This chapter was slow going. I've been popping them out pretty fast but this one took me a while to do. Eek! Thanks go to Incubus for the song in this chapter :)

"Will she be ok?" Mikaela heard the voices before she saw them. What had happened?

"I don't know, she took a couple of pretty bad hits."

"How long until she's coherent?" The voices sounded worried. Why would they be worried? She was fine. She tried to move a finger. Oh shit, not fine.

"She's moving!" The voices were excited. "She tried to move her finger! Did you see it?"

"Where's Arcee?" another disembodied voice asked urgently. Mikaela twitched. Arcee...where was Arcee...? That was one voice she didn't hear. She couldn't distinguish between the male voices, but she definitely didn't hear Arcee.

"Offline."

"Goddamn..." another voice hissed. Mikaela was panicking. Where was Arcee? She let out a low, pathetic whine. Offline?

"She made a noise!"

"MOVE." She heard a deep voice growl from her left, and she heard metal grinding and gears shifting.

"Hey, watch out!" Voices were indignant as she heard some shuffling around.

"Get out of the way. NOW." More shuffling, and then she could feel a comforting presence presiding over her.

"Optimus." She said, her voice a harsh whisper. She felt a warm touch on her hand. She grasped at his finger, holding it as tight as she could. Optimus was alarmed at how weak her grip was.

"Don't talk." She heard Optimus speaking, but she was fading in and out of consciousness anyway.

"Sorry...so sorry..." She managed to croak, her fingers slipping from the warm metallic hand. She still couldn't open her eyes. She could feel prickling sensations on her back, legs, and neck. She must be on the grass somewhere. It was poking her through her clothes.

"Please, don't waste your energy." His voice sounded strangled. "God, if anyone is to be sorry, it is me."

"No..." She coughed, then gasped as pain exploded through her skull. "Arcee..." She mumbled softly.

"Will she be all right?" She heard someone ask.

"Hard to say, like I said before, she took a lot of damage. Both of them did, but especially Arcee." It sounded sort of like Ratchet speaking now, although the voice was garbled.

"Can you get her back online?"

"Maybe. In time. Her spark took a lot of damage. I had only just finished repairing her to where she could transform when we were attacked. I wasn't finished with the rest of the problems. Her weapons weren't functioning when the attack hit. She was defenseless. Yet she still..." The voices trailed off as Mikaela drifted in and out of consciousness for several hours. She was desperate for news, so she strained to stay awake long enough to hear anything about Arcee, but she just couldn't. Her body had taken such a beating that she finally gave in to a dreamless sleep. All through the night, she never felt the warm touch leave her.

She woke hours later, her head pounding, this time able to open her eyes. She glanced blearily around, her vision sliding in and out of focus.

"What the hell happened...?" She mumbled, closing her eyes again as a stab of pain ricocheted through her head. "It feels like I got hit by a truck..." she moaned, weakly lifting a hand to touch her face.

"You did." A deep voice penetrated her thoughts, causing her to painfully open her ees to stare up at the speaker. Optimus' face was directly over her own, large blue optic eyes staring into her own. She stared at him in confusion. She sensed the others backing away, giving the two a moment alone.

"When I was...driving away I heard you calling for me, then I heard the explosions. When I came back, I saw Starscream standing directly in front of you with his gun on you. My only choice was to knock you out of his way. I didn't have a chance to change first. I'm so Sorry, Mikaela..." He said, looking down at her with such remorse she couldn't help but chuckle, although it turned into a cry of pain. Optimus instantly looked concerned.

"Don't worry, Optimus. Now I can honestly say I feel like I've been hit by a semi, and mean it." Optimus looked strained, and Mikaela tried not to laugh, especially since the pain was coming in nauseating waves. "I think...I think I'm going to puke..." She said, trying desperately to sit up. "God, please look away." Optimus didn't say anything, but instead helped a struggling Mikaela to sit up and turn sideways. Only then did he look away as she had asked, waiting until she was finished to turn his face towards her again. Mikaela's face was white, and she looked weaker than ever. Her whole body was a mess of torn clothing and . Her face stared up at him with frightened eyes behind a mask of blood. Optimus insides were twisting as he stared down at her. If only had hadn't lost his temper. That was so unlike him, something he tried to keep in check. If he hadn't driven off, she wouldn't be hurt right now...He was so lost in his own misery that he almost didn't hear her talking to him.

"Where is Arcee?" Mikaela's voice was urgent, the concern overtaking her pain. Optimus' face took a very carefully masked expression. Mikaela didn't like that.

"She'll be fine." Optimus said unsteadily. He didn't seem good at hiding his emotions. He had shot at a tree in jealousy, after all.

"Just tell me. I can handle it." Mikaela said impatiently.

"After I knocked you out of the way, Arcee ran over to protect you. She took a lot of damage from Barricade. Unfortunately, most of it was to her chest."

"Barricade...the cop car?" Mikaela asked in disbelief. "I thought he was dead!" Optimus shook his head, optics flickering to his left. Mikaela followed his gaze and almost screamed. She saw Arcee, transformed from the bike into her robotic state, splayed out on the ground. Ratchet was bent over her, meticulously repairing the teeny wires that composed of Arcee's spark casing. His eyes glanced up to Mikaela, who was watching in horrified disbelief.

"It is similar to a human heart. That is the easiest way to explain it. And this," Ratchet lifted Arcee's prone body and pointed to the bare wires in her abdomen, "is like a human's central nervous system. The was extensive damage here, even if I repair her it may not be-" Mikaela didn't hear the rest of his words. She had burst into tears after Ratchet had lifted Arcee. Optimus glared at Ratchet.

"She isn't a medical experiment, Ratchet. And this isn't a medical lesson!" Optimus snarled at Ratchet, who glared at Optimus and returned to his work. Optimus turned his attention to the sobbing Mikaela.

"Calm down, Mikaela. He can repair her." Optimus said, trying to console her. It really didn't seem to be working, Mikaela only cried harder. Sam and Bumblebee were several yards away, Bumblebee was staring very hard at Mikaela and Sam was watching Optimus with a thoughtful expression. Neither seemed to want to get near the hysterical girl. Ironhide had steered clear of the entire situation, and instead was inspecting some debris by the tree where Mikaela had been attacked.

"Optimus." Ironhide's low voice cut through Mikaela's quiet sobs. Optimus stood, hating to leave her, and reluctantly made his way to Ironhide.

"Look." Ironhide pointed to the scorch marks on the ground. "These aren't Starscream's normal weaponry. These are something else. And look." Ironhide knelt down beside a hole in the ground where one of Starscream's rounds had hit. There was an ethereal glow around the ridge of the hole. Optimus ran a scan of the material, dreading what the results would be.

"Radiation." Optimus said quietly. "We have to get these humans out of here now. This affects them negatively, and can kill them." Optimus gave a glance at Ironhide who was shaking his head.

"This isn't Cybertronian technology, Optimus. This is human technology." Ironhide said gravely. Optimus dreaded what that meant. Either the Decepticons had found an ally among the humans, or they had stolen the technology for themselves. Either was possible. "We must meet tomorrow Optimus. We must know how they found us." Optimus gave a nod, then looked at Mikaela, then to Sam.

"We must get them out of here." Optimus said as he walked over to Mikaela, giving a nod to Bumblebee on his way. Bumblebee met Optimus' blue optics, and there was something in them Optimus couldn't quite read. Anger? Jealousy? He couldn't tell, and didn't know what to make of it.

"Time to go, Mikaela." Optimus said as his body began shifting in shape and size. Mikaela shook her head.

"No, I want to wait until Arcee is okay..."

"Now." His voice left no room for negotiation. Bumblebee walked over and gently picked Mikaela up, cradling her gently in his big hands. Placing her inside of Optimus, he strode back to Sam who was watching the scene in silence.

Once inside the truck, Mikaela tried to shift to where she was comfortable. It wasn't an easy task, considering what her body had been through. Mikaela groaned softly as she tried to get comfortable. She hurt so very bad. Everything ached, her head, her entire body. The truck hit a bump in the road, and Mikaela sharply drew in a breath, trying not to cry. The radio was playing softly again, the singers soft tones almost soothing her.

There's something about the look in your eyes

Something I noticed when the light was just right

It reminded me twice that I was alive

And it reminded me that you're so worth the fight

She gave a sigh, the pain causing her eyes to water. Looking through the front windshield, she could see the beginnings of a red, rosy dawn. And old proverb ran through her head: Red at night, sailors delight, red at morning, sailors take warning... It seemed like a bad omen.

"Optimus...please, it's really not worth it to drive me home. Every little bump, every slight movement is killing me." Mikaela begged, her voice catching mid sentence. The effort it took to speak exhausted her. Optimus obliged, carefully pulling off the road and towards the woods again. He wanted to be able to change without human intervention, the woods usually seemed like a safe place to do that, as they tended to be uninhabited. Once he had found a satisfactory spot, Mikaela very carefully climbed out of the truck, wincing and gasping as she did so. Collapsing under a tree, she watched and waited as Optimus changed, the truck unfolding into the magnificent being that he was. Sitting next to her, he leaned back against a large tree, watching her carefully.

"I would like to give you something, Mikaela." Optimus said slowly. He wasn't sure if he should do this, but he could think of no better place for it. Mikaela looked at him curiously, waiting for him to be ready.

"It's something important, something I would like you to have not only to keep safe, but because I can trust you." He said, reaching within himself. Removing his hand, he held a closed fist out to her. She looked up at him uneasily, then held her hands out. Optimus opened his hand, and something small but heavy fell into her own small hands. She looked at the object in her hands and gasped in shock.

"Optimus, no, I can't take this, I-"

"Take it. Keep it safe." Optimus said, his low voice sounding desolate.

Mikaela swallowed with some difficulty, and nodded. Her small fingers closed gently around the last remaining piece of Optimus' beloved planet. She took a deep breath, and pressed the only remaining Allspark shard to her heart.