Chapter takes place right after the last one. I know. It's like, some kind of miracle or something.

15. Exhausted

It had finally gotten quiet. The med bay was empty except for Sunny and himself and that was fine with Sideswipe. He shouldn't have been up; his joints ached and his legs shook as he hobbled over to the berth in the corner, using one of Ratchet's tool carts as a crutch. Low energy warnings kept popping up in the corner of his vision. He could feel the strain in his frame, but a little thing like that wasn't going to keep him from his goal.

There wasn't enough room on there for the both of them, so Sideswipe had to settle for leaning over, lifting Sunny's arm enough to slither his torso into the narrow space between his twin and the edge of the berth. It wasn't very comfortable; his legs kept threatening to buckle. But he was there, close enough to feel his brother's spark energy and so he laid his head down above Sunny's shoulder, next to his twin's head.

He could see the weld lines where Ratchet had reattached it. He'd done a good job, the lines were almost invisible. Sunny's missing leg had been found—what was left of it, anyway—and was lying on a stand off to the side. Sideswipe had overheard the medics talking, had heard that it would take at least three or four orns to fix it and reattach it and that was only if the supply ships managed to get through. Sideswipe knew Ratchet, though. He knew that one way or another, the medic would manage, he would make sure Sunny was whole again.

Sideswipe was tired. More than anything, he wanted to lie down and slip into recharge. That would mean leaving Sunny, though, and that wasn't something he could do yet.

"You shouldn't be up."

He had to power up his optics—funny, he hadn't remembered off-lining them—to turn and see the medic standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Ratch'," he said.

"How are you even standing?" the red and white 'bot asked, coming into the room. The doors shut behind him but not before Sideswipe caught a glimpse of the security officers posted outside.

"Because I'm me," he said.

Ratchet chuffed and made his way over to Sunny's leg. Paneling over his forearms slid apart and tools folded out as he began to tinker with the limb.

Sideswipe watched him for a moment and then said, "How's he doing?"

"He's stable. Which is better than what you're going to be if you keep pushing yourself. You nearly fried your circuits pulling that stunt with the energon binders."

Sideswipe smiled a little at the memory and readjusted himself, careful not to jostle his brother. Primus, but his legs hurt. A dim light flared up, he started to smell burning wire. Ratchet had realigned the upper and lower leg and appeared to be re-wiring them back together.

"Why didn't you tell me about him," Ratchet said quietly.

"I did," Sideswipe said.

The 'bot looked up from his work and said, "You told me he was a Neutral."

"I told you he didn't join the Autobots. It's not my fault you took it the wrong way."

"Don't try to pull that on me. I know you, Sideswipe. You're a lot smarter that you let on. You knew exactly what you were doing."

Sideswipe could feel his systems starting to power-up again. His temperature was rising, soon his coolant fans would activate.

Slag. I don't need this right now, he thought. Out loud, he said, "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?"

Ratchet's tools slid back up more forcefully than they should have. "Of course it matters. If we had known, if I had known… we could have done something. We could have helped you. The both of you."

"By doing what? Staging a rescue mission? I didn't even know where he was stationed and half the mechs on base would rather see him dead anyway!"

For a moment, medic and patient stared at each other.

"We could have done something," Ratchet said. "This Prime isn't like Sentinel. He would have listened."

"Yeah, right," Sideswipe said. "Right before he booted me out or had me shut down."

Ratchet was silent for a moment. Sideswipe heard his vents kick on.

"You still should have told someone. I can't even begin to imagine what this has been like for you. Why would—"

"And how the frag was I supposed to do that? 'Sorry my brother killed your friend because he's a Decepticon. No hard feeling, right?!' That would have gone over well!" He had pushed himself up on one trembling arm. The irritating warnings were flaring up again. "It was better no one knew. Then I could stay here and then maybe Sunny could have… he might've… and what the slag do you know about it, anyway?"

Sideswipe let himself slump back down and buried his face against his twin's shoulder again. His entire frame was shaking. He wanted Ratchet to leave. He wanted everyone to leave, just let the war and the questioning and the glares all fall off the face of Cybertron and leave Sunny and him alone. They didn't understand. They could never understand.

Unfortunately, Ratchet wasn't finished.

"Prowl wants you both put into temporary stasis until this can be resolved," he said.

"What?" Sideswipe said and lifted his head. "Why?"

"Why do you think, Sideswipe!" the medic said, finally losing his temper. For a moment his fingers hooked into claws and Sideswipe wondered if he would hit him. But the Autobot just stood there, his optic-covers too bright. "Your brother was a Decepticon. He's responsible for a lot of dead Autobots, some of them your own teammates!"

"So?"

"'So?' 'So?' They're questioning your loyalty, idiot! They're in the conference room right now discussing what to do with you."

"But I didn't do anything!" Sideswipe said. He pushed himself up, back onto his feet. It took a few nano-kliks to find his balance.

"That doesn't matter," Ratchet said. The way he looked at Sideswipe… he almost seemed scared. "You're twins. You're practically the same mech. For all they know, you've been giving your brother information this whole time—"

"I would never do that."

"And how is Command supposed to know that? Take your word for it? After you lied to everyone?"

"I didn't lie."

"It's close enough," Ratchet said. The anger and fear seemed to drain out of him and he slumped, optics offlined, leaning against a nearby berth to support himself. "Primus, Sideswipe. You really know how to make a mess of things."

Sideswipe wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had to reach out and grab onto Sunny's berth before he hit the floor. He really shouldn't be standing.

"I don't think it'll come to that," Ratchet said. "With Sentinel… maybe. But Optimus is more, shall I say, merciful. I don't think he'll deactivate you. Even so, I don't see how you expect your brother to function once he's repaired."

"We've got him now," Sideswipe said. "I'm here. I mean, yeah, he can be a real slag-head, but if he's with me, it'll be okay."

Ratchet's optics came online and he fixed Sideswipe with a deadpan stare. "You really believe that? You think you can make everything better just by being here? You'll think he'll just turn into a good little Autobot after all of this?"

Sideswipe scowled. "Not exactly. Not at first, anyway. But he'll get better, you said so yourself. We're back together; things will work out." He looked down and traced along his brother's fingers. "And then we'll find the fragger who did this and scrap him."

The medic was silent. It took Sideswipe a moment to notice and he looked up to find Ratchet staring at him with… was that pity?

"What?" he said.

"You don't know?" Ratchet said.

"Don't know what? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ratchet didn't answer right away. Sideswipe watched his expression darken. The medic looked to Sunny and then off to the right. Finally, he straightened and walked over to Sideswipe, stopping just in front of him and gestured to Sunny's chest. Sideswipe winced. He'd been trying not to look at it, to look at the glowing pink lines that ran from the gaping wound to the artificial pump perched to the side. While the injury hadn't breached Sunny's spark chamber, it had demolished his energon pump. That lay on a lower tray where the medical drones could work on piecing it back together. The only reason Sunny was alive was because of the pod shaped machine.

"What do you see?" Ratchet said.

"The frag do you mean, 'What do I see?'" he said. "Someone shot him."

Ratchet shook his head. "His armor is bent outwards. See how the edges are ragged? The only weapon capable of penetrating your brother's armor would be something like a high-density plasma cannon, and that would have melted the edges. This was torn."

Sideswipe started to feel a chill creeping up his legs. He was glad he was holding onto the berth as his knees nearly buckled.

"You mean someone… some Autobot…"

"This wasn't done by an Autobot, Sideswipe," Ratchet said. His tone was low and soft, probably meant to be comforting. It did little to help the furious whining noise in Sideswipe's processor. "This is where his decal used to be. His Decepticon decal. And now it's gone. Someone made sure to take it off of him."

"Why would anyone want to do that? Everyone knew he… he was…" His fingers had gone numb. It was a curious sensation. "Decepticons? The Decepticons did this to him? His own team did this to him?"

Ratchet did not meet Sideswipe's optics. "That's the only explanation I can come up with."

Without warning, Sideswipe's legs gave out. He almost crashed to the floor. But Ratchet was standing right there and reached out, catching the red 'bot under the arms and hauling him up against his chest.

"Come on," the medic said. "You need to get back to your berth."

"No!" Sideswipe tried to struggle, tried to pull himself back towards Sunny, but his body wouldn't listen. Ratchet was able to half-carry him, half-drag him across the room. "No! Sunny needs me! Take me back!"

"The slag I will. You can't even stand on your own."

"Slaggit, Ratchet!"

The medic had no trouble dropping him onto a berth. When Sideswipe tried to sit up, the medic reached up with one hand and pushed him back down. That one hand was enough to hold him in place.

"Calm down, bolt-head," Ratchet said. He lifted Sideswipe's feet, too, so that he was laying on his back. The next thing Sideswipe knew, the whole med bay swung around. He looked up to the medic and than over to his brother as the red and white 'bot pushed him, berth and all, back the way he had come. Ratchet lined the edges together. A moment later and Sideswipe heard clicking as the edges locked together, forming one, large berth.

"Thanks," Sideswipe mumbled. He started to scoot himself over towards his brother.

"Mmm," Ratchet said.

Sideswipe had to twist himself around a bit so that his face was next to one of Sunny's head arrays. Then he took his brother's hand in his own. As systems started to shut down, cool off, he found that his processor refused to quiet.

The Decepticons. They did this. It was them.

"Go into recharge," Ratchet said. Sideswipe lifted a hand for a half-hearted wave. He almost didn't hear the medic say, "You're going to need it."

A breem or two later and he heard the doors hiss open and Ratchet's footsteps head out. The doors closed and the med bay fell silent. He laid there, quiet and still, listening to the soft whir of the artificial pump.

"Don't worry, bro," he said. "I'm here. And when I find those slag-sucking piles of scrap, I'll make them pay."

Okay, hope that wasn't confusing. I've read it too many times in the last few days to be able to tell anymore. Thanks for all the reviews! Broke my record... I replied to you all (at least, I'm pretty sure I did) through the website because, well, it probably would have been half a page to do it here. But thank you all again. It makes me happy to hear that you like this story.

Next chapter: Bath Time