OK well, I am not putting this on hiatus or anything, but I have been putting in like 70 hour weeks right now. I just don't have in me to write very much after I get home. Hopefully this will tide you over until I can get some time to actually write.
Interlude
Sam had been scared plenty of times in his life—more since he'd bought a certain Camaro than before, to be honest. Even when he was being chased by a giant, evil, alien robot, he wasn't as terrified as he was the moment he opened his eyes in the hospital. The pain alone had been enough to make him want to scream…the thing was though, he couldn't. As Sam came to, he soon realized that the whooshing he heard was actually a respirator that was connected to a tube coming out of a gaping hole in his neck. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't do that either. His entire left side was racked by absolute agony, and his numb, right side wouldn't obey his commands. All he could do way lie there helplessly as his eyes flitted about the room in absolute terror.
"Honey, it's alright," his mother said softly as she appeared in his field of vision. "You're going to be fine. I'm here." She touched his cheek gently and wiped away tears that he hadn't even realized were there. He'd never been all that close to his mother, but at that very moment, he was glad she was there. He gripped her hand tightly with his left hand, ignoring the anguish that surged through him with the motion. "Sweetie, I have to tell the doctors that you're awake. I'll be right back, I promise."
Mere seconds later, a short, Asian man appeared before him. "Sam, my name is Dr. Hung. Can you squeeze my hand?" he asked taking Sam's left hand. "Good. Now how about the right?"
Try as he might, Sam couldn't make his right hand move.
"Alright. Sam, I am going to have you blink if you feel what I am about to do. Can you do that?"
Sam blinked in response and watched as the doctor began to stab at his leg with a tiny needle. He didn't feel a thing. In horror, he realized what was going on. He wanted to start screaming. How had this happened? Like a flood, the memory of being stabbed washed over him. Tears began to flow down his cheeks. The only thing he could think of was how much he wanted Bumblebee to be there.
Dr. Hung cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Could I speak to you both outside?" he asked Sam's parents. He cast Sam a fake smile. "Hang in there, kid."
It should have pissed him off, but Sam was too drugged to be angry. Between the drugs, the pain, and the overwhelming depression he was feeling, he simply didn't have it in him to be pissed. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be sitting safely in Bumblebee's front seat. The Autobot made him feel protected, and Sam couldn't remember feeling as vulnerable as he did right then.
As soon as his parents walked back into the room, Sam began to make a motion like writing with his left hand. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He HAD to make them understand…he just had to.
"Honey, you need to be still," his mother told him trying to hold his hand.
Sam glared at her and went right on making the gesture.
Sam's father sighed. "If I get you a pen and paper, will you stay still after that?"
In reply, Sam stopped moving and waited. He could barely hold the pen when his father pressed it into his fingers. With a little help and a lot of patience, Sam managed to scrawl one half-legible word.
BEE.