Introduction: This is the second of three spare parts chapters about Blaster that take place between the time he was adopted by Keepsake and Cam, and the time that the Decepticons were formed.

Keepsake stopped and looked down at the ground as the unpleasant prickling sensation in her spark intensified. She looked up at Cam, who met her gaze and sent her a private comm.

"Can you feel that?"

"Yes. He's in trouble." Blaster was hurt. She took a deep vent, trying to stay calm. "I'll contact the school."

"Hold on, they're already trying to comm. me."

Keepsake shuttered her optics, trying to send comfort over the guardian bond as the feeling intensified further. She prayed to Primus he hadn't gone missing. If the government had found him…

"Everything OK?" Lakes asked.

"Blaster was hurt at school," Cam said, then spoke over the comm. "Keepsake, they're saying he won't let the medic touch him."

That… actually wasn't too surprising. "Lakes, can I go take him home?" She said. "I'll come back…"

"Of course you can," Lakes said. "I hope he's all right."

"They said it's not too bad," Cam said. "But you should probably go."

"Thank you," Keepsake said, then rushed from the shelter, transformed, and drove to the school as quickly as she could. She commed the secretary, who directed her to the school medic's office.

She found Blaster curled up in a corner of the room while the medic tried to coax him over with a handful of energon treats like he was a symbiot.

"Oh, thank Primus," the medic said. "Are you his femme creator? I was at wit's end. He kicked me in the optic and tried to bite me. Is he always like this for medics?"

"Blaster, sweetspark," Keepsake said.

He uncurled a little.

"That hand must hurt, poor thing," the medic said. "Do you think you could get him to hold still while I fix it?"

His hand looked dented, and she could see a streak of energon on it.

"No!" Blaster said. "Please, Keepsake, don't let her touch me."

Keepsake approached slowly. That hand did look painful. He would need to see a medic about it.

"Please…"

"Thank you so much for trying," Keepsake said. "He might be a little too upset for that right now. We'll take him to another medic." Don't worry, Blaster, I won't let anyone hurt you. This was serious, though. That hand wouldn't heal on its own, and she was certain it was painful. "Come on, Blaster."

She waited as he uncurled the rest of the way, and then cautiously got to his pedes. She let him come to her, and then pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They were just playing at recess, and he got a little trampled," the medic said. "I managed to scan it, and it's not as bad as it looks."

Blaster shuddered.

It's OK, mechling, let's take you home. "Well, thank you again. I'll take him from here." She let go of Blaster and led the way out of the school, then transformed. Blaster climbed into her alt mode and was silent all the way home, even when Keepsake's thoughts turned toward finding a medic for him.

Once they were home, she led the way inside. Steeljaw and Ramhorn were glad to see him and after exchanging sympathies about his hand, they followed him to the front room and both climbed into his lap.

Keepsake joined them with a cube of energon, which she handed to him.

He took it but only drank a mouthful before offering the rest to his symbiots.

Keepsake sat down on the floor next to him. "How about… Ratchet."

"No!" Blaster said. "No, not him."

"That school medic… she wasn't going to hurt you, was she?"

He shook his helm. "She just wanted to help."

It was understandable that he didn't like medics. No one would, after what had happened to him. "Doesn't your hand hurt, though?" A medic would be able to make it feel better.

Blaster wrapped his arms around his knees. "Keepsake?" he spoke so quietly she almost couldn't hear.

"Come here."

He climbed into her lap with his symbiots and she wrapped them all in her arms.

"What is it, mechling?"

"I was awake," Blaster said quietly. "I was awake the whole time."

Keepsake shuttered her optics. Oh, sparkling…

"They didn't put me in stasis, they just held me down and cut my helm open…"

"Shhh," Keepsake said. "It's ok. We won't take you to a medic if you aren't comfortable going." I'm so sorry that happened. We'll make sure it never happens again.

"Thank you," Blaster whispered.

Cam commed her and she answered.

"Is he all right?"

"In a manner of speaking. He has a serious phobia of medics, though, and I can't say I blame him. I don't think we can take him to a medic, but his hand is hurt and I don't think it will heal on its own."

Blaster took in a shaky vent and let it out slowly.

"Is he there with you?"

"Yes," Keepsake said. "I don't want to leave him here by himself. Can you make excuses to Lakes for me?"

"Ok..." He sounded hesitant about something. He probably wanted to insist that Blaster go see a medic. But Keepsake did not want to discuss that right now.

"It's ok," Blaster said at length. "I know I need to…" he shuddered again.

"Hush," Keepsake said. "We'll figure it out, sweetspark." He was such a good little mech. He'd probably be willing to try to sit still if the medic was someone he trusted…

"How about… how about Lakes?"

Blaster seemed to consider that. Keepsake waited, glad he'd calmed down. She'd have to talk to Cam about what he'd just told her, sometime when they were out of hearing range, because if she thought about it now, she'd be absolutely horrified and she didn't want to make Blaster feel worse. For now, he just needed her to be calm and promise him that everything would be OK.

"Lakes knows there's something about me you can't tell him," Blaster said. "If you ask him to fix my hand, he'll ask you about it."

"But would you let Lakes repair you?"

Blaster nodded. "And I trust him, if you want to tell him. But if he knows… it'll make things harder for him, like it does for you."

"Ok," Keepsake said, then commed her sparkmate. Cam answered in less than an astrosecond.

"How are things going?" he asked.

"He says if it was Lakes, he'd be able to hold still."

Silence. Keepsake could feel her sparkmate's hesitation over the bond.

"If necessary, you can tell him... Cam, we can't ask Blaster to go to a normal medic."

"Ok," Cam said. "Are you sure about Lakes?"

"Yes," Keepsake said. "If you can, try to keep the mind-reading part from him, but if not… Blaster says he's trustworthy."

"Ok," Cam said again, then a moment later. "How's Blaster?"

"He'll be fine."

"All right. We'll come as soon as we can."

She let him be the one to cut the comm. then went back to talking to Blaster, trying to get his mind off of his injury, because the tension in her guardian bond meant that even though he was calm now, he was still in pain.

Cam took a deep vent and approached the shelter manager.

Lakes looked up from the report he was writing on a datapad. "You need to go?" he asked. "Is Blaster all right?"

"Yes," Cam said. "I mean, no, and sort of. He won't let any medic touch him."

"Hmm…" Lakes frowned. "Any idea why?"

Cam initiated an internal comm. with him.

Lakes raised an optic ridge but answered. "What is it?"

"We were hoping you'd be willing to come look at him. He said he'd be able to hold still for you."

Lakes looked somewhat suspicious. "I understand some younglings are afraid of medics, and I don't want to tell you how to raise him, but I think you ought to be trying to help him overcome the phobia, not catering to it, unless there's some other reason…"

Cam hesitated, then sighed. "There is… we want to draw as little attention to him as possible, and besides the phobia's more real for him. He… you know he was in an orphanage before we adopted him. Well, we didn't get him straight from the orphanage…"

Lakes looked up. "What do you mean?"

"The government took him from the orphanage, along with a bunch of other mechlings, and they were doing experiments on them."

Lakes' optics widened.

"He's the only one who survived. He escaped, actually, and Soundwave and his friends found him. That's how we ended up with him."

Lakes looked down again.

"It's all right if you want no part in this."

"I knew there was something about him you weren't telling me," Lakes said. "But this… I didn't expect anything like this. Give me a few breems to think about it, all right?"

Cam nodded, and ended the comm.

They went about their work. Cam wondered what Lakes was thinking, and almost wished that he could read minds too.

It was almost a joor before Lakes finally brought the subject up again.

"Cam?"

Cam looked up. "Yes?"

"After we've closed up for the off-cycle, I'll go take a look at Blaster's hand."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. But… I do expect a complete explanation."

Cam hesitated.

"That's the only way I'll agree to help."

"All right," Cam said. "Then we'll tell you everything."