Bobbi had little to entertain herself while she sat within the medbay besides her own thoughts. And that was not necessarily healthy, as she tended to obsess over a singular thought; which at the moment, happened to be her recent disagreement with Ratchet. More then once, she found her fists clenching alongside her chest, and her jaw grounding tightly.

That bastard. What right did he have to say she couldn't continue her work? What would her father say, really? It was… distressing to say the least.

Bobbi had the annoying habit of covering up her pain and sadness with anger. And at the moment, she was incredibly angry.

"Yo, Bobs, you there?" At the sound of her nickname, the field medic glanced up, scratching her bare head. She missed her helmet already. Her eyebrows raised as she spotted Sideswipe carrying Gabriel, Vladimir, and Evan in his hands with a wide grin; his sulking brother right behind him. Sunstreaker scoffed, his arms crossed and occasionally gave the humans in his twin's hands disgusted looks.

The sniper grinned and held out a familiar helmet, "Looking for something?" he raised his eyebrows knowingly. Bobbi grinned widely. Gabriel knew her far too well.

As soon as Sideswipe deposited them on the berth, Gabe was over at Bobbi's side and plopping the helm on her head. She raised her hands and instantly went to adjusting and strapping it into place with experience.

Vladimir and Evan came and settled down on the berth, at her side, and the terror twins came to stand beside the berth. Gabriel plopped down beside his boyfriend with a solemn look, the customary, almost sarcastic grin he seemed to always wear was nowhere to be seen. Bobbi finished, and let her hands fall into her lap. She knew him for far too long. He was going to say something that might upset her; she could see it in his expression. It reminded her of the time when he brought the grim news of their friend's deaths to her. Confirming the events she had witnessed, and their outcome.

Bobbi shook that off; there was no time to let past scars haunt her.

"Hey, uh, Bobbi…" Gabby trailed off hesitantly, looking awkward, "Look, I'm not good at this." he huffed, "Vladimir, you do this." smacking his big friend in the arm with a roll of his eyes, Gabriel dropped it all off on the Russian.

"Vhat has doktor done?" Vlad growled, leaning in, one hand on his knee. His eyes were blazing with anger and his large hands clenched and released with the pent up urge to hit something. One on his knee, the other in front of him. Bobbi's stomach fell to the floor below them, and her mouth went dry.

It shouldn't have been a surprise. Things spread quickly on base, and her relationship with Ratchet was still one of the most interesting subjects to talk about. Not to mention, their fight had not exactly been quiet. Or at least, on Ratchet's side it hadn't been. Bobbi couldn't help a little wince at remembering. He had one hell of a set of vocals on him.

Vladimir's face darkened, "If doktor has 'urt leetle medic; Vlad will… Vlad will…" the big Russian trembled, before slipping into his native tongue for a moment. And while Bobbi didn't know what it meant exactly, by the look of fascinated horror on Gabriel's face and the tone of it; it was bad.

Acting quickly, Bobbi put a hand on Vladimir's arm and shook her head rapidly. Ratchet had raised his voice, yes, and he had become incredibly intense, but the field medic knew he would never lay a hand on her. While Vlad was still fired up, he listened to Bobbi's silent words, and nodded in understanding. His jaw ground together and he crossed his arms.

Gabriel rubbed his face, "That… Vlad, you don't just… you can't just say shit like that!" the Brit groaned,

"Und vhy not? Jou told Vlad to." The Russian snapped, his accent becoming thicker with his anger, muscles coiling,

"Because it's… it's… you know what? Never mind." Sighing, Gabe let it go, "So what happened exactly, Bobs?"

As they persisted, Evan sent her a 'I'm so sorry' expression, and the terror twins listened with unreadable expressions.

Looking between them and feeling as though she was being put on the spot, Bobbi offered them a nervous smile and signed for them to not worry about it. This was too much; she didn't need them raising hell over something so simple.

"Like fucking hell we're not gonna." Gabriel scoffed, "C'mon now, out with it." he rolled his eyes, "Might as well get it over with, eh?"

Wilting a bit under so many stares and feeling as though she had done some form of wrong, Bobbi shrugged a little and signed the short of it.

'Ratchet and I had a spat. A verbal disagreement.' She admitted,

"Care to share with the rest of the class, dear?" Snorting, Gabe raised his eyebrows,

"You've pressed her enough." Evan broke in, "That's enough."

Bobbi could've kissed him. Relief flooded through her like a dam had burst.

Gabriel simmered down at the order of his boyfriend, and the rest of the visit continued far more pleasantly. It seemed, to Bobbi, that they had come to make certain she was alright. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. It touched her deeply.

Since her time in the frozen wastes, she hadn't really had that. The field medic hadn't realized how much she missed her friends. Would John, Evan, and Tammy have all become that to her if Larry hadn't betrayed them?

The thought brought pain flaring through her chest, and Bobbi immediately shut that line of thinking down. It hurt too much. She quickly buried it under her loyalty to her work, her snark, and her anger at Ratchet.

It still hurt quite a bit when she was waving them goodbye.

As they disappeared from the medbay, Bobbi was once more left to her own devices. Though, it seemed, not for long. Roughly thirty minutes after they left, as Bobbi was once again pondering over her argument with Ratchet, a large black mech came over. She frowned at him as he came to a stop at the edge of the berth, his arms crossed.

Why did he look so familiar? Bobbi mused. She could've sworn she had seen him somewhere before. But she was drawing a blank.

"Miss Bellmark?" The rumbling growl sent chills down her spine and had the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention. While Ratchet was a warrior in his own right, and his own dangerous vibe, it was not quite what this Autobot had.

This one was a straight up tank of a fighter, Bobbi could feel it. He was dangerous to anyone that opposed him, and had obviously seen many battles. Not for the first time, the field medic felt dwarfed in the Cybertronian's presence.

Tiny, insignificant.

Realizing she still had yet to answer the black 'bot, Bobbi nodded, confirming her identity to the familiar stranger.

"Think we could talk for a nanoclick?" He questioned, holding out his hand for her, palm up. Bobbi hesitantly checked around the medbay. If she did this, would Jolt come bursting out, scolding and pitching a fit? She couldn't see the blue medic, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. And there was something else that was bothering her. If she disappeared for a minute, would it piss Ratchet off further? The last thing she wanted was to make things worse.

The Autobot standing with surprising patience at Bobbi's side seemed to notice,

"Don' worry. I already spoke with Jolt." he grumbled, "An' it'll just be a second. Promise."

Figuring it couldn't hurt, Bobbi nodded and carefully climbed onto his hand, wary of her back injuries.

"I think we've met before, but in case ya' don't recognize me, I'm Ironhide." The big mech gruffly informed her, and Bobbi nodded slowly, remembering the black haired human holoform that often directed the soldiers through their drills. He had even put Bobbi through a few. It also explained why he was familiar and yet still a stranger.

She had only ever seen his false, human face. It was almost disconcerting, seeing what he really was. Sometimes, it was easy to forget just how large, powerful and long lived the aliens were. The holoforms could easily fool anyone.

Ironhide moved out of the medbay, and off to the side of the hallway. Empty, it provided a sense of confidentiality and privacy.

"So. Heard about your fight with the old coot." Ironhide rumbled, leaning back against the wall and holding her up so that Bobbi was at eye level with him. The human shrugged, fighting a scowl. While she knew it was likely the whole base was aware of their tiff, it was still irritating being constantly asked about it and hearing it in circulation. But, Ironhide seemed to mean well enough, like Gabriel and Vladimir, so she did her best to push it down.

"S'not my place to say anything but…" The big mech frowned, "You thought about talking to him about it?"

'If he wants to talk about it, he'll bring it up.' The snap could be practically heard in the way Bobbi signed her response to him,

"You'll be waiting a long time for that." Ironhide snorted, "Look; here's the deal, I'm gonna let you in on some things." groaning, the large mech settled down on his rear on the ground, shifting so that he was practically sprawled out in the hallway. His back was pressed against the wall, and his legs stretched out towards the other wall, though failed to reach it. He wasn't quite long enough; though Bobbi doubted there was any Autobot with long enough legs to reach both sides of the wall- unless you maybe counted Skyfire.

Though even then she wasn't completely sure.

Considering Ironhide's words, Bobbi nodded slowly. It wouldn't hurt to hear him out; there was no reason to be unkind or rude to him. Though, admittedly, she didn't quite appreciate his intervention; intentions well meant or not. But, perhaps, he would have good reason for Ratchet's actions. Not that that would save him from her anger.

Still, it would be nice to know why he was so… intense. Yes, she understood the pain and panic that came with seeing her injured, and she could grasp how nerve wracking it could be to know that your loved one's life is in your hands, no one else's- but his smoldering eyes, the slight shaking, the tightly controlled anger; these things all rattled within her mind like a jigsaw puzzle in a cardboard box.

"We don't work like humans." Ironhide began, tilting his head to the side and letting his optics unfocus on the opposing wall, "We have coding that guides us, instead of a 'moral compass'. Then we have our spark."

Bobbi's brow furrowed. The coding made sense, but it had never occurred to her; then her heart dropped again. The spark. She knew of it, yes. Ratchet's looked and sounded beautiful. But Bobbi had never considered how little she actually knew of it. She understood it was like a human's heart. But it seemed to be so much more than just an organ.

When Ironhide failed to continue, Bobbi raised her eyebrows at him and gestured, urging him to continue. Her curiosity was piqued. He chuckled deeply and slowly got to his pedes, smirking a little.

"You wanna know more? Ask Ratch'." Ironhide encouraged, "He's a medic, he can explain it better then I can."

Bobbi scowled deeply. That meant she had to talk to the infuriating mech. Her lips twisted and pressed together until they went white with the pressure. Now came the one of the hardest questions Bobbi had ever had to answer. Which was stronger?

The anger and pain she held? Or the curiosity?

Bobbi contemplated this with no small level of frustration the entire time Ironhide was walking her back to the medbay, and long after he had politely bid her goodbye and taken his leave. Truth be told, the field medic barely noticed.

This also brought up other questions. Like, what was the true root of Ratchet's explosion? It seemed to be more then just her working as a soldier on the battlefield. There was also the question of if this was an important issue in their relationship, or something petty. Was it worth this pain and misery? This level of anger? Was it worth getting angry over in the first place?

Then there was the question that bit down on her heart painfully.

Had Bobbi mistreated Ratchet somehow?

(AN: Bobbi has some studying to do, I think. c: Didn't realize she knew so little about Cybertronian's. But that's okay, she can play catch up. :D
I'M BACK BABY, IN BLACK! And guess what? I ain't leaving any time soon and I am SO ready to ROCK this!

c: We draw closer to the conclusion.

Pretty please leave me a review bbs? c; Bo loves treats.)