Claustrophobia.

Epilogue.

A/N: 1 orn is about 13 days.

It had been a hectic orn, Ratchet reflected, as he found a tarpaulin to cover the outside berth, which, after discussion with Optimus and Ironhide, was to be left outside covered up in case it was ever needed again in a hurry. After all, they had Skyblast and Air Raid, and there was everything to suggest the other Arielbots would be joining them.

Air Raid knew that none of the other Arielbots had been killed, and due to the constant but minute lessening of the strain of the gestalt bond, knew that they were all on their way, and would likely have met up and would arrive together. If one got injured on landing, for example, it might be needed. Ratchet had already picked out other berths to be erected if needed.

Starscream had been brought back as promised by his wing brothers after a three-hour flight, and again the seeker seemed relaxed and calm. The other two had stated to Ratchet that they would be along again the next day but half an hour earlier. It turned out Starscream was still hot as confident about his flying as they would have liked, and their approach was to get him up in the air as often as it took for him to get his confidence back.

The first recharge after that, Starscream still wanted to hold Ratchet, which the medic had no problem with, but the two other Seekers were gradually taking over all the mundane duties, such as polishing and waxing, and encouraging Ratchet to stand back and let the three of them interact. Ratchet knew why, knew what they were doing - they did not want Starscream to gain even a small reliance on him as they would sometime be taking him back to their own base - but he couldn't help feeling left out and a little jealous.

Three days later, when Starscream needed to recharge, he seemed happy enough to do so without grabbing on to Ratchet, which was a step forward in terms of Starscream's mental and emotional stability, but for Ratchet, in purely selfish terms, it was another facet of being left out. Ratchet was surprised to find he had that side, and kept it ruthlessly suppressed.

The flights got longer and longer each day, but Ratchet could see that Starscream's lucid moments were longer than those where he seemed to lose control or shake from remembered terror of the cave. Ratchet knew that between he and the rest of the Trine, Starscream was going to be fine.

The breakthrough came on the tenth day of the orn, when Starscream consented to recharge inside the Base, in a recharge chamber. True, he woke from bad memories two hours later and had to be taken back out, but the breakthrough had been made, and Ratchet encouraged Starscream to come into the base when he needed polishing or refuelling, and also put him in for another recharge, and this time it was uninterrupted for the whole cycle.

The rest of the Trine, after hearing this, decided it was time to take their leader back with them, and Starscream agreed. They promised that if he showed any signs of relapse, or delayed stress reaction that they could not deal with, that they would bring him back. Ratchet gave them some energon to take with them, rather sad in a way to see them go.

"We would leave him longer, but he wants to go back and the men are getting restless, accusing us of covering up his death. We need to show them that he is alive and well before things get out of hand. Barricade has already begun sounding out who might support him in a direct challenge against us."

"Oh he has, has he?" asked Starscream. "Then it is even more imperative I return now. The sooner we nip this in the bud, the better!" He turned to Ratchet, crouching a little so their faces were level.

"Thank you, medic." he said, slightly haughty, but then the haughty tone was dropped. "Thank you Ratchet. For everything." The emphasis Starscream laid on the last word and the smile he gave Ratchet made it quite clear what part of 'everything' he had most enjoyed. Thundercracker too bent his joints to be on a level with Ratchet.

"Yes, you have my thanks too for the care you gave to my wing brother. I am sure we will return at some point, we may some day have need of your medical skills again and I know I want to avail myself of your brewing - and your other - skills before then." He shutter-winked as Skywarp nodded in assent, and as Ratchet stared at them, momentarily lost for words, they straightened. Belatedly, he commed Ironhide to drop the force-field again.

"You're welcome!" he managed to shout, just before three pairs of thrusters started up, roaring in the confines of the courtyard. making it impossible for anyone to think in that proximity, let alone hear someone call.

Ass the three rose into the air and did a graceful transformation sequence into jet mid-flight, Ratchet watched. Then he went to talk to Ironhide about retaining the berth in the courtyard.