Chromia graciously gave Ironhide a few weeks to process what had happened before she went to talk to him. After watching the miserable mech avoid talking to anyone, get angry and tired at the training room, and lock himself in his quarters at night, she had decided it was time

Seeing as it was after the training room's hours of operation, she headed for his quarters.

" 'Hide." She knocked on his door, "Lemme in."

With an annoyed sigh, Ironhide got up from his desk chair and opened the door, "What?"

She glanced up at him and said, "We need to talk."

He groaned, "Not you too. Dammit, I don' want to talk to anybot. Go away." He tried to close the door but she stuck her ped in it.

"I won't."

"Why the hell should I talk to you instead of the 20 other bots who asked?" Ironhide folded his arms

" 'Cuz I ain't asking." Chromia said stoutly, "And I'm more stubborn than any bot on this base, so I'll just keep bugging you. Let me in, so we can get this over with."

He glared at her and widened the door so she could squeeze through before he closed it. She glanced around his room, surprised to find it so clean.

"Wow, it's actually not a complete dump in here." She muttered to herself.

"Everyone's room looks like this, dumbaft." Ironhide sighed, "We don' have a lot of our own stuff, like possessions and crap, so the rooms just kinda look...empty. 'Cept maybe Jazz's and Blaster's."

Chromia nodded, "Well...you know I'm not very good at this, uh, talking stuff but...I just wanted to say I've been kinda worried about you. I mean, everyone has, but-"

Ironhide was sitting at his desk with his back to her, and he shook his helm angrily, "You don' give a damn about me, Chromia, and you know it. Stop pretendin' ya care. It's gettin' real old, real fast."

"You know somethin', afthole?" Chromia said impatiently, beginning to lose her temper, "I fraggin' hate when you pull this crap." She stormed over to him and spun his seat around so he was facing her, "I'm sorry I don't return your fragging feelings for me, but that doesn't mean I don't give a damn about you. You're still my friend, and I am here right now, putting up with your macho-mech bullshit because I care."

Ironhide closed his optics and jerked his chair back to face his desk, scrubbing his faceplates with his servos. "Fine." He grumbled, "What do ya wanna talk about?". Inwardly, he wondered at what he and Chromia had become "friends".

She was unusually quiet for a moment and then, "You blame yourself for what happened, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Chro-mo." He laid his helm down on his desk, "It was my fault. I could've stopped him from leavin' us, told him to wait, tackled him, anythin'. But instead I told him to go off on his own route. I knew somethin' bad would happen, I just knew it, but I let him go off on his own anyways. And now he's….gone."

"Ironhide." Chromia sighed softly, "It's not your fault that he's gone."

"Yes, it is."

"Well, you know what, if you're gonna play it that way, then it was my fault too." Chromia sat heavily on his berth, "I was there too, 'Hide. I could have done something to stop him from leaving. And I definitely shouldn't have tried to command him not to do it. I should have-I should have known ordering him around would only make him want to do it more." She smiled sadly, "Stupid rebellious kid."

"Yeah…" Ironhide said sorrowfully, "I miss that idiot."

"Hey." She put a servo on his shoulder, "You gonna be okay?"

He nodded, optics downcast, "Eventually."

"Well...anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"Ah, Chro-mo." He chuckled a little, "Ya don' want me to answer that question."

"...Frag it, Ironhide!" She quickly removed her servo from his shoulder, realizing his meaning

He smiled up at her, "I'll be alright Chro-mo. Long as ya keep buggin' me and bein' my friend."

"Gee, that was almost touching." Chromia rolled her optics and walked toward the door, "Better be careful or bots might start thinking you're just a big softie." She waved and walked out of the room, leaving Ironhide alone.

He sat there for a while longer, thinking about Smokescreen, and missing the young bot. Finally he shook himself and got up with a sigh to go get some energon.

He glanced around as he exited his quarters, realizing that night had fallen. Everyone was probably asleep, except those on guard duty.

Ironhide headed down the corridor towards the mess hall, trying to be as quiet as a mech of his size could. When he got to the mess hall, it was nearly empty, save a few bots.

Strongarm had just gotten off her shift and waved him over to the table she was sitting at. Suppressing a groan of annoyance, he grabbed a cube and headed over to the younger femme.

"Hey." He nodded to her

"Hey! How are you?" Strongarm said cheerfully. Ironhide shrugged and sat down and she pursed her lips, "Still feelin' down?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if ya don' mind."

She nodded and was silent for a moment before she muttered, half to herself, "I wonder If I-no I shouldn't."

"Ya shouldn't what?" Ironhide raised an optic ridge

"I know something that I shouldn't tell you." Strongarm fretted, "But it would definitely make you feel better, and I really want you two to end up together…"

Ironhide choked on his energon, "You know somethin' about Chromia? Tell me, femme!"

She hesitated, "I shouldn't….she's my friend, and 'Star's the gossipy one, not me."

"Alright, alright, just tell me this." He sighed, "Is it about why she won't admit she likes me, or even consider bein' with me?"

"No." Strongarm shook her helm, "Even I don't know why that is. She doesn't open up very often."

"Believe me, I've noticed." Ironhide groaned, "I don' know what to do anymore; she won't stop pushin' me away. Maybe I should just give up…"

"No!" Strongarm burst out, "You can't give up 'Hide!" She buried her faceplates in her servos, "Uggghh, I shouldn't tell you this, but…"

"Yeah?" Ironhide said eagerly

"She had...she had a dream about you." Strongarm cringed, "A while ago…"

"What?!" Ironhide's optics widened, "What kind of dream?"

She glared at him, "What kind do you think?"

"Holy fraggin' Primus." Ironhide sat back in his chair, stunned, "About me? How do ya know?"

"Well, me and Firestar thought she was having a bad dream, 'cuz we could hear her crying out from our rooms." Strongarm took a breath, "But when we woke her up, her fans were going and she was all hot and bothered. So Firestar tackled her and forced her to admit that she had an interface dream. Firestar found out later that it was probably about you when she saw Chromia smiling at you. She teased her about it, and Chromia got all embarrassed and denied everything, but...who else could it be?"

"Scrap…" Ironhide trailed off, grinning widely, "Yer right, that did cheer me up."

"Don't tell her I told you!" Strongarm said worriedly and Ironhide nodded.

" 'Course I won't." He stood up to go, "Sorry, I gotta go...process."

She nodded and Ironhide quickly left the mess hall, dumping the empty energon cube on his way out.

As he wandered the halls, knowing he didn't really want to go back to his lonely quarters, he realized something. Initially, he had been pleased that Chromia had had an interface dream about him. The thought of her getting all hot and bothered kinda turned him on.

But now he was realizing that this was just another fact proving that Chromia was attracted to him, but kept pushing him away.

He looked up to realize his peds had bought him right to Chromia's door. He huffed angrily, deciding the femme about her actions, and banged loudly on her door.