A mere few hours after the Starscream incident, Ironhide was asleep in a pile of blankets on Sunstreaker's berth with said mech himself. Sunstreaker wasn't really tired, but after Ironhide went missing, he searched everywhere for him, and then finally found him with a Decepticon.

Wheeljack ran out of his lab happily. "I got it! I fixed the ray!" He exclaimed.

"How much time does he have left exactly?" Ratchet asked.

"About six hours, give or take. Why?" Wheeljack responded.

"He's asleep right now. He and Sunstreaker both are." Jolt replied.

"Fuck them!" Starfire shouted.

"Starfire, don't!" Wheeljack warned, but it was too late. Starfire barged into the room, and jerked Sunstreaker up, knocking Ironhide onto the floor. Ironhide grunted, if Sunstreaker wanted him off his berth, all he had to do was set him down. But then, he saw Starfire beating on Sunstreaker, putting him down.

"PUT THAT DOWN!"

"Make me, sociopath!" Starfire retorted. He then flung a picture of Sunstreaker's at the wall, shattering it. Sunstreaker held his broken picture close to him, he was starting to cry.

"Maybe now you'll just leave. You and Wheeljack both." Starfire grumbled.

Ironhide crawled over, and he bit Starfire on his leg.

"Get off, you little bastard!" Starfire shouted, backhanding Ironhide. Sunstreaker saw it all, his optics went blood red.

"YOU LAY ONE MORE GOD DAMN FUCKING SERVO ON HIM, AND I'LL RIP OUT YOUR GOD DAMNED SPARK!" He shouted. Optimus came in, and pried an angry and struggling Sunstreaker off him. Sunstreaker pushed Optimus away, and held Ironhide close. Ironhide, after what Sunstreaker had told him, his past and childhood, the start of all the trauma he had, he understood Sunstreaker.

The golden mech carried Ironhide out and placed him on the floor. Wheeljack activated the ray, and soon, Ironhide was a full grown mech again. "Thank fucking Primus. I hated being small." Ironhide grumbled. Sunstreaker went back into his room and started picking up the pieces of the shattered frame.

Ironhide frowned and followed him. When he looked at the picture, he could understand why he was upset. It was his and Sideswipe's sonogram pictures, their creators had thrown them out too. "Your creators are assholes. Mine were just abusive, so I ran away." Ironhide murmured.

"I tried everything I could do... they threw me out cause when I'd get sick, all I'd do is cry, and.. well, that was part of the reason they threw me out. They just didn't want us, and I wasn't risking being separated from Sideswipe if we went to an adoption center." Sunstreaker murmured.

"I was an only child. After my carrier had me, she went infertile. She was pissed, and so was my sire. Your creators didn't deserve you or Sideswipe. You both deserve better than that."

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Find the will to.. to keep moving on, to keep living everyday?"

"I won't lie to you, it's because I have Will, I have Annabelle. There are mostly days where I just want to give up and end my life, but I realize that.. if I do it, it'll just be another bot offline, another chance for the Cons to attack. There is no restoring Cybertron, everybot knows this, but we can't let the Cons win this war. There's already too much to lose. If you don't want to live.. think about Annabelle, think about Sideswipe. Deep down, you know he loves you, he just won't say it when he's upset or some shit."

That night, Ironhide was laying in his berth and Will was beside him, sound asleep. He promised to keep Sunstreaker's past a secret, and he intended to keep that promise. Starfire was placed in the brig, and the bot standing guard, Dino, was tired of his constant whining about the 'horrible, filthy, unlivable' conditions the brig was in, so he punched him, knocking him unconscious.