Short but informative. :) And a little intrigue at the end.
Eventually came sooner than he liked. He had been caught by Bumblebee, of course, who had become alarmed and immediately took him to see Ratchet, who had become alarmed and told Optimus, who had become alarmed. It went this way until the entire base knew and Sam didn't like it. Ratchet was tending to the backs of his knees, which were terribly cut up. Sam just lay there miserably as he was tended to.
"At least you were using that knife I gave you," Ratchet said softly, breaking the tension.
Bumblebee huffed. "I still don't understand why he does this!"
"He still doesn't trust us, I bet," Ironhide sighed.
"It's not that I don't trust you," Sam finally groused, annoyed at being talked about like he wasn't there. "It's that I don't think you want to hear about my problems."
"How many times do we have to reassure you, Sam?"
"Daily would be nice," Sam replied.
"How about I ask you how you're feeling every day?" Bumblebee asked.
"That might work," the boy admitted.
"Then that's what I shall do!" Bumblebee exclaimed dramatically and Sam laughed.
Ratchet's holoform suddenly melted away and the medic's real body shifted. "There you are Sam. You may put your jeans back on."
Sam stood and slipped back into his pants, not looking at his friends. Optimus walked into the room and Sam flinched. He couldn't help it. He knew what was coming.
"Samuel," Optimus began.
"I know, I'm a horrible person," Sam sighed.
"You're not horrible Sam. You're troubled. There's a difference," Optimus said kindly. "Now I heard what you said about why you didn't tell us, and I agree wholeheartedly with what Bumblebee said. However, you may always come to me if you want, and what we talk about will be kept between us unless a medic is needed. Yes?"
"Okay Optimus," Sam said, nodding.
Sam was moving towards Bumblebee when First Aid cried out.
"Ratchet! Look at this!"
Ratchet turned quickly and looked at the screen, Optimus and Bumblebee doing the same.
"That's impossible," Ratchet said.
"Maybe something went wrong in the scan?" First Aid asked.
Sam frowned. "Um, an explanation would be nice."
"Hold still," Ratchet said as he turned and scanned him with a handheld scanner.
Another image popped up on the screen and they all stared at it. Ratchet had everybody stand away from him and scanned him again. Then the medic had him strip naked and scanned him again. Sam slid his boxers and jeans back on then strained to look at the screen. It was several pictures of his body. One was of him as he usually looked naked, another was of the muscles beneath his skin, a third was his organs and circulatory system, and a fourth was his skeletal system. On the one that was his bones, there were smatterings of something blue along the white.
"What's that blue stuff? Is that normal?" Sam asked.
Ratchet turned to look at him, but didn't answer. Bumblebee and Optimus stepped back and came to the other side of the medical berth. Bumblebee's holoform suddenly appeared and pressed its hands onto his shoulders.
"Ratchet, you're worrying me," Bumblebee said. "What's wrong with Sam? Why do you keep scanning him?"
The older medic stayed silent, so First Aid stepped forward. He hesitantly glanced at Ratchet then spoke.
"The blue on your bones is not normal, Sam," he said quietly.
"Is he sick?" Optimus asked, sounding worried himself. "Is the blue stuff cancer or something?"
"No. The blue colored spots aren't cancer," Ratchet finally said. "My repeated scans have picked up the same thing: metal. You have metal growing on your bones, or metal replacing your bones."
Bumblebee let out a squeal of shock and Optimus stepped back. Sam tried to feel panicked, but he didn't. Ratchet was studying him intently.
"So this is the change Primus was talking about," Sam said quietly.
"One of them, at least," Ratchet said with a nod. "But I believe I have bad news. The metal on your bones right now is just superficial, on the surface as it were. If my hunch is correct, you're going to be in pain once it starts moving deeper. And it will be horrible pain."
"I'm used to pain," Sam said with a shrug then gestured at his scarred chest. "I can take it."
Ratchet shook his head. "This is going to be agonizing. I'm going to start looking into making a painkiller for you. You're going to need it."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Boy had Ratchet been right. Sam woke up in the middle of the night two weeks later and he was paralyzed by pain. He couldn't even make a noise. It was a deep, deep pain that ached to his very bones, which was where it was coming from. Tears were sliding down his face and he wanted to scream, to writhe, to do something, but all he could do was lie there. He did the only thing he could think of: he thought at Primus.
Primus? Please! It hurts! Wake somebody up, Ratchet, Aid, Prime, Bee, even Prowl! Just wake somebody up and tell them what's going on!
There was silence for a minute then a click and light flared out, hurting his eyes. There was a jolt and Optimus was suddenly up. He stood and looked around, noting everybody's position. His optics slid over Sam and he did a double take. He hurried over and leaned in close.
"Sam? Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?"
Sam forced himself to shake his head, sending agony roiling through his body. He moaned, his body tense and Optimus finally seemed to understand.
"The metal!" he exclaimed to himself then scooped Sam up and turned the lights out before rousing Ratchet.
Ratchet brought out a Cybertronian needle and drained some of the buzzing liquid into a large human sized needle. He turned Sam over, raised his shirt and slid the needle into his back. There was a shot of electricity that went through him then the pain began to lessen bit by bit.
"You can go back and recharge, Optimus," Ratchet said. "I'll stay up with him."
"I'm worried about him. I'll stay up. I don't know how in the world he got the lights on, but I'm certainly glad he did."
"He couldn't move, Optimus. There's no way he got those lights on," Ratchet said.
"Then it had to be Primus," Optimus said with a nod. "He seems to have a soft spot for the boy."
"Don't we all?" Ratchet asked fondly.
"All but Prowl," Optimus said. "Even Sunstreaker is starting to like him."
"I wonder what his problem is," Ratchet said, using his holoform to clean the needle.
"I think the only one who knows that is Prowl himself."
Sam was relaxing into sleep when he saw a shadow move beside the dark doorway and, as Optimus and Ratchet talked obliviously, he thought he heard a soft whine followed by a sob.
