A/N: So, an extremely minor edit to last chapter was made. I hadn't thought that Mark being barely 14 made sense as to him being in high school yet. So the simple edit, he skipped fifth grade. Not going to make him a genius or anything, just going with that. XD Now, moving onto the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 17
Addressing an Issue

Mark felt a little nervous being inside the Yeager's actual home for the first time. He knew that Cade, Tessa's father, didn't care about what he had done. Yet he was still faintly reminded of the fact that for quite a while, he had been seeing the home from a distance. It was a double first on top of it, as along with being the first time he properly met Cade, it was the first time he was meeting Tessa's boyfriend, Shane. The boy hadn't said much, simply fawning over his girlfriend as Mark and Cade sat mostly in silence in Cade's living room (which by now was complete), watching TV. "So I thought the other boy was coming, Kenny...?" Cade questioned as Mark looked over "What happened?"

"He got sick." Mark replied "He was pretty bummed too. So I convinced Bee to drop by his house on his way to take me back to base." He laughed a bit "He's kind of a fanboy." He added.

Cade chuckled, shaking his head as he took a potato chip and popped it into his mouth. He rolled his eyes a bit, and took a sip of the beer to the side of him as he looked back to the fourteen year old. "Aren't we all at the beginning? When I first saw Optimus, I was somewhere between terror and amazement." Mark laughed a little at that, and the man rubbed his chin "You must be over that by now, I guess, huh?" He asked "Living with them every day kinda takes the fun out of it, I bet."

"Don't you get that with Bee?" Mark asked.

"Nah, Bee comes and goes as he pleases." Cade shrugged innocently "Don't get me wrong, he's like family to us. But we're not all under the same roof twenty-four seven." Mark nodded his head, understanding what Cade was getting at now "I can't even imagine doing what you're doing really."

Mark shrugged leaning back against the couch as he sighed. He did suppose it was a different feeling, living with giant robots. But he felt as though the human base, and the overall tone made it somewhat more normal. "It's actually pretty cool." He finally answered after several moments "Something's always happening, especially with the Dinobots..." Cade raised his eyebrow "Uh, the giant metal dinosaurs." Cade finally nodded, now remembering "There's never really a dull moment when you have things like a one hundred foot fire breathing t-rex around."

Cade shrugged, and held up his beer to that. "I can imagine." Cade nodded his head "Hound's not too shabby either though, talk about having a badass for a dad." Mark laughed, nearly spitting out his coke "But they're all kind of awesome, I can't deny that much." He explained "They find any more of the 'Bots, or are they... Y'know?" Mark raised an eyebrow "Bee won't talk about it."

"Two of them, I think." Mark replied "My dad and his team... Well, you know."

"Yeah, that's another reason I wanted you to come over." Cade paused "Did they... Tell you, how your dad died, I mean?" Mark shook his head "I feel I owe you an apology, kid. He came after me in Hong Kong..." Mark's eyes widened, as if he was hearing things "I never killed anyone in my life, but... That day, I didn't have a choice."

That took a minute to settle in with Mark. Cade had killed his dad, he was sitting and sharing friendly chatter with the man that had taken his entire world from him. His stomach twisted, he wanted to punch Cade, he wanted to punch him and scream, and curse. But he couldn't, he couldn't bring himself to do anything but stare at the man with a look of shock and awe. "I gotta go." Mark muttered "This was a bad idea... This was a really bad idea."

"Mark-."

"You killed my dad, and you want to act like that didn't happen."

"He almost killed Tessa a few days earlier, I was angry."

Mark clenched his jeans slightly, he tried his best to control himself. He wouldn't go off on this man, he wouldn't let this get to him. "Dad!" Tessa stepped into the room "What is your problem? I told you not to talk about this..." She watched as Mark stood to his feet and started towards the door "Mark! Wait!" She tried to catch up, but watched as Mark walked out the door and slammed it shut "Great..."

"I thought I owed him an apology." Cade stood to his feet "I didn't think-."

"I get it, but couldn't you have waited at least a little while?" Tessa replied before taking hold of the front door and rushing out with another shout of "MARK!"

Cade frowned as Shane entered the room soon after, then looked at Cade. By the look on his face, he looked more confused than Cade had ever seen him, and that included during their "adventure". "What's going on? Why'd the kid leave?" Shane asked, pointing out the door "Was he really Savoy's kid? Like that crazy government official?"

"Nothing gets past you, Lucky Charms." Cade jested.

Though he knew it was not a good time to joke, after all that had just happened. What had he been thinking? The kid barely knew him, but now he would always know that he was the man that killed his father. He wasn't the man that ruined his family, Savoy himself would have done that anyway, but he was the one that took his last family member away from him, and he'd be damned if he didn't feel like crap. "Maybe I should go out there and give her a hand." Shane commented "Or?"

"Nah, he's not coming back either way." Cade replied "Just go make sure that dinner isn't burnt."

He was never going to hear the end of this, and he knew it.

...

Mark almost felt tempted to walk all the way back to base, even if it took hours. But instead, he convinced himself to walk as far away from the home as he could and call Hound. It was a good plan, he guessed, no one would catch him out there as long as he was smart about it. The only problem? He hadn't counted on Bumblebee or Tessa following him, let alone both. Yet, no more than a minute later, Bumblebee was driving alongside him, playing the soft tunes of "You've Got A Friend in Me" as he rolled the window down to reveal Tessa. "Mark, get in." Tessa commented.

"I don't want to." Mark muttered.

"Give me five minutes and if you still want to leave we'll take you home." Tessa replied, her eyes sympathetic "Come on, you're mad at my dad, but you're not mad at me, are you?" Mark stopped in his tracks and stared over as she popped open the passengers side door as he slowly climbed in "Good, you don't hate all of us, that's a start."

Mark was silent, leaning back and crossing his arms. Wondering what the girl could possibly tell him that would ever make him think about going back in. Would he still talk to Tessa? Yes. But would he ever be able to look at her father again? He really, really doubted it. "What do you want to say?" Mark asked "Give him another chance? He's a good guy deep down?" He asked "I get it, Tessa. But he killed my dad. He's the reason I'm an orphan."

"Well, yeah, he is a good guy and you should give him another chance." Mark rolled his eyes as Tessa began "But I know how you feel, y'know. Probably better than you do." Mark was silent for a long moment, but Tessa simply rubbed the steering wheel "I never knew my mom... Just like you. She died a little after I was born, and when I was old enough to understand that... Well, I was angry at a lot of people, for a long time."

Mark leaned back in his seat, and stared over at Tessa with a frown. "Like?"

"The doctor that tried to save her, my dad, God." Tessa shook her head "I felt like, when I started to get older... They were the reason I didn't have a mom to teach me about all the girly things like make-up, and boys, and dating..." She paused a moment "I loved my dad, but there was always that empty feeling she left behind when she died. Even if I never got to know her."

"Is there a point?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, when I got older, I realized you can't stay mad at people." Tessa shook her head "I know how hard it sounds, Mark. And probably how stupid it sounds too... I mean, my dad killed him, there's no way of changing that. And I don't even blame you for being mad at him." Mark looked down "But think about it, would you have done it any different? If you had a gun to you, and someone threatened you?" Mark stared over "Hell, I could even have been in your place right now if things had played out any different."

Mark bit his lip, his eyes lowering to the floor slightly. "How do you look past it?" Mark asked "How can I look your dad in the face and not think about it... Not think about him?" She knew "him" was referring to his dad.

Tessa ran a hand through her hair, and thought through what to say carefully. After all, she had only stopped being mad at her dad about other things a few short months ago. And in a way, that made this whole talk even harder than she had expected. "Just remember that... The only reason he even told you this is because of how bad he feels... And because he feels bad." Mark frowned a bit "Everyone deserves a chance, Mark. And I bet if you gave my dad one you'd see that he never meant for you to be left alone."

Mark looked away, he supposed he wasn't totally "alone", not with the Autobots at least. For a moment, he leaned back, and sighed quietly, closing his eyes and allowing himself to think it over. "C'mon kid." The radio crackled to life as a sound clip played "I bet he's gonna surprise you."

Mark looked down at the radio again, then out the windshield, and towards the Yeager farm. In his head, he tried his best to think of what to do, and what to say. It was a long debate, and one that he had to think through for a long time before he finally turned to Tessa, and gave his answer.

...

Cade turned his head as the front door opened again twenty minutes later. As Tessa stepped in, he gave a somewhat-sad smile, though he had seen it coming, he had known it would. Yet, after a moment, his eyes widened with surprise as Mark meekly stepped up behind her. Tessa looked between the two of them, then chewed her lip. "I'll leave you two to talk."

Mark opened his mouth to reply, but Tessa was already off. Leaving himself and Cade standing face to face, at a standstill and loss for words. Mark shifted on his feet a bit, and then sighed. But it was Cade who spoke first. "I'm really sorry, that wasn't right of me." Cade told him gently "I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. And I should have saved that until you knew me better."

"That may have been worse." Mark replied "I don't like secrets."

"Well, I haven't got any more secrets." Mark nodded his head in response as Cade stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder "I can't say how sorry I am that you had to lose your family so I could live." He explained "And I want you to know, if there's anything you need... Anything..." He paused a moment, unsure of how to finish "Consider me a confidant. Anything you need, you can come to me, or if you, maybe just need to talk... Or anything."

Mark's eyes softened, amazed that the man was willing to be that way. He could tell the man had an insane amount of guilt, he knew he had to considering what he was offering, a second person to go to. And though he knew it would be a long time before he could even consider it, the gesture, none-the-less, got him one step closer to trusting this man. "Thanks..." Mark finally replied, though his voice was strained "I appreciate that."

Cade smiled a bit, and put an arm around the boy. He felt the boy tense, yet he didn't waver. He felt that he owed it to him to be warm and welcoming, so that one day, he could maybe forgive him. And in that sense, Cade could one day forgive himself for taking the man's life in the first place. A fact that, though he wouldn't admit it, shook him to his very core. "Well then, I think dinner's almost ready." Cade attempted "Let's go see how that chicken's coming."

With some hesitation, Mark followed the man towards the kitchen.

...

A/N: I figured this would have to be addressed eventually. Hope I addressed it well. :)