"Damn it. I..I don't know..."
"Do the test like you planned, Bulma," Cade suggested.
Jamie has been lucky to be revived quickly but three times, and she can only fight the chemical for a week before flatlining. We're running out of options and time.
"All right. I want to measure brain activity for two days. I just don't feel like a few hours is enough," Bulma spoke in a sad tone. Cade, Bumblebee, and Hound left the building as Bulma sets up the test.
"Not good. If Jamie is only strong enough to fight for a week." Cade starts.
"You thinking what Bulma has been thinking?" Hound asks, worried.
"I don't know."
"They came back," Hound sighed.
Cade knew Hound meant Crosshairs and Drift.
"Fuck, I doubt they'll be going back to Bulma'a dimension soon. Hoping neither of the girls tries to run off to Jamie's dimension. Hopefully, the test Bulma'a doing will give us good news, but even if it's good..."
The three of them walked back into the building and walked towards Bulma.
"I'm not sure what I will do after the test. Unless Jamie somehow gets strength..."
Bulma let herself cry. Cade walked up to her and hugged her. Neither Bumblebee, Cade, or Hound knew what to say.
Crosshairs looked to see if there was a message about Jamie. He found the message Bulma sent earlier. Drift was standing next to him.
"Crap. Bulma and Vegeta think J.R. will attempt to come here."
"I wouldn't be surprised if she does. We have to go back."
"Tomorrow. Jayce and J.R. should be asleep soon anyway."
Crosshairs knew Drift is still terrified after seeing Jamie flatline again; he is the same way.
"You better go back, Hound," Cade suggested. Hound hesitated even though there was nothing he could do if Jamie flatlined again.
"She'll be ok; you better go before either of the girls give Vegeta a hard time."
Hound agreed and left.
Hound walks into the room, relieved Jayce and J.R. are quiet. Jayce looked at him, disappointed neither Crosshairs nor Drift is with him.
Crap. Hound thought, expecting Jayce to get upset.
Damn it, Crosshairs and Drift are not coming back. She thought, trying not to cry.
Vegeta noticed Hound came back. He walked up to him.
"Let's go out in the hallway," Hound says before Vegeta could say anything.
"What happened?" Vegeta asked as Hound looked through the window on the door, making sure the girls didn't get upset. Vegeta knew it was one of two things. Hound told him everything that happened.
"Fuck."
"Go ahead."
"No, I'm waiting until Jayce and J.R. are asleep. I doubt Bulma will be asleep by then."
By nine P.M., Jayce is asleep, but J.R. isn't.
"Damn it, and Jayce would also most likely have a hard time getting to sleep if she didn't have the painkillers. I can handle J.R., go ahead," Hound whispered. Vegeta hesitated but agreed and left the room.
Vegeta knew Bulma and Cade would be by Jamie. He stood on the other side of Bulma. They stood quietly for five minutes.
"I don't know what I will do regardless of the test outcome," Bulma finally said. Both Cade and Vegeta didn't know what to say. Bulma walked out of the building.
"Shit, not good."
"I have an idea, but it'll be useless if the test shows a poor outcome."
"Bulma already told you-."
"No, I will give Jamie some of my energy. I don't know if it'll help, but what else can we do?"
"So, you will make yourself sick to try to help Jamie? And if it doesn't work?"
"No, I'll be fine. Jamie will get some strength to fight, or nothing will happen. Won't know until I try. Not like we can try J.R.'s theory again. We're out of options. As far as I know, Bulma isn't trying to develop something that can help Jamie, at least not in her lab."
"And even if she is developing something, it's dangerous to test it on Jamie right now," Cade sighed.
"Did you talk to her?" Vegeta asks, knowing Cade would be too worried about Jamie to go to bed.
"No."
"I know you're too worried about Jamie to go to bed, no problem. I'd like to stay here because I'm worried about Jamie, but even with Jayce on painkillers, I don't think I can leave Hound alone with both girls. As it is, I left before both of them were asleep."
"Hound knows how bad J.R. can be. He wouldn't tell you to come here if he didn't think he could handle her."
The two of them just stood by Jamie until Bulma came back fifteen minutes later.
"You're still here? She's stable for now. We're back to just watching and monitoring her for the next couple of days-."
"I know Bulma. I can't leave her right now."
"Hound is aware Vegeta could be here for a few hours. I don't think any of us want to be away from Jamie, but we're all also worried about Jayce and J.R., who can't be here either."
"This just keeps getting worse," Bulma sighed and walked back out of the building.
"I'm worried she's worried Crosshairs and Drift are abandoning the girls. She knows how hard this is for them, and they know Jayce and J.R. need them. She doesn't know that they know what happened tonight. Bad idea to tell her."
"You going to talk to her?"
"No, I don't think it'll be a good idea to tell her I'm worried about Jamie-."
"So, you will choose not being able to sleep?"
"What?" Bulma asks as she comes back into the building with Bumblebee.
"Great," Cade says as he slid his hand down his face.
"He's worried about Jamie and doesn't want to be away from her," Vegeta told Bulma; Cade looked at him in disgust, "I suggested that he ask you to let him sleep in here. There's plenty of room."
Bulma wasn't sure what to say. She was more surprised that Vegeta suggested that Cade sleeps in the building than that Cade is really worried about Jamie. She agreed to let him sleep in the building. The four of them stood by Jamie for the next fifteen minutes until Vegeta decided he had to go back, worried J.R. isn't asleep yet.
"Is Vegeta ok with you sleeping in the building? It's unusual for him to suggest that"
"Yes, he did. I didn't want you to know that I'm worried about Jamie."
"You didn't think I knew already?"
Vegeta walks into the room, thinking both girls are asleep. Hound tells him J.R. isn't asleep yet and will not be using the syringe.
"I know she could end up not going to sleep at all, but you know we hate using the sedation drugs. Hopefully, she'll fall asleep soon. I'm surprised you're back already."
"It's late, Bulma and Cade need to sleep. They can't care for Jamie while being tired."
Hound didn't even bother to tell Vegeta he could go to bed instead of sleeping on the floor.
"Cade, have you been up all night?" Bulma asks as she sees Cade sitting by Jamie.
"No, got up a half-hour ago."
Bulma noticed Bumblebee was next to him. She assumed he has been by Jamie all night.
Bulma took care of Jamie a half-hour later. Cade and Bumblebee have been watching her as she took care of Jamie the past week. Cade pays close attention though he knows he can't take over for Bulma. Bulma doesn't take the time to teach him since he insisted that she wait until Jamie wasn't critical.
"Have you been here all night, Bee?" She asks when she's finished, Bumblebee nods.
Damn, if Jayce and J.R. were ok, I think we'd all be around here, afraid to be away from Jamie at this point.
Seven-thirty, J.R. has been up all night.
Damn it; I can't believe she's been up all night. Is she having a hard time getting to sleep or waiting for them to come back? Hound wondered.
"She's up early," Vegeta says, looking at J.R.
"She's been up all night."
"What? Damn it."
Both worried that the girls were refusing to drink the nutrition drink Bulma made for them. They thought the only reason Jayce was asleep was because of the painkillers. Hound insisted on Vegeta getting something to eat and told him he could see Jamie for a while. Vegeta left to get something to eat but came back a half-hour later. He knew Hound would tell him he didn't have to rush, but Vegeta wanted to. Though J.R. is exhausted and didn't look like she would run off, Vegeta didn't want to take the chance.
Crosshairs and Drift spent the night on the roof of Jamie's base. Crosshairs wasn't surprised that Drift changed his mind and didn't want to see Jamie. He felt the same way, as far as they knew, Jayce and J.R. were still asleep. The two mechs sat in Jamie's room. Drift picks up the picture before sitting on the bed. Crosshairs knew Drift is still upset about seeing Jamie flatline again last night since he also is still upset. He knew Drift knew that they needed to get back to Jayce and J.R., but neither of them are in a hurry. They looked at the picture, not sure what to do.
Jayce woke up an hour later. Hound, J.R., and Vegeta watched her sit up and sit on the edge of the bed. It was clear the painkillers wore off.
"She's tired of the headache and dizziness," Vegeta whispered.
"Nine days of that and possibly a couple more weeks," Hound whispered.
J.R. got off the bed and walked towards Jayce.
"Come on, let's go," she whispered.
"What? Where?"
"You know, come on."
"No, I-," Jayce couldn't say anything more before J.R. picked her up and ran out the door.
"Shit," Hound and Vegeta got up and ran after them, "I can not stop them once they enter the portal, you know the plan."
Hound ran to get his Cybertronian form.
Damn it, J.R., do you realize how much worse you're making Jayce? Vegeta is concerned about Jayce. He knew she was trying to tell J.R. that she had to lie down and possibly wanted to leave Crosshairs and Drift alone.
After sitting in Jamie's room and looking at the picture for ten minutes, Crosshairs and Drift left the room and headed down the stairs. They heard the portal open.
"Shit," they both said as they ran to where the portal opened. J.R. tripped as she ran out of the portal and dropped Jayce.
Shit, what the fuck is she thinking? Crosshairs wondered as he and Drift walked to them. J.R. Got up and ran to Crosshairs. Jayce didn't move. Drift knelt beside her.
"Jayce?" He says as Vegeta walks out of the portal.
Shit. Vegeta walks up to Jayce. Drift and Vegeta helped Jayce up. As they helped her up, she vomited. Crosshairs watched while hugging J.R., angry at what she did and worried she made Jayce's condition worse. When she stopped vomiting, Drift picked Jayce up, carried her to the couch, and laid her down on the couch. Crosshairs brought J.R. to the ouch. She sat next to him and leaned on him.
"Go get Bulma," Drift instructed Vegeta. Vegeta did as Drift asked. Drift looked at how uncomfortable Jayce was before going to clean up the mess.
What the hell was J.R. thinking? Jayce doesn't look good.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Bulma snapped at J.R. twenty minutes later.
"Bulma don't," Drift tells her. She checks on Jayce, who didn't want to move.
"Do it, Bulma," Drift says before she could say anything. Bulma, Crosshairs, and Vegeta knew what he meant. She had a sedation syringe and injected it into Jayce.
"What the hell happened?" Hound asked as he stood next to Vegeta, looking at Jayce.
"Jayce, besides the headache, she's dizzy and nauseous, and she doesn't want to move. She'll be asleep for a while." Bulma explained to him.
Hound figured Bulma used the syringe on her. Drift took Jayce to her room.
"Glad Jamie wanted to have a space for her friends. However, I didn't think Jayce and J.R. had rooms here," Bulma comments.
"Why is J.R. exhausted?" Crosshairs asks. Hound and Vegeta, looking at J.R. fighting sleep. They tell him how she didn't sleep at all last night and how she grabbed Jayce and ran out of the room to Jamie's dimension.
Damn it, J.R., even if Jayce wanted Drift, that wasn't a good idea to make her come here.
As Crosshairs expected, J.R. let him lay her down on the couch. She couldn't stay awake for longer than five minutes.
"I'm not sure if putting her in her room is a good idea," Crosshairs says.
"She wanted us; I doubt she'll try to run off. It'll be better than the couch."
Crosshairs carried her to her room.
Hound, now using his holoform, sat on the couch with the others.
"This is a disaster," Crosshairs says.
"They were ok until this morning. Well, you know what I mean. Jayce and J.R. didn't like both of you left, but you guys know they didn't do much when you were with them," Hounds tells them.
"Except yesterday, J.R. seemed to be angry and wanted to train with me, anger training again."
"I guess that's better than keeping emotions bottled up."
"I don't know if that's a good thing. She's turning how upset she is into anger. I'm going back to Cade's dimension."
"Wait, Bulma, what about-," Vegeta started.
"No, I can't," she ran off to open a portal. Vegeta tried to stop her, but Crosshairs stopped him.
"You know what's going on?" Crosshairs asks a few minutes later.
"Yes, I know why she doesn't want to say anything," Vegeta said in a sad tone. Not realizing he just made Crosshairs and Drift anxious about what he has to say.
"Tell us," Drift requests.
If Bulma didn't want to tell us, then this is bad. Why make yourself more upset, Drift? Crosshairs wonders.
"Bulma's doing a test to see if.." Vegeta had a hard time finishing his sentence, "to see if Jamie has any brain damage. She will do the test for two days, but she's not sure what to do even if there are good results."
"Damn it," Drift sighed and walked away. Crosshairs and Vegeta watched him go up the stairs. Crosshairs wanted to follow him but knew Drift needed to be alone.
"Are you ok?" Vegeta asks.
"No," Crosshairs sighed, "do you know why he's more distraught than Hound or me? I didn't tell him how concerned Bulma is about Jamie, how she's debating letting Jamie go. What Bulma told me about the last severe flare-up or when you tried to kill her."
Crosshairs went to see if Drift was with Jayce or in Jamie's room.
"Oh yeah, he's not as upset as Drift," Hound says as he watches Crosshairs, "he's just trying to hide how he feels."
"And he's trying to keep J.R. from doing that?"
"He's not as bad as her. You should know, he's shown you how angry he was at what you did and being with the girls."
Unbelievable, I hope I'm wrong. Hopefully, this is the only time they deal with this shit.
As Crosshairs expected, Drift was in Jamie's room, sitting in the bed and looking at the photo.
"Why are you even looking at the photo? You're already terrified, and that upsets you more," Crosshairs says as he sits next to Drift, "don't tell me you're giving up?"
Crosshairs waited five minutes before leaving the room, unsure whether he should take Drift's silence as yes or still wasn't sure. Crosshairs knew Drift is terrified; everyone is.
"What the hell? Bulma?!" Cade watched Bulma run past the building. Bumblebee was sitting on the cars as he watched her run past him.
"Shit, Jamie's stable for now. I will see what's going on in Jamie's dimension. Watch her, Bee."
Cade knew how to open a portal without Bulma's help.
"What the..?" Hound says as they hear a portal open, "Cade?"
"What's going on? Bulma came back but ran past Bumblebee and me."
"I thought she wanted to tell Crosshairs and Drift about Jamie. I told them anyway."
"That explains it, Bulma knows they'll be upset."
"Drift asked me to tell them then walked away."
"Damn it. So how bad is Jayce?"
"And J.R. Jayce is very dizzy and nauseous. Drift wanted Bulma to use the sedation syringe. J.R. didn't sleep at all last night. She fell asleep five minutes after Crosshairs laid her on the couch. They've been sleeping for forty-five minutes now."
"Damn it; I hope J.R. not being able to sleep isn't something new she'll be dealing with."
"I doubt it, but I hope not," Crosshairs says as he walks towards them, "how bad is Jamie, Cade?
"You want to see her?"
Crosshairs wasn't surprised that Hound insisted that he see Jamie. Crosshairs worried about J.R., but both Hound and Vegeta told him they could handle her, so he agreed to see Jamie.
"I doubt he'll be long, and even if he stays there for a while, J.R. will be asleep for a while," Hound says.
"She's stable...for now," Cade tells Crosshairs as they walk into the building. He explains to Crosshairss the test Bulma is doing. He wanted to find Bulma, but Crosshairs told him not to. Cade and Bumblebee leave Crosshairs alone.
What can we even do at this point? She's not strong enough to fight this. Crosshairs looked at the monitor, wondering how long it will be before Jamie declines again? Sure she's stable, but her vitals weren't good.
Drift quietly joins Crosshairs ten minutes later. Bulma, Bumblebee, and Cade walk in ten minutes later. Bumblebee sits next to Drift.
"You told them?" Bulma asks angrily.
"No, Vegeta Did, they asked. They know it'll be some time before Jamie shows significant signs of improving, but they still want to know what's going on with her."
"Then they know..." she trailed off, letting tears roll down her face. Crosshairs got up and got Bulma to walk out of the building with him. Drift watched, not sure if he should join them or not. He was sure Crosshairs would have told him to come with them, so he stayed with Jamie.
"Drift doesn't know you've been thinking about letting Jamie go. Though I think he's debating whether that's what we should do, I know he would hate it that you're thinking about it. He knows you're not sure what to do, even if the test shows good results. I don't know what he'd want to do."
"What about you?"
"I don't know either. All I know is that none of us want to give up and let Jamie go, but we also know that we're out of options." Crosshairs walks back into the building and sits next to Drift. Bulma watches for a minute before walking away.
Why am I here? J.R. wonders, realizing she's in her room in Jamie's dimension. Oh no, did Jamie not survive? And I still remember the Autobots from that dimension and Cade.
J.R. was still tired; she laid in bed and let herself cry.
"I'm surprised J.R. has been sleeping for three and a half hours. Jayce will be for a while," Hound comments. Vegeta gets up to check on both of the girls. Sure enough, both girls are still asleep.
"Really would have liked it if they had something before J.R. ran off. Jayce is going to wake up very uncomfortable even to move. I will see if Bulma can do something about that."
Vegeta found everyone near Jamie.
"Is something wrong?" He asks.
"No," Bulma says, "something wrong over there?"
"Not yet, but Jayce will be very uncomfortable when she wakes up, and neither of the girls had anything today."
"What? They have had nothing today?" Crosshairs asks, worried. Everyone watched him get up, expecting him to yell at Vegeta.
"We couldn't do anything before J.R. picked up Jayce and ran out. You know the rest."
"What the hell was she thinking? She made Jayce feel worse than usual, and now they have had nothing all day."
"She wanted both of you and knew Jayce also wanted you two, but she's too uncomfortable even to run to Bulma's lab. I know both of you are thinking I should have gotten either of you, but if you two can't hide how upset you are."
Crosshairs walks up to Vegeta.
"You're right, Drift wanted to go back to the girls, but we were both upset," Crosshairs whispered, "Drift wanted to see Jamie after we both saw Jamie had flstlined again last night. I'm not telling Bulma. Neither of us were any better this morning until J R. came running in with Jayce. I don't know if we would have gone back," Crosshairs sighed and looked at Drift.
"They'll be asleep for a while," Vegeta says before they walk back up to Jamie. Ten minutes later, Bulma works on a syringe to help Jayce.
"This should kick in within ten minutes," she says as she hands the syringe to Vegeta. Though Jayce will most be asleep for another two to three hours, Vegeta wanted to get back to help Hound if J.R. wakes up. He tells Bulma not to rush Crosshairs and Drift.
"I have something to help Jayce fast. I told Bulma not to rush Crosshairs and Drift, sorry."
"That's fine, though at least J.R. will be upset they're not here. I know if Crosshairs and Drift can't hide upset they are, then the girls will be more upset than they'll be if Crosshairs and Drift aren't here."
"You think either of them would be upset enough to trigger a seizure?"
"Shit. I don't know. This nightmare just keeps getting worse."
"You want to go see Jamie or recharge?"
"Yeah, I'll see Jamie for a while," Hound says as he gets up. Vegeta knew he could be wrong about the girls still being asleep for a while or at least J.R., but he knew he could handle her.
Hound sees Bulma on her laptop and the others by Jamie; he stands next to Crosshairs. Before Crosshairs or Drift could ask, Hound tells them the girls are fine, and Vegeta thinks he can handle them if either of them wakes up.
