Eyes murmured open, blurry vision being solved with a gentle rub of palms. Jack sat his head up with a groan, looking around, confused at the sight of the command center of Omega one, practically identical. Ratchet was working on his bridge controls, Miko and Raf on the sofa area above, Bumblebee and Bulk stood next to them.

Jack sighed, his heart dropping. Had he truly dreamed everything: The Hoover dam, Blackout, his relationship with Arcee? His heart almost rolled out of his stomach, when suddenly he felt a squeeze on his right hand. He looked over at Arcee, sleeping by the bedside, head on the bed and her hand firmly holding his. He sighed relief and laid his head back in the soft pillow. It wasn't a dream; she was still his spark mate.

To be sure, he looked into the reflection on the back of her hand, seeing his eyes glowing blue. He also saw cuts and bruises to his face and lips. He tried to sit up as an incredible pain hit his chest, slumping back and making him gasp.

Arcee's eyes slowly reopened and her gorgeous blues widened as she saw Jack awake.

"Primus, Ratchet! Jack's awake! He's awake!" She cried out as everyone looked over, Ratchet walking over at a pace. He began scanning Jack with a device.

"Mmm hmm, yes-yes. This is good" Ratchet mumbled, nodding.

"Good to see you to Ratchet" Jack groaned.

"Easy. You're still healing, though you have been in hospital for over a month, and here for a week"

"What!" Jack sat up sharply again, falling back with a groan.

"What happened?" Jack asked. Arcee's eyes widened and she looked at Ratchet as he shrugged, even him not knowing.

"Jack? Do you remember Silas?"

"Yeah, Teletraan killed him...oh...Teletraan" Jack sighed as he remembered that he'd lost his A.I friend. "I miss him" Jack huffed.

"He gave himself to destroy Silas, and he did. I will work on a new version of Teletraan sometime, a 2.0 if you will" Ratchet informed Jack.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something else" Jack said as he groaned, finally able to sit up, though still hurting.

"Jack...you need-"

"I mean, what I could be forgetting?" His legs were covered down to the knees with black shorts and his torso with a grey t-shirt. He slid his legs out from under the blanket, his left bare foot slapping the floor with a fleshy clap. His right one slid out and pressed against the floor with a metal clink. Jack's eyes widened. Arcee sighed and dropped her eyes down. Jack took a deep breath and looked down. On his right leg, from the knee down, he had a prosthetic leg. His heart dropped and he took a deep gulp.

"Wha...wha...what?" Jack stammered. Ratchet sighed as he walked around the medical gurney. He knelt down with an elderly groan.

"Jack. You lost your right leg when Silas attacked you. He cut it off with a fire axe. You've been in hospital for week's getting medical treatment for the wound. Skin grafts, surgery. When it finally healed enough, Nurse Darby brought you here. She knew I could give you the best possible replacement with our technology" Ratchet explained.

"So...so I'm never going to have both legs again? Ever?" Jack asked, tearfully. Ratchet sighed.

"No. But I've been working on the perfect replacement. This is just a prototype. I had no idea you would be up so early"

Jack's head lowered. He looked at the new sight. The left, a human leg, calve muscles a knee, the normal. Then the right, a long rod with a circle pad for a foot, a suspension like spring coiled around the rod and attached to a set of small pistons, connecting to a hinge knee. He tried to stand up, but sat back down.

"Here let me" Ratchet offered.

"No! I..I need to" Jack sighed as he pushed up, trying to stand, the suspension spring taking his weight and squeaking slightly. Miko and Raf watched from the sofa above. Arcee walked around the gurney by his side. Jack stood, but fell forward. she caught him, wrapping her arm around him and nudging him up as she knelt to help him stand.

"Thanks Cee" he tried again and made two steps before falling again, Arcee catching him. He pushed off of her, not aggressively, simply to show that he wants and has to do it himself.

He tried again, this time making three steps before dropping to the floor. Arcee helped her Sparkmate up. He stood up and sighed, taking a deep inhale. He closed his eyes and exhaled the now hot breath. He raised the prosthetic and stepped it forward, pushing down as the spring took the weight. He then moved his left leg and began to slowly walk, everyone holding their breath as they watched.

Arcee stood behind him arms out, like a parent training a child to ride a bike. Ratchet smiled as Jack made four steps, staggering steps. He reached the wall and pressed his palm against it. It was a small victory, but one none the less.

"Don't worry Jack; I'm working on a more compact version at the moment. It will look better, tighter and move more fluently. Like I said, I had no idea you'd be up so early!" Ratchet chuckled, tapping into his datapad.

"Thanks...Hey Cee, can you..." She looked at him with a head tilt. "Can you help me back over to the gurney" He whispered so only she could hear, looking so embarrassed and angry with himself that he couldn't even walk back to the gurney a few yards away.

"Sure thing sweetheart" She smiled as she coiled her arm around his chest and helping him over, letting him walk, though she took all the weight. Jack smirked weakly.

"Sweetheart huh?"

"Ah, you've grown on me" she smiled, nuzzling his cheek and kissing it softly, soothingly. Jack let a coo escape quietly before he reached the gurney, sitting back on the edge as Arcee knelt beside him, always by his side.

Suddenly footsteps stomped. "And well, that is Omega two Prime, a full spot on replica of the first base, complete with quarters for each member...well except him. I've got to figure out what to do with him" Fowler said as he walked with Optimus, Grimlock behind him.

"Huh. Not a dream then" Jack said to himself.

"Hmm?" Arcee asked.

"Nothing" Jack said as he pat her metallic thigh. She let out a quiet sigh and look of upset at how Jack was handling his leg loss. She looked up.

"Me Grimlock like it here! It's big and cozy! Right Ratchy?" Grimlock asked the doctor, getting an eye roll and sigh through gritted teeth in response.

"Gah, how many times do I need to tell you... it's Ratchet! Not Ratchy. Say it with me: Ratch..." Ratchet began as he held his hands out, as if holding an imaginary box, both parallel.

"Ratch..." Grimlock repeated back, though not sure why.

"...et" Ratchet harmonized, nodding to Grimlock to repeat it back to him.

"...et" Grimlock nodded.

"Ratchet" The doctor smiled, having gotten through to the Dinobot.

"Ratchy" Grimlock said back, making Ratchet mumble and growl, muttering under his voice as he slouched back to working on setting up his Ground Bridge controls. Miko and Raf laughed aloud at Ratchet and Grimlock. Jack let out a faint chuckle, not going unnoticed by Arcee as she sat her wide hips on the gurney beside him.

"Hey, there's a smile" she delicately said, not knowing how hard it must be for him, having lost a limb.

"I see all these soldiers on TV and in books coming back from war without legs and arms...you...you never think it could happen to you" Jack sighed, looking at his cybernetic leg. He felt a squeeze on his right palm, Arcee holding his hand.

"I'll do whatever I can to help you, you know that right?" Arcee smiled to him. Jack scoffed and smiled at her.

"I love you" He smiled, whispering it to her gently.

"I love you too" She beamed at him. He looked down from her face and groaned as he went to stand up. Arcee ever so gently rested her palm on his back, helping him up. His feet clanged and clapped against the cold floor, only his left feeling the tingling sensation.

"Where are you going?" She asked him.

"I err...need some air"

"You can head up top son. This is an exact remodel of Omega One. Everything is the same except for a few more quarters for the bots" Fowler explained as Jack limped past them. his servos and knee hinge whirring with each step.

"Yeah...thanks" He sighed, clanking past Fowler.

"Jack..." beckoned the voice of Optimus, making Jack look up at him. "While I cannot understand the loss of losing a part of yourself, we have all had to make sacrifices along the way. I am sorry you had to get involved in this dreadful war...and make your own sacrifice" Optimus pointed to his leg with a heavy sigh.

"Wasn't a con who did this...it was a human...one of my own. Even in death, he's still leaving his mark on me" Jack growled as he reflected on Silas, walking over to the lift and ascending to the roof.

"Prime! Is he gonna be alright?" Fowler shouted up to the leader as Optimus bent down.

"I'm not sure. Time is a great healer...but his wound will not grow back stronger" Optimus sighed.

"I'll go talk to him" Arcee groaned as she got up from the gurney.

As the amber sun began to fall beneath the huge crater of Jasper, Jack sat on the concrete floor, hands pressed on the ground supporting him. He glanced down at his bare left foot, wiggling his toes and feeling the grit on the concrete as he slid it, his skin tingling. He looked to the right with a heavy sigh, sliding the metal rod along the ground with a scrape, the spring inside it squishing down as he applied pressure.

He groaned as he went to get up, pushing upwards on his knelt human leg. He wanted to see if he could do it, with his right as the power deliverer. He pushed down with force as the spring tensed down and squeaked behind his knee, climbing to his feet, his left quickly darting back and pressing against the floor as he stabilized himself, staggering slightly.

He stood up on his own from a sat position. What he always took for granted, he now cherished. He smiled slightly as he looked down, his body painted in amber light from the sun.

"Hey, there you go. See, I knew you could do it partner" Arcee congratulated as she joined him.

"Hey Cee. How err...how long were you over there?" Jack rubbed his neck.

"Long enough to see why I fell in love with you"

"My dashing good looks?" He chuckled as she knelt down beside him, looking deep into his eyes, her face colored in pink and orange hues from the setting sun.

"There's that..." she chuckled "...I mean, your determination. The fact you never give up. for one example, all those years ago, remember when Knockout took the bully? You could have done what Bulk did and say let him take him, why should I care? But you didn't, you showed that you're a good man, from here" She pressed her slender finger on his chest, pointing to his heart.

"Cee...What...What do I do now? Huh? What do I do with this bum leg?" Jack sniffled as he staggered back slightly, still getting used to it. She gasped and jolted a little, as if ready to catch him if he went. This didn't go unnoticed by Jack.

"Huh...I always have you, right?"

"Always" she smiled. "And I'll tell you what you do now. The same you've always done, because just because your leg isn't of flesh, it's still yours and still answers to you. Remember that Ratchet is making you a better one, this was just his prototype"

"I guess..."

"Jack. I'll be with you every step of the way. I'm not going anywhere" She rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair gently, soothing him.

"Thanks Cee...gah I love you. I love you so much" Jack chuckled as Cee smiled deeply at him.

"Right back atcha Partner" She leaned forward, meeting his lips, Jack moaning gently and savoring the moment, the silence, the taste, all of it. They slowly parted as his eyes reopened.

"We'll need a new Stargazing spot" Jack chuckled, their forehead's still pressed together and eyes looking up into one anothers. She let a laugh escape under her breath.

"Yeah...we will"

"What about here? I mean it's at base, the perfect view of everything, no trees blocking it" Jack envisioned the spot.

"Jack? You're getting carried away again" She laughed as they parted their heads from one another, Arcee standing up with a groan.

"Can you blame me?" he shouted up to her as she walked away.

"Not at all. I'll give you a moment, okay. Jack?" she peered back.

"Yeah..."

"Don't let this...change or define you" She pleaded.

"I won't. We all had to make sacrifices, right?" Jack smiled, possibly slowly coming to terms with his loss, because he wasn't on his own in it. Arcee smiled and headed back down in the lift, leaving Jack alone again. He gulped and looked back at the leg as he titled it to get a better view. He sighed, shaking his head and peering up at the sun diminishing behind the cliffs, an array of cranes working on Jasper 2.0 in the distance. He stood proud as he admired the view.

I've had to make some tough decision these past few months. I've had a lot of apologies to make, to people I love, the family I've become part of, and the girl I adore with all my heart. Yeah, I've lost a part of myself that I took for granted, that we all do! But now? Now nothing will be taken for granted. Everything is a gift to be cherished, every breath we draw; ever beat of our hearts...a gift of life.

See, when I look back on my life, when I'm old and frail and the family are gathered around, I wanna be able to lift my leg onto the table, and tell a story. The story of how we ended M.E.C.H! How we killed Silas. See, this...leg. It's not an end; it's a new beginning, stories to tell and new ones to experience. I forget that these solders I've seen go on to climb mountains with one leg, or run a marathon. They push themselves to the limit with their limitations! So...why shouldn't I?

This has been a hell of a ride, sure. And yeah, I've made mistakes along the way...but after all, I'm only human.

Jack sighed as he looked down at his hand. He unclenched it as he pulled it from his shorts pocket, seeing a burned piece of blue and gold armor, something he held onto tight on the runway in Afghanistan as June worked on stopping the heavy bleeding. He nodded and smiled a farewell to Teletraan. He swung his arm back and hurled it out over the sky as it dropped down, disappearing out of view, as if flying into the sun.

My name is Jackson Darby, though my friends...my family...the girl I love...they just call me Jack. Time to move on...time to begin a new chapter of my life...Time will remember us, for we are more than meets the eye.

Transformers Prime: Shattered Glass

Author Notes: Hope you all enjoyed it! I will carry on this story, a more light hearted episode coming soon involved all of these bots and humans in Omega two...with a problem that just loves to eat metal...Thanky uo all for reading! I love you guys! -Dave