For everyone who wanted more information about the bond and how it works should start answering your questions.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. The characters and events in this story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual Autobots or their human allies is coincidental and completely unintentional.
Sam watched mutely as Ratchet grasped Bumblebee's wrist and then he felt it when the hardline connection was made. He had grown used to the now comforting presence of his best friend at the back of his mind. But as soon as Ratchet had connected with Bee it was as if a second presence was suddenly there. But even that was not a completely accurate description.
He blinked as he tried to decipher what it was he was feeling. He could still clearly sense Bee. And he could clearly sense what he assumed to be Ratchet. Both as two distinct individuals: one comforting and familiar, the other familiar but far from comforting. However, at the same time it felt as if they were also melded into one being. The over all effect was to make him feel somewhat sick. He could only imagine what it was like for his friend, getting it first hand.
Not sure what all Bee was able to do while hardlined to the medic, Sam sidled closer to his Guardian's hand and reached out to touch one metal digit. The physical contact served to ground him in reality and helped settle his stomach somewhat.
Then he felt Ratchet begin to scan around – but in a distant, vague sort of way. Belatedly he realized he was feeling what the CMO was doing in Bee's processor across their bond.
There had been no mistaking Bee's discomfort with the hardline connection. Similarly there had been no question that the only reason he was submitting himself to this intrusive a procedure was for his sake.
Wanting to help Bee and not knowing how long this particular 'exam' was going to take, Sam briefly considered his options and remembered how his mother used to hold his hands during doctor visits when he was a child. Just knowing she had been there and was not going to leave him had been a great comfort. Could he do something similar – or at least the equivalent?
Instead of cringing away from the contact with the medic like his stomach was insisting, Sam mentally stepped forward to stand with Bee under the medic's scrutiny, supporting his best friend. His brother.
That action made Sam smile as he caught Bee's surprise and appreciation. Ratchet's presence only paused briefly in whatever task he was doing.
Sam did nothing more for what seemed like several minutes. It was not until Ratchet focused squarely on him did he react.
At first it was just a little unnerving, then it felt like a great weight was pressing on his mind. It drove him backward away from Bee, back towards his own mind. But it did not stop there. He was pushed back past that invisible, almost indefinable point that was the boundary between Bee's spark and his soul.
But it was not Ratchet really; it was that strange, nauseating, combination of the two. And Sam did not seem able to stop them. Panic welled in him at the pending violation of self.
Then that panic morphed quickly into anger as he realized the medic was probably trying to make just that point. Just how unbalanced their bond was, just how helpless he was to defend his own mind. For one brief millisecond he almost surrendered to the inevitable and curl into an emotional fetal ball as he let it happen.
Then he instinctively lashed out, pushing back against the invasion with all he had, heedless as to whether it would do any good – absolutely confident it would not. "No!"
To his surprise, it stopped. They stopped. And his mind was intact. It took him a moment to realize it was the Bumblebee part of that twisted dual presence that had stopped the invasion.
Then the Ratchet-like presence dissolved, leaving only Bumblebee. Sam felt somewhat dizzy as part of him was remotely aware Ratchet had disconnected the hardline. But most of Sam's awareness was numbly focused on Bumblebee's mental presence across the bond. He was trembling. Mentally and physically trembling
Bumblebee had retreated back across that invisible but stable line that was the demarcation between them. Almost… Almost as if afraid. Afraid Sam would blame him for what had just happened.
Like a frightened child, Sam reached out desperately for his Guardian's spark as if for a lifeline. At first, almost hesitant, Bumblebee wrapped Sam in what the young man could only call an embrace of the soul. An embrace that quickly soothed any remaining discomfort from Ratchet's scan.
"My apologies, Samuel." Ratchet said softly, after a moment. "I know that was uncomfortable. Rest assured, I would not have actually violated your mind against your will."
Sam glanced up at the medic. "Yeah? Well, it sure didn't feel that way."
"Understood. Again, my apologies. But it was necessary to determine one crucial thing."
There was an odd tone in the CMO's voice. Sam looked at Bee, then back up to the slightly larger Autobot. An Autobot who was looking at him with an expression suspiciously close to consternation.
"What exactly?" Bee asked, sounding and feeling irritated at his superior.
Ratchet did not answer immediately. Then he released a gust of warm air from his vents. "It showed me just how your bond was formed."
Sam glanced at Bee, still feeling slightly nauseous but no longer shaking. It was obvious his Guardian was as confused as he was. "I was under the impression that there was only one way a Pet-bond could form." Bee ventured after a moment.
"As was I." Ratchet's fingers drummed against his hips as he cocked his head to the side, considering Sam curiously. "However, based on Sam's defensive behavior, and your own automatic response, Bumblebee, I can reasonably say we were mistaken."
Bee glanced at Sam and the college student could feel the flicker of hopeful surprise. Sam looked up at Ratchet again, still miffed at what had just happened.
"In English, please?"
"I thought I was speaking in your language." Ratchet seemed genuinely puzzled.
Bee rolled his optics before Sam could sputter in his increasing frustration. "He wants you to explain, sir."
"Oh." Ratchet blinked down at Sam. "Is that not what I am doing?"
With sudden movement, the medic pulled a datapad out of subspace and began typing furiously. He spoke almost absently as he did whatever he was doing on the screen.
"All of our previous experiences with Pet-bonds come from those poor hapless souls we rescued from Decepticons. All of them showed vary specific indicators as to the degree of mental intrusion they suffered. What we found is that self defensive mechanisms – the same ones you used just then, Sam – were completely demolished.
"Demolished, we believe in the very formation of the bond itself. That is why Pet-bonds are forbidden. The very formation of them destroys an individual's identity of self." Ratchet paused his typing and looked down at Sam.
Sam nodded, he could still recall the sickening feeling, the frantic despiration, when he felt he was going to loose control of all that he was. "Yeah, I can see that. But… I don't remember anything like that happening before. At least, I don't think so…"
"No, you don't, Sam." Ratchet assured, looking up from his data pad. "The sensation is – I understand – unmistakable and, as I said, you would not have been able to stop us."
"I didn't. I couldn't have." Sam said quietly, pointedly. "Bee stopped you."
Ratchet actually smiled slightly. "Indeed."
The medic finally nodded flipping the datapad around. Sam saw that it showed a rough diagram that looked something like a flattened rainbow, but without the colors. Two of them: one near the top of the screen, the other near the bottom. The one on top had a vertical hash mark right at its apex, bisecting the shallow arc in half. The bottom one was divided by a similar mark but closer to the two-thirds point.
"As rough and inadequate as this illustration is, it will suffice as an acceptable visual aid." Ratchet's blue optics bored into Sam. "I assume you could feel the boundary between your self and Bumblebee."
Sam nodded.
Ratchet pointed to the top diagram. "In a normal Cybertronian Brother-bond, that dividing line is an equal distance between both sparks. In a pet bond, there is no dividing line." Yellow-green and sliver fingers moved down to tap the bottom diagram as he glanced at Bee to include him in his next statement. "In your case it is more like this, with it being closer to Sam than you, Bumblebee."
Sam frowned, but the picture matched with what he already understood about Bee being the stronger partner in their bond.
Looking up at his friend, Sam's brow furrowed, "And what exactly does this mean for us?"
"Well, Sam, your presence, or strength in this bond is already stronger than I would have expected to be possible in a Pet-bond, plus with the way Bumblebee instinctively respected the boarder of your mind and considering several other anomalies compared to the Pet-bonds we have studied in the past, not to mention how deeply the bond has integrated into your processor, Bumblebee, taken into consideration with the changes to your mind made by your contact with the AllSpark and the Matrix of the Fallen, Sam, not to mention your ability to follow the bond to his side: as unlikely and illogical as it may seem, I am only able to conclude that…"
Sam's mind, spinning in circles over the obnoxiously long run-on sentence of an almost incomprehensible explanation, took a couple of seconds to realize the medic had stopped speaking without actually sharing that conclusion.
"Conclude what?" Bee finally asked for both of them, his hand almost circling protectively around Sam.
"There definitely remains the dangerous possibility that Bumblebee could overpower you if he is not careful, because it still has all the other hallmarks of a traditional Pet-bond, including the unavoidable fact that your life is now tied to his spark. But…"
"But…?" Sam demanded when Ratchet trailed off again, his intense blue gaze starting to unnerve him.
Then the CMO shook his helm as if snapping himself back to reality. He looked at Bumblebee. "Because of the presence of the spark boundary, while you may have wanted this bond and had extended an… invitation so to speak, the evidence shows you did not, in fact, initiate it." Both sets of blue optics focused on the human. "Sam did."
Hehehehe. I was thinking about leaving it like this for a couple of days just to be mean, but I initially had this chapter and the next combined into one chapter so… In the spirit of the upcoming holidays I figured I'd be nice.
