(Please see all previous disclaimers)
Aquaformer and Optimus were soon back at the earthly base of the Autobots. Optimus was worried that Aquaformer would just dump him off, and he had to admit that he wouldn't be surprised if she tried it, as he had hurt her. But Optimus was surprised when Aquaformer landed both of them carefully on the ground. "Optimus, I am upset with you, but I am not sadistic. I am not going to hurt you just because I am angry. That is not how a bond works" Aquaformer stated.
Optimus looked to his mate. She was wiser than he realized. "Look, Aquaformer, you scared me when you left. You didn't even tell me where you were headed or anything. You just took off on your own. I realize you are capable of defending yourself, however, you have to remember that you are bonded now and that means you aren't alone and can't just go off and do whatever you want without telling me at least something" Optimus answered, "like you said, that is not how a bond works."
Aquaformer sighed. Optimus was right about one thing – she was just as guilty of making poor decisions about what to do with the bond as he was. She wasn't sure if she should respond to that, as she felt guilty. "If you wanted to guilt trip me, you win" she finally answered in resignation. It was her way of giving up. Her confidence had been unknowingly shattered once again.
Optimus, seemingly unaware of what that meant, merely led his subdued mate inside the base. He let her go free once inside and as he headed off to adjust her restrictions, Aquaformer headed back to her quarters, feeling utterly defeated and down. She could tell Optimus had no clue, but it really didn't matter. Now, she felt like locking herself away, hoping the guilty feeling would go away if she hid herself away.
Without even aware tat she was doing it, Aquaformer blew by many of the other Autobots, including Bee, Jazz, Mirage, Prowl and Ratchet. Ratchet tried to call out to her but she ignored him. And while Prowl thought little of it, the other four were confused. Each tried to call out to her, and she ignored them. She was stuck in a self pity party thanks to the guilt trip. She had never told anyone, not even Ratchet or Optimus, that this was one of her weakest points. She would often feel depressed after someone guilt tripped her into something, feeling like she had allowed herself to be duped once again.
As Aquaformer walked off, Ratchet grew concerned that something was wrong, as she only had ignored the medic once or twice before, and he had had to save her as both times she had tried to do something unspeakable. Ratchet knew he had to go talk to her, as he didn't want to have to try and save her from doing the unspeakable again.
Meanwhile, Jazz decided to head to Optimus. "I see you found what you were looking for" Jazz stated, a bit upset at this whole thing.
"I did. What's got you so riled up?" Optimus asked, unaware of how Aquaformer had walked off into the base.
"Aquaformer headed back to your quarters" Jazz started to say before he was interrupted.
"She is allowed to go anywhere on base. She's probably tired" Optimus replied.
"And as she was heading there, she totally blew us off. Prowl, Mirage, Ratchet and myself were there and she didn't even respond to us. Did something happen?" Jazz asked.
Optimus tried to rack his processor to see if he could find a clue. Then he thought back to the last thing she said. "All I know is that she said 'if you wanted to guilt trip me, you win'" Optimus recalled to Jazz.
Jazz, having talked to Spike about the term, asked Optimus, "Optimus, do you know what that means?"
Optimus shook his head. "No, should I?" Optimus answered, starting to become worried.
"I think you should go to your sparkmate. Ratchet already headed after, worried about her" Jazz stated before explaining about what Aquaformer had meant by that comment. Optimus didn't like hearing the explanation. Not because of Jazz but because what it meant as to how Aquaformer felt. Optimus headed for his quarters, hoping he could save Aquaformer before he lost her to her own demons.