I tried to upload this last night, but the power kept surging from a freak October snowstorm, I guess that's what I get for living in Upstate New York. But anyways, school was cancelled today so I can finally update this. I apologize for the long wait too, I was busy with school. But not today.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Hurt No More

"Dr. Brown, do you have a minute? This is Stacy at the reception desk," spoke a soft and sweet female voice into the receiver of a phone. Stacy glanced over her shoulder into the lobby where a purple-haired man was sitting, his gaze concentrated on the floor.

A deep, attractive male voice replied, "What is it Stacy?"

"There is someone here to see Mercy. He addressed himself as Thor Collins and claims to be Mercy's boyfriend. From the way he acts I see no reason to doubt him."

"Well, I hate to turn him away, but I don't want him catching Mercy's illness."

"But you've been around Mercy for a few days now and you haven't become sick."

On the other end of the receiver Dr. Brown pursed his lips to the side, "That's because I have protective gear on."

"The nurses don't go in there with protective gear and they haven't gotten sick."

The doctor sighed heavily, "Alright, I suppose we could let him in for a little while, but only if Mercy allows him to come inside."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," replied Dr. Brown and he hung up. He was in his office, and Mercy's room was just at the other end of the hall. Getting up from his chair, he walked out of his office and ventured down the hallway until he came to Mercy's room. There was a machine that dispensed hand-sanitizer right outside the door to Mercy's room and he dispensed a little of that onto his hands and once he had rubbed it in, he walked into the girl's room, only to see she was fast asleep.

They had been waking her up every two hours to check her blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and other things, so it didn't surprise him to find her asleep; he only hated to wake her up. He walked over to her bed, deciding he shouldn't keep the man in the lobby waiting and gently shook Mercy. Her pale blue eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him, a pained expression upon her face.

"Dr. Brown?" she asked in a husky, hoarse voice.

"I'm sorry to wake you Mercy," remarked the doctor, "but there is someone here to see you."

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, "Someone…to see me?"

"Yes," said the doctor. He had noticed that since her arrival to St. Joseph's that her condition had gotten progressively worse.

She had become weaker and slept most of the time, she never went to the bathroom, which alarmed him, but it seemed to be having no harm on her present condition. Mercy hadn't been out of the bed in days, and Dr. Brown was afraid she'd develop bedsores soon if she didn't get up and get moving around, but she was so weak he doubted that she could hardly walk now. It was all she could do to speak in coherent sentences. But the most prominent thing he noticed was that she had a lack of appetite, she wouldn't eat anything, and anything she did eat wouldn't stay down. Dr. Brown couldn't help but notice that Mercy was highly depressed, that she acted as if she missed something profusely, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. He knew the poor girl had already been through a lot, and maybe she was just having an extremely hard time adjusting back to life after the murder.

"W-Who is it?" Mercy stuttered, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Thor Collins, do you know him?"

"The name sounds familiar," replied the girl.

"Would you like to see him?"

Her eyelids fluttered, she was losing the battle to keep them open, "Can he wait a little while longer so I can get some more sleep?"

"Of course, I'll be back in an hour."

But Mercy didn't reply since she had already closed her eyes and fallen back to sleep. Dr. Brown shook his head slightly and exited the room. He then headed for the receptionist's desk and found Stacy sitting there, minding to some paperwork. He also observed the man that was sitting in the lobby.

Stacy heard him come in and looked up at him. "Oh, hey Rob," she greeted him casually.

Megatron glanced over to the receptionist when he heard her speak, he saw a man standing there, for what purpose, he wasn't exactly sure. He cast his gaze back to the floor after a moment, but kept his audio receptors—ears on them.

"What brings you here?" the woman questioned.

"I came to talk with Mr. Collins. I just visited Mercy."

Upon hearing that, Megatron snapped his gaze back upon the receptionist and the man standing there, his full attention on them now.

"And?" wondered Stacy.

"She was sleeping when I went in, so I woke her up and told her that someone was here to see her, but she wants to sleep a little while longer before she sees anyone. She fell back asleep before I even left the room."

Stacy gestured over to Megatron, "Perhaps you should be telling him this."

Dr. Brown looked over at him and then looked back to Stacy. He gave her a quick wink before he walked out from behind the receptionist desk and headed over to Megatron. The Decepticon leader didn't bother to stand up as the man sat down next to him. Extending his hand the man said, "Hi, I'm Dr. Rob Brown, Mercy's doctor."

Megatron reluctantly shook the doctor's hand and replied, "Thor Collins. Just how is Mercy?"

"Well," Dr. Brown remarked and then answered slowly, "She wasn't good when she got here and I can't say she's gotten any better…in fact she's gotten slightly worse."

"How…how so?"

"She's extremely weak, she won't eat, drink…I doubt she has even the strength to walk. And it seems to be all she can do to speak in coherent sentences."

Megatron looked down and away from him, not at all liking what he was hearing. After a few long moments he turned back to the doctor and asked, "Can I see her?"

The doctor glanced down at his watch before saying, "Yeah, but you'll need to wait another hour and ten minutes."

Megatron felt like that was another eternity…and Dr. Brown saw his disappointment and sadness. "You really care about that girl don't you?" questioned the doctor.

"Yes, a lot more than I ever thought I could care about a person."

Dr. Brown glanced back to Stacy. "Yeah, I know what you mean…" he trailed off and then turned back to the Decepticon leader, "You wouldn't have happened to have brought some of Mercy's clothes down would you?"

"I did."

"Alright, why don't you go get those and then we'll get you ready to go see her. If you're quiet enough, she won't even know you're there and can continue sleeping. But if she should happen to wake up, well, I guess you got someone other than me to talk to."

Megatron grinned, "Alright, I'll be right back." And the Decepticon leader quickly went out to his vehicle form to get the clothes.

Mercy awoke to the sounds of a nurse's heels clicking as she walked by her room. She rolled over so her back was to the door in an attempt to muffle the sound, but it was just the same as it was before. She was now facing the window, but the blinds were drawn so that not an ounce of light could get through. Mercy sighed heavily, not really tired anymore, but she didn't feel like having a visitor either. She looked and felt like crap, her hair wasn't a disaster in the making, it was made, and she certainly didn't want anyone to see her in her hospital gown. She wasn't allowed to have any clothes on underneath, and she felt utterly naked and vulnerable.

Her ankle wasn't much better either. The swelling around it had finally gone down, but she didn't know how it looked since Dr. Brown and the nurses had it all bandaged up. Her dry heaves were gone, finally, and she didn't miss them, but her fever persisted. Her body was always aching and she was always cold and shivering…she felt completely helpless and weak…something she hated being.

But her heart hurt the most.

Sitting in a hospital bed couldn't get her mind off the man, the machine she loved the most out of all things in her life. Mercy had nothing else to do but think about him and dream about him constantly. Her dreams about the Decepticon leader gave her some comfort since he was not there, but when she woke up she was always reminded of the terrible, terrible heartache in her chest. Her Megatron was gone…and reality hurt so much.

If he were to ever come back, by some sheer happenstance, she wasn't sure how'd she react, if she'd run to him and capture him in her arms or if she would turn up her nose and walk away…only to run back to him after taking only a few steps in the opposite direction. At some point she would give him hell, but she figured if he ever came back it was because he missed her just as much, that he felt the same pain she was feeling. It was so crippling and debilitating that it consumed her, and Mercy couldn't help but feel the virus she had was feeding off her heartache as some cruel, cruel monster would.

She sighed heavily and rolled over so she was on her back, looking out into the room. Mercy couldn't remember who this Thor Collins guy was that wished to see her. The name was only vaguely familiar, though she couldn't place where she had ever heard it or met someone of that name. Her self-diagnostics had shown her that the virus had attacked some of her memories and deleted some images, but it hadn't deleted her memory of Megatron, and she almost wished that the virus would have.

"Maybe he's Megatron in disguise," she thought and chuckled softly afterwards. There was no use in fooling herself with false fantasies.

She longed to sit up and stretch, but she didn't have the energy to try…or the reason. Instead, she stayed in the position she was in and tried to fall back to sleep.

Megatron had been quite disgusted when Dr. Brown led him to the bathroom so he could wash his hands, and then he led him down a long, narrow hallway to some room with a closed wooden door. The doctor, who was holding Mercy's clothes, instructed him to take some of the hand-sanitizer before he could go any farther, which Megatron did. When his hands were more than 100% germ free, Dr. Brown handed the clothes back to him and said, "Well, this is Mercy's room, you can stay as long as you like I guess, but if you should start to feel ill at all by being in her presence please do not hesitate to leave."

"She can't look that bad can she?"

Dr. Brown chuckled, "Oh no, she looks like your everyday sick person, we just don't want you getting her worse, or you contracting her illness."

"Oh."

Dr. Brown opened the door and stepped aside so the Decepticon leader could enter, and he did so promptly, and then the doctor shut the door behind him and returned to his office. Megatron ignored the door closing behind him and slowly walked over to Mercy's bedside where there were a couple of chairs. He set the clothes in one chair and sat down in the other one, sighing deeply.

Megatron slowly let his optics roam her form. The blanket was at her waist and he could see her arms and torso. It was easy to see that she had lost a considerable amount of weight. She was frail and deathly white and there was a look of utmost sorrow and pain on her face. "Oh Mercy," he breathed, feeling so terrible for leaving her behind.

"You're not the quietest," came her voice in a small whisper.

Megatron grinned broadly and leaned forward a bit, "Mercy I thought you were sleeping."

She opened her eyes and looked at him, "No…I woke up a few minutes ago. Are you…Thor?"

"You don't remember?"

"I've…no, not really."

"Not the hair?"

She shook her head.

"Face?"

She shook her head again.

"What about the voice?"

And once more she shook her head no.

Megatron sighed heavily again, "You don't recognize me?"

"No, sorry…but now that you mention it your voice is rather familiar."

The Decepticon leader smiled, she hadn't forgotten him, she had just hadn't heard his voice in so long she couldn't remember what it sounded like, but she obviously recognized it. He got up and sat on the edge of her bed, guessing he should tell her who he really was.

"You do owe me an explanation though," Megatron said.

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to you to put you in this miserable place?"

Mercy narrowed her eyes at him, "Just…who are you and how do you know me?"

The man smiled.

The girl watched in stunned disbelief as the man's image suddenly faded away. Mercy blinked a couple times and slowly sat up on the bed, wondering if she had really seen anything or not. "But I talked to someone…" she mused. And then a realization hit her, causing her heart to swell and beat with thrilled expectation, and she made a fist and held it against her heart. "Has he come back?"

A dimension gate suddenly opened and Mercy thought her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. She watched in utmost happiness and with tears in her eyes as the man, the machine she loved the most appeared through the flaming gate and walked, nobly and proudly, to the edge of her bed.

"Megatron…"she breathed, hardly able to usher that word since she was so stunned to see him.

His grinned, "It's been a long time Mercy."

For a moment she was too stunned to do anything, but when her shock wore away a little she began fumbling with the blankets, trying to get them off of her so she could get up and embrace him. Megatron saw this and he quickly sat down on the edge of the bed where his holoform had previously been. He carefully took Mercy in his arms and held her against him saying, "Don't get up, I've hurt you enough, I don't want you getting hurt anymore."

Hot tears of joy streamed down her face and ran down Megatron's armor, but he didn't care. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, grasping at various areas of his torso to confirm that she was really holding him again, that this wasn't some dream. Megatron didn't bother to hold back the shudders of pleasure he felt when Mercy's fingers groped over his sensors. He rubbed his hands delicately along her back, soothing her as much as he could. He buried his face in her hair, recapturing her scent; oh he didn't want to let her go.

After a few long moments, Mercy finally asked in a muffled voice, "Why did you come back?"

He tilted her face to his, using a thumb to wipe away her tears. "Because Mercy," he replied tenderly, "I couldn't live without you." And he eagerly captured her lips with his, delivering her a kiss that was long overdue. He kissed her with a fire, with a passion, with a determination to convince her that he wouldn't ever leave her behind again. It was a desperate and hungry kiss, and Megatron longed to go so much farther, but he knew it would have to wait. Mercy wasn't in any condition for anything too extreme yet.

When the kiss was through, Megatron explained to her, his face a breath away from hers, "I've come to bring you back to Cybertron with me. I want you there and I want you with me where I know you'll be safe."

"I can't go now Megatron, I can't even walk."

"I will wait with you until you get better."

She smiled softly and rested her head under his chin, just like she had used to, "Just what have you accomplished on Cybertron so far?"

"I've gotten myself a very powerful army…and I already control over a quarter of the planet."

"You're going to win this time."

"Things are looking very favorable, but what happened after I left?"

"The very morning you left, when I woke up, my self-diagnostics said I had a virus…and it's all gone down hill from there. I got in trouble with the police."

Megatron looked down at her, "How so?"

"When I was back at the hospital in Pine Grove…I didn't like the way the doctors were treating me, so I ran away, but they caught me and transferred me here. Dr. Brown is a lot better, but I just want to get out of here."

"What about your ankle?"

"It's still locked up and everything."

"I take it you haven't stayed off your feet then."

"I have for a few days considering I'm too weak to walk right now," Mercy argued.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Primus I've missed you."

She leaned against him and Megatron rubbed his hands along the smooth fabric of her hospital gown. The material was so thin Megatron could almost feel Mercy's metallic skin through it. But his fingers didn't feel what should have been there, the clips to the back of her bra, and he realized that she didn't have any clothes on underneath. He smiled softly, wishing he could remove the hideous garment from his love's body, but he wouldn't. And he now understood why she craved her clothes back.

"I've missed you too. So much that I thought I was going to die."

He held her closer to him, "Now that I am back, everything is going to be alright."

She gave a small smiled, "I'm sorry you had to come back to see me like this."

"Mercy, no matter how you look you're still beautiful in my optics."

She leaned her full weight against him, holding him a bit tighter in her arms, "I love you."

Oh, he had missed those three words so much. He tilted her face to his and kissed her gently before breathing, "I love you too Mercy."

The two of them suddenly heard footsteps in the hall and they stopped outside the door to Mercy's room. Both Mercy and the Decepticon leader exchanged nervous glances before Megatron said, "I will be right back." He opened a dimension gate and stepped through it, only to reappear a few moments later in his holoform, and just fractions of a second before Dr. Brown walked into the room.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but a nurse is going to be in, in a couple minutes to check up on you Mercy."

Mercy glanced over at Megatron, "Can Thor stay?"

"Just as long as you don't get him sick and he doesn't get you any sicker."

Mercy gave a soft smile, "I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

The doctor nodded, "Well, I let you two get back to whatever it was you were doing." And he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Megatron resumed his seat on the bed beside Mercy and she leaned against him saying, "I'll be happy to be out of here. I already feel so much better with you back."

"I should get you to a medic back on Cybertron." He suddenly remembered the bracelets he had in his subspace, but as he looked around the hospital room, he knew this wasn't the place to ask her to be his spark mate.

"No, I want to go to Cybertron in top condition," Mercy replied, looking up at him, "That way your troops won't think you've fallen in love with some weak and pathetic female."

He chuckled, "Don't worry about their opinions Mercy. If they say anything you don't like or I don't like they will be dealt with immediately."

Mercy sighed, a passionate sigh filled with completion, and she glanced over to the chairs and noticed a pile of her clothes on one of the chairs. She felt tears in her eyes and she looked up to Megatron asking, "You brought some of my clothes down?"

"I heard you wanted them."

She leaned her full weight against him, smiling gently. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't have come back," she breathed in a voice full of love.

He embraced her, gently yet tightly, and whispered, "I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't have come back."

And he went to kiss her again when suddenly the door opened and the nurse entered. It was a female nurse and her cheeks reddened when she saw the exchange of passion about to take place between Mercy and the Decepticon leader. Mercy glanced over and saw her and reluctantly pulled away from Megatron.

The nurse cleared her throat shyly and said, "I'm sorry if I interrupted anything."

"No, you're okay," Mercy replied and gestured for Megatron to sit in one of the chairs.

Megatron complied and got up from the bed and took a seat in the chair he had first sat down in when he had come into the room. The nurse approached Mercy and she laid back on the bed, sighing heavily. "How long is this going to take?"

The nurse shook her head slightly, "You ask that every time. I just need to take your temperature; it'll only take a few minutes." She handed the thermometer to Mercy who put it in her mouth and under her tongue.

A couple minutes later the thermometer beeped and Mercy handed it back to the nurse saying, "Here you go Cindy."

Cindy took the thermometer and looked at it. "Well you still got a fever," she said as she recorded the temperature on a paper that was inside a manila folder.

"That's not a surprise," Mercy mumbled.

"Oh, before I forget, Dr. Brown wanted me to tell you that you'll be getting more visitors tomorrow."

Mercy and Megatron exchanged glances.

"Visitors? How do you know?"

"They called not too long ago to say they were coming."

"Who?" questioned Mercy.

"Your parents."

Dun dun DUN! Another cliffie for you guys, and I consider this chapter my birthday present unto my devoted readers and reviewers since tomorrow is my 17th birthday. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, there's only four more left after this one, so this story is almost done. Please review!