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Tenji - I'm not sure if I got to your review last chapter or not... Yeah, I know Decepticreeps. -.-'

(Bella's POV)

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was I was sore.

No... Sore would be breaking both legs. Sore would be a hangover the morning after downing a bottle of tequila in ten minutes. This was beyond sore. This was sheer and total agony, ripping through my body like a wildfire. A low groan escaped me, burning my throat as I struggled to force my eyes open.

"Bella?"

The voice was familiar, but it didn't register. The moment I realized I wasn't alone, I found my eyes flying open, and my body growing in size as I jumped and spun, landing awkwardly on my ankle and hissing as fresh pain stormed up that leg. My eyes darted about, picking up white walls, sterile smells, and a figure to my left, moving in fast.

With a cry, I lashed out, my hand connecting with their throat and tightening as I felt wires underneath my fingers. I didn't rip or pull, I simply stood there, my vision clearing enough to make out crystal blue eyes staring at me warily, even as one hand was raised to his side, warding someone else off.

So many things flew into my head at once. I wasn't alone. He wasn't alone. I wasn't at the club. This wasn't a Decepticon. Decepticons don't have blue eyes. I still hurt so badly. There was another figure half behind me. No one was moving. No one was speaking.

Sunfire was gone.

I blinked, a hand going to my stomach, even as my occupied hand tightened over the vulnerable throat in front of me. Sunny? Panic began to rush through my systems. "Where is she?!"

"It's alright." The voice was strained but almost soothing, and a hand gently circled my wrist.

It didn't move me, but it did bring my attention back to the mech in front of me. I blinked again, feeling my eyes widen in horror as I realized I was grasping Ratchet by the throat, hurting him. I released him immediately, admittedly whimpering when I looked around and didn't spot my sparkling. "Did they...?" Fresh panic and pain coursed through me as I looked down, clutching at my still damaged chest plates before looking up. "Did they get her?! Did I fail?!"

"No." His look was reassuring, even as he rubbed at his throat. "She's with Optimus and Bumblebee as we speak, and she is unharmed."

It was like a ten ton weight was lifted off me. I felt some of the tension melt out of me, and then glanced to my side, where Ironhide stood, staring at me a long moment with an unreadable expression his cannons whirling but down by his side. Turning back, I allowed the rest of the tension to slide out of me, and yelped as a fresh wave of pain shot up my leg, bringing my attention to my injuries.

Lifting my damaged leg off the ground, I held on to the berth to keep my balance, breathing heavily through the thick curtain of pain in my chest.

"Well you shouldn't have jumped up, should you?" I looked up as I felt a light touch on my arm, and raised an eyebrow to see Ratchet glaring at me. It was kind of funny how he went from comforting to pissed in seconds. "You could have injured yourself worse, and I did not spend three hours taking care of the worst of the damage yesterday, only for you to mess it up in one go." His tone was scolding, and his eyes flashed. "Up you get."

"Sunfire." I wanted my sparkling. If I got her back, I'd happily sit down and play guinea pig to whatever he wanted. I could feel my heart reaching out for her, barely feeling her emotions and sensing she was happy. That was a relief, but I still wanted to see her.

He seemed to regard me a long moment, before sighing. "Ironhide, wait outside and call Optimus to bring Sunfire to the med bay, for a visit." The last was stated pointedly, with a glare in my direction.

"But-"

"Don't make me make good on my promise to weld you to the wall." Eyes narrowed even more, and Ratchet looked away, pulling a wrench from a hidden pocket on his body and waiting a moment. When the tell tale sound of a door opening and shutting sounded through the room, he relaxed and turned back. "I won't let her stay. I still have a lot of work to do, and I'd rather not have a sparkling crawling around over the work surface."

"Huh. I love you too." I muttered, rolling my eyes. I watched as his eyes went wide, and he seemed to freeze, then realized that they tended to take things a lot more literal than humans. "Oh! No! I mean, not like that! I mean-urgh..." I groaned and shook my head, even as I turned awkwardly and hopped up onto the berth, hissing and rubbing at my hip.

My hiss seemed to shake him out of his stupor and he walked over with a new frown on his face. "Care to tell me how you damaged your leg?" He moved forward, his eyes fixed on my hip, and I flinched when faint scars across his cheek seemed to catch the light.

I did that. "Oh, Ratchet." Reaching out slowly, I felt the burn in my eyes, signalling the onset of tears. "I'm so sorry." Gently, I ran my hand over his warm cheek, biting my tongue slightly when he froze once again, and his expression seemed to go carefully blank. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Slowly, I pulled back, almost worried I might have offended him, or upset him in another way.

He remained where he stood, looking down, before I heard him sigh and he looked up. His eyes were a lot softer as he looked at me. "It wasn't your fault. I knew better than to come at you like that. New mothers are very protective of their young, and you were already wary. I frightened you, and I am very lucky you didn't do worse." He seemed to smirk. "The scars will be gone by tomorrow night at the latest, please don't fret."

I could only blink in shock. Here I was certain he'd have a few choice words for me, at the very least, but instead he was forgiving me. "Still... I am sorry."

He nodded briefly, before looking down. "Apology accepted. Now, as I asked before... Your leg?" He gently placed a hand on my leg, and I tried to ignore the discomfort and warmth that shot through me at how high his hand was.

"Well..." I shifted a little, unconsciously trying to pull back, but at the same time trying to be subtle about it. "I'd like to think it was from kicking that 'Sideways' asshole-" I snorted. Sideways asshole. A small giggle erupted from me, before I could stop it, and it only got worse when Ratchet looked at me in confusion. "Never mind." Slowly I managed to calm back down again.

"I'd like to think it came from kicking him where the sun don't shine." I got a confused look, and felt fans switch on inside me as my temperature rose. "I kicked him between the legs. I'm just lucky they seemed to make their holograms fully functional...in a human sense, anyways."

"Kicking him between the legs would not have damaged your hip." There was a strange look on his face, and I wasn't sure if he was trying not to laugh, or trying not to wince. Maybe a combination of both.

"No." I shuddered a little, remembering the way he'd touched me. "He was..." I tried to think up a pretty blatant way to explain it. "Feeling me up? Fondling me? He grabbed my hip hard enough..." I trailed off and shrugged, looking down at my leg as a fresh wave of shame rolled through me. I should have tried harder to fight him off.

Ratchet's hand tightened slightly, before abruptly removing itself. "I see." His tone was quiet and deadly.

Looking up, I watched as he turned away, whistles and clicks radiating from his rigid form as he almost stalked over to a bench and seemed to search for something. The more he went on, the louder the whistles and clicks got, and I had the distinct impression he was speaking the Cybertronian native language. And from the tone of the words, I was very glad I couldn't understand him.

The door across the med bay slid open, and I watched as Optimus and Bumblebee walked in, the little scout holding my little Sunfire, who looked even bigger since I'd last seen her. They paused as Ratchet, oblivious to their arrival, carried on, then I blinked as both new arrivals almost seemed to grow upset at his words.

Ironhide peeked in and smirked. "Wow, what's got Ratchet so worked up?" He was snickering until Bumblebee, without even looking, swiped his hand over the door control, causing it to come down on the weapons specialist's head, and causing him to yelp and duck back out.

The yelp caught Ratchet's attention, and he turned, freezing cold at the sight of two rather dirty looks he was receiving, and then ducking his head. I could hear fans switching on inside him as he turned and walked back over towards me, almost looking sheepish.

"I don't wanna know, do I?" I tilted my head as he reached forward and began working on my leg, once again causing heat to run through me, even as I tried to ignore the sensation.

There was a little whistle from Bumblebee's hands, and Ratchet froze again, even as Bumblebee began his metallic equivalent of a laugh, and Optimus snapped something out towards the medic, looking horrified. "Oh, slag." The medibot hissed quietly, looking for all the world like he just wanted to find a hole, crawl in it, and die.

"Let me guess, cussing in native language, and Sunny picked up on it?" I raised an eyebrow, my amusement fleeing as I realized I was going to have fun with all the swearing that went on amongst these bots. Looking towards Bumblebee, I felt my heart pull, warming as love and happiness came back at me. Little Sunfire leaned forward, reaching out with her hands towards me, and I watched as Bumblebee looked down, before slowly walking forward.

Even before he got halfway across the room, I was echoing Sunfire, reaching out towards her. I could feel my own happiness growing to see her unharmed and happy, and I felt a smile crossing my face. The pain was still predominant in me, but it didn't matter as I saw my little femme sparkling coming towards me. I was scooping her out of Bumblebee's hands and holding her close, hearing her making a clicking noise repeatedly, and giggling at the tiny puddle of oil in Bumblebee's hand, which he made a face at.

Heh, that's three times she's peed in someone's hand.

You're probably wondering why I kept thinking of her in Cybertronian terms. Well, she wasn't human. I wasn't human. It just seemed to...fit.

"She's said her first word." Optimus chuckled. "'Mommy' in Cybertronian. That's what she's saying right now."

I looked at all three mechs who seemed to almost glow with the happier atmosphere in the room. I sighed and nodded, holding her over my heart and memorizing the clicking noise, so I'd know what she was saying later. "My little Sunny." No one even laughed at her nickname anymore. It was obvious she'd found herself a spot in even the most hardened of hearts.

"From what I can tell, Sideways bruised some sensitive wires. That's why it hurts so much to stand on that leg." Ratchet pulled back, and I very nearly sighed in relief when the strange warmth faded along with his touch. "It will heal on it's own in a few days."

Looking up, I watched Bumblebee wiggle his fingers at Sunfire, much like I'd ended up teaching Optimus to do, it seemed. His door wings were dropped, along with his little antennai on the top of his head, and he almost seemed sad. "What's wrong?" I tilted my head a little as he looked up, big blue eyes blinking a moment.

"He's grown quite fond of Sunfire. We all have." Optimus walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"That's good." Ratchet nodded. "Because we'll all be seeing a lot more of her and Bella around the base now."

Turning to him, I frowned. "We will?" Raising an eyebrow, I couldn't help but feel a little offended he was making the decision for me, even if I did see the wisdom in his words.

He nodded sternly. "The Decepticons are after you, and you are still quite damaged. I want to keep you in the med bay overnight so I can fix the majority of the damage, and then you're to take it easy until I give you the ok. You are also to remain on base, so we know you're safe."

"You don't have the right to order me around!" I yelped angrily, before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, stroking Sunfire's antennai and listening to her purr to calm down. "Look, you're making me a prisoner that way, you know. I don't like it."

"Unfortunately, I see the wisdom in Ratchet's words, and in all honesty, I had already given this subject some thought. I must insist you remain on the base for the next earth week, at the very least, to heal your injuries. If you wish to leave after, I will not stop you-" He didn't seem to pleased about it, though. "But I would feel better if you had a guardian."

Bumblebee raised his hand, then let it drop as a little metallic 'awww' came out of his mouth. His head drooped and his wings followed suit.

"You already have a charge. Two if you count Mikeala." Optimus patted the scout's shoulder again. "However, I would like to mention a possible idea to you, Bella."

"What choice do I have? One way or another, you're gonna have me on house arrest." And if there was one thing I didn't like, it was being locked up anywhere.

"House..." Shaking his head, Optimus sighed. "We would like you to move onto the base, Bella. You may live with us, and leave to do as you please. This way, not one bot has to be assigned permanent guardianship of you, you are free to do as you like, and we can all rest easier knowing someone is with you at all times."

Thinking it over, I had to admit it sounded like a pretty sweet idea. "What's the downside?" I looked up and raised an eyebrow when Optimus tilted his head slightly. "That sounds...like a good plan, but there has to be a downside to it. Something I'm not gonna like." I giggled as I looked down, Sunfire pressed firmly against my chest, her tiny little hands holding on to a ridge in my armor and her eyes closed in bliss as she tilted her head towards my fingers.

"Diego Garcia is an island." Ratchet seemed to get what I was asking. "We'd need to arrange for transportation for your guardian, which would take time and planning."

"See?" I sighed and pointed to Ratchet, before busting up laughing when Sunfire grumbled and whined, reaching for my hand. Shaking my head, I scratched lightly at her antennai again, before turning my attention to the other Autobots. "Told you."

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Tenshi