A/N: I really don't like this chapter. The only part I really like is the very start, and possibly Tami and Priscilla's conversation in the midldle. But I can't think of any other way to get the stuff done that it contains, so what choice do I have but to post it. *sigh*

I'm afraid this may be the only chapter for 2-3 weeks. I tried to get it out in time for when Katy-alice Cullen gets back from her holiday, and because I know it may be a little while until the next chapters up. I've hit a mental road block on my Twilight story and I really need to get the next chapter of that worked out before I do any more on this. Hopefully I can get back to this soon, as it's my favourite out of the two ;)

Dedication: to Katy-alice Cullen, because her reviews are really detailed, and often make me laugh.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.

Chapter 14: Jealousy?

"Ouch that hurt! Be careful, you stupid robot!"

"For the hundredth time, Priscilla. I am not a robot. If we are to find out what causes your power surge, I must take a sample of your blood."

Priscilla glared at him before turning away to look at the wall with a huff. The needle was sticking out of the top of her arm; it was held in place by a machine that allowed Ratchet to perform this sort of torture on humans, with his metallic hands being far too big to insert a needle. After another few seconds the needle was swiftly pulled out, causing Priscilla to yelp. She rubbed her arm, hating the tingling, aching sensation that was already setting in.

"Now, lie back on the bed you're sitting on. I need to scan your ankle."

"Good! It really hurts; I've been limping around all day!"

Lying back on the bed, Priscilla tried to keep as still as she could while a scanning attachment of the torture machine ran over her ankle. The machine beeped, and Ratchet leant closer to it to read what the huge screen displayed.

"As I thought. Your ankle is lightly sprained. You've not helped it by walking around on it, but I'm surprised you managed to, actually. It's already as swollen as it will get; the pain and swelling will go down, and in three of four days you should be able to walk with only a small limp. Sprains—even minor ones—are normally the result of a sporting accident, or landing on an uneven surface, or at a bad angle. Do you have any idea how you could have sprained it?"

Priscilla glanced at Tami. If she went into detail about her injury, she'd have to tell Ratchet Tami had helped her. Yes, it might get some of the blame lifted off her, but in the end there was no point in snitching on Tami. After all, the soldier had risked a lot to get her on board.

"Does it matter?"

"Not really; I was just curious."

"Well, I don't know how I did it."

"Don't worry about it. Try and keep your weight off it; you really don't need a crutch, but in these circumstances it needs to heal as fast as possible, so I'd go to the proper medical bay and get one. Wrap some ice packs around it as well to numb the pain a little. Then that's all we can do for now. I'll run some tests on your blood and should have the results in a few hours. I'll send someone to fetch you and Miss Bryce when I've drawn a conclusion."

With that, the Autobot wandered over to some more super-sized computers and sets of machinery. A lab assistant walked up to him and took the sample of Priscilla's blood to run a few tests while Ratchet was reading something off another big screen.

"I guess we're dismissed," Tami stated after a few moments.

"Do you know where the medical bay is?"

"Yes, it's quite near here. Shouldn't be too much of a hop for you," the soldier winked.

Priscilla scowled before she lowered herself off the bed. Then, after putting all her weight on her good leg, she hopped after Tami. They were hardly halfway down the first corridor when Tami turned around with a sigh.

"You look ridiculous. Lean on me."

Gratefully, Priscilla leant on the soldier, who helped her limp to the medical bay. To her relief, it only took a few minutes to reach it. The bay wasn't very big. Half a dozen beds were dotted around the room, each with a curtain on a rail in case the occupant wanted privacy. There were armchairs around the sides of the room and near the beds, and an office at the top end. A doctor wearing a sterile white apron walked over to them almost as soon as they were through the doors.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"Minor sprain. I've been told to pick up a crutch and an ice pack from here," Priscilla replied.

"For a small sprain, that's really not necessary," he frowned.

"Ratchet told me to come here. Should I tell him you didn't think it was necessary?" she said coldly.

"Oh. Right. I'll just get a nurse to fetch them for you."

The doctor bustled off, looking slightly embarrassed. Priscilla sat down on one of the chairs, satisfied. An extremely tall-looking nurse walked over to the pair, a crutch in one hand and a few ice packs in the other. Her hair was a platinum blonde colour and she wore it up in a puffy bun, probably to keep it out of the way. Her eyes were a deep, chocolate-brown colour and they were fixed on Priscilla.

"Here's your crutch, and here are your ice packs!" she said, sounding excited. "My name's Yasmin Dean; it's so nice to meet you!"

Priscilla raised her eyebrows, taking in the beaming nurse in front of her. She'd extended one hand to shake, but Priscilla's stayed firmly by her side. She didn't look much like a nurse, with her false nails and heavy make-up. But then, Priscilla didn't look like a soldier, and she was supposed to save the world.

"I know who you are, of course!" she didn't seem deterred by Priscilla's lack of enthusiasm. "You're Priscilla Night! How did you get on board, though? When I was talking with Will, he said you weren't allowed on board because you weren't a good enough fighter."

"Who's Will?" Priscilla wondered, curious.

"Don't you know?" she asked, looking confused.

"That's why I asked."

"Oh, you probably just know him by his title, then. He has known me for much, much longer I guess. Will is Major Lennox's first name, of course. That was so silly of me! How were you to now his first name?" she giggled.

Priscilla's eyes narrowed. She had quickly built up a strong loathing for this woman. In her opinion, she acted like a ditzy, over-friendly, sweet person, but she knew exactly what she was doing: making Priscilla feel unimportant. She wasn't sure why yet, but two could play at that game.

"Oh, don't worry about it! We all make mistakes. I wasn't allowed to come along because I'm valuable to the cause. If I'm captured by the Decepticons, my powers could destroy this planet. I snuck on board though, because I know I can make a difference. I wanted to be a nurse once, you know? But then when I found out I could save the world, I realized that I could help so many more people by trying to harness my powers," Priscilla gushed.

Tami gave her an odd look, but Priscilla stared straight at Yasmin, waiting to gage her reaction.

"I suppose I'm lucky to be here, then. Ratchet requested my presence on board because he knows my nursing abilities are second to none! Most of the other staff don't want me here, though. If I get hurt, what would they do? There'd be no one to look after the wounded. But, they realized in the end, I was too valuable to be left behind."

"You're very lucky, then. It's funny, Lennox was the one who wouldn't let me come. He must have just been too worried about me."

"Yes, Will was concerned about me too. He just knew that N.E.S.T needs me. Well, this has been a pleasure, really, but I'm so busy helping people that I should get going. I hope to see you later or something!" Yasmin said, before turning and walking away.

Glaring at her retreating form, Priscilla grabbed her crutch and took her ice packs in her free hand before hobbling out.

"Why am I not surprised that you've made another enemy?" Tami muttered as she walked.

"Oh this time it was not my fault! That little, urghh! She's just so fake, with her stupid giggle and false nails! I mean, what kind of nurse wears false nails? And all that stuff about knowing Lennox so well, and being too important to be left behind. She's a nurse for cripes sake! She's not that valuable! And calling Lennox 'Will' just to annoy me! I bet she doesn't even know him properly!"

Tami watched her ranting friend with an amused look.

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy!"

"I'm not. Is that a hint of jealousy I see there, Priscilla? A little case of the green-eyed monster? She's quite close to Major Lennox, and pretty, too."

"Don't be ridiculous! How could I be jealous of her? She's a complete fake! Stop laughing!"

"I just think it's ironic; you're calling her fake, but that's how most people see you."

This comment took Priscilla aback, and she blinked at Tami in surprise.

"They do?"

"Yes. But I don't. Amy-Lee doesn't. Epps doesn't."

Priscilla couldn't stop a small smile spreading across her face. She knew she shouldn't care what people thought about her, but somewhere along the line, she'd started to.

"Even Major Lennox doesn't."

Priscilla scoffed at this.

"Lennox hates me. I doubt he's ever going to talk to me again."

"What did you say to him?"

"I didn't say anything! He just started having a go at me, saying I couldn't see that people cared about me, and I always shut myself off from other people, and that I only think of myself."

"That idiot! He couldn't just say it straight, could he?" Tami muttered in annoyance.

"What?" Priscilla frowned.

"Nothing," the soldier sighed, running a hand through her short hair.

The pair stood outside the hospital wing in silence, neither sure what to say next.

"So urmm, what are we meant to do on this journey anyway?" Priscilla asked, attempting to break the awkward silence.

"That was the worst 'awkward silence breaker' I've ever heard." Tami commented dryly. "And normally: sleep, eat, train, that sort of stuff. But you have nowhere to sleep, most likely won't even look at the food, and aren't safe with a gun."

"Thanks!" Priscilla snorted.

She had to admit, though, Tami was right on all three points.

"No problem. I'd ask Optimus if there's a spare room for you, but I don't think it would go down too well. We're probably best to-"

"Miss Bryce, Miss Night?" a voice called from down the corridor.

Martins came jogging around the corner, looking a little breathless and bedraggled.

"Martins?" Tami questioned, watching him curiously.

"You're both required in the Autobot storage room, right now."

"We'll be there in five," Tami replied.

He nodded, before running off again. Priscilla got the distinct impression he was a little wary of her suing him. She was still smiling faintly when Tami began talking:

"Right. I'm guessing the Autobots are going to want to know how you got onboard the plane for security reasons. You need to tell them the whole truth. They can't really fire me; I could go to the press about the whole thing."

Priscilla nodded. No harm could really come to Tami, right? And it would get her off the hook at least. She squashed down the unpleasant, guilty feeling that was trying to eat its way into her head. She wouldn't feel bad about telling on Tami. She wouldn't.

Bending down, she strapped the ice packs around her injured ankle, sighing in relief as it took the edge off the pain and cooled the joint down. After that, she adjusted the height of her crutches until they were right for her, then set off down the corridor. Having nothing to talk about, they walked in silence.

When Tami stopped and walked into a room on their right, Priscilla assumed they'd reached their destination. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside after her somewhat braver friend.

The space in front of them was huge. It was easily tall enough for Ironhide to stand on top of Optimus and still not hit his head on the roof. There wasn't much in the room, apart from a few computers and washing and repair stations. Optimus was talking to Ironhide, Bee and Ice off to one side. Priscilla was perfectly happy to stand there in silence; she saw no need to interrupt the robots. Unfortunately, Ironhide noticed her and growled menacingly in her direction.

Priscilla glared back, refusing to let her terror show. All that would do was increase the weapons specialist's already over-inflated ego.

"Ironhide," Optimus reprimanded sternly.

The 'bot relaxed his expression to a neutral one.

"Priscilla, we've called you here to discuss how you boarded this plane. It is extremely disconcerting that someone with no military training could get aboard without us detecting them until we have almost reached our destination. We are assuming you had assistance. From whom?"

Priscilla hesitated. Now she was in the moment, she couldn't get Tami into trouble. After everything the other woman had risked for her, she just couldn't.

"No-one helped me. I tricked Tami and Amy-Lee, an engineer, into helping me. They didn't realize their actions were actually aiding my escape attempt."

"And how exactly did you get aboard, human?" Ironhide snarled.

"I asked Amy-Lee how to get on board without being detected. She said there was no way of doing it. So I came up with my own plan, to sneak in a storage crate. I made sure Tami and Amy-Lee both heard what I was doing. This morning, they both went to warn every one of my plans, as I knew they would. Once a few crates had been checked, proclaimed empty and re-loaded, I snuck around the back and got in via a service hatch. No-one who knew who I was was paying me any attention; they were all busy searching the storage crates for me."

Priscilla watched the Autobots carefully, hoping they'd buy it.

"It appears we have underestimated you, Priscilla. We know exactly what really happened, as your friend Miss Bryce has explained it to us earlier. This was merely a test to see how you would recount this morning's events."

Priscilla turned to glare at Tami, who just smirked.

"It seems you are not wholly self-centered, and do have some thought for others. But that is not our main concern at this moment in time. We will reach our destination in a few hours, and when we get there, it is vital that you keep out of the way. We'll assign a soldier to keep an eye on you, to try and keep you out of harm's way. We can only hope it's enough."

A/N: Yeah, there it was in all it's dreadfullness.

Huge shout outs to:

Katy-alice Cullen- he could stand up because the whole area they were standing on was an elevated platform, looking out over a huge room, big enough for the autobots to stand up in. I did mention this, but probably not well enough ;) Yeah, I can see your point about the OOCness, but I think anyone, even calm, level headed leaders would be frustrated and angry with Priscilla. From all they can see she's tagged along because she can't bear to be left behind, and most likely doomed they whole planet, plus the Autobots as they have no way to get off it. Moreover, her actions in the command room before Optimus starts speaking show she seems more pleased with her self than guilt-ridden, which would anger him even more. Sorry about that, I like explaining things so people arent confused. Please P.M me or drop another review if things still aren't quite clear ;) Anyway, thank you for your review!

American-agent12- thankyou! :)

Pretty please review guys, they mean so much to me, they really do keep me going! I'm touched by each and every review, and whenever I feel down, loose my inspiration or wonder why I'm even writing this, I read over my reviews and remember I owe it to you amazing people to finish this. My muse comes back, and all I want to do is write and make you guys happy!

Thanks guys, love you all,

Spirited Mare

xxxx