Jack knew he shouldn't have been doing this, he knew this was wrong. He knew that if she found out, their friendship would be ruined. Hah, friendship, what friendship? She locked him out at any opportunity she had, dismiss him, shut him down, ignore him. Their trust was a thin line like a layer of ice that had barely had time to settle, the slightest movement could plunge either one of them into a cold land of unforgiving pain.

So why was he doing this?

He just needed to know.

He needed to know why Arcee was so cold.

Both Ratchet and Optimus were preoccupied in the med' bay, they were testing a newer, refined energon that could be produced more efficiently, the only thing was that the film that kept the liquid contained needed improving, any sudden movement and there would be energon everywhere. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were both with their partners, Bulkhead had begrudgingly been persuaded to go dune bashing with Miko for the first time, jack winced at the thought of having the kind giant try to rid himself of the amount of sand he was going to drag in when they got back…and Ratchets wrenches. Bumblebee and Raf had gone to a reclusive area to race their remote control cars, bumblebees had been specially wired for him to use without a controller as they were far too small for the scout.

Which left one obstacle, well, two really…there was the issue with the door.

But the main obstacle was the real problem.

Arcee.

He knew that she would be in the training room, it was where she practically lived when she wasn't outside driving or scouting or in her room…doing Arcee stuff. Jack didn't know what she did in her free time other than drive. That was how little he knew of his partner.

Being the wise boy he was, he had decided to bring a ladder, it folded up and extended neatly and was quite compact, much to his joy when he searched the bases maintenance. Wandering down the gun metal grey halls, he kept walking until he reached Arcee's room. Just like the others rooms, it had only her name engraved neatly in cybertronian and English on the right side of the wall next to the door on a metal plaque big enough for him and a cybertronian to read perfectly. Not that he understood any of the mixed up cybertronian…he was certain her name wouldn't be that long..

Looking to the door, he was met with a miracle, the door was open, slightly.

Open slightly enough for him and the ladder to creep through.

With a sight, he was not expecting.

Like most of the rooms, Arcee's room had no colour other than gun metal grey walls and a slightly darker metal floor. Her berth was on the right side of the room, the metal slab was lined with a synthetic gelatinous padding to protect winglets and delicate parts according to Ratchet when he had asked about how they 'recharged' as Ratchet had corrected him. She had a desk to the right, full to the brim of paper work. Geez Arcee… and he thought he was messy with work..

It was the shelves that caught him. They had a few 'data pads' scattered at the back, he couldn't read them as they were in cybertronian but they looked like they were either books or letters as the books were crisp and clean and the letters looked worn, as if they weren't made to be opened and closed over and over again. Then there were small metal discs with a glowing blue or purple core in the middle, they emitted an almost silent hum as they kept themselves powered of whatever they were. There were also multiple items, souvenirs he thought as some seemed to be war items, like the Insecticon 'horn'…he had honestly no idea what they were. Some items however were in better, less war damaged items, gifts, there were little figures or sculptures of things he had not idea were.

He knew he should've left.

Curiosity killed the cat after all…

Which was why he was currently climbing the ladder up to the first shelf, where the first set of silver discs were.

Grunting as he pulled himself over the top of the shelf, he turned back to haul up the ladder and push it back in itself, it became stuck halfway through, not budging a bit and he could hear the scrape as the metal struggled with the friction so it could move. It suddenly slammed shut on itself and with a yelp he fell backwards onto the nearest disc.

He jumped when a sharp light erupted from it, shielding his eyes he forced himself to look to the light. Only to be met with a picture. A hologram.

The picture was of a red mech and Arcee, his paint job was shiny and two horns prodded from his helm. He had one arm wrapped around Arcee's shoulder and a cheeky yet gentle grin on his face, he was leaned into Arcee in a brotherly manner. Arcee herself had a soft smile on her face, the mech was obviously a friend but she looked as if she didn't really want to be there. Yet she smiled and had her helm resting against his shoulder.

…Cliffjumper.

He knew he should've stopped right there, he was doing something very wrong.

He touched the next one.

The next one lit up like the last and as before he had to force himself to look at the light before it died down so it could produce the picture.

It was of Arcee and a white mech. The mech himself had light blue streaks and a faceplate that had light yellow lines, he also had a visor in the same colour. You could tell he was grinning as his visor was shaped slightly upwards. He had both of his arms wrapped around her abdomen and his helm resting between her shoulder plate and neck. Arcee herself was smiling softly, as if her had just said something sweet to her just as the camera went off, she had her helm rotated and her chassis pressed to his. They were together clearly.

…Tailgate.

The next one was of a lot of femmes. There was a tall blue one standing off to the left side, a shotgun in her arms. She had it raised up in a confident manner and the way she had her hips resting against it told her that the weapon might as well have been another limb. The next was a larger femme, she was a deep ember and was a lot stockier than the others. She looked dangerous, but the fact that she had a 'butterfly' resting on her raised digit and another, far smaller femme on her shoulder said otherwise. The small femme was around about the height of Arcee, she however looked older in the picture, not that that made any difference. He paint jobs was brightly coloured like a flame and she wore a shocked expression. The larger femme must've picked her up.

Stood next to the two was a very small blue femme, she wore a visor and looked surprised, she hadn't been expecting the shot obviously. Near her open servo was a data pad, she must've been previously reading before she dropped it. Finally there was Arcee and another femme, the femme was about a foot shorter than Arcee but she had a stocky build…with a lot of bombs. Like the other flame coloured femme she was bright oranges and reds, she literally looked like fire, she was leaning heavily over Arcee as they both struggled for balance, something must've been very funny as both of them had hysterical faces and slightly surprised expression as they were flying towards the floor.

The last hologram, was different.

It was worn, used far too much and had multiple scraps of metal from obvious repair. This one meant something more than the others. It was as clear as day.

He gulped.

And tapped it.

Bright light threatened to burn his eyes, he ducked under the safety of his arm. When he raised his arm he was met with a beautiful sight.

Arcee sat in the middle of two other femmes, she was a lot younger as her eyes and mouth didn't fit her face, a teenager possibly. She was smiling- no, grinning, the largest smile he'd seen out of the others, one optic was closed as she held both her arms around each of the other two femmes in a hug. The first one was a rich cobalt blue and was at least a few feet taller, she looked older than Arcee and was leaning into Arcee, she wore a smug yet happy expression and had one servo on Arcee's shoulder. The last femme was a light pink and white, she was the obvious elder of the three as she had beautiful adult looks, she was tall too. Much taller than Arcee and slightly more taller than the blue one. She had both her arms wrapped around Arcee and had her helm leaning against Arcee's shoulder.

They were sisters jack realised with a slight gasp.

…

"Jack?"

Oh no.

He turned swiftly around, almost falling off the shelf in the process. Oh god no. It was Arcee.

She looked furious…yet, betrayed? He hadn't meant to go this far, he just wanted to see her room. No one went in her room, not even Bumblebee. He gasped and took a step backwards as she took one larger one forwards.

"What-what are you doing in my room? I told you no." She then realised that the current hologram was still on.

He had thought that she was furious with Airachnid, he was wrong.

So many emotions crossed her face as she spared a glance at the picture, happiness, sadness, regret, guilt, pain, love, passion. She then looked at Jack, with one dominant expression.

Betrayal.

He felt his heart drop to his stomach.

"Please, Arcee, just..just listen to-"

"Out." He then realised that her helm was down and that the suddenly terrifying glow of her narrowed optics made her 'pupils' look like slits.

"Please, Arce-"

"….Now."

…

"No."

"…What?"

He raised his head at her in defiance, she was going to hear this. Whether she liked it or not. He was sick of her throwing him away like he were trash, dismissing him like a child. Hurting him with her lack of trust. He was human! What could he possibly do to her!

"You spend your day, throwing me away and any attempts I make at befriending you! You dismiss me, you ignore me, you talk to me as if I'm five! You hurt me by just how much you dislike me! I want to be your friend, heck even your partner! I know you've lost people, Cliffjumper and Tailgate being the ones that I know. I know you've just lost someone you considered your brother!"

He took a breath with a breathy gasp, it was now or never to throw his trust at her.

"…don't say that I don't understand how it feels! Because I know! I know because I watched as my own father, my dad! The man who made me feel like I was the hero in every story he said! Was torn from me, straight in front of my eyes. I know how it feels to see someone who was so strong suddenly seem so weak, so lifeless! But hey! At least you weren't god damn five when it happened!"

His voiced had started to crack as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Losing his father had taken a toll on him.

"But hey! At least I didn't become a heartless bitch like you! At least I tried to accept people, I listened to the doctors, to my mother, to the whole world as they tried to help me! I let them in! You..you just shove people out like…like a coward! Your so afraid that you'll lose people that you forget that people are trying to help you! Like me! I want to help you, I want to fix you because I know what it feels like! Yeah, I know what it feels like, that empty feeling, the voices screaming that it's your fault, the thoughts that enter your mind about how your still feeling."

Silence.

He continued.

"I ignored them however. And I didn't become like you. Someone in which no one would be surprised about if you took…risky decisions…"

Silence, there was only silence and the heavy, ragged breathing of Jack.

…

"I'm sorry." A soft voice…scared, sad and broken. It surely couldn't have been Arcee.

"…yeah, I know. So am I…"

…

"Jack, I…I'm scared. Scared of losing everyone. I want to be friends but I don't want to lose you. Even if you don't die by the deceptions, I'll still outlive you..and, that scares me…"

"..sometimes you've gotta take chances, life isn't about keeping things locked up to just keep them to yourself, you've got to let go and let things slip, your worried about the future, but…lets just worry about now, at this moment, I'm not exactly dying at this moment in time am I?"

"..okay."

…

Realising it was his turn to change the subject, he asked a question that had been nagging him.

"So…. who are the other two femmes? The look like you.."

"They're my sisters, Chromia, the blue one is older than me by two vorns and the pink one's Elita one or Ariel, depending on who you are. She's older than me by five vorns."

He chuckled slightly "so, you really are the baby of the family, huh? Also…could you help me, I dropped the ladder in my outburst.." He ended sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Sure thing, partner."

Arcee then smiled a smile similar to the one that someone in the past, had once sat with her sisters and had her photo taken.

With her family.