Caught in the middle of it all

Summary: Lauren and her band got caught in the middle of the bombings in Boston and Optimus Prime and a few other Autobots head out to help her help others get through the crisis. This one shot is dedicated to those who died in this real life event as well as to those who survived; I will be keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.

Optimus Prime was horrified as he was watching the news; he knew that Lauren was in Massachusetts as one of the states she was stopping in on her tour of the East Coast of the United States as well as her band, Jenny, TJ, Zach, and Eric, their manager/Lauren's boyfriend. Cell phone service was out but that did not mean he could not use the landline and call Lauren's hotel room.

Lauren did answer the phone. "Optimus, did you hear about what happened?" she asked, still in shock.

"Indeed I did; are you and your band all right?" the Autobot leader inquired.

"We're fine; Jenny had to be treated for bruises and cuts though. I'm glad she didn't have worse injuries." The human girl wasn't sure what to say. "Optimus, the rest of my tour was already cancelled in response to this and-I want to stay here and help the victims out in some way and I know you and some of the other Autobots want to help too."

"I will ask your President if our assistance will be needed and I will be keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers." Optimus Prime assured his oldest adopted daughter.

"Thanks; if you can reach Terry and Kyle, please tell them I'm okay so that they won't be worried sick and tell my other human relatives too." Lauren requested.

"You're very welcome and I will make sure to do so." Optimus hung up the phone.

In the meanwhile, the other Autobots had heard the news and Lavender and Elita One were trying to comfort the other Wilson siblings, who were sad about what happened but were relieved to hear that their oldest sister was still alive.

"Such a shame that 3 people had their lives cut short." First Aid commented sadly, trying to keep tears from leaking out of his optics though he wasn't the only one who felt like crying.

The Aerialbots didn't understand but Fireflight was sobbing while Jetfire comforted him and told him "It will be all right; we're lucky that the death toll was low."

"Autobots, I understand if you need to cry. Everyone grieves differently and I'd rather all of you let it all out." Optimus Prime said, knowing it would be useless to tell them to stop crying. He then took Elita and the 5 youngest Wilson siblings into his office, wanting to grieve privately with those he called family and contact the human relatives of his adopted children to assure them that at least Lauren was all right.

Later that night, East Coast Time of course, Lauren and her band had dressed a lot differently than what they would normally wear in order to pay respects to the victims. After the vigil, Lauren had decided to go back to the hotel and was surprised when told she had a visitor waiting for her by the security guard outside.

The redheaded girl saw Optimus Prime, parked in his alternate mode and using his human holoform to come over to her. He hugged Lauren.

"Optimus, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I took the groundbridge as your government wished for myself and a few other Autobots to investigate as to whether or not Decepticons might have been involved; fortunately, they were not but many questions remain as to who did this." He answered. "For now though, supporting those who survived as well as the families of the deceased is all we can do as well as attempt to move forward when the mourning is over."

"It will take a long time to do that though." Lauren commented.

It was the next day when Optimus had decided the best course of action would be to allow Lauren and her band to visit those who were still hospitalized. He would do the same; it wasn't much but it was what could be done for now and every bit of support counted when someone was dealing with a tragedy such as this one…