"Ms. Darby the transplant went well and I am optimistic that this was a success" Sheldon said "They are about to bring Rafael in, just be warned he will be groggy for a while"
"I know, doctor" June replied
A few agonizing minutes later Rafael was wheeled into the room. He looked to be about ninety percent asleep and just seeing him again made June almost cry with relief.
June smiled as Rafael looked to her
"Just sleep now, you can begin your real recovery later" she said
Meanwhile Yessenia was praising God after hearing everything had gone well.
Arcee groaned as her cell phone rang. She got outside and answered it.
"Arcee, I think I have an answer as to what happened to you"
Bulkhead picked up Arcee and they returned to base. They arrived a few moments later and Ratchet launched into his explanation.
"From what I've discovered this whole mess is from a new subroutine that turns your holographic rider into a solid body and transfers your conscious mind to that form" Ratchet stated
Arcee was stunned
"And if I'm right I can use this for all of us"
"So how do I…"
"Return to your full Cybertronian body, simple," he instructed her to get on the motorcycle and focus on being that form again. She did and to her shock it worked, for the first time in over a week she felt normal. She transformed to her robot mode.
"I'm back" she said triumphantly then activated her com link to contact Jack
"Jack, I'm back to normal" she announced
"That's great, Arcee" he said happy for her "Raf is out of surgery and they say he should be fine"
"Today seems to be filled with good news, doesn't it, partner"
"How did they change you back?"
"I'll explain later" she replied
They disconnected and Arcee turned to Ratchet
"Thanks for getting me back, Ratchet" she said
"No need to thank me" he replied
Ratchet then went to working on getting the new subroutine prepared for everyone else. He first tested to make sure Arcee could change back and forth without issue before giving it to the bots that were there.
"These new forms should conserve the Energon we have since they require so much less to function" Ratchet commented
"Yeah, it should, and it also means the wardrobe the girls bought me won't go to waste" Arcee commented lightly, but she could tell that Bumblebee wasn't taking her attempt at humor very well.
"Bee, Raf came through the surgery just fine" Arcee assured him
"*How do you know?*" Bumblebee shot back
"Because Jack told me when I called him"
Meanwhile June ran her fingers through Raf's hair as he slept off what anesthesia was left in his system. June had noticed from the time she met Rafael that he was small for his age. She had at first been dubious when he said he was twelve, but then later found out that he was indeed being truthful in his declaration of being 'twelve and a quarter'. His insistence on adding the 'and a quarter' to the end still to this day made her smile. He might have been the quietest of the trio but he had his pride.
In foster care Rafael's quiet nature had led to issues with him being left out a lot. He wasn't one to step up and make demands unless pushed hard thus his caretakers sometimes missed his needing them.
Paige Mathews, his social worker, had referred to him as a type B personality and had wondered if this lack of much desire for competition had a part in his being adopted so late. 12 year olds rarely got adopted out of the system thus Paige had been thrilled when June came forward to adopt Rafael.
June was jolted from her thoughts by a knock at the door to Rafael's hospital room. She turned to see Paige standing there holding a card and a container of food.
"How is he doing?" Paige asked
"A lot better, what brings you?"
"Just wanted to check in, I wish I could have come to check on him sooner, he kind of feels like family to me and I wanted to support him better. Thus why I am here now to check on him" she smiled "my sisters heard as well and they wanted me to bring this get well soon card and some of Piper's famous lasagna. I checked with the nurses, they said he could have some of this once he's awake enough to eat. I brought enough for him, you and Jack"
"Tell her I appreciate her going out of her way to send this for us" June said
"I'll let her know, she said she felt this was the best way she could contribute, she might not know Rafael, but she could see how this affected me and wanted to help me contribute to his recovery. Phoebe, my other sister would have sent something but… she couldn't think of anything to send so she picked out the card"
"I would like to meet your sisters one day and thank them for taking the time to think of us" June said taking the dish from Paige and placing it on the table
"Piper is actually downstairs right now if you want to come meet her. She had to bring her son, Wyatt, he's just 6 months old and with Raf just out of surgery we thought it best we not bring Wyatt up here just to be safe"
"That was probably best" June replied as Jack entered the room
"Paige this is Jack"
"Hi, I was Rafael's social worker, now I guess you could just call me a concerned friend"
Yessenia was reentering the hospital from taking a walk when she noticed a woman holding a blonde baby boy.
"Aww, he's so cute" she said idly
"Thank you" the woman said with a smile
"I'm Yessenia"
"I'm Piper, and this is Wyatt" Piper replied, "Are you visiting someone here at the hospital?"
"My brother, Rafael, he just got a kidney transplant"
"Rafael Darby"
"I'm actually his biological sister; we were split after our parents died. He was 2 I was 7 we were just reunited not too long ago." Yessenia sighed "it was kind of bittersweet for me; I mean a lot of things about our parents still seem so vivid in my mind and yet he has no memories of them. I shouldn't be surprised though" Yessenia paused "you probably aren't interested in this"
"Actually I am, my sister Paige told me a little about him, but not about you"
"Because we were separated I grew up moving between Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada and my social worker was a woman named Nancy. I started out being treated as if I didn't speak very good English until they realized I was bilingual"
Jack sighed as he leaned back in his chair trying his best to resist the desire to claw at that spot just below his left elbow that had recently flared on him. None of his friends knew of the condition that caused this and he wanted to keep it that way, at least until Rafael recovered. One medical condition was all they needed to deal with at a time; that was all the worry he was willing to subject his mother too.
To Be Continue…
