I know it's been a while, but don't kill me just yet! I literally just got back from Florida today, and I told myself the first thing I'd do when I'd get back was update CR.

Anyway, thanks a million hugs for the awesome reviews; Graceful-But-Forgetful-Writer, SapphireSpark, xVentressx, HeartsGuardianSol, Transformerminoinkittycat, ND's Rebel, Bee4ever, emzydatffan, adelphe24, LunarBurst23, Khalthar, A-Mais-Pura-Pregundo-do-mundo, 99luftballonsx.o.x, Xarine, Transformers HM, MidnightRaineStorm, and finally saiyan angel blue! You guys are awesome!


Chapter Nineteen: Guilty

(Charlie's POV)

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of a dull, monotonous, steady beeping. It was so bright in the room that I winced, before slowly opening my eyes again, and peering around the room curiously.

I was in the Med Bay.

How I got here, I still wasn't sure, even as I wracked my brain for some kind of previous memory. Nothing surfaced, and that made me worried, and very terrified. Did I just start sleepwalking here? Do I have short-term memory, now? I flinched when the door squeaked open, only to relax slightly as Ratchet's holoform walked into the room. Once he mad eye contact with me, a small, almost-smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he strode over to me.

"Good, you're awake."

Awake? I blinked, staring up at him with wide eyes. I didn't even remember going to sleep, much less falling asleep in the Med Bay. "H-How did I get here?"

"Sideswipe and Jenna found you by your room. You had many wounds, and was loosing a lot of blood. They didn't know what happened- I quite frankly, still can't figure out how the frag this happened to you, so nows a better time than never," He leaned a little closer, "Do you know what happened to you, Charlie?"

I once again, started to wrack my brain for answers, trying really hard to concentrate, but I couldn't think of anything. My brain felt like it was in a sluggish haze, and I couldn't for the life of me remember anything past the time when I was chasing Sideswipe down the hall.

Finally, I just gave up and shook my head, "I...I can't, I'm sorry. I don't remember."

Ratchet's rose one optic ridge, but didn't comment. Instead, he pulled away from me and walked back towards the counter, scribbling something down on his clipboard, "Hopefully, in time you do remember."

I pulled the covers off of my, and then turned to the side so that my feet were hovering over the surface of the glossy floor, just barely touching the ground. "Ratchet, I need to go talk to someone."

He turned around instantly, a frown already on his lips as he shook his head, "Absolutely not! You just had a transfusion hours ago and you need to be on bed rest for at least one day!"

Transfusion? My eyes widened at that. What the hell happened to me?! I kept my worried thoughts to myself as I tried to push myself off the bed, nearly tripping in the process, and and before my face could make contact with the ground, Ratchet's hand reached out and grasped around my arm firmly, holding me until I could balance myself. Faint pain started to ache in my calves, and I looked down to see stitches on my right one. Bruises were already formed on my legs and arms, and it just made me even more terrified before. But as much as I wanted to curl up in a ball, and hide somewhere, I knew that this was more important.

Ratchet lead me back to the bed, and forced me to sit down. Finally, he let go of my hands, and I crossed my arms, giving Ratchet a pointed glare.

He mimicked my arms, "What?"

"I'm not a child, I could've sat myself back down."

He rolled his eyes, but decided it wasn't in his best interest to comment, and went back to the counter where he brought out medicine and lured it into a small cup.

I really need to do this, my mind thought frantically, they all have to know before it's too late. I fidgeted with my hands, before I suddenly found the strength to stand up again, and tried to walk past him again, but he caught my arm and his bright blue eyes narrowed again.

"Charlie." He warned in a condescending tone.

I gave him my best pleading look, "Please Ratchet, just let me go for a few hours and I promise I'll come back. This is important!"

He gave me a long look, "Who are you trying to talk to? Sideswipe?"

I shook my head, "Optimus."

Suddenly, his grip was gone, and he shook his head, grumbling to himself while making a shooing away gesture with his hands. I took that as a "fine, but be quick" and started walking to the door. I wobbled a little bit, and my legs felt a little numb, especially in my feet, but I managed to pouch through it.

"Wait!" He exclaims, which makes me flinch again before I turned around.

"What?" I snapped at him, slightly annoyed.

"Wait for First Aid outside, I'm sending him with you. Just to make sure you stay safe." He said, his eyes dimming and I knew he was comming. I nodded, before pushing open the doors to the human Med Bay, and wobbled out before resting against a wall, waiting for whoever First Aid is.

Not only a few moments later did a white and red robot appear down the hallway. He was not as tall as I thought he would be. Maybe I few more inches off of Ironhide, but that was about it. I glanced up at him, and when we locked eyes, he nodded at me and I nodded back. I then pushed myself off the wall, and made my way as fast as I could to Optimus's office.

I needed to warn everybody, and I was already afraid I was running out of time.


(Sideswipe's POV)

I used the twin bond to track the fragger down, and I found him in the Autobot Rec Room, sitting in a chair at the corner of the room with a sketchbook in his hands, and a large piece of granite for a stencil. Something about the calm, cool way he was acting seemed to piss me off even further. I've known Sunny all my life, he's done some shady things, but this has had to be the lowest.

My fists clenched, and I stormed over to him, yelling across the twin bond, ::You fragger!::

He looked up from his sketchbook, his optics scanning across the room until they landed on me, and widened slightly. He even had the audacity to raise an optic ridge, like he knew he didn't do anything wrong. :: What's wrong with you?::

I forced myself to not strangle him as I calmly walked over to him. My jaw was clenched and my fists were balled so tightly together that it was starting to dent the inside of my palm. But I didn't care. :: What's wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you!?:: I screamed at him.

He instantly shot up from his chair, ::Sides, what is going on?::

::Don't sit here and act so fragging innocent! You deliberately hurt Charlie! And what? Just because we are friends? Get this through your thick, stubborn aft helm! I'M NOT REPLACING YOU!::

His optics narrowed, ::I never said you were replacing me. And why would I touch the squishy?::

I bit down on my lip plates, :: Hmm, I don't know...maybe it's because you're a fragging afthole whose jealous and won't even admit to it!::

He glared at me, and I returned the icy glare.

::You're wrong Sides.:: He finally said, turning around to walk back to his chair, but I grabbed his arms and yanked him back this way.

::YOU ALMOST KILLED HER!::

::I didn't even touch her!:: He countered.

::You lying, jealous fragger!:: I spat.

His optics narrowed into slits, and his jaw clenched. And then he lurched for me, bringing both of us to the ground. His emotions across the twin bond were wide open, and anger, rage, and hurt ran across. Hurt? Why would he feel hurt when he was the one who hurt her?! He brought me up before slamming me hard into the ground, then hissed in the twin bond, ::I don't know what delusion you're in right now, but let's get one thing straight. I didn't touch the fragging squishy, and I am not a lying, jealous fragger.::

I growled, rolling under him and then tackled him. I gave him a good punch the the face, and even more rage surged through the twin bond. He slapped me, and then I kicked him, before he kneed me in the abdomen, and I fell off of him. I scrambled up to my feet, just as Sunny gotten to his, and we both glared at each other vents heaving and jaws tightly clenched.

Prowl finally raced into the room, and Jazz held me back, while Prowl handled Sunstreaker. He kept fighting against Prowl's grip, but I just stood there, vent heaving while the anger bled away. I froze, optics wide while I watched him, growling out curses. His optics were turning darker and darker by the second, and anger was still there in the bond, but what really shocked me was the hurt and betrayal Sunny felt. He was actually hurt that I attacked him the way I did.

"What the frag is wrong with you two?" Jazz hissed, his accent disappeared.

I ignored him, and stormed out of the Rec Room.

It's not him...he didn't do it.


(Charlie's POV)

I walked in to Optimus's office, and I sat myself down and told him everything. From the point where I got my parent's letter, all the way to my encounter with Laserbeak, trying to remember every important detail. The only thing that kept me going was probably the reassurance that Optimus was a nice, understanding person, and he probably wouldn't kick me off the base.

Well, one could only hope...

But nevertheless, I told him everything, and he quietly watched me the whole time, nodding whenever he felt the need to. His expression was unreadable, and I was starting to hate it when people do that. But I was mostly anxious the whole time, not for telling Optimus, but for this bad feeling I kept getting. I felt like something bad was going to happen soon, and it was better that I got everything I could off my chest before it comes. I would hope that admitting all this would try and stop it, but that bad feeling deep down just feels like whatever's coming is going to be inevitable.

So at the end of my confession, I ran a hand through my messy hair tiredly, and dared myself to meet his unreadable gaze. He didn't say anything for the past few moments, and that made me even more anxious. This horrible feeling wouldn't go away, no matter how many times I tried to push it to the back of my mind.

"So...?" I trailed off awkwardly.

"I am glad you shared this information Charlie, but a little disappointed you haven't acted sooner."

My heart fell, and I stared down at the ground, "I'm sorry...I was too scared he would hurt Jenna or someone else...I'm sorry."

"It is okay," Optimus said, I looked up and he gave me a comforting gaze, "You are not a soldier, and I do not expect you to immediately come to me when you felt that you or someone else was endangered if you did," And then his look became unreadable again, "What I don't understand is how you've woken up in the hospital. Do you think that maybe Laserbeak attacked you again?"

The hairs on my skin bristled at the name of the evil, sadistic Bird Con. It probably would make sense, but I just wished I could remember more clearly. My head still hurt every time I tried to think to hard on remembering.

"You should probably get back to the Med Bay, Ratchet is already comming me repeatedly." He said, and I nodded, standing up from the chair.

I then locked eyes on him, and said in such a soft voice that it was merely a whisper, "Thank you for understanding."

He nodded, smiling softly at me even though I knew he was hiding his real expression. I waved goodbye before walking out of the office, and First Aid lead me in the direction of the Med Bay.

On our walk past the Rec Room, I heard shouts and the sounds of metal banging against metal, before more shouts and then the sound of growling before a familiar silver robot walked out.

"Sideswipe!" I yelled up at him, and he paused, before turning around. He looked at First Aid, and they had a silent conversation over comm link before he finally bent down and held up his palm. I carefully made my way on to his palm, sitting down as he stood up carefully, and we continued our walk to the Med bay.

"What was all that shouting in the Rec Room?" I asked, staring up at him curiously.

He averted his gaze, and I crossed my arms, "Sideswipe, I know you heard me..."

He let out an airy sigh, "I fought Sunny."

My eyes widened, "What?! Why?"

"I thought he was the one who hurt you."

I sighed, moving over so that I was close enough that I could reach out to his thumb, and gave him a comforting squeeze before looking back up at him. His optics held guilt, slight anger, along with worry.

"Sides, it wasn't him." I finally said.

"I know that, and now I feel like a huge fragging jerk." He muttered bitterly.

"Do you want to talk about this?" I asked, tracing small shapes on his finger.

He shook his head, "Not really."

"Well, if you're not gonna talk to me about it, I think you should talk to Sunstreaker."

He shook his head again, his jaw clenching tightly, "He's too pissed to talk to right now." He then sighed, finally meeting my gaze with his marvelous blue optics, "I really messed up, Charlie. And I think he hates you a little more now."

I shrugged my shoulders, "We all mess up, that's just life."

"I was just so angry, I was furious that Sunny would do something like that to you, and I lost control..." He trailed off.

"You guys are brothers," I started off, "You both depend on each other. I like the spark split relationship you guys have with each other and I don't want to ruin it, or get between you. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," He said softly, "Sunny and I will work it out eventually, this isn't the first time we fought each other."

I frowned, crossing my arms, "Well I still feel like this is all my fault."

"It's not."

I looked pack at him, "Just please, promise me you guys will work things out. I feel guilty for a lot of things as it is, please, just work things out."

Sideswipe stared at me for a long time, before finally, he nodded, and I smiled up at him. I couldn't explain why it felt so right to be in his arms right now, it was strange, really. All I know is that his fingers are really warm, and I curled myself in his finger. He chuckled softly as we continued the trek to the Med Bay. I closed my eyes, and let myself be soothed by the warm vibrations.


And chapter done! Whoo! Tell me what ya think, please review!