In Afghanistan, the N.E.S.T team was stationed with the Autobots, a species known as Cybertronians. Lieutenant Colonel William David Lennox was talking to his adopted son, Samuel Witwicky, and his biological daughter, Annabelle, on his computer, on Skype.

"How's school?" Will asked.

"Boring. We don't learn anything now that it's a week from summer vacation. And Trent won't leave me alone. He made Annabelle cry, blames me for Mikaela leaving him. Anyways, how's it going over there?" A young boy, Sam, asked.

"It's tiring, especially with Galloway, but hopefully we're coming home soon." Will responded. He took a quick look and saw Ironhide looking,dare he say it, homesick.

"It's 'Hide, isn't it?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. He hasn't slept a wink ever since we got here 4 months ago. When he stays up all night, he just cries to himself, he thinks he's alone. I've tried to talk to him, but he just says he's fine." Will sighed, looking at his wedding ring on his finger.

"Bring him over here. Me and Annie wanna talk to him too." Sam stated.

"Hey, 'Hide! Someone wants to talk to you! But you'll need your holoform!" Will hollered.

Ironhide sighed, activated his holoform, and walked over. He saw Sam and Annabelle, and he brightened up a little bit.

"Hey, Sam. Hi, Annie." Ironhide greeted.

"Hi, Daddy!" Annabelle smiled.

It warmed Ironhide's spark to hear Annabelle and Sam call him their father. Sam's parents threw him out, and Will immediately took in the young boy. When Ironhide found out, he nearly killed Sam's parents.

As Annabelle rambled on and on, Ironhide felt a stray tear escape his eye.

"Dad? You okay?" Sam asked. Ironhide quickly nodded.

"No...No I'm not okay." Ironhide responded.

Once Annabelle fell asleep, Ironhide told Sam everything.

"I have a bad feeling, Sam. I've had it since we got here. I feel like something bad's gonna happen to Will, I have nightmares whenever I try to sleep, I don't like it over here, I hate being away from you guys. I just... don't know what to do anymore. I don't want you, Annie, or Will worrying, and I don't want any of the others worrying either." Ironhide admitted.

With that said, he had tears escaping his eyes, and he just let them out. As he sobbed silently, he didn't notice Will watching him, feeling bad for his husband. Once night fell, Sam and Will hung up, put their computers on the chargers.

"Ironhide, it's okay. Nothing bad will happen." Will reassured as he snuggled into Ironhide's backseat.

"You don't know that, Will. We're on the middle of a war, anything could happen." Ironhide mumbled, tired as fuck, but refusing to sleep.

Will leaned up and started petting Ironhide, getting him into sleep.

Later that night, Will felt a hand covering his mouth, handcuffs on his wrists. He opened his eyes and immediately got knocked unconscious.

As the mysterious offenders drug Will away, they hadn't noticed Ironhide videotaping them the whole time.

The next morning, everyone was woken up by Ironhide's terrified scream.

"Will?! Will!" Ironhide shouted.

"Hey, man. What's with all the yelling?" Robert Epps asked.

"Wills gone!" Ironhide shouted.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Jazz asked.

"Does 'my windows smashed, doors dented, Will not in my cab gone' sound specific enough?!"  Ironhide screamed.

"What happened last night?" Ratchet asked.

"I--I don't know! Will put his computer and phone on their chargers, got in my cab to keep warm, and fell asleep. I go to wake him up this morning, and he's gone!" Ironhide explained.

"WILL!!" Ironhide shouted. Again, he got no response and he whimpered. "I never should've fallen asleep, I could've prevented this!" Ironhide sobbed.

"You lost Lennox?! How could you, Ironhide?!" Galloway demanded.

"I-I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I fell asleep!" Ironhide stated, trying to defend himself.

But Galloway kept striking him down.  "If Lennox is dead, I'm holding you personally responsible!" Galloway threatened.

"Dead? No...no, he can't be dead! Will!" Ironhide yelled, panicking worse.

Jazz activated his holoform, smacked Galloway in his head. "Shut the fuck up! You're making Ironhide worse than he already is!" Jazz growled.

Soon, Ironhide's voice became hoarse and strained from yelling too long. Now, he could only whimper and sob. He truly felt broken...he felt empty, broken...helpless, neglected.

" 'Hide, come here." Ratchet stated, opening his arms.

Ironhide went into his arms, and sobbed in his chest, devastated, worried, scared.

"I don't want him to die, Ratch'. I don't want him to die." Ironhide sobbed.

"He's not going to, 'Hide. He's tough, like you. He won't die, okay? Do you trust me? Do you trust us?" Ratchet asked.

Ironhide nodded, his throat hurting too much to speak.

"We'll get him back, alive. I promise." Ratchet vowed.

A week has passed since then, and Ironhide only got worse. He told Sam everything, but he couldn't bear to tell little Annie. Neither could Sam, so they told her that he was really busy.

Ironhide couldn't sleep, never let his guard down, and always had Galloway screaming at him.

Another few weeks have passed, but one morning, Jazz let out a blood-curdling, petrified shriek. There was Will! Laying on the ground, completely filthy, covered in blood, cuts, bruises, etc etc etc.

On the way back to the N.E.S.T base, Will was in critical condition. Ironhide just looked at the floor, feeling numb, guilt, self-hate. He just wanted to disappear and never come back.

"He's stabilized, but..." Ratchet trailed off.

"I don't like that tone, Ratch'. 'but' what?" Skids asked.

"There's a very slim chance of survival, it's highly likely that he'll die." Ratchet sighed.

That was the breaking dam for Ironhide and he just started sobbing. First, Will goes missing.

Next, he gets the blame, struck down, and has to tell his adopted son this.

Now, he's probably going to lose his husband.

"Ironhide, I--" Galloway started.

"Don't. Don't say you're fucking sorry! You brought us to that place! It's your fault! I had a bad feeling that day we left, but no one cared! Now look at where we are! Wills dying! Just..get out of my fucking sight before I kill your ass!" Ironhide thundered.

Galloway quickly ran away, and Ironhide stared at Wills limp body. "You can go see him, 'Hide." Ratchet stated.

Ironhide just merely nodded and walked into the med-bay, closing the door behind him. He just stared at his basically now dead mate. He felt the tears pooling in his eyes, and he sobbed in Wills chest.

"Please, Will...come back to me. Please... I never meant to hurt you... I'm sorry! I should've done better! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Ironhide sobbed.

He clutched Wills body and just sobbed inconsolable and uncontrollably. If Will died...well, he'd probably kill himself or something.

"Annie and Sam need you. I need you, Will. I need you. Please, don't do this to me...to us." Ironhide begged, through his sobs.

Weeks passed and Will made no improvement. Ratchet hated to do it, but he had to take Will off life support.

"Ratchet, please!" Ironhide begged.

"I'm sorry, 'Hide. What if someone else needs life support? Hmm?" Ratchet pointed out.

"Give him 2 more weeks! Please! If he doesn't wake up or improve then...then you can take him off! But, please! Give him 2 more weeks!" Ironhide begged.

Everyone hated to see Ironhide so distraught, and Ratchet hated making him even worse.

"Alright, fine. 2 more weeks, but then I have to take him off life support. Okay?" Ratchet stated .

Ironhide immediately nodded and grabbed Wills body, clutching him like a teddy bear.

One week passed, and Ironhide knew that he would have to let Will go. He didn't want him in pain, he didn't want Will suffering. "Will.. I'm so sorry I let you down. You deserved better. Now, you only have a week left before Ratch' takes you off life support." Ironhide sniffed.

Just when he thought that he wouldn't get a response, Will gently squeezed his hand and opened his eyes.

"Wills awake!" Ironhide shouted.

Everyone ran into the med-bay, and saw Will wide awake, looking around. Soon after, Will was being carried around by Ironhide.

Primus be damned if you even try to take Will away from 'Hide.

One month has passed since then, and Ironhide still hasn't slept.

"Ironhide, please get some sleep." Optimus pleaded.

"No! Now stop asking or saying that, damn it! Leave me alone!" Ironhide shouted.

As he sat outside, he kept thinking about Will, before and after he was found. He didn't notice when his husband sat next to him.

" 'Hide?" Will asked, softly.

"Yes, Will?"

"Please don't blame yourself for what happened to me."

"How can't I? Because I fell asleep, you got abducted. Because of me, you nearly died! It's all my fault!" Ironhide stated, tears streaming down his face silently.

Will just hugged him tightly, comforting him. "What happened to me isn't your fault, 'Hide. It was an unexpected ambush, no one knew. What matters is that I'm okay and alive, right?" Will pointed out.

"Right." Ironhide stated, giving a small smile.

Will just sat beside Ironhide, and they nuzzled each other, heads pressed together gently, hands clasped together on the ground.

"Hey, Will?"

"Yes, Ironhide?"

"I love you."

Will just smiled, "I love you too."