Yes, my dear lovely readers, Ironhide DID come back! And I'm glad I made your wishes come true, stuck to my own plot and achieved something. Perhaps one day, this story will pass 1.000 reviews, since it already surpassed 300.000 words and it's only a matter of time when I get to 100 chapters. So I'm really glad how this story turned out, we only got a couple of more chapters to go and then I'll be off rewriting my remaining two Bee/OC stories and start writing the story that wins the poll. And a TMNT story as well.

So while the ride still lasts, review. This is the 96th chapter, served to you.

Mel's POV

"Explain everything." I calmly said as everyone in the household, including Will, were sitting on the various couches on the terrace. It was a wonderful day today, sunny and warm. But other than the fact that all of the humans were here, all the Autobots' holoforms were here with us as well.

"There is nothing much to explain, really." Ironhide answered as he leaned back on the loveseat, his arm around my shoulders as everybody gazed upon us.

"You come back from the dead and there's nothing to explain?" Nicole scoffed, looking at him.

"Yes." He replied, but I saw that almost invisible smirk on his face that he couldn't hide. Inexperienced ones couldn't find it, but after I've been with him for God knows how long and now that I'm reunited with him, I knew he was playing with her. So I nudged him.

"Tell us what happened." I calmly said, once more.

He took a breath. "Well, it all started when Sentinel shot me." I suffocating feeling greeted me. The horrible feeling hopelessness, anger, sadness and frustration.

Mel, it's over. He's back. Don't fret.

My brain was right, he was right here with me. I leaned closer to him, scared that he would somehow disappear again.

Ironhide continued speaking. "And I felt like I was fading. Then I found myself in some sort of dark place. I didn't know what it was, so yelled for somebody to explain what I was doing there."

"You were in the afterlife?" Mikaela asked.

It took him a second to think. "Yes. Limbo, is it?"

My eyes widened. "You were in Limbo?" I asked.

"That's when the Primes called me."

"You saw the Primes?!" Bee, Sideswipe and Jolt exclaimed in pure fascination.

"Wait, wait." Nicole said, cutting them off, waving her hands in the air and making a grimace. "What exactly happened after you were in that dark place?"

"I saw a light."

"The light?" I stared at him.

"Is that common with humans?" he asked, not knowing that what he saw was a one way ticket to heaven.

Sam spoke up. "Well, usually when someone dies, before going into the afterlife, they are in some sort of Limbo place. It's like the place between the living and the dead. Then they see a certain light and when they go through it, they get to the afterlife."

"Point is, somebody was pointing my cannons at me from that light." He said, drawing circles into my shoulder, unconsciously.

"Who was pointing your cannons at you?" I asked, looking at him in the eyes. He turned his head to face me. Oh his eyes…

"I don't know. I went into that light and appeared in some other place."

"Heaven?" Sarah asked.

"No, this was… not so inviting."

"Hell?" Will said. "Why would you go to hell?" It didn't make sense.

"It was neither heaven nor hell. It was another Limbo." He answered.

"You've been to two Limbos?" I asked. What the actual fuck happened to him?

"It would stand to reason." He said, thinking about it.

"How?" Nicole asked him.

"I presume one was for the humans, the first one, and the second was for us, Cybertronians." He shrugged.

"So then what happened?" Sarah asked.

"Then I saw the Primes, all seven of them."

"Wow." Sideswipe said in absolute fascination. "Sunny, he saw the Primes." He nudged his brother, earning a grunt from him.

"I told you to stop calling me that." he replied with a glare. They were standing behind Nicole and Bumblebee.

"Well, what did they say?" I asked, as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. God, how I missed him.

"They told me that we are two worlds, but one family. Whatever that meant. And that my honorable acts earned me the right to live again. Mostly because I saved lives."

"My hero." I said with a chuckle. His hand, which was encircled around my shoulders, moved to my chin and his fingers caressed my jaw line.

"So how did you become human?" Carly asked, oddly intrigued.

"That is something that I do not have the answer to." He said with a shake of his head. "All I remember is waking up and walking immediately on a street here in Chicago."

"How did you find your way here, then?" Sam asked, leaning forward from his sitting position on the couch, elbows on his knees. "You don't have a GPS or any navigation device."

"I asked." He simply said.

"You asked?" I looked at him. He wouldn't bring himself down to that level. He was too proud to ask. He would rather lose himself trying to find his way than to ask somebody for directions.

"Yes, I asked." He emphasized. "Is that so unbelievable?"

"No, I mean…" I started. "You wouldn't usually ask."

"Time was short. I had to find you." He said, completely ignoring the rest of the gang that was intently looking at us. He lowered his voice as he turned his head towards me. "I needed to find you."

My heart melted at his words. I could never forget his words.

"Ironhide," Optimus, who was silent all this time, spoke up and we all looked towards him, including me and Ironhide. "You are now human, are you not?"

"Yes, Prime."

"Should Ratchet perform any examinations to make sure you stay that way?"

"I don't think there is a reason to, Prime. I… I feel human."

Optimus chuckled. "That is a feeling we may never experience, Ironhide. Embrace it." He wisely said.

Ironhide gave a mere nod of acknowledgment before relaxing back into the couch.

"So you're alive…" Will said, staring at his interlocked fingers below him, his elbows resting on his knees. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for us?"

"You can't blame him, Will." I told him. "At least he's back. That's all that matters right now."

"And what about your baby? What is it going to turn out like?" he said with a bit of anxiety and excitement in his voice. I couldn't place his tone if it was judging or simply intriguing.

"Ratchet told me it was going to turn out just fine." I tried to assure him. "There's no need to worry, Will."

"Optimus, we must go attend to Elita now." Ratchet said, turning towards Optimus.

"What of Elita?" Ironhide asked, his attention suddenly on something else, and not me.

Ratchet turned towards him. "She was injured in the battle. She is still recovering."

"What is the number of casualties?" Ironhide asked, his piercing blue eyes looking up at Ratchet.

"Eight." He replied.

Ironhide was silent for a long moment. "Who?"

"There were Skids and Mudflap, Que, Wheelie and Brains, Arcee and…"

"And who Ratchet? I counted six."

"You were a number from the casualties as well. So I suppose there were seven casualties in total, now that you are no longer offlined."

"Ratchet, who is the seventh?"

"Chromia." He replied, looking down.

I looked down as well. We were all greeted by a moment of great sadness and grief. Even though it had been a little over four months since the end of the war, the wounds were still fresh and it would take a lot more time to heal.

"We must leave now." Optimus said. "Autobots, you are to guard all the humans until further notice."

"Yes, Prime." They all acknowledged him with a single nod as Optimus turned to Ratchet.

"Ratchet, let's roll."

Ratchet nodded in return, and with that, they disappeared into nothingness.

After a couple of minutes, Nicole spoke up. "Mel, we were thinking of going out for dinner this evening. Me, Sam, Carly, Leo, Mikaela, Will, Sarah and Belle. We'd be taking Jolt, Bee and Sideswipe with us. Do you want to join us?" she asked getting up from her seat as others followed suit. "There's a really good restaurant down on Mackenzie Avenue, it has recently opened."

Before I answered, I looked towards Ironhide. Well, I glanced. He didn't look like he was up for a group outing. Not now, when he had to accept the deaths of many of his comrades.

"Maybe some other time. I could use some quality time with Ironhide." I smiled as I saw, in the corner of my eye, others getting out of the terrace.

"Hey, anytime. We'll tell you what's it like. Bee, what time is it?"

He was still by her side, waiting for her to get out before him. "It's almost 6 now." he flatly answered.

"Mel, we gotta get ready, dinner's at 8. If you want to join us, have Sunny bring you."

I nodded and bade her goodbye. "We'll see." I said with a smile.

After they all had left, the atmosphere on the terrace wasn't a pleasant one. It was quite tense, and how couldn't it be? We have brought up a very sensitive subject. Death should never be the subject, of any conversation.

I leaned back into the couch once more, putting my right hand on Ironhide's back as he was sitting next to me, on the right side.

"Are you okay, Ironhide?" I asked in a gentle voice, as he leaned back on the couch with me, his left arm around my shoulders as he brought me close to him. But I saw distance in his eyes. His mind was far away from where he was now. He didn't answer me immediately, and I knew that he was still thinking over the matter.

He let out a sigh as the sun began to set. We watched the sunset and all of its golden, orange and even yellow and crimson colors become one with the sky. We had stayed in this position for a couple of minutes, and then he spoke up.

"I didn't expect so many casualties."

"I know what you're going through, babe." I said, knowing fully well his pain of losing someone.

"I hated to put you through that. Now I understand what you went through with my demise." He said, pulling me closer to him so that my head was resting on his shoulder as we gazed upon the sunset.

"It's alright. You're here, with me, and that's all that matters."

I felt the baby kick suddenly and it kicked hard, making me grunt.

And my grunt didn't go unnoticed by him. "You alright?" he said, his voice a little higher than usual.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the baby." I said as I kicked once more, making me exhale loudly and make a grimace.

"You're not…?" he said, his eyes growing wide.

He thought I was going to give birth. Oh dear. "No, no, God no, Ironhide I'm due in three months." I said with a smile, putting my finger on his forehead. "Remember that."

He nodded as I slowly and gently slid my finger down the arch of his nose, resting it on his lips. He turned his head towards me and met my lips with his.

I looked up into his eyes, caressing his cheek with the same hand. "It's still so surreal to me."

He chuckled deeply in return. "You think it's easy for me? To just come back and expect everything to be in place? Primus knows how wrong I was." He said, his voice lowering.

"I know it hasn't been easy for anyone. We'll see them all eventually." I said with a bit of optimism. "Just don't be pessimistic and things will turn out just fine." Trying to encourage him with words wasn't the best option, but I had no other.

As the day turned to night, it was time for me to eat something.

I gently poked him, catching his attention. "Hm?"

"I need to get up. I'm hungry."

"Of course." He replied, getting up as he extended his hands towards me. I took them as he slowly lifted me up, but I could see he had some struggle with performing the action. "I don't remember you being this heavy to lift."

Is he serious? "Did you just call me fat?"

"No, I-"

"You just called me fat!" I gaped at him. Who does he think he is?

"No, I really didn't-"

I rolled my eyes at him and sighed. "I'll just go." I gave up.

"Wait." He said, expecting me to turn around. I stood in my place, my back turned towards him. "Wait…"

"If you don't like the way I look, that's fine I guess…" I looked down, feeling down as well. My hands moved around my stomach. Could he really not like the way I look? I mean, I know I gained weight, but I didn't think I got that much… Did I?

He quickly jogged in front of me, standing in my way. I wanted to get out of the terrace. "I didn't mean that."

"You certainly said it like you meant it."

"It came out wrong. Listen, I think you look perfectly fine."

"Liar."

He put his hands on my shoulders, wrapping me in a hug. He even had that wonderful scent still on him. "I'm not lying, I'm telling the truth." He looked at me in the eyes. "I really think you look just fine. Even better actually."

"How is being heavier better?"

"Because you will bring new life to this world. There is nothing better than that."

I melted at his words. He really thought that. "You're lucky you still have your way with words."

He chuckled, taking my hand in his as he helped me get down the stairs and into the kitchen. "What do you want to eat? I still don't know how to operate this body."

"I don't think it's that much different from your real body."

"Believe me, it is." he huffed.

"If there's anything you need, I'm not far away." I said absently as I took out jam and milk from the fridge. "Slice the bread."

"How many slices?"

"Depends if you're hungry."

"I'm not."

"Make it two then."

Five minutes later, I had my bread and jam and warmed milk served at the table. It wasn't long until I ate it all and still felt hungry, but knew I shouldn't eat more. I had enough stretch marks on my stomach as it was, because of the baby growing inside it.

As I put the dishes into the dishwasher, I didn't have the strength to do the dishes myself, so I just turned the loud machine on. I glanced at the kitchen clock. It was only about 8 in the evening now, but I really felt tired.

Ironhide was peacefully watching TV, but I think even he fell asleep.

I somehow got up from my chair without difficulty, which surprised me. I walked towards Ironhide's place on the couch and saw his eyes closed, his hand enveloped around the remote control which was resting on his perfectly carved abs.

I nudged him gently and he almost immediately woke up. "What?" he groggily said.

"Let's go to bed, love. I'm feeling tired too, we've had quite a wild day today. You must be tired."

"I got fragging resurrected today, of course I'm tired." He said, as if he was trying to embrace the fact. "Let's go, dear." He said as we walked up the stairs into my room, which was now our room.

I laid down on the bed, slowly but safely, as he already waited for me in it. "I'm just so tired." I said, as if I had to justify why I was feeling tired. "I'm so glad you're here." I smiled.

He smiled in return. "I'm not going anywhere if that's what you're thinking. I'm here to stay, until the end of time, if need be."

I brought my hand towards him, as I was laying on my side, facing him. His hand covered mine as its warmth made me feel safe. "Goodnight, Hide."

I felt him kiss the back of my hand and I heard rustling on the bed. Then I felt the covers over me. "You're welcome. Goodnight, love." He said, as his hand loosened its grip on mine.

Sleep soon overtook us both, as for the first time in four months, I laid asleep worry-free.

So that would be the end of the 96th chapter of this story! Only a couple of more to go!

Review folks while the ride is still going!