The Autobot medic, the one named Ratchet, had slapped me into a wheelchair as soon as he could. He got done working on my leg, and right into the wheelchair I went. 'You could have been injured for life, little girl,' he had told me. As if I didn't know the dangers of having a broken limb go untreated for days. I was lucky the thing didn't get infected.

No, he made it quite clear, the dangers I was in. It made me feel like I was some kid that he was telling about safety and always washing your hands. It's just common sense, and if not... Then there's something wrong.

Meeting the Autobots had been much less stressful than I had first thought it would be. I think my mind tried to make it out to be more stressful, so that when I realized it wasn't so bad, it made me less stressed so I could relax more. That made total sense to me at one point.

The majority of those Cybertronian beings, I met when we met up at an old barn house at the side of the highway. The ones I had yet to meet, according to Optimus Prime, were named Bumblebee, and the Arcee triplets.

What had been explained later on was that I probably wouldn't meet Bumblebee for a good while. He was posing as a guardian to a teenage boy in Nevada. I say 'playing guardian' because that's how Sideswipe puts it, at least when he talked to me. His opinion is that the whole idea of guarding a small human boy is pointless. Though when I brought up that Ironhide was guarding the Lennox household, he went silent.

As if I had made my point clear.

The very last instruction that Ratchet had given me that night was to take a nice, long shower. Before he said that he had to wrap my leg cast in plastic so it wouldn't get wet. That complicated things a lot, but I knew it had to be done, so I let him do whatever, while Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were leaned against the wall nearby, snickering as if Ratchet had just told the funniest joke ever.

I turned around to face the two, giving them an annoyed look. "Yes?"

"Oh, nothing nothing!" Sideswipe waved a hand absently in the air in front of them. "We were just making a bet!"

"A bet?"

"How long it takes for Ratchet to get pissed and throw a wrench at you."

Doesn't that sound nice. How absolutely thoughtful.

Ratchet grumbled under his breath. Everybody was in their holoforms, and something tells me that the only reason they are is because of me. It seemed to be a hassle to be changing from holo to real form so often, so Uncle Will told me a few days ago that they had a system for it all.

Looking over, I saw that there was another guy watching. He was leaning against the doorway, one foot propped up against the doorframe. It was Ironhide. Easily.

The two twins saw him too, and started snickering. "Hey, 'hide!" Sideswipe waved, blowing him a small kiss.

Sunstreaker didn't do anything embarrassing like that, but he did laugh at the face Ironhide made after the kiss was blown. It was nothing less than disgust, making me laugh as well. That expression didn't flatter his own face at all.

The older male rolled his eyes, pushing off of the doorframe to walk over to us. "Aren't you two suppose to be in a sparring session with me?" One would only assume he meant the twins. Lord knows I can't spar.

They snickered. "Optimus gave us the day off. Didn't he tell you?"

"He did not. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did he give you two the day off?"

Sideswipe shrugged, scratching his forearm. "I have no clue. Probably because it's been eons since we've seen each other...?"

Ironhide snorted. "Right. You can bond in sparring."

Maybe it was just me, but them arguing seemed pointless. The two were stubborn beyond belief, arguably more than Ironhide was. Especially Sunstreaker. Once that guy wanted something, or even didn't want something, he would fight tooth and nail to not/or to get what he wanted.

Something that may come in handy on the battlefield.

That night, I was finally allowed home. I say 'finally', even though it was the same day I arrived back in D.C., because it felt like it had been forever since being home.

It was a bit different than it normally was. Uncle Will was required to stay at the base, or the makeshift base, until they were fully moved from Washington D.C. to the larger hangar in some place called Diego Garcia. In other words, it was just me and Ironhide going home that night.

I'll admit, it was awkward. I had fallen down trying to hug him just hours ago, and he hadn't spoken much to me in that time either.

What made it a bit more awkward was that he didn't try to speak to me even there. Before everything had happened, he and I were doing pretty good. We talked, we were friends. I didn't think that anything like that would have changed. But maybe I was wrong.

Ten minutes into the ride home, he finally spoke up. "Sarah has been worried about you."

The thought of her made my stomach turn anxiously. Would she think it was my fault that I got taken by a Decepticon? How much does she know about the Autobots and Decepticons? "Oh..."

His holoform looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. "Did you think otherwise? That she wouldn't really care?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what I think, to be honest..."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

I gave him an odd look. "I. Don't. Know." The harsh tone I gave him, I almost instantly regretted. He didn't deserve that. And I knew it, too.

The rest of the ride home, he didn't speak to me. Not a single word more. He helped me out of his altmode, got me into my wheelchair, then took me into the house. There were no lights on inside, so I assumed that Sarah was asleep, as was Anna.

Ironhide lied me down in bed that night. The last words I heard from him, the only words I heard from him after our miniature 'fight' was 'sweet dreams'. It was gruff, but still something at the very least.

That night was all but full of sleep.