Story Arc 1

Chapter 7

I don't know how long I stood there staring at the spot where they had disappeared into a faint dust cloud. A storm was blowing in and with it the winds carrying the hint of rain. Thunder and lightning clashed, one chasing the other across the darkened sky. Then the rain came in torrents, quickly flooding the road and turning the area around the entrance into a minefield of puddles. Ratchet came and stood beside me, watching the pouring rain in silence. The wind changed directions sending a cold spray of droplets towards us. I shivered and rubbed my arms, my eyes still scanning the distance for any sign of them. I should be working, I thought, but my feet felt like they were glued to the floor. They were out there fighting to protect humankind and I could help them in the battles, yet I couldn't move from where I stood. I was worried that if I left my silent vigil something bad would happen. Jazz has been fighting for a long time in this war, he knows how to take care of himself, I argued in my head. You're not doing any good just standing here, Rach.

"They'll be back. And I take great pride in the fact that I haven't lost one of them yet," Ratchet broke the silence as if he knew what I was thinking.

I looked back at him, "This is the first battle I've seen them go to, other then the night I arrived here." I turned back to face the rain. " It's rather surreal. Watching troops on the news head out to a battle is one thing. Seeing it first hand is disconcerting. The worst part is that they're my friends going out and putting their lives on the line. I don't know how other people can deal with this."

"I know what you mean. When I was training to be a medic, we were drilled to not see our patients as anything more than broken mechs that you had to repair and send back out on the front lines. Making friends with the fighters was discouraged because when they ended up on your table in pieces or worse, it destroyed your objectivity as a doctor."

I nodded slowly, realizing that Ratchet had seen carnage and destruction that no human could even imagine. I wondered how he could keep putting his friends back together and bringing them back from the brink of death, yet still keep his sanity over the millennia. I looked at him with a newfound respect, "Ratchet, you have to be the strongest soul I have ever met. I can't even fathom how you have kept your sanity as a doctor for as long as your war has been going on."

He snorted, "There ain't nothing sane about it. This group drives me nuts. I've never seen a bigger bunch of reckless slagging aft-kissing miscreants. They have no concern for their own well-being. And when they get slagged by the Decepticons or their own stupid actions, then they end up on my doorstep expecting me to fix 'em up. Primus! If I had a pint of energon for every time I've had to fix up those Twins alone, I could light up Cybertron for the next seven millennia."

His rant was interrupted by the radio, "Hound to Ratchet."

"Ratchet here."

"We're inbound with injuries." My stomach clenched up. Please let Jazz be ok.

"Sunstreaker is badly wounded. ETA 12 minutes."

"Gotcha Hound. We'll be waiting for you. Ratchet out."

"Ratchet to Wheeljack."

"Wheeljack here."

"How far out are you?"

"Couple of minutes, what's the trouble?"

"We're got wounded inbound. How soon can you get here?"

"On my way. ETA 4 minutes. Wheeljack out."

I looked up at Ratchet, trying to fight my feelings of panic, "Anything I can do to help?"

"I'll take all the help I can get."

I played triage nurse while Ratchet, Wheeljack and Perceptor worked to get Sunstreaker stable. Sideswipe stood by nearby, his eyes fixed on the table where his brother lay. Ratchet yelled at him more than once to get out of the way, but he wouldn't move. Most of the Autobots came back with some injury and I ran back and forth between the ones that weren't wounded too badly, assessing damage and getting them situated onto the tables. Jazz had taken a few hits and caught the tail end of a spray of cluster bombs. He had been hurt dragging Sunstreaker to safety. He sat on the table next to Sunstreaker with a pained expression. As I ran between mechs to check on everyone, I slid and fell into a puddle. Slightly dazed, I tried to get up, only to realize that I sat in a growing puddle of oil and pink energon underneath Sideswipe. "Ratchet! He's bleeding out!"

Ratchet looked up from Sunstreaker's chest cavity at me, "Slagging Primus!" But before he could do anything, Sunstreaker's body shuddered on the table violently sending the myriad of sensors attached to him screaming. Sideswipe swayed on his feet as his twin's systems started crashing. Jazz jumped from his table and caught the falling form of Sideswipe. Perceptor helped Jazz lift his limp form to the table and started attaching sensors. Ratchet and the others ran back and before between the two fallen warriors for hours until they were both stable. Ratchet utilized my small hands to hold onto fuel lines inside Sunstreaker's body, helping stem the flow of his fluids and rerouting power to keep his other systems from shutting down.

Once the Twins were stable, I helped Wheeljack work on Jazz. He had lost the use of his arm after he had been hit with laser fire that ripped through his armor and into the delicate wiring in his shoulder. It was a mess of scorched and twisted metal and wires with energon leaking from torn hoses. I tried to keep my hands from shaking as I replaced the wiring. Jazz winced as Wheeljack started to remove the torn armor around his shoulders, "Y' should take a lesson from Rach on how t' be gentle with y' patient, 'Jack."

I blushed furiously and accidentally crossed two wires giving us both a shock, "I'm so sorry, Jazz! I didn't hurt you too much, did I?" Now was not the time to be acting like a lovesick schoolgirl, I admonished myself.

"Nah, just a little tingly, nothin' t' worry about." His assurances that it was ok and nothing to worry about didn't lessen the pain in his face. I tried to concentrate on the wiring again. I could feel him watching me while I worked which made me nervous. Just as I was about to tie in one of the main circuits, he jumped and yelped which caused me to yank on the wiring to keep from falling. He quickly brought his other hand up to catch me.

"Slag it, 'Jack, that stings."

"Sorry Jazz. I didn't see the wires fused to that plate."

"Y' ok, Rach?'

"Yeah just lost my balance. Aw, crap." I had pulled free all the wiring that I just replaced. Out of all the things I could have held on to, I sighed loudly before I leaned back into his shoulder to start again.

"Rach?"

"Yeah?" I muttered. I was going to have to start over. I pulled my head out from the housing and glowered at the mess.

He put his fingers under my chin and drew my face up to look at his, "You're doin' just fine." The singsong quality of his voice came out and I looked away, grumbling that I had to start from the beginning. But he pulled my chin back and held his fingers there until I looked into his visor.

"Hey. Smile for me." I blushed again. "Please, Rach? Just one smile for me?" I couldn't resist him no matter how frustrated I was.

"That's my girl."

Wheeljack laughed as he took Jazz's pain receptors offline. I had forgotten he was there and my blush grew hot enough to solder the wires. I ducked back inside Jazz's shoulder and went back to work.

When everything had calmed down I realized that I was covered in energon and oil. The dried energon had a sickening sweet odor, the 'blood' of the mechs. Wheeljack had finally convinced Ratchet to go recharge while we watched the med bay. The lights had been dimmed, leaving only the soft glow from the monitors to illuminate the room. I kept a silent watch over my three charges while Wheeljack wandered the room checking on the others. Jazz lay on the table to my right, his visor dim as he 'slept'. His shoulder was still damaged, but he was going to be ok. To my left lay the red mech, who might have died if I hadn't noticed that he was bleeding to death. I sat on the table that held the yellow mech whose insides I had become very familiar with over the course of the evening. I now could feel the low hum from his body as his internal repair systems worked. Setting my laptop to one side, I stretched and yawned. I had been reading some Cybertronian medical texts that I had found in Teletraan 1's database while I watched the over the three. The table where Sideswipe lay had been pushed closer to Sunstreaker's. Having them within reach of each other would ensure that they would stay put on the tables, and Ratchet also believed that keeping them near each other helped their recovery system's work more efficiently.

The hum from Sunstreaker changed pitch and I turned to look into a set of dim azure optics.

"Sides?"

"To your left." He turned, reaching out to put a hand on his brother's arm. "You two gave everyone a good scare."

"Slag, I hurt. What happened?"

"From what I was told, you took two EMP pulses, one of them at point blank range, and a spray of cluster bombs."

He looked at the ceiling, "And Sides?"

"Couple shots to the back and damage from jumping off of a jet," he nodded. "He thinks it's his fault that you were hit…"

"Why?" he turned his head and looked at me. "Well the jet he was fighting was the one that dropped the cluster bombs on you. He wouldn't leave your side while Ratchet and the others worked on you, even though he nearly bled to death."

He scowled, "Slagging sparkling."

"You should rest."

"How about the others?"

"Well, Optimus is okay thanks to you taking the EMP pulse. Ratchet sent him back to his quarters a while ago. Ironhide took on two Seekers and was still able to brag about it while being worked on. Bumblebee and Prowl got tossed around some, but they're ok. Jazz got shot three times and took damage from some cluster bombs as he tried to drag you to safety."

He looked at Jazz and then to me, "Why are you covered in dried energon?"

"I, uh, I helped replace your fuel pump and I rerouted power in some of your systems. That and I, um, slipped in the puddle of energon from your brother's wounds," I suddenly felt very uncomfortable under his gaze.

"Will you keep an eye on Sides' for me?"

I nodded, "I promised Ratchet I'd keep an eye on all three of you."

"Thank you," he looked back up at the ceiling and his optics grew dim and he went into recharge, "Jazz is lucky to have someone like you."

I blushed at his words and turned to look at Jazz on the next table. I was lucky to have him. Remembering his words from earlier in the evening, I smiled again. I will always smile, Jazz. Just for you.