1Human Interactions

Patient Confidentiality

By Paperkat

07/27/07

Disclaimer: The Transformers movie and all related material belong to Hasbro, Dreamworks and Paramount, concept originally created and licensed through Takara Co. LTD.

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Ratchet pulled into the alley behind Mikaela's home and wondered, not for the first time, if he was doing the right thing. It was true that he was under orders from Optimus to substantiate his theories of Cybertonian presence causing harm to humans, but Ratchet was still unsure if his decided course of action was advisable. The Autobot's leader had contacted Defense Secretary Keller, but apparently when their facility had been breached, Sector Seven's protocols had wiped all of their data from their computers, and the former agents of Sector Seven were less than forth coming.

So now Ratchet was left with conducting the research from the offset. He had gone as far as he could from the Cybertonian end, which was to say he reconfirmed all that he knew about his own kind's physiology and all of their sundry radiation emissions. He then compared that to all known radiation research on Earth. So far he had not found a match. Which meant he had to perform tests, and for tests to be conducted he needed test subjects.

Ratchet's motor rumbled with his indecision. It was a logical course of action, to request the aid of one of their human friends, but at the same time it felt so contrary to involve them in something that could be potentially very dangerous. And on top of that it was left to him to decide who would be tested. A decision he did not relish making, mostly because he knew the inevitable conclusion.

Sam was immediately ruled out, because of his constant proximity to Bumblebee. Not only did Ratchet want this research to be kept secret from the younger bot, but he also needed someone that would spend at least a half-day's cycle with no contact with a Cybertonian. Similarly, Captain Lennox, his troops, the Defense Secretary, Maggie Madsen and Glen Whitmann were eliminated as choices due to the lack of Cybertonian contact. With their numbers so few, the Autobots could ill afford to spare even one of them to go live near one of these other humans. There really was only one logical choice, and if he was lucky, her voice would run out before his audio circuit fried.

He and Mikaela had not started on good terms with each other, and though it pained him to admit it, it was mostly, however not entirely, his fault. He had not realized and still did not understand why simple biological facts were embarrassing to humans. What function did it serve for them to not only ignore but also utterly deny the truth about their bodies? But his error in pointing out Sam's high level of hormones was only his first mistake in dealing with Mikaela.

His second, and most damaging mistake had been treating her as if she knew him. It had been natural, almost instinctual for him to lash out at her while he had been working to reattach Bumblebee's legs. It was exactly how he would have treated any of his brothers in arms. He had come to the conclusion long ago that sometimes soldiers needed someone to blame them, or they would blame themselves, and it was easier for them to accept that he forgave them than for them to forgive themselves. Sometimes it was the only balm he had for the wounds no one could see. Unfortunately at this point the habit had become too ingrained to reverse, and Mikaela had received a heavy dose of it.

A crashing noise pulled Ratchet from his musings. The back entrance to Mikaela's home was still quaking as the human teen practically tumbled down the stairs in haste. Instantly alert to a possible situation, Ratchet scanned Mikaela and took note of her vitals. Though her heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and synapses activity were elevated, it wasn't anything Ratchet thought was unhealthy.

A second bang drew Ratchet's attention back to the domicile. An older adult female human had thrown the door open, but had not actually left the building. Ratchet reasoned by the apparent age of the woman and the fact that she seemed to reside with Mikaela, that she was Mikaela's female parent. Her mother, Ratchet corrected himself. Sam had become quite irritated when he had used such terminology to describe the boy's mother.

"Don't think I'm going to foot the bill for that Mikaela!" the woman yelled at the girl's back.

"I didn't ask you to!" Mikaela shouted in return as she whipped around to glare. "Look, just drop it, ok? It won't be your problem in six months anyway."

"Thank the Lord for small favors," the woman said sarcastically before adding, "and don't be making all that noise when you come back."

The crash the door made when the older female closed it almost drowned out Mikaela's 'Whatever'. Ratchet had not spent much time with humans but he had seen enough of Mikaela's anger to know that she was very upset. However, before he could make a hasty retreat, she spotted him. Of course it would have been almost impossible for her to miss him, considering his alternate form was florescent yellow with reflective strips down his sides.

For a moment he though she was going to ignore him, which disturbed him more than he thought it should. But Mikaela had never back down to anyone to his knowledge, and with a quick look back towards the house she approached him. Out of habit, Ratchet's scanners catalogued everything about the human in front of him.

"You have endured some form or medical procedure," he blurted out.

"What?" Ratchet was not sure who was more surprised, he or Mikaela. That had not been what he had meant to say. "How did you know?" she asked defensively.

"I detect the presence of pharmaceutical disinfectants, isopropyl alcohol and if I am not mistaken, the bandage on the interior of your elbow indicates that you have had fluid… blood removed for the purposes of analysis." Ratchet was immensely grateful Ironhide was not there to witness him babbling. The weapons officer would have been quite amused at Ratchet's flustered state.

"Yeah, well that was just routine stuff," Mikaela told him, but the way she then covered her bandage with her opposite hand made the Autobot medic suspicious. With little concern for the consequences, Ratchet scanned farther.

"And your body chemistry has been altered. I don't…" but before Ratchet could finish his thought Mikaela interrupted him.

"Look Ratchet, as amusing as my hormones may be to you, I'm not really in the mood to play science fair experiment right now, alright? If you're looking for Bee and Sam they're not here."

"Actually, I've come to speak with you," he told her truthfully leaving out the part where he had contemplated escape. Mikaela seemed very surprised by this, and her answer reflected it.

"Oh."

The silence hung heavy between them. Ratchet remained unmoving while Mikaela's eyes kept settling on his various lights as if trying to determine if any of them would be the equivalent of looking him in the eye. When Mikaela's muscles started to clench in obvious irritation, Ratchet finally got up the nerve to speak.

"May we please go somewhere to talk in private? I have noticed that I seem to draw more attention than the other Autobots in their alternate forms."

Ratchet did not know whether it was compassion for his plight or just relief that he had broke the tension, but Mikaela visibly relaxed and even gave him the smallest of smiles.

"Yeah, sure. I need out of here anyway."

Ratchet had not actually considered the possibility of having to carry Mikaela around inside him until she approached his door, clearly intent on getting inside. He had never had a human, or any other creature for that matter, climb into him before. Optimus had described it as an 'interesting experience' and Ironhide had refused to comment at all. Bumblebee had made some cryptic comment about it being dependant on the human, but wouldn't elaborate.

He was so distracted by thinking about Mikaela entering his cab that he missed her opening his driver's side door and hoisting herself in. When Mikaela attempted to anchor herself to his steering wheel, so that she could lean out and close the door, Ratchet finally reacted by closing it himself.

Whatever he had imagined it would be like was nothing like the actuality of it. Once seated inside, Ratchet's scanners could no longer detect her, and of course his optics were useless in his alternate form and unlike other Autobots his external sensors were very minimal because his scanners were so advanced. So effectively, other than his audio input, he was completely blind to Mikaela's presence.

"Is everything alright?" Mikaela asked hesitantly. The way her voice reverberated within him was quite fascinating. It was almost like he could feel her speaking instead of hearing her speak. It was very reminiscent of the way Cybertonians naturally communicated with each other, except of course she spoke English.

"Yes, everything is fine," Ratchet told her with false confidence. Instead of focusing on the eerie feeling of having her disembodied voice within his own head, Ratchet pulled out of Mikaela's alley and proceeded to drive out of town.

The trip was made in silence and thankfully Mikaela did not wiggle around too much. Her putting on the seat belt had been more than enough sensation for him to deal with. But by the time they made it out of the city, Ratchet had discovered that he could actually feel both the weight and the warmth of Mikaela's body, and while it was no where near as precise or sensitive as his scanners, it was reassuring that he 'knew' where she was.

"I have reversed my position," Ratchet suddenly divulged, not wanting to wait until they stopped to start this conversation.

"And what position would that be?" Mikaela asked, and Ratchet thought she sounded genuinely confused. Which in turn confused him. He had been under the impression that the main reason Mikaela did not like him was because of his refusal to assist her in learning what she had called 'Autobot First Aid'.

"It was not an unreasonable request to learn Cybertonian physiology for the purposes of emergency medical care," Ratchet reminded her.

"Oh that," she said. At that moment Ratchet would have given his high grade ration to be able to confirm with his scanners the flush of nervousness in her voice.

"Yes, that. I believe it could be possible, however I do have several health concerns that I feel need to be addressed. But I now hesitate to start, if you are feeling unwell."

"What this?" Ratchet had to assume that the movement he felt inside was her indicating her bandage. "It's nothing big, it isn't life threatening or anything."

The fact that she had immediately gone to assuring him that it was non-lethal only heightened his suspicions, but he had nothing to confront her with, so Ratchet rechecked the scans he had taken earlier and brought up another worry.

"You have artificially altered your body chemistry. This was not apart of my original protocol outline. These parameters were not accounted for," he told her with mild concern. From what he could tell the change was minor, but conflicted with what he understood to be the human female normal.

"Its just birth control pills Ratchet," she informed him, and again he could just make out nervousness in her voice.

Ratchet processed that information, but was unable to come up with any logical reasons why Mikaela had taken such a measure.

"But oral contraceptives act on the female human reproductive systemto inhibit normal fertility," Ratchet said with confusion. There were a few medical conditions that were treated this way, but Ratchet could not detect these within Mikaela. "It would negate the act of mating. Should you not inform Sam that you…"

Mikaela's response was immediate and loud.

"No! God, no!" She protested. She muttered something to herself that Ratchet just could not make out. "I'd only tell him that if I wanted him to run for the hills."

Quite certain he was going to spend the rest of the evening in a state of utter confusion, Ratchet decided to pull over to give Mikaela his undivided attention.

"I do not understand. Why would Sam run in any direction if you informed him that you are preventing his ability to produce a child."

The concept of disabling the ability to create life was beyond Ratchet capabilities of understanding. He would have been ecstatic to be blessed with the function of reproduction. He had watched others spark new life, and had seen the miracle for what it was. At one time he had thought he was up to the task, but his attempt had been less than successful.

"Look," Mikaela said with a bit of frustration. "The last thing a teenaged boy wants to think about or discuss in detail is a baby or the possibility of a baby."

"Human males do not desire to produce offspring?" How did the species survive if neither the male of the female wished to procreate?

"Not at seventeen they don't!"

"But this is the age where human males are at their prime," Ratchet tried to reason. "It makes no logical sense. You humans act very contrary to your own biology."

"Well, we can't exactly choose the exact moment to bring our offspring on-line," Mikaela told him flippantly.

"Yes, you are not dependent on an external source with which to reproduce, a source that is now destroyed."

Ratchet had not meant to say that and regretted it as soon as the silence fell between them again. It was not Mikaela's fault the Allspark was gone. It really was not even Sam's fault. Optimus had already declared that the Allspark had to be destroyed in order to end the war, but the bitterness Ratchet felt at its loss was still strong.

"I'm sorry I spoke without thinking, Ratchet," Mikaela said quietly. "I didn't mean to make light of your situation."

"As we come from completely different backgrounds it is understandable that certain mistakes will be made." It was Mikaela's turn to sound confused.

"Did you accept my apology or did you just brush me off?"

Ratchet's motor rumbled with amusment.

"Your apology was accepted."

"So, there were some health concerns?" Mikaela prompted.

Ratchet was pleasantly surprised when Mikaela calmly and rationally discussed all of his concerns and the tests he wished to perform. She asked relevant and insightful questions that bolstered his confidence that his plan was the proper course of action.

"I know you said that radiation is your main concern," Mikaela told him "but when we were actually in the dam, I didn't see anything that said 'radioactive'. And believe me I looked. After Simmons used that Geiger counter or whatever it was on Sam and I, I started to wonder if we were going to start growing extra limbs or something."

Neither of the humans had said anything about this previously.

"He used a device to scan you? What did it do?" Ratchet questioned.

"I don't know. It just made clicking noises. Oh! He did say something about 15 RADS. I remember that."

It didn't mean much without an idea of what Simmons was actually scanning for, but he was not going to say so to Mikaela.

"It could be that Sector Seven had already determined that there is no danger," Ratchet said trying to alleviate at least some of Mikaela's fears. "However I would feel more comfortable if I could confirm this for myself. Sector Seven did not give me the impression that their personnel's health and safety was their first concern."

"So let me lay this all out so that we both understand what's happening here," Mikaela suggested.

"Go on," Ratchet encouraged.

"You want me to spend exact amounts of time with and away from Bumblebee, you, Optimus and Ironhide. And during the course of these tests you want me to wear monitors and take biological samples, but you don't want me to tell Bee or Sam."

"Exactly," Ratchet confirmed, delighted that she grasped the concept so perfectly. The delight was short lived.

"It's going to cost you," she told him simply.

Again Ratchet was completely blindsided by the complete illogical turn of events.

"What?"

"Well, you're asking me to potentially lie to them in order to keep it a secret right?" Mikaela asked in a tone that meant she knew exactly that was what could be require, so Ratchet did not bother to answer. And she did not need one. "Well, I want some form of compensation."

"What could you possibly desire as payment?" Ratchet asked completely bewildered.

"What do you know about birthday parties?"