Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited, and followed the story! Keep up with the being awesome and such, and spread the word! Getting feedback from you guys is truly a blessing, and I welcome all constructive criticism as well. Anything you can tell me to help me become a better author is greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!


A Medic Affair

Of Rude Awakenings and Pleasant Surprises

"Hey. Heey. HEEEEEEY!"

CLANG

Ratchet immediately snapped out of stasis and shot up from his berth, systems in overdrive and ready for a fight as he brought forth his weapons. He searched around for his primary aggressor, eyes scanning his quarters, but saw neither friend nor foe in the vicinity.

"Down here, bolts for brains." Startled by the location of the sound, the mech looked down, and was met by the angry gaze of one very irritated human. "We're ten minutes late. Get your rear in gear…and give me back my boot."

He'd been absentmindedly rubbing where the steel toe of her boot had made contact with his head before he realized what had happened. With a gusty harrumph, he unceremoniously dropped the offending shoe down on the offending human, ignoring her indignant screech as it nearly hit her.

"Primus…my internal clock can't be that far off, can it?" he mused to himself as he rose from his berth and began to make his way toward the common room, ignoring the dull ache of a nearly-empty energon tank as he paused long enough for Kayla to pull her boot over her foot before continuing onward.

It was painfully early; the others were still deep in stasis and the base was almost eerily quiet, save for the clacking of the human's heels on the hard floor as she bounded after him. Ratchet took a moment to survey the room, scanning carefully to ensure nothing was out of place. No…everything was as he remembered – no sign of any activity in the brief period he'd been slumbering. As he made mental notes of tasks that needed to be completed that day, he could hear the scuffling sounds of his counterpart gathering her materials, and was preparing to transform when his eyes caught sight of the time on the computer monitors.

"Wait a nanoklik…" the realization began to dawn on him. "It's five-fifty! You said we needed to leave at six 'o clock!"

She sighed with annoyance and glowered at him, placing a hand on her hip to emphasize her current emotional state. Ratchet nearly blew a gasket; the human took note, and said flatly,"Yeah…if there was no traffic." She slung her bag over her shoulder and continued, "Luckily I managed to check online early enough; there's a huge accident on the interstate with a line of cars backed up for miles. If we hurry, we still might be able to be punctual."

Unable to contain himself, the medic rolled his eyes. "We could always use the bridge, you know. Save us a great deal of time and energy," he jerked his chin at her, a sneer beginning to form. "Or do you always prefer to do things as inefficiently as possible?"

He struck a nerve. He watched as she silently seethed, eyes flashing dangerously. Yet her composure remained firm, her demeanor stoic. "Just as you prefer to leave an open door to your base?" she inquired, raising one eyebrow as she surveyed him with skepticism. "I wasn't aware you could safely transport me to my destination while simultaneously closing it behind you, oh great and powerful master of the interdimensional portal."

They were wasting time. The sooner this fool's errand was over with, the sooner he could resume his trials of the synthetic energon he'd been working on the day before. "First, it's a ground bridge, not an interdimensional portal." He scoffed at the mere thought before turning to face her again. "And second, the longer we stand here and enjoy this pleasant early-morning conversation, the tardier you'll be."

Kayla said nothing and faced away from him, but the contempt was clearly mutual. To such a degree that it was nearly tangible, thick enough to cut with a blade. After several moments, she turned back and glared at him once more. "Well, are you going to stand there or transform into my chauffer? I have shit to do."

He was accustomed to getting lip from younger bots, but never before had he been so disrespected; if he fed into it, it would only fan the flames of their argument, which would be beneficial to nobody at this point in time. Ratchet said nothing, the silence terse, and quickly transformed into his vehicle mode. Kayla watched again in awe and attempted to slow down the process mentally, eyes wide and concentrating fiercely. Ratchet popped open the passenger door as an invitation to climb in, but was surprised when she strode over to the driver's side and manually opened the door.

She raised one eyebrow to an unnatural height on her forehead. "Don't you think people might get suspicious if they see me sitting in the passenger seat with no driver in the driver's seat?"

It was a valid point…not that he'd ever admit it to her. Once again he said nothing as she climbed inside, fastened her seatbelt, and deposited her bag on his passenger seat; she gently placed her hands on his steering wheel in order to mimic driving, and the ambulance tensed as he pulled out of the exit tunnel from the base. He noted that they were smaller than average, slightly rough from use, but very warm. As soon as they hit the open air, his windshield was assailed with a smattering of rain. A storm had rolled in overnight, and was currently in the process of drenching the normally arid terrain. Ratchet shuddered slightly from the sudden change in temperature and she absentmindedly patted the steering wheel in what was almost reassurance. For a short while, there was almost a comfortable silence between them, marred only by the sound of the pattering of the rain on his chassis. An enormous yawn emerged from his human passenger, arms stretching over her head, legs extending down in the cavity where his pedals resided.

It was then that Ratchet decided to inquire about something he'd been pondering the previous night. "What made you decide to become a physician? Humans have a rather large variety of career pathways to choose from."

The human paused mid yawn, her face contorting into an odd expression as though he'd halted a natural body process. She yawned once again to equalize herself, and then adjusted her backside in his seat. "Well…" she hesitated for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I was a corpsman in the Navy, and I loved what I did." He didn't notice her instinctively rubbing her legs together, scratching the scars that lay beneath her clothing. "But I'd had enough of military service. I wanted to keep helping people, and I wanted to remain in the medical profession. So I suppose it seemed like a logical choice."

The Autobot mulled her words over mentally for several moments before he spoke again. "You appear very young for one with as much life experience as you have."

Kayla laughed tiredly. "I'll take that as a compliment." She smiled to herself, and couldn't resist checking her reflection in his rear view mirror. Despite the trauma to her body and the ravages of stress that befell most humans, her face still retained a surprisingly youthful appearance. "I'm twenty-five. It was difficult fitting in an entire Bachelor's degree into a four year stint in the armed forces, but not impossible." A pale hand reached up and swept back a strand of stray hair. "Just depends on your level of motivation, you know?"

The medic murmured in agreement, and for several minutes a tranquil silence washed over the two of them. Like him, she also didn't appear to be much of a talker. It was a welcome relief from conversation with Raf, Miko, and Jack; whenever he talked with them, somebody always seemed to be speaking at any given moment with no real lulls to the conversation. Then again, Kayla was much older than all three of them – a young adult, not a child. It stood to reason that her additional years in age attributed to the manner and the level of maturity in which she communicated.

"Mind if I turn on the radio?" she asked idly, pulling down the sleeves of her leather jacket.

"Hmph, "came his nondescript reply. "Just as long as it's none of that awful noise Bulkhead and Miko tend to listen to."

The female chuckled quietly. "No…I think it's far too early in the morning for a searing migraine."

She reached over and switched the device on, tuning it to one of Jasper's easy listening stations and adjusting the volume to a lower level. A song had just ended, allowing for a moment of silence before another began. The soft tones of a piano began to fill his cabin, and he felt himself relax a little; this wasn't too bad at all.

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know that I am here
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still, be still, and know

Kayla had leaned back in the driver's seat, hands still lightly resting on the steering wheel, her head propped against his window. He heard her sigh deeply and sink lower still into his seat as the rain began to increase in volume. As much as he didn't want to feel this way, it was almost peaceful. The medic could feel the gentle breeze of her warm breath on his window, dancing over the glass like an apparition. The tender melody and lyrics of the song combined with the sensation were enough to cause a pleasant buzz to course through his chassis…perfect for the gloomy weather surrounding them.

When darkness comes upon you
And covers you with fear and shame
Be still and know that I'm with you
And I will say your name

As they were drawing closer to Jasper Hospital, he could hear her begin to hum the melody softly along with the radio. Judging from the clarity of her notes, he could tell that her vocalizing mechanism was finely tuned. It was fascinating. He'd heard humans singing before on their radio stations and on television, but it was entirely different to hear in person. There was a lapse in his observation as he made note to exit the interstate, and managed to execute a particularly difficult left turn without having to wait for the traffic to cycle again. The rain worsened further still as they continued on, but it wasn't nearly as severe of an assault on his senses as before.

If terror falls upon your bed
And sleep no longer comes
Remember all the words I said
Be still, be still, and know

A clap of thunder interjected into the peaceful song, and both winced. "You're going to get awfully wet," Ratchet observed, taking care to slow down for a particularly big puddle of oil coming up.

"Bah," Kayla waved an unconcerned hand. "It'll be unpleasant, but a little rain never hurt anybody." She ran a protective hand along the fat manila folder full of freshly printed reports. "Just need to make sure these stay dry."

The medic grunted in agreement, falling back into an absentminded state.

And when you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to be
Be still, be still, be still

"This is odd…" he thought to himself as the hospital came into view. "Why do I feel so…content? It's bitter cold and pouring rain. Why am I not miserable?"

His passenger interrupted his musing; rattling him out of a nearly ethereal state he didn't realize he'd slipped into. "You can just turn in right here," she directed. "This entrance is closest to where I need to be." She took note of the torrential downpour and added,"You can park under the covered ambulance port. Get you out of the rain for a bit, you know?"

If you forget the way to go
And lose where you came from
If no one is standing beside you
Be still, and know I'm…

Ratchet did as he was instructed. As she was gathering up her belongings, she turned to him again. "Would you mind holding up for just a minute? You never know." He could feel her slinging her bag over her shoulder, placing her hand on the door handle. "I might get lucky and not have to stay," she joked, a weary laugh escaping her as she zipped up her jacket around her manila folder, shielding it from the pounding rain.

"Mhmm, yes," he said nonchalantly, watching as she jumped down onto the pavement. The ambulance quickly synched up his comm link to her cell phone. "Just keep me informed."

The human readjusted herself one last time, glancing back at him again. "Thanks Ratchet." Kayla gave him a subtle smile, braced herself, and made a run for the nearest door, boots clicking furiously on the wet pavement. She braced her arms around her torso, trying desperately to keep the rain from penetrating her leather jacket and ruining her reports.

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know I am

He watched as she made a final sprint for the door, throwing her weight against it to open it and disappearing inside. Memories of the medical academy began to flood back to him: the last minute frenzy to deliver data pads, the pressure to impress his superiors. It seemed like so long ago, yet remained in his mind as freshly as though he'd only just graduated. He watched through the window embedded in the door as she received a large envelope from the receptionist, then began to converse with a man standing outside the reception counter; she unzipped her jacket, and extracted the dry reports before handing them to him.

"She got them in on time….good," he mused to himself, mind beginning to drift. "Nothing worse than turning in late reports."


"Ah…Ms. Xenakis," Dr. Stamkos greeted her languidly, casting a look of thinly veiled disdain over his soaking wet intern. "Punctual, as usual." He gave her a moment to shake off, gather x-rays that she'd requested, and collect herself before she unzipped her jacket.

"Here," Kayla extracted the manila folder he'd given her yesterday, handing it to him as calmly as she could manage. "I finished them as you requested, doctor."

He took the folder from her and perused the reports, thumbing through them as he scanned their contents. "Hmm…" the doctor halted over a particular paper. He paused for several moments and resumed searching through the stack. "Well," he directed a pointed glance at her. "Everything seems to be in order here."

She breathed an immense sigh of relief and smiled shakily. "Great. Let me just call my ride and let him know he can leave now."

Now it was the doctor's turn to smile. "That won't be necessary." He chuckled at the confused look on her face, and continued, "Burns showed up today – he needs the hours, and we're painfully slow." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Go ahead and go home. Everybody needs a day off once in a while."

Kayla was thunderstruck, unable to believe her ears. "Day…off?" She pointed to herself, eyes widened like saucers. "Me?"

"Are you slow or are you deaf?" The kindness in his voice was rapidly diminishing and she felt herself recoil in horror. "Go now, before I change my mind."

She didn't need to be told twice, and bolted toward the door. "Thank you Doctor Stamkos!" she called over her shoulder, barreling through the door and out into the pouring rain.

Once sufficiently far enough from the door, she squealed in delight and spun rapidly in a circle, arms stretched high over her head as though to welcome the downpour. Feet lighter than air, she pranced over toward the covered ambulance bay, a toothy grin plastered over her face as she leaned over and drummed on his hood. The Autobot jumped and grumbled; he'd been catching a brief stasis nap, and the rude awakening had severely startled him; waking up unpleasantly twice in one day had become old. He tiredly popped open his driver's side door and she clambered inside.

"Uggh," the medic groaned, starting his engine and shivering. "You're soaking wet! Get out and dry off! My interior will be damp for days…"

"Got a towel?" came the cheeky response, her newly improved mood evident through the tone of her voice. She chortled to herself, and then spoke again. "Would you mind swinging by my apartment? A dry change of clothes would be a good start."

Ratchet mumbled something unkind in Cybertronian and pulled out from under the ambulance port, shuddering again as he returned to the pouring rain. Merging back onto the main road, he turned his attention to his passenger. "And just where might this be? I really do have quite a lot to do today." His tone was impatient, still grumpy from his sudden awakening from stasis.

"Paradise Lane," she instructed him. "The big apartment complex across the street from the entertainment district."

Thankfully, he recalled the location she was referring to. After several moments of somewhat tense silence, he spoke. "Pack enough clothing for several more days. I just received a message from Arcee saying that she may or may not have heard Decepticon chatter." She murmured in agreement, then said nothing. It only took ten or so minutes before he pulled up in front of the building that she mentioned, and as she was preparing to climb out, spoke once more. "I assumed your shift would be longer."

"As did I," the human rummaged around in her bag before extracting her keys and reaching for the door handle. "But I was given the day off. No classes, no work, no internship…" she paused momentarily and sighed wistfully, her eyes glassy with happiness. "Can't remember the last time I actually had a day off. It's been so long."

"Yes…yes, I remember that feeling", Ratchet reflected to himself as she opened his driver's side door. The human climbed out of his cabin and took off running for the foyer of the building, not sparing a second glance behind her. "Don't be long!" the ambulance called after her. "We're sitting ducks out here!"

Little did he know how unfortunately true this statement was.


"There…" rasped Starscream, a pointed claw indicating a location on the map displayed on the monitor. "There they are."

Megatron growled in irritation, and looked closer at the spot to which his second in command. "Who exactly is 'they'?" he sneered. "Are they en route to harvest energon?"

The jet flinched. If energon was the first thing that his leader inquired about, he wouldn't be pleased with this discovery. It seemed he wasn't clear enough about who "they" were, either. "No, my liege. The Autobot medic, Ratchet – he is currently out accompanying a human. Parked outside a building waiting for her to return."

There was a moment of strained silence, Megatron's intakes inhaling sharply. This did not bode well. "And why, praytell, should this be of significance to me?"

Starscream quivered nervously as his leader turned to face him, his large form dwarfing him ominously. "Um," he stammered. "Well…he's their medic! Alone and unassuming. If we can terminate him, the Autobots will have no means with which to heal themselves."

The Decepticon leader's helm cocked to the side, a pointed brow rising in curiosity. "I'm listening…"

His second in command laughed nervously and continued. "We vastly outnumber them, and it isn't as though more Autobots are arriving to Earth daily that could possibly replace him." He turned to face the larger mech. "Worst case scenario: we abduct him and hold him for a king's ransom. Best case scenario…" a sinister grin twisted his mouthplates. "We terminate him. And it's only a matter of time before we wear the remaining Autobots down into scrap!"

Starscream knew he'd struck gold when Megatron tossed back his head and laughed. "I cannot believe I'm allowing myself to say this…" he chuckled, voice gravelly. "But that is an excellent idea, Starscream. With their medic gone, we'll slowly tear them apart...Take some of the drones and leave at once. We must strike while the opportunity still presents itself."

"Yes, my lord."


Kayla had hurriedly unlocked her apartment and rushed inside, darting into her bedroom and pulling a rather old, large hockey equipment bag from under her bed before unzipping it. Paying no mind to immaculate folding, as she usually did, she began emptying the drawers of her dresser and cramming clothes into its depths as hard as she possibly could. Once empty, she moved to her closet; she ripped the clothing from their hangers, quickly wadding it into a wrinkled ball and shoved it into the bag as well. The young woman cringed upon seeing her good cocktail dresses in such a state, but pushed the knot in her stomach aside as a revelation overcame her. It was a gut instinct.

"Something really bad is about to happen," it spoke to her. "Pack like there's no going back."

With the remaining space, she managed to clean out her shoe rack and stuff it inside the bag along with her toiletry case as well. Holding the two sides of the zipper track together, she was barely able to force it shut, panting from the strain. She seized the bag and ran over to the front facing window before whipping it open, and dropping it down two stories beside Ratchet.

"What are you doing?!" the startled Autobot shouted up at her. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Just a couple more things!" she shouted, voice cracking and face flushed with a sense of urgency.

The human whirled back around and darted to her hall closet. Inside was the rucksack she'd used during her military service, still packed with a pair of boots and a uniform. She grabbed it, and began filling it with all of her valuables. Her surround sound system, family heirlooms, a photo album, a camera, and several field knives. Dropping it on the couch, she made one last pit stop in the bathroom; opening the linen closet and removing a concealed panel, she extracted one last fully packed and heavy bag: her weapons cache. Inside contained several handguns and shotguns, a long range rifle, a full set of kevlar body armor with a matching helmet, and hundreds of boxes and magazines of ammunition. There wasn't much time left – she slung the heavy bag around her front and pulled her rucksack on before darting down the stairs, swiftly loading her possessions into the back of the waiting ambulance.

Just as she was prepared to climb in, she was struck with a thought. "Wait!" she shouted, and sprinted back up the stairs.

"Oh, come on!" Ratchet shouted, engine revving impatiently. "Exactly how much are you planning on loading into my medical cabin?" But his pleading fell on deaf ears. She'd only disappeared for several moments before reappearing in the second story window of the main apartment staircase, a large television in her arms. "Is she serious right now?!"

But he didn't have long to ponder this question. The medic heard a sharp hissing sound, and the apartment where his charge had once been wandering exploded in a burst of bricks, glass, flames, and shrapnel. He screamed in horror, unable to locate Kayla; as much as he may not have liked her, he certainly didn't want to see any human harmed. Panic raced through his system for a brief second until he caught a glimpse of her, television still clutched in her arms, sprinting through the cloud of dust left in wake of the destruction. Breathing hard, she loaded in the massive electronic device and slammed the medical cabin doors shut before leaping into his driver's seat.

"Drive!" she yelled urgently, fastening her seatbelt and reaching into the bag beside her.

Ratchet didn't need to be told twice. His tires squealed as he put pedal to metal and rocketed down the road. "Optimus, I need an emergency ground bridge. I have the new human with me, and the Decepticons are in hot pursuit."

"Affirmative," replied Optimus. "Just distance yourself a bit further from town. I am opening it on the first patch of open land on the side of the interstate."

The ambulance grunted in affirmation, and further accelerated. Energon blasts began to rain down upon his chassis. "Come on…" he murmured, concern evident in his voice as he pressed on further.

Kayla realized how grave the situation was. With both Starscream and his drones on their tail, and Ratchet unable to return fire, there was a chance they may not even make it to the ground bridge. She took this moment to load several rounds into the rifle she'd extracted from her bag earlier. "Any weak spots on that flying garbage can?"

The medic didn't take the time to process why she may be asking the question, and hurriedly replied,"Any transformation seams. The underbelly: that's where energon tanks are usually located."

This noted, the human rolled down the driver's side window and peered out. Sure enough, the Decepticon jet was flying low and right on their tail. Her eyes scanned for the seams the medic had mentioned, and noted a large one running laterally down his center; judging by its size, it must have been an important one. "Drive as steady as you can!" she barked, unbuckling her seatbelt, pulling back the action, and leaning her upper body outside the window while standing on the driver's seat. Using his frame as a tripod, she rested the rifle on it and peered through the scope; she had the seam right in her crosshairs, and as she fired, Ratchet hit a bump, straying the shot.

"Goddammit," she swore angrily, loading the next round into the chamber and refocusing her aim. Just as her finger pulled the trigger for the second time, he swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle, causing that shot to miss as well. "Fuck!"

"Will you get back in here?!" the ambulance bellowed, his processor reeling from the combined stress of a Decepticon attack and her safety both interplaying. "You are going to get killed!"

"One more shot…" she murmured, fixing her crosshairs on the seam and steeling herself mentally. She took careful aim, directing the bullet as close to the nosecone on the seam as she could. With one deep breath, her index finger slowly squeezed the trigger.

All they heard was a small ping, and the Decepticon screamed in pain. "My eye!" he screeched, flight pattern diverting wildly out of control. "My eye!"

Kayla subtly smirked to herself for a split second as she ducked back inside, stowing her weapon and fastening her seatbelt. Despite the fact that blasts still rained down upon them, there was a stunned silence. And as the ground bridge finally came into view, Ratchet spoke at last.

"Impressive."

"Thanks. And not just for the compliment…for the place to say now that my apartment's been leveled." There was another moment of tense silence; he hadn't been expecting that. The human released a frustrated sigh, and then laughed. "So glad I brought the TV."

Ratchet groaned. Or that. This was going to be interesting to explain to Optimus…


Author's Note: Holy balls…that was another long one. But again, I'm proud of it! Now that her apartment's toast, looks like Kayla will have to temporarily move in with the Autobots; time for them to really get to know each other. Hehe. *evil smile*

If you're confused about her background, you won't be for long. All will be explained in the next chapter…

The song in this chapter is "Be Still" by The Fray. It came on Pandora as I was writing, and it fit the mood so perfectly that I decided to include it in the chapter!

I've decided to continue for now (obviously, since this is a new chapter), but I'd really like to share this with as many people as I can. If you like what you read or have constructive criticism, please let me know; I love hearing from you guys, and it really encourages me to keep writing! Thanks for all the faves, subscribes, and reviews – love you guys! :)