I don't own Transformers - otherwise I would be exceedingly rich

Well, here's my first major milestone! So, as I promised you all in the previous chapter, here is my slightly different format Rule #50. Enjoy!

#50 Try not to be over-protective of the bots

All-in-all, Ratchet mused, the brief battle had been a success; Starscream had been (yet again) embarrassed, the public had not seen them, and most importantly, the Autobots had managed to claim the energon deposit. Most injuries were minor - that is, most apart from Prowl.
That overconfident ninjabot had gotten a bit too involved with the wrong end of Shockwave's plasma blaster, resulting in a partially-severed right leg on top of the usual cuts, dents and scrapes. In Ratchet's opinion, the kid was lucky that he didn't quite break a vital fuel line.

It had been noted, particularly for the first few weeks after her unpredicted 'arrival', that Sari was very wary of certain bots going into battle. This was not to say that she didn't care about the other Autobots, but the girl was particularly protective and worried about those ones who, in her world, were her teammates. This included Prowl in particular.
And this fact, naturally, had not gone unnoticed by the ever-observant motorbike. On several occasions he had attempted to question Sari's actions, but he, along with the others, were not quite sure how to go about it - was she missing her real teammates that much? Did she just have favourites? Or had something happened back in her universe to provoke this behaviour?

But right at that moment, this was the least of Prowl's concerns. Right now, his priorities lay in his leg; he groaned aloud at the thought that his injury would prevent him from any further training for weeks.
"You okay, Prowl?"
Prowl snapped out of his misery and back into the real world, only now noticing the dull throb in his lower thigh again. He looked at the medic and replied with a rather terse "Yes, thank you Ratchet,"
The medic nodded and went back to his work (which was currently the rather fiddly task of realigning one of the vital pieces of circuitry in the top of Prowl's detached lower leg), muttering about bots not looking before they leapt in battle situations.
However, the medic's delicate work (and dark mutterings) were abruptly interrupted by someone opening a comm link with him,
::What is it?:: he grunted, placing his tweezers down in frustration.
::It's Optimus, and I was wondering how Prowl is doing?::
::Well, Sir,:: the only reason that Optimus didn't view Ratchet's tone as insubordination was the fact that he had known the medic for millennia. Ratchet raised his voice purposely so that Prowl would hear the next part, ::He seems to be doing fine. Of course, the situation would be VERY different if he HAD severed his fuel line, too::
Prowl rolled his optics behind his visor.
::But as I said before, I reckon he'll make a full recovery. Anything else, Prime?::
Optimus hesitated slightly, ::Um, yes, actually. It's Sari - she's really upset::
Ratchet blinked ::What?::
::Yes, Delta's currently trying to comfort her, but-::
However, Optimus' voice was interrupted by a new feminine one on the comm line, ::Sorry for hacking the comm link, but I think you both need to know that Sari's absolutely beside herself and I've tried to explain to her that he's going to be okay and that we've seen far worse injuries before but- SARI!::
::Delta, what is it?:: Optimus was concerned by the abrupt end to the femme's concerned babbling.
The answer they two mechs received had metal clanging in the background - presumably Delta was running, ::She's escaped from my office and I am in pursuit. Oh no... Heads up, Ratchet, she's heading your way!::
::What?! No! Keep her out of here!:: the medic barked frantically.
::Too late,:: the female Prime replied simply as they other 2 Autobots heard the sound of running cease.

As soon as this had been said, the medbay's human-sized door burst open suddenly.
"Sari?" both Prowl and Ratchet exclaimed.
The diminutive femme partially ignored the latter, before settling her optics on the former. She used her built-in jetpack to fly up to rest on the ninja's medical berth.
"Sari? Are you alright?" Prowl asked. The teary optics that looked up to meet his own worried him. She really was upset.
::Don't let her see the leg:: Ratchet privately comm-ed Prowl so that Sari wouldn't hear.
Ratchet himself hid the remainder of Prowl's severed lower leg in a drawer until the Technorganic left. However, the girl must have caught-on to what was going on, as she took one glace at the cauterised (yet still flecked with splatters of dried energon) leg, before bursting into tears again. As she wept, the girl hugged the ninja's servo fiercely, muttering something between sobs.
The mech looked towards the medic for help, before lifting the girl up in the palm of said servo, "What's wrong, Sari? Please don't cry," this didn't seem to work, "I'm gonna be okay..."
This simple sentence just made the poor girl's crying intensify.

After a few minutes, both Primes entered and Sari's crying had gotten down to a level where she could talk to the Autobots better, "I don-don't w-want you to go!" she stuttered out.
The gathered bots raised their optic ridges, "What do you mean, Sari?"
"P-please don't go offline!"
Their optics all widened at this, "Nobody's going to die, sweetie. What makes you say that? Is this why you're so upset? Because you think we're going to die?" Delta bent down to Sari's level.
The girl nodded, hiccupping, before wiping her watery optics, "I-it's pretty s-stupid, right?"
"Not at all, Sari. We're just confused. Mind telling us what happened?" Optimus asked.
"Well... Sorry, Prowl, but..." she turned to the ninja who looked at her hopefully, "The P-Prowl in my world, he... Sacrificed himself to save Detroit... We didn't even get to say goodbye..."
"Ah... And that's why you've been particularly protective of us?" Delta asked gently.
"But you talk about him in the present, as if he's still alive," Ratchet pointed out.
Sari chuckled, "That's because he is,"
All of the bots blinked at this, "What?"
Sari grinned, feeling a bit better now, "Yeah, nobody's quite sure how, but I think it was because his spark was absorbed into the AllSpark, it, like, kept him alive or something. I don't know entirely, but all I do know is that he's up and about and doing his ninja stuff as if he was never away,"
"Ookayyy... But Sari, at least he's back now, huh?" Delta smiled slightly at her, and then at their Prowl, "Right, Prowl?"
Said ninja, however, was staring off into space. He snapped his attention to the two females and responded briefly, "Right,"
"Yeah, and I guess I just don't want anything like that to happen again..." Sari looked sheepish.
"Don't worry Sari. Just tell us in future if you have any problems, okay?" Optimus said.
Sari nodded.

"Did you want to talk to me about anything?" Prowl asked after a brief moment of silence.
Sari looked up in surprise, before nodding.
The Primes nodded and respectfully left, and Ratchet went back to working on the detached part of Prowl's leg.
"So... What do you want to talk about?" the ninja asked the Technorganic.
"Hmm," Sari pondered this for a second, "Who shot your leg off?"
"Shockwave," Prowl replied almost bitterly.
"So... How are you gonna get revenge on him?"
Thankful for the respite from the awkwardness of the earlier conversation, Prowl grinned.

Well, here's the slightly different format - I hope you liked it! Thanks to my loyal reviews and followers - you really make my day! The next chapter will be back in the normal format, but I'm hoping to do every 50th rule in this story format. Again, thank you for all your support, and keep those reviews coming in!