A/N: I got an A on my English final! I am so happy! I am going to miss my English class. I loved it so much! *cries* But I must move forward. :)
Princess Thil Galel: Awww, I love that idea. Not yet though. Soon enough though. ;p Thanks. I am glad some people like that I have chapters off of action or drama. Unlike some people who demand action in every chapter. I've not had that problem, but my brother is like that…*shakes head*
Queen Lilliandil: I would never be able to drive recklessly. I have a healthy fear of driving. Lol
Vivian Hale: Great minds think alike. We must really be great minds with how much it happens to us! Lol. Well, when you think about it, a Pastor is a leader of a church and Prime is leader of the Autobots. That could be why.
And now! On with the story!
Disclaimer: Cause I gotta do it every once and a while. I do not own Transformers: Prime. If I did we'd likely know why Raf understands Bee by now.
Chapter 14: It's Only Routine
~Amelia's PoV~
I yawned, lifting myself off my new Cybertron-sized bed just enough so I could stretch out. If Tana had been here, she'd comment on how I stretch like a cat. I then laid back down, debating about whether or not to go back into recharge. I wasn't really tired, I just didn't want to get up yet, especially when I check my chronometer and it said that it was only seven thirty. It was a Saturday morning, so the others wouldn't be leaving to take the kids to school, only to bring them here. It wasn't that I didn't want to go through my day, just that I was deep in thought. I was supposed to go with Ironhide and Ratchet on a routine scouting mission for Energon. It was just routine, which is why I was allowed to tag along, but I was excited.
A knock at my door had me sighing and getting up to answer it. Unsurprisingly, I found Ratchet at the other side.
"Mornin' Ratch," I said before yawning.
"Good morning, Amelia," he said. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just woke up actually," I said. "I was really tired last night."
"You had an eventful couple days from what I heard," Ratchet said. "Are you ready for your daily check-up?"
"Do I have to?" I whined. I could've sworn I saw a smirk cross Ratchet's face, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. I wondered if I had been imagining it.
"Yes, Amelia, you have to," Ratchet said. "You want to go with me and Ironhide, don't you?"
"Yeah," I said. "But do I really need a check-up? I still think this is overkill."
"Well, I don't," Ratchet said. "Now come on. The sooner I give you your check-up, the sooner you can get on with your day."
I sighed and followed him out of my room and to the medbay. The check-up went as it always did. Ratchet checked for any anomalies or glitches in my processor, but found nothing. We talked some as well, as we always did. There was always something to talk about with our crazy friends.
"You missed Bulkhead's reiteration of his dream this morning," Ratchet commented. "You would've enjoyed it."
"Really?" I asked, frowning. Bots had dreams?
Ratchet noticed my reaction immediately. Hard not to when poking around someone's processor I suppose.
"Are you ok?" Ratchet asked.
"Bots….have dreams?" I asked.
"Of course," Ratchet said, frowning. "It is a natural part of any life form's existence. I had a dream myself last night, but I'm not about to reiterate it for you. Why do you ask?" He looked concerned about the question.
"I…haven't had any dreams…" I said. "Not since changing. I just assumed it was normal for Cybertronians and that I should get used to it."
Ratchet sighed. "If something doesn't seem normal, never assume that it is," he reprimanded me. "There must be something wrong. Perhaps a missing string of data. I will need to run an in depth diagnostic to find it."
My door wings drooped and I fought back some fear at the thought of it. "In depth?" I asked nervously.
Ratchet sighed. "Yes, I will need to put you in stasis in order to do it," he said.
I shifted away from Ratchet nervously. The thought of being unaware of what was going on around me while he poked and prodded in my head did not sit right with me. It felt…intrusive. And any number of things could go wrong.
"Amelia?" Ratchet said. He looked hesitant, probably because of my reaction. "You trust me, don't you?"
I looked at Ratchet. He looked tense, like my reaction had bothered him. I could tell he got the impression that I was afraid of him. No, I wasn't afraid of him. I was just afraid of what he was saying. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, just that I was frightened of the idea of having someone working on my processor while I was unaware. His optics looked troubled, almost frightened. But why would he be frightened? Of my answer? Was he scared I'd say 'no'? Why would he be, though? I was probably just seeing things.
"It's not that I don't trust you Ratch," I said, turning away. "You are one of the ones I trust most, actually. I just…" I shifted, wrapping my arms around myself. "Dunno about such a procedure. That's what frightens me. Being unaware as someone pokes and prods in my head. It just…doesn't sit right."
"I see," Ratchet said and had I been paying attention, I would've noticed the tension in his frame relax some, though not much. "If you feel you are not ready, it can be put off for a little bit. But it has to be done. The cause of your lack of dreams may be something that could eventually affect something else."
I nodded in understanding, though that only really made me more worried about it. We sat/stood there for a few minutes, neither of us speaking. I wished that whatever was wrong would just fix itself. Then I wouldn't be facing this problem and possibly be hurting Ratchet with my reluctance to let him do the procedure. I knew if I were in his position, I'd be a little hurt. I said I trusted him, yet I couldn't bring myself to let him do the procedure that needed to be done.
I felt bad as I left the medbay and my door wings remained drooped as I walked. I trusted Ratchet and yet I couldn't let him do a simple procedure to find a problem that did exist. I felt pathetic, being scared of having Ratchet do a procedure he's probably done thousands of times. But it wasn't just a simple procedure to me. It was probing around in my head. My space. My sanctity from reality. If anything went wrong, I would never be myself ever again. And if I wasn't me, then who was I? But he said the problem could show up in other areas down the road…
I sighed as I found myself in the main area of the base and looked up to see the Bots all gathered there. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were watching Miko and Raf play video games. Arcee and Jack weren't around, so I assumed they went for a drive. Optimus, Ironhide and Jazz were gathered around the main computer. It was then I remembered about the scouting mission and my mood immediately picked back up. My door wings lifted and my expression brightened as I walked over to the three.
"Hey guys!" I said cheerfully.
"There you are," Ironhide said. "I was beginning to think you chickened out."
"Nah, I just over slept," I said.
"Dat's understandable," Jazz said. "Ya've had a long week."
No kidding, I thought inwardly, though outwardly I continued to smile.
"Where is Ratchet?" Optimus asked.
"He should be here soon," I said.
~Normal PoV~
As Amelia finally left the medbay to go join the others, Ratchet found that he couldn't bring himself to follow. He wanted to be alone while he sifted through what had just transpired. Did she really trust him as she claimed? What if she didn't and just didn't want to hurt him? No, she wasn't the type to lie to save someone pain. She was brutally honest. It was part of what he liked about their newest addition. If she didn't trust him, she would've told him.
Ratchet was never one to really care what his patients thought about him. He cared about their well-being, not whether they liked him or not. In all his years he had been a medic, he didn't think twice about doing a procedure such as the one he felt he needed to do on Amelia. Sure, he had others who had been reluctant, but it had never given him pause in the past. He had simply sedated the patient, did the procedure and dealt with the aftermath afterward. Whatever it took to stop his patient's suffering. It was a simple procedure, though it could be viewed as intrusive. Still, he had never hesitated. Until now.
When Amelia had moved away in apparent fear, he had felt his spark sink. A fear had filled him he had never felt before. He was actually…scared that she didn't trust him or that she was afraid of him. But over the months he had known her, he had seen that she was not afraid of him. When he wasn't giving her check-ups or talking about medical procedures, she was completely at ease around him. As she was with any of the Bots, at least when Ironhide wasn't in a bad mood and Jazz wasn't popping out of nowhere and startling her. Whenever she felt out of place with the others, with their current activity, she would help him with his work and she seemed to enjoy the time spent working with him. No, she wasn't afraid of him. And she said she trusted him. That statement alone had made his spark soar momentarily before it sank again when he realized it was not enough for her to be comfortable with the procedure. She was scared of it and he didn't want her to be scared. But she was and he didn't know how to reassure her.
"Slagging femme," Ratchet mumbled, turning to the computer.
Beyond frustrated with trying to figure out why he felt this way about the femme, he began writing a report about what he knew of her condition. So far his scans had shown no problems, save for the missing memory files. All her systems were functioning properly, except, it seems, one of the ones connected to dreaming. Without knowing what the problem was, it was hard to tell if it would cause more abnormalities down the road. One bad line of code was all it took for a problem to turn viral and affect other, more important systems. But a bad line of code would've shown up in other areas by now. It was more likely a missing line of code, which would cause problems that would show up in specific circumstances. Considering her fear of the procedure, he had a sinking feeling about where one such problem could show up. If the problem didn't get fixed soon, he feared it may never get fixed.
"Why can't anything be simple with that femme?" Ratchet sighed. He was growing more and more worried about their newest member the more he pondered on the things that have happened to her. And what was that feeling in his spark whenever he saw her smile?
Sighing again, Ratchet finished typing the report up and then left to join his friends in the main area. He hung back for a moment to observe the femme. She seemed to have made a quick recovery, possibly due to her excitement about today's mission. Her door wings were held high and they moved slightly, indicating her excitement. Her expression was bright as she listened to Ironhide explain the mission to her and Jazz's two cents. Jazz said something and she laughed. She laughed. It was as if the incident hadn't even happened.
She has a good laugh, he found himself thinking before he realized it. He blinked at himself before shaking his head.
"Hey Ratch!" Jazz said, noticing the presence of the medic.
"Finally," Ironhide said. "You didn't forget about the mission, did you?"
"No," Ratchet replied. "I don't, however, see why I must go on this mission."
"Oh come on Ratch! It'll be fun!" Amelia said cheerfully.
Ratchet studied the femme carefully. She was at ease, even with his renewed presence near her. He saw that as long as he didn't speak of the procedure, she probably would be at ease. Still, it couldn't be put off forever. A day. That was it. It had already been over a week since her transformation. They couldn't afford to put it off. Even if he had to sedate her. His spark clenched at the idea of forcing it on her, but he couldn't let this go. He feared what could happen if he did.
"I doubt that, it's only routine," Ratchet said.
"Party pooper," Amelia said. "I swear I'm gonna get a smile out of you one of these days."
"Good luck with that femme," Ironhide said, chuckling.
Ratchet sighed as Optimus reminded everyone how important these routine scouting missions were. It was important to find an Energon vein that the 'Cons didn't already have their servos in. Their Energon stock pile would only last so long with the way things were going.
~Five Minutes Later, Amelia's PoV~
I stared around at the scenery around us. We were in the middle of a desert, not a green speck insight. Still, I couldn't help but be in awe at the scenery. I hadn't been out of base since changing except for my visit to the farm. This desert was a stark contrast to the green and tree filled scenery I had seen on the farm. We stood in front of a cave, Ratchet holding an Energon detector in his hand.
"I'm getting readings from inside," Ratchet said. "It's weak, which means there may not be much."
"It could be that the natural metals are diluting the signal," I suggested, remembering when Ratchet had said something about that before when Bulkhead and Miko had gone on a scouting mission.
"It could be," Ratchet nodded. "And we can use whatever we can get."
We entered the cave, Ratchet and Ironhide taking the lead as I hung back, looking around. The two Bots were speaking in their native tongue, leaving me out of the conversation. I didn't mind, I understood they probably had some things that they didn't want me to know about. Everyone had their secrets, I suppose. I did startle when Ratchet whacked Ironhide on the head with what appeared to be a wrench. I raised my brow at them.
"Ok, no need to be violent…" I said.
Ratchet grumbled about something, subspacing the wrench while Ironhide rubbed the back of his head. They then went back to scanning as I went back to looking around. The walls of the cave were striped with silvery stripes. Stalagmites and stalactites littered the place, but not enough to make it difficult for us to move around. The cave was damp and there puddles every now and then. It was also really dark, though I could still see just fine. Another thing I noticed was a distinct smell. It was different than anything I had smelled before and was coming from down a path to the right.
"Scrap, the signal's gone," Ratchet growled as I moved closer to the path.
Ironhide turned to look at me and raised his brow at how I was sniffing the air. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"I…smell something…" I said, a perplexed look crossing my face.
"I don't smell anything," Ironhide said.
I barely registered what my two companions were doing as I tried to locate the source of the strange smell. I was only barely aware of moving down the path, following the smell.
"Amelia!" Ratchet called and I heard him and Ironhide begin to follow me. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To find what I smell," I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Is that really necessary?" Ironhide asked.
"Yes," I said, moving further down the path.
I followed the smell for what felt like hours, the two mechs following behind me, lest they lose me. When I finally found the source, I stared in awe. Blue crystals were scattered around a portion of the cave. It wasn't much, but it was definitely what I had been smelling.
"By the AllSpark," Ratchet said.
"Well, I found out what the smell was," I said, sniffing at one of the Energon crystals.
"You can…smell Energon…" Ratchet realized.
"That's quite a nose you got," Ironhide said, putting a hand on my head in a show of affection.
I couldn't help but grin, even as we began harvesting the Energon crystals to take back to base.