vehicle mode, Optimus Prime would have. She shouldn't have been involved in this war but had no choice; she was only slightly younger than Bumblebee in Cybertronian years, and wasn't going to be considered an adult by human standards for 4 more months. Then again, she was enjoying herself now and that was what was important.

(End memory)

Peaches was embarassed. "I can't believe you still remember me goofing around before I had to do that training with Chromia." she said as her cheeks turned a darker color.

"Indeed." Optimus Prime replied smiling. "One can not change the past; you must remember this."

"I know but what Mindwipe could have done is going to give me worse nightmares than what I've been having since the Chicago stuff." the Pretender admitted, suddenly feeling afraid. "I just feel like I can't handle them both; I know Sideways is trying his best to help me and the kids don't understand but still-"

The Autobot leader led Peaches to the so called "storm" that had appeared a short distance away. "I will not let you face these alone my daughter."

That surprised the orange and red femme; she had always thought of Optimus and Elita as another "Dad" and "Mom" and yet had never heard them say that they acknowledged that and didn't mind. "Thanks Dad." she said, letting him hug her.

(switch to Optimus Prime's personal log)

Peaches' nightmares involve many horrifying scenes that are difficult to describe though I feel I must do so. The one she had tonight involved her finding her young ones dead and snapping, therefore bringing out the Decepticon programming that she had as she had been created by them. I was not sure if this would happen; I will have to ask Ratchet tomorrow. For now, I sent her comfort over our bond and let her awaken to talk to me verbally, as she'd rather do that.

"Optimus-" she started to say.

"I have already told Elita; fortunately, Mirage volunteered to take her place cleaning up Chicago so that she will able to return to bae and visit you as well." I assured her.

"Thanks." Peaches replied.

She has tried to go back into recharge again but is moving around in her sleep and shaking. My chest opens and the Matirx of Leadership engulfs her with light, filling her with a peaceful feeling so that she may be able to rest without being given a sedative. I should also let myself get some rest as I know that she, her immediate family and everyone else who went with us on the rescue mission is safe right now and that is all that matters.

Author's note: I've only got 3 more chapters of this left. Wow.