Author: Getting back into the swing. I remember a bit about what I wanted to do for the fic, surprisingly, but other things I'm still developing. Thank you everyone for your continued support!

It was dark and cold and he was alone. There was no light and so he endlessly walked, finding no end. Then, in the distance, a red light flickered into existence.

Witwicky

A venomous voice growled from behind, making him cold with fear. He started to run, hoping to outrun the voice that haunted him. A cold metal wall sprouted up in front of him, preventing his escape. He turned left and ran again, the red light coming ever closer bringing the growling voice with it calling his name. He found another wall. Turning again he ran, but ran smack into another wall. His heart pounded like a drum and when he tried to call for help (Bumblebee! Please! I need help!) nothing came out of his throat. He was silenced.

The walls around him began closing in. Sam pushed back against one futilely, wordlessly chanting (Please God, oh please God don't let me die). The red light split into two and rose above him, glaring down at his futile attempts to escape. The floor quaked and he was thrown on his ass. He could feel the ground moving upwards, closer to the lights.

No no no, he mentally screamed. Then the darkness turned into gunmetal gray and glinting steel. He realized then that he was not in a room, but clutched in Megatron's very hand and the lights were his hateful eyes.

You can't run from me, boy.

...

The silence of the night was broken by Sam's wild screaming. There was a commotion as Gregory tripped over his own slippers and banged into his door in order to get to his distressed nephew. He held down the thrashing teen and shook him, saying his name firmly in order to wake him up. Sam was covered in sweat and pale as ever. Even when he opened his eyes it took him a minute more to regain his senses as he pushed against Gregory and tried to cower into the corner of his bed and the wall.

Sam sat there a minute, rocking himself and muttering nonsense. Gregory was struck with the sudden hope that Sam wasn't starting down the path Archibald himself fell down; it would break his heart to see. Sam finally collected himself enough to look up at his uncle with some sense in his mind.

"Sam, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sam stuttered. "Yeah, fine. Just a- a nightmare. A bad dream."

Gregory sat down at the edge of the bed and put a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder, though the teen recoiled at the initial touch. "You want to talk about it?"

Sam shook his head almost violently. "No- no I'm okay. I'm fine. Really," Sam tried to assure his uncle with a shaky smile, but Gregory was not convinced. "I just need some sleep. I'll be better in the morning."

"Sam," Gregory said firmly, "Something has been bothering you since you first showed up on my doorstep. I thought giving you space would help, but you don't seem to be any closer to figuring out whatever it was that brought you up here. It doesn't have to be me, but do you have anyone you can talk to? A friend?"

Sam guiltily thought of Bumblebee and the other Autobots, but he'd been keeping them in the dark. He should go to them, but at the same time- Sam shook his head. "It's just something I got to figure out myself." If he could.

Gregory stared at him doubtfully, "Sam, this is affecting you. I know you've had nightmares before." He knocked on one of the walls with his knuckles. "Thin walls."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Sam insisted heatedly, his temper beginning to rise. "You can't- no one can-" He groaned in frustration.

"You need to open up. No one can help you if you don't." Gregory insisted.

"No one can." Sam said flatly. "I need some air." He then announced in a less heated tone. He then crawled off the bed and made a bee-line for the backyard, leaving his uncle to sit in the room wondering what was going on.

Sam headed straight for the Lamborghini. Right about now he would be nestled in Bumblebee's back seat and Bumblebee would be playing something soothing on the radio to help lull Sam back to sleep. But considering he'd told his guardian he'd needed some time away, this would have to do.

Sam crawled into the passenger side and closed the door. He leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, already feeling better. The seat was unnaturally warm for a car sitting out in winter, but he brushed it off. He felt like a child who went to sleep with their parents after a nightmare and he knew it was probably a bad habit he was picking up. Bumblebee might not be around forever and it would be odd to be sixty-something and still crawling into his guardian to sleep after a nightmare. But he couldn't bring himself to care much as he settled into a more comfortable position. Everything seemed to enclose around him, but more like a cocoon, nothing like Megatron's cold claws.

He could have sworn he felt the car settle back on its shocks further, but that could just have been his mistake.

...

Sunstreaker didn't know what to think about becoming the human's new bed. At least once a week the human would wake in the middle of the night and crawl into him, only then finally finding solace and sleep. Because of his limited time with humans, he wasn't sure if this was a common practice.

The first time he was aware of it happening, Sunstreaker had not been happy about it at all. Humans secreted oils and shed their skin, it wasn't something he wanted in his seat, but unable to communicate he was forced to deal with it. Lately, however, he found himself only a little annoyed. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy having another living creature nearby when he spent all day back there alone. It made him miss his brother, Sideswipe. He used to fuss about scarcely having a moment to himself and now he found himself mourning the loss. The human would have to do…for now.

When the human crawled into his passenger seat that night, Sunstreaker noticed something wrong. The screaming of before was a large indicator, but the way he curled up on himself and how his body was rigid was alluding to a bigger problem. But he didn't seek out the comfort of other humans. Instead he came straight to Sunstreaker.

Humans have the oddest habits, Sunstreaker mused. Still, he sympathized. Most sentient life was capable of nightmares and his own were nothing to underestimate. When he felt the human press against him, trying to fit himself in the crevice between the seat and the door, he settled back on his shocks in a relaxed manner. The human, surprisingly, responded by calming a little himself.

...

..

.

Ladiesman217. Designation: Samuel Witwicky. Mission: Locate. Note: Do not engage with target, target is known to have protection. Send information regarding Witwicky directly to Lord Megatron. Mission: fa-fail-…..

Reboot. Systems online. System Diagnosis: Repair Required. Self-Repair: Started. Estimation: Thirty-one days, twelve hours, five minutes, sixty seconds.

Mission: Accepted.