Early morning, J.R. noticed the Autobots and Cade waiting for her near the building. She was hoping to find Jayce there as well, but she wasn't there. Considering the situation, J.R. found it concerning that everyone was waiting for her. Cade noticed her concerned expression as she walked up to him.
"Everything's fine, J.R.," Cade assures her before she asks.
"Bumblebee and I want to help you-," Hound starts.
"There's nothing you can do," J.R. interrupted and tried to walk away, but Crosshairs picked her up.
"Put me down!" J.R. yelled. Crosshairs had a grip on her so she couldn't move.
"No, you need to listen to what Hound and Bee have to say!" He fumed. J.R. couldn't believe Crosshairs retorted something to her.
"Easy, Crosshairs, no need to be angry at her," Drift noticed how shocked J.R. was.
"We're your friends too, J.R. We want to help you. We're here if you want to talk," Hound tells her, Bumblebee nodded.
"Let her go, Crosshairs," Cade instructed. Crosshairs let her go, and as he expected, J.R. walked away into the building, "she knows now we watch her," Cade finished when J.R. was out of their sight.
"This is - worse than I thought," Bumblebee said.
"I don't think anyone expected this situation to be this bad, Bee," Cade says and walks away.
"We'll go in when she leaves, use holoforms," Drift informs Bumblebee and Hound. They both agreed. Drift half expected Crosshairs to walk away, but he also knew Crosshairs wanted to be with Jamie as much as he did.
J.R. left fifteen minutes later. The Autobots activated their holoforms and entered the building. Bumblebee and Hound couldn't believe what they were looking at. They stayed back to let Crosshairs and Drift get closer, but Drift insisted they come closer. Bumblebee and Hound stayed for fifteen minutes before deciding to leave. They stopped in front of the building and peeked in. They watched Crosshairs and Drift sit on chairs and hold Jamie's hand. Drift rested his head on her arm as Crosshairs put a hand on Drift's shoulder. Bumblebee and Hound walked away.
"I can't believe that's what Jamie goes through," Hound started when he and Bee were some distance away from the building, "the pain Crosshairs and Drift are feeling."
"Also- Jayce - and - J.R," Bee added.
"We'll do our best to help them even though it's not much,"
Bumblebee nodded in agreement.
Crosshairs left the building three hours later, deactivated his holoform, and sat on a car. He knew he was in the habit of leaving Drift alone with Jamie and waiting for him. He let Drift have time alone with her. Crosshairs also felt he had to watch to see if J.R. came back to check on Jamie. He noticed that even though she told everyone not to give up, she was giving up.
Was it because Jayce gave up and left? Crosshairs wondered. He put a hand on his helm and sighed. Jamie isn't showing signs of recovering soon, either.
J.R stayed at the back of the junkyard property away from the others. She just wanted to be left alone, but she knew she couldn't leave.
At least no one comes to the back of the property.
She didn't have to hide her genuine emotions, J.R. let herself cry.
This is a fucking disaster. Jayce needs to comes back.
She wasn't just letting her emotions from the past two days loose; this was what she kept bottled up for the past two weeks. She only let out a fraction of her emotions the past seven days but still hid most of how she felt. Bumblebee watched her from a distance. He knew she was ok and just needed to be left alone until she started vomiting. Bumblebee walked over to her.
"Are you - all right?" He asked, more to figure out why she's vomiting.
"I'm fine," J.R. sniffled. Bumblebee saw the tears rolling down her face.
"No - you're not. What's wrong?"
"Just leave me alone," She mumbled before vomiting again. Bumblebee left her to find Crosshairs.
Great, now I can't get away from them. J.R. thought, watching Bee walk away.
"...I don't know what else to do."
Bumblebee heard Crosshairs as he walked up to him and Cade.
"Not much more any of can do."
"She's crying - and - vomiting," Bee interrupts.
"What?!" Crosshairs asked, alarmed.
"She kept most of her emotions bottled up, and now she's crying hard that she's vomiting, she'll be fine," Cade explains.
"You call crying to the point she's vomiting fine?!" Crosshairs yelled before running to the back of the property.
Drift walks out of the building. He deactivated his holoform before asking why Crosshairs was yelling. After Cade informed Drift about why Crosshairs was yelling, he walked off to find Crosshairs. Cade went into the building, hoping to find notes from Jayce that he could understand.
I should have taken her offer to teach me some of this. She's gone, and J.R. is beginning to neglect checking on Jamie.
"I'm fine, Crosshairs. Go away!" J.R. yelled.
"You're not fine. Bumblebee told me you've been crying again and vomiting."
Drift watched from a distance, so neither Crosshairs nor J.R. saw him. He has noticed J.R. has been more open to Crosshairs. Maybe not much more than if Drift tried to comfort her himself but enough to help her. Crosshairs took a couple of steps back and activated his holoform.
This might be what she needs. He thought. Jayce left, and Cade makes her talk.
He sat next to her, expecting to be yelled at.
"Come here," he says as he slid her on to his lap. J R. didn't fight him. Instead, she leaned on him, "it's ok," he said, hugging her. Crosshairs knew she wouldn't talk. Thinking of the events that happened in the past seven days, he figured out the mess of emotions J.R. is keeping bottled up.
Damn, and there's nothing any of us can do.
He caught Drift walking away but wasn't mad Drift had been watching.
Drift headed back to the building but saw Bumblebee.
"She's fine, Bee, Crosshairs is with her."
"I don't - think she's - fine but - I know - there's nothing we can do," He followed Drift into the building. Cade was still on Jayce's computer.
"Isn't that - Jayce's?"
"Yes, I'm trying to figure out what she does to care for Jamie."
"You know she's been doing that for years. You expect to know just by reading notes?" Drift hissed. Cade didn't know what to say. He closed the laptop and walked away.
"No need to - get angry."
"I know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what Jayce does, and reading notes differs from Jayce showing him."
"You're worried - he'll - harm - Jamie?"
Drift nodded, "J.R. is already risking Jamie's life. I know all we can do at this point is monitor Jamie. Jayce does a blood test every other day, which must be a way to know if Jamie is improving when she's going through a severe flare-up. Sure Cade, or any of us, can do that, but if something serious happens."
Bumblebee put a hand on Drift's shoulder, "I know."
He leaves the building.
J.R. ended up falling asleep on Crosshairs. He hated how exhausting this situation is on her and Jayce. She has been sleeping for the past ninety minutes.
The only time she seems to be calm now. Crosshairs sighed, still worried she'd end up with nightmares.
J.R. wakes up two hours later. The sun had set.
"Do you feel better?" Crosshairs asked as J.R. looked at him.
"No," J.R. mumbled as she stood up.
"Come on; I think you need to at least talk to Drift and me, though Hound and Bumblebee want to know what's going on. We're here to help you."
He took her hand, and they both walked to the building.
Crosshairs wasn't surprised to see Drift using his holoform, sitting by Jamie, and had fallen asleep. He didn't think how upsetting this would be to J.R. She wanted to leave, but Crosshairs stopped her.
"It's ok. I think he feels a little better being near her. He spends hours here; he wouldn't if it upset him more, right?"
"Maybe," she replied as Crosshairs walked up to Drift.
"Hey, J.R. is here."
Drift looked over at J.R. He got up and walked over to her.
"I'm fine," he assured her, "you all right?"
"No," She mumbled.
"Come on, talk to us," he got her to sit on the ground and sat next to her. Crosshairs sat, so J.R. was between the two of them. They were expecting her to hesitate, but she let loose.
"I'm angry at Jayce for leaving! I don't know where she went or if she's coming back! She gave up on Jamie and left me to care for her! I'm angry at Jadin for showing her face and betraying us! I'm afraid Jamie will die!" She was yelling, and tears rolled down her face. Crosshairs held her as she cried.
"It's ok, you know Jamie has been through this before, she'll be ok," Crosshairs knows he's said this over and over, but this seemed to work a little, "you need to check on her. I know you haven't since this morning, and you know that's not a good idea."
They noticed Drift moved closer to Jamie.
"Later," J.R. got up and walked away. Crosshairs followed.
"You mean it?" He asked.
"Yes," J.R. replied, but this didn't convince Crosshairs. He still worried she wouldn't check on Jamie for the rest of the day. He retrieved his Cybertronian form, deactivated his holoform, and took his usual place waiting for Drift.
J.R. joined him a half-hour later.
"I'm waiting for Drift to leave," she said, knowing what Crosshairs would ask. Drift came out fifteen minutes later.
J.R. walked by him, but he didn't turn around to follow her.
"She doesn't want us there when she's checking on Jamie," Crosshairs observed
"She's afraid something will be wrong. I'm hoping nothing else is wrong, and if something is wrong, then she'll tell us," Drift says.
Crosshairs nodded, "let's just go in," he said as he stood up.
"No, leave her alone," Drift stopped him, "we'll wait for her."
Bumblebee and Hound joined them five minutes later. Crosshairs and Drift told them what J.R. told them.
"So, now what?" Hound asked.
"Besides the impossible? I don't know," Crosshairs replied. They all didn't like waiting for J.R. to want to talk. If it meant watching her be distraught as she was today. J.R. came out twenty minutes later. She saw that Bee and Hound joined Crosshairs and Drift. She sat by Crosshairs' peds.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing," she sighed. They all knew what was bothering her. This is their way of getting her to talk about it.
"What's going on?" Cade asks as he walks over.
"Take her, Crosshairs," Drift instructed. J.R. let Crosshairs pick her up, and he walked away.
Cade was even more concerned now that Drift insisted J.R. be taken away before he's informed about what's going on. Drift repeated what he told Bee and Hound.
"She kept all that bottled up?" He asked, shocked.
"Yes," Drift sighed and walked back into the building.
"Damn," Hound mumbled and walked away.
"When will this shit end?" Cade thought out loud before going to his trailer. Bumblebee headed in the same direction as Hound.
Drift left the building to find Crosshairs four hours later. He assumed he'd be with J.R. He wasn't expecting J R. to be asleep already. Crosshairs was sitting next to her. Drift sat next to him.
"You don't have to come here; I got it."
"I wanted to make sure J.R. was ok…or as ok as she can be."
"Until morning," Crosshairs sighed.
"Cade wanted to take over after reading Jayce's notes."
"He doesn't get how dangerous that is with this severe flare-up?" Crosshairs yelled in an angry tone, forgetting he was next to J.R. He waited to see if she'd wake up, but she didn't, "she's a heavy sleeper."
"Most likely because she's exhausted."
The two mechs got a little recharge while J.R. slept.
