AN: Thanks to all who reviewed, and sorry for the long wait!

Chapter Four
Realizations and Talks

Ratchet was still trying to figure out what exactly to say and whether or not he should lie for Miles' sake five minutes later, an angry Sam and a bewildered Bumblebee watching the Medic the whole time. Sam was still in Bumblebee's servo, and the Scout had one optic ridge raised as if to emphasize the fact that the two of them were waiting for an explanation. But Ratchet didn't have one right away, and a quick look at Ironhide revealed that the usually blunt Weapons Specialist was just as awkward about it as the Medic. So Jazz decided to pick up the slack.

"Well, it turns out tha' Mistah Lancastah don't really dig Miles that much, hence the black eye and stuff, ya dig? But Missus Lancastah is apparently all for him, s'pose thas why he ran away since she's got a bun in the oven. Ah read this book, A Child Called It, and Primus, some of ya humans ah seriously messed up if ya can do that to ya sparklings. Just makes me wanna cuddle him close, ya kno-"

"What?" Sam asked sharply, cutting off Jazz before he could continue rambling.

"Jazz!" Ratchet hissed, sending the revived Saboteur a look that promised pain, before looking back at Sam and Bumblebee. "As difficult to understand as that was, Jazz is right. We have found out that Miles is abused by his mech parental unit, and had been planning to run away. We found him and brought him here before he could, however, and we do not plan on allowing him back to spend time alone with Mr. Lancaster."

"Oh, God."

Ironically enough, it was Bumblebee who mumbled the human sentiment, though he neither believed in the human Christian God referred to as Jesus, the holy spirit, God, or whatever other name, a strong believe in Primus, but it seemed to fit. Sam had started saying Cybertronian phrases like slag and pit, even uttered Primus a few times, and without even thinking about it Bumblebee was starting to do the same. Shit, damn, hell instead of slag, frag and pit. God instead of Primus.

But Bumblebee had known that something odd was going on, he'd just never thought it had been anything like that. Mikaela had explained to him, without Sam there, that Miles' story of Trent didn't make out, and Bumblebee had done some minor research on it, if nothing else but to reassure himself that the jock wouldn't strike out at Sam next. He'd discretely followed Trent around for a while to make sure the jock was nowhere near Miles, and sure enough, Miles still ended up using the jock as an excuse.

Bumblebee had left it at that, because what did he care, really? Sam was content to believe this, as it did nothing but cement his hate for the jock, and the Scout just figured that maybe Miles had some odd friends. He'd seen Sam and Miles fight before, wrestle around and bite and hit each other, for nothing more than fun, and to a certain extent he could understand that. Practicing with Ironhide was always fun, if the mech wasn't in a bad mood. And Miles was rarely around the Scout, Sam paranoid that somehow he'd find out, along with the fact that the two seemed to be seeing less and less of each other. Had it been Sam or Mikaela, Bumblebee would have gone to whatever means necessary to find out who dared hurt his Charges like that. But Miles wasn't his Charge, hadn't even known about him, and it was hard to care about someone you never talked to. So Bumblebee didn't.

"Ah think Ah broke them," Jazz shuttered his optics, looking at the two. Sam just stood frozen in Bumblebee's servo, torn between disbelief and the realization of what he should have seen years ago. Bumblebee was doing much the same, faceplates mirroring what Sam and he were feeling almost exactly, except it was months ago instead of years ago, and he didn't feel the horror for it as deeply as Sam did.

"That's a lie," Sam finally muttered in disbelief, though even then he sounded unsure about it. "He would have told me!"

"And why would he have told you, boy?" Ironhide asked, bending to look at Sam face to face.

"Because I'm his best friend! That's huge; you don't keep something huge from your best friend!"

"Oh, so you went and told him about us then, did you?" Sam didn't respond, couldn't, and Ironhide was expecting that. "He meant to protect you just like you meant to protect him, and now both things are out."

Sam just stared up at Ironhide speechless, and Ratchet vented heavily. So much for Jazz and Ironhide letting him do the talking, but at least if Miles got angry about it Ratchet got off.

The whole thing only lasted five minutes, and it made Optimus wonder if Miles had ever broken down before just to pick himself up immediately so no one would see. But he never stopped holding Miles until he stopped crying, and even a bit past that, too. He only broke the silence when Ratchet sent him a comm, informing him that Bumblebee and Sam now knew of at least Miles' situation with his father, though he left whether or not the rest had been explained out.

"Ratchet has sent me a comm," Optimus said gently, once the teen did nothing but sniffle a bit. "It would appear that Sam and Bumblebee now know."

He could feel Miles tense up at the news, but he relaxed quicker than the Prime would have guessed. Miles finally moved from the embrace himself, scrubbing at his eyes before taking a deep breath and giving a sheepish, almost shy, smile.

"Guess I gotta go face the music, huh?" Miles asked somewhat sarcastically, hopping off the berth before Optimus could stop him. "Thanks."

"You will never have to thank me for that, Miles." Optimus responded, and Miles shot him a grin before leaving the Medbay.

Miles didn't wait for Optimus to follow, but then again he didn't need to. The Prime easily caught up to the teen, and thought about offering him some Advil for his nose, but Miles didn't ask for it, so it either didn't hurt that bad or Miles just didn't care. The teen headed straight for where they had all originally been standing, and if Optimus hadn't been paying attention he never would have noticed the slight slump to the teen's shoulders. He wasn't excited for what was about to come, but he knew it needed to be done, and he was going to do.

When they got there, Bumblebee was just setting Sam on the ground, and silently, without the Prime having to ask, almost all the mechs left to offer the organics some sort of privacy while still being in ear shot should one of the organics shout. Only Bumblebee stayed, almost like a hovering mother hen because Sam was getting worked up, the only time any of them had ever seen that particular organic close to tears outside of pain or the Old Yeller movie, but even he moved back when Optimus sent him a comm.

Which left Miles and Sam staring at each other, one looking at the other with tears in his eyes and unsure what to say, the other having too much to say but nothing that would come out.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sam asked finally.

"I don't know…" Miles replied honestly, "At first, when we were little, it was because I didn't know you that well and I didn't want you to think I was weird, because I knew normal fathers didn't do that, so I always thought it had to be me. And then it was just easier to keep lying, because I didn't know how you'd react and I didn't want you to get hurt because of it."

"You're worried about me getting hurt by it?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Well you are, aren't you?"

"I was worried sick about you; I thought something horrible had happened to you! Then I find out something horrible has been happening to you all along and I was just too stupid to notice!" Sam's voice cracked, bowing his head so Miles wouldn't see his tears. "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, God, please don't cry." Miles almost begged, "You blubber like a fucking baby every time you cry."

"I do not!" Sam denied, but it was true. Once he started to cry he just couldn't stop, which was exactly why he tried not to cry, especially around Mikaela. He wiped furiously at his eyes, trying not to start. "Shut up and just let me be sad and angry like I want!"

"Sure, that's easy." Miles said, deciding he was fed up with being sad and watching Sam be sad, so it was time to liven things up a little. "Just look in a mirror."

Sam's head shot up, fire in his eyes, and Miles took a step backwards without even noticing. Miles almost yelped when he was pulled into a bear hug, leaving him surprised for a minute, before he finally hugged back.

"How long?" Sam's voice was muffled; his face in Miles' shoulder, but Miles got the gist of it.

"Longer than I've known you." Miles uttered softly, hating the way he felt Sam tense up, and the way he could start to feel his shirt soak with warm tears. He had to say something to try to make Sam feel better, so he continued. "It's not always hitting, and it's not always bad words. He does have his real decent moments, but now with Mom pregnant… could you imagine her finding out? She'd be devastated. And he has been getting a bit worse, but he's been stressed because mom keeps getting sick all the time with the baby comin' along, you know how weak she is, so it's not like-" Miles realized he was defending his father, and cut himself off, trying to back off from the hug automatically. "It's not been that bad, honest. It's just, with everything, I thought… that I could just disappear. You had Mikky, and the whole government thing, which I now know is the Autobots, but I thought you'd get over it eventually, and then Mom'd have a new baby to worry over and be distracted from me, so… I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologize, Miles Lancaster!" Sam hissed, pulling Miles closer and refusing to let go. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry! Now just shut up and let me love you!"

:Ten hours watch duty says Miles trahs ta liven' it up a lil' and gets Sameh to laugh.: Jazz sent to all of them, amusement brightening his visor.

Ratchet glared at the Saboteur, :You don't even have watch duty yet, and you shouldn't even be leaving the Medbay! You just came back!:

:Exactly, Ratch! Lemme live a little!: Jazz slid his visor up and grinned, turning to Bumblebee, who was looking off in the other direction, trying to see through the building they had put between them and the teens. :Do Ah get my hug now, lil' Bee?:

:Of course, Jazz!: Bumblebee laughed, going over and hugging the resurrected mech. :It's great to see you back again! Ratchet was taking so long getting the piece of the Cube to work that I'd almost given up hope!:

:Ratchet never did manage to get it to work,: Ironhide said with a smirk, earning a glare from said Medic. :The organic was the one who got it to work.:

:Miles did?: Bumblebee asked with surprise, :What does that mean?:

:You're just as clueless as we are, Bumblebee.: Optimus finally spoke up, :We were woken up around one in the morning by Jazz, quite surprised to see him. Apparently Miles received a vision of Jazz's death in his dreams and couldn't sleep because of it, so he decided to go and explore the one place on base I had yet to show him, which was where we were holding Jazz. Th -: The Prime cut himself off when they all heard Sam scream.

"LET ME LOVE YOU!"
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK!"

Ratchet and Ironhide shuttered their optics in surprise, Optimus looked slightly worried, and Jazz was just confused. All turned to stare at Bumblebee when the Scout made a pleased sound.

"That means they're getting along again," Bumblebee said aloud, mainly to reassure his Prime.

Jazz snorted, "Organics ah weird."

"You'll get used to it fairly quickly, Jazz." Bumblebee was speaking from experience there. At first, he had been amazed by some of the stuff Sam and Mikaela did. Now he didn't even shutter an optic at the stuff. "Now are you saying that the shard actually controlled him?"

"Yes," Optimus was a bit reluctant to continue, now the one looking at the building between them and the organics worriedly. "He said that when he picked it up it started to burn and he heard Megatron and Jazz, so he wanted to drop it, but it wouldn't let him. It moved him on to the berth instead, and over Jazz's spark chamber, where it made him drop it inside. We have no explanation as to why it chose him to do it organic wise, or why it would choose an organic at all. Ratchet, and even I, had tried to use it before to resurrect Jazz, but to no avail."

"Huh." Bumblebee said simply, just as stumped by the shard's actions as the rest of them. He decided to go for an easier topic, now. "Ratchet said Miles was attempting to run away. Is that true?"

"It is. I found him, and figured out what was going on quickly. I… Well, I-"

"What our glorious leader is trying to say," Ratchet cut Optimus off with annoyance coating his voice, "Is that once he figured out Miles was abused, he knocked him out with that gas and brought him here."

"Optimus kidnapped Miles?"

"Nah, Bee. Boss 'bot just drugged 'im up a lil' and didn't give Miles a choice as to whether or no' 'e wanted ta come. Thas no' kidnapping at all," Jazz deadpanned, causing Bumblebee to laugh. "But at least 'e doesn't wanna adopt 'im like Ironhide."

"I was saying that figuratively!" Ironhide growled in his defense, "What would I do with my own organic?"

"What, Will isn't yours?" Ratchet questioned innocently, "Oh, right, you're his. Always forget that the lost looking turbopuppy here whenever he leaves is you and not some other pain in the slagging aft."

"You shut your mouth, Medic!"

"Now, you two, there's no reason to fight." Optimus tried to soothe, going to step between his Medic and Weapons Specialist before a real fight could break out.

Jazz and Bumblebee stood back, watching the scene before them. Ratchet and Ironhide throwing petty insults back and forth while trying to get at each other and Optimus trying to get them to behave. Jazz started to laugh, opening a private comm with the younger Scout.

:It's good ta be back, Bee!: Jazz said joyfully, clapping the smaller mech on the back.

:It's great to have you back, Jazz.: Bumblebee grinned at the Saboteur, :Now, is that betting pool on Ironhide and Ratchet still going on? I'm finally starting to see what all of you have been talking about!:

:There's a few,: Jazz responded, :Gonna have to be a bit more clear, lil' Bee. Do you mean the finally having enough and killing each other, Optimus or Prowl finally having enough and separating them or killing them, or the two finally having enough and fragging each other senseless?:

:The last one.:

:Ah, welcome to the dark side of the betting pool, lil' Bee!:

A few hours later and Optimus was only mildly surprised when Miles found him and flopped down beside him with a tired huff. The Prime was on a hill, which was more rock than sand. He had a nice view here, somewhat secluded from base but able to get to it quickly if he needed to. He could also see the road from here, and had seen Bumblebee driving off; getting a comm to explain the mech was going with Sam to buy Miles something to eat besides granola bars.

"You did not go with Bumblebee and Samuel?" Optimus inquired, glancing down at the teen.

"I think my quota for Sam has passed full and needs fixed," Miles deadpanned.

"Ah, yes. We did hear him scream a few times." Optimus informed the teen, trying not to sound as amused as he felt.

Miles snorted, "Sam's always gone a bit overboard when it comes to fixing things emotion wise. I think he gets it from Judy; both of them just go crazy loving at some point. You might have escaped so far, because he's not that close to you yet, but no one's safe forever from him."

"Or his mother." Optimus responded, causing Miles to laugh.

"You've met her, then?"

"Yes, it was quite interesting, to say the least." Optimus said dryly, "The first human who's ever dared to threaten me with a bat even when they knew what I was."

"Oh, man, I wish I would have been there to see it. That's priceless!" Miles snickered, sitting upright finally. "I'm guessing one of the 'bots has a vid?"

"Yes. All three, I believe." Optimus grinned at the teen's amusement, pretending to vent softly. "It's insubordinance, I say."

"And that's only with three of them," Miles smirked, "What are you going to do when more arrive?"

"If more arrive, I am hoping my Seccond in Command comes fi-"

"If?" Miles repeated, cutting the Prime off. "Ratch said that you sent a phone call into space or some crap. Why if?"

"It is hard to get a message to go past your solar system," Optimus really did sigh now, "And we do not have the right equipment to boost the signal. As of now we can only hope that one of ours will stumble across it and come towards it, while sending the message on to others."

"Why don't you try using the shard thingy?" Miles asked, peering up at the Prime.

"I doubt the shard would respond if asked to do something so menial." Optimus shrugged lightly, a human gesture that he and his mechs had adopted.

"That's a bit presumptuous of you, don't cha think? Who are you to say what the shard will and won't respond to?" Miles questioned, "Maybe that's why it didn't work with Jazz. Did you ask, or did you just assume it would work on him?"

"Well, we assumed… The Allspark was the life giver of our planet, and I'd heard tale of it being used to bring back a couple of mechs before."

"Ratch said it was an intelligence all on it's own. Maybe it can expand beyond sparklings and resurrection." Miles offered this up for thought, "It might want to help bring your people here."

"Indeed…" Optimus was nearly speechless. Miles was right, and of course it had to be an organic who pointed out his flawed thinking. Now he was getting excited, turning to Miles. "Where was the shard when you saw it last? Would you get it for me?"

"Sorry, dude, but I ain't touching that thing again." Miles grumbled, "So done with freaky alien shit."

"I am not included in that?" Optimus asked with some amusement, raising an optic ridge.

"Nah. As long as you don't kidnap me for a second time, we're all good." Miles grinned, "Besides, I'm not exactly sure. I thought I dropped it in Jazz's spark chamber, but now that I think about it when I turned back I think I saw it on the floor again. You can check both of those places all you want."

"I think if it's with Jazz it's going to stay there..." Optimus said, more to himself than Miles, but the teen nodded anyway.

"Speaking of staying, are you ever going to explain to me how exactly I'm supposed to be staying here? Sam wants to know, too. He called this Lennox dude and apparently the guy had no idea who I even was. Said he was coming in to see what was going on."

Optimus' optics widened, and he revved his engine in a sort of embarrassed cough. "We have yet to contact anyone about you. I believe Captain Lennox will be having a few strong words with us."

"Is that alien code for we pissed of our parents and are about to be grounded?"

"Close enough, unfortunately."