This is going to be my standard opening from now on. There may be some interesting news added at a later date, that will come directly after this line however so that you can skip anything you're not interested in reading!

A forever thank you and credit for her ideas goes out to Litahatchee and her fic Night Fire. Go read it. It is WONDERFUL and she has permitted me to use some of her ideas in this story.

The term Carrying Hold and the act of carrying the way it is used here both came from the story 'Night Fire' and belong to Litahatchee. If you want to know more about it, read 'Night Fire.' DO NOT USE THESE IDEAS WITHOUT HER PERMISSION!! Please and thank you very much. I am using these ideas with her permission. She's had people 'borrow' her ideas before and use them in ways that...well, to say they were not nice is an understatement. One of those particular stories has been removed. So, as an author myself, I ask that if you like this idea and have any desire at all to use it, then you will need to ask Litahatchee first. Thank you.

Also a forever thank you to FORD B. my beta reader. You make writing easy! And welcome to my new beta reader Eowyn77 from Botosphere! My writing can only improve from this point. ^_~

Any further notes shall be posted at the end of the fic. Enjoi!

I stood at the breach between the hallway that lead to the stairs of my apartment and the openness that was the parking lot. All those strange vehicles were still there and it really felt like they were staring at me even as I looked back at them.

My legs trembled as that forceful pulling sensation still urged me forward. I couldn't move.

The sun glared off of the variously colored metals that filled the lot making the outside seem so uncomfortable, so open, that I didn't dare set foot beyond the protective overhang.

Collapsing to my knees I pulled out Ruby and started up the machine. I didn't want to run back to my apartment after having made it this far but at the same time I was desperate to be back in its seeming safety.

As the screen came on a message popped up. 'What are you waiting for?'

'I can't do this!' I typed quickly, 'They can all see me!' Well, that was foolish. See me? What, 'cause cars could see?

'Who can see you?'

Good question. What should I say? 'The cars?' It was a question because it sounded ridiculous even to me.

'Cars? Like Earth vehicles?' I could almost hear his snark through the message. This...person...wasn't very nice.

'Not all of them.' A sudden idea occurred to me and I quickly clicked on the little icon for my web cam and turned it toward the parking lot. I may not like other people seeing me over the built in camera but for this? Very useful.

When I turned the laptop back toward myself I clicked off the web cam and looked for his response. There was nothing.

Fear ripped through me like a hot knife through butter as I waited for something. Had I scared him off? Not that he was entirely pleasant to talk to but in the absence of Sideswipe I really needed someone to hold my metaphorical hand.

'Hello?' My hands shook over the keys and I had to clutch onto Ruby tightly to keep the small machine from toppling from my lap.

"You should really speak to Ratchet.' The reply came somehow hesitantly. 'That's not normal.'

'NOT NORMAL?' I could almost scream at the redundancy of that simple statement. 'ANY OF THIS IS NORMAL?' Tears stung at my eyes. I was afraid and frustrated and this...person...wasn't helping anything at all! Not to mention that that burning sensation was coming back in a vicious kind of way. It felt like I had downed a bottle of whiskey as fast as I could and chased it with lit kerosene. Don't ask me why I think I know what that feels like.

'Not if you ask me it's not.'

'Thanks, you're TONS of help. Just go away.' I snapped the laptop closed and tried to get my feet back under me. If this was how it was going to go I was just going to go back to my bed. At least there I could suffer in semi comfort.

The absolutely pathetic whine of an engine stopped me cold in my steps. I turned back toward the parking lot gripped by sudden, inexplicable grief for the sound. I crept forward, still not daring to leave the safety of the overhang but needing to find the cause of the struggling engine. Coming to the very limits of my invisible line I craned my neck around seeking out the vehicle that sounded so horrid and my eyes came to rest on a rather beat up looking mustang. My heart lurched painfully at the sight and, before I realized my own fear was gone, I was running toward the car. Its engine idled painfully in its casing, knocking against the sides. The paint was practically stripped from the car denying any identifying marks but I knew I knew this car. I knew I didn't want to hear that engine stop, not even for a second.

"Oh, Gods..." I whispered as I reached out to touch the torn hood.

Jolt's hands moved faster than what any normal mech could do and still maintain control over the appendages. There was only one mech that he knew of that could move faster and with greater precision but he was busy with the human. Both beings vital signs had completely dropped from every monitor they had available to them without much warning.

Desperately he clipped cables onto very sensitive wiring; one wrong move and his actions would defeat any kind of aid he may have been able to provide. Taking only a moment to look over the connections to be sure everything was in its proper place, Jolt stepped back and flipped a switch on the machine all the cables originated from. The mech beneath the astounding amounts of equipment lurched painfully under the shock, only to fall back to the berth still unmoving. Jolt waited a few kliks, eyes glued to the monitors hoping for some response. Nothing. Clinching his jaw he tried again. This time a few monitors came to life. Their signals were weak but he'd take it over nothing.

Delving back into the open chassis he rushed to make vital connections. The shock may have bought him time but he was no fool to think he had very long. Especially not in a mech as damaged as Barricade.

Not far away Ratchet was working with practiced calm though equally as quick trying to preserve the life of the human he had spent so much time just trying to keep from fading away from them completely. The agonized shouts of Sideswipe were no encouragement at all and neither were the angered shouts of Sunstreaker as he tried to restrain his twin. Nothing about this situation was what Ratchet might venture to call 'bad'; it was far worse than that.

"Jolt? Progress?"

"Minimal."

"Slag." Ratchet spared a glance for his apprentice and his current charge. Barricade had been precariously balanced between stasis and recharge since they had returned. They all feared that the mech would give out before they could complete repairs, which had been painfully slow by any measure, and it looked as though those fears might be realized. "Keep trying."

"Let me go!" Sideswipe roared. He didn't care what anyone said, he wouldn't stand by and just watch while Aurian died. He just wouldn't!

"Slag it Sides! You've got to stay out of Ratchet's way!" Sunstreaker was practically crushing his twin trying to hold him back, when in truth he wasn't one hundred percent himself. He could feel the pain, the sickening loss of the bond between himself and the human. His own spark was twisting inside him with grief for a creature he couldn't give two bolts for! But Sideswipe's utter sparkache was what kept him somewhat ahead of the game. If Sideswipe got in the way there as no way Ratchet would be able to recover the woman and then they would both be subject to sparkshock.

"She's dying Sunny!" Sideswipe growled dangerously, "I won't let her!" Before he had even thought through the action Sideswipe swung at his brother. He hadn't intended to actually hit him very hard, just enough to let him know he meant business, however when his fist made contact he knew he had swung with everything he had.

Sunstreaker reeled under the impact, the only thing keeping him on his feet was the sheer outrage he felt at having been struck by his brother when he was only trying to help! Taking advantage of the momentary stupor Sideswipe was in, Sunstreaker hauled off and smashed him square between the optics. He watched as his twin crumpled to the ground, not unconscious but definitely not able to maintain his balance. "Listen to me, Sideswipe. That fraggin little bag of bones you've gotten yourself so fond of is going to die. Its a fact of life, whether she dies now or in a vorn is completely up to Ratchet and his skills as a medic. Not you and you're idiotic notions!" He glared at his brother, sprawled on the ground before him. "You can either get a hold of yourself and wait here, which I doubt you can do, or you can come with me and get the slag out of this fraggin med bay for a few joors and let the medics do their job. Which is it going to be?"

Sideswipe didn't know what to say or how to react. His processor was still spinning from the blow Sunstreaker had so viciously delivered him. Somewhere deep inside he knew he deserved it but closer to the surface was hurt and anger. How could Sunstreaker do this to him? Couldn't he see that Aurian needed him to be here? That without him she was going to die? "I'm not going anywhere."

"Fine." Sunstreaker grabbed his brother by his chest armor and hauled him to his feet, shoving him backwards as he walked. "If you won't leave and you can't control yourself then by all means, feel free to stay as long as you like."

With one final shove Sideswipe found himself stumbling into a berth and a door slamming shut in his face. "Sunstreaker! Don't do this!"

"Call me when you've got your processor in right," Sunstreaker grumbled as he turned to stalk out of the med bay.

Ratchet spared the angered twin a momentary glance. He was thankful for Sunstreaker's actions to a point. Sideswipe was out of the way and would remain so until someone released him from the room his brother had just locked him in, yet at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if part of his actions had come from anger for his twin's obsession with the human. The two had hardly spent a joor together since they had arrived on the base. Not a good situation considering the length of time they had spent apart. "Sunstreaker? You alright?"

"I'm fine." He snapped as he passed through the med bay doors. Honestly he was far from fine but he didn't think Ratchet could do anything to help him right now.

Storming down the hallways he only just remembered to watch for the small humans that infested this place. It wasn't so much that if he accidentally stepped on one that he'd likely kill it so much as it was he'd have to scrape the organic goo off of his foot. Not that he'd go out of his way to see the humans destroyed, they were living things after all. He just didn't particularly care about them. 'But Sideswipe does.' He thought irritably to himself. 'Too much maybe.'

He found himself standing at the edge of what the humans called a lagoon; a shallow body of salt water close to the sea but separated from it by a narrow strip of land, such as a barrier island, or by a coral reef. This one was nearly choked by trees that surrounded it. It was peaceful, though the outer peace of this place could not begin to touch the inner turmoil of his spark.

It was only as Sunstreaker stopped moving that he felt the telltale signs in his perception that told him Sideswipe's strike had been as strong as ever and before he could do anything more he collapsed into the soft sand.

Staring up at the so-very-blue sky Sunstreaker allowed his spark to do as it wished. At this point it hardly mattered if he maintained control or not, his spark and his processor really hurt too badly to care.

He could feel Sideswipe's outrage and his desperation. His twin was really in a state of extremes and wasn't processing clearly, that much was obvious. 'All because of some alien.' He sighed heavily. 'What are you doing Sides? Haven't we always said that we had each other and didn't need anything else? She's just going to hurt you...' He remembered the reverence at which his brother had taken the limp body from his hand when they had met up back in, what had the humans called it? Oregon? He had been so gentle with her and so upset. Sideswipe had always been the more emotional of the two, or perhaps not more emotional but certainly more emotionally open, but the amount of fear, sorrow, even grief that poured off of his twin at that very moment had nearly overwhelmed him. Sideswipe had not felt grief that strongly since...a long time ago.

'I'm sorry.'

Sunstreaker very nearly thought he might be hearing things as the tiny voice sifted through his processor. No, it hadn't come through his processor at all, had it? 'Sorry?'

'You're hurting and it's my fault.'

He sensed out the 'voice', the bonded emotion that was drifting to him. He had closed his bond to the human again so assumed it could only be Sideswipe...yet he knew it wasn't. At the end of the link he found two presences; Sideswipe and the human. She was reaching out to him through Sideswipe! 'Slaggin straight it is!' He sent all his anger, frustration and disgust toward the human only remembering afterwards that she was calling to him through Sideswipe.

The human's presence pulled away instantly and in its stead Sideswipe's own anxiety took over. 'Sunny...'

'Shut it Sides! Unless you're going to say you've been an aft and you're sorry I don't want to hear it.' Silence. Sunstreaker wasn't surprised, disappointed yes, but not surprised. 'Thought so.' He dampened the bond to his brother for the first time in vorns. His spark screamed at him for doing it but at this moment in time he just couldn't handle it. Instead he focused on the clouds rolling overhead, the trees swaying in the gentle breeze...the pain in his processor. "Frag you Sides." He groaned as he slung his arm over his optics. Maybe he'd just recharge for a little bit before he went back to beat some sense into his twin.

Sideswipe leaned his head against the door. Sunstreaker had every right to be mad at him. They were brothers and always, without question or even a second thought, put each other first. They were each other's last grip on the lives they lived. Had been. Now he had Aurian and he wanted so desperately for Sunstreaker to accept that bond too so that they could all have each other, but Sunstreaker's notorious emotional distance from anything not himself or Sideswipe was proving far more difficult than Sideswipe had thought it would be. Not that he had actually put much thought into it. He had simply accepted that he and the human were bonded somehow and that his brother would also accept that bond. "I'm an aft." He mumbled to himself. Now, not only was his brother slagged off with him but Aurian was shrinking away from that connection. After the commotion outside his current prison had settled, she had been able to reach out to Sideswipe and had pleaded and begged him to never leave her again.

After a few breems of talking her out of her overwhelming fear and panic, Sideswipe had explained that Sunstreaker wasn't always so harsh, he was just having a hard time with everything. She had somehow reached out to his brother through his bond with him and had attempted to apologize; however, Sunstreaker was too far into his mood to allow such a simple attempt to fulfill the anger he had built up and had scared the woman off.

'Aurian, don't pull away.' He asked softly. He was so relieved to have her speaking to him through their bond again that he absolutely couldn't let it go. It didn't matter what she said, he just wanted her to talk to him.

'He hates me.' The mourning that seemingly dripped through their bond was horrible.

'No...'

'Yes he does!' There was a long pause. 'He thinks I'm a pest.'

"Typical." Sideswipe groaned. 'It will just take time. Come back to me and we'll all talk, get this all figured out. You'll see, he's really a nice mech at spark.'

Doubt washed through the bond, 'Nice?'

Sideswipe couldn't help but laugh, 'I know it's hard to believe but it's true I swear. Don't tell him I told you that.'

'Sides...' still there was overwhelming doubt, 'who are all these others?'

'Others?'

'I'm starting to think that these cars are...you guys.'

Sideswipe stood up straight. It had been more than obvious to him that in her 'coma', as Ratchet had called it, she had lost quite a bit of her memory. Mostly that surrounding the Cybertronians. That she was finally showing some form of recognition thrilled him...yet... 'What other cars are you talking about?'

'Well, there's a Camaro, a Topkick...' There was a few moments of pause, 'An emergency vehicle, a Semi...' another pause, 'A really beat up mustang and...okay, this is going to sound really strange but there's a fraggin jet sitting out there. I mean, there's hundreds of vehicles I can't even name...but a jet?'

'Stay away from it!' A cold icy chill dripped down his inner workings, 'I need you to find me, come to me and get the slag out of...wherever you are.'

'Okay...but, what if it sees me?'

How was he supposed to answer that? He wasn't even sure what she was talking about other than she was recognizing familiar alt modes. 'Just stay calm and come find me.'

I figured out that I could 'talk' to Sideswipe through that tugging feeling at my heart. Okay I know that sounds weird but I really don't know how else to describe it. It's kind of like I could send my own thoughts and emotions through that imaginary cord to him and he could do the same in return. It sure made it easier to talk to when I didn't have to whip out my laptop anytime I needed to say something.

I had asked about that weird jet sitting around the corner of my building and quite honestly I got the feeling that that plane freaked him out just as much as it did me. 'Just stay calm and find me.' He had instructed. Sure. I'd like to see him stay calm in my shoes...of course if all this was turning out the way I was thinking, he'd probably do it and make it look good in the process.

With a final stroke against the mustang, which was not rattling nearly as badly now, I parted ways and headed into the sea of vehicles. I passed really close to the custom Peterbilt and couldn't stop my hand as it reached out to the vehicle, tracking as I passed by. Just touching it seemed to give me strength and courage. I had a long way to go to reach the silver Stingray.

Maybe if I went around the lot instead of through? It would take longer but I wouldn't have to walk past so many of the disturbingly 'alive' feeling vehicles. Reaching a pathway between rows of the machines I rushed to the edge of the lot, pausing at the Solstice as I did. 'I know you...' The thought drifted through my mind even as once again my hand acted without my consent and gently rubbed along the framing of the windshield of the small car. I was happy to see this car...something about it just being here seemed significant.

Shaking off the momentary distraction, I refocused on where the Stingray sat compared to my own position. Between here and there sat a rather impressive looking Ferrari...a four-fifty-eight Italia if the label was anything to go by. It's almost obnoxious gold color grabbed the light and seemed to shame the sun with the reflection it returned. "Wow..." I breathed heavily as I drew closer to the beacon of light. This one I didn't touch. I felt that my grimy hands would mar the sheen of this magnificent car and that would be a shame. So instead I hurried past it toward the Stingray. In comparison they seemed very on par with each other. Aside from color both vehicles were a grand show of their make and model, however where the Ferrari was showy the Stingray was intense. They complimented each other very nicely and in my mind I just knew that if this one was Sideswipe, the other was Sunstreaker...his brother.

Creeping up on the Stingray I came to one very unrelenting thought. Now what? With a shaky hand I reached out toward the car's hood. I was drawn to this one so surely he wouldn't mind if I touched him...right?

Poll...have you taken it yet? ^_~;