(please see all precious disclaimers)

Aquaformer brought the father-son duo into the base, unaware that she had just missed being targeted by that foul con Laserbeak. It was clear that a meeting had just occurred as Aquaformer drove the two humans right into the middle of it. They carefully got out and then Aquaformer transformed into her bot mode. The sight of Aquaformer just appearing out of seemingly nowhere startled a few of the gathered mechs, though not Ratchet or Optimus, who weren't exactly happy to see what Aquaformer had done. "What, it's just me!" Aquaformer stated.

"Where have you been, soldier?" Optimus asked, hiding his concern about her. He didn't realize that addressing her in this manner would cause issues.

"I was outside, sir" Aquaformer asked, her systems ready to jump and run at the slightest provocation.

"Why were you outside, Aquaformer?" Ratchet asked. Now every optic was on Aquaformer and she felt like she was trapped. She felt like she had ho support, and feeling unwanted, she transformed into her aerial mode and fled. She didn't like the feeling she was getting from her fellow bots and even her own sparkmate and so she left. Now Ratchet was really worried and he tried comming her, but she refused to respond. "Um, Prime, she has cut off all contact. Maybe you can reach her?"

Optimus looked at the medic. "what?"

"Yes, sir, she refuses to acknowledge my comms" ratchet stated, only now realizing just what a spot the band of mechs had put the femme in.

Sparkplug and Spike weren't too happy with the mechs. "Great, we jut convince her to come in here for her safety and you idiots have to chase her off possibly right into Megatron's arms" Sparkplug loudly yelled at all the gathered mechs in the room.

Spike added, "you know, you guys need to treat her better. She is an Autobot just like all of you."

Optimus sighed, as he knew this was just as much his fault as anyone else's fault. He tried getting a hold of her over their bond, but all he felt her pulse back was hurt and perceived rejection. That worried Optimus, as he knew a mate that felt rejected could end up taking both mates out if they were that connected. Optimus swore, which was something Optimus rarely did. This wasn't what he needed but he also realized he hadn't backed up his mate when she needed most. He had attacked her and she took off, feeling threatened. Now he could only hope he could reach her in time or he was as good as dead as well and so were his precious sparklings. "We must find her before Megatron does" Optimus finally said.

"Good luck with that" Spike answer sarcastically, "as we all know she has her ways of hiding, hence you guys didn't find her the first few months she was here."

"Not now, Spike" Sparkplug added, "We need to support Optimus if we are going to find Aquaformer alive."

The other gathered bots looked around and felt bad as well, as they had unknowingly contributed to the who thing as well. "I guess we better search for her" Jazz finally said, having made a friend out of the femme.

"You think we should? I know we should as she needs our help" Mirage added, also a good friend of Aquaformer's.

"I'll stay at the base in case she comes back broken down" Ratchet stated.

"Alright then, let's go search for our fellow Autobot and bring her home" Optimus stated and led the charge to go find Aquaformer, unaware that Starscream spotted the Autobots leaving and the seeker flew off to tell Megatron. The question was – who world find her first.