Prowl watched the two injured bots walk through the groundbridge and immediately get swarmed by First Aid, Firestar, and Strongarm.

He was glad to have the two bots back, but he was worriedly hailing Optimus with comms, trying to tell them not to invade Darkmount. They needed to turn back before the fighting started, before anyone got hurt. Before Jazz got hurt.

Finally he reached the Prime, :Hello?:

:Optimus!: Prowl sighed, :Retreat, Ironhide and Chromia have been found:

:They have?: Optimus frowned, :Where are they?:

:Safely in the base: Prowl commed, :I would suggest we recall the mission before there are any casualties. There are none so far, correct?:

Prowl held his breath until the Prime finally responded, :Correct. We will return via groundbridge once we are far enough from Darkmount:

He ended the commlink and Prowl breathed a sigh of relief before heading down to the Medbay to check on the two injured soldiers.

Strangely they weren't bickering as they usually did, Prowl noted as he entered the Medbay. Chromia was just lying limply on a medical berth, unable to move without pain. Ironhide was sitting in a chair next to her, glancing worriedly at her every few minutes, his servo resting unconsciously on his leg.

"Chromia. Ironhide." Prowl greeted, "How are you two doing?"

"I'm alright." Ironhide said

"I feel like a useless old lady." Chromia grumbled, "I can't even fragging move!"

Prowl shook his helm, smiling a little, "I'm glad you're both okay. I would ask what happened but Optimus will be returning soon from the rescue mission and I know he'll want to hear it too."

"No!" Chromia struggled to sit up but Ironhide pushed her down, giving her a stern warning glance, "The rescue mission can't be canceled! There are still Autobot prisoners at Darkmount; Ironhide saw them and Starscream was bragging to me about how many there were."

Ironhide nodded, "I couldn't see too well 'cuz it was dark, but there was 'bout 20 or 30 cells and they were all full."

"20 to 30 more Autobots?" Prowl was shocked, "I had no idea the Decepticons had any Autobot captives, much less that many!"

"Yes." Chromia nodded fiercely, one of the few things she could do, "You have to get them out of there. All of them. We're gonna need almost the whole team behind this mission too, not just five or ten of us."

"I'll let Optimus know and we'll begin the mission as soon as possible." Prowl said seriously, "Thank you for the information you two."

He turned to leave, nearly bumping into Strongarm and Firestar who were coming in with for cubes of energon balanced in their servos.

Firestar handed one to Ironhide and Strongarm helped Chromia drink one as Firestar asked, "So what happened to you guys?"

Chromia told them the whole long story, figuring Ironhide could retell it to Optimus later. She tactfully left out the part where Ironhide had kissed her, knowing that the two femmes would go nuts over that piece of information.

When she finished, the two femmes were just sitting there, shocked at what the two had gone through. Finally, Firestar said, "So….you saved Ironhide's life and now you've been reduced to lifeless jelly?"

"Hey!" Chromia said angrily, "I would smack you if I could move my damn arms."

"Didn't stop ya before." Ironhide scowled teasingly

"Wait, you smacked him?" Strongarm asked, "Why?"

Chromia blushed a little and tried to say nonchalantly, "I dunno, probably because he did something dumb and Ironhideish."

"You're blushing again." Firestar said evilly, flicking her optics between the two.

"Again?" Ironhide frowned, "Why was she blushin' before?"

"Oh, no reason really." Firestar smirked, stretching her legs. Chromia could have sworn she saw little demon horns appear on the top of the femme's helm, "She just got a little….heated."

Ironhide just frowned confusedly and Chromia silently thanked Primus he wasn't a smart one, "Hey Star, aren't you supposed to be doing that thing?"

"What thing?" Firestar said innocently

"The thing?" Chromia glared at her, "The thing that you have to do to prevent extreme damage to femmes, particularly ones with red plating?"

"Oh that thing." Firestar said hastily, getting up out of her chair, "C'mon Strongarm. You can help me with it."

They walked towards the door and once they were out of Ironhide's field of vision, Firestar began making kissy faces and hearts with her servos, Strongarm copying her.

Chromia glared extra hard at her, hoping maybe she would spontaneously combust, but of course that was unsuccessful. Eventually the femmes got tired and with one last sultry wink at Chromia, Firestar finally walked out the door, with Strongarm behind her.

An awkward silence fell between Ironhide and Chromia, and Chromia recalled the feeling of his kiss, which she hadn't allowed herself to think about until now. It had been so long since she had been kissed by anyone, and she had forgotten how amazing it felt, how passionate and tender they could be….

Stop it, She told herself, squashing her feelings of attraction, We are not getting involved with anymore mechs in the middle of a war. Not again. It's too easy to...to lose them.

"Chromia?" Ironhide asked, interrupting her thoughts before they could take a dive into despair, "I wanted to...ask ya somethin'."

Uh-oh, Chromia panicked, Quick, stall! "I'm kinda tired." She lied, "Wanna talk tomorrow?"

"Oh." Ironhide looked down at his peds dissapointedly, "Uh, sure."

"And by the way," She added, "Since I saved your life, I expect you to be here everyday to entertain me until I get out of this hellhole."

She expected him to get angry, swear, or at the very least be vaguely annoyed. But he just smiled at her, "Sure Chro-mo. I look forward to torturin' ya."

He stood up to go and Chromia just kinda stared at him. Dear Primus, She thought, dismayed, I think the poor mech's already falling for me! This is not good. How am I gonna tell him I can't…

She watched him walk away, only wincing a little on his newly bandaged leg, trying to look tough because he knew she was watching. Do I even want to tell him?, She wondered distantly

When he was out of sight, Chromia turned over onto her side on the scratchy medical blanket, resolving to get some recharge.

With all this damn mech drama she was going to need it.