"So unwise…" The hauntingly evil voice echoed in her mind.

Once more she saw the hand slam down breaking through the structure and destroying the firm foundation she had sought purchase on. The sensation of falling rapidly settled in her stomach with a queasy uneasiness one usually experienced on roller coasters only a hundred times worse. She watched as the hunkering form of Megatron hung over the edge red eyes glowing gleefully. No sound penetrated her ears, as the world seemed to pass her in mere seconds. In her mind she kept waiting for Optimus to catch her, but he never did. Her body twisted enough for her to see the pavement as it reached up to meet her…

Gasping harshly Sam sat up in the medical bed, chest heaving in an effort to catch her breathe and still the pounding beats of her heart. Tears slipped from her eyes unnoticed leaving tracks down her blood and dirt stained cheeks. Her whole body trembled from the aftershocks of fear and adrenaline induced by the nightmare.

It took several deep breaths on her part before she managed to calm herself enough to allow the rational part of her mind to take over. When it did the events of the past few days paraded through her mind like one of the slide shows her art teacher enjoyed torturing her students with. It all started with her purchase of her first car, which turned out to be an alien robot. From there the whole thing seemed to spiral out of control and comprehension. The last thing she clearly remembered was climbing up into Optimus' cab to sit between Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps, after that she couldn't remember.

Taking stock of her surroundings she recognized the basic layout of a medical infirmary. Several beds lined up along the walls, most of them filled with sleeping soldiers. The bed to the right of her held a sleeping Mikaela, who had taken a shower from the looks of it. She noted the forms of Glen and Maggie as well. Most of the lights were off but a few lit up the area, dim enough to allow sight without bothering the slumbering patients.

Checking herself, Sam saw that someone had bandaged most of her wounds, but other than that had let her be. Looking around again she saw two nurses hanging out at the other end of the room, neither looking in her direction. Deciding that sleep would not come again and she had no desire to sit there with her current thoughts Sam slid carefully from the bed, wincing as tired muscles worked to support her. Cold seeped through the soles of her bare feet. She considered putting her shoes on, but as she could not immediately find them it was decidedly too much effort to bother with.

Silently she slipped out of the room pleased to find the hallways empty. Granted she had no idea what time it was, so it could be perfectly logical that no one hung around. For several minutes she just wandered the hallways, not quite knowing where to go.

Soon her feet led her back to the room the All Spark had once been housed in. Hovering near the tunnel entrance she watched as Ratchet moved around absently, working on Bumblebee's legs. Said bot was sitting against one wall, his optics dimmed and several wires hooked up to him likely recharging his system.

Ironhide sat off a good ways tinkering with one of his cannons. Optimus however was nowhere to be seen. Leaning against the wall she just watched taking some comfort in the seemingly ordinary motions the Autobots followed. It grounded her in a way she desperately needed at the moment.

"You should be sleeping." The soft voice by her ear had her jumping in fright. Twirling around to face the person she found Lennox holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Well you did." She informed him, one hand clutching at her chest. "But hey, good news, my heart's working great. I'll probably be able to stave off a heart attack for at least twenty years after all I've been through these past few days."

"Always nice to have a silver lining." He agreed, flashing a boyish grin. Taking careful stock of the teen in front of him he noticed the red look of her eyes and the way she hugged her arms close to her chest. "You doing ok?"

"I suppose. Not the best, but obviously better than some." Sam allowed a wry grin to twist her lips, eyes sad as she looked at Lennox. "I'm not the only one who had a rough time the past few days. Are you and your men going to be ok?"

Considering her statement he gave a non-committal shrug. "Maybe. It's a lot to take in and we've lost good friends and comrades. But we're soldiers. It's what we do."

"Thank you." Sam stated after a moment of silence. "You and your men supported me even though you had no reason to. I'm actually kind of surprised you took the word of a teenager against an 'alleged' expert."

"You're welcome." He left it at that not really sure what else to say. Seeing as Sam didn't push the subject he let it drop.

"Do you know where Optimus is?"

"He and SecDef, that's the short call for Secretary of Defense." He added at her confused look before continuing his explanation. "They're still talking and hammering out some details. I have a feeling things are going to get interesting for my guys."

Looking over at the man beside her Sam raised a curious brow. "Am I allowed to ask or is it a 'need to know' deal?"

"I'm sure it's 'need to know'." He chuckled at her phrasing glad to see that she still had spirit. Will had seen older and more experienced men fall to the stress of lesser events. "Then again seeing as your Camaro happens to be on the team you just might fall into that category."

"Is it bad of me to hope not? I'm already going to have one hell of a time explaining this to my parents." A derisive snort escaped her. "That is assuming Simmons and Sector Seven release them."

"What happened?" His face grew grim as she explained the events leading up to her and Mikaela's 'invitation' to sector seven's base of operations. His eyes took on a dark look as he promised to make sure they got sent home. From the tone of his voice it sounded like he would fight the Decepticons single handedly to do just that.

Once more silence settled around them, both shifting their gaze to the three robots out in the main room. It wasn't long though before Will was coaxing her to follow him back to the medical ward for another few hours of sleep. As she followed the man she glanced back at Bumblebee's slumbering form.

Like Mikaela, Sam was really glad she had the guts to get in the car.