Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro et al. Only Crystal and a few minor OC's belong to me.

Refer back to the author's note at the beginning of chapter one for the details on my story, including alternate modes and characters. I used some basic ideas from the 2007 movie to get my story off the ground. I am also going to be using a lot of ideas from the G1 continuity, so don't assume too much about my story based on the movie. For example, in my story Jazz is not dead.

I've torn apart and re-written this chapter about three times. I've read it and reread multiple times too. I hope I got all of the small typos and grammatical errors taken care of. Those are so embarrassing. I was hesitant to post this tonight, but I wanted to finally be done with it so I can start working on chapter 3. That probably won't be up for a few days.

Chapter 2 -Battle Fatigue

The deafening roars of F22 Raptors and F117 Nighthawks occasionally drowned out the screams and constant prattle of machine gun fire as a gruesome battle raged on in downtown Mission City. The U.S. military joint special ops troops on scene were doing their best to keep the civilians out of harm's way while simultaneously battling the gigantic alien life forms that were currently tearing the city apart. A squad of ground troops had fallen back to regroup and shield their wounded behind a large pile of twisted metal and broken concrete, situating themselves between the rubble and what was left of the building it had come from. Among them was a young woman in civilian clothing, covered with blood and grime. Doctor Crystal Greene briefly looked up from bandaging the badly injured leg of one of the airmen, peered over-top of the rubble, and scanned the streets. There was no sign of Sam or Mikaela. Though she had just met the two teenagers within in the past twenty four hours, she couldn't help but feel responsible for them. After all, they were minors, and with the other military personnel busy with the ensuing battle, she wanted to make sure the pair was properly looked after. However, she had been separated from them when one of the enemy "jets" nearly annihilated them all with a well-aimed missile. If it hadn't been for Bumblebee and Ironhide quickly lifting an abandoned truck to block the attack, they would all be dead. She had fallen back with the soldiers, helping to carry one of their injured men behind the pile of debris. She had heard Captain William Lennox instruct Sam to run the cube to the assigned extraction point, but assumed that Mikaela was right behind her.

Fear gripped her stomach and she suppressed the urge to vomit. This had been one hell of a weekend. It had started out as a simple trip to a medical conference on some well-deserved leave time. On the way to her hotel from the airport she had strayed off the road when she heard an absolutely unearthly sound in the distance. She had not been prepared to discover two terrified teens observing a fight between a pair of...giant robots. The next few hours had held the most terrifying moments of her life.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, as she carefully wound a dressing around the young soldier's thigh. The dust from the crumbled buildings around them covered her, sticking to the dried blood on her clothes and skin, and coating her lungs so that she was sent into a coughing fit if she inhaled too deeply. She noticed the noise from the heavy artillery around them beginning to die down and she bit her lip, hoping that this was a good sign. She had been hunkered down behind the pile of broken concrete for what seemed like an eternity, stabilizing wounded soldiers and waiting for the outcome of the battle that raged on only a few blocks ahead of them.

Satisfied that she had stopped the bleeding in the man's leg, she pulled a syringe out of the medical bag that lay on the ground next to her. "I'm going to give you a little something for the pain, Soldier." Despite the fear and anxiety she felt, her hands were steady and gentle as she administered the pain killer. "Try and relax. We'll get you out of here as soon as we can." The man grunted in appreciation before resting his head back on the chunk of concrete he was propped up against.

"Hey, Doc!" Captain Lennox, who had been sprinting at full speed, skidded to a stop, vaulted over a rather large pile of debris, and knelt down next to her. He gasped to catch his breath as he spoke, "One of the pilots… just radioed in…It's over!...We won! " He grinned and glanced toward the end of the street where Sam and the Autobots had disappeared with the cube, or Allspark, as the aliens called it. "That kid is one hell of a soldier."

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. The bad guys hadn't gotten the cube. This, judging from what the Autobot commander, Optimus Prime, had briefly explained to them about the Allspark, meant that Earth would survive to see another day. She smiled at the Captain who grinned back at her and let out an amused laugh.

"You enjoyin' your leave, Doc? Bet you thought you'd gotten rid of us for the weekend."

She snorted. She had only just left Qatar two days ago with the intention of attending the military medical conference hosted by Mission City Memorial Hospital. She was supposed to be giving a lecture on some of the new combat trauma procedures developed by her and her forward operations field team. Now here she was practicing those same procedures on the very men she had left behind forty-eight hours ago.

Lennox rose to his feet. "You seen that girl that was with Sam?"

She shook her head slowly. The battle was over. She'd figured the two teens and the Autobots would be heading back to them by now. And where was Bumblebee? She stood up next to the Captain and stared intently down the street. Where are they? As if to answer that thought, a tow-truck appeared through the thick cloud of dust that hung in the air. She raised an eyebrow. What in the world? Her heart skipped a beat when the truck got close enough for her to recognize the young woman driving it and the yellow Autobot strapped onto the back.

Lennox followed Crystal's gaze and saw Mikaela driving the tow truck towards them. He glanced back over at the doctor and a look of concern washed over his features as he suddenly took note of her appearance. "You ok, Doc? Were you hit?"

She turned to face him. "I'm fine, Captain." Looking down at her bloody clothes she added, "I don't think much of this is mine." She let out a sigh to try and settle her nerves as she glanced over at the injured men lying in the 'bunker'. "We need to get medical support in here right now to evac these wounded and take care of the civilians." She took a deep breath. "And rescue teams to search for survivors."

"Already taken care of, Doc. All local fire departments and first response teams are already going to work, and the National Guard and Red Cross are on their way," Lennox replied. She nodded and squeezed his shoulder before turning and jogging over to the tow truck as Mikaela pulled it up next to their position. The girl had barely made it out of the truck before the young doctor was checking her over for injuries.

"I'm fine!" She protested, batting Crystal's hands away from the jagged gash on her forehead. "But Bumblebee…" Mikaela grabbed her arm and frantically pulled her around to the back of the truck where she had secured their recently appointed guardian.

Crystal let out a low whistle. "Oh, my goodness." His legs were a mangled mess of twisted metal and fuel lines, and something shimmery and pink was oozing out and pooling on the ground beneath him. He groaned as he attempted to give her a weak wave. She was sickened at the sight of him in so much pain. She had only just met Bumblebee, but she owed him her life. She had been understandably terrified when she first saw him in his bipedal form, but she, Sam, and Mikaela had all been forced to trust him enough to put their lives in his hands. He had saved all three of them from certain death at the hands of the evil robots - what were they called again? Decepticons? - and now here he was probably bleeding to death before her. "What the hell happened to him?"

"He was hit when he helped shield us from that missile." Mikaela narrowed her eyes when she noticed Lennox standing amid a group of soldiers next to the make-shift bunker. "That bastard wasn't going to let me save him." Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke.

Crystal didn't hear her last remark. Her full attention was on their new friend. "Bumblebee?" She looked up at him, her eyes giving away her concern. "We need to stop this pink fluid from bleeding out don't we?" He nodded weakly, looking like he was struggling to stay conscious. Could robots go unconscious? She noticed that his normally bright blue optics had dimmed. That couldn't be good. Crystal turned and scanned the street for any sign of the Autobot CMO, Ratchet. None of the other 'bots, or Sam, were to be seen. She felt that sinking feeling in her gut, but quickly suppressed it to deal with the task at hand.

"Mikaela, do you know if there are any tools in that truck?" The girl hurried over and reached in behind the driver's seat of the tow truck. She came back with two large tool boxes, which the doctor promptly grabbed from her and began rummaging through. She shook her head and looked up at Mikaela. "I have no idea if any of this will do any good, but we have to try and stop these fluid leaks long enough to keep him stable until Ratchet gets over here." It felt weird referring to these beings by their names. She had only known them for about twenty-four hours, and they were…well…giant alien robots. As she and Mikaela went to work clamping and tying off tubes and fuel lines, Crystal continued her struggle with the rising panic that threatened to cloud her concentration. Giant. Alien. Robots.


Ratchet brought up the rear as he, Optimus (who was carrying the Witwicky boy), Jazz and Ironhide made their way down the war-torn street toward the human's fall-back position. He silently and thoroughly scanned each one of them with his internal sensors, checking for serious injuries. Jazz and Ironhide would be alright for a while. They had each sustained substantial injuries at the hands of the Decepticons that would need to be treated soon, but nothing that needed immediate attention. Miraculously, other than an elevated heart rate and adrenaline levels, and some nasty scrapes and bruises, the boy was unharmed. He'd be fine. Optimus, on the other hand, was a wreck. Only Ratchet would have been able to tell. The Autobot commander didn't make even the slightest grunt to give away the pain he was undoubtedly feeling. He had sustained severe injuries to his cranial unit and shoulder mechanisms. The armor on his back had been sliced open and energon trickled out from the wound. There were also multiple injuries to a few of his internal systems that would eventually need to be dealt with. Slag it, Ratchet thought. Though he had been aiding the Autobots in the war for millennia, he still couldn't understand how those fraggin' Decepticons could inflict injury on other living beings without remorse. It sickened him.

They finally found the humans hunkered down behind the rubble of a partially collapsed building. Optimus knelt down and gently set Sam on an even portion of what used to be the street. The boy looked up at Optimus who met his gaze and softly patted Sam on the shoulder. His optics spoke volumes but all he managed to get out was, "Thank you, Sam." The boy nodded at the commander, and then abruptly turned as he heard quick footsteps coming up behind him.

A slight grin spread across Ratchet's faceplates as Mikaela flung herself into Sam's arms. Humans were not so unlike mechanoids. After a quick scan to assure himself that Mikaela was relatively uninjured, he turned his gaze to the pile of debris the humans had used for cover. The human soldiers were working quickly to get their wounded men into a line of military evac ambulances that had somehow managed to get down the street. He recognized the young woman among them as one Crystal Greene. He had briefly met her along with Sam and Mikaela just a few Earth hours ago. She was not in uniform but she called out orders to the soldiers loading up the emergency vehicles with wounded. She paused to adjust the bandage that dressed a head wound on one of the soldiers, giving instructions to the men who were carrying the stretcher. A band of white cloth bearing a red cross was tied around her upper arm. Interesting. She must be a medic. He hadn't known that. She was covered in the crimson, iron-based substance that was human blood, but his internal scanners revealed no major injuries. He was glad that she and Mikaela were unharmed. He hadn't seen what had happened to either of them after they had nearly been blown into oblivion.

He shifted his gaze just a little to the right of the large pile of fallen debris and was relieved to see Bumblebee. He was sitting on a strange looking vehicle that had been parked out of harm's way. What is he doing? His fuel pump stalled when he saw Bumblebee's legs. Primus. He quickly made his way over to the young 'bot and knelt down in front of him, running a primary scan on his legs and a secondary scan on the rest of Bumblebee's body. "What the pit did you do to yourself this time? For Primus' sake…" Bumblebee knew better than to be offended by the CMO's gruff bedside, or in this case, tow-truck-side manner. He strongly suspected it was a cover-up for how Ratchet really felt about his comrades being injured.

"What the pit is all this?" Ratchet frowned at the multiple pieces of strange looking metal attached to Bumblebee's fuel lines. He would have to take all of them off in order to start repairs; wasting precious time as Bumblebee…he paused before removing the first make-shift clamp…didn't bleed out. His frustration soon turned to relief as he realized someone had roughly patched Bumblebee up long enough for Ratchet to get to him. All of the severed lines had been clamped closed. Pieces of cloth had been wrapped around the more severely damaged lines before a clamp was put in place to prevent the piece of hardware from doing any more harm.

"Ratchet?" He turned to see Crystal jogging up to him. As she got closer he noticed that in addition to being covered in blood, her clothes and skin were also stained with large amounts of oil and energon. She stopped beside him and looked at Bumblebee's legs. "I know it's really rough, but that's all I had to work with. Mikaela and I did the best we could to stop all the leaks." She looked up at him, looking…worried? "I hope we didn't do any more damage to him." She bit her lip.

Ratchet was dumbfounded. Two human females had managed to save the life of an Autobot soldier hundreds of times their size. The humans were proving themselves to be braver and more intelligent than any of them had expected for such a young species.

He grunted as he went to work on Bumblebee, reaching up to shut off the young mech's pain receptors before going to work on his legs. "You did fine. Probably saved his life," he responded gruffly. He paused for a brief moment to look down at her. "Thank you." She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"Hey, Doc! Doc! We need you! Sergeant Anderson quit breathin'!" A panic-stricken soldier called over to her. He stood beside a stretcher that bore a man with multiple bandaged chest wounds. She had already sprinted over and was kneeling next to the asphyxiating sergeant as the man finished yelling.

"Bee!!" Ratchet heard the boy's voice call out the nickname the humans had given to Bumblebee. He turned his head slightly to see Sam and Mikaela running towards the two of them. Bumblebee smiled broadly at Sam, looking immensely relieved.

"Hey, man." Sam grinned stupidly at his yellow friend. "You doin' ok? Will he be ok, Ratchet?"

Without looking down at him, the CMO replied, "He'll be fine. I can fix him up enough to be able to transform for now. I'll have to wait until we're back at the base and I actually have some slaggin' equipment to finish though." After peeling back a piece of mangled armor to give himself more room to work, he removed another clamp and began to replace the damaged energon line it had been attached to.

"Base?" Sam and Mikaela said in unison. They stared at him, eyebrows raised.

"I don't have time to explain right now. Go ask Optimus." In his peripheral vision he saw Mikaela frown and Sam shrug before they slowly turned and headed toward where Prime was knelt down, talking with Captain Lennox. He regretted being so short with them, but he needed to concentrate on what he was doing. Bumblebee's legs were an absolute mess. As his nimble fingers loosened another clamp, he stole a glance at Crystal. She was hunched over the young man lying on the stretcher, bandaging his throat. The soldiers standing next to her bent down to help her lift the stretcher into the ambulance, and one of them clapped her on the shoulder as she stood up. She caught a glimpse of Sam walking with Mikaela over to where Optimus, Jazz, and Ironhide were and a look of relief spread across her tired features. She reached down and grabbed a bag that bore a red cross on the front before jogging over to them. Sam stepped forward to meet her, embracing her with one arm while keeping the other wrapped tightly around Mikaela. Crystal smiled at him before gently pushing him an arm's length away to check him over.

Ratchet suddenly felt Bumblebee's optics studying him. He looked at the young 'bot who quickly averted his gaze as Ratchet shot him his best 'what are you looking at?' glare.


Crystal gently nudged herself out of Sam's grasp and began looking him over for injuries, immediately noticing blood and a long tear on the back of his shirt. She gently lifted the piece of clothing revealing a rather long gash that ran from his shoulder blade across and down to the middle of his back. Sam tried to wriggle away from her but she grabbed his upper arm, and held him firmly in place. "Sam, you're back is sliced open pretty badly."

Mikaela gasped and craned her neck to see. "Oh, no." She shot a worried look at Crystal who was still studying the wound.

"He'll live. It looks a lot worse than it actually is. It's not very deep, but I still need to clean it and put a dressing on it." She handed her bag to Mikaela who guessed it was her job to play nurse.

"You're not gonna try and stitch it or anything are you?" Sam glanced nervously at her over his shoulder.

"First of all," she replied, "I wouldn't need to try. You wouldn't have a choice." He shot her a concerned look and she smirked at him. "Secondly, no, I am not going to put stitches in. It's not a very clean cut. The edges are too ragged and damaged." He sighed in relief and she scoffed, "Big baby."


Crystal had barely finished cleaning and bandaging Sam and Mikaela's multiple minor injuries when Optimus finished speaking with Captain Lennox and motioned for the other Autobots to gather around him. Ratchet helped Bumblebee to stand and the two of them headed over to where their leader stood. Crystal's eyes widened as she surveyed Bumblebee's legs. They still looked pretty beat up, but they were functional. She wished she could fix human beings that quickly and efficiently. Either this was the norm for mechanoid repairs or the Autobots were very fortunate to have such a skilled medic. Her thoughts were interrupted by an odd sound and she glanced up to see Optimus talking with the other Autobots in a strange language that she guessed must be their native Cybertronian. She watched, intrigued, as the Autobots quietly talked amongst themselves before turning and looking down at the three humans. Optimus took a step forward and knelt down to get as close to eye-level with them as he could. Crystal was impressed by this respectful and humble gesture from the Autobot commander, and at that moment, she began to trust the 'bots even more.

"Sam, Mikaela, Crystal," He addressed each one of them, "we need to leave the city before more human rescue teams and military personnel arrive. I have spoken with Captain Lennox and he agrees that until I have had the chance to speak with some of your leaders, it is best for us to remain out of sight from the public. He has set up a rendezvous point for us outside the city with your country's Secretary of Defense. The three of you will accompany us."

The three humans nodded slowly and Sam quietly said, "Yea. Ok."

Optimus rose to his full height, the shadow of his impressive and intimidating figure falling over them.

"Autobots, transform and roll out!" Prime's deep, commanding voice rang out over the sound of approaching helicopters and emergency vehicles. The Autobots each took several steps away from the humans before transforming. Although it had been terrifying at first, it was the most amazing thing Crystal had ever seen. She marveled at the sight, just as she had the first time she had seen Bumblebee transform. She would never get tired of watching the incredibly smooth and precise movements of various mechanical components locking into place as the 'bots took on their vehicle forms.

Bumblebee's doors swung open and Mikaela and Sam hurried over and climbed inside. The yellow 'bot honked his horn urgently, jolting the doctor out of her stupor. Crystal started to jog over to them but stopped, surprised, as Ratchet pulled up next to her. As she turned to face him, she let out an involuntary gasp. She had seen his alternate form before when she had first met the Autobots, but she had been a little preoccupied with being absolutely terrified, so she hadn't taken much notice. He was impressive. A powerfully built Hummer H2, modified into a search and rescue vehicle, complete with emergency lights and mounted spot lights. His paint was a brilliant and glossy white. The words "Search and Rescue" were emblazoned in reflective red on his side along with the red cross and red EKG stripe that were characteristic of the human emergency medical vehicles. His driver side door swung open. She nervously glanced back over at Bumblebee who must have said something to Sam sitting in his front seat, because he shrugged and gave her a thumbs-up. She then glanced behind her to where Lennox was standing. She wasn't sure about leaving her guys, but the Captain nodded and waved her on. Ratchet revved his engine, startling her, and she quickly climbed inside.

"If you don't mind, Crystal, I would rather you ride with me. I don't want Bumblebee's body to be under too much stress. His legs and stability servos are not completely repaired yet. I'm not even sure it's such a good idea for Sam and Mikaela to be riding with him."

She nodded and buckled her seatbelt, feeling it tighten protectively around her as he accelerated to the middle of the Autobot convoy between Bumblebee and Jazz.


Crystal tried in vain to relax as she rode in the front of the rescue vehicle that was the Autobot medic, Ratchet. She would much rather be sitting inside Bumblebee's familiar interior with Sam and Mikaela. Ratchet hadn't said a word to her since they left the site of the battle fifteen minutes ago. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling extremely odd about sitting in the driver's seat while not actually driving. She distracted herself by gazing out the window and watching the sky-scrapers and high-rise buildings be replaced by houses and small apartment complexes as they entered the suburbs. She sighed and absentmindedly leaned against the side window, the cool glass feeling good against her throbbing head. She hadn't even realized her head hurt until now. With the adrenaline levels in her body now decreasing drastically, she was becoming more and more aware of her exhausted state. Her head was pounding, every muscle in her body was weak and extremely sore, and she felt like she could sleep for days. Her eyes slowly closed.

She was startled by the sound of Ratchet's voice, "Are you alright, Crystal?" The gruffness in his voice was gone, replaced by a more gentle tone. He was probably just as exhausted as she was. She suddenly realized she was resting her head on his window and quickly sat up straight, feeling like she had somehow invaded his personal space.

"I'm ok, Ratchet. Just a little sore." She reached down into her bag and pulled out a bottle of extra-strength pain killers. She poured two of them into her hand and promptly swallowed them before snapping the lid back on and placing the bottle back in her bag.

"I want to thank you again for keeping Bumblebee stable for me. I don't know if I would have gotten there in time to save him."

She smiled tiredly. "I'm just glad it worked. I wasn't sure."

"It worked just fine." He paused for a moment. "I saw you attending to the wounded soldiers. I wasn't aware that you're a medic."

She had been slightly afraid of Ratchet up until now. He had seemed rough and impatient, and she had felt like if she was unfortunate enough to get in his way he might squish her. But now his voice was comforting and she felt herself becoming more at ease with him each time he spoke.

He added, "You were very calm considering the circumstances."

She pondered his statement for a moment. How had she remained so calm?"I'm a field surgeon in the United States Air Force," she replied. "I've had extensive training and experience in performing medical procedures in a combat zone." Truth be told, no amount of training could ever have prepared her for what had gone on in the past day or so. She had no idea how she had kept her cool through it all, and she really had no idea how she was staying so calm now. Maybe it was the exhaustion. "But this was definitely a new experience for me," she added quietly.

Ratchet was silent for a moment before saying, "Don't be afraid to lie down and sleep, Crystal. You are exhausted. ETA to our rendezvous point is four-point-six hours."

The idea of sleeping inside a living being was just too weird. She had felt strange enough just resting her head against his window pane. But her exhaustion won over her feelings of unease. She unbuckled her seat belt and reached into her bag. She pulled out a small emergency blanket and unrolled it onto the seat. No sense in getting blood, dirt, and who knows what else all over Ratchet's smooth leather interior. She lay down, stretching across his front seat. She was asleep within seconds.


Ratchet noticed the awestruck look on each of the human's faces as he and the other Autobots transformed. It was amazing that such a basic function for the Autobots was an incredible phenomenon in the eyes of the humans.

Sam and Mikaela were already climbing into Bumblebee's front seats. Crystal hadn't moved. She was still staring at the spot where they had all transformed. Bumblebee honked his horn, causing the young woman to jump a little. She started to trot over to him. Ratchet wasn't sure it was such a good idea for the injured mech to be carrying three humans. The extra weight would put a lot of stress on his servos. He accelerated and quickly pulled up next to Crystal. She turned to face him and let out a soft gasp. Had he startled her? Did she not recognize him? She continued to stare at him, her eyes sweeping over his vehicle form. He swung his door open and she cast a nervous glance toward Bumblebee, who must have said something to Sam because the boy shrugged and stuck his thumb up at her. Ratchet revved his engine impatiently. He wasn't sure what the significance of the boy's hand signal was but it must have been an affirmative gesture because after a quick glance back at Captain Lennox, she quickly climbed up into his front seat.

"If you don't mind, Crystal, I would rather you ride with me. I don't want Bumblebee's body to be under too much stress. His legs and stability servos are not completely repaired yet. I'm not even sure it's such a good idea for Sam and Mikaela to be riding with him."

The girl nodded and fastened her seatbelt and Ratchet tightened it around her as he accelerated to the middle of the convoy between Bumblebee and Jazz. He opened up a private communications channel to Bumblebee.

Ratchet to Bumblebee.

Go ahead, Doc.

You be careful with those humans.

Yes, Sir.

I mean it. The slightest twinge of pain and I want you to pull over and transfer them to Jazz or Ironhide, you hear me?

Loud and clear, Ratchet.

Ratchet grumbled something inaudible before closing the channel with Bumblebee and transferring it to Optimus.

Ratchet to Optimus.

Go ahead, Ratchet.

How are you feelin', Prime? You've got some pretty serious injuries. I'm going to need to take a look at 'em.

I'll be fine for now, Ratchet. I can't stop. We must meet with the human military official.

Ratchet sighed. I know. Take it easy until I can examine you. Take your time accelerating and transforming. I'm going to keep an eye on your energon levels and internal systems.

Thank you, Ratchet. Prime out.

Ratchet contacted Jazz and Ironhide individually, making sure each of them was feeling relatively stable despite their injuries. He then returned his attention to the young woman sitting in his front seat. She had fidgeted nervously for several minutes before calming down slightly. She was now resting her head against his driver's side window. She had been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. She had found out that a race of giant robots had landed on Earth to fight an epic battle over an ancient artifact that had the power to create or destroy entire worlds. She had been thrown into the middle of said battle, and had apparently saved the lives of at least a dozen soldiers. She and Mikaela had even managed to save Bumblebee's life with no knowledge of mech physiology. And through it all, she had remained level-headed. His spark ached at the thought of what she and the other humans they'd met had gone through to help them, their world's existence hanging in the balance all the while.

"Are you alright, Crystal?"

She bolted upright, and he cringed. He hadn't meant to frighten her.

"I'm ok, Ratchet. Just a little sore." She pulled a small, white bottle out of her bag and shook out two tiny caplets. She swallowed them, and then put the bottle back. He noticed that her hands were covered in small scratches that she had probably sustained from working around the twisted metal on Bumblebee's legs.

"I want to thank you again for keeping Bumblebee stable for me. I don't know if I would have gotten there in time to save him."

"I'm just glad it worked. I wasn't sure." A slight smile was evident in her tired voice.

"It worked just fine." He paused a moment, noticing that his voice was having a calming effect on the young woman. Her heart rate had slowed and her breathing had become more regular. Maybe if he kept talking to her she would become relaxed enough to rest for a while.

"I saw you attending to the wounded soldiers. I wasn't aware that you're a medic." He added, "You were very calm, considering the circumstances."

"I'm a field surgeon in the United States Air Force," she replied after a slight pause. Her voice had taken on a flat, technical tone. "I've had extensive training and experience in performing medical procedures in a combat zone."

Ratchet suddenly felt a connection with this human. He knew all too well the pain and anxiety of being a front line medic. Every time the Autobots rolled out there was a good chance some of them would come back to him severely injured or, worse, not come back at all. It was not an easy job by a long shot. The flatness of her reply suggested to him that she was not completely convinced by her own explanation, and he was willing to bet that she internalized a great deal of the pain and fear she felt. He heard her add quietly, "But this was definitely a new experience for me." She was barely keeping her eyes open now.

"Don't be afraid to lie down and sleep, Crystal. You are exhausted. ETA to our rendezvous point is four-point-six hours."

She was still for a moment before unfastening her seatbelt and pulling a small blanket out of her bag. She unrolled it onto his front seat. She then eased herself down, stretched out, and was asleep within ten-point-two Earth seconds.


An hour and a half into their journey, the Autobot convoy was heading northeast on a highway that wound through the countryside. The terrain had become increasingly mountainous, forcing them to slow their speed slightly. Aside from Ratchet periodically checking in on each of them, the 'bots remained silent. They were all in desperate need of recharge and energon, and a thick sense of apprehension hung in the air between them. The grueling battle over the Allspark, combined with the uncertainty of their future and that of Cybertron, made for a tense atmosphere. The exception to this was, of course, Bumblebee, who was apparently busy amusing the humans sitting in his interior.

Bumblebee to Ratchet. The young scout's voice came over Ratchet's com-link.

You ok, Kid?

I'm fine, Ratchet, but uh…Bumblebee chuckled…Sam wants to now what you did with Crystal.

Ratchet noticed Sam and Mikaela turned around in Bumblebee's front seats, looking back at him with amused expressions and obviously wondering why Crystal was not visible through his windshield. Mikaela, who was resting her chin on Bumblebee's headrest, was giggling. He had no idea what was so funny. Undoubtedly, Bumblebee was instigating whatever joke was being made at Ratchet's expense. He let out an irritated sigh.

She's sleeping. Sam and Mikaela would do well to get some rest too. Why don't you keep quiet and let them sleep.

Heh. Those doctor's orders?

Do I really need to answer that?

No, Sir. Bumblebee out.

Ratchet saw Sam sigh and turn to face forward again. Mikaela grinned and rolled her eyes before also turning around in her seat. Sam wrapped an arm around her and she leaned against him.

Crystal had been sleeping like a sparkling. She had not even so much as stirred when she had nearly been thrown from the seat as a result of Ratchet being unable to avoid a rather deep pothole. It was a strange sensation carrying the sleeping human. Her presence was soothing somehow. Maybe it was her rhythmic breathing, or the steady pace of her heart beating softly within her. Ratchet wasn't sure. He was much too tired to think about it. He would let her sleep until they were about three breems out from their destination, enjoying her quiet company in the meantime.


Like it? Hate it? Please review! No flames, please, but constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 1! I was so surprised that people actually read it the first day it was up...and liked it. Haha But, seriously, I really appreciate it, guys. I hope I can continue to write well and not disappoint anyone.

MISAO-CG: Thanks for the cookie! It was delicious. XD

In the next chapter, the three humans join the Autobots in their secret meeting with the Secretary of Defense and Crystal learns of her new assignment.