A/N: Hi y'all long time no see. I've got no excuses this time. Just enjoy this chapter and keep being awesome for sticking with me for these three long years. Oh also some things are suddenly being retconned but you'll get the gist. 

"BRING ME MY GRANDBABY", Blades yelled as his first greeting when exiting the groundbridge. 

Hotshot chuckled as he greeted his adoptive mother, "Well Merry Christmas to you too, mom." He then handed over his pink sunshine before Blades could say anything further.

As Blades shuffled away with his prized grandbaby, Heatwave came through the groundbridge with tons of gifts. "Whoa," Hotshot commented upon seeing his adoptive father, "that's a lot of gifts."

"Thank your mother," Heatwave grunted as he set all of the gifts down, "most of them are for Starlight."

Blades looked proud of himself, "I have to spoil all of my grandbabies."

"All?", Hotshot questioned.

"Well, you are giving me more grandbabies, right?"

"Ah-hah....", Hotshot chuckled nervously, "ask Medix."

"Speaking of Medix, where is he?" Heatwave chimed in, "I need to talk to him about my joint issues-"

Blades interrupted him, "I already told you, they're having issues because you're getting old!"

Heatwave scoffed, "I AM NOT-"

"He's in the medbay down the hall," Hotshot interrupted, "though he is busy at the moment."

Heatwave was already heading that way before Hotshot could finish that last sentence, "Then I'll just pop in and ask for his opinion then-". Hotshot stopped him, "I wouldn't do that, his patient is... complicated." Heatwave brushed him off as he opened the door, "Medix has complicated patients? Hah! You're the most complicated patient he's had to date!"

As soon as Heatwave looked in, he froze in place. Scorch and Medix looked back at him like they were deer in headlights. 

"Oh...", Heatwave sputtered, "definitely complicated."

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"Spill the tea", Blades said as he sat on the couch next to his sparkmate, "I thought Medix had a restraining order against... him."

"Wait you WHAT-", Wedge interrupted.

"Oh I thought about it but I never went through with it", Medix answered casually. 

Heatwave was staring daggers at Scorch the entire time as he explained everything. He then spoke up when Scorch caught them up to speed, "So let me get this straight... after everything that has happened between you two, Medix just forgave you?"

"Well.. not entirely- wait, how do you know what happened between us?", Scorch asked. 

"Medix's parents had a meeting with all of the teachers so that we can keep you away from him as he was training', Blades answered. "Oh by the way, Medix's parents will be coming over soon."

Scorch looked ready to pass out at that moment. The thought of having to face Medix's parents again after all those years took a toll on his processor. Wedge read his thoughts and pulled him in for a protective hug, "It's okay, Scorch, everything will be okay."

"Hah. Sure. Everything is fine", Heatwave sneered, "It's not like his parents checked in every other hour to "make sure Scorch isn't there" in a panicked tone."

"Dad, stop, this isn't about you", Hotshot interrupted.

"In my parents defense", Medix added, "you all signed a contract specifying check-ins at any time."

"Babe... not helping..."

Just then, the groundbridge opened once again. Two bots exited out of the portal and entered into the main area. 

Wedge jumped up and immediately ran to one of them. "Dad! Papa!", he exclaimed as he hugged them.

Boulder and Salvage smiled as they hugged one of their adoptive sons. They then looked up as Hoist entered the room, exclaimed loudly, and then ran over to hug them. Boulder chuckled as he hugged his grown sons, "Hello Wedge. Hello Hoist. It's so good to see both of you. How are your significant others?"

Blades immediately turned toward him. "Others? Plural??"

Salvage chimed in, "Of course! Whirl and Scorch, right?"

Wedge nodded as Heatwave looked at them flabbergasted, "Wait... you two knew about Scorch???"

Boulder and Salvage both had a puzzled look on their face. "I thought everyone knew?", Boulder questioned, "Wedge told us that he was going to tell everyone."

"How long ago did he tell you...?", Medix asked. 

"A few months ago, why?"

"We... uh... we just found out about it", Hotshot said as he held back his angry mate. He then looked over at Scorch, "Did you know that they knew?"

"I did...", Scorch said softly, "Boulder has been helping me through everthing by being my personal therapist. And Salvage has been making me do community service and teaching me the importance of hard work. I owe a great debt to them.."

Heatwave looked over at Boulder and Salvage in disbelief, "Why didn't you two say something?? Why didn't you tell us??'

"Like I said, we thought Wedge was going to tell you", Boulder clarified. "Plus, they were all full grown adults so we had no business telling others about it", Salvage added. 

Whirl, who had been quiet this whole time, spoke up, "They did the right thing. Since this had nothing to do with Medix and was solely focusing on helping Scorch get better, they had every right to keep it quiet."

"Except the contract stated that any mention of Scorch from any of the teachers would be monitored by us", said a familiar white femme as she entered into the room followed by her red spikey-haired sparkmate.

Medix perked up at the sight of the two bots, "Carrier! Sire!"

Scorch fainted. 

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Hotshot gently handed Starlight over to his mother-in-law, "It's good to see you again Quickshadow", Hotshot turned to his father-and-law and gave a slight nod, "-and Sideswipe. You two are early..."

As Hotshot sat down next to his mate, Wedge walked into the room after putting Scorch in his berth. 

Quickshadow completely disregarded Hotshot's statement and immediately turned to Wedge, "How long will it be until Scorch is awake enough to talk to us?"

Wedge was caught off guard, "Uh... A while? He fainted pretty hard-"

"Wake him up in twenty minutes", Sideswipe interrupted, "we want to get this over with as much as he does."

Wedge got slightly defensive, "He's not faking it."

"Right. And I'm the queen of England", Quickshadow sneered. 

Wedge got slightly bigger, "I'm telling the truth."

"UGH", Blades interrupted as he walked over to Quickshadow, "Good grief this poor baby has been trying to get your attention this whole time. Give Starlight to me so I can give her attention!"

Quickshadow snapped back and held her grandsparkling away from Blades, "Bugger off! I've only had her for a minute! Leave us be!"

Quickshadow finally turned her attention to the sweet sunshine and smothered her in affection. Meanwhile, Blades walked over to Wedge with a small smirk, whispering to him a quick 'you're welcome' as he made his way into the kitchen. 

Hotshot spoke quietly with his mate as his in-laws were fawning over their sparkling, "Your parents seem more relaxed... I thought they'd be more aggressive?"

Medix kept a puzzled look as he analyzed his parents, "I've noticed that too... Usually they'd be kicking down the door and terrorizing Scorch by now..."

"Maybe they weren't kidding when they said they've been monitoring Scorch. What if Scorch is telling the truth?"

"My carrier would have told me by now-"

"Unless you verbally stated that you didn't want to be involved", Whirl poked in as she offered burnt energon cubes, "want one? I made them myself."

"Uh... no thank you Whirl", Hotshot said politely, "but thanks for your input in our private conversation."

"Anytime", Whirl chirped as she spun away. 

Medix sighed, "If my parents have evidence that Scorch is doing good and they are comfortable with forgiving him.. I might as well believe it."

Hotshot pulled him close, "You don't have to forgive him if you don't want to. But if you believe that your parents have good judgement, then I won't stop you."

"Well... what would you do if you were me?"

Hotshot thought for a moment, "I wouldn't know. Scorch was my friend, so I have a different view. But I guess I would go with what my spark believes is right."

Medix rested his helm against him in slight defeat, "You make it sound so easy..."

Hotshot kissed his helm as he held him closer, "I know... I wish I could have a better answer. But, like I said, I don't know what you're going through. It would have to be up to you to decide what is the right thing to do."

Medix gave a slight nod as he wrapped his arm around his mate. He then resumed watching his parents fawn over their daughter, chuckling as his father hid himself and Starlight in a blanket so that Quickshadow couldn't steal her away. 

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Wedge rested his servo on his mate's leg as they sat in front of Quickshadow and Sideswipe, all of them talking quietly amongst themselves. 

Meanwhile, Medix paced back and forth in the kitchen, becoming anxious from the situation at hand. 

Blades looked over as he was dumping the burnt energon cubes in the trash, "Medix?"

"WHAT."

"Want to help me make a new batch of energon cubes?"

"....Yes", Medix answered as he came into the cooking area and began professionally preparing the cubes. 

Blades cleared his throat as he tried talking to Medix, "So.. did you try any of those cubes that Whirl made?"

Medix snorted, "No. Her cooking is worse than Chases."

"Right???", Blades said in a gossiping tone, "Like how do you burn cubes???"

Medix giggled in response.

Blades chuckled as he prepared more food, "Hey where is Hotshot?"

"He went to put Starlight down for her nap. He might still be in there."

"Oh. Aw I didn't get enough time to hang out with my grandbaby..."

Medix shook his helm as he rolled his optics playfully, "You can have her after her nap. She's not going anywhere-"

"Hey Medix?", Chase interrupted as he poked his helm in the kitchen, "They're ready for you."

Before Medix could respond, Blades got sassy, "Chase?? How long have you been here?? WHEN did you get here???"

"I'll answer those later. Medix, please follow me", Chase said calmly.

Medix took a deep breath as he followed Chase out into the room, taking a seat next to her parents.

"Thank you for joining us Medix", Quickshadow said softly, "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?", Medix asked. 

"For evidence and a real apology", said Scorch as he stood up, "Your parents have already forgiven me-"

"Wait what?! Already??"

Everyone turned to face Hotshot who has just walked into the room, looking disheveled. 

"Jeez, what happened to you?", Wedge asked. 

"Starlight had a blowout."

Everyone shared a collective face of disgust as Hotshot came to sit down next to his mate. 

Medix moved back slightly, "I can smell it on you."

"I'll shower after this", Hotshot stated. 

Medix quickly looked at Scorch, "Make this quick."

Scorch nodded as he allowed Quickshadow to scroll through all of the evidence. Each slide showed text messages between himself, Wedge, Boulder, and Salvage. Pictures showed Scorch going into therapy with Boulder, doing Community service with Salvage, helping out in homeless shelters, and making amends with everyone that he has hurt. As each slide was presented, Scorch apologized and explained what part of his old self led him to do all of his selfless acts.

"I was a fool. I was a monster. I was everything that could be defined as horrible. I did it because I thought I was invincible. All of those horrible things... I thought that everything I did to you was funny. It wasn't. It really fragging wasn't. It was awful. It was horrible. I really fucked up. If it wasn't for any of this... I would not be standing here today. All of the growing up I did has helped me realize that I could be a better bot. I did all of these good things not only because I wanted to prove to you that I've changed, but I also wanted to prove to myself that I could be doing bigger and better things. I needed the right push and even though it did hurt you... it made me wake up. All of the apologies in the world can never make up for what I did to you. So while I can't promise to make a phenomenal apology... I can promise to keep doing what I can to become the opposite of the exact bot I was in my youth."

Scorch hesitated before concluding his statement, "I'm... sorry, Medix. I really, truly, am sorry for all the pain I've put you through. I am and will continue to do as much good as possible to make sure that the old me stays in the past."

Before Scorch could say anything else, he was interrupted by a hug from the small medic. Shock and confusion was plastered all over his face before he realized what was going on. He slowly wrapped his arms around the small medic to hug him back. 

Wedge and Hotshot sat there awkwardly as both of their mates hugged each other for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

After a few moments, Medix let go and smiled up at the yellow sports bot, "I forgive you. And I mean it this time... I can see clear as day that you have been doing all that you can to right all of your wrongs. That takes a lot of strength and courage. I'm so proud of you. Seeing how much this has changed you has proved that I can trust you again."

Scorch sobbed with joy as he suddenly felt all of the tension release from his entire being, "Thank you, Medix. Thank you so much for giving me a second chance. I will never, ever, let you down again."

Medix also felt a lot of tension release as he nodded at the yellow bot, "I'm counting on that."

After some silence, Hotshot finally spoke up. "So... we're all friends now? We're all homies?"

"Hell yeah, brother!", Wedge cheered as he scooped up his mate, "Now go take a shower, I can smell you from over here."

"Oh right", Medix said as he pushed his mate out of the room and into the washracks, "GO SHOWER, STINKY!"

Medix shrieked when Hotshot snatched him and brought him into the washracks as well, "You're coming too!"