AN: I got a review and it inspired me to quickly do this chapter. Sam and Bumblebee come in, woo! Review for the next chapter, pwease. *w* They actually get me writing.

Reviews: Thanks to all who reviewed! (Mikaela the Cat, Prototron MJ Tornada, PrimesSPARROW, nequam-tenshi)

Chapter Three
How the Organic is Found Out

Sam nursed a coffee from Starbucks in between his hands, not even bothering to pretend to drive. No one was out this early, about an hour before dawn even looked like it was coming. He needn't worry about playing driver, or asking Bumblebee to get out his holoform and do it himself.

To say Sam was tired was an understatement. His best friend had just turned up missing, his mother was freaking out, Sam's parents were freaking out because Miles had been like a second son, and he was freaking out. The first night Miles was gone Sam hadn't slept a wink, and the second night Sam had managed to get to sleep, but then Bumblebee had woken him up at some unholy hour, going on about Jazz being resurrected.

Sam had barely been awake when Bumblebee had told excitedly told him, was barely awake now, and what little start on actually functioning his brain had managed had halted completely. He knew that Ratchet had planned to use the Allspark shard to try to bring Jazz online again, had tried several times in fact, but for some reason it had never worked, and even Optimus had lost hope by then. Sam had thought the two worst words possible when Bumblebee had told him, and now that was all his brain would focus on.

Zombie aliens.

Jesus, it was too early for this nonsense, and the coffee wasn't doing much to help. He stared blankly out of Bumblebee's windshield, and was startled when Bumblebee actually bothered to speak.

"You could sleep," Bumblebee offered softly.

Sam shook his head, "Naw. So Ratchet finally got the Allspark shard to work?"

"I assume so," Bumblebee replied. "This late, or early, I can't imagine Ratchet working on Jazz unless he was extremely frustrated at not being able to bring him back. Or it could have been either Optimus or Ironhide, though Ironhide is unlikely. None of the three soldiers are there at the moment."

"I can just see Ratch getting pissed enough that it scares Primus into making the Allspark shard work." Sam commented tiredly, getting a snort out of Bumblebee. "Can't wait to actually talk to Jazz, though. Never got the chance before."

"Actually…" Bumblebee trailed off, clearing his vocalizer. "Optimus requested that I not bring you."

"Why?"

"I believe it is because Jazz is getting used to being alive again, and hasn't really been around organics in a non-battle situation, outside of your first meeting with all of us. His suddenly coming back might have left him disoriented, as well."

Sam looked at the Autobot symbol on the steering wheel in amusement, "So you're going ahead and bringing me anyway."

"I am your Guardian; I am capable of keeping you safe."

Miles met Optimus as he was coming out of the recharge hangar he shared with Ratchet and Ironhide. Jazz had yet to be included in that lot, as Ratchet still had him confined to the Medbay for the most part, much to the Saboteur's chagrin.

"What's on the agenda today, boss 'bot?" Miles asked, falling into a brisk walk or slow trot at the Prime's peds.

"Bumblebee is coming to see Jazz," Optimus replied, happy to note that the teen's black eye seemed to be fading already. "And in fact he'll be here in about five minutes, he just commed me."

The two came to a stop when they came upon Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet all standing together on the tarmac right around where Bumblebee would pull up. Miles yawned, rubbed at his eyes, and stretched leisurely, looking out at the horizon.

"I still can't believe that Sam's car has been sentient all this time and I never noticed."

Jazz smirked at the tiny organic, "We ah good at hidin', lil' buddy."

The Saboteur had been informed of the delicate situation concerning Miles an hour after the teen went back to sleep. He knew for a fact now that Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide were happy to see Bumblebee coming on base for more than just a small get together because of it. They were all hoping that the Scout would be able to plan the best way to tell Sam that not only had his missing best friend been with them the whole time, but had troubles with his father, too.

Miles wandered off to go grab a granola bar with a roll of his eyes at Jazz's comment, and a minute later Bumblebee pulled up. He transformed oddly, a servo behind his leg for some reason, but none of the Autobots really paid attention to the odd transformation. They all got bored sometimes, or wanted a way to show off. Jazz himself had broken a hip strut showing off to Prowl while transforming.

"Jazz!" Bumblebee practically bellowed, and he would have hugged the Saboteur if it wasn't for Sam hiding behind his ped.

"Bee! Ah am offended, where's mah hug?" Jazz questioned, visor flashing and tone dripping with mock hurt. He picked up an organic head peaking around Bumblebee's ped.

"Miles?"

Sam's voice rang out in confusion from behind Bumblebee, almost enough to make Bumblebee wince because he had disobeyed a direct command from his Prime by bringing him there. The uttered name brought all of the mechs' attention to a surprised looking Miles, having just walked about five feet in front of Optimus peds when Sam spotted him, granola bar in hand.

And in an instant Sam was on him, grabbing a fistful of Miles' shirt and shaking him.

"This is where you've been?" Sam growled, "My parents and I have been searching all over for you! You could've called or at least texted, they would have let you! Your mother's worried herself sick, and you know how she is! She's weak hearted normally, to top it all off she's pregnant, and this is what you do to her?"

Pregnant. The word rang in Optimus' processor for a moment, because everything about why Miles had chosen now to run suddenly made so much sense. It wasn't because the injuries were getting harder to explain, or even because he and Sam had started to drift apart. It was all because Miles' mother was pregnant, and the only logical conclusion was that this baby actually belonged to the man that made Miles run in the first place, because otherwise Miles would have stayed to protect it.

Miles just let Sam shake him, not even protesting or trying to defend himself against his friend. This only fueled Sam's anger.

"You don't even have anything to say for yourself, you fucking asshole?" Sam snarled, and then reared his right arm back and punched Miles in the face with a sickening crunch.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus snapped instantly, "Control your charge!"

Bumblebee glanced at his Prime in surprise, but reached down and grabbed Sam none the less. Fig and Epps had once ended up in an argument so bad that they ended up rolling on the ground, and Optimus had ordered all of the Autobots to stay out of it. After that it was a general rule that they didn't get in between the organics when they were fighting, and as much as Bumblebee would want to step in if Miles struck back, he wouldn't.

Except Optimus had ordered him to, and Bumblebee had already disobeyed one order that day, and that had turned out badly. Now he had a still raging Sam squirming in his servo, mumbling under his breath and glaring at Miles. Miles was holding his face, but that didn't stop the few drops of blood escaping from his fingers and falling to the ground. At the sight of it Sam seemed to lose most of his anger, visibly deflating in his Guardian's hands.

Optimus reached down and shifted Miles into a large servo gently, the teen just holding his face and letting him, before making a beeline towards the Medbay. Ratchet watched him go, visibly torn between following or staying.

"Shouldn't you go with them?" Bumblebee asked, frowning at the three mechs in front of him and the way they seemed almost nervous.

"Optimus has advanced enough scanners to see if something is broken, Miles should know of how to stop or at least control the blood flow." Ratchet responded automatically, more trying to convince himself than Bumblebee. "Though I probably should go, I do not have much faith in these two."

"Faith in them for what?" Bumblebee asked, narrowing his optics.

Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet all glanced at each other, and Jazz held up his servos, stepping back.

"Ah just came back 'n dun know Samuel tha' well."

Ironhide revved his engine, stepping back beside the Saboteur. "Ratchet, I'm better at slagging Decepticons. You're better at being a Medic, and Medics have to deal with emotions too."

Ratchet flashed both of them a look that promised pain, processor desperately trying to come up with a lie that made sense and would be easy for Miles to remember and fall into. But the truth was there, waiting to come out.

Optimus placed Miles on one of the berths, activating his holoform and placing it just in front of the teen.

"Move your hands." Optimus said gently, Miles shaking his head.

This entire time, and the teen hadn't even made a sound, not even a whimper, and wasn't even crying, though there were tears in his eyes. Optimus wasn't sure what to make of that, but he was more worried about getting the teen's hands away from his face and being able to scan his nose without them getting in the way. He held a rag to the teen's face to catch any more blood, one that Ratchet used to clean up grease and oil, but really it could be used for this too, and it was better than Miles just using his hands.

"It's not broken," Optimus sighed in relief. "I'm sorry, I told Bumblebee not to bring him, but he didn't listen."

Miles just nodded, and now he wasn't even looking at Optimus, but he was trying to push the Prime's hands away, trying to hold the rag for himself. Optimus let him, letting his focus transfer to his bipedal mode to search for something better to catch the blood, for something to clean off the teen's hands with because they were covered in already drying blood. He turned around for a few seconds, and by the time he turned back Miles had his knees up against his chest, arms around them and still holding the rag to his face, but now his bangs were mostly hiding his face from view.

Optimus felt his Spark well up with emotion for the teen, too many to bother naming. The teen had been through so much, did so much in more consideration of others than he ever showed to himself, but he still refused to break.

"The pregnancy is the real reason you decided to leave, isn't it? It's his this time, and you were hoping that because of that he'd leave it alone, wouldn't lay a finger on it like he did to you, and even if it broke your mother's heart you thought it was more likely he'd leave your future sibling alone if you weren't there, because finding out what her husband did to you could possibly break her heart even more."

Miles tensed up, because every dam had to swell before it finally broke.

"God, Sam-he's gonna be-be so pissed, so hurt when he finds out." Miles managed to choke out even with the stuttering, finally crying, finally talking, finally doing something that showed how hurt he was on the inside, even if it was shoved behind concern for his friend.

Optimus watched as the teen before him literally fell apart, Spark clenching. Every time he had fallen apart during the long war he'd had someone there, usually Ratchet or even Ironhide, understanding with a comforting touch. It was hard to work for others, always thinking about them, giving little thought to yourself even when it was you being affected just as much, if not more than the others. He'd done the same for Ratchet on several occasions, the Medic feeling surprisingly similar, and he couldn't stop himself from imagining that Miles' did too, the teen in charge of everything that he had set up so that others wouldn't be affected, but nothing to stop stuff from happening to him.

It was always strange to touch in holoforms, a body you weren't used to, but the humans were so similar to them, and Optimus just couldn't stop himself from moving, reaching out and pulling the teen against his chest, holding him close as Miles let out a choked sob. Optimus knew he should be giving thought to whether his mechs were actually managing to explain the sticky situation to Sam and Bumblebee, but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment, focusing entirely on trying to hold Miles together.