Author's Note: So…we meet again. Haha, oh man, it's been a while, hasn't it?! I've had a lot going on this past year, to be honest…you guys won't ever guess. So, here's what's been going on…I got diagnosed with Stage II squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, which is a fancy way of saying tongue cancer, in late July of last year. At the same time, I had just gotten an internship with HP where I live and they were gracious enough to let me keep my internship while I underwent treatment at M.D. Anderson in Houston, TX! I had surgery and radiation, and – being the stubborn person that I am – came back to work a week after I finished radiation which was late October. Needless to say, I've had a crazy few months. I adopted a dog, and he's the sweetest, most lazy dog ever, and I made his birthday the day I finished radiation to have two things to celebrate.

Anyways, enough about me. I'm really, really excited to get this series back up and running again. I think it's got a few more chapters left in it, so don't fret! I've decided this year is one of making changes, and one of the changes I want to make is getting back into one of the things I most enjoy doing – writing. I have three days off during the week that I have available all to myself, so best believe I'll be coming out with some chapters for you guys (if my dog doesn't paw at me to take him outside)! For those of you keeping up with my DBZ story, I'll be updating that one as well, and I've also got some ideas in the works for a Naruto story based around Gaara (for you Naruto fans out there).

Without further adieu, here's the next chappie!

PS: I don't own Transformers…although I wishy wishy wish I did!

Lillian opened her eyes, slowly, and stared at the window in her room. There was a small amount of sunshine that seeped through the blinds, and she squinted at the light before rolling over and covering her head with the blanket. "Have to get through another day." She mumbled, hugging a small pillow close to her head and letting out a sigh.

She opened her eyes again, peering into the darkness she'd made in her blanket cocoon and laying still for a while. She'd remained in her room the past few days, and other than to check up on her and bring her food, nobody had really bothered her. She figured they knew that she wanted some space, and were willing to give her some after what she'd just been through. However, she also knew that it wouldn't be much longer before Iris had her sparkling, in which case, maybe they'd just forgotten about her.

She felt miserable, and alone.

Throwing the covers off her, she hurried to the bathroom and threw her clothes off. She got in the shower and allowed the warm water to splash her skin, thinking of sitting by the ocean on a warm summer day. She imagined what she would wear, the laughter of the people nearby, and his smile.

Damn.

She shivered despite the water's temperature and quickly finished removing the soap from her body, trying to forget the mental image that had just popped into her head. She shut off the faucet and wrapped a towel around herself, hearing a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" She called, wrapping a towel around her head.

"Saber. Can I come in?"

Lillian hesitated before walking over to the door and unlocking it. She slowly pulled it open and looked into her old friend's eyes. "Hey."

"Hey girl. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you just got out of the shower. Do you want me to come back?"

"No, it's…it's okay. Come in." Lillian stepped aside and watched as Saber walked in, moving to sit on her bed.

"I'll wait here while you get ready."

"Alright."

The two chit-chatted for a few minutes while Lillian was in the bathroom, and once she was done, she stepped out rubbing a towel on her head. "So…what's up?"

Saber looked at her old friend for a while, trying to figure out how to put her thoughts into the exact words she wanted to say. "We should talk."

Lillian mustered a half-smile, "I was afraid you would say that." She sat down next to Saber on her bed, letting the towel fall to the floor. Her eyes began to well up with tears, and she looked at her old friend, hands beginning to tremble. "I just…don't even know where to begin."

Saber scooted closer and wrapped her arms around her, "I know. Just start where you can."

Lillian's tears began to roll down her cheeks, "I just don't understand. Am I not good enough? I've been trying and trying and trying to figure it out, but I just don't get it. What's wrong with me? He doesn't want to be with me…and I want to understand why." Her words were spoken between sobs, shoulders shuddering, "But I think even if I knew why, it wouldn't get through to me. It just wouldn't. I would still be lying in my bed, crying myself to sleep over the fact that he doesn't care enough about me to even try…and I love him. I love him, and I beat myself up for it every day. I fell in love with the wrong mech, and I'm paying for it…I'm paying for it with loss of sleep, a pillow that never stays dry, and a broken heart. And dear god, despite all of this…I want to see him. I want to see his face, and hug him, and kiss him, and I want him to hold me and tell me how much he wants to be with me, and that I'm good enough. That I'm good enough to be with the guy every person in this base secretly hates me for loving."

Saber looked at Lillian wide-eyed, taking in a deep breath. "I don't understand why you hold all of this in…you have to talk to someone about it, and I'm more than willing to listen. We will get you through this, I swear."

Lillian managed to calm down a bit, wiping her eyes. "It's just been so hard for me to even admit it to myself. I want to understand, but it just doesn't make sense. Twice…twice he's left me and somehow I still care about him, but I shouldn't. I'm just so screwed up. My mind and my heart won't agree; my mind is beating my heart up to get it to listen, and my heart's just choking it right back. All I can think of is 'Will he come back again?' and of how much I miss him."

Saber rubbed Lillian's back, wishing she knew how to contact Wheeljack. "I don't get why he would do this. It just doesn't make any sense…he doesn't make any sense. Ugh, god I just want to hurt him!"

Lillian laughed a little, shaking her head. "If you could hurt him as much as he's hurt me…he'd be dead. He's going to want me back eventually; he'll realize his mistake…and by then it just might be too late. I'm either going to end up hating him, or apathetic. And I'm starting to lean towards hate."

Wheeljack stopped driving once he got to an abandoned warehouse, noticing a few electrical poles nearby. Out of anger, he tore one off its base and swung it toward the warehouse, watching as it crashed into a window and smashed into a few gas cans. The remaining spark from the pole crackled, and caused a roaring fire to start inside the warehouse, engulfing it within seconds. Wheeljack stared at the destruction, letting out a loud scream before falling to his knees and punching the ground a couple times, causing the ground to shake each time.

The last memory of Lillian in her sundress and the longing look in her eyes played over and over in his mind, and he finally stood and looked in the direction of the autobot base. "I want you to hate me, Lillian, so you can finally be free. I'm not good for you…I'll get you killed. Hate me and be free of me, so you can be truly happy with someone else."

The words 'someone else' caused his spark to ache, even as he spoke them. He thought about the Autobots, and what they must think. He thought about the Decepticons, and knew he couldn't go back. He would have to go rogue, or at least disappear from both of the factions' radars. He had tried to do what was best for Lillian – if she had stayed with him, the Decepticons would've only tried to use her against him and hurt her, which was a thought he couldn't imagine to bear. Yes, she was safer this way.

He turned away from the warehouse and transformed into his vehicle form, speeding off without a specific location in mind.

"Sunbeam."

The petite femme turned around suddenly, wondering who had distracted her from her analytical work. She looked up to meet the single optic of Shockwave, who stared at her for a moment longer before speaking.

"Have you gotten to analyze the best time to strike them and make the most damage?"

Sunbeam smirked, turning back to the large screen she had been working out of and pressing a key. A map of the Autobots' base popped up, and she pointed to one of the rooms. "We'll start here, and then…" her voice trailed off as she began to tell the Decepticon leader her plans.

"Ratchet! RATCHEEEEEEEEEEEET!" Iris' voice rang out from her and Jazz's room. The Autobot medic sprang up from his workstation where he was sharpening one of his drills. He ran out of the medical bay and towards Iris' voice, coming to a screeching halt when he reached her room.

"What is it?" He asked urgently, looking at the pained expression on Iris' face and glancing down to her legs, noticing that some lubricant was beginning to make trails down to her feet. His eyes widened, realizing what was happening, and he ran over to her and picked her up, carrying her bridal style to the medical bay.

"Jazz, you need to come to the medical bay. NOW." He spoke over the comm link, hearing the second-in-command respond with a quick 'roger' before he entered the sanctity of his workplace. "Alright Iris, now stay calm…you're in good hands."

"Jetfire?" Rosaline spoke up, noticing the other half of the second-in-command team staring intently at a monitor. She'd been waiting for him to say something for a few minutes, but all he did was stare with his hand on the lower half of his faceplate, as if thinking.

The young girl's eyes traveled to the monitor he was so intently bearing a hole into. She saw Iris' picture, and immediately piped up, "Is she going to have the baby soon?"

Jetfire waited a moment before answering. "That's the problem…I'm afraid that something might go wrong. I just have what you humans call a 'bad feeling' in my central processor." He paused, "I believe this may be something related to Murphy's law. I just think something will go horribly wrong, and very soon."

Rosaline waited to speak, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts. "I really hope not. I know how excited Jazz and Iris are about this baby. I just can't believe something would happen to ruin something so beautiful."

Jetfire turned and smiled at her reassuringly, "You're probably right, my rose. I might just be overreacting." He held his hand out to her and she willingly climbed in, but even as she stared up into his golden orbs with her endless cerulean eyes, he couldn't help but think, "It's just been too quiet around here…"

A few hours had passed by and Iris was now recharging soundly on the comfiest of the medical bay beds. Well, as comfy as one of those beds could be. Jazz watched her, listening as some clicking and whirring sounds came from the room Ratchet and his new-born sparkling were. He slowly picked up her hand, watching as she stirred only slightly, and began to speak. "We've done it, my mate. We've created the greatest and most amazing gift Primus could ever bestow…the first in millennia, but here we are. In the midst of all the war and suffering, especially on Cybertron, Primus granted us with a sparkling, and I couldn't be prouder." He smiled, squeezing gently on Iris' hand before suddenly hearing what could be described as a loud bang followed by several crashing sounds and, finally, a deep, roaring laugh. "What in the—"

Ratchet suddenly sprang from the adjacent room, pointing at Jazz with his menacing saw. "Go see what that was. I don't need any distractions and Iris needs as much recharge as she can get."

Jazz nodded, unwittingly letting go of his mate's hand and running in the direction he heard the crash.

Out of the debris and rubble came forth Shockwave, followed by Sunbeam and the two seekers who were laughing as if this were all part of an inside joke. And, in a sense, it was.

"Come on Autoscum! Where ya hidin'?!" Thundercracker roared, followed by Skywarp.

"I bet they're all too afraid to come out. Or maybe they're all with that femme, which would make it easier on us to kill them all at once! Right Thundercracker?" He boasted, proud of himself for thinking up such a 'complex' strategy.

"Silence, Skywarp. We need to find the femme and exterminate her before she bears the sparkling." Shockwave spat, looking toward Sunbeam and watching as the femme nodded and slowly began to camouflage herself into the surroundings, becoming invisible. "Find her, Sunbeam. Find her and rip that Autobot sparkling out along with her still-heated spark." He dwelled on the image for a moment and, if he'd had lips, he would've licked them. "You two. Begin searching for energy signatures. The humans will most likely be with their guardians…kill them first, and make sure that the piece-of-slag Autobot watches it."

The two seekers responded with a quick, "Yes, sir" before taking off together towards the first energy signature they could find.

Shockwave began to scan for energy signatures himself, picking up on one that was by itself nearby. He sprang towards it, locating the room quickly and ripping the security system out that was next to the door. The large door opened suddenly, revealing a very wide-eyed and frightened Lillian.

Shockwave let out a low chuckle, "Well well, if it isn't the insignificant human that Wheeljack betrayed us for. It will be quite a treat tearing you limb from limb. That will teach Wheeljack to betray the Decepticons." He walked slowly towards her, reaching his hand out to grab the unmoving girl into his claw.

A single bullet stopped him, hitting exactly the middle of his hand. Lillian managed to wake herself up for long enough to look and see who had saved her. Her eyes widened when she saw Nightfire, with her gun pointed straight at Shockwave's single optic.

"I wouldn't try to touch one hair on her head if I were you, Shockwave. You should know it's not often that I miss." Nightfire motioned for Lillian to run to her with her free hand, which the human girl did not think twice about. Within seconds, she was at Nightfire's side. "So, Shockwave, care to explain what in the frag you're doing here?"

Thundercracker stood before a damaged Jetfire, holding Rosaline in her hands and squeezing her enough to make her scream, but not break any bones. Yet. "Feel helpless yet, Autobot slagger?" He laughed, "How does it feel to be in charge of protecting someone's life, yet know that you have to watch them die before your very optics?"

Jetfire struggled to get out of Skywarp's grasp. They had taken him by surprise as he was returning from his holoform to robot form, not too long after both him and Rosaline had heard the crash. "Slagger…" He uttered, energon seeping from various parts of his body as he tried to reach a hand out to his mate. "Rosaline, I'm…I'm so sorry." He whispered, watching as the young, blue-eyed girl coughed up some blood.

Rosaline looked at him, reaching a feeble hand out, "Jetfire…I…" She shuddered, trembling and wondering why it was so cold inside the room. She blinked and leaned her head forward slightly, locks of her curly blonde hair falling in front of her face. Locks now stained with bits of crimson. She managed a small smile, mouthing the words 'I love you' before falling unconscious.

Jetfire felt anger rise within him at the sight of his mate's body limp in Skywarp's hand. He tried to move but his strength was slowly leaving him with every drop of energon he lost. "Damn, how could I be so weak? I'm supposed to be the second-in-command, yet I can't even take care of my own mate." He thought angrily, curling his digits up into a fist and rising slowly, pulling out his weapon. "You fragger, you'll pay for this…" Just as he took a step forward, he noticed a pair of red optics, and shortly afterwards Skywarp's face was promptly pushed against a wall. His optics widened when Skywarp lost his grip on Rosaline, but it wasn't long after that Starscream reached a hand out and grabbed her, albeit carefully, and skidded to a halt. This all happened within a matter of seconds.

"Jetfire," Starscream's raspy voice spoke up, "Take your charge and get to the medbay. The medic is there, and we've already commanded for the humans to go there as well. My Alexis is there helping. I'll take care of this fragger."

Jetfire could almost feel a smile in Starscream's voice. Skywarp was one of the three seekers back in Cybertron, along with Starscream and Thundercracker. He was sure the ex-'con would enjoy this fight. Without another word nor thought, he took Rosaline in his hand and used his remaining strength to trudge towards the med bay, but not without looking back once to see Starscream begin his rampage on the Decepticon.

Blurr loomed over Thundercracker's still form, noting that the Decepticon had fallen unconscious. He gave a small chuckle, wiping away some energon from his chin and ignoring the whirs and clicks his body made from the wounds of battle. He knew Saber would be safe in the med bay with Ratchet, he just hoped nobody would think of going there first. He had heard Nightfire's words to Shockwave over the comm. link, so he began to head to where she had given him her coordinates. As he got closer to the room, he watched Lillian's small body zoom past him in the direction of the med bay. He would check on Nightfire and then head to the med bay to provide backup. Yes, that was a good plan.

When he arrived, he noticed both Shockwave and Nightfire looked worn to hell. He hurried to Nightfire's side, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Shockwave's single optic.

"You're not at all like your sibling, Nightfire," Shockwave managed to cackle, "She's not as ruthless physically, but she's definitely a threat strategically. I have to say I admire that about her."

Blurr froze. A sibling? As far as he could remember, there was nothing in Nightfire's personal file about a sibling.

"Shut UP you Decepticon slagger!" She screeched, pointing her gun at him still. "I have no sister. She's dead. DEAD, you hear me?" She tried to fire a bullet but her hand began to tremble. "She's dead to me." She uttered lowly, more like an angry, resentful hiss than actual spoken words.

Blurr's optics widened, but he didn't have time to speak up when he heard Ratchet over the comm. link. "Autobots, backup is needed in the medical bay. We have only weakened or wounded soldiers, and there is a Decepticon femme attempting to get in. Assistance is needed immediately."

"Go, I can handle this." Nightfire yelled before even giving Blurr a chance to ask if she needed aid. "A Decepticon femme…it couldn't be…" She thought, never moving her optics off of Shockwave. She heard Blurr's hurried footsteps head towards the medical bay, and smirked. "So, Shockwave…what are you really here for?"

"Well, if I told you that, it wouldn't be much of a strategy, now would it?" He growled, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he kept his own gun pointed at Nightfire. "It seems we're at a stalemate, Autobot femme," He spat the last word with venom, watching as Nightfire's optics narrowed to glare at him. "Good. I'm getting her angry."

"NO!" Iris screamed, holding a small figure in her arms. She had been woken up by the noises from the humans, and ran immediately, against Ratchet's wishes, to her sparkling. The sparkling was about the size of a minicon, deep in stasis as it ignored the rest of the world. Iris told herself she wouldn't let any harm come to him, even if it cost her her life, and at this point she was willing to do anything to protect the innocent being in her arms. It would be a few years for him to be a full-fledged adult Autobot, and she couldn't help but think of the possibility that he might not ever get there.

"No," she thought, pressing the small body closer to her, "I will not let that happen."

It was around that time that Jazz appeared, with Blurr following close behind. Sunbeam had already managed to get into the medical bay, and laughed loudly as she watched Ratchet step in front of the humans. "Stupid medic, it's not them I want." She smirked, optics sliding over to Iris' weakened form and pointed her weapon directly at her. "Bang." She whispered, not giving anyone enough time to react before the bullet hit.

Iris felt her heart drop as the bullet moved closer, and prepared herself for the feeling of hot, searing pain through her processors, which never came. It took her a second to realize her mate had stepped in front of her, and even blocked two more bullets that Sunbeam had shot. How was she so fast?

Jazz fell to his knees, the three bullets hitting critical points on his body and causing him to let out a yell of pain. This, in turn, caused the sparkling to stir and wake suddenly, emitting loud, upsetting cries. Jazz couldn't help but smirk and utter, "He's got his mother's vocal processor," before falling forward and releasing himself into a deep stasis, to try and make the least damage to his body possible.

Blurr wasted no time using Sunbeam's small moment of victory to take her by surprise and put up his gun behind her head. "Stop laughing, Decepticon. This fight isn't over." He began to pull the trigger when she suddenly disappeared, seemingly into a warp gate and most likely on Shockwave's orders. Blurr smirked slightly – maybe that meant Nightfire had won. He quickly ignored the fleeting thought and ran to his fellow soldier's side, turning him over and picking him up. "Fragging Decepticons," He spat, setting Jazz down on a medbay bed and watching as Ratchet began to immediately work on him.

Iris couldn't move. She felt like everything was moving in slow motion, and the video of Jazz getting hurt directly in front of her replayed before her eyes like a scratched record. She could only stand, clutching the small, crying sparkling in her arms as tight as she could without hurting him, her jaw slightly agape. Her breath came out in shallow increments, then slowly rose to hyperventilation. She didn't know it was possible for an autonomous robotic being to feel out of breath, but she felt like someone had 'knocked the wind out of her,' as the humans called it. She shut her optics and opened them, trying to make the image go away but it didn't, and she began to wonder if it ever would. Was her CPU malfunctioning?

It took the soft voice of a young human girl to wake her.

"Iris? Are you okay?" Alexis quipped, knowing the answer was no, but trying to get any type of response from her.

Iris turned her optics to look at the girl, narrowing them as if she was trying to figure out what she was. She felt like she had lost her memory, and the only one she had was the one of her mate getting critically injured. "She's asking me something," She watched Alexis' lips move, repeating her question, "What is she saying? I can't hear…I can't hear her," She turned her head to the side, beginning to wonder if she had gone deaf. Maybe she'd always been deaf, and blind, and this was all a dream. Yes, this was all in her head and she would wake up, and Jazz would be there holding their sparkling with his stupid grin.

She smiled. She loved his grin. The way it made his mouth look, the way it was only meant for her. He would be there and their miracle sparkling would be sleeping peacefully, not crying.

What was that crying? She couldn't understand. She moved her optics from the girl and began to scan for the source. Why wouldn't it stop? What was wrong? She felt compelled to help, but didn't know how.

She heard a small voice, she could almost understand it this time.

"I don't…I don't think she can hear me."

Who were they talking about? Maybe she could help them too. Why the frag was everything moving so slowly?

"I think she's in shock, Alexis. Blurr, help lay her down while I try to care for Jazz."

Jazz? Was he there? Why couldn't she see him? All she could see were hazy outlines of things, things that moved. One was moving towards her. She flinched, moving the object in her arms away automatically, something telling her to protect. It was only then she remembered there was something in her arms, and she looked at it. She tried to adjust her optics but it was no use, it only looked like a smaller version of Jazz. And of…her? What was it? Why was it crying?

"Shush, little one," the words came suddenly to her, "I will help you."

The crying stopped. She looked up and stared into red optics and allowed them to remove the small Autobot from her arms. The eyes were comforting for some reason.

"Starscream, take the sparkling while I try to help Iris."

Starscream…wasn't that the enemy? Why were they giving her little one to them? She became frantic.

"Give him back to me, give him back!" she yelled, reaching her arms out for the small body, "He's mine! Don't take him from me, please! Where's Jazz?! Why isn't he helping me?! JAZZ!" She squirmed in someone's grasp, then felt a thin, needle-like object being pushed into her neck. She slumped in their arms, and her CPU suddenly felt as if it was flooded with water. She tried to look around, but things were moving even slower than before.

"Give him to me…Jazz, tell them…please, you're all I have…" Her words came out in slurs, and she felt herself being eased onto a recharge bed. She could barely hear the voices now.

"Will she be okay?"

"She'll be fine," she heard a voice say, seeming to belong to the shadow looming over her, "She's a fighter."

Author's Note: DUN DUN DUN! What will happen to Jazz? How is Jetfire? Will Iris ever be her normal self again? Find out next time! As always, thank you for reading, and I will try to update more often (I know I always say that, but this time it really IS my escape from real life :D ). Review if you feel like, and I am glad to be back! Much love, my lovely readers!