Moving on chapter 13

True to her word, Elita One had visited Peaches the next afternoon. The 2 femmes talked about general girl things and what had gone on recently in each other's lives. Meanwhile, Aaron was playing with his sisters in the rec room, still shaken over the previous night's events but otherwise okay. Sideways was also playing with them, trying his best not to think of what could have happened if he, Peaches and so many others had not intervened.

"Daddy, up!" Crystal said.

"Okay." Sideways picked up Crystal just as Optimus walked in. The Autobot leader had just finished a press conference, explaining what had happened to Peaches and that she would be safe and still able to take care of her family. "Hello Optimus."

"Up Pwime, please!" Abby interrupted her father.

Optimus Prime picked up the human toddler and sat down on the sofa next to Sideways. "The press conference went well; I can only hope that humans do not think of you and Peaches as bad parents when that is far from the truth."

'I know." the ex-Decepticon replied, trying not to show that he was sad. "I can't stop thinking about 'what if' though. So many things could have happened to the kids and could happen since there's still more of Megatron's followers out there somewhere."

"I understand the feeling my friend but the only thing you can do now is focus on the present." Optimus told him.

Sideways nodded. It was going to be so hard for Peaches to recover but he believed that she would do so.

After Elita had left, Prowl had been the next one to visit the Pretender. He had a few get well cards, some of which were written by Peaches' human friends as well as one from the President. When he left, the femme looked at them and smiled. She was already beginning to feel a bit better not by much but not as horrible as in the immediate aftermath of what had happened.

"Peaches."

She looked up to see Ratchet standing there. "I'm okay right now Ratchet."

"Just checking. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. Also, you will have to be in here for roughly 15 days, possibly more."

"So my family's going to have to move without me and I'll have to join them later." Peaches said sighing sadly.

"It's not your fault for what happened; we've already told you that." the medic reassured her. "As I said, do not hesitate to ask if you require assistance."

(One week later)

Peaches had gotten tons of fan mail from humans and was now able to move her hands and sit up in order to write responses. Most of them were from human children who were convinced that the Autobots were good, there were a few get well cards from her favorite celebrities, no thanks to Sideways publishing a list of them and convincing some to write to her, and some messages of well wishes from world leaders, including the Pope, the President of the U.S.A., and several prime ministers of various countries. The Pretender began smiling and put them all back in the box; she would have to reply to them later. Instead she got up and walked around the medbay, as she had started doing 3 days ago. She still wasn't allowed out though; that wouldn't be until tomorrow.

The orange femme no longer needed help getting to sleep and although she still had violent nightmares, they seemed to get less intense as time passed. She then saw somebody she did not expect out to walk in. It was Barricade.

"You didn't need to visit me just because-" Peaches started to say.

"I don't know if you had one of those 'near death experiences' as some fleshlings claim to have but to practically come back in 2 seconds is quite impressive." he said.

"Is that why you wanted to come in here? Telling me that." she asked.

"No, just part of it." Barricade groaned. If he hadn't had Sideways around, he would have gone crazy dealing with the Autobots. "the other reason is, Sideways insisted on it."

She wasn't sure why but Peaches started laughing a little bit at that. She then calmed down. "Okay then; I'm fine if you have to know just not out of here completely until Ratchet gives me a clean bill of health."

They made light conversation, having forgotten the awkwardness of the femme forgiving the former interrogation officer and him accepting it. Soon after, Barricade left and Sideways came into visit. By then, it was mid-afternoon.

"So, where are the kids?"

"Optimus has got Abby and Crystal; Ashley took Aaron to Six Flags for the day so that he could get out of the house." Sideways replied.

Peaches smiled. "That's great; anything else?"

The ex-'Con got nervous. After a few moment though, he said "Peaches, I know Ratchet won't want you doing anything considered strenuous for about 4-5 days after you get out of here but I did want to ask, when you will be able to do it, will you-" he stopped.

"Merge our sparks together and the other things we haven't been able to do because of raising kids,the war and so many other things?" she finished. "Yes butis it anything like sex between humans though?"

"Technically no; it's more of a 'spiritual' thing than a physical one but it is very similar in other ways." Sideways answered. "In other words, we're not going to create another sparkling that way."

The Pretender sighed with relief. "Okay, just wondering. I've never done anything like that before but I am looking forward to trying it." She then got back onto the berth as she was tired.

Sideways wrapped his arms around Peaches, being careful not to aggravate her healing injuries, and gave her a kiss. It lasted but a few moments but it was enough reassurance to the femme that even after a near death experience, her sparkmate had never wanted to leave her at all. Hence, most of hers were about him tonight and she blocked her end of her bond with Optimus in order to not have any interruptions while having these dreams...

Authors note: I know it's a bit short but I didn't want to make it too long.