Chapter 1

He woke up screaming from a dream he could only half remember and for half a moment it felt as if he were completely alone. Cold seemed to run through his veins as if they were filled with liquid nitrogen instead of blood and it seemed as if he would freeze. Freeze solid never to be warm again just as he was sure he would always be alone. Then a pair of arms wrapped around him and blessed warmth chased away the cold that had creeped into his bones while he slept and he knew that for that moment he wasn't alone. That for the moment he was safe.

"Another nightmare?" Optimus Prime's voice was deep and smooth and the sound of it sent a small shiver down Sam's spine. There was also a tone of worry hidden deep within his words.

"Yah." Sam answered even though he didn't need to. He'd been having nightmares ever since he'd gotten strong enough to wander around without both of his crutches, though he still used one for support because his right leg was still terribly weak and didn't seem to want to hold his weight most of the time.

The cast had come off over a week ago and the bones in his leg had been declared healed, or as healed as they'd ever be because there was still going to be pain, by Ratchet. He was doing much better than he had been doing in January. It was the middle of March now.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Optimus repeated the question that he'd been asking every night for the past week. Sam blinked and chewed his bottom lip for a moment.

"I don't remember all of it just pieces. Just some of them." Optimus moved to rest his chin of the top of Sam's head. It was a gesture of comfort that was often repeated and more than welcome.

"That's fine. Just tell me what you remember." Sam seemed to hesitate for a moment before he began talking. Optimus listened to the uncertain words that left the teen's mouth as if he were listening to a sermon in a church.

Every word that Sam said was committed to memory so that they could be repeated to Ratchet later. Out of all of them Optimus was the only one that Sam ever talked to about his nightmares. He was the only one that got to hear them straight from the horses mouth. Optimus did however have permission to tell Ratchet about what Sam told him because Ratchet needed to know about anything that could cause any sort of complication in Sam's recovery whither it be physical or emotional.

While he was doing wonderfully physically, mentally was something else. The dreams had been held at bay (by what they didn't know but they all had their guesses) until Sam was physically able to handle them and when he'd made it to that point the flood gates had opened and both of them had gotten caught in the raging waters.

Noting major had come out of Sam's nightmares so far. No major revelation from his time spent with Megatron and his ilk. He only spoke of strange dreams and being left alone and of the sound of Megatron and other mechs talking to each other. It was a slow process but both of them knew that the worse memories were coming and neither were really looking forward to it.

The nightmares were terrible that much was true but waking up was an experience that Sam almost looked forward to. Optimus was always there when he woke up screaming ready to wrap his arms around him in a heartbeat. The cold that was caused by his nightmares was chased away by the warmth that seemed to roll off of Optimus like light from the sun and the bond between them was always filled with love and comfort.

It did wonders for him when he woke up sure that he was alone and unwanted. So sure that he was still laying in the cold on the floor of his cage and that Megatron would be coming in at any moment and that the pain would return. That Optimus had left him to his fate and moved onto another never to even think of him again even for the briefest of moments.

Thankfully the waking nightmare never lasted any longer than it took for Optimus to wrap his arms around him and pull him close. He was always there and always ready to chase away whatever darkness was plaguing him. Sam's voice trailed to a stop in the middle of a sentence as the memory he was speaking of faded from his mind completely.

"I can't remember the rest," Sam huffed and shook his head, "I hate it when that happens. I feel like I'm forgetting something important."

"You'll remember in time Sam don't worry about it and don't push yourself to remember. It'll come when it's ready." Optimus said his voice low and filled with understanding, even though Sam often wondered if Optimus really did understand what was going on in his head. Hell, half the rime he didn't even understand it and it was his head. Sam sighed and buried his face in the shirt that Optimus was wearing.

"I try not to but it bothers me. I hate not knowing what happened but at the same time I don't want to know. If I had the energy to get pissed off at the feeling I think I would." Optimus chuckled lightly the sound rich and deep.

"Then lets be thankful that you don't have the energy at the moment. Now what do you say that we try to get back to sleep. I'm sure that neither one of us wants to get in trouble with Ratchet when we go in for your physical therapy tomorrow." Sam grumbled something about Optimus's phrasing before he snuggled back down onto the bed and closed his eyes.

Sam hated the words physical therapy with a passion. He preferred the word exercise instead for that's what his sessions with Ratchet felt like to him. Exercise to get his body back in shape after his month long period of stillness and then the time he hadn't really been able to move around because of his leg.

Even Ratchet said that it was a more accurate definition for what they were doing. Though a part of Sam was sure that Ratchet only agreed with him because it was easier than arguing with him. Sam sighed in content when Optimus wrapped his arms back around him having let go only so that he could get comfortable.

There wasn't any other place that he wanted to be at that moment. Optimus was safety and warmth and love and light. A guiding light to the shadows that seemed to wrap around him like they were trying to trap him within their grasp and never let him go. The shadowed feeling had something to do with when he'd been asleep but like the dreams of his time with Megatron he found that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what it meant.

He'd mentioned the feeling to Optimus only once and the mech had been sure that his questions about the feeling would be answered in time. He just had to be patient. He hated being patient. Being patient was for people who had to sit around all the time or for people who's jobs required it of them. Optimus could be patient for him seeing how he had to be patient anyways it came with his job being a Prime and all.

Besides one of them needed to be impatient and he was more than happy to take the job when he was able.

"Go to sleep little one." Optimus ordered as he pulled Sam closer to his body. It was as if any distance from each other was too far apart and often enough for them it was. Sam was more than happy to listen to the command and soon enough he found himself drifting into a peaceful sleep.

A worried smile crossed Optimus's face as Sam drifted off. Blue eyes watched as his breathing evened out as he sank deeper into sleep. There would be no more nightmares that night for Sam only ever seemed to have one at a time. Optimus knew however that they'd be repeating this nights performance for many nights to come. While Sam only ever had one nightmare a night they came every night.

And while Optimus knew that the details of Sam's nightmares were important some part of him hated them like he hated the war. He'd learned very little about Sam's time spent with the Decepticons from his nightmares. Nothing vital had been glimpsed yet. Nothing to explain the almost constant chill that seemed to cling to Sam's skin like a small child holding their parents hand. He had learned nothing about how Sam had been injured or about the deaths of Bumblebee and Punch, though he was reluctant to bring up either mech in Sam's presence.

Even the mech's stationed at the base with them seemed to understand that for the time being their fallen comrades were a taboo subject around the boy at least until Sam brought them up himself. None of them were going to push for information. It wasn't worth risking Sam's current state of confused contentment. The first few days back at the base had been bad enough because while Sam had been well enough to get out of the hospital he hadn't been well enough to get out from underneath Ratchet's watchful optics. Sadly his first night under Ratchet's watch had resulted in him not sleeping.

They hadn't been sure if it was the noise that the medic made while moving around that had caused it or if it had been something else. As it had turned out almost anything having to do with them in their bipedal modes seemed to trigger something in Sam that made the boy highly uncomfortable. Ratchet's almost constant watching had been the cause of Sam's sleepless first night.

He hadn't been able to remember why but the medic's stare had made him more than uneasy though that was the second thing they had learned. Touch had been the first thing that had come to their collective attention for while Sam was comfortable enough to be around them while they were in bipedal mode as soon as one of them even made a motion to touch him he'd flinch and pull back as if he expected them to hurt him. It had hurt thinking that Sam was scared of them.

Sam had of course apologized and told them that he didn't know why he'd pulled back. Amazingly enough it had been Epps who'd offered up a reason for why he did it. From what Epps had explained it had been a subconscious reaction. The last time he'd been touched by a mech of their size he'd been hurt and so his body was convinced that they were going to hurt him even though Sam knew that they weren't going to. It was a subconscious response that would fade given time or so they hoped.

All they had to do was wait for Sam's brain to convince his body that they meant him no harm. So far he still flinched whenever one of them made to touch him in their bipedal modes. Thankfully his flinching didn't bother them all that much anymore. It still bothered Sam something awful however but they'd gone to great lengths to reassure him that they weren't offended or any such thing by the action. There were moments that he was sure that Sam didn't believe them.

Though to be fair Sam was trying and that was all that any of them could ask of the boy after all he'd been through. Sighing and shifting slightly so that he had a better hold on the human sleeping in his arms Optimus wondered just how long it would take to fix what his brother had done to the boy sleeping in his arms.

That was if it could ever be truly fixed at all because despite the fact that they were all optimistic about Sam's recovery there were times that Optimus doubted that Sam would ever truly heal.

Ooo

Lennox had to admit that the newly constructed Autobot section of the Nellis Base seemed to feel as if it had always belonged. The newly added section's of the base that were meant to house the Autobots that were present at said base were all built underground with entrances in a few of the hangers that were towards the back of the base. It was an understandable choice of course.

They were less likely to be found if they had anything that might have seemed out of place hidden below ground. That and anything underground would stand up to attacks better. It was amazing really how fast the newest section of the base had come into being. They'd be building a few more like it in other countries and when enough Autobots landed there'd be a group of seven or eight at each base built.

A group of Autobots on each continent. It'd make responding to Decepticon threats a whole hell of a lot easier than they were at the moment. Diego Garcia was still being used of course but it was mostly for training now or it would be once the few things that Nellis lacked were taken care of. Diego Garcia had officially become unsafe what with the Decepticons knowing where it was located and all.

He was amazed that they hadn't been attacked there yet but there was some part of him that was quite sure that an attack was coming. All they had to do was wait for it and try to be prepared. He wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth however and the longer they went without an attack on Diego Garcia the better. Lennox's room was still dark. He hadn't bothered to turn on the lamp that sat on his nightstand yet. He was half hoping that he'd be able to fall back asleep but it wasn't very likely.

He had about forty minutes until his alarm clock went off and he got up to officially begin his day. He'd come to dread the paperwork that he had to fill out. It seemed that anything regarding the Autobots and their part of the base that needed to be signed needed to be signed by him and not by Optimus which confused him greatly.

Sadly he couldn't skip out on the paperwork either because if he did he'd just have double the amount to do the next day. It was something that not even Ironhide could save him from (not that the mech hadn't offered) no matter how much the both of them wished that he could. It was a never ending fight that he had no hopes of winning. No matter how hard he tried. There was however a perk to his boring days. If he managed to get all of his work done before the end of the week he was allowed off base for the weekend which meant that he was able to go and visit his wife and daughter.

Both Sarah and Annabelle were understandably happy about the whole thing. Even Ironhide seemed to enjoy visiting with his partners family. Annabelle had the black warrior wrapped around all ten of her little fingers and her toes too. Poor Ironhide spent most of his time at the Lennox Farm playing whatever his daughter wanted to. Sadly her favorite game had Ironhide's holoform crawling around on all fours with his bouncing baby girl on his back telling him to "giddy up!".

Lennox had laughed himself silly the first time he'd seen Ironhide playing horsy with his two and a half year old (she'd be three in May). Ironhide had threatened to do terrible things to him that the Autobot Code went against if he ever told anybody. And he'd been reassured that his body would never be found if he so much as hinted anything about Ironhide's game with Annabelle to Epps.

It left Lennox wondering what would happen to him when Sarah finally told Monique about the almost common occurrence at their house. Because he was more than positive that the moments Epps's wife found out about it that Epps would hear about it was well. So chances were he was doomed to suffer an early death at Ironhide's cannons no matter what he did. Though there was always the option of telling Optimus that if he vanished and was never seen again that it was Ironhide's fault.

He knew Ironhide would never purposely hurt him but for whatever reason the black mech's threat served as a major source of amusement for him. Sam had thought it was hilarious when the kid had been told and had promised not to tell though Lennox was fairly sure that Optimus knew about both Ironhide's game with his daughter and his plan should word about it get out. If the Prime knew however he either wasn't saying anything or he'd already told Ironhide that he wasn't allowed to kill him.

No matter which one it was Lennox was grateful for both Optimus's and Sam's continued silence. Lennox smiled to himself and shifted so that he was a bit more comfortable in bed. Maybe he would be able to get some more sleep after all. It seemed like he just barley gotten comfortable and started to fall back asleep when his alarm clock started screeching in his ear.

"Damnit!" Lennox cursed as he rolled over so that he was facing the offending piece of machinery. He was more than half tempted to throw the damn thing across the room. It only took him a few more seconds to realize that he was actually more than half tempted. In fact throwing his alarm clock sounded like an idea that was more than wonderful.

Had anybody been passing by his room at that particular time they would have heard a loud bang followed by cussing as the Major's plan of action failed.

Ooo

The Dinning Hall was crowded and noisy and Epps loved it. The almost constant sound of people talking was something that he doubted he could ever live without. In his line of work things got bad when they went quiet because that usually meant one of two things. Either the twins were up to something or there were Decepticons out and about.

Needless to say he didn't care for either option when it came right down to it. Though if he had to choose he preferred the twins but that was only because their half processed pranks tended to backfire. Epps chuckled slightly at the thought of them and was more than happy that they were back on Diego Garcia helping the rest of the mechs and soldiers that were still on the island.

There hadn't even been a bit of argument over where those two glitches would be staying because there wasn't a chance in Hell of them getting anywhere near the new base until it was twin proofed. Sideswipe did less damage than those two idiots when he was in the mood for a good prank or two. His didn't backfire either.

It made Epps wonder what would happen when Sunstreaker finally landed and the two of them were back together again. He looked forward to meeting Sideswipe's brother even if he could be a jerk at times or so he'd been told. He could deal with jerks. Jerks didn't bother him at all. Assholes did but not jerks. Epps smirked as his eyes landed on Lennox. The poor man looked like he wanted to drown himself in his cup of coffee.

"What's wrong Captain? Did you not sleep good? Was it nightmares?" Epps' teasing only got him a weary look for the other man before he was flipped off.

"No, it wasn't nightmares. That's Sam department at the moment. I just have this really annoying habit of waking up before my alarm clock goes off." Lennox said.

"Well you pore thing." Epps said mockingly, "Why don't you just go to bed sooner?"

"If I went to bed sooner then I'd have to look at your ugly mug before my first cup of coffee." Epps gave his friend a half hearted glare before both of them laughed.

"So, the kids still having nightmares huh?" Epps asked before taking a bite of his breakfast. Lennox nodded before answering.

"That's what I heard from Ironhide earlier. He said that Optimus asked Ratchet about it earlier while Hide was in the Med Bay." Taking a moment to chew and swallow his food Epps thought about what he was going to say next.

"I know nightmares can be bad but is Sam really bad enough to need any kind of help with it yet. I mean Ratchet and the others do know that they go away on their own eventually."

"It's not the night mares that are bothering him. It's the fact that Sam wakes up screaming bloody murder after each one that's making Optimus so nervous. There was something else to but Hide said Ratchet wouldn't tell him. Patient confidentiality or something like that."

Epps snorted. "Sounds more like Ratchet being Ratchet than anything else if you ask me."

"Well no one asked you." Lennox said grinning. Epps grinned back at his friend. They could say just about anything they wanted to each other and it was never taken the wrong way. They had a respect-annoy relationship.

"So what's on the to do list today Lennox?" Lennox shrugged and took a bite of the food that he had been ignoring while talking to Epps.

"Not sure yet. I almost dread going to my office and finding out. I swear that I have more and more paperwork to do everyday."

"Well, you're the boss who else would they send it to?"

"Optimus." Lennox suggested. Epps chuckled before the sound of approaching footsteps caught his ear.

Turning so that he could see who was approaching them Epps let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was one of the on base soldiers that both he and Lennox could stand. Though at the moment he was failing to remember the man's name. The man before them stopped and saluted before turning his attention to Lennox.

"Major Lennox sir you're needed in communications. One of the men stationed there reported picking up something strange." Lennox blinked and looked at Epps before standing.

"Do you have any clue what it is?" he asked. The man shook his head in a negative.

"No, sir, we don't know but someone thinks it may have to do with your friends."

Lennox blinked in confusion before realization dawned. "Alright I'm coming but I need you to go and inform Optimus about this."

The man nodded and turned to leave before he stopped and turned to look at Lennox again. "Which one is he again? I'm terrible with names and faces even alien ones." he said quite sheepishly.

Epps chocked back a laugh. It was hard to believe that someone wouldn't remember which alien Optimus was. "He's the big red and blue one mad with flames on his ankles and chest. Trust me you can't miss him and if you do just look for one of the others and tell them. They'll get the word to Big Buddha."

The man nodded before hurrying off.

"What do you say we go and see if we can figure out if we're going to have company Epps?" Epps looked down at his breakfast for a moment before turning back to Lennox.

"I know this might be a big deal but can I finish eating first?"

Ooo

Ratchet was worried. Which according to those who knew him was an almost constant state of processor for the Autobot medic. In fact the mechs and humans that knew him worried about him being alright when he wasn't worried. It was a small fact that amused the medic on a good day and annoyed him on a bad.

His worry at the moment however was the same worry that had been with him for what seemed like forever. And really it would have been so bad had he been able to pinpoint what exactly it was about Sam that was worrying him so much. It wasn't the nightmares or the weakness that was bothering him. It was the ten million un answered questions that seemed to pop into his processor whenever he thought about those to weeks that Sam had spent with the Decepticons that was driving him fritzy.

He'd ran every bit of information over and over again and the result was the same each time no matter what. Because as much as he hated to admit it even to himself, Sam shouldn't have been among the land of the living. He looked the boy over and run every scan possible both while at the hospital and at the base once they'd been able to move the boy and it always came back the same.

Oh, he knew that Megatron and his ilk hadn't bothered to care for the boy in any way. In fact from what he been told so far he was pretty sure that they had more or less left the boy alone more often than not. What he didn't understand was how Sam had survived without anything to eat for two weeks straight. Humans could survive a week without food so long as they had water and he knew the whatever Sam had been given wasn't water nor was it food.

Water didn't leave behind evidence of burns and the only thing that he could think of them giving Sam to drink made him sick to his energon ingestion system. Which made sense in a terribly ironic way considering the first thing that popped into his processor concerning Sam's burned throat had been energon of some low variety. Though that in and of itself didn't make very much sense considering that even the lowest of low grade should have done more than burn the inside of his throat far worse than it had. It made him wondering in ever expanding circles.

He was confused and unsure and half a dozen other things that he really didn't like being. And there were so many different questions to be answered and little to nothing to go by. Ratchet's pondering was cut short however by the sound of an incoming message over his internal communications systems.

"What?" Ratchet snapped.

"We need you in communications." Ironhide's gruff voice said.

"I'm busy."

Ironhide snorted. "So. You're needed in communications. The humans think they might be picking up a signal from incoming Autobots." Ratchet's entire frame jerked in surprise.

"I'm on my way." Ratchet said moving towards the Med Bay's exit with out a second thought. He'd have to ponder Sam and his death defying ways later.

Oooo

I'm BACK! So did you guys miss me? Probably not but I can hope. So first things first. Yes, I did intend to wait this long to update. The idea of waiting until V-day was intentional because I'm just mean like that. I actually don't have a lot to say here so I'll get this note over with so you guys can go do whatever. I'll update about every two weeks or so alternating between this fic and Hatching Eggs unless major inspiration for one of them hits and I toss the schedule for a week or two. Which may happen when I get closer to finishing either story. Um, so far I don't have much of this story planned though I do know the main things that I want and am aiming to put in this story. As usual I apologize if any characters are OOC. I try my best. Spell checks will happen later when I'm in the mood so it might be awhile. I'd kinda like it if you guys would go read and review for some of my other stuff but you don't have too if you don't want too. And last but most important:

PLEASE READ

I plan on putting this at the end of every updated chapter or one shot I make from now on so get used to seeing this. There is a show called Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go that ended one season before it was meant to with the universes biggest cliff hanger. I and a few others that I know of are trying to find people to sign a petition to get the show ended right. PLEASE HELP! Take a few minutes if you don't mind to go to my profile page click on the petition link and sign. Even if you don't know anything about the show you're help will be greatly appreciated. It's become my personal goal to spread the word. (I'm waiting for it to get me in trouble.) Every name both helps and counts. So please sign and help stop me from getting to the point where I send the request to every person I can through a private message. Because while I may still be looking for a group of minions to help me I can be very annoying when I want to be.