The shadow still lurks

Chapter 4: Therapy

The bee team were relaxing when suddenly the alarm went off.
"We have incoming." Fixit said.
They all ran to the command center weapons ready but Windblade smiled when she recognised the ship.
"It's alright, I know them." She said urging the rest of the team to lower their weapons.

The bee team stood down and allowed the ship two land.
Out came two Autobots, a bright blue femme bot and a cherry red Mech Bumblebee recognised very well.

"Knockout." He said surprised.
Knockout broke into an all too familiar smirk.
"Hello Bee, long time no see." Knockout said.
The two shook hands.
"It's so good to see you." Bee said.
"Likewise, and it's good to be back here." Knockout said.

"Uh Bee, who's this guy?" Grimlock asked looking at Knockout.
"Oh, guys this is Knockout, he's a former Decepticon who joined the Autobots near the end of the war, and he's a very good friend of mine." Bumblebee said.
"Knockout, this is my team." Bee said introducing Knockout to each member of the Bee team, aside from Optimus, Ratchet, Windblade and Jazz who Knockout was already well acquainted with.

Attention then shifted to Chromia, who introduced herself.
"Hello, my name is Chromia, I'm a friend of Windblade and Knockout and I'm a therapist, I work to help Autobots and Decepticons alike adjust to their new lives." Chromia said.
"She's very good, she even helped me a bit after I joined the Autobots." Knockout said.

Introductions were carried out and soon Chromia began her sessions, assisted by Knockout.
Chromia spoke with Slipstream and Knockout talked with Jetstorm.

Chromia and Slipstream were sitting on a crate in the medbay.
Chromia was smiling warmly at Slipstream who was rather tense.
"Alright Slipstream we're going to begin now, I will be taking notes throughout this session, and I want you to tell me to stop if you feel uncomfortable or need a break, okay." Chromia said smiling warmly at Slipstream.
Slipstream nodded and with that the session began.

At first Chromia asked Slipstream some small questions before beginning the more serious ones.
"So Slipstream, how did you end up working for Shadow Raker?" Chromia asked.
"It was when me and Jetstorm were young I was 6, and he was 3, our parents died in an explosion and we were living on the streets for several months just trying to survive, Shadow Raker found us and offered us a job working for him, in exchange he would give us energon and shelter." Slipstream said.

He clenched his fists tightly.
"But he lied, he used me and Jetstorm as tools, he sent us out to steal for him and whenever we failed he would either lock us out of the base, beat us or refuse to feed us, he treated Jetstorm the worst, just because he was the youngest, the weakest and the most accident prone, he treated him like his slave and there was nothing I could do to stop him, I hate him, I hate everything about him and if I could I would subject him to every painful thing he has done to us over the years, but he doesn't even deserve that, he deserves to go offline." Slipstream growled out.
Slipstream took a long deep breath and sighed.

Chromia looked at the young minicon, his whole frame slumped slightly after he'd finished his tirade, clearly he'd been holding that in for quite a long time.
After a few moments of silence Slipstream looked up at Chromia.
"I'm sorry, it's just, I've been holding a lot of that in for a good while now." Slipstream said.
"That's quite alright Slipstream, this kind of thing is perfectly natural, especially for a situation like this, thanks heavens I was sitting down when I reviewed your records, it's appalling you and your brother had to live with such a monster." Chromia said.

She then decided to change the topic.
"I trust you and your brother are much happier with Drift." Chromia said.
"Very much miss Chromia, master Drift is such a wonderful bot, he has his flaws of course, but he has really changed our lives for the better, he provides us with a home and energon, he trains us to defend ourselves, he taught me and Jetstorm how to read and write, he even comforts us when we are sad or when we have had nightmares." Slipstream said.

Chromia could practically feel her spark swell with emotions.
"You all seem very close." Chromia said.
"We are miss Chromia...we're like a family." Slipstream said.

"Drift seems to have quite a fatherly bond to you two." Chromia said.
"Admittedly Jetstorm and I do see Master Drift like a father, but have never had the courage to say so." Slipstream said.
"Why not?" Chromia asked curiously.
"Because we fear he would not feel the same way towards us. Slipstream said.k

"From what you've described to me Slipstream he does seem to feel the same way about both you and Jetstorm, I feel if you do tell him how you feel, you may be pleasantly suprised." Chromia said.
Slipstream was silent, thinking everything over.
"Just think about it for now." Chromia said.
Slipstream nodded and smiled.
The two talked for a while before Chromia declared their session over and Slipstream went to wait for Jetstorm.

Jetstorm soon appeared followed by Knockout.
"Now remember Jetstorm, same time tomorrow, and think about what we've talked about." Knockout said.
"Okay, thanks Knockout." Jetstorm said looking the happiest Slipstream had seen him in a long time.

Knockout left and Jetstorm and Slipstream got some Energon.
The two sat down and discussed their therapy sessions.
"Knockout was so fun to talk to, he loves his paintjob, he even buffed some of the scratches I missed the last time." Jetstorm said.
True to his word there wasn't a single scratch on Jetstorm.
"He really knows his stuff." Jetstorm said seeing the impressed look on Slipstream's face.

"Jetstorm, you know how me and you think about master Drift, as a father figure?" Slipstream asked.
Jetstorm nodded.
"Well Chromia told me, that perhaps we should tell him how we feel." Slipstream said.
"Knockout said the same to me." Jetstorm said.

"Well,do you think we should tell him?" Slipstream asked.
"I don't know, I really him to think of us as his sons as well as his students, but at the same time, What if he doesn't feel the same?" Jetstorm asked.
Slipstream nodded.
"This is something we must think about." He said.

A little sneak peak for part 5:

Sideswipe woke up, but something was strange, he was back on cybertron, alongside a yellow mech, one he hadn't seen in such a long time.

Suddenly there was the sounds of bots yelling as well as blaster fire.
The mech started pulling Sideswipe along with him, both of them running past many fighting bots in an attempt to escape.

The unthinkable happened when a stray blaster shot came flying through the air, hitting the yellow mech square in the chest.
Sideswipe tried to help but it was no luck. The bots bright yellow paint, faded to gunmetal gray.

The scrapyard:
Sideswipe awoke with a jolt and sat up in his berth his whole frame trembling and shaking, and in his despair he said a name, the name of a bot he could never tak to again.

"Sunstreaker."