So now that Dark of the Moon is over with, I can finally write the basic idea that got me to write this whole story. It was a simple idea that occurred to me just when I was going to fall asleep in my bed and thought whether I should write the said idea down or just go to sleep and forget it. Turns out I hauled up my lazy ass and wrote the idea down and BAM. I managed to make Two Worlds, One Family. Because of one simple idea that came to my mind at like 3 in the morning.

And look where it lead us to. A magnificent, 90 chapter and counting, everlasting story. I'm feeling quite proud of what I have made and spruced up from my brain. So I hope that I will write this idea just the way I imagined it to be more than a year and a half ago. If not, I always have my notes to aid me in writing.

If you want the added effect on this story, I suggest listening to 'Instrumental Music – James Horner – The Dream (Titanic Ending Music)' and typing that into YouTube. You should be able to see a bluish icon with the Titanic under the sea and a person standing on the edge of it. It should be 02:25 minutes long.

So, here we are. The 90th chapter of Two Worlds, One Family. Enjoy my lovely readers! :)

One day later…

Eventually, we settled in the apartment the government gave us before the war in Chicago had started. When things were still calm.

I woke up in my room, which was nothing special at all. We had a lot of rooms here, in this apartment, and mine was on the second floor. The other two rooms up here were Nicole's and Mikaela's. Us girls sort of got the upper floor all to us. There were three rooms downstairs as well, one was shared by Sam and Carly, the other by Leo and the third by Sarah and Annabelle. Will occasionally came by and usually crashed on the couch. Not that he minded. It was a large couch anyway.

We didn't have any of our stuff with us. The house was a mess, because even though it wasn't at all affected by the war, it was as messy as Ironhide and I had found it, three days ago.

I stared up at the unpainted ceiling. This house was going to need a lot of work. And working on it would definitely keep my mind off things.

But in order to work, I needed supplies. And not just paintbrushes and paint, I needed fresh clothes. I had been in the same clothes for three days and I started to feel itchy.

When I woke up, I heard sounds coming from down the stairs. Looks like I was one of the latter to wake up.

As I just got out of bed and walked downstairs, the smell of bacon and eggs in the morning filled the kitchen and living room. I looked in the direction of the kitchen. Sarah was making breakfast for everyone.

Perhaps she needed help, even though I wasn't really in the mood to offer any, it was still a good deed.

And no good deed ever went unpunished. For some reason, this seemed to get into my head. I remembered the good deeds Ironhide did in his life. And where did that get him.

I wanted to cry for him. To cry out for him. To desperately plead to the deities to give him back to me. But I knew that such things would never happen. That I was alone now and forever. Me and the baby, which nobody, except Ratchet who swore to keep it a secret, and me knew. But I knew that eventually it would have all been visible. It's only a matter of months or weeks, before they start to suspect something.

"Need help?" I said when I got to Sarah, forcing a smile on my face.

She shook her head and kept making more and more eggs and bacon. "No need, Mel. You take it easy, okay?" She said in a quieter tone, glancing at me. "What you're going through is tough and you need all the support you can get. So trust me when I say this, just take it easy and give it time."

I nodded, pecking her on the cheek. "Thanks Sarah." She merely nodded in return after I sat down on the table, where Leo, Sam and Nicole were already eating.

"Your aunt makes the best breakfast I had eaten in forever." Nicole commented.

"Yeah, this bacon never tasted so good." Leo nodded in agreement.

"I think second rounds are incoming." Nicole said as Sarah swooped skillfully around the table giving each of us a plate of bacon and eggs.

"Dig in, there's more where that came from." She said with a smile. I started to eat, but I felt a little bad for her doing all the work. I wanted to ask her for help, but I knew that she would only lecture me about taking it easy.

But Nicole finished first, taking the dirty plates. "I'm stuffed. Say Sarah, do you ever think about applying to America's greatest Chef?" she said as I heard Sarah laugh. The two conversed freely as one made breakfast and the other cleaned up after it.

Then Sam lowered his fork and knife, putting his hands on his stomach and sighing loudly. "I think I've gained ten pounds."

Leo followed suit. "Yeah man, I ate like a pig." He said, but there was a distant sadness in his eyes. The loss of his friends was still fresh. The war was only over a day ago. And we had 8 great losses during this God forsaken war, including Ironhide. And that was just the Autobots, the soldiers were still in the process of body counting. And like soldiers, civilian bodies were also being counted. But there were hundreds of civilian losses, if not thousands. The whole city of Chicago was affected by their War.

As there was a silence in the kitchen, we all knew that everyone was thinking about their own loss. Leo was thinking about Skids and Mudflap, I was thinking about Ironhide. I couldn't honestly get my mind off him. Evading the thoughts would be like treachery. Like I wanted to forget him. But I could never do that. He was such a large part of my life. A part I would never like to give away or forget.

I suddenly lost my appetite. I didn't feel hungry anymore. And there was nothing more for me to do in here, than to eat. And I surely didn't feel like eating right now.

I stood up from the table, slowly and silently and walked away from the room. I went up the stairs of this apartment and got to my own room, closing the door, letting it click into place.

I turned to look around my room. It was painted a dull beige-brownish color with no pictures on the walls. I had a bed, closet and desk, all in the same shade of brown. But I took anything I could get. I got this apartment for free, but at a terrible cost.

I lost Ironhide.

I lied on my bed, resting on my back. My hands found their way on my stomach and I could feel the bump on it. I was thrilled that I was pregnant, but it only made matters worse. The child would be growing up without a father. I'd be a single parent. A single mother.

I didn't want that. But it's not like I can choose.

I drew circles on my stomach as I felt the tears well up in my eyes, as I stared at the ceiling. I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, as I felt my lips twist in a sad frown. The tears slipped down my cheeks, tracing all the way down to the bed.

I heard a knock on my door. For some reason, I first checked the time. It was about eleven in the morning.

"Come in." I said through my stuffed nose.

The door opened, as quietly as possible as I saw my uncle come in. He closed the door as I was wiping my tears away.

He quietly walked over to my bed. He sat on it as I sat up.

I looked at him as he had a sad look in his eyes, gazing at the ground. I looked at his hands. He was carrying a wooden box. It was small to medium in size.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "You doing okay, Will?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I should be asking you, that." I sighed.

"You sure?" I rubbed his shoulder.

"I don't… I don't know. Yes... No." he ran his hand through his hair. He wanted to say something, but he just sighed sadly.

I moved closer to him and sat on the side of the bed, hugging him. "It's going to be alright." I knew that was a lie and that things, after this, would never be alright. He hugged me back and nodded. I just knew I had to be the strong one, even for those who were once strong for me. I felt the tears tug at my eyes.

He shifted. "This is for you." He said, handing the box into my lap.

I looked at him, bringing my hands to the lid to open the box. "What is this?" I wiped my eyes, just in case and opened the box, only to see a sort of a blanket in it.

"It's the only… the only thing left of Ironhide." He managed to speak out, but with great difficulties. It affected him a lot, Ironhide's death. I gave him a sad look and gingerly took the blanket out.

"Will, I… I honestly don't remember this blanket." I sadly said, looking at it.

"Wrapped inside the blanket." He said, starting to take the edges off slowly. He let me do the rest, as I unveiled a part of Ironhide.

Inside the blanket was the scratched chrome and red colored GMC logo. I could feel my lips trembling as I put the box away and spread the blanket over my thighs. I took the GMC logo into my hands. It belong on the front of Ironhide's grille.

And without even knowing it, I saw a tear fall from my face and onto the logo, watering it. I could feel my face twist in a sad frown. I sniffled, but kept my gaze on the logo. "I just hoped this all was a dream. A nightmare, at least." I shook my head, wiping my face. "But it's not."

Will gently pulled me into a hug as I kept the logo near my heart. My tears kept splashing on the logo and soaked mine and Will's clothing. I snuggled into his warm and inviting embrace. "I never wanted you to go through this."

I didn't want it either, but who were we to choose. "You know, Will…" I didn't know why I was bringing up this subject, but it just seemed to me like I had to put it out. "I never asked you how you felt about John's death."

That caught him by surprise. We haven't talked about my dad, John, his brother, in years. We rarely ever talked about him, or his wife Katy, my mother. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "I know it's hard for me, but for you to lose your brother… and now we've lost Ironhide, as well."

He sighed after me. "It wasn't easy. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him. Of him and Katy. Perhaps Ironhide is with them now."

"How do you think John would react if he found out about me and Ironhide?" I asked, already imagining my dad yelling at Ron.

He chuckled. "Same way I would react if somebody was with Annabelle." His voice changed distinctively at the end.

"You can't stop it from happening, Will. She's going to find somebody for her, one day."

"Well, until that day comes, I'll have Ratchet watch over her."

"Oh, don't pick Ratchet. She won't be able to breathe without him monitoring her 24/7. I swear, he's worse than Ironhide was." I chuckled along with him, but the sounds died out.

"There's one more thing, Mel."

"What?" I said, running my fingers over the scratches and dirt the GMC logo held.

"We need to organize a funeral."

That hit me like a brick to a wall. I pressed my hands against my forehead, letting go of Will.

I never wanted to embrace the fact that Ironhide was dead. But a funeral was as real as it was going to get.

I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "We have to bury the others. Apparently on Cybertron, they would also bury the bodies of the deceased."

"Ironhide told me they used their bodies as spare parts."

"Only if they didn't have a mate to take care of them."

True.

"When?"

"Tomorrow. Noon."

I looked at the GMC logo in my hands and ran my thumb over the embossed letters. "Tomorrow, huh." I repeated, knowing fully well that I would have to let go of this dear GMC logo then. To bury it with him. Or to bury it, the logo perhaps representing him. "But what about the rest of the Autobots?"

"We've found and collected all we could of them." I nodded. This was so dark and morbid. He started to get up. "I have to go now, but be ready for tomorrow." He bent down to press a kiss on the top of my head. "If you need anything, you know who to call."

I nodded, looking at him as he walked away. "See you tomorrow, then." I said as he bade me goodbye and closed the door.

After what seemed like mere seconds have passed, I had burst out in tears, falling on the bed on my side. I bent, putting myself into a fetal position and grabbed my pillow, screaming ungodly cries into it. My voice started to strain itself, my whole body shaking and I felt like I wanted to die as well. I wanted him back, I wanted him here.

"COME BACK IRONHIDE!" I screamed into the pillow, demonic sounds leaving my voice. I wanted him back, so bad! "I LOVE YOU!" I screamed into it as I heard the rain falling on my window outside.

I brought my head up from the pillow and looked to the window. The weather had turned dark and grey, the sun was no longer there, it was hidden from the dark clouds. The rain droplets pounded on the glass window, leaving its mark. It reminded me of me and my tears. They went on and on and stained the surface they were falling upon.

I cried, for hours and hours on end, to no stop. I knew that Ironhide didn't want me to cry, but how could he have imagined me not to cry for him? He was, and is and always will be, such a huge part of my life that I won't ever want to let go of.

I started to remember his last words. They were burned in my brain like a scar to the skin. I couldn't make it go away. Ever.

"I will see you again, my dearest, this is not the end." If only you had known Ironhide. If only you had known… "Please, don't mourn my death. I'm not going down without-fight." You wouldn't go down any other way, Ironhide. I knew you that much. And yet, in a single move, it had all ended. I even remembered how his voice glitched at the end, because the rust was getting to his systems.

The tears burnt my eyes once more as I roared painfully into the pillow, tossing and turning in the bed.

"Goodbye, my lover." There was something off in that sentence. Like, there was more to it than just that. I didn't know how to quite place it. I had to think on this later. Right now, I had to prepare myself for a funeral.

I turned in the bed one last time before settling myself on my stomach. I brought the GMC logo to my face, giving it a gentle kiss.

We had just ended this damned war. But with many casualties. One of them was Ironhide.

It was hard for me to accept his death. I couldn't believe that he was dead.

That he had died.

And that was three days ago.

I hope you liked this chapter guys. It's at 90 chapters already. I'm still astonished by the sheer amount of chapters I've written and how much you guys told me you loved this story. This isn't really a chapter to cry for (though some of you might cry), but as you can see, there's a funeral that has to be organized. And hopefully, I'll write up a good one.

Fave, follow and review guys, you know the drill. :) Every form of support is greatly appreaciated! :D