When Paige finally woke up, a day and a half had past. She was no longer lying on the floor nor was she in the main control room anymore. She was currently lying on a metal berth with several silver emergency blankets draped over her torso. The lights in the room were dim, but she could make out her supplies on the floor. She immediately reached for her water bottle and drank the rest of the contents. She then slowly pushed herself up and leaned against the wall. She shivered immediately so she placed the blankets on her shoulders to form a barrier with the wall. She rubbed her chest because her lungs ached slightly and discovered a rip in her bra. It wasn't enough to scandalize anyone, but even with her smaller chest, it would at her current size be showing way too much cleavage to the kids, one who happened to be a hormonal teenager. Maybe she could ask Nurse Darby to get her some material for a shirt now that she didn't have her jacket anymore. She reached for her purse and grabbed her sowing kit. After she patched the rip as best she could, she stood and fumbled for the door. She needed to relieve herself and she wanted a bath. The door finally opened and Paige headed down the hall to the control room. It was currently evening and Cliffjumper was on duty.

"Hey there," said Cliffjumper. "It's good to see you up. You gave us a scare."

"I'm fine," said Paige. "I just needed to sleep. Can you send me to the island please."

"I don't know," said Cliffjumper. "Ratchet might want to see you first, but he's recharging right now."

"It can't wait," said Paige. "He can see me when he gets up. Just tell him I intimidated you into it. I'm still taller than you anyway." She was still a head taller than Optimus, but at this point their strength would beat hers hands down.

Cliffjumper laughed at that and activated the groundbridge for her.

xxxxxx

After she took care of her most pressing needs, she filled her bottle with fresh water. She was headed back toward the beach when she saw several Vehicons. She ducked back behind the trees and headed in the opposite direction when she came face to face with Knockout.

"Well look what we have here," he said.

Paige dropped down immediately and scooped two fistfuls of sand into his face. Knockout let out a yell as he was blinded. She dodged around him and ran for the water. She could see three Vehicon jets headed her way as she splashed into the ocean. She dove under as they started firing surfacing only occasionally to get her bearing. They either quickly lost her or weren't interested in her at all. She made her way to a clump of rock that she could cling to and watched them scour the beach. They didn't leave though and that gave Paige the idea that they were waiting for someone to retrieve her so they could ambush them. Paige stealthily moved around the island until she could see the point where the groundbridge would normally open. She could see the Vehicons settling in to wait. She briefly wondered how they had known that the groundbridge would appear there, but shook her head at her own stupidity. It was where her footsteps started. She swam into an inlet not far from there and prepared. She removed her pants thankful that she had chosen to wear boy shorts as her underwear the day she arrived here. She glanced through the trees to see that her water bottle and shoes had been planted not far from the portal's location obviously to mislead her allies. She only had a simple plan in mind, but she didn't have much to work with so now all she had to do was wait. Hopefully someone would come before she got hypothermia.

xxxxxx

Ratchet was furious when he onlined to find Paige gone. Cliffjumper had reassured him that she only went to the island and that she looked fine.

"Are you the Medic now?" asked Ratchet. "She's fine when I say she's fine. Keep the bridge open because I'm bringing her back immediately."

Ratchet stepped through the portal and saw Paige's footwear and water bottle nearby, but he also suddenly found himself surrounded by six Vehicons with their weapons aimed at him. Knockout stood there with a satisfied smirk on his face. Ratchet sighed and raised his arms in surrender when a black cloth dropped over four of the Vehicon's heads and they were all yanked off balance causing them to crash to the ground in a pile. Paige slammed her recovered water bottle into one of the remaining Vehicon's heads sending him crashing into his fellow. Knockout got a hold of the back of Paige's sports bra, but Paige was more flexible and she twisted in his grip slamming her water bottle into his face. She heard something rip and suddenly she was free. She ran toward Ratchet with her shoes in her hand easily beating Knockout because she was faster in the sand. Despite being down, one of the Cons started to ready his blaster in Ratchet's direction. Paige barreled into Ratchet sending them both through the portal. Paige was wet so when they hit the ground, she skidded on her side sliding on the base floor with Ratchet tucked safely into her chest. Cliffjumper immediately shut the portal.

"What happened?" came his immediate question.

Ratchet and Paige started to slowly untangle themselves. His face was buried in her cleavage and one of his hands was a bit higher.

"Ratchet, watch your hands," said Paige holding her chest as she rolled onto her back. She could tell that the back clasp on her sports bra was broken thanks to Knockout. She looked up to see that they had a full audience and her face went beet red. Here she was in her underwear in front of three kids and all the Autobots with Ratchet partially on top of her. Cliffjumper was holding one of her shoes and Optimus was holding the other.

"What were you guys doing?" asked Miko slyly.

Paige got up immediately collecting one shoe from Cliffjumper and the other from Optimus while keeping a tight grip on the front of her bra. "Ratchet, you explain," she said turning and running out of the main control room and down the hall exposing her bare back in the process. Arcee followed her out.

Both Jack and Rafael were red faced as well. It wasn't because Paige was in her underwear, but that she'd been so embarrassed about it that it had made them conscious of it as well.

Ratchet explained how he was ambushed by Knockout and the Vehicons and that Paige had come to his rescue at the expense of losing some of her supplies. Optimus recommended that she no longer leave the base. It was beyond time they constructed some accommodations for her now that she was smaller.

Arcee helped Paige find the room she was in before and Paige set about trying to fix her bra. She was currently sitting with her back to the door sowing when her door opened. She immediately brought her knees up to her chest and glanced back to see who it was. It was Optimus. The door slid shut behind him.

"Pardon me if I don't turn to face you," said Paige. "Humans are finicky about not having their clothes on."

"Of course," said Optimus. "I wanted to thank you for saving Ratchet. He is truly indispensible to us."

"He only got involved because he came looking for me," said Paige. "I didn't come here to cause you trouble."

"You also prevented Bulkhead from suffering even more severe damage by accompanying him on the relic hunt. He told me about the precautions you took. Plus many of the warnings that you've given us have allowed us to avoid injury," said Optimus. "We owe you thanks for that."

"You're welcome," said Paige finishing the stitch. She looked at her work and then put her bra back on quickly. It was still slightly wet so she shivered. She turned around to face Optimus.

"This will be your room for now and I've asked Arcee to show you the other facilities that should suit your needs. The island you've been visiting is compromised now and I wish for you to remain here. I've asked Cliffjumper to compile a list of anything you need so that we can get it to Fowler," he said.

"Thank you," said Paige.

"I must get back to deciphering the database," said Optimus heading for the door.

"Of course," responded Paige.

Arcee came in next and she showed her the room they were using to clean off in. "It's only water in this one. It doesn't get hot, but it'll get warm," said Arcee.

Warm water would be paradise for Paige since she'd only been bathing in cold water. This wasn't salt water either so it wouldn't make her scratches hurt. Arcee then showed her another room with a large open drain that would work for waste disposal.

"Scans indicate that they were dumping some type of dirt down there so it should be okay for your needs." Arcee also indicated several other water spigots that could be used to get drinking water from. "I asked Bumblebee to put some clean empty cubes in your room for your water. They don't have any energon residue so they won't make you sick," said Arcee.

"I appreciate it," said Paige. "Thanks for showing me around."

On her way back to her room Paige ran into Cliffjumper. He had a data pad with him. "The boss told me to get with you to find out what you needed," he said.

"I need lots of soap, several bolts of cloth preferably the same color, two large beach towels and more protein and vitamin powder or any other food he can throw in," she said. "That should do for now."

"I'll send this to him right away," said Cliffjumper.

xxxxxx

True to his word she got the supplies three days later. The bolts of cloth were black and blue polyester. While Paige would have preferred cotton, the polyester would keep her warmer. Ms. Darby must have been contacted about the cloth because she showed up with a sowing machine. Paige was nearly Optimus' height now so they took her measurements and made a simple blue three quarter sleeved shirt, a black skirt that reached her mid calf and black knee high socks with the rest of the material. The clothes fit her, but were rather snug. Paige didn't think they would shrink with her like her original clothes so she made them tight to give her some time before she would have to alter them. She thanked Mrs. Darby profusely for her help.